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It was pretty late and Taeyong sure he’s supposed to settle down on his bed already. It’s a chilly night in Los Angeles and they just had a day with packed schedule. Taeyong didn’t know how he managed to be up and drank his juice, sitting across the pool, watching the reflection of the lights on the water surface.
“Taeyongie?” a deep voice broke the silence between Taeyong and his surroundings.
Taeyong turned and saw one of the hyung line of SuperM stood at the door frame to the pool. “Oh—Jongin hyung.” He didn’t know why he stuttered but he knew he’s only like this with Jongin. He’s fine if it’s Taemin or Baekhyun.
Jongin chuckled, sensing the bit of awkwardness from the younger boy. “I thought everyone is asleep,” he walked towards Taeyong, standing beside the empty chair next to the younger. “Can I join you?”
The purple haired boy widened his eyes. He could feel his heart was beating faster than usual.
“Or do you need a time alone?”
Taeyong immediately shook his head. “N—no, hyung. Sure, take a seat,” he said, motioning the elder to seat on the empty chair. “Why are you still awake?” he asked, trying to make a conversation.
“I can ask the same to you.”
The younger boy bite his lower lips and look at the pool again. “I don’t know, I just can’t sleep. Maybe I’m still overwhelmed from all of this. It’s pretty unbelievable, at least for me.”
Jongin hummed and sipped on his drink. “It is. It’s pretty surreal for me too,” he said and angled himself to face Taeyong properly. “But I thought you’re already used to promote here.”
Taeyong just shrugged. “It’s still different because it’s not NCT?” he tilted his head. “Like—I don’t have to lead the group. And this whole thing, this is new to me, to all of us. I’m excited and afraid at the same time. You know what happen when we’re first announced right?”
Jongin hummed again but this time, with a nod. He could see Taeyong was really nervous about it from their first press conference in Korea. The younger boy looked rigid, so unlikely of him but he understood why he’s feeling like that. “But you did well, Taeyongie. There’s really nothing you can’t do,” he said sincerely. He knew Taeyong is an amazing performer, but he saw a new side of Taeyong when they did the recording for No Manners. He believed Taeyong would be a great producer in the future. He always knew Taeyong will be big one day, getting everything he deserved.
“Thank you. You too, hyung. You’re great, as always,” Taeyong returned the compliment and blush slowly crept onto his cheeks. He had always looked up to the main dancer of EXO and aspired to grace the stage just like how Jongin did every time he’s on it.
“Hey, Taeyong?”
“Hmm?”
Jongin pulled the chair closer to Taeyong and smiled in satisfaction when he finally sat closer to the younger boy. His hand snaked towards Taeyong’s lap and took one of his hands. He let out a small chuckle when he felt Taeyong’s body became rigid. “Relax,” he said it with a small laugh. “Taeyongie—“
“H—hyung?” Taeyong looked at Jongin with eyes full of confusion and nervousness.
“You know—“ he cleared his throat, Taeyong’s sparkly eyes were very distracting. “You know if there’s anything that’s bugging you, you can talk to me right? Doesn’t matter if you’re nervous, or excited or even scared, anything—I mean it, just know that you can talk to me,” Jongin played with Taeyong’s thin and slender fingers. “I know sometimes we can be a little awkward but let’s break the barrier. We can be considered close, I believe, but I want to be closer.”
The truth is, Taeyong wanted to be closer to Jongin too. He wished he’s Mark or Lucas, or even Ten who Jongin could easily put his arms around, hugged, talked and laughed with but Taeyong was too shy for his own good. He knew Jongin put on some effort to get closer to him but it just him always get nervous around the elder.
“How come you can be a lot more closer to Taemin and Baekhyun hyung but not me? I mean, you are more comfortable with the oldest compare to me, who’s just a year and half older than you,” Jongin asked, a glint of teasing was quite obvious in his eyes.
Taeyong cringed inside. Even he’s still trying to figure it out yet but deep inside, he knew the reason behind it. “Uh—it’s because you’re kinda intimidating?”
“Am I?”
“For first impression, yes.”
Jongin chuckled. “We’re no longer in the stage of ‘just getting to know each other’, Taeyongie. We’ve been pretty much stuck together for months. If your band mates can do it, so are you.”
“Sorry, hyung.”
Jongin straightened up and casually intertwined his fingers with Taeyong. “Okay, but you have to answer me.”
Taeyong wished he could sprint inside and hide under his bed. He silently prayed in all the languages he knew that Jongin won’t ever ask anything that might make him buried himself alive. And he might want Jongin to let go of his hand. Not that he hated it but he’s afraid if his palm suddenly became sweaty out of nervousness. Not that it had happened before but he felt like anything is possible with Jongin. “Uh—okay?”
Unknowingly to Taeyong, Jongin wished he could’ve just kiss Taeyong right there and then but he remembered advice from Baekhyun and Taemin. Do not scare the younger boy. “Okay—so, EXO is making a comeback.”
Taeyong nodded and trying to find the correlation between him and EXO’s comeback. “Okay, cool. And?”
“You know we usually change our hair style or colour for a comeback, right?”
Taeyong nodded again and tried to put two and two together. He still didn’t get a thing. “Yeah, okay—“
“So—“
“Uh huh—“
“What colour do you think is suitable for me? I mean, we’re going to shoot for the album jacket after the first show of our Japan leg tour. I want a suggestion from you,” Jongin looked towards Taeyong and winked.
It took approximately five seconds for Taeyong to recover from Jongin’s wink. “Wait, that’s it?”
Jongin nodded. Only God knows how much he wanted to plant kisses all over Taeyong's face.
Taeyong contemplated in between feeling relieved because it’s nothing about exposing his feelings or to throw Jongin into the pool in front of them because the elder made him nervous for nothing. “But hyung, why do you ask me?”
“Because your suggestion matter,” Jongin said. “And I know you’ve tried almost all colour on that head of yours so—I can say, you’re experienced.”
Taeyong let out a small laugh and Jongin wished he had it on record so it could be his lullaby for every night. He's never be more than happy to be woken up early in the morning when it was Taeyong's small and gentle voice that did so. For a moment he believed if Taeyong's voice was the last thing he heard before falling asleep, he'll have all the good sleep he deserved.
“Maybe you should just go with black hair,” the younger recommended.
“Boring.”
“Your fans will like it.”
“I know,” Jongin nodded. “But I want to try something else.”
Taeyong nodded. “Well, I personally really like the pink and red hair but you’ve tried both before.” Yes, Taeyong had it in the back of his mind. “Oh!” he almost jumped from his seat like a little kid. “Maybe you could try green? Or blue?”
Jongin looked at the excited Taeyong, suggesting the colour to Jongin. He tried to not to carry the younger to his room. He couldn’t scare Taeyong. He had Taemin and Baekhyun’s advice at the back of his mind. “The blue in our teaser?”
Taeyong shrugged. “It depends. Maybe it can be navy blue or sky blue, it’s up to you. But if you want to try for green, I suggest you do it darker. Mine was pretty striking so, you see—I was like a lime walking in the crowd?” he tilted his head and put out his signature smile.
Jongin laughed before nodding. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Are you really going to follow my suggestion?”
“That, sweetheart, you have to wait and see,” Jongin winked to Taeyong again. He stood up, fingers still intertwined with Taeyong’s. “Come on, let’s sleep. We still have schedule to do tomorrow.”
“And you’re going back to Korea with Baekhyun hyung, right?” Taeyong’s lips curved downward. The feeling of not having Jongin near him, he disliked it.
Jongin reduced the distance between him and Taeyong. He caressed his fingers through Taeyong’s purple hair. He wondered after so many time of dying it, the younger’s hair still felt soft on his touch. “Why? Afraid of missing me? We can still meet in Korea. We’ll have a recording to do remember?”
“I’m just asking!” Taeyong puffed his cheeks.
“There, no need to be so defensive,” Jongin chuckled. “So, you want to settle down in your own room or mine tonight? I don’t have heart leaving knowing someone will miss me.”
“Hyung!” he tried to loosen Jongin’s hold on his hand. “I’m sleeping in my room!”
Jongin let out his loud laugh, still looking at Taeyong and blew a kiss when the latter took a last look at him before walking to his room. A good way to end his last night in LA, so he thought.
*******
Taeyong was lounging on the couch of his family’s house when he felt his phone was vibrating under his butt. It’s a message.
From: Jongin hyung
Have you check the internet today?
Taeyong looked up to the ceiling, ignoring his dog that wanted his attention. “Why should I check on internet today?” Taeyong talked to himself.
To: Jongin hyung
What’s on the internet today?
It took two minutes for him to get a reply from Jongin.
From: Jongin hyung
We’re at the airport heading to Japan today! You should look up for my picture.
Taeyong didn’t bother to reply. Instead, he looked for EXO’s airport pictures on internet, specifically for Jongin’s. He looked it up and squinted his eyes at few pictures he found. After that, he returned to Kakao Talk.
To: Jongin hyung
Uh, your pink jacket look nice? I love pink! ^^
He closed the chat application and looked back at the pictures he saved. A minute later, a video call came in. From Jongin. Taeyong immediately sit up straight and fixed his own hair before accepting the call.
“Taeyongie—“ a whine from Jongin was what Taeyong got as soon as the elder on his screen. “Seriously? My jacket?”
Taeyong just laughed. Who knew the charismatic Kai could be this cute and adorable off stage? And oh, he whined. “Then, should I pay attention to anything else?”
Jongin, on the other line just pouted. “Seriously? Can’t you see?” he brought his phone closer to his head and made sure the younger one could see every single part of his head. He even combed his hair with his fingers. “Hey, do you need my help?” another voice could be heard from behind. Pretty sure it’s Sehun.
“Okay, you hair is blue with a bit of g—“ Taeyong widened his eyes when realization finally hit him. “Hyung?!”
A laugh could be heard. Jongin laughed in satisfaction. He knew Taeyong finally get it. “Ah, so you see—“
“You really dye your hair green and blue?”
Jongin nodded and he looked a little cocky that Taeyong finally saw it. “Pretty right?”
“You really listen to me.”
“I did,” Jongin nodded. “I’m pretty confuse to choose between green and blue so I decide to go for both. I didn’t lie when I said your suggestion matter.”
Taeyong was about to bit his nail. A habit that he really needed to stop doing. “Do—do you like it?”
Jongin was beaming. “Yeah! I think it’s pretty! My fans like it too. Thank you, Taeyongie.”
Taeyong’s face was red. He didn’t really think that Jongin would take his recommendation seriously. He thought Jongin was fooling around or just making a friendly conversation. He remembered about Jongin wanting to break the barrier between them. “It’s fine. And you’re actually looking really good, hyu—“
“Hey, Yongie!!!”, Baekhyun pushed Jongin away from screen. “Hey, did Lucas or Mark already tell you that—“ and the rest of Baekhyun’s word have been muffled by Jongin’s palm. “Hyung!” Jongin screeched and pushed Baekhyun away from his screen, palm still on the elder’s mouth.
Taeyong laughed. He missed Baekhyun’s antic. He missed Jongin.
“It’s always Baekhyun hyung that makes you laugh is it?” Jongin said and Taeyong couldn’t pinpoint if it’s jealousy he heard.
Snickers was heard. Must be the EXO members.
“And you’re jealous?”
“What if I am?”
“Hyung—“ Taeyong bite his lower lips. “If it’ll make you feel better, I like you the best.”
“What is it?”
“You really didn’t hear it or you’re just pretending?”
Jongin just smirked. “I just want to hear it again.”
“Jongin hyung, I like you the best.”
The elder smiled in satisfaction and he took a quick glimpse at Baekhyun, his seatmate in the plane. Baekhyun already pulled a thumbs up to Jongin. “Yongie, it’s time to fly now. I have to end the call.”
Taeyong pouted and Jongin wished he could fly on the next day instead. “Okay.”
“And Yongie—“ Jongin brought his face closer to his phone. “I like you the best too. And I miss you,” he smiled softly at Taeyong through his screen. “We need to talk once I’m back in Korea again.”
Taeyong really hold himself from screaming. He didn’t want to freak his parents, his dog or Jongin. He just nodded frantically, expressing his excitement. “Okay, hyung.”
“Okay. Keep in touch alright? Take care of yourself. Can’t wait to see you,” Jongin winked and threw a kissy face at Taeyong.
“You too, hyung,” Taeyong smiled brightly. He didn’t have the courage to return the flying kiss yet.
And before the call ended, he could hear the sound of someone (fake) vomiting from the other side.