Chapter Text
Later, they are in their hotel room, after having a hearty meal at Still With You (for old times’ sake, Hoseok says, but the food is truly good), packing up their belongings. They don’t have fancy suitcases, but they plan on transporting everything to the Isthmus with the help of Wonpil, who was kind enough to agree.
They're exchanging stuff between them that had gotten mixed up, since they’re in two different parts of the room. Hoseok’s perfumes which ended up with Namjoon, who trades it for some books and CDs (not that he has CD players up in the Isthmus to play them...maybe he should go and buy one?) and Hoseok sighs.
“Have you ever had a roommate, Namjoon?”
Namjoon shakes his head. “Nobody wanted to be roommates with me, but it was okay since I could get a whole room for myself at University,”
“That’s mean!” Hoseok gasps. “You will give me their names right now.”
Namjoon’s hands still and he looks up. “Why?”
“So that I can beat their asses!” Hoseok pulls his sleeves up till his elbows.
Namjoon giggles. “I’m sure they have forgotten all about me. I don’t care, it’s all in the past!”
It gets quiet for a moment, before Hoseok speaks again. “But seriously Namjoon, they really were assholes. But I’m kinda glad I get to be your first roommate in this very unorthodox setting, so that now I can tell them what a great person you are and what they missed out on. And your mess, of course,” he winks and Namjoon rolls his eyes to stop himself from combusting.
“We have less than an hour to go, finish packing.”
The phone in between their beds, for reasons that Namjoon couldn’t figure why it was there, rings.
The Smitteners share a look. “Do you think they’re calling for us?”
Namjoon looks at the time. “It's rather late for anyone to be up at this hour. Should we really pick it?”
“I’ll do it.” Hoseok says and picks it up after the fifth ring.
“Hello?” Hoseok frowns when he gets a response from the other side. “Uh, who?...Did they say why?... Okay, okay, thank you, we’re on our way.”
“Who was that?”
Hoseok looks at the phone and back at Namjoon with an unreadable expression. “The...front desk, they said. Apparently, someone called Jimin is looking for us? He’s waiting to meet in the lobby, like right now.”
Namjoon blinks. And then blinks again. He looks at Hoseok, who’s mouth is opening and closing, not unlike the golden fish (they are orange in colour, Namjoon doesn’t understand why they are called goldfish) that are in a glass tank at the front of their hotel’s entrance.
Standing in front of them are the four humans that had been just friends earlier that day. Or the previous day. They were looking at Namjoon and Hoseok in various states of disbelief—Taehyung the least, Jimin the most.
“Hey!” Hoseok says, the nervousness in his voice evident with the way his eyes are shifting. Namjoon feels too paralysed to do anything.
“Hi,” Yoongi replies, stepping forward nervously. “Um, we, um, need to speak—”
“Who are you guys?” Jimin cuts in.
He sounds confused, borderline angry, and Namjoon has enough evidence up in his folders that he knows he shouldn’t really be on the receiving end of Jimin’s anger.
Namjoon looks from Taehyung to Jungkook to Yoongi to Jimin. “What?”
Jimin waves his hands around wildly. “You guys claim you’re on vacation, that you’re a couple, that you don’t know these ‘city things’,” Jimin actually makes these air quotes with his fingers. “You also said you didn’t know that weird hot guy! But you clearly knew him so what is your deal? Are you like...in trouble? Running away from somewhere? Oh, are you like in the Secret Services, on a case and pretending to be a couple so that you can finish your job on time?! And why us? Did you plan all of this? Meeting us? Are we in trouble?!”
That was so close to the truth that Namjoon began sweating. He was a better liar than Hoseok but even he didn’t know how to get out of this.
Hoseok and Namjoon look at each other and them look back at the humans, who are looking at them expectedly. “We...don’t follow?”
Jungkook puts his hands up in defeat while Jimin rolls his eyes. “I told you guys, they don’t seem shady or anything!”
“You have to admit, they are a little bit shady at least.”
“Even if they’ve been nothing but nice and kind to us?”
They think we’re kind? Namjoon’s heart melts a bit.
“Wait, you guys!” Yoongi stops their bickering and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Let's calm down and talk it out like adults, yeah?”
They find seats in the lobby while Yoongi goes to ask the receptionist for some water. As the rest wait, Hoseok and Namjoon fidget under the remaining humans’ scrutinizing eyes.
When Yoongi comes back and rubs a soothing hand against Jimin’s thigh, the tension in the air dissipates a little.
“Okay, Namjoon-ssi, Hoseok-ssi,” Yoongi begins, clearly the calmest in the group. “We’re so sorry about this but we have to know some things because we just...we don’t feel like you are out to harm us or anything but it is too perfect to be a coincidence. I really don’t want—”
“Hyung!” Jimin says. “Stop being so nice!”
“How can I not? They were—are so nice!”
Namjoon smiles, despite it all.
“I think I know where this is going.” Namjoon says without thinking and he realizes, he doesn’t really have to think that hard.
He knows that these humans need some rational explanation to these recent events because he had learnt that humans look for rationality in things, and he’s ready to give it to them.
“Hoseok and I are just what we said: tourists,” he begins. “We just came here to see the place and attend an event, and just like...chill for a little while.”
He is so glad he had taken up classes on progressive communication.
“But then we ran into Taehyung first, and then Jungkook, and then Yoongi and then Jimin. We had no idea that you all...knew each other or anything.” He makes a vague gesture and he’s so proud of it he could cry.
“And then Yoongi gave us tickets to his show, and we were so excited that we literally told everyone we met that we were going to his show!” At this, Hoseok smiles and finds Namjoon’s hand against the sofa, a warm press of it against his own grounds him. “So, when Jungkook told us that he knew the guy and then when Jimin also told the same thing, we thought, funny coincidence! Right?”
Nobody laughs, not even Hoseok who is busy looking at his feet.
“But yeah, guys. I don’t know what to tell you—”
“See!” Jimin points out. “They’re holding hands!”
Yoongi sighs. “Baby, we held hands before we dated, and you know I love holding hands—”
“Min Yoongi, do you hold somebody else’s hands when you need reassurance?”
“N-no, not at all.”
“Exactly! Look!”
Four pairs of eyes land on the spot between Namjoon and Hoseok. The Smitteners share a confused look before following their eyes.
Their hands were clasped between them. They quickly let go of it but when they look at each other, an understanding passes between them. They hold hands again, slowly.
The feeling of Hoseok warm and soft skin sliding against Namjoon’s own has his heart quivering. As it is, Namjoon is finding it hard to breathe.
“They can’t obviously not be in love!”
Jimin’s voice startles them, and they look at the four humans.
“What?”
It’s Jungkook who answers this time. “That weird and handsome guy we met at the club, he told us that you guys aren’t like together, or whatever. He asked us to tell you guys to get your shit together. Jimin refused to believe it, so we came here to...ask you that.”
What?
Namjoon and Hoseok exchange another confused look before looking back at the humans. “We don’t even know the guy!”
Jimin falls back. “Phew. I was so scared for a second there!”
“Are you happy, Jimin?” Yoongi asks, holding him by his shoulders. “We've bothered them enough, let’s let them rest, we can meet tomorrow, yeah?”
Namjoon feels like he should say something. Anything about them leaving in about an hour.
Namjoon thinks Hoseok might have wanted to say something, but he doesn’t either.
“Good night, guys, so sorry to bother you,” Yoongi says, herding everyone out of the hotel. Just as they turn, Hoseok shouts.
“Wait!”
And then he rushes forward to hug Yoongi, and then Jimin, and then a very reluctant Jungkook and Taehyung. They look at him fondly as he tells them how amazing he felt during the show, and how wonderful it was to have met them.
Namjoon’s heart clenches as he lifts his hand to say goodbye.
Perhaps for the last time.
Taehyung, the last one in the group, the only one who hadn't uttered a single word throughout the evening, looks back before he pushes the door.
“I know you guys are like our Guardian Angels or whatever, and I know you couldn’t tell them, but thank you, for looking after us.” he winks and disappears through the door.
Namjoon resists the urge to melt through the floor. But dazedly, he and Hoseok make it back to their hotel room. The timer on Namjoon’s tab told him that they had less than half an hour before their elevator could come to pick them up and yet, Namjoon couldn’t bring himself to move.
When the elevator comes, and Nayeon rings Namjoon to make sure he’s aware, they make their way into the elevator. This time, the song playing through the tinny speakers is Yoongi’s song, seesaw. Hoseok, who had been sniffling next to him, groans.
Namjoon chuckles wetly. When he thought being assigned a partner to this job was the worst day ever, it couldn’t compare to today.
“Hoseok, how are you holding up?” Namjoon asks because the silence—through Yoongi’s soft song—is unbearable.
Hoseok croaks out a laugh. They’re looking at each other through the mirrored walls of the elevator and while they are very different people at first glance—Namjoon's tall and buff build to Hoseok’s slighter and leaner one, Namjoon’s short, spiky hair to Hoseok’s longer, wavy one, Namjoon’s dimpled smile to Hoseok’s heart shaped one—they pretty much wear the same expressions. Their eyes are red rimmed, noses blocked from all the snot they’re trying to hold back, the same sag of their shoulders.
“I-I don’t know, Namjoon.” Hoseok says as Nayeon announces reaching the breach. He sighs. “I feel so bad lying to them about everything, and I know it was for their own good, because we never supposed to be seen in the first place!”
He shakes his head and leans against the wall of the elevator, closing his eyes as the final beats of the song fade away.
Namjoon resists the urge to put his arm around Hoseok in an attempt to comfort him. The Isthmus knows Namjoon himself needs some comfort.
The elevator pings, and Nayeon’s voice floats through the speakers. “You have now ascended to the Isthmus of Serendipity. Doors will open to your front. Toodaloo.”
And then a beat pass. “You guys! Congratulations!”
Namjoon raises an eyebrow at the speakers, and then looks at Hoseok, who shrugs. And then, the door opens.
The moment the Smitteners set their foot on the threshold between the elevator and the floor of the Isthmus, there are loud popping sounds on either side of them, and they are enveloped in a huge, pink cloud. Coughing, they wave the cloud away, only to see Seokjin (and what looks like the entire population of Isthmus behind him) standing in front of them, smiling serenely in his pink silk toga and extensive collection of brooches. Namjoon feels underdressed in his jeans and brown shirt.
Seokjin spreads his hands wide. “Welcome, Smitteners! Congratulations on succeeding one of the most challenging cases we have seen in some time. And to think you have also survived on earth while pretending to be humans? This is the first time it has ever happened in our history, and I would like to extend my heartiest congratulations for making it back, with success. The humans seem to be happy and content and we would like to celebrate today!”
He grins at Namjoon and Hoseok, winking. “We also have some exciting announcements! Now, as some humans say, chop chop!”
There are cheers all around and Namjoon and Hoseok share a look with wide eyes. They should both probably smile and say thank you, even bow, maybe, but Namjoon’s mouth opens and closes like a goldfish.
“Ah!” Seokjin chuckles. “Speechless! I am rather good at leaving others like that, aren’t I? Not to worry! You’ll be escorted up to your quarters and you can join the celebration in a few hours. Please rest well!”
Namjoon and Hoseok live in separate wings of the living quarters. This explains why he has never run into the other Smittener, but really, Namjoon thinks it’s most likely his tendency to be by himself.
Two of Seokjin’s guards accompany them till their quarters, and they leave with small salutes. Namjoon and Hoseok stand at the entrance, looking at the massive building which houses all the Smitteners in individual units, kind of like an apartment complex. Namjoon has lived here for all of one year, but he doesn’t feel like he’s back home.
He feels like he’s in an alternate universe. Or in a dream.
“Namjoon.” Hoseok’s voice jars him out of his head. “D-do you want to meet up in some time? Before heading to the gathering. I mean. I don’t want to be alone.”
Namjoon is already nodding. “Why don’t you come by my unit?”
“Is it neat?” Hoseok grins, teasingly. “Last I had seen, your stuff was strewn all around the hotel room!”
Namjoon pouts, but he’s not annoyed. He’s just sad.
Hoseok seems to have noticed the shift in his demeanour, so he rubs a soothing hand up and down Namjoon’s arm.
He just smiles. “Nah, I just end up not spending a lot of time there.”
Hoseok returns a tiny smile of his own. “Okay, then. I’ll see you in a bit.”
Sometime later (the shift from Earth to Isthmus is screwing with his time awareness so Namjoon is unable to exactly tell how much time has passed), Hoseok comes by knocking on his door, only to find Namjoon sitting on his couch and staring off into the window.
“Hey.”
“Hey.”
It’s awkward, but not for reasons as before. Earlier, they didn’t know each other. Namjoon simply hated the fact that Seokjin thought he was so incompetent in his job that had to be partnered up with someone who had just transferred. It was a low blow (a little deserved, Namjoon can’t lie to himself) but still, it hurt him. He didn’t want to be mean but also didn’t want to seem like he was grateful for the help when he wasn’t but now...
“This is so weird, isn’t it?” Hoseok cut through his thoughts.
Namjoo nods. “Just feels too...surreal. I don’t even know which way is up or down.”
They sit with the unsettling feeling in their stomachs, watching the spectacular view of the sun going down and the second star rising. But when they share a glance, they know they’re remembering the view of the sunset by the lake they had witnessed two days into their stay on earth. It’s not like Namjoon is comparing the two by any means, but he just wishes that he could once again feel the warmth of the sun on his skin as the chill settled in as the day made way for night.
As the days go by, Namjoon gets more...uncomfortable. He feels like he ate too quickly and now he’s still hungry but there’s a heavy feeling settled in his stomach.
He also feels like he was put on a different planet, yanked out of his familiar space and thrust into a new one where he had to relearn rules of society and the planet all over again...
Oh wait, that’s exactly what happened.
And Seokjin doesn’t think it was important for Namjoon to take a break for a few days before starting as a Seeker’s Apprentice.
Which, by the way, was one of the main announcements from Seokjin. It was a “reward” for good work done. For Hoseok, it was a phenomenal raise and the choice to pick cases instead of being assigned to him.
And while Namjoon has (nearly) gotten what he has always wanted in his life, i.e., being a Seeker (Apprentice), something felt...off. Like he was getting too much too soon. Namjoon had resigned—no, expected—to work as a Smittener for a long time before he could even get here. It feels too sudden.
It feels like he didn’t deserve it.
Seokjin waves him away during their daily meetings where Namjoon almost begs. “You’re one of the best, right alongside Hoseok! He’s been taking cases on like a champ, I don’t understand why you’re resisting.”
Namjoon knows for a fact that Hoseok is not taking them on like a fucking champ. He knows because each night, Hoseok and Namjoon meet to complain about the new cases, being put in unfamiliar locations, how Namjoon’s supervisor barely allows him to dive deep into cases, and mourn. What they mourn takes on a different shape every night, but it doesn’t stop.
“Besides,” Seokjin continues. “You’re only one step away from becoming a Seeker!”
And there it is.
If Seokjin had used this...enticing offer to convince him to partner up with Hoseok more than two weeks ago, he probably wouldn’t have been so reluctant and hostile. Namjoon would have even jumped at the chance. He still would have, had the previous case been just a regular old case. But after being thrust into the human world with no warning, mingling with the four humans and their friends and acquaintances, he has been feeling...
Not like he wants to spend the rest of eternity finding humans in need of love and creating pathways for it.
It's still a noble profession! But it feels like that dream belongs to a different version of Namjoon, the Smittener.
“Isn’t there anything else I can work on, Seokjin? I can help Seulgi with the potions, you know I am good at that.”
“Is everything okay, Namjoon?” The colour outside of Pink-O is less pink with concern and Namjoon swallows a wave of guilt that floats his way. “You know you can tell me anything. I just want everybody in the Isthmus of Serendipity to be happy.”
And therein lies the problem. He knows where he could be happy. But it’s something that hasn’t been materialized out into the physical world yet. Namjoon’s thoughts are so wild that he’s afraid of letting them out. He hasn’t even confided in Hoseok yet. And Hoseok has grown to be somewhat of a close friend to him.
(No, he has not. Namjoon’s growing crush is so enormous that there is no space for any friendship.)
“Because you always wanted to be a Seeker, right?”
Namjoon sighs. “People change, Seokjin.”
“Humans change, Namjoon, not us.” Seokjin sits forward in his throne and laces his fingers across one knee that he had crossed over the other. “I want you to think about this carefully and get back to me in a few days—Isthmus days—about what it is that you truly want to do. Okay?”
Not like he has any room for argument. “Yes, Seokjin, I will.”
Namjoon has a plan. It’s risky, it’s brand new, it’s fucking scary, but it’s a plan, nonetheless.
After his last—disastrous—meeting with Seokjin, Namjoon sits with his thoughts and gets to work. He spends the time it takes for the second star to rise, set, and for the moon to rise to come up with a plan. On his whiteboard, there are sticky notes, coloured markers, stickies that only open with a designated codeword, little flashing bulbs that he uses for important concerns and other aspects. By the time he is done, Hoseok is knocking on his door.
“I leave you alone for a day and you have full plan of...whatever that is ready. Did you even eat?”
Namjoon shakes his head sheepishly and Hoseok rolls his eyes, dragging Namjoon away. “Your precious whiteboard will be fine for a while. You can tell me about why it has kept up since the last time I saw yesterday, hm?”
“You’re going to think I’m crazy.”
Hoseok levels him with a flat stare, as if to say, Namjoon, really?
Namjoon rolls his eyes but then looks around. The cafeteria isn’t packed, but he would much rather not be overheard.
“I’ll tell you after we eat?”
Hoseok seems to grasp the seriousness of the situation, so he nods and pays attention to his food. Namjoon picks at his food, because he misses real food, human food from the cafe that started everything to the hearty meals from Still With You.
But he’s not on earth any longer, and he has no reason to be, so takes a deep breath and finishes what little he has on his plate.
He steels himself for the explanation that Hoseok deserves. Namjoon is crossing his fingers and toes (something he picked up from Jungkook) that his friend won’t run out on him, calling him crazy.
Or worse, snitch on him.
He plans to come clean anyway.
After their dinner, Namjoon nervously leads an inquisitive Hoseok back to his quarters, who wouldn’t stop asking questions—
“Are you in trouble?”
“Are we in trouble?”
“Are the humans in trouble?”
“Are you going to die?”
Namjoon had to stop him in his tracks.
“No one is going to die, no one is in trouble. Except, maybe me, later.”
That effectively shuts Hoseok up as they make their way to Namjoon’s residence. As they enter, the lights flick on automatically, and Namjoon mutters at the chandeliers to lower the brightness.
“How can you see in such low light?”
Namjoon shrugs, and asks Hoseok to sit at the loveseat as he went to bring his whiteboard.
“Wow.” Hoseok whistles. “I knew you liked planning stuff out but this is just amazing!”
Namjoon’s face heats up at the compliment. “Oh come on, if you hear my plan out, you’ll know why my thought process ended up with this.”
“Okay, so tell me.”
Taking a deep breath and absorbing the earnestness in Hoseok’s eyes, Namjoon tells him everything.
It takes a while for Namjoon to finish explaining everything by the end of which he is panting, heartbeat rising at every second that passes by as Hoseok sits in silence.
Namjoon can’t look at him, so turns to his board. “So, ta-da! What do you think?”
Hoseok is simply staring at Namjoon, his mouth open wide and blinking. “Um.”
Apprentice Seeker sighs. “I know, Seokjin might not be very happy with me for questioning the methods but, I dunno. I just.”
Namjoon takes a seat next to Hoseok. “I know we have talked about it, about-about not feeling yourself after getting back, and since yesterday, since the moment this idea popped into my head, everything feels right. Like this is the thing I need to do. That this is my destiny. That this is...what I should be doing, should have been doing ever since we got back.”
Hoseok stares at Namjoon’s living quarters’ carpet intently for a moment. Namjoon knows this to be the Smittener’s way of thinking. But the silence is deafening and Namjoon’s heart thumps hard enough for him to be able to imagine it tearing itself from his ribcage.
That is until Hoseok turns around to look at him with fiery determination in his eyes. Namjoon’s heart nearly stops.
“Can I add some things?”
Namjoon nods once and Hoseok jumps off his seat, heading over to the whiteboard. He commands the whiteboard to allow Hoseok to make changes and Namjoon’s shaky heart turns heavier as Hoseok adds notes in several places.
For a long while, there is only the sound of marker squeaking against the whiteboard (Namjoon likes the sound, okay? He bought them specifically so that they could make that sound, ignoring Hoseok’s disgusted face when he saw it first), silence, and Namjoon’s laboured breaths as he struggles not to kiss Hoseok or his brain.
When he steps away, Hoseok smirks. “I have come across some stuff in my experience and in the library. You’ve done a thorough job, but I thought you might appreciate some stuff you might have missed.”
Namjoon rushes to the whiteboard, drinking everything in. Hoseok is right, there were quite a few things he had missed, clearly, two brains were better than one.
“Holy Isthmus.” Namjoon whispers. “We might just be able to win Seokjin over.”
Hoseok clasps Namjoon’s hands in his and squeezes it once.
“Do you want to see the stars for a bit?”
Namjoon smiles and nods. Hoseok leads him to the rooftop where they spent the entire night gazing up at the stars, committing it to memory and trying to remember how the stars looked from the earth.
The stars are better on Isthmus, and that had pretty much been the only thing he had missed while he was on earth.
A week later, Namjoon and Hoseok request an audience with Seokjin.
That week, Namjoon and Hoseok, in between their work on Isthmus and Earth, manage to put together a whole case for their idea. The moment the last paper prints out (because even on the isthmus of Serendipity, printers are still a problem. Seriously, has nobody considered inventing an unproblematic printer?), Namjoon goes ahead and schedules a meeting with Seokjin. When he is asked to state the reason for the meeting, he takes a moment, and then scribbles down Learnings, Feedback, And Suggestions on the form.
It takes less than a day for Seokjin to get back to him.
Today is the day.
Namjoon and Hoseok are standing shoulder to shoulder at the huge doors of the Pink-O, waiting for it to be open. The large pink and silver doors, with embedded gems should look tacky but Seokjin has managed to make it look elegant. Namjoon marvels at his ability because as far as he is aware, Seokjin has made a lot of changes since his reign. He has read a lot on it. It’s not only changes in the Isthmus with regards to working, he has managed to keep the root and output of it intact, while making the end-to-end process more efficient. Namjoon admires Seokjin for this sole reason because he literally did not have to work so hard but once he came to power, he has worked nearly as hard (and maybe even more) as every single being on the Isthmus.
This is why Namjoon has a feeling that Seokjin might not turn them away or banish them.
Or worse, laugh at him and Hoseok.
So, standing at the gleaming door, waiting, Namjoon clutches the thick file to his chest.
“Hey,” Hoseok manages to whisper next to him.
“What’s going on in that pretty head of yours?”
Oh yeah, his crush on Hoseok is no longer just a simple crush.
Namjoon just shakes his head. “It’s so fast that I can’t catch anything. Almost like it’s empty.”
“Is that...okay?”
Nodding resolutely, Namjoon tries for a smile.
“Absolutely.” And it is better than him panicking (those are just one of the many thoughts going around in a loop that he refuses to stretch out and catch) and making Hoseok panic.
He’s good at maintaining a cool exterior, he tells himself. His recent assignment with Hoseok has proved it so he will be cool in front of the god of Love.
Namjoon might be challenging the way things are run but he believes that Seokjin would not punish him for that.
Then the doors open.
Namjoon and Hoseok share a glance and a quick squeeze of hands as they are announced into the formal audience.
The Pink-O has a large conference-room attached to Seokjin’s office. Upon entry, Namjoon can easily spot Seokjin on a dais at one end of the room, radiating a powerful aura that Namjoon struggles to not cower from. Diagonally opposite to Seokjin is the audience, seated on pink and silver bejewelled chairs in a large semicircle. There are familiar faces towards the back, but important people, heads of departments, head-roles under each and beings from the administration team are all seated here in anticipation.
Namjoon blinks. He had requested a formal audience with Seokjin, but he didn’t think it would involve so many people.
Gulping, he shares a look with Hoseok who gives him an encouraging smile and nods at him to move. Namjoon has never spoken in front of so many people, but he takes a deep breath and strides forward.
There’s a projector on a table at the far end of the room, behind which is a podium for Namjoon and Hoseok to speak.
Namjoon stiffly walks over and ruffles the pages of his file to find the presentation he had prepared and places it face down on the projector. The image is projected on the screen behind them, and the lights dim.
“You may begin.” Seokjin announces, as he sits back in his throne, jewellery-adorned hands laced over his knee.
And with one final look shared with Hoseok, Namjoon takes a deep breath and begins.
One Isthmus-of-Serendipity Year Later
Namjoon is looking over at the elevator anxiously. Seokjin is due to come down any moment and he is desperately hoping for today go right.
“Namjoon! I can feel your nerves all the way across the room!” Hoseok is beside him, looking at him with mock disapproval and handing him a glass of chilled lemonade. “How many coffees have you had so far?”
Namjoon blinks. If he says the truth, he’ll be in trouble. If he lies, Hoseok will know he’s lying. He gulps.
“I don’t think you wanna know.”
Hoseok rolls his eyes as he sips from his own glass. “I knew the coffee machine was a bad idea, but you know what made it worse? You having your own cup and having endless refills. We should put a cap on coffee intake, especially for you. Maybe I can ask Jinyoung to come up with a spell—”
“Hoba, noooo!” Namjoon wails and stomps his feet.
Hoseok grins, and Namjoon’s heart thumps hard, in a non-caffeine-induced way.
The past year has been...interesting, to put it mildly. After presenting their proposal of establishing a department for Smitteners on Earth, at the cusp of both the realms, things have been chaotic. The idea was that the department is to serve as a rest-stop kind of place for Smitteners. Seokjin approved of the idea instantly, though were some reservations from older and more experienced beings in the realm. After several exhausting rounds of meetings with Seokjin and other “important” people (who had never been smitteners in their lives before), things were finalized, and Namjoon was nominated to oversee its establishing, and then responsible for running it.
At the end of the last meeting, Namjoon sat in shock.
Hoseok put his hand on his shoulder. “Hey, are you okay?”
His voice was soft, so soft that it almost felt like he imagined it. But the hand on his shoulder said otherwise.
Namjoon nodded. “I just...I didn’t think it would work. Not like this. Not with me leading it.”
Hoseok rolled his eyes. “You discredit yourself so easily. Come on, let’s go for celebratory drinks! I’ve asked Jackson to bring along everyone else!”
And today is the inauguration day. They had no such tradition up in the Isthmus but technically, the department was partly set up in Earth anyway, so Namjoon decided to make it a fun day.
Namjoon had read up on a ribbon-cutting event for the doors of the department and while even he thought it was a little silly, he wanted to do it for the symbolism anyway. And Seokjin, who had been coming down personally to check up on the progress of the department, would be the one to cut the ribbon.
He didn’t even blink an eye when Namjoon brought this up hesitantly.
“I have seen humans using scissors for this event, but would it be okay if I used magic for it?”
Namjoon opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish. “Uh-yeah! Anything, Seokjin!”
He smiled a little, and it was so genuine that Namjoon smiled back involuntarily.
Now, he’s waiting for Seokjin while sipping on Isthmus sparkly wine. Namjoon should probably slow down since he’s on his second glass in ten minutes. When he drains his second glass, Hoseok lifts an eyebrow at him.
Namjoon begs him to let this one time go by pouting at him.
Hoseok rolls his eyes and continues speaking with the person in front of him. Then there is a DING! Indicating that Seokjin is here. Everyone scrambles to get into position.
Seokjin walks out in a pink and silver and white ensemble, a ridiculously luxurious mix of togas and modern clothes, sticking to the theme. It shouldn’t look good on anyone, but this is Seokjin, and he makes it work.
He raises a hand. “Please, don’t stop on my account. I’d like to have a glass of our wine before our event.”
A tray floats by him and he picks up a flute of pink, sparkly wine, raises it in a toast and everybody else follows with a cheer.
Namjoon takes a moment to look around and breathe. All the faces he sees are familiar—people he has worked with over the past year, people he has known all his life, people he knew from university. He doesn’t think he can say his circle of “friends” got bigger, but he definitely has had to make more room for people in his heart.
Especially since one of them took up a large amount of space.
Namjoon’s eyes find Hoseok, like they always do. Like Hoseok is Namjoon’s North Star.
Hoseok catches him staring and Namjoon doesn’t attempt to hide. He smiles widely and tried not to squint at the brightness of Hoseok’s neon green toga with white accents. Namjoon himself is in similar clothing, only in less subdued white and no neon. Except for his socks but that’s only because Hoseok convinced him to wear it as a “good luck charm.”
“Not that you need it,” Hoseok had told him. “You’ll do great! But I don’t want you to attract bad luck.”
Namjoon’s digital watch vibrates. It is time for the inauguration.
Taking a deep breath, Namjoon walks towards a clearing and grabs a spoon from a nearby table. He taps the knife gently—keeping in mind the multiple glasses he broke during rehearsals—once, and then twice, to get people’s attention.
“Greetings, everyone!” Namjoon says, his voice loud and clear in the wide room, even with people milling about.
The murmurs die down and close to a hundred pairs of eyes turn towards him simultaneously. Namjoon gulps and he focuses on a pair of kind and sweet ones.
“Thank you for being here today!” Hoseok beams at Namjoon. “This is a big first for us, for Serendipity. I’m sure all of you know what this place is, as most of you have worked with me and Hoseok on this project at some point in the past year. And there are some details in the beautiful brochure that Heesu designed for us. But we have prepared a short presentation for how it is going to work, in case this is the first time you’re hearing about it.”
Namjoon nodded to Jackson, who turned on the projector. The presentation to introduce the Rest to Reset department opened. He and Hoseok worked on it last minute using human technology because neither of them knew how to get the same effects using magic and had no time to figure it out. Namjoon prays that it will work.
“When Hoseok and I were...on earth for a project, the elevator back to Serendipity had broken down. Nayeon later told me the havoc it had caused up in Serendipity, but Hoseok and I were just as troubled. Our invisibility potion wore off and we navigated through the human world with nobody else to rely on but us.
“I know the situation will not arise again as Seokjin has already promised,” Namjoon throws a glare at Seokjin who just shrugs. “But it got me thinking. During our brief stay on earth, I have learnt more than I ever did during the ten years of my schooling.”
An audible gasp rang through the crowd and Namjoon hopes none of his teachers from university are here. He knows he didn’t invite them.
“No, it’s not bad. It’s just that for ten years, I studied the humans and their idea of love but...nothing came close to seeing it live just made me think about several things. How many missed opportunities have there been? To interact with your subjects? It might mess with the whole dynamics of Smitteners with their subjects, but there is so much potential! If we mitigate our use of the invisibility potion, we can perhaps immerse ourselves more and understand the humans better.”
A slide opens with stats and Namjoon only glances at it, knowing the numbers by heart.
“We have been working for more than two millennia now. Over the millions of people we have brought together through romantic love, about 40 percent of them have failed to stay together for longer than a year. Over the years, we have documented several reasons why people didn’t stay together—and it certainly varied from one region to another. Only recently several countries across the world have begun accepting same-sex love, while it was never something we consciously thought about. Considering all of this, we have persevered, our Seekers and Smitteners have worked together to update constantly. And this is so commendable, you guys.”
Namjoon pauses while the crowd applauses quietly. As it dies down, Namjoon takes a deep breath. “What Hoseok and I have come to realize during our time on earth, as visible beings, is that nothing is as it seems. We might have access to all their conversations, private times, inner monologues even sometimes, but all we can do is infer from those moments. We never truly know the depth of their feelings unless we look into their eyes when they talk about the one they love.”
Namjoon went back to the time he spoke to Jimin about Yoongi. Briefly, he had wondered if he would ever love someone like that.
There’s also a tiny part of him that he suppressed hard where he wondered if he would ever be loved like that.
“After several lengthy talks with Seokjin and the Elders, as you may already know, Hoseok and I suggested that Smitteners maybe provided with an option to choose whether they want to take in the invisible potion or not basis their mission. If they choose to take it, Hoseok and I are ready to provide them with the support they might need. That is when Rest and Reset came into the picture. This department is set at the threshold of both the Isthmus of Serendipity and Earth, such that Smitteners who require the establishment can find us easily. I would like to extend my hearty gratitude to Nayeon for helping us achieve this.”
Nayeon claps and cheers. Namjoon grins, attention shifting back to Hoseok and his piercing gaze.
“Through this, we aim to achieve more quality results, longevity, where people who are together remain together for a long time, even if they are not as many as they were before. I’m not saying we need to not have targets, but as you may already know, our targets are now going to be set by Seekers, and we are now going to change how Seekers are being appointed. This was in the bulletin last week so I will not go into the details. What I would like to talk more about...” he glances at his watch. “Well, not more more because I don’t want to take up too much time, but I want to answer a few FAQs about Rest to Reset.”
Namjoon nods at Jackson who presses a button while sipping his sparkly wine. Namjoon resists the urge to roll his eyes at his succeeding attempt to look cool.
A list of question rises on the screen and Namjoon speaks just as he had rehearsed.
“No, this is not Smittener exclusive, it can also act as a rest stop for other brings from Isthmus, and even humans if they desperately need it. Yes, there is a coffee shop out front that changes appearance based on the location we are at but past the glamour is something that all Smitteners on field will be able to see. No, we are not taking renaming suggestions. No, we do not have a condom and lube disbursing machine, although that is not a bad idea. Thank you everyone, have a lovely afternoon! Now we’re going to have the ribbon cutting ceremony! Kindly follow Hoseok to the doors where Seokjin will inaugurate the centre! And no, I know it doesn’t make sense to inaugurate place we are already standing in but please, do it for the spirit!”
Everyone laughs and cheers. Hoseok’s rings the loudest, but that’s maybe because Namjoon is zoned in on him.
They share a small smile and nods of encouragement before Hoseok calls for the crowd. Namjoon follows.
Seokjin does an elegant flourish in a show of cutting the pink ribbon tied along the threshold of the door of the Rest and Reset. There is more cheering and when Seokjin steps foot into the place with everyone following, Namjoon feels a lump in his throat.
They did it. He and Hoseok really did it.
“Namjoon!”
He is brought out of his thoughts and back to a warm and pleasant smile. “What are you still doing there? There’s still lunch and the after party!”
He smiles at Hoseok. Just one more thing left for him to do.
“Coming!”
At the after party, when all the boring officials and scary Seokjin have left, everyone gathers in the main room of the department, which has not been furnished yet. Jackson and Hoseok and Namjoon have turned it into a karaoke party where they’re taking turns singing songs from across different realms, including Isthmus and Earth.
There are galaxy lights on, and someone is singing a mournful ballad. Namjoon can hear weeping from different parts of the vast room. The crowd at the after-party are definitely going through it.
Hoseok rolls his eyes though. “I wish they didn’t sing such sad songs. It messes up the vibe!”
Namjoon elbows him. “Why don't you go ahead and sing something to make them stop crying?”
“You know we couldn’t find AgustD songs for Karaoke.” Hoseok pouts and Namjoon fights the urge to kiss the pout away and give him everything he wants. Even if it means Namjoon needs to go back into the human world and find Yoongi all over again, and give him explanation on his and Hoseok’s disappearance. Namjoon and Hoseok keep checking the food and drink reserves to make sure they don’t run out and check up on the guests to make sure they are having fun.
At some point in the evening, when the Indigo of the sky meets the peach, Jackson tugs at Hoseok’s hands.
“The dancefloor is calling, man!”
Hoseok giggles behind his hand and looks at Namjoon. “Dance with us!”
Namjoo shakes his head, alarmed. “No, go ahead! I’ll be fine!”
“Are you sure?”
Namjoon only nods, not trusting his voice in the loud evening. He makes a little shooing motion and smiles at Hoseok, who smiles back his beautiful heart shaped smile.
And then he disappears.
Heaving a sigh, and feeling a slight heaviness settle in his heart, Namjoon finds a seat to sit at in a corner of the room. He doesn’t remember bringing this particular chair so he figures it must have been someone else. But he’s grateful.
He has a good view of the makeshift dance floor, and he can see Hoseok and Seulgi and Jackson and other colleagues and beings of Isthmus jumping around and dancing to a song that Namjoon doesn’t recognize. He smiles. It looks like fun.
Just as the thought pops into his head, Hoseok looks over with a wide smile, panting a little. He beckons Namjoon forward in a come join us! gesture, and when Namjoon panics and shakes his head, Hoseok rolls his eyes and begins to pick his way over to Namjoon.
Namjoon downs the rest of his wine in one go, grimacing at the burn. It wasn’t very smart of him to do so when there was over a half a glass of wine left. By then, Hoseok stumbles towards Namjoon, tripping over the smooth marble floor and falling into Namjoon’s arms.
Hoseok squeezes Namjoon’s biceps where he’s holding onto them for dear life before straightening up. “Namjoooon!” Hoseok whines. “Come dance with us!”
Chuckling nervously, Namjoon moves to make Hoseok sit on the chair opposite him. “I-I don’t really dance, Hoseok.”
Rolling his eyes, Hoseok stands up with his fists on either side of his hips, frowning down cutely at Namjoon and pressing his lips together in that way that makes the dimples on either side of his mouth pop out.
Namjoon is not proud to say that he has spent many sleepless nights dreaming about kissing them.
“Not with that attitude you don’t. You’re dancing with me.” With that, Hoseok grabs Namjoon’s hand and weaves him back through the partygoers to his spot and starts dancing.
Namjoon tries. He shifts from one foot to another, pumps his hands, jumps, even, but Hoseok is not having it. He takes Namjoon’s hands and moves him around and Namjoon lets him.
Safe to say it is the most fun he’s had in a long while.
On the karaoke mic, someone makes an announcement. “Hello everyone! As the last part of our event today, we’re having a fireworks show! Please head out towards the doors and windows on the Isthmus of Serendipity side for a full view!”
Namjoon blinks. He was not aware that they were going to have fireworks show. He looks to Hoseok for some sort of explanation, but Hoseok’s eyes are lit up.
“You knew about it?” Namjoon asks, raising his voice a little bit to be heard over the clamour.
Hoseok nods and takes Namjoon’s hand again. Why does he even let go in the first place?
“Come on, I know a spot!”
Five minutes later, after going through a maze of people and wrong doors, Namjoon and Hoseok find themselves on a secluded patch of the roof. They had to climb an inbuilt ladder that Hoseok had gotten installed and Namjoon is very impressed. They’re sitting side by side on the roof top and the fireworks show is due to start any moment. Hoseok is chattering away but he stops abruptly when he hears the first firework go off.
Fireworks are a somewhat of a rarity in the Isthmus. Apparently, beings on realms other than earth don’t really find fireworks very fascinating. Which is ridiculous, if you ask Namjoon. Fireworks in the Isthmus is laced with magic to create fun shapes and colours and each one that bursts across the expanse of the indigo sky has left his mouth hanging in awe, and sometimes even hollering and jumping (only because Namjoon can’t whistle).
They are mostly of shapes and animals in the Isthmus, and when a yellow burst of light turns into a lion-headed pigeon, Namjoon turns to look at Hoseok to make sure he’s watching too.
Namjoon stops in his tracks. Hoseok’s beautiful face is bathed in the bright and warm lights of the fireworks, enhancing the slope of his nose, his bright and pretty eyes, his smile, and his dimples. The way the shadows seem to work overtime to make sure the best parts of his face is illuminated (which is pretty much every inch of it) and Namjoon is mesmerized by it.
“Namjoon!” Hoseok shakes Namjoon’s arm that is resting on his knees. “Namjoon, I arranged the fireworks for you! Why aren’t you watching it?” He laughs and shakes his head like Namjoon is unbelievable.
Maybe it felt like the right moment. Maybe it was the wine. But Namjoon had not planned on saying what he said next, because if he had, he’s sure he would have chickened out.
“I think I like watching you better.”
Hoseok blinks a couple of times before seemingly registering his words. Then he shakes his head, chuckling nervously. His grip on the roof tightens, and Hoseok fakes a smile.
“Careful there, Namjoon. I might think you’re in love with me!”
“And what if I am?”
The fireworks still go on, but all Namjoon can hear is the thudding of his heart and all he can see is the sharp intake of Hoseok’s breath. For a moment, he doesn’t breathe.
“You-you’re really serious.”
“You know I don’t joke around such matters. I barely even joke around.”
Another moment passes where Hoseok is gazing out at the sky, swallowing and blinking rapidly. Namjoon watches Hoseok.
“What now, then?”
It’s Namjoon’s turn to blink. “Huh?”
Hoseok rolls his eyes and turns towards Namjoon, making a show of punching his biceps. “Aren’t you going to ask me out on a date, Namjoon?” The apples of cheeks have turned a warm red, and Namjoon’s fingers ache to feel them.
Wait. “What? Wait-wait, what?”
Sighing, Hoseok pulls his leg up and turns fully towards Namjoon. “Yes, you big doof. In case you hadn’t noticed, I like you, a lot. I was wondering when you would catch up.”
“Are-are you for real?” Namjoon’s heart has skidded to a stop, nearly.
Rolling his eyes again, Hoseok pulls Namjoon towards him by the collar of his jacket and presses their lips together.
Namjoon’s first thought is that this is what fireworks feel like.
And then, holy shit I’m kissing Hoseok and he likes me back!
The kiss is brief and chaste, and too soon, Hoseok is pulling away. Namjoon’s eyes had closed but they refused to open now, in the case this was a dream.
“Namjoon,” Hoseok says, caressing his face, fingertips dancing across his cheeks and lips. “You’re so goddamn adorable, you know that?”
Namjoon opens his eyes to see Hoseok looking at him so fondly, so tenderly, that Namjoon wraps his arms around Hoseok’s shoulders and pulls him close, kissing him again.
They sit there on their patch of roof, long after the fireworks are over, in the quiet night, spending the night trading more kisses and soft giggles and warm touches, and Namjoon’s heart has never been so full.
In the Lord of Isthmus of Serendipity’s sleeping chambers, Seokjin wakes up in cold sweat, tangling himself in his pink silk sheets. He scrambles to gather himself and open a screen to show live updates. He scans through the feeds of the Isthmus, finding the one of the Rest and Reset after party, and scans through the screen.
Now, as the Lord of Isthmus of Serendipity, he had taken a vow to never abuse his powers. But this time, he allowed himself a little leeway as it had been a very long time since he was so invested in any of his own beings getting together. Nobody has to know—
He finds them. They’re sitting on the roof, and from the distance, he can see that they’re snuggling close and kissing softly.
Seokjin breathes a sigh of relief. If they had taken any longer, Seokjin had planned on intervening. He doesn’t know whom to thank, but he’s glad that they didn’t let it get to that point.
Satisfied, he switches off the feed, darkness illuminating his chambers once again, and falls back into a peaceful slumber.