Bargain (Not Met) (JungHope)

Interlude - Party

The lessons went swimmingly. Hoseok was a class favorite, and he welcomed the attention shyly because, again, it had been an entire decade since he was last praised for his skills outside of basic paperwork etiquette.

Before long, it was nearing New Year's, and Hoseok's existential dread that came with the floor's annual celebration was rolling in again, just like it did for Christmas a mere few days ago.

"Just invite that Jungkook kid," Seokjin said when Hoseok declined his invitation for the tenth time that afternoon.

Hoseok sputtered and turned toward him with a glare. "I can't just—invite him!"

Seokjin rose a brow, shoving one of those leftover candy canes used to decorate the floor's Christmas tree into his mouth. "Why not? He's not a demon anymore, right? What's the harm in having a human plus-one? It's not like you'll be the only one."

"He hardly knows me, hyung. Why would he accept an invitation to a party that he doesn't even know the host of?"

That was Hoseok's argument, but after the following morning's lesson was over and Hoseok popped the question, Jungkook merely spent a few seconds mulling it over in his head before nodding.

"Sure," he said, and Seokjin didn't let Hoseok live it down when he delivered the news in the office.

--

"Damn, Hoseokie, when was the last time I saw you at a party?" Namjoon said as he embraced Hoseok's still-shivering form.

"Three years," Hoseok muttered, and Namjoon released him with a sharp hiss of an apology. "It's fine," he insisted because it was. At least, he hoped it was. It still hurt—remembering Taehyung—but if Yoongi could go about his days without misery tethering him down, Hoseok should do the same. Maybe out of respect, perhaps for his own self-preservation.

"Anyways, where's your date?" Namjoon asked when the silence dragged on.

"He's not my date," Hoseok sputtered, heat encasing his cheeks. "He's my plus-one."

Namjoon shrugged, noncommittal. "Same thing. Anyways," he continued, proceeding further into their manager's home, "I came because I heard the manager's got a God-tier wine collection. So, I'll probably be seeing you at midnight."

"It's only seven—"

Namjoon waved him goodbye without a backward glance.

Hoseok sighed and lingered near the entryway listlessly. He didn't want to run off and indulge himself in all the goodies he saw lying on the kitchen counter because he promised Jungkook he would introduce him to his coworkers. Just so that Hoseok wasn't the only person that he knew because Hoseok wouldn't know what to do with himself if Jungkook hovered by his side the entire evening out of sheer shyness. He prayed Jungkook had grown out of his social ineptness, but there was no telling if a dance leader was a leader in conversation.

Hoseok greeted the guests and their plus-ones as they began to trickle in the older the evening grew. He accepted the glass of champagne Seokjin had passed him, a faint "good luck" parting Seokjin's lips as he was tugged back into the growing crowd that congregated in the living room. Hoseok waited and waited, and he nearly dropped his glass—refilled thrice since Seokjin's gifting—when Jungkook's face suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Hey," Jungkook said, a smile breaking out across his face. "Sorry I'm late. Traffic was bad."

Hoseok hummed, empathetic, and gave Jungkook a once-over. "You look nice," he muttered, and he couldn't tell if it was because he was used to seeing Jungkook drenched in his own sweat with loose tees and sweatpants on, or because Jungkook had filled out remarkably in the three years since he had last seen him. He looked nothing like the fifteen-year-old in his memories, and Hoseok didn't know if that was good or not.