my time, that's your time | jungkook

Chapter 5 - Hoseok - painting

Jungkook strolls into the art cafe with his black cargo pants and dark gray t-shirt. At least, he tries to stroll. After a particularly bad picking episode, he covered his face with a homemade face mask—made of paper towels, covering everything from his forehead to chin and only leaving a space for his eyes, nose, and lips. He managed to heal his skin for a full day before covering it again with a cushion foundation.

Hoseok's voice is maple syrup as he stands and claps at Jungkook's entrance. The sound is welcome to Jungkook's ears. The strong coffee scent lingers on his tongue, almost grainy. Jungkook takes a seat next to the glass floor-to-ceiling windows. One of Gangnam's side streets teems with people on this sun-filled Saturday.

"JK!" Hoseok sweeps both hands in an open I'm-going-to-hug you gesture, before clapping with the same energy as a kid at the theater.

"New hobby?" Jungkook says. A grin comes naturally to him, just like taking another breath. Hoseok has always known how to cheer him up, and today is no different.

"Just thought I'd explore my inner artist, you know?" Hoseok sits in the same grandiose way as he did while standing. "I'm never going to draw as good as you, JK. But I decided to try."

Jungkook gathers the paints he wants, the deeper blues and royal purples. He wants to try to draw what the ocean would look like on an alien planet. Dipping his brushes in water, he regards his canvas blankly. He always tends to dive straight in whenever he creates, but today he is hesitant to even flick one drop of paint.

Hoseok attacks his canvas, sweeping large swaths of red and orange—as if flames turned into a cap or scarf. With laser focus, he dips his brush into a new gray color. He moves a bit too passionately, because his plastic cup of water goes tumbling toward him. Soon, Hoseok's painting turns into watercolor. The warm colors seep up into the liquid after the clatter.

Jungkook laughs. He hasn't even started painting yet, but he already feels better. He dips into his darkest blue, swiping it onto the lower half of his canvas. For the next minute, he focuses on getting the texture of the water right. He cycles from brush to brush, never satisfied but keeping his hands moving. It helps to be distracted.

Hoseok grumbles about having to restart his painting, carefully setting his water at the farthest point possible. This time, the orange and red sing more chaotic.

"I want to talk to you about something," Hoseok says.

Jungkook pauses, his brush weighing ten times heavier. He manages to lift it before the texture of his water turns to mush. "What is it, hyung?"

"Jin told me what happened," he says. His face devoids of its usual humor. "It isn't like you to hide things from us. You know, you can trust me with anything."

"I know, hyung," Jungkook says. He looks down at his ocean—suddenly, it's so childish, like a first grader trying to create his first masterpiece. He reaches for the black paint to cover it.

Hoseok stops him with a well-placed chop. "What you have is already so great."

Jungkook, in his stubbornness, spurts out the paint on the top half of his canvas. "Then we'll have a midnight sky, I guess."

Jungkook can tell that his hyung wants to push more, but Hoseok settles on humming to himself while his strokes grow braver and braver. Soon, their paintings are polar opposites—Jungkook's a cerulean nightmare, Hoseok's a flame that will never go out.

"It's not like I don't want to tell you what's going on with me," Jungkook says, hating how cryptic his own words are. "It's just that it's hard to even process it myself. I need to get a handle on things."

"I understand," Hoseok says, even though Jungkook is sure that he's confused. "But as your hyung, I want to support you—whatever you're dealing with. I want to be struggling through it with you. Hasn't that been what we've always done?"

Jungkook splatters some silver onto the canvas, stars both in the sky and reflected in the ocean. Yes. But he can't bring himself to say it. This feels different.

This feels insurmountable.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! ❤️ Who else is a "Dreamers" enthusiast?