youth // jung hoseok ✔️

9] late night

"Absolutely," Hoseok nodded, smiling even more as you came close to him, giving him a modest hug of greeting. "You awake now?"

"I was pretty annoyed at first, but I can't lie, I'm excited now," you admitted, and he felt an urge to touch you again; hold your hand, or thread his fingers through your hair. He shook the thoughts away, reminding himself that three other people were standing there, watching. He changed the subject, urging everyone to get going back to his house to pick up Kai and Kaylen.

He sat in the bed of the truck next to you like he had done many times at this point. But, every time he sat beside you like that, it reminded him of the first trip he had taken with you, and it filled him up with simple admiration for you. He was fighting such a large urge, to be honest with you, and to be intimate with you. He settled for casually putting his arm around you, something he had done playfully before, something you didn't seem to think much of. The gravity and strength of his feelings scared him.

"It's so nice outside," you broke the silence, leaning into him ever-so-slightly. He gulped.

"Yeah, we're lucky. Last year when we did this, it started raining halfway through our firework show."

"We're going to set off fireworks in the middle of the night? There's not some kind of rule against that?"

"We're going to a Kai's family's privately-owned beach. We can do whatever we want there," he reminded you gently, the anticipation of how much time he would get to spend with you tonight sending an excited yet nervous shock through him.

The truck pulled into the driveway then, and Kaylen and Kai were already waiting in the driveway, holding the boxes of fireworks. After quickly stowing them in the truck bed, they climbed into the backseat, Kai, fortunately, ending up sitting right next to Mia.

"I wish I could hear what they're saying," you looked through the window into the backseat. "I brought her along in hopes she'd soften him up."

Hoseok chuckled, "That's a smart plan, but Kai is one closed-off fellow. I'll literally carve Mia an award made from walking tree wood if she's able to crack open his nice side."

"I'm gonna hold you to that promise."

"Fair enough."

The drive to the beach was only 10 minutes, and it was only ten minutes before they all arrived. Kai and Felix were quick to jump out of the truck, running to get the bonfire going.

"They seem excited," you noted.

"It's their favorite night of the year," he glanced over at you, "It's my favorite night, too."

      ☼☼☼   

~YOUR POV~

"Let's go for a walk," Hoseok proposed a little while later. Kai and Kaylen and Mia were busy sorting through the large box of fireworks that they had brought from home. Lea and Felix were unsurprisingly cuddling by the bonfire without a single care in the world. Hoseok was standing beside where you were favoring the water by the light of the fortunately full moon.

"Sure," you agreed, happy and excited by the thought of a nighttime beach walk with Hoseok. If you were being truly honest, you'd been feeling quite attached to him these days. You felt like you were practically always making heart eyes at him. The thing about being beside Hoseok, though, was that he was always a comfortable presence. Even though you felt your heart yearning for a deeper relationship, you didn't feel flustered around him.

While walking alongside him, you wanted to reach for his hand. You kept your arm hanging by your side, almost as a subtle invitation to let Hoseok know that it was okay to reach for you if he wanted to.

"Are you having fun?" he murmured, his tone sounding light as usual, but there was an unknown edge to it. He almost sounded as if he was trying to mask nervousness.

"Of course. I love spending time with you," you answered before you had a chance to thoroughly think about how your response may come off. You didn't take back or correct the words that had managed to escape your lips, though, because those words were honest.

Hoseok stopped walking then. The two of you hadn't made it incredibly far down the beach, but the others were nearly out of sight.

"Y/N, I've been thinking a lot lately...I've been weighing the pros and cons of both confessing my feelings and suffocating them...But, I'm done thinking about it, and I'm done debating on what the best choice is to make. I just wanna be honest, because throttling my true emotions is not something I handle well..." he trailed off for a moment, perhaps to gather his courage.

"Then be honest," your murmured. He looked up at you again, making eye contact that felt quite intense compared to the norm.

"I like you, Y/N, and not in a friendly way," he bit his lip, anticipating your response. You were so happy to hear his simple words of confession that you felt like your breath had been nearly knocked out of your body.

"Hoseok," you smiled at him, warmth overcoming you. "I feel the exact same way."

He almost seemed surprised by your reply. "Really?"

You nodded to confirm. "Really."

"I wanna kiss you..." he began, but there was a hint of uncertainty lining his voice now.

"Then kiss me."

"But...I don't know that this is fair for us to do this."

"What do you mean?"

"Since...Since you're going to leave at the end of the summer?"

The overwhelming reality hit you like a ton of bricks. "But don't you think it's more unfair to ignore how we feel?"

"I just don't wanna hurt you..." he took a step closer to you.

"You aren't gonna hurt me."

He gently brought a hand to your face then. His fingers were soft against your cheek, and he began to lean closer. Hoseok had no idea that he was about to be your very first adult kiss You'd been kissed one another time in junior high, but that hardly counted. This one, however, was real.

His lips met yours just a few short moments later. They were quite like you had expected; gentle and coated in SPF 50 chapstick made to prevent sunburns.

You leaned into the kiss then, strikingly already very comfortable with being intimate with him. His arms were around you, holding you close. Everything about him was warm and inviting, which didn't surprise you in the slightest. It had only been 4 weeks, but he felt like home.