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It’s October, which means two things for Jaehyun; one, the cold crisp August air is going to be hitting him in full force, and two, Halloween, the time for dreaded pumpkin spice lattes and latex cat suit promotions. It’s not that he actually hated pumpkin spice lattes(or latex suits for that matter, wink), it just meant that the only coffee shop on campus would be completely packed, and just as they had done last year, they’d probably forget that customers, namely Jaehyun, didn’t really buy the drink. He’s across the shop, hugging his arms closer across his chest, when he pushes forward and crosses the road to the store.
When he enters, he notices how the two large windows, sprinkled with pumpkin and witch stickers, were fogged up due to the contrast of temperatures outside and in. As he waited in the, unfortunately, long line, he leaned over and started to doodle on the glass, writing his name in fancy fonts and drawing silly pictures of stick-figures. The queue grew shorter until it was Jaehyun’s turn at the front of the line and he found himself face-to-face with a less than cheery, probably new as Jaehyun hadn’t seen him before today, pink haired boy.
And holy shit was he stunning. His hair was covered by a red cap but you could see the strawberry blonde peeking out from under it. He had a sharp bone structure, one seemingly made by Michelangelo himself, his jawline on display as he stretches his neck to scratch it. His lips were plump at the bottom, with a very deep cupid’s bow at the top, and pink, just like his hair. His doe-eyes were obsidian, sparkling under the bad lighting of the shop and focused on Jaehyun’s face with a questioning look, dark eyebrows furrowed.
“Uh…sorry, what?” Jaehyun asks sheepishly, feeling slightly awkward.
“What are you ordering?” he asked with a polite, albeit forced, smile.
“Just a lemonade please.” He replied.
The boy chuckles lightly, shaking his head, “Seriously, how boring,” he scoffs under his breathe.
“Excuse me?”
The boy looks up at him and stares directly into his eyes, “I’m just saying there’s like over fifty drinks-fun, festive drinks, may I add-that you could’ve chosen, like the pumpkin spice, and you choose lemonade. Who even comes to a coffee shop for a lemonade?” he says, rolling his eyes, his mouth tugging into a more real smile.
“Who died and made you the drink expert?” Jaehyun said holding back a laugh, any previous awkwardness melting away, “Lemonade is the best for a day like this I’ll have you know.”
The boy gave him an ‘are you serious’ look before replying, “It’s like 2 degrees.”
“Lemonade is an all-year drink, sue me” is Jaehyun’s fast reply.
The boy tips his head back and laughs, and Jaehyun wants to say it’s dainty and cute and all of those mushy things, except…it’s not. Its harsh, loud and the boy kind of sounds like a hyperventilating seal. The twinkle in his eyes though, and the fact that Jaehyun was the one that put it there, makes it more bearable and Jaehyun smiles in response. He eyes the boy’s plain black apron, with a white nametag saying Taeyong, then he eyes the boy’s perfectly straight, perfectly pearly white teeth and wonders if Taeyong ever had braces.
“How about giving the spice latte a try?” he says, bemused.
Jaehyun snaps out of his weird ponderings and rolls his eyes, “Do you guys get paid to promote that?” he wonders, eyes trained on the others, who had a hand on his hip and an eyebrow raised. When he gets no response he continues, “Fine, but if I hate it, I’m not paying.”
“You might like it.”
“I also might not like it”
“You’ll like it.”
“I won’t…it’s a bitch drink,” Jaehyun says offhandedly, to which Taeyong replies with a snort.
“Fair enough, you being set on hating it is even more reason to get you to try it. Pleasure in pain baby,” Taeyong smirks.
Ignoring the fact that this ridiculously handsome boy just called him baby, because holy shit that was hot, and hoping that the lighting truly was bad enough to hide his blushing cheeks, Jaehyun continues, “You know, there’s a word for people like you…” he trails.
“Sexy?”
“Sadist.”
“Dang, I was so sure I was gonna get it right,” Taeyong says slapping his thigh, “Now…your name?” he asks picking up a cup and a pen.
“Hmm…Jeffery,” Jaehyun supplies with a cheeky smile. He did this all the time, the name thing, it was nothing new. The workers at the coffee shop were more than used to him and his constant name-changing, so no one ever said anything, just wrote his off as crazy and continued with his drink.
Taeyong begins to write it down, using the black marker when he stops after crossing the top of the ‘J’, “You don’t look like a Jeffery?”
Now it was Jaehyun’s turn to look at him questioningly, “And what, pray tell, does a Jeffery look like?” he asks.
“I don’t know, just…not like you,” Taeyong mummers.
Jaehyun lets out a small hum and beams, “On the other hand, my friend Youngho says I look exactly like what a Jeffery should look like.”
They hold eye contact for a few seconds before the other speaks, “Seems legit,” he replies absentmindedly, his hand going back to scrawling the rest of the name. Taeyong slides the cup on the counter, along with the receipt and leans his elbows on the countertop, looking down at Jaehyun, “So what do you call your friend Youngho?”
“Johnny.”
“Ha, why am I not surprised? Doyoung, next orders easy, its lemonade,” he yells at the purple haired boy a few feet away.
“What loser orders lemonade in a coffee shop?” he yells back.
“Jeffery did.”
“What loser is called Jeffery?” is the biting response.
Taeyong laughs his strangled kitten laugh, and throws a quick “My point exactly,” before returning his attention back to Jaehyun, who had his arm stretched out, cash in hand. After taking the money, with their fingers brushing in that tacky, romantic, giving-off-sparks kind of way that made Jaehyun slightly faint, because-wow-Taeyong is honestly the prettiest person he’s ever seen, but also sick, because ew the absolute cheeeeeese, Taeyong speaks up, “Won’t be a second.”
Jaehyun counts exactly 237 seconds before Taeyong returns, two drinks in hand. Jaehyun raises an eyebrow at him as he settles them down on the countertop, “One lemonade,” he says pushing the yellow drink in a clear cup forward, “And one bitch drink, ah sorry, pumpkin spice latte…on me.”
Licking his lips, Jaehyun grabs the second drink in his hand, a teasing glint in his eye, “Aw honey you bought me a drink? You shouldn’t have,” he coos, voice drowned in sugar and cinnamon.
“Shut up Jeffery and drink up.”
Jaehyun sipped on the drink slowly, the liquid burning his tongue slightly. And as much as he hated to admit it, the drink tasted good, like really good. It was a pleasant mix of sweet and, unironically, spice, and absolutely perfect for the weather outside. For the third, or maybe fifth-he wasn’t really keeping count- time that day, he heard the sound of Taeyong's harsh laugh or maybe a truck backfiring.
Either way, Jaehyun had liked the latte, he actually enjoyed the bitch drink, which in all technicality made him a bitch. Whose? He didn’t know, possibly Taeyong’s, maybe his own, probably the drink’s, but still, did he really have to fucking like the goddamn drink. Stubborn as ever, he scowled in the pink boy’s direction, before stomping out of the store, both drinks in hand and Taeyong’s pretty painful giggles echoing behind him.
+:+
The next time Jaehyun entered the coffee shop, Taeyong was nowhere to be seen. He wasn’t too disappointed; it would be rather embarrassing for him to see Jaehyun ordering another pumpkin spice latte.
“And what’s your name?” the purple haired boy, whose name he forgot, asked.
“Mark.” Jaehyun replies just as another figure walked behind the counter. The pink hair wasn’t hard to notice in the otherwise sea of blonde and brunette hair. Taeyong was wearing dark eyeliner today and all it did was extenuate his big eyes, making them look sultrier, not that they were sultry to begin with, but still.
“Mark?” Taeyong asks with narrowed eyes.
“Yep, that’s my name.” Jaehyun smirked right back.
“Right,” he said turning towards the purple haired boy, “Doyoung, go make the drink, I’ll get the money.”
Doyoung muttered something under his breathe that Jaehyun couldn’t catch, but what he did catch was the way Taeyong’s cheeks began to match the colour of his hair and the way he playfully hit Doyoung when he whined shut upp.
“You know, you two would make a great tag team,” Jaehyun says once Doyoung was gone, because admittedly the boy seemed intimidating and he didn’t want to make the remark he prepared since he last saw the two of them together, in front of him.
Taeyong is once again, leaning on the counter, looking down at him, as he snorts derisively, “And what exactly would we be called?”
“Hm…Team Rocket?” Jaehyun muses, a smile painted on his lips, proud of the thought, hoping the other would be impressed by his supposed spontaneity and wit.
He looks up to see Taeyong staring back at him with the single most unimpressed face ever conjured. The stare is hard and Jaehyun kind of wants to put his hands up in mock-surrender, but he’s unsure of whether or not the other boy even understood the meaning behind team rocket. He’s just about to explain the joke when Taeyong turns his head 45 degrees and screams.
“Doyoungie! Prepare for trouble!”
“And make it double!” is the response yelled back.
Taeyong moves his gaze back to Jaehyun, a look of absolute glee on his face, and Jaehyun momentarily thinks he’s in love, because not only is the boy unabashedly beautiful, he also watches Pokémon? What an absolute catch, not that Jaehyun was fishing, but still.
“Now whatever would give you that idea?” Taeyong says teasingly, hand on his chin, “So Mark, what drink did you order? Another lemonade?”
Jaehyun stands still for a second, this is exactly what he wanted to avoid. He awkwardly shuffles on his feet, wondering what to say, when he looks up at Taeyong’s raised eyebrows and mutters a small, “Yeah, yeah that’s what I got.”
A loud sigh floats around the room as Taeyong rambles on about how boring he was and how he had to be more adventurous. They promptly stop when Doyoung walks in with a drink, not lemonade, in his hand. Taeyong takes it from him and briefly glances at it, knowing just from the cup that it wasn’t what Jaehyun had allegedly ordered.
“Doyoung, you literally had one job. Makes dimples over there lemonade, what the hell did you make him?”
“Firstly, Sylvia,” Doyoung sniffs, an offended look on his face, to which Taeyong replies you dye your hair white once and you get this shit, “Shut up. Secondly, lover boy over there ordered a spice latte, look at the receipt.”
Doyoung goes to the other counter, fulfilling the order of the next customer, while Taeyong scuffles for the receipt. When he finds it, he stares at it for so long, Jaehyun think he might burn holes through it, and then he looks up with a grin.
“I knew it!” he laughed, “I knew you would like it!”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Jaehyun sniffed, entirely too embarrassed, “this is for a friend.”
“Right,” Taeyong said, turning toward the counter, “Would your friend’s name happen to be Jeffery? I think I’ve seen him before.”
Jaehyun snorted so hard he nearly thought he would choke, all embarrassment washing away because now he’s sure his laughter was much worse than Taeyong's usual. Nobody had ever called him out for his name-changing, they’d caught him, sure, but they would usually just brush him off as a lunatic. Taeyong, however, seemed to think differently.
“Jeffery?” he says, putting his hand on his chin and scratching his head, “No sorry, I don’t know a Jeffery,” he smirked, playing along.
“Ah that’s too bad,” Taeyong smiles, his eyes scanning Jaehyun from head to toe, “He was cute,” he says, effectively wiping the smirk off of Jaehyun’s face and planting it onto his own.
Jaehyun left the shop shortly after that with a warm latte in his hand, scolding himself, momentarily in love remember, except it’s not love, that he knows, but shit does his heart have to beat so fast when he saw the other simply breathe? He walks into the cold air, Taeyong’s goddamn beautiful agonising laugh ringing in his ears.
+:+
It’s a habit, to go into the store every day. Sometimes Taeyong was there, sometimes he wasn’t, that didn’t matter because he wasn’t looking for Taeyong anyways, but still, it was shot in unassuming darkness. Every time he did see Taeyong though, he was determined to not order the pumpkin spice latte and go for his usual, boring lemonade. When Taeyong wasn’t there however…Jaehyun secretly indulged himself, ignoring the smirks from Doyoung, dignified, the purple head would say as he passed the hot drink.
It’s November now, meaning that the previous Halloween themed stickers were long gone and also that Jaehyun couldn’t purchase the latte even if Taeyong was there. He walks in the shop, the store surprisingly quiet for the middle of a school day, and sees Taeyong diligently cleaning the corner tables for any spills or stains. When he heard the little tinkle of the bell, signalling Jaehyun’s arrival, he threw the towel down and made his way to the cash register.
“Welcome stranger, what can I get for you today?” Taeyong asked, his teeth making an appearance at his amusement.
“What do you suggest I get today?” Jaehyun asked, leaning against the counter.
“Hmmm.” Taeyong tapped his finger against his chin in deep thought, “I think a regular lemonade will do the trick.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“Perfect. Could I get your name?” he smirked.
“Quagmire.” Jaehyun replied.
Taeyong lets out a barking laugh before clapping his oversized sweater paw over his open mouth and moving to the machines to make Jaehyun’s drink. If changing his name every time would elicit a reaction like that every time, Jaehyun thought that he should definitely do it more often. Not that he wanted to see Taeyong all happy and stuff, but still.
The sound of Taeyong’s cute excruciating, seal-like laughter was slowly growing on Jaehyun, and he found he heard it in his dreams sometimes and also when he was alone and like, watching tv. The second part freaked the shit out of him and he had called Johnny nine times, asking if he knew any priests or the bible or Latin at least, to which the older replied with carpe diem dude but that was for another day.
+:+
“Johnny.” Jaehyun whined from his place in front of the computer.
“Jaehyun.” Johnny sighs from his place face-down on the floor. The three of them, including Mark who had gotten up to grab water, had been in Jaehyun’s dorm for the past two hours, thinking of a variety of unusual names that Jaehyun could use when going back to the coffee shop.
“Come on, I don’t think we have enough. Help me out, it’s for curiosity’s sake!” Jaehyun exclaimed.
“No, fuck you, I have given you like fifty different names and you have shot down almost all of them. Do this yourself, I thought we were supposed to be studying.” Johnny said, beginning to hit his head repeatedly off of the carpeted dorm floor.
“Please, I just need like two more, I don’t even see him that often,” Jaehyun paused for an answer from Johnny but only received silence. “Johnnyyy,” he moaned and consequently got a pillow thrown at his face. Mark walks in as Jaehyun’s face acts a successful target and sighs deeply, as if he had to pay a decade’s worth of mortgage off or like that one time Jaehyun had ruined Game of Thrones for him.
“What happened now? Are you still looking for names?” he asked, an eye roll evident in his voice.
“What do you mean still? It’s not even been one hour,” Jaehyun starts.
“You’re right, it’s been fucking four,” shouts Johnny from the ground.
“Okay, it’s been like two, don’t over-exaggerate,” Jaehyun says, “I was going to do Joffery, but that’s too close to Jeffery, he might think I’m slacking.”
Mark stills the water bottle at his mouth and glares, a deathly glare at Jaehyun, “Don’t you even fucking bring up anything related to Game of Thrones, or I swear to God, I will behead you,” he sneers, his teeth clashing as he bites his words.
“Ned Stark that bitch up!” woots Johnny, sill curled on the floor.
Jaehyun puts his head in hands and groans, “Guys, but, seriously.”
Mark, because he’s still a nice guy at heart, walks over to Jaehyun and scans the list of names he had prepared, because yes, Jaehyun was that extra, but no, not because he liked Taeyong or anything, just…curiosity. The list as it is was, was crappy and cringey as hell, every name related to an anime or a really bad Law and Order episode, “How about…Haechan?” Mark suggests.
Jaehyun stared at him incredulously, “You mean like…to shine bright?”
“Yeah,” Mark says defensively, “What’s wrong with it?”
“Nothing, I just might use it,” Jaehyun smiles.
“Fina-fucking-ly, after ten crappy years of this torture. Still can’t believe you chose, ew, Haechan over all my suggestions though,” Johnny says, shaking his head.
Mark turns to scowl at Johnny, eyes narrowed, “Chittaphon,” he responds quick, enunciating the strange mixture of letters together.
“Chittaphon,” Johnny mimics.
“Oh my God,” Jaehyun gasps dramatically, all eyes turn to stare at him, worried, “What if he doesn’t even watch Game of Thrones, and doesn’t get the bloody name,” he cries.
“Dude, you’re putting way too much effort in this. If you wanna bottom him, just fucking ask for his number.” Johnny mumbles.
“John Seo, how very dare you!” Jaehyun swivelled in his chair toward the heap on the floor, “This is not some weird courting ritual. Just, nobody’s ever called me out on changing my name. This is only fun.”
Mark snorts loudly at that, too loud and too fast, that he wasn’t able to hide the contagious laugh with his hands. Jaehyun just glares at him, getting his guns ready.
“I don’t know why you’re laughing, like I haven’t heard the name Haechan come from your mouth a million times.”
Shots fired.
“Fucking whipped asshole, go take a hike.”
Shots fired.
The younger’s face falls at that and he’s left with a bitter taste in his mouth and burning red cheeks, “Johnny, he’s all yours.”
“Why me? Just because he’s spitting some truth, Marcus please,” he taunts. Apparently Jaehyun wasn’t the only one that was locked and loaded, Johnny had guns, other than the ones rippling under his shirt, because Jaehyun was pretty sure he heard some...
Shots fired.
“Johnny, you too?” Mark whines in response, “How has this conversation turned from his sad love life to mine?”
Jaehyun’s eyes widen and he points a finger at Mark accusingly, “Aha! So there is a love life!” he says brilliantly. Mark, as if it was now permanent on his face, scowled.
“Whatever, you’re a fucking bottom, suck a dick” he says, sticking his tongue out, before sitting down on the floor next to Johnny.
Shots fucking fired.
Jaehyun splutters because he doesn’t know what to do with that kind of information spilling from innocent little Mark Lee’s mouth. He’s speechless and offended and honestly, that’s the most absurd thing he’s ever heard. He’d never be a bottom, if anything, Taeyong would be the bottom. Not that he wanted to have sex with the pink haired boy or anything, but still.
“I’m totally a top,” he sniffs haughtily, his nose in the air, “Now, is Joffery too similar to Jeffery?”
“Mmph,” the pounding of Johnny’s head on the floor grew louder.
+:+
Taeyong stares at Jaehyun, incomprehension thick in his eyes, “…As in like bright star?”
“What, it’s a name,” Jaehyun says, slightly nervous.
Taeyong thinks for a moment before replying, “Yeah, but it’s not your name.”
Jaehyun walks out of the store as he usually does, lemonade in hand, but this time Taeyong’s laughter isn’t loud and deafening. It’s a soft chuckle, almost mocking and Jaehyun can’t help but find it endearing unappetizing. Not that Taeyong was something he’d like to eat(out), but still. He sends a text to the boys group chat, slightly moping.
To: foreign swaggerz except jaehyun bc hes was birthed in kore
[members; three: jayjaythejetplane, ramenheadnomore, daddy]
jayjaythejetplane: haechan was a fucking failure of a name
ramenheadnomore: bitch, excuse a moi, ur a fucking failure
jayjaythejetplane: ??? who tf
ramenheadnomore: sorry that wasn’t me
jayjaythejetplane: soooo who was it ;)
ramenheadnomore: …not me?
daddy: bs. get urself some diiick mark lee, since u kNOw yooNOh aint getting shitt
jayjaythejetplane: :(
+:+
The Game of Thrones reference didn’t go very well either, because apparently, Taeyong had the most intense dislike for the Lannister’s that Jaehyun had ever seen. The small Joffery with an o had triggered the pink haired boy so hard, that Jaehyun was left to listen to an almost fifteen minute lecture on why those blonde haired incest bastards shouldn’t be on the throne.
“No, I was so glad when that piece of shit died, because seriously, fuck Joffery,” Taeyong concluded, a look of annoyance on his face.
“Or you could fuck Joffery,” Jaehyun winked. He regretted it immediately, when Taeyong huffs, a blasé look on his face. He leaves, with lemonade in his hand, and although Taeyong’s satisfying horrendous laugher could be heard slightly, it was most definitely forced. Jaehyun was sure it was a pity laugh and that Taeyong was lowkey trying not to strangle the boy who said oh but like Jamie’s cool right?
+:+
“You know I’m starting to think you really like me, going from the way you’re always here,” Taeyong says as he rips off Jaehyun’s receipt and hands it to him.
“Ha,” Jaehyun laughs, his voice high-pitched and obviously lying, “Keep thinking.”
Taeyong shakes his head, his pink hair falling over his eyes, “No seriously, you’re either here for me or the drinks, which frankly are not that good and are way overpriced. “
“Don’t you work here?” Jaehyun interrupted, “Aren’t you supposed to, I don’t know, not talk shit about it.”
Taeyong ponders on it for a quick second before shrugging his shoulders, “Life. Anyways, it’s not that great, so the only reason you’re coming back has to be… for me?”
“Or Doyoung?”
“Or me.”
Jaehyun laughs, his dimples on full display, “Do you want it to be you?” he asks, eyes teasing.
“Nah,” Taeyong responds, not even slightly taken aback by the question, “I’m just saying, I wouldn’t be surprised if you came back for me, a lot of people do. I think it’s my deep voice, charming personality and-“
“Your pretty eyes,” Jaehyun supplies. This does in fact take Taeyong aback, but then he remember that he’s too cool for sappy shit like that and grins.
“Aw, does Sebastian think my eyes are pretty?” he teases, angling his face so that his face was directly staring into Jaehyun’s eyes.
“Who thinks whose pretty?” Doyoung says as he walks towards Taeyong, Jaehyun’s lemonade in hand.
“He,” Taeyong begins, pointing at Jaehyun, “Think I’m pretty,” he finishes, a soft smile on his face.
“I agree with him, you are pretty,” Doyoung hands Jaehyun his drink before looking at Taeyong, his head titled as if he was studying him, “…pretty pathetic,” he sings, moonwalking into the back kitchen, throwing Taeyong a peace sign when the other flips him the bird.
“What a dick,” he says, “You think I’m pretty right Sebby?” he asks, leaning on his hand which was propped up by his elbow.
Jaehyun’s wants to say yes, wants to tell Taeyong that he is in fact not just pretty, but almost ethereal. He also wants to make a Black Butler joke. Tell him about the irony which twines them, because even though he’s supposed to be Sebastian fucking hot Michaelis, Taeyong is the one serving him. So he does just that.
“Maybe I’m Claude Faustus,” Taeyong responds.
“Aren’t they like sworn enemies?” Jaehyun says, chuckling because if anything, Taeyong looked like he belonged with the angels or with the Phantomhive family, with his big, alluring eyes, innocent face and sharp words.
“Aren’t we?” absolute shock in his eyes, as if thought of them being anything more than enemies offended him.
“Touché,” Jaehyun nods. He takes his lemonade, which honestly he’s getting tired of, and begins to walk out the store. Taeyong’s improved laugher floating in his mind, until he puts his headphones in and blasts out metal music to drown it out.
+:+
“Nooo, you did not just use Romeo, fuck off with that,” Taeyong says, feeling the second-hand embarrassment hard on his shoulders.
“Don’t be bitter, you’ll always be my Juliet,” replies Jaehyun, sticking his tongue out.
Taeyong pushes Jaehyun’s drink in his hand and starts shoeing him off, “Just take your drink you loser and leave.”
Jaehyun puts a hand to his heart dramatically and broadways out a loud, “Under loves heavy burden do I sink,” he sighs, other hand on his forehead, before making a theatrical exit.
Taeyong’s musical laugh drifts its way to Jaehyun and tickles his ears, “Oh don’t come tomorrow, I’m not working,” he shouts.
Jaehyun opens the door wide open, a foot out of the store before turning, “I don’t come here for you,” he spits. Taeyong just beams at him.
He doesn’t come the next day.
+:+
Taeyong is standing right in front of him today, no countertop between them, and he’s pushing his face closer to Jaehyun and it’s safe to say that not only is he taller than Taeyong, he is also blinded by his beauty. This, obviously, isn’t surprising, he always has been, but there was something about seeing him close-up, flaws and all that made Jaehyun’s heart race so hard, he was afraid that Taeyong would see it galloping out his chest.
“See,” Taeyong says, pointing at the scar under his eye, “It’s right there, and that’s why you can’t be Tony Montana, because I’m the living embodiment of scarface,” he says as if Jaehyun was even paying the slightest attention.
Right now, the taller’s focus was solely on how blatantly beautiful Taeyong was, with his black apron pulled over his grey jumper, a small locket falling out. He thinks, oh my gosh, Taeyong is so much more to him than a simple curiosity, how he was indefinitely in love like with his aura, his jokes, his god-awful laugh. He wants to write down all of Taeyong’s worth down on a piece paper, make a sonnet of it and publish it, so the world knew that such a beauty existed. He was all kinds of struck, love-struck, awe-struck, moon-struck, dick-struck…and yeah maybe he wouldn’t write that last one.
He think all of that, and then consequently think holy fuck this is a bad Nicholas Sparks movie, and scolds himself for even allowing himself for being that cheesy. So instead of saying all of that, he says, “Wow, you’re shorter than I thought.”
He gets a light punch to his arm and a sour, sour, lemonade. The tinkling of Taeyong’s laugh after he saw the way Jaehyun had externally grimaced after taking a sip of his drink, ricocheting in his mind. And he can’t deny that the laugh, at a length, is somewhat charming.
+:+
Jaehyun by now is infatuated with Taeyong, it runs through his veins, in his bloodstreams, filling him with warmth, not that he’d ever admit it. He sees them together, looking at shitty modern art, booing at bad movies and late-night, early-morning fucking, yeah he imagines that a lot. So he thinks that the easiest way to do all of those things, and do Taeyong, would be confessing, but again, Jaehyun would rather stick needles in his eye than admit he felt something for the pink haired boy.
To: foreign swaggerz except jaehyun bc hes was birthed in kore
[members; three: jayjaythejetplane, ramenheadnomore, daddy]
ramenheadnomore: dude, that’s like really unhealthy
jayjaythejetplane: wdym
ramenheadnomore: like im pretty sure if you keep holding in these feelings you’ll explode
[daddy sent an image]
jayjaythejetplane: nah bruh I can conain myself, I wont say dumb shit
jayjaythejetplane: *contain
ramenheadnomore: nooo I mean like literally, your head would be in one place and your body in another
[daddy sent an image]
jayjaythejetplane: that…that shit dont happen in real life dude
ramenheadnomore: don’t fucking lie, that’s what my gran told me
daddy: she also told u that ur allergic to not saying thank u,,don’t b a dickhead
ramenheadnomore: stfu johnjohn, anyways jae…you should tell him whether you explode or not
jayjaythejetplane: you think so?
ramenheadnomore: yeah bro it’ll do you good, you’ll be a lot more happier and he probably likes you too you know
jayjaythejetplane: naaaah fuck that, that shits gay
ramenheadnomore: are you for real rn?
[daddy sent an image]
ramenheadnomore: johnny if you send another pepe is daddy image again iSTG
daddy: ;)
daddy: ha ha jaehyun’s gay
[seen]
daddy: guys don’t ignore me
daddy: pls
daddy: ):
:+:
He walks into the coffee store for the hundredth time, expecting a long line and Taeyong busily working away at the counter. He expects this, because consistently visiting the shop had led to him memorising Taeyong’s timetable, so it was easier for him to go in when convenient. He goes in, hears the little tinkle and is greeted by pink hair cleaning as usual.
“Taeyong!” he says very loudly, a bit too loudly, a grin on his lips.
The other looks up and is slightly surprised, giving his a small smile, “Ah, hey dimples,” he responds flatly. His smile isn’t the one that makes Jaehyun’s heart beat a million times too fast, instead it makes it stutter because this isn’t his usual all-encompassing smile and that wouldn’t do in Jaehyun’s books.
“And what’s the matter with you today?” Jaehyun asked as he leaned against the counter.
“What could ever be the matter with me?” Taeyong says looking up at him.
“That’s doesn’t answer my question” Jaehyun returned.
“Well, it’s an answer.”
“No, it’s a question. Now, what’s got you down TY?” he repeats, leaning forward on the counter.
Taeyong stares at him deeply, a small smirk on his lip as he dramatically sighs, “My love life…it’s tragic.”
Jaehyun chuckles, “When wasn’t it?”
Taeyong gives him a playful glare before shoving his shoulder, “No, seriously…I like someone,” he mutters.
Jaehyun freezes slightly at that, all ready to say no don’t like them, like me, but then he remembers he’s too pussy cool to admit that he likes Taeyong so he swiftly continues, “So…ask them out.”
Taeyong pouts, “But what if they say no and reject me?”
“Who could say no to you, pinky?” Jaehyun said, cocking his head to the side.
“He might.” Taeyong paused, “You see, I don’t know him very well so I don’t know how he would react to something like that.”
“Well…Does he go our uni?” he asks, and nods quickly after Taeyong does, “Well, what’s his name I might know him and I could…help you out, I guess,” he says, stomach dropping a bit at the prospect of helping Taeyong ask someone out who wasn’t himself; but after this no one could say he wasn’t a selfless person, no wait, he doesn’t even like-
“Yeah, another issue. I don’t exactly know his real name. Uhhh, do you know a Jeffery or Sebsatian, or even Casper, Romeo or Snape?” Taeyong says, listing the names off on his fingers, head tilted.
“Uhh…” fuck that, he liked Taeyong.
Taeyong copies Jaehyun’s stance of leaning against the counter and looked straight at him. It was the most serious Jaehyun had ever seen him. His usually bright eyes were darker now; and he had to look away before Taeyong caught him staring too long.
“Ah,” Jaehyun half-laughed, catching up and playing along “Casper, yeah I know Casper, he’s the unhealthily white dude right?”
“He’s milky white,” Taeyong scolds, offended, “It’s cute.”
Jaehyun blushes at that, “Well,” he coughs, “I think he’d go out with you, doesn’t have much on his plate right now as it is…or at least that’s what he told me.”
“You think?” Taeyong’s famous smile broke out across his face, “Do you think he’d wanna go out tonight? Possibly after my shift?”
“I mean, you’d have to ask him. But coming from a completely unbiased third party who has nothing to do with the situation, I’d say yeah, he’d be down.” Jaehyun turned and leaned against the counter so that he was now resting on his elbows.
“Perfect.” Taeyong copied his stance again and brought the two of them marginally closer to each other. “So just so we’re clear, I should tell him to be here at around 7:00?”
“I’ll even text him for you to be sure.”
+:+
“You guys are all pieces of shit, especially you Johnny, literally go rot in hell,” Jaehyun yells from inside his closet. The four of them collectively sighed in despair. Four, including Haechan, who Mark said was there to ‘help me study’ even though Jaehyun caught them all out of breathe and hair messed with Mark conveniently reading a book, upside-down, after he hammered their door down to get them to help him. He mustered them all together to help him pick out clothes for his…date, and all they’d manage to do was successfully heighten his stress levels.
Johnny groans aloud and runs his hands down his face, “I can’t believe you dragged me and Mark out for this, honestly. I was gonna get laid, Mark was gonna get laid,”
“Mark was not gonna get laid,” is Haechan’s quick input.
“And now we’re all here tryna get you laid, that’s like…so unfair.” Johnny continues.
“But…I need an outfit,” Jaehyun whines, “You’re all useless, go away.”
“Bitch, we gave you like four outfit choices, look, let me pick something else,” Johnny chuckles, coming towards Jaehyun and slinging an arm around his shoulders.
“Get the entire fuck away from me, the last outfit you got out was like four pyjamas combined, just get out and go to Ten,” Jaehyun says, pushing Johnny away from him. Johnny leaves the room and Jaehyun sighs, hands brushing all of his clothes, an entirely too sad expression on his face. His nerves were racing all around him, and he didn’t understand why. He had met Taeyong a million times, embarrassed himself for at least a million of them. So then, why was this so hard?
“Okay, this is getting way too depressing,” erupts Haechan, who had, for the entire time, acted as a silent spectator, and was done with Jaehyun’s sappy shit, “Let me choose,” he says, now kicking Jaehyun out of his closet. When the door closed behind him, he turned to stare down a Mark with a what the fuck expression, to which the other simply shrugs.
After a whole five minutes, which for Jaehyun, went too slow, Haechan comes out of the closet, with all black pieces in his hand. He throws them at Jaehyun’s face, throwing a quick, “Here, it’s all black, do your hair in a side-parting, you’ll look hot, like really hot,” while looking Jaehyun up and down.
Mark begins to frown and gets up to grip Haechan’s hand, pulling him out of the room, despite the latter’s protests. Just before he’s managed to push him out of the door, Haechan sticks his head back in and yells, “And leave the top two buttons undone, it’ll be sexy, he won’t be able to keep his hands off of you!”
“Wait,” Jaehyun yells back, “Where are you going?”
Mark rolls his eyes, shoving the younger out of the door before turning to glare at Jaehyun, “We’re going back to my dorm…don’t disturb us this time? Then maybe I can finally get laid,” he mumbles the last part under his breathe.
“You’re not getting laid!” is Haechan’s muffled huff from the other side of the door.
“Should I tell you when I’m leaving?” Jaehyun asks to no one in particular.
“No! Nobody cares!” is Johnny’s biting response.
“Shut the entire fuck up Seo, and why are you still in my house!”
+:+
Haechan was right, he looked hot, or at least he thought he did, going from the way Taeyong’s eyes appreciatively scan over him as he licks his lips slightly. Taeyong’s wearing a grey turtleneck, with a cream coat on top of it and dress pants, needless to say, if he thought Jaehyun looked good, then he did not want to hear the (unholy) thoughts driving through Jaehyun’s mind. They’re both at the entrance of the coffee shop, the store sign hovering over them, casting them in a shadow.
“You look…” Taeyong trails.
“Hot? Sexy? Everything you’ve wanted in a man?” lists Jaehyun, a sudden burst of confidence hitting him.
Taeyong snorts at that, his teeth bared, “I was going to say nothing like Casper, but sure.”
Jaehyun grins at the other and sticks his hand out, pulling Taeyong closer once their fingers intertwined. It’s that gross, typical romance genre sparks which fly up his arms, the same ones that still make him go ew, the cheeeese, but the more dominant thoughts being holy shit this is happening and Jaehyun definitely still felt faint.
“Casper couldn’t make it,” he breathes out, “So you got Jaehyun instead.” Instead of replying, Taeyong looks down to the ground, his expression weird, and Jaehyun just wrote it off as him not believing his name was Jaehyun, “That’s…that’s my name, my actual name.”
Taeyong laughs the prettiest laugh Jaehyun has ever heard grace his lips and looks back up at him, placing a hand on his cheek, “I know,” he says.
“You what?!” splutters Jaehyun, shock evident on his face as his eyes widen a tenfold.
Taeyong bursts out laughing, now with his usual laugh, and wipes a tear from his eye, “The first…the first day, you wrote your name on the window dumbass,” he manages to get out between chuckles.
Jaehyun’s mind scopes back to that first day and the first time set his eyes on Taeyong. He thought he was so smart, giving random names, a mystery that Taeyong wanted to solve, it turned out that the joke was on him.
“That’s an asshole move you know,” pouts Jaehyun.
“I knowww, you thought you were so slick, how embarrassing.” Taeyong says gleefully.
As much as Jaehyun wanted to be angry or at least a bit more hard to get, it was difficult. Because under this light, Taeyong looked a thousand times more handsome. His sharp features were illuminated, his lips, roseate, there was a healthy glow resting on his skin and the sparkle in his eyes rivalled the moon and stars. Jaehyun stares and him and think that the other could have whatever, whoever, he wanted. He was all charms and good looks, sin and sinner combined, not that Jaehyun was complaining, he’d just have to make sure to try extra hard not to lose him.
“So…where are we going? Please don’t say the coffee shop, we’re always there, literally,” Taeyong groans.
“I’m going to wine and dine you honey,” Jaehyun flirts.
He gets a smirk back, before Taeyong is stepping forward, invading his space and putting a hand on his chest, “Just so you know I don’t put out on the first date,” he whispers.
“Technically it’s our like ninety-eighth date, like you said, we’re always at the coffee shop, so we’ll see about that” Jaehyun teases, dragging the other closer to his body.
His hands trail up Taeyong’s spine, leaving traces of sweet lemon and lime as they eventually find their way onto his chin. He tugs his face up so that their lips meet in a passionate kiss, Taeyong’s hands move to the nape of his neck. The kiss was gentle but firm, making Taeyong open his mouth in a low moan and then slowly, inexorably, a tongue slipped inside his mouth, brushing the inside of his mouth. Jaehyun’s hands made their way from his jaw down to his waist, pulling him impossibly closer to a hard chest as heat engulfed his body.
Jaehyun’s tongue explores more deeply in the other’s mouth, a growl sounding from him as Taeyong tugs hard on his hair. Biting down hard on his bottom lip, Jaehyun revels when he elicits a groan from the shorter, licking the small bit of skin between his teeth. Making a sound of protest, Taeyong pulls away, breathless, resting his forehead on Jaehyun’s.
“I wanted to do that since I first saw you,” admits Taeyong, cheeks red, licking his lips.
“Hmm,” hums Jaehyun, “I want to do that and more,” he says suggestively.
Taeyong’ hands fall from his hair and hit his chest, “You’re not getting any. Now let’s go,” he says shoving Jaehyun lightly and walking away, “I want free food!” he hollers.
Jaehyun chuckles softly before following him. Once he caught up he grabbed Taeyong’s hands and interlaced his own within them. He eyes the pink haired boy who was animatedly talking, his more-than-enough laughter, painting Jaehyun’s world in new colours, lighting up the skies and he thinks thank god for lemonade.
It’s safe to say, Taeyong did put out on their ninety-ninth first date.