crossed hearts || haobin

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"I'm so fucking nervous, Ricky," Hao grunts in frustration as he paces the room of his best friend, who laughs at his desperation. "Don't laugh," he says, pointing his finger at Ricky, who raises his hands in defense.

"It's just a dinner, Hao," Ricky replies, rolling his eyes, and Hao huffs.

"It's not just a dinner; it's a dinner to make Hanbin's parents think this is real, and on top of that, I'm going to meet his older brother, who he never even mentioned to me," Hao says, huffing again. "God, he makes me so angry."

"Shut up, you're just totally in love," Ricky says laughing, and Hao throws a slipper at him, making his best friend laugh even harder. "Since when does Hanbin have an older brother?" he asks, confused, and Hao stops moving around the room, looks at Ricky and shrugs.

"I had no idea he had an older brother," Hao admits, confused. "Why didn't he tell me? I should have known. Imagine if I showed up at Hanbin's house and they started talking about Jaehyun, I would be completely lost. He should've told me," Hao says irritated, crossing his arms and looking at Ricky, who stares back at him in confusion.

"There must be a reason for that, maybe they're not very close," Ricky says, thinking of reasons why Hanbin might not have mentioned it.

"I don't know," Hao says with a sigh as he sits down next to Ricky. After a moment of silence, Hao suddenly stands up, and Ricky looks at him, puzzled by the sudden burst of energy. "There's only one way to find out more about this," he says, looking hopefully at Ricky, who is still looking at him in confusion.

"What way?"

"Your fucking boyfriend," Hao says excitedly and Ricky connects the dots. "Should I call him?" he asks and Hao thinks for a moment.

"Yes, but don't be too obvious," Hao says, and Ricky nods in agreement.

He grabs his phone and scrolls through his contacts to find Gyuvin's number, hesitating before dialing, glancing at Hao, who presses his lips together. Ricky starts the call and puts it on speaker.

"Hi, mi amor," Gyuvin answers quickly, and Hao covers his mouth with his hand to keep from bursting into laughter as Ricky gives him a deadly stare.

"Hey, love, I know this is going to be kind of weird, but I need to ask you something," Ricky says, looking at his phone screen, while Hao gets up from the bed and starts signaling Ricky not to be so obvious.

"Is everything okay?" Gyuvin asks worriedly. "You can ask anything you want."

Hao signals Ricky to start talking. "Um, well, today Hao is going to have dinner at Hanbin's house and meet his parents and siblings," he pauses and looks at Hao, who is trying to say something Ricky can't quite understand.

"And?"

"Right, sorry, and well, he told me he was super nervous about meeting the parents and also because he's going to meet Hanbin's older brother, a guy named Jaehyun," Ricky says, still focused on Hao, who grabs a piece of paper and writes, "Say you never knew he had a brother."

"And I was a little confused because I never knew Hanbin had another brother, and whenever we talk about family and stuff, Hanbin only mentions his parents and his younger brother." Ricky paused again and looked at Hao, who seemed desperate to hear Gyuvin's answer, but his best friend's boyfriend just remained silent. "So I decided to ask you since Hao just told me it was Hanbin's brother and then rushed to the bathroom to get ready," Ricky said, letting out a laugh to make it seem more natural and Hao mentally facepalmed.

"Oh," Gyuvin said, and a silence filled the call and Hao's room, causing the two to exchange a puzzled look. "Well, yes, Hanbin has an older brother. I had no idea he was here, he usually only comes around about six times a year."