#. . . . honestly this kinda veered quick into a different genre rather than h/c but!! i hope it was still. an enjoyable read?

[katierosefun]

Hiya! For the prompts, jwds and 41 pretty please~~ (also, have a nice trip🤗)

thank yooou iva!! // from these prompts

There are exactly three ways that Joo Won can handle the current situation.

Wait until Dong Sik leaves the house and then hightail it to his apartment. Spend the entire weekend and also the entire week just working and reflecting on what he’d done.

Pros of this plan: Subtle. Saves embarrassment for the both of them.

Cons of this plan: Relies heavily on whether or not Dong Sik will ever actually leave the house. Which seems doubtful, because Joo Won can hear him clattering around downstairs in a way that suggests he’s going to stay. Additionally, it’s a Saturday, so that means Dong Sik doesn’t have anywhere to be right now.

Climb out the window and escape.

Pros of this plan: also mostly subtle. Also saves the embarrassment for the both of them.

Cons of this plan: Requires Joo Won to climb out the window. He doesn’t want to test his balance right now. Nor does he particularly want to be there should Dong Sik just happen to be by the window when he climbs out.

Go downstairs and face the music.

Pros of this plan: None. None.

Cons of this plan: So many.

Joo Won rubs his face, letting his palm rest over his forehead. Then he smacks it, hard, at least hard enough for him to actually wince—but the pain is good, if even for a second, because it’s enough to distract him from the fact that he made an absolute fool of himself last night.

I’m never drinking again, he thinks, rubbing his forehead ruefully.

Last night—why did he even drink that much last night. He remembers just feeling annoyed with the entire week, something to do with the stress building at the substation and something to do with the sheer relief he felt at meeting Dong Sik last night. Something to do with how the soju kept pouring, and Joo Won doesn’t even like drinking with people, but something must have clicked for him that night, because he hadn’t pulled back.

And then—and then he blurrily remembers Dong Sik’s amused face, mostly. Laughter around him, and then that laughter turning into concern, and then Dong Sik’s own amusement turning worried, and then that worry turning into a sheepishness that’s directed at someone who wasn’t Joo Won.

And now he’s here. In Dong Sik’s bed—and thankfully, he actually remembers how he got into bed. He also remembers Dong Sik helping him out of his jacket, and there it is now, neatly folded over a chair.

Fuck.

A knock at the door causes Joo Won to jerk up.

“I’m up,” he croaks, and he hates himself for even answering. He should have just pretended to be asleep. Plan 1 and Plan 2 are quickly slipping through his fingers.

“Thought you were,” Dong Sik says, sliding open the door. He sticks his head inside, slight smile tugging at his mouth. “Nice hairdo.”

Joo Won pats the top of his head instinctively. “What is it,” he asks, his voice coming out flatter than he’d intended. As though Dong Sik were the one who’d drank himself stupid last night, not himself.

“Nothing,” Dong Sik replies. “Breakfast is ready.”

Joo Won’s mouth dries. “I’m not hungry,” he starts, but Dong Sik waves him aside.

“You’ll feel better when you eat something,” he says.

“I feel fine,” Joo Won says.

Dong Sik just smirks, and Joo Won wants to sink right back into the bed.

“Come downstairs,” Dong Sik says, turning around. “You’ve been starting to look too thin these days.”

Joo Won waits until Dong Sik’s at the bottom of the stairs before dragging himself up. Immediately, his body protests from the movement. For maybe the tenth time since he’d woken up, Joo Won curses himself for drinking and swears off alcohol. Or at least, alcohol around other people who aren’t just himself. What was he thinking.

When he makes his way to the table, Dong Sik’s already laying out spoons.

“Not typical hangover soup,” Dong Sik says. “I don’t know how to make it, and the stores are closed right now, but…” He gestures. “Eggs are supposed to be good for hangovers.”

Joo Won looks down. Sure enough, there’s swirls of egg yolk and egg whites in an otherwise clear broth. He looks back up at Dong Sik, who’s ducked back into the kitchen. “You didn’t have to.”

“’Course I did,” Dong Sik says from inside. “Believe it or not, I know how to host.”

Joo Won steeples his fingers against the table. “You shouldn’t have to,” he says awkwardly.

Dong Sik pokes his head out from the kitchen. “Han Joo Won,” he says with a finality that feels a little too familiar. “I wanted to. Now shut up and eat.”

That does it.

Joo Won sits down at the table, not bothering to pick up his spoon until Dong Sik at least makes it back to the table. When he does, his former partner just raises an eyebrow at him. Joo Won replies by making a pointed nod to Dong Sik’s presumed bowl.

“So polite,” Dong Sik says, sitting down.

Joo Won makes a noncommittal sound, dipping his spoon into the broth.

All through the meal, Joo Won steals little glances at Dong Sik. He doesn’t seem to notice—or if he does, which Joo Won bets he does, because nothing seems to get past him, he doesn’t say anything. He just eats, occasionally asking Joo Won whether or not he needs medicine (he does not) or coffee (he’ll be fine) or if he slept comfortably (annoyingly, yes). With each question, Joo Won feels the overwhelming urge to reach across the table and shake Dong Sik a little, just to see if he would react.

Maybe this is just some other form of psychological warfare that Lee Dong Sik’s picked up. Say nothing, do nothing, watch Han Joo Won slowly lose every sense of self-control he has. It’s worked a million times before, so one would think that Joo Won would learn by now.

Unfortunately, he hasn’t, because he blurts out, “Aren’t you angry?”

At that, Dong Sik pauses, spoon mid-air. “Should I be?” he asks.

“Shouldn’t you be?”

“Dunno why I should,” Dong Sik says, bringing the spoon to his mouth. He slurps annoyingly loud. “Why, are you angry with me?”

“Why would I be angry with you,” Joo Won says.

“You look angry,” Dong Sik comments.

“I’m not angry with you.”

“That’s nice,” Dong Sik says, returning to his soup.

Joo Won waits two more annoyingly loud slurps before saying, “You should be angry with me.”

Dong Sik looks at Joo Won over the rim of his soup bowl. “For…?”

“This,” Joo Won says. “Last night.”

Dong Sik stares blankly at Joo Won.

“You think I should be angry with you because you’re hungover?” Dong Sik asks slowly.

The back of Joo Won’s neck warms. “Don’t make me sound stupid,” he says.

“Well, you said it, not me.”

“I lost control last night,” Joo Won says shortly. “That was unbecoming of me.”

“You got drunk with friends,” Dong Sik says. “It happens. It’s normal.”

Joo Won stares at Dong Sik. “I said something,” he says. “I made people uncomfortable.”

Dong Sik pauses. He looks at Joo Won again, some of the amusement fading from his eyes. It’s so much like last night that Joo Won has the overwhelming urge to run out of the house from that alone. Something in him twists in satisfaction anyways, just knowing that he was right, that this was the exact look that he was given and that he hadn’t just been imagining up last night.

“Do you even remember what you said?” Dong Sik asks.

Joo Won lifts his shoulders. “Vaguely,” he lies.

“Hm.” Dong Sik watches him, a finger tapping against the side of his bowl. Joo Won stares back, desperate to not blink or back down, even as his face grows warmer and warmer. Even as he wants more and more and more for nothing else than the ground to open up and swallow him whole.

“I shouldn’t have said that,” he says finally. “And I’m sorry. That was embarrassing.”

Dong Sik’s mouth twitches. Joo Won can’t tell if it’s a smile or smirk.

“You’re going to have to be more specific for me,” Dong Sik says.

Bastard.

Joo Won looks at Dong Sik, whose mouth twitches again.

“Come on,” he says slowly. “I just caught you lying. Might as well confess.”

At that word, confess, Dong Sik’s lips turn into a full-on smirk, and Joo Won has to look away.

Dong Sik taps the side of his bowl again.

“Hey, Inspector Han,” Dong Sik drawls, and it’s that slow stretch of Joo Won’s own name that forces him to look back over at the annoyingly sly, annoyingly self-satisfied man who Joo Won had confessed everything to.

Except when Joo Won looks up, he finds that Dong Sik’s smirk has slipped right back into a smile.

“Next time you confess to me,” Dong Sik says, “just don’t get drunk to do it, yeah?” He reaches across the table, giving Joo Won’s wrist a tap of a finger. It’s the equivalent of a schoolboy’s tease, but the light touch alone lights something in Joo Won’s chest. “You can try again later tonight, if you’d like.”

Then Dong Sik disappears into the kitchen, and Joo Won stares blankly across the wall before realizing that he needs to cancel all of his weekend plans.