"I didn't think you'd show."

Yoongi didn't know whether to greet normally or be offended by Hoseok's statement. He set his duffle bag down on the grass alongside Hoseok's, heart pounding as if he were already running a marathon though they hadn't started running yet. It was incredibly dark, though Yoongi suspected that Hoseok had suggested a really early time so they'd be more at ease. Nobody they knew would be at the park at this time— at least no one sane.

"It's the thirty first. Halloween," Yoongi responded as they both begun to stretch. "There's no cross country meet today. I would have come out to a run without you."

Hoseok hummed. "Then maybe I would have caught you today."

"Maybe," Yoongi said, "I usually don't come over here to run, though. It's a nice change of scenery."

"Why not?" Hoseok questioned. Yoongi gave Hoseok a small smile.

"My parents wanted us to cut full contact," Yoongi said. "This is the one closest to your home, and they knew this was where we would always hang out. Too many memories here, so they urged me to just run elsewhere, anywhere, just as long as it was away from you. That's what they cared about. Ready whenever you are."

Things were going peacefully between them. If any stranger were to be looking at Hoseok and Yoongi right now, all they would see is a pair of friends conversing with themselves, getting ready to take their morning jog. It was almost as if they had never fought, and for a bit, it didn't feel like they'd ever left each other behind.

They looked like they were having fun. They were having fun. No one would come to Stoney Park on a weekend, especially at five thirty in the morning. It was October thirty first, Halloween, and the weather was on par with the autumn season. It had cooled significantly, going down to about the seventies, but Yoongi didn't mind.

For a second, everything felt like it was in place.

The wind whipped through their hair as they jogged, with Hoseok pulling just slightly ahead to tease Yoongi. After a couple of minutes of silence, they'd fallen back into their old habits, which Yoongi seemed to remember so well. He found himself laughing and playing into Hoseok's mini competitions and bursts of energy, feeling energized every time he looked at Hoseok's brightly lit face, his lips widened into a bright smile.

Yoongi had been the one to grow tired first, while Hoseok had just a bit more energy in him to continue running. But, after they'd run the whole park five times, Hoseok figured it was time for them to take a break. Jogging ahead, Hoseok grabbed he and Yoongi's bags, and Hoseok waved Yoongi's tauntingly.

"If you want some water, come and get it."

Yoongi groaned. "Hoseok, I'm already tired! You're going to make me run more?"

"Do you want water or not?"

In the end, Yoongi ended up chasing after Hoseok, picking up his speed every time that Hoseok was gaining too much distance between them. Though his legs ached, Yoongi knew Hoseok wouldn't give it to him that easily, so Yoongi continued to humor him. After a few minutes, they'd begun to slow down before coming to a complete stop at the farthest end of Stoney Park.

"You suck," Yoongi grumbled as he opened his bag, quickly grabbing his water bottle to drink. Hoseok only looked at him amusedly, wiping the sweat from his face before throwing the cloth over his shoulder, before grabbing his own water bottle.

"You look like you just took a shower," Hoseok chuckled, handing Yoongi. A cloth from his bag. Yoongi made a face, eyeing it with distrust. "Unless you want me to dry your face for you, just grab it. It's clean, I promise."

At the declaration, Yoongi quickly grabbed the cloth, wiping his own face.

When they had called down, Hoseok and Yoongi sat down on the grass, looking up at the sky, which had begun to break into an array of colors. Hoseok turned to Yoongi, a hint of question on his face.

"Why'd you agree to come here, Yoongi?"

"I owed you, remember?" Yoongi said, putting the empty water bottle in his bag and taking out another one. "I told you I'd be here. So I am."

"And after this is over, then what?"

Yoongi faltered, falling into silence. Hoseok's lips pressed together, taking that as Yoongi's answer.

"I guess it was wishful thinking to think we could go back to the way everything was before, hm?"

"I thought it would be best if we got closure or something," Yoongi twisted the cap of his bottle. "I think it's better if we just move on. We shouldn't be friends. We shouldn't be anything to each other."

Hoseok looked at Yoongi incredulously, as if he couldn't believe the words that Yoongi had just said. "You want to throw everything away? Childhood, all the way up to freshman year? Everything?"

"It would be better for us."

"Says who?" Hoseok snapped, crossing his arms. "Why do you get to be the one to decide? What if I want to get along with you again? What if I want us to be friends? Yoongi, I cared so much about you. Do you know how fucking hurt I was that you'd left me?"

"Do you think I wasn't hurt about leaving you?" Yoongi asked, surprised at how calm his voice was. "Hoseok, you were my best friend. You were my other half. Everything I've done hurt me, more than you'd ever be able to imagine. But I have to make my parents happy. My parents didn't want me to talk to you, so I obeyed. None of it has changed. I can't go against my parents. I can't disobey them."

"Why?" Hoseok demanded. "It won't be the end of the world if you don't listen to them. Have you even made your own choices since we stopped talking? Without your parents inputting their opinions?"

Yoongi opened his mouth to respond, but after a few seconds, he closed it. He couldn't recall a single time where he'd done something for himself. Every decision that he had made felt like it was his, but Yoongi knew that most of the things he did were to have his parents on his good side. It's not like Yoongi had much control over anything— if anything about himself at all.

"You haven't, have you?" Hoseok sighed, shaking his head. "Have you ever considered asking yourself why your parents told you to stop talking to me? You have not asked me once what happened freshman year. You just accepted all the rumors that were going around."

"I remember asking you where you disappeared to," Yoongi interjected, crossing his arms. "You never told me. As for the rumors, do you think I cared if they were true or not? If you would have told me what had happened during the time you were gone, maybe I could have defended you. You never did."

Hoseok remained silent. "You didn't have to know about my whereabouts to defend me, Yoongi. Admit it. You believed in those rumors."

It wasn't that Yoongi had found the rumors to bear certain truth. That didn't matter to him. Yoongi hadn't been looking for the truth— at least not the full truth. If his parents had told him that the Jungs were bad, then that's what he was going to believe. There was no reason his parents would lie to him. What they told him was strictly for Yoongi's own good. That's what he was taught to believe, and that's what Yoongi would continue to believe.

"You should know me better than that," Yoongi said, letting the conversation drop into silence. He drank from his water bottle, letting the water quench the heat that he was feeling all over his body, which he dubbed to be nothing more than the aftermath of running.

"I didn't think I'd ever get a chance to talk to you again," Hoseok said, breaking the tense silence. "There were so many times I wanted to talk to you. Something as little as a simple hi would have been fine to me, but you wouldn't even look in my direction. I had become a stranger to you, and you were fine with that. You didn't have anything to lose. Mister Yoongi Min, everyone's favorite heterosexual man. Who wouldn't want to be friends with you?"

"We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you," Yoongi retorted, his jaw clenching. "You took the opportunity back in September, and you told me all these different lies about religion. You put these...these thoughts in my head, and you're making me doubt everything I know."

Hoseok laughed scornfully. "If I'm making you doubt everything you know, then it's because you also think there's something wrong with what you're practicing. Don't blame me for your doubt. All I did was make you pay attention to it. I had nothing to do with that."

"It is your fault. Everything's your fault," Yoongi accused, pointing a finger at Hoseok. "You're making me doubt; you're getting in my head to the point where I couldn't even complete an essay for a school my parents really want me to go to, which I still haven't done, by the way, because I can't answer any of the questions! I start seeing you everywhere, and then I can't just pretend you don't exist because you do exist, and then I remember my parents—"

To his surprise, he felt Hoseok wrap his arms around him, embracing Yoongi tightly. Yoongi stopped talking, heart jumping at the gesture before he slowly returned the embrace, his voice catching in his throat. He should have pushed Hoseok away, but he didn't. He held onto Hoseok tighter, not wanting to let him go. He didn't want to push Hoseok away. Something in him was telling him not to.

Though they were both dripping with sweat and their scents were muddled with the morning, Yoongi found his fingers curling, latching themselves with Hoseok's shirt, while Hoseok let his arms get damp from Yoongi's grimy shirt. It was hardly the time to bond. They had just come from a run, and they were dirty.

Hoseok still felt the same. Broader and firmer, sure— a tad bit taller too, but still the same. There was that worn down softness of his shoulders, ones Yoongi didn't dare rest his head on the way he used to years ago. The memories of the past had to remain in the past, but as he was invaded by the familiarity of it all, Yoongi couldn't help but let himself fall, fall into Hoseok's reassuring embrace.

This was wrong. Yoongi knew it was wrong. The alarms kept ringing in his head, his conscious biting at him, warning him, yelling at him for letting himself be carried away by Hoseok's reckless decisions. It had taken him years to unravel the hold Hoseok had over him. It took him years to earn the trust of his parents. It took him everything to be an ideal member of society, an ideal God worshipped.

This is wrong.

This is wrong.

This is wrong.

Coming to his senses, Yoongi pushed Hoseok away. It wasn't a hard shove, nor was it a forceful one, but just the simple gesture was enough to wound Hoseok. Though Yoongi tried his hardest to push Hoseok as gently as possible, it still hurt him to have to push Hoseok away. He didn't want to hurt Hoseok, but Yoongi knew that he had to.

Yoongi didn't want to have anything to do with Hoseok Jung.

Yoongi couldn't have anything with Hoseok Jung.

"Hugging me isn't going to destroy the world, Yoongi," Hoseok murmured.

"If anyone were to see, I'd be dead," Yoongi hissed, glaring at Hoseok. "You know how much you'd cost me? It took me a long time before my parents learned to trust me again."

"No one comes over here," Hoseok reassured. "It's not even seven yet. We won't see anyone. I promise. If they did, then who cares? You're in cross country. They'd be more concerned if you weren't running. No one we know lives near this park."

"I care," Yoongi huffed. "My future cares. My parents are going to pay for my college. If I mess up, then they'll refuse to give me a single cent."

"You could get a full ride anywhere with your grades," Hoseok responded, arching an eyebrow. "And you'd be able to get outside scholarships too. What are you worrying about?"

Yoongi sighed. "The only university I'll be able to stand is Notre Dame. It's the only one that I know will challenge me in some capacity while making my parents happy."

There were many lingering questions in Hoseok's eyes, far too many than Yoongi would have liked. Still, he was with Hoseok, and it was not like they were going to talk again, so he signaled Hoseok, giving him permission to ask the countless questions he knew Hoseok would have.

"Have you turned it in yet?" Hoseok questioned. "The application. Isn't tomorrow the deadline?"

Yoongi raised an eyebrow. "How'd you know that?"

Hoseok smiled sheepishly, his hand settling on the back of his neck. "We go to a religious school, Yoongi. Do you think that you're the only one applying over there? We're required to apply to at least one Catholic university."

"You applied there?" Yoongi asked, stunned. Hoseok nodded.

"I already sent in my application," Hoseok said, surprising Yoongi even more. "I bullshitted it because I don't want to go there. I don't care if they accept me or not; I'm not setting foot in that stupid place. I've had enough about religion to last me a lifetime."

"I didn't think you'd actually apply there."

"Why not?" Hoseok shrugged. "I have the grades for it, letters of recommendation, and I come from this school. Like I said, though, I'm not going over there. Even if I wanted to, I think I'd cause my mom a heart attack enrolling there."

"How is your mom, by the way?" Yoongi asked, changing the subject briefly.

"She's great," Hoseok smiled. "Doing so much better now without my father. We all are."

Hoseok's eyes suddenly lit up.

"We still have a bit of time, right?" Hoseok asked, giving Yoongi a hopeful expression. "Do you want to go to my place for a bit? I'm sure my mom's up right now. I know she'd love to see you."

Yoongi grimaced. While the thought of reconnecting with Hoseok's family was a good one, he knew that his parents would become suspicious if he didn't make it back home by seven thirty. Yoongi was already risking being seen here with Hoseok, and if his car were to be seen in Hoseok's driveway, it would cause him even more trouble. Besides, he shouldn't be trying to make amends with Hoseok's family. He owed them nothing.

"I can't right now," Yoongi said, watching Hoseok's expression fall. "Not that I don't want to, but I have to get back to my place. It's Saturday. I go volunteer at the church for a couple of hours."

That's right Yoongi, deny temptation, Yoongi could almost hear his parents say in his head.

"I forgot you do that," Hoseok muttered, shaking his head. "It was worth a shot."

Yoongi couldn't lie and say that he hated to see Hoseok's disappointed face. Negative emotions never suited Hoseok's face, and when they were friends, Yoongi had always tried to make sure that there weren't any emotions like that on Hoseok. It made his heart hurt back then, and it made him feel guilty now— especially with the years of treating Hoseok like he was nothing.

It didn't matter. Yoongi tried to remind himself. This is better.

"I'm free after one," Yoongi said, mentally cringing at how fast the words had come out of his mouth. Hoseok whipped his head towards Yoongi, lips parted in slight surprise. "I wouldn't want your mom to see me a sweating mess anyhow. If you'll have me, then I can come by after I'm done with my volunteering activities."

"Really?"

Yoongi could hear the vivid hope in Hoseok's tone. His conscience was nagging at him to stop what he was doing, to stop trying to form something with Hoseok, that it was nothing more than nostalgia, but strangely enough, he felt completely level-headed. If there was doubt in his mind, there wasn't any in his heart. Rationality was thrown away at Yoongi's every word, but it didn't matter to Yoongi, though he'd definitely regret it later.

"Yeah," his voice was soft but unwavering. "My parents will ask me where I'm going, but I can just tell them I'm hanging around with Namjoon. I don't think Namjoon will mind— I've covered for him plenty of times. A favor, though."

"What is it?"

Yoongi couldn't help but shake his head at Hoseok's eagerness. "I'm going to leave my car at Namjoon's place, so I'll need a ride to your place."

Hoseok's eyebrow's furrowed in confusion. "You can just park at my place."

"No," Yoongi stated firmly. "If anyone sees my car in your driveway, I'm dead. Plus, I'm sure that my parents have a location tag on that car. They always seem to know where I am."

Hoseok froze. "Wouldn't that mean they know where you are right now?"

"Could be," Yoongi agreed. "But, there are some teammates that live around these parts. I can just tell them that I was practicing with them if they ask. They won't notice that the car isn't in the driveway anyhow."

"So what I'm hearing is, is that you're going to lie to your parents."

Hearing the statement coming from Hoseok's mouth was strange, but Yoongi supposed that's what it meant. He wasn't thoroughly lying. He had come on a run, and he'd be stretching the truth on who he was on a run with. He wasn't lying when he said he would hang out with Namjoon, but he wasn't saying the complete truth either.

It was ironic. Someone that had been worried that someone would catch them was impulsively making the decision to do things that could get him caught. All that Yoongi had told Hoseok about being seen, getting caught, it was as if Yoongi had done a complete one eighty, and it was puzzling just as much as it was thrilling.

"I guess I am," Yoongi said, frowning. "Huh. I don't feel too guilty about it."

"You're not doing anything illegal," Hoseok snorted, rolling his eyes. "I just find it funny considering you were just ranting to me about how we could get caught, that we shouldn't be seen around each other, and how it was all my fault that your brain and morals are all twisted, and now you're offering to come by my place later in the day."

"You don't have to put it like that," Yoongi scowled, causing Hoseok to burst into laughter. "Maybe I just changed my mind."

"Or maybe, you want to reconcile our friendship," Hoseok responded, almost smugly. Yoongi's scowl deepened, and he pushed Hoseok's shoulder, only getting Hoseok to laugh harder. He could feel his cheeks warming at Hoseok's light tease, though Yoongi pushed it down as a reaction from the workout. "I'll pick you up, though. Just send me where you want me to pick you up. I'm guessing you don't want me picking you up in front of Namjoon's house."

"You're right," Yoongi nodded, still feeling warm. "I'll send you his address. Pick me up at the nearest intersection."

"Don't worry about anyone seeing you in my car either," Hoseok added. "Windows are all tinted. No one can see inside."

Well, that's one less thing to worry about.

"I'll see you then."

Yoongi stood, stretching slightly. He felt Hoseok's gaze watching him, but he paid no attention to it as he gathered his things, slinging his workout bag over his arm. Yoongi turned to Hoseok, offering his hand. Hoseok took it, smiling as Yoongi pulled him up and waited for Hoseok to finish his things. They walked towards the direction of Yoongi's car, basking in each other's company. Right now, they didn't need to say anything to each other. The promise of next time hung in between them, so they knew they had all the time in the world to say what they needed to say to each other.

They said their goodbyes as Yoongi entered his car, though Yoongi didn't leave until he was sure Hoseok was out of sight. He watched as Hoseok jogged out, watching him disappear into his neighborhood. He smiled, shaking his head once before starting his car and exiting out of the park, speeding slightly to get home in time.

"Where'd you go?"

Yoongi smiled at his parents, who were already downstairs making breakfast. He greeted them a quick good morning before answering, "Went to the park to run. It's Halloween, so there wasn't any cross country meet."

His mother scrunched her nose. "I can smell your sweat from here. Go upstairs and shower. Can't have you a mess in front of the kids today."

Yoongi laughed, opening up his arms. "Come here."

As his mother shrieked to get away from him, his father sighed. "Yoongi, don't bother your mom like that. You know how much she hates sweat."

"I'm just teasing," Yoongi said, giving his mom a kiss on the cheek. "I'll go upstairs now."

As he headed up the stairs, he paused, peeking back out. His parents looked at him questioningly before nodding.

"Yes, you can go hang out at Namjoon's after you volunteer," his mom said. "Just don't come back too late. We have to wake up bright and early for church, and you have to finish your application to Notre Dame."

Yoongi had completely forgotten about the application, but he nodded, heading back up the stairs. He took out his phone, typing out a quick message to Hoseok.

yoongi: i have to finish my app to notre dame T_T

hoseok: yikes

hoseok: you can do it at my place

hoseok: i'll help you

yoongi: really?

hoseok: unless you don't want to

yoongi: i'd appreciate it...kinda stuck

hoseok: i alr turned mine in remember

hoseok: completely certified to help out here

hoseok: send me namjoon's addy btw for l8r

Yoongi sent the address to Hoseok, remembering to type out a quick text to Namjoon. Namjoon wasn't awake yet, but Yoongi knew that he'd get a response by eleven, and that was more than enough time. He put his laptop and charger in his backpack to have it ready for later before stripping and stepping into the shower.

Once he was done, he headed downstairs to eat breakfast. After conversing with his parents for almost an hour, he headed out to his volunteering duties, feeling excited and antsy about the afternoon's events.

a/n: yoongi simp arc 😋