Chapter Text
Jihoon was used to waking up in a god forsaken hour of the day because they needed to go on rounds. They had to check their stores, their territory, making sure that no one was messing in it, messing with the family.
What he never got used to, however, was waking up to Soonyoung’s face a few centimeters close to his.
Over the years (yes, years), he learned to control his reaction, his feelings waking up to a narrow-eyed, too fucking close face holding a smile. After a few tries, he learned not scream once he opened his eyes. He sighed instead, blaming the redness of his cheeks on the heat because Soonyoung was too fucking close. (That was one thing he never quite learned to control, unfortunately.)
“Up and at ‘em, Ji!” Soonyoung said, as he ran a hand down Jihoon’s face. Jihoon scrunched his face and turned, his back facing Soonyoung. He pulled the blanket over his head and curled underneath it. It was too early to deal with Soonyoung, damn it.
“Ji, we gotta go do the rounds. Cheol-hyung and Junhui need to accompany Mingyu.”
“ Again ?” Jihoon grumbled, his voice muffled through the blankets and rough for using it the first time that morning.
Soonyoung pulled the blanket off of Jihoon, who couldn’t grip it tight enough in time. Jihoon scrunched his eyes tighter and curled into himself further. “Go away!”
“Nope, sorry, can’t do that, Ji.” Jihoon shivered when Soonyoung’s breath tickled his ear. Fuck Soonyoung for not knowing the meaning of personal space.
A hand ran through his hair, half petting and half combing. Jihoon released a soft sigh in satisfaction because that felt damn good. He felt soft lips press quickly against his cheek and his eyes snap open. Jihoon shot up, one hand holding the kissed cheek. He turned his body to face Soonyoung. His eyes were wide, staring at Soonyoung like he just grew another head.
Soonyoung smiled softly, and shrugged.
“I told you to stop doing that,” Jihoon said, rubbing his eyes. There was no use going back to sleep, not when his heart was beating too noisily, and too rapidly. He scooted forward to the edge of the bed, feet trying to reach the floor. Soonyoung didn’t move. Just smiled at him, looked at him as if he was the most endearing thing in the world.
Jihoon stopped himself from biting his lower lip, because that would mean being affected by Kwon Soonyoung. Lee Jihoon cannot be affected by Kwon Soonyoung. No matter how attractive and in love his face looked.
So Jihoon placed his hand flat on Soonyoung’s forehead and pushed. Soonyoung toppled over the edge of the bed with a loud sounding crash. Jihoon refused to look at or help him, even as he stepped over Soonyoung. Soonyoung groaned, holding the back of his head and turning over to curl in himself. He reached out for Jihoon, but only heard the door closing with a slam.
Breathing out a defeated laugh, he turned onto his back again and placed his reaching hand on his forehead instead. He closed his eyes, and counted slowly to ten. He opened his eyes, inhaled again, then sat up. With new determination, Soonyoung stood up and walked out of Jihoon’s bedroom.
He walked into a particularly normal scene. Junhui and Seungcheol placed plates, chopsticks and spoons on everyone’s seats, passing around each other fluidly when reaching for the pitcher of water or the bowl of soup. Jeonghan sat in the living room, watching television with Mingyu’s head on his lap. Jihoon, as always, was nowhere to be found.
Soonyoung turned to Seungcheol who caught his gaze. Seungcheol nodded his head, pointing his chin to the bathroom door across the room. He turned around and saw Mingyu and Jeonghan’s arms raised, a finger pointing at the door. Soonyoung tucked his chin, but smiled shyly at how the rest of the family could read him so well.
Undeterred, Soonyoung made his way to the door and knocked in a very annoying beat.
“Jihoonie, time for breakfast!” He cooed, ignoring the way Jeonghan and Mingyu suddenly made their way to the dining room.
Soonyoung knocked again, repeatedly calling Jihoon’s name through the door. “Alright already, I’ll get out in a minute! For the love of--” Sending a triumphant smile, Soonyoung walked back to the dining room. He happily sat down on an empty chair left for the two of them.
Jihoon emerged from the bathroom, hair still damp and a towel around his shoulders. His skin was pink due to the hot water and steam. He froze a few steps closer to the table when he noticed that the only chair left available was the chair between the wall and Soonyoung.
“C’mon, Ji,” Seungcheol said, obviously struggling not to smile. Jihoon glared, ignoring the empty chair and made way to Mingyu who sat in-between Jeonghan and Seungcheol. Mingyu looked up at him with noodles hanging from his mouth.
“Come on, Jihoon,” Seungcheol said again, a little more serious but still having an underlying teasing tone to it.
“Mingyu’s already eating. Please just sit down on the empty chair.” Jeonghan piped up, handing a bowl to Soonyoung.
“We have to leave in a while,” Junhui continued when Jihoon did not move. “And I really think you shouldn’t treat Mingyu like that just because he’s the youngest. We were assigned to protect him, after all.”
Jihoon pouted unknowingly because he was second youngest among all of them, and Mingyu was the heir to one of the strongest mafia families in Seoul. If anything, he was the most powerless one.
“I’ll eat later.” Jihoon said curtly. He began to walk back to his room when a hand grabbed his wrist and pulled him to sit on the open chair. He blinked, his body stiff and eyes wide at the change of viewpoint. He looked at the hand on his wrist and followed the length of the arm. It took him a few seconds to register that it was connected to Soonyoung.
“Eat.” Soonyoung said, and Jihoon felt a number of emotions that he didn’t understand. “We’re going on patrol.” The tone was short, curt, very rarely used by Soonyoung. Jihoon frowned down at his wrist with Soonyoung’s hand still holding it. When Jihoon looked at the others around the table, they were all eating as if neither he nor Soonyoung existed.
Growling, Jihoon yanked his wrist back but turned his body to face the table. The smell wafted to his nose and his stomach clenched in hunger. He grabbed his chopsticks and began stuffing his face.
He refused to acknowledge Soonyoung’s knowing smile. They all ate in silence, the only noise coming from the television Jeonghan left turned on. At the corner of his eye, Jihoon noticed Soonyoung smiling at him while eating. The moment he actually turned his head a fraction, he caught Soonyoung’s gaze and coughed.
The sauce flowed up his nose, the noodles going down the wrong way. He turned to the wall to avoid coughing in front of Junhui and the food. He wheezed, pounded his chest, coughed, and reached for a glass of water. Luckily, it was handed to him. He drank while coughing once, twice, before he calmed down long enough to swallow. Soonyoung held his wrist again, the one holding the empty glass. He pulled it to him, stretching Jihoon’s arm, and filled it again with water. Slowly, he pushed the hand Jihoon was using to hold the glass back to him.
Soonyoung turned back to the table, placing the pitcher between them carefully, before he continued eating, as if nothing happened at all. Jihoon’s face was red from the incident, he told himself as he drank the glass of water practically filled to the brim, cupping the glass with two hands instead.
His face was red because of the incident, he told himself again, resolutely ignoring the warm, comforting, and slightly damp hand rubbing circles on his back. Not because it was Soonyoung’s.
Abso-fucking-lutely. Not.