𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 jaeyong

3: buttons on a coat

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"Do I look alright? Be honest..."

Taeyong had to suppress the gasp that threatened to escape his mouth as Jaehyun exited their small bedroom.

Observing Taeyong's facial expression, Jaehyun sighed. "Wow... that bad, huh?"

"NO. SHUSH. SHUT UP RIGHT NOW. MY BEST FRIEND IS FINE AS HELL AND IM PROCESSING IT."

After taking a few deep breaths, Taeyong continued. "No but seriously Jae, you couldn't have picked a better outfit. She's going to absolutely fall head over heels for you, I'm sure. And don't be nervous okay, you're a natural flirt so you'll be fine."

Jaehyun picked up the slightly teasing tone in the last sentence and rolled his eyes, trying to bite back a smile. "Are you sure about that? None of my pick up lines seem to work on you..."

You annoying little shit.

It took everything in Taeyong not to blush at that statement, even though he knew there was no meaning behind it.

Finally finding his tongue, he fired back. "Maybe it's because you think lines like 'Are you a painting? 'Cause I think you'd look great pinned against my wall' are gonna get you a girlfriend. Dude, nobody says stuff like that and actually benefits from it."

"Well I don't see you getting ready to go on a date right now." Jaehyun smirked, confident he'd won their little banter.

Taeyong cleared his throat nervously, hating the way his voice raised in pitch slightly, giving away the fact that he was rather unsure of himself. "I could get a date if I wanted to... I just have better things to do, you know?"

"Mhm, sure."

"Shut up, you can't even dress properly. Come here, you idiot." The latter pulled Jaehyun in by his arm, turning him rather aggressively to face him before bending slightly to do up the buttons on his coat. "It's cold outside and you're gonna go out there with your coat undone? Yeah, I don't think so. I am not in the mood to deal with a sick flatmate."

Something inside Jaehyun stirred at those words, but he shoved it down harshly, not wanting a reminder of something he couldn't fix.

"She's just texted me that she's outside in her car. Later, Tae!"

"Bye! You'll be fine!" He shouted back over the wind that whipped through the stairwell as Jaehyun left their apartment.

Taeyong waited until he heard the sound of voices, a door being shut and a car driving away, before shutting the front door and sliding down the wall into a crouched position, violent sobs wracking his small frame.

He cried and cried as he sank lower, ending up lying face down on the floor. Honestly, he wasn't even sure why a simple date was triggering him so badly, yet he found himself selfishly wishing Jaehyun was home with him watching movies on the couch.

It felt like hours before he moved from his starfish-like position on the floor, as he trudged over to the freezer to grab a tub of strawberry ice-cream.

Taeyong threw himself on the couch, still sniffling softly to himself as he flicked through Netflix, putting something random on as background noise. Anything that could serve as a distraction was good.

Meanwhile, Jaehyun felt sick to his stomach as he sat next to his date at a bar. She was lovely, and talkative and they got along really well... but something wasn't quite right, though he couldn't place his finger on what exactly wasn't perfect about her.

And no matter how many drinks he had, or how many times he tried to focus on the girl in front of him, his mind kept wandering back to the boy he left alone in their apartment.

I wonder if he's alright... I mean of course he is, why wouldn't he be?

Yet Jaehyun just couldn't shake the gut feeling that Taeyong really wasn't okay and that he needed to race home to save him. Soon enough, the feeling became absolutely unbearable and he'd had enough.

I'm gonna regret this later.

Standing up abruptly, Jaehyun announced his departure. He quickly lied on the spot, saying he didn't feel well before apologizing to his date and saying he'd text her when he got home.

He rushed out of the bar and called for a cab, his insides twisting with nerves as he waited. The drive home felt like it lasted for a decade and he practically threw the money at the driver, running towards the stairs to his apartment.

Taeyong, who had fallen asleep on the couch, almost jumped out of his skin as Jaehyun burst through the door.

"WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCKING HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" He screamed, before remembering it was late and they had neighbors.

Jaehyun on the other hand, looked relieved as he surveyed the boy in front of him, looking for anything that could possibly be out of place. After finding no evidence of anything being wrong, he began unbuttoning his coat, chucking his keys in the bowl by the door.

"Date ended early. I've still gotta text her back though, she was so lovely."

"Oh. That's great! See? I told you you'd be fine." Taeyong forced a smile, but Jaehyun immediately tensed up after hearing the boy's hoarse voice, since he wasn't screaming this time.

"Tae... are you alright? Did you have one of your 'let's think about the past and get all sad and nostalgic' episodes again?" Jaehyun quizzed him, mildly annoyed with himself for not noticing the slight redness of Taeyong's nose and eyes.

"Very funny. I'm fine - just tired I guess. Which you would've realized if you hadn't practically broken the door down and interrupted my nap." He grumbled, wishing their conversation would end already so he could go and cry himself to sleep.

"Uh yeah, sorry about that..." Jaehyun smiled sheepishly back at him. Taeyong announced he was going to bed, leaving the other boy alone in the living room area.

But something was still off.

Having a sudden lightbulb moment, Jaehyun checked the freezer for the tub of strawberry ice-cream he bought only two days ago, to find three quarters of it had been eaten. He knew Taeyong only ate ice-cream when he was incredibly upset about something.

So there's obviously something going on that I don't know about.

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