Archive of Our Own

Work Text

Jihoon Park catches Hyunsuk Choi in a kiss when the guy is about to trip on their carry-on bags half-emptied into the gray carpet. Not the smoothest move he’s pulled off, he knows, but if the situation and the other party allows it, then who is he to stop?They’re both unsteady on their feet, teetering awkwardly in the middle of their assigned, cramped twin-bed hotel room, with their belongings filling up the empty spaces and furbished surfaces around them. Their passports and boarding passes peek from beneath his power bank and headphones and the guy’s iPad and ridiculous cowboy hat laid on one bed, and both him and Hyunsuk turn to the only free bed where they’re currently tipping towards. Jihoon waggles his eyebrows suggestively and it has the intended effect on Hyunsuk when the guy restrains his giggles by biting into his upper lip and Jihoon wants to coax it out, has to hear that twinkling, tickling sound, so he closes the gap between their heads and sucks the guy’s lips, molding it into his so he can devour Hyunsuk’s half-suppressed laughter. This isn’t the fastest Jihoon has taken someone to bed. He had a record-breaking 10 minutes stare-off with a pre-law student at a house party a couple of months ago before the guy led him to a room upstairs, but this, whatever this is, happening between him and Hyunsuk in a room with no borders, very much feels like history in the making.  Jihoon Park doesn’t have much thought in his head as he enters T.F. Green International Airport except for the massive hangover he’s nursing while he’s dragging his duffel bag towards the check-in line. It’s spring break so he’s already expecting that the place will be crowded by college students like himself, pensioners on holidays, and families about to embark on trips that will either make or break them (who’s to say) but it still takes him by surprise to see the queue of people behind the check-in counters sprawling like a hedge maze with its twists and turns. Jihoon inwardly groans as he joins the rest of them, his feet suddenly feeling all leaden.  Knew I shouldn’t have drank whatever Mashi had concocted when I spotted the bottle of Everclear next to him, agonizes Jihoon but really, it actually took so little to convince him to guzzle the drinks being poured to his solo cup last night especially when his friend had put it as, this is the last spring break we’ll get to enjoy, Ji, before we’re shipped off to unemployment! Don’t live a little. Live more. Have another shot, yeah? Jihoon reflects wryly on that memory as he pulls his headphone dangling around his neck up to his head, pressing the earpads back to his ears so he can put on some heavy metal music to combat the throbbing in his temples.Just when Jihoon thought he’s overcome the hurdle of the check-in line, the security clearance proved itself to be way worse when he has to condition himself not to appear visibly inebriated even though it hasn’t been 24 hours yet since he last consumed alcohol and he’s certain he looks the part with bloodshot eyes, unwashed hair, and lethargic legs. Junkyu had warned him about it while Jihoon is in a rush packing his things as Hyunjin and Sunwoo are already outside their dorms and screaming his name to get his ass out already so they can drive him to the airport. Being friends with Kyu for more than half of his life on this earth has made it innate for Jihoon to do the opposite of what his best friend had advised him to do, no matter how sound the advice is. He admits it’s incredibly stupid of him to do that but acting dumb is way better for his pride rather than letting Kyu have the satisfaction of being right. And just to rub it in, he sends a message to his best friend that says, just passed the TSA screening with flying colors!!! 🤭🤭🤭 withholding the pertinent information that Jihoon thinks he almost peed himself when the agent narrowed her eyes at him as she sniffs the air while he’s passing through the metal detectors. She didn’t call him out though so Jihoon breathes a sigh of relief as he cruises towards the waiting lounge.His phone pings for an iMessage so he fishes his phone out and sees Junkyu’s reply to his provocation with a taunt of his own, too bad that’s not the case for your test in inorganic chem, ji. who knows? you might just fail it and have to retake the course in which case this wouldn’t even be your last spring break! wouldn’t you like that? 😝  And taunted Jihoon was, since he’s on a last-dollar scholarship and he doesn’t want his best friend tempting his fate like that. He literally can’t afford it so he furiously types into the screen when his phone suddenly powers down. “Great,” he mutters disdainfully. He didn’t realize he was running on low battery all this time. Jihoon immediately stops in his tracks, zips open his bag and shoves a hand in it to find his magsafe battery pack. He’s having no luck at that so he lifts his knapsack at chest-level to better sift through his things. Still, his charger remains elusive despite checking every single compartment his bag has. Shit. Might’ve left it while I was in a hurry this morning. He did, however, spy his charging cable and adapter but he’s annoyed at the option he’s left with because that means he needs to find a power outlet to charge his phone. Jihoon looks up and surveys the packed waiting lounge and already he dreads hunting the seats to find an available outlet he could use. He then checks his wristwatch and concludes that he still has an hour and a half to wait before the boarding announcement will be blasted through the PA systems and he doesn’t want to spend all that time being bored without any music to listen to. The migraine he’s enduring isn’t helping him either.Jihoon blows out a breath to his bangs while he drives two knuckles to his forehead to rub out his headache. He remembers to hydrate himself so he grabs his water bottle from his bag and drains its contents by half. After a couple of minutes standing still like that, eyes glazing over the people lining by the concession stands and wondering whether he wants to get a box of doughnuts for himself, Jihoon starts walking to begin his search. He first checks out the seating area near his boarding gate but finds all the plugs there already taken so he moves on to the next seating area and gate, and the next, and the next, and well shit—Jihoon is almost at the end of this side of the terminal with no available outlet in sight and he feels too worked up to walk all the way back and inspect the other side of the waiting lounge. He knows his face is screwed in a grimace when it dawns on him that the real last option he’s left with is to bother people to try and see if they’d allow him to borrow their power outlets for just a couple of minutes to bring his completely dead phone back to life.He considers the couple nearest to him but it looks like they’re on a verge of a heated argument so he eyes the girl next to them wearing the same headphones as his. But she doesn’t seem like she wants to be bothered, assumes Jihoon since he sometimes wears his headphones for that very reason, plus the girl looks intensely immersed in the manga she’s reading so he turns his gaze towards a middle-aged man in a business suit a couple of seats over, who has his laptop plugged in. Just when he’s wading through the bags and luggages sitting on the floor to get to the old man, a cream-colored cowboy hat being waved to his eye-level obstructs Jihoon’s view.His first thought upon seeing it is, boy, are you way too far from Montana, and as his gaze rolls down and sees a small face with expressive eyes being framed in dark-rimmed glasses, Jihoon feels himself stiffening up, like he’s just been injected with epinephrine. Damn, what a looker. There’s a rush that courses through his veins, making him all lightheaded on his feet, and he isn’t sure if it’s the effects of sighting a pretty guy that’s totally his type or whether he’s experiencing the consequences of partying too much last night. The cowboy-hat-waving-guy appears around his age too and it seems that continuing to look at him will cost Jihoon since he’s way out of his league, judging by the amount of Louies the stranger wears.“Hey, uh—”“Yes?” Jihoon grunts his response, eyebrows knitting together in confusion as he realizes belatedly that the cowboy hat is being waved in his general direction to catch his attention.Glasses guy strains his neck to look up at him as Jihoon walks over to reach his side, then he smiles so engagingly, plump, rosy lips curving enticingly as he states, “You’re looking for a plug, right? Was gonna offer the one here under my seat since I’m done using it.”“Oh. Right. Y—yes, I need one,” he stammers, voice thick with piqued interest that he almost forgets he needs to use a power outlet to charge his phone and is not actively looking for someone to plug his now pulsating dick to. Jesus. There’s something about the way the guy had phrased his words too, which is just a touch allusive for Jihoon to perform mental gymnastics over. It’s also true that as he still has alcohol in his bloodstream, he tends to be easily aroused—as do others, Jihoon swears he’s read on the internet about the correlation of being horny when hungover—which is still unfair to the stranger who’s doing him a solid right now. So Jihoon croaks, “Thank you,” and briefly presses his eyes closed. At some point, he has to accept that he isn’t going to make a good first impression to this stranger when he knows he hasn’t showered, has bed hair, and probably still reeks of ethanol and the tabasco sauce Haechan spilled all over his left arm while they’re drunkenly stuffing themselves full of pepperoni pizza late last night.But then the blonde scoots over the bench seat to make space for Jihoon, small hand patting the metal armrest to urge him to sit down next to him, and he feels beyond moved that there’s a decent human being behind the luxury brands the stranger’s adorning himself. Sure, clothes don’t make the man, but it’s comforting to see the glasses guy’s attractiveness goes beyond fabrics, lies skin-deep.“Been looking all over for an available one,” Jihoon starts sharing to the cowboy-hat-donning-stranger as he hooks the charging cable to his phone’s port and connects the adapter to the power outlet. “I know the place is going to be crowded at this hour and on a normal day I can endure hunting for a plug but I’m all juiced-up, so,” and he lets his words suspend in the air while he drops his duffle bag by his feet and makes himself comfortable on the bench while proceeding to chug down the rest of his water bottle.Out of the corner of his left eye he can see the blonde bobbing his head sympathetically at his plight. “Been there. Last year, I got overstimulated at Cancún International Airport. It was the day after Christmas and you’d think it would at least halve the population of travelers but no—”And Jihoon doesn’t catch the end of the guy’s sentence as his ears start to burn the minute he hears the word overstimulated come out of his seatmate’s mouth and his head becomes filled with sounds of shallow breaths and the touch of fingernails sweeping across his back. His grip on his water bottle tightens like a glove as his mind screeches, fuck! seriously god, are you testing me? The blonde then inclines his body towards Jihoon so he’s fully-facing him in his seat, looking up at him expectantly which suggests he’s said something to Jihoon and is now waiting for a response, only he didn’t get to hear a word about it because he’s so busy wrestling himself from his baser instincts. I don’t think I’m that pent-up but why am I acting like the horniest animal on this planet? For a hot minute, Jihoon even considers whether one of the drinks he had last night was spiked with something but then he thinks better of it. His friends may be chaotic assholes, and admittedly they have done borderline illegal shit in the past years (him included) but roofies are just out of the question. “Sorry, what’s that?” he’s forced to spit out as the guy continues to look like he’s on the edge of his seat while he’s staring straight at Jihoon.The stranger smiles. Jihoon hates taking note how his seatmate just conveniently has the cutest dents in his cheeks when he does so. “I asked where you’re headed to?”“Home,” he answers in a clipped tone. He doesn’t mean to sound dismissive but he’s feeling out of sorts especially when the stranger’s attention solely rests on him. After clearing his throat, Jihoon asks in return, “You?”The guy shifts in his seat so he can fit his legs comfortably as one thigh crosses over another while his arm that’s holding the cowboy hat lays on top of the bench’s backrest, reaching all the way to Jihoon’s side. “Home too. I’d hazard a guess you’re on spring break?”“A very educated guess considering about 80% of the people here are.” The stranger chuckles at his sarcasm and Jihoon feels himself grinning as he puts the cap back to his water bottle, cradles it on his lap while his fingers flex and curl around its plastic body. “I’m originally from Stony Creek—”“Connecticut?” interjects the guy, his voice rising in its pitch.The grin stretching Jihoon’s face quivers into a bemused smile. His hometown has the ambiance of a small seaside village so it doesn’t surprise him all that much when people draw a blank for all the times he’s disclosed where he came from, until this seemingly LV-brand-ambassador-guy sitting beside him. “How’d you figure?”“‘Cause I grew up right next to your town!” gushes the blonde excitedly, his transition glasses darkening as the overhead skylight shines on it but Jihoon can see the glint in the guy’s expressive eyes all the same. “I live in Darien.”“Shut up!” It’s now Jihoon’s turn to burst into a loud exclamation, his body throwing itself backwards in disbelief. Darien is only an hour away from Stony Creek. That’s one hell of a coincidence and it’s only half past eight in the morning.The stranger lightly hits Jihoon’s shoulder using his cowboy hat, laughing an airy, throaty laugh. “No, I’m telling the truth! Can’t believe it too. Wait, does that mean you’re on the same flight as me?”Jihoon hurriedly pats for the ticket he’s stuffed in his pants pocket before he sticks a hand inside to pull the crumpled paper out into the light. He then reads aloud his flight number, “SC 712?”And when he turns back to look at the blonde, the guy is already flashing to Jihoon’s face his phone screen showing his e-ticket with the same flight number. Jihoon raises both of his eyebrows towards his seatmate.“Please don’t tell me you go to Rhode Island School of Design too?” blurts out the stranger, his gaze narrowing.Jihoon cackles at that, lifting his hands in the air and hiking his shoulders up. “Alright, I won’t. I’m attending Brown University anyway.”“Huh,” puffs out the blonde, and the guy’s transition glasses may conveniently hide the movement of his eyes but Jihoon knows he’s being evaluated from his soiled Converse to his messy hair with the way the stranger’s face moves minutely, coupled with the bobbing of his throat. “So which one are you?”“Which one?” echoes Jihoon and no, no, No, his mind Did. Not. immediately jump to the conclusion that the blonde is asking him about sexual self-labels.“Yeah,” and the guy’s impish grin only serves to make Jihoon spiral on his seat, can feel something straining against his baggy pants. “I’ve heard about two major stereotypes for Brown kids, you know. They’re either dumb jocks or pretentious hipsters. So which one do you categorize yourself as?”Jihoon scoffs at the ridiculous ice-breaker but then he gets into the guy’s space, bearing his face inches away from the stranger’s snub nose and queries, “Which one is your pick?”“You do look like a jock,” comments the blonde as the guy eyes Jihoon’s forearm that he’s using to prop himself by the backrest. The way the stranger’s tongue slides out to wet his bottom lip enlivens Jihoon’s blood, making him feel drunker than he already is. His seatmate then picks at Jihoon’s oversized sports jersey, fingering the clothing by its tail-end that rests on his left leg. “And you dress like a hipster. I seriously hope you’re not dumb and pretentious ‘cause you being an Ivy Leaguer would surely be a waste of everyone’s time.”Jihoon snorts at that even as he inwardly admits to himself that he quite likes the stranger’s sassy tongue. “And you’re as preppy as they come,” he sneers.If stereotypes are what they’re talking about, Jihoon doesn’t have to look any further. The blonde before him is one. The guy grew up in Darien for fuck’s sake. Their towns might be spitting distance from each other but the two of them couldn’t have led such different lives. Jihoon comes from a low-income household, living next to a working granite quarry. The most he could probably call a luxury they own comes in the form of a motorboat his dad had won from a game of pool, which Jihoon and his older brother had rented out to visiting tourists during summers. His seatmate probably owns a yacht. No, Jihoon is 100% sure the guy’s family owns several yachts. He lifts his pointer finger and begins lightly jabbing into the stranger’s personal space since the guy had no trouble doing so with Jihoon. Then he chants, “Branded, branded, branded,” as the tip of his finger gingerly pokes the blonde’s diamond necklace, articles of clothing with the LV monogram, and down to the very large, shiny rings adorning every single one of his fingers. “Plus, you’re attending a glorified art school.”Jihoon doesn’t believe the snide statement he last uttered but reckons he wants to be entertained by the guy’s response.“Hey!” The stranger appears appalled by the very idea. “You take that back. RISD earned its reputation, okay?” “Reputation? Oh, you mean hosting the slackers for all the other majors that don’t involve art or design?”“As opposed to being a party school,” the guy shoots back, his nose bridge crinkling in annoyance.“That’s not an insult and you know it,” rebuts Jihoon. He drives a knuckle to his mouth to mask his chuckles because the blonde seriously looks adorable when he’s all heated, his cheeks all puffed up, fired up, but some of Jihoon’s laughter spills between the spaces of his joints, escaping in little bursts. His nonchalant manner suggests he’s half-hearted with his provocation, and he is, truly, Jihoon only wants to create banter (the blonde had started it) and the guy seems a little appeased when understanding dawns on him.He offers up his free hand then. “Jihoon Park.”The blonde protrudes his lower lip as he stares at Jihoon’s face, then to his proffered hand, and then back again. The stranger is still peeved so he shoves Jihoon’s hand away with the use of his cowboy hat but reluctantly he gives out his name in a huff, “Hyunsuk Choi.”“So Hyunsuk Choi,” opens Jihoon while savoring the name of the guy on his lips, “how is a preppy kid like you going to spend his spring break?”The blonde barks a laugh as he tips his metal-rimmed glasses up his nose. “Okay. Fine! I gotta hand it to you for managing to sneak a pun in there.”“Think we can now put to rest your suspicions about me not being an Ivy Leaguer? I can be witty, yeah?”Hyunsuk twists his mouth as he shrugs. His knuckles rub his chin as he states, “A passing grade, yeah,” then he presses forward to Jihoon’s side, his fingers unfurling so he can cup his mouth while whispering, “Let me tell you a secret. I like my men a little dumb and obvious when they have the hots for me.”The blonde drops his cowboy hat on top of Jihoon’s lap where he’s only noticing how his half-mast state is visible through the light material of his trousers. Holyfuckingshit. Turns out God isn’t out there testing Jihoon. The Almighty being is out there to punish him.  Hyunsuk Choi is a good sport, deems Jihoon. He’d have mopped the floor the blonde walks on forevermore just to ensure the guy wouldn’t trip on his feet or find any obstacles in his path that could delay him because he’s seen Jihoon’s half-erect dick straining against his pants and didn’t right then and there report him to the airport police for public indecency. Sure, he’s teased Jihoon about it but that’s the extent of the guy’s acknowledgment about his plight. He’s let out a few giggles too before taking it upon himself to get their conversation back on track by narrating to Jihoon what his spring break plans will be. He hates to judge things prematurely but given how willingly the guy talks to him, Jihoon has an inkling that the blonde is interested in him too. That, or Hyunsuk’s bored out of his mind that scrolling through his device and social media feed while they’re waiting to board their plane won’t cut it anymore. But whether the glasses guy’s interest in him is something physical or something that goes beyond the surface, Hyunsuk’s attention—pretty face turned to him, akin to a sunflower seeking the sun—makes Jihoon feel heady. He’s close to being intoxicated all over again, as if he’s back in the house party sipping watered down beer in a cup because the ice cubes have long melted into the drink as he keeps on chattering, not wanting to break the momentum he’s having about this stranger he’s only met, which is why it weirds Jihoon the fuck out and yet at the same time it makes sense that he’s disclosing to this guy how his friends had pooled their money to buy him a ticket back to Connecticut.“If it’s up to me,” Jihoon is telling Hyunsuk, “I wouldn’t really go home for spring break.”“Even if it’s your birthday on the 14th?” questions the blonde, his knitted eyebrows a clear indication that he’s invested in his story, and maybe just a touch concerned too.“Yeah! I mean—” and he gestures that they stand up, shaking his empty water bottle and slanting it towards the refill station near them. Hyunsuk doesn’t mind following Jihoon, is fine that they leave their belongings unattended while he fills up his water bottle and continues on with his answer, “I mean, I’d rather save the money for my tuition next semester. I can always Facetime Mom, Dad, and Kijung whenever I want. It’d make more sense to see them on Thanksgiving.”“But it’s your birthday,” Hyunsuk reminds him, looking a little crestfallen with his lower lip pushed out again in an adorable pout. Jihoon gets tethered to it, like how clothes fresh out of the dryer often cling to each other, that he momentarily forgets to maneuver his bottle under the water fountain spigot when it’s already dispensing water until the blonde arches his slit eyebrow and nudges Jihoon’s hand to move. His mouth quirks up for a brief, sheepish smile. Jihoon feels embarrassed at getting caught slipping and something inside him feels a bit ticklish at how cool Hyunsuk presents himself because he takes things in stride while he only plays the bumbling fool in his presence. Shit. I’m not usually this pathetic, am I? Jihoon shakes his head and remarks, “I’ll be having birthdays in the future too. Right now, what isn’t guaranteed is having disposable money for airfares.”Somehow, Hyunsuk’s pout looks even more prominent, even more charming that the guy must be doing it deliberately to cause Jihoon’s heart to stutter in his chest. “Hey now, not even birthdays are promised to us! I hate to sound all morbid but two people die every second on this earth. Sure, there are a lot of factors contributing to someone’s death but life is the most fickle bitch you’ll encounter. We can be flying to Connecticut now and the next thing we know, we’re meeting our maker—” Hyunsuk instantaneously stops, his mouth opening and closing as he squirms on his feet while processing what he’s just said, a hint of red dusting on his cheeks, “Sorry. Our talk suddenly turned dark there.”“Yes, you took that way up a notch,” and Jihoon snickers. “But I get what you’re saying. There’s no use sugarcoating reality anyway.” As he screws his water bottle closed, he leads them both back to the bench where their things are. “Guess I’m thankful I have awesome friends who want me to be at home for my birthday.”“Yeah, that’s very thoughtful of them. You’re lucky.”“Don’t I know it,” he responds, fondness bursting out of his chest for his cherished albeit chaotic friends. Jihoon then checks his phone to see if it’s charging fine before he turns back to his seatmate. The passing of seconds on his phone’s clock makes him reflect on something,  “But it makes you think, right? You said an average of two people die the next second—”Hyunsuk cuts in with an astonished face, “—wait, we’re diving right back to that grim topic?”His nostrils flaring, Jihoon lightly elbows the blonde for his wry tone. “You opened the box, Pandora.”The blonde chuckles. “Geez, rubbing it in that you’re well-read, huh?”Jihoon rolls his eyes. “It just got me thinking, okay? Those two people dying by the same tick of the clock, odds are, they don’t know each other, right? The rule of thumb is for a person to die alone. From diseases. Accidents. Natural disasters. Violent crimes. And if you’re particularly lucky with lotteries, by old age. You get to be born into this world alone and you’ll exit this place alone too. Sure you’ve made your bonds with your family, or your chosen family, your friends, your partners, and you’ve forged it however you want, maybe have broken those bonds at times, mended them back too, but at the end of your lifespan, you’ll be alone. Until you learn statistics and it gives you some sort of comfort.”“Oh? How’s that?”“At the very least, yes? That there’s someone out there, exiting the stage with you. Someone’s heart is flatlining at the same time as you. They might not be physically with you when it happens, but in another plane of existence, two strangers are together on a deathbed. They’re not really dying alone, technically, as opposed to what many have said before.”Hyunsuk stares at Jihoon and he’s struck with something when he sees child-like affection pouring out of the blonde’s twinkling eyes and curved mouth, like he’s truly amused listening to the drivel he just spat. Jihoon’s throat dries instantly.“When I said that, I had no idea it’d launch you into an existential crisis, Jihoon Park.” Tentatively, the guy raises a hand close to Jihoon’s face—a wordless manner to ask for permission to reach into his space. Confused but obliging, he nods at his seatmate. The blonde proceeds to extend his hand upwards, fluffing the crown of Jihoon’s head so he can brush and smooth the frizziness of some of his hair strands. The guy speaks up again, “I forgot who said this but I’m pretty sure this is said by a wife about the passing of her husband and her take on the afterlife, that while alive, she knew that she and her husband were beneficiaries of chance. I’ve always liked that phrase since then, beneficiaries of chance. There’s a thousand impossible circumstances that take place in the scale of the universe but it’ll bless you with chances that’ll change your life forever. And I know I said life is the most fickle bitch there is, but up until that point when you’re breathing your last breath, I guess we can say it also deals you the gentle kindness it can give, by granting you the chance not to feel entirely alone. Despite the odds. Even when all that I’ve said relies on some technicality. No matter how lonely people may think, they’re not entirely alone, right?” Now, who’s the well-read between us two? Jihoon holds Hyunsuk’s stare and he doesn’t know why this single word he’s trying to push past his throat is so weighty, so heavy, and so raw, “Right.”And then the reality of their place brings him and Hyunsuk back, seemingly pulling the two of them out of the daydream-esque bubble they’ve built by simply talking when the crowd around them erupt into a collective gasp and groan.“What?”“Huh?”The two of them blurt out in unison while looking for the source of distress from their fellow flyers. Shaking her head, an old woman directs them to it with her lone spindly forefinger pointing towards the way-finding sign, broadcasting that all flights are being delayed.

“It’s true our flight has been pushed back for four hours,” Hyunsuk confirms to Jihoon after halting to a stop before him, coming back as soon as he’s finished talking with an attendant at their gate’s reception desk. “They can’t disclose yet what seems to be the issue but they said they’ll keep us posted through email and SMS.”“Ah, that sucks,” is his automatic reply but strangely enough, Jihoon isn’t really annoyed at the news. Flight delays happen all the time and he’s still enjoying Hyunsuk Choi’s company so the additional four-hour waiting time shouldn’t be much of an issue. He makes a decision then as he pulls his charger from the power outlet and pockets his phone next. “Do you want to grab a bite?”“Oh. Well, I guess I could eat,” the blonde replies as he hikes his white duffle bag up his shoulder blade. “What do you want? I can get us access to the Escape Lounge. Thankfully I brought my Priority Pass card with me.”Jihoon looks at Hyunsuk with an eyebrow raised. “I’ll have none of that aristocratic crap, thank you very much.”The guy makes an affronted noise at the back of his throat. “The hec—”He further interrupts Hyunsuk by standing fully to his height, his hands grabbing each of the blonde’s shoulder blades to squeeze them. “You need to come with me to the food court. I’ll treat you to the best hot dog Rhode Island has to offer.”The blonde’s face is torn between being petulant and being pleased. “What are you saying? You’re not even a local here, Park.”“It’s Ji. Call me Ji or Jihoon. And I know I’m not a local here which means my opinion is free of any biases, and that’s the best type of opinion you should hear out.”Hyunsuk clicks his tongue before he takes a large bite of his bottom lip. “You do make a compelling argument. As expected of a Brown student.”“Stop pulling my leg, I already said I’m treating you, you opulent baby.”The blonde breaks out into a laugh. “Did you just fucking come up with a nickname for me just because you think I’m upper class, Ji?” and the guy puts a stress on his one-syllable nickname by gritting his teeth hard.“I know you are, Hyunsuk Choi,” states Jihoon in all seriousness, his fingers digging a little deeper into the guy’s shoulders. “I have working eyes and I think critically even when my brain’s half-dead because of Everclear.”“Oof. No good deed goes unpunished with Everclear,” murmurs Hyunsuk.Jihoon drags his eyes up and down the blonde’s form who’s still locked in place in his hold. “And you— just look at you. You’re dressed like you just robbed a Louis Vuitton boutique for fuck’s sake! I also hold the belief that any high-born owes us rank and file people the right to call you names. So take it like a good ‘ol sport, you patrician tennis ball.”The guy’s eyes widen, cracking up even more with his shoulders quivering hard in obvious mirth, but then he schools his features when he lifts his chin and for a second, the approximate 0.07 meter difference in their heights doesn’t seem all that evident when Jihoon feels Hyunsuk’s presence becoming all the more prominent especially when a smirk appears in his smile. “I’d like to see you get more creative then.”Jihoon may not be wearing any physical hat currently that he can throw into the proverbial ring but he thinks he more than makes up for it when he musters a sly smile and tosses a wink Hyunsuk’s way.  “So let me guess,” Hyunsuk grills around a big bite of his hot dog with spicy relish, “Based on how immediately you took to statistics like a nerd, you’re taking Computer Science in Brown?”Immediately repulsed at the suggestion, Jihoon stops wolfing down his breakfast sub roll to exclaim, “Wrong! Is this another one of your questions on which stereotype am I?”“No, fuck you,” the blonde fires back as he chucks a paper napkin to Jihoon’s side of the table to which he easily dodges, “I just honestly don’t know enough courses that deal with statistics and you don’t look like you’d be into Finance or Mechanical Engineering. Computer Science is my safest bet. What’s your problem with it?”Jihoon uses the paper napkin that landed near his paper food tray to wipe the cheese sauce he feels stuck on his chin as he shrugs his shoulders. “Nothing actually. It’s more like a knee-jerk reaction since a lot of my friends, who are Engineering majors, look down on the people taking that course. A lot of it boils down to pettiness, I admit, but some of those students haven’t even graduated and they’re already devolving to being tech bros. Gross.”Hyunsuk chortles with cheeks full of food. Jihoon feels a pang of disappointment when the guy hides half of his cute face with the back of his hand as he mutters, “You said nothing, but then proceeded to describe exactly how you got a problem with CS students.”“Smartass.”“I know,” comments the guy. Jihoon just knows there’s a cocky grin hidden by the blonde’s hand when his eyes crease behind his glasses frame, deciding all on his own that Jihoon paid him a compliment by calling him as such. “Sounds like there’s personal beef involved in that too?” He snorts. “That,” he pauses for dramatic effect, “is a correct assumption.”“Ooooh. Spill!” Hyunsuk urges Jihoon while he opens a can of soda and drops it near the blonde’s food tray.“What? The Coke?” he jokes.Hyunsuk looks at him pointedly.“Alright.” Jihoon opens another soda can and chugs it down while he goads Hyunsuk to move closer with the use of his forefinger. The blonde budges in his seat, setting down his half-eaten hot dog sandwich on the takeaway food box. “Freshman year I didn’t know I was entering a poly relationship when I hooked up with this one senior CS student.” He waits for the guy’s reaction and he isn’t let down when Hyunsuk’s eyes slowly start to bulge out of their sockets, his little mouth forming the perfect O-shape. “I made a mistake of  lingering after our one-night stand so the next morning, I met his two other partners, whom I originally thought were just his roommates in a shared house unit. And somehow it turned into an impromptu recruitment over breakfast to become their fourth, or I guess, the right math is to be their third lover? Honestly felt like it’s a cult the way they went about convincing me, so I faked food poisoning and left their apartment as fast as I could.”The blonde’s mouth continues to hang ajar so Jihoon carries on with his story, “They also started a rumor about me sleeping around for cash since it’s known I’m on a scholarship. But there were a lot of us on scholarship, right, so I didn’t think much of it, that that particular rumor was referring to me, not until this guy I’m flirting with during Campus Dance asked for my price.”“Oh my god?” cries out Hyunsuk, his hands flying and planting themselves to his cheeks in shock, displacing his glasses in the process so that it appears lopsided on his unbearably cute face. “For real?”“For real. But I wouldn’t consider it a personal beef ‘cause I couldn’t care less about what they said about me. Besides, college rumors are essentially like fast fashion.” Jihoon then picks up an onion ring, dips it in the flowing cheese sauce of his sandwich, and pops it into his mouth.“I’m sorry to hear that though.” The guy looks genuinely upset on his behalf.Jihoon promptly waves his hands in the air while rapidly chewing the onion ring in his mouth so he can blurt out, “It’s fine, Hyun. Seriously, it’s not a big deal. Never was for me.”“But wait, you’re a senior now, yeah?”“Uh-huh.”Hyunsuk still appears bothered by Jihoon’s story, his eyebrows puckering as he points out, “See? If that happened in your freshman year, you’re like, what, only 18? That is seriously fucked up, Ji. Rumors like that are designed to make you feel isolated. I hope you didn’t get in trouble with your uni too.”He shakes his head, feeling a smile spreading on his face as warmth fills up in his chest at the blonde’s compassion. “I was mostly frustrated but I didn’t feel lonely that much. My childhood best friend, who’s also attending Brown, made a request to become my roommate when the previous one ditched me because of my,” and here Jihoon makes air-quotes, “so-called extra-curricular activities. Besides when that happened, I already have a tight-knit circle with my fellow blockmates. They did help me in clearing out the rumors but by then I developed a sort of a badass reputation within my department because I didn’t give a fuck. Uni can’t discriminate against me if I am indeed a sex worker since it’s all on suspicion, which turned out to be defamation anyway. And in Rhode Island, defamation suits have to have the backing that the plaintiff incurred reputational harm. But I just want it all to be over before finals week, you know, so I agreed to settle it behind closed doors and because it was a first offense, those guys only got suspended.”The blonde ruins his pretty face by grimacing. “You should have sued their asses.”“And what? Give them further ammunition that I’m really just all for money?”“They would have brought it on themselves,” and Hyunsuk goes back to eating his hot dog sandwich, his sullen look evident through his creased brows.“Guess I’m just that good of a lay that they all want to share me, huh?” He says the line in jest, expecting for the blonde to make a comment about Jihoon’s narcissism but what the guy says in return is beyond his own imaginations.“Hmph. Let me be the judge of that.”
Huh?
Jihoon is poised to ask what do you mean by that when Hyunsuk beats him to it when he brings the two of them back to the topic at hand, “So what’s really your major then?”He wants to press the issue, wants to be sure that the blonde is really interested in him in that way, wants to ascertain that the guy is coming on to him and the words that escaped out of his pert little mouth are thought carefully to evoke something in Jihoon.Jihoon wants. And he simply wants to know what Hyunsuk’s wants are, and if he wants too.But maybe part of the problem is that he’s let his libido do the thinking for him too much so Jihoon upbraids himself and focuses back to their subject. There’s something more that is at play here, something more that is at stake, rather than finding out the chances whether he’ll bed this guy or not.“Biostatistics,” he states, remembering to answer the blonde’s question. “I thought I wanted to do something about the vulnerabilities in our public health care system through it. Did you know that half of our population has little to no out-of-pocket medical spending?”Hyunsuk blinks and then his eyes soften the longer he regards Jihoon.“What? Too idealistic, as is expected of a Brown student?”“No. Not at all,” then the guy backtracks with a sheepish smile. “Well, maybe just a little. But on top of that, I thought it romantic, in a way. That you find meaning in numbers and have a worthwhile goal to pursue.”“You really think so?”“Yeah!” responds the blonde at once. Hyunsuk stuffs his cute face again with a big bite of his food, munches on it thoughtfully before he speaks up. “To the point I feel lame to say that I’m finishing a BFA in Printmaking.”“Printmaking,” repeats Jihoon, his tone a little flat which betrays his sudden disorientation with the subject. It’s been quite a while since he last heard someone talk about getting an obscure degree.Hyunsuk peers through his long lashes to look at him, one finger fixing his glasses on his nose bridge. Then he dissolves into guffaws of laughter.“What?”“You— you should have seen the look on your face when you said printmaking. It’s like you think I’m talking in a foreign language. And it’s okay, if you think I’m a privileged brat for majoring in it. I’m used to it already. Even my family and relatives don’t get it.”Jihoon doesn’t like the self-deprecating lilt lacing the guy’s voice so he tuts while plucking another onion ring from their shared box of sides. “It’s just, I’m not familiar with that major, that’s all. But I don’t think it isn’t worthwhile to pursue, Hyun. We’re very fortunate that we get to study the majors that we want. I believe anything that is of our own choosing isn’t worthless. Or that they can be less meaningful just because others don’t get it.”Hyunsuk grabs a piece of onion ring and knocks it with the one Jihoon is holding, toasting to his sentiment. “Thanks for saying that, Ji. I appreciate it,” the blonde’s smile is tender, his glistening eyes are grateful.“What made you decide to undertake it?”“Our old money came from my great grandfather’s lucrative printmaking business back in the 60s. Pop-Pops, that’s my mom’s father, who is the eldest son of my great grandfather, passed the interest down to me when he showed me works of Andy Warhol using screen printing and how other pop artists utilized it in different forms of mobilization, activism, and protest. I just fell in love with the process, running these machines to bring art back to the masses. It’s like the antithesis to AI art even. Of course, the people I know always question its feasibility nowadays. I’m guilty of it too, but my primary concern is to continue the tradition, not to make a profit out of it.”Jihoon puts down his curled fists on the table as he cries out, “Tell me how that isn’t worthwhile you pedantic egghead!”Hyunsuk giggles. “Oh, we’re on a new nickname now?”He squares his jaw, “Trust me. I can do this all day. But seriously, Hyun, that isn’t lame at all! Now that I think about it, art is a record of human experience, right? They’re tangible proofs of our thoughts, values, and pride. Losing any one of these traditional artforms is like collectively losing a piece of our humanity.”The blonde keeps bobbing his head up and down as Jihoon strings his ideas and when he gets to the last sentence, the guy wags his pointer finger at him, “Exactly! Maybe in the future, I could even start a nonprofit organization to help preserve printmaking traditions in other countries, not just in the US.”“That’s a dream right there.”Jihoon and Hyunsuk continue to talk about their respective aspirations since both their commencement ceremonies are just around the corner, exhausting the topic until all their sandwiches, sides, and sodas are well digested in their stomachs.  “You said you’re tired.”“Yeah I am.”“Then why the hell don’t you want to take me up on my offer for us to go to the Escape Lounge?” whines Hyunsuk as the guy pushes at Jihoon’s back to move him towards the end of the north concourse. “The chairs are obviously better there. We can put our feet up and really take a long nap without all the noise from the PA system and the obnoxious travelers. You said you’ve been up since last night, right?”Jihoon stands his ground, laughing internally at how easily he overpowers the guy on the basis of their muscle-mass. “Well, yeah, but don’t take it personally, Hyun. I’m just generally allergic to luxury.”Hyunsuk releases a long-suffering sigh and Jihoon thinks he can see the guy rolling his eyes at him even if his back is on him. “Good God, it’s free. I’m allowed to bring up to two guests. You won’t have to spend anything ‘cause you’re with me. And did I mention they have complimentary drinks at the bar?”His ears twitch upon hearing the word drinks. Jihoon whirls his body at once and the blonde, who’s using all of his strength to make him move, collides with his chest just as he bears his grin down on Hyunsuk’s puzzled face, “Why didn’t you say that first? Come on. I’ll escort you to the lounge.”“You insufferable pseudo-Marxist juicer prick,” sniffs Hyunsuk, hitting him on the chest with the back of his hand.Jihoon can only laugh at the mouthful but colorful and creative way the blonde’s described him.

“Hey— Ji. Come on, wake up. Jihoon? Jihoon Park?”He wakes up to the feel of Hyunsuk’s knuckle lightly rubbing the length of his jaw and to the sound of the blonde’s slightly strung up voice. He finds himself curled in a chaise lounge with his head resting on his fellow Nutmeg’s shoulder. The last Jihoon remembers before he dozes off is him and Hyunsuk talking about their respective families, how him and Kijung always fought growing up but they would unite and settle their differences every summer so that they can earn money by finding tourists who will rent their motorboat to tour the Thimbles, and how Hyunsuk’s Pop-Pops, who’s pushing 90 last year, collaborated with Swoon to combine printmaking and street art and engage the public in discussing the climate crisis.“What?” he groggily asks. He stretches on his seat and turns to the blonde who’s now pulled away from him, his lips are pursed, and he’s fixated on his phone screen. “What is it, Hyun?” he repeats, his voice still thick with sleep.The guy finally turns to him, his glasses are pushed back over his forehead and a frown marring his pretty face. “Bad news, Ji. They’re saying there’s a global outage due to a faulty update in computers running Microsoft Windows, which most of the airlines here use. That’s why many flights like ours have been grounded for hours now. They don’t know yet when their systems will be back in operation so Sun Country Airlines arranged a booking for us in a nearby hotel. Think the transportation will be here to fetch us in 20 minutes or so.”“Huh,” is all Jihoon replies, falling silent again as his sleep-addled mind processes the information Hyunsuk’s presented to him.Then he feels the blonde lightly digging his elbow to his side, his tone enthusiastic when he flashes his phone screen towards Jihoon’s line of sight, “But look! Look! I just saw our names and I think they put us in the same room. Another coincidence, huh?”Jihoon furrows his brows, “I’ll be rooming with you?” he airs out as his confusion grows when he feels the weight of a hat sitting on top of his head. Did Hyunsuk put this on me? “Yeah. I just said it,” confirms Hyunsuk. He daintily lifts his slit eyebrow then, “What? Will that be a problem?”“Not to me!” he retorts at once, as loud as he can, that Jihoon startles a few people in the lounge. His brain cells rapidly work to assuage the blonde that it isn’t a problem to stay with him, be with him at all. “Wait— why is our flight delayed again?”A strange smile passes on Hyunsuk’s face before the guy reaches up to pull down the cowboy hat on Jihoon’s head, effectively blocking his eyes. His view gets limited, can only see the lower-half of the blonde’s face but it seems that’s all Jihoon needs to determine that Hyunsuk is swooping in so close to him, so close to his mouth when the guy’s mouth proceeds to taunt when he says, “Geez. I told you the first time I like my men a little dumb, Ji. You sleepyhead, you’ve done well for yourself earlier but now you’re stirring me again.”And Jihoon proves he can be dense as much as the guy wants when his own mouth shuts of its own accord, stumped to make any witty comeback in the face of Hyunsuk clearly enticing him. There’s no doubt about it now.

Jihoon is buzzing on his feet. He’s pretty sure he’s flushed more than half of the alcohol in his system by keeping himself hydrated and having managed to nap for three hours straight, so he can only attribute his nerve endings firing uncontrollably to Hyunsuk Choi’s words and deeds because the blonde had slipped his small hand into Jihoon’s hold as they’re getting ready to leave the Escape Lounge, so that they’re walking hand in hand while finding their shuttle bus that will take them to Radisson Hotel Providence Airport. Hyunsuk keeps their hands glued together for the rest of the ride, chatting up Jihoon about what it’s like to grow up in Stony Creek, looking completely innocent as he tantalizingly rubs his thumb on the jut of bone in Jihoon’s left hand. He’s so oblivious, or acting like one (and Jihoon knows by now that Hyunsuk can be cheeky as all hell if he wants to be), when Jihoon’s rationality is on the verge of snapping.He can’t focus even when they arrive in the hotel lobby, filling up the space fast as the rest of the passengers for flight SC 712 tumble through the wide doors. Jihoon knows they’re being checked in. Hyunsuk takes the lead in answering all the questions the receptionist has for them before she hands them their key cards and says her perfunctory greeting of, enjoy your stay.“Oh, we’ll be enjoying ourselves to the fullest, won’t we, Ji?” and Hyunsuk pivots to shoot him a sultry glance behind the metal rim of his glasses.Jihoon feels a tick start in his jaw, he forces himself to swallow to wet his dry throat. He then squeezes the guy’s hand firmly and remains tight-lipped, dragging them both towards their assigned room. He’s letting the blonde have the upperhand for now. It’s fun this way. Jihoon is making Hyunsuk anticipate his next move and judging how the guy’s bright eyes turn blazing with want the longer he watches Jihoon, the thinner the fraying edges of his mind becomes and the more painfully hard his dick feels inside his briefs.Room 401 is carpeted all the way through except for the bathroom. There’s a writing desk with a black and white photo of the cityscape hanging above it. There’s also a flat screen mounted on the wall and the color of the heavy draperies match the carpet. Jihoon and Hyunsuk wordlessly spring apart as they enter the space, dropping their belongings everywhere they deem fit. Hyunsuk walks past him to head for the coffee pot while Jihoon starts emptying his pockets and flinging his things on the bed. After, he pads towards the blonde and softly feels up the base of the guy’s spine, announcing in a calm but sharp voice with his lips hovering before Hyunsuk’s temple, “I’ll go wash up first. Make sure you prepare yourself, Hyun, hmm?”The blonde now has the audacity to blush prettily, batting his eyelashes coquettishly as he burrows his face to the empty mug. “Yeah, okay.”Jihoon thinks he feels shivers run down the guy’s spine just before he heads to the bathroom.When Jihoon steps out of the shower, wrapped in a hotel robe, he feels like himself again. The smell of ethanol and tabasco sauce has been scrubbed off his skin and his blow-dried hair no longer falls weirdly flat on that one side of his head. He considers cinching his hotel robe a little more tightly but changes his mind in a split-second since it won’t matter if he’s just going to disrobe later.“Hyunsuk Choi,” he calls out in a sing-song voice. “I trust you’ve been diligent in prepping your hole?”But nothing can prepare Jihoon for the sight that greets him next: Hyunsuk is only wearing his white undershirt and bare from the waist down, the rest of his material splendor are shed on the floor. He’s half-turned, one creamy leg propped on the bed while the other balances itself out on the carpeted flooring. The back of that leg is slick with lube and a jolt of arousal lurches up from his belly when Jihoon finally notices the butt plug shoved inside Hyunsuk’s ass. Oh, Hyunsuk is ready for him alright.He immediately strokes his cock over his robe, finds it already hard and close to leaking precum. “Ji, come on,” hurries the blonde in a needy tone that makes Jihoon’s gut clench hard and draws his jaw taut. “You’re taking too long. I thought you slipped and cracked your head in the bath.”Jihoon cracks up even as he’s overcome with the same need to touch as much of Hyunsuk as possible. “And if I did, why wouldn’t you come to my rescue?”“‘Cause I wanted to be good. You ordered me to do one thing and that’s what I’m doing, yeah?”“Yeah, very good of you, Hyun. Let me reward you then.”“Please,” begs the guy in a low husky voice, and when he tries to put his other leg down so he can spin on his feet and fully face Jihoon, it looks as though the blonde’s struck himself a nerve when his asscheeks eventually clamp the butt plug in that upright position. “Ahh,” Hyunsuk brokenly wails and he makes grabby hands at Jihoon to wordlessly ask for support since he’s slowly losing his balance and is about to trip on their carry-on bags half-emptied into the gray carpet. Jihoon quickens his steps towards the blonde, opens his arms wide, and catches Hyunsuk Choi in an embrace. He lets himself feel as their limbs entwine while teetering awkwardly in the middle of the hotel room, lets himself feel the guy stiffening into his loose hold before Hyunsuk’s arms wind themselves around his neck to hang on, pulling Jihoon down to the only bed currently devoid of their stuff.Hyunsuk tries to suppress a giggle as the two of them fall down but Jihoon coaxes it out with a kiss. It then turns to a path of kisses across the blonde’s jaw once they plop on the sheets, the bed springs creaking under their combined weight. Jihoon then moves his mouth to Hyunsuk’s ear, eliciting a low cry out of the guy before he travels down to Hyunsuk’s exposed clavicle to suck at it.The blonde makes quick work of his hotel robe’s sash, undoing the loose knot with his nimble fingers so he can push the robe open, his hands hot and frantic on Jihoon’s skin, and his aim true when he grasps Jihoon’s erection.“Hnnn,” he expels most articulately.The guy circles his fingers around Jihoon’s throbbing flesh to squeeze it, as if he’s making sure it’s there and ready for him too. “Need this now, Ji.”“Fuck—” and Jihoon bites into Hyunsuk’s collarbone which has the blonde cursing, flexing beneath him as he spreads on top of the guy who’s eager for more. “Why so impatient, lemon head? Or is that you’ve wanted me to pounce on you back at the airport? Huh? I bet you’re leaking yourself while you’re cockily leading me on,” he hisses to the blonde as he lowers one hand down to knead Hyunsuk’s ass.The guy whimpers, his words are a bit slurred as he confesses, “E—ever since I spotted y—you in the crowd, Ji, looking mad at the world with your bed hair.”He releases Hyunsuk’s earlobe that he’s currently nuzzling to let out his chuckles. “And I went to you waving your cowboy hat like a blind dog in a meat market.”The blonde snickers in return, with one hand still lazily jerking Jihoon while the other is busy brushing the back of Jihoon’s head, presumably to recreate the bed hair look that he so loves. “Isn’t the logical step to take to consume me then? Eat the rich, Jihoon Park,” Hyunsuk remarks teasingly.And seriously, this guy is driving him close to madness with his boldness and brashness. Jihoon presses his face to Hyunsuk’s, kisses every inch of his pretty face before he swipes his tongue over the blonde’s mouth, then thrusting it inside to taste the heat within. The guy eagerly deepens the kiss and Jihoon isn’t the one to back down so he kisses Hyunsuk until the both of them struggle to breathe.He pulls away for a breathless gasp, as if his head is just breaking out of the surface of the water. Hyunsuk mirrors him, gasping for air, but the guy seems enlivened with that deep and hard kiss when he insistently plants little smooches on Jihoon’s cheekbone, the blonde’s neck straining to reach him while he pumps Jihoon fast to induce more of his precum out of him. Hyunsuk thumbs Jihoon’s cockhead to get the clear liquid all over his dick’s wrinkled skin, easing his jacking even more so he can do it faster.Jihoon groans, shuddering as he feels himself dripping. “God, Hyun, you’re so good at that.”“Only wanted to be good for you, Ji. Wanted to make you feel good,” the guy’s hot breath fans the side of his face.And Jihoon grins at that. “My little sundrop pleaser.”Hyunsuk burst into giggles then. “You’re really sticking to the nicknames, huh.”“What can I say? I’m nothing if not committed.”“Good to know,” and the blonde starts nipping his teeth against the curve of Jihoon’s bottom lip while the guy’s left leg hooks under Jihoon’s ass to bring him down and closer to him so Hyunsuk can begin rubbing their stiff dicks together. It’s his turn to curse now, especially when the blonde’s cock strokes the sensitive spot of the underside of Jihoon’s shaft. Inadvertently, he tightens his hold of Hyunsuk’s right asscheek that he’s kneading earlier which only makes a section of his palm nudge the root of the plug further into the guy’s hole.“Ah! Jesus, Ji—!” Hyunsuk sobs out, his eyes springing open to reveal how they’re tear-streaked and glassy with burning need.That only does wicked things to Jihoon’s heart. He mounts Hyunsuk then, rutting against the blonde’s pulsating dick as he shoves the guy’s t-shirt up and gets another surprise, leaving him gulping in a quick breath. Hyunsuk’s taut nipples are adorned with rings.“Goddamn, Hyun,” mutters Jihoon before he finds himself descending on the guy, sucking one nipple and the silver barbell that comes with it. He laves it with his tongue, tugging on the metal until Hyunsuk arches his back, his hold of their cocks slackening as the blonde moans and trashes beneath him. “Keep at it,” Jihoon reminds his bedmate just as he switches to the other side, making sure Hyunsuk’s other nipple gets its well-deserved sucking.The blonde obeys his order, resuming his jerking of their dicks in a rough, desperate motion, gliding faster and faster to bring them both over the edge.“Ji— Jihoon,” Hyunsuk mewls while he’s busy flicking the guy’s nipple over his tongue and teeth, “Take me now. Please. Take me. I can’t— I want you in me now. Gonna— gonna come soon. Please, Ji.”He gives the blonde’s right nipple one last suck before he pulls away to say, “No. I won’t stick my dick in you. At least not yet, butter cup. I’d like to see you a wet, weeping mess first.”Hyunsuk throws him an indignant glare. “I’m telling you to fuck me now.”Jihoon hopes the grin he plasters on his face is beatific, if only to further rile up the guy now that he’s turning a very lovely shade of red. “What’s that? My pretty plutocrat isn’t used to not having his way? Boo-hoo. You’ll have to come without my cock in you first.”“You sadistic bastard. I don’t want—” and Jihoon cuts off the blonde by claiming his lips in a brutal sort of kiss, just to prove a point.Jihoon’s balls are aching. He wants a measure of relief too so he takes it upon himself to bring him and Hyunsuk well past the edge. He shifts his knees in a different angle, feels his robe slithering off his shoulders completely as lowers his weight again so he can trap both of their cocks between their abdomens. Then he works a nice, delicious, and delirious type of friction where their bodies are pressed closed, skin sliding against skin. Hyunsuk starts responding to the movement of Jihoon’s mouth, his tongue meeting Jihoon’s tongue while making little noises of pleasure. He can feel the guy’s heart hammering against his own as the blonde loops an arm around Jihoon’s back, his nails raking down his spine until they tear into his flesh, probably to regain some bit of control. Jihoon then speeds up the pace of his hips and with his fingers begins twisting the ring on Hyunsuk’s nipple.The guy screams into their locked mouths and Jihoon hungrily swallows the sound as he continues teasing the blonde’s nipple. He feels himself close to coming, so close, he might’ve uttered the words into Hyunsuk’s mouth because the blonde is now moving his hips to match Jihoon’s grinding. Coupled with the guy’s fingers reawakening his hold around their cocks to fiercely clench their undershafts, Jihoon’s dick swells and swells, and when Hyunsuk’s moans turn to snivels as he spurts his release, hot on his stomach, Jihoon loses grip about everything and allows himself to come.“Fucker,” intones Hyunsuk as Jihoon collapses on him.“I know,” and he pushes his palm against the duvet to propel himself up so he can nose the guy’s sweaty forehead while his knuckle softly rubs the tear stains on the blonde’s face. “Don’t you just love it, sweetheart?”Hyunsuk harrumphs, blushing furiously. Nevertheless, the guy confirms it when he hugs Jihoon back to him, tucking his sweat-damp head into the crook of Jihoon’s shoulders.  Hyunsuk’s butt plug is about four inches long, is made of steel, and has a bulbous headed-shape. Jihoon only comes to learn about this when he finally starts pulling the plug out of the guy’s ass with Hyunsuk’s grunts growing louder and louder, voice all hoarse and body still overly sensitized from their earlier coupling. They meet each other’s gaze and quickly, the atmosphere between them becomes charged and stifling.The blonde rolls his eyes to zero in on Jihoon’s stirring cock. “I swear to God, if you don’t shove that dick up my ass already—”He laughs hard and boisterously at Hyunsuk’s haughty remark. “Calm down, beach head. I need to lube up first. Do you remember where you put it?”The guy narrows his eyes at him, “It’s on the nightstand. And did you just call me a bitch?”“Huh?” and Jihoon reviews what he just said to Hyunsuk while shuffling towards the low bedside table. “Oh. No, babe,” he clarifies, shaking his head. “I said beach. Beach head. The beach,” he emphasizes while pouring a generous amount of the travel-sized lubricant on his palm. “You know, because of your sandy hair? Like I’m saying you’re sun-bleached blonde.”Hyunsuk huffs at that. The guy rises on the bed so he can pull his white tee off him. Then he uses the edge of his shirt to wipe his stomach and inner thighs clean from their cum. “Well, that wasn’t a well-thought out nickname now, was it?”“Forgive me, your royal arseness,” snarks Jihoon with his best British impersonation of being sarcastic against the Crown. “My mind is only at its 40% capacity. I just came all over you, didn’t I?” and he pairs that statement by sliding his lubricated hand up and down his cock while discarding his hotel robe on the carpet.The sharpness in the blonde’s stare peters out but he still looks petulant when he goes back to lying on his back, one hand reaching behind him to drag a pillow to put beneath his head. The guy rolls on his side, starts rubbing his semi-erection, and entreats in an aching tone while looking directly at Jihoon with a strong craving—a language that he himself knows so well. “Come here already. I want to feel you in me. Weren’t you the one who had a boner the first time you saw me? So why are you still standing there and palming yourself? Why are you making me wait?”“Fucking fine, princess,” grits out Jihoon but in truth he’s been caught. He wants the moment to last. He knows it hasn’t even been an hour yet since they started occupying this hotel room and the two of them are not even certain how soon their flight back to Connecticut will be in operation again so it all the more feels like he’s spending borrowed time with Hyunsuk Choi in this space, as if they’re postponing the occurrence of something inevitable. It is all made apparent since the very act of penetrative sex means they’re going to be joined as one, and all Jihoon wants right now is for them to stay together.Hyunsuk hoists his free hand to Jihoon, wordlessly demanding him to move his feet.He grabs that hand and sinks back to the mattress. “Stop playing with yourself. That’s my job,” Jihoon goes on to say.Hyunsuk shows his receptiveness to Jihoon’s humor when he raises his chin and sniffs, every bit the posh kid that he is when he rejoins airily, “Thought you forgot your duties, peasant.”He snickers at that, already forgetting the reason why dread with a dash of desolation overcame him minutes ago. Here is definitive proof that he and Hyunsuk are jiving and meshing well together like mint and chocolate. (And yeah, okay, some people would say it’s an acquired taste but that’s their problem and not Jihoon’s).Their fingers are still interlocked as he centers himself to Hyunsuk, positioning himself missionary style so he can keep looking at the blonde’s pretty face while he’s entering the blonde’s insides for the first time. Jihoon wants it to be special even if what they have is as casual as it gets. The guy nods to further urge him along. Hyunsuk spreads his ass wide, his body tensing a little when Jihoon’s cockhead breaches him but since the blonde’s hole is already stretched enough with the use of his plug, Jihoon easily bottoms out, his pubic hair touching the guy’s ass.Hyunsuk’s face twists into pleasure, beautiful in his rupture as he cries out damn, yes, yes, finally, and Jihoon hears himself growl his satisfaction. He pulls Hyunsuk’s quivering legs over his shoulders and begins thrusting in quick succession.“Y—yeah. That’s it, babe.” Shit. That simple term of endearment slipping out of the guy’s lips shouldn’t do wonders to Jihoon’s heart but it did.“You begged for this dick, Hyun,” he decides to throw a good-natured heckle in the air, “Show me just how much you love this in you.”Hyunsuk complies naturally when his breathing grows ragged and his hips jut forward in time when Jihoon slides in deep, the blonde’s pulsing contractions around his cock making him salivate and hunger for more.“Very good, baby,” he says unthinkingly. The blonde flutters his lashes and gives Jihoon a coquettish smile which only serves to pump more blood into his dick. He then starts cataloging everything that makes Hyunsuk moan, twitch, and fumble for the bed sheets and pillows to hang on for dear life, possibly trying to maintain every bit of his sanity while he’s busy locating the guy’s prostate. He hefts Hyunsuk’s legs even higher to open him up more and when he hits the mark, whimpers of pleasure eases out of the blonde’s bruised lips.Jihoon is sure he’s losing what’s left of his composure and rationality when he asks, “Hyun?”“Hmm?”“Is there something I should know about?”“Wha—? Huh?” Hyunsuk’s eyes fly open, his eyes searching.“Just— you know,” and then he feels himself unraveling like a spool of fishing line caught against a strong wind, “Is there an  RSID boyfriend you’re going back to once spring break is over? Or a high school sweetheart waiting to surprise you back in Darien? And shit, are you really fine with me sticking it in raw?”“Don’t you think it’s too late to ask those kinds of questions?” and Hyunsuk pushes his upper half with the use of his elbows, so that his mouth hovers before the column of Jihoon’s neck as he speaks, “You’re fucking me. Your dick’s already rubbing my insides.” Then the guy proceeds to nip at Jihoon’s skin, sucking it thoroughly while he clamps around his cock.“F—fuck,” he spits, and that’s more to the fact that Hyunsuk’s rattling his heart hard inside his ribs without even the faintest idea that he does.The guy tacks on a giggle too, but this time the sound is harsh to Jihoon’s ears.“The stat guy jumped out.”“What do you mean—” he says, a touch annoyed. Sweat is now soaking his bangs and he distractedly watches one drop landing on the blonde’s heaving chest.“So hell-bent for empirical evidence,” explains Hyunsuk. And what’s so wrong about that? Jihoon then plants his hands on either side of Hyunsuk, braces his legs on the mattress and starts fucking the guy harder, pushing the blonde further into the covers and duvet until he’s folding back Hyunsuk’s knees against his chest in Jihoon’s attempt to bury himself deeper into the guy’s hole. He pistons himself in and out and then slams so roughly, almost punishingly so, as he stimulates Hyunsuk’s prostate making the guy jerk, shiver, and cry. “I just want— Gods but I shouldn’t—” he rambles just as his pace continues to grow turbulent.“Hey!” And Hyunsuk grabs his arm to still his movements. “Look at me, Ji! What’s wrong?”“I want to be sure,” he croaks, voice all rough like he hasn’t said a word in days, “I want to know if it’s worth pursuing you.”“Oh. That’s what you meant by—” and Hyunsuk reddens like the striking plumage of a Northern cardinal. Then he says a little more feelingly, “Oh.” He stays silent for minutes and Jihoon doesn’t know for how long the guy did it but he is sure he’s held his breath for just as long while waiting for the blonde to talk. Then Hyunsuk cups his jaw gently and Jihoon feels something in him melt away. “Okay. Okay, yeah, I’m all yours if you want to.”“All mine?” he breathes out.The blonde bobs his head. “All yours,” he says, pulling down Jihoon by the scruff of his neck so Hyunsuk can seal that promise with a kiss. Emboldened, Jihoon starts driving into Hyunsuk faster, nailing that spot where the guy particularly sobs out a guttural moan, over and over until tears wet again his delicate, long eyelashes. That sound and that particular visage of Hyunsuk grabs him by the balls as it is so pure and raw. He only seeks to add into it by tweaking the blonde’s nipple painfully. Jihoon feels vindicated when Hyunsuk’s insides cling around his cock in stronger spasms. The guy’s breathless moans keep on building higher too while Jihoon’s thrusts turn erratic. There’s no rhythm to it, nor is there any more tempo to the blonde’s involuntary shudders rippling throughout his body. Everything in between is primal and uninhibited now.Their hotel room is once more filled with the sound of their naked, sweaty skin smacking against each other, with their labored breathing, the occasional long string of ahhhs from Hyunsuk and Jihoon’s winded desperate groans. (Oh, had he been so desperate).But there’s also a soothing effect that softly brushes the back of Jihoon’s mind now, making him lose the urge to make this moment last knowing what he knows now—that Hyunsuk wants to be his. “Jihoon,” Hyunsuk whispers his name as he comes, his back beautifully arching as the guy forces his own hips to stick out so he can savor the moment of his release.It’s a simple thing but it feels like the final nail in the coffin, making Jihoon’s blood sing through his veins and his ears ring out just as his frantic movements seize and his own release pulsates out of him in a rush, it’s as if they’re coming like waves chasing each other to the shoreline.There’s something to be said about how a certain roughness can only bring this kind of tenderness but Jihoon can’t dwell on it for so long when the blonde finally slumps back down on the bed with fits of tremor leaving his body a quivering mess. Jihoon waits for his dick to soften before he pulls out, then lets his weight crash on Hyunsuk, trapping the guy on the mattress as exhaustion lulls him to sleep.Hyunsuk gathers Jihoon to his arms, pulling him with all the might his slender arms can muster so that his head is resting on the blonde’s chest. He goes back to combing Jihoon’s hair, humming an intriguing melody he’s never heard of before and he wonders if it is a developing habit in his presence—he does like my bed hair look—and Jihoon keeps his eyes closed, the pads of his fingers lazily tracing the bow of the blonde’s rib cage while pondering what further habits and actions he’ll take note of from the guy as their time together stretches on.“So,” opens Hyunsuk, and Jihoon thinks he instantly responds with a sound of dismay from the back of his throat as the guy stops his humming, “if I told you I have two other lovers and I want you to be our fourth—”He recognizes at once the mockery in the blonde’s voice just by the inflection of his words, the movement of his rib cage, and the shake of his shoulders when he’s unable to keep in a laugh so Jihoon barks, “Oh, shut up!” and then proceeds to bite the guy’s chest, hoping to leave a mark.

Jihoon wakes up in the middle of the night to the dying sound of a call he’s about to miss answering. He’s read his mom’s caller ID on the screen just before the call ends. He grabs his phone and mumbles an expletive as the notifications center reveals several missed calls and messages from his parents, from his brother Kijung, from Junkyu and his other close college friends. Ah, shit. I forgot to let them know my flight’s been pushed back.  He climbs out of the sheets he’s tucked in then so he can fire off replies to each and every single message he’s received when his foot nudges Hyunsuk’s thigh who’s sitting by the foot of the bed with the hotel phone placed on his lap, busy twisting the cord around his fingers as he talks to someone. Jihoon notices the hickey he’s left under the blonde’s collarbone peeking out of the hotel robe he’s wearing and he uses every ounce of his strength to not drop his phone right there and then and tackle the guy back to bed, or to the floor if he’s so inclined, for another round.“I woke up hungry and realized we skipped dinner,” the blonde is telling him while Jihoon lets his group chat with his friends explode by typing in currently in a hotel room with a guy doing unholy things 🍆🍑🥵 and leaving their replies on-read. “I didn’t know what you wanted, aside from hot dogs, obviously,” Hyunsuk stresses with a knowing smile, “so I ordered a full spread.”Jihoon puts his phone down, moves his ass on the bed, and then hangs his arms around the guy, enclosing Hyunsuk in a side-hug, his arms snaking around the blonde’s small waist as he declares, “But I already have my feast right here!”Hyunsuk blows a puff of exasperated air out of his mouth. “While I appreciate your enthusiasm and vigor, my ass can only take so much of your dick before I’m left unable to walk, okay?”A riotous laugh is pulled out of Jihoon and he squeezes the guy in his embrace fondly. “So what should we do in the meantime?”“I guess we can watch a movie?”“Sure,” he agrees easily. “I bet there’s a horror movie running in one of the channels this time of night.”The blonde stiffens within Jihoon’s hold as he gasps, voice trembling in fear, “What? No. Anything but that!”“Huh? But why Hyun?” and he runs his hands up and down the guy’s arms to help him relax, “You can’t possibly be scared of them. They’re just movies, created by people—”Hyunsuk elbows him by the gut, effectively cutting him off. “God, you don’t think I know that? It’s just— It always had this bad effect on me. I seriously can’t sleep for days right after watching one, provided that I even managed to get to the end credits. Think it left me with a traumatic experience when I was a kid too. My mom told me she found me passed out while we were in the middle of a ghost tour for a local fundraising event and ever since then I forswore anything horror-related. It’s that bad, Ji.”“Okay. That sounds fucked up,” and Jihoon maneuvers the guy so he can look at him in the face when he presses, “But maybe this time it’ll be different, yeah? When was the last time you watched a scary movie? You might react differently now, Hyun. Besides, you have me with you. Anytime you think it’s too much, we’ll stop and choose another show to watch,” and the blonde’s eyes may be shifty but Jihoon can tell he’s considering his suggestion when the guy worries his bottom lip. “You can even have the pick of the horror movie you want to watch. Choose what you think is the least scariest from whatever is on right now, hmm?”Hyunsuk then displays the hugest of pouts but in the end, he somewhat begrudgingly accepts Jihoon’s proposition by reaching for the remote.Two hours later, they find themselves shaking under the bedsheets they’ve cocooned themselves in as the credits roll, their throats sore from screaming non-stop, and their room service food had long gone cold.Hyunsuk turns to Jihoon with a deathly glare but the edge has been taken off by tears pooling in his eyes, “The fuck you said I could count on you while we’re watching? You were more scared than I was!”“To be fair, I never said I wouldn’t be scared,” he easily counters, “and you did pick a pretty great eerie film since it did keep us on our toes. That last jump scare was phenomenal. Guess it’s proven now you just have shit luck when it comes to all things horror.”“I did tell you!” cries out the guy. Hyunsuk lets go of his side of the blanket they are both holding on so he can reach for the pillow by his feet and then proceeds to whack it on Jihoon’s person.He deftly dodges the attack, maneuvering the blonde’s arm until he releases the pillow from his grip, and with an obnoxious laugh, Jihoon uses his weight and upper thigh strength to push the guy back on the bed, pinning down Hyunsuk underneath him again while he remains twisted in his sitting position. Gathering the cotton-material of his robe, Hyunsuk folds his arms to his chest and then mutters under his breath, “Geez. This is who you’ll be putting up with in the foreseeable future, Hyunsuk Choi.”Jihoon is keenly aware that though the blonde is telling those words to himself, it is meant to be heard by him. Hyunsuk is goading him, willing for a reaction out of him, the cheeky shit. He snickers at that even as his heart starts to melt like a candle wax under an ignited flame. “I’m not perfect, I admit, but I’m as real as it gets, Hyun.”Hyunsuk pins him with a vulnerable look then. “I hope you know I don’t normally do this, Jihoon Park.” And he gets the guy’s meaning, of course he does, despite the word this containing multitudes of meaning in between them: this doesn’t look like it’ll stay casual, this is too fast, this is also beginning to mean something more because there’s never been anything as close to this Jihoon has experienced before—a lightning-fast affinity with Hyunsuk.He’s just about to say, I’m the same, when he hears a growling sound coming from the blonde’s stomach.Hyunsuk looks shocked, bug-eyed and open-mouthed, and Jihoon laughs in a knee-jerk reaction. “What? That you don’t normally feel hungry, your highness?” he teases.“Oh you know what I mean!” grumps the guy, the tips of his ears burning red while he’s striving hard to kick Jihoon’s legs in retribution.“Yeah, yeah,” he responds, chuckling before he pushes himself off the bed and is made to stand. “I’ll heat up some of the food. What do you want to eat first?”The blonde raises his dainty foot to point towards the writing desk where their food is laid out. “Mmm, there, peasant food at three o’clock.”Jihoon contorts his eyebrows while turning to the direction he’s being steered to. At the far end of the table, he sees a large plate of pizza filled with ground beef and Spanish olives. Peasant food? He fucking howls at that.

Jihoon only notices that their hotel room has a magnificent view of the tarmac where they can observe airplanes taxi, pull up to a gate, or head out to the runway just as he’s walking back to the twin-size bed with pizza slices fresh off the microwave.Hyunsuk’s lovely eyes are looking straight at him when he opens, “Come with me to Darien. Be my date to my family’s luncheon.”“Or you can come with me to Stony Creek,” he suggests as he settles before the blonde while carefully propping the plate on the bed covers. “You can hang out with me and my family for beer and barbecue at the beach.”“Or, and since you told me you have a boating license,” the guy rebuts while reaching in for a slice, “we can take out the yacht and sail along Norwalk Harbor.”Jihoon laughs loudly in the face of this spoiled, rich brat. “Or you can be a plebeian with me for a time. We’ll go bike riding on Branford Trail and then check out the fresh produce at the farmer’s market.”“Oh, come on. Meet me halfway!”“But I already did, Hyunsuk Choi,” and he directs a knowing look the guy’s way.Hyunsuk’s pout softens to a smile before he turns contemplative. “Biking and shopping at the farmer’s market sounds fun.”“Yeah?”The blonde’s smile is now equal parts sinister and seductive, which is a whole lot endearing when he mocks, “Sure. If you’re old and gray.”Jihoon frowns. He takes Hyunsuk’s hand in his, the one that is yet to pick a slice of pizza, and raises it both to their eye-level. “Can’t you picture me holding your wrinkly old hand while choosing the best sourdough bread in the market?”Hyunsuk stares fixedly at their interlaced hands, and then at Jihoon long and hard. He’d be lying if he doesn’t feel all self-conscious, all nervous looking into the guy’s eyes while waiting for the blonde’s reply. There must be something he’s seen, something he’s read in Jihoon’s features, or something he’s felt through the touch of their hands because after a moment the guy’s lips curl briefly, a soft, pleased little smile grazing on them until his words come out.They come out as a whisper, sounding so loud in its clarity, “I can.”