atlantis - STRFKR
~YOUR POV~
The following two weeks were filled up with time spent with Hoseok that you couldn't describe in any other way than intense. Every single day was spent beside him. Whether he was at your house, you were at his house or the Ukulele shop, you were both constantly alongside one another.
You began to easily fall in line with his life and schedule, your schoolwork unbelievably easy to complete. Lea was more than happy to answer your copious amounts of questions, and even Kai was helpful from time to time despite the fact he was still a bit standoffish toward you.
It was hard to believe it was already early July. It was hard to believe an entire month of your stay was already gone. Time was moving too fast, and in a way that bothered you. But, you were constantly having so much fun that the only time you had to worry about time itself was in the late hours of the night before you fell asleep. As you would replay the beautiful moments of the day in your mind, the fear of dwindling time would somehow always arise. The fear was difficult to push away.
"Where's Hoseok at tonight?" That was Mia. She was propped up on the couch eating a spoon of peanut butter while you were washing up the dishes.
"He's stuck helping to repaint the inside of the Ukulele shop," you couldn't help but sigh a bit as the words left your mouth.
"Miss him already?" Mia chuckled.
"Is it bad that I do?" You turned off the water and reached for a hand towel to dry your hands.
"No, not necessarily. I mean, are you guys an item yet or what?"
"No...we're not together."
"But you want to be?"
"What's with all the questions?" you let out an exasperated laugh, going to sit down beside Mia on the couch.
"I don't know. He's just been around a lot lately, and your smiles become brighter than the sun whenever he's here. Not to mention, you start moping around once he's not here...Am I overreading into this?"
You hesitated slightly at first. Verbally expressing your developing feelings for Hoseok would make them real. If they were real, you'd have to deal with them.
"You're not overreading it all..."
Mia giggled excitedly, "I knew it. Do you have plans with him tomorrow for fourth of July?"
"He actually hasn't said anything about it, so I'm not sure. We'll all probably just go to the beach like usual. You should come with us, whatever we do. Maybe a pretty girl like you will make Kai start being a little less uptight."
"Is he cute?" Mia had met everyone in the group at some point or another except for Kai. He was notoriously unaccepting and anti-social.
"He's pretty cute."
"I wouldn't mind tagging along then," she smirked, "I've yet to meet any cute single boys while I've been here."
The front door opened then, and Emma shuffled inside, looking exhausted. "Hey, guys."
Over the past few weeks, Emma had been rather pleasant when she wasn't in the presence of her sister. You and Mia were actually starting to become friends with her.
"What's up?" Mia asked through a mouthful of peanut butter.
"Just been a long day doing research," Emma dropped her bag on the kitchen counter before joining you and Mia in the living room. "Where's Paige?"
"I don't know; I haven't seen her at all today," you shrugged.
"Same here," Mia agreed.
"Well, whatever. I'm tired of micro-managing her anyway," Emma yawned, "I'm gonna go to bed."
"Good night," you and Mia said in unison, watching as Emma dragged her bag tiredly into her bedroom.
"I think I'm gonna go to sleep too. Evenings are boring without Hoseok," you laughed, leaving Mia smiling and rolling her eyes.
"Okay, Ms. Lovesick."
☼☼☼
The sound of light tapping on your window woke you from a shallow sleep. You groaned in annoyance at the noise, one eye popping open to check the time on your phone.
11:34
You rubbed your eyes and heard the tapping yet again, eliciting even more annoyance and confusion from you. You reached to turn on your bedside lamp, and then reluctantly left the warmth of your bed to go to the window. Much to your surprise, it was Hoseok, Felix, and Lea all standing outside. You were suddenly glad you had chosen to wear your long pineapple pajamas to bed instead of just a t-shirt like you normally did because this situation could've been far more awkward.
Confused at the group's sudden and seemingly unplanned late night appearance, you opened the window and lifted the shade. "What are you guys doing here?" you asked, feeling groggy. If they were about to whisk you away on some nighttime adventure, you were going to need a large coffee first.
"We have a unique way of celebrating Independence Day," Felix started.
"Get dressed and come outside," Hoseok smiled, "We're going to Kai's private beach and having a fireworks party."
"Right now?"
"At midnight."
"And you guys didn't think to warn me of this ahead of time?" you yawned again.
"Warning you would've ruined the fun," Felix grinned.
"C'mon, go get dressed! We'll wait," Lea said excitedly, grinning just as much as Felix was.
"Alright, alright. I'll be out in a minute." You shut the window, and drew the curtains, rushing to get dressed before running out into the living room where Mia was still awake, watching a movie.
"I thought you went to bed?"
"I did, but the gang just showed up to whisk me off into some midnight Independence Day celebration."
"They really are a crazy bunch."
☼☼☼
~HOSEOK'S POV~
His face grew into a smile the moment you appeared from behind your front door, Mia trailing close behind you.
"Is it cool if Mia tags along?" you asked as she closed and locked the front door behind the two of you.
"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.