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Johnny and Jaehyun were everyone's top pairing. Whether it was just being best friends, acting awfully adorable with each other or simply just them being themselves, every fan had a soft spot for these two.
But when the both of them actually started dating in 2017, after years of liking each other, their members had laughed at them.
"There is no way you both are dating each other," Taeyong had laughed in their faces. "It's like, putting two bottom halves of a burger bun on top of each other."
"Are you calling Jaehyun a top?" Mark asks, laughing as he does so. "Jaehyun? Like, the Jeong Jaehyun?"
"We don't care if you guys don't believe us," Johnny rolls his eyes, frustration leaking from his words. "We are dating, confessed to each other a week ago and are in a romantic relationship with each other." He emphasizes his sentence.
"You and Jaehyun are so not dating," Doyoung snorts.
Johnny moves his hand from Jaehyun's back to his waist, squeezing lightly. He knows that Jaehyun tends to get quiet when he's upset, and this wasn't doing much healing to it either.
"Well, we are," Johnny says. "And if all 7 of you are gonna be assholes about it, fine."
All of them, except Winwin who was just eating his ice cream, erupt in 'woah woah woah's.
"Hey, man, calm down," Taeil says, smiling cheekily. "You're dating, we're happy for you."
"Yeah, so why are you all acting like assholes?" Johnny raises an eyebrow, scoffing.
Jaehyun clears his throat, looking up at Johnny with blush covering his ears and cheeks. "It's okay. Let's just go back to our room."
Johnny makes sure to make a show by slamming the door shut. He turns around, hugs Jaehyun and quietly giggles with Jaehyun at his little outburst, making their members confused and awkwardly sit around with each other.
"You didn't have to be that angry," Jaehyun scolds, smiling up at him.
"Hey," Johnny brushes a few of Jaehyun's bangs behind his ear. "Over you, I would."
Jaehyun rolls his eyes, smiling. "I forgot how sappy you are in relationships."
"Don't act like you hate it," Johnny laughs.
At night, the members come into their room and find them watching a movie on one bed, covered in a blanket. When they turn their heads to the door in sync, Taeyong gapes.
"Oh, that's creepy," Taeyong says, then clears his throat. "We just came here to, um... apologize for not believing you."
"Not believing us?" Johnny says, almost like he's asking Taeyong to complete his sentence.
Taeyong gulps. "About you... dating. Each other."
When Mark snorts, Doyoung pinches his nape. "We're being serious."
Johnny shrugs, putting his arm over Jaehyun's hip. "It's whatever."
"I mean... it didn't look like whatever earlier," Taeil says.
"We both got over it, it's fine," Jaehyun says. "Besides, you don't have to believe us when we say we're dating. As long as we both know we like each other, then that's fine."
Taeyong eyes the arm on Jaehyun's hip, raising an eyebrow. "Okay. Um, congrats?"
"Thank you," Johnny and Jaehyun say in sync. When they don't say anything else, the other members leave the room and close the door after them.
Johnny snickers into Jaehyun's neck, loving how they kept the act the entire time.
"We need to tell them that we're not really mad at them soon," Jaehyun suggests.
"True, but not today," Johnny turns Jaehyun so that they could look at each other. "I just want to kiss you today."
Jaehyun clicks his tongue but blushes, letting Johnny kiss all over his cheeks and neck.
It's awkward for a week after the conversation, so Johnny and Jaehyun finally tell the members about how they were not genuinely mad.
"What?" Doyoung drops his chopsticks onto the bowl. "You lied to us?"
"It wasn't lying," Jaehyun eyes him. "We were thinking it would be funny to make a silly little prank of us being mad at you."
"You're not convincing us whatsoever that you're not lying about the relationship either!" Doyoung whisper-yells.
"Well, that is not a joke. I told you, so believe me."
Doyoung mocks him in a high-pitched voice. Jaehyun smiles cheekily, looking at Johnny from across the table who's bickering with Mark over the last piece of spam.
Years pass by: it's 2021 now.
They've been dating for 4 years, and happily so. They're not exactly blunt with it, but not subtle either; like on lives when their hands brush past each other and they start to blush, the eye contact they hold when they're told they're off-camera, the way they'd share t-shirts and the goddamn 'JJDATE'.
NCT 127 are not promoting anything and haven't been for a while: LOVEHOLIC was barely promoted when it came out, and Johnny feels happier than ever to spend time with Jaehyun.
But Jaehyun's drama, the one everyone had been anticipating, got cancelled. Jaehyun wasn't exactly his happiest and decided to stop talking to Johnny. A bad decision.
"What the hell Jae?" Johnny walked into Jaehyun and Jungwoo's shared room. "You blocked me?? Out of nowhere, what did I do?"
Jungwoo walks out of the room as quickly as he can, closing the door after.
"Hm?" Jaehyun doesn't even look at Johnny.
"Jae," Johnny walks over to where Jaehyun was lying on his stomach. "Tell me what's going on? Is it the drama?"
"I don't wanna talk about it."
"Okay, don't, but why block me?"
"Because you wanna talk about it."
"Jae-"
"Don't call me that, please. Just leave."
"...Jaehyun, just let me comfort you. I won't speak, just-"
"No! I said leave, just leave!"
Johnny stares at Jaehyun for a moment, sighing as he leaves the room.
For the next few days, they don't talk. They don't even eat dinner in the same place, always taking turns to go out and eat.
"Hey, are you okay?" Taeyong whispers to Jaehyun like an overprotective brother would. "You seem off these days. Is it because of your drama?"
Jaehyun shakes his head subtly.
"Then what?"
"I don't really want to talk about it," Jaehyun says lowly.
"Okay, well, whatever you need, Hyung's here for you, okay?" Taeyong clasps a hand on Jaehyun's shoulder.
"Mhm," Jaehyun hums. He swallows the bite and goes out of the dining room and into his own room.
Jaehyun didn't care that his drama was cancelled anymore. Sure, he worked so hard for it and every second of it was tiring, especially working as an MC in the mornings too, but he was good looking - he would get so many dramas offers in the future.
But now, he was upset Johnny hasn't talked to him in days. He knew it was his fault, that he snapped at Johnny for the first time in years, but he was too nervous that Johnny would ignore him. He doesn't know how Johnny would react after an argument since they've never really had serious ones.
The next morning, he spaces out in the van thinking about Johnny. They don't usually ride in the same vehicle; today it was Taeyong, Doyoung, Jaehyun and Taeil in one car and Johnny with Mark, Jungwoo, Haechan and Yuta (you can tell which car was more upbeat).
Jaehyun wonders what Johnny is doing now. He's probably jamming to songs with Haechan and Mark while Yuta and Jungwoo hype them up, he thinks. He thinks Johnny's all smiley and happy like he usually is after award shows.
Johnny was actually just like Jaehyun.
He didn't talk with the other members, only stared out at whatever he can find bearable enough to look at. The dashboard, his eyes chose. His jaw was clenched, tense, and when the members look at him they feel pain in their teeth.
"Hey, Hyung, are you okay?" Mark asks softly.
"Hm?" Johnny snaps his head to the left. "Yeah. It's nothing."
"Is it something to do with Jaehyun?"
Johnny doesn't respond. He smiles, though, and that's enough to let Mark know.
"Damn, dude," Mark nods. "You guys are actually like in love and shit?"
Johnny sighs, looking ahead. "Yeah. He snapped at me the other day, I just wanna give him space."
Jaehyun's shoulders are shaken by Doyoung, sitting beside him in the van.
"You okay? Fight with Johnny?" He teases, clearly not serious.
"Yeah, actually," Jaehyun replies, knowing he might've come out a little harsh. "We did fight and haven't talked in days if that's what your nosy ass is wondering."
"Jaehyun," Taeyong scolds. "Don't talk like that."
"Yeah, sorry that I'm getting mad at you guys for not taking my fucking relationship seriously!" He says, scoffing.
"Okay, what happened with Johnny?"
"None of your fucking business, since you won't believe me anyway."
Just like they'd timed it, the managers tell them they've arrived at the dorms. Jaehyun gets out as quickly as he could - the benefits of being at the window seat.
He heads to his room, slams his door shut, and cries. He cries into his pillow over and over again, letting the tears wet the pillow as much as they can. Jaehyun doesn't think he's ever cried harder before, but this time all he wants is for Johnny to comfort him.
He thinks of Johnny and cries again, small sobs making their way out of his mouth.
"Hey, Jaehyun Hyung, have you seen my cha-" Jungwoo walks in but pauses when he realizes Jaehyun's crying. "Oh. Ohhhh."
"Get out!" Jaehyun throws a pillow at him.
"If it makes you feel better, you're a pretty crier," Jungwoo says, right before he heads out.
Minutes pass, which feels like hours for Jaehyun. Usually, when he'd feel upset, he'd have Johnny comfort him and tell him sweet things. But now, the reason he was upset was that he made Johnny upset and now they aren't talking.
Doyoung walks into the room soon, slowly heading to Jaehyun's bed and awkwardly sitting on it.
"Hey," He touches Jaehyun's back. "I'm sorry. For not thinking you and Johnny are dating even after 4 years."
Jaehyun doesn't respond for minutes, making Doyoung sit awkwardly in silence. When he starts to realize how bad the position Doyoung is in is, he clears his throat, muffled by the pillow.
"It's okay," Jaehyun says. "Took you long fucking enough."
"Okay, look-"
"Just go call Johnny."
Doyoung takes a deep breath in, nodding to himself before going out of the room.
"Hey, John Hyung," Doyoung calls out softly. "Jaehyun wants you."
Everyone pauses what they're doing, watching Johnny's next move intensely. When he gets up, looking all buff from the white tank top and grey sweatpants he's wearing, showing off his tattoos, Jungwoo lets out a "Hyung you're so cool!"
Johnny walks into the room Jaehyun's in, slowly closing the door. He watches Jaehyun's figure, arms above his head as he lays on his stomach, the left side of his face showing. Tears were visible from here, and Johnny walks over to him with a softer look on his face.
"How's my pretty boy doing?" He says, running a hand through Jaehyun's ash grey hair. Jaehyun just cries harder, laughing at the same time.
"Bad," He croaks out, moving his head to lay on Johnny's lap. "I'm so sorry."
"Oh, no, Jae," Johnny cups his face. "Don't apologize. You had the right to be mad, honestly, if I were you-"
"No, you didn't do anything bad," Jaehyun looks up at Johnny with his red eyes and even redder nose. "I'm sorry for being a mess, okay? I don't know what got to me, but recently I've been feeling a bit too terrible."
"You need to talk to me about that, babe," Johnny says. "Don't hide from me. Remember, we're not just boyfriends, we're literally best friends and always will be. Okay, sweetheart?"
Jaehyun sniffles. "Okay. But please, cuddle me to sleep I feel terrible."
Johnny giggles, obeying and holding Jaehyun's head on the place where his shoulder meets his neck and lets his other arm go around Jaehyun's hips. Yeah - this was it.
Jaehyun goes to sleep with Johnny's fingers in his hair, finally. Johnny can feel himself going to sleep too, with Jaehyun's soft breath being a lullaby to him, but the members were probably waiting for him. So he decides to leave Jaehyun for a minute only to tell them that he's not going back to his room tonight.
But as soon as he opens the door, the members fall face-first onto the ground.
"You were eavesdropping?!"