One Week
Title: One Week
Prompt: 01 - Thief
Pairing: JungMin/YoungMin
Rating: PG
Summary: YoungMin gets an unexpected all expenses paid break.
Notes: Totally snicked from this idea because holy cow, how could I pass that up?
Disclaimer: Not mine, not true
See Table here!
YoungMin woke up slowly, blearily, in a bed too big and too empty to be his own. He felt sick, his head pounding, and he closed his eyes again to try to keep from throwing up. The nausea passed, eventually, and he tried opening his eyes again. A very nice room swam into view, done in dark wood and various shades of dark green cloth. Bright sun peeked through a crack in heavy curtains, and he groaned and pulled the blankets up over his head.
It took a while - and the smell of something yummy - for his head to clear enough for him to face this new surroundings and get up. He should probably be panicked but couldn’t manage to even feel that, sitting down at the table where a breakfast had appeared (and he wasn’t Harry Potter and this wasn’t Hogwarts, but he didn’t know how it’d gotten there). An envelop sat on the plate, and he sighed, wondering what this was.
The letter was addressed to him, in his brother’s messy handwriting, and YoungMin frowned.
YoungMinnie,
Relax and enjoy your week off. Don’t worry about money, I’ve got it all in hand, get what you want. You can’t leave, though, so I made sure the tub was big enough to double as a hot tub. You’ve been looking stressed lately, and I thought you needed to be pampered. So relax. Do nothing for a while.
The maids know you’ll be there, so just stay out of their way when they come to make over your room. Your suitcase is in the closet, clothes in the drawers, and the fridge stocked with snacks you like. I’ll see you later.
KwangMin
He stared at the letter in sheer disbelief, glancing between it and the door a couple of times before he got up and went over, not caring who saw him in his pajamas. He wrenched the door open, and the biggest man he’d ever seen glowered at him, grabbed the door, and closed it again. YoungMin stared at the door a moment, then tried it again. It opened a crack before slamming shut.
Really?
Glancing around, he started searching for the phone he knew had to be in the room, a way to (please) call out and talk to someone - preferably his stupid twin - who would be able to get him out of this. But no matter how much he searched, he couldn’t find a phone, couldn’t find even his own phone, and he finally had to give up, frustrated with everything and wanting desperately to get out of there. He glanced at the table, and then covered the food up again, no longer hungry, and went to look out the window.
The view was stunning, but he didn’t care at first, trying to figure out where he was. It took a couple of minutes before he realized he was still in Seoul, at least, but he didn’t have the vaguest idea where in Seoul he could be. The room was near the top of the hotel, which apparently was not short, considering how much of the city he could see. Nothing as high as he within his sight.
He shut the curtains and turned away from the window, flopping down on the couch. KwangMin didn’t GET it. This would drive him insane, and the worst part was that he couldn’t call JungMin and tell him what had happened. They’d moved in together just a couple of weeks ago - when YoungMin’s other roommate had finally gotten the hint and left - which was why he was not used to an empty bed when he got up. He liked that arrangement, frankly, and this was just….
“Really?” he muttered to himself, and got up to pace. “What was he thinking?”
At some point in the morning, someone from room service came to pick up the abandoned breakfast and pointed out his menu, which he hadn’t seen. “Let me know what you want for lunch,” he said, and YoungMin shut his mouth and looked it over, finally picking just… anything because he didn’t care, and handed the man the menu back.
“Can I get some paper and pens with lunch?” he asked. “I mean… just a notebook or something.” He was going to go mad if this kept up, and KwangMin had said a week….
“I will see what I can do,” the man said, and bowed his way out.
Frustrated and bored, YoungMin dug in the drawers for a change of clothes, and went for a shower.
His requested paper arrived with lunch, and he ate absently, thoughts more on what he wanted to write than anything else.
In the end, he left half of his lunch and most of the paper untouched - but on the desk, so it didn’t get taken with the lunch remains - and threw himself on the bed, too frustrated to do anything else.
Repeated attempts to open the door just to talk to the man standing outside it - the face changed, if the shape and the scowl didn’t - meant they got better at slamming the door before he could get it open very far. “Can’t I just talk to you?” he finally yelled through the door, but got no answer. He almost kicked it, but remembered in time that he had only socks on his feet and it would hurt.
Dinner went equally untouched and he ignored the man who brought it, pacing through the room. It was big, as big as his apartment (bigger, if he included the bathroom - his whole bedroom would fit in there), but he knew it would close in on him as sure as it would if he were claustrophobic.
The brochure said there was a roof garden, but he couldn’t even get up there, presumably because KwangMin didn’t want it getting out that he’d locked his brother in a cell - posh and pretty and good food, but still a cell - and that would do nothing good for his image. With a groan, he dropped back onto the bed and wondered how in the world he was going to ever survive this week when he wanted to pull his hair out the first day.
At least he woke up normally the next morning, if still in a bed too big and too empty for his tastes, and wondering how KwangMin was going to explain his absence at work and to JungMin. Climbing out of bed, he went to take a shower and to try to at least pretend this was normal.
He spent the next week writing letters to various people that he couldn’t send - the one he’d tried to slip out didn’t get past the guards - watching more movies than he’d ever wanted to see, and doing everything he could think of (short of wrecking the room, although he was way too tempted to try it) to cost his brother money. The massage didn’t help much, but it did give him someone to talk to. Sort of, because the man was incredibly nervous, thinking he was working on the famous movie star Jo KwangMin, and so didn’t say very much at all. At least he didn’t ask for an autograph, but it made YoungMin wonder who’s name was in the register.
Breakfast came in with a note one morning, and YoungMin opened it before trying the food, hoping this meant he could go home.
YoungMinnie!
I hope you’re well relaxed and have enjoyed your week off. Give me a call when you get home, okay? I can’t wait to hear about it. The guards will let you out now, so pack up, make sure you have everything, and get back there.
KwangMin
“Oh, I’ll call,” YoungMin muttered, but hesitated, looking over the note again. Something about the way he wrote his characters made YoungMin think his twin was WAY too happy, and he folded the paper again thoughtfully. What had KwangMin done?
He dismissed that fairly quickly, though, because he could LEAVE, and he scrambled to pack his clothes into the suitcase in the closet, not caring about how they looked. He went through the place one last time, incredibly happy to see the last of it, and then opened the door.
Scowly - the original one - stood outside, but he didn’t pull the door shut this time. YoungMin looked at him thoughtfully for a moment, memorizing his face. The man didn’t even shift, watching him back, but YoungMin finally nodded to himself and walked away. Yeah, he could recognize him again anywhere. He’d want to, in case he wanted to bring charges against his twin.
In the lobby, he stopped at the concierge’s station long enough to get a bus schedule (and, to his surprise, pick up his apartment key) and to figure out how to get home, then he went, stepping into sunshine without a window between it and him for the first time in a week.
He was going to kill KwangMin. And the scandal he could raise with this….
He let that idea work in him on the bus ride home, but decided, as he got close, that he’d see what JungMin had to say.
The ride took forever, even with his vengeful thoughts, but he finally got off at the familiar stop near his apartment and nearly ran up the street toward it. He fumbled with the keys to get into the building, opted to wait for the elevator because his suitcase was heavy and he didn’t want to carry it up the stairs, and then nearly dropped his keys outside his door, trying to get it open.
He walked in, leaving shoes and suitcase by the door, and blinked, startled. “Wait, what?”
The living room was in total chaos - familiar chaos, although he knew they’d cleaned up from when JungMin had moved in - and that didn’t bode well at all.
JungMin came in through the hall and stopped dead. “What, you came back to make sure I was going?”
“Going? Where are you going?” YoungMin demanded, heart dropping.
“You told me to get out, you didn’t need a roommate any more!”
“I told….” YoungMin frowned. “Have I been here all week?”
“Sort of,” JungMin snapped, going on to finish packing.
YoungMin followed. “What do you mean, sort of?”
“I mean,” JungMin said, turning on him so furiously that he had to step back, “you’ve ignored me all week, you’ve been gone most nights, and then you came back last night to tell me you’d found someone else to live here and would I please leave. Why am I telling you this?”
YoungMin took his hand and pulled him over to the couch, sitting him down, then he sat down next to him, holding his arm when he tried to get up. “Because I have spent the week bored out of my mind and missing you in some posh hotel. I told you I had a twin, didn’t I?”
JungMin stared at him, no longer struggling to get free of him. “You were where?”
“Kidnapped while KwangMin stole my life, the thief. I have no idea WHAT he was trying to do but I will kill him for this. Please, don’t go. Stay here.”
The door opened then, and they both frowned. “YoungMin-oppa? Are you here?” a girl called.
“Who is that?” JungMin demanded, and YoungMin tightened his grip on his boyfriend’s arm as he struggled to get up, tears in his eyes.
“I don’t know,” YoungMin said. “Please, JungMin-hyung, you have to believe me.”
“I don’t know what to believe,” JungMin snapped, and wrenched himself free. He got up and headed for the only open box in the room. YoungMin went after him to say something, and a young lady stepped into the room, a radiant smile on her face.
“There you are!” she trilled (no, really, and he wanted to hit something - someone, but not just anyone - really hard), and hugged him. “I know I said it a lot last night, but thank you.”
Her hand rested on his, and he couldn’t miss the ring on her hand. He looked up at her, stunned speechless, but a soft sob from JungMin brought his head around to watch JungMin leave the room. After a moment, he looked back at her. “I don’t know what kind of cruel joke KwangMin is playing,” he said quietly, “but I’m sorry you got caught in it. I can’t marry you, because I don’t even know your name, I’ve never met you before, and that wasn’t me that asked you.”
She stared at him, not even looking away from him when JungMin came back out, a suitcase in hand. “I’ll get this stuff tomorrow,” he said, his voice choked, and left without stopping to hear anything else.
“It… wasn’t?” She sounded surprised, but not devastated, which made him feel a bit less guilty.
“No,” YoungMin said quietly, “it was my twin, and he’s going to get an earful. I’m sorry to hurt you like this, really I am, you seem really nice, but the one I’d rather sleep with just left, so….”
Her eyes widened, and with trembling hands, she took the ring off. “Give this back to your brother, then?”
“Actually, why don’t you take it and sell it?” he asked, handing it back to her. “I think you deserve that much at least, for this idiotic thing he did.”
She looked between him and the ring. “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” he said. “For emotional damages.” He held it out further to her.
She took it, hesitating, then closed her hand around it. “Thank you.”
“Thank you, for understanding. I’m sorry.”
She nodded and waited long enough to take the key to his apartment off her key ring, then left. He had to admit she impressed him, and if he were in the least bit inclined….
But he wasn’t, and he took the time to find his phone before running after JungMin, grabbing his own suitcase on the way.
Luckily it hadn’t taken too long, and he spotted his boyfriend (hopefully still his boyfriend) walking toward the bus stop. YoungMin ran after him and caught up, pacing along with him. JungMin looked at him, then stopped and stared at him. “What… what are you doing?”
“Well, if you’re leaving, I’m going with you,” YoungMin said.
“Why?”
“Have you seen my apartment?” YoungMin asked, trying not to show just how desperate he was. “I can’t even afford to pay for that without a roommate. And her ring? There’s no way I could afford anything like that. It’s just impossible. And,” he added, pressing a finger to JungMin’s lips when he opened his mouth to protest, “I’m gay. You know this. What possible draw could she have for me?”
JungMin started to speak again, then stopped. He watched YoungMin a moment, then hugged him. YoungMin sighed in such relief and hugged him back, feeling like maybe they could get past this. He’d have killed KwangMin if he’d lost JungMin before they had much of a chance. “Now,” he said, when JungMin had pulled away again and was dabbing at his eyes, “I think we should call on my brother. What do you think?”
“Your twin?” JungMin asked.
“Yep. And if you feel like it, I hereby give you permission to hit him. I’m older.”
JungMin laughed, and YoungMin grinned and pulled him in for another hug (he didn’t dare a kiss out here, not with so many people able to see). Then he dialed KwangMin’s number. “Before you say anything,” he said to his brother, once the call was picked up, “I want you to send a car for me.”
“What? Why?”
“Because this conversation will not be held over the phone. There are two of us,” he added.
“Good,” KwangMin said, sounding satisfied. YoungMin scowled. “Where are you?”
YoungMin let him know and hung up. “He’s got no idea this is a trap, and he’s going to be really embarrassed, and he deserves it.”
JungMin smiled and shook his head. “I thought I’d done something wrong.”
“Nope,” YoungMin said, and hugged him again. “I wouldn’t have done that. I just wish he’d brought you with me, though. It was an amazing place, but I was bored to death. I have no idea how he managed to get the phone removed from the room, either. I couldn’t even call down for room service, and I would have called you if I could have.”
“He had your phone,” JungMin pointed out.
YoungMin grinned, trying to ignore the blush that spread across his cheeks. “I have your number memorized.”
JungMin just stared at him, then laughed and put his arm around YoungMin’s shoulders. “I vote we get back home fast,” he whispered into YoungMin’s ear. “It’s been a long week without you.”
YoungMin shivered, but the arrival of the car stopped them from doing more, and YoungMin dumped their suitcases in the trunk before following JungMin into the backseat. It wasn’t ideal, but he still didn’t know what kind of tales the driver would tell, so he settled for leaning on JungMin, their arms intertwined, in silence. He knew they weren’t far, and when the driver slowed to let the gates open, JungMin stared at him with eyes wide. “Who’s your twin?”
YoungMin smiled without humor. “Jo KwangMin,” he said. “Which might explain why he thinks he can orchestrate my life for me.”
JungMin stared at him. “… oh, yeah, I guess you do look like him.”
YoungMin laughed. “Yeah, just a bit.”
His hand tightened on JungMin’s arm as the car drove through the mostly open gates and along the drive. It was all so… stereotypical that YoungMin wished he’d made KwangMin come to him. Oh, well, too late now.
The driver stopped and opened the door. “We won’t be long,” YoungMin told him as they got out. “Can you take us back?”
“Yes,” the man said, looking as if this were normal. For all he knew, it was.
“Thank you,” YoungMin said, and pulled JungMin up the steps and through the front door as it opened to let them in.
A woman in uniform quietly told him where to find KwangMin, and they followed her directions up the stairs and into a nice, dark wood study. KwangMin reclined in a fancy chair behind a desk, and stood up with a smile when YoungMin walked in. That smile fell when JungMin followed behind, closing the door. “What is he… where’s SunHee?” he stammered.
JungMin stopped, pulling YoungMin to a stop as well, and turning him around. He examined YoungMin’s face, then KwangMin’s - or so YoungMin guessed - going back and forth for a moment. Then he nodded, let go of YoungMin, strode over, and punched KwangMin.
“Ouch! What the hell, YoungMin, why is your roommate-”
“Boyfriend,” YoungMin interrupted flatly. “He’s my boyfriend. He’s kind of upset.”
“Your boyfriend?” KwangMin demanded, leaning against the desk, one hand to his cheek. “What do you mean….”
“Are you the densest brother in the… no, never mind, I know the answer to that question. Look, I’ll keep it quiet so you don’t have to deal with the backlash, but JungMin’s not just my roommate, okay? And I intend to keep him around for a while. A long while. In fact, the second bedroom might become a guest bedroom. Is that clear enough? The girl, whatever her name was, you didn’t even bother to tell me that, is just not attractive to me. At all.”
KwangMin stared at him. “You’re gay?”
“You never really got why Minwoo hung around as much as he did, did you?” YoungMin shook his head. “Yes, I’m gay. So’s Minwoo, in fact, and we were dating our senior year.”
KwangMin stared at him.
“So, next time you want to lock me away, do me a favor and lock JungMin in with me. I was bored to tears, and you’re damn lucky he decided to hit you instead of urging me to bring charges against you.”
“I’m lucky he hit me?”
“Would you rather deal with a bruise or with a lawsuit?” YoungMin asked. “Wrongful imprisonment, just for the beginning. I’m sure a good lawyer would be able to come up with more.”
KwangMin pouted. “You were going nowhere with your life,” he complained.
“But I like it the way it is,” YoungMin told him. “Now you know why it looked like I was going nowhere. It’s going in the direction I want, okay?”
KwangMin rolled his eyes. “Fine,” he said. “I’ll stop.”
“Thank you, idiot brother,” YoungMin said fondly. “I’ll talk to you another time, but right now, I’d like to get home and sleep in my own bed.”
“Your bed is horrible,” KwangMin told him. “The bed at the hotel was better.”
“But it was empty, and that made it worse,” YoungMin told him. “I’ll talk to you later.” He waved as JungMin opened the door and pulled him back out, and they went back to the front door much faster than they’d come. The driver barely had time to get the door to the car open when they came out of the house, and they piled in, giggling like school girls. As far as YoungMin could tell, the driver never once looked back at them. He still tried to keep at least looking like they weren’t up to something, but JungMin was right and it had been a long week. It seemed to take forever to get home, but they retrieved their suitcases, dropped them immediately just inside the front door, and then JungMin kissed him like he’d been gone forever.
It had been. YoungMin sighed and pulled him closer, stepping through the hallway and down to the bedroom. “I missed you,” he whispered, breaking their kiss.
“I missed you, too,” JungMin whispered, and then pulled him into the bedroom and closed the door.
Prompt: 01 - Thief
Pairing: JungMin/YoungMin
Rating: PG
Summary: YoungMin gets an unexpected all expenses paid break.
Notes: Totally snicked from this idea because holy cow, how could I pass that up?
Disclaimer: Not mine, not true
See Table here!
YoungMin woke up slowly, blearily, in a bed too big and too empty to be his own. He felt sick, his head pounding, and he closed his eyes again to try to keep from throwing up. The nausea passed, eventually, and he tried opening his eyes again. A very nice room swam into view, done in dark wood and various shades of dark green cloth. Bright sun peeked through a crack in heavy curtains, and he groaned and pulled the blankets up over his head.
It took a while - and the smell of something yummy - for his head to clear enough for him to face this new surroundings and get up. He should probably be panicked but couldn’t manage to even feel that, sitting down at the table where a breakfast had appeared (and he wasn’t Harry Potter and this wasn’t Hogwarts, but he didn’t know how it’d gotten there). An envelop sat on the plate, and he sighed, wondering what this was.
The letter was addressed to him, in his brother’s messy handwriting, and YoungMin frowned.
YoungMinnie,
Relax and enjoy your week off. Don’t worry about money, I’ve got it all in hand, get what you want. You can’t leave, though, so I made sure the tub was big enough to double as a hot tub. You’ve been looking stressed lately, and I thought you needed to be pampered. So relax. Do nothing for a while.
The maids know you’ll be there, so just stay out of their way when they come to make over your room. Your suitcase is in the closet, clothes in the drawers, and the fridge stocked with snacks you like. I’ll see you later.
KwangMin
He stared at the letter in sheer disbelief, glancing between it and the door a couple of times before he got up and went over, not caring who saw him in his pajamas. He wrenched the door open, and the biggest man he’d ever seen glowered at him, grabbed the door, and closed it again. YoungMin stared at the door a moment, then tried it again. It opened a crack before slamming shut.
Really?
Glancing around, he started searching for the phone he knew had to be in the room, a way to (please) call out and talk to someone - preferably his stupid twin - who would be able to get him out of this. But no matter how much he searched, he couldn’t find a phone, couldn’t find even his own phone, and he finally had to give up, frustrated with everything and wanting desperately to get out of there. He glanced at the table, and then covered the food up again, no longer hungry, and went to look out the window.
The view was stunning, but he didn’t care at first, trying to figure out where he was. It took a couple of minutes before he realized he was still in Seoul, at least, but he didn’t have the vaguest idea where in Seoul he could be. The room was near the top of the hotel, which apparently was not short, considering how much of the city he could see. Nothing as high as he within his sight.
He shut the curtains and turned away from the window, flopping down on the couch. KwangMin didn’t GET it. This would drive him insane, and the worst part was that he couldn’t call JungMin and tell him what had happened. They’d moved in together just a couple of weeks ago - when YoungMin’s other roommate had finally gotten the hint and left - which was why he was not used to an empty bed when he got up. He liked that arrangement, frankly, and this was just….
“Really?” he muttered to himself, and got up to pace. “What was he thinking?”
At some point in the morning, someone from room service came to pick up the abandoned breakfast and pointed out his menu, which he hadn’t seen. “Let me know what you want for lunch,” he said, and YoungMin shut his mouth and looked it over, finally picking just… anything because he didn’t care, and handed the man the menu back.
“Can I get some paper and pens with lunch?” he asked. “I mean… just a notebook or something.” He was going to go mad if this kept up, and KwangMin had said a week….
“I will see what I can do,” the man said, and bowed his way out.
Frustrated and bored, YoungMin dug in the drawers for a change of clothes, and went for a shower.
His requested paper arrived with lunch, and he ate absently, thoughts more on what he wanted to write than anything else.
In the end, he left half of his lunch and most of the paper untouched - but on the desk, so it didn’t get taken with the lunch remains - and threw himself on the bed, too frustrated to do anything else.
Repeated attempts to open the door just to talk to the man standing outside it - the face changed, if the shape and the scowl didn’t - meant they got better at slamming the door before he could get it open very far. “Can’t I just talk to you?” he finally yelled through the door, but got no answer. He almost kicked it, but remembered in time that he had only socks on his feet and it would hurt.
Dinner went equally untouched and he ignored the man who brought it, pacing through the room. It was big, as big as his apartment (bigger, if he included the bathroom - his whole bedroom would fit in there), but he knew it would close in on him as sure as it would if he were claustrophobic.
The brochure said there was a roof garden, but he couldn’t even get up there, presumably because KwangMin didn’t want it getting out that he’d locked his brother in a cell - posh and pretty and good food, but still a cell - and that would do nothing good for his image. With a groan, he dropped back onto the bed and wondered how in the world he was going to ever survive this week when he wanted to pull his hair out the first day.
At least he woke up normally the next morning, if still in a bed too big and too empty for his tastes, and wondering how KwangMin was going to explain his absence at work and to JungMin. Climbing out of bed, he went to take a shower and to try to at least pretend this was normal.
He spent the next week writing letters to various people that he couldn’t send - the one he’d tried to slip out didn’t get past the guards - watching more movies than he’d ever wanted to see, and doing everything he could think of (short of wrecking the room, although he was way too tempted to try it) to cost his brother money. The massage didn’t help much, but it did give him someone to talk to. Sort of, because the man was incredibly nervous, thinking he was working on the famous movie star Jo KwangMin, and so didn’t say very much at all. At least he didn’t ask for an autograph, but it made YoungMin wonder who’s name was in the register.
Breakfast came in with a note one morning, and YoungMin opened it before trying the food, hoping this meant he could go home.
YoungMinnie!
I hope you’re well relaxed and have enjoyed your week off. Give me a call when you get home, okay? I can’t wait to hear about it. The guards will let you out now, so pack up, make sure you have everything, and get back there.
KwangMin
“Oh, I’ll call,” YoungMin muttered, but hesitated, looking over the note again. Something about the way he wrote his characters made YoungMin think his twin was WAY too happy, and he folded the paper again thoughtfully. What had KwangMin done?
He dismissed that fairly quickly, though, because he could LEAVE, and he scrambled to pack his clothes into the suitcase in the closet, not caring about how they looked. He went through the place one last time, incredibly happy to see the last of it, and then opened the door.
Scowly - the original one - stood outside, but he didn’t pull the door shut this time. YoungMin looked at him thoughtfully for a moment, memorizing his face. The man didn’t even shift, watching him back, but YoungMin finally nodded to himself and walked away. Yeah, he could recognize him again anywhere. He’d want to, in case he wanted to bring charges against his twin.
In the lobby, he stopped at the concierge’s station long enough to get a bus schedule (and, to his surprise, pick up his apartment key) and to figure out how to get home, then he went, stepping into sunshine without a window between it and him for the first time in a week.
He was going to kill KwangMin. And the scandal he could raise with this….
He let that idea work in him on the bus ride home, but decided, as he got close, that he’d see what JungMin had to say.
The ride took forever, even with his vengeful thoughts, but he finally got off at the familiar stop near his apartment and nearly ran up the street toward it. He fumbled with the keys to get into the building, opted to wait for the elevator because his suitcase was heavy and he didn’t want to carry it up the stairs, and then nearly dropped his keys outside his door, trying to get it open.
He walked in, leaving shoes and suitcase by the door, and blinked, startled. “Wait, what?”
The living room was in total chaos - familiar chaos, although he knew they’d cleaned up from when JungMin had moved in - and that didn’t bode well at all.
JungMin came in through the hall and stopped dead. “What, you came back to make sure I was going?”
“Going? Where are you going?” YoungMin demanded, heart dropping.
“You told me to get out, you didn’t need a roommate any more!”
“I told….” YoungMin frowned. “Have I been here all week?”
“Sort of,” JungMin snapped, going on to finish packing.
YoungMin followed. “What do you mean, sort of?”
“I mean,” JungMin said, turning on him so furiously that he had to step back, “you’ve ignored me all week, you’ve been gone most nights, and then you came back last night to tell me you’d found someone else to live here and would I please leave. Why am I telling you this?”
YoungMin took his hand and pulled him over to the couch, sitting him down, then he sat down next to him, holding his arm when he tried to get up. “Because I have spent the week bored out of my mind and missing you in some posh hotel. I told you I had a twin, didn’t I?”
JungMin stared at him, no longer struggling to get free of him. “You were where?”
“Kidnapped while KwangMin stole my life, the thief. I have no idea WHAT he was trying to do but I will kill him for this. Please, don’t go. Stay here.”
The door opened then, and they both frowned. “YoungMin-oppa? Are you here?” a girl called.
“Who is that?” JungMin demanded, and YoungMin tightened his grip on his boyfriend’s arm as he struggled to get up, tears in his eyes.
“I don’t know,” YoungMin said. “Please, JungMin-hyung, you have to believe me.”
“I don’t know what to believe,” JungMin snapped, and wrenched himself free. He got up and headed for the only open box in the room. YoungMin went after him to say something, and a young lady stepped into the room, a radiant smile on her face.
“There you are!” she trilled (no, really, and he wanted to hit something - someone, but not just anyone - really hard), and hugged him. “I know I said it a lot last night, but thank you.”
Her hand rested on his, and he couldn’t miss the ring on her hand. He looked up at her, stunned speechless, but a soft sob from JungMin brought his head around to watch JungMin leave the room. After a moment, he looked back at her. “I don’t know what kind of cruel joke KwangMin is playing,” he said quietly, “but I’m sorry you got caught in it. I can’t marry you, because I don’t even know your name, I’ve never met you before, and that wasn’t me that asked you.”
She stared at him, not even looking away from him when JungMin came back out, a suitcase in hand. “I’ll get this stuff tomorrow,” he said, his voice choked, and left without stopping to hear anything else.
“It… wasn’t?” She sounded surprised, but not devastated, which made him feel a bit less guilty.
“No,” YoungMin said quietly, “it was my twin, and he’s going to get an earful. I’m sorry to hurt you like this, really I am, you seem really nice, but the one I’d rather sleep with just left, so….”
Her eyes widened, and with trembling hands, she took the ring off. “Give this back to your brother, then?”
“Actually, why don’t you take it and sell it?” he asked, handing it back to her. “I think you deserve that much at least, for this idiotic thing he did.”
She looked between him and the ring. “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” he said. “For emotional damages.” He held it out further to her.
She took it, hesitating, then closed her hand around it. “Thank you.”
“Thank you, for understanding. I’m sorry.”
She nodded and waited long enough to take the key to his apartment off her key ring, then left. He had to admit she impressed him, and if he were in the least bit inclined….
But he wasn’t, and he took the time to find his phone before running after JungMin, grabbing his own suitcase on the way.
Luckily it hadn’t taken too long, and he spotted his boyfriend (hopefully still his boyfriend) walking toward the bus stop. YoungMin ran after him and caught up, pacing along with him. JungMin looked at him, then stopped and stared at him. “What… what are you doing?”
“Well, if you’re leaving, I’m going with you,” YoungMin said.
“Why?”
“Have you seen my apartment?” YoungMin asked, trying not to show just how desperate he was. “I can’t even afford to pay for that without a roommate. And her ring? There’s no way I could afford anything like that. It’s just impossible. And,” he added, pressing a finger to JungMin’s lips when he opened his mouth to protest, “I’m gay. You know this. What possible draw could she have for me?”
JungMin started to speak again, then stopped. He watched YoungMin a moment, then hugged him. YoungMin sighed in such relief and hugged him back, feeling like maybe they could get past this. He’d have killed KwangMin if he’d lost JungMin before they had much of a chance. “Now,” he said, when JungMin had pulled away again and was dabbing at his eyes, “I think we should call on my brother. What do you think?”
“Your twin?” JungMin asked.
“Yep. And if you feel like it, I hereby give you permission to hit him. I’m older.”
JungMin laughed, and YoungMin grinned and pulled him in for another hug (he didn’t dare a kiss out here, not with so many people able to see). Then he dialed KwangMin’s number. “Before you say anything,” he said to his brother, once the call was picked up, “I want you to send a car for me.”
“What? Why?”
“Because this conversation will not be held over the phone. There are two of us,” he added.
“Good,” KwangMin said, sounding satisfied. YoungMin scowled. “Where are you?”
YoungMin let him know and hung up. “He’s got no idea this is a trap, and he’s going to be really embarrassed, and he deserves it.”
JungMin smiled and shook his head. “I thought I’d done something wrong.”
“Nope,” YoungMin said, and hugged him again. “I wouldn’t have done that. I just wish he’d brought you with me, though. It was an amazing place, but I was bored to death. I have no idea how he managed to get the phone removed from the room, either. I couldn’t even call down for room service, and I would have called you if I could have.”
“He had your phone,” JungMin pointed out.
YoungMin grinned, trying to ignore the blush that spread across his cheeks. “I have your number memorized.”
JungMin just stared at him, then laughed and put his arm around YoungMin’s shoulders. “I vote we get back home fast,” he whispered into YoungMin’s ear. “It’s been a long week without you.”
YoungMin shivered, but the arrival of the car stopped them from doing more, and YoungMin dumped their suitcases in the trunk before following JungMin into the backseat. It wasn’t ideal, but he still didn’t know what kind of tales the driver would tell, so he settled for leaning on JungMin, their arms intertwined, in silence. He knew they weren’t far, and when the driver slowed to let the gates open, JungMin stared at him with eyes wide. “Who’s your twin?”
YoungMin smiled without humor. “Jo KwangMin,” he said. “Which might explain why he thinks he can orchestrate my life for me.”
JungMin stared at him. “… oh, yeah, I guess you do look like him.”
YoungMin laughed. “Yeah, just a bit.”
His hand tightened on JungMin’s arm as the car drove through the mostly open gates and along the drive. It was all so… stereotypical that YoungMin wished he’d made KwangMin come to him. Oh, well, too late now.
The driver stopped and opened the door. “We won’t be long,” YoungMin told him as they got out. “Can you take us back?”
“Yes,” the man said, looking as if this were normal. For all he knew, it was.
“Thank you,” YoungMin said, and pulled JungMin up the steps and through the front door as it opened to let them in.
A woman in uniform quietly told him where to find KwangMin, and they followed her directions up the stairs and into a nice, dark wood study. KwangMin reclined in a fancy chair behind a desk, and stood up with a smile when YoungMin walked in. That smile fell when JungMin followed behind, closing the door. “What is he… where’s SunHee?” he stammered.
JungMin stopped, pulling YoungMin to a stop as well, and turning him around. He examined YoungMin’s face, then KwangMin’s - or so YoungMin guessed - going back and forth for a moment. Then he nodded, let go of YoungMin, strode over, and punched KwangMin.
“Ouch! What the hell, YoungMin, why is your roommate-”
“Boyfriend,” YoungMin interrupted flatly. “He’s my boyfriend. He’s kind of upset.”
“Your boyfriend?” KwangMin demanded, leaning against the desk, one hand to his cheek. “What do you mean….”
“Are you the densest brother in the… no, never mind, I know the answer to that question. Look, I’ll keep it quiet so you don’t have to deal with the backlash, but JungMin’s not just my roommate, okay? And I intend to keep him around for a while. A long while. In fact, the second bedroom might become a guest bedroom. Is that clear enough? The girl, whatever her name was, you didn’t even bother to tell me that, is just not attractive to me. At all.”
KwangMin stared at him. “You’re gay?”
“You never really got why Minwoo hung around as much as he did, did you?” YoungMin shook his head. “Yes, I’m gay. So’s Minwoo, in fact, and we were dating our senior year.”
KwangMin stared at him.
“So, next time you want to lock me away, do me a favor and lock JungMin in with me. I was bored to tears, and you’re damn lucky he decided to hit you instead of urging me to bring charges against you.”
“I’m lucky he hit me?”
“Would you rather deal with a bruise or with a lawsuit?” YoungMin asked. “Wrongful imprisonment, just for the beginning. I’m sure a good lawyer would be able to come up with more.”
KwangMin pouted. “You were going nowhere with your life,” he complained.
“But I like it the way it is,” YoungMin told him. “Now you know why it looked like I was going nowhere. It’s going in the direction I want, okay?”
KwangMin rolled his eyes. “Fine,” he said. “I’ll stop.”
“Thank you, idiot brother,” YoungMin said fondly. “I’ll talk to you another time, but right now, I’d like to get home and sleep in my own bed.”
“Your bed is horrible,” KwangMin told him. “The bed at the hotel was better.”
“But it was empty, and that made it worse,” YoungMin told him. “I’ll talk to you later.” He waved as JungMin opened the door and pulled him back out, and they went back to the front door much faster than they’d come. The driver barely had time to get the door to the car open when they came out of the house, and they piled in, giggling like school girls. As far as YoungMin could tell, the driver never once looked back at them. He still tried to keep at least looking like they weren’t up to something, but JungMin was right and it had been a long week. It seemed to take forever to get home, but they retrieved their suitcases, dropped them immediately just inside the front door, and then JungMin kissed him like he’d been gone forever.
It had been. YoungMin sighed and pulled him closer, stepping through the hallway and down to the bedroom. “I missed you,” he whispered, breaking their kiss.
“I missed you, too,” JungMin whispered, and then pulled him into the bedroom and closed the door.