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Soobin drops his bags by the door and took in a deep breath. University Is fun but damn, it’s good to be home. He looks around for signs of life, mainly his adorably dorky little brother.
Out of the blue, a tiny blur tackles him. Soobin's reflexes take over and he catches the blur easily. He laughs as they both tumble around on the floor. Dark, mischievous eyes stare up at him through a fringe. Soobin picks himself up as he pulls his little brother into a hug. He stares at him for a moment before squeezing the life out of him.
"Soobin," Taehyun whines. "Can't breathe."
Soobin laughs again and after a few pinches, he lets go of him.
"God, it's good to see you. How have you been, kid? Having fun at school? Is father spoiling you rotten?"
Taehyun nods furiously at all his questions. He takes in a deep breath to begin his monologue when suddenly a loud voice interrupted them.
"Kang Taehyun what have I told you, hm?" comes a pissed off voice.
Taehyun flinches and Soobin looks momentary surprised at the odd accent. Fully expecting a sick looking man with a cane ready, he braces himself to look up. To say he’s shocked is an understatement.
Looking up, Soobin is surprised to find the prettiest person he’s ever seen, probably even prettier than his mom and that’s saying something because his mom is the prettiest. At this angle, the fluorescent light hits his warm brown eyes and shiny lips at just the right amount. The boy looks like he’s no more than his own age, maybe even younger, with skinny and gangly limbs. But despite that he moves with a certain grace that Soobin finds hard to believe. He can’t help but stare at him, admiring his small face and rosy cheeks, before he shakes himself and looks away.
Soobin’s face turns red in a matter of seconds when he realizes that he’s been staring and he stands up abruptly that he almost knocks Taehyun over. The boy doesn’t really pay him any attention though, his eyes are solely reserved for his little brother as he puts his hands on his hips, doe eyes narrowing and lips pursing into a frown.
Taehyun, with his shoulders slumped down like he’s carrying the world’s sorrow, shuffles towards the boy. He stands next to him and looks up at him sadly like a kicked puppy.
"Tyun is sorry, Ningning." he whispers softly.
Ningning, Soobin muses, who names their kid Ningning? lets out a long-suffering breath. He kneels down next to Taehyun and puts a hand on his shoulders as he looks into his eyes expectantly.
"It's okay, buddy.” he smiles a little and damn, could he get even prettier? “But, next time I want you to wait for me before you go running to the door when it the bell rings. It might be a mass murderer or a chocolate salesman, these days you just don't know. And one other thing, what have I told you about tackling people?"
"Do it from the side so that they don't have time to react," mumbles Taehyun.
"Exactly," says Huening, proud. "Do you know what you did wrong?"
Taehyun nods solemnly and Huening’s smile widens in response. Fuck, it’s impossible that someone can get prettier in a matter of seconds but his eyes can’t lie.
"What are you going to do next time?"
"Think about the person's position before tackling them," replies Taehyun seriously.
Wait, what?
He watches, absolutely gobsmacked as this ridiculous conversation continues between his ten-year-old brother and this unknown boy, who’s probably the babysitter his dad has been talking about. Soobin is in the middle of debating with himself if he should call his father and asking why this pretty, but weird guy is taking care of his baby brother, when said pretty-but-weird guy introduces himself.
"Hi, I'm Huening Kai. You must be Soobin."
Soobin nods dumbly, momentarily blinded because of the beaming smile Huening sends his way.
"I've heard so much about you from Taehyun," continues Huening. "To be honest, I didn't expect you to look so frat-boyish."
That catches Soobin's attention. He stares back in dumb silence for a full minute before he bursts.
"Excuse me?” he frowns. “What does that even mean?"
“Well…” Huening's sunny smile falters. “You just… look stylish?”
Then realization dawns on him. "Wait, you're American!" he says accusingly. "I couldn't guess at first but now it's perfectly clear!"
As soon as the words come out, Huening instantly turns quiet. But it doesn’t stay for so long before he narrows his eyes at Soobin as he says: "I'm not American, I’m Korean. Just because I have American blood doesn’t automatically means I’m one. And what's so wrong with Americans anyway?"
"I can think of a hundred reasons," Soobin snorts.
"Name one."
"Well, they…they…," he stutters.
Huening just raises an eyebrow expectantly.
"They… are rude! They are very rude and they do not know how to behave in public," says Soobin, triumphantly.
"That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. Right now, you're being rude too, does that mean all Koreans are rude?" challenges Huening.
When Soobin fails to respond, Huening turns around and stomps off muttering about "stupid stuck up prats”. The moment he’s gone, Taehyun sends him one of his disapproving looks and for a ten-year-old, he can look very threatening.
"What?" says Soobin defensively.
"You shouldn't be mean to Ningning. He's really nice and soft and pretty like mum. He also cooks brilliantly and he loves stuffies too!” His brother’s little glare softens. “Ningning was always there for me when I was alone because you went to Uni. Without him I would feel so lonely all the time… you shouldn't be mean to him."
Taehyun gives him one last look and walks away, probably to find Huening. Soobin looks at his retreating back with a mixture of guilt and regret. He runs a hand through his hair, still getting over the fact that his own baby brother has admonished him for being mean.
I suppose I was being mean and ridiculously narrow-minded, he thinks to himself.
Soobin sighs and picks up his bags. With one last look to the direction his brother and Huening left for, he heads to his room to take a shower and a nap.
Well, he would apologize to Huening sooner or later. For now he needs some rest.
A couple of hours later, Soobin wanders into the kitchen to look for something to eat because his stomach has been acting up. He buries his head into the fridge, hoping to find some decent food but then someone clears their throat behind him.
"Shit!” he swears when his head accidentally bangs against the fridge’s roof. “Don't do that!”
Huening blinks. "S-Sorry."
Well, the brat doesn't look sorry at all, biting his lip in an effort to control his laughter. Soobin looks at himself to find out what is so funny, and then groans because he realizes he’s still in his spiderman underwear.
"Nice boxer, you sure have a good taste." says Huening as he bursts out laughing.
Soobin tries to keep a stern face but ends up laughing as well because he finds it funny too. A good ten minutes later, they are still chuckling and wiping tears from their eyes. For a second, there, their eyes meet each other’s and both immediately look away.
"So," Soobin clears his throat. "I'm really sorry for what I said earlier, I was being a dick. I don't have anything against Americans. My father's not very fond of them, and I was a bit shocked that he hired one."
"For the last time, I'm not American.” Huening rolls his eyes. “I just studied there for a few years but I’ve spent most of my life here in Korea.”
“Well… you kinda look like one. Sorry.”
“Ugh, it’s the nose, isn’t it?”
“Kinda. But you just look… different. A good kind of different, though. I'm sorry if I offended you.”
Soobin pretends that he’s not about to melt into a puddle of goo when Huening gives him a bright, adorable grin.
“I'm sorry too, we both behaved like children,” he says softly. “And as for your father, he paid for my studies because he wants me to work on his company. I used to babysit for Taehyun during my summer vacations too. You used to have classes, so we never met."
"Really?" asked Soobin intrigues. "I would never have guessed. So tell me, what did you study there?"
At that moment the oven makes a beep. Huening puts on some oven mitts and opens the door, letting out a delicious aroma. He takes out two trays of chocolate cupcakes and sets them before Soobin. "I studied baking and pastry making at California Culinary Academy."
That explains why father hires him, Soobin thinks, drooling over the cupcakes. It’s not common knowledge, but Seokjin has a bit of a sweet tooth and liked to indulge himself once in a while hence why he owns a huge pastry line. Soobin reaches out and tries to grab one of the cooling cupcakes, but Huening slaps his hand away.
"Ow! What was that for?" he pouts childishly.
"Wait for them to cool down, you'll burn yourself.” Huening sighs “Besides, I want decorate them. Here eat this."
He shoves a packet of crisps into Soobin's hands and starts making some chocolate ganache. Soobin watches him as he effortlessly whisks the cream and chocolate together, making a smooth texture. Not stopping there, he fills a paper cone with the ganache and licks the extra chocolate off his fingers. The way he moves is so graceful and Soobin can’t look away even just for a second so he continues to watch as he makes a simple swirl decoration on top of the cupcake with this tiny, but adorable smile on his face. After Huening finishes all of them, he sets aside ten cupcakes and put on chocolate sprinkles and three fresh raspberries. He picks one up and gives it to Soobin.
"Why'd you make these different?" asks Soobin as he admires the cupcake.
"Your brother likes his cakes to look 'fancy'," Huening says with a playful smile. “What’s fancy without an extra glaze of sprinkles?”
Soobin laughs and takes a bite of his cupcake. He almost moaned the taste, the frosting is sweet but the dark chocolate cupcake evens it out. The raspberries and sprinkles are an added bonus. He can't stop himself from devouring the whole thing and it’s no surprise that he finishes the entire thing in under five minutes.
Huening is watching him with a wide grin. "You like it?"
"Like it? I freaking loved it.” Soobin says with a serious look on his face. “I’m not exaggerating, but it’s like having a mouthgasm."
Huening blushes prettily and turns away, cleaning up some of the mess. Soobin silently watches as the younger boy puts two cupcakes on a plate and turns to him.
"I promised Taehyun that if he finishes one book from his reading list, I'll make him cupcakes," he says apologetically.
Soobin is not disappointed. Nope he’s not.
"It's alright, go ahead," he says, forcing a smile. “My brother can be very nasty when you deny him his food.”
Huening nods and gives him one last smile before he walks past him towards the door. Before he can close the door, Soobin is quick to slide his arms around his wrist and pull him closer until they’re only a breath apart.
"Do you, perhaps, want to go to the cinema or something tonight?" he asks, breathless.
Soobin curses mentally at the lack of tack as he looks into Huening’s surprised eyes. He can't take it back though, so he waits patiently for his answer with baited breath.
Smooth, Choi Sooin. Real smooth.
“Well…” Huening begins with a smile. “I guess I’d like that, Choi Soobin-ssi.”