Chapter Text
"You know, you can just… check those messages," Felix says, flicking a wary glance at Jisung's phone screen as it lights up with a new notification for the nth time since they sat down fifteen minutes ago. "I really don't mind."
Jisung flips the phone facedown onto the table.
"No," he says with a sweet smile. "I'm here to give you my full attention, I haven't seen you in weeks."
He watches his friend, his messy blond hair poking from under his beanie like he just rolled out of bed and sleepwalked here. Knowing Felix and his work-schedule, that might not be too far off.
"You look like shit," he says, spooning some of the dense milk-foam topping his cappuccino into his mouth. "Early shift?"
Felix groans and rubs both hands over his face. "So early, I just can't seem to get used to it."
It's the price to pay, being a freshly trained pastry chef working at one of the trendiest places in the area. Jisung knows Felix loves his job, just hates the ungodly hours he has to get up, being a night-owl by nature.
"You, on the other hand look positively glowing," Felix says with a tired smile. "Did that mystery man of yours finally put his dick to good use?"
"He's not a mystery," Jisung mumbles. "I showed you a picture."
Felix rolls his eyes and Jisung kicks him under the table.
"Right," Felix drawls, sipping his matcha latte. "Hyunwoo. I forgot, he wasn't that handsome, I just remember him frowning like it's an Olympic discipline."
Jisung glares over his cup and Felix raises his hand in rather lackluster surrender.
"Not trying to be mean. I just don't get what you see in him, he seems kinda boring."
Jisung opens his mouth to argue, but nothing comes out. Even his tongue seems unwilling to lie—Hyunwoo is boring. Not just kind of. Full on. He works at a law firm where his dad is a partner (minus points for being a nepo-baby), his only hobby is going to the gym and watching his favorite baseball team play on the weekend. He doesn't go out, doesn't have many friends and looks weirded out when Jisung moans too loud during sex.
Which doesn't happen all that often. Jisung moaning when they have sex, that is.
"Ugh," Jisung groans, burying his face in his arms and speaking into the wooden tabletop. "I don't know, he's nice, he asked me out first."
"Jisung," Felix says with a badly concealed scoff. "You met that guy on a dating app. I don't know what you expected."
"Ugh," Jisung groans again, this time with a little more feeling, before surfacing. "It just happened, okay? One moment we were hooking up and the next, we were doing date nights, then a sleepover and now we're… together, I guess?"
Felix snorts. "Wow. Sounds so sexy and romantic, I think my dick just shriveled up and fell off."
"Shut up," Jisung says weakly. "It's not like it's completely bad. He's good to me. Mostly."
"No one has met him," Felix cuts in and his eyebrows almost disappear beneath his baby-blue beanie. "Not me, not Hyunjin."
Jisung groans and slumps back in his seat, hoping the fake-leather of the booth will eat him alive. "It's not a big deal."
"It is though," Felix says, his dark eyes round. "You're literally hiding your boyfriend from your closest friends."
Jisung pouts. "I'm not hiding him."
Felix gives him an eye-roll so violent Jisung worries they might pop out of his sockets. "You're hiding him by omission, that's almost worse."
"I told you," Jisung says. "We just… fell into it. It's not like he introduced me to his parents during Chuseok."
Felix leans forward and reaches across the table, making grabby-hands. Jisung reluctantly slides his palms against his while Felix looks at him like he's trying to discover his soul behind his eyes.
"Jisung, baby," he says, voice deep and concerned. "I love you. So much. But you're being so, so stupid."
Jisung frowns, tries to pull his fingers from Felix's small hands that hold him with a surprisingly strong grip. "Do you even like him?" he asks and Jisung averts his gaze.
"I don't dislike him."
"Baby," Felix says again, voice soft like room-temp butter. "My boba-eyed angel. That's not the same thing and you know it."
For a moment, Jisung is silent. He squeezes Felix's hands, warm and a little callused and so very grounding. And Felix waits. Of course he waits, he's patient like that, especially with Jisung.
"I think I like him," he finally says, but it sounds unconvinced, even to his own ears. "It's just so different from what I thought it would be."
Jisung has never been in a proper relationship. All he's ever done was hookups and situationships and none of them were ever satisfying. No passion, no romance, no nothing. Quick fucks, some of them leaving him at least semi-satisfied, most of them leaving him empty.
Hyunwoo fits somewhere right in the middle. With him it's not a complete disaster, but it's not exactly electric either. It's fine. It's always just fine and Jisung hates how often he says that in his head.
But it could be worse.
At least that's what Jisung tells himself, when he bounces on his favorite dildo after returning home from Hyunwoo's, all strung up and needy.
"I thought falling for someone would feel like something bigger," he says before he has the chance to spiral into self-pity. "The way good music makes you feel, or I don't fucking know, getting struck by lightning. Not like wet socks in sneakers."
Felix grimaces. "You have such a way with words," he says. "No wonder your SoundCloud has like, what, ten followers?"
Jisung kicks him under the table again, this time with a laugh. Barely more than a pathetic little puff of air, but a laugh nonetheless. "I will have you know I hit two thousand follower last week, so fuck you," he says pointedly. "And it's true. That wet-sock feeling I get with Hyunwoo. He's not mean or rude or whatever."
He gnaws his bottom lip, looking at their intertwined hands.
"But?" Felix ducks down, trying to catch his eye.
"He makes me feel like I'm too much," Jisung admits quietly.
"I mean," Felix says and Jisung can all but hear the sly tint to his voice. "You are. You are a lot, Sungie."
Jisung looks lifts his head, brows pinching upwards, hurt. "Felix…"
"No, you are," Felix reassures him. "You're emotional and loud and sensitive, super dramatic, very horny and clingy as fuck—"
"Come on, man," Jisung whines.
"—and I love you for it. And so will the right guy. A guy who's not scared of you being a little freak but who wants to match that instead of dialing it down."
Jisung's eyes start stinging and his throat tightens enough that it feels like someone grabbed him there. So he swallows around the lump and squeezes Felix's hands again.
"It's just—" He sighs, shakes his head. "Maybe I don't need someone matching my freak. Maybe I just need someone calm."
"Hey, hey, Sungie, look at me." Felix tugs on his hands until Jisung does and the warmth in his gaze almost makes Jisung look back down again, those brown eyes full of love and appreciation. His throat closes up again.
"You're twenty-three," Felix says quietly with a voice smooth like caramel. "You don't have to settle. Not now, not ever. You deserve someone who gives you butterflies, who gets you all weak in the knees."
He braces himself on his elbows until he's close enough to kiss Jisung's knuckles. "I just know someone's out there, just waiting to get the full Jisung experience."
"That sounds way too good to be true," Jisung whispers.
"It's not," Felix says, squeezing Jisung's hands one last time before letting go. "It's just not Hyunwoo."
Jisung cringes. "You don't know him."
Felix crosses his arms, leaning back. "I don't need to know him, this conversation is enough to tell me everything. And for the record, I know that Hyunjin agrees with me."
Now it's Jisung's turn to roll his eyes. "Hyunjin thinks everyone I date is wrong for me."
"Because he's right." Felix shrugs. Jisung opens his mouth to argue, but Felix cuts him off with a frown.
"Speaking of, where is Hyunjin today?" he asks, checking his own phone. "I thought he had a day off?"
"He's getting his ass blasted by his little Grindr-date," Jisung says, inspecting his cuticles. They're spotless, he took care of them while watching Transit Love last night.
Felix blinks, expressionless. "Classy."
"You're just jealous."
With a sigh, Felix tugs his beanie off and runs a hand through his messy, crispy hair before putting it back on. "You two are hopeless," he laments. "You have a boyfriend no one knows and who thinks doggy-style is the epitome of kink. And Hyunjin continues to let himself get railed by random app-aquaintances that will ghost him after showing themselves out the door."
Jisung whistles. "Maybe you should start writing songs, you have a way with words, bestie."
"I'm just saying," Felix emphasizes, "neither of you are allowed to settle. You're both hot and talented and brilliant and I refuse to accept any of you getting less than you deserve, which is everything."
It's the thing with Felix, the one Jisung appreciates so much about him. He's empathetic and wise beyond his years, he's gentle and soft and an angel sent from the heavens. He makes the best salt-bread known to man and he will cut through Jisung's bullshit like a hot knife through buttercream.
"Thank you, Lixie. I love you," Jisung says and his heart aches with the truth of it.
"I love you too, babe." Felix's eyes are soft, they always are. "Don't give too much of yourself to someone who will never notice."
Jisung smiles, but it's like someone else is moving his lips for him.
Felix finishes his drink and stands, tugging his coat on while he haphazardly wipes his matcha-moustache.
"I gotta bounce, Sungie," he says, trying not to strangle himself with his scarf. "Tell Hyunjin to text me when his ass stops throbbing."
"Gross," Jisung deadpans.
Felix winks and blows him a kiss. "Talk to you later. Love you. Bye!"
And with that, he's gone, like the snowflakes dancing on the breeze outside, the ghost of his warm presence lingering in the booth across from Jisung.
He sighs and finally flips his phone back around.
Twelve unread messages from Hyunwoo.
Hyunnie 💕 [15:12]
hey
are you busy?
Hyunnie 💕 [15:13]
i'm gonna have to stay late
so you don't need to come over
okay?
i'll probably be super tired
better stay home
Hyunnie 💕 [15:15]
work is crazy at the moment
super crazy
Hyunnie 💕 [15:20]
sorry
Hyunnie 💕 [15:29]
miss u
we can see each other on saturday
Jisung stares at the screen and huffs. There's that sharp and biting feeling behind his sternum he's become so familiar with and he locks his jaw until it goes away. His thumbs hover over the screen for a beat before he exits the chat without typing a single word. Jisung gathers his things and heads out into the biting cold December air, scarf wrapped tightly around his face breath clouding up. Snowflakes glitter in the glow of the street lights and Jisung keeps moving.
🎀🎀🎀
A pair of sneakers sitting with their pile by the door is the first indicator that Hyunjin is still hosting whatever guy he managed to pull this time. Jisung arrives a little over half an hour after leaving the café, toasty warm inside his coat despite the crisp chill outside and his shoulders drop the moment he closes the door behind him.
He's more than ready for some rest and relaxation, reheat some leftovers for dinner, watch a movie, jerk off maybe. The possibilities are endless and he's not in the worst mood. Not even when he hears it, a low, almost comically drawn out moan, followed by the rhythmic thumping of Hyunjin's bed frame.
It's not the first time this has happened, they're still living together in this apartment that's half-decently connected to public transit, has functional heating and aircon, and doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Downside is, the walls are paper-thin.
But it's all they can afford. Jisung on a full-ride scholarship and Hyunjin trying to get his foot into the door of freelancing as a choreographer while part-timing as a receptionist at a law-firm.
Jisung has stopped being bothered by the noises a long time ago. So has Hyunjin. They're deeply familiar with each others' bedroom sounds and have lost any shame. Jisung waits and listens for a moment, gauging if he doesn't mind the ambient sounds or if he might need the noise cancelling headphones after all.
The answer comes in the form of more moaning.
Jisung makes a face. No, that's not it. All performance and zero joy. A far stretch from the very Hyunjin-specific breathy whimpers when he really enjoys himself or the pleased little mewls when someone does something very right. Or the heartfelt ah ah ah's when he fucks someone the way he likes best, slow and deep. Jisung's heard it all, he's grown quite immune to it.
But this?
This sounds like audio from bad porn, artificial and fake.
Jisung is just about to put his headphones on and blast some music until his brain drips out of his ears when he hears it. The other guy.
"You like that?" the guy asks, low and trying to sound sultry.
Jisung's heart stutters to a screeching halt with how painfully familiar it sounds.
No way. No fucking way.
He drops his headphones and tiptoes across the hallway, praying the floorboards don't give away that he's sneaking around.
Then, again. "Bet you've never been fucked like this before."
"Fuck, yes baby, give it to me, harder, ah—" Hyunjin drones and Jisung fake retches. Even for a performance, it's bad. But the guy, still familiar, disturbingly so, speeds up, the slapping getting more intense.
"Shit, you're so fucking tight," the guy groans and that's it for Jisung.
He knows who that is.
His hand moves on autopilot, wrapping itself around the doorknob and yeah, it's unlocked. So Jisung twists and throws the door open.
For a moment, time stops.
Hyunjin is on all fours, ass in the air with a back-arch so crisp, Jisung is almost impressed. Almost. Because behind him, naked and gaping at Jisung in horror mid-thrust is Hyunwoo.
Jisung's boyfriend Hyunwoo.
For a moment, no one moves, no one speaks, no one dares to breathe. Jisung's mouth drops open, but nothing comes out.
Hyunwoo is the one to recover first.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" he snaps, scrambling for the sheet and looking at Jisung like he's the stranger in the apartment.
Jisung gapes. "I live here, asshole!"
Hyunjin twists around in shock, eyes wide and round and his cheeks flushed, the long, dark strands of his hair sticking to his sweaty skin. "Wait— what?"
Jisung feels like his brain is glitching while trying to compute reality and failing miserably. He points a finger at Hyunwoo. "Why are you fucking my best friend?"
Hyunwoo almost eats shit when he stumbles out of the bed. "How would I know that's your best friend? You never introduced me to any of them!"
Hyunjin scrambles for the nearest pillow and shoves it over his junk before Jisung can get another word out. "Wait," he shouts. "Wait, wait, wait! Are you telling me this is your Hyunwoo? As in your boyfriend Hyunwoo?"
"Yeah," Jisung says, all the fight leaving him all at once. "That's— that's my boyfriend Hyunwoo."
"Oh shit, Jisung," Hyunjin says, voice high and panicked as he grabs his bathrobe from a nearby chair, trying to cover his dignity with shaking hands. "I didn't know, I swear, I didn't know!"
"I know, Jinnie, I know," Jisung says with a voice far softer than than it has any right to be in this weird, humiliating situation. His eyes fall on Hyunwoo, still standing next to the bed with the sheet wrapped around his middle. "But he did."
"I didn't—" Hyunwoo begins to argue, but Jisung cuts him off.
"Who fucking cares? You cheated on me, you piece of shit," he spits and Hyunwoo's eyes go wide as saucers. "Now get out. Put on your clothes and get the fuck out."
Hyunjin is by his side in a heartbeat. "Yeah. Out. Now."
Hyunwoo looks like he might argue, but one glance at Jisung's face makes him change his mind pretty quickly. He gathers his clothes and stumbles out past them, jeans covering his balls, muttering something under his breath that neither of them bother to catch.
A few tense moments later, the front door slams shut.
Silence.
Jisung doesn't move. He stares at the wall, at the art prints he had helped Hyunjin put up a few weeks ago. Flowers. So many flowers. His heart is pounding in his ears and he tastes bile in his mouth.
"Sungie," Hyunjin clears his throat. His voice wobbles a little. "I didn't know. I swear—"
"I know." Jisung manages to tear his gaze from the wall of flowers, looking at his friend with a crooked smile he doesn't feel. "Neither of you knew and that's my fault."
He drags both hands down his face. "I heard it, through the wall. I wouldn't even have listened closer if you didn't sound like you were recording for an OnlyFans account."
Hyunjin winces. "Way to hurt my ego, man."
Jisung starts pacing the room. "I wasn't even that into him, Jinnie," he laments. "I was dating him out of convenience and he still managed to cheat on me. With my best friend. While I was out there defending his boring ass to Felix."
Hyunjin opens his mouth, then closes it again, too stunned to speak. His robe is slipping off one shoulder, but he doesn't make a move to fix it, only watches Jisung pace up and down his room.
"I just feel so fucking stupid," Jisung spits. "Ignored all the red flags. How bad of a kisser he was. How boring he fucked. His hobbies!"
"Baseball," Hyunjin murmurs, sounding dazed.
"BASEBALL," Jisung screams into Hyunjin's pillow, right before he remembers that he just used it to cover his dick.
Well.
Whatever.
"I let a man who thinks doggy-style with the lights on is kinky cheat on me!"
There's a beat of silence before Hyunjin says, timid, "He called me a dirty little slut when I suggested it. I almost went flaccid."
Jisung glowers. "I will kill you."
"Sorry."
Jisung drops the pillow to the floor and sinks onto the bed. Hyunjin sits down next to him, watching him like Jisung might go off any second.
"I need to do something," Jisung says after a few moments of heavy silence.
Hyunjin swallows audibly. "You wanna go key his car? I know his designated parking space at the office."
"No," Jisung murmurs. "That's not enough. Wait—" He blinks. "You work with him?"
Hyunjin huffs. "Yeah. He's my boss's son. That's how I met him."
Jisung pauses. Blinks. Slowly. Then he turns back to look at Hyunjin who watches him like he's a wild animal in captivity.
"Your boss, Mr. Lee, is Hyunwoo's father?"
Hyunjin squints at him. "The one and only."
The gears in Jisung's head start churning, everything Hyunwoo ever told him about his family collecting itself like his brain is a well sorted Excel-sheet. He's completely fueled by pettiness at this point, a vindictive little spirit with a bruised ego. And Jisung is determined to aim low.
Really low.
"Mr. Lee," he murmurs, eyes going slightly unfocused. "Early forties, divorced his wife when Hyunwoo was ten, came out as gay."
"Mr. Lee is gay?" Hyunjin blurts, then blinks, head tilting in thought. "Huh. That explains so much."
"Jinnie, you don't understand," Jisung says, suddenly vibrating, his whole body buzzing with nervous energy.
He remembers Hyunwoo telling him randomly how he grew up with his mom and doesn't have the best relationship with his father because he wasn't very present after the divorce. And after his coming out.
"I don't like that," Hyunjin murmurs, eyes on Jisung. "That look on your face, I hate it."
"I'm not keying his car," Jisung says, pauses. Then he looks up slowly. "I'm going to fuck his dad."
Hyunjin drops the bathrobe-belt he's been fiddling with. "What?"
Jisung says it again, stronger this time, more conviction, adrenaline singing through his system, making him feel invincible. "I'm going to fuck his dad."
"No, you're not," Hyunjin blurts, looks at Jisung like he's lost his mind. Maybe he has. He's feeling at least a little lightheaded.
"This is karma, Jinnie, divine justice," Jisung says, just this side of manic now. "He fucked my best friend, I'm going to fuck his dad. It's poetry."
Hyunjin looks genuinely terrified. "You're not serious."
"Dead serious." Jisung scoots closer, grabbing his shoulders. "Show me a picture."
"What?"
"A picture," Jisung enunciates. "Of your boss. Mr. Lee."
"No—"
"Hyunjin." Jisung tries to sound as intimidating as he possibly can, which isn't a lot, but it seems to be enough. Hyunjin groans and grabs his phone from the nightstand, clutching his robe like a Victorian widow.
"Here," he says after pulling up the company website.
Jisung snatches the phone and goes completely still.
"Oh my fucking god," he whispers.
Hyunjin closes his eyes. "Don't say it."
"Hyunjin—"
"No."
Jisung is shaking. "Jinnie, your boss— why didn't you tell me your boss is fucking hot?"
"Why would it matter?" Hyunjin wails, raising his hands to the heavens. "He's my boss! One of my bosses, actually. I have more than just one."
Jisung snorts. "That's a straight up DILF."
"You're so gross and I dislike you so much right now."
While Hyunjin keeps lamenting his destiny of having the worst friends alive, Jisung stares at Mr. Lee's portrait on the company website. Bleached blond hair looking perfectly styled, feline eyes behind elegant glasses, gaze sharp enough to cleave Jisung in half.
"He's a litigator," Hyunjin says, watching Jisung stare at Mr. Lee's portrait with unblinking eyes and runs a desperate hand across his face. "He'll ruin your life."
"I don't know what a litigator is," Jisung breathes, awed. "And he can ruin my guts instead."
"He's being paid for arguing with people, Jisung. He has a degree in arguing."
"He looks like he will spit in my mouth and have me sign a cease and desist afterwards."
Hyunjin looks physically ill. Jisung has never felt more alive.
"You're having a psychotic break," Hyunjin says. "I'm calling an ambulance."
Jisung waves him off and starts pacing again. "Shut up, I don't need an ambulance. I need a plan."
"You need a straitjacket!"
Jisung chooses to ignore that.
"I need a plan," he repeats and faces Hyunjin, wide-eyed and borderline feral. "And you're going to help me."
Hyunjin's Adam's apple bobs violently when he swallows. "Help you how, exactly?"
Jisung starts pacing again, thoughts racing, back and forth, back and forth until they snap together with almost alarming speed. He stops, faces Hyunjin again and snaps his fingers.
"The office Christmas party, it's on Friday, right?"
Hyunjin shakes his head so fiercely Jisung is worried for a moment he's giving himself whiplash. "No. Absolutely not."
"Yes." Jisung points at him. "You're going to take me."
"Take you where?" Hyunjin asks in a valiant attempt to play dumb.
"To the office Christmas party," Jisung says patiently, like he's explaining something very obvious to a small child. "As your plus one."
"We're not allowed to bring plus ones," Hyunjin tries. Fails.
Jisung looks at him and squints. "You complained to me just last week that everyone would bring someone, except you."
Hyunjin groans like Jisung is forcing him to eat eggplant. "Why do you forget to put on shoes before you leave the house but remember this shit?"
"I remember the important stuff," Jisung shrugs. "Now back to the plan: your office party, me coming as your plus one."
"I'm going to lose my job because of you," Hyunjin laments.
"No, you aren't," Jisung says, absolutely undeterred. "I'll wear something slutty but tasteful. Something that says 'I'm so much younger than you, but I want you to bend me over the next available surface.'"
"You're going to ruin my life, I just know it."
"I'm going to get you a promotion," Jisung corrects. "Then you'll owe me twice."
Hyunjin sits up sharply. "I don't owe you anything in the first place."
"Yes, you do. Emotional reparations," Jisung shoots back. "And a chance to seduce an older, powerful, gay man that just so happens to be my ex's hot dad."
Hyunjin drops his head back and stares at the ceiling like it might give him an out of this situation. "You're not even heartbroken."
Jisung pauses. He considers it seriously. Because Hyunjin is right. Instead of pain cleaving his chest apart, there's only shame and anger. He knows he should be crying, probably, certainly, but he doesn't. There won't be relief without anything to release.
It's a strange kind of post-breakup clarity, like the fog has been lifted the moment Jisung saw him with his dick shoved up Hyunjin's ass. That he wasn't worth it from the get-go, that this wasn't meant to be anything.
"There it is," Hyunjin says, pointing at Jisung's contemplative face. "You're not heartbroken, just horny and vindictive."
"You know me so well, baby." Jisung claps his hands once. "Now focus. Tell me what Mr. Lee is into."
Hyunjin blinks. "What?"
Jisung crouches in front of him, eyes gleaming as he takes Hyunjin's limp hands in his for good measure. "Does he like twinks with perky asses? Whiny bottoms? Come on, give me something to work with!"
"How would I know?" Hyunjin says and sighs like a man who knows he won't get out of this alive. Not if he doesn't play along. So he shrugs. "From what I know he likes expensive bourbon, cats and arguing with judges."
Jisung considers that for a moment, then nods. "I can work with that."
Hyunjin whimpers. "Of course you can."
"I'll be so polite," Jisung says earnestly. "Charming, delightful. I'll listen when he talks and laugh at his jokes. Maybe slap his arm very playfully."
"That doesn't sound like you at all," Hyunjin squints.
"I'll wear some kitty-ears for him," Jisung says and Hyunjin groans a desperate, "There we go…"
"Maybe even a collar, call him Daddy. Bet he'll love that."
"I will never, ever be able to look at him again, Jisung," Hyunjin says miserably. "And he's going to get you locked up."
"No, he isn't," Jisung says with almost superhuman confidence. "I have no gag reflex."
Hyunjin makes a sound like a strangled ferret. "Why are you like this?"
"Because," Jisung says lightly, standing up and smoothing imaginary wrinkles from his sweater, "if my life is going to be messy, I might as well make it fun. Lemons and stuff, you know the drill."
Jisung heads for the kitchen and Hyunjin follows him like he's supervising a toddler that got free reign of his surroundings. He watches warily as Jisung throws open the fridge, ponders its contents for a moment before slamming the door shut again.
"Jisung," he says, very, very carefully. "You just got cheated on. You broke up with your boyfriend half an hour ago. You don't need revenge. You need… ice cream. A fuzzy blanket. Some stupid rom-coms and maybe an edible."
"Maybe I need all of that," Jisung snaps, opening the freezer. They don't even have ice cream. "Maybe I need revenge, a movie night and an edible."
"You need a rebound," Hyunjin says, carefully sitting down at their kitchen table. "Just a random guy. A decent dick attached to a man who maybe knows how to use it, and then move on."
Jisung straightens slowly from his perch by the freezer. He looks at Hyunjin with a surprised raise of his brow.
"Are you offering?"
Hyunjin makes a strangled noise and looks like he's about to fling himself out the window. "What—"
"You're a man and you have a dick." Jisung leans against the counter and bats his lashes. "I'm in a very vulnerable state. Emotionally compromised. What if I just bend over right now and let you have your way with me?"
"Jisung." Hyunjin holds up his hands and looks like he's about to start exorcising his roommate. "I love you. So much. You're my best friend. I would help you commit a murder. But I'm not going to fuck you."
"You'd love it," Jisung smiles sweetly. "My ass is really tight." He shakes it a little, for emphasis.
Hyunjin stares at him with the air of a man considering walking into traffic. "Please. Killing me would be more merciful than continuing this conversation."
"I'm serious, Jinnie," Jisung insists and the humor is gone all at once. "You think I'm being dramatic or over the top or unreasonably petty. But I'm so fucking serious."
He starts pacing again, hands behind his back and Hyunjin goes very still and quiet.
"He made me feel like I was asking for too much when he wasn't even willing to give me the absolute bare minimum." Jisung shakes his head, faces his friend who looks at him like a kicked puppy. "And even then he went ahead and cheated on me. Like I'm nothing. Proving that I actually am nothing to him. That I wasn't even worth the effort of a proper, honest breakup before he moved onto the next guy who just so happened to be you."
Jisung presses his lips together, jaw clenched. "I'm going to make him watch me become everything he was too fucking boring to appreciate. I'll get my ass destroyed by his dad and then send Hyunwoo a thank-you note."
Hyunjin exhales very, very slowly. "You're a terrifying little freak," he says, fondness radiating off him in waves. "I love you so much."
"Enough to help me get that DILF?" Jisung asks, batting his lashes.
Hyunjin sighs. Love mixed with exasperation. "Enough to help you get that DILF and risk my job."
Jisung giggles, climbs into Hyunjin's lap to squeeze him tight. "You're the best."
"I know, Sungie. I know."
🎀🎀🎀
Felix gets filled in that very same night and wakes up to a mix of capslock, emojis and voice messages. It's mostly Jisung's rage fueled ranting and Hyunjin's dramatic complaints, but he's all caught up and ready to rumble by noon the next day.
He's supportive. Especially of Jisung's plan. He thinks seducing Hyunwoo's hot dad is an incredible and appropriate idea and he offers all his expertise: fashion, make-up, fucking men twice his age. Been there, done that, happy to help.
Lixie🧚🩵 [12:26]
you're free now baby 🥰🥰🥰
time to seduce your ex's hot dad
Hyunjin is, of course, still on the fence. Especially after he sees Hyunwoo at work the next day. Nothing happens beyond awkward eye contact from across the lobby, but it's enough to make Hyunjin want to crawl into the ceiling and die.
Even worse: Mr. Lee stops by the front desk with a polite smile and some casual small talk. Not the first time, Hyunjin assures him, but it still feels like he committed a crime and is trying not to slip up.
Jisung, meanwhile, pretends like nothing has gone wrong in the first place. Like there aren't unread messages from Hyunwoo sitting in his inbox while Jisung is getting ready to seduce his father.
With Felix's support and Hyunjin's reluctant agreement he feels like he's got this thing in the bag. Thursday night he knows what he'll wear and Friday afternoon he's buzzing like a live wire, ready to go the moment Hyunjin gets home early from work.
"Stop pacing," he says when Jisung is done and dressed an hour before they're supposed to leave. "You're making me nervous."
Well.
Jisung is nervous, too, but he's trying to hide it. Tries and fails. Badly.
Because while he's confident he's set up for success, he's also just… insecure. Maybe. A little. Seducing Hyunwoo's dad and getting fucked by him sounds great in theory, but theory means nothing if he can't actually pull.
What if Mr. Lee doesn't like younger men?
There's almost twenty years between them, he's a lawyer, seasoned, experienced and Jisung is… Jisung. A twenty-three year old music production major who doesn't have a single long-term relationship under his belt and has had more failed sexual encounters than great ones.
He's faking it until he's making it, but the bottom line is, Jisung is loud and cocky and horribly inexperienced. Not for lack of trying, but he's only a whore in theory, never in practice.
What if he does manage to pull and then panics? What if Mr. Lee does like younger men, but realizes Jisung is mostly bark and zero bite? What if it turns him off? What if, what if, what if, what—
"Jisung." Hyunjin is suddenly standing in front of him, hands on his shoulders. "I can smell the way you're spiraling and it's contagious. Stop it."
Jisung blinks himself out of his nerve-induced stupor. "Sorry," he says, clearing his throat. "Guess I got stage fright for a moment."
"You know you don't have to do this," Hyunjin says, regarding him with a look that all but begs him not to do it. "I can go alone. We can forget this whole thing ever happened and you just spend the night cuddled up on the sofa with some good movies."
Jisung shakes his head. "No," he swallows. His throat is dry. "I want to do this. I have to."
In a way, it's true. He needs this. Could he go about this a different way? Do something that carries less potential to be utterly humiliating? Definitely. But that would only be half as satisfying and Jisung definitely needs a success like this. High risk, high reward.
And he looks good.
He looks really good.
Felix confirmed with a slew of emojis when Jisung sent him a mirror selfie earlier, and he does, he truly does.
Jisung bought a new shirt for this occasion, a flowy, burgundy button up bordering on sheer when the light hits it just right. The tattoo on his chest shimmers through in a way that's slutty but still tasteful. The top few buttons are undone to frame the delicate gold chains glittering across his collarbones. It's enough to make a man wonder what else he's willing to show while still being decent.
His pants are simple black slacks that make his ass look like it was engineered by God. Direct quote from Felix. Jisung doesn't admit how it made him preen.
He and Hyunjin unintentionally match, because Hyunjin steps out of his room in a burgundy suit and a black silk shirt, hair down and shiny. He looks like a vampire aristocrat and Jisung tells him his offer to let him hit still stands.
Hyunjin flips him off.
And then, with their coats on, cologne applied and lip gloss checked twice, they climb into the ride-share.
It smells like fake pine and spilled energy drink, the driver ignoring them after a polite greeting, humming along to Mariah Carey singing about her humble Christmas list.
Jisung immediately starts fiddling with his shirt, tugging it open another millimeter.
"Be honest, is it too much?" he asks Hyunjin with a pout.
Hyunjin sends him a withering look. "You're not wearing the kitty-ears you threatened me with, so no, it's not too much."
"Haha," Jisung deadpans.
Hyunjin sighs. "You look hot, okay? I hate to admit it, but if Mr. Lee really is into twinks, you're golden."
Jisung drops his head against the seat and reaches across the middle to grab Hyunjin's hand. Hyunjin doesn't say anything, only intertwines their fingers.