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Chapter Text

Soobin considers himself a pretty devoted boyfriend. Of course, it definitely helps that he loves his boyfriend very much.
In fact, he would do almost anything for Yeonjun, something Yeonjun is often keen to take advantage of in innocent ways despite his being older than Soobin.

Soobin likes to think he really would do anything for Yeonjun, sans “almost”, but when he wakes up one morning next to his boyfriend, basking in the way the morning sun beautifully hits Yeonjun’s face and Yeonjun greets him like this: “Good morning, baby. Can we break up for a week?”, Soobin supposes that that “almost” is entirely warranted.

So Soobin replies incredulously, “No?”, blinking himself awake, the warm, sleepy haze the sun laid over him quickly dulling. “Are you serious right now?”
The upset on his face must have been (unsurprisingly) evident, because Yeonjun quickly reaches a hand to stroke his cheek gently in order to quell the fast-growing pit of anxiety in Soobin’s gut.

“Not seriously - I mean, yes, seriously - but not for real,” Yeonjun attempts to explain, “I mean, can we like, fake break up for a week?”

“Fake break up?” Soobin repeats, not leaving out the disgruntled tone as he sits up. Yeonjun follows him up, taking Soobin’s big hands in his.
Yeonjun rubs Soobin’s hands soothingly, but Soobin feels anything but soothed. So he answers with a little indignant snort, “I’m not breaking up with you, whether you - apparently - want to or not!”

Yeonjun pouts, taking the time to kiss the back of Soobin’s hand a couple of times, “It’s not a real break up, Binnie. And just for a week.”

Soobin wriggles out of his hold and stands up to get ready for the day, shaking his head a little as he answers, “I don’t care if it’s real, I’m not breaking up with you. And you’re not breaking up with me, either.”

And with that, Soobin dips into the bathroom, letting the door swing closed behind him.
He takes his time, letting the morning’s conversation really soak into his brain as he washes his face.
Yeonjun isn’t the type to pull jokes like this, at least not with so much persistence. He’s dramatic for sure - the theater kid in him still lives on in his career as a rookie actor after all - but he refuses to make any kind of jokes at Soobin’s expense at any time.
Even when their friends have made light break-up jokes their way, Yeonjun is always the first to proclaim his deep love for Soobin in retaliation, refusing to let the teasing slide.

Soobin hears the door creak open quietly as he’s drying his face in a hand towel, but ignores the way Yeonjun slinks up his bare back, wrapping his arms around Soobin’s waist as Soobin takes his toothbrush from the cup on the sink’s counter.

He’s mid-brush when he sees Yeonjun pout again in the mirror, pressing a kiss to the back of his neck before grumbling, “You didn’t even ask me why I wanted to fake break up with you!”

Through toothpaste foam and around the toothbrush in his mouth, Soobin replies, “I don’t care, I don’t want to know.” He leans down to spit the foam into the sink and temporarily moves Yeonjun’s toothbrush out of the cup so he can fill it with water and swirl it around in his mouth.

Yeonjun kisses Soobin’s shoulder, running his hands over his chest, admiring the firm muscles. The physical contact of Yeonjun’s bare chest against his back makes Soobin twitch, but he decides that getting ready for work is more important.
“Hear me out, it’s a good reason, and you would - probably - want it too!” Yeonjun says, hands reaching for one of Soobin’s nipples - Soobin swats his hand away.

After gargling water and spitting it into the sink, Soobin wipes his mouth and ruffles his own hair, checking his appearance in the mirror. He had showered the previous night, so he hopes his hair doesn’t look so bad that he needs another one - Yeonjun would surely sneak in, and then he’d definitely be late to work.
“Whatever the reason, it’s probably silly,” Soobin scoffs, then whips around to face Yeonjun and press a kiss to his forehead, “And there’s nothing I want more than to just be your boyfriend.”

Yeonjun pauses at that, and Soobin smugly relishes in the light red flush that reaches his ears and the way his eyes soften.
For as long as they’ve been together, Soobin takes pride in the fact that he can still make his boyfriend flustered. The same goes Yeonjun’s way as well, but Soobin likes to think he’s gotten his own shyness under control by now.
“We’d still be boyfriends, babe,” Yeonjun whines, evidently offended that Soobin seems to be insinuating a real break up, god forbid, after the apparent topic of the day.

“And we still are boyfriends, babe,” Soobin slaps Yeonjun’s ass, giving a firm squeeze to his cheek through his pajama pants on his way out of the bathroom, earning him a slightly startled “ah” in return.

“You know I love you, baby,” Yeonjun says, leaning against the counter as he watches Soobin fry eggs on the stove in an apron and pajama pants.

Without looking up from his pan, Soobin answers him, “Of course, love.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Yeonjun hop up, planting himself on the counter adjacent to the stove.

“Are you mad at me?” Yeonjun asks in that whiny puppy voice that Soobin always melts at. Makes it hard to stay angry at him.
Soobin thinks it’s hard to stay angry at Yeonjun in general, even without the voice; Yeonjun is always persistently affectionate when he’s realized he’s offended Soobin to make up for whatever mistake he’s made, but the voice definitely adds to the effect.

But Soobin really isn’t upset at him. He’s just bewildered that something could make Yeonjun think some form of break was needed in their relationship. And maybe a small part of him worries about that as well, unwilling to listen to the reason for fear of speaking it into existence.
So, Soobin says as much, making sure to get his serious tone across, “I’m not mad at you, Yeonjun,” before adding, “I just don’t understand.”

“You know I wouldn’t ask for something like this unless I needed it,” Yeonjun says, reaching to touch Soobin’s neck, fluttering fingers trailing across his skin.

Soobin lets him as he watches the edges of their eggs turn golden, slightly shuddering at Yeonjun’s cold hands. He moves away to plate the eggs and Yeonjun trails around the kitchen with him like a lost puppy.
“Junebug, with all due respect, I don’t think you need to break up with me,” Soobin says mildly, passing off the plates to Yeonjun, sparing a glance at the clock to check his time.

Yeonjun sets the plates at the counter and glues himself to Soobin’s back as Soobin pulls glasses down from the kitchen cabinets and wanders to the fridge.
Without much obstacle, Soobin maneuvers around Yeonjun’s hands and fills the glasses; Yeonjun is a real snuggle menace, but Soobin’s gotten used to his permanent Yeonjun backpack by now.
Their kitchen isn’t spacious by any means, but Soobin supposes that it’s big for the apartment they live in. It’s certainly roomy enough for Yeonjun to cling to him and waddle around attached to his back without trouble.

Yeonjun only detaches when Soobin goes to sit at the counter to eat breakfast, sulking as he sits down and picks at his own egg and toast next to Soobin.
He still tells Soobin how delicious the food is, patting Soobin’s thigh as he happily (but with much pouting) eats the breakfast, staring at Soobin’s face the whole time.
In the past, Soobin may have shrunk back at Yeonjun’s lingering, wordless gaze, but as it turns out, Yeonjun just really enjoys watching Soobin in everyday life. Mundanity and domesticity does that to you, Soobin guesses, since he often finds himself doing the same in their downtime together.
Something about observing your loved one just… doing things in their own special little way, like how Yeonjun hums little unknown tunes to himself randomly, or how he zones out when eating really good food, or how he taps his fingers idly on the counter to an imaginary beat while he waits for Soobin to finish his food.

Soobin supposes they have it pretty bad for each other if they’re content to just stare at each other like this on normal days despite how long they’ve been together.

So Yeonjun sits on the bed and watches as Soobin changes into his work uniform, never missing an opportunity to eye his boyfriend’s body up - something else that Soobin’s accustomed to by now. Rather, what used to make him shy and embarrassed at the beginning of their relationship, makes him feel confident and smug and sexy.
Most similar small things like that have made Soobin feel more confident in his own skin over the years. He trusts Yeonjun entirely, and if Yeonjun says he’s sexy and has a “hot, juicy ass” (Yeonjun’s words, not his), who is he to argue?

As Soobin pulls on his white button-up, Yeonjun motions for him to come closer, reaching his hands out.
Soobin complies, and as he’s watching Yeonjun slip the bottom buttons into the slots of his shirt, Yeonjun tries again, “I bet you’d want it too, if you knew the reason.”

For a brief moment, Soobin forgets what he’s talking about, distracted by the fond sight of his boyfriend buttoning his shirt up for him with a tiny little pout. Yeonjun’s fingers work slowly, and Soobin knows that it’s because he’s trying to draw out as much time as possible before Soobin hits the “I’m going to be late for work so hurry the hell up” threshold.
But just as quickly, Soobin remembers the question of the day and suppresses a groan, letting Yeonjun straighten his collar as he replies, “I bet I wouldn’t. I literally have no reason to want to break up with you, ever. You’re overthinking, Junebug.”

Yeonjun hands him the bowtie that he’d neatly laid out on the bed, helping Soobin clip it around his neck, spending an extra moment to admire Soobin’s face.
“But it’s not real, honeybun,” Yeonjun pleads again with furrowed brows.

Soobin slips his red vest on, checking himself in the mirror and smoothing the fabric over his chest, letting Yeonjun get another good look at him.
“And it never will be real,” Soobin retorts, satisfied with Yeonjun’s silly little lovesick grin.

Yeonjun sees Soobin off to his movie theater job with much complaining and groaning - aside from returning the kisses - mostly for the fact that Soobin will be gone for most of the day.
Yeonjun begins filming for his next movie the following week, which means he’s off for a handful of days prior to the shooting for preparation. For Yeonjun however, he’s like a puppy waiting at the door for his owner to get home all day, unsure what to do with himself in the meantime.
So Soobin’s work days overlapping with Yeonjun’s days off usually just meant that Yeonjun is extra clingy in the hours that Soobin is home.

His own job isn’t a glamorous job by any means, and Soobin often finds himself a little ashamed of his low-wage floor-sweeping job compared to Yeonjun’s rising stardom, but their meeting was a serendipitous aligning of stars through one of Yeonjun’s first movies showing in the theater Soobin was assigned to that made it hard for Soobin to want to give up his lame occupation.
How many people could say they met the love of their life in an empty, messy theater after he spilled popcorn all over the floor and stayed behind after the screening to apologize? Soobin likes to think Yeonjun is the only one.

Besides, Yeonjun never lets Soobin feel bad for keeping his day job, happy to do most of the providing for the two of them. When they first started dating, Soobin had thought it was just blind love, a passing infatuation that Yeonjun would inevitably come down from. Because how could someone as wonderful and dazzling as Yeonjun be okay with someone as ordinary and unimpressive as Soobin? Let alone cleaning-popcorn-off-the-floors-of-a-movie-theater Soobin?
It was something out of a k-drama, some famous celebrity falling for a small town working-class girl. While Yeonjun wasn’t exactly “famous” levels of actor just yet, and Soobin wasn’t “small town” by the city they both now lived together in, it still seemed like such a dream that they met.

Soobin learned to trust Yeonjun when we told him he loved him, wanted to propose one day when the time was right, and Yeonjun became comfortable with Soobin’s likes-to-be-chased speed of affection, his natural likes-attention-but-won’t-ask-for-it attitude.
Six years helped Soobin stabilize his confidence a lot, which is why it was entirely asinine that Yeonjun would ask such a thing of him, fake or not.

Of course, there’s a small part of Soobin that wonders what could possibly be the reason Yeonjun would suddenly ask for a break up - real or not - and be so persistent for it, but a louder part of Soobin simply hears the word “break up” in relation to Yeonjun and fervently rejects it with every fiber of his being.
Even if Yeonjun had asked for a serious break up - he wouldn’t, Soobin’s positive that if a time, far, far, in the impossible, unrealistic future ever came where they felt like they needed to break things off, Soobin would be the one to ask first - Soobin wouldn’t let him just break up.
He figures he’d be an absolute idiot if he let someone like Yeonjun go.

Six years and Soobin still thinks his boyfriend is the most amazing person in the world.
Because how can someone be so thoughtful, loving, and supportive as him; someone who saw normal ass Soobin cleaning sticky soda off the musty floor of a movie theater and ask if he could get to know him?
Someone who was on the path to being a star, a recognized celebrity, giving some random movie theater worker the time of day, offering an apologetic dinner for doing what every single person who has ever stepped foot in a movie theater does?

If there’s one thing Soobin knows about Yeonjun, it’s that he’s the passionate romantic to Soobin’s hopeless romantic.
Soobin could ask for a rose and Yeonjun would bring him a garden, Soobin could ask for dinner and Yeonjun would take him to a five star Michelin restaurant, Soobin could ask for a movie night and Yeonjun would whisk him off to Hollywood itself.
Not that Soobin’s ever needed all that grandiose, but he appreciates the thought regardless. It makes him feel special, like the important person that Yeonjun always insists that he is.

Soobin spent much of the early months of their relationship with an inferiority complex, wondering why he of all people was the one Yeonjun fell in love with, too insecure in his normalcy to feel like he was worthy of Yeonjun and his time.
Ex-friends of Yeonjun’s made his insecurities come to light as such, blatantly pointing out Soobin’s flaws, making Soobin feel like some peasant riding off of Yeonjun’s pristine back.
And Yeonjun spent much of that time reassuring Soobin consistently, over and over, of how much he loves Soobin, how happy Soobin makes him, how he couldn’t imagine a life never having met Soobin. He was quick to cut off anyone who made Soobin feel like he was empty space next to a shining star.

And while there’s still a tiny, miniscule part of Soobin that still secretly hangs onto his imposter syndrome, he believes Yeonjun wholeheartedly when he declares how much he adores Soobin.
On his worst days, Soobin struggles to understand what Yeonjun sees in him, quietly fears the day Yeonjun wakes up and decides he doesn’t see anything in him, but the day never comes, and Soobin rarely has days where he feels like that. Yeonjun makes sure he never has days where he feels like that.
And Soobin supposes that if someone is that devoted to making him feel loved and important, he probably isn’t as out of place as he sometimes feels.

“You’re getting fake broken up with and I can’t even get fake dated?” Taehyun scoffs as he tosses an empty drink cup into the trash can that Hueningkai parks near the entrance to the empty theater.

Soobin straightens his back as he sweeps the floor, shooting Taehyun an offended look.
“I am not getting fake broken up with,” he corrects with a tilt of his eyebrows for emphasis.

Hueningkai picks up an empty box of candy as he reassures Taehyun, “I don’t think you’d want it to be fake anyway, Taehyunnie.”

“I’ll take anything at this point,” Taehyun half-jokes with a chuckle as he checks the seats for any forgotten belongings.

Soobin accidentally steps on a small round chocolate ball and it crushes under his foot, sticking to the bottom of his shoe as he curses under his breath, motioning for Taehyun to hand him a paper towel.
As he’s scraping the chocolate off his shoe, he sighs, “But I thought Beomgyu-”

“Hyung! Yeonjun hyung must have a reason for asking for this, right?” Hueningkai interrupts him, shooting a sharp glance his way.
His eyes signal to change the subject, so Soobin does, not willing to press into the several-month-long love story that Taehyun and Beomgyu have been tepidly dancing around yet.

After scraping off as much as he can, Soobin tosses the paper towel in the trash and continues his sweeping, ignoring the way Taehyun’s eyes shift between Soobin and Hueningkai.
“I don’t want to know the reason,” Soobin huffs as he spots liquid dripping off a chair in the corner of the theater and waving it down to the others. “I’m sure it’s something silly, he wouldn’t ask for something like that otherwise.”

“You’re not even a little curious?” Taehyun asks as he pulls a long strip of paper towels from the roll and begrudgingly heads towards the wet seat.

“Of course I’m curious!” Soobin complains, “But I refuse to believe there’s any reason that I would want that.”

Hueningkai kneels down at the seat next to Taehyun, helping him clean as he points out, “But don’t you think that means it’s something important, at least to him?”

Soobin’s considered this multiple times in the past few hours of the morning that the issue was brought to his attention.
A part of him still stands repulsed at the thought of breaking up with his boyfriend in any capacity, but a softer part of him sympathizes that it must be a big deal if Yeonjun is asking for it.

“Why not just do it, hyung? Some distance between you two lovebirds might do you some good. Tough love and all that,” Taehyun asks as he hands paper towels to Hueningkai, “Besides, it’s just a week, and it’s not real.”

Soobin groans, rolling his eyes, “You’re starting to sound like him.”

“Ew, don’t say that,” Taehyun scrunches his nose up in disgust. “I’d rather not be compared to someone as sappy and gross as he is.”

Soobin shoots back with targeted aim, seeing his opening, “But it’s different with Beomgyu?”
Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Hueningkai running a hand through his hair. It was a valiant effort to try to keep the bickering at bay, Soobin thinks.

Soobin and Taehyun became quick friends when Soobin took this job however many years ago and in that time, they’ve bickered more times than Soobin could ever guess. He supposes it’s just how he and Taehyun get along, because he and Hueningkai rarely ever argue over anything.

Taehyun scoffs, holding a fist full of wet, sticky paper towels up as if he were going to throw them at Soobin. “Well, it wouldn’t be if the guy would make a move!”

Soobin ducks out of the way of Taehyun’s line of sight, just for good measure. Taehyun knows better than to throw things around during work for real, but Soobin likes to play along all the same.
“Why don’t you just make the move? You two are insufferable to be around,” Soobin chides despite Hueningkai’s defeated sighs.

Taehyun tosses the soda-soaked paper towels into a trash can after his faux threat, searching for the fabric cleaner that they’d left near the entrance of the theater as he replies, “You think I haven’t made a move?”

“I mean an actual move, not just cuddling and going on unofficial dates,” Soobin says as he hands the fabric cleaner off. “Yeonjun and I did that for like two weeks before we started dating, but you two have been doing it for like, months.”

Hueningkai holds the seat for Taehyun as he sprays the cleaner into the fabric seats.
“To be fair, hyung,” Hueningkai says with a sheepish but affectionate smile, “You and Yeonjun hyung were also kind of insufferable to be around.”

Soobin thinks he can admit that. Yeonjun has always been clingy and affectionate, and he had been waiting on Soobin to make things official, so his affections had reached an impatient fever pitch in the weeks before they started dating. Undoubtedly, their friends noticed the extra intense PDA.

They leave the conversation in that theater, moving onto the next one and instead talking about new restaurants that opened up, much to the relief of both Taehyun and Soobin. (And by extension, Hueningkai, in the wake of their bickering.)

Soobin trusts his boyfriend deeply, certain that he’s not asking for any nefarious or ulterior motive. But that’s also why he’s firm in the thought that whatever reason Yeonjun has in his head for wanting to fake break up, it’s not worth it.
Something that seems important to Yeonjun and maybe he believes it’s important to Soobin too, but Soobin can’t think of a single thing that would make him want to be away from his boyfriend.
They’ve had fights or arguments here and there, as most couples do, but Soobin’s never thought of something as drastic as a break up be the solution to any of those little altercations.

Besides, if it’s such concerning grounds to ask for a fake break up, Soobin’s a tad offended that Yeonjun didn’t talk to him about it beforehand.
Even for all their security in their relationship, that was the one thing they needed to work on more. Yeonjun is a professional problem-internalizer, and Soobin prefers when he’s straightforward with his issues and allows Soobin to help him.
It’s a work in progress - Yeonjun’s gotten much better at letting Soobin know about his internal struggles over the years, but if he thinks he can solve something on his own, he’s less inclined to let Soobin know about it, which ends up irritating Soobin more than Yeonjun intends to.

Logically thinking, Soobin imagines Yeonjun probably knows it sounds a little silly, and that’s why he’d rather just ask Soobin for it without explaining the reason.
Which brings Soobin back to his main point: if he knows it's silly and is unwilling to just tell Soobin the reason, then it isn’t a good reason for a fake break up.
Soobin supposes this is just another exercise in gently pushing Yeonjun to talk to him. Tough love, or whatever.

“We’d just be apart for a week,” Yeonjun says, breathless and beautiful against the sheets of their bed. “And then everything goes back to normal afterwards.”

“Huh?” Soobin half-heartedly responds, too hazy to register what Yeonjun is mumbling about under him.

“The fake break up,” Yeonjun answers, hanging on a whine, “I’d stay with Beomgyu in the meantime. Just temporarily.”

Soobin slows his hips and looks down at the gorgeous man between his legs with exasperation, ignoring the way Yeonjun whimpers at the loss of momentum.
“Why are you talking to me about breaking up with me while we’re having sex?!” Soobin chastises, considering just pulling out and letting Yeonjun beg. (Except Yeonjun would probably like that, so it would make for poor punishment.)

Yeonjun rolls his own hips, trying to gain friction again as he quickly corrects for what must be the fiftieth time today, “I’m not talking about a real break up, Binnie!”

Soobin rolls his eyes as Yeonjun’s hands find their way to his waist, pulling pathetically without much reward.
“Why are you talking to me about fake breaking up with me while we’re having sex?!” he adjusts his frustrated question with a raised octave and holds his ground, not willing to let Yeonjun get the leverage he wants.

“Because I couldn’t wait until you got home!” Yeonjun protests, “And we’ll go to sleep afterwards, so there isn’t a good time to bring it up! Just hear me out!”

Most of the time, Soobin’s a pretty well-mannered, polite guy. All of his co-workers could vouch for his masterful patience when dealing with rowdy movie-goers. But in the bedroom, Soobin likes to take the lead and be in charge, something Yeonjun is well aware of by now.
So when he snaps his hips and growls, “The only thing I want to hear out of your mouth right now is my name. Now drop it,” he doesn’t miss the way Yeonjun shudders, jaw quickly clamping shut.

It’s only a couple hours later, when they’re cleaned up and cuddling, that Yeonjun cutely voices his complaint at being interrupted, “Soobinnieeee.”
Met with Soobin’s pointed silence, Yeonjun runs his hands through Soobin’s short black hair, planting kisses in between each name, “Baby. Sweetie. Bunny. Honeybun. My love. Love of my life. Loveliest lovely baby bunny love.”

“You’re lucky I love you as much as I do,” Soobin responds dryly, dodging one of Yeonjun’s kisses to raise his head to meet Yeonjun’s eyes, deciding against his better judgment to humor his boyfriend. He’s weak to Yeonjun’s cute voice and puppy eyes anyway; he was always going to lose the cold shoulder game.

Yeonjun smiles gently, pressing a kiss to Soobin’s lips and humming, “Yes, I am. The luckiest.”
He rubs Soobin’s shoulders, peppering kisses around Soobin’s face as he murmurs his love to Soobin, ever the clingy one post-sex.

Something peculiar suddenly occurs to Soobin as he lays shirtless, warmly wrapped up in his loving boyfriend, showered with kisses between every whispered endearment.
It dawns on him that Yeonjun himself doesn’t even realize what he’s been asking Soobin all day to do, because everything that he’s asking of Soobin goes entirely against Yeonjun’s whole purpose in life.
Soobin isn’t typically one for provocation, or even competition really, but the thought hinges on his mind and he can’t stop himself from voicing it.

“Baby,” Soobin says as calmly as he can in hopes of not sparking the competitiveness in Yeonjun, “I don’t think you could even handle a fake break up, even if we did.”

Soobin watches as Yeonjun ponders the words, eyebrows furrowing before it clicks and he frowns with a pout.
Yeonjun sits up, pulling Soobin up with him as he objects, “What do you mean? Of course I could!”

Pacification failed. Soobin decides maybe he needs to be a little provocative in this case.
“Junie, you could barely wait til I got home to pounce on me. You’ve been clinging to me all day. You really think you can spend a week away from me?”

Yeonjun instinctively defends, “You love my attention though! You love it when I coddle you.”
As if to emphasize, he holds Soobin’s hands, wiggling them a bit with childish flair.

“Yes, I do,” Soobin admits with ease, squeezing Yeonjun’s hands back, “But if we fake break up, you can’t do that.”

Soobin watches as Yeonjun turns this abrupt information in his mind as if he’s just now realizing it, eyes shaking as his face scrunches up, clearly dissatisfied with a reality where he can’t be attached to Soobin every waking moment, but not quite willing to give up on his mission.

“It’s just for a week,” Yeonjun mumbles meekly, his confidence suddenly shaken. “And I’d just be at Beomgyu’s… we’d still be dating.”

Soobin’s tired from hours of work spent cleaning movie theater rooms and mopping spilled sodas off the floor. He’s tired from the (admittedly, wonderful) sex that was thrust upon him the second he stepped in the door of their apartment. And most of all, he’s tired of this entire fake break up conversation that’s dragged on far longer than he’d anticipated.
Tough love, Taehyun had offhandedly said.
Soobin loves his boyfriend, but he supposes some distance would be the most effective in getting what he wants: his boyfriend to stop asking to break up with him and just snuggle with him all day like usual.

He doesn’t want to do it, and he knows that Yeonjun knows that he doesn’t want to do it, but if there’s a second thing Soobin knows about Yeonjun, it’s that if it’s a game of abstinence, Yeonjun will always play a losing game.

So Soobin finally shrugs his shoulders, leaning in to kiss Yeonjun on the lips one last time.
“Okay,” he says lightly, catching Yeonjun’s attention with wide eyes, “If it’s that important to you, baby, we’ll do it. But if we’re doing this, then we’re doing it properly.”
Yeonjun’s face tells him everything he needs to know. So he doubles down, “You’re going to be at Beomgyu’s, and I’ll be here. So you know the rules, right?”

Soobin watches the Adam’s apple of the love of his life bob nervously as he swallows.
So Soobin offers the answer, “No sex, no kissing, no cuddling, no pet names. Nothing that non-dating friends wouldn’t do, yes?”
Yeonjun doesn’t answer, still soaking in the rules that Soobin’s laid down for him.
Soobin adds, for clarification: “And whatever Beomgyu and Taehyun have going on doesn’t count. We just go back to before we started dating, for a week. Right, hyung?”

Soobin almost cracks when he sees Yeonjun’s jaw drop after hearing the honorific, something they dropped years ago after they started dating.
A softer part of him wants to kiss his boyfriend, reassure him that he didn’t mean it, cuddle him and call him loving names until he smiles again.

But before he can give in, Yeonjun steels himself and nods.
“Of course. Easy. I’ll prove it to you.”

Soobin reminds himself that he isn’t one for competition. He hates raising his expectations in a heated rivalry only to lose (which he often does), but knowing he has the upper hand in this situation gives him a bit of an ego boost.
It’s not like he won’t be affected in the absence of his boyfriend, but he sees it as a game: what tricks can he pull to make Yeonjun take this whole stupid thing back?
So he steels himself as well. “Exactly. Easy. You’ll be heading over to Beomgyu’s then, hyung?”

Yeonjun closes his eyes and breathes in, before his facade slips and he looks at Soobin with puppy eyes.
“Let me stay for the night? Please, Binnie-baby?” he pleads, reaching for Soobin’s face.

Soobin can’t help the involuntary giggle as he meets Yeonjun halfway and puts his cheek into Yeonjun’s palm. He’s always weak for Soft Yeonjun, unfortunately.
“Come here then, you big clingy baby. Better soak it in because it’s all you’ll get for the next seven days.”

Yeonjun hums in satisfaction, pulling Soobin down into the pillows together, hands tracing along Soobin’s spine, planting kisses along Soobin’s neck, breathing in Soobin’s scent.
And Soobin quietly does the same, burying his face in Yeonjun’s hair, smoothing his hands over Yeonjun’s strong shoulders, even letting Yeonjun feel up his ass languidly. (He supposes Yeonjun’s earned a pass for that one, or maybe Soobin just kinda likes the feeling.)

The part of him that doesn’t want to do this is already agonizing over the thought of losing Yeonjun’s touch for a couple days, even though Yeonjun in reality hasn’t taken his hands off Soobin for even a second yet.
But another, maybe more secretive part of him, kind of looks forward to seeing how Yeonjun will fare without him.
Soobin’s confident enough that Yeonjun won’t be completely unaffected, and even if he acts like it, Soobin has ideas to quicken the process. He wonders if he should start bets with Hueningkai and Taehyun.

When Soobin awakes the next morning, the sun warms his body, but he already feels off without the extra warmth around his body, or the comforting gravelly morning-voice to greet him.
He tries not to feel too sad by it, fueled by his determination to bring his boyfriend back, but he still pulls the shirt that had been thrown to the floor the previous night into his arms and spends a couple minutes just breathing in the scent. (The shirt, no doubt purposefully left behind.)
It actually smells quite similar to him, what with Yeonjun always curling into Soobin’s arms every chance he gets, but Soobin can tell the difference. Yeonjun’s cologne still clings to the shirt, mixed in with familiar scents of their shared body wash and sweat from the active night.

He finds a small post-it note on the left nightstand in Yeonjun’s handwriting: Left for Beomgyu’s. Breakfast on counter.
Soobin scoffs, running his hands through his hair. What kind of boyfriend fake dumps him but still makes him breakfast? He wonders if that’s a gentlemanly thing to do, but he also supposes that the gentlemanly thing to do is to not fake break up with him in the first place.
He sighs, bracing himself for the coming days. He imagines that if he’s already missing Yeonjun this much, Yeonjun can’t be doing much better.

So he pulls his phone off the nightstand and snaps a sleepy selca in bed, making sure his bare collarbones show, the hickey that Yeonjun left him the night before peeking just below the screen.
He lets his tongue poke out from his lips and makes sure his hair is a little ruffled, angling the camera in the most appealing yet reasonably innocent way he can.

Soobin sends the picture with just two sentences.

Never said pictures were off the table. Have a good day, hyung.

Chapter Text

Yeonjun considers himself a pretty loyal friend. Of course, it definitely helps that he cares about his friends very much.
In fact, he would do almost anything for them, something that his best friend, Beomgyu, is always keen to take advantage of.

They’re his family after all, and when you’re in a profession like a rising actor, it’s important to pick your friends wisely. His mother always told him that as long as he has good people around him, there’s no way he could ever turn out poorly.

And while Beomgyu could probably subjectively be considered good, Yeonjun loves him and considers Beomgyu the closest friend that he’s not dating.
They studied together, supported each other’s similar paths, and Yeonjun firmly believes he’d be a different person had he not met the cinematographer.

Beomgyu is his annoying little brother, his best wingman pre-dating Soobin, his hyper puppy, his future best man.

The issue with this, however, is that Beomgyu knows him so well that he knows exactly how to rope Yeonjun into ridiculous and dumb situations before Yeonjun can even retrospectively realize that they’re ridiculous and dumb.

Yeonjun would definitely do most things for Beomgyu, that’s just how much he loves Beomgyu, but Beomgyu definitely pushes and prods that “most”.
The way Beomgyu had worded it made the situation seem so much more dire than it actually was, and - though Yeonjun hates to admit it - his inebriated brain is a bit weak to pleads of help; he likes to play protagonist when he’s had a few, what can he say?

“You’re the only one who can do this, hyung,” Beomgyu had pleaded.
“It’ll help you flex your acting skills,” Beomgyu had whined.
“What, an incredible actor like you can’t even do this one favor for your best friend?” Beomgyu had provoked.

Yeonjun is nothing if not competitive. Promises were made, and Yeonjun hates breaking promises, intoxicated or not.

So he sits in Beomgyu’s living room at asscrack in the morning, elbows on his knees, mourning the fact that he had to leave Soobin with only breakfast, a gentle kiss on the head, and a note.

“You could at least pretend that you care about me,” Beomgyu nags him, sitting on the opposite end of the couch and sliding a cup of coffee over the wood table to him.

Yeonjun takes a sip, trying and failing to hold back a yawn, “I’m starting to think I don’t.”

Beomgyu pouts, sitting sideways and kicking his feet out across the length of the couch to land them in Yeonjun’s lap.
“You’re the only actor I know, hyung. All I have is you, hyung. I love you, hyung,” he whines as he gives Yeonjun puppy-eyes.
Unfortunately for Beomgyu, only Soobin’s puppy-eyes work on Yeonjun. Fortunately for Beomgyu, Yeonjun (also unfortunately) loves him too.

“Run it by me again,” Yeonjun groans, stifling the thought of pouring the steaming-hot cup of coffee that Beomgyu had so lovingly made for him over the younger’s feet.

Beomgyu gives him an offended look, as if he’s appalled that Yeonjun would forget the details of his ridiculous promise he made while drunk last Saturday.
So he dramatically scoffs, tipping his own coffee cup over his lips, and making a show to gulp pointedly.

“No take-backsies,” Beomgyu confirms before he puts his cup down.

Yeonjun rolls his eyes. “Speak, child. It’s gonna be stupid either way.”

“Only 2 years younger…” Beomgyu mutters before he finally takes his feet out of Yeonjun’s lap and places his coffee cup on a coaster on the table.
“So, you know Taehyun’s noona? Or wait, maybe I should start with: you know Taehyun is single? Or maybe I should actually start with: do you know Kang Taehyun?”

Yeonjun’s pretty sure Beomgyu doesn’t even deserve the boy he’s been crushing on for so long. Kang Taehyun’s way too smart for Beomgyu, he’s sure of it.
“Yes, Beomgyu,” he says slowly, dripping with snark, “I know who Kang Taehyun is. He’s one of Soobin, the love of my life's, best friends.”

“Anyway,” Beomgyu takes a turn to roll his own eyes, “You know Taehyun is single?”

Yeonjun takes a long drink of his coffee.
“Yes.”

“Okay, then do you know Taehyun’s noona?”

Yeonjun breathes a sigh, wondering if Soobin is awake yet.
“I know he has one, but I don’t know her personally, Beomgyu. I’m not obsessed with Kang Taehyun like you. I’m obsessed with Soobin.”

“You know Soobin hyung’s family, then?” Beomgyu raises his eyebrows as if he’s surprised that Yeonjun, in his six years with Soobin, is familiar with Soobin’s family.

Yeonjun lets out a tiny offended scoff, “I’m going to marry that man, Choi Beomgyu. Obviously I know his family by now.”

“Right,” Beomgyu says flatly, “So, I’m good friends with Taehyun’s noona - her name is Taehee - and she like, cares a lot for Taehyun. Maybe to the point of being a little overbearing.”

“Where is this going…?” Yeonjun mumbles under his breath.

“So she told me she wants to set Taehyun up on a little date!” Beomgyu pauses briefly for dramatic effect but continues upon seeing the lack of reaction from Yeonjun, “So, I… well, I panicked a little because obviously I like Taehyun but she can’t know that because I’m still trying to make an impression on her, so I told her I knew someone who would be a perfect match for Taehyun.”

Yeonjun finishes his coffee. His drunken memories of Beomgyu rambling about this situation from a week ago are coming back to him, and he feels like he’s going to need the extra caffeine if he’s remembering how this ends correctly.

“So she said, ‘Oh great! Who is he?’ and obviously I said your name because you’re my best friend and best hyung who I love very much and you’ve always got my back and she was impressed because she’s actually - and this is kind of a funny coincidence if you think about it - a bit of an indie movie buff and recognized your name from one of the movies you acted in!”

Beomgyu definitely doesn’t deserve Kang Taehyun, Yeonjun confirms.
He barely even knows Kang Taehyun, just from when Soobin introduced him and Huening and the bits that Soobin tells him when recounting his day, but he knows there isn’t a man in this world dumber than Beomgyu, so he knows Beomgyu definitely doesn’t deserve Kang Taehyun.

“So,” Yeonjun places his empty coffee mug next to Beomgyu’s, “What happens after this date, then? I’m not going to pretend-fake-date your crush for you, Beomgyu.”

Beomgyu gestures with his hands as he explains, “Well obviously Taehyun would never be interested in you anyway, so he tells his noona it didn’t work out and by then I must have made an impression on her for her to say, ‘Oh, maybe Beomgyu is a good choice! Why don’t you date Beomgyu!’ and Taehyun realizes, ‘Of course! It was written in the stars!’ and we finally date and you can go back to your 24/7 sex with Soobin hyung, or whatever it is you do.”

Yeonjun leans back against Beomgyu’s couch to stare up at the ceiling, squinting a little as the white ceiling reflects the morning sun into the room.
“So, like…” he closes his eyes briefly, relishing in the extra bit of shut-eye he gets, but the fact that he’s not in bed next to Soobin right now kind of shatters the illusion, “Why don’t you just… go on the date with Kang Taehyun yourself? Isn’t that your end goal anyway? Why do I have to go on the date?”

“Hey, I said no take-backsies!” Beomgyu pouts. “I’m a strategist, hyung. Sometimes you need to take a few extra steps before you can get your desired end result.”

“You are so annoying,” Yeonjun groans sleepily, yet all but pounces on his phone when he hears the airy ping he’s set Soobin’s text tone to, shelving the Beomgyu situation until he can read the text.
He doesn’t swallow the half-gasp-half-yelp he makes when he opens the photo that accompanies the text.

It grabs Beomgyu’s attention, and he slides down the couch to nosily peek over Yeonjun’s shoulder.
“What, you guys have some kind of selca competition going on?” he guesses.

Yeonjun ignores Beomgyu’s question to really take in Soobin’s selca.
His morning hair, the way his tongue is poking through his lips, his half-lidded eyes that stare innocently up at the camera, but his bare neck and collarbones are on display. If Yeonjun zooms in - which he definitely will not with Beomgyu snooping over his shoulder - he’s certain the top of his hickey is in the corner of the screen.

Okay, Yeonjun decides, they can play that game.
Easy, he himself had said. He ignores the agonizing way Soobin addresses him as hyung six years into their relationship, and meets Beomgyu’s eyes.
Yeonjun is, after all, nothing if not competitive.

“When’s the date, Beomgyu?”

Binnie’s Junebug
> Thanks, Soobin-ah

> Have a good day too :)

Junie’s Honeybun
> Say hi to Beomgyu for me.

> And have fun. <3

> *:3

“Hi, Soobin hyung,” Beomgyu tells Yeonjun as if he were telepathically linked to Soobin and could hear Beomgyu’s greeting himself. (Yeonjun wished.) “Okay, will you focus now, hyung?”

Yeonjun begrudgingly locks his phone (taking a moment to stare at his lockscreen photo of Soobin cutely sleeping in bed) and pockets it, turning his attention to the clothes that Beomgyu has brought back to the dressing room with him.

“Why don’t I just pop back home - to Soobin’s home, I mean - to grab my own clothes for this?” Yeonjun had asked while Beomgyu had called an Uber.

Beomgyu had scoffed at him and waved his hand dismissively, “Because you’re not supposed to be Yeonjun hyung, my best friend. You’re supposed to be Yeonjun hyung, the incredible guy that I was so sure was a perfect match for Taehyun that I recommended you immediately and definitely not impulsively.”

“And I can’t be that in my clothes?”

“Of course not. My standard of Taehyun’s perfect man is way higher than,” Beomgyu had loosely gestured over Yeonjun’s body, “this.”

Beomgyu deserved to be strangled, quite honestly.
“You should be lucky I’m following your standard, then. If I had it my way, I’d have Kang Taehyun drooling over me.”

Beomgyu had slapped Yeonjun’s arm lightly, pouting deeply as they had piled into the car.
“You wouldn’t!”

“Of course I wouldn’t, you big baby. My love for Soobin is the only thing saving you.”

“Love really is powerful,” Beomgyu had rolled his eyes.

But Yeonjun thinks that if this is Beomgyu’s coveted Standard of Kang Taehyun’s Perfect Man, he might have to bring out the big guns after all.
A big, comfy sweater that simply engulfs his arms and forces him into sweater paws, and joggers with deep pockets. While definitely a cozy outfit, it surely isn’t something Yeonjun would wear on a date.
“Beomgyu,” Yeonjun starts as he looks at his outfit in the mirror while Beomgyu observes it from the corner of the dressing room. “This looks ridiculous on me.”

“Why does it look so out of place on you, hyung?” Beomgyu mumbles, tapping his chin as he looks Yeonjun’s outfit up and down.

Yeonjun stares at himself in the mirror for a beat longer before it hits him like a brick and he feels like strangling Beomgyu all over again.
“Because, you damn punk, this is just something you’d wear!”

Beomgyu’s eyes wander and his eyebrows knit as he ponders this revelation before his face widens and he lets out an understanding, “Ahhhh.”
He crosses his arms in frustration, “Yeah, but you look cute in it, hyung!”

“Cute or not, I’m not cosplaying as you for this fake date, you little shit.”

“You don’t look like me!” Beomgyu protests, completely wrong. “Ask Soobin hyung.”
Yeonjun is pretty sure he’s never looked more Beomgyu in his life. He’s sure that all he would have to do is grow his hair out to complete the look.

“One sec,” Yeonjun mutters as he pulls his phone out again and snaps a quick selca in the dressing room mirror.
Beomgyu’s not entirely wrong, he does look kinda cute in it to some extent, but it’s very clear to an outsider that Yeonjun doesn’t wear these kinds of clothes often.
What can he say? He’s a stylish guy. If he’s gonna be walking around out in public, why not wear his best? The only times he wears sweats is in his own home.

Binnie’s Junebug
> Binnie’s Junebug sent an image.

> Shopping with Beomgyu, what do you think?

The selca is taken from an angle, with Yeonjun pouting his lips in a cute way and pulling his sweater paw up near his face to pose.
The huge sweater hangs a tad low on his collarbones, so he makes sure to show those off as well for good measure.
Only seconds later, his phone pings.

Junie’s Honeybun
> Not your style at all.

Yeonjun snorts at the message before he types out a reply.

Binnie’s Junebug
> Is that all? ;)

> *:)

“I told you to ask his opinion, not flirt with him,” Beomgyu complains as he gestures for the clothes Yeonjun’s wearing. “I think the outfit is fine. You don’t have to wear a suit and tie to a first date, you know.”

Yeonjun fervently disagrees, but it seems like Beomgyu is set on having him wear the Beomgyu cosplay, so he decides not to describe the lavish blazer he wore the first time he took Soobin on a date to a cafe.
He checks his phone as he pulls the sweater over his head, letting Beomgyu impatiently shove his arms through the sleeves when he takes too long.

Junie’s Honeybun
> It’s okay, I guess.

> A little too Beomgyu-like though, which is a major turn off.

> For me, anyway. I’m sure someone like Kang Taehyun would eat it up.

“Ugh,” Yeonjun groans as he lets Beomgyu pull the joggers down and shuffles his feet out of them. “Soobin clocked it immediately.”

Beomgyu peeks at Yeonjun’s phone over his shoulder as he folds the clothes up, “Hey! He said Kang Taehyun would eat it up, and that’s coming from one of his best friends!”

Yeonjun elbows Beomgyu in the chest with enough force to make Beomgyu grunt and stumble back a little.
“Yeah, he’d eat it up on you. But you’re not wearing it.”

Beomgyu throws Yeonjun’s clothes at him with equal force, making Yeonjun yelp a little.
“Then think of it as trying to put an image of me into Taehyun’s subconscious mind.”

“You are so weird,” Yeonjun huffs as he pulls his own clothes back on. “If you went on this date yourself, you wouldn’t have to do it subconsciously.”

“But I’m not so I do,” Beomgyu states like it’s obvious and not ridiculous.

“I personally hope he does fall for me, if only so he doesn’t fall for the dumbass that is you.”

Binnie’s Junebug
> What are you up to?

Junie’s Honeybun
> Why?

Binnie’s Junebug
> What? I can’t wonder what my

> good friend

> is up to?

Junie’s Honeybun
> Catching up with shows.

> That cooking show we were watching.

Binnie’s Junebug
> SOOBIN-AH?

> DON’T WATCH WITHOUT ME?? Q_Q

Junie’s Honeybun
> Junie’s Honeybun sent an image.

> Then join me.

Binnie’s Junebug
> I CAN’T TT_TT

Junie’s Honeybun
> Watch it with Beomgyu.

Binnie’s Junebug
> IT’S NOT THE SAME

> BEOMGYU’S NOT GONNA CUDDLE ME

Junie’s Honeybun
> And I won’t either. ;P

> Goodnight, hyung.

Binnie’s Junebug
> TYPO?

> TYPO??????

> BIN???????

The image is of Soobin on his (their) couch, swaddled in a blanket and wearing one of Yeonjun’s hoodies. He looks absolutely adorable with the hood over his head, looking into the camera with those sleepy eyes behind those black thick-framed glasses that Yeonjun loves so much on him.
Yeonjun considers breaking his phone or otherwise sending it flying out of Beomgyu’s guest room window.
Instead, he settles for burrito-ing himself in the blanket and imagining it to be Soobin’s warm embrace.

“Up and at ‘em, hyung. I made you some coffee,” Beomgyu kicks the door open to the guest room at ass-in-the-morning and his loud voice echoes off the walls of the barely-decorated room.

“I hate you,” Yeonjun mumbles to him, still wrapped in his blanket burrito, mostly looking at the back of his eyelids as he says it, unwilling to face the morning sun just yet.

“Coffee,” Beomgyu says instead, placing the cup on the nightstand and standing over Yeonjun expectantly like a child waiting for his parents to wake up on Christmas day.

Yeonjun braves the sunlight, and promptly groans when the brightness floods his vision.
“I hate you,” he repeats.

The empty walls of the room bounce Beomgyu’s words right back at him for a third time, “Coffee.”

Yeonjun rubs his fist into his eyes as he forces himself to sit up.
He glances at the bedside clock to confirm the time: 6:28 AM, before he resignedly squints through the light and finds the coffee mug.
“Soobin likes coffee…” he murmurs as he sips it. The coffee is just as Yeonjun likes it, not too sweet but not completely bitter. “He likes his really sweet, though.”

Beomgyu shuffles his feet impatiently as Yeonjun nurses his coffee and blinks himself awake.
“Okay? Noted for the off chance I get the opportunity to make him coffee,” Beomgyu furrows his eyebrows as he watches Yeonjun glance at his phone, checking for any new messages.

“One time, early on when we were dating, I made coffee for him but I made it my way because I didn’t know how he liked it yet and he drank the whole cup even though he hated it because he didn’t want me to be offended that he didn’t like how I make my coffee. So the next time we had coffee, he made me a cup the way he likes it and I hated it but I did the same for him because I love him so much and we laughed about it for like a week,” Yeonjun rambles as Beomgyu starts to pace while he waits.

“Hyung,” Beomgyu says as he wanders around the small guest room, idly rearranging things on the desk, “as infuriatingly adorable as that is, can we get back on track? The more you think about him, the more you’re gonna miss him. You’re meeting Kang Taehee today, so it’d be really embarrassing if you started rambling about your boyfriend to her.”

“Does Kang Taehyun know that he’s going on a date with me?” Yeonjun sighs, setting his coffee down and pulling himself out of bed.

Beomgyu takes the half-empty cup and starts to head for the door, having accomplished his mission of waking Yeonjun up and feeding him caffeine.
“Well! We’re going to find out today, I think.”

Binnie’s Junebug
> I am up at ungodly hours

> And for no reason in particular, I want to see your cute face

> *uncute

> or whatever

> friends can think their friends’ faces are cute

> Anyway I am politely requesting a selca when you wake up

Yeonjun learns two things about Kang Taehee.
One: she has Kang Taehyun’s sharp stare, but somehow scarier.

When Soobin first introduced Kang Taehyun, Yeonjun was quite intimidated by the younger’s gaze, a gaze that cut right through him and searched for any and all signs that Yeonjun wasn’t treating Soobin right, hints that he was trying to extort or manipulate Soobin. A gaze that told Yeonjun that, in some awful, terrible alternate universe where he did use Soobin for his own selfish gains, Kang Taehyun would be waiting around the corner ready to destroy Yeonjun’s life by any and by all means necessary in return.
He’s never sure if he’s comforted or terrified by that notion.

Kang Taehee’s gaze scans him up and down as he walks into the cafe, before he even sits down, before Beomgyu even introduces him. She looks him over slowly, deliberately, as if she has Sherlockian vision and can see right through Yeonjun’s slightly-stretched sweater that Beomgyu had lent him, the bags under his eyes that he had desperately tried to conceal, and his slightly tousled hair from habitually running his hands through it in the Uber over.
Yeonjun knows, logically, that his goal is to not actually date Kang Taehee’s brother because he has a long-term boyfriend who he loves desperately, but Kang Taehee watches him with such an intensity that Yeonjun feels like he has to act like he’s hopelessly in love with Kang Taehee’s brother or else she’ll somehow stab a coffee stirrer through his neck.

And two: she’s actually not that scary at all.

It gives Yeonjun whiplash when he sits down, squirming under Kang Taehee’s cold, observant stare and Beomgyu introduces him as his close actor friend and lists off the indie movies Yeonjun’s acted in and Kang Taehee’s face suddenly lights up and her eyes brighten and she exclaims, maybe a touch too loudly for the time of morning and the quiet cafe, “Oh my god! I’ve watched Blue Hour at least twenty times! It’s such a hidden gem, I can’t believe it’s such an unknown film!”

Yeonjun realizes the difference between Kang Taehee and Kang Taehyun. Even now, Yeonjun is still kind of convinced Kang Taehyun will find a way to destroy his career and life if he ever substantially hurts Soobin. He really doesn’t have that much in common with Kang Taehyun, aside from caring about Soobin a significant amount.
Meanwhile, he rambles with Kang Taehee for at least thirty minutes just about the films he’s been in and the indie movie scene and all the ins and outs of acting.
Beomgyu pitches in, offering his insight on cinematography, different camera angles and the effect they give the composition of a shot.

Yeonjun enjoys their conversation thoroughly and it’s only when Kang Taehee mentions offhandedly, “I’m so glad someone like you is going on a date with my brother,” that he remembers the reason he’s even meeting Kang Taehee.
It seems like it brings Beomgyu back to task as well, since he straightens his back and clears his throat before he says, “Yes, yes, that. Tomorrow is the big day, yeah?”

Kang Taehee tucks her short hair behind her ears as she smiles.
“Yes. I should warn you, Taehyunnie was a little resistant to going, but once I told him that Beomgyu picked someone out, he - hesitantly - accepted. But I’m positive he’ll warm right up to you, Yeonjun-ssi! You’re a very charming guy.”

Yeonjun glances at Beomgyu, who shrinks up slightly in his chair, ears a little red with fluster at the high praise towards Yeonjun.
“Right, so, he doesn’t know that it’s me meeting him?” Yeonjun asks, hoping his tone sounds genuinely curious instead of interrogative.

Kang Taehee winks at him as she chuckles, “Nope! Had to leave him guessing a little, you know!”
She idly fiddles with her bracelets, “I don’t know how much Beomgyu has told you about him, but Taehyunnie can be a little cold at first, but he’s a very warm person! He takes a bit to settle in, but he’s a very sweet guy once you get close to him!”

Yeonjun imagines that Taehyun must be a pretty warm person for how much Soobin treasures his friendship and how much Taehyun cares for Soobin, but he’s pretty sure that he’s never going to see that side of Taehyun, especially not after this date.
“I hope you don’t expect too much of me,” Yeonjun says, hoping his light tone sounds more joking, “If Kang Ta- er, Taehyun ends up not liking me, I hope you won’t think poorly of me.”

Kang Taehee lets out a full-bellied laugh, folding over on her chair as if Yeonjun just told the joke of the century. Yeonjun doesn’t really know how else to react but awkwardly chuckle along.
“Oh, I know I’ll sound like a fangirl when I say this but there’s no way I could think poorly of you, Yeonjun-ssi! I know my Taehyunnie will love you, too!” she says as she catches her breath.

Yeonjun thinks quite the opposite. Not that he has much stake in Kang Taehee, but he also doesn’t really want to let her down.
Kang Taehee wipes tears away from her eyes as she continues, “And hey, even if he turns you down, don’t take it too personally. He’s a picky guy with high standards that few can meet.”

Yeonjun really doesn’t think that’s the case, because he’s pretty sure Kang Taehyun’s standards are just long haired dumbasses named Choi Beomgyu, and he thinks that’s a pretty easy standard to meet, especially for one of the people in the room, but he’s not about to refute.
The Choi Beomgyu in question is squeezing the arm of his chair so hard his knuckles are white, so Yeonjun resists the urge to scoff and roll his eyes. He put himself in this mess, anyhow. Yeonjun isn’t going to help him get points with Kang Taehee.
So instead, he smiles and says with a light tone, “You’re making me nervous. He sounds like a great guy, from what Beomgyu has told me.”

“He is,” Beomgyu says, as if on instinct, looking Yeonjun in the eyes as if challenging him. A beat later, he catches himself and ducks his head, but Yeonjun can see the pout on his lips.

Most of Yeonjun’s knowledge of Kang Taehyun comes from Soobin, actually. Soobin talks about how funny Kang Taehyun is, how smart, protective, and bold he is.
Yeonjun has only met Kang Taehyun a handful of times, but he can vouch for the intelligence and protectiveness perfectly. Early on in Yeonjun and Soobin’s relationship, Kang Taehyun had pulled Yeonjun aside and gave him the classic “don’t fuck this up” talk, so he supposes he can vouch for Kang Taehyun’s boldness as well. Intimidating is something he can also confirm, but no one asked.

Yeonjun likes to think he and Kang Taehyun are on fairly amicable terms nowadays. Kang Taehyun has grown accustomed to how head-over-heels Yeonjun is for Soobin, even nagging at them for being grossly in love.
It’s not like he and Kang Taehyun hang out alone or anything, but Yeonjun is pretty sure Kang Taehyun hypothetically would hang out alone with him. Even if he doesn’t have much to talk about with Kang Taehyun, he’s been able to joke around with him for the past handful of years nonetheless.
If Yeonjun ignores the slight underlying feeling that Kang Taehyun would unapologetically throw him under the bus if he pissed him off enough, he could consider himself and Kang Taehyun something of acquaintances. Friends-of-a-friend.

“He’s loyal to a fault,” Kang Taehee answers with a cheerful hum, “and super smart. He can be quippy, but that often makes him funny. I think sometimes people get the wrong idea that he’s cold or intense, but he cares a lot about others. He can be a little intimidating when pissed off, though.”

Well, that’s good to know, Yeonjun thinks, and what great advice it would be, had his fate to piss off Kang Taehyun not already been set in stone.

“Great traits to have,” Yeonjun says with a polite nod, “some might see them as faults, but I think all traits - both socially perceived as good or bad - often come together to make up a fascinating and wonderful person.”
It’s a bit flourish-y, but Yeonjun also thinks Soobin’s tendency to be stubborn as hell and hold grudges is endearing, so it’s not like he’s pulling words out of his ass.

Kang Taehee claps her hands together with a grin, “I think so too! I’m sure Taehyunnie thinks the same, which will make you a great couple!”

Yeonjun ignores the way Beomgyu shifts his legs in his seat.
“Well, I definitely hope-” Yeonjun is cut off by the ping of his phone, unmistakably the familiar text tone.
His hands fly to his pocket a little too quickly, and he glances at Kang Taehee with flustered eyes.

She nods at him, “Go ahead.”

Beomgyu’s eyes are telling him not to look, not while he’s in the middle of meeting Kang Taehee, but Yeonjun has been given the opportunity to check - why wouldn’t he?
He unlocks his phone and does, quite frankly, a horrible job at hiding the sharp inhale he takes followed by choking on air upon seeing the messages and attached image.

Junie’s Honeybun
> Friends can think their friends’ faces are cute.

> And if I think this is a cute selca, that’s my choice.

> You requested it, anyhow.

> Junie’s Honeybun sent an image.

The image is of Soobin in his (their) bed, lying on his stomach. His face is close to the camera, lips parted slightly and sleepy eyes half-shuttered in an expression that sends heat right down Yeonjun’s spine. Behind Soobin’s head, Yeonjun can see it: Soobin’s bare ass, sheets tangled in his legs.
Yeonjun can feel his face - his whole body, really - set aflame, and he fumbles his phone in between his coughing, quickly trying to pocket it as casually as possible.

Luckily, Beomgyu, ever the observant one, clocks his embarrassment and pats Yeonjun’s leg (a little forcefully, Yeonjun notes) as he concludes, “Well, Taehee noona, you can be rest assured that Taehyunnie is in good hands. I’ll make sure Yeonjun hyung… behaves himself, too. Thank you for coming to meet us this morning, please have a safe trip back!”

Yeonjun can’t bring himself to meet Kang Taehee’s eyes as she shakes his hand, hugs Beomgyu, and leaves the cafe.

Binnie’s Junebug
> SOOBIN

> SOOBIN-AH

> I THINK THAT IS AGAINST THE RULES????????

Junie’s Honeybun
> I said pictures weren’t off the table the morning you left, hyung.

> This is perfectly in line with the rules I laid out.

Binnie’s Junebug
> I FEEL LIKE THERE’S SOME KIND OF RULE BREAKING GOING ON HERE

Junie’s Honeybun
> You asked for a cute selca. Friends think friends are cute all the time. I think Huening is very cute.

> If you’re looking at it in a way that friends wouldn’t, I think that’s on you, no? :/

Binnie’s Junebug
> I DON’T THINK THAT’S HOW IT WORKS

> YOU CAN’T USE THAT LOOPHOLE

Junie’s Honeybun
> Then do you have a hole I CAN use? ;P

Binnie’s Junebug
> CHOI SOOBIN?????????????

Junie’s Honeybun
> Geez, next you’re gonna tell me that friends can’t make naughty jokes with each other.

Binnie’s Junebug
> You just sent your ass to me???

Junie’s Honeybun
> YEONJUN HYUNG MY FACE WAS IN IT TOO?? >://

Binnie’s Junebug
> BUT YOU ADMIT THAT YOUR ASS IS IN IT. YOU ADMIT THAT YOUR ASS IS PRESENT IN THIS SELCA.

Junie’s Honeybun
> Well, I guess so since that seems to be all your filthy eyes are looking at.

> And you’re nagging ME for being dirty…

> For shame, hyung. You look at your mother with those eyes?

Binnie’s Junebug
> You’re going to be the end of me

Junie’s Honeybun
> ;PP

> *:PP

Binnie’s Junebug
> OH NOW IT’S A TYPO???

“But I don’t understand why I have to actually go on the date with Kang Taehyun. His noona is not going to be there to witness the date, so why can you not just tell her the date went fine, but it didn’t work out?” Yeonjun groans as he follows Beomgyu around the grocery store, helping him pick out their lunch.

Beomgyu scoffs as he crouches down in front of the bread, likely to deliberate on which bread to get for the next ten minutes.
“It’s called method acting, hyung. And because she asked me to send her a picture.”

Yeonjun kicks Beomgyu’s lower back, sending him off-kilter and stumbling on his knees with a glare.
“Then just let me take a selca with the guy! No need for this whole date business,” Yeonjun protests, before Beomgyu’s statement fully hits him, “Wait.”

Beomgyu is quick to start talking to avoid Yeonjun’s inevitable question, “Just think of it as an acting gig, hyung. Taehee noona was so kind to set up this whole thing and Taehyunnie already knows he’s going on some random date anyway. You know, he tells me about some of the dates Taehee noona sets up for him sometimes and he complains about them all the time, so this will just be another date he complains about.”
His decision-making skills are suddenly maxed out as he grabs a loaf of bread and shoves it in his basket and stands up, quickly shuffling to the next aisle.

Yeonjun snatches the tail of Beomgyu’s coat though, and he forcibly flips Beomgyu around to face him.
“You’re going to take a picture of us on a date to send to Kang Taehee?” he asks, staring at Beomgyu with sharp eyes.

“Okay, so,” Beomgyu quickly explains, gingerly trying to pull Yeonjun’s hands from his collar, “It’s funny, really. Taehee noona is a bit of the, let’s say curious type. And, well, I’m kind of curious too, so…”

“You’re going to be at the restaurant?!” Yeonjun lets his jaw hang open but keeps his grip on Beomgyu tight.

“I’m just going to pretend I ran into you guys! But, obviously, I’m going to be on the other side of the restaurant out of sight. Super inconspicuous.”

“You are out of your mind,” Yeonjun sighs, letting Beomgyu go and wondering if the store’s security cams saw him this close to strangling Beomgyu. “The only reason I’m letting you do this shit is so I can spend the night in my husband’s bed after tomorrow.”

“He’s not your husband,” Beomgyu points out in quite the little-brother way, and Yeonjun briefly wonders if someone is actually watching those security cams.

“He will be, and I’m not inviting you to the wedding,” Yeonjun rolls his eyes, pulling his hand over Beomgyu’s head and covering his face with the long strands of his hair.

“I’ve been you and Soobin hyung’s biggest supporter ever since you met! I chewed out those actors who were shitty to Soobin hyung!” Beomgyu whines, “If you didn’t invite me, I’d just crash the wedding!”

“Yeah, that’s the reason I am inviting you,” Yeonjun groans as he follows Beomgyu into a new aisle.

“Can’t get rid of me, no matter how hard you try. I’ll find a way to be your best man no matter what.”

Yeonjun spends the last day before the big date napping, playing games against Beomgyu, and thinking about Soobin.
He can almost trick himself into believing that he’s just spending the night at Beomgyu’s like everything is normal. He could, if only Beomgyu would keep his mouth shut.

Throughout the evening, Beomgyu picks up stress and he starts rambling his anxiety.
“What if Taehyun actually falls for you? You’re a charming guy, you always had people in love with you. What am I supposed to do then?”

“Even if Kang Taehyun did fall in love with me - he never would, I think he hates me more than he likes me - I would just turn him down. My heart isn’t moving,” Yeonjun watches from Beomgyu’s kitchen counter as Beomgyu paces the kitchen.

“Yeah,” Beomgyu pauses his wandering to look at Yeonjun for emphasis, “But then he’d be heartbroken, and what am I supposed to do, tell him that Yeonjun hyung will never in a million years love him?”

“Yes, because it’s true.”

“Oh god, what if instead, he hates me after this? What if he sees that it’s you, is disgusted, and hates me forever for allowing this to happen?” Beomgyu flops his torso over the kitchen counter.

“Well, to be fair, that is a much more realistic worry than- wait, why would he be disgusted?” Yeonjun furrows his eyebrows, grabbing for the collar of Beomgyu’s sweater.

Binnie’s Junebug
> So obviously, I’ll be back after tomorrow

> Here’s something to tide you over until then<3

> * :3

> Or whatever the emoji is that you use

> Binnie’s Junebug sent an image.

It’s a delicious selca, if Yeonjun says so himself.
Half-lidded eyes that portray a more orgasmic expression than sleepy, jaw hung open to let a teasing peek of his tongue slip past his lips, hair pushed back and sweater pulled low to show off his bare collarbones.
It’s just what he knows Soobin likes in a sexy selca of himself, and he’s quite proud of it. It’s quite the revenge for all of the pictures that Soobin has sent over the last few days.

Junie’s Honeybun
> Junie’s Honeybun sent an image.

Yeonjun doesn’t think much about opening the image without any message attached to it.
He’s settled in Beomgyu’s guest bed when he clicks it, ready to go to sleep and wake up early for the long day ahead of him.
He chokes on a whimper when he sees the photo, swallowing down any noises for fear that Beomgyu might hear through the walls.

It’s a straight up dick pic.
One that makes it clear that Soobin has seen Yeonjun’s selca, and gotten his use out of it.
The picture makes Yeonjun drool, and he tries to ignore the adrenaline now pumping through his body when he should be winding down to sleep.
So instead, he focuses on typing out a reply.

Binnie’s Junebug
> NOW THAT IS DEFINITELY AGAINST THE RULES WITHOUT A DOUBT

THAT IS NOT A PICTURE FRIENDS SEND TO EACH OTHER CHOI SOOBIN

Junie’s Honeybun
> Oops I sent that to the wrong person! My bad!

> Oh I’m so embarrassed how could this happen to me whatever will I do oh noooo!

Binnie’s Junebug
> Soobin I’m

> I’m hard

Junie’s Honeybun
> Wanna do something about it? ;P

Binnie’s Junebug
> YES

> NO

> I’M IN THE HOMESTRETCH YOU CAN’T TRICK ME

Junie’s Honeybun
> Don’t think it’s very friendly to tell me that you’re hard.

Binnie’s Junebug
> DON’T THINK IT’S VERY FRIENDLY TO SEND ME YOUR DICK

Junie’s Honeybun
> I told you, that was an accident.

> Friends accidentally send pics to each other all the time.

> Remember that time you sent that pic of you blindfolded at my feet to Beomgyu?

> It’s like that.

Binnie’s Junebug
> WE ALL AGREED TO NEVER SPEAK ABOUT THAT AGAIN

Junie’s Honeybun
> My point still stands.

Maybe it’s the late night that has Yeonjun’s head spinning, or the heat still simmering in his lower half that makes him finally crack, but he’s had enough.
Enough of this silly game, this unspoken challenge they’ve been playing for the past couple days. He’ll help Beomgyu out to the end, but he’s tired of pretending that he doesn’t love his boyfriend.

Binnie’s Junebug
> Bin-ah

> I miss you so so much, bunny

> God your dick is huge

Junie’s Honeybun
> Well, I WAS feeling all tender at your sudden confession.

Binnie’s Junebug
> I’m just speaking my truth

Junie’s Honeybun
> Is this little competition over, then?

Binnie’s Junebug
> You can’t say I didn’t try, though

> Some would argue that you didn’t even try, what with all your loopholes

Junie’s Honeybun
> I’ll give you that, you put up a good fight.

> But you’ll always be a loser when it comes to me, baby.

> And here’s something sweet for a consolation prize: you make me feel so wanted and loved. The fact I can even be confident in winning a silly game like this against you just shows how much love you’ve poured into me over the years.

> You make me feel like I matter and I can so confidently say that I do, now. I wouldn’t have been able to do that years ago. You’ve made me so confident in your love, you’ve changed me.

> We met in such a silly way, but it changed my life. I hate being apart from you, Junie. I miss you so much, even if it’s a few days.

> You complete me and make me feel whole. I think some people think having a dependent relationship is bad, but I genuinely can’t imagine a world where we didn’t meet and didn’t fall in love.

> You know me, I don’t even care about marriage that much. But I want to marry you. if only to show the world that you’re mine and I’m yours and how much I love you.

Yeonjun hopes his sniffling isn’t heard through Beomgyu’s walls. He wipes his cheeks, holding his phone close to him, the phone screen the only light of the room.
Not that he’s unaware of these feelings of Soobin’s, but being told them makes him emotional every time.
He’s never wished more in his life that he was snuggled up in bed next to Soobin, and for a brief, silly moment, he wonders if he could sneak out of Beomgyu’s apartment to do so.

Binnie’s Junebug
> You KNOW I’m weak, Soobin

> It’s almost 2AM and I’m crying and I’m supposed to wake up tomorrow to do this stupid thing for Beomgyu

Junie’s Honeybun
> Aww, baby…

> You’re so pretty when you cry non-sad tears, though.

> Wish I could be there to kiss them away.

Binnie’s Junebug
> WHY ARE YOU BEING SO MUSHY AFTER JUST BUSTING A NUT YOU’RE SO ANNOYING

> I’m still kinda hard though in fact I might actually be more hard now

Junie’s Honeybun
> In my defense, the nut WAS busted with you on the mind.

> Not too late to do something about your boner. Game’s over, anyway. :P

Binnie’s Junebug
> Beomgyu is like, in the next room over

Junie’s Honeybun
> Better be quiet then, hm?

> Junie’s Honeybun started a call.

“Yeonjun hyung, I’m saying this out of the goodness of my heart as your best friend. You are not the quiet person you want to be. And if you ever do that again in my apartment, you will never step foot in it ever again,” Beomgyu stands menacingly over Yeonjun in much the same way he did the previous morning, except at a reasonable time and without the complimentary coffee. “And I’d still crash your wedding.”

Yeonjun is pretty well-rested after the relief of last night and being allowed to sleep past 6AM, so he sits up and bows his head, “Choi Beomgyu, I deeply apologize for my actions of last night. I had a moment of weakness and it won’t happen again. In here, anyway. And you’re still invited to the wedding, so please don’t crash it.”

“Crashing it does sound fun though,” Beomgyu rolls his eyes, dropping his crossed arms and letting out a sigh.

“I’m starting to think you just want to crash it.”

The late morning does wonders for Yeonjun’s sanity, so he calmly listens as Beomgyu tells him how the date is going to go down over brunch, clearly much more sleep deprived than he is.
“Obviously, you guys don’t have to like, cozy up or whatever, but try to talk together for long enough for me to snap a little picture of you guys getting along,” Beomgyu rambles while sipping at his coffee. “And then- and then, you can shake hands or whatever and agree to never talk about it again or whatever, and then I can tell Taehee noona that it didn’t work out and Taehyunnie will… Taehyunnie will…”

Yeonjun patiently sips his own coffee.
When it seems like Beomgyu won’t finish his thought, Yeonjun prods him, “Yeah, what’s Kang Taehyun supposed to think after all this, anyway? ‘Wow, that was a really weird thing that happened between me and Choi Yeonjun. Anyway.’? Want me to like, put in a good word for you or whatever?”

“No!” Beomgyu slams his coffee mug down a little more forcibly than necessary, “Yes? No, that’s too obvious.”

Yeonjun leans forward over Beomgyu’s kitchen table for emphasis as he says, “Hey, supergenius? You’ve been obvious.”

“Do you think he’s going to hate me forever for this?” Beomgyu groans, rubbing his hands over his face. “Is this going to completely ruin my chances?”

“I think,” Yeonjun finishes his coffee off and stands up to clean their plates for them, clearly the only one capable of doing the chore, on account of Beomgyu being incapacitated by agony. “He’ll think you’re a complete idiot.”

Beomgyu lets out a weak wail.

“Lucky for you, I think he’s into complete idiots.”

“You said Taehyunnie would never fall for you,” Beomgyu pouts pitifully, but Yeonjun can hear the smirk he’s trying to hold back.

Yeonjun considers himself a loyal friend, indeed.

Junie’s Honeybun
> Whatever important thing it is you’re doing with Beomgyu today, I hope you have fun, Junebug.

Binnie’s Junebug
> I fear it will not be

> But I hope you have a good day too, Binnie baby<3

Junie’s Honeybun
> I also have something to go to, so I’ll try to have fun for the both of us.

Binnie’s Junebug
> Oh? What is it? :o

Junie’s Honeybun
> I’ll tell you about it later.

> Talk to you soon, Junie.<3

“D’you lose the competition?” Beomgyu asks, peeking over Yeonjun’s shoulder at his phone as they’re in the car over to the restaurant. “I figured whatever competition it was against Soobin hyung, you’d lose anyway.”

Yeonjun shoves his head away, “Shut up.”

Beomgyu enters the restaurant first, finds a seat in the back and after a couple more minutes, Yeonjun reserves a seat for two.
When he sits down, he heaves a sigh and fidgets with the sleeves of the sweater Beomgyu made him buy. He glances back at Beomgyu, sitting in a corner booth, who subtly gives him a thumbs up.
Yeonjun holds onto the knowledge that after the day is over, he can go home to his boyfriend like a lifeline, the only thing keeping him staying seated at the table while he waits for Kang Taehyun.

When the man of the hour does walk in, he spots Yeonjun instantly and freezes, only briefly, before he cautiously saunters his way towards Yeonjun’s table, like a cat afraid to wake a sleeping dog.
Yeonjun clears his throat when he finally stands over the booth, no doubt staring holes into Yeonjun’s head, which is lowered, unwilling to meet Kang Taehyun’s eyes.

“Hi, Kang Taehyun,” Yeonjun greets him awkwardly, gesturing towards the seat across from him.
He risks a glance in Kang Taehyun’s eyes, but once he finds the deep frown and slightly narrowed eyes, he pulls his eyes back down to the laminated wood of the table.

Kang Taehyun’s welcome greeting is neither welcoming nor as polite as one normally is, “Hi, Yeonjun hyung. I wish you would just call me normally. Are you supposed to be my date?”

“No,” Yeonjun runs his hands over his face, “Yes. Look, I promise you this wasn’t my idea. You know how I am about Soobin.”

“Do I?” Kang Taehyun leans forward a bit, eyes staring into Yeonjun’s even as Yeonjun tries to avoid them. “You’re sitting here with me, presumably because my sister wanted us to date. So you agreed to this.”

Yeonjun feels sweat heating up his neck as he tries to explain, “Okay, okay, I’m not sure if I’m supposed to tell you this, but it’s all fake. It’s all Beomgyu’s stupid idea that I got roped into, you know I would never do that to Soobin.”
Kang Taehyun squints at him, nose slightly scrunching up as he does.
So Yeonjun adds, for good measure, “I love that man more than anything else in the world and if I ever made him upset, I should just bury myself in the ground already. If we ever break up, just assume I died somehow.”

Kang Taehyun lets his glare linger for a few seconds longer before he sits back in his booth with a shrug.
“He wouldn’t move on from you even if you did,” he says casually, like he wasn’t just giving Yeonjun murderous eyes. “So then, what is this all about?”

Yeonjun wonders if he should rat Beomgyu out. He loves Beomgyu of course, and he’s not really keen on breaking his promise to him, but Beomgyu does kind of deserve it.
Besides, Yeonjun is keeping his promise up, right now.
“Beomgyu was too chicken to offer himself up to go on a date with you to your noona so he set me up instead. I only agreed because I was intoxicated and also because I unfortunately love the idiot like a brother.”

A distant yell, “Hyung!!” echoes across the restaurant, and all eyes in the building shoot to Beomgyu, standing up from his corner booth, looking betrayed.
He stomps over to their table pouting and whining all while avoiding Kang Taehyun’s eyes at all costs, as if he were willing the younger to simply not exist in the scene.

Yeonjun’s ready to quell him, but before he can think about it, Kang Taehyun suddenly brings his phone up to his mouth horizontally, as if speaking to someone on speakerphone, and says, “You should probably come in for this, hyung.”

Yeonjun’s registering that exchange along with Beomgyu’s whining to him about trust and plans and honor when Soobin pops into the restaurant and immediately spots the commotion.
Yeonjun shrinks down in his booth seat, hoping the ceiling lamp hanging over their table will melt him into the cracks of the booth.

Soobin approaches the group and calmly takes a seat next to Kang Taehyun while Beomgyu shoves himself into the booth next to Yeonjun, still ranting about betrayal and all the work they’ve built up for this day.
The only thing keeping Yeonjun from leaping onto Soobin in joy is the sheer embarrassment of this entire situation. He knew it would end up this way somehow - well, maybe not with Soobin present - but he still went along with Beomgyu this whole time.
The effect Beomgyu has on his brain has got to be worth studying, he’s sure of it.

“Listen,” Kang Taehyung breathes in before looking at Beomgyu with a patient yet tired expression, “I agreed to this because my sister asked me to and because she said that Beomgyu hyung found someone for me. So I was curious.”

Soobin crosses his arms as he leans forward in his seat towards Yeonjun for emphasis, “And obviously when Taehyunnie told me that, I knew something was up.”
Yeonjun really takes in the architectural design of the booth they’re all sitting in.
“Taehyunnie, being sent off on a date right as Junie tells me that he’s got something important to do that involves us not being together for a short time? With Beomgyu, of all people to boot?”

Yeonjun is pretty sure he and Beomgyu really do look like brothers right now with the way they’re mirroring each other’s kicked-puppy look, like they’ve been caught with their hand in the cookie jar, or even worse, with crumbs around their mouth.

“I really wanted to go on this date,” Beomgyu says quietly, just barely above a whisper, “but I didn’t want things to be weird and I didn’t know if your noona likes me enough to date you.”

“Oh my god, hyung,” Kang Taehyun rolls his eyes, “I love my noona, but who cares about her opinion?! I like you enough to date you!”

Beomgyu’s eyes glisten, jaw dropped open a little at the sudden (or not-so-sudden) confession, before his neck (and probably his ears, if Yeonjun could see them through Beomgyu’s long hair) goes completely red.

Kang Taehyun adds, “I was just going to wait for you to make the move because you still seemed nervous about it, but all this? This is stupid, hyung. Just ask me out, you wimp.”

“Well it’s embarrassing with the audience!” Beomgyu whines, face bright red when he faces Yeonjun. “Get out, you two! This is a private conversation!”

“C’mon, baby,” Soobin slides out of the booth, holding his hand out for Yeonjun. “We’ll go wander around, Taehyunnie. If you need us for any reason, god forbid, just text me.”

Yeonjun scrambles to shove Beomgyu out from the booth’s exit so he can finally, finally slip his hand into Soobin’s big, warm hand.
As they’re leaving the restaurant, Yeonjun catches Beomgyu furiously nodding as Taehyun tells him something before the door closes.

He walks hand-in-hand with Soobin for a while, just wandering around the downtown area where the restaurant is located, window-shopping in the display windows of shops and bakeries.
He finally feels like he can relax after the past few days, squeezing Soobin’s hand and entwining their fingers.
“Hey, I’m really sorry about all this, Binnie,” Yeonjun finally mutters as they’re strolling through a small park.

Soobin snorts a little, holding their bundle of hands and planting a kiss on the back of Yeonjun’s.
“It was kinda fun, teasing you,” he admits, pressing another kiss to Yeonjun’s knuckles. “I did miss you a lot, though.”

“God, Soobin, the only thing I thought about was you,” Yeonjun huddles close to Soobin, pressing his head into the crook of Soobin’s neck despite how awkward it is to walk with the position. “I missed you so much, bunny.”

“Then don’t do it again,” Soobin huffs, using his free hand to lightly flick Yeonjun’s nose, “silly fox.”

Yeonjun giggles, feeling all his emotions and longing for Soobin bubbling up and he stops them in the middle of the path so he can lean forward and press a deep kiss to Soobin’s lips.
It feels warm, rejuvenating, and healing. It feels like home.
Soobin wraps his arms around Yeonjun’s waist pulling him closer, however closer he can possibly get them.
Even after they part, they press their foreheads together and just drink in each other’s breath, as though they’d never breathe any other air ever again.

“You think those two are gonna finally date?” Yeonjun whispers between them, a little breathless from being this close to Soobin, as if Soobin had never held him so close before.

“If they’re not dating after this whole thing, I think we’d be justified in kicking Beomgyu’s ass,” Soobin chuckles, breaking their forehead contact only to press a kiss to Yeonjun’s.

“I definitely agree on that. Hey, we agree on a lot of things, we should like, date or something,” Yeonjun says coyly, batting his eyelashes intently and tucking his hair behind his ear in exaggerated shyness.

Soobin rolls his eyes, ruffling Yeonjun’s hair.
“Let’s get engaged instead. Like, next month.”

Yeonjun chuckles before he lets the words fully sink in and he blinks up at Soobin, eyes wide and cheeks surely a little flushed.
“Wait, like seriously? For real? You want to? You’re ready? You seriously want to?” he asks over and over, as if Soobin would suddenly take it back.

“Yeah,” Soobin says, pressing a kiss to Yeonjun’s cheek, “let’s just say I was inspired. Let’s pick out some rings together next week.”

Yeonjun suddenly feels a sting in his eyes and after just a couple of blinks, it comes spilling over onto his cheeks.
“Soobin, I love you so much,” he murmurs between his sniffling, “So, so much. I’m so lucky.”

Soobin just kisses his cheeks, his eyes, his head, his lips over and over and over.
“Now, you can’t break up with me, even in fake scenarios.”

BAMgyu
> GUESS WHO GOT HIMSELF A BOYFRIEND TODAY

> landed myself my crush of like five years and what did YOU do huh >:PP

Binnie’s Junebug
> I’m getting engaged lol

BAMgyu
> WHAT.

> DON’T SHOW ME UP WHAT THE FUCK?????

Binnie’s Junebug
> I’m keeping this outfit too :P

BAMgyu
> YOU DON’T EVEN LIKE THAT OUTFIT

Binnie’s Junebug
> But it’ll look great on the floor of our bedroom after Soobin takes it off me<3

BAMgyu
> SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU NASTY ASS

> AND CONGRATS????? I GUESS

Binnie’s Junebug
> Congrats to you too and your welcome

BAMgyu
> YOU DIDN’T DO ANYTHING??

> NO LIKE LITERALLY YOU DID NOTHING TO HELP ME TODAY

Binnie’s Junebug
> And now you have a boyfriend and I’m getting engaged???

> So you’re welcome

BAMgyu
> …

> you’re DEFINITELY not invited to me and tyunnie’s future wedding