wookey; pg-13; ~800w
A quick drabble because I recently remembered how much woohyun and key are in love with each other and how cute it is.
When Kibum confesses to his crush on Woohyun, Jonghyun is diplomatically wary.
"Do you like him because you like him," he says, "or do you like him because he likes you?"
"I don't know," Kibum says. "Both. The first one. Does it matter?"
It does, because Woohyun likes Kibum with the force of a hurricane, is so aggressively infatuated with him that Kibum's liking him back could just be an inevitability, not a choice. Maybe Kibum's flattered by the attention. Maybe Woohyun's goofy smiles and stupidly happy eyes are just contagious. The way Woohyun likes Kibum, maybe Kibum is forced to like him back.
But for all that Woohyun is a shameless flirt before the camera, for all that he clings to Kibum like a cheerful trophy wife, he's too thoughtful, or too insecure, to initiate anything, so it starts with Kibum drunkenly pushing him to the floor of the restaurant and kissing him hard, licking the taste of soju from the corners of his mouth. From there it's a collection of meetups in the spaces between schedules, a patchwork relationship forged on the hours, sometimes minutes, they can steal away from their professional lives each day. Sunggyu calls Jinki and asks bluntly, "Is this okay?" and Jinki says, "I guess we'll find out," and it's not the answer either of them wants, but it's the truth.
The truth is, Woohyun isn't a very good kisser, but he is a fast learner.
The truth is, Kibum's long days leave him woozy with exhaustion, the perfume of stage makeup hanging thickly around him and the bitter remnants of a forced smile lingering on his mouth, but Woohyun's touch is gentle permission to be human. Jinki's damp midday palm steering the small of his back is port in a storm, but Woohyun's fingers skirting his ribcage in the dark is anchors aweigh, compass be damned.
Kibum is critical and brutally honest, and Woohyun listens to his tirades with thoughtful eyes and pursed lips, even nodding enthusiastically when Kibum concludes with, "And that's why you can't fucking leave bite marks, okay?"
"Okay," Woohyun grins, "but you liked it."
Kibum had liked it, a little, having a purply-red badge of conquest staining his collarbone - much as he'd griped to the makeup noona as she'd dabbed on generous globs of concealer to cover it up. The problem is Jinki, who whispers quietly in his ear, "You know that isn't how this works."
The problem is Minho, who pats Woohyun's back a little harder every time they meet, until his smacks have Woohyun's teeth rattling in his skull. The problem is Sungyeol, who shoots Kibum sardonic smiles and loops his arm through Woohyun's before retreating to the safety of Dongwoo's resounding laughter.
The problem is Jonghyun, whose twitter becomes increasingly cluttered with cryptic musings about the nature of life and love, about the meaning of true friendship, about how he's going to die alone with only his pets to keep him company.
Relinquishing any semblance of privacy is part and parcel of living this life, and Kibum's usually very good at dealing with that, but it's different now that five has become four against one. Sometimes Kibum imagines letting Woohyun press him against the cold shower tiles with hot water pouring over them both as their cocks slide together in unhurried synchronization, and this is how he gets off under the showerhead when the others are asleep, pumping himself and breathing too hard, coming too fast, thinking about the feel of Woohyun's mouth and tongue, the suction of his lips. But his fantasies last him five minutes at the most, and the other twenty-three hours and fifty-five minutes of the day are filled with bandmates that don't voice their disapproval, which makes it all the louder.
"Sometimes I think this just can't be worth it," Kibum says, frustrated, when he finds himself smooshed against Woohyun's sweaty chest in a pitch-black wardrobe closet.
"You're entitled to your opinion," Woohyun says carefully. His breath washes softly over Kibum's cheek.
"Sometimes I think, just, what are we doing?" Kibum continues, even as his hands come up to cup Woohyun's neck. "What's the point?"
"Maybe it’s pointless," Woohyun agrees, kisses Kibum, "maybe this is the point," kisses him again.
Kibum's got a response to that, and it's a good one, and it's logical, but Woohyun's thigh is between his legs and Woohyun's hands are clutching his shoulder blades and Woohyun's kissing technique really has improved, so Kibum just sighs into his mouth, maybe you're right, and wills himself to forget that they're making out in a closet full of sequins when he's supposed to be singing live for a thousand screaming fans in roughly twenty-three minutes.
The truth is, neither of them knows how this goes, but together, they're figuring it out.
cliches and dumb stuff, as per my usual lmao