peek-a-boo // KZ peanut

five

when sun-gu returned home from his not-so-satisfying hunt, he immediately felt chills down his spine.

what was this?

what's with the sudden change of atmosphere in the nest?

he narrowed his eyes, and instantly thought of wang-ho who was in sang-hyeok's bedroom. did something happen to wang-ho? did sang-hyeok hurt - or even worse, taint - him? shit. he hoped not - it wasn't like sang-hyeok to take such hasty action, and the idea of someone as innocent as wang-ho to be ruined by sang-hyeok somehow made sun-gu feel sick to his stomach, despite him being the same as sang-hyeok.

no, wait. he wasn't the same as sang-hyeok.

he wasn't a sadistic, calculative monster, who loves to slowly drain his prey for the fun of it. he wasn't charming yet detached, he wasn't someone who would cause harm even if he didn't need to.

sun-gu was sure he was better than sang-hyeok in terms of having a heart. at least he lets his prey wither fast without suffering.

thoughts of that made him feel a bit better about himself, but he was still worried about wang-ho.

nearing sang-hyeok's room, sun-gu inhaled another gulp of air.

ah. wang-ho's scent was still as strong as ever, and he didn't seem to be hurt.

but something had definitely changed.

something in both wang-ho and sang-hyeok.

sun-gu groaned softly, frustrated that his senses weren't as sharp as he wished they would be. he could tell that something was wrong, but he couldn't tell exactly what. jae-wan hyung, whose senses are second only to sang-hyeok, could definitely do so, but sadly he isn't here. he and jun-sik hyung had gone on one of their long hunts that could take weeks. beom-chan, another option he'd consider, was still hibernating in order to recover from a recent serious injury he'd rather not talk about. 

the only person left in the house besides sang-hyeok who possessed sharper senses than sun-gu was kwon-hyuk. however, sun-gu couldn't sense kwon-hyuk's presence in the house - he must've left somewhere then.

sun-gu felt annoyed at his lack of skills and prowess. the logical side of him told him to fall back and leave things be... but his curiosity had eventually won him over.

it was curious, indeed. in their many years of inhabiting this mansion, never has sun-gu felt such a peculiar, unidentifiable aura before.

should he check it out?

probably.

the d-class slowly walked towards sang-hyeok's room, even though he wasn't exactly sure what he was going to do. he didn't even know what to expect... much less how to react to whatever the situation was.

he stopped a few steps away from the door, noticing that it was slightly ajar.

hm?

sang-hyeok never sleeps with his door open. is something wrong? did something happen?

sun-gu secretly hoped so. if sang-hyeok was gone, he can have wang-ho all to himself...

unfortunately, even sun-gu's dulled senses can feel sang-hyeok's powerful aura, so he knew that sang-hyeok was definitely fine, even if something changed.

still, it was quite surprising to see his door not being bolted shut for once, though.

he crept closer, and closer, and then he saw it.

wang-ho had his head buried in sang-hyeok's chest, snoring softly as the older man carressed his hair. sun-gu wasn't sure if the look in sang-hyeok's eyes were genuine love or merely hunger.

either way, it scared the shit out of sun-gu.

the way sang-hyeok could mask his possessiveness under a facade of gentle affection...

messed up. that's all sun-gu could say.

"oh, you're back?"

sang-hyeok amused tone shocked sun-gu. it was as if him being here was no surprise... wait. who was he kidding? this was lee sang-hyeok he was talking about! that damned creature pronanly sensed sun-gu's presence before he even entered the house!

"yes, hyung," sun-gu could only reply with a bitter smile, "i'm back."

sang-hyeok chuckled, and the door opened slightly wider, enough for sun-gu to come in.

"i assumed you had a great hunt?" sang-hyeok mused, his signature teasing smirk plastered on his face, effectively pissing sun-gu off. this sang-hyeok is really trying to rub it in, huh?

but what pissed sun-gu off more is the fact that he can't exactly retaliate in any way. not if he valued his life.

"yeah, a really great hunt..." sun-gu played along, "you seem to have had a great catch too."

sang-hyeok shook his head, sighing. "i didn't need to hunt, sun-gu. this one came up all over me in a heartbeat."

sun-gu was fuming, but let his anger stay under control. "wow, cool."

"i know. maybe one day you can relate? once you've trained enough~"

the exaggerated cheery tone in sang-hyeok's voice made sun-gu want to vomit.

"shut up, lee sang-hyeok," he spat, much to sang-hyeok's amusement, "we get it. you're the best of the best, you don't even need to try! you can pick whatever or whoever you want and no one can say otherwise!"

the look in sang-hyeok's eyes darkened, but his smile remained the same.

"i'm glad you still remember that, sun-gu."

sun-gu felt an odd sensation around his neck. it was as if someone... no, something was getting ready to choke him.

but... sang-hyeok's still in bed, so who..?

"what? scared already?"

sun-gu narrowed his eyes and shook his head but quickly stopped when the invisible grip on his neck tightened.

what the hell? was this another one of sang-hyeok's powers? how strong is he, really?

"listen up," sang-hyeok continued in a sing-song tone.

"han wang-ho is my property, and none of you get to touch him. if i sense any of your scents on what's mine... your blood will stain the streets tomorrow. get it?"

sun-gu had no choice but to nod vigorously. he didn't want to die.

no, not today.

"good," sang-hyeok nodded in satisfaction, "now... fuck off."

and with that, the same invisible force that was around sun-gu's neck pushed him away from the room, shut the door, and locked it from the inside.

sun-gu gasped for air as soon as the invisible hand that was choking home finally went away.

god damn it.

this lee sang-hyeok really needs a lesson.

and sun-gu thinks he knows where he can get someone to teach sang-hyeok the lesson.

a quick dial on his phone, then he put it to his ears.

"hello? is this song kyung-ho?"