Chapter Text
It was a summer like any other in Busan; the streets were filled with people out enjoying the warm, ocean-scented breeze milling around between food stalls and street vendors. Leehan was not one of them but he had no complaints about it. It's not that he minded being inside all day so much— he liked helping out at his mom's jjimjilbang, it was an especially welcome reprieve from all of the classes and studying that took up so much of his time during the school year.
That being said, he was looking forward to heading back to Seoul soon to start his third year at Yonsei. As much as he loved Busan, Seoul had begun to feel like a home away from home in the last couple of years and he was starting to miss it and his friends. He and Sungho had been texting and facetiming each other throughout the summer but Leehan was eager to see his best friend/roommate in person again, the two weeks until he was scheduled to head back starting to feel like an eternity.
Still, he did his best to enjoy the time he had left at home.
It was a slow day in the jjimjilbang and Leehan was just going about his normal activities, organizing the mats in the main lobby when a pair of arms suddenly wrapped around his waist and lifted him off his feet. He let out a startled yelp when his unexpected attacker started twirling them around, wriggling desperately to try and loosen their grip until a familiar voice boomed in his ears, "Donghyunie-hyung I missed you!"
"Woonagi?!" He glanced over his shoulder to see his cousin beaming at him in delight, "What are you doing here? I thought your family wasn't coming to visit until next week?"
"Ah we were but then Yeri got invited to go to Jeju with her friend's family and something came up with Dad's work so he and Mom took it as an opportunity to spend some time alone together." Woonhak finally released Leehan from the bear hug, setting him gently back on his feet, "I was just going to come by myself but I remembered that my friend mentioned that he's never been to Busan before and when I told him about Auntie's jjimjilbang he really wanted to come!"
His bright grin dimmed a bit when he saw the confused look on Leehan's face, head tilting to the side a bit, "Didn't your mom tell you? We're staying at your house until the dorms open up in a couple weeks and then the three of us can all just take the train back from here."
No, she hadn't mentioned it but it didn't really matter so Leehan just hummed, "Makes sense. Which friend did you bring? Is it the one guy you always talk about who Sungho-hyung has a crush on? Myung-something."
"No it's—Wait, hold on! Did you just say that Sungho-hyung has a crush on Jaehyun-hyung?!" Woonhak looked at him, all wide-eyed and serious. He nodded and his cousin let out an exaggerated cry, throwing himself down onto the mats that Leehan had literally just finished straightening, "Oh my God, Jaehyun-hyung never shuts up about him! I'm serious. It's yeppi-this and yeppi-that all the time! I swear I started losing hearing in my right ear last semester from how much he went on and on after Sungho-hyung loaned him a pen in their Music Theory class. A pen, Donghyunie-hyung! For an entire semester that's all I ever heard about! And you're telling me that you've been holding out on information that could've saved my eardrums?!"
Leehan muffled a laugh into the palm of his hand as Woonhak worked himself up, writhing on the mats with a pout on his face as he complained loudly. He rested his hands on his hips as he sighed fondly, nudging Woonhak with his foot as he continued his little tantrum, "You still haven't answered my question y'know. Which of your friends did you bring?"
Leehan's answer came in the form of an annoyed voice calling out, "Yah Kim Woonhak! Why'd you run off like that?"
Leehan knew that voice, not as well as he knew Woonhak's but it was familiar nonetheless— low and smooth with a pleasant rasp as it dragged over certain vowels. The owner of it rounded the corner in the next second, revealing someone that Leehan hadn't expected to see again until he got back to Seoul.
Han Taesan.
Taesan also attended Yonsei; he was in the same year as Leehan but Leehan majored in Marine Biology while Taesan's was Music Production so their lives rarely— more like never— intersected. It didn't mean that Leehan hadn't noticed Taesan though. With his towering height, handsome features and impeccable sense of fashion Taesan drew attention without even trying. His charming smirk and wicked sense of humor had men and women across campus tripping over their own feet at every turn from day one, wanting to be him or be with him. And as if it weren't enough that he had been blessed with all of that, he was also majorly talented at what he did. Leehan had heard from multiple people how amazing of a producer he was, how one day he was going to be a big name in the industry working for a company like HYBE. Even Sungho—who was a brilliant musician in his own right— raved about Taesan constantly, always hyped up whenever they got to work together on a project.
However, Leehan had noticed that despite being so popular Taesan surprisingly kept to himself for the most part. He was always polite to anyone who approached him but it seemed like it was all very surface-level, at least from Leehan's perspective. Throughout their first year the only people Leehan had ever seen him actually hang out with were the aforementioned Myung Jaehyun— also a Music Production student— and Lee Riwoo— a Dance major the same age as Jaehyun and Sungho whom Leehan was also acquainted with. And yet despite knowing some of the same people, they had still passed by each other on campus and never interacted.
Things had changed a bit after Leehan's younger cousin had started at Yonsei this past fall.
His whole life Woonhak had always been bright and personable so he'd never had any issues making friends but it had taken the entire school by surprise how quickly he'd been accepted into Taesan's tight knit circle. There had been a lot of murmurs going around the gossip circles wondering how a freshman had gotten so close to the untouchable Han Taesan without any apparent effort when so many others had failed. From then on Leehan had been subjected to near daily anecdotes about Taesan thanks to his cousin's hero-like worship of the older man.
Just before winter break Woonhak had taken it upon himself to formally introduce Taesan and Leehan to one another for the first time. It wasn't like they had become instant best friends or anything like that but the distance that Leehan had always noticed between them had shortened significantly. As the semester wore on they'd become familiar enough with each other to stop and chat for at least few minutes before going their separate ways. Leehan had become aware of this strange tension he could feel in the brief moments he and Taesan spent together, like there was a string being pulled taught between them waiting to snap, he could just never put his finger on exactly why.
Long legs carried Taesan into the room and Leehan realized that neither he nor Woonhak were in the outfits that they handed out at the front desk. That and Taesan's exclamation led him to the assumption that Woonhak had likely rushed to come looking for him the moment they'd entered and just hightailed it away from Taesan without a second thought. Leehan rolled his eyes and crouched down so that he could dig his fingers into his cousin's side exactly where he knew the younger was most ticklish.
Woonhak's eyes went wide as he twisted and turned on the floor, trying his best and failing to get away from Leehan's merciless touch, "Y-Yah! Donghyunie-hyung don't— Yahahaha! Ah seriously wha— hahaha!"
Leehan grinned, taking too much joy in the younger's reaction as he kept up the "punishment". He heard a set of footsteps slowly approaching them from behind but chose to momentarily ignore them in favor of teasing his cousin a little bit more, "You rushed in here without even changing your clothes! Ah seriously Kim Woonhak… If my mom saw you like this now, you'd be getting an earful you know? But your wonderful hyung is letting you off light with just this. Aren't I the best? I'll wait patiently for my thanks anytime now."
Woonhak choked out a few more grumbles and muffled curses between peals of laughter, eventually collapsing into a gasping heap when Leehan finally relented on him. Leehan sat back on his heels with a satisfied smile. It was then that he remembered that they had an audience and turned his head to glance over his shoulder; he had to tilt his head back a fair bit but eventually he found himself staring into Taesan's dark, steady gaze.
"Ah so that's how you get him to shut up— you just have to tickle him into submission." There was an amused smirk tilting his lips that widened into a surprisingly warm grin when he met Leehan's eyes, "I'll be sure to let Jaehyun-hyung know for the next time he gets too loud at one of our producing sessions."
Leehan let a breathy laugh slip out, surprising himself, "It's tickling or food actually. I'd be surprised if you hadn't figured the second one out already though since you've known him for almost a year now."
Taesan hummed, a playful light in his eyes, "I mean, it's not li—"
"Yah! Are you two seriously going to tease me like this the whole time we're here?! Because if you are then I'll go home right now, I'm serious!" Woonhak crossed his arms and glared at them as he sat up having recovered from Leehan's tickle assault. The pout on his face ruined any illusion of genuine anger in the expression, Leehan and Taesan exchanged fond smiles at the younger's cuteness.
Taesan reached down to ruffle Woonhak's hair, "Calm down, we're only messing with you. Just don't go running off like that again, alright?"
Leehan watched Woonhak bat half-heartedly at the older's hands as he stood up. He glanced at Taesan again and felt a strange swooping sensation in the pit of his stomach as he watched the taller male throw his head back, laughing at Woonhak's whiny protests. Leehan shrugged off the odd feeling, putting all his energy into shepherding the two of them towards the front desk so that they could get changed before his mom caught sight of them in their street clothes. Another smile broke out without warning as he listened to the back and forth between Taesan and his cousin, now arguing about something music-related that Leehan only barely understood.
Maybe it wouldn't be so bad having some extra company these last couple of weeks before heading back to school.
~
Ok, he was going to take that back. It had only been a week and Leehan was ready to throw his two "guests" into the ocean at the earliest opportunity.
Leehan and Woonhak had grown up together, practically glued at the hip throughout their childhood and teen years when they spent summers and holidays together. Even with their two-year age difference they were close to the point that they were more like brothers than cousins which was something Leehan treasured immensely. Woonhak was funny, considerate and cute but he was also loud, mischievous and annoying in that very specific little brother type of way. Leehan loved him a lot but sometimes—
Woonhak's loud voice pierced the air, "Ah— HYUUUUNNNG!! Why are you like this?!"
Leehan watched as Taesan chased Woonhak around the backyard with a gleeful smirk stretched across his face. What had begun as the three of them attempting to teach Koni some new tricks had devolved into mass anarchy after the first couple of hours when Taesan had gotten bored and started teasing Woonhak that he was doing it wrong, to which Woonhak had thrown a tantrum in response. Now it had somehow become a strange game of tag between the two of them that the younger was obviously losing at badly, especially once Taesan had grabbed the hose and proceeded to start soaking the defenceless Woonhak with reckless abandon. Leehan had left them to it, retreating to the relative safety of the porch to watch the chaos unfold. Even Koni was staring at them like he was questioning the pair's sanity as he watched them run around from where he was lounging in the shade underneath Leehan's chair.
Leehan blew out a heavy breath, burying his face in his hands as exasperation threatened to overwhelm him. His head was hurting and throwing them in the ocean was definitely starting to sound more and more appealing the longer their little game went on. It wasn't Woonhak's general Woonhak-ness that was getting to him really though this past week had felt like he was dealing with ten Woonhaks all concentrated into one Super Woonhak who seemed bent on destroying Leehan's eardrums with the decibel levels he'd been reaching lately. He peered from between his fingers to glance at Taesan's face again watching the way his profile caught in the sun while he laughed at Woonhak's whining, the silver hoops in his ears catching in the light.
In truth, the source of Leehan's frustration lately had been Taesan.
He was still the charismatic, confident Taesan that Leehan had observed from a distance at school but in the past few days Leehan had seen a different side of the older that he'd never expected. Whether it was just because of Woonhak's inherently teasable nature (Leehan himself was guilty of goading the younger over the years because he was cute when he threw tantrums) or something else entirely, Leehan had witnessed firsthand just how playful Taesan was capable of being. He was never mean but he seemed to relish in the chaos his teasing caused. Leehan wouldn't mind it normally, eager to have a partner in raining that particular brand of affection on his beloved cousin, but Taesan's teasing didn't stop at just Woonhak— he had started doing it with Leehan too.
The way things were going Leehan was beginning to wonder if Taesan perhaps enjoyed teasing him more than he did Woonhak.
It had started with stuff like playful mimicries of Leehan's accent— which was always more prominent after he spent extended time in his hometown— stealing his favorite gummies and other relatively innocent things like that. But now it had become something more and Leehan didn't know how to deal with it. Firstly Taesan was calling him handsome all the time— which Leehan thought was ironic since Taesan had a face card that most celebrities would kill for— and more than once it had made Leehan blush despite himself which would only encourage Taesan. Whenever Taesan caught sight of the pink tint to his cheeks he would start calling him pretty and cute with this smug, too-charming smirk on his face that never failed to fluster Leehan even further.
Taesan was also far more physically affectionate than Leehan could have ever imagined him to be. He could recall seeing him with Jaehyun and Riwoo around campus, always fighting off Jaehyun's exuberant affections with a look of fond annoyance on his face, so he'd figured that Taesan just wasn't the type to engage in skinship. Evidently he'd been wrong because it seemed like Taesan was constantly touching him. Always ruffling his hair, throwing an arm over his shoulders, crowding up against his back so that he could look over him to see what he was up to… Leehan had never blushed so much in his life and Taesan was obviously enjoying every single second of it.
If he had to narrow it down to when Taesan's teasing had taken on its newer more affectionate edge, he would say it was after the third morning of Taesan and Woonhak's stay at his house.
The night of Taesan and Woonhak's arrival his mom had told him to not bother helping at the jjimjilbang for the rest of the summer. She'd insisted despite his protests that she wanted him to enjoy the time off to relax and have some fun before he went back to school and his mom rarely took no for an answer so he knew there was no point in pushing the issue further. They had taken advantage of Leehan's newfound free time and had been going out every day. Another bonus to not having to go to the jjimjilbang was that it gave him the opportunity to sleep in, a luxury he hadn't been able to indulge in in a while. And that is how the… incident had occurred.
It was almost 11AM when Leehan had finally risen for the day and he'd wandered out into the hallway still half-asleep only to run practically face-first into Taesan's bare chest, the taller man having also just recently risen from his bed in the spare room. The memory of Taesan's warm skin and how hard his muscles felt under his hands when he'd instinctively reached up to catch himself was burned into Leehan's mind in excruciating detail. He could remember the way Taesan's strong hands had grabbed him by the waist to steady him, how deep and husky his voice had sounded after just waking up when he'd asked Leehan if he was okay. Most of all, Leehan couldn't forget how hard his heart had started pounding at being that close to Taesan after so long of passing by each other at a distance like ships in the night.
As Leehan got lost further in his thoughts he was unaware as a pair of sharp eyes lingered on him from across the yard. He barely even noticed Koni leaving the cool comfort of his resting spot to go inspect Woonhak's body now sprawled out in the grass under one of the trees, the impromptu game of chase having finally met its end. Before long a large hand was waving itself in front of Leehan's face, jarring him from his stupor, "Yah, what're you staring into space for? You're freaking me out."
Leehan felt electricity trickle down his spine at the familiar tone in Taesan's smooth voice, amused but with a certain softness to it that was never there when he said similar things to Woonhak. A tone that seemed to be reserved for Leehan and Leehan alone.
Leehan stared up at Taesan, taking in the way the older's tall frame was haloed by the late afternoon sunshine. His hair was messy thanks to the sunglasses that he'd pushed up onto the top of his head and the shoulders of the muscle shirt he was wearing were slightly damp— probably from Woonhak attempting revenge on him for the hose— and he leaned forward with his hands tucked into the front pockets of his shorts until he was eyelevel with Leehan. Leehan felt his breath catch in his throat at the sight of him.
Leehan had been terribly aware of how ridiculously attractive Taesan was since freshman year but it was one thing to know that and another altogether to be subjected to the full force of everything that was Han Taesan without any prior preparation or warning. A warm flutter started in his stomach, the feeling not as foreign as Leehan would like it to be. He'd been feeling it for days now since that morning, when Taesan's attention started feeling less playful and more of a weighted thing, heavy with something that Leehan couldn't put a name to. He felt dizzy all of a sudden.
These feelings… What did they mean?
Taesan's easy grin dropped into a frown as his eyes skimmed over Leehan's face, "Hey… Are you alright?" He looked over his shoulder, squinting against the bright sunlight for a second before turning back sharply to stare at Leehan in shock, "Have you been sitting out in the sun like this the whole time without any shade or water? It's over 30 degrees out today you idiot!"
Taesan's tone was harsh but his dark eyes shone with worry, more than Leehan would've expected from someone who hadn't even known Leehan existed before eight months ago. Now that Taesan mentioned it though, Leehan was feeling a bit overheated and not just because of the strange feelings that were stirring inside him. Instead of responding he just blinked slowly up at him for some reason certain that Taesan would understand everything he wasn't saying.
Taesan growled out a curse and reached out to haul Leehan up from the lawn chair, his natural strength making the task easy. His touch was gentle and careful as he wrapped an arm around Leehan's waist to support him when he swayed a little on his feet from the sudden movement, "C'mon let's get you inside."
His tone had softened and Leehan suddenly became conscious of just how much he'd come to like the gentle timbre Taesan's voice. More than he probably should. Leehan let Taesan take most of his weight without a fight, closing his eyes as he inhaled the scent of Taesan's cologne, something fresh and vaguely woody that made Leehan's head spin for reasons that had nothing to do with the heat. Taesan's body was strong and firm and Leehan felt safe, trusting him like it was second nature. When Leehan peeked up through his lashes he could see the tension in Taesan's jaw, the tender concern in his eyes as he kept glancing down to check on him and it felt like his heart was about to fly out of his chest.
Oh, he realized distantly, I think I might like him.