kicks ✓ || namgi || k.th

010: heat

chapter 10: heat
location: madison, wisconsin, day 1

"This is absolutely disgusting," Yoongi said, dragging his backpack with him into the bathroom. "I can't believe you made me wear wet clothes all the way across America, Joon."

"We were in the van for thirty minutes, tops!" Namjoon sighed. Their supercharged purple van of fun had now taken them back north, to some town in Wisconsin. He had left the younger boys to pick out where they were going tomorrow, and for now he just wanted to be left alone.

Yoongi closed the bathroom door; Namjoon pulled his own shirt off and threw it on the bed, sitting down. When he opened the curtains, downtown Madison, Wisconsin, was in front of him. It was similar to Fort Wayne, but bigger, and definitely cooler than Arizona had been.

He was more accustomed to the constant traveling than any of the other boys had been. His father, after all, had always been away on business trips, and had often taken Namjoon with him so he could learn how the company was run. Along the way, he would learn little tidbits about the places he visited, practiced his fluency in many languages, and went to meetings with his father.

"Son," his father told him one day, "do you know the meaning of the word baepsae?"

"Of course I do, appa," a much younger Namjoon had said. "It's the name of our company!"

"Yes, but there is a deeper meaning. The baepsae is also a bird, native to our country."

"Oh, yeah, I remember seeing those in books! It's a cute little white bird!"

"There is a saying that the baepsae tries its best to be something that it's not. It longs to be a stork instead. It wants the big, long legs of a stork, but it tries so hard that it breaks its legs."

"Aww, I don't want the little bird to hurt!"

"We are just like the baepsae, son. That is why your grandfather chose that as the name of our company. We must never compare ourselves to storks, or to any other bird. We must uniquely be what makes us special, and never be something that we're not."

Something that we're not... Namjoon stared out the window, lost in thought. He hated that his father lived by those words. It was so easy to live by them on the surface, to honor your own truth. But the biggest truth that Namjoon wanted to live by could never be told.

Yoongi threw his shirt and shorts in the bathtub, then pulled on his sleep clothes. He grabbed a small towel and ran it through his still wet hair. He hated being wet. There was something about the way water clung to his body that he just hated. Any time he needed to be clean, he would jump in and out of the shower in five minutes. And he much preferred a warm bed to a hot spring.

He threw the towel down and grabbed his bag, exiting the bathroom. "Hey, Joon, do you know if --"

Yoongi paused. Namjoon was sitting away from him, facing the open window. The glow from outside made his hair sparkle, brightening his entire silhouette. There was something about it that made him pause. He had never seen Namjoon like this. He was always planning something or talking about something, never still --

Namjoon turned, and it was then that Yoongi realized Namjoon didn't have a shirt on.

God damn.

He looked like an angel. And now, Namjoon's eyes were on him, and Yoongi found himself unable to say anything --

"Namjoon-hyung!" That was Jimin, from next door. "We need your help! Can you get us tickets to this cheese factory tour?"

Namjoon's eyes turned from Yoongi to the door, and he chuckled. "One moment," he said, and then he got up from the bed. He seemed to float across the room, shoulders still shining in the moonlight, perfectly toned chest taut, black sweatpants fitting him perfectly. Yoongi couldn't take his eyes off of Namjoon as he walked out of the room, going next door to help Jimin.

It was only when Namjoon left that Yoongi exhaled. He didn't even know he had been holding his breath.

Was this what it meant to be attracted to someone else?

Yoongi had never felt this way before.