WARNING! this is a long ass, 100% vhopekook focused chapter. if you don't like the vhopekook in this story, then you may skip this i guess?

hoseok's been absent for two consecutive days. 

for some reason, taehyung was the first to notice this. he hasn't seen hoseok roaming the halls of the building, the parking lot nor even in the lobby. at the second day mark, he starts to worry.

jeongguk, meanwhile, is a completely different story. he's been promised by hoseok that the two of them could work together for a while. on the first day, he was already worried— a bit upset, even.

somehow, somewhere along the way, jeongguk and taehyung silently decided to consult yoongi about it.

at first, yoongi scratched the back of his neck, before he gave the two an odd look. "why are you two so concerned?" he questioned, but in a tone where it gave away that there was nothing wrong about that— perhaps the sudden interrogations just threw him off.

"we—"

"we were supposed to work with him and all," jeongguk interrupted taehyung, who looked at him blankly. "but he's been absent for two days... and we were just curious if something went wrong?"

yoongi glanced at taehyung, then overall at the two of them, before he gave them an answer, "since monday, he's been staying with me. he's sick right now, so obviously he won't be coming back sooner or later..."

"why is he staying with you?" jeongguk asked.

yoongi hummed, "well, some stuff happened with the landlord... basically, all of them got kicked out." he looked at them both with narrow eyes. "what are you two up to?"

taehyung gulped. "nothing, hyu—"

"can we visit him?" jeongguk interrupted, a glint of determination in his eyes as he stared at yoongi for an answer. taehyung widened his eyes at the male's sudden request, as a small frown made its way to his own expression— only to disappear through a small nod directed towards yoongi.

at first, yoongi blinked. then he pressed his lips into a thin line in contemplation. "i... i guess? just inform him." he reached into his pocket and took out a single key, handing it over to the two. "here's the key to my apartment. if you're staying there for the rest of the day, just wait for me.if not, leave the keys with hoseok, okay? do any of you have his number?"

"i do." taehyung answered quickly.

it was jeongguk's turn to frown. he played with the end of his sleeve that reached up to his wrists, waiting for yoongi to say something.

yoongi sighed. "go ahead, but..." he raised an eyebrow at the couple. "...did you two get permission from jackson?"

jeongguk and taehyung merely turned to each other.

yoongi huffed at the sight, turning back to his laptop. "good luck."

jeongguk and taehyung have never begged that hard for jackson to let them leave the office early.

— — —

when they enter the apartment and walk past the hallway, they immediately notice that hoseok's certainly not in the living room.

"he must be in the bedroom, then." jeongguk assumed as he glanced back at the hallway.

taehyung frowned. "so, he's... sleeping next to yoongi hyung?"

jeongguk shrugged. "none of our business," he looked around the place. "wow. yoongi hyung's place is nice..." it really was, and they would stay longer to look around and admire the stuff, maybe even go through yoongi's stuff, but they had to go check up on hoseok. they both walked into the hallway, jeongguk opening a door that lead to the bathroom. they both looked towards the only door that could be the bedroom.

before going for the knob, though, jeongguk took out a small spray bottle of alcohol based hand sanitizer (what the fuck is it called), spraying it over both of his arms. taehyung peered over his shoulder and asked what he was doing.

"cleaning up the mess we made," jeongguk answered.

"oh! right." taehyung smiled, gripping jeongguk on the shoulders. "give me some, too."

jeongguk didn't say a word. he only continued to rub at his arms, until the marks were fully gone. he then turned to taehyung, with a look that read, really? before he threw a glance at taehyung's forearms.

taehyung looked down. oh. all the marks are gone. right. the soulmate thing. 

he glanced up at jeongguk sheepishly, before jeongguk rolled his eyes, hand turning at the doorknob.

the first thing they notice in the quiet room is hoseok, under the covers, eyes shut like he'd seen something terrible. he's shivering a bit, though it wasn't even that cold in the room— the fever chills, taehyung immediately thought.

they both rush over, hovering over hoseok's figure.

"hyung?" jeongguk whispered.

hoseok coughed, opening his eyes slowly to the sight of the two looking at him worriedly. "j— jeongguk? taehyung?" he said, groggily. "what are you two doing here?"

taehyung puts a hand over hoseok's forehead, taking it back with a gasp. "hyung, you're fucking burning," he muttered. "how long has this lasted for?"

"only today..." hoseok responded weakly, "i had headaches yesterday, that's why i didn't go to work and..."

"do you have short breaths? constant headaches? rashes anywhere? serious pain anywhere?" taehyung asked, biting his lip. "if so, we have to bring you to the doctor—"

"no, no," hoseok said, trying to sit up. jeongguk helped him, telling him not to rush himself. "i don't. just...  a really high fever, i guess?"

jeongguk and taehyung glance at each other.

hoseok took a look in between the two. "s-seriously, what are you two doing here?"

"jeongguk, go look for the thermometer."

"right. water soaked cloth?"

"yeah. i'll go make the soup."

and just like that, hoseok was in their care.

— — —

jeongguk takes the thermometer from hoseok's hands. his eyes widened, "your fever's barely going own, hyung..." he placed it down on the bedside table, proceeding to press the water soaked cloth against hoseok's forehead in hopes that it would do something.

hoseok coughed a bit, "i'm fine."

jeongguk stared at him in disbelief. "hyung." he spoke, "are you okay?" he said with a raise of the eyebrows.

the older of the two blinked. "yes?"

jeongguk rolled his eyes, "no, not like that. you're clearly not okay." he sighed exasperatedly. he stared worriedly at hoseok, taking notice of his jacket once more. "hyung, do you wanna remove your jacket? pretty sure that the room is hot enough for you to sweat out a little bit more of that fever."

hoseok just... he gets this cheeky smile across his lips. "i'm not wearing anything underneath this." then he winked.

jeongguk didn't know how to respond, other than to allow the red shade to dust his cheeks. "i mean— if it m— makes you more comfortable? i dont... i don't mind."

hoseok stared at jeongguk, before he let out a laugh. "don't worry, jeongguk, i won't." he ruffled the younger's hair. "i'm okay."

just then, taehyung walked into the room, a warm bowl of soup. he goes over to the two, frowning at jeongguk. "you okay, kookie?" he asked. "hoseok hyung, i think you transferred the fever to him. you're too red."

hoseok laughed. "he's fine."

jeongguk huffed, while taehyung sat on the edge of the bed. "yoongi hyung barely had any ingredients, but i managed," taehyung said, lifting the spoon, "say ahhh."

hoseok smiled as he shook his head lightly. "taehyung, i can do it myself—"

"no!" taehyung firmly said, moving the spoon towards hoseok's mouth, "we're here to take care of you, hyung."

hoseok was still a bit reluctant, but he went for the spoon anyway, eventually letting taehyung feed him. taehyung looked really happy to be taking care of hoseok, and the latter generally just looked glad to have the two with him at a time like this. jeongguk just watched quietly and thought that the sight was quite cute, actually. something tugged at his heart as he cleared his throat.

"by the way, hyung, what happened to your apartment?"

"oh. um. the landlord left all of a sudden. everyone had to leave after that..." hoseok answered, a sad sigh escaping his lips. "honestly, i miss the place. i stayed there ever since i came here, after all." he smiled. "the place held a lot of memories."

the two only look at him with pity, genuinely feeling bad for their friend. once hoseok looked up, he saw their expressions and let out a laugh. "you two are... very caring," he said, "how are you guys even here?"

jeongguk shrugged. "we asked our boss."

hoseok smiled knowingly at the two, tilting his head curiously. "sure you guys didn't beg?"

jeongguk pressed a finger to his hyung's lips, hushing him. hoseok chuckled as jeongguk nodded at taehyung, who shoved the spoon towards hoseok before he could even say anything.

— — —

taehyung strode towards the kitchenette, empty bowl in hand. right before he was about to wash it clean, he took notice of a black haired male seated in front of the desk, their gaze focused on the laptop.

"ah. yoongi hyung?" taehyung spoke up.

yoongi glanced over his shoulder, before he focused on the bright screen once more. "taehyung."

"you're not gonna, um, check on hoseok hyung...?"

"nah," yoongi replied, "you guys are taking such good care of him already. leave the bowl in the sink, by the way. i'll take care of it. hoseok probably needs you back."

"oh." taehyung stuttered, doing what yoongi told him to do, before walking across the room, headed for the bedroom again.

but before he could step into the hallway, yoongi spoke up once more.

"you three are interesting." his tone gave away nothing, but taehyung found himself frozen, nervous at yoongi's words.

he looked back over at yoongi. "what do you mean, hyung?"

yoongi laughed a bit, spinning around on his chair to face towards taehyung's direction. "you know what i mean." he smiled. "is jeongguk okay with it?"

it's like they had some kind of quiet conversation. taehyung's clueless as to how yoongi... figures out this stuff somehow all on his own. it kind of... scared taehyung to some extent.

but he found himself with a quiet reply of, "i don't know."

— — —

taehyung walked over to the sight of a sleeping hoseok, jeongguk silently watching the older of the three sleep peacefully.

"hyung fell asleep."

taehyung sat on the edge of the bed again, eyes looking over hoseok now, as well.

a moment of comfortable silence passed by, the only audible noises being the light breathing coming out of hoseok's slightly open lips.

taehyung was the first to speak up.

"jeongguk, we need to talk."

— — —

when hoseok stirred, he makes out two blurry figures talking to each other through hushed whispers on the side of his bed. he rubbed at his eyes and muttered, "jeongguk? taehyung?"

the two turned to him almost immediately, taehyung shooting jeongguk a look of reassurance before hoseok felt one of them push his own orange hair back. jeongguk helped him sit up on the bed as he let out a yawn.

"how are you feeling?" jeongguk asked, quickly checking to see if hoseok's forehead was still feeling hot.

"i think i'm slightly better now." hoseok smiled, admittedly feeling a bit shy at the contact.

"ah. good." taehyung grinned. "um, hey, hyung. we just... we were thinking."

"and?"

"we want to... give you an offer."

hoseok looked at them with curiosity. "an offer?"

jeongguk nodded. "we were thinking that since you have problems with the whole apartment thing, then maybe you'd want to..." he gulped, "...move in with us?"

hoseok's eyes widened at the suggestion. "oh... oh, no! i— i mean, i wouldn't want to intrude."

"we're fine with it, hyung," jeongguk reassured him with a small smile. "we have a damn house, after all." he laughed lightly. "we have, like, two spare rooms."

"right." taehyung nodded in agreement. "we promise, though. we're a hundred percent fine with it."

hoseok looked in between them in a struggle, not sure if he should accept their proposal or not. in the end, he stared down at his lap, bottom lip in between his teeth. "i'll think about it." he answered, still not sure, but it really did seem like the two were fine with it, even though hoseok thought he'd be such a burden to the two. he certainly didn't want to interrupt the couple's life— the privacy and all in their own home. but they brought it up first, and hoseok wouldn't want to see them disappointed in a simple, quick 'no,' so for now, he'll think about it.

on the other hand, jeongguk and taehyung turned to each other with small grins.

everything's going so well...

tried to make this chap good, failing horribly at it tho