last hope

Chapter 4

Hoseok did not sleep.

He's wide awake as Yoongi snores peacefully beside him. To be honest, he has to admire the way his friend can fall asleep in an instant. The second his head hits the pillow, he's out like a light.

The clock on Yoongi's bedside table clicks as the display changes from 4:29 to 4:30. Hoseok groans, rolling onto his side. The early morning sun casts pretty patterns onto the wall, and he lets himself watch them as he tries to fall asleep.

Yoongi shifts behind him, and suddenly his arm falls over Hoseok's shoulder. Hoseok freezes. Yoongi's arm is draped over his shoulder. Yoongi, whose only physical affection comes in the form of a swift kick up the backside, or a friendly smack around the head, is laying with his arm draped over his shoulder.

Then Yoongi's pulling him closer, tucking him against his body as he continues to snore softly.

Hoseok yelps. He jumps out from under Yoongi's arm and hurries to the door, not looking to see if he has woken the other man up. He closes the door behind him, leaning against it, breathing hard.

After a few seconds, he sighs and heads for the kitchen. There's only an hour and a half before he needs to get ready for his first class, and he is going to need a significant amount of caffeine if he wants to survive it.

Hoseok grabs a mug from the shelf above the sink and starts making himself a coffee. As he stirs, he tries to forget his friend's arm around him. The sound of his gentle snores as he slept beside him. He shakes his head.

'Hoseok,' he whispers to himself in the dim morning light, 'you're fucked.'

'That doesn't sound good.'

Hoseok jumps, knocking the mug and splashing hot coffee over his arm. Swearing, he sucks on the burning skin as he turns to see Jimin leaning against the doorframe.

'You guys need to stop doing that,' Hoseok glares at him. 'And why aren't you hungover?'

'Why were you in Yoongi hyung's room?' Jimin wiggles his eyebrows at him. 'Or does that explain the whole "you're fucked" thing?'

Hoseok flicks the spoon at him, sending little droplets of boiling water in Jimin's direction. He jumps back, still smirking.

'I'm not hungover, because I am never hungover,' Jimin shrugs. 'I'm definitely sober enough to hear your sob story.'

'I don't have a sob story.' Hoseok huffs, throwing the spoon into the sink and sipping his coffee. It burns his tongue, but he ignores it.

'No?' Jimin grabs Hoseok's sleeve and pulls him out to the living room. 'You mean you're not hopelessly in love with your roommate?'

Hoseok freezes, looking around for any sign that someone else is listening. Jimin notices and rolls his eyes, gesturing at Taehyung still passed out on the sofa.

'I might not be hungover, but he's going to need a lot of attention when he wakes up. You know how clingy he gets.'

Hoseok grimaces, already preparing himself for skipping his first class to take care of his friend.

'So,' Jimin settles on the floor opposite the sofa. The same space Hoseok had sat with Jungkook only a couple of hours before. 'Your sob story.'

'Will you stop calling it that?' Hoseok frowns.

Jimin beams. 'So there is a story?'

Hoseok sips his coffee, delaying his response. How had he managed to go from hiding his feelings from everyone but Namjoon, to being exposed by both Jimin and Jungkook in the space of a couple of hours?