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A big sucker for all things sweet, Taehyun was drinking passion fruit juice.
It was the thin line between fresh and sickly that drew to him; the sticky on his fingers and the aftertaste that left him licking his lips afterwards for hours on end; he loved the summertime. Summertime Tour In Manila, current title for his present day, was proving to be quite lovable, too. They’d had a hectic day yesterday, messy airport business, then a hectic morning today, messy rehearsal business, but at five PM on the dot the manager had smiled and sighed and said, “You guys are free to do whatever,” and so to do whatever off they went. They, the members, had played a shortlived game of pool in the hotel’s bar with a few of their staff, and now they’d all migrated to the cold outdoors pool, complimentary drinks, hot summer air, and Taehyun and his passion fruit juice were sitting pretty in the little lounge chair after a relaxing hour of splashing around.
The pool area was beautiful, a paradise of red brick and white marbled cornerstones, and tall red palm trees rocked soothingly as they towered over the hotel, the last sun rays of the afternoon trickling through like gold. Taehyun didn’t care much for scenery, usually too tired to snoop around, but this, he thought, as he slurped out some more of his drink, was, in fact, pretty nice.
Suddenly, a drop of water tickled his shin, and Taehyun looked up to a disheveled Beomgyu, who had stepped out of the pool dripping water and was now sitting by the feet of his loungechair. Beomgyu, hyper, on the opposite end of relaxation, had spent the better part of the hour trying to sink Soobin and pestering their manager to join them in the pool, and the sun had vapored his white skin into soft reds and pinks that his stylist would attempt to correct with copious amounts of foundation. His naked chest rose and fell in exhaustion due to swimming, wet bangs stuck to his forehead like algae, a devilish glint always present in his eyes. Taehyun moved his feet to acommodate him, looking up. “Where’s your towel? Want me to go get you one?”
“No, thank you.” Beomgyu exhaled through his nose, smiling, looking back at the pool where Soobin and Kai were splashing Yeonjun amidst loud laughing. The pool area was sprinkled with people, a comforting hum of human conversation that floated to them in the lounge chairs area. Kai shrieked as Yeonjun attempted to chase him in the water.
Taehyun chuckled too, looking back down at his phone to the text he was sending. Time-zones, texts, time just seemed to fly away so quickly. He felt a wet hand on his knee and quickly recoiled, swatting Beomgyu away. “Go back to the pool, they’ll close it down soon.”
“How would you know? You weren’t even there when they told us the pool schedules,” Beomgyu argued, flicking a finger to his thigh, and Taehyun shrugged. He felt Beomgyu’s gaze on him, tilted sideways like a cat. “Aren’t you gonna go back in?”
“No, I’m tired. Just gonna sit here for a while and then I’m gonna go sleep.”
He kept typing away on his phone, vaguely aware of Beomgyu people-watching and Yeonjun’s cries of betrayal by the pool. The weather had been insufferably hot every single second they’d spent in Manila, but today it seemed to have given them a few hours of grace, as clouds had lowered for the sunset and the sky was a peaceful blueish gray, light dimming by the minute, the wind carefully blowing on the tall palm trees, swatting Taehyun’s hair around.
“Hey, Taehyun, I was thinking,” Beomgyu piped up, and a louder splash was heard from the pool as Yeonjun was thrown in a cannonball towards the other end.
“Mmh.”
“Can I give you a kiss?”
Taehyun didn’t even bother to look up at him, onto his next phone task, opening his email app and deleting spam. “It’s a mission? I didn’t know we were filming today.”
“No, it’s not a mission.” He paused, and the sound around them seemed to swallow his voice. The wind hit the cold spot where Beomgyu had wet Taehyun with water. “It’s not a mission. I just wanted to.”
“You wanted to give me a kiss?” Taehyun clarified, and Beomgyu nodded, resting his weight on one arm. Taehyun shrugged, leaning forward and tilting his face so that Beomgyu had better access to his cheek.“Okay, do it.”
“Not there,” Beomgyu said, smiling, and Taehyun leaned back into the chair, looking at him, waiting for more explanation. But Beomgyu offered none, so Taehyun went back to his phone.
Beomgyu stood up a few minutes later, when the sky had nearly fully darkened, stretching his hands over his head, and Taehyun watched him. He was entrancing to watch, not for any particular reason, Taehyun didn’t think. He could count his ribs from where they stuck out his chest. His black hair stuck wet to his forehead. His lips were swollen with pool water.
“Later, can i stop by your room?” Beomgyu asked, picking up his flip flops.
“What for?”
“To kiss you.”
Taehyun scoffed. Beomgyu laughed.
“No, don’t come.”
“But you said ‘okay’ earlier.”
“Mmh.”
“I’ll stop by later.”
“Mmh.”
He left, and Taehyun stayed in the lounge chair, scrolling on his phone, until Kai and Soobin announced they were leaving to play computer games in Soobin’s room, and Yeonjun went off to the buffet to grab some more fish. Taehyun went with him, ate two servings of some unknown pink salad (which turned out to be an absolutely delicious entreè), and they parted ways outside the elevator hall when Yeonjun left to their manager’s room to go over tomorrow’s schedule.
Taehyun went back to the room he shared with Kai, second floor, bumping into a few members of their staff and exchanging polite greetings as he found his door and unlocked the key. Inside was a pristine image of a hotel room, save the four disfigured bags of luggage sprawled on the rug floor; they hadn’t even had time ro sit on the beds, Taehyun thought with a chuckle as he dried his damp pool hair with his towel and headed straight for the bathroom’s shower.
He had tanned in the two hours of swimming they had done, he noticed in the mirror, skin a shade cinnamon, neck blushed in places. His face welcomed a new freckle under his left eye, and yeah, it was a freckle, he rubbed it hard to make sure it wasn’t dirt. Stylist was not going to be happy. And now his cheek was rubbed red.
He showered slowly, humming the intro tune to a random reality show, hot steam caressing his body in all the right places, purple shampoo tickling his scalp. He looked like a little baked tomato when he walked out of the shower, skin flushed pink, droplets of water riveting muscle. Taehyun loved showering at hotels at night; there was just some coziness to it that creased his cheeks into a soft smile, made him want to snuggle into a blanket and dream sweet dreams. Something about being here and not being here, the eerieness of being in a new, unknown place, feeling like he could walk out of the bathroom and never know what he was going to find.
As he walked out of the bathroom, he found Beomgyu sitting on his bed.
He’d showered too and changed into a cotton shirt and shorts, hair blowdried and poofy framing his face, and he smiled as Taehyun stopped at the bathroom’s doorway. He had this energy to him, some restlessness to his limbs that was usually not there, a strange glint in his eye that Taehyun couldn’t put his finger on.
“You showered," Beomgyu noted, neutral, and then he grinned. His teeth were sharp around the edges.
“Well, yeah,” Taehyun said, pausing, and then resuming the beeline to his bag where he began to dig for clothes. He felt Beomgyu’s eyes boring into his back but brushed them off, adjusting his waist towel. “How did you get inside? Did I leave the door open?”
“No, Kai gave me his key. Him and Soobin-hyung are playing Valorant in our room. Mirrored the thing onto our TV and all.” Taehyun hummed in response, fishing a pair of underwear and now searching for a shirt that didn’t stink beyond repair. He really needed to do laundry soon. It was incredible, he huffed again, how did tasks just keep piling up? Beomgyu kept talking, looking up at the ceiling fan, “I don’t even know how they got the game. The mobile version is only like, an APK from the closed beta, and the beta was only rolled out in China like, last week.”
“Sure.”
Taehyun went back to the bathroom to change, a white shirt and a pair of gray shorts that mirrored Beomgyu’s, and only when he went back out did he notice the bottle of gin propped on the night stand. A tall, pretty thing, black glass reflecting off all the yellow ceiling lights, almost enchanting in its twinkling.
Beomgyu was sitting on the edge of the bed. He was just staring at him.
“You brought it? The gin?”
“Yeah. We had a complimentary one in our room but it was one of the tiny ones. I bought this one from the bar earlier with Jisoo-hyung.”
Taehyun stared right back at him, but Beomgyu didn’t sink under his gaze (truth be told, he never had, but one could never stop trying.)
Beomgyu titled his head like a cat, instead, “It was cheaper than I thought.”
“Mmh.” Taehyun said, and he stood, by the edge of the bed, his foot a foot from Beomgyu’s. Beomgyu shrugged, and Taehyun shrugged too, sitting down on the comforter and reaching over to pour them glasses.
Beomgyu tucked his feet under himself, humming contentedly in tune with the ceiling fan, and they clinked their cups together for the first shot.
“Jjan!”
“I didn’t think you’d actually come to my room,” Taehyun commented, feeling his throat burn pleasantly as he downed the gin, exhaling out his nose. Gin wasn’t really his favorite, but every time he tried it it tickled him a new way. He exhaled again, through his teeth.
Beomgyu clicked his tongue, seemly going through the same sensation, and he leaned back into the bed, crossing his ankles. “I told you I’d stop by, though. You don’t believe my promises?” he said, faking a pout, and Taehyun gave a blank stare. Beomgyu laughed, and they downed a second shot of gin. And then a third, a few minutes later.
“Ah, I should’ve brought this to the pool. It would’ve been so nice. The air here is almost too hot.”
“Almost,” Taehyun mumbled, shaking his head, and he reclined his weight on his hands, leaning back. He had swallowed too quickly and bile was threatening to climb up his throat. The bed’s comforter was so thick it felt like it would eat his fingers. “Taking drinks to the pool is against hotel policy, anyways. They had a sign by the gate that said so in English.”
“Hm, how do you always know everything, everywhere?” Beomgyu laid back on the bed, his weight swallowing Taehyun up to the left as he sank into the plump mattress. Taehyun’s toes felt hot, now, and he looked back at Beomgyu, who was staring at the ceiling again, like it had countless secrets hidden away from him.
Beomgyu had that vacation look to him always, somehow, a thin screen of sweat over white skin, cheeks pink, body exhuming heat, like a hearth. His knees were just always so rosy, his hair always disheveled in just the way. Or maybe it was just the alcohol, Taehyun shrugged internally, considering, and Beomgyu looked to him, childish in his features, eyes crinkling in half moons.
Taehyun stayed in silence for a minute, contemplating Beomgyu as Beomgyu let himself be contemplated, and then Beomgyu stretched his toes, and with his hand he lightly touched Taehyun’s lower back.
“Can I kiss you, now?” Beomgyu asked, and Taehyun stared some more. How did he always say the wrong things, all the time?
“Again with that?” he said, and Beomgyu sat up, his hand trailing up to the middle of Taehyun’s spine. “You didn’t want to kiss my cheek. I thought it was a mission.”
“I told you it wasn’t,” Beomgyu said, chuckling, and Taehyun felt a thumb caressing his back, like a little moth. Beomgyu tilted his head again, teasing. “Why don’t you believe anything I tell you? It’s upsetting.”
“I do believe what you tell me. But you also talk a lot of nonsense.” Taehyun found himself in Beomgyu’s space, answering to gravity, his left ear going into a temporal tinnitus as he swallowed to relieve pressure. He placed a hand on Beomgyu’s thigh, a protective gesture….towards who?. Why was his skin so hot? “I think we shouldn’t drink more gin.”
“I suppose,” Beomgyu agreed, and he stared at Taehyun much like Taehyun had done earlier, pupils unfocusing, and Taehyun thought to himself that he probably hadn’t looked like that, so far gone, lips half open and eyes heavy lidded. God, Beomgyu had such pretty lashes. Taehyun’s neck started to heat up, gin climbing to his head in heaps, scratching, crawling, and he blew out air, fanning his face with his hand.
“Taehyun. If I kiss you one time.”
“Why?”
“I just want to.“
“Just do it, hyung. I don’t understand why you’re asking.”
Beomgyu shrugged, and Taehyun shrugged back, and Beomgyu softly picked up Taehyun’s hand from his thigh and pressed his mouth to it. And then why was it that time slowed, stop, like a yellow light? Fizzling, fizzling. Taehyun was suddenly dizzy, and he shrugged. Beomgyu‘s lips left his hand. “Wasn’t so hard.”
“I suppose, too.” They drank two more shots, in silence, by when Taehyun pushed the bottle away from them, for good. The ceiling fan had done more rotations than the clock on the table.
Beomgyu’s body heat pressed against him from where their thighs touched, and Taehyun was too dizzy by now to understand anything when his glass was being pulled away from him. Beomgyu had long fingers. “Come here, give me that.”
Beomgyu placed both cups on the bedside table, their clinking sounds against the wood the only audible thing, and then turned back to Taehyun, placing a hand on his thigh. The other one rubbing his forearm. His skin was burning. Whose skin?
“Hyung, I have to go dry my hair,” was the only words that came to Taehyun’s mouth, like a warning, like an alarm, his brain suddenly entranced by the soft feeling of the pads of Beomgyu’s fingers rubbing on his arm, the hairs on his neck standing up, whole body a jelly.
But Beomgyu chuckled with a pout, his hand then going to lightly caress Taehyun’s still damp hair. It felt like electricity. “It looks so pretty like this, though.” He pressed his hand further, fingers slowly tracing his scalp, over, back. “There’s no need.”
“What are you doing?” Taehyun whispered, so, so confused, involuntarily leaning his head into Beomgyu’s hand, his eyelids threatening to flutter shut at how pleasant it was. Beomgyu paid no mind, and Taehyun looked at him more urgently, wishing he’d make eye contact. “Hyung, what are you doing? What are you doing?”
“I just thought we could have fun,” Beomgyu said sheepishly, his voice dropping down a serious note, and he looked at Taehyun, his features hardening into a stare. His hand kept deliciously rubbing circles into Taehyun’s scalp. Taehyun tried so hard to follow his train of thought.
“I…I want to kiss you in the mouth, Taehyun. Please let me.”
“In the mouth,” Taehyun repeated, and he almost let out an embarrassing whimper when Beomgyu pulled at a strand of his hair. He blinked hard a few times, attempting to sober up, shaking off Beomgyu, feeling like his touch burned. The world swam away in front of his eyeballs. “But. I don’t-What?”
“I thought it would be fun.”
“Fun? What? Fun?” Taehyun asked and Beomgyu touched his forearm again, shyly, and he thought he saw stars. Jesus. No more gin for either of them. He grabbed onto Beomgyu’s wrist, trying to ground himself. He felt pulse under the skin. “How could it be fun?”
“I just want to,” was all Beomgyu said, and he giggled, drunkenly, leaning into Taehyun’s space. Taehyun shook his head once, twice, and Beomgyu stopped, obedient. “Sorry.”
“No, it’s just.” he started, and he couldn’t say anything else, and Beomgyu caressed his thigh in silence, thumb rubbing circles into his skin, fan rubbing circles into the air. Taehyun breathed in, and breathed out. “You’re saying all these things. What am I supposed to think.”
“You don’t have to think anything.”
Beomgyu smiled, like he had said the most notable sentence, and Taehyun noticed he was still holding onto his wrist. “Just tell me what you like. I’ll do it for you.”
“I liked it when you pet my head,” Taehyun’s mouth added without consulting him, and Beomgyu’s hand immediately went back to massaging his scalp. Taehyun bit down on his tongue, hard, moving away. “No, what? No, hyung, no. You’re not thinking straight. You’ll regret this. You don’t want to kiss me.”
“But I do. Taehyuni. We’re on tour. I just want to have fun. Taehyun,” Beomgyu said, voice shy, and his eyes were like a deer. Taehyun stared at him, startled by his own name like a siren, and Beomgyu met his stare right back. His lips were red. He had a mole under his nose. “Taehyun.”
“Hyung,” Taehyun answered, helpless, and Beomgyu squeezed his thigh softly. Taehyun whined, startling in surprise, and he grabbed Beomgyu’s hand away from his leg, looping the fingers with his own and squeezing, “Hyung, listen to me. God. Hyung. You don’t want this.”
“I don’t want ‘this’. I want you,” Beomgyu answered, simply, and Taehyun knew him. He knew how he sounded when he had a nightmare and he knew the voice he made when he spoke on the phone and he knew the voice he made when he was lying, and maybe Beomgyu was right, because Taehyun knew everything, everywhere, and he knew Beomgyu was not lying.
He took a deep breath, brain foggy, eyesight swimming, and Beomgyu waited patiently, hands at bay, eyes puffy, face sleepy. He looked like a fairy. Taehyun raised a hand to his cheek, feeling his clean shave tickle, and he ran his fingers through the hair on his nape.
Why did he know exactly how it was going to feel before he touched him? Why did he know everything about Beomgyu, save his mouth?
Beomgyu sat still, letting himself be touched, observant eyes watching Taehyun like a dove. Like a saint.
“Alright. I. Okay.”
Beomgyu nodded, once, twice, and Taehyun nodded back, once, twice, five times, “Yes? Taehyun? Yes?” and Taehyun’s mouth said,“Yeah, okay, please,” and Beomgyu smiled sweetly and his fingers went to hold Taehyun’s chin so, so softly and Taehyun’s little heart was beating out of his goddamn ribs as Beomgyu leaned in. His breath smelled like toothpaste.
Beomgyu kissed him. Taehyun’s eyes fluttered shut, tilting his head, hand holding onto Beomgyu’s, and Beomgyu kissed him, sweetly, dearly, their lips fitting together just clumsily so. It was simple, like a familiar puzzle you haven’t put together in a long time. It just fit.
Beomgyu broke the kiss not an inch, hot breath that Taehyun drank, and he leaned back in to kiss the corner of his mouth, and then the arch of his cupid’s bow, and he peppered Taehyun’s mouth with soft kisses, like he were to eat him. Taehyun gasped softly, struggling to breathe. “Jesus.”
He opened his eyes, dazed, and Beomgyu kissed him again, mouth open, hand sliding down to the back of his neck, pulling him close, giving him shivers. And Taehyun just let himself be pulled, every inch of his skin hot, mouth wet, stomach churning for more.
They pulled apart again, gasping. Taehyun breathed out through his nose. “Shit. That was weird.”
“I know,” Beomgyu agreed, but neither of them was looking up, gazes fixated on lips, hungry, fan humming as if in swirls of wish. Taehyun inhaled, then exhaled, then looked up at Beomgyu’s eyes, then back at his lips. They were so pretty. They felt so good.
“We shouldn’t do this, I don’t think,” he said, in a whisper, fearing if he said it louder it would sound like he meant it. Beomgyu shook his head, bangs feathery over his eyes, hand warm against the nape of Taehyun’s neck, his pulse beating through like a water current. Drum, drum, drum.
“You’re being so good, though,” Beomgyu said, voice husky, and Taehyun shivered. Beomgyu leaned in and pecked his cheek, lovingly, “So sweet under my fingers.”
“Hyung. We shouldn’t. Hyung,” Taehyun warned, voice low, and Beomgyu kissed him again, melting him. He could eat him. “Hyung.”
“Yes?”
“We shouldn’t.”
“Why not? We worked so hard today, didn’t we? Doesn’t this feel nice?” Taehyun shut up, and Beomgyu kissed his jaw, “Taehyun?”
Beomgyu kissed his mouth, biting into Taehyun’s lower lip, and Taehyun completely forgot what he wanted to think, hands tightening into fists, knuckles white. “Hyung, I-“
“Yeah?”
“I. This is… weird,” he said, finally, and Beomgyu hummed, sitting back for a second, staring his face up and down, cheeks flushed. He shrugged, absentmindedly fixing Taehyun’s bangs, giving Taehyun a second to regain his breath and slow down his heart. Taehyun sat, looking down at his lap, picking at thread in his shorts. The fan sounded louder. “Feels weird.”
“A little.” Beomgyu lifted a hand to Taehyun’s waist, hesitating on what to do next when Taehyun didn’t push him away. He brushed his thumb over his skin reassuringly, patiently. “Do you wanna stop?”
“...No.”
“Whatever you want.”
“Whatever you want, hyung.”
Beomgyu leaned in, asking for permission, and when Taehyun nodded he pressed an open mouth kiss on the edge of his jaw, clean shave scratching his own. Taehyun let out an exhale. “Does this feel good?”
“Mmh.” Taehyun hummed, and Beomgyu did it again, pressing his body closer. They shifted together, hands floating, movements uncertain. “Yeah. I like that.”
“Hmm.” Beomgyu kept kissing him slowly, coaxing him comfortable, molding him to his shape like clay, and Taehyun relaxed, sighing, reaching out tentatively to Beomgyu’s arm. He circled his wrist with his fingers, tracing muscle, feeling Beomgyu hum in content at the touch.
“You’re so thin these days,” Taehyun mumbled, a frown over his eyelashes, and he closed his eyes again as Beomgyu’s hand resumed entrancing circles on his waist, the other caressing his arm. “Please, hyung, could you—“
“Yeah?”
“Do you think you could hold my face?” he said, self consciously, and Beomgyu followed, humming, hand fluttering to the edge of his jaw. “Thank you.”
“You like me holding your face?”
“Yeah, I don’t know.”
“It’s okay.” Beomgyu kissed his chin, then his mouth, and Taehyun felt okay about it, then. “I actually like holding your face.”
Taehyun laughed, taken aback, lightly slapping Beomgyu’s wrist. “That’s so embarrassing. Don’t say that ever again.”
Beomgyu stuck his tongue out, pressing Taehyun’s cheeks together with his hand. “You’re embarrassing. Now stop talking. I’m gonna kiss your mouth.”
“Okay.”
He leaned in again, and Taehyun couldn’t help laugh, smiling against Beomgyu’s lips as they resumed. Beomgyu chuckled, too, but then his chuckle was cut by a gasp when Taehyun bit down onto his upper lip, teeth grazing his tongue, pulse quickening. He kissed him long, tongue deep inside his mouth like he wanted another shot of the gin, and Beomgyu’s hands tightened on his waist, squeezing the thin cotton fabric.
Taehyun inhaled, dizzy, chest hot, not knowing what to do with himself as Beomgyu held him. He reached out a hand to Beomgyu’s knee, softly, “Can I touch you here?”
“Yeah,” and Taehyun quietly let his thumb run shapes along Beomgyu’s thigh, feeling Beomgyu’s pulse quicken where his fingers held his face, and this time Taehyun leaned in, kissing Beomgyu’s mouth sweetly.
Beomgyu looked up, surprised, his eyes big like a doe, and Taehyun couldn’t help but chuckle, tenderness blooming in his ribs. “Hi.”
“Cheesy.”
Taehyun kissed him again, pushing him further into the bed, leaning into Beomgyu’s space like he needed to inhale him, and Beomgyu let out a whimper in response, the most delicious sound, dropping down to his elbows. Taehyun pressed into his shape, needing to feel the frame of his body. “Hyung.”
“Yeah?”
He didn’t even know what he was going to say. “No, nothing,” the words caught in his throat, too blunt, suddenly, and Beomgyu’s eyes turned kind, stroking his cheek, nodding in reassurance.
“Tell me,” he said, and Taehyun sighed, placing a hand on the mattress to support himself from where he was leaning over Beomgyu.
“I want to touch you,” he mumbled, and Beomgyu nodded again, pulling him closer, biting down on his own lip.
“Okay. Do you think that…? Do you wanna stop and talk about this again tomorrow?” Taehyun shook his head, and Beomgyu pursed his lips in thought. “You’re drunk, Taehyun.”
“I’m not doing anything I don’t want,” Taehyun argued, softly, and Beomgyu smiled at the crinkles of his eyes. “Are you? Are you doing something you don’t want?”
“I’m doing something that I wanted really badly,” Beomgyu confessed, and Taehyun leaned more of his weight into him, pushing him to lay on the bed. He hovered above Beomgyu, staring into his eyes, patiently watching him. Beomgyu stared back too, blinking in long lashes, black hair fanned around his face like a halo, skin flushed and rosy, lips shiny.
“I want you too, I think,” Taehyun said, and after Beomgyu smiled he leaned down to kiss him.
Beomgyu reached out to hug his waist, pulling him tighter. The new position made it more intimate, and Taehyun crawled to support himself on his elbows to the sides of Beomgyu’s head, kissing him slowly, slowly, like he was drinking him. He pushed, experimentally, his leg down on Beomgyu’s crotch, and Beomgyu hummed, pushing his hips up against him. “That’s good.”
“Yeah?” Taehyun breathed out, and he pushed again, Beomgyu exhaling a quiet whine. He grinded his hips down, slowly, feeling his stomach twist, and Beomgyu met him halfway. It was strange how strange it wasn’t. Why did Taehyun know the sounds he would make? And he was so lovely. “I think, okay. You were right. I don’t want to.”
Beomgyu froze instantly, hands going limp around Taehyun’s waist, and Taehyun shook his head quickly, “No, I meant, I don’t want to do anything new until we’re sober. That’s okay?”
“Yeah. Of course,” Beomgyu said, nodding, offering a smile, and Taehyun laughed, going to peck his lips once as he dropped his weight down on Beomgyu, curling up over him and hiding his face on his neck.
“You’re so serious about it. Thank you,” he said, genuinely meaning it, and he heard Beomgyu hum, hugging his arms around him, looking up at the ceiling fan that softly, slowly ticked away time that didn’t exist. “I think it’ll be better that way.”
“Me too.”
“But you can keep touching my waist if you want,” he mumbled, and Beomgyu laughed at him, caught off guard, twisting his face to kiss him.
“You like me holding your face and your waist too?” he said, and Taehyun cringed, letting Beomgyu laugh. “Unbelievable.”
“You like holding my waist so I just thought to indulge you. Free market. Supply and demand.”
“Smartass.”
“No, you.”
“That’s a compliment.”
“You are a smart ass because you were right again, earlier.”
“With what?”
“That, well. This is kinda fun.”
They made eye contact for a second, then burst out laughing, awkwardness popping away in bubbles, and then they kept kissing, bodies relaxed with alcohol, softly curling into eachother like long known lovers and love, time stretching on in long waves. Taehyun liked kissing Beomgyu, he found out, and he kissed his cheek, and his nose, and his jaw, and Beomgyu stayed still like a little docile pet, eyes fluttering close, lulling himself to sleep with Taehyun kissing him all over. Taehyun nuzzled his face into his shoulder, feeling sleepy, “You smell good, hyung.”
“Hm.” Beomgyu wrapped his arms around his torso, resting his chin on Taehyun’s shoulder. “I like this, I think.”
“Me too,” Taehyun said, truthfully, and he pulled back to kiss the close eyed smile that bloomed on Beomgyu’s face. He yawned, limbs suddenly heavier, surprised, “We should stop soon, though.”
“Yeah...” Beomgyu opened his eyes, urgently staring into Taehyun’s, hands clinging softly still onto Taehyun’s waist. Taehyun looked at him, patiently. “Can we talk tomorrow? About some things.”
“Sure. I’d like that.”
They kissed, one more time, and then Taehyun slowly untangled himself from Beomgyu’s limbs, taking more time because of the alcohol (and maybe, maybe, because of other reasons). Beomgyu stood up, stretching his arms over his head, and Taehyun waved him goodbye. “I did have fun, hyung. Thank you.”
Beomgyu looked at him like he was ridiculous and laughed, and Taehyun grinned in embarrassment, “God, don’t say it like that. I had fun too.”
“Get to your room okay. Text me. And tell Kai to hurry back.”
“I will. Bye, bye, Taehyunnie.”
“Goodnight, Beomgyu.”
Beomgyu left the room, and Taehyun and his beating heart were alone again in the little hotel bed. He touched his face where Beomgyu had kissed (everywhere, hadn’t he kissed everywhere) and after doing his skin routine and tidying up his stuff, he went to bed, smile perpetually glued to his face, cheeks warm, heartbeat content.
Wasn’t he so loved?
9:47pm (!) 8 new texts
beomgyu hyung: “i got to my room okay.”
beomgyu hyung: “kai is on his way back too. he said i smell like you and it freaks him out”
beomgyu hyung: “thank you taehyun”
beomgyu hyung: “lets talk tomorrowwww. with no alcohol?”
beomgyu hyung: “i like you a lot. i think”
beomgyu hyung: “wait sorry, i was gonna say that tomorrow. when we talked. dont read the message”
beomgyu hyung: “this is embarrassing. okay i will go sleep.”
“goodnight !!”