Tell Me Without Telling Me || Sope

Chapter Fifty-One

He wakes shaking with a jolt, cold sweat a sheen on his skin, and for too long he's afraid to open his eyes or move. When he does, it's to the dull grey light of a night that is still unwilling to relinquish its hold on the world to day. Yoongi's bed is empty again, blankets tossed back and hanging so far off the bed that they're trailing on the floor. Sitting up now, Hoseok almost begins to cry, too tired to fight it, but before he can do more than suck in a broken breath he hears movement downstairs.

He makes his way quietly, avoiding the creaky patches on the stairs, telling himself not to get his hopes up, unsure if he'll even be welcome, if it's even...

Yoongi is sitting at the kitchen table, bent over a giant bowl of cereal and eating at an obscene pace.

Hoseok stops in the doorway, hand on the frame, and feels the knot in his chest loosen. He thinks he might be happy to watch this for a very long time, even as a tiredness envelopes him that he's been incapable of experiencing since yesterday morning.

Yoongi scrapes the last of the cereal out of the bowl, then lifts it to drink the dregs of the milk. Milk slops down his front. He chokes.

"Jesus fucking christ, 'Seok," he wheezes, eyes watering. "You trying to give me a heart-attack?"

Hoseok beams before he can stop himself. He doesn't want to stop himself. Yoongi still looks tired, his face is swollen from sleep, hair still unwashed, but he's eating and his throat sounds better. "S-sorry, I was just—y-you're eating. I'm glad. I'm..." Tears are in his eyes and he's blinking furiously, mouth twitching, "It's really good," he says thickly. "Sre you still hungry? I'll make you something. What do you want?"

He barely registers crossing the kitchen and bringing Yoongi the entire roll of tissue paper until Yoongi is looking at him, bemused and clearly concerned. "'Seok... hey..."

"No, I'm fine, what do you want to eat? I can make anything." Hoseok wipes his eyes roughly, backing up.

"Don't need you to make me anything," Yoongi says softly, taking hold of the hem of Hoseok's shirt and pulling.

"B-but are you hungry still?" Hoseok asks, a little too desperately.

"Yeah, I'm still hungry," Yoongi says. "Sit down. Y'can make me something in a minute. I promise, alright? Just... sit."

Hoseok sits heavily, putting his hands in his lap. For a warm, split second, he feels their fingers brush before Yoongi lets go of his shirt.

"Why'd you want me to sit down?" Hoseok asks when Yoongi begins dabbing up the spilled milk. "Do you want rice? I could... do a rice dish... or some sort of broth or something? Um... you probably don't want anything really heavy or rich if your stomach's been empty... I think there's watermelon in the fridge..."

Yoongi finishes drying the table and leans in close. "Stop for a minute, okay? Think about that later."

It bursts out of Hoseok in a wet, irritated, broken cry. "B-but all you've eaten is some stupid stale cereal that Tae's had in the cupboard for, like, two months now! Y-you didn't—I made—you didn't eat! Y-you should make sure you eat!"

Yoongi's eyes widen softly. "'Seok..."

"N-no, I don't w-want you to act l-like nothing ha-hap-happened yesterday. Why would you make me lunch? There was nothing going on with me! That's so ridiculous! I didn't need breakfast either! You needed feeding. Not me. I d-d-didn't ne-need anything."

"I know you didn't need anything," Yoongi says, sitting up, a hint of strained indignation in his voice. A crease appears between his eyebrows. "'Seok, I didn't want you to make me breakfast or lunch."