Archive of Our Own

***

Summer sun beats down harshly on Yuta’s back. Birds chirped, sat on the power lines overhead and a squirrel scampered down the star magnolia tree in their front yard. It would’ve been nice, peaceful and lovely, if not for the actual representation of Satan’s wrath shining in the sky. The back of his white v-neck is soaked with sweat and he’s only been standing on his front porch for fifteen minutes. Heat in Texas is always sweltering and it makes being outside a punishment, so he and Jaehyun wouldn’t be standing out there with popsicles glued to their hands if they didn’t have a reason to.

People were moving in next door.

Yuta already hated them.

Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum clambers through the kitty door just as Yuta expresses his dislike for the new neighbours to Jaehyun, who’s only half listening and half staring off into space. When Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum rubs against Yuta’s legs, he slips his bare foot out of his sandal to pet at her fur without having to bend down. She’s so soft, every single time it amazes Yuta at how fluffy she is — he loves her so much.

“First of all,” Jaehyun says, after biting off the last of his popsicle and letting the stick fall to the ground. “You’re disgusting.” He snatches Miss Princess Bubblegum away from Yuta’s foot, which is nice and soft and definitely not gross. Purring happily, she rubs her face on Jaehyun’s cheek and nibbles at his earring. “Second of all, you’re just mean. There’s nothing wrong with them. “ He gestures out to the house next door with his free hand. “What have they done? All they did was move boxes inside. They have a U-Haul. What more do you want?”

Bending to pick up Jaehyun’s discarded popsicle stick, Yuta scowls. “First of all, you’re disgusting.” He mocks, slapping Jaehyun on the arm with the sticky side of the stick so he’d have to try and shove his whole arm in the sink to clean it off. He probably wouldn’t, because, for a nurse in training, he’s a little gross, but it was the banana flavoured one so at least it smells sweet. “Second of all, have you seen them? They just— look at them.”

Jaehyun gives him an incredulous look. “What do you mean? They look fine?” He shifts his hold on Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum so that she doesn’t slip, but she gets irked by the movement anyways and gives Jaehyun a gentle warning nip before leaping out of his arms. Yuta watches as she scampers towards their backyard, assuming she’ll probably jump the fence and join her brother, Prince Blueberry Pie, under their oak tree. It’s only where Yuta saw him last, but Prince Blueberry Pie is one of the laziest cats he’s ever met, so he’s probably still napping in the shade. “Like normal people?” Jaehyun continues, completely used to and unfazed by Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum at this point. “Look,” He points to a tiny Pomeranian sat obediently by the front door, as if he’s monitoring as his owners as they hustle boxes inside. “They even have a dog.”

“Exactly.” Yuta narrows his eyes at the dog that has certainly done nothing wrong in its life.

“Exactly??” Jaehyun repeats, thoroughly appalled at Yuta’s attitude. “Dude. You love animals? Almost as much as you love children?”

“Of course I do!” Two men step out of the front door, on their way to retrieve more boxes from their U-haul. Yuta only narrows his eyes more, to the point where Jaehyun isn’t entirely sure that Yuta can still see. “It’s the owners I don’t like.” He sniffs indignantly and crosses his arms, the sticky side of Jaehyun’s popsicle stick glueing itself to his bicep. He’s the fool now. “Pom owners are all stuck up assholes. They look like stuck up assholes. It’s July in Texas. Who the hell wears long-sleeved button-ups? Stuck up assholes.”

Jaehyun squints at Yuta judgingly. Yuta pointedly ignores him in favour of blatantly glaring as their new neighbours bring stacks of boxes inside. “You’re just upset because Sicheng moved back to China and Junhui and Minghao got their own place. You’re jealous.”

Glaring more intensely, Yuta’s nose scrunches in annoyance. “I am not! But even so! How would you feel if your almost probably maybe-boyfriend just! Up and left without saying anything?” When the two men finally make it through their front door, Yuta’s glare immediately moves to Jaehyun.

The other just sighs defeatedly, looking up to the sky as if he’s asking the gods why he was stuck with such an awful and annoying roommate. Jaehyun somehow loves Yuta very much, but this is a conversation they have had several times a week since the neighbouring house went up for rent a month ago. “Yuta you talked to him like ten times max in the two years that we’ve lived here. I’m pretty sure Sicheng was also already seeing someone for most of the time anyway. Actually, he probably left because the break up was so bad.”

Yuta’s quiet for a moment. A different man across the lawn walks out of the front door now and Yuta moves quickly to glare, but this one actually looks sort of nice. Soft. He probably isn’t the owner of the Pomeranian. Maybe he’s stuck and wants desperately to leave these other pretentious men. Yuta should invite him over.

“I mean. That’s why he was my almost maybe probably boyfriend.”

Jaehyun groans, rubbing his hands over his eyes, exhausted with Yuta’s idiotic tendencies. “I’m so done with you.” He sighs, promptly turning to go inside. “You seriously need to get out more, you spend too much time with children.”

***

And, maybe Yuta does spend too much time with children. Every day, actually, and has for most of his life. It started with him and his family moving to Houston from Osaka at the age of twelve. His father worked on the oil rigs offshore of Galveston, so his family would go weeks at a time without seeing him. Even though the oil industry here in Texas paid well, moving from another country will be expensive no matter what, what with visits to browse the area, find a house, and then the arduous process of getting citizenship on top of that. There was a lot, and his mother also worked two jobs just to pay off their moving debt and provide for the family. So, Yuta and his sister didn’t see much of her either.

It’s always just been them.

And so it made sense then, right, that Yuta would babysit as a summer job in high school, rather than one at McDonald's, or the mall. He had so much experience dealing with Sana. Even though Yuta was attending the junior high down the street from Sana’s intermediate school, he would still sneak out of his last class early in order to be there when Sana’s school got out, only ten minutes after his. Then they would walk home together, and Yuta would make sure Sana had a snack before helping her with her homework. She was so smart, had immediately placed in the gifted and talented class after the students took their first benchmark. Sometimes Yuta, a whole entire year higher than her, would struggle to help her. He’d make them dinner after, sustained themselves on dinosaur chicken nuggets and Lunchables, and Yuta would do his schoolwork while they ate, while Sana played on the Wii for half an hour, while Sana showered and brushed her teeth. Afterwards, he’d read her a chapter from a copy of the first Harry Potter book Yuta checked out from the library, even though Sana was arguably better at English than he was.

“But you make voices,” Sana argued with the sweetest pout one night, when Yuta asked her to read by herself because he had his science fair project to work on. It had something to do with daisies and genetic modification, and it was very important for thirteen-year-old Yuta’s Pre-AP science grade. That night was perhaps the first time they ever had an argument, if it could even be referred to as that. Sana began to tear up the third time Yuta refused to read to her and told her to go to bed, and Yuta immediately fell to her beck and call, malleable under her tiny fingertips.

He ended up going to bed very late that night, but it was worth it.

So when Mrs Jung, Yuta’s across the street neighbour, asked him to watch her sons during work hours the summer before Freshman year, it only made sense for Yuta to accept. She paid him well, for nothing really, because taking care of kids came so easy to Yuta. He, Sana, Jaehyun, and Jaemin, even though he was nine years old and kind of annoying, would fry in front of the television playing Mario Party on Sana’s Wii, only stopping for Yuta to make them Sunbutter and jelly sandwiches (Yuta’s dad was allergic to peanuts, so they used a sunflower seed alternative). It was… just like hanging out with best friends, which, it kind of was really, because Sana will always be Yuta’s number one best friend and Jaehyun a close second, and even Jaemin, now nineteen and kind of annoying, was the younger brother Yuta never had. And then when Jaehyun’s mom blabbed about Yuta to Mr Huang, who just adopted a boy around Jaemin’s age, Yuta cared for him too. And Yeri, only a year older than Jaemin and Renjun. And then eventually, their friends too, because everyone loved to go to Yuta’s.

Even as Yuta and his friends grew older and no longer needed someone to care for them, Yuta never stopped his small babysitting business in high school. Children were perhaps the funniest and sweetest beings on the planet, full of endless energy and curiosity. Yuta could kiss their sweet dumpling cheeks all day, listen to their stories and play with them. Thinking about them makes his heart full. After graduating, he really couldn’t think of doing anything else.

He works at a daycare now, though. As much as Yuta would love to have his own babysitting business, he was only able to accept as many children as he did, and therefore earn as much money, because they all came to his house. Now, as an adult, he lives with roommates and therefore other people, so having to go to other’s houses would mean less customers and less money. Instead, Yuta applied to a rather prestigious daycare just across the freeway from a rich neighbourhood, so Yuta ended up pulling in the same, if not more, cash anyways. It didn’t matter much to Yuta, children were children no matter where they came from or how much their parents paid for them to be there, and they were all lovely and brilliant. While yes, occasionally Yuta would care for the beginnings of entitled brats, it was nothing that Yuta’s dazzling smiles and affection and gentle discipline couldn’t fix. It was good; Yuta genuinely enjoyed his job.

Sometimes the days were long and hard, though, like today. Yuta doesn’t normally work the Saturday shift, because Yuta works best with a large group of kids and really only less than a dozen attend on the weekends. But Taeyong had called out sick and asked Yuta to cover for him with the promise of changing all of the diapers the next time they worked together, so Yuta dragged himself to the daycare even though he had hopes of sitting in and watching some show Ten wanted them all to see.

Working six days in a row is exhausting regardless of job type, and all Yuta wanted to do now was curl up on the sofa with Jaehyun and let Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum make biscuits on his lap. His work bag thuds rhythmically against his thigh as he climbs the few steps onto the front porch. Yuta waits. Normally, Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum will come running from inside or leap down from the backyard fence upon Yuta’s arrival within a minute of Yuta slamming the car door closed. It takes her an extra few seconds, but she appears, leaving Yuta stunned.

Did she just … leap over the fence of the neighbour’s backyard?

Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum mewls and rubs against Yuta’s legs, but he ignores her in favor leaning on his tip-toes to glare at the neighbour’s house. What on earth could she possibly be doing over there? Who does she think she is? They don’t have a cat. There is no friend for Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum over there. Just a tiny Pomeranian and its prude neighbours. Prince Blueberry Pie is napping on the wicker rocking chair on the right side of their porch. She was there by herself?

Eventually Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum tires of vying for Yuta’s attention and instead goes to bother Prince Blueberry Pie, throwing herself on top of him. Prince Blueberry Pie hisses, but knows that nobody could ever win against Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum, and settles back into his lethargic state. Regardless, the noise snaps Yuta out of his confused and increasingly agitated stupor. Who the fuck let her go over there? Yuta rips the screen door open, his thoughts only pissing him off more. Is she cheating on him? He feels betrayed.

He swings the front door open more gently, because Ten would skin him if he made a dent in the wall, for any reason whatsoever but especially not because of the stupid neighbours. God, if Yuta has to suffer through Ten’s five pm rambles every day because he thinks one of the dumb neighbours is hot, someone’s life will ultimately end. Yuta’s complaints are loud, though, mouth open and running as soon as he catches a glimpse of Ten sprawled out on the couch. Jaehyun is normally home around this time, and Ten doesn’t like to be alone, so it’s safe to assume that Jaehyun is somewhere in the kitchen and within earshot of Yuta’s whining as he toes his shoes off on the mat by the front door and makes his way through the foyer.

“Like? What the fuck? I had a long fucking day, just wanna come home and get some sweet MPBB cuddles, and she pulls this shit? She cheats on me? Hello? What am I to her? A roach?” Yuta drops his work bag unceremoniously at the side of the couch and Ten, who has lived with Yuta long enough to learn his lesson, quickly sits up before Yuta throws himself onto the sofa with no regard to any other living being or the poor couch, tattered and standing on its last legs. “Who is she seeing over there anyways? They don’t even have a cat!”

“And how would you know that, Yuta? I thought you hated them. Clearly you shouldn’t be paying enough attention to them to know everything about them. Maybe they have a cat and you never see it.” Ten counters from the left side of the sofa, already bored of the conversation but willing to partake because he hasn’t seen Yuta all day. Jaehyun scoffs from where he's putting away groceries, cutting Yuta off as he attempts to defend himself.

“He knows that because he’s always fucking watching them. Just watching. Stands over here by the sink or the porch and just watches. Yuta, I love you man, but you gotta stop like, what is your obsession with them? You say you hate these people you’ve never met yet you watch them like Taeyong watches his fucking Roblox videos. Fucking weirdo.” Yuta stills, thoroughly called out.

“Okay?” He replies dumbly, because he really has nothing to say. Ten cackles dramatically beside him. Yuta pouts, crossing his arms, disliking the way he’s been bullied.

“It’s alright, baby.” Ten rises from the couch patting Yuta’s head, and goes to the kitchen to paw through the bags that Jaehyun is sorting through. After a few seconds, he makes a triumphant noise, and pulls a box of cookie mix out, turning towards the living room to show it off like its the letter ‘A’ and he’s Vanna White. “I’ll give you a reason to look at them.” Jaehyun barks out a laugh over the fridge door when he sees the way Yuta’s face pales.

“What the hell?” Yuta sits up on the couch, body twisted to glare at Ten. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing? What is that? I don’t think so.” Ten cackles maniacally once again, squeezing the box of cookie mix in an iron grip of malice.

“What does it look like, you dumb whore? I’m baking the new neighbours welcome cookies!” Ten smiles, but the look in his eyes screams mischief. He never does anything out of the kindness of his heart — Ten is mean and selfish.

“... it’s been two weeks since they moved in, though.” Ten sets the box on the counter, completely ignoring the dirty look Jaehyun gives him as Jaehyun snatches the box off of the counter and brings it to the pantry.

“And?” Yuta twists his body further to follow Ten’s movement back to the couch before he ultimately gets a cramp in his side and has to un-pretzel his body. “It’s never too late to bring by… goods.” Ten continues, plopping back down on the couch. Some show plays on the TV and Ten grabs the remote to rewind the show back to where it was before Yuta returned home. Yuta wrinkles his nose in disgust at Ten’s expected, but nonetheless gross, innuendo.

“I really hate you so much.” Yuta stands, thumping his fist against his side, sore from the small cramp from earlier. Instant karma at its finest. “I’m going to get MPBB, can’t stand y’all fuckers for real.” He tiredly makes his way through the foyer, pointedly ignoring Ten and Jaehyun’s laughter. Prince Blueberry Pie lazily passes Yuta in the hallway, fat and round and slow, and most likely going to bother Jaehyun in the kitchen because that fucking cat just always seems to know when anything edible is being handled in the house.

Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum is sprawled out on the right porch railing, lithe compared to Prince Blueberry Pie and his nearly twenty pounds of fatness. She mewls softly when she hears the screen door shut behind Yuta, sitting up to greet him. Leaning against the railing, he smiles softly at his baby and scratches under her chin. She’s a vocal cat, her purring a loud and deep rumble that Yuta can always feel in his soul. It warms him such fondness, and it’s easy for Yuta to slip into a sleepy daze, giving Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum scritches, blanketed in his own little world.

With the slam of a car door, Yuta startles out of his dreamy state. One of the neighbours has arrived home. This neighbour, specifically, Yuta tends to pay a lot of attention to. In fact, if Yuta is entirely honest, they’re the only neighbour Yuta actually pays attention to -- the other three or so occupants don’t actually seem that bad. Maybe, in an alternate universe, where they didn’t live with a Pom owner, they and Yuta could be friends.

It’s this specific pompous asshole that Yuta can’t stand. People say that owners tend to resemble their pets in both looks and personality, and from Yuta’s experience, it’s true. So clearly, this one must own the Pommie, and all Pommie owners are assholes. Therefore, this neighbour specifically, must be an asshole. Yuta glares at him from the porch. It’s what he deserves. There’s just something so magnetic about this dude like…. Yuta just can’t seem to stop watching him. Obviously this just means that he’s Yuta’s arch-nemesis, but Jaehyun continuously accuses Yuta of having some crush on him. Why would he? Yeah… he’s tall. He’s handsome. Yuta saw him smile once and he’s got these sweet bunny teeth. But he’s also, clearly, an asshole.

Yuta despises him.

So he watches as the Asshole Neighbour gets out of his car (a Prius, which only reflects further on his asshole-ness) in green scrubs with some design on them, a duffle bag strapped on his shoulder. What the hell? There’s no way he’s a nurse. Jaehyun’s an asshole but it isn’t the same kind of asshole as the neighbour. Yuta furtively squints at him. There’s a pattern on his scrubs that Yuta can’t entirely make out, but the fact that there is a pattern at all is suspicious. The only doctors that wear patterned scrubs are pediatricians. What kind of asshole works with children? None of them. The more confused Yuta gets, his glare intensifies. If he had superpowers, Yuta definitely would’ve burned a hole in his neighbour. There’s a creak as the Asshole Neighbour opens the screen door, and Yuta finally collects himself enough to stop eyeing the man like he’s pissed on all of Yuta’s belongings.

Something is off about that man, something dark and twisted, and Yuta will find out what it is.

***

Ten rings the doorbell and Yuta has never felt more betrayed in his entire life.

It all started when he arrived home from the afternoon shift at six. As soon as Yuta opened the front door, the sweet scent of chocolate chip cookies engulfed him in a warm embrace, relaxing enough to induce goosebumps on Yuta’s arms. Nearly in a trance, Yuta stumbled to find the source of such a lovely smell, entirely forgetting the devious ploy Ten introduced over the weekend. Just as Yuta leans into the kitchen to soak in the pleasant environment that fresh cookies always creates, Ten seals the lid on the glass Pyrex container, flushed from being near the oven. (Yuta certainly knows it wasn’t from working -- Ten is a pillow princess and is also awful at baking. He probably got Jaehyun to do it.). Frowning, Yuta places his hand on the container to lift the lid up, but Ten swiftly smacks his hand, yanking the container across the counter with a glare.

“Are you stupid? These are not for you.” Ten sniffs sharply, pulling the prized container closer to his body, even though Yuta hasn’t made another move on it (yet). “Do you not remember what I told you on Saturday? These are for Hot Neighbour and his friends. In fact! You came just in time.” Ten gives him one of those smiles, those ones where you just know that whatever Ten has planned will unquestionably and unconditionally ruin your life. Breezing past Yuta with the cookie container in hand, Ten makes his way through the foyer and calls out, “If you want a cookie you better come with me!” and cackles. And, well, is Yuta ever one to say no to sweets?

It doesn’t feel real until they’re actually there, though, standing on the neighbours’ tiny porch in front of their door. All of their cars are there, implying that the house is full, meaning that he is home. A biting, high pitched bark echoes from inside, assumedly the Pom reacting to the doorbell. Someone shouts a startled ‘coming’, muffled from the distance between the person and the front door. They sounded caught off guard, but Yuta supposes that if you’re new to the area, visitors aren’t entirely expected. A deadbolt turns, and then another lock, and Yuta puts on his best resting bitch face, just in case its the Asshole.

It isn’t.

It’s the Tiny Neighbour, actually. He’s noticeably smaller than the other three, so the Tiny one looks so small, but now that they’re standing face to face, he’s around the same height as Ten. His hair is a rusty copper colour, cut fairly short, but not buzzed, and it suits him well. Honestly, he’s kinda hot. Yuta gives him a tight-lipped smile, because he hasn’t done anything wrong yet but if he’s rooming with someone like the Asshole, then there must be something wrong.

“Oh! Hi?” He looks nervously at Yuta, then back at Ten who smiles and visibly looks over the Tiny Neighbour’s shoulder to see inside. There’s no point in that, really, because all that they can see past the foyer is the back of a tan sofa and the back of four heads. Past the back edge of the sofa is the back wall with not much but a large window bordered by teal curtains. The window looks out into the backyard, and they have a really nice back porch to make up for the tiny one up front, but not much more can be told from the image, besides that… they seem to have company?

“Hey!” Ten greets him back as Yuta recounts the heads. As far as he knows, and he does, because he’s always watching, there are four people that live in the house. If the Tiny Neighbour is up here… then why are there four heads in the living room? “I know y'all have been moved in for a while but the past couple of weeks have been real busy, so I figured that a late greeting would be better than no greeting at all.” Sometimes Ten likes to play up ‘southern hospitality’ when he wants to please people. He was born and raised in Aransas Pass, a small hick beach town not too far from Corpus. They’re best known for their shrimp and their seagrass, and for having perhaps the largest population of community crackheads. Yuta remembers clearly meeting Ten through Johnny, Jaehyun’s boyfriend, at some party in college. “Oh sweetheart, bless you.” Ten had drawled, upon seeing that he and Yuta arrived wearing the same exact shirt. “At least you tried.”

“Uh,” the Tiny One laughs nervously. “That’s really nice of you.”

Ten takes a step forward, borderline too close. He shifts the container of cookies to his left side and holds out his right hand. “I’m Ten. Grumpy over here is Yuta.” Tiny Neighbour nods, taking a step back to preserve his personal space. He shakes Ten’s hand.

“I’m Taeil?” Tiny One responds, like he still isn’t sure if Ten is real or not. Yuta doesn’t blame him -- Ten is very… saturated. Intense. For most people, he’s too much to take in at once. Ten takes another step closer, peering over Taeil’s shoulder.

“Anyone else here, baby?” Yuta’s pretty sure that this Taeil guy is older than both of them, and Taeil seems to think so too, with the look of dismay that Taeil gives him. But Ten is Ten, and his Southern middle-aged mother mannerisms will never go away. “I’d love to meet everyone. Make sure everyone gets a taste of these cookies.” Ten winks, and Yuta groans quietly, giving Taeil an apologetic look.

“Um? Sure? I mean, we already have a guest anyways, I guess a couple more won’t hurt…” Taeil steps back, opening the door wider to allow the two of them in. The entryway is wide, and there’s a mat in the right corner where people are meant to take their shoes off, and Yuta wonders whether or not it would be polite to do so, but Taeil doesn’t say anything and Ten waltzes right to the living room like he lives here, so he doesn’t think much of it. He squints, though, because there’s a beat-up pair of vans that look very familiar, but to be fair, everyone usually has a beat-up pair of vans.

Just a little further inside is the living room, and now that there isn’t a door blocking most of the view, Yuta can see the entire room, and his heart drops to his ass.

“What the fuck?”

“Taeyong?” Yuta and Ten are both equally shocked and thoroughly betrayed. What the fuck is Taeyong doing here? Taeil stands awkwardly at the edge of the couch while Yuta and Ten stare Taeyong down forsakenly.

“Um.” Taeyong stutters from the middle of the couch, looking up at them with wide eyes. Everyone else on the couch, including Asshole and Ten’s man, is staring up at them too, confused and maybe a little bit very uncomfortable. “Hi?” Yuta’s eyebrows furrow and Ten frowns, but then he gives Taeyong his fakest, sweetest smile.

“Hey Yongie, funny seeing you here, sweetie. Wish I had known you’d be here, would’ve made more cookies.” He opens the lid and sets the container on coffee table. Yuta continues to glare at Taeyong. How long has he known them? Just last week they were playing Roblox together and Yuta was complaining about Asshole Neighbour to him over FaceTime. “Just wanted to give you guys a late but hopefully warm welcome to the neighbourhood. If only Yongie here had mentioned y'all were acquainted, I’d have made time to come over sooner.”

Taeyong curls in on himself a little bit, definitely aware of the sharp edge in Ten’s voice clearly targeted at him. Nobody likes to be in trouble with Ten; Taeyong is absolutely going to get an earful as soon as possible. Asshole rubs his hand comfortingly on Taeyong’s right thigh, and something hard and cold flops in Yuta’s stomach. His glare slides to where their skin touches. He feels sick.

“Um.” Taeyong stutters, utterly shocked and terribly caught. “I wasn’t avoiding you guys.” He says quickly, as if he were. “Haha. I just didn’t realize you lived here.” Alarm bells ring inside Yuta’s head.

“You’ve literally been to our house before,” Yuta calls him out with no remorse, eyes squinted. Taeyong squirms uncomfortably, and Yuta visibly see’s Asshole’s grip tighten. What the fuck! Like! What the fuck!

“Um. Well.” Taeyong gives them a wry smile. “Jaehyun and I kind of got into it a couple weeks ago and Johnny got mad at me so like… one day I was standing outside so I could like… apologize… but I didn’t… and Doyoung,” Taeyong pauses and waves his hand over to the Asshole Neighbour, and Yuta automatically scowls. “Doyoung saw me and recognized me from a class we had at SMU a couple years ago, and invited me in. Haha. Funny how they moved in right next door right?” Ten glowers at him, and the both of them might be a little dumb but as ultimate liars, they can tell a weak excuse when they see one. And they’ve definitely just seen one.

So Taeyong turns on his admittedly adorable kitty eyes (Johnny tried to call them puppy eyes once and Taeyong hissed at him.) and gazes sweetly at Ten, because they always work on him and never on Yuta if he’s angry enough. Ten only stares hotly back, longer than he usually lasts, and Yuta can see the fear of every god flash in Taeyong’s eyes once he realizes his only failsafe isn’t working. Then Ten sighs, leaning over to ruffle Taeyong’s hair, and Yuta prays for this fallen soldier, so close to the end of the battle.

“... I suppose… I’ll accept that, sweetie. You’re on thin fucking ice, though. Anyways!” Ten smiles, staring directly at the neighbour he’s been drooling over. “Why don't you introduce us to everyone! That’s what we came here for, hmm?”

***

Even after Ten’s blatant attacks on Taeyong, he still politely introduced everyone in their own house. It turns out that Taeil and the tall and very pretty, sweet, boy (his name is Jungwoo, but he’s still tall and very pretty) are dating, and, after speaking for two minutes, it turns out that he is also incredibly sly and cunning to the point where it nearly rival’s Ten’s demonic tendencies. How someone as simple and seemingly exhausted as Taeil can deal with someone who is talented enough to paste on the most adorable persona while being so diabolically terrible on the inside, Yuta doesn’t know, but they make it work, so Yuta will mind his own business.

Kun is the name of the neighbour that Ten is lusting over, a physics TA on his way to a doctorates degree in astrophysics, all brains and sharp angles and intimidation, and so very incredibly out of Ten’s league. Miles above it, in fact. Perhaps this means that one day, they’ll work out. That’s how it was for Jaehyun and Johnny, anyways. After years of Jaehyun limiting himself to Taeyong-like twinks and pretty soft girls (it fucking bewildered Yuta that when Jaehyun introduced ‘his boyfriend and his boyfriend’s roommate’, Taeyong wasn’t the boyfriend.) but never having an Actual Real Fulfilling Relationship, Jaehyun finally found something lovely inside Johnny, who was tall and big and muscley and every bit as shy and soft as Jaehyun.

Speaking of Johnny, he’s here now. After Ten nearly balded Taeyong, dragging him out of the neighbour's house with them by his fried hair, Taeyong sobbed and called Johnny, whining about Ten’s abuse and about how much he didn’t want to go inside with him where Ten could do anything, and as his roommate and best friend, it was Johnny’s responsibility to come save him. Ten, who likes to pretend that he’s weak so that Jaehyun and Yuta will do any hard work in the house, promptly yanks Taeyong’s phone out of his hand and lugs him over his shoulder like a sack of pink, lanky potatoes. Taeyong goes boneless, and as distressed as he likes to act, he probably likes being manhandled like that.

It didn’t matter, anyway, because Johnny completely ignored Taeyong’s screams from where Ten had him pinned to the living room floor like he was under arrest. At this point, all of them were completely immune to their antics, the two of them were always up to something mean and violent and the wrong side of borderline kinky. So instead of helping Taeyong from a position he unquestionably deserves to be in, he sits between Yuta and Jaehyun on their ragged old couch, immediately curling up to Jaehyun and stealing all of his attention. Yuta can’t really tell who he’s jealous of -- yes he’s lonely and wants to be in love, keep scrolling.

At least he has Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum, except, well. She hasn’t been around often recently, only seen in the odd hours of dusk or dawn. Yuta feels like he has a sneaking suspicion of where she is all the time, but he’d prefer to live in ignorance than to admit the truth.

“So… have you like… met them?” He says, just to feel like he isn’t the only one miserably alone. Ten and Taeyong aren’t exactly together, but they have this weird sort of tension where nobody’s really sure if Ten is going to beat the absolute shit out of Taeyong or fuck the living daylights out of him. If everyone’s being completely honest, it’s probably both. Sometimes Yuta thinks that maybe in some alternate universe where Ten and Taeyong weren’t emotionally constipated whores who had no concept of what a romantic relationship was, they would work out really well, but then Yuta thinks about the raw, unbridled, chaotic energy that they would contain, and he’s so fucking glad that things didn’t work out that way.

Johnny turns to him, eyes furrowed, and Yuta would be terribly embarrassed if this weren’t someone as sweet as Johnny. “Met who?” Jaehyun groan, tilting his head back in exasperation and Yuta can see it in his eyes when Johnny finally understands the context. “Oh! I mean, sort of? I’ve seen them all in like, passing, while dropping Taeyong off. Taeil’s pretty chill. I like him. Um, Doyoung has come over to chill before. He’s cool! Taeyong likes him a lot! To be honest, I think they’d be a cute couple. Taeyong is too much of a little bitch and also a whore to do anything about it, though.” Taeyong whines in the background, but nobody can be really sure whether it’s in response to Johnny calling him out or to whatever the fuck Ten is doing to him now. Something dark and slimy and cold swims in Yuta’s stomach again, and he tells himself that it's because he knows that Doyoung is an asshole and wouldn’t be good enough for Taeyong.

Prince Blueberry Pie sighs sleepily and contentedly in Yuta’s lap, just shy of an unfamiliar weight because it’s usually Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum sprawled across him. But Yuta hasn’t seen her for a couple of days. She’ll disappear like this sometimes, a free spirit of a cat that has a penchant for exploration and hunting, so Yuta isn’t necessarily too worried yet, but he still misses the comfort and tranquillity that her presence brings him. He just misses her. From past experience, she’ll probably reappear tonight, most likely with the gift of a beheaded bird or something equally gruesome, but that doesn’t stop Yuta from craving her fluffy white fur and her sweet cuddles.

For some odd reason, and the gods are probably cackling at him now, Yuta can’t stop thinking about Doyoung. He needs her to ground him. He’s tired.

***

Today was absolutely, incredibly, completely, irrevocably, awful.

Things were a mess from the very beginning of the day. Yuta woke up especially late, something which he never does when it comes to work, because he genuinely loves his job. But normally Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum sleeps pressed warmly against his side, and she’s been gone for four days now, and Yuta can’t sleep. So he ended up going to bed at some ungodly hour of the morning and waking up when he has to leave for work, also at an ungodly hour of the morning.

It was 6:45 AM when he left. Traffic was a fucking mess. The house they rent isn’t too far from the daycare Yuta works at, so there’s that at least, but he was supposed to be there at 6:45 and Yuta has never been late to work in his life.

He’s fucking nervous.

It’s just him and Taeyong opening the ‘three to five’ room at the moment, because there doesn’t need to be a lot of employees while the children are still drowsy and pliant under the haze of the morning air so he’s sure it’ll be fine if he’s a little late, but he’s only ever met their supervisor, Irene, a handful of times in the year and a half he’s been employed and she fucking terrified him to no end. He gets there at 7:05. Fuck.

Yuta was kind of wrong, though, because arriving was sorta like that video where the guy walks in with pizza and everything’s on fire and someone’s bleeding out in the corner.

“Yuta!” Taeyong hisses from where he’s struggling to hold back a rabid three-year-old from going after another kid’s breakfast. “What the f-word?”

Normally by this time, they have all the children sat at the table and waiting for their food, a complimentary feature for the children who come in at opening because their parents don’t usually have time to feed them before leaving. It’s never fancy, usually just toaster waffles or microwaveable pancakes prepared and on the counter ready to be handed out before they even arrive, but the kids enjoy it and it gets something in their stomachs so they can start the day properly.

That isn’t what’s going on right now, though.

Half of the premade meals are splattered on the ground and the kitchen is a mess. Several children are sat huddled to one side of the table with their food, shielding their plates from the screaming three-year-old Taeyong’s weak arms are struggling to contain. To the left side of the room, there’s another group of children also screaming, throwing whatever the fuck they can find around. One kid throws a stapler from the adult’s desk in the corner, and Yuta nearly breaks the sound barrier rushing to intervene before anything else occurs.

“What the h-word has gotten into them?” Yuta shouts across the room at Taeyong, who has finally managed to wrestle the delirious kid into a chair. He catches the wrist of another three-year-old as she runs past, but children can be very strong when they want to be, and she breaks out of his grip easily. Taeyong scowls and nods his head towards a specific kid, one that Yuta now realizes he’s never actually seen before.

“Immediately began to scream as soon as his mom left. Was an absolute angel until the moment his mother left the room. Punched me in the fricken thigh and went straight for the foam blocks. Thank god I managed to hide the wood blocks before he started a literal riot.” Yuta can’t respond, because he’s currently chasing the culprit around the room. God damn since when did kids come so fast? He’s only 23. He coaches kid’s soccer sometimes. Why is this toddler outrunning him? What the fuck?
It takes the two of them another half hour and the receptionist, Wendy, to come in and have a chat with the child, who seems to only calm for an older woman. At least things have calmed down, but it was still exhausting, and the lead weight of not enough sleep mixed with the stress still lingering from the morning left Yuta in a deprived daze, tired and cranky and a little sad. When days like this happen, Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum tends to just… know. Normally she’s attuned to Yuta’s schedule and knows just about when he’ll show up from work, so she’ll be sprawled out waiting for him on the porch or find her way to Yuta not too long after he arrives. Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum will greet him and maybe cuddle or nap with him a bit, but eventually, she’ll go off to do her own thing, because she’s never been a particularly clingy cat. On days like this, however, Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum is attuned to Yuta’s fragileness, and will virtually be up his ass all day, or until he feels better.

Yet, when Yuta steps out of the car, she doesn’t greet him. When Yuta sinks onto the couch, ignoring Ten’s quiet noise of concern, she doesn’t slip through the cat door. At night, Yuta half expects to feel her climb into bed with him, smother his face in sweet kisses before she curls sleepily in his arms. She doesn’t

It’s been four days, and Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum still hasn’t come home.

***

“Um.” Yuta stutters, half out of surprise and half out of misery. Why the fuck is this asshole outside of his door? What does he want? It’s a sensitive time right now. It’s been four days. Doyoung doesn’t even fucking communicate with this household, only Ten, because he’s constantly up Kun’s ass.

“Mrow.” Oh. Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum squirms in Doyoung’s arms upon seeing Yuta. Holy shit. Yuta’s insides constrict terribly for a moment before completely melting, dripping in relief. God, he’s missed her so much.

It seems like Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum has missed him too, because as soon as she is able to squirm out of Doyoung’s grip, she promptly launches herself at Yuta.

“Ah!” Yuta exclaims just as Doyoung curses in alarm at Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum’s sudden movement. She probably accidentally clawed him in her desperation, too. Good. She grips Yuta’s shoulders with her claws and his arms quickly fly up to hold her to his chest. Mewling, she nuzzles sweetly into his neck. Yuta basks contentedly in the comfort of getting his baby back for a few seconds, until Doyoung awkwardly clears his throat. Can’t he read the mood?

“It seems that Jungwoo had let her in with Kongie because he wouldn’t go inside without her. I don’t think he realised she had a home, otherwise he would’ve brought her over. Sorry.” Yuta begins to nod, but then he pauses, because that doesn’t seem right. Wouldn’t they have… not put out found cat posters? Or something? She has a collar and she’s microchipped. Yuta narrows his eyes. He suspects foul play.

“Uh-huh,” he says instead, holding Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum closer to his chest. No way he’s ever letting her go now. “Okay. She’s been gone for four days, though? You had her for four days and you didn’t notice?” Yuta tries not to let the true depth of his annoyance show, because Ten would pick him to pieces if he were responsible for any sort of wedge placed in his relationship with Kun. Doyoung, though, does absolutely nothing to mask his annoyance (Over what? His pet didn’t go missing.) at Yuta’s questioning.

“Well,” Doyoung replies, with an attitude that Yuta frankly isn’t here for. “Haven’t really been home much. Y’know. At the hospital. Saving lives.” And Yuta instantly feels like a prick. A real asshole. He’s the asshole neighbour now.

“Oh. Sorry.” He apologises, just as Ten materialises behind him, cooing at Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum.

“Don’t be so dramatic, Doie (Doie???), you just work at the emergency vet. Half the time it's dead over there. I know because Kun told me.” And he says that last part so fucking smug, like it means something, and maybe it does, because Doyoung seems to become considerably more annoyed, like Ten’s existence makes his soul want to leave Earth forever. Yuta wouldn’t blame him. Ten’s words give Yuta a similar effect, and his stomach swoops dangerously when Ten exposes Doyoung’s workplace. Emergency…. Vet? Entirely unexpected but inexorably just fits. It’s kinda hot if he’s completely and utterly honest with himself, but Yuta is a blatant coward and refuses to acknowledge that Doyoung and the word sexy can coexist. That just isn’t possible.

Doyoung sniff at Ten, bratty but proper, a distinguished brat, if you will. “I wouldn’t expect your pea-sized brain to come close to comprehending the difficulties of holding a life in your hands.” Yuta pets Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum absently as he watches Ten glare. Then he finds himself assisting Doyoung.

“Yeah,” Yuta taunts, and it sounds foreign as it spills out of his mouth. “I mean, all you do is touch people kinda hard for a living. What do you know?” The delivery is rough and gritty, unsanded and unglossed, but the point gets across. Yuta tells himself that this is both an apology for being a dick earlier and payback at Ten for being invariably out to get him.

He feels successful when Ten huffs angrily and stomps off, probably to go put Nair in Yuta’s shampoo or something equally as atrocious, because Ten thrives off of revenge and anarchy. Then he feels dread as he realises that now, it’s just him and Doyoung stood on the porch. They’re by themselves.

“Um,” Yuta says stupidly, because apparently he never learned proper human interaction. “Thanks for bringing her back though, even if you’ve technically stolen her for several days.”

Doyoung just nods curtly. “Of course. She’s still welcome over any time. She’s Kongie’s best friend.” And then he turns swiftly on his heel, and heads home.

Yuta tries his hardest not to watch.

***

“You know he hates you, right?” Ten plops down next to Yuta on the couch, startling Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum from where she was resting on Yuta’s lap and making biscuits. Doyoung had returned her a couple of hours ago and she’s been attached to Yuta like glue ever since.

“What?” Yuta doesn’t bother to look up from his phone because Ten is always on some kind of bullshit like this and Yuta has become immune to it.

Ten smacks the couch so that Yuta looks at him. “Doyoung.” Smack! “Hates you.” Locking his phone and setting it on his lap, Yuta frowns.

“...What makes you think that?” And Ten looks at him incredulously, twisting around to stare at him.

“I can’t believe you don’t know why, but anyways, Kun said so.” Yuta rolls his eyes, because of course Ten would say that -- he’s been up Kun’s ass since he forced himself inside their home with cookies. Ten says they aren’t dating, just ‘seeing each other’, like that isn’t the same exact thing, because Ten notoriously ‘doesn’t date’, but Yuta isn’t dumb, and he knows that Ten and Taeyong don’t hook up anymore, nor does Ten bring people home. But this might be good for Ten, honestly, so Yuta doesn’t really mind. Kun is cool and funny even though he’s kinda really intimidating. He and Ten work in a way that Yuta didn’t really expect, but they work nonetheless.

“Okay. What makes Kun think that?”

“Um, Doyoung told him? Hello?” And Yuta’s heart drops to his ass. There’s nothing that makes him feel worse than knowing that people dislike him. Like, yeah, he says he hates Doyoung all the time, but Yuta doesn’t actually hate him. If anything, he’s hardly even annoyed by him anymore, even if he still finds himself staring through the kitchen window. Ten must’ve seen the way Yuta’s face dropped, cheeks pink with an ashamed blush, with the way Ten frowns at him. “Look, baby, I know you probably didn’t mean to offend anyone, but what did you think would happen? You constantly glower at him. It’s weird and creepy.” He pets Yuta’s hair comfortingly, and Ten can be so caring and kind when he wants to be, slowly guiding Yuta’s anxieties to sleep while still making sure he knows what he did wrong.

“I don’t hate him,” Yuta mumbles, leaning in to Ten’s soft touch, phone and Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum long forgotten. “I dunno why I keep staring. It’s like he just… attracts me. I can’t stop looking no matter how much I want to.” And Ten laughs at him a little, not meanly, Ten can be mature and as awful as he is, sometimes he knows when the moment isn’t right for his bullshit, but it makes Yuta pout anyways.

“Baby… Honey… Sweetheart…Most people call that a crush.” Yuta quickly sits up at that, and it’s his turn to look appalled.

“Excuse me?” Yuta exclaims, incredibly offended at even the suggestion that Yuta could have a... that. Who the hell does Ten think he is? Ten laughs and coos at him.

“Baby has a crushhhhh, how cute!” He dodges Yuta’s smack, leaping up and dancing around like a damn prick.

“I do not!” Yuta’s arms are properly crossed now.

Jaehyun picks the perfect opportunity to crawl out of his room, half dead from where he’s been studying for midterms. “Yeah, you do.”

Yuta throws himself back on the couch and sighs, defeated, because once Ten and Jaehyun join together there is absolutely no way to beat them.

“I hate this fucking family, like for real.”

***

There’s a knock on Yuta’s door, startling him from where he’s been laying on the couch playing Minecraft on his phone. Jaehyun and Johnny are upstairs, and Ten is out with Kun somewhere, so the responsibility to answer the door unfortunately falls on Yuta’s shoulders. He sighs quietly, a small sob escaping, because he had accidentally placed a block where he shouldn’t have, and stands. Shuffling to the door, Yuta calls out a tired ‘coming’, not at all enthused to open the door, until-

Oh.

It’s Doyoung.

He opens the door quickly, because Yuta already knows why he’s here. Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum has been missing for two days, and of course, where else would she be besides Doyoung’s house? This is perhaps the fourth time that Doyoung has brought her over after she’s been missing for a couple of days. The process has stopped being an alarming one and more of a comforting one. It means that Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum has a friend that she can rely on besides Prince Blueberry Pie (He isn’t reliable at all, really.) and it also means that it keeps Doyoung coming back. In fact, Doyoung bringing her back has possibly become the highlight of Yuta’s week.

It’s not so awkward anymore, and it’s actually quite enjoyable now. Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum will leap into his arms and curl into his chest, and he and Yuta will stand on the porch and chat for a few minutes, mostly about whatever the hell Ten and Kun are doing, because they’re equally disgruntled over them, but sometimes they’ll speak of other things, too. Actually, they have a lot more in common that Yuta thought, and he feels like a real swollen asshole over his initial hatred. Like, the both of them despise poodle owners. Doyoung says that they’re the most pretentious customers that he gets. Yuta hates them because a guy he dated that owned two of them cheated on him.

Yuta really likes Doyoung.

Doyoung grins wide when the door opens, and Yuta tells himself that his heart flutters at the sight of Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum and not Doyoung, bright and sweet and warm in his paw print scrubs.

“God, finally,” Yuta teases as Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum makes her way to his shoulder. He has to make sure that Doyoung’s smile never leaves. “I was wondering when you’d bring her back. We have important business to do.”

“You know you can always come and ask for her back, I’m sure it’ll do Jungwoo good to finally know who’s cat he’s stealing every time he lets her in with Kongie.” But the both of them know that wont ever happen. Not only is Yuta too pussy to ever go to their house, but doing so isn’t part of their routine. They have a thing, and Yuta will perish before he even thinks about ruining it.

That doesn’t mean Yuta won’t take any risks, though. Johnny suggested that Yuta invite Doyoung inside after listening to him complain about how frustratingly short Doyoung’s visits are. And there’s so much that Yuta doesn’t know about Doyoung, there’s so much that he wants to know. He wants to know his favourite colour and he wants to know what goes on inside his head. He wants to know what Doyoung loves unconditionally and he wants to know what he’s going to be like when he’s old and wrinkling.

Yuta wants to know everything. So he invites Doyoung inside.

“Hey… it’s kinda chilly, yeah? Wanna um, come inside?” Maybe his delivery could use some work, but perhaps his fumbling gave him a sort of charm, because Doyoung smiles with his bunny teeth on display, and accepts.

Yuta leads Doyoung to the couch, asking him if there’s anything he can get him. Doyoung politely refuses, sitting daintily on the couch, and Yuta wonders how he was raised. Sometimes he’s so prim and proper, but it’s easy to tell that when he’s relaxed he slips up a bit, and it’s super endearing. Yuta sits next to him, careful not to sit within Doyoung’s personal bubble, but the other scoots closer anyways. Their thighs touch, and Yuta shivers, warmth carbonating his blood. Doyoung hums through Yuta’s awkwardness, all of his hosting skills nonexistent in his presence. He looks around, not at all subtle, and Yuta quickly realises two things:

This is Doyoung’s first time in their home, and it's an absolute mess.

“Um,” Yuta jerks, arms flailing to organise the mess of scrap paper that Jaehyun and Johnny had been using before they took their homework upstairs. God, Yuta was a fucking disaster. He knocks over a box of Hello Kitty bandaids that Yuta has been meaning to put into his work bag weeks ago but kept forgetting, and Doyoung laughs directly at him, picking the box up off the floor.

“You’re a fan of Hello Kitty? Cute.” And Yuta feels like he’s been caught, because Doyoung is naturally kind of judgy even though Yuta can tell he’s trying not to be, can hear it in his voice but knows that he doesn’t really mean it like that.

“Um, no,” Yuta blushes, but glares exaggeratedly and dramatically snatches the box from Doyoung, overcompensating in order to distract from his very real embarrassment, because yes, maybe he does kind of really like Hello Kitty. “It’s for my kids.”

“Sure,” Doyoung smirks, looking at Yuta like he could quite possibly eat him alive. There’s a hand on his thigh and Doyoung leans in close and stares at him like he can see into the depths of his soul, and the juxtaposition of this Doyoung and the Doyoung of two minutes ago makes Yuta feel woozy. Doyoung smells like strawberries and pineapple and his hand is so warm. He feels like summer, and it’s pleasant on this rare, chilly, September day. “Like I could believe that.”

Yuta should invite Doyoung inside more often.

***
Yuta blinks up at Taeyong as he walks up to their table, shielding his eyes from the blistering sun, despite it being mid-September. Taeyong has white hair now and he’s wearing all black and his sunglasses have spikes on them, so he must be going through an e-boy phase again. That isn’t what makes Yuta nervous to see him, though.

It’s what they’re here to talk about.

Yesterday Doyoung had once again returned Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum to their home, and maybe Yuta possibly had a teeny-tiny little mini-breakdown over how much Doyoung had smiled at him, and now Ten is accusing him of having a ‘crush’ and now Yuta needs an ‘intervention’. But Yuta is like ninety-nine per cent sure that Taeyong has a real crush on Doyoung, so why the hell would Ten do this? Yes, Ten is a chaotic demon who loves to meddle in things he had no business is, but even he knows not to break the bro code. And Yuta knows from Jaehyun’s experience that having Taeyong upset with you is perhaps worse than death itself.

Taeyong sits to Yuta’s right, across from Ten, and sets his coffee on the table. “Okay,” he says cooly, even though he’s probably the least cool person on the cafe’s patio. “What did Yuta go into neurosis over now.” He sighs, like they’ve done this a million times and honestly they probably have.

Ten sighs with him, stirring his strawberry and kiwi parfait. “Yuta still isn’t admitting his crush on Doyoung.” Taeyong doesn’t look angry or surprised or offended, and Yuta wonders if he was misreading things or if Taeyong is waiting patiently to murder Yuta in his sleep or something horrible like that.

“It’s getting ridiculous now. He literally cried yesterday because Doyoung smiled at him and touched his arm.” Jaehyun exposes him and Taeyong cackles at him.

“This is literally what happened with Sicheng isn’t it?” Ten and Jaehyun nod sadly in unison.

“Actually,” Ten takes a bite of his parfait. “Actually, I think it’s worse.”

“So that’s why we need you to do something.” Jaehyun had already finished his coffee before Taeyong arrived, even though all of them had told him not to, so he chews on his straw. Yuta always berates him over it, tells him he’ll fuck his teeth up but Jaehyun will just say that he’s a nurse and not a dentist, so he doesn’t care. “DY is your best friend can’t you like, give Yuta tips on how to ask him out or something so he can stop pining. It’s gotten to the point where even I know that he’s just waiting on Yuta to make a move. Like for real.”

Taeyong hums and takes a sip of his coffee. “I dunno. I like seeing Yuta struggle. It’s fun. You know your crush is really obvious, right? Doie probably already knows.” And that was kinda mean, maybe, but they’ve done this enough times that it’s perhaps a little warranted. “Like,” Taeyong continues, sipping his drink again. “None of us are stupid. We see the way you look at him. You can say you hate him all you want but I know that the moment he first returned MPBB you got a heart boner for him. Admit that you think he’s cute and wanna kiss him and go.”

Honestly Yuta’s really thankful for Taeyong, because he’s normally so sweet and soft-spoken, that this type of behaviour from him actually gets to Yuta and clears his head. It hurts a little bit, to hear it when Taeyong says it as opposed to anybody else, but at least it works. Since Ten and Jaehyun speak to Yuta in this way normally, if they had said this, it would have no effect on him whatsoever.

But maybe Taeyong is right. Yuta is very good at making excuses for himself and denying himself good things because that’s just how he is. He lives in a minor state of denial over everything because pretending certain things doesn’t exist is easier than dealing with whatever emotions spawn it. It’s a bad habit, and Yuta’s trying to learn, but he isn’t quite there yet and he sometimes needs some not so gentle nudges from his friends.

So Yuta lets himself delve inside his head, nervous but comforted by the tenderness of his friend’s presence. There’s a cave with Doyoung’s name on it in the lake that is Yuta’s mind, and Yuta dives in. When he enters, the air is warm, water coming to a shore of pink sand that settles between his toes when he steps onto it and brings a warmth to his chest, familiar and definitely what he feels when Doyoung smiles at him. Strawberries grow in a patch not too far from the shore, giving the air a fruity and sweet scent not far off from what Doyoung actually smells like.

It reminds Yuta of home.

At this point, it isn’t necessary to traverse through Doyoung’s cave, but Yuta does anyways, and finds more elements that overwhelm Yuta with his presence, but it isn’t a bad feeling. Instead, it’s something fun and giddy yet cosy at the same time, and Yuta just knows. He knows.

Yuta has perhaps the biggest, fullest, fattest crush on Doyoung.

***

He’s home alone and Yuta nearly fucking pisses himself and his fancy gaming chair. It’s about eight at night and Jaehyun is doing a shift at the hospital and Ten is over at Taeyong’s, so it’s just Yuta, Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum and Prince Blueberry Pie, Overwatch, and a party size bag of Takis tonight. Nothing but peace and quiet and Bastion and ice cubes, right?

Wrong, apparently, as Yuta clenches at the fucking giant crash sounding from the fucking backyard. What in the whole entire actual fuck? Yuta jumps up, headphones ripping off of his head because he can’t even think right now. His head is pounding to the quick pace of his heart and Yuta is genuinely surprised he hasn’t gone into cardiac arrest yet. And yes, yet, because he still has to check out what made that noise. Has to. As much as he wants to leave and call Jaehyun to deal with the scary things, Yuta must suck it up and pray that he doesn’t become an example of a white family in a horror movie.So he takes one of his most prized possessions, his katana, that he bought as soon as he was legal enough to at an anime convention, and makes his way to the hallway overlooking the living room.

He can’t see anything. It’s dark. Fuck. This means that he actually has to go outside, where he’s more than likely to get murders. Okay. Cool. Fine. Yuta slowly makes his way downstairs, katana in position, because if Yuta’s going to die a terrible death, at least he’ll die fighting. When he gets downstairs, he hears it… barking and scratching at his back door? Yuta peeks around the corner of the stairs, and through the sliding glass door, there’s… Kongie? What the hell? Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum rubs sweetly against him as he continues to yip and scratch at the back door, and Yuta rushes to open it. He’s only met Kongie a handful of times, but he’s cute and sweet and fluffy and will not hesitate to give kisses, so Yuta loves him very much.

“Hey, buddy…” Kongie jumps on his shins and Yuta gives him the pets he wants, still absolutely bewildered at how the fuck Kongie got in the backyard. Once Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum starts pawing at him, Kongie gets in his playing stance, and Yuta takes that opportunity to turn on the porch light and investigate.

Well, shit. The whole side of the fence where Yuta and Doyoung’s backyards connect has flopped over, and how the fuck did Kongie manage that? He’s like, five pounds, holy shit. It really isn’t that big of a deal, because it isn’t like Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum isn’t always over there and it isn’t like Kongie hasn’t dug his way under the fence anyways, but Yuta still isn’t quite sure how to explain this to Doyoung when he inevitably has to return Kongie home. He’s able to find a bit of humour in it though. It’s always Doyoung that bring Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum back home, and now it’s Yuta’s turn.

So Yuta spends about ten minutes haphazardly trying to stilt the fence back up, because as much as Yuta would like to just keep it down and never have to deal with it, it’s impolite and privacy invading and he has a feeling that Doyoung would tear his ass to shreds if he didn’t. It isn’t very stable, and someone blowing in it’s direction could knock it down, but the fence is at least semi-upright and it can’t be said that Yuta didn’t try.

Next Yuta collects Kongie, and by default Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum, because she follows Kongie everywhere, and begins his treck to Doyoung’s house.

It takes him fifteen minutes to answer the door. Yuta’s arms were so very painfully tired from holding Kongie because he didn’t exactly have a leash and very much didn’t want Kongie running away, and he sighed in relief when Doyoung opened the door in a robe (A robe!!!!) and was able to set Kongie down without fear that he’ll take off down the street and get hit by a car or something equally as awful.

“What the hell?” Doyoung’s hair is wet, so he was obviously in the shower, and therefore unaware of whatever the fuck Kongie was up to before he came crashing into Yuta’s backyard.

“Um. Tradesies?” Doyoung laughs and shakes his head, but opens the door wider for both Yuta and Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum to follow him inside.

“Sorry, did he dig into your backyard again? I swear Taeil trained him out of that but I guess not. “ Yuta shuts the door behind him and locks it before following Doyoung into the living room. The last time Yuta was here was when Ten dragged him over with cookies, and the living room had looked so bare back then. Now their walls were a pale orange and there were paintings and bookshelves with little statues and other knick-knacks. It looked like a home now, and there was something so pleasant and cosy about it. Doyoung offers him tea, sitting when Yuta refuses.

“Actually…” Yuta sits a respectable distance from Doyoung, but he closes the distance again and places a hand on his thigh like he does every single time they sit together and it drives Yuta absolutely feral. Something about Doyoung’s touch is so grounding yet electrifying at the same time, and Yuta wonders why he’s never felt something like this before. Is this what a real, genuine crush feels like? “Kongie kinda? Broke through the fence? Scared the shit out of me, for real.” Yuta laughs it off, moreso to calm Doyoung down, because he’s staring at Yuta horrified but Yuta had already checked Kongie over and he’s just fine.

“...What?’ And Yuta tries not to feel disappointed that Doyoung has slipped back into his trained persona, but he supposes that the situation may call for it. He’s sure he wouldn’t be able to be friendly with the thought that Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum might be injured, either.

“I already looked at him!” Yuta quickly reassures, placing his hand over Doyoung’s. “Kongie’s okay, the fence isn’t, though.” Doyoung smiles sweetly and softly and thanks him. It’s quiet for a good moment, and it isn’t weird, but really peaceful, and Yuta thinks that just… existing with Doyoung is something that he could really get used to.

“Hey.” Doyoung speaks suddenly, looking over at Yuta. His eyes are warm and dark and cozy, like he’s reminding Yuta that he always has a home inside of him. “Do you wanna take Kongie with me to the dog park Saturday? And we can get dinner after?” Doyoung asks quietly, and seeds bud in between Yuta’s ribs. Turning his hand over in Yuta’s to hold it properly, Doyoung waits for a second, to make sure that Yuta knows, understands, before yanking his hand away with an overdramatic disgusted noise.

“Ew, don’t touch me. I’m naked under here.”

***

As soon as Yuta gets home, he immediately opens his phone and presses the first contact on his favourites list. It rings a couple of times, but Yuta knows it’ll be answered.

Click.

“Onii-San?” It will never stop being endearing, the way that Sana still calls him that even though she’s moved out and is safe from the lecture their mother would give her if she wasn’t respectful. Nowadays she lives in a neighbourhood about a half-hour away, with her ‘just friends’, Momo and Nayeon. She just recently graduated college at UT and now she’s got a fancy job in Marketing and Design at some equally as fancy company. Just thinking about how much Sana has accomplished makes Yuta feel so fuzzy inside - he’s so proud of her.

“Sana,” he gasps, out of breath from fucking legging it home. “Sana, holy shit.”

“What?? Is something wrong?” It’s half panicked and half annoyed, a balance of caring and constantly irked that Sana has always been great at maintaining. “Hello?”

“I think? Bro, I think I have a date?” Yuta’s pacing a circle around the couch now, as one does when they’re on the phone but have a little too much energy to just sit and talk. He’s kinda half crazed right now, because it’s been a good while since Yuta has last done really anything romantic, and he had really started to believe that he never would again, especially after Sicheng moved out.

“Oh… okay? I mean, I thought you were dying but I guess this is good. Wasn’t really expecting that, though. Did you finally harass Sicheng enough for him to give in?” Yuta’s smile immediately drops and his eyebrows furrow as he makes an absolutely offended noise. Sana laughs meanly, and Yuta wonders who raised her this way, because it certainly wasn’t him. Maybe she’s been talking to Jaemin too much, they were incredibly and dangerously devious the last time those two, Yuta, and Jaehyun met up.

“He moved, remember?” Sana cackles again, and she can probably hear how he’s pouting, which only makes it worse.

“So who is it this time? Are you and TY ever gonna get together? I know y'all play Roblox together, you’re always online at the same time.” Yuta wants to cry. Instead, he groans, frustrated, and finally plops down on the couch.

“No,” he says, with an attitude because that’s what Sana deserves. “It’s uh, it’s with… asshole neighbour?” He says it quiet and hesitant, because Yuta knows Sana is going to immediately clown him out of his last shred of dignity.

“Oh god, that’s delightful!” And then she laughs for a whole entire minute. Once she calms, Sana sighs dramatically. “God I love when karma bites people in the ass.”

Yuta is incredulous. “Karma?? What the hell did I do?”

“Um,” she counters, like it’s obvious that Yuta is some shitty person. “You literally hated him for like three months because of the kind of dog he has. You’re petty and weird and it’s a surprise that he even likes you in the first place, but, it’s also perfect, because you hate him.” Yuta grumbles at her, because she’s right, but that doesn’t mean he has to like it.

“Okay. Can you stop now. I actually called you for advice? So can you like? Be a sister? Thanks.” Sana giggles at him, but relents, so she must be in a good mood because she would keep going otherwise. It’s probably due to his stifling pain, but at least it worked.

“Okay, sure. What’s up, Onii-San?”

Yuta takes a deep breath. “Okay, okay.”

“Okay.” Sana echoes, because that’s all he’s really been saying.

“Okay, so like… how can I be sure it’s even like… a date... like … he asked me to go with him to the dog park. Isn’t that something that friends do? What if it was just friendly? What if he hates me and he’s lying and he’s going to take me somewhere to throttle me and then chop my body up and feed it to pigs?”

“God, you’re so fucking hopeless.” Sana murmurs through the phone. He hears a distant ‘who is that?’ through the receiver and Yuta assumes it’s either Momo or Nayeon or maybe even Mina. Sana doesn’t even bother to cover her microphone or put herself on mute as she describes to the other person how much of an idiot he’s being. There’s a mean laugh and, yup, that’s Nayeon. Momo’s actually nice to him sometimes.

“Sorry,” Sana says through a laugh, but Yuta knows she isn’t. “Um, so, I mean. I guess you can’t really know if he didn’t actually say it… but you guys have been friends for a bit, yeah? And last time we talked you literally ranted on his ‘lingering touches’ and ‘soft smiles’. That’s pretty gay, Yuta. I think it might be a date. But like I said, you can’t be sure. Just test the waters and wear something nice-ish and make some moves or something.”

Yuta isn’t convinced of anything, but at least it’s something. Perhaps Yuta just gets too much inside his head and has nothing to ground him, so he thinks and thinks and thinks until his thoughts grow thorns. At least he’ll have Ten and Jaehyun to strap him to Earth and talk some sense into him once they get home.

***

It’s far too bright and sweltering for an October afternoon, especially because it was cold enough for long sleeves yesterday, but it’s Texas, so the weather is unpredictable and winter doesn’t truly start until the beginning of December. Yuta tries to appreciate the erratic weather for what it is -- something that lets Yuta be outside and active for longer than he could anywhere else; Osaka is normally twenty degrees colder around this time of the year. Even though the sun warms Yuta to the core and softens his limbs, it’s unnecessary because Doyoung is there, and he is immeasurably more warm and pleasant than the sun could ever be.

They’re at the dog park, now, finally on their date (?), and he and Doyoung are sat on a bench towards the back while Kongie makes friends with a lab five times his size.

A sweet husky finds its way to Doyoung, yipping playfully as it paws at his lap, tongue out and panting. And god, Doyoung fucking giggles, and Yuta’s never seen him laugh like that. Doyoung takes both his hands and rubs the husky all over as gives it a fat kiss on the top of its head and the scene has Yuta’s heart bursting. He’s suddenly overwhelmed with such affection, something so saccharine that Yuta can feel it on his tongue and in his soul, so candied that his blood feels like strawberry syrup in his veins.

“You’re so fucking cute.” Yuta blurts, before he even realizes that his mouth is open and moving. Oh god. He’s so fucking dumb.

Doyoung startles a little, and the husky shoves his head under Doyoung’s hand so that he’ll continue petting it. He lets out an aborted laugh, clearly surprised at Yuta, but he’s got a tender smile and a small blush and it’s so goddamn cute. But Yuta fears that’s he’s just now ruined everything, so he makes to apologize, but Doyoung speaks before he can even get a word out.

“Are you just now realizing this?” Doyoung grins, and scoots a little closer to Yuta, gaze warm and intense. Yuta shivers, and the husky gets bored of Doyoung’s lack of attention and runs off to go play with the other dogs, but neither of them really pay any mind. Yuta’s lost in Doyoung’s eyes anyways.

“No. You’ve always been cute, Doie. Real cute.” And now Yuta’s blushing, because Sana said to make a move or something so he is and it’s embarrassing, and Doyoung giggles again and Yuta’s heart flutters in his chest.

“I know. And I know that you’ve always been frustratingly cute too, glaring at me from your kitchen window and your porch like I can’t see you. Like I don’t know your secrets, Yuta. You like me.”

“Um,” Yuta stutters dumbly, and he’s always thought that he’s been subtle about everything in the past few months, but apparently he hasn’t and Doyoung knows and now Yuta doesn’t know where to go from here.

But Doyoung touches his cheek, and maybe everything is okay. “I like you too, Yuta. I really like it. Like Kongie likes MPBB. A lot, Yuta.” And Doyoung is really close now, close enough that Yuta can smell the cologne he’s wearing and he’ll have to thank Paco Rabanne for creating Black XS, because the fragrance combined with Doyoung’s natural scent makes Yuta dizzy.

“Yeah?” Yuta whispers, because he isn’t quite sure what to say and he fears that speaking any louder will shatter the moment and they’ll never get this chance again.

“Yeah.” And Doyoung leans and closes the gap between them. Their lips slot together perfectly and Doyoung’s hands cup his face. Yuta holds onto his wrists, needs the skin on skin contact to remind himself that this is real and happening right now, needs feel the warmth that Doyoung spills into him where it begins.

They kiss, and roses bloom in between Yuta’s ribs.

***

Doyoung’s over, like he normally is these days. It’s winter, but Doyoung feels like ripe strawberries, sweet and refreshing in the blazing heat of summer. Yuta is happy; Doyoung is sat next to him on their couch, Miss Princess Baby Bubblegum curled around his feet, clawing absently at his sweats while Kongie naps next to her. Ten and Jaehyun are out, so it’s just them to themselves, and there’s something so startlingly domestic about the evening, shocks Yuta that they’ve come so far. That Yuta’s allowed to lay his head on Doyoung’s shoulder and that he doesn’t hate it. It’s okay for Doyoung to slip his fingers between Yuta’s, more comforting than anything else.

They’ve started a show together, something about space, and most of the time Yuta pays attention, but there’s a lot of moments like this, too, where Yuta closes his eyes and finds peace in the warmth next to him. Let’s himself just… exist inside of Doyoung’s presence, use it as some sort of Shangri La, a haven where Yuta can always be safe and comfortable and happy. It’s home. Yuta slips his hand out of Doyoung’s, and he can hear more than feel Doyoung’s pout at the lost of contact. He’s sort of zoned out, staring blankly at the TV as he lets himself safely recede into the slow waves of his head with the aid of Doyoung’s simple existence, but he notices the way Doyoung wiggles his fingers, searching for the warmth and security that each other’s touch provides. Giggling softly, Yuta plays with his fingers instead, half for his own enjoyment and half just to annoy Doyoung. It works, and Doyoung finally breaks his own gaze from the TV to stare down at Yuta with a playfully annoyed expression, brows furrowed but fondness shining softly in his eyes, a warm glimmer that melts Yuta to the core.

Doyoung is always terribly endeared by Yuta, always says so in remorse whenever Yuta does something charmingly dumb. But it’s okay, though, because it isn’t just him. It’s okay, because Yuta is terribly, stupidly, irrevocably, and completely in love with Doyoung.