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The boys were all going home for the winter break. After five years of nonstop schedules, back-to-back promotions, and barely any time to breathe, they had finally managed to secure a full two weeks off. Everyone was buzzing, Jungwon was already planning his grandmother’s party outfit; Ni-ki kept listing foods he was going to eat; even stoic Heeseung had smiled.
Sunghoon should be happy too. Two whole weeks with his family and that was something he hadn’t had since debut. But instead of excitement, there was a knot of anxiety twisting in his stomach.
What exactly was he supposed to do for that long? His sister was older, living her own life. He hadn’t lived with his parents in years. wouldn’t it feel weird? What if there wasn’t much to talk about? What if it was suffocatingly quiet? What if he missed the dorm chaos?
What if he missed Sunoo?
He sighed hard, as if trying to physically push the thought out of his head. Of course he’d miss Sunoo. Just like he’d miss Jake or any of the others. Sunoo had just… recently become one of his best friends. That was all.
He meticulously folded a fleece and placed it into his suitcase. A tiny speck of lint clung to the fabric, so he peeled off a fresh sheet of the lint roller and carefully swept it away. The familiar rhythm of cleaning calmed him. He turned back to his laundry pile and froze.
A GAP hoodie.
Not his.
A wide grin spread across his face instantly, so quick he didn’t bother trying to hide it. Sunoo had been wearing the hoodie every single day on tour for a week, refusing to go shopping with Sunghoon even though he desperately needed new clothes. Sunghoon had “accidentally” taken it, forcing Sunoo to realize he needed replacements. It was petty. And unbelievably satisfying.
He snapped a photo and sent it to “ddeonu.”
Sunoo replied almost immediately.
😳? ???Why do you have this? Also I have ur Prada shirt I borrowed in Tokyo. Ur leaving tonight, let me come drop it before u go.
Sunghoon’s heart jumped, no, sprang, into his throat. He didn’t know why. He glanced around his room, even though he already knew it was spotless. He kept smoothing the hoodie unnecessarily, his hands suddenly too shaky.
Sunoo was coming down almost immediately.
He lived in the apartment upstairs. The moment Sunghoon read the text, let me come drop it before u go, he knew Sunoo would be bounding down in no time, slipping past the managers, ignoring the elevator warning sign, shuffling his way toward him.
Sure enough, seconds later, the front door clicked open.
Sunghoon jolted, suddenly hyper-aware of his own heartbeat.
He heard the familiar dragging footsteps. Sunoo’s signature shuffle. They always sounded like he was half-asleep, socks too big, or simply lazy. But Sunghoon could hear the speed in them this time, Sunoo rushing, excited, breathless.
He smiled to himself… then confusion hit.
The footsteps stopped right outside his room.
Paused.
Then turned away.
A voice echoed softly down the hall: “Jay hyung?”
Sunghoon’s smile dropped instantly. He walked to the door and pressed his ear against it, listening intently.
He knew exactly what was going on.
Jay always cooked when he was stressed, or bored or procrastinating or trying to distract himself. Today, apparently, he had taken it upon himself to grill steak for Jungwon and Ni-ki. The smell had been drifting through the dorm for the last half hour.
Sunoo was easily distracted. Very easily. And Jay was Sunoo’s soft spot when it came to food. So of course, Sunoo’s excited journey toward Sunghoon’s room had been derailed by Jay waving a spatula and telling him to “come taste this real quick.”
The chatter softened, Sunoo’s excited babbling becoming muffled. Sunghoon felt a stupid, unreasonable dip in his chest. He’d been… looking forward to him coming.
Then suddenly...
The door flew open.
Sunghoon straightened instantly, caught off guard.
There was Sunoo, panting, wide-eyed, cheeks flushed, as if he’d sprinted the entire way after finally escaping Jay’s cooking clutches.
“Hyung? were you going out?” he asked, pushing past Sunghoon without waiting for an answer. He flopped dramatically onto the bed beside the half-packed suitcase, breathing hard like he’d run a marathon.
Sunghoon followed his gaze downward.
Sunoo was wearing a huge hoodie and shorts-shorts that had ridden up, exposing smooth, pale, faintly pink thighs. His skin looked embarrassingly soft. Sunghoon forced himself to look away.
Sunoo held up a wrinkled black shirt. “I forgot to get it dry-cleaned,” he admitted with a pout. “But I guess you can send it off with your stuff.”
Sunghoon groaned. “Sunoo-ya… what if I wanted to wear it in the next few days?”
He busied himself with drawers, pretending to reorganize things that didn’t need reorganizing, while Sunoo lay sprawled out on the bed, rambling about the hoodie—how it ended up in Sunghoon’s hamper, how it wasn’t his fault, how Sunghoon was suspiciously good at “accidentally stealing things.”
Sunghoon chuckled, giving small comments here and there, but Sunoo kept going, now rambling about the break. His grandparents, cousins flying in for the party, old friends wanting to meet up, all the food he was excited to eat.
Sunghoon felt something tighten in his chest. A tiny ache. He ignored it.
He zipped his suitcase, set it aside, then nudged Sunoo’s dangling foot before flopping onto the bed beside him.
He grinned. “Honestly, I can’t wait to be away from you guys. We’ve spent way too much time together.”
Sunoo propped himself up on his elbow, tapping into pure dramatic energy. “Wow. Just say you hate me.”
Sunghoon turned toward him maybe too fast and suddenly their faces were inches apart. The air shifted instantly. Heavy. Thick. Electric. Sunghoon stared shamelessly. Sunoo, for once, didn’t meet his eyes, gaze fixed somewhere on Sunghoon’s chin as if he was scared to look higher.
Sunghoon could swear, absolutely swear that Sunoo leaned in a tiny bit.
But before he could even process it, Sunoo flopped back onto the bed again, breaking the moment.
“Hyung, is someone picking you up or are you getting a cab?”
“Cab,” Sunghoon replied, voice a bit too steady. “You?”
“My dad’s picking me up. But it’s like three hours with traffic. I might drive part of the way so he can rest. he’s coming straight from work.”
Sunoo was the only member allowed to drive. Managers refused to let the others learn, it was easier to keep them controlled that way, Sunghoon suspected. But Sunoo’s dad insisted on teaching him. Sunoo didn’t have his own car, but his parents visited often, so he got to drive their car whenever they came to Seoul. He always told the boys excitedly about it.
Sunghoon envied it. If he could drive, he could visit his own family more often, his old friends… maybe take Sunoo, and the others, whatever—out somewhere.
He turned on his side, propping himself up the same way Sunoo had earlier. Sunoo’s smile turned soft and coy. A strand of hair fell over his face.
Without thinking, Sunghoon reached out.
Sunoo froze completely as Sunghoon brushed the hair aside, fingertips grazing through soft strands dyed slightly lighter than their natural jet black. They were shiny, silky. Sunghoon’s breath stuttered with the tiny contact.
He stroked Sunoo’s hair with the back of his fingers. His hand lingered for several long, suspended seconds.
Sunoo stared up at him, eyes wide, lips parted just a little.
This happened too often, these suspended moments, these stares that dragged on too long, the almosts. Always almost. Never crossing the line.
Up close, Sunghoon saw everything: Sunoo’s warm brown eyes, the small pimple on his cheek, the faint stubble on his upper lip.
Sunoo looked unbearably adorable.
His heart swelled painfully. He had to pull back before he did something he’d regret.
But then, almost in slow motion, Sunoo sighed, that long, pointed kind of sigh and rolled his eyes.
“ Well… I’ll leave you two— or…” he muttered under his breath, voice trailing off.
He didn’t move.
Not an inch.
He stayed right there, leaning over Sunghoon in that half-hover, half-settled position on the bed. And Sunghoon knew exactly what that sigh meant. He’d gotten used to the language Sunoo spoke without words... the little tells, the small sparks of disappointment. Sunoo wasn’t actually trying to leave. He was waiting. Waiting for Sunghoon to do something… or maybe to stop not doing something.
Before Sunghoon could speak, Sunoo rolled his eyes again, even softer this time, and straightened up.
“Well, I guess I’ll see you in two—”
He didn’t finish.
Because Sunghoon didn’t know what hit him.
Maybe it was the way the light from the bedside lamp softened Sunoo’s pretty brown eyes, turning them warm and melted at the edges.
Or the faint, natural pink dusting his cheeks — the kind Sunoo got when he was pretending not to care.
Or maybe it was his lips. Glossy. Pink. Slightly pouty in that way that always destroyed Sunghoon’s self-control.
No, that was it.
The lips.
The tiny pout he kept doing.
Before he knew it, instinct hit harder than thought, and Sunghoon’s hand wrapped around Sunoo’s wrist, pulling him back down, sunoo’s balance tipping until his body fell gently, breathlessly, right on top of him.
“And where do you think you’re going?” Sunghoon asked, voice low enough that even he barely recognized it.
Sunoo blinked at him, flustered but pretending not to be.
“Leaving you so you can finish packing,” he shot back . It was soft, sassy, cute, everything at once.
He didn’t seem to realize Sunghoon wasn’t just holding him there.
He was pulling him.
Closer.
Down.
Right where he wanted him.
And then Sunghoon’s self-restraint simply gave out.
His hand slid to the back of Sunoo’s neck, and in one smooth, reckless motion, he tugged Sunoo down, crashing their lips together, finally closing the distance that had been simmering between them forever.
Sunghoon didn’t know what came over him. Even as his lips moved across Sunoo's, he couldnt understand what the hell was wrong with him.
Every bit of control he normally clung to. gone in an instant.
The slight cherry taste of Sunoo’s lip balm, the familiar sweetness of his perfume, the soft, pliant warmth of his body pressed against him… it all hit Sunghoon at once, hard, like something instinctive snapping loose inside him. He couldn’t help it. He couldn’t stop himself.
Lips on lips . it felt electric.
A shiver straight down his spine, butterflies exploding in his stomach as he pushed Sunoo back onto the mattress.
Sunoo let out a tiny sigh when his back hit the bed, but he didn’t part his lips. He didn’t let the kiss deepen. He kept his mouth closed, soft but resisting, and for a moment Sunghoon froze, confused.
He pulled away just enough to see him.
Sunoo’s cheeks were flushed a rosy pink, his glossy brown eyes half-lidded but undeniably shy. And then he looked away, as iff completely unable to handle the weight of Sunghoon’s stare. A faint, almost embarrassed smile tugged at his lips, the tiniest curve that only made everything worse for Sunghoon’s sanity.
It was almost primal, the way it hit him.
Sunoo being like this, shy, flustered, pretending not to know the effect he had. it always drove Sunghoon insane. He had ignored it for months, tried to reason with himself that it was just friendship, that they just had good chemistry, that Sunoo was just naturally cute.
But that wasn’t it.
They both knew it wasn’t.
Because when Sunoo behaved like this, quiet, pink-cheeked, gaze darting away, lips glossy and untouched , all Sunghoon ever wanted to do was overpower him.
To take that softness and melt it.
To push past that shy barrier Sunoo put up even though he clearly wanted more.
And right now, with Sunoo lying beneath him, breathing lightly, fingers curled in the blanket like he didn’t know where to place them… Sunghoon wanted him more than he’d ever admitted, even to himself.
His body moved on autopilot.
Before Sunghoon even fully realized it, he shifted his weight forward, positioning himself more firmly on top of Sunoo, pressing him deeper into the mattress. And God… the feeling of Sunoo’s soft body beneath him felt delicious, addictive, something he wanted to drown in.
A sudden urge hit him. Sharp, intrusive, primal.
He wanted to sink his teeth, his fingers, into that soft, warm skin.
He wondered how Sunoo would taste, how he would sound, how he would react if Sunghoon actually let himself lose control like that.
The thought almost scared him with how badly he wanted it.
Then, almost too roughly, harsher than he intended, harsher than he should’ve been, Sunghoon grabbed Sunoo’s face with one hand and forced his chin up until their eyes met.
Sunoo’s lips parted immediately.
Just a tiny gap.
Just a soft breath.
But enough to undo Sunghoon completely.
Those glossy brown eyes were hooded, unfocused, pupils blown wide and want written clearly across his face, as if he didn’t even know how to hide it anymore.
Sunghoon didn’t hesitate.
He dropped his mouth back onto Sunoo’s , and this time, Sunoo opened for him instantly, the kiss deepening without resistance. The moment their tongues met, Sunoo moaned. Loud. Breathless. Needy. The kind of sound that shot straight through Sunghoon like lightning.
And that was the problem.
Because God help him, he couldn’t do this.
Not tonight.
Not when a cab would be at the apartment in an hour to take him away.
Not when leaving already felt like suffocating.
His heart pounded painfully against Sunoo’s chest as Sunoo kissed him like he’d been waiting months for this moment, and Sunghoon knew, with sickening clarity, that if he didn’t stop now…
He never would.