How To Stan an Idol: A Guide by Lee Taeyong (Jaeyong)

Part 3

I created this fic with Idreamt_once on Ao3 and she write a lot of it so basically all credit goes to her. GO READ HER FICS

Taeyong ran back as fast as he could, slamming the door shut and closing his eyes. It took him a moment to realize that it was quiet in the dressing room. Too quiet. Oh shit. He slowly opened his eyes. He was met with a roomful of knowing stares and a giggling maknae.

"Taeyong, do you know who that was?" Jisung asked, not even trying to hide his laughter. Taeyong scowled at him. When would the maknae learn to use the honorifics?

"Yes," Taeyong replied. He couldn't find it in himself to say his name. Jaehyun. Jisung giggled. Taeyong took a breath, ready to scold Jisung for eavesdropping and spying on him, but alas, the maknae never lets him get a word in.

"Right," Jisung said, cutting Taeyong off and sending him an innocent smile before turning to the rest of the members, clearing his throat, acting all big and important, "So Taeyong, as you all know, has a mega-huge crush on Jaehyun, and GUESS WHO HE JUST KNOCKED OVER?" A beat of silence. Renjun closes his eyes and crosses his fingers.

"JAEHYUN!" Jisung screamed, answering his own question. A small "yes!" comes from Renjun.

"Jisung PARK!" Taeyong screeched. It was too late to hide the obvious blush that had started to creep up his neck. Yukhei laughed, his deep voice booming. Johnny and Taeil high-five each other while Renjun sticks his hand out at Jaemin, who reluctantly put ten bucks into his palm. Taeyong watches his group members with bubbling anger.

"You guys put bets on me?!" Taeyong screeched again, glaring at Jaemin and Renjun, who was busy counting the bills. Renjun smiles up at him innocently.

"Hey!" Sicheng said, "I wasn't!"

"Neither was I!" Yuta called out. Taeyong rolled his eyes.

"Because you guys are occupied with each other," Taeyong groaned. To everyone's surprise, Sicheng is the one that bites back.

"I bet you wished you were occupied with Jaehyun," Sicheng said casually. The group froze for a brief second, trying to recuperate from the heat of Sicheng's roast. Then, Johnny lets out a loud "Holy shit!", Taeil mutters an "ouch", and the others let out a collective "ooof". It wasn't everyday that the quiet dancer roasts their leader. Sicheng doesn't react, choosing to smile innocently at Taeyong, who looks like he is a moment away from popping off.

"Why am I friends with you guys?" Taeyong muttered to himself.

Jaehyun plopped himself on the leather couch in Elemental's waiting room, still waiting for the show to actually start. His curiosity gets the better of him and he searches the web for "Lee Taeyong". A million results pop up in the search: his predebut, the various eras, news articles, and the like. Jaehyun situates himself more comfortably and starts to read the first news article.

Dante's Inferno Releases Another Record-Breaking Album

The news article is written in a way that makes Jaehyun feel like he should already know some things about Dante's Inferno. It makes Jaehyun uncomfortable, especially since he had no idea what company was intended each time the author said "the company", nor did he have a clue what "the title track" was. Was Dante's Inferno popular enough to become common knowledge? Jaehyun scrolls through the rest of the article, arriving at fansite pictures. A small gasp escapes him.

There's no way the boy from the hall was the same person onscreen, yet the chestnut-colored hair was undeniable. The boy in the hallway seemed shy and almost cute, but the man in the photo was all confidence and charisma. A GIF of the highlight dance showed just how toned his arms were, each step of his legs precise and sharp. Jaehyun couldn't help but stare. He never thought he'd be admiring another man like this, but there's a first time to everything...right?

"Why are you looking at Dante's Inferno?" Jungwoo asked, glancing over Jaehyun's shoulder. Jaehyun hurriedly clicks off his phone, which earns him an eyebrow raise and a growing smirk.

"Just curious," Jaehyun replied, keeping his tone neutral. Unfortunately, Jungwoo's earlier question had already attracted attention.

"Dante's Inferno?" Doyoung asked, "as in, the Dante's Inferno?" Jaehyun gulped.

"Yeah, why? I feel like I've seen them around" Jaehyun replied. Doyoung's left eyebrow starts to snake its way up his forehead. Jaehyun gulped. When Doyoung was suspicious of something, you know it's gonna be bad. Doyoung clears his throat and takes a deep breath, about to rant. Jaehyun sighs inwardly. Once Doyoung starts, there's no stopping him.

"Dante's Inferno debuted the same year as we did. Within the first week since their debut, they won their first music show win. They were hailed as 'leaders of the third generation'. They only grew in popularity, easily selling out concerts and winning over many fans," Doyoung turned to Jaehyun, "How could you not know about them? They've literally been our competition since forever!"

"Our competition?" Jaehyun asked. He hadn't really paid attention to the other groups, just to his own and making sure his own was perfect. He only knew when they weren't at the top, but he didn't know who was when they weren't.

"Yes!" Doyoung said, exasperated, "Our fans are even at war with them 24/7! Do you ever pay attention?"

"Our fans?" Jaehyun asked. He interacted with the fans, but they'd never mentioned waring with another group's fanbase.

"Of course they wouldn't mention rivals, oh my god," Doyoung said, face-palming, "they're too considerate."

"Wait, so Dante's Inferno is kinda our sworn enemy?" Jaehyun asked.

"I guess so" Doyoung shrugged.

"Well—um—can you be in love with the enemy?"

A beat of silence.

"What." Doyoung's sharp tone slices through the calm like a knife. Jaehyun freezes at him for a moment. Luckily, their manager chooses that moment to saunter in.

"Guess it's time to go!" Jaehyun jumped up, ready to avoid the embarrassment of answering Doyoung's question.

Taeyong watches in awe at Elemental's performance. Their moves were all so clean, so synchronized. The song was fire, not to mention their vocals were very stable. Taeyong was impressed. He couldn't help but inwardly compare their performance to his own group's. Just as he was about to lament about his own dance skills, Jaehyun's voice filters through the speakers, making Taeyong drop everything and listen.

"Baby I don't want nobody but you," Jaehyun's voice was so clean, so beautiful, it made Taeyong want to die. Don't do it, don't do it, Taeyong mentally chastised himself. How unprofessional, to turn into Fanboy 101 whenever Jaehyun was singing. Taeyong grabbed his heart when Jaehyun winked at the crowd.

"I'm going to have cardiac arrest soon." Taeyong mumbled to himself, voice lost in the roar of the crowd. He watched, spellbound, by Jaehyun's performance. Too soon, it was their own turn to perform.

Taeyong wasn't nervous, so to speak, but he certainly was distracted. He was thinking too much about the other idol's performance and not enough about his own lines, causing him to forget to take a breath right before his line, making him low-key choke a little on his own words. Hopefully, it wasn't too noticeable.

Jaehyun was too occupied with Chenle and Donghyuck's whining match to pay attention to the stage. When he finally settled over who was to eat the only packet of spicy ramen between the two of them, he sighed before leaving for the restroom. Just as he was exiting, a loud fan cheer made him freeze. Holy shit. Jaehyun stole a glance at the TV screen, which showed a certain chestnut-color haired boy's dance break.

"Like this, touch me baby,"

Oh, and Jaehyun really wanted to. He wanted to run his fingers through the silky soft hair and hold Taeyong's hands and—but he was getting too ahead of himself. Jaehyun shakes his head to clear it, and scurried back to the waiting room, hoping that no one saw his complete awe at the chestnut-haired boy.