GLOW-UP

21 | red velvet

taeil wasn't too certain about his fashion debut the following week. sure, he loved the softness of his new puffy red velvet bomber jacket, but paired with all the other things it seemed a bit... much.

the slouchy black sweater that was almost slipping off his shoulders; charcoal jeans with rips you could stick a hand through; matching black sneakers with a slight platform; and on top of all that sicheng had convinced him to wear the fishnet tights under the jeans again.

"you look good!" sicheng insisted, shoving taeil out the front door without a backwards glance.

he seemed to have recovered from whatever he was suffering from on the weekend, taeil absentmindedly observed.

"are you sure?" taeil frowned at them as they neared the bus stop and looked down at his outfit in scrutiny, "i feel like i'm a kpop star or something."

"maybe you are, in another life," sicheng joked. he linked arms with his shorter hyung and skipped the rest of the way to the bus stop, where they waited.

"seriously, you look hot," yuta agreed, "i mean, i'd bang that if i wasn't-"

he cut himself off abruptly, which left taeil to stare at him in confusion (and sicheng to glare at him with wide eyes, making cut-throat motions with his free hand).

"if you weren't what?" taeil questioned.

yuta gulped. "if i wasn't... straight?"

sicheng fought the extremely deep urge to facepalm, and then hit his it's-complicated-kinda-boyfriend in the face. "looks like the bus is here," he said, dragging them both on, "let's go."

yuta winced and followed them on. that had been his biggest mistake yet. how would they ever reveal their relationship to taeil if he thought yuta was a flaming heterosexual?

taeil, on the other hand, wasn't thinking about that at all. he spent the entire short bus journey to the college campus fretting about his outfit and how ridiculous he claimed to feel in it. his housemates ignored him and after the first dozen attempts to convince him he looked hot, eventually gave up.

but the minute they walked onto campus, taeil received a rude awakening.

"everyone's staring," he whispered to sicheng, wanting nothing more than to dissolve into the tarmac and never resurface.

they were staring, but it was a different kind of stare to the walk of shame after the banana incident. then, people had scoffed and scorned, and laughed at his misfortune. now, they looked his way, some in surprise, others in admiration.

"that's 'cause you look hot, hyung," said sicheng with a sigh. "we've told you that a hundred times already."

taeil opened his mouth to object but slowly closed it and smiled. he started to hold his head a little higher, feeling a surge of confidence in those platform sneakers.

he was lost in his own thoughts as he parted from his housemates halfway across the courtyard and headed towards the math department. did everyone actually think differently of him now? just because of the clothes he decided to wear? the idea was baffling to taeil.

oof!

"sorry, i wasn't looking where i-"

taeil's words died in his throat as he came face to face with none other than the love of his life, lee taeyong.

the platforms on his sneakers made them just about on the same eye level, and for some reason that gave taeil a great deal of anxiety. looking taeyong in the eye was frightening, especially since they hadn't seen each other since the 'fuck me if i'm wrong...' incident at the pizza parlour.