Work Text:
Sunoo learned two things that night:
- Jongseong's taste in men is unpredictable, and
- to never trust anyone, especially Jongseong's partners.
He was hesitant at first, having seen his best friend go through heartaches that almost sent him spiraling to madness. Jongseong has been the victim of many assholes, leaving him grasping for the remnants of their relationship that only ended up in the man being gaslighted.
He trusts Jongseong, he really does. But the older has a knack for choosing the most despicable & horrendous type of people to share intimacy with—especially men.
Another thing is that he just got out of a toxic relationship just before this one. It hasn't even been a year yet, but Jongseong is already head over heels for this guy clad in leather jacket and piercings.
So no, Sunoo can't see why Heeseung is worthy of his trust.
Sunoo knows him from university, he knows his notorious & extensive history of keeping his partners like how he keeps a pack of cigarettes in his pocket—never lasting more than a day.
Lee Heeseung is the textbook definition of a fuckboy & casanova—a god forsaken mixture of both. Even now, in grad school and in all their adult glory, that reputation never left his name, like a permanent suffix.
Sunoo eyes Heeseung with scrutiny, his gaze never leaving the two as he observes how Heeseung acts around their friends.
Jongseong rarely ever asks their circle for a hangout, so when he invited them to meet up for dinner, they didn't hesitate to strut their asses to their favorite sushi restaurant.
Much to their surprise, however, a tall, tattooed guy was with him.
At that very moment, Sunoo already pieced together what was happening—Jongseong was about to introduce a new guy to them.
And what do they say about telling your friends about the guy you're dating?
Exactly.
Things like this never ended well. And for Jongseong, it was always a disaster.
Sunoo has seen this before, the repeat of patterns unfolding before him as he watches Jongseong's hand interlaced with the guy.
But the younger doesn't have the heart to spoil the night, because after so long, he sees his best friend's rigid form & dead eyes go soft & tender as he looks at his new boyfriend.
But that was earlier.
Right now, his blood boils as he watches Jongseong pick on his food quietly, Heeseung completely ignoring his existence (at least, that's what he perceives because he doesn't know that their hands are intertwined beneath the table), happily chatting away with their friends about some sort of mutual friends they have.
Heeseung (unsurprisingly) has more mutual friends with them than Sunoo expected. He shouldn't be surprised because the guy is literally the life of every college party they attended in undergrad.
But that's not the point. The point here is that Jongseong has been clinically diagnosed with anxiety. His tremors & unfocused gaze can send him to a massive anxiety attack. Sunoo is well aware of the fact that Jongseong has tendencies to be clingy in public, needing the touch of someone he trusts to comfort him.
The last thing Sunoo wants is to punch someone over them not taking care of his best friend. What brought him to the edge is not just Heeseung not even trying to hide that he wasn't paying attention to Jongseong, it's also the fact that they've been here for two straight hours and not once did Heeseung turn to talk to Jongseong, save for the times Jongseong needed something far from his reach.
Two. Whole. Fucking. Hours.
Sunoo could barely keep his anger suppressed, not wanting to snap because he doesn’t want to ruin this night for his best friend. However, as Jongseong continues to stay quiet, his rage just gets worse & worse by each second.
The last straw was when Jongseong dropped his chopsticks on the floor and bends down to pick it up. Sunoo's blood boiled in rage, his stance ready to fuck someone's face up despite the difference in their physique. He moves to yell at Heeseung, reprimand him harshly for treating his best friend the way his exes treated him, and kick him out.
And halts.
Heeseung, without taking his glance off of their friends & still chattering with them, extended his arm and covers the edge of the table with his hand, as if it was a natural thing for them, an intrinsic knowledge of Jongseong's clumsiness hence doing something to protect him from hurting himself.
As if this whole ordeal was a practiced dance between them.
See, here's another thing: Jongseong is very particular about cleanliness. His undiagnosed OCD kicks in every time they're out eating (thus the reason why he rarely asks them to eat somewhere without making sure seven times that the place they'll eat at is at least sanitary with their cutlery). You can never catch him using somebody else's chopsticks, not even a fork that isn't lathered with saliva. Unless it's in his plate, he will never, ever use used silverware.
Sunoo's jaw dropped and almost audibly gasped when he saw what happened next.
Heeseung, again, without looking at Jongseong, wipes his own chopsticks with a baby wipe and a tissue before handing them over to Jongseong, who happily takes them and uses it to take a piece of ebi sashimi.
Baffled, Sunoo didn't take his eyes off of them for the rest of the night.
It's rare for Jongseong's partners to treat him tenderly, even if they're out with his friends. It's either they're doing things in grandeur to show that they're all over Jongseong, or they're trying to make a good impression to the point that they're not paying attention to him anymore.
Again, Sunoo knows this pattern, has seen it over and over again. He's never liked any of Jongseong's partners, save for that girl Yunjin (she was pretty & hella funny, but realized she liked girls, so).
That's why witnessing this change right before his eyes really surprises him.
When Jongseong excused himself for a smoke, Sunoo didn't hesitate to follow him.
"What's his deal?" the younger crosses his arms as the door closes behind him. Jongseong just raises his eyebrows at him, cigar dangling on his fingers.
"What do you mean?" the older mutters, lighting the stick between his lips.
"Your... boyfriend," Sunoo grimaces at the word. "He's not even paying attention to you! And you're okay with that? It's so uncharacteristic of you to stay quiet around us and I am not liking it." The smaller huffs. His annoyance apparent with how he spits his words, nostrils flaring at every syllable.
But Jongseong just laughs at him as he exhales smoke.
"I told him not to talk to me." he smiles while staring across the lot.
Dumbfounded, Sunoo can only mutter, "What?"
"I asked him not to speak to me for the night." Unbelievable. Why would Jongseong subject himself voluntarily to that?
"You're doing it again." Sunoo clenches his jaw.
"Doing what?" the older inhales nicotine into his lungs, evidently & effectively annoying Sunoo.
"If you're trying to make excuses for him, I’m begging you, stop. We’ve talked about this before—"
"I'm not." Jongseong is surprisingly calm about this as if he knew Sunoo was going to get mad at him for trying to defend his decisions. “I’m not making excuses for him, Sunoo.”
And in normal circumstances, Jongseong would argue with him.
But, right now, he isn't, which confuses Sunoo a lot more than it should.
"You're surprisingly calm about this." Sunoo furrows his brows, deflating from his earlier outburst.
"You'll like him. Just give him a chance." Jongseong stubs the butt of the finished cigarette on the ground, crushing it with the sole of his shoes.
"What if I won’t?"
"Trust me, you will." Jongseong smiles, patting his shoulder before taking out another one, offering the opened box to Sunoo, which the latter refused.
Sunoo still has serious doubts about this whole set of circumstances. But he figures he'll at least try to see things from Jongseong's point of view.
After all, as much as he hates to admit it, his best friend does see the good in other people, despite his past traumas.
When they went back to their booth, Heeseung was sitting on Jongseong's spot. Just as Jongseong stands beside him, Heeseung looks up & gives him that lopsided smile (which, Sunoo learns later, was reserved only for Jongseong).
He stands from his seat and gestures to Jongseong to move to his previous spot as he takes the latter's position at the end of the table.
Sunoo can't help the question marks floating around his head, still confused at the scene playing before him, and can't resist staring as they exchange words before they huddle closer.
Heeseung buries his face on Jongseong's neck & hugs him sideways. The latter cards his fingers through the older's locks before kissing the crown of his head, & turning his head to talk to the others after.
(What Sunoo doesn't hear:
Jongseong: What are you doing there?
Heeseung: Recharging.
Jongseong: Exhausted?
Heeseung: Not really. Just need to breathe you in.
Jongseong: Wanna go home?
Heeseung: Hmn, not yet. Just stay here for a bit. I missed you.
Jongseong: But I was here the entire time.
Heeseung: Can't I miss my boyfriend?
Jongseong, chuckling: Alright.)
Sunoo still couldn't believe his eyes. Still can't help but be wary of Heeseung. He knows he shouldn't be meddling with Jongseong's love life (he won't), but he's scared Jongseong would end up hurting himself again.
But this?
The fondness in Heeseung's actions, the way his eyes soften at the sight of Jongseong, the gentle smile he gives the latter, the melodious lilt in his voice as he talks to him, the nonchalant gestures that seem well-orchestrated.
Give him a chance.
Fine.
Maybe Heeseung isn't too bad, after all.