2seokmin? jinjihope? carebear line? idek, it’s domestic ot3 au fic with tension and character analysis. Enjoy.
The problem, Hoseok mused, of having three extremely organized people in one house was that their methods of organization were completely different. At least Jimin was okay enough to adapt to Hoseok’s method of laying out things from front to back, depending on how used they were and who used them most (Jimin’s favourite toothbrushes were always on the bottom shelf of the storage closet). But Seokjin not only had a different organization method, but also was stubborn enough to change it every time he saw it.
With a slightly put-upon sigh, Hoseok moved the toilet paper rolls from the very top shelf, to the bottom shelf (where anybody could reach in a hurry, thank you very much), and moved the razors to the middle shelf instead of the bottom, because who cared about alphabetical order for a shelving cabinet?
Was there anything else out of place? Not that Hoseok could tell, so he shut the door with a bit more force than usual and trudged his way to the kitchen. He had it in his head to snipe at Seokjin about how he’d let the kitchen be organized in Seokjin’s weird, ineffectual way about placing spices in alphabetical order around the room (and counterclockwise around the room, was that really necessary?), couldn’t he let Hoseok have the bathroom closet-- when he noticed Seokjin’s head buried in his hands at the kitchen table instead.
All thoughts of sniping were pushed aside as Hoseok immediately curled up next to Seokjin, placing his arm over his boyfriend’s shoulders, gently, in a quiet comfort. Seokjin wasn’t someone who Hoseok could force to speak, not like Jimin and Jeongguk and Namjoon, Seokjin was someone who had to be coaxed to talk about his emotions, by gentle, non-verbal prodding and comfort. So even if he felt instantly worried, Hoseok didn’t say anything, just draped his legs over Seokjin’s lap and leant closer into Seokjin’s body.
Seokjin, to Hoseok’s relief, held onto Hoseok easily, supporting to the two of them better on the uncomfortable kitchen chair, and leant his head on Hoseok’s shoulders, eyes flickering shut. He wasn’t crying, but he was something in the vicinity of it, so Hoseok stayed quiet and let his fingers run over the short hairs on the nape of Seokjin’s neck (which weren’t so short anymore, Hoseok had to place a hairdressing reminder on the huge calendar that was in their living room).
“Did you see Yoongi today.” Seokjin said, mumbling into Hoseok’s shirt. It was phrased as a statement not a question, and that only made Hoseok feel even more worried. He quickly flickered back through his day, where he and Yoongi had been cooped up in the radio station booth, reading out the weather and traffic reports and playing their new favourite songs whenever they could, inbetween the pop music they were contractually obliged to play.
“Yeah, he was doing okay. Running on three hours sleep as per usual, but he looked cheerful enough.” Hoseok answered, swallowing the why that threatened to slip out of his mouth. Not yet.
Seokjin hummed affirmatively, low from the back of his throat, and mumbled something inaudible into Hoseok’s shirt. “What was that?” Hoseok prompted gently, lifting Seokjin’s chin up. Seokjin still wasn’t meeting Hoseok’s eyes, but at least he was audible now.
“Tell him to not go to the west side of town. Nowhere near Hall Records or where I work, okay?” Seokjin said, swallowing nervously, before shaking his head lightly and looking up to meet Hoseok’s gaze. His face looked a little more grim and a little more fortified, enough to pass off as regular old Seokjin. “Nowhere near there.”
Okay, well that wasn’t ominous at all. Hoseok opened his mouth to demand an explanation, but Seokjin had already straightened and gently slid Hoseok off his lap, to move into the kitchen, swinging open the cupboards, in search of something.
“Hyung.” Hoseok said, sternly, as Seokjin pulled out the rice box and a huge pot to fill with water. “What happened?”
Seokjin looked up from where he’d been running that tap, with an almost bemused look, as if he was completely confused by the question. His eyes were wide, in that cute way he always did when he wanted to make the people at his bakery feel better about paying exorbitant amounts of money for small, puffy pastries and cute flowers boys serving them, but Hoseok wasn’t going to let this slide. “Hyung.”
“Nothing important. Just a blast from the past that he definitely doesn’t need.” Seokjin said, lips thinning, and shoulders tightening as he thudded the pot against the stove ring, with a little too much force. Hoseok flinched, mildly, at the sudden sound,
“And you didn’t need?” asked Hoseok, smoothly. He was good at predicting people, reading people, but sometimes, Seokjin was too good at acting, and too good at being spontaneous. It wasn’t easy to predict Seokjin when he got truly, genuinely angry. There was the mild annoyance he got when Jeongguk smacked a balloon over his head or Jimin teased him about being awkward (easy to predict, sarcastic and passive-aggressive comments, or giving just as good as he got in return). There was frank frustration when Namjoon spilled something over him or Yoongi interrupted him (hyung is talking, yoongi-ah, zip it or jesus christ did your mother raise you to do things like this to hyung’s new shirt namjoon?). There were short flares of temper when Taehyung didn’t use honourifics or people in their group were being inconsiderate of others in public (we don’t live in a pigsty, remember your manners and evil smiles which promised smacks around the neck later). But this? This was unpredictable, when Seokjin seethed without an immediate outlet and seethed for a reason that Hoseok couldn’t immediately identify.
“And I didn’t need.” Seokjin confirmed, opening the rice bag with too much force, scattering stray rice tendrils all over the surface of their counter. For a moment, both Hoseok and Seokjin stared at each other in horror, before diving to catch and collect all of the grains from the floor and the counter.
It was probably quite the sight for Jimin to return to, his boyfriends crawling on their elbows to pick up as many rice grains as possible, competing to clean better than the other. “Did Namjoon-hyung stop by?” asked Jimin, cheerily, unwinding his bag from his shoulders and dropping down to join them in collecting grains, ignoring Seokjin’s look of annoyance and Hoseok’s look of betrayal. To their horror, Jimin was faster than both of them, which made Hoseok sigh, dramatically, and give up.
“Nah, Seokjin-hyung was temporarily possessed by his spirit.” Hoseok said, reaching around with his free hand to ruffle Jimin’s carefully gelled hair, relishing in Jimin’s yelps of annoyance, and him spilling more rice grains on the floor.
“Well, looks like we can’t eat any of this.” Seokjin complained, as Jimin hurriedly tried to pick them up again.
“Of course we can, a good wash and it’s brand new.” Hoseok said, having the foresight to dump his handful in a new bowl, holding it out for Jimin and Seokjin to contribute to.
“Some things aren’t so easily fixed.” Seokjin said, with a frown. “Even a wash can’t make things clean.”
Hoseok frowned, staring at Seokjin, with a light look of confusion. This was worse than the days when Namjoon got drunk off his head and started debating the problems of dating Taehyung in terms of astronomical phenomena. “But this isn’t one of those things. And we keep this floor spotless, so it’s not even that dirty.”
“Once it’s touched the floor, it’s not pure anymore.” Seokjin said, and his voice was tight and Jimin looked between Hoseok and Seokjin, eyes slowly widening.
“Okay, you two are having really different conversations and I’m also sure I’m hearing a different conversation too, so let’s just clean up and wash the rice and then talk about it?” Jimin asked, easily, not really waiting for an answer as he placed the clean rice into the pressure cooker and set it to boil. Hoseok glanced at Seokjin for a couple moments, tense beyond compare, and sighed, grabbing Seokjin’s wrists and gently tugging him to the living room, to collapse onto their oversized loveseat.
Seokjin squeezed his eyes together tightly before leaning in to give Hoseok a few light, chaste kisses. “Sorry Hobi.” he murmured, against Hoseok’s lips, “Give me a bit, yeah?’
Jimin collapsed down on the other side of Seokjin, draping himself over Seokjin’s shoulder and smiled, lazily at Hoseok and Seokjin. “Am I not included in the kiss session?” he asked, mock hurt, and Hoseok leant forward to smack a huge, exaggerated kiss onto Jimin’s face, relishing in Jimin’s giggles as he pressed a few softer ones back. Seokjin, who already looked less like he was about to snap and break everything in the house, turned to Jimin as well, and instead of them kissing chastely, Jimin pressed down into him properly, fingers spreading over Seokjin’s jawline, and Hoseok could practically see the weight lifting off Seokjin’s shoulders with every second he pressed back into Jimin’s mouth.
Before Seokjin’s fingers could tease up Jimin’s shirt, Jimin pulled away, taking a couple of breaths and grinning goofily at Hoseok. “Okay.” Jimin said, breathlessly, “So the problem isn’t between us. That’s good to know.”
“Of course it isn’t, young padawn. If it was, Seokjin-hyung would be berating us a lot more or giving us the silent treatment, instead of becoming Mr. Hyde.” Hoseok said, eyes sparkling, ignoring Jimin’s jab at his waist and Seokjin’s mild glare. “So what happened at work today, Seokjin-hyung?”
Seokjin exhaled and snaked his arms around Hoseok’s shoulders and pulled Jimin in, by his waist. It was a little uncomfortable, but Hoseok had gotten used to the sensation of threeway cuddling sessions always being just a tad awkward. “Nothing big. We sold a lot of colder sweets today, so that definitely means summer is here. We were thinking of making ice cream cake, but we didn’t get very far because Taehyung started singing the Red Velvet song and all of the waiters knew how to do the dance, and that really broke negotiations for a bit.”
Hoseok gave Seokjin an unimpressed look, twisting his lip up, in a look which made Jimin bury his face into Seokjin’s shoulder to hide the giggles and made Seokjin reach forward to tweak Hoseok’s upturned nose. “Don’t you sass me, Jung Hoseok, I’m not done yet.” Seokjin said, in the voice that meant he was getting into his story-telling stride, and Hoseok couldn’t help with smile, softly in response.
“So then. Out of the blue. When I was least expecting it. Like a shot in the night. Unexpectedly, when I was least expecting it.” Seokjin said, and Jimin groaned, playfully biting down on Seokjin’s shoulder.
“Hyuuuunng, stop stealing story-stalling techniques from Namjoon-hyung.” Jimin complained and Hoseok made noises of agreement, reaching out to tangle his fingers with Jimin’s.
“You two are so impatient.” Seokjin said, and made a dramatic sigh to the air, as if presenting a monologue on stage, “Aah, the tedious nature of having younger lovers--”
This time, Hoseok was the one to nip against Seokjin’s neck, targeting an area where he knew Seokjin was ticklish and laughed, airily as Seokjin squirmed and glared at Hoseok, before relaxing abruptly as Hoseok started too press soft, slow kisses to Seokjin’s neck, in encouragement. “Well. I don’t know if you’ll know him Jimin, he was a bit before you and Taehyung joined all of us, but his name was Jokw--”
“Oh fuck no.” Hoseok said, darting upright, with horror, almost pulling Jimin with him, until he remembered their hands were linked together. “Fuck him, hyung. We gotta tell Yoongi-hyung.”
“You’re not going to tell him, because Yoongi’s gonna beat him up--”
“--Which is exactly what he deserves--”
“--and then go home and pretend he isn’t crying about the past and his guilt, because we both know Yoongi!” Seokjin snapped, and there was that tense set to his shoulders again, more noticeable now they were sprawled like this and Hoseok was pressed up against him. “He’s not hot shit, he’s in my area, Yoongi should avoid him and I’ll avoid him and that’s final.”
“Do I even want to know?” asked Jimin, warily, as Hoseok huffed, in displeasure against Seokjin’s neck. Hoseok squeezed Jimin’s hand and Seokjin exhaled.
Hoseok could almost feel his own mood get worse, but he exhaled, heavily, and pressed a kiss to the very edge of Seokjin’s collarbone before starting. “It’s a longer story than I’d like, and I’ll tell you later, because Jeongguk probably has a right to know as well, but Yoongi-hyung introduced our favourite hyung, JoKwon-sshi to Seokjin-hyung, they clicked it off, started dating, but Jo was a manipulative ass and things went really badly.”
“That’s an understatement.” Seokjin muttered and Jimin immediately reached up to press a kiss to Seokjin’s collar, sliding an arm over Seokjin comfortingly, and Hoseok could practically watch the tension dissipate away. Honestly, Hoseok didn’t know how Jimin did it, acted like the perfect heat sink for all of their frustration, without ever getting affected by the frustration himself. Stuff like this just bounced off Jimin; even if his own temper was fairly short, he was always in control when it came to other people.
“Fast forward eight months after that, when we started seeing signs of things going to hell and me and Namjoon telling Seokjin-hyung to break up. We got into a huge fight over that, but Seokjin-hyung did eventually break up with JoKwon and Yoongi-hyung cut off all ties with JoKwon, absolutely horrified by it as we all were. You guys joined about on the tail-end of all of that, why do you think we all babied you so much?” It had been a stressful time, full of questioning and doting on their newly found dongsangs had been a way to relieve tension and feel better.
Jimin pulled a face, stretching his legs out over their laps, poking his toe into Hoseok’s stomach. “Jeongguk never stopped complaining to me about you guys being overprotective all of third year. Is that why all of you had a stick up your ass about age-gaps?”
Seokjin exchanged looks with Hoseok. “Did we?” asked Seokjin,very seriously, though there was a playful look in his eyes.
“Yah, even I can admit we had sticks up our asses about that.” Hoseok said, with a laugh, leaning forward to kiss Jimin, who looked particularly pouty at Seokjin’s response. Jimin eagerly pressed in and Hoseok melted into Jimin’s touch, only breaking apart to catch his breath and his train of thought. “But hey, we were terrified of us becoming like that or something, because you know, everyone thought that JoKwon-sshi was the nicest ever. Nobody could believe it and we didn’t trust ourselves.”
Seokjin shrugged and slid his arm properly around Jimin’s waist, mind clearly elsewhere, back in the past perhaps. “Thank god you changed our minds, yeah?”
“Thank god, indeed.” Jimin said, gently rubbing his knuckles along Seokjin’s cheekbones. “And for the record, rice is always perfectly good to eat if dropped on the floor, after a bit of washing, yeah?”
Seokjin stared down at both of them, and Hoseok wondered what was going through his mind, before he smiled, weakly and pressed a kiss to Jimin and Hoseok’s foreheads. “Yeah. Yeah alright.” Jimin beamed and Hoseok made a loud squealing noise in reply, as he pinched Seokjin’s cheeks, happily. “I hope that means that you’ll be the one to cook today, Jiminie?” asked Seokjin, batting his eyelashes innocently. “I’m really tired. Seeing him was just so exhausting...”
“Oh my god, hyung.” Hoseok said, burying his laugh into Seokjin’s arms, as Jimin huffed, in a mixture of amusement and annoyance.
“I didn’t sign up to be the youngest of you three for you to boss me around. I expected to be spoiled! This is not the spoiled brat effect.” Jimin complained, as he untangled himself from the snugglepile, reluctantly. As Seokjin let go of his waist, Jimin whined, in annoyance and pulled his own cute face. “Hyung, you’re not really going to make me get up, go all the way to the kitchen where it’s cold, and cook there, alone?”
Hoseok and Seokjin had one thing that was absolutely identical though, despite everything, and that was that they were both weak to Jimin’s pouting faces. With low grumbles of complaint and mock-annoyance, all three of them made their way to the kitchen, in a tangled pile of laughing limbs.
