『 ʙᴇɴᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇ sᴜʀғᴀᴄᴇ ⋙ sᴏᴘᴇ 』✔︎

𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕤𝕚𝕩𝕥𝕪 𝕥𝕨𝕠

November.

A light breeze ruffled past Hoseok's golden brown locks, the cold wind biting at his lightly pink and frosted skin.

Halloween had come and gone, with the group deciding on just hanging out last Friday at Taehyung's house, including Chaeyoung since she was apart of their happy little squad now.

The eight of them made a pretty good group, and not one day went by with them being bored or losing interest in topics being discussed during lunch periods or in between passing periods at school.

They were all happy.

Well, most of them, that is.

Don't get me wrong, Yoongi and Hoseok were both extremely satisfied and bubbly when around each other and in the other's company. In fact, that only brightened their day by a thousand times, adding little flickers of joy to twinkle in their pretty brown eyes as the stared at each other, completely absorbed in one another's presence.

It was just those intrusive thoughts that were preventing them from truly being happy.

For Yoongi, his slight jealousy only itched more and more underneath his skin whenever he saw Hoseok staring at Chul during class, at lunch, or in the hallways.

He couldn't stand sixth period.

It was all too much to handle for the elder, with those torturous feelings eating up his insides and not willing to be thrown up.

He couldn't bear it.

And as much as he scolded himself for feeling this way, the permanent jealousy wouldn't budge. Countless nights were spent beating himself up over it, but of course that didn't help the matter.

Because feelings were there for a reason, and couldn't just be simply erased from one's conscience.

Like a tattoo that's printed on your skin for an everlasting eternity.

And with Hoseok, well, this fake display of gullible merriment wasn't unusual.

In all honesty, the boy always felt lost in himself, not ever finding true or genuine contentment except when around family or friends.

His own toxic thoughts got in the way of that, blocking his mind from any sort of self praise. Of course, he always appeared confident or jokingly cocky when he texted or talked to his friends.

But that was simply for the humorous purposes only.

To make them laugh.

To make them happy.

To make them smile.

It was never for himself, or for his own sake.

Because his whole job was to make others happy. But when it came to his own happiness, those same rules didn't apply to him.

Because on the other side of the screen, or beneath that heart-shaped smile that everyone fell for, the boy's smile faltered into a thin line.

Sure, he found happiness in dance, he loved dance with every inch in his body. Yet, with every ounce of happiness comes a droplet of despair.

Dance wore him out.

Of course, he didn't dare show it, but it did.

It didn't help that their Winter dance competition in December was nearing, which only caused the already hyped up adrenaline to pump through Hoseok's veins at an ever faster and more aggressive pace.

At a nearly inhumane pace.

From dawn til dusk, Hoseok worked his strong and powerful muscles until they gave out, his body falling limp against the hard and cold dance room floor.

Or bedroom floor, for the matter.

Whenever the boy wasn't at the dance studio practicing, he was in the own comfort of his room dancing his heart out, not keeping his eyes off the huge mirror displayed in front of him until the clock stroke an ungodly hour of the early morning.

And then, the routine only repeated itself over and over again.

Waking up just to dance after getting barely four hours of sleep, going to school for seven long and dreadful hours, and then going home or to the studio just to move his body to blasting music, hardly being able to squeeze in time for his homework or studying.

And even though Hoseok was good at displaying a bandage that prevented others from seeing his hurt self, Yoongi was much smarter than that.

He saw right through the boy. Through those occasional fake smiles or stifled laughs.

He knew the boy all too well not to notice even the tiniest of differences in his attitude, behavior or stance.

He reasoned it was because of dance, which was correct, but there were also underlying drawbacks Yoongi himself couldn't even see.

Ones that Hoseok wouldn't dare show.

Stuffing his red fingers into the warm and fuzzy pockets of his thick hoodie, Hoseok puffed a cloudy breath of air that dispersed amongst the whistling wind, disappearing as soon as it left his chapped lips.

He always found that interesting in the late fall or early winter; how one's breath turned visible like a little huff of smoke. It was something a little kid would giggle at, but then again, Hoseok really was a child at heart.

His clunky sneakers padded against the thin layer of frost covering the sidewalk, keeping his gaze ahead of him and towards the café that his four close friends from school worked at.

That warm, cozy café held so many meaningful memories to the bunch, and it always brought a smile to Hoseok's glossy face whenever approaching it or running in for quick coffee of some sort. The overall atmosphere was just so- comforting. There was never a time that Hoseok didn't feel welcomed or cheerful in the small coffee shop.

It was nearly impossible.

As it was an escape from reality, like an alternate universe that one could just simply ignore all their responsibilities, dreads, and regrets, as if they didn't have to suffer through them.

Similar to Alice in Wonderland; once Alice cluelessly followed the White Rabbit down the endless rabbit hole, her duties for studying disappeared.

And instead, travelled to this whole other world she didn't even know about. A world of fun, exuberant adventures believed to be unreachable by mortals.

But there she was, and here Hoseok was, both taking advantage of the opportunity to calm their stressful minds and escape from their boring life styles, into their own happy little world with endless amounts of fun.

A world with just his friends and him, sitting around (or standing) with a cup of coffee in each of their hands.

A world where there was no mindset to spend every hour sweating your body until it forced you to give out by fainting.

A world where it was just him and Min Yoongi, exchanging euphoric smiles at each other with rosy cheeks that spoke a universal language.

A language only they two could understand.

🍓thank you for reading!! ༼ つ ◕◡◕ ༽つ
🍼 I posted a oneshot book about a day or two ago called Strawberry Jam, so if you'd like feel free to check it out! I've been working on it since June 19th, and all 9 parts are already posted and published so you don't have to wait for updates ❤︎ {heads up: it does deal w darker topics like self hatred and poor body image, so read at your own caution if easily triggered by that, but I also put trigger warnings where it's the heaviest 💖}
🍓editor/assistant: jiminie_cricket_  (also check out her oneshot book as well hehe 💞💞)