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Jumin picked a bottle of red, picked up two glasses and walked outside to see his driver waiting patiently. The party had barely ended an hour before and he was already buzzed from the winery owner plying him with different wines all night. He didn’t bother waiting until he reached his destination, opening the bottle with practiced ease and pouring himself a glass.
The car slowed and he squinted out the window, making out the building in front of him. Driver Kim opened his door and he stepped out, dismissing the older man for the night. He made his way to the door and buzzed the correct number. The ringing was starting to hurt his head.
A slightly slurred voice grumbled, “Yeah?”
Jumin didn’t bother for pleasantries, “Let me in, Zen.”
“Jumin?”
“Hm,” Jumin placed his hand on the door, waiting to be buzzed in.
“Why should I let you in?” Zen grumped, though the door buzzed noisily nonetheless. Jumin made his way to the apartment, happy to not have to take an elevator or stairs to reach Zen’s apartment. He knocked with his foot and waited patiently for Zen to open the door.
When Zen did, he looked Jumin over briefly before rolling his eyes and allowing him entry. He had already undressed from his party attire, opting for a set of sweatpants and an undershirt. Jumin had merely taken off his gloves and jacket before he had grabbed the wine and left again.
“What do you want, Jumin? Come to rub it in my face that MC isn’t interested?” Zen asked as he fell back onto his chair, watching Jumin stand awkwardly in middle of his living room.
“Quite the opposite, actually,” Jumin replied, taking a drink of the rich red liquid he had brought. “I’ve come to…” he sniffed haughtily, “ Commiserate with you,” he said as he took a seat beside Zen.
Zen gave him a strange look. “Don’t tell me you had feelings for MC, too?!”
Jumin looked at Zen for a moment and then shook his head. “Don’t be ridiculous,” he said with a scoff. “She rejected my offer to be my Chief Assistant...to...be with...Miss Kang.”
“Just call her Jaehee, man,” Zen said with a sigh. He took a long drink of his beer and said after a moment. “You miss her?”
“Miss...Jaehee?” Jumin inquired. Zen nodded. Jumin swirled the wine he had in the glass thoughtfully. “I miss her good work ethic.”
Zen laughed and said, “Yeah, okay,” as he sprawled out again to be more comfortable.
Jumin glanced at him, “Do you miss her?”
“Who?”
“Jaehee, of course.”
Zen gave him a slightly confused look, “What? She’s never left me?”
Jumin took a long drink straight from the bottle. “I’ve read the chats, you know,” he began, “Over the last few days, her fanaticism for your performances have moved into an appreciation for MC’s existence, hasn’t it?” he questioned. “She’s still your fan, of course, but...she cares more for MC now.”
Zen frowned deeply at him, sitting up to point at him accusatorily. “Did you come here to bum me out more?” he demanded.
Jumin raised an eyebrow at him and said, “Merely stating a fact.”
Zen fell back against the couch cushion with a grumble, “Jerk. Making me sadder…”
Jumin regarded him slightly, squinting in thought as he said, “I apologize if I hurt your feelings by pointing out the obvious.”
Zen stared at him from over his can. Jumin stared back. Zen scoffed and finished off the can in his hand. “What are you doing here? Really?”
“I told you. I’m commiserating,” Jumin replied, taking another drink from the bottle. “They say if you’re with a friend, it isn’t considered alcoholism.”
Zen snorted slightly, looking away from Jumin and shaking his head as he got up from the couch. “I’m getting another beer,” he announced.
Jumin set the glasses he had brought down and leaned against Zen’s couch as well, clutching the bottle to his chest as he looked around the room. It was full of memorabilia from past shows and gigs.
Zen returned with a cold can in one hand and a bag of rice crackers in the other. He paused briefly before sitting down, “Oi, why are you eyeing my poster?”
Jumin pulled his eyes away from the strangely provocative poster and asked, “Do you think if I give that poster to Jaehee, she will return to being my assistant?”
Zen stared at him, a strange look in his eye before he started laughing.
“I’m serious,” Jumin said, barely stopping himself from pouting.
Zen grinned as he wiped a tear away and said, “No.” Jumin sighed and took the bag of rice crackers to munch on. Zen snatched the bag back after he took a few and said, “Get your own snacks.”
-0-0-
Five beers and 3/4s of the bottle later, they were properly on their way to being completely smashed. Zen leaned against his coffee table, sighing forlornly. “It’s not like I even had strong feelings for MC, but...I thought she liked me,” he said as he finished off the last of his beer. “Now it’ll never be…” he wanted to start reciting some lines from a past project that dealt with heartache, but his mind was too foggy to think of the appropriate ones. “At least you’re in the same boat,” he added with a snicker.
Jumin put the bottle of wine on the table and slid off the couch to sit on the floor. "You have a chance with them. They still like you..." he said with what he hoped was an encouraging tone.
Zen snorted and said, “Don't be ridiculous. Neither of them would even look at me in that way anymore...not now that they have each other." He waved dismissively, stopping to stare at his hand for a moment. Shaking his head, he blinked hurriedly at Jumin and asked, “Why did you make Jaehee cut her hair?”
Jumin rolled his eyes, "You're so dense,” he stated as Zen joined him on the floor, leaning on him with a long sigh. “My father prefers long hair. My assistant before Jaehee had long hair, ergo--I asked her to cut it.”
Zen laughed. He looked over at Jumin with a small snort. “Jerk. She had to cut her hair for you...that’s...horrible,” he pulled his own ponytail forward, blinking at it in wonder. “I would never take a job from you if I had to cut my hair,” he said quietly.
Jumin rolled his eyes and said, “I would never ask you to cut your hair.” His hand reached out to pat the long strands of white, watching as it fell from Zen’s hands. It reminded him of Elizabeth 3rd’s fur. “You have lovely fur...I mean hair,” he said quietly.
Zen moved away from leaning against him to give him a strange look. “Did you just call my hair fur? Why wouldn’t I have to cut my hair?”
Jumin blinked slowly at Zen, reaching out to touch the silky hair again. “Don’t be stupid,” he tugged it lightly, not noticing Zen having to move forward with the action. When he looked up from the white hair in his hand, he was very close to Zen. “You’re hardly my father’s type,” he said with a small smirk, hoping the joke would break whatever tension that had built up between them.
Zen swallowed, let out a huffing laugh and said, “Don’t say gross stuff like that…” he didn’t move away, however, as he added, “He’s not my type either.”
Jumin smiled, “I would hope not, or I might just start calling you a gold digger.”
Zen bit back a smile and pulled away, rolling his eyes. “Weren’t you supposed to commiserate with me and not...say gross stuff?” he asked with a small hiccup.
“Ah...right,” Jumin pulled the wine bottle back to him and said, “I need an assistant.”
“How am I supposed to help with that?” Zen asked in exasperation.
Jumin looked thoughtful, though he couldn’t get the urge to keep playing with Zen’s hair to leave his mind. “I don’t know,” he admitted.
Zen took the wine bottle from Jumin and took a sip, making a face at the taste and asked, “What were we talking about again?”
“Jaehee and MC.”
“Right...right-right-right...right…” he sighed. “They look cute together, don’t they?”
“I suppose,” Jumin crinkled his nose, “It is odd to think of Jaehee as cute, though,” he added. Zen snickered. He tried to pry the bottle from Zen’s hands as he pondered, “Why didn’t MC want to be my assistant, though?”
Zen gave him a sidelong look and said, “You’re a tyrant.”
Jumin scrunched his eyebrows together. “I pay well...it’s not my fault I expect the very best from my employees.”
Zen sighed noisily and said, “Money doesn’t solve everything.”
“Do you think if I were nicer, MC or Jaehee will be my assistant?” Jumin pondered.
“No, you have no chance to have either of them,” Zen stated, pulling the bottle of wine back to him. “If MC hadn’t come along, Jaehee probably would’ve worked for you for as long as you would’ve had her, but...that’s just how the world works, sometimes,” Zen said with a pat to Jumin’s shoulder. “You need to let go of them now.”
Jumin gave Zen a slightly cross look and said, “So do you.”
Zen stared at him, looked thoughtful, then said, “You said I have a slight chance with them. What do you have?"
Jumin responded without thinking it through. "Elizabeth 3rd."
Zen ended up snorting some of the wine out of his nose, making a pained noise that went against how hard he was laughing. “I don’t know if I’m crying from pain, or from pity for you,” he said through said tears.
Jumin looked annoyed before pulling out his wallet, pulling a 50,000 won from it and holding it out to Zen. “Here, dry your tears.”
Zen looked at the money being held out to him and started laughing harder, pushing the wine into Jumin’s hands and dropping his head onto his coffee table so he didn’t have to look at the other. Jumin leaned against the coffee table, head propped up on one hand as he watched Zen laugh, waiting for him to calm down.
-0-
The wine was finished and it was well into wee hours of the morning. Jumin squinted at the screen in front of him, watching as Zen moved on the stage with the leading lady opposite him.
“Why are we watching this?” he asked.
Zen shrugged as he popped a couple of crackers into his mouth. “You wanted to know why Jaehee’s such a big fan of me.”
Jumin made a face as the obvious first kiss scene was about to take place. The song they had been singing together came to a slow close and the kiss they shared started strong and slowly mellowed out to appear sweet.
Jumin looked at the Zen on screen and then at the one beside him. While it was true that Zen usually tried to appear put together and perfect, and the Zen on stage and the one beside him usually looked about the same, he couldn’t help but find it amusing that the Zen beside him had crumbs around his mouth, was flushed from the alcohol they drank, and had mussed up hair from his previous petting session.
Zen looked at Jumin, quirking an eyebrow at him. “What?”
Jumin moved forward, seeming thoughtful as he said, “Do you kiss the way you do on stage?” he asked.
Zen spluttered in surprise, leaning away to show his flabbergasted expression. “Huh?” Jumin moved to kneel in front of Zen, hand bracing himself up as he reached out to cup Zen’s cheek. Zen smacked his hand away and asked, “What are you doing ?”
Jumin seemed thoughtful, moving to cup Zen’s face again and paused. “Is this okay?” he asked.
Zen blinked rapidly and yelled, “ No ?!” he didn’t bother scrambling backwards, “What makes you think I want to kiss you ?” he asked loudly.
Jumin squinted at him and said, “Keep it down, my heads starting to hurt.”
“ What ?!”
Jumin tilted his head to regard Zen and asked, “So I can’t kiss you?”
Zen shook his head emphatically. “Nope. No-no-no...never in a million years...will…” he trailed off at the pout Jumin gave him. “Don’t try to look cute!”
Jumin was already moving away. “I don’t know what you mean,” he huffed and turned back to watch the DVD. He made a face as Zen and the leading lady kissed once more and said, “I don’t know what came over me. Your kissing doesn’t look that enjoyable.”
Zen’s mouth dropped open in shock. His pride was wounded. He wiped the crumbs from his face, smoothed his hair back and moved quickly to straddle Jumin, a determined scowl on his blushing face. “I will show you good kissing,” he growled.
Jumin blinked up at him, “Excuse me?”
Zen didn’t waste any time in holding Jumin’s face between his hands and crashing their lips together.
Jumin’s hands raised to take a handful of Zen’s hair, positioning him for a better angle. They continued as such until Zen pulled away, face scarlet, lips kiss bitten, and hair more messy than when they started. He stared at Jumin, who looked back with a few deep breaths to calm himself and so he would appear unaffected.
He failed.
Zen licked his lips and said, “So...that happened…” he cleared his throat, “You...are surprisingly good at that, and I’m mad.”
Jumin smiled. “You aren’t too bad yourself…” he raised his eyebrows in suggestion, and said, “You could use practice, though.”
Instead of being spurred on to continue, Zen smacked his chest and scoffed, “You jerk,” as he swung his leg up and lifted himself off Jumin’s lap with a petulant scowl. Jumin smiled as he righted his shirt.