The Baggage You Carry • Jung Hoseok

Part 16 • Hoseok

Saturday, April 4
Hannam-dong, Seoul
8:46am
Hoseok

Hoseok woke up feeling only slightly less drained than he was when he went to bed, but he was glad that both himself and Jimin agreed that today should be a rest day.

After all, nothing good really came out of pushing yourself too hard, especially with training.

Hoseok also found himself annoyed - considering this was his one rest day until the showcase, he really hated his internal alarm clock for waking him up so early. It was fine though, it was nothing a little coffee couldn't fix.

He stretched his arms over his head and could feel the soreness in his muscles from overuse. Maybe he'd make himself an ice bath and soak in the afternoon to help relieve the pain.

He didn't realize how sore he actually was until he stood up and his thighs (and if he was honest, his butt) immediately cramped up. He pouted as he hobbled to the door of his bedroom - he should've made himself a protein shake more than once this past week.

His stomach grumbled when he opened the door to his bedroom and the smell of bacon, eggs, toast and most important, coffee wafted over to him. Oh lord, he couldn't wait to eat - now he just had to make his way over to the kitchen and he could indulge.

Turns out, getting to the kitchen was more effort than he thought and it felt like an eternity before he entered the kitchen. First thing he saw was Namjoon with all of his books spread out on the kitchen table and Yoongi dancing to a song playing on the speaker while he cooked breakfast. The floorboards creaked when Hoseok walked into the kitchen and Namjoon looked over to him - Yoongi was still in his own little world.

"Morning Hobi." Namjoon acknowledged him and Yoongi turned to look at him.

"Hoseok!" Yoongi was holding a frying pan and smiled at him, which Hoseok had to return. He liked seeing his best friend happy. "How're you feeling?"

Hoseok groaned. "Tired, sore, wondering if this showcase is even worth it." He mumbled as Yoongi passed him a cup of coffee. He grabbed the cup and hobbled to the table and plopped down in a chair which was a horrible mistake. Hoseok's ass met the hard wood of the seat and he was instantly in pain.

"It'll be worth it Hobi." Namjoon consoled Hoseok, while ignoring the pained look on his face. Honestly, this happened every time Hoseok had a performance - he would constantly overwork himself and never seemed to remember to make shakes out of the protein powder he buys after every showcase. He always claimed that he learned his lesson last time and he would never skimp on protein powder after excessive training.
He always seemed to forget, leaving him a sore, grumpy mess during his rest days.

Hoseok chugged more of his coffee and he gave Namjoon an unimpressed look. "Why are you so certain?" Hoseok asked as Yoongi put a plate of food in front of Hoseok. Hoseok could barely keep himself civil as he started to demolish the plate of food in front of him.

"Because Y/n is coming to the showcase." Namjoon said casually and Hoseok abruptly started choking on the food he was chewing. He coughed and once the food was cleared from his airways, he took a deep breath and glanced at Namjoon, who had a dumbfounded look on his face. "What?"

"You can't just spring that on someone!" Hoseok gasped. Yoongi looked over quizzically and Namjoon still looked unsure at what the heck just happened.

"What do you mean? I just said Y/n was coming to your showcase?" Namjoon said and he and Yoongi shared a look - both still not sure what seemed to be Hoseok's problem.

"Uh, yeah! Exactly!" Hoseok responded like it was the most obvious thing in the world, but Namjoon and Yoongi were still hella confused about this random outbreak.

"Do you not want Y/n to come, Hoseok?" Yoongi asked him as he pulled a chair out and sat down with his own plate of food, and also a plate for Namjoon.

Hoseok was panicking - of course he wanted Y/n to come. He would be stupid to not want to show-off a little bit in front of the cute Canadian who caught his eye. But the problem didn't lie with her coming.

It was the fact that the very angelic Jimin seemed to take an interest in her as well, and there was no way he could compete with Jimin. Especially if his mindset was the same as Hoseok's and he used this showcase to show off in front of Y/n.

Hoseok has seen what Jimin was like when he had his sights set on someone he was interested in, and if he decided to completely pull out all the stops, then Hoseok was completely and utterly screwed.

"Of course I want her to come.." He mumbled and he played with his coffee cup, suddenly feeling a little down.

"Then, what's the problem?" Yoongi and Namjoon noticed the quick change in Hoseok's mood and both shared a look - knowing that they were now treading on thin ice. Anything they said now needed to be treated with caution.

"I don't know. I guess I'm just a little nervous, is all." Yoongi and Namjoon were taken aback. They knew there was something off but to hear Hoseok being nervous about a dance showcase was unheard of.

"Dude, you were pretty much born on stage and you have never been nervous before. What happened?" Namjoon's voice was kind of quiet and Hoseok could tell that he didn't want to upset Hoseok which he appreciated, but he wasn't fragile. He could handle himself - he was just suddenly intimidated by his friend (which happened more than he cared to admit).

"I don't know. I don't feel as confident in the set this time around. I feel like I'm not nailing the choreography as quickly as I normally do." Hoseok shrugged and took another sip of coffee.

He was lying - of course he was. Hoseok had a gift for dancing and there was no choreography he couldn't nail on his first couple of tries. There was no way that Yoongi and Namjoon weren't calling his bluff right now, but they didn't bring it up, thank god.

The three of them finished eating breakfast and decided that not only was today going to be a rest day for Hoseok, Yoongi and Namjoon would also use today for some much needed relaxing and recuperation.

After cleaning up the kitchen from breakfast (Namjoon and Yoongi did most of it because Hoseok was super sore and barely able to move), the three roommates made their way into the living room and decided to binge some anime and do nothing all day.

The soft sofa was more comfortable for Hoseok than the wooden chair he was sitting in before and suddenly he felt the exhaustion really creeping up. Maybe resting his eyes for a bit wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to do.

Resting his eyes soon turned into him almost passing out on the couch, and the thought he had before slipping into full unconsciousness was that yeah, Jimin might be the better dancer.

But how good is impressing Y/n with dance moves if you can't even speak the same language as her?

And Hoseok decided that starting tomorrow, he'd start cramming English until he could probably ask Y/n out on a date.