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"Hyung, what's the answer to this?"
Junseo had been Kangmin's tutor for a bit longer than 3 weeks for now, and to be frank, it was draining. Not only was Kangmin bad at Korean (that was to be expected—why else would he sign up for a tutor?) but he never listened to the detailed, sincere explanations that Junseo gave. Many times, the hoobae would stop halfway and ask Junseo if he wanted to stay over just a bit longer. Of course, all of the requests were refused. Not that Kangmin gave up, anyway.
"You can see here in the main passage that Gildong was against social statuses because of being born between a noble and a peasant, therefore the famous saying of him not being able to call his father his father, nor his brother his brother." Junseo kindly pointed towards the sentence in which it was mentioned.
"Aha, so that's where the saying comes from," Kangmin acknowledged, to which Junseo was taken aback. He really didn't know where it came from?
He watched as the mechanical pencil drew a circle on number three of question six. At least he has senses enough to put one and one together, he thought, trying to pretend that Kangmin had academic hope. He didn't. Not that Junseo gave up, anyway.
After a few minutes of doing nothing at all, Kangmin suddenly stretched and groaned, startling his sunbae out of his prim and proper position. "I'm so bored," the high-school boy drawled as he curled back up in his chair. Then came the inevitable. "Wanna stay a bit today?"
Junseo licked his lips timidly. All he had to go back home to was more schoolwork, like every day. He was planning on refusing before he had the strange urge to rebel against his instincts. Or it could have just been that the request was asked just a little more pleadingly than usual...
"Sure, why not?"
Kangmin basically jumped out of his chair.
"What!" He said, a big, stupidly happy grin on his face. He threw his hands up in an almost comical fashion that Junseo cracked a bemused smile. "It worked!"
"What worked?" The older high schooler asked in confusion, his hands finding their rightful place upon their owner's knees.
Kangmin cleared his throat, a weak attempt at concealing his smile. "I paid you the teensiest bit more than usual, the last time you came around."
That was a thing Junseo had noticed, but not taken much attention to, as the change in his payment wasn't negative. But now, realizing the trivial (and cute) reason behind it, he chuckled a bit under his hand. He used the same hand to dismiss the idea. "No, today's just impulse. But you're free to pay me more if you feel inclined."
The younger boy seemed disappointed for a split second before resurfacing with, "That impulse is caused by my extra thousand won. You can't convince me otherwise!"
The chuckle turned into an amused, uncontrollable laugh as Junseo's cheeks reddened. Before he got too out of hand, Junseo coughed to repress his laughter and told a finicky Kangmin, "Stop bouncing around. This is still an apartment."
Ignoring that, Kangmin ran out to the empty kitchen, announcing that he would make some ramyeon for the both of them. That made Junseo's stomach grumble. He hadn't really eaten anything for the past 7 and a half hours except for some water since school lunch.
Junseo's eyes averted towards Kangmin's room's clock, reading 8:46 p.m. They'd be able to clean up the evidence of them eating before Kangmin's parents came back home. God, if he told me that he was gonna make ramyeon for me, then I would've stayed over every day. The thought came before he regretted it.
Kangmin shouted at Junseo to come over a few minutes later, remarkably quickly considering the time for water boiling and whatnot. With a tinge of worry in his chest, Junseo went to the dining room.
"There's... no soup." That was a fact. The noodles, nested inside a big pot, had no soup in them, but they were still moist, and all the flakes were there.
"Well, too bad, I don't like them, and I dumped them all out." Kangmin put his mitten-covered hands on his hips before hastily taking off his apron and resuming his position. "Kangmin-style ramyeon! I promise you it's good."
"I suppose it won't get puffy..." Junseo said with suspicions. He sat himself down and took the chopsticks given (they were laid nicely where Junseo could reach them; he learned that Kangmin had etiquette) and reached for some noodles.
They were good. Junseo's ravenous stomach could have influenced his thoughts a little bit, but it was evident that the ramyeon was well made. The chopsticks traveled quicker to and from his mouth.
"Woah, leave some for me, too." Kangmin took off his mittens and took his own chopsticks for a bite. Between chews, the boy asked, "Were you that hungry, hyung?"
Calculated moves were taken. Junseo, as school student president with a brickload of everything to do, didn't want to say anything that could make Kangmin want to have him stay over more often. Deliberately slowly, Junseo swallowed the noodles that were in his mouth. "I didn't eat much lunch today. I'm sure you'd agree that today's menu was distasteful."
It was fun watching Kangmin's face scrunch up in disgust at the memory of the day's lunch menu. "Yeah, ugh, whoever thought frying mushrooms to look like chicken was a good idea was a dickhead."
Junseo considered reprimanding Kangmin on his language, but his mouth had become full with ramyeon again. He found himself accepting that the noodles were very well done. Maybe he didn't regret thinking about staying over more often if the ramyeon was of this quality...
"Under the straight posture and constant homework checks, you're fun guy, hyung." Kangmin put his chopsticks down and placed his head on his hand. Junseo's eyes fluttered to meet the other's, an inquiring "Hm?" seeping through his filled mouth.
"You have impulse and stuff. You're not all 'second period's science. Third is social studies.'" It was rather offensive, being talked to by Kangmin like a toddler. "You're still probably gonna grow up to be the biggest kkondae, though. Maybe people will forgive you for looks."
Junseo really did want to respond, but his insatiable stomach was trying to make him focus on his meal rather than the insult Kangmin just said. His mouth could not be not full, so he just gave the hoobae a look. A look that, for some reason, made the target laugh. It brought an embarrassed pink to Junseo's cheeks.
"God, you just looked like a chipmunk with its mouth full!" Kangmin was rolling with laughter, clutching onto his stomach for support. "Hyung, I swear, I would have taken a photo if I could."
A hurried and painful gulp emptied Junseo's mouth for the first time in three minutes. "No, Kangmin, that's a bad idea," He said hastily. He was somewhat relieved by Kangmin's shooing hand.
"Don't worry, I didn't even take the pic," Kangmin giggled, but his hand strayed towards his phone. "Though I might right now—"
Junseo shot up, seizing Kangmin by the wrist that held the phone. His dark eyes were shaking. For such a menial reason as a picture that would get nowhere. Their gazes met.
"I'm saying," Junseo said in the same patient tone that he used to explain an obvious question. "It's a bad idea."
"Oh." The hoobae retracted, the laughter on his face replaced by a dark red. "Sorry, Junseo."
The wrist was let go, and the sunbae sat back down in his seat before realizing that he had been called by his name. "What did you just call me?" The question was neither accusatory nor aggressive. It was a question that had an answer, one that Junseo found interestingly attractive.
Kangmin didn't reply. He stood up and took the almost-empty pot and the chopsticks. The rest of the ramyeon was dumped into the sink. (Despite the situation, Junseo had himself thinking that it was a waste of food.) The boy returned to his seat, his face still glowing red.
"What did you just call me?" Junseo repeated his question, taking care not to sound angry. Kangmin kept avoiding eye contact while Junseo demanded it.
"I'm sorry, hyung," Kangmin mumbled. He looked like crying.
Hurriedly, the older boy soothed in his calmest voice, "No, it's not that. You did nothing wrong. I'm not angry."
"Why ask, then?"
Junseo put his hands back on his knees. He had no reasonable answer. He masked a smile. "Nothing. Shall I go?"
Their eyes finally met. "No picture?" Kangmin asked. The nuance of it sounded like begging. Junseo considered it for a second before being flashbanged.
"Too late." A devious smile had formed on Kangmin's face, contagious as it spread on Junseo's as well. A photo of Junseo immersed in light thought was shown, and the man of the photo could feel his face heat up.
"I said it was a bad idea," Junseo said, every muscle betraying those words, especially those on his face.
"My bad," Kangmin giggled. "I think you've stayed over for long enough. You should get out before my parents come." A pause, and a gasp. "Today's payment! I'll give it to you in a second."
The older high schooler watched as his hoobae rushed back to his room and shuffled around in there for a while before getting two ten-thousand won bills and one thousand won bill. Another extra thousand. The smile spread deeper into Junseo's cheeks. He took it with both hands.
"Welp, see you next week," Kangmin said.
"We'll meet each other earlier than that," Junseo promised.
Imagine the blush that forced its way over to Junseo's face when he saw that his photo had become Kangmin's phone's lockscreen.
Epilogue
Kangmini
hyung
Hyunhhyunhyhynngng
Hyung
Hyunh hyung
Tutor
You don't need to send me the same thing more than once
Why? What's going on?
Kangmini
So theres
liek
A test-ish thing on fridayyyy
Im screwed af
Tutor
I thought you didn't care about your grades?
Kangmini
IGNORING THAT
its a math test u.u
I have no idea what any of this meansssss
i was gud at math until
like
Uh
2nd grade
When they still did addition
THERES NO NUMBERS HYUNG
Tutor
Are you studying on your own right now?
With a textbook?
Kangmini
Yurrrr🦶
*💅
Tutor
That's great improvement!
Studying voluntarily is a huge step in your current academic progress
Kangmini
How bad do i have to be for u to call ts a huge step in my current academoc blah blah
😭😭
That brings us 2 what I wanna say
Tutor on thrsday?
Tutor
.
I'll think about it
Kangmini
hyung plsssssssssssssssssssssss
Tutor
Samyang
Kangmini
YES I HAVE SAMYANG RAMYEON
PLSPLSPLSPLSPLSPLSPLSPSLSLLSLSLSLDLDFJFOCJSJKXAJSJSKKWKSNMAOZKk
Tutor
Keep the soup
Kangmini
Uhhhhmmmmmmmm
will u not come if I dont keep it
🥺
Tutor
Just so you know
When I was your grade, I got a B in math
Kangmini
YAYAYAYAYYAYAYYYYYYY
hyung DO NOT WORRY
i got an E in math my entire life
Tutor
That's problematic, but I'll help
Is 6 an OK time?
Kangmini
I'm free anytime for u hyung
😘😘😘😘😘😘😗😗😗😗😗😗😗😗😗😗😘😍😗🥰😘😍🥰😗😍😘🥰☺️😍😗🥰☺️🥰😗🥰😘😍😗🥰😘🥰😗
Tutor
Are you trying to hit on me
Kangmini
.
Tutor
Don't worry, I always have time for you, too