The next morning, Hoseok- the certified early bird- was having trouble getting out of bed.
When he finally managed to stand up and stretch himself out, his legs wobbled a little, weakened by his lack of nutrition in the past week. He ran a hand of his abdomen which was now concave. Empty. At least his apartment wasn't completely dark anymore, the sun's illuminating rays lighting the room well enough for Hoseok to languidly get ready for work.
Seokjin's black car pulled up to Hoseok's building, where the red head was waiting as usual by the front gate. The older immediately noticed the deflated air around his best friend as Hoseok slipped into the passenger seat.
"Is something wrong Hobi?" Seokjin asked as he shifted his Tesla into drive.
"I'm just a little tired, that's all," Hoseok managed a little half-smile.
"Alright," Seokjin replied, throughly unconvinced. Hoseok was almost never this tired, he was always charged to 100% like the energizer bunny. They drove the rest of the way in silence, Hoseok resting his head against the cool glass window watching the cars driving by in the opposite direction.
Life was becoming draining. Hoseok was just surviving each day. He told himself "just get through today, Hobi" and "everything will be okay", but he was fully aware that one day things just wouldn't be okay anymore, and that day seemed to be fast approaching.
When they arrived at work and began preparing orders for the lunch shift, Hoseok managed to sneak some bits and pieces of what they cooked- just a little extra taste testing. It was just enough to keep him on his feet, but not nearly enough to satisfy his rumbling tummy.
The restaurant wasn't that busy that day (it wasn't usually on the weekdays), so the kitchen staff were a little more relaxed than usual. Jungkook was busy telling the chefs about his brand-new crush.
"I'm in love with Taehyung," Jungkook proclaimed.
"Um..." Seokjin stared at the boy as if he had just grown a third arm. "What happened to Jimin?"
"Hah," Jungkook rolled his eyes. "That was just a childish musing. I'm over it. I love Taehyung now."
"Wow-" Seokjin didn't really know what else to say as he tried not to laugh. The young brunette certainly changed his mind quickly.
"But you guys can't tell him!" Jungkook went wide-eyed, once again swearing the chefs to secrecy about his love life. "He doesn't know!"
"Alright Kook don't worry. Hobi and I won't say anything." Seokjin gave him a reassuring grin, then turned to Hoseok to make sure he was on the same page, but Hoseok was staring off into space. "Hobi?"
"Huh?" Hoseok blinked back to reality. "Oh yeah sure Kookie."
"You good?" Seokjin asked him again, watching as his best friend went back to chopping carrots. "If you need a break, I can take over for a bit."
"It's alright Jin, I'm perfectly fine," Hoseok lied. He very much was not fine, he was incredibly weak from not eating properly for weeks, but Jin couldn't know that. Hoseok felt a wave of guilt wash over him after lying to his best friend. He hated lying and he had been having to do it a lot recently.
And his day went from bad to worse halfway through the lunch rush.
He was working at the stove, frying various meats and vegetables that Seokjin was passing him. It took only a moment of distraction in his dazed state for the red head to slip up.
As Hoseok turned to plate his freshly cooked steak, he placed his other hand down on the stove.
Directly on the scalding hot burner.
Hoseok cried out loudly as the steak dropped to the floor. A searing pain stung through his hand and shot up his arm, all of the nerve endings on fire. It was one of the worst pains he had ever experienced. The skin was bright red and beginning to blister, and the pain was somehow only getting worse with time.
Seokjin took a step towards his friend to help, but before he could, the head chef had traversed the entire kitchen and had situated himself at Hoseok's side. Seokjin was worried that Chef Min would yell at the boy for dropping the steak, but the steak was the least of Yoongi's concerns.
"Oh my god Hobi are you alright?" Yoongi panicked, lightly holding Hoseok's wrist, careful not to touch the scorched skin on his palm. He led the younger over to the sink, where he told Jungkook not-so-kindly to "get the fuck out of the way" and turned on the cold water. "Here, run your hand under the water."
Hoseok did as he was told and let the water run over his palm. The cooling sensation reduced the pain but not enough to stop Hoseok from letting a couple tears escape from his eyes.
"It h-hurts..." Hoseok whimpered.
Yoongi's heart broke a little. "I know Hobi, I know." He hated that the red-haired boy was in so much pain. By look's of the swollen and red injury, Yoongi determined that it was at least a second-degree burn, and as an experienced chef, he knew all too well how those kinds of burns felt.
"I should take him to the hospital!" Seokjin suggested with a concerned tone.
"No!" Hoseok lashed out suddenly, throwing him into another fit of tears, "N-no hospitals..."
"At least let me treat it then," Yoongi urged him. He wrapped his arm around Hoseok's back, leading him out of the kitchen. Hoseok obliged immediately, not really having the energy to do much else.
Seokjin looked on sadly as the two left. He knew that his friend was hurt but... Hoseok had yelled at him. He was just trying to help and Hoseok had jumped straight down his throat for it. It was like he didn't even know the red-headed boy was anymore.
Yoongi led the wounded chef out of the kitchen and hurried him up a set of stairs. When they arrived at the top, Yoongi opened the door to reveal a loft-style apartment, painted in neutral colours and furnished with minimalistic décor.
"You l-live here?" Hoseok sniffled, trying to ignore the shooting pain in his palm.
"Mhm," Yoongi hummed, leading Hoseok over to the couch and sitting him down there. "I'm going to go get my first aid kit. I'll be right back okay?"
Hoseok gave him a small nod and Yoongi disappeared into another room, only to emerge a second later with a large white container under his arm. He sat down on the couch, setting the case beside him and pulling a tube of some kind of cream out.
"Give me your hand," Yoongi told to red head softly, taking the boy's wrist and placing the hand palm-up on his lap. He squeezed some of medical cream onto his fingers and then slowly brushed the substance over Hoseok's blistered skin. The sunshine boy flinched, but then proceeded to let out a long sigh as the stinging pain began to dissipate.
"Am I hurting you?" Yoongi asked, shooting Hoseok a concerned look.
Hoseok shook his head, "No, it feels a lot better."
Yoongi hummed in response and took a roll of bandage wrap out of the kit, carefully unrolling some of it to bring around Hoseok's hand. "So you want to tell me why you didn't want to go to the hospital?"
"Oh uh..." Hoseok went quiet for a moment. "I just don't like hospitals. When my mother was sick, I spent almost everyday there. I visited in the mornings and after school, I did my homework in the hospital cafeteria- it was basically my second home for just over a year. Now it just brings back a lot of bad memories."
Yoongi paused for a moment to glance up at the younger. "I'm sorry about your mother. It sounds like you cared about her a lot."
"I did," Hoseok nodded, "Everyone always said that I'm exactly like her."
"Then she must have been an amazing person," Yoongi said calmly, while he finished securing the bandage in place. Hoseok flushed a little when Yoongi let his fingers linger on his arm, keeping the wounded hand in his lap.
And then Hoseok's stomach rumbled- a lion-like roar that was probably heard blocks away.
"Hungry are we?" Yoongi chuckled from his chest. "Let me make you something."
"Oh no that's okay-" Hoseok stared down at his lap.
"Let me rephrase," Yoongi said, getting up from the sofa, and making his way over to the kitchen. "I'm making you some gimbap, and you're going to eat it."
"But what about the restaurant-"
"Seokjin can handle it for a while. Plus, I have something more important to attend to up here" Yoongi returned to the couch for a moment, just to place a kiss on Hoseok's forehead. "Now stop coming up with excuses and let me feed you."
Hoseok nodded obediently, not really having the willpower to protest. His mouth watered at the idea of gimbap- or any proper food for that matter. After a bit of time in the kitchen, Yoongi returned to Hoseok with a large plate of sliced gimbap and a single set of chopsticks. Is this heaven? Hoseok wondered.
He immediately dug into the food with a ferocity that Yoongi had only previously seen on Animal Planet. Yoongi slid his arm around the red head's back and laughed a little. "Slow down Hoseok, it's not going anywhere."
"M'kay," Hoseok managed, his cheeks filled with gimbap like a chipmunk. He slowed down, but only a little bit as his stomach was crying out for more. In just a few minutes, the entire plate was cleaned off and Hoseok was finally satisfied for the first time in quite a while.
Yoongi was impressed. He certainly didn't expect the skinny chef to have that much of an appetite. "Did you like it?"
"It was so good!" Hoseok felt his energy begin to creep back in as he shot the dark-haired man a wide grin. "Thank you Yoongi hyung!"
"You called me Yoongi," The head chef beamed. He leaned in and gave Hoseok a small peck on the lips before pulling back a little to admire his flushed cheeks and surprised expression. "So cute."
Hoseok felt particularly shy around Yoongi that day. The man had taken such good care of him from tending to his burn, to feeding him, and Hoseok enjoyed how the man cared about him. He wasn't really sure what came over him, but when Yoongi's tender daze met his eyes, he leaned in for an abrupt kiss, pressing his lips firmly against the older man's.
It took Yoongi a moment to register that Hoseok had really initiated a kiss, but once he did, his large hands wrapped around the boy's waist, pulling them closer together. It took no time at all for Hoseok to relinquish control over to the older, melting into his every domineering movement and savouring the harsh pressure of the man's lips.
Hoseok slid his uninjured hand over Yoongi's bicep, as if he was afraid he would otherwise drown in the kiss. He had never experienced this side on Yoongi before, the man's each movement was greedy and relentless, punctuating his movements with little bites along Hoseok's bottom lip, not enough to hurt but just enough for the younger's entire body to tingle with excitement
Without breaking the deep kiss, Yoongi lifted Hoseok by the waist onto his lap, the boy straddling his thighs. Yoongi's hands travelled down from the red head's waist to his ass, gently palming the area with his large hands. "My pretty boy..." He mumbled against Hoseok's lips, suddenly pressing his hands in and squeezing the younger's ass cheeks.
Hoseok gasped, and Yoongi took the opportunity to dart his tongue into his mouth, aggressively exploring the cavern and dominating the younger's tongue. Hoseok let out a soft whimper, the feeling of tongue caressing his mouth and the hands roughly kneading his backside completely overwhelming him.
"Let me mark you baby," Yoongi asked him in a low breathy tone.
Hoseok just nodded submissively, not really sure what Yoongi meant by 'marking him', but he soon found out when Yoongi's mouth fell on his neck, asserting his ownership by sucking harshly against the red head's delicate skin.
"Ah, Yoongi-" Hoseok moaned out softly, his breath wobbly as the older worked his magic on his neck. Yoongi sucked at multiple spots, watching proudly as the small red spots appeared against the tan skin. He lapped his tongue over the skin, making the younger wriggle on his lap, inadvertently rubbing Yoongi's crotch through his jeans.
Yoongi let out a shaky breath and pulled off Hoseok's neck, admiring the beautiful, dazed look in the red-haired boy's eye and the now purple marks that trailed along the right side of his neck. There would be time for them to go further, but Yoongi didn't want to overwhelm the younger after that day's events.
"So pretty..." He mumbled lowly, gently running his thumb over Hoseok's dampened lips, "My pretty baby."
Hoseok let a small, contented smile pass over his lips as he lay his head down onto Yoongi's shoulder, taking in the scent of his warm cologne.
"Tired, baby?" Yoongi asked quietly, rubbing the younger's back gently. Hoseok nodded against his shoulder. "Why don't you take a nap for a bit?"
Hoseok frowned, "I need to get back to work..."
Yoongi chucked, running his fingers through the boy's hair, "I'm sure your boss won't mind."
Hoseok would've normally protested more, but his body was exhausted and wanted nothing more than rest. Yoongi laid him down on the couch and tucked a warm quilt overtop of the tired chef, before placing a soft kiss of his forehead. "I'll come wake you up later, okay? Sweet dreams, my pretty boy."
By the time Yoongi had walked back downstairs to the kitchen, Hoseok was already drifting off to dreamland, feeling more relaxed than he had in weeks.
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