The couch had become an area of contention in the Yeo-Shin-Yeo household, or at the very least, something that was avoided by two thirds of the residents. Soohyun had a habit of walking around the apartment , and it hadn’t taken long for Hoon and Hoonbi to realize that if Soohyun wasn’t wearing any clothes, then every surface he came in contact with had come in contact with his body and, in many cases, his sensitive bits. The couch was the most extreme specimen of this phenomenon.

    “I visited Mom and Dad today,” Hoonbi was telling Hoon, “and Mom wanted me to take something to a neighbor down the road, but my hyung from high school took my car, so I just walked the whole four miles. It wasn’t so bad,” he concluded, patting his calves and flopping down on the couch as Hoon looked on in horror.

    “Hyung, no!” Hoon burst out. “The couch!”

    Hoonbi’s eyes widened, and he launched himself off the cushions quicker than Hoon could detect protein.

    “I want to brush the seat of my pants off,” Hoonbi said in a small voice, “but I also don’t.”

    It was several days later that Hoon came home from a long day of practice and collapsed on the couch for no more than a second before shooting back up into a standing position, his eyes large. Hoonbi wandered in from the kitchen soon afterward.

    “What’s wrong, Hoonmin? Your expression isn’t too good.”

    Hoon stared at his older brother with the expression of a weary man who had come in indirect contact with Soohyun’s crotch one too many times, and Hoonbi knew.

    “Oh.”

    “That’s it!” Hoon declared, his ears pink. “I’ve had enough. I’m going to do something about it. I’m tired of having to clean the couch every time I want to sit down.”

    Hoonbi nodded emphatically. “We need some sort of cover that can be cleaned easily. That way, we can just take it off or clean it whenever we need to.”

    “Like plastic?”

    “That should work.”

    Hoon sprinted for the closet and returned with his arms full of bubble wrap.

    “Wow,” Hoonbi said, appreciating the fact that Hoon seemed to be running some kind of shipping business on the side. “Where did you get all of that?”

    “Oh…” Hoon looked down at the plastic paradise in his arms. “Sometimes fan gifts come with it, and some of it’s from online shopping. It’s really useful and fun to play with, so I kept it. You never know when you need something to do on a long car ride.”

    When Soohyun came home not more than an hour later, he was greeted by the sight of the newly renovated couch, every inch of which was covered in bubble wrap.

    “What’s this?” Soohyun called.

    “You keep sitting on the couch , and we’re tired of cleaning it,” Hoon said, emerging from his bedroom. “So we covered it in plastic.”

    “Why’d you do that? It looks weird,” Soohyun protested, staring at the couch.

    “It can’t possibly look weirder than it is to sit where your has been.” Hoonbi joined them in the living room. “It’s for the best.”

    “Aish...bubble wrap?” Soohyun shook his head. “That’s going to feel weird, too…”

    “Then just don’t be !” Hoon burst out, exasperated.

    Soohyun shrugged, ignoring Hoon’s words. “I guess I’ll just have to get used to it.”

    Hoon and Hoonbi didn’t realize the flaw in their solution until three the next morning. Hoonbi, who was less accustomed to sleeping amidst various noises, woke up abruptly in the middle of the night. A strange sound was coming from the living room. It was completely dark save the glowing numbers on his alarm clock, he was drowsy, and he didn’t particularly want to go out and see what it was, so after several minutes had passed, he tiptoed into Hoon’s room and shook his brother awake.

    “Hoon!” He hissed, patting the younger’s shoulder. “Wake up.”

    “Wha- what is it?” Hoon mumbled, blinking slowly until Hoonbi’s face came into view. “What time is it?”

    “Really late. I mean early. Do you hear that noise?”

    Hoon frowned and sat up in bed. There was a moment of concentration before his eyebrows shot up and he gave Hoonbi a look of sheer terror.

    “Isn’t that...the bubble wrap?” Hoon asked.

    Hoonbi stared at him as the realization hit him. “Yeah, I think so.”

    “That’s weird,” Hoon mused. “It doesn’t sound how it normally sounds when you pop it. It almost sounds like all of the bubbles are being popped at once…”

    The Yeo brothers looked at each other as they were struck by the same thought. Hoon blushed, and Hoonbi began rapidly shaking his head.

    “I don’t want to know what he’s doing on that couch.” Hoonbi turned to leave. “Goodnight, Hoonmin. Sorry for waking you up.”

    “No problem,” Hoon said, trying not to think of the very blatant problem at hand, and covered his head with his pillow as he drifted off to sleep to the sound of Soohyun interacting with the couch.

I was inspired by the theory of mistressarafax and her friend that Hoon and Hoonbi might get so tired of sitting where Soohyun had sat that they would have to cover the couch with a sheet of plastic.