yuta's eyes fluttered open after a good night of sleep, the young ceo feeling refreshed and energetic first thing in the morning. and just like any other morning, his annoying bladder screamed at him that he wouldn't be able to lie in bed for long.

with a sigh, the japanese male pushed the covers away, letting the cold air tickle him as he planned on getting out of bed to go to the bathroom. but unfortunately, before he could think about standing up, yuta's eyes fell on an arm – not one of his, actually – which was wrapped around his torso.

the ceo blinked a few times, wondering if he was still in a dream before carefully turning around to see the owner of this arm. and well, this sight first thing in the morning did nothing but wonders to yuta's lovesick heart.

sicheng was fast asleep, his side of the bed completely empty as he had rolled over yuta's side, to spoon him from behind and keep their bodies pressed together all night long. and now, sicheng was still cuddled against him, spooning yuta from behind perfectly and providing warmth yuta didn't know he needed.

"you sure move around in your sleep, huh." the ceo chuckled, looking at the chinese male with adoration in his eyes.

unfortunately, yuta's bladder still was full, forcing the japanese male to remove sicheng's arm from his chest with care and slip away from the boy's heart-warming hold.

yuta then turned around, staring for a while longer at sicheng who had curled up on himself as the warmth he was holding on suddenly went missing. the ceo took this opportunity to ruffle the fake secretary's hair carefully, letting his lips curve up in a smile as his heart beat accelerated.

"how can you get even cuter with each second passing...?" yuta sighed. "i won't be able to resist your charms for much longer..."

☏

"so, tell me everything you know."

"h-huh... well..." the secretary gulped. "i-i don't know anything... like at all."

a sigh escaped the ceo's lips. "okay... this is going to be harder than i thought..."

a few days prior, jaehyun had agreed on teaching taeyong how to drive, seeing the distress in the secretary's eyes as he had unveiled his secret and admitted that he couldn't drive – perhaps was it out of pity? jaehyun had no idea. but he was sure of one thing now, he may have taken this task a bit too lightly and believed that it would be easy.

but now that he was sitting in his car, taeyong on the passenger seat with worried eyes staring at the dashboard, he couldn't help but realise that he maybe shouldn't have proposed to teach him how to drive.

just as promised, jaehyun had picked taeyong after their work day, and he had drove them to a wide parking in the suburbs that was barely used.

there, jaehyun knew taeyong would be able to drive around without doing much damage. well, that is if taeyong was even able to drive around.

"come sit in the driver's seat." jaehyun declared after a second, opening the car door and getting out of the car himself to walk to the passenger's side.

taeyong shyly did as he was told, sitting down where jaehyun previously was as the ceo plopped down on the passenger seat.

"okay, so, let's start with the pedals." jaehyun stated, slightly leaning over the centre part to have a clearer vision of where taeyong's feet were. "this is a manual car, so there are three pedals. the one of the very right is the gas pedal. basically, it's the one you press on with your right foot to accelerate. then, in the middle, you have the brake. you press it with your right foot as well, and it allows you to slow down the car." taeyong hummed, keeping his eyes on the pedals as jaehyun spoke. "and lastly, on the left is the clutch, that you have to press on with your left foot. this one is directly linked to this, which is the gear stick." jaehyun continued, leaning back slightly to pat the gear stick.

taeyong stared at the gear stick and the small drawing on top of it which indicated which gear was in which position.

"you cannot touch the gear stick without pressing on the clutch. and you will need to press the pedal to change gears and adapt the car's engine to the car's speed." jaehyun informed, looking into taeyong's eyes. "can you press the pedal for me? i'm going to show you."

the secretary nodded, looking down at the pedals and placing his left foot on the clutch, pressing it lightly. "d-do i have to go all the way?"

"yeah. press as far as possible." jaehyun approved. "and do not remove your foot until i tell you so."

"okay." taeyong obliged, pressing the pedal further before focusing back on jaehyun.

"so, now the gear lever is in the neutral position. and then, since you are pressing on the clutch, you can swich gears and get in 1st gear... 2nd gear... 3rd... 4th... 5th... and 6th." the ceo explained as taeyong's eyes followed jaehyun's veiny hand holding onto the gear stick and shifting positions skilfully. "the positions are always the same with each car, even if some only have 5 gears. so, with time, you'll be able to change them without even looking."

taeyong slowly nodded again, listening carefully to each of jaehyun's words, hoping that he didn't miss any useful information.

he was really thankful for jaehyun to help him learning how to drive. taeyong felt so useless and shameful not being able to drive a car, but thankfully, jaehyun was here to help taeyong not ridiculing himself.

the world would truly be a better place if everyone was like jaehyun; not judging, kind and open-minded. but well, it seemed like people like jaehyun were rare pearls, and now that taeyong had found one, he would need to make sure he stays by his side as much as he could, even if it meant keeping his feelings to himself for a bit longer.

"you still have your foot on the clutch?" jaehyun asked, breaking teyong off his daze.

"h-huh, yes." the boy nodded with a shy smile.

"okay, keep it a bit longer." jaehyun informed before switching back to the neutral position. "can you switch the car to 4th gear for me?"

taeyong blinked for a second before humming, reacing for the gear lever with a shaky hand before moving the gear around to place it into 4th gear as asked by jaehyun and removing his hand.

"your movements must be firm." jaehyun informed, noticing how taeyong had tried to change gears slowly. "whenever your foot presses the clutch, you lose control of the car's speed, so it's important that the change of gears happens quickly. preferably in less than a second. like this." jaehyun grabbed the gear lever and put it in 1st gear, then 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th quickly before placing it back on the neutral position. "for 1st and 2nd gears, just push the gear all the way towards the left and push for 1st and pull for 2nd. for 3rd and 4th gears, go back to the neutral position and push up for 3rd and pull down for 4th. and same for 5th and 6th gears, but on the right."

"o-okay..." taeyong hummed, his eyes still focused on the gear stick as he imagined himself switching gears with the movements jaehyun had explained to him. "so... if i want to switch to 1st gear i just..." the secretary grabbed the gear stick before pulling it to the left and pushing it up before arriving all the way to the left, causing it to be blocked on the way.

as a dedicated teacher, jaehyun looked carefully at what taeyong was doing, his eyebrows furrowing as he realised taeyong wasn't succeeding.

"you need to go further to the left before going up." he informed.

"a-ah..." taeyong tried to push the gear left again, only for it to stay stuck where it was.

seeing that, jaehyun sighed, placing his left hand over the gear stick, caging taeyong's right hand between the gear and his own hand.

taeyong's eyes widened as the contact of jaehyun's palm against his hand as his heart missed a beat. jaehyun didn't pay it much mind, slightly shaking the gear – and so, taeyong's hand – and bringing back to the neutral position before making the right movement to switch to 1st gear, showing taeyong how far to the left you needed to go before pushing up.

and if taeyong's heart was already suffering from that, jaehyun decided to make the torture last as he then switched the gear to 2nd, then 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th, taeyong's hand still locked between the gear stick and jaehyun's hand, and he then switched gears again one by one until he put the gear back in a neutral position.

"see? there's a rail under the gear, as shown on the drawing, and you need to follow its path carefully to switch to each gear." jaehyun voiced out, slowly removing his hand from taeyong's shaky one. "does it make more sense?"

"y-yes..." the secretary stuttered; his heart still utterly flustered after the move jaehyun had just pulled. seriously, his heart wouldn't be able to survive if jaehyun kept doing things like this...

"great." he nodded. "now, go to 5th." the ceo ordered, his eyes focused on taeyong's hand on the gear stick.

the secretary obliged, trying to remember the way jaehyun's hand had guided hi to 5th gear a while ago and executing it perfectly, heaving out a small sigh as he realised that he had succeeded.

"now, 3rd gear." jaehyun ordered, to which taeyong switched gears, his eyes following the gear's path until it had reached the 3rd position.

jaehyun made taeyong switch gears a few more times, making sure that he always moved the lever around in the right way. and once he was satisfied with the way taeyong changed gears, he flashed the secretary a quick smile.

"okay, now, 3rd gear, but without looking." jaehyun ordered, making taeyong frown and immediately look down by reflex. however, expecting this from him, jaehyun's hand reached for taeyong's chin, pushing it up so that their faces were at the same level, their eyes staring into each other's. "i said without looking." the ceo spoke in a deep voice that sent shivers all the way down taeyong's spine and that made his hand tense on the gear stick.

"y-yeah, s-sorry..." the secretary mumbled, his cheeks reddening at their proximity and at the feeling of jaehyun's delicate hand on his chin.

and so, without looking down, taeyong moved the gear lever around, following the path of the rail until he reached the position he remembered being the 3rd one.

jaehyun looked down, keeping his face at the same level as taeyong's and keeping his chin in his palm.

"now... 6th gear." jaehyun spoke again, looking back into taeyong's glistening orbs.

taeyong gulped, thinking for a second before moving the lever around and positioning it in the 6th position, which jaehyun verified right after.

the air in the car was thick as jaehyun made taeyogn switch gears without looking down, the ceo's touch on taeyong's skin somewhat burning him and making his insides all jittery. the proximity of their faces didn't help, and taeyong had to control his breathing hard not to end up panting, because damn, how hotter could jaehyun be? this did nothing to help taeyong's massive crush on the ceo.

"i'm impressed." jaehyun spoke after repeating the exercise a dozen times. "you did very well." he nodded, finally letting go of taeyong's chin and allowing the korean secretary to breathe normally again.

"t-thank you..." taeyong replied cheeks flushed as he wiped his sweaty hand on his trousers.

"you can finally remove your foot from the clutch." jaehyun informed, making taeyong nod. he had almost forgotten that he had been pressing the pedal all this time. that's how distracted he was whenever jaehyun was around.

the car fell in a short silence, taeyong waiting expectantly for jaehyun to give him something else to do or to teach him something more. however, the ceo seemed to have received a text message as he was now frowning at his phone while reading something.

after a few seconds, he switched his phone off, putting it in the compartment of the car's door before facing taeyong again.

and before jaehyun could start speaking, the secretary judged this to be the right moment to ask a question that had been on his mind since the beginning of the lesson.

"when did you learn to drive?" taeyong asked, tilting his head to the side.

"why this question?" jaehyun chuckled, not expecting the secretary to ask him that.

"well... you seem to know lots of things about cars..."

"i'm a ceo of the automobile sector. of course, i know a lot about them." jaehyun replied simply, to which taeyong couldn't argue.

"and... you seem to be very at ease... you even asked if i'd like to learn from you." taeyong continued. "so, you must have started learning long time ago..."

jaehyun didn't answer for a few seconds, simply looking at the male sitting on the driver's seat before he finally decided to talk.

"my father taught me after i turned 16." he explained. "he said it was important for me to know how to drive, and that i couldn't wait until i was legal to start taking lessons."

"oh..." taeyong nodded.

"so, i drove with my father in the countryside from my 16 years old. and when i was 18, i passed the driving test and i had my license. and i've been driving ever since." jaehyun continued, his eyes travelling across the dashboard as he told his life to the secretary in front of him.

"and have you been liking it?" taeyong questioned. "driving, i mean."

"yes, of course." jaehyun nodded. "driving helps me relieve my stress, and the sound of the engine as you push it to higher speed is just divine... maybe the most beautiful sound to ever exist."

taeyong smiled sincerely as he noticed the way jaehyun's lips had curved up at the mention of driving. he did like driving a lot, and it made him happy, taeyong could see that very clearly.

this was surely the reason why he had agreed to teach taeyong; to share his passion with someone. but unfortunately, taeyong would never be passionate about driving or cars, so he would never be able to understand what had jaehyun so happy.

"what about you?" jaehyun questioned, surprising taeyong.

usually, when it was the two of them, taeyong was the one to ask questions. jaehyun would always be a bit defiant at first, and then he would start answering them with more sincerity, but he was rarely – almost never – the one to ask a question to taeyong.

"m-me?" the secretary frowned.

"why don't you have a driving license?" jaehyun asked. "is it that you failed the test? or you didn't pass it at all?"

"well..." taeyong's cheeks flushed in embarrassment. "i wouldn't be asking you to teach me everything from the way to change gears if i had failed the test..."

jaehyun nodded, a chuckled slipping past his lips as he realised how stupid his question was. "yeah, right. my bad." he let out. "so, why did you never take driving lessons?"

"i just wasn't that interested in driving." taeyong shrugged. "i could go everywhere by foot or by bus where i lived, so i didn't feel the need to learn how to drive." he explained. "and as i grew up, i just always found alternatives. i've always managed to live without a car, so there was no need for me to learn how to drive."

jaehyun nodded, understanding taeyong's point of view despite it not being imaginable for him. his car was his happy place, and he couldn't imagine what life would be if he didn't have the possibility to just drive away from his problems to relieve his stress.

"and so..." jaehyun diverted his eyes to look at taeyong. "what made you agree to my teaching proposition then?" he asked, genuinely wondering why taeyong would want a car now.

and well, taeyong kept his mouth shut for a while, thinking deep in fear to blurt out something that would end up embarrassing him.

an honest answer to jaehyun's question would be 'your pretty face', because yes, the sole thought of spending more time in jaehyun's company was enough to make taeyong do stuff he had no interest doing. the power of love, apparently.

but well, taeyong couldn't just say that. so, well... he improvised.

"w-well... everyone has a car now and... and yuta has been asking me if i want a nakamotors car or not, and i'm not sure i'll be able to keep saying no for long so... yeah, might as well learn how to drive...?" he blabbered, his words barely making sense as much as he tried sounding convincing. but it seemed like jaehyun had seen right trhough him, as always.

"you're quite something..." the ceo laughed loudly, his eyes closing out of instinct. "all of that not to say that you wanted to spend more time with me..."

taeyong's cheeks flushed red instantly, the secretary feeling completely busted by the ceo. he was even wondering how the ceo could have guessed that. was taeyong this readable? or had jaehyun just wanted to sound funny and make it seem like taeyong wanted to see him more when in fact the thought hadn't crossed his mind?

gosh, why was liking someone so complicated?!

"n-no!" the secretary immediately protested, eyes wide and cheeks rivalling tomatoes.

"so, this means you don't want to spend more time with me?" jaehyun then stopped laughing, looking at taeyong with a brow raised and a frown.

and here was taeyong, starting to panic again...

"o-oh god, no, this is not what i meant!" the secretary let out, his cheeks becoming even redder if possible. "i-i do want to spend t-time with you, is-swear, but- "

"it's okay, calm down." jaehyun started chuckling, placing a comforting hand on taeyong's thigh as the secretary was starting to go in full panic mode. "i was just joking. didn't expect you to take it so seriously." he added with a small smile.

taeyong stared at him for a second before using his hand to hit the ceo's shoulder as a punishment for making his heart jump so many times inside his chest in such a short amout of time.

the action only made jaehyun laugh harder and make fun of a pouty taeyong who had crossed his arms over his chest and was now pretending like he was ignoring jaehyun's existence.

"come on, don't pout like that..." he let out with a smile. "i know it wasn't funny, i'm sorry."

"no, i'm mad." taeyong simply answered, showing jaehyun more of his back to show him that he was really mad – when in fact he was just embarrassed.

"i'm sorry..." jaehyun whined. "what can i do for you not to be mad at me?"

"nothing." taeyong shook his head, still showing his back to the ceo.

jaehyun didn't answer immediately, taking a few seconds to stare at the secretary's back and realise how smiley he currently was. and this was all taeyong's fault, the secretary was always so effortlessly cute and charming; jaehyun couldn't help but feel the urge to tease him when he reacted so intensely to jaehyun's teasing.

and sure, the ceo still had in a corner of his mind his plan to reach yuta's business through taeyong, but in this exact moment, as he had taught him a few things about driving and as they just had shared a heart-felt conversation, he slowly pushed those thoughts away, simply enjoying the moment and smiling sincerely at his rival's secretary.

☏

"you're awfully silent today." yuta pointed out, diverting his eyes to the chinese male by his side who didn't seem very talkative today.

his and yuta's usual bickering had ceased, and the fake-secretary seemed to be in a daze each time yuta tried to tease him, causing him not to have anything to answer the japanese male's 'attacks'.

"are you still tired?" the ceo questioned, raising a teasing brow before snorting. "but i remember you falling asleep before the end of the first episode of wheeler dealers and waking up way after me..." yuta continued. "mmh? what do you have to say, sleeping beauty?"

sicheng's cheeks flushed slightly as yuta called him like the princess. "i was tired." he fought back simply, not adding a snarky remark like he usually did – which didn't mean he didn't think about it, of course, he did, it was his personality after all; to speak what he thought honestly, whatever the harshness of the truth.

yuta had mentioned the show they had watched together the night before on purpose, hoping that sicheng would find a way to diss him for liking such a boring show. he had even called him like a princess, expecting a comeback from the chinese male.

but nothing. sicheng didn't even bulge. his face reddened and he gave yuta a simple and logical answer. that was all.

"is everything alright?" yuta asked after a small silence, looking at the chinese male worriedly.

"yes, of course." sicheng nodded. "why?"

"well... you seem distracted." yuta explained. "and you're not acting like usual."

sicheng his his slight panic behind a frown, making it seem like he was clueless. "what does that mean?"

"well, you usually bicker on everything i would say. and you never let me tease you without teasing me back." yuta explained, thinking about those first encounters they had when sicheng had spat harsh truths to his face without a care in the world. "but you haven't been doing it since this morning. and i tried to trigger you, but it didn't work."

sicheng blinked a few times, processing yuta's words. truth to be told, he used to spit harsh truths to his face when he still believe yuta was a cocky ceo who had inherited of his business like a spoiled brat who had just been born in the right family. but after yesterday's conversation, he had slowly realised that yuta had worked his ass off to be where he as today, and that tackling him when he had worked so hard wasn't the best thing to do.

if anything, yuta deserved praises and admiration for succeeding. and so, who was sicheng to lower him constantly with his snarky remarks. he surely heard thousands of them every day in his work environment, he surely didn't want to hear them in his free time as he was hanging out with sicheng as well.

and now what? sicheng just learnt that yuta had been trying to make sicheng diss him all morning when the chinese male had had to hold himself from voicing out his teasing back.

"d-don't you find it annoying?" the chinese male asked curiously.

"what?" yuta frowned.

"like... the fact that i keep responding to everything you say and belittling you whenever i get the chance?" sicheng explained. "doesn't it bother you?"

"why would it bother me?" yuta tilted his head to the side.

"well... because you worked so hard to be respected in a harsh society and yet, i diss your every move." sicheng continued, flashes of all those times he dissed yuta coming back to his mind and sickening him now that he had the whole picture of yuta's story.

"and what if? that's the reason i like you."

thank god sicheng was too distracted by his invasive thoughts to hear what yuta had just said, because otherwise, he would already be in an hospital with electrodes all over his body to help down calm his erratic heart.

"i must have made you feel so bad... i'm really sorry about it..." sicheng pouted, tears slowly forming in his eyes as he realised how awful it must have been for yuta to hear sicheng's constant nagging.

"oh god, sicheng, hey, what's happening?" yuta gasped, facing the chinese male and cupping his face, preventing the male from looking down. "don't cry, sicheng... there's nothing to be sad about..."

"i-i'm so sorry..." sicheng sniffed, a tear escaping his eyes. "i-i'm so mean with you, and you don't deserve it..."

"don't say sorry, you're not mean." yuta replied immediately. "you enjoy teasing me, and i enjoy it as well, so it's perfectly fine."

more tears rolled down sicheng's cheeks, yuta wiping them away with his thumbs. "but you'll probably find this annoying and feel bad after."

"i don't. not at all." yuta stated, sure of himself. "i promise it doesn't make me feel bad. if anything, it makes me laugh and smile. i like it when you tease me, it makes me want to tease you even more." he continued, looking fondly at the chinese male. "actually, i sometimes say things hoping that you'll diss me on them. your comebacks are so entertaining and funny to me that i'd never get annoyed or feel bad because of them."

sicheng's tears calmed down, falling less frequently s yuta's words helped him not feeling so bad. he never expected the conversation to take such an unexpected turn, but the way his heart felt so fluttery right now made sicheng realise that it was perhaps worth it to break down right now. actually, it could be worth it to break down again later if it means yuta could stare at him so intensely and make his heart beat so fast at the way he was so caring and gentle for him...

"so, from now on, no more holding back, okay?" yuta questioned, smiling sincerely. "tackle me, spit harsh truths to my face, diss me, belittle me... do anything you want sicheng, i like it so much when you do it..." he said, eyes staring deep into sicheng's soul and making the chinese male's heart miss a beat.

sicheng sniffed, letting yuta's thumb wipe another tear away. "d-do you have a degradation kink or what?"he huffed at yuta's words, a small smile appearing on his face.

this very sentence was the holy grail for yuta who finally had found his sicheng back. the male who spoke out without a care in the world, saying what was on his mind in all honesty without caring about the dramatic consequences his words could have.

oh god, how much he loved this sicheng...

"well..." yuta chuckled. "i wasn't aware of it until now, but apparently." he added with a shrug, making sicheng laugh lightly as well.

"you're silly..." the chinese male shook his head, his cheeks red because of yuta's response.

"so, everything okay now?" yuta asked. "you will go back to speaking back and teasing me?"

"well, if that's what makes you happy, i guess i can do it." sicheng nodded, a smile decorating his face as he looked back into yuta's eyes.

"ah..." yuta let out, removing his hands from around sicheng's cheeks to start walking again by sicheng's side across the streets of tokyo. "...you're so cute." he mumbled, flashing sicheng a last smile before making his way across the street, sicheng a few steps behind him with red cheeks.

sure, hearing yuta saying that he was cute did really make him flustered and all jittery on the inside, but this wasn't what had caused his cheeks to flush red so bright.

instead, this very sentence that yuta has just pronounced had made sicheng remember what he had heard this morning, as yuta was getting out of bed, thinking sicheng was still fast asleep.

how can you get even cuter with each second passing...? i won't be able to resist your charms for much longer...

and well, as the remembrance of these words made sicheng's heart do summersaults in his chest, the chinese male couldn't help but speak out almost the same words for yuta in his native language.

"how can you get even more caring with each second passing...?" he sighed; a hand placed over his chest to prevent his heart from bursting out of it. "i won't be able to resist your charms for much longer either..."