jaeyong ✧ skindeep

Twenty-six

By the time Taeyong arose the following day, it seemed as if Doyoung had left. The house returned to it's semi-silent state, t.v. audio playing faintly as it was never turned off the previous night.

Taeyong listlessly began to clean up the half-empty chip bags and soda cans that were left on the coffee table, throwing away almost everything afterward.

After taking a 'Diurex', most of Taeyong's day consisted of cleaning or lounging on Jaehyun's bed. He contemplated going jogging for a second but, the ever-present, unbearable summer heat was enough to discard that option.

The heat growing too uncomfortable, Taeyong left his temporary resting spot and went to turn the a.c. on. Afterwards, he found Jaehyun's Bluetooth speaker, connected his phone to the device and played A Milli by Lil Wayne at full volume, using the music as a last resort to feel less lonely.

As the music changed from song to song, Taeyong laid in the middle of the living room, alternating between sit-ups and pushups. Although his core ached and softly shook with every movement and his arms quivered everytime he pushed himself down, he continued nonetheless. And he didn't stop till his body simply couldn't move anymore.

He laid out of breath on the carpet, not picking himself up until the doorbell rang. He lazily walked over to the door, peeking out of the colorless window before opening the it.

"Johnny?"

The male started,"Both of our boyfriends ditched us for basketball so I thought I'd keep you company."

"Ah, okay," Taeyong stepped to the side, allowing Johnny to enter the house, afterwards rushing over to his phone to lower the music.

Johnny quickly made himself comfortable in the kitchen, grabbing bags of snacks from the cabinet and some from the fridge, his voice softly singing,"I'm stuck on this roof, it's burning and shit, there's smoke in my eyes. There's smoke in his eyes? Yeah there's smoke in my eyes. G, what the fuck is this?"

He then made his way over to the coffee table in the center of the living room and released the snacks, dropping them onto the table before sitting down.

Taeyong moved over to the couch, sitting across from Johnny, his knees pulled to his chest,"Have you talked to Ten since he left?"

Johnny pulled open a bag of potato chips,"Basically everytime he's free. We talked till two a.m. last night." Johnny stuffed few chips into his mouth,"Jaehyun say anything yet?"

The latter hesitantly shook his head 'no'.

Johnny easily read the somewhat wistful expression plastered on Taeyong's face.

"Don't worry; Jaehyun just gets super worked up when it comes to his games. I don't think he means to intentionally ignore you," the taller voiced out in a carefree tone, somewhat loosening Taeyong's expression.

~~~~

Taeyong's fingers tightly grasped the broomstick, sliding the inanimate objects against the tile floors of the kitchen. He swept in silence as Johnny, who had spent the night, fell asleep on the couch.

Unknowingly, his mood dropped. Before he could even tell why, Taeyong crouched down to his knees, his eyes beginning to water as the broom fell beside him with a 'clang' sound.

He buried his face into his hands, the streaming tears falling through the spaces in between his fingers as his breath shuddered and body quivered.

Johnny slowly awoke, yet once noticing Taeyong, raced towards the latter. He squatted down till they were both at the same level, his hands hovered over Taeyong's shoulders.