Chapter Text
The police station gave him some ice and a cloth for his hand- which was surprisingly nice of them- given the circumstances. By now, Jongwoo had sobered up from his drinks and the reality of what he’d done had set in.
He still didn’t regret it… Which was as much of a shock as it wasn’t, really. Tonight had seemingly marked itself as a turning point for his psyche- whether he wanted it to be or not.
The rookie officer jotting down his case seemed out of his depth, but ultimately, aside from what Jongwoo was now decreeing- ‘the yaki-hand bitch-slap of the century,’ the situation was pretty clean cut.
He’d caught his girlfriend with another man. He’d lashed out. He was facing the consequences.
-Oh, and Moonjo was here too. For some reason.
“I want him locked up for life! Life! Only a total psycho would do something like this!” Jaeho gritted, whining in pain as one of the officers applied gauze to his cheek. Jongwoo had got him good. He could still see his hand print on Jaeho’s face- red and angry and as clear as day.
“Mr Shin, please calm yourself. We need to get all of your testimonies in order to properly understand what occurred.” The officier insisted. “Behaving irrationally won’t solve anything.”
“Irrationally!? That bastard just put his hand on a grill and then slapped me!”
Jongwoo looked entirely serious when he turned to the officer. “I’d do it again too.”
“You-” Jaeho lunged forward at him only to be held back by the lieutenant patching him up. “You’re fired! You’re so unbelievably fired! I’m suing too. For all the money you don’t have!” He laughed. “You’re never making it out of that shitty boarding house!”
“Jaeho-oppa, please be calm.” Jieun said quietly from beside him. Unlike Moonjo, she seemed to be having an awful time on the sidelines.
Jongwoo eyed her from his peripheral. His heart still hurt when he saw her fussing over Jaeho- but now he wasn’t quite sure if it was because it wasn’t him or if it was because it was Jaeho.
He couldn’t be sure. He probably never would be. After tonight he was fine with never seeing either of them again, if he was being honest.
“I can’t be calm!” Jaeho raged at her. “I was assaulted without warning or reason!”
Moonjo huffed. “I would argue there was reason enough.”
Jaeho’s nose scrunched at that. “Who even are you? What are you still doing here? This isn’t any of your business.”
“He’s with me.” Jongwoo snapped.
Moonjo seemed very pleased by that little statement. He was practically preening like a prized peacock in that stainless steel waiting room chair.
Jaeho scowled at the both of them now. “You should lock him up as well. He’s just as shifty.”
“Dr Seo is a pillar of the community, actually!” Exclaimed a voice from the corner of the room. The captain of the precinct entered the fray just in time. With his portly stature and his salt and pepper hair he boasted authority and old fashioned values.
“Captain Choi,” Moonjo greeted with a smile. “It’s nice to see you again.”
Of course Moonjo was chummy with the police captain. Why the fuck not? Jongwoo was fed up with trying to figure him out.
“What brings you here, Doctor?”
“Ah,” Moonjo said delicately. “My companion committed a crime of passion. I’m here as moral support.”
“I caught my girlfriend cheating on me with my boss so I put my hand on a grill and then slapped him.” Jongwoo provided.
Captain Choi seemed vastly amused by this. He burst out laughing almost immediately after Jongwoo finished speaking. “My! The passion of youth!” He looked toward Jaeho and Jieun now. “Back in my day a real man would have taken that hit and gone on his way without getting the authorities involved.” He clicked his tongue in disappointment.
Jongwoo didn’t exactly agree with that statement but he also wasn’t against currying favour with the police captain in charge of whether or not he was going to spend the night in the slammer. He kept his mouth shut.
“Say, you over there, can’t we just settle this now?” Captain Choi sighed toward Jaeho. “It’s late and my subordinates and I are hoping for an easy night.”
“Settle?!” Jaeho was incredulous. “I’m not settling anything! That bastard needs to pay!”
“With what money?” Jongwoo reared back. “The ‘fuck all’ that you call my monthly salary? Go for it. Take it all.” He sneered. “It’s not like you haven’t stolen everything else from me now.”
“Oppa…” Jieun looked guilty now. “I never wanted to hurt you.”
Jongwoo huffed. “Alright Jieun, then what the fuck do you call this?” He crossed his arms. “Maybe if you hadn’t been a coward and broke up with me already I wouldn’t be here at all. Wouldn’t that be a dream for you? For me to just stop existing in your life?” Jongwoo sighed. He wanted to leave- but he didn’t know where to. The boarding house was just as bad and home was hours away. He looked to Moonjo and mouthed, “Get me out of here.”
…And Moonjo, for all he was odd and awful and definitely evil- well, he obliged.
“What will it take to deal with this now?” Moonjo asked then.
Jaeho eyed him suspiciously but ultimately relented. “I want an apology and every cent Jongwoo has in his bank account.”
“Fuck you, I’m not apologising.” Jongwoo spat. “You can have my money but I’m not sorry.”
“Then I’ll see you in court, y-”
“How about… 400,000 won?” Moonjo interrupted. “I’ll make it 500,000 if you stop talking in my presence entirely.”
“I can’t believe that actually worked.” Jongwoo murmured, shuffling alongside Moonjo.
“That boss of yours is as materialistic as they come.” Moonjo replied. “Though, I’m surprised he didn’t ask for more.”
“I can’t pay you back. I don’t have the money.”
“It’s fine.” Moonjo replied. “...Though I don’t think we’re in the clear just yet.”
“What-”
“So the prissy doctor has some cash to burn, huh?” Jaeho called through the night air. He’d followed them out. A boldly stupid decision. “Woo-yah! Is he your sugar daddy or something?”
Jongwoo sighed- long suffering and exasperated.
Moonjo was right again, unfortunately.
Jaeho sauntered over to them with that same puffed chest stature that he always walked into the office with. “Why were you two at dinner together alone anyway?” He questioned. “Couldn’t Jieun and I accuse you of the same thing as us?”
“I believe I paid you an extra 100,000 won to avoid this situation.” Moonjo replied pointedly.
Jaeho ignored him.
“Dr Seo is a friend of mine.” Jongwoo answered slowly.
Friend was certainly too strong of a word but Jaeho didn’t need to know that.
“A friend? Right… Well, let me be honest with you, Woo-yah. That ‘friend’ of yours has been hiding something from you.”
“What are you suggesting?” Moonjo tilted his head.
“Oh please, I know a homo when I see one. I did my military service like everyone else.” Jaeho scowled.
Moonjo looked vastly amused by this, but in a dangerous way that had chills creeping all the way up Jongwoo’s spine. “Ah, now, Mr Shin, that's a loaded accusation, isn’t it?” Moonjo challenged- neither confirming nor denying whether what Jaeho had said was true. “You don’t know the slightest thing about me.”
“I know you’ve been making eyes at Jongwoo the entire time we’ve been here.” Jaeho scowled. ‘I don’t want him to fall into a bad crowd because of some predator like you. He’s a bastard but I still have a heart… I couldn’t let him just leave with you knowing what I know!”
Jongwoo wasn’t sure what was more absurd about Jaeho’s statement; the idea that he had a heart, or the posturing around Moonjo being a predator because of his sexuality.
Seo Moonjo was a predator, no doubt about that, but being gay had nothing to do with it.
“You think I’m the prey then?” Jongwoo supposed.
“Of course! Look at you!” Jaeho spat. “Woo-yah, you’ve never had much of a backbone plus you’re so sensitive… Aish, you already act like one. There’s no need to flip the switch.”
Jongwoo blinked at him.
He didn’t quite know what to say. He was just so incredulous about it all.
In the end… Well, he didn’t say anything at all.
Jongwoo grabbed Moonjo’s neck and smashed their mouths together.
It was hardly a romantic first kiss, but saying ‘first’ kiss implied that there would be another– which was inherently romantic… So maybe Jongwoo just needed to reassess.
He’d kissed Moonjo out of spite right then but to say he hadn’t been wanting to do it all night would be a total lie. Jongwoo had always liked who he liked. If that person happened to be a male then he’d tend to tamp it down and wait for it to pass simply because it made his life easier… But doing things in order to make his life easier thus far had actually made things harder, so, well, fuck it. He was going to kiss this absolute weirdo of a man and see what happened.
Jaeho gasped like he’d been shot.
Jongwoo pulled away. “It’s too late, hyung. The switch has been flipped.”
Later on Moonjo would call this night their first date. Jongwoo would vehemently deny it- but ultimately knew that a date with stalking, murder ideation, a police station and third degree burns was pretty par for the course for them.