too scared to be afraid

chapter thirty-six: new friend

"We've been here before."

036: new friend

xxxx

"Yah! Who dared you to use the back of those forks as chopsticks, Namjoon? Yoongi, get your butt over here and eat breakfast before it's all gone! Hey, Jungkook-ah, wanna see if Hoseok's ready for breakfast? I don't want it to get cold," Seokjin said, swiftly maneuvering his way around the kitchen to gather drinks for the boys. It hadn't seemed like too long ago that they were strangers, but over the past few weeks, they had grown closer and closer to one another.

Now, they could even say they were close friends. Yet they never forgot the tie that bind them.

"Of course, hyung!" Jungkook cheerfully replied, eager to see Hoseok. He missed Hoseok so much. No one could've guessed that he'd just seen Hoseok last night before bed.

Hoseok walked into the kitchen just before Jungkook got the chance to hop off the bar stool he was situated on. His smile faltered for only a second, quickly accepting of the change of plans.

"Good morning!" Hobi exclaimed, presence drawing all attention to him effortlessly. He received a chorus of "good mornings" and "how'd you sleep"; "did you sleep well?" from all six of the boys. "Yeah, I slept well. Thank you."

A lie though it was. Tossing and turning all night, again, he was having trouble adjusting to change. He'd just gotten used to the normality of staying home all the time so throwing him in a day's worth of classes lead to another shift in his life. He knew it was to be expected, it had to happen for things to change. Although, there was a part of him that wished to be covered from the public eye, too tired of the drama and anxiety that came with socializing.

He sat down in the bar stool between Yoongi and Taehyung, though almost every day rock, paper, scissors competitions would be held for the two seats, he figured the seats were the best place to sit around the island. At first he thought it was because he was sat between the bar stools and his friends liked to sit next to him but then he saw the benefits of sitting in the two chairs. Both had easy access to the places where most food was situated and they were also close enough to the window that they could see the beautiful outdoors.

"Any plans for today, Hoseok-ah?" Jin asked, reaching across Taehyung to pile food onto his empty plate. It was weird how he never even had to ask before one of his friends were filling his plate up with breakfast.

"Actually, I was wondering if I could invite someone over to work on our dance project together? Would it be alright if I cancelled my session today and brought him over here to practice? We'll be out of the way and I-uh, can I?" The previous night, Eunwoo had texted Hoseok asking about when they could practice together. He told him about the practice room they had with mirrors everywhere and suggested that they could practice there if his roommates agreed. Each time he saw a mirror, his past memories came to the surface but he pushed them away. Mirrors were kind of a necessity for a dancer. Anyways, Eunwoo was happy with the idea. The two ended up talking for around half and hour before Hoseok fell asleep mid-conversation.

Embarrassed, he apologized for it when he woke up.

The boys looked to one another, having a silent conversation among themselves.

There was the obvious issue of Hoseok getting too close to whoever this was but none of them could say no to him simply working on a project. It was his house too, and his life. He shouldn't need to get permission, he should only have to let them know he was bringing someone over. They wanted him to feel like this was his home too. So of course, the answer was obvious.