Chapter Text
The morning rush hour of central Seoul does nothing to ease Yuta’s nerves and he digs the heel of his palm into the meat of his thigh to stop his leg bouncing up and down anxiously. Rain falls heavily around him, angry, dark storm clouds covering the entire sky in their misery. He can see the Point Energy building from the corner of his eye, tall, grey, and looming over the other buildings, exactly one block away.
His fingers twitch when he realizes how close yet far he is.
“We’re almost there, sir.” Hyungwon, his driver, calls from the front of the car and Yuta feels himself sigh in relief, brushing the sleeve of his crisp suit jacket up to check his watch.
It’s nearly half past nine in the morning and the meeting was supposed to start at nine, which means Yuta is past being a little late and verging on missing the meeting entirely. He knows his father will be surprised when he realizes Yuta is not present, considering he is never late. There are only three times Yuta can count where he was late to work. Twice because he was sick—though he had still managed to all but crawl into the conference room, tissues in hand—and on the day Shotaro was meant to leave for America. He had taken up the couch in Yuta’s condo with anxious tears, burbling about how unfair it was that he had to leave and finish his studies in a foreign country, and the sight alone was enough to make Yuta collapse next to him, pulling his teenage brother into his arms.
The car pulls up in front of Point Energy and Yuta suppresses another sigh of relief.
“Just park and wait for me, Hyungwon,” He says quickly.
Hyungwon nods and Yuta mumbles a quick ‘thank you’, exiting the car. He beelines through the doors, fishing his phone out when he feels it’s steady buzz in his pocket.
“It’s Nakamoto Yuta.” He says automatically the second the line connects.
A familiar, whiny voice rings through the phone, “Why haven’t you saved my number yet, Yuta?”
Yuta can almost hear the pout in Shotato’s voice. He pulls the phone away from his face for a second, turning to the woman at the reception desk.
“Good morning,” He reaches into the inside of his pocket of his suit jacket, producing his business card, “I’m here for the merger meeting.”
The receptionist smiles pleasantly, “Good morning, Mr. Nakamoto,” She says, handing Yuta a visitor pass and a small sticky note with the conference room number and floor.
“Thank you.” He smiles politely, clipping the visitor badge to his breast pocket. Yuta suppresses a sudden shiver. The inside of the building is icy cold and provides little warmth after the thundering rain outside.
He all but runs towards the elevators, only remembering that Shotaro is still on the phone once the elevator doors close.
“Shotaro?”
“I’m here.” Shotaro’s voice rings through, crackling slightly, “Why haven’t you saved my number yet?” He repeats.
Yuta sighs, “I forgot, sorry, I’ll save it right now.”
He quickly glances up at the numbers flashing by on the top of the elevator doors, realizing he has enough time to quickly thumb Shotaro’s new phone number into his contact list. Even though Shotaro has been back in Korea for almost a month now, Yuta keeps forgetting to save his number in his phone.
“There, it’s done,” he says, “But knowing you’re calling is less likely to make me pick up the phone, you know.”
Shotaro laughs sarcastically, “You’re so funny, Yuta, assuming I would ever willingly call you.”
Yuta rolls his eyes, three years in a foreign country have done nothing for Shotaro’s bratty attitude, apparently.
“I only called because mother wanted me to remind you about dinner tonight.”
The elevator makes a sharp ‘ding’ noise and Yuta only lets the doors open a crack before he squeezes through, fingertips idly smoothing away any creases that might have formed on his suit.
“I’ll be there, don’t worry.” He reassures, slowing his pace as he makes his way down the hallway so he can read the numbers written on the conference room doors.
“Are you sure? Because you said you would come last week and you didn’t.”
“I will come this time, I promise—”
The words have barely left Yuta’s mouth before Yuta feels a hand wrap around his wrist, yanking him into the empty conference room to his left. Yuta takes a sharp breath, a frown quickly forming on his lips when he sees who grabbed him.
“I’ll call you back, Shotaro.” He hangs up before Shotaro has a chance to speak, turning to face Jeong Jaehyun, who watches him with bemused eyes. They glint under the dim conference room lights.
“I’m late.” He says flatly, yanking his wrist out of Jaehyun’s grasp.
Jaehyun drops his hands into his pockets, leaning slightly against the door, tilting his head slightly, “Does it matter? The meeting is almost over.”
It doesn’t matter, Yuta knows. The merger between Point Energy and Apex Development has been finalized for weeks now and at this point, his presence is a mere formality rather than an asset. If anything, having to sit silently as his father and Jeong Junsu, CEO of Point Energy, argue over assets while their lawyers bicker beside them, sounds like a complete waste of his morning. Still, Yuta isn’t one to skip meetings, even if they are a complete waste of time, and he isn’t about to start doing that now.
“Not that I could expect an ounce of professionalism from you, but you should be there, too.” Yuta retorts quickly, pushing past Jaehyun to grab the door knob.
Jaehyun catches his wrist again, using his shoulder to nudge Yuta against the wall, cornering him. “I ducked out early.”
He dips his head down just slightly, his slow, even breaths coming warmly against Yuta’s cheekbone. He tilts Yuta’s head with two fingers under his chin, pressing their mouths together. Yuta’s stomach turns in anticipation, but he really doesn’t have the time for this.
With a scoff, Yuta turns his head, his palm rising to Jaehyun’s chest, pushing him away.
“It’s nine in the morning.” He scowls, “Tell your dick to calm down.”
Jaehyun laughs, abrupt and throaty, “Oh, come on, that’s never stopped you before.”
“We’re in public, Jeong.” Yuta mutters lowly, sliding out of the circle of Jaehyun’s arms, fingertips rising to smooth away nonexistent creases on his shirt collar.
“The door is locked, Nakamoto,” Jaehyun’s voice is casual, as if he is talking about the weather and not about having sex in an office, “And you’re already late.”
Before Yuta can protest, Jaehyun’s kissing him again, and this time, Yuta lets him, one arm rising to wrap around his neck. He resigns himself to the fact that he’s definitely going to miss the meeting so he might as well make his trip to Point Energy worth it. There’s nothing soft about the slick press of their mouths, nothing intimate about the way Jaehyun slips his tongue in between the seam of Yuta’s lips, though Yuta supposes he can’t expect much from his occasional hookup partner.
Jaehyun’s hand rises to Yuta’s hair, his fingers barely brushing against the nape of his neck before Yuta swats his hand away.
“I have other places to be,” He mumbles, ducking his head just slightly to press open mouthed kisses to the exposed column of Jaehyun’s throat, towards the back of his ear. Jaehyun doesn’t seem to mind, fingertips trailing down the expanse of Yuta’s spine, slipping easily into the back pockets of Yuta’s dress pants instead.
Yuta tilts his head back up and kisses Jaehyun impatiently, licking into his hot mouth, one hand holding his jaw in place, the other hooking onto his belt loop. Jaehyun smells good, begrudgingly familiar, of crisp cedarwood and jasmine. Yuta hates how hard Jaehyun’s cologne makes him.
When Jaehyun’s fingers begin to undo the button of his dress pants, Yuta pulls back and raises an eyebrow. Jaehyun is watching him with dark, expectant eyes.
“I am not sucking your dick,” Yuta shakes his head, “This suit is Armani.”
He may not be above sex while his father is in the conference room across the hall but he draws the line at having to get on his knees in his freshly dry cleaned suit.
Jaehyun licks his lips and shrugs, “I’m not letting my pants get creased.”
Yuta opens his mouth to snipe back but the only thing that leaves is a surprised gasp when Jaehyun sticks one leg out, hooking it behind Yuta’s leg, the heel of his dress shoe pushing with just enough force to make Yuta’s knees buckle. He stumbles, his knees making contact with the carpeted floor and he finds himself face to face with Jaehyun’s clothed crotch. When he looks up, he can see the bare, satisfied smirk on Jaehyun’s face and his own traitorous dick twitches in his pants. Jesus.
“Fuck you, Jeong, seriously.” He grumbles lowly as he makes quick work of pushing Jaehyun’s zipper down. He slides a finger over the waistband of Jaehyun’s boxers, palming at his semi over the stretched fabric.
Above him, Jaehyun laughs again, fingers sliding over the nape of Yuta’s neck, tangling in Yuta’s hair. “Some other time, Nakamoto.”
—
Yuta presses the heels of his palms against his eyes, sighing deeply as he sinks further into the car seat. Just as Yuta predicted, his father had called, asking about why he wasn’t present, and he mustered up a rather pathetic excuse about heavy traffic. He uses his phone camera to fix his hair as best as he can. Jaehyun’s fingers had mussed Yuta’s carefully styled hair despite his halfhearted protests—though he hadn’t been too firm about it, considering it felt good to have his hair pulled at the time—and he frowns when he realizes it’s hopeless.
In one last attempt to make it look semi neat again, he pushes several strands of dark hair into his forehead in hopes that it looks like it was purposely styled to look messy and not like someone had run their hands through it and roughly tugged it as they came in his mouth.
Jaehyun’s always had little regard for Yuta’s carefully styled hair and truthfully, Yuta definitely isn’t the most caring sex partner around either. Besides, it’s hard to care about taking their time together when they can only stand to be near each other for an hour at most. Yuta didn’t mean for it to happen and while it made sense in university, it’s hard to justify meeting Jaehyun at cheap motels every now and then as a way to relieve his stress.
Being the sons of the two most highly esteemed and recognized men in their field, both destined to inherit their fathers’ companies, both graduated the same private university with the same degrees, means that there are few out there who share their life experiences. They have been each other’s competition from the start and Yuta wants to suffocate himself when he thinks about the fact that they’ve taken that aspect of their complicated relationship into their hookups, too.
Jaehyun is infuriating to the point where Yuta wants to rip his own eyebrows out at the mere sight of him and that hasn’t changed in the seven years he’s known him. Every word that leaves his mouth makes Yuta’s eye twitch in irritation but he was and still is the only other person who understood the burden and stress Yuta was under. He isn’t half bad looking either. Yuta thinks back to his shiny, slick mouth and deep dimples and figures he could do a whole lot worse as far as hookup partners go. Both of those reasons make it easy to justify their mutually beneficial relationship.
Yuta exhales, glancing out his window briefly when the car finally pulls in at the underground parking lot beneath the Apex Development building.
“Good morning, Mr. Nakamoto,” Doyoung’s voice is polite and pleasant, and he falls into step with Yuta the second he exits the elevator, “Your 10:15 appointment is in conference room three.”
Yuta’s gaze flickers to his watch and he curses under his breath when he realizes he’s already five minutes late. Today really isn’t shaping up to be his day.
He turns back to his assistant, “Thank you, Doyoung.”
Just as he’s about to enter the conference room, several apologies already forming on the tip of his tongue, Doyoung calls after him.
“Sir!”
Yuta turns.
“Mr. Lee is waiting for you in your office.”
Yuta nods shortly, ducking into the conference room, an apologetic smile plastered on his face.
“Ah! I’m terribly sorry about being late, Mr. Kim...”
—
“Do you mind grabbing me an iced coffee, Doyoung?” Yuta asks the second he exits the meeting room, pausing by where Doyoung’s desk is situated right outside his own office. The lunch hour hasn’t even begun but Yuta’s energy levels are already running low, his fingers twitching for a good, strong caffeine boost.
Doyoung nods, “Cream, sir?”
He shakes his head and Doyoung nods again. Yuta slips into his office, groaning when he sees Taeyong lounging on his chair.
“Doyoung didn’t tell you I was here?” Taeyong smiles widely, tilting his head.
Yuta sighs, stopping himself from collapsing on the leather sofa in the corner of the room when he remembers that the action might crease his suit and he still has several more meetings before the day is over. Instead, he flops down on one of the chairs across his desk.
“He told me, I was just hoping he was joking.” He replies, pinching the bridge of his nose, working his way up to press at the sore point in the middle of his forehead. He can feel a vicious headache coming on and Taeyong’s presence seems to be working only to speed up its arrival.
“Aren’t you just a ray of sunshine this morning?” Taeyong teases, easing back in Yuta’s chair.
Yuta meets Taeyong’s eyes and glares.
Taeyong props himself up on his elbows, jutting his chin out slightly. Several strands of blond hair fall out of their neatly gelled place, obstructing his eyes.
“I just got out of a meeting with the Point Energy lawyers,” He wrinkles his nose, “I hate those assholes.”
Yuta nods in agreement, sinking deeper into the chair, “That makes two of us.”
Belatedly, he realizes he didn’t eat breakfast in the morning considering how late he was, and he regrets not asking Doyoung to pick up something to eat for him.
“Someone needs to pull the stick out of Dong Sicheng’s ass, I swear, if he mentions shipping percentages one more time, I’ll shoot myself in the head.” Taeyong tips back into the chair, spinning in it a few times.
And while it may outwardly appear like Taeyong’s favourite activity has been annoying Yuta since birth, he is proficient at his job as one of Apex’s lawyers and Yuta knows that at least the legal aspect of this merger is one of the few things he doesn’t worry about.
“Get used to it,” Yuta shrugs, “Once the formalities have been sorted, you’re going to be seeing him a lot.”
At that, Taeyong groans excessively. Yuta rolls his eyes.
“I don’t know how you’re so calm about this,” Taeyong says, “You’re going to be stuck working alongside that prick, Jeong Jaehyun.”
His mind immediately cuts to Jaehyun’s dick in his mouth that morning. Yuta’s fingers twitch against his thigh.
“I’m not too worried,” Yuta replies slowly once he whooshes the memory away, “He wants the merger to be successful just as much as I do, so he won’t try anything.”
Taeyong nods in agreement, “Right. No way he would jeopardize his father’s company over something trivial.” He grins and then adds, “Even if he is a dick.”
Yuta smiles at that, “Even if he is a dick.” He echoes.
There’s a knock behind them and Doyoung enters a moment later, holding a large iced coffee and a wrapped sandwich.
“I thought you might be hungry, sir.” He says as he sets the food down on the desk.
Yuta fights the urge to kiss Doyoung in relief, stomach rumbling. Instead, he smiles gratefully, taking a long sip of the coffee before he says, “Thank you, Doyoung.”
Doyoung nods, hiking his wire rimmed glasses further up the bridge of his nose. Just as he slips out of the door, Yuta turns to see Taeyong stand, stretching his arms out with a yawn.
“I’d like to let Doyoung put some cream in my coffee, if you know what I mean.” Taeyong says with a wiggle of his eyebrows.
Yuta furrows his brows, pausing his sandwich unwrapping to shoot Taeyong the dirtiest glare he can manage, “It’ll be a cold day in hell before I let you near my only competent assistant.”
Taeyong shrugs, the corner of his mouth twitching up into a playful smile. “Didn’t you hear? Temperatures have been dropping steadily down there.”
The next few words he strings together are ones Yuta never thought he would use together in a sentence, and yet, anything is possible with Taeyong.
“Taeyong, please don’t fuck my assistant.”
Taeyong fiddles with his cufflink, taking a sip from Yuta’s coffee. “We’ll see about that.”
Before Yuta can so much as open his mouth to reply, Taeyong speaks up again.
“Do you want me to drop by your place later? I have to pick up Mark from your parents’ place but I’m free after that.”
Yuta shakes his head, still reeling a little from Taeyong’s stupid comments, “I’ll be at my parents’ tonight so just come to dinner and take Mark home after.”
Taeyong shrugs and then nods, “Yeah, alright, I’ll be there.”
—
Yuta’s barely gotten one foot in through the door when a pair of skinny, knobby arms wrap around his neck, causing him to trip over his feet as he slings his arms around Shotaro’s frame, letting himself be engulfed in the hug.
Even though Shotaro has been back in Korea for almost a month now, this is only the third time he’s been able to come visit his brother. The merger forces him to work longer hours, meaning he rarely has the time to drive to the outskirts of Seoul, where his family’s home is. Shotaro pulls away with a wide, beaming smile and Yuta shifts his gaze to where Mark is standing in the corner, an impatient look on his face, waiting for his own hug. Eventually, he weasels in between Shotaro and Yuta and Yuta laughs, letting Mark fling himself into Yuta’s arms, only letting go when Yuta wriggles out of his grip.
“Hey, you two.” He ruffles Shotaro’s hair, his smile growing when Shotaro whines, ducking out of Yuta’s grasp.
“I can’t believe you finally remembered my existence and came to visit me.” Shotaro says with an exaggerated frown and Mark snickers.
“Don’t you have Mark to keep you company while I’m at work, hm?” Yuta waves a hand in the air.
He continues, “Besides, if you want to spend time with me so badly then just come by the office.”
Shotaro makes a twisted face at that, “The office is boring, Yuta.”
Yuta fights the urge to roll his eyes and turns to Mark, “Is your useless brother here yet?”
“Taeyong is helping Auntie in the kitchen.” Mark rocks on the balls of his feet and Yuta raises an eyebrow.
“Then what are you brats still here for?” Yuta gives Shotaro’s shoulder a little push, “Go set the table or something.”
Yuta waits until Mark and Shotaro have disappeared from his sight until he sighs, letting his shoulders sag slightly as he loosens his tie, shedding his suit jacket. He absolutely adores his family but after a particularly long day, Yuta wishes he could just collapse on his own bed, beer in hand. He beelines to the bathroom, splashing water on his face to curb some of his exhaustion. By the time he enters the dining room, the table has already been set and his mother smiles up from where she’s setting down bowls of food.
“You didn’t have to make all this.” Yuta says, motioning to Mark, Shotaro, and Taeyong, who enter the dining room with several more plates piled high. Taeyong waves and Yuta waves back with a smile.
His mother takes his face in her hands and Yuta ducks slightly so she can place a kiss on his cheek.
“Yuta, you barely come to see your poor mother anymore, can’t I just cook for you when you do?” She clucks, pinching his cheek gently, “You’re getting thinner, honey, you need to take better care of yourself. If I have to make Hyungwon drive out here to pick up food for you, then I will.”
Yuta shakes his head with a small laugh, “There’s no need for that,” He takes her hand in his, “I promise I take care of myself, don’t worry about me.”
She pulls away, the gentle smile on her face wobbling slightly. Something troubled colours her gaze. Yuta reaches forward, hand rising to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear and frowns when she steps away. He’s about to ask her what’s wrong but his father enters the dining room at that moment and everyone takes a seat at the table.
Dinner passes easily, with Taeyong stealing rice off his plate to his left and Shotaro and Mark bickering in front of him, though something feels off. The air is poignant with something heavy, something Yuta struggles to put his finger on. His father is quiet, uncharacteristically so, and his mother’s eyes frequently dart in between him and Yuta. Yuta observes the way she barely touches her plate, taking only several bites of rice and finally, Yuta sighs, tilting his head slightly so his gaze meets his father’s. He’s not exactly sure what can of worms he is potentially opening but the itch to figure out what has his parents in such an uncomfortable mood wins.
“Is something wrong?” He asks.
There’s several moments of silence between them, with only Mark and Shotaro, who are still arguing about what type of car Mark should get after he gets his license, not catching the tension that’s settled in the room.
His father clears his throat, setting down his chopsticks carefully.
“Our merger with Point Energy has been quite successful so far, wouldn’t you say, Yuta?”
Yuta nods slowly, setting his own chopsticks down.
Beside him, Taeyong continues to eat, though Yuta can tell he’s tuned into the conversation.
“I’m very proud of you, Yuta. You have done great work and will continue to be successful in all our future endeavours.” His father speaks genuinely, kindly, with a slight tilt of his head.
Yuta nods, the gears in his brain slowly beginning to turn towards any number of potential topics his father might want to discuss, though he isn’t quite able to grasp what exactly his father is leading towards.
By now, Mark and Shotaro are quiet, too, their curious gazes trained on Yuta. Yuta pinches at the skin of his clad thigh under the table, uncomfortable with the five sets of eyes trained on him.
“Jeong Junsu’s son,” His father pauses, “Jeong Jaehyun, I’m sure you have met him.”
Yuta’s eyes narrow and he doesn’t speak.
“He’s grown into a wonderful, smart, young man, Yuta,” His father pauses again, as if he’s hesitating, and Yuta feels his eye twitch with impatience.
Finally, his father speaks again, “Jeong Junsu and I have been discussing this for sometime now. We wish to arrange your marriage.”
Vaguely, Yuta can register Taeyong stand up immediately, clearing his throat slightly.
“C’mon, you brats, let’s go get ice cream, okay?”
He can hear Shotaro begin to protest but Taeyong must have glared because the protests quickly die and there’s a flurry of movement around him before everything becomes quiet again. Yuta’s sure his heart must have stopped because he feels like he can’t breathe for a moment, unable to shift his gaze away from where it’s trained on his half eaten food. His stomach churns and from the corner of his eye he can see his mother abandon her seat and move to his side. She reaches out, her warm hand enveloping his.
For the first time since dinner started, she speaks carefully, “It’s a big decision, Yuta, but please do consider what your father has proposed.”
Yuta nods numbly, carefully removing his hand from her grasp. He thinks his heart might have dropped to the floor when he stands, heavy like lead. His mind struggles to wrap around what exactly his father has just dropped on him.
Jeong Jaehyun?
“I think I’m going to head out.” He says quietly, finding it in himself to smile a little, “Thank you for the meal.” He doesn’t think he has it in him to unpack a single word that’s left his father’s mouth right now, the exhaustion from the day inhibiting him from even formulating a proper reply.
His father only nods and neither of his parents follow as he trails out of the dining room, snatching his suit jacket from the coat room, fishing for his car keys in the left pocket.
He’s halfway out the door when a heavy hand catches his shoulder. Yuta stills, turning to face his father. To anyone else, his father’s face might’ve looked calm, perhaps even emotionless, but Yuta can see the thinly veiled concern in the creases in the corners of his eyes, the weight of his hand on Yuta’s shoulder crushing.
“It’s a lot to ask of you, I know.” A half smile pulls at the corner of his mouth, “It won’t be the end of the world if you say no.” And Yuta knows he means it.
He pats Yuta’s shoulder and Yuta feels the jarring thud of his heart slow down, just barely. His mind is cluttered with a million thoughts at once and he isn’t sure he could articulate them, even if he tried.
Jeong Jaehyun.
Instead, Yuta nods once, and steps out into the cool, damp evening.