Fear {Taeil // NCT au}

one

진짜를 봐 Open your eyes
❝ Look at what's real. Open your eyes. ❞

• • • 

Rain was sheeting down, dimming the streetlights and giving the quiet suburb a gloomy feel. The wind was picking up, scraping branches against windows and blowing leaves to their final resting place in the streams of water headed towards the sewers. Thick black clouds lingered ominously in the sky, the darkness momentarily broken by the bolt of lightning streaking across the sky.

The clap of thunder that followed shook the windows, making Jungwoo jump as he stared outside.

"Woah," he said, letting out a small gasp. His voice was soft and quiet as always, tinged with a dash of fear. "It's scary outside. Perfect for Halloween, huh?"

He turned around to face his friend who was sitting on her bed fiddling with her pirate costume, trying to make some last minute alterations. Tamsin looked up briefly to witness the dark sky turn bright once again.

"I'd rather it not rain tomorrow," she said whilst focusing back on the task at hand. "Before going to Johnny's party, a few of us are going to a haunted house. Waiting outside in a downpour like this will most certainly ruin our looks."

"Oh, that's right. I forgot about that," Jungwoo said as he moved away from the window and took a seat next to her. "Taeil's coming, right?"

Tamsin didn't have to look up to know he had a cheeky grin tugging at his lips.

"Shut up," she said, playfully elbowing him in the ribs.

As one of her best friends, Jungwoo knew all about her crush on Taeil. And as sweet and innocent as he might seem, he loved teasing her about it.

"He can protect you when you get scared," he said, chuckling. He wrapped his arms around Tamsin's small body and hugged her tightly, lightly shaking her. "Like this! How cute!"

Tamsin struggled to break free from his embrace, yelling at him to stop being weird. Any sense of anger was lost by the giggle that followed. Even she had to admit the idea of Taeil holding her to shield her from danger, even if it was fake, was indeed sweet. Without even realizing it, the thought of it had flushed her cheeks and Jungwoo was quick to catch on.

"You're blushing," he noted with a little satisfaction, and released her from his grip.

Tamsin quickly held her hand in front of her face and let out an embarrassed laugh. Usually she was able to cover up her true feelings, but Jungwoo got to her this time.

As she laughed, a dimple appeared and he poked it softly, telling her how adorable she was. Tamsin whacked at his hand and they both ended up laughing. As they quieted down, Jungwoo became more serious and advised her to confess to Taeil already. However, Tamsin didn't want to hear any of it. She was pretty confident about a lot of things, about herself and in her life, but she could never tell a guy she liked him if she wasn't sure he liked her back.

And Taeil wasn't just any guy. They had the same friends, and he was roommates with her best friend Yuta. It would just complicate things and make every social situation weird if she confessed and he denied her.

She shook her head, trying to dispose of all the negative thoughts and told Jungwoo she would tell Taeil eventually, just to shut him up. He knew when to give up, so he just shrugged at her words and got up to mix hair dye. He had come over to prepare for Halloween after all, not to argue over a crush.

As Jungwoo busied himself with the dye, Tamsin finished working on her dress. She spread it out on her bed and looked at it with a satisfied smile. Every year she tried to top her previous Halloween outfit and she couldn't wait to see the finished look to find out if she'd succeeded. Halloween was definitely her favorite holiday and Jungwoo had been right earlier, the current weather only added to her excitement. She focused on the raindrops tapping on her bedroom window until Jungwoo distracted her.

"Shall I do your hair first?" He asked, holding up the hair dye bowl in one hand and a brush in the other.

Tamsin nodded and walked over to him, grabbing the towel that hung over the chair to wrap around her shoulders. She sat down in front of Jungwoo and he got to work. They had picked the same color orange for their hair and were eager to see who could pull it off best.

"I'm gonna cry if it looks horrible," Tamsin said as Jungwoo finished, pushing herself up from the chair. "Like, I don't care what I look like as long as my hair looks good."

"I share your fear," Jungwoo said, chuckling at his own choice of words and switched places with her. "But I'm sure we'll look good!"

With his hair being much shorter, Tamsin didn't take long to dye her friend's hair and started on his make-up next. She still couldn't believe he had said yes to matching costumes with Jaehyun before even knowing what the idea was. Jungwoo, being too kind for his own good, was now stuck with being Rose from the Titanic and in order to look like her, he needed feminine make-up to complete the look.

"You will look prettier than me," Tamsin stated as she applied soft eyeshadow, thinking of the scar she was going to apply underneath her eye, covering most of her cheek.

"Don't make me look too pretty," Jungwoo protested, sounding too sweet to actually be threatening.

"Are you worried Jaehyun will fall in love with you otherwise?" Tamsin teased him.

"No!" He replied, a little louder this time. "Don't make it weird."

Tamsin laughed, amused at her own jokes as always and continued to apply lipgloss.

By the time she was done with both his and her own make-up, they had to rinse out the hair dye. Jungwoo's hair had turned out much brighter. His looked like a soft orange compared to her dark strawberry blonde, but at least he had been right: it looked good on both of them.

They changed into their dresses before they styled their hair. Tamsin curling the bottom of her hair whilst Jungwoo clipped in pre-curled extensions. Looking at their completed looks in the mirror, Tamsin wasn't wrong when she had said Jungwoo would look pretty. He cringed at the sight at first, but admitted he looked good eventually.

Tamsin was pleased with how her pirate look came out, too. Her new hair color looked good with the green, white and black in her dress and the fake scar on her face looked much more realistic than she thought it would.

Both happy with the outcome, they snapped a few mirror selfies together before taking their dresses off again. Tamsin grabbed her laptop and jumped onto the bed to browse through Netflix, wanting to finish their night watching a scary movie together. Jungwoo quickly removed his make-up and then joined his friend. As personal space seemed to not exist in Jungwoo's world, he sat closely next to Tamsin as she pressed play on Crimson Peak.

"Can you move over a little?" She asked, wanting a bit more space, but too comfy to do it herself.

"I like it this way," he said innocently and wrapped his arms around her as to make a statement.

"Scoot over, please." She said, still focusing on the screen in front of them.

"I don't want to," he whined softly, but it didn't work on her.

"Jungwoo!"

She briefly looked at him to see him pout. She sighed and ended up scooting over herself. He reached out to hold her hand instead, but she pushed it down, shaking her head with a laugh.

"You're too much sometimes, you know that?"

"Just hold me when you get scared," Jungwoo said and let out a laugh, too. "Pretend I'm Taeil, it'll be good practice for tomorrow."

Tamsin slapped the back of his shoulder.

"Shut up. I just won't get scared so I don't need him."

Had Tamsin known what Halloween had in store for them, she'd have kept her mouth shut. Jinxing things was a bad idea, and she would soon find out the hard way.

-

AN: My first NCT story! I hope you guys will like it. This was just a short chapter to introduce the main character and sort of hint at what's to come. And also a good excuse to dedicate an entire chapter to Jungwoo who is, next to Taeil and Yuta (okay, and Kun), my favorite guy, so I had to squeeze him in somehow ;) And as it's his birthday today, I figured it was the right time to post this. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JUNGWOO! :)