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Podfic version 1 (original 1.5k)
Podfic Version 2 (updated 1.8k)
“Hey, remember when you were collecting people and posting pictures of them on Twitter?” Dunk asks out of the blue.
Dunk is spread across the couch with his head on Joong’s lap. They were both relaxing after a tiring day, exciting but tiring. They had just completed the first workshop for their new series, The Heart Killers, that would hopefully start filming sometime in July.
Dunk had just been idly scrolling through his Twitter fyp on his phone and found a thread of Joong’s collection. It had really gotten quite long. However, someone was missing from the thread... He'd known, peripherally, that it hadn't been posted, but now he couldn't help but question it.
“Yeah, of course. That was really fun,” Joong smiles widely as he remembers. “Watching First get possessive when I tried to collect Khaotung was adorable. They weren't even together. I am glad they sorted that out.” Joong laughs, and Dunk can't help but grin back as he looks up at Joong's joyful face.
“You collected me, but you never posted the pictures,” Dunk uses a slightly whining tone of voice and looks up at Joong with a pout. “Wasn't the photo good enough? Did you need another one?” Dunk asks, still pouting.
“Umm, ahah. Well... the photos were fine.” Joong awkwardly laughs and then leans down to kiss Dunk's forehead. Dunk's skin tingles from where the lips were pressed to him.
“You got any plans for tomorrow?” The question is an ill-disguised and unsuccessful attempt to distract Dunk; just as the kiss on his forehead was also meant to distract him.
“Joooong,” Dunk whines and moves to sit up. He wants to face Joong properly to complain. Joong holds him in place on his lap, and Dunk glares up at him still with a pout.
Joong sighs. He takes a deep breath before speaking. “Do you want to look at the pictures?” He eventually asks. Dunk nods and holds up his hand for the phone. His own phone lies forgotten on his chest.
Joong blushes a little but hands over the phone.
Dunk unlocks the phone and then opens the photo app. He scrolls through the images; he is surprised about the sheer volume of candid pictures of him he has to scroll through to get to May.
“Aha! Here they are,” he looks closely through the photographs Joong took of their friends; eventually, he finds the shots of himself; there are multiple pictures, and they all look good. He looks at them with a pleased expression; Joong had clearly taken care in getting good angles. Looking at them all, he notices one that's edited with text and emojis. He frowns and selects it. Joong's legs suddenly tense under him, and he pulls the phone from Dunk's hand, turning it over to see what is on the screen.
Joong's eyes widen, “Did you read it?” He asks quickly with a note of panic.
“Not really, all I saw was narak written a few times. Why? What else did you write?” Dunk reaches up to the phone, but Joong moves it away, an awkward and embarrassed expression on his face. His ears are beginning to turn red.
“It's... It's nothing…” Joong stutters. He falls silent and then thinks seriously for a moment.
“Okay, so, I didn't post the pictures of you because the caption I wanted to use wouldn't have worked, and I didn't want to use any other caption." Joong concedes something so that Dunk will leave his phone alone, then he breathes deeply before continuing, "Can we please not talk further on this?” His words are sincere and his face serious, it’s a request that carries too much weight for Dunk to realistically refuse.
“Ahh fine, okay. No more on this topic.” Dunk pouts but gives in unhappily, not wanting to push Joong past his limit.
Joong looks gratefully at him, glad to have settled the topic. He pats Dunk on the head, his hand brushing through Dunk’s hair in a way that gives Dunk pleasant tingles. He continues to card his fingers through it for a few seconds, and Dunk smiles lightly, picking up his phone off his chest.
They return to their previous comfortable state on the couch. Dunk adjusts his head and legs to be more comfortable as he scrolls through his phone. However, Dunk's curiosity about the photo that Joong edited remains at the forefront of his thoughts.
Later that night, Joong leaves his phone on the table to go to the bathroom, and Dunk stares at it momentarily before picking it up. He types in the password and then stops. Joong trusts him; he doesn't want to ruin things between them. They're not even together, and doing this could easily break the trust they have as friends. He knows that Joong has left him alone with his phone multiple times. However, taking his phone and doing something Joong specifically didn't want Dunk to do, is probably a step too far.
He puts the phone back down and crosses his arms as he stares at it with annoyance. He hears a noise and looks up to see Joong re-entering the room.
“If we were dating... would you let me see that photo you edited?” Dunk's words catch up to his brain a second after he speaks them, and his mouth drops open in shock. He stares blankly for a moment, then pinches himself. Shit, this is reality, he just said that to Joong.
Dunk closes his mouth but can’t think of anything to say. He swallows and looks up at Joong, whose head is tilted slightly. He is staring at Dunk with an analysing expression.
“Open it.” He finally says after a long silence. Dunk doesn’t move, so Joong moves forward and picks up his phone to hand to Dunk.
Dunk hesitantly takes the phone from Joong and unlocks it. He finds his way back to the photos and searches through the photos again to find the one of him that Joong had made special additions to.
There’s a nervous hitch in Joong’s breathing, and Dunk hears the sudden absence of breathing from behind him when he selects the edited photo. Joong holds his breath as he waits for Dunk to read the words on the screen.
My boyfriend is the cutest of them all jyulhbhjyftrf.
The line below says:
I wish he would be my boyfriend for real.
Dunk stares briefly at the words before standing quickly and spinning to face Joong, who is waiting nervously. Dunk reaches out and cradles Joong’s face from under his chin, similar to how Joong collected everyone. However, instead of taking a picture, he leans forward while slightly pulling Joong’s face towards his.
“Okay,” he says softly, his breath mingling with Joong’s now slightly ragged breathing. He leans forward the final few centimetres and kisses Joong’s mouth softly.
“I can grant that wish,” he says against Joong’s warm lips.
Joong’s happy smile stretches across his face, and he brings a hand up to Dunk’s head and pulls him closer. Dunk trips over the corner of the chair between them, and their lips break contact. Teeth knocking together awkwardly but not hard enough to cause pain.
“Sorry,” Joong whispers but doesn’t stop pulling Dunk closer to him. They embrace, their heads on each other’s shoulders. A comforting warmth radiating between them; they both feel giddy with joy.
Dunk licks his lips, hidden from view, he grins and revels in the taste that is Joong's taste, lingering in his mouth.
Joong presses a long line of tender kisses from Dunk’s neck up into his hair. Dunk can still feel the curved smile on his mouth as he kisses him and returns the kisses with his own on Joong’s shoulder. His smiling lips also engraving themselves onto Joong’s skin.
The scent of Dunk surrounding Joong is irresistible and he buries his nose into Dunk's hair and breathes deeply with satisfaction. He hums in contentment as he moves his hand to card his fingers through Dunk's hair.
“How long have you wanted us to be real?” Dunk asks quietly, still holding onto Joong tightly, his fingers twisting into the back of Joong’s shirt. He leans back just far enough to be able to look at Joong's face to watch his expression. They’re close enough that his warm breath tickles Joong’s lips. Dunk’s fingers release their hold on Joong’s shirt and begin drawing patterns on Joong's back and shoulders as he waits for an answer.
Joong coughs awkwardly, unsure of how he wants to answer.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to say it right now, for me, it has been quite a while. I’ll have to say that, at first, I definitely just wanted to act with you, but that changed during our first series together. It wasn’t a strong feeling back then though." Dunk beams and hides his face in Joong's neck again in embarrassment, "Not compared to now,” Dunk confesses into Joong's shoulder, his voice muffled but steady.
Joong pulls back to look into Dunk’s eyes, “God, you’re so beautiful,” he presses a soft kiss to Dunk’s nose.
“I don’t know when the exact time was when I started to fall for you; I was in the middle before I knew it had begun. I do know that I have wanted to be with you for what feels like forever to me now, although it surely hasn’t been that long.” Joong smiles, and Dunk returns the expression, feeling more giddy. This is it, the day he and Joong really begin.
“So... boyfriends huh?” Dunk says, his eyes dancing as they again look straight into Joong’s shining eyes.
“Yeah,” Joong’s reply is short and breathy as his eyes flick down to Dunk’s mouth, then back up again.
A clear message.
They press forward again, this time with slightly opened lips. They’re both unable to stop smiling as they kiss each other more intensely. They have kissed off-camera before, but never with the same intentions as now. It feels more genuine than before.
After a few minutes, they’re both panting and staring at each other with red and puffy lips. They're back to staring at each other's eyes.
“I don’t think we should rush things too much,” Dunk speaks for the first time in minutes, “We have plenty of time to explore us.”
“You’re right,” Joong says, “although, I think I would enjoy rushing things a little.” Joong winks and Dunk rolls his eyes at his boyfriend but can't resist the bright smile that forms on his lips.
“We’ll get there; just be a little patient.” Dunk leans forward and pecks Joong's nose. Joong visibly melts into Dunk's arms, a drunken smile adorning his face as he looks up at his gorgeous boyfriend.
They last barely a week before levelling up to something more than sweet kisses.