Work Text:
“Hyung, come home to Daegu with me.”
“You want me to go to Daegu with you?” Yeonjun asked flabbergasted from his sprawled out position on Beomgyu’s bed. He was fiddling with the end of his sleeve while the younger boy sat on the wooden floor as he indulged himself with stuffing his belongings into an emerald green suitcase.
“Yeah, why not?” Beomgyu shrugged, oblivious to the bewildered state the older boy was currently in. “I took Huening Kai with me last time, and my parents have been trying to convince me to bring one of you over again.”
Yeonjun rose up from the bed and stumbled over to Beomgyu, almost tripping over a stray shirt in the process.
“Hyungie, you found my shirt. I was looking for that,” Beomgyu exclaimed, his eyes shining with happiness as he promptly hugged the shirt to his chest before propelling it into his open suitcase. Yeonjun shot him a glare.
“But that was because you decided to visit them on a normal weekend. This is the Christmas holidays, Beoms. I don’t want to intrude or anything,” he said as he rubbed his nape. “I’m sure your parents have a long list of relatives they’d rather invite.”
Yeonjun’s parents had made the instantaneous decision to visit his relatives in America after his uncle was rushed to surgery a few days ago. Despite knowing that this will leave him with the only available option of remaining in the dorms for the duration of the Christmas holidays, he wholeheartedly convinced them to go as he knew the happiness his uncle and cousins would experience at the surprise visit.
“Ahh don’t worry about that,” Beomgyu said as he nonchalantly waved a hand in the air. “We have a large dining table.”
“Well I do love your mum’s cooking…”
“That’s the spirit, hyung.” Beomgyu chortled. He picked up a pair of jeans before launching it at Yeonjun’s face.
For fun.
For the past few years of knowing the older boy, Beomgyu had made it his life’s mission to annoy Yeonjun at every given opportunity. And it seemed to be working by the way Yeonjun lunged at him and tugged him towards him by the waist, delivering a soft blow to Beomgyu’s head with his knuckle.
“Yeonjunnie,” Beomgyu whined as he wriggled out of Yeonjun’s grasp and burst out into a fit of giggles right in the middle of his bedroom floor. “This is the perfect chance for me to show you that you're not going to need to ride a horse to get back to Seoul from Daegu.”
“So what would we be taking? A tractor?”
He was hit in the face by another shirt in response.
Well this certainly wasn’t what he had in mind. What was this, meeting the parents or something?
“That’s exactly what it is.” Soobin had answered matter-of-factly after Yeonjun told him that Beomgyu had invited him over for the Christmas holidays.
“It’s not, we’re not dating.”
“Sureee,” Soobin had replied smugly as he smirked at Yeonjun. "Totally.”
“We’re not!”
“Whatever you say, hyung.”
But now as he sat at a wide dining table surrounded by Beomgyu’s family, all of their questioning glances aimed at him, he felt worry engulf him. It had been a day since Beomgyu’s parents lovingly welcomed him to their humble home, with it’s roaring fireplace and delicately framed photographs.
No, they had not taken a tractor to get there. But would that prevent him from teasing Beomgyu about the whole you came to Seoul in a tractor thing? Absolutely not.
Beomgyu’s parents were nice. He knew this, he’s met them countless of times. His uncles and aunts were nice too, as were his cousins. And apart from the brief eye roll Beomgyu’s older brother had given him when Yeonjun slipped on the rug as he was carrying the chocolate cake Beomgyu’s mother made from the kitchen to the dining table, causing the cake to splatter onto the freshly mopped floor and Beomgyu’s mother to wip another one up before the guests arrived, he could undoubtedly say he was nice too. Perhaps a little intimidating but nice nevertheless.
They were nice but they also appeared to be enjoying themselves in drowning him with questions. And the case with most of those questions were… well, let’s just say they made him feel like he was being put on the spot.
“So, are you and my nephew dating?” Beomgyu’s uncle asked Yeonjun for what he presumed was the fifth time that evening.
Yeonjun gulped as he took a sip from the glass of lemonade sitting next to his plate.
“Why do you seem so nervous?” The older man asked as he narrowed his eyes at him suspiciously. “You wouldn’t feel the need to hesitate this much if the answer was no , would you?”
Yeonjun coughed as he almost choked on the pale liquid, causing Beomgyu’s older brother to raise a scrutinizing eyebrow at him from across the table.
“It’s not that,” Yeonjun stammered. “My throat was feeling a little dry.”
“It was feeling a little dry the past four times I asked you that question too,” the older man said.
“Yeah, it’s really hot today.”
“It’s Winter.”
“The heater’s on.”
“Right… So as I was asking, are you and Beo-”
“Can you move the empty plates over?”
Yeonjun felt a surge of relief course through his body as Beomgyu’s mother appeared, a steaming pot of stew gripped between her fingers. Beomgyu’s uncle immediately got to work in shifting the stack of plates over to the far corner of the table, and helped his sister place the heavy pot down. Yeonjun shot Beomgyu’s mum a grateful look, though all it got him in return was a confused, blank stare.
“I hope you’re enjoying my food, Yeonjunnie,” she said as she sat down on the empty seat beside her brother.
“Always,” he said as he stuffed his mouth with a mouthful of japchae. “It’s delicious.”
She smiled at him sincerely before turning to glance at her brother, “So, what were you two talking about?”
“Appa wanted to know if Yeonjun oppa and Beomgyu oppa are dating,” Beomgyu’s younger cousin piped up from her place next to Yeonjun. Yeonjun choked on his food.
“Oh, want more lemonade?” The young girl asked as she filled up Yeonjun’s glass.
“Thanks,” he muttered, eyes cast down in humiliation.
“Who’s dating who?” Yeonjun internally groaned as Beomgyu’s father returned to the table and took his seat next to his wife. Where was Beomgyu when you needed him?
“Uncle wants to know if our little Beomgyu is dating Yeonjunnie.”
Yeonjun spluttered loudly on his lemonade at the sound of Beomgyu’s brother's voice, who had quietly manifested next to them.
“Damn, you okay?” He asked Yeonjun, throwing him a concerned look as he filled up his own bowl with more rice.
“Yeah Yeonjun oppa, you seem to be choking on your food a lot today. Do you not like my Auntie’s cooking?” The young girl gasped dramatically as she placed a hand over her chest, “You liar.”
“What no!” Yeonjun cried out, causing the rest of Beomgyu’s cousins to shoot him odd glances. He shrunk in his seat at the sudden attention before lowering his voice. “It’s not that at all, I love your cooking,” He assured Beomgyu’s mum as he helped himself to an extra large bite of the pork belly.
“Okay, then what was that reaction for?”
Honestly, at this point he didn’t know who had it out for him the most; Beomgyu’s brother or his uncle.
“Well maybe the lemonade just went down the wrong pipe!”
“It seems to be going down the wrong pipe a lot tonight, huh?”
Yeah, definitely his brother.
“Well, our Beomie has never mentioned anything to me about you two dating,” His mother said to the rest of the table as she gave him a wary glance. “So I assume they’re not.”
“Yep! We’re absolutely not!”
Finally. Finally he could see a light at the end of the tunnel. He wanted to hug Beomgyu’s mother and sob into her shoulder while he thanked her over and over again, but he wouldn't as that seemed a little too dramatic and disrespectful. Plus, he wanted to spare the ounce of dignity he had left in front of Beomgyu’s brother.
Speaking of Beomgyu’s brother. Yeonjun felt a feeling of dread envelop him as the older boy slowly turned his head to stare at him again, almost as if he was trying to see right into his soul.
“Hmm. You seem really happy about the idea of not dating Beomgyu. What’s up with that? Do you think my younger brother would make a shitty boyfriend or something?”
What
Did
They
Want
From
Him??
“You know what,” he said as he hastily got up from his chair. “I’m feeling kind of full so I’m going to go help Beomgyu clean up the empty dishes, okay?” He thanked Beomgyu’s parents for the delicious meal as he scurried into the safety of the kitchen, refusing to throw Beomgyu’s brother (or his uncle) a backwards glance.
“Beoms!”
Beomgyu perked his head up at the sound of his name being called out and his face immediately lit up into a bright smile at seeing Yeonjun.
“Hyung, you’re done.”
“Hmm,” Yeonjun answered as he walked over to the younger boy and circled his arms around his waist from behind. Beomgyu giggled at the action as Yeonjun placed his chin on his shoulder.
“Are those the last of the pots?”
“Uh-huh,” Beomgyu said as he placed aside the dried pot in exchange for a wet one. “I’m almost done here. How did conversing with my family go?”
Yeonjun scoffed as he buried his face into the crook of Beomgyu’s neck. “Not so good, I think some of your family members are onto us. No, scratch that. They know, I know they know. Soobin seems to know too. Maybe it’s time we told them about us?”
Beomgyu momentarily paused his task of wiping down the pot and hummed in thought. He turned his head to cast Yeonjun a sideways glance. “I think I’m ready, as long as you're okay with it, hyung. We can tell my family during breakfast tomorrow and Soobin hyung, Taehyunie and Kai after we get back to the dorms.”
“Okay,” Yeonjun said as he placed a tender kiss to the soft skin of Beomgyu’s neck. He let his lips linger against his skin for a second longer. “Let’s tell them.”
The younger boy laughed endearingly. “Do you want to help me finish dry these up, hyung?”
“I will, okay? I’m just going to go back and thank your parents for allowing me to come over.” Yeonjun answered over his shoulder as he started making his way out of the kitchen. “I’ll be right back, Gyu.”
He shrieked, taken by surprise, as he collided into the hard chest of the person standing at the entrance of the kitchen. The volume in his shriek toned up higher when the realization that the person he smacked into was Beomgyu’s brother dawned on him.
“Hyu- Hyung, hi.”
“Hi.”
“What are you doing here?”
The older boy shrugged as he casually leaned into Yeonjun’s space, hands in the pockets of his trousers, causing Yeonjun to lean back in the opposite direction to the same degree. “Just wanted to drop by and see if you guys needed any help cleaning up. It sure looked like you were… cleaning up.” He raised an eyebrow at him, and if Yeonjun had been counting (which he had but no one else had to know that), he would undoubtedly state that it was the sixth or seventh time he had done so that evening.
Yeonjun emitted a nervous chuckle as he felt a flush spreading across his neck. He gently pushed past Beomgyu’s brother and scurried away. “I’m sorry hyung but I have to go thank your parents."
He heard a soft chuckle behind him from the older boy, followed a few seconds later by Beomgyu’s loud boisterous laugh.
“YEONJUN HYUNG! YOU HAVE TO STOP BEING AFRAID OF MY HYUNG! HE’S NOT AS INTIMIDATING AS HE THINKS HE IS!”
Yeonjun watched with horror as Beomgyu’s uncle slowly glanced at him as the sound of Beomgyu’s voice echoed around the living room. His eyes glinted as a teasing smirk plastered itself across his face. “So you’re afraid of my older nephew, huh?”