Work Text:
Spirit Springs
The sun had finally gone to rest under the mountains, which meant Jeonghan had already touched the last brush to his face. Perfect, as usual.
There was something about dressing up for clientele who never gave him a second glance after checking in. Being ignored felt somewhat gratifying. If they did notice him, it was mostly to say something backhanded about the service, or wherever happened to be going on in politics. The people who booked here were older, retired folks, mostly.
The only one Jeonghan really wanted to doll himself up for was the hunk who had become a regular at the Inn. He had to duck when he walked through the door and had to put his arms together to fit into the locker room stalls, his golden tanned skin straight out of a stupid TV drama. Jeonghan couldn’t help but ogle—until, of course, when he walked in one day holding his petite girlfriend to his side.
Jeonghan wondered if the aromatic steam that always wafted through the reception room was a good enough excuse for how red his face got watching them both walk past him in matching towels.
Jeonghan calmed himself by taking a whiff of the small, rounded incense stick from the beautiful, blue turquoise bowl by his shabby nametag.
“Gimme the best, sweetheart.” Said an old, pudgy-faced man who appeared in front of the reception desk. Jeonghan hadn’t noticed him walk in. “I need a break after work today.”
Wrinkles lined his face, his appled cheeks spotted and flabby. He was too old to work; they both knew that, but Jeonghan still typed in “Workers' discount” on the receipt. Jeonghan had seen hundreds of these men, apathetic by day, grumpy by night. Jeonghan wasn’t looking for a fight.
“There’s somethin’ fishy about tonight.” Said the old man, his lip contorting into a bad attempt at skepticism. “Too cold. Bound to bring the spirits out.”
“Oh?” Jeonghan replied with feigned interest, silently begging the man to leave the counter and let the growing line behind him pass.
“You be careful now, the howling spirits are vengeful.” He continued, to the irritation of the elderly woman behind him. “They howl before they attack. They’ll kill a sweet girl like you and eat her from the inside out.”
“Right.” Jeonghan frowned; his hair wasn’t that long, surely. “The men’s locker rooms are to the left, the baths are to the right, and extra towels are in the red shelves.”
“Thanks, sweetheart. Don’t let those spirits get you. I like you much more than the girl before you.”
———
Jeonghan scowled as he pulled and tugged at the stupid log that would not fit into the furnace box. He grabbed an ax and was preparing to use the tool to splinter the wood when a voice cut through the ambiance.
“Excuse me?” The voice asked quietly. Jeonghan thought he had closed the staff-only door—apparently not. “Sorry to bother you, but where are the extra towels?”
“Ah?-“ Jeonghan started, turning around with a deeper scowl to see who on Earth thought it was a good idea to follow him into the furnace rooms of all places—
The owner of the voice wore nothing but one of the thin, complimentary towels around his waist, droplets of water ran down his toned body, starting at his forehead and dripping down to kiss his broad chest and bulky arms. His shaggy wet black hair curled around his forehead and nape, and his awkward smile accessorized the look by giving him an unusual mix of hot and soft that made Jeonghan inhale his breath too quickly.
“Towels- um, they’re somewhere.-“ Jeonghan said, jumbling the words and praying the bathhouse steam hadn’t melted his makeup off.
“Oh, thanks.” The man said politely when Jeonghan couldn’t finish his sentence properly. He glanced around the room and squinted, seemingly coming to a realization. “I uh…You’ll have to excuse me, I took my contacts out and didn’t realize this wasn’t part of the facilities.”
“Sure,” Jeonghan said, dumbly, his eyes locked on the man’s incredibly toned abs. “I mean, um, yes, no problem.”
The man’s chuckle was low and amused; it sent a chill up Jeonghan’s spine. Jeonghan got a grip by gripping the handle of the ax and grounding himself back to reality.
Jeonghan recalled checking this man in; he had been wearing a hat and hiding his face. Surely Jeonghan would’ve stared at the desk too if he hadn’t been obscured by fabric.
“You from here?” Jeonghan inquired when the man didn’t immediately leave upon receiving his poor guidance on how to find extra towels. The Inn had a good mix of tourists and locals, but Jeonghan already knew this guy was from out of town.
“No.” The man said, confirming his suspicions. “On a vacation from Seoul.”
“Oh? How long are you staying for?” Jeonghan said, glancing up from his idle axe. The man’s eyes had curved into little crescent moons.
“Ah, long enough.” He said, taking a few steps forward with a cheeky smile. “I saw that old guy going off about howling spirits while talking to you. You’ll be pleased to know he wouldn’t shut up, even in the tubs.”
“Pfft…” Jeonghan felt his lips cracking into a big smile. He needed to be careful, or his grin would split his base. “Oh god. I suppose I should go remind him to be quiet, huh?”
“Nah, he’s long gone now…” The man said, his eyes shining with amusement. “I hear spirits need to go to bed at 8:00 pm sharp.”
Jeonghan wasn’t proud of the silly-sounding snort that escaped his lips; he brought his hand up to cover his mouth, soot from his fingers smudging over his cheek.
The man took a few steps forward and gently wiped the smudge with a towel. Jeonghan had held his breath while dipping his head up a little; the man was taller than he had realized. He had been too distracted by the guy’s ridiculously toned body and handsome face to have noticed or cared.
Jeonghan was about to thank him when he realized the towel was the one that had been covering his waist.
“Ah, sorry.” He said casually, starting to wrap the white cloth back around his nude body until Jeonghan’s hand stopped him.
“You’re screwing with me, no?” Jeonghan breathed, his ears and cheeks no doubt bright red as he kept the guy from fully tying the towel. “You can’t make three mistakes in a row—finding me in the staff only room, not knowing where the towels are despite my routine front desk speech with their location, and now flashing me? Seriously…”
“…It was never my intent to screw with anyone,” The man replied, his eyes wide, and his great cheekbones dusted with pink. “I’m sorry if I’ve offended you, I’m a bit out of my body—jet lagged, frankly.”
“Right, I know that…!” Jeonghan squeaked, recoiling from the brief physical touch and jumping back a few steps as embarrassment smacked him across the face. Of course, the dreamy man wasn’t trying to be as attractive as possible to ruin him. Nobody in this entire bathhouse ever paid him any mind until they needed something. Why would this man be any different?
“The extra towels are in the red shelf, have a good night...!” Jeonghan said through his teeth, darting to the corner hidden by the large bamboo divider, out of view of the man. Jeonghan’s hands were shaking, his breath coming in short bursts as the embarrassment flooded his body. “God, get a grip, Jeonghan.”
“Your name is Jeonghan, then?” The guy asked from behind the thin wall, his voice rough and warm, like the furnace's radiant heat. “I didn’t mean to sound like I wasn’t interested in your advances, Jeonghan…”
Jeonghan felt his heart drop when he realized that the man was still very much there, and also that he had said that last sentence out loud.
Fuck “…Yes, my name is Jeonghan…” said Jeonghan from behind the wall, his heart doing little flips. “I need a minute.”
“I’m Seungcheol, Choi Seungcheol.” The man said with a smile in his voice, “Please, take your time.”
———-
When Jeonghan managed to get his shit together, Seungcheol had said he ought to go.
Jeonghan replayed the interactions again and again over the course of his shift, giving his customers as little thought as they gave him.
“You young people have no sense of respect.” Said the voice of a gangly old woman peering over the front desk. “Girl! Look me in my eyes when I’m speaking to you. Tell me, what did I just ask you for?”
“…” Jeonghan frowned, searching his brain for answers that weren’t there. “Extra towels?”
“No! More talismans around the Inn.” Said the woman with a shrill, cracky voice, her hands going to her bony hips. “The howling spirits could walk right in and take a bath with the amount you have now!”
“I had to fix your awful wind chimes myself! With the way you had them, a spirit would never be scared off by their chimes.” The woman continued, her gray hair falling into her thin, angry eyes. “Do better!”
“Right,” Jeonghan mumbled, his hands going up to brush through his hair after, again, being called a girl—not even a woman, but a silly girl. “I’ll speak to the owner about fixing the talisman.”
“Howling spirits are cruel, they steal objects, howl all night, then rip flesh apart..!!” The woman said, ominously raising her hands above her head. “Do better!”
Jeonghan felt his skin crawl. Did customers always talk about spirits this much? If they did, then he was definitely becoming better at tuning out the obnoxious amount of talking elders generally did.
—-
Seungcheol came back two days later. Two long days that Jeonghan had again replayed their every interaction.
“I’ll take the regular package with extra towels, please,” said Seungcheol with a half smirk that made Jeonghan type in the numbers wrong.
“Right…you’re all set-“ Jeonghan mumbled, avoiding the man’s eyes. “Enjoy your soak.”
“Join me?” Seungcheol inquired simply, the words marching up Jeonhan’s inners and stirring up something.
“I’m on a shift, sorry.” The right thing to say, but Seungcheol didn’t look deterred. Jeonghan grabbed one of the incense sticks from the bowl and took a whiff of it. “I can’t.”
“Please? It’s my last night in town, and I’d love to get to know you.” Seungcheol said, straightforwardly with a smile.
Before Jeonghan could say something stupid like “No”, Boo Seungkwan had slipped behind the counter, taking his place with a little raise of his eyebrow.
“It’s my night to close, Hyung, go ahead.”
———
Jeonghan put his feet into the tub, as slipping in fully felt like too much indulgence. Seungcheol, on the other hand, had his whole body being lapped at by the hot, bubbly spring water.
The wind outside had begun to pick up, making the mood inside the inn even more intimate. Jeonghan held his breath at the thought of this godly man being here with him, of all people. Was this a dream?
“Did you do your makeup tonight?” Seungcheol inquired from halfway across the tub, his eyes half closed. “It looks good.”
Part of Jeonghan wondered if Seungcheol was some sort of spirit or hallucination. He said too much of the right things. Still, the flattery unfortunately went straight to Jeonghan’s head.
“I um…yeah, I did do it tonight…Thank you.” Jeonghan squeaked, a giddy smile creeping up his lips. “So, um. Why did you come from Seoul to here of all places?”
“Ah, just to see some family, mostly,” Seungcheol said, wading over in the water until he was just ripples away from Jeonghan’s knees. “Just a boring salaryman who was finally convinced to take a vacation.”
Jeonghan felt his hands seize up from the nauseating butterflies that overtook his body when Seungcheol got so close. He gripped the wooden boards at the edges of the tub until the pads of his thumbs started to go numb. “Ah- I see…Well, um, are you enjoying your vacation?-“
“Maybe a little too much,” Seungcheol said, a beautiful smile crossing his plump lips as he leaned up into Jeonghan’s face.
“…God,” Jeonghan muttered as a burst of dizzying adrenaline hit his chest. Seungcheol chuckled as Jeonghan sighed a little breath of disbelief and gingerly laid a hand to rest on his steaming, damp shoulder. “Are you real?”
“Want to find out?” Seungcheol grinned, playfully brushing himself further into Jeonghan’s personal space and laying a large steaming hand around his waist.
“God. Yes.” Jeonghan said, too quickly, biting down on his lip until it started to hurt. Seungcheol laughed loudly in response, running a hand slowly down Jeonghan’s waist and starting to slip his fingers under the cotton shirt Jeonghan had worn. Seungcheol’s watch had gotten hot from the steam and felt like a little massage stone in Jeonghan’s side.
Jeonghan aimed for Seungcheol’s lips in a kiss, but the other dodged him, taking the opportunity to start lapping his hot tongue just under Jeonghan’s jawline in electrifyingly subtle strokes. His teeth followed, politely kissing and nipping at the delicate skin around Jeonghan’s neck and collarbone.
The sensations themselves weren’t anything special until Jeonghan realized who was behind them- an ungodly hot and gentle man. Possibly the hottest man Jeonghan had ever seen. From that point on, Jeonghan let himself go, allowing the airy gasps to leave his lips until eventually the hickies started to ache, an unusually gratifying feeling that left Jeonghan hot and bothered.
Just as Jeonghan was preparing to indulge in a whole hell of a lot more of Seungcheol, the atmospheric lights all shut off in one large clink.
Seungcheol’s hand stiffened, he cleared his throat and backed off into the darkness, clearly a bit knocked out of the moment. Jeonghan wanted to whine at the loss of contact.
“Do the lights interrupt often around here?” Seungcheol’s voice asked from the dark, a sad attempt at humor after leaving Jeonghan hanging.
“No,” Jeonghan grumbled, his employee self coming out again, ready to go figure out whatever the hell was wrong with the place now. He brought his legs out of the hot water and began fumbling for the lantern’s switch.
A dim path of lanterns lit the way to the front desk, where Seungkwan had seemingly correctly closed up for the night. Guests generally could stay for about an hour after before leaving. But tonight, based on the silence, Jeonghan guessed there weren’t many stranglers.
Seungcheol had followed from the tub, his towel-dry hot-tub warmed arms settling around Jeonghan’s waist with a gentleness that made him want to melt.
“So? All fixed?” Seungcheol asked in his ear. “In the dark could be fun.”
Jeonghan scoffed, pushing the other off his waist. The gentleness long gone. Unfortunately, as much as Jeonghan wanted to get down in the dark, the lights were acting up in a way Jeonghan had never seen, which made him antsy.
“Easy, tiger,” Jeonghan said, unlocking the small bamboo divider gate and slipping behind the front desk. He habitually reached for an incense stick to calm his nerves, only for his fingers to hit the empty corner of the desk where the turquoise bowl should have been.
“What the…” Jeonghan mumbled, looking under the desk and around the area for his lovely decorative bowl. Jeonghan glanced up, and Seungcheol’s tall figure wasn’t there anymore. He felt a chill go up his spine until Seungcheol’s voice rose up from where he had sat down on the floor.
“What’s wrong, Jeonghan?” Seungcheol inquired from the floor. “You’re jumpy.”
“My incense is gone,” Jeonghan said, pushing his lips out in a cutesy pout that Seungcheol couldn’t even see from his perch on the floorboards. God, Jeonghan, you’re down bad. “I use it to calm my nerves.”
“Maybe your coworker moved it somewhere?” Seungcheol offered, his level voice calming Jeonghan’s nerves.
“Maybe…” Jeonghan mumbled, searching around the cluttered front desk drawers for his incense.
Jeonghan was halfway through pulling the copious amounts of stationery out of the drawers when a horrid, high-pitched howl cut through the room. Seungcheol stood immediately, his head snapping towards the front door where the sound had come from.
Jeonghan’s nervous system decided that whatever that was would definitely eat him for lunch. He felt his stomach clench in primal fear.
“What in hell was that?…” Seungcheol muttered, instinctively getting a hint closer to the desk where Jeonghan was standing. “You got wolves around these parts?”
“We’re in a city…” Jeonghan replied with a sigh, unable to tell if the other was kidding or not. Besides, even if they did have wolves, no wolf's howl was that pitchy. Jeonghan knew the sound of hunting wolves well, thanks to his silly, outdated nature documentary series that his old white Sony TV automatically turned on to. “There are no animals around here besides raccoons…and they don’t make that god-awful sound.”
“Maybe it’s the howling spirits of the elders…” Seungcheol said with a little teasing grin. “They knew we were messing around.”
Jeonghan paused. What had that first old lady said? First things go missing…
Jeonghan reached subconsciously for his little blue incense bowl, only to hit the empty corner of the desk again.
“…Jeonghan?” Seungcheol mumbled uncertainly when Jeonghan didn’t reply. “You don’t actually…think it’s spirits, do you?”
“There’s nothing that makes noises like that,” Jeonghan said, gripping onto the desk and looking at Seungcheol. “A-and that elderly lady said things go missing before the spirits start howling.”
Just as Seungcheol started to look more and more unsettled, Jeonghan caught himself. What was he saying??
“Shit. Now you think I’m crazy,” Jeonghan groaned, turning away from the man to catch his breath.
Seungcheol let himself into the small space behind the front desk and closed the little bamboo gate. Then he fought to meet Jeonhan’s eyes to give him a little reassuring smirk. “Please, you’d think I’m off my meds if you heard any of my alien conspiracies.”
Jeonghan snorted. Just like that, he wanted to kiss Seungcheol. He let his hands slither up the other’s still bare torso and rest on his stupidly defined jawline. “You should come back here for your next vacation….”
“Funny, I was just thinking about how to get some paid time off…” Seungcheol smiled, wrapping a cheeky hand around Jeonghan’s waist. “Do you allow dogs in the hot baths?”
Jeonghan blinked, taken out of the moment by Seungcheol’s bluntly serious question about pets.
“Eh?- I mean, no, but they can stay in the waiting rooms…” Jeonghan said, watching Seungcheol nod thoughtfully.
“Sorry, I’m a doggy dad,” Seungcheol said bashfully upon realizing his hands were still intimately on Jeonghan’s waist. “Her name’s Kkuma…”
Jeonghan’s heart did a little flip as he laughed softly, brushing some non-existent dust off of Seungcheol’s shoulder to avoid meeting his eyes. “No problem…You’re adorable- I mean- she’s adorable- I mean sorry-“
“I mean- bring her when you come back. Please.”
Seungcheol probably had a fat smirk on his lips, and Jeonghan refused to look up until the other brushed their noses together.
“Will do.”
Jeonghan closed his eyes and leaned in for their kiss, only to freeze milliseconds apart as another much louder howl tore through the room. Seungcheol tensed and looked back up at the door, his discomfort obvious.
Another howl echoed through the room, loud enough for the bamboo shutters to shake. Two more, followed by another. Suddenly, Jeonghan wished he had fixed those talismans. He gripped onto Seungcheol, who had visibly started to look around for something.
“What was the order that the old lady told you these hauntings go in?” Seungcheol asked, his bushy brows contorted in a frown. His hands left Jeonghan’s waist to search around them, the loss of contact making Jeonghan even more anxious.
“How’d you know she told me a sequence?” Jeonghan blinked, dumbfounded.
“You said she said first things go missing,” Seungcheol said, glancing around the desk. “I figured there was more that happened after.”
“Oh,” Jeonghan mumbled, duh. “First things go missing, then the spirits start howling, then they…”
“Yeah?” Seungcheol asked, pausing his sudden search when Jeonghan stopped talking.
“Um. She said then they rip your flesh apart.” Jeonghan said, barely audibly. “What are you looking for?…”
“My watch is gone,” Seungcheol said, a frown on his lips. “It’s waterproof, so I wore it in the baths.”
Another howl sent both of them scurrying back into the dimly lit, more sheltered hot-bath room.
Seungcheol seemed to catch himself. He grabbed his shirt and boxers from the hook and tossed them on, while Jeonghan vehemently looked away. The white towel fell to the floor, so Seungcheol picked it up and hung it back on the hooks.
“I’m going to go find whatever our noise maker is,” Seungcheol said, his eyes narrowed, clearly a bit pissed from being knocked out of a couple of steamy moments. “Can you try to find our belongings?”
Jeonghan figured Seungcheol only gave him a task to help his nerves, which admittedly was very sweet. Just as Jeonghan was going to protest Seungcheol marching out into the dark, the other pressed a little half kiss onto his cheek and then did a little “be back soon” hand gesture while walking out of the room.
Jeonghan got himself together and out of the flush the kiss had sent him in, and then began searching around for their belongings as he had been asked to do.
Another howl shook the building; this one was definitely the loudest yet. Jeonghan felt himself freeze up in panic. What if the spirits had gotten Seungcheol? Jeonghan grabbed a couple of the decorative talismans from the front desk as well as the ax from the furnace room before running out the front door and looking around for Seungcheol in a panicked haze.
Another terrible howl rang out from the left before being cut in half and ebbing into nothing. Jeonghan blinked as he watched Seungcheol step out of the foliage from the sidelines, holding the wind chimes in his clenched fists.
“These were upside down and catching the wind wrong,” Seungcheol said, meeting Jeonghan’s eyes with a smile of slight disbelief. “They were also pointed at the hollow bamboo walls, that’s why it got so loud and echoed.”
“…For fucks sake,” Jeonghan scoffed, putting his fingers to his temples and recalling the other things that the elderly woman had said. “That old lady told me she rearranged them.”
Seungcheol laughed, the sound cutting the fear out of the air instantly. “Did you find our stuff?”
“No…” Jeonghan mumbled, “I was too busy being terrified that spirits wanted to rip my flesh apart.”
Seungcheol laughed again, and Jeonghan couldn’t help but join him.
——-
Seungcheol’s watch had been sitting at the bottom of the hot bath, falling off during their messing around.
Jeonghan had tried to pull Seungcheol back into the pool to get that kiss he had been waiting for all night.
Unfortunately, Seungcheol received an urgent call saying Kkuma, his dog, had gotten sick and needed some immediate care. Seungcheol had therefore decided to fly out that night instead of in the morning.
He had left so quickly that Jeonghan had needed a good few minutes of sitting by the side of the hot bath and staring at the stupid wind chimes to recover his thoughts.
Jeonghan pulled his clothes off and slipped into the hot water, the warmth enough to comfort him for the moment. Maybe Seungcheol would stay true to his words and come back, or maybe that was the last time they’d meet.
Jeonghan hoped for the first scenario.
————-
Jeonghan fiddled with the little turquoise bowl on his desk, dreamily smiling while thinking about how stressed he and Seungcheol had been over it. Seungkwan had taken it for a cleaning on the premise that it was an eyesore when covered in ash. That was why it had gone missing.
Stupid wind chimes, stupid bowl…
“I’d like the package with extra towels, extra talisman, and the front desk boy, please.” Said a level voice from in front of the counter. Jeonghan was so spaced out that he didn’t register the words until he realized there was no button for talisman on the screen.
Standing in front of him, holding a wiggling white fluffy dog, was none other than the one and only Choi Seungcheol.
Seungcheol grinned at his surprise and gave the dog a few pets. “Sorry for leaving so suddenly. Kkuma needed my help.”
Jeonghan was at a loss for words, but the sweet dog helped a little. Jeonghan smiled and reached forward to pet the famous Kkuma. Seungcheol took advantage and leaned in to press a kiss on Jeonghan’s cheek. “Forgive me? I promise to help you fight off the next batch of spirits”
Jeonghan scoffed as his hand went up to his face, cheeks already hurting from smiling. “Deal, but only because your dog is cute.”
—————