Chapter Text
Yeonjun remembers the wedding in vague, broken pieces.
He remembers the large wedding hall filled with people that he knew only by face. He remembers the intricate glass decorations his mother insisted on including, remembers the artificial flower petals that littered the elevated aisle. He remembers most of all, the camera shutters and flashes after Choi Soobin kissed him for the first time.
The claps that sounded after felt robotic, and as Yeonjun had practiced a few hundred times before, he’d flashed an easily programmed smile back.
He takes the arm that Choi Soobin offers to him and uses it to ground himself, so he wouldn’t get so lost in the sound of the claps slowly growing distant. Choi Soobin gently tugs him along so they could walk a bit further up the aisle to prepare for the picture taking. He follows him quietly, thankful that the man that he was now bound to for an indefinite amount of time was, at the very least, not an asshole.
“Ch—”, he pauses, “Soobin-ssi?” Yeonjun almost calls him by his full name again. “Will you be okay out here?”
Soobin looks up at being called and gives Yeonjun a weak smile, “Ah, yes, I’ll be fine. Are you going to bed?”
The younger man had been sitting on the floor since the early afternoon, poring over his medical books while Yeonjun lounged on their couch, marathon-ing old animated movies with the volume down. The time inched close to midnight when Yeonjun was finally close to passing out. He knew he wanted to hold on to the warm atmosphere in the normally cold and empty living area for as long as he could, but he also knew that if he let himself fall asleep there, Soobin would most likely carry him to his bed. He feels guilty even just thinking about disrupting the younger man’s time for something he could easily do himself.
So Yeonjun, with a soft smile, nods in reply and rises from the couch, turning the TV off and taking his phone with him. He sends an almost forgotten ‘good night’ over his shoulder before he walks to the unlit hallway and towards his room that’s across Soobin’s own.
It was something that both their parents have been a bit too unnecessarily upset at: not sharing the same room and bed despite being married. It seemed that their parents also shared the same brain cells at times.
He slips inside the dark room and doesn’t close the door all the way, letting the light from the living area permeate the space inside. He carefully walks over to lie on his bed, then reaches to grab his anti-radiation glasses. It was more of a force of habit, already aware that the glasses don’t really do anything to his perfectly fine eyes. He unlocks his phone and finally scrolls through his Twitter feed (after diligently avoiding even a single peep at anything social media related for weeks), still sometimes encountering photos of him and Soobin chatting amiably from the wedding reception. He also goes through his notifications, seeing some of his old college friends (read: fellow party goers/acquaintances only) posting old selfies with Yeonjun when he was still in university. He half-heartedly clicks like, not bothering to reply to any of their invitations to drink or celebrate.
It's been more or less three weeks since the “wedding of the century”, as his co-workers liked to call it, happened. Yeonjun still finds it somewhat awkward to call Choi Soobin plainly Soobin, always aching to add the Choi, or maybe a -ssi, maybe even a -nim (even if Choi Soobin was younger). It wasn’t any better for the other man, anyway. He still refuses to call him hyung, opting for a Yeonjun-ssi on the few times he beckons Yeonjun over.
Yeonjun figures it’ll take more time to completely warm up to each other. But the time until that happened seemed to stretch into forever with his mom nagging him to go on a date with Choi Soobin in public, and with the latter’s mom also subtly pressuring him to appear anywhere public with her son, only fueling the awkwardness between the two.
He’s getting tired. He doesn’t get them. The paparazzi (how Yeonjun loathes to use that term) had been steadily cooking up redundant articles about spotting the two in a car together. Surely that was enough. Soobin had been driving Yeonjun to and from work during the weekdays anyway. They were just the offspring of rich families; they didn’t even do anything to be known. And besides, a date this early into their union would feel faux and too forced for—as far as Yeonjun knew—both of their liking. They share the same apartment anyway. There was no escaping the other.
The blond wakes up a few hours later, slightly disoriented, his phone still in his palm and his glasses askew. Soft light was still bleeding through the hallway and into his room. Yeonjun knows it’s from the floor lamp they have in the living area.
He checks his phone for the time after staring blankly at his bedroom ceiling, eyes growing wide in horror upon knowing that it was already 2 in the morning and the younger was still outside. Yeonjun sits up to place his phone and glasses on top of his bedside drawer, rising unsteadily to his feet and padding towards the door, opening it and stepping outside to the hallway.
Soobin is still hunched over his laptop desk, eyes set on a book that Yeonjun notices is different from earlier yet still looks just as heavy. He’s studying like he had an exam in a few hours when it was still summer break and Soobin hadn’t even been enrolled yet. Yeonjun calls for the younger a few feet away from him, rubbing sleepily at his eyes.
“Soobin-ssi, you have to sleep now, it’s morning already.” Yeonjun demands, sounding too soft and unknowingly pouting while doing so. He’s still in a semiconscious state, not used to waking up in the middle of the night and rising from his bed.
Soobin flinches and whips his head towards the voice. He relaxes when he realizes it was only Yeonjun. The older one chuckles faintly and says, “It’s just me.”
“Oh, Yeonjun-ssi. Yes, I’ll be done in a few. Did I wake you?”
“No, don’t worry. I kept my door open and fell asleep for a bit.”
“I’m sorry. Go back to sleep, Yeonjun-ssi. I promise I’ll finish up.”
Yeonjun tuts. “If you don’t finish up right now, I’ll sleep on the couch behind you.”
Soobin seems to consider it for a little while, then shakes his head while laughing softly. Yeonjun was about to walk towards the couch when suddenly Soobin was marking a page then closing his book, stacking the few that he had on top of the other and setting it aside on the bigger table before folding up his laptop desk.
“—married the right person—”
Yeonjun thinks he wasn’t meant to hear that faint offhanded statement. It makes his heart race, nonetheless.
Soobin continues. “Good night, then, Yeonjun-ssi. I’ll see you tomorrow.” The taller man ruffles Yeonjun’s hair slightly when he passes by him before disappearing into his own room.
Yeonjun stays unmoving in his spot for a few seconds, before reaching for the light switch and turning off the floor lamp, then walking off to his room and closing the door.
--
Choi Soobin has always woken up before him ever since they started sleeping in the same house. And he’d always wake Yeonjun up after he’s done making breakfast.
This normal day wasn’t any different. Yeonjun is woken up by the smell of breakfast and Soobin calling out his name from the ajar door. Yeonjun grunts as he stretches, greeting Soobin with a weak ‘good morning’ after he finally sits up, eyes still closed.
“Morning.” Soobin replies. Yeonjun doesn’t see what face Soobin is making but he can guess from the tone of his voice that he was probably smiling. “I like your bed hair this time. Really rocking the flatness in the back.” The younger man teasingly adds.
Yeonjun unknowingly runs his hands through his hair, ruffling the back of his head, eyes still shut. “Soobin-ssi, I will whip your ass as soon as I’m out of this bed.” He mutters.
“No you won’t. I have immunity because I make you breakfast.”
The man has a point . “I’ll extend that forever if you bring the food to me.”
It’s quiet for a few seconds. Yeonjun almost cracks one eye open, because he thinks that maybe Soobin just left in the middle of the conversation, but he talks before Yeonjun could. Soobin mumbles something that Yeonjun couldn’t decipher, then answers in his normal voice, “You wish, Yeonjun-ssi. Come to the kitchen when you’re done.” And with that, Yeonjun hears retreating footsteps.
“What was that kid even mumbling about—is he a grandpa? Always mumbling these days.” Yeonjun also mumbles, ironically enough. He snickers at himself when he realizes as he walks down the hallway to the kitchen. When he gets there he sees Soobin give him a funny look. He probably heard him laughing by himself like a loser. How embarrassing .
He just takes a seat wordlessly, vainly covering his face with one hand. “Just eat your food.” Soobin says.
“So,” Yeonjun starts, swallowing his food after a while of sitting without talking, “what do you do while I’m at work?”
“Play games.” Soobin says simply.
“Oh? I thought you studied all day.”
“It gets exhausting too, you know.”
“Why not go outside?”
“I’d rather not. Finish your food already, Yeonjun-ssi. You’ll be late.”
“No I won’t. It’s still so early.” He whines, but still eats hurriedly. It makes Soobin smile.
The car ride on his way to work, for the most part, was quiet between the two. The only sounds filling the car up is the playlist Soobin has playing softly on the car’s speakers. Yeonjun silently keeps his eyes on the road, occasionally mouthing the lyrics to the songs or humming the tunes. Soobin also keeps the stillness, focusing on his driving and adjusting the volume when it gets a little too loud or too soft.
As Yeonjun starts getting comfortable in his seat and slowly sliding down, the sunlight also starts creeping up his face and blinding him slightly. He straightens up in his seat and pulls down his own sun visor, checking Soobin’s face and pulling down his sun visor even if the sun wasn’t in his eyes. Soobin smiles, either out of amusement or of gratitude, Yeonjun isn’t sure.
It’s odd, how Yeonjun couldn’t take his eyes off Soobin’s face at all even after he goes back to lying comfortably on the seat, letting his thoughts run free while his face stays glued towards Soobin’s direction.
Choi Soobin was not bad looking at all. Of course Yeonjun had already known that since they first met at that coffee shop ages ago, but it didn’t hurt to appreciate the man’s angelic face once in a while. A cute, round nose that surprisingly goes well with his sharp eyes, and lips whose shape Yeonjun doesn’t even know how to describe. Though he’s never seen those eyes in any other strong emotion aside from this fond expression that Choi Soobin seems to always wear, he knows better than to anger this boy, no matter how curious he gets.
He also realizes he’s never heard Choi Soobin properly laugh out loud. Doesn’t even know if he was capable of bursting into boisterous laughter.
“Yeonjun-ssi.” Soobin says.
“Mm.” Yeonjun replies, effectively taken out of his spaced out state.
“I’d appreciate it if you picked another time to stare at me this much.”
Yeonjun chuckles, “I’m sure you won't get distracted,” Trying to mask his embarrassment at having been caught (although he wasn’t exactly being subtle about it at all).
Soobin only lets out a deep sigh, as he eases on the acceleration and stops at a red light. Yeonjun goes back to facing the road ahead, not wanting to push his luck in case Soobin was genuinely uncomfortable with him staring. When he sneaks a peek at Soobin and sees a corner of his mouth slightly upturned, Yeonjun smiles in relief.
“Have I told you that I’ll only be half-day today?” Yeonjun asks as he, once again, turns his head around to face Soobin.
“You have. Just now.” Soobin cackles.
Yeonjun only deadpans, “Okay. Well, since I’m out early, let’s go grocery shopping.”
“It’s because you keep eating our ramyeon stack that we’ve run out so early.”
“Hey.” Yeonjun jokingly threatens. “You want me to stare at you again?”
“No need for that,” Soobin says, suddenly putting the car in park and giving him a sweet smile, “We’re already here.”
“Damn, okay.” Yeonjun unbuckles his seatbelt and reaches for his bag in the backseat. When he grabs it and moves to open the door, he turns back to Soobin to tease him once more. He’s feeling particularly playful today. “No goodbye kiss?”
Soobin laughs out loud at Yeonjun’s suggestion. Yeonjun is slightly bewildered, despite Soobin only laughing for not even 2 seconds. “I’ll be at that library up Sowol-ro, so just spam my messages if you want me to pick you up already, okay?”
Yeonjun has already grown fond of Soobin’s hobby of reading. At times during their first week together when he went home on his own from work, he’d catch Soobin reading in odd positions, sometimes on his back with his legs against the large glass window of their living area, sometimes sitting down on top of the kitchen counter, and when he wasn’t reading Yeonjun would find him asleep on the floor with only a fluffy blanket as his mat.
It reminded Yeonjun a lot of when he himself was younger, finding amusement in putting together a large kiddie jigsaw puzzle on the floor, then lying on top of it, his favorite blanket around his body.
Choi Soobin is a six feet tall man, shoulders wide like the ocean, but Yeonjun finds him adorable nonetheless.
“Alright, I’ll see you later then. I’ll get that hello kiss later since you won’t give me my goodbye one now.” He sticks his tongue out and finally quickly gets out of the car and shuts it close, only seeing Soobin’s amused face through the lightly tinted windowpane. Yeonjun motions for him to go already, so Soobin does, Yeonjun waving at the retreating car.
The short hours pass by rather quickly, and soon he’s in the company cafeteria with his co-workers, waiting for Soobin to pick him up. He doesn’t eat lunch with the rest of them, thinking that Soobin must be waiting to have lunch with him too. He just sits with them and listens to whatever they talk about. He tends to stay quiet during these types of conversations with his co-workers—sitting around a table and with a lengthy amount of free time—because if he lets his presence be known and hard to ignore, the topic will eventually steer back to Choi Soobin and his peers’ never-ending fascination with the younger man.
“Choi Soobin is a mystery, okay?” One of them said. Yeonjun only smiles. “We know he exists but you’ve never introduced him to us. His IG and Twitter are basically abandoned. We’re dying to know him.”
Absolutely not. He thought to himself that time. “I’ll bring him sometime.” Sometime never.
A notification cuts his bubbling laughter short, reaching into his pocket and retrieving his phone. @ 1st level parking lot :) is the text he gets from Soobin. He says goodbye to his co-workers and heads to the elevators.
As Yeonjun waits for the elevators to open to the basement parking lot, he thinks back to the first time Soobin drove and picked him up from work, which was only 2 weeks ago.
He had asked to be picked up in front of the building. That was a big mistake, as Yeonjun would soon realize, especially since the news of the wedding was still fresh and there were no other photos of the two aside from the ones from the event. It started to feel uncomfortable when he noticed a few cameras pointed at him from a distance. It had been better when he was still in college, since there hadn’t been much public noise of a possible heir to his family’s enterprise. That was understandable. A sudden announcement of the wedding at a televised shareholder’s meeting while Yeonjun was still at his workplace? Where his father basically announced where Yeonjun worked? Looking back, it wasn’t a surprise that he was bombarded with camera shutters when he went out for lunch that day.
Still, it wasn’t Yeonjun’s fault that he wasn’t ready to have a lot of attention on him. He just expected his father to make the announcement after the wedding was held but it seemed that that wasn’t the case.
He walks through the parking lot absentmindedly, almost forgetting that he was supposed to be looking for Choi Soobin’s car when a loud honk echoing through the space pulls him out of his thoughts. He looks around for an idle car and sees Choi Soobin’s face from the lightly tinted windshield. He smiles at him and walks over to the car.
“Hey, what are you doing spaced out?” He asks as Yeonjun opens the door and gets inside.
“Do you want a funny answer or the truth?” Yeonjun replies, taking out his wallet and phone then tossing the bag to the backseat.
“Well,” Soobin thinks for a second, driving out of the parking lot, “the truth has always been a better choice for me, so I’d like that one please.”
“I was thinking about our wedding.” Yeonjun says.
Soobin hums. “What about it?”
“Honestly, not much. I was just reminded of the first time you picked me up from work.”
It made Soobin chuckle. “Thank god they don’t follow you everywhere anymore.”
“It also reminded me of that shareholder’s a few months back.”
The younger only hums in response.
“I hope they’re not at the grocery store.” Yeonjun adds, looking out the window.
“Today must be your lucky day then. We’re not going to a grocer’s, we’re going to the mall.”
“What?” He exclaims, torso lifting off the backseat in surprise, head whipping to face Soobin.
“It’s rush hour, Yeonjun-ssi. If we go to the grocer’s we’ll spend 2 hours on the freeway. And we can’t have lunch there anyway, so we’re gonna have to suffer the amount of people in the mall for now.” Soobin explains.
Yeonjun lets out a sigh. “I suppose a few nosy people will have to be better than the press.” He sinks lower onto his seat.
“I’m sure we won’t stand out that much.” Soobin says in passing, entering a street Yeonjun isn’t too familiar with.
“Are you kidding me? My hair is blond and you’re like 3 meters tall.”
“It’ll be fine.” Soobin assures him.
It wasn’t fine, Yeonjun realizes not long after.
He’d already predicted that there would be a lot of people when he saw the parking lot had hardly any space left. Soobin didn't seem too bothered by this, as he focused on finding a space. When they finally found one and Soobin had turned the engine off, he quietly handed Yeonjun a facemask as he put one on too.
“What for?” Yeonjun asks, holding the mask in one hand and the door handle on the other.
“I thought you didn’t want to be recognized?”
“You really don’t think we’ll stand out more in this? Like some idols on their free day.”
“You’re handsome enough to be one, at least.” Soobin mumbles.
“I heard that.” Yeonjun smiles.
“Whatever.” Soobin rolls his eyes, but returns the smile.
Picking the first casual dining restaurant they saw was an easy decision, all so they could minimize the amount of people seeing them. If it weren’t for the paparazzi outside Yeonjun’s firm that day a few weeks back they wouldn’t even think about people taking photos of them. Seeing them outside together aside from Soobin dropping him at work did seem like a rare enough occurrence, since they tend to have lunch and do grocery shopping without the other. The teller certainly recognized them, when she kept stealing glances at the both of them and accidentally calling Soobin by his name when she asked for their order.
Yeonjun could say they were fortunate that a few people only gawked at them when they started strolling around looking for the grocery store inside, and didn’t take pictures (at least not obviously. He’s sure there was an odd one around who took their phone out to snap a photo). Yeonjun had lowered his mask when they browsed between the aisles because there weren’t a lot of people grocery shopping, while Soobin was too focused on remembering what was and what wasn’t in their pantry that he still had his hood and mask up. At the cash register, while unloading their cart, Yeonjun sensed the cashier flirting with Soobin. Perhaps she hasn’t heard the news, or simply does not know who they are. It only makes Yeonjun laugh out loud unknowingly, which makes Soobin smile in turn.
While they load their trunk of their purchase Yeonjun is reminded again of what happened, chuckling to himself.
“Are you still thinking about that teller?” Soobin asks. Yeonjun catches the taller man smiling.
Yeonjun laughs again. “I just find it hilarious that my mask was down and yours wasn’t but she still decided you were the better one.”
“Ah, hey, what can we do when I’m her type?”
“You’re insufferable.” Yeonjun couldn’t hold back the eye roll.
“Oh but,” Soobin pauses and looks up, contemplating something, “Isn’t it a bit disappointing that she only finds me handsome when half of my face is covered?”
Yeonjun laughs for a third time.
The second the door to their apartment unit opens, Yeonjun rushes after Soobin who’s also carrying a portion of their grocery and quickly places the bags on the kitchen island, then heading immediately for the sofa to lie down. He groans long in satisfaction, closing his eyes.
“I’m not cooking us dinner if you don’t help me put these away.” Soobin says from the kitchen.
Yeonjun complains under his breath but still goes to help. In all the years he’s lived with other people (as he chose to live in a college dorm), Soobin might be the most agreeable roommate (well, not really a room mate) he’s ever had. Unlike the three past roommates Yeonjun had lived with for a bit.
Soobin helps clean the living area (even if his own room looked like a tornado had gone through it, as per the few times Yeonjun accidentally saw the inside of it), he’s not noisy, he wakes Yeonjun up, he freaking cooks ; and not the cheap, convenience store instant food, but actual food from ingredients and whatever! And when Soobin cooks, he actually shares with Yeonjun!
He was still having a hard time distinguishing whether Soobin did all these because they were lawfully wed and, dare he say it, husbands , or if Soobin was just being a decent human being and all the roommates that Yeonjun was blessed with were just plain horrible people.
“Were you comfortable when we went outside?” Soobin asks him, like the kind person that he is .
“Yeah.” The blond gives him a small smile. “I appreciate it—you asking, I mean. You?”
“The same. I know our moms are still giving you a hard time and asking you to appear with me somewhere.”
“I don’t mind it, Soobin-ssi. It’s just how moms are.” He tries to assure him.
“I just feel bad that you had to be subject to marrying me.” Soobin bashfully replies, grabbing the cans to store them in their overhead cupboards, probably utilizing the chore to avoid looking at Yeonjun.
“Hey—” Yeonjun speaks immediately, to stop Soobin from speaking anything more, “—none of that. We were both put through this, alright?”
Soobin turns back around looking like he was about to say something else but chose not to, mouth opening and closing a few times. “I guess.” Soobin smiles. Yeonjun pats his arm and continues working quietly.
--
Sometimes Yeonjun feels like a slob with nothing to do while Soobin is all productive and smart, studying everyday. Even now he’s slowly becoming one with the couch while Soobin is at a test center taking his admission test.
Yeonjun fiddles with the blanket around him as he watches the rain pour outside. It’s cold. The sounds from the anime that’s playing on the TV slowly gets more muddled until Yeonjun couldn’t even remember he had been watching something in the first place. He wonders if Soobin is doing okay with his test. His worries for the younger increases as he remembers that he hasn’t brought an umbrella with him. It’s 4 pm and it’s been eight hours since he dropped Soobin off at the test center. Yeonjun wonders if the younger man is starving and if he’s mentally doing alright. His mind doesn’t stop running at all, questions popping up one after the other, all of them about Soobin.
An entire episode of 91 Days played unnoticed on the TV while he was tuned out, thinking about Soobin. He makes up his mind and decides to treat the younger, who’s probably already exhausted by now, to his favorite food. The problem is Yeonjun doesn’t know what it is.
me
Soobin-ssi. Text me when you’re done. I’ll come and pick you up.
I’m taking you out to eat.
4:43 pm
Yeonjun pauses typing for a bit.
Actually, I’ll head over there right now.
I’ll wait if you’re not done yet. I feel like you’ll be worried about taking too much time once you read this text.
But it’s alright! I don’t mind waiting :]
4:45 pm
Yeonjun whips his blanket to the side and rushes to his bedroom to change into more appropriate clothes. He also brings two reversible umbrellas, already thinking that they probably wouldn’t fit in one if the rain continues to pour heavily like this. He stops in front of the door, mentally crossing out through his list of things he shouldn’t forget to bring: his wallet, his phone, his car keys, and the umbrellas (yes, it’s a short list. Yeonjun can’t trust himself enough to remember three easy things). Belatedly he decides to bring two cream puffs he picked up that morning after dropping Soobin off, in case the younger was already starving and if the place he wanted to eat at was a little far. Yeonjun proudly pats his back for thinking like that. Hurriedly, he power walks down the hall and to the elevators, heading straight for the basement parking lot where his and Soobin’s cars are parked. When he gets inside his, he pulls up the navigation on his phone and starts driving.
His phone starts ringing through the car's speakers a little over five minutes into driving, the screen showing Husband Choi Soobin calling . Making sure he still had his eyes on the road, he carefully presses answer.
“Hey,” Soobin’s voice filters through the speakers first.
“Hi,” Yeonjun smiles, albeit Soobin couldn’t see. “You done already?”
“Yeah, I’m outside the room with a few people I know. I think they’re also waiting for the rain to let up. Are you almost here?”
“I’ll be there soon. Wait a bit for me, hm?”
Soobin hums in agreement. “Take your time. Thanks for picking me up.”
“It’s nothing, Soobin-ssi. I’ll text you when I’m outside, okay? I have umbrellas for us.”
“Thank you,” Yeonjun can hear the smile in his tone, “Drive safely.”
“I will. See you in a bit.”
Yeonjun hears a few whoops and cheers in the background, probably Soobin’s friends making a fuss and teasing Soobin over his call. Yeonjun snickers and lets Soobin end the call.
The rain kept pouring when he arrived, though not as heavy as when he first went out. He quickly shoots Soobin a quick text saying he’s arrived, grabbing his umbrella and walking to the building’s lobby.
Halfway to the building Yeonjun suddenly remembers that he’s forgotten Soobin’s umbrella. He was about to turn back when he spots Soobin from afar coming down the stairs with a few people, eyes scrunched up and teeth in full display, laughing heartily.
Yeonjun’s footsteps slow to a halt, and he stands still under his umbrella in the rain, looking like an idiot, probably.
Soobin and his company quickly spot Yeonjun as they come down the last flight of stairs, and they immediately begin teasing him. Yeonjun snaps out of it quickly enough, smiling sheepishly at them.
“What are you doing? Get in here!” Soobin shouts at him, rushing down the steps and beckoning Yeonjun over. He follows and walks quickly towards him.
“Hi,” shyly, he greets Soobin, like they were meeting for the first time. Yeonjun closes his umbrella and points it away, bowing at the rest of them. It was the polite thing to do, even if he secretly gets uncomfortable around strangers. “I’m Choi Yeonjun, Soobin’s—”
“Oh, we know who you are.” One of them cheerfully replies.
“Soobin-ie’s hubby~” Another adds, in a teasing sing-song voice.
Yeonjun feels his face warm up so much that he has to look away to hide.
“Yes, he is, you guys can piss off now.” Soobin passively scolds them, sounding entirely different than when he talks to Yeonjun, taking the umbrella from him and opening it. “We’re going, I’m hungry.”
“Oooh, Soobin-ah, keeping him all to yourself, huh? Introduce us to him, at least.”
“Of course I am. He’s mine and I hate all of you. We’re going now,” Soobin takes Yeonjun’s arm and loops it around his free one, “I better hear from all of you that you’re passing.”
Yeonjun only has time to smile in their general direction before he’s being whisked away, Soobin holding the umbrella for both of them, moving his arm to the small of Yeonjun’s back. The hairs along his arm stand on edge. Yeonjun is grateful he’s wearing a hoodie.
“So, um,” Soobin’s tone has changed again. Gentler, this time. “Where did you park?”
“Oh, around there,” he points to an area to his left, “I think.”
Soobin chuckles. “It’s been barely 3 months since we’ve been living together and I already know you’re this forgetful. Are you sure that’s where you parked? Should we get this checked?”
He slaps Soobin’s stomach faintly. “I’m fine.”
The rain continued to fall around them, Yeonjun feeling the tops of his socks getting wetter every step they took. It’s cold . Yeonjun’s wearing only knee length shorts and a t shirt under his hoodie while Soobin is in jeans. The wind picks up a little and he curls in on himself, arms coming up to embrace himself.
He almost doesn’t notice Soobin moving his hand to grasp his waist and pull him closer. But he does, and at the same time he wishes he didn’t because now he doesn’t know what the true state of his face is in. Was he turning red? Or does the coldness kind of cancel that out? Yeonjun doesn’t dare look up to face Soobin.
He takes his keys from his pocket, unlocks the doors when they get close, and takes the umbrella from Soobin’s hand. He guides them to the passenger’s side and opens the door for Soobin, too. As he moves the umbrella to cover the taller man as he squeezes into the car, Yeonjun notices that Soobin’s left shoulder is wet.
Yeonjun ignores how giddy that makes him feel.
The wind picks up even more, so he also closes the door after him, rounding the car then getting inside, folding his umbrella then throwing it somewhere on the floor by the backseat.
“Have you decided where to eat?” Yeonjun asks.
“Yeah, I’m kinda craving EggDrop. Give me your phone, I’ll type it in the navi.”
Yeonjun reaches for his back pocket where his phone is and hands it over. “Is it far and are you hungry?”
“Yes and yes.” Soobin answers, not looking up from Yeonjun’s phone after typing in the passcode himself. Yeonjun has a feeling that Soobin already sneaked in his own fingerprint, but he’s too lazy and forgetful to check his settings. Soobin mounts the phone on the holder. “You don’t know EggDrop?” Soobin realizes a bit late.
“No. I bought cream puffs, by the way. They’re in my bag.”
Soobin’s eyes widened. “Are you serious? Oh my god—”
Yeonjun pulls out of the parking space, passing by the lobby where Soobin’s friends are still in and honks once. The muted cheer he hears makes him smile. Seeing Soobin eat the bread with a bright expression makes him smile wider.
“Oh, and, uh—” Soobin starts. “I’m sorry if I sounded a bit fuckboy-ish earlier, Yeonjun-ssi. I’m a little used to talking to them like that. And I’m sorry if ever I made you think that I don’t want to introduce you to them, or that I don’t want you to get to know them. It’s just that—um, I—”
“Hey, it’s okay. Don’t rush.” Yeonjun smiles warmly, hoping it would soothe Soobin even just a tiny bit.
“I know you’re uncomfortable around strangers and the like, so I tried to get you away as quickly as I could. Please don’t get me wrong, I’ll introduce you to them soon, I just wanted it to be in a better setting. At the very least a little less chaotic than earlier.”
Yeonjun is trying very hard to fight the smile off his face, but he doesn’t succeed. His cheekbones are already popping out and his mouth is in a wide grin, shoulders shaking in amusement.
“ Soobin-ie . I didn’t take it the wrong way. I’m sorry for laughing just now, you were so cute.”
He doesn’t hear any response from Soobin but he also couldn’t take his eyes off the road to check his expression so he keeps going.
“I was a little surprised to hear you sound a little brute when you talked earlier, but I guess everyone behaves differently around different people. I know I do. So, it’s okay. I’m also surprised that you know how I get around people I don’t know. Thank you for noticing. Introduce them to me some other time, okay? I’ll introduce you to my co-workers too.”
Yeonjun turns his head to smile at Soobin, but what greets him is a pair of eyes blown wide looking back at him and a gaping mouth. His head turns back and forth from Soobin to the road, unable to decide what to say.
“Did— Did I say something wrong?”
It takes a moment for Soobin to finally reply.
“You called me by my name. You spoke casually to me.” Soobin whispers. Yeonjun hears it loud and clear.
“I did?” He exclaims. He catches a glimpse of Soobin nodding his head, expression still the same.
Yeonjun glues his eyes to the road, not wanting to face Soobin. “Well, it was bound to happen sometime,” he laughs nervously. “Look, I’m comfortable around you, and it just slipped out. When are you going to call me ‘hyung’?”
“It’ll slip out of me eventually, Yeonjun-ssi.” Soobin replies.
He hears Soobin open the second pack of cream puff. "I hope it slips out soon . I mean, aren't we at least friends, Soobin-ssi? I mean—"
"See? You get a little confused too!"
Yeonjun rolls his eyes good-naturedly. "Then I won’t talk to you until you call me ‘hyung’.”
He doesn’t hear Soobin speak anymore. Yeonjun guesses Soobin is focusing on eating his cream puff. Did he even eat lunch? Yeonjun wants to ask, but he also wants to keep up his sulkiness, so he doesn’t. After a few seconds, Soobin breaks the silence first.
“Can I play something?”
Yeonjun doesn’t respond.
“Oh, come on,” he continues, dragging the last letter.
Yeonjun is still quiet.
“Fine.” (Yeonjun internally perks up.) “Hyung. Yeonjun hyung.”
His grin is back in full force now, the corners of his eyes crinkling and his front teeth exposed. Yeonjun thinks he heard Soobin say something like, “I can’t believe you”, but he’s too busy being happy and absorbing the moment. The younger eventually lets out a chuckle.
“Yeah, you can play something.” Yeonjun says after calming down his cheekbones. “But we’re almost there so you can just do it on our way home.”
Soobin hums in response.
“I was just kidding earlier, Soobin-ah.” Yeonjun says. “We don’t have to talk casually if you’re not comfortable yet.”
The younger mumbles something that Yeonjun doesn’t quite hear, so he asks him to say it again. “I said, I’m comfortable around you, hyung. I like hanging out with you. I just didn’t know when to start calling you that since I was so used to just— well, talking to you like we’re strangers. But, yeah. Yeah. We’re friends now.” Soobin smiles at him.
Yeonjun also smiles. “Okay.”
“Okay.”