Bet On It Part 4
Title: Bet On It
Pairing: HaeHyuk
Minor Pairings: MinKyu, ninja!HanChul
Part: 4
Rating: R
Genre: romance, drama
Disclaimer: I wish
Warnings: more than implied sex, language
Summary: Donghae meets an alluring man at a bar. Without meaning to, Donghae gets pulled into the man's world, much deeper than he had ever intended.
“You just don’t like gambling because you don’t know how,” Eunhyuk stated confidentially. He opened the seal to a new deck of cards.
“I don’t like gambling, period,” said Donghae as he watched Eunhyuk cut the deck and shuffle with skills that could rival a professional dealer’s. “There’s always too much to lose and not enough to gain.”
“If you play your cards right, there’s a lot to gain.” Eunhyuk distributed the cards into neat little stacks. “And that’s what makes it so exciting.” Picking up his own cards, he waited for Donghae expectantly. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” he warned him. “I’ve never taught anyone my poker strategies before, not even Heechul-hyung. If you pass now, my secrets are going to go to the grave with me.”
With just a hint of hesitation, Donghae reached out and picked up his stack of cards.
-
“What on earth are you doing?”
Donghae peeked at Kyuhyun from behind his copy of A Complete Idiot’s Guide to Poker. Kyuhyun was dangling Gambling for Dummies between his fingers, disbelief painted on his face.
“I don’t suppose this is for a bit of light reading,” said Kyuhyun sarcastically.
“Um, research?” Donghae managed weakly.
“Good!” Kyuhyun jumped as Leeteuk’s voice sounded behind him. Their boss was nodding his approval at Donghae. “We need self-motivating people like you that go out of their way to do research.” Leeteuk ruffled Kyuhyun’s hair. “You should take a leaf out of Donghae’s book.”
Kyuhyun straightened his hair, miffed, as Leeteuk walked away. “I smell something fishy about you,” he declared, glaring at Donghae.
“Well, I am a fish,” Donghae joked feebly. Kyuhyun shook his head.
-
Donghae stared at the cards on the table in disbelief as Eunhyuk completely trumped him for the nth time. “I don’t get it,” he complained, throwing his remaining cards down. “I have all the good cards, but you still manage to win.”
Eunhyuk smirked as he gathered the cards into a pile in preparation for another round. “My poor, misled Donghae. It’s not about having all the good cards; it’s about how you play them.”
Donghae pondered Eunhyuk’s words for a long time after.
-
“Kyuhyun, play poker with me,” Donghae insisted.
Kyuhyun paused. “What?”
“You do know how to play poker, right?” asked Donghae hopefully.
Kyuhyun nodded. “Sungmin and I play strip poker all the time. I always lose, but it’s okay since he always ends up naked soon enough anyway.”
Donghae made a face. “I didn’t ask about your kinks.”
Kyuhyun shrugged, gesturing to the partially healed skin on Donghae’s wrists. “Hey, to each his own.”
Donghae tugged the sleeves of his shirt down self-consciously. “Are you going to play or not?” he grumbled.
“Why do you want to play poker with me?” Kyuhyun watched Donghae clumsily shuffle the tattered deck.
“Practice,” Donghae said simply.
-
Eunhyuk had a very subtle tic, but it was a tic, nevertheless.
Donghae, with his observation skills (very sharp, he often boasted), spotted this during the first game Eunhyuk nearly lost.
Eunhyuk’s face remained unchanged, but as he watched the game unfold, the hand not holding his cards moved so that his fingertips touched his opposite wrist lightly.
Luckily, Eunhyuk managed to turn the game around and Donghae let out the breath he wasn’t aware he had been holding.
-
“You’re getting better,” Eunhyuk approved as Donghae lost yet again.
“Not fast enough,” grumbled Donghae. But he had to admit, he was not completely trashed this time like he would’ve been a month ago.
“Patience,” assured Eunhyuk, amused. “These things take time.”
“Like you’re one to talk, Mr. Instant Gratification,” Donghae countered.
Eunhyuk paused in shuffling the cards. “Good point,” he conceded. Reaching across the table to grab Donghae’s shirt front, he pulled him in for a sloppy kiss. “And I want you right now.”
Donghae eyed the table doubtfully. “Are you sure it will hold?”
Eunhyuk rolled his eyes. “There’s a reason my furniture is custom made. Cost a fortune, but it’s worth it.”
-
“You’re a natural at bluffing,” Eunhyuk praised.
“Thanks,” Donghae replied, feeling oddly not complimented.
“Too bad for you, I’m the master of bluffing.”
Donghae stared at the cards. He had lost again. Leaning back on his chair, he let out a sigh. “I’m better at bluffing,” he mused.
-
“Now that you’re passably good at poker, you should try your hand at it in a casino setting,” Eunhyuk told him on yet another night at the underground casino. He passed Donghae a wad of bills. “Go knock ‘em dead.”
Donghae pocketed the money (he was not one to refuse free money). “But I’ll lose,” he protested.
Eunhyuk shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. At this point in the game, you’re not trying to win money, just building your skills.”
“When will I reach your level?” Donghae wondered.
Eunhyuk chuckled and ruffled Donghae’s hair in a very demeaning gesture. “Don’t bite off more than you can chew.” With those words, he departed for the tables, leaving Donghae in the middle of the room.
Donghae sighed and surveyed the place, trying to find a table with players that wouldn’t completely crush him. Clearly, everyone here had years of experience. Deciding he didn’t really want to gamble anyways, Donghae made his way over to the bar. Drinking may be Kyuhyun’s forte, but Donghae wasn’t too shabby at downing drinks himself.
Halfway through his second drink (a nice sea breeze with a little umbrella on the side), Donghae became aware of someone sliding into the stool next to him.
“One shot, please,” requested a voice with an oddly familiar accent.
Turning his head, Donghae was surprised to see that it was Hangeng, the owner of the restaurant Sungmin took him to.
Noticing Donghae’s stare, the older man offered him a smile. “Hello. You’re Sungmin’s friend, Donghae, right?”
Donghae nodded. “What are you doing here? Do you also…” He trailed off as he waved his arm in the general direction of the gambling people.
Hangeng seemed to find Donghae’s flailing amusing. “Am I here to gamble? No.”
Donghae tilted his head to the side in confusion. “Then why are you here?”
“Not everyone is here to gamble. Most, but not all.” Hangeng’s eyes were twinkling. “You’re not here to gamble either, are you?”
Gulping, Donghae shook his head.
“I’m here because Heechul is here,” explained Hangeng, picking up his shot cup and downing the liquid in one gulp.
Donghae scanned the room and almost immediately spotted the man in question. Heechul was walking briskly towards the back exit, followed by two burly men dragging a protesting man between them. “Not anymore, he isn’t,” observed Donghae as Heechul disappeared out of the door.
Hangeng did not bat an eyelash at the odd scene. “He’s just doing his job.”
“What does he work as?” inquired Donghae, running through possible professions in his head.
Hangeng traced the rim of his glass. “How to put it? He…works in finance.”
“A loan shark,” Donghae concluded bluntly, connecting the dots.
“That’s how we met actually,” reminisced Hangeng, a slight distant quality to his voice. “I came from China with wonderful dreams of opening a restaurant, but didn’t have any money. Heechul lent me some. Business was terrible at first and I couldn’t make my payments in time.”
“So what did Heechul do?”
Hangeng chuckled enigmatically. “Money isn’t the only method of payment.”
Donghae shook his head in disbelief. “Isn’t your debt already paid off by now? Why are you still with him?”
Hangeng shrugged. “One of the mysteries of life, isn’t it?”
“Don’t you get tired of his lifestyle though?” Donghae pressed.
“I suppose,” contemplated Hangeng.
“Then?”
“Do I lie awake at night and think of the life I could’ve had? Yes,” Hangeng admitted. “A place to call my own, a small cozy restaurant, a beautiful wife, some children- I had to throw that all away, and for what? A restaurant that eats up all my energy, having to move every few months, and a generally hectic life that I don’t want. I regret it sometimes.” Hangeng gazed at Donghae with sad, yet wise eyes. “But choosing to be with Heechul? That is something I would never- could never- regret.”
-
“Don’t tell me,” Eunhyuk guessed as Donghae collapsed on the bed. “You lost.”
Donghae did not answer, choosing instead to pull Eunhyuk’s pillow over his face.
“You lost that badly?” Eunhyuk tugged at the pillow. “Come on, it couldn’t have been that terrible.”
Donghae remained silent, clutching stubbornly onto the pillow.
“Donghae,” prodded Eunhyuk, voice impatient. “Don’t ignore me.”
Donghae ignored him, concentrating on breathing in and out, in and out. Suddenly, the pillow was ripped out of his grip, revealing a pissed Eunhyuk. Eunhyuk’s annoyed expression rapidly changed to perlexity.
“Are you crying?” he questioned, bewildered. “I don’t mind if you lost all that money…”
Donghae sat up, burying his face in Eunhyuk’s neck.
“Donghae?” The uncharacteristic uncertainty in Eunhyuk’s voice almost made him laugh.
“J-just let me stay like this for a while,” Donghae said shakily, trying his best to compose himself.
After some time, Eunhyuk’s tense shoulders relaxed. Donghae felt Eunhyuk’s arms wrap around him, hesitant, but always firm. Giving up his internal struggle, the floodgates opened. Donghae cried like a man who had gambled and lost everything and more.
-
“Whoa,” marveled Kyuhyun as Donghae walked in the next morning, eyes red and swollen. “Look what the cat dragged in.”
“Shut up,” Donghae snapped, feeling more than a little edgy.
“Someone’s touchy this morning,” Kyuhyun whistled. “Did you stay up last night to play games?”
“Don’t mistaken me for yourself,” sneered Donghae. Kyuhyun was thankfully silent for a while, allowing Donghae to brood.
“Leeteuk talked to me just before you came in,” Kyuhyun finally said. “He’s noticed that you’ve been acting- how to put it nicely- like a bipolar bitch. He’s wondering if there’s something wrong.”
“Something wrong?” repeated Donghae. He laughed hysterically. “What could possibly be wrong?” he asked, voice an octave higher than usual.
Kyuhyun gaped at Donghae, for once, at a lost for what to say.
-
“Call.”
Donghae and Eunhyuk revealed their cards.
Eunhyuk stared at the cards and then up at Donghae. “You won,” he said simply.
Donghae nodded. It sure didn’t feel like it.
-
Donghae watched as Eunhyuk pulled on his pants. “Where are you going?”
Eunhyuk shot Donghae an amused half-smile. “Are you seriously asking me that question?”
Donghae bit his lip as Eunhyuk shrugged on a shirt, not bothering to button it before searching for a tie. “I don’t want you to go,” he said softly.
Eunhyuk snorted as he emerged from his closet, tie in hand. “You sound so needy. Don’t tell me-”
Whatever he was about to say was cut off as Donghae captured his lips for the sweetest kiss they’d ever shared. The tie in Eunhyuk’s hand dropped to the floor, forgotten, as Donghae’s fingers ghosted down his spine. Gently, Donghae guided Eunhyuk towards the bed.
“You don’t want me to go because you’re horny?” Eunhyuk laughed.
Donghae removed Eunhyuk’s half-put-on clothes with the utmost care before laying him lightly on the bed. Slowly climbing on top him, Donghae proceeded to press his lips against every inch of the exposed milky white skin.
“Donghae, what are you doing?” asked Eunhyuk curiously. He was, after all, used to hard, fast, and passionate.
Donghae looked up at Eunhyuk, who was illuminated by the faint glow from the moon through the window. Reaching out, he caressed Eunhyuk’s cheek with his fingertips before cupping his face tenderly. “You’re beautiful,” Donghae murmured. “I don’t know if I’ve ever told you, but you, you are so beautiful.”
Eunhyuk’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “What?”
“Shh,” Donghae hushed him by kissing him. Eunhyuk frowned at him, but did not inquire further.
-
“I love you,” Donghae whispered reverently in Eunhyuk’s ear as they reached their climax together. “I love you, Hyukjae.”
Donghae stayed up long after Eunhyuk fell asleep. The redhead could have been some work of art, something sent from heaven, Donghae thought as he watched the older man breathe gently. Donghae traced those achingly familiar features over and over again, committing each little detail into his memory.
“I love you.”
-
A/N: Another short part. But I updated faster than expected so it's all okie-dokie right? *gets bricked* Oh, and I really don't know anything about gambling; the only first hand experience I have of it is walking through the casino to get to the Midway (the place with games, food, and stuffed animals).