Kinsey 5.9999... (Perry/CL)
Title: Kinsey 5.9999...
Beta: Tama, Momo, Exy (Yes, I have a small army of beta readers tied up in my basement. >>;)
Pairing: Perry/CL
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: CL's underage, Perry isn't.
Summary: "Maybe you're gonna turn him straight."
A/N: The thought of writing from a girl's POV is kind of terrifying to me, so this was an interesting challenge/experiment. Hope I did okay!
CL practices the rap Perry wrote for her under her breath, her eyes fixed on the scribbled verse in her hand. She doesn't really feel like she needs to practice - the words roll off her tongue easily, putting pretty much everything she's ever written to shame - but there's nothing else to do while she waits for her turn to record.
Ji Yong, sitting on the chair next to her, jabs her in the ribs with his elbow. "Where's the accent in 'generation'?"
"Generation," she replies, looking up. He frowns and mouths the word to himself a few times, his attention already back to his own verse. Maybe one day she'll manage to make him pronounce "heart" correctly.
"Ji Yong, you'll go after Perry," Young Taek says, not bothering to turn around, his hands on the console. "Make sure you're ready."
"Okay."
She'll go last, then. She leans back in her chair and crosses her legs, looking around. Perry's been in there for a while - he has to record some back vocals too, which she guesses explains it. He's rapping, now, though, one hand moving rapidly through the air, the other holding his headphones up to one ear. His eyes are closed.
"... Perry's kinda hot," she says, the thought sneaking up on her unexpectedly. Ji Yong looks up and grins at her. She grins back, telling herself she's not embarrassed. "What? He is."
"Uh huh. He's too old for you."
She laughs and hits him in the arm. "I'm just saying!"
"Yeah, sure. Who's Ricola, anyway?"
***
The dance lesson finally ends and she collapses onto the nearest bench to catch her breath after downing the remaining water in her bottle. She's bringing two next time - Jae Wook is a slavedriver.
"Think you'll live?" Min Ji asks amusedly, sitting down next to her. CL makes a face and steals her energy drink.
"Jay, you done?"
CL looks up at the sound of Perry's voice. He's standing in the doorway, casually leaning against it. She hadn't even seen him come in. He's wearing a sleeveless shirt that shows off his tattoos, which she's kind of curious about - she still hasn't seen them up close and, well, tattoos are kinda hot.
"Yeah, all done." Jae Wook picks up his bag and slings it over his shoulder, smiling. "Why?"
Perry smiles back at him and suddenly looks about ten years younger and cuter than any American rapper has the right to be. CL tries to take a sip of the energy drink and nearly misses her own mouth. No one notices, thank God. "Wanna have lunch?"
"Sure. I gotta change, though."
"Meet me down in the parking lot," Perry says, then gives her and the other girls a little wave before leaving.
"D'you have any questions?" Jae Wook asks them. CL shakes her head and sees Min Ji do the same out of the corner of her eye. "Okay, well, see you on Wednesday."
"See you," they echo, and CL hands the energy drink back to Min Ji.
She gives it a shake and rolls her eyes. "Hey, thanks."
"-- they're dating?"
Sandara giggles behind her hand and CL tunes into her and Bom's conversation, curious. "No way!"
Bom laughs too. "Well, Perry is gay, so..."
"Perry's a fag?!" CL blurts out, turning her head so fast she nearly gives herself whiplash.
Bom frowns at her. "Come on, don't use that word. It's just what I heard."
"What's fag?" Min Ji asks. "Can't you speak Korean?"
Sandara translates in hushed tones, grinning from ear to ear. CL is pretty sure they've both gone insane, because Perry is one of the least gay-looking guys in the building. She has to admit they've got a point about Jae Wook, though. He is a little bit too good at doing all those girly dance moves.
Perry, though...
Nah.
***
Ji Yong and Perry are sitting in the kitchen, heads bent together over some lyrics, eating from the same plate of sushi, and CL is not envious. She sits down facing them, unwrapping her granola bar. "Whatcha workin' on?"
"A song," Ji Yong replies vaguely. "For Young Bae."
"Oh. What's it called?"
"Dunno yet," Perry mutters, then looks up briefly to eat a piece of sushi. They're clearly in the zone, so CL stays silent for a few minutes, watching them as she eats.
Well, watching Perry. She's been keeping an eye on him for the past week or so, trying to catch him doing something gay. It hasn't worked so far - not that she was expecting it to. Bom insists that she heard lots of rumors and even heard him say stuff that sounded kind of gay, so CL can't really discount the idea just yet. She'll just have to figure out a subtle way to find out for sure.
And then... well, she's not sure what she's going to do if Perry's gay. Or straight. She hasn't thought that far yet.
They pause to eat more sushi and CL moves in for the kill. "Is Young Bae gonna write something too?" She already knows the answer, but that's not the point.
"Nah," Perry replies. "That ain't really his thing."
"I guess he's too busy working out, huh?" she says, grinning. "At least he's really hot now."
Perry snorts amusedly and makes a noncommittal noise. Apparently he's not going to make things easy.
"What? Not your type?"
Okay, so that wasn't subtle at all and now Ji Yong's looking at her like he knows exactly what she's doing. She keeps grinning, willing him to shut up.
"... Yeah, he is," Perry finally replies, one corner of his lips curling up just a little. "Don't tell him I said that, a'ight?"
"I won't," CL says, keeping the grin on her face through sheer force of will.
***
"He said that?!" Bom laughs and shakes her head. "Young Bae would freak out if he knew."
CL leans down to lace up her sneakers. "I know, right? Wonder if he's got a boyfriend," she says with all the nonchalance she can muster. If she sounds like she cares, it'll look like she's crushing on Perry or something.
Which she is. Bom doesn't need to know, though.
"I dunno. He drove Jae Wook home the other day..."
CL adjusts her sock and moves on to the other sneaker. "Oh, come on. You still think they're dating?"
She shrugs. "Maybe. Ask Perry if you really want to know."
"What? No!"
The shrewd look Bom gives her makes her realize that reaction was probably a little too strong. Jae Wook walks in before she can say anything, though, which CL is infinitely grateful for. He blinks at them. "Hi... Are Min Ji and Sandara coming?"
"Yeah, they said they were just gonna run out and get coffee. They'll be back in a sec."
"Jay? Are you, like, dating Perry?"
CL stares at Bom for a second, then decides to pretend she doesn't know her at all. She turns away from her slightly, leans down and re-laces her left sneaker, trying to look like she's not listening attentively to Jae Wook's reply.
"No, we're just friends. Why?"
At least he doesn't sound angry. She re-laces the right one too for good measure.
"Just curious. So he doesn't have a boyfriend?"
"Nah."
"Oh, okay," Bom says, then nudges her and drops her voice down to a whisper. "There you go."
CL finally straightens up, unable to justify lacing up her shoes for a third time. She hopes Jae Wook isn't looking their way anymore, but she sure as hell isn't going to check. "Yeah, thanks."
***
CL skims through the rap she wrote one last time before taking a deep breath and knocking on the door to studio B. She agonized over every word and she's actually pretty proud of it, now, but she's sure it'll take more than that to impress Perry. She's just hoping he'll think it's good enough to be used on a track.
Perry opens the door and smiles up at her. "Hey. Need English lessons or somethin'?" he asks teasingly.
The high-pitched laugh that escapes CL's mouth is freaking embarrassing. "Yeah, right. Can you look over something I wrote?"
"Sure. Sit down," he says, gesturing to the two chairs in front of the console. They both sit, and CL offers him her notebook. He shakes his head. "Nah, let's hear it first."
Her stomach drops down to her shoes. "... There's no beat," she says, feeling lame.
He turns to the computer and a loud, thumping beat fills the room a moment later. CL's pretty sure she's never heard it before - it must be something he wrote recently. And now he's looking at her expectantly, so she has no choice but to take a deep breath and start rapping.
He's smiling again when he reaches for the computer mouse and stops the music. "That was pretty damn good." He takes the notebook from her (she's so relieved she barely notices) and looks at it for a moment. "... What's with that line?"
CL rolls her chair closer so she can see the line he's pointing at. "Yeah, that's kinda lame. I couldn't think of a good rhyme, so..."
Perry picks up a pencil, crosses the line out and scribbles something next to it before handing the notebook back to her. It's about five million times better than what she came up with. "Oh. Thanks."
"No prob." He turns away again and turns off the computer. "I was just gonna go see Cloverfield, you wanna come along?"
It takes a few seconds before she mentally tracks the name down - it's that weird monster movie that just came out. Perry's inviting her to a movie. "... You mean like now?" she asks, staring at the back of his head.
"Yeah." He turns and looks at her. "You don't have dance lessons at this hour, do ya?"
She does, actually. And that invitation can't possibly mean anything, because he's her producer and in his thirties and gay.
"'Course not," she replies, grinning.
***
'He's gay, it can't mean anything' becomes her mantra for the rest of the evening, because Perry's so nice with her that she's in constant danger of forgetting. He opens the passenger door of his Ferrari for her, lets her pick a CD from the stack between the seats, pays for the two tickets and buys her a Coke and M&Ms at the concession stand. He could probably teach straight guys what to do on dates. It's not really helping with the stupid crush.
But he's gay, so it can't mean anything.
They sit pretty close to the screen and CL remembers, when the head of the Statue of Liberty hits the street with a deafening crash, that her tolerance for horror movies is pretty low. The first glimpse of the monster has her gasping and grabbing onto Perry's arm. She accidentally-on-purpose forgets to pull her hand away once the scene ends, because he doesn't seem to care anyway. It kind of helps (but not with the crush).
The shaky camera effect works perfectly on her, though, and she's a nervous wreck by the time the credits finally start rolling and the lights come on. Perry takes one look at her and laughs. "That was only PG-13, y'know."
"Oh God. Shut up. It sucked."
"Yeah, yeah. You need a baby bottle for the rest of that Coke?"
She grins and punches him in the shoulder before she has time to realize how inappropriate it is to hit her producer. He gives her a push and steals the half-empty bag of M&Ms from her, completely unfazed.
He drives her to 2NE1's apartment afterwards, and CL's pretty sure she's figured herself out. Perry doesn't act his age - that's got to be why she finds him so appealing. That and he looks pretty exotic. And he has a Ferrari, for fuck's sake. He probably has gay guys lining up to date him.
That thought makes her incredibly smug, and she has to repeat her little mantra to herself several times before the feeling fades away.
"There ya go."
She blinks. He's parked in front of the apartment building. "Oh. Um, thanks." Her mind helpfully supplies her with mental images of what she'd be doing if this were any other date with any other guy - a kiss on the cheek at the very least - and she suddenly has to fight a blush. "See ya in the studios, I guess."
"Yeah, see ya," he replies. "Don't forget that nice Vuitton purse."
He says it with a slight mocking edge to his voice, but it sounds so incredibly gay coming out of his mouth that it serves as a convenient reminder that she has no business even thinking about kissing him.
***
Perry doesn't act any differently the next day, or the day after that (of course not, because he's gay so it can't mean blah blah). Well, there are casual "hey, CL"s and little nods when they cross paths in the studios, but nothing else. It's driving her bonkers - she usually isn't reduced to ridiculous things like daydreaming about boys she likes during important meetings, or trying to think of good pretexts to talk to boys she likes, and the fact that she's doing just that because of her completely uninterested gay producer stings her pride a little.
She's a friggin' rapper, not some giggly little girl.
With that in mind, she marches right over to Perry when he shows up in the dance studio again after their lesson.
"Hey, CL," he says, then cranes his neck to look behind her. "Hey, girls."
At least she's separate from the rest of the group in his mind. That has to be a good thing. "Hey. Are you going out for lunch with Jae Wook again?"
"Yeah, why?"
"'Cause I'm pretty hungry, so I'm gonna go with you. Okay?"
He blinks, then shrugs. "Yeah, sure."
Thirty minutes later, the three of them are sitting at a table in the Mister Donut closest to the studios. She dumped her bag and jacket on the seat next to Jae Wook's as soon as he sat down, more or less forcing Perry to sit next to her. She's going to spend time with him if she wants to, damn it, and it's not going to be awkward and she's not going to get all giggly about it.
Besides, she's been considering the idea that Perry might be bisexual. He asked her out, after all, and that just doesn't make any sense. She's never going to know what's going on for sure unless she hangs out with him.
"Kinda looks like we're having lunch with our daughter, huh?" Jae Wook says between two bites of his sandwich, grinning.
CL nearly chokes on her spoonful of cream of mushroom soup. "What?!"
Perry laughs as he sets his empty bowl aside. "She's angry. Run."
"You're not even old enough to be my dad. Dads. Whatever."
"I am."
"Yeah, well, maybe you shouldn't have asked me out, then."
"You asked her out?" Jae Wook cuts in, clearly incredulous.
"I-- huh? 'Course I didn't ask her out. Whatcha talkin' about?"
"You totally did," CL says, then turns to Jae Wook. "He took me to a movie last Thursday."
She's expecting him to take her side - tell Perry off for giving her false hopes, or maybe say something that would indicate Perry's actually interested. He only looks at her suspiciously instead. "Is that why you didn't show up for your lesson? The girls said you were sick."
CL blinks at him, taken off guard. "Uh--"
"Nah, she started feelin' sick after the movie. Too much popcorn and shit."
"Oh." Jae Wook rolls his eyes. "Be careful next time."
"Yeah, I will," she replies, happy to let the subject drop. Perry just lied for her without a second of hesitation, even though she lied to him about her schedule, and it's gonna be pretty hard not to get giggly if they keep talking about it. She picks up her strawberry ponde donut and breaks it in two. "P, you want half?"
Perry gives her a look but takes it.
***
Jae Wook doesn't walk back to the studios with them - Big Bang's in Japan and he doesn't have anything to do for the rest of the day, so he decides to take the subway home. CL's happy to get a chance to talk to Perry in private. As private as a sidewalk can be, anyway.
"Thanks for covering for me," she says, elbowing him. He shrugs and waves it off, and then she gets a genius idea. "I could, like, buy you a beer..."
He laughs as he shoves his hands into his pockets, shivering. "Where? You ain't even old enough to drink. ... Are you?"
"Of course I am."
He snorts. "Yeah. Okay. How old are you, really?"
She rolls her eyes and clicks her tongue, thinking fast. "... I'm old enough to give you money so you can buy beer from the convenience store and drink it with me at your place. Or something."
Perry doesn't say anything for several steps. Then he finally looks up at her, smiling slightly. "You realize I'm gay, yeah?"
"Yeah. So what?"
"So you realize I ain't askin' you out, yeah?"
"Yeah. So what?"
"So you still want that beer?"
He's still smiling. It's still way too cute. Especially with his nose and cheeks getting red from the cold. "Yep."
He falls silent again, and this time stays silent until they've reached the studios. CL gives up on the conversation - she'd rather let him think about it than push him too much and have him say no.
As it turns out, though, she doesn't need to wait too long. He speaks up again as he holds the door open for her. "Lemme know when you've got an evening off, a'ight?"
She somehow manages not to grin stupidly until he heads down the hallway that leads to studio B and can't see her anymore.
***
Her next day off turns out to be the following Sunday. She spends most of it in 2NE1's apartment, climbing the walls. She doesn't even know why she's so nervous - it's not like Perry promised her a candlelit dinner or anything. They've been acting the same as usual around each other in the studios, and even had a couple of nice conversations when they ended up in the kitchen at the same time.
They're just going to drink beer and talk some more and she might get the opportunity to make a move and, oh, kiss him or something. It's not like it'd be the first time she kisses someone - no reason to be nervous.
Except, of course, that this particular someone is much older and gay and ridiculously hot and her boss and kind of a huge challenge in general and she's getting butterflies in her stomach just thinking about it.
"God, stop fidgeting," Min Ji suddenly says, looking up from her magazine. "What's wrong with you?"
"I'm not fidgeting," she retorts, then crosses and uncrosses her legs for the five millionth time and checks her watch again. It's finally late enough to change, so she stands up and walks over to the bedroom she shares with Min Ji.
She's been thinking about what she's going to wear all day. Even though it was probably a tiny hint of interest (or at least curiosity) she saw in his eyes when he agreed to meet her for beers, she's pretty sure he's not lying about being gay. Or at least mostly gay. Whatever - she's pretty sure wearing a short skirt and showing off her boobs won't get her anywhere, if she even has a chance.
So she opts for something simple - skinny jeans, a hoodie and a worn-out pair of orange Converse shoes. She spends way too much time considering the pros and cons of wearing a baseball cap, then decides it'd be too obvious and just pulls her hair up into a carefully-messy bun instead.
Min Ji looks up again when she comes back. "You're going out?"
"Yeah. I'm not sure when I'll be back."
Min Ji eyes her silently for a long moment. "... Fine, don't tell me," she says once it becomes obvious CL's not going to offer further information. It'd be way too embarrassing if she told the other girls about it and then nothing happened.
"I'll tell you tomorrow," she replies before grabbing her purse and finally heading out the door.
***
"You ain't got a boyfriend, do ya?" Perry asks out of nowhere after a lull in their conversation.
She laughs lightly and tucks her legs under herself. The two beers she's had have barely made a dent in her nervousness. Perry's been acting the same way he always does, though - that question's the most promising thing he's said so far. "Nah. Why?"
"Just curious." He takes a swig of beer.
"You don't either, right? ... Didja ask Young Bae out yet?"
He blinks at her, then laughs. "Shit, I think I'd rather try kissin' a girl than hit on that kid."
"Why?" she asks, but then something hits her and she doesn't even hear his answer. Try kissing a girl... "Oh my God. You've never kissed a girl?"
"Why the hell would I kiss a girl?" he replies defensively, frowning a bit, and suddenly CL isn't even nervous anymore.
"I've kissed girls! I'm sixteen!" She can't help but laugh, and the dirty look Perry shoots her only makes things funnier. She's not sure why she ever thought he was intimidating. "Are you serious? You've never tried?"
He rolls his eyes. "Yeah, I'm serious."
"Not even on a dare or anything?"
"Never. You want another one?" he says, nodding toward her empty bottle.
"Sure," she replies, grinning. Perry stands up and downs the rest of his beer before grabbing her bottle and walking over to the kitchen. That was totally an attempt to evade the topic. She's still grinning when he comes back. "Don't you wanna try?"
"No." He puts the bottle down in front of her and sits down again, eyeing her almost warily. The beer must be finally doing its thing, because she finds the look on his face hilarious.
"How d'you know you don't like it, then?"
"I ain't gonna kiss ya, CL."
"Are you, like, scared of girls?"
Ten minutes of arguing later, her bottle is already half-empty and Perry isn't budging, although he's looking more and more embarrassed. "... You ain't ever gonna drop it, huh?"
"No. Sorry," she replies, scooting closer because that sounded like he just gave up. He looks at her for a long moment, then sighs and puts his beer down. He has to take a moment to steel himself, and CL would laugh if the butterflies in her stomach weren't making a comeback. When the kiss finally comes, though, it's so light and brief that she just sits there for a few seconds with her eyes still closed, expecting Perry to kiss her again properly. He doesn't.
She opens her eyes and he's watching her guardedly. "That's it?"
"... Yeah?"
"Come on." She takes the initiative this time, and leans down to kiss him. He stiffens up and puts a hand on her shoulder, and she's certain he's going to push her away. He doesn't, although he doesn't really start kissing her back until she decides to push her tongue into his mouth before she loses her nerve. It's half-hearted and awkward as hell and not what she expected from someone who usually seems so confident and easygoing. Even her first kiss was better, and that was with a thirteen-year-old boy.
She pulls away and looks at him, not sure if she's amused or just disappointed. That can't be all he can do. "... Kiss me like you'd kiss a guy."
Surprise flickers across his face, then he looks wary again.
"A really hot guy," she says, grinning.
She's close enough to see the corners of his mouth twitch. He glances away, looks at her again, slides his hand up until his thumb is in front of her ear and his fingers tangled in her hair, and pulls her down. The intensity of the kiss takes her by surprise - all of a sudden he's gone from not enough to almost too much, his tongue stroking hers and his stubble scraping against her lips, his hand holding her firmly enough that she's not sure she could pull away even if she wanted to.
His free arm slides around her waist and she flings her own around his shoulders and kisses back for all she's worth, her heart pounding. His mind is probably miles away - hell, he's probably thinking about Young Bae or something, but she can't bring herself to care while she's taking in all the new sensations. Teenaged boys don't kiss like that.
He bites her lower lip just hard enough to send shivers down her spine, and the soft sound that escapes her is totally out of her control. It's apparently enough to jar Perry out of it, though, and a second later his hands and lips are gone and it takes every ounce of CL's self-control not to climb onto him and kiss him again.
"Don't go gettin' funny ideas, now," he mutters, lips shining, before grabbing his beer and drinking the rest of it in one go.
It's a little late to say that, considering he just sent her funny ideas spiraling out of control, but she doesn't think it'd be a good idea to tell him. She downs her beer too and sits back, frantically trying to think of something innocuous to talk about.
***
She gets home shortly after midnight, tipsy and exhausted and excited all at once. Perry went right back to acting normally after that kiss, the only difference being the glint of mirth in his eyes when he noticed how distracted she'd become. CL was too flustered to give a damn about whatever it is Perry was trying to talk to her about, and it didn't take long before he offered to drive her home, saying she looked tired. It would've been nice and diplomatic of him if he hadn't looked so amused.
She puts her bag down and collapses onto her bed, grinning into her pillow. Amused or not, Perry kissed her. And it rocked.
"Chae?" Min Ji says sleepily.
CL turns onto her side. "Yeah. Sorry I woke you up."
"'S okay." She yawns. "How was it?"
CL tries to think of a word for it as she sits up to take off her shoes. "... Fun," she finally says, hearing the giddiness in her own voice.
"Anyone I know?"
She tosses her shoes in the general direction of the closet and flops down again, biting her lip. She hasn't completely lost her mind yet, and she knows that kissing Perry is probably right up there in the list of strange things she's done. If she doesn't tell someone about it, though, she's going to implode. "Um, yeah. Perry."
"... Like, YG Family Perry? Why?"
"'Cause I skipped dance practice and he told Jae Wook I was sick, so I said I'd buy him a beer." She belatedly remembered about that in the car and tried to hand him a couple of 10,000-won bills, but he was having none of it.
"Oh. I thought you were seeing some guy."
"Well. We kinda made out."
"What?" There's a rustling sound as Min Ji sits up in her bed. "Wasn't Bom saying he's gay or whatever?"
"Yeah, he is," she replies, unable to stop grinning. "It was really hot."
There's a long silence, then the muffled thump of Min Ji's head hitting her pillow again. "God, you're weird," she mutters before rolling over, pulling the covers up to her nose.
CL snickers to herself and spends a few moments letting her mind wander, replaying the kiss a couple of times before finally standing up to get ready for bed. At least now she'll have something nice to think about during meetings.
***
She manages to corner Perry two days later in the studios' kitchen. He's sitting at the table with his laptop, headphones on, typing rapidly. He glances up when she comes in, though, and a slight smile appears on his face as he continues to type. She does her damnedest not to grin back at him like an idiot and heads straight for the fridge to grab a can of Sprite.
After a couple of sips, she wanders over to him nonchanlantly and leans against the arm of his chair. He keeps typing, although his speed has decreased a lot. She almost thinks it's because of her until she notices he switched to hangul. He's writing an e-mail to YG.
"That should be kieuk, not giyeok."
He looks up and pulls his headphones off. "What?"
"That word," she says, pointing. "Should be 'k'. Y'know, with the extra line on it."
It takes him a long moment to figure it out what she means. "... Oh. Thanks."
He goes back to typing and she keeps pointing out his mistakes between sips of Sprite. He stops after a few minutes, snorting, and grabs the can from her. "Don't tell me you ain't got nothin' better to do."
She lets him take a sip before taking the can back. "I don't, actually."
He gives her a look and goes back to his e-mail, and she decides she really wants to kiss him again. They're alone, and the biometric lock on the door always beeps before someone comes in, anyway. She waits until he's done with the e-mail, but by the time he hits "send", she's so nervous her heart is pounding. It was easier when she was tipsy. He's been so kind to her, though, that she knows the worst thing that'll happen is that he'll push her away. And if he decides that she's amusing enough to keep going, well...
"Perry?" she says, putting her can down, and as soon as he looks over, she leans down and kisses him before she can lose her cool. He kisses back, which sends her heartbeat right up into orbit even though he's obviously smiling into it and not nearly as thrilled as she is.
He pulls away after a few seconds. "You're pretty ballsy for your age."
She laughs breathlessly, her hand making its way to the back of Perry's neck pretty much of its own accord. "Yeah, well..." And she has no idea what to say, so she just pulls him into another kiss. His hand squeezes her hip and he breaks away from her again, laughing quietly.
"C'mon, not in here."
CL grins. That wasn't a no. "Can I go to your place tonight?"
He eyes her thoughtfully for a moment. "I ain't coverin' for you again," he says, and that's not a no either.
"Told you I'm free." It's true, this time. Not that she wouldn't be lying if she had to.
"... Fine."
She just barely holds back from kissing him again, not wanting to push her luck.
***
CL doesn't even have the faintest idea what Perry is thinking anymore, but they've been necking on his couch for ten minutes and it really doesn't matter what he's thinking as long as he keeps humoring her. He's gone a tiny bit further, this time, dropping light kisses along her jaw and on her neck, and she can't do much more than loll her head back and grab onto his shoulders as she tries not to make any noise. That made him stop last time.
He slides his hand up her shirt, caressing her side slowly, and tilts his head up to speak quietly into her ear. "You wanna stop?"
She shakes her head quickly and he leans back and looks at her with a mix of curiosity and confusion. She's way beyond talking at this point, so she just pulls her shirt over her head and lets it drop to the floor, figuring that'll be clear enough even for him.
"Uh, CL--"
She unhooks her bra and takes that off too. That gets him to stop talking - he just stares at her for a while, and she has to struggle not to cover herself up, feeling the blood rush to her face. He finally raises one hand, lets it drop again, and leans forward to kiss her lightly. "You look real good."
For a girl. That part is left unspoken, but he sounds so awkward she knows that's what he must be thinking. She laughs, even though her face still feels beet red, and he frowns at her. "C'mon, I'm serious."
She shrugs and pulls him close again. It takes another few minutes of amazing, bone-melting kisses before he finally touches her, his hand cupping her breast somewhat clumsily. His kisses get more and more distracted and then he pulls away and looks down, running the pad of his thumb over her nipple. Goosebumps rise on her skin and she bites her lip hard when she sees the thoughtful expression on Perry's face, staying very still.
He leans down and flicks his tongue against her other nipple, his fingers still caressing her, and after a minute of this she's pretty sure she's going to die if she doesn't do something. She pushes his head away and moves even closer to him, straddling one of his legs before tugging at his t-shirt. It's already too late once she realizes that was too much - his fingers close around her wrists and he leans back slightly, blinking. "Hey, easy."
He keeps kissing her for a while after that, apparently trying to let her down gently or something, but there's no aggressivity behind it and his hands don't wander below her shoulders again, no matter how insistently she presses against him. She's the one who asks for a lift home this time, so frustrated she can't even think straight.
***
She doesn't seek Perry out for a couple of days after that. The universe must be making fun of her, though, because she walks into the workout room with Bom one afternoon and he's right there, bench-pressing with his shirt off and Ji Yong sitting next to him, babbling in broken English about some song he wrote or something.
Her attempt not to look at him lasts for about three seconds. He's leaner than she thought - it's hard to tell with all the baggy clothes. Not ripped or anything, but... toned enough to be interesting. The tattoos on his chest and shoulders shift under his skin every time he lifts the dumbbell and she keeps watching him, not even realizing she's staring until he glances their way and nods to them, his eyes lingering on CL. She turns away before her blush becomes obvious, walking over to the treadmills.
Bom joins her a few seconds later, grinning as she steps onto the treadmill next to hers. "You were staring," she says quietly in Korean.
"Shut up," CL replies. Min Ji must've said something. Or she's just obvious enough that everyone's noticed what's going on, but that's too embarrassing to contemplate.
"Is he a good kisser?"
Well, at least that answers the question. "Yeah," she admits, grinning.
Bom laughs. "Maybe you're gonna turn him straight."
CL laughs too, half-heartedly, remembering the way he touched her. "Yeah." Maybe Ji Yong will magically turn straight, too. Maybe pigs will fly and YG will meet all of his deadlines.
They both fall silent as they start jogging. Perry finishes his workout a couple of minutes later, and CL ends up staring again, because he's just standing there with his shirt in his hand, sweaty and breathing hard as he talks to Ji Yong. She tears her eyes away before he notices, this time, and sees him walk out of the room just at the edge of her vision, Ji Yong trailing after him. He's probably heading to the showers. She manages, with some difficulty, to stop her train of thought there.
"You should've said something to him," Bom says breathlessly.
She shrugs. She isn't sure she'd have the guts to ask him to drive her to his place again, after what happened last time. "... I don't know what to tell him."
Bom looks slightly confused by that reply, so CL turns down the speed on her treadmill, takes a deep breath, and explains everything. Almost everything, anyway - she doesn't really need to know Perry's had her nipple in his mouth. It's a relief to share the details with someone, though, and unlike Min Ji, she doesn't seem to find it too weird. Or at least she doesn't say anything about it.
"Why don't you just show up at his apartment?" she suggests. "You know where he lives, right? I'll buy you some alcohol."
CL tries to think of a flaw in that plan, but it seems like the perfect way to skip over the awkward part. And it's exactly the kind of stupid, brazen stunt Perry would appreciate.
***
She takes a deep, steadying breath before knocking on the door to Perry's apartment. He buzzed her in - that has to be a good sign.
"You lost or somethin'?" he says after opening the door. He's smiling, though.
"Can I come in?" she asks nonchalantly, her stomach doing somersaults. "I brought soju."
He glances down at the bag in her hand, then snorts and opens the door wider, gesturing for her to come in. "You hungry?"
She steps inside and thrusts the bag at him before leaning down to pull off her sneakers. "Not really." It smells pretty good, though, and when she straightens up, she spots a plate next to Perry's laptop on the coffee table in the living room. She interrupted his dinner - great. At least he doesn't seem to mind too much.
He ducks into the kitchen for a moment and returns with two shot glasses and one of the bottles of Chamisul soju Bom bought. He puts everything down next to his plate, closes his laptop, and sits down on the couch. "C'mere."
She sits next to him, feeling fidgety already. She's had frigging dreams about that couch - the connection between sitting on it and having Perry's mouth on hers is pretty much embedded in her mind. He picks up his plate - some kind of stir-fry - and takes a bite. It looks good, too. "Didja make that?"
"Yeah." He offers her his fork, holding the plate out to her, so she takes it and spears some bell pepper and a piece of chicken. It's as tasty as it looks. Being ridiculously hot and an awesome beatmaker isn't enough, apparently.
"'S really good," she says, then leans forward to fill the two shot glasses. They talk and drink while Perry eats, and he passes her the fork a few more times. By the time the plate is empty, she feels warm and fuzzy and doesn't even care how unsubtle it is when she scoots close to him.
He laughs and grabs her by the chin before dropping a light kiss on her lips. "Lemme wash this up first." He stands up and takes the plate and fork to the kitchen.
The next three minutes are probably the longest of her entire life. She downs another shot of soju, mostly to give herself something to do, and Perry finally comes back and flops down next to her, draping his arm over her shoulders. She doesn't waste any more time and simply leans over to press their lips together.
This time, when she musters up the courage to pull on his shirt, he only lets out a low laugh and breaks the kiss to take it off. She has to put their make-out session on hold to satisfy her curiosity and examine his tattoos, running her hands over the Chinese characters and tribal designs (and the firm muscles under them). "... Looks good on you."
"Yeah, I gathered," he says teasingly before moving in again. He takes her shirt off, this time, and she only lets him struggle with her bra for a few seconds before doing it herself, an unexpected wave of fondness hitting her when she sees the half-embarrassed, half-irritated look on his face. She's truly okay with him being gay, now - it's difficult not to be when he's trying this hard.
Her hands trailing down to his abs while they kiss turns out to be more than he can take, though. He pulls them away, watches her silently for a moment, then shifts away from her until he can lean back comfortably against the arm of the couch, one foot on the floor. "Lie back against me."
She obeys, lying back and putting her head on his shoulder, partly because she's worried he'll stop yet again if she doesn't. She's not sure where he's going with this, but then his arms wrap around her and he puts his hands flat on her abdomen, caressing her skin slowly, and she's too distracted to care anymore.
"You sure you wanna do this?" he says, inches from her right ear. She nods - he can do whatever the hell he feels like, as far as she's concerned - and only understands when he slides one hand down and pops open the button on her jeans. He unzips them, then slips his hand inside, under her panties. She squirms out of sheer anticipation, biting her lip, and tries not to make any noise when his fingers start prodding around, the clumsy touches enough to send waves of pleasure rippling through her body.
His fingertips find her clit, start rubbing in slow circles and she arches her hips into it, breathing faster. He tries out different rhythms like he's working on a new beat or something, never going quite fast enough, and before long she's writhing desperately against him, holding onto his knee, lips pressed together as she struggles to stay silent.
"You ain't a virgin, are ya?"
She shakes her head quickly (although it's not technically true), not sure why it matters until Perry slides his hand further down, crooking one of his fingers. She tilts her hips just so and his fingertip slips into her, causing him to freeze for a few seconds. CL vaguely wishes she could see his face, but then he pushes his finger deeper and starts biting her ear lightly, and she gives up on coherent thought.
His hand moves at such a maddeningly slow pace that she grabs onto his arm and bucks her hips, rubbing against his palm and trying to get more of everything. His reaction is to pull his finger out of her and start rubbing her clit again, but at least he's finally going fast enough, his finger slick against her skin, and before long she's almost there--
And then his hand goes still and his tongue isn't tracing the whorls of her ear anymore and she nearly screams in frustration. "Don't just stop!" she blurts out, twisting around to look at him, the outrage in her voice stronger than she intended.
He looks like a deer in the headlights. "Were you gonna-- Shit. Sorry." He slides his hand back up, resting it on her stomach. "Uh. Can I give you head?"
The frustration evaporates instantly. She nods and he slides out from behind her, sitting close to her feet instead. She lies back against the arm of the couch, making herself comfortable, and raises her hips when Perry starts pulling down her jeans and underwear. He drops them to the floor and thankfully doesn't spend forever staring at her this time around, just leaning down and giving her a long, slow lick. She shudders, grabbing onto the couch, and he looks up at her.
"Stop tryin' to be quiet. I have no fuckin' idea what I'm doing."
Another lick, and CL doesn't hold back the moans rising in her throat. He pays attention to her reactions, his eyes flicking up every time she's particularly loud, and soon enough he has two fingers deep inside her and his mouth is on her clit, sucking and licking in exactly the right way.
"Don't stop," she orders breathlessly as pleasure starts coiling in her belly again, just in case, reaching out to hold his head in place. She sees Perry's eyes narrow in amusement and feels the low hum of his laughter, and a few seconds later she clenches hard around his fingers, back arching as she cries out softly.
She opens her eyes - didn't even realize she closed them - and Perry smiles up at her before sitting up. "Any good?"
She just laughs breathlessly and closes her eyes again, because that couldn't possibly have been a serious question - she feels warm and tingly all over, and she's pretty sure her brain is going to ooze out of her ear if she turns her head. A few moments pass, then Perry puts his hand on her knee. "You gonna sleep here?"
"Mmm." She sits up slowly and runs her fingers through her hair. "I dunno. D'you mind?"
"Nah. C'mon." He stands up, gesturing for her to follow, and heads to what's probably his bedroom. She puts her underwear back on and follows him, her legs a bit unsteady from the combination of soju and the mind-blowing orgasm she just had. He ushers her to bed and ruffles her hair. "I'mma crash on the couch."
CL frowns at that, because sharing a bed with Perry sounded like an awesome idea, but she decides to steal a good-night kiss instead of arguing with him. That turns into two kisses, then three, and then she's got both arms wrapped around him and it's becoming pretty obvious that she doesn't want to sleep just yet.
"Are you fuckin' serious?" he says quietly against her lips, and when he draws back he's got that amused glint in his eye. She doesn't even have to reply - he sits down on the mattress next to her and trails his fingers down her stomach as he leans in for another kiss.
***
"Yo, wake up." Perry gives her a shake and she squints up at him. "Jay's pissed off."
She blinks, suddenly much more awake. "What? What did I-- ... Crap." Dance practice again. It's always scheduled exactly at the wrong moment.
He snorts amusedly. "Yeah. He said he's gonna go through it one-on-one with ya if you get your ass to the studios before he's done with Big Bang." He drops her clothes on top of the covers. "I'm pretty sure you got enough time for a shower."
She heads to the bathroom with the firm intention to take a quick shower but ends up spending much more time than necessary under the hot spray, smiling to herself as she lets the previous night's events wander through her mind. Perry kissed her silly and made her come again and kissed her some more, until she was so zonked out she didn't even care that he disappeared to sleep in the living room.
She's humming by the time she comes out of the bathroom, feeling great despite the sudden awakening. She knows she should care about Jae Wook being angry, but Perry smiles up at her when she steps into the kitchen, and that pretty much seals Jae Wook's spot at the very bottom of her mental list of Stuff That Matters.
"Didja sleep well?" he asks, holding a plate out to her. Peanut butter toast. It's been a while - she's used to eating Korean food more often than not, now.
"Yeah. Thanks," she says as she takes the plate, then sits down at the table. "I bet your back hurts."
"It doesn't. How d'you like your coffee?"
She spots him raising his eyes to the ceiling after she tells him, but the coffee he brings her is just right - sweet, and so pale it's nearly white. He sits down facing her and sips his own. Probably black.
"... You still gay?" she asks after a few bites of toast, shooting him a little grin.
He snorts. "Yep. ... Sorry," he adds more seriously, looking at her in the eye.
She shrugs and takes another bite. It's a little disappointing to hear that nothing she's done has made a difference, but it's not exactly unexpected, and she's pretty sure she's over her hopeless crush, now. Perry wouldn't be half as cool a person if he weren't gay. "But you still like me a little, huh?"
"Sure as hell wouldn't put my face there if I didn't, sweetie."
That should be insulting or at least vaguely embarrassing, but somehow it's just funny. She smiles and glances up at him. "Are you gonna do it again?"
"... Maybe," he replies, smiling back just a little.
She keeps eating, satisfied with the answer, and once she's done, Perry offers her a lift to the studios. He kisses her goodbye in the underground parking lot, and nothing that day manages to make a dent in her good mood - not even the look Jae Wook gives her when she gets to the dance studio, well after the end of Big Bang's rehearsal.
Beta: Tama, Momo, Exy (Yes, I have a small army of beta readers tied up in my basement. >>;)
Pairing: Perry/CL
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: CL's underage, Perry isn't.
Summary: "Maybe you're gonna turn him straight."
A/N: The thought of writing from a girl's POV is kind of terrifying to me, so this was an interesting challenge/experiment. Hope I did okay!
CL practices the rap Perry wrote for her under her breath, her eyes fixed on the scribbled verse in her hand. She doesn't really feel like she needs to practice - the words roll off her tongue easily, putting pretty much everything she's ever written to shame - but there's nothing else to do while she waits for her turn to record.
Ji Yong, sitting on the chair next to her, jabs her in the ribs with his elbow. "Where's the accent in 'generation'?"
"Generation," she replies, looking up. He frowns and mouths the word to himself a few times, his attention already back to his own verse. Maybe one day she'll manage to make him pronounce "heart" correctly.
"Ji Yong, you'll go after Perry," Young Taek says, not bothering to turn around, his hands on the console. "Make sure you're ready."
"Okay."
She'll go last, then. She leans back in her chair and crosses her legs, looking around. Perry's been in there for a while - he has to record some back vocals too, which she guesses explains it. He's rapping, now, though, one hand moving rapidly through the air, the other holding his headphones up to one ear. His eyes are closed.
"... Perry's kinda hot," she says, the thought sneaking up on her unexpectedly. Ji Yong looks up and grins at her. She grins back, telling herself she's not embarrassed. "What? He is."
"Uh huh. He's too old for you."
She laughs and hits him in the arm. "I'm just saying!"
"Yeah, sure. Who's Ricola, anyway?"
***
The dance lesson finally ends and she collapses onto the nearest bench to catch her breath after downing the remaining water in her bottle. She's bringing two next time - Jae Wook is a slavedriver.
"Think you'll live?" Min Ji asks amusedly, sitting down next to her. CL makes a face and steals her energy drink.
"Jay, you done?"
CL looks up at the sound of Perry's voice. He's standing in the doorway, casually leaning against it. She hadn't even seen him come in. He's wearing a sleeveless shirt that shows off his tattoos, which she's kind of curious about - she still hasn't seen them up close and, well, tattoos are kinda hot.
"Yeah, all done." Jae Wook picks up his bag and slings it over his shoulder, smiling. "Why?"
Perry smiles back at him and suddenly looks about ten years younger and cuter than any American rapper has the right to be. CL tries to take a sip of the energy drink and nearly misses her own mouth. No one notices, thank God. "Wanna have lunch?"
"Sure. I gotta change, though."
"Meet me down in the parking lot," Perry says, then gives her and the other girls a little wave before leaving.
"D'you have any questions?" Jae Wook asks them. CL shakes her head and sees Min Ji do the same out of the corner of her eye. "Okay, well, see you on Wednesday."
"See you," they echo, and CL hands the energy drink back to Min Ji.
She gives it a shake and rolls her eyes. "Hey, thanks."
"-- they're dating?"
Sandara giggles behind her hand and CL tunes into her and Bom's conversation, curious. "No way!"
Bom laughs too. "Well, Perry is gay, so..."
"Perry's a fag?!" CL blurts out, turning her head so fast she nearly gives herself whiplash.
Bom frowns at her. "Come on, don't use that word. It's just what I heard."
"What's fag?" Min Ji asks. "Can't you speak Korean?"
Sandara translates in hushed tones, grinning from ear to ear. CL is pretty sure they've both gone insane, because Perry is one of the least gay-looking guys in the building. She has to admit they've got a point about Jae Wook, though. He is a little bit too good at doing all those girly dance moves.
Perry, though...
Nah.
***
Ji Yong and Perry are sitting in the kitchen, heads bent together over some lyrics, eating from the same plate of sushi, and CL is not envious. She sits down facing them, unwrapping her granola bar. "Whatcha workin' on?"
"A song," Ji Yong replies vaguely. "For Young Bae."
"Oh. What's it called?"
"Dunno yet," Perry mutters, then looks up briefly to eat a piece of sushi. They're clearly in the zone, so CL stays silent for a few minutes, watching them as she eats.
Well, watching Perry. She's been keeping an eye on him for the past week or so, trying to catch him doing something gay. It hasn't worked so far - not that she was expecting it to. Bom insists that she heard lots of rumors and even heard him say stuff that sounded kind of gay, so CL can't really discount the idea just yet. She'll just have to figure out a subtle way to find out for sure.
And then... well, she's not sure what she's going to do if Perry's gay. Or straight. She hasn't thought that far yet.
They pause to eat more sushi and CL moves in for the kill. "Is Young Bae gonna write something too?" She already knows the answer, but that's not the point.
"Nah," Perry replies. "That ain't really his thing."
"I guess he's too busy working out, huh?" she says, grinning. "At least he's really hot now."
Perry snorts amusedly and makes a noncommittal noise. Apparently he's not going to make things easy.
"What? Not your type?"
Okay, so that wasn't subtle at all and now Ji Yong's looking at her like he knows exactly what she's doing. She keeps grinning, willing him to shut up.
"... Yeah, he is," Perry finally replies, one corner of his lips curling up just a little. "Don't tell him I said that, a'ight?"
"I won't," CL says, keeping the grin on her face through sheer force of will.
***
"He said that?!" Bom laughs and shakes her head. "Young Bae would freak out if he knew."
CL leans down to lace up her sneakers. "I know, right? Wonder if he's got a boyfriend," she says with all the nonchalance she can muster. If she sounds like she cares, it'll look like she's crushing on Perry or something.
Which she is. Bom doesn't need to know, though.
"I dunno. He drove Jae Wook home the other day..."
CL adjusts her sock and moves on to the other sneaker. "Oh, come on. You still think they're dating?"
She shrugs. "Maybe. Ask Perry if you really want to know."
"What? No!"
The shrewd look Bom gives her makes her realize that reaction was probably a little too strong. Jae Wook walks in before she can say anything, though, which CL is infinitely grateful for. He blinks at them. "Hi... Are Min Ji and Sandara coming?"
"Yeah, they said they were just gonna run out and get coffee. They'll be back in a sec."
"Jay? Are you, like, dating Perry?"
CL stares at Bom for a second, then decides to pretend she doesn't know her at all. She turns away from her slightly, leans down and re-laces her left sneaker, trying to look like she's not listening attentively to Jae Wook's reply.
"No, we're just friends. Why?"
At least he doesn't sound angry. She re-laces the right one too for good measure.
"Just curious. So he doesn't have a boyfriend?"
"Nah."
"Oh, okay," Bom says, then nudges her and drops her voice down to a whisper. "There you go."
CL finally straightens up, unable to justify lacing up her shoes for a third time. She hopes Jae Wook isn't looking their way anymore, but she sure as hell isn't going to check. "Yeah, thanks."
***
CL skims through the rap she wrote one last time before taking a deep breath and knocking on the door to studio B. She agonized over every word and she's actually pretty proud of it, now, but she's sure it'll take more than that to impress Perry. She's just hoping he'll think it's good enough to be used on a track.
Perry opens the door and smiles up at her. "Hey. Need English lessons or somethin'?" he asks teasingly.
The high-pitched laugh that escapes CL's mouth is freaking embarrassing. "Yeah, right. Can you look over something I wrote?"
"Sure. Sit down," he says, gesturing to the two chairs in front of the console. They both sit, and CL offers him her notebook. He shakes his head. "Nah, let's hear it first."
Her stomach drops down to her shoes. "... There's no beat," she says, feeling lame.
He turns to the computer and a loud, thumping beat fills the room a moment later. CL's pretty sure she's never heard it before - it must be something he wrote recently. And now he's looking at her expectantly, so she has no choice but to take a deep breath and start rapping.
He's smiling again when he reaches for the computer mouse and stops the music. "That was pretty damn good." He takes the notebook from her (she's so relieved she barely notices) and looks at it for a moment. "... What's with that line?"
CL rolls her chair closer so she can see the line he's pointing at. "Yeah, that's kinda lame. I couldn't think of a good rhyme, so..."
Perry picks up a pencil, crosses the line out and scribbles something next to it before handing the notebook back to her. It's about five million times better than what she came up with. "Oh. Thanks."
"No prob." He turns away again and turns off the computer. "I was just gonna go see Cloverfield, you wanna come along?"
It takes a few seconds before she mentally tracks the name down - it's that weird monster movie that just came out. Perry's inviting her to a movie. "... You mean like now?" she asks, staring at the back of his head.
"Yeah." He turns and looks at her. "You don't have dance lessons at this hour, do ya?"
She does, actually. And that invitation can't possibly mean anything, because he's her producer and in his thirties and gay.
"'Course not," she replies, grinning.
***
'He's gay, it can't mean anything' becomes her mantra for the rest of the evening, because Perry's so nice with her that she's in constant danger of forgetting. He opens the passenger door of his Ferrari for her, lets her pick a CD from the stack between the seats, pays for the two tickets and buys her a Coke and M&Ms at the concession stand. He could probably teach straight guys what to do on dates. It's not really helping with the stupid crush.
But he's gay, so it can't mean anything.
They sit pretty close to the screen and CL remembers, when the head of the Statue of Liberty hits the street with a deafening crash, that her tolerance for horror movies is pretty low. The first glimpse of the monster has her gasping and grabbing onto Perry's arm. She accidentally-on-purpose forgets to pull her hand away once the scene ends, because he doesn't seem to care anyway. It kind of helps (but not with the crush).
The shaky camera effect works perfectly on her, though, and she's a nervous wreck by the time the credits finally start rolling and the lights come on. Perry takes one look at her and laughs. "That was only PG-13, y'know."
"Oh God. Shut up. It sucked."
"Yeah, yeah. You need a baby bottle for the rest of that Coke?"
She grins and punches him in the shoulder before she has time to realize how inappropriate it is to hit her producer. He gives her a push and steals the half-empty bag of M&Ms from her, completely unfazed.
He drives her to 2NE1's apartment afterwards, and CL's pretty sure she's figured herself out. Perry doesn't act his age - that's got to be why she finds him so appealing. That and he looks pretty exotic. And he has a Ferrari, for fuck's sake. He probably has gay guys lining up to date him.
That thought makes her incredibly smug, and she has to repeat her little mantra to herself several times before the feeling fades away.
"There ya go."
She blinks. He's parked in front of the apartment building. "Oh. Um, thanks." Her mind helpfully supplies her with mental images of what she'd be doing if this were any other date with any other guy - a kiss on the cheek at the very least - and she suddenly has to fight a blush. "See ya in the studios, I guess."
"Yeah, see ya," he replies. "Don't forget that nice Vuitton purse."
He says it with a slight mocking edge to his voice, but it sounds so incredibly gay coming out of his mouth that it serves as a convenient reminder that she has no business even thinking about kissing him.
***
Perry doesn't act any differently the next day, or the day after that (of course not, because he's gay so it can't mean blah blah). Well, there are casual "hey, CL"s and little nods when they cross paths in the studios, but nothing else. It's driving her bonkers - she usually isn't reduced to ridiculous things like daydreaming about boys she likes during important meetings, or trying to think of good pretexts to talk to boys she likes, and the fact that she's doing just that because of her completely uninterested gay producer stings her pride a little.
She's a friggin' rapper, not some giggly little girl.
With that in mind, she marches right over to Perry when he shows up in the dance studio again after their lesson.
"Hey, CL," he says, then cranes his neck to look behind her. "Hey, girls."
At least she's separate from the rest of the group in his mind. That has to be a good thing. "Hey. Are you going out for lunch with Jae Wook again?"
"Yeah, why?"
"'Cause I'm pretty hungry, so I'm gonna go with you. Okay?"
He blinks, then shrugs. "Yeah, sure."
Thirty minutes later, the three of them are sitting at a table in the Mister Donut closest to the studios. She dumped her bag and jacket on the seat next to Jae Wook's as soon as he sat down, more or less forcing Perry to sit next to her. She's going to spend time with him if she wants to, damn it, and it's not going to be awkward and she's not going to get all giggly about it.
Besides, she's been considering the idea that Perry might be bisexual. He asked her out, after all, and that just doesn't make any sense. She's never going to know what's going on for sure unless she hangs out with him.
"Kinda looks like we're having lunch with our daughter, huh?" Jae Wook says between two bites of his sandwich, grinning.
CL nearly chokes on her spoonful of cream of mushroom soup. "What?!"
Perry laughs as he sets his empty bowl aside. "She's angry. Run."
"You're not even old enough to be my dad. Dads. Whatever."
"I am."
"Yeah, well, maybe you shouldn't have asked me out, then."
"You asked her out?" Jae Wook cuts in, clearly incredulous.
"I-- huh? 'Course I didn't ask her out. Whatcha talkin' about?"
"You totally did," CL says, then turns to Jae Wook. "He took me to a movie last Thursday."
She's expecting him to take her side - tell Perry off for giving her false hopes, or maybe say something that would indicate Perry's actually interested. He only looks at her suspiciously instead. "Is that why you didn't show up for your lesson? The girls said you were sick."
CL blinks at him, taken off guard. "Uh--"
"Nah, she started feelin' sick after the movie. Too much popcorn and shit."
"Oh." Jae Wook rolls his eyes. "Be careful next time."
"Yeah, I will," she replies, happy to let the subject drop. Perry just lied for her without a second of hesitation, even though she lied to him about her schedule, and it's gonna be pretty hard not to get giggly if they keep talking about it. She picks up her strawberry ponde donut and breaks it in two. "P, you want half?"
Perry gives her a look but takes it.
***
Jae Wook doesn't walk back to the studios with them - Big Bang's in Japan and he doesn't have anything to do for the rest of the day, so he decides to take the subway home. CL's happy to get a chance to talk to Perry in private. As private as a sidewalk can be, anyway.
"Thanks for covering for me," she says, elbowing him. He shrugs and waves it off, and then she gets a genius idea. "I could, like, buy you a beer..."
He laughs as he shoves his hands into his pockets, shivering. "Where? You ain't even old enough to drink. ... Are you?"
"Of course I am."
He snorts. "Yeah. Okay. How old are you, really?"
She rolls her eyes and clicks her tongue, thinking fast. "... I'm old enough to give you money so you can buy beer from the convenience store and drink it with me at your place. Or something."
Perry doesn't say anything for several steps. Then he finally looks up at her, smiling slightly. "You realize I'm gay, yeah?"
"Yeah. So what?"
"So you realize I ain't askin' you out, yeah?"
"Yeah. So what?"
"So you still want that beer?"
He's still smiling. It's still way too cute. Especially with his nose and cheeks getting red from the cold. "Yep."
He falls silent again, and this time stays silent until they've reached the studios. CL gives up on the conversation - she'd rather let him think about it than push him too much and have him say no.
As it turns out, though, she doesn't need to wait too long. He speaks up again as he holds the door open for her. "Lemme know when you've got an evening off, a'ight?"
She somehow manages not to grin stupidly until he heads down the hallway that leads to studio B and can't see her anymore.
***
Her next day off turns out to be the following Sunday. She spends most of it in 2NE1's apartment, climbing the walls. She doesn't even know why she's so nervous - it's not like Perry promised her a candlelit dinner or anything. They've been acting the same as usual around each other in the studios, and even had a couple of nice conversations when they ended up in the kitchen at the same time.
They're just going to drink beer and talk some more and she might get the opportunity to make a move and, oh, kiss him or something. It's not like it'd be the first time she kisses someone - no reason to be nervous.
Except, of course, that this particular someone is much older and gay and ridiculously hot and her boss and kind of a huge challenge in general and she's getting butterflies in her stomach just thinking about it.
"God, stop fidgeting," Min Ji suddenly says, looking up from her magazine. "What's wrong with you?"
"I'm not fidgeting," she retorts, then crosses and uncrosses her legs for the five millionth time and checks her watch again. It's finally late enough to change, so she stands up and walks over to the bedroom she shares with Min Ji.
She's been thinking about what she's going to wear all day. Even though it was probably a tiny hint of interest (or at least curiosity) she saw in his eyes when he agreed to meet her for beers, she's pretty sure he's not lying about being gay. Or at least mostly gay. Whatever - she's pretty sure wearing a short skirt and showing off her boobs won't get her anywhere, if she even has a chance.
So she opts for something simple - skinny jeans, a hoodie and a worn-out pair of orange Converse shoes. She spends way too much time considering the pros and cons of wearing a baseball cap, then decides it'd be too obvious and just pulls her hair up into a carefully-messy bun instead.
Min Ji looks up again when she comes back. "You're going out?"
"Yeah. I'm not sure when I'll be back."
Min Ji eyes her silently for a long moment. "... Fine, don't tell me," she says once it becomes obvious CL's not going to offer further information. It'd be way too embarrassing if she told the other girls about it and then nothing happened.
"I'll tell you tomorrow," she replies before grabbing her purse and finally heading out the door.
***
"You ain't got a boyfriend, do ya?" Perry asks out of nowhere after a lull in their conversation.
She laughs lightly and tucks her legs under herself. The two beers she's had have barely made a dent in her nervousness. Perry's been acting the same way he always does, though - that question's the most promising thing he's said so far. "Nah. Why?"
"Just curious." He takes a swig of beer.
"You don't either, right? ... Didja ask Young Bae out yet?"
He blinks at her, then laughs. "Shit, I think I'd rather try kissin' a girl than hit on that kid."
"Why?" she asks, but then something hits her and she doesn't even hear his answer. Try kissing a girl... "Oh my God. You've never kissed a girl?"
"Why the hell would I kiss a girl?" he replies defensively, frowning a bit, and suddenly CL isn't even nervous anymore.
"I've kissed girls! I'm sixteen!" She can't help but laugh, and the dirty look Perry shoots her only makes things funnier. She's not sure why she ever thought he was intimidating. "Are you serious? You've never tried?"
He rolls his eyes. "Yeah, I'm serious."
"Not even on a dare or anything?"
"Never. You want another one?" he says, nodding toward her empty bottle.
"Sure," she replies, grinning. Perry stands up and downs the rest of his beer before grabbing her bottle and walking over to the kitchen. That was totally an attempt to evade the topic. She's still grinning when he comes back. "Don't you wanna try?"
"No." He puts the bottle down in front of her and sits down again, eyeing her almost warily. The beer must be finally doing its thing, because she finds the look on his face hilarious.
"How d'you know you don't like it, then?"
"I ain't gonna kiss ya, CL."
"Are you, like, scared of girls?"
Ten minutes of arguing later, her bottle is already half-empty and Perry isn't budging, although he's looking more and more embarrassed. "... You ain't ever gonna drop it, huh?"
"No. Sorry," she replies, scooting closer because that sounded like he just gave up. He looks at her for a long moment, then sighs and puts his beer down. He has to take a moment to steel himself, and CL would laugh if the butterflies in her stomach weren't making a comeback. When the kiss finally comes, though, it's so light and brief that she just sits there for a few seconds with her eyes still closed, expecting Perry to kiss her again properly. He doesn't.
She opens her eyes and he's watching her guardedly. "That's it?"
"... Yeah?"
"Come on." She takes the initiative this time, and leans down to kiss him. He stiffens up and puts a hand on her shoulder, and she's certain he's going to push her away. He doesn't, although he doesn't really start kissing her back until she decides to push her tongue into his mouth before she loses her nerve. It's half-hearted and awkward as hell and not what she expected from someone who usually seems so confident and easygoing. Even her first kiss was better, and that was with a thirteen-year-old boy.
She pulls away and looks at him, not sure if she's amused or just disappointed. That can't be all he can do. "... Kiss me like you'd kiss a guy."
Surprise flickers across his face, then he looks wary again.
"A really hot guy," she says, grinning.
She's close enough to see the corners of his mouth twitch. He glances away, looks at her again, slides his hand up until his thumb is in front of her ear and his fingers tangled in her hair, and pulls her down. The intensity of the kiss takes her by surprise - all of a sudden he's gone from not enough to almost too much, his tongue stroking hers and his stubble scraping against her lips, his hand holding her firmly enough that she's not sure she could pull away even if she wanted to.
His free arm slides around her waist and she flings her own around his shoulders and kisses back for all she's worth, her heart pounding. His mind is probably miles away - hell, he's probably thinking about Young Bae or something, but she can't bring herself to care while she's taking in all the new sensations. Teenaged boys don't kiss like that.
He bites her lower lip just hard enough to send shivers down her spine, and the soft sound that escapes her is totally out of her control. It's apparently enough to jar Perry out of it, though, and a second later his hands and lips are gone and it takes every ounce of CL's self-control not to climb onto him and kiss him again.
"Don't go gettin' funny ideas, now," he mutters, lips shining, before grabbing his beer and drinking the rest of it in one go.
It's a little late to say that, considering he just sent her funny ideas spiraling out of control, but she doesn't think it'd be a good idea to tell him. She downs her beer too and sits back, frantically trying to think of something innocuous to talk about.
***
She gets home shortly after midnight, tipsy and exhausted and excited all at once. Perry went right back to acting normally after that kiss, the only difference being the glint of mirth in his eyes when he noticed how distracted she'd become. CL was too flustered to give a damn about whatever it is Perry was trying to talk to her about, and it didn't take long before he offered to drive her home, saying she looked tired. It would've been nice and diplomatic of him if he hadn't looked so amused.
She puts her bag down and collapses onto her bed, grinning into her pillow. Amused or not, Perry kissed her. And it rocked.
"Chae?" Min Ji says sleepily.
CL turns onto her side. "Yeah. Sorry I woke you up."
"'S okay." She yawns. "How was it?"
CL tries to think of a word for it as she sits up to take off her shoes. "... Fun," she finally says, hearing the giddiness in her own voice.
"Anyone I know?"
She tosses her shoes in the general direction of the closet and flops down again, biting her lip. She hasn't completely lost her mind yet, and she knows that kissing Perry is probably right up there in the list of strange things she's done. If she doesn't tell someone about it, though, she's going to implode. "Um, yeah. Perry."
"... Like, YG Family Perry? Why?"
"'Cause I skipped dance practice and he told Jae Wook I was sick, so I said I'd buy him a beer." She belatedly remembered about that in the car and tried to hand him a couple of 10,000-won bills, but he was having none of it.
"Oh. I thought you were seeing some guy."
"Well. We kinda made out."
"What?" There's a rustling sound as Min Ji sits up in her bed. "Wasn't Bom saying he's gay or whatever?"
"Yeah, he is," she replies, unable to stop grinning. "It was really hot."
There's a long silence, then the muffled thump of Min Ji's head hitting her pillow again. "God, you're weird," she mutters before rolling over, pulling the covers up to her nose.
CL snickers to herself and spends a few moments letting her mind wander, replaying the kiss a couple of times before finally standing up to get ready for bed. At least now she'll have something nice to think about during meetings.
***
She manages to corner Perry two days later in the studios' kitchen. He's sitting at the table with his laptop, headphones on, typing rapidly. He glances up when she comes in, though, and a slight smile appears on his face as he continues to type. She does her damnedest not to grin back at him like an idiot and heads straight for the fridge to grab a can of Sprite.
After a couple of sips, she wanders over to him nonchanlantly and leans against the arm of his chair. He keeps typing, although his speed has decreased a lot. She almost thinks it's because of her until she notices he switched to hangul. He's writing an e-mail to YG.
"That should be kieuk, not giyeok."
He looks up and pulls his headphones off. "What?"
"That word," she says, pointing. "Should be 'k'. Y'know, with the extra line on it."
It takes him a long moment to figure it out what she means. "... Oh. Thanks."
He goes back to typing and she keeps pointing out his mistakes between sips of Sprite. He stops after a few minutes, snorting, and grabs the can from her. "Don't tell me you ain't got nothin' better to do."
She lets him take a sip before taking the can back. "I don't, actually."
He gives her a look and goes back to his e-mail, and she decides she really wants to kiss him again. They're alone, and the biometric lock on the door always beeps before someone comes in, anyway. She waits until he's done with the e-mail, but by the time he hits "send", she's so nervous her heart is pounding. It was easier when she was tipsy. He's been so kind to her, though, that she knows the worst thing that'll happen is that he'll push her away. And if he decides that she's amusing enough to keep going, well...
"Perry?" she says, putting her can down, and as soon as he looks over, she leans down and kisses him before she can lose her cool. He kisses back, which sends her heartbeat right up into orbit even though he's obviously smiling into it and not nearly as thrilled as she is.
He pulls away after a few seconds. "You're pretty ballsy for your age."
She laughs breathlessly, her hand making its way to the back of Perry's neck pretty much of its own accord. "Yeah, well..." And she has no idea what to say, so she just pulls him into another kiss. His hand squeezes her hip and he breaks away from her again, laughing quietly.
"C'mon, not in here."
CL grins. That wasn't a no. "Can I go to your place tonight?"
He eyes her thoughtfully for a moment. "I ain't coverin' for you again," he says, and that's not a no either.
"Told you I'm free." It's true, this time. Not that she wouldn't be lying if she had to.
"... Fine."
She just barely holds back from kissing him again, not wanting to push her luck.
***
CL doesn't even have the faintest idea what Perry is thinking anymore, but they've been necking on his couch for ten minutes and it really doesn't matter what he's thinking as long as he keeps humoring her. He's gone a tiny bit further, this time, dropping light kisses along her jaw and on her neck, and she can't do much more than loll her head back and grab onto his shoulders as she tries not to make any noise. That made him stop last time.
He slides his hand up her shirt, caressing her side slowly, and tilts his head up to speak quietly into her ear. "You wanna stop?"
She shakes her head quickly and he leans back and looks at her with a mix of curiosity and confusion. She's way beyond talking at this point, so she just pulls her shirt over her head and lets it drop to the floor, figuring that'll be clear enough even for him.
"Uh, CL--"
She unhooks her bra and takes that off too. That gets him to stop talking - he just stares at her for a while, and she has to struggle not to cover herself up, feeling the blood rush to her face. He finally raises one hand, lets it drop again, and leans forward to kiss her lightly. "You look real good."
For a girl. That part is left unspoken, but he sounds so awkward she knows that's what he must be thinking. She laughs, even though her face still feels beet red, and he frowns at her. "C'mon, I'm serious."
She shrugs and pulls him close again. It takes another few minutes of amazing, bone-melting kisses before he finally touches her, his hand cupping her breast somewhat clumsily. His kisses get more and more distracted and then he pulls away and looks down, running the pad of his thumb over her nipple. Goosebumps rise on her skin and she bites her lip hard when she sees the thoughtful expression on Perry's face, staying very still.
He leans down and flicks his tongue against her other nipple, his fingers still caressing her, and after a minute of this she's pretty sure she's going to die if she doesn't do something. She pushes his head away and moves even closer to him, straddling one of his legs before tugging at his t-shirt. It's already too late once she realizes that was too much - his fingers close around her wrists and he leans back slightly, blinking. "Hey, easy."
He keeps kissing her for a while after that, apparently trying to let her down gently or something, but there's no aggressivity behind it and his hands don't wander below her shoulders again, no matter how insistently she presses against him. She's the one who asks for a lift home this time, so frustrated she can't even think straight.
***
She doesn't seek Perry out for a couple of days after that. The universe must be making fun of her, though, because she walks into the workout room with Bom one afternoon and he's right there, bench-pressing with his shirt off and Ji Yong sitting next to him, babbling in broken English about some song he wrote or something.
Her attempt not to look at him lasts for about three seconds. He's leaner than she thought - it's hard to tell with all the baggy clothes. Not ripped or anything, but... toned enough to be interesting. The tattoos on his chest and shoulders shift under his skin every time he lifts the dumbbell and she keeps watching him, not even realizing she's staring until he glances their way and nods to them, his eyes lingering on CL. She turns away before her blush becomes obvious, walking over to the treadmills.
Bom joins her a few seconds later, grinning as she steps onto the treadmill next to hers. "You were staring," she says quietly in Korean.
"Shut up," CL replies. Min Ji must've said something. Or she's just obvious enough that everyone's noticed what's going on, but that's too embarrassing to contemplate.
"Is he a good kisser?"
Well, at least that answers the question. "Yeah," she admits, grinning.
Bom laughs. "Maybe you're gonna turn him straight."
CL laughs too, half-heartedly, remembering the way he touched her. "Yeah." Maybe Ji Yong will magically turn straight, too. Maybe pigs will fly and YG will meet all of his deadlines.
They both fall silent as they start jogging. Perry finishes his workout a couple of minutes later, and CL ends up staring again, because he's just standing there with his shirt in his hand, sweaty and breathing hard as he talks to Ji Yong. She tears her eyes away before he notices, this time, and sees him walk out of the room just at the edge of her vision, Ji Yong trailing after him. He's probably heading to the showers. She manages, with some difficulty, to stop her train of thought there.
"You should've said something to him," Bom says breathlessly.
She shrugs. She isn't sure she'd have the guts to ask him to drive her to his place again, after what happened last time. "... I don't know what to tell him."
Bom looks slightly confused by that reply, so CL turns down the speed on her treadmill, takes a deep breath, and explains everything. Almost everything, anyway - she doesn't really need to know Perry's had her nipple in his mouth. It's a relief to share the details with someone, though, and unlike Min Ji, she doesn't seem to find it too weird. Or at least she doesn't say anything about it.
"Why don't you just show up at his apartment?" she suggests. "You know where he lives, right? I'll buy you some alcohol."
CL tries to think of a flaw in that plan, but it seems like the perfect way to skip over the awkward part. And it's exactly the kind of stupid, brazen stunt Perry would appreciate.
***
She takes a deep, steadying breath before knocking on the door to Perry's apartment. He buzzed her in - that has to be a good sign.
"You lost or somethin'?" he says after opening the door. He's smiling, though.
"Can I come in?" she asks nonchalantly, her stomach doing somersaults. "I brought soju."
He glances down at the bag in her hand, then snorts and opens the door wider, gesturing for her to come in. "You hungry?"
She steps inside and thrusts the bag at him before leaning down to pull off her sneakers. "Not really." It smells pretty good, though, and when she straightens up, she spots a plate next to Perry's laptop on the coffee table in the living room. She interrupted his dinner - great. At least he doesn't seem to mind too much.
He ducks into the kitchen for a moment and returns with two shot glasses and one of the bottles of Chamisul soju Bom bought. He puts everything down next to his plate, closes his laptop, and sits down on the couch. "C'mere."
She sits next to him, feeling fidgety already. She's had frigging dreams about that couch - the connection between sitting on it and having Perry's mouth on hers is pretty much embedded in her mind. He picks up his plate - some kind of stir-fry - and takes a bite. It looks good, too. "Didja make that?"
"Yeah." He offers her his fork, holding the plate out to her, so she takes it and spears some bell pepper and a piece of chicken. It's as tasty as it looks. Being ridiculously hot and an awesome beatmaker isn't enough, apparently.
"'S really good," she says, then leans forward to fill the two shot glasses. They talk and drink while Perry eats, and he passes her the fork a few more times. By the time the plate is empty, she feels warm and fuzzy and doesn't even care how unsubtle it is when she scoots close to him.
He laughs and grabs her by the chin before dropping a light kiss on her lips. "Lemme wash this up first." He stands up and takes the plate and fork to the kitchen.
The next three minutes are probably the longest of her entire life. She downs another shot of soju, mostly to give herself something to do, and Perry finally comes back and flops down next to her, draping his arm over her shoulders. She doesn't waste any more time and simply leans over to press their lips together.
This time, when she musters up the courage to pull on his shirt, he only lets out a low laugh and breaks the kiss to take it off. She has to put their make-out session on hold to satisfy her curiosity and examine his tattoos, running her hands over the Chinese characters and tribal designs (and the firm muscles under them). "... Looks good on you."
"Yeah, I gathered," he says teasingly before moving in again. He takes her shirt off, this time, and she only lets him struggle with her bra for a few seconds before doing it herself, an unexpected wave of fondness hitting her when she sees the half-embarrassed, half-irritated look on his face. She's truly okay with him being gay, now - it's difficult not to be when he's trying this hard.
Her hands trailing down to his abs while they kiss turns out to be more than he can take, though. He pulls them away, watches her silently for a moment, then shifts away from her until he can lean back comfortably against the arm of the couch, one foot on the floor. "Lie back against me."
She obeys, lying back and putting her head on his shoulder, partly because she's worried he'll stop yet again if she doesn't. She's not sure where he's going with this, but then his arms wrap around her and he puts his hands flat on her abdomen, caressing her skin slowly, and she's too distracted to care anymore.
"You sure you wanna do this?" he says, inches from her right ear. She nods - he can do whatever the hell he feels like, as far as she's concerned - and only understands when he slides one hand down and pops open the button on her jeans. He unzips them, then slips his hand inside, under her panties. She squirms out of sheer anticipation, biting her lip, and tries not to make any noise when his fingers start prodding around, the clumsy touches enough to send waves of pleasure rippling through her body.
His fingertips find her clit, start rubbing in slow circles and she arches her hips into it, breathing faster. He tries out different rhythms like he's working on a new beat or something, never going quite fast enough, and before long she's writhing desperately against him, holding onto his knee, lips pressed together as she struggles to stay silent.
"You ain't a virgin, are ya?"
She shakes her head quickly (although it's not technically true), not sure why it matters until Perry slides his hand further down, crooking one of his fingers. She tilts her hips just so and his fingertip slips into her, causing him to freeze for a few seconds. CL vaguely wishes she could see his face, but then he pushes his finger deeper and starts biting her ear lightly, and she gives up on coherent thought.
His hand moves at such a maddeningly slow pace that she grabs onto his arm and bucks her hips, rubbing against his palm and trying to get more of everything. His reaction is to pull his finger out of her and start rubbing her clit again, but at least he's finally going fast enough, his finger slick against her skin, and before long she's almost there--
And then his hand goes still and his tongue isn't tracing the whorls of her ear anymore and she nearly screams in frustration. "Don't just stop!" she blurts out, twisting around to look at him, the outrage in her voice stronger than she intended.
He looks like a deer in the headlights. "Were you gonna-- Shit. Sorry." He slides his hand back up, resting it on her stomach. "Uh. Can I give you head?"
The frustration evaporates instantly. She nods and he slides out from behind her, sitting close to her feet instead. She lies back against the arm of the couch, making herself comfortable, and raises her hips when Perry starts pulling down her jeans and underwear. He drops them to the floor and thankfully doesn't spend forever staring at her this time around, just leaning down and giving her a long, slow lick. She shudders, grabbing onto the couch, and he looks up at her.
"Stop tryin' to be quiet. I have no fuckin' idea what I'm doing."
Another lick, and CL doesn't hold back the moans rising in her throat. He pays attention to her reactions, his eyes flicking up every time she's particularly loud, and soon enough he has two fingers deep inside her and his mouth is on her clit, sucking and licking in exactly the right way.
"Don't stop," she orders breathlessly as pleasure starts coiling in her belly again, just in case, reaching out to hold his head in place. She sees Perry's eyes narrow in amusement and feels the low hum of his laughter, and a few seconds later she clenches hard around his fingers, back arching as she cries out softly.
She opens her eyes - didn't even realize she closed them - and Perry smiles up at her before sitting up. "Any good?"
She just laughs breathlessly and closes her eyes again, because that couldn't possibly have been a serious question - she feels warm and tingly all over, and she's pretty sure her brain is going to ooze out of her ear if she turns her head. A few moments pass, then Perry puts his hand on her knee. "You gonna sleep here?"
"Mmm." She sits up slowly and runs her fingers through her hair. "I dunno. D'you mind?"
"Nah. C'mon." He stands up, gesturing for her to follow, and heads to what's probably his bedroom. She puts her underwear back on and follows him, her legs a bit unsteady from the combination of soju and the mind-blowing orgasm she just had. He ushers her to bed and ruffles her hair. "I'mma crash on the couch."
CL frowns at that, because sharing a bed with Perry sounded like an awesome idea, but she decides to steal a good-night kiss instead of arguing with him. That turns into two kisses, then three, and then she's got both arms wrapped around him and it's becoming pretty obvious that she doesn't want to sleep just yet.
"Are you fuckin' serious?" he says quietly against her lips, and when he draws back he's got that amused glint in his eye. She doesn't even have to reply - he sits down on the mattress next to her and trails his fingers down her stomach as he leans in for another kiss.
***
"Yo, wake up." Perry gives her a shake and she squints up at him. "Jay's pissed off."
She blinks, suddenly much more awake. "What? What did I-- ... Crap." Dance practice again. It's always scheduled exactly at the wrong moment.
He snorts amusedly. "Yeah. He said he's gonna go through it one-on-one with ya if you get your ass to the studios before he's done with Big Bang." He drops her clothes on top of the covers. "I'm pretty sure you got enough time for a shower."
She heads to the bathroom with the firm intention to take a quick shower but ends up spending much more time than necessary under the hot spray, smiling to herself as she lets the previous night's events wander through her mind. Perry kissed her silly and made her come again and kissed her some more, until she was so zonked out she didn't even care that he disappeared to sleep in the living room.
She's humming by the time she comes out of the bathroom, feeling great despite the sudden awakening. She knows she should care about Jae Wook being angry, but Perry smiles up at her when she steps into the kitchen, and that pretty much seals Jae Wook's spot at the very bottom of her mental list of Stuff That Matters.
"Didja sleep well?" he asks, holding a plate out to her. Peanut butter toast. It's been a while - she's used to eating Korean food more often than not, now.
"Yeah. Thanks," she says as she takes the plate, then sits down at the table. "I bet your back hurts."
"It doesn't. How d'you like your coffee?"
She spots him raising his eyes to the ceiling after she tells him, but the coffee he brings her is just right - sweet, and so pale it's nearly white. He sits down facing her and sips his own. Probably black.
"... You still gay?" she asks after a few bites of toast, shooting him a little grin.
He snorts. "Yep. ... Sorry," he adds more seriously, looking at her in the eye.
She shrugs and takes another bite. It's a little disappointing to hear that nothing she's done has made a difference, but it's not exactly unexpected, and she's pretty sure she's over her hopeless crush, now. Perry wouldn't be half as cool a person if he weren't gay. "But you still like me a little, huh?"
"Sure as hell wouldn't put my face there if I didn't, sweetie."
That should be insulting or at least vaguely embarrassing, but somehow it's just funny. She smiles and glances up at him. "Are you gonna do it again?"
"... Maybe," he replies, smiling back just a little.
She keeps eating, satisfied with the answer, and once she's done, Perry offers her a lift to the studios. He kisses her goodbye in the underground parking lot, and nothing that day manages to make a dent in her good mood - not even the look Jae Wook gives her when she gets to the dance studio, well after the end of Big Bang's rehearsal.