Chapter Text
Work parties are always inherently a little strange. In Seoul, the way he and his coworkers usually handle that is by drinking, a lot, and letting awkwardness fall by the wayside. It’s not Seungcheol’s favorite thing to do, but it’s business, and it’s how things are done.
In L.A., things are a little more restrained. They’re at a bar, but no one’s drinking with quite the enthusiasm that Seungcheol has become accustomed to at work gatherings, so he’s not either, not willing to get drunk and make a fool of himself all alone. Instead, he’s mostly been hanging back with the other two members of his department in Seoul who came along for this set of meetings, but they aren’t the best company at things like this. Wonwoo’s too content to stand around people-watching, happy as a wallflower, and Sojung’s been texting her girlfriend under the bar all night and hoping no one’s noticed.
Seungcheol takes a sip of his beer and taps his fingers against the bar, feeling a little uncomfortable. He looks over at Sojung instead of doing anything about it, the way she turns her phone screen on and off again.
“How’s Hyunjung-noona?” Seungcheol asks. He’s aiming for casual, not teasing, but Sojung still blushes; Seungcheol’s only met Sojung’s girlfriend once, and Sojung was embarrassed about it then, too.
“Fine,” she mumbles after an embarrassed little pause, slipping her phone into her bag.
“Nosy,” Wonwoo says with a smirk aimed at Seungcheol, and Seungcheol just rolls his eyes.
“Yah, I’m not nosy! I’m a nice person, Wonwoo, and —” Seungcheol defends himself with a huff, but Sojung’s laughter cuts him off.
“Calm down, Seungcheol. Also, relax, would you? You’re stressing me out sitting on the edge of your seat like that,” Sojung says, gesturing vaguely toward his posture.
The truth is Seungcheol is never very comfortable being in the L.A. office. His English is basic at best, and it puts him on edge trying to communicate and failing. There’s also a certain amount of pressure in representing his entire office, especially for him and Sojung, who are given most of the duties when they come overseas like this. Technically, the hard part’s over now — they sat in on a few meetings with other branches of the multinational corporation they work for, signed a few papers, and now they’re here with the rest of the L.A. office, celebrating the acquisition of a smaller company. (His work is boring, Jeonghan tells him all the time, but Seungcheol likes it, so he doesn’t really take it to heart.)
The hard part’s over now, but Seungcheol guesses that he’s still a little keyed up from needing to be highly aware of himself for the last few days, and he’s having trouble winding back down. “I know, sorry,” he says in apology, giving Sojung a sympathetic grimace.
They talk amongst themselves for a while, sipping at their respective drinks and finding conversation easily (that kind of thing happens when you always stick with the same few people for the most stressful part of your job.)
“When are you flying back?” Seungcheol asks Wonwoo a little later, only half of his beer gone. Sojung is outdrinking him at this point, and she’s half his size, but Seungcheol only laughs when she points it out.
“I think I’m still going to leave tomorrow,” Wonwoo answers with a shrug. The acquisition was supposed to be more complicated than it ended up, and they were told to schedule a week in Los Angeles, but their job ended up done in a couple days with the L.A. office trying to get things accomplished quickly. Their boss was pleased enough with their job that they were told to keep the original flight reservations if they wanted, but Wonwoo is apparently opting out. “I don’t really want to go on vacation by myself with Jun back home.”
“That’s sweet,” Sojung says, but she’s smirking, an eyebrow raised. Wonwoo makes a scrunched up face at her.
“Lucky Junnie,” Seungcheol coos at him, reaching out to stroke under Wonwoo’s chin.
“Stop, gross, you guys are worse than my mom,” Wonwoo objects backing up with an exaggerated expression of disgust.
Sojung’s still smirking, but she says, “Me too, though. Hyunjung’s been up for a promotion and she’s supposed to hear back this week, she’ll kill me if I’m not there either way.”
Seungcheol feels them turn to him as he takes a sip of his now warm beer, waiting for him to share his plans, and he’s only the tiniest, tiniest bit embarrassed that he doesn’t have anything (or anyone, more accurately) pulling him back to Seoul right away. “I think I’m going to stay,” he says, and they both nod at him.
“I hope you have a good time, hyung,” Wonwoo says with a smile, and Sojung nods at that too.
The night wanders on slowly, and Sojung ends up going back to her hotel first, shaking hands with people as she leaves. When Wonwoo closes out his tab, he turns to Seungcheol with a tilt to his head, asking without speaking if Seungcheol is leaving too.
And really, he should. He’s mostly just stood by a bar all night, nursing one and a half beers and speaking in a language only three out of the hundred people there know. But something in him, some contrary streak, shakes his head. If he’s going to be alone in L.A. for five days, he might as well start now. It’s definitely not a tiny, tiny bit of insecurity, of role playing as some single bachelor who can stay out just because he wants to. That would be immature, and Choi Seungcheol is extremely mature.
Still, he stays. Wonwoo just shrugs, leans forward to hug him like he’s been doing since they were in business school together, and calls a cab at the door.
It’s when Wonwoo leaves that Seungcheol really takes the time to look around the crowd left at the bar. It’s not too late yet, and most everyone still seems to be present; Seungcheol doesn’t know them all well enough to spot people missing, but he knows how big the group was when they all came. It’s split into smaller groups now, probably closer friends talking together, and it is interesting to watch. He can even understand bits and pieces of conversation, but not enough to feel like he should jump into one.
He’s absorbed enough watching the people around him that he’s a little startled when someone sits down at the stool next to him, and offers a friendly, “Hi.”
Seungcheol turns with a start, and the man next to him laughs, covering his mouth when he does. He looks nice when he laughs, Seungcheol notices; his eyes curve prettily, and the smile visible when he lowers his hand is warm. Seungcheol remembers seeing him around in the past few days, but then, he has a memorable face. It’s soft and pretty, and all his features are striking. A couple days before, Sojung said he looked like a character from a manga, and Seungcheol and Wonwoo had to agree with her.
“Hi,” Seungcheol chooses to say back in this particular moment, instead of focusing anymore mental energy on considering the attractiveness of the man in front of him.
The man is still smiling at him. “Your friends left.”
Seungcheol smiles back and nods. “They fly in the morning.” His English is choppy and he’s a little self-conscious about it, but the man doesn’t react.
“But not you?” He asks, looking interested.
“No. Friday.”
The man has a still half-full drink in his hand, and he doesn’t make a move to order from the bartender, who’s a little further down the bar. Instead, he just sits there, half a smile on his lips as he looks at Seungcheol.
His gaze is a little heady, maybe just from how pretty his eyes are, and Seungcheol feels himself squirm a little.
“I can speak Korean, if you want,” the man says, making good on his words by saying them in Korean.
Seungcheol blinks. “Yeah, that’s easier,” he says with an apologetic grin. “I’m surprised we didn’t meet earlier.”
“Me too,” he says back to Seungcheol. “I’m Joshua.”
“Seungcheol.”
Joshua’s Korean is American around the edges, but Seungcheol finds himself endeared to it, to the gaps in his vocabulary (“I mostly speak it with my parents and grandparents, so I’m missing some things”) and the way his mouth seems to have trouble with some words. He likes correcting him gently when he mispronounces something, and likes the little smile Joshua gives him when he does.
Seungcheol likes the way Joshua’s hair is coming unstyled, the narrow cut of his shoulders, the sound of his laugh.
It only takes ten minutes to find himself infatuated. It only takes twenty for them to sit close enough that their thighs are touching, loose smiles on both of their faces.
“Do you have any plans after this?” Joshua asks him, leaning his chin on one of his hands. The fingers of his other hand are drumming against the bar slowly, and Seungcheol glances at them errantly before the question registers with him.
His face goes warm as he murmurs back, “Not that I know of.”
Joshua smiles bigger then, leaning against Seungcheol so their shoulders touch. “Would you like some?”
(It only takes thirty minutes for Seungcheol to get in a cab headed toward Joshua’s apartment.)
++
Seungcheol doesn’t get a good look at much of the decor except in Joshua’s bedroom, but that’s enough to mutter, “This is such a nice place,” between kisses.
It makes Joshua laugh, breathy against his jaw. “Thank you,” he says quietly before he leans back in to kiss Seungcheol breathless, a hand on his hip leading him back toward the bed. Joshua is confident, in contrast with the demure way he’s been talking since they met, and it’s so hot that Seungcheol feels concerned for his own well-being.
When Joshua’s hand moves to unbutton his shirt, he joins in the effort without a second thought, shaking it off messily when the buttons are finished and moving onto Joshua’s. It’s fast and a little desperate, their trail through Joshua’s apartment til here, kissing at awkward angles while their arms move. Seungcheol doesn’t mind the pace — he’s been worked up since Joshua put his hand on his leg in the cab, and things have only escalated from there.
When they’re both shirtless, Joshua pulls back to look at him and makes a face. Seungcheol can’t really read it, and he feels vulnerable for a moment with Joshua looking him over. But then Joshua bites his lip and mutters, “Shit, you’re so hot,” in English. His words are stuck together and it takes Seungcheol a moment to understand, but when he does, he fights his urge to smirk by leaning in and kissing Joshua instead.
The truth is Joshua is beautiful, even in dim lamplight as he fights to undo his belt. They’re the same height but the narrow cut of his shoulders and his hips make him seem so small next to Seungcheol, and something about that makes him feel warm. There’s a tattoo on the side of his ribcage, a quote written in English too curved for him to read well, but it’s pretty on his skin. He’s beautiful when he pushes Seungcheol down onto the bed, a smirk playing at his lips, pink and a little swollen from the kissing. He’s fucking gorgeous hovering over Seungcheol in bed, caging him with his arms and smiling with half-lidded eyes, slipping a thigh between Seungcheol’s and rocking up against his half-hard dick in a way that makes his eyes flutter closed.
“Fuck,” Seungcheol swears under his breath at the press of Joshua’s leg to his groin, and Joshua laughs a little, a breathy sound, before leaning down to press a kiss to Seungcheol’s jaw. “Is this — unprofessional?” He asks between breaths.
Joshua pauses and lifts his head before bursting into quiet laughter. Seungcheol feels himself go pink, and Joshua rolls over onto his back with the force of his amusement. “Really? Now’s when you ask? When you’re already naked?”
“I — you’ve been distracting,” Seungcheol mutters in his own defense. He shifts onto his side to look at Joshua, who’s still smiling at him.
“I think we’re good, Seungcheol,” he says with a teasing smirk. “We don’t work in the same department, or the same continent.”
Seungcheol nods.
“Does that mean I can go back to getting you hard?” Joshua asks, still smirking.
“Actually, I kind of want...” Seungcheol mutters, scooting over and shifting to lean overtop of Joshua “To try something.”
“Try away,” Joshua breathes back at him, their faces close. Seungcheol grins before he kisses him again, and god, Joshua is a good kisser. He brings a hand up to Seungcheol’s side, touch light, but he grips tighter when Seungcheol moves down to kiss Joshua’s jaw, and tighter still when he gets to his neck. His neck is pretty too, because apparently so is each individual feature of Joshua’s body (which is maddening), and it’s prettier with pink marks on it.
“You’re so beautiful,” Seungcheol finally tells him, taking a break from making a mark on Joshua’s collarbone.
“And you’re sweet,” Joshua says back with a smile, his head leaned back against his pillows. He brings a hand up to stroke the side of Seungcheol’s face, which strikes him as incredibly intimate, and Seungcheol doesn’t hesitate to press a kiss to the inside of Joshua’s wrist while it’s nearby.
It’s tender enough that Seungcheol’s a little embarrassed at the gesture, and he ducks his head back down to keep kissing at Joshua’s collarbones, to his chest (where he seems sensitive, gasping when Seungcheol barely presses a kiss to a nipple), fingers running across his tattoo as he dips down to Joshua’s stomach. He’s content to keep going, to kiss down to Joshua’s hipbones like he wants to do, but something stops him.
Joshua picks himself up on his elbows, looking down at Seungcheol questioningly. “What’s up?” He asks, sounding breathless.
“Um, just,” Seungcheol starts, reaching a hand out to run along the skin on the top of Joshua’s bellybutton, where there’s a little indent.
“Oh,” Joshua mutters. Seungcheol looks up to find him looking a little embarrassed. “It, uh, used to be pierced. It never closed all the way.”
Seungcheol blinks. “You had your bellybutton pierced.”
Joshua is definitely blushing now, tipping his head back with a groan. “College was weird.”
“Huh,” Seungcheol mutters. “I bet it looked good.”
Joshua sighs loud enough for Seungcheol to hear. “It did.”
Seungcheol snorts a laugh at that and leans down to kiss just above his navel softly, and Joshua lays back down with a content little exhale. Seungcheol gets back to it, pressing easy kisses to Joshua’s stomach and his hips, ignoring the way Joshua squirms but enjoying the way he parts his legs easily. His dick is hard by now, pressed up to his stomach, and Seungcheol is purposefully ignoring it, fingers reaching to stroke up and down Joshua’s thighs as he bites at his hipbones.
“God,” Joshua mutters from above. “Please.”
Seungcheol grins despite himself, despite the strained tone in Joshua’s voice. “Please what?”
Joshua leans up on his elbows again, opening and closing his mouth before looking down with a concentrated expression. “I...don’t know the Korean for this.”
Seungcheol laughs, leaning against the top of Joshua’s thigh, and nods. “Okay, you don’t have to answer, then.”
“Teach me sometime,” Joshua tells him in a breathy voice as Seungcheol leans down to take the head of Joshua’s cock in his mouth. “It should be the first thing you learn in — any language —” he gets out between pants, bringing a hand to grasp on Seungcheol’s shoulder.
Honestly, it’s been a while since Seungcheol’s done this, and he feels a little rusty. Still, it only takes a few minutes for him to get a rhythm down between his hand on the lower part of Joshua’s shaft and his head on the tip, and when he does, Joshua offers a low groan, his fingers digging into Seungcheol’s shoulder.
The noises Joshua makes are soft but they hit Seungcheol hard, and he’s a little desperate to make them keep happening. Maybe too desperate, though, because after another little moan, Joshua sits up to murmur, “Slow down, babe.” It comes out half in English, but Seungcheol gets the message quick, feeling warm at the term of endearment.
For all intents and purposes, they’ve known each other for about an hour. But he likes the sound of the English diminutive heavy on Joshua’s tongue, aimed down at him lazily. He pulls off of Joshua for a moment and keeps his hand pumping slowly, following directions, and Joshua lets out another exhale, the muscles in his thighs flexing.
“I don’t want to finish like this,” Joshua says, looking down at him with hooded eyes.
Seungcheol hums, urging Joshua to go on, and he sits up a little. “I want...shit, I don’t have the vocabulary for this,” Joshua says around a weak laugh, hips shifting up into Seungcheol’s strokes.
Seungcheol laughs back, taking his hand off of Joshua’s dick to sit up on his knees in front of Joshua. “Just tell me what to do.”
“Very trusting of you,” Joshua teases, leaning forward to kiss Seungcheol lightly.
“What can I say? You look trustworthy,” Seungcheol mutters back with half a grin.
Joshua only smiles back at him. “Get on your back.”
Seungcheol doesn’t think twice before he does just that, flopping over inelegantly and making Joshua laugh under his breath as he gets up to rifle through his dresser. When he gets back on the bed, he sets down a familiar-looking plastic bottle of lube (which look the same in every country, apparently) and a condom.
“Is this okay?” Joshua asks, settling between Seungcheol’s legs. “For me — to you? My fingers?” He’s trying hard to search for words that will work, and the concentrated look on his face is endearing, so Seungcheol finds himself smiling again. He thinks errantly that he usually doesn’t smile this much when he hooks up with near-strangers, but he doesn’t have the energy to think about that now.
“More than okay,” Seungcheol says with a nod, spreading his legs further.
“Good,” Joshua says, sounding pleased. “Tell me to stop if — if you don’t like something.”
Seungcheol thinks to himself that he doesn’t really see that happening; Joshua has Seungcheol so worked up, he could ask for just about anything right now and Seungcheol would have to really search for a reason to deny him.
The first press of Joshua’s slick finger to him sends a chill up his spine, and the discomfort doesn’t last very long. (It may have been a while since he was last with someone, but it hasn’t been long since this experience, even if it’s less rewarding by himself.) Joshua runs a hand up and down Seungcheol’s stomach as he adds a second finger, and it’s already good. Seungcheol feels his legs tighten against Joshua, and he grabs the sheet underneath his hand when Joshua starts thrusting, slow and deliberate.
“You okay?” Joshua asks him in his sweet voice, and Seungcheol grins as much as he’s physically able.
“Yeah, I’m fine. You don’t have to be so careful, I have some practice with this.”
Joshua smiles, the hand on Seungcheol’s stomach coming down to squeeze Seungcheol’s thigh. “Sometimes guys bigger than me are a little sensitive about this.”
Seungcheol snorts weakly. “That’s stupid. People are stupid.”
“I agree,” Joshua says wryly, leaning forward to press a kiss to the corner of Seungcheol’s lips. “Not you though, apparently.”
“I like to think not,” Seungcheol agrees softly, lifting himself up to kiss Joshua properly. It’s still a good kiss, despite the awkward angle and the way Joshua is contorted to keep his position inside Seungcheol. When they break apart, Seungcheol lies back down expectantly, and Joshua apparently heeds his words, his pace getting quicker and a little more rough. Seungcheol hums low in his throat, hips moving back against Joshua’s hand in their own rhythm.
Seungcheol bites his lip when Joshua works up to three fingers, moaning in a hoarse voice at the feeling of fingers against his prostate. “God, you’re so hot,” Joshua mutters mostly to himself, judging by the volume and the English, but Seungcheol still hears, and it makes him feel a little overwhelmed. He can’t think of much else to do in response besides keep moving his hips, spread his legs wider and keen into Joshua’s touch.
“I’m good,” he rasps out after a moan, after another stroke from Joshua that hit the edge of his prostate in just the right way. “Come on, I’m good.”
Joshua hums with a nod, pulling out slowly from Seungcheol, who’s busy grasping around for the condom. He sits up when he finally finds it, tearing it open quickly so he can lean forward to roll it onto Joshua’s length.
Things go quick, neither of them bothering to say much; the room is quiet except for their breathing, the little noises that release from both of them when Joshua presses in slowly, leaning down over Seungcheol with his eyes closed.
Joshua’s face is a goddamn work of art, the way his lips just barely hang open, the slight curve to his eyebrows. Seungcheol is overwhelmed by the urge to kiss him, like if he doesn’t, Joshua will disappear like an apparition, too beautiful to stay for long. So he does, pushing himself up to meet Joshua’s lips, and they kiss hungry and desperate as Joshua finds a slow rhythm. At some point their hands find each other, gripping tight, and the whole thing feels a lot more intimate than Seungcheol ever expected it to.
They barely know each other, but Seungcheol trusts his gut, and his gut trusts the way Joshua’s laugh sounds, the cut of his smile. He trusts the way Joshua holds his hands and kisses him, more kind than he has any reason to be, and god if it doesn’t make Seungcheol feel soft as hell. It’s the kind of sex he’s had with people he’d been with for years, easy and smooth, both of them laughing, and it feels kind of powerful to have it here and now, with a man he barely knows, in an entire other country, both of them trying to fill in gaps in language.
Joshua ducks his head to Seungcheol’s neck, his breath coming out fast, and Seungcheol grips his hand tighter, thrusting back against Joshua to get deeper. Joshua lets go of one of his hands and brings it between them, pumping Seungcheol so slowly that he feels like all his nerves are on fire. It’s all becoming kind of a lot, and Seungcheol feels himself lose control over the way his legs are tightening, the groans coming from his mouth.
“Are you close?” Seungcheol asks, voice quiet with Joshua’s face so close to his.
“Mhm,” Joshua gets out, strained, but then he stops thrusting for a moment to breathe heavy on Seungcheol’s shoulder.
Seungcheol furrows his eyebrows. “You okay?”
“Yeah. I’m great,” Joshua says with a laugh. “Just wanted to catch my breath a little.”
Seungcheol makes an understanding noise, and they just lie there for a minute, pressed together tightly. Seungcheol lets go of Joshua’s hand to wrap an arm around him instead, savoring the feeling of holding him so close. A voice in his head tells him that this is embarrassing (a voice that sounds a little like Jeonghan’s), but Joshua makes a content little noise before he picks his head up, eyes dazed, to kiss Seungcheol again. It’s softer now, their kisses coming between slow breaths, and it just feels so damn nice.
When Joshua pulls back, he picks himself back up a little and smiles down at Seungcheol. “Okay. Let’s finish, yeah?”
“Yeah,” Seungcheol agrees easily, and despite how hard he is and how good Joshua feels inside him, the corners of his lips turn up.
And there’s still a softness there, still a warmth between them, but Joshua goes a little more confident, his thrusts getting rougher and quicker, more purposeful. It’s hard and it’s fast and it’s good, and when Joshua’s hand finds Seungcheol’s dick again, it only takes three strokes for him to come with a choked-off moan. Seungcheol feels his body go tight, all his muscles contracting, and Joshua moans at that feeling in turn. It’s a messy few minutes, Seungcheol losing his ability to track time as his orgasm washes over him, and the next thing he knows, Joshua is coming too, panting loud against Seungcheol’s ear.
Joshua lets out a low groan and Seungcheol nods weakly, breath still knocked out of him. It takes a minute for them to come back to themselves, for Joshua to pull out and deal with the condom, for both of them to wash off lazily with a towel. When they’re both clean in bed, sitting next to each other boneless, Seungcheol just mutters, “God, that was good.”
“That was really, really good,” Joshua agrees quietly, leaning over to rest on Seungcheol’s shoulder. “Will you stay the night?”
It’s early enough that really, Seungcheol has no reason not to leave, go back to his hotel room and leave this as what it was intended to be. They had never met before this, and there was no reason to think they’d meet again, and this could just be a good night and nothing else. But Joshua is still leaning on his shoulder, fingers tracing patterns on Seungcheol’s bare skin, and what he really wants is to lie down next to him and keep this thread of warmth between them, because it feels so nice.
So Seungcheol nods. “If you want me to.”
“I want you to,” Joshua tells him with a smile, leaning over more fully so that his whole body is resting against Seungcheol’s.
They lay around in the dim lighting of Joshua’s bedroom (they never bothered to turn on more than a lamp), talking for a little while, about the photographs on Joshua’s walls, Korean food, any other passing thoughts that walk by. It’s just so comfortable, is the thing — both Joshua’s bed, which has a very nice mattress and soft sheets, but also just this. All of this. Joshua feels so comfortable.
“You’re leaving on Friday?” Joshua asks at one point, when they’re both sleepy and their eyes are mostly closed.
Seungcheol hums in the affirmative, turning over onto his side to face Joshua.
“Are you doing anything tomorrow? I could maybe show you the city, if you wanted.”
Seungcheol barely has to think about it before he smiles and nods. “Yeah. Let’s do that.”
And Joshua’s bed really is comfortable, because he sleeps damn well that night.