Work Text:
It had started as an idle thought, a dream of a dream that had eventually become a reality: all six members of BOYNEXTDOOR living under one roof for roughly 72 hours.
They'd just finished work and had gone back to the company to collect the cameras for their trip to the house they'd be staying in. Taesan, ever the menace, decided to have some fun as they waited for the elevator that would take them down to the parking garage.
"What's your relationship?"
Jaehyun matched Taesan's wicked grin with one of his own as he clung tighter to Sungho's arm, "We're in love."
"What made you two decide to get married?"
Taesan shoved his camera in Sungho's face, snickering at the blond's tired glare but carrying on pestering him regardless. There was nothing he loved more after a long work day than playing around with the other members and lately Sungho had become his favorite target. (He still saved more than enough teasing for Woonhak. It's not like he'd deprive their youngest of his affection entirely, he wasn't cruel like that.) He'd learned well by now just how far he could push things with the older before he earned a scolding and by the looks of things he was still in the clear for now. Behind him he could hear Woonhak saying something to his own camera but it was drowned out by Leehan's loud, offbeat humming that filled the air as they piled into the elevator. Taesan couldn't be sure but he thought he recognized a few notes of 'Salut d'amour' amidst the chaotic symphony.
Intrigued by the strange but not unexpected behavior from their resident alien Taesan turned his attention to filming him instead. He pressed his forearm against the younger's shoulder, keeping him pinned between his chest and the mirrored wall. Leehan hung his head low so he couldn't put the lens in his face but Taesan caught the edge of a silly grin lifting his cheeks as the rest of the members voiced their discontent with his choice of serenade.
"What's wrong with him now?" A familiar tone of fond exasperation colored Sungho's voice. Over their years together the eldest had developed a rather large soft spot for Leehan and nowadays tended to humor his oddness rather than genuinely berate him for it. "Leehanie, be quiet."
Taesan wasn't normally the one to ever put a stop to something fun and/or bothersome— in fact he would usually be the instigator and proceed to fan the flames for as long as he was able to get away with it— but he also didn't tolerate it when people ordered Leehan around, even playfully. That was his job, boyfriend privileges and all that.
So to remind everyone of that fact he straightened his shoulders and stood at his full height, dropping all hints of playfulness in his voice so it would cut through the chatter, sharp and clear.
"Stop now."
And like a good little bunny, Leehan obediently chirped, "I'll stop now."
Taesan shot Sungho a smug look that the older just shook his head and rolled his eyes at.
Literally less than ten seconds passed before Leehan started singing again and this time Taesan made sure he got that brilliant, mischievous little smile on camera, his amused chuckle echoing Leehan's delighted giggles when a chorus of groans rang out again.
🏠︎
𝘑𝘢𝘦𝘩𝘺𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘦-𝘩𝘺𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘮𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦
"Eh?!" Taesan gaped down at his phone as he read Leehan's text for a second time to make sure he'd seen it right. His eyes narrowed as he hissed at the screen, "Yah Myung Jaehyun, do you want to die?"
Man needs to get his own boyfriend and back the fuck off of mine, Taesan grumbled in his head, Spends all his time flirting with Riwoo and doesn’t even make a proper move but wants to play games like this.
He started typing furiously but another message popped up before he could finish.
𝘐'𝘮 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘫𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘺
A snort escaped him without his permission and Taesan tried to cover it up with a cough so Sungho and Riwoo wouldn't turn around and question him. (They were both too distracted with their own phones to notice anyways but even if they had, they knew Taesan too well not to be aware that it was Leehan he was texting with.) He erased the message and started over again, his sour mood vanishing instantly thanks to his boyfriend's sudden shift in topic.
𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘐 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘭𝘰𝘭
𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘯𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘣𝘵𝘸, 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵. 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘰𝘯
𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦?
Taesan watched the three little bubbles appear at the bottom of the chat and waited for the gif to load when it finally popped up.
...
𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺, 𝘢 𝘨𝘪𝘧 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧?
𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘨𝘪𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘤𝘢 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸?
Still, the gif was cute. Taesan recognized it from their very first Funnextdoor trip. He hearted the message, knowing it would make Leehan happy since he didn't do it often.
🥰😘🐠💕
Taesan grinned at the barrage of emojis before tucking his phone back into the pocket of his jeans and reaching up to tug his headphones over his ears, content to zone out the world until they stopped at the store and he could help his adorable boyfriend pick out his precious jellies.
🏠︎
"You were seriously the only person I had back then."
Taesan's face was slightly flushed, soju and a shy sort of happiness coloring his cheeks after the admission. Leehan couldn't help but find him endearing, he always liked Taesan's honest side the best. The look in the older's eyes, a combination of genuine adoration and alcohol-induced heat, made his stomach feel fizzy and his heart flutter like a schoolboy with a crush. Ah, he really loved his boyfriend so much.
Leehan didn't proclaim his thoughts out loud even though he wanted to, very much. He had no problem about saying it in front of the members— neither he nor Taesan were the sort who loved passively; it was in every action, every touch, every moment spent together that they never bothered trying to hide from their friends— but the cameras were still rolling until after they finished their dinner at the very least so he kept his thoughts to himself for now.
Instead he just hummed and didn't bother trying to hide his pleased smile, "Hmm, is that so?"
Leehan didn't often dwell on their pre-debut era, rather he tended to focus more on the here-and-now. But as he listened to the others start telling stories about those days, he found himself feeling a bit nostalgic as well.
In the three years since they'd first revealed themselves to the world they'd accomplished a lot and Leehan was quite proud of them as a team. It went beyond all the awards they'd won and the accolades they'd earned, it was the bond that they'd built with each other and their fans. As a group they'd worked tirelessly to put their best foot forward and never stopped at just "good enough". They all took too much pride in their work to halfass anything they did and no other album said it as much as HOME.
He couldn't help but think back to the days before their tiny universe had exploded under the single word debut.
Coming from Busan to Seoul had been daunting to say the least, the city and the dream he'd been chasing both far bigger than anything he'd ever known back home.
He wasn't the first trainee by far, that honor had gone to Sungho. Sungho, who back in those days had been so intimidating that Leehan could only agree with everything he said out of sheer self-preservation. Following Sungho had been Riwoo, the powerhouse that Leehan had been loyal to without hesitation because he could see that he was the one in charge at the time. Woonhak was the same back then as he was now— loud and rambunctious but with a good head on his shoulders— but it had taken time for them to become close with each other. Jaehyun hadn't even been a thought at that point in time, a stranger wandering the streets of Seoul not knowing where his path would lead him.
(Things had gotten better as time had passed. Sungho had loosened up and become gentler, more understanding and conscious of when to snap and when to let things lie. After Jaehyun had joined, the burden of leadership had fallen off of Riwoo's shoulders and he'd happily slipped into the role of all-around support that suited his quiet nature much better. Woonhak never faltered, their North Star who kept them all pointed in the same direction. They'd become one, a team who supported each other with unwavering devotion.)
Honestly, back then Taesan had been all Leehan had had too.
It had taken some time for them to meet properly. Taesan had been aloof back in those days, always leaving practice right when the teacher called it a day and disappearing into his officially-unofficial studio room for hours on end to work on tracks that no one else ever got to hear. Leehan learned about him in bits and pieces, a few whispers of awe from the others saying how he was the most experienced of all of them and confident comments from their instructors about his debut already being secure. It had been nerve-racking, the thought of approaching someone with a reputation so large and lofty, but after that fateful encounter in the cafeteria all of his worries had melted away.
Taesan was prickly, sure, but he wasn't unkind. He didn't rebuff Leehan for his strangeness, instead he just called him weird with a tone of restrained affection and asked follow-up questions when he talked about his fish. Someone who was truly as cold-hearted as Taesan's reputation led people to believe he was would never have offered Leehan a bite of his ramen that afternoon and then huffed a laugh when Leehan told him he'd already eaten. Taesan was like a cat, an ornery but cute black cat that hissed and swatted but was sweet on his own terms. Leehan liked that he had been amongst the first to be allowed to see that side of him.
Sungho had made a joke a few minutes ago that the two of them should just date already. The fans would undoubtedly go crazy over the offhanded remark when the episode came out, not knowing that they'd been a couple for going on two-and-a-half years now.
Leehan had heard things like "best friends shouldn't date" or "dating ruins friendships" before but from where he was standing, the shift in their relationship from platonic to romantic was the best thing that could have happened. They just… fit.
Taesan was rebellious and direct with a protective streak a mile wide.
Leehan was obstinate and level-headed but had a tendency to sulk when things didn't go his way.
Taesan knew how to draw Leehan out of his head before he got too lost in his own thoughts.
Leehan was the only one who could deal with Taesan's worst moods without rising to the bait he set out when he wanted to pick a fight.
Leehan was the sun, Taesan was the moon. They'd been caught in each other's orbit from the day they'd met and neither of them had tried to fight it for a single second.
Leehan likes to think they were inevitable. That even if they hadn't ended up at KOZ together and debuted in the same group, somehow the universe would have led them to each other anyways. When he'd told Taesan that once the older had called him a romantic airhead and laughed it off but he hadn't been able to hide the wide, childishly pleased smile that had spread across his face and made his eyes shimmer for the rest of the day.
The love that had blossomed between them was beautiful and had become Leehan's most precious treasure.
🏠︎
Games and unnecessary challenges had become synonymous with BOYNEXTDOOR and Taesan would readily admit that he'd had a rather large hand in that.
He was competitive by nature and didn't like to lose so when the idea to do a FIFA tournament to decide which room would be responsible for cleaning up the kitchen in the aftermath of their anniversary celebration he was all over it.
After cheering on Mechanic Park while he fixed the TV and fishing Leehan out of his bed — he was always more of a troublemaker when he was tipsy, Taesan could attest to that fact easily since he was generally the one who had to deal with the younger whenever they drank— Taesan was feeling confident enough to start making some bold claims.
"Donghyun-ah," he tilted his head back until it hit his boyfriend's knees, "Come at me, you're dead."
Leehan blinked innocently at the screen, the controller upside down in his hands, "Is it one on one?"
Turns out: Taesan should not have been so confident.
Somehow, even sleepy and half-drunk, Leehan was better at FIFA than he ever was when he was sober. Between his insane luck, Woonhak's backseat gaming and Sungho's loud encouragements the small room was up by two points within minutes. Needless to say after a lot of effort and even more senseless noise, the big room lost.
Taesan threw himself down onto the bed Leehan had been occupying for the better part of the second half, groaning when his boyfriend cackled in his face as he got up to join Sungho and Woonhak in their group hug.
"Double or nothing?" Taesan threw it out, in hopes that someone might take the bait.
"Nope!" Leehan darted away to run back to the other bedroom with unapologetic speed, "Let's hurry to bed."
Cleaning was a nightmare. The upstairs living room wasn't so bad to deal with between him and Riwoo but once he brought all of the cups down to the kitchen, Taesan felt his head start to throb when he saw how bad it was on the bottom floor.
"Everyone, this is why excessive drinking is dangerous."
After aimlessly meandering around the kitchen for a couple of minutes Taesan re-entered the dining room to discover the source of Jaehyun's sudden, disbelieving scoff. He walked in purposefully slow, having caught the sound of Leehan's muffled giggles, and watched the scene unfold with their two youngest members as the stars. They'd turned on the damn robot dog and cat again and were doing some sort of strange dance with them all while in the middle of brushing their teeth. Taesan didn't know whether to find them cute or if he should start calculating how much trouble he might get into for inciting war in a house they were only borrowing for a few days.
The maknaes made the decision for him by dancing harder upon noticing his arrival. Leehan's eyes had turned into crescents and Woonhak's front teeth were on full display, happiness practically radiating from their pores as the pair continued taunting them. Taesan ran a hand through his hair and passed his tongue over the sharp points of his canines, arching an eyebrow at them.
"Alright, that's it. I'm not sleeping tonight." The threat hung heavily in the air as Woonhak and Leehan beat a hasty retreat towards the staircase, "Look forward to it."
"They're definitely the maknaes," Jaehyun hummed fondly as their joint laughter faded, "They're cute."
Robot-cat-Sungho meowed at that exact moment as if to protest Jaehyun's words. Taesan glared at the stupid thing as he took some snack wrappers to the kitchen garbage, "Yah! Shut up."
Even he wouldn't let it pass if some little toy claimed to be cuter than Leehan and Woonhak.
🏠︎
"Time to wake up!"
Taesan grinned at the sadistic pleasure in Jaehyun's voice as he flicked on the light switch and charged into the smaller room. He watched out of the corner of his eye as Woonhak hugged his body pillow defensively at the leader's approach but his prize lay in the corner, currently staring up at the ceiling in resignation as if waiting for his fate.
He snatched the dark comforter off his boyfriend's prone body, pulling it easily from his hands when the younger tried to take it back.
"Dongmiiiinnn~" Leehan drew his name out in a long whine, "Please, I jus' wanna go to sleep…"
Taesan hovered over him, one knee on the bed with the blanket still clutched in his fists, "Oh, you're tired now? You were so eager to stay up and play around just a little while ago though when you guys won the game. There was even a lot of excited dancing, remember? You had plenty of energy then."
Leehan groaned petulantly, pouting up at Taesan in displeasure as he made another weak grab for the blanket. His bare face was unfairly pretty— even the slight puffiness of his eyes and the alcohol-fueled flush that spilled across his cheeks and down his neck did nothing to detract from it— and his hair spilled across the pillow beneath his head in a messy halo of fading navy blue. His limbs were loose and relaxed, sprawled out carelessly after their short tussle over the covers. Taesan had half a mind to fetch his phone and take a picture of him to add to his collection. He didn't though, his own limbs protesting the trek it would take across the house to go find the device.
"Donghyunie is a lightweight~" Riwoo sing-songed on his way out the door, trailing after Jaehyun who was in the middle of baiting Woonhak out of his bed by stealing his phone.
Taesan snorted when Leehan let out another whine in response to the older's teasing and finally elected to release the black comforter back into the younger's custody. He leaned down and pressed his lips to Leehan's forehead, being a bit obnoxious about it by lingering a few seconds too long and making dramatic kissing noises just to get another reaction out of him. Leehan didn't disappoint: he wriggled underneath him like a fish caught on a hook and grumbled something under his breath that Taesan couldn't quite totally understand but was something to the effect of, "You're such an ass."
"Love you too, baby."
Taesan gave him a real kiss this time; a short, firm one that tasted like spearmint and soju. He had half a mind to just stay there. Leehan would throw a bit of a fit about it if he did— he liked being contrary like that— but ultimately would allow Taesan to stay so long as he didn't try to steal the blankets again. It was a tempting thought but Taesan had promised retribution and he could still hear Woonhak chasing Jaehyun around the living room meaning that his main target was still at large.
A wicked smirk tilted his lips and Leehan let out an indelicate snort beneath him. When Taesan looked back down the younger's eyes were only half open and a wide, sleepy smile was spreading across his face like a flower in bloom.
"Go easy on Woonagi, 'kay?" A yawn followed the request and Leehan sank deeper into the sheets looking about two seconds from falling asleep in spite of the pandemonium brewing just outside the door. Woonhak's indignant shouting echoed through the house followed by Jaehyun's loud cackles and Riwoo's softer chuckles. Sungho bustled around the room getting himself ready for bed, unaffected by it all.
Taesan narrowed his eyes at his boyfriend and scoffed, "You're too soft when it comes to him."
A hand reached out from under the comforter and tangled in the front of his pajama shirt, tugging him down abruptly. Taesan placed a hand flat on the mattress next to Leehan's head to keep his full weight from crushing him and he cocked an eyebrow at the younger to silently question the action.
"Once the cameras are off, come sleep in my bed okay?"
And who was Taesan to deny a request like that.
He kissed Leehan again, softer and sweeter than the last, lingering for just a few seconds longer until he heard Jaehyun call his name and tell him to steal Woonhak's blanket, "Mm, I'll see you in a bit then. Duty calls."
Leehan's warm laughter chased him as he ran out of the bedroom, Woonhak's bedding in a ball under his arm.
🏠︎
"Seriously, I can't live with Kim Leehan."
Sungho made the declaration without pause as he picked up the wet wipes Leehan had left behind with the air of a long-suffering parent. Leehan met him with matching energy, a playful grin crawling across his face, "Who says I can live with you either?!"
They finished cleaning up the remnants of their final dinner in the house in record time and filed upstairs to finish packing. Leehan threw himself into his bed after boasting that he was already done, "This mattress… I'm sad to leave it."
A loud, hollow thud echoed through the room and Leehan looked over with wide eyes, seeing their youngest sitting on the bare frame of his bed with a surprised wince, "I sat down thinking the mattress was still here…"
(Leehan recalled hearing Taesan convince Woonhak to join him out in the living room as he drifted in and out of slumber after the initial mattress debacle. His boyfriend had never ended up coming in to sleep with him but he hadn't minded so much when he'd gotten up a few hours later to get a drink of water and found them out there together.
He had taken a picture in the dim light from the stairwell: Taesan curled up on his side in his usual sleeping position, one arm thrown over his eyes with the other outstretched towards Woonhak, fingers gripping the edge of his pillow like he'd fallen asleep in the middle of attempting another prank on the youngest. His full lips were set in a half-grin, even in unconsciousness ever the rebellious spirit. Leehan had kissed him on the cheek just to watch his nose scrunch like a disgruntled kitten.)
Sungho started laughing almost immediately at Woonhak's deer-in-the-headlights expression and Leehan joined in, "Woonhak's physical comedy is hilarious."
After another bout of laughter Woonhak's eyes narrowed slightly, "Is that even a compliment?"
Leehan lounged on his bed, watching the pair clean up their stuff until another body flopped in between him and the wall. A strong arm banded around his waist, keeping him from bouncing too much, "Wah, putting that mattress back was a pain. How did we even lift those last night? Did being tipsy give us super strength or something? I nearly died moving it by myself just now."
Leehan leaned his head back to look up at his boyfriend, "You moved it by yourself? I would have helped you."
Taesan smiled at him and ruffled his hair tenderly, "It's all good baby, thanks for the offer anyways."
A bunched up hoodie, courtesy of one Park Sungho, landed on the bed next to them to get their attention, "Yah quit being flirty and finish cleaning up, would you? They told us we had to be ready to leave before 10."
Riwoo ambled in at just that moment, looking down at his phone, "Jaehyunie just messaged saying he's thinking about getting dessert when the rest of us get back to the dorm. Let's stop somewhere to grab ice cream on the way so he doesn't have to, hm?"
Sungho sighed heavily as he packed away another pair of shoes, "Yah I'm surrounded by lovey-dovey guys lately, seriously." Leehan noticed he didn't protest the idea though.
"Kim Woonhak, make sure you put that mattress back before we leave."
Leehan watched the youngest rifle through his suitcase, smothering a giggle in Taesan's shoulder as he saw confusion cross Woonhak's face when he came across the pair of Vans Leehan had snuck into it twenty minutes ago.
I could live like this, he thought with a content smile. He felt Taesan's grip tighten around his waist as the older buried a yawn in the back of his neck.
Living together with no boundaries wasn't so bad after all.