Archive of Our Own

He had almost forgotten the burn in his lungs, the soreness of getting hit - maybe being thrown into a wall with vampiric strength is far from the fistfights on the streets of his past but it’s tragically familiar nonetheless. Everything about this is really. Hongseok already knows how it will end. Dying once for him was easy, what's another time? Yuto is like a brother to him but even if everything about Hongseok’s life has changed - this won’t. It can’t, not now. He watches the man he looked up to turn to the side Hongseok has been trying to leave for longer than he’s been in it. He can’t run away from it anymore. This greed is everywhere he goes.

“Hong, you in on this one?” Hongseok looks up from his cards, he’s losing this game. The other guy is cheating, but Hongseok is lower than him on the ladder and he’s not looking for a fight - not today.

“What’s it?”

“That new second hand store, guy running it’s fuckin’ tiny.”

“We picking on the weak now?” Hongseok smirks, it’s meant to be a joke and that’s how they’ll take it but Hongseok feels it to his core. He’s so tired of this. “Won’t find nothing more than some old leather bags and cookware in there anyhow.” Hongseok folds, sighing as he throws down the cards. The other man laughs as though he’s won millions. Hongseok flips the coin at him, not meeting his eyes.

“Money’s money and the guy’s easy to rob.” The leader looks down at him, but Hongseok knows if it was just them in the room he’d be afraid. Hongseok has his skills. He wonders if not having a conscience is one of them. He’s used to living life desperately, taking what’s to take and spitting on anyone in the way.

“Whatever. I’m out, call me when you find some real jobs.” Hongseok’s hand is on the handle for less than a full five seconds when the knife swings past his ear and lands inside the board of the wall. He looks back with a side eye.

“You’re on. We need you.” Hongseok can’t go against command, not unless he doesn’t want to wake up tomorrow. He’s starting to wonder if he does. “You get to scope the place out, look for safes. I just know that little bastard has one somewhere.”

Hongseok doesn’t need to answer for the leader to know he’s accepted his role. He steps out of the room and punches the next guy he sees straight in his nose, some grunt who was just hired to run crack on the streets - he doesn’t look back at the guy in groans on the ground. Not his problem.

“People aren’t born cold, Seok-ah.” The man says into the darkness, his head resting against Hongseok’s firm bicep.

“Is that a pun?” Hongseok chuckles, pulling the smaller body closer to his and wrapping them in the blanket. He’s never felt like he belonged anywhere, and though he has his coven now - it feels like any ragtag group of lost souls as any. Here, with him in his arms - he never wants to be anywhere else. The room is dank, there’s rats somewhere in the wall, and no light to be found. Hongseok knows it’s partly his fault, his own past decisions leaving his lover like this. Karma might be real.

“That you,” he holds Hongseok’s face between his small hands and smiles, leaning up the tiniest bit to capture the taller’s lips for a moment, “that you is melting.”

“You with your metaphors.” Hongseok leaves another chaste kiss on the smaller man’s nose. “Just write your song already.”

“One day.” Hongseok can hear the other’s dreams - will do anything to help them achieve them. He’s already got his eye on a nice typewriter in a town north of here, with less people to miss it when it suddenly disappears. He feels him fall asleep in his arms, sleep not something afforded to Hongseok anymore - but he doesn’t mind, he spends all night thinking and listening to the sound of love’s breath.

The store’s bell rings as Hongseok walks in, everything inside feels old - filled with the memories of past owners. He spots the most beautiful thing right in the middle, a polished black grand piano with its ivory keys. His breath catches at the sight, and he walks closer to it - putting a finger on a key and pressing to make a beautiful sound.

“Do you play?” A voice sounds, coming out of the back room which Hongseok guesses is storage and a small office. The man really is tiny, he’s short when Hongseok himself isn’t all that tall in the first place. He has a nice smile and a kind voice, and Hongseok nearly feels bad for the amount of trouble they’ll cause him. Not enough to warn him.

“Naw, I ain’t that type.” Hongseok blushes, looking away and walking around gauging the worth of things. He sees some silver and porcelain dish sets that’d sell for a pretty price, but mostly just dusty books, old leather shoes - knick knacks more sentimental than anything. He spots a glass case towards the front with a lock, hands itching to open it. “You got jewelry?”

“I do. Looking for a pretty lady?” The store owner asks. Hongseok doesn’t appreciate the invasive question, never having much interest in women since he was a kid. Hongseok preferred the lines of masculine bodies, not curves and softness like the other guys in the gang. He’d die before he told anyone, probably die if he told anyone. He ignores the question, not gracing it with an answer for any type. “My apologies. That was rude of me. I’ll give you a slight discount on the first thing you buy.” The clerk gives him a sheepish smile, seeming genuinely sorry.

“Do that for all your customers?” Hongseok smirks, the guy is way too nice to be in business. The type of people that get taken advantage of, don’t make it in this game.

“Maybe just the handsome ones.” Hongseok is taken aback, blush spreading on his cheeks once more - darker than the first. The clerk doesn’t seem affected, just continues to smile at him. “So, see anything you like?” Hongseok gets a proper look at the man, slightly older than he is but definitely not by much. He’s not built, but not as thin as the scholarly men Hongseok sees walk the streets by the richer shops. He looks nice in a suit, and his face surely is handsome in the kind subtle way you really have to pay attention to see.

“I think I might.”

“I’m Jinho.” He offers, but Hongseok can’t give his name. Not a real one, the nature of his own business.

“Do you?” Hongseok glances at the piano again, a true beauty in the middle of the underwhelming store. “Know how to play?” He looks back at Jinho, the other’s eyes seemingly glued to his shoulders and Hongseok can’t help but straighten his posture out - proud of his physique.

“I might.” Jinho teases him back. Hongseok vaguely realizes he’s having fun, that this trip to scope out their next hit wasn’t as dreaded as he would think but he still hasn’t found much to return back on.

“Can I see the jewelry?” Hongseok turns his focus back to the matter at hand. Jinho takes the case Hongseok caught eye of at the back out onto the front counter, the case is filled with rings of all kinds - all looking very real and precious. Hongseok realizes this case will be the reason this man will regret ever talking to him. They’ll come for it, come for anything in the store they desire and wipe him clean. “Which one do you think looks best?” He tries to cover his hesitation to gauge the case. Jinho points to a simple gold band, some kind of inscription inside.

“Don’t like fancy stones?” Hongseok laughs.

“I’m a simple man.” Jinho answers. Hongseok doesn’t like complicated things. Life confuses him enough already. Jinho’s answer suits him just fine.

“Where is it you keep disappearing to?” He asks, that usual sly smile on his face. They’re outside the castle, in the gardens. “I won’t tell.”

“Leave it alone, Kino.”

“You never share anything, Hongie!” Kino whines, stomping his feet playfully and pretending to cry, not to be convincing - just annoying. Hongseok smiles at the antics, fond of the young god. He’s been in a good mood lately anyway, probably having to do with the rekindled love in his life popping back in. So he tells Kino, knowing he has his fair share of secrets too and a tight enough mouth to keep them.

“Alright, fine!” Hongseok laughs as Kino paws at him like a needy feline, and smiles at his bright smile back at him for getting his way as he always does. “You can’t tell anyone. Not even your brother.” He says this part more seriously, having watched Yuto go off the rails for the past few years - he’s not sure how he would take the news, especially with their past together. Kino makes an imaginary key and locks his lips. “His name is Jinho.”

“Knew it was a boy,” Kino giggles, sitting on the ledge next to Hongseok. They’re on the roof, somewhere Hongseok comes when he’s thinking. Something about the statement still makes him feel too small in his skin.

“What do you mean? How could you know?”

“Huh?”

“That I like guys, I’ve never-” Hongseok feels like he could sweat, his mind feels prickly and he struggles to look at Kino.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Kino puts his hand on Hongseok’s shoulder lightly, something he would have tensed and maybe attacked him for in the past - out of instinct, out of habit, but he’s gotten past now. Melting , Jinho calls it. “There’s nothing wrong with it.” Hongseok knows that, deep in his heart, but it’s carved into his very being - fear of being who he is. He hopes that will melt away soon too. “He sounds lovely.”

“I haven’t said anything.”

“It’s the way you said his name. He makes you happy.” Hongseok thinks about that, swishes it around his mind like he used to do with tea in his cheeks.

“Yeah, he really does.”

If laughter is the best medicine, Jinho’s laughter is ambrosia - the elixir of life, the fountain of youth. Hongseok listens to the funny sound as they eat cheese and drink wine on the grass overlooking the entire city. It looks beautiful this way, the reason Hongseok frequents this spot, a reminder that there is beauty to be found in the ugliness of life. Looking at Jinho reminds him of that too. They’ve only just met really but Hongseok is foolish and young, and he’s never been in love before so he falls hard. He falls fast and with reckless abandon.

“You did not say that to him.” Jinho laughs through his words, Hongseok chuckling at his little gasps and the occasional snort.

“Well what else would I say?” Hongseok grins, the moon is casting a pretty shadow of light onto Jinho’s face along with their small lantern illuminating the picnic.

“You’re a very interesting man,” Jinho looks at him, their eyes locking and falling to each other’s lips. Hongseok has kissed boys before, a girl once too - just to see, but not for a long time so he lets Jinho take the lead. The older man leans in first, taking Hongseok’s chin by his hand and tilting it to the left. Their lips meld harmoniously, Hongseok gasping slightly into the first second as he can feel the smile in Jinho’s kiss. It tastes a little like wine, a little like cheese, and a lot like something he can’t quite place that must be Jinho. His head spins slightly at the overwhelming feelings and attraction. They kiss a long time, hands wandering and feeling without crossing boundaries. Hongseok isn’t ready for that yet, hasn’t come to terms with this ‘lifestyle’ though Jinho has explained to him that it’s nothing - that some people love differently from others and it’s not strange if you don’t make it. He’s trying to learn, but kicked out of his home before he even turned sixteen for kissing a boy behind the fence and beaten by his father is hard to unlearn and Jinho gives him the time he needs.

Hongseok doesn’t tell them about the jewelry case when he gets back from his task, or the safe he knows he saw a glimpse of behind the counter, and maybe this is the first mistake. Maybe if he had done what he was supposed to, it would have turned out better for everyone, but ‘maybes’ don’t matter when the present is already happening. There’s nothing useful in wondering what he could have done for Jinho, when he’s already lying battered and bruised on his store floor - everything around him in disarray and the glass from the case broken next to him, nothing inside. It’s the piano that’s the biggest pity, the keys strewn around the floor out of their places - the body broken in half with bats. Jinho is picking up the pieces of it, tears hanging to his lashes but refusing to fall. Hongseok doesn’t know what he can say - if there is anything.

“Did you tell them?” Jinho’s voice comes out shaky, no confidence - almost unfathomable for someone like him.

“No. No, I - I tried,” he had tried to stop them when he heard the men talk about it, calling Jinho disgusting names and dreaming of the fortunes they’ll steal. He’d tried to intimidate them, but he’s only one man against about thirty. He nearly thought the leader would shoot him. All he could do was run after them after he was finally let go, half of them staying behind to beat him into what was supposed to be a deep sleep but Hongseok is stronger than that. Had to be, for him.

“I’m not mad, Hongseok.” Jinho’s voice is so quiet, the lights in the store flickering. Tears land on the ivory inside Jinho’s hands. “I’m not mad.” Hongseok knows he means it, can’t even begin to start worrying about something as silly as that when Jinho’s piano is lying in pieces in front of him - his biggest dream. The money it would take to get a new one much larger than the money they’ve stolen out of the store, the store Jinho started to pay for that dream one day. Hongseok can’t help but feel responsible, guilty. “You should go. They’ll be looking for you.” 

He wants nothing more than to gather the smaller man in his arms, kiss his temple, tell him they’ll find a way to fix this but he can hear it in Jinho’s voice. At some level, he blames him too.

Hongseok is in the boiler room of a hospital, the hospital Jinho is dying in - that’s what the doctors have told him. The blood bags he was able to grab for himself torn on the ground around him, dry. He’s too weak to put on the facade anymore, he’s bleeding and still thirsty beyond belief but all he wants is to be with Jinho. The small man is lying in his hospital bed, unconscious and pale. Cold.  Hongseok cries for the first time since his own father beat him for no good reason and kicked him to live a life that killed him in the end. He cried when he died too, but that was a physical pain - this is the kind of pain that tears you from the inside, the fear that’s grasping him in its razor claws of being alone for the rest of his years after he’s found love again. He hears the door open and is too hurt to hide, if a nurse or custodian finds him - so be it. Instead he smells the familiar scent of the old god that’s brought him to this state.

“Hongseok,” Yuto kneels, looking at him all over with panic. “God, forgive me. Don’t. I know I don’t deserve it -”

“Shut up, boss man.” Hongseok chuckles through his tears, unable to hold a grudge against the man who gave him life. A real life, without worrying about hiding himself or staying alive at night. Hongseok is well aware Yuto is hurting too, can’t really fathom what it would feel like losing the last person like you walking on this earth. So an apology is more than enough for forgiveness, but he didn’t even need that. There’s far more important things going on.  

“I thought I told you to stop calling me that a long time ago.” Yuto’s smile gives away he likes it just as much as he did then. “Drink from me.” Hongseok is too thirsty to think about it, just pulls Yuto close and sinks his fangs into his jugular. He drinks deep, almost moaning at the taste of it - hungry like an animal. He nearly lost his mind on the way here, his body nearly unable to heal. Yuto makes a pained groan, frowning against the bigger man. “I meant from my wrist.” Hongseok continues to drink despite the complaint until he feels sated, pulling back and wiping at his mouth.

“You’re still like that.” Yuto muses in that way he does when he’s observing something new - a scientist at heart. “Still take like someone’s going to take it away from you.” Hongseok thinks of Jinho in the hospital bed that will surely turn to his deathbed in a matter of hours, and can’t find the humor in it. Can’t find a reason for him to melt any further, with Jinho gone - he’ll freeze once more. With Jinho gone, there will be no beauty in this ugliness any more. Yuto takes his hand, grounding him - his mind filling images of Kino and Shinwon, Yan An with them pouting and whiny, of the man in front of him saving him and his partner Wooseok who is warm enough on his own. He is reminded of Yan An losing Changgu and how he is still here, how he’s found a love as unusual as they all are and knows that maybe it’s not true - but he still can’t bear to lose Jinho again.

Maybe Hongseok never thought he would get this far with a guy, maybe he thought sex was a myth , maybe he’s just panicking cause they’re both naked in Jinho’s bed and the smaller man is kissing down his abdominals with fervor and Hongseok is going actually insane at the thought of what’s next.

“J - Jinho,” Hongseok blurts out, hoping his face doesn’t look as scared as he feels.

“What’s wrong?” Jinho looks concerned, pulling away from Hongseok’s skin and he already misses the touch.

“I haven’t - you know, done” he waves his hand in the air, as though there’s some kind of bubble there that explains it all, “ this before.”

“You’re a virgin?” Jinho’s lips make a little ‘o’. “There’s nothing wrong with that, love. Let me take care of you.” Jinho goes back to kissing, this time his tongue at a nipple and Hongseok’s head falls back but his mind is still racing despite the pleasure he feels.

“I mean,” Hongseok starts again, Jinho continuing to go lower but moving his eyes to look at him as he does so which leaves Hongseok gulping down buckets of saliva. “will it hurt?”

“It’s okay, I can show you how to prep me.” Hongseok is suddenly hit with the realization that what he wants might seem unconventional to the outside eye, and even to Jinho. He’s a big guy, with muscles and strength - and Jinho is tiny, everywhere except where it counts anyway which only serves to make Hongseok more nervous. Jinho stops, looking at Hongseok intensely and Hongseok can almost see the lightbulb go off. “ Oh! I didn’t realize - I can - I mean it’s fine either way for me -”

Hongseok retreats into his safe space inside his mind, where he’s a man who does man things and maybe he likes boys, and fucks boys, but he won’t take it up the -

“Baby. Look at me.” Hongseok looks at Jinho, realizing he had closed his eyes in anxiety. “I’m sorry I didn’t think to ask.”

“No, I mean. It makes sense that I’d be the -”

“There is no sense, or assigned role for that.” Jinho sucks his teeth in annoyance, but Hongseok can tell it’s not at him. It occurs to him that Jinho must get his fair share of stereotypes just for his cute demeanor and small size. “I prefer to top, I just thought for your first it’d be more comfortable to take that position. We can do whatever you like.”

“I want to - try it.” Jinho kisses him, smiling and nodding. So Hongseok finds out how fingers in a lot of places feel, and when Jinho enters him he doesn’t feel less of a man. He just feels a little tense, but good and very much in love.

“Fuck.” Jinho says as he bottoms out, panting onto Hongseok’s chest. “It’s amazing how you can feel so cold on the outside but in here - “

Hongseok screams in embarrassment and begs him to keep going, their laughter filling the room as they share one of Hongseok’s favorite memories after the fact.

When he comes back, the leader calls him to his room and hands him a glass of strong whiskey with a sleazy grin that Hongseok already knows means he knows more than he should, about Jinho and him. He’s on edge, and he’s distracted by the look in Jinho’s eyes as he left, so he takes a sip of the bitter liquid - which tastes more bitter than usual and it doesn’t take long for him to realize what he’s done.

The look on the man’s face is enough to say the slur without saying it, but he does. That word his father used when he found him kissing boys. 

“Bastard.” Hongseok chokes out, coughing up the liquid. Poison is a coward’s weapon but he’s never known this gang to be anything less. He swings at the man, clipping his jaw hard and jumping on top of him - punching again left and right until the man is no longer moving. Hongseok can’t tell if he killed him or not, won’t matter. He’s going to die in less than an hour. He can already feel his insides falling away from the corrosive poison inside him. He walks out of the office, the others around him moving away - far too scared to take him on after what they heard inside and some look regretful. Maybe they know Hongseok is living his last moments. He decides to try to make it to Jinho’s, to say goodbye,  but as soon as he’s out in the alley the pain is too great and he’s vomiting obscenely against the wall - great amounts of blood coming out. He hears him before he sees him.

“Who’s there?”

“I was already departing.” Yuto answers.

This is how Hongseok dies.

He likes sitting in nature, the forests outside the castle expansive and lush. There’s a river that runs, the sound calming and peaceful, a space Hongseok spends a lot of time at. He can’t believe it when he sees him, looking a little more tired and a good bit older. More a man than the boy he seemed when they met. Hongseok longs to run to him, collect him in his arms and ask what he’s missed but there was a reason he never looked for Jinho after the day he died - all having to do with the fact Jinho needed someone better. The small man comes to fish at the river nearly as often as Hongseok goes there, eventually going every day just to see if he’s there. He never talks to him, just watches from afar and makes sure nothing bothers him - listens to that laughter he misses that much when his hook lands in the wrong spot, or a fish nearly slaps him as it tries to flop away.

“I’m not very good at fishing, it must be boring to watch.” Jinho says one day, and it takes Hongseok a moment to realize he’s addressing someone - addressing him.

“How did you know I was here?” Hongseok asks, staying in his spot where he doesn’t think Jinho can see him. He doesn’t think the man knows who’s watching him - just that someone is.

“Since when do I like fishing, Seok-ah?”

The name pierces like an arrow.

“Why are you here?”

Jinho laughs. “I kept having these strange dreams.”

“I missed you.” Hongseok admits, breathless without needing breath.

“Didn’t I tell you I wasn’t mad?” They wipe each other’s tears, arms fitting around each other, lips meeting in reunion hasty and needful. “You could have come any time.”

“The store is gone.” Hongseok says, afraid of the reason why. Afraid of all the things he missed in Jinho’s life, the life he left him to live on his own and disappeared. It wasn’t out of consideration for him, that was just the excuse he told himself. He was afraid, afraid to come back when he was so sure he ruined everything. He’s learned to be selfish from the gang life, greed became part of him.

“Yeah,” Jinho looks sad as he says it, Hongseok knows it wasn’t out of any kind of choice. “It burned down. I got some money from insurance, it was proven to be arson.” He knew they wouldn’t just leave him alone when he left, Jinho could have died . He doesn’t deserve him. “I have a small place, working for a bank as I save.” Hongseok knows he means for a piano, he’ll probably save for the rest of his life. “It’s not so bad. Better than dying.”

“I don’t know about that. I’ve never felt more alive.”

“Hongseok, you have to stop stealing.” Yuto confronts him. “What need do you have of any of these things?” He gestures at the various valuables inside his room.

“Money is everything,” Hongseok scoffs. “That doesn’t change just cause I died.”

“It does.” Yuto glares at the young vampire, only a few months old. He sniffs the air, pausing in frustration. “Have you been drinking ?”

“What the fuck do you expect me to do?” Hongseok seethes at the older vampire. He’s grateful to him but he doesn’t get his whole ‘peace on earth’ bullshit. “We’re vampires.”

“You just drank the other day. You can’t be that hungry.”

“I’m a little hungry.”

“How are you finding so many volunteers?” Yuto runs his hand through his hair. Hongseok looks at him stupefied.

“Volunteers?” He barely registers when he’s slammed back, hand on his neck, pinned to the wall. He’s barely surprised anyway, something he’s used to. Fighting. Still for all the strength in his muscles, he can’t move Yuto.

“How are you drinking?” Yuto hisses at him.

“I just hunt people down,” Hongseok struggles to no avail.

“Are you a barbarian?” Yuto yells, keeping him still. “We only drink what we need, from people that consent.”

“I only drink from bad people, man. No one misses them.”

“You suck them dry!?” Yuto’s voice turns nearly demonic, the pitch unnatural. It’s enough to make Hongseok afraid, tremble. “You will not ever do that again, or I will take you out of this life myself .”

Hongseok doesn’t understand but he doesn’t try Yuto’s patience, and with years he starts to.

Hongseok’s neck aches when he wakes, and he feels the small punctures inside, jumping to alertness and getting off the bed he’s lying on - nearly running into him.

“Jinho.”

He looks nearly the same as always, but Hongseok knows he’ll never age, never sleep or breathe again. Jinho is free to walk the unwinding expanse of time forever with him.

“You didn’t have to -”

“I can’t let you go again.” Hongseok pulls him into his arms, hand on the back of his head. “We both know I’m selfish.”

“I wanted - I want to spend forever with you. Let me be selfish too.”

The thing about forever is it has to start, even if it never ends. Hongseok’s forever starts with Jinho.

Hongseok realizes he’s truly changed, melted completely - when he tells Yan An that life doesn’t have to be cruel, or ugly, doesn’t have to be something to fear and means it. The new vampire is shivering, unable to forget the lives he’s taken and his own life lost, and Hongseok is there to comfort him through it all. The two are similar but different, Yan An never made greedy or cruel - only desperate to survive. It’s easier to melt him, but Hongseok is proud of himself for being the one able to do it.

Later when Jinho meets Yan An, and Hongseok tells him about those years - Jinho tells him he always knew he had it in him and Hongseok cries, freed of his past once and for all.

“Are you sure he doesn’t know anything?” Shinwon whispers.

“Babe, oh my god. Whisper quieter! You are seriously so loud.” Kino whines.

“You’re being louder than him,” Yan An hisses. They’re all huddled behind a couch, waiting for Jinho to get home. He’s gone out to look for more music sheets. Yuto and Wooseok are upstairs, getting the cake ready with the candles. At least that’s what they said they’d be doing. Hongseok is polishing to all hell, obviously very nervous.

“For fuck’s sake,” Changgu whispers to himself more than anyone.

“You guys really just made an angel curse.” Another voice says.

“Hui, let’s not talk about what you make angels do.” Changgu snipes back, irritated. His legs are tired. Hui sputters, his partner giggling next to him.

Yuto and Wooseok are at the top of the staircase, cake in hand just seconds before Jinho opens the front door and walks in with his shopping bags. The bags fall to the ground immediately, no grace in the action.

“ Surprise!” The large group yells.

“You stepped on my foot!” Shinwon yelps.

“I’ll kiss it better later, sweetie.” Changgu says somewhere in the fray.

“I’m going to projectile vomit.” Hui screams.

“You are so dramatic.” Kino’s voice sighs.

“Don’t make me kill you again.”

“Don’t make me kill you again.” Yuto yells from the top of the staircase. Jinho looks up just in time to see the man fall forward, face landing directly in the cake, and hair lighting slightly on fire. Wooseok screams, fanning it out. Hongseok continues to stand in front of the gift, waiting for Jinho to say something. The commotion in his background muted compared to the thoughts in his head. He hates it. Oh my god, we bought a giant fucking piano that he doesn’t like.

Jinho falls to his knees, sobbing into his hands as he takes in the large white grand piano in their main room. Hongseok runs to him, cooing.

“Babe, are you okay? Do you not like it? You hate it. Of course. I can’t pick fucking pianos.” Hongseok starts to rant. “Listen, I’ll burn this one and we’ll get another together. You pick.”

“Shut up.” Jinho jumps on top of Hongseok, his back hitting the floor as Jinho mauls his face with his lips. “I love it. I love you. I love you so fucking much.”

Kino clears his throat, and the two lovebirds look up suddenly aware they’re not in their bedroom. “Hongie did buy the piano, but do you even see the amazing birthday decorations?”
The room looks like it was decorated by an especially unruly class of kindergartners that might also be blind. Hongseok can tell Jinho loves it.

“Happy Death Day, baby.” Hongseok says. The whole group shouts the phrase right back, Shinwon still arguing about who stepped on his foot. Hui claims he deserves to get his foot stepped on.

“Did you steal the piano, Seok-ah?” Jinho whispers.

Hongseok looks offended.

“I paid at least three quarters of the original price,” Jinho looks at him with that smile he loves, “after I stole it, yes.”

Hongseok figures there’s nothing wrong with a little theft, when it can make the man he loves smile so bright.