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Taeyong leans back in his chair with a laugh as the winning screen pops up, a chorus of noise filling his ears. He pinches the edge of the bag of jellybeans sitting to the side of his keyboard and drags it over, sliding his fingers inside to grab one and toss it into his mouth. With the other hand, he flips down the mic of his headset, listening to the automated voice announce that it's no longer muted.
"Six kills," is all he says. He fishes out another jellybean to the beautiful music of everyone in the call protesting. It's yellow, probably lemon, and he flicks it back into the bag and takes out another one.
Apple.
Maybe.
He's never paid much attention to the listing of flavors on the back of the bag. He's never been a huge jellybean fanatic in the first place, but he let his sweets stash run low and apparently these are all he has left. Where he got them, he has no idea, but sugar is sugar and he has to make do with what he has. He'll make a run to the convenience store down the street once they're done playing for the night.
"You're hacking, dude. There's no way you single-handedly took out over half of us," Jungwoo's squeaky voice sounds above the raucous.
Taeyong rolls his eyes, smirking even though none of his friends can see. " Or , and this is a big thing to consider, none of you are on my level." He goes back to the main screen, randomly deciding to change the skin of his character before readying up again.
"Can you stop talking like you're some kind of professional player?" Doyoung complains. "It's annoying."
Doyoung is honestly just talking to hear his voice because he's the worst player in the server. He only joined the group because his crush, Jaehyun, is also a member and he's trying to get his attention by seeming like he has some real interest in the game.
Taeyong isn't seeing the results of this effort, but he'll support Doyoung's endeavor to look like a complete noob in front of his crush like a good best friend is supposed to.
"We literally have a professional team," Taeyong says, completely deadpan as he inspects a red bean with purple flecks. What the hell is this supposed to be? Shaking his head, he rolls it back into the bag and picks it up to give it a good shake.
"Hey, someone joined the discord," Mark says.
Taeyong raises an eyebrow. "I didn't invite anyone?"
"No, not our group server. The main one."
"And?" Donghyuck huffs. "Do any of us even check that server?"
Taeyong does, but that's because he likes to keep up with meetups and tournaments. They get on him sometimes about having a gaming addiction, about needing to prove himself and climb to the very top of the leaderboards in every new game he picks up. Taeyong simply likes to think that he has drive and passion. If he fudges it right, he could probably put his insane gaming addiction on his resume.
Dragging his phone over, Taeyong swipes his finger over the screen. He glances at his center PC monitor. "Hey, noob, ready up." Scrolling through his apps, he opens Discord and taps the icon for the main game server.
"Stop calling me a noob," Doyoung says, not realizing that Taeyong never said his name or that he wasn't the only person who wasn't ready.
Taeyong snorts and flips the mic of his headset back up, muting himself again.
Elsewhere, Johnny scans over the menu highlighted on the screen of his favorite PC bang, trying to decide between ramen and something less...bad for his arteries at first glance. In the row behind him and a little further down, someone is grumbling noisily -- probably in response to a loss they think is unfair -- but Johnny drowns them out easily.
His Korean is passable, considering how he didn't have an interest in actually learning it despite how his parents used it at home until he was eighteen and left for university. For now, he's still at a level where he can tune out what's being said around him until everything is white noise. His mom wouldn't like that -- she was so surprised and happy when he said he was going to do a year abroad in Korea; it felt like the whole extended family knew within fifteen minutes of him telling her -- but sometimes he needs his mental space.
Johnny decides on a three-piece hot dog set, onion rings, and a beer. He sends in the order before turning to his phone when he sees it light up with a new notification from the Discord server one of the guys he's working with for a group project sent him a link for when he found out Johnny games.
I suggest you leave this server now tbh it's for your own health and safety
Welcome @suhprise. You probably won't stay in this shithole long, but feel free to look around. Introduce yourself in #intros. We plan casual meetups and post tournament info in #doxxing-central. For some reason, we have #pet-pictures if you're a crazy dog parent.
suhprise
well... that's surely a warm welcome if i've ever seen one
-------------------- NEW MESSAGES --------------------
lark mee
ok which one of you changed the welcome message
hey @suhprise don't be weirded out by all the weirdos in here
it's really a nice place
suhprise
sounds convincing
nini
johnny is that you?
jay chou call me
@yootah @eleven the guy Jongin hyung invited is real. you owe me 10k won each and you have fourteen days to pay up
the guy Jongin invited
| johnny is that you?
@moonman what if i wanted to hide my identity
now what?
jay chou call me
well, i'm glad you didn't because i had money riding on you
the guy Jongin invited
uh okay
TY
yo some of us are in game right now but if you wanna hop in next round we got space
the guy Jongin invited
yeah sure why not
Johnny unhooks the headset off the divider separating his space from the empty seat next to him and slings the headphones around his neck. He loads up the game as he pokes around the Discord server. He's always known about Discord -- he's pretty sure his gaming club back at his university in California had their own server -- but he's never had an interest in joining or anything. Always felt like something those gaming nerds who spent thousands building their own PCs or twitch streamers or weebs would use instead of literally any other group chat application. Looking through it now, he has no idea what is going on in some of these different rooms, but he figures he'll either learn to adapt or forget about the application in its entirety in time.
He logs in and passes time messing around with his character's skin and typing out an introduction in the Discord with little more than his name, since it's already out thanks to Jongin, and the fact that he's an international student from the States who has been playing the game basically since launch.
His food comes around the same time that he gets a DM from the TY guy in the server with the name and password of the room they're playing in, and Johnny shoves a still steaming onion ring in his mouth, holding it between his lips and breathing on it to cool it down as he enters the private lobby.
There are eight other guys in the room, all with various skins that Johnny knows were bought after a number of hours spent in game (except for one guy 'doieeee' who has on the default skin). Sucking the onion ring into his mouth, Johnny looks over the settings for the game.
"A free for all, huh?" He mumbles to himself, mouth full.
He shakes his head. That's a shame. If it were teams, he'd be able to pretend that a win was a collective effort. Now, he's going to sweep them as the new guy in the group, completely solo.
As the game loads in, Johnny grabs his beer to wash down the fried onion and cracks his knuckles.
Oh, well. Sucks for them.
Taeyong's fingers fly over the keyboard as he runs across the map, on the hunt for more blood. He's already taken out Doyoung (easy kill, he doesn't give Taeyong any sense of satisfaction) and Mark (not as easy as Doyoung, but also at the bottom of Taeyong's food chain). He spies someone in the distance, squinting his eyes as if that'll help him read the abysmally tiny white font of the username. No matter what, he pulls up the scope, sure this will be yet another easy snipe, when he watches whoever was in his sights go down.
Immediately, he scans the area but can't find anyone else in the vicinity. He frowns and carefully leaves from where he had taken cover behind a tree when he first noticed someone else was around. No one shoots him once he's out in the open, and he assumes whoever killed -- Jungwoo, he sees once he's closer to the body and recognizes the skin -- has already left the area and he just missed them go.
Quickly, Taeyong checks the items on Jungwoo's body, sucking his teeth when he sees nothing good. He presses the key to bring up the map and before he even gets a good look at it, he's dead.
"Who the fuck?"
Taeyong taps furiously, scrolling between the screens of who is left in the game and is surprised to see the guy he just invited in from the Discord leaving the area, not even bothering to check Taeyong's body for anything.
Staying on the new guy's viewpoint, Taeyong grabs his phone and checks the server. He has a DM from the new guy in response to the lobby info, a simple thumbs up emoji, and he sees that there's new messages in the introductions channel. He reads over what the new guy -- Johnny -- wrote, frowning when he sees how short it is.
Putting down his phone, Taeyong dumps out a handful of jellybeans and picks out the flavors he wants. He watches as Johnny flutters around the map, steadily taking out everyone until he's the last one left alive.
Taeyong pops a burnt orange bean into his mouth and twists his mouth at the taste as the losing screen fades in.
"Finally," he says as he unmutes the voice chat -- he has no use for it during the game if they're not playing teams -- and hears his friend's voices flood in, all of them in shock at Johnny's win, "some real competition."
#shit-talkers-unite
lark mee
yooooooooooo
@suhprise is that you who just fucking destroyed us
the guy Jongin invited
| @suhprise is that you who just fucking destroyed us
@lark mee lmao sorry
i thought about going easy on you all for about half a second
but it's better to establish dominance early
TY anti
ok alpha male 🙄
great just what we need around here
another taeyong
TY
donghyuck, we talked about you being a sore loser
TY anti
**** ***
TY
i know that says fuck you hyuck i wasn't born yesterday
anyway, welcome johnny
wanna go again?
They play three more games before everyone mutually agrees that they've hit their limit before friendships start being broken. Invigorated by his surprise loss, Taeyong wins the next game, only to lose to Johnny right after that. In the last game, Jaehyun manages to score a win when Taeyong and Johnny fire headshots at each other right at the same time and take each other out. Taeyong says it doesn't count, but the rest of the group drowns him out in the voice chat and even goes as far as to spam the 'no_taeyong' emoji Donghyuck made that’s just Taeyong's initials with a red ‘no’ symbol stamped on top.
Rolling his eyes, Taeyong finds himself clicking over to his DM with @suhprise, popping another two jellybeans into his mouth.
boomingsystems
so i think we should have a rematch
we both know jae didn’t win that last one
suhprise
we’re at 2:1 dude either i’m going to win or we’re going to tie lol
boomingsystems
best of 2?
suhprise
you’re really competitive aren’t you
boomingsystems
what makes you think that lol
suhprise
idk just a feeling
boomingsystems
so
you in
suhprise
of course lol
you seem to think you can really beat me
but how about this
we’ll toss out today’s games and play fresh 2 of 3
boomingsystems
sounds good to me
not tonight though
i should probably get some work done
suhprise
yeah sure
just let me know
doesn’t matter when tbh i’ll win either way
A knock at Taeyong's bedroom door has him spinning around in his chair. He bumps his knee on the inside of his desk as he does so and hisses, clutching the joint as his door swings open to reveal his best friend and housemate.
Doyoung raises an eyebrow but otherwise doesn't comment on Taeyong folded over and holding his leg. "I'm meeting Jeno and Taro at that gopchang place around the corner in thirty. You wanna come?"
Taeyong thinks about what they have in the fridge and quickly concludes that he's too lazy to prepare anything himself. Plus, he can stop somewhere on the way back and pick up some more sweets since he finished the jellybeans the night before.
"Yeah, sure," he answers, rubbing at his knee.
He spins back around in his chair, careful not to slam into his desk again, and looks at the assignment he's been half-assing. Then again, he's never been a fan of the weekly reading responses professors are so obsessed with making them do. Submitting the assignment, he closes out of that tab and wastes time watching the replay of one of byunb , one of his favorite Twitch streamer's, latest stream until he has to get up to leave with Doyoung.
"Oh, Taeyong hyung!" Shotaro blinks, surprised at his presence, when Taeyong and Doyoung finally walk up to the night's chosen restaurant. The exchange student Doyoung took under his wing as a volunteer for the International Services Center at his university quickly smiles. "Doyoung hyung didn't say you were coming."
"Sorry about that, Taro. I know that's a terrible thing to spring on you," Doyoung says, pulling laughter out of the two younger boys.
Jeno opens the door of the restaurant and gestures for them to go in, saying his greetings to Taeyong and Doyoung as they pass by him to enter.
It takes no time at all after they've sat down at a table in the corner for them to start talking about relationships. It starts out with Doyoung checking in on Jeno who started dating a boy from one of his classes named Sungchan, slides by Doyoung's lack of progress with Jaehyun way too quickly for Taeyong's standards, and somehow ends up with them discussing why Taeyong has been single for the last three years.
"I wouldn't date a guy who would sell me for a pack of gummy worms without a second thought either," Doyoung says as he picks at the radish kimchi.
"Doyoung, I would sell you for chocolate covered raisins and I think those are rat poison." Taeyong replies.
Rolling his eyes, Doyoung waits until he's finished swallowing to answer. "That implies I would ever find you attractive enough either physically or personality wise to date but, thankfully, I love myself and have standards."
"Standards like guys who only wash their sheets once a month even though they eat in bed?"
"Yeah, exactly," Doyoung responds, deadpan.
Jeno laughs against the rim of his small cup of water. "But really, Taeyong hyung, has no one caught your eye or anything?"
Taeyong sighs at his attempt to bring the conversation back to Doyoung and Jaehyun failing. He doesn't mind talking about his lack of love life, but only because there isn't much to talk about in the first place. It's not exactly easy to find people when you're in a polyamorous marriage with your PC, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch. There's also that added thing of how Taeyong never leaves his and Doyoung's apartment except to go to class, find food, go to tournaments, or visit his parents.
He shrugs. "Guys I find attractive typically do not have personalities that mesh with mine."
Doyoung picks up another taste of radish kimchi. "Himbos," he says, a weirdly introspective tone to his voice, and adds, "We've all been there," before closing his mouth around his chopsticks.
Shotaro leans over to Jeno to ask what a himbo is.
Doyoung raises a hand to cover his mouth as he continues talking, obviously wanting to say something before Taeyong can reply. "Why don't you ever see if any of the guys you play with who aren't in our group would be interested? I'm sure one of those nerds who always comes up to talk to you at tournaments has to be into you."
Taeyong thinks Doyoung is so used to their gaming team being unintentionally but exclusively LGBT that he has forgotten that is not the reality in the greater realm of competitive gaming. Has the thought ever passed Taeyong's mind when he's talking to a cute boy about the newest FPS games coming out in the next quarter or exchanging strategies in between matches? Yes, but a lot of that is just easygoing fantasy. Taeyong is never in the mood to shoot his shot in an environment with that much heterosexual energy and leave it up to fate.
In Doyoung's words, Taeyong loves himself and has standards.
Would it be nice to find a boy who was the perfect combination of himbo and gamer, though? Absolutely.
It would almost be like a dream come true.
boomingsystems
gg gg
suhprise
ooh was my voice not enough?
you had to bring it to dm?
boomingsystems
i could barely hear anyone but donghyuck and jungwoo
but cute that you thought i have some vested interest in talking to you
suhprise
don't you?
it was kind of messed up for us both to be on the same team
boomingsystems
we had doyoung
he cancels out at least one of us
and ew
suhprise
its ew but you're responding to me too fast to be talking to anyone else
so yeah you wanted to talk to me specifically
-------------------- NEW MESSAGES --------------------
suhprise
don't take your time and pretend like you're talking to someone else just because i pointed you out lmao
boomingsystems
😒
suhprise
there's my favorite rival 💕
boomingsystems
hyuck and zeus are right
we need to be on different teams
i'm feeling bloodthirsty
suhprise
taeyong just say you want to be my friend
it's okay
boomingsystems
😒😒
"Hey, John."
Johnny flinches when an arm loops around his shoulder. He glances over to his left to see Jongin beside him and he knows that later on Jongin is going to feel an ache in his shoulder from stretching like this. He almost laughs, but he's not quite sure if Jongin is secure enough in his height to not take genuine offense to it.
"Oh, hey." Johnny lifts the plastic cup in his hands, iced americano half empty, and takes a sip. "What's up?"
"Going to meet up with Donghyuck and find something to eat."
Eyebrows raising, Johnny hums in surprise. "I didn't know he lived here."
In the two weeks he's been in Jongin's little online friend group, he's come to learn a bit about the guys -- like how Mark is born and bred Canadian but doing his full undergrad in Korea or how Yuta isn't around as much as he used to be because he was scouted to a mid-tier idol company earlier in the year or how Jungwoo, the server clown, goes to KAIST of all schools.
There are some things he has yet to learn, but since getting added to their smaller, private server, he's realized that he likes these guys enough to bother getting to know them better.
"Yeah, he's practically a native here," Jongin says, finally removing his arm from around Johnny's shoulder and shoving his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. "But whatever, you going anywhere special? Wanna join?"
Johnny was actually on his way to the library to chill in between classes, but he has time before his next one and it beats eating ramen and hot bar -- which is not a habit he expected to pick up, but he supposes it's not much different than the way he used to gorge himself on pizza back home whenever he got too tired of meal prep and eating healthily.
He shrugs. "Yeah, sure, why not?"
Jongin leads him through the buildings of their campus, eventually bringing them up to one that Johnny has never stepped foot in. Donghyuck is lingering outside with his air pods in, typing something furiously on his phone. He looks up when they approach him and glances between Johnny and Jongin.
"So," he glances back down at his phone, pinching and spreading his fingers over the screen, "how do you guys feel about katsu? There's this place that was closed for renovations, but it looks like they're open again." His voice sounds just about the same as it does through Johnny's headset, and it's interesting to finally have a face to match.
Johnny lifts his iced americano to his lips and takes a long drink, smacking his lips when he's done. "Do you just always just accept it when Jongin hyung brings strangers along to eat with you?"
"You think I don't know an American named John when I see one?" Donghyuck says snarkily, glancing up from his phone again with a raised eyebrow and a playful frown. When Johnny snorts, he grins and gives a small bow. "It feels weird to say, 'nice to meet you' since we've already reached the point of yelling at each other over voice chat but, nice to meet you, hyung."
Even in person, Donghyuck knows how to fill up a silence before it can even settle. He talks the entire time, jumping between talking about classes, to complaining about some commentary youtuber named Renjun he's "frenemies" with, to asking John weirdly personal questions about his upbringing.
Johnny thought he was a talker, but by the time they're walking through a thin alleyway up to a restaurant Johnny would never find if Donghyuck wasn't there to point out where the seemingly hidden door is, he feels like he's sat through an entire TedTalk on the human stream of consciousness.
"So, how did you get into the group chat thing?" Johnny asks after they've been served slabs of fried pork cutlet the size of both of his hands spread out side-by-side. "By Jongin hyung too?"
Donghyuck pauses mid chew, looking from Johnny to Jongin and then back to Johnny. "Did he not tell you?" he asks with a small laugh. He swallows before saying, " I invited him. Anyway, Taeyong and I are cousins."
"For real?" Johnny cuts off a piece of his sweet potato tonkatsu. "Ah, well, I guess that makes sense. He complains about you like you're the little brother he's gotten stuck with babysitting."
Donghyuck gapes in overexaggerated scandal. "You talk about me behind my back, my dearest Johnny hyung who I just met in person an hour ago?"
Johnny shrugs, offering up a half smile as Jongin chuckles.
"You should be happy Taeyong has someone new to bond with," Jongin says, knocking shoulders with Donghyuck who groans.
"No offense, Johnny hyung, but I'd rather it be anyone else but you. You're too perfect of a match for Taeyong."
Johnny isn't quite sure what that means, but the distress in Donghyuck's voice makes him laugh.
boomingsystems
think you might be up for a few one on one games tonight?
suhprise
oh hey yeah sure
i actually just made it to the pc bang lol
boomingsystems
you play at pc bangs?
suhprise
yeah
my laptop doesn't have the ram
love pc bangs, wish they had ones this good back home
boomingsystems
ah right you're an international student
your korean is pretty good
where are you studying?
if it's okay to ask, that is
im not going to find you and like...fight you for beating me in the game even if i always say i will
suhprise
i'm pretty sure you could not take me
boomingsystems
lmao what are you 180cm and ripped or something
suhprise
yeah
i'm 182
wouldn't really say i'm ripped tho but...you know
i lift
boomingsystems
oh shit for real??
you're lying
suhprise
nope lol
boomingsystems
i hate that
suhprise
lmao sorry
i guess you're a shortie
boomingsystems
never call me a shortie
suhprise
and what would you do about it?
yell at my knees?
punch my thighs?
i'm in jeju by the way
boomingsystems
don't be mean to me 😞
jeju was not what i was expecting
suhprise
guess i just wanted to be different than everyone who goes to seoul
boomingsystems
that's cool
suhprise
it's pretty nice
can't complain
give me a minute while i log in and then we can go all night
boomingsystems
don't talk dirty to me like that 🥵
i'll get too excited
suhprise
what??
oh
lmao you're such a geek
"My internet cut out!"
Johnny snorts so hard his throat hurts. "Shut up, Taeyong. You tried to use that excuse on me the last time we played."
He and Taeyong have gotten into the habit of playing a few games together a week and it's surprisingly nicer than he thought it'd be to have something of a rival. They really are just about equal in skill (although Johnny would say that he's objectively better than Taeyong) and Johnny thought the constant competition would get tiring. Very few of his friends back home are interested in gaming -- at least, not to the same extent that Johnny is -- and the couple of people he usually played with would become increasingly toxic the longer they played together.
But Taeyong is pretty chill. He can get a little cocky, but honestly so can Johnny, and he never crosses any lines into disrespectful. That could be because Johnny murders him in cold blood more often than not -- Taeyong would ask for a citation on that claim -- but Johnny thinks he's just a sweet dude in general.
He found out very quickly that the pet pictures channel in the Discord server is Taeyong's place to spam whatever cute animal pictures or gifs he comes across, and sometimes twenty minute long cat compilations from YouTube. Pretty much the entire server has the channel muted, except for Kun who sometimes posts pictures of the pets he and his flatmates co-own. A few dewy eyed emoji reactions on the pictures Taeyong posts has led the younger man to send Johnny more directly through their DM in between all of their heat of the moment shit-talking.
Johnny's never been one for animals, but he doesn't mind the hedgehog gifs at one in the morning.
"Because maybe my internet connection isn't good and therefore all of your wins since last week are null and void."
Tapping his fingers on the edge of his cola can, Johnny waits for the perfect moment to drop in-game. There's a clump of buildings coming up, but he assumes Taeyong is going to drop there and part of the fun is the search and chase, so he'll drop a little bit further up the map.
"For someone with such spotty internet, it's interesting that you're streaming on Discord right now."
"Oh, so you admit you're cheating by watching my stream."
Johnny rolls his eyes, snorting again. He opens their server again and scrolls down to the streaming channel. "Taeyong, I know you can see that the only people watching your stream are Mark and Ten."
"Well," Johnny hears the sound of Taeyong tapping at his keyboard in his moment of thought, "...how do I know you're not using one of their accounts or something," he says, obviously joking. "Or that they're not reporting my location to you."
"The very last person I'd ask to spy on me would be Mark."
Taeyong makes a noise but doesn't respond. Johnny should be surprised when his phone lights up on the counter with a DM from Mark that says ' so i heard that you were talking shit and you didn't think that i would hear it ', but he's not.
He barks out a laugh, maybe a little too loud for the PC bang but he doesn't notice anyone who may have turned to give him a look as he finally drops in-game. "You're such a snitch," he says. "And to think, I was going to say I'd choose you as my spy if I ever had to."
It's all light humor, but something in the way Taeyong coos at him makes Johnny feel a little bit embarrassed. Red tints the tops of his ears and the rounds of his cheeks and he's grateful that they're not in the same room together for Taeyong to potentially latch on and make it worse.
But, to Johnny's misfortune, Taeyong is still able to make it worse all the way in Seoul.
"You trust me, your biggest rival, the most?" he says, somehow sounding both teasing and completely genuine at the same time. "That's so romantic. They could make a spin-off to Mr. and Mrs. Smith about us."
The thought is so outrageous that Johnny can't help but laugh but there's still embarrassment clogging his throat and it comes out as an awkward wheeze.
Taeyong breaks then, erupting into giggles. "Did you like the thought of it that much? You sound like you're eighty-five with smoker's lung."
"With what?" Johnny asks genuinely, not recognizing what the other man has said.
Still giggly, Taeyong says, "Don't worry about it." He clears his throat. "What you can worry about is this loss you're about to take."
The perimeters of Johnny's screen turn red as he's shot and he gasps out a curse.
"Dude, you should have told me you play Smash way earlier," Taeyong says as he skims through a reading for one of his classes, half of his attention on the words and the other half on trying to find the opening of the bag of sour gummy sharks on his desk without looking.
"Why? So we can hop online, complain about lag, and still end up with me beating your ass?" Johnny answers.
Giving up on getting his hands on a shark like this, Taeyong glances away from the computer. He snorts as he slips his hand into the bag and grabs another gummy with fingers sticky and coated with sour crystals. "You are so lucky you're in Jeju."
"Tae?"
Cut off, Taeyong glances over his shoulder at Doyoung. He has his bookbag looped over his shoulder and his glasses falling off his nose. "Just wanted to tell you I'm on my way out to my parent's house."
Taeyong nods, mouthing an okay.
"I'll be back Sunday afternoon, I think. Please eat real food while I'm gone."
Rolling his eyes, Taeyong sighs. "Yes, mom."
Doyoung scowls at him. "Good bye. Tell Johnny I said hi."
Taeyong waves, mumbling out a bye of his own, and Johnny, hearing Doyoung's voice through the microphone, yells back a hello that Doyoung doesn't hear and that Taeyong doesn't relay.
Doyoung leaves his room as quietly as he came in and Taeyong stares at the open doorway before something hits him. "Wait!" A moment passes before Doyoung pokes his head back in with a raised eyebrow. "How did you know I was talking to Johnny?"
For a second, Doyoung only stares at him and then he shakes his head and leaves again.
"That was rude," Taeyong mumbles as he turns back to his computer.
Johnny chuckles on the other side. Taeyong hears the snap and hiss of a can being opened. "He ignore you?"
Taeyong hums an affirmative and bites into the head of his gummy shark.
"He's right that you should eat something good. You've probably eaten nothing but sweets all day."
Taeyong actually had gotten curry with Jaehyun for lunch, but he doesn't try to defend himself or his questionable eating habits, knowing that there's no point. "Don't you live at PC bangs and survive off instant ramen, fries, and beer?"
Johnny takes a sip of his drink and heaves a very exaggerated sigh of satisfaction. "What's your point?"
"That you're just as bad as me?"
"Oh, no, baby. I'm you, but better ."
Taeyong knows what it means when he feels himself flush at the sound of hearing the word 'baby' directed at him in Johnny's milk chocolate voice, but he decides he will pretend it means absolutely nothing.
"Both of our bodies will be mad at our current decisions like twenty years from now," says Taeyong. "It doesn't matter how much you work out, but from how often you're open to play, I bet you don't even exercise that often."
"How much are you willing to bet?"
Taeyong blinks. "What?"
"You don't think I work out that often, so let's really bet on it," Johnny says. "Name the number of days you think I exercise in one week."
"Are you really trying to compete with me about this?" Taeyong looks at his candied hand and then at his clean, black sweatpants.
" Oh ," Johnny teases, "he's only confident with a controller."
Frowning, Taeyong sucks sour crystals off his thumb and pointer finger. "Fine." He tries to think about how often Jaehyun goes to the gym but Taeyong usually starts zoning out once Jaehyun starts talking about it, especially if Doyoung is also in the room with them. But Johnny is almost always available to talk or play when Taeyong messages him, so he says, with quite a bit of confidence, "Three days."
"Three days?" Johnny repeats to confirm, not a hint of anything in his voice that would tell Taeyong if he won the bet or not. He doesn't answer Taeyong directly either, just goes silent for a moment.
Taeyong's phone lights up with a new message: a link to an Instagram page.
"Is this yours?" He taps on the link.
Johnny gives him a sarcastic reply but Taeyong hears none of it, just a little distracted as he scrolls through Johnny's Instagram.
He didn't realize until that moment that he had built up an image of what he expected Johnny to look like.
He had created a vision of Johnny that was a combination of a lot of the guys he sees around at tournaments -- plain black hair kept in an unstyled round cut, fuller cheeks, a wardrobe consisting of little other than sweatpants and various printed shirts or hoodies. But Johnny is almost none of that. Johnny has chocolatey hair to match the sound of his voice and a sharp nose and the style of someone who Taeyong would never assume spends half his week sitting at a computer in a PC bang of all places.
In between pictures of Jeju and pictures of friends -- Donghyuck told him they hung out so he's not surprised to see a picture of him and Jongin amongst them all -- are black and white recordings and progress shots of Johnny at the gym. Taeyong feels an increasingly bothersome shiver crawl up his spine and raise the hair on his arms and he's not sure if it's because his entire world has shifted upside down because he's putting voice and personality to body and can't rationalize that the idiot he's been talking to and playing with almost every day is all handsome muscle, or if it's because when he checks the date on every gym picture, he realizes that he's lost the bet.
"There's no way you go to the gym every day," Taeyong says, voice coming out way too quiet but there's a great picture of Johnny's legs in a pair of compression leggings that has caught his attention and he's really only talking so the other man doesn't think that he's died or something.
Taeyong kind of feels like he has died, but Johnny doesn't really need to know that.
Johnny laughs and that's what snaps Taeyong out of it, a heavy blush quickly climbing up his neck and into his cheeks.
"I go in the morning before class. Less people, more space to myself."
"Mhm." Taeyong touches the corners of his mouth to make sure he didn't start drooling. That never actually happens in real life, but there's a first time for everything. Thankfully, even in his daze, he didn't turn into a weird caricature. "So, what do you want?"
"Well, since I've revealed myself to you, I think it's only fair if you send me something back, but that's not your punishment," Johnny says. Taeyong can hear the grin in his voice and he hates that he knows now how handsome that smile actually is.
"It's a punishment?!"
"Eh, I'll think about it. Now, send me a selfie."
"What if I'm not the type to take selfies?"
Johnny scrolls through a food delivery app on his phone, chewing on the inside of his lip as he contemplates getting pizza, chicken, or Chinese. "Then, I guess I'll just have to ask Hyuck," he mumbles into the mic of the headphones plugged into his phone.
Taeyong's gasp of horror makes him smile.
"Oh, screw you." Taeyong hisses.
Johnny opens up the menu to the chicken place down the street and scrolls down the list. He pouts when none of the options sound appetizing and backs out, switching to the Chinese restaurant listed right after. At the top of his screen, a notification drops down from Taeyong, the preview a jumble of numbers ending with .jpg.
He quickly forgets about dinner, switching over to Discord.
Oh, he's cute , he thinks to himself when the picture loads in, showing a boy with lightly curled white-blond hair and the prettiest pair of eyes he's ever seen. For a second, he wonders if he's being catfished because Taeyong can't possibly look like this, but then he notices a blurry Donghyuck in the background.
"Are you not going to say anything?"
Sucking in a breath when he feels a sensation of butterflies that's a little strong, Johnny hopes Taeyong didn't hear it and hums contemplatively as if thinking of something to say. "Did you send me a picture where Hyuck looks like a cryptid because I threatened to ask him to send me a pic of you and you knew he'd send an ugly one?"
When Taeyong laughs, Johnny matches it to the picture he has and knowing this is how Taeyong's eyes curve when he's happy broadens the smile on Johnny's face.
"No, that's just the only picture I've taken since I dyed my hair that doesn't have someone else in it," he says.
Johnny saves the picture with another hum. "I'll tell Hyuck that he's no one to you."
Taeyong groans. "You know what I mean."
Smiling to himself, Johnny switches back to the delivery app and resumes his indecisiveness over what to eat. "I do. But I'm going to tell him anyway."
"Doyoung." Taeyong barges into his best friend's room without any preamble.
Doyoung looks over at him with wide, surprised eyes from where he's sitting in his bean bag chair in the corner of his room. The projector connected to Netflix is aimed at the blank wall above his desk, playing some historical drama Taeyong would probably hate.
"Where's the fire?"
Taeyong throws himself on the bed and grabs the stuffed polar bear propped up neatly against the wall, burying his face in its plush belly. "Why'd you let me do this to myself?"
Sighing, Doyoung pauses his drama and turns to face Taeyong properly.
"He's so hot," Taeyong continues, knowing that he now has Doyoung's full attention. "It's not fair."
"Who are you talking about?"
Taeyong turns his head so he can fix Doyoung with a blank stare. “Who do you think?”
"Johnny," Doyoung answers. "But I thought I'd give you a chance to prove me wrong. You never like it when I act like a know-it-all, even though you're really just that predictable."
Pouting, Taeyong sits back up. He hugs the stuffed doll to his chest and rests his chin on top of its head.
Doyoung chuckles, looking at Taeyong with a patient gaze that always feels very comforting and also a little too parental. But that's just how he is -- always open with how fond he is for his friends and interested in the best for them.
"And what's not fair about Johnny being hot?" he asks, bringing his legs up to his chest to mimic the way Taeyong is sitting all curled up.
Taeyong sighs through his nose and chews on his lip. He looks around Doyoung's room, taking in the vintage movie posters and the little collection of succulents he has sitting on top of a clothes drawer.
"Because...now I know what he looks like and that makes the fact that I think he's cool that much more obvious to me."
"You think he's ‘cool’," Doyoung says with a scoff at the end of his words. His smile turns a little teasing, a smirk edging into the corners. "You have a crush."
Taeyong narrows his eyes at him. "Excuse me. No, I don't."
"Is this one of those 'if I admit it, then I'm afraid it's going to get worse and I'm going to end up doing something stupid like openly flirt with him and make it weird until he reveals that he's a huge Straighty McStraight and leaves me looking stupid' kind of thing?"
Inhaling deeply, Taeyong pouts. "Yeah, pretty much."
Doyoung hums. He looks up at the ceiling as he thinks about something, wiggling toes covered with fuzzy lime colored socks. "Didn't you say he goes to the same school as Hyuck? Why don't you see if he can find out if he's into dudes or something?"
"Because it's weird to ask my cousin to do that? And knowing Hyuck, he'd go up to Johnny and just ask if he's into guys to his face."
"Okay? You'd get an answer."
Huffing, Taeyong drops back on Doyoung's bed. He hears the squish of the bean bag chair as the other man gets up and a moment later the bed dips beside him. He stares up at Doyoung when he leans over to look down at him.
"You could just ask yourself if you think you'll like him that badly."
Taeyong narrows his eyes. "You're giving me advice to all but ask out Johnny when you can't even ask out Jaehyun? That's hypocritical."
"Then let's both do it," Doyoung offers like it's no problem, like he hasn't been learning how to play first-person shooters to impress a boy.
Jaw dropping, Taeyong sits up again and almost knocks into Doyoung's head on the way. "Are you serious? You'll ask out Jaehyun?"
Doyoung shrugs and looks off to the side. "I'm realizing he's the type that if I call him hot, he thinks it's just an ordinary compliment and not that I mean I'm into him."
"I could have told you that."
Shaking his head, Doyoung nudges Taeyong with his elbow. "So? You try to figure out if Johnny is straight or not and I'll tell Jaehyun that I want him to toss me like a traditional Italian pizza?"
Taeyong weighs his options, thinks about how he could possibly lose his friendship with Johnny but then he also thinks about how he could possibly gain a handsome, sweet, funny gamer boyfriend.
Taeyong isn't quite sure how he feels about the idea but there isn't much to lose if he’s not going all in. All he has to do is maybe hint at the fact that he's into guys and gauge Johnny's response from that.
Eventually, he meets Doyoung's eyes and nods. "Fine."
"When was the last time you went to Seoul?" Johnny asks Donghyuck another day. They're hanging out at a tiny aesthetic garden in the center of the campus, him and Donghyuck because Jongin is in class for another ten minutes. Then they'll all be done for the day and the plan is to either hit up a noraebang or a PC bang for a few hours.
"Uh...I think about a month ago?"
Nodding, Johnny holds out his pack out gum to Donghyuck who shakes his head. He shrugs as he takes it back, slipping out a piece for myself. “To see family?” Stuffing the gum packet into the side pocket of his book bag, Johnny unwraps the single stick and pops it into his mouth.
Donghyuck raises an eyebrow but drops it just as quickly. He leans back against the bench they’re sitting in, lifting one foot to squeeze onto the edge of the seat. “No, there was a competition.”
Looking at the other students outside, Johnny chomps on his gum and imagines how Taeyong’s eyes would narrow and his lips purse and pout in concentration while he plays. “How’d you do?”
“We came in sixth,” Donghyuck answers slowly. “Are you going to tell me why you asked all of a sudden or am I allowed to assume you’d like to know something about my cousin?”
Johnny, trying to blow a bubble, half-laughs and half-chokes and his gum bursts over his mouth. He gathers it with his tongue, looking at Donghyuck when he’s no longer covered in gum. “Why does it have to be about Taeyong?”
Donghyuck gives him a side-eyed stare. “Because there’s no other reason why you would ask when I last went to Seoul and if I saw family,” he says. “So, what is it? Do you want to know if he’s single?”
That is exactly the question Johnny is most interested in, but he had planned to work up to it slowly to be polite. He should have known that with Donghyuck getting straight to the point is the best course of action.
“Yeah,” Johnny answers plainly.
“He’s been single for a while,” Donghyuck says, grinning. “Go for it. I’m not saying I know for sure if he likes you romantically or anything, but he does like you as a person. I’d say you have a shot.”
It’s a little embarrassing but at the encouragement, a broad smile stretches Johnny’s lips. “You think so?”
Donghyuck hums. “And if you do start dating maybe we could temporarily bring you on the team, have you sub in for me so I don’t have to go all the way to Seoul.”
Johnny lightly elbows the younger boy in the side. “Don’t pretend like you’d do it solely for your own benefit.”
Donghyuck scoffs but his eyes are bright with affection. “You think I’d do something just to see you or Taeyong happy? Gross.”
“Come here.” Johnny throws his arm around Donghyuck’s shoulder, laughing over the boy’s shout of surprise when he roughly ruffles his hair.
No matter what happens with Taeyong, Johnny is happy that he’s made something of a little brother in Donghyuck.
“So,” Taeyong asks a week later over a voice call. It took him a little to build up the courage and, honestly, he considered backing out until Doyoung snatched his sweets stash from the kitchen when Taeyong was in class and hid it somewhere Taeyong still hasn’t found. He could simply go back to the store but that’s thirty-thousand won worth of candy and snacks and Taeyong would hate to know it’s sad and uneaten while in captivity. “Any, um, cute girls in Jeju?”
Through his headset, he hears Johnny shuffling something around. Taeyong knew that was a terrible way to start the topic and the prolonged silence makes him tense and his stomach churn with mild terror. He inhales deeply through his nose. “Or guys...people. I shouldn’t assume considering I don’t like it when it’s done to me.”
Johnny is silent for another few seconds and then he chuckles. “No, I haven’t noticed any cute people in Jeju.”
Taeyong hums. He taps his fingers on the surface of his desk and curses Doyoung for taking his stuff. If he had even some tiny chocolate candies, he’d at least be able to stress eat and enjoy the sugar rush.
“There might be a cute guy in Seoul, though,” says Johnny.
Or maybe it’s a good thing he doesn’t have anything to eat because he surely would have swallowed it whole and choked. That can’t be a coincidence. There’s no one else Johnny knows here (Taeyong thinks) and Johnny, although sounding a little teasing, doesn’t sound like he’s making a joke at Taeyong’s expense. “Seoul? O-Oh really?”
“Yeah. I think he’s pretty cute. A little bit of a sore loser but I guess that has its own charm.”
Taeyong bites into his lip, trying to fend off a smile.
“How about you?” Johnny turns the conversation around. “I heard Doyoung and Jaehyun finally got together so do you have your eye on anyone in Seoul?”
“Nope.” He starts tapping his fingers again. He chews on the inside of his cheek for a moment before continuing. “There might be a boy in Jeju, though,” he says, voice quieting with each word until he’s mumbling lowly.
“Oh? Jongin?”
Taeyong blinks and then bursts into laughter. “Really, Johnny?”
“What?”
This is really happening. That’s the only thing running in Taeyong’s mind, every other single thought taking a backseat to that one as it all but echoes between his ears. He feels extremely giddy, like this ordinary Thursday is greater than every holiday in existence. The butterflies in his stomach are flying wild around his pounding heart and wow, wow, this is really happening.
“Are you going to say it first, or should I?” Johnny asks.
“I was only supposed to find out if you’re into guys today, you’re moving a little fast for my plans,” Taeyong replies, a little breathless from how overwhelmed he is.
“Oops, my bad.” Johnny chuckles. “Should I wait another week to tell you I like you then? Or you can tell me what date is good for you and I’ll add it to my calendar.”
Taeyong thinks he could get up and run ten laps around the neighborhood. “Maybe you can give me like ten minutes to scream at Doyoung and then video call me?”
Johnny sets a timer on his phone for fifteen minutes, assuming Taeyong will actually need a little bit more time to fully get his ramblings out to Doyoung. Now that the initial moment has passed, he realizes that he might need a bit of that time too.
Sliding off his bed, Johnny walks out of his room in the university-provided housing for international students and trails to the communal kitchen to grab one of the cans of iced coffee he’s stuffed into the bottom rack on the door.
Despite how one of his study abroad advisors jokingly said that the two fastest ways to get better at a language were to either find a job or find a relationship with someone who doesn’t speak English, dating was one of the last things on Johnny’s mind until he realized how much time he spent talking to Taeyong and how much he wanted to get to know the other man in a way different from Jongin or Donghyuck or any of the other guys in Taeyong’s gaming server.
Returning to his room, Johnny cracks the can open and takes a sip as he pulls out his desk chair. His laptop is open to Discord still and knowing that in less than ten minutes he’s going to see Taeyong in motion for the first time — that he’ll get to see the way Taeyong’s lips curve when he smiles, maybe hear his laugh if Johnny doesn’t somehow mess this up before they even really start — makes his chest tight with sudden nerves.
Now he understands why Taeyong needed to talk to Doyoung. If Donghyuck and Jongin weren’t, ...well, themselves, then he’d probably vent to them a little bit, but, as it is, Johnny sips on his coffee and browses Instagram until his phone sings at the end of the fifteen minute timer.
Sucking in a breath, Johnny puts down his coffee cup and pulls up Discord again. He pulls up Taeyong’s chat and doesn’t waste any more time in clicking on the video camera icon to start a call.
He doesn’t realize he’s bouncing his leg until the call is answered and he’s greeted with the sight of Taeyong in the flesh, biting his lip nervously with his snowy white hair lightly curled and falling into his eyes.
Just the sight of him makes Johnny smile, so soft he doesn't even feel the corners of his lips tugging.
"Hi," he greets, lifting his hand in a small wave.
Giggling quietly, Taeyong returns the wave. "Hi."
They sit there for a moment, doing nothing but looking at each other until there's a knock from somewhere that makes Taeyong glance over his shoulder at his door.
"Talk to him!" It's Doyoung's voice yelling through the wood. Something in between annoyance and embarrassment crosses Taeyong's face, his skin reddening enough for Johnny to see it even through their connections, and that makes the American snort unattractively.
"Oh my god," Taeyong groans, burying his face in his hands. "Doyoung, this is not what I meant when I said 'stand by for moral support’!” He yells back after scrubbing his palms in his eyes and lifting his head again.
"I don't care!" Doyoung shouts. "If he's going to date you, he needs to know what he's getting into!”
Taeyong looks like he'd rather evaporate right where he sits than have any of this happen and he's still so gorgeous that Johnny forgets to tell him that he doesn't mind, that he likes witnessing Taeyong's friendship with Doyoung and the way their love for each other chaotically manifests. Instead, he just smiles and says, "is this what you look like when I kick your ass when we're playing?"
Taeyong's horror at his exchange with Doyoung is quickly erased off his face as he looks at Johnny as if he just insulted him and his whole family. "When who kicks whose ass?"
Johnny smirks. "Baby, let's not act like what I said was a lie. We've been over this plenty of times," he says.
And just like that, the bashful boy who answered the call is back. He's so expressive and Johnny wishes he were in Seoul to see it himself.
When he first decided to study abroad, he didn't have much interest in Seoul. He figured it would be more interesting to see the rest of Korea outside of the capital, maybe only go visit Seoul for something small like a weekend trip. And then, of course, there isn't really a point in paying for airplane fare and then accommodation just for a few days of traveling, so all of that is to say Johnny didn't have any real vested interest in visiting Seoul.
But now he's already thinking about when he could fit a longer trip in with his school schedule. The winter holidays are coming up and he already promised to spend them with his family and there aren't too many days off school outside of that.
Taeyong bites into his lip again, this time to try and tamper a growing smile. "Baby?"
Johnny feels himself blush, wondering if he was getting a little ahead of himself with that. Averting his eyes away from the screen, he gives a little shrug. "Do you not like pet names?"
Tilting his head, Taeyong licks over his lips and then lets his beautiful smile free. "Are we actually something...to be using pet names?"
Johnny shrugs again, something of a nervous habit he didn't realize he even had. "...I'd like to be."
"Me, too," Taeyong says in a quiet voice. "I...really like you."
Johnny smiles back fondly. He reaches for his coffee but hesitates on drinking when he sees Taeyong inhale deeply.
"I've always wanted a boyfriend who I could wash in one-v-one and then kiss his hurt feelings away," Taeyong finishes.
Rolling his eyes, Johnny brings the can up for a quick drink. "Taeyong, you are not washing anyone but yourself of tears."
"Are you trying to play right now?"
Snorting, Johnny puts his drink down and leans in closer to the camera. He raises a single brow. "I'm always ready to play, beautiful. Are you ready?"
Taeyong cracks his neck and picks up his headset to turn it on. "Go to your PC bang and boot up then, noob."
"Congratulations!"
Taeyong jumps at the sound of Doyoung's shout and Johnny laughs.
"Thanks!" Johnny yells, hoping the volume is loud enough for the other man to hear.
"Please don't subject me to listen to the two of you gush over each other and then get freakishly competitive ever again! Good night!"
Taeyong yells back his thanks, unable to hold back a laugh.
"I had no idea he was still there," he says to Johnny.
"He's a good friend. I can't wait to meet him."
"What about me?"
"I could pass on you, to be honest."
“Oh, shut up and get ready to hold the biggest L of your life.”
suhprise
i hate having to call airlines to get my flight changed when their site doesn't work the way it’s supposed to
boomingsystems
where are you going?
suhprise
home
not that i need her permission
but i finally got my mom to let me change the dates around
boomingsystems
oh when are you going?
suhprise
a few days before christmas
boomingsystems
oh
that’s soon
i’ll miss you 😢
suhprise
what do you mean
we can still talk
i'd probably be able to play more often too
sleep schedule be damned
boomingsystems
nah i don't want you to have to stay up just for me
suhprise
are you saying you wouldn't stay up for me back?
boomingsystems
yeah exactly
suhprise
🙄
saying that when your sleep schedule is already messed up from all the sugar you eat
boomingsystems
some of us are more than human
and are not held back by mortal restraints
suhprise
yeah okay
boomingsystems
you're really going home next month?
suhprise
yeah i have to
it's just the way my program works out
boomingsystems
but you haven't even come to seoul yet
suhprise
i know
though i'm leaving out of seoul so even if i won't be sightseeing i'll have technically been there
boomingsystems
not busan?
suhprise
busan is more expensive for a longer layover
hate long layovers
boomingsystems
would you mind if i came to send you off
suhprise
of course not
why would i not want to see you
boomingsystems
aren't you more interested in doyoung or something
suhprise
omg are you gonna bring my new best friend?
boomingsystems
😒
suhprise
i'd love for you to come 💖
i know we'd be in the airport but i'll try to come a little earlier?
so we can have some proper time together and not just like 'hi' 'bye'
boomingsystems
okay
just let me know the time
suhprise
🥰😚
Taeyong knows he’s sensitive and that’s why he doesn’t beat himself up over the slight warmth behind his eyes the entire train ride to the airport. Doyoung asked if Taeyong wanted him to come, but Taeyong thought if he had to sit with Doyoung looking at him sadly for the forty minutes back to Seoul from Incheon, he might actually cry. Now, he’s sad about having to send Johnny off without them ever properly getting to spend time with each other and afraid of having to leave their very new relationship up to the test of long distance, but he’s handling his emotions well.
Taking off one of his gloves, Taeyong shoves it in his coat pocket and takes out his phone to check his messages. Johnny told him that he was waiting near check-in counter K and Taeyong types a reply to say he’s arrived as he makes it to the departures level.
Johnny actually notices him first, messaging Taeyong to tell him to turn around as Taeyong is scanning over the chairs for him.
Taeyong does turn and his eyes quickly find Johnny standing in line at Dunkin Donuts. Johnny smiles sweetly, waving. Taeyong walks to him, wondering how they’re supposed to do this until Johnny opens his arms for a hug that Taeyong is more than happy to give him.
“Hey,” Johnny mumbles.
It’s not the most comfortable of hugs, their winter coats too bulky, but to Taeyong it’s everything. He sighs in content. “Hi.”
“Do you want something to drink?”
Pulling away from the hug, Taeyong glanced toward the front of the line three people away and then back at Johnny. “Sure, if you’re offering.”
Johnny pouts. “Oh, so you only want me for my money?”
He’s trying to not make this awkward or sad and Taeyong is grateful for it. Shaking his head, Taeyong playfully shoves him. Johnny laughs in turn. He adjusts his bag on his shoulder and then digs his wallet out of his pocket and Taeyong realizes then that he’s only carrying one bag.
“Did you check-in already?”
Johnny shakes his head. “It’s too early.”
Taeyong frowns. “And that’s all you have?”
“I already have everything I need at home,” Johnny replies. He wraps his free hand around Taeyong’s upper arm and pulls him closer as the line shortens.
Taeyong thought it’d be expensive to send four months worth of things overseas but he guesses that if Johnny can afford to camp at his local PC bang for half the week, then maybe he could handle the cost of international shipping.
Johnny buys him a vanilla spice coffee and a chocolate frosted donut with cute snowflake shaped sugar sprinkles. They find an open row of seats, taking two for themselves and a third for Johnny’s bag.
“How can you drink that?” Taeyong eyes Johnny as he closes his full lips around a straw and sucks in his iced americano. “It’s freezing outside.”
Pulling the cup away from his face, Johnny chuckles. “It doesn’t taste the same hot,” he explains. “Plus, it’s warm inside and I have you just in case I still get cold.”
A light blush dusts over Taeyong’s cheeks and he looks down. His coffee is too hot to drink so he hides his smile by taking a bite of his donut.
Johnny probably sees, but he doesn’t point it out. Instead, he asks about what Taeyong plans to do for the winter vacation.
In a perfect world, Johnny would have come to stay with Taeyong in Seoul. They would have spent Christmas together going to see some light installations and then coming home to exchange gifts. They could have done it with Doyoung and Jaehyun even and had dinner together and picked up a cake from A Twosome Place or something. Unfortunately, Taeyong will probably do nothing more than laze around. At the very most, he’ll spend a few days at his parent’s house.
“Why do you sound so down? Chilling around sounds like a great time to me,” Johnny says after Taeyong answers. He takes another drink of his coffee. “My mom will probably shuttle me around to see everyone since I changed my dates at home. I am not looking forward to that at all. Easily the most tiring part of coming back after being away for so long.”
“What’s your family like?” Taeyong asks as he breaks off a piece of his donut and offers it to Johnny. His face reddens a little more when Johnny leans in to eat it from his fingers.
Mouth full, Johnny raises a finger signaling Taeyong to wait as he pulls out of his phone. He unlocks the device and Taeyong can’t hold back a squeak of surprise.
“You set my picture as your background?”
“Mhm,” Johnny hums as he continues to chew. He opens his photo gallery and scrolls down a million pictures. After he swallows, he glances at Taeyong. “You look really cute in it.” He turns his attention back to his phone, but not without giving Taeyong a playful smirk.
When he finds a picture of his family, he angles the phone to Taeyong. “That’s us. My parents are pretty chill, but since I’m an only child, they worry easily since I decided to go to school out of my home state and then, you know, came all the way across the world.”
Taeyong looks over the picture, thinks it’s cute how Johnny’s mom is giving him a kiss on the cheek. He looks up at Johnny who meets his gaze.
“Do you want to see Hyuck’s baby pictures?”
"It sucks that the first time I get to properly meet you, you're going home," Taeyong mutters into Johnny's chest, squeezing around his midsection tighter.
Two hours passed by faster than either of them would have liked and now they’re standing outside of the entrance to security, out of the way of anyone trying to proceed. Johnny would love to pet his hair, but Taeyong's bleached strands are tucked under a beanie that's pulled down over his ears.
So, instead, he rubs at Taeyong's back over the bulk of his puffy winter jacket and subtly presses his lips to the curve of his ear. "I know...but just think of it this way." He runs his hands up Taeyong's arms and gently pushes him back until they can look at each other clearly. He smiles. "I'll be back in a week and then you can have me to yourself until I have to go back to Jeju for the next semester."
Taeyong's mouth pops open cutely in surprise. He stutters as he tries to read Johnny for a joke or a lie. "You're coming back?!"
Johnny lets out a confused laugh, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah."
"I thought you were only here for a semester."
Blinking, Johnny shakes his head. "No, I'm here for the year."
Taeyong struggles to find words, so entirely shocked. "You...I..." He lightly pushes Johnny. "You didn't say anything! Why'd you just let me think I wouldn't see you again?"
"I didn't know you thought I wasn't coming back until just now!"
"Why did you think I was so sad?!"
"I don't know?"
Covering his face with his hands, Taeyong mumbles out an 'oh my god' of disbelief and then, before either of them know it, they're laughing in each other's arms.
Taeyong wraps his arms around Johnny again and holds him tight. Johnny feels so incredibly fond it’s almost scary how warm he feels. He glances down when Taeyong tips his head up and it takes everything in him to not lean down and kiss him here in public.
“You’re really coming back?” Taeyong asks again.
Nodding, Johnny smiles. “Yeah. I fly back in on the twenty-eighth. I thought we could spend New Years together.”
“I can’t believe you weren’t going to tell me any of this. What if I made plans for New Years?”
“In my defense, Doyoung knows and he’s supposed to make sure you don’t plan anything.”
Taeyong’s mouth drops open. He breaks away from Johnny again. “ Doyoung knows?”
“That’s kind of how planning a surprise works?” Johnny chuckles. “You make plans with someone who is closest to the person you are trying to surprise.”
“I can’t believe this.”
As much as Johnny would love to stay, unfortunately he has to get through security soon in order to make it to his flight. He decides then that he doesn’t care about anyone else around them and swoops down to steal a quick kiss from Taeyong who gasps and stares at him with the prettiest, wide eyes.
“Sorry, I really have to go. We can talk about New Years later.”
Taeyong lifts a hand and touches his mouth, blushing hard. He nods slowly. “M-Message me when you land?”
Johnny grins. “Of course. And prepare yourself, loser. Once I get back to my computer back home, there’s no way you’re winning a single game over me.”
Taeyong narrows at him but the redness in his cheeks lessens the effect. “I’ll let that thought comfort you during the flight but that’s so not going to happen. Go.” He waves a hand, shooing Johnny away. “Get out of my face.”
Walking backwards toward security, Johnny waves goodbye. “Don’t try to weasel information about New Years out of Doyoung!”
Taeyong snorts. As if he’d be able to. He returns the wave. “Fly safe.”
“I will!” Johnny answers before turning and joining the line.
Every time he looks over his shoulder, Taeyong is still standing there and he mouths a final goodbye for the moment before handing over his passport and ticket to the first security officer.
#shit-talkers-unite
TY
so
i would just like to say
that guy Jongin invited
| i would just like to say
@boomingsystems your internet did not cut out
TY
you literally cannot prove this
lark mee
lmaooo
that guy Jongin invited
@doieee please confirm
doughy
our internet is fine
taeyong please accept that johnny hyung is a better player than you
TY
no 😤
TY anti
i hate both of you so it doesn’t matter to me
yuta the nct ent trainee 😎
no one asked hyuck
TY anti
oh so now the wannabe idol is gonna preach to me
that guy Jongin invited
| no 😤
@boomingsystems okay then let’s keep count from now until i’m back in korea
i want one kiss every time you lose 😚💕
TY
oh my god johnny
doughy
🤢
jae
🤢
yuta the nct ent trainee 😎
🤢
jay chou call me
🤢
zeus
aw 🥺
young love 🥺