Work Text:
5 things Juyeon loves about Jaehyun (+1 thing Jaehyun loves about Juyeon)
i. His tongue
It’s no secret that Jaehyun is handsome. After all, he is one of the visuals of the group. The company has pushed Juyeon, Jaehyun and Younghoon for a while now, their “Bermuda Line” as they’re called.
Juyeon thinks that Jaehyun is the real Bermuda Triangle, the inescapable temptation that has sucked Juyeon in and offers no escape.
That being said, Juyeon sometimes thinks that Jaehyun doesn’t need to…do as much with his face as he seems to think he does.
“Hyung, if I had 1000 won for every time you stick out your tongue, I’d be rolling in dough,” Sunwoo snickers when they’re rewatching one of their live performances.
“Aren’t you already rolling in dough from your songwriting credits?” Jaehyun says.
“He doesn’t always stick it out,” Juyeon says. Jaehyun gives him a grateful look. “Sometimes he rolls it, or he just pokes it into his cheek.” Juyeon imitates the action, and Chanhee laughs so hard he falls onto the ground.
“It’s like Jaehyun-hyung is here!” Chanhee giggles, clapping his hands in delight.
“Jaehyun is here,” Jaehyun says, but he’s ignored.
“I’m sure Deobis like Jaehyun’s expressions,” Younghoon says diplomatically.
“Deobis like it when Jaehyun does anything,” Sunwoo snorts.
“Yah, how about you show a little respect to your hyung?” Jaehyun says to him, without any real heat, putting Sunwoo into a headlock.
“Gah, can’t breathe.” Sunwoo pretends to pass out and then sticks out his tongue in a perfect imitation of Jaehyun, eliciting another round of laughter from them. Chanhee is kicking his legs, practically wheezing.
“Juyeon,” Jaehyun says later, when they’re alone. “Is it off-putting when I use my tongue too much?”
Juyeon’s brain decides to interpret that in a different way, so it takes him a second to reply. “Clearly not, from the way Deobis scream their heads off every time.”
“Well, that’s different,” Jaehyun says with a dismissive wave. “But you know, I don’t always do it on purpose.”
“Does your tongue have a mind of its own, hyung?” Juyeon teases.
Jaehyun stares at him, and his tongue flits out, wetting his bottom lip. Juyeon can’t tell if he’s doing it intentionally or subconsciously, but either way, he can’t help but stare.
Juyeon coughs. “You know you don’t need to do anything to be”—beautiful, stunning, breathtaking—“eye-catching. Don’t pay too much attention to what Sunwoo says. He lives to press our buttons, you know that.”
Jaehyun smiles. “If I had 1000 won for every time one of us wanted to choke him…”
“You’d be actually swimming in dough,” Juyeon laughs. “You could retire right now.”
“I could,” Jaehyun says thoughtfully, as if he’s actually contemplating the idea. “What about you? Would you?”
“Retire?” Juyeon can’t even wrap his mind around the idea. “I don’t think so.”
“Yeah, you wouldn’t,” Jaehyun says confidently. “You love the stage too much.”
Jaehyun is right. Juyeon does love performing too much to give it up. And it’s not just performing he loves. He also loves The Boyz, his boys, too much. And he loves—
“I wouldn’t either,” Jaehyun murmurs, voice lowering, like he’s confiding a secret. “I’d miss you – all of you – too much.” His tongue pokes out again, but this time Juyeon can tell he isn’t aware of it. “But then I could afford a bigshot lawyer for the day I give in to my impulses and kill Sunwoo.”
Juyeon bursts into laughter that rivals Chanhee’s.
ii. His smile
Jaehyun looks almost cold sometimes when his face is in a resting expression, remote, untouchable. However, when he smiles, really smiles, his whole face crumples up, his eyes disappearing and his cheeks creasing with lines that aren’t quite dimples.
In a way, it actually makes him look less handsome, disrupts the symmetry of his face and shows flaws that aren’t apparent when he’s expressionless. Juyeon likes that though, how it makes him look more…human. More approachable. More real. How it shows that this isn’t Hyunjae, but Jaehyun.
“Hyunjae-hyung,” Juyeon says, and then immediately corrects himself. “Jaehyun-hyung.”
Jaehyun smiles. “You don’t have to correct yourself. You can call me Hyunjae.”
“I don’t want to,” Juyeon says, oddly petulantly.
Jaehyun raises an eyebrow. “Why not? I am Hyunjae.”
I don’t want you to be, Juyeon wants to say. Hyunjae belongs to the company, to the fans, to the cameras. Jaehyun… Jaehyun belongs to them. (Not to him, not in the way he wants, but Juyeon will take what he can get.)
“They call you Hyunjae,” Juyeon says, waving his hand to refer to some abstract ‘they.’ “I’m not them.”
“No, you’re not,” Jaehyun agrees, eyes soft. “You’re Juyeon.”
Juyeon doesn’t know what to say to that. It’s just a simple statement, a basic truth, and yet—
“You can learn to speak properly, I believe in you,” Jaehyun says, with a ‘hwaiting’ fist pump, like he’s genuinely rooting for Juyeon. “Want me to teach you how to say ‘Jaehyun-hyung’?”
“How about I call you Jaehyun-ah instead?” Juyeon says, with a cheeky smile. “We’re only four months apart, we’re basically chingus.”
“Okay, sure,” Jaehyun agrees so easily Juyeon is surprised. “You can be my third-favourite chingu after Jacob and Younghoon.”
“Hyung,” Juyeon whines. He doesn’t ask, Does that mean I’m your favourite dongsaeng?
“Sounds like you don’t want to be chingus,” Jaehyun says innocently. “Or hey, you can call me Jaehyun-oppa.” His eyes twinkle and he’s clearly barely suppressing a smile.
“Jaehyun…oppa?” Juyeon mouths, more out of incredulity than anything.
Jaehyun nods. “I like the sound of that,” he says, reaching out and stroking Juyeon’s chin, like he’s playing with a cat. Juyeon just stares at him and hopes Jaehyun can’t feel how warm his face must be.
Taking in his expression, Jaehyun bursts into laughter, face crumpling with it, and Juyeon’s mouth tugs up in response.
“Call me whatever you want,” Jaehyun says, suddenly serious. “Hyunjae-hyung, Jaehyun-hyung, Jaehyun-ah. I’ll still answer.”
Juyeon just nods dumbly, afraid that if he opens his big mouth he’ll say something stupid and give himself away.
Jaehyun grins. “‘Jaehyun-oppa’ does have a nice ring to it coming from you though.”
“You wish,” Juyeon snorts. “Is it because Eric called you that one time and now you’re addicted to it?”
Jaehyun, being the dork he is, does their dance from Nectar. “I’m addicted, I’m addicted.”
“To you,” Juyeon finishes, pointing at Jaehyun and wholeheartedly meaning the lyrics. “Mm, my nectar.” He can’t help but give Jaehyun a big, stupid smile.
Jaehyun stares at him for a moment and then smiles back, a softer one. His face doesn’t crumple, but his eyes curve into crescents and shine, in a different way from the playful twinkle earlier. Juyeon swallows, hard.
“I’d keep going,” Jaehyun says, “but I can’t do Sunwoo’s rap.”
“I believe in you,” Juyeon says, with a ‘hwaiting’ fist pump. “Channel your inner rapper. You know he’s in there somewhere.”
Jaehyun raises an eyebrow. “Is he now?” He lifts up his collar and looks down his shirt, as if expecting to find a tiny rapper sitting on his chest. “I don’t see him.”
“Look harder,” Juyeon says, and then spontaneously adds, “Jaehyun-oppa” in a sweet voice just to mess with him.
He’s delighted to see Jaehyun’s face redden.
iii. His childishness
Jaehyun is part of the hyung line, but he’s as childish as one of the maknaes sometimes. Actually, make that a lot of the time.
“Hey, who has the brain cell between Jaehyun-hyung and Eric today, do you think?” Changmin asks.
“I don’t know, maybe they each have half?” Sunwoo drawls. “Are we even sure Eric has brain activity?”
“Hey, I heard that!” Eric hollers, coming over to give Sunwoo a piece of his mind — or fist.
As Eric drags Sunwoo off to the corner, Jaehyun walks over. “What’s going on?” he asks, draping an arm casually over Juyeon’s shoulder and looking completely unconcerned at how the maknaes are now tussling.
“Oh, nothing,” Changmin says, glancing between Jaehyun and Juyeon. “I think Chanhee wants to ask me something, bye!” He practically runs off.
“That was weird,” Jaehyun comments. “He seemed to be looking for an excuse to get away.”
“What, you want him to stick around and bite you?” Juyeon teases.
“No, but it sounds like you do,” Jaehyun replies. “Are you deprived, Juyeon? Looking for someone to bite you?” He stalks towards Juyeon, making his hands into claws and walking in a predatory crouch, pulling his lip back in a snarl. It’s all pretend, of course, but something shivers over Juyeon’s spine.
Then Jaehyun ruins it by humming drink it, which makes Juyeon snicker and then burst into laughter as Jaehyun pretends to bite his neck. (Somewhere in the back of his mind, he registers that he wouldn’t mind if Jaehyun really bit him, preferably in a few more places and hard enough to leave marks.)
“Hyung, you’ve been spending too much time around Sunwoo and Eric.”
Jaehyun shrugs. “Well, we only have the one brain cell to go around.”
Juyeon’s mouth twitches. “So you did hear what they said.”
Jaehyun nods solemnly. “Vampires have super-hearing, you know.”
Juyeon laughs. “Are you a vampire now? What does that make me?”
Jaehyun tilts his head to the side and looks Juyeon up and down in a way that makes his stomach twist. Juyeon thanks the heavens that his complexion hides blushes.
Then Jaehyun grins. “My prey, of course,” he says, and pounces on Juyeon, sending them both tumbling to the ground.
They end up in a tangled mess of limbs. Jaehyun’s elbow lands in Juyeon’s stomach, which knocks the air out of him. He welcomes the discomfort; it’s preventing him from having…another type of reaction.
“You’re not…a very effective predator,” he wheezes.
“Are you kidding me? I’ve got you exactly where I want you.” Jaehyun leers at Juyeon, who doesn’t know if he wants to laugh or shiver. “Now just let me…” Jaehyun dips his head until his mouth is ghosting over Juyeon’s neck. Shivering wins. Juyeon’s body seizes up in anticipation of what Jaehyun is going to do.
Something cold and wet brushes against his skin. It takes Juyeon a second to realize that Jaehyun just licked his neck. Juyeon instinctively pushes him away and then stares at him, incredulous, as Jaehyun grins like a cat that just got the canary.
“What are you, ten?” Juyeon splutters.
“Out of ten? Thank you.” Jaehyun pretends to take a bow. “I didn’t know you enjoyed it that much.”
“There was nothing enjoyable about that,” Juyeon tells him, and Jaehyun acts like Juyeon just shot him, clutching his chest with an exaggerated expression of hurt. “Well, if you don’t believe me…” Juyeon reaches out to grab him, prepared to give him a taste of his own medicine. (And this has nothing to do with how he wants to put his mouth on Jaehyun’s skin. Nothing at all.)
“Oh, wait.” Jaehyun cocks his head to the side and cups his ear. “I think I hear my brain cell calling for me.” Ignoring Juyeon’s “yah, Lee Jaehyun!”, he runs off, much like Changmin had earlier.
Juyeon shakes his head as he watches Jaehyun’s retreating figure, but he can’t help the way his mouth tugs up at the corners.
iv. His warmth
Yet, as much as he can be childish, Juyeon knows how responsible and caring Jaehyun is. He has always been a hyung they can count on, a hyung they can go to. (Sometimes Juyeon wonders who Jaehyun counts on, who he goes to; he wishes it was him.)
“Hyung,” Juyeon croaks, his voice hoarse and raspy, in the midst of a fever.
“How are you feeling, Juyeonnie?” Jaehyun asks gently, touching his forehead. His hand feels blissfully cool; Juyeon wants to clutch it and press it to his cheek, but he can’t muster the strength to raise his arm. Jaehyun clucks his tongue. “Still burning hot.”
“Thanks, but that’s just how I am, I can’t help it.” Juyeon wants to wink, but his eyelids seem to weigh a hundred kilograms. Jaehyun chuckles; the sound washes over Juyeon like a balm.
“I won’t argue with that, but I think you’re the wrong kind of hot right now.”
“You’re cool,” Juyeon slurs, trying to reach for Jaehyun’s hand.
“Thanks, but that’s just how I am, I can’t help it,” Jaehyun says in an excellent impression of Juyeon’s voice, making Juyeon laugh, and then cringe at how phlegmy the sound is.
He feels momentarily better though, well enough to open his eyes and look at Jaehyun. Jaehyun looks tired, he notes.
“What time is it? Maybe you should go to sleep.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Jaehyun says. “Are you hungry?”
Juyeon wrinkles his nose. Just the thought of food turns his stomach.
Jaehyun sighs. “I never thought I’d be upset to hear that.” He turns around and starts to walk away.
Juyeon panics. “Hyung, don’t go,” he says, somehow mustering the strength to reach out and grab Jaehyun’s arm. Or well, he tries and ends up with a corner of Jaehyun’s shirt.
“It’s okay,” Jaehyun says reassuringly, gently pulling Juyeon’s hand back and tucking it under the blanket. “I’m just going to get some medicine for you. I’ll be right back.”
And he is. Juyeon hasn’t moved at all (not that he can, really), staring at him like Jaehyun will disappear if he blinks.
“Take these,” Jaehyun says, holding up a few pills to his lips. He obediently opens his mouth and then swallows them down with some water from the cup Jaehyun offers. “Drink some more,” Jaehyun tells him. “You need to stay hydrated.” Juyeon takes a few more sips just to appease him, but suddenly discovers water is delicious and drains the cup.
“Do you want some more?” Jaehyun asks, and Juyeon shakes his head. He doesn’t want Jaehyun to leave to get more. “And you’re sure you don’t want food?”
Juyeon shakes his head again, the motion sending a lock of hair into his eye. He already used up all his energy to try to hold onto Jaehyun, so all he can do is try to blow it out of the way. He isn’t successful.
Jaehyun sighs and gently brushes the lock away. “You turn into a child when you’re sick,” he says, but he sounds affectionate rather than rebuking. “Do you want a bedtime story?”
Juyeon knows that Jaehyun is teasing him, but he can’t help the way he perks up at the question. It’s not that he wants Jaehyun to tell him a story, exactly, he just wants Jaehyun to talk to him, he just wants Jaehyun to stay with him, he just wants Jaehyun.
Whatever medicine Jaehyun gave him must be working, however, because Juyeon suddenly feels exhausted, a wave of drowsiness washing over him. He yawns and fights his eyelids, which feel a hundred kilograms again.
“Go to sleep,” Jaehyun says softly. “I’ll stay with you.”
Juyeon wants to tell him that he doesn’t have to, that he should sleep himself, but he’s already drifting off. The last memory he has is of something cool and soft touching his forehead.
v. His size
Jaehyun is tall, around the same height as Juyeon but just a little shorter. Juyeon likes that, likes how they look good together, matched, complementary, like they’re meant to stand beside each other. He also likes that he’s a little taller than Jaehyun, and also broader.
When he stands behind Jaehyun, his body completely covers Jaehyun’s. There have been times he reached from behind Jaehyun to grab something, and his arms still reach further than Jaehyun’s do. He has to resist the urge to put his arms around Jaehyun and not let go in those instances. Sometimes he wants to do that, wants to cage Jaehyun in, pin him down. Other times he wants to wrap Jaehyun in bubble wrap and put him up on a high shelf where he can’t be hurt.
“Juyeon, come look at this,” Jaehyun says, beckoning him over. Juyeon walks up behind his chair and hooks his chin over Jaehyun’s shoulder. Jaehyun is flipping through a magazine with the photos from their latest shoot.
Juyeon’s breath catches in his throat. They had taken so many photos, done so many poses, listened to so many instructions that it had all started to blur together. He knew what they were going for, and yet the end results still surprise him.
“We look good together, don’t we?” Jaehyun remarks.
“Mm hmm,” Juyeon says, his voice coming out just a little breathy. “The photos turned out well.”
He can’t exactly say what he’s really thinking: wow, they really made us look like a couple. It’s far from the first time – Juyeon will never forget the director who flat out told them she wanted to make it look like they were kissing. Back then, Juyeon didn’t see Jaehyun like that and they had a good laugh over it – but it’s…something. The sultry lighting, the suggestive poses, the photo with Jaehyun’s fingers curled intimately around Juyeon’s jaw and Juyeon’s hand possessively covering Jaehyun’s face…
Jaehyun has turned the page while Juyeon was lost in thought. “They always dress you in black and me in white,” he says, smoothing his hand over a photo of them like that. “You’d think they could switch it up sometimes.”
Without thinking about it, Juyeon puts his hand over Jaehyun’s. Of course, it covers all of it, not even leaving a sliver of skin visible. Jaehyun stills but doesn’t move his hand away.
“You look good in white, hyung,” Juyeon says, moving their joined hands to point to the other page. “You’re wearing black here and you look good too.”
Jaehyun squints at the page. “I think it’s navy, actually.”
“Is it?” Juyeon asks, distracted, wondering how long he can get away with holding Jaehyun’s hand before it’s weird.
“Yeah, I mean, a lot darker than your shirt here,” Jaehyun says. He’s flipped back to the page that almost had Juyeon losing his mind. “Remember how you almost poked my eye out when posing for this picture?” he laughs.
“It wasn’t that close,” Juyeon protests.
“Oh no? It was at least this close.” Jaehyun reaches towards Juyeon with his left hand – his right hand is still in Juyeon’s – and moves it closer and closer to his eye. Juyeon holds completely still and doesn’t flinch even a little. Jaehyun pokes Juyeon on the top of his nose, right between his eyes, and whispers, “Boom.”
Juyeon can’t help himself; he catches Jaehyun’s wrist in his hand. Not only is Jaehyun’s hand much smaller than Juyeon’s, his wrist is thinner as well, almost dainty compared to his muscular arms. Juyeon’s fingers easily wrap all the way around with room to spare.
Jaehyun raises his eyebrows at Juyeon, as if questioning what he’s doing.
“I got you,” Juyeon says, his voice coming out oddly hushed. “Now…” Now what? His mind draws a blank.
“Hyunjae-ssi, Juyeon-ssi!” Their heads whip towards the voice in unison. Juyeon drops Jaehyun’s hand. It’s a staff member, ushering them to their next activity.
Juyeon goes off, with a mingled sense of relief and disappointment.
vi. (i.) His duality
“How are you so clumsy?” Jaehyun laughs, when Juyeon trips over his own feet when walking. “You’re the most graceful being when dancing, but I worry you’re going to fall flat on your face just walking across the floor.”
Juyeon tries not to linger on the ‘most graceful being’ part. “You could have helped me instead of laughing at me,” he says instead, his voice coming out in a whine.
“I’m sorry,” Jaehyun says seriously. He makes a show out of holding out his arm in a sweeping motion, like he’s asking Juyeon to dance. “Do you want me to pick you up?”
Juyeon scoffs. “Like you can.”
Jaehyun raises an eyebrow. “You don’t think I can?” He flexes his biceps, which, admittedly, are very impressive. “Do you see these?”
“They look very nice, hyung.” Juyeon tries to keep a straight face. “Do you want a trophy? Maybe Kevin can give you one, for workout champion.”
“No, I have my prize right here,” Jaehyun tells him, and then sweeps his arms under Juyeon's legs and picks him up bridal-style.
Juyeon lets out an indignant squawk, instinctively putting his arms around Jaehyun’s neck, which brings his face very close to Jaehyun’s. Jaehyun smirks at him – not that smirk he practices for the cameras that they’ve all imitated on at least one occasion – but a spontaneous one that is so hot Juyeon can’t resist meeting it with his mouth.
Jaehyun drops him.
“Ow,” Juyeon says, the air knocked out of him.
“Sorry,” Jaehyun says automatically, and then stares at him with an inscrutable expression.
Juyeon wishes that the fall was higher so it could have killed him. Or at least knocked him out. Then he could feign amnesia once he woke up. He’s thinking about how to pass off the kiss as a joke, or even a moment of lunacy, when Jaehyun breaks into a smile.
“If I knew literally picking you up would work to pick you up, I would have done it ages ago.”
Juyeon has the very eloquent reply of, “Huh?”
Jaehyun shakes his head. “Juyeon, I’ve been flirting with you for months but it’s like trying to get through to a brick wall.”
“You’ve been…flirting with me?” Juyeon says, unable to wrap his mind around it.
“Asking you about my tongue, telling you to call me oppa, jumping on you, saying we look good together, calling you a prize – you don’t realize that’s flirting?” Jaehyun looks at Juyeon’s blank expression and then sighs. “Clearly not.” But his mouth quirks up in a smile that’s more fond than anything. “I should take a picture of your face. You look like the world’s biggest dork.”
Juyeon scowls. “That’s how you flirt? No wonder it didn’t work.”
Jaehyun shrugs. “I don’t need to flirt anymore, I’ve got you now.” Like he hasn’t had Juyeon all along. His face turns more serious. “You are okay, right? I didn’t drop you too hard?”
Juyeon wants to say something like I’m not sure, maybe you need to give me a thorough check-up, but he can’t manage it. Something of what he’s thinking must be showing, though, because Jaehyun’s eyes darken.
Jaehyun shakes his head and sighs again. “I don’t understand how you’re Mr. Sexy Pants onstage and…this off it.”
“Mr. Sexy Pants?” Juyeon repeats, laughing. “I think I prefer ‘the most graceful being.’”
“You are that too,” Jaehyun agrees, staring at him intently. “You’re…”
“What?” Juyeon asks, with bated breath.
“Juyeon,” Jaehyun murmurs, like an answer and an invitation and a promise. Juyeon has heard his name said many times, has heard it screamed, sobbed, chanted, but he’s never heard it like this. “Lee Juyeon. Juyeonnie.” Just when Juyeon thinks he can’t bear it if Jaehyun keeps saying his name, any form of his name, Jaehyun kisses him.
Jaehyun is murmuring something against his mouth. Quick phrases between kisses. “Your passion. Your smile. Your playfulness. Your hands. Your dorkiness.” It takes a moment for Juyeon to realize that Jaehyun is saying things about him that Jaehyun likes. “You’re unbearably sexy onstage and unbearably cute off it. You drive me crazy in every way.”
All Juyeon can manage in response is, “Jaehyun,” thin and breathless and needy. He’s cupping Jaehyun’s face with one hand – he didn’t even realize he was doing it, he just needed to hold him closer, make sure he isn’t going anywhere – and Jaehyun threads his smaller fingers through Juyeon’s, as if understanding his need to hold onto him.
“Juyeon,” Jaehyun breathes, looking at him with so much warmth Juyeon almost feels feverish again.
“Mm?” Juyeon manages.
“Did I take your spare brain cell?” Jaehyun teases.
Before Juyeon can get mad, Jaehyun soundly kisses him and then smiles at him, that cheek-creasing smile.
Juyeon’s brain momentarily short-circuits. “You play dirty,” he accuses.
Jaehyun’s tongue flits out and traces his lips. “It worked to get my prize,” he says, with that infuriatingly attractive smirk again, and Juyeon is helpless against kissing him.
