Archive of Our Own

zero. who the hell is “Sieun”?

Suho has so many options to choose from. 

My love. 
My heart.
Sweetheart. 
Baby. 
Honey. 
Lovely. 
Princess/Prince.
Beautiful.
Pretty.
Gorgeous.
Sweet boy. 
Pretty boy.
Sleepy boy.
[insert adjective] boy.
Lunatic.
Sieun-ah.
Sieunie.
Si-baby.
Sieunie-unie.

It's a very long list. This isn't even all of it. 

Sieun is nowhere on that list. 

So, who the fuck is that? Who the hell is Sieun?

Sieun hasn’t been called Sieun by Ahn Suho in years. It has been literal years. 

For some horrible reason, he hears it once again, shouted from his boyfriend's mouth.

His name is bouncing off the walls of their place like a really bad song. 

“Sieun!”

Sieun quickly scrambles up from his desk, running out of their home office and into the kitchen, where Suho is standing with his hands on his hips. He looks really cute save for his mad face. Which is still cute.

The fridge door is blown open, and beeping loudly, incessantly, trying to signify for someone to close it. 

Sieun finishes stepping into the kitchen, confusedly, saying, "Hello?" 

Suho tsks his tongue. "Oh. Hi, Sieun. Nice to see you in our kitchen."

Suho is a habitual weirdo, so Sieun just blows right past him saying nice to see you in our kitchen. 

“Yah, why are you calling me that?” Sieun asks, full of a very odd, on-setting emotion right now, he can’t quite place it. He just knows his insides feel weird. 

Way too plainly, his boyfriend just answers, “You didn’t eat.”

Sieun stares at this man, blinking a couple times.

“What?”

“You. Did not eat. The food I left for you is still sitting right here in the fridge." He looks down at the door of it then, squinting his eyes. "I don't even think I see your fingerprints on the handle at all."

Sieun squeezes his eyes shut for a moment, Jesus.

He tries, "Suho-," but Suho keeps talking. 

"So, you came home from work, and didn’t eat. Again. And you thought I wasn't going to notice? Did you even make yourself some water?”

Sieun blinks again.

"Not even a glass of water. Incredible."

“Okay, I could have drank some water, but it’s seven o'clock. Is the food going to grow legs and sprint out of the house before I can get to it?”

“Sieun,” Suho snaps, and Sieun’s eyes widen at him, and he gasps softly, shocked.

“You are not funny. Worst joke you've ever told. Sit down. Now.”

Sieun’s feet know what to do better than his mouth, which stays agape while he moves forwards into the kitchen, and sits his ass right down at the table.

Suho reheats his food in the microwave, and it’s silent for the entire two minutes that it buzzes. 

Sieun swallows nothing but spit, actually feeling kind of… awful. And not just because he’s hungry. 

His food gets placed in front of him, and some utensils, and an iced glass of water. And then Suho sits right next to him, and points at it. 

“Go on then.”

Sieun picks up his chopsticks, and grabs a heap of rice, his eyes welling up as he brings the mound to his mouth. 

“Are you-,” Suho stiffens, frowning, “Baby, are you about to cry?”

“You’re being mean to me,” Sieun mumbles, and then he stuffs his face with the rice just as a tear falls over his cheek.

Just one.

“That was a good joke. And stop calling me Sieun," Sieun gently demands.

He's being so serious, too. He doesn't want to hear that again. 

“I'm not laughing about food running away from you. You run away from food, Sieun."

Sieun visibly winces.

"Mm, you don’t like that, huh? Sieun?” Suho murmurs, getting all mushy again.

Sieun cuts his eyes at him.

Suho can never keep it up for long. He scoots closer to his very sweet boyfriend, gets a stray piece of rice on his lip while he chews. He wipes that lone tear with the back of his hand. 

“Well, I don’t like when you don’t eat. That's you being mean to me. Work is not more important than eating, sweetheart. Ever. How long have I been stressing this to you, hm? You know I get a little crazy about you eating well.”

A little is clearly an understatement. 

Sieun chews and swallows, his stomach feeling very happy again. Even though Suho is more like batshit crazy, Sieun feels forever indebted to the way that he cares for him. How deeply he cares for him. He doesn’t fuck around when it comes to Sieun. And Sieun has known this for a very, very long time. 

He swirls his chopsticks around the sauteed veggies now. “I know, Suho-yah, I will try to be better, I was just trying to get ahead. Time always gets away from me.”

“Can’t stay ahead on an empty stomach, can you?”

Sieun shakes his head No. He cannot. He was starting to get a headache anyway.

Suho is such a lifesaver. 

“I’m sorry for being mean,” Suho whispers, dropping a kiss on his neck. And another. "I didn't mean to make you cry. I didn't think that'd make you cry, love."

Sieun sniffs again. “It shocked me. You haven't called me that since high school, Suho-yah.”

It's quite literally his name, but it matters, and Suho is well aware. The stern Sieun-ah's haven't been getting his points across lately, though. 

“I’m Sieun when I’m in trouble, now?” 

Suho hums at him. He supposes. It's how Sieun will know what he's truly feeling at least. That he's not joking around with him and he's really bothered.

Sometimes Sieun needs some tough love just like he does. 

"I really don't like that," Sieun mutters, poking a piece of broccoli with his sticks. 

"Better not get in trouble with me, then, hm, baby?"

Sieun just pouts some more, jutting his bottom lip out. Suho comes forward in no time and sucks it into his mouth softly, playfully, then kisses him sweetly. Sits right next to him while he eats and finishes his food, rubbing his back and talking all sweet and quiet with him. 

Sieun will not be getting in trouble with this man again. 

one. come home already!

Three days later. Friday. Four in the afternoon. 

It starts a little silly.

Sieun is currently sitting at his desk in his classroom, when Suho texts him. 

Sieun stares at his phone. Blinking at it a couple times, because surely, he is seeing things.

Suho is not actually calling him Sieun right now to get him to come home faster. 

"Seonsaengnim, is this correct?"

Sieun drops his phone, looking up at the last student in his classroom finishing their extra credit work.

He stands up and goes over and checks their work, tells them Yes, it is, and to keep going. He gets back over to his desk and texts Suho right back. 

Sieun's student finishes their work after another twenty minutes, places it on Sieun's desk, and politely thanks him for the session and tells him they will see him next week.

It's Friday for fuck's sake. Sieun really does not need to stay for longer. He should put the work down and leave it, and enjoy his weekend with his boyfriend.

So, that's exactly what he does. He makes sure his student gets on the bus safely and then beelines it for his car in the teacher parking lot. 

He calls Suho when he's halfway home, thinking maybe he's calmed down. 

"Hello. Sieun."

Suho even drops his voice an entire octave when he says his first name like that. 

Sieun exhales. And evenly responds with, "Suho-yah. You're not getting into any hole on any part of my body if you keep it up."

"Are you seriously threatening me with a sex-strike all because I miss you?!"

"Stop calling me Sieun, Suho, please," he whines out. "Don't make me put you on a sex-strike, because now I'm kinda horny. You pissed me off."

"Well, I want you, too! I'm a little pissed off that you insist on working so hard all of the time! Why do you think I want you to hurry up and come home to me, hm? My lovely-sweet-beautiful-princess? And I made ribeye! I'm trying to feed that to you as soon as possible!"

Sieun can't help the smile that overtakes his face. 

Driving home is seriously the most buzzing part of every single day. Talking to Suho on the way and getting all of his energy and love. 

The anticipation of seeing Suho and getting enveloped by his long, strong arms, and suffocated by his kisses... nothing else could ever compare. He's totally not even pissed off, and Suho is very happy that he's coming home an hour earlier. 

"I love you so much, Suho," Sieun confesses into the mic, while simultaneously glaring at the stupid red light preventing him from getting home thirty seconds sooner. 

"I love you more, Sieun-ah. My baby. Drive safely. See you soon."

two. fender bender.

Week and a half later. A Wednesday. It's his first car accident ever.

He knows it's coming. He braces himself. 

"Yeon Sieun!"

"Fuck," Sieun whispers, and then he sighs, and turns towards the young woman who just rammed into the back of his car on accident. "I'm sorry, that's my-,"

"Sieun!"

"-Boyfriend."

The young woman, maybe just a couple years younger than Sieun, watches his boyfriend storm over to him, crossing the street without the crosswalk signal. Nearly gets hit by a damn car himself. 

"Sieun, get over here!"

"Oh my God, Suho-yah," Sieun mutters, and he turns around and meets Suho halfway to where the commotion is for this fender bender.

He gets yanked right into his chest. Suho's hands are all over him. His head, his shoulders, his waist, he's frantic.

"You scared the living shit out of me, are you okay?! What are you doing, hm? You're not even supposed to be over here! What's on this side of town that you needed so badly, huh?"

"Your glasses, I was picking up your new prescription," Sieun says, softly, his cheek squished into Suho's chest now. "They're in my car. And yes, I am okay."

Suho rocks him back and forth, on either of their two feet. His hands rubbing up his back, and over the back of his head. He was really scared. Even though Sieun told him exactly what happened, sent him photos, and even a selfie of himself with a peace sign.

He is completely fine.

Suho was not sure of that until he could get his eyes and hands on him.

"Fuck, you scared me. Thank you for picking up my glasses. I could have gotten them. Or we could have gone together. Sieun."

Sieun groans. "Please, stop calling me that, Suho."

"Too bad. You're in trouble."

"It wasn't even my fault!" Sieun squawks, pushing up off of Suho's chest. He gestures back towards to the Toyota Corolla, and the young lady standing there, on the phone with someone now. 

"Are you seriously blaming that young woman for this? She's just a girl, Sieun."

"What the-," Sieun stops and squints at him. "Am I not just your Sieun? Your baby? Just a sweetheart? What the hell is going on?!"

Suho laughs at him and dips down and kisses his nose. Sieun wrinkles his whole face up. 

"Stop calling me Sieun! I do not deserve that right now!"

"You could have gotten hurt. I should have been here. Don't ever drive so far out of your jurisdiction again!"

"My juris-," Sieun cuts himself off again, and his next sigh is more like a very exhausted whimper. "This is not real."

"Oh, it's real. And you are in big trouble, Sieun. No driving for a week. I'm taking you everywhere you need to go."

"My car is fine, it's just a little scratch and a dent," Sieun protests. 

"So what. You're not driving it, I'm taking it to the shop. Is the tow company on the way?"

"Yes, Suho-yah."

"Okay, Sieun, go wait in my car, please."

Sieun complains gravely, but he starts walking over to his SUV on the other side of the street, actually waits for the walk signal unlike his boyfriend. 

He lets Suho handle the rest of the fender bender situation, getting the young lady's insurance information and what not. He goes into Sieun's car, too, and does a bunch of shit Sieun can't tell from his place in his passenger seat.

The tow truck comes after another five minutes, chats with Suho, and then wheels Sieun's car off somewhere, he can't be bothered to even worry about it because Suho is back to calling him Sieun.

He watches him jog back to his car and hop in the driver seat. 

"You sure you're okay? Nothing hurts?"

"No," Sieun says, reaching over and rubbing his hand up and down Suho's arm. "I'm fine, yeobo."

Suho blows a raspberry at first when he laughs, that's how tickled he is. "You think calling me yeobo is gonna get you out of trouble right now?"

"It wasn't my fault," Sieun counters. "Suho, why are you blaming me for something even the insurance company is going to say I have zero liability for?"

Suho gets really serious again. 

"Because you didn't even tell me where you were going. You told me you were coming straight home after work, and I get a call from you thirty minutes after you're supposed to be home that you got into a car accident, Sieun. Are you kidding me?"

"No, I'm not kidding with you, stop talking to me like this, please."

"I apologize. You scared the shit out of me, Sieun," Suho repeats. 

"I know."

"Do you? Because you seem to not understand how much your safety means to me, Sieun. You do shit like this, you stand on counters instead of just asking me for help knowing you have a horrible sense of balance, you quite literally forget to eat on most days, and you leave the house without sunscreen sometimes! I am constantly stressed out over you and you don't even care!"

Sieun blinks at him. "I care. Don't say that. I'm sorry, Suho-yah. I'm not trying to stress you out."

Suho breathes out heavily with that, calming himself down. They haven't even moved, his car is just sitting in park. 

"I'm glad you are okay."

"Please call me 'baby'."

Suho rolls his eyes. His frustration has dissipated. And he loves Sieun so, so much. So much that he freaks out over him not even wearing sunscreen. 

"I'm glad you're okay, baby."

Sieun smiles, real big. Too big for the moment.

He's still in trouble. But, he's also still Suho's baby. 

"Thank you for coming to get me. Did you get your glasses out of my car?" Sieun asks.

Suho jerks into action. "Oh! Yes." He pulls the black case out of his jacket pocket. His thumbs push open the top, revealing a new pair, new style. 

They're still black, like his other ones. More square this time.

"Oooh, Suho-yah," Sieun swoons, coming over the middle console.

Suho welcomes him, and his new glasses get all messed up on his face immediately.

"Ah, you're lucky, baby. Today."

Sieun purrs into Suho's face, kissing him all over. "You're lucky, too. Let's go home."

He pulls back just a bit, just to adjust his glasses on his nose.

"And these are staying on."

Suho speeds home.

three. suho gets jealous.

Suho doesn't get jealous often. Truly. He knows that Sieun is very much stuck like gorilla glue to him and has been even when he was acting like he wasn't. 

But sometimes... sometimes... Suho just, gets a little twinge. 

And he gets one today. It's just a couple days after Sieun's little fender bender. His car is back home already, fixed up, and paid for by insurance.

New issue. Saturday night.

The guys are being too touchy lately.

Suho doesn't say anything until he and Sieun are back in his car, leaving. 

"What's up with you, Suho-yah?" Sieun asks him, reaching over and tugging on his ear. Suho makes a little noise and moves his head, shaking him off.

"Tell me. You've been acting funny all night. And I didn't want to say anything in front of everyone."

"They were all over you tonight. Do you smell extra good or something?" Suho leans over fast and takes a humongous sniff of Sieun's neck.

Sieun just lets him. It's honestly not that out of the ordinary. 

"You always smell good to me, I don't even know what the hell they're smelling." He puts the car into drive and pulls onto the road.

"Nobody is smelling me except for you, Suho-yah."

"So, what the fuck was their problem today, then? Baku touched your head like ten times!"

"Did you count?"

"It was seven times, and that's far too much! You don't even like that shit!"

He doesn't, but it's Baku. He's just learned to deal with it at this point. 

"It's not that big of a deal. You're being ridiculous, actually," Sieun says, snorting in amusement as he sits back in his seat. 

He's working himself right into bad territory. 

"What's ridiculous is Gotak picking you up and throwing you over his shoulder and running around his apartment like we're in high school still. What the hell was that about? Trying to show off in front of me? And Juntae held your hand through half of that stupid movie. Mind you, it wasn't even that fucking scary!"

"Jun gets scared easily, he was out voted 1 to 4 for watching it."

"I don't give a damn! He can hold onto Tak, no?!"

(Tak was too busy hanging onto Baku.)

Sieun bites his lip, containing his giggle. 

And then Suho goes, "Okay, Sieun. Cool." 

Well, shit. "Wait-,"

"No, it's cool. I get it. Everyone just has full access to Sieun all the time."

"Suho-yah."

"Lucky, lucky them. Already got two extra years with you on me, and they can touch you whenever they want. I guess it's a Sieun-free-for-all!"

"Suho-yah, stop right now, I'm not kidding," Sieun says, pushing at his arm. The car swerves. 

"Sieun, quit!" Suho yells, playing a gentle slap box with him with one hand. "Trying to make me crash the car now?!"

Sieun just bellows, "Stop calling me that!"

"Sieun, Sieun, Sieun!" Suho hollers back, and Sieun stops softly whacking him and sits back in the seat rather violently, crossing his arms over his chest. 

Yes, his eyes are welling up now. 

It's not even just being called Sieun this time, it's the Sieun-free-for-all. That's not true. And Suho knows that. 

"I'll tell them to stop touching me so much," Sieun mumbles, wiping his nose, and sniffing, before the tears even start. 

Suho looks over at him, pouting considerably, too, and frowning. 

"They get a little carried away sometimes," he mutters. "Am I being toxic?"

"I don't care if you're being toxic, Suho-yah, I just want you to stop calling me Sieun, seriously," he says. "I don't like that."

"At least you always know I'm being super serious when I call you that."

Sieun huffs, and stares out of the window. 

"It's not a Sieun-free-for-all either, take it back. That wasn't nice, Suho."

Suho can agree with that. "You're right. It wasn't. I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."

Sieun looks back over at him. "Are you seriously upset about how touchy they are? They've always been like this. Even when you first met them."

"Sometimes it irritates me more than other days," Suho says, which is valid. 

He feels bad, and also still annoyed.

"You're mine, Sieun."

"I am yours," Sieun solidifies. "I live with you. I really only let you hug me. You're the only person who gets to kiss me. And you're the only person who gets to call me 'baby', too, so if you could get back to that, that'd be really nice. Please. Don't take it for granted."

"That's actually a really good argument," Suho mumbles, reaching over the console and grabbing Sieun's hand. He brings it to his mouth and gently bites. 

Sieun lets him nibble on his fingers while he stares at him from the passenger seat, still feeling a little sad. Suho feels it. 

"Yah."

"Hm?"

"I didn't mean that," Suho says, again. "I'm really sorry."

"It's okay."

"It's not, baby. I'm sorry. That was really rude." Suho slows to a stop, lined up behind cars at a red light. "What can I do to make it up, love?"

"Just don't say that again. And stop calling me Sieun, seriously, Suho, I don't like it," he weakly begs, and now his face is getting all scrunchy. 

Adorably, but it's also completely heartbreaking. 

Suho's face literally mirrors his, and he reaches over with both hands now, damn near pulling Sieun over into his lap in the car. 

"You don't call me Sieun."

"I'm the worst, I'm officially the worst," Suho panics and he grabs both of Sieun's cheeks in his hands.

Then he mewls out, "But, you were laughing at me!"

"Because you're so silly, Suho-yah," Sieun bemoans, shaking his head in his hands, a couple tears falling fast over his cheeks. "I love you, stop getting jealous over them, it's so pointless."

"I love you more, and I seriously don't like when they touch you so much. They get carried away," he argues, softly. "You shouldn't call me silly for that, baby, it really bothers me. And I know that you're mine, and that should be enough, but sometimes it's just not. I'm not perfect and I'm not a robot. I don't like watching them be all over you, Sieun-ah. I know they're just like that, but it feels like way too much sometimes, especially Baku."

Sieun sniffs and lets Suho wipe his small tears. Mostly just frustration. 

"The light, Suho," Sieun mumbles, seeing the car in front of them proceed out of his peripheral vision. 

Suho keeps one hand on his jaw, and returns the left to the steering wheel. 

"I'll tell them, don't worry. I have no problem with doing that, and they will listen and understand," Sieun murmurs to him, rubbing his cheek on Suho's palm. "I didn't mean to invalidate your feelings, Suho-yah, I'm really sorry. Just stop calling me Sieun, please."

Suho feels terrible, honestly, about a myriad of things, mainly making Sieun cry again just by calling him his name. He knows he really, really does not like it.

However, Sieun also understands that Suho is being super real with him when he uses it. It makes him take him a bit more seriously. 

It probably won't keep up for much longer. 

At home, Suho cradles Sieun on the couch, and they get a little quiet for the night. They stay very close, but quieter than usual. 

At least it's all out of love.

Real, deep, unwavering love. 

four. trying to skip another meal...

Sieun hears the garage door open and he all but flies out of his desk chair and lands in the kitchen, throws the refrigerator open and grabs the first tupperware dish of food that he can find, and that he should have cleared over an hour ago. 

He doesn't have time to toss it into the microwave so he jumps up to sit on the counter and starts eating two day old cold rice.

Door opens and slams closed, and then his favorite voice is ringing out in the house. 

"Baby, I'm home! Eodiya?!"

"Kitchen!" Sieun yells out, and then winces at the pain in his head. Hunger. 

"I missed you so much, my baby!"

"I missed you, too, come here, Suho!" He calls back, swinging his legs. 

He thinks he's in the clear. 

He knows so much better than this. 

He cannot get around Ahn Suho. About anything. Ever. 

His boyfriend appears in his line of vision in no time, shirt already unbuttoned halfway, hair a bit tousled from where he was just running his hands through it. 

"My love."

"Hi."

Suho's eyes then flick down to the tupperware dish of rice in Sieun's hands. He can see the condensation from the fridge on it. 

Doesn't help that the fridge door is actually still open, and starts beeping right now. Sieun pouts his lips, his eyes moving to the fridge, and then back to Suho. 

Suho is a very smart man.

He did not pay too much attention in school, and decided on not getting a degree and just going straight to into work for a salary, but 1+1 is always going to equal 2. 

Yeon Sieun... is always going to be Yeon Sieun. The most open book Suho has ever read in his life. 

"You think you're slick."

"Mwo? Wae?"

"Don't mwo, wae me, Sieun."

His stomach drops, even with these globs of cold rice in it.  

"You didn't even close the refrigerator. Why in the world are you sitting here eating cold rice."

"I honestly was not that hungry when I came home, so I just... I took a shower and then I took a quick nap, and then I woke up and-,"

"There is no way you didn't wake up hungry, Sieun."

Sieun Sieun Sieun. Fuck. 

"Suho-yah, please don't get upset," Sieun whines, and he hops down from the counter, puts the cold tupperware dish in the place of his butt. "What if I wanted to wait for you to get home to eat with me? Hm? Did you think about that?"

Why is he doing this? He's already been caught. 

"Then, why the hell are you eating cold rice on the counter? Trying to make it look like you were already in here? You're not slick, Yeon Sieun. At all. I know you."

Sieun looks back at the rice all stuck together. "It's not that bad-,"

"You are not a teenager," Suho interrupts, and he storms past Sieun, avoiding the obvious touch that Sieun wants right now.

Suho snatches the tupperware container off of the counter and tosses it into the microwave. Hits the buttons for a minute and a half. Then he tsks his tongue a few times, and closes the fridge so it stops beeping. Then reopens it, and finds more tupperware in there: meat, and kimchi, and some spring rolls. 

"Wait, I can do it," Sieun offers, coming around his side and trying to grab a pan, but Suho is faster.

"You could have done this for yourself hours before I got home."

"Suho, stop, let me help."

"Please, back up, Sieun."

"Suho-,"

"Go sit down right now. I'll make your food. Sieun."

"You're doing too much."

"And you're not eating enough. I guess we need to find some balance, huh? Go sit down and wait, please. Sieun."

Sieun literally groans like he is a reprimanded teenager, balls his fists up and everything. He stomps over to the table and sits down in a chair and his stomach fucking squeezes because yes, he was fucking hungry when he woke up. And he didn't just drag himself in here and make himself some food like a normal person, so now he's in trouble. 

He can't even get mad with Suho this time for using his first name, he totally brought this one on himself. Especially with the trying to cover it up bullshit, he knows Suho doesn't like when he tries to be sneaky like that. It's like lying. 

It's disrespectful, honestly, at this point in their relationship. 

So, Sieun sits at the table all awkwardly and tries to quietly make conversation while Suho reheats up some meat on the stove for him, and the spring rolls in the airfryer. Refluffs the kimchi. Suho answers everything, and asks Sieun about his day as well, but it's all weird between them all because Sieun just didn't eat earlier. 

Simple, simple task. 

Suho replates everything very nicely for him and he gently slides the plate in front of him, and one for himself, and two glasses of water. He sits right next to Sieun. 

They don't do the storming off mad, slamming doors, leave me alone! thing. It's completely unheard of. Kind of like Sieun being called Sieun was completely unheard of for years before these past few weeks. 

They sit together, as always, with a bit of charged energy in-between, that's literally all surrounded by a gigantic amount of care. 

"When you don't eat," Suho says after a little while. "It literally messes with my nervous system, Sieun."

"I know."

"If you know, then why do you continue to do this? What is even the point of being hungry, Sieun? We are very privileged, we always have food in the house. I keep everything in here that you like. I make sure of it. So that you don't complain, or run out of options. If I could focus on one thing for the rest of my life it would be what you put in your stomach, and I'm so serious."

"I know you are," Sieun sighs. And he folds over on the table on top of one of his arms. "I'm sorry, Suho."

"Don't say sorry, just eat?" Suho rubs his back. "Do you think you should go to the doctor?"

"Ani, I just. Still have bad habits."

"Right, so do you think we should go see a specialist?"

"No, Suho, you're perfect, you feed me so well," Sieun says, sitting up finally and unmuffling his words.

His eyes are all red, stinging. 

"Ah, please don't cry, Sieun-ah," Suho whispers, scooting closer. "You mean so much to me. Food is so important and you brush it off."

"I'll be better," Sieun cries out, really promising this to himself, and he throws himself at Suho now, pushing his face into his neck. "You're so good to me."

"I love you so much, baby," Suho says in return, holding him as tightly as he can. "Come here."

Sieun keeps his arms where they are and gets his lower body out of the chair, comes around the corner of the table, and steps over Suho's legs to straddle him. Suho runs his warm hands up and down his back for a minute or so, holding him nice and snug while he calms himself down. 

"Eat with me, Sieun-ah."

Sieun lifts his head up, and cranes his neck around just right in time for Suho to bring a spring roll to his lips. And he opens up and bites a tiny piece, then grabs it from Suho's hand, so he can eat also. 

They stay just like this for the remainder of dinner. Sieun in his lap, eventually facing forwards. Suho doesn't mind the dodging he has to do to eat around his smaller shoulders, he's just glad Sieun is scarfing down his food and drinking water. 

He hates to be stern, he really does, but Sieun needs to be better, so much better, about eating.

Suho will be here to help him, every single day. 

five. in front of everyone?!

"Sieun."

The whole room just gets quiet. 

Because, really, who the hell is Sieun? 

Not even his friends call him Sieun all that often anymore.

They have a stupid list of their own.

Ice Princess: Baku
Grumpy: Hyeontak
Sieun-hyung: Juntae
Meanie head: Baku and Hyeontak 
Sieunie: All 3 
Yeon Sieun-ah: All 3
Bestie Boo: Baku
Chingu: Hyeontak and Juntae
Si-Si: Juntae
Sieun-ssi: Hyeontak 
Sieun-seonsaengnim: Baku
Sieun-ah: All 3

Suho doesn't mind the way everyone is looking at him right now, he's at his wits end with this.

He simply says, "Come."

"Holy shit. Did he just call him 'Sieun'?" Tak looks at Baku. 

Baku elbows him. Juntae starts cleaning his glasses on his shirt. 

Sieun stutters for a moment, his neck and face flushing red on command.

He's so damn embarrassed. Suho doesn't even call him Sieun-ah around them, it is always one of his sweeter pet names. Baby... sweetheart... love... Because his friends don't call him those.

Sieun stands up from the couch and walks fast over to Suho, who's been on the loveseat on the other side of the room watching their friends get too touchy during game night once again. 

He was literally a part of that group chat when Sieun told them his troubles a few weeks ago, but it seems like it didn't stick. 

"Are you okay?" Sieun whispers, as soon as he's close enough. Only loud enough for him to hear. His eyebrows sink into a very cute frown. 

Suho simply gathers a portion of his shirt in his hand and pulls him down onto the loveseat. Right next to him. 

"You sit here for the remainder of the night. Sieun." 

He's just fine with this. Whatever will help the situation. 

Sieun tries not to be too all up on Suho when they're hanging out with everyone, this is probably why their friends take that as free reign.

He just doesn't want to be that couple all of the time because really, once he's got Suho's arm wrapped around him, he's not moving. It is his favorite place to be. And it's so easy to get carried away with Suho, it's so easy to fall into their own world. 

Suho doesn't give a shit about PDA, anywhere, at anytime, so it's usually Sieun who's directing all of that, and leading. 

"Don't call me that in front of them," Sieun murmurs, face still burning like hell, and he adjusts into Suho's side, bringing his feet up on the seat, and his knees to his chest.

He pushes his nose into Suho's cheek for a moment. 

"Please, Suho-yah. You just made it all weird."

Suho whispers back, "Tell them to stop being all over you then. They're making it weird for me."

"Okay," Sieun says, very softly, petting the side of his face that he's not nosing into. 

Suho's eyes go all puppy-mode, and he murmurs real softly in return, "Okay." 

That should be the end, but they're in a room with Go Hyeontak and Park Humin. And poor Seo Juntae. 

"Yah! Are we invisible?" Hyeontak hollers out. "You're just gonna whisper right in front of us?!"

"You need to keep your hands a bit more to yourself," Suho says, loudly, for all of them to hear. 

They all go wide eyed. 

"You got me in trouble," Sieun pouts from here, snuggling further into Suho's side. 

"What in the world, how?! What did we even do?!" Baku yells, genuinely at a loss here. He's just acting as he always does, naturally. 

"It's mainly your fault!" Sieun yells back, then turns to his boyfriend. "Tell him, Suho!"

Suho gapes at him in response at first, blinking hard. "You tell him, Sieun!"

Dammit. Back to square one. Sieun huffs and looks back out his friends. 

"Oh, this is bad," Juntae mutters, mostly to himself, fitting his glasses back onto his face. "Guys, stop it."

Hyeontak says, with so much heat behind it, "Nobody is trying to steal Sieun from you, Suho, you can hang that shit up already! Old news! Boring!"

Suho grumbles and starts to get off of the loveseat. They've always been the most bickery of the entire group. They're too alike.

Sieun grabs the back of Suho's sweatshirt and yanks him right back down. Suho tries to get back up and Tak bucks at him from behind the coffee table, shaking their drinks on top of it and fucking up the Jenga stack. 

"Stop it!" Sieun yells at them both. 

Suho gasps. "Tell him to stop it!"

Hyeontak exasperatedly sighs and then says, "Jesus, I give Sieun-ah one piggy back ride from the store, and now your boxers are all twisted up your ass!"

"I'm about to twist something even crazier up your ass!"

Baku cuts in. "Okay, let's leave that party to me."

Everyone snaps their heads towards him. "What?!"

"What?!"

Tak grimaces at him. "You're such a fucking freak."

"You don't even know the half of it, Gogo. Just give me a chance," Baku pleads, dropping onto his knees and holding his hands in a clasped singular fist. 

Juntae is completely horrified at the two of them, and himself, for not catching onto this. He covers his mouth with his hand and whispers, "Oh my God."

"Baku, get off of your knees!" Hyeontak shouts, shoving his best friend up from the floor by his armpits. "We're supposed to be ganging up on Suho! Stop proposing to me!"

He looks at Sieun and Suho. "He's been doing this a lot lately."

Suho snorts a bit and leans back into the couch, pulling Sieun even closer to him. He comes easily, finding his friends extremely entertaining. And he's also silently already rejecting the double date offers. 

Baku bats his lashes at Hyeontak. "I wanna tag team you, though. With myself," he murmurs, grabbing his friend's hand. He rubs the top of it with his fingers.

Tak doesn't even pull away. 

"You can't have a threesome with Tak and two versions of yourself you fucking freak!" Suho screams at Baku.  

"You're the freak!" Tak screams back, still baby-gripping onto Baku's hand. "Thinking we want Sieun! Get over yourself!"

"Then stop touching him so much, huh?! You both have very active hands!" 

"That's no problem, you should have just said that instead of calling him 'Sieun' in front of everyone, you made everything all weird!" Baku complains, swinging his and Tak's hands in-between their bodies. 

"I'm sorry, Suho-yah," Juntae says then, from the corner of the couch on the other side of the room, mediating as always. "We are all a bit touchy. We've always been that way with each other, and Sieun kind of just got roped into it. We can be more mindful."

"He puts up with a lot of our shit," Tak mumbles, about Sieun.  

Sieun sighs and snuggles closer to his boyfriend, wrapping an arm around his chest and a leg around his waist. Koala style.

"I don't mind it, you guys forced me to get used to it. But Suho doesn't like it. It bothers him a lot. I told you this two weeks ago, guys."

They all go Yes, softly. And then Sorry. They're just friendly like that. Always been. 

"And now you two have this to sort out anyway, so start touching each other instead," Suho says, gesturing in between Hyeontak and Baku. 

Pause. 

Baku says, "I agree."

Tak is trying not to blush so hard. Five minutes too late and he snatches his hand out of his friend's hold.

"Shut up, Humin-ah!"

It all settles after this, with Baku and Tak having some things to talk about, Juntae having some things to purge from his memory, and all of the guys truly understanding now just how badly Suho needs his Sieun all to himself. 

plus one. who the hell is 'Ahn Suho'?

Sieun doesn't have as many options to choose from. 

Suho.
Suho-yah.
Su-yah.
Hyung.
Suho-hyung.
Yeobo.
My heart.
Babe. (Extremely occasional)
Big Daddy Suho (That was one time)

Sieun is usually calling him Suho and Suho-yah.

That's it. It's just always been that way.

There was a period of time when Suho couldn't even answer to his name, so Sieun has always called him by his name post-coma, pretty strictly. 

But, never his full name. Ever. Not to address him personally anyway. Maybe to people on the outside: Ahn Suho... my boyfriend is Ahn Suho. 

Inside the house, when they are together, he is Suho. Suho-yah. Hyung even more often these days. 

So, who the hell is Ahn Suho?

He's getting a taste of his own medicine. And it's nasty he learns. Deplorable flavor. 

"Ahn Suho!"

He freezes in the shower, looking sharply out of the wet glass. He just doesn't move at all, until he sees a small figure storming into the bathroom.

"Ahn Suho."

Suho immediately cuts the water off, and hesitantly pushes the shower door open. It squeaks, and finally reveals his Sieun.

Suho flinches like he has past trauma from Sieun hitting him or throwing things at him or something. It makes Sieun's face twist up even more.

"Baby?"

"You left the electric dryer door open again and the light blew, now you have to fix it again. And I would love if you didn't take five years to do it, Ahn Suho."

"Woah now," Suho says, breathing heavy, stepping out of the shower and just dripping.

He doesn't grab a towel yet.

Sieun's eyes move down his wet body and back up to his face, the slowest once over he's ever given him. 

Suho pushes his hands through his wet hair, getting smug, and Sieun tries extremely hard not to drop this shtick. He has a point to prove. 

"You can't spin it around on me, love," Suho sweety tells him. 

Sieun pushes his lips out and feigns ignorance. "Spin what around?"

"Calling me Ahn Suho, you don't call me that. When have you ever called me that, hm? Even when you're mad, you call me Suho-yah, sweetheart."

"Whatever. You're Ahn Suho right now."

Suho huffs. "I will change the bulb in the dryer. I'm sorry for leaving the door open."

"It's summer time, why are you even using it at all, hm? Use the clothesline, Ahn Suho, I've also asked you to do that before," Sieun replies, and then he promptly storms out of the bathroom. 

He didn't even say Suho looked good standing here naked and wet. 

This is genuinely the only time Sieun even gets annoyed with him, things about the house.

Suho insists on solely handling everything around here, because he wants to be Big Daddy Suho (terrible one-sided inside joke that Sieun does not want anything to do with), so he should stick to that and stop procrastinating!

"Oh fuck me," Suho whisper-shouts, and he towels off at the speed of light and then shoves some sweatpants on, and runs out of their room to meet Sieun who's still walking in the hallway. 

"Yah, okay, baby, I'm sorry!"

"And my shelves in the garage are still messed up. You got so upset with me for trying to fix them and you haven't even fixed them. Ahn Suho."

"You could have fallen off the ladder!"

"I could have fixed them myself and got it done, Ahn Suho!"

"I will fix them this weekend!"

"You said that last weekend, Ahn Suho!"

"This is hell, please, stop it!" Suho hollers, genuinely losing it now. "I will never call you 'Sieun' again, my God, you win!"

"Win what? We're not playing a game. And you left the lights on the back porch on all night. I asked you if you turned them off and you got a little attitude with me and said you did. But you didn't, which is why I asked you very nicely to check. But, you thought I was nagging."

"Okay, that was..." Suho scratches his head, swallowing thickly, and feeling bad for that, genuinely. "I messed up. That was shitty. I'm sorry. Why didn't you check before coming to bed with me, hm?" 

Sieun looks at him like he's crazy. Because he is. 

Suho tries to cover it up. "I mean-,"

"Ahn Suho. I asked you to check and you said that you did! I don't ever go checking after you for stuff like that!"

"Baby, okay, I'm sorry," Suho whines and he quickly crosses into the living room, trying to get his hands on his boyfriend.

He needs his hands on him right now. They've been apart for too long anyway.

"Come here, sweetheart."

"No!" Sieun starts running away, right into the kitchen, where this all started a month ago. "Bad! Bad Ahn Suho!"

"Stop!" Suho yells back, actually barking like a bad dog. "Sieun-aaah! Come here!"

They have a whole face-off at opposite ends of the kitchen table, bodies jerking left and right, shaking the table crazily.

Then Suho just hops onto the top of it like a fucking maniac and Sieun screeches loudly and runs away, down the other side of the house where their office is, and one of the guest rooms. Suho jumps off the table and chases him. 

"Come here, Sieun!"

Sieun abruptly turns around at the end, and they both freeze. Suho skids to a stop in front of him. 

Sieun points a finger at his face. "A-ha. Sieun." 

Suho smacks his lips. "Baby, come here, please. I want a hug. You're being mean to me."

"I'm not being mean! And what about what I need? I need the lights to be turned off at night, Ahn Suho. And my shelves to be fixed in the garage. For you to stop forgetting to close the dryer door. Light bulbs are expensive, and so is our electric bill. And-,"

Suho lunges forward at once and steals Sieun right into his arms, dealing with all of the protesting and kicking and yelling as he carries him back to the living room. He flops down onto the couch, still holding a wiggling Sieun in his arms. 

"I'll fix all of it right now. My beautiful boy. I'm really sorry for putting everything off and being forgetful. I will be more on it, okay? Can you please stop calling me by my full name now?"

Sieun has settled considerably, and he relaxes into Suho's bare chest, dropping his head on his shoulder. They're both still breathing a little hard.

"Do you see how it feels? Not nice."

Suho cuddles him closer. "It's awful."

"Mm," Sieun hums. "I still wanna be 'baby' when you're mad with me, Suho-yah."

"I'm only ever mad with you for five seconds anyway, love, but okay. I won't call you that when I'm being serious anymore."

"I'm still your baby when I'm in trouble," Sieun says, now turning his head and pressing his lips to Suho's skin, still warm from the shower. And he smells so good. Smells like them. They share everything in there. 

Suho smiles at the feeling of his lips working against his body, moving across his collarbones, and his neck, up to his jaw. 

"I'm still your Suho, all the time," he murmurs, just before Sieun gets to his mouth, and kisses him here, too. "Full government is crazy, Sieun-ah."

"My shelves are getting fixed, now, though. Should've called you Ahn Suho months ago."

Suho kind of pauses, which makes Sieun pause.

He mumbles out, "I'm about to have you calling me something else before I fix these shelves and light bulbs and whatever else you want and need me to do." 

Sieun's lip fall open and then he's scooped up off of the couch at the same time that Suho rises from it. 

"Suho-yah. I'm not calling you Big Daddy Suho. Ever again."

Suho chuckles, carrying him bridal style easily to their bedroom, and accepting all of the kisses Sieun's giving him right now.

"Hyung will do just fine, as always, my baby."

Suho lies Sieun down on their bed gently, on his back, in awe of how gorgeous his boyfriend is, always.

All times of the day, every single moment. Even when he's a little annoyed with him and calling him his whole government name. 

Sieun, too, so beyond in love with Suho, staring up at him while trying to get his paws all over his body, bring him down closer to him for the night. 

. . .

Sieun is Sieun. Ahn Suho is Suho.

They just don't call each other these things specifically. 

They are Suho-yah and Baby... Or literally every single variation outside of Sieun that Suho can come up with. 

Even when somebody is due for a loving scold.