Chapter Text
Jaehyun’s day is going relatively fine. Well, not really, if he’s being honest.
For one, there’s this building pressure in his nerves about the basketball match that’s happening in two months and the team has to do their absolute best since it’s their seniors’ last year in taking part of the game. Two, on last period earlier, his Biology teacher had threatened to cut him off the team if he doesn’t get his shit together since apparently his grade is on the verge of being flushed down the drain. And as if those aren’t the worst yet, the AUX cord to his pickup was acting up on his way home, leaving Jaehyun dangerously tipping to a mental breakdown episode in the middle of the road without anything to distract him whilst driving.
He pulls up to their driveway, catching a brief glance to their neighbor’s porch and as expected, he sees Lee Taeyong sitting on a chair, nose deep into whatever he’s reading. It’s a new book, Jaehyun subconsciously recognizes, as he hasn’t seen that one before.
He turns off the engine, belatedly noticing that he hadn’t fastened himself up to safety throughout the ride. He curses and mentally reminds himself to just put on the goddamn seatbelt the next time, because he’s pretty sure he wouldn’t die from an accident but rather from how hard his mom would hit him on the head if she were to find out he’s driving irresponsibly the whole time.
He gathers the worksheets into his arms that his teacher had passive-aggressively insisted him to bring like some kind of extracurricular homework (basically stress in disguise), with a subtle cherry-on-top threat that if he doesn’t finish it all by the deadline, then he should say goodbye to his team. Jaehyun’s pretty sure he would die from brain fatigue before that even happens.
He uses his butt to close the door and starts walking towards their home when he feels his phone vibrate in his back pocket. With a little bit of a struggle, he stacks the worksheets precariously in one arm, the other reaching for his phone.
Jaehyun’s entire face lights up when he looks at the caller ID. He genuinely thinks this is the only good thing that happened in his day so far. “Gammy! Hi!”
“Hyunnie, darling, how are you?” his Gammy’s voice booms through the speaker, a little bit scratchy around the edges yet so bright and full at the same time. There’s something about her voice that he couldn’t quite grasp, maybe it’s the homey feel that he always associated it with or maybe it’s simply the magic that a grandparent has to their grandchild, but Jaehyun always feels instantly better each time he hears her voice.
“I’m doing fine, Gammy, I’m eating well and sleeping well. You can trust that I’m doing a spectacular job of being a good son, too,” Jaehyun half lies brightly, leaving the part where school’s actually coming for his throat these past few days simply because he doesn’t want to taint her perfect unawareness of how he’s screwed.
“That’s good, good. I called to tell you that your uncle has picked up the plane tickets and I can’t wait to see you in three months!”
“Yeah, me too—”
“And finally meet your boyfriend!”
“What—”
There’s obvious glee and a hint of teasing in her voice when she continues, “Don’t think I forgot about him, young fella, you’ve been hiding him from me for so long! I figured you wanted us to meet personally so I’ve been holding onto my horses but hey, I’ll finally get to meet him in a short time!”
For a moment, Jaehyun’s vision simultaneously turns white and blacks out, his limbs suddenly become dilapidated and brain dysfunctional. He literally hears the static in his ears and the rapid increase of his heartbeat — all at the realization of a careless lie he made a few months back.
Why the hell did I lie? He thinks, for starters.
He didn’t have to, that’s for sure, even if his Gammy had relentlessly doted on him and told him to get a boyfriend or girlfriend soon. Maybe it was mostly because he just wanted it to be over with. But then he knew damn well he’s not the type to commit in a relationship, he’s frankly all about that teenage recklessness and bad decisions, but then again — by presenting a fake lover to his Gammy, the constant nagging will be all over and off his hair.
And even until now, it’s the most logical solution in his opinion so this should be fine. He should be fine. Gammy doesn’t have to know the truth.
For the first time in his life, he feels like he just committed the most heinous crime of all time by doing this to his Gammy for the sake of his own satisfaction. But then if he thinks about it, it’s a seamless plan. He just needs to find someone who can pretend to be his boyfriend for a little while and then tell his Gammy it didn’t work out or something. But first, he needs to clear his head off so he can properly orchestrate such plan.
“Uh, Gammy, I’ll call you back later, okay? Something came up,” he lies unsteadily and hangs up as fast as he can without waiting for a reply.
He takes a deep breath and begins walking, ignoring the state of daze his mind is currently in.
He scans through his brain for possible persons who can help him in his scheme. There’s Johnny, for one, he’s tall and funny but then he’s also the goofiest shithead Jaehyun has ever known and he wouldn’t put it pass him to pull some weird shit the second he introduces him to his Gammy. No, thank you. Besides, he prefers to avoid the catastrophic wrath that is Johnny’s tiny boyfriend, Ten. There’s Sicheng and he knows she would adore him to no end but he can’t take that risk and lose his position in his Gammy’s heart. There’s Doyoung, but Jaehyun is certain he would be met with the nastiest insult and a solid kick in the balls before he gets to be rejected. Hard pass.
There’s also Yuta from the basketball team who’s the most plausible person he can think of jumping in his request without second thoughts because he’s that chill, but he’s also the most annoying little shit when he runs his mouth and Jaehyun’s already retching at the mere thought of acting all lovey-dovey with him. And sadly, the last one on his list, there’s Mark, his favorite dongsaeng. Although they only talk during practices, he knows he can always count on the boy but then he’s already taken by the infamous blonde-haired boy from the Photojournalism Club. He certainly doesn’t want to cause a fight between them.
And with that, the thread of hope completely disperses. He’s run out of choices.
Jaehyun is mentally preparing for his inevitable defeat when the next thing he knows is his papers flying forward. His feet had seemingly caught in thin air. And then he’s stumbling face-first onto his mother’s carefully-tended Bermuda grass.
He curses for what seems to be the umpteenth time that day as he forces himself back up.
“Hey, are you okay?”
There’s a distant voice around him, semi-blocked by the blood rushing to his ears, one that is vividly familiar yet he can’t seem to wrap his whirring head on.
“—everything good?”
The voice is nearer this time and Jaehyun registers the shadow hovering above him before he looks up and oh, it’s Taeyong.
“Are you alright?” he repeats.
Taeyong’s standing behind the wooden fences that separate Jaehyun’s front yard from his own and he looks quite hesitant.
“Yeah, yeah. I am,” Jaehyun replies breathlessly, brushing off the mud from his jeans and attempting to stand back up.
“You’re bleeding,” Taeyong points out carefully, releasing a sigh before he places his arms over the fence and starts climbing over. He lands on Jaehyun’s yard with ease.
“I- what?”
He pats a finger above his lip and sure enough, there’s a sticky trail of liquid running down from his nose. It must’ve hit hard when he met the ground and became numb right after because Jaehyun didn’t feel it until he’s seen the color.
“Oh crap.”
Taeyong crouches before him and begins to pick up the scattered mess of papers. “Don’t bother with these, I’ll help you. You shouldn’t be looking down right now or it’ll flow out.”
“Oh, right, yeah, thanks.”
“What were you even doing, Jaehyunnie? You shouldn’t be so careless like that,” Taeyong lightly chastises as soon as he finished bunching up the papers and god, it’s been so long since Jaehyun heard his voice that he feels his heart break a little. And frankly, it hurts more than his bloodied nose.
“I guess I’ll always have the Bambi legs through and through,” Jaehyun jokes and his lips stretch automatically into a smile as soon as their eyes meet. It’s an embarrassing situation to reconnect with your childhood best friend with after long years of treating each other like strangers, but Taeyong is smiling back and he decides he doesn’t really mind. “Uh, do you wanna come inside?”
❀
Taeyong is perched on the kitchen counter, just like what he always did when they were younger and he and Jaehyun would scavenge the whole kitchen looking for leftover snacks. His short and lanky legs used to dangle playfully, hands kissed by the sun and sand and dirt gripping at the edges of the marble countertop, except now his feet can easily meet the floor and he doesn’t have to jump anymore.
Jaehyun’s back is facing him while he raids the fridge for ice. In the end, all he can find is a sad packet of frozen peas so he helps himself with it.
He throws a chocolate drink to Taeyong’s direction to which he catches with a small ‘thank you.’ Jaehyun knows he liked the drink, any kind as long as it’s ridiculously sweet really, and he can only hope that he still does because there’s nothing in the fridge aside from those.
“So, Biology, huh?” Taeyong starts coolly.
The papers are left on the island, disregarded, and he can see Taeyong’s gaze lingering on them.
“Yeah,” Jaehyun nods eagerly, ready to have a breakdown at the sheer thought of the hellish torture he’ll have to face whilst trying to answer the worksheets. He hopes he’ll make it out unscathed but that’s probably more of a wishful thinking than not. “Apparently, I’m on the verge of failing the subject so Mrs. Son gave me all these activities to make up for it or else I’ll be dropped off the team.”
He expects a little sympathy from Taeyong but his face is just blank and he’s looking at him silently for an extended moment. On the surface, it doesn’t look suspicious at all but Jaehyun knows him better to actually identify the older’s sentiments behind, and right now he’s judging Jaehyun. Hard.
“It’s literally not that difficult than you’re making it out to be. You’re just being unnecessarily scared. Most of them are basic introductions to Biology and they’re already discussed in the lower year. Even some of them are your current lessons, the ones you’re taking this year.”
“Wait, hold up. How do you know about my recent ones, hyung? Asking real questions here,” Jaehyun asks as he takes a sip from his own drink and it’s true — he can remember jack shit about the lessons he took from last semester and it’s not even halfway to the second semester yet.
Taeyong looks like he genuinely doesn’t know how to react without coming off rude. “Um, I already took them? And they were included in the syllabus for the Science Fair last year. All of the lessons, actually. Some we had them took up in advanced.”
“And you knew all this from merely skimming through my notes?”
Taeyong just shrugs.
And Jaehyun can only shake his head in amusement because how did he forget? Taeyong is literally a Science God. He had always been fond of science, always zealous to learn everything about the universe from the biggest matters existing down to the tiniest speck of particle, and that’s something he took pride in. Not only that, he always excelled all his subjects. Jaehyun admired that about him.
He shrugs, too, as if it’s the last of his worries. “You know these things hurt my brain so I never really bothered with them.”
Taeyong chuckles at that before he begins digging through the first aid kit. He crooks a finger to Jaehyun, “Come here.”
The younger complies, setting the pack down and walking over towards the older. He watches as Taeyong promptly reaches for his hands before stopping himself completely as if hesitating.
He clears his throat awkwardly and leans his hands to him, the skin to his knuckles scraped and angry red. He looks down to his feet, somewhat nervous just from the older’s sheer presence. But then he hears the crisp sound of the alcohol bottle being uncapped and he immediately retracts his hands in reflex.
“Not the alcohol!” he squeaks, already wincing at the thought of the cold burn on his skin.
Taeyong just laughs as he catches his hands back. “I need to disinfect it, silly.”
He pours the liquid gently, cold against hot skin, and Jaehyun closes his eyes in preparation for the harsh burn to come. It doesn’t. He slowly opens his eyes, baffled, only to feel the warm tickle of Taeyong’s breath against his injured knuckles, blowing on it to resist the pain. It’s soft, a feather-like touch of air, and gentle, so, so gentle. Jaehyun feels a weird tingling sensation in his stomach and he’s pretty sure his traitorous ears are turning bright red as if announcing how flushed he is right now because of the older.
“It could’ve been worse, you know,” Taeyong says, meeting Jaehyun’s eyes dead-on like he’s absolutely oblivious to the younger’s inner turmoil. “You could’ve broken something or hit your head.”
And then he’s back on his lighthearted scolding which reminds Jaehyun of the past, of another time when they’re so much younger and carefree, when little Jaehyun didn’t have any friends when he came to this town and the next-door neighbor’s son offered to befriend him. Taeyong showed him around, even told him about his favorite hiding spots, and they were constantly back and forth between their houses, until Jaehyun became familiar with his new home like the back of his hand.
Back then, he liked to show him off around the other kids and told them his best friend was Taeyong. Jaehyun thought his hyung was so handsome and so pretty at the same time — big doe eyes and a face that made his little heart beat a little faster.
Even now, staring directly at Taeyong after years of detachment, Jaehyun still thinks so.
His lips curl up unknowingly. “I know, I know. I could’ve been more careful but I was talking to Gammy and something came up which somehow rendered my entire being to fully dysfunction and my feet to trip on literally nothing.”
Taeyong raises a brow and his words come rolling out before he can think better of it, “What came up?”
“Uh…” Jaehyun bites his lip nervously.
“No, wait, I’m sorry. It’s none of my business. You don’t have to tell me, Jae.” He starts cleaning the small mess on the counter and then puts back the objects in the kit.
“No, actually, I want to,” Jaehyun insists, “So Gammy called, right? And I kinda lied to her a few months back that I was dating someone but I lied and now she’s telling me how excited she is to meet him and I just… I can’t disappoint her, you know?”
He lets it all out in one breath, a string of rapid rambling, but he sighs nonetheless once he’s finished talking. He feels light after and he doesn’t even know why, especially the way Taeyong’s looking at him with wide eyes like he’s gone mad.
“You’re crazy, right?” the older says after a few moments of stillness. Jaehyun shakes his head immediately. “Why can’t you just tell her you’ve broken up or something? You don’t need to keep lying beyond that.”
Jaehyun shakes his head hastily and vigorously this time, as if telling the older he doesn’t get his point. “I would’ve thought of that in a heartbeat, hyung, so I could’ve at least saved my ass from hurting myself but it’s not about whether I’m in a relationship or not. My point is, I need someone to pretend to be my boyfriend so that Gammy would stop doting on me how I never had any serious relationship yet. But I may have overlooked a teeny-weeny detail.”
“What?”
His grin is brittle and forced and foolish. “I have no one.”
“You are crazy,” is all Taeyong says, shaking his head slowly in disbelief.
Jaehyun is so close to whining like a child and he doesn’t even know why he’s getting himself so worked up in trying to explain his situation to Taeyong. Of course he finds it oppressive, he’s not in Jaehyun’s shoe after all — a sad, fucking miserable shoe. It’s not like he’ll be of any help, right?
Or is he?
As if a bulb is switched to life, Jaehyun snaps his fingers for a brilliant idea. “Why don’t you help me, hyung?”
“Me? Why?” Taeyong questions, a look of incredulousness and growing dread marring his otherwise relaxed features.
“Please? For old times’ sake. You know you always had my ass whenever I was in trouble.”
“No,” the older responds hurriedly, almost in a panic, and it doesn’t go unnoticed from the younger how his eyes turn dark. He gets off from his perch on the counter and immediately takes a step back, putting a mindful distance between them. Jaehyun feels his stomach sink. Then, in a softer voice, he continues, “No, it’s not like that. We’re not like that. Not anymore.”
Jaehyun realizes his mistake and feels even worse than before. How can he be so reckless, throwing around big words as if they don’t weight at all? Taeyong and him, they’re not as close as they were before.
“Hyung, I’m so sorry,” he croaks out.
“It’s okay, Jaehyun-ah,” Taeyong says, his whole demeanor now guarded. He’s slowly stepping backwards like he’s ready to dash off the room and out of the house any second. “Just… Just don’t be so careless anymore, okay?”
Jaehyun isn’t sure whether those words are directed at his awful sense of keeping himself out of danger or the lack of his brain-to-mouth filter but before he can even process his thoughts properly or say a word back at least, Taeyong is out of the room.