author's note: this fic was originally a one-shot that i wrote years ago, please enjoy the updated version.
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It's a pretty ridiculous thing to imagine, of course, but sometimes, Hoseok wonders if Kihyun is actually trying to kill him.
It's a warm, quiet Sunday morning, and Hoseok is minding his own business, lounging in his bed during a rare bit of free time in their schedule, the door to the bedroom about halfway open and the window lifted to let fresh air and sunshine spill into the space around him.
He's in just his boxers and a hoodie and bare feet, curled up on top of his softest blankets, propped up by a few extra pillows, and he's got a notebook and pen settled in his lap, completely at peace save for the buzzing in his brain and his hyperawareness of Kihyun warming his skin, Kihyun's presence everywhere always, even when Hoseok can't see him, even when Hoseok is doing everything in his power to focus on his work. He needs to be able to retreat into his own head, but Kihyun is making it very difficult with the way he keeps dragging Hoseok's attention back out and up, back to him.
Hoseok is busy writing up lyrics for a new song, one that he's been working on diligently for the past few days, and he's almost got it, the right words hovering at the back of his brain in an amorphous cloud of inspiration. It's just a matter of focusing, of clearing his mind and allowing them to flow forth organically, the words out of reach but calling to him to be discovered, to be lovingly sculpted into beautiful poetry, and he's right on the brink of breakthrough, he knows it, if only a certain someone would let him be.
The dorm is empty but for the two of them, Hoseok and Kihyun. Hoseok and Kihyunnie. The others have gone out to enjoy their time off and to frolic around the city on this bright, sunny morning, not likely to return until the early hours of tomorrow morning.
Well, that's not entirely true. Changkyun is actually there in the dorm too, but it's kind of like he isn't, because he had hours ago locked himself away in the other bedroom, probably to catch up on some anime or drama, or to play games on his phone. Maybe he's just catching up on sleep, something they probably all should be doing during their free time. Regardless, the whole group has learned by now that Changkyun is the type to need alone time away from everyone else to recharge, and so it's best to just pretend he's not there at all whenever he gets like this, to respect his desire for privacy and solitude.
And besides, as always when it comes to Kihyun, it's not like Hoseok can control the way that his mind seems to blur out everything else, the way his mind seems to always have Kihyun there lingering around the edges. Hoseok is all too aware of Kihyun in the dorm with him, and of the space between them, and he's starting to think that Kihyun knows it, and that Kihyun, that wily little tease, might be doing what he's doing on purpose.
Kihyun is the one who always tells Hoseok that he spends too much time working, that he should just relax during their time off and do something fun, or do nothing at all. They've had this argument a million times, and Hoseok always insists that, first off, writing songs is fun and that doing nothing isn't and second, that Kihyun is a hypocrite, because he'll always, without fail, use their precious free time to catch up on cleaning, all too happy to have the dorm empty and quiet so that he doesn't have to dodge and maneuver around all of the others in amateur parkour just to tidy up.
Hoseok knows Kihyun better than anyone else, and knows how happy he is just to have a clear, empty space to work, and that that kind of stress relief can be relaxing and fun in its own way. Yes, Kihyun is one of those weirdos who actually enjoys cleaning and finds it to be "therapeutic" and "satisfying" (his words). Hoseok can't really understand that, but he can understand, at the base level, the comfort that comes in clearing away the clutter, whether that's actual clutter or the clutter in one's mind, or in Kihyun's case, probably both, since for Kihyun, cleaning is never just about cleaning.
