“Youshould!And post them on your accounts, too.”
“Hyung-nim, youstop,” Soobin complained as Cal checked the meat once again. This was standard band practice when they ate out—Siwan was de facto food captain, because he was actually the pickiest eater among them. He was also really good at keeping up with the local food scene—he claims to have tried all the restaurants run by the chefs who appeared on that cooking battle on a streaming service. Food captain also meant he ordered for everyone, even when Soobin managed to get a choice in.
Then there was Soobin, who was glaring daggers at Cal over the grill top. His role as the maknae was to make sure everyone ate and that all the orders arrived. But most importantly, he made sure Cal didn’t hoard the beef.
“We ordered tofu for your protein. Stop grilling everything on your side,” Soobin practically slapped his hand away from the tongs, as Cal had just taken half of the grilling meats. And the kimchi. “Hyung! Even the kimchi, aish.”
“Soobinnie, why are you so…steamed?” Cal asked, holding the tongs up to his bandmate’s annoyed face. His position on the chair—one leg tucked under the other so he was sort of sitting on his ankle—made him a little more flexible, enough to reach over and put the beef on Lia’s plate, noting that she had no trouble constructing a wrap herself. “Don’t worry, it’s my treat tonight.”
“This. Is. Grilled!” Soobin’s ears were practically blowing out steam. “Since when did you treat us, hyung?”
“What!” Cal exclaimed. “I treat you heathens all the time!”
“The ‘yong’ in Yongjin means dragon, so we’re used to him making a little hoard and never sharing,” Siwan explained in English. He sounded disappointed, but not surprised. “Seriously, hyung, you get thetofu.”
“He’s been putting meat on Lia’s plate.” Teddy announced without looking up, busy as he was with his bowl of doenjang chiggae.
The whole table went quiet as they looked at Lia, who suddenly looked up in confusion from a mouthful of meat and rice.
“What?” she asked, she waved her chopsticks at the plate Cal’s hoard had been building up in. “I’ve been taking from that loose plate in the middle.”
“You mean the one I’ve been putting meat in? For you?” Cal asked, chuckling.
“Hyung is playing favorites!” Soobin continued to whine as Cal took a second to look at the girl he was hoarding meat for.
Lia’s glasses still had a bit of fog near her nose bridge, but she looked happy, her cheeks flushing pink as she started to build her little ssam. Meat, kimchi, samjang sauce, grilled onion, grilled garlic, a bit of rice…
He noticed Lia struggling to pick up a perilla leaf from the bowl with her chopsticks.
“Here, let me.” He extended his arm toward the perilla leaves, plucking one expertly and placing it on top of her ssam. “That looks like a winner.”
“It is,” she agreed before chomping it all down in one bite. Cal was too busy laughing to notice the table had gone silent, watching him and Lia until Siwan and Soobin began making various Korean vowel noises of disbelief and shock.
“Yaaaaa, hyung. Such a romantic!” Siwan exclaimed in Korean, clapping a hand on Cal’s shoulder and making Cal swat his arm away. “Am I wrong, though? The perilla and everything? Don’t worry hyung, even if you date the straight girl, you’re still part of the club.”
“Wait, is she…?” Soobin looked as if he were solving three complicated equations at once. “She’sthefan! ??!” Soobin exclaimed. “Waaaa hyung, you really like her. You could just be nice with the meat, but then theperilla leaves?”
“What is happening?” Lia asked, having not understood any of that. Hopefully.
“Don’t listen to them.” Cal scowled at the two, even as he felt his entire face get hot.
“Wala akong nagets though?” Lia said, but there was an odd look in her eye, one that Cal already knew meant she knew more than she was saying, like you know, that time she didn’t tell him she was a lapsed fan of his band. “Did you know that the BOLTs call you baby hyung?”
His bilingual brain didn’t process it fast enough, but Soobin caught on quick and started laughing.
“We call him choding,” Siwan explained. “Like a kid.”
“I thought I was Best Butt,” Cal mumbled, absolutely pouting like a kid. “Leave me alone.”
“Cal, I was going to ask. Who was the fan that inspired the new alb—“ Teddy started, but Cal shot him a glare so severe that all he could do was laugh into his doenjang. Lia also pressed her hands to her ears and said, “Lalala, no spoilers!”
“Kala ko ba ex mo na,” Teddy teased, and now Lia was just as red as Cal, so much that her cheeks pushed her glasses up higher on her nose, and there were now little half-moons of steam on the base.
“Don’t listen tohim.”She pouted at her brother, which made the whole table crack up. “Also, don’t tell me anything, I want to be surprised.”
“Oh really?” Uh oh. Siwan was making that face. That ‘dare me’ model face of his that had luxury brands and every gender under the sun fall to their knees and give him what he wanted. Once he gave Cal that look, he knew he was fucked. “Did Cal hyung tell you that?—”
“Can we talk outside?” Cal suddenly asked, putting down the grill tongs. If he didn't act quickly, Lia was going to find out about everything over grilled meat and perilla leaves, and he did not think this was a conversation to have over grilled meat, perilla leaves and a gallery of little brothers.
