Chapter Text
It’s been a month since Soobin has entered their lives and Yeonjun can’t seem to have a day without getting pissed at him. To be honest, he has started to suspect that Soobin is triggering him on purpose. There were days that he’d take Beomgyu’s full attention, he would normally just let things slide, but there are times that he wants the younger’s attention solely on him. In school, he would distract the younger with a story that he too knows that the younger would pique his interest; there were also those sudden invites over at his place or a new restaurant, boba shop or even a shopping spree courtesy of him. Taehyun and Kai were no better, they were both enthralled by the overgrown bunny dimpled guy and he’s a hair away from throwing a fit at how he’s taking his closest friends away from him and that’s a lot since he’s still warried of Taehyun from time to time.
The thing about Beomgyu and Soobin parting ways a few years back wasn’t brought up by anyone else, even Taehyun seems to be veering off of the topic as much as possible and he’s thinking that it was about giving Beomgyu some space from something so sensitive. He would’ve done it himself, but he doesn’t want to talk to the overgrown bunny, and he doesn’t want to pry on something that may upset Beomgyu, besides, he knows that the younger would give in and share it on his own.
He doesn’t want to come out as petty, but Soobin is just constantly testing his patience. He would blatantly try and cut him off whenever he’s talking, he would try and avert Beomgyu’s attention elsewhere whenever he tries to spend some time with the younger and most of all, he’s slowly invoking the inner brat inside Beomgyu and that bratty side is directed at him. He was nearly at boiling point every single day that they were together, and it was only Taehyun and Kai’s effort that he doesn’t snap.
Nothing changes though, even inside Yeonjun’s room. Beomgyu asked for a sleep over and the rest had followed along; they were all cramped inside Yeonjun’s room and to his dismay, Soobin isn’t letting up even inside his own house.
“Hey guys, your uncle and I are cooking downstairs, just want to ask what you guys want?” Jungkook asks as he sticks his head inside the room, looking at the teens.
They all evert their attention to him and hollered their own needs. “I want kimbap!” Kai cheers. “I’m fine with anything, but is there any coffee?” Taehyun asks, “I’m actually good with anything.” Soobin adds, “Is uncle Tae going to make some japchae?” Beomgyu asks and Jungkook nods, understanding that he likes to have some of it. He then turns his attention to Yeonjun and the younger just stares at him for a moment.
“Are you alright Jun?” He tries to break Yeonjun’s trance. It took him a moment before answering, “Ramyeon for me…”
“Okay, I’ll bring your food up later.” Jungkook says before leaving them all. Once he had closed the door, he shakes his head, continuing to notice the tension between Soobin and Yeonjun and it was similar to his past experience when he and Taehyung weren’t dating yet; a lot of guys were hitting on him and he was doing everything in his power to stay calm. “Oh Beomgyu, you are in for a treat.”
“So, what are we watching?” Kai asks, browsing through Netflix, his head resting on Beomgyu’s thighs while Gyu plays with his hair. “Want to watch some horror?” Taehyun suggests, his head resting on Kai’s thighs, looking at the TV.
Beomgyu and Kai whimpers a bit, but Beomgyu’s face was trying to be brave. “A-Are you sure?” He meekly asks. “Yeah, I’m a bit sick of watching rom-cons and adventure or something from Disney and Pixar so… yeah. How about “A tale of two sisters”?” He offers.
The two both whines and reels back on the headboard of the bed. “You really want to torture us, huh Tyunnie?” Kai accused and Taehyun only complies with a menacing glare, trying to scare off the two. “It’s fun to watch you scream and frightened!”
Taehyun laughs evilly, the two cowering back to the headboard of the bed. “Kai, I think Taehyun’s possessed, let’s leave! I don’t want to die at the hands of a sadist!” He holds onto Kai like his dear life was at stake. “I promise, I won’t let him lay a finger on you my sweet dear Kai!” He declares.
Kai dramatically went along, “Thank you hyung! I’ll always remember your gallant sacrifice for me!” He wails, “But at the first sign that he tries to attack me first, I’ll throw you over to him so that I can have a head start with getting away.” Beomgyu adds along, it earns a sharp glare from the younger. “You’re unbelievable hyung, I thought you love me?”
“Love doesn’t protect you from a ravenous Kang Taehyun.” Taehyun on the other hand simply rolls his eyes at the statement. “Soobin hyung, Yeonjun hyung, risk your lives to protect us!” Kai pleads the elders. “Save our young and beautiful asses!”
Soobin scoffs, his arms folded in his chest while Yeonjun raises a brow at the two. “I’m not risking my life for either of you. It’s every coward for himself once he attacks.” Yeonjun replies to the youngers. “Aww, I love you guys too, but not enough to get my ass kicked by Taehyun. Survive on your own and tell me how it went if you manage to live through it.”
Taehyun huffs, “What a bunch of yellow bellies. I’m playing “A tale of two sisters” whether to like it or not.” He grabs the discarded remote and searches for the movie. The two ran over to Taehyun’s side, even though they know Taehyun can be scary on his own, he’s the only one brave enough to cling onto. Besides, they all know that the two oldest aren’t as brave as they act.
“I’m going to the bathroom; you guys should find a way to live through this horror movie.” Soobin excuses himself out.
Yeonjun on the other hand strewed in the side of his bed. Thinking that maybe he can take the opportunity to confront Soobin about his problem with him. As much as he doesn’t like the guy, he also doesn’t like the rift that he’s doing to him and his friends. If the rest of the group is fine with Soobin, he can try and get along with him, but he needs to confront the younger about it. Maybe he can resolve this dissonance between the both of them, they can at least stand one another and be civil.
He takes a look at the three sitting at the foot of the bed and noticed that they were all emersed with the movie that they wouldn’t be able to notice him slipping out of the room. “Now or never” he tells himself, and carefully he makes his way towards the bathroom. He doesn’t need to take a step further because he sees that Soobin is already standing in front of him, as if he had already expected him to appear.
“You were waiting for me out here?” He quickly asks, “It’s not like I wasn’t noticing how you constantly stare daggers behind me.”
“You want to talk right? Let’s talk somewhere private.” Soobin informs him. Yeonjun was a bit taken aback, but then again that’s how frank Soobin has been with him from the beginning. “Fine, let’s go to my dad’s room.”
He leads Soobin to his father’s bedroom and once Soobin got inside, he closes the door behind them. There was a moment of silence between the two of them. It was a bit tense, but it seems that they both needed it to be collected enough to express themselves. “Would you like to go first?” Soobin offers.
Yeonjun tries to contemplate in going first, but he caves in. “I want to be clear with things. I know you hate me for some sort of reason that I don’t know of and that’s fine. You’re allowed to feel and think what you want, and I have nothing against that, but… you’re constantly trying to pull Beomgyu away from me… and that doesn’t sit well with me one bit.” He bitterly says, yet there was vulnerability within each spoken word.
“He means a lot to me and having him slowly drift away from me because you don’t want me around is something that I can’t condone anymore. So please, hate me all you want, curse me, yell at me, hell, even berate me…” He trails off; his breathe heaving heavily as he pours out his internal burden. “Just don’t take him away from me… please. At least don’t take him away.” He whispers; he stops himself from going further as his tears starts to well up. He doesn’t trust himself to speak without crying out.
Soobin was silent, carefully observing the older guy’s expressions and body language. It makes him pity Yeonjun, but at the same time, he needs to steel himself. He also doesn’t want to lose Beomgyu from him. “It’s not like I’m taking him away… perhaps in a way, I am to you, but… I’m just trying to reassociate myself into his life. He’s been gone for a few years and I feel like I’ve missed out a lot.” He explains, and Yeonjun levels his gaze towards Soobin.
“Honestly, I feel the same way as you. I’m scare of losing him, and seeing him around you, it feels like you’re taking him away from me. That’s my perspective and I can’t blame you to have the same.” He took a deep breath before continuing on. “How about we do a compromise? We both don’t want to hurt him with our bickering or whatsoever, and we simply just want to be around him… so, why don’t we just try and tolerate one another and if we feel like teetering at the edge, we’ll have a talk to reevaluate our compromise?”
“Okay, are there any boundaries to begin with?” Yeonjun quickly inquires. “How about for starters, let’s not try and take his attention away too much. What do you say about having alternative days in spending time with him? I take the whole day today, and you take the whole day tomorrow?” Yeonjun ponders a bit before nodding his confirmation. “Sounds reasonable.”
“All right, how about skin ship?” Yeonjun automatically blushes at that. He admits that he’s very touchy for Beomgyu. He loves having the younger right beside him; his arms wrapped around the younger’s waist and his chin resting over his shoulder. The more the younger moves around, the tighter his embrace becomes. Yeah, Soobin is subtly hitting that unconscious touch that he craves from the younger.
Soobin raises a brow at him, he knows that the older is thinking this through and he’s well aware of how much of a cuddler he is with Gyu. He can’t blame him, even he can’t resist having his arms around Beomgyu. “H-How about… we just try and be… considerate and not be over the top in front of the other?” Yeonjun proposes, and Soobin nods.
“’Kay, so for now we have civil with one another; taking turns in having Gyu’s attention and being mindful of being clingy. I think we’re off to a good start.” Soobin concludes and the older seems to agree. “So were at an agreement. Let’s try and stick to it and not kill each other along the way.” He adds and Yeonjun glares at him for a moment before he sighs in resignation. “Fine…”
They make their way out of Mr. Choi’s bedroom, and Yeonjun notices that Soobin’s about to go down the stairs. “You off to somewhere?” He asks, hand at his bedroom door. “Just really thirsty right now. I’ll also help with getting the food up.” He tells him as he makes his way down.
As Soobin makes his way down the stairs, the main reason why he’s cooperative with Yeonjun earlier reels in. He recalls the talk that he had with Beomgyu, it was a few nights back. They were lying in his room, nice and snuggled as they watch Beomgyu’s favorite Disney movies. Beomgyu informed his mom that he’ll be sleeping over Kai’s place and as they agreed, they wouldn’t let his mom know of Soobin. It might risk his parents knowing that they’ve already met again, and things might escalate once Beomgyu’s father catches wind of it. He can’t risk losing him again.
“Hyung… I’d like to run by something with you.” Beomgyu softly asks, and Soobin turns his attention towards him.
“Sure, what’s on your mind?” He coaxes the younger.
Gyu sat up straight to talk properly with him. “You guys might think that I don’t notice this but, I’m well aware that you and Junie hyung are not in good terms. I know that you have your differences, and I don’t want to dwell into it too much since it’s not my business but… hyung… it makes me sad that the two people valuable people in my life are fighting and arguing behind my back and think that it doesn’t bother me.”
“You are my most treasured person when I was younger and when I left, Junie hyung became the next treasured person in my life. The both of you made me feel loved and cared for. I just can’t stand the thought that maybe one day, either one of you would ask to make me choose and I don’t want to reach that point.” Soobin can see the fear in the younger’s eyes.
He caresses the younger’s cheek, pulling him closer to envelope him into a warm hug. “No… Gyu, that won’t come… I promise. I’ll try and find an opportunity to talk to him and try and reason something out so you wouldn’t feel this way.”
Beomgyu looks up at the older, “R-Really hyung? You’d do that?”
He smiles at the younger, “Of course, all I want is for you to feel comfortable and feel safe. You’re the most important person in my life and I’m willing to do a compromise with Yeonjun if it makes you feel better.”
Beomgyu grins widely. “Thank you, Binnie… this really means so much to me.”
Those were the only words that changed Soobin’s mind, the only thing that has convinced him to make amends with Yeonjun and nothing else. He doesn’t see eye to eye with the guy because he knows that there are underlying feelings in Yeonjun’s clinginess towards the younger. It doesn’t sit well with him one bit.
“Hey, the food’s not ready for a few minutes.” Jungkook notes upon Soobin’s arrival. “If you’re hungry though, there are some wanjajeon at the dining table. He smiles politely as he takes a seat at the dining table.
“Tae, why don’t you set some plates for him while I finish up with the rest.” He asks his husband who has been staring blankly at the younger’s arrival. It makes Soobin a bit uneasy with the added attention.
“Tae?” Jungkook asks again, peering from his should. “Oh… sorry, I didn’t quite hear you.”
Jungkook cocks his head to the side, “What’s wrong?”
Taehyun absent mindedly answers, “I wish I was a teen again…”
For a moment, Jungkook and Soobin ponders at the statement, until it finally sank in. “Oh, my goodness Tae!”
Soobin just blushes madly, averting his eyes away from the elders. “What? It’s like I’m looking to a cuter twinky version of you! You know I’m a sucker for bunnies, why do you think I married your ass?” He reasons, with a hilt of teasing at the last part.
The two groans at the same time. “You both are just proving my point here.” He makes his way towards the dishes to get some plates and silverware. “Sorry Soobin, I just love teasing my easy to trigger husband and it’s fun to compliment a handsome young man like you.” He sighs heavily as he makes his way towards the table.
“I either want to relive my teen years with someone like you and I want to have a son like you to boast to my friends.” He chuckles as he watches the younger squirming a bit in his seat. Clearly a bit uncomfortable with the topic.
“Jeon Taehyung stop pestering the kid. Also, your teasing is obviously making him uneasy.” He scolds the oldest.
Taehyung simply rolls his eyes. “Sorry again Soobin, just know that I’m like this with Beomgyu, minus the reliving the teen years, but I’m just a bit captivated by your features and I would love to rub it in my best friends faces that I would have a son as handsome as you.” Soobin awkwardly smiles, but he does find it quite flattering to hear.
“Taehyung…” Jungkook warns once more. “Fine you possessive bunny!” He raises his hands in surrender.
“Have as many as you’d like Soobin. Don’t hesitate in asking for more.” He tells him and makes his way out of the kitchen.
“I’m really sorry about him, he likes to tease, and he doesn’t stop till you’d end up being a flustered mess.” He tells, as he continues on with cooking.
“It’s um… fine… it’s just that, I kind of caught me off guard.” Soobin informs him. “Besides, I enjoy the pampering with home cooked meals.” He says, taking a bite of a wanjajeon.
“He just offers anything he has, or better yet, he asks me to cook so that he could offer some to the people he’ll be battering with his annoying pampering.” He admits to the younger. “Does he always do that for Beomgyu?” He couldn’t help but to ask.
“Yeah, he always dotes on Beomgyu and there are times that he even pokes fun on Yeonjun to marry Beomgyu so that he’ll be an official part of the family. Wait… maybe just the be official since he’s already a Choi and Taehyung was previously one before I married him.” He turns of the stove, letting the food sit. He turns his attention towards the younger.
“You’re also a Choi, right?” Soobin just nods, staring at the older as he takes a bite of his wanjajeon. “So that’s why he’s quite invested in both of you. He feels like it was a clan name privilege to be under the same name. Ugh, how prideful he could be with his family name.” The seriousness in the elder’s face was starting to get unsettling, but what came after broke the tension. “He’s a Jeon now! He should be more than proud of it!”
Soobin laughs genuinely, “There you go, I though I needed to do something more humiliating for you to crack a laugh.”
“Sorry, I might look like a stiff.” He tells him, but Jungkook shakes his head. “No, though I could tell with the way you’re bantering with Junie.” Soobin’s eyes widens, his body frozen in place. “Don’t worry, I understand it perfectly. My high school best friend was also as googly eyes with Taehyung when we were young, so I get it.”
He continues on while he transfers the food to a plate. “It fought for Taehyung’s attention, his time and affection. Man, I was so competitive back then and it was a miracle that I’m less of how worst I was back then. Though the only difference would be that you and Yeonjun aren’t really friends, as I would deduce?”
He places the plate alongside the rest at the table and he takes the seat besides the younger. “Don’t worry, Taehyun and I won’t meddle with your approach for Beomgyu, but we are concerned that if you trigger one another too much, things make turn ugly.”
“Yeah… you’re right about me not really liking Yeonjun… I don’t like the way he looks at Gyu, or the way he touches him and how close he is with him. It just makes me boil inside uncontrollably.” He professes, and it actually helps take a load off of him.
“I know, it was exactly what I’ve felt whenever Mingyu would try and get all over Taehyung, like, ugh!” He groans indignantly. “I was teetering for so many times to land a punch into his face back then, but, no, I have to be decent. I don’t want to make Taehyung be aware of this.” He slumps down on his seat.
“Did he know about the both of you back then?” Soobin ponders, “No… not at first. Mingyu and I compromised to not make it as obvious as possible, but there were times when it just overflows, you know? You just can’t contain yourself from not getting triggered in watching the person you love the most be hounded by someone other than you.” The words hit home.
“I…” Soobin tries to protest, but Jungkook beats him to it. “Either you admit to it or not, I can see myself with the way you’re looking at Beomgyu. I get it… I know that at the end of it all, someone will still get hurt. Just find it in you to lessen the pain alright?”
It takes a moment before he speaks up once more. “Are you still friends with Mingyu?”
Jungkook smiles, satisfied with the younger’s question. “He was my best man. Of course, I was nearly killed by Yoongi hyung for not making him my best man, but I was able to live through that. He somehow understood.”
They both chuckles, “Oh my, you’re also friends with our piano teacher, Mr. Min?”
“Yeah, he loves his piano like his life, so he wants to find a protégé in high school students since he believes that he might encounter someone worthy, but with high standards, he’ll be looking for quite a while.”
They cackle on for a short while until Jungkook speaks up, “Sorry again for opening up a topic like this, especially from a stranger.” He tells the younger in a sincere tone. “It was actually helpful and… it was really nice to open up to someone that doesn’t know you. It kind of diminishes the bias thinking.”
“I’m just glad I didn’t offend or became a creep.” He sighs in relief. “Honestly, I might come back to you when I’m at the edge with Yeonjun.”
They both beam at each other, their bunny teeth both showing. “I’d be right here, though knowing Yeonjun, it won’t be long before you come back.” They both laugh, and Taehyung, who just came back wonders what he missed.
As much as Soobin wants to eliminate Yeonjun from the equation, knowing that he might still have a friend at the end of it is appealing. Though he wishes that it would still be a happy ending for him, that’s all that he wants.