ｗｅ ａｒｅ ａｌｌ ｍａｄ ｈｅｒｅ

seven.

"Hoseok?"

The red haired male looked up in surprise at your soft voice and smiled, albeit it was dimmer than his usual sunshine-bright grins. You frowned as you studied his attire, loose shirts and slacks, which was quite normal except for the bandages wrapped around his right ankles.

"Hey, Angel! You're back early today!" Hoseok chirped, ignoring your confused and worried look directed at him. Normally, the nickname would've made you blush and halted your sentence constructing capabilities, but you were far too concerned about the boy than anything.

"What happened...?" The question came out soft and timid as you sat down beside him.

"It's just a sprain, nothing to worry about," the male insisted, still smiling, but you've seen Hoseok's real smile. It was all teeth and sun-rays and rainbows when his lips bloom, contagious like a virus to everyone around him. Now, his eyes didn't shine and his cheeks looked strained, the gesture unnatural.

Not believing him but also not wanting to push him further, you nodded in response and eyed the bandages. Be it a sprain or something worse (you did not want to think nor entertain the idea, so you hoped with all your soul it really was just a light sprain), he was most probably rendered unfit to do any activities that required him to be on his feet, much less dancing.

-- Dancing.

You wondered how much it must hurt to not be able to do something you were most passionate about.

"Did you go to the doctor?"

"Yeah," his smile faltered, a small frown creasing between his eyebrows, ".... No strenuous activities for at least a week, they said."

"Oh.... That sucks..."

The male nodded, the trace of smile completely gone from his expression, and your chest clenched at the foreign sight. His eyes showed how frustrated he was for just settled down there on the sofa and not being out there, expressing himself with his body and sweating bullets from rigorous dance routines.

You've never really seen him actually dance-- just at times, whenever he would joke around with the others. On those events, he would act out some moves which left you speechless, regardless of how simple they were. Honestly, every single movement he took seemed so precise and languid, from his walks to the way he runs. Watching him and Jimin, you could see how different their movements were, and it intrigued you, how light they were on their feet and how gentle yet powerful they could be.

So seeing him just sitting down, his usual energy gone, somehow pained you.

"Have you eaten?"

"Yeah, Jin hyung made me something before he left."

"Okay. If you have nothing to do, let me accompany you. I have no more class today."

He looked at you in slight surprise and smiled, "It's fine, you don't need to--"

"No, I insist," you stubbornly huffed and surveyed the deserted common area. Seeing the Nintendo Switch on top of the coffee table, you hoped Jungkook wouldn't mind much if you borrowed his console. You've seen Taehyung and Jimin play using the red and blue controllers, and the youngest didn't seem to mind. "Do you want to play the Switch with me?"

"I'm not that good at games..."

"Neither am I."

You turned the console on and offered the red controller to Hoseok. He accepted and eyed you curiously as you tried your best to figure out how to choose the game and link yours and his controllers to the Switch.

"What do you want to play?" You asked, watching him, "I've seen Taehyung and Jimin play Snipperclips. Seems simple enough."

Recognition flashed in his eyes, "Oh, yeah. They play it a lot these days."

And so you loaded the game. At first, the two of you played terribly, since you had no idea what you were doing. The tutorials were easy, but you kept mistaking between the button to cut and regrow, which elicited several laughs and overly exaggerated screams from Hoseok. Slowly, you started getting better as you moved onto the different worlds, and even though Hoseok said he wasn't good at games, he was definitely a better player than you, at least. He knew how to be creative, and he definitely had some out of the box idea which helped you clear the levels steadily.

When you were both done with the game, it was nearly dinner time. Seokjin had apparently been cooking sometime within the timeframe when you and Hoseok were screaming your heads off, and so you went for dinner gratefully. When you glanced at the dancer as you ate, he looked significantly better and happier. You couldn't help but smile for the remainder of your meal.

The next day, you went out for morning class, and returned in the afternoon, only to find the red haired male scrolling through the game store on the Nintendo Switch. He beamed when you greeted him, and as if you had promised him the day before, you sat beside him and took the blue controller he offered to you.

"Overcooked?" You read the title outloud, "Wait, so we're chefs now?"

"Yep!" He grinned, "It seemed interesting, so I bought it."

"Does Jungkook know--?"

"It's fine, he's got so much balance in his wallet. He won't notice," the naughty grin and overly hyperbolic wink made you giggle in response.

The both of you lost yourselves in the game soon enough. You never really considered yourself a gamer until this point, but you suppose you could see the appeal now. Lost in the fantasy world inside the screen, you barely noticed the increasing number of people who watched your little game session as the hours passed. Time flew by as you playeduntil dinner. The same thing happened the next day. And the next next day, the cycle would repeat again. And again. And again.

And then, Hoseok was back on his feet, his ankles healed but a little stiff from under usage.

That still didn't hold him back from calling out to you one morning, a bright smile on his face as he showcased how he had fully healed by taking your hands and pulling you into a sudden energetic waltz dance. You couldn't help but laugh in amusement at his antics, and hoped he would see the redness on your cheeks as a symbol of how happy you were for him too, instead of the embarrassment and after effect of your heart going into overdrive at his touch.

When you both stopped moving around, his hand delicately fixed your stray strands of hair, a result of the sudden twirls throughout the short dance session, the vibrant smile still stayed on his lips.

"Thanks for keeping my spirit up these past few days. I promise I'll return the favour one day."

"It's no problem, Hoseok, really--"

"Aw, c'mon, after all the time we spent together, you should be used to calling me Hobi already!"

"Right, well, Hobi, it's really no problem. Really."

His smile dissipated into a smaller one, and yet the intensity in his eyes made you smile wider in return, "If you need anything-- And I mean, anything... All you need to do is ask. Okay?"

"I'll keep that in mind, Hobi," you crooned and patted his arm before waving him off to his dance practice.

You yawned and decided to go back to sleep, since you would only have class in the evening today. But your plans went to ashes when you heard a shy call of your name behind you.