DESK MATES ✔|SOPE|Yoonseok

Chapter 17: Two Worlds

Last school year: May

Hoseok woke up Monday morning wishing Yoongi were beside him. For some reason, his bed felt extremely lonely ever since Yoongi had gone home the day before. He wondered if it would always feel this way now until Yoongi was able to spend the night with him again.

When he heard his alarm ring, he threw the covers off of himself, got dressed, and headed down stairs to find something to eat on the way to school. Getting up was no longer such a dreadful experience; actually, he couldn't wait to go to school now because it meant getting to see Yoongi.

Hoseok hadn't talked to him since he left his house, and it was sort of awkward the morning after they'd decided to go all the way. But it was a good awkward, as in the kind of awkward where they were both blushing like crazy and there was a lot of nervous laughter. He didn't think it was possible to like Yoongi more than he already did, but after that night, Hoseok had totally fallen for him all over again. He just couldn't help it.

The only thing he could find in his fridge was an apple, so he quickly grabbed it and headed for the door, throwing his bag over his shoulder. Just as he was about to bite into it, he noticed someone standing on the edge of his driveway through the window. Someone with very familiar platinum blond hair.

No way.

Seokjin was waiting for him outside, just like he had done every morning before they stopped talking. Hoseok had gotten so used to seeing him there each day that it didn't even feel weird when he saw him; in fact, not seeing him every morning was weirder. But why was he here? After all the time he had spent avoiding Hoseok at school, did he really think he could just show up out of nowhere?

Hoseok didn't want to step outside and face him, but he knew he had to. Obviously there was a reason why Jin had come to see him, and he figured it was probably important. He sighed and walked out the door.

"Jin?" he said, walking closer to him. When Jin heard his voice, he turned around and smiled, like he was actually happy to see him. The apple suddenly fell from Hoseok's hand. "W-what are you doing here?"

Jin shrugged his shoulders. "Wanna walk to school together?" he asked him, offering him a half-smile. He said it so casually, like everything was completely fine.

And it really pissed Hoseok off.

"That's it?" Hoseok asked, letting his irritation leak into his words. Jin's smile fell right into a frown, eyes growing wider. "You haven't talked to me in a month, not even one single text, and now you decide you want to walk to school together? Jin, I thought you forgot that I even existed!"

Hoseok hadn't known how upset he'd actually been until he felt the tears welling up in his eyes. He flicked them away, hoping to god Jin hadn't noticed. He was staring at him in shock, unable to offer him anything but silence apparently. Hoseok was going to walk past him and head to school when Jin grabbed his hand and held him back.

"Hobi, wait," he said finally, hand still gripped around his wrist. Hesitantly, Hoseok turned back around, watching as Jin looked down to the ground and stuffed his hands in his pockets-- he was nervous. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I know I shouldn't have just showed up like this out of nowhere, but I needed to see you, Hobi. I miss you so much, and it was killing me-"

"I missed you too," Hoseok cut in, and he could already feel the tears burning his eyes again. "I missed you so much, Jin, but I thought you hated me after I broke up with you. You said we were all good, but we really weren't, were we?"

Jin stared at him in silence, and his eyes turned bright and glossy. "I..." he started, voice growing quieter, weaker. "I couldn't be around you for a while, Hobi. Seeing you, it broke my heart. I couldn't deal with it."