bangtan mod (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bangtanmod) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
bangtanexchange2015-02-22 01:31 pm
bangtanmod) wrote in bangtanexchange2015-02-22 01:31 pm
Entry tags:
for everyone: ready, set
Title: ready, set
Recipient: Everyone
Pairing: hoseok/taehyung
Rating: pg
Word count: 2607
Warnings: n/a
Summary: Hoseok's mornings become a little more interesting.
Author's notes: enjoy /o/ wanted to make it more of a slow burn thing but ran out of time so might revisit later orz
"You're gonna be late," Hoseok's mom calls up the stairs, as Hoseok hops for balance on one foot, trying to get his sock on the other.
Hoseok gets the sock on and skids on now-socked feet to his desk, throwing notebooks into his backpack. He swipes his phone screen, checks it, and grins. "No I'm not," he calls back, tossing his backpack over his shoulder and thundering down the stairs.
His mom greets him with an unamused face and a slice of toast. "How are you going to go to work in the future if your morning habits are like this?"
"I love you umma," Hoseok declares brightly, ignoring her question as he takes the toast, smiling triumphantly when a corner of her mouth quirks up against her will. "See you later!"
Shoes slipped on, striped tie on haphazardly, Hoseok ditches the elevator in favor for three flights of stairs and makes it onto the street in record time. He should get a medal for this, he thinks, checking his phone again - 6:32 a.m. - then looking up to check the handful of kids in his school uniform that are trudging down the street in front of him, counting heads. Five, like usual. Totally safe.
Hoseok doesn't talk to any of the kids on the way to school, partly because he doesn't really know them, but more because most kids aren't morning people and his few prior attempts have been greeted with halfhearted nods or blank stares. He doesn't know any of their names, but knows all their faces, and he personally enjoys a silent feeling of camaraderie whenever they pool at a crosswalk, waiting for the walk signal to go off, with their respective breadbuns and banana milk containers.
Then he notices their school's uniform across the street, too - a lone boy waiting for the other walk signal to go off. Just like any other kid, except, well, this kid's hair is dyed. Which is against regulations. Not that Hoseok is a stickler for rules or anything, but there are plenty of teachers and straightlaced kids who are, and he's kind of surprised. He's about to take a closer look, but the light changes and everyone starts moving; he loses the boy in the crowd of bobbing heads.
He doesn't see the kid on the rest of his way to school, and thinks, idly, wow, he must be a fast walker.
Fifteen minutes later, he shoves the thought to the back of his mind as he realizes he has to sprint the last fifty yards or so to make it on time. He should've known his mom would always be right.
Hoseok forgets about brown-haired boy until he sees him again the next day, at the same time, in the same place, across the intersection. Closer inspection tells him that brown-haired boy is sort of good looking, in a boyish kind of way: his dyed hair is cut neatly, bangs just dipping into half-open eyes trained on his phone screen, and his mouth is skewed as he chews on his bottom lip. Hoseok mirrors the action unconsciously, then smiles when he realizes it.
And the light changes and everyone begins their mass exodus into the street and Hoseok wonders if he's going to be cutting it close yet again as he weaves through the crowd, quickening his pace a little.
At any rate, Hoseok finds out that brown-haired boy is surprisingly on time everyday, and after two weeks, Hoseok takes to using him as an unofficial clock in the morning: if the kid is at the intersection and crosses before Hoseok reaches the same spot, then Hoseok is on schedule and good to go. Sure, it'd be safer to just go by the clock - and maybe listen to his mom and actually wake up a little earlier - but looking for brown-haired boy makes his morning less bland, grants him something interesting to focus on instead of everyone's I'd-rather-be-in-bed faces. Not that he wouldn't rather be in bed, too, but since he's up, might as well act the part.
Thinking about it, though, it's kind of ironic, because brown-haired boy has a pair of the sleepiest eyes that Hoseok's ever seen, though probably not sleepy enough to beat out Yoongi.
"Do you know anyone who goes here who has dyed hair?" Hoseok asks during lunchtime.
"Dyed hair?" Namjoon squints. "That's not allowed, right? Remember, I tried."
Hoseok grins as he remembers how mournful Namjoon had been when he had to give up the blond hair that he'd cultivated over summer break. "Yeah, well, there's a kid I see in the mornings who has brown hair, and since he still has it, I guess nobody's said anything."
"Lucky," Namjoon mutters into his water bottle.
"Maybe he's working part time or something," Yoongi offers idly, looking way more absorbed in his phone screen than the conversation. "Like when Jin-hyung got scouted for modeling."
"That's actually a pretty smart guess," Hoseok says thoughtfully. He turns to Namjoon, face solemn. "I think the genius label has been misplaced; Yoongi-hyung's just been lazy until now."
Yoongi smirks and stretches out an arm for a fist bump while Namjoon pouts and busies himself with the rest of his croquette bread.
new intel on dyed hair, Yoongi messages Hoseok unexpectedly after school, and Hoseok blinks at his screen a few times before sending back a string of question marks.
this is rare, he adds, for good measure.
> stuff it or i won't tell you anything
> wao so sry o gr8 hyung
> plz enlighten
> i should keep this for proof that even jung hoseok can be sarcastic
> throw off all the fangirls
> aw hyung thanks u w u
> .
> so?
> i'm typing
> well obv not if u just sent that message
> jimin said he's in his grade and his friends say the kid just started modeling part time or something
> so i was right like usual
> shut up
> park jimin huh n____n
> how's that going for you hyung
> does he make your heart go doki doki :)
> you didn't even get a name ???
> lame
> i'm blocking you
> unappreciative shit
> thx ilu xoxo
> _l_
Hoseok laughs and switches to another chat. make fun of yoongi-hyung and his soft spot for jimin, Hoseok taps out to Namjoon. He gets an OK-sign in return.
A few days later, for the first time since the semester starts, Hoseok approaches the intersection without seeing anyone with brown hair. He guesses that brown-haired boy is either late or just home sick and brushes it off, feeling a little disappointed because his morning routine's been thrown off - when someone bumps into him kind of hard as they run past, with enough force that his backpack strap slips off his shoulder.
"Hey-" Hoseok starts, not annoyed so much as bewildered, but his following words get cut off when the person twists around and flashes a grin in his direction.
"Sorry! I'm on a winning streak of five weeks so I can't lose now, right?"
"You're-" brown-haired boy, Hoseok doesn't say, partially because fuck, that would be embarrassing, and partially because, well, brown-haired boy no longer has brown hair; it's been dyed back to black.
He watches, speechless, as the kid reaches the crosswalk before him and turns around to strike a victory pose in his direction. Hoseok points at himself and gets a nod in return.
"Me?" Hoseok asks, disbelieving, when he reaches the intersection a few seconds later.
"Yeah," the kid says triumphantly. "I've been beating you everyday! And keeping score."
Hoseok stares for a little longer before recovering enough to laugh at how ridiculous the situation is. Well, if it's a competition, he won't lose. "Yeah, well, I'll win next time."
"I'll be prepared," no-longer-brown-haired boy says seriously.
"Prepared to lose," Hoseok shoots back, feeling kind of amused that this has been a competition he didn't even know about - and more importantly, one where he's been on a losing streak.
The boy blinks, like he's surprised himself that Hoseok's playing along, then smiles sheepishly. "I'm Taehyung. Late greeting, but."
"Jung Hoseok," Hoseok says, glad to have a name to call him by, finally.
"Nice to meet you," Taehyung says, dipping his head slightly, and it's kind of funny, seeing him revert back to politeness, after he'd been so excited moments ago.
"Oh, light's green," Hoseok says, "I'm going first."
Taehyung's eyes widen. "No you're not!"
"I talked to him today," Hoseok reports to his friends, who look like they don't give a shit.
"Uhhuh," Namjoon mumbles, flipping to the next page in his calculus notebook.
Hoseok kicks him under the table and continues. "Apparently he's been secretly racing me to the intersection."
"He sounds kinda weird," Yoongi supplies helpfully. "Like you. I'm sure you'll get along."
Hoseok frowns. "You suck. Anyway, I have to turn around my losing streak."
Yoongi wrinkles his nose. "Racing in the morning sounds like a horrible idea."
Namjoon lifts his face out of his notes long enough to say, "It's a miracle you even arrive in time for homeroom, hyung."
This time, Yoongi kicks him under the table.
Hoseok laces up his running shoes next morning to give him a leg up in this race thing.
"You're early," Hoseok's mom says from behind him, sounds surprised.
"It's because of your great parenting," Hoseok says with a grin. "Okay, I'm off, see you later, umma!"
Hoseok decides to fast walk because running when he's not going to be late is kind of weird, but it's hard to keep an eye out for Taehyung when he doesn't stand out as much anymore. Taehyung, however, doesn't seem to have the same problem, because Hoseok gets a tap on the shoulder and then Taehyung is running past, leaving Hoseok to let out a surprised fuck and sprint to catch up.
They tap the traffic light pole at the same time and Hoseok feels the stares of other people standing around, but he's preoccupied with the thought that just a fast walk isn't enough to win.
"It's a tie," he hears Taehyung grumble, and the disappointment in his voice is enough to make Hoseok laugh.
"Don't worry; tomorrow, you'll lose," Hoseok promises, readjusting his backpack and jacket.
"We'll see about that," Taehyung mutters, narrowing his eyes.
He seems serious and joking at the same time, and there's something about his childishness that's kind of endearing; it makes Hoseok want to play along, even more so than he'd be naturally inclined to, and he thinks that he can easily keep up this competition.
He's shaken out of his thoughts when Taehyung nudges him with his bag and nods at the people who are starting to cross the street. He speeds up a little to match Taehyung's pace.
"So which class are you in, anyway?"
It becomes the new routine: Hoseok and Taehyung racing to the intersection, then walking together the rest of the way to school, sometimes also racing the last hundred meters to make it before the bell rings. Hoseok finds out that Taehyung has a baby brother and sister and he likes both kids and animals a lot, especially cats; he feeds the stray cats around his apartment complex and gets scolded by the landlord because it encourages them to hang around the place. Hoseok learns that Taehyung's family came to Seoul a few years ago, so he still speaks in satoori when he gets excited - me too, Hoseok laughs, but my satoori's different. And yeah, he'd been scouted for a modeling thing, so he decided to try it out, but it's kind of weird to have to do makeup and pose and have a bunch of pictures taken of you, so he doesn't know if he'll keep doing it.
And Hoseok tells him that his noona is in college right now, and he's finishing high school to make his mom happy, but he's been dancing since he was young and wants to work as a dancer and a dance teacher, so he spends his extra time at the studio instead of hagwon, building up his resume and practicing with his crew. He's more of a dog person than a cat person, really, but cats are nice, too, when they deign to pay attention to him.
"You just have to speak their language," Taehyung says, quite seriously, when Hoseok complains about cats.
"Their language?" Hoseok grins. It hadn't taken long for him to adjust to Taehyung's pace and stay on the same wavelength, though sometimes it led to weird places, like the time Taehyung had tried to convince him to try soondae with nutella - which was where Hoseok drew the line.
"Yeah, then they'll be cool with you and let you pet them and stuff," Taehyung smiles, satisfied.
"But what's the language, exactly?" Hoseok asks.
Taehyung stares at him like it should be obvious. "Food, of course."
Oh, right. Should've known, Hoseok thinks, fighting the urge to laugh.
The current record stands at how many ever losses Hoseok had before he knew the competition existed - those don't count, he insists, but Taehyung shrugs because he's lost since then, anyway - too many ties to count, and maybe two weeks' worth of wins for Hoseok; they're not very good at keeping track, which Jeongguk frowns upon whenever Hoseok mentions the competition at dance practice.
"If I were competing," Jeongguk says, every time, "you can bet that I'm going to keep track of every win."
"It's just for fun," Hoseok laughs, every time.
And Jeongguk will squint and say that competitions should be taken seriously, thank you very much.
In a way, Hoseok thinks that Taehyung would agree with Jeongguk, because he seems to be very serious about their morning races in his own way, sometimes remaining resolutely silent after an obvious win by Hoseok, at least until Hoseok cracks a joke, or sometimes dragging Hoseok back by his uniform jacket so he can speed in front of him. Hoseok finds it more amusing than anything, really, and it's easy for him to make Taehyung cave in and drop his acts of mock unhappiness. And as he becomes more adept at coaxing Taehyung into cracking a smile, he thinks he's getting to know Taehyung a little better, and it's kind of endearing, really, the way that Taehyung's mouth stretches wide enough to be a grimace and his eyes disappear whenever he grins.
One morning, close to the beginning of summer break, Taehyung taps on Hoseok's shoulder as he runs past him - but this time, instead of just continuing to run while laughing, he shouts over his shoulder, "Tag, you're it!"
It takes a second to register, but then Hoseok yells, "Cheater; you can't just change the game by yourself," as he sprints to catch him.
"Touching the light pole makes you safe," Taehyung announces when he stops and slaps a hand on it at the intersection, and Hoseok wrinkles his nose, making as disgruntled a face as possible, which makes Taehyung laugh. "I thought it was getting a little boring," Taehyung explains, "so I wanted to switch it up."
"Is it only tag from now on," Hoseok asks, grin slowly spreading across his face, "or are you going to keep switching?"
Taehyung blinks and looks like he's giving the idea deep consideration; Hoseok's grin grows bigger. "I don't know; I'll think about it."
"Either way," Hoseok says, "I'll win, so."
"No you won't," Taehyung contradicts, and Hoseok just laughs.
Recipient: Everyone
Pairing: hoseok/taehyung
Rating: pg
Word count: 2607
Warnings: n/a
Summary: Hoseok's mornings become a little more interesting.
Author's notes: enjoy /o/ wanted to make it more of a slow burn thing but ran out of time so might revisit later orz
"You're gonna be late," Hoseok's mom calls up the stairs, as Hoseok hops for balance on one foot, trying to get his sock on the other.
Hoseok gets the sock on and skids on now-socked feet to his desk, throwing notebooks into his backpack. He swipes his phone screen, checks it, and grins. "No I'm not," he calls back, tossing his backpack over his shoulder and thundering down the stairs.
His mom greets him with an unamused face and a slice of toast. "How are you going to go to work in the future if your morning habits are like this?"
"I love you umma," Hoseok declares brightly, ignoring her question as he takes the toast, smiling triumphantly when a corner of her mouth quirks up against her will. "See you later!"
Shoes slipped on, striped tie on haphazardly, Hoseok ditches the elevator in favor for three flights of stairs and makes it onto the street in record time. He should get a medal for this, he thinks, checking his phone again - 6:32 a.m. - then looking up to check the handful of kids in his school uniform that are trudging down the street in front of him, counting heads. Five, like usual. Totally safe.
Hoseok doesn't talk to any of the kids on the way to school, partly because he doesn't really know them, but more because most kids aren't morning people and his few prior attempts have been greeted with halfhearted nods or blank stares. He doesn't know any of their names, but knows all their faces, and he personally enjoys a silent feeling of camaraderie whenever they pool at a crosswalk, waiting for the walk signal to go off, with their respective breadbuns and banana milk containers.
Then he notices their school's uniform across the street, too - a lone boy waiting for the other walk signal to go off. Just like any other kid, except, well, this kid's hair is dyed. Which is against regulations. Not that Hoseok is a stickler for rules or anything, but there are plenty of teachers and straightlaced kids who are, and he's kind of surprised. He's about to take a closer look, but the light changes and everyone starts moving; he loses the boy in the crowd of bobbing heads.
He doesn't see the kid on the rest of his way to school, and thinks, idly, wow, he must be a fast walker.
Fifteen minutes later, he shoves the thought to the back of his mind as he realizes he has to sprint the last fifty yards or so to make it on time. He should've known his mom would always be right.
Hoseok forgets about brown-haired boy until he sees him again the next day, at the same time, in the same place, across the intersection. Closer inspection tells him that brown-haired boy is sort of good looking, in a boyish kind of way: his dyed hair is cut neatly, bangs just dipping into half-open eyes trained on his phone screen, and his mouth is skewed as he chews on his bottom lip. Hoseok mirrors the action unconsciously, then smiles when he realizes it.
And the light changes and everyone begins their mass exodus into the street and Hoseok wonders if he's going to be cutting it close yet again as he weaves through the crowd, quickening his pace a little.
At any rate, Hoseok finds out that brown-haired boy is surprisingly on time everyday, and after two weeks, Hoseok takes to using him as an unofficial clock in the morning: if the kid is at the intersection and crosses before Hoseok reaches the same spot, then Hoseok is on schedule and good to go. Sure, it'd be safer to just go by the clock - and maybe listen to his mom and actually wake up a little earlier - but looking for brown-haired boy makes his morning less bland, grants him something interesting to focus on instead of everyone's I'd-rather-be-in-bed faces. Not that he wouldn't rather be in bed, too, but since he's up, might as well act the part.
Thinking about it, though, it's kind of ironic, because brown-haired boy has a pair of the sleepiest eyes that Hoseok's ever seen, though probably not sleepy enough to beat out Yoongi.
"Do you know anyone who goes here who has dyed hair?" Hoseok asks during lunchtime.
"Dyed hair?" Namjoon squints. "That's not allowed, right? Remember, I tried."
Hoseok grins as he remembers how mournful Namjoon had been when he had to give up the blond hair that he'd cultivated over summer break. "Yeah, well, there's a kid I see in the mornings who has brown hair, and since he still has it, I guess nobody's said anything."
"Lucky," Namjoon mutters into his water bottle.
"Maybe he's working part time or something," Yoongi offers idly, looking way more absorbed in his phone screen than the conversation. "Like when Jin-hyung got scouted for modeling."
"That's actually a pretty smart guess," Hoseok says thoughtfully. He turns to Namjoon, face solemn. "I think the genius label has been misplaced; Yoongi-hyung's just been lazy until now."
Yoongi smirks and stretches out an arm for a fist bump while Namjoon pouts and busies himself with the rest of his croquette bread.
new intel on dyed hair, Yoongi messages Hoseok unexpectedly after school, and Hoseok blinks at his screen a few times before sending back a string of question marks.
this is rare, he adds, for good measure.
> stuff it or i won't tell you anything
> wao so sry o gr8 hyung
> plz enlighten
> i should keep this for proof that even jung hoseok can be sarcastic
> throw off all the fangirls
> aw hyung thanks u w u
> .
> so?
> i'm typing
> well obv not if u just sent that message
> jimin said he's in his grade and his friends say the kid just started modeling part time or something
> so i was right like usual
> shut up
> park jimin huh n____n
> how's that going for you hyung
> does he make your heart go doki doki :)
> you didn't even get a name ???
> lame
> i'm blocking you
> unappreciative shit
> thx ilu xoxo
> _l_
Hoseok laughs and switches to another chat. make fun of yoongi-hyung and his soft spot for jimin, Hoseok taps out to Namjoon. He gets an OK-sign in return.
A few days later, for the first time since the semester starts, Hoseok approaches the intersection without seeing anyone with brown hair. He guesses that brown-haired boy is either late or just home sick and brushes it off, feeling a little disappointed because his morning routine's been thrown off - when someone bumps into him kind of hard as they run past, with enough force that his backpack strap slips off his shoulder.
"Hey-" Hoseok starts, not annoyed so much as bewildered, but his following words get cut off when the person twists around and flashes a grin in his direction.
"Sorry! I'm on a winning streak of five weeks so I can't lose now, right?"
"You're-" brown-haired boy, Hoseok doesn't say, partially because fuck, that would be embarrassing, and partially because, well, brown-haired boy no longer has brown hair; it's been dyed back to black.
He watches, speechless, as the kid reaches the crosswalk before him and turns around to strike a victory pose in his direction. Hoseok points at himself and gets a nod in return.
"Me?" Hoseok asks, disbelieving, when he reaches the intersection a few seconds later.
"Yeah," the kid says triumphantly. "I've been beating you everyday! And keeping score."
Hoseok stares for a little longer before recovering enough to laugh at how ridiculous the situation is. Well, if it's a competition, he won't lose. "Yeah, well, I'll win next time."
"I'll be prepared," no-longer-brown-haired boy says seriously.
"Prepared to lose," Hoseok shoots back, feeling kind of amused that this has been a competition he didn't even know about - and more importantly, one where he's been on a losing streak.
The boy blinks, like he's surprised himself that Hoseok's playing along, then smiles sheepishly. "I'm Taehyung. Late greeting, but."
"Jung Hoseok," Hoseok says, glad to have a name to call him by, finally.
"Nice to meet you," Taehyung says, dipping his head slightly, and it's kind of funny, seeing him revert back to politeness, after he'd been so excited moments ago.
"Oh, light's green," Hoseok says, "I'm going first."
Taehyung's eyes widen. "No you're not!"
"I talked to him today," Hoseok reports to his friends, who look like they don't give a shit.
"Uhhuh," Namjoon mumbles, flipping to the next page in his calculus notebook.
Hoseok kicks him under the table and continues. "Apparently he's been secretly racing me to the intersection."
"He sounds kinda weird," Yoongi supplies helpfully. "Like you. I'm sure you'll get along."
Hoseok frowns. "You suck. Anyway, I have to turn around my losing streak."
Yoongi wrinkles his nose. "Racing in the morning sounds like a horrible idea."
Namjoon lifts his face out of his notes long enough to say, "It's a miracle you even arrive in time for homeroom, hyung."
This time, Yoongi kicks him under the table.
Hoseok laces up his running shoes next morning to give him a leg up in this race thing.
"You're early," Hoseok's mom says from behind him, sounds surprised.
"It's because of your great parenting," Hoseok says with a grin. "Okay, I'm off, see you later, umma!"
Hoseok decides to fast walk because running when he's not going to be late is kind of weird, but it's hard to keep an eye out for Taehyung when he doesn't stand out as much anymore. Taehyung, however, doesn't seem to have the same problem, because Hoseok gets a tap on the shoulder and then Taehyung is running past, leaving Hoseok to let out a surprised fuck and sprint to catch up.
They tap the traffic light pole at the same time and Hoseok feels the stares of other people standing around, but he's preoccupied with the thought that just a fast walk isn't enough to win.
"It's a tie," he hears Taehyung grumble, and the disappointment in his voice is enough to make Hoseok laugh.
"Don't worry; tomorrow, you'll lose," Hoseok promises, readjusting his backpack and jacket.
"We'll see about that," Taehyung mutters, narrowing his eyes.
He seems serious and joking at the same time, and there's something about his childishness that's kind of endearing; it makes Hoseok want to play along, even more so than he'd be naturally inclined to, and he thinks that he can easily keep up this competition.
He's shaken out of his thoughts when Taehyung nudges him with his bag and nods at the people who are starting to cross the street. He speeds up a little to match Taehyung's pace.
"So which class are you in, anyway?"
It becomes the new routine: Hoseok and Taehyung racing to the intersection, then walking together the rest of the way to school, sometimes also racing the last hundred meters to make it before the bell rings. Hoseok finds out that Taehyung has a baby brother and sister and he likes both kids and animals a lot, especially cats; he feeds the stray cats around his apartment complex and gets scolded by the landlord because it encourages them to hang around the place. Hoseok learns that Taehyung's family came to Seoul a few years ago, so he still speaks in satoori when he gets excited - me too, Hoseok laughs, but my satoori's different. And yeah, he'd been scouted for a modeling thing, so he decided to try it out, but it's kind of weird to have to do makeup and pose and have a bunch of pictures taken of you, so he doesn't know if he'll keep doing it.
And Hoseok tells him that his noona is in college right now, and he's finishing high school to make his mom happy, but he's been dancing since he was young and wants to work as a dancer and a dance teacher, so he spends his extra time at the studio instead of hagwon, building up his resume and practicing with his crew. He's more of a dog person than a cat person, really, but cats are nice, too, when they deign to pay attention to him.
"You just have to speak their language," Taehyung says, quite seriously, when Hoseok complains about cats.
"Their language?" Hoseok grins. It hadn't taken long for him to adjust to Taehyung's pace and stay on the same wavelength, though sometimes it led to weird places, like the time Taehyung had tried to convince him to try soondae with nutella - which was where Hoseok drew the line.
"Yeah, then they'll be cool with you and let you pet them and stuff," Taehyung smiles, satisfied.
"But what's the language, exactly?" Hoseok asks.
Taehyung stares at him like it should be obvious. "Food, of course."
Oh, right. Should've known, Hoseok thinks, fighting the urge to laugh.
The current record stands at how many ever losses Hoseok had before he knew the competition existed - those don't count, he insists, but Taehyung shrugs because he's lost since then, anyway - too many ties to count, and maybe two weeks' worth of wins for Hoseok; they're not very good at keeping track, which Jeongguk frowns upon whenever Hoseok mentions the competition at dance practice.
"If I were competing," Jeongguk says, every time, "you can bet that I'm going to keep track of every win."
"It's just for fun," Hoseok laughs, every time.
And Jeongguk will squint and say that competitions should be taken seriously, thank you very much.
In a way, Hoseok thinks that Taehyung would agree with Jeongguk, because he seems to be very serious about their morning races in his own way, sometimes remaining resolutely silent after an obvious win by Hoseok, at least until Hoseok cracks a joke, or sometimes dragging Hoseok back by his uniform jacket so he can speed in front of him. Hoseok finds it more amusing than anything, really, and it's easy for him to make Taehyung cave in and drop his acts of mock unhappiness. And as he becomes more adept at coaxing Taehyung into cracking a smile, he thinks he's getting to know Taehyung a little better, and it's kind of endearing, really, the way that Taehyung's mouth stretches wide enough to be a grimace and his eyes disappear whenever he grins.
One morning, close to the beginning of summer break, Taehyung taps on Hoseok's shoulder as he runs past him - but this time, instead of just continuing to run while laughing, he shouts over his shoulder, "Tag, you're it!"
It takes a second to register, but then Hoseok yells, "Cheater; you can't just change the game by yourself," as he sprints to catch him.
"Touching the light pole makes you safe," Taehyung announces when he stops and slaps a hand on it at the intersection, and Hoseok wrinkles his nose, making as disgruntled a face as possible, which makes Taehyung laugh. "I thought it was getting a little boring," Taehyung explains, "so I wanted to switch it up."
"Is it only tag from now on," Hoseok asks, grin slowly spreading across his face, "or are you going to keep switching?"
Taehyung blinks and looks like he's giving the idea deep consideration; Hoseok's grin grows bigger. "I don't know; I'll think about it."
"Either way," Hoseok says, "I'll win, so."
"No you won't," Taehyung contradicts, and Hoseok just laughs.
no subject