Dirty Little Secret [oneshot]
Title: Dirty Little Secret
Pairing: Seungho/Mir
Rating: PG - 13
Summary: Seungho really liked his new girlfriend, but he liked her little brother even more.
Notes: Written as a pinch hit for samfrack for MBLAQ secret santa.
Seungho knocked on the door of his girlfriend's house with breakfast in hand. They got into a fight the previous night, and it ended with an abrupt 'good night' text, letting Seungho knew he lost this fight. He knew if he didn't remedy this in the morning, then it would be another week or so of the silent treatment, then an angry rant over the phone and threats of a break-up.
His sleep was important to him, but then again, so was his girlfriend. Maybe after breakfast, he'd be able to slip after her into her bedroom and show her how sorry he really was. Which he wasn't. Being apathetic about which brand name makeup was better for her skin wasn't something Seungho would be sorry for.
When no one answered the door, he sighed and shifted the paper bags around in his arms and knocked again. This time, he didn't stop knocking until the door swung open, and there was a string of curses that reached his ears. A disheveled figure stood at the door, eyes full of sleep and hair sticking in all directions.
“Who the hell are you, and why are you knocking so loud?” Seungho stared at the man for a moment before frowning. Hyojin didn't cheat on him, did she?
“I'm here for Hyojin. Yang Seungho, her boyfriend,” he said. The man yawned and ran his hand through his hair before leaving the door open and retreating back into the house. Seungho followed him into the house, shutting the door behind him and taking off his shoes before looking around the house.
“Sis, someone's here for you,” the man said, banging on a door before grumbling and wandering into a dark room across from the closed door. Seungho made his way over to the open room and glanced into the space.
“Oh, you're her brother? She didn't-” Suddenly, the door slammed in Seungho's face, making him scowl. “And I can see why she didn't tell me she had a brother.”
The sound of a door opening behind him caught his attention, and he caught a glimpse of Hyojin before she disappeared back into her room, leaving the door open a crack. Seungho made his way over to the coffee table in the living and dropped the breakfast and coffee. He pushed open the door to her bedroom quietly and saw her lying in bed, wrapped in the covers.
Seungho mentally cracked his knuckles and took in a deep breath. Time to kiss and make up.
-
“I'm sorry for yelling at you last night. I'd just appreciate it if you show some interest in my life every now and then,” Hyojin said, tracing circles on Seungho's collar bone. Seungho yawned and buried his face into her hair.
“I do. Just tell me the big things, and not the little details. I don't know anything about makeup anyway.”
Hyojin giggled and leaned into kiss him. “Did you bring food?”
“I brought breakfast. It's probably cold by now,” he said, stretching his body and throwing the covers off of him. They got dressed quietly and after a few more kisses, Hyojin opened the door and saw her brother on the couch, eating the food.
“Cheolyong! That food wasn't for you!” she said, giving him a look of disgust as he licked crumbs from his fingers.
“Hmm? It's the least you could do for waking me up at an ungodly hour to answer the door for your boyfriend. A boyfriend that you haven't introduced to me. How long have you two been dating?” He took another bite out of the breakfast sandwich and furrowed his eyebrows as he chewed.
“Eight in the morning is not an ungodly- Cheolyong, did you eat everything?” his sister hissed at him as she hurried over to the table and moved the trash around. He finished off the sandwich and wiped his hands with a napkin before gathering up the trash and stuffing it into the paper bag. “You are so embarrassing,” she whispered to him as he shrugged and got up to throw away the trash.
“It's fine. We can go out for breakfast. You drank the coffee, too?” Seungho raised an eyebrow when Cheolyong came back to throw out the empty coffee cups.
“Yeah. It was still good cold.” His sister looked like she was going to die of mortification. “Anyway, I'm out, sis. I'll see you later.” He leaned over to kiss her on the cheek before grabbing a cap from the hooks near the door and letting himself out.
“I'm sorry. My brother is so embarrassing sometimes. I can't believe he ate everything.”
Seungho shrugged. “Oh well. Go get dressed. I'll take us out for brunch.” Hyojin sighed before turning around and making for her room, but not before casting a sly glance over her shoulder at Seungho as she let the strap of her cami fall from her shoulder, making Seungho grin. “Or we could go out for lunch, whatever,” he said, smirking and following her into the bedroom.
-
“You look dead. What troubles you, my brother from another mother?” Cheolyong shot a look of disbelief towards Changsun as he felt an arm land on his shoulder. Changsun was one of his closer friends, but Cheolyong liked to keep his problems to himself because even though Changsun meant well, things never quite worked out for him.
“Nothing that concerns you,” Cheolyong said, shrugging off Changsun's arm. They were meeting at a small recording studio he and two of his other friend's paid to rent. They were aspiring rappers, and Cheolyong even had his own rapper name.
“Oh, is Cheolyong in a bad mood? Does that mean I can go home now?” The door opened, and Sanghyun stepped inside, closing the door behind him.
“You just got here. Shut up, and sit down. Did you get food since you're late again?” Sanghyun held up the plastic bags of snacks and drinks, and Changsun giggled gleefully before digging into the bags. Sanghyun frowned and sat down in front of the mixer.
“You must be in a bad mood. You don't ever talk to me like that. I'm always late.”
Cheolyong sighed and buried his face into his hands. “I'm sorry, guys. I met my sister's boyfriend for the first time this morning.” The other men in the room made a noise of understanding before it went quiet, save for the sound of Changsun digging through the plastic bags for his favorite chips.
“What's he like?” Changsun found what he was looking for and opened up the bag, popping a few chips into his mouth as he waited for an answer. Cheolyong sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
“Well, he likes to knock stupid loud on our door at eight in the morning. His name is Yang Seungho, and he looks like a jerk. And he has good taste in food. The breakfast he brought with him was good, even if it was cold.”
“He can't be all bad if he likes good food,” Sanghyun said with a thoughtful look on his face. “What does he do for a living? Do you know?”
The immediate answer that bubbled in Cheolyong's mind was ,'my sister,' making him shiver slightly. He wasn't sure if his sister would ever figure out that the walls in their house were thin, and she was not the quiet type in bed. “No, I don't know what he does. Like I said, it was the first time we met, it was early, and I was tired.”
Cheolyong's phone beeped in his pocket. He sighed again and pulled it out to see he had a message from his sister. “How much do you want to bet this is not an apology, and that she's gonna bitch at me in this text?”
“That's a sucker bet. Even Changsun wouldn't take that bet, right?” Changsun looked up from his bag of chips and his gaze traveled between Sanghyun and Cheolyong in confusion.
“I wouldn't do what?” His voice was muffled by the sheer amount of chips he'd stuffed into his mouth. Sanghyun sighed and shook his head.
“Just say yes.”
-
Cheolyong brooded for the rest of the day. His sister sent him a text saying that Seungho would over for dinner, and that he was to behave during the dinner or she would kick him out. “I can't believe she would pick her boyfriend over her own brother! Her flesh and blood!” He kicked at the chair. “I already don't like this guy.”
“How long have they been dating?” Changsun asked, fiddling with the dials on the mixer. Sanghyun slapped his hand away and returned the dials to their original positions.
“I don't know! I don't know anything!”
“Well, if they haven't been dating long, then just run him off. Tell him weird things about your sister, or just be a pain in the ass. I do it to my sister all the time. She should thank me for running off all the jerks in her life but...” Sanghyun shrugged as Changsun burst out laughing.
“No wonder your sister stop introducing her boyfriends to you!” Changsun kept laughing, but Sanghyun's eyes narrowed.
“What? You mean she's had more boyfriends? Ones that she doesn't tell me about?” The glare Changsun got from Sanghyun make him choke on his laughter.
“Uh- What- No- I just meant- I mean, if I were her, I wouldn't... okay, I'm going to be quiet now.”
Cheolyong was lost in thought until he realized in the back of his mind that Sanghyun said something to him. “Oh, what? Maybe I should do that. If I really don't like him over dinner, then I guess I can come up with ways to get rid of him.”
“What if being a jerk doesn't work?” Changsun asked, tilting his head to the side in question. Sanghyun's eyes had a dangerous glint to them for a moment.
“Then I pull out the big guns. I pretend I'm gay and hit on him until I make him so uncomfortable that he ends up breaking up with my sister to get away from me.”
Cheolyong pursed his lips. “There's an idea. Hopefully, I won't have to resort to that.”
-
“Your brother doesn't like me. This is a disaster waiting to happen,” Seungho said as Hyojin set the table for dinner. Her parents were very supportive of her dream to move to the city and become an actor. Cheolyong tagged along because he wanted a change from the farm scenery. Last she heard, Cheolyong was an aspiring rapper under the name 'Mir.' He went through a phase where he insisted she call him that, but it only lasted for a week before he gave up on her.
“He can learn to like you, or he can get over it,” she said, sighing with content as she finished setting up the places. She glanced up at the clock. Cheolyong should be home soon. Seungho brought food home from a restaurant, and the smell was drool worthy.
They sat down and waited for Cheolyong to get home. Hyojin glanced up at the clock every five minutes until she heard a key shoved into the lock of the front door half an hour later. “Thank god,” she breathed out before putting an angry expression on her face as Cheolyong came through the door and closed it behind him. “Where have you been?” she called from the dining room.
“Something came up.” He disappeared into his room to drop his things before sauntering into the dining room and pulling out a chair with a screech. Seungho flinched slightly at the noise but did his best to put a smile on his face.
“You could've called to say you were going to be late,” Hyojin said through gritted teeth. She wasn't sure why Cheolyong was being such a brat, but it took all of her strength not to reach across the table and slap some sense into him.
“We never eat dinner together, so I thought it wouldn't matter.” He scooted his chair up and poked at the food on the plate with a fork with an apprehensive look on his face. If he were looking up, his sister's glare would've killed him on the spot.
“We have a guest.”
“I can see that.”
The air between them was getting heated, so Seungho decided to intervene before Hyojin blew a fuse. “Look, I know you and I got off on the wrong foot this morning, but let's try and get along for your sister's sake?”
Cheolyong looked up from his food, a defiant look in his eyes. He looked from his sister to Seungho for a moment before returning his gaze back down to his food without a word.
-
“So, Cheolyong. How goes the rapping?” This was the third time his sister attempted to make conversation at dinner, and he clearly wasn't interested.
“Fine.”
The only sounds for the next five minutes were the sounds of silverware clinking on dinner plates. “Seungho is a food critic. He works for a magazine and gets to travel the world to taste food we've probably never even heard of.”
“Cool.” There was a loud clink as Hyojin brought her fork down violently on the plate.
“Can you not do this?”
“Do what?” Cheolyong asked, looking up as he shoveled another bite of food into his mouth. He smirked at his sister as he chewed. The irritation on her face made him smile until he realized he was supposed to be driving her boyfriend off, not making her beyond pissed at him.
“Be a brat.” Seungho did his best to stay out of their family affairs, but the surprise on Cheolyong's face from his comment was worth it. Because that's what he was: a brat.
“I could. How long have you two been dating?” Hyojin looked over at Seungho expectantly as he turned his eyes up to remember when exactly they started dating.
“It's been about two weeks.”
Cheolyong choked on the food he was swallowing and frantically grabbed at the cup of water next to his plate. “What? Two weeks? You let him do you after two weeks?! I didn't think you were that easy!”
The aftermath of his comment ended with flying food, a few indignant screams, and Seungho slowly sliding under the table for cover.
-
A week passed, and Cheolyong was in the recording studio looking as glum as ever.
“Why the long face? At least your shiner is healing up nicely.” Cheolyong glared at Sanghyun. His right eye started twitching, making him groan in pain.
“It's not working. If anything, Hyojin is even more determined to hold onto her boyfriend.” After the incident at dinner that involved Cheolyong getting hit in the face with a dinner plate, his sister refused to speak to him while Seungho made excuses to try to make it up to him. When Hyojin retired to bed early, Seungho pulled him aside to the living room to fist bump him for a well made joke.
“Because you're doing it wrong. You're not supposed to be attacking your sister, you're supposed to me attacking him!” Sanghyun rolled his eyes and threw his hands up in the air like it was obvious what Cheolyong was doing wrong. “The only thing you're doing is making him like you.”
“Making him like me? How?”
Sanghyun opened his mouth to answer but got interrupted when Changsun burst through the door, breathing hard. “Did I beat- Damn!” Sanghyun smiled and waved at Changsun.
“You're here last, go get some food and snacks.”
“But I'm broke.”
“Lies. Go buy food.” Sanghyun got up and shoved him out of the door before flipping his hair out of his face and returning his attention back to Cheolyong. “Anyway, we've all met your sister. We know how she gets, and if he's congratulating you on a joke you made about her that resulted in a black eye, then they're probably having problems, or he's a jerk. Trust me, I've driven away enough guys to know.”
“So...”
“So? It's time to turn it up a notch. Pull out the big guns.”
Cheolyong sighed and leaned back in his chair. “How do you pretend to be gay? I can't make it too obvious or else my sister will try to remove my eye.” His cell phone chirped a few times, alerting him of a new message. “I hate answering my phone now...” He glanced at the message, and by the frown on his face, Sanghyun knew something happened.
“Who's it from?”
“Seungho, my sister's boyfriend. He's inviting me out to lunch.”
“That's perfect! You meet up with him for lunch without your sister interfering, and you can start putting the moves on him. Just pretend he's a girl, but try not to be so obvious about it.”
Cheolyong sighed. “You're sure it'll work?”
“It always works. Unless your sister's boyfriend is into dudes or something. Then you'd be doing her a favor by getting him out of the closet.”
Cheolyong frowned. “What if he turns out to be into guys or something?”
“Then you tell him the truth. You were only doing it to see if he was good for your sister, and if he took the bait, then obviously he wasn't, then you can tell your sister, and bam! He's out of your life.”
“You're positive?”
“Of course. I'm never wrong. That's Changsun's job.”
-
“Things not going to well with the girlfriend?” Seungho looked up from his computer as one of his coworkers, Byunghee, walked into his office without knocking on the door. He sat down in one of the chairs in front of Seungho's desk and heaved a dramatic sigh.
“What are you talking about?”
“I heard you took a lunch break. You never take lunch breaks.”
Seungho scoffed and sat back in his chair. He was writing up his review for a restaurant that just opened in the city. He wasn't disappointed with the food, but it didn't amaze him either. “I took my girlfriend's brother out for lunch. I'm trying to make nice with him. Hyojin thinks he's acting up because he doesn't like me.”
“Someone in this world doesn't like you? What a travesty,” Byunghee said with as much fake sorrow as he could muster.
“It's only been a week. I think he might like me more than he lets on.” Seungho's expression turned thoughtful as he thought back to lunch.
Cheolyong, strangely enough, came to lunch willingly. He looked nervous when he entered the small cafe and saw Seungho waiting for him. He apologized for being a few minutes late and busied himself with the menu.
“I thought you said he was a brat that didn't apologize for anything.” Surprised, Seungho turned his attention back to Byunghee. “You said it out loud. You never just think to yourself.”
“Oh. Well, he apologized for being late. I asked him about his music and told him I was pretty good at piano and such. We bonded over music.” Seungho smiled when he remembered the animated look on Cheolyong's face when they were talking about his raps. Seungho asked him for a demo tape so he could listen to it, but Cheolyong blushed slightly before mumbling something about seeing what he could do.
“That's good, making nice with her family.” Seungho sighed and scooted back up to his desk and started typing again. Byunghee raised an eyebrow and leaned to the side slowly to get a look at Seungho's face. “And there's still something wrong.”
Seungho frowned and let his hands fall onto his keyboard, watching as the letter 'c' repeated itself over a few lines. “She's nice, you know. Hyojin. I just think I might like her little brother more.”
A wolfish grin appeared on Byunghee's face as he let out a whoop and sat back in his chair. “You dirty devil. Is he even legal?”
“Yes, he's legal! I'm not a pedophile!” Seungho hissed, leaning past his monitor to make sure his door was closed.
“Tsk, tsk. How is she going to take this?”
Seungho's frown deepened to the point where Byunghee was afraid it might become permanent. “We've been dating about three weeks now. About half of that was spent getting the silent treatment, a third of that having sex, and a sixth listening to her complain about how they don't pamper her enough as an actress in training.”
“Sounds like you're living the life.”
“I don't know. I've seen her brother maybe twice during the week. Maybe it's nothing.”
“If you're still thinking about it, then it's something.”
-
“I couldn't do it, guys.” Cheolyong had Changsun and Sanghyun on three-way while he lamented about his lack of ability to pretend to be gay.
“What? What was the problem?” Sanghyun demanded. There was a crash followed by a few choice words by Changsun. “Changsun? You okay over there?”
“Yeah. I didn't turn on the light in my room when I walked in and tripped over some shoes. Anyway, what's this about pretending to be gay?”
“I told Cheolyong to pretend to be gay to drive off his sister's boyfriend.”
“Oh. Sounds like a plan. Why didn't it work?”
“Because I couldn't do it!”
“Did you pretend he was a girl like I told you to?”
“I tried, but it was hard. Seungho doesn't even remotely look like a girl. Or sound like one.”
“I've got a solution for you,” Changsun said before there was another resounding crash and a string of swears.
“Just clean up your room, Changsun. Would it kill you?” Sanghyun sighed. Cheolyong smiled, knowing that he was probably rolling his eyes.
“No, no! Listen. If you can't pretend he's a girl, then you pretend you're a girl and flirt with him!”
“What? No! You're stupid. That's stupid.”
“Actually,” Sanghyun mused, “that's not a bad idea. You do it all the time when you're pretending to be your sister and mocking her. Just do that without pitching your voice up.”
“You guys are kidding me.”
“No, we're n-” This time, the sounds of crashing only lasted for a split second before Changsun was disconnected.
-
Cheolyong didn't see Seungho again until his sister announced they were having dinner together again. She made him clean up and set the dishes while they waited for Seungho to get out of work. Cheolyong was staring blankly at his empty dinner plate when his sister's phone rang.
He half listened to her half of the conversation before she hung up with a huff. “Seungho's going to be late. He got caught up at the office.”
“Oh. Then I'm going to go take a nap. Just wake me up when he gets here.”
-
Seungho loosened his tie around his neck and sighed as he pulled up in front of the house. His editor was too much of a perfectionist. Getting out of his car, he wondered what Cheolyong was doing. He wondered if dinner was going to end up in a black eye again, and he wondered if his mother was right and that he really did need to start thinking with his big head and not the little one. Crushing on your girlfriend's little brother was one thing, thinking about dumping her for him was another.
When he knocked on the door, it swung open, revealing Hyojin's smiling face, but he noticed it was a little bit strained. “Come in. Cheolyong set the table and took a nap while we waited.”
“I'm sorry I'm late,” Seungho said, reaching out to massage Hyojin's shoulders as they walked, but she pulled away from him, making him sigh. Great.
“I'm gonna go check on the food in the kitchen. Can you go wake up Cheolyong? His room is across from mine.”
“Yeah, sure,” Seungho said, glad to be getting out of hostile airspace. He'd called and told her he was going to be late, and she was still mad at him. In that case, he shouldn't have wasted the two minute effort to call her.
He knocked on Cheolyong's door before pushing the door open slightly. A small lamp was on, and Cheolyong was passed out on top of his covers. Seungho grinned and sat down at the edge of his bed. The guy sure likes to sleep, he thought, taking a few moments to look around the room.
For the most part, it was bare. There were a few posters of people Seungho recognized to be musicians. The lamp on his desk illuminated stacks of papers and notebooks on his desk, all strewn across the surface without care.
Seungho's gaze returned to Cheolyong, and a smile appeared on his sleeping face. Seungho reached out and gently brushed away a few strands of hair from his face. Adding to his list of wonders, he wondered what Cheolyong dreamed about. He scooted closer to his sleeping figure and leaned down so they were face to face.
“Cheolyong. Time to wake up.” Cheolyong mumbled something before falling back asleep. They were so close, their lips were almost touching. All Seungho had to do was lean forward a little bit, and they would be kissing. So he did.
Cheolyong's lips were a little bit dry, but they were still kissable. Seungho ran his tongue lightly over Cheolyong's bottom lip, and he moaned slightly in his sleep, unconsciously shifting to a better angle. Seungho chuckled into the kiss and nipped on his bottom lip gently.
Cheolyong thought his dream was feeling a bit too realistic, so he sighed and forced his eyes to open. A dark figure swam in his vision, and when the figure pulled away, a horrified expression slow appeared on his face. Seungho. Seungho smirked at him before nodding in approval. “You're a pretty good kisser, even in your sleep.” Cheolyong blinked a few times and opened his mouth wordlessly to let out a squeak.
Seungho heard Hyojin calling his name and sighed before rolling off of Cheolyong. “You know, your sister's pretty nice, but I think I like you better.” Cheolyong's eyes widened as Seungho got up and left his room before sending a small wink in his direction.
“Coming!”
When Seungho disappeared from his room, his body relaxed didn't relax, and his lips were still tingling from Seungho's kiss.
What the hell just happened?
Pairing: Seungho/Mir
Rating: PG - 13
Summary: Seungho really liked his new girlfriend, but he liked her little brother even more.
Notes: Written as a pinch hit for samfrack for MBLAQ secret santa.
Seungho knocked on the door of his girlfriend's house with breakfast in hand. They got into a fight the previous night, and it ended with an abrupt 'good night' text, letting Seungho knew he lost this fight. He knew if he didn't remedy this in the morning, then it would be another week or so of the silent treatment, then an angry rant over the phone and threats of a break-up.
His sleep was important to him, but then again, so was his girlfriend. Maybe after breakfast, he'd be able to slip after her into her bedroom and show her how sorry he really was. Which he wasn't. Being apathetic about which brand name makeup was better for her skin wasn't something Seungho would be sorry for.
When no one answered the door, he sighed and shifted the paper bags around in his arms and knocked again. This time, he didn't stop knocking until the door swung open, and there was a string of curses that reached his ears. A disheveled figure stood at the door, eyes full of sleep and hair sticking in all directions.
“Who the hell are you, and why are you knocking so loud?” Seungho stared at the man for a moment before frowning. Hyojin didn't cheat on him, did she?
“I'm here for Hyojin. Yang Seungho, her boyfriend,” he said. The man yawned and ran his hand through his hair before leaving the door open and retreating back into the house. Seungho followed him into the house, shutting the door behind him and taking off his shoes before looking around the house.
“Sis, someone's here for you,” the man said, banging on a door before grumbling and wandering into a dark room across from the closed door. Seungho made his way over to the open room and glanced into the space.
“Oh, you're her brother? She didn't-” Suddenly, the door slammed in Seungho's face, making him scowl. “And I can see why she didn't tell me she had a brother.”
The sound of a door opening behind him caught his attention, and he caught a glimpse of Hyojin before she disappeared back into her room, leaving the door open a crack. Seungho made his way over to the coffee table in the living and dropped the breakfast and coffee. He pushed open the door to her bedroom quietly and saw her lying in bed, wrapped in the covers.
Seungho mentally cracked his knuckles and took in a deep breath. Time to kiss and make up.
-
“I'm sorry for yelling at you last night. I'd just appreciate it if you show some interest in my life every now and then,” Hyojin said, tracing circles on Seungho's collar bone. Seungho yawned and buried his face into her hair.
“I do. Just tell me the big things, and not the little details. I don't know anything about makeup anyway.”
Hyojin giggled and leaned into kiss him. “Did you bring food?”
“I brought breakfast. It's probably cold by now,” he said, stretching his body and throwing the covers off of him. They got dressed quietly and after a few more kisses, Hyojin opened the door and saw her brother on the couch, eating the food.
“Cheolyong! That food wasn't for you!” she said, giving him a look of disgust as he licked crumbs from his fingers.
“Hmm? It's the least you could do for waking me up at an ungodly hour to answer the door for your boyfriend. A boyfriend that you haven't introduced to me. How long have you two been dating?” He took another bite out of the breakfast sandwich and furrowed his eyebrows as he chewed.
“Eight in the morning is not an ungodly- Cheolyong, did you eat everything?” his sister hissed at him as she hurried over to the table and moved the trash around. He finished off the sandwich and wiped his hands with a napkin before gathering up the trash and stuffing it into the paper bag. “You are so embarrassing,” she whispered to him as he shrugged and got up to throw away the trash.
“It's fine. We can go out for breakfast. You drank the coffee, too?” Seungho raised an eyebrow when Cheolyong came back to throw out the empty coffee cups.
“Yeah. It was still good cold.” His sister looked like she was going to die of mortification. “Anyway, I'm out, sis. I'll see you later.” He leaned over to kiss her on the cheek before grabbing a cap from the hooks near the door and letting himself out.
“I'm sorry. My brother is so embarrassing sometimes. I can't believe he ate everything.”
Seungho shrugged. “Oh well. Go get dressed. I'll take us out for brunch.” Hyojin sighed before turning around and making for her room, but not before casting a sly glance over her shoulder at Seungho as she let the strap of her cami fall from her shoulder, making Seungho grin. “Or we could go out for lunch, whatever,” he said, smirking and following her into the bedroom.
-
“You look dead. What troubles you, my brother from another mother?” Cheolyong shot a look of disbelief towards Changsun as he felt an arm land on his shoulder. Changsun was one of his closer friends, but Cheolyong liked to keep his problems to himself because even though Changsun meant well, things never quite worked out for him.
“Nothing that concerns you,” Cheolyong said, shrugging off Changsun's arm. They were meeting at a small recording studio he and two of his other friend's paid to rent. They were aspiring rappers, and Cheolyong even had his own rapper name.
“Oh, is Cheolyong in a bad mood? Does that mean I can go home now?” The door opened, and Sanghyun stepped inside, closing the door behind him.
“You just got here. Shut up, and sit down. Did you get food since you're late again?” Sanghyun held up the plastic bags of snacks and drinks, and Changsun giggled gleefully before digging into the bags. Sanghyun frowned and sat down in front of the mixer.
“You must be in a bad mood. You don't ever talk to me like that. I'm always late.”
Cheolyong sighed and buried his face into his hands. “I'm sorry, guys. I met my sister's boyfriend for the first time this morning.” The other men in the room made a noise of understanding before it went quiet, save for the sound of Changsun digging through the plastic bags for his favorite chips.
“What's he like?” Changsun found what he was looking for and opened up the bag, popping a few chips into his mouth as he waited for an answer. Cheolyong sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
“Well, he likes to knock stupid loud on our door at eight in the morning. His name is Yang Seungho, and he looks like a jerk. And he has good taste in food. The breakfast he brought with him was good, even if it was cold.”
“He can't be all bad if he likes good food,” Sanghyun said with a thoughtful look on his face. “What does he do for a living? Do you know?”
The immediate answer that bubbled in Cheolyong's mind was ,'my sister,' making him shiver slightly. He wasn't sure if his sister would ever figure out that the walls in their house were thin, and she was not the quiet type in bed. “No, I don't know what he does. Like I said, it was the first time we met, it was early, and I was tired.”
Cheolyong's phone beeped in his pocket. He sighed again and pulled it out to see he had a message from his sister. “How much do you want to bet this is not an apology, and that she's gonna bitch at me in this text?”
“That's a sucker bet. Even Changsun wouldn't take that bet, right?” Changsun looked up from his bag of chips and his gaze traveled between Sanghyun and Cheolyong in confusion.
“I wouldn't do what?” His voice was muffled by the sheer amount of chips he'd stuffed into his mouth. Sanghyun sighed and shook his head.
“Just say yes.”
-
Cheolyong brooded for the rest of the day. His sister sent him a text saying that Seungho would over for dinner, and that he was to behave during the dinner or she would kick him out. “I can't believe she would pick her boyfriend over her own brother! Her flesh and blood!” He kicked at the chair. “I already don't like this guy.”
“How long have they been dating?” Changsun asked, fiddling with the dials on the mixer. Sanghyun slapped his hand away and returned the dials to their original positions.
“I don't know! I don't know anything!”
“Well, if they haven't been dating long, then just run him off. Tell him weird things about your sister, or just be a pain in the ass. I do it to my sister all the time. She should thank me for running off all the jerks in her life but...” Sanghyun shrugged as Changsun burst out laughing.
“No wonder your sister stop introducing her boyfriends to you!” Changsun kept laughing, but Sanghyun's eyes narrowed.
“What? You mean she's had more boyfriends? Ones that she doesn't tell me about?” The glare Changsun got from Sanghyun make him choke on his laughter.
“Uh- What- No- I just meant- I mean, if I were her, I wouldn't... okay, I'm going to be quiet now.”
Cheolyong was lost in thought until he realized in the back of his mind that Sanghyun said something to him. “Oh, what? Maybe I should do that. If I really don't like him over dinner, then I guess I can come up with ways to get rid of him.”
“What if being a jerk doesn't work?” Changsun asked, tilting his head to the side in question. Sanghyun's eyes had a dangerous glint to them for a moment.
“Then I pull out the big guns. I pretend I'm gay and hit on him until I make him so uncomfortable that he ends up breaking up with my sister to get away from me.”
Cheolyong pursed his lips. “There's an idea. Hopefully, I won't have to resort to that.”
-
“Your brother doesn't like me. This is a disaster waiting to happen,” Seungho said as Hyojin set the table for dinner. Her parents were very supportive of her dream to move to the city and become an actor. Cheolyong tagged along because he wanted a change from the farm scenery. Last she heard, Cheolyong was an aspiring rapper under the name 'Mir.' He went through a phase where he insisted she call him that, but it only lasted for a week before he gave up on her.
“He can learn to like you, or he can get over it,” she said, sighing with content as she finished setting up the places. She glanced up at the clock. Cheolyong should be home soon. Seungho brought food home from a restaurant, and the smell was drool worthy.
They sat down and waited for Cheolyong to get home. Hyojin glanced up at the clock every five minutes until she heard a key shoved into the lock of the front door half an hour later. “Thank god,” she breathed out before putting an angry expression on her face as Cheolyong came through the door and closed it behind him. “Where have you been?” she called from the dining room.
“Something came up.” He disappeared into his room to drop his things before sauntering into the dining room and pulling out a chair with a screech. Seungho flinched slightly at the noise but did his best to put a smile on his face.
“You could've called to say you were going to be late,” Hyojin said through gritted teeth. She wasn't sure why Cheolyong was being such a brat, but it took all of her strength not to reach across the table and slap some sense into him.
“We never eat dinner together, so I thought it wouldn't matter.” He scooted his chair up and poked at the food on the plate with a fork with an apprehensive look on his face. If he were looking up, his sister's glare would've killed him on the spot.
“We have a guest.”
“I can see that.”
The air between them was getting heated, so Seungho decided to intervene before Hyojin blew a fuse. “Look, I know you and I got off on the wrong foot this morning, but let's try and get along for your sister's sake?”
Cheolyong looked up from his food, a defiant look in his eyes. He looked from his sister to Seungho for a moment before returning his gaze back down to his food without a word.
-
“So, Cheolyong. How goes the rapping?” This was the third time his sister attempted to make conversation at dinner, and he clearly wasn't interested.
“Fine.”
The only sounds for the next five minutes were the sounds of silverware clinking on dinner plates. “Seungho is a food critic. He works for a magazine and gets to travel the world to taste food we've probably never even heard of.”
“Cool.” There was a loud clink as Hyojin brought her fork down violently on the plate.
“Can you not do this?”
“Do what?” Cheolyong asked, looking up as he shoveled another bite of food into his mouth. He smirked at his sister as he chewed. The irritation on her face made him smile until he realized he was supposed to be driving her boyfriend off, not making her beyond pissed at him.
“Be a brat.” Seungho did his best to stay out of their family affairs, but the surprise on Cheolyong's face from his comment was worth it. Because that's what he was: a brat.
“I could. How long have you two been dating?” Hyojin looked over at Seungho expectantly as he turned his eyes up to remember when exactly they started dating.
“It's been about two weeks.”
Cheolyong choked on the food he was swallowing and frantically grabbed at the cup of water next to his plate. “What? Two weeks? You let him do you after two weeks?! I didn't think you were that easy!”
The aftermath of his comment ended with flying food, a few indignant screams, and Seungho slowly sliding under the table for cover.
-
A week passed, and Cheolyong was in the recording studio looking as glum as ever.
“Why the long face? At least your shiner is healing up nicely.” Cheolyong glared at Sanghyun. His right eye started twitching, making him groan in pain.
“It's not working. If anything, Hyojin is even more determined to hold onto her boyfriend.” After the incident at dinner that involved Cheolyong getting hit in the face with a dinner plate, his sister refused to speak to him while Seungho made excuses to try to make it up to him. When Hyojin retired to bed early, Seungho pulled him aside to the living room to fist bump him for a well made joke.
“Because you're doing it wrong. You're not supposed to be attacking your sister, you're supposed to me attacking him!” Sanghyun rolled his eyes and threw his hands up in the air like it was obvious what Cheolyong was doing wrong. “The only thing you're doing is making him like you.”
“Making him like me? How?”
Sanghyun opened his mouth to answer but got interrupted when Changsun burst through the door, breathing hard. “Did I beat- Damn!” Sanghyun smiled and waved at Changsun.
“You're here last, go get some food and snacks.”
“But I'm broke.”
“Lies. Go buy food.” Sanghyun got up and shoved him out of the door before flipping his hair out of his face and returning his attention back to Cheolyong. “Anyway, we've all met your sister. We know how she gets, and if he's congratulating you on a joke you made about her that resulted in a black eye, then they're probably having problems, or he's a jerk. Trust me, I've driven away enough guys to know.”
“So...”
“So? It's time to turn it up a notch. Pull out the big guns.”
Cheolyong sighed and leaned back in his chair. “How do you pretend to be gay? I can't make it too obvious or else my sister will try to remove my eye.” His cell phone chirped a few times, alerting him of a new message. “I hate answering my phone now...” He glanced at the message, and by the frown on his face, Sanghyun knew something happened.
“Who's it from?”
“Seungho, my sister's boyfriend. He's inviting me out to lunch.”
“That's perfect! You meet up with him for lunch without your sister interfering, and you can start putting the moves on him. Just pretend he's a girl, but try not to be so obvious about it.”
Cheolyong sighed. “You're sure it'll work?”
“It always works. Unless your sister's boyfriend is into dudes or something. Then you'd be doing her a favor by getting him out of the closet.”
Cheolyong frowned. “What if he turns out to be into guys or something?”
“Then you tell him the truth. You were only doing it to see if he was good for your sister, and if he took the bait, then obviously he wasn't, then you can tell your sister, and bam! He's out of your life.”
“You're positive?”
“Of course. I'm never wrong. That's Changsun's job.”
-
“Things not going to well with the girlfriend?” Seungho looked up from his computer as one of his coworkers, Byunghee, walked into his office without knocking on the door. He sat down in one of the chairs in front of Seungho's desk and heaved a dramatic sigh.
“What are you talking about?”
“I heard you took a lunch break. You never take lunch breaks.”
Seungho scoffed and sat back in his chair. He was writing up his review for a restaurant that just opened in the city. He wasn't disappointed with the food, but it didn't amaze him either. “I took my girlfriend's brother out for lunch. I'm trying to make nice with him. Hyojin thinks he's acting up because he doesn't like me.”
“Someone in this world doesn't like you? What a travesty,” Byunghee said with as much fake sorrow as he could muster.
“It's only been a week. I think he might like me more than he lets on.” Seungho's expression turned thoughtful as he thought back to lunch.
Cheolyong, strangely enough, came to lunch willingly. He looked nervous when he entered the small cafe and saw Seungho waiting for him. He apologized for being a few minutes late and busied himself with the menu.
“I thought you said he was a brat that didn't apologize for anything.” Surprised, Seungho turned his attention back to Byunghee. “You said it out loud. You never just think to yourself.”
“Oh. Well, he apologized for being late. I asked him about his music and told him I was pretty good at piano and such. We bonded over music.” Seungho smiled when he remembered the animated look on Cheolyong's face when they were talking about his raps. Seungho asked him for a demo tape so he could listen to it, but Cheolyong blushed slightly before mumbling something about seeing what he could do.
“That's good, making nice with her family.” Seungho sighed and scooted back up to his desk and started typing again. Byunghee raised an eyebrow and leaned to the side slowly to get a look at Seungho's face. “And there's still something wrong.”
Seungho frowned and let his hands fall onto his keyboard, watching as the letter 'c' repeated itself over a few lines. “She's nice, you know. Hyojin. I just think I might like her little brother more.”
A wolfish grin appeared on Byunghee's face as he let out a whoop and sat back in his chair. “You dirty devil. Is he even legal?”
“Yes, he's legal! I'm not a pedophile!” Seungho hissed, leaning past his monitor to make sure his door was closed.
“Tsk, tsk. How is she going to take this?”
Seungho's frown deepened to the point where Byunghee was afraid it might become permanent. “We've been dating about three weeks now. About half of that was spent getting the silent treatment, a third of that having sex, and a sixth listening to her complain about how they don't pamper her enough as an actress in training.”
“Sounds like you're living the life.”
“I don't know. I've seen her brother maybe twice during the week. Maybe it's nothing.”
“If you're still thinking about it, then it's something.”
-
“I couldn't do it, guys.” Cheolyong had Changsun and Sanghyun on three-way while he lamented about his lack of ability to pretend to be gay.
“What? What was the problem?” Sanghyun demanded. There was a crash followed by a few choice words by Changsun. “Changsun? You okay over there?”
“Yeah. I didn't turn on the light in my room when I walked in and tripped over some shoes. Anyway, what's this about pretending to be gay?”
“I told Cheolyong to pretend to be gay to drive off his sister's boyfriend.”
“Oh. Sounds like a plan. Why didn't it work?”
“Because I couldn't do it!”
“Did you pretend he was a girl like I told you to?”
“I tried, but it was hard. Seungho doesn't even remotely look like a girl. Or sound like one.”
“I've got a solution for you,” Changsun said before there was another resounding crash and a string of swears.
“Just clean up your room, Changsun. Would it kill you?” Sanghyun sighed. Cheolyong smiled, knowing that he was probably rolling his eyes.
“No, no! Listen. If you can't pretend he's a girl, then you pretend you're a girl and flirt with him!”
“What? No! You're stupid. That's stupid.”
“Actually,” Sanghyun mused, “that's not a bad idea. You do it all the time when you're pretending to be your sister and mocking her. Just do that without pitching your voice up.”
“You guys are kidding me.”
“No, we're n-” This time, the sounds of crashing only lasted for a split second before Changsun was disconnected.
-
Cheolyong didn't see Seungho again until his sister announced they were having dinner together again. She made him clean up and set the dishes while they waited for Seungho to get out of work. Cheolyong was staring blankly at his empty dinner plate when his sister's phone rang.
He half listened to her half of the conversation before she hung up with a huff. “Seungho's going to be late. He got caught up at the office.”
“Oh. Then I'm going to go take a nap. Just wake me up when he gets here.”
-
Seungho loosened his tie around his neck and sighed as he pulled up in front of the house. His editor was too much of a perfectionist. Getting out of his car, he wondered what Cheolyong was doing. He wondered if dinner was going to end up in a black eye again, and he wondered if his mother was right and that he really did need to start thinking with his big head and not the little one. Crushing on your girlfriend's little brother was one thing, thinking about dumping her for him was another.
When he knocked on the door, it swung open, revealing Hyojin's smiling face, but he noticed it was a little bit strained. “Come in. Cheolyong set the table and took a nap while we waited.”
“I'm sorry I'm late,” Seungho said, reaching out to massage Hyojin's shoulders as they walked, but she pulled away from him, making him sigh. Great.
“I'm gonna go check on the food in the kitchen. Can you go wake up Cheolyong? His room is across from mine.”
“Yeah, sure,” Seungho said, glad to be getting out of hostile airspace. He'd called and told her he was going to be late, and she was still mad at him. In that case, he shouldn't have wasted the two minute effort to call her.
He knocked on Cheolyong's door before pushing the door open slightly. A small lamp was on, and Cheolyong was passed out on top of his covers. Seungho grinned and sat down at the edge of his bed. The guy sure likes to sleep, he thought, taking a few moments to look around the room.
For the most part, it was bare. There were a few posters of people Seungho recognized to be musicians. The lamp on his desk illuminated stacks of papers and notebooks on his desk, all strewn across the surface without care.
Seungho's gaze returned to Cheolyong, and a smile appeared on his sleeping face. Seungho reached out and gently brushed away a few strands of hair from his face. Adding to his list of wonders, he wondered what Cheolyong dreamed about. He scooted closer to his sleeping figure and leaned down so they were face to face.
“Cheolyong. Time to wake up.” Cheolyong mumbled something before falling back asleep. They were so close, their lips were almost touching. All Seungho had to do was lean forward a little bit, and they would be kissing. So he did.
Cheolyong's lips were a little bit dry, but they were still kissable. Seungho ran his tongue lightly over Cheolyong's bottom lip, and he moaned slightly in his sleep, unconsciously shifting to a better angle. Seungho chuckled into the kiss and nipped on his bottom lip gently.
Cheolyong thought his dream was feeling a bit too realistic, so he sighed and forced his eyes to open. A dark figure swam in his vision, and when the figure pulled away, a horrified expression slow appeared on his face. Seungho. Seungho smirked at him before nodding in approval. “You're a pretty good kisser, even in your sleep.” Cheolyong blinked a few times and opened his mouth wordlessly to let out a squeak.
Seungho heard Hyojin calling his name and sighed before rolling off of Cheolyong. “You know, your sister's pretty nice, but I think I like you better.” Cheolyong's eyes widened as Seungho got up and left his room before sending a small wink in his direction.
“Coming!”
When Seungho disappeared from his room, his body relaxed didn't relax, and his lips were still tingling from Seungho's kiss.
What the hell just happened?