Chapter Text
The light glinting off of the metal of his eyebrow piercing momentarily distracted you from his intense eyes. Eyes that scorched as they caught every minor change to your expression, tracked when you chose to bite down on your lip instead of releasing a pent up whimper, watched as your face flushed even darker, due to him searching your soul.
You would happily turn to ash inside those flaming eyes of his.
A different stroke of his hot tongue pulled a full-body shiver out of you, as he lapped at your dripping cunt. Briefly, his lashes fluttered as he seemed increasingly overcome with pleasure, either from your taste or your moans and whimpers. When you took a moment to shut your own eyes, you felt his lips vibrate with a delicious hum against your engorged clit.
“Hyun–” you choked out, thoughts frantic and dizzying as you bucked against his plush lips, your head falling back.
He uttered a quick exhale, obviously pleased with how easily he could play you. He began to press gentle kisses upward to your belly button, and you watched with a desperate focus as he paused there, chin resting on your stomach. He gazed up at you, beautiful eyes half-lidded and sparkling with amusement. That damn piercing blinded you again when he arched a perfect brow.
“You're my good girl, right?" he asked, as though he wasn't destroying your fragile heart just by uttering those words.
Feeling the full-body flush take over, you stuttered back, “Y-yeah, I'm y-your good girl…”
"Mhmm, and you want me to keep going?” Hyunjin tasted his own lips, eyes shining with confidence as he maintained a composed expression.
“Please," you whined, feeling yourself throb at the thought of his generously warm tongue enveloping your heat once again. “I-I need–”
"Do you love me?" he suddenly asked. You blinked and realized he was mere inches away from your face. His freshly cut bangs touched your cheek as he leaned in to you. You felt the heat from his fingers trailing up your exposed thighs. “Do you?"
Your breath stopped. “I…”
You heard yourself gasp, and the banging noise that accompanied it was deafening.
With a start, you sat up, realized that your head was pounding. While the haze began to clear, you groaned in pain, looking down at the hardwood floor of your room.
Another naughty dream about him. Your shorts were definitely getting thrown right into the wash.
“Sis?!" your big brother's concerned voice boomed from outside your bedroom door. He knocked a few times, abiding your privacy policy of knocking before entering (just in case). “You okay? I heard a bang!”
“Uh, ah, yeah. I'm fine, Bin. Just fell out of bed.”
"You what?” he laughed, making your current headache even worse. “What are you, five again? Do you need some barriers installed around your bed?”
“No thanks,” you replied, icily. You slowly got up from the floor, wincing when you felt the dampness of your underwear, ever prominent. Ugh.
“Okay, well, Jinnie’s here so, whenever you feel like being a human and coming out to say hi, make sure you're wearing something."
Changbin snickered, his voice fading as he walked down the hall, and giving you no time to yell some obscenity at him for his rudeness.
Of fucking course Hyunjin was here. Obviously the universe was playing some sick joke on you, sneaking that naughty little dream into your head while the man starring in said dream was on the other side of your door. Was this a new test of endurance?
You'd done well not giving in to any of your urges, even when the handsome model of a man was continuously waltzing through your front door. He was in the same band as Changbin, your elder brother by a couple years, which made you and Hyunjin the same age. You faintly remembered him from your high school class, before he was drop-dead gorgeous and got his hair and makeup done on the regular. Back then he was still a pretty cute, athletic guy that did have the confidence to flirt with a couple of your mutual friends, if your memory serves.
Things didn't become completely awkward for you until he once walked in on you around a year ago, when you were changing in the bathroom after a long, exhausting day of work at your stupid food court job. You'd peeled off your sweaty uniform and threw it into a heap on the tiled floor as soon as possible. Since you had been in such a rush of frustration from being a slave to the idiocies of the general public, you'd neglected to fully close the bathroom door.
It turns out that your brother and his bandmates had been in the basement doing some producing, so none of them realized you had gotten home. When Hyunjin innocently swung open the door to the bathroom, he got an eye-full; hair greasy and mussed from tugging off your ugly shirt, your breasts barely contained by your ill-fitting bra that you only had chosen to wear that day because you had procrastinated doing your laundry, and your boyshorts, that hugged your ass too tightly to be comfortable around any male in your life.
He had reacted to the situation with absolute grace, apologizing politely and averting his gaze, although you still remembered so clearly that sinful hint of a smile tugging the corner of his lips as he shut the door.
You had become way too aware of his ever-growing presence after that. His many changing hair colors, the amount of rings on each of his slender fingers, even the different brands of cell phones he brought along with him.
Needless to say, he drove you a bit crazy.
You had never disclosed this to Changbin, of course, and you think he only teased you about Hyunjin because he had learned about the bathroom incident and couldn't let you live it down, with it being one of the duties of an elder brother. You weren't planning to try and start anything in the first place, as your heart reminded you constantly that Hwang Hyunjin was astronomically out of your league, and you needed to settle for someone that didn't wear Versace to red carpet events.
You decided on a lengthy t-shirt dress and a pair of black leggings, pulling your hair up in a small ponytail to hide the fact that you hadn't washed it in a few days. After taking a small breath of preparation, you exited your cave and made your way towards the bathroom to wash your face.
You saw him as your mouth was open wide in an unflattering yawn; Hyunjin stepped out from the bathroom at the end of the hall, his eyes meeting yours. You stumbled a bit and paused altogether, as though he had drawn a weapon at you. You supposed that his pointed gaze could be considered as such.
He offered a casual smile in your direction, a hand settled in the pocket of his ripped jeans. He wore a black, sleeveless muscle-shirt that he had no business showing off inside your home, especially when it would mess with your pulse like it currently was. If you focused hard enough, you could probably see his pecs, not to mention his nipples–
“What's up?" he spoke, and you gulped, feeling like your dirty thoughts were exposed before him even though he was acting completely natural.
“Just…gonna wash my face,” you mumbled, flexing your fingers by your sides as you forced yourself to continue approaching the bathroom door.
Hyunjin let out a charming, boyish laugh, one that made you forget that he was so well known around the country. “I meant, how's life going for you? Besides general hygiene and falling out of bed.”
You felt your face redden at his teasing tone. "Uh, the bed thing is a rare occurrence, first of all.”
"Right, right.” He did that cocky tongue smile that caused your heart to do backflips, eyes lingering on your face. “I can totally help you set up some barriers though, if you think it’s going to become a common thing.”
“I’m sure I’ll manage,” you retorted, finding it harder to keep your cool when he continued his banter with you. “Anyway, life has been…good.”
“Oh, just good? That’s pretty vague,” he said, tilting his head. You watched the loose strands of his hair fall to the side with the movement.
You swallowed the butterflies in your throat and risked a direct glance at him. He had that damn pierced eyebrow cocked at you, expression amused. Maybe because you usually tried to escape before you were forced to say more than a sentence to him.
"You can just ask Changbin if you're really interested,” you said dryly.
Hyunjin blinked, his full lips pursing as he paused. "I mean, sure, but I'd rather ask you."
Your lips parted as you took his words, his beauty, all of him in. He was barefaced today, which was annoyingly charming, especially because you could spot the three little moles on his face. You personally preferred him with minimal or no makeup, as he didn't look as otherworldly and intimidating when he was just showing off his beautiful golden skin.
Although, any form of him was dangerous for your health. Your mind rocketed back to the dream you'd been interrupted from, and you spun around as if he had slapped you in the face.
“R-really, I'm good. Job is good, my friends are good, I'm…good.” You cleared your throat and slid into the doorway of the bathroom. “Thanks for asking."
You didn't give him a chance to respond before you closed the door, and sighed against it. As you willed your heart to calm down, you heard movement out in the hall, and Hyunjin’s voice floated into your ears:
“Nice to see you."
His light footsteps retreated, and you finally let out the breath you'd been holding, sliding to the floor and wondering exactly how much longer you'd be able to survive platonically breathing the same air as him.
+-+-+-+-+-
“Yo, c’mere for a sec," Changbin called across the room, just as you were stirring the seasoning and toppings into your instant ramen.
You looked back at him from the kitchen and called back, “Is it important? I'm about to eat."
He sighed loudly, practically stomping his way closer, to face you from over the counter. He crossed his bulging arms over his chest and looked you dead in the eye, making you chuckle as you looked back down to your noodles.
“Bro, what?"
“Do you hate Hyunjin?" he asked.
The sudden question caused your hand to jolt, nearly knocking over the ramen but causing some hot broth to stain the countertop. You cursed when some dripped onto your hand, shaking it off and grabbing a towel to clean it up with.
“What?" You looked at him in disbelief.
Changbin tilted his head, and repeated his question, enunciation clear on each word, “Do. You. Hate. Hyunjin?”
"N-no? Where did you even get that idea from?"
Fear started building in your chest, you couldn't look your brother in the face any longer. You wished you could stuff your face with ramen to evade answering, but it was way too hot still.
“Well," he began, walking around you to grab a couple bowls of ramen himself, “he said that you seemed like you really didn't want to talk to him. He was worried that he upset you or something. I wanted to check, since you've never told me that he's done anything like that."
You nodded to yourself, understanding his worry, but not knowing how to navigate this topic with him.
“I don't hate him," you mumbled, blowing some of the steam away from your bowl.
“Okay. Then why did he say you were acting weird around him?" Changbin pressed, pouring boiling water into the two bowls nearby.
"I'd just gotten up, I was tired and needed to clean up. We can't all be super cheerful at 6AM like you, Bin," you scoffed. While not entirely true, you thought he would buy this reason.
“Sure, but Jinnie’s not a complete stranger, sis. How many times have you met him and spoken to him? He seems pretty confused about it. Maybe you should apologize.”
"Seriously?” You stared at him, and his stubborn frown met you head on. "I'm not a child anymore. It's not like we got into a fight on the playground. Hyunjin and I are both adults; if he has a problem, he can come to me on his own and ask. I'm sure he didn't ask you to do this for him.”
Changbin seemed to tense up at that, and didn't say anything.
"I know you just want to fix things because you care about us, Bin, but it's not really your business," you sighed. “Like you said, if anything had happened that made me really uneasy around him, I would have told you. It's not like that, okay?"
"Hey, can I butt in?”
Your head whipped around when you heard Hyunjin’s voice at the top of the basement stairs. He ran a hand through his burgundy hair, eyes flitting between you and your brother.
“I was just getting your ramen, too," Changbin laughed, lifting the steaming bowl to show him, and instantly regretting it when he burned his fingers. “Fuck!"
“Thanks, hyung," Hyunjin chuckled quietly, seemingly hesitating before he walked into the room to get closer. Your eyes never left his face, you probably looked like an idiot; when his gaze drifted to you, the ramen below you was suddenly way more appealing. “Do you think I could talk with her real quick?"
Oh, hell. He had definitely overheard you guys. You started to inhale your ramen, secretly hoping it would burn your mouth and throat so that you'd be unable to properly speak with him.
“Yeah, sure, man. I should run some cold water on this, anyway," your brother said, wincing towards his hand before he swerved around you and towards the bathroom.
You could hear the water running, and you tried to keep your breath from faltering as Hyunjin faced you, leaning back against the counter with both hands gripping the edge.
“Hey," he started, voice more gentle than usual. It was like he was talking to an upset child. “Is this okay with you?”
You wiped your stained lips in the back of your hand, faking complete confidence by leveling your eyes with his. “Yeah.”
“Cool. I just wanted to make sure. You…never seem to want to talk alone with me, so…”
He had the nerve to scratch at the back of his neck, as though he were nervous. Was he really that insecure, thinking that you hated him?
“That's not it," you piped up, stirring your chopsticks in the noodles again. "You and the guys are always practicing. Maybe it just seems like that.”
"No,” he replied, "I can tell when someone is avoiding me. I'm not exactly used to it, so it's obvious when it's going on."
You felt your face and neck boiling, and it wasn't from the heat of your food. Suddenly the tasty chicken flavor was all gone, replaced by a faint tinge of nausea as he pressed you for the truth.
"That's a first world problem, isn't it?”
Hyunjin released a huff, sounding mildly frustrated.
"Look, I can accept it if you don't like me. I don't want to cause tension for you, or for Changbin hyung. I'm going to be around for a while still, so I'd really appreciate your honesty about this.”
His tone made your heart hurt. It felt like someone took a knife and yanked it down your chest cavity, setting those butterflies free and allowing all the icky schoolgirl emotions you've been hiding to gush out onto the floor.
“I'm sorry," you said quietly, shutting your eyes so you didn't have to look at his face, twisted with confusion. “I… I promise, I don't hate you, Hyunjin.”
You heard him release a sigh. "Well, I'm glad to hear that, but… Did I do something to upset you? Please be honest, I don't ever want to do anything like that to you."
Your stupid pea-brain briefly wondered what he would like to do to you.
Biting on your tongue, you tried to conjure up a believable and logical reason for your behavior. You had honestly never considered that he would have noticed if you tried not to linger alone in a room with him, or that you usually took your dinner to your room when the guys were over. You figured he just saw you as Changbin’s sister, that you were essentially a ghost in his eyes.
Before you could utter another sound, Hyunjin asked, "Is it because of that thing, over a year ago?”
You froze up, too obvious. The fact that he remembered made you stupidly giddy.
“Fuck, that's it, isn’t it," he groaned down towards the floor, rubbing at his temples with his black-painted fingers. “I am really sorry about that time. I shouldn't have told your brother it happened, but back then it was just kinda funny in a way? We just tell each other stuff like that; it's not like I was trying to make fun of you. It was obviously my fault that it happened, anyway.”
You wished you could enjoy this moment more, while he was rambling, his cheeks dusted with the lightest shade of pink.
“It's okay, Hyunjin," you said gently. “I'm not mad or anything. It was a while ago."
“Clearly I made you uncomfortable, though," he protested, surprising you with the rising volume of his voice. “I saw you during one of your most vulnerable moments and– uh…”
"Yeah…"
You both stared at each other, while you attempted to hide your quickened breathing. He had bitten down on his lip mid-sentence, and you were grateful for that, otherwise you may have passed out from the embarrassment of recalling the moment. Subconsciously you crossed your arms over your chest, struggling to maintain eye contact with him for more than a few seconds at a time.
“...Changbin is taking a while, huh?” Hyunjin forced a small laugh; you caught the slight tremble in his voice, and it confused you.
"He probably realized how badly he had to pee,” you replied, and nearly jumped when the man across from you barked out a laugh.
He threw his head back, coming close to hitting the upper cabinet, before fixing his posture and looking back at you again. You spotted some tears in the corners of his squinted eyes.
“That's probably it,” he giggled, his gorgeous smile temporarily halting your heart.
You returned the smile with your own, one that you hoped made him feel better about the state of your friendship.
“Thank you for talking to me. I didn't ask Changbin to do it for me, I just asked him if he knew what could be wrong. You know how he gets, though. Sorry if he pushed your buttons."
“He didn't any more than he usually does," you told him, trying to lighten the mood.
You remembered your ramen and brought the bowl up to your lips, drinking some of the broth so it didn't get wasted.
“Oh, right. I forgot he was making us some ramen," Hyunjin muttered distractedly, stepping over and checking on the one he had claimed as his.
After a long silence, and while you still had this time to yourselves, you inquired, “What did you guys get done today?"
“Huh?" Hyunjin’s head snapped up, eyes wide. “Oh, uh- we recorded some lines. A bit of rewriting lyrics too, with Han on the phone.”
"Nice. Was Chan busy today?” You knew that he wrote most of the lyrics for their songs, along with Han and Changbin.
“Yeah. He's actually out of town, visiting family."
“Oh, good for him. Must be nice to have a break once in a while," you said with a smile, licking the remnants of broth from your lips.
Hyunjin’s gaze hovered on your face, before he looked back down at the countertop. “I'm…pretty bad at taking them, myself.”
"I get that,” you agreed, tossing your trash and going to the sink to wash your hands. "Especially for someone as hard-working as you, it must feel wrong to take time for yourself. I can relate to that.”
“You," he breathed, his voice closer than before; when you reached for the hand towel you were nearly face to face, “think I'm hard-working?"
You blinked rapidly, the sincerity in his expression suddenly made you nervous; you couldn't help but stammer. “U-uh, yeah. Of course. I hear from Bin about how hard you work, like, all the time."
You could swear that his shoulders dropped, just barely. “Yeah?"
“Plus, whenever I see you work, you're so focused," you hurriedly added, not sure why you were deciding to admit that you paid any attention to him. “I can tell that you're passionate about music. Anyone that sees or hears you perform would know that."
His eyes seemed to brighten at that, and it was enough to melt you from the inside. If your words made him look happy like that, you weren't sure how much longer you could hold back from him.
“Thank you so much," he murmured, voice unbelievably shy for how confident and sexy his persona usually was. “I appreciate that, you know. Like, a huge amount. Feel free to compliment me any time."
You couldn’t help but laugh at that, something you don't recall ever doing in front of Hyunjin before now. He grinned in return, and then something changed in his expression.
“Oh, there's something on your face, here.”
Before you could register what was happening he had closed some distance between you, his long arm extended so that his hand could slightly cup your cheek. You felt the softness of his thumb glide against the corner of your mouth, not just once, but a few times. You couldn't stop your eyes from jumping up to bask in the up-close masterpiece that was Hyunjin's bare face. He trapped his tongue between his lips in clear concentration; he was looking down at your mouth, so hopefully he didn't catch your idiotic staring.
“Got it," he muttered, clearly oblivious to your inner turmoil. “Just some herb or something."
When you let out a shaky exhale, it seemed to rouse his focus. He blinked a few times, his hand stilled. Slowly, he realized the closeness of his physical contact with you; he seemed at a loss for words. Those plush lips parted as he looked at you, truly at you, as though he were searching for something in your eyes. You swallowed thickly, using all of your willpower to glance away after a long moment.
"S-sorry.” He gingerly took his arm back, leaving your skin warm from his touch. His Adam’s Apple bobbed, as though he was having as much trouble staying composed as you were.
“It’s–”
"Okay, you two! Everything settled now?” Changbin interjected, his voice shattering the tranquility in the room as he returned.
You and Hyunjin both shot back a few feet, as though caught in the midst of a tryst. As scary as the previous moment was, it felt exhilarating, especially having his dark eyes lingering on you, even as Changbin addressed him. Was he affected like you were?
“Yeah, we talked things out,” Hyunjin answered a bit too quickly. “Everything is…good.”
"Yup, it's all good,” you echoed, realizing just how flustered you were as you snuck glances at Hyunjin and noticed his nervous body language; his ring-clad fingers were tapping against the countertop a bit too much to be mindless. He also chewed on his lip, enough to make it swell and grow red from irritation.
God, how you wanted to just feel those lips right now.
“Awesome. I'm guessing the ramen is done by now, so we're gonna head back downstairs and do some more work," your brother explained, snapping you out of your thoughts.
“Okay," you said numbly, discovering that your thighs were pressed together but being too afraid to open your legs without inviting attention to yourself, so you stayed frozen in place.
“Text me if you need anything, sis!" Changbin shouted, hurriedly running to the stairs, not noticing how slowly Hyunjin followed behind him.
You watched him go, offering a small smile. He didn't return it; instead, his eyes roamed your entire form in one fast movement. Then he turned away and disappeared into the basement.
Relief flooded your body when you relaxed your stance, and headed off to your room. Your underwear needed to be changed again. You supposed it wouldn't hurt to give yourself a bit of TLC, since you would be needing to change anyway. Knowing the man of your affections was in the same house, right beneath your room, already made you feel lightheaded and eager to escape into another dream-like state.
You couldn’t banish the clear image of his lips out of your mind.
-+-+-+-+
The following week went by in a flash. You didn’t see Hyunjin after that time in your kitchen, and the fact that your thoughts almost exclusively remained stuck on his absence made you more than a little annoyed at yourself.
Sure, you were able to compartmentalize when needed, like at work, but the experience was akin to having a TV on at all times in the background, playing monotonous news reels reporting him as a missing person.
You felt stupid, because all this time you’d been perfectly capable of burying your attraction to the man; now, his face lingered in your mind when you closed your eyes at night. You theorized that it could be that before, you had resigned yourself to the fact that there was not even a sliver of a chance of his attention sticking to you, of him acknowledging you as a woman his age, rather than his best friend’s sister.
Ever since that short talk you’d had with him, it felt like something in the universe had shifted, just slightly.
Your buzzing anxiety worsened whenever you could hear his singing voice from the basement studio, as Changbin played back the recordings they’d gotten and needed possible touch-ups on. You could pick out Hyunjin’s husky voice from the other vocalists without fail; it made you feel more pathetic.
On day eight, you finally gathered up your courage, shoving away your pride, and asked your brother–in what you prayed was the most casual manner possible–where Hyunjin had been lately.
Changbin fixed you with a curious look, answering, “He’s been doing some photoshoots, appearances as brand ambassador, shit like that.”
“Oh, that makes sense,” you said distractedly, your stomach sinking. Duh, he was a celebrity. A Versace boy. He likely saw crowds of gorgeous women and men every day, whose natural looks probably out-ranked you by miles.
You didn’t realize a weird silence had settled between you until Changbin spoke up again. “You good?”
“Uh, yeah. Never better,” you fibbed, playing with the ends of your freshly trimmed hair.
“Okay. Why the interest in Hyunjin, though? You miss him?” your brother chuckled, a dark eyebrow lifting in question as he seemed to analyze your nervous body language.
“N-no,” you squeaked unconvincingly. “It’s just weird that he hasn’t been around. He seems to always be here. It’s different.”
“Hmm,” Changbin hummed with a nod of agreement, glancing at the coffee maker when it beeped to let him know the espresso shots were done pulling. “You’re right, it’s kinda lonely when he’s away. Maybe I should finally ask him if he would want to move in here. It would definitely make work easier.” He looked back at you. “Only if you’re okay with that, of course.”
Your heart all but stopped at this hypothetical, ridiculous scenario.
“As if he’d say yes,” you scoffed, swallowing down the giddiness that you felt rise up into the back of your throat. “He must have siblings he lives with?”
“He’s an only child,” Changbin said, blowing on the steam rising from his cup.
You cleared your throat, tugging at your sweater sleeves. “Well, uh, roommates?”
“Nope. Just his dog, if that counts.”
Oh no, he had a dog. There’s no way he could be so visually perfect and also be a loving dog father, that’s just astronomically unfair.
“I like dogs,” you whisper, lips pursed, as it became more difficult by the second to convince yourself that you didn’t want to entertain Hyunjin moving in with you two.
“Huh?”
“No, erm–” You shut your eyes, letting out a breath through your nostrils. “Are his parents around?”
Your brother paused, before replying, “They’re alive, if that’s what you’re asking. He’s an adult so he doesn’t live with them anymore, since he can afford not to. Obviously.”
“Obviously,” you echoed, the word weighing on your tongue and preventing you from saying anything else for the moment. It seemed you didn't know Hyunjin as much as you thought.
“Sis.” Changbin sidled up next to you, his arm pressed against yours. The strong scent of his espresso caused you to make a face of disgust, but you remained still. “Would you be on board if I asked him about moving in?”
Before you opened your mouth, he added, “Please don’t lie just to save face. You live here, too. I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable in your own house, unless it’s because of my pranks.”
He pulled a small laugh out of you, and you caught the grin spreading on his face.
“Iif it’s something you want, and he’s fine with it, I’ll get used to it,” you heard yourself say. Your chest constricted, as though trying to warn you about how things could go very, very wrong. “We’re all adults. Plus we’ve known him for so long. If it was anybody else, I might say no.”
Changbin placed a hand on your forearm, and gave it a small squeeze. “That’s awesome, sis. I’m happy to hear that. He can just move into the guest area of the basement, that way he’ll have his own bathroom.”
You fixed him with a deadpan stare, and he laughed his iconic cackle with an affectionate rustle of your hair.
“Dude!” you cried, jerking away from his reach.
Ignoring your whine, he started to walk away, coffee cup in hand. “Guess I’ll reach out and see when he gets back to town. Then we can meet up and talk things over.”
“Okay...”
Occupied by your screeching thoughts and racing heartbeat, you hardly registered the sound of his cheerful whistling as he went downstairs. Had you just made the worst mistake of your whole life?
Well, actually, the ball was in Hyunjin’s court. So it wasn’t completely your decision that set this in motion. If he agreed, then anything that may or may not happen in the future would be his fault, you rationalized.
Somehow, this lifted some weight from your shoulders.
Your denial lasted until you got into your car after a lengthy shift a few nights later, finally able to look through all the notifications from Changbin. As you caught your breath and waited for the heat to circulate through your car, a new text came through, so you opened it, disregarding all the previous ones.
Bin:
hes here w kkami btw
You squinted at the message, not fully comprehending. Then you scrolled up, and the realization hit you.
Bin:
yo can u answer me
i know ur busy but dont want u to be mad lol
Jinnie asked if he could come over w kkami (his dog) tonight since hes back
i said its fine since hes always here anyway yk
just wanted to give a heads up cuz i kno u get cranky after work
sis???
can u call or something fr
ok well u cant be mad later! I told u ahead of time
hes on his way over
plz drive safe
you:
didn’t have any bars here. i’m about to drive home. thanks for the warning
Silently fuming and not wanting to see your brother’s response, you turned your phone onto Do Not Disturb mode and set it down into your handbag where it wouldn’t tempt you. You had no idea what to expect when you walked through your front door. Aside from Hyunjin's perfect ass on your couch.
You were covered in sweat, your work clothes sticking to you uncomfortably. Not in the mood to put on a smile for the pretty boy of your dreams. You had no idea what kind of dog Kkami was, but you feel like you recalled Changbin telling you he was a smaller breed. You felt like if he started trying to bite you, you might snap back, and that would be a nightmare.
You took in a deep breath and let it out, willing those negative scenarios out of your mind and body. At least you had a bit of a commute to dispel some of the tension. You really hoped it would be enough. You turned the volume up on your music, desperately needing some loud rock music to pump you up. You even found yourself able to belt out lyrics to each song; it was a nice release.
By the time you pulled into the garage at home, you felt more self-assured. The absence of another vehicle meant that he must have had a driver drop him off. Must be troublesome to depend on other people so often.
The moment your hand felt the intense chill of the doorknob, and you heard Hyunjin's muffled laughter on the other side, your confidence wobbled.
Your heart gave a shudder, but you swung the door open, making your presence known with a quick shout of, “I’m home!”
Whatever conversation had been taking place immediately halted. You closed the door behind you and crouched over to remove your shoes, and that’s when a rushed pitter patter made you look up. A little black and white dog ran towards you, and it began yapping when it saw you there. You snorted at the attempt to chase you out of your own house.
“It’s fine, little one,” you mumbled, remaining down low to show that you weren’t a threat.
The chihuahua growled, keeping its distance, beady eyes locked onto your form.
“Kkami, relax! She lives here.” The warmth of his voice floated around the corner and into your ears, causing your whole body to turn lax on the spot. “You’re the intruder here.”
Hyunjin’s tall form slid out from behind the wall, his eyes instantly finding yours. You remembered how much you probably smelled, seeing him look so put together and cute in his cream-colored sweater.
“Hi,” he said, retrieving his on-alert pup from the floor and cradling him in his arms.
You’d never been jealous of a dog before. A new one for the bingo card.
“Hi,” you replied, grabbing the beanie from your head and yanking it off to let your hair out of its confines. It was too warm.
“Sorry about him,” he chuckled, head tilting down towards Kkami, who had quieted down after being held. “He still barks at me, even. Just how he is.”
“No problem. At least he didn’t find me weak enough to slaughter and eat.”
Hyunjin’s lips curled up into a pleased grin and he uttered that short giggle that only came out when he was truly relaxed and in safe company. It gave you a small glimpse of the goofy young man you grew up around, not the reserved public persona.
“He’s not that tough,” Hyunjin added, nuzzling his chin onto Kkami’s small head. “He’s all bark and no bite.”
“Just like his owner?” you mused, immediately wishing you could rewind time and stop yourself from attempting this conversation.
His lips dropped open in an expression of surprise, eyes slightly squinted in what you hoped was amusement. Something passed between you, some kind of energy that you couldn’t place, that sparked your pulse.
“What do you even know?” he asked after a minute, but before your body tensed up with fear and regret, you noticed: Hyunjin’s gaze was soft with a playful fondness, his tone not one of ire, but of interest. Like he was probing you to see what gave you that impression about him, like he wanted to hear you speak more about him.
You blushed under his attention, not sure of what you could say.
Thankfully your brother interjected, as always, saving you from any obligation to respond.
“Hey, glad you made it! Did you see my texts?”
You focused on him with a Look. “Uh, yes, I responded before I started driving.”
Changbin furrowed his brow, looking puzzled, and glanced down at his phone. “Weird, I didn’t get anything from y– Oh! I just got it. Ha, you must have had shitty service.”
You sighed openly, running a hand through your greasy hair and feeling so exhausted as a result of his energy. “I did say that, yeah. I’m going to go wash up now, excuse me.”
Changbin cleared his throat, rather loudly, as you passed them in the hall. You shot a questioning look over your shoulder, only to find that your brother was staring expectantly at his best friend.
Hyunjin’s long fingers slowly pet Kkami’s back as he spoke up. “Whenever you’re done, if all three of us could sit down to talk, I think that’d be nice.”
Soft. Gentle.
You’d come to realize that when you looked at Hyunjin, your whole being would soften. The minor tension grating your mind turned into light fingertips pressing soothingly to your aches. You wanted him to pet your head like he pet Kkami’s, so lovingly and carefully.
“Yeah, of course,” you responded, putting on a smile. “I’ll try not to take too long.”
“Absolutely no rush. Hyung and I aren’t going anywhere,” he chuckled.
“Don’t say that, man. With the way she cleans up, I could head to the gym and do a whole workout, come back, and she would still be in the shower,” Changbin argued, rolling his eyes.
“I’m ignoring you,” you stated monotonously and continued walking, earning a snicker from Hyunjin that secretly boosted your ego.
“YAH! Fine! Take all the time you want, I’ll just have Jinnie to myself!” he bragged, bringing back your inner turmoil as you fought against everything in you not to stop or turn around.
“Like she cares about that, idiot,” you heard Hyunjin laugh, a bit forced.
If he only knew.
At least you could have Hyunjin all to yourself in your fantasies.
+-+-+-+-+-
Your nerves were far too intrusive for you to attempt to relieve yourself during your shower. Possibly, knowing who was waiting for you to return gave you a sense of stage fright.
You felt guilty, too, touching yourself to the thought of the gorgeous man who was so innocently playing with his dog in your living room.
So you took the quickest shower of your life to date, still making sure to scrub yourself thoroughly to get rid of any traces of body odor before you made yourself look presentable. Your shorter haircut made it easier to skip blow drying; you opted to just brush it out with your fingers and let it air dry instead.
After slipping on a comfy and somewhat conservative pajama set, you headed back out to find Changbin opening up a brown paper bag of takeout. It smelled amazing, and your stomach audibly agreed, making your brother snap his head up to see you.
“Welcome back,” he teased, checking his phone. “Wow, a new record for you!”
“Shut up,” you retorted, sliding over to the counter to curiously peer at whatever food he was removing from the bag. “Didn’t want you to annoy Hyunjin to death.”
He snorted. “After all this time, I don’t think that would happen. So kind of you to consider his feelings, though.”
“What did you get?” you asked, trying to change the subject.
“Chinese from the usual place, since we’re all too lazy to cook tonight.”
You nodded, scanning the smaller boxes that he lined up on the kitchen counter, nearly moaning at how delicious it smelled. “Did you get my–”
“Pork mei fun? Yes, ma’am,” he chuckled, placing a medium-sized styrofoam box in front of you. You squealed with delight.
“Thank you, Binnie,” you cooed lovingly, grinning when his face contorted in disgust at your sudden tone shift.
“You can thank Jinnie, he paid for it.” He gestured with his head towards the basement stairs. “He’s down there, probably changing too. I told him he could stay the night since the weather is supposed to get bad.”
You paused on your way to grab one of the plastic forks. "You didn't mention that."
“Oh, thought I did. Well, it's not a big deal, right? You already said that him living here with us was okay with you." Changbin folded up the now empty takeout bag, eyeing you with one brow cocked. “That's why he had a driver bring him."
“Must be nice," you muttered, slightly overwhelmed and abuzz with nervous energy. “I didn't even know the weather forecast was calling for bad weather overnight. I guess I should make sure I'm not expected to work in the morning…”
“If you are, call out. I'm not letting you go out if we're getting as bad of a blizzard as they say," your brother said firmly. “Now eat. Your stomach is going to turn into a demon and crawl out of you any minute."
Despite your annoyance, you smiled at him and offered a small side hug of thanks. You caught his low chuckle as you went to the fridge to grab a drink. Hasty footsteps made their way upstairs, accompanied by a cheerful humming as Hyunjin bounded into the room, making a beeline for the food. You giggled at his excitement, and he definitely heard it since his eyes snapped up to you as he placed his hand on one of the boxes of fried rice.
“Oh, you’re back!” he said, offhandedly upbeat. He then sucked his bottom lip between his teeth and looked away, as though embarrassed. “Uh, did you have a good shower?”
Changbin stifled a laugh and pretended to cough into his bicep, skirting around his younger friend.
“Yup,” you answered simply, determined to not make things weird. You opened up the fridge door again, eyeing the choices. “You want a drink?”
“Yeah. Anything is fine, thank you.”
You grabbed a can of soda and, nearly forgetting yourself, was about to throw it at him–something you surely would have done to your brother. You calmly approached Hyunjin and handed it to him instead, eyeing his bare, slender fingers as they wrapped around the can. You tucked away the softness of his fingertips into the Fantasy Fodder of your brain, and went about settling in to enjoy your dinner.
“Where’s Kkami?” you asked casually, after plopping into your spot on the living room couch.
“I put some of his food out so he won’t bother us while we eat. He’s downstairs in the guest room,” his owner explained. “I’m hoping he won’t make a big fuss afterward, hopefully he takes a nap.”
You hummed in acknowledgement, shoving a forkful of noodles into your mouth. This was worth the rough day you’d had, for sure.
“You’re allowed to share some of the other stuff here, you know,” Hyunjin chuckled, as you watched him take a humorously large bite of an egg roll.
“Thanks. I’m a bit picky, though, so I might just stick with this.”
“But we ordered dumplings,” Changbin sang, lifting up the container and shaking it for you to see.
Your eyes widened and you instantly made a grabbing motion with your free hand towards the men, too excited to care if you seemed childish.
Hyunjin laughed, grabbing a few for himself and then delivering the rest to your grasp. You realized that he was wearing a pajama set of his own, a cute baby pink color that seemed to be made of silk. It felt like you were having a sleepover together.
“You like dumplings too?” Hyunjin inquired, eyes shining. “I ordered extra just in case. I love ‘em.”
“Thank you.” You felt your face flush as you learned more about him without even trying to. “You’ve got good taste.”
He caught you eyeing his pajamas and smiled warmly, striking a quick pose. “I know you meant the dumplings, but I’m gonna choose to pretend you meant my nightwear, too.”
“Oh, yeah, those are cute. I mean, I like them, sure,” you rambled shyly. “You always have cool clothes. I don’t pay attention to fashion trends or anything, but I like the things you wear around here.”
Hyunjin covered his mouth with one palm, trying to hide his wide grin as he seemed to recoil a bit out of bashfulness. Outside of his work, he could only handle so much direct attention before he crumbled, you guessed.
“Maybe I’ll let you go through some of my outfits when I need to get rid of some clothes in the future, then,” he suggested.
The promise of future plans together, as noncommittal as they were, caused your heart to pound. The thought of wearing any of Hyunjin’s former clothes was certainly appealing.
“Alright, kids. Can we get down to business and leave the flirting for later?” Changbin cleared his throat while seating himself in the lounge chair across from you, effectively making you and Hyunjin break eye contact.
“We weren’t,” you hissed at him, burying your pent up emotions and stuffing a large dumpling into your mouth.
Hyunjin said nothing, but went to grab his dinner and quietly returned to the room, choosing to sit on the other end of the couch. No doubt he was being considerate of your space.
Changbin ignored your protest and continued, “Jinnie and I have been talking about this already here and there, so we wanted to fill you in. About him moving in.”
“Right…”
“Since we’ve got a small break in schedules and he’s back from his trip, I was just thinking he could move his stuff over during the week. He’ll be in the downstairs guest room with Kkami, so we can just consider that his area.” Changin paused to bite down onto a piece of chicken and loudly enjoy it, leaving you to process for a minute.
You felt a shift in weight on the couch just then, and looked up to see Hyunjin had moved closer to you, and he was looking right at you.
“If there is any part of you that is not okay with this, we’ll call it off,” he said softly, with all the sincerity in the world. He offered up a sheepish smile that melted any discomfort that had been lingering in your chest. “I’m pretty well-off on my own, as you know. So this wouldn’t throw a wrench in my life at all, if you were to say no. I’m really grateful to Changbin hyung for even offering, since I’ve been by myself for a while now. It does get kind of lonely with just me and Kkami.”
You pressed your lips together, letting him speak as he felt he needed to. You didn’t have any intention of saying no, especially after telling your brother that this would be okay with you. However, the fact that Hyunjin was so kind and considerate of your feelings solidified your decision further; if anything was awkward about the arrangement, it would be on you to figure it out and be an adult about it.
Besides, he had a whole floor to himself, and you knew he wasn’t a creepy type of person to seek you out in your privacy.
“Don’t worry. I’m totally fine with it,” you told him, allowing the expanse of warmth to fill your body when you saw his face light up in relief. “This house is big for just us two, anyway. It’ll be nice to have someone else around to be a buffer.”
“True, you can stop her from killing me,” Changbin quipped, with a full-cheeked smile.
You and Hyunjin looked at him and both burst into laughter.
“Don’t eat and talk at the same time,” he reprimanded, just as you said,
“You’re so gross.”
The two of you were met with a signature Changbin pout, which only encouraged your laughter.
“You guys are mean,” he whined. “Kkami would be on my side.”
“No he wouldn’t,” came Hyunjin’s quick response between snickers. “Kkami is for sure a chaotic neutral.”
As though on cue, you heard some high-pitched barking from the lower floor.
“Guess he’s not distracted anymore,” you said, licking some sauce from your lips.
Hyunjin closed his eyes, like he was meditating. “If we ignore him, he’ll give up soon.”
“Hmm, he and Bin do seem to have a lot in common,” you remarked, a smirk spreading on your face when you met your brother’s glare.
Hyunjin straight-up cackled, actually falling back into the couch from the force of his laughter. You found it unbearably hard to resist wrapping your arms around him right then, and settle yourself within the happiness his body was emitting.
Aside from the painful twinge in your chest at your fantastical line of thought, you felt at peace, like this could actually turn out to be okay after all.
“Anyway, I’m gonna add you to our chat, so you’ll be up to date on what’s happening,” Changbin said to you, voice raised over Hyunjin’s giggles. “It’ll be easier.”
You remembered that you didn’t have Hyunjin’s number and now you would have access to it. Would it be appropriate to text him outside of a group chat? You two were kind of friends, so…
“You can follow my Insta too, if you want. Just in case,” he spoke up next to you, his composure mostly back. His cheeks were adorably flushed, hair in the process of being tamed by his fingers.
“Oh, okay.” You hated the monotonous tone you’d taken on in order to hide your obvious crush on him.
Hyunjin tapped away on his phone before turning the screen towards you, displaying his account page and username. Your eyes immediately were drawn to a preview image from one of his posts, and you felt a trembling exhale escape your lips at the sight of him with a smoky eye and sensual gaze.
“Thanks,” you said, once you had successfully found and followed his account. The corner of his full lips quirked as he looked back down to see your follow request.
“Let me know if you see any outfits you’d want when you go stalking my page,” he said mischievously. At the same time you felt heat rise into your cheeks, Hyunjin loudly snorted and covered his face.
Changbin laughed, leaning forward to hit his friend on the arm. “How are you still so awkward with flirting?”
“Stop,” he whined from behind his fingers, eyeing his plate of food but making no immediate move for it.
“Some people are just like that,” you spoke up after some hesitation, hoping to soothe his embarrassment. “There are tons of different personalities. Not everyone can be fully comfortable acting a certain way all the time.”
Your brother nodded like an engaged student during a lecture. “Chan is the same way, even after all this time. He flirts or does something cute for the fans, then immediately gets shy about it.”
“It’s funny, considering how much charm you guys have.”
Both pairs of eyes stuck to your face, as you sucked up more of your noodles. You hadn’t realized what you had said in the moment, and cursed yourself for letting your guard down. Changbin’s amused smirk set off alarms for you, so you decided it might be a good time to remove yourself before more humiliation befell you.
“Thanks for dinner,” you said as you stood, stretching out your limbs and sparing a glance towards Hyunjin, not wanting to be rude. His lips parted as though he was trying to communicate something, but you didn’t allow it.
“Are you heading to bed?” Changbin asked as he watched you store your leftover food and begin walking down the hall.
“Yeah, I’m exhausted from work today. Don’t be too loud, please,” you added with a bit of a smile, ducking away to your bedroom.
“Good night,” Hyunjin called, and there was an affection laced in his voice that pierced your heart, that you wished you hadn’t heard.