Work Text:
Vernon woke up slowly, stretching as he checked his phone. He was grateful to have a day where his morning didn’t blare to a start with an alarm, and his notifications were pretty typical for a day following the end of the concert circuit, considering they just returned from Fukuoka yesterday. With a start, he noticed a standout, single message from his manager: “Call me when you’re up.”
What? Vernon dialed immediately.
“Good morning! How’d you sleep?”
“Fine…is everything okay?”
“Yes, more than okay. You’re actually getting a small flood of positive attention over on Twitter and Weverse, currently.”
Vernon pinched the bridge of his nose. “Hyung, I’m so much more awake right now than I wanted to be, and I’ve been up for about 45 seconds. Surely in your decade of being a manager you could’ve learned how to send a text that doesn’t skyrocket a heart rate first thing in the morning?”
Vernon’s manager ignored him. “Isn’t it exciting, though? If you stopped complaining, I could tell you more about it!”
Vernon sighed, his curiosity taking over. It’s not like he remembered doing anything so out of the ordinary at their last show. “What happened?”
“Well, do you remember the Road to Kendama World Record Event you participated in last year?”
Vernon winced, instinctively. How could he forget? It was agonizing to have changed his Weverse username to “Kendama Guinness world’s record holder” as soon as he’d landed off the plane from Japan…only to have to add an “almost a” within just an hour. Considering he’d been on the plane with his members, Wonwoo had responded to him with a “woah” on Weverse just 2 minutes after he posted originally, making sure that what felt like every single Carat saw his post before he’d changed his username and posted again. The members had only given him about 15 mature minutes of polite distance after NHK had announced that they’d reviewed the video and found that person #16 had dropped the ball, literally, before Soonyoung broke the ice and fell to the floor laughing at the irony of it all.
Anyway. Yes, he remembered. Obviously. He’d even talked to Mark Hoppus of blink-182 about it, because where else do you call out person #16?
“Yeah, I do. Did they murder the guy who messed up yet?”
Vernon could hear his hyung’s scowl through the phone.
“Hansol Vernon Chwe, that’s a little bit dark for the morning,” his manager scolded.
“Hyung, if he’d just said something, we could’ve started over! Remember how #3 messed up at the very beginning?”
“Stay focused here. Just check Weverse, you’ve got a lot of people asking for you.” His manager hung up with a sharp click.
With a sigh, Vernon opened Weverse to....an actual small flood of posts. He scrolled through the polite yet demanding templated messages with a small smile. It seemed like Tomorrow by Together’s Taehyun had been invited to the 8th edition of the event. Within the variety of #to_VERNON posts, Vernon pieced together Taehyun had posted to TXT’s Weverse about how the event was going to be the most nervewracking moment of his life, and some fans of both groups seemed to be taking this as a personal mission to make sure Vernon could come to the rescue.
Vernon didn’t know Taehyun all that well, but he was all too familiar with how the NHK was intimidating — they were two of the first foreigners to ever be invited to the kendama world record attempt, and completely seriously, all of Japan would be watching. If there was anything Asia took seriously on top of standardized testing and their idols not publicly dating, it was end of year shows — and last year, Vernon had been significantly more nervous for his kendama appearance than he had for his group performance with the rest of the team. By his own admission, Taehyun seemed to be the same way.
Vernon’s fingers moved automatically to pull up his messages with Seungkwan.
you still have TXT Soobin's KKT right? can you ask him for Taehyun's contact for me?
Before Vernon could even put down his phone, it vibrated twice almost immediately.
Boo Seungkwan 17
Soobinie? ㅋㅋㅋ uh…ok
yeah I'll message him!
Vernon smiled, watching the typing dots disappear as a third message flew onto the screen.
Boo Seungkwan 17
but why do you need Taehyun-ssi’s Kakaotalk?? did you do something?
not yet…but I have big plans for him
Vernon waited a few seconds to generously let Seungkwan's eagerness for new information activate, already anticipating the next vibration of his phone.
He didn’t get one. He even switched to data to see if it was a WiFi issue. 127 entire seconds later, his phone finally buzzed again.
Boo Seungkwan 17
…?
Vernon frowns a bit. That’s it? Not even a sticker?
good morning to you too
you sleep ok?
Boo Seungkwan 17
don't change the subject!! what're you scheming with Taehyun?
Even over text, Vernon could hear the whine starting to seep into Seungkwan's words. He cut to the chase.
I opened Weverse this morning and there was a small, but uh
very mighty contingent of people politely demanding we meet up
he's in the kendama record challenge this year and I figured there's no harm in sharing a few tips
Seungkwan's next reply soared onto his phone.
Boo Seungkwan 17
oh~~ is our Hansollie a mentor now? ㅋ
For some reason, Vernon’s ears felt a bit warm. Ever since he'd greeted his mom on stage in Osaka and proudly corrected Seungkwan that his mom calls him Hansollie, Seungkwan had been sneaking the nickname into their casual conversations more.
It’s not like he wasn't used to Seungkwan calling him all manner of things. Sometimes, he was just Hansol. Other times, he was Vernon-ah, or even Nonie (that one was a bit more playful, sometimes accompanied by the batting of long eyelashes, usually when Seungkwan’s asking for something he knows Vernon will dutifully hand over). But Vernon secretly loved it the most when he was Seungkwan’s Hansollie — or at least, loved how Seungkwan had a way of crooning out the last syllable that always made him feel warm.
Jeez. Focus, Hansollie. Guinness World Record! He shook his head quickly in an effort to wake up a bit more.
honestly I think the youth can learn a lot from me
but yeah just lmk
Seungkwan sent a thumbs up instead of an actual response. Tough crowd.
Just a few minutes later, Seungkwan was back on his screen.
Boo Seungkwan 17
I just passed along your ID to Soobin to give to Taehyun directly
since you were so excited about your big plans and all
seems like he’s been working out lately?
guess you’ll have fun!
Vernon hit Seungkwan with a thumbs up. He started to ask why gym time is relevant to kendama skill (or having fun for that matter…Vernon spent as little time in the gym as humanly possible for an idol), but he received a new message before he could finish.
[unknown number]
Vernon-nim, this is Taehyun!!
Thank you so so much for thinking of me and reaching out to connect
I’d already seen your kendama skills and was hoping to catch you in the hallway or something
…but I wasn’t sure how best to make sure I wasn’t bothering you
I didn’t want to waste your time but it really feels like you understand the game
And honestly I’m just a little bit nervous about things and really really want to perform well
It’s more important to me than the performance and I hope you know how high a standard we hold ourselves to haha
Are you free to meet up soon? Tomorrow? Or today, even?
I’m sure you’re busy, and we have end of year schedules too, but I’ll make time!
Just let me know!
Thank you again Vernon-nim!!!
Vernon saved Taehyun’s contact, then checked his calendar to find it miraculously open for the day. Bless vacation. He decided to reply quickly before Taehyun found the bandwidth to send another 11 messages.
hi! just hyung is fine, seriously.
what’re you up to in 45 minutes?
—----
Boo Seungkwan 17
when do you think you’ll meet up?
I’ll probably hang out with Soobinie soon
it’s been too long
hello? anyone there?
Soobinie said that Taehyun “just about vibrated out of his skin” when you texted him back
you must make quite the impression
hello??
—-----
Vernon and Taehyun had commandeered a corner of TXT’s practice room, since the chances of anyone needing it were mathematically fewer. Their first encounter had been awkward for both of them, with Taehyun almost hitting the ground with the depth of his bow and Vernon considering leaving on the spot. However, Vernon showed off a few kendama tricks, which broke the ice, Taehyun’s eyes growing big and wide with every successful trick.
“Did you know that the handle is the ken , while the ball is the tama ?” Taehyun chirped. “The origins of the game itself get disputed, but you have to acknowledge the absolute dominance of the Japanese in making the game what it is today during the Edo period.” Taehyun somehow managed the block of information in one breath. Vernon was slightly overwhelmed.
“Uh…yes to the first sentence, fascinating to everything else,” Vernon replied, slowly. “Why don’t you show me what you’ve got?”
With a deep breath, Taehyun attempted to flick the ball up onto the big plate, but dropped it once more, then proceeded to drop the ball. He frowned, tried again, and the same result unfolded. He turned to Vernon, eyes just a little despondent.
“Alright, let's see. From the get go, you're holding the kendama itself wrong. See how you're gripping it?" Vernon gently tapped his fingers over Taehyun's fist, which was clutching the handle of the kendama. “Try this instead, where you balance the smaller plate on your last three fingers, and you can use your other two on the stem of the kendama. This is the ozara , or big cup grip, and this is the main one you’ll need for the competition.”
Vernon demonstrated on his own, worn out kendama. “Other than that, it's all in the knees. Try to think of it as you're catching the ball, not tossing it up to meet you. When you bend your knees, you need to bend them much deeper than you think you need to — both before you lift the ball up, and after you catch it, to help with the shock impact of the ball. Does that make sense?”
Taehyun looked awed. “Sunbaenim, I’ve never thought of it like that–”
Vernon sighed. “Taehyun-ah, please, let’s be casual, I’m trying to focus on making you a kendama master. Try out hyung for me.”
Taehyun’s boba ball eyes got even bigger. “O…okay hyung, I’ll do my best.”
“Excellent,” Vernon chuckled. He thought about Seungkwan’s weirdly timed gym message at that moment, and decided to throw a hail mary. “If it’s anything, you’ve got great forearms. They’ll be really helpful here.”
The air shifted slightly, with Taehyun looking at him like a weird uncle for the first time. Success. “Uh…thanks, I guess, hyung.”
Vernon smiled. “Let's focus on the big plate for now, since that’s all you’ll need for the competition…how many times can you get it in a row?”
75 quick minutes later, Taehyun was succeeding more than he was failing, his nervous demeanor evaporating to be replaced by a steady confidence.
“Hyung, do you want to see a magic trick?” Taehyun said, practically bouncing on his toes with excitement.
“Uh, sure!” Vernon was pretty sure “yes” was universally the only response you could give someone offering to show you a magic trick, but was hoping Taehyun was actually skilled — Soonyoung’s brief foray into magic in 2018 still sent all the members scampering out of sight whenever he appeared holding a deck of cards.
“I know it’s not quite the kendama, but my members have always said I’m pretty good…and you might not believe me because they seem so sweet to everyone, but they’re not the best at doling out deserved compliments,” Taehyun said with a bit of a scoff. “It should be pretty standardized to acknowledge that I’m more naturally gifted than they are.”
Vernon laughed, the chuckle covering up his slight surprise. All it’d taken for Taehyun’s demeanor to change was a little bit of confidence, it seemed.
“I promise it’s cool, hyung, and I just want to say thanks and show that I’m pretty cool, too!” Taehyun walked over to the table.”To do this, hyung, is it okay if we open up the albums we exchanged earlier?”
“Yeah of course, let’s do it. And you’re plenty cool already, Taehyun.” Vernon grabbed the autographed (with a short novel of thanks) copy of The Star Chapter: Sanctuary that Taehyun had handed him over a series of deep bows. Considering Vernon had rolled out of bed and headed to HYBE, he had to sprint over to Seventeen’s practice room to snag a copy of the Feel New version of Spill the Feels before finding TXT’s practice room, but he was pretty sure it was sacrilegious for two people from different HYBE groups to meet without exchanging some sort of capitalism-related gift. His own signature felt rushed, but Taehyun had looked like he was ready to kiss Vernon’s short “Fighting! You’ve got this!” message, so hopefully it was clear the sentiment was heartfelt anyway.
“I really loved Love, Money, Fame by the way! DJ Khaled sunbaenim must’ve been fun to work with, right?” Taehyun reverently opened the album, sorting the paper inclusions into a neat stack, giving Vernon a chance to dodge talking about him, Jihoon, and Mingyu’s weird Miami excursion. “We just need the photocards. It doesn’t matter who we get; I think they should all be the same size. Oh wow, you guys have two?”
Vernon looked over to see Taehyun holding up photocards of Seungkwan and Seungcheol, the former cupping his chin while tilting his head in a cheeky pose, the latter pouting with pink lips to match his pink hair, face half-covered by a peace sign.
“Oh yeah, I think that’s how the company deals with us having, you know, 13 people,” Vernon said, slightly sheepishly. The catlike grin on Taehyun’s face doesn’t help Vernon’s embarrassment at his cheeky/pouty members being within Taehyun’s eager hands.
“Don’t be embarrassed, hyung! MOA really like photocards, so I’m sure Carats do, too!” Taehyun chirped. “And besides, I always thought ARMY were suffering only getting one photocard for our 7 BTS hyungs; that feels like it could get expensive quickly. And these are so pretty — Seungkwan-nim and SCoups-nim look so cool!”
“Your album is impressive, too, Taehyun,” Vernon said, feeling slightly less shy with Taehyun’s enthusiasm. “It’s cool that it’s such a weird shape.” He opened the album and sorted through the inclusions to find…Taehyun himself, shooting a wink at the camera while holding up a heart-shaped lollipop. Short of being embarrassed, Taehyun looked even more thrilled to see Vernon’s pull.
“Oh perfect – this trick will be even cooler if it’s me on the card, hyung! How serendipitous!” Taehyun gently took the photocard from him, stacking the three cards together and giving them a quick shuffle. “It’s a shame that we don’t have another album to do this with; it’d be more impressive with even more cards!”
Vernon made a quick mental note to bring Taehyun a Carat version album whenever he saw him next. “I’m sure it’ll be impressive either way. Do you need me to do anything?”
Taehyun grinned. “Just sit back and be impressed.” He picked up the top card, which happened to be his own. He kissed the back with a wink to mirror the photocard, making Vernon laugh again. He showed the front and back to Vernon, demonstrating that it was clearly the sole TXT card in his hand. He also drew Vernon’s attention to the two other cards on the table, indicating that there were two present.
“Now, watch closely…” With a quick flick, Taehyun changed the photocard in his hand quickly to Seungcheol’s. Despite thinking this was where he was going, Vernon was a bit floored. Taehyun did it a second time, changing Seungcheol to Seungkwan.
“Holy shit, Taehyun, that’s pretty impressive,” Vernon marveled, noticing that Taehyun’s sleeves were determinedly rolled up to his elbows, Seungkwan-endorsed forearms exposed. Taehyun preened under the praise, flicking the photocard one last time.
“Now, what do we have here?” Seungkwan picked that moment to walk through the door, just in time to watch Taehyun switch the Seungkwan photocard in his hand to his own Lover-themed photocard. Seungkwan’s eye twitched a bit, making Vernon chuckle at his friend’s impeccable comedic timing.
“Seungkwan! I didn’t realize you were coming to HYBE today! I was just showing Taehyun some kendama tricks…” Vernon’s voice faded off, realizing that Seungkwan wasn’t even focused on him, but rather on Taehyun, whose eager expression was fading slightly with the somewhat serious scrutiny Seungkwan was applying to him.
“Sunbaenim, it’s so good to finally meet you! Soobin hyung’s said so many good things about you,” Taehyun said with a bow. “Thank you again for helping me get in touch with Vernon hyung; he was just helping me practice with the kendama!”
Seungkwan smiled, but it didn’t quite meet his eyes. Maybe Vernon was just seeing things?
“Ah yes, it seems like you and…Vernon hyung are having quite the time here,” Seungkwan commented drily. “This doesn’t quite look like kendama practice to me? Even though Vernon’s too busy to check his messages?”
Vernon laughed. Seungkwan, such a jokester.
“Seungkwan-ah, Taehyun was just showing me some magic tricks since he’s been working so hard. Taehyun, do you want to show Seungkwan how well you’re doing with the kendama now?”
Try as he might, Taehyun’s anxieties seemed to resurface with Seungkwan’s unexpected appearance. He got a few good landings, but his throws were certainly less consistent compared to how he was doing earlier. Vernon frowned, quickly flicking the ball between all three plates in his distress. Shit, was that too show-offy?
“That was…alright, Taehyun, but you were doing much better earlier. I’m only being this real with you since the competition’s in less than a week,” Vernon said. “Any chance you’re free to meet again soon?”
“Meet again?” The response came from both Taehyun and Seungkwan for some reason, with their expressions communicating relief and confusion, respectively. Taehyun was the only one who commented further.
“Hyung, I don’t know what’s wrong, but I guess having an audience is making me nervous…which is bad, considering how big of an audience I’m going to have at the NHK. Meeting again would be incredible!” Taehyun tried to throw the ball onto the spike ( kensaki) to punctuate his statement, but missed, to his chagrin. Seungkwan laughed, which felt a bit out of character and cruel for him — Taehyun looked a bit deflated. Vernon quickly threw and missed as well, bringing a small smile back to Taehyun’s face, even as he clearly recognized that it was an intentional move.
Vernon grinned. “Great. I’m all yours this week, whenever you need. We’ve got a break until our next big schedule, but I’m not going to the States to see my family this year, so my personal schedule’s clear.”
Seungkwan laughed again. He toyed with a pen he was holding, gently flicking it in circles. “Be careful, Vernon-ah; don’t let Taehyun and his biceps steal you every day this week!”
Biceps, now? Vernon wondered what was up with Seungkwan’s recent arm fixation, but filed it away for later and just shrugged in response. “It’s not like we have anything important to do anyway…Taehyun, if you have questions, I’ll try to be around HYBE this whole week so it’s easy to find me. Don’t hesitate.”
Seungkwan’s laughing facade had cracked a bit, but he at least seemed to smile genuinely at Taehyun. “Fighting, Taehyun! I’m sure you won’t drop the ken…or is it the dama?…during the actual competition.” Seungkwan left the room with that, his exit punctuated by Taehyun looking a bit mentally disheveled.
Vernon sighed. “Sorry, Taehyun. I think Seungkwan woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning…he’s been weird all day.”
“It’s okay, I didn’t think it was personal!” Taehyun’s slightly unnerved face contradicted his vehement assertion. “Soobin hyung just always says that Seungkwan-nim’s pretty…effervescent around him? Like he can’t get enough. It didn’t seem like he felt that way about me.”
Effervescent, huh? “Truly, I’ll catch up with him after this and make sure he’s not trying to be this bristly for the rest of the day,” Vernon said. “Do you have any plans?”
“Honestly, you can probably find me here for the rest of the day,” Taehyun chuckled.
Vernon resisted the urge to reach out and ruffle Taehyun’s hair. “Fighting; you’ve got this! Feel free to take some videos and send them to me — I’m happy to check your form.”
With Taehyun back to bowing (and the instant sounds of the tama hitting the ken as soon as Vernon reached the TXT practice room’s door), Vernon wandered the HYBE halls until he was back in Seventeen’s territory, assuming that he would find Seungkwan there. He shot off a Kakaotalk message on his way, just in case.
yo, want to grab lunch? it’s on me.
Boo Seungkwan 17
sure you’re not too busy with Taehyun? the magic trick seemed pretty exhausting.
…everything okay with you? you’ve been kind of weird today.
Boo Seungkwan 17
weird?? I’m fine. you’re the one being weird.
um…okay. where are you?
Boo Seungkwan 17
I’ll just meet you there. where do you want to go?
금은돈? I’ve been craving their naengmyeon.
Boo Seungkwan 17
<thumbs up>
Vernon pivoted towards the elevators and made his way towards the unassuming restaurant close to the office building. All the best things about a bowl of naengmyeon — smooth noodles, a thick pile of radish and pear, broth that was always silky and icy cold — were present at Geum-eundon, who even topped theirs off with some mushroom and green onion, a nice way to differentiate the mainstay dish found in every barbecue place in South Korea. There was a comfortable, weird silence as the two of them slurped down their noodles — comfortable because they knew each other better than anyone else, but weird because normally, Seungkwan would be yapping about his day between bites, or telling a joke, or whispering about the latest gossip that had proliferated from the halls of Music Bank (he was best friends with the MC).
But today: nothing but slurps and pointed stares. It was like Seungkwan was patiently waiting for Vernon to say something, but Vernon had no idea what he wanted. Either way, this was the weirdest day of friendship with Seungkwan that Vernon had experienced in a while. Vernon decided he’d tackle everything after he finished his bowl of noodles (a short affair in itself). Right then, a quick buzz made him check his phone.
Kang Taehyun TXT
Hi hyung, it’s Taehyun!
Sorry, you already knew that
Sorry, I shouldn’t apologize
Man, I think Seungkwan-nim really got in my head, but I knew he didn’t mean to...?
really, don’t stress, and also don’t apologize.
Vernon thought a little, and decided a little white lie couldn’t hurt.
Seungkwan’s just a bit tired from the Japan concert circuit…he said to apologize on his behalf for being so cranky. how’s your practice going?
Before he could ask if Taehyun had mastered the ken grip, Seungkwan finally broke their silence.
“Are you going to pay attention to me at all? Or is Taehyun just more important?”
Vernon looked up from his phone to find a Seungkwan who could only be described as…pouty. And not the fun kind, where you could usually get Seungcheol hyung to buy you something if you asked cutely enough.
“Sorry, Taehyun’s just really stressed about this competition…you know the attempt is in a week right?” Vernon clicked his phone screen off, only for it to immediately buzz again. Unconsciously, he checked it, only to find a quick clip of Taehyun not only rocking a master ken grip, but also pulling off a near-perfect hikoki (airplane). He grinned, shooting off a quick “holy shit, I knew you could do it!” text before looking up again. Seungkwan somehow looked even more pouty than he did before.
“Aww, is somebwody upset?” Vernon couldn’t help himself.
Instantly, Seungkwan’s expression rocketed up from pouty to…genuinely upset? It was hard to tell the intensity of Seungkwan’s glares sometimes, but Vernon also wasn’t used to being the recipient. Frankly, this was new.
“I think it’s justified to be upset when you’re being so rude to me!” Seungkwan snapped.
“Me? Rude to you?! What about you?” Vernon demanded. “Did you know that Taehyun’s progress almost got completely derailed by your attitude towards him?”
Short of being embarrassed, the fire in Seungkwan’s eyes only ricocheted up another degree.
“Taehyun this, Taehyun that,” Seungkwan almost spat out. “Is there something you need to tell me, Vernon-ssi?”
Vernon had no idea what was happening.
“Seungkwan, chill,” Vernon tried, slowly. “I’m just helping Taehyun out. It’s nothing more serious than that, and I’m not sure what I did to make you think something was going on.”
Seungkwan, looking the teensiest bit regretful, finished the last of his naengmyeon with a slurp and stood up.
“Look, next time I see Taehyun-ssi, I’ll try to encourage him a bit more. I’m sorry for that. But can you be a bit nicer to me? I just missed you.”
“Seungkwan, we were just together in Japan?” Vernon was sure his confusion was seeping through every pore on his face.
“Oh, never mind,” Seungkwan scoffed. “I’ll see you later.” Swinging his bag over his shoulder (and nodding at Vernon after making eye contact with the nosy ahjumma, the universal sign of “he’ll take care of it”), Seungkwan departed without another word.
~~~~~~~
Try as he might, Seungkwan didn’t respond to a single one of Vernon’s KKT messages over the next few days, which made his hard-earned vacation time quite uneventful. On the bright side, this gave Vernon and Taehyun plenty of time to practice together, with Taehyun only getting more and more confident (apparently, Seungkwan sent him quite the novel of an apology, which was more than Vernon was getting these days). At this point, the two of them were just hanging out with their kendamas (and their multiple Carat versions, since Taehyun got his first (a Joshua version) and had politely but firmly asked for more). The kid was honestly a natural.
Taehyun and Vernon’s final practice session ended up being the night before TXT had to leave for Japan, and Vernon set Taehyun with the task of catching the tama on the ken, just as he would have to in competition, as many times in a row as he could. After Taehyun hit 500 without breaking a sweat, Vernon felt like a proud father.
“You’ve done well, my pupil,” Vernon intoned, earning him a groan from Taehyun.
“Thanks, sensei; I couldn’t have done it without you,” Taehyun replied snarkily. “…but seriously, I actually don’t think I could’ve done it without you.”
Vernon decided a four year age gap was enough for him to grab Taehyun and ruffle his hair, which Taehyun allowed, rolling his eyes all the same.
“I’m getting dinner with Soobin hyung — any interest in joining? It’s on me, hyung; you’ve done so much for me this week!”
“Taehyun…I can’t go to dinner with two dongsaengs and let them pay; my hyungs would kill me,” Vernon scoffed. “Not that you haven’t, but we’ve done well for ourselves. But sure, I’ll come to dinner.”
Taehyun ignored him, only grinning when he said he would join for dinner. Ominous. Taehyun busily texted Soobin to meet him in their practice room, hitting send with a flourish before turning to hit his kendama a few more times confidently.
“Hi guys!” Soobin exclaimed as he walked through the door.
“Bye ladies!” A familiar voice chorused, echoing through the hall in a way it hadn’t through Vernon’s phone all week.
“Stop it, hyung, you’re embarrassing me!” Soobin wailed. “Taehyun, look who I brought! Sorry, I know we said 6:30 and it’s 6:50 — hyung and I were just hanging out all afternoon and lost track of time! How perfect is it that Vernon sunbaenim is coming too! Hello, I’m Soobin, it’s nice to meet you!”
Vernon looked up, and up again — seriously, how tall and handsome was this guy? — to make eye contact with Soobin, who politely bowed at him before resuming his beaming look at Seungkwan, who looked positively smug about the whole exchange.
“Cut the act, hyung, you’re not actually that charming,” Taehyun called, bagging up his kendama.
Soobin’s quick pantomime to slap Taehyun was punctuated by a throaty laugh from Seungkwan. “Don’t know about that; he was plenty charming when asking for hyung’s number,” Seungkwan said, eyelashes batting dramatically.
Soobin gasped and clutched Seungkwan around the shoulders tightly. “Don’t say that; Vernon-nim will get the completely wrong idea of me! Seungkwan hyung was the first and last person whose phone number I ever wanted…I mean Vernon-nim, can you blame me? After we met on the elevator, I just knew I really wanted to spend more time with him!”
“Hyung’s fine,” Vernon said, faintly.
As they walked to Soobin and Seungkwan’s favorite barbecue joint, it quickly became clear to Vernon that Seungkwan and Soobin were closer than he had previously assumed. He vaguely remembered the joint TXT-SVT live that had freaked out their managers, TXT’s managers, and every Weverse technician at the company, but didn't realize how close they were. Apparently, it was a "Seungkwan-only-refers-to-himself-as-hyung, inside-joke-having, laugh-at-the-other-person's-every-other-sentence" kind of close.
Vernon felt a bit weird. Maybe it was the tangsuyuk he had for lunch.
They quickly got seated in a back room of the restaurant, where Taehyun expertly opened the table’s built-in drawer and set them all up with chopsticks, spoons, and napkins. Their pork belly swiftly arrived, and Soobin stood to cook it for them.
“No, hyung will do it!” Seungkwan snatched the tongs out of Soobin’s hands and began flipping the meat over on the hot grill in earnest. “Hyung has to make sure everyone’s taken care of, after all!”
Soobin laughed, the protest fading from his bright eyes as he looked at Seungkwan fondly. “You’re the best, hyung.”
Vernon wasn’t a huge drinker normally, but he signaled for bottles of soju and Cass.
Taehyun nudged Vernon as he mixed the beer and soju into a glass of somaek, the slight motion being enough to startle him as he stabbed his drink with a metal spoon to mix it. “You okay, hyung? You’ve been kind of quiet, which makes their behavior even more nauseating to focus on.”
Vernon chuckled shortly, nodding his head and taking a sip of his drink. “Are they always like this?”
Taehyun made a face. “Soobin hyung’s always been a bit gross about Seungkwan-nim. He really does idolize him. Did you know that he has Seungkwan’s KKT chat pinned so he can make sure to reply to him the quickest?”
Vernon made a face in return that he quickly smoothed into neutrality. Did Seungkwan have Soobin’s chat pinned as well? …what was wrong with him? “No, I didn’t know that. How sweet.”
Over the course of the meal, Vernon’s overanalysis of every Soobin-Seungkwan exchange (did that Weverse live really take 5 whole months to set up?...) was interrupted by spiels of laughter from Soobin and Seungkwan themselves. At the end of it, Vernon had asked for more Cass and soju and everyone was swaying a bit.
“Taehyun, did you know hyung will call me at 3 or 4 in the morning drunk sometimes?”
“Hyung can’t help it,” Seungkwan hiccuped. “Soobinie’s just so cute!”
“No, I didn’t know that.” Taehyun looked like a smart comment was only held back by his lingering fear of Seungkwan.
Vernon chugged the remainder of his somaek. “Has anyone ever called you sober at that hour, just because they wanted to hear your voice?”
Seungkwan kicked him under the table. Shit, that was supposed to be an internal thought. This was why Vernon avoided drinking too much normally. Vernon was forced to look to both Taehyun and Soobin’s big eyes in response.
“Wow hyung, has that happened to you?” Taehyun grabbed another piece of pork belly, making a wrap with a piece of lettuce and some saamjang.
“I can’t imagine someone ever loving me that much!” Soobin mused wistfully. He draped himself over Taehyun dramatically. “Taehyun, why don’t you ever call me that early in the morning?”
“Hyung, if we’re awake and sober that early, it’s probably because of practice, and the biggest way I could love you is to let us both go to sleep,” Taehyun scoffed. “Besides, you’re the one who calls, not me.”
Vernon made eye contact with Seungkwan across the table, and somehow, despite their last few days of near-silence, Vernon knew they had a perfect opportunity to execute a plan with an almost 100% success rate — aka, paying for a meal that the other parties insisted on paying for. Seungkwan launched into a long story — sounded like one from their Nanatour days — that Vernon knew would take at least a few minutes, giving Vernon enough time to quietly slip away for the “bathroom” (to pay the bill).
For the nth time that night, Vernon was shocked when he got to the counter only to find that Taehyun had somehow already paid, despite not having left the table that night. Vernon groaned, only imagining the lecture Jeonghan hyung would give him for letting dongsaengs cover the check. Maybe he could hide it, but somehow, Jeonghan always knew everything.
When he got back to the table (after an actual trip to the bathroom to clear his head), Taehyun looked a bit more smug than normal (again, something he didn’t realize was possible). “How was your trip to the bathroom, hyung?”
“Nothing to report.”
“Did you like my magic trick?”
Vernon glared at him. “You don’t know everything, you know.”
Taehyun looked at him knowingly, and leaned a little closer to whisper conspiratorially. “So how long have you and Seungkwan-nim been a thing?”
Vernon choked on his drink. “W-we’re not a thing!”
“Sure, sure,” Taehyun chuckled. “Keep in touch when we’re in Japan, hyung, I hope you’ll tune into the NHK for me.”
“Maybe Seungkwan and I will watch it together,” Vernon challenged, hoping to get a rise out of Taehyun for once. However, Taehyun’s 500 consecutive catches (and Seungkwan’s apology novel) seemed to have emboldened him, considering Vernon’s retort was only met with raised eyebrows.
Through Soobin’s goose honks of laughter at another comment of Seungkwan’s, Vernon realized Seungkwan was actually staring at him. Vernon chugged the rest of his somaek.
~~~~~~~
A few nights later, the NHK had arrived. Vernon was just figuring out how to tune in on his phone (access to Japanese TV channels was difficult sometimes, but a call or two to a friendly HYBE technician usually got the job done) when his phone buzzed.
Boo Seungkwan 17
spend new year’s eve with me?
yeah, for sure. where are you?
Boo Seungkwan 17
HYBE. our practice room lol
…festive. be there in 30, just gotta catch something first
As much as he’d joked about Seungkwan and him watching the NHK together, Vernon took his teaching role too seriously to jinx Taehyun’s world record attempt, which had come to mean a great deal to him in the last week. He loaded up the channel on his way over to HYBE, breathlessly looking across the cascading line of world record attempt participants to try and find Taehyun. Turns out, he should’ve started at the beginning — Taehyun was participant #1, and was looking more boba ball and bright-eyed than ever.
Before Vernon knew it, it was over — Taehyun made it look easy, barely even needing to bend his knees to secure a swift catch. His other 127 competitors followed in quick succession, with all 128 celebrating once participant #128 had successfully made the catch. Vernon looked over the broadcast proudly, refusing to let the moment become bittersweet.
“Hey, at least this building holds one kendama world record,” he remarked to himself as he crossed HYBE’s impressively complicated security scanners, taking the elevator up to Seventeen’s floor. As he got closer to their practice room, he could hear the faint sounds of Seungkwan talking to himself, accompanied by some erratic clacking he knew far too well. His heart pounded as he reached the open door to their well-loved practice room.
“Geez…how did they make this look so easy? Come on Seungkwan, you can do it…”
Seungkwan was standing in front of the mirror, dressed like he was ready for the cardio workout of his life — his brown hair was tucked into a headband, already damp with sweat. He (incorrectly) clutched a kendama in his right hand, and his attempts to catch the tama were clearly going nowhere.
Vernon was across the room before he knew it, grabbing Seungkwan’s face with his hands. Without a second thought, he smashed their mouths together in one swift motion. Seungkwan’s pink, astonished face when they parted was worth opening his eyes for.
“Excuse my language, but what the everloving fuck was that, Hansol Vernon Chwe?”
“Did you not like it?”
“No, I did, but…”
“Sorry, I probably should’ve asked first.” Vernon scratched the back of his neck with one hand sheepishly. “I walked in on you practicing the kendama after…everything, and just couldn’t help myself.”
Seungkwan’s smirk was visible through his blush. “Oh, so my terrible kendama skills were what finally did the trick? Not my 185-cm dongsaeng making you jealous?”
“Hey! I wasn’t jealous!” Vernon said, frowning in a pout he hoped was convincing enough. “Where did you even get a kendama from?”
“...I ordered one when I realized you were practicing with Taehyun…I don’t know, I just wanted to be included.” Seungkwan had the courtesy to look slightly sheepish at this statement, averting his eyes.
“Oh? So all that talk about forearms and biceps…who’s the jealous one again?”
“I think it’s still you, actually — did you say one word to Soobin during dinner that wasn’t your weirdly emotionally loaded callout? Thanks for that by the way, Soobin had a lot of pointed questions for me after dinner.”
“Frankly, Taehyun probably fed them to him…that kid might be a wizard.”
“You two…can you blame me for feeling threatened by a cute dongsaeng hanging around, especially when he’s so bright and up to magic tricks all the time?” Seungkwan put his pout back on.
“Seungkwan-ah, I don’t think there’s ever going to be anyone like you — besides, did you or did you not refer to you and Soobin as “Boobin” during dinner…6 times?”
“Hansollie, you idiot. Please just kiss me again.”
congrats, world record holder!!!
Kang Taehyun TXT
Thanks hyung!! It’s a relief to be done honestly
I practiced 20 times before the competition started when I saw I was #1 lol
you looked so cute in your white jacket…very know-it-all
Kang Taehyun TXT
don’t you have a boyfriend to go kiss or something?
...