Hoseok woke up in a cold sweat, heart hammering against his chest as though he ran a marathon in his sleep. There were a few, terrifyingly long seconds where he struggled to breathe; couldn't see the familiar jagged crack up on the ceiling, nor the ceiling at all; couldn't hear anything but an insistent ringing in his ears.
And then a faint, hushed voice spoke above his face: "Shh, it's okay, it's okay."
Slowly, his vision returned, along with his hearing, and his heart slowed its beating. He took a deep, shuddered breath as his eyesight began to clear up until he could recognize the face above him as Jungkook's. It disturbed him how close his blood red pupils were to his, but he couldn't complain since the demon had single handily managed to calm him down in a matter of seconds.
As he continued to take measured breaths, he noticed that the demon's hands were wrapping themselves tightly around his wrists and that he was practically straddling him. In any other circumstance, Hoseok would have probably kicked him off the bed, but knowing that the demon had the power to invade and destroy his dreams kind of killed his fury.
He vaguely wondered how the shadow demon was able to physically touch him before rasping out, voice hoarse and thick from having not been used for so long, "Kook, get off of me."
The demon licked his lips nervously before nibbling on them. Hesitantly, he released his grip on the office worker's wrists and leaned away from his face, a wary look in his eyes as he did so.
Hoseok gave him a peculiar look before lifting his upper body off the mattress with his elbows. He reached his hand over to his wrist and rubbed and twisted it a few times, a relieved sigh escaping him when he noticed that there weren't any bruises.
He chanced a glance up at the demon, who still sat firmly in his lap, and quirked an eyebrow up at him. "Why are you still on me?"
Jungkook ceased the insistent gnawing of his lips, wringing his hands together, fingers ending up in a tangled mess. "I need to strengthen the contract," he muttered, tilting his head over to the side and staring at the section of the wall just behind Hoseok. "Since that stupid angel went and messed with you, the contract I made with you before won't be strong enough to hold him off now."
Hoseok scoffed and glared at Jungkook. "Okay, first of all: get off of me."
Jungkook's eyes widened at the aggressive growl that rumbled up Hoseok's throat and hastily jumped off his lap, landing clumsily on the floor with a resounding thud.
Hoseok let out a mocking scoff before throwing his numb legs over the side of the bed. "Second of all," he continued, standing up and balancing himself with his trembling legs, "you don't get to tell me what to do."
Jungkook sputtered and rushed to get off the cold, hardwood floor as Hoseok hobbled his way out the bedroom door. "Bu-but we made a contract! Most people would be terrified to go against a demon they've made a contract with!"
Hoseok whirled around toward Jungkook, feet almost sliding out from underneath him in doing so, and snarled at him, much to the demon's horror. "Well, I'mnot most people, Demon Boy!"
He stomped up to the demon and jabbed his finger into his chest. "Just because this is your job, doesn't mean Ihave to go along with it," he spat, venom on his tongue, punctuating every word with another jab to the demon's chest. "So, if you'll excuse me, I have to get ready for work since it's--"
He glanced over at the lone clock that watched solemnly over the living room, a sharp intake of air piercing his lungs when he saw what time it was.
"--8:41 and, fuck, the manager's gonna kill me."
So with a disheartened moan, Hoseok spun back around and stumbled down the hall in the direction of the bathroom, leaving behind a bewildered and muddled Jungkook.
Once he had managed to successfully reach the bathroom door without tripping over his far too long pant legs, Hoseok pushed open the door, not bothering to close it behind himself, before stripping off his sweat-coated shirt.
It wasn't until he was loosening the knot the held his sweatpants up when he finally heard the thunderous footsteps and furious shout: "No one's allowed to kill my client!"
Jesus Christ, has this kid not learned what hyperboles are? Hoseok wondered wearily, dropping his sweats to the floor and stepping out of the comfy material.
"I'll kill them before they even have a chance to touch yo--"
And Jungkook's rant came to a screeching halt once he had finally managed to reach the open bathroom door and gazed at the half-naked office worker. Hoseok snorted at the embarrassed look on Jungkook's face; he found it amusing that a demon, of all things, was acting as though he had never seen someone in their underwear before.
"Well, since you're clearly a tough demon who no one should ever mess with," Hoseok teased, bundling up his make-shift pajamas and tossing them at the flustered demon, "why don't you be a dear and go put those in the washing machine, m'kay?"
Jungkook's mouth opened in protest, but Hoseok interrupted him before a word could pass his lips: "And you might not want to touch them too much on your way to the laundry room; they're covered in the sweat that you caused."
The hot blush that once covered the demon's face instantly faded away at that tidbit, and he put the clothes further away from his body as he speed-walked down the hall.
"Other way," Hoseok called out to him, shutting the door and pulling the spandex waistband of his underwear just below his hip bone. He snickered when he heard the frustrated stomps of the demon quickly bypass the bathroom door and head towards the laundry room.
He softly chuckled a few more times before turning toward the mirror that stood behind him. He had been just moments away from pulling his briefs all the way down his legs when he finally realized that what he was staring at in the mirror wasn't his own reflection; it was Jimin's.
Hoseok shrieked, limbs flying up in the air (much like what happened during their first encounter), and merely stared at the angel with wide eyes.
"Ah, I see you finally noticed me," Jimin's reflection spoke, a hint of a smile on his lips and in his voice. "Although, I was hoping it would take you, ah"--his gaze drifted downward, and an unsettling smirk emerged across his face--"a little longer."
Hoseok sputtered as he pulled his only towel in the entire bathroom out from behind him and used it to cover his exposed body. "Are you not supposed to be an angel?!" he shouted, cheeks flushing by how violated he had felt just from the angel's words. "Why are yours and Jungkook's personalities switched?!"
Jimin rolled his eyes, smirk blending into a mischievous grin, and pressed his body flush against the mirror's glass. Hoseok stared, bewilderedly, as the angel's body pushed past the solid, glass surface and seemingly began to materialize into the real world; first, his shock of raven hair appeared, and then the rest of his head popped out of the mirror; and then his arms pushed from the inside of the mirror and, eventually, blended into the real world until his entire upper body was laying on the bathroom counter.
It was evident that he had planned to get his entire body out of the mirror, but after shimmying his hips and legs around, he found that it was no use and decided to give up.
Resting his cheek in the palm of his hand, the angel gave Hoseok a devilish smirk and spoke: "So, I saw that you stood your ground against the demon." His smirk fell as he pouted his lips outward and tilted his head back and forth. "Well, mostly heard, but also saw."
Bypassing his shock, Hoseok loosened his hold on the towel and allowed it to fall to the ceramic tile with a dramatic flutter, giving the angel a cold glare.
"I don't have time for your bullshit, Jimin," he grunted, stomping toward the shower and pulling the curtain back. "So you're gonna have to make it quick."
And with that, Hoseok entered the shower with a clumsy stumble over the tub wall and pulled the curtain shut behind him. He relieved himself of his boxer briefs and threw them over the curtain, receiving a sharp yelp from Jimin. Hoseok merely laughed when he heard the angel whine, "C'mon, Hoseok! Did you really have to throw your underwear at me?" and twisted the knob for the shower's water to pelt on him.
Unfortunately for him, the water had yet to warm up, and thus, an unpleasantly vast amount of close to freezing water cascaded down his spine before he jumped out of the water's reach--not without a yelp, of course. He could hear Jimin's laughter over the running water and had to restrain himself from chucking the last bar of soap he had left over the curtain.
No, instead, he shouted over to the still howling with laughter angel: "Stop laughing and tell me what you came for, dickhead!"
A frustrated huff escaped the office worker when he could still hear Jimin laughing, so he decided just to wait for the angel to mollify himself and placed his hand, palm up, underneath the running water. A pleasant hum rumbled up his throat when he felt that the water had significantly warmed up and shuffled back into the line of water. Reaching over to the bar of soap, Hoseok placed it underneath the running water for a moment before rubbing it against the expanse of his arm. (So he doesn't use a washcloth. Sue him.)
"Well?" he grunted out, noticing that Jimin's laughter had finally subsided. "You gonna explain yourself already?"
Hoseok could hear the angel groan, the protest echoing across the cramped bathroom before he spoke: "I already told you--I'm here to protect you. I am your guardian angel, after all."
Hoseok snorted and placed the soap back on the quaint shelf that lined the shower wall and spread the residue of the soapy suds that littered itself across his arm. "And you felt the need to perv on me while I was about to get in the shower?"
"Hey! Don't you blame me for this! That idiotic demon was the one that forced me to not be near you." A sudden clap came from the angel, startling Hoseok, who was in the midst of rubbing the soap on his facial area. "But I'm pretty glad you stood your ground against his dumbass contracting bullshit. Makes my job easier."
Hoseok huffed, aggravated that the otherworldly beings thought that everything he did was for them; the last time he had done something for someone else out of the goodness of his heart was when Namjoon had accidentally broken the only printer in his office, so he had decided to take pity on the guy and allow him to use the one in his cubicle.
Let's just say that didn't work out well for either one of them.
"Whatever," Hoseok ended up muttering, rinsing his body free of the soap suds and twisting the knob so that the water was shut off. "Toss me my towel, will ya?"
A pregnant silence fell over them, leaving Hoseok to grow even more agitated than he already was with the angel.
He's moments away from cursing Jimin out, when he heard the angel speak, voice dry of any emotions, "You do realize I can't get out of the mirror because of that contracting stunt the demon pulled, right?"
Hoseok groaned and peeped out the corner of the curtain, sending Jimin a glare--he received an unamused stare in return--before shouting at the top of his lungs, "Jungkook! Can you hand me my towel?!"
He could hear the thudding of rushed footsteps before his bathroom door slammed open, causing the office worker to cringe at the likelihood of the wall behind it becoming damaged beyond repair. He heard an obnoxious gasp escape Jungkook and had to prepare himself for the onslaught of questions the demon most likely had for him.
Instead, Jungkook snarled out, "So that's why it smelt like horse shit in here before."
Oh dear Lord.
"Jungkook--"
"Oh?" Jimin mocked, interrupting Hoseok's urgent plea. "I don't suppose you would know what horse shit actually smelt like, living underneath the Earth and all."
Jungkook visibly bristled at the accusation and bared his teeth at the highly amused angel.
Hoseok could feel his hope of making it to his office at an acceptable hour slip away as he continued to watch the two childish beings throw insult, after insult at each other; no sign of either one stopping any time soon. And he would have interrupted them--believe him, he would one hundred percent do anything to get them to shut up--but as the argument continued, he could feel the divinely and unholy auras between the two beings become much more evident and frightening in the cramped space of his bathroom.
Just as when it seemed that the beings were about to pounce on one another, a sudden ringing emanated from inside one of the built-in drawers in the counter. A faint gasp of recognition escaped the office worker when he remembered that he had managed to leave his phone inside the drawer while washing his hands, not having dried them and running out the bathroom to grab a spare towel, promptly forgetting about the device for the next twelve hours.
"Um," Hoseok spoke, pushing away the heavy silence that fell over the just active bathroom, bits of energy still crackling like wildfire between the angel and devil, "can one of you get that for me? It's probably my manager..."
Hoseok watched as Jungkook maintained fierce eye contact with Jimin before stiffly approaching the counter and pulling open the drawer that contained the office worker's phone. A soft snort escaped Jimin when Jungkook gave him a scathing glare and promptly rolled his eyes when the demon turned obediently toward Hoseok, who had pushed one of his arms through the crack in the shower curtain. He offered Jungkook an appreciative nod before turning his attention back to his phone, cringing when he saw the number of notifications he'd managed to earn himself from various people in his work unit.
"Shit, Kook, grab my towel; I need to go. Now."
He could feel the anxiety shoot through the demon before hearing him hastily rush over to the lone towel that Hoseok had earlier abandoned on the floor. Tearing the mildew stained cloth out of Jungkook's outstretched hand, Hoseok retreated back into the safety of the shower and toweled his upper body off; his fingers tapped away on his phone's screen as he attempted to make up some excuses as to why the reports that were due yesterday weren't emailed yet and where the fuck are you, Hoseokie; the manager's up my ass right now.
"Fuck," he groaned, hazardously tying the flimsy towel around his waist and pulling the shower curtain back. "Fucking shit; goddammit, why me?"
He stormed past a flustered Jungkook and concerned Jimin and almost fell on his ass on several occasions just trying to walk back to his bedroom door, having not adequately dried his soaking wet feet.
All but sprinting into his bedroom, Hoseok scrambled toward his closet and threw open the twin doors, grabbing the button-up shirt that hung the closest. (Though it didn't really matter; they're all the same.) He slipped his arms through the sleeves and shuffled over to his wardrobe, shouting a quick, "One of you fucks make me some goddamned coffee!" and almost pulled one of the drawers out of its slot when searching desperately for some clean underwear and slacks. (He hoped against hope that he would one day be messy enough to leave them in the same drawer.)
His earlier shout earned him a high-pitched, "Don't say the Lord's name in vain, Hoseok-hyung!" and a bewildered, "How do you make coffee?!"
Jesus, take the wheel, Hoseok prayed, hoping the Man Upstairs would hear his silent prayer. (It had sort of worked the first time, why not again?)
So, allowing the flimsy towel that just barely covered his manhood to fall and shoving his too damp legs into much too tight boxers and much too wrinkled slacks (yes, at the same time), Hoseok grunted, "Put water into the pot that's already inside the coffee maker, grab a filter-- they're in the red package in the corner of the counter--open the lid and place the filter in there--the lid of the coffee maker, not the pot--and put in a shit-ton of coffee beans and water in the filter."
A victorious bark of laughter puffed past his lips when he managed to slip the waistband of the slacks past the curve of his ass, pleasantly surprised that his pants were being so corroborative. He turned his attention back toward the open drawer of his wardrobe and shoved the various undergarments that littered the storage space out of the way and settled on wearing mismatched socks for the day.
Suddenly, he heard Jungkook's voice speak out: "The fuck did he say? A pot? Why would you need a pot to make coffee?"
He's a second away from sneering at the lack of knowledge the demon had for the beautiful delicacy that was coffee when a softer, quieter voice spoke: "I thought you just mixed it in with a cup of water and it was done?"
"Goddammit, can you guys be useful for once?" Hoseok moaned, slipping his socks over his still dripping wet feet and cringing every time he took a step; the cotton absorbed the water and the uncomfortably moist material squished between the bottoms of his feet and the floor below him.
"Can't!" Jimin shouted, a slight strain in his voice. "I'm stuck in a mirror!"
Hoseok muttered something underneath his breath that sounded suspiciously like, "you fucked me, God," and stomped back toward the bathroom, buttoning up his shirt along the way.
The moment he turned into the doorway of the open bathroom door, Hoseok spat out, "Get him out of there, Jungkook, before I actually end up following the 'stupid' angel's advice."
Hoseok made sure to give the demon a stern look when he tried to argue against him, shutting the strangely timid devil up.
The office worker walked back down the hall before he could witness Jungkook help Jimin escape his self-inflicted prison and brushed his wet bangs off his gleaming forehead with his hand, a deep sigh escaping his nose.
Ultimately deciding to skip his morning coffee--displeasing the grumpy office worker even further--Hoseok rushed back to his bedroom and hassled his laptop into his bag for work--just barely remembering to grab his charger and printed copies of earlier reports he had finished. He hustled over to the front door and slipped into his worn down loafers and almost jumped when a sudden, intense scream echoed from the bathroom all the way down the hallway. He's a moment from checking on the supernatural beings, but his earlier anxiety of possibly getting fired won him over when he heard his phone let out a quiet ping.
Not wanting to anger his pissy manager and sometimes reasonable coworkers any further, Hoseok threw open the front door, locked it behind him, and flew down the apartment's flight of stairs.
A/N - I'd like to imagine that what's happening in the gif happened between JiKook after Hobi left the apartment.