But I Love You 

Chapter Nine

“I didn’t know your friend had a son,”

Was the first thing that Seung Hyun said when he came back into work and headed to his dad’s office. His dad had immediately grinned at him, a relative smile that meant no good in Seung Hyun’s experience. Well, Young Bae had come here to talk to his dad; he could only guess to his dad it was simply nothing but funny.  

“Well,” Dong Wook drawled out, “back in the good old day Young Bae was working more on the experimentation on how to get males pregnant, and he and his husband tried it” Dong Wook said, smiling at the horrified look on his son’s face, “and they accomplished to have a son together, nice isn’t it?” he asked. “Had he told you?” Dong Wook would have kept his mouth shut about it, but he wanted to divert Seung Hyun’s attention away from the possibility that Young Bae’s son could have any appendages like him.

“Well that explains it,” Seung Hyun said, taking the bait that Ji Yong had been a kid born of two males. “He only said that he had two dads, but that was it,” That was still pretty weird, but at least Seung Hyun won’t question more unless alerted by Ji Yong himself to do so. Dong Wook himself could not even predict what his son’s reaction would be when he found out.

“I want to be honest with you Seung Hyun, on how experimentations piqued everyone’s mind back in Seoul, before it turned to a horrible place.” Dong Wook solemnly said, “Especially our president, Yang Hyun Suk- he had been so sick in the mind that he was sure that everything would go great. We had worked so hard that our experimentation rivaled those of American scientists, and we accomplished a lot that the world still is ignorant about,”

“You mean my cat ears and tail?” Seung Hyun asked, unsure as to how that was anything greatly accomplished- but it certainly remained hidden.

“They are a rarity, animal splicing at first was just for fun- but now I don’t really know what kind of genes or changes have really taken over. I don’t know if there might be more changes in you, but I for one will respect the fact that you don’t want me experimenting on you. I love you son, and I will always look out for your best interest,”

Seung Hyun groaned, sinking into the chair, unaccustomed at hearing those lovely words from his father, “yah, I know dad.”

“So I need you to be careful about everything, like always. Not everyone needs to know what you are, and I know pursuing this relationship is new to you, but please try not to just say anything.”

“I won’t dad; I’ll get to know him first,”

“Okay,” Dong Wook said, “and Seung Hyun, if it doesn’t work out, it’s not the end of the world”

Seung  Hyun scowled, “I know that already dad.” He then stood up from his chair, “I’m going to get back to work, I was in the middle of something just now,” he said and left. His dad had called to him a goodbye in a lovey voice but Seung Hyun tried to get everything out of his mind. Was it a good idea to date someone at all? The worry that he saw in his father’s eyes nearly made him wonder if he should rethink it, but then again, Ji Yong was so damned cute. Stupid mad scientists for thinking that they could change the world by splicing humans with animal DNA- this really made his life harder.

Not that he wished to reverse it; his kitty ears and tail were all a part of him. It would actually be strange to not have them.

Deciding to let the thinking about it behind he went back to work until his phone rang and he was reminded that they were all meeting tonight. He was amazed at how fast the time had gone.  Ji Yong had sent him a text about where they were he would go pick him up since he was not going to be at his parent’s house. As he was packing up to leave, Jae Beom came into his office, carrying a case of alcoholic drinks. “I got the party favors, ready to go?” he asked.

Seung Hyun nodded his head, while his eyes traveled to the drinks and frowned. “BJ’s and Smirnoff?” he asked.

“Well, I thought about getting something even stronger, but Siwon said that someone threw up in his beloved jeep and if we did that in his house then he would kill us,” Jae Beom frowned as he made a chocking sound, “not that he could right? But why tempt his rage.” He shrugged his shoulders and shifted the bag in his hands. “Now come on, we need to get going, and you are driving,”

“Alright, but we have to go pick Ji Yong up first,”

Jae-Beom frowned, “Who?” he asked.

“My boyfriend,” Seung Hyun said as they headed out and into the elevator. Jae Beom snorted, and nodded his head. As soon as the elevators doors closed, and they started to head down, Jae Beom started to sing.

“On my elevator, got you stuck on my elevator, give it up on my elevator- check it out!” he bobbed his head as he nonsensically sang the song with no real rhythm, “I don’t know cause this girl, she’s stuck in my ele- ele- elevator- stuck on my elevator, she on the second floor, now I want you to break it down, DJ turn it up some more!”

“What are you singing now?” Seung Hyun asked with amusement. Jae Beom often sang songs that made no sense to others, and most of the time they were provocative songs that he had downloaded from other places. He had pretty good sense in language when it came to repeating a song.

“Elevator by Flo Rida,  featuring Timbaland- dude, they have had this song out for like years now, you can’t say that you haven’t heard it”

“Sorry, I’m not exactly that into Flo Rida or whoever else you mentioned,”   Seung Hyun said, with a slight chuckle.

“Yah, no doubt,” Jae Beom scoffed, “Although my dream is to one day go to the Americas and become a popular singer,” he said, dancing his way out of the elevator when the door opened, “They will call me Jay Park”

“Jay Park sounds like a good name for you,” Seung Hyun said as he followed him out the door.

“We should find one for you as well,” Jae Beom got to thinking about a name for Seung Hyun and threw in several as he placed the drinks in the trunk and then got into the passenger seat. On the drive to Ji Yong’s place, Seung Hyun made him get on the back seat as he called Ji Yong to let him know that he had arrived. When Ji Yong went outside, he was greeted by Seung Hyun giving him a kiss on the cheek, and opening the car door for him.  “You are spoiling him!” Jae Beom accused and Seung Hyun told him to shut up as he closed Ji Yong’s door for him. It was a bit silly really, but he liked the reactions that he got out of Ji Yong by doing it.

 “You know, you’re his first boyfriend, I think it’s awesome,” Jae Beom said as he looked over the seat to smile at Ji Yong whom felt awkward with Jae Beom’s friendly approach.

“Oh...okay” Ji Yong mumbled.

“Did I ever introduce myself to you? I can’t remember, I got a bad hangover,” he was saying as Seung Hyun got into the driver seat and the car, “Anyways, I’ll do it now, I’m Jae Beom, Seung Hyun’s favorite cousin,”

“No you’re not,” Seung Hyun deadpanned as he reversed out of the parking space and drove off.

“Oh come on, neither Siwon nor Bom are here, you can be honest. I’m your favorite cousin,” Jae Beom pleaded.

“You’re my fourth favorite then,”

“What!” Jae Beom’s jaw dropped, “Last week I was number three, when did I drop down to four?”

“When Ji Yong became number one favorite person,” Seung Hyun casually answered.  Ji Yong grinned, but brought a hand up to hide it. It was ridiculous how happy he felt just hearing Seung Hyun say that he was number one.

“Oh come on,” Jae Beom complained, “Damn,” he dramatically sighed, “Well mister Ji Yong, don’t ever do anything to lose that number one spot. It’s tightly reserved” he smiled at Ji Yong.

“I won’t” Ji Yong responded. “So, what are we going to be doing?” he asked.

“Well, we usually play poker or some card game before we usually get to drinking and watching a movie or playing video games,” Seung Hyun answered.

“Or playing truth or dare,” Jae Beom said, “We are mostly dare kind of guys, we come up with pretty fun things. Truth is a hard choice seeing as we practically know everything about each other. Like, did you know Seung Hyun’s real hair color used to be black?” he asked making Ji Yong look from Jae Beom to Seung Hyun.

“Really?” Ji Yong asked, “Well, it would make sense seeing as white doesn’t seem like a real common color to be born with,”

“Nope, it just means that he’s gotten old.”

“I have not,” Seung Hyun glared at his cousin, but concentrated on driving.

“Oh and he used to be chubby, and really adorable!” Jae Beom continued, “He was like this little fluffy marshmallow you just wanted to squish,”

“A marshmallow?” Ji Yong asked with disbelief as he looked Seung Hyun over. He didn’t look like he would be as soft as a marshmallow, but he did look attractively comfortable. He wondered what it would be like if Seung Hyun was his pillow- but that was getting ahead of himself.

“Yes a marshmallow,” Jae Beom grinned, “You know, he’s sweet, and huggable-”

“We’re almost there, can you please not talk about me being a marshmallow?” Seung Hyun pleaded from his cousin.

“I already knew Seung Hyun was sweet,” Ji Yong said, wanting to hear more from what Jae Beom would spill about Seung Hyun. Jae Beom laughed a little, his eyes darting to Ji Yong in curiosity.

“You know, you seem to have a similarity to Seung Hyun,” he hummed, narrowing his eyes as he tried to pick up on it. Was it the charm?  Or was it something else, something in the eyes or the lips- but Jae Beom couldn’t quite place it. He didn’t know Ji Yong well, but for some reason he got the feeling that this kid was going to be permanent in their family. Not that any of them ever thought that Seung Hyun was going to settle down with anyone. Seung Hyun always just seemed to be happy hanging out with them that most of the time he begged to be left alone, but that never flowed.

“A similarity?” Seung Hyun asked his cousin and Jae Beom grinned at him.

“I don’t know,” he answered.

“Well, we’re here,” Seung Hyun said as he turned parked in Siwon’s driveway. The house had a huge front yard, but there was no fence. It was full of lush green grass and beautiful rose bushes, ranging from red, yellow, to white. At the edge of it, started a red bricked trail that crossed slightly through the garden and led to the front door, where you could see the lights on inside and several shoes placed outside by the door.

Seung Hyun got out of the car, followed by Jae Beom who made a bee line towards the trunk. Ji Yong was about to open his door when Seung Hyun beat him to it, and blushed when Seung Hyun told him that he would be the one opening his doors for him when he was around.

“Let’s go in, I want to drink some of this” Jae Beom said, dashing towards the front door were he kicked off his shoes, and opened the door to let himself in.

“The door is open?” Ji Yong asked as he and Seung Hyun removed their shoes before stepping inside, to be met by a beautiful soft white carpet.

“Siwon rarely locks his door. He has friend and family coming in and out of here all the time,” Seung Hyun explained. “In fact, if you wanted to Siwon would even let us drop in unannounced and sleep here.” He said as he closed the door behind him, not bothering to lock it. The neighborhood was also pretty calm and you rarely saw people outside. Still, it was a miracle that no one had broken in and or harmed anything that Siwon owned. Especially since right in the living room, on the other side and in the corner, you could see a large flat television with game consoles and movies all piled underneath it- not to mention other accessories.

“This is impressive,” Ji Yong said, taking in the large dark red couches, the frivolous paintings of what seemed to be Siwon and one of his friends, and then Siwon, Seung Hyun, and Bom on another with hall of them dressed nicely, when they were younger.

Seung Hyun followed Ji Yong’s line of vision and nodded, “That was actually when we were all going to church Sunday school, and we graduated from it,” Seung Hyun said, painting to the painting mentioned.

“And someone painted it?”

“Well, it was an original photo, and Siwon thought it would be fun to have it be made into a painting, much as the rest of them,” Seung Hyun said, “the idea came when he was looking for a present for his parents anniversary,”

“Hey! What are you two doing in the living room, come get your asses over here and greet me!” Siwon demanded from just two steps down, on the other side where there seemed to be a large dining table. Seung Hyun gently grabbed Ji Yong’ s hand and led him across what seemed to be a bar and kitchen secluded to the right of the living room, and then the other side, where the dining room was for eating.

“Hey,” Seung Hyun said.

“Aww, you brought oddball,” Siwon cooed, and reached to hug Ji Yong with no inhibitions.

“Ah…hello” Ji Yong said, feeling awkward, and pulled away immediately, scrambling to hide behind Seung Hyun, and causing Siwon to laugh.

“Sorry about that Ji, Siwon has no means for boundaries,”

“and no one else in our family does either,” Siwon said, “So you two are dating now?”

“Yeah,” Seung Hyun said, darting his eyes towards the other side of the dinning room, where the double glass doors opened to lead to the outside patio where everyone seemed to be set up. Siwon could already see the wicked glint in his baby cousin’s eyes. “So, Hee Chul is here,” the smirk curled on his lips.

Ji Yong peeked over Seung Hyun’s arm, while keeping a tight hold on his hand, “Who’s Hee Chul?” he asked.

“Oh, Siwon’s best friend in the whole wide world,” Seung Hyun answered him, and chuckled a little as he pulled Ji Yong slightly forward, “come, don’t be shy baby boy, let’s go say hi,” Ji Yong nodded his head and allowed Seung Hyun to pull him slightly forward as they made to head out, but Siwon stopped them when he placed a hand on Seung Hyun’s shoulders.

“Okay! I haven’t asked him yet you little , but you better not say anything stupid. I’ll do it when we are alone after all of you leave my property,”

“Alright,” Seung Hyun innocently said.

“You little brat,” Siwon cursed under his breath and stomped his way outside, and merrily cheered at everyone to get ready for a good game of poker.

“We should make it strip poker,” Jae Beom said.

“It’s a cucumber fest; I thought you liked it when it was a queen fest” Eli said as he shuffled the cards, while balancing to drink from his shot glass.

“Cucumbers, queens, what’s the difference, I need to see someone ,”

“No,” Seung Hyun said, with a glare in his eyes.

“Except Seung Hyun’s new boyfriend, jeez” Jae Beom giggled, shaking his head.

“Well Ji Yong, will you like a shot of Smirnoff or will you like a BJ all to yourself,” Eli asked, with a friendly smile on his face.

“No thanks,” Ji Yong shyly said, and took a seat when Seung Hyun pulled a chair out for him, blushing even harder when they received a bunch of cat calls from everyone. Apparently it was greatly approved.

“Oddball, this is Hee Chul,” Siwon said as he rushed to Hee Chul who was about to take a seat and introduce himself. He gasped when Siwon pulled the chair out for him and sat him down, before tightly pushing him back in.

“Ah, what the hell are you doing you ,” he hissed when the table dug into his stomach, knocking the air out of him, but Siwon patted his head and grabbed his hand.

“And Hee Chul that is Ji Yong, Seung Hyun’s little boyfriend,”

“Hello” Ji Yong said, waving a bit.

“Hey, it’s good to meet you,” Hee Chul said with a smile to Ji Yong before throwing a glare to Siwon, who was acting mightily odd lately. “And why do you call him oddball when you are the one acting all strange right now,”

“Well, it’s cute, it’s Hyunie and Oddball now,”

“Hyunie?” Ji Yong asked, and turned to Seung Hyun whom was sitting next to him, with a smile pulling on his lips.

“That’s what they tend to call me,” Seung Hyun said, and moved his face closer to Ji Yong’s, making the blond turn away from him with a blush. He was so cute.

“Let us begin then,” Siwon said, and nudged Eli on the shoulder to start setting out the cards. “Let’s voice out the stakes, seeing as it is oddballs first time here with us. We play for nothing, but the winner of the most hands gets to choose what we do next,” Siwon proudly said.

“Or you mean you will try to win to make us clean up this mess,” Jae Beom muttered, “Where are the queens?”

“Jae Beom don’t make me kick you out of my house, we’re having a cucumber party today, just us! No queens,”

Ji Yong slightly leaned on Seung Hyun, “um…what are cucumbers and queens?” he softly asked. Seung Hyun felt his kitty ear twitched beneath his beanie at the closeness of the sound of Ji Yong’s voice, especially when it so wanted to capture the whispered sound.

“Men are cucumbers for obvious reasons, and women are queens because that is when a female cat is at her peek for mating,”

Ji Yong frowned, “Female cats?” he questioned.

“Basically they are saying,” Seung Hyun leaned in to Ji Yong and in an even softer tone said, “ females that are ready to , with no inhibitions and no pride,”  Ji Yong’s face exploded with embarrassment at the words, and had to keep his ears from moving too much that they would pop off his beanie. It seemed like the prospect or the idea was both alarming but appealing- if things had been the other way around.

“I see,”

Ji Yong said, and then turned to look at the cards that had been placed before him, while Eli seemed to argue with Siwon that he was not setting up the game for him to lose.

“Yah right, my hand is crap!” Siwon snapped.

“Oh Just sit your down man,” Jae Beom grinned, “I’m feeling lucky, hit me!”

And Siwon slapped him.

“I didn’t mean it like that! , I hate you!” Jae Beom glared at Siwon and shook his fist at him.

“Well, then use better terms,” Siwon argued as he received a slap in return.

“Will you two stop it!” Hee Chul snapped, “Siwon, he did use a correct term, now, here I place down my hand, full house,”

Every one groaned and set their hand down as they folded. Ji Yong didn’t understand the game at all. He didn’t want to say anything about it though, so he would just look at Seung Hyun’s hand every now and then and tried to learn from what he saw. Even after hours of playing the game, and cards getting tossed around, Ji Yong wasn’t particularly into the game or that fascinated by it, as he was with watching Seung Hyun interact with his cousins.

Deciding to get a little into it, Ji Yong set down the cards face up for once and waited for a verdict. .Everyone had been looking at the other when they saw Ji Yong’s hand- full of kings and Aces…

They all folded.

“Seung Hyun, your boyfriend is an utter genius,” Siwon commented, but Ji Yong didn’t say anything. There were way to many hands to learn in one game, but he was sure that he was going to go do research now.

“Of course he is,” Seung Hyun said, and smirked when Siwon yawned widely.

“Alright, let’s do one more round and call this an end,”

Hee Chul smirked, “If I win this hand, then I will have the most and I get to choose what we do next”

“Damn,” Jae Beom muttered, before loudly burping. “I need another drink” and then he jolted when his cell phone went off. He looked at the caller ID and frowned when he didn’t recognize it. “Hello?”  Everyone else quietened as Eli shuffled the cards once more, and then started to hand them out once more. “No, no, there’s no one by that name here. Who did you say?” he tilted his head, “Jae Beom, who’s that? I think you have the wrong number” he pleasantly said making the others that knew him shake their head at him. “Yes, no worries, it’s alright. Goodbye” and he hung up.

“Girl from the club?” Eli asked.

“Yah,” Jae Beom said, “Can’t believe she dared call me”

“If you didn’t want her calling, then why did your dumb give her your cell number in the first place,” Siwon asked.

Jae Beom fanned himself, “Makes me fell wanted and special,”

“Oh God,” Hee Chul chuckled, “You’re terrible,”

“And they fall for it every time too,” Eli shook his head, “Can’t believe they buy the whole wrong number routine,”

“Well, it’s not like they will call me out on it,” Jae Beom said, “They will be too nervous to say, you sound just like him!”

“Has anyone not ever believed you?” Ji Yong curiously asked.

“Nah, never, except this one dumb girl, who called me and she hung up when I said it was the wrong number, and she called again, and again, as if she was trying to get it right,” Jae Beom rolled his eyes, “Had to tell her to off,”

“Serves you right,” Seung Hyun smirked.

“So mean, Seung Hyun,” Jae Beom faked hurt, and Seung Hyun flipped him off.

“I got a full house, yah!” Siwon called out, making the others all scramble to look at their cards, except for Ji Yong, who decided to just fold and not draw attention to his lack of skills in this game.

“Damn, lucky bastard,” Hee Chul muttered as he folded.

“Yah, who’s the man” Siwon did a little dance.

“So what now?” Eli asked, suppressing a yawn of his own. It was starting to get late. Ji Yong took out his phone and glanced at the time. It was two already. He needed to call his parents.

“Well, let’s see,” Siwon started to think about what to do. Ji Yong leaned close to Seung Hyun.

“I need to call my parents,” he said.

“Oh,” Seung Hyun nodded; standing up and Ji Yong blushed as Seung Hyun offered his hand so that he could get up. It was even more embarrassing when his cousins and friends once more cat called at the ‘lovely couple’.

“Oh Where are you taking him Seung Hyun, better not be one of my rooms to do nasty things!” Siwon called after them.

“Oh get over yourself,” Seung Hyun glared at his cousin.

“I can’t, I’m too lovely,”

“Riiiight-get it?”

“Get it!” they called.

“Oh shut up.” Siwon blushed and this led to a round of laughter. Ji Yong smiled at Seung Hyun once they had made it back to the living room, where they sat down on the top stair. Ji Yong took out his cell phone again and called. Seungri answered the phone, although Ji Yong had been calling Young Bae.

“Appa?” he questioned.

“Uh…” Seungri sounded odd on the other end, and then he cleared his throat. “Where are you Ji Yong?” he sternly said.

“I’m here with Seung Hyun and his friends and cousins,” he looked over at Seung Hyun, and then back to his phone. He decided to put in speaker phone. “Say hello Seung Hyun,”

“Hello.” Seung Hyun awkwardly muttered to the phone and gave Ji Yong a questioning look.

“I told you he’s a bad boy- oh-“

“Um…appa what”

“- I mean, Seung Hyun get Ji Yong home soon, bye- bye!” and the phone went dead just when something akin to a moan sounded through. Ji Yong looked a little panicked.

“I think there is something wrong with my appa,”

“That or your dad is doing a fabulous job at something,”

“No way,” Ji Yong said, in denial. “No way,”

“How do you think they had you?” Seung Hyun asked, with clear amusement.

“Gawd, that’s something you don’t want to think about your parents doing,” he grumbled, throwing himself back onto the carpeted floor. Seung Hyun chuckled, and leaned over him to press a kiss to his lips.

“Come on, let’s go back before they start thinking that we’re doing the same,” he softly said and Ji Yong nodded his head. Seung Hyun got up first and then pulled Ji Yong to his feet. Grabbing his hand Ji Yong held them back.

“Is it really necessary for you to always pull my seat out or open the door for me?” he asked, his cheeks colored red and Seung Hyun couldn’t help but smile at him.

“What kind of man would I be if I didn’t do that for you?” Seung Hyun asked and Ji Yong pouted.

“I have no idea…you see, you’re also my first boyfriend and…”

“I get it, you’re not used to it,” Seung Hyun said, “but you should get used to it. I really like you, and this is how I show it, so,” he leaned in and kissed Ji Yong’s cheeks. Ji Yong smiled softly.

“Okay,”

Finally both of them headed out again, this time the debate was full blown as Seung Hyun quietly pulled Ji Yong’s chair out for him before sitting down again. He reached for a water bottle from the cooler on his side, and handed one to Ji Yong, which he gratefully took.

“Come on Siwon, here and now, you and I throw down.” A glass was thrown across and this got to Hee Chul who stood up.

“Enough!” he snapped. Siwon immediately stopped and Jae Beom laughed.

“I think he’s had a little too much to drink” Eli said, snatching the bottle of Smirnoff from Jae Beom. Everyone else nodded in agreement.

“I should probably get him home now then,” Seung Hyun said.

“I can’t believe he got drunk off Smirnoff,” Siwon giggled. Hee Chul snatched the bottle of BJ’s out of Siwon’s hand and headed towards the kitchen. Like a lost little puppy Siwon followed after him, begging him to give it back. Eli stretched out.

“Well, I guess we’re going to call it a night then,” he said, not expecting much to happen anymore. Usually this led to all of them piling into the living room to watch some television, but Jae Beom was drunk, and he seemed really emotional. It was worrisome since they had not seen him like that, ever. He was usually a happy drunk.

“Is something wrong with him?” Ji Yong asked.

“We don’t know,” Seung Hyun said, and reached his hand out to poke his cousin who was now on the table, face down. For a moment he wondered if he was asleep.

“Hey, Jae, what’s wrong?” Eli asked, shaking his shoulder slightly.

“She broke up with me,” he softly and brokenly murmured. Seung Hyun and Eli were both surprised by the admission.

“Who?” Seung Hyun asked.

“She...She” he sniffed and stopped talking. Seung Hyun and Eli both shared a worried look. They hadn’t even known that Jae had been dating anyone. Ji Yong curiously watched Jae Beom whom had previously been so happy and now so sad. He tilted his head a bit to the side as he tried to figure out if he was asleep or not. His eyes caught sight of a smirk, and Ji Yong gripped Seung Hyun’s hand, pointing at Jae Beom.

Seung Hyun noted this and raised an eyebrow at him. “He is faking” Ji Yong mouthed and Seung Hyun easily picked up on it. Eli gave them a confused look.

Seung Hyun motioned with his hands at him and Eli at first was confused, before he understood. He slightly stood up until he was looming over Jae Beom. He smirked, “Aww, why the long face for real, Jae,” he asked, and started to tickle him. Everyone knew that he was ticklish. Before long, Jae Beom was loudly laughing and calling for mercy.

“How did you know he was faking?” Seung Hyun softly asked him.

“I saw him smile,” Ji Yong said.

Seung Hyun looked over at him, trying to catch Ji Yong’s eye, but the boy looked quickly away as he usually did.

“Okay, okay, I give!” he cried, with joyful tears in his eyes.

“Well, guess we should get going now,” Seung Hyun said, “unless you want to sleep here at Siwon’s?”

“No, no” Jae Beom called as he followed Ji Yong and Seung Hyun. Last time that he had stayed here he had ended up with a face full of cold water. Seung Hyun and Jae Beom called goodbye to Siwon who immediately came out and hugged them both with his proclaim of loving them even though they were annoying. He even hugged Ji Yong again and asked him to return any time that he wanted, even if it was without Seung Hyun.

Ji Yong had immediately gotten free and hidden himself behind Seung Hyun once more, barely keeping himself from hissing at Siwon.

When they were finally able to leave, Ji Yong once more found his door being opened by Seung Hyun.

“That means that he loves you, L U V S U” Jae Beom helpfully spelled out as he knocked out in the back of the car. Seung Hyun stopped by his house first, and dropped his cousin off. Ji Yong had to help him get him inside and tucked into bed. Just as they were leaving Jae Beom called back with a loud, ‘THANK YOU’ and giggles.

“He’s so annoying,” Seung Hyun muttered as he the car.

Ji Yong smiled, “But you seem to enjoy hanging out with all of them,”

“I do, but sometimes I think they are too clingy and just annoying,” he sighed.

“I don’t really have any cousins,” Ji Yong said, seeming a bit sad about that, “I never even met my grandparents for that matter, but dad says that our last name Kwon comes from his mother’s maiden name,”

“Really?” Seung Hyun asked with disbelief, “No cousins, nor aunts or anything?”

“Nope,” Ji Yong said. “My appa said that his parents died and he had no siblings. My Dad had no siblings and also had his parents killed, but I never really learned how. Although they said that I met my grandma when I was barely a newborn, and that was it. No other family and my parents don’t seem to have cousins of their own.”

“My parents have always been family orientated, and my dad has a brother, who is Siwon’s dad, and my mom’s sister is Jae Beom’s mom, and then there is my mother’s brother who is Bom’s dad” Seung Hyun said, “I don’t talk to any uncles or aunts I might have, just my cousins. I also have three other cousins, Bom’s sisters, Ha Yi, and Hye Yoon, and Dara is a mutual friend of theirs that sometimes hangs out with us,” Seung Hyun got a thoughtful look on his face, “Well, you hanged out with my male cousins so far, wanna hang out with the girls next?”

Ji Yong got an uncomfortable look on his face, “Are any of them ready to hug like Siwon is?” he asked, feeling peculiar as to not liking the feeling of being squished as he had been.

“Sadly enough they do,” Seung Hyun said, “All my family tends to be like that with anything that they find cute, and you’re super cute,”

“I know,” Ji Yong said, and then groaned, “It’s a curse,”

Seung Hyun chuckled. “You’ll survive, so some time from now.” 

“Yah,” Ji Yong said, but then frowned. “And since you are making me meet your cousins, do you want to have dinner with my parent’s one of these days as well?”

“Sure,” Seung Hyun said, although he looked a bit nervous about that, “So long as they don’t kill me for being your boyfriend,”

Ji Yong giggled, “They won’t,” he said.

“Because then you won’t have a boyfriend,”

“Hush.” Ji Yong pouted, “I have you and I won’t let them hurt you,”

“I feel safe now,”

Both of them laughed.

Ji Yong was a little sad to find though that the ride was over, and it was time to go home. Seung Hyun gave him a look when he reached to open the door. “I’ll do that,” he said, and stepped out to walk to the other side.

Ji Yong got out and walked past him to the front door. Seung Hyun closed the door and followed after him.

“So is this goodnight?” he asked his haughty little boyfriend.

“Sadly,” Ji Yong nodded, and then he nervously opened the door. He looked around the dark house, taking in the empty living room and empty pathway to the kitchen. Great, his parents were probably asleep now. He then turned back to Seung Hyun and smirked. “Goodnight” he said, pushing quickly on his toes to reach up and kiss Seung Hyun on the lips, quickly, before spinning around and getting inside, half closing the door.

Seung Hyun smirked at him as he came out of the perplexed feeling of being kissed so quickly and suddenly, and watched as Ji Yong shyly looked at him. “Good night Ji,” he said and waved as he turned around to leave, and headed to his car. Ji Yong had the strong urge to stop him and pull him back, to ask him to stay with him, but he knew that he couldn’t.

It was ridiculous.

His ears ached at how active they had watned to be, although they were cramped under his beanie. When Seung Hyun was gone, he miserably missed him, but he closed the door and locked it before removing his beanie, and allowing his ears room to move. He could almost feel the disappointment rolling off of them.

They also seemed to have a mind of their own, and they missed Seung Hyun. Ji Yong was starting to understand that.

Seung Hyun on the other hand, groaned at his aching ears as he wondered what had them so active this whole night. Several times he had feared that someone would notice them- especially Ji Yong and he didn’t need that.

Damn ears, what was he going to do about them?

Siwon and Hee Chul soon were the only ones left as Eli left as well.

“Why have you been acting so strange?” Hee Chul asked as he washed the dishes. Siwon watched him, almost longingly as he took in his form, in his kitchen, cleaning.

So much like a housewife, he thought to himself. “Well, because I’m a bit nervous,” he answered.

Hee Chul scoffed, “You, Choi Siwon, nervous?” Hee Chul sure made it sound disbelieving. Siwon sighed.

“Because I have to ask you something,”

“Huh, what?” Hee Chul asked, as he pulled a white towel from the side to dry the clean plate.

“Well…” Siwon swallowed. “Will you go out with me?” he asked.

Siwon watched as Hee Chul’s eyes widened, and the plate slipped from his fingers.

“What….”