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‘‘Surprise attack !’’
That was the only warning he got before his overexcited boyfriend jumped on him, making them both fall into the snow.
Of course, Taeui still being a caring fool, he had put his gloved hand behind Ilay’s head to protect him from any impact and had done his best to fall beside Ilay and not on top of him.
Not that it would stop Ilay from teasing him a bit.
‘‘I wasn’t aware that your goals had changed, are you perhaps trying to kill me ?’’
‘‘Don’t be like that ! I was careful and the snow is definitely thick enough to cushion our fall.’’, he answered, pouting.
‘‘But you didn’t make sure about rocks hiding under it, did you ?’’
There was no rock.
Ilay was fine.
But he still let the statement hang in the air, watching Taeui’s expression morph into one of horror. Something a really fucked-up part of him immensely enjoyed as it showed, once again, that Taeui cared.
‘‘As compensation, you should kiss me.’’
Taeui instantly glared. ‘‘You really scared me !’’, he huffed, pissed, as he lightly slapped Ilay’s chest.
Ilay smirked, grabbing Taeui’s arm to pull him on his lap. ‘‘I still want to be compensated.’’
Taeui pouted, still glaring, before he seemed to have an idea, something made obvious by the way his expression became more neutral before he smiled sweetly (read : mischievously).
He leaned down, before pushing Ilay’s bangs back and kissing him on the forehead.
When he sat up, he seemed awfully proud of himself.
‘‘That’s not what I asked.’’
‘‘You asked me to kiss you.’’
‘‘Not here.’’
‘‘You didn’t give me any indication on where I was supposed to kiss you.’’
‘‘I want you to snog me.’’
That made Taeui pause.
‘‘You’re really shameless.’’
He only smirked in answer.
Before Taeui could do anything, a voice called them.
‘‘Kids ! Lunch is ready !’’
‘‘Coming !’’, Taeui shouted back.
Smirking, he only gave Ilay a small peck on the lips before standing up and walking towards the chalet, leaving Ilay in the snow.
Ilay got up with a sigh not long after, intending on joining the family.
Since the beginning of their relationship, it wasn’t the first time Ilay was invited to spend the holidays with the Jeong’s. Taeui had already brought him along twice when going to visit his parents.
The difference was that this time, they had left the city for what Taeui had called their ‘Annual Snowy Mountain Trip’.
He was told that twice a year, the family rented a chalet (the location didn’t really matter) and they went on a trip in winter to ski, hike in the snow and build snow forts (again, according to Taeui).
The other trip happened in summer, during which they liked to hike and flee the really harsh heat of the city for two weeks.
When Taeui had asked his parents if Ilay could come along on their traditional winter trip, there had been no refusal. The only person who had complained was Jaeui, who had spent the whole journey glaring at Ilay.
Quite surprisingly, Taeui’s parents didn’t really seem to mind him and his ‘quirks’ (Taeui and him hadn’t told them much, of course). The only issue they had seemed to have was with calling Ilay Rick or Riegrow, something that hadn’t been a problem for long since now (with his agreement), they had settled on calling him ‘Dear’ or ‘Son’.
Jaeui had tried calling him ‘Fucker’ when that conversation happened, something he had quickly dropped when everyone else around the table had glared at him.
At present, Ilay didn’t make it further than the entrance since Taeui was blocking the way while his mother helped him get rid of the snow in his hair, complaining about the filth he had almost brought inside the house.
When she seemed satisfied, she left, but not without sending Ilay a warning glance.
He blinked, surprised by the disguised threat as Taeui laughed softly, turning back to him.
‘‘Lower your head a bit, I’ll help you before my mother kills you for bringing snow in the house.’’
‘‘And here I thought I was safe.’’ He sighed. ‘‘It seems this whole family wants me dead…’’
Taeui only snorted as he removed the snow from Ilay’s hair.
When he seemed satisfied, Taeui let him go so they could remove their shoes and hang their cloaks, their gloves having already been thrown next to the cloak rack.
The table was already set and they were even already served when they finally made it to the dining room.
As they entered, Taeui’s mother gave them a quick once over, checking them for snow as she frowned in suspicion, before nodding as her usual smile reappeared on her face.
Truly a terrifying woman.
Once he was done with his meal, Taeui’s father changed position so his chin was leaning on his hands while his elbows rested on the table. The typical dramatic position for a mastermind, which was what he seemed to be aiming for as he started talking.
‘‘I believe you all already know what your mission today is.’’
The three others nodded, looking ridiculously serious.
Ilay wasn’t in on the joke.
‘‘May I ask what this is about ?’’, he tried.
Taeui’s father only looked at him before announcing. ‘‘You will know soon enough.’’
Under the table, he felt Taeui squeeze his thigh in reassurance.
Not that he was scared.
Just a bit annoyed that he was still excluded from something Taeui was in.
He still moved his leg to touch Taeui’s knee with his as a ‘Thank you’.
The big mission of the afternoon was building snow forts.
Taeui had told him that when they rented a chalet, they always built snow forts during one of the first afternoons after their arrival, the earlier the better (which depended on the time of arrival and weather).
According to his adorable boyfriend they usually tried to keep it for the remaining of their stay in case of emergency snowball fights.
This year, considering the three students had only arrived the previous evening, the snow forts were built the second day afternoon.
‘‘Should we build three castles this year since Taeui brought someone ?’’, their mother had asked before anyone began.
‘‘Yes, I refuse to be on his team.’’, Jaeui had answered.
So they built three, it took them around an hour to build the ‘walls’ and general form of the forts in the garden, after which Ilay spent an awfully long time being nagged by Taeui because of his ‘terrible taste in decoration’.
They were adding details to the rampart. Probably the least beautiful part of a castle considering it was only built to be functional.
The rest of the afternoon was spent in a similar way, when they were done with the details, they ‘tested’ the forts’ resistance with a snowball fight.
Ilay won after having chased Taeui around for a good five minutes and kidnapping him (carrying the smaller man in his fort).
The threat of his little brother with Ilay had been enough for Jaeui to surrender despite his earlier victory over his own parents.
The family then decided that they needed guards to protect their forts from the enemy. So they built snowmen in front of every fort door.
Ilay also won the snowball fight that they had to ‘test the guards’ ability to protect the forts’.
To end the afternoon, Taeui’s dad made hot chocolate that they sipped on while playing card games.
When he grabbed Taeui’s arm and made his sit on his lap, Jaeui shot him a dirty look. ‘‘How will you be able to play without cheating if you can see his cards ?’’
‘‘I don’t know the rules, I will learn by watching Taeui play.’’, he had lied.
Taeui's parents only nodded in understanding while Jaeui seemed ready to fight, probably having seen through his lie.
As for Taeui he turned his head and kissed his cheek. ‘‘You know the rules don’t you ?’’, he murmured in Ilay’s ear, an amused smile on his lips.
He smirked in answer, giving Taeui’s hips a gentle squeeze.
—————
There were two floors in the chalet : a ground floor, on which were a living room, leading to the snowy garden, a kitchen, a bedroom, a bathroom and toilets. On the second floor, there were three other bedrooms with balconies, a bathroom and toilets.
Taeui and Ilay had taken the bedroom downstairs after Jaeui had argued that, considering all the rumors surrounding Ilay’s libido, he most definitely didn’t want to sleep in a bedroom situated under or next to theirs.
He had seemed particularly disgusted when Taeui had flushed bright red without denying anything.
That meant that they almost had a bathroom only for themselves. A fact Ilay had quickly taken advantage of by offering Taeui to take a shower together in order to ‘save water’.
They, of course, didn’t really save water considering they ended up taking two showers, the second one being necessary to clean themselves once Ilay was done.
That evening, when Taeui stumbled while trying to walk to the dinner table, Jaeui took a knife, mentioning that if he wanted to get rid of a weapon harming his brother, he needed to wield one himself.
After that day, Taeui didn’t let Ilay touch him in that way, explaining that he needed to be able to stand on his own two legs if they were doing physical activities the following day like skiing or hiking. And while deeply annoyed, Ilay respected his wish.
—————
For five consecutive mornings, they enjoyed skiing, stopping in the afternoon because half-day packages were much less expensive.
When he heard that, Ilay first offered to pay for full-day packages but everyone stopped him.
Taeui’s mother explained that yes, the price was an issue, but also that there were much less people in the morning and that they were often tired in the afternoon which meant that they didn’t have as much fun as they did earlier in the day.
He was still thanked for his generosity by Taeui’s mother and Taeui himself, who rewarded him with a kiss.
Taeui and Ilay spent most afternoons alone, Jaeui sometimes accompanying them as they went sledding down a nice slope they had found near the chalet. One that wouldn’t lead them right down a ditch.
They always made sure to come back on time for hot chocolate and card games, although Ilay was now forced to play by himself, which made cuddling with Taeui quite difficult.
A fact Jaeui really seemed to enjoy.
—————
A few days after they returned the ski equipment they had rented, Jaeui offered to go watch the stars at night since they weren’t as tired as they had been coming back from skiing.
Ilay didn’t miss the way the man smirked at him when he said this.
Fool.
Wanting the other man to understand he had already lost, Ilay smirked back, snaking his arm around Taeui’s waist and pulling him flush against his chest.
That had the intended effect as Jaeui visibly paled, finally noticing his brother’s small eyebags.
Because of his tiredness, Taeui was the first who went to sleep that night.
They were all laying in the snow, looking at the stars, when the hand in Ilay’s hair stopped moving.
Sitting up, he saw Taeui’s eyes closed, his expression relaxed as he rested.
Ilay felt himself smile at the adorable sight.
He got up, brushing the snow off his clothes before picking up Taeui bridal-style. ‘‘I’ll tuck him in.’’, he told the family.
‘‘We will probably stay here for a while, so don’t hesitate to come back, dear.’’, Taeui’s mother answered.
He nodded, a gesture that was probably left unseen considering the darkness surrounding them, before he left for the house.
Taeui only stirred when Ilay started changing him into his pajamas. ‘‘I wanna sleep.’’, he slurred, weakly pushing Ilay’s hand away.
Ilay snorted. ‘‘So you want to sleep in these clothes ?’’
Taeui blinked before he let his arm fall backdown. ‘‘Just don’t do it.’’, he mumbled, already drifting back into sleep.
During the two minutes that it took him to change Taeui into more adapted clothes, Taeui didn’t move much, only opening is eyes to weekly glare in suspicion at Ilay every time he touched him ‘in a weird way’.
Once he was done, he sat down next to his boyfriend, who chose to hold his hand as his other ran through the brown strands of hair.
When the hold on his hand weakened, he kissed the other on the forehead before deciding to accept the earlier invitation and going back to the rest of the family to look at the stars.
This time, the twins’ parents took advantage of his lover’s absence to share embarrassing and cute stories about him in his childhood.
He thus learnt about his boyfriend’s habit to ‘make people pay in the way they had done wrong’, which somehow translated into biting the fingers of the person who ate the last cookie or piece of cake, when he was a child.
He also learnt about his habit to try to catch bugs when he was a kid, which was how he had one day brought a dragonfly, bigger than the little hands that had managed to bring it home. His parents had apparently spent a good twenty-minutes trying to get it out of the house.
Taeui’s father talked too about how Taeui had cried for half-an-hour the first time he tried to catch a lizard by its tail and the tail detached itself from its body. They had had a hard time explaining that, no, Taeui hadn’t killed the lizard, and that yes, another tail would grow so the lizard could be happy.
On their way back, Ilay was told that when he was eight, Taeui had come back one day from school explaining that he would get married to the prettiest person ever, and considering that their mother was the prettiest girl, then he would marry a boy.
This happened way before anyone in the family learnt about Taeui being gay, probably before Taeui even knew it too.
When they finally reached the house, Ilay was already stepping inside when Jaeui froze behind him. ‘‘Is Taeui in your room ?’’, he asked, worry evident in his voice.
Ilay turned around, confused, only to see Taeui’s parents, faces pale, hurriedly entering the house.
‘‘He isn’t in his room !’’, his mother shouted from the corridor.
‘‘He isn’t in the bathroom or toilets either.’’, his father said, walking towards them. ‘‘Jaeui, stay here, we’ll go looking fro him.’’
‘‘What is happening ? Where is Taeui ?’’, Ilay asked, already feeling his heart beat faster.
‘‘Taeui sleepwalks. And there are footprints outside the house.’’, Jaeui answered.
Footprints. The very ones he had ignored when he came in, expecting those to be from this afternoon, when Taeui and him had gone to take a walk in the forest.
He started running, following the prints.
For way too long, nothing seemed to indicate Taeui’s presence. No sound, no movement, nothing.
That was until a figure appeared in the distance.
‘‘TAEUI !’’
It looked like he hadn’t heard him. Which was quite surprising considering he had shouted as loud as he could to be certain to catch his attention.
Finally reaching him, he grabbed his boyfriend by the shoulders to stop him from moving further. ‘‘Taeui.’’
There still wasn’t any reaction from the brunet apart from a small ‘‘Not here.’’
He gave Taeui a once over, trying to assess Taeui’s state, and cursed, instantly picking Taeui up, when he noticed that the smaller man was barefoot in the snow.
Still panting, he started walking back with Taeui in his arms.
He met Taeui’s parents halfway. His father sent him a startlingly familiar smile when he saw Taeui in his arms, while his mother simply let out a small laugh. ‘‘I’ll call Jaeui so he can stop worrying.’’
Once they reached the chalet, he barely remembered to bid everyone a goodnight before tucking Taeui in (after he put socks on him to try to warm up his freezing feet) and preparing to go to sleep in a record time.
He didn’t let Taeui out of his sight once he came back in the bedroom, hugging him tightly in case he tried to go away.
Not after this rollercoaster of emotions.
The next morning he woke up when he felt Taeui trying to remove the arms surrounding him.
He tightened his hold on his boyfriend. ‘‘Where do you think you’re going ?’’, he asked, not even bothering to open his eyes.
‘‘The toilets, I really don’t want to dirty the sheets.’’, Taeui blankly stated, seeming much more aware than he had been last night.
Ilay let him go.
When Taeui came back in their room, Ilay only gave him time to get dressed before roping him into a hug.
He kissed Taeui’s hair. ‘‘You didn’t tell me you had somnambulism attacks.’’
Taeui lifted his head, settling his chin against Ilay’s chest. ‘‘I had one ?’’. He looked surprised. ‘‘Since it’s been about seven years since my last one, I just assumed it stopped and I’d never have one again.’’ He smiled, leaning up to kiss Ilay. ‘‘Sorry if I scared you.’’
Ilay sighed. ‘‘You don’t take your health seriously enough.’’, he grumbled, pinching Taeui’s cheek.
At the breakfast table, more stories about Taeui as a child came.
‘‘Taeui used to sleepwalk a lot when he was younger. There were two particular situations where it happened usually.’’, his mother began. ‘‘When he was blamed for something Jaeui did, he usually got up and starting crying about the unfair situation to us. And when he was still sleeping in the same bed as Jaeui and his brother was gone for too long, he usually got up and started looking for him in the house.’’
‘‘So when Taeui and I stopped sharing a room, since I had already stopped doing things he could be blamed for instead of me, he just stopped sleepwalking.’’, Jaeui explained.
Taeui chuckled awkwardly. ‘‘I’m really sorry, I didn’t expect to have another attack.’’
‘‘Well, honestly I’m more surprised to hear it’s the first you’ve sleepwalked since you two started dating.’’, his father said, smiling.
‘‘I rarely leave the bed before him, and when I do I’m usually in the apartment, making a bit of noise. Unless I leave five minutes for a quick errand.’’
Taeui’s mother smiled. ‘‘I see.’’
Later, while Taeui showered, Ilay found himself in the kitchen with the brunet’s parents.
‘‘You know.’’, his dad started, ‘‘You’re the first person he ever brought home.’’
Ilay felt a small rush of pride and happiness at that.
However, it’s not what he focused on when the other man continued. ‘‘Not even friends. It took him quite some time but he ended up telling us that he knew most of them were often more interested in Jaeui than him.’’
The other man smiled at him as Ilay furrowed his brows in confusion. Who the hell would choose Jaeui over Taeui ?
‘‘What I’m trying to say is, please take good care of him. I think you’re trustworthy and my son might be a terrible judge of character but I trust you’ll protect him.’’
Ilay raised an eyebrow in surprise.
Taeui’s mother smiled. ‘‘Jaeui told us about your reputation, while I am a bit worried to learn he’s dating you, you have the means to take care of him, so don’t fuck up.’’
Taeui’s father laughed at his wife’s directness. ‘‘Yes, that, we’ll be at your ass if you do anything wrong.’’
Ilay chuckled in answer. ‘‘I will do my best.’’
—————
The rest of their stay was quite peaceful, the only noteworthy events between snowball fights, hot chocolates and sledding trips, being the two hikes they went on, during which either Taeui or his father carried a sledge up.
‘‘Are you sure it is perfectly safe to go sledding down a mountain, there are quite a few cliffs.’’, he had asked.
Taeui had laughed. ‘‘Hyung isn’t exactly the physical type so we strap him into the sledge and pull him to finish the ascension when he gets tired. The snow is thick enough for that.’’
Watching Jaeui flush bright red in embarrassment as he glared at him when they did do it was one of Ilay’s most satisfying experiences.
Especially when the blush deepened, out of anger, when Ilay went to hold Taeui’s hand now that no one put himself between the two of them.