Archive of Our Own

Had Jaehyun’s vision been as clear as his hindsight, he would have seen that something was up with Donghyuck’s behaviour lately. There was this insistent little buzz of excitement in his eyes every time Jaehyun saw him. But, Blingy was their first album in a minute, so it was easy not to think anything of it. 

And when Doyoung casually suggested having a movie marathon with everyone on one of his rare days off from the military, Jaehyun didn’t think anything of it and offered to have it at his place. Now that he is not distracted by the thrilling anticipation of finally getting to perform with his members again, it all seems so embarrassingly obvious. 

The more his apartment intercom buzzed, signaling that another person had shown up, the more Jaehyun suspected that he was the only one here ready to watch even one movie let alone have a whole marathon. 

It was one thing when Donghyuck waltzed in with the rest of his Dream members trailing behind him and offered them snacks as if he was the one hosting. 

It was also eyebrow-raising when Doyoung asked to use Jaehyun’s laptop while they waited for the last people to arrive. What could he possibly need his laptop for? It’s not like he has work emails to check. And who the fuck is still coming? About fifteen of his members are currently fighting for couch space in his living room. 

The intercom buzzes again and Yuta who is closest to it answers and smiles politely when he sees who it is. “Bunny! Sunbae is here!” He calls out to Doyoung as he buzzes whoever it is in. 

Doyoung hums in acknowledgment as he begins connecting Jaehyun’s laptop to the TV, and apparently that’s everyone’s cue to settle into their seats. Jaehyun suspects that he was excluded from the email with the meeting agenda. 

Yuta must have left his door open so the mystery guest could let themselves in, because he distantly hears the elevator announce his floor and open, and a group of familiar voices grow clearer as they get closer. Surely that’s not who Jaehyun thinks it is?

“Why are we here again?” The acoustics in the hallway are making the confusion in his voice all too clear. Jaehyun knows that voice, but he's too busy trying to catch the hallway conversation over the different discussions happening in his living room to place it. 

“To help Johnny get a boyfriend.” Johnny? Johnny isn’t even here. He must have misheard because that sounds like Chanyeol hyung but he would only be here if Johnny were here. 

“Isn’t he married?” That same confused voice from earlier asks and Jaehyun wants to snort in amusement but now he’s too busy imagining what a married Johnny would be like. There’s a feeling of something he can’t name beginning to twist in his gut. 

He hears the group’s laughter getting closer as they enter his apartment and their conversation changes as they take off their shoes by the door. They turn the corner and half of EXO walks into his apartment. Seriously, what is going on here?

Doyoung perks up from behind Jaehyun’s laptop, rushes over to greet them, and thanks them for coming. Any hope Jaehyun had that they were actually going to be watching a movie just died. He is hoping that he is reading too much into this but he is starting to get an idea of what is going on. He doubts he is wrong though. Honestly, if it was going to happen anyway then he is shocked that it did not happen years ago. 

Despite there being a war for couch space only a couple of minutes ago, Suho, Xiumin, Chanyeol, and Sehun easily find places to sit before the main lights turn off and everyone quiets down as Doyoung stands in front of everyone with his back to the TV. No, wait. Not in front of everyone. In front of Jaehyun. How did he not notice until now that everyone seems to be angled to watch him and not the screen? He must have been too busy thinking about Johnny being married. Johnny would be so good at marriage. He is the sweetest person Jaehyun knows. 

“So Jaehyunie, I’m sure you have figured out by now that we aren’t here to watch some movies.” Doyoung starts taking away Jaehyun's last bit of hope and replacing it with dread with each word. “Do you know why we’re here?”

Well if it looks like a duck, acts like a duck, and talks like a duck, then it must be a duck. Still, Jaehyun can’t help but bet on goose instead. “No idea.” He lies with a smile, causing Doyoung to sigh in fond frustration. 

“Exhibit A,” Doyoung says before picking up the TV remote, and the whole room is treated to the sight of Jaehyun fresh out of the military and looking way too awkward in front of the camera. It’s rare that he ever watches these things back so it's interesting to see how obviously rusty he is. Or at least he was rusty until he catches a glimpse of someone off camera and suddenly he’s too busy focusing on Johnny to hold onto his awkwardness. 

He remembers what happens next. Johnny enters dressed in pink holding a cake and commenting that it feels like a birthday. Jaehyun agreed with him even back then but he was too busy taking Johnny in and then making a wish before blowing out the candle to comment on it. He remembers this moment; seeing Johnny again for the first time live for all of NCity to see. He remembers grinning up at him, amused that Johnny could hardly meet his eyes as Jaehyun slipped his arms around his waist. He remembers the feeling; warm right down to his bones and being too aware of them being on camera to hug him as long as he wanted. Even now he can still feel that warmth through the screen but he doubts Johnny’s phantom embrace is the reason everyone is softly whispering around him. The soft look of pure joy on his face is… a lot. 

“Exhibit B.” Oh. So we’re just moving on to the next without any explanation then? Got it. A picture tells a thousand words and judging by the cue cards Doyoung hasn’t touched yet, there’s still a lot to go through.  

The next picture is a screenshot that Jaehyun has seen a lot over the years but he is surprised that Doyoung apparently knows about it. It seems that Exhibit A was nothing compared to Exhibit B if everyone’s reaction to it is anything to go by. It was when ‘Forever Only’ had just dropped and Johnny posted a frame from the music video onto his story. Jaehyun was sitting on the floor leaning on a bed despite there being a desk and chair visible in frame. The subtitles were turned on to highlight the lyric ‘where you been my whole life’ to which Johnny captioned it ‘Im right here!!!!! @_jeongjaehyun.’ Johnny is so funny, Jaehyun thinks as he chuckles at the memory. 

Apparently, that picture was not added for comedic effect because he hears varying degrees of disbelief around the room. To his left Sehun is shaking his head judgingly while Chanyeol applauds and says “Only Johnny.” To his right, he hears a few ‘aigoo’s of judgement but what baffles him the most is Xiumin’s comment on how cute Jaehyun’s response was. ‘There you were!! Finally :)’ Cute wasn’t what he was going for at the time but he’ll take it. 

“Exhibit C!” Donghyuck calls out, earning him a few chuckles as Doyoung follows through and Exhibit C starts playing in 4K on the screen. When did Doyoung even have time to do all this? Last he checked the military is not known for being generous with free time. 

Everyone is silent as a clip from his and  Johnny’s late-night radio show begins to play. “Wow deep cut.” Jaehyun jokes but everyone just ignores him in favour of listening to a younger version of himself on the screen. Johnny would have laughed, he thinks with a shake of his head. 

“John-D, have you ever been blinded by love before?” Younger Jaehyun asks Johnny, and he has to applaud himself at how naturally that scripted question came out. 

Johnny looks up briefly as if to think about it but Jaehyun knows that Johnny already has a ridiculous answer in mind. “Jae-D, who is beside me, no matter what— he looks so pretty no matter what he does.” Younger Jaehyun has the same look of exasperation that half the room seems to be having now. But the Jaehyun of right here and now just laughs openly at Johnny’s ridiculousness. What is wrong with him? It’s been years and he’s still trying to figure it out. 

It seems like Doyoung has given up on announcing all his evidence because the next clip begins and it’s just Johnny complimenting Jaehyun’s eyelashes. Next begins a series of pictures from interviews where Johnny is looking at him while Jaehyun is answering questions. There are those soft eyes again. It’s a good thing that Johnny is not here to see himself like this. He feels a little bit like he’s watching a movie in 4DX right now. 

Just when Jaehyun thinks that it’s over, a compilation of Johnny laughing the loudest at all of Jaehyun’s jokes begins. Who the hell had the time to make this because there is no way that it was Doyoung. 

The compilation ends and the lights go on just as the screen turns Neo Pearl Champagne and the text ‘Thank you for watching’ pops up along with a suggestion for another video. Oh my god, this is on YouTube?! Jaehyun feels nostalgic for 5 minutes ago when he thought that Doyoung took the time to make this himself. Finding out that Doyoung probably just picked a video at random is another level of humiliation. Judging by the look on his face, Doyoung knows it too. 

“Bunny, when did you get YouTube Premium?” Is what comes out of Jaehyun’s mouth when he realises that everyone is waiting for him to say something. A few people snort in amusement and Taeyong holds back a laugh as Doyoung rolls his eyes and ignores the question. Where was Taeyong during the compilation of Johnny being the only one who understands his comedic genius?

“Jaehyun.” 

“Yes, Hyung?”

“This is an intervention.”

“Oh, really?” Doyoung ignores the sarcasm as he finally picks up his cue cards. Oh, this is gonna be interesting. 

“I asked everyone here today because everyone here is fucking tired of the two of you.”

“Shouldn’t Johnny be here for this then?” Even if Jaehyun is glad that Johnny isn’t here for whatever this is, he is surprised that they didn’t do something stupid like lock them in a room together until morning. 

“Well getting Johnny here was supposed to be Yuta’s job,” Doyoung says, throwing Yuta a pointed look, who just shrugs it off. 

“And I told you to leave me out of this,” Yuta responds simply with a shrug, which is rich considering Yuta was the one who showed up with popcorn for everyone. 

“Then why are you here hyung if you are not helping?” Renjun asks, clearly starting to get frustrated but still amused by Yuta’s attitude. 

“Why is anyone even here? And if this is an intervention why aren’t more of Jaehyun’s friends here?” Jaemin asks unhelpfully and Jaehyun is finally starting to enjoy his popcorn when Donghyuck groans in annoyance. 

“If you bothered to check the group you would know that that was your job.” 

“Whose bright idea was that?” Sehun asks from the corner where he and Chanyeol have been snickering like a couple of school kids the whole night. 

“Anyway!” Doyoung loudly brings everyone’s focus back to the task at hand. “To answer your question Jaehyun, we did originally plan for Johnny to be here but we make do with what we have.” 

And because Doyoung is still clearly annoyed with Yuta, Jaehyun can’t help but speak up in his defence. “Don’t blame Yuta hyung. Johnny was never going to show up tonight anyway.” 

“And how do you know this?” Doyoung asks suspiciously. 

“It’s his recharge night.” He answers simply and judging by the reactions around the room, Jaehyun is the only one who noticed that Johnny disappears for a night every couple of months. 

“His what?”

“Is that question on the cue cards?” He asks back instead, making it clear that he has no intention of elaborating. 

“Right,” Doyoung says before looking back at his cue card. “Johnny is in love with you and everyone knows it but you.”

Jaehyun snorts in amusement at the bluntness. So we are getting right to it then. “That’s not true.” He insists, causing everyone in the room to erupt into chaos. 

“Quiet!” Suho shouts over everyone and he gestures for Doyoung to continue once everyone calms down.

“That’s where you are wrong Jaehyun. Johnny is in love with you and it’s been at least…” Doyoung checks his notes before continuing “five years now.” 

“Actually it will be ten years next year.” Jaehyun corrects him in amusement. 

“Ten years.” Doyoung corrects absentmindedly before pausing when his mind visibly crashes. “What the fuck did you just say?”

“That’s what I was trying to say earlier. It’s not true that I don’t know that Johnny is in love with me.” Jaehyun explains simply, smirking at the knowledge that he just fried Doyoung’s brain. 

“Daebak!” 

“This whole time?!”

“That’s crazy!”

“Oh my god!” 

“What are we even doing here?”

“I’m still stuck on ten fucking years.”

Everyone reacts all at once making it hard to place who said what. This intervention is a mess. What even is happening in that group chat? 

“Wait so you knew?” Doyoung asks once his reboot is complete. 

“Was it supposed to be a secret? It’s not like Johnny is hiding. This isn’t middle school.”

“So then why the fuck is Johnny always looking at you like a lost puppy if you’ve been together this whole time?” Chanyeol asks, frustrated. 

“Well to be fair, if I was in a secret relationship for a decade I’d be sad about it too,” Xiumin says, earning him murmurs of agreement from around the room. 

“Wait, I’m not dating Johnny.” He clarifies destroying all the sympathy points that Xiumin had just gotten him. 

“What the hell Jeong Jaehyun.” Doyoung groans in irritation which is totally uncalled for because they have no reason to believe that he and Johnny have been secretly dating this whole time. 

“What?” 

“Hyung, if you know that Johnny loves you back then why wouldn’t you be together?” Jisung, who has been quiet this whole time, asks him gently before someone starts cussing Jaehyun out. 

Jaehyun looks at him in confusion. “Loves me back?”

“Yes you and Johnny hyung are in love, so why not be together?” He asks again confused by Jaehyun’s confusion. 

“Who says that I'm in love with Johnny?” Jaehyun asks, replaying the night in his mind trying to figure out where the telephone broke. The room goes unnaturally silent and he feels everyone’s on him even more strongly than before. 

“What?”

“You’re joking right? Please tell me you’re joking.”  Jungwoo’s eyes are wide in disbelief even as he’s talking to him like a small animal that could be spooked at any moment. 

“Why would I be joking?” Jaehyun can feel the tips of his ears turning red as he shuffles in his seat under the heat of everyone’s gaze. 

“Fuck!” Doyoung’s voice echoes over everyone’s hushed murmurs of disbelief as he frantically flips through his cards for something to salvage this situation. 

“Jaehyunie, do you seriously not know that you love Johnny?” Taeyong asks him, softly placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. He is not sure who the hand is for though because comforted is the last thing he feels right now. 

It feels like a trap. There is no room to deny that he has feelings for Johnny because apparently in everyone’s mind that isn’t even a question. “Of course I love Johnny. He’s my best friend.” Is what he eventually settles on before turning back to the TV where Doyoung has apparently been frantically looking for another video to rectify the curveball that Jaehyun has apparently thrown. 

“No. I’m your best friend. Johnny is…” Taeyong trails off struggling to find the right word. 

“Like his wife,” Jungwoo finishes for him, making Taeyong nod and snap his fingers in agreement at the comparison. 

“Johnny is not—” Jaehyun tries to deny the quite frankly insane accusation but someone else is already popping in. 

“You tell Johnny that you love him all the time!”

“So? I tell Taeyong Hyung that I love him every day.”

“What about me?!”

“Hyung loves you too, Jungwoo-ya.” He turns to Donghyuck before he can protest as well. “Hyung also loves you, Haechan-ah.”

“Thank you,” Donghyuck responds smugly, making Doyoung groan in frustration. 

“The point is not whether you say the words or not but it’s the way you say it,” Yuta explains before Doyoung murders him through the power of his mind. 

“How do I say it?”

“Like you love him the most,” Yuta answers, as if this is a test he studied for, despite his earlier insistence on being left out of this failing intervention. 

“Probably because I do.” Jaehyun’s casual answer was apparently the wrong thing to say because Doyoung is now frantically searching for another video on YouTube to show Jaehyun. 

“Fuck off,” Sehun says, laughing in disbelief. 

“I see how it’s been nine years now.” Chanyeol pipes in with a snicker. 

“Found it!” Doyoung exclaims and everyone’s attention has turned back to the screen where one of their most recent US interviews is playing. 

“What am I supposed to be looking at?” He asks as he watches his members’ blank faces while the interviewer asks them about their new album. 

“That!” Doyoung says enthusiastically pointing to the screen as Johnny answers the question. Jaehyun shrugs and shakes his head, unable to see what’s so special about this interview and he says as much.

“Look at your face while Johnny is speaking,” Doyoung says, rewinding the clip a bit to the start of Johnny’s response. 

Jaehyun watches but all he sees is himself actively listening to Johnny’s answer while the other members' English credits have clearly already long run out for the day. 

“Ah, I love a romcom,” Chanyeol says, swapping his empty popcorn bag with Suho’s which earns him a few quiet snickers. 

“Bunny, I still don’t know what I’m meant to be looking at,” Jaehyun says, choosing to ignore whatever that was supposed to mean. 

“Don’t you see the way you look at him? Twinkle twinkle little star could have been written about those eyes.” Doyoung says, pausing the video just as the on-screen Jaehyun laughs at a dumb joke Johnny made. 

“My face is just like that.”

“Bullshit! You don’t look at me like that.”

“You are not Johnny,” He speaks first and hears himself second. Huh. Why did he say that? He instinctively takes out his phone, suddenly itching to hear Johnny’s input. He will know exactly what to say.  

He opens up his texts with Johnny and begins to type something out. What exactly is he expecting to say? ‘Hey John, everyone says that I’m in love with you. Why the hell didn’t you tell me?’ That will definitely go over well. 

“Jaehyun?” Someone is calling his name and fingers are snapping in front of his face trying to regain his attention. 

“Yes?” 

“You back to Earth?” Suho is crouched down in front of him so they are eye to eye and everyone is looking at him in concern. Instead of answering him he looks back down at his phone, taps on Johnny’s name at the top before hitting the call icon. 

“Jaehyun?” Jaehyun hears the delight in Johnny’s voice despite the obvious confusion as clear as the sky at the end of Monsoon season. 

“Where are you? Can I come over?” Has his heart always beaten this fast? He should have it checked. 

“Why?” Jaehyun can hear Johnny’s grin even over the phone. Has he always been this cute? Most definitely. 

“No reason. I just miss you. Don’t you miss me, Hyung?”

“You saw me pretty recently,” Johnny says with a laugh even as Jaehyun’s phone is buzzing with Johnny’s location. Johnny is not too far away. Perfect. 

“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes, Hyung.” 

“Mm. See you soon. Love you.”

“Mm. Love you too, Hyung.” Jaehyun responds with a grin before hanging up, his heart beating double time. He looks up to find just under twenty pairs of eyes staring back at him. Oh. He forgot about them. 

🌙💫🌙💫

It's only when his phone leads him off the main road down a quieter street littered with closed arcades and clothing stores that Jaehyun realises he has been here before. He walks past the well-lit and blatantly open restaurants to a small double-story building. 

There’s a store on the street level with large glass windows with all the lights off for the night and the second floor is even less welcoming. The lights are on but there is nobody on the balcony and the blinds are drawn shut giving the impression that whatever is up there is about to close up for the night. 

Jaehyun remembers thinking that he was lost the first time Johnny took him here despite the visible signage out front. Just like last time there was a sign right next to a gravel path leading to an open door indicating that Bebido was upstairs. 

Upon entering the door Jaehyun is met with a narrow, well-lit flight of stairs with red velvet curtains lined up on each side. The curtains end at the landing after the first flight of stairs where there are two large bookshelves on the right decorated with wine bottles, glasses, coffee table books, and small figurines with the second flight of stairs left unlit and leading to a locked service door. 

He remembers spending a few minutes last time trying to figure out how to open the door while Johnny just watched and snickered from behind his phone camera. The answer turned out to be as embarrassingly simple as pushing the bookshelf open to reveal the bustling warmly lit restaurant inside. 

A waitress dressed in a brown T-shirt, loose grey lounge pants, white off-brand Crocs, and a black apron carrying a tray of clean water glasses recognises him instantly and leads him to a private room with the same velvet curtain from the stairway in place of a door. There’s a maroon booth chair lining along the curved brick wall of the room and a large table with a wooden frame and a glass top covering an array of small, smooth, grey and white stones. 

“I ordered you the tomato pasta,” Johnny says in lieu of a greeting while he fills two glasses with beer as Jaehyun slides in next to him. 

“Haha, very funny.” He responds sarcastically with a grin as he checks the self-ordering tablet to see that Johnny had actually ordered fajitas and tacos. “One day I’ll actually order the pasta.”

“Then you better do it without me here because there is no way I’m letting you order pasta at a Mexican restaurant no matter how good the reviews are,” Johnny says as he pours some soju into a couple of shot glasses before dropping them into the beer and handing him a glass. 

“Pasta is off limits but somaek is perfectly fine?”

“You get me.” Johnny laughs as they clink their glasses together. 

Jaehyun looks up at Johnny with an amused smile and turns his head away from him to take a sip of his drink. 

“You got the ratio perfectly hyung.” Jaehyun compliments him after turning back to face Johnny and setting the glass down. 

“What can I say, I’m a man of many talents.” He responds with a pleased smirk after taking a sip of his own. Johnny’s gaze never leaves Jaehyun as he drinks, making Jaehyun wonder what Johnny would have done if the roles were reversed. Obviously, Jaehyun has seen Johnny drinking with older people and knows that he always follows the appropriate etiquette. Still, he can’t help but wonder if he were older and they were drinking alone like this. Would he turn his head away without a second thought like Jaehyun still does after all these years or would Johnny choose to hold his gaze when he drinks simply because it’s Jaehyun?  He wonders. 

The question lingers in the back of Jaehyun’s mind as they keep drinking and talking about nothing until their food finally arrives. Johnny is telling him about how he's been avoiding Minho hyung because he keeps trying to get Johnny to join one of his morning runs again. The way Johnny tells it, you would think Minho was one of those cult members that like to lurk in crowded places to look for recruits. 

He is laughing as Johnny tells him how he got tricked into joining Minho’s running cult when they went to London for SMTOWN Live last year. Jaehyun’s heard this story a few times now but he still finds it just as funny. 

Look at your face while Johnny is speaking.

One time at recess when Jaehyun was little, after his family had been living in the States for over a year, his friends started talking about Santa. His family didn’t celebrate so he just listened as they discussed what they wanted for Christmas. It was at that moment when a kid from the grade above them told them Santa was just their mum and dad. They went to find the smartest kid in their class and asked her what she thought. She told them that Santa was definitely real and all was right in the world. 

Jaehyun feels a bit like his friends felt that day. Santa was proven to be real so why couldn’t they shake what they heard from the older kid? Why can’t he unplant the seed that the intervention already planted? Santa turned out not to be real. What if he was wrong about how he feels for Johnny?

What would being in love with Johnny feel like? What would a relationship with Johnny feel like? He watches Johnny finish his story and then finishes his drink. It takes Jaehyun a surprisingly short time to get an answer. Loving Johnny would feel a lot like this. 

“Let me pour your drink hyung,” Jaehyun says reaching for Johnny’s glass, their fingers lightly brushing and that unnamed feeling from earlier that twisted in his gut at the thought of Johnny being married makes a return. He realises then that he hadn’t been thinking about Johnny being married in a general sense back then. Rather what he thought about was Johnny being married to him, Jeong Jaehyun, specifically. Suddenly it’s easy to call that feeling for what it is, butterflies. 

Jaehyun pours beer into his and Johnny’s glasses before free adding half a shot of soju to both glasses. He feels under the table for a drawer and opens it to take out a clean pair of metal chopsticks. He holds one chopstick upright into Johnny’s glass and hits it firmly with the other to mix the drink causing it to foam up before doing the same with his own glass. 

“Here, Honey,” Jaehyun says, testing out the pet name with a soft smile, handing his glass back and making sure to brush their fingers together before letting go. It’s not the first time he’s called Johnny that. He has even joked about having a crush on him on more than one occasion. Funny how the term of endearment sounds exactly the same now that he is not joking. 

“Thank you,” Johnny says, matching Jaehyun’s soft smile as he holds the glass up expectantly.

“Cheers.” They clink their glasses together and this time Jaehyun throws social etiquette to the wind and for the first time ever he doesn’t turn his head as he drinks. He takes a small sip and sets the glass down all while holding Johnny’s gaze. 

Johnny’s eyebrow raises slightly in interest but other than that he doesn’t comment on it further as he chooses to finish the somaek in one shot. And Jaehyun just leans back with one arm resting along the top of the booth and watches. He watches Johnny’s neck as the alcohol slides down his throat. He watches as Johnny silently finishes the drink and sets the glass down. He watches the stray drop settle on Johnny’s lip and is suddenly overcome with the urge to taste it. 

You don’t look at me like that.

It seems like the seed has quickly grown out of control. 

Jaehyun sits up and moves a little closer to Johnny. “Hyung?”

“Mhm?” He hums back in response and it’s then that Jaehyun realises that Johnny has been watching him back this whole time. 

Jaehyun slides closer in the booth to Johnny’s side, where he’s leaning back and mirroring Jaehyun’s earlier position. “Is it okay if I kiss you?” He hears himself asking before he can even fully process that he was making a move on his best friend. 

“Come here.” Is his only warning before he feels Johnny’s hand lacing through his hair and bringing their lips together for a kiss. 

He doesn’t know what he expected kissing Johnny to feel like. Maybe if he felt nothing or even awkward then the two of them could laugh it off and go back to their lives. Or maybe if it was like the movies, fireworks, volcanoes, and the like, then they could blame it on the heat of the moment. Jaehyun is not sure he has the right words to describe it. The kiss was certainly heated but not because of some fleeting moment. 

Maybe volcanic is the correct word after all. A volcanic lake to be precise. The kiss was warm, beautiful, and inviting, something that he could bask in until the sun lost its shine. But with all that comes a heat that has been hiding beneath the surface, which he could never ignore. Because now he sees that heat has been there all along.

It occurs to Jaehyun somewhere in the back of his mind that at some point they are going to need some air. And somewhere even more distant he is aware of the fact that the only thing saving them from giving the whole restaurant a free show is a velvet curtain that doesn’t even reach the floor. Breathing might be overrated but he doesn’t feel like being outed today. Still, when he feels Johnny grinning into the kiss before pulling away, his lips instinctively trail after him. 

Johnny chuckles softly at Jaehyun’s sudden allergy to the space between them. “Baby, our food is getting cold.”

Baby, our food is getting cold. He replays it in his head.

Baby.

Baby!

BABY!

Jaehyun has playfully called him various pet names over the years. While Johnny has never returned the sentiment, he always laughed along like he got the joke. So why would Johnny call him ‘baby’ like that and expect Jaehyun to just eat the food that has quite obviously long gone cold?

He slowly extracts himself from Johnny’s hold and moves to return some space between them. Johnny has other plans though as he shuffles closer and recloses the gap a bit. Fuck why is this man so fucking cute? 

His face is starting to hurt from all his grinning but he cannot bring himself to stop. He doesn’t even want to try. 

Johnny picks up Jaehyun’s plate, dishing a couple of tacos and dressing them just the way he likes them. He then kisses the top of Jaehyun’s head as he hands the plate back and starts on his own food. “Eat up.”

“Thanks, Honey.” The butterflies are in a tizzy. They are so locked in. Is today their first day or is it somewhere closer to their four thousandth?

“Weren’t you supposed to be watching movies with Doyoung?” Johnny asks, picking up a taco and adding extra cilantro to it. 

“Ah, that. Turns out that he was just trying to set me up with someone.” Jaehyun is purposely vague with his words before taking a bite of his taco. He internally smirks in amusement when Johnny squeezes his lime a little too hard. 

“Oh. Really?” It’s crazy how good Johnny is at sounding casual as if his tacos aren’t drowning in lime. 

“Yeah, and it wasn’t just Doyoung, most of our members were there too. Even Suho hyung and a couple of his members were there.”

It takes Johnny a second to process what he said and he pauses in confusion as he brings the taco up to his lips. “Chanyeol hyung was there?”

“Mhm.” He hums his response with a nod as he keeps eating. Johnny’s shoulders lose all their tension as he chuckles and takes a bite of his taco. 

“They were trying to set you up with me, weren’t they.” He phrased it like a question but it wasn’t something that Johnny needed an answer to. “How did that go?”

“Doyoung said that you’ve been into me for at least five years now,” Jaehyun says as he grabs a tortilla and assembles a fajita and sets it down on a laughing Johnny’s plate before starting on his own.

“Closer to ten.” Johnny snickers between bites. 

“That’s what I said.” He tells him with a chuckle of his own. 

“I had a feeling you knew,” Johnny says with a soft chuckle as he picks up his fajita. 

“Yeah, I noticed one night when we were hosting Ennana,” Jaehyun admits watching Johnny’s face for his reaction. 

Johnny smiles softly and gently places the edge of his palm on top of his head and brings him closer to kiss his forehead. Careful not to touch his hair with fingers that were just touching their food. “That’s when it started for me.” 

Jaehyun wonders if that’s when it started for him as well. He knows that he found Johnny attractive from the day they met. Johnny is all over all his fondest memories of his trainee days but he doubts that it started back then. As romantic as he thinks it would be to be able to call it love at first sight, he knows that he realistically couldn’t without rewriting history. Part of the reason that he was clueless for so long is that there probably weren't any tangible moments he could point to. Johnny had been seeping into his heart like molasses since 2013. 

“What I didn’t know is that I felt the same way.” It is likely only because they're sitting so close together that Johnny hears him over the sounds of the other diners and music playing on the other side of the curtain. 

“Yeah?” There go the butterflies again. Losing their tiny minds because his best friend boyfriend is shyly smiling at him. 

“Yeah. I think that I might like you more.” He says earning him a loud snort of amusement from Johnny. 

“Baby, you’re so funny.” Call me baby one more time. Or whatever it is Britney said

“You just wanna kiss me again.” Jaehyun teases leaning in a little closer. He wonders if he’ll be able to taste the extra lime. 

“No Babe, I think it’s you who wants to kiss me.” He watches Johnny’s lips form a sultry smirk around the words. 

“Maybe it’s because I like you more, Honey.” He leans back, exercising some self-control before things turn PG13 again. 

“A couple of hours ago you didn’t even know that you liked me back and now you're convinced that you're the one who likes me more,” Johnny says, his gaze moving from Jaehyun’s lips back to his eyes. 

“Imagine where we’d be if you had just told me earlier. Instead, I had to hear it from Jisung.”

This news makes Johnny chuckle in delight. “Jisung told you that you had feelings for me?”

“They all did but Jisung was first.” He clarifies with a nod, too busy grinning up at Johnny to focus on his food. 

“Things must have been dire then,” Johnny says with a snicker as he adds some salsa to another taco for Jaehyun. 

“You should have been the one to tell me,” Jaehyun says with conviction before taking a bite of the taco. 

Johnny looks at him in amused disbelief making Jaehyun snicker. “How was I supposed to know something you didn’t even know?”

“You know everything else about me. Why not this?” Jaehyun shrugs between bites. 

“You’re insane.” He says, shaking his head as he picks up the last taco. Johnny’s arm reaches across the table for another lime and Jaehyun watches his hand squeeze it over his taco. 

“Interesting way to talk about your boyfriend.” He says, curious as to how the title would feel on his tongue. Boyfriend. This is Johnny, his boyfriend. It tastes sweet. 

Johnny freezes momentarily before setting the lime down without looking at him and reaching for the cilantro to add to his taco with a grin on his face.  “Why would you seduce me in public like this? Didn’t take you for an exhibitionist.”

“What? Because I called you my boyfriend?” Jaehyun smirks at Johnny’s profile as he remembers that he already added cilantro to all the tacos at the start of their meal. 

“No, because you called yourself mine.” He says, finally turning to look at him. 

“I’ve been yours for a while now, I think.” He says quietly and he remembers Doyoung saying that his eyes were like twinkling stars every time he looked at Johnny. He wonders how his eyes look now. “Sorry for being late.”

Johnny leans in to kiss him chastely and pulls back with a smile, his eyes on the verge of welling up. “It’s okay, Baby. I wasn’t waiting long.”