Work Text:
There’s something weird about seeing your ex when you’re on a date with someone else.
It starts reminding you of them, of how their hand fit in yours, how they’d bump into you and smile at you with that smile you fell in love with, how they’d lean over and whisper something in your ear that would make you blush, how they kissed you and hugged you and talked to you.
Ten is hit with memories from a year ago that he forced himself to stop thinking about. He’s hit with the reminder of holding hands and being pressed against walls and being kissed and hearing “I love you’s” mumbled into his skin over and over again.
Ten is hit with the fact that he's still totally and irrevocably in love with Johnny Seo.
He stares across the mall where he’s standing with his best friend, Hansol, smiling and laughing. He hasn’t changed much from a year ago, still stupidly tall and attractive. His hair is different though, and Ten thinks he might be trying to hook up at the mall or something because the shirt he’s wearing is unnecessarily tight.
Ten wants to run his hands across the muscles he knows are there. He wants Johnny to hold him against the wall with his arms, the one he remembers being ridiculously strong and toned. He wants to run his hands through Johnny’s new haircut and muss it up like he used to when they made out.
Ten thinks he might be drooling. He doesn’t bother to check until Johnny catches him staring. It’s embarrassing and Ten quickly wipes his face before waving shyly at him. Johnny looks surprised, as if he didn’t think he’d ever see Ten again in his life.
Johnny probably would’ve liked it that way. He never did tell him why he wanted to break up back then, but Ten can only assume it’s because he was annoying and not that great of a boyfriend. He still waves back though, throwing a small smile his way.
Ten kind of loses his breath.
“Ten?” There’s a tug at his hand, and Ten actually takes his eyes off of Johnny to pay attention to who he’s actually with. Taeyong looks concerned, a frown on his face as he puts his other hand to Ten’s cheek. He can’t believe he was just checking out his ex and thinking about making out with him when he was on a date. Taeyong, sweet, beautiful, hot as hell Taeyong deserved better than that.
“I spaced out. Sorry, sorry. Were you saying something?” Taeyong smiles and shakes his head.
“No, I was just worried.”
Ten feels like a complete and total asshole when he looks back to where Johnny was after he and Taeyong move on.
He has a smug look on his face, one Ten knows better than any other look Johnny has given him. That look is one Johnny only gave when he and Ten were going to sneak out somewhere and make out. He feels only a little bit bad when it excites him.
-
Ten is happily making out on the couch with Taeyong when he hears a knock on his apartment door. He ignores it at first, because he hadn’t seen Taeyong all week and after the Johnny incident he was in need of some hardcore stress relief. He thought Johnny was going to relieve it sometime in the week, but that never happened.
It was fine. Ten didn’t need Johnny. He had a great boyfriend right now. Taeyong knew all the places to hold Ten and knew just how to move his hips against Ten’s. Maybe he was a little awkward and didn’t always take charge, but he was getting better at it.
Taeyong was a good boyfriend. He cooked meals for Ten and brought him food during dance practice. He sent goodnight texts to Ten every night and helped him with his dumb college homework. He was sweet and took Ten on as many dates as he could while juggling his own college homework and a job.
Taeyong was such a good boyfriend.
The knock on the door persists in a pattern that he made up years ago, a pattern that only one other person knew and Ten pulls away from Taeyong reluctantly.
“I’ll be right back. Probably the mailman with my package.” Ten presses one more kiss to Taeyong’s lips before he gets off his lap and rushes to the front door. He quickly runs a hand through his hair, making sure he doesn’t look like someone was just tugging at it. He opens the door and slides out, shutting it behind him as he looks up at Johnny.
“Hey.” Seeing Johnny across the mall and seeing him up close after a year was an entirely different experience. Ten doesn’t know how he’s even breathing right now. He spends at least a minute checking Johnny out.
He’s standing in front of him with a loose fitting shirt that shows off his collarbones; collarbones that Ten wants to mark up and kiss. His jeans are too tight and they show off toned thighs. Ten wonders what his abs look like now under his shirt. They must have gotten nicer. His eyes trail over his arms, arms that Ten has been dreaming about recently and his face suddenly feels hot.
“Take a picture, Ten. It lasts longer.” Ten snaps his eyes up to Johnny’s face. He’s smirking and biting at his bottom lip, and Ten forgot how much he loves his lips. They’re plump and perfect for biting and sucking at and kissing and Ten can’t be out here anymore. His boyfriend is on the other side of the door and here he is once again, thinking about Johnny.
Johnny was unfair.
“Go home,” Ten says. Johnny rolls his eyes.
“Why? I wanted to talk.”
“No. I’m on a date. You’re interrupting my date, Johnny.” Ten crosses his arms, hoping that he looks defensive. He’s really only trying to keep his hands off of Johnny, but no one but him needed to know that.
“I’m sorry. I’m not here to interrupt your date. I’m… just here to tell you I wanted to be friends.” Johnny takes a step back and holds out his hand in truce. Ten looks down at it, but he’s still skeptical. Last time Johnny wanted to be friends was when they broke up, and that didn’t go so well.
“…how do I know you’re not here because you want your jacket back? I already told you I’m not-
“Giving it back. Yeah, yeah.” Johnny sighs. “Ten, really. I want to be friends. I even brought this coupon from my work…”
Johnny takes his hand back and reaches into his pocket, and Ten’s eyes go down to his legs again. He feels like he’s sinning, but Ten decides he’s appreciating art. He had every right to appreciate art when it was in front of him.
“Here. For you and your date.” Ten reluctantly takes his eyes off of Johnny’s legs and looks at the coupon in his hand. “Every employee got this coupon for one free meal at my new job for this lover’s day special they’re doing, but I don’t have a date so you can have it.”
“What if-
“Ten, take the fucking coupon and go to dinner with your boyfriend next week. This is my offer of friendship. If you don’t take it, I’ll give it to Hansol and force him to ask out Yuta.”
Ten gasps. He uncrosses his arms and puts a hand to his heart dramatically before pushing Johnny’s hand away from him.
“Johnny, Hansol needs this more than I do. I can’t believe they’re still not together. Give this to them or they’ll never get together. Why would you offer it to me first? You’re stupid.” Ten lets out a sigh and shakes his head. Johnny laughs at him, a laugh that Ten shouldn’t be hearing. That laugh was ridiculously dangerous. This situation was dangerous.
Ten needed Johnny to leave before he did something.
“I’ll give it to Hansol if you insist. But, drop by my work sometime. I’ll try and get you a discount.” Johnny puts his hand in between them again. “Friendship first, though.”
Ten looks down at his hand. He’s smart. He knows better. Ten knows so much better than to be friends with Johnny again.
Johnny, the person who knew Ten’s body like no one else, who knew how to make him happy when he was upset, who knew how to communicate with Ten in one look.
Johnny, the person that Ten fell in love with in less than a week, the person that made Ten feel things he hasn’t been able to feel with anyone else, the person that walked out of his life without a single explanation and a “I’m sorry.”
Johnny. Johnny.
Johnny.
Ten takes his hand and gives him a thousand watt smile. Ten knew better, but he also knew he couldn’t really ever deny Johnny.
“Okay. Friendship.”
-
Ten is a bad person. Only bad people bring their boyfriend to their ex’s workplace and stare at said ex behind the menu.
Maybe it’s just Ten.
Maybe Ten is the worst person ever.
How could he seriously help it though? Johnny’s serving people in a white button up shirt that’s totally unfair and looks amazing on him. He looks handsome, stupidly handsome, so handsome that Ten thinks he’s probably drooling again.
Ten really is a bad person.
He looks away from Johnny and instead focuses on the menu in his hands. He shouldn’t have come. Ten should have never suggested going to this restaurant with Taeyong. Taeyong was going to find out about him and Johnny when Ten eventually slipped up.
He should probably put more trust in himself, but he knows better than that when it concerns Johnny.
Ten glances up from his menu and catches Johnny staring at him. He’s about to look away because he really should pay attention to his actual date, but Johnny mouths something to him and puts up his hand with all five fingers standing.
He knows what it is. He knows exactly what it is and Ten can’t believe Johnny would suggest such a thing. He was on a date with his boyfriend and Johnny was being completely and totally rude.
“…Hey, Taeyong? I’m going to go use the bathroom real quick. Order an appetizer okay?” Taeyong gives a smile to Ten.
Ten was an actual piece of shit.
He finds his way to the bathroom, quickly checking the stalls to make sure no one was in them and leaning against the sink while he waits for Johnny. Ten hopes this isn’t going to lead where he thinks it might. If it does, he’s not sure he’ll be able to face Taeyong again.
The door opens, and in a second Ten is being pulled into a stall and pressed against the door. Johnny immediately starts kissing at Ten’s neck, the place that Johnny always loved marking up.
“Ah-ah oh my- Johnny-
Johnny kisses along Ten’s jaw, and Ten hates that he’s enjoying this. His boyfriend was one room away. The boyfriend that deserved all of Ten’s love and deserved not to be cheated on with an ex that left Ten so emotionally broken.
Ten puts both of his hands on Johnny’s chest and pushes at him with enough force to send him stumbling back. It gives enough time for Ten to open the stall and wait at the sink for Johnny like he originally was when he got in there.
“You’re interrupting my date again, Johnny.”
Johnny peeks out from the stall with a frown on his face. “I almost fell into the toilet.”
“Good. You deserve it.”
Ten crosses his arms and looks to the floor. He’s not really upset with Johnny. He could’ve easily stayed out of the bathroom. He knew where it was going to lead. He knew he was being stupid, yet here he was, still standing in the bathroom waiting on Johnny.
Arms come to his sides, touching gently at his hips before they settle on the sink countertop. Ten feels Johnny’s breath on his neck for a moment, and he’s ready to push him away again, but instead he presses his forehead to Ten’s shoulder and laughs.
“I was trying to be friendly,” Johnny says. Ten rolls his eyes. He’s about to open his mouth to tell him what he just did was not friendly, but Johnny opens his mouth first.
“I missed you.”
Ten should’ve left. He should’ve left and gone back to his date. He should’ve ignored Johnny and never became friends again. He should’ve been happy with Taeyong and gone home holding hands with him and let him stay the night.
He should’ve, but instead he moves his hands to Johnny’s face and lifts his head up off his shoulder so he can look him in the eye. Ten wants to believe he’s lying, that maybe Johnny was fucking with him. But he knows Johnny, and something like this had always been important.
Ten kisses Johnny.
He kisses Johnny again and again and again until he’s out of breath. He lets Johnny lift him up onto the sink, lets Johnny kiss at his jaw and his neck, lets him whisper his name into his skin because he missed hearing it. He lets himself wrap his arms around Johnny’s neck, lets himself mumble out Johnny’s name every time Johnny says his, lets himself pretend that he doesn’t have a boyfriend in the other room.
Ten pretends for five minutes that he and Johnny never broke up.
-
“We should break up.”
Taeyong looks up at Ten from the movie they’re watching with mild confusion. Ten thinks he has every right to be confused. He hadn’t seen Taeyong for two days, shutting himself in his apartment for the weekend while he thought things over, and then finally asking if he wanted to come over and hang out.
Taeyong deserved better than Ten. He deserved to be in a relationship where the other person was fully invested in him like Taeyong had been fully invested in Ten.
“Uh… can I ask why? I thought… I thought we were doing okay.” Taeyong reaches for one of Ten’s hands, and Ten lets him play with his fingers as he explains.
“I had a boyfriend a year ago and… I thought I was over him. I dated what, four other guys before I met you? And I really, really liked you. I still like you. But he…”
Ten takes a second to try and explain what he wants to say about Johnny without saying a million things about him. Taeyong waits patiently. It makes Ten want to cry because if Johnny hadn’t come back, Ten would’ve happily been with Taeyong for the rest of his life until Taeyong didn’t want him anymore.
“He’s been my everything since the day I met him. And recently he came back into my life and all my feelings came back. I guess being with you… made me forget about them? I don’t know I-I just- I don’t want to hurt you and you-you deserve someone who’s going to love you-
Taeyong reaches a hand out and wipes at the tears that started falling from Ten’s eyes. It stops Ten from talking anymore, instead he stares at Taeyong. He doesn’t look mad, just thoughtful.
“Did you do anything?” He asks.
“We kissed,” Ten says.
Taeyong nods his head in understanding, but he doesn’t blow up on Ten. He doesn’t get mad or say anything else, allowing them to sit in silence while Taeyong keeps playing with his fingers.
He keeps it up even when Ten starts feeling tears fall on his skin.
-
Ten usually got along well with his best friend’s boyfriend. They went on double dates and spent time together even when Doyoung wasn’t around. The fact that he was being glared at right now was unsettling. He never thought that cute, adorable, sweet, puppy Jaehyun could even manage a glare. Ten feels like he’s in an alternate reality right now.
“So, back to what I was… Did you say something while I was gone, Ten?” Ten looks up at Doyoung and takes the cup of hot chocolate from him, shaking his head. He can guess why Jaehyun was glaring, but telling Doyoung might get the couple into a fight.
“Why was Jaehyun making that face then?” Ten looks at Jaehyun who is smiling sweetly and lovingly at Doyoung as if he hadn’t been making any face at all. Ten can’t believe he’s never seen this side of Jaehyun before.
“Was I making a face?” Jaehyun asks. Doyoung looks down at him and a smile spreads across his face when he looks at him. Ten isn’t sure why he comes over here when they make heart eyes at each other without any shame.
“Maybe I was imagining it- oh. I forgot the snacks. I’ll be right back.” Doyoung sets his and Jaehyun’s cups on the coffee table before walking back to the kitchen. Immediately, Jaehyun is glaring at Ten again. Ten wonders if he can make an excuse to leave.
“I can’t believe you.” Ten takes a sip of his hot chocolate, waiting for Jaehyun to go on. When he doesn’t, Ten sighs.
“What did I do?”
“You broke up with Taeyong. I’ve never seen him cry before. It was like kicking a puppy a million times- why did you break up?”
Ten is surprised. Taeyong and Jaehyun were close, so he figured he would’ve at least told him the reason why they broke up. Unless Taeyong was trying to keep Ten’s friendships from falling apart.
Ten definitely has to send a cake or something to Taeyong when Taeyong decides he wants to be friends with Ten again.
“It’s none of your business, Jaehyun-
“It is when he cries for three hours-
“Who’s crying for three hours?” Jaehyun’s facial expression changes so fast that Ten feels like he should’ve gotten whiplash. It’s actually impressive. Doyoung sits down next to Jaehyun and smiles back at him, waiting on an answer to his question.
“No one, sweetheart.”
Ten rolls his eyes. Maybe he should tell Doyoung to piss Jaehyun off. That’d probably be funny. He didn’t want the couple to fight necessarily, but if Jaehyun was going to keep giving him glares every time Doyoung wasn’t looking like he was the worst person ever for breaking Taeyong’s heart, then he wasn’t going to sit there and take it.
Ten already knew he was the worst person for breaking Taeyong’s heart. Every time Taeyong didn’t send him a goodnight text, or come give him food during dance practice it stabbed a little at Ten’s own heart. He knows he loves Johnny, and he’s sure he wouldn’t go back on breaking up with him, but kissing Johnny when they were still together, while they were on a date together was something he’d want to take back more than anything.
“I broke up with Taeyong.” Ten blurts out. He wasn’t sure what Doyoung was talking about, but he guesses it’s not that important anymore because now he’s speechless. Ten looks between the couple and Jaehyun is glaring at Ten again, this time much worse than before. He knows what’s coming next.
“Ten, what the fuck?” Okay, maybe Ten doesn’t know what’s coming next. Jaehyun and he both look at Doyoung who looks disgusted at Ten.
Is Ten actually in an alternate reality? Did Doyoung, one of the people who didn’t like Taeyong and wasn’t afraid to say he didn’t in front of Ten, actually express something that wasn’t happiness about their break up?
Even Jaehyun knew his dislike for Taeyong.
“Babe, what? Are you mad?” Jaehyun asks.
“Of course I’m mad! You dating Taeyong meant less time he spent here-
“Okay, stop talking.” Jaehyun puts a hand up to silence Doyoung, immediately shutting him up before putting his eyes back on Ten. “At least tell me who you broke up with him for.”
“What? I didn’t-
“Ten, every breakup before Taeyong was because you saw someone else and wanted them. Who is it this time? Don’t say Sicheng. I know you think he’s cute but Doyoung and I are trying to hook him up with Kun-
“Johnny.”
Doyoung actually spits out his hot chocolate. Jaehyun wasn’t around when what their friend group likes to call “the worst two months of their lives” happened. Jaehyun doesn’t even know who Johnny is.
Doyoung, however, was there during all of it. He and Ten had shared a dorm back then. Doyoung was the one who brought food to Ten when he refused to leave. He was the one who let Ten cuddle with him and let him cry on his shoulder when Ten was having a bad day and had been thinking about Johnny. He was the one who introduced him to his first boyfriend after Johnny.
“Who’s Johnny?” Jaehyun asks. Doyoung sets his cup down in a very serious manner before leaning forward.
“Ten. It has been a year. Johnny has been in America-
“He’s back in Korea.”
“That doesn’t mean you get back with him- he didn’t even- he- he’s an asshole!” Doyoung definitely has every right to be mad, but Ten wasn’t stupid. He was going to ask exactly why Johnny broke up with him the first time. He just had to get back with him first.
“Can I know who Johnny is?” Jaehyun speaks up. Doyoung shakes his head and leans back into the couch, glaring at Ten. Ten figures that he might as well tell Jaehyun.
He opens his mouth to start talking, but his phone starts ringing in his pocket. He quickly pulls it out and sees Johnny’s name. Ten has to force himself not to smile in case Doyoung figures out that it’s Johnny calling. He might actually throw his phone out a window.
He quickly excuses himself and goes out into the hall before answering the call.
“Hey.”
“Hey. Can I come over?” Ten doesn’t want to say yes, because he’s supposed to be hanging out with his friends but he could always raincheck. Ten was going to raincheck.
“Yeah.”
Ten tells Doyoung and Jaehyun that something came up and that they’ll have to hang out another time. Doyoung doesn’t look happy when he says this, but he doesn’t argue. Jaehyun waves him goodbye in confusion, and Ten races back to his own apartment building.
Johnny is sitting against Ten’s door when he arrives, and he wonders how long Johnny’s been sitting there. His eyes are closed and as Ten gets closer, he can tell Johnny is exhausted. He has bags under his eyes and Ten can only assume he hasn’t gotten much sleep.
“Hey.” Ten puts a hand in Johnny’s hair and shakes his head a little as he opens up his apartment door. “I’m here. You can come in.”
Johnny stands up slowly, taking Ten’s hand out of his hair and holding onto it as he gets up. Ten watches him, and he’s hoping Johnny didn’t come to make out or do anything more. Ten would rather put him in bed.
“Are you okay?” Ten asks. Johnny nods.
“I’m tired. And Hansol is doing some stupid shit at his place…”
“Do you want to sleep in my bed?” Johnny nods again. “Okay.”
Ten leads Johnny to his room, and he absolutely does not get happy because he’s holding his hand. It lasts for less than a minute, but it’s still nice.
“Do you need me to wake you up at a certain time?” Ten asks as Johnny crawls into his bed. He pulls the covers over himself, saying nothing before sticking out his hand towards Ten. Ten looks at it, not sure what Johnny wants.
“Uh… Do you need something? Water?”
“You.”
“Me?”
Johnny gestures with his hand for Ten to come towards him, then slaps at the bed. Ten lets out an ‘oh’ before climbing into his bed and under the covers with Johnny. He’s not sleepy, but if Johnny wanted to be with him Ten wasn’t going to deny him of that.
Johnny smiles softly at him before closing his eyes. Ten watches him as he falls asleep quickly. He watches him when he moves around in his sleep. He watches him when he starts dreaming of something that makes him smile.
Ten watches Johnny until he falls asleep himself, a smile on his face because if there’s anything that Ten really missed, it was falling asleep next to Johnny.
-
Ten wakes up to kisses being pressed to the back of his neck. It feels nice and all, but Taeyong never did that. Neither did any of his other boyfriends. Ten pushes back at whoever is kissing at his neck and quickly rolls over in his bed only to come face to face with Johnny.
Ten squints at him for a moment before remembering why exactly he was there. Right. He was sleeping at his place. Really tired. Something about Hansol.
“…still sleepy?” Ten nods his head. “Sorry. I’ll let you sleep. I should go anyways.”
“Stay.” Johnny does.
Ten wants to go back to sleep, but Johnny is right here in front of him and he’s half convinced this is a dream. The other half of him knows better. He knows Johnny is back and he made out with him in a bathroom and he talked to Hansol again and got Johnny’s number and now Johnny was here in his bed.
But it still felt like a dream.
“You’re prettier than I remember,” Johnny mumbles. Ten smiles and scoots a little closer, picking up one of Johnny’s arms and placing it on his waist. Johnny smiles back and pulls him as close as he can.
“I think you got taller.”
“Yuta said the same thing when I saw him,” Johnny says.
Ten missed Johnny. He missed him talking. He missed laying with him in bed and seeing him smile. He missed kissing him and letting Johnny hold him. He missed being woken up with morning kisses and missed being taken out to breakfast because neither Johnny nor Ten wanted to make it. He missed staring at Johnny and thinking about how he wanted to tell him he loved him. He missed his laugh and his dumb jokes and hearing him talk to Hansol on the phone and smile at him when he caught Ten looking at him.
He missed Johnny.
“I love you.”
Johnny looks surprised. And then regretful. Ten watches him sit up in the bed and run a hand through his hair.
“I should go.”
“Johnny, please don’t-
“I should.” Johnny shoves the covers off of himself and stands up. Ten watches him go through the door before getting out of his bed himself. He wasn’t going to let Johnny walk out of his life again.
“Johnny. Why are you leaving? Are you not even going to give me an explanation this time? Just going to walk out again? Did you just want me back for sex or something?”
Johnny turns around, glaring at him. “If I wanted you for sex, don’t you think I would’ve fucked you in that bathroom? Or today? I’ve never wanted you just for sex, Ten.”
“Then why did you come see me at my apartment when I was with Taeyong? Because as far as I know, making out with someone in a bathroom and sleeping with them isn’t exactly friendship.” Ten steps closer to Johnny, hoping he won’t step back. Johnny doesn’t, too focused on what he wants to say next.
“You’re right, it wasn’t friendship. But, Ten, you deserve someone better than me. I-I left once without even telling you why and now I’m basically making you cheat on your boyfriend-
“You aren’t making me do anything! I kissed you just as willingly as you kissed me. And then I broke up with Taeyong because I knew I couldn’t be with him when all I was going to do was think about you.”
Johnny’s face softens and he looks down at the floor. “You broke up with him for me?”
“Johnny, I’ll tell you exactly what I told Taeyong; you’ve been my everything since I met you. After you left I… god, I was fucked up. But then! But then, you were there again. Smiling and laughing with Hansol and I couldn’t believe it. You were there again, and I-I-
Ten doesn’t know when he started crying. He wants it to stop, but he can’t.
“I love you s-so fucking much. I thought I might’ve loved Taeyong, but just-just o-one stupid look at you and I knew I’ve only ever l-loved you.”
Ten watches Johnny walk closer to him. He watches Johnny take his face in his hands and watches his face get closer until their foreheads are pressing together. Johnny smiles at him and breathes with him. He wipes the tears that are coming out of Ten’s eyes, and then he starts crying himself.
“I’m sorry I left. I love you. I love you. I’ve never stopped loving you.” Johnny presses one kiss to Ten’s lips. Then another. Then three more. He presses kiss after kiss, mumbling out an ‘I love you’ with each one. Ten laughs when Johnny lifts him up and almost trips as he brings him back to the bedroom.
Johnny lays him on the bed sweetly and gently. He stares down at Ten with so much love in his eyes that it makes Ten want to cry again.
“I love you,” Johnny says.
“I love you too.”
-
Ten wakes up to the smell of food and coffee. He wants to get up, but the moment he tries he feels sore and cold. He decides he’ll just wait for the food to come to him.
Eventually, Johnny walks in with a tray of food in only his boxers, a look Ten does not mind at all. He has marks all over his chest and Ten can make out some on his neck as well. He feels proud about putting them there.
“Oh, hey. You’re awake.”
Ten smiles and nods. “Mm, yeah… Smells good.”
Johnny manages to get back into the bed without spilling anything, setting the tray on his lap and beginning to eat. Ten watches him for a second, happy that Johnny was here and Johnny made him food and Johnny loved him.
“Do you have class today?” Johnny asks. Ten sticks a hand out from the blankets and grabs at a piece of toast. He nibbles at it, not worrying about any crumbs falling. He was going to have to wash the sheets later anyways.
“No, but I have dance practice at five. Why?”
“I wanted to make sure Hansol could see you today. He texted me telling me not to keep you all to myself. Guessed he really missed you.”
“That’s… sweet. Maybe Yuta can come too. That’d be cool.”
“I’ll tell them to come after noon. So then we can spend the morning together.” Johnny pauses and looks down at Ten. “If that’s cool with you.”
“Yeah,” Ten says. “I’m good with that.”
Johnny and Ten eat breakfast together mostly in silence, leaving Ten with his thoughts as he eats. He’s fine with this. Eating and spending time with Johnny was great. But he never got to ask why Johnny left in the first place.
They take a very unproductive shower together before getting dressed and settling down on the couch to watch some random t.v. It’s nice, and Ten actually feels at home.
But the question still lingers on his mind. When there’s a lull in the show, he pulls away from Johnny and looks at him.
“Can I know why you left before?” Johnny’s face scrunches up in distaste, but he sighs and turns his head to look at Ten.
“I… got busy.”
Ten rolls his eyes. “That’s a dumb excuse.”
“Maybe if you listened for a second longer it wouldn’t sound dumb,” Johnny retorts. Ten crosses his arms in a fake pout, letting Johnny continue.
“I really was busy. I tried not to make it obvious back then but I… was so fucking tired. I had too many classes and my mom got sick but she was back in America and I was trying to juggle my job and still try and spend time with you. I made a lot of excuses to cancel dates when all I really did was sleep. I was stupid, you know? I didn’t want you to worry about me.”
Johnny pauses, but Ten doesn’t interrupt to say anything this time. He needed to know about this.
“My mom got worse, and my dad was begging me to come help out. They needed me. And I knew I… wasn’t going to be able to give you the love and attention you needed. Not saying you need a lot of attention or anything! But, I just thought you deserved better than what I was offering you at the time. So… I just left.”
Ten doesn’t want to say Johnny is stupid, but Johnny is stupid. He takes it all in for a moment before punching his arm. Johnny yelps and holds the place where Ten hit him.
“Why’d you hit me?”
“Because you’re an idiot! I would’ve waited for you! Hell, I would’ve gone to America with you!”
“Ten, you don’t even have milk in your fridge. I doubt you could buy a plane ticket to America-
“Shut up!” Ten hits Johnny again. “I still would’ve waited for you. You’re an asshole. You broke my heart and I dated like, two idiots because they kind of looked like you!”
Johnny laughs, but Ten hits him again.
“Don’t laugh. I’m mad at you. Tell Hansol to come sooner. You can stay here and we’ll hang out without you.” Ten stands up, ready to go and be mad in the other room, but Johnny grabs his hand and pulls him back down into his lap.
“What if I was gone for ten years? You still would’ve waited for me?”
Ten rolls his eyes and hits Johnny again, but he doesn’t make a move to get out of his lap. “I’d wait a million years if it meant I got to be with you.”
Johnny stares down at Ten, before a huge smile spreads across his face.
“That’s so fucking cheesy but since it’s coming from you, I don’t even care.” Johnny leans down and kisses Ten happily, and Ten squeals when he’s being pressed against the couch, Johnny on top of him kissing him like Ten is the air he’s breathing.