spit or (hyukjae/heechul)

[warmboys]

spit or
Hyukjae/Heechul
1070 words
for catskilt who was craving hyukchul

"Merry Christmas, hyung."

Heechul turned around in his swivel chair and lowered his glasses to give the intruder in the doorway a long, skeptical look. Hyukjae swallowed the nervous bump in his throat and edged forward, one fuzzy socked foot at a time. Just keep putting one in front of the other, he told himself, but was distracted by the fact that even his sweat pores seemed to be talking to him. When he looked up again, he'd stopped right in front of Heechul's chair, and Heechul had his arms folded across his chest, staring intently at what was probably Hyukjae's bobbing Adam's apple. Probably because he couldn't stop swallowing.

"Well?"

Heechul held out his palm expectantly. The grin suddenly spreading across his face looked scarily wolfish and took Hyukjae by surprise. Four years ago he would've fallen over backwards, but the current, new-and-improved, not to mention buffer!, Hyukjae had a hundred percent control over his balance and poise, even in uncomfortable social situations with certain members in the group that he had conflicting feelings about. For. He couldn't decide which because the nuances were tricky.

Hyukjae carefully placed the envelope he'd been hiding behind his back onto Heechul's outstretched palm. There were clear sweat marks where his hands had death-gripped the paper. It was a colossal embarrassment. He should've applied baby powder as Ryeowook suggested, but he didn't want to smell like babies in Heechul's room. He didn't ever want to smell like babies, actually, but he definitely didn't want Heechul to smell babies on him. Babies were not supposed to be turnons. But then again, Heechul did have an affinity for the young and vulnerable--no, Hyukjae wasn't going to think about Sulli right now.

Heechul didn't remark on the soggy fingerprints. Instead he side-eyed the envelope like it would unleash an explosive.

"A check?" Heechul asked. "Seriously? How many years of friendship, and you couldn't be creative enough to get me an actual present?"

Hyukjae swallowed again. It was a case of infinite phlegm. Curiously this only seemed to happen around Heechul. "Just--open the envelope."

Heechul pulled out the sheet of paper and unfolded it. "To Kim Heechul--I hereby grant you permission to tease, tickle, torture, and terrorize Lee Hyukjae whenever and however you see fit. Valid until January 25th."

Hyukjae had hoped he wouldn't read it aloud.

Heechul was just staring at the certificate, which Hyukjae had actually taken great pains to produce. He had wanted it to look legitimate, like a diploma or a blown-up driver's license. Wait, not a driver's license. Those had pictures and birthdates and stuff.

Hyukjae noticed he was thinking about driver's licenses probably to avoid the reality that the two of them hadn't spoken in about thirty seconds, and the air in the room suddenly felt tight and heavy. This was known as an Awkward Silence.

Finally Heechul opened his mouth. "One month? That's all I get?" His expression was unreadable even as his lips moved into a familiar smirk. Hyukjae exhaled, relieved. At least he found something amusing in it all.

"Yeah. So whenever you need cheering up, you can, uh, think of me as one of Kangin's punching bags--" Hyukjae began.

"But I'm not a violent man," Heechul said slowly. His smirk was growing as rapidly as a population of microorganisms in a heated petri dish. He stood up from the chair to loom over Hyukjae until they were almost touching noses. Which didn't make sense because someone who loomed over you should probably have their nose in a much higher place than yours, but Heechul had that special ability of appearing taller and scarier than Hyukjae, or maybe Hyukjae was emotionally shrinking back into his vulnerable snail shell, reserved for occasions like this (ie. encounters with Heechul).

They were in fact standing nose-to-nose now. Heechul's breath felt hot against Hyukjae's upper lip. He'd been chewing gum. Heechul had impossibly large eyes that were even more intimidating and feline up close than from afar.

Hyukjae was about to swallow but restrained himself.

Heechul wasn't smirking anymore. In fact, he just looked deadly serious. Maybe not deadly. Just very ... serious, and not in such a scary way, either. Kind of like he wanted to say something but didn't know how. His eyes stopped looking murderous and took on a soft-focus gaze. "I'm not a violent man," he said, his voice a low rumble that Hyukjae almost felt rather than heard. "So I guess I'll have to think of other ways to torture you."

"Um," Hyukjae said, trying not to blush. "You have a month to do it so... think fast." That familiar heat that sometimes took over his body when they were in the same room--when Heechul caught his eye from across the room and held it--or when they laughed at one of the three inside jokes they shared with each other, and everyone else looked on, confused and annoyed because inside jokes weren't things Heechul and Hyukjae were supposed to have, and it was just weird--that strange heat was creeping up his shoulders again, fanning across his ribcage and making breathing a conscious effort rather than this natural, organic activity that you were able to perform even in your sleep. This was what being around Heechul did to him, sometimes, and it was awful. And exhilarating. And scary as fuck.

Somewhere along the five seconds it took him to think that entire inner monologue Heechul's left hand had found its way around the back of Hyukjae's neck and now it rested there, softly stroking his hair. "You said it was okay to tickle." Hyukjae nodded, and that was when he noticed Heechul was smiling at him. Not in his usual, I'm going to eat you, way but in a sweet, friendly way that conjured up inappropriate feelings, thoughts, and butterflies. Oh no. Oh God. He closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, Heechul had moved away and he was laughing. "What'd you think I was gonna do, kiss you?"

Hyukjae tried not to look as disappointed as he felt. He stared at his feet, feeling his cheeks flush. What was he thinking, standing there like an idiot? What was he waiting for? He turned on his heel and began walking towards the door, but he hadn't moved two steps before a hand closed around his arm and pulled.

"We have the rest of the month," Heechul said quietly, "to do all that and more."

And then he turned so red that Hyukjae realized that all this time he wasn't the only nervous one.

EPILOGUE

"Hey--you can swallow now."

pulled out of my ass in the past hour so excuse the crappiness XD happy holidays!