Chapter Text
After barely dodging a flying clove of garlic headed in the direction of his head, Yuta sighed in defeat and took a step back, taking a moment to admire the state that his kitchen had been reduced to.
This happened because of the courtesy of Taeyong’s brilliant idea to cook their own dinner instead of always eating out, and Doyoung’s inability to say no to his beloved boyfriend. Yuta's kitchen became the test lab after he gracefully lost to Taeil and Taeyong in an intense game of rock, paper, scissors.
And with the fact that their only ray of hope was sitting at the dining table, peacefully watching the chaos unfold in front of him with no intention to intervene, Yuta had lost all hope that their experiment would succeed.
“Aren’t you going to do anything about this?” Yuta slid into the chair beside Doyoung.
“Taeyong told me he would do everything today and I could just sit back and relax,” Doyoung shrugged. “Not that I actually believe him, but if it makes him happy.”
“And of course you listen to everything he says,” Yuta attempted teasing him a little, “we love a whipped boyfriend.”
“If they fuck up and burn the place down, remember that it’s your kitchen, not mine,” Doyoung sneered back. “Besides, if I don’t let him do what he wants, he’ll sulk for the whole day, and I have better things to do than tend to a sulking Taeyong.”
Yuta chuckled softly, remembering the countless times Taeyong didn’t have his way and how Doyoung had to abolish his tsundere image to literally smother him with affection the whole day until he stopped sulking.
“There’s Taeil. Jungwoo told me he can cook, like, a little, so I’m putting my trust in h-”
Just as Yuta was about to finish his sentence, loud oil splatters were heard and a terrified Taeil sprung out of the kitchen, a spatula in one hand and a frightened Sicheng clinging on to his other arm.
“I think you might want to take that back,” Doyoung laughed at the way Yuta's expression drained into one of pure fear.
“Are you okay? Did you get hurt?” Taeil used his free hand to stroke Sicheng’s head and the latter shook his head happily, beaming at his boyfriend.
“I’m fine, but you, please be careful,” a pout formed on Sicheng’s lips. Taeil just ruffled Sicheng’s hair in response before planting a kiss on his bangs, before they returned into the kitchen.
Yuta wasn’t aware that he was staring at the two of them until Doyoung nudged his side.
“Yuta.”
Although Doyoung just called his name, Yuta could already tell what message he was trying to convey. The tone of his voice was a strange mixture of warning, disappointment and sympathy, but Yuta understood it and just sighed as an acknowledgement.
“I know,” he smiled weakly, and Doyoung just squeezed his wrist as a sign of comfort.
“Yuta!!” A familiar, high-pitched, child-like voice floated from the kitchen, snapping the called man out of his thoughts. Jungwoo appeared in front of him a few moments later, his hands hanging limply in front of him like a puppy.
“Can you help me move my hair out of my face? My hands are oily,” Jungwoo frowned and lifted his hands, “and I can’t see.”
Trying to suppress a grin at his cuteness, Yuta took out a hairband from one of the drawers and slotted it on Jungwoo’s head, sweeping his long bangs away from his eyes. “Perhaps you should go and cut your hair instead,” Yuta smiled warmly, giving the hairband a small pat.
“No. I like it like this,” Jungwoo mirrored the smile before lightly bumping the top of his head against Yuta’s cheek. “Thank you, Yuta.”
As Jungwoo scurried back to the kitchen, Yuta still watching him fondly, a smirk crept onto Doyoung’s lips. He snapped a finger in front of his face to get his attention, “how’s things going with him?”
“What things? With who?” Yuta feigned oblivion, purposefully not meeting Doyoung’s gaze.
Doyoung dramatically rolled his eyes, making Yuta tsk in annoyance. “Don’t pretend. Any progress with you and Jungwoo? It’s been, what, two years already.”
“We’re the same,” Yuta stated bluntly. “We’re happy with what we are right now, and we’re trying not to… rush anything. So I guess there’s no reason for us to progress into anything.”
Doyoung nodded understandably, leaning back onto his chair. “Okay. As long as the both of you are happy.”
At Doyoung’s words, Yuta’s gaze unknowingly drifted back to Jungwoo. He looked adorable with his new hairdo, curiously poking at the pancake-like substance that Taeyong had poured onto a frying pan. Taeil passed him the spatula to flip the pancake, and to Yuta’s surprise, Jungwoo managed to keep it in one piece-
-except that the underside was charred completely black.
“You know what!” Taeyong announced confidently, while the other three just stared blankly at the unidentifiable black substance. “I think we should just order takeout. What do you think, Doyoung?”
“That’s what I’ve been telling you from the start,” Doyoung muttered under his breath as Yuta tried to stifle his laughter. “Yes, sweetie, I think that’s a great idea!”
“How does it feel like raising a child as your boyfriend?” Yuta pointed a fake mic to Doyoung’s mouth. The latter just rolled his eyes again as he stood up, but the smile creeping onto his lips told a different story.
“He’s lucky I love him.”
“Thanks for lending us your kitchen today, Yuta. Sorry we made a mess,” Sicheng smiled sheepishly as he made his way to the front door. They ended up abandoning their experiment in Yuta’s sink and ordered delivery chicken and beer instead.
“Yeah, and have fun cleaning up,” Taeyong snickered, childishly sticking out his tongue at the house’s owner.
Shooing all of them out of the door, Yuta grumbled sarcastically, “thanks for messing up my kitchen and leaving me to clean up alone! Your contribution is greatly appreciated!”
“It’s not our fault that you absolutely suck at rock, paper, scissors,” Doyoung deadpanned, escaping Yuta’s wrath and hi-fiving his boyfriend.
Doyoung and Taeyong went off first, bidding the rest goodbye as they used the stairs to get to their unit just below Yuta’s. Sicheng and Taeil were putting on their shoes, just about to leave as well, but Jungwoo stood silently beside Yuta, as if he wasn’t planning on going anywhere.
“Jungwoo? You coming?” Taeil looked up at him, and as expected, he simply shook his head.
“You go ahead first. I’ll help Yuta with the dishes,” Jungwoo gestured to the mountain of dirty plates stacked in Yuta’s sink. “I’ll see you at home.”
Taeil just nodded, like he had already predicted that Jungwoo wouldn’t be coming. Waving goodbye to each other one last time, Sicheng and Taeil disappeared into the elevator, and it was just the two of them left.
“Honestly, you just wanted to make use of my Netflix to watch movies, right?” Yuta predicted and Jungwoo scoffed, faking hurt as he put a hand on his chest.
“What do you think of me? Of course I’m here to help you with the dishes...” Jungwoo retreated back into the apartment, waited for Yuta to close the door before inching closer to him.
“... And to use your Netflix to watch a movie with you.”
Mumbling an ‘I knew it’ under his breath, Yuta shoved Jungwoo away before making his way to the sink, hearing the man’s cute chuckles echoing behind him.
They did end up cleaning up and watching a movie together. Well, more like Yuta watched the movie alone, as Jungwoo spent twenty minutes choosing one but fell dead asleep against his arm within five minutes.
“Jungwoo, wake up,” Yuta wriggled his arm when the credits rolled onto the screen, eliciting a sleepy groan from the younger man. Jungwoo sat up for a second to grab the remote and turn the television off, before retreating back to the same position as before.
Yuta shifted his gaze to the man using his arm as a pillow, and the serene look on his face made him look so comfortable that Yuta didn’t have the heart to shake him off again.
“Hey, are you free tomorrow?” Yuta asked softly, “there’s this new exhibition that I want to go to, will you go with me?”
Jungwoo made a sound of disapproval, mumbling almost incoherently, “I can’t, I have work.”
“Huh? I thought you were unemployed.”
Jungwoo seemed to buffer for a few seconds before he shot out of his seat, all sleepiness drained from his face and replaced with a shocked and surprised expression.
“What did I just say?”
“You said you had work ,” Yuta eyed him suspiciously, cocking an eyebrow at the sudden change of his mood. “Since when did you get a job? You didn’t tell me.”
Panic seemed to flash through Jungwoo’s eyes for a second, and his mouth hung open in a failed attempt to form a reply to Yuta’s question. With every second that passed and Jungwoo still hadn’t said anything, Yuta’s suspicion just grew, until finally, Jungwoo took a deep breath and returned Yuta’s gaze, a nervous and unsure grin pursed on his lips.
“I guess it’s about time,” he stated dubiously. “Do you want to follow me to work tomorrow?”
Yuta just blinked in confusion, figurative question marks popping up beside his head.
“What?”
“Okay. I’ll come over tomorrow afternoon and bring you there,” Jungwoo decided, grabbed his phone from the table and started making his way out of Yuta’s apartment.
“Wait- Jungwoo??” Yuta blocked Jungwoo’s way out before he could advance further. “Can you tell me what’s going on? You actually have a job, and you’re bringing me there?”
Jungwoo nodded unhesitatingly, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Is tomorrow ‘bring your friend to work’ day or something? How come I didn’t know of this at all?” Yuta started to get creeped out by Jungwoo’s nonchalance. “Jungwoo, what do you work as?”
Instead of getting a proper answer, Jungwoo just leaned in and whispered into his ear.
“You’ll find out tomorrow.”
And with that, he patted Yuta’s shoulder and slipped past him, out of the apartment, leaving Yuta standing there with a million questions and an unexplainable unnerving feeling.
As much as Yuta didn’t want to admit it, he ended up not being able to sleep that night due to Jungwoo’s words.
He wasn’t sure if he was more hurt that Jungwoo had kept this secret from him, scared of Jungwoo’s strange behavioural changes after he had unknowingly told Yuta about it, or nervous that he would be visiting Jungwoo’s workplace the next day.
Either way, he couldn’t sleep.
‘Why do you look so tired?’ were Jungwoo’s first words to him the moment Yuta opened the door for him the next day.
“I was up watching a drama,” he tried giving an excuse, and was proud of himself at how easily Jungwoo had bought it.
“You ready?” The creepy smile found its way back to Jungwoo’s lips, and Yuta swallowed the ball of nerves in his throat before chuckling nervously.
“Do I have an option to say no?”
“No. Let’s go,” Jungwoo didn’t wait for Yuta to step out of his apartment before making his way to the elevator, ignoring Yuta’s calls for him to slow down.
“What are you in such a rush for?” Yuta panted as he finally caught up with Jungwoo, who still had that stupid, bone-chilling smile plastered on his face.
“I told you, I have work,” Jungwoo answered helpfully. “You wouldn’t want to be late to your job, would you?”
Mentally cursing the other in his head, Yuta tried to get more information out of Jungwoo on their way there, but gave up after all he received were more dubious answers or just no response at all. After a long bus ride and a ten-minute walk, Yuta found himself in the middle of a maze of factories, and was starting to believe that Jungwoo was going to abduct him.
They ended up in front of a plain-looking, almost rundown building. It looked like how any factory would look like- a security guard post situated beside big, tall and spiky gates, industrial-sized lorries parked in a corner of the vast carpark, muscular men loading and unloading gigantic cardboard boxes, and of course, an enormous cargo lift in the middle of everything.
“Jungwoo? You work here ?”
Of course, Yuta’s question went unanswered. Jungwoo’s response was walking straight towards the cargo lift and simply closing the doors once the both of them were in. He beckoned Yuta over to the elevator buttons with a small, excited smile. Curious as to why Jungwoo suddenly appeared so eager, Yuta watched Jungwoo’s actions intently.
What happened next was so far from what Yuta had expected that it made his jaw hang open in shock.
Jungwoo positioned his left pinky on a small black box beside the elevator buttons, which was what Yuta assumed to be a scanner. The scanner emitted some red light that detected Jungwoo’s string, and as if his string was a barcode, the box made a small ‘beep’ sound, and a button that Yuta didn’t even know existed suddenly lit up. The elevator groaned, and started its descent.
At this point, Yuta was outright panicking. In contrast to his fear, Jungwoo was calmly leaning against the wall, watching the level number slowly decrease from one, zero, negative one, negative two…
“Jungwoo, what’s going on?”
Jungwoo must’ve finally pitied the way Yuta’s voice was shaking so terribly as he shifted over to Yuta’s side, wrapped a hand around his wrist, and replied to him gently.
“Trust me, Yuta.”
Just as Yuta was about to use this opportunity to ask more questions, the number hit negative five and the lift dinged, before the doors slid open.
Bracing himself, Yuta held his breath and slowly looked outside, but nothing could have prepared him for the sight that greeted him.
Printed on the wall just outside the lift were the words ‘The Vision’, accompanied with a logo of a red string in the shape of a heart. By the side, in smaller font, read ‘a confidential agency for observers to work together to relieve the world of soulmate crises’.
Yuta was unable to peel his eyes away from the sight before him, his jaw still hanging open, barely managing to process the next words that Jungwoo said to him.
“Welcome, Yuta. This is where I work.”