Work Text:
[March 2018 - Gangnam-gu, Seoul]
Lee Heechul has a lot of positive, defining qualities.
He’s a hard-working student. He’s tall, standing at a hefty 6 feet 2 inches. He’s a great driver for someone who only got his license a week ago. And he’s a pretty good older brother to the most mischievous kid on the planet, Lee Heeseung.
Actually, that last point could stand some contention.
Because for all of his efforts to stay up-to-date on his little brother’s life, he still hasn’t met one of the most recurring characters in the story of Lee Heeseung. His first dongsaeng, and fellow BigHit trainee for a whole year now, Park Jongseong.
Sure, he’s heard tidbits at the dinner table. Too-rushed stories about shenanigans in the practice room from Heeseung. Glowing compliments from his mother. Even his dad has managed to meet Jongseongie before him. The kid has stayed over at the Lee household a number of times, but Heechul was always in cram school during those days, or was out with a friend.
Park Jongseong might as well be a blurry face and an anecdote at the end of a textbook to Heechul.
That is… until he actually sees the kid with his brother.
--
Heechul drums his hands over the steering wheel of his dad’s car. He isn’t sure what he’s done for his mother to place enough trust in him to pick up Heeseung from BigHit by himself. But it was a short-enough drive, their house was only twenty minutes away from Gangnam.
From where he’s sitting in the parking lot, he has a clear view of the company doors. He watches as a boy, a little younger than Heeseung, practically leaps down the steps leading up to the building. Double doors bursting open behind him from the force.
He has a training bag hanging off one shoulder, silky brown hair, and all the swagger a teenage boy could muster. Of course , Heechul thinks absent-mindedly, that’s a BigHit Trainee .
Then there’s a more familiar figure following in the boy’s wake. The doe-like face of his younger brother, Lee Heeseung, lights up as he catches up to the other. Heechul watches in shock as Heeseung wraps a hand around the other boy’s and drags him to the bike stands.
Heechul doesn’t believe what he is seeing, rubbing his eyes to make sure this isn’t some lack-of-sleep-induced hallucination. Heeseung does not hold hands. Not his brother . Heechul is frozen as he watches Heeseung and the boy get on Heeseung’s bike, the rusty little blue one Heeseung’s had for about five years now...
And the boy sits on the goddamn handlebars like they were in a fucking youth drama.
Heeseung is about to pedal away into the sunset, mystery boy sitting pretty in the front, when Heechul realizes he’s here to pick up Heeseung and bring him home.
Heechul switches off the ignition of the car frantically, cursing as he fumbles with his seatbelt. And practically flies out of the car to catch up with his brother, feet pounding on pavement.
“Heeseung! Lee Heeseung!” Heechul shouts as he runs towards them, single-mindedly focused on figuring out what the hell was going on with this kid.
Heeseung puts the brakes on his bike immediately, startled at someone calling his name so urgently. The boy in front almost flies off from where he’s seated from inertia. That was incredibly dangerous , Heechul thinks, who lets kids ride bikes like that?
“Hyung?” Heeseung gapes at him, clearly not expecting him to show up out of nowhere.
Now that Heechul was out in the open, he isn’t sure what to do. He didn’t really think this far. Then the kid climbs off of the bike, disgruntled but not mad. And Heechul suddenly remembers what he was here for.
“Who’s your friend, Heeseung?” Heechul waves at the kid, plastering a friendly expression on his face. And in a surprising bout of confidence, the boy doesn’t wait for Heeseung to introduce him. He walks up to Heechul himself and extends a hand in greeting.
‘My name is Park Jongseong! It’s nice to meet you.” The boy gives him a smile, lips quirking up enough to show the makings of a dimple on his left cheek.
And ok. One more thing about Lee Heechul is that he isn’t gay. But this boy was seriously making him question that point. Now that he was seeing him up close, he gets why he’s training to be an idol. He’d kill for this kid’s bone structure.
“Jongseong-ah. Don’t just approach strangers…” Heeseung chides Jongseong. “What if he’s a kidnapper or something? I swear, you’re gonna get robbed someday.”
“Heeseung. I’m hurt. Is that how you introduce your older brother to your friends?” Heechul laughs, shaking Jongseong's hand.
“You’re Heeseung-hyung’s hyung?” Jongseong brightens. “Heeseung talks about you all the time! You guys…” Jongseong blushes a little, an apple of red blooming high on his cheeks. “You guys do look alike…”
Heeseung sees the change in Jongseong expression and hurriedly pulls him back towards him, hand over his shoulder, until Jongseong is pressed to his chest. “What brings you here, hyung?” Heeseung eyes him suspiciously.
“Mom told me to pick you up. She wants us home for dinner early, since it’s dad’s day off.” Heechul shrugs.
Heeseung’s mouth opens in shock, suddenly remembering. “Crap. Was that today?”
He sheepishly turns to Jongseong. “S-sorry. Let’s hang out some other time, Jongseong?”
Jongseong doesn’t look too bothered by the sudden change in events. “Sure. See you tomorrow, hyung.”
He makes it a point to bow politely to Heechul, as if he wasn’t only three years older than him. “Nice to meet you again, Heechulie-hyung!” Cute. Fucking precious. Oh to be young.
Heechul rubs a hand affectionately into Jongseong’s head, and wow his hair was soft. “Nice to meet you, Jongseongie. Please take care of my brother.”
Jongseong stands up straight, the red properly spreading across his face now. Heeseung notes all of this with alarm, looping an arm around his older brother’s. “L-let’s go now, hyung!”
Heechul is dragged away, waving to the very nice boy Heechul almost inadvertently injured. Heeseung complains about how he interrupted a run to the convenience store, and because Heechul’s a nice person, he buys ramyeon for Heeseung before they head back to the car.
And that’s the first time he meets Park Jongseong.
In their dad’s car, Heechul doesn’t like playing music. It’s not that he didn’t like music, but he didn’t trust his own concentration to drive properly with the background noise just yet. However, silence was still a little more unbearable than distraction, so he fills it up himself with small-talk.
“So… that was Jongseong.” Heechul starts, not sure if he should ask about why Heeseung and Jongseong were looking very cozy on his bike.
“Yeah?” Heeseung slurps his noodles from the front seat, clearly not thinking about it at all. “He’s very friendly.”
“He’s cute.” Heechul points out absentmindedly.
He doesn’t say it because it’s a particularly riveting thought. Or that he was trying to allude to anything. It was just a statement of fact. The sky was blue. Humans breathed oxygen. Heeseung’s friend Jongseongie was cute as a button, at least, as much as a skinny 15-year-old could get.
But Heeseung inhales sharply like Heechul had just kicked him in the shin, and consequently chokes on spicy ramyeon soup going down the wrong pipe.
“What- What are you saying ?” Heeseung flusters, in between hacks for air.
Heechul doesn’t spare him a look. Because if he did, he would most likely crash his dad’s car. That doesn’t let him miss how squeaky Heeseung’s voice had gotten though. Interesting. Very Interesting. Heechul thinks giddily.
“Jongseong? He’s kinda pretty.” Heechul clarifies.
“N-no, he is not!” Heeseung answers all too quickly, balling his fists into his legs. He's physically trembling like a child about to throw a tantrum, like he's been confronted with an ugly, painful truth that no amount of head-turning or squinting can make disappear.
“ He isn’t? ” Heechul asks, amused. “Well, I think he is.”
Heeseung looks like the apocalypse had just come, and this is the moment Lee Heechul realizes his brother might be a little bit gay and quite a bit in denial.
Heechul remembers learning about Newton’s laws of motion in his science textbooks. The first being the concept of inertia, how an object will not change its direction unless acted upon. And on this day, Heechul vows to take it upon himself to set all the forces of the universe in Heeseung and Jongseong’s direction and get them moving.
“Hey mom. Is Heeseung gay?”
Heechul drops his schoolbag on the counter, heavy as it is stuffed with all of his test papers from the tutors. Heeseung had just run up to his room after they had arrived home, so it was only him and their mother. She’s putting away groceries and then struggles to reach the top shelves. So Heechul gets up and does it for her.
“So you met JayJay-sshi today, didn’t you?” Their mother assumes correctly, and doesn’t look the least bit concerned with Heechul’s statement. Damn, he really needed to catch up with his family one of these days . “He’s such a nice boy.”
“Yeah. He’s a real peach. Aren’t we going to do something about this ?” Heechul lines rows of canned spam in their cupboards. His mom takes this as an opportunity to rest her feet, sitting down where Heechul just vacated his seat.
“Like what, Heechul?” His mom doesn’t make things easy, she knows exactly what Heechul’s trying to say. But Heechul has had eighteen years of experience playing this game.
“I- I don’t know! Give Heeseung a talk? Teach him about the birds and the bees?” Heechul suggests.
“The birds and the bees.” His mom is trying to hold back her laughter, Heechul can tell. “Are you his father?”
“At least! Make him figure out if he’s actually gay or not. You don’t seem surprised or worried about this at all .” Heechul mentally kicks himself. Cram school was the worst . He missed the best gossip about his little brother while he was studying his ass off for college entrance exams.
“We’re all a little gay, adul. ” Their mom gets up and walks away. Heechul drops a can on his foot, cursing in pain.
“ We are? Mom! What does that mean!?” Heechul shrieks. She doesn’t give him an answer.
The second law of motion is that force is equal to mass times acceleration. Meaning, if force was constant, then acceleration would be inversely proportional to mass.
So in spite of how much Heechul grilled Heeseung about his very cute dongsaeng, Heeseung refused to give more than some angry stutters, or half-hearted complaints about how Heechul should just mind his own damn business, clamming up more and more the harder Heechul pressed.
But Heechul meets Jongseong again very soon anyway, to his immense joy. That weekend, Heeseung is inviting Jongseong to their house to sleep over. And Heechul makes sure to clear out his schedule so he is at home and present to see the two interact.
“Aren’t you taking this a little too seriously?” His mom chuckles as Heechul has not-so-subtly positioned himself on their living room couch, getting front-row seats to Jongseong as he enters through the door.
“I’m taking it perfectly well, thank you.” Heechul grits out. He was not about to miss this, the summer romance blossoming in the very house he grew up in.
Ok that might be a little too dramatic. All these romance manhwas were finally taking its toll, Heechul thinks tiredly.
And when Jongseong shows up, dressed way too nicely for a weekend at a bro’s house, Heechul almost squeals when Heeseung opens the door for him and invites him inside. He really should have brought popcorn.
“Oh, hi Heechul-hyung!” Jongseong waves to him, friendly and bright. “Nice to see you again.”
“Hey Jongseongie.” Heechul gets up to give him a pat on the back. “Glad to have you over.”
“Wow, you’re even taller than I remembered!” Jongseong blurts out, then opens his mouth in shock at his own abrasiveness. “Ah. Sorry, hyung! I- I mean being tall is cool, it’s really great-” He flusters.
Heechul is about to brush off his statement, assure him he didn’t find any offense in it. But then Heeseung bristles from where he’s beside Jongseong, eyes widening.
“What about me?” Heeseung pouts as he suddenly turns to Jongseong, trying to get his attention. Jongseong looks at him in surprise, mouth agape.
Holy shit. Heechul presses his lips together to keep himself from laughing. His mother has excused herself from the room, no doubt struggling as much as he is.
“Y-you’re tall too, hyung?” Jongseong cocks his head, a little confused. “I guess that’s genetics for you.”
And now that Heeseung looks properly satisfied at Jongseong’s statement, he settles back at the boy’s side peacefully. Good lord, was Heeseung like this all the time?
“Well. You kids have fun…” Heechul quickly waves them off, brisk-walking into the kitchen. Because in five seconds, he was pretty sure he was going to burst into uncontrollable laughter.
“Let’s go to my room, Jongseong.” Heeseung leads the other by the arm, pointedly turning him away from Heechul. And they climb up the stairs, disappearing from view.
Heechul stumbles forward and collapses defeatedly over their kitchen counter, his mother standing across from him.
“Oh my god...” Heechul mutters. “Did I suck up all of the brain juice in your womb? Is that why Heeseung is so fucking dense?”
His mom hits him over the back with a newspaper. “Don’t call your brother dense. At least Heeseung can bring a nice boy home. Where are your significant others, son?
“Hey. One problem at a time.” Heechul rubs at his back, groaning.
“But seriously. No way Jongseong doesn’t realize Heeseung’s feelings. No way they’re both oblivious.” Heechul shakes his head. He’s only known the kid for a day and a half, but he already believes in him much more than his stupidly adorable little brother. Emphasis on the stupid.
“I hate to break it to you, but Jongseong is just as, sorry to say , clueless.” His mother puts it kindly. Heechul bangs his head on the countertop again, lamenting his fate.
“God. And I had to miss this drama because of the goddamn education system !” Heechul kicks a leg out, upset over missing Heeseung’s first gay revelation.
“Oh trust me…” His mother sighs, already sounding like she’s given up. “You didn’t miss much.”
In Heeseung’s room, Jongseong makes himself comfortable, curling up into Heeseung’s freshly laundered sheets. He has no idea what kind of fabric softener Heeseung’s mom uses, but he wishes he could bottle it up and take it home. It smelled like cotton candy and clouds. It’s what Heeseung smelled like before they began to dance and sweat it out in the practice rooms.
“Hey, your brother is pretty good-looking.” Jongseong traces patterns into the blanket while Heeseung sets up video games on their TV. “Why didn’t he become a trainee?”
Heeseung stills from where he’s seated. And Jongseong feels like the room has suddenly turned cold, the atmosphere prickly at Jongseong’s last statement.
“...You think hyung’s handsome?” Heeseung asks coolly, not letting anything get past in his voice.
“Well… having it said back to me is a little embarrassing.” Jongseong stutters. Crap, Heeseung did look like Heechul. But wasn’t that too obvious a fact? Jongseong thinks nervously, his heartbeat speeding up a little at the thought of Heeseung realizing his point.
“Hyung’s a little too focused on books to worry about dancing or music.” Heeseung shrugs.
“Ah… that’s too bad. You guys would have made a cool sibling pair. Like the Chae sisters.” Jongseong rationalizes, but at that point, Heeseung is no longer listening to him, too wrapped up in his own thoughts.
“Jongseong. Sit beside me.” Heeseung pats the spot next to him and passes over a controller.
Jongseong licks his lips, trying to push that thought into the back of his mind. No way Heeseung got what he meant.
No matter how good Heeseung was at everything, Jongseong was fairly sure he wouldn’t read past Jongseong’s words. He rarely did, it was one of the worst and best things about him.
Heeseung exhales slowly, trying to keep his patience. For some reason, he felt a little irritated at Jongseong finding Heechul good-looking. But he wasn’t sure why.
Well whatever it is, I am not going to lose. He thinks feverishly, then presses start on their game.
Over dinner, Jongseong is absolutely delightful. Though Heechul isn’t sure what he was expecting. He guesses it’s just that he hasn’t pinned absolute obliviousness and excellent conversationalist as variables that would have a positive correlation.
“Hyung, where are you planning to go for college?” Jongseong asks from where he’s seated across from him. “With your grades, you could probably get into SNU.”
“That’s the dream, Jongseong-ah.” Heechul sighs, picking at his food. “Just as long as it's close by, I’ll be satisfied.”
Heeseung is strangely silent over dinner, however. Growing more and more brooding beside Jongseong as the chatter bounces between Heechul and Jongseong, and those two alone. Heechul notes this with exacting precision, wondering to himself. No way. Was Heeseung… jealous?
Then Heechul gets the absolutely, most devious idea in his head. It was so crazy, it just might work. And he knows his mother has caught on to his planning because he feels a not-so-gentle foot kick him in the shin, which he deftly ignores.
“Say, Jongseong. Do you have a girlfriend or boyfriend?” Heechul asks lightly, making sure to keep his tone innocent. Both Jongseong and Heeseung choke a little on their food.
“N-no. Sorry to say.” Jongseong clears his throat. “No… significant other right now.”
“That’s too bad.” Heechul sighs. “Cute guy like you, you should have no problem finding someone.”
“Heechul…” His mom whispers to him in warning, but he has a good feeling about this and keeps going.
“You know, I do know someone who might be interested in you.” Heechul leans forward, smiling at Jongseong. And he darts his eyes towards Heeseung, who he realizes is glaring at him. Yes. Perfect.
“O-oh?” Jongseong’s eyes widen. But Heeseung is single-mindedly focused on him, almost about to leap off of his chair. Seriously, these kids were almost too easy.
“Yeah. And they might be closer to you than you think.” Heechul says peacefully. He leaves it at that, lest Jongseong’s face burst into flames or his own head explode from how laser-focused Heeseung gaze is on him right now.
“G-good to know.” Jongseong raises a glass to his lips, trying to hide the flush on his cheeks, gulping down eagerly on water. And Heeseung is staring at him like Heechul had just stolen his favorite beetle from his bug collection. His grips his utensils hard enough that the white shows on his knuckles.
“Heeseung, will you get us some more water?” His mom asks quietly, noticing their pitcher has just run out.
Heeseung gets up with a harsh scrape of his chair, swiping the pitcher away and hurriedly leaving to go into the kitchen. Jongseong is still sitting in his chair in shock, pointedly not looking at anyone in the room. No one ever said correlation equals causation.
Heechul smiles into his food, noticing the wobble in Heeseung’s step.
Way too easy.
“Lee Heechul. That was not very nice of you.” His mom chides him when they’re washing the dishes together.
“On the contrary, I think I was being quite charitable.” Heechul preens. His hands are hidden under pink rubber gloves, covered in suds, but that doesn’t stop him from sending her a thumbs up.
“Let him figure it out on his own. No one likes a meddler.” His mom continues.
“You like me!” Heechul singsongs, hoping his mother would crown him with the coveted title of: favorite child.
“I’m your mother. I’m required to or else I’ll be charged with neglect.”
“Hyung.”
Heeseung approaches them, quiet as a mouse. Jongseong has already left, and gone up the stairs to Heeseung’s room for the night. His mom sees the expression on Heeseung’s face and slips away, leaving the two brothers alone in their kitchen.
“What’s up, Heeseung?” Heechul shuts the water, ready to talk.
“At dinner you…” Heeseung chokes on his words, “You and Jongseong really seemed to hit it off.”
“I guess so? He’s a smart kid.” Heechul shrugs, nonchalant. Heeseung just keeps standing there, uncharacteristically silent as Heechul just regards him, almost daring him to do something.
“You know, Jongseong...” Heeseung swallows heavily, clearly looking uncomfortable at his own words. “Jongseong’s fifteen, hyung.” He says softly, pleading.
Heechul blinks at him. He wasn’t expecting that to be Heeseung’s reaction to all this. He nods slowly, feeling a little too happy over Heeseung’s defensiveness, the earnestness in his eyes. “I know.”
“Just… making sure you realize.” Heeseung grunts out roughly, shifting his weight between his feet. His fists are balled up on his sides again, like he was ready to fight him for something. And though Heechul is pretty sure Heeseung doesn’t know exactly what he’s fighting for yet, he realizes it doesn’t really matter.
Ah. I guess I did make a mistake, mom. Heechul thinks, huffing out a laugh.
“When did you grow up, Heeseung?” Heechul turns around, going back to washing the plates. Heeseung just stands dumb-founded in the kitchen, uncomprehending. The earlier righteousness in him evaporating.
“Aren’t you gonna help me with the dishes?” Heechul calls out to him. And Heeseung wordlessly pulls on his own pair of gloves and works beside him. They get into a race to see who could finish with their pile first.
The next day, Heeseung and Jongseong go out for bowling. And Heechul drags himself out of bed to drive them to the alley.
“It’s so cool you can drive!” Jongseong hangs off the back of the front seat, arms wrapped around the headrest. Heeseung is seated in front, so Heechul can see out of his peripheral vision that he’s visibly irked at Jongseong’s compliment.
“Yeah? I wanted to get my license as soon as I could.” Heechul preens. Then just to rub it in his brother’s face, he says: “I guess that means I can take you wherever you want, Jongseongie! ”
“You know. You really didn’t have to drive us here, hyung.” Heeseung interrupts sharply, leaning his head back on Jongseong’s arms, almost possessive in how he takes monopoly of Jongseong’s skinship.
“Sure. But I didn't want you guys to walk.” Heechul points out.
“We could have taken my bike.” Heeseung argues petulantly.
“That old thing? Jongseong’s getting a little too big to ride in front. It’s dangerous.” Heechul sighs.
“I told you.” Jongseong mutters to Heeseung, a little embarrassed about that whole situation.
“Well… then… I’ll put in some spokes at the back!” Heeseung suggests. “You can ride standing up.”
“I… guess that’d be fine?” Jongseong looks appeased with that image, sheepishly sinking his head into the back of the chair.
“Yeah. It’ll be fun.” Heeseung looks proud of himself for thinking up that solution on his own.
Man, why don’t you just go and promise you’ll provide him a good life while you’re at it? Heechul prays to the gods above for patience. When Heechul drops them off at the bowling alley, he catches Heeseung’s dirty looks directed at their dad’s car. As if a 2017 Mazda has personally wronged him.
The third law of motion is that when two objects interact, they apply forces of equal magnitude onto each other. And Heechul realizes people are no different, even a pair of fumbling teenagers.
When Jongseong is about to leave their house, his overnight bag left by the door, Heechul catches them in their living room.
Heeseung is playing on the piano while they’re waiting for Jongseong’s mom to come fetch him. He’s terribly gifted at it, even without the biased lens of an overly-fond hyung. If he chose to pursue that, he probably could have made a career out of it too. Gone to competitions, won awards. But that logic applies to most other things Heeseung did for fun too.
And Heechul can see Jongseong is just staring at him from the couch, beautiful music filling the silence and space between them. His expression isn’t too dreamy, not exactly hopelessly taken. But more thoughtful, like he’s already made peace with the fact that he’ll be watching Lee Heeseung for a long time.
Heechul feels a little bit of relief upon seeing Jongseong’s expression. Not that he didn’t think his brother had no game or anything like that, but he was glad to know that at least one of them was a little more aware than the other, a little more in tune with his own feelings.
Heechul falls back onto the couch beside him with a huff. Jongseong startles, and turns to look at him. It’s against his better judgment, it really is, but he has a feeling both of them will be needing this someday.
“Hey, give me your phone.” Heechul asks him lowly, while Heeseung is distracted.
Jongseong wordlessly hands it over to him, cautious. Heechul inputs his number, saving his name under: “The Better Lee” , then tosses it back to Jongseong.
“If my idiot brother ever gives you any trouble, call me.” Heechul looks at Jongseong pointedly, hoping Jongseong got his drift. “I’m trusting him to you, you hear?”
You’re not slick, kid. I see everything, Heechul practically screams at him with his wide-eyed gaze.
Jongseong’s mouth falls open in recognition, nodding slowly. He holds the phone in his hands like it's the most precious thing on earth. Yeah, this was a good guy. Heechul realizes.
When Jongseong’s mom shows up, there’s just some quick farewells. A head pat from their mom, and a too-awkward hug between Jongseong and Heeseung that Heechul wants to roll his eyes at. Jesus, does it kill them to show a little public affection?
Though Heeseung looks a little satisfied after the fact, detangling from Jongseong’s arms like he had just won something. Heechul decides to let him have this one, and chooses to just wave Jongseong off, bidding him goodbye.
“Hey, Jongseongie! Give me a call, okay?” Heechul cheekily shouts to Jongseong as he’s halfway out the front door.
“Okay, hyung!” Jongseong waves goodbye to him, as cheerful and friendly as the day Heechul met him. And runs down the steps to where his mother was waiting for him.
“ What?! No!” Heeseung shouts in protest when he realizes what Heechul had done. But by then, Jongseong is already long gone.
“Lee Heechul! ” His mom scolds him.
Well, he never said he was going to go easy on Heeseung.
Director’s Cut 1:
Heechul: Damn. How do I get my idiot brother and his cute dongsaeng together??
Heechul: …Oh I know!
Heechul: *aggressively flirts with the said cute dongsaeng*
Director’s Cut 2:
Heechul: *flirts with Jay to make Heeseung jealous*
Jay: wow heechul-hyung is so nice, I wish I had an older brother! ~~ 💖
Heeseung: *cain instinct activated* were it not for the laws of this land, I would have slaughtered you. 🔪🔪