GLOW-UP

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and so, moon taeil stepped into the great unknown... an undiscovered world full of unfamiliar sights and strange people.

the shopping mall.

it may have been one small step for taeil (mainly because his size six feet could only take quite small steps anyway) but it was one giant leap for taeil-kind. science geeks with no fashion sense never dared to venture into these lands. they ordered everything online, and it was both always the wrong size and the wrong season, simultaneously.

ah, thinking about simultaneous equations was a good distraction.

"see anything you like yet, moony?" johnny spoke up, swinging their connected arms between them as he strode confidently between rows of stores.

"i- um... well, uh..." taeil couldn't exactly form a coherent sentence right then. the last time he'd been to the mall was probably with his mom... when he was about eleven.

"don't worry," johnny assured him with that grin spread from ear to ear, "i'll get ten to pick out some things for you. and i will too, of course."

taeil just gulped.

he realised for a split second that people who passed them, dangerously overloaded with shopping bags, were staring and sniggering to themselves. it wasn't very good sniggering either, taeil thought to himself with a frown. it wasn't discreet in the slightest.

"johnny," he hissed, tugging insistently on the hand that was so tightly intertwined with his own.

"mhm?" johnny looked down at him and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"people are looking at us," taeil muttered under his breath, his face heating up a little in embarrassment, "...why?"

johnny glanced around. "they probably ship it," he said rather blatantly.

taeil blinked at him.

johnny tried not to crack a smile, but ultimately failed. he laughed and shrugged, and reached over to ruffle taeil's hair with his free hand. "i'm kidding, obviously. they're all staring at me because i'm so hot and sexy," he told taeil with a wink.

taeil gave the hardest eye-roll he'd managed in a long time. though after spending so much time in the company of johnny seo, it was a wonder he hadn't developed eyeball-whiplash at the amount of times he seemed to be rolling his eyes.

"we do kinda look like a couple, though," johnny remarked then.

"n-no, we don't!" taeil spluttered.

they really did, though. if the hand-holding wasn't enough, there was johnny's jacket engulfing taeil's body, the teasing interaction, and the hair ruffle. they looked more like a couple than yuta and sicheng did when they were all curled up on the sofa together watching how i met your mother, and sicheng would lie in yuta's lap and yuta would play with his hair.

yeah, more like a couple than that.

that's because yuta and sicheng weren't even fucking dating, taeil stupidly reminded himself.

obviously.

"well," johnny interrupted his thoughts, "i guess they'll just have to keep looking. if i let go of you, i'm scared you'll make a run for the exit."

taeil instantly craned his neck to try and find the nearest exit sign.

johnny just squeezed his hand tighter and didn't loosen his grip until they had reached the centre of the shopping mall, where a delicate water fountain was carefully placed. taeil wasn't particularly into mysticism or magic, but he found himself staring at the coins thrown to the bottom of the fountain, wondering if he could wish himself out of there.