Chapter Text
"Aren't you gonna go gambling?"
"No," Doyoung hisses into the phone. "I'm rational, Taeyong."
"What's the point of being in Vegas then?"
"We're here to visit his family." Doyoung rolls his eyes, then adjusts the car seat, so he can lean back. Maybe even take a nap in this parking lot. He checks the review mirror—and, yeah, those are eyebags—then glares out at the chain of fast food restaurants. Why the fuck was he taking so long? "It's supposed to be a quick stop, maybe get some dinner, and then drive straight to college after."
"Already meeting the parents?"
"Stop insinuating things." Doyoung rolls his eyes. "You sound like Jeno."
"Maybe he's right," Taeyong says, quieter this time. "Honestly, Doyoung—I really think you two would look good together."
Doyoung sighs. He likes Taeyong, he really does, but this line of conversation was worn out like a ratty sweater, dull and colorless. There was no point in even considering; Doyoung didn't understand Taeyong's persistence.
"That doesn't matter if we're business partners," Doyoung explains, yet again. "Dating him would be the equivalent of setting our company on fire."
"Technically you don't have a company yet," Taeyong points out.
"Yet," Doyoung emphasizes. "The moment we generate our idea, it's full-speed ahead from then on—Wait, I got to go now."
Doyoung ends the call hurriedly and scowls at Jaehyun opening the car door.
"What were you even doing? That was too long for a bathroom break."
"Cocaine," Jaehyun deadpans, settling into the driver seat. Then, with a twist of his wrist, the old engine sputters to life, and they're back on the road.
---
As expected, Jaehyun's family was exactly like him: sweet and welcoming. At the end of the dinner, Jaehyun asks if they could be late to the first day back at school, if they could stay a little longer. It was so unfair—Jaehyun was glowing, from laughter and familial warmth; he was playing Connect Four with his younger nephews and he high-fived them every time they won. All of them smiled so roundly, the apples of their cheeks going pink.
How was Doyoung supposed to refuse?
He ended up sleeping at the floor of Jaehyun's room while Jaehyun slept on his own bed. A bit cold without the heating, the mild chill of a Nevada winter seeping in through the walls.
It was nearing midnight, but Doyoung twisted around in his sleeping bag, uncomfortable—he always had difficulty sleeping in unfamiliar places. The darkness and silence of the night-time worsened matters, for the pressure began to settle in… Over the winter break, Doyoung had considered taking a break from college.
He was disillusioned, in a way, because he could see that he was heading down the conventional path—a consulting firm, like his mom; marrying at twenty-six, like his mom. Doyoung could see the straight road ahead of him and it was so predictable it frightened him. Most would be comforted by the stability but to Doyoung, stability was synonymous with mediocrity. Perhaps that is why he held so resolutely to this dream of entrepreneurship, of actually being someone and capturing the world's attention.
After an hour of frustrating insomnia, Doyoung gets up and tip-toes out of Jaehyun's room. He exits the front door, careful to close it behind him softly, lest he wake the rest of the family. He takes an Uber to the nearest gay bar: a real hole in side of the road, but it was above four stars on Yelp, so maybe it wouldn't be too bad.
As expected, the diversity in that Las Vegas bar was nothing to write home about… Perhaps it was a bias of its own, but Doyoung was suspicious of white men and their intentions. His past experience suggested that quite a few fetishized him, and he wasn't interested in satisfying those kinds of fantasies.
The first man who approached him was Asian, though—even Korean, he learned, when they chatted a bit. Johnny bought him another drink and he was the confident kind of charming, unlike Jaehyun who was softer, shyer.
Doyoung leaned in and asked if Johnny wanted to get out of there, then Johnny drove him to his hotel—he wasn't a Las Vegas native either, apparently.
Johnny liked man-handling Doyoung, it seemed; he was more-or-less carried to the bed, legs tightly wrapped around Johnny's thighs. The sheets were so soft to touch, both cool and comfortable.
Doyoung looked up at Johnny standing before him, his face flushed and open. Johnny looked nearly bronze under the yellow light. While carried, Doyoung had messily unbuttoned the top of his Hawaiian shirt, and he was delighted to find that Johnny was built like one of those Greek statues, this near-idealized version of a man—almost hairless with hard muscle, like Jaehyun. Doyoung felt incredibly small beneath his towering body and the vulnerability excited him.
Johnny climbed on top of him and he was undressed, surprisingly gently—so it was going to be like that, he realized, when Johnny sucked at his clavicle and ran his fingers down Doyoung's bare chest, touch feather-light.
"You can be rougher, you know," Doyoung said. "Not that I don't appreciate it but—yeah."
Johnny's gaze darkened.
"I get it." Johnny pried Doyoung's legs apart forcibly and Doyoung whined, high and reedy. "You're a whore, aren't you, baby?"
"Yes," Doyoung hissed and was rewarded with Johnny tapping at his hole. "I feel so empty, please, please, please—"
Johnny slapped his ass harshly and Doyoung bucked up off the bed, eyes rolling back. It stung, just a bit, but the pleasure rapidly eclipsed the pain. Johnny then grabbed and kneaded his ass—his hands were so big—and Doyoung flushed all over, excited by the fact that Johnny was so much stronger than him. The excitement strengthened into a heady rush when Doyoung realized that Johnny was still mostly clothed—only his shirt was unbuttoned—while Doyoung was utterly naked; he basked in the humiliation.
"F-fingers," he stuttered out and Johnny, purposefully misunderstanding, pushed his fingers deep into Doyoung's mouth, hitting the back of his throat. Doyoung gargled around the sudden intrusion, slobbering on Johnny's hand. The force pressed him back into the unbelievably soft sheets.
"Isn't this what you wanted?" Johnny cooed. "Someone to fill up your slutty mouth?" Doyoung whined again, but the sound stuttered out of him as a broken shriek.
His hole fluttered—god, he was so empty—and he wiggled his ass a bit, trying to look as enticing as possible.
"Please," he whimpered again, tongue lolling out around Johnny's fingers. "I need you, Johnny, it hurts." Johnny took pity on him, pulling his fingers out from Doyoung's lips—there was a string of drool connecting Johnny's hand to his mouth, and Doyoung shivered at the sight. Then Johnny laid his palms around the tiny expanse of his waist and flipped Doyoung over roughly.
"Good boy," Johnny whispered, pleased, when Doyoung naturally pushed his ass into the air, presenting his empty hole. His hands grasped at the sheets, which were really fucking soft, like he noted before—
"Oh my god." Doyoung scrambled off the bed, still naked, and hurried to his phone left on the armchair. I'm sorry, he mouthed to Johnny, who was looking very frazzled, left high and dry in a tousled state when Jaehyun picked up.
"Bro, it's three in the morning." Jaehyun's voice was low and rough from sleep. "Where are you?"
"Search up…" Doyoung looked over at Johnny. "What's your hotel's name again?" Johnny said the name slowly, frowning a bit, and Doyoung repeated it into the phone. "Search in the forums if you can find where they got the sheets from."
"…Who's with you," Jaehyun said, warily.
"A hook-up," Doyoung dismissed. "But remember when we were brainstorming which industries we wanted to disrupt? Like Warby Parker, when they halved the price of glasses by using a direct factory-to-consumer model, no complicated supply chain." Doyoung's really excited now, pulling his pants back up as he jabbers into his phone tucked between his face and shoulder. "You said we should try bedsheets! Along with other stuff but—like, we didn't know where to start back then, but we finally have a lead! These bedsheets are so unbelievably soft, Jaehyun—get over here, you'll get it."
"A hook-up," Jaehyun repeats dully then hangs up immediately. Doyoung frowns at his phone, mid-way through buttoning up his shirt again. Shouldn't Jaehyun be exhilarated?
Someone taps at his shoulder and Doyoung looks up. Johnny looks put-together again and his expression is stormy. Doyoung's shoes dangle from his hand.
"You didn't tell me you already had a man in your life," Johnny said, throwing Doyoung's shoes out into the hotel hallway.
I don't, Doyoung is about to protest, but Johnny pushes him out too and the door closes behind him.