Tell Me Without Telling Me || Sope

Chapter Fourteen

That night, they all eat dinner in the living room, Yoongi at Hoseok's side. Tae and Yoongi and Namjoon have a few drinks, but Hoseok and Jimin are cut off. No one wants to deal with them in the morning, they're already drunk enough as it is.

* * * 

"You had fun with Jiminie today then?" Yoongi asks later when they're lying in the dark, the only thing separating them the few feet between their beds.

"It was a bit of a disaster," Hoseok admits. "But yeah. I had fun. He's fun. I like all of you guys. Jimin-ah has so much to say, it's..."

"Overwhelming?"

"No. Yeah. Sort of. I wasn't going to say that."

"What were you going to say?"

"That it's awesome. He was telling me all about what he wants to do to help people."

Yoongi laughs fondly. "Yeah, he's got a lot of big ideas."

"Maybe I'm just straight and stupid--"

"You're not straight or stupid. I mean--" Yoongi snorts. "You're not stupid. You know what I meant. Shut up. I'm tired. You being straight doesn't mean you're stupid."

Giggling, Hoseok says, "Well, I said that because I don't want to sound like some uneducated straight dude. I've never had gay friends before. I don't know what I'm doing or what I'm allowed to say. I don't want to fuck it up."

"Were you about to say something offensive?" Yoongi asks, fake suspicion in his voice.

"No! Of course not."

"You're not an uneducated straight dude," Yoongi says quietly. "Well, I mean... you are, but not in the way you mean. Like... you found out Namjoon-ah was demisexual and you obviously had no clue what it was," he chuckles. "But I like the fact you just googled what it was--you sat there for ten minutes reading articles under the table. And it would have been fine if you'd asked us, but you didn't. Maybe it seems stupid and inconsequential to you--it sort of is--but it was just... nice knowing you did that. It was also very reassuring knowing you think people shouldn't fuck dogs."

Hoseok groans into his pillow, embarrassment enveloping him in a cloud of heat.

"It's kind of the bare minimum," Yoongi says, "but it's nice how you act so normal about us. Even well intentioned straight people don't know how to act around someone who's gay. They'll ask inappropriate questions or stare when a guy wears makeup. And I've seen you be surprised by things, but you always look so happy about being surprised."

Hoseok smiles into the darkness, letting his hand hang off the edge of the bed. He does this sometimes even though he knows their beds are too far away for them to have any chance of holding hands.

He doesn't know what to say. Or rather, he knows, but it's not coming out of his mouth. The alcohol is wearing off. He's coming back to earth after the rush of how happy this evening has been.

"I should have gotten some gay friends sooner, really," he says at last. "I can't believe I've been missing out all this time."

"Don't push it," Yoongi warns. 

Something soft lands on Hoseok's chest with a thwump. A pillow. 

"You can still turn into an uneducated straight dude. It only takes one sentence."

Hoseok tosses the pillow in the direction of Yoongi's voice. "Let me know if I ever do."

Yoongi hums. "I don't think I'll ever need to. Jiminie'll get there first. He... um... he said he told you he was polyamorous today."