Chapter Text
Hoseok adjusted his camera in its tripod against his apartment’s walls for the eighth time, making sure the whole of his home-made backdrop was in frame. He adjusted his yellow sweatpants, tying the cords at the front securely, then pulled his white t-shirt down over the waistband of his sweats. He was always a little giddy with excitement before filming one of his dance videos, and today was no exception.
Hoseok was an elementary school teacher and, like many, he had struggled with the pandemic, lockdown and being away from his class. His class of 28 seven-year-olds brought out the best side of him, he loved them dearly, and he desperately missed their time together. Virtual classes via zoom weren’t really the same, and all the other teachers at the school were having similar issues. The principal at Hoseok’s school had tasked all the staff to find something that would bridge the gap between them and their classes that could still be done remotely.
Hoseok had the perfect idea immediately; he loved to dance with his class. They had a dance session at least once a day for different reasons, and everyone went away from the dances feeling happy and energised. Sometimes they danced for exercise, sometimes for celebration, ALWAYS for birthdays and sometimes just for fun. So, he decided that’s what it would be; he would make dance videos for his kids as a fun way to keep them active and as a way for them to still enjoy the thing they bonded over. He could post them to YouTube for his kids to watch and dance along with.
Upon hearing this, his best friend and fellow teacher Taehyung had insisted he needed an eye-catching backdrop to dance against. The backdrop in question was a crudely-sewn landscape, complete with trees, rolling hills, a river and, for some reason, a giraffe. The giraffe was a little wonky. Taehyung had mailed it to Hoseok, and the next night Hoseok proudly showed it off over a zoom call with his three closest friends.
“What the fuck is that?” Yoongi pointed at the giraffe in question “Why does it have so many legs?”
Hoseok opened his mouth to explain, but was immediately cut off by Jin. “What do you mean ‘so many legs’? I can only see three.”
“You’re fucking blind, hyung, that thing has seven legs at least.” Yoongi rebuked.
“Watch your fucking mouth, you foul-mouthed dick, it has three legs.” Jin raised a finger to Yoongi through the camera.
Taehyung interrupted quietly “It has four legs actually, I-”
“Four legs my ass , what’s that then?” Yoongi pointed at something on the giraffe.
“That’s its tail, it-” Taehyung started, which was apparently the complete wrong thing to say as it set both Yoongi and Jin off in a cacophonous riot, which left Hoseok and Taehyung staring at each other through the camera.
Hoseok smiled at the memory as he adjusted his bucket hat covered in the little stickers his kids had given him one final time before stepping forward and pressing the record button. He moved towards the camera and waved to his class, giving a small greeting and wishing them well. He picked his phone out of his pocket and hit play on Spotify. A club remix he had found of Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes blared out over his stereo and he started giggling and dancing to the beat. He was mostly just dancing for the enjoyment of it, but he dropped in some moves from his time spent in dance classes in college. His kids enjoyed trying to copy him when they could and Hoseok did his best to guide them.
It was 2 years after the first lockdown went into place, and Hoseok had made countless videos for his children. Despite the fact they were now back in school and seeing each other on a daily basis, Hoseok kept the dance videos coming. He had reduced the frequency from weekly to monthly; lord knows being back in class full time didn’t allow him to spend time recording, editing and uploading video footage on a weekly basis. His children still loved to watch his videos and he had built up a small following online - parents of his class sharing the videos with other parents, friends and family sending the videos to each other and so on. He wasn’t making any money from it; he did it for the love of it.
He wished he made money from it, though - post-pandemic inflation but stagnant teacher wages meant his money wasn’t moneying like it should, and Hoseok was finding it harder to make ends meet. It was a frequent topic of conversation between him and his friends - Taehyung could sympathise, with being a fellow teacher, however having a wealthy boyfriend in Seokjin meant that Taehyung didn’t often go wanting for anything. Yoongi also sympathised, but his career as a counsellor kept him well paid enough. Hoseok was the only one of the friend group that was truly struggling.
One Friday evening in July, once school had ended for the summer, the four of them had gathered for dinner at Seokjin’s apartment for their weekly dinner party. These were less dinner parties and more an excuse to get drunk together, though sometimes on the odd occasion there was actual cooking involved. This was not one such occasion, the group having opted for take out instead, Seokjin’s fancy kitchen going neglected in favour of fried chicken and beer.
The night had progressed as these nights normally do. They were all comfortably tipsy, though this meant different things for different members of the group. Seokjin and Taehyung sprawled over Seokjin’s plush couch together, tangled in such a way as you weren’t sure which limbs belonged to who. Yoongi was curled up in an armchair across from them, knees tucked up to his chin, a soft blush on the apples of his cheeks. Hoseok was in the other armchair, perpendicular to both the couch and Yoongi’s armchair. He had one leg over the arm of the chair and one on the floor as he hiccupped softly, his blush ranging from his neck up to his hairline.
“No but seriously you guys, I don’t know how much longer I can fuh- hic -cking do this.” Hoseok hiccupped his way through his sentence as he pushed himself further up the chair. “I’m so fucking tired of li- hic- ving paycheck to paycheck, and I don’t know what to do any more.”
“You need a long-lost relative to die and leave you everything in their will.” Yoongi chimed in, swinging his beer bottle toward Hoseok, who swivelled his head to look over his shoulder.
“I don’t wanna fucking make money off of someone’s death, hy- hic- ung, jesus fucking christ.” Hoseok screwed his face up and swivelled around in his seat, planting both feet firmly on the floor as he waited for his vision to catch up with his body.
“Can you stop fucking swearing in my fucking house?” Jin chimed in, disentangling one arm from around Taehyung to point an accusing finger at Hoseok, who stuck his tongue out in response.
“How about bitcoin? Or NFTs?” suggested Taehyung.
Everyone stopped and looked at Taehyung, who seemingly did not know who to look at first.
Yoongi was the first to break the silence. “Taehyung-ah, do you even know what that is?”
“…Not exactly, but I heard people make a lot of money from it…” Taehyung looked down and began to pout.
Seokjin reached over to pat his head, cooing gently under his breath. They all fell silent for a little while longer, until Seokjin spoke again. “Alright fuck it, everyone get their phones out, we’re gonna find Hob-ah a solution.”
Dutifully, everyone pulled out their devices and hopped onto Naver. After a few minutes of scrolling, they started to shout out solutions.
“What about being a kakao taxi driver?”
“Wait, no, a delivery driver!”
“You could be a dog walker”
“Or a pet sitter!”
Eventually, Yoongi piped up. “Now. Hear me out, hear me out…” he paused, whilst he checked that people were in fact hearing him out. “What if. What if you signed up to be a sugar baby?”
Yoongi was met with a wall of silence and blank faces. Eventually Hoseok broke the silence.
“Okay good one, Yoongi hyungie, but now let’s-”
“No but think about it Hob-ah, you’re gorgeous-” and before Hoseok could open his mouth to protest, three hands raised fingers to their lips and he rolled his eyes in defeat. “- you’re funny, you’re charming - I mean, who wouldn’t want to pay you to keep them company? Plus, it’s a lot less demanding than some of these other part-time jobs, and you wouldn’t have to do any extra work.”
“You know, Yoongi makes some excellent points,” Jin added, and Hoseok’s head swivelled around so fast he thought it was going to fall off his shoulders. “Think about it, Seok. Presumably there are apps for this that come with security checks. This could actually be a lot safer than a lot of other options, and you’d have a say in who you got to uhm. Date? I guess that's the term?”
Hoseok eyed Taehyung pleadingly, as if he was the last shred of sense left in the world. “Taehyungie?”
Taehyung didn’t answer immediately, chewing on his bottom lip as he thought the suggestion over. “I mean… even if you did make a profile on one of these websites, that doesn’t mean you have to do anything, you could just. Look around.”
Hoseok went quiet then, looking between the faces of his three friends who were all looking back at him. He ran his hands through his hair and began to twist the ends of a strand together - a nervous habit he’d picked up in childhood. Nobody said anything for what seemed like an eternity - Taehyung’s girl group playlist in the background was the only soundtrack to this situation.
Eventually, Hoseok let out a frustrated noise, slapped his hands on his thighs and said “alright fuck it, hic , might as well. Let’s. Get this fucking bag, I guess?” He looked between his friends for their approval, and was met with warm smiles.
“Why don’t we make your profile together?” offered Taehyung, shifting from Jin to make a space between them on the couch, patting the cushions whilst looking at Hoseok. Hoseok sighed again and pushed himself off the couch as he pulled out his phone again, then settled himself between the lovers. Yoongi went and sat himself on Jin’s knee, despite complaints, angling himself so he could also see Hoseok’s phone.
It took roughly 15 minutes to find a site that had great reviews where the security features passed the YoonJin Approval Metric(TM). Hoseok, not for the first time that night, muttered “fuck it” and clicked the link to the landing page and clicked the big, red Join button.
“‘Are you successful or attractive’, oh my fucking god.” Hoseok said out loud as he thumbed through the introductory questions.
“Well, that depends on your measures for success, surely?” Yoongi rubbed his chin.
“Hyung, I think they’re asking if Hoseokie hyung is going to be the daddy or the baby. Pick attractive, Hoseokie hyungie” Taehyung said without taking his eyes off the phone. Hoseok did just that and began setting up his profile.
Roughly 45 minutes later, after a lengthy discussion about which pictures flaunted Hoseok’s best features - which was, in their opinion, all of them - Hoseok’s profile was complete. They began to flick through the profiles of the suitable Successful people to see if any of them would be a match.
“Too old”
“Too young”
“Ew, that profile has the phrase ‘alpha male’ written in uppercase nine times, that’s a red flag”
“This guy’s profile picture is a foot”
“This guy seems cute but the workout mats all over the living room are giving me the ick.”
“Why is he winking in all of his pictures?”
“Not sure about the guy with his dog’s nose in his mouth.”
“This guy has six puns in the first three sentences, I don’t know whether to be put off or impressed.”
“Ugh god, the man with a fish picture, hard pass.”
Hoseok let out an exasperated noise and locked the screen of his phone. “It’s no fucking use, you hic guys. There’s the same shit on this app than on every other fucking dating app.”
“Given how much you fucking swear in my house, it’s a small miracle you don’t fucking swear in front of your kids.” Jin narrowed his eyes at Hoseok, who rolled his eyes back.
Taehyung wrapped his arms around Hoseok’s shoulders and gave him a reassuring squeeze. “It’s okay, hyungie. If all else fails, you can always sell feet pics online.”
☀️
The winter night has, once again, drawn itself in around Jeongguk, who has not moved from his desk in hours, his eyes straining to read the screen in front of him. He really should wear his glasses, he thinks to himself, but he doesn’t have the time or the will to go get his eyes tested, so squinting and frequent headaches it is.
Jeongguk sighed as he checked the time - this was the fourth time this week that he had stayed in the office past 8pm, and on a Friday of all days. He was starting to forget what the inside of his house looked like. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, hoping to stave off another headache he can feel brewing behind his eyes.
When Jeongguk opened up his video production company at the ripe old age of 21, he did not anticipate the long evenings spent approving documentation and trying to parse his way through emails that were overly-wordy for no reason whatsoever. Four years and a global pandemic later, he’d somewhat gotten used to the boring, day-to-day goings on of being a CEO. He knows undoubtedly that he would have never made it this far without his childhood best friend Park Jimin joining his company as the CFO.
Not only did Jimin help absolutely revolutionise Golden Closet Films, and arguably take it from nothing to something with his sense of shrewd business acumen and financial planning, but Jeongguk is fairly sure that Jimin is the reason that he doesn’t have scurvy or ricketts. Jimin was often the one enforcing some semblance of a work-life balance on Jeongguk, though the balance was still way off.
Jeongguk focused on keeping his breathing level as he heard the familiar click clack of Chelsea boots coming down the corridor. He gave a small groan under his breath and braced for impact.
“And what are you still doing here?” Jimin pushed the door open with more force than was really necessary, given the late hour and the fact that they were likely the only two people left in the building.
Jeongguk pried his eyes open and fixed them on his best friend and business partner. As always, despite the long days, Jimin looked immaculate. Jeongguk was absolutely sure at this point that he’d made a crossroads deal with some sort of supernatural being, there was no other explanation for it. Eating right, exercising regularly and getting 9 hours of sleep a night simply did not explain Park Jimin.
He sighed and leaned back in his chair. “I’m reading through the emails for the projects for Samsung. A lot of people care about a lot of really boring details.”
Jimin dropped himself gracefully into the chair opposite Jeongguk’s desk and moved to grab Jeongguk’s laptop out of the laptop stand. A small brawl broke out between them as Jeongguk tried to stop him, but as usual he should have realised he can’t win against Park Jimin.
Jimin pulled the laptop out of the stand, disconnected the cables, saved Jeongguk’s work and then closed the lid. “Go home, Jeonggukkie.” As Jeongguk moved, Jimin moved his laptop out of reach. “I am taking this with me so that you don’t go home and work. Why don’t you do something you enjoy? Go to the gym, order takeout, have a bath, do your nails, something. You’re too young to be this burnt out.”
Jeongguk let out a little whine at having been bested, yet again, by the force of nature that he called a best friend. He sighed and started packing things into his bag, giving Jimin the more than occasional glance that he hoped was as withering as he wanted it to be. Judging by Jimin’s indifferent stance, it did not seem that it was.
“When was the last time we went out,- Gguk-ah?” Jimin asked, taking his messenger bag from his shoulder and placing Jeongguk’s laptop beside his own.
“It was uh. Namjoonie hyung’s birthday?”
“He didn’t go out for his birthday this year, I took him to Switzerland to visit museums.”
Jeongguk pulled a face “... it has to have been more recent than last year… What month are we in?”
Jimin levelled him with an unforgiving stare. “It’s November. Of 2022, in case you’re really struggling-”
“I know what year it is, hyung .” Jeongguk interrupted as he swung his backpack over his shoulders, Haikyuu!! keychains jangling against each other.
Jimin raised both hands in defence. “Alright, just making sure!” Jimin picked up his bag and swung it over his shoulder, then motioned for Jeongguk to leave. “Y’know what? Let’s grab dinner together. Hyung’s treat. It’s been a while since I’ve made sure you’ve eaten a meal.”
“I can take care of myself, hyung,” Jeongguk lied, “but you know I love free food.” He grabbed onto both straps of his backpack, a spring in his step despite his exhaustion.
A short while later, Jimin and Jeongguk are seated in their favourite BBQ place, drinks in hand, waiting for the food to arrive. They’ve been coming to this small, hole-in-the-wall type BBQ restaurant since their university days and very little has changed about it. Jeongguk, ever a creature of habit, loves that about this place. It’s so familiar, and it helps him to relax. His shoulders come down from near his ears and he rolls his neck from side to side, hearing the vertebrae cracking as he moves.
Jeongguk takes a long swig of his beer and sighs. As the meat arrives, he starts loading everything onto the grill. “So, Jiminie hyung, how are things going with Namjoonie hyung? You look as sickeningly in love as ever.” Jeongguk cuts the samgyeopsal into chunks and arranges it on one side.
A warm, fond smile spreads across Jimin’s face and he doesn’t look directly at Jeongguk. “Things are great, Jeonggukkie. I really love him. He just has this like… stable warmth to him, y’know? Like, I get back from a day at work and he’s there, ready with hugs and dinner.”
Jeongguk pauses loading up the grill, “Namjoon hyung can cook?” he says in surprise.
Jimin laughed, bright and airy. “ God no, last time he tried he set the curtains on fire.” His laughter settled back into the fond smile that so often graced his face when talking about his boyfriend of two years. “No, usually he texts asking if I want him to pick something up, or we order together. It’s cute. Domestic. Exactly what I need.”
Jimin goes quiet then, staring at the meat on the grill. Jeongguk fiddles with his lip piercing, not really sure what to say to move the conversation along. Social cues had never been his strong point, so he just tended the grill and waited for Jimin to come back to him.
After a couple of minutes, Jimin seemed to shake himself and looked at Jeongguk. “So, not that I need to ask, but how’s your love life going? Stale and uninteresting, as per usual?” The last part of the sentence was said as he laced his fingers together, placing his chin on top of them, cute smile belying the harsh words leaving his mouth.
Jeongguk frowned and picked up a piece of lamb with the tongs, as if to throw it at Jimin, but then remembered it was lamb and placed it back on the grill. He merely mumbled, turning the rest of the pieces of lamb.
“I don’t understand why you don’t sign up to a dating service, Gguk-ah. You need to meet someone. You’re 25, you’re still young! The last meaningful relationship was with… what was his name again? Min something, Minseok, Minho…”
“Minhyuk, and that ended like. Eighteen months ago.” Jeongguk refused to make eye contact, despite feeling Jimin’s gaze burning into the top of his head. He settled for serving up the meat instead and promptly shoving samgyeopsal into his mouth to avoid being questioned further.
“Eighteen months!” Jimin exclaimed. “Exactly! And have you ever gotten laid since?”
Jeongguk turned the meat with more aggression than was warranted. “It’s not that easy, hyung. People need you to spend time with them, and I don’t have an awful lot of that at the moment, plus there’s all the dates and everything, and when would I even meet them?”
Jimin hummed and left him alone for a couple of minutes whilst they ate, but Jeongguk was not granted peace for long. “Now… don’t say no immediately.”
Jeongguk stops chewing, his cheeks full of food, and stares at his hyung from across the table. Neither of them say anything - Jimin seems to be seeking permission, and Jeongguk’s mouth is so full he couldn’t speak even if he wanted to. He waved his chopsticks as permission.
Placing his chopsticks on his plate, Jimin paused and took a sip of his beer, as if deciding the best way to phrase the next sentence to leave his mouth. “I think… you should sign up for the same service that brought me Namjoon.”
Jeongguk choked on his food. “A sugar baby site? Hyung-”
Jimin interrupted, picking up his chopsticks and levelling them like a deadly weapon. And, in the hands of Jimin, they probably were. “Don’t you dare judge, you have seen first hand how well this can go.”
As he beat his own chest trying to dislodge a clump of rice, Jeongguk thought about it.
It’s true - Jimin had signed up to be a sugar daddy a couple of years ago, much for the same reasons Jeongguk is single. No time or opportunity to meet or date anyone. He did however have an abundance of money. Their… arrangement… had started out as cliché as you would expect, but it very quickly became evident that they were both falling head over heels for each other. Two years later, Jimin and Namjoon lived together, taking care of several house plants (Namjoon) sporting an array of matching knitted sweaters for the humans, and little hats for the plants (Jimin).
Drinking his beer to further procrastinate before giving an answer, as well as help to wash the rice down, Jeongguk thinks about it in relation to his own life. He supposed that he wasn’t necessarily looking for the love of his life, just someone to have fun with and maybe spoil rotten. He further supposed that Jimin could be onto something.
“I think” Jeongguk started slowly, making eye contact with Jimin, “I’m going to sign up to the sugar baby site.”
Jimin’s face split into a warm smile, causing his eyes to crinkle at the edges. “That’s great, Jeonggukkie! I’ll show you the app later.” He chewed happily on a slice of beef, looking fondly at Jeongguk. Jeongguk couldn’t help but think there would be repercussions from this, but he returned the smile and carried on eating.
After dinner, Jimin invited Jeongguk over to his and Namjoon’s place with the bribing factor of cuddles with their new puppy to sweeten the deal. Jeongguk was a homebody by nature, but even his homing instincts could be swayed by the promise of time spent with a dog.
Before they entered the apartment, Jimin stopped at the door to take his shoes off. “She’s a little bitey with shoes. If you value yours, take them off and put them on the shelf by the door.” Jeongguk followed suit, unzipping his boots and toeing them off, revealing a pair of white toe socks. They both stared at his feet.
“You’re an abomination, do you know that?” Jimin said as he keyed in the code for the apartment. Jeongguk made an indignant noise whilst wiggling his toes, however his murmuring soon came to a halt when he heard tiny little yaps coming from the apartment.
Carefully, Jimin pushed the door open and the sound of claws scrabbling across wood flooring met them. Barely able to contain his squeal of excitement, Jeongguk dropped into a squat as soon as they were through the door and it closed behind them. As he crouched, Jimin stepped over him and ventured further into the apartment. “Babe, we’re home!” He dropped his messenger bag and the sound of socked footsteps on wood flooring followed the scrambling claws. Both Namjoon and a very small, very pudgy corgi rounded the corner into the hallway at the exact same time. The corgi got scooped up by Jeongguk, and Namjoon was scooped up by Jimin.
Jeongguk promptly dropped to his ass as he picked up the stout little canine, letting out a tiny screech as the dog began to lick his face. “Oh my gosh she’s the cutest , what’s her name?”
Jimin and Namjoon froze, which Jeongguk considered to be a strange reaction to such a simple question. Namjoon chuckled and looked anywhere except at Jimin, whereas Jimin seemed determined to bore a hole in Namjoon’s skull with just his gaze alone.
“Hah, funny story, her name’s Seraph!” Namjoon chuckled, scratching the back of his neck whilst inspecting the ceiling.
Jeongguk cooed at Seraph, who he was now cradling like a baby. “Seraph, what an unusual name. Where did it come from?”
If at all possible, Jimin’s stare got more intense, like he was trying to pin Namjoon to the wall with it. “My dear, would you like to tell the story or shall I?”
Namjoon looked at his socked feet, pouting. “It’s not that bad.”
“ Not that bad?” Jimin said incredulously. Namjoon squeaked, and to be fair Jeongguk almost did as well. Jimin was using The Tone, and not many mortal people heard The Tone and came out unscathed. “Namjoon, our fucking dog is called Surfboard. ”
Silence fell over the small room, save for the panting of the chubby puppy, still happily laying in Jeongguk’s arms. All of a sudden, Jeongguk felt a rumble of laughter bubble up through his gut, which he could barely suppress. He tried to hold it in, as Jimin did not look like he was in a laughing mood. Jeongguk’s shoulders began to shake with the effort of holding in the laughter. Surfboard the corgi began to squirm, jumped down from Jeongguk’s lap and over towards Namjoon, jumped up at his legs but then overbalanced and fell on her back like a helpless turtle.
This was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and Jeongguk erupted into laughter. Namjoon bent down to scoop Surfboard up and coo into her fur. Jimin pinched the bridge of his nose as he started to explain. “We couldn’t decide on a name for her. Anything we settled on, she wouldn’t answer to. It took us days , Jeongguk-ah.”
Jeongguk tried to steady his breathing as he wiped tears from his eyes. “Sorry, yes. Serious situation about a dog called Surf-f-f-fboard.” He huffed on the f’s as the laughter threatened to overtake his body once again.
Namjoon took over the story. “Eventually, we both just. Started saying random names to see what she’d respond to. I ran out of names so I just started saying objects that I could think of. And uh. That’s how Surfboard got her name.”
At mention of her name, Surfboard’s ears pricked up and she placed a comically large lick on Namjoon’s cheeks. Jimin looked exhausted.
“We had to come up with a nickname for her to use at the vet because there’s absolutely no fucking way I was gonna register her under the name Surfboard. Jimin stuck out his hand to help Jeongguk off the floor and the three of them plus Surfboard headed into the living room.
Once situated on and around the couch, Jimin asked for Jeonnguk’s phone. Jeongguk unlocked it and handed it over. Within a few minutes, the app had been installed and the three of them were gathered around the phone setting up Jeongguk’s profile. They wrote a description collaboratively that, in Namjoon’s words, toed the line between cute and spicy just enough for it to be interesting. Finally, they uploaded a few pictures and a video Jimin took of Jeongguk sitting on the floor with Surfboard between his knees, and then they started swiping around.
After a little while of not many right-swipes, a profile appeared on the screen that prompted a noise from Jimin that was not unlike a copper tea kettle boiling on a stove. Jimin snatched the phone from a befuddled Jeongguk and swiped furiously through the pictures on the profile.
“Jeongguk, Jeongguk, do you have any idea who this is?!” Jimin waved Jeongguk’s own phone in his face.
“I think I’d have a better idea of finding out if you kept the fucking phone still, hyung.”
Jimin rolled his eyes. “Namjoon, turn on the tv please sweetheart?” He opened YouTube and tapped away on the keyboard as Namjoon leaned over and retrieved the remote. A minute or so later and Jimin had cast the phone to the tv, a video paused on screen. The backdrop of the video was a landscape with trees, hills and an approximation of a giraffe.
Jimin’s thumb hovered over Jeongguk’s screen. “This man, that you will be swiping right on-” Jimin held up a hand to stop Jeongguk from protesting before he could even open his mouth. “-This man is such a phenomenally good dancer. The way he moves his body is insane, he’s so captivating to watch. It's like he leads the beat instead of the beat leading him…”
As Jimin waxed poetic about a man that wasn’t even on screen, Jeongguk looked over to Namjoon, who simply shrugged and looked at the screen.
Eventually, Jimin’s tirade came to a stop and he pressed play on the video. A song with a tropical beat started up and a man in an enormously oversized white shirt, the most brightly coloured baggy sweatpants and a bucket hat covered in pins danced into frame. As he made eye contact with the camera, the brightest and most heart-shaped smile Jeongguk had ever seen overtook the man’s face.
Jimin was absolutely right, the man was captivating to watch. His energy was evident in every move he made, his giggles louder than the music he was dancing to. He kept talking to the camera, little affirmations that made Jeongguk’s heart happy in a way he couldn’t quite explain, and before he knew it Jeongguk found himself smiling along with the man on the screen.
After the video ended, Jeongguk swivelled around on his butt to face a rather smug-looking Jimin. “ That is Jung Hoseok. He’s an elementary school teacher who makes dance videos. I stumbled across them in the pandemic and have kept up with his channel ever since.” Jimin started tapping on the screen again and another video loaded.
Three videos later Jeongguk snatched back his phone, switched back to the app and pressed ‘like’ so hard he thought he’d cracked both his phone screen and his thumb. A little pop-up notification appeared that read Great! Make the first move and send a message! and the small smile quickly fell off Jeongguk’s face.
“It’s telling me to make the first move, hyungs.” he said, turning his big doe eyes on Namjoon and Jimin.
Namjoon leaned forward, an excited grin on his face that made his unfairly large dimples poke out. “What are you gonna say?”
“Probably not that I just watched him dance for 20 minutes straight and I think that if he smiled directly at me it would cure my bad posture.”
Namjoon’s smile faltered a little “No, no, probably not the best opening gambit in the world... though probably not the worst.” He leaned back thoughtfully and put his hand on Jimin’s thigh, absently squeezing gently. “What d’you think, Meemers?”
When Jimin said nothing, they both turned to look at him. Jimin was lost in his own phone, videos of this Hoseok person playing on the screen and Jimin talking under his breath about the way he moves .
Namjoon looked back at Jeongguk, “Guess it’s just you and me, kid. Now, let’s write you a great opening message.”
☀️
Hoseok was curled up on his couch, watching a documentary about dancing on his screen that he was only partially paying attention to as he was painting his nails. He loved to unwind like this on a Friday night after a long week at school. He loved his children; they were the reason he went to work in the morning, but goddamn everything else was exhausting. His party days were few and far between now; the fact that if he went to a club with the aim of picking someone up he runs the risk of potentially hooking up with one of his kids’ parents makes him several different kinds of uncomfortable. So Friday nights tend to go like this, or at a bar or café instead. He liked that just fine.
He put the brush back into the bottle of yellow and admired his nails - he had managed to paint little sunflowers on the ring finger and thumb of each hand, and then painted the others yellow to complement them. He blew on his nails to dry them as he turned his attention to the screen.
The notification sound on his phone pinged as the screen lit up, his phone buzzing on the coffee table. Hoseok glanced down to look at the screen - it was an email. He picked his phone up and opened the message. “ Hobibobi218 - You have a new message on Arrangements! 👀” Hoseok groaned; he had deleted the sugar baby app from his phone after a week or so of downloading it. He thought he had developed an almost terminal case of the ick due to the messages he had received during his short tenure on the app.
However, he sees the username “ abcdefghi__lmnopqrstuvwxyz ” and it gives him pause. He’s used to seeing names like “ DaddyKim86” and “ AlphaMale01” and even some more unsavoury ones that got rather creative with punctuation, but this one is not only not straight and to the point, it’s not offensive to look at. He figured he hesitated long enough that the message might be worth a read. Besides, he had nothing better to do and making grown men cry on the internet sounds like a fun way to pass a Friday night.
He closed his emails and opened the app store. A few minutes later, he was logged back into the app and could see the little red “99+” above the messages icon. Whoops , he thought to himself. He clicked through, found the message he was looking for and opened it.
abcdefghi__lmnopqrstuvwxyz
22:19
Hi
Hoseok sighed. All of this effort for the most basic boring message out there in existence. He looked at the profile picture accompanying the username and felt his eyebrows pitch upwards. Now that was a handsome man. Surprisingly young looking, tall, and if the way his t-shirt hung on his body was anything to go by then he was well built too. Beautiful smile, beautiful eyes, and nice hair. Hoseok was certainly intrigued.
Hoseok clicked on his profile and saw the green “ online now!” banner underneath the profile picture. The usual attributes were listed there - age, marital status, looking for, interests - which Hoseok looked over. He was surprised to see that this man was three years younger than him. His bio was a single sentence - “The dog’s name is Surfboard.”
Clicking on the profile picture to enlarge it, Hoseok swiped through the photos. “Goddamn. ” Hoseok said out loud to absolutely nobody. Sure enough, the last video was a kinda dark clip of the man hunched over a corgi that was laid in his lap like a baby.
A notification appeared at the top of his screen. “ User abcdefghi__lmnopqrstuvwxyz has sent you a new message!”
Hoseok clicked on it.
abcdefghi__lmnopqrstuvwxyz
22:21
I realise now that sending a basic “hi” wasn’t a great way to start things
And neither was that
Fuck
Oh fuck I swore
Shit I said fuck
Hhhhhhhhhhhhh
My hyung said I should stop typing :c
The messages popped up in real time, and each one squeezed a fresh giggle out of Hoseok. He decided he was endeared enough to respond.
hobibobi218
22:23
Everything okay there? 🤔
After a few minutes and the Typing… message appearing and disappearing no less than twelve times, the man replied.
abcdefghi__lmnopqrstuvwxyz
22:27
… that depends, are you charmed or annoyed?
hobibobi218
22:28
Well that depends, user alphabet soup
abcdefghi__lmnopqrstuvwxyz
22:28
On what?
hobibobi218
22:29
On whether you’re charming or annoying
The man disappeared again for a few minutes before Typing… appeared back on the screen
abcdefghi__lmnopqrstuvwxyz
22:31
Namjoonie hyung said I’m charming in an annoying way and Jimin hyung said I’m annoying in a charming way
That pulled an actual laugh out of Hoseok and he decided he was in fact charmed enough to carry on the conversation. There was something about this user that seemed different from the other people Hoseok had the misfortune of meeting through this app. Perhaps it was that he was younger than Hoseok. Perhaps it was that he was actually showcasing some sort of personality that didn’t revolve around how big his bank balance or his dick was. Whatever it was, Hoseok was intrigued.
They continued to talk through the app for an hour or so, Hoseok fastidiously undertaking his nightly skincare routine during their back and forth. As he climbed into bed, he found himself not wanting to say goodnight just yet. Hoseok had learned that Jeongguk - user alphabet soup’s name - owned a video production company which he started right out of university, he was as particular about being neat and clean as Hoseok was, and that he was scared of microwaves.
Hoseok had a good feeling about Jeongguk - good enough that, when Jeongguk suggested meeting up the following day at a café equidistant from both of them, Hoseok didn’t hesitate to say yes.
Hoseok fell asleep that night clutching his phone, still open on the app, a smile on his face.
The bright November sunlight streamed through Hoseok’s cheap blinds and onto his face, waking him slowly. Hoseok scrunched his eyes closed tightly, moved out of the offending sunbeam and curled himself into a little ball. Sleep had hidden itself somewhere in the bedsheets, though, so Hoseok reluctantly slid himself out of bed and onto the floor, where he sat and scratched his head until his brain came to life.
With well-practised automaticity, he pulled out his yoga mat from under his bed, opened his window and began stretching in his cramped bedroom. The chilly air danced briskly around his room, aiding his mission towards waking up completely. His body moved through his yoga stretches as his mind made lists of things he needed to achieve that weekend.
Hoseok leaned forward in a crouch, weight on his hands and raised his feet off the ground. He breathed through the exercise, letting his mind wander back to the conversations he had with Jeongguk the night before. A pleasant tingle ran through his stomach. It was at that unfortunate moment when he remembered his meeting with Jeongguk that afternoon. He panicked and ended up overbalancing, his weight going from his hands to his nose as his face collided with the mat beneath him.
Disentangling his legs from around his ears, Hoseok scrambled for his phone to check the time. He had roughly four hours to prepare, so he dashed for his bathroom as he shot a quick text to the group chat letting them know what was happening before throwing his phone onto the too-small couch by the bathroom door.
Once he had showered and done his skincare routine, he left the bathroom wrapped in a white bathrobe, towelling his wavy black hair dry. He grabbed his phone on the way to his kitchenette, stepping around the breakfast bar and leaning to turn on the expensive coffee machine Jin had bought him as a birthday present. As he pulled a mug from the cabinet, he felt his phone vibrate repeatedly in his hand so he checked his notifications. 137 messages in the groupchat, 3 on the app. Moderately alarmed at the number of messages in the group chat in the fifteen minutes Hoseok was in the bathroom, he decided to navigate his way there first.
🦒SAY COLORADO🦒
Jin hyung
10:04am
But what if he’s a cannibal?
Yoongi hyung
10:04am
Or a podcast bro?
Jin hyung
10:05am
Or one of those awful gym bros?
Taehyungie🥰
10:05am
Or short?
Yoongi hyung
10:06am
There is nothing wrong with being short
Taehyungie🥰
10:06am
There’s nothing right with it either
Yoongi hyung
10:06am
???????
Taehyungie🥰
10:06am
The all have Napoleon complexes
Yoongi hyung
10:07am
I will fight you
Taehyungie🥰
10:07am
If you can reach
Yoongi hyung
10:08am
Jin hyung, control your boyfriend
Jin hyung
10:08am
Even if I could, I wouldn’t
Hoseok sighed and rolled his eyes, putting his phone down on the counter as he made his coffee. They were still messaging each other, but as it didn’t seem to directly involve him, he switched over to the app to read Jeongguk’s messages.
abcdefghi__lmnopqrstuvwxyz
10:03am
I’m looking forward to meeting you today 😊
Also if you see a very pretty himbo and a beautiful-yet-terrifying-looking man somewhere in the café, please tell me
Joonie and Jimin hyung are threatening to chaperone
As Hoseok’s phone was still vibrating in his hand, he tabbed back to the group chat.
🦒 SAY COLORADO 🦒
Jin hyung
10:13am
I’m just saying, if Hobah gets his liver eaten, I’m taking back the coffee machine
Yoongi hyung
10:14am
But what would you pair Hobah with?
Jin hyung
10:14am
Some fava beans and a fine chianti, obviously
Hobibobi
10:15am
Guys (°ロ°)
Please stop talking about eating me, unless it’s in the fun way (￢‿￢ )
Besides, this was YOUR IDEA, Yoongi hyung
And Jeonggukkie seems nice
I will share my location so you know where I am
But now I have a date to get ready for
Toodles ＼(⌒▽⌒)
Hoseok muted the group chat and took a sip of his coffee. He tabbed back over to the app and sent a reply to Jeongguk before going through to his room to pick out an outfit.
☀️
Jeongguk arrived at the cafe earlier than their meeting time to ensure he could pick out the best table. He picked one with good lighting and a view of the door, so he could see when Hoseok came in. He didn’t want to be a creep about it, but he also didn’t want the surprise of Hoseok coming up behind him, startling him and him spilling his coffee all over himself. Not that he’d thought about it and calculated the percentage likelihood of it happening (15.63%). So far, he’d sat at three different sides of the table, then had an internal crisis about the fact that the tables were round and therefore technically only had one side, before settling on a position at the table.
Once he received a text from Hoseok saying he was on the way, Jeongguk ordered for both of them. He then spent a not insignificant amount of time deciding how he should sit at the table, adjusted himself every few seconds whilst staring at the door trying not to look like he was staring at the door.
It had been… a while… since Jeongguk had been on a date, and it would be fair to say he was nervous. The fact that this date came with certain expectations should have made things easier, but in fact it just made it harder - Jeongguk had even less of an idea what to expect than he would have from a normal date. He was just meeting up with a potential sugar baby to discuss a mutually beneficial arrangement between the two of them, no biggie! Except, yes biggie - from his only frame of reference, this could lead to a long-term relationship and adopting a dog called Surfboard, but realistically was more likely not to lead to them falling in love and raising several plants together. Either way, Jeongguk was more nervous than he had ever been for a date - the awareness of the context of their meeting making him more jittery than he normally would be.
Jeongguk had made slightly more effort than he would for a normal date; after much persuasion, Jimin had convinced him to leave the Haikyuu socks at home on the condition that Jeongguk was allowed to wear his lucky Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles boxers. His normally erratic hair had been very neatly styled by Jimin to look like he’d made no effort with it, when actually it took a concerning amount of effort. It was ever so slightly curly and brushed artfully over to one side, secured by an ungodly amount of hairspray and pomade. Jeongguk was slightly frightened to touch it. He pulled down the hem of his white collarless shirt to tuck it into his jeans, only to untuck it and re-tuck it two more times before giving up and hoping Hoseok wouldn’t notice. Whilst he was trying to arrange his shirt, the barista arrived at his table with their drinks and placed them in front of Jeongguk. He thanked the barista, pulled out his wallet and gave him a tip. He wasn’t even sure you were supposed to tip baristas, but he needed something to do with his hands and this was the apparent solution his brain had supplied him with.
Jeongguk picked up his coffee and had a sip, burnt his mouth, then promptly put his drink back on the table. Eyebrows knitted together, mouth opening and closing, he went back to surveilling the door and wondering what Hoseok would be like in person.
“Jeongguk-ssi?” said a voice right by Jeongguk’s elbow.
Jeongguk made a noise not too dissimilar to that of someone standing on a small chipmunk, whilst simultaneously flinching so hard that both knees banged into the table, spilling his coffee. Wondering whether to take a second to compose himself or if that ship had sailed, he felt his face heat up. Fuck it , he decided, I already look like a moron, couldn’t get much worse than this . He ran his hand through his hair in what he hoped was a cool fashion, then turned in his chair. He was met with the brightest smile he had ever seen in his life - and he knew Namjoon, so like, fuck . Not only that, but Hoseok was dressed like he’d just fallen out of the pages of Esquire - he was in a grey suit jacket with oranges on, with a dark khaki tank top underneath, black hair half swept back half hanging over his forehead.
“Are you okay there, Jeongguk-ssi?” Hoseok tilted his head to a side, mouth pinched into a ㅅ shape as he handed Jeongguk some napkins. “Your hair is uh…” Hoseok waved his hand in front of his own head.
Jeongguk did not know it was possible to be any more embarrassed than he was, but it turned out that rock bottom did in fact have a false floor. He quickly pulled his phone from his pocket and inspected his hair in the front-facing camera. Jeongguk let out some sort of squawk as he saw that his perfectly coiffed hair had turned into a home for small woodland creatures. He was also vaguely aware that coffee had begun to drip into his shoe. Completely at a loss as to which problem to solve first, he decided to do neither.
“Where… uhm, where did you come from, Hoseok-ssi?” Jeongguk asked, smiling weakly.
Hoseok smiled as he took the chair opposite Jeongguk. “I came in through the door at the other side of the café.”
Jeongguk mentally cursed himself for forgetting about the second door, whilst he ducked under the table to retrieve his comb from his bag. “I uh, I ordered your coffee! It shouldn’t be too cold, it arrived not long before you did!” Jeongguk said as he tried to run his comb through his hair. The hairspray-pomade combination was proving too powerful, though, and Jeongguk felt the comb tangle in his hair. He let out another defeated little whine as his shoulders slumped.
Hoseok chuckled, got up from his seat and took over. He freed the comb from Jeongguk’s hair and brushed it into a neat approximation of his former hairstyle. “You’re kinda pathetic, huh? I like that in a man.”
Jeongguk was starting to question the amount of luck left in his lucky boxers. “I was actually trying very hard to make a good first impression.”
Hoseok huffed out a laugh through his nose as he sat down again. “It’s very cute that you ordered my drink for me, that was very thoughtful of you.” He smiled at Jeongguk from across the table. “So um. Do you have any idea how this is supposed to work?”
“Not at all.” Jeongguk wiped up the spilled coffee from the table with one napkin, then tried to subtly tuck another one into his shoe to dry out his very plain, non-Haikyuu socks.
Hoseok took pity on him and handed him another napkin. “Then, I guess we just get to know each other in person and see what we want to do at the end?” He hit Jeongguk with a full smile, which was the equivalent of checking your phone at 3am to be met with the full brightness of your screen. Good God, this man’s smile is beautiful Jeongguk thought to himself.
“Oh, thank you!” Hoseok smiled again, a little more bashfully this time.
Jeongguk’s face dropped a little “... Did… did I say the inside thought out loud?”
“Yeah, you did.” Hoseok took a sip of his coffee and leaned back in his chair. “I hate small talk, so, tell me something you’ve never told anyone”
Without hesitating, Jeongguk said “One time, I couldn’t find my gloves, so I just wore toe socks on my hands.” He took a sip of his coffee, thinking perhaps he should have hesitated a little.
Hoseok barked out a laugh “That’s funny; I was in Japan in winter a few years ago and I wanted to buy some leggings to go under my jeans, but I couldn’t remember the word for it so I asked the store owner for ‘gloves for my legs’ whilst doing a little mime.” Hoseok had moved his torso to the side of the table and was furiously miming pulling something over his legs.
Jeongguk laughed, genuinely, for the first time since he walked into the café. “That’s insane, Hoseok-ssi”
“Oh I’m sorry, Mr Socks-for-Gloves” he drew himself back and put an indignant hand on his chest, but joined in the laughter “anyway, call me hyung. I think now that I’ve combed your hair for you and helped you dry your socks, we’re at the comfortable stage.”
Jeongguk whined “Am I ever going to live this down?”
“Not whilst I have air in my lungs, no.” Hoseok smirked as he took another drink of his coffee. Jeongguk felt something stir in his chest.
They lapsed into comfortable conversation after that, Jeongguk ordering more drinks for them, but eventually he heard Hoseok’s stomach let out a loud grumble.
Their conversation ground to a halt as both of them stared at Hoseok’s stomach. Jeongguk turned to look out the window and saw his reflection staring back at him. They’d been there so long, night had ambushed them. Jeongguk looked at Hoseok, “I’m having a really fun time, and I don’t really want to go home yet. I know a really good restaurant not far from here, do you maybe wanna grab dinner with me too? I’m paying, of course.”
Hoseok was about to protest when his stomach let out another growl.
Jeongguk smiled smugly “It’s settled, then. Come on, let’s go.” He removed the napkins from his shoe, stood and shrugged himself into his coat and scarf. Hoseok stood and did the same. Jeongguk offered an elbow for Hoseok, who smiled and took it.
As Jeongguk opened the door with his gloved hand, Hoseok piped up “Are they definitely gloves, Finger Toes?”
Jeongguk fired back “I will turn this arrangement around and go home, hyung, is that what you want?”
They were both laughing as they walked out into the night.
A few hours later, after an excellent dinner at a fairly quiet restaurant has been devoured, the pair have settled back into comfortable conversation. Hoseok tries to stifle yawns behind his hand, but the week at school had taken its toll on him and he was full and could feel the exhaustion settling. He knew he would need to go home soon, so he steered the conversation to the carefully forgotten matter at hand.
“So, Jeonggukkie, not that I’m not having a wonderful time - honestly this is the best first date I’ve been on in a while - but we did meet for a purpose, so perhaps we should… discuss that purpose?” Hoseok delicately moves the ice cubes in his glass around with his straw, fixing Jeongguk with a stare.
Jeongguk inhales sharply - it’s not that he’d forgotten about the circumstances of their meeting, he was just having such a good time with Hoseok that it had temporarily slipped his mind. “Oh, for sure, yeah, naturally, like, totally!” he reached up and scratched the back of his neck, a nervous blush rising in his cheeks. “I just didn’t wanna bring it up too soon and freak you out, you know, the weird stranger propositioning you within minutes of meeting you.” He smiles bashfully and suddenly becomes very interested in his hands. “I am very glad you’ve had a nice time despite the uh. Everything about how you met me.” he twiddles his fingers, eventually daring to look up at Hoseok, who is smiling very fondly at him.
“I had a nice time because of how I met you. You put me at ease straight away even though I’m sure you were dying on the inside.” Hoseok paused as Jeongguk nodded gently, “So, I’d really like to arrange something between the two of us.”
Jeongguk’s face lit up “I had a really good time with you too, Hoseok hyung, and if you’re game for this arrangement, then so am I.”
Leaning forward in his seat, Hoseok hit Jeongguk with another full-wattage smile.
Jeongguk was not sure how many more of those he could take.
“Okay then Jeonggukkie, then let’s do this. Shall we agree on at least one date a week?”
“That sounds great, hyung. I’d obviously love to see you more if I can.”
Hoseok leaned back, a very serious look suddenly settling on his face. “As you know, I’m a teacher and I take my career very seriously - my kids will always come first. However, I am usually predictably busy - I know when I’m going to be working really long hours and I know when the easier periods are. I will let you know in advance when those periods are so that if I have to go a week or two without a date then at least you know not to worry.”
Jeongguk nodded thoughtfully, “Okay great, maybe we can have set nights? Do you have certain nights of the week that are better for you?”
“Mm, either Fridays or Saturdays tend to work well for me, also I can make Wednesdays work too. What kind of expectations do you have from our um. Dates?” Hoseok looked at Jeongguk with an intensity that had not been there previously, and it made the back of Jeongguk’s neck heat up.
“I don’t really have any expectations, hyung. I think you’re hot as hell , like alarmingly so, but I also enjoy talking to you. Obviously I would like for us to do the sex-”
“Say that again?”
“I’d rather not, actually, that was quite embarrassing.” Jeongguk scrunched his nose up but ploughed on regardless. “I would like that, but I know being a teacher must be exhausting, so I have no expectations, just spending time is good enough for me.” He paused and smiled at Hoseok, hoping that’s exactly what he wanted to hear. It seems to be, as Hoseok’s face is relaxed again and he’s back to hiding yawns, his mouth fluttering trying to hold a yawn in. “How much shall we agree with regards to payments?”
Hoseok sat up straight, shifting in his seat. “Uh, I really don’t think that’s my place to say, since it’s your money.”
Jeongguk considered this for a moment, and then opened the calculator app on his phone “Okay, well, do you know how much you get paid per hour?”
“Around ₩24,000”
“That’s it? I knew it was bad but fuck me…” Jeongguk picked up his phone and started tapping away, Hoseok watching in uncomfortable silence. After a few moments, Jeongguk put his phone down and slid it towards Hoseok, the notes app visible on the screen. “Okay well I propose we operate on both a flat rate and hourly rate basis - when we arrange a date, you will be guaranteed a flat rate of ₩350,000 per date. Anything above that - say for example, sleepovers - will be paid at an hourly rate of ₩48,000 per hour. I will also be paying for any expenses on the date and expenses relating to the date. Does that sound agreeable?”
As he finished speaking Jeongguk looked at Hoseok, whose eyes were bugging out of his skull and flicking back and forth between Jeongguk and his phone. After a moment or two, Hoseok’s brain seemed to kick back into life and he stuttered “Ah- agreeable? That’s insane, Jeonggukie. That’s a fuckload of money. ₩350,000 is nearly 3 days’ pay for me, are you - is this…” Hoseok trailed off and Jeongguk couldn’t help but laugh.
“Listen hyung, I am a child of generational wealth. I also own my own company, of which Jimin is financial director, which I know doesn’t mean much to you now, but if you meet him you’ll get it. He actually signed me up for the app, so I’d say this financial venture is entirely backed by my CFO. Don’t worry, everything is fine.”
Hoseok seemed to consider Jeongguk’s words for a good few minutes in silence. He got his own phone out and started clicking away. After a while, he slipped his phone back in his pocket, looking Jeongguk dead in the eyes, a smirk on his face. “You know, you speaking business like that was really fucking hot.”
Jeongguk let out a surprised oing ? whilst pointing at himself, which made Hoseok laugh. “Yes you. And yes, I’d say those terms are agreeable , if it’s honestly okay with you.”
“It’s fine, hyung.” He unlocked his phone again and brought up his notes app “please give me your bank account details, if that’s convenient for you, or we can decide another way to transfer money.”
Hoseok took Jeongguk’s phone delicately, like it might bite his hand off if he didn’t hold it right. He wrote down his bank details and handed the phone back. Jeongguk fiddled with his phone for a few minutes, and then Hoseok’s phone vibrated. He pulled his phone from his pocket.
Jeon Jeongguk has sent you ₩350,000
Hoseok made an indignant noise, eyes bulging. “Hey, no fair, I didn’t know we’d started.”
Rolling his eyes at Hoseok, Jeongguk said “Hyung, you literally combed my hair for me minutes after we’d met, I think you deserve compensation for... All of this.” Jeongguk waved his hand at himself. “Now, as it’s late, please let me pay for your taxi home. I don’t want you to get the subway at this hour.”
“Absolutely fucking not, you just sent me a frankly ridiculous amount of money, I can get my own taxi.”
“Aht aht, I said I’d pay for all date-related expenses, remember?” It was Jeongguk’s turn to smirk as he booked a couple of Kakao Taxis, causing Hoseok to frown slightly.
“I think I preferred the Jeongguk who spilled coffee in his shoe.” Hoseok grumbled, which made Jeongguk laugh, his face scrunched up.
As their taxis arrived, they stood and Jeongguk helped Hoseok with his coat, then walked into the night together. They lingered outside, neither of them wanting to part.
Jeongguk was the first to speak. “I had a really, really good time with you, Hoseok hyung, and I really can’t wait to see you again.” Smiling bashfully, he took one of Hoseok’s hands in his own, and played with his fingers gently. “Can I… would it be okay if I… I mean… we just met but I was wondering-”
Hoseok leaned up on his tiptoes to press their lips together, chastely and gently, silencing Jeongguk in the process. Jeongguk let out a mmpfh ! of surprise, but then closed his eyes, exhaled gently and smiled into the kiss, his hands coming up to cup Hoseok’s face.
Jeongguk pulled back first, opened his eyes and smiled. “Yeah, that.” He turned to look at their taxis. “Text me when you get home?”
Hoseok nodded, a hint of pink high in his cheeks. Jeongguk thought he could get quite addicted to making him blush like that. After another quick kiss, Jeongguk led Hoseok to his taxi, opened the door and ushered him inside. He waited on the kerb until Hoseok’s taxi had peeled away, and then got into his own. No sooner than Jeongguk’s taxi had pulled into the road, Jeongguk’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He smiled as he fished it out and opened his messages.
Hoseok hyung
10:36pm
I had a really great time this evening
Get home safe, Finger Toes (>ᴗ•)♡
Jeongguk giggles and tabs into his group chat with Namjoon and Jimin.
🏄Cowabunga Dudes🏄
Jyakay
10:37pm
Jyaman
Thank you
So much
Joonie hyung
10:38pm
I take it the date went well?
Jyakay
10:39pm
Despite everything about me, yes
Just heading home now
He’s so!!!!!
Jyaman
10:40pm
First of all, no negative self talk in this household, I’ve raised you better
Secondly, I told you this app would be worth it
Thirdly, is he as lovely in person as he comes across in his videos?
Tell me everything 🍿🍿
Joonie hyung
10:41pm
He’s not joking, he does actually have popcorn
[Image attached]
Jyakay
10:42pm
Omg Surfboard hi 🥺
I’ll come over tomorrow
But it went great and we’re going to keep seeing each other
Jyaman
10:43pm
Icb you’re making me wait
After all I’ve done for you
Jeongguk decided to let Jimin stew in favour of playing back details of the date in his head like the delicate way Hoseok’s hand fit inside his, and the way Hoseok hummed when he was thinking. He brought up his messages with Hoseok.
Jyakay
10:45pm
Please tell me you don’t have me saved in your phone as Finger Toes
Hoseok hyung
10:45pm
Fine, I won’t (◕‿◕)
Jyakay
10:46pm
Fuck’s sake
What’s your week looking like this week?
Can I see you again?
Hoseok hyung
10:47pm
Omg obsessed with me 🙄💁♂️
Either Wednesday or Saturday work for me this week
Wednesday would be good so I can gossip about you on Friday with my friends (μ‿μ)
Jyakay
10:48pm
Eye-
Fine, Wednesday it is
I’m going to gossip about you tomorrow so
nyer
😘
They carried on texting for the rest of the evening, and by the time Jeongguk said his goodnights and went to bed, he had a feeling he was already down atrocious for the man powered by sunbeams.