too scared to be afraid

chapter twenty-three: what comes next?

"If only time would hurry up. Why does it have to go so slowly?"

023: what comes next?

xxxx

"Did you do well on the test?"

Hoseok nodded, walking out of the classroom with a content smile. At his side, Namjoon walked along side him as they headed for the cafeteria.

It was nearing the end of January now, actually it was the final day before February began.

The past two weeks went smoothly but with some small details Hoseok found strange. The first thing was Namjoon. The tall boy had been at his side all the time.

After every class ends, Hoseok could spot Namjoon waiting for him at the end of the hallway. Namjoon now sat with Jimin, Taehyung, and Hoseok at every lunch too. He was more inclined to speak to Hoseok now, never hesitating to share his thoughts and in response, Hoseok always lended him an ear or two. If Hoseok had compared the Namjoon he knew today to the one he had first met, he wouldn't even be able to find the two were related.

Namjoon's thoughts were far too intricate for him to comprehend. He was very philosophical. Intelligent too. Hoseok had gotten to see the IQ test they took in Psychology and Namjoon had scored a 148. He didn't just seem smart, he was smart.

The tall boy seemed to have an obsession with Hoseok if you looked at it from a different perspective. Often times, he'd try to direct Hoseok's attention away from Jimin or Taehyung onto himself, and when they were to part ways, he'd try to start up conversation again so they'd have more time together. Once both boys had been two minutes late to class because of that. Not only that but Namjoon always made sure to keep tabs on Hoseok's whereabouts throughout the day.

When he memorized Hoseok's schedule, he began to wait for Hoseok everywhere. He played it off as coincidence but there were times when he left class early, claiming to feel sick only to hurry to the next destination on Hoseok's schedule. Namjoon often found himself sneaking photos of the pretty boy too. If Hoseok didn't see him straight away when he was waiting for him a few paces down the hallway, he'd grab his phone and take pictures of the unsuspecting boy.

His whole camera roll was full of Hoseok. Precisely 309 new pictures had been added to the 65 that were all of scenery. He just couldn't get this boy out of his head. He was suspicious of Jimin too. Jimin seemed to be staring at him more and seemed to know more than he let on. It wouldn't be too big of a problem if Jimin were to find out about Namjoon's little infatuation but if it could be helped, Namjoon would like to keep it a secret.

"I think I'm going to try to learn a new choreography today. There's this new song that came out and I---"

"DNA? Isn't it too hard to learn?"

Hoseok raised an eyebrow at his friend, looking at his expression up and down. Namjoon's taste in music differed from his and out of all the songs he could've guessed, how'd he know the exact song? Namjoon caught his gaze quickly, smiling to him with his dimples out on display.

"You keep playing it on mute in class and at lunch under the table."

"O-oh!" Hoseok exclaimed, shyly looking to the side. Of course Namjoon would know, he's been all over the song all week. It happened quite often when he found a song he wanted to dance to. He'd listen to it on repeat nonstop until he had the whole thing memorized by the millisecond.

Namjoon scuffled closer to Hoseok, trying to get as close as possible as the two walked to the cafeteria. Their arms occasionally brushed each other's, it seemed like that was Namjoon's intention.

"Can you let me watch you practice it?" Namjoon asked, causing Hoseok's eyes to snap up to his. They made eye contact for around a minute until Hoseok averted his gaze.

"I haven't tried it yet..it'll be bad. I-I also wanted to see if Jimin wanted to learn it with me too."

"No! I-uh, I wanted you to teach me it instead."

Hoseok stared at Namjoon with disbelief. This was definitely a harder choreography. If Namjoon had been paying attention to the dance practice he's been playing on loop, he should've seen that.

"It's too difficult. If you want me to teach you something, we should start on an easier song," he answered, spotting Jimin, Taehyung, and Yoongi all standing together to the side. He smiled to Namjoon and ran over to the three, throwing himself on Yoongi, the most patient of his friends.

It was actually really weird to see Yoongi with Taehyung and Jimin but he didn't want to ask about it. If anything, he'd find out the reasoning behind it later on.

"Hi hyung! Are you gonna sit with us for lunch today?"

"Mm, how'd your test go, Hoseok-ah?"

Hoseok got off of Yoongi's back, moving to his side.

"Great. Namjoon's been helping me a lot with studying so I think I did well."

"Ah, that's good," he replied. "I was actually wondering if---"

"Let's get lunch," Namjoon interjected, hands in his pockets. He looked rather uninterested in the group as he always did with a bored expression opposing the kind smile he wore when he was talking to Hoseok. His expression took a turn before Hoseok could see the previous one that he'd been sporting. Hoseok never got to see the bad sides of his friends. Not if they could help it.

"Oh, alright. I think they're serving gimbap today too! Let's hurry and get some before they run out."

Hoseok couldn't understand why his friends seemed to dislike each other. He was able to easily spot the way they veered away from speaking to one another. That included Yoongi too. It didn't make much sense that Yoongi was with Jimin and Taehyung unless it was about something important. It wasn't his business though, he needed to overlook the weird occurrence and enjoy getting to have lunch with four of his friends. It was quite the rare occasion.

"Hey, let's sit over there!"

xxxx

edited.