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day 1: candy hearts
the beeping alarm shakes taeil awake, he sighs and stretches before grabbing his phone and turning off the alarm, his eyes adjust to the light in the room, noticing that his roommate, yuta was still quite asleep, unfazed by the loud sound caused by his phone.
today seemed like a good day.
still holding his phone, he sits up this time to check his phone '02.01.2021' 'february already...' he muses and stands up but not before noticing a small container on his headboard, he sits back down and grabs it, making sure it's actually for him, he sees the small tag with a moon sign and a note that says "wake up! it's a new day"
he smiles, that seems to be confirmation enough and he opens the box and sees a small green candy in the middle of it, 'mornin!'
“good morning, moon taeil~!” haechan greeted as taeil opened his eyes, the older smiled at the younger as he held him close,
“i could get used to this,” he murmured, kissing his boyfriend’s nose
haechan smiled proudly, “as you should, because i’m the sun, i should be the first thing you see when you wake up!”
taeil smiles at the memory and the cute little candy and debates on eating sugar so early in the morning… he popped the small candy into his mouth and was greeted by a sweet apple flavor, he made his way to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water before making his way to the living area to start exercising,
he absentmindedly did his work-out routine while thinking-- actually, only one person came to mind, and the thought that haechan took the time to do this brought a smile on the older's face
time passes by and he finishes his exercise in no time, time sure flies by when you’re lost in thought, finishing off his cool-down process, he went to grab his towel from the couch he lazily threw it on earlier, a similar box to that of this morning's could be found inches away from the towel, he plopped down the couch as he grabbed the box as he dried his head on the towel, this time the note attached said
"finished exercising?"
“butterfly?” taeil asks as he drank water, he just finished exercising and haechan had dropped by a few minutes back to hang out and bother mark,
haechan nodded and smiled, “the thingie you were doing--” he emphasized by imitating his work out,
“it made you look like a pretty butterfly!” he beamed
“oh dude, that’s true!” mark agreed, giving his best friend a pat on the shoulder,
“my pretty butterfly” haechan reiterated, making the older blush
taeil chuckled to himself and opened the box to reveal a white candy heart saying 'good job!', he ate this one and tasted the refreshing flavor of coconut.
he debates just texting haechan and asking what he's up to-- but knowing him, he'd want taeil to follow the trail of candy hearts until-- well until hopefully something.
their dorm is uncharacteristically quiet this morning, jaehyun must've already left for his drama shoot, jungwoo probably down at the fifth floor-- yuta is accounted for as he's asleep and mark probably was as well-- considering the closed door,
he walks towards the kitchen, the dorm auntie isn't coming in today, and he can only hope jaehyun had a decent meal before leaving, he started preparing a simple breakfast; namely, kimchi fried rice and some pan-fried pork belly leftover from the other night. Nothing fancy, but he hopes his floormates enjoy it.
he almost forgets about the candy chase until his hand grazes another box as he reaches for the seasoning, he grabs it and sits down to open it, the letter simply said
"10F is lucky! i want to eat your food too!" -- the candy inside, a light red color that said 'everyday'
haechan was pouting in front of him, “i can’t believe i never got to guest on chef moon!” he complained,
taeil pacified him by offering a grilled piece of pork belly with his chopsticks which the younger accepted begrudgingly
“i cook for you anyway, no need for every one to know how we are when we’re cooking together,” he reasoned, to appease his boyfriend
haechan nodded, “your cooking is just so good chef moon! wish you could cook for me every day for the rest of our life!”
and if that sounded like an indirect proposal-- taeil didn’t mention it
taeil closed the box before eating breakfast, he ate the candy right after though-- the cherry flavor complementing both the spiciness of the meal and the coke he was currently drinking.
the door shuffles open and jungwoo enters,
"hyung, good morning!" he greeted cheerfully
"where have you been so early?" he asks back, smiling at the younger
"i was awake when jaehyun left and when haechan came in, speaking of--" he trailed off grabbing a box from his jacket's pocket, "here, he asked me to give you this"
jungwoo handed taeil the box and swiftly moved to the kitchen to eat, his praises for taeil’s cooking fell on deaf ears as he opened the box
‘it’s weird, but i don’t want to be apart’ the note said, ‘miss u’ the candy said,
“the sunbaes are talking about enlistment the other day” haechan said passively, they were watching a movie in his bedroom in one of the evenings johnny was out for the night,
“oh? which sunbaes?” taeil asked, his eyes still glued to the laptop screen,
“you know… the remaining exo-sunbaenims, and Taemin-sunbae,” he paused,
taeil hummed in agreement before noticing the silence coming from the younger beside him, he turned his head to look at him and was surprised with the usually cheerful eyes brimming with unshed tears,
he immediately turned his body around to face him wholly, “hyuckie, what’s wrong?” he asked,
“you’re about… to enlist too, right?” he asked quietly, his eyes focused on his lap to avoid eye contact with his boyfriend,
the sight alone was heart-wrenching, but taeil kept a small, steady smile, “hyuckie-ah,” he began, “are you worried about me? i’ll be fine there, don’t worry too much,”
“that’s not it,” the other said while shaking his head, “i just… can’t imagine not seeing you for more than a few days,” he admitted
“i don’t wanna be apart from you for a long time hyung…” he emphasized, his forehead resting on taeil’s forehead,
“we can’t help enlisting… but i promise that i will try to make the two years we’re apart, bearable, okay?” he said, trying to compromise
he saw haechan pout at that, “i know, i know… i’m sorry if i’m being… ugh… petty” he groaned and dropped into his bed,
taeil chuckled and sat beside him, “it’s not petty, not at all, i know i’ll be crying buckets at your enlistment” he half-heartedly joked,
he leaned over haechan and smiled, “but, at least after your two years-- i know you’re mine forever” he said as he leaned down for a kiss
after that, taeil found himself walking to the fifth floor, he arrived just in time to see johnny exit the dorm,
“hey hyung, hyuckie’s just finishing up breakfast inside, bye” he said before patting taeil on the shoulder and putting on his mask to go outside,
“take care johnny!” he called after, and sees johnny waving his hand as a reply
he entered the dorm and smiled as he saw haechan’s back facing him,
“did you forget something johnny-hyung?” the younger called out, before yelping because taeil covered his eyes with his hands.
“has someone been busy so early in the morning?” he asked sweetly, he felt haechan relax in his hold,
“Illie, you’re down here so early, i thought it would take you a few more hours, i didn’t finish putting up all the candies~” he pouted as taeil took his hands off and sat next to him,
“sorry for ruining your plans, i’d love to have the rest of the candies though~” he said cheekily,
haechan stuck his tongue out but smiled, but handed him an orange-colored candy anyway,
“what does this mean?” it was orange in color and just said ‘lucky’
“means what it means, you’re lucky you’re cute”
the two made their way to his bedroom and crashed on the bed together, “i’ll be right back,” haechan said and went outside, presumably to get a drink,
taeil got comfortable and found the rest of the candies, words like ‘forever yours’, ‘i am so lucky’, ‘always here’, ‘beautiful’ and a bunch more in assorted colors, taeil already felt bad for ruining the surprise by waking up earlier,
it took a while before they could be together, taeil being wary of the age gap between them, the age in between they met til now, but haechan was nothing if not stubborn. the same stubbornness that he thanks to this day, how someone warm and loving and amazing like lee donghyuck could love someone as normal… as him.
“hwey-- lwook at mwe” he heard the muffled voice of haechan cutting through his thoughts, turning around to see haechan with his tongue out, a single candy flat on his tongue
a purple color, the words ‘thank u for being mine’
taeil stood up, closing the gap between them, “i love you” he spoke before their lips connected,
the bitter and tart flavor of the cranberry candy was nothing against the sweetness of haechan’s lips
i thank god every day that you’re mine too
today is a really good day.