blush。hopekook

five

the more hoseok took jungkook around seoul, the more hoseok fell in love with jungkook's smiles and laughs that he rarely showed to anyone. he was always feeling like he was the luckiest guy in earth whenever jungkook sees him and smiles a smile that was only reserved for hoseok, and hoseok only.

but one day, after one week of getting to know jungkook, hoseok woke up, blinking his eye open and squinting against the light. since when the ceilings are white? hoseok wondered he tried to shift against the bed, but he felt like.  hundreds of needles were piercing his body, and he let out a groan.

"am i—" he inhaled sharply. "—in heaven?"

a familiar chuckle of relief rang in the room, and it melted hoseok's worries away. jungkook's face appeared in his vision, eyes watery and a smile on his lips.

"you're very much alive, hyung," jungkook said, voice shaky, and hoseok frowned at that.

he nodded, releasing a shaky breath as he closed his eyes. "good," hoseok mumbled tiredly. "what happened?"

silence, then jungkook spoke. "you were getting beat up," he explained with a quiet voice, reaching for hoseok's hand and squeezing it. "you're in the clinic now, though. you're safe."

"i see," came hoseok's reply as memories came rushing back to him.

he remembered running down the deserted hallway, late for his class, when he saw the three upperclassmen that had beaten jungkook up by his locker. the three of them quickly charged at him, and hoseok couldn't react in time. the air was knocked out of his lungs when he received a kick in the stomach and fell down on the floor.

the last thing he heard before the three of them made him a kicking bag was yoongi's roar echoing throughout the hallway and jungkook's shout of hyung! before giving in to the darkness.

"fuck, hyung, i was really scared," jungkook's voice broke in the end, gripping hoseok's hand tightly.

hoseok cracked an eye open. "i'm here, kookie," he assured, squeezing jungkook's hand. "i'm alive."

"but injured," jungkook sniffed.

hoseok wanted to reach forward and wipe away those tears forming in jungkook's big, brown eyes but stayed still on the bed. all he could was to frown at jungkook, though.

"stop." he squeezed jungkook's tightly. "stop that. smile, kookie."

"i can't."

"they won't come after me," he assured.

"no, i knew it," jungkook stood up and turned around, and hoseok mourned silently inside at the loss of the younger's touch. "none of this will happen if you didn't save me back there."

hoseok's eyes widened in alarm. "jungkook, no, listen—"

"you should stay away from me," jungkook breathed out, sending a weak smile to hoseok then exited the clinic room.

hoseok never felt so helpless before.

+

the next day, jungkook avoided him like the plague.

he always managed to disappear whenever hoseok sees him and calls out his name, limping around in the school with bandages all over his body. with gritted teeth, hoseok finally took a break to gather his thoughts and sat down on an empty table in the cafeteria, sipping quite angrily at his milk carton while jimin watched him in amusement.

"i think he just wants you to be safe," jimin mused, sighing at his friend's grumpy expression. "now don't do that, you'll become the second min yoongi."

"those bastards," hoseok muttered. "what are their names again? fuck this school for being so goddamn big."

"kim moonjul, kim heechul, and lee kyuhyun."

"i'm gonna kill those bastards," hoseok grumbled.

jimin sighed. "jungkook has been bullied for about year now," he perched his elbow on the table, resting his chin against his palm. "and he doesn't like us helping him, i guess."

"he doesn't want to be babied, then?"

"exactly, but he's hopeless," jimin chuckled. "it's a good thing yoongi's there to beat up moonjul's ass, though."

hoseok heaved a tired sigh, burying his head in his arms as he tried to clear his mind.

jimin patted him on the shoulder. "give him time, hyung," he told hoseok. "he'll come around."

// i literally woke up at 5am to write this. this is probably not my best chapter but yeah...