twelve || an unexpected bonding

ʚ♡ɞ

"I don't get it! Why does it keep dropping right when it's near the drop zone?"
Beomgyu whined loudly, struggling with the claw machine game that had the cutest sanrio characters ever.

"You just suck at it, Gyu." Yeonjun deadpanned, causing the male to glare at his best friend who just shrugged. "You've always been bad at games."

"It's not my fault my mom never lets me go to arcades!"

Taehyun glanced over at the male after hearing that, he had just been standing next to Huening Kai watching Beomgyu waste all of his coins on a single claw machine game, if he kept spending all of them then they definitely won't be able to play the other games the new arcade has in store.

"You've never been to an arcade?" Huening Kai asked curiously, asking the question that Taehyun was hesitant to ask.

"Yeah, she always wanted me to study," Beomgyu started off, squinting his eyes so he could slowly hover the claw on the right plush. "She told me that arcades and video games are a waste of my time and that I won't learn anything from them."

"We tried taking him," Yeonjun spoke up, his eyes fixated on the machine. "But his mother wouldn't let him go, despite him already spending hours studying."

"But life isn't all about studying." Taehyun spoke softly under his breath, but he decided to brush it off when nobody had heard him.

Why was he so concerned anyway?

Looking over at Soobin and Yeonjun he noticed that the two looked somewhat worried when Beomgyu began talking about his mother.

"Come on!" Beomgyu groaned again, disappointed when the adorable cinnamoroll in a squirrel costume bounced right off of the drop zone wall and back into the pile. "I had it right there!"

"Beom-ah, I think it's time you stop wasting your coins on this game only." Yeonjun spoke up, gently grabbing the males wrist to somehow lead him away from the arcade game.

Beomgyu sighed and nodded, he didn't want to come off as selfish if he made his friends just stand there and watch him struggle to get a stupid plush the entire time.

"Yeah," He breathed out softly, "You're right, let's go look at the other games."

Before the five of them could move onto other games, Yeonjun took the chance to glance between Beomgyu and Taehyun, noticing how the pinkette had his eyes stuck on Beomgyu the entire time they were talking.

They haven't been alone for a bit... He thought, even though he hated the idea of leaving that pink head alone with his best friend even though they were.. dating.. He decided to take the chance to make that happen.

"I saw a three player game, I think Soobin and Huening Kai should come with me to play it." Yeonjun spoke up, looking away so the others wouldn't see how bitter his expression became.

"What?" Soobin and Huening Kai said in unison, both surprised that Yeonjun chose Huening Kai to play a game instead of Beomgyu.

"Are you sure Y-Yeonjun-ssi?" Huening Kai asked politely, even though he was nervous as fuck and practically shaking his boots. It's not that he didn't like Yeonjun, he was just nervous since he thought the male didn't like him! "I can go with Taehyun—"

"No, I want you to come with us, let's go." Yeonjun deadpanned briefly, turning his heels and walking away from the group which caused Soobin to follow after the male quickly.

Huening Kai stood there for a few seconds before feeling a small nudge, glancing over to his side he saw Taehyun give him a reassuring nod that everything will be okay, and it seemed like that nod was enough to make the male walk away from the two.

Just leaving Beomgyu and Taehyun alone.

It wasn't the first time they'd been in a situation like this where they would be left alone, but why did it feel so awkward to Beomgyu?

I feel so awkward... Is it because I feel guilty for making him come to this hang out...?

"What are you doing standing there?" Taehyun spoke up, causing the male to flinch from the sudden interruption. "Aren't we going to go play games?"

"You aren't annoyed of me?" Beomgyu suddenly blurted out, causing the both of them to be shocked.

"Why would I be annoyed of you...?" Taehyun asked him, but it almost sounded like he was asking himself that.

"You're not mad at me?" Beomgyu asked once again, he doesn't know exactly what caused him to ask all of these questions regarding how Taehyun felt about him.

Maybe it was because he hated it when others were mad at him, all he wanted was those around him to be happy instead of upset at him, even if it means he had to sacrifice some of his feelings then he would gladly make others happy.

"Hey," Taehyun sighed, turning his heels and started to slowly walk away from the male which made Beomgyu immediately follow him. "How about you stop worrying about that and have fun at this arcade?"

"I know but—"

"No, you don't know, you assume." Taehyun swiftly turned around, putting his hand up to stop Beomgyu from speaking more. "I'm not mad at all, Choi Beomgyu, I'm... fine."

Beomgyu breathed out a relieved sigh and nodded, for some reason he felt a sense of comfort when Taehyun had reassured him that he wasn't annoyed or angry with him at all. He knew it was bad to assume anything.

"So if you're done overthinking so much, want to spend your coins on an actual arcade game instead of a dumb claw machine that's rigged." Taehyun deadpanned nonchalantly, unaware that he had just offended Beomgyu deeply.

"Hey! I did not waste my coins on a rigged claw machine," Beomgyu scoffed, it wasn't his fault he absolutely adored the squirrel cinnamoroll inside of it! "I saw something I liked and I tried aiming for it, maybe the claw machine just doesn't like me!"

Taehyun shook his head and turned around walking towards a game that Beomgyu was definitely not familiar with. "You really don't know your arcade games, do you?"

"I do!"

"Then what is this game?"

"...uh.." Beomgyu hummed out, hesitant to even answer, it looked like some classical zombie shooting game but it looked old fashioned. "Plants vs Zombies but arcade style?"

"Pfft," He heard Taehyun snort quietly, causing him to stare at him in slight shock. "You're something, Choi Beomgyu." The pinkette said softly, turning his head to look at him over his shoulder, a small smile spreading on his lips, showcasing a dimple he had never seen before.

Seeing that small smile made Beomgyu's world freeze.

It was like a sudden explosion went off deep inside of his stomach, igniting a feeling he had never felt before whenever he was around Taehyun.

His smile...

"Hey, Choi Beomgyu, earth to you?"

"W-What?!" Beomgyu yelped in an embarrassingly loud tone, quickly gaining his consciousness again he shook his head and smiled awkwardly at the pink head who seemed very confused. "I'm sorry, I spaced out."

"Clearly," Taehyun scoffed, but not in a rude way, more in an obvious way. "Insert your coins, let's try this game out before you decide to spend it all on that dumb claw machine again."

"Y-Yeah," Beomgyu breathed out softly, clumsily grabbing four coins from his little cup and inserting it into the arcade machine.

What's going on with me, why did I feel so... weird when he smiled? Beomgyu bit the bottom of his lip, watching as the game gave a swift tutorial on how it worked and what the controls were. Maybe it's because I've never seen him properly smile.

"Are you ready to get your ass beaten at this game, Choi?" Taehyun spoke up, a smug smirk forming on his lips when he glanced over at the male.

"Talk about confidence," Beomgyu tsked, unable to hold back his smile that crept up. "I'll be the one to beat you!"

"You wish."

While the two of them began to go at each other in the game, a pair of eyes were lingering on them from afar, watching their every movements.

They... really do.. look good together. Yeonjun thought, drowning out the sounds of Soobin and Huening Kai talking as he stared at the couple across from them.

Had he been overthinking it?

Maybe he was just so caught up in his anger he kept himself in denial just so he could prove himself right.

But he was so certain that Beomgyu and Soobin liked each other, especially Beomgyu.

But seeing Beomgyu and Taehyun together, strangely a good match, it just made his heart hurt slightly.

Maybe Beomgyu really didn't like Soobin and he had been overthinking all of it.

"Yeonjun hyung?"

The male flinched slightly and looked in front of him, noticing that Soobin had been staring at him with a slightly concerned look on his face.

"Did you hear me?" Soobin asked the elder, causing Yeonjun to shake his head no in response.

"That's okay hyung, I just asked you if there were any other games that you wanted to play? Huening Kai went to the bathroom really quick so we can discuss it with him."

"Do you think they look good together?" Yeonjun asked swiftly, his eyes widening after realizing what he had just asked. He wasn't even thinking when that question just blurted out of his mouth.

Soobin tilted his head slightly in confusion, glancing over at who he assumed Yeonjun was talking about he couldn't help but keep his eyes lingering on the pair before he had to look away.

"They look good together, why?" Soobin asked him, only receiving silence as an answer. Pursing his lips slightly he could only guess one possible reason. "You shouldn't worry so much, Jun, as long as Beomgyu is happy that's all that matters right?"

The male bit the bottom of his lip and looked away, clenching his fists tightly, he couldn't help but agree.

He knew his pride was too strong to deny all of it, but he knew deep down that Beomgyu really did look good with Kang Taehyun. So turning his head towards Soobin with a small frown plastered on his face, he decided to leave the couple alone for now.

Maybe Beomgyu really didn't like Soobin romantically, and he had assumed everything.

"Yeah," He breathed out softly, the feeling of giving up slowly dreading over him. "As long as he's happy."

ʚ♡ɞ

"Welcome home Beomie! I left some cut fruits in your room so eat those up and head to bed after studying alright?"

Not even one second into the house.

"Thank you, mother," Beomgyu said softly, slipping his shoes off and looking over at his mother who just smiled proudly at him. "How long do you want me to study for?"

"Hmm, how about three hours? That's not so bad right?"

The male stared at his mother for a few seconds before realizing that he hadn't given any responses, immediately smiling to make sure it looked like he wasn't ignoring her, he nodded his head and silently went upstairs to his room, shutting the door closed when he stepped inside.

He didn't realize that time had gone by so fast, he had spent a total of three hours at the arcade with the rest of the group, stacking up on tickets and prizes — a bit of bickering here and there, but overall it was fun.

He was a bit bitter that he had somehow lost at the zombie shooting game against Taehyun, maybe it was because he had been so busy studying he never had time to play any video games.

He felt a little embarrassed.

Something he had noticed before they all had to leave was that Yeonjun had been a bit quiet near the end of the hang out, he wasn't questioning anything about the fake relationship between him and Taehyun anymore, was that a good sign?

I shouldn't assume too early, He mentally sighed to himself. Maybe right now is just the beginning, if I keep this on longer then I'm sure he'll be very convinced and then..

..Then he'll be happy..

He really wished that Yeonjun had told him he liked Soobin faster, he never realized until now how good the pair looked together.

It just upset him that he liked the same person as his best friend.

Glancing down at his desk, he noticed the plate of perfectly sorted fruits on it, he shouldn't be so distracted by his own issues when he has studying to take care of.

After recollecting himself for a few seconds, the male sat in his chair and opened a drawer that was filled with textbooks and notebooks with everything he has studied for.

Bzzt bzzt! Bzzt bzzt!

Huh?

Looking over at his phone that had suddenly gone off, his eyes widened seeing a specific contact calling him, which had never happened before.

"Kang Taehyun...?" He gasped out loud, shocked that the male had suddenly called him out of no where, usually they wouldn't even communicate outside of school or anything else because they weren't exactly close like that!

Maybe he had forgotten something?

Immediately picking his phone up, he stared at the screen for a few more seconds before nervously (why was he nervous?) picking up the phone which allowed the call to finally connect.

Pursing his lips together tightly, he stared at the screen in fear in silence, waiting to hear any sound on the other side, but all he got was the sound of shuffling and static.

Biting his bottom lip softly, he decided to smack away his nerves and be brave for once!

"K-Kang TaehYUn?" Beomgyu breathed out nervously, his voice cracking loudly from how nervous he was, it nearly made him want to just hang up and end it all for the night.

"Choi Beomgyu?" Taehyun replied almost instantly, a confused tone mixing in with shock as the male spoke, almost as if he didn't mean to call him at all. "Why did you call me?"

"What?" He tilted his head in confusion, completely taken aback by what he said. "You called me, what do you mean?"

"Huh?" It was now Taehyun's turn to question everything. "I must've accidentally clicked your contact when I tried to call Huening Kai.

If there was an award for the most embarrassed person in the world then consider Beomgyu the winner of it, he could feel the embarrassment crash down like an anvil, hitting him hard as he stared down at his book in shock.

Why did he even decide to answer?

"It doesn't matter anyways," Taehyun spoke up, probably realizing how dead silent Beomgyu was. "Did you get home safely?"

"What?" The male blurted out, once again shocked at what the male on the other line said. "What are you saying?"

"You walked home alone right?" Taehyun asked him, causing the male to hum out an agreeing sound. "Then I'm asking you right now, did you return home safely?"

"...Yes..."

"Alright."

After Taehyun said that the awkward silence from earlier began to form again, and if Beomgyu was honest he could just hang up the call right now and never talk to Taehyun again until Monday, but something inside of him; like a gut feeling, made him want to stay and talk to the male more.

He was interested on learning more about Taehyun.

"Did you enjoy your time at the arcade and the cafe? I hope nothing brushed you in the wrong way..." Beomgyu said softly, remembering how tensed it was near the beginning of the hangout with Yeonjun and them.

"It was fine, why do you worry? If you're afraid about how Huening Kai felt I can guarantee that idiot is just fine." Taehyun replied nonchalantly, the faint sound of... pencil sketching... was heard in the background as the male talked.

Beomgyu breathed out softly, happy to know what Huening Kai was fine, but Taehyun didn't exactly answer his original question.

"I-I'm glad Huening Kai is okay," Beomgyu started out softly, grabbing a pencil to work on his paper. "But I was wondering if you were okay during it...?"

"I was fine, Choi Beomgyu, you don't have to worry..." He said, causing the brunette to feel at ease. "Besides..."

"I...kinda enjoyed it."

Beomgyu's breath hitched slightly hearing how softer Taehyun's voice became. There was no trace of boredom or sarcasm when he had said that, it was like when his tone had soften slightly he could hear the pure genuine in the males voice.

It started to make him feel happy that Taehyun really did enjoy the hang out despite what had happened.

"I-I'm glad!" Beomgyu stuttered out embarrassingly, flustered by how genuine Taehyun sounds, was it because it was late at night and his emotions were heightened? "But were there any moments you didn't enjoy?"

"There's one," Taehyun said, the sound of something ruffling mixing in the background. "I hated it when that Seong-jin bitch appeared, that fucker cant just keep his goddamn fucking—"

"Okay! Okay! Kang Taehyun, calm down!" Beomgyu interrupted the male before he could diss Seong-jin even more, he never understood why the others didn't like the male that much when he's been nice! "I understand, I think, but is that really it?"

"Yeah, basically, but overall the day was good in my opinion."

Beomgyu but the bottom of his lip, just thinking about how rude Yeonjun was in the earlier stage.

"Listen, Kang Taehyun, I really wanted to apologize about Yeonjun earlier!" Beomgyu started off, carefully thinking about everything. "He isn't a rude person for no reason I swear, he's just really protective and I guess that so much has been happening he took his anger out on you which isn't okay but I'm still so sorry—"

"It's not your fault, Beomgyu."

The male instantly became silent when Taehyun had dropped the full name honorifics, something about hearing the male say his name without 'Choi' it in sent odd feelings in his stomach.

"I honestly expected it, you shouldn't worry though. I agreed to help you with whatever you needed, I knew that if I were to agree some things might have a negative impact but that doesn't matter, as long as I'm helping you out I don't care what others think and you should think that too, you know?"

Wow.

Hearing this side of Kang Taehyun felt unreal to Beomgyu.

Usually the male would always have a blank expression with the most monotone voice ever, but even without seeing the males face he could tell he was being reassuring and genuine, with every single word that came out of his mouth there wasn't even a second where a drop of sarcasm was heard.

"I..." He felt speechless, conjuring up the right words to say he cleared his throat and nodded as if the pink head was in front of him. "I-I know, thank you, I just felt- no... I was just worried about you."

"Well I'm fine, you need to stop assuming everyone's emotions."

Beomgyu just nodded again, acting like the pink head could see him. It did take him a few minutes to recollect himself and try and wash away that weird woozy feeling that was circling around in his stomach, but once he was done collecting himself he sighed softly and stared at the blank sheet of paper in front of him.

"You really suck at shooting games, Beomgyu." Taehyun suddenly spoke up, making the male gasp out offendedly.

"What do you meant I suck?! I just haven't played games in a while okay!"

"An arcade game is way different than your regular computer video games."

"How would you know that? You probably stray yourself away in your room and paint all day!"

"If that was meant to offend me then sorry to break it to you that it didn't work."

Eventually, that small little bickering between them started to turn into a series of small conversations, ones that were comfortable and interesting. Some topics containing things like what they usually did after school or what interests them, and it made Beomgyu happy knowing he got to know Taehyun a little bit more.

He didn't even realize during the whole time he hadn't even written a single thing on his paper, he was too distracted by the sound of the pink heads calming voice it made him feel dazed.

"You know," Beomgyu chuckled softly after the two of them finished talking about how bad they were at specific sports. "You don't always have to call me 'Choi Beomgyu' I-I'm pretty sure I'm older than you anyways."

"Really?" Taehyun replied softly. "Is that so, Beomgyu hyung?"

The male could feel his heart drop down to his stomach, but it wasn't in a bad type of way, it was almost like he was nearly flustered hearing Taehyun say hyung. Perhaps it was because he got so used to his full name being used by the male that suddenly hearing hyung made him flustered.

"Yeah, it's fine..." He paused for a second before smiling slightly. "Taehyun-ah."

And just like that, the two of them began to talk about other things while mentioning each others name here and there. It had gotten to the point that hours had passed with just the two of them talking, hours that Beomgyu chose to talk to Taehyun instead of studying.

He felt good about it.

The phone call lasted nearly four hours if he could remember, a conversation that he treasured in his heart, getting to finally know more about Taehyun made him feel close to the male.

Eventually, he started to slip in and out of consciousness, fighting that tingly sleepy feeling that swirled around his eyes just so he could talk to the male more who seemed like he didn't mind by how long the call was.

The call lasted a while, until he finally found himself sleeping peacefully at his desk.

Falling asleep peacefully to the calming voice that belong to none other than Kang Taehyun.

ʚ♡ɞ

"Beomgyu...?" Taehyun questioned softly after receiving silence on the other end for a while, staring down at his phone to see if it had accidentally hung up on the male but only saw that it was still going. "Are you there?"

Staying silent for a few seconds, he could suddenly hear the faint sound of... snoring?

Realizing what had happened, the male held back a small smile, he had honestly thought the male just hung up on him while he was in the middle of talking.

"Sleep well, Beomgyu." He whispered under his breath, afraid to say it loud enough to where the male on the other side could hear.

Staring at the call for a few seconds he clicked the end call button and sighed, tossing his phone across his desk he stared up at his ceiling to recollect himself at what had just happened.

"You know, if you wanted to call your boyfriend you could've just say you wanted to talk to him instead of using me as an excuse!"

The male glanced over at his bed and rolled his eyes, completely forgetting that there was an unfortunate audience in his room during that whole time.

"Go to sleep, Huening Kai." He scoffed, standing up from his chair and heading over to his closet to grab a more comfy shirt to sleep in. "You didn't hear any of that."

"Not my fault I woke up in the middle of you two being so sappy on call! But... I like that, it made me like Beomgyu even more by how nice he is without others being around him!"

Taehyun couldn't help but roll his eyes at what his best friend had said, when he had called Beomgyu earlier he did it on purpose. But he didn't expect the male to actually answer, so out of slight panic he threw his best friend under the bus to make sure nothing seemed suspicious.

He wanted to know if Beomgyu got home safely, that was all.

"You must be excited to see him on Monday, huh?" Huening Kai smiled widely, happy with how todays events turned out.

Taehyun glanced at the male and stayed silent, he didn't want to admit anything right now. He wasn't that excited to seeing Beomgyu but he was looking forward to it, but he also needed to remind himself that when time is over they'll have to expose the truth to everyone.

"I..."

Pausing for a moment, his eyes landed on the squirrel cinnamoroll plush that sat on his desk, he had somehow managed to grab it when the group was leaving but by the time he came back out, Beomgyu had already left.

So now, he had to give it to him on Monday.

Something in him felt uncomfortable when Beomgyu looked so disappointed when he didn't get the cinnamoroll, so the voice inside of his head he had never heard before encouraged him to get it.

"Taehyun?" Huening Kai called out, causing the male to snap out of his daze.

Clearing his throat, he nodded and looked away to grab the paper on his desk that he managed to sketch something out on it during the whole duration of the call.

"Yeah," He breathed out softly, staring at the drawing he had unconsciously sketched out. "I'm..."

The sketch he had unconsciously sketched out that looked too much like Beomgyu.

"I'm looking forward to see him... Monday."

ʚ♡ɞ