Chapter Text
the car explosion sends gaon tumbling to the ground. he blinks hard as he sits up, a hand around his elbow steadying him. ‘where’s the kid?’ gaon manages when the ringing in his ears abates. he had pulled her out of the way in the nick of time.
‘safe with her parents. easy there,' comes the reply. gaon waits for his brain to come back online and tries not to throw up. but when he goes to stand, the hand at his elbow stops him. he turns to find that his companion is a well-dressed man with sharp features and piercing eyes.
'stay put kim gaon. you took quite the hit. an ambulance is on its way.’
kim gaon does not stay put. kim gaon waits until the stranger has moved off to assist elsewhere, then slips away and expediently makes his way home.
neighborhood gossip travels fast, however. gaon opens the restaurant the following day to find he's something of a local celebrity. it's good for business, he reminds himself as he extricates himself from yet another pair of overly familiar hands to make his way to the next table.
‘you look like a baby deer on the run,' is what greets him. it's the stranger from yesterday dressed to the nines in a suit and smirk. 'how's the head?'
'no lasting damage. what can i get you?' gaon flips his notebook open.
'did a professional tell you that?' when gaon looks up at the older man, hard, the man smiles. 'it's in my interest to care. you have a business to run and loans to pay.'
and that's how gaon becomes properly acquainted with kang yohan, local money lender and the reason for gaon's impromptu return home.
'this was a courtesy call, but we should meet to discuss the particulars of your situation.' kang yohan stands and buttons his suit jacket as the door chimes again. 'my condolences for your loss, kim gaon-ssi.'
gaon stands in the restaurant freezer for precious minutes after the man leaves, then gets back to work.
he scrolls through a news article on kang yohan while eating dinner one handedly that night. the piece describes him as a community-oriented businessman with a dislike for greedy corporations and an affinity for people-centered development. the article even includes a gushing quote about kang yohan being 'a man of the people.' gaon snorts.
'are you hungry?' gaon asks when the money lender comes around again, and places a steaming bowl of jjamppong, spicy seafood noodle soup, in front of him.
the restaurant is quiet after a busier than expected lunch rush. gaon managed the kitchen and serving floor by the skin of his teeth, rapidly assembling dishes in the back by memory and thankful he'd finished prepping before the restaurant opened. hungry college students and workers coming off the late night shift made for surprisingly good natured if ravenous customers. with the group of elderly cardplayers in the back attended to, gaon had decided on a short break when kang yohan had walked in.
the man in question rolls up his sleeves, suit jacket already off. gaon's eyes catch on a thin chain at his wrist, then linger on his hands deftly splitting apart the chopsticks before traveling up the line of kang yohan’s forearm to catch the moment when his polite mask slides off at the first sip. kang yohan eats in careful, precious bites.
‘new recipe?’
gaon's thoughts stumble at the question. so kang yohan paid attention to details like menu items when meeting clients, had likely sampled the restaurant’s food while gaon's father negotiated his loan.
'a family staple,' he answers quietly.
'i was surprised when i heard that you were taking over your parents’ restaurant.’ kang yohan slurps the noodles neatly. ‘it can't have been the money that made you do it. wouldn’t law have been the practical choice?’
gaon doesn't offer anything, so the other man continues.
‘as i understand, you had a year left in your program, after which you could’ve worked in practice or an associate judge position with the right connections. all stable enough work to make consistent loan payments.’ he cracks a clam open with deadly precision. 'having a pretty face wouldn't hurt your chances. instead you're here.'
‘it shouldn't matter what job i have as long as i make the payments on time,’ says gaon, ignoring the second half of kang yohan’s statement. ‘and my parents always planned for the restaurant to be a family business.’
it's not a total lie. gaon's father had been proud if somewhat baffled when his son decided to pursue law. the years gaon spent working in their old restaurant were imprinted in his bones, but for his father, feeding people had been a vocation.
gaon supposes that his recent entrepreneurial efforts are part stubbornness, part vengeance, and part clinging to the past. this restaurant was one of the few places he had left to remind himself of his parents. when they died, the tectonic plates of his life shifted so irrevocably that gaon feared nowhere on earth would feel like home again. he had this crazed thought that haunting the places his parents frequented would provide answers for why things unfolded the way they did.
the practical aspects of the restaurant haven't been difficult to execute. even as a teenager, gaon excelled at cooking and hospitality services. he had a knack for reeling in hungry stragglers for nourishing meals and genuine conversation. people returned for the atmosphere as much as the food. and serving tables provided him with valuable insight into the struggles of people’s everyday lives. law school was a natural progression of his desire to fix things. it was a means through which he could tackle a system that rolled over the lower classes.
that had been his ambition at least, fighting the good fight. but gaon needed something more tangible than dreams these days. he’d learned the hard way that chasing prosperity at the cost of personal fulfillment could destroy a person, would destroy him too if he wasn’t careful. so he made the conscious choice to make each day matter in real time and not on some perpetually unreachable horizon. through that lens, feeding people was an achievable goal.
'sentiment doesn't pay the bills, kim gaon-ssi,' says kang yohan, breaking gaon from his thoughts.
'how i pay the bills is my concern,' he replies firmly. 'i'm still sorting through my father's financial records. so tell me, how much did you loan him?'
kang yohan dabs at his mouth delicately before replying.
'2 billion won.'
gaon's stomach drops. that’s far more than he imagined and far more than his father had let on. it’s astronomical, in fact. he could work his entire life away and only pay off the principal.
‘to be clear, majority of that amount is the loan your father transferred from the bank,’ kang yohan continues into the shocked silence. ‘kim hajoon thought he had a better chance of success with me than the bank’s long-term payment plans. there were no hidden fees or undisclosed terms in our agreement.’
‘you knew his business was failing, and you still gave him the money?’ gaon replies incredulously. ‘why? so that he could be indebted to you instead?’ this is textbook predatory lending. how did his father fall for this?
‘i didn’t know he would fail,’ kang yohan says patiently. ‘the bank was proactive in taking the money back but the restaurant wasn’t in real decline when your father came to me. he wanted the bank off his back, and he had a viable strategy to turn his business around, which is all i needed to know.’ there's no pity in kang yohan's gaze so gaon wills his raised hackles down. ‘your father was confident he would succeed.’
he had thought the same about his father, gaon reflects as he loads the dishwasher later that night.
gaon’s father had been a talented cook, charismatic, the type of guy people hired to cater for family celebrations then returned to for advice about their children. their first restaurant had been a hole in the wall crammed in beside street food stalls. gaon woke up early to haul over ingredients before school, served on the weekends and did his homework at the cramped tables. the restaurant was always bustling. and at the center of it all was kim hajoon. regulars affectionately knew him as the bibimbap guy. he took great pride in it.
emboldened by the success of his restaurant, gaon’s father had started dreaming big. gaon moving out for law school was the sign kim hajoon needed to scale up. he explained it to gaon as they packed up his childhood bedroom. his parents would enroll in a bank loan program for small businesses using the house as collateral. if they paid majority of the loan within a set time frame, a portion would be written off. based on his previous profits, kim hajoon didn’t foresee being in debt for longer than a decade.
the truth came to gaon in pieces over hundreds of miles of telephone wire. the new location was small yet competitively located at the edge of the financial district. but a string of unrelated business closures as companies moved abroad meant that the urban foot traffic required to breakeven never materialized. food trends were ruthlessly short-lived. try as they might, his parents could not lift the restaurant out of its slump. when the bank came knocking, kim hajoon quietly transferred his loan to a private lender to protect the house.
until one day, thoughts occupied with the finishing touches to his legal theory essay on the potential for mob rule in public court, gaon had turned on his phone to find seventeen missed calls from his mother.
he traveled home straight away to arrange the funeral. the crowd was large but skittish, the specter of his father's premature passing hanging over them. gaon accepted condolences and the few sly comments with a blank face, wishing he could protect his mother from the worst of it. she had cried, wrapped up in soohyun's arms, but he hadn't.
it turned out arranging bereavement leave during exam season was complicated without appropriate documentation. an information mixup meant gaon had to return to school to sort things out. he hadn't wanted to be away for long. the image of his mother's frail shoulders and sickly pallor as she saw him off haunted him on the train ride.
this time, he picked up on the first ring. this time, it wasn't his mother but soohyun. i am not here, he remembers thinking to himself when he ended the call. this is not my body.
the crowd at his mother's funeral was noticeably thinner even if the cause of death was shock. bad luck was contagious. his mother's family had been acerbic towards his late father, tongues loosened by grief. he had buried his face in soohyun's chest after and they'd cried together.
three days later, gaon had turned the key in the lock and set foot in the place that had killed his parents. what else was there to do?
rolling dough for hand pulled noodle soup in the present, gaon reiterates the question to himself. what else was there to do, except move forward no matter the direction?
a few weeks later, gaon closes up shop in the early afternoon and makes the trek home in a daze. he’s exhausted but wide awake, pain and numbness mixing intolerably and scattering his thoughts. he'd called it a day when the vegetable supplier caught a major error in his order. it’s bitterly cold outside. his ears are on fire but his collar isn’t high enough to pull up and he left his scarf at home, leaving his neck unprotected against the harsh cold.
trudging down the street with grit in his eyes, it takes gaon longer than he'd like to admit to notice the sleek car pulling up.
‘baby deer?’
gaon blinks in confusion but kang yohan speaks again before it can morph into annoyance.
'get in. i’m headed your way,' he says through his car window, tacking on, 'we can discuss business on the way,' when gaon hesitates. well, gaon can't say no to that.
the car is blessedly warm and smells of something fresh and woody. kang yohan’s scent? gaon finds he isn’t bothered by it.
‘drink this.’ kang yohan hands him a steaming cup after he takes down gaon's address. cardamom wafts up. when gaon takes an obliging sip, the coffee turns out to be hot and surprisingly sweet. it warms him from his cold cheeks to his frigid insides.
‘what business brings you to this side of town?’ gaon asks once his thoughts regroup. making conversation will distract him from the delectable knot of kang yohan’s tie high at his throat.
‘urban redevelopment is every concerned citizen’s business,’ comes the blithe reply.
‘you’re involved in the capital planning project?' gaon asks, surprised. the capital planning project was the latest in a long line of government and private industry initiatives to increase the rent profile of the area, namely by bulldozing the projects and replacing them with glitzy office, retail and recreational space. understandably, the proposal had received backlash from locals. less understandable was kang yohan's support.
‘i thought you despised big business. whatever happened to being a man of the people?’ gaon presses as the car rumbles along the bridge over the river, bright afternoon sunlight spilling in through the windows.
'i'm not against opportunity,' says kang yohan, indifferent. 'and when have i ever claimed to be a man of the people?'
'i heard it in passing,' gaon mumbles after too long a pause. kang yohan picks up on it, unfortunately.
'such a busy schedule but you have time to focus on me.' he sounds pleased.
'no, i don't.' gaon immediately regrets the words.
'i didn't say it was intentional.'
the car is silent for a while before kang yohan picks up their earlier conversation.
'the redevelopment program has powerful backers. once the campaign cited the potential for job creation, public opinion was divided and community resistance effectively weakened.’ he turns right at the school junction. 'from a business standpoint, it's safest to bet on the one who can survive.'
'so we just give in?'
‘nothing short of a scandal can stop this project now.’ kang yohan pulls into gaon’s neighborhood.
'why are you changing stances now? money must really be a powerful motivator.' gaon can’t help his rudeness. everything kang yohan is saying is at odds with the man's public persona. and gaon's personally invested in knowing kang yohan's business.
'everyone is equal in front of greed,' says kang yohan agreeably.
'what kind of world is that?' replies gaon irritably, placing the empty cup in the cup holder.
‘a cruel one.’ kang yohan shuts off the car. ‘good. you’re angry. better to be angry than sad. you can do something with anger.’ he pauses while gaon gets out of the car then says with a maddening smirk, ‘don’t look so sad. it bothers me to see your face like that.’
gaon storms up the stairs incensed and ready to tackle the errands he put off. it's only in bed that he realizes kang yohan hadn't brought up the restaurant at all.
inundated as he is by work, gaon finds out from soohyun about the redevelopment project coming to a halt after the mayor’s office is accused of fraud and embezzlement. he sees kang yohan that evening, almost doesn’t recognize the man standing at the restaurant door in a hoodie and mask until he makes eye contact.
‘have you eaten?’ gaon eyes the shallow cut on kang yohan’s forehead curiously. ‘there's tteokbokki.'
‘either the investigation will drag on and private backers will find other projects, or it’ll conclude with charges and the incoming mayor will hesitate before irritating constituents,’ says kang yohan, when gaon brings up the project.
‘it’s strange that the deputy mayor wasn’t indicted,’ remarks gaon as he sets the food down, rice cakes still sizzling. ‘it’s usually the second in command that takes the fall in these situations.’
‘perhaps he saw it coming.’ kang yohan serves a small bowl and places it in front of gaon. gaon's not hungry but he sits anyways.
‘are you suggesting that the deputy mayor was the source of the information leak?' he asks carefully. he feels like he’s missing something critical. ‘but he would’ve been involved in the crime. there’s no way he didn’t know what his boss was doing.’
‘and so he took the offer best suited to him.’ this close, kang yohan’s eyes are unfairly bright under his silky fringe. ‘the accusations would’ve gone public with or without the deputy mayor’s input. he survived by jumping ship.’
it's safest to bet on the one who can survive, gaon remembers. it clicks.
‘how do you know this?’ he says suspiciously.
‘it’s all rumors, of course,’ says kang yohan but he’s watching gaon’s reaction.
this insufferable man. he’s practically confessing to a crime.
‘you're telling me you're a vigilante witha heart of gold, like batman?’ gaon’s going for skepticism, but he sounds impressed if the amused look kang yohan gives him is anything to go by.
they both look up when the door chimes and a rambunctious group of teenagers falls through.
‘eat up,’ says gaon, getting to his feet.
kang yohan becomes a regular at gaon’s restaurant. sometimes he eats. most times he’s passing through with no clear motive unless it’s to rile gaon up a bit. he’s there the night the electricity goes out.
at first gaon wonders if it’s just his restaurant, but he’s been paying the bill on time and the street is dark outside in the rainstorm. gaon lights candles and makes sure everyone has food to wait out the downpour before returning to kang yohan’s table to continue tinkering with the menu.
the candlelight is how gaon catches sight of kang yohan looking. it's diffuse light is enough to illuminate their reflections in the glossy tabletop. under the shroud of darkness, kang yohan was looking at gaon. his face was relaxed, gaze wandering over gaon's face in a circuit.
he was thinking about something he’d thought about before and would think about again. gaon had been on the receiving end of attraction to recognize the look: kang yohan wanted him. had done so for a while now, patient and unwavering.
gaon tears his eyes away, mouth falling open in surprise and menu planning forgotten. kang yohan turns back to his food, oblivious.
the restaurant’s financial accounts are messy. gaon ends up sifting through his father’s office papers in search of an invoice, trying to reconcile the expenses. it’s there that he finds it tucked into his father’s daily planner; paperwork for a second loan claim.
kang yohan’s face remains impassive when gaon confronts him in his office.
‘were you trying to trap him further?’ he’s barely keeping his voice level. ‘is the loan only 2 billion won because my father died before you could agree on more?’ just how much debt had his father been willing to saddle them with?
‘i didn’t offer your father more money,’ answers kang yohan, nodding at the receptionist who had followed after gaon. the door shuts behind them. ‘our contract stipulated that kim hajoon would consolidate his debts under me, nothing further. it was your father who asked to amend it for additional funding.’
‘funding for what?’ there’s no record of these estimations in the restaurant accounts. gaon is grasping at straws, desperate to understand what his father was thinking.
‘to buy another business.' kang yohan's leaning against his desk with his arms crossed looking supremely composed. gaon, on the other hand, is coming loose at the seams.
‘to buy another business,’ he repeats dumbly. to buy back their old restaurant, he realizes. it finally dawns on him. gaon’s father wasn’t trying to turn the restaurant around. he was trying to rebuild what he’d lost when he moved locations and changed restaurant styles: his role as the bibimbap guy. gaon hadn’t realized how much the title mattered to him, hadn’t understood the depths of his father’s despair when he lost it, and what he would drag their family through in an attempt to regain it. maybe his father hadn’t understood it himself.
‘kim gaon.’ kang yohan's looking at him carefully. gaon feels his face do something strange.
‘i see. thank you for your earlier discretion, kang yohan-ssi,’ he says, and leaves before he can embarrass himself further. unfortunately, kang yohan has other plans, following him out the office and into the street.
‘kim gaon. don’t be hasty.’ he gets a hand around gaon's upper arm and pulls him into a quiet alcove.
‘your father knew opening a restaurant could be high risk, but he thought investing big would yield high returns. he was committed to his ambitions, even when circumstances turned unfavorable.’
you couldn’t have changed his mind, is what kang yohan is telling him. he’s trying to comfort gaon.
to his horror, gaon finds that his eyes are tearing up. he steps back, digging the heels of his hands into them, trying to calm down. just what is happening right now? what was kang yohan doing? what was his father doing? how could he choose his dreams over his family?
a hand lands on his shoulder and halts his spiraling thoughts. gaon takes a deep breath, then another, all the way until he’s composed again. kang yohan doesn’t say anything, just stands there blocking the noise from the street with his body. he’s still there when gaon pulls his hands away from his face.
‘i am sorry about your father. i never thought he would take his own life,' the older man says. the apology knocks something loose inside gaon’s chest.
‘people go crazy when they lose what they have,’ he offers.
‘if only they paid attention to what they still do,’ says kang yohan quietly.
his hand slides up to the bare skin of gaon’s neck.
gaon's eyes fly back to him. for a moment, everything is still. twin frissons of fear and anticipation travel down gaon's spine. kang yohan looks at gaon with desire plain on his face but not moving. he’s going to let gaon choose, as much as this can be a choice.
give kang yohan a little, gaon decides, enough to see how he’ll react and what else he wants to take.
so gaon pushes into kang yohan’s space and kisses him. kang yohan returns the kiss more tenderly than gaon expected. he lets gaon get his hands around kang yohan’s neck, lets him tilt their faces so their lips slot together better, lets gaon dictate the pace. it’s warm and sensuous, the smell of kang yohan’s cologne filling his nose and his soft skin sliding across gaon's. it’s exhilarating.
when they break apart, gaon is breathing hard. he looks, but there’s no artifice in kang yohan’s expression. confused and surprisingly aroused, he kisses kang yohan’s cheek, tugs out of his grip and leaves.
it shouldn’t surprise him when kang yohan turns up at his doorway a few nights later, wind ruffling his soft hair. gaon likes him looking like this. likes it a lot, actually.
'do you want to come in?' he asks, before kang yohan can make up some excuse for visiting.
'will you regret it tomorrow?' replies kang yohan easily.
'you? no. the timing? maybe.'
gaon leans against the doorway, cognizant of kang yohan's hot gaze sliding down the exposed lines of his arms and calves. it's serendipitous really: he'd cleaned the house that day, aired out the mattress, changed the bed sheets. he even has extra condoms and lube soohyun foisted on him after he helped with a sex education workshop at the community center.
gaon tilts his head invitingly. 'come inside, kang yohan.' he pulls him by the hand to the bed, pushes him down and leans in with one hand on kang yohan's chest to kiss him deeply.
'come up here,' says gaon hoarsely a little while later and pulls kang yohan into a messy kiss. can i blow you?, kang yohan had asked earlier and gaon had nodded while ripping a condom packet open with his teeth. he doesn't tell kang yohan that this is his first time with a man. if probed, he can chalk his nervousness up to the length of time it's been since he was fucked.
it has been a while in a way. gaon had experimented with toys. the vibrator had been unforgivably rigid, but with persistence and plenty of lube he thought he could manage it. he hadn't expected just how easy it would be. it had slid into him with negligible resistance, a strange but not uncomfortable stretch inside him.
he'd ridden the vibrator slowly, then hard and fast, looking for the famed pleasure spot that had been the impetus for this experiment. he tried various angles, speeds, and positions, rolling the toy inside him in vain. perhaps he was one of those people whose prostate was dull to sensation. penetration alone had been enjoyable but not exciting; he'd been half hard by the end of it and finished without relying on the vibrator.
gaon had chalked up the experience as a worthwhile but ultimately unsuccessful endeavor. he'd tucked the vibrator and fantasies of penetrative orgasms away and carried on with his sex life. he'd never met a person who made him want to revisit that choice, until now.
there's something about kang yohan that makes gaon want to be pressed up against the nearest surface and thoroughly fucked. his body thrums with possibility when their gazes catch, some primal force underlying their interactions. he’s yearning for something he doesn’t quite know how to articulate yet, but suspects kang yohan can provide all the same. and the only way gaon can conceive of soothing this particular ache is by surrendering to the animal desire to be covered and claimed.
on his hands and knees, gaon observes as kang yohan squirts a generous amount of lube over his cock and inside and outside gaon's entrance, before pressing close.
'ready?' he rumbles in gaon's ear, moving at the affirmative. he makes a muted sound of surprise as he slides in easily before bottoming out. gaon is transfixed by the feeling. how could he have known his body could be unraveled like this, with a few slow thrusts being all it took for kang yohan's curved cock to find his prostate? pleasure slams into gaon from inside out, making him gasp and then pant uncontrollably.
'kim gaon,' kang yohan murmurs in his ear, one hand hot at gaon's side. kang yohan adjusts the angle of his hips then leans down to cover gaon's back completely. his other hand coming up to cup gaon's jaw, fingers splayed across gaon's throat. gaon moans. he could feel every point of contact between them. 'you're squeezing too tight,' kang yohan comments lightly, at odds with the roll of his hips even as he’s locked into position inside gaon.
cheeks reddening, gaon whines with his pink tongue lolling out. kang yohan pulls his face to the side and captures gaon’s tongue, kissing him hungrily. gaon feels crazy, his fingers scrabbling on his bedsheets, unable to find purchase, his knees sliding across the shaky mattress as kang yohan fucks him shallowly with his cock and his tongue. their mouths are a slick mess of desire and muffled breathing.
's-slower, go slower,' he manages to pull away and gasp, reaching behind him to clutch at kang yohan's thigh. kang yohan does slow down, allowing gaon to claw back a modicum of reason that he promptly loses again when kang yohan curls their hands together on the bed.
on and on it goes. gaon arches his lower back, seeking reprieve from the sensation and wanting to push back into it in equal measure. he hadn't forgotten that the feel of a body moving in tandem with his was pleasurable on its own. he just hadn't realized how enamored he would be by that body completely covering his own while fucking him deeply, intimately, hands roaming over his skin. the feeling was enough to shatter the volcanic layer that had stifled his sexual desire.
a particularly creative thrust on kang yohan’s part punches a throaty moan out of gaon that has the man immediately attempting to recreate the sound. he brings his cock over gaon's prostate in a relentless and languid assault. gaon keens, his mouth separating from kang yohan's, hands flat on the bed and barely keeping him upright. his cock drools over the sheets.
kang yohan pulls back a little, pressing kisses to gaon's neck, his cheek, his hair. he’s still holding gaon in place against his powerful thrusts.
'kim gaon.' kang yohan's voice cracks and the sound almost has gaon's eyes rolling back in his head. 'can you come like this?' kang yohan breathes, scraping his nails up gaon's thighs, 'from my cock?'
'uh huh,' gasps gaon, body sparking all over at the thought, tongue lolling out again.
'use your words,' says kang yohan roughly, brushing his fingertips over gaon's tongue.
'i'm gonna cum on your cock,' gaon mumbles obediently, unabashedly, around kang yohan's fingers, tasting salt. and it's so worth it for the way kang yohan groans and buries his face in gaon's neck and comes, hips jerking erratically.
gaon gasps and shifts in kang yohan's embrace. he's so close, so, so close.
'kang yohan,' he pleads. kang yohan picks up the pace again, still hard, fucking gaon in sloppy thrusts. the heat in gaon’s body surges again and explodes out from his core. he comes messily all over the sheets, clenching around kang yohan.
kang yohan groans then laughs at the sensation. he presses a litany of kisses to gaon's skin, only easing out of him when gaon’s body relaxes.
his thighs are shaking, gaon notes distantly as kang yohan lowers him to the mattress before climbing out of the bed. gaon watches the muscles of the older man’s back ripple before his brain catches up with what's about to happen.
but all kang yohan does is fill a glass of water, drinking deeply before refilling it and returning to the bed.
'drink up,' he says and leaves gaon to it. he is thirsty. from the bathroom gaon can hear the tub running before kang yohan reemerges with wipes.
'how do you feel?' he asks as he cleans the worst of the sex off gaon's body. it's surprisingly intimate.
'well fucked. a little sore, in a good way,' answers gaon with a grin, twisting to place the glass on the nightstand and heroically ignoring the twinge in his lower back.
'what about you? how do you feel?' he asks, sliding his arms around kang yohan's neck. since kang yohan's not leaving immediately, he's going to make the most of his post-sex cuddly inclinations.
'good,' murmurs kang yohan leaning in for a kiss, eyes locked on gaon's reddened mouth. 'you make me feel incredibly good,' he amends when they pull apart. gaon rewards the admission with another kiss.
'why's the bath running?'
'for you. do you have epsom salt?' kang yohan pushes the hair back from gaon’s forehead. 'bathing in it will help with any soreness.'
'on the plant shelf by the window,' says gaon softly.
'i'll get it,' says kang yohan, 'you get in the tub. do you need help?' gaon shakes his head. his legs tremble but manage to stay upright on the trek to the tub. he sinks down into the hot water feeling tremulous and loose-limbed.
when kang yohan enters the bathroom, he's fully dressed. he sits on the lip of the tub and mixes the salt into the water by hand. reeking of sex, with his cheeks flushed and his hair mussed, he looks rode hard and put away wet. he also can't seem to keep his eyes off of gaon, trailing his hand in the water until gaon catches it, so gaon counts it as a win.
'i have to go.' the before i do something more to you is written all over kang yohan’s face. gaon grins impishly and meets him halfway for what is a surprisingly chaste kiss. gaon flicks his tongue against kang yohan’s mouth.
'behave,' kang yohan says lowly, giving gaon one last thorough kiss, cupping the back of gaon's neck. no room for confusion, thinks gaon dazedly when they part. 'take it easy. check for injuries. keep me posted about how you feel,' are his parting words.
gaon flops back into the bath after the front door closes. physically, he feels wonderful. it’s like something that was previously locked away inside him has been given room to breathe. arousal banks under his skin, temporarily satiated. under the water, he trails inquisitive fingers over his tender hole, inhaling sharply when he remembers kang yohan's cock filling him up. kang yohan had been holding back, gaon knows. he’d given given gaon a taste of what could be so gaon would be left wanting.
kang yohan. his parents’ money lender. the man who discouraged gaon’s father from further rash decisions to his own financial detriment. the man who kissed gaon when he was emotionally compromised. the man who leveled the odds by playing dirty. the man who had stayed in control of himself when gaon had given himself over to pleasure.
the more time gaon spends with him the more layered he becomes. gaon doesn’t have enough information to parse out kang yohan’s motivations but he now knows that things aren’t as simple as he once thought. kang yohan’s morally grey behavior is appealing and promising. gaon can work with that.
the man’s parting kiss indicated that he’s not done with gaon. and gaon is...fine with that, he realizes. he can’t deny their physical attraction, nor does he want to. giving into it has provided valuable perspective, if anything. kang yohan has proven that he wants gaon but that he won’t break him to get what he wants. as long as gaon maintains a clear head he can come away from this relationship without unduly compromising himself. decision made, gaon leans his head back and closes his eyes, reminiscing over how it felt to have kang yohan wrapped around him as his body short-circuited with pleasure.