SKATE OR DIE
WORD COUNT 1.7k
OVERVIEW in which hoseok is curious about the new boy at 'his' skatepark, and yoongi is tormented by his past. ( warning for mentions of homophobia )
PLAYLIST sk8r boi / avril lavigne, hum hallelujah / fall out boy, g.i.n.a.s.f.s / fall out boy
—
"SHIT!"
hoseok yelped as he fell off his skateboard, his hands hitting the concrete floor of the park and his knees burning as they skimmed across the floor, making him hiss out in pain. jooheon whistled lowly from where he sat on the top of the ramp, sliding down to check on hoseok.
"you okay seokie?" he asked. the older boy nodded as he stood up, observing the broken skin on his hands and cursing under his breath as he saw that his knee was bleeding, and his jeans ripped. he stripped off the hoodie he wore and threw it towards the pile of backpacks he and his friends had abandoned when they came from school, wiping his hands off on his jeans and adjusting his snapback.
"i'm fine jojo, don't worry," hoseok smiled, grabbing his battered old skateboard. their other friend jeongguk had gone to get soda from the store across from the park, and jennie was flirting with some girl by the water fountain, leaving jooheon and hoseok alone in the park. hoseok set his board on the ground and began to skate slowly around the ramp in the center of the park, before speeding up and doing a kick flip, not falling off this time.
"guess who just got a date, suckers!" jennie yelled as she jumped over the fence into the park.
"jooheon's mom?" hoseok laughed as jooheon smacked the back of his head, jennie laughing with him.
"i just bagged a date with jisoo! get in!" jennie fisted the air, victory dancing like an idiot. hoseok rolled his eyes at the girl who was easily his best friend, spotting jeongguk on his bmx, the brunette stopping at the gate and kicking it open.
"i got your soda, you lazy assholes!" he threw them each a can of dr pepper, the three catching them easily. jeongguk wheeled his bike in and rolled up the sleeves of his flannel, revealing the very illegal tattoo on his wrist. he sat down by the pile of schoolbags, rummaging around in his for his speaker.
as hoseok and jooheon began skating again, taking it in turns to attempt going up the larger ramp at the other end of the park, jeongguk played some american rock band he had been into recently, humming along to the lyrics. jennie put on her rollerblades and began whizzing around the park, only stopping when she saw another person coming in through the gate, their face hidden by a black adidas cap.
"yo! dude! who're you?" she asked, skating over to the entrance. hoseok, jooheon, jeongguk and jennie were usually the only ones who frequented the old park, it being close to the apartment complex where they all lived and a cool place to stop at after school. there had been a few others, but they usually left; they found the group intimidating, hoseok thought.
hoseok looked over to the boy jennie was talking to. he was short, wearing a grey denim jacket and black ripped jeans — his knees were skimmed similar to hoseok's, and hoseok found himself wondering if he fell off his board frequently — and he held a fairly good quality skateboard under his arm, the board covered in graffiti, and the wheels neon yellow. he took off his cap, revealing a face hoseok would describe as imperfectly handsome: a large bruise was on his left cheek, and he had multiple scratches in the same place, and a shaved eyebrow. his electric blue hair was messy, unkempt like jooheon's usually was. hoseok thought he was intriguing.
he skated over to jennie, coming to an abrupt stop right in front of the boy. "heya," he said, taking a sip from his soda. "who're you?"
"sorry, i wasn't aware i had to state my name to everyone in the park," the shorter boy deadpanned, rolling his eyes. "i came here to skate, obviously, i didn't know you fucking owned it or something."
hoseok chuckled; he liked this guy already. jennie rolled her eyes. "look, dude, we just wanna know your name, jesus christ." she snapped, being easily irritable. the blue haired boy huffed, placing a hand in the pocket of his jeans.
"well, darling, my name is yoongi. now can i fucking skate?" he didn't wait for an answer, skating off anyway, doing tricks hoseok was sure he'd never be able to do.
yoongi, hoseok thought. gotta love the feisty ones.
—
YOONGI WAS THERE the next day after school, and the next, and the next. it was on the fifth day he actually spoke to hoseok, a purple lollipop in his mouth and one earbud in, the other dangling.
"y'know," yoongi said from behind the red haired boy, who jumped, not realising that he had been behind him as he tied his shoe. "it's kinda ironic that i was forced to tell you my name, and you never told me yours."
jennie, jeongguk and jooheon weren't there that day, all of them having studying to do at home, so hoseok had come alone, playing his hip-hop from a small bluetooth speaker and skating mindlessly. he hadn't expected to hear so much as a word from yoongi.
"i mean, i heard the guy with the spiky hair call you hobi, or seokie, but i doubt those are names," yoongi continued, as hoseok turned around, a smirk placed on the younger's lips. "so, what's your name, sunshine?"
"hoseok. jung hoseok," hoseok said, pushing his hair out of his face. "why'd you ask?" he ignored the nickname in yoongi's sentence, thinking nothing of it.
"i just wanna know who the guy i'm sharing a skatepark with is, that a crime?" yoongi chuckled, taking the now finished lolly from his mouth and throwing the stick over his shoulder. "and the other three, never caught their names either, funnily enough."
"the spiky haired platinum blonde guy is jooheon," hoseok leaned on the side of the ramp, a hand in his pockets. "the girl's jennie, and the scruffy looking guy with the tattoo is jeongguk. they're who i'd call my best friends." hoseok noticed a fresh bruise on yoongi's neck, blooming from the side. the one on his cheek was fading to a sickly yellowish colour. this guy must get into a lot of fights, hoseok speculated.
"must be nice, having friends," yoongi sniffed nonchalantly, taking a packet of cigarettes from his pocket. he took out a cig, and offered the box to hoseok. "want one?"
"nah, i'm good, thanks." hoseok didn't smoke, knowing how bad it was for him. "you know that's, like, incredibly bad for you, huh?"
"uh huh," yoongi said, taking a bright red lighter from his pocket and lighting the end, inhaling deeply. "honestly... i don't give a fuck, sunshine."
hoseok felt his cheeks flush against his will and cursed his pale skin, biting at his lip as he looked at the other boy, who was smoking and humming along to whatever song was playing from his earbuds. hoseok wanted to ask him things, about his life, about how he learnt to skate, if he liked anything hoseok liked. but all hoseok could blurt out was; "where'd you get those bruises?"
hoseok immediately wanted to slap himself. it wasn't his place to ask, not at all, he was definitely invading yoongi's privacy. but the smoking boy merely sighed, taking the cigarette from his lips with slender fingers, tapping the bruise absentmindedly.
"well, sunshine, " there was the same nickname again. hoseok gulped at the sound of it, the way it rolled off yoongi's tongue. "that's what happens when you come home with a boy because you stupidly thought that it was safe, that it was alright to do so. dad wouldn't mind, i thought, he seems cool with all that stuff—" yoongi gritted his teeth, digging his fingernails into his hands. "—turns out he wasn't. everything seemed like it was fine until he kissed me goodbye. i haven't seen him since." yoongi let out a dark chuckle. "that's where my bruises come from sunshine. a bastard man called min yoonsoo. but then again, that's not very interesting, right?"
he raised the cigarette to his lips once again, nonchalantly, as if he had said nothing. hoseok bit down sharply on the inside of his cheek, looking at yoongi with something resembling pity in his eyes. he didn't know what to say, so he said the first thing that came to his mind in these situations, "i'm sorry."
but yoongi only let out a dry, almost bark like, laugh, dropping the stub of the cigarette and crushing it under his shoe. "no need to be. that boy who kissed me goodbye and made my life hell? best friend of seven years. he went and fucked my sister yesterday. seemed to forget my last name is min as well."
hoseok's heart reached out for yoongi; he wanted to help the older boy, but somehow it was clear he didn't want it. "fuck, yoongi, that's... shit." he spluttered. yoongi shrugged.
"it is what it is," he said, pushing some strands of hair from his eyes. "and what it is is shit. but we learn to live with these things, sunshine."
and with that, he leaned forward and did something no one had ever expected min yoongi to do, not even yoongi himself. it made hoseok's ears flush red and his heart hammer and yet all he could think was 'he smells like lavender'.
min yoongi was kissing jung hoseok, in an old skatepark, with bruises on his neck and cheek and ones covered up on his legs, and as they broke apart he whispered one thing, in the softest voice hoseok had ever heard.
"promise you won't be like him?"
hoseok nodded, taking yoongi's hand and holding it tight. "i swear on all the stars."
"i like you, hoseok," it was the first time yoongi had said hoseok's name out loud, although he had said it in his dreams frequently enough. crushing on the boy for two years, knowing his name but pretending not to, and here he was, wanting more of the coffee, washed linen and rosemary scent that floated around hoseok. and as he closed his eyes and breathed deeply, the red haired boy whispered back.
"i like you too, moonlight."
—
it's ten p.m as i write and starting this is probably a bad idea but whoopsy doopsy doo i love bts
hope you enjoyed !
— jace