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Look, in Seungcheol’s defence, he’d grown up in South Korea in a fairly conservative family. Before he’d gone to America, he hadn’t, as far as he knew, known even a single gay person. When he arrived on his new college campus, a little nervous and mostly excited, the first person he’d spoken to was his roommate. His roommate who, incidentally, dragged him headfirst into the local queer culture after declaring him his “pet heterosexual”.
Jeonghan was, by all accounts, a very good roommate. He kept his side of the room neat and clean, helped Seungcheol shop for groceries, and was happy to just quietly study together in the library when their deadlines were approaching. Even if he had a tendency to flagrantly cheat when they played video games together and had taken to stealing Seungcheol’s hoodies as autumn grew colder around them, Jeonghan was a fun guy to be around. Plus, he spoke Korean, and that made Seungcheol a lot more comfortable.
Seungcheol’s other best friend for their entire freshman year had been Joshua. Joshua, a born-and-raised American, who was always willing to help out in classes and knew all the best places to eat around campus, who also happened to be Jeonghan’s boyfriend. Jeonghan and Joshua made an effort to prevent Seungcheol from feeling like a third wheel whenever they hung out, and in return Seungcheol occasionally crashed with his other friends so that the couple could have sex in their dorm room without having to worry about waking Seungcheol up. They even brought him out clubbing with them when the LGBTQ+ campus association went on their nights out, helped him figure out how to best dress to emphasise his thick thighs and bubble butt. The couple even came to support him at his volleyball games, even though neither of them knew anything about the sport and admittedly mostly enjoyed the view of the team’s asses.
Even when Seungcheol and Jeonghan stopped living together in their sophomore year as Seungcheol moved into a room in his frat’s house upon being accepted as a Big for new pledges, the three of them were practically inseparable. Jeonghan and Joshua took an immediate liking to Seungcheol’s first Little, a Chinese student called Junhui who wore a bi pride badge with every outfit. Junhui marked the beginning of a trend that would continue with each passing year: namely, Seungcheol adopting every queer Korean kid that walked through their campus gates (the one exception being Minghao, another Chinese kid who had introduced himself to Seungcheol as Junhui’s boyfriend, much to the surprise of everyone present including Junhui himself).
The thing about Seungcheol was that he knew he was a pretty popular guy. He was handsome, and charming, and had a giggle that everyone liked to tell him was adorable. He could flit between frat parties, group study sessions, sports practices, and queer socials with ease. Despite the general reputation of frat boys as loud, obnoxious, and misogynistic, Seungcheol prided himself on being respectful, friendly, and…well, still loud but in a funny and charming way rather than an annoying one. So it shouldn't have been a surprise that Seungcheol had made a close friend out of the most introverted student in the music programme, but it still made a lot of people do a double take the first time they saw Jihoon walking around campus with Seungcheol, often so deeply mired in whatever discussion they were having that they barely noticed the world around them.
The other major facet of Seungcheol's campus popularity, which made Jeonghan and Joshua in particular laugh hysterically any time it was brought up, was an entirely undeserved (in Seungcheol's opinion) reputation as a notorious heartbreaker. He had a tendency to pout and sulk any time it was brought up: it wasn't his fault that girls confessed to him with alarming regularity, despite his only interaction with them being a minor act of kindness like picking up books that were dropped, or offering pens to people that forgot them, or - on one memorable occasion - stepping in to be a partner to a cheerleader at a half time show when her original partner dropped out.
The thing was, Seungcheol had never actually had feelings for someone before. Sure, he'd had a couple of girlfriends in high school, but those had mostly been relationships based in the fact that he'd been too flustered and surprised to say no, which had ended pretty quickly with the girls deciding that despite his good looks, he made a much better friend than boyfriend.
So it wasn't really his fault that he considered his feelings for Jihoon to be simply him caring for his very close friend. Sure, he felt like he'd swallowed a hundred butterflies any time their hands touched, and his heart pounded whenever Jihoon's proper laugh rang out at one of his jokes, and he felt heat flare up in his cheeks and ears on the days when Jihoon complimented him on his looks, but they were very close. Of course Jihoon made him Have Feelings. Never mind that he didn't feel these things around his other friends - Jeonghan's compliments mostly just made him feel objectified, and his primary emotion caused by Seokmin's laugh was fear that they were about to get kicked out of the library.
And so Seungcheol managed to remain in blissful ignorance of his own internal conflict until one day in the middle of his senior year, when the world came crashing down around him.
He and Jihoon had been in Seungcheol's room, which he now shared with Vernon and Chan, his two newest Littles in the frat. Both of them were in class, and so they had the room to themselves. They were studying, Seungcheol for a biology midterm and Jihoon for a music theory exam, when Jihoon suddenly paused to dig a tube of lip balm out of his backpack. As he mindlessly re-moistened his poor chapped lips, Seungcheol found his eyes following the motion as he realised, with no small amount of alarm, that he really wanted to kiss Jihoon.
He'd smothered the thought almost immediately, but throughout their study session it kept bobbing back to the surface, floating through his mind like a particularly tenacious rubber duck. Once Jihoon finally left a few hours later, Seungcheol had scrambled for his phone and called Jeonghan and Joshua over for an emergency meeting.
When the pair had arrived, they had found Seungcheol face-down on his bed, nose buried in his pillow. Jeonghan rolled his eyes, before walking over to the bed to condescendingly pat Seungcheol on the back of the head.
"What's wrong, you big baby?"
Seungcheol turned his head, pouting up at his friend. "I'm not a baby."
"I think we'll decide that based on whatever it is you're having a crisis about." Joshua said, plopping himself down on Vernon's bed.
Seungcheol sighed, flipping himself onto his back and spreading his arms out over the bedspread as he stared listlessly at the ceiling. "I want to kiss Jihoon."
There was no gasp of surprise, only expectant silence, which was not the reaction he had anticipated. He turned his head to find the others looking at him, as if waiting for him to continue. He frowned. "That's the emergency."
Jeonghan and Joshua shared A Look, one that Wonwoo had identified as meaning "one of our brats is being stupid, how do we tell him without hurting his feelings?" The pair spoke in unison.
"Why do you think it's an emergency?"
"You're an idiot, Cheol."
Choosing to ignore Jeonghan, Seungcheol turned his baleful eyes on Joshua, the closest thing he had to someone who would give him sympathy.
"Because, Shua, I've never wanted to kiss a boy before, and I'm freaking out. Fuck, I've never even wanted to kiss a girl before."
That got the shocked reaction he'd been initially expecting.
"You've never wanted to kiss a girl?" Jeonghan asked slowly, as if he couldn't quite believe what he was hearing.
Seungcheol shook his head. "Not an actual girl. I mean, I've thought about it, and I like the idea of it, but I've never looked at a girl I've known and thought that I wanted to kiss her."
Joshua gave him a slightly incredulous look. "So you've never so much as wanted to kiss a girl and you still think you're straight?"
Seungcheol opened his mouth to speak, then closed it, a frown furrowing his brow. He'd never thought of it like that before.
"What about porn? Do you watch porn when you masturbate?" Jeonghan asked, ignoring the flaming blush that spread across Seungcheol's cheeks and dodging the projectile pillow that came hurtling at his head.
"I have! A few times! It just doesn't do anything for me, so I usually just...imagine." He waved his hands vaguely, refusing to make eye contact with either of them.
"What do you imagine?" Joshua asked, sounding legitimately curious.
Seungcheol groaned. "I don't know! Stuff! Hands, and mouths, just... vague stuff."
Jeonghan dropped his head into his hands with an audible smack. "Lord, please save me from compulsory heterosexuality and grant me the knowledge of when I want dick."
"I've changed my mind, I don't want your advice anymore, both of you get out." Seungcheol whined, but made no move to usher the others out.
"Listen, Cheollie. Do you have a crush on Jihoon?" Joshua asked, switching to the soft tone he used when talking to animals or high school prospectives.
Seungcheol's heart stumbled before picking up double-time. "What?"
"You want to kiss him. Is it just physical? Or do you want to date him?" Joshua asked, and Seungcheol was momentarily grateful for his saintly patience.
"The correct answer is that you have a crush on him." Jeonghan supplied, flicking through the books left strewn across the bed. His nose wrinkled at Chan's freshman statistics book and he put it down, turning back towards the crisis unfolding in front of him.
Seungcheol glared back at him. "How would you know?"
"Because you stare at him with this sappy smile whenever he's not looking at you, and you go red every time he gives you compliments, and you laugh at his jokes even though he's not funny." Jeonghan's tone was deadpan as he counted the points off on his fingers.
Seungcheol sat up, flinging a second pillow at the eternal bane of his existence. "I don't stare at him! And he is funny."
Joshua and Jeonghan exchanged another Look as Seungcheol stared down at his hands, fiddling with the ring on his pinkie. The one Jihoon had given him for his birthday that Seungcheol never took off, because. Because.
Fuck.
"I have a crush on Jihoon."
"I'll take obvious statements for 500, Alex." Jeonghan said, and this time the pillow came from Joshua.
"Now what do I do?" Seungcheol whined, covering his face with his hands. "Life was so much easier five minutes ago when I was straight."
Joshua walked over and put a comforting arm around Seungcheol's shoulder. Seungcheol immediately shifted his body to lean more into Joshua's frame, tucking his face against his friend's neck. Jeonghan, never one to miss out on a cuddle party, immediately came over to join them on the bed and squished Seungcheol into the centre of their cuddle sandwich.
"Thinking about your sexuality can be scary. You don't have to label yourself now, or ever if you don't want to. It's up to you, and no one else can make that decision for you. But when it comes to Jihoon, that's easy. Just talk to him." Joshua said, stroking his fingers gently through Seungcheol's soft, dark hair.
"Or I could die." Seungcheol mumbled into Joshua's shirt.
"You know how Jihoon is. He likes straightforward. Tell him you like him, give him a kiss, make him admit to the number of times I've caught him checking out your ass, and boom! Happy ever after." Jeonghan said, waving one arm in a triumphant gesture.
Seungcheol turned his face away from the soft fabric covering Joshua's shoulder to pout at them both. "But what if he rejects me?"
Jeonghan shrugged. "Then it sucks for a while, and you move on until you find someone else you want to kiss. It can be as simple as that."
Seungcheol considered this for a moment. Simple. He liked simple. Simple was sports, and friends, and spending time with Jihoon. Simple was comfy sweatshirts and making people smile and looking after his kids. Simple could be kissing Jihoon's pretty mouth and holding hands on coffee dates at their favourite café, still arguing about Marvel movies and laughing at terrible puns. He narrowed his eyes at Jeonghan. "Does he really check out my ass?"
Joshua was the one that answered. "Every time you turn around. It's disgusting, honestly."
Seungcheol nodded thoughtfully. Then he pushed himself out of the cuddle sandwich, despite the noises of complaint from the others. "Then I need you guys to help me choose an outfit."
~
The next night, Seungcheol was all dressed up in the outfit Joshua and Jeonghan had helped him to pick and starting to lose his nerve. He'd never been afraid to enter a frat party before, but knowing he was going to confess to Jihoon just a little over 24 hours after having a sexuality crisis and an emotional breakthrough was really stressing him out.
Jeonghan nudged him with his shoulder, forcing Seungcheol to take a step forward. "Go on lover boy, go make your move."
Seungcheol turned back to face his friends, tugging nervously at the hem of the loose satin shirt he was wearing. It was a deep blue that complimented his hair colour, clingy around his chest and arms and loose around the middle with a V-neck that dipped low enough to show off the smooth plane of his chest. His legs were stuffed into the skinniest jeans he owned, which stuck almost obscenely to the curves of his ass and thighs, the look topped off by a thin silver necklace and artistically scuffed black combat boots.
Seungcheol ran a hand through his hair, pushing it back from his forehead momentarily. "Are you sure I look ok?"
Joshua grinned. "Aw, our cutie Seungcheollie, do you need us to reassure you?"
Jeonghan joined in immediately, reaching forward to pinch Seungcheol's cheek. "Yah, so handsome, our lovely little Cheollie."
Seungcheol barely had time to glower, his bottom lip pushing out into a pout, before Soonyoung bounded up behind the evil duo with a wide smile on his face.
"Ah, are we complimenting Seungcheol hyung? Oh hyung, you look sexy as fuck!" Soonyoung grinned, giving Seungcheol double thumbs up.
Seungcheol's pout deepened. "You're all the worst, I'm going inside." With that, he turned on his heel and stalked away, the others following him with evil cackling laughter bubbling up between them.
He knew that Jihoon would be by the sound system with Mingyu as he always was at parties, and Mingyu was basically a one-man homing beacon so Seungcheol diverted himself towards the kitchen to fortify himself with alcohol before possibly making the biggest mistake of his life. He chugged half a can to cheers from his volleyball teammates (including Seungkwan who somehow managed to organise a co-ordinated chant with harmonies in five seconds flat) before waving them off and making his way through the crowd. He waved to Mingyu, who enthusiastically flapped his arm in return.
“Ah, hyung, perfect timing! I have to go find Vernon, he got lost again. You can keep Jihoon hyung company.” And with that, Mingyu was off through the crowd.
Jihoon raised his drink with a smile, and Seungcheol found himself drawn into their typical easy conversation. They talked about the music that was playing, and the piece that Jihoon was working on for class, until Seungcheol had finished his beer and felt ready for The Conversation. He took a deep breath and shot Jihoon a gummy smile. “It’s pretty warm in here. Do you want to come outside for some fresh air?”
Jihoon nodded, gesturing for Seungcheol to lead the way outside. Once they’d pushed their way through the crowd and out into the garden, Seungcheol perched himself on the low brick wall at the edge of the garden. Jihoon moved next to him, grumbling slightly as he had to hop to get onto the wall. They sat quietly for a moment, Seungcheol feeling the warm air settling on his skin as he absent-mindedly fiddled with his ring.
“What’s going on with you, hyung?” Jihoon asked.
Seungcheol took a deep breath. He’d prepared for this; he’d planned a whole speech in his head and was ready to deliver it.
“I want to kiss you.” Well, that wasn’t it.
Jihoon looked at him consideringly for a moment. “In a ‘gay experiment’ kind of way or an ‘I like you and am bad at communication’ kind of way?”
Seungcheol yelped in embarrassment and buried his face in his hands, muffling his next words. “The second one. I like you.”
Seungcheol suddenly felt Jihoon’s fingers, still cold despite the spring warmth, wrap around his wrists and gently pull his hands away from his head. He turned, feeling his heart flutter at the gentle smile that curved Jihoon’s soft pink lips. They held eye contact for a moment, the quiet stretching between them for a moment. Then Seungcheol’s eyes flickered down to Jihoon’s mouth which slowly shifted into a smirk.
And then suddenly the mouth was coming closer to him and then they were kissing.
Seungcheol’s stomach was doing somersaults and his mouth felt electrified, his senses sparking and unsure as to whether he should focus on the press of their mouths together or the feeling of Jihoon’s long thumbs stroking gently over the delicate skin of his wrists. He shivered and shifted a little closer, enjoying the slick feeling of their lips pressed together.
It could have been seconds or minutes or hours before they broke apart for breath.
Seungcheol looked at Jihoon’s face, took in his sparkling eyes and reddened lips, and couldn’t stop himself from blurting out the question. “Will you go on a date with me?”
Jihoon laughed, letting go of Seungcheol’s wrists and instead linking their fingers together. “That depends. Do you put out on the first date? Because I’ve wanted to have sex with you since my freshman year.”
Seungcheol’s brain went completely blank – full on Windows shutdown noise and black screen. When it finally kicked back in again, Seungcheol went bright red and spluttered for a moment before letting out a shaky breath. He squished his own cheeks, shook his head, then turned to Jihoon with his best approximation of a flirtatious expression. “Maybe even before the first date if you ask nicely.”
Jihoon laughed so hard he dropped off the wall and onto his knees, while Seungcheol covered his face once again and whined. “Never mind, forget I said anything.”
Jihoon’s laughter faded to giggles, and when Seungcheol looked up he was on his phone. “Oh my god, am I so boring that you’re on your phone right after I just confessed to you?”
Jihoon looked up and smirked, waving his phone teasingly at Seungcheol. “Nope. I’m telling Wonwoo to stay with Mingyu tonight. I’m taking the dorm for myself tonight.”
~
By the time they made it back to Jihoon’s dorm, Seungcheol was ready to vibrate out of his skin. Despite the soft, mint green sweater and oversized grey trousers making him look sweet and approachable, there was a fire in Jihoon’s eyes that Seungcheol usually only saw when he was making music and the younger man’s grip was tight around his wrist. His fingers were cold but Seungcheol felt like his skin was burning, a low simmering heat settling in his belly.
Once they were in the bedroom, Jihoon immediately pressed Seungcheol up against the door and slotted their lips together. Despite their height difference, Jihoon’s kisses kept him pinned, the hot slide of their mouths and tongues against each other making Seungcheol’s fingers curl into the delicate material of Jihoon’s sweater in response to the waves of pleasure slowly coursing through him. Jihoon smirked as his hands gripped tightly to Seungcheol’s hips, pressing them back against the door.
Seungcheol broke the kiss with a gasp and Jihoon’s mouth moved from his lips to his neck, leaving a trail of light red marks from his jaw to the collar of his shirt. “Jihoonie, I should admit, I- fuck- I’ve never gone further than kissing.”
Jihoon looked up at him coyly, his hands sliding around from Seungcheol’s hips to cup his ass through his jeans. “Does that mean you want me to take charge, hyung? Since I’m more experienced?”
The confidence Jihoon was radiating made Seungcheol go a little weak at the knees as he nodded. “Fuck, yeah, I’d like that.”
Jihoon grinned, leading Seungcheol over to the bed and guiding him to sit down on the neatly made bed. He leaned in for another kiss and reached for the hem of Seungcheol’s shirt, lifting it until Seungcheol was forced to pull back to get it over his head.
“It was so hard to not stare at your chest tonight. And your ass looks so good in these jeans, it should be illegal.” Jihoon mumbled against Seungcheol’s lips as he fumbled with the buttons on their trousers, shucking his own with ease and struggling to push Seungcheol’s over his round ass.
Seungcheol reached down to help out, and once his legs were free he tugged insistently at Jihoon’s sweater. “Jeonghan said you stare at my ass all the time.”
“Jeonghan needs to mind his own business.” Jihoon grumbled.
Seungcheol smiled teasingly, lying back on the bed and rolling over onto his stomach so he could look back over his shoulder at Jihoon coquettishly. “Was he lying?”
Jihoon’s eyes were glued to the way Seungcheol’s briefs clung to him, long fingers reaching out to gently stroke the sensitive skin of his inner thighs. “No, but he shouldn’t spread my business around like that. I was enjoying staring at your ass in peace.” He looked up, making eye contact with Seungcheol, his pupils blown so wide that his irises almost looked black. “Can I finger you?”
Seungcheol sucked in a sharp breath and felt his ears burn, but he nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, yeah, that sounds great. Please.”
Jihoon reached into his bedside drawer for a bottle of lube as Seungcheol shimmied out of his underwear and lifted his hips slightly, enjoying the sudden intake of breath and the hungry look in Jihoon’s eyes as he looked at the expanse of smooth skin on display.
Seungcheol, as a man who had grown up under the impression that he was heterosexual with very vanilla sensibilities, had never fingered himself before. He had spent last night on a Google deep-dive, looking for information on anal sex just in case. He’d been a little turned on, then a little overwhelmed, then turned on again, and while he was getting ready for the party he’d cleaned himself thoroughly – again, just in case. But understanding it in theory was definitely not the same as experiencing it first-hand.
Within ten minutes, Jihoon had three fingers deep inside Seungcheol’s ass and the elder was moaning wildly, his hips bucking against the mattress as he rutted his cock against the sheets and desperately pressed himself back into Jihoon’s hand.
“Fuck, are you sure you’ve never been fucked before? You’re taking my fingers so well, and you’re so eager.” Jihoon’s voice, usually soft and sonorous, was thicker and deeper than Seungcheol had ever heard it, arousal clear in every word.
Seungcheol whined, fingers curling into the sheets as his entire body shivered when Jihoon’s fingers brushed over his prostate. “Oh god, Jihoon, you’re so good at this, fuck, I need you to fuck me right now.”
Jihoon growled, a sound that Seungcheol had never heard him make before that went straight to his cock, and pulled his fingers out. He gripped Seungcheol by the waist and, in an outstanding display of why he spent so many hours in the gym, flipped Seungcheol onto his back. He quickly tore open the wrapper on the condom and rolled it on, eyes glued to the flush on Seungcheol’s cheeks and his slightly glassy eyes.
“God, Cheol, you’re so hot. Tell me if it hurts. I’ll go slow for you.” Jihoon gripped Seungcheol’s cock, stroking it lightly and teasingly as he eased his cock into Seungcheol’s ass. The moan that tore its way out of Seungcheol’s chest was high and reedy, and his hands flew up to wrap around Jihoon’s shoulders. His fingers twined their way into Jihoon’s soft hair, tugging lightly and whimpering when that motion made Jihoon’s hips stutter forwards until he was fully seated.
“Oh fuck, Jihoonie, you’re so big. God, don’t stop, it feels so good!’ Seungcheol moaned wantonly, rolling his hips desperately as Jihoon’s head dropped forward with a groan.
“Shit, Seungcheol, you’re so tight. Christ, I’m not gonna last long.” Jihoon groaned, leaning down to capture Seungcheol’s lips in a desperate and heated kiss.
In the end, neither of them lasted very long. With Jihoon buried in his ass and with his hand wrapped around his cock, it took only moments for Seungcheol to paint his own chest with his cum as he almost screamed Jihoon’s name. Just a few thrusts later, Jihoon followed him over the edge, his hips stuttering in an irregular rhythm as he spilled into the condom. He stayed still for a moment, basking in the afterglow of his orgasm, before slowly pulling out and throwing away the condom.
Seungcheol shuffled over on the bed slightly so that Jihoon could collapse next to him, a tissue held out for Seungcheol to wipe himself down with. Both clean of fluids but still damp with sweat, they lay pressed together on the bed, trading languorous kisses as time flowed around them like liquid.
Eventually, Seungcheol pulled back and trailed his fingertips lightly up the centre of Jihoon’s chest as he spoke. “So I feel like we pretty thoroughly proved that we have good sexual chemistry. And we know that we fit well together outside of the bedroom too.”
Jihoon raised an eyebrow. “I think I know what you’re getting at, but I need you to actually ask the question.”
Seungcheol giggled as Jihoon captured his wandering fingers, raising the hand to his lips and pressing a light kiss to Seungcheol’s ring. “Fine, fine. Lee Jihoon, gem of the music department, light of my life, fire of my loins, will you be my boyfriend?”
Jihoon rolled his eyes. “You are insufferable. Yes, of course I will.”
And with that, he pounced.