Epiphany
Title: Epiphany (Of Misunderstanding and Realizations)
Length: 2/2
Author: Kurokitsune09
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance-Fluff/General
Focus: Cheundong x Sohyun, Doojoon x Junhyung, Dongwoon x Kikwang
Sub-Focus: Random little cameos from K-Pop stars, hinted Sunggyu x Jiyoon, JooMi
Notes: Okay! Part 2 is up! Ending is a little funky and the muse died partway through. I think it shows. XD
Inspiration: MBLAQ and 4Minute’s Joint Special Stage on SBS Gayo Daejun and the sudden thought that Cheundongie and Sohyunnie would look absolutely cute together lol ^^
Summary: Sohyun’s all grown up and Cheundong’s the only one who doesn’t notice. Kikwang and Dongwoon are awkward and Doojoon and Junhyung have a love-hate thing going on.
Part One
Jiyoon drops the bomb on them while there’s a weird little powwow thing going on at Doojoon’s house. Of course, Sohyun and Dongwoon would say it was less of a powwow as opposed to an excuse for Doojoon to harass Junhyung since it seemed to be the older man’s hobby. It wasn’t a very big powwow only consisting of Sohyun, Dongwoon, Doojoon, Junhyung, Jiyoon and a few friends and neighbors from across the street that knew of Sohyun and Dongwoon’s situation; Kim Sunggyu, who stammers sometimes when he spoke to Jiyoon and was Sohyun’s overly protective cousin, Lee Joon and his boyfriend Bang Cheulyong, whom everyone knew as Mir. Cheundong and Kikwang had offered to become bag carriers for Dara and Bom while they went shopping and even though Bom and Doojoon were adamantly refusing the two to go, Dara, after a look exchange with Jiyoon, didn’t deny them.
Joon, Mir, and Dongwoon were arguing over the remote control while Junhyung was seated on the couch, watching in amusement with Doojoon using him as a pillow. It’s one of those rare moments where they weren’t fighting and Sohyun and Sunggyu are in walking from the kitchen with a few drinks when Jiyoon ever so casually, drops the bomb on them.
The reactions are immediate.
Dongwoon squawks and drops the remote while Mir and Joon stop in mid-tackle to Dongwoon and they collapse on the floor in a heap, Joon landing on Mir who grunts into the floor. Doojoon slaps Junhyung’s thigh in disbelief and Junhyung kicks him in return while Sohyun stops and gapes, drinks sliding from her hand. Sunggyu dives to catch some of them, misses one and while that one crashes to the floor in a rupture of glass and sweet, sticky soda, he proceeds to collide into the back of the couch where he flips over it ungracefully, upending more soda onto the floor and the unfortunate pairing of Doojoon and Junhyung.
Jiyoon just watches, arms on her knees, from her seat on the piano bench of Dongwoon’s baby grand. Her smile is amused at the preceding but then it drops slowly and she repeats lightly to a series of surprised, disbelieving stares.
“Park Cheundong and Lee Kikwang think that Dongwoonie and Sohyunnie are dating,”
“But Dongwoon-ah is about as straight as a multicolored slinky,” Joon points out, accidentally pushing Mir’s head into the carpet where he flails. “And Sohyun-ah’s totally obviously crushing-obsessed on Doongie even though he isn’t aware that she’s got boobs,”
“Oppa!” Sohyun shrieks, her cheeks turning pink and with some difficulty, Sunggyu rights himself from the couch, a frown touching his lips. Joon blinks and he waves his hands up in defense, hitting Mir in the process. Jiyoon blinks when Sunggyu gently ushers her, with, surprisingly, no stammering from her seat and he picks up the bench. Jiyoon blinks again.
“What? I’m right! He isn’t even aware that you’ve got boobs!” Mir groans into the floor as his boyfriend’s voice rises defensively and Sohyun buries her face into her hands. Dongwoon, seeing where Sunggyu is going with his piano bench, moves Doojoon and Junhyung, both sticky with soda and in complete not-quite-horror at Joon’s words, away from the couch and towards Sohyun. He also tugs Mir out from under his boyfriend, helping Joon stand then backs as far back as he could, standing by Sohyun who’s completely mortified.
“Hyung,” Sunggyu’s voice is light, and Joon, his rant about Cheundong’s obliviousness to Sohyun’s boobs paused, looks at him and the other smiles, his eyes crinkling. In a normal situation, his smile is charming and cute but in this situation it looks kind of scary as his hands tighten over the wood of Dongwoon’s bench. There’s a moment of pause then he lets it fly at Joon with a sharp, “Shut up,”
Outside, Dara and Bom are peering eagerly in through the windows and they both wince when the piano chair connects with Joon’s face. They hear what sounds like a war cry of sorts and Sunggyu is tackling Joon. They watch as Joon is tackled the floor and Jiyoon is knocked over by one of Sunggyu’s legs on accident.
“I knew Joon lacked a few brain cells but to do this in front of the poor girl’s cousin is completely idiotic,” Cheundong can only nod blankly as he watches Sunggyu thrash Joon with anything he could get his hands on. Dara and Bom’s little shopping party had arrived in time to hear Joon’s comment about someone’s obliviousness to Sohyun’s maturity and his mind had blanked after that. Dara hums softly and looked in through a window at Sohyun who’s completely red and has buried her face into Dongwoon’s shoulder, who, from what it looked like, was the closest person to her. Kikwang had started frowning when he saw that. “I suppose Sohyun-ah’s too mortified to even beat Joon-ah up herself. She should’ve though. I want to see her use the taekwondo she learned from Sunggyu,”
“Dara, you’re having way to much fun just watching,” Bom said and she lightly slaps her friend’s shoulder. Dara just grins and when she notices Cheundong’s odd contemplative look, she and Bom share a look. Dara smiles faintly and hopes that Joon’s, no matter how rude and unnecessary it was, comment about Sohyun’s boobs made her brother think about the younger girl. The signs were all there; all he needed to do now was connect the dots. Connect the dots and come to the conclusion that Dongwoon and Sohyun weren’t dating and that Sohyun was hopelessly in love with him.
What comes out of his mouth is not what she expects as he turns to her.
“Dara-noona, Sohyunnie’s taking tae kwon do?”
Bom almost rips her hair out.
---
He’s not dumb. Kikwang knows that he’s not the brightest bulb in the box but he’s not dumb. He’s smarter than people give him credit for. He graduated the top of his class back in high school and even now he is at least in the top 50 students of his year. Kikwang is sure that Cheundong doesn’t know why his heart is in pain and his chest tight when anyone had mentioned Sohyun and Dongwoon together but Kikwang knows. Cheundong didn’t have to tell him how he was feeling.
Kikwang knows. So, four days after they’ve arrived at Cheundong’s hometown, hours after they figure Son Dongwoon and Kwon Sohyun are dating, the two of them are sitting in the backyard, a six-pack of beer between the two of them and more sitting in a bag at Kikwang’s feet. Dara and Bom had gone hours ago for something or other and neither one wanted to stop them.
“What’s on your mind Kwang-ah?” Cheundong asks first and Kikwang looks at him from the corner of his eyes before popping open a can of beer.
“Getting drunk,” and he takes a long swig, ignoring the burn of alcohol going down his throat. “What about you?”
Cheundong goes quiet and so Kikwang doesn’t ask anymore. As much as he loves his best friend (completely platonic of course), Kikwang has his own set problems to deal with and he couldn’t really be bothered with Cheundong’s. And it revolved around a completely handsome foreign looking young man who was dating the adorkable young woman who Kikwang knew was the source of Cheundong’s problems. Okay, so maybe he is a little bothered by Cheundong’s problem. He pauses and he leans back on his arms before letting his upper body rest on the steps, his back molding to the sharp corners.
“You don’t have to tell me Sanghyun-ah. I know,” and Cheundong looks at him in slight surprise. It wasn’t often he heard his real name. Everyone just calls him Cheundong, even his parents and he almost forgot how it sounded. Kikwang throws him a lopsided smile. “How long have you realized you’ve been in love?”
“This morning actually,” Cheundong answers with a somewhat hesitant thought flippant shrug. Kikwang smiles.
“When you made that comment about Dongwoon-sshi and Sohyunnie dating?” Cheundong blinks and Kikwang sits up long enough to drink the rest of his beer before he crushes the can in his hands and he leans back again. “I’m not that stupid. You don’t say things without having some sort of meaning behind it. You were unhappy when you concluded that Sohyunnie and Dongwoon-sshi were dating. I heard it,”
“I suppose so Kwangie-ah,” Cheundong sighs and looks up at the sky, kicking an empty can as he leans back. “I just, just didn’t realize how much she was changing and growing up,” he threw him a look and Kikwang grins in amusement. “Physical biological changes aside Kikwang,” he sighs again. “She’s grown up both spiritually and mentally. Again, biological changes aside. She doesn’t really need me anymore. Sunggyu-hyung is teaching her taekwondo, Dongwoon-ah is taking care of her more than me and I’m sure she’s learning stuff from Doojoon-hyung and the two new people, Junhyung-sshi and Jiyoon-yang,” He looks at Kikwang. “She doesn’t really need her Cheundong-oppa anymore,”
“You feel a little upset don’t you?” and Cheundong pops open another can.
“Kikwang-ah, if your best friend forever since childhood, no matter how cliché that freaking sounds, just suddenly didn’t need you what would you do?”
“I don’t know. What would I do?” Kikwang pops open a can and clinks it against Cheundong’s before the two took a drink. “But since this isn’t me, what are you going to do Sanghyun?”
“I don’t know. I mean, my little Sohyunnie is all grown up and everyone apparently knew that I couldn’t see it even though she was right in front of me. I’m pretty sure that I’m in love but she’s with Dongwoon and on top of that,” Kikwang looks at him as he pauses and lets out a forlorn, sad sounding noise. His next comment makes him snort his beer. “She has boobs,”
---
It’s about 2 days after Jiyoon’s comment about what Cheundong and Kikwang thought. Bodies are sprawled around the living room of the house she lived in with Junhyung and Jiyoon is pacing the expanse of the living room. Sohyun and Dongwoon are both sitting on the couch, their expressions depressed and Junhyung, in another one of those rare moments with Doojoon, had a hand running though the older man’s hair, fingers scratching lightly into his scalp as he read the novel in his lap. He was sitting on a loveseat, his legs hanging off one side and Doojoon was seated on the ground next to him. Sunggyu was sprawled on the ground and Jiyoon kept stepping over his legs as she paced. He didn’t really mind.
“How do you live in a town like this?” the comment makes Dongwoon and Sohyun look up and the both blink as Jiyoon paces in front of them. “I swear, besides the JooMi pair, it seems like everyone is hopeless in love,”
“We know,” Dongwoon answers, his head ducking. Jiyoon pauses, looking at the younger man. “We fail,”
Jiyoon slaps his head and then resumes pacing again.
“How did your obsession come to the conclusion that you two are dating anyways? They can’t possibly not see the googly eyes you give him. I mean, you two happen to be super obvious,” Junhyung points out, looking up for a moment from his book then he tells Doojoon, “I think Jiyoon-ah’s comment about being hopeless in love extends to you too Yoon Doojoon,”
“It doesn’t,” Doojoon and Jiyoon quip at the same time.
“Okay, besides JooMi and 2Jun’s odd relationship, everyone else is hopeless in love,” Sunggyu corrects when Junhyung raises an eyebrow. His brows furrow. “I guess I’m included in that too. Pity, I thought I was doing well,”
“Excuse me?”
“Never mind,” and Doojoon snorts. Jiyoon wasn’t that much different from Kikwang and Cheundong he realized blandly. Well, she didn’t jump to many (and wrong) conclusions but she was just as oblivious.
“Jiyoon-unnie, include yourself into that list too,” Sohyun quips and Jiyoon raises an eyebrow of confusion. Then she bobs her head and nods silently in agreement.
“I guess,”
“Okay, all of that aside, what are we going to do with two oblivious blockheads?” Junhyung asks and he hits Doojoon when the older man said quietly, “Three oblivious blockheads,” Doojoon pouts and Junhyung just says simply, “Shut up Yoon Doojoon. We can deal with the last blockhead later,”
Sunggyu rolls his eyes and tries not to glower at them while Dongwoon grins and Sohyun claps her hands.
“I can manage without your help thank you,” and Jiyoon blinks Dongwoon grins and tells him, “Dream on hyung,”
“I think I’ve got a plan,” Doojoon finally ventures after a moment of silence. “Why don’t we just continue with this? They already think we’re dating,”
“We don’t even have to do a lot, Cheundong-hyung’s already starting to avoid them,” Dongwoon cringes when the younger girl makes a noise and Sunggyu winced, saying apologetically, “Mianhae Sohyun-ah,”
“Nothing that will make these two more depressed than they already are,” Junhyung answers with a light slap to Doojoons head. The older man just turned his face and bit lightly on his fingers. Junhyung hits him again.
Dongwoon sits back, his brows furrowing as the others talked about the blockheads. Next to him, Sohyun ducks her head and Jiyoon slings a comforting arm over her shoulders. He supposes he could take things into his own hands. Maybe.
He prays he doesn’t fuck up.
---
“Cheundong-hyung,” Cheundong looks up, spoon halfway to his lips and he blinks as the younger boy slides into the empty seat across from him and next to Kikwang. Cheundong blinks before putting his spoon down into the soup he had been in the process of eating and Kikwang actually squeaks, scooting away subtly. It isn’t as subtle as he hopes and he knocks down his cup of water. Cheundong and Kikwang instantly leap to mop it up and Dongwoon is quiet as he watches them, trying to formulate an intelligent comment in his brain. What comes out isn’t quite what he wanted.
“Hyung, why are you avoiding Sohyunnie and I?”
Cheundong knocks over his own cup of water in surprise and it splashes a bit into his bowl of soup. He doesn’t notice and Kikwang leaps over Dongwoon to grab more napkins. Dongwoon pretends like it just didn’t get colder as the shorter, older man hurries away and his hands fold neatly on the table.
“I’m not,” Cheundong avoids his stare and Dongwoon frowns the slightest bit.
“You are,” Dongwoon presses. His eyes flicker as Kikwang slides back into the seat he just vacated and he’s given a somewhat nervous smile. “Sohyunnie misses her Cheundong-oppa you know and you haven’t spoken to us face to face since Bom-noona and Dara-noona’s picnic gathering thing,”
“I’m not avoiding you two,” Cheundong grimaces inwardly. Even he wouldn’t believe those words coming out of his mouth. It sounded so weak and well, weak. Kikwang balls a wad of wet napkins and he’s almost moving away again when Dongwoon caught his arm. Cheundong almost stands, halfway out of his seat.
“Dongwoon-sshi,” Kikwang squeaks and the stare he’s given makes him shiver.
“Sit,” and both of them sat down obediently. Dongwoon frowns slightly then his fingers threaded together and he sighs. “We’re not dating,”
“Excuse me?” is the surprised, confused chorus. Dongwoon frowns even more and he looks up at the both of them before repeating flatly, “Sohyunnie and I. We’re not dating,”
“You could have had me fooled,” the reply from Cheundong is surprisingly sharp and Dongwoon exhales slowly, his eyes closing.
“Doojoon-hyung is gay before you can go accusing him and Sohyun-ah of dating,” his voice is sharp and Dongwoon tries not to scowl. “Sohyunnie’s not dating anyone. Junyung-hyung has no interest and he’s got a love-hate thing going on with Doojoon-hyung anyways. The JooMi couple is still growing strong and everyone in town knows that I’m about a straight as a multicolored slinky,”
“Excuse me?” two sets of eyes stared and Dongwoon almost mentally cursed.
Oops. That wasn’t quite what he wanted to say. Well, might as well run with it. It slipped out already.
“Everyone in town knows that I’m gay. And Sohyunnie’s not dating anyone. So unless you’re going to suddenly become a homophobe, you have no reason to be avoiding us. Especially if your reason for avoiding us was the impression that we were dating,” Dongwoon’s eyes flickers over the two and he stands. “Because we’re not,”
He leaves as the information is sinking in.
---
“Son Dongwoon! What the fuck was that?!” is the yell that greets him as he enters to streets. Doojoon and Junhyung are gaping at him and Sohyun looks somewhat upset. Junhyung throws his hands in the air and Doojoon sputters wordlessly. “I mean, we had a beautiful plan! A beautiful plan for you guys and it-it just flew out the window! OUT THE WINDOW!!”
“I’d rather them be awkward for a day than Cheundong-hyung avoiding us for the rest of his break,” is Dongwoon’s answer. “And Sohyunnie was moping too much at our place because she’s unhappy,”
“Oppa, what about you?” Sohyun’s voice squeaks and Dongwoon grins, reaching out to ruffle her hair.
“If he’s a homophobe then I’ll count my losses,” Doojoon almost wants to smack the younger man. Sohyun bit her lip and linked her hands with his. Dongwoon blinks down at her head and smiles vaguely before ruffling her hair again.
“Oppa, you really liked Kikwang-sshi,” Dongwoon shrugs again just as the door behind him slams open. Their party turns and for a split second, Cheundong’s eyes drops down towards Dongwoon and Sohyun’s linked hands then he looks at Kikwang who is standing next to him, just staring. The other man looked almost sick, his skin pale and kind of clammy.
“Dongwoon-sshi,” a tongue darts out to lick dry lips as his voice cracks awkwardly and Kikwang hesitates. “C-Can we talk?”
Doojoon and Junhyung hightail away the moment Dongwoon agrees to Kikwang’s request and they leave shortly after, leaving Sohyun and Cheundong standing awkwardly in front of the café. She tugs at the oversized sweater (Sunggyu’s no doubt) and for a moment, Cheundong feels his cheeks heat when his eyes drops towards the curves hidden beneath the large garment. He wants to kick himself.
“O-Oppa,” her greeting is tiny and Cheundong can’t help but smile at her. He notes when her cheeks pink cutely. They start walking, moving away from the café. Cheundong stares down at her head, just thinking. For a moment, Cheundong isn’t quite sure what to say then his head tilts and he asks with a light grin, “Are you here to tell me that you’re single, not dating Dongwoon and is hopelessly in love with me as I am with you or are you going to break my poor heart and tell me you’re about as straight as, how’d Dongwoon put it?-oh, as straight as a multicolored slinky and the whole town knows and that I should give up now?”
“Oppa!” half of his comment registers first, mainly the part where he insinuates that she’s gay and she’s slapping his arm when his entire comment registers and her body freezes. Cheundong stops next to her and he licks his lips nervously. “Wh-What was that?”
And everything suddenly seemed really awkward. Cheundong swallows and Sohyun messes even more with the hem of her sweatshirt. He takes a deep breath and steps closer.
---
“Are you leaving already? We were planning for more meddling with people’s love lives,” the words causes a grin to quirk Kikwang’s lips as he throws his duffle up onto the luggage compartment of the train before stepping off briefly to come face to face with the speaker(s). Arms slip around his waist and a head rests lightly on his own, someone’s breath lightly caressing the back of his neck. Kikwang pinked a little bit but he smiles anyways. In front of him, Doojoon grins, hands shoved into the pockets of his jacket and from behind, Dongwoon lightly intertwines their hands.
“If it involves the love life of one oblivious Jeon Jiyoon and the pursing Kim Sunggyu, when that is settle, I want details,” Cheundong’s voice rings out and the others turn, grinning as the pair jogged lightly up in matching tracksuits and hands intertwined, duffle slung over Cheundong’s shoulders. “I can’t believe that she doesn’t notice Sunggyu-hyung’s advances,”
“That’s the pot calling the kettle black oppa,” Sohyun rebukes lightly and Cheundong ducks his head to kiss her cheek lightly. She smiles behind her hand and slaps his arm.
“I think noona knows,” Dongwoon quips and Doojoon shrugs.
“If she doesn’t, then Jaesoonie probably has told her,” Cheundong’s brows furrow and the others blink.
“Who’s Jaesoon?”
“YOON DOOJOON!” the owner of the voice appears, eyes blazing and Doojoon winks at the others before starting to run off. “DOOJOON!”
“Catch me if you can Jaesoon-ah!” and their quartet watches as Yong Junhyung tears after Doojoon and they raise questioning eyebrows as Jiyoon approaches.
“Junhyung-oppa changed his name in 6th grade. He doesn’t really like being called Jaesoon, it’s too feminine but Doojoon-oppa plastered the entire house with Jaesoon in bright pink,” Jiyoon grins. “Oppa’s out for blood now,”
“I think I’ll need to spend the night at your place Sohyunnie,” she gives him a curious stare and Dongwoon grins, hugging Kikwang a little tighter before commenting, "Doojoon-hyung and Junhyung-hyung do this on purpose. Or rather, Doojoon-hyung ticks Junhyung-hyung off on purpose. They have loud make-up sex,”
Length: 2/2
Author: Kurokitsune09
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance-Fluff/General
Focus: Cheundong x Sohyun, Doojoon x Junhyung, Dongwoon x Kikwang
Sub-Focus: Random little cameos from K-Pop stars, hinted Sunggyu x Jiyoon, JooMi
Notes: Okay! Part 2 is up! Ending is a little funky and the muse died partway through. I think it shows. XD
Inspiration: MBLAQ and 4Minute’s Joint Special Stage on SBS Gayo Daejun and the sudden thought that Cheundongie and Sohyunnie would look absolutely cute together lol ^^
Summary: Sohyun’s all grown up and Cheundong’s the only one who doesn’t notice. Kikwang and Dongwoon are awkward and Doojoon and Junhyung have a love-hate thing going on.
Part One
Jiyoon drops the bomb on them while there’s a weird little powwow thing going on at Doojoon’s house. Of course, Sohyun and Dongwoon would say it was less of a powwow as opposed to an excuse for Doojoon to harass Junhyung since it seemed to be the older man’s hobby. It wasn’t a very big powwow only consisting of Sohyun, Dongwoon, Doojoon, Junhyung, Jiyoon and a few friends and neighbors from across the street that knew of Sohyun and Dongwoon’s situation; Kim Sunggyu, who stammers sometimes when he spoke to Jiyoon and was Sohyun’s overly protective cousin, Lee Joon and his boyfriend Bang Cheulyong, whom everyone knew as Mir. Cheundong and Kikwang had offered to become bag carriers for Dara and Bom while they went shopping and even though Bom and Doojoon were adamantly refusing the two to go, Dara, after a look exchange with Jiyoon, didn’t deny them.
Joon, Mir, and Dongwoon were arguing over the remote control while Junhyung was seated on the couch, watching in amusement with Doojoon using him as a pillow. It’s one of those rare moments where they weren’t fighting and Sohyun and Sunggyu are in walking from the kitchen with a few drinks when Jiyoon ever so casually, drops the bomb on them.
The reactions are immediate.
Dongwoon squawks and drops the remote while Mir and Joon stop in mid-tackle to Dongwoon and they collapse on the floor in a heap, Joon landing on Mir who grunts into the floor. Doojoon slaps Junhyung’s thigh in disbelief and Junhyung kicks him in return while Sohyun stops and gapes, drinks sliding from her hand. Sunggyu dives to catch some of them, misses one and while that one crashes to the floor in a rupture of glass and sweet, sticky soda, he proceeds to collide into the back of the couch where he flips over it ungracefully, upending more soda onto the floor and the unfortunate pairing of Doojoon and Junhyung.
Jiyoon just watches, arms on her knees, from her seat on the piano bench of Dongwoon’s baby grand. Her smile is amused at the preceding but then it drops slowly and she repeats lightly to a series of surprised, disbelieving stares.
“Park Cheundong and Lee Kikwang think that Dongwoonie and Sohyunnie are dating,”
“But Dongwoon-ah is about as straight as a multicolored slinky,” Joon points out, accidentally pushing Mir’s head into the carpet where he flails. “And Sohyun-ah’s totally obviously crushing-obsessed on Doongie even though he isn’t aware that she’s got boobs,”
“Oppa!” Sohyun shrieks, her cheeks turning pink and with some difficulty, Sunggyu rights himself from the couch, a frown touching his lips. Joon blinks and he waves his hands up in defense, hitting Mir in the process. Jiyoon blinks when Sunggyu gently ushers her, with, surprisingly, no stammering from her seat and he picks up the bench. Jiyoon blinks again.
“What? I’m right! He isn’t even aware that you’ve got boobs!” Mir groans into the floor as his boyfriend’s voice rises defensively and Sohyun buries her face into her hands. Dongwoon, seeing where Sunggyu is going with his piano bench, moves Doojoon and Junhyung, both sticky with soda and in complete not-quite-horror at Joon’s words, away from the couch and towards Sohyun. He also tugs Mir out from under his boyfriend, helping Joon stand then backs as far back as he could, standing by Sohyun who’s completely mortified.
“Hyung,” Sunggyu’s voice is light, and Joon, his rant about Cheundong’s obliviousness to Sohyun’s boobs paused, looks at him and the other smiles, his eyes crinkling. In a normal situation, his smile is charming and cute but in this situation it looks kind of scary as his hands tighten over the wood of Dongwoon’s bench. There’s a moment of pause then he lets it fly at Joon with a sharp, “Shut up,”
Outside, Dara and Bom are peering eagerly in through the windows and they both wince when the piano chair connects with Joon’s face. They hear what sounds like a war cry of sorts and Sunggyu is tackling Joon. They watch as Joon is tackled the floor and Jiyoon is knocked over by one of Sunggyu’s legs on accident.
“I knew Joon lacked a few brain cells but to do this in front of the poor girl’s cousin is completely idiotic,” Cheundong can only nod blankly as he watches Sunggyu thrash Joon with anything he could get his hands on. Dara and Bom’s little shopping party had arrived in time to hear Joon’s comment about someone’s obliviousness to Sohyun’s maturity and his mind had blanked after that. Dara hums softly and looked in through a window at Sohyun who’s completely red and has buried her face into Dongwoon’s shoulder, who, from what it looked like, was the closest person to her. Kikwang had started frowning when he saw that. “I suppose Sohyun-ah’s too mortified to even beat Joon-ah up herself. She should’ve though. I want to see her use the taekwondo she learned from Sunggyu,”
“Dara, you’re having way to much fun just watching,” Bom said and she lightly slaps her friend’s shoulder. Dara just grins and when she notices Cheundong’s odd contemplative look, she and Bom share a look. Dara smiles faintly and hopes that Joon’s, no matter how rude and unnecessary it was, comment about Sohyun’s boobs made her brother think about the younger girl. The signs were all there; all he needed to do now was connect the dots. Connect the dots and come to the conclusion that Dongwoon and Sohyun weren’t dating and that Sohyun was hopelessly in love with him.
What comes out of his mouth is not what she expects as he turns to her.
“Dara-noona, Sohyunnie’s taking tae kwon do?”
Bom almost rips her hair out.
---
He’s not dumb. Kikwang knows that he’s not the brightest bulb in the box but he’s not dumb. He’s smarter than people give him credit for. He graduated the top of his class back in high school and even now he is at least in the top 50 students of his year. Kikwang is sure that Cheundong doesn’t know why his heart is in pain and his chest tight when anyone had mentioned Sohyun and Dongwoon together but Kikwang knows. Cheundong didn’t have to tell him how he was feeling.
Kikwang knows. So, four days after they’ve arrived at Cheundong’s hometown, hours after they figure Son Dongwoon and Kwon Sohyun are dating, the two of them are sitting in the backyard, a six-pack of beer between the two of them and more sitting in a bag at Kikwang’s feet. Dara and Bom had gone hours ago for something or other and neither one wanted to stop them.
“What’s on your mind Kwang-ah?” Cheundong asks first and Kikwang looks at him from the corner of his eyes before popping open a can of beer.
“Getting drunk,” and he takes a long swig, ignoring the burn of alcohol going down his throat. “What about you?”
Cheundong goes quiet and so Kikwang doesn’t ask anymore. As much as he loves his best friend (completely platonic of course), Kikwang has his own set problems to deal with and he couldn’t really be bothered with Cheundong’s. And it revolved around a completely handsome foreign looking young man who was dating the adorkable young woman who Kikwang knew was the source of Cheundong’s problems. Okay, so maybe he is a little bothered by Cheundong’s problem. He pauses and he leans back on his arms before letting his upper body rest on the steps, his back molding to the sharp corners.
“You don’t have to tell me Sanghyun-ah. I know,” and Cheundong looks at him in slight surprise. It wasn’t often he heard his real name. Everyone just calls him Cheundong, even his parents and he almost forgot how it sounded. Kikwang throws him a lopsided smile. “How long have you realized you’ve been in love?”
“This morning actually,” Cheundong answers with a somewhat hesitant thought flippant shrug. Kikwang smiles.
“When you made that comment about Dongwoon-sshi and Sohyunnie dating?” Cheundong blinks and Kikwang sits up long enough to drink the rest of his beer before he crushes the can in his hands and he leans back again. “I’m not that stupid. You don’t say things without having some sort of meaning behind it. You were unhappy when you concluded that Sohyunnie and Dongwoon-sshi were dating. I heard it,”
“I suppose so Kwangie-ah,” Cheundong sighs and looks up at the sky, kicking an empty can as he leans back. “I just, just didn’t realize how much she was changing and growing up,” he threw him a look and Kikwang grins in amusement. “Physical biological changes aside Kikwang,” he sighs again. “She’s grown up both spiritually and mentally. Again, biological changes aside. She doesn’t really need me anymore. Sunggyu-hyung is teaching her taekwondo, Dongwoon-ah is taking care of her more than me and I’m sure she’s learning stuff from Doojoon-hyung and the two new people, Junhyung-sshi and Jiyoon-yang,” He looks at Kikwang. “She doesn’t really need her Cheundong-oppa anymore,”
“You feel a little upset don’t you?” and Cheundong pops open another can.
“Kikwang-ah, if your best friend forever since childhood, no matter how cliché that freaking sounds, just suddenly didn’t need you what would you do?”
“I don’t know. What would I do?” Kikwang pops open a can and clinks it against Cheundong’s before the two took a drink. “But since this isn’t me, what are you going to do Sanghyun?”
“I don’t know. I mean, my little Sohyunnie is all grown up and everyone apparently knew that I couldn’t see it even though she was right in front of me. I’m pretty sure that I’m in love but she’s with Dongwoon and on top of that,” Kikwang looks at him as he pauses and lets out a forlorn, sad sounding noise. His next comment makes him snort his beer. “She has boobs,”
---
It’s about 2 days after Jiyoon’s comment about what Cheundong and Kikwang thought. Bodies are sprawled around the living room of the house she lived in with Junhyung and Jiyoon is pacing the expanse of the living room. Sohyun and Dongwoon are both sitting on the couch, their expressions depressed and Junhyung, in another one of those rare moments with Doojoon, had a hand running though the older man’s hair, fingers scratching lightly into his scalp as he read the novel in his lap. He was sitting on a loveseat, his legs hanging off one side and Doojoon was seated on the ground next to him. Sunggyu was sprawled on the ground and Jiyoon kept stepping over his legs as she paced. He didn’t really mind.
“How do you live in a town like this?” the comment makes Dongwoon and Sohyun look up and the both blink as Jiyoon paces in front of them. “I swear, besides the JooMi pair, it seems like everyone is hopeless in love,”
“We know,” Dongwoon answers, his head ducking. Jiyoon pauses, looking at the younger man. “We fail,”
Jiyoon slaps his head and then resumes pacing again.
“How did your obsession come to the conclusion that you two are dating anyways? They can’t possibly not see the googly eyes you give him. I mean, you two happen to be super obvious,” Junhyung points out, looking up for a moment from his book then he tells Doojoon, “I think Jiyoon-ah’s comment about being hopeless in love extends to you too Yoon Doojoon,”
“It doesn’t,” Doojoon and Jiyoon quip at the same time.
“Okay, besides JooMi and 2Jun’s odd relationship, everyone else is hopeless in love,” Sunggyu corrects when Junhyung raises an eyebrow. His brows furrow. “I guess I’m included in that too. Pity, I thought I was doing well,”
“Excuse me?”
“Never mind,” and Doojoon snorts. Jiyoon wasn’t that much different from Kikwang and Cheundong he realized blandly. Well, she didn’t jump to many (and wrong) conclusions but she was just as oblivious.
“Jiyoon-unnie, include yourself into that list too,” Sohyun quips and Jiyoon raises an eyebrow of confusion. Then she bobs her head and nods silently in agreement.
“I guess,”
“Okay, all of that aside, what are we going to do with two oblivious blockheads?” Junhyung asks and he hits Doojoon when the older man said quietly, “Three oblivious blockheads,” Doojoon pouts and Junhyung just says simply, “Shut up Yoon Doojoon. We can deal with the last blockhead later,”
Sunggyu rolls his eyes and tries not to glower at them while Dongwoon grins and Sohyun claps her hands.
“I can manage without your help thank you,” and Jiyoon blinks Dongwoon grins and tells him, “Dream on hyung,”
“I think I’ve got a plan,” Doojoon finally ventures after a moment of silence. “Why don’t we just continue with this? They already think we’re dating,”
“We don’t even have to do a lot, Cheundong-hyung’s already starting to avoid them,” Dongwoon cringes when the younger girl makes a noise and Sunggyu winced, saying apologetically, “Mianhae Sohyun-ah,”
“Nothing that will make these two more depressed than they already are,” Junhyung answers with a light slap to Doojoons head. The older man just turned his face and bit lightly on his fingers. Junhyung hits him again.
Dongwoon sits back, his brows furrowing as the others talked about the blockheads. Next to him, Sohyun ducks her head and Jiyoon slings a comforting arm over her shoulders. He supposes he could take things into his own hands. Maybe.
He prays he doesn’t fuck up.
---
“Cheundong-hyung,” Cheundong looks up, spoon halfway to his lips and he blinks as the younger boy slides into the empty seat across from him and next to Kikwang. Cheundong blinks before putting his spoon down into the soup he had been in the process of eating and Kikwang actually squeaks, scooting away subtly. It isn’t as subtle as he hopes and he knocks down his cup of water. Cheundong and Kikwang instantly leap to mop it up and Dongwoon is quiet as he watches them, trying to formulate an intelligent comment in his brain. What comes out isn’t quite what he wanted.
“Hyung, why are you avoiding Sohyunnie and I?”
Cheundong knocks over his own cup of water in surprise and it splashes a bit into his bowl of soup. He doesn’t notice and Kikwang leaps over Dongwoon to grab more napkins. Dongwoon pretends like it just didn’t get colder as the shorter, older man hurries away and his hands fold neatly on the table.
“I’m not,” Cheundong avoids his stare and Dongwoon frowns the slightest bit.
“You are,” Dongwoon presses. His eyes flicker as Kikwang slides back into the seat he just vacated and he’s given a somewhat nervous smile. “Sohyunnie misses her Cheundong-oppa you know and you haven’t spoken to us face to face since Bom-noona and Dara-noona’s picnic gathering thing,”
“I’m not avoiding you two,” Cheundong grimaces inwardly. Even he wouldn’t believe those words coming out of his mouth. It sounded so weak and well, weak. Kikwang balls a wad of wet napkins and he’s almost moving away again when Dongwoon caught his arm. Cheundong almost stands, halfway out of his seat.
“Dongwoon-sshi,” Kikwang squeaks and the stare he’s given makes him shiver.
“Sit,” and both of them sat down obediently. Dongwoon frowns slightly then his fingers threaded together and he sighs. “We’re not dating,”
“Excuse me?” is the surprised, confused chorus. Dongwoon frowns even more and he looks up at the both of them before repeating flatly, “Sohyunnie and I. We’re not dating,”
“You could have had me fooled,” the reply from Cheundong is surprisingly sharp and Dongwoon exhales slowly, his eyes closing.
“Doojoon-hyung is gay before you can go accusing him and Sohyun-ah of dating,” his voice is sharp and Dongwoon tries not to scowl. “Sohyunnie’s not dating anyone. Junyung-hyung has no interest and he’s got a love-hate thing going on with Doojoon-hyung anyways. The JooMi couple is still growing strong and everyone in town knows that I’m about a straight as a multicolored slinky,”
“Excuse me?” two sets of eyes stared and Dongwoon almost mentally cursed.
Oops. That wasn’t quite what he wanted to say. Well, might as well run with it. It slipped out already.
“Everyone in town knows that I’m gay. And Sohyunnie’s not dating anyone. So unless you’re going to suddenly become a homophobe, you have no reason to be avoiding us. Especially if your reason for avoiding us was the impression that we were dating,” Dongwoon’s eyes flickers over the two and he stands. “Because we’re not,”
He leaves as the information is sinking in.
---
“Son Dongwoon! What the fuck was that?!” is the yell that greets him as he enters to streets. Doojoon and Junhyung are gaping at him and Sohyun looks somewhat upset. Junhyung throws his hands in the air and Doojoon sputters wordlessly. “I mean, we had a beautiful plan! A beautiful plan for you guys and it-it just flew out the window! OUT THE WINDOW!!”
“I’d rather them be awkward for a day than Cheundong-hyung avoiding us for the rest of his break,” is Dongwoon’s answer. “And Sohyunnie was moping too much at our place because she’s unhappy,”
“Oppa, what about you?” Sohyun’s voice squeaks and Dongwoon grins, reaching out to ruffle her hair.
“If he’s a homophobe then I’ll count my losses,” Doojoon almost wants to smack the younger man. Sohyun bit her lip and linked her hands with his. Dongwoon blinks down at her head and smiles vaguely before ruffling her hair again.
“Oppa, you really liked Kikwang-sshi,” Dongwoon shrugs again just as the door behind him slams open. Their party turns and for a split second, Cheundong’s eyes drops down towards Dongwoon and Sohyun’s linked hands then he looks at Kikwang who is standing next to him, just staring. The other man looked almost sick, his skin pale and kind of clammy.
“Dongwoon-sshi,” a tongue darts out to lick dry lips as his voice cracks awkwardly and Kikwang hesitates. “C-Can we talk?”
Doojoon and Junhyung hightail away the moment Dongwoon agrees to Kikwang’s request and they leave shortly after, leaving Sohyun and Cheundong standing awkwardly in front of the café. She tugs at the oversized sweater (Sunggyu’s no doubt) and for a moment, Cheundong feels his cheeks heat when his eyes drops towards the curves hidden beneath the large garment. He wants to kick himself.
“O-Oppa,” her greeting is tiny and Cheundong can’t help but smile at her. He notes when her cheeks pink cutely. They start walking, moving away from the café. Cheundong stares down at her head, just thinking. For a moment, Cheundong isn’t quite sure what to say then his head tilts and he asks with a light grin, “Are you here to tell me that you’re single, not dating Dongwoon and is hopelessly in love with me as I am with you or are you going to break my poor heart and tell me you’re about as straight as, how’d Dongwoon put it?-oh, as straight as a multicolored slinky and the whole town knows and that I should give up now?”
“Oppa!” half of his comment registers first, mainly the part where he insinuates that she’s gay and she’s slapping his arm when his entire comment registers and her body freezes. Cheundong stops next to her and he licks his lips nervously. “Wh-What was that?”
And everything suddenly seemed really awkward. Cheundong swallows and Sohyun messes even more with the hem of her sweatshirt. He takes a deep breath and steps closer.
---
“Are you leaving already? We were planning for more meddling with people’s love lives,” the words causes a grin to quirk Kikwang’s lips as he throws his duffle up onto the luggage compartment of the train before stepping off briefly to come face to face with the speaker(s). Arms slip around his waist and a head rests lightly on his own, someone’s breath lightly caressing the back of his neck. Kikwang pinked a little bit but he smiles anyways. In front of him, Doojoon grins, hands shoved into the pockets of his jacket and from behind, Dongwoon lightly intertwines their hands.
“If it involves the love life of one oblivious Jeon Jiyoon and the pursing Kim Sunggyu, when that is settle, I want details,” Cheundong’s voice rings out and the others turn, grinning as the pair jogged lightly up in matching tracksuits and hands intertwined, duffle slung over Cheundong’s shoulders. “I can’t believe that she doesn’t notice Sunggyu-hyung’s advances,”
“That’s the pot calling the kettle black oppa,” Sohyun rebukes lightly and Cheundong ducks his head to kiss her cheek lightly. She smiles behind her hand and slaps his arm.
“I think noona knows,” Dongwoon quips and Doojoon shrugs.
“If she doesn’t, then Jaesoonie probably has told her,” Cheundong’s brows furrow and the others blink.
“Who’s Jaesoon?”
“YOON DOOJOON!” the owner of the voice appears, eyes blazing and Doojoon winks at the others before starting to run off. “DOOJOON!”
“Catch me if you can Jaesoon-ah!” and their quartet watches as Yong Junhyung tears after Doojoon and they raise questioning eyebrows as Jiyoon approaches.
“Junhyung-oppa changed his name in 6th grade. He doesn’t really like being called Jaesoon, it’s too feminine but Doojoon-oppa plastered the entire house with Jaesoon in bright pink,” Jiyoon grins. “Oppa’s out for blood now,”
“I think I’ll need to spend the night at your place Sohyunnie,” she gives him a curious stare and Dongwoon grins, hugging Kikwang a little tighter before commenting, "Doojoon-hyung and Junhyung-hyung do this on purpose. Or rather, Doojoon-hyung ticks Junhyung-hyung off on purpose. They have loud make-up sex,”