Bargain (Not Met) (JungHope)

Interlude - Morning Call

It was early in the morning, dawn's eyes just beginning to gaze upon the land, when Taehyung had called Hoseok.

"Ugh, Jungkook, not now," Hoseok moaned, burrowing his face into his flat pillow.

Or, at least, he attempted to.

"But Lover Boy is calling you!" Jungkook argued, shoving the phone's screen against Hoseok's cheek. "If you don't answer him, he'll think you've lost interest in him!"

Hoseok bristled and sat up to glare at Jungkook. "I was never 'interested' in him in the first place!"

"Uh, hello?" an oddly familiar voice interrupted. "Hoseokie? Is that you?"

Hoseok flushed hot and nabbed the phone out of Jungkook's grasp, bringing the device up to his feverish ear. "Ah! Taehyung, what a lovely"--he noticed Jungkook's giddy grin and took displeasure in the fact that the demon had taken it upon himself to mount his bedside, voice lowering into a growl--"surprise." He pushed the phone away from his face and covered it up with his hand, addressing his next words toward Jungkook. "Get off my bed if you're not gonna take off your shoes, you ass!"

Jungkook pouted and proceeded the choring task of unlacing his shoes before neatly placing them by each other on the floor. "Are you happy now?"

Hoseok didn't have time to respond to Jungkook's snarky question, for he heard Taehyung's smoky voice, muddled by the tell-tale signs of recent awakening, beginning to speak into the phone. He hastily brought the phone back up to his ear, catching the last part of his sentence: "--near the company's building will do. What do you think?"

"Huh? Wh-what was that?" Hoseok sent Jungkook another glare, earning a strangled whine from the bewildered demon. "Sorry, my roommate was being an asshole."

"I was not!" was Jungkook's immediate cry.

Taehyung's deep chuckle was what scattered Hoseok's thoughts of immediate strangulation. "I was just saying that we should start our research in the library near the company." A questioning hum. "So, what did your roommate do? If you don't mind my asking."

Hoseok grew a wry smile at Taehyung's innocent question, doing so with full knowledge that the other wouldn't be able to see his physical reaction. "Ah, nothing. Just something petty."

"You're the petty one," Jungkook grumbled, splaying his body across the bare mattress. "Seriously, what crawled up your ass and died?"

Hoseok staved off the urge to toss Jungkook to the ground in a chokehold, and instead mouthed a single word in response: You.

He ignored Jungkook's sputter and, literally, turned his attention back toward Taehyung, twisting his body around so that his legs hung off the bedside. "Anyways, it's nothing major. He just knows how to push all of my buttons all of the time." A weary sigh escaped him. "He's an annoying brat that's invaded my apartment."

"Stop bad-mouthing me when I'm right in front of you!" Jungkook griped, dragging himself up to where Hoseok sat, tugging onto the looser parts of his sweatpants to garner the attention of the increasingly agitated office worker. "Lemme talk to him! You're just gonna give me a bad reputation!"

"No! Fuck off," Hoseok growled, lowering his free hand to shove at Jungkook's incoming forehead. "Besides, he can't hear you, dumbass."

Taehyung's hearty laugh broke through their momentary bickering, sending a jolt of embarrassment through Hoseok at the realization that Taehyung could hear him loud and clear.

"Well, you certainly seem to be on good terms with him," Taehyung purred, amusement painted clear into his voice.

Hoseok attempted to stutter out some half-assed denial but was hushed into an anxious silence.

"Anyways, I just called you to let you know that we're meeting up in a couple of hours before your shift starts, so be sure not to be late! I'll be waiting."

Hoseok denied the shiver that ran down his spine at Taehyung's fruity comment.

"S-see you," Hoseok managed to croak out before he was hung up on.

A lull in activity settled around Hoseok, the earlier energy he had used to fight off Jungkook, verbally and physically, all sapped up.

"I heard you guys yelling," Jimin called out, shattering the much-needed silence, poking his head through the doorway of Hoseok's bedroom. "What happened?"

Jungkook pouted and laid his head to rest near Hoseok's thigh. "Hoseok-hyung was bullying me..."

Hoseok snorted and tousled Jungkook's hair with his free hand, the other laying his phone on top of the bedside table. "And Jungkook-ah here was being a little shit."

Jungkook swatted Hoseok's hand away, a scandalized gasp escaping him upon Hoseok's response. "I was not!" He twisted his body so that his stomach laid flat against the mattress. "I was trying to give you your phone to call Lover Boy!"

"And would you stop calling him that?" Hoseok groaned into his hands. "It's weird and annoying."

"But that's what he is: Lover Boy!"

Hoseok huffed a breath of agitation and muttered a quiet, "Whatever," before sliding off the bedside and landing on the carpeted floor with a slight thump. He shuffled across toward his wardrobe and tugged open the drawer that contained his pants. His gaze trailed along the rises and lumps of the suspiciously similar looking pairs of dress pants before finally landing on one that wasn't currently sporting any unusual wear or tear.

"You're heading out already?" Jimin questioned, surprise coloring his tone.

"He's going on a date with Lover Boy," Jungkook answered in place of Hoseok, who was currently sending him a death glare.

"It's not a date," Hoseok muttered, tossing his chosen pants onto the bed. He shuffled over to his closet and poked around it for a brief moment before selecting a button-up shirt that wasn't wrinkled as all hell. "I get you're trying to make me fall for him," he continued, tone strong and agitated from the start, "but could you chill if you're gonna tag along with our research? I need to be able to concentrate."

Jungkook whined, muttered something about Hoseok "being no fun," and hastily made his exit from the room upon Hoseok removing his shirt.

A/N - what a lovely way to start your day, amirite Hobi?