Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hyunjin’s mother parked her car in his spot.

He has had something akin to a headache, like a dull pressure around his head. The entire week had been nothing but filing, answering calls, shelving books, and putting out figurative fires, preparing to be out of the office for a week of Christmas vacation.

Hyunjin didn’t know if he could really call it a vacation. He would be trapped in a cabin under the scrutiny of his parents and his aunt and uncle, wherein his life choices would be examined from all angles, everything about him turned into a competition between himself and his cousin, Minho, as it had always been.

Minho acted like the perfect one, by all accounts—top grades in school, a large house, a high-paying career as a partner at a law firm, a charming and outgoing husband, and, as of this year, a daughter.

Hyunjin only had a string of painful exes and worked at a library; not even as a librarian, he needed a Master’s degree for that. He worked behind the scenes instead. He created the displays, he stopped children from throwing tantrums in the aisles, he listened to the beeping of the barcode scanner as he checked out books for patrons until he could hear the sound festering into his brain as he slept, incorporating itself into his dreams, and he’d been rewarded for his stable job by incessant nagging by his mother and aunt about continuing his education.

“Why don’t you get a Master’s degree,” Hyunjin grumbled under his breath, answering an invisible conversation with only himself as he turned around in the cramped parking garage and parked in a guest spot much further away. He checked his reflection in his rear-view mirror and came to terms with his bushy, flyaway hair, dark circles under his eyes, and clothes that had become unkempt during the day, before climbing out of his car and locking it with the keyfob in his hand, shivering in the cold of the garage despite his coat.

It had been a long day and it was about to get even longer. Why did his mother come here? He’d see her at the cabin in just a few short days, wasn’t that enough? He hoped her plans weren’t to stay the night… his plans of ordering takeout and camping in front of the TV watching The Bachelor reruns were now only a pipe dream.

The elevator ride felt stagnant and awkward as usual, but all too short as he exited and shoved his key into the lock of his apartment door. He spotted his neighbor, Jeongin, exiting his own apartment, leaving to go to who knows where, and offered him a quick wave. His mood had dampened considerably, but he wasn’t a monster. Jeongin waved back politely and looked as if he might want to say something, but Hyunjin had already shut the door of his apartment.

He found his mother on the long part of the couch, eating his chips, and catching up on her soaps with the volume up all the way. When she spotted him at the door, she waited until he stood in the living space to tell him, “You need to get a haircut.”

No hellos, no hugs.

“It’s not going to happen, mom,” Hyunjin sighed, taking a seat on the opposite end of the couch. Aside from today, where it looked quite disheveled, he liked his dark, wavy hair that now grew a bit past his shoulders. He could do so many things with it, and he liked that it made him look a bit more feminine. He would not have short hair simply because Minho had short hair—though if he tried to tell her this, she would deny it as the reason.

He watched her show for a bit, cringing at the screen as he’d arrived at some secondhand-embarrassment. Meanwhile, his mom recounted some gossip about people in her hometown, despite him not knowing any of them, as well as the comings-and-goings of some second or third cousins of his that he’d barely spoken to. This all felt normal, and Hyunjin offered nothing as he stared at the screen, willing this scene to be over.

“—And I hope you don’t mind that I took your parking spot. My hips have just been giving me fits.”

“It’s okay,” he made himself say. He still did mind, but he couldn’t do anything about it.

“I was in your neighborhood and wanted to drop in. The stores close by are much better than mine, and your Auntie Seojeong has been asking for new boots…” His mother continued on with presents she’s getting everyone, and Hyunjin stayed quiet, wondering when it would happen: when the conversation would turn on him. It was probably coming up very soon–

“—Everyone’s going to the cabin this year, but you already knew that. Minho and Chan will be there with little Jia–did Minho send you her birthday photos? Oh, she looked so cute…” She already pulled them up to show him, and he nodded absently when he saw. Maybe the conversation wouldn’t turn on him after all, she seemed very focused on her great-niece…

“Do you ever think about having children someday?” she suddenly asked him. There it was.

“Not without a partner, no,” he answered, sighing and running a hand through his hair. 

“You know you’re not going to be young forever, Jinnie; you won’t always have the energy to chase around little ones.”

“Then maybe I don’t want kids at all, since I definitely don’t have the energy now,” Hyunjin lied. He did want a family someday, but god, his mother bothered him. She came into his house, ate his food, affected the algorithm of his Netflix, and begged for grandkids. She needed a new hobby.

“You don’t mean that,” she frowned comically.

“I could mean it.”

“If you weren’t so picky, you’d be married by now. And I’ve given you a list of several nice men.”

“Mom, I really don’t need you to pick out boys for me,” Hyunjin bit back. He stood up and walked to the kitchen, pouring himself a glass of water. Never mind the fact that she’d only given him a list of people she’d found out through social media were gay, and that being the only factor of compatibility had produced men who were older than him by decades or had shitty political opinions. After one particular date with what his mother had deemed a “nice man,” wherein the guy had been forty minutes late to the park, talked the entire time about Dogecoin, and insisted that Hyunjin wear something “less revealing next time” (he’d worn a tank top and shorts in the summer), he swore off his mother’s help for good.

“I don’t know where this attitude is coming from,” his mother sniffed, finally pausing her show. “I just worry about you, when you’ll be the only single one at the cabin–”

“—I’m not single,” Hyunjin retorted, then paused, his face stricken. Wait, why did he say that? He was single.

His mother immediately moved into the kitchen, cornering him. “Hwang Hyunjin, why are you keeping a boyfriend from me? Why didn’t you just say so? What’s his name?”

He’d better come clean right now, admit he misspoke. He couldn’t just make up a boyfriend.

Then he took in the expression on her face. Expectant, hopeful. He’d never seen her pleased with him like this.

“His name is…Jeongin,” Hyunjin settled on, picking the first name that popped into his head. His neighbor had just been unlucky enough to be the last person Hyunjin saw that looked to be his general age. And single too, to his knowledge. They had thin walls and he never heard anything.

“Jeongin? Your next door neighbor?”

Fuck. He didn’t expect her to know him. “How do you know–”

“Please. When you were hosting your housewarming party last June, I took some leftovers over to him. A bit of an odd boy. He collects a lot of…what’s the name for those toy blocks children build with?”

“...Lego?”

“He had a lot of Legos set up on shelves in his home. When you two get married, you’ll have to help him dust them, you know. When dust accumulates, that’s how you get sick.”

Great. Apparently his mom even knew more about him than Hyunjin did. “I know, mom,” he played along. He had not even been entertaining the idea of being married to Jeongin and dusting his Hogwarts Castle, or whatever was going on in his apartment.

“But you are bringing him to the cabin for Christmas, right? He must come.”

“We haven’t been together all that long, we’re definitely not at the ‘holiday together’ level yet–”

“—Well, it’s the perfect way to start being at the ‘holiday together’ level, dear! And you can’t just be gone for a week without seeing him. He’ll break up with you and find someone else.”

Hyunjin wished he had a normal mother who didn’t say things like that to him. While he was at it, he wished he didn’t have a mother who never left room for argument, and plowed her way through until she got what she wanted, never mind if she was hurting him in the process.

So he sighed again, deciding not to argue. “I’ll…see what I can do. I can’t promise anything, okay?”

“Sure, Jinnie,” she said, rather dismissively, but he could tell she was pleased to have come out of this visit triumphant. “Now–you should take your mother out to dinner. You know the restaurants around here the best.”

“Sure. Are you staying the night?”

“Oh, I might as well.” As if she wasn’t clearly already planning on it. Now that Hyunjin was looking, he spotted an overnight bag next to his couch.

Hyunjin really should just pretend he and his neighbor Jeongin had some big couple fight over not being ready for a vacation away, and leave it at that. He should not be knocking on his neighbor’s door the next morning, after he’d successfully shooed his mother away back to her own home.

But now he knew his mother had no trouble coming over to Jeongin’s home and talking to him, potentially getting his side of the story, and he couldn’t have that.

Jeongin answered the door in slacks and a long sleeve button-down, untucked. His ginger hair was unbrushed, and he looked a little bleary-eyed, as if he’d just woken up and was still partially a zombie. He must be getting ready for work.

“—I’m sorry to bother you, Jeongin-ssi,” Hyunjin started, taking in the sight of him. Now that he was really looking at him, and unfortunately looking at him under the lens of a potential boyfriend…he was pretty handsome, actually. He was just a bit shorter than Hyunjin, and his features were sharp and pointed, his eyes large and not unlike that of a fox. The hand that was holding the door open had fingers that were long and veiny, clad with several rings.

Ah.

“That’s okay, Hyunjin-ssi. What’s up?”

“I have a bit of a…very weird, very odd personal issue, and I was wondering if you had time later today to talk.”

“Oh…” the guy raised his eyebrows. “Could you actually just tell me what it is now? You can’t just ask me to talk later without giving me some clue to what you want, or else I’ll get really anxious.”

“Don’t you need to head to work?”

“Not for an hour. It’s okay, promise. Come in, please.” Jeongin opened his door wider and stepped back, allowing Hyunjin to step inside.

He was greeted with a very gray apartment, with angular couches and a pure black coffee table. The space did not feel very inviting. The only color in the room came from, as his mother had forewarned, various shelves with display cases holding expensive Lego sets inside: A Death Star, something from Lord of the Rings, and a large apartment complex, just to name a few.

Okay, if he had covered display cases, that meant no future dusting. Take that, mother.

“Have you had anything to eat yet?” Jeongin asked him as he stuck a bagel into his toaster.

“No…but I always pick up something on my way to work. I’m fine, thank you.”

“Okay, then. Come and sit at the island and talk to me.”

Hyunjin did so, sliding onto one of the tall bar stools in front of his counter. His long legs dangled off the seat and he skimmed the ground with the tips of his black boots. “So it’s about my family, and our yearly Christmas vacation to the cabin.”

Jeongin leaned onto the island with his arms extended, providing his full attention. He prompted him with his eyes to continue.

Hyunjin continued. “Every year, I get heavily pressured by my family, asking me when I’m going to find a husband, when I’m going to have children, when I’m going to get a proper job–sometimes all those things all at once. It’s…exhausting.”

“I can imagine,” he answered. “Why don’t you tell them to shove off and leave you alone?”

“It’s not that simple when it comes to them,” Hyunjin argued. Good idea, tell them to leave him alone. Why didn’t he think of that? Except he had thought of that, multiple times. “I love them, but…they nag…a lot. There’s no boundaries.”

“Okay…” Jeongin nodded with uncertainty, waiting for him to get to the point.

“Yesterday, my mom came over and did more of that nagging, until I couldn’t take it anymore,” Hyunjin shared. “I snapped and decided to lie in the moment, and I kind of told her I had a boyfriend.”

Jeongin blinked. “Why did you do that?”

“I don’t know!” Hyunjin threw up his hands. “I thought in that split second that it would get her to leave me alone, but it only made things worse. And I made it worse than that, even, because…I gave her a name.”

The man simply stood there and blinked over at Hyunjin, trying to process what he tried to say, and then clarity suddenly appeared in his eyes.

“You gave her my name.”

Hyunjin nodded sadly. “I’m sorry. Um, you don’t have to do anything about it, but I found out after I gave your name out that she actually knows you, she brought food to your door once? And she can and will try to seek you out on her own, so I’m just giving you a warning, basically.”

Jeongin still seemed stumped at this information, a bit put out, so Hyunjin kept talking. “She invited you to go to the cabin for the holidays, and I told her I would talk to you, so I’m thinking that maybe I could tell her we had a huge fight about it and broke up and that’s that…why are you shaking your head?”

“Won't coming to the cabin fresh off a potential broken heart be worse for you? Isn’t your family the type to give you pitying looks and comments?”

Hyunjin bit his lip and nodded. A fair point. Poor Hyunjin, can’t keep a single boyfriend, all alone on Christmas… “But it’s okay, Jeongin-ssi. I dug my grave, and I can lie in it.”

The man frowned, tapping his fingertips on the counter in thought. “Or, you could just invite me to the cabin.”

His eyes widened. “No, that’s a terrible idea! They wouldn’t leave you alone for a second.” Jeongin seemed level-headed enough, but he barely knew the guy. He would not want to put a stranger through a week of bullying just to keep up a weird ruse for no reason. He didn’t know if Jeongin could mentally handle it. Plus, there was nothing for Jeongin to gain from this.

As if somewhat reading his thoughts, Jeongin added, “I have overwhelming parents and two siblings, plus a couple halmeonis. I can handle myself, Hyunjin-ssi. And besides,” he took his hands from the counter and fit them in the pockets of his slacks, looking a bit sheepish. “I’m not even going home for Christmas. My parents booked a cruise, and my brothers have their own families to visit. So, I was just going to be alone, anyway.” He said this nonchalantly, like it wasn’t a big deal. Hyunjin couldn’t imagine being alone on Christmas. For better or for worse, there was always a family member there on the day.

“Then…” Hyunjin ran a hand through his hair. He couldn’t believe he was even considering going through with this. “I suppose you should pretend to be my boyfriend so that you can get some of my Auntie Seojeong’s cooking…I can try and sneak you in for that reason only…” he offered a faint smile.

Jeongin played along, just as blasé . “I suppose I have no choice. If I want Auntie Seojeong’s cooking.”

“Your hands are surely tied.”

“Twist my arm, and all that.”

Hyunjin liked this guy. Why didn’t they ever hang out before this? He needed more friends outside of work. “Okay.” He hopped up off the stool and headed towards the door. “We both need to head to work soon…let’s go out for sushi tonight, and we can run over details. I’ll pay.”

“Sure.” Jeongin nodded. “It’s a date, then.”

Hyunjin’s stomach flipped.

This was likely the stupidest decision Hyunjin had ever made. Fake dating was invented as a trope in bad Hallmark movies. No one did this in real life. Why was he going through with this?

After he shelved all the books from the overnight book drop, he had a quick break, so he quite covertly walked into his supervisor Jisung’s office and shut the door.

Jisung looked up from his screen, looking a tad befuddled as Hyunjin peeked out the window of the door to check if anyone was coming. “What did you get into now? Did you spill an entire pitcher of fruit juice on the carpet again?”

“Shush, you.” Hyunjin deemed the area safe and walked to Jisung’s desk, taking a seat across from him. “I need some advice. You’re my only friend who’s in a stable marriage, so maybe you have some expert knowledge for me.”

“I really doubt I can help you, whatever it is. You have the wildest exes, and the last time Seungmin and I actually fought about something, it was because he didn’t like the way I put silverware in the dishwasher. And that was a year ago.”

Jisung had a point, unfortunately. Hyunjin would relay tales of his asshole one-night-stands: men who talked on the phone the whole time they were having sex or had to listen to a specific song on repeat to be able to get it up. Men who didn’t prep Hyunjin properly because they “wanted him to be tight,” or asked him out on a date afterwards, just to decide in the midst of the restaurant they “weren’t feeling it” and got up and left.

Jisung the librarian listened to all of Hyunjin’s stories with anger and indignation on his behalf, cursing the very ground men walked on…except for one man: his dear Seungmin, whom he’d met while in college and was immediately drawn to like a magnet. Hyunjin had met the guy himself at a few staff parties–he’d witnessed the way those two equally clicked like magnets as well. 

He felt burning jealousy towards them, but he would keep that hidden away always and forever, until the end of time. Hyunjin longed for someone who clicked with him, too.

“Why don’t I explain the situation to you, and you can decide whether you’d like to give me advice,” Hyunjin responded, looking down to fidget with the ring on his finger.

Jisung closed a couple tabs on his computer, swiveled his desk chair until he was right across from Hyunjin, and folded his arms over the wooden surface. “Okay, baby. What’s going on?”

So Hyunjin explained it all: the visit from his mother, the talk with his neighbor. Jisung listened to the story with his large, widened eyes, clearly fascinated.

“Fake dating,” Jisung scoffed when he was finished. “Really, Hyunnie?”

“I don’t know. This is a terrible idea. Right? I should just tell Jeongin-ssi that it’s not going to work out, pay for his sushi, and apologize to him for bothering him. Right?”

“Hm.” Jisung bent to open a drawer and pulled out a Reese's cup, offering it to Hyunjin, knowing he would accept the gift without question. They both loved sweets.

Hyunjin unwrapped it and slotted the chocolate cup into his mouth like a VHS tape being slid into a VCR and chewed while Jisung collected his thoughts, mulling the information over.

“Well, I think you’ll have to make sure Jeongin is a very good liar, because your family cannot find out you lied.”

Hyunjin completely agreed. Jisung had the misfortune of meeting his parents once, when they visited him at work unannounced.

“You’ll have to go through a cover story and set some ground rules ahead of time. Where did you two meet, when did you start dating, how did you know you liked him…just be prepared for questions you yourself would ask a couple. And by ground rules, I mean, like…are you two okay with kissing and holding hands, all that.”

Somehow the idea of kissing Jeongin never crossed his mind as a possibility, and he turned a bit green with nerves. “Okay,” he managed.

“Other than that…honestly, it feels like a solid plan to get your relatives off your ass. To me, anyway. And…a secret of the trade: sometimes, Seungmin and I will play up the PDA so that other people will leave the room, and then we’ll just be on our phones and be happy for the silence.”

Another reason why those two were perfect for each other. They even schemed together. “Well, now I know to stay in the room when you two are making out.”

“Wow. Didn’t know you were into that kind of thing,” Jisung smirked. Hyunjin flipped him off and stood up.

“Okay! Well anyway, I guess I’m gonna do a fake dating plot but in real life,” Hyunjin sighed. “And I won't get in trouble, as long as Jeongin can paint a picture that we’re in love, or something."

Jisung looked up at him. “Of course he can. Who wouldn’t want to be in a relationship with you, fake or otherwise?”

“I can name ten off the top of my head.”

“Seungmin and I are going to hunt down and doxx those ten for you tonight.”

The worst part was, Hyunjin believed they were fully capable of doing that.

After work, Hyunjin came home to find Jeongin camped out in front of his door, playing an old Gameboy. “Jeongin–ssi? What’s up?”

“I don’t have your phone number, and we didn’t specify a time,” he explained, not looking up. “I didn’t want to miss you.”

“I could have just come over and knocked.”

“Yeah, true. But I also need to see what the inside of your apartment looks like, right? What if someone asks me about your apartment and I look like an asshole who doesn’t even know what my boyfriend’s house is like? You know, how does he like to decorate? What’s his bathroom setup? These are the kinds of things I should know to paint a proper picture, Hyunjin-ssi.”

Truthfully, Hyunjin had started to tune Jeongin out when he mentioned “boyfriend,” his cheeks definitely flushed. Boyfriend. Why did he not hate the word being used on him by Jeongin? This morning was the first time they’d ever properly talked.

“You make a fair point,” he allowed. “Come on in.” He unlocked the door and gestured for his neighbor to come inside.

When Jeongin stepped in and slipped off his shoes, he immediately took a tour around the living room and kitchen area, looking around at everything, from the art on his wall, to the pictures placed on the the end tables, to reading the candle labels on the coffee table, and even to the large bookshelf of overflowing books.

“You have a lot of books,” Jeongin pointed out, speaking up finally.

“I work at a library. I get a lot of books recommended to me.”

“Oh…yeah, I should probably know what you do for a living.” Jeongin smiled apologetically. “You make sense as a librarian.”

Hyunjin smiled, even though Jeongin had just mentioned one of his pet peeves. He didn’t know any better, most people didn’t. “Thank you, but I’m not a librarian. You need a master’s degree for that.”

“You still get to be around books and kids though, right? That sounds like a good deal.”

Hyunjin nodded. Jeongin didn’t ask about the degree, so he was already on his good list. “That’s my favorite part–the books and the kids. Even when they’re throwing tantrums, it’s usually kind of easy to calm them down…the kids, not the books.”

Jeongin laughed. He had a laugh that literally sounded like he was saying “ha-ha-ha,” and Hyunjin immediately wanted to hear it again. “I figured you weren’t talking about the books throwing fits, Hyunjin-ssi. Do you need to get ready to go? I don’t mind staying right here and snooping at your stuff.”

“Yeah, that’s fine–just give me a few minutes.”

Hyunjin left the practical stranger in his living room while he changed out of his work clothes and into something a little more cozy. Jeongin did mention it was a date, but it wasn’t a date date. They were just going over the details of how their arrangement worked. He was handsome and nice, sure, but Hyunjin didn’t think what he felt about Jeongin would be close to actual feelings.

He pulled a soft crewneck sweater on and matched it with a regular pair of jeans. His hair was at its regular post-work bushiness, so Hyunjin brushed it out and tied it into a typical half-up ponytail.

When he was done and ready to leave, Jeongin was in the kitchen, looking into his fridge.

“Are you hungry?”

Jeongin startled, hitting his elbow against the fridge door. “Aish– no, sorry. I’m seeing what kinds of food you like,” he explained, rubbing his elbow.

“You could just ask me,” Hyunjin answered, but he wasn’t upset at all. Again, it was smart of Jeongin to learn all this about him. He should likely be picking up the slack.

“You wouldn’t paint me the full picture. You’d just tell me some foods you hate, like lima beans or something, but that doesn’t tell me what your typical grocery order is.”

“Hmm…” Jeongin was really going for realism. Something told Hyunjin he was actually the perfect candidate for this fake-dating scheme, because he took this very seriously. Perhaps that was just the kind of guy he was. They headed out the door, Jeongin holding the door open for him.

“Thanks, Jeongin-ssi. Eggplants.”

“Hmm?”

“I hate eggplants.”

Jeongin blinked at him. “Okay, no eggplants for Hyunjin-ssi. I’ll fight them off with my bare fists if I need to.”

“My hero,” Hyunjin fake-swooned.

Jeongin had a big appetite, which was fantastic, because Hyunjin had a big appetite. They ended up ordering the fancy boat with an array of sushi inside. Was it somewhat embarrassing as the waiters presented it to the table? Yes. Was it full of delicious sushi? Also yes. Hyunjin could get over his embarrassment.

He snuck glances as Jeongin would shovel pieces of sushi into his mouth. He had a…big mouth.

“Are you okay?” Jeongin looked at him after a while, when they had settled in to eat.

“Yeah…?”

“You keep making a face whenever you eat.”

“Oh.” Jeongin noticed his eating habits, too. Of course he did. “I don’t know, I’ve been told I look sad when I eat.” Hyunjin shrugged.

“It’s cute,” he replied, deciding to follow that up with immediately taking a sashimi so he couldn’t speak anymore.

Hyunjin decided to turn the conversation to the reason why they were there. “So…rules. Are you ready to hear them?”

Jeongin nodded, his mouth still full of food.

“I think this arrangement of ours begins now, and ends when we get home from the cabin. Hopefully we come out of this better friends, and friends that can borrow Netflix accounts, since our IP addresses are probably the same.”

Jeongin finished chewing. “You really only like me for my potential Netflix account?” He clutched his chest dramatically.

“I’m so sorry you had to find out this way.”

“You’re a cruel, cruel man…Hyunjin…oh my god, what’s your last name?”

Hyunjin chuckled. “Hwang. Yours?”

“Yang.” Oh, they rhymed.

“Okay, Yang Jeongin-ssi. During our stint as boyfriend and boyfriend, how do you feel about PDA? Like a kiss every so often, holding hands?”

“I’m not a big fan,” Jeongin admitted. “Skinship sort of bothers me…we can be sitting on the couch touching arms and legs, but I don’t like…hands on me. Not in public, anyway.”

Hmm. “What would you do if my Auntie pointed out we haven’t kissed?”

Jeongin considered this. “Tell her that’s not our style. Maybe give you a peck on the cheek to confirm we like each other, but we don’t owe her a performance, you know?”

Hyunjin didn’t think of it in that way before. This, Hyunjin and Jeongin being boyfriends for a week, was one big lying performance…but they could make it work for them in a way that was natural for them. For some reason, this made Hyunjin feel a lot better about the situation.

“That makes sense. I’m not a big fan of skinship either,” Hyunjin admitted. “Maybe just rarely, and with the right person.” He didn’t need to mention that he had yet to find the right person. Jeongin could likely tell based on…Hyunjin’s whole dilemma. 

Jeongin just nodded at that, popping another sushi into his mouth.

They finished their conversation at the table, going over much more than Hyunjin thought they would. Jeongin worked as a secretary for a law firm–that was why he had to dress up in slacks and a nice shirt every day. He hated his job, but it made him a decent amount of money to fund his hobbies, which included desktop gaming and building expensive Lego sets. He’d grown up in Busan, hence the accent, was a middle child in between two brothers, and wanted to be a kindergarten teacher when he was in school.

“Why a kindergarten teacher?”

“I love kids, I love the structure, and I think I’d be killer at lesson plans,” Jeongin answered him simply.

“So why aren’t you one?”

“I…don’t know. I crashed and burned a fair amount in college until I had to take a long break, and now…I just haven’t gone back. I don’t know.”

“No–I get it,” Hyunjin answered, sitting forward. “I hated school, I worked my ass off to get my bachelor’s, and I’m supposed to go back just because everyone wants me to? It’s…yeah.”

He and Jeongin had far more in common than he thought. It felt like even their mental health was on the same wavelength.

“Yeah,” he said, his fingers moving to fidget with his napkin.

Hyunjin distracted him from the lull in the conversation with the fact that they needed to discuss some more logistics. They decided that they’d been dating three months, they’d gone to some made-up party in the apartment complex on September twenty-first, and hit it off.

“I’d always seen you from afar, but I was too afraid to say anything,” Hyunjin fake-recalled in a dramatic voice.

Jeongin snorted. “I knew the moment I saw you move in by carrying every little thing up individually that you were the one for me.”

His jaw dropped. “Things are heavy, okay? Give me a break.”

“I guess you just need someone to carry things for you, princess.” Jeongin took a sip of his water, as if the very nickname didn’t just shift Hyunjin’s world on its axis. He felt his cheeks with the back of his hand… burning up. 

“T-that reminds me, Jeongin-ssi. How old are you?”

Jeongin raised his eyebrow, clearly questioning how that reminded Hyunjin of age. “I’m twenty-three. I’ll be twenty-four on February eighth.” Right, Hyunjin should remember that birthday. God, he was terrible at birthdays.

“I’ll be twenty-five on March twentieth,” he matched Jeongin’s tone. “So, you can call me hyung, then. And I’ll stop calling you Jeongin-ssi.”

“Oh–good thinking. Hyung.” Jeongin smiled at him, cute dimples on display.

Hyunjin smiled back. “Thank you, Jeongin-ah.”

“Sometimes people call me Innie or Iyena,” Jeongin replied. “I don’t know, if we’ve been dating three months, maybe you don’t just call me by my government name.”

“But if I like your government name, Yang Jeongin-ah?”

“Then I suppose you can full-name me. It sounds like I’m in trouble, but sure.”

One thing about fake-dating your neighbor: they go home with you after a date. Once they’d finished dinner, they simply walked back to the apartment building together, their proximity not stopping at the restaurant or outside the building. It was a bit like taking a boy home post-date…except Hyunjin was dropping him off at his own house.

“Okay, so…I’ll see you in a couple days,” Hyunjin said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.

“See you, hyung,” Jeongin grinned and waved as he went back into his own home.

When Hyunjin laid in bed that night, he felt much more confident that this would be a good plan. He had a good partner. 

He heard a buzzing on his nightstand and picked up his phone.

Yang Jeongin-ah 💖

I had a good date. Good night!

Me

Me too. Good night!!!

If he was really thinking about it, tonight was probably one of his favorite dates ever. And it wasn’t even real.

_____

On the Sunday they were set to leave, Jeongin met Hyunjin out in the parking garage.

Jeongin was dressed rather handsomely, with a long black peacoat, black pants and a gray sweater underneath. His ginger hair was brushed smoothly, softly falling around his face. He also wore a big grin, moving to set his duffel in the open trunk.

He looked kind of perfect. Oh no, his family was going to love him.

Hyunjin also chose to dress up a bit. He had a collared shirt under a dark sweater, his nails were freshly painted black, and he wore his hair down. This wouldn’t keep up…the crewnecks and sweatpants would be making a consistent reappearance this vacation. He pulled himself into the driver’s seat, turning on the car and getting the heat running. He heard the trunk slam, and Jeongin approached the passenger side, shifting into the car and shutting the door.

“Hi,” he greeted.

“Hi,” Hyunjin smiled. “Ready to be bullied for a week?”

“It’ll be just like middle school, but shorter,” Jeongin replied in a deadpan tone as Hyunjin pulled the car out of the garage.

When they were on the road, Jeongin asked Hyunjin about his family.

“So…who’s all going to be there? I should probably know their names and stuff, right?”

“Hmm. Probably,” Hyunjin nodded. “It’s going to be two families..well, three, technically. There’s me, and then my parents, Taeyun and Seoyun. I’m an only child. My mom has a sister, Seojeong. She is married to Jian, and they have one son, Minho, who’s two years older than me. There’s not going to be a quiz, so it’s okay if you don’t know–”

“Nah, nah. I’ve got it,” Jeongin tapped his head.

For some reason, Hyunjin believed him.

“Minho is married to Chan, and they recently had a daughter they named Jia, kind of named after Uncle Jian. She just turned one.”

“There’s going to be a toddler there?” Jeongin sat up.

“Oh, yeah. I only met her once, but she’s adorable.”

Jeongin bounced around happily. Cute, Hyunjin couldn’t help but think, determinedly facing the windshield and biting his lips to prevent from smiling.

The drive took about an hour, in which Hyunjin turned on some pop Christmas radio in the car, and Jeongin took out his old Gameboy and played it. It felt normal, somehow. Comfortable, despite the silence.

When Hyunjin pulled the car up the driveway, Jeongin turned off his game to look at the picturesque cabin. It was several floors, and built on the side of a hill. The topmost floor had multiple windows and a deck that overlooked the trees surrounding it. “Wow…” he looked in amazement. “Are you guys rich?”

“My aunt and uncle are,” Hyunjin answered, driving towards the garage built into the hill. “This is their vacation home away from the city–they live in Gimpo and come here in the summer, and they like to host us in the wintertime for Christmas.”

“So they can show off?”

“Well…yeah. Kind of.” Hyunjin parked outside the garage–he’d been scolded before for parking in it when his aunt and Minho needed the spots. It was fine–if he needed to go somewhere, he’d just have to head to his car ahead of time so that he could defrost the windshield and wipe off the snow. They were expected to get snow in a couple days.

“Hmm.” Jeongin frowned. “Is that why your mom’s always on your ass about having a good job and a good family?”

Hyunjin blinked at him. He’d never linked the two together before, and he was certain his mother never had either. But… “Hey, don’t psychoanalyze my family. It’s only ten in the morning.”

Jeongin gave a shy smile. “Sorry, hyung.”

Hyunjin smiled back, shaking his head. “Hey, listen, before we go in–thanks for doing this huge favor for me. If you need to back out, just say the word and it’s done, okay? I’ll drive you back and no hard feelings. And if you need financial compensation after this, I’m happy to…”

“No offense, but I think you’re blowing this out of proportion. I’ll be fine, promise. I’m grown, I can handle weird strangers.”

Blowing things out of proportion had been a skill of Hyunjin’s, but he couldn’t be too careful. He didn’t want to undersell how crazy his family could be and have Jeongin screaming into the night. He couldn’t picture Jeongin doing something like that, but they were practically strangers still. He could have that part of him hidden, ready to come out if someone looked at him wrong.

He nodded. “Okay.” Stepping out of the car, Hyunjin dug his hands into his pockets to keep them warm while he ducked quickly around the car to the trunk. He pressed the button that lifted the trunk hatch, and began to hoist the suitcases from the back.

Jeongin joined him in taking his own bags, and at the same time, Hyunjin heard a door open.

“Hyunjin-ah, is that you?” He heard the voice of his aunt, followed by peeking her head out the door.

“It’s me, Auntie.” Hyunjin greeted her with a smile with his arms full of suitcases.

“Well, hurry and come inside! It’s freezing–oh my lord, you did bring a boy, I thought your mom was kidding…” she ducked inside again, leaving Hyunjin and Jeongin to open the front door themselves.

Jeongin didn’t say anything, but kept a mischievous smile on his face while glancing at Hyunjin as he entered the home after him.

The cabin itself felt spacious yet inviting: wooden walls, ceilings, floors, and decor; large brown couches surrounding a fireplace and a giant glittering Christmas tree, tall windows overlooking the forest outside, and the kitchen close by but separated by a wall. The other rooms on this floor were a bathroom and a master bedroom which had always been taken up by his aunt and uncle. The rest of the bedrooms were upstairs, as well as the deck. Hyunjin often liked to bundle up and escape to read on the deck when his family got to be too much.

“Oh, wow, Hyunjinnie, he’s handsome…” His auntie stood by the door as they came in from the cold and closed the door after them.

Jeongin blinked a couple times, offering a wide, shy smile. Jeongin did look handsome–that was an objective fact. Even while hauling in suitcases, the wind had blown his hair out of sorts and caused his nose and cheeks to grow pink…actually, maybe he looked even more handsome like this. His auntie leaned in and offered Hyunjin a hug in greeting, which he returned and quickly kissed her on the cheek. Then Hyunjin leaned back and touched Jeongin’s arm. “Auntie, this is my boyfriend Jeongin.” His cheeks flushed as he spoke the word boyfriend aloud for the first time. It felt good to say it, but it felt wrong to lie so brazenly.

Jeongin looked a bit flustered as well. Hyunjin continued. “Jeongin-ah, this is my Auntie Seojeong.”

Jeongin began to bow to her, but stopped at his aunt’s hand on his shoulder. “Oh, none of that, Jeongin. Please, make yourself at home. Hyunjin can show you where to put your suitcases; you two will be in his regular room.”

Hyunjin had not considered sleeping arrangements, which in hindsight was silly not to consider. He cast his eyes over to Jeongin, who didn’t seem fazed at all. He’d probably considered the possibility of them sleeping together–actually, he definitely had.

“Sure thing.” Hyunjin tried not to let his face display his sudden nervousness, as he wheeled the suitcases towards the staircase and hoisted them up the steps, Jeongin following behind him.

When he reached the landing, he found his cousin Minho sitting on the floor of the upstairs living area, playing with a baby that was barely able to walk. Little Jia was staggering around on chubby legs with a huge toothless grin.

Hyunjin hadn’t been able to see Jia since she was born, which didn’t feel that long ago. Minho and his husband Chan had gone through a surrogate, and so the child clearly had both of their features: Chan’s dark curly hair, Minho’s eyes and smile. Hyunjin’s heart soared at the sight of the tiny person, and one glance towards Jeongin told Hyunjin that the other was positively enamored . 

“Hello!” Hyunjin waved cheerfully, mostly to the baby.

“Hi, Uncle Hyunjin!” Minho pulled the child into his arms and had her give a baby-wave. Technically, Hyunjin would be Jia’s second cousin, but Minho wouldn’t have any of that, it looked like. “And hi, stranger!” he greeted Jeongin all too cheerfully.

Hyunjin smiled. “Sorry–Minho-hyung, Jia…this is Jeongin. He’s my boyfriend.”

Jeongin ignored his auntie’s wishes downstairs, and gave a bow. “It’s nice to meet you,” he said. Minho raised his eyebrows, looking mildly interested.

“Hyunjin-ah, why didn’t you tell us you had a boyfriend?” His daughter wriggled out of his grasp, and continued walking around, approaching Hyunjin and Jeongin’s vicinity.

Hyunjin grew a bit redder. “We’ve been taking things slow,” was his manufactured excuse.

“Big step then, introducing Jeongin-ssi to the craziness.” His smile grew, and Hyunjin felt like there seemed to be more behind his expression. He couldn’t be sure, though. Minho turned to Jeongin, who had not been paying attention to them as much as the baby.

“I think he can handle it–right, Jeongin-ah?” Hyunjin asked Jeongin.

“Hmm?” Jeongin looked up at him. “Oh–yeah, for sure.” He crouched down as Jia approached him. “Hi, Jia,” he greeted her in a bright tone. She in turn stumbled a bit, and Minho and Hyunjin started to leap forward to catch her, but Jeongin quickly wrapped his hands around her, steadying her. “You’re doing so good,” he praised her.

Hyunjin decided to be a puddle right then and there. Why did he feel so warm, his heart fluttering around in his chest, watching Jeongin interact with a baby? They weren’t even dating for real. He needed to get a grip.

Minho watched Jeongin, his expression growing more interested by the moment. “Jeongin-ssi, do you want kids someday?”

“Oh? Um, yeah,” he admitted.

“You’d be good at the dad thing, I think,” Minho said, his eyes turning to Hyunjin as he said it.

“Thank you,” Jeongin chuckled awkwardly. Neither Hyunjin nor Jeongin had much to say after that, so Hyunjin changed the subject a bit.

“Speaking of, where’s Jia’s other dad?” Hyunjin asked his cousin. Minho shrugged. 

“Channie-hyung left to go get groceries an hour ago with dad.” Minho’s dad. “Mom was missing some ingredients or something…no doubt she’s called and added more to their list.”

Hyunjin nodded knowingly. “Jeongin-ah, let’s go put our things in our room.” The other nodded and straightened up, letting Jia walk back over to her dad.

Jeongin followed Hyunjin down the hallway to their room at the end, and Hyunjin turned the doorknob and opened the door with his foot, then flickered on the light once he'd let go of his suitcase handle. It seemed largely untouched since the last time Hyunjin had been in this room last year–a queen sized bed at the center of the room, a closet to the side, and matching end tables. A puffy plaid bedspread covered the surface of the bed, and Jeongin set down his suitcase and flopped onto it, immediately sinking into the mattress. “Ahhhh,” he sighed happily.

Hyunjin giggled and decided to join him on the bed, sitting down on the side, while still putting a bit of distance from him. “Is the bed to your liking, my liege?”

“Yes, this will do nicely, servant,” Jeongin answered, muffled. “Pray tell, how am I doing so far?”

“With my family? You’re doing great. You still have yet to meet most of them, but they’ll probably like you more than me, I expect.”

“I doubt that.” Jeongin turned his head towards Hyunjin, blowing some hair out of his face. “I’m just a stranger they have to act nice towards.”

“For now,” Hyunjin answered, itching to touch his hair, get it out of his face for him. But he felt sure it would be a matter of time before his family got too comfortable around Jeongin.

“Ominous,” Jeongin commented with a small smirk.

Hyunjin looked around the room. “Yeah, so. I forgot about the sharing a bed thing…um, I’m happy to take the couch when they all go to bed if the idea is too uncomfortable for you–”

“—It’s not, hyung.” Jeongin lifted himself to hold his head with his hand, laying on his side. “I figured we would share. And besides, Minho-ssi and Chan-ssi probably get up during the night with Jia.”

Hyunjin didn’t think about that, either. “Then I can take the floor–”

“Please don’t. There’s plenty of room, okay? Unless there’s a reason we shouldn’t…? Oh wait–don’t tell me.” Jeongin giggled. “You sleep-kick.”

Hyunjin laughed. “Only if I’m dreaming of karate.”

“Well, just let me know through the dream pathway, and I’ll face off against you.”

“You may challenge me if you like, but you’ll never defeat me,” Hyunjin played along, his tone dismissive.

“We’ll just have to see about that.” Then, to Hyunjin’s surprise, Jeongin leaned over and lightly tickled the side of his stomach.

“-H-hey–” Hyunjin burst into a fit of giggles, wriggling around and batting him away. Jeongin only grinned and scooted closer, pulling Hyunjin closer and tickling him more.

“Stop!” he shrieked. Hyunjin reached over and grabbed Jeongin’s wrists, and had no choice but to lean over him and pin his arms to the bed.

“How are you so strong?” Jeongin wheezed, fighting against his grip. “It must be all that book-lifting at your job.”

It occurred to Hyunjin at that moment that he and Jeongin were very close. In a very…compromising position sort of way. Jeongin’s hair had flung about, and his eyes clenched shut. This position definitely hadn’t occurred to the other yet, so there’d be no need to draw attention to it. And there was certainly no need to draw attention to his heartbeat increasing as he couldn’t help but imagine Jeongin… like this.

Hyunjin heard the door open, but only saw from the corner of his eye that it was Minho, followed by Chan. “You two are having too much fun in here,” Minho commented, laughing.

“We thought someone had been murdered,” Chan added.

“Just Jeongin-ah,” Hyunjin answered, reluctantly pulling himself off and sitting up. “Chan-hyung, this is Jeongin-ah; Jeongin-ah–Chan-hyung,” he waved back and forth, lazily introducing them. Jeongin sat up too, catching his breath and giving an embarrassed wave.

“Hyunjin usually knows better than to murder the guests,” Chan tsked. “And what a shame, too–it was going to be nice finally having another outsider here.”

Minho pulled his arm around Chan’s shoulder. “Don’t pretend you don’t add to the fun, Channie.”

“Is that what this is?”

“Mmm.” Minho brought Chan’s chin closer in for a passionate kiss, right in front of Hyunjin and Jeongin.

“Gross! You’re not allowed in my room anymore!” Hyunjin tossed a pillow at their faces, but Minho caught it at the last second and tucked it under his arm.

“You’d better watch yourself, Hyunjin-ah,” Minho smirked, his expression pure evil as he turned away from Chan. “I know where you sleep, and I know your weaknesses.” He gestured to Jeongin, who’d been watching this with amusement, but was now surprised to be included in the cousin fight.

He and Chan left, only after slowly closing the door, then at the last second kicking the door wide open.

“Assholes,” Hyunjin muttered, hauling himself off the bed. He made sure his hair looked semi-presentable again, before looking over to Jeongin. “I’d better show you off to the rest of the family now.”

“Yeah, you’d better.” Jeongin did the same, running a hand through his hair in the mirror to smooth it out.

Hyunjin descended the stairs two at a time–possibly a mistake for his long and gangly legs at any other time, but he grew too used to these stairs to make a mistake going down them. Jeongin descended the steps much slower and much more carefully.

He found his mom and aunt hovering in the kitchen, the latter holding the baby. His dad and uncle were in the living room, chatting while they watched TV. Hyunjin chose the kitchen, because there was a baby in there.

“Jeongin-ssi, nice to see you again.” His mom set down her spoon and moved over to him, patting him on the arm.

Jeongin in turn blinked at her, then seemed to recognize her a beat later. “Oh! We did meet once, hyung was right. Thank you for the leftovers that one time.”

“Of course. Now that you’re here, one of you needs to hold Jia, and one of you needs to chop vegetables.”

Hyunjin and Jeongin looked at each other, then immediately held out fists to play rock-paper-scissors. Jeongin won.

“I would like the baby, please,” he grinned and took Jia from Hyunjin’s aunt all too happily, which left Hyunjin to vegetable chopping. Great. He grabbed an apron, slipped on some gloves, and got to work.

Luckily, his mom and aunt didn’t seem in the mood for talking right now, just getting dinner made. Once Hyunjin had finished and had been freed from cutting vegetables, he and Jeongin took Jia to the living room and played with her until dinnertime.

The dinner itself felt quieter than usual, too. His dad and uncle were very interested in Minho’s job that he couldn’t discuss the specifics of for legal reasons, and then the topic turned to Jia when she wouldn’t eat the food, and by the time that had settled, Hyunjin hoped that Jeongin blended seamlessly enough to go without a round of questioning…

“So, what do you do for work, Jeongin-ssi?” Chan asked.

“—Oh, I’m an assistant at a law firm,” Jeongin answered sheepishly, a bit flustered to be the center of attention.

“Which law firm?” Minho asked.

Jeongin answered, and they traded information about Minho working opposition to their office on a few cases. All very vague, all very boring, in Hyunjin’s opinion. Jeongin seemed to be giving lackluster answers to questions thrown at him. Hyunjin wanted to offer a sort of reassurance, maybe patting his leg, but he’d said he didn’t like skinship, so Hyunjin let it be, instead very gently nudging Jeongin’s leg with his knee.

“How did you two meet, again?” his uncle asked. “Our Hyunjin-ah wasn’t in legal trouble, was he?”

“No, they’re next door neighbors, jagiya,” his aunt told him in a gossipy tone. She turned to the two of them, and Hyunjin braced himself. “Was it love at first sight? Did you get your mail mixed up? Oh! I bet it was Seoyun-ah’s cooking, and Jeongin must have run over immediately after eating it, only to find our handsome Hyunjin at the door…”

“—And then ran away again when he saw the state of Hyunjin’s nails,” his mother giggled. Hyunjin looked down at his hands, at his black nail polish, chipped a bit from biting them on the drive to the cabin. He quickly hid them under the table. Jeongin watched the action with a frown, then looked over to the others.

“Do you want to know, or do you just want to make fun of us?” he asked in a polite tone that had the table stilling.

“Sorry, Jeongin-ssi,” Minho apologized for them, even though their parents didn’t seem sorry in the least. “Channie-hyung and I want to know.” Chan nodded, leaning forward in interest.

So Jeongin relayed their fake story of meeting at a mixer in their apartment, and even though he lied through his teeth, he still painted a picture of someone happy, someone in love. Hyunjin started to feel transfixed on his words, as if this were something that actually happened and he recalled it all fondly.

“—Hyunjin-hyung wore this sort of cut-off white tee and ripped black shorts with a beanie.” Jeongin gestured to the appropriate parts of his body to illustrate. “And I thought he looked incredibly cool, like a model out of a magazine, and I couldn’t believe that he talked to me, you know? I felt really lucky. So I asked him on a date.”

As people at the table cooed at them, and Minho looked fake-disgusted at them, it occurred to Hyunjin belatedly that Jeongin had just described an outfit he actually owned and wore quite often when it was warmer, often with his oxfords and his Versace sunglasses that he definitely shouldn’t have bought, because he ate packaged ramyeon for at least two months after that to make up for it. He blinked over at Jeongin, who turned away from him and now stared at the food on his plate.

“Then what about you, Hyunjin-ah? What was it like for you?” his auntie asked casually while feeding Jia a small piece of mild chicken. “We just love a good love story.”

“Love? Auntie, we’re taking it slow right now,” Hyunjin picked at the wrong thing, he knew.

Chan scoffed. “It didn’t look very slow a little while ago upstairs.”

“—Hyung, please,” Hyunjin pleaded, but it was too late.

“What were you and Jeongin-ssi doing upstairs?”

“Nothing, mom, seriously, we were just playing around,” Hyunjin grumbled.

“That’s so strange, you know, you said you two weren’t at the level of Jeongin-ssi coming to the winter cabin, and yet, here he is.” His mother gestured to him. Jeongin seemed uncomfortable, his fingers fidgeting with his glass of water. “I feel like maybe you two need to have a conversation about where you both are in this relationship.”

“Mom, that’s none of your–”

“—You aren’t going to look handsome forever, you know. One day your beauty will fade, and then where are the men that will wait for you to be ‘ready?’ Or for you to 'take it slow?”

The table was silent, save for his parents and aunts and uncles murmuring their agreements. Minho and Chan busied themselves with giving food to their daughter, refusing to look his way. Hyunjin’s face must have been beet red at this point, his fingers clutching the tablecloth as he stared at his food. Bringing Jeongin here was a mistake. He didn’t deserve to hear his family berate him. It was time for Hyunjin to take him home so he didn’t have to hear any more of this, and he pushed out his chair to stand up.

He was interrupted from the action, when to his surprise, Jeongin cleared his throat. “A little bold of you to assume that he and I aren’t on the exact same page, ma’am. I know what he wants, and he knows what I want. And I think what we both want is to go to bed now. It’s been a long work week for the both of us. We’ll wash our own plates. Come on, hyung.” Jeongin leaned over and patted his shoulder, and Hyunjin stood up wordlessly. He felt a bit of a shock, and also some guilt, that Jeongin stepped in and defended him. He shouldn’t have to do that, it wasn’t part of the agreement. They’d never discussed what Jeongin would do when the judgment from his family happened, but he expected the younger to stay uninvolved. He didn’t expect Jeongin to go to bat for him. 

“That’s a good idea,” Minho cut in, interrupting Minho’s mother, who was about to argue. “Get some sleep. We’re making sugar cookies tomorrow, though, and you two better be here for the whole process. No sleeping in, we’re doing it bright and early.”

“Mmm. Maybe a little later than bright and early,” Chan amended.

“Sure. You two need me, otherwise your cookies will look ugly.” Hyunjin forced a smile, gently teasing them. Minho stuck his tongue out at him, and Hyunjin returned it while he grabbed his and Jeongin’s dishes. Jeongin tried to protest as he carried them all to the kitchen, but Hyunjin wouldn’t hear it. He’d already helped him out plenty.

Out of earshot, and hearing the adults return to normal volume, Hyunjin scrubbed their dishes as promised. He felt Jeongin scoot next to him. “Are you okay, hyung?” he murmured quietly.

Hyunjin registered Jeongin checking on him, but there was no need for that. He shook his head. “I’m fine, Jeongin-ah. I’m used to it. Really—” he added when he saw Jeongin draw his eyebrows together worriedly. “I know they mean well, and it comes off as a lot. I’m honestly more sorry you saw all that.”

“Why? You made it very clear that your family’s intense. I knew what to expect.”

“Yeah, but—”

“Hyunjin-hyung.” He felt Jeongin reach over and grip his wrist, stopping him from washing a plate. “What your mom said isn’t normal, okay? I can’t believe this has been your life, enough that you’re used to verbal harassment. I’m honestly so glad you asked me to come here, if only to protect you a little. Even if I wasn’t here as your fake boyfriend—if you’d knocked on my door and asked to come here as a friend, knowing what I know now, I wouldn’t hesitate for a second.”

Hyunjin looked down at him, shock coursing through his skin. This…wasn’t in the plans, either. He didn’t want Jeongin to come in and analyze his dynamics with his family. He just wanted someone there to get his family off of him.

But…it occurred to Hyunjin now that Jeongin had been doing exactly that. He’d protected Hyunjin in a way that made sense: Jeongin had no emotions tied in this family, so he could be a passive observer, and he could help Hyunjin out when he saw what Hyunjin didn’t.

“Thank you,” Hyunjin told him finally, turning to finish off the dishes. Jeongin took the dishes from him to dry them, and did his best to find homes for them. This involved opening all the drawers until Hyunjin told him where they went, but he got there in the end.

“—Let’s go off to bed now, hm?”

“Jeongin-ah?”

“Yes?”

“It’s only 7:15 pm.”

“…Oh.”

The two of them stayed on their phones in their room and watched Tiktoks, occasionally showing some to each other. The videos started as very mild humor ones, and ended to the point where Jeongin showed Hyunjin multiple videos of what could only be described as brainrot: for instance, a slideshow of cows with heart-shaped prints on their hides with Primadonna Girl as background music. Hyunjin found himself laughing and calling Jeongin a pabo anyway. When it was finally around ten and a decent hour for them to sleep, Hyunjin flipped off the lights and they tucked into bed, facing away from each other.

Hyunjin’s mind still swirled. “Iyena.”

“Hyung?”

“Do you like that tank top, shorts and beanie that I wear in the summer?”

He saw the outline of Jeongin freeze. “Yeah,” he admitted, turning over to look at Hyunjin in the dark. “Your style seems so effortless, very you. Like you know exactly what would make you look the best. But then again, you would probably look good in anything.”

“Oh wow…” Hyunjin was lucky Jeongin couldn’t see how red he’d turned. “Thank you.”

“Anytime. Goodnight, Hyunjin-hyung.”

When he felt certain Jeongin was asleep by hearing the younger’s breathing become softer and more even, Hyunjin felt safe enough to turn over in bed to look over at his outline in the dark. His fluffy ginger hair was mussed over his face, and he wore a scowl, as if he were paying close attention to his dreams and they were very serious to him.

It was cute. He was cute.

Jeongin gave opinions and compliments to him like it cost him nothing to do so. Because it probably didn’t. He was a passive observer, he called things as he saw them. Hyunjin had seen that when Jeongin talked to him in the kitchen, and he saw it just now, when he gave him compliments on his style. He didn’t phrase them like compliments–more like he was telling Hyunjin the truth. Which gave his words so much more impact. Hyunjin simply laid there, reeling from it.

It was appreciated, maybe even exactly what Hyunjin needed. And yet, a deep, selfish part of him wanted Jeongin’s words to come from somewhere emotional—somewhere with feelings attached.

Chapter Text

Hyunjin slowly pulled himself out of a deep and dreamless sleep. His foggy brain vaguely registered two things. One, the phone plugged in on his nightstand had been chiming intermittently, letting him know he’d received a few text messages. Two—and much more importantly—Hyunjin felt a warm, solid arm draped over his waist, and a small, hot breath on the back of his neck. He felt confused for only a moment, before he remembered where he was and what was happening.

Strangely, it didn’t feel weird that Jeongin had his arm around him, no. It felt oddly comfortable. Domestic, even. He let himself imagine doing this with someone every morning: waking up slowly in each other’s arms. It would make mornings before work much more bearable. Hyunjin did his best not to wake Jeongin as he reached for his phone, meaning to only silence the sound, until he caught “한지성” over and over…what did Jisung want? If there were some library emergency, then he was out of luck. Hyunjin was on vacation, as Jisung had been made well-aware. He turned down the brightness as far as it would go and squinted his eyes at the screen.

한지성

This isn’t work related

We’re holding down the fort just fine, enjoy your vacation

dw baby

How is it going with you and your fake bf???

Is he playing his role ok?

Oh and is he treating you well? He’d better be 😡

Have you been forced to kiss under the mistletoe by your family yet, only to feel sudden butterflies as his lips and yours meet; and though the kiss is quick, it’s as though the world has stopped and all you can think about is your fake boyfriend becoming your real boyfriend…

I should stop working in a library

나

ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

has anyone told you you’re kind of stupid

한지성

My husband, every day

Ugh, I love him sm. I bullied him into making me a bagel sandwich this morning 🥰

나

ㅋㅋ

cute 🥺

well

jeongin’s kind of great. very nice. he sort of stood up to my family last night

in a respectful way, though

but also in a “taking no bs” kind of way

한지성

‼️ Omg no way

That’s hot

나

then he told me that my mom verbally harrasses me

한지성

… 

Hyunjin-ah…

Was that new information…

나

???

not you too

한지성

I was standing right there when she went to your job, made fun of your job to your face, and then told me, your actual literal supervisor, that her son was lazy for not going back to college

나

okay, yeah, that was…yeah

한지성

If all it took for you to figure this out was to date you, Seung and I should have invited you to join us a long time ago

나

i’ve got hr on the phone rn

한지성

WHAT I MEAN IS

I’M GLAD HE’S TAKING CARE OF YOU

Ok but are you really not going to kiss him under the mistletoe

나

goodbye han-ah 👋

Hyunjin set down his phone on the nightstand face-side down and let himself stay in this position. Jeongin still hadn’t moved—in fact, his arm had somehow pulled in a bit until his hand laid across Hyunjin’s stomach. He felt content and closed his eyes to fall back into a comfortable sleep…until he realized his bladder was close to exploding.

As carefully as he could, Hyunjin moved Jeongin’s arm away and slid off the bed without jostling the mattress, and carefully opened the door to walk down the hall towards the bathroom.

After relieving himself, Hyunjin took a look at himself in the mirror while he washed his hands, inventorying his bushy mane and puffy under-eyes. He even looked like he’d received a very good sleep, which was something he hadn’t gotten in a while. Maybe it was the softness of the sheets and the quiet of the cabin. Maybe it was the perfect temperature all night for optimal sleeping.

Maybe it was Jeongin.

He couldn’t allow himself to think further on that, and when he padded back into the room, he found an equally-puffy Jeongin, awake and peering at his phone.

Hyunjin realized he spent much too long standing at the doorway, taking in his cute, rounded face. “I’m sorry, did I wake you?”

“No—no you didn’t, hyung.” Jeongin eyed him as Hyunjin crawled back into bed. “I tried rolling over a bit and you weren’t there, and my brain processed that as wrong somehow, and I woke up more to see that you weren’t in bed…” he trailed off as he realized what came out of his mouth. “I mean—because you’d been here all night, is all. That’s why it felt wrong. That’s what I meant—”

“—I understand what you mean, Jeongin-ah,” Hyunjin told him. He didn’t, really, but he didn’t want him to feel embarrassed.

He didn’t seem embarrassed beyond him stumbling over his words, and he turned over in bed to look at Hyunjin. “Do we have to get up right now, or can we hang out in bed for a little bit longer? It’s just…” he wiggled a bit, settling into the sheets contently. “I’m so comfortable right now.”

Hyunjin giggled. “You can sleep as late as you want. It’s vacation.”

“Oh. Yeah, you’re right. Let’s do that.”

They settled back into the covers, Jeongin nodding back to sleep immediately. Hyunjin couldn’t quite make himself fall back to sleep like he wanted to; he’d already had a conversation with Jisung and walked around, so his brain was in get-ready-for-work mode despite his best efforts for it not to be.

No matter, he still got to hang out in a comfy bed with a warm person next to him. That person didn’t put his arm over him again, but Hyunjin wasn’t sure if Jeongin even realized he did that. Then that would mean that’s something he does as a reflex. He wondered if it was a reflex for any time another person stayed in bed with him, or just Hyunjin specifically.

Yeah, he definitely wasn’t going back to sleep now.

An hour or so passed until Hyunjin heard the baby crying and doors opening and closing. He thought about slipping out to let the younger sleep in more, but he felt Jeongin shift in the bedspread and blink his eyes open at him again.

“Good morning, Iyena.”

“Morning, again,” he mumbled into his pillow. Another moment, then, “I’m actually starving. Your family does breakfast, right?”

Hyunjin nodded. “Maybe we can have Minho make us something if we ask him nicely enough.”

After they each showered and got dressed, preparing themselves for the day, they stumbled down the stairs to a mostly empty kitchen and living room. Hyunjin moved around and saw that it was just Minho, Chan, and their baby on the main level.

He must have looked confused, because Minho told him, while standing in front of the stove, “They’ve all gone out shopping for the day before the snow hits.”

“Ah, okay. What are you making?”

“Sugar cookies,” he stated. “I figured the fun part would be decorating them, so I took the trouble of making the boring ones. But we’re also making gingerbread, so don’t worry if you wanted to be the one to stamp, or something.” He looked over at Hyunjin, and he knew Minho alluded to a time when they were kids and argued over who got to press shapes into the dough. Hyunjin lightly slaps his shoulder.

“Have you eaten breakfast, hyung?”

“Yeah, cookie dough.”

“That sounds good to me.”

Jeongin watched them talk back and forth with bemusement, and chose at that moment to interject. “Do you think we could get into the kitchen to make coffee? Or is there coffee already?”

“Yeah—coffee’s important,” Hyunjin backed him up.

Minho ushered them to the full coffee pot, and Hyunjin poured him and Jeongin a mug. Jeongin watched Hyunjin then pull out the creamer and douse his coffee with enough for it to turn a very pale brown as he stirred it with a spoon.

“Interesting,” Jeongin noted.

“I think I like creamer more than I like coffee,” Hyunjin informed him.

“Do you go through a lot of creamer?”

“No—I usually just get coffee from the library. So they go through a lot of creamer.”

Belatedly, Hyunjin wondered if this conversation sounded like it came from two people that barely knew each other, as he looked over at Minho to gauge his reaction. But he seemed preoccupied in between the oven and his kid in the living room.

“Do you need us to do anything, Minho-ssi?” Jeongin set down his mug on the counter. “We can stay here and watch the cookies.”

Minho stopped. “Do you two know when’s the right time to take them out?”

Jeongin hummed in thought. “Sure. When they’re brown, right?”

“Wrong. Maybe you can go in the living room and watch a kid with Chan.”

Hyunjin patted Jeongin’s shoulder as they stepped out of the kitchen and moved into the living room. “Don’t worry. I fail his tests all the time, too.”

Chan didn’t run as much of a tight ship when it came to his kid. He and Jia were laying on the couch together under a blanket watching Bluey. Jia had her small, chubby fingers occasionally digging into a bowl of Cheerios, and she would offer one to her dad before she ate one of her own. 

Jeongin seemed perfectly fine sitting down at a distance from Hyunjin, leaning his body against the corner of the couch and draping his arms over the sides. For the sake of pretending to be a couple while he did his best listening to Jeongin’s boundaries, Hyunjin scooted over close and sunk into the seam of the couch, while nudging his arm against Jeongin’s leg. He didn’t react at all to the touch, instead focusing his attention on the TV. Hyunjin had never watched an episode of this show, though he’d heard plenty about it from the children that came into the library. It was…strangely good.

A couple episodes later, Hyunjin was open to bingeing the entire series, but Minho had other ideas. He moved in quietly and unassuming from the kitchen and stood behind Jeongin, then without warning, he reached down to tickle his sides. Jeongin tensed up immediately, his limbs no longer in his control, and they flailed out, kicking Hyunjin in the ribs.

“Sorry, hyung—” Jeongin wheezed, a laugh punched out of him.

Hyunjin didn’t think too much about what he was doing, before he climbed over Jeongin, swiping at his cousin’s hands. “Fuck off—I mean, go away.” He gave a sideways glance towards the baby to see if she heard that, but she was more focused on the blue and orange dogs on the screen.

“Smooth save, Hyunjin-ah,” Minho smiled mischievously, then mercifully withdrew his hands.

“Do you mind not tickling my boyfriend less than twenty-four hours after you meet him?”

“Oh, come on, he liked it.”

“He did not,” Jeongin replied from below Hyunjin, now quite flustered as he tucked his arms close to his sides.

“Well, you’d better watch out, Jeongin-ah—there’s plenty more where that came from.” Minho pats his head. “Who wants to make gingerbread now?”

Realizing that he’d just hovered over Jeongin, again, Hyunjin sat back on the couch, and as he did so, he winced a bit. His hands moved to lift up his sweater and found the culprit of the random pain on his side, a red blotch where Jeongin kicked him.

Jeongin’s eyes widened when he looked at Hyunjin’s rib cage. “Oh my god, hyung, I’m so sorry—”

Hyunjin silenced him by putting a finger up to his lips and shushing him. “Minho-hyung used to pick me up and toss me off of the couch. This is nothing.”

“True,” Minho added, quite nonchalantly.

Chan gaped at them both, finally paying attention to the action. “You realize you could have broken Hyunjin’s limbs, right?”

“Yeah I know, it’s almost like your husband is a huge bully,” Hyunjin announced, then immediately regretted his words when he saw Minho reaching for the tissue box. “No! Hey! There’s a kid here!” He reached for a throw pillow to shield himself, but Minho easily ripped it out of his hands and climbed on top of him, forcing the tissues towards his lips.

He clamped his teeth shut, moving his head back and forth to fight him off, but the tissue had clung to the saliva on his lip, so it was stuck there. Satisfied, Minho peeled himself off, leaving both Hyunjin and Jeongin sprawled on the sofa. He didn’t realize Minho climbed on top of both of them to reach him.

He peeled the tissue off his lip and discarded it into the small trash bin, then ran fingers through his hair to tame it out of his face. “You’re welcome to go find a more normal family to spend the holidays with, Jeongin-ah,” he told him.

“And miss all the fun? No way,” Jeongin answered tiredly.

Cookie making went about as well as one might expect with a one-year-old. Hyunjin was much more interested in decorating the sugar cookies, so he set to doing that while he watched Minho and Chan punch out some gingerbread man shapes with their daughter from his vantage point at the table. They did a lot of the work, but they cooed at her like she’d single-handedly made all the cookies.

Jeongin chose to decorate with Hyunjin. His large hands were much clumsier around the piping bags, and the metal tip kept getting gummed up with the way he would drag it along the cookie, then push into the existing icing to break off an icing strand.

Hyunjin gently corrected him around his third cookie, demonstrating the proper way to apply the icing with less mess. In theory, anyway. His teachings didn’t stop Jeongin from pouring icing all over his hands, and then licking them when he thought Hyunjin wasn’t looking. And when he licked the icing, bits of it would dry on his face without him noticing. Oh, no. Why was he the most adorable man on the face of the Earth?

He had the random thought that he could lick the icing off of Jeongin’s face, then remembered himself. 

When the gingerbread had gone into the oven, the rest joined Hyunjin and Jeongin around the table to create much more chaos. Jia insisted on holding the piping bag, and they couldn’t quite prevent her squeezing from making the icing come out of the opening on the top rather than the tip. This was okay, though. It was clear Minho and Chan were each having a difficult time allowing the mess to happen, but it was important for memory-making. Of course, their child was one and wouldn’t remember any of this, but, details.

With the last cookie iced, even Hyunjin’s cookies devolving into less pretty icing art, and all of them sneak-eating an average of five cookies each, they were thoroughly sugared-out.

They moved around in their sugar comas to clean up the big mess left all over the table and kitchen, and it was just in time, too, as their parents came in with arms full of bags of gifts, and take-out from the restaurant.

Hyunjin’s mom pressed a kiss to the top of Hyunjin’s head, and his dad wrapped a quick arm around his chest. “What time did you two wake up?” His mom asked.

“Um, nine, I think?”

“Oh, we were already long gone by then! You must have really needed all that extra sleep.”

He didn’t want to say anything to that. He hated when she acted like he was lazy for sleeping. And it wasn’t even that late. “It’s the holidays,” he made himself form a nonchalant tone while shifting in his seat.

“No matter, I see you all had lots of time to get the cookies made.” She scanned around the table and spied the many, many cookies littered everywhere, with no other places to put them. She would never dare comment on the lack of counter space, though—not when Minho made them.

“You should have that one.” Hyunjin pointed to a snowflake one that he’d attempted to make a rose pattern on, and ended up a bit more abstract than he’d have liked. It still looked kind of pretty, and his mother nodded her head in appreciation while she took the cookie.

Their parents didn’t quite approve of their choice in only eating cookies all day; they had a growing kid among them to worry about getting her ‘proper nutrients,’ and so Hyunjin’s aunt made them a quick lunch, which they ate around all the cookies. Then after that, it left the afternoon open for relaxing. He had half a mind to show Jeongin his reading spot on the deck, but his dad stopped that thought immediately.

“I’m gonna take a look at your car,” he told Hyunjin, who held in a groan. His dad was very skilled in repairing vehicles, and he was also good at digging around under the hood of his car for no good reason. He never fought it—free car diagnosing was free car diagnosing, and he knew it was because his dad showed his love by making sure his vehicle was safe to drive at all times. But sometimes he didn’t want to be standing outside in the cold air and holding his phone flashlight, while his dad checked his air conditioner belt, or whatever it would be this time.

He pulled on a coat and a beanie, shoving his hair back so it wouldn’t feel uncomfortable under the knit fabric. Then he followed his dad outside into air that felt stagnant, as if it waited with bated breath for a storm to begin. The snow would be starting in a few hours—so if nothing else, there was that to stop his dad and make him come inside.

As expected, his dad seemed fixated on some sort of belt or whatever and pulled out his phone to suddenly purchase the part wholesale, so there wasn’t much else for Hyunjin to do besides stand there in front of his car and shove his hands into his coat pocket. “So. Did you find a good present for mom while you were out?” His dad was chronically the worst gift-giver, so he didn’t expect his version of ‘good’ to actually be good.

“Sure. She gave me a wishlist this year and I showed the lady at the store counter the wishlist, and she told me what to get.”

Hyunjin huffed. If nothing else, at least his mom would get something she liked, even if there was no thought behind it.

“What are you getting for your…friend?” His dad asked in return. His hands were entangled in some spinning parts around the engine, and he leaned in to try and put it all back in place. Hyunjin felt thankful for that, because he suddenly froze.

“Um…I don’t know,” he admitted.

“You didn’t get him a present?” Hyunjin’s dad looked up at him, raising an eyebrow. “Now who’s the terrible spouse?”

“Hey! I was going to go to the village this week! I’ve just been busy with work!” This was all a lie. Hyunjin completely forgot about giving Jeongin a present in the midst of packing all the other ones in his suitcase. Or well, he did consider it, but not as long as he should have. He didn’t know Jeongin very well, and you don’t get gifts for short acquaintances.

But… you do get them gifts if they’re pretending to be your boyfriend.

His dad just chuckled and moved back to installing the belt back in his car.

The rest of the afternoon was spent by Hyunjin’s aunt insisting on games while they watched Christmas movies in the background. They did this every year, so it had become a tradition. Over the years, they set some ground rules as reactions to past fights. No Monopoly, no Twister, no puzzles over one thousand pieces. Minho and Chan had a new one this year.

“We’re not watching Rudolph,” Chan informed them.

“Why?” Minho’s dad asked from the couch. 

“Because Jia’s scared of the abominable snowman,” he informed the group. “So unless you want to listen to crying…”

There were murmurs of agreement, and they decided to watch Frosty the Snowman instead while they played a few card games. To his surprise, Jeongin let his dad and uncle try and explain the rules of a few games to him, something that usually made Hyunjin’s eyes glaze over.

“Don’t be trying to steal Jeongin-ssi’s money, please,” Auntie Seojeong told them. “We’d like him to keep coming back.”

“Mmm. No promises,” Uncle Jian grinned wickedly.

“Uncle,” Hyunjin whined.

“If you’re so worried, maybe you’d better come and protect me,” Jeongin suggested from the card table. His eyebrow raised when Minho snorted.

“Yeah, good luck. Hyunjin’s too stupid to learn the card games.”

“Minho!” Seojeong swatted her son over the head.

“Ouch, what! Okay, you try teaching it to him, Jeongin-ssi, since you’re Hyunjin-ah’s favorite. He never wants to learn, so he plays dumb. How’s that, instead?”

Jeongin looked towards him and widened his eyes to form a pleading face. His arm reached behind him and he grabbed a chair, pulling it close to him.

Hyunjin grumbled and sat next to him to learn the rules and ignored his family teasing him. Truth be told, if Jeongin continued to look at him like that, it would be difficult to ever tell him no to anything.

They played a card game that Hyunjin eventually figured out instead of dragging his heels and refusing to cooperate, but only because he didn’t want to be annoying and obstinate while Jeongin was around. That didn’t mean he was any good at it, and as predicted, his dad and uncle swept the cards every time. By the time they were finally finished, the sky had darkened. In the window outside, Hyunjin could see the faintest flakes of snow start to cascade.

Jeongin decided to look where Hyunjin’s attention had been drawn to, and he peeked out of the window and to the land outside. “How much is it supposed to snow, do you think?”

“My mom said it was going to be enough to get a white Christmas,” Hyunjin informed him.

“Wow.” He grinned over at him. His smile was so…pretty. It reached his eyes, and gave him dimples. Hyunjin had the huge urge to squish his face, but he wasn’t Minho; he didn’t quite know Jeongin enough to do that yet…well, maybe one squish wouldn’t hurt.

Hyunjin reached over and lightly pinched his cheek, and Jeongin had been too surprised at first to do anything. “Cute,” he said, matching Jeongin’s smile.

Jeongin’s flummoxed look turned into a chuckle, and he pulled away with faintly reddened ears. “I didn’t know there were three aunties here.”

He laughed. “Hey! Don’t call me ‘auntie.’”

“You started it.”

He saw Minho approaching them from the corner of his eye. “Hey—your dad wants us to weatherproof our vehicles. I think it’s making him anxious that we’re just standing around while the cars get ice on them.”

Hyunjin snorted. “Probably. Okay, I can go in a second—”

“I’ll help you, Minho-ssi,” Jeongin cut in. “You just need covers put on the windshields, right?”

“Right…” He side-eyed Hyunjin, then looked at Jeongin with a raised eyebrow. “Okay, Jeongin-ssi, let’s see if you have what it takes.” His hands clasped Jeongin’s shoulders from behind, and he promptly led him outside, saluting to Hyunjin as they went.

Hyunjin sort of wanted to watch this, so he immediately flew up the stairs, pulling on a hat and gloves from his room as well as his coat, and he headed outside to the deck. Surprisingly, Chan beat him out here, and he was already relaxing with a mug of hot chocolate as he watched the snow fall.

“Taking a break from the kid?” Hyunjin brushed off some flakes of snow from the chair and took a seat next to him.

Chan nodded and scooted his mug over to Hyunjin. “I’m enjoying Seojong-eomeoni’s babysitting while I can.”

Taking the cup from Chan, they watched Minho and Jeongin traipse out to the cars. Minho suddenly told something to Jeongin that caused his fake-boyfriend to playfully shove him.

It was just…odd. How easily Jeongin had been able to hold his own and slip easily into their family after just a couple days. That scared Hyunjin a little bit.

“Hyung.”

“Mm?”

Hyunjin took a sip of the hot chocolate, then handed it back to him. “Is our family ever too much for you? Like, do you ever regret getting stuck with us?”

Chan shook his head. “I love your wild family, Jinnie. Well, our wild family. I grew up with a similar one, you know: a couple siblings, two parents…they’re never so much in my personal business as Minho’s mom is, but I like that she cares, you know?”

Hyunjin nodded, still watching his cousin and Jeongin attempt to put covers over the cars’ windshields. That was a good call on Jeongin’s part, volunteering—Hyunjin would not have been able to figure it out. Even so, they looked to be struggling with the task a bit, while Minho’s voice loudly gave instructions that didn’t seem to help.

“You should trust Jeongin-ssi, by the way,” Chan said while he raised his eyebrows and drank from his mug.

“Hm?” Hyunjin adjusted his beanie. “What do you mean?”

“He’s a grown adult. He doesn’t need you worrying about whether he’ll be able to handle us. If he can’t, he knows where the door is.”

“I guess…”

“Let me ask you—does he look like he wants to leave?” They proceeded to watch Minho and Jeongin finally succeed at wrapping the windshields, and they gave each other double-high fives. Then Minho instructed Jeongin to do something, and they backed up many steps away from each other. They watched with amusement as they then ran at each other, jumped up into the air, and gave each other high fives as they leaped into the sky. Jeongin stumbled a bit as he landed, and they could hear Minho’s laugh from where they sat. Jeongin’s return whine and laugh was hard to miss as well.

“No, I think he wants to stay for some reason,” Hyunjin finally answered.

“I hate to say it, but I don’t think this one’s planning on leaving. Ever,” Chan informed him. He stood up and moved back to the door, but not before slightly pulling his beanie off of his head, so that Hyunjin had no choice but to readjust it back onto his head. His hair felt staticky and uncomfortable.

When the door shut behind him, he finally registered what Chan meant. Hyunjin wondered if there was any sort of truth to that. Jeongin was very good at this fake-dating thing, and he easily had everyone fooled. But maybe it worked too well, and now everyone was too taken with him. He didn’t know what he was going to do when the week was over and Jeongin and him would go their separate ways.

_____

Hyunjin woke up again to an arm surrounding him. It felt weirdly protective of Jeongin, almost, the way his arm held him; as if he were subconsciously wanting to make sure Hyunjin wasn’t going anywhere. He carefully slid out of bed, moving Jeongin’s arm until it tucked against his chest, and opened the door on the balcony to check outside—and sure enough, there was a thick blanket of snow covering the ground. The snow was so uniform, pristine, and glittery. Hyunjin wanted to launch himself from the landing and fall face-first into it.

But no, he’d probably die if he did that.

Instead, he padded down the stairs, bidding the other early risers a good morning: his aunt and uncle with their cups of coffee, watching a Hallmark movie together. He moved into the kitchen, grabbed his cup of sugary coffee, then decided to take advantage of the view outside. He pulled on some boots and a coat next to the door and walked out onto the porch, surveying the blanket of snow properly as he sat down on some lawn furniture—after dusting the snow off of it, of course. It was cold, he was cold, and yet, he felt calm. For once, he hardly felt any worry about whether his family were judging him, what they thought about him, whether he was good enough. He wasn’t worried about getting caught with a fake boyfriend—as he knew now, Jeongin was very good at playing his role the way he said he would. All that was left was to actually enjoy his holiday for once.

Odd. He was always one to let anything that can or would go wrong enter his system until he was unable to think of anything else—the worst case scenario growing too big to see around. Hyunjin brushed some of his hair away from his face and let the steam from the coffee warm up his nose. He took a small sip. No, he was fine. And he would be fine.

After about ten minutes or so, he heard the screen door slide open, and he turned his head to see a sleepy Jeongin meet him outside. The man seemed so soft, so cute and handsome at the same time, with his hair in a ginger puff and his face round from sleep. He suddenly had the biggest urge to kiss him good morning—an urge that he had to mentally stomp on to keep at bay. He needed to be careful.

“It’s a beautiful morning,” Jeongin commented, dusting off a chair to sit across from him.

“Mmhmm,” Hyunjin responded. “Perfect day for building snowmen.”

Jeongin nodded at that. “I’ve never built a snowman,” he admitted.

“Never?”

“Hard to find this much snow in the city.”

“Then this is an injustice we must rectify immediately,” Hyunjin declared to Jeongin’s forming smile.

“I’m sure you and Minho-hyung will show me in a very normal way with no chaos whatsoever.”

Hyunjin smiles, entirely innocent. “Of course, Iyena. Why ever would we not be normal?”

Jeongin shakes his head. “No. Uh-uh. I don’t trust that face.”

Jeongin was of course correct in his assumption that Hyunjin and his cousin could never do anything normally. He wasn’t correct, though, in assuming that they would be chaotic. No, every year that there was enough snow, they had to bring their bear family back.

Snowmen were lame, old news. Snow bears were amazing, spectacular, adorable. And they both had it down to a science. While they sent Jeongin off to collect dark rocks for the eyes and the tips of the nose, Hyunjin and Minho got to work crafting their family of bears, approximately three feet tall each, rounded with big ears, and a perfect snout for eating honey from the honey pot that Hyunjin also took the liberty of crafting.

By the time they had four bears, it was around lunchtime, and the family was enamored with them, taking multiple pictures of them.

“These are actually the cutest things I’ve ever seen,” Jeongin said, leaning in to take a selfie with the dad bear. When he was done, he turned to Hyunjin at the porch, nursing a hot chocolate to soothe his icy fingers. “Do you get sad when they melt?”

“Every time.” Hyunjin nodded. “The first year, I begged my parents to let me try and put the baby in the refrigerator.”

“He’s leaving out the part where he cried,” Minho added, ever helpful. His arms were around his daughter, trying to keep her from knocking over their art that stood taller than her.

“Aw, hyung.” Jeongin stepped closer and patted Hyunjin’s head over his beanie. “I would’ve cried, too. They’re too cute to let them melt.”

Hyunjin nodded in agreement. “You’re the only one who gets me.”

Minho scoffed at that, but let them have their close moment while he chased after Jia in the snow.

In the afternoon, they decided it was the perfect snow for sledding. Minho somehow elected himself as the leader, because he held Jia in his arms and couldn’t help in the manual labor. But he directed Hyunjin, Jeongin, and Chan to get the sleds and to make them a safe path to the top of their sledding hill. They solved this by simply making specific footsteps in the snow for everyone to step on.

“Who’s going to be the first person down—the one that makes the path?” Chan asked. That ride was always slow and terrible, but Hyunjin was in the mood to be a martyr.

“I’ll do it,” he told the two, while dragging the plastic toboggan to the edge.

“Can I do it with you?” Jeongin stepped closer.

“Oh, um, sure. Just know that this one’s not going to be very fun,” Hyunjin informed him. “We’re doing honest labor.”

“I’m just a humble farmer, plowing the field for my snow crops,” Jeongin played along immediately. A smile tugged at Hyunjin’s lips, and he turned to Chan. He wasn’t following this odd exchange and looked quizzically at them.

One thing Hyunjin definitely hadn’t accounted for: Jeongin sitting down right behind him. His legs sandwiched themselves right next to Hyunjin’s, and his arms quickly surrounded him from behind, wrapping supportively around his middle. The younger then rested his chin on Hyunjin’s shoulder so that he could see past him and down the hill. Their entire position gave way to feeling warm all over and not necessarily from the body heat. His heartbeat thundered against his chest, and he swallowed, then scooted forward several times. The momentum caused them to begin sliding downwards.

As Hyunjin predicted, they were slower than normal while they plowed the snow underneath them to create a path. It was still rather speedy, though, especially with the weight of two riders, and he heard a yelp beside his ear, followed by the tightening of the arms around his torso. He couldn’t help but giggle as they slid down, then scream when they hit a rather uneven area. “Lean to the right!” He yelled, and when Jeongin followed his directions, they managed to keep the toboggan from flipping as they leveled out at the bottom of the hill.

They both shook from exhilaration when they climbed out of the sled. “That was scary!” Jeongin exclaimed, pushing his hair back and away from his face.

“And that was the slow run,” Hyunjin patted his arm.

“Oh, no.”

It turned out to be fine, though. After a few runs, Jeongin became used to the speed, the degree in which he needed to lean—although, they all wiped out a few times apiece. It was just part of the fun, as far as Hyunjin was concerned. The snow around them was cold but soft, the perfect pillow to catch any mishaps.

Chan and Minho even took Jia down a few times—provided she’d been properly sandwiched right in between them to form a safe barrier. Their parents joined them for a few rounds, until they tired of walking up the hill and decided it wasn’t worth the climb.

By the time they were thoroughly exhausted, Hyunjin’s legs burning from the exertion of the constant climbing, it was time for dinner and time for him to potentially subject himself to more family bullying. Though he didn’t know if any words about his future would be exchanged, he still felt nervous in the off-chance it would happen.

He felt consumed in his own scenarios of what-ifs, that he was too slow to stop Jeongin from slipping on an icy step and falling backwards off the stairs. 

His brain couldn’t cooperate fast enough to do anything except screech while Jeongin collided with the ground. His thick coat seemed to cushion most of the fall, as well as the snow drift, but he still looked dazed, his eyes blinking up at the sky, and then over to Hyunjin. When he mentally caught up to what just happened he quickly approached him, kneeling down to the snow beside him. “Oh, my god, are you okay?” Hyunjin’s voice came out in a panic.

“Yeah, hyung,” Jeongin began to turn redder in his cheeks, beyond the physical reaction from the temperature outside, and Hyunjin realized he’d been staring rather closely and intently down at him.

“Did you hit your head?”

“No, I just—can you—” he held out his arm, and Hyunjin scrambled to his feet to help him up. Jeongin waved him away once he was upright again, but he still hovered close, his hand close to his shoulder, just in case. “Relax,” he then started laughing. “I’m fucking clumsy, okay? I’ve had a good streak of being cool and not falling around you up until now, but I guess that’s over with.”

Hyunjin sucked in a breath through his teeth. “You’re really okay?”

“Yeah, I really am. I’m mostly just embarrassed I fell,” Jeongin said. “Let's go in—I’m freezing.” He gestured to the steps, then started to ascend them again, veering away from the slippery patch. Hyunjin stayed close behind him until he reached the top, ready to catch him if it happened again.

“Although,” Jeongin said as they reached the door. “If you’re going to fuss over me this much, maybe I should play up the injuries more.”

Hyunjin scowled, which only spurred the other on to continue. “Hyung , my back is broken—I need you to carry me everywhere from now on,” he teetered on a whine, his smile wide and mischievous.

He scoffed. “You watch yourself. I could fuss over you so much more than I’m doing right now.”

“Okay.” Jeongin fluttered his lashes at him, goading him with his eyes. “Prove it.”

Jeongin would be heavy for him, probably too heavy, but Hyunjin was not one to back down from a challenge. He swung open the door and then carefully crouched down for Jeongin to climb on his back. He laughed in return, the ‘ha-ha-ha’ sound ringing in Hyunjin’s ears, then he gingerly climbed onto him, his arms finding their way around his shoulders. Hyunjin breathed in and out and strained to straighten his legs out, and he pushed on, hauling them through the entryway. Luckily, the rest of the family were upstairs or in the kitchen, preparing for dinner, so he could stumble and shake his way to the couch, and as carefully as he could, lay his fake boyfriend down onto it.

Jeongin started to sit up, but Hyunjin held out a hand to stop him. “Stay right there,” he instructed.

“Can I take my coat and boots off, though?”

“Oh…yeah. But only to do those things.”

“Yes, sir,” Jeongin answered easily and only shifted to shed his coat and boots, handing them to Hyunjin to hang next to the door, which he did, along with his own coat, hat and boots. Then Hyunjin grabbed a crochet blanket from a basket next to the couch and unfolded it, laying it like a parachute over Jeongin until it draped over him. Jeongin shimmied his shoulders, burrowing into the couch.

“You look like you need some hot chocolate,” Hyunjin declared.

“I look like I need some hot chocolate,” Jeongin copied. So Hyunjin moved into the kitchen, weaving around his mom and aunt cooking, to grab the powder from the cabinet and get some water heating up in the microwave—staying away from the stove while they worked.

“Did you have fun today?” His mom asked him while she fried bulgogi with some delicious-smelling sauce in a skillet.

“Yeah—I did,” Hyunjin nodded. He didn’t have anything else to say about that, really, so his mom filled the silence by talking about people he barely knew, what they were all doing for Christmas, the pictures she saw online of them. She chatted back and forth with her sister, so Hyunjin both couldn’t contribute, and didn’t need to contribute; he just nodded his head along when it seemed like she wanted him to follow along. When the microwave beeped, he stirred the hot cocoas with a spoon and gently dipped his finger into his to test the temperature. Not ready yet. 

With them in the microwave for another minute, Hyunjin leaned against the counter and vaguely listened some more, his mind starting to space out and think about Jeongin snuggled peacefully on the couch, when he noticed his mom staring for too long at him. Oh no, she’d asked a question. “Sorry, what did you say?”

“I said, I heard Jeon Dohyeon is getting married—did you see that?”

The name rang a bell, but it took Hyunjin a couple seconds to remember. Right, he was one of the guys his mom tried to set him up with. If he recalled, he was the one that talked to his friend on the phone mid-sex… “I don’t have him on any socials, mom,” Hyunjin said, a small amount annoyed. What was she doing, still keeping tabs on him?

“She’s a very pretty woman, his fiance,” his mom insisted, holding out her phone for him to look at their engagement pictures.

“I don’t want to see those,” Hyunjin tried his best to set a boundary, and his mom just hummed and went back to scrolling through her phone, acting as if he were being obstinate for no reason. When the timer went off on the hot chocolates again, he didn’t even care if they were ready or not before he took them out and darted towards the living room.

He handed a thankfully steaming mug to Jeongin, who sat up so he could grab the handle, then hold it in his hands. “Thank you, hyung,” he told Hyunjin in a sing-songy tone. “The remote’s too far away for me to reach.”

Hyunjin snorted, his earlier annoyance with his mom forgotten as he found the remote next to the tv and turned on the screen so they could watch a movie. Jeongin laid on the couch with his cocoa on a coaster on the coffee table nearby, and Hyunjin slid in behind him and stretched his legs around him, lifting up his head so he could rest it on Hyunjin’s lap. Jeongin seemed surprised, but let his head settle in on Hyunjin’s leg while he sifted through streaming apps to find a movie.

“How are you feeling?” Hyunjin asked him.

“Honestly, a little sore.” Jeongin’s eyes glanced up to him. “But we also sled all day on top of the slipping and falling thing, so…”

“That’s fair,” he said. His legs felt very tired, and he knew he would sleep very well tonight. Though it wasn’t like he hadn’t been sleeping well the past couple nights. No, Hyunjin didn’t feel the same exhaustion that he would have around this time of day, getting home from a grueling shift at work and immediately diving headfirst into bed. It was nice: having the vacation to sleep and potentially de-stress—well, as long as Jeongin was here to make the stressful parts better. He settled on The Holiday and turned it on, hoping Jeongin didn’t mind if they watched a romantic comedy.

As a lover of romance he was undoubtedly a big fan of this movie, so he felt easily entertained as he sipped his cocoa. Jeongin seemed to enjoy it for a bit too. But about a half hour in, he noticed Jeongin’s breathing sounded a lot heavier, and he glanced down to see that the man had fallen asleep, his cheek pressed against his leg, his mouth parted.

Oh. He looked so peaceful like this, so soft. Hyunjin had seen his face like this the past few nights while sharing the same bed, but it was another thing to see him laid on his lap. Like he belonged there.