Archive of Our Own ^beta

“I’ll feed you.”

Three simple words to invite absolute chaos into one’s life.

Cale didn’t regret his choice to say those words. The precious family he’d met along the way and all the irreplaceable moments with people he loved weren’t events that he’d ever in any seriousness ever want to lose.

Still , there were seriously some days when he couldn’t help but think.

Fuck, I should have just gotten beaten up.

There was no way he wanted to get beaten up by Choi Han. He watched the man train regularly, he was aware more than most people how overwhelmingly strong the vicious punk was.

It was just that things had gotten a bit complicated lately. And Cale wasn’t quite ready for the variety of ways those complications had developed.

A war with the Empire? Well, it was inconvenient but Cale could deal with the situation. An obsessive immortal megalomaniac with a god complex? Definitely a shitty situation to deal with but Cale could manage. A dormant god with a misguided obsession with him? Already dealt with and Cale preferred not to ruminate on that matter.

Complicated for Cale wasn’t about the difficulty or impossibility of a task. It was about the personal amount of stress that it put him through and more importantly, about how far outside of his comfort zone he was venturing.

Tragic as it was, war and death were well within Cale’s comfort zone due to his miserable past.

Being pinned to the wall by his loyal friend and companion?

Cale would have preferred to have just gotten beaten up.

Especially since he really wasn’t entirely ready to rule out the possibility that he was going to get beaten up right now anyway.

It was just that sort of unpredictable day.

“...Cale-nim.”

Cale swallowed thickly. What was he supposed to do when Choi Han’s voice hitched with emotion like that?

Damn, he was only ever supposed to be a minor forgettable villain who inconvenienced the protagonist briefly.

He could have lived his slacker life without ever getting dragged into anything complicated if he’d just taken his beating and moved on.

He definitely wouldn’t be trapped inside of the emotion reflected in Choi Han’s onyx eyes and feeling like his legs were unsteady beneath him.

Choi Han didn’t dare to close the distance and that was frustrating too because Cale could tell that he wanted to.

And really when had things gotten so insanely complicated? There wasn’t a single thing he could think about that was truly simple about his relationship with Choi Han. One of the very few people in this world who knew he was Kim Rok Soo, a relative of his departed best friend, the protagonist that was supposed to beat him up, his closest–

Cale averted his eyes, frowning deeply as his heart raced meaninglessly in his chest. What did his heart think it’d win at the end of the race? A prize? Well, unfortunately the only prize heart palpitations could offer was discomfort and in severe cases, a heart attack. He wasn’t about ready to break down all of the insanely complicated puzzle pieces connecting him to Choi Han in so many little and large ways that made their meeting feel just as inevitable as it felt like a once in a lifetime chance.

Choi Han held his chin softly, guiding him to look him back in the eyes and Cale felt like his heart was going for a nonexistent gold medal because it sprinted in his chest.

“...what?” He asked, playing dumb and they both knew it.

Choi Han smiled at him indulgently and it didn’t do anything to help his poor heart.

“I’m going to kiss you, Cale-nim.”

It caught Cale a bit by surprise. He’d expected the Choi Han he knew to ask him for permission rather than to state it like a simple fact.

Looking into Choi Han’s eyes, for a moment it really did feel like maybe it was just that simple.

‘I really should have just gotten beaten up.’ His arms wrapped around Choi Han’s neck as the distance closed and his restless heart had absolutely no plans to take a break.

Sometimes he really was scared of Choi Han. He trusted him with his life and the lives of all the people he loved but there was an unpredictable streak to the man that always caused Cale just a bit of unease.

Just a bit of excitement too.

It was terrifying to know that the man who kissed him so gently could so easily tear him in half, not just with his impressive physical strength, but through the chokehold that Choi Han monopolized on his heart.

He was breathless when Choi Han finally pulled away, that innocent smile that Cale sort of loved taking over his face. “Cale-nim–”

“Don’t say the obvious.” Cale huffed, cutting him off. His cheeks burned with embarrassment. Choi Han had tamed him so easily with only a few words and gestures and it was all so complicated now and Cale didn’t want to think about it because it terrified him.

But that was the thing about Choi Han.

While Cale fretted away about every single complication in the world, Choi Han broke it down into simple and understandable chunks that he could cling to. Perhaps it was an artifact from his decades fighting for his life alone or perhaps it was just an innate character trait of Choi Han’s but he didn’t see the complicated puzzle that was giving Cale a headache.

That was a lie.

He saw the puzzle. He just didn’t bother to solve it.

He loved Cale and that was all there was to it.

As simple as anything.

“Yes, Cale-nim.” He replied with an amused smile, kissing him again gently and this time he felt Cale’s fears drain away as he indulged in the simple kiss.

And for a moment stolen away just for the pair of them, it really was that simple.

Three words started it all and three words remained unspoken between them as instead they felt it in every moment together.