They're playing cribbage. If you don't know that game, look it up. I'm a big fan. Enjoy!

They cut the deck. Sehun’s eight of diamonds trumps Jongdae’s ten of spades.

“It wouldn’t if we were playing Big Two,” Jongdae complains. Sehun reminds him that this is Korea and that Jongdae’s not studying abroad in China anymore.

“We don’t play that game here,” he finishes.

Jongdae, in turn, reminds his husband that spades are a higher suit than diamonds in Bridge, too, and that’s not a Chinese card game. Sehun closes the discussion by saying, “Well there’s no ranking in Poker, so there,” and grabs the cards off the table to shuffle them thrice and deal them six each.

Jongdae huffs at that but picks up his cards quite dutifully once Sehun’s finished dealing. It’s a regular Wednesday night for the couple and they’re playing strip cribbage like they always do since a rule in their house is “Absolutely no Poker allowed”—by virtue of Jongdae’s career as a professional player on cruise ships and the like. They’d tried strip poker once, but Sehun’s face gives everything away apparently—believe it or not; none of their friends do—and cribbage is more even ground for them.

Each of the men selects two cards from the ones in their hands and places them in the crib pile. Sehun’s hand brushes the top of Jongdae’s when this happens and he’s quick to grab onto Jongdae’s pinky with his own. Jongdae frowns but his eyes are smiling when he pulls his hand away.

“No distracting,” Jongdae chides his husband. He cuts the deck in half and raises an eyebrow impatiently. “I want to win.”

Sehun rolls his eyes. He selects the card from the cut deck and flips it over, letting out a triumphal shout when the Jack of clubs appears.

“Two for his heels,” he says the set phrase as he moves his peg two holes on the board and claims the first points of the game. Jongdae reaches up and untwists the backing behind one of the studs in his ears. The competition has begun.

They peg pretty regularly back and forth. Jongdae reaches 30 and Sehun says “Go” with a heavy sigh, already reaching under his wrist to unclasp the watch he wears there. It was a gift for their anniversary and Jongdae pouts because the watch is always the first to go when they play.

This is not a new conversation, but Sehun reassures his husband that he loves the gift, of course, but he doesn’t have his ears pierced like Jongdae does and this is the only jewelry he can take off other than his ring.

Jongdae reaches 31 when they return to their game and the ring on Sehun’s left hand comes off too. They’ve played all their cards and Jongdae starts to count.

“Fifteen for two,” he mutters, “For four, six, and a pair for two more makes—”

“Eight,” Sehun finishes. Jongdae sticks out his tongue and tells his younger husband not to count for him.

Sehun’s already counted his points while Jongdae was counting his, and his gaze stays trained on his husband’s tongue as he says aloud, “Triple run for 15.”

Off comes the stud in Jongdae’s other ear. Sehun’s crib has a measly two points but it gets Jongdae’s ring off too and now they’re back to being even.

The cards get reshuffled and it’s Jongdae’s deal. When they start to peg Sehun plays an eight, Jongdae plays a seven, and he gets a fifteen for two right of the bat. Jongdae’s about to tell Sehun that the sweater’s the next to go when Sehun smirks and plays another seven.

“Not so fast, babe,” Sehun teases. “22. And a pair for two.” They’re even again but it doesn’t last.

Jongdae plays a nine. “31.” Jongdae was going to be nice with the sweater, but he’s over that. “Pants, now.”

“Aggressive,” Sehun observes, his smirk melting into a smile. “I like it.”

Jongdae colors but stands his ground. He also makes Sehun play a card while simultaneously removing his pants and laughs when Sehun lands in a tangled heap on the floor. When the pants are finally gone Sehun readjusts his earlier position at the card table and sits with his legs wide open. The briefs he’s wearing cover almost nothing; Jongdae’s half regretful for being so impatient because he really wanted to actually finish a game tonight, but he can also see a fading bruise against the skin of Sehun’s inner thighs and thinks that he’d like to taste that spot again.

Sehun dominates the rest of the round and once they’re finished counting points Jongdae’s lost his sweatshirt—actually, it’s Sehun’s—his t-shirt, and the tank he’s got on underneath. Sehun pins his husband with a heated look as he shuffles the cards into a perfect bridge and starts to deal them again. Jongdae’s s pebble instantly under the swelter of Sehun’s gaze. He wants to cover them, instinctively, but knows that if he tries Sehun will want to change the rules. Then it won’t be one item removed for every mini victory as they move their way along the board, but one command for every point instead. Jongdae loves when they tweak the rules like that, but Sehun’s still far too clothed for his liking so he’s willing to subject his bare chest to his husband’s gaze for a little longer yet.

Sehun’s distracted for this round—Jongdae is too but he plays cards for a living and deals with it a little better simply because he’s had more chances to practice—and miscounts his final points.

“Muggins,” Jongdae calls out. He grins as Sehun grimaces because muggins means Jongdae gets two pieces removed for every one point that Sehun missed when counting. There’s a total of four this round—a run of three and a seven of hearts on top of the cut deck that matches the Jack in Sehun’s hand—and Sehun’s own sweater and shirt are gone in a flash.

Jongdae’s wearing pants but he’s gone commando just for the surprise Sehun’ll get when the pants come off, and Sehun’s only in his underwear and socks. Consciously now, and no longer driven by a pure instinct to hide, Jongdae locks eyes with his husband and slowly brings his arms up to cross them over his chest.

Sehun’s eyes narrow. Jongdae grins. “Bring it,” he mouths. Sehun gestures lazily toward the deck that’s waiting for Jongdae to shuffle and deal it. He closes his eyes once Jongdae reaches for the cards and runs his hands in absentminded little circles around his own now bare s.

Jongdae accidentally deals a card face up when Sehun emits a tiny puff of a breathy moan and has to start over. Sehun peaks his eyes open just in time to catch his husband’s misdeal and moans again, this time on purpose.

He cuts the deck once they’ve placed their crib cards and Jongdae flips up a Jack. “Two for his heels,” he mirrors Sehun’s words from earlier. “Briefs,” he says then, but Sehun’s already started pulling the underwear off his hips and down his thighs.

The view is glorious but if Jongdae wants to win—this round at least, since he’s not sure they’ll make it to the end of the game—he can’t allow the sight of Sehun, already half-hard, to distract him.

They peg and Jongdae absolutely dominates because Sehun’s hand finds its way down at some point and the younger can barely focus anymore.

“No touching,” Jongdae commands. “Pay attention.”

Sehun groans but obeys. He lasts long enough to win a small victory of one point for last card and finally gets Jongdae’s pants off. But the pleasant lack of underwear covering Jongdae’s crotch when the pants are removed has Sehun itching to touch himself again and he can’t pay attention to counting points while also exercising such extreme self control.

Jongdae notices and takes pity on his husband, sort of. “Touch me,” he orders Sehun once they finish counting points and Jongdae comes out ahead. “Touch me instead.”

Sehun is happy to comply this time, and Jongdae is, of course, happy to let him.