Chapter Text
Riwoo’s dad was on one of those rants again. The ones that had no stopping point, the kind that required an interruption.
He’d already sent Leehan a “ help, dad is on about the good old days” text, but that had been hours ago. Which meant he was stuck, listening on and on about how it was time Riwoo started getting serious about settling down.
At the ripe age of 23.
“Sanghyeok, let me ask you this.” His dad turned towards him, his presence sturdy.
His father, Youngchul, was always like this. Confident, like it’d take the whole force of a mountain to move him. Riwoo looked up, refocusing his eyes on his father and not his surroundings.
“Who was that boy you were talking to, the one with the hair?” He asked, mimicking longer hair onto him. “Sungho?” Riwoo asked, tilting his head to the side. His father snapped his fingers, “Sungho! Now, that was a good suitor. Why’d you two stop talking?”
Riwoo wrinkled his nose in disgust. “Dad, I already told you– Sungho and I-”
Youngchul cut his son off with a single glare. “The boy cleaned my entire office because I was stressed. If you insist on this… lifestyle.” He cleared his throat, “Then that was a good match.” He settled down in his rotating chair. “You can be honest and say he ran off just like-”
Riwoo thanked every god he could think of as he heard the familiar sound of Leehan’s too-big shoes entering the sleek office. “Riwoo!” The blonde took a few deep breaths. “Marketing is looking for you!”
Riwoo turned to face Leehan, mouthing a “thank you” before turning back to his father. “Duty calls.” He fake-frowned. Youngchul nodded- his brows furrowed in distaste as his eyes were locked onto the lanky man.
“Leehan, you are to knock before entering my office, " he ordered, his voice rougher than it had been previously with his son. Leehan nodded, “Yes—sorry, boss.”
“What took you so long?” Riwoo asked as the two entered the elevator, slamming his thumb onto the 1st level button before leaning against the cool, mirror-like walls. Leehan gave his friend a mock-offended look, “ Thanks for saving my ass Leehan” he mocked, “Oh you’re welcome Riwoo, anytime!”
“I do not sound like that.” Riwoo squinted at the taller man. “You totally do.” Leehan laughed.
“I was busy, y’know how the doms in the dance department are.” He sighed. Riwoo didn’t have to wait long for realization to slap the blonde across the face– “Besides you, of course.”
The ginger breathed through his nose, the noise landing somewhere between a laugh and a sigh. “Nice save.”
Leehan shrugged, stuffing his hands into his jean pockets– “I try.” A beat of silence spread between the men. “Wanna get lunch?”
Riwoo’s stoic face crumbled into a smile, his sharp canines grazing his lips. “I thought you’d never ask.”
Leehan and Riwoo were creatures of habit. There was only ever one place they went for lunch, a small ramyeon shop tucked in between a few obscure clothing stores– they’d been coming ever since the two boys started working for Riwoo’s father. It was the perfect place, with good food, great service, and close enough to the Lee Entertainment building that they could make it back within 10 minutes if there was an emergency.
The two always sat at the same table, fate always leading them to the cozy booth tucked in the left corner of the restaurant. They always ordered the same thing, chicken ramyeon with an egg– extra noodles for Leehan.
“Back again, lovebirds?” The waitress asked. She was a new hire and had been convinced they were a couple ever since she started working there. Riwoo wanted to correct her, but Leehan thought it was funny to see how long they could keep up the illusion.
“Of course, the usual– please.” Leehan smiled, already passing his and Riwoo’s menus to the lady. She nodded, smiling brightly before moving to help her next table.
“At some point, we have to tell her the truth,” Riwoo said, tapping away on his phone– if the blonde asked, he’d lie and say he was answering work emails, but in reality, he was scrolling through Twitter.
“Fine, break up with me then.” Leehan sassed, rolling his eyes dramatically. Riwoo looked up from his phone, knitting his brows together. “Why do I have to break up with you?” He asked. Leehan sighed dramatically. “You were the one who just had to sit next to me in Mr.Kang’s class.”
Riwoo shrugged. “You looked lonely.”
The two had been conjoined to the hip since meeting in homeroom their freshmen year of high school. They’d worked out that if they went to bed at the same time, they could wake up at the same time– which meant they could arrive at school at the same time. Basically, they took any opportunity to soak up each other’s time because, well, they were Leehan and Riwoo; they were best friends.
The conversation died out after that. Riwoo continued scrolling on his phone, liking a few photos on Instagram from idols under his dad’s company– only the ones that were actually nice. Leehan opened up Pokemon Go, infodumping to his ginger-haired friend about the various little creatures.
It was nice, quiet, and simple. Well, it was , until some loudmouthed idiot ruined it.
“And it’s like-” Riwoo’s attention was immediately drawn to the loud voice; it was coming from some guy sitting in front of them. Leehan turned in his seat before immediately recognizing the man was vlogging himself, and they were definitely in his shot.
Both men gave each other an annoyed look, speaking with their eyes before going back to their silent lunch. The vlogger spoke once more, “Everyone keeps asking what happened between me and Hanbin, and the honest truth is-”
Riwoo thought quietly. It was clear that this vlogger had a following, but Sungho watched these kinds of vlogs religiously, and he hadn’t ever seen the man. Granted, he could only see the back of his head, but still.
“D’you think he knows Yellow Aquarium?” Leehan asked, leaning in to keep his voice at a quiet level. The ginger gave his taller friend an unamused look, causing the blonde to roll his eyes. “Lame.”
“The truth is, he just couldn’t put me in subspace.” The vlogger shrugged before applying Chapstick. His tone was casual, like he was speaking about the weather– yet Riwoo’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head and rolled across the floor.
Leehan laughed, attempting to stifle it with a fake cough.
It wasn’t like Riwoo was a prude . He was more than happy to talk about sex, or the dominant and submissive lifestyle. In fact, he, Leehan, and Sungho more than happily indulged into conversations about the kink community… in private .
Not in the middle of ramyeon restaurants where anyone could hear them.
“You look like someone just said their grandma has hemorrhoids.” Leehan snorted, a teasing smile on his lips. Riwoo ignored him, attempting to block out the noisy influencer keyword, attempting.
“It’s like at a certain point, I knew I wasn’t the issue. No shade to my ex, well- some shade- but it was mutual! …mostly.” The black-haired man continued on and on about how the breakup was “messily mutual” ...whatever that meant.
And Riwoo, whose guilty pleasure had always been bad reality television, was thoroughly invested. So invested, that when the waitress came by with your food, Riwoo hardly even noticed her.
“Dude, you’re staring…” Leehan whispered, already digging into his bowl. The choreographer blinked, coming back to his senses. His ears immediately turned red once he realized he’d definitely zoned out while looking directly at the stranger, meaning his vlogging camera caught him red-handed.
Leehan stifled a laugh at this, making the vlogger turn his head curiously towards the duo. Riwoo’s eyes widened before immediately tilting his head downwards towards his steaming bowl, mentally cursing because he was sure he’d locked eyes with the man.
And god, he was attractive .
Leehan’s stifled snickers continued, making Riwoo mutter a “shut up” under his breath as he slumped down in his seat, eventually joining in on the quiet laughter.
Both men left before the vlogger, Riwoo covering the bill as usual before they began walking down the streets of Seoul– killing time before their designated lunch break was over.
“Do people really just…vlog about that stuff?” Riwoo asked, breaking the silence that had fallen between the two. Leehan thought for a moment before shrugging, “I guess so.”
“I mean, it’s just– who would watch that?” The ginger asked as the two began approaching the Lee Entertainment building. “I dunno, Sungho maybe.” The taller joked, making Riwoo laugh humorlessly.
“Maybe it’s like foreplay shit.” Leehan commented as the two scanned their badges, holding open the door for the shorter. Riwoo’s face wrinkled up, “Who’s into that?”
Leehan rolled his eyes, “Okay Mr.P-”
Riwoo immediately elbowed his friend in the side, shushing him when he let out a loud “Ow!”
“Do not bring that up at our workplace!” The ginger hissed, looking around the empty hallway. “Especially not when my dad is our boss!” Riwoo reminded. Leehan rolled his eyes, stopping in front of the elevator– “Just saying, there’s something for everyone.”
Riwoo let out a sigh as the elevator doors slid open. “I guess so.”
When Riwoo opened Twitter that night, he expected to be greeted with his usual explore page. A few memes, a random fight video, and maybe something from kink twitter– if he was lucky.
What he didn’t expect to see was his face. He rubbed his eyes a few times, worried he was hallucinating. He wasn’t. It was a photo of a laptop, some editing software opened up with the video of the vlogger from the restaurant loaded up. However, the video had zoomed in on Riwoo’s face.
The text read “So I’m editing this week’s vlog and this random ass man just locks in on me while I talk about my breakup???”
Riwoo felt embarrassment flood his chest as he scrolled through the replies, some of the vlogger’s fans calling him a creep, others saying he was “kinda hot” . The worst part? The vlogger– or, according to his display name, Jaehyun had replied to some.
myungangelz :
Okay well at least he’s hot??
myungjae :
okay true 😕
changbingirly :
hey if you don’t want him i’ll take him!
myungjae :
finderz keeperz >:(
jaehyunslefttoe:
maybe he was thnking abt shooting his shot?
myungjae :
he should’ve. i’m desperate lol
Riwoo quickly tapped on Jaehyun’s profile, eyes widening in horror at just how many followers the man had on Twitter. Two million . He swallowed a nervous lump in his throat, clicking on the vlogger’s linktree and immediately going to his YouTube channel; a million subscribers.
Quickly, Riwoo pulled the blankets away from him and darted out of his room– not even bothering to knock on Sungho’s door before swinging it open.
Sungho jumped up from his half-asleep state, hand slamming onto the nightstand as he searched for his glasses.
“Riwoo? What time is it?” He asked, squinting at the orange-haired blob. “Like 2 am, do you know this vlogger?” Riwoo questioned, walking into the neat room and weighing down the mattress as he sat on the edge.
Sungho slid his glasses on, blinking as he attempted to adjust to Riwoo’s god-awful phone. “I’m begging you to turn off light-mode.” He said, a subtle rasp in his tone. The shorter sighed, pushing his phone’s illuminating screen closer to his hyung’s eyes– “Do you?”
The older took the phone from Riwoo’s hands, scrolling through the “MyungJae” channel. “I heard about him, he’s kinda a big deal since the whole thing with-”
“On a scale from Miranda Sings to Jungkook, how big would you say he is?” Riwoo asked, his tone way too serious for the question being asked. The brunette laughed at this, thinking quietly to himself before shrugging, “Somewhere in the middle.”
“You can’t be in the middle of Miranda Sings and Jungkook!” Riwoo argued, “You totally can!” Sungho defended. “Look, all I know about MyungJae is there’s a lot of eyes on him– especially right now.” He breathed.
“Why? Did he do something?” Riwoo asked, taking his phone back and scrolling back to the most recent uploads. Sungho bit his lip, taking a moment to jog his memory– usually, the man was quicker than this…but it was the middle of the night on a Wednesday.
“He had like a mental breakdown and broke up with his boyfriend, dyed his hair, and moved from LA back to Korea…all in the same day.” Sungho recalled before peering over Riwoo’s shoulder and scrolling back a few months before stopping and pointing at a video.
“Ruin my life with me! (NOT clickbait!)”
“Vlogged the whole thing.”
Riwoo’s jaw dropped, what kind of sick fuck vlogs their own mental breakdown?
“Yeah. He got a ton of flak for it, but his fans are loyal. Plus, his numbers are still doing awesome– cause it’s like watching a train wreck and y’know, sadists and all that.” Sungho shrugged, lying back down in his bed and placing his glasses on his nightstand.
“Why are you so worried about him anyway?” The long-haired man asked, “He tweeted about me.” Riwoo explained, lying down on the foot of the bed and gazing up at the ceiling. Sungho’s brow furrowed, “Why?”
“I was staring at him while he was vlogging…like…a lot. ” The shorter man’s face flushed red once again as he covered his face with his hands. Sungho laughed, “Why? You see vloggers all the time– we live in Seoul .”
“He was talking about subspace! Who just does that in the middle of a restaurant?!” Riwoo cried out, a defensive tone taking over.
“Oh, that. I forgot he’s open about that.” Sungho breathed before gasping, “ That’s how I know him!”
Riwoo peeked at the older through his fingers, “Do not tell me he has an OnlyFans.”
Sungho wrinkled up his nose, kicking the younger with his foot. “No! Not everyone in the kink community has an OnlyFans!” He whisper-shouted, “He’s just like…really open about it, both him and his boyfriend– ex- boyfriend.” Sungho paused for a moment.
“It’s cool, it’s not his entire personality, but it’s also not something he’s embarrassed of.” The half-sleeping man turned over for comfort, narrowly avoiding kicking Riwoo in the head.
“Thanks for the help, hyung.” Riwoo sighed, sitting up and crawling off the older’s bed. Sungho murmured out something unintelligible before letting sleep claim him.
“Hey, party people!” Jaehyun’s voice was way too enthusiastic for it apparently being 4 am, judging by the clock in the background of the video. “Welcome back to my channel!” God, did this guy ever stop pacing? “So in today’s video, I thought I’d bring you guys along with me while I shop for home decor because uh…” Jaehyun halted his entire sentence, his entire face scrunching up and reddening as a toothy grin took over him. “I fucked up my life and now I have no furniture…so let’s go!”
The rest of the vlog consisted of Jaehyun going to various stores around Seoul, saying a plethora of jokes that made Riwoo’s eyes widen and his jaw drop, and coming back home with a houseplant and a rug.
Riwoo meant to watch one video; he did. He had to work with a rowdy group of freshly-debuted idols and had to be well rested to handle them…so when he heard the familiar sound of Sungho clattering around the kitchen, he knew he fucked up bad .
The ginger sat up, a slight ache in his back, a product of being hunched over his laptop all night. He looked towards his digital alarm clock, eyes widening at the time.
7 am.
He’d spent a total of five hours falling down the rabbit hole that was Myung Jaehyun. Hell, he even watched a video essay on his alleged “mental breakdown”.
On heavy feet, Riwoo walked out of his room and into the kitchen, making a beeline for the coffee pot that, thankfully, already had a fresh brew in it. “Jesus, what happened to you?” Sungho asked, lowering the heat on the stove and grabbing a spare plate from the dish rack.
“Stayed up all night,” Riwoo grumbled, blowing into the coffee mug in an attempt to cool the scorching liquid. “Why? Running formations?” The brunette questioned, looking over his shoulder.
Riwoo shook his head, “I just couldn’t sleep.” He lied. Sungho squinted at him, handing him a plate of breakfast– “You’re lying, but okay.”
If Riwoo hadn’t been sleep-deprived, he would’ve argued that he wasn’t lying, but he decided he’d let Sungho win, only for today.
“If it’s about Jaehyun, I wouldn’t be too worried about it– everyone knows he’s gonna get back with his ex.” Sungho rolled his eyes, carefully placing his own food into his mouth.
Riwoo hummed, leaning against the cabinets. “He seemed happy with Hanbin.” His eyes widened as did Sungho’s, the man now wearing a knowing smile. “You did a deep dive!” The long-haired brunette pointed at him, already laughing at Riwoo’s red-tipped ears.
Riwoo avoided Sungho’s gaze, keeping his mouth shut as he chewed his food.
“Holy shit, you stayed up all night watching him- didn’t you?” His roommate asked. The orange-haired man refused to answer, but the silence was an answer enough. “So,” Sungho urged, using his hands to mimic a rushing motion. He wanted Riwoo to spill everything he knew; that much was obvious in his eyes.
Riwoo shrugged, “I didn’t get far, only his moving to Korea vlogs.” His gaze stayed glued to the perfectly polished tile. Sungho hummed, attempting to stifle his laughter. The shorter man rolled his eyes, put his dirty dishes into the sink, and walked towards his room hurriedly. “I have to go to work.”
Sungho burst out laughing, nearly falling out of his kitchen-island chair.
“Boys, c’mon- we’ve been running the same five steps for an hour.” Riwoo’s normal tone was now dry from how long he’d spent yelling corrections at the sloppy group of idols. The choreographer reached for his water bottle, frowning when he found it empty.
Riwoo wasn’t the type of teacher to yell ; he hated it, actually. But this newly debuted group had been nothing short of irritating, from the maknae tripping over his feet to the leader taking a twenty-minute “bathroom break” and don’t get him started on the “main dancer” who couldn’t tell his left from his right.
“It’s too hard!” The maknae complained, a whiny pitch in his tone. Riwoo scowled at the youngest, “It’s three thrusts and a turn.”
Just as the maknae was about to respond, the sound of someone clearing their throat caught the choreographer’s attention. Looking up, Riwoo felt some of his stress melt away at the sight of his childhood best friend– “Leehan, save me.” He joked, making the blonde crack a smile.
“Boys, take five.” He ordered, picking up his water bottle and moving towards the exit door. The second he stepped out of the practice room, he exhaled deeply, desperate to get the bad energy out of him.
“That bad, huh?” Leehan asked, walking alongside him as Riwoo navigated through the halls to the nearest water-refill station. “This group will be lucky if Appa keeps them signed for a year.” He said honestly, wiping sweat off his forehead as he pushed his stainless steel bottle against the machine.
Leehan laughed, “Sungho told me you stayed up all night watching that vlogger.”
Riwoo groaned, tilting his head back. “Remind me why you two have each other’s numbers again.” He questioned, removing his bottle from the refill machine and screwing the spill-proof cap back on. Leehan shrugged, “To compare notes on bullying you.”
The shorter laughed at this, admittingly finding the blonde’s humor amusing. “I looked him up, he’s hot.” Leehan shrugged, leaning against the hallway wall. Riwoo gave Leehan a dirty look. “He’s fine, I guess.”
That caught the taller’s attention. Yeah, Riwoo guessed that Jaehyun was hot– he was an influencer, for crying out loud. 50% of the job required being good-looking, the other half required being funny.
“Just fine?” Leehan pried, leaning down and closer to Riwoo’s face. Riwoo gave him a confused look, “What do you want me to say? He’s fine.” The defensive tone that had taken its home in his vocal cords was not helping.
“Oh my god,” Leehan breathed out a laugh, “You totally have a celebrity crush!” He accused. “Jaehyun is not a celebrity, nor is he my crush.” The shorter man said plainly, already walking back to his designated practice room.
Riwoo turned to face Leehan just before he pushed the door open, “You and Sungho seriously need better hobbies– ones that don’t include me.”
“Sungho has hobbies!” Leehan defended, “And I do too!”
“Sungho’s hobby is e-dating old men, and yours is decorating fishtanks.”
“Okay and?”
When Riwoo got home that night, he thankfully did not enter the apartment to find Sungho taking sultry selfies on their couch. Instead, he found something way worse.
“Riwoo-ah! Look, it’s your favorite youtuber!” Sungho giggled, clearly drunk off the bottle of wine that was placed dangerously close to the edge of the coffee table. The orange-haired man felt his mouth fall to the ground, “Sungho. What the fuck .” He breathed– only making Sungho and Jaehyun fall into each other’s laps with laughter.
“Turns out, Hanbin loved my o-”
“We’re filming a revenge video!” Jaehyun explained, before gasping and slapping a hand over his mouth– “ NOT that kind!”
Riwoo really needed a new roommate.