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“sunoo-yah, are you all packed?”
“hm? almost, almost hyung!”
sunoo leaps off his bed, hurriedly shoving things into a tote bag. he would’ve finished packing twenty minutes ago, except he got distracted by a tiktok edit of the latest drama, and then his finger swiped, and then…well, it’s safe to say that he’s a little bit behind schedule.
bag bulging unsightly, he’s trying to shove it into a more manageable shape when jay appears at the door.
“jeez, i knew i should’ve taken your phone away before you started.”
tossing his head back, sunoo whines in complaint, “no hyung, i was just thinking about what i needed to bring.” his ears get hot when his brother strides over, plucking out a bottle of face wash.
“don’t contaminate the ocean like that.”
scrunching his nose, sunoo tosses the bottle back onto the bed and lets jay dump the rest out, organizing it again. jay hums periodically as he picks his way through the mess, pointedly holding up a stapler, hoodie, and usb wire that sunoo had thought were his earbuds.
“there’s literally nothing in here suitable for the beach, were you really going to walk around carrying all of this?”
sunoo flutters his eyelashes, adopting a cute tone as he says, “that’s why i have hyung! to pack everything up for me.” still, he stands to grab his swim shorts and a towel, putting it in alongside the book and earbuds that jay put in. looking over the bag one more time, he pats it with satisfaction.
just in time too, as music grows louder from the driveway.
jay flips down his sunglasses, looking as cool as ever, jet-black hair flopping over his forehead.
sunoo curls a strand of pink hair around his finger, nervous all of a sudden. he knows what the music means, jungkook’s euphoria blasting out the car speaker, voice accompanied by the boy driving. he can picture him already, eyes closed with a hand on the wheel, memorized through quick glances and cherished half-smiles.
sunoo loved his brother.
more accurately, sunoo adored jay, thought the world of him-sunoo’s rock, tether, and vault all at once.
when they were young, jay would put careful band-aids on with clumsy hands, a feather-light kiss tying it all together. he would tell a teary sunoo about the healing power of kisses, rambling as sunoo stared up at his brother, eyes sparkling with more than just water.
he didn’t need kisses on his injuries as much when he grew up, jay soothing his hurts through a different expression of love. blank as the ceiling sunoo’s staring at, jay would climb on the bed and lay alongside him, only breaking the silence to say, “you know, we only live one life. we shouldn’t let others inhibit us, not when we have the courage to live honestly every day. not when you’re being true to such a bright heart.”
“you don’t mind?”
“i really don’t mind.”
they laid there for a while, watching the sun reflect onto the ceiling, lit up once again.
and now, they’re here, jay slinging sunoo’s bag over his shoulder and giving him a hat. sunoo’s heart swells unexpectedly, fondness seeping out at every corner and pushing down his nervous feelings.
sunoo loved jay, but there’s one secret he’s never been able to articulate to the other.
he’s completely, hopelessly, head over heels for lee heeseung, jay’s best friend since childhood.
jay and heeseung have known each other for more than a decade, the eldest always just on the peripheral of sunoo’s life.
heeseung was the one to accidentally bump into sunoo, already wobbling on shaky knees, causing them to both come crashing down on the asphalt. upon seeing sunoo’s tears, the other had frantically tried to reassure him, words stumbling on each other until jay rushed in, band-aid package already half-open.
he had stayed there until sunoo’s tears were all dry, offering his lollipop as an apology-which sunoo had promptly given to jay as his own thanks. of course, his brother asked sunoo to hold onto it for him, unbothered when it eventually ended up in the younger's mouth.
sunoo hadn’t paid much attention to heeseung then, too distracted by the vitality of life all around his curious mind. there were so many people to meet, so many games to play, why would he pay attention to the one boy that tore his skin open?
jay says that it’s because of this incident that heeseung and he became friends, but he’s a little fuzzy on the details.
sunoo also knows it was heeseung that told jay about his bullies, having walked into teenage boys surrounding an upset sunoo, head bowed in defeat. he had threatened to blacklist them unless they backed off, snapping a picture for their parents, teachers, and peers. glaring until the room was empty, he had walked sunoo home, whose head was still bowed in shame.
after a hushed conversation that sunoo blocked out, jay had walked into sunoo’s room, laying down next to him.
the following week, he had heard that the boys were transferred into a different class, per an anonymous report. sunoo’s head remained high from then on, smile warming everywhere its beams could reach.
he can’t exactly pinpoint the moment he fell in love with heeseung, maybe the memories scattered in between, watching heeseung sway on stage, voice echoing in the crowded theater, or his kind smile passing by sunoo in the hallways, or his quiet conversations with jay at midnight, which sunoo never meant to eavesdrop on but he had wanted some water, or even just his continued existence around the younger boy. is that how love develops?
and now heeseung’s out in the car, waiting patiently for the two brothers to make their exit, and sunoo’s heart won’t stop pounding, knees shaky like when they first met.
“took you long enough!” jake crows from the backseat, eyes bright and excited. the beach reminds him of home, so he’s particularly puppy-ish today, flopping onto sunoo’s lap the minute he sits down.
“someone needed to feed their tiktok addiction before we packed,” jay says, flipping the visor of the passenger seat down. does he really need that much shade? sunoo wonders, noting the sunscreen already on his cheeks.
heeseung chuckles, “any interesting ones to share?”
sunoo shifts in his seat, busying himself with the seatbelt. he’s really not usually this shy, but there’s something almost intimidating about the eldest.
shaking his head, sunoo answers lightly, “no, nothing much hyung.”
“oh? then what got you so distracted for,” and he checks an imaginary watch, “an hour?”
“an hour! hyung, it was hardly twenty-no, ten minutes. don’t be so dramatic!” he huffs, pout settling on his lips, even deeper when he hears heeseung laugh. the eldest boy glances at him through the mirror, smirk playing on his face.
“you’re so cute when you’re upset, sunoo-yah, did you know that?”
sunoo gets a little warm at that, eyes flickering to jay, who's thankfully asleep in the front.
“it’s true, it’s why we tease you so much.” jake interjects, fingers flying over his phone. jay’s dings quickly, notifications flooding in rapid succession.
“ah, really, hyungs.” waving them away, sunoo turns his attention towards the window, untangling his earbuds distractedly. his cheeks are pink, hot pink even, he’s sure. heeseung, for whatever reason, has been increasingly flirtatious the past few months. maybe he’s grown out of his shyness, trading places with sunoo all of a sudden.
it’s almost as if he knows how attractive he is, blessing the world with his winks and roguish smiles, leaving sunoo an (un)fortunate victim.
the younger’s almost lamenting the vision heeseung will be at the beach, hair drenched in saltwater and skin glistening, silently encouraging his heart to remain strong as the buildings fly by, a current of heeseung’s lilting voice washing over him the entire way.
it’s a little while before they arrive, jake bursting out of the car the second he deems it safe enough to do so. jungwon, sunghoon, and niki are already near the shore, umbrella and towels set up.
“you guys are really slow.” jungwon remarks, watching the four lug their own stuff out to the sand. he doesn't make any move to help, hidden safely underneath the shade, and sunoo's pale skin is starting to burn with jealousy.
there were plenty of people around, but they had chosen a good spot. despite setting up their own chairs nearby, jay ends up joining jungwon anyway, scrolling through the missed notifications. he shares them with jungwon and the two laugh, sunoo turning back curiously.
“what’s so funny?”
jungwon’s dimples peek out, “nothing, sunoo-hyung.” sunoo doesn't think that's very true. “why don’t you go enjoy the water?” he gestures towards the waves, and sunoo averts his eyes immediately at the sight, body heating up.
why is heeseung shirtless?
he’s playing with the other three, but sunoo can’t see past the water dripping down his chest, tracking each blessed droplet. swallowing, he twitches towards the water, resisting the urge to follow the eldest everywhere. shouldn’t it be illegal to be this handsome? sunoo was sure there was a law against stopping someone’s heart.
“n-no, i think i’ll just stay in the shade with you guys.” stumbling onto the nearby towel, his eyes are a little too fixated to pay much attention to the obstacles below. he still hasn’t looked away, barely hearing the chatter behind him.
“you didn’t come to the beach to watch more dramas, sunoo-yah. go play in the water.”
jay’s a hypocrite sunoo concludes, because his brother is doing the same thing that he is, namely staring at the so-called love of their lives. or in jay’s words, he’s my lifeline. at least sunoo isn’t down that bad, he thinks, scoffing a little internally.
“my skin, hyung, it’s too sensitive. i’ll burn, is that what you want?”
jungwon laughs, tossing something at him.
jay sighs, “i’ll put sunscreen on you. you’ve been looking forward to this trip.” smearing it onto sunoo’s back, jay says in quieter voice, “enjoy yourself, okay? don’t overthink anything.” his hands are warm, diligently rubbing the sunscreen in.
oddly touched, “okay, hyung. thank you.” he lets the breeze blow over them both, soaking it in before he leaves to join the four boys.
“sunoo-hyung! welcome to the beach,” niki says dramatically, right before splashing sunoo with a huge wave.
he shrieks, the sudden shock of cold to his system wholly unwelcome. maybe this was a mistake after all, sunoo thinks.
the thought is only confirmed when he manages to wipe the water from his eyes, coming face to chest with a grinning heeseung, eyes bright with excitement.
“sunoo-yah, are you okay?” sunoo’s too distracted to notice the bucket heeseung’s holding, unwilling to look too far down in case-. wow. he's even more impressive up close, toned stomach hypnotizing to watch.
“yeah, hyung…” he trails off, “i’m good.”
“that’s good,” heeseung repeats back- sunoo startled out of his staring as the eldest douses him, cackling away as sunoo flails in the water. choking on salt, he makes an attempt to splash heeseung back, the waves pushing him more than he does them.
sunoo collides with the other boy in the chaos, literally sweeping him off his feet and depositing them both on the shore, giggling as the waves recede.
“ah really, hyung. you're like a kid,” sunoo sighs, wringing water out of his shirt.
heeseung doesn't say anything, and sunoo looks up to see him staring, a strange expression on his face.
“hyung?” he reaches out curiously, only to notice a scrape on heeseung's palm. “hyung, you're hurt!”
“huh?” sunoo pulls heeseung's hand towards him, most likely injured in the fall, little patches of skin scraped off.
“does it sting?” he picks out the sand carefully, trying not to push any further in.
heeseung shifts, “no i'm- actually, yes, it does. it hurts a lot sunoo-yah.” there's a whine in his voice, and sunoo looks up to see his big doe eyes.
“i'm sorry, hyung, let me get a band-aid from jay-hyung.” sunoo moves to get up, go back towards their set up when heeseung tugs him back down.
“that won't heal it. what about the healing power of-”, don't say it, don't you dare, “kisses?” heeseung offers with a cheeky smile.
sunoo has half a mind to let the saltwater disinfect him instead. he doesn't know why heeseung's chosen him to be the target of ‘flirt practice 101’ but it's been toying with his heart ever since. and he's not sure what to do.
usually, he would go to jay for advice, listen to his wise albeit long-winded discussions on life and the self, and then apply one or two sentences to his current situation. however. since this problem was about heeseung, sunoo was much more reluctant. how would it even go?
hyung, i have a crush on someone.
who, sunoo-yah? jay would ask fondly.
your bestie for life, heeseung-hyung.
absolutely not! i forbid you from ever dating him and possibly ruining my lifelong friendship with him over a tiny crush! you'll never see him again. and then jay would lock the door and then heeseung would come over and be like
you thought i actually liked you? you're like a kid to me. a kid-brother. and sunoo can't think of anything worse than disappointing his brother AND being relegated to the friend-kid-brother zone. so, no. he can't really tell anyone about this.
and so sunoo defaults into what he always does when he doesn't know how to address a situation: ignore and carry on.
“i'm gonna get a band-aid,” sunoo says firmly, already marching away.
“hyung! hyung, heeseungie-hyung needs a band-aid.” he calls, holding his hand out expectantly. jay does not budge.
“what happened?” huh? just give him the band-aid please, he knows jay has some packed in his first-aid kit, the mother hen that he is.
“heeseung-hyung got a scrape on his palm falling over.”
“ah,” jay waves his hand, “he’ll be fine.” sunoo’s mouth parts in shock. was there a band-aid shortage or something, causing jay to hoard them like gold?
“what do you mean? just give it to me.” opening and closing his hand does nothing to persuade jay, who reclines back onto the towel, presumably closing his eyes behind those sunglasses. sunoo looks at jungwon, who’s been watching this exchange, amusement clear in his eyes.
he can’t help but feel like there’s somehow a plot against him right now, to deprive him of the care that he so clearly needs. standing there doesn’t do much, and so sunoo decides to get it himself, rummaging through jay’s bag.
“why don’t you just kiss it better?” sunoo jolts a little in surprise, head whipping up to stare at jungwon.
“what do you mean?” he says, voice just a little too high.
“you know,” jungwon continues casually, “we’ve all read those fairytales.”
“yes,” sunoo says slowly, as if talking to a child. “fairytales, as in not real. as in, make believe.”
nodding agreeably, as if the answer is obvious, jungwon returns the tone. “yes, so make believe that your kiss will heal his hand. i bet it doesn’t even hurt, he just wants you to fuss over him.”
his cheeks are too warm for this right now, and sunoo’s sure that jungwon can pick up on this, smirk toying at the edges. he glances at jay, no change in his expression, and lets out a quiet huff.
truthfully, he can admit that heeseung’s injury is not serious, nothing worthy of this much attention. but sunoo just wants to take care of the eldest, make sure that there’s no risk of anything, not even infection. the sea is a dirty place. sunoo wants the best for heeseung. is that so wrong?
he glances back down to the shore, heeseung kicking up sand, waiting for sunoo. his heart melts, just a tiny bit, and he hurries to find the band-aid. leaving the pair, sunoo pretends not to hear jungwon’s call of, “healer sunoo-hyung reporting for duty!”
heeseung looks up at the noise, watching sunoo the entire way, and he can’t help but feel self conscious. did the water mess up his hair too much? should he even care? sunoo runs a hand through it anyway, and waves the band-aid like a flag.
“sorry it took so long, hyung, they refused to give me a band-aid.”
frowning, he inspects heeseung’s hand, now filled with even more sand. “hyung,” his voice flat, “what did you do?”
heeseung smiles innocently, placid expression fooling exactly no one. “i was bored, sunoo-yah. you shouldn’t have left me.”
he’s such a dumbass. “you’re such a dumbass.”
gasping exaggeratedly, heeseung laments, “is this how sunoo-yah treats an injured person, his favorite hyung even? where did we go wrong?”
he answers, hands still swiftly brushing sand off heeseung’s warm skin, “you’re not even my favorite hyung,” only to exacerbate heeseung’s complaints. “plus, i wouldn’t have to be so mean if you didn’t undo all my work before.”
about to drop heeseung’s hand to open the band-aid, he’s surprised when heeseung flips their hands, holding onto sunoo’s now.
“i just wanted to hold your hand a little longer,” he says, staring down into sunoo’s wide eyes. sunoo swallows, frozen in place by the elder’s sudden seriousness. his eyes are so brown, so pretty underneath the sunlight, hair falling in front. still, there’s no mistaking the sincerity behind them. sunoo wishes he had a camera, so that he could return to this image forever.
“hyung…” sunoo doesn’t know what’s happening, what caused this shift in mood, but heeseung’s tugging him closer. the waves lap at his feet, tickling, but he doesn’t think there’s anything to laugh about right now.
“sunoo-yah,” heeseung says softly, eyes flitting all over his face. “sunoo-yah,” he repeats, even more gently this time, and it makes him shiver, hot-cold all of a sudden. he can’t get enough of the warmth on his hand, an endless expanse of skin beckoning him closer, helpless to resist.
“heeseung-hyung,” a tiny whimper, like he doesn’t know what to do, like he needs heeseung’s guidance. and the other surges forward, capturing sunoo’s lips in a kiss, arm supporting him and preventing him from tipping over from the force.
he’s so warm is sunoo’s first thought. his second is heeseung-hyung tastes like salt, tongue diving in for more. it’s addictive, and sunoo can’t really believe this is happening, that he’s getting kissed by the boy he adores, the boy that’s imprinted himself onto sunoo’s heart the way a river erodes a canyon-slowly but surely, day by day.
heeseung kisses the way he lives, firmly and with determination, searing sunoo’s heart open. his hair is wet as sunoo tangles his hands through it, thinking hazily about how enchanting the elder looked today in the water. because they’re at the beach. with their friends and-fuck!
sunoo shoves heeseung away, panic coursing through his veins. the other looks bewildered and hurt, hands already reaching back out.
“sunoo-yah? what’s wrong?” his voice is so sweet, concern and fingers threading delicately through sunoo.
“jay-hyung, what if he saw us?” heeseung’s eyebrows furrow.
“what about it?” sunoo doesn’t understand how heeseung is so casual about this, his own heart pounding.
“what do you mean, ‘what about it’?” sunoo exclaims, “we can’t do this.” he pushes heeseung’s hands away, standing up.
“why not? i like you, don’t you like me?” heeseung stands up too, and sunoo takes a step back.
hedging, “i do…but hyung, this is too sudden. i just need some time.” he spins around to leave, thoughts of what just happened? did jay-hyung see? what would he think? spinning around his mind.
logically, sunoo understood that it wasn’t such a big deal. jay wasn’t the over-protective, toxic big brother, but it would be surprising to see his best friend and younger brother get together, especially since sunoo had never shown any signs of infatuation towards the other. right? what if he was hurt, or upset at sunoo hiding such a big secret? what if, what if, what if.
and heeseung! sunoo was still reeling from the kiss, swiping at spit-slick lips. heeseung.
he didn’t really know what to say about that, mind spinning in place. part of him was absolutely elated, just playing the kiss on repeat. the other part was worried, anxious about such an unimaginable fantasy coming to life. what would that mean for their friendship, what if they broke up and then all their friends would have to take sides and then sunoo would lose the relationships he cherished over one relationship.
it wouldn’t be worth it then, even if it meant receiving heeseung’s loving eyes, touches, and being allowed to experience the art that was his existence 24/7. the fear of a unknown, high risk-high reward path made sunoo’s stomach a black hole, sucking out all the joy he wanted to let himself feel. there was so much that could go wrong, but the idea of suppressing his feelings or risk destroying his other friendships…sunoo didn’t feel so good anymore.
the rest of the beach day went by in a blur, sunoo having eventually ended up back at their towels, sitting down and staring at the crashing waves in silence. he had unintentionally ignored jungwon and jay’s efforts at making conversation, plugging in his headphones without bothering to turn anything on.
the sun goes down at some point, as it does every day, and the seven boys pack up to go home. the atmosphere is very different than when they first arrived, jake taking one look at sunoo’s silence, heeseung’s kicked-puppy look, and jay’s suspicious squinting at the two and promptly decided to ride home with jungwon, niki, and sunghoon instead. he waves them a cheery good bye, bounding to the other car-something sunoo hates him for, just a little bit.
sunoo could’ve used jake’s insatiable energy, a fact he thinks about acutely the entire ride home, the car as silent as a morgue. it feels as icy as one too, sunoo shivering in response but too unwilling to speak up.
“turn down the ac, hyung.” jay’s voice is surprisingly sharp, commanding. “don’t you notice anything?”
where did that come from? sunoo’s about to tell jay off for speaking that way to heeseung, but his mouth snaps shut as heeseung flicks off the ac immediately, no sign of protest. he doesn’t even reprimand the younger, just continues driving stoically.
jay’s glaring at the elder, hands tapping agitatedly against the arm rest. maybe, sunoo realizes, jay found out and really is upset. his heart sinks, the tension threatening to suffocate him the entire way home.
heeseung drops them off at home, jay already out before the car rolls to a complete stop. sunoo is much slower, gathering his things and generally stalling. he feels like he should say something to heeseung, to salvage their day, to not leave the other completely in the dark.
“hyung,” sunoo begins, voice quiet and hesitant. “can we talk-?”
“sunoo-yah! come on, it’s late.” sunoo turns to look at jay, who’s standing impatiently near their house, keys already in the lock.
“you should go sunoo-yah,” heeseung’s voice equally soft. he looks sad, shoulders slumping, and sunoo’s heart aches in turn.
“i’ll talk to you later,” firmly. he won’t drag this out, despite not really knowing what to do next.
“hurry!” and sunoo does, joining jay at the door. he turns to watch heeseung drive away, a tiny speck of light in the dark street.
sunoo is true to his word, calling heeseung the next day.
“hyung!” he’s surprised heeseung picked up, afraid that he would avoid sunoo or something like that.
“sunoo-yah.” the other’s voice is a lot more subdued.
“hyung,” he repeats, “do you want to come over?” sunoo figures they should talk about them first, and then decide where to go from there. sunoo wants to try again, to deal with this revelation properly, rather than just running away.
jay had always told him to live honestly, no matter what. sunoo guesses this will just be another test of that, regardless of what they decide. he wants to stay true to himself, but still, the thought of disappointing his brother somehow makes his heart sink.
there’s a long pause, the only sound being soft breaths puffing over the phone.
“are you sure?” heeseung’s the hesitant one now, something sunoo should’ve seen coming. despite appearing so confident and calm most of the time, heeseung was a delicate soul, the definition of once burned-twice shy. being rejected once would obviously make him reluctant to be hurt again, probably already expecting a second rejection-properly this time.
“yes, hyung, i’m sure. we’ll talk more once you get here, but,” and sunoo softens his voice, “please don’t worry. i really do like you, heeseungie-hyung.”
“okay. i’ll be there soon.”
“drive safe, hyung.” he ends the call, flopping back onto his bed. sunoo expects the conversation to go one of two ways:
- heeseung confesses that he’s been deeply in love with sunoo for a long time, is completely sure about his feelings, and sunoo agrees to try a relationship with the other. they’ll tell all their friends and his brother, officially. if jay’s really really upset about it, like he seems to be, then they’ll talk it out with him too and see if there’s any conclusion they can come too. if not, then, well…sunoo’s not sure yet.
- heeseung realizes that he doesn’t actually like sunoo anymore after what happened yesterday, sunoo’s heart breaks a little, and they agree to remain friends.
he doesn’t think that there’s any other path to take, unless heeseung confesses and sunoo still ends up rejecting him for the sake of their other relationships. he really hopes that won’t happen.
it’s forever until the door bell rings, and despite already being on his feet, jay’s the one that opens the door. shit. his face shifts from confusion to wariness, a slow, “what are you doing here?” leaving his mouth.
“he’s here for me,” sunoo answers, pulling open the door. “come in, heeseung-hyung.”
jay stops heeseung, putting a hand on his chest. “wait.” eyes boring into the eldest’s, “i want to talk to him first.”
“okay.” sunoo stands there patiently, but no one says a word. he knows jay means alone, but after seeing last night’s display of aggression, sunoo’s reluctant to subject heeseung to that again.
jay shifts awkwardly until he takes the initiative, ushering heeseung out and closing the door behind them. sunoo immediately presses his ear to the door, barely able to make out muffled conversation. it goes on for a quite a while and sunoo has half a mind to interrupt, watching the clock impatiently.
his heart jumps when the door clicks open again, heeseung’s expression of relief soothing all his worries immediately. jay follows behind, face blank, shutting the door behind him. he doesn’t say anything, but pats sunoo’s back as he walks past, disappearing into his room.
sunoo tilts his head curiously, but waits until they’re both in his room before he asks, “what happened out there?”
heeseung smiles, white teeth blinding, and his voice is amused as he says, “well, jay-ah completely misinterpreted the situation.” sunoo automatically smiles back at the sight, enjoying the change from yesterday.
“what did he think, hyung?” he makes himself comfortable on his bed, hand inviting heeseung in. the other takes it, joining sunoo and pulling his hand onto his lap, tracing the fingernails distractedly.
“he thought we had fought or something, because i looked so guilty and you were sad. he asked me if you confessed, and i rejected you or something-something along the lines of hurting you. he couldn’t believe it.”
sunoo jolts back a little in surprise, “what? what do you mean i confessed?”
heeseung looks at him, amusement dancing in his eyes. “well, you did, didn’t you?”
blushing a little at the memory, sunoo shakes his hand in heeseung’s, “jay-hyung doesn’t know that i like you. i never told him.”
that makes heeseung laugh loudly, cheeks creasing cutely, and sunoo’s too distracted by the sight to feel offended. the eldest tugs him closer, other hand coming to poke at sunoo’s cheeks.
“oh sunoo-yah, you’re really adorable. i think everyone knew about your crush on me, and vice versa. well,” eyes glancing down fondly at the younger, “almost everyone.”
this is all news to sunoo, his eyes wide as he absorbs the information. wait.
“so you knew! you knew i liked you and you didn’t say anything!” he starts lightly hitting the other, pout in full force. how could heeseung?
“are you serious? i asked you to kiss me like, ten times in the past week alone!”
sunoo stops his onslaught, thinking hard. is that what that was? “i thought you were just teasing me.”
heeseung hums thoughtfully, “true.” sunoo shoves him again, hand bouncing off his solid shoulder. “but i was also being sincere, sunoo-yah.” the sudden shift to seriousness again takes sunoo off-guard, eyes staring up at heeseung’s.
“you really like me, hyung?”
“i do. do you like me?”
he settles for a nod, throat suddenly thick with emotion. managing a quiet, “can we try again?”
sunoo wants, wants the possibility of them very much, despite the consequences. somehow, when heeseung’s smile grows, the exquisite boy dipping down to capture sunoo’s lips with his, sunoo doesn’t think he has to worry all that much.
(he doesn’t. they invite jay to watch a movie with them a couple hours later, and he ruffles sunoo’s hair affectionately, fist-bumping heeseung along the way. it sets sunoo completely at ease, soothing the last of his worries.
“congratulations, you two. it was about time, honestly, the things i have to read from jake.” jay shakes his head, adopting an expression of disgust. “never again.”
sunoo laughs, bright and tinkling. he really does love his brother, sharing a soft smile and snuggling back into heeseung’s arms. he can’t remember what he was so worried about, all those hours ago.)