Archive of Our Own ^beta

"Choi Beomgyu, wake up and use your voodoo mambo jambo to teleport me to class! I'm late!"

Beomgyu's a simple man. There are only two things that can wake him up, namely his mother's flying slipper and the mention of his crush. And right now, with him sleeping blissfully in the safety of his university dormitory miles away from his mother, Soobin's screeching in his ear has got nothing on him.

And so, taking a deep breath and pouncing right onto the softly snoring lump, Soobin yells right into his ear again, "Kang Taehyun's here to fetch you to class!"

As expected, Beomgyu's eyes fly open, and he shoots up from his slumber, harshly headbutting Soobin who tumbles right off his bed.

Yeonjun, their other dormmate guffaws at the spectacle unfolding, moving swiftly out of the way to make his morning coffee just in case Beomgyu decided to commit murder. Don't get him wrong, he loves Soobin, but the best he could do was avoid being a witness or an accidental accessory to any massacre.

"Taeh- Where?"

"You're finally awake! That Taehyun trick never fails huh." Soobin pops up from the floor, jumping to his feet to throttle his confused dormmate, "Now, teleport me to class please! I have to be at Auditorium 4 in five minutes!"

As his sleepy haze subsides with the immense shaking which rattles his all-but-weak bones, he huffs angrily, realizing Soobin's sleazy tactic.

"You asshole. If you get caught, I'm not explaining it to my mom," he grumbles, channeling his energy easily and letting it surge through him before he yanks Soobin's bare arm with a petty amount of force. And just like that, Soobin disappears without a trace, likely about to throw up because Beomgyu just teleported him to the toilet just three minutes from Auditorium 4. Aka the grossest toilet on campus.

Beomgyu cackles deviously, already picturing Soobin's hilarious pale face from breathing in the pungent stench of the infamous toilet.

What? That was the emptiest spot closest to Auditorium 4. And Soobin didn't specify where. Not that Beomgyu needs to justify his petty revenge after his dormmate rudely interrupted his beauty sleep with fake news.

Fake news. Ah, Taehyun…

A dopey smile graces his lips as he thinks about his perfect campus crush.

"Kang Taehyun, you sneaky, sexy boy, waking me up even without being here," he sighs dreamily to himself, ignoring the weird look Yeonjun throws him as he saunters by Beomgyu and Soobin's shared room, coffee in hand.

"Is there some sort of spell you can cast to make someone who doesn't even know you exist fall in love with you?" He comments, leaning against the doorframe, obnoxiously slurping on his coffee like the gremlin Beomgyu knows he is.

He sends a pillow barreling right into Yeonjun's crotch.

-

It's not that Taehyun doesn't know Beomgyu exists. In fact, he is fairly certain that Taehyun is at least vaguely aware of his presence.

Not that there's much to count by since he can barely maintain an extra second of eye contact when the other student actually looks his way to shoot him a friendly grin or something. They've spoken a total of two times in the two semesters they shared Music Performance 1 and subsequently Music Performance 2. An absolute pity since Beomgyu had been crushing on Taehyun since the latter offered him the last melon bread in the cafeteria three whole semesters ago. How easy.

Anyway the two measly times they managed to interact had been arguably disastrous.

Specifically, the younger boy asked to borrow a pen the first time and when their fingers accidentally touched, Beomgyu quite literally felt electrifying jolts from his euphoria and nervousness at having skin-to-skin contact with his crush. And he unknowingly let his magical energy escape out of his control, sending the professor's glasses flying right off his nose. Thankfully apart from blatant confusion, no one put two and two together and Beomgyu just had to jerk his hand back abruptly, much to his own disappointment, and attempt to calm down for the next ten minutes.

The second time, Taehyun tapped him on his arm to ask him for the previous lecture's notes - he had missed it and Beomgyu was very aware because he had no one to secretly gaze at with heart eyes for the entire two hours - and the same exact shit happened. Except this time, he actually made the lecture theatre lights flicker, causing an even more massive commotion than before.

Three may make a pattern but Beomgyu was smarter than that. Three would make a pattern to someone else apart from him, and he had been extra cautious after. It was obvious that he had little to no control of his magic whenever he came in physical contact with the love of his life and was reduced to a bundle of nerves.

Beomgyu came from a bloodline of sorcerers, which gave him an array of magical powers, mostly including object levitation, teleportation, and some degree of object manipulation. Having chosen to assimilate with the rest of the clueless, powerless human population, instead of training to be a proper sorcerer like his siblings did, he had a more basic range of magic powers.

In turn, he had to keep his abilities a secret from everyone else. Only his dormmates Soobin and Yeonjun, who also happened to be his childhood friends greatly loved by his mother, were aware of his capabilities. Much to Beomgyu's regret because they never failed to exploit his skills whenever faced with any minor inconvenience. Friendship is magic. Indeed.

Now, Beomgyu sits silently at the back of the lecture theatre, admiring Taehyun's defined jawline and bright eyes, brilliant even from his side profile, and of course those sexy veins on his forearms which flared every time he stretched. Don't ask.

He's so content and caught up with his bi-weekly admire-Taehyun session, the professor's words float everywhere but into his cloudy brain. Shockingly, he doesn't even notice the rest of the class getting up to move around the theatre, until the object of his affection suddenly spins around, catching his gaze.

Beomgyu's jolted right out of his skin, snapping out of his dreamy reverie. And the next thing he registers is Taehyun walking right to him, a little excited smile on his face. Heart picking up its pace, Beomgyu tries to wake himself up and do something, but his butt refuses to cooperate, gluing itself right on the plush seat below.

"Hey Beomgyu," Taehyun greets a little meekly. Oh my god, Taehyun is talking to him, help.

"Do you have a partner yet? Drums and bass are your forte and mine's vocals, so we could pair up?" He suggests, a hopeful nervous smile playing on his lips.

And then Beomgyu finally gains a little bit of self-awareness to actually reply.

"H-huh?"

"The project? We have to perform a cover for the pop song mod?" Taehyun elaborates a little nervously, smile dimming a little. Those canines, ah…

"Right."

Beomgyu has no idea what he's talking about.

"So do you have a partner yet… Or?"

"Right."

He tries to tear his eyes away from Taehyun's beautiful orbs to look at the screen for some help on explaining the situation.

Taehyun's smile falls, disappointment evident, "Oh… It's okay then-"

"No! I mean. No, I don't have a partner!" Beomgyu rushes out upon finally registering Taehyun's words and the blatant words splayed across the screen:

POP SONG COVER PAIR PERFORMANCE (20%)

And when he finally looks back at his crush, he regrets it instantly because Taehyun's wearing a blinding smile, pearly canines on full display, Beomgyu has to will his heart to actually start working again.

"Great! Can we exchange numbers so we can meet up to work on this soon? It's due in three weeks, but it's better to start early," Taehyun pipes up, beaming.

And then it sinks in. (1) Taehyun knew his name - not surprising but still, suck it Yeonjun.

(2) Taehyun knew he played the bass and drums for his main instruments - not surprising since they had various performances for the module but still. At least it makes the time Beomgyu dramatically poured his soul into bellowing "OH PRETTY BABY!" while (secretly) dedicating a lo-fi bass and vocal cover of Can't Take My Eyes Off You to Taehyun during their interim assessment worth it.

Beomgyu personally didn't have the guts to even look up and gauge the boy's reaction but now he's assured there's a good chance that didn't go unnoticed.

(3) Taehyun approached him to pair up. Of his own volition. And now, the studious boy, who obviously wanted to start early because duh straight A's university poster child, was asking him for his number. His number.

Beomgyu mentally throttles Soobin and Yeonjun - or rather, he makes a mental note to throttle Soobin and Yeonjun when he inevitably shares (screams about) the news with them.

"O-okay," he reaches out to take the phone from Taehyun's outstretched hand at the same time the boy tries to catch his attention again by flicking his phone closer.

And obviously. Obviously, their hands accidentally touch, and Beomgyu completely malfunctions on registering the warm skin at his fingertips. Lo and behold, the lecture door slams, startling everyone including his crush, who looks completely terrified.

Oh, what Beomgyu would do to turn back time and go to sorcerer school and live out a sorcerer hermit life. At least he wouldn't be a barely functional boy dealing with his first crush.

-

Beomgyu knows that Taehyun's a model student who also happens to be unfairly talented at his main craft aka singing. But when the other boy said they should start on their assignment soon, he didn't know he actually meant the literal next day. And of all places, Taehyun had suggested meeting up, he'd picked Beomgyu's dorm because it was a larger dorm suite meant for four and Beomgyu had a room just for his instruments and Soobin's elaborate gaming set-up.

He'd call it a makeshift studio but he has a feeling Soobin and Yeonjun would up his rent portion if he did. So as far as finances are concerned, it's still the SooGyu™ entertainment room.

Anyway, Taehyun still takes it as his makeshift studio because the moment he's inside, after shuffling past a nervous Beomgyu who can't yet process the fact that his crush is in his humble abode, he's in awe.

It's no big deal honestly, Beomgyu just has his favorite electric bass with an admittedly expensive amp and pedal set-up, as well as an acoustic and an electric guitar sitting comfortably beside an electric drum kit which really sucked because he'd do anything for a proper drum kit. Sound suppression wasn't something he'd picked up fully from his mother and he didn't need fellow residents side-eyeing him whenever he made a racquet with an actual drum set.

But back to the present moment, Taehyun looks completely awestruck. Or rather, he's probably more in awe at the realization that Beomgyu can at least decently play multiple instruments. The boy himself looks down at his feet a little shyly.

"You know what?" Taehyun turns to him, eyes gleaming.

"I know a little bit about playing the electric guitar. If you just help me to brush up my skills, you could totally hit the bass and we'd be doing something different since everyone's probably doing something acoustic or with the original instrumentals! And maybe you could pre-record the drums or something since your Stay drum solo cover last semester was pretty sick."

Excitement is dripping from Taehyun and Beomgyu finds it so endearing he mentally passes out. Plus the fact that he remembered Beomgyu's drum cover of Stay made the older boy absolutely nervous - in a good way he guesses. Now, Beomgyu wasn’t even a tiny bit interested in Justin Bieber and his discography. But back then, he'd changed his performance piece to that song after hearing that Taehyun loved the singer.

Whipped? Yes. Desperate? Maybe.

Apart from having to get into a song he wasn't really feeling, he also had to endure the endless teasing by his two dormmates who choked on their food chortling the moment the beginning notes of Stay started to reverberate from the SooGyu™ Entertainment Room. Was it embarrassing and cringey a decision? Yes. But now that Taehyun remembered it and even called it sick? So. Worth. It.

If he thinks hard enough, he thinks he could remember Taehyun's wide eyes and slack jaw the moment he finished his piece with a statement snare roll and a final playful twirl of his drumsticks before smashing down cheekily on the crash cymbals. Riding his performance high, he hadn’t been able to help the smirk playing on his lips accompanying the sheen of sweat on his forehead as he made eye contact with the completely impressed Taehyun.

Of course that didn't last long because once the adrenaline ebbed away and the thunderous applause of his module mates pulled him out of his confidence zone, he looked down meekly, bowing and slinking back to his corner of the theatre, embarrassed with his previous bout of boldness. But still. Absolutely worth it.

And also, back to Taehyun's suggestion, he's extremely fond of playing the bass and the arrangement actually sounds exciting enough.

"S-sounds good," he stammers out embarrassingly, "we uh. We do have quite a bit of time anyway." Thank god Soobin and Yeonjun were out on a suspiciously long grocery run out of school boundaries or they'd have a field day imitating him once Taehyun left. Whatever.

He moves to search for his electric guitar amp and pedal, distracting himself from the fact that his longtime crush is in his dorm! His dorm!

Fiddling around the wires with practiced ease, he sets up the instruments as Taehyun continues speaking.

"Do you have any pop songs in mind? The prof only said post-2010s so we have a lot of options on the table honestly."

Beomgyu hums thoughtfully, the group assignment slipped his mind the very moment he opened the syllabus document for the first time and left it collecting dust at the bottom of his downloads folder.

In fact, instead of planning out his performance assessment setlist strategically for the grades, he had an entire list of love songs shortlisted for any of the assessments. Hey! A romancer's always gotta be ready to serenade his crush. Even if the aforementioned crush had no idea he was consistently being serenaded in front of more than fifty other people.

"We could do something to do with kpop? Our heritage and all I dunno," he suggests offhandedly because he doesn't think he can get through another set of Justin Bieber arrangements for the next three weeks. Even though the latest album frankly wasn't too terrible after he'd forced himself to listen to it over and over to get a feel of it for his performance just a few months back.

Taehyun agrees quickly and Beomgyu slides him the aux to his speakers because he's all about sound quality and would never allow a terrible bluetooth speaker into his own crib.

Leaning comfortably with his electric guitar in tow, he beckons the younger boy to hit it with any song he had in mind.

"I'll try a few freestyle arrangements here and there and you can see which one you're confident and keen on learning?"

Beomgyu might not be the best at making conversation with his crush but he's comfortable enough around his instruments and he'd pick that over being a blubbering mess in front of Taehyun again.

The handsome boy grins his devastating grin again, tapping into his kpop playlist or something. The familiar little snaps and bubblegum pop backtrack paired with heavily reverbed vocals draws a little smile on his face. The Feels by Twice? He could work with that anytime.

Bobbing his head to the rhythm, he starts off with a few stray notes and harmonizing sets of arpeggios before he loses it to the sweet pre-chorus, letting his fingers fly easily across the fretboard to sound out a full set of harmonizing melodies. Sliding into the glorious upbeat chorus with a set of groovy chords, he naturally slips in a set of pentatonic progressions and sounds, adding a smooth improv solo complete with swift licks and matching alternate triads and arpeggios. Humming naturally along with Jihyo's vocal part, he finishes off with a confident flick of his wrist at the final chord.

Shyly looking up, the rest of Chaeyoung's rap fades into the background as Beomgyu registers Taehyun's dazed expression.

"Wow. That's really. Sick. But I don't think I can do. Uh, that." Taehyun laughs nervously, still a little taken aback by the show.

Beomgyu can't help but feel a little flattered.

Scratching his nape a little bashfully, he suggests, "Well, it was just an improv. If we're doing this song, I could transcribe you some tabs for the assignment? Just focus on chords and we can work on a solo behind. You can add in whatever you want as we go."

"Cool! That'd be way easier, though you should totally teach me some exercises next time so I can play the electric guitar better," Taehyun beams and Beomgyu's heart starts thumping at an unhealthy pace at the thought of his crush willingly wanting to spend more time out of classes.

Help.

They get to work quickly, immersed in working on the first verse so Taehyun gets a feel of his new instrument while Beomgyu demonstrates trickier parts with his spare acoustic guitar. Thankfully, the boy wasn't a complete noob and actually even had prior practice with a right-hander guitar despite being a left-hander. So that made things a lot smoother.

Throw in a full minute of Beomgyu explaining to an amused Taehyun why only a noob would play a bass with a pick when the other boy mistakenly offered him one before he picked up his bass; and Beomgyu realized that when it came to music, he could converse much more easily with Taehyun without risking a mental breakdown.

By the end of an hour, he'd been in tempo enough for Beomgyu to join in properly with his bass.

Their first run in, Taehyun lets his wrist falter mid-verse, wonderstruck all over again as he watches Beomgyu's fingers glide smoothly across the fretboard and his finger pluck and slap at the strings with ease, funky and punchy notes floating perfectly into the music.

Taehyun does a cute round of applause just as the music fades out, starry-eyed and gaping, prompting Beomgyu to feel extra conscious of the heat rushing to his cheeks. Nevertheless, his heart feels warm and fuzzy, swelling with pride at the praise. He was proud of his bass playing skills, sue him.

"Definitely irrelevant to me but, how do you do that thing? The slap thing?"

Oh.

"Well uh, you just," Beomgyu demonstrates the wrist flicking action slower, "kinda just strike the string with your fingers. And then flick your wrist quickly."

Taehyun shoots him a befuddled, pleading look, as he confuses his recently picked-up guitar slap technique with whatever Beomgyu just showed him.

He's way too adorable and Beomgyu mentally fanboys so hard he almost passes out from his accelerating heart rate.

Mumbling, he crawls a little closer, pointing at the correct space Taehyun should be hitting instead, "It honestly won't really work for the electric guitar but like downwards here-"

Taehyun's fingers clash into his momentarily by accident and Beomgyu's heart stutters as he turns completely red with the electrifying contact. Heart bursting out of his ribcage, he loses control of the magic that had been thrumming lowly in his veins during his entire nervous exchange that day, and before he can cling onto any shred of control over the energy, it slips right out of his hands and a loud snap resounds in the otherwise quiet room.

Taehyun yelps, drawing his hands back in a flurry and Beomgyu winces, glancing at the broken guitar strings.

Now he has his crush freaked out and a set of electric guitar strings to freaking change.

Great. Just great.

-

Everything. Is going to be great.

At least that's what Beomgyu tries to convince himself as he inches towards the café table, brushing his hair self-consciously while praying to his magical ancestors that he can exercise a little more self-control and stop freaking out in front of Taehyun for once. It'd been only a couple of days since their eventful practice and after texting to schedule future practices, Taehyun had surprisingly initiated some small talk over text.

Yeonjun and Soobin's judging totally could not quell his excited squealing into his pillow. Though Taehyun was admittedly a lot more of an oddball over text than he'd expected, not that Beomgyu minded because the range of topics that interested the boy was pretty impressive, flitting from instruments one second, to ghosts and spirits the next. And then, he'd suddenly asked Beomgyu out to a café on campus, mentioning he wanted to go through some tabs.

A café was a rather odd place for any music discussion but Beomgyu had been more caught up with the fact that Taehyun was asking him out, too nervous to be concerned about anything else.

He's so engrossed in his mental pep talk that it only becomes apparent there's a second person seated right next to Taehyun when he gets much closer.

Close enough for Taehyun to turn around instinctively and gesture to him a little awkwardly, expression a little stiff.

Was he… Interrupting something?

Furrowing his eyebrows, Beomgyu pushes forward hesitantly, eyeing the third person in the group.

"Hi Taehyun, did I get the wrong time?" He mumbles, undeniably a little affronted. Because it really did feel like he was interrupting something with the way the two looked so… Familiar.

A little hurt bubbles in his chest. And then comes the devastating thought that maybe… Maybe Taehyun had gotten a significant other and was here to introduce them? Beomgyu tries to school his expression into a more neutral one, though with his poor control of his magic around Taehyun, he thinks emotions might not be any easier to control.

"No of course not, Beomgyu. Uhh, this is Huening Kai," Taehyun looks awkwardly nervous, jabbing his thumb at the man beside him who wears a lazy grin on his sharp features. Kai gives a little wave which Beomgyu vaguely returns.

He eyes Kai blankly, hand wavering mid-air oddly.

Well if his competition was this handsome, he can't even find it in him to feel upset because duh, someone as perfect as Taehyun deserved someon-

"Uh, Beomgyu?" Taehyun interrupts his self-deprecating little spiral. And then Kai, bless his long legs, is kicking a chair towards him and shooting him a little smirk.

"Baby boy, are you lost?" Kai drawls sickeningly, winking, and Beomgyu sputters, looking down immediately and fumbling with the chair, attempting to hide his reddening cheeks. First, he had the guts to steal the love of his life, and now he has the guts to deprive Beomgyu of any ounce of dignity. What an ass.

Taehyun on the other hand, looks extremely annoyed by the exchange, glaring right at Kai.

Well of course, he probably thinks Beomgyu had been checking out his boyfriend or something.

"So what's up?" Beomgyu asks meekly. He just hopes Taehyun would give it to him straight and then he can come up with some excuse like Soobin's forgotten to turn off the stove or whatever, and then fuck right back and cry into his fluffy pillows.

"Okay, first things first, Beomgyu," Taehyun clears his throat, finally breaking his glaring to turn to Beomgyu with a more concerned look, "do you remember what I asked you yesterday?"

What?

"Uh… 'Are you free at 2pm tomorrow?'" Beomgyu quotes the last conversation they exchanged with a clueless head tilt. Kai snorts obnoxiously, earning a shove from Taehyun and narrowed eyes from Beomgyu.

Well Taehyun did ask him a lot of things on the regular.

"I mean the thing about ghosts," Taehyun presses, jaw tense.

Oh right.

He gives a hesitant nod, not exactly sure where the conversation is going.

"So uh, you know all the weird stuff that happens to you? It might sound ridiculous but I think you might be haunted. Kai is a psychic, so I got him to come take a look," Taehyun explains extremely seriously.

Beomgyu is all but lost.

"Weird… Stuff?"

"Yeah, like the first time I talked to you, the professor's glasses fell off oddly? I didn't think much of it, but then I asked you for your notes somewhere at the start of the semester and the lights deadass flickered. I still wasn't sure but then that day in our seminar, I asked to pair up with you for the project and the door slammed suddenly! And and and then when we were working on the project and your guitar strings suddenly snapped when you were trying to teach me the wrist slap!" He recounts very seriously and it's finally dawning upon Beomgyu.

The boy thought his escaping magic was a haunting.

Was he freaking serious?

"I thought it was something to do with me, but then I realized those weird things only happened when I was near you and not when I was alone," Taehyun explains with an extremely concerned expression, voice toned down to a hushed, urgent whisper. Beomgyu feels utterly terrible for keeping him in the dark.

He also can't help but notice the glaring fact that Kai's smug grin has only widened with every detail Taehyun brings up.

And with the mischievous, knowing glint in his eyes, Beomgyu doesn't need to be a psychic to know Kai has seen through the entire situation.

The worst part? Kai now has something over him.

In a last-ditch attempt to salvage the situation, Beomgyu tries to argue weakly, "Well, it's not that big a deal? I didn't even notice those things happening."

He's lying between his teeth and Kai's blatant attempt at holding back yet another good ol' snort makes him want to fling a chair right at him. Sue his magic control for only working when he wants to actually give in and 'accidentally' smack Kai in the head.

"It is! You're haunted! And your ghost hates me somehow!"

Hates? Oh boy, Taehyun. If only you knew.

"Wow Beomgyu's ghost really haaates you so much, Taehyun," Kai fakes a concerned expression and Beomgyu wants to fling him out of the café. That sly dog.

"See! Kai's from a line of legit psychics! There is a ghost!" Taehyun half-yells, agitated as he instinctively grabs onto Beomgyu's hands in emphasis.

Beomgyu's heart literally skips a beat with the contact and he goes beet red before the surge of energy escapes his wall of self-control, sending the neighboring table levitating eerily.

Kai screeches boisterously upon watching the events unfold and registering Taehyun's widening eyes. Beomgyu turns to glower at him, jerking his hands back, and the table falls back onto the ground with a thud, alarming even the few café workers.

Taehyun blanches.

"Your ghost. Your ghost really hates me."

-

Beomgyu's heard it multiple times from Soobin and Yeonjun that he is whipped. And on separate occasions, he's also frequently heard that he's a walking ball of irrational chaos.

And now as the man himself processes the situation he's in, he knows that both statements ring absolutely true. At the same time.

Because right now, he's listening to Kai talk about this elaborate process of an 'exorcism' which he knows is 100% bullshit. Kai is clearly fucking with both of them and he has half the mind to call him out and just spill the truth. But then Taehyun's so invested in Kai's anti-ghost bull and actually freaking taking notes in his notebook and Beomgyu can't find it in him to interrupt. As Soobin and Yeonjun said.

Whipped.

Logically speaking, though, with the way Taehyun looks so freaked out by the thought of a ghost, it doesn't seem like a good option. He doesn't exactly want to scare his crush away. Not when they finally started to be acquaintances after Beomgyu's long solo pining stint.

But seriously-

"Basically Taehyun. Beogmyu's ghost only has a problem with you. So to counter that, you have to keep touching Beomgyu. I'm talking skin to skin contact. Get the ghost used to it," Kai smirks, making full eye contact with a mortified Beomgyu.

"No!" He all but bellows out.

Kai raises an eyebrow and Taehyun looks mildly offended by the violent reaction for some reason.

Of course Beomgyu has fantasized about holding hands with Taehyun or having even more skin contact. Forgive him. But he couldn't knowingly take advantage of that with the boy in the dark. Especially when he knew Kai was just messing around with him.

Moreover, he hasn't tried it yet, but skin-to-skin contact with the love of his life for more than a second? Beomgyu would combust. And so would his magic. That'd potentially spell even more trouble. No pun intended. Puns were Yeonjun's old man thing, not his.

"My ghost," Beomgyu cringes so hard as the phrase leaves his mouth and Kai's shit-eating grin doesn't help, "my ghost hates… Hates me touching anyone."

"I think. I mean, I observed," he adds in a smaller voice.

Taehyun looks extremely concerned with the newfound fact and Beomgyu can't spare any more brainpower to figure out why.

Kai opens his mouth to spew his B.S. again but Beomgyu's quickly reaching over and prying him by his hoodie.

"You. Please. One second, Taehyun. I just need a private second with the psychic," he smiles sweetly, urgently whisking an amused Kai away. Technically he isn't whisking him away. He just used his magic to push Kai right out of the chair in the most visibly natural way possible, shooting him a glare to silence him.

Before Taehyun can properly react, he's sent both him and Kai out of earshot.

He takes an exasperated breath in, "Obviously you know what's going on."

Kai leans against the glass outside the café, both of them vaguely aware that Taehyun's probably shooting daggers at them through the glass.

Wiggling his eyebrows obnoxiously, he replies, "Obviously I do. And I'm giving you a push. Like you just used your magic to push me out. Pretty sick. Anyways, go get him tiger."

Beomgyu isn't sure if he should throw up or send Kai reeling into an oncoming truck. Or maybe he should just jump right in front of the truck to get him out of the situation.

"I can't! I can't control my magic if we touch! And I can't take advantage of the situation? I'm not that low!"

"Okay okay. What do you want me to do then? Go in and tell him there's no ghost? Beomgyu here is just head over heels with you and also a sorcerer who can send you levitating because he's freaking out?" Kai challenges with a smirk.

And duh. Beomgyu is speechless because yeah. What can Kai do?

"Or perhaps, would you want me to say. The ghost can't be exorcised. You're stuck with a ghost that hates you?" Kai continues, teasing.

Biting his lip, Beomgyu stares at his feet like a kicked puppy. Kai actually seems surprised with the reaction, probably having expected another protest.

"Okay okay I'm sorry. Look don't cry okay, Taehyun will kill me if he thinks I made his baby upset."

Huh?

"I'll handle it okay, and let's go back before he bursts a vessel straining his neck to watch us," Kai assures, rubbing Beomgyu's shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. Beomgyu can't even bear to crane his neck back to look at Taehyun because he's trying to deal with his mess. Thank you very much.

"What? What are you gonna say?"

"Just roll with it," Kai punctuates his sentence with a confident heave, leading both of them back to Taehyun who eyes Kai with a somewhat accusatory gaze.

"So Taehyun. With my great psychic abilities, I've found the root of the issue."

Beomgyu twiddles his thumbs, nervous. Kai wouldn't continue being a little shit… Would he? On the other hand, Taehyun looks less affronted now, more interested in hearing what Kai has to say.

"Beomgyu's ghost has a crush on you."

Beomgyu passes out.

-

"So let me get this straight," Soobin starts, mouth full of cereal.

"There's nothing straight about this," Yeonjun interrupts, bellowing with laughter loudly because the main characteristic of unfunny people is that they are somehow convinced they are funny.

"Shut the fuck up or we're divorcing, thank you," Soobin continues without even sparing him a glance, inciting Yeonjun's protests about how they haven't even progressed to the B-word because somebody wouldn't give him a chance.

"B for blease shut up, Yeonjun. Back to you, Beomgyu, let me get this straight, Taehyun thinks your ghost likes him and so he now has to abide by the rule of no touching you or he thinks this… Entity… Is going to harass you?"

Beomgyu garbles in affirmation, face planted right on the icy glass table.

"And he still wants to hang out with you?" Soobin presses and Beomgyu's mind actually stutters.

Yeah. It's been a week since the fake revelation and they are still meeting up to arrange and rehearse for their performance. Okay and maybe throw in a couple of meals together on Taehyun's suggestion. And maybe another couple of occasions the boy asked him to show up to class a little earlier so he could let him listen to some of the new songs he'd been working on covering on his own.

"I guess…? Mostly for the project though."

"And we're talking about the same guy who is obviously terrified of your ghost?" Soobin pushes further and Beomgyu can kind of see where this is going.

"Stop feeding me false hope!" He yells dramatically, thrashing around and channeling his frustration into sending the table shaking violently.

Soobin calmly lifts up his cereal.

"It's not false hope. I can't believe you went with that psychic's idea. You can't cover a lie with a lie," Soobin chides, "Be honest with him. He seems at least sufficiently interested in you."

Yeonjun finally chimes in after his groveling, "Yeah to be honest, if I thought someone had a ghost following them who grew interested me, I'd run away so fast. It's creepy y'know."

"And," Soobin adds gently, "if he still isn't avoiding you even though he thinks you have a ghost tagging along, I doubt this magic thing will faze him."

"But he'll find out that I like him! And that'd be terrible!" Beomgyu exclaims, tears threatening to fall.

"Don’t be dramatic."

Beomgyu flops off the chair, levitating ridiculously with his face up like a scene right off The Conjuring.

"You haven't even tried. Plus, you don't have to actually tell him you like him. Just tell him you get nervous around him. It's up to him what he wants to think. Maybe it could be a meeting-new-people thing?"

"You don't get it Soobs! Argghhh," Beomgyu wails incoherently, loud screeching bounding off the ceiling a mere foot away from his face, "He's gonna think I'm so weird in every way and even reciting the lyrics in the whole Justin Bieber album won't save me."

"Get off there and stop yelling or we're gonna get a noise complaint!" Yeonjun sniffs, hurling a banana at the youngest boy, who swerves and catches it, peeling and stuffing himself with the fruit while still bawling unintelligibly. A complete mess.

"Now you're being ridiculous. It's Valentine's Day during your practical right? Just finish the project and then propose to him," Yeonjun snorts on hearing that, "Go big or go home. At least if anything gets awkward, you won't be needing to also force yourself to finish the project."

For once, Soobin makes an actually doable suggestion.

He floats back down to the chair.

"Five full tubs of ice cream and a whole night of marathoning Marvel movies if he rejects me?" He mumbles out with his mouth full.

"Please little bear, we could do that even if he doesn't reject you," Yeonjun sighs, ruffling his hair.

"Yes, we mean yes," Soobin adds, patting Beomgyu's head from across the table with his long noodly arms.

"Haagen Dazs?"

"Only the best."

-

To his credit, Beomgyu actually tries his best to plan his confession. He doesn't want it to be lackluster and boring because he's spent over a year pining after Taehyun after all. And though he's sure Taehyun's admirers will definitely make sure he's very much loved - not that he's actually seen them since he missed class the entire week during Valentine's Day last year - he himself wants Taehyun to know exactly how deep Beomgyu's affection runs for him.

Finally, that entire santa's list of shortlisted songs can finally be useful.

Yeah, Beomgyu's a blubbering mess unless it's about music, so forgive him if he's going to be a little cliché. Lucky for him, he has his incredibly hard-earned music skills to help him juggle perfecting both his performance with Taehyun and his performance for Taehyun.

And listening to Taehyun sing everyday about catching feels in that velvety voice is really doing things to his heart. Unfair. Because "every time you move, got me frozen I get so shy it's obvious"? 100% Beomgyu.

Possibly unhealthy but okay.

With his intensive practice and overly idealistic plan, he heads to the theatre, bass slung over his shoulder, knees threatening to buckle anytime.

The plan was simple: 1. Perform with Taehyun - they were the last group to go which made things objectively easier. 2. Slip away to the dance studio, which Yeonjun had very nicely kept empty just for him in the name of love, once the performance was over. 3. Text Taehyun to come by the studio.

For the most part, he thinks everything starts off pretty smoothly.

Taehyun gets a little performance anxiety watching his fellow classmates perform acoustic and lo-fi covers - Beomgyu's lo-fi serenade back then really did inspire many - and rock renditions one after another. As their coursemates file back and forth past them, the boy starts getting jittery when they finally stumble on stage, worried about messing up his guitar solo. But Beomgyu reassures him with a gentle smile, just as he starts setting up the drum accompaniment he'd pre-recorded.

With the starting kicks resounding, Beomgyu's sliding into the groove, starting off picking at the rumbling bass notes with practiced ease, before he's singing, equally deep and low.

"Boy I, boy I, boy I, know you got the feels..."

He tilts his head, meeting Taehyun's glittery eyes and grinning before they slip easily into the music, immersed in their practiced performance.

Easy as second nature. Yet the euphoria from performing, much less next to the boy of his dreams, allows the adrenaline to pump right into Beomgyu's veins as the pair slide into their instrumental break arranged right after the bridge.

Taehyun slides in first, fingers running across the fretboard with clean shreds and some rhythmically placed choice triads, just as he'd picked up from Beomgyu, eyebrows furrowed in concentration before he does a final shred, confident beam playing on his lips as the final distorted note rings hauntingly in the air.

The bassist has little time to feel any surge of pride on seeing his student execute his solo this cleanly, because he's right up next, rapidly slapping his funky bassline, fingers easily gliding through a groovy bassline spliced with rapid climbing scales.

The way Taehyun's impactful shredding complemented his much more upbeat and funkier bassline sends Beomgyu internally reeling with how well they matched. But the adrenaline barely has time to wear off, because Taehyun's riding fast on the exhilaration with his skilled vocals, delivering the final chorus with ecstasy that infects the rest of the students.

As Taehyun's final distorted guitar note reverberates in the air, there's a second of silence before the theatre erupts into excited applause and cheers.

So yeah, he thinks things definitely started off promising and he can totally slither right out amidst the chaos of students crowding and discussing the practical performance after class.

What he hadn't factored in, was that it was Valentines Day. Not just for him, but also for everyone else. And he's extremely taken aback when a girl, someone he vaguely recognizes as a coursemate, interrupts his escape to pass him chocolates. He shimmies past awkwardly with a hurried excuse that he has another class before another boy's blocking his escape with a shyly handed letter.

Don't get him wrong, he loves letters. They are very sweet. But he's frankly never exactly been confessed to in the past year he's been here so the entire experience is rather overwhelming.

Brain fuzzy and in a rush to just get out because he's also a bundle of nerves about his own confession, Beomgyu blurts out the best thing he can muster.

"I'm already seeing someone sorry!"

He hears someone draw a deep breath behind him and he realizes he's cleanly forgotten that Taehyun was still within earshot.

Curse Beomgyu and his useless brain.

The older boy spins around quickly. He didn't want Taehyun to get the wrong idea but things were tricky right now.

"Taehyun… It's not what you think," he sighs, frazzled, "just meet me at Studio 4 downstairs in ten minutes okay? I have something important to tell you. Don't be late!"

With that, he's speeding out of the theatre, mentally slapping himself for complicating things while dodging a couple of other coursemates' attempts to approach him.

-

Slamming the studio door while heaving from the unnecessary mid-day workout he'd just gone through, Beomgyu slumps down, overwhelmed.

Damn it. Seriously, Beomgyu??? Taehyun must be so confused right now.

But fuck it. He's already gone this far, might as well execute his massively thwarted plan.

Stuffing his bass to the side of the studio, he rolls tiredly to the acoustic guitar he had planted in the studio early this morning, too drained and jittery to move properly or channel any magic.

Yeonjun, again in the name of love, had helped him set up a chair in the middle of the room, along with corny rose petals scattered all around and a little plush beanbag in front of the chair which he figures is for Taehyun.

It's cheesy and definitely cringey but Beomgyu figures it'd look pretty sad and creepy if he were to simply sit in the middle of an empty studio and attempt to romance Taehyun with his singing.

Yeah so never mind. All in the name of love anyway.

Beomgyu rushes to set up his acoustic guitar, quickly rehearsing the chords instead of actually rehearsing how he wants to confess to Taehyun.

Which is an absolutely terrible decision because even before the ten minutes are up - Beomgyu's sure there are still two minutes left -, Taehyun's turning the studio door knob, pushing his way in.

He takes in the state of the studio before spotting a wide-eyed Beomgyu mid-practice, a flash of recognition and an uneasy smile gracing his face.

"You're - you're early, uh. Uh. Take a seat there," Beomgyu stammers, gesturing to the obnoxiously red plush cushion set up by Yeonjun.

Shrugging, the other boy shuffles to settle awkwardly on the cushion, "You didn't say not to be early."

Taehyun's shifty demeanor was a stark contrast to the brighter and more confident Taehyun he'd grown accustomed to, and it was only adding to his nerves.

"Uh, I have a performance for you," should have fucking planned this properly, Choi Beomgyu, "uh just watch it okay?"

Taehyun nods a little hesitantly and Beomgyu starts strumming with shaky fingers, voice cracking a little as he starts singing.

"I really wanna stop, but I just got a taste for it."

Yeah Carly Rae Jepsen is the queen of romance and no one can change Beomgyu's mind.

A little smile graces his lips and he loosens up a little, delivering the line, "I feel like I could die walking up to the room." Didn't expect how things could've possibly gone that disastrous in the past twenty minutes but that was totally a mood.

Taehyun's starstruck smile gives him the courage to gaze right at him as he moves into the chorus - the actual confession - because well, Beomgyu really really really really really really liked him, so sue him.

Slowing down for the bridge, he smiles blindingly at Taehyun.

"Who gave you eyes like that? Said you could keep them?"

A little morbid if Beomgyu really thinks about it but yeah Taehyun, who gave you eyes like that?

And just like that, he finishes his little serenade session, heart thumping and reality setting in for the moment of truth. It hadn't gone perfect, he'd cracked a couple of times in nervousness and maybe gratingly rattled one or two chords. But he hopes Taehyun got the message.

Taehyun, as always, looks absolutely enamored by Beomgyu's performance, but then his smile fades, a tired sadness suddenly lingering on his features. The older boy is confused and rendered even more nervous.

"That… Was a nice performance. Very… Romantic. Did you want me to review it or something?"

"Huh? No. Uh Taehyun. It's for you. I sang it for you because I like you and I wanted you to know that you know. Haha. Since it's Valentines Day? Heh," Beomgyu trails off, putting his acoustic guitar down and kneeling down to level with the other boy. The regret from not rehearsing how he had intended to confess hits him tenfold.

A flurry of expressions flit across Taehyun's features and he settles for narrowed eyes at the end. Beomgyu can't deny that the lackluster or even odd response is hurting him and dimming whatever little confidence he had.

"Are you possessed?"

"Excuse me?"

"I mean, you must be the ghost that has a crush on me? The one thwarting my chances with Beomgyu?"

"What?"

"There's no way. Literally, no way someone as perfect as Beomgyu would like me. And I know he's already taken so you can't fool me. I'm sorry ghost, even if you pretend to be Beomgyu, I can't like you!" Taehyun cries incredulously, scooting a whole five feet away cushion still stuck on his ass.

What the actual fuck was going on?

"Uh. Taehyun, I'm literally Beomgyu? And I'm not taken?" He tries hesitantly, perplexed by the turn of events. He'd expected to either clearly be rejected or perhaps, in a one in a million chance, have his confession accepted and proceed to drift down the aisle and be enveloped in Taehyun's strong sturdy arms.

"No way! Don't take me for a fool! Just because you're wearing Beomgyu's skin doesn't mean you can fool me! Beomgyu literally said he was already seeing someone back there!" Taehyun yells back and for some reason, tears are welling up in his eyes.

"Taehyun, there's no ghost. And I made up the part about me being attached to get the boy off my back so I could prepare this performance," Beomgyu sighs and inhaling deeply, he crosses the distance in a half-crawl, bracing himself as he places his hands on Taehyun's shoulders gently. His heart starts palpitating on registering the warm skin under his fingertips, separated only by a thin piece of fabric, and Taehyun's face being mere inches from his.

"What do you mean?"

"Taehyun, I'm going to tell you something very serious."

The boy nods slowly, eyes glassy.

"I'm from a line of sorcerers. Which means I can do magic and stuff. All those times the weird things happened, it was because I had - and still have - a massive crush on you and was extremely nervous when we interacted. So every time we made physical contact, I lost control of my powers. They always escaped a tiny bit and went haywire. Look, magic," Beomgyu lifts his hand and waves, sending the mess of rose petals around levitating much like a scene off some cheesy music video, and then easily letting them plop right back down gently.

Taehyun stares in bewilderment before Beomgyu fiddles with the lights to make them flicker again - the same way they did during one of their eventful mishaps - and there's a semblance of clarity on the other man's face now.

Stepping back from his crush, Beomgyu braces himself for an angry Taehyun. Soobin'd been right. He couldn't cover a lie with another lie.

"What about Huening Kai?" Taehyun mumbles, looking down at his feet and surprising Beomgyu.

"Uh. He saw through me immediately and knew I was a sorcerer. Our bloodlines follow a similar concept so we know of each other's existence? He made those stuff up because I was worried about being exposed," Beomgyu explains, lowkey regretting not just downright throwing Kai under the bus for planting ridiculous ideas.

"No, I mean-" Taehyun looks embarrassed, ears turning red, "I… Thought you liked him, you were staring at him and talking to him alone and all… And it really seemed like you guys had some sort of secret. And earlier you said you were seeing someone, I thought you wanted me to watch the performance before you performed it for him or even someone else."

Beomgyu chokes on his saliva, "Fuck no, please. I was the one who thought you guys were dating. I thought you were going to indirectly reject me that day by bringing him to our meeting! And then shit went down and I had to beg for his help because he was being an ass. Also, my performance earlier. Definitely for you. Definitely didn't break down while practicing it hourly the past two weeks."

Taehyun huffs out a chuckle.

"Taehyun," he grips the other's shoulders with every ounce of bravery he can muster, "I am sorry for lying to you but I like you very much and I didn't want you to find out and distance yourself from me. But now I have to tell you that I really like you and I've had a crush on you since you gave me that stupid melon bread in the cafeteria and it's okay if you don't like me back, I just had to let you know!"

He rattles off incessantly before he can chicken out and to his surprise, Taehyun's frown gives way to a little relieved smile.

"Actually, I do like you too, you know. I was so concerned your… Ghost? Fake ghost? Was keeping us apart but even though I was scared about having something stick to me, I still wanted to hang out with you. I literally gave you the melon bread because you looked so cute with your bedhead in that fluffy hoodie. Then the next thing I know, you're in my performance class and killing it so attractively at every instrument. And I thought you were dropping hints left and right when you smirked at me after you performed that drum solo. I wanted so badly for all those love songs you kept performing in class to be secretly for me-"

"They were! And also there's no other reason I'd willingly listen to Justin Bieber, to be honest," Beomgyu booms and cringes, cutting in because he's gotta tell Taehyun how much he's whipped for him.

"I'll let the slander slide for once. But you beat me to it," Taehyun grins, pulling out a little box from his pocket, opening it up to reveal what looked like a bracelet.

Beomgyu lifts the intricate band up curiously.

"Are these… Bass strings?"

Taehyun rubs his nape bashfully.

"I made them with the intention of gifting them to you after the performance. But you disappeared and beat me to whatever confession. I entertained the thought that you might not be interested in me that way especially with all the ghost stuff complicating things, and maybe even more interested in Kai with the way you were acting around him, but I still wanted to try. I almost didn't want to give it anymore after you mentioned you were already seeing someone," he mumbles softly as Beomgyu inspects the little dainty bracelet - silvery, thick bass strings looped and interlaced with one another and held together by a pretty clasp linked to a mini metal pick with a tiny heart engraved on it.

Beomgyu scrunches his nose.

"That. Is a pick," Taehyun laughs on noticing his outward displeasure.

"For noobs. Picks for noobs," Beomgyu deadpans. Though he's still transfixed on the beautiful present which must not have been the easiest to make, his heart pounding and warmth settling in the pits of his stomach with the understanding that Taehyun liked him just as much as he did.

"I needed something for the clasp," Taehyun giggles before he's gripping Beomgyu's wrist to draw his attention to his own raised hand. The loose sleeve slides down Taehyun's wrist to reveal a matching bracelet, his made with what Beomgyu recognizes as electric guitar strings instead.

Beomgyu's heart stutters at the implication, and Taehyun's gentle touch burns on his wrist.

"I-"

The lights in the room flicker rapidly for a full five seconds before throwing them into darkness, startling both of them.

Taehyun beams easily after regaining his composure.

"Well, guess we gotta work on that huh."

-

"Gyu?" Beomgyu hears Taehyun's voice travel from beside him.

Since their eventful confession weeks ago, they'd begun to date, taking the skinship thing a tiny step at a time. Right now, the pair sat comfortably in Beomgyu's living room. Their pinkies are linked, matching bracelets clinking a little whenever they shifted, as Taehyun worked on some equations thing non-STEM major Beomgyu couldn't relate while he pored over a dreary music theory paper himself.

Taehyun being a left-hander and Beomgyu being a right-hander finally had its perks. Especially after the extra difficulty the younger had faced while getting used to the guitar since Beomgyu hadn't had a left-hander guitar back then. Worth it.

"Yea Tyunnie?" He looks up from his paper to look at Taehyun.

"If your magic stops going haywire around me, does it mean you don't like me as much anymore?" Taehyun looks conflicted as he continues mumbling in an atypically small voice, "I know we've been working towards that, but I'm scared of what it'll mean."

Beomgyu's heart breaks a little on seeing his usually confident Taehyun vulnerable and unsure.

Turning his entire body to face the younger boy, Beomgyu inhales deeply before clasping Taehyun's warm hands in his own.

"I think it means, I've gotten comfortable with you. Not in a bad way like our relationship is stale or I'm taking you for granted. But that I'm relaxed around you and we have a sort of stability. And of course, that I trust us enough to be myself in front of you," he smiles shyly, playing with Taehyun's thumbs, breaking eye contact nervously.

He looks back up after a beat of silence, meeting Taehyun's intense stare.

Swallowing nervously, Beomgyu can't tear his eyes from the other man's sparkling doe eyes as he inches nearer.

Breath ghosting on his lips, Taehyun whispers, "May I?"

Beomgyu nods meekly, shutting his eyes as Taehyun lands a soft little peck on his lips. It's short, but gentle enough to convey the adoration Taehyun wanted him to feel and the older boy's heart soars.

Somewhere behind, the deafening crash of one of Yeonjun's ugly succulents resounds, breaking the moment and sending them into a fit of giggles.

"I'm starting to think I'm the one with magic," Taehyun wheezes out, forehead pressed against Beomgyu's, eliciting more unbridled laughter from both of them.

"Well, Yeonjun's gonna be so mad about this."

"It's okay, he has to forgive us in the name of love."