Work Text:
"You messed up."
Ga-on is lying face down on a bed that he used to call his but hasn't slept in for months now. That is, until most recently. For the last five days to be exact.
He groans low in agreement and then jerks when the end of a crutch jabs him hard in the shin. Reluctantly Ga-on rolls to his back and makes room for Elijah to sit down next to him.
After a moment passes Ga-on sighs.
"I know..." He rubs his tired eyes before going to stare up at the ceiling. "But it's been almost a week now, and I've apologized more times than I can count." There are only so many apology breakfasts he can make and olive branches he can extend.
He shouldn't even have to apologize in the first place!
It wasn't his fault that he'd gotten stabbed while staying late at the office.
Working well past business hours Ga-on had needed coffee and there was a good enough place close to the judicial building. So, late into the evening, he made for a caffeine break and a stretch of the legs. How was he supposed to know that someone was going to be in the process of getting mugged right as he was passing through? Ga-on hadn't even thought about the potential consequences of interfering, he'd just reacted and ended up on the other end of a pocketknife to his side.
The rest of the night had been a blur after that. There was an ambulance and too bright lights and when Ga-on woke up next his mouth was dry and Yo-han was next to his hospital bed, arms folded, glaring down at him. The only sign that the older man was even worried was, regardless of being dressed in his work suit, his hair had been loose.
It looked like he'd just gotten home and was in the process of getting comfortable when he'd been informed Ga-on was hurt.
When they'd gotten home, laden with antibiotics and painkillers, Ga-on had been banished to his old room like a leper to their sickbed and for three days he'd been given the cold shoulder. Then Ga-on had only made it worse, letting himself fall into the trap of an argument he couldn't win and getting angry about it.
Words had been exchanged and doors had been slammed.
Still, he makes food, apologizes, stays from underfoot, and does all the things he knows Yo-han finds cute or at least moderately endearing about him. Nothing seems to be working. When the Chief wants to be petty and obstinate, he is better than any other.
Now, instead of clipped replies and sharp glowers, the older man has gone radio silence. The only reason Ga-on knows he hasn't been dumped and left to suffer a broken heart is his medications. They’re being left on his bedside table with a new water bottle every morning before Mrs. Ji is even set to arrive and if the culprit were Elijah, he would have heard her crutches or wheelchair.
"You're both hopeless," Elijah is, of course, correct and Ga-on makes a sound echoing the sentiment.
"If you have any ideas, I'm all ears.” He turns on to his side to face her. “At this point, I'd take a yelling match." Anything to get Yo-han's eyes back on him.
It might be a bit twisted, but Ga-on is no longer in the habit of lying to himself, not after everything and he's desperate for the attention that Yo-han has always provided, one way or another.
Elijah is silent next to him before she clicks her fingers in small triumph, an idea lighting up her face.
"I might have something we can try."
Ga-on doesn't know if he likes the tone she says it in, one so much like her uncles when he's scheming that it's scary, but he figures beggars can't be choosers and lets her lay out the basics.
It's ridiculous enough that Ga-on just knows it'll work.
The plan goes into effect that Saturday. Yo-han, as he has been for the last week, is nowhere to be seen when Ga-on wakes up, but his pills are there, and his water is fresh. He'll be gone for at least the next few hours and with that in mind Ga-on gets dressed and heads for Elijah's room. It's nearing 10 a.m and she's already done up herself, notebooks on her lap.
Just as he wheels the girl into the kitchen Butler announces there's someone at the door.
Right on time.
Moon Sung-ho is a fresh-faced college student, his appearance is well kept and he has dimples when he smiles. He's a good kid and Ga-on would feel slightly bad for employing him in the plan Elijah has conquered up if not for the fact he'd seemed more than excited to participate. Apparently, Elijah had met him in some online chat room for a class they were both working through and a friendship had been born. It was just their luck that the young man was a theater student and had needed some spending money for a weekend out with his boyfriend.
The three of them get settled in, Ga-on cooking an early lunch while Elijah and Sung-ho consult their textbooks, comparing notes and trading remarks back and forth easily. Ga-on is thankful that the girl has finally been able to spread her wings a bit more, making friends at least a little closer to her own age. He likes to think he’d had some hand in that, easing Yo-han into the idea of letting her socialize more openly.
When the front door opens without an announcement from Butler this time, or Mrs. Ji, who is somewhere in the manor, Ga-on knows that it’s now or never to enact the plan. He hears sneakers in the hall close to the kitchen and makes a gesture towards Elijah who laughs loudly as though one of the two men had told a joke. It's perfect, just what they need to get Yo-han curious enough to investigate.
Ga-on smiles at her and then Sung-ho seems to realize it's go-time as well and his demeanor, what had been relatively neutral before, shifts immediately. The young man’s shoulders relax, and his eyes widen, going doe-ish and believably enamored, as Ga-on passes a plate of food to him.
It would be alarming to Ga-on if he couldn't feel a heated stare on the side of his head already, making the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.
"Thank you, Hyung," the title makes Ga-on's face heat and Sung-ho says it so earnestly too, even when he'd been calling Ga-on by his name a few minutes before. "Elijah says you're cooking is the best; I've been really excited to try it." His smile is bright and Ga-on can't help giving one in return. He laughs a little under his breath at the flattery, embarrassed. Staged or not it's nice to hear. The members of the Kang household often let their silences between bickering speak as praise.
"I'm not sure about that, but I hope it's good enough," Ga-on is honest with his words and he goes to move back, to grab his and Elijah's plates, pretending he can't feel the pressure of Yo-han's eyes tracking him. He doesn't make it far though because Sung-ho's expression goes concerned and he reaches forward, gently taking Ga-on's hand in his surprisingly larger one.
"Don't say that Hyung!" The touch is startling, far too familiar between the two of them (being the relative strangers they are,) that Ga-on freezes. Sung-ho's worried expression melts away into something soft, besotted, and it's just as blush-inducing as he almost mindlessly traces his thumb over the back of Ga-on's hand. "I'm sure it'll be perfect since you made it, an-"
Sung-ho doesn't get to finish whatever he was saying, that or Ga-on just doesn’t catch it as his arm, the one connected to the hand Sung-ho is holding, is pulled back, and therefore, so is he.
Ga-on's head whips around, his back flush against Yo-han's chest and his elbow locked by the grip the older man has on him. He isn't looking at Ga-on. Instead, Yo-han is staring down at Sung-ho, who at least has the self-preservation instinct to shrink in on himself and look apologetic, mouth slightly agape.
"Yo-han-" Ga-on himself is cut off this time as Yo-han's eyes turn to him. He shivers under the intensity and wishes, not for the first time, that his initial reaction was fear instead of desire. He doesn't get to try again because Yo-han is throwing one last withering glare at the two teenagers before he's stalking off, dragging Ga-on along.
Ga-on is pulled unceremoniously into Yo-han's study and deposited with his back against a bookshelf before Yo-han begins a furious pacing two feet in front of him like he's working through how to best scold Ga-on this time.
After a minute or so Yo-han finally seems to gather up his words, turning toward Ga-on with a finger pointed, accusatory.
"What-?!"
“Jealousy seems to be a great motivator for you.”
Ga-on can't help himself, it's the first time in days that Yo-han has looked at him with anything other than passive disinterest and he wants to move past the underhanded tactics used to break through that and get right to actually talking.
He watches the wheels turn in the other’s head, connecting the dots, eyebrows raising as he comes to the realization he's been played. Yo-han's expression flickers between impressed and enraged before it just shutters off. Before he can stomp away to mope any more Ga-on launches forward, catching Yo-han around the middle as he's turned completely away.
"Don't!" Ga-on's voice is on the verge of desperation as he clutches the sweat-damp jogging shirt clinging to Yo-han's chest. "Please just... just talk to me. I'm sorry alright, about getting hurt, and fighting, and now this, but I'm not learning a lesson if I don't know why I'm being punished Yo-han." Ga-on tucks his face between the older man's shoulders and takes a deep breath. They haven't been this close for days and even if he's just getting himself into more trouble it's worth it for this alone.
They've moved past physical violence when they clash but Ga-on thinks that the constant back and forth, ignore, argue, rinse, repeat, is almost worse.
When Yo-han's hands pull Ga-on's arm away there's a terrifying moment Ga-on thinks he'll just walk away, leaving the air heavy between them. He doesn't.
Yo-han turns with a sigh and pinches Ga-on's chin between his thumb and forefinger to raise his eyes up so that their gazes meet. He doesn't look satisfied, but at the very least he appears more willing to indulge Ga-on this time.
Yo-han is probably as sick of the distance as he is.
"I'm not happy with you." Ga-on tries to make sure the passing thought of "no shit" doesn't show on his face. Yo-han’s second sigh confirms it hasn’t worked. "I'm not happy but... but I haven't exactly been fair either." It's not technically an apology, the words themselves, but it's one of the closest Ga-on’s ever gotten from the other man. It's an admission of fault at the very least.
Yo-han releases his chin and leans forward until their foreheads are touching. Ga-on lets his eyes slip closed and breathes together with him. It's a moment of peace neither have been able to indulge in during this prolonged period of conflict.
"I was scared Ga-on." It's said so softly that if they weren't so close Ga-on is sure he wouldn’t have heard it. There's a brush of fingers against his side where stitches are still helping him mend. "Needlessly throwing yourself into dangerous situations… What if it had been worse? What then? If I'd lost you?" There are many rebuttals held back by Ga-on's sealed lips.
"How was it needless if someone else might have been hurt?"
"How is ignoring me meant to let me know that?"
"Why can't you just communicate like a normal human for once?"
None of those are important and they would all be pointless in the grand scheme of this pending resolution, so they don’t leave his mouth.
Ga-on is like that now, after being with Yo-han for this long. He no longer lets himself get snagged on every single small thing a problem throws at him. Sometimes the broader strokes are the more important ones to pay attention to.
So, rather than letting things drag out, he reaches up and cups Yo-han's cheeks. When Ga-on opens his eyes, his lover is staring back, softer around the edges, clearly tired now that all that emotional weight is off his back.
"I am sorry Hyung." It feels better, the word coming out his mouth instead of being directed at him.
When Yo-han kisses him it's passionate but surprisingly gentle, slow but deep enough that Ga-on feels himself bend back from the intensity of it, only to be kept standing by Yo-han's arm snaked around his waist. When they pull apart they're both panting softly. Ga-on's smile is small but almost immediately it’s wiped away when Yo-han leans in close to whisper in his ear.
“If you think you're off the hook for that little mutiny in the kitchen, however, you are sorely mistaken."
Somehow, Ga-on thinks whatever punishment is doled out for this offense, it will probably be one he's much more inclined to struggle through.