Work Text
“Faster, Hoseok. Go faster.”
Hoseok looked up at Yoongi and tightened his grip, his lips curling into a smile.
“Whatever you want.”
-=-=-=-=-=-=- Yoongi was never really particularly fond of extracurricular activities, in every sense of the word. He liked having time to himself and he liked being able to go straight home after class or maybe just linger around and watch other clubs and people without any particular involvement. He's what other people liked to call "shut in" or even "sheltered", but he just wasn’t that big a fan of physical activity especially those that may be potentially dangerous, even if he did enjoy watching them. It just seemed completely unnecessary to him. He built routines, ones he liked following to a T and ones he always curated to fit his needs and wants. He didn’t like deviating from it much, unless he absolutely had no choice. And even on such occasions, the deviations aren’t particularly welcome, either. One such deviation was him having to wait for another student, Jung Hoseok, because their psychology teacher requested Yoongi to tutor him prior to their midterms. He was in her other class, and apparently this Hoseok was falling off a bit on his grades despite being pretty attentive to the lessons. Yoongi wanted to say no because his afternoons were for people-watching and the occasional coffee shop break with his best friend, Namjoon, but he felt that it would be too selfish of him to refuse solely on the basis of that. So there he was waiting in the library for this Hoseok fellow to arrive so they can get this designated time over with and he can go home. He’d been killing time for around 30 minutes, which wasn't a big deal because he came purposely early (he always liked to be prepared), so it was inevitable that he would have to wait. But after 10 or so minutes had passed from their actual meeting time, he was already doubting whether the said person would even arrive. The time ticking by in a fashion he didn't plan on made him uneasy. He contemplated gathering his stuff and just going for his usual coffee when he saw someone with messy burgundy hair make his way towards him. “Sorry I’m late,” he greeted and placed a small pack of cupcakes on the table. “I got these as a sort of ‘thank you’ for helping me out.” Yoongi stared at the food in front of him. “I’m Hoseok, by the way. Jung Hoseok.” He reached out to shake his hand. “Yoongi. Min Yoongi.” He took the proffered hand and shook it. It felt soft and clean, but sturdy, like he was the type who did a lot of work with his hands. “Food isn’t allowed in the library.” “We’re not allowed to eat in the library. They never said anything about bringing food but not eating it.” He smiled the biggest and brightest smile Yoongi has ever seen. Huh. -=-=-=-=-=-=- “I don’t understand why you could possibly need my help at all, to be honest,” Yoongi dropped the pencil on the table and crossed his arms. He just finished reading Hoseok’s answers on the quiz he made about various theories of personality. “I take it I did pretty okay?” He pointed to the piece of paper between them. Hoseok did more than okay. His answers were literally spot on. He’d been tutoring him for a few weeks now and he always thought Hoseok was pretty quick at understanding the topics, but today really sealed it for him. He obviously knew the material well so his comprehension wasn’t the problem. He stared at the man smiling sheepishly in front of him, trying to figure out what the problem might be. “Do you have a time management problem?” “What made you think that?” Hoseok expressed obvious shock at the sudden conclusion. Yoongi found it amusing, how his expression could change so quickly and earnestly. But he said nothing, just scratched his nose. “You obviously aren’t dumb nor are you having a hard time understanding our topics.” Yoongi sat up and ran his tongue over his front teeth. “So either you’re just not able to properly manage your time for studying or you’re purposely trying to fail this class. Which is it?” The other smiled and scratched the back of his head. “I can see why they suggested you as a tutor. You’re really good at reading people.” Yoongi was flattered at the compliment; he felt the tips of his ears go warm. He pointedly ignored this and waited for the response to his question. “I may have been a bit busy the past few weeks with… something. It was a little hard to set aside time, I guess. So I thought that maybe having a tutor would force me to study a bit more.” “What exactly keeps you that busy that you forget to study?” Hoseok stopped for a moment, just looking at Yoongi. “Well?” He pursed his lips in contemplation as if considering whether to divulge an important secret. “Can I show you instead?” -=-=-=-=-=- He expected something like a noisy younger sister or a babysitting gig. Maybe a secret love for baking or pole dancing. Or even a part-time job as a clown. He definitely wasn’t expecting this. The stretch of road was closed off and small crowd of very diverse people gathered, talking and fawning over the custom cars and the people responsible for their creation. Hoseok was among them, standing beside a heavily customized dark blue convertible, greeting various people before noticing Yoongi’s presence a few meters down. He immediately waved and his companions followed in his example. They seemed nice enough but Yoongi didn’t feel like he belonged here. Just one look and he already knew that this was most definitely not his crowd. Hoseok was a drag racer. And this was what was keeping him from properly studying. Usually, he would roll his eyes and tell him that he needs to get his priorities straight. He would tell him that maybe his time would be better spent studying for their midterms instead of being part of a potentially life-threatening racing hobby so he wouldn’t have to bug Yoongi and disrupt his schedule, but he felt strangely drawn in. Maybe it was because he had grown rather fond of Hoseok during the weeks they’ve been having tutoring sessions. He was, after all, very thoughtful and attentive and that made their sessions feel less of a burden and almost something Yoongi would look forward to. Almost to the point of making their weekly meetings part of his standard schedule. Almost. Hoseok was about to make his way to him before someone approached him and prompted him to take his position beside a matte grey customized jeep. The smell of metal and fuel filled the air as the sounds of engines being revved up arose. Yoongi stood pretty far back, not really wanting to get too close to the track for safety reasons, but close enough to get a clear view of what was happening. He didn’t quite understand it but he felt a sense of nervousness course through him. Amber lights flashed simultaneously. Yoongi has never seen this much focus and detemination in his eyes even after all the weeks they spent together. It was… different, being able to see him like this. He watched Hoseok arms tense up and relax as he held the wheel. His sharp gaze trained on the stretch of road before him. That is, until, for a brief moment (whether real or imaginary, he wasn’t sure anymore), Hoseok looked at him and Yoongi could’ve sworn he saw him wink. Before he was able to process what just happened, the light turned green and the engines roared to life to dash past the starting line. Yoongi’s grip on his bag strap tightened as he watched them speed off, his heart dropping to his stomach as the roar of the vehicles ripped through the air, but he followed the movement of Hoseok’s vehicle intently. It felt like a strange daze. He knew that everything was moving incredibly fast, yet it still felt frozen in time. His ears registered the voices of the people cheering for both Hoseok and his competitor as if they were slowed muffled behind a thick glass and his vision was fuzzy apart from the deep blue convertible. He gripped his bag tighter and in the blink of an eye, the two cars were now already three-fourths of the way to the end - and they were neck and neck. The crowd roared with feverish abandon, the deep bass of the combined cheers and screams making the air rumble, making Yoongi's bones rattle beneath his skin as the plethora of sensation came flooding his senses. He gripped his bag impossibly tighter, his knuckles going white, his breath catching. At the very last moment the deep blue convertible appeared to fall behind, and Yoongi stood on his tiptoes, his heart caught in his throat, until it suddenly roared back to life and managed to cross the line just a split second before the jeep did. The two cars come to a stop and the two drivers exit their vehicles to give each other congratulatory handshakes. Yoongi let go of a breath he didn’t even know he was holding. He made his way over to where Hoseok parked his car and where he was currently being surrounded by other enthusiasts congratulating him on the win. He was pretty sure they were loud but the thumping of his chest from all the second-hand adrenaline seemed to be louder. Hoseok spotted him and parted the crowd to get to where he was. His hair was a bit of a mess from the wind, but it was pushed out of the way to give a clear view of his features under the lights of the track. “So this is why you’ve been failing class?” He asked, the thumping in his chest becoming a little softer now, just enough for him to be able to hear better. “Maybe, a little bit. Yeah.” Hoseok watched him, probably half expecting Yoongi to get mad. Yoongi just looked at him for a bit, observing how his skin was flushed a lighter shade of red and how his shirt clung to his body with patches of sweat from both the race and the leather jacket he wore. He contemplated telling him off. But their eyes met, and he decided otherwise. Yoongi got a sudden sinking feeling that this was becoming a thing - deciding to do one thing and then deviating from it. Because Hoseok happened to get in the way. Huh. “I think we should work on your time management skills instead of just normal study sessions.” Hoseok laughed that melodious laugh that Yoongi was starting to get used to. “You do know that this is incredibly dangerous and possibly hazardous to your physical well-being, right?” “Yeah, but,” Hoseok moved just a little closer for them to be able to hear better, maybe. “Where’s the fun in playing it safe all the time?” -=-=-=-=-=- Yoongi noticed that Hoseok has since developed a habit of calling him for help at the most random times. Like now. Yoongi was out with Namjoon and he managed to call asking for advice on how he would be more motivated to finish reviewing instead of just dropping it so he could work on his car. “That’s interesting,” Namjoon pointed out, swirling his straw around to mix the whipped cream in his coffee. “What is?” Yoongi placed his phone on the table and resumed his drink. “What happened to your routine?” “He keeps interrupting it.” “And you’re not mad?” Yoongi looked at the phone laying there. “I guess not.” -=-=-=-=-=- “Do you want to ride with me next time?” “No. I don’t want to die.” “I’ll make sure to keep you safe.” Was this a joke? Yoongi stopped writing and just looked at him. Hoseok didn’t seem to be laughing. “Ace the midterms and we’ll see.” -=-=-=-=-=- Yoongi walked out of his last class for the week, fully ready to go home and maybe take a nice long nap, when he found Hoseok standing outside. “What’re you doing here?” With a smile, he handed Yoongi a piece of paper. It was his graded psychology midterm. “A-plus.” Yoongi read. “Congratulations.” His voice was naturally flat but he did genuinely feel happy and excited for him. “I’m really happy for you.” “You told me you’d ride with me if I aced the exam, right?” Yoongi blinked. “I said ‘we’ll see.’ I didn’t say I promised.” “Please, hyung?” He nudged at the piece of paper in his hands. “I couldn’t have done this without you and I just really want to thank you for helping me. Please?” He had a perfectly planned out evening. Go home, take a shower, watch an episode or two of Doctor Who while eating dinner, then go to sleep. His usual Friday night and it was 100% safe. Unless something decided to go horribly wrong at home, which he thought was highly unlikely. Yoongi looked at exam paper, not really reading anything on it before looking back up at the man in front of him. They already met just two days ago for their usual session. Would he break his Friday ritual for him? Hoseok looked at him expectantly. “Fine. But if I die, I’m haunting your ass.” He laughed a full body laugh. “Don’t worry. I said I’ll keep you safe, right?” -=-=-=-=-=- The ride from school was relatively slow and painless, possibly because traffic was a thing. Yoongi was mentally and emotionally preparing himself for the race track and a possible near death experience, but he noticed that they just passed the turn going to the where the usual races were held. “You missed a turn. The track was over there, right?” “Yeah, but I had other things in mind today,” Hoseok smiled, keeping his eyes on the road as number of cars grew fewer and fewer. Yoongi should’ve felt concerned and he expected to just want to go home to his bed and TV, but he couldn’t bring himself to. Not this time. The radio played on and the road ahead of them was long and empty, leading into the open. The roof of the convertible was down. The air was cool and the sky was orange. He wasn’t sure where they were exactly, but he could definitely smell the ocean air now, which slowly enveloped them as they drove at a steady pace down the lane. The breeze was relaxing and the song on the radio felt exactly like that moment - open and soothing; that moment between one second and the next, the space between one ticker and the another on the face of a clock. Here and not here. Infinitely small and big simultaneously, the way one felt when looking at the vast expanse of stars in the night sky. Magnanimous; insignificant. For the first time, Yoongi felt carefree. He wasn’t sure if it was on purpose, but Hoseok caught his eye - just for a brief moment - before he stepped on the gas just in time with the drop of the beat of the song on the radio, and they sped through the empty stretch of road, swerving left, right, as the road wound along the cliffs, the wind stinging Yoongi's cheeks, rushing in his ears, the music engulfing his senses.
Inside my blue dream
I want to contain you
The various hues of the sky painted Hoseok's face pretty shades of red then purple then a soft but deep blue. The song played on.
Even if you say no
Inside my eyes
He parked the car just off to the side of the road and got off. Yoongi watched Hoseok stand in front of the open sea. The sun had already set, but he stood there with his arms open as if basking in sunlight. The ocean breeze rustled through his clothes and his hair, the deep blue of the ocean and sky a stark contrast to his deep red hair. He turned around to face him, motioning Yoongi to join him. Yoongi followed wordlessly and stood beside him, just near the edge but not quite there yet. He could still hear the song playing over the radio.
Blue side
Back to blue side
“Is this better than what you had planned tonight?” Hoseok asked through the sound of the wind in their ears. Yoongi smiled. And he didn’t have to look at him to know he was smiling, too. “Maybe.” -=-=-=-=-=-=- “Are you sure, hyung?” Hoseok laughed. “Whatever happened to this being a hazard?” “You said you’d keep me safe, right?” Yoongi looked down at him, wind rushing through his hair like the nervousness and excitement through his veins. Hoseok gave him a quick, but amused nod. “Then do it.” Yoongi swallowed whatever fear he had at that moment and stood from his seat, arms spread wide. “Faster, Hoseok. Go faster.” Hoseok looked up at Yoongi and tightened his grip on the wheel, his lips curling into a smile. “Whatever you want.”