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“Taeyong, please? I swear, I’ll buy you anything you want. I’ll do anything. I’ll do your next two essays for you. PLEASE.” Shaking his head, Taeyong grinned at his friend, who was almost bowing down to Taeil at this point. “Yeah, no.”
Taeil dramatically flopped into his chair, a pout gracing his face. The action made Taeyong’s heart flutter a bit, but he ignored it, because he’d much rather third wheel with Mark and Donghyuck then admit his lingering feelings for his hyung.
“Taeyong hyung, your feelings aren’t ‘lingering’ they’re literally eating away at your life. You would literally do anything for the boy. You actually went around and plugged his YouTube to people in the street for him. Stop pretending like you’re not whipped.” Donghyuck would say over coffee, the two of them songwriting in the busyness of the cafe for extra motivation. To which Taeyong replied, “Hyuck, it took you seven years to admit you liked Mark. Shut the fuck up.”
Taeil was actually on the floor this time, latching onto Taeyong’s ankle. “You’re so overdramatic, hyungie.” “You would be too! I’m desperate as fuck.” Taeyong sighed and reached out a hand to help Taeil back into his chair. “How the fuck did you get yourself into this predicament again?”
Running his hands through his hair, which stayed perfect despite the laws of human existence, Taeil visibly shrunk. “I..I told my sister I had a boyfriend because I was just trying to
give an excuse to why I was late to our weekly Skype call and she told my parents and now my cousin is getting married and they wanna meet my boyfriend at the wedding but I don’t HAVE a boyfriend and I kinda need one and please? Taeyongie..I’ll do ANYTHING.”
The look in Taeil’s eyes was enough for Taeyong’s resolve to disapparate.
“Yeah, sure, I guess. But! You’re paying for my fucking suit. Or else I’ll tell your family that you’ve cheated on me multiple times.”
Jumping up from his spot on the floor, he wrapped his arms around his dongsaeng’s neck. “THANK YOU! I’ll pay for EVERYTHING, I promise. I love you! Ok, I gotta go and tell my parents that you’re coming. Ugh, you’ve really saved me here. Bye!”
He rushed out of the cafe, almost running over Sicheng and Yuta. Immediately making there way over to Taeyong, they had twin smirks on their faces. Who got them together, anyway?
Oh shit, it was Taeyong himself.
Sicheng sat down while Yuta pulled up a chair. “So, how was your date?” Taeyong frowned. “It wasn’t a date. It was an outing.” “That’s almost synonymous with date. Now, what did you do to have him run away like that?” Rolling his eyes, Taeyong quickly recapped the whole story, sending the terrible two into fits of laughter.
Tears almost poking through his eyes and the entire cafe looking at their table, Sicheng brought up a good point. “Taeyong hyung, how the FUCK will you get through the night?”
Yuta got over his laughter, and countered. “Babe, I’m sure Taeyong will do fine. He’ll just sit there, completely nonchalant, and calmly act like the love of his life is his FAKE boyfriend.” Sicheng and Yuta looked from Taeyong to the raging blush on his face, and promptly fell over with laughter.
“Forget this shit, I’ll be FINE.” Taeyong yelled, getting up from the table and storming out, Yuta and Sicheng still clinging onto each other, almost choking on the mirth of the situation.
~
Despite spending hours in front of the mirror practicing and convincing himself, Taeyong was in fact, not fine.
Taeil came around to his apartment at around 3 o’clock, Taeyong having moved out of the dorms long ago. He rang the doorbell approximately seven times before Taeyong even left the room, causing his neighbors to chastise the poor boy loudly. Opening the door, he found Taeil sincerely apologizing to the old, slightly senile couple , who were quickly falling for his charms, something Taeyong himself had done the first time the two met.
Pulling Taeyong inside, Taeyong got his first real look at the beauty that was the older boy in a suit.
Taeyong almost bailed on the wedding right there and there. How would he even say anything when he was in the presence of a literal god? Reigning in his gay for a couple of seconds, he managed to reopen the door which he had previously closed like an idiot and usher Taeil back outside.
“You look..wow! You’re so hot!” Taeil said, his skin flushing a little bit, but it’s not like Taeyong noticed. He was too busy trying to fight his own emotions. He choked on his words a bit, but eventually murmured out some acknowledgement of the compliment, and hurriedly returned it with a short, “You look amazing too!”
Taeyong wasn’t exactly a literature major, he would leave all that to Mark, but there were several more words he could use to describe his hyung. Ravishing, stunning, jaw-dropping, but he much preferred the word ethereal. Mark had used it to describe his boyfriend once, in a disgustingly cute rap, and the word clung to the back of Taeyong’s mind.
He had longed for a chance to use it well, and this was his opportunity.
“Not just amazing..ethereal.” The word spilled from Taeyong’s mouth, the boy immediately regretting it. Taeil froze for a second, the two of them had long made their way down to the car. His hand was latched onto the door handle, about to pull it open for Taeyong. He flushed bright red and responded with an almost shy, “Wow.” He smiled, even larger than he had before, somehow. “Thank you so much, Yongie!”
Taeyong was actually fucked.
~
“They’re just so perfect for eachother, yknow? I wish I could find someone just like that, but I guess I’m forever alone, right? Ahaha..a toast! To past relationships and new ones. Hopefully we find some new ones amiright? Not them though, may they live long and prosper. Let’s just chug this wine and try not to think about how all our friends are getting hitched.” The best man nervously ended, amid scattered applause and slightly pitiful laughter. Taeil lightly tapped his glass against Taeyong’s, sending him a warm smile. The next course of food was served to their table, which prompted the actual shittiest part of Taeyong’s night.
The questions.
To be fair, the past two hours were nerve wracking and horrible to endure too. As soon as they walked into the pavilion, Taeil grabbed Taeyong’s lithe fingers and laced them together. All couples were encouraged to dance together, and Taeil dragged Taeyong out of their chair, forcing him to dance. Shyly, he began to spin his hyung around, eventually getting into the idea. Noticing Taeil’s little sister filming, he stumbled and almost dropped the boy, causing the girl to choke on the horderves with laughter.
Once, Taeil kissed him on the fucking cheek.
Now that he thought about it, maybe the past few hours weren’t the worst.
“So, Taeyong, when did Taeil oppa grow the balls to confess?” Taeil’s sister smirked, causing her mom to shoot her a pointed look. Seeing his sister back off a little bit, Taeil tried his best to avoid the question, but all the sharks were circling their boat now. “Yeah, no offense, but really, when did you confess? I know you were pining after him for a while.” Taeil’s dad clapped a hand on his son’s back, but Taeil barely noticed, instead snapping his head towards his right.
Wait.
What the hell?
“Y-you pined over me?” Taeyong shakily said, and slight fear flashed through Taeil’s eyes. He scrambled to answer the question but his cousin arrived at the table first, cutting off the incoming answer. “Hey! Taeil hyung, I just wanted to come and congratulate you and Taeyong for getting your heads out of your asses. Taeyong-ah, did you know that he spent hours facetiming me and just ranting and ranting about your beautiful face and amazing personality and your laugh that sounded like Heaven on Earth. Oh god, it was hilarious. Anyway, I have to go and accept everyone’s congratulations, but thanks for coming, and for FINALLY dating! See you, and text me sometime, Taeil hyung!”
With every word, Taeil’s family was incriminating him even more, and the panicked expression on his face only deepened. Taeyong saw the pure, deer in headlights look on his crush, and decided to take action for the first time that night.
“Haha, no, he didn’t tell me about that! It’s nice to know he liked me just as much as I did him back before.” Grabbing Taeil’s hand, he rubbed the pads of his fingers across his knuckles, causing the look on his hyung’s face to fade. One of the bridesmaids, a good friend of Taeil’s family, walked up to their table, giving the “couple” an opening.
“You like me?” Taeyong whispered, leaning over as inconspicuously as he could.
“My wholeass family just exposed me, Yong. What do you think?”
Taeyong chuckled, sending shivers down Taeil’s spine. “Yeah, ok. I’ve been madly in love with you for a while, if that’s any consolation.” The smile that lit up Taeil’s face sent
Taeyong’s brain into overdrive.
Tightening his grip on Taeyong’s hand, he leaned over to rest his head onto his dongsaeng’s shoulder.
What’s that saying? True love always starts off fake, right?
Maybe that’s not quite it.
~
“Hyung! What the hell happened?” Ten yelled, head resting on top of Johnny’s lap. The two of them were watching Netflix on the couch of Taeyong and Johnny’s shared apartment.
Loosening his tie and throwing it off to the side, he flopped onto the brown recliner in the corner.
“I’m glad to see that you two are fully clothed this time. And I might have gotten a boyfriend.”
Johnny abruptly stood up, causing Ten’s head to knock into his legs. He ran over to the easy chair, pulling Taeyong into an intense embrace.
“FUCKING FINALLY! Oh my god, I have to tell the group chat. I have to call my parents. WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE TAEYONG? GO MAKE OUT WITH TAEIL!”
Taeyong shook his head, a grin gracing his face. “I already did.”
Spotting a familiar red-purple bruise on Taeyong’s neck, Ten groaned. “Damn, hyung moves fast.
Taeyong smacked Ten with a pillow, but couldn’t suppress his elated emotions. He actually started dating his hyung? The talented, kind, hot as fuck hyung. He CONFESSED to him. They had a FIRST DATE. He KISSED him. He MET HIS PARENTS.
Taeyong always knew he was extremely efficient. He would do things perfectly while speeding through them effortlessly.
Apparently, that applied to his relationships too.
Most people can’t deal with pushing through a ton of relationship milestones in one day. Emotional and physical overload, and the mental impact was crushing. Taeil and Taeyong could manage, however.
Their love story was a firework ready to go off for months now. Another couple’s love was just the spark to set it off.