Work Text:
Johnny was used to being the romantic one in the relationship. Despite being older, Taeil was shy and reserved, and rarely initiated any type of affection himself. Johnny was fine with it, he’d always been a romantic- which made what he found on his camera even more shocking. He’d passed out with Premiere Pro still open, and had no memory of the events taking place. Taeil was never the type to show that he loved him with grand displays and big words, rather with subtle actions and concern for him. “Go to bed, Johnny.” “Please eat a vegetable,” and “Let me set it up.” Were all his way of saying “I love you,” or “I care about you,” and even “I want to be with you.” He appreciated that more than the other would ever know.
And he decided to have some fun with footage- the video he’d been editing was boring anyway.
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Taeil was staring at his boyfriend. It was three in the morning, the most delirious of times, and Johnny was passed out on his desk with Premiere Pro still open. He tried his best to save the work he’d finished so far and plug in his laptop without disturbing him- not that it was much work. The man slept like a log. He had no clue why the younger insisted on uploading as often as he did, but he respected his dedication. It was absolutely adorable to watch his face light up whenever someone asked for a picture, or nudged a friend and said “that’s Johnny Seo!” He honestly loved what he did- Taeil loved it too.
But most importantly, he loved the man behind the camera the most. Loved how passionate he was about everything he did, loved his ridiculous gestures and sudden confessions. Johnny was beyond romantic, and it made Taeil even more grateful to have found him. Johnny made him stop and smell the flowers in life, had taught him to dance even when there was no music playing and had convinced him that kisses in public were totally a thing. And in return, he had shown Johnny how to appreciate the smaller things, (“It’s hard to see them when you’re my height!” Was his reasoning) like drinking hot chocolate when it was cold out, or watching Ghibli movies while cuddling on the couch when you were sick.
But maybe it was time to do something big instead. Johnny’s camera still had some charge left in the battery- why not have some fun with it? He’d always found expressing his emotions to be a challenge, to the point where saying “I love you” was enough to trigger an anxiety attack. He worried every day that Johnny didn’t feel loved, that one of his sarcastic remarks had ribbed too hard and upset him. But now was the time to lay out his feelings towards the tall cutie once and for all. He resolved to grab the camera and just rant. To let his feelings spill out so that they could somehow cling to Johnny and remind him that he would love him until the end of time.
“Hello world.” He picked up the camera and held it at an angle where his eyes just peeked out. The sleep deprivation was obvious in his voice, but it wasn’t like anyone would see it- so who cared? “This man? This man right here?” He flipped the camera and pointed vaguely at Johnny. “He has my entire heart.” He ruffled Johnny’s hair and kept going. “Like, who told him he could just take it? Not me! But I don’t mind because he’s literally perfect. God, if you hear me, why did you make one man so right? Like… He’s tall, he’s funny, he’s smart AND he’s romantic. Why? Were you trying to make every other man alive pale in comparison? Because you did!” He stopped to ruffle Johnny’s hair again- it was just too fluffy to resist.
“He just gives love, non-stop. Does he get tired? No, because he’s a literal angel and no one on Earth deserves him. Least of all me.” He was starting to tear up, yet he flipped the camera back to himself anyway. “He’s never wished something bad on someone in his life, like, he just doesn’t know how to be a bad person.” Somehow he had snaked his way into the kitchen -it was almost four in the morning- and was opening the fridge. “He made brownies last night. Who does that?” He pulled out the tray of half-stale brownies. “Who works a full time job as a clothing designer, comes home and runs a youtube channel where he uploads four or five times a week, then makes brownies for his boyfriend who’s a stay-at-home author? He just does it out of kindness. It’s nothing to him.”
The battery was blinking red.
“I could go on for literal hours, but the battery’s about to die. Johnny, I’m glad you grabbed my ass at a party three years ago and I’m glad I was drunk enough to grab yours back. Thanks you for staying with me, through my ridiculous highs and my trench-deep lows. Every time I want to run into your arms when one of my books get accepted, you’re there. If I’m having a depressive episode and just can’t get out of bed and be a person, you’ll lay down next to me without even asking. I don’t say this often but-” He took a deep breath.
“I love you Johnny Seo. I really do.”
He went back up the stairs, plugged the camera in and gently shook his boyfriend awake.
“Huh?” Johnny’s eyes were practically in another dimension.
“Babe, you fell asleep while editing again.” The other shrugged his shoulders and smiled sheepishly.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart- I’ll go to bed now.”
As he climbed into bed with Johnny’s arms around his waist, he remembered the video.
“Babe?” He tapped Johnny’s shoulder.
“Yep?”
“Check your camera tomorrow morning.”
“Uh- if you insist.”
Taeil was grateful that it was too dark to see his cheeky smile.
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When Johnny woke up that morning, he had two things on his mind. He had a day off, and he was planning to: A) finish editing the video and upload it on time and B) see what Taeil had left on his camera. Despite him labelling it as B, the second point was the priority. He opened up his camera and selected the clip with Taeil as the thumbnail- but then he had an idea. The video he was editing was undoubtedly boring. He didn’t want to be someone who uploaded for the sake of uploading. Why not upload a reaction to what Taeil had recorded instead? It required way less editing and would be a lot more fun.
He finally set everything up, and decided to go in without a script. Spontaneous speaking had always been a talent of his.
With the intro done, he turned on the camera, opened up his laptop and pressed play. He didn’t know what he was expecting, but he figured he’d be laughing too hard to talk.
Instead he was trying his best not to cry on camera.
“Taeil!”
“What?” Johnny had always found Taeil’s whining cute.
“Get over here!”
Taeil, still dressed in duck pyjamas, popped into frame.
“Introduce yourself.”
“Um, hi? I’m Johnny’s boyfriend and have been for the last 3 years or so.”
“And do you have something to say about what you left on my camera?” Johnny had an eyebrow raised in an attempt to look interrogative, but he was giggling.
“I hope you like it?” His sheepish grin was killing Johnny.
He turned to the camera while Taeil looked confused.
“Now, it’s my turn!” He was beaming. Taeil looked like he wanted to jump out the window- never mind that they lived on the 12th floor.
“Moon Taeil, you’re one of the most brilliant people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. Maybe you see yourself as annoying or useless- but everyday I’m thankful to have met you.” Johnny wrapped his arms around the smaller man. “You make life so much brighter with your smile, you have more light in your soul than the sun ever could give off.” He was about to continue, when he heard a sniffle.
“Oh my god- is that all it takes to make you cry?” Taeil elbowed him in the ribs.
“S-shut up! I’m just happy, ok?”
Johnny turned to the camera. “My boyfriend is also an extremely talented author, I’ll leave the links to his books in the description!”
“You dork.”
“Wanna do the outro with me then?”
With that, Taeil ran downstairs to make lunch.
All he could think about as he downloaded the footage to his laptop was how lucky he was. It stayed that way for the next hour, until he pressed “upload” and could smell the pasta cooking downstairs. He closed his laptop and sighed contently.
How lucky he was, indeed.