The Baggage You Carry • Jung Hoseok

Part 20 • Hoseok

Friday, June 12
7:40pm
Hannam-dong, Seoul
Hoseok

Hoseok was sitting down at the kitchen table, patiently waiting for Namjoon to return from his tutoring session with Y/n. After completing his showcase back in April and watching Jimin and Y/n, a fire was lit under Hoseok's ass and in his spare time, he poured himself into learning English.

For the first few weeks, Namjoon and Hoseok would do at least two hours a day, and Hoseok was beyond grateful. He knew that Namjoon was probably burnt out with university, tutoring Y/n and now tutoring him as well, so Hoseok tried to learn as much as he could by himself so Namjoon wouldn't have to do much.

This led him to watch a lot of YouTube videos on Canadian slang to make Y/n feel a little more comfortable when she was with the group.

The only problem is Canadian slang is like, pretty weird so he hasn't really had the opportunity to put any of it to use which is defeating the purpose.

Last week, he tried ordering a double double (two creams, two sugars) coffee from Jin-Hyung, and he looked at Hoseok like he was deranged before asking promptly 'what the fuck is that?' Hoseok quickly said nevermind and ordered his usual cappuccino with a pump of chocolate instead and never tried using Canadian slang around the guys again.

Yoongi and Namjoon were also really good sports about Hoseok's infatuation with the Canadian girl, and they indulge him with minimal judgement, which he was grateful for.

The front door opened, and Namjoon walked through the door and he was looking absolutely drained and Hoseok felt guilty knowing that he was a contributing factor for how burnt out Namjoon obviously was.

"Hey, Hobi." Namjoon said and immediately punctuated his greeting with a massive yawn which made Hoseok frown.

"Hey Joon." Hoseok responded and watched as Namjoon put down his bag and flopped on the couch beside him. Namjoon immediately rested his head on the back of the couch and closed his eyes. "You know, we can postpone tutoring for tonight if you're tired." Hoseok offered, feeling incredibly bad for his friend.

"No, it's okay. I just want to close my eyes for a minute and we can start." Namjoon said and Hoseok's frown deepened.

"No, we're taking tonight off. Nothing you can say about it." Hoseok said as he kicked his feet onto the table and grabbed the remote to the TV. He turned on the television to some random drama, and Namjoon looked over at him with a sleepy smile on his face.

"Thanks for understanding Hobi." Namjoon said and Hoseok beamed at him. They both settled into the couch and got comfy and continued watching the drama until the front door opened again with Yoongi returning home.

"Hey guys." He said as he closed the front door. Hoseok turned his head to acknowledge his friend but Namjoon was about 2 minutes away from being dead to the world, so he didn't budge. "Hey Hobi, I got something for you."

Hoseok turned his head and quizzically looked at his best friend until he saw what Yoongi was pulling out of his bag.

"Degrassi?" Hoseok asked and he heard Namjoon chuckle from beside him.

"Yeah! It's a Canadian TV show. Drake was on it back in the day." Yoongi explained as he made his way over to the TV to put the DVD in. "It took me forever to find, but I figure this would help you learn English."

Hoseok felt a little bit panicked because they could just watch normal TV shows (like Friends, if he wanted to be like Namjoon) to learn English. So why did Yoongi hunt down a Canadian TV show?

"Oh, that's really nice Yoongi-hyung. Weren't we just going to watch How I Met Your Mother?" Hoseok questioned, and Yoongi just smiled at his best friend.

"We were, but I figured this would be a great way to indulge your sudden interest in Canadian culture." Hoseok's head whipped to face Yoongi so fast he heard his neck crack.

"What are you talking about?" Hoseok tried to play dumb but he knew it wasn't working when he heard Namjoon snort from beside him. Oh, so he was awake.

"Oh please, Hobi. We heard about the 'double double' incident from Jin. When did you get all interested in Canadian slang, hm? Perhaps it has something to do with a cute, Canadian girl who moved here to teach English?" Namjoon's eyes were now wide and staring at Hoseok as he teased him about his apparently blatantly obvious crush on Y/n.

The worst part was that he couldn't even come up with a potential retort, so he just crossed his arms and began pouting. Yoongi put the DVD case down and sat beside Hoseok while throwing an arm around his shoulder. The title screen showed up on the TV and Yoongi hit play before looking at Hoseok.

"Everyone knows that you're into Y/n, Hoseok. Except, maybe Y/n." Namjoon commented before turning his eyes to the TV and focused on Degrassi.

"I didn't think I was that obvious." Hoseok said in mild defense of himself but he knew that he wasn't fooling anyone.

"You definitely could've been more subtle, but it's okay. She doesn't know anything." Yoongi reassured his best friend, but he continued. "But, I think she likes you back. When are you gonna ask her on a date?"

Hoseok sighed and knocked his head on the back of the couch. He knew this topic was going to come up eventually, but he just wasn't ready to deal with it now.

"I don't know. Maybe never. I'm not even the only one interested in her." Hoseok's voice faltered a bit near the end because he felt almost that by verbalizing it, all his insecurities would come around and smack him in the face.

"Wait? Someone else is interested in her?" Namjoon asked - almost like he couldn't believe it.

Hoseok shrugged and looked down at his lap. "Yeah, Jimin mentioned before he was interested in her." Yoongi glanced over at Hoseok and hated that his friend looked so down.

"Was he serious, or was he teasing you? Because if he knew that you liked her, he wouldn't interfere - he's not that kind of guy." Yoongi asked, genuinely curious. He was highly suspicious that Jimin would casually drop that after the (super obvious) hints that Hoseok was insanely interested in Y/n.

"I think he was serious, but I don't know for sure." Hoseok was bummed and kind of wanted the conversation to just stop so he could focus on Degrassi. Luckily though, he had two amazing roommates who clued in and knew when to drop the conversation.

"I'll only say this - you should talk to Chim about it before writing off asking Y/n out, Hobi." Yoongi said before returning his attention back to the horribly-cliched Canadian drama. "Because I do think she really likes you."

And as Hoseok sat through hours upon hours of Degrassi, he realized that maybe Yoongi was right. Hoseok would talk to Jimin about how he truly feels about Y/n.

However, if Jimin comes across once as completely sincere in liking her, Hoseok would back off.

After all, both of his friends deserve happy endings.