The Ongoing Struggles of Being A Mall Gay

Part 2

Yoongi listens to rap music. He also really loves Slam Dunk. Hoseok doesn't watch a lot of anime, or any at all really, but he adores the idea of Yoongi watching a basketball anime. He'll watch it with him anytime he wants.

Hoseok doesn't dare ask how old he is, because it'll shatter the illusion. If he knows how old he is, it'll only fuck things up. He doesn't want to saddle anyone with the burden of dating him. Still, he just wants to sit on a couch with him and maybe cuddle him and watch Slam Dunk with him. Is that so much to ask?

Yoongi has started responding to texts in the group chat. This is more progress than they've made with anyone else they've tried to add to it. People always just remove themselves after a few weeks, so it's beyond exciting for Yoongi to engage with them. It's starting to seem like he might stick around and that is the best news ever. No longer six of them, they'll have a seventh. That's a perfect number for playing board games. Hoseok has been trying to host a board game night for months, but they all have busy schedules. It's something that they have to plan for two weeks in advance so that Seokjin and Namjoon, the two who make the schedules, can coordinate.

"Do you like mafia?"

"The... the mafia?" Yoongi asks.

"No, like the game mafia. Not the actual mafia."

Yoongi blinks at him a few times. "I don't know what that is."

Hoseok smiles. "Don't worry, I'll teach you how to play."

"Are you going to order something or are you just harassing my coworker?" Jimin asks him teasingly. Hoseok shrugs. He supposes he could go for a smoothie right now.

"Sure, just make me whatever," he says. Hoseok likes pretty much all of the smoothies at Orange Julius so he's not picky.

"Yup," Jimin says turning around to make him whatever. "Extra fruity because you're gay."

"That's homophobic," Hoseok says. Yoongi's ears or heart or face or something turn a violent red. Hoseok is... gay? Which means that he... has the capacity... to like Yoongi? In a gay way? Well this isn't going to be good for his poor little heartstrings.

Jimin gives him a glare. Yoongi starts to feel like an idiot in this moment. Namjoon and Seokjin: married. Jimin: openly gay. Taehyung: has that personality. Jungkook is... Jungkook. Jesus Christ. All of them are gay. Why didn't that occur to him? Is he literally a victim to heteronormativity? He was so caught up in the fact that most people are usually straight that it didn't even process in his brain that they all gravitated towards each other to form a mall family. Because they're all gay. Wait... if they wanted Yoongi to join their ranks does that mean...?

"Wait – so all of you are gay," Yoongi states. He doesn't think that he means for the words to come out of his mouth. They just tumble out of him without his consent.

"Uh, yeah," Hoseok nods. "Was that not clear?" Now he's trying to determine what tone of voice Yoongi is saying that with. Please oh please don't let this beautiful boy be a piece of shit. Hoseok will be heartbroken if someone as pretty as him is an asshole. It'll break his heart in two. Now obviously, Namjoon isn't allowed to fire anyone for their moral beliefs or complete lack thereof, but it will make things a little uncomfortable. But then again, Yoongi does work under Namjoon, a very transparently gay man, so if he was a homophobe, you'd expect that to have come out by now.

"Is that why you invited me to the group chat?" he asks. Hoseok makes an "oh" sound. That makes sense. He doesn't give off any energy at all that suggests towards anything, gay, straight, or something outside or in between. But now that he's looking at Yoongi, he understands the confusion.