DELIVERY! | JHS

eleven

Hoseok was mentally preparing himself for the worst. "Brave Training" alone was nerve wracking, but the fact that he had willingly subjected himself to Iseul's every whim by committing to "Brave Training" only made it even more worrying. The whole car ride there, Iseul refused to tell him their destination, and Hoseok was stressed to say the least. Finally, she pulls into someplace relatively familiar to Hoseok.

"We're going...shopping?" He asks, looking at Iseul in confusion. She almost laughs at the expression on his face.

"Where did you think we were going with you looking like that?" Iseul asks, gesturing to Hoseok's very far from matching outfit he had going on. Scowling, Hoseoks shrugs.

"I don't know, I thought we were starting Brave Training." Hoseok deadpans, and Iseul grins.

"We are." She says, as cryptically as ever. Hoseok wonders if she likes to make him feel clueless.

"How are we starting Brave Training at a clothing store? Don't we have to go...I don't know, swimming with sharks? Or sky diving? Or to make me battle a vicious tiger that hasn't eaten in a week with my bare hands?" Hoseok rambles, and Iseul can't help but chuckle at him this time. Something about how honest he was mixed with the weirdness going on in that brain of his could penetrate her emotionless façade like nothing else.

"You've definitely watched too many action movies. Come on." She says, pulling him inside by his arm. "Pick an outfit out. I'll buy it." She says, gesturing to the racks of clothing around. Seeing her in such a mundane place is odd to Hoseok, considering he associates her with gangs and explosions and violence. 

"Really?" Hoseok blurts out, the broke college student in him coming out. Iseul nods. "Wow, this must be how sugar babies feel. Except without the sexual favors." He says as if it's the most normal thing in the world, and Iseul chokes down her laugh. 

"Please never say that again." She says, voice serious, but he can see a smile in her eyes. "Now pick something out." This was a place Hoseok had never been before, but they still had what he naturally gravitated to: brightly colored hoodies and jeans. He chooses a lime green hoodie and light wash blue jeans and returns to Iseul. "Okay, done." 

Iseul takes them from his hand and looks at them. She hums, and Hoseok raises his eyebrows as she puts them back in the places he found them. "Hey, how come you made me pick them out if you were just gonna put them back?" Hoseok asks, and Iseul smirks knowingly. 

"I needed to see what you normally wear. Follow me." She says, and despite his confusion, Hoseok trails after Iseul as she weaves through the racks, plucking items off here and there until she turns to face Hoseok unceremoniously. "Okay, go try these on." She orders, placing a pile of black fabric into his hands. 

"Why these?" 

"Brave Training." She deadpans, and Hoseok just furrows his brows at her. These clothes aren't exactly his taste, so he decides he needs a good reason if he's gonna wear them. "Bravery comes in baby steps. So, first, we're gonna put you in something out of your comfort zone."

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. How is being goth gonna help me be brave?" He asks, looking at the clothes in his hands in distaste. Iseul rolls her eyes.

"Just shut up and go change." Iseul snaps, and he sighs, walking into the changing rooms behind them.

"I don't like being a sugar baby anymore." He mumbles under his breath as soon as he gets into the room. 

"Heard that." Iseul calls to him, and he gasps.

"Do you have, like, superhuman hearing or something?" He calls back, and she groans.

"Hoseok, please, for the love of God, put on the clothes." She exclaims, and Hoseok decides to drop it. Sliding out of his very clash-y clothes that belonged to Taehyung and Seokjin, respectively, he started to put on the clothes Iseul gave him. The black jeans are ridiculously tight and ripped, and he struggles, wondering why anyone would ever willingly wear these pants that could double as some kind of Medieval torture device. He puts on the black tee, only to realize it also has rips in it. He feels incredibly self conscious as he buckles his belt, looking at himself in the mirror. He almost doesn't recognize himself.

"You okay in there?" Iseul calls after a few minutes. Hoseok sighs as he finishes tying the black boots. 

"I feel ridiculous." He calls back.

"Just hurry up and come out." She replies. Taking a deep breath he emerges from the dressing room.

"These pants are so tight. I feel like I'm waddling." He says, walking out, discomfort clear on his face. "And the rips on this shirt make nip slips way too easy for my comfort. The only good thing about this whole situation is the fact that I could probably curb stomp the fuck out of any spiders--" He stops his nervous rambling when he finally looks up at Iseul and sees the look on her face. He's never seen that expression on her before.

He has seen it on other people, never directed at him before, though. It's a look that makes Hoseok's stomach do backflips, a look that makes him think Iseul may want to come over and take the clothes she wanted him to put on so bad right off of him. "You look...okay. I guess." Iseul says, and that's when it dawns on him: he has made her flustered. Iseul, the most composed person he has ever met, is thrown by the sight of him.

"Just okay?" Hoseok says. A sly smirk he didn't even know he was capable of forms on his lips.  Wait a second-- is that blush he's seeing? A light pink dust of color over Iseul's cheeks? Her pretty dark eyes drop to the floor, and before he can stop himself from riding this wave of confidence to the point of no return, his lifts his hand. His lithe surgeon's fingers gently tilt Iseul's chin up for her to look him in the eye.

For a moment, they look into each other's eyes, a fire in Hoseok's eyes that she has never seen in him paired with a girlish vulnerability he has never seen in her. Seeing that she's not always so cold, so intimidating, so emotionless gives Hoseok a bit of comfort in being apart of this life. Seeing that is hasn't completely taken her humanity, seeing that after all of the awful things she has been through, she can still be thrown off kilter by something as simple as a change of clothes. 

And almost as soon as Hoseok makes that connection, so does she. And while Hoseok finds comfort in it, Iseul hates it. Having the susceptibility to emotion is dangerous in this life. The others seem to have a nice balance between emotion and composition, but every single time Iseul has let her guard down, she has gotten hurt, along with those she loves. So as soon as she realizes that Hoseok has made her lose her cool, she snaps out of the trance she was in. She couldn't afford feelings, let alone ones provoked by a clueless, spastic, unintentionally funny man oblivious to just how attractive he is. 

She reaches up and grabs Hoseok's hand that rests beneath her chin, and twists his arm so his back is facing her and his arm is bent painfully behind his back. Hoseok winces in pain, too shocked to verbalize all the questions he has. She holds his arm there for a few more painful seconds, before letting go. As soon as she does, he stumbles forward and turns to face her. She feels guilty at the pain and confusion on his face, but she doesn't let it show.

"Touch me again, and I won't just twist your arm. I'll snap it." She says, icy as ever, as if the moment before hadn't even happened.

"Iseul, I'm sorry, I thought--"

"Shut up and go change. We're paying and we're leaving." She says, and like that, Iseul walks away, leaving Hoseok dazed and confused.

WOW HI EVERYONE I HOPE U GUYS LIKED THIS ONE HEHEHEHE I HAD MAJOR WRITERS BLOCK FOR THIS CHAPTER BUT I TRIED !!

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