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Taehyun stepped into the busy street with a smile on his face.
This would be his first time attending a pride parade. He was a first-year international student at his university, having decided to leave Korea to study in the United States. Of course, he missed being back home with his family, but he enjoyed being open about his sexuality in America.
He looked around, in awe of the bright signs, floats, flags, and outfits.
As he admired the scenery, his eyes spotted none other than Choi Beomgyu.
Beomgyu and Taehyun were notorious in their university for never getting along. Even their professors knew not to pair them together for projects, as they always argued during lectures.
How they started hating each other, Taehyun never really knew. Frankly, they had no proper reason for their rivalry.
Would Taehyun ever try to make things civil between them? Absolutely not. He assumed older had no intentions of doing so either.
As he not-so-subtly glanced at Beomgyu, he couldn’t help but soften his eyes.
Beomgyu looked… cute.
Rainbow butterfly clips were scattered throughout his raven locks, which were tied half-up. He wore a pink and purple collared sweatshirt, along with dark blue jeans littered with jewels.
Taehyun felt slightly embarrassed as he had come straight from his last class, wearing a plain T-shirt and sweatpants. He made a mental note to plan a nice outfit for next year’s parade.
Seconds later, Beomgyu spotted Taehyun, making his way over with a smirk on his face. “Missed me that much, Kang?”
At that, Taehyun rolled his eyes. “You wish. Some of us are just here ‘cause we’re gay,”
Beomgyu giggled at Taehyun’s comment. Taehyun ignored the slight flutter in his heart at the endearing annoying sound.
“Gay for this di- OW!”
Taehyun smiled at himself, satisfied after kicking Beomgyu in the shin.
“Jeez, it was just a joke,” Beomgyu scoffed, offended at the action.
“Whoops, I laughed so hard I lost control of my body,” Taehyun retaliated.
“Fuck off”
“Why should I? You approached me first”
“Only ‘cause you were staring at me weirdly. What, were you checking me out or something?”
“I was not checking you ou-“
“ATTENTION EVERYONE, PARADE STARTS IN 1 MINUTE! GET READY TO WALK AND STAY WITH YOUR GROUP!” A voice shouted through a loudspeaker, interrupting their banter.
Without another word, Taehyun and Beomgyu found a spot. People gathered close together, taking up a generous portion of the street.
Only then did Taehyun realize how many people there were.
A familiar feeling of fear grew inside him. It wasn’t uncommon for him to be overwhelmed in a situation like this. Taehyun felt so small and suffocated in the presence of so many people.
“I hate crowds, why did I think I’d be able to handle this?”
“Kang? Are you okay?”
“I’m so stupid…I should just go home,”
“TAEHYUN!”
At that, Taehyun snapped out of his thoughts and glanced in the direction of the voice.
Beomgyu looked at him with a sincere, worried glance.
“Are you nervous? You seem a little out of it…”
Why did it seem like he actually cared?
The younger scoffed. “Of course not, what is there to even be nervous about?” Taehyun hoped Beomgyu wouldn’t notice the quiver in his voice.
But of course, he did.
Beomgyu gently took Taehyun’s hand and wrapped his fingers around the younger’s. Taehyun looked at him in surprise.
Yet, Taehyun felt safer in the crowd while holding onto someone he knew, so he didn’t fight back.
They walked on silently, hand-in-hand.
If Taehyun clutched onto Beomgyu’s fingers just a little tighter, Beomgyu didn’t say anything.
Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all.
~
“Disgusting freaks!”
“All of you are burning in hell!”
Even at a pride parade, Taehyun wasn’t surprised that some pathetic protestors would try to get in the way of their celebration.
Two young women behind Beomgyu and Taehyun kissed one other, a chorus of cheers erupting among others in the parade.
Taehyun held back his smile as he saw the disapproving looks on the protesters’ faces.
“It must feel great to piss off homophobes,” he thought to himself.
Many others in the parade expressed their affection for their partners, continuing to stand against the protestors.
Among the crowd, several expectant eyes fell upon Taehyun and Beomgyu.
Why them?
Oh right… they were still holding hands.
Of course they would be mistaken as boyfriends.
Beomgyu looked down at Taehyun.
“Should we?”
Taehyun looked at him in confusion, slightly tilting his head.
Then it hit him.
Oh.
He was asking for his permission to kiss him.
“Um… y-yeah, sure”
“It's fun making you stutter”
“You know what, I take it back,” Taehyun joked, yet he continued leaning closer to Beomgyu’s face.
Taehyun fluttered his eyes closed as he felt Beomgyu’s breath over his own.
Seconds later, he felt lips press lightly on top of his nose.
His…nose?
Slightly annoyed, Taehyun opened his eyes to Beomgyu wearing a cheeky smile, suddenly feeling the urge to kiss it off his face.
“We need to give them a real show,” Taehyun whispered before pulling Beomgyu in by the collar, lips catching his.
Beomgyu reacted almost immediately, wrapping his hands around Taehyun’s waist, smiling as he kissed him back.
For a second, Taehyun’s eyes widened. Oh god, what was happening to him?
He was enjoying this. Kissing the man he hated more than any other student in the school. But did he really even… hate him?
Taehyun pulled away with a flushed face, huffing as Beomgyu chased his lips. He teasingly gave Beomgyu one last peck on the nose, just to give him a taste of his own medicine.
“I hate you,” Beomgyu said with absolutely no bite.
“Doesn’t feel so nice when it’s done to you, huh?”
“Shut up”
“Silencing me during pride month?”
“I’m also gay!”
Taehyun laughed at their nonsensical argument, deciding to pull Beomgyu into a hug instead of retaliating.
“You’re cute,” Beomgyu, playing with Taehyun’s hair as he hugged him. “But we should probably keep walking now. We’re way behind.”
“Okay, we’ll go then. Maybe we can… kiss again another time? Like, not just to anger some assholes,” Taehyun asked shyly, only loud enough for Beomgyu to hear.
The younger cringed at his attempt to ask Beomgyu out. Before he could embarrass himself further, the other man responded softly.
“I’d love to, Kang”
With a big smile, Taehyun pulled him to walk along, protestors long forgotten.