Chapter Text
The New Year brought with it the eventual stress of exams. His unplanned emotional journey had cost Doyoung almost all of December and now he had only a month left to work on the pile of final projects he had been ignoring. The two extra courses he had picked up for the semester now seemed more like a burden than a blessing, taking almost all of his time.
It had been two days since he had seen his bed, alternating between studios to simultaneously work on his design and sculpting projects, the deadlines being too close to each other for him to slack on either one. The stress was good, though, Doyoung worked well under pressure and the caffeine running through his system was pushing him to follow through with the workload.
Not only had he not seen his bed in a couple of days, he hadn’t seen his boyfriend either. It still felt weird, calling Taeyong his boyfriend, holding his hand in public while they were surrounded by people. The older boy had been busy, too just like Doyoung he too had an interactive major which had him practicing day and night for his final evaluation.
Even though being away from Taeyong gave Doyoung some space to breathe and clear his head from thoughts of the boy and work instead, he would be lying if he said he didn’t miss him. Taeyong had the ability to cease each and every one of his senses until he was all that Doyoung had within him. It was a source of comfort for him, having Taeyong with him even he wasn’t there.
The brush was plucked out of his hand, pulling him out of his train of thought. He turned around to find Taeyong twirling the brush in his fingers, beaming up at him.
“Hey baby,” He leaned in for a kiss only to be met with a palm.
“Hey!” He whined trying to reach Doyoung’s lips.
“Can I have my brush back?” He tried to sound stern, failing when a smile broke out on his face.
“I wanna kiss you.” Taeyong pouted, crossing his arms against his chest after handing the brush back to Doyoung.
“I want to work.”
And so he did, with Taeyong sitting across from him, secretly snapping pictures of him while he was immersed in his work. After an hour of blowing his bangs and pouting for attention, Taeyong decided it was time for Doyoung to take a break.
Doyoung whined, letting Taeyong drag him out to the courtyard, only slightly trying to go back inside to get back to work. He followed Taeyong to sit on the grass and then lay down beside him when he did so.
“What are we doing?” He asked, turning his head to appreciate Taeyong’s side profile.
“I’m teaching you how to cloud watch.” Taeyong smiled.
“What?” Doyoung asked, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
“You said you don’t know how to so I’m going to help you.” He shrugged.
Doyoung’s lips curved into a small smile, heart swelling at the tiny detail Taeyong had remembered. He found himself smiling a lot lately, mostly because of something his boyfriend would do. It was strange how much he had changed in the span of four months, finding himself growing into someone he had subconsciously always wanted to be. Doyoung looked up at the floating masses of condensed gas, watching them conjoin before breaking apart and swirling into nothingness against the clear blue of the sky.
Taeyong intertwined their fingers, laying their hands between their bodies before he pointed to a cloud.
“What do you see?”
“I see a cloud.” Doyoung dryly replied, enjoying the way Taeyong’s nose scrunched.
“Look closer,” Taeyong closed an eye, tracing the outline of the cloud with his finger, “Do you see that? It’s a nose.”
Doyoung hummed, eyes far from the clouds settled on the boy lying beside him.
“And that,” Taeyong’s fingers moved in the air. “That’s a tail. It’s an elephant.”
He stated, moving onto a new puffy white cloud that floated above them.
“That looks like a fish.” Taeyong squinted, lips parting as he examined the shape, “Yep! A fish look it has fins.”
Doyoung agreed with another hum, eyes following the curve of Taeyong’s nose, his eyelashes fluttered against his cheeks, teasing them before being lifted again. Doyoung smiled when Taeyong squealed,
“That’s a bunny!” He squeezed Doyoung’s hand. “Look Doie it’s you!”
He turned to find Doyoung already looking at him, eyes heavy and dazed, a lazy smile spread across his face as he watched Taeyong’s smile fall, staring back at him, their eyes meeting before he looked away, cheeks picking up color.
“Your turn.” He said clearing his throat, “What do you see?”
“I see the love of my life,” Doyoung said without much thought, flustering Taeyong.
“W-what?” Taeyong asked, turning his head to look at him, this time his cheeks burned red.
“I love you.”
Doyoung had imagined it to be tough, saying the three words he just had. He had thought of it during late nights, wondering how he would say it if it ever came to that. All that planning went to waste, however, when it rolled off his tongue before he could think about it.
“I…” Taeyong’s lips twitched at the sides as they curled up into the most beautiful smile Doyoung had ever seen, “I love you, too.”
He squeezed the younger boy’s hand and at that moment, Doyoung wanted nothing more than everything Taeyong. He wanted to watch the stars with him, twinkling in his eyes while they lay under the open night sky, he wanted to explore everything about Lee Taeyong. Doyoung wanted to wake up to his smile and go to sleep in his arms, he wanted to lay with him on hot summer days, under the fan while they ate watermelon and complained about the heat. Doyoung wanted Taeyong to be every one of his firsts and every bit of his lasts, Doyoung wanted nothing more than to delve into the depths of Taeyong and learn to swim, but in all honesty, Doyoung wouldn’t mind drowning in Taeyong.
He leaned in to peck Taeyong’s lips, moving back to his original spot and turning his face towards the sky. He pointed at a cloud, a big one bending at the top to make a long horn while the rest of it twisted into a body.
“That looks like a fencing monkey.”
“That’s a unicorn, idiot.”
“Your idiot.”
“Shut up.”
“You shut up.”
“You’re lucky I love you.”
“What was that?”
“I said, you’re lucky I lo…”
Taeyong was cut off when a pair of lips consumed his own, shutting him up as he hummed into the kiss. He had been wrong, it wasn’t tough loving Kim Doyoung, it was the easiest thing in the world. Love was the easiest thing in the world as long as you learned to give it.