Work Text:
1
“Hey, Tae. Wanna grab some coffee?” “No thanks, hyung. I’ve already had one.”
“Taehyunieee~ let’s go to the library together!” “Can’t, Beomgyu hyung. I have somewhere to go.”
“Taehyun, can you accompany me to the mall?” “I’m busy, hyung.”
Beomgyu is frustrated. He has done everything to make Taehyun agree for a date (he, for the record, has not actually done everything ; unless everything equates to Beomgyu dreamily staring at Taehyun from afar, fluttering his eyes every time Taehyun looks at his way for a mere second, and suddenly looks away because he is shy to even hold eye contact with the guy for at least five seconds).
Beomgyu started having this huge crush on Taehyun since their first year in university. It was right after freshman orientation and while he waited for his best friend-now-roommate Soobin, who was a sophomore at that time, so they could eat lunch together, when he saw THE angel, THE apple of his eye, THE love of his life and HIS future husband. He resembled a cat with a shark tooth smile; eyes shining like it holds the entire galaxy and universe; cute mullet brown hair; and a height almost the same as Beomgyu's but slightly shorter than him. Trying to accomplish his first ever self–declared assignment in university: to find his crush’s name and major, he later found out that his name is Kang Taehyun, also a freshman from the Engineering department.
To say the least, Beomgyu was not exactly secretive of his newly found crushes. Although he promises himself that he will only let Soobin know about it, just in case he needs to rant and of course, best friend privileges, Beomgyu finds himself telling quite a few people about it. Forgive him for being the social butterfly that he is, making new friends and acquaintances in every department. Consequently, everyone in the campus has known of Beomgyu’s unrequited crush on Taehyun (in his defense, he did not publicly announce his crush, it just so happens that his not-so secret crush has been passed through different people and well, he is not being very subtle about it). Even the crush in question has known about Beomgyu’s crush.
With that being said, his friend group automatically knows that Beomgyu is head over heels in like with Taehyun. Beomgyu is definitely not (read: very) ashamed at all, knowing that his friend group consists of Soobin and his boyfriend Yeonjun, their adopted child Huening Kai (you can call him hyuka, ningning or kai), and the most important one, Yeonjun’s cousin and Hyuka’s best friend, Taehyun.
Yep. THE Kang Taehyun. The oh-so-famous crush of Choi Beomgyu, Kang Taehyun.
But the thing is, despite being in the same circle and having lunch every day with his crush, Beomgyu is still not that close with Taehyun. Sure, they converse on a daily basis, that’s only if an exchange of hellos and goodbyes are considered as a conversation. Taehyun is known for being aloof and distant, who only cares about studying, and he obviously despises other people’s teasing when Beomgyu’s around. Taehyun is not an asshole to ignore Beomgyu and his antics, and without the crush thing and the latter’s loud personality, they all know that Beomgyu is a kind and caring friend. Nonetheless, Beomgyu safely assumes that it might be the reason that Taehyun refuses to be that close with him.
Although Beomgyu is quite close with Yeonjun and Hyuka, he avoids asking for help.
Seeing how they are currently in their third year and there is no ‘ taegyu’ (courtesy of Huening Kai) relationship existing as of today, it is safe to say that Beomgyu’s crush on Taehyun have definitely minimal to zero progress at all. And now, he is frustrated. Because it has already been more than two years and his lovelife (or the lack thereof) has been non-existent since university started. Beomgyu is quite famous and very likable, having to reject suitors from different departments and schools because he quotes sorry, i’m loyal to Taehyun .
Lazily lying on his bed, Beomgyu finds himself ranting to Soobin about his hopeless crush. Listing down the times he tried to ask Taehyun out and solo him from their friends, the latter would always turn him down with a blatant no. Clearly, Taehyun is not interested in him, but he’s trying his best to change that!
“Ahhhh, hyung! I already did everything ! But he keeps turning me down when I ask him to hang out.” Beomgyu dramatically sighs. “When my hospital duty starts becoming toxic and hectic again, I’ll spend less time with you guys during lunch, and do you know what that means?! I’ll be seeing the love of my life less than I’ve already had. This is so beomgyu-phobic!”
Soobin blankly stares at him, lowkey judging his dramatic ass. “Gyu,” he sighs. “stop exaggerating. You have not even done anything significant to advance your non-existent relationship with him. How is “ hey hyun, wanna grab some coffee with me? ” considered everything ? And you can’t even make a proper conversation with him alone without stuttering. Geez.”
Beomgyu rapidly sits up, putting one hand on his chest and eyes widening like he has been accused of something he did not do. “GASPS! Choi Soobin, that was a low blow! How can you say that?!”
“Whatever, Beomgyu. Don’t you have a major exam on friday? Why don’t you just prepare for that instead of, I don’t know, talking about your lack of lovelife, which we have already established like years ago?”
“How can I study when it’s bugging my mind! One date is all I need to make him fall in love with me. Ahhh hyung, what should I do? Pleaseeee.'' Beomgyu replied, trying his best to put his puppy eyes and small pout that he knows his best friend can’t resist.
Soobin stops for a while to think, Beomgyu hoping he will be given serious advice.
“Okay, maybe your approaches come off as strong for him… maybe you should approach him in a lighter way. I don’t know how that is but I guess that’s a you problem.” Soobin said, while opening his psychology book to mind his own business.
Although what Soobin said was not a hundred percent helpful ( thank you very much ), and he might not want to admit it, he was right. The thing is: how?!
Beomgyu groans and drops himself on the mattress. What should I do.. what even is a lighter approach.. Beomgyu tried to think something out of his remaining brain cells.
“ Eureka !” Beomgyu shouted a few moments later out of nowhere. He looks at Soobin with a wide grin. Uhh oh. Soobin raised his left eyebrow, signaling Beomgyu to continue with what he had to say. “I had a light-bulb moment!”
“Well, seeing how you broke my eardrums with the way you shouted eureka, I figured you have another light-bulb moment, which I, by the way, think is definitely not light-bulb worthy. Anyway, what is it?”
“I’m gonna ignore what you said, but! Drum roll please!” Beomgyu drums his index fingers on his book, making a slight drum rolling sound. “...I am going to pavlov Taehyun!”
“Uhuh. Enlighten me how you’re going to do that.” Soobin uninterestedly replied. Knowing Beomgyu, from Soobin’s perspective, he has probably used the wrong term or misunderstood the concept of whatever he has just said.
“I have already planned it out! I saw you reading your psych book and I remember that one concept I had last semester on pediatrics,” Beomgyu excitedly states. “Well, we know what Pavlov is, right? You’re a psychology student, you should know that already. I’m going to condition his mind to get used to my messages. I thought that I should send him good morning messages every 5 in the morning, you know, for consistency…and so he would wake up with my greeting sent there already! I will probably do it for exactly 30 days and after that, I’ll stop with my daily greetings and see that I have finally conditioned his mind to look for my good mornings! And he will start greeting me first because he missed my messages, and boom! The start of our blooming relationship.” Beomgyu confidently exclaims.
Silence.
Huh, Soobin must have been so speechless with my brilliant idea that he does not know what to say. What a genius, Choi Beomgyu! Beomgyu thought.
“Umm.. is that it or are you missing something?” Soobin squints his eyes.
“Nope! That’s it for my ted talk. Thank you for listening!”
“Umm.. Yeah. Nope.” Popping his lips to emphasize the p sound. “That’s not how Pavlov works. There is no stimulus. It won’t work, Gyu.” Soobin then proceeded to explain the process, starting from the basics, but Beomgyu’s brain cannot comprehend what his best friend was saying. It was safe to assume that Soobin’s words just passed from one ear to another.
In all honesty, Beomgyu did not fully understand the whole concept of Pavlov conditioning, and still cannot after Soobin’s explanation. Forgive him for not majoring in psychology. He’s a nursing student, for christ’s sake, and he couldn’t care less to master all the concepts they studied, especially that it was tackled a semester ago. His plan sounds amazing in his head, so he is definitely not listening to Soobin’s lecture. Plus, it’s not like I have any other plans to make Taehyun like me . He sighed. Desperate times call for desperate measures .
“It will work, Soobin! Trust me on this one. I’ve got this!” Beomgyu positively stated with a final tone. Soobin just hummed and snorted at Beomgyu’s ridiculous plan. He knows full well that Beomgyu definitely does not “got this,” but he guesses no one can stop Beomgyu now since he declared it with finality.
_________
Beomgyu planned to start his incredible and brilliant agenda the next morning. He’s got Taehyun’s number saved already in his contacts (perks of being in the same circle of friends), though he does not text him often unless it is an emergency. It just sits there in his phone and collects dust for two years now.
Moving on, he had his plan out on the table: wake up at 5 o’clock in the morning and send his simple “good morning” message (Soobin said something about having a lighter approach, so a plain and boring good morning text should suffice for now) since he knows that Taehyun wakes up earlier than the whole world to go to the gym at 5:15 am until the next hour, before going to school at 8 am.
Taehyun follows a fixed daily routine and manages to do everything on time. Beomgyu always has a case of oversleeping until 10 minutes before his first class, but for this plan to work, he has to be awake at the ass crack of dawn to text his lovely Taehyunie a good morning. For 30 days. It’s a hassle, knowing that his beauty sleep will be interrupted just to text someone. But then, Taehyun isn’t just someone. He is Taehyun –the love of his life. Thinking about it, Beomgyu is sure as hell that he will just wake up from his alarm, send the text message, and go back to sleep. As much as he likes Taehyun, he also loves his sleep, thank you very much.
His blooming excitement did not allow him to sleep at all. His roommate-slash-best friend is in a deep slumber in the next room. Good for him having his beauty sleep and having a boyfriend. The world is indeed unfair . It’s already Thursday and the clock reads 4:55 am. Five more minutes to go！ He exclaimed in his thoughts. Who would have known that sending a text message to your crush at this hour could be nerve-wrecking?!
Deep in his thoughts, he almost fell asleep due to his drowsiness and forgot about the time, but his cliche default iphone alarm tone rang, and god did his soul nearly leave his body. Okay, okay, calm down. Just send the text message, Beomgyu .
_________
Taehyunie loml <3
Today 5:00 AM
good morning, taehyun! :) have a great day!
Delivered
_________
I did it! And now we wait.
Few minutes passed, Beomgyu continued to squint his eyes from the light coming from his phone screen against his very dim room, waiting for a reply. But to his not-so disappointment, still there is none –not even the read indicator. It just still says ‘delivered’ .
Maybe a few more minutes. Or till 5:30. Beomgyu knows Taehyun replies to his friends and classmates. Actually, Beomgyu and Taehyun are classmates in one minor elective subject every Wednesday, and this is the only class they have together since they have different majors.
After waiting for half an hour, he cannot stop himself from closing his eyes. Blame his workloads and his excitement to text Taehyun for not allowing him to go to bed. The second Beomgyu locked his screen off, he immediately fell asleep. And to Beomgyu’s bad timing in sleeping, their conversation finally changed from ‘ delivered ’ to ‘ read 5:32 AM.’
_________
Taehyunie loml <3
Today 5:00 AM
good morning, taehyun! :) have a great day!
read 5:32 AM
Today 5:45 AM
Good morning?
_________
Beomgyu is staring at his screen, looking at Taehyun’s reply. It’s 4:10 in the afternoon and he just opened his phone to see Taehyun’s message. When his phone alarm buzzed earlier, reading 7:45 am, he jolted awake. He forgot that it was a Thursday, and Thursdays meant 8-4 hospital duty. Afraid of receiving a warning slip for being late, Beomgyu ignored that one (1) significant notification from [ Taehyunie loml <3 ], and got ready to go to the assigned ward. Duty meant a whole day of rotations in the ward, tending to patients’ needs, and unfortunately, no phones allowed. Sadly, Beomgyu had to wait for another eight hours to see what his Taehyunie had said.
That’s it? Just ‘Good morning?’ He sounds like he is not even sure. Not that he expected Taehyun to humor him, but that could have been better.
“Now, what should I reply? Hey, Tae. How are you doing? Yeah, nope, that’s not cool. Should I ask him how his day was? Nah, that’s like boyfriend privileges and we’re not even that close.” Beomgyu whined. “Ugh. Kang Taehyun, the things I do for you.”
He arrived at his dorm, contemplating what to reply to his message, or whether he should even still reply or not. Opening his laptop to do tons of essays and his remaining deadlines, thoughts of what to reply have been long forgotten, leaving Taehyunie loml <3 read 4:10 PM.
Beomgyu went on with his plan for the next few days, and still their conversation only includes a series of good morning exchanges. Beomgyu greets first, Taehyun replies after a few minutes or an hour –sometimes Taehyun leaves him on read, but it’s not like Beomgyu’s not used to Taehyun ignoring him – and Beomgyu leaves his reply unread for a few hours and leave it on read after deciding not to reply.
_________
Taehyunie loml <3
Friday 5:00 AM
good morning, taehyun! :)
Friday 5:25 AM
Good morning.
Saturday 5:03 AM
good morning, taehyun!!!
Sunday 5:11 AM
good morning, tyun,, hv a great sundayy ^^
Sunday 8:14 AM
Morning, hyung. You too
Monday 5:01 AM
good morning, taehyunieee!!
Morning
Tuesday 5:00 AM
good morning, taehyun! :D
Wednesday 5:02 AM
morning, tyun! see u later <3
Wednesday 6:31 AM
Morning. Yup
Yesterday 5:00 AM
goodmorninggg taehyun
Goo morning beomgyu
Good*
Today 5:01 AM
morning tae
read 6:30 AM
Today 6:58 AM
Morning
_________
It has been exactly a week since Beomgyu started his incredible and brilliant plan; which, unfortunately, has made no progress at all. He decides to just continue with his agenda since he knows it won’t have any difference yet after one week. Beomgyu still has hope – he will eventually get Taehyun’s heart; he’s sure of it. Being positive with all of this does not mean that Soobin is being spared of his rants.
“Hyung, it’s been a week! Is he a rock or something?!” Beomgyu complained to his best friend.
“I don’t know, Gyu. Has it ever crossed your mind that maybe , just maybe, Taehyun is not interested at all?” Soobin replied. As harsh as it sounds, Beomgyu knows that his best friend means no harm.
“B-but…” Beomgyu trailed, pout now evident in his face. Don’t get Beomgyu wrong – the thought of Taehyun not wanting to be romantically affiliated with him ever has crossed his mind the moment their circle has formed and he truly respects Taehyun’s boundaries. It’s just that, believe it or not, Beomgyu has already developed strong feelings towards Taehyun, now that he is friends with him (minus the part that Taehyun ignores him most of the time) and he has known him better now, falling for him more than ever.
“Well,” Soobin started. Beomgyu might be annoying at times but he reads Beomgyu like an open book. He knows that his best friend is upset with his words? With the whole situation? Or perhaps both. “It’s not like Taehyun tells you to fuck off —we know he’ll tell you frankly if he is uncomfortable. I say, might as well continue with whatever your plan is, and see if it goes somewhere .”
Beomgyu has never snapped his head this fast, facing Soobin, face painted with pure shock that suddenly turned to his signature puppy eyes that Soobin hated (he does not really). “Really? You think so, hyung?” Beomgyu’s eyes are full of hope.
“Yeah,” Soobin sighed, “but just be careful, Beomgyu. We don’t want you sulking if it backfires.”
And so, Beomgyu continued with his plan. Who was he to not listen to his dear hyung?
It’s currently Wednesday, and Beomgyu’s plan is still a work in progress on its third week already. If Soobin was to ask how it is going, his maltese best friend would blatantly answer him with a ‘ You guess it, hyung. It’s Kang Taehyun. Do you think there is progress?’ And with the way Beomgyu is not going home skipping, happily daydreams, nor excitedly goes to Soobin’s bed to blabber about Taehyun, Soobin assumes the lack of progress on Beomgyu’s end.
Nonetheless, Beomgyu is not fazed at all. The usually late and sleepy Beomgyu is already at the classroom 30 minutes before class starts, knowing Taehyun usually arrives early for this elective. He texted Taehyun his usual good morning with a heart emoji, and the latter replied with the same message, except the heart, of course.
Taehyun’s good morning replies make Beomgyu’s day –enough for his daily dopamine and serotonin levels to boost. Beomgyu keeps their chat conversation short. Literally short. Sending one good morning and receiving one good morning, and that’s it. Having to eat with him at lunch and Taehyun normally conversing with him and everyone, that’s enough for Beomgyu to be radiant and have a lovely day.
A minute later, there goes Kang Taehyun. Entering the classroom with a stoic face, Beomgyu excitedly waved at him like an excited puppy waiting to be given a treat.
“Good morning, Taehyun-ah! How’s your day?” Beomgyu greeted as Taehyun took a seat on the row in front of him.
“Morning, hyung. It’s still too early, so nothing has been going on with my day yet.” Taehyun replied with a small smile.
Oh my god. Taehyun smiled! Beomgyu squeals inside. Taehyun smiling at him? He can go to heaven now.
For the rest of the class hours, instead of studying whatever the professor in front of the white board is teaching, Beomgyu finds himself just studying Taehyun’s back and side profile. God, he’s so beautiful, why is there only one Kang Taehyun and why is he not mine? His blonde hair looks so soft despite having it dyed for several months already, and Beomgyu has to stop himself from running his fingers over the blonde’s soft locks. Eyes trailing to his crush’s desk, he finds Taehyun’s slender fingers taking down notes. Beomgyu wishes he could just take Taehyun’s free right hand and intertwine it with his very own fingers of his left hand under the table, since Taehyun is left-handed and Beomgyu was right-handed.
Beomgyu sighs, knowing his domestic daydream won’t happen anytime soon. As usual, Taehyun dashes out of the door first without waiting for Beomgyu, even though they’re both bound to the cafeteria to eat lunch with the other three. Beomgyu is used to it, though. Afterall, he respects Taehyun and his boundaries, and one of them is to avoid being seen with Beomgyu alone in public to avoid the teasing from everyone else .
Before going to the cafeteria, the lack of Taehyun made him walk slowly and pass by his locker to get his stuff for the next class after lunch. Beomgyu was neither startled nor confused when he saw a small bottle of strawberry milk inside his locker — this has been going on for a few years now and not even a single note came with it. Every school year, the students are bound to change their lockers and their passcode combinations, and the five of them would always choose their lockers beside each other. But, what concerns Beomgyu more is that how can this someone immediately know where his locker is and guess his passcode every single time (it’s not like his birthday: 0313 or Taehyun’s: 0205 or a combination of his and Taehyun’s birthday: 0513 is difficult to guess, but who would’ve known that?).
Going to the cafeteria, Beomgyu takes the straw and pops it on the top lid that covers the bottle. Beomgyu was not a fan of strawberry milk, thinking banana milk is the superior flavor. But when he discovered that his crush was a strawberry addict, he took a liking to it, too, preferring strawberries over any other flavors now. He took a mental note to thank this locker stranger for basically forcing him to drink strawberry milk, and also, for having his daily supply of calcium.
Now, one would think that Beomgyu must be some kind of a stupid creature, knowing that drink came from a stranger and that it could have been poisoned. Beomgyu thought so too, at first. But it was such a waste if Beomgyu threw the milk, so he drank it anyway and nothing happened to him. It was safe to say that this stranger loves him too much to poison him, since they were so consistent in putting strawberry milk in his locker everyday without fail.
The fourth week of his pavlov-Taehyun agenda has passed by so fast. In all honesty, now that it is the final term, with all the workloads and all the demands of nursing school and hospital duty that Beomgyu struggles to keep up, he has no energy to wake up early at 5 am just to greet Taehyun. Heck, there isn’t even much progress to even continue this. But Beomgyu’s mom did not raise a quitter, so he’s got to suck it up and finish what he started; he is down to the last day anyway.
On the thirtieth day, which fell on a Wednesday where they had a morning class together, despite going to bed at 3 am after finishing his report for the next day and printing the case study he worked for the whole week, Beomgyu woke up to his alarm excitedly, expecting a better response for the last time. With a squinting eye, he grabbed his phone under his pillow and composed a message for Taehyun.
_________
Taehyunie loml <3
Today 5:00 AM
good morning, taehyunieeee! did u sleep well??
have a lovely day 🫶 see u in class later!
delivered
_________
Feeling satisfied with his delivered message, Beomgyu went back to get a little more sleep, hoping he’s got a good reply from Taehyun before he goes to their elective class.
But, oh boy, was Beomgyu wrong. Two hours later when he woke up to prepare to go to school, he opened his iphone, expecting one (1) notification from Taehyunie loml <3 . To his dismay and confusion, there was a lack of Taehyun from his unopened notifs on the notification center.
Maybe he still has not seen it? Beomgyu thought, opening his and Taehyun’s conversation.
_________
Taehyunie loml <3
Today 5:00 AM
good morning, taehyunieeee! did u sleep well??
have a lovely day 🫶 see u in class later!
read 5:27 AM
_________
Read.
Read?
Read?!
Taehyun just seenzoned him. On the last day of his super incredible and genius plan. Beomgyu was beyond dumbfounded. Of all days that Taehyun chose to not reply, it has to be today –on the last day of his agenda, with 4 hours of sleep, and running late for his class. He defeatedly sighs.
I will see him in class, anyway. Beomgyu thought.
But then, Beomgyu was late in that class since he prioritized organizing his paper works to be submitted before 12 noon. He was not able to talk to Taehyun during that period, nor did he understand anything from today’s discussion as his head painfully throbbed due to the lack of sleep that he has been sporting for the past few weeks. What’s even worse is that Taehyun did not even wait for him to go to the cafeteria together. It has been like that since forever, but Beomgyu was extra sensitive today. Blame his moodiness for being so sad about something normal.
When he arrived at the cafeteria, there was Soobin, Taehyun and Huening Kai waiting by their usual spot.
“Hello, Beomgyu hyung! You look like shit. You okay?” Huening Kai greeted him. Taehyun looked at him casually and continued playing with his phone, while Soobin looked at him worriedly since the youngest did not lie at all. Beomgyu did look shit.
“Ning’s right. What happened? Did you even sleep?” Soobin asked.
Beomgyu took a seat beside Soobin and in front of Taehyun, placing the folder with his printed work that he was holding, on the table. “Mhm. I slept but my head hurts like bitch.” Beomgyu groaned, while closing his eyes and ducking his head on his folded arms on the table.
“Go to the clinic after eating lunch? You guys can get your food now before the line gets too long. Let’s just wait for Yeonjun hyung for a few minutes so we can eat together.” Soobin patted his head.
“It’s okay. I have to go by quarter to 12 because I have to submit this source of my headache.” Beomgyu replied, while grabbing his wallet before getting up.
The four left their bags on the table so that no one would take their seat. Soobin and the two maknaes went in line for a full meal, meanwhile Beomgyu bought a single soup since he didn’t have an appetite. Beomgyu was the first one to go back to their seat, while Soobin and Hueningkai followed after a minutes, with Yeonjun, who seemingly just got out of his class.
“Hey, BG. You good?” Yeonjun took a seat on Soobin’s right, reaching his hand for a handshake.
Beomgyu took his hand and replied, “Yo, YJ. Just peachy.”
This is why despite having many friends from different departments as a result of being a social butterfly, Beomgyu likes their circle the most. Regardless of the differences in their age and majors, the five have randomly and magically formed an unbreakable bond and It’s like they had a silent agreement that they have to completely gather so that they could at least eat lunch together, no matter what the circumstance may be.
Taehyun was the last one to arrive with his tray of food and grape juice. No matter what he does, he looks so ethereal just as Beomgyu remembered the first time he saw him. And even if Beomgyu was still a bit salty that his crush did not reply that same morning, he cannot help but still pin over Taehyun.
As the younger carefully balances his tray with his left hand and puts down everything that he bought with his right, the cup of grape juice accidentally slipped Taehyun’s hand and spilled the entire liquid on their table, exactly at the spot where Beomgyu’s paperworks were placed. Everyone at their table, including Taehyun, gasps, while he stays frozen in his seat, eyes wide looking at his folder stained with wet purple coloring.
“Hyung, I-” Taehyun trailed, picking a handful of tissues from the table in an attempt to clean the mess.
“Fuck,” Beomgyu whispered, but loud enough to be heard by Taehyun and Soobin who was in front and beside him. If this was another day, Beomgyu wouldn’t have minded: he would’ve just smiled and laughed it off; but guess today was his lucky day. He clicked his phone to check the time, and god was he fucked. It reads 11:32 AM and he remembers he has to submit it before 12.
“Fuck,” he stated for the second time, the look of horror and panic now evident on his face. He suddenly stood up and hurriedly picked up some of his stuff, putting them inside of his bag.
“Gyu, wait, where are you going?” The three looked at him shocked, while Soobin looked at him worriedly – he knows how his roommate-slash-best friend refused to sleep and stayed up late until an ungodly hour for this paperwork.
He hurriedly mumbled that he will be excusing himself and cannot join lunch for today, having to reprint all his unfortunate papers that were all stained since he has less than 30 minutes left for him to submit on time. His department is very strict about neatness and deadlines – and he’s afraid to fail to submit a presentable work and get deducted. He cannot afford to get a low score on this one if he wishes to get at least a good final grade.
Not gonna lie, he was quite pissed with everything that is happening today, but he cannot blame Taehyun as this was an accident. Looking extremely stressed, Beomgyu turned his back to run back to his dorm; the lone tear slipping from his eyes did not go unnoticed by Taehyun.
As his figure goes out of the cafeteria, and gets smaller and smaller from the distance, the three caught sight of Taehyun’s downcast expression, still eyeing the doors of the loud cafeteria.
Fortunately, Beomgyu was able to submit on time. It was a close call: he literally arrived at his clinical instructor’s desk at 11:58. Thinking about all the bad luck that has happened to him just this morning: Taehyun not replying, his paperwork ruined, his migraine that just would not go away, and now his stomach that finally signaled its hunger but lunch time is now over, it was no doubt that Beomgyu was unapproachable for the rest of the day.
For the rest of the week, Beomgyu has become MIA; decided to focus on his courseworks now to keep his grades on average, because believe it or not, Beomgyu is a diligent and intelligent student who constantly stresses out his hell of a college to keep running for hopefully latin honors.
At the same time, despite ignoring the whole world, he also checks his phone for any message from Taehyun, hoping for his plan to work. He is not gonna lie, he kind of felt bad that he got pissed at Taehyun for a few hours, but then he realized that it was not the younger’s fault. But Beomgyu knows the universe hates him and never takes his side when it comes to his lovelife. His plan definitely did not work. Honestly, did his past life do something bad that nothing seems to go his way in this life?
The following days and weeks, Beomgyu becomes busier and the table of 5 during lunch time now becomes a table of 4. Beomgyu misses his friends, but he can’t afford to waste any more time, especially now that his schedule has become more hectic. Anyway, it is not like he cannot hang out with them again soon. Consequently, Beomgyu decided to take a pause on pursuing Taehyun. He still greets Taehyun in their shared class every Wednesday –still openly stares at Taehyun’s back since he’s still hopelessly liking the latter – but that’s it. His plan didn’t work, afterall, so Beomgyu has no reason to keep sticking on Taehyun, especially that he really showed no interest.
2
Taehyun is not interested – everyone is sure of that; and he most definitely isn’t blind. He knows Beomgyu likes him – that’s a fact for how many years now. Beomgyu’s crush is so obvious that it’s starting to hurt for the outside watchers.
For Taehyun, Beomgyu is a nice hyung – always asking how his day was, despite Taehyun acting all cold towards him. Don’t get Taehyun wrong, he does not hate Beomgyu; it’s far from that . It is just that with all the constant teasing from his acquaintances and other people, mind you, that he does not know, since it is like a university-wide known fact that the Choi Beomgyu throws heart eyes at him for years now, it gets a little annoying and he cannot get the peace that he hopes to have during his university life. So, Taehyun decided to put distance between him and the older, avoiding being seen together alone.
And when Beomgyu started his good morning scheme, he was confused at first since the older one does not text him on ordinary days. But seeing how Beomgyu constantly texts him for several days already, Taehyun knew that he wouldn’t stop anytime soon. Taehyun was not an asshole –he, of course, replies to Beomgyu, knowing he puts an effort on waking up as early as Taehyun’s waking time. There are times that he leaves Beomgyu on read, but it’s not like he does it on purpose (okay sometimes, it is on purpose) –he’s university student too, and engineering has its own difficulty. It was nothing that Taehyun could not handle, since the cat-like, for the love of god , treats solving and doing his plates like the love of his life.
One morning Taehyun did not receive the usual good morning from Beomgyu, he wondered why there’s none when it dawned on him and remembered that he made a mistake yesterday. He felt sorry when he accidentally ruined his friend’s work. Taehyun has yet to apologize, so he made a mental note to personally apologize to the older when he sees him.
Two days after Beomgyu stopped messaging him, he thought that his hyung was still mad at him, but he remembered that Beomgyu does not hold any grudge. Taehyun felt a little bit of relief but still wondered why he’s not hearing from him. He settled on the thought that the older might have taken a break from him or just got too busy with his nursing duties since he’s out of school from Thursdays to Saturdays.
Days and weeks later, Beomgyu still has not left any message. Huh, did he really stop? Nor did the older join them during lunch. He’s kind of worried since the guy did not really go to a full missing-in-action before.
“Soobin hyung,” Taehyun called out Soobin, who, on the other hand, is not bothered with the fact that his best friend is not with them at all.
Soobin slightly raises his head from Yeonjun’s shoulder and looks at Taehyun, replying “Yeah?”
Taehyun contemplated whether or not he should ask Soobin about Beomgyu at all. He knows they will give him weird and malicious looks once he does. He still asked, anyway. “Was wondering why Beomgyu hyung hasn’t eaten lunch with us for weeks now? Is he still mad from last time?”
“Mad? I don’t think he’s mad at you, Taehyun-ah,” Soobin reassured him, “he’s always been like this since last year, though? Finals are coming ‘round the corner and you know how his department gets. He’s preoccupied with case presentations and duties.”
Taehyun did not notice how busy Beomgyu was, since he had all that time to message him and stuff. Still not satisfied with the bunny’s answer, he continued with his query, “Oh. But how is he, though? Is he okay?”
Soobin frowned. “I check up on him from time to time through text and he says he is. I haven’t really talked to him lately since either he goes home late midnight or he’s already passed out when I arrive at the dorm.”
And so, Taehyun just nodded. Yeonjun shoots him a knowing look but Taehyun just shrugged and continued eating.
He still sees Beomgyu during their shared class, but with dark circles now evident on his eyes. The latter greets him good morning and proceeds to take a nap on his desk while waiting for the professor. For some reason, Taehyun feels bad. The reason? He does not know. Maybe because Beomgyu looks so tired, or the fact that he did not even take the time to check how Beomgyu is, when the latter used to always ask how his day was.
Taehyun slightly turned his back to face Beomgyu and poked his arms where his head is lying, whispering, “Hyung”
Beomgyu hummed and took a peek at him before laying his head in his arms sidewards so he could face Taehyun, long dark locks almost covering his very visible tired eyes in Taehyun’s sight.
Out of instinct , Taehyun moved Beomgyu’s hair to the side, tucking it behind his hair with his index finger. Retrieving his hand back, he sighed, “I just wanted to apologize for what happened a few weeks back. I’m sorry for spilling the juice on your work –I didn’t mean to.”
He saw Beomgyu’s shocked expression (probably with his action), which turned into a soft one, and flashed a small smile, “I know. It’s okay Taehyunie. I’ve submitted it on time, anyway. Don’t worry about it.” he replied, followed by the closing of his eyes to continue taking a nap.
Taehyun slowly nodded, feeling a little relieved that Beomgyu really did not hold a grudge at him. Maybe he’ll try to talk more to the poor maltese soon. Seems like Beomgyu’s too tired to deal with anyone right now.
It was the next, next day, Friday night, when Taehyun spotted a round-shaped boba head sitting by the window inside Starbucks. The cafe had a good ambiance where one can enjoy their solidarity, but everything about the boy and his table screamed stress and chaos. His notes were scattered all around the table and his face was almost sticking on the screen of the laptop as he busied himself aggressively typing what seemed to be very important.
Time check: it was 11:09 pm and Beomgyu looked like he had not gone back to the dorms yet before coming to the coffee shop since he was still in his white clinical uniform. Taehyun felt the need to accompany the other so that the older can take his mind off from his work to rest for a while. He proceeded to the counter to order his usual caramel macchiato and two slices of blueberry cheesecake, remembering that this is Beomgyu’s favorite and go-to dessert when he is stressed.
Directly going to Beomgyu’s table after getting his orders, the older did not even look at him once –still focused on continuing whatever his work was.
Getting a bit flustered with the way that someone who has a crush on him did not acknowledge his presence, he clears his throat to get Beomgyu’s attention. The annoyed look on Beomgyu’s face when he looked up immediately turned to a soft one, flashing a beaming smile at Taehyun.
“Taehyun! Hey, how have you been? Come sit” Beomgyu pats the table in front of him, collecting his papers so that Taehyun can put down his order.
“Hi, hyung,” Taehyun nodded with a small smile, “I’m good. How are you ? By the way, I bought you cheesecake. Seems like you need one tonight”
Beomgyu’s face blushed because Taehyun does not usually treat the older like this. But Beomgyu still managed to respond to the younger normally, without being a stuttering mess “Aw, thanks, Hyun. I really do need some sweets right now.”
Beomgyu turned his focus back to his laptop, and Taehyun couldn't help but stare. He has not been this close with the older with just the two of them alone. Beomgyu sports the biggest eye bags the older has ever had, with his large eyeglasses resting on the tall bridge of his nose. The upper half of his black hair is tied at the back of his head; bangs are messily covering his forehead till his eyes. Furrowed eyebrows on display, as if whatever he is seeing on the screen is his enemy.
But nonetheless, his hyung still looks pretty right now.
Beomgyu has always been pretty.
It’s almost 12 am and Taehyun’s cup is almost empty, with the ice rapidly melting that floors the cup with more diluted caramel macchiato. Sometime during Taehyun’s stay on their table, Beomgyu has ordered his second cup of americano and it looks like he won’t head back to his shared dorm yet anytime soon. Starbucks is open 24/7, but the cafe never seems to run out of customers as university students like them need to use the place to do all-nighters.
Taehyun wonders how the older gets through the day with just a few hours of sleep, knowing that his duty for the next day starts at 8 am.
“Beom hyung,” Taehyun cringed when his voice broke the silence between them, slightly startling the person in front of him. Beomgyu momentarily looked up with his left eyebrow raised and made a questioning hum.
Taehyun felt guilty for obviously disturbing Beomgyu. The lack of attention given to him by the boba pearl was a giveaway that the latter did not want to be interrupted in his little bubble. “Don’t you think it’s quite late? What time are you going back?” Taehyun asked carefully.
The only thing that Taehyun could hear right now were the sounds of the coffee machine working in the background, the older gave nothing but silence as he seemed distracted and still got caught with his work.
It was a minute or two later when Beomgyu stretched and cracked his knuckles, looking up to meet Taehyun’s still awaiting eyes. He raised his eyebrows with a “huh?” when he realized that Taehyun threw him a question about going home. “Oh! It’s still early, Tyun, and I still have to stay back for a few more hours,” gesturing to the laptop and the stack of papers on the table with a small frown. “Why are you still here, though?”
“Early? This is early for you?” Taehyun cannot believe that the latter found this hour early. “And I’m waiting for you to be done. I’ll walk you back since it’s late .” He replied, putting an emphasis on the last word.
“Oh.”
He has seen Beomgyu flustered before, but this has to be the reddest yet the cutest he has ever seen. Hold on. Is this considered flirting? No, right? Friends are allowed to hang out, or be worried with each other. It’s normal to bring each other home…
Beomgyu recovered immediately; Taehyun noticed that he was trying his best to compose himself. “..okay. But you can go first, Hyun. I’ll be okay by myself.”
“But hyung–” Taehyun was interrupted with a sudden ringtone, one that indicates that there is an incoming phone call, from Beomgyu’s phone.
Beomgyu looked at him and picked up the call, which seemed to be important. Taehyun hears a few hellos, sighs, okay, and an i’ll call you back coming from Beomgyu’s end before ending the call and facing Taehyun.
“Sorry about that. My groupmate called: we need to do some major revisions on our report, and I will most likely stay here till 3… You should go and rest, Hyun.”
Taehyun hesitated. He did not intend to stay here in the first place since it was a long day for him and he needed to rest to study tomorrow. “Will you be okay alone?”
Beomgyu smiled. “‘Yep. This is basically my daily routine . I’m used to this by now.”
Taehyun frowned at what he had heard, but he could not hold the older more, so that he can continue working and won’t have to stay back till the devil’s hour. Taehyun simply nodded and picked up his trash, before bidding Beomgyu a good night.
“I’ll go ahead, hyung. Be careful and text me when you go home?” Beomgyu nodded, to which he replied with “Good night, Taehyunie. Go back safely!” and returned his gaze back to the blinding screen.
But Beomgyu did not text him. Waking up at his usual time before going to the gym, he received no message from Beomgyu. And so, Taehyun decided to message him first, something that he never did before.
_________
Choi Beomgyu 🍓
Today 5:00 AM
Good morning, hyung. Did you go home safely?
delivered
_________
Taehyun was not the type to actively wait for a person’s reply, and most definitely not the one to check whether someone has opened their message or not. So, why was he openly staring at that “ delivered ” indicator in his phone in the middle of the day like it was a matter of life-or–death situation if he missed out a change of status in their conversation?
Hours later, he checked their conversation again, thinking whether the older had already replied.
_________
Choi Beomgyu 🍓
Today 5:00 AM
Good morning, hyung. Did you go home safely?
seen 4:12 PM
_________
Oh, he finally saw his message a few minutes ago. He probably just got home from his shift.
And Taehyun, believe it or not, waited. Taehyun waited for Beomgyu’s reply . And even after a few hours later, he did not receive an incoming message from the latter. Concluding that the older might not reply anymore since it’s his only weekend, Taehyun went to bed with a frown.
The next day came and Beomgyu still was not able to text him back. Was he mad? Is this how he felt when I was not replying to his messages before? Taehyun was not the overthinker kind of person, but god does Beomgyu drive him insane.
And when Taehyun stopped waiting , his phone lit up with a few consecutive ‘ting’s. Glancing at the screen, there were several messages from Choi Beomgyu 🍓 . Beomgyu finally replied and Taehyun opened it at the speed of light.
_________
Choi Beomgyu 🍓
Today 5:00 AM
Good morning, hyung. Did you go home safely?
seen 4:12 PM
Today 5:11 PM
tAEHYUN
HI
omgg im sso sorry
i forgot to text uu and my phone died
when i got home last night
and i passed out so
I frgot to charge m phone
and i just woke uo
UP
but
im alive wieee ^-^
_________
Cute.
A hint of a smile came across Taehyun’s face, finding the older one’s ramble very cute. And Taehyun understands –Beomgyu has been so busy with his duties that he passed out after he came home.
After deciding to not bother the older’s only free time, he did not text him back.
“What are you smiling at?” A familiar voice suddenly echoed in his room. Taehyun looked up and he playfully rolled his eyes when he saw his older cousin leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed, looking so amused. Yeonjun has been his roommate since he started university, having their parents plan this since they’re family. “I’ve never seen you grin like that— like a lovesick fool.”
“And since when did you get your nosy ass in there?”
“Just enough for me to see you reading something from your phone and start smiling,” Yeonjun replied with a tinge of teasing in his voice. “Who’s that? Are you dating some girl?”
Taehyun looked at him comically, as if the words that came out of Yeonjun’s mouth were a joke. “That’s funny, hyung. I’m gay.”
Yeonjun gasped, shock written all over his face. “I know this shouldn’t be news, but you’re gay?!”
Taehyun just shrugged, leaving Yeonjun with nothing but silence. It’s not like Taehyun explicitly announced that he is straight and went out with girls nor did he deny being gay. But does that even still matter? In this economy?
The past few days, there’s a certain guy that has been bugging his mind. Not in a bad way, of course. Well, it's not like he does not think about the older on a daily basis. But just for some reason, Beomgyu’s face pops into his mind every time he sees a flower because he’s so beautiful. Don’t get Taehyun wrong, he knows Beomgyu and the word beautiful has been synonymous since day one; he just did not want to admit it to anyone – words travel fast and the moment Beomgyu hears it from him, he will make it his personality (not like he doesn’t do that yet).
Monday came and an idea struck in Taehyun’s ever so bright brain. He took out his phone and opened the message app.
_________
Choi Beomgyu 🍓
Today 5:13 AM
Good morning, hyung.
delivered
_________
And now, we wait . Taehyun thought. Beomgyu must be confused as to why the younger was messaging him of his own accord. He thinks that Beomgyu might not find it suspicious because believe it or not: Beomgyu might have the biggest and most obvious crush on Taehyun, but the guy is oblivious and clueless as fuck.
It was two and a half hours later when Beomgyu replied.
_________
Choi Beomgyu 🍓
Today 5:13 AM
Good morning, hyung.
read 7:47 AM
Today 7:48 AM
morning, taehyunie!
how are u?
srry im running latee
i’ll ttyl !!!!!
_________
While Taehyun prefers his usual and default formal texting, he found Beomgyu’s usage of lowercase cute. The older was a proud advocate of the anti-capslock movement because he quotes, “ it’s too formal! And it looks scary! That’s why we are using lower cases to show that we do not bite! ”
But despite such movement , Beomgyu was a different case when he was serious or angry. All lower cases, shortcut words and series of text messages are nowhere to be found when you hit his nerve. Taehyun noticed that Beomgyu is barely mad, no matter how big your mistake is to him. He is an angel – he has the kindest and most pleasant personality. So when he gets mad and sends Taehyun-like structured messages, oh boy, what a grave sin you must have committed.
The next day, Taehyun still texted him good morning first. And the next day. And the following days ahead.
_________
Choi Beomgyu 🍓
Monday 5:13 AM
Good morning, hyung.
Monday 7:48 AM
morning, taehyunie!
how are u?
srry im running latee
i’ll ttyl !!!!!
Tuesday 6:43 AM
Good morning, beom hyung
Tuesday 7:27 AM
morning hyunnn
Are you eating lunch with us later?
nno
still busy w my reqsss ;-;
soob knows, but tell them im srry
Wednesday 11:40 AM
Hyung, lunch?
Hello taehyunieee
I have to pass :(( i’ll try next week
_________
Their conversations did not just include mere good morning messages. Though they did not text each other 24/7 or up until they fell asleep, they still had their fair share of casual conversations. Sometimes, Beomgyu would text Taehyun in the middle of his study break, and Taehyun would do the same.
Beomgyu did not question him about the sudden warm texts, anyway, and he must be enjoying them for sure.
Taehyun has been consistently texting Beomgyu for the last two weeks. Talking about nothing and everything at the same time – how come Taehyun didn’t think of this sooner? Beomgyu has been fun to talk to, he has heard of that (that’s why the latter deserves his social butterfly nickname) but it’s just this time that he has talked with him personally. He’s spontaneous and just naturally funny and easy to converse with.
Never did Taehyun once feel uncomfortable and he finds joy with this whole thing .
Getting a bottle of strawberry milk from their refrigerator, a wild Yeonjun appears.
“I see you’re getting close with Beomgyu nowadays. What’s up with that?” Yeonjun, who has been watching him for the past weeks, finally spoke his mind.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” And Taehyun still doesn't wanna admit it, just for him to keep his peace. He knows if he does, he will never hear the end of it.
Yeonjun, being Soobin’s boyfriend, has made it his responsibility to also care for Beomgyu since the younger has been nothing but sweet despite being a pain in the ass most of the time. He sighed, “Tae. You know Beomgyu likes you. I mean! It’s good that you’re starting to be close with him now, talking to him on your own. But everyone knows that you don’t like him and we understand that.. Gyu understands that, that’s why he doesn’t cross your boundaries. Don’t you think you should just straight up tell him that you’re not interested at all instead of leading him on?”
And that’s the thing about not admitting anything. Everyone just… assumes. They just made up their own conclusion when Taehyun did not even directly state whatever he felt towards Beomgyu: he did not say he is interested nor did he say that he is not.
“Who said I’m leading him on?” Taehyun looked up at his older cousin.
“What?”
“And who said that I don’t like him? I don’t remember saying that.” Taehyun added, his eyebrows raising.
“Huh?” With Taehyun’s implication, Yeonjun still cannot process it. It was sudden and he must have assumed that Taehyun would just say sorry and tone it down.
When the older was still in a confused state, not comprehending what Taehyun just said, he popped the lid with a straw and began sipping his favorite milk, and turned his feet around to make his way back to his room and get his things for his class (not before getting another bottle of strawberry milk and putting it in his bag).
And when he heard Yeonjun loudly gasp and scream his name with a “COME BACK HERE, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!” and a hint of enlightenment, meaning he finally understood what he meant with his last reply, he continued to walk away from his door till the door of their dorm.
Maybe it’s time . It’s their third year afterall; one more year and they will already be graduating. Let’s just hope he won’t fail this one. Maybe it’s time to finally make an explicit move on Beomgyu.
It was Wednesday morning and the two had a class together. Taehyun knows that with the load of the older, Beomgyu would always sleep in and come running late to his first class without getting anything for breakfast.
And that is the reason why Taehyun is currently lining up early in the morning at Starbucks, where he would always see Beomgyu at night, thinking about buying himself his own macchiato and Beomgyu with his signature iced americano and some pastries.
Heading to the classroom, it was much to Taehyun’s surprise when he saw a bear sleeping just beside his desk. Normally, Beomgyu sits one desk behind Taehyun, but it’s not like the professor is strict with their seat arrangement and Taehyun had no one seated beside him.
He looks so cuddly right now. With his messy bed hair resting on his arms on the desk while wearing a fluffy white hoodie, Beomgyu totally looks like a maltese right now and he wants to pet his hair.
And true to his words, without doubt, he finally stood in front of Beomgyu’s current desk and took a slight glimpse of Beomgyu’s face, his honey skin being kissed by the rays of the sunlight that came through the window. With the beautiful sight in front of him, a small smile cracked in his face. He did not mean to stare at the older for a long time– he truly did not plan to– but how could he not, when Beomgyu has the looks of an angel?
Not passing up the chance, he decided to run his long, slender fingers through Beomgyu’s alluring tousled hair, tucking the locks of his hair behind his ears. Taehyun found himself realizing that he has a thing with tucking Beomgyu’s hair, remembering the few times he did the action before.
Beomgyu was a light sleeper, so the action slightly woke the latter up. As he fluttered his eyes open, Taehyun’s face came into view.
“Good morning, Beom hyung,” Taehyun softly greeted the older, slowly backing away and moving towards the desk beside Beomgyu. “I brought you coffee.”
Beomgyu sat properly even though sleepiness is still evident by his looks. He took the cold cup that Taehyun offered and deeply sighed as he smelled the aroma of his favorite coffee. “Thank you, Tae. I needed this.” He replied, sipping from the straw with glee and carefully leaning his head against Taehyun’s right shoulder.
Taehyun didn’t mind having Beomgyu like this. In fact, he’d choose to have this moment again and again.
“Have these doughnuts, too. I figured you haven’t had your breakfast yet. Sorry, they didn’t have cheesecakes yet this early.”
Beomgyu enthusiastically nodded through his shoulders, taking one glazed doughnut and sat upright so he could properly without leaving crumbs on Taehyun’s desk. “Thank you so much. I’ll treat you to lunch later.”
And Taehyun just smiled and continued to sip on his own coffee. His heart is soaring just from seeing Beomgyu happily munching the breakfast he brought.
And when Beomgyu still did not join them for lunch that same day because he was still awfully busy with his major course subjects, Taehyun didn’t mention anything.
By the next week, Taehyun and Beomgyu have gotten closer. Their friends do not have any clue since Beomgyu still has not joined them for lunch again. They would just usually talk through messages or in class, or ‘accidentally’ meet at Starbucks every night (Taehyun knows Beomgyu go straight there after his duty). And every single time that Taehyun would plan to join Beomgyu on his table, he would always purchase his own drink and a blueberry cheesecake for the latter.
Sometime between their blooming closeness, Taehyun has also started to wait for Beomgyu at the end of their classes – not just during their shared class, but also after Beomgyu’s own classes, fetching him to eat lunch with them. Most of the time, Beomgyu would look at Taehyun guiltily and Taehyun would already know that he still cannot join them.
But Taehyun still waited for Beomgyu’s classes to end despite rejecting his invitation. Just like now, Taehyun was leaning against the railing, wind blowing his blonde hair and busying himself with his phone while patiently waiting for Beomgyu. He only had one class this morning that ended two hours ago, and occupied himself at the library to kill some time before fetching Beomgyu, in the hopes of him finally joining lunch as Hyuka and Yeonjun have been ranting about how quiet their table is without the bear.
Taehyun hears the shuffling of chairs and students standing up as the teacher in front dismisses the class. In the middle of the sea of heads in the crowded hallway, Taehyun immediately spots the fluff ball of sunshine that is Beomgyu. Beomgyu was hard to miss; with such a beaut like him, he would instantly have the spotlight, all heads turned to him. He was glowing – no signs of tiresome nor sleepiness on his face but a big smile as he made his way to Taehyun. Taehyun wondered what made Beomgyu flash a radiant smile at him right now.
“Taehyun-ah! Have you been waiting long?” Beomgyu linked his left arm on Taehyun’s right as soon as he got to him, while Taehyun kept his phone in his pocket so he could give his full attention to the older.
“Not really, just a few minutes ago.” Beomgyu nodded and they started to walk arm by arm. “You joining us for lunch?”
“HELL YEAH,” Beomgyu exclaimed while he slightly jumped. “I’ll finally see the guys!”
Taehyun simply hummed and smiled at the overjoyed Beomgyu as they continued heading to the cafeteria. Usually, the both of them would just walk side by side in the empty halls when Taehyun would bring Beomgyu to where he is headed to when he would sadly refuse to eat lunch with their friends. Only a few would see them since Taehyun was still being careful being seen with the latter (he is not embarrassed being seen with Beomgyu – he just wants to avoid the nosy student body).
So, the two of them walking together, arms linked and Beomgyu busy rambling while separating his arm once in a while to complete his storytelling with gestures, being seen in the busy cafeteria was a shock to everyone. Taehyun, who became conscious with the few stunned eyes thrown to their way, slowly unlinked his arm from Beomgyu while still listening to him. The latter, however, didn’t mind his action and proceeded walking to their table.
As they got near the table, the guys were already looking at them: Soobin smiling (of course, he was not surprised as he sees Beomgyu everyday), Yeonjun and Hyuka were delighted, although there was a hint of confusion in the faces of the three.
“Beomgyu hyung!”
“BG!”
Taehyun watched as the oldest and youngest two stood up and gave Beomgyu a bone-crushing hug. Breaking their hugging session, Hyuka cannot help but pop the question that Taehyun did not want to hear. “Why are you two together? And since when did you become close?”
Taehyun just shrugged, not wanting to entertain the question, and sat on his chair. Beomgyu looked at him for assurance and answered Hyuka’s inquiry, “Just bumped at him and decided to go together here.”
“With your arms linked?” Yeonjun added, eyebrows raising while he looked at Taehyun. Beomgyu replied with a hum and a shrug, dismissing whatever their friends implied, and introduced a new topic, which gladly diverted the others’ attention.
On that day, Beomgyu finally completed their group lunch. Taehyun couldn’t be any happier that Beomgyu’s deep, annoying and contagious noise of laughter is finally back, echoing the halls of the busy and full cafeteria.
3
Beomgyu was never confused. Frustrated, sure he was. But he was always sure of everything: his feelings, decisions, intuitions – he was most likely sure and correct about them all. Well academically speaking, it was pretty normal for him to be slightly disoriented and lost with whatever nursing shit is all about (but hey! you don’t know what the instructor talks about in med school most of the time).
So, to say Beomgyu was confused is an understatement. For some reason, he thinks he’s living in a dream because everything feels euphoric. And that’s the thing: everything does not go by his ways. The universe hated him so much. So when Taehyun started approaching and talking to him out of his own volition, he thought it’s suspicious. This is not Kang Taehyun.
He might have woken up in another dimension – an alternative universe – one morning and he just didn’t notice. Because holy fuck, this is the Kang Taehyun that he had imagined. This is how Beomgyu imagined Taehyun to slowly fall in love with him in his daydreams.
When Taehyun started to text him, at first, he did not make a big deal out of it. Of course, a mere good morning made Beomgyu’s heart flutter. But as much as Beomgyu wanted to let himself enjoy the whole oh-my-god-did-my-plan-work thought, he simply couldn't. Fuck nursing , Beomgyu says his daily mantra.
He has never told Soobin about this yet. It was too early to assume that his plan worked, and of course, he can’t jinx this. One word from his mouth and the universe will take it back from him. Also, knowing Soobin, despite being a proclaimed introvert, he just has to tell everything to his boyfriend, who we know is Taehyun’s cousin. And Taehyun knowing that he’s been telling people (and then these people would assume and exaggerate things), well he might distance himself again. So, no. He won’t tell Soobin just yet and chooses to keep it for a while.
_________
Taehyunie loml <3
Today 7:11 AM
Morning, Beomgyu
I’m buying coffee. The usual?
Morning taehyunieeee
Yes please!! Thank uu <333
_________
When Taehyun kept messaging him and approaching him first in class, Beomgyu got used to it (read: he blushes in every text message and internally screams). He’s longed to be this close to Taehyun, and when the opportunity was freshly served on the table, he immediately grabbed it and let himself indulge. This was his dream, afterall.
“Beom hyung,” Beomgyu was cut off from his daydream as someone called his attention. He was very familiar with this voice – fell in love with it ever since the world began. Looking up, he saw a cup of iced coffee sitting on his desk that was definitely not there before. Seeing as there’s no pool of condensed droplets of water sitting under the cup, it means that it was just newly placed there.
“Hyunie, thank you.” He greeted Taehyun with a smile, while grabbing the coffee that the younger one brought him.
Taehyun sat down on the seat beside him. Beomgyu decided that the seat beside Taehyun will be his permanent seat from now on. Taehyun did not mind it, anyway.
“How are you?” Taehyun asked, left elbow propped on the desk while his head leaned against his knuckles as he faced and his sight focused on Beomgyu.
“Better now that you’re here.” He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows. Who is Beomgyu if he doesn’t flirt with Taehyun?
Thinking that Taehyun would get flustered over his shamelessness, Beomgyu was wrong. Taehyun softly hummed and smiled at him, patted his hair and tucked some of its strands behind his left ear. Beomgyu thought that Taehyun must be fond of his hair as Taehyun has done this heart-bursting action countless times already for the past two months.
God, Beomgyu was probably beet red by now. When did Kang Taehyun become this bold?
Beomgyu was always wrong. He might be sure of a lot of things, but he can always be wrong. So, when Beomgyu thought and was so sure that Taehyun had already reached his peak of flirting, boy was Beomgyu wrong. Again.
Because if he was correct (for once), then why was Taehyun texting Beomgyu at 7 am, saying that he was outside of their dorm’s lobby?
_________
Taehyunie loml <3
Today 7:00 AM
Good morning, Beom hyung.
I’m outside your dorm.
Let’s eat breakfast together. My treat :D
_________
What the fuck. He was not even planning to get up before 7:30 AM, but now he’s rushing to take a shower, get into his clinical uniform and make sure his bag was complete before slamming the door and repeatedly pressing the elevator button so he could go down as soon as possible.
Kang Taehyun, the things I do for you.
Beomgyu spotted Taehyun sitting on the lobby sofa. Seeing how his hair looked messy through his reflection on the door of the elevator, he tried to run his fingers through his disheveled hair and fix it before Taehyun saw him.
But to Beomgyu’s luck , Taehyun looked up from his phone and immediately found him in the middle of combing his hair. The younger visibly giggled and Beomgyu playfully rolled his eyes as he walked towards Taehyun.
“Yah! What the hell are you doing here this early?” Beomgyu’s face displayed an angry pout, while trying to sound annoyed, but he miserably failed because, of course, it’s Kang Taehyun. He can never be annoyed with the love of his life.
“I texted you, didn’t I? And why were you in a rush?” Taehyun lifted both of his hands to Beomgyu’s head and fixed his hair himself. Fuck. Taehyun and his obsession with my hair . He can feel Taehyun’s fingers carefully running through his slightly wet locks and he cannot help but be hyper focused with the endearing action. Beomgyu tried to contain his blush, but god, he thinks he’s having tachycardia and all the blood pumped by his heart goes to his face. What is Taehyun doing to him?
“Yeah, I know. But why do you want to eat breakfast with me? It’s Thursday. I’m not going to the university, remember? I have my hospital shift till Saturday.” Beomgyu pouted, trying to remember Taehyun’s schedule. I don’t think he has early classes today, so why is he here?
“I know that, hyung,” Taehyun replied and started walking side-by-side, their shoulders slightly bumping. “I’m walking you to the hospital.”
Beomgyu stopped in his tracks, eyes wide looking at the blonde. “You- You’re what?!” Taehyun’s going to what? Is Taehyun still asleep? Am I still asleep?
“I said, I’m walking you to the hospital.”
“I heard you the first time, smartass. I mean, why?”
“Just because.” Taehyun shrugged, then proceeded to offer his palm, as if he was asking something.
Beomgyu’s eyebrows furrowed, not knowing what Taehyun’s gesture meant. Is he asking for money? “What’s with your hand? Are you asking me for money? Because I don’t have any. And you better pay for the breakfast because I didn’t plan on having one since I’m broke this week.”
Beomgyu heard Taehyun sighed. What the hell is he sighing for? Is he disappointed that I won’t give him mo– Beomgyu’s thoughts halted when he felt a hand grabbing his bag from his shoulder, and saw Taehyun put them on his own shoulder.
“Hey, why did you get my bag? That’s heavy.” Beomgyu blushed and tried to retrieve his bag back but to no avail, as Taehyun walked faster so he could be steps ahead from the older.
“Shut up, Beom, and just follow me. You don’t want to be late, right?”
It was Beomgyu’s turn to exhale a deep sigh now. As always, Taehyun being the thick-head that he is. He jogged a little bit to catch up and walk side-by-side again with the latter (but not before taking a fast capture of the sight before him).
True to his words, Taehyun did walk him to the hospital after eating at Starbucks. At this point, they have basically owned that table by the window in the corner due to the fact that he (and Taehyun following afterwards) is here almost every night.
Beomgyu thought that it would be awkward. Walking alone with Taehyun outside university. This was not something new: Taehyun would always bring him back to the dorms after their study date (at least for Beomgyu, he considered it as a date. Cmon, let a man dream) at Starbucks. But that was different. They walked together at night, in empty streets. Right now, the sun’s out and so are people walking to their own destinations. Of course, it does not matter for Beomgyu, but for Taehyun – he’s worried. The latter used to hate walking with him alone before (and he is not sure about now), and he’s afraid that if anyone recognizes them, this would be the last time.
The following days were the same. Taehyun texting him “Breakfast?” and walking with him to his hospital shift. Their friends still did not have any idea that they were already this close, and it is not like they were intentionally hiding whatever this is from them, but it just so happened that they were just not caught together.
In an outsider’s perspective, one would think that they are a couple: walking too close with each other, arms linking as one guy mindlessly talks about random stuff and rants about his department, and the other one, carrying two bags on his shoulders, silently listens and nods to the other’s stories.
Beomgyu does not usually go over his locker first thing in the morning. It just so happened that he left some of his papers there that were needed for his first class.
As he walked, right just before he turned at the corner, his eyes caught a very familiar blonde hair by the lockers. Of course, it has to be Taehyun. Beomgyu almost, almost , enthusiastically greeted Taehyun when he realized that the latter was opening his locker.
Huh.
Okay, Beomgyu knows their lockers are literally beside each other. He knows that because he purposely chose locker no. 303 when Taehyun first decided to get no. 304. It’s more than halfway of the school year that has passed for Taehyun to be confused with their locker assignments, so what was he doing at his locker?
Hiding behind the wall, he saw Taehyun take out a familiar pink bottle with a red lid and casually put it inside Beomgyu’s locker, like he has been doing that his whole life.
Why was Kang Taehyun putting strawberry milk in his locker?
Hold on.
Strawberry milk?
STRAWBERRY MILK .
Beomgyu squinted his eyes and looked carefully at the pink bottle sitting in his locker as Taehyun fixes his bag. It was the same strawberry milk that he has been receiving everyday. What the fuck. It was Taehyun? It’s been Taehyun all along? Is this a prank?
No. He must be dreaming because there is no way that his crush has been giving him snacks. Since first year. Beomgyu tried to hit his head on the wall to see if he was still dreaming. Having not to estimate the force he applied for his head to hit the wall, the impact made Beomgyu screech out from pain.
Yup. Not dreaming at all.
As he busied himself crouching and massaging his reddened forehead with his palm, he did not notice a certain blonde walking to him.
“Hyung?” Taehyun called, eyebrows furrowing. “Are you okay? What happened?”
The younger did not seem to notice that Beomgyu had been here for a while. The latter raised his head up to look at the owner of that alarmed but sweet voice.
“I’m good, I’m good,” Beomgyu responded as Taehyun offered a hand and helped him stand up straight from his position.
He couldn’t contain his excitement. Beomgyu thought that he’d be mad at Taehyun for fooling him about his so-called hatred, but come on! That’s Taehyun! THE Kang Taehyun! The Taehyun he’s head over heels with since the moment he laid his eyes on him.
This was it. Just as when Beomgyu was ready to accept things the way it is, he just had to find out about this grand revelation. And oh boy was he not going to let this opportunity to win Taehyun’s heart go to waste.
Taehyun accompanied Beomgyu as he walked to his locker and took the notes that he originally went for. He, as well, took the strawberry milk that Taehyun just placed a few minutes ago and popped the straw on the lid. Beomgyu sees Taehyun’s gaze towards his action, and if he didn’t look closely, he would have missed the small smile that slipped from Taehyun’s lips.
“Ah, Taehyunie. Do you have plans after class?” Beomgyu asked, leaning his back on the lockers and sipping the strawberry milk as he faced the blonde guy.
“Nope, why? You need to go somewhere?” Taehyun almost immediately answered Beomgyu.
Beomgyu originally thought of going by himself since he wanted some time alone after several weeks of a stressful college life. Well, of course, he thought of inviting Taehyun at first, but he then realized that he’s with the latter basically most of his break times and same goes with Taehyun, so Beomgyu thought that Taehyun might be sick of him.
But after the grand revelation, he’s not going to pass up this opportunity to be with Taehyun and flirt with him outside of school premises. It’s time to flaunt my flirting skills. Kang Taehyun, you better be ready for my charms.
Beomgyu hummed in response. “Yeah, I need to buy some stuff for school and it’s boring to go alone. Wanna go with me? Please?” He added, fluttering his eyelashes in hopes of Taehyun agreeing with him.
“Sure. You didn’t have to ask, you know?” And truth be told, Beomgyu did not have to do his ‘beautiful eyes’ because Kang Taehyun is a whipped man who would agree with whatever Beomgyu asks him to do.
And go to the mall they did. Taehyun’s confusion was so evident when Beomgyu dragged him to an Apple store and went straight to a staff member to ask if there’s a stock of a certain… iPad?
“Okay, what do you think, Hyun? Blue or pink?”
“Never thought you’d be one of those who buys an iPad on a random Tuesday,” Taehyun teased the overly excited puppy on the counter.
Beomgyu looked back with a big smile on his face, “Shh. I’ve just finally saved up to buy this one. Months of not spending my entire allowance was worth it,” he dramatically cried and wiped his non-existent tears. “Now, blue or pink?”
“Um, pink? I think you look cute with pink.”
“Pink it is, then! Ddalgi ddalgi ,” Beomgyu excitedly pointed the box with the pink iPad to the staff and proceeded to go to the cashier as he was assisted to pay.
“If you’re gonna go paperless, why not buy the pencil, too?”
“Oh, I would still save up for it. I’m on a tight budget and I’d still buy some paraphernalia after this. Hehe, you’d still go with me, right?” Beomgyu took the paper bag from the staff, turned around and wrapped his arms around Taehyun’s right arm.
“Right, where are we gonna go after this?”
Taehyun made it a habit to carry around Beomgyu’s bag whenever they are together, and to be honest, Beomgyu still gets butterflies every time the younger one does this. It was like a dream come true. A fever dream. God, I hope this is real.
Beomgyu was busy roaming around the mall, going inside the bookstores, stationeries and pharmacies just to complete the list he is meant to buy. Taehyun left for a moment since he forgot that he needed to buy something, too. He’s currently paying all the materials that he bought and Taehyun was still nowhere in sight, and so he decided to text the younger.
_________
Taehyunie loml <3
Today 6:57 PM
i’m almost doneee
where u attt ^.^
right behind you :)
_________
“That’s a lot,” Taehyun appeared right in front of him when Beomgyu looked up from his phone after receiving the younger’s reply. God, he never fails to look so handsome.
The blonde took the plastic bags from the counter and carried them as they walked out of the store. Beomgyu, well, he’s slowly getting used to Taehyun’s little habit, so he lets him do whatever he wants.
“Thanks, Hyunie.”
They started to walk side-by-side, their shoulders and arms brushing against each other. Beomgyu’s hand is itching to just drop everything and insert his fingers with Taehyun’s empty hand, but he thinks that the younger one might not be okay with it, considering that he knows that he dislikes physical affection.
Beomgyu’s thoughts stopped as he felt a warm hand slowly holding his own. Normally, Taehyun would just hold and carry his things, but holy fuck, Taehyun is holding his hand. Kang Taehyun is holding his hand . Sure, the latter allows him to lock his arms with the other’s, but holding hands? Oh my fucking god.
“Should we go home or do you want to eat first?” Taehyun looked at him innocently as if he was not the cause of Beomgyu’s flushing cheeks.
“I- uhh. L-let’s go home. Soobin bought take out and he’s waiting to eat with me back at the dorms.” Beomgyu stuttered, looking away as he felt himself blush from their intertwined fingers. And as much as Beomgyu wanted to spend more time with his crush, he already promised his best friend that he will spend some time with him, too, since they have been busy the past few weeks. Ugh, Choi Soobin.
The ride on the bus and the walk from the bus station to the dorms, hand in hand , was quiet and peaceful. It’s as if they have been doing this hand-holding naturally for the longest time. And honestly? Beomgyu still feels like this was a dream. Am I living in a simulation? Because there is no way that the past few months have been real .
Taehyun walked him up to the floor of Beomgyu’s dorm, just a few doors before his and Soobin’s room. The blush on Beomgyu’s cheeks finally subsided, and a small frown can now be seen on his face as he did not want the younger to leave.
“Thanks for walking me up here and accompanying me today” Beomgyu shyly said as he played with Taehyun’s fingers, obviously refusing to let go of the other’s hand.
“Hold on, before you go,” Taehyun let go of Beomgyu’s hand, the look of sudden disappointment visible on Beomgyu’s face. He rummaged around his bag, until he got a small, white, rectangular box out. “Here, take it.”
“W-what?” Beomgyu’s eyes widened and shock was written all over his face as Taehyun handed him the familiar box with an Apple logo with it. “WHAT. Taehyun, what is this?” A freaking apple pencil. That’s what it was.
“An apple pencil? Wait, did I get the wrong one?” Taehyun answered with an innocent look.
“Wait, no. It’s the right one, but why are you giving this to me ?
“Well, you wanted one and I think it’s a nice gift for you.”
“Gift? My birthday is over, Hyun. You don’t need to give me a gift.” Beomgyu was beyond dumbfounded and his heart was not cooperating with him at all. He knew Taehyun was well-off, but he does not think he is the type to just randomly get his friends some expensive gadgets without any occasions?
“But I want to,” Taehyun breathed a small sigh and smiled at his confused hyung. “Just take it, Beom. You deserve it. Plus, you won’t need to cut your allowance just to save up again.”
Beomgyu looked up at Taehyun with his glossy eyes, tears threatening to fall over his rosy cheeks. Without any doubts, he bravely wrapped his arms around Taehyun’s shoulder as he expressed his gratitude, “Thank you, Hyunie. I promise I wi–”
“And no, you don’t have to pay me back.” He cut Beomgyu off, knowing full well that the older one would say that.
“Okay. Thank you, thank you.” Beomgyu softly giggled, letting go of the hug.
“Alright, go inside now. Good night, Beom.” Taehyun patted Beomgyu’s hair as he said his farewells.
The hand holding— Beomgyu thought that Taehyun was brave enough to do that. The hug— that was a first between the both of them and Beomgyu’s instincts felt like he had to do it. But nothing could have prepared Taehyun for Beomgyu’s next bold and impulsive move. The adrenaline running through his veins over the euphoria and excitement that he was feeling as of the moment was uncontrollable.
Instead of normally wishing Taehyun a good night, he stepped up, closed the distance between them, and carefully placed a soft kiss on Taehyun’s cheekbones.
“Good night, Hyunie. Get back home safe!” Beomgyu whispered, probably embarrassed with his actions. But hey! That was a win, considering Taehyun does not look mad and his face was covered with natural blush.
Beomgyu entered the dorm with his face still madly blushing like his hated tomato while trying to stifle a smile.
“I saw that.” a voice startled him, cutting him off from his daydream. There goes Soobin leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, demonstrating a slight grin and confused look.
“Saw what?” He tried his best not to look Soobin in the eye. God was he shy.
“Taehyun.”
And that is when Beomgyu told his best friend everything between him and Taehyun. Starting at how Taehyun tried talking to him more, buying him breakfast, walking him to his shift, and how they have subtle study dates (at least, that’s what Beomgyu thought of them) every other night at Starbucks. Beomgyu was even more in love with Taehyun than he did before. Tears puddled in his eyes, for the second time this day, when Soobin told him “I’m so happy for you, Gyu.” And that’s how his night ended: he slept with a smile on his face (little did he know, so did Taehyun).
Weeks later, Beomgyu and Taehyun are closer than ever. Despite being busy as the final exams came, the two continued to hang out with each other, spending their free time either studying or eating outside. Their other friends, Yeonjun (despite being Soobin’s boyfriend) and Kai, may have a hint as to why the two are always together, while Soobin just keeps giving Beomgyu a stinky eye every time Beomgyu and Taehyun takes a raincheck, separately, reasoning out that they have prior commitments already, knowing full well that these “prior commitments” are just the two youngers going out on their own.
While they have never made anything official yet , Taehyun nor Beomgyu have never confirmed, as well, if the ones that they go to were considered as “dates.” Taehyun would just magically appear at Beomgyu’s studying area with takeout food, or he would just suddenly message the latter that he was downstairs, and Beomgyu would automatically text back saying he’s on the way down. They would just simply enjoy the presence of each other while they do their own school work.
At some point, in between his study breaks or just before he closes his eyes to sleep, it bothered Beomgyu. Beomgyu was never the type to settle with anything not clear. In fact, he likes clearing things up because he was never good at predicting nor assuming things. It bothered him a lot: the subtle holding hand while walking, the spontaneous and daily dates, the occasional kiss on the cheeks or forehead (they don’t do it everyday, fyi), and Taehyun walking him to the hospital and walking him back home after. There were times that he’d like to ask the younger one about it – what are they really? He was scared. Because it’s Taehyun: the same guy who used to get annoyed with his guts. He is afraid to ruin it all.
But he came to the conclusion that it is best not to talk about it yet this early, especially that he has waited for years for this to happen… and maybe because it’s Taehyun: he has waited since first year, what’s waiting for a few weeks more? He hates uncertainty, that’s for a fact. But he does not mind all the uncertainties of the world if he’s with Taehyun.
Finals are finally over, which means the semester is also over. It was the last day of exams and unfortunately, just a few days left for the semestral break. The thought of it already saddened Beomgyu because he won’t be seeing Taehyun for at least two weeks.
Beomgyu sighed. Just as he was to walk straight back to his dorm, his phone chimed and he sees one (1) unopened message from Taehyunie loml <3 .
_________
Taehyunie loml <3
Today 11:12 AM
My exams are done. Yours just ended too, right?
_________
God, since when did Taehyun pay that much attention to him? Not gonna lie, he dreamed so much for this. For this exact thing to happen. Kang Taehyun, how would I move on from you if you reject me after all this?
_________
Taehyunie loml <3
Today 11:12 AM
My exams are done. Yours just ended too, right?
yeppp !
wru??
Stay there. I’ll go to you. Let’s eat and celebrate?
okidoki <33
<3
_________
4
Eating outside has been a norm for the both of them for the past weeks they have been together . They would usually just eat at fast food chains or some cafes not that near but also not that far away from university, just so they could eat and talk in peace. But since it was a sem-ender and it’s a way of celebrating after frying their brains out from assessments and long exams, they decided to go on a buffet.
Beomgyu is currently ranting about all the things he could think of, while Taehyun gives his undivided attention to the older and just intently listened, responding whenever he needed to. He has thought of this before: how he and Beomgyu are polar opposites. He knows it; their friends know it, and so do other people. Beomgyu loud, he’s not; Beomgyu’s a social butterfly, while he keeps his friends limited to their friend group; Beomgyu’s patient, while his patience is thinner than a strand of hair. Yet despite their exact differences, he also knows that Beomgyu is exactly what he needed to balance out his life.
It’s like Beomgyu fills in what he lacks, and he knows that he will never find someone as precious as Beomgyu.
Looking at the munching and talking bear in front of him, he cannot help but think that Beomgyu is so beautiful . There isn’t even anything pleasing to look at when Beomgyu keeps on talking with his mouth full, but he still cannot help but think otherwise. God, does he regret not indulging with his feelings years ago and having this wonderful human being. He regrets hurting Beomgyu and basically rejecting his feelings because of what? Because he’s a coward? Because he is emotionally constipated, who does not know how to deal with his feelings openly and so he decided to convey his crush on Beomgyu by being a secret admirer ?
Seeing Beomgyu upset that one time (how he spilled his juice over the older’s paperworks that sacrificed his sleep for), he did not like the sight of it. He did not like seeing Beomgyu upset or sad or stressed. And the fact that Taehyun himself was the root of Beomgyu’s negative feeling, he felt so bad. Beomgyu was never, ever upset with Taehyun, or maybe he just did not show it before, but now that he did, it was like a wake up call for him to get his shit together.
Taehyun knows Beomgyu like the back of his hand. Even when he acted like he did not care before, he still observed the latter from the sideline. And behind the cheerful and loud personality that Beomgyu showcases him today, he knew that there was something that was bugging Beomgyu.
And Taehyun was still scared. He knew that Beomgyu is bothered with what they have right now. He knows Beomgyu likes him – that’s old news. But he also knows that he likes Beomgyu . Now, that’s breaking news for everyone.
Despite being scared with relationships and commitments and all other long-term requirements that involve romantic feelings, he likes Beomgyu. He likes him too much to the point that he finally had courage to risk everything just to build a relationship now with the older.
“I hate seafood but I love their tempura. This is very chef’s kiss worthy,” Beomgyu exclaimed as he devoured his second plate of the dish.
“Right? You should try their crepe. I think you’ll like it,” Taehyun responded, as he took a napkin and wiped the crumbs on the corner of Beomgyu’s lips.
If anyone was to look at Taehyun at this moment, one would think the blonde was more interested with the person across from him compared to the variety of food that was set on their table. And you’re right: Taehyun was indeed more interested in him. Actually, he is enamored of Beomgyu.
And that’s when it hit him: he wants Beomgyu to be his boyfriend.
Beomgyu’s hands are so soft. Taehyun realized that he wants to hold them forever. And in order to do that, he needs to ask that one question. Thinking about it now, how serene their current situation is, how lovely Beomgyu looked while the rays of the setting sun kissed his honey skin and emphasized the brown irises of his eyes, how the wind brushed his soft, dark locks, and how their hands fit perfectly with each other.
He does not know how, though. Would it surprise the latter? Would he reject Taehyun? That’s absurd; he is certain that Beomgyu likes him, because if not, they wouldn’t be here, walking hand in hand.
“Thanks for bringing me home. I know you’re tired as well, so get home safe and fast,” Beomgyu leaned forward and dropped a small kiss on Taehyun’s cheek. Ever since that night Beomgyu kissed him first, the older made it a habit of giving him one before they parted ways. “Text me though!”
“Yup. I’ll text you later,” Taehyun responded, but not letting go of their hands yet. He’s still mustering courage to spew the magic words.
“Okay.”
“Okay.”
“Okay? Bye bye.”
“Mhmm. Bye bye,” Taehyun responded, holding Beomgyu’s hand even tighter. Fuck, he needs to say it now or else he’s going to regret it the whole semestral break and wallow in sadness.
“Aren’t you gonna let go of my hand?” Beomgyu asked, soft giggles and amusement heard in every word of his question.
“Beom,” he started playing with Beomgyu’s fingers to ease his nerves. Again, he wasn’t nervous; he just don’t know how to say it without looking like a fool.
“Hmm?” The older man's patience amazes him, and he cannot help but fall for him more.
“Be my… boyfriend?”
And boom! Taehyun finally popped the question. He felt Beomgyu’s touch stiffened, eyes widening as he looked Taehyun straight in the eye.
Silence.
A minute or two passed and everything was still silent. Beomgyu was silent, shock continued to be evident on his face.
“Beom?” Taehyun called Beomgyu out and gave a nervous smile. God, this is so nerve-wracking .
“Huh? What did you say?” A dazed Beomgyu answered, probably still comprehending the younger’s words.
“I asked you to be my boyfriend?” Please say yes . Please say yes.
“Oh my god, oh my god? oh my god!” Beomgyu exclaimed after a few seconds of silence, again, which startled Taehyun. “I think I’m hallucinating. Ha ha. Bye, Taehyunie, text me when you get home!” He kissed Taehyun’s cheeks again, forgetting that he already did earlier, and dashed inside the building.
…and there goes Taehyun’s chance. Down the drain. He’s dumbfounded but he did not take it in the wrong way. In fact, he found Beomgyu’s reaction cute. He knew Beomgyu panicked . And Taehyun walked home, giggling.
5
“What the fuck” Beomgyu panted as he entered their dorm, leaning his whole body against the back of the front door.
Soobin’s head popped out from the kitchen. “What? How were your exams?”
Beomgyu followed where Soobin’s voice were, and took a glass of cold water from the refrigerator. What the fuck was that. “Soob, what does ‘be my boyfriend’ mean?”
Soobin threw him an uninterested look, “They’re asking you to be their boyfriend? What else would it be supposed to mean? And who asked you that?”
“No, like, did they mean it platonically?”
“On what grounds are boyfriends considered platonic?” Soobin’s uninterested gaze turned into a ridiculous one.
“So.. romantically? As in, to be in a romantic relationship?” Beomgyu continued to ask absurd questions that weren't funny to his best friend anymore. But since he looked genuinely confused, Soobin indulged Beomgyu’s queries patiently.
“Yes, Gyu. Like, romantically. Who are you even talking about, anyway?” Soobin responded, and something, or someone , clicked in his head. “Oh my god, is it Ta—”
Beomgyu’s phone chimed. He looked at his lock screen to see who messaged, and oh my god, it’s the infamous ‘ Taehyunie loml <3 .’ With his fingers trembling, he swiped the notification open to see what Taehyun sent and went straight to his room.
_________
Taehyunie loml <3
Today 5:51 PM
Hey. I just got home :)
thats good :>
So…
sooo..?
read 5:53 PM
_________
1 minute. 2 minutes. 5 minutes. Taehyun left him on read for five minutes now. Was Taehyun going to say that he was joking earlier? God, I hope not.
His phone chimed, again, indicating an incoming message hopefully from the love of his life. And the love of his life was it from.
_________
Taehyunie loml <3
Today 5:51 PM
So, are you rejecting me?
_________
Fuck. Fuck. It was real. He was not hallucinating. Taehyun actually asked him to be his boyfriend. But hold on… did he skip a few chapters? How did he come from a one-sided crush to Taehyun asking him to be his boyfriend in a span of what, six months?
Flabbergasted, Beomgyu responded to the text almost immediately.
_________
Taehyunie loml <3
Today 5:51 PM
So, are you rejecting me?
NO
i mean
no
i
i wouldnt not say yes
but like
i need to COMPREHEND
like imm sorry
no tthoughts,,, head empty
I understand, Beomie
Just tell me when you’re ready to talk?
yep!!!
let’s talk soon
but
u know how i feel for u righttt
Mmhmm :) good night
ok ok good night
<3
<3.
_________
Beomgyu’s overthinking. Taehyun has not explicitly said that he likes Beomgyu back: not in persson, and not in text right now. He knows he’s too weak for Taehyun. Whipped, if others must say. His feelings for Taehyun was not new to anyone, even to the said person himself. He likes Taehyun too much, love even, but he knows his boundaries. He knows when to stop and when to not be crazy about the younger. And right now, he’s sure he’s crazy enough to say yes to Taehyun at this moment, because he has longed for him long enough. He would do everything for that guy.
But then again, Beomgyu hates uncertainties. As much as possible, he wanted everything to be as clear as daylight. He calculates every pros and cons even if he is bad at math and even if the universe hates his plans. And he is not going to be in a relationship without making sure of the other person’s feelings first, even if it is Taehyun. The Kang Taehyun, the love of his life. He’s afraid that Taehyun just liked his company? Or he’s just doing some kind of stupid prank to see how long Beomgyu would fall for his trap?
He knows that Taehyun wouldn’t do anything like that, he trusts him, he really does, but he had to be wary for the sake of being certain. Beomgyu has no idea, but there’s only one way to find out.
Turns out, soon happened to be just the day after. He texted Taehyun to go and meet him at their dorm since Soobin went to Yeonjun’s (and Taehyun’s) place.
With his right leg bouncing up and down as he waited in anticipation, Beomgyu wondered how this day would end: would he be cuddling with Taehyun after the talk, or would he wallow in sadness and mope around as he went back to Daegu for the break?
One knock, two knocks. A little too excitedly, he opened the door, and standing there was the ever Kang Taehyun with his charming hollow crease present on his cheek as he smiled at Beomgyu. The nerves in his body release different neurotransmitters from the synaptic vesicles to the synaptic cleft, stimulating various emotions all at once: the norepinephrine caused his heart to pump faster and this unexplained euphoric feeling, and god, the zoo in his stomach went crazy again, thanks to the dopamine. All these changes in his normal functioning are caused just by Taehyun himself.
Beomgyu was preoccupied by Taehyun’s beauty that the next thing he knew, the both of them were already seated at the couch, the soft blowing of the air conditioner took over the silent, but comforting atmosphere.
Not until Taehyun broke the silence, his words were like lightning that struck Beomgyu's brain: he was in shock, unable to process, form and even utter a single word.
“I like you.”
Beomgyu cannot understand. He needed more than three words for him to finally comprehend whatever Taehyun had in mind. And as if their minds were telepathically connected, Taehyun provided Beomgyu more words to affirm his feelings.
Taehyun took a deep breath, brought his own hands on top of Beomgyu’s and look at him straight in the eye.
“I know this is probably sudden for you, but it isn’t.. for me.” Beomgyu was confused, what did he mean that this wasn’t new to Taehyun? He couldn’t possibly— “I’ve liked you, too, since then. And I like you even more now. I’m really sorry that I made you feel otherwise. It wasn't my intention to hurt you, Beom. I just didn't know how to deal with these feelings back then and I was scared, not for myself, but for you, because I don’t think you deserve someone who didn’t have their shit together. I know I still hurt you, and nothing could ever justify that, and I’m just really sorry.”
If there’s one thing that Beomgyu’s good at, that’s determining whether someone is being genuine or not. Right now, by the looks of Taehyun’s glistening eyes that never faltered as he explained himself to Beomgyu, he knew that the younger was pouring his heart out.
“Come here,” Beomgyu started, opening his arms wide. Taehyun did not hesitate to come forward and wrap both of his arms around Beomgyu’s waist, his chin resting on the older’s shoulder. “I understand you and it’s okay, Hyunie. Thank you for telling me that.”
He felt Taehyun’s head nod, hugging him even tighter.
“I’m really sorry, and now you know that I like you. I’m sorry it took me this long.”
Beomgyu giggled. “Why are you sorry? And for the record, I don’t think I have explicitly told you that I like you, so I like you, Taehyun-ah.”
“I know. Not once have you made me feel otherwise. I feel it everyday, and I should’ve made you feel reciprocated way before. Thank you for understanding me, Beom.”
“Also, what do you mean you didn’t know how to handle your feelings back then? The strawberry milks made me feel giddy, you know?” Beomgyu teased.
He felt Taehyun stiffened and let go of the hug. “Wait. How do you know about that?”
“Ah, so, it really is from you!” Beomgyu laughed, finding Taehyun’s reaction a bit too cute. Taehyun didn’t respond as he felt the tip of his ears redden, making Beomgyu laugh even more. “I saw you last time putting one on my locker.
At some point, in the middle of them talking more about their feelings, their hands found the way to each other. The butterflies in Beomgyu’s stomach are long gone; instead, he felt content and at peace. He realized it’s always been like this with Taehyun: he can feel the rush of excitement at first, and feel serene and calm after a while. And maybe it’s true, what other people say, that love feels quiet, secured and liberating. And Beomgyu has never felt this liberated with his feelings and emotions before.
“I know this is not an ideal way to ask you out, but I want to ask you again—”
Like an overexcited maltese, he cut Taehyun’s question, “Yes, you’re my boyfriend now.”
Taehyun laughed at his now boyfriend, who is currently peppering his face with kisses. He held Beomgyu’s face gently with his palms, and caressed his cheeks as if he is the most delicate thing in the world.
It was quick, Beomgyu did not know how it happened, or when their faces got closer and their noses bumped each other. The next thing he knew, Taehyun was already pressing his lips with Beomgyu’s soft ones. It startled him for a bit, but recovered after a second. As he tilted his head and placed his arms around Taehyun’s neck to kiss him properly, he felt his world slow down. It was as if time stopped and they were the only ones moving.
Beomgyu cannot explain the plethora of feelings that he is having right now. It’s not overwhelming, but it was indeed a new sense of feeling. He has always wondered how Taehyun's lips would feel like, and goodness, never did he imagine finding it out himself. And that’s when he had an epiphany. Crossing off holding Taehyun’s hands on the list, kissing Taehyun was now his new favorite thing to do.
After feeling like hours have passed, Beomgyu was the one to pull away first, his forehead leaning against Taehyun’s and a smile drawing on his face.
“I like you so much, Hyun, but I think I like your kisses more now,” Beomgyu chuckled, rubbing the tip of his nose against Taehyun’s own.
Taehyun chuckled, too. The sound of his laugh feels angelic; Beomgyu felt like he ascended and it was actually an angel’s voice singing that he heard.
“I like you too much, too, to refuse you what you like.” And with that, Beomgyu surged for Taehyun's lips this time, leaving the younger unprepared.
It was safe to say that they stayed like that until God knows how long.
+1
“Hah! Take that Soobin, I told you I got this! My plan worked!” Beomgyu made a silly face at the bored-looking Soobin, as they packed their clothes for the break.
It’s been a week since Taehyun and Beomgyu got together, and here they were, being as domestic as they could: Taehyun folding Beomgyu’s clothes, while the latter lazily laid on his bed, making his boyfriend do his work.
Soobin looked up, uninterested, “Uh, not really, Gyu. If we’re being honest, it’s Taehyun who pavlov-ed you successfully with that strawberry milk, instead of the other way around. I still can’t believe it was you, Taehyun.”
Their relationship was easily accepted by their friends. They had their final hang out this semester as a group, when Beomgyu and Taehyun walked in the cafe hand in hand, chatting in their small little world. Yeonjun and Kai looked comically funny as they showed offended and betrayed faces, not knowing a single thing about Taehyun, while Soobin just had a small grin on his face. Nonetheless, they were happy for the two.
“Gasps!” Beomgyu loudly exclaimed. “Babe, you tricked me?!”
Days into their relationship, Taehyun found Beomgyu’s dramatic ass adorable. He has always been dramatic, but I guess everything is cute when it’s the love of your life you’re talking about.
“Darling, I don’t know shit about psychology,” Taehyun laughed. “What if you help me pack your things?”
“Ugh. Gross.” Soobin faked a gag, seeing the two cutely argue. “Gyu, I’m leaving first. I still have to see, Jjunie. Lock the doors, yeah?”
“Boo-hoo! Okay, bye! Have a safe trip,” Beomgyu responded. The sound of the front door closing indicated that Soobin already took his leave.
Taehyun continued to pack Beomgyu’s bag, while Beomgyu had to gather more of his stuff. What else did he forget? He was preoccupied remembering the things the needed to bring back to Daegu, when Taehyun broke the silence.
“Do you really have to leave?” Taehyun asked, his voice filled with sadness.
“It’s just five days, Hyunie.”
“That’s too long. I’m gonna miss you.”
Beomgyu looked up and saw his boyfriend pouting. Oh my god. Taehyun is pouting. THE Kang Taehyun is pouting. Who would have thought that Taehyun can act this cutely?
“Oh, god. Since when did you become so clingy, huh, Taehyun-ah?” Beomgyu giggled as he teased Taehyun.
“Whatever.”
“Aw, come on. You’re going home too, you know? Plus, I haven’t been to Daegu since last semester. And as if we won’t call.” Beomgyu sat beside Taehyun and proceeded to lay his head on the latter’s thighs. Like a robot, Taehyun’s hands automatically found their way to Beomgyu’s head, threading his fingers through his boyfriend’s hair.
“Should I just come with you? I wanna go to your hometown, too.” Taehyun asked, his voice sounded like he’s already considering going to Daegu with Beomgyu.
“I will gladly take you there and I really wish you could, but you know that you promised your mom that you’re going home for the break, baby.” Beomgyu reminded him. Daegu with Taehyun… that sounds so nice. He will definitely bring him there someday, and maybe formally introduce him to his parents, although Beomgyu has basically told them all about Taehyun already. “And, I don’t wanna be a bad boyfriend. Your parents might think I’m possessive or something.”
“Well, I’m yours to possess, anyway.” Taehyun responded and leaned down to give Beomgyu a kunik kiss.
“Ahhh, Kang Taehyun. You are crazy. Stop pouting or else I’m gonna kiss you.”
And who is Taehyun to refuse a kiss from Beomgyu? Without hesitations, Taehyun leaned further, closing the almost non-existent gap between their lips.
If Beomgyu missed his train back to Daegu because they cannot stop making out, then he has Taehyun to blame.