They say it's the darkest before dawn, but tonight it didn't feel quite as dark when having a person as bright as Hoseok sitting next to me.

He didn't say anything, didn't move or showed any expression, just sat on my bed with crossed legs and stared outside my small window, yet he radiated this warmth that I came to appreciated lately.

"Aren't you tired?" I asked, sliding a bid forward, so that I sat right besides him, "You've been up the whole night."

A small smile tugged on his lips, "So did you."

I nudged him lightly, "You didn't answer my question."

He snickered and leaned back on his hands, a small sigh leaving his lips as his hair fell out of his face, dark eyes glancing at me now, "I'm not really tired. I should be, maybe. But I don't feel tired, no."

I nodded understandingly, "Me neither." Which was weird, because I had felt so drained when I came home today - or more like yesterday.

"You should really rest, Flower." Hoseok glanced at the digital clock on my wall, "You've been up for almost 24 hours now."

I smiled at him, "I don't know if I'll be able to sleep though."

He shrugged, getting up from his seat on my bed, "You'll have to. You went through a lot today, tone it down a bit, okay?"

I looked up at him wordlessly at first, feeling stubborn for some reason, "Where's the point when I won't be able to rest anyways?"

Hoseok grunted,"Well, you won't know if you don't try, will you?"

I just stared up at him motionless.

The older sighed and grabbed his phone from my night stand, "Do you not want me to go? Is that it?"

I bit my tongue frustrated but didn't say a word - I didn't need to though, my answer on this being quite obvious.

He gave me a small smile, "I can't stay here 'cause of your mom, but I'll be around, you'll just have to text me 'kay?"

"She isn't my mom," I mumbled out of habit, feeling how I still wanted to rebel against him leaving, "Will you rest too, at least?"

Hoseok grinned cheekily, suddenly holding his hand with his outstretched pinky in front of my face, "I promise."

I blinked, not understanding what he wanted me to do right away, but then hooked my pinky with his, a small grin tugging on my lips at his childish act.

"Sleep well then." He said, playfully blowing me a kiss.

◆♤❦

When I woke up I needed some time to process what happened.

Besides that I actually slept very well, the memories of the past day came crashing down on me and I sat good 15 minutes on my bed, staring dumbfounded into nothingness.

Jimin, the shadows, my panic attack - and Hoseok.

I cried out frustrated, burying my face in my hands. What the fuck was I thinking? That I just told Hoseok about my crappy past, just like that. I completely broke down in front of him and didn't even fucking think about it twice.

Great Y/N, really fucking amazing. Why don't you just run around and tell every person you meet that you're a fucking psycho.

But I frowned when I recalled the last minutes before Hoseok left and I finally went to sleep. he didn't seem even fazed by what I said, no, actually he seemed more relaxed than before. As if he finally understood that one math equation he had stared at for hours.

He even told me to text him as soon as I wanted to.

My eyes fell onto my phone that was still laying on the night stand and I lifted my hand out of my warm bed to unlock it and - surprise - text Hoseok.

'you said I should text you?'

It took him a couple of minutes before the boy answered. We agreed to meet up at a coffee shop across the park and I quickly pulled some clothes together to change and leave as quickly as possible.

I was almost headed out already, when Chungha's sleepy face greeted me, "You- oh, you're leaving. Y/N, dear..." She paused for a moment and I felt myself getting impatient, "I just wanted to ask if you'd like to come with me to church on Sunday?"

I almost snorted at that. Me? In a church? Sounded like the recipe for a disaster.

"I'll think about it." I answered, before fleeing the scene quickly. 

One thing I noticed at first glance was, that Hoseok looked brighter today.

He had exchanged his heavy coat for a dark leather jacket, silver rings adorning his ears now and his sword dangling (very obviously) down his side - yet no one seemed to care. He had his curly hair brushed out of his face, dark eyes sparkling warmly in the sun, looking like a pool of dripping chocolate.

"Oh hello there," I said teasingly, "You do look like you rested well."

Hoseok winked, "So do you."

I slumped down in the seat in front of him, "Still feeling tired though," I yawned, "The more I sleep the more tired I get for some reason."

He giggled, "It's like that for some reason," Then he leaned forward expression very secretive all of a sudden, "I have something in mind for today..."

I also leaned forward, chin resting in my hand as I just went with his silly secretive act, "What is it?"

"I wanted to show you..." He made a very dramatic pause, eyes wide as stared at me theatrically, "...the pigeons."

"..."

"The pigeons." I repeated, not very stunned.

"Yes." He confirmed, his voice sounding all business again when he leaned back, "They're pretty cool, it's gonna be worth it, I promise."

"And... what are they?" I asked further.

"Well, pigeons."

"Just pigeons? Normal ass pigeons?"

"...yes?"

"No fancy ghost pigeons?"

"No? They're pigeons."

"Oh..."

"You seem disappointed." Hoseok noticed.

"No! No, I'm not. It's just that I don't expect you to-" I made vague gestures, not really knowing where I was going with this.

"You thought I'd only know about scary ghostbuster stuff?" He deadpanned, "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but although these pigeons are pretty damn cool, they're also pretty normal."

And that's how we went to visit the pigeons.

Oh lord.

◆♤❦

"You know, if you would've told me where the pigeons are I wouldn't have been that disappointed at first." I noted while we were standing on the rooftop of an eighteen-floor-house, cool wind blowing the air out of my face while I watched over the busy city center of Seoul.

"I didn't think it was that important." Hoseok said innocently, while gently taking a dove (not a fucking pigeons, there's a difference you amateurs) out of its cage, the white bird puffing up its feathers as soon as it made contact with the cold wind.

"Can it like, deliver letters and stuff?" I asked curiously, eyeing the pretty bird that was sitting on the pretty hands of this pretty man.

Hoseok shrugged, "Uhm, I never tried it."

"Do you come here often?"

He smiled, "Here was my first apartment when I moved to Seoul, the rooftop of this house is the place that's most familiar to me in this whole city."

And just like that, I understood why he wanted me to go here. I had told him something about my past, now he told me something personal about himself in exchange.

"It's so peaceful up here, no one comes here besides me and the old janitor who takes care of the birds." The dark haired explained, "I used to feel restless and unsafe a lot when I came here at first. I was very young and not used to a big city like that. But these birds helped me."

He gently stroked the dove's head with the pad of his finger, a fond smile on his lips that made his eyes sparkle like billion diamonds.

Billion diamonds?

yikes, I'm such a sap

"You wanna hold her as well?" 

I made a step backwards at that question, "Me? Uh, I think it's better if I didn't. What if she flies away or-"

Hoseok laughed, "It's okay, she's very docile. That's why I can hold her like that."

I bit the inside of my cheek but moved forwards, hesitantly reaching out my hand.

I flinched slightly when I felt the soft body of the bird on my skin, the dove's feathers puffing up even more, making her look like a snowball. I giggled as I looked at her.

"That's cute."

A smile, similar to the one he had when he looked at the dove, crept onto Hoseok's face an he crossed his arms, "Not as boring as you initially thought, huh?"

I laughed, "No. It's very nice." I looked up at his face, "Thanks for bringing me here."

His expression softened, "No problem, it's nice to share this with someone."

I nodded while absently stroking the bird's puffy feathers, "I know."

Hoseok's smile was so bright, I didn't notice the shadows creeping up behind him.

◆♤❦

Did y'all see g-idle's 'oh my god'? I'm so in love

xx