^ somewhat relevant, somewhat irrelevant ^

warnings: woohyun sitting on sunggyu's .

WE WOULD LIKE TO TAKE THIS MOMENT TO APOLOGIZE FOR BEING SUPER DUPER LATE. well, brain sister doesn't think the same way (brain sister: running man is fun and must be prioritized.) but writer sister does bc issues, ok? she pulls me to watch with her DESPITE THE FACT THAT I HAD AN EXAM THIS FRIDAY. (she's reading this. don't mind me...aaaand she's smiling like a douche.) OKAY! moving on! we'll try to do a double update this weekend, but don't get your hopes up as the sisters might be reeled into watching running man again. and writer sister will, like, fangirl over lee kwangsoo again maybe. ah, but why do i even bother? it's a sad excuse. BUT ENJOY THE CHAPTER ANYWAY! :D

Although Sunggyu vowed never to let Myungsoo stay at the Lee household after the dreadful events of the previous week, he had to ask Howon the favour of looking after Myungsoo for a while after office hours because he had a lot of work to do—one concerning their job, and one of a personal reason. But Howon didn't need to know that last bit, considering the fact that Sunggyu doesn't want to hear the younger man's teasing anymore.

Sunggyu's had a stressful day; he had to run around and talk with both his client and the defendant without making too much of a fuss, he almost turned his office upside down looking for important documents he thought he'd lost to find them sitting on his desk, and he'd forgotten to pack himself lunch the night before. Utterly horrible—but it's a Friday, and after he's correctly filed some documents and checked his schedule for the next week, he's free to pick up Myungsoo from the Lee's, eat out with his little boy, and go home.

However, that's not quite the case for today. No, Sunggyu's decided to be brave and actually drop off his Thank You gifts like he intends to. It's been a few weeks since the incident, but he's sick of having to hide from Mr. Nam whenever he drops Myungsoo off in the morning, or when he's picking Myungsoo up after work. He wants to be able to see Mr. Nam as his son's idiot teacher with the cheesy smile and the bad language—not the handsome blue-suited singer who was kind to him when he needed it and then the fit, leopard-print wearing gentleman he was the morning after.

Sunggyu wants to be able to call him an idiot again. Without feeling bad.

He maybe remembers the place he found himself in, that one morning, but Sunggyu's not so sure. That was until he climbed up a flight of stairs, presents in hand, and was met with the sight of a barrier of open bookshelves between two doors. Seeing it made Sunggyu nervous because the barrier means he's in the right place.

The idea is to leave the presents outside for the two men to see, leave them a note to go along with it, knock on their door and run as fast as he can when someone answers—if, by chance, they were at home. Sunggyu can't really tell whether or not someone's in, considering he cannot see a window from where he's standing. Nor can he see much light from where he's bent, writing a quick letter on a piece of paper, by their door.

“I already said I'm going! Will you calm down!?”

“No, Woohyun, I will not calm down until I have a dozen eggs and a bag of onions in the kitchen! And also whatever else is written on that grocery list. I'm not backing down until you have them all here!”

“Kibum, you're not even the one who's going to cook tonight!”

“I might as well be! I'm the one who cooks healthier food!”

“Aish...”

“Don't you 'aish' me, mister! Go buy them now!”

Sunggyu should have taken their loud bickering as a warning, or maybe the footsteps—maybe even the loud creaking of an opening door. But it was too late to react, once he's come to. Sunggyu looks up slowly, very nervously, and meets the surprised eyes of one Mr. Nam.

He's not in one of those dull suits he wears to school, nor was he wearing the nice dark blue one he was wearing when they met at the pub. Mr. Nam looks normal, like an average man you'd pass by when you walk down the street, and it stirs up a feeling of absolute terror in Sunggyu. In that he's seeing Mr. Nam as this normal human being, someone he could chat idly with instead of being purely professional with. He hates that in a person who just so happens to be his son's teacher.

“Mr. Kim?” Mr. Nam says and a shiver runs up Sunggyu's spine.

“What the hell are you still doing—?,” Mr. Nam's blond roommate, Kibum, trails off once he's caught sight of Sunggyu. He stops and stares, mouth opening and closing, a hand coming up to point in Sunggyu's direction and his eyes briefly meeting with Woohyun's. The awkward silence drags on and Sunggyu thinks it's finally safe to walk away, but then Kibum's speaking, “Is that Drunk Cutie?”

“It is,” Mr. Nam answers.

Sunggyu gets up, pen and paper still in hand, his eyes now downcast and a foot moving backward.

“Get him,” Kibum says.

Sunggyu's scrambling to get away but Mr. Nam is quick to grab him by the back of his collar—both his dress shirt and his blazer caught in the strong grasp of Mr. Nam. Sunggyu's flailing, his feet shuffling and his body forced to lean slightly backwards. He yelps and whimpers for help, but a pair of arms are grabbing at him from behind; Mr. Nam first wraps one arm around his waist and then moves to get the other around there as well. Before Sunggyu could even scream, Mr. Nam is pulling him inside of their apartment and Kibum is collecting the presents left at their doorway.

With his shoes forcefully taken off and the two men tossing him onto the couch, Sunggyu finds himself having to sit calmly in the two men's living room while the men he so desperately wanted to avoid sit and stare at him from the opposite side of the room. The silence drags on and Sunggyu feels like making a swift escape—and he'll willingly abandon his footwear to do it, too. However, under such intense attention, Sunggyu fears that one movement would cause the two other men in the room to produce a net out of thin air and trap him in it.

Sunggyu's not risking that.

“...so, the presents?” Mr. Nam decides to break the ice.

“I'm opening them,” Kibum slaps Mr. Nam's hands, already outstretched and reaching for the bags and boxes sitting on their coffee table. The blond all but rips the wrapping apart to reveal boxes that would take a while to open. Sunggyu's face flushes, remembering just what was inside those boxes, and he clears his throat. He feels the need to explain himself.

“I wasn't able to thank you for what you did for me, a few weeks ago,” Sunggyu begins shakily, taking short breaths so that he wouldn't stumble on his words. He stammers, but the other men don't seem to pay much attention to how the words come out. They're far more engrossed in the words themselves, as well as the presents given to them, “I got these to show my gratitude.”

“You shouldn't have,” Mr. Nam says with a grin.

“No. He should have. This is great. Gimme,” Kibum makes grabby hands at the box. He tears off the straps of tape that holds the boxes, his hands making quick work of the flaps. He stops to stare at the contents within, absolutely puzzled by what's been brought to them, and he looks up at Sunggyu. “...curtains. Brown curtains. Nice.”

“The sarcasm in your tone tells me that you don't like it,” Sunggyu says.

“No! I mean... No, it's great,” Kibum looks down at the contents of another opened box, “It goes great with these... Leopard print sheets.”

“My, my, Mr. Kim!” Sunggyu's afraid to lift his head and look at Mr. Nam, from how he spoke, “Leopard print sheets? Are you implying something?”

“Oh, yeah, he's definitely implying something,” Kibum says with a grin, “He totally means to say he wants me.”

Mr. Nam looks at him blankly, almost judging but not quite, reaching out for the sheets to bring them into Kibum's view, “Kibum... Leopard prints are not you. It's obvious that he thought of me when he was buying them. Remember what I was wearing that morning? Leopard print. it, Kibum.”

“That doesn't necessarily mean he was thinking of you,” Kibum scoffs, “This could be a symbol. A hunter and his prey. By that I mean he's warning me that he's a preying leopard and I am his tasty piece of meat.”

“You're full of yourself,” Mr. Nam snorts and looks over at the brown curtains, “Explain these.”

“Our bedroom has no curtains. I get dressed in that room,” Kibum shrugs and runs his hands down his clothed chest, “Obviously he doesn't want the neighbours seeing this bod. It's his way of marking his territory. He wants all of this to be his, and his alone.”

Sunggyu gags.

“I think that's a sign. A sign that says you're wrong,” Mr. Nam says smugly, “Besides, out of the two of us, I have the best body. I have abs. I work out. I don't think you even know what working out means.”

“Oh, looky that! My body is this gorgeous without having to work out. What does that say about your eating habits, Woohyun? You fatty.”

“Please stop,” Sunggyu whines, “Let me go home.”

“Do these abs look fat to you?” Mr. Nam says while lifting his shirt. Sunggyu shakes his head and nearly faints in the process, getting up and fidgeting to get at the door. Kibum stops him by laying a foot in his way and tripping him over. Neither men look like they're all that concerned.

“Look at how uncomfortable you made him! He's on the floor because of you.”

“That might just be because you tripped him, Kibum. You inconsiderate prick.”

“Put your shirt down, you part time nudist.”

Sunggyu crawls and gets up, trying to make a run for it.

“No. NO. You are NOT leaving until you've had dinner!”

With hands restraining his legs and weight on lower back, Sunggyu didn't get too far with his attempt to escape.

“That's good, Woohyun,” Kibum walks off in a huff “I'll go get the groceries, and you make sure he doesn't run away.”

“Aish, just hurry up!”

“He better still be flat against the floor with you sitting on him when I return, Woohyun, or I swear...”

“Just go already!”

The blond gives a final warning glare before heading to the store.

Sunggyu is wrapped around in an awkward silence. An awkward silence he rather not be experiencing.

However, Mr. Nam seems to be enjoying himself. He doesn't need to look to know there's a creepy smile on the man's face. He can practically feel it.

Why didn't he just send the gifts through the post?

“So...” Mr. Nam almost whistles, sounding oddly euphoric, “what do you do for a living?”

“I'm a defense lawyer,” Sunggyu sighs, “can I go now?”

“Lawyer? Nice,” Mr. Nam says, impressed, “Win any good cases lately?”

“I'm preparing for a court hearing for next week,” Sunggyu tries to pull himself forward to get out from under the teacher. Mr. Nam's grip on his legs only tightened.

“I'd really appreciate it if you'd stop attempting to escape,” Mr. Nam very gently reprimands him, “We're having a very nice conversation here, and you're acting very rude, Mr. Kim.”

“I'm sorry for inconveniencing you,” he huffs without any trace of sarcasm. At all.

“You're forgiven,” Sunggyu rolls his eyes, “So, about Mr. Lee... You're just workmates, right? Nothing else is going on between you two?”

“I loathe that man. Don't even suggest anything,” he hisses and flails, “Would you please get off? This is uncomfortable, and I'd rather continue our conversation while sitting.”

“I think I have the best seat,” Mr. Nam proves by wiggling into his seat, “I quite like sitting on your plump cheeks.”

“Oh my God. I can't believe you just said that!” Sunggyu started clawing the floor and violently kicking his legs free. Amidst the fight to get free, he manages to kick Mr. Nam where the sun don't shine. Mr. Nam groans in pain and Sunggyu finally achieves his well-deserved liberty. With that, he takes the chance to bolt out of the door just as he had weeks ago.

He doesn't even stop to put his shoes on. He just runs. Besides, he can just buy another expensive pair of leather shoes.