Home on the Range
Title: Home on the Range
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Eunhae, Yewook, Kyumin, Sihan
Genre: cowboy!AU, romance, humour
Summary: this is...I don't really know, just a look at what SJ would be like as cowboys/horse ranchers etc. just an excuse for me to write Eunhae!
A/N: inspired by the cowboy outfits in their Music Core performance of No Other!
Warning: I know nothing about real cowboys. and there is a lack of real plot.
“It was a dark and stormy night…”
“No offense, Teukie-hyung, but you’re not exactly a very good story-teller.” Shindong cuts in helpfully, while Eeteuk glares at him. He turns to Eunhyuk for support, but the younger boy merely slurps up the last dregs of soup from his bowl.
“Sorry hyung, gotta agree with Shindong.” Eunhyuk takes the used crockery to the kitchen, boots clacking on the wooden floor. “And I’m kind of tired after today’s work; thinking of turning in early tonight.”
Eeteuk pouts in annoyance. “Well, I’m sure Ryeowookie will listen, won’t you?” Ryeowook smiles affectionately at him and nods.
“Where was I? Oh right. It was a dark and stormy night-”
A sudden barrage of knocks sounds on the door, and all of them jerk in surprise - even Shindong, to Eeteuk’s satisfaction. He goes to the door and opens it to find- “Kim Heechul!”
It’s Heechul, but not the Heechul they remember from before. His once dark hair is now dyed blond, and his clothes are reminiscent of the current fashionable style seen on television, compared to their relatively simple everyday work-clothes.
“Well, aren’t you going to invite me in?” He smirks.
--
The lone rooster perks up at the beginning rays of light and faithfully does his daily task.
“What the hell is that noise?” Heechul shrieks, chucking a slipper out the window at the offender, and the bird squawks indignantly. He looks around the room blearily, but all the beds are empty.
Shindong pokes a head in and chortles. “Not used to getting up early, eh, city boy?”
The well-aimed pillow misses its target.
--
“Siwonnie!” Ryeowook waves cheerfully at the horse rancher riding by.
“Hey.” Siwon smiles widely at his friend, touching the brim of his hat. “How are the sheep today?” It’s a rare question, because few people actually own sheep here, Ryeowook being one of them.
“Not bad. I was actually thinking of expanding the flock. Can’t make much money with such a small number of ‘em.” Ryeowook explains.
“True.” Siwon tilts his head to the side. “Are they due to be shorn soon?”
Ryeowook glances at his flock. “Not for a month at least. Why, looking to buy some fleece?”
Siwon blushes slightly. “Yeah, was thinking of making a gift for my boyf- I mean, Hankyung.” Ryeowook nods sympathetically, knowing it’s been months since Siwon has seen Hankyung, after the older man returned home to take care of his ailing mother. He finds it sad how Siwon’s parents disapprove of foreigners, not knowing that Siwon’s been with Hankyung for a year already.
“I’ll see what I can do.”
--
Eunhyuk hums to himself happily, as he starts milking the cow. It’s his job to wake up early every morning to do so, because he loves working with the gentle creatures. And if getting up early means he can catch a glimpse of the handsome cowboy from the ranch near theirs doing his morning exercise routine, well, he’s not going to complain.
“Yuck.”
He turns around to see Heechul with a look of distaste on his face. “Morning, hyung.” He grins at the thought of the city boy stepping cautiously around the excrement in the barn. “What are you doing here so early in the morning?”
“Got woken up again by Shindong’s heavy footsteps - I swear he does it on purpose.” He folds his arms. “I was just wondering what you were up to.” Heechul shrugs nonchalantly.
“Oh.” Eunhyuk chuckles, knowing that it was intentional on Shindong’s part. They’re both silent for a half a minute, the only sound that of milk splashing into the pail. “What are you doing here, hyung?”
Heechul stares at him. “Are you deaf?”
“I mean, here at the rangelands.” Eunhyuk clarifies, remembering how Heechul’s family moved to the city two years ago. They’d thrown a farewell party for him, which was the only time their parents had allowed them to get stupidly drunk.
Heechul grimaces. “My father wanted me to return here to have a look at the property, since he claims I’ll be inheriting it someday.” Eunhyuk nearly snorts - even when Heechul lived here, he had made no pretence about thinking of taking over the ranch.
“And I thought it might be nice to see what my old friends were doing. You know, gracing you with my presence and such.” He waves a hand around, and this time Eunhyuk does snort, in an attempt to keep himself from laughing.
“You haven’t changed much, have you?”
“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.” Heechul sniffs. “And what about you? Still mooning after Donghae?” He leans back until he can see the cowboy in question rubbing down his horse in the field next to theirs through the open barn door.
“I- what- that is-” Eunhyuk splutters, nearly upsetting the milk pail.
“He’s cute, I’ll give you that.” Heechul grins, finding Eunhyuk’s steadily reddening face highly amusing. “Probably too cute for the likes of you.”
“I hate you, hyung.”
--
“Now, Kyuhyun, you don’t have to be nervous.”
“Hyung-”
“I know being a cowboy may seem daunting at first-”
“Hyung, I-”
“-after all, we do own a lot of cattle-”
“I know, but-”
“-but rest assured that I will teach you everything I know!”
“I’m not-”
“They don’t call me the best cowboy in town for nothing, you know.”
“It’s not like-”
“And I promise not to laugh, even if you fall off your horse. I will be patient and understanding.”
“I’M NOT GOING TO FALL OFF MY HORSE!”
Sungmin blinks, before smiling prettily. “Well then, what are we waiting for?”
--
Yesung sighs as he looks at the mangled remains of the fence. He’s supposed to be out in the rangeland herding the cattle like Donghae and the others are. But no, someone had to crash their truck into the fence of their property the day before, and it’s his job to fix it.
“This isn’t fair,” he mutters to himself, as he hefts a wooden stake meant to replace one of the broken ones. He nearly drives it into the ground, when he realises he hasn’t taken the broken one out yet. He looks in his toolbox, only to realise that the trowel is missing.
“Damn it.” He settles for yanking at the broken stump, refusing to dig into the earth with his fingers. He pulls hard, and is rewarded by the stump flying out all at once at a particularly vicious tug on his part. Unfortunately, the sharp edge cuts into his hand, and he gets splinters in several fingers.
“Ow!” He stumbles back and falls on his butt ungracefully. It connects with the pointy side of the hammer lying on the ground, bruising his backside.
“WHAT THE FU-”
“Yesung-ssi?” He looks up to see Ryeowook on the other side of the fence, concern written all over his face. “Oh dear, are you alright?”
Yesung weighs the option of appearing nonchalant and cool against the option of expressing the agony he’s feeling.“I’ve got splinters in my hand, and my butt’s been injured. So I’m not alright.”
Ryeowook’s eyes widen in alarm. “You’d better come to our house and let me check it for you! I’ve got the first-aid kit there.”
He pulls the older man up gently, guiding him over the mess of wood and wire, and leads him towards the ranch. “Let’s hope your hand isn’t infected, Yesung-ssi!”
Yesung can’t help but ask, “Are you going to check my backside as well? It hurts like hell.”
Ryeowook blushes furiously. “Well, I guess it can’t hurt to have a look at that too.”
--
Donghae rides round the cattle, ensuring that they don’t stray off from the intended area. He glances over at Kyuhyun, who’s doing a pretty good job for his first roundup. To be fair, he is learning from the best, and Sungmin is a good and attentive teacher. Maybe too attentive, Donghae thinks knowingly, as he notices how Sungmin’s eyes never leave Kyuhyun.
However talented, Kyuhyun simply doesn’t have the experience to separate the cattle as neatly as Sungmin can, and after a while, the older cowboy takes over, expertly turning his horse here and there to sort the cattle accordingly.
When the sorting is finished, Kyuhyun looks carefully as Sungmin points out the calves that need to be roped in. “Why don’t you try roping that one in?” Sungmin picks the easiest one for Kyuhyun, who knows that Sungmin’s trying to make it as simple for him as possible.
He stares at the specified calf for a good few seconds before tossing the rope out. He misses by a bit, nearly landing another bull next to it, and grimaces as he pulls the rope back quickly. Sungmin pats him on the shoulder encouragingly. “Maybe Donghae should do one first, to let you have a better idea.” He raises his voice, and Donghae nods.
Donghae eyes the middle of the herd and finds a calf that Kyuhyun wouldn’t be able to lasso. With his tongue peeking out the side of his mouth, he lets fly and lands the rope nicely around the calf’s neck, successfully pulling it towards him.
Kyuhyun stares in admiration. Sungmin rolls his eyes. “Show-off.”
--
Heechul invites all of them to a dinner party of sorts. Or rather, he sends Shindong and Ryeowook as his messengers to inform the guests not to bother dressing formally, and to be prepared for booze. Lots of it.
After arguing a little with Eeteuk about how the barn smells of hay and isn’t the kind of place one wants to have friends over at, even if all of them grew up in such environments, they agree to have it within the fairly spacious ranch house.
Eeteuk returns to the house to see the tables laid with food, and marvels at how Heechul managed to get all this on such short notice. Heechul looks at Eeteuk’s plain white tee, jeans and tool belt. “What the hell. You look like you just came from repairing a barn wall or something.”
“I did.” Eeteuk replies, waving his hammer around as proof. “I thought you said it’s a casual dinner?”
“Yes, but-”
“So there’s nothing wrong with what I’m wearing.” Eeteuk follows his gaze to his tool belt and laughs. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to wear this for dinner.”
Heechul scowls. “And you’d better put a nice shirt on.” Eeteuk ignores him and trudges to his room. “I suggest the faded green one!”
--
It feels just like old times, when they were younger and Heechul hadn’t moved to the city yet, except for Heechul’s style, Eunhyuk muses. Everyone else looks normal, in fairly similar denim jeans and boots. Even though Kyuhyun and Shindong look slightly more formal in their long-sleeved shirts rolled up to their forearms, compared to Sungmin, who’s opted for his favourite brown vest over a sleeveless tee, they still look, well, ranch-y, for lack of a better word. Heck, Ryeowook and Siwon are practically wearing the same typical outfit as Eunhyuk himself.
Heechul’s pale blond hair sticks out like a sore thumb, his t-shirt has a fake scarf painted on it, and his jeans are grey and patterned. Eunhyuk’s pretty sure he’s never seen anyone around these parts wearing jeans like that. Still, it’s nice to know that one of them can leave for years, come back and easily fall back into the relationships he had with them all.
The doorbell rings, and seeing how his housemates seem to all be engaged in conversation - Ryeowook talking to Siwon about some wool problem, Eeteuk and Shindong discussing roundup techniques with Sungmin - he goes over to let the newcomer in.
He opens the door to see Donghae smiling, dressed simply in jeans and a white tee that shows the muscled outline of his torso. In fact, he looks like he just came back from the stables, and still manages to take Eunhyuk’s breath away. Such handsomeness should be outlawed, Eunhyuk thinks miserably.
“Sorry I’m late - I just came back from tending my horse.” The cowboy explains, confirming Eunhyuk’s assessment of his appearance.
“Don’t worry about it.” Eunhyuk tries to smile casually.
“Well, aren't you going to let me in?” Donghae chuckles. Eunhyuk realises that he’s blocking the doorway and nearly trips in his attempt to move out of the way.
Donghae grins and steps in. “Thanks.”
--
“I think I’d better be heading home now, hyung.” Siwon says loudly over the blaring music to Heechul, who looks surprised, his gaze slightly unfocused. Siwon attributes that to the near-empty bottle in his hand.
“Why so soon, Wonnie?”
“It’s getting late, and I need to get some rest. I’ve got horse training to do tomorrow.”
Heechul stares at the clock on the wall. “But it’s only eleven!”
Siwon looks puzzled. “I know, isn’t that rather late?”
Heechul decides not to tell Siwon that city people generally sleep at two in the morning. “Sure, sure. Be careful on your way home! Thanks for coming!”
Siwon smiles warmly, giving Heechul a bear hug before leaving. “It’s good to have you back, hyung.”
--
Eeteuk’s not too sure how many beers he’s had by now, but he’s quite certain that their house isn’t supposed to have that many people in it. There are two people in the living room who appear to be making out. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but Sungmin and Kyuhyun don’t live here, and he doesn’t see why they can’t do it back home. Their home, that is, not his.
“Teukie-hyung? Yesung-hyung’s tired and wants to stay over, is that okay?” Ryeowook asks with a dazzling smile, and Eeteuk notes the arm around his waist, and wonders why Yesung’s face seems to be attached to Ryeowook’s neck. Oh well, as long as they’re happy!
“Sure, Wookie!”
--
Donghae looks around the neat bedroom and whistles. “Wow, nice room.”
Eunhyuk smiles shyly, pleased at the compliment. He’s not sure why Donghae expressed an interest in seeing his room, and is just relieved that he seems to approve of it. “I’m kind of a neat freak.” He gestures to the neat row of boots lined up against the wall.
Donghae laughs softly, and lets his gaze wander until it rests on a couple of trophies on a shelf. “You won 2nd place in the Junior Lassoing Competition?” He peers at the trophies.
“Er, yeah. That must have been 10 years ago or so.” Eunhyuk can barely remember the competition.
“But…” Donghae tilts his head to the side in thought. “…you’re not exactly a cowboy, are you?”
Eunhyuk shrugs, and moves over to plop down on his bed. “I found that I preferred taking care of the animals, rather than herding them around. So I don’t do roundups and stuff like you.”
“I see.” Donghae taps his chin. “Could you show me your skills?”
Eunhyuk begins to protest, saying that it’s been too long since he’s lassoed anything, but Donghae just grins and hands him a short length of rope found in his room.
“Come on, just for fun.”
Eunhyuk gives in, and looks around his room for something he won’t fail to catch. “How about that boot?” He points, before quickly tossing the rope over and securing it.
Donghae nods approvingly, because the boot was all the way on the opposite end of the room. “Can I have a go?” He sticks a hand out, and Eunhyuk willingly passes the rope to him. “I bet I can lasso your hand from here.” He steps back as far as he can, while Eunhyuk looks at him in disbelief.
“It’s a little small, don’t you think?”
Donghae merely smirks. “Try me.” Eunhyuk obliges by holding up his left hand, still sitting on his bed. Donghae focuses on it, swings the rope around before throwing it, and it falls neatly over Eunhyuk’s wrist, to the other boy’s surprise.
“You’re really good!” Eunhyuk smiles in amazement.
Donghae beams, and begins winding his end of the rope, gradually moving closer to Eunhyuk. “You know, I meant to ask you something. You see, every morning I get up pretty early to do some exercise outside before going for my morning ride.”
“I see.” Eunhyuk swallows uncomfortably, pretending it’s the first time he’s heard of it.
“What’s interesting is that I always see you up at that time too, going to milk your cows, I presume.”
Eunhyuk nods slowly, not quite sure where this is going.
“And then one day, I noticed you staring at me.”
His eyes widen in horror. “M-me?” By now Eunhyuk is blushing, while Donghae has wound the rope up to the last bit - which is still around Eunhyuk’s slender wrist - and is standing right in front of him.
“Yup.” Donghae confirms cheerfully, idly playing with the rope in his hands. “I realised that you do that every morning, too.” He bends down until he’s at the same level as Eunhyuk, who bites his lower lip nervously. “So I was wondering if you might perhaps be interested in me.”
“I-I…that is…”
Donghae begins absentmindedly looping the rope around Eunhyuk’s other wrist. “Because, you know, I’m kind of interested in you.”
“You are?” Eunhyuk feels like he’s in a dream, or maybe had one too many beers.
Donghae smiles that breath-taking smile of his, and tugs on the rope, causing Eunhyuk to shift forward until their lips are just inches apart.
“Yeah,” he breathes, and captures Eunhyuk’s mouth with his own in a kiss.
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Eunhae, Yewook, Kyumin, Sihan
Genre: cowboy!AU, romance, humour
Summary: this is...I don't really know, just a look at what SJ would be like as cowboys/horse ranchers etc. just an excuse for me to write Eunhae!
A/N: inspired by the cowboy outfits in their Music Core performance of No Other!
Warning: I know nothing about real cowboys. and there is a lack of real plot.
“It was a dark and stormy night…”
“No offense, Teukie-hyung, but you’re not exactly a very good story-teller.” Shindong cuts in helpfully, while Eeteuk glares at him. He turns to Eunhyuk for support, but the younger boy merely slurps up the last dregs of soup from his bowl.
“Sorry hyung, gotta agree with Shindong.” Eunhyuk takes the used crockery to the kitchen, boots clacking on the wooden floor. “And I’m kind of tired after today’s work; thinking of turning in early tonight.”
Eeteuk pouts in annoyance. “Well, I’m sure Ryeowookie will listen, won’t you?” Ryeowook smiles affectionately at him and nods.
“Where was I? Oh right. It was a dark and stormy night-”
A sudden barrage of knocks sounds on the door, and all of them jerk in surprise - even Shindong, to Eeteuk’s satisfaction. He goes to the door and opens it to find- “Kim Heechul!”
It’s Heechul, but not the Heechul they remember from before. His once dark hair is now dyed blond, and his clothes are reminiscent of the current fashionable style seen on television, compared to their relatively simple everyday work-clothes.
“Well, aren’t you going to invite me in?” He smirks.
--
The lone rooster perks up at the beginning rays of light and faithfully does his daily task.
“What the hell is that noise?” Heechul shrieks, chucking a slipper out the window at the offender, and the bird squawks indignantly. He looks around the room blearily, but all the beds are empty.
Shindong pokes a head in and chortles. “Not used to getting up early, eh, city boy?”
The well-aimed pillow misses its target.
--
“Siwonnie!” Ryeowook waves cheerfully at the horse rancher riding by.
“Hey.” Siwon smiles widely at his friend, touching the brim of his hat. “How are the sheep today?” It’s a rare question, because few people actually own sheep here, Ryeowook being one of them.
“Not bad. I was actually thinking of expanding the flock. Can’t make much money with such a small number of ‘em.” Ryeowook explains.
“True.” Siwon tilts his head to the side. “Are they due to be shorn soon?”
Ryeowook glances at his flock. “Not for a month at least. Why, looking to buy some fleece?”
Siwon blushes slightly. “Yeah, was thinking of making a gift for my boyf- I mean, Hankyung.” Ryeowook nods sympathetically, knowing it’s been months since Siwon has seen Hankyung, after the older man returned home to take care of his ailing mother. He finds it sad how Siwon’s parents disapprove of foreigners, not knowing that Siwon’s been with Hankyung for a year already.
“I’ll see what I can do.”
--
Eunhyuk hums to himself happily, as he starts milking the cow. It’s his job to wake up early every morning to do so, because he loves working with the gentle creatures. And if getting up early means he can catch a glimpse of the handsome cowboy from the ranch near theirs doing his morning exercise routine, well, he’s not going to complain.
“Yuck.”
He turns around to see Heechul with a look of distaste on his face. “Morning, hyung.” He grins at the thought of the city boy stepping cautiously around the excrement in the barn. “What are you doing here so early in the morning?”
“Got woken up again by Shindong’s heavy footsteps - I swear he does it on purpose.” He folds his arms. “I was just wondering what you were up to.” Heechul shrugs nonchalantly.
“Oh.” Eunhyuk chuckles, knowing that it was intentional on Shindong’s part. They’re both silent for a half a minute, the only sound that of milk splashing into the pail. “What are you doing here, hyung?”
Heechul stares at him. “Are you deaf?”
“I mean, here at the rangelands.” Eunhyuk clarifies, remembering how Heechul’s family moved to the city two years ago. They’d thrown a farewell party for him, which was the only time their parents had allowed them to get stupidly drunk.
Heechul grimaces. “My father wanted me to return here to have a look at the property, since he claims I’ll be inheriting it someday.” Eunhyuk nearly snorts - even when Heechul lived here, he had made no pretence about thinking of taking over the ranch.
“And I thought it might be nice to see what my old friends were doing. You know, gracing you with my presence and such.” He waves a hand around, and this time Eunhyuk does snort, in an attempt to keep himself from laughing.
“You haven’t changed much, have you?”
“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.” Heechul sniffs. “And what about you? Still mooning after Donghae?” He leans back until he can see the cowboy in question rubbing down his horse in the field next to theirs through the open barn door.
“I- what- that is-” Eunhyuk splutters, nearly upsetting the milk pail.
“He’s cute, I’ll give you that.” Heechul grins, finding Eunhyuk’s steadily reddening face highly amusing. “Probably too cute for the likes of you.”
“I hate you, hyung.”
--
“Now, Kyuhyun, you don’t have to be nervous.”
“Hyung-”
“I know being a cowboy may seem daunting at first-”
“Hyung, I-”
“-after all, we do own a lot of cattle-”
“I know, but-”
“-but rest assured that I will teach you everything I know!”
“I’m not-”
“They don’t call me the best cowboy in town for nothing, you know.”
“It’s not like-”
“And I promise not to laugh, even if you fall off your horse. I will be patient and understanding.”
“I’M NOT GOING TO FALL OFF MY HORSE!”
Sungmin blinks, before smiling prettily. “Well then, what are we waiting for?”
--
Yesung sighs as he looks at the mangled remains of the fence. He’s supposed to be out in the rangeland herding the cattle like Donghae and the others are. But no, someone had to crash their truck into the fence of their property the day before, and it’s his job to fix it.
“This isn’t fair,” he mutters to himself, as he hefts a wooden stake meant to replace one of the broken ones. He nearly drives it into the ground, when he realises he hasn’t taken the broken one out yet. He looks in his toolbox, only to realise that the trowel is missing.
“Damn it.” He settles for yanking at the broken stump, refusing to dig into the earth with his fingers. He pulls hard, and is rewarded by the stump flying out all at once at a particularly vicious tug on his part. Unfortunately, the sharp edge cuts into his hand, and he gets splinters in several fingers.
“Ow!” He stumbles back and falls on his butt ungracefully. It connects with the pointy side of the hammer lying on the ground, bruising his backside.
“WHAT THE FU-”
“Yesung-ssi?” He looks up to see Ryeowook on the other side of the fence, concern written all over his face. “Oh dear, are you alright?”
Yesung weighs the option of appearing nonchalant and cool against the option of expressing the agony he’s feeling.“I’ve got splinters in my hand, and my butt’s been injured. So I’m not alright.”
Ryeowook’s eyes widen in alarm. “You’d better come to our house and let me check it for you! I’ve got the first-aid kit there.”
He pulls the older man up gently, guiding him over the mess of wood and wire, and leads him towards the ranch. “Let’s hope your hand isn’t infected, Yesung-ssi!”
Yesung can’t help but ask, “Are you going to check my backside as well? It hurts like hell.”
Ryeowook blushes furiously. “Well, I guess it can’t hurt to have a look at that too.”
--
Donghae rides round the cattle, ensuring that they don’t stray off from the intended area. He glances over at Kyuhyun, who’s doing a pretty good job for his first roundup. To be fair, he is learning from the best, and Sungmin is a good and attentive teacher. Maybe too attentive, Donghae thinks knowingly, as he notices how Sungmin’s eyes never leave Kyuhyun.
However talented, Kyuhyun simply doesn’t have the experience to separate the cattle as neatly as Sungmin can, and after a while, the older cowboy takes over, expertly turning his horse here and there to sort the cattle accordingly.
When the sorting is finished, Kyuhyun looks carefully as Sungmin points out the calves that need to be roped in. “Why don’t you try roping that one in?” Sungmin picks the easiest one for Kyuhyun, who knows that Sungmin’s trying to make it as simple for him as possible.
He stares at the specified calf for a good few seconds before tossing the rope out. He misses by a bit, nearly landing another bull next to it, and grimaces as he pulls the rope back quickly. Sungmin pats him on the shoulder encouragingly. “Maybe Donghae should do one first, to let you have a better idea.” He raises his voice, and Donghae nods.
Donghae eyes the middle of the herd and finds a calf that Kyuhyun wouldn’t be able to lasso. With his tongue peeking out the side of his mouth, he lets fly and lands the rope nicely around the calf’s neck, successfully pulling it towards him.
Kyuhyun stares in admiration. Sungmin rolls his eyes. “Show-off.”
--
Heechul invites all of them to a dinner party of sorts. Or rather, he sends Shindong and Ryeowook as his messengers to inform the guests not to bother dressing formally, and to be prepared for booze. Lots of it.
After arguing a little with Eeteuk about how the barn smells of hay and isn’t the kind of place one wants to have friends over at, even if all of them grew up in such environments, they agree to have it within the fairly spacious ranch house.
Eeteuk returns to the house to see the tables laid with food, and marvels at how Heechul managed to get all this on such short notice. Heechul looks at Eeteuk’s plain white tee, jeans and tool belt. “What the hell. You look like you just came from repairing a barn wall or something.”
“I did.” Eeteuk replies, waving his hammer around as proof. “I thought you said it’s a casual dinner?”
“Yes, but-”
“So there’s nothing wrong with what I’m wearing.” Eeteuk follows his gaze to his tool belt and laughs. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to wear this for dinner.”
Heechul scowls. “And you’d better put a nice shirt on.” Eeteuk ignores him and trudges to his room. “I suggest the faded green one!”
--
It feels just like old times, when they were younger and Heechul hadn’t moved to the city yet, except for Heechul’s style, Eunhyuk muses. Everyone else looks normal, in fairly similar denim jeans and boots. Even though Kyuhyun and Shindong look slightly more formal in their long-sleeved shirts rolled up to their forearms, compared to Sungmin, who’s opted for his favourite brown vest over a sleeveless tee, they still look, well, ranch-y, for lack of a better word. Heck, Ryeowook and Siwon are practically wearing the same typical outfit as Eunhyuk himself.
Heechul’s pale blond hair sticks out like a sore thumb, his t-shirt has a fake scarf painted on it, and his jeans are grey and patterned. Eunhyuk’s pretty sure he’s never seen anyone around these parts wearing jeans like that. Still, it’s nice to know that one of them can leave for years, come back and easily fall back into the relationships he had with them all.
The doorbell rings, and seeing how his housemates seem to all be engaged in conversation - Ryeowook talking to Siwon about some wool problem, Eeteuk and Shindong discussing roundup techniques with Sungmin - he goes over to let the newcomer in.
He opens the door to see Donghae smiling, dressed simply in jeans and a white tee that shows the muscled outline of his torso. In fact, he looks like he just came back from the stables, and still manages to take Eunhyuk’s breath away. Such handsomeness should be outlawed, Eunhyuk thinks miserably.
“Sorry I’m late - I just came back from tending my horse.” The cowboy explains, confirming Eunhyuk’s assessment of his appearance.
“Don’t worry about it.” Eunhyuk tries to smile casually.
“Well, aren't you going to let me in?” Donghae chuckles. Eunhyuk realises that he’s blocking the doorway and nearly trips in his attempt to move out of the way.
Donghae grins and steps in. “Thanks.”
--
“I think I’d better be heading home now, hyung.” Siwon says loudly over the blaring music to Heechul, who looks surprised, his gaze slightly unfocused. Siwon attributes that to the near-empty bottle in his hand.
“Why so soon, Wonnie?”
“It’s getting late, and I need to get some rest. I’ve got horse training to do tomorrow.”
Heechul stares at the clock on the wall. “But it’s only eleven!”
Siwon looks puzzled. “I know, isn’t that rather late?”
Heechul decides not to tell Siwon that city people generally sleep at two in the morning. “Sure, sure. Be careful on your way home! Thanks for coming!”
Siwon smiles warmly, giving Heechul a bear hug before leaving. “It’s good to have you back, hyung.”
--
Eeteuk’s not too sure how many beers he’s had by now, but he’s quite certain that their house isn’t supposed to have that many people in it. There are two people in the living room who appear to be making out. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but Sungmin and Kyuhyun don’t live here, and he doesn’t see why they can’t do it back home. Their home, that is, not his.
“Teukie-hyung? Yesung-hyung’s tired and wants to stay over, is that okay?” Ryeowook asks with a dazzling smile, and Eeteuk notes the arm around his waist, and wonders why Yesung’s face seems to be attached to Ryeowook’s neck. Oh well, as long as they’re happy!
“Sure, Wookie!”
--
Donghae looks around the neat bedroom and whistles. “Wow, nice room.”
Eunhyuk smiles shyly, pleased at the compliment. He’s not sure why Donghae expressed an interest in seeing his room, and is just relieved that he seems to approve of it. “I’m kind of a neat freak.” He gestures to the neat row of boots lined up against the wall.
Donghae laughs softly, and lets his gaze wander until it rests on a couple of trophies on a shelf. “You won 2nd place in the Junior Lassoing Competition?” He peers at the trophies.
“Er, yeah. That must have been 10 years ago or so.” Eunhyuk can barely remember the competition.
“But…” Donghae tilts his head to the side in thought. “…you’re not exactly a cowboy, are you?”
Eunhyuk shrugs, and moves over to plop down on his bed. “I found that I preferred taking care of the animals, rather than herding them around. So I don’t do roundups and stuff like you.”
“I see.” Donghae taps his chin. “Could you show me your skills?”
Eunhyuk begins to protest, saying that it’s been too long since he’s lassoed anything, but Donghae just grins and hands him a short length of rope found in his room.
“Come on, just for fun.”
Eunhyuk gives in, and looks around his room for something he won’t fail to catch. “How about that boot?” He points, before quickly tossing the rope over and securing it.
Donghae nods approvingly, because the boot was all the way on the opposite end of the room. “Can I have a go?” He sticks a hand out, and Eunhyuk willingly passes the rope to him. “I bet I can lasso your hand from here.” He steps back as far as he can, while Eunhyuk looks at him in disbelief.
“It’s a little small, don’t you think?”
Donghae merely smirks. “Try me.” Eunhyuk obliges by holding up his left hand, still sitting on his bed. Donghae focuses on it, swings the rope around before throwing it, and it falls neatly over Eunhyuk’s wrist, to the other boy’s surprise.
“You’re really good!” Eunhyuk smiles in amazement.
Donghae beams, and begins winding his end of the rope, gradually moving closer to Eunhyuk. “You know, I meant to ask you something. You see, every morning I get up pretty early to do some exercise outside before going for my morning ride.”
“I see.” Eunhyuk swallows uncomfortably, pretending it’s the first time he’s heard of it.
“What’s interesting is that I always see you up at that time too, going to milk your cows, I presume.”
Eunhyuk nods slowly, not quite sure where this is going.
“And then one day, I noticed you staring at me.”
His eyes widen in horror. “M-me?” By now Eunhyuk is blushing, while Donghae has wound the rope up to the last bit - which is still around Eunhyuk’s slender wrist - and is standing right in front of him.
“Yup.” Donghae confirms cheerfully, idly playing with the rope in his hands. “I realised that you do that every morning, too.” He bends down until he’s at the same level as Eunhyuk, who bites his lower lip nervously. “So I was wondering if you might perhaps be interested in me.”
“I-I…that is…”
Donghae begins absentmindedly looping the rope around Eunhyuk’s other wrist. “Because, you know, I’m kind of interested in you.”
“You are?” Eunhyuk feels like he’s in a dream, or maybe had one too many beers.
Donghae smiles that breath-taking smile of his, and tugs on the rope, causing Eunhyuk to shift forward until their lips are just inches apart.
“Yeah,” he breathes, and captures Eunhyuk’s mouth with his own in a kiss.