Work Text:
You were peacefully reading in a lawn chair on your patio, enjoying the Saturday afternoon air, when you heard a commotion next door. You laid your book face down across your chest, looking over through the chain link fence as a strange man dragged a large box through the backyard, the gate he'd just forced his way through clanging closed behind him. He dropped the box in the middle of the yard with a huff, using his wrist to wipe away the sweat clinging to his forehead and pushing back long black strands of silky hair. You watched him curiously; you knew someone had recently purchased the house next door, and had seen movers unloading furniture a few days ago, but you hadn't seen the owner until now.
He stood for a minute with his hands on his hips as he examined the box. He wore a black muscle tank, exposing his shoulders and part of his sides. You noticed he was slender in frame with golden skin stretched over his toned arms and torso, and he seemed well proportioned for his tall frame. He walked back towards the house, which allowed you to make out his facial features a bit better: a sharp, slightly downturned nose, plush lips, and a high forehead. His black hair was parted in the middle and on the long side, the front brushing his gorgeous cheekbones. He pushed the strands back again, clearly agitated with how they got in his face as he walked back to the box with a tool bag in hand.
You totally forgot about your book and openly watched the man as he pried the box open and began to pull metal pieces out of it. You thought you could hear him muttering to himself as he dug through the box, procuring a folded paper from under the pieces, but the clanging of metal against metal quickly drowned him out as he dumped all the pieces onto the lawn. From your vantage point, you could barely make out a couple plastic shapes, but were not able to tell what they were until he picked one up and examined it, his eyebrow furrowing in concentration and his lip curling in frustration. A swing set, he must have a kid, you realized. Your cheeks burned as you realized you were openly checking out someone's father who was in all probability married, so you turned your focus back to your book, attempting to forget about the man outside.
For the next hour or so, you made decent headway in your reading, only glancing up occasionally as you heard a large clang or a curse of frustration. He seemed to have quite a bit of trouble with the instructions, his brow furrowed as he studied the crumpled paper. You jumped at one particularly loud sound—which was him kicking one of the swings into the metal bars still on the grass—dropping your hardcover onto the patio with a THWUMP. His head jerked up in your direction, finally noticing you for the first time. His eyes grew wide at the realization that he was not alone, meeting yours for a couple moments before you broke contact. You quickly picked your book up and found your place, staring hard at the page so he'd know you were minding your own business.
He stood awkwardly for a moment before shaking it off and continuing to work, clearly trying to be quieter now that he knew you were outside. Once he busied himself with the pieces again, you sneaked your eyes up over your book and noticed that his face looked pinker than it had been before. Maybe the heat is getting to him, you reasoned, hoping he wasn't embarrassed by accidentally having an audience.
Several minutes later, you saw him stretch up to connect the top bar of the frame to the side he had already built, and you quietly gasped at the view. His arms were truly stunning, the curve of his muscles close to making your mouth water before trailing your eyes down the exposed skin to under his armpit, where you could see the swell of pecs and just the briefest glimpse of a dark nipple. His skin was glistening with sweat, which only served to make him even more appealing to look at. Suddenly, he dropped his arms and looked right at you, catching you off-guard so that you had no hope of tearing your eyes away before being caught staring.
You blushed and turned your eyes back to your book, but out of your periphery you saw the man quickly throw a couple things in his toolbag before walking back towards the house. You braved another glance and noticed that his face was bright red at this point, and as he reached the door he met your eyes briefly, an unreadable expression on his face, before pushing inside.
You stayed outside for another half hour or so, hoping he would come back to finish his project and prove that you hadn't totally freaked him out, but soon after, you finished the last page of your book and the sun was ready to drop beyond the horizon. With daylight officially burned out, you gave up and headed inside to fix dinner, musing about your encounter. You felt bad for making him uncomfortable in his own yard; you hadn't meant to stare, and you really tried to focus on your book, but something about him just drew your eyes. You decided you had to do something to make it up to him. You were neighbors, after all.
After dinner, you opened your cabinet and studied your pantry. You happened to have some really good brownie mix and extra chocolate chips, so you decided to bake some brownies to take over to him. You hoped that they would speak your apology without having to bring up what happened, and it would double as a "welcome to the neighborhood" gift so it wouldn't seem odd, especially to his family. After you popped the dish in the oven, you absentmindedly licked the spatula you'd used to smooth the raw brownie mix into the pan. You swirled your tongue around the tip of the spatula and before you could stop the thought, you closed your mouth around the spatula, sucking it as if you were giving a blowjob. Once you realized what you'd done, you pulled the spatula away quickly, blushing at yourself for your dirty mind. At least you hadn't done something like that in front of the new neighbor!
While the brownies were baking, you washed the dishes and got ready for bed, trying to convince yourself that you were just being nice and making a peace offering. There were no ulterior motives in this gesture at all, even if he was single. His handsomeness certainly had nothing to do with it! You groaned, knowing you were lying to yourself, but thankfully the oven timer sounded and rescued you from your spiraling thoughts. After the brownies were cut and packed in a container, you laid in bed for hours before succumbing to sleep in the wee hours of the morning, the handsome stranger never fully leaving your thoughts and dreams.
The next morning, you woke up around noon, clearly having needed to catch up on sleep, but you jumped out of bed almost immediately, eager to take your new neighbor the brownies and introduce yourself properly. As you made yourself breakfast for lunch, you heard a small clang outside and peeked out the back window. Your neighbor was back in his yard, working on the swing set, and had apparently been at it for awhile as it looked almost completed. Your heart leapt up your throat in excitement, but you ultimately decided to wait before approaching him, as you didn't want to interrupt his task again. You forced yourself to calm down and finish cooking, after which you sat down to eat your food leisurely. He was still outside when you cleaned up, so you treated yourself to a long, luxurious shower. After you dried your hair, you put on some light makeup and got dressed in a tasteful blue blouse and nice pair of jeans, pairing the outfit with flats. Satisfied with your look, you looked outside again and saw that he had completed the swing set and was nowhere in sight.
Taking a deep breath, you grabbed the container of brownies and walked next door. Your heart thrummed in your chest as you climbed the front porch steps and rang the doorbell, nervous to meet the handsome man face to face. You heard movement on the other side of the door, and you saw a shadow pass in front of the peephole. You held up the brownies and gave a friendly smile, and in response you heard the deadbolt unlock. The door was pulled open, revealing your neighbor in a plain T-shirt and sweatpants, his hair damp from a shower and his plush mouth forming a surprised O at your sudden visit. He gazed at you with big brown eyes, held wide open in shock. This close, you could see his features much more clearly, noting how smooth his skin was and how gorgeously his bone structure was formed. He's got to be a model, you thought. How is he even real?
Before you stared too long, you broke out of your reverie. "Hi!" you said brightly, introducing yourself before holding the brownies out. "I just wanted to stop by and welcome you to the neighborhood. These are for you and your family."
He took the container robotically, face still twisted in surprise, before saying, "My daughter isn't allowed to eat many sweets."
Your face fell. "Oh, I'm sorry. I should have thought about dietary restrictions," you replied, your face heating up.
He shook his head quickly, seeming to snap out of a trance before saying, "I'm sorry, that was incredibly rude of me. Thank you, these look delicious. Maybe I'll allow her to have a couple, if she's good." The corner of his mouth quirked up into a slight smile. "And maybe I'll allow myself to indulge a little as well."
You smiled and nodded, trying to think of how to gracefully say goodbye when he asked, "Would you like to come in? I was just about to brew some tea. I also have coffee, if you prefer."
Your heart skipped a beat. You had not anticipated an invitation inside, but you were loath to deny this gorgeous man anything he desired. "Sure, thank you!" you replied as he stepped back to allow you entrance. You noticed a couple pairs of shoes by the door, so you took yours off as well before he led you into the kitchen.
"I'm sorry for the mess, I'm still unpacking," he apologized as you walked through the house.
You looked around and, aside from several neatly stacked boxes in the living room, the spaces you saw looked immaculate. The hardwood floor was shined to perfection, every surface was dust-free, and despite the living room smelling like fresh paint, you saw no painting supplies left in the room. "This is the cleanest I've ever seen a house where people are still unpacking," you remarked.
He chuckled. "I do like to keep things clean and tidy," he explained, placing the brownies down on the kitchen counter before filling his spotless kettle with water and setting it on the stovetop, turning the burner on. "Is tea okay?"
"Yes of course, thank you!" you replied, sitting at the table and continuing to take in your surroundings. There was little in the way of decoration, though there were a couple colorful crayon drawings taped to the fridge. "Did your daughter draw those?" you asked, squinting to try to make out what was depicted in them.
"Yes, she did. Eunha seems to have a penchant for abstract art," he said with humor in his voice as he noticed you squinting. You nervously laughed, relaxing your eyes before looking back at the man, who had quickly turned to dig through a tin of tea bags. You felt your nerves spike again, remembering how he'd caught you staring, and you diverted your eyes to the floor, focusing on a particularly interesting spot in the wood grain.
Before long, he set a stoneware mug and the tea box in front of you, indicating for you to select your preferred type as he pressed his already-selected tea bag into his mug with a spoon. Once you had chosen and dropped the bag into your tea, you realized you were missing a vital piece of information. "I'm sorry, I think I missed your name?" you asked tentatively.
He shook his head in disbelief. "No, that was totally my fault. I apologize for my awkwardness. I'm Seonghwa," he answered before taking a sip of his tea.
"Seonghwa," you repeated, noting how musical it sounded to your ears. "It's nice to meet you."
His eyes crinkled a bit as he smiled. "And you as well. Thank you again for the gesture. I do love brownies, I just try not to have a lot of unhealthy things around the house. Eunha's mom is a health food nut."
You nodded in understanding. "Well, a little bit of junk food won't hurt anyone! Maybe she'll even break down and try one."
He shook his head. "She doesn't live here. We're divorced," he said matter-of-factly, no hint of sadness or regret in his eyes.
You took in his words and tried very hard to keep your heart from leaping into your throat. You kept your voice neutral and friendly as you replied, "Oh, I see! So does Eunha live with you, or do you share custody?" You knew you were prying, but it didn't seem to be a sore subject for him, thankfully.
"She's with her mom right now, but now that I live in her school district, we're going to alternate full weeks. She'll be coming home later." He paused for a second and regarded you. He seemed deep in thought, as if he suddenly realized he was spilling his business to a stranger, but he must have deemed you trustworthy because he decided to continue. "When we first split up, she took Eunha and left me to move to this area, since she grew up nearby. I only got her every other weekend for a while. That's why I moved here, so I could be with her as much as possible." All the emotion that didn't come forward when he mentioned his ex-wife manifested in his eyes when he talked about Eunha. You nearly swooned, as there was rarely anything so attractive to you as an involved and loving father.
You continued to chat easily over your tea, discussing your occupations and various other aspects of your lives. You discovered that he was a teacher and was about to start his new job at the elementary school where Eunha was starting kindergarten, which made your heart beat even faster at imagining how good he must be with kids. His eyes lit up as he talked about his former students and hopes for his new class, and you found yourself jealous of the passion he seemed to have. You were fine with your job, but couldn't say you loved it. You felt yourself drawn more and more to him, and couldn't help but feel like you were almost on a date with how the conversation flowed.
As your talk turned to your common interests, you couldn't help but notice that he seemed flirtier than he had previously. His eyes almost never left yours, crinkling in amusement as he giggled whenever you said anything the slightest bit humorous. After a while, you also noticed that his foot was gently resting against yours, so lightly that you didn't realize it was there until you shifted your own foot. Upon knocking into his, you apologized profusely, but he waved it off and returned his foot to its previous position next to yours. Your heart did a flip in your chest as you tried hard to resist the urge to rub your foot against his. The whole time, his warm brown eyes focused on yours, and the tension in the air was growing thick.
You felt like you might do something stupid, so you got up to refill your mug with hot water. He followed to retrieve the container of brownies, selecting one before offering you the container after you'd poured from the kettle. "Those are for you!" you pointed out.
He shook the container at you insistently as he replied, "I won't be able to eat all of these, even if I let Eunha have a couple! Besides, you should get to enjoy the fruits of your labor."
"You must be confused, these are brownies, not fruit!" you joked, drawing a genuine smile from him which revealed almost perfectly straight, extremely white teeth. Satisfied with his reaction, you accepted a small brownie but watched him as he bit into his first.
"Oh wow, these are delicious! Did you make these from scratch?" he asked, his eyes closed as he savored the taste.
"They're from a mix, but I dressed them up a bit," you admitted as you ate your own brownie.
"God, I need to know what mix these came from so I can make some," he mused.
"But then I won't have an excuse to come over!" you quipped before realizing the implication of what you said. You turned pink at having been overly forward, and he smiled shyly before stepping towards you.
"Why would you need an excuse?" he asked softly, his voice suddenly an octave deeper and his pretty eyes turning serious. Your breath hitched in your throat as he reached a hand out towards your face. "You have a brownie crumb," he explained quietly before swiping his thumb across the corner of your mouth slowly. You maintained eye contact as you turned your head just slightly enough that it could be passed off as an accident, brushing your lips against the tip of his thumb. He paused, leaving his thumb against your lips as he stared at you, trying to decide what to do next. Your tongue parted your lips enough to swirl around the tip of his thumb, collecting the crumb before retreating back into your mouth, your eyes never leaving his. His lips parted—in surprise or lust or both—and he dragged his thumb across your bottom lip before grabbing you by the jaw and pulling you up to meet his lips.
He kissed you softly at first, but it quickly turned heated as his lips divided yours, his impossibly long tongue exploring your mouth. Your head spun as the feeling of his soft lips and the taste of chocolate and him overwhelmed your senses. After kissing intensely for a few minutes, he took a couple steps backwards, pulling you with him so he wouldn't break the kiss and guiding you both towards a chair. He eventually broke away, your lips chasing his as he sat down. He murmured, "Come here," and pulled you into his lap to straddle him as he met your lips again.
As you made out, he pulled your body closer so that you were chest to chest and pelvis to pelvis. You were sure you were close to soaking through your jeans at this point, but feeling his hardness between your legs comforted you in that at least the feeling was mutual. Upon feeling your heat against him, he held you by the hips and began grinding against you, his hands ghosting across your skin under your blouse. You kissed down the column of his neck to his collarbone, threading your fingers through his dark hair and he let out a low moan from the combination of sensations.
"I never…do things…like this," he sighed as you sucked a small mark on his collarbone.
You pulled back and studied his face. "Do you want to stop?" you asked, wondering if that was his way of saying that it was too much too fast.
"God no," he replied before kissing you again desperately, despite his apparent hesitance. You were equally surprised at how this visit was turning out, but you certainly weren't going to complain. You melted against him, helpless to resist as his hands ran up and down your back, and you sighed into his mouth at the skin-to-skin contact before tugging on his hair, pulling a groan from his throat.
He ran his hands down your back and settled on your hips again, pulling you to move against him harder. You both panted at the contact, your lips pressed together and sharing air more than actually kissing. After a minute, you ran your hand down his chest and cupped his clothed cock, squeezing it as you continued to grind.
"Oh, FUCK," he cursed as he came, staining his sweatpants with his release. You removed your hand and sat back on his thighs, panting from exertion as he took stock of the mess. He looked down at his lap then back up at you, something resembling shame in his eyes. "I'm sorry, I…I don't know how that happened."
You ran a hand through his hair reassuringly. "You don't have to apologize. That's kind of the point of this," you chuckled as you attempted to soothe him.
He shook his head, post-nut clarity fully hitting him. "Yeah but…that shouldn't have happened." He moved to guide you out of his lap and you quickly stood, taking his hands and helping him up as well. "I should…go clean up," he muttered before taking off down the hallway. You watched after him, wondering if you'd just majorly fucked up. He went into what appeared to be a bedroom, and you noticed a bathroom just off the kitchen in the hallway, so you went to clean yourself up as well. Hopefully he won't kick me out and we can talk, you thought as you used the bathroom, straightened your clothes, and ran your fingers through your hair.
When you emerged, the bedroom door was still closed, so you went back into the kitchen to finish your tea. You sat down, mulling over what had just happened, and after what felt like an hour, Seonghwa finally walked back into the kitchen, wearing a different pair of sweatpants. "You're…still here?" he asked, clearly surprised.
"I'm sorry, I'll go if you want me to," you replied, standing up as you blushed and looked at the floor.
"No—" he began to answer, but was interrupted by the front door opening and a ball of color running inside.
"APPA!" the blur cried as she barreled towards Seonghwa, who barely had enough time to open his arms before she threw herself into them.
He lifted her easily, setting her on his hip and holding her with one arm as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Eunha-yah!" he greeted the child before exchanging some words with her in Korean. You stood there awkwardly, wishing you could simply disappear so you wouldn't intrude, but he finally turned to you. "Eunha, this is our new neighbor! She brought us brownies, isn't that nice?"
Eunha nodded and smiled a gummy smile at you before turning back to Seonghwa. "Appa, I get to have brownies?!" she asked excitedly.
"Only if you're good and get a lot of unpacking done today!" He set her down, leaning down with his hands on his knees so he'd be closer to her eye level. "Why don't you go ahead to your new room and get started? I'll join you in a minute."
"No! You come with me! I dunno where my room is!" she pouted, tugging on his hand. He looked regretfully at you, but you jumped in.
"I can see myself out," you told him with a smile before turning your attention to Eunha. "It was nice to meet you, Eunha! Make sure you listen to your daddy so you can have a brownie later!"
She regarded you a bit suspiciously, but Seonghwa chimed in, "Remember your manners, Eunha-yah. What do you say?"
"Thank you, imo!" she said, eager to please her dad before continuing to tug him down the hallway.
"I'm sorry, I really should get her settled. I'll…catch you later?" he asked, tentatively following his daughter's pull but purposefully hanging back to allow you time to respond, his eyebrows furrowed in concern.
You acted as natural as you could, for Eunha's sake, and smiled at him. "Of course! It was good meeting you. Bye!" You turned and walked through the living room, slipping on your flats before exiting the house. You exhaled deeply once you were outside, your head absolutely spinning at what had transpired.
You spent the rest of the afternoon trying very hard not to spiral into anxiety. It was obvious that you were attracted to one another, but you were worried that he might not be interested in anything more, for a myriad of reasons. What if he just wants to focus on his daughter? What if he's not over his ex? What if he doesn't want to get involved with his neighbor? What if he's too embarrassed that he came so fast? What if he avoids me and never speaks to me again? The questions tumbled around in your head as you tried to focus on a show you needed to catch up on. You finally gave up, putting on an old favorite movie while working your nerves out by playing on your phone.
You thankfully felt settled enough to fix dinner when you were hungry a few hours later, heating up some leftovers and eating while responding to texts you'd been avoiding throughout the day. Once you were done, you washed the dishes before settling back on the couch to watch some more TV. Shortly after 9pm, there was a timid knock on the door, and you about jumped out of your skin at the noise. You launched off the couch, flipped your porch light on, and pulled the door open before checking to see who it was.
Thankfully, it was exactly who you wanted to see. Seonghwa peered at you with nervous brown eyes as you greeted each other. "Hi—," "Hello—," you said in unison. You both laughed nervously, and you looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to continue.
"Hi," he tried again. "I'm so sorry about earlier. Eunha's mom dropped her off earlier than I expected. I put her to bed about an hour ago, but I shouldn't be long in case she wakes up." You nodded in understanding, your eyes soft as you willed him to continue. When you didn't say anything, he took a deep breath and continued. "I feel like I've been messing things up from the jump, and what happened earlier was just the cherry on top."
"You don't need to feel bad about earlier. I wanted it," you replied.
"You wanted me to cum in my pants like a teenager?" he chuckled wryly.
You snorted. "I wouldn't have grabbed your cock if I didn't want you to cum," you stated matter-of-factly, causing him to blush. "I mean, isn't it good that you did though? Imagine if Eunha had come home while we were messing around. I'd much rather it work out the way it did, wouldn't you?" You took his hand, squeezing it reassuringly.
He squeezed back, rubbing your hand with his thumb, and sighed in relief. "I guess you're right. I really don't know what I would've done if she had caught us. Thank you for being so understanding about this."
"Of course," you replied with a smile, before circling back to his first statement. "What did you mean when you said that you've been messing things up from the start?"
He huffed in shame, hanging his head slightly. "When I saw you outside yesterday, I was really embarrassed. I had no idea you were out there, and of course I was making an idiot of myself while putting that damn thing together."
"You weren't making an idiot of yourself. You were trying to assemble something for your daughter!" you insisted.
He shook his head. "But I was disturbing you! And when I caught you looking at me, I just…I had to go inside before I embarrassed myself further."
"It was my fault," you explained shyly. "I should have been minding my own business instead of staring at you."
He looked at you in surprise. "You were staring at me?" he asked.
"I didn't mean to! I really was trying to finish my book. But…you kept catching my eye." You blushed, breaking eye contact to focus on a spot to his left.
He moved his head into your field of vision and met your eyes again. "Because I was disturbing you?" he asked gently.
"No! Because you're fucking beautiful!" you blurted out.
He giggled at your outburst, pulling you closer by the hand he was still holding before placing his hands on your shoulders. "You think I'm beautiful?" he asked sincerely.
You squeezed your eyes shut and rested your forehead against his sternum in shame. "Of course I do, have you seen yourself?" you muttered into his chest.
"Me? Have you seen YOURSELF?" he asked incredulously. You tilted your head up and looked at him in confusion. "You are so gorgeous. Why do you think I was so embarrassed when I was outside, all sweaty and having such trouble assembling that swing set? I thought, 'oh great, my new hot neighbor is watching me fail at a manly task while sweating my ass off.'"
You snorted, feeling braver after his compliment and rubbing your hands up and down his arms which were still draped from your shoulders. "Hey, the sweat was hot!" He wrinkled his nose in reply, but you continued. "And you didn't fail at it, I saw that you finished it today! And what does it matter whether it was a 'manly' task or not. Is your masculinity really that fragile?" you teased.
He cringed. "No! I just…felt like I was not making a good first impression."
"You made a great first impression. Don't worry so much." You squeezed his biceps, resisting the urge to reach up and kiss him.
He chuckled. "I'll try not to." He ran his thumb along the side of your neck softly, which made you shiver. He pulled you a bit closer before whispering, "I should go. I need to be home if Eunha wakes up. Any chance I could get your number? Maybe we can plan to see each other next week when I've got more free time."
"Of course!" you replied, and he smiled before dropping his arms and reaching into his pocket to pull out his phone. You dictated your phone number to him, and a moment later you heard your phone ding from inside the house with a text from him.
"Thank you," he said sincerely. "It really was great meeting you today. I'm sorry things got a bit weird."
"No need to apologize. Do I seem weirded out?" you asked with a smirk, stepping forward again to put your hands on his shoulders.
He shook his head smiling, placing his hands on your waist before replying, "I guess not. There's still time to scare you off though!" You both laughed as he pulled you in for a hug. When you broke apart, your eyes met briefly and a question flickered across his face.
In response, you reached up and pressed your lips to his in a chaste kiss. "Good night, Seonghwa," you whispered before letting him go and stepping back to allow him to leave.
"Good night," he gave you one final perfect, genuine smile before turning on his heel and stepping off the porch to head back to his house. You leaned your head against the doorframe dreamily as you watched him walk away, your mind brimming with excitement for the future.