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93. GOT7 Youngjae - Behind The Laugh

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For Youngjae, laughter wasn't beautiful. That was until the day he saw yours.

Word Count: 6.2k+

Warning: Just language. This was merely an attempt to get over the severe writer's block I've been having and I wrote it all in one sitting of like 5 hours so don't judge me too harshly, I might wake up and delete it in the morning if I hate it or realize there was some gaping plot hole I didn't notice. I was mainly trying to gain some momentum for a different fic.

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He fell in love with your laugh.

Youngjae didn't understand why. He himself laughed all the time. He laughed when he was happy, when he was nervous and even when he didn't know how to react.

For Youngjae, laughter wasn't beautiful. It was a mask that covered all the dark things that lurked underneath. Laughter came to him more easily than everything else. Why tell the world about your suffering when you can just show them a bright smile?

Pain, insecurity, loneliness. That was what a laugh had always really meant to Youngjae.

That was until the day he saw yours.

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He first laid eyes on you at a group date.

Youngjae hadn't wanted to go, mostly because forced social gatherings made him nervous and he never knew what to say to girls. You're cute but you lack substance, a girl he liked had once blurted out to him while drunk. Youngjae had laughed it off awkwardly while his heart broke. He wasn't as funny and charming as Jackson. He wasn't as intelligent and mysterious as Jinyoung.

But he was a pushover, which was how he found himself seated opposite you at a fancy restaurant that night while Jackson flirted shamelessly with your friends and Jinyoung wooed them with his opinions on classical literature. One of the nicer girls had been polite enough to ask Youngjae about what he did and what sort of things he liked, but he'd been unable to maintain anyone's interest beyond that.

He sat back and let Jackson steer the conversation. It was easier for everyone.

You were seated across from Youngjae. Youngjae wasn't sure why a girl as pretty as you had been forced to sit across from him, but the reason became evident as soon as Jackson turned his well-trained eyes on you and asked you a question.

"So, Mina tells me that you're a lawyer!" Jackson said brightly in an attempt to include you in their conversation. He particularly enjoyed making quiet and shy girls talk; it was his speciality. "I saw this case in the news the other day where a woman was awarded half of her millionaire husband's fortune. Do you do stuff like that often? Help women loot their husbands?"

You blinked at Jackson calmly. "Do you think divorce is a joke?"

Jackson blinked. "Uh. Not really-"

"That woman had been abused and gaslighted by the husband for two decades. He forced her to abandon her career and be a stay-at-home Mom. He controlled her and refused to let her speak to her friends. He lied, cheated, and when she finally got the courage to leave him he even tried to beat her. Are you saying that the amount of money she got from him is going to change the fact that he's left her traumatized for life?"

Jackson didn't know how to respond. The entire table had fallen silent but your red lips were pressed together as you waited calmly for an answer. Jackson cleared his throat and laughed awkwardly.