we chose each other | s.coups/woozi [8/?]
title: we chose each other
pairing: s.coups/woozi
genre: angst, romance, friendship
rating: m
warnings: in depth interaction with suicide, depression, homophobia and related issues, bullying firearms, manipulation, smoking, language, implied sexual situations
wordcount: 3.2k
summary: au. Seungcheol passes the days trying to escape his past and find meaning in the future. Jihoon goes through each day trying to find a reason to live for himself, and not just exist pretending for others. Little do they know, a chance encounter gives them both what they’re searching for, and something more.
[series tag]
chapter one | chapter two | chapter three | chapter four | chapter five | chapter six | chapter seven | chapter eight
a/n: two things 1) study is killing me and 2) YAY #DontWannaCry1stWin !!!!!
ok now enjoy jicheol kisses OuO
Raina hovers by his desk awkwardly. Jihoon spares her a glance before turning back to his reports and saying, “You look like you’re trying to bore holes into my head. What’s wrong?”
“Well… I just….” Raina sighs, “did you go home last night?”
Jihoon raises his head, blinking owlishly a few times before he looks down at his suit. “No. Is it obvious?”
“Well, not really but uhm,” Raina licks her lips, “you seem distracted, but not in a ‘didn’t get enough sleep’ kind of way,”
“If you can get all that within an hour at the office, I feel like I’m too obvious,” Jihoon grins.
Raina looks a little stunned, though he’s not sure why. He tries to school his face back to his usual blankness, though it’s hard to keep the smile from his face. “No, I didn’t go home last night, but I wasn’t at the office. I was out with friends,”
“Oh!” Raina says. “I see,” she hurriedly organises the documents in her hands to give him a stack. “Sorry, sir, I didn’t mean to pry, I was just worried,”
“Well you only have to worry if you keep calling me ‘sir’ and make me feel fifty years old,” Jihoon chuckles.
Raina smiles a little. “Right, of course,” She bows and turns to take her leave, but at the door she turns back. “You should go out more, Jihoon-sshi. Your good mood and smiles make you look more handsome,”
And then she’s gone and Jihoon stares at the empty doorway for a moment before he smiles gently.
“Good mood…. huh?” he murmurs to himself, biting his lip before remembering earlier that morning when he had done the same and Seungcheol had tugged it free before kissing him. More memories of kisses, some burning, some soothing, fill his mind and Jihoon knows he has a giddy smile on his face.
It doesn’t leave his face all day.
Jihoon pushes open the door to Healing slowly.
He had been dismissed from work early by Raina, once she noticed him nodding off at his desk sometime in the afternoon. He had gone home and slept for a few hours before waking up, getting in his car and heading to Healing.
He wanted to see Seungcheol.
Jihoon wonders if it's okay for him to be so attached to Seungcheol already, but Jihoon reasons he was already attached to Seungcheol, even before last night, so nothing has really changed.
It's still reasonably early for the bar, so Jeonghan hasn't left yet and the bartender waves at him from behind the counter. Jihoon beams at him as he takes a seat at the bar counter.
“Seungcheol left you all alone to deal with the customers?” Jihoon asks.
“Taking a break at the back, and it’s not too bad right now,” Jeonghan answers. It’s true - most of the people at the bar have a drink and are just sitting and talking to a companion or on their phones. Jisoo on the other side only has one or two people asking him to make drinks.
“As if he took a break at a time like this anyway,” Jihoon teases and Jeonghan laughs, stepping aside to hand over a drink to someone.
When he comes back to Jihoon, his eyes are twinkling. “Well, why don’t you go bother him and get him to come back out and help us then?”
Jihoon’s mouth drops open. “Oh,” he says, clearly not expecting that reply. “Uh…”
Jeonghan just beckons him to come behind the bar and then he points to the door behind the counter. “Once you go through the door, there’s a corridor. The door to the right is the kitchen, so go a little further than that and then on the left it’s the back storage room. Seungcheol is probably playing games on his phone right now,”
Jihoon laughs. “I’ll go tell him to get back to work then,” he says before pushing the door open.
He passes the door to the kitchen, and waves to Junhui and Yejin who are arguing over a piece of cauliflower (for some reason). They pause their argument to wave and smile at Jihoon before he disappears further down the corridor, listening to them start their argument again.
Jihoon debates whether to knock on the door or try and surprise Seungcheol, but he hesitates at the second thought - despite everything that happened last night, Jihoon still isn’t sure exactly how comfortable Seungcheol is with him. Would surprising him be too much, too soon?
He knocks.
There’s an indistinguishable grumble, which sounds like “Who the hell is knocking?” before the door wrenches open and Seungcheol is standing right there, towering slightly over Jihoon from his height. Jihoon can’t help the sharp intake of breath.
Seungcheol hasn’t changed since Jihoon last said bye to him that morning, and he looks like he always does - dressed in black slacks and a white shirt - but somehow Jihoon finds himself at a loss for words.
Seungcheol doesn’t seem to be faring much better; he’s frozen in place, eyes wide and staring at Jihoon like he’s some ghost or apparition.
“Uhm…. hi?” Jihoon eventually manages, voice sounding a little pitchy. Before he can clear his throat and maybe try again to salvage his pride, Seungcheol grabs his elbow and pulls him into the room.
Jihoon stumbles at the loss of balance, but then he’s pushed against the door and Seungcheol’s mouth is on his, kissing him breathless. It doesn’t take long before the kisses are open mouthed and almost desperate. Seungcheol has boxed him against the door, hands at Jihoon’s hips, holding him in place. Jihoon, meanwhile, has a hand twisted in Seungcheol’s shirt, other arm around Seungcheol’s neck as they kiss, mouths moving against each other in almost dizzying need.
“Hi,” Seungcheol breathes out raggedly when he finally pulls away for a breath.
Jihoon giggles, and moves to hold Seungcheol’s face with both hands. “Hi,” he answers, the two of them with matching giddy grins.
Seungcheol kisses him gently. “How was your day?” he whispers, barely moving away from Jihoon, like he can’t have the conversation further away than when he and Jihoon’s noses are bumping.
“Good,” Jihoon hums, letting both arms wrap around Seungcheol’s neck as he tries not to grin too much, biting his bottom lip. Seungcheol reaches up to tug it free.
“I told you not to do that,” he murmurs, “you could hurt yourself.” He sounds genuinely worried and Jihoon just smiles and answers him by crashing their mouths together again.
Seungcheol hums his appreciation. “What was that for?”
“You were being sweet,” Jihoon says, then feels the blush crawl up his neck. Seungcheol grins, almost wicked.
“So I get kisses for being sweet? I could get used to this,” he chuckles and Jihoon watches the way his eyes crinkle more, lips stretched into such a bright smile.
You get kisses for just being you Jihoon’s brain whispers. Instead Jihoon licks his lips and scrambles for his brain. “I came to the back to get you, because you left Jeonghan-hyung and Jisoo-hyung at the bar when it’s busy,”
“It’s my break,” Seungcheol pouts. Jihoon tries not to laugh, just tiptoes slightly to kiss Seungcheol lightly.
“Well, now you’ve recharged your energy, so off you go,” he says, dropping his arms from around Seungcheol’s neck and trying to open the door behind him to skip away.
“Oh no you don’t,” Seungcheol laughs, grabbing him around the waist before he can run off. His lips meet Jihoon’s again and Jihoon would be lying if he said he didn’t want it. His hands tangle in Seungcheol’s hair again.
“I like the sweater,” he murmurs against Jihoon’s cheek, as one hand slides all the way up Jihoon’s side, fingers trailing from his waist, all the way up to his ribcage. “It’s really cute on you,”
Jihoon’s mouth drops open in surprise, whole body tingling from Seungcheol’s touch - not that Seungcheol even touched him, technically. Seungcheol just grins wickedly.
His lips ghost along the line of Jihoon’s jaw all the way to his ear. “Guess I’d better get back to work then,” he murmurs.
Jihoon is so distracted, Seungcheol easily pulls him away from the door. He lets go of Jihoon in the middle of the break room, opens the door, turns back to wink at him, and then disappears, door clicking shut behind him.
Jihoon barely manages to stumble to the couch to collapse in it, head spinning like he’s just done ten elephant turns.
He’s not entirely sure what just happened - was he giggling?!? And teasing?! And kissing Seungcheol?!?!?!?!?!
Jihoon lets out a delirious laugh.
He has absolutely no fucking idea what he’s doing, but Raina was right - going out with Seungcheol makes him in a good mood.
How they manage to seem perfectly normal the rest of the night, Jihoon isn’t sure, but he finds himself standing with Seungcheol, waving to Yejin in her car goodnight at 2am after Healing is closed. There’s a split second after Yejin disappears around the corner, before Seungcheol grabs Jihoon’s face and kisses him stupid. Jihoon just rolls with it and kisses back, smiles meeting smiles on the pavement at two in the morning.
They take the empty back streets so Seungcheol can hold his hand as they walk back to Jihoon’s car, the two of them with pink faces, intertwined hands swinging between them. When they near the main street, where people are still walking about, Seungcheol tugs him back into the shadows of a building to say goodbye.
It takes them a solid five minutes to part, and mostly because Seungcheol can’t stop murmuring appreciation for Jihoon’s sweater, and then kissing him breathless all over again.
In the end, Jihoon has to shove him off and force him to go to the subway station because Seungcheol still doesn’t want a lift, but they can’t just stand in the shadows of a building making out until the sun rises (though Jihoon doesn’t doubt Seungcheol would be happy to try).
“Go home,” Jihoon laughs as Seungcheol pouts. “It’s not goodbye, it’s just goodnight,”
“Just goodnight,” Seungcheol echoes, smiling. “Okay, okay, just ‘goodnight’,” he darts forward against Jihoon’s hands pushing him away, and steals one more quick kiss.
“Goodnight, Jihoon,” Seungcheol says.
Jihoon feels affection swirl in his chest, and he smiles back. “Goodnight, Seungcheol,”
Seungcheol walks off, though he walks backwards, eyes never leaving Jihoon as he stands at the junction to the main street. Jihoon laughs and tells him to walk properly or he’ll fall. Seungcheol waves another time before he obeys. Jihoon smiles to himself, walks to his car and gets in, driving off into the night.
“I’m surprised your parents let you come to this,” Jihoon sips his soft drink carefully as Soonyoung laughs by his side.
“Technician Shipping has been a close partner of both our parents’ companies for many years, they’re fine with me turning up as I am,” Soonyoung laughs, eyes crinkled beneath dark hair pushed back. Jihoon knows it’s a wig.
“You mean Kim Mingyu has gone out with you as your other self enough times for him to convince his parents that having you at his graduation party can be a good thing,” Jihoon replies blankly.
Soonyoung grins, though it doesn’t carry it’s usual brightness. “Hey, we’ve known Mingyu almost as long as we’ve known each other, cut him some slack,”
Jihoon’s eyes drop to the ground. “Mingyu doesn’t see the situation the same way we do. I don’t know if I‘d say I ‘know’ him very well, since we don’t see eye to eye,”
Soonyoung’s gaze is soft, almost pitying. “Just because he took the whole heir thing in stride, but didn’t take on the hatred and angst, doesn’t mean he’s a bad guy,”
“I didn’t say that,” Jihoon answers, “just that we don’t see eye to eye,”
Soonyoung sighs, but doesn’t press further. Instead he asks, “So what’s been happening with you lately? Anything interesting at work?”
“When is there ever anything interesting at work?” Jihoon snorts, though there’s a smile on his face.
Soonyoung notices it and continues, eyes watching Jihoon carefully. “Well, outside of work? Anything interesting?”
He’s wondering if there’s anything to do with Seungcheol that Jihoon can tell him. But Jihoon doesn’t know Soonyoung went to Healing to talk to the bartender. The brunette heir just sips his soft drink and shakes his head. “Nope. My life is more boring than than paint drying,” he says, face carefully blank, taking another sip of his drink.
Soonyoung doesn’t know that Jihoon is thinking of warm hands and gentle lips against his. Instead he scoffs his disbelief and Jihoon laughs softly. Soonyoung’s lips twitch upwards into a smile at Jihoon’s ease, but then he notices Jihoon’s face go back to its usual blankness.
“Kim heir in five seconds,” he murmurs.
Soonyoung looks up in time to catch Mingyu’s eye right before the tall young man is in front of them, grinning toothily at them.
“Hi Gyu,” Soonyoung greets sweetly, perfect smile in place. “Congratulations, by the way. Love the party,”
“Aw thanks!” Mingyu chirps. “Mum and Dad really went all out, it’s a little embarrassing,” he reaches up a hand to ruffle his hair nervously, before remembering it’s been meticulously styled and he quickly drops his hand.
Jihoon’s smile is plastic. “Well, it’s your graduation and celebration becoming Technician Shipping’s official heir, it has to be an extravagant affair,” he says smoothly, though Soonyoung knows how forced it is. It’s not Mingyu himself Jihoon hates, it’s the whole idea of heirs and their lives not being their own that Jihoon can’t stand. Mingyu is merely the idea he hates personified, even if he’s one of many.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Mingyu laughs, grinning bashfully. Somewhere across the garden, someone calls for him. “Ah, make sure you guys take your gift box with you when you leave, okay?” he beams and then waves to them as he runs off.
“Gift box?” Jihoon asks, looking perplexed.
“A box of Technician Shipping’s most exported items,” Soonyoung answers. “Plus some sponsored content, of course.”
“Isn’t their most exported items electronics?” Jihoon asks.
“It has like four electronic items, including the latest phone. I think the skincare is sponsored,” Soonyoung answers.
Jihoon sighs heavily. There were easily a few hundred guests, and each guest got one of these gift boxes.
“Fucking rich heirs,” Jihoon mutters.
“Jihoon, you’re one too,”
“Exactly why I’m cursing,”
Soonyoung just laughs.
Jihoon pokes his head through Healing’s doors, grinning brightly when he sees Yejin and Seungcheol stacking chairs in one corner.
“Want some help?” he asks as he steps inside.
Yejin nearly drops the chair in her hand. “Oh gosh, thank goodness it’s only you, Jihoonie. I forgot to lock the door,” she says, rushing past him to do that.
Jihoon saunters over to Seungcheol, whose eyes haven’t left him. He bites back a grin. “Hey,” he says.
Seungcheol reaches out to pull his bottom lip free again, but before he can steal a kiss, as he always does, Yejin is pushing open the door to the bar area and Seungcheol immediately drops his hand from Jihoon’s face and goes back to stacking chairs, head down, determinedly not looking at Jihoon.
Jihoon pretends he doesn’t mind, talking easily to Yejin as he helps her move a table and then takes a cloth to wipe down the booths. Inside he’s wondering if he did something wrong.
“I wish everyone was as sweet as you, Jihoonie,” Yejin sighs as she shoulders her bag when they close up at two. “Seungcheol doesn’t even talk to me anymore,” she pointedly throws him an exaggerated pout and Seungcheol makes a face at her.
Jihoon just laughs. “Seungcheol is sweet too,” he says. He only realises what he says when he sees Seungcheol’s wide eyes, staring at him. He quickly looks away as Yejin sighs, not noticing the tension in the air between the boys on either side of her.
“I guess he is in his own way, but he’s also a brat,”
“I am here, you know,” Seungcheol says and they all burst out laughing.
“Thanks boys,” Yejin says as she clambers into her car. “See you tomorrow?”
Jihoon nods, smiling brightly as she starts the engine. They watch her drive away, waving to her.
Seungcheol doesn’t even wait for her to completely round the corner before he grabs Jihoon’s face and kisses him desperately. “So I’m sweet, am I?” he grins and Jihoon rolls his eyes before grabbing his face and kissing him.
“So what if you are?” he counters.
Seungcheol just grins before his hand wraps around Jihoon’s tie - a black skinny tie in a perfect knot at his neck - and tugs him forward, lips colliding a little too hard.
Jihoon’s laughter is muffled against Seungcheol’s mouth. He just tangles his hands in Seungcheol’s hair and lets Seungcheol lead the moment.
He pulls away from Jihoon, cursing breathlessly. Jihoon stares at him. Seungcheol just chuckles and noses at his cheek. “I used to find the suits stuffy, but right now I just find it really, really hot,” he murmurs and Jihoon flushes.
“You thought they were stuffy?” Jihoon asks instead.
“I thought you were stuffy until you actually talked,” Seungcheol says. Jihoon scowls and swats at his shoulder. Seungcheol just laughs.
He tugs gently at Jihoon’s tie again until their lips meet softly in the night air. “So, how come you’re in a suit at 2am on a Saturday night?”
“Sunday morning,” Jihoon corrects, “and I had a business function,”
“On a Saturday night?”
“Rich socialites throw parties on any night of the week, and they’re always business related,” Jihoon responds. His arms are resting on Seungcheol’s shoulders, hands tangled together behind his neck. Seungcheol is rubbing warm, gentle circles with his thumb at Jihoon’s hip. It’s distracting.
Seungcheol laughs softly. “Imagine living that life - throwing parties whenever you want,”
“It’s glamorous but it’s not as easy as people think,” Jihoon answers, rolling his eyes. He pauses. “Actually, do you want a new phone?”
Seungcheol’s brows furrow. “What?”
“I have a spare phone. I just got it as a gift, do you want it?”
“I - what?”
Jhoon just laughs and steps back to tangle their hands together and tug Seungcheol towards his car.
“C’mon. I’ll explain on the way,”
They get into the car and Jihoon barely gets two sentences into explaining before Seungcheol pulls him towards him by the neck and swallows the rest of the words. Afterwards, Jihoon has to ban Seungcheol from even looking at him so that he can drive to Seungcheol’s apartment properly.
The ban comes after Seungcheol rests a hand on Jihoon’s thigh while he’s driving, and Jihoon nearly veers into a lamp post. Seungcheol finds it hilarious, Jihoon goes red all the way to his ears, threatens to kick him out of the car, and then enforces the ban.
Seungcheol obeys, even if he snickers the whole way.
Jihoon is so put out when they arrive at Seungcheol’s apartment, he refuses Seungcheol his goodnight kiss, and Seungcheol whines and pouts to no avail. In the end, he merely reaches over and peppers the side of Jihoon’s face in kisses until Jihoon is laughing, calling him a dork and then kissing him sweetly.
“Goodnight, Seungcheol,” Jihoon grins.
“Goodnight, Jihoon,” Seungcheol murmurs, kissing him one more time before he clambers out of the car.
pairing: s.coups/woozi
genre: angst, romance, friendship
rating: m
warnings: in depth interaction with suicide, depression, homophobia and related issues, bullying firearms, manipulation, smoking, language, implied sexual situations
wordcount: 3.2k
summary: au. Seungcheol passes the days trying to escape his past and find meaning in the future. Jihoon goes through each day trying to find a reason to live for himself, and not just exist pretending for others. Little do they know, a chance encounter gives them both what they’re searching for, and something more.
[series tag]
chapter one | chapter two | chapter three | chapter four | chapter five | chapter six | chapter seven | chapter eight
a/n: two things 1) study is killing me and 2) YAY #DontWannaCry1stWin !!!!!
ok now enjoy jicheol kisses OuO
Raina hovers by his desk awkwardly. Jihoon spares her a glance before turning back to his reports and saying, “You look like you’re trying to bore holes into my head. What’s wrong?”
“Well… I just….” Raina sighs, “did you go home last night?”
Jihoon raises his head, blinking owlishly a few times before he looks down at his suit. “No. Is it obvious?”
“Well, not really but uhm,” Raina licks her lips, “you seem distracted, but not in a ‘didn’t get enough sleep’ kind of way,”
“If you can get all that within an hour at the office, I feel like I’m too obvious,” Jihoon grins.
Raina looks a little stunned, though he’s not sure why. He tries to school his face back to his usual blankness, though it’s hard to keep the smile from his face. “No, I didn’t go home last night, but I wasn’t at the office. I was out with friends,”
“Oh!” Raina says. “I see,” she hurriedly organises the documents in her hands to give him a stack. “Sorry, sir, I didn’t mean to pry, I was just worried,”
“Well you only have to worry if you keep calling me ‘sir’ and make me feel fifty years old,” Jihoon chuckles.
Raina smiles a little. “Right, of course,” She bows and turns to take her leave, but at the door she turns back. “You should go out more, Jihoon-sshi. Your good mood and smiles make you look more handsome,”
And then she’s gone and Jihoon stares at the empty doorway for a moment before he smiles gently.
“Good mood…. huh?” he murmurs to himself, biting his lip before remembering earlier that morning when he had done the same and Seungcheol had tugged it free before kissing him. More memories of kisses, some burning, some soothing, fill his mind and Jihoon knows he has a giddy smile on his face.
It doesn’t leave his face all day.
Jihoon pushes open the door to Healing slowly.
He had been dismissed from work early by Raina, once she noticed him nodding off at his desk sometime in the afternoon. He had gone home and slept for a few hours before waking up, getting in his car and heading to Healing.
He wanted to see Seungcheol.
Jihoon wonders if it's okay for him to be so attached to Seungcheol already, but Jihoon reasons he was already attached to Seungcheol, even before last night, so nothing has really changed.
It's still reasonably early for the bar, so Jeonghan hasn't left yet and the bartender waves at him from behind the counter. Jihoon beams at him as he takes a seat at the bar counter.
“Seungcheol left you all alone to deal with the customers?” Jihoon asks.
“Taking a break at the back, and it’s not too bad right now,” Jeonghan answers. It’s true - most of the people at the bar have a drink and are just sitting and talking to a companion or on their phones. Jisoo on the other side only has one or two people asking him to make drinks.
“As if he took a break at a time like this anyway,” Jihoon teases and Jeonghan laughs, stepping aside to hand over a drink to someone.
When he comes back to Jihoon, his eyes are twinkling. “Well, why don’t you go bother him and get him to come back out and help us then?”
Jihoon’s mouth drops open. “Oh,” he says, clearly not expecting that reply. “Uh…”
Jeonghan just beckons him to come behind the bar and then he points to the door behind the counter. “Once you go through the door, there’s a corridor. The door to the right is the kitchen, so go a little further than that and then on the left it’s the back storage room. Seungcheol is probably playing games on his phone right now,”
Jihoon laughs. “I’ll go tell him to get back to work then,” he says before pushing the door open.
He passes the door to the kitchen, and waves to Junhui and Yejin who are arguing over a piece of cauliflower (for some reason). They pause their argument to wave and smile at Jihoon before he disappears further down the corridor, listening to them start their argument again.
Jihoon debates whether to knock on the door or try and surprise Seungcheol, but he hesitates at the second thought - despite everything that happened last night, Jihoon still isn’t sure exactly how comfortable Seungcheol is with him. Would surprising him be too much, too soon?
He knocks.
There’s an indistinguishable grumble, which sounds like “Who the hell is knocking?” before the door wrenches open and Seungcheol is standing right there, towering slightly over Jihoon from his height. Jihoon can’t help the sharp intake of breath.
Seungcheol hasn’t changed since Jihoon last said bye to him that morning, and he looks like he always does - dressed in black slacks and a white shirt - but somehow Jihoon finds himself at a loss for words.
Seungcheol doesn’t seem to be faring much better; he’s frozen in place, eyes wide and staring at Jihoon like he’s some ghost or apparition.
“Uhm…. hi?” Jihoon eventually manages, voice sounding a little pitchy. Before he can clear his throat and maybe try again to salvage his pride, Seungcheol grabs his elbow and pulls him into the room.
Jihoon stumbles at the loss of balance, but then he’s pushed against the door and Seungcheol’s mouth is on his, kissing him breathless. It doesn’t take long before the kisses are open mouthed and almost desperate. Seungcheol has boxed him against the door, hands at Jihoon’s hips, holding him in place. Jihoon, meanwhile, has a hand twisted in Seungcheol’s shirt, other arm around Seungcheol’s neck as they kiss, mouths moving against each other in almost dizzying need.
“Hi,” Seungcheol breathes out raggedly when he finally pulls away for a breath.
Jihoon giggles, and moves to hold Seungcheol’s face with both hands. “Hi,” he answers, the two of them with matching giddy grins.
Seungcheol kisses him gently. “How was your day?” he whispers, barely moving away from Jihoon, like he can’t have the conversation further away than when he and Jihoon’s noses are bumping.
“Good,” Jihoon hums, letting both arms wrap around Seungcheol’s neck as he tries not to grin too much, biting his bottom lip. Seungcheol reaches up to tug it free.
“I told you not to do that,” he murmurs, “you could hurt yourself.” He sounds genuinely worried and Jihoon just smiles and answers him by crashing their mouths together again.
Seungcheol hums his appreciation. “What was that for?”
“You were being sweet,” Jihoon says, then feels the blush crawl up his neck. Seungcheol grins, almost wicked.
“So I get kisses for being sweet? I could get used to this,” he chuckles and Jihoon watches the way his eyes crinkle more, lips stretched into such a bright smile.
You get kisses for just being you Jihoon’s brain whispers. Instead Jihoon licks his lips and scrambles for his brain. “I came to the back to get you, because you left Jeonghan-hyung and Jisoo-hyung at the bar when it’s busy,”
“It’s my break,” Seungcheol pouts. Jihoon tries not to laugh, just tiptoes slightly to kiss Seungcheol lightly.
“Well, now you’ve recharged your energy, so off you go,” he says, dropping his arms from around Seungcheol’s neck and trying to open the door behind him to skip away.
“Oh no you don’t,” Seungcheol laughs, grabbing him around the waist before he can run off. His lips meet Jihoon’s again and Jihoon would be lying if he said he didn’t want it. His hands tangle in Seungcheol’s hair again.
“I like the sweater,” he murmurs against Jihoon’s cheek, as one hand slides all the way up Jihoon’s side, fingers trailing from his waist, all the way up to his ribcage. “It’s really cute on you,”
Jihoon’s mouth drops open in surprise, whole body tingling from Seungcheol’s touch - not that Seungcheol even touched him, technically. Seungcheol just grins wickedly.
His lips ghost along the line of Jihoon’s jaw all the way to his ear. “Guess I’d better get back to work then,” he murmurs.
Jihoon is so distracted, Seungcheol easily pulls him away from the door. He lets go of Jihoon in the middle of the break room, opens the door, turns back to wink at him, and then disappears, door clicking shut behind him.
Jihoon barely manages to stumble to the couch to collapse in it, head spinning like he’s just done ten elephant turns.
He’s not entirely sure what just happened - was he giggling?!? And teasing?! And kissing Seungcheol?!?!?!?!?!
Jihoon lets out a delirious laugh.
He has absolutely no fucking idea what he’s doing, but Raina was right - going out with Seungcheol makes him in a good mood.
How they manage to seem perfectly normal the rest of the night, Jihoon isn’t sure, but he finds himself standing with Seungcheol, waving to Yejin in her car goodnight at 2am after Healing is closed. There’s a split second after Yejin disappears around the corner, before Seungcheol grabs Jihoon’s face and kisses him stupid. Jihoon just rolls with it and kisses back, smiles meeting smiles on the pavement at two in the morning.
They take the empty back streets so Seungcheol can hold his hand as they walk back to Jihoon’s car, the two of them with pink faces, intertwined hands swinging between them. When they near the main street, where people are still walking about, Seungcheol tugs him back into the shadows of a building to say goodbye.
It takes them a solid five minutes to part, and mostly because Seungcheol can’t stop murmuring appreciation for Jihoon’s sweater, and then kissing him breathless all over again.
In the end, Jihoon has to shove him off and force him to go to the subway station because Seungcheol still doesn’t want a lift, but they can’t just stand in the shadows of a building making out until the sun rises (though Jihoon doesn’t doubt Seungcheol would be happy to try).
“Go home,” Jihoon laughs as Seungcheol pouts. “It’s not goodbye, it’s just goodnight,”
“Just goodnight,” Seungcheol echoes, smiling. “Okay, okay, just ‘goodnight’,” he darts forward against Jihoon’s hands pushing him away, and steals one more quick kiss.
“Goodnight, Jihoon,” Seungcheol says.
Jihoon feels affection swirl in his chest, and he smiles back. “Goodnight, Seungcheol,”
Seungcheol walks off, though he walks backwards, eyes never leaving Jihoon as he stands at the junction to the main street. Jihoon laughs and tells him to walk properly or he’ll fall. Seungcheol waves another time before he obeys. Jihoon smiles to himself, walks to his car and gets in, driving off into the night.
“I’m surprised your parents let you come to this,” Jihoon sips his soft drink carefully as Soonyoung laughs by his side.
“Technician Shipping has been a close partner of both our parents’ companies for many years, they’re fine with me turning up as I am,” Soonyoung laughs, eyes crinkled beneath dark hair pushed back. Jihoon knows it’s a wig.
“You mean Kim Mingyu has gone out with you as your other self enough times for him to convince his parents that having you at his graduation party can be a good thing,” Jihoon replies blankly.
Soonyoung grins, though it doesn’t carry it’s usual brightness. “Hey, we’ve known Mingyu almost as long as we’ve known each other, cut him some slack,”
Jihoon’s eyes drop to the ground. “Mingyu doesn’t see the situation the same way we do. I don’t know if I‘d say I ‘know’ him very well, since we don’t see eye to eye,”
Soonyoung’s gaze is soft, almost pitying. “Just because he took the whole heir thing in stride, but didn’t take on the hatred and angst, doesn’t mean he’s a bad guy,”
“I didn’t say that,” Jihoon answers, “just that we don’t see eye to eye,”
Soonyoung sighs, but doesn’t press further. Instead he asks, “So what’s been happening with you lately? Anything interesting at work?”
“When is there ever anything interesting at work?” Jihoon snorts, though there’s a smile on his face.
Soonyoung notices it and continues, eyes watching Jihoon carefully. “Well, outside of work? Anything interesting?”
He’s wondering if there’s anything to do with Seungcheol that Jihoon can tell him. But Jihoon doesn’t know Soonyoung went to Healing to talk to the bartender. The brunette heir just sips his soft drink and shakes his head. “Nope. My life is more boring than than paint drying,” he says, face carefully blank, taking another sip of his drink.
Soonyoung doesn’t know that Jihoon is thinking of warm hands and gentle lips against his. Instead he scoffs his disbelief and Jihoon laughs softly. Soonyoung’s lips twitch upwards into a smile at Jihoon’s ease, but then he notices Jihoon’s face go back to its usual blankness.
“Kim heir in five seconds,” he murmurs.
Soonyoung looks up in time to catch Mingyu’s eye right before the tall young man is in front of them, grinning toothily at them.
“Hi Gyu,” Soonyoung greets sweetly, perfect smile in place. “Congratulations, by the way. Love the party,”
“Aw thanks!” Mingyu chirps. “Mum and Dad really went all out, it’s a little embarrassing,” he reaches up a hand to ruffle his hair nervously, before remembering it’s been meticulously styled and he quickly drops his hand.
Jihoon’s smile is plastic. “Well, it’s your graduation and celebration becoming Technician Shipping’s official heir, it has to be an extravagant affair,” he says smoothly, though Soonyoung knows how forced it is. It’s not Mingyu himself Jihoon hates, it’s the whole idea of heirs and their lives not being their own that Jihoon can’t stand. Mingyu is merely the idea he hates personified, even if he’s one of many.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Mingyu laughs, grinning bashfully. Somewhere across the garden, someone calls for him. “Ah, make sure you guys take your gift box with you when you leave, okay?” he beams and then waves to them as he runs off.
“Gift box?” Jihoon asks, looking perplexed.
“A box of Technician Shipping’s most exported items,” Soonyoung answers. “Plus some sponsored content, of course.”
“Isn’t their most exported items electronics?” Jihoon asks.
“It has like four electronic items, including the latest phone. I think the skincare is sponsored,” Soonyoung answers.
Jihoon sighs heavily. There were easily a few hundred guests, and each guest got one of these gift boxes.
“Fucking rich heirs,” Jihoon mutters.
“Jihoon, you’re one too,”
“Exactly why I’m cursing,”
Soonyoung just laughs.
Jihoon pokes his head through Healing’s doors, grinning brightly when he sees Yejin and Seungcheol stacking chairs in one corner.
“Want some help?” he asks as he steps inside.
Yejin nearly drops the chair in her hand. “Oh gosh, thank goodness it’s only you, Jihoonie. I forgot to lock the door,” she says, rushing past him to do that.
Jihoon saunters over to Seungcheol, whose eyes haven’t left him. He bites back a grin. “Hey,” he says.
Seungcheol reaches out to pull his bottom lip free again, but before he can steal a kiss, as he always does, Yejin is pushing open the door to the bar area and Seungcheol immediately drops his hand from Jihoon’s face and goes back to stacking chairs, head down, determinedly not looking at Jihoon.
Jihoon pretends he doesn’t mind, talking easily to Yejin as he helps her move a table and then takes a cloth to wipe down the booths. Inside he’s wondering if he did something wrong.
“I wish everyone was as sweet as you, Jihoonie,” Yejin sighs as she shoulders her bag when they close up at two. “Seungcheol doesn’t even talk to me anymore,” she pointedly throws him an exaggerated pout and Seungcheol makes a face at her.
Jihoon just laughs. “Seungcheol is sweet too,” he says. He only realises what he says when he sees Seungcheol’s wide eyes, staring at him. He quickly looks away as Yejin sighs, not noticing the tension in the air between the boys on either side of her.
“I guess he is in his own way, but he’s also a brat,”
“I am here, you know,” Seungcheol says and they all burst out laughing.
“Thanks boys,” Yejin says as she clambers into her car. “See you tomorrow?”
Jihoon nods, smiling brightly as she starts the engine. They watch her drive away, waving to her.
Seungcheol doesn’t even wait for her to completely round the corner before he grabs Jihoon’s face and kisses him desperately. “So I’m sweet, am I?” he grins and Jihoon rolls his eyes before grabbing his face and kissing him.
“So what if you are?” he counters.
Seungcheol just grins before his hand wraps around Jihoon’s tie - a black skinny tie in a perfect knot at his neck - and tugs him forward, lips colliding a little too hard.
Jihoon’s laughter is muffled against Seungcheol’s mouth. He just tangles his hands in Seungcheol’s hair and lets Seungcheol lead the moment.
He pulls away from Jihoon, cursing breathlessly. Jihoon stares at him. Seungcheol just chuckles and noses at his cheek. “I used to find the suits stuffy, but right now I just find it really, really hot,” he murmurs and Jihoon flushes.
“You thought they were stuffy?” Jihoon asks instead.
“I thought you were stuffy until you actually talked,” Seungcheol says. Jihoon scowls and swats at his shoulder. Seungcheol just laughs.
He tugs gently at Jihoon’s tie again until their lips meet softly in the night air. “So, how come you’re in a suit at 2am on a Saturday night?”
“Sunday morning,” Jihoon corrects, “and I had a business function,”
“On a Saturday night?”
“Rich socialites throw parties on any night of the week, and they’re always business related,” Jihoon responds. His arms are resting on Seungcheol’s shoulders, hands tangled together behind his neck. Seungcheol is rubbing warm, gentle circles with his thumb at Jihoon’s hip. It’s distracting.
Seungcheol laughs softly. “Imagine living that life - throwing parties whenever you want,”
“It’s glamorous but it’s not as easy as people think,” Jihoon answers, rolling his eyes. He pauses. “Actually, do you want a new phone?”
Seungcheol’s brows furrow. “What?”
“I have a spare phone. I just got it as a gift, do you want it?”
“I - what?”
Jhoon just laughs and steps back to tangle their hands together and tug Seungcheol towards his car.
“C’mon. I’ll explain on the way,”
They get into the car and Jihoon barely gets two sentences into explaining before Seungcheol pulls him towards him by the neck and swallows the rest of the words. Afterwards, Jihoon has to ban Seungcheol from even looking at him so that he can drive to Seungcheol’s apartment properly.
The ban comes after Seungcheol rests a hand on Jihoon’s thigh while he’s driving, and Jihoon nearly veers into a lamp post. Seungcheol finds it hilarious, Jihoon goes red all the way to his ears, threatens to kick him out of the car, and then enforces the ban.
Seungcheol obeys, even if he snickers the whole way.
Jihoon is so put out when they arrive at Seungcheol’s apartment, he refuses Seungcheol his goodnight kiss, and Seungcheol whines and pouts to no avail. In the end, he merely reaches over and peppers the side of Jihoon’s face in kisses until Jihoon is laughing, calling him a dork and then kissing him sweetly.
“Goodnight, Seungcheol,” Jihoon grins.
“Goodnight, Jihoon,” Seungcheol murmurs, kissing him one more time before he clambers out of the car.