#felt like writing 2seok since there isn't much works dedicated to this ship

[jintheawkward]

one, two, three, jump

pairing: 2seok (Seokjin | Hoseok)  words: 3745 summary: Hoseok found himself trapped on the top of a 70m tall platform and it was all Jeon Jungkook’s fault.  

ao3

All the screeching and creaking of the cabin sounded much more horrifying than the special effects that had echoed through the walls of the haunted house Jungkook had once dragged him into. Hoseok had almost passed out from screaming his lungs out that time before a very flustered ghoul had had to escort him out. So it wasn’t an exaggeration by any means to say that he currently felt like he was about to die from a panic attack. And then he would actually die for real because that’s what happens when you jump from seventy meters, attached to a cord or not.

As the old shaky lift, which had definitely seen better days, was slowly squeaking its way up the jumping platform, Hoseok prayed to all the saints to either make it out alive, or to let his end be quick since his pain tolerance was even lower than his drinking stamina which on the scale from one to ten was already a poor 3.

Honestly, he should have known better than making any bets with Jungkook whose existence was solely based on winning and making the rest of the world suffer. However, forcing Hoseok to use his bungee jumping voucher he had won in the dance fest raffle last month (and had sworn to never use) was a whole new level of cruelty. If there was any justice in the world, Jungkook would at least wake up with a giant zit on his forehead the next day.

“You okay?”

Being at his wits end, Hoseok nearly forgot about the other man, who was taking a ride up with him up to relieve his colleague from his shift. Yoongi, as the nametag on his black staff T-shirt read, had wearily slumped down in the corner with a furrow between his brows as soon as they had entered the lift. There was something unsettling about the fact that this person was supposed to be in charge of his safety later.

Since Hoseok didn’t trust his voice enough, he just nodded in response.

Yoongi glanced at him briefly, obviously not buying it at  all. “There’s no need to be nervous.” He looked like he was about to add something more, but opted for silence instead.

Soon enough, the lift came to a grinding halt, reaching its final destination and Hoseok’s first stop to hell. The loud thumping in his ears got even louder, while he stood rooted to the spot with his eyes shut close and hands clutching at the door, his legs refusing to make a single move and step out of the cage just as his instinct of self-preservation kicked in.

“Hello, and welcome to BH Top!” Someone called out friendly, but Hoseok’s current state of mind didn’t allow him to even lift his head, not talking about reciprocating the greeting with the same amount of cheerfulness. The tone of their voice, however, altered with the following words. “Thank God you’re here, Yoongi, I’m starving.”

Launching himself off the wall and leaving Hoseok behind, Yoongi let out a scoff. “When are you not, hyung.”

“Well, I’m sorry my body isn’t able to survive only on litres of black coffee and sarcastic comments like someone else’s.”

“Is that why you are always broke? One day, hyung, you will have to sell your kidney on the black market to satisfy your bottomless stomach.”

“Luckily enough, I will still have the other one. And possibly another pair in reserve if you keep annoying me,” said Yoongi’s co-worker, not going down without a fight and letting the younger man had his final word. “Okay, I’m going for lunch now. I will send Namjoon up in a bit, since Taehyung is going to be done for today soon too.”

“And where is he now?”

“Napping like a baby.”

“Taehyung? Napping?

“I refused to give him any sweets since he always gets even more jittery.”

“Being trapped with him in close space up in the air, I’m not quite sure which one of these is worse – Taehyung high on sugar, or on the contrary, Taehyung deprived of it.” A pause followed. “Tell Namjoon to hurry up.”

“Hopefully he won’t hurt himself in the process of doing so,” sighed the other man.

There was a sound of footsteps coming in Hoseok’s direction, and when Hoseok dared to crack his eyes open, a pair of sneakers with rosy shoelaces came into a view.

“Is everything alright? Do you need any help?”

Knowing that having a conversation with someone else’s laces was just plainly rude, Hoseok looked up at the stranger and if he wasn’t already holding on to something, he would flop down right on his butt. The man in front of him was breathtaking with his soft black hair falling into his shiny eyes, and a mouth straight from lip gloss commercials.

“Huh, no, I’m fine. Totally fine. Super fine. Super-duper totally fine,” Hoseok faltered a reply, suddenly remembering again where he was.

“Doesn’t seem so. Are you scared?”

“A little.” What a big fat lie.

“It would be okay even if you were scared a lot,” the guy offered him a faint smile, and be it any other day, Hoseok wouldn’t hesitate to come up with a time-proven pick-up line.

He drew in another shaky breath, realizing that the weird wheezing is actually coming out of him.

“Okay, I might be terrified to the extent where I think about my parents, the trip to Hawaii that I’ve never had enough money to realize, and about how embarrassing it would be to start crying now,” he laughed, even though there was nothing funny about the whole situation.

“You wouldn’t be the first or last one, so don’t worry about spilling some manly tears. Like, it’s completely normal to feel this way, to be afraid. Afterall, we’re having this conversation more than two hundred feet above the ground, which is quite overwhelming.” A pat of encouragement landed on his back when he groaned at the number. “But I can assure you that it’s completely safe and nothing will happen to you. Dozens of people per day jump at our place, and we have quite a lot of regulars. Moreover, all of us here are properly trained and licensed…”

The handsome instructor was going into more details about some statistics, safety locks, equipment and more numbers, which Hoseok tuned out because he was too busy going through all the possible scenarios of how this could go wrong. He was too young to leave this place for good, he hadn’t achieved anything yet, and now he was supposed to just painfully die?

“Look, I can’t force you to jump, because in the end it’s solely up to you. If you don’t feel like doing it, just don’t. There’s no shame in that,” the man said, his voice reflecting the perfect amount of affability, comfort and professionalism that probably coaxed people into trusting him with their lives. Hoseok would prefer for this warm angel to send him to death rather than the sardonic grim reaper who was resembling a snake the way he was yawning now. “I’m going down right now, so you can join me - it wouldn’t mean you’re less of a man or anything like that.”

“N-no, no, I have to stay and get done and over with this. You know, I’ve lost a bet and if I chicken out in the last minute, I won’t stop hearing the end of it.”

A look of sympathy and understanding flashed over the instructor’s face. Maybe he too had to deal with stupid friends on a daily basis. “Would it help if I jumped with you?”

“WHAT?” Hoseok exclaimed, his voice going at least an octave higher. “Is that even possible?”

“Sure, couple bungee jumping is quite trendy these days. We’re not a couple, of course, but you know… I could jump with you. That’s if you want me to.”

This time, Hoseok tried to keep his calm, swallowing the squeal tickling his throat. “And you would really do that?!”

“Well, my shift is over and I can’t wait to get something to eat. Actually, it’s the quickiest way down, so…” The instructor simply shrugged like he just had been asked to simply raise his hand.

“Okay, okay, cool.” There was nothing cool about Hoseok not only committing a suicide, but also sealing the fate of an innocent man who would otherwise have beautiful babies in the future. Or he may have already had a cute family? Jesus Christ, was Hoseok about to kill someone’s father?

A cough interrupted the train of his thoughts, the instructor clearing his throat and watching him with slight amusement. He motioned to the lift cage where Hoseok had decided to spend the rest of his life. “How about trying to get off first?”

“Give me a minute, maybe two?” Hoseok laughed in a way that should have been nonchalant but even to his ears, it sounded strangled and nervous. “Aaah, I don’t think I can do this.”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. Take as much time as you need. You have a whole day.”

“Actually, …”

“Yoongi, shut up.” When the instructor snapped at his colleague, there was a warning attached to his words.

“Yeah,” Yoongi nodded and Hoseok found his forcefully penitent face funny. “Look, you made it all the way up here in that tremendous lift, which is already an accomplishment since that crappy thing is the real adrenalin adventure here. Like, the way down in that box is much worse.”

“What Yoongi is trying to say is that you’ve already come so far that it would be a pity to give up now.”

All of sudden, an echo of shouting cut through the air.

“HOBI HYUNG! ARE YOU UP THERE? IF YOU DON’T FEEL LIKE JUMPING, JUST FORGET IT AND COME DOWN. BUT HURRY UP! IM GETTING HUNGRY”

“SHUT UP, JEON JUNGKOOK!” Hoseok screamed in reply because what terrible person could think about his own stomach when his hyung was about to do the dumbest thing in his life and land flat on his face after a fatal fall.

Only Jeon Jungkook, that’s who.

“HYUNG, ARE YOU OKAY?!” This time, it was Jimin, the ever so sweet Jimin who unlike Jungkook at least had the decency to sound worried.

“NO!”

“Your friends?” Mr Angels-carved-my-face leaned over the railing.

“Not anymore,” Hoseok huffed, steeling himself for that one step forward. “Okay, I’ll just… Ah, no, it’s shaking.”

“It’s not, that’s fear messing with you. Here, hold my hand. I’m Seokjin, by the way.”

Despite his initial hesitation, Hoseok reached out, gingerly taking the offered hand in his and before he could make any sound, he was pulled out by a lean but strong arm. Then, a soft smile with crinkled eyes and a little hand squeeze soothed his trembling heart for a brief moment but it started to act crazy again once Hoseok focused on the man in front of him, drinking in all the beauty one can possibly possess.

“See, you made it. It wasn’t so bad right?”

Don’t look down.

That’s the golden rule for everyone with acrophobia. And everyone with a common sense would follow it.

Nevertheless, Hoseok was always a creature of emotion rather than of reason which is probably why he completely forgot about his fear of heights and did the most stupid thing he could possibly do.

He looked down.

And decided to lose the last piece of his dignity because, screw it, who cares about pride when coming face to face with Death?

“GODDAMMIT, IT’S SO HIGH, I HATE IT, I HATE IT, I HATE YOU JEON JUNGKOOK!”

“Calm down,” said Seokjin in a way that was both firm and comforting, not wincing a bit even though Hoseok was probably crushing all 27 bones in his hand while bursting into tears. Rubbing little circles on his back, Seokjin nudged him slightly to wear the prepared body harness that was currently lying at his feet. “Whenever you feel like stopping and not jumping, speak up.”

“Except for when you’re already hanging in the air – then you will have to suck it up.”

Seokjin, skillfully putting on the other harness, didn’t even bother to open his mouth this time, however, his silent frown probably carried the same amount of authority as his voice did since Yoongi licked his lips in what seemed like a regret.

“Right, ‘shut up, Yoongi’, I know.”

When Seokjin looked away from Yoongi back to Hoseok, he sighed as if ready to take care of another baby.

“Stop crying,” he said and wiped the tears on Hoseok’s face with his thumbs. He proceeded to tighten all the straps and buckles, pulling and checking on each one of them.  “Now, do you know what colors are burgers?”

“W-what?” Hoseok stuttered, glancing up at Seokjin through his glassy eyes. Okay, he might be the one having a panic attack right now but Seokjin actually might have been losing his mind. Was it the result of the thinner air up there?

“What color are burgers?” Seokjin repeated, fighting back the laugh and falling silent for effect afterwards. “Burgundy.”

Somewhere behind them, Yoongi grunted disdainfully, most likely rolling his eyes too. “Oh my god, hyung, you will make that poor guy cry even more.”

Truthfully, the joke was atrocious.

Even Hoseok’s father would rather cut his tongue out than being caught telling a terrible Dad joke like that one. And that already said something since his old man’s sense of humour was painfully bad and corny.

Nevertheless, lame or not, Seokjin sacrificed his image to put him at ease, for which Hoseok was grateful. So he smiled politely because that was the least he could do.

“Here, all set up,” Seokjin said and patted the harness. He looked up at Hoseok.  “I realize I didn’t even ask for your name.”

“Hoseok. But Hobi is fine.”

“Nice to meet you, But Hobi. Now, see that spot over there? The red zone?”

There was no need for Hoseok to check where Seokjin was pointing – afterall, he had been avoiding even glancing in that particular direction this whole time on purpose.

“You mean the one that kind of juts out and has no railing at the end,” he peeped.

“Yeah, exactly. How about we try to slowly reach it. You know, to get used to the view.”

A nervous laugh escaped his mouth. “I quite like it here.”

But once again, slender fingers were already wrapping around his wrist, pulling ever so slightly at his arm. Hoseok started to believe that it must have been some kind of magic that made him go pliant under Seokjin’s touch, following him blindly like a sheep.

“See? Pretty right?” Seokjin asked with a smile dancing on his lips as they came up to the edge. “The view is the most beautiful early in the morning, when everything is calm and silent.”

Hoseok didn’t really share the same excitement. “I can’t look there. I feel like throwing up everytime I realize how high it is.”

“You don’t have to look if you don’t want to. You can have your eyes closed the whole time.”

“Okay,” replied Hoseok with resignation, trying to calm down the jitters.

“What do you call a group of killer whales playing instruments?”

“I have no idea.”

“An Orca-stra.”

“That was really bad.”

Hoseok didn’t try to hide anymore how embarrassing and awful Seokjin’s old man jokes were since the instructor didn’t seem to really care, enjoying them sincerely on his own.

Once he stopped making the weird squeaky sound which Hoseok with amusement realized was the other man’s laughter, Seokjin fixed his eyes on him.

“Now, are you ready?”

“Aaah, just a moment, please,” Hoseok whined, breathing so rapidly it became hard to tell when an inhale ended and an exhale began. “Uhu, why am I even doing this. Mooom!”

“Come here. Right there. Fine, now, put your arms around my waist,” Seokjin said patiently, while stepping forward and carefully drawing Hoseok closer, which left the latter one speechless and staring wide eyed at him like an idiot.

Seokjin’s s hands were warm and calloused, yet soft and gentle. Everything about Seokjin was very soft and gentle to the extent that Hoseok only wished to burrow himself in all of that and die blissfully in peace.

“Great. Okay, I’m going to hug you, if that’s okay with you.” There was a little stammer in Seokjin’s voice as he cleared his throat. An odd feeling settled in Hoseok’s stomach and it spread a little when he noticed the red coloring Seokjin’s neck. “Um, you can lean on me. In case you feel like it.”

He chanted a quick series of yes yes yes in his head before embracing Seokjin more tightly, burying his nose in the cotton T-shirt which smelled faintly of sweat, deodorant and jasmine.

What kind of guy smells like a freaking jasmine?

When Seokjin raised his arms and put them around him, Hoseok couldn’t help but noticed how perfectly they fit together.

“Oh god, thank you for doing this. Like, if we survive this I’m going to pay for both your lunch and dinner,” Hoseok murmured into Seokjin’s shoulder, his words coming out a bit muffled.

Seokjin chuckled at that, the bubbly sound vibrating against his rib cage and directly blessing Hoseok’s ears. “I’ll take you up on that offer. Though, you have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into.”

“Alright, people,” Yoongi grumbled to catch their attention. “Since it seems like you’re all ready, I’m going to count to three, and then on the jump part you’ll, well, you’ll jump. Any questions?”

“No,” Hoseok offered a quick but meek answer in fear he would change his mind. With his eyes shut, he firmly pressed his face against Seokjin’s chest and locked him in a more suffocating hug.

“One…” Yoongi gave off the impression of a sloth-like person, but damn, even his counting was frustratingly slow, each vowel drawn out like a sticky chewing gum. “… two… th-“

“Ah, wait, wait!” A voice cried out with a hint of hysteria creeping in. Wait. His voice.

“Whenever you’re ready,” Seokjin hummed and he began to rub his back soothingly when Hoseok mustered the courage to peek over the edge of the platform, the remaining confidence vanishing into thin air when met with the wide lake stretching underneath them, the clear water sparkling in the noon sun.

“What did the late tomato say to the early tomato? ... I’ll ketch up.”

“Jesus,” Hoseok sighed in surrender. “Fine, uh, fine. Start counting.”

“One.”

Jungkook was a dead man for sure. Large doe eyes or not, for the sake of his own health and sanity Hoseok wouldn’t spare that demon seed.

“Two.”

It’s not like this is the perfect timing to have this kind of thoughts, but while Seokjin was unbelievably broad in the shoulders, the man had a slender, wasp waist - the finding of this adorable yet sexy contrast had Hoseok short of breath and his head spinning.

“Three.”

Dad, Mom, noona, Mickey, I love you.

“JUMP!”

He let out a murderous shriek when he lost the ground under his feet as Seokjin squeezed him and took the leap, both of them diving in the air as if going into a tailspin. His scream died in his throat, the strong pressure silencing him and the wind swallowing all the sounds around.

As soon as the first wave of shock had subsided, a strange mixture of sensation and fear washed over Hoseok as they were flying down, falling headfirst. However, before he could marvel in the feeling more, they were launched in the air by the spring force as the cord pulled back on them.

As if the abrupt yank unscrewed an invisible cap, all the emotions that had been bottled up inside him made their way out in the form of inconsolable and never-ending yells and shouts of fear and hysteria. Dangling like a rag doll in the wind, he screamed and screamed until his voice gave out.

A hand came up to his head, gently stroking his hair. Not stopping with the caressing, Seokjin rested his chin on top of his head. “Hey, it’s okay now. It’s okay.”

Hoseok was aware of the wet traces left on his cheeks, as well as of more tears pricking at the corners of his eyes and his runny nose. Nonetheless, he leaned against Seokjin and breathed in the delicate flowery smell that seemed so familiar and calming now. He didn’t think Seokjin would care about the disgusting evidence of Hoseok’s mental breakdown staining his T-shirt that much, but Hoseok knew a perfect dry cleaner’s if the other man eventually did mind.

“The last thing I think about now is food, but I guess, I owe you a lunch, if you still feel like eating. I definitely am not,” Hoseok croaked once he found his voice and the rope stilled enough for him not to go mad again. If he put his imagination into work, it was almost like swinging on the tyre back at his parents’ house.

“Meet me few times more and you will realize that words like ‘lost appetite’ aren’t in my vocabulary,” Seokjin said meaningfully, while getting childishly excited. ”Moreover, there’s nothing better than fresh air and exercise for a starving stomach.”

“If I knew there would be a hot instructor to jump with me, I would voluntarily replace Hobi hyung,” said Jimin, his mouth unconsciously forming a little sulky pout as he eyed the couple fooling around few steps in front of him.

Seokjin, as the instructor introduced himself, was now telling one of his too many cheesy but in a certain way funny jokes while furiously flapping his arms. It only resulted in Hoseok playfully nudging his hip, the wave of their laughter immediately filling the air.

Life wasn’t fair and Hoseok was a lucky bastard who’d just scored a sort of lunch date with a gorgeous human being that was way out of his league, no offense. Jimin couldn’t help it but kicked a pebble on the pavement.

Meanwhile, Jungkook shrugged and took a loud slurp of his tea, the ice already melted thus the drink getting too warm and disgusting for his liking. A mischievous grin tugged at his lips which released the straw in a seemingly lazy manner. “There might be another stunning dude up there. Wanna bet and jump, hyung?”

“Screw you, Jungkook.”