Two Weeks After Taeyong’s Confession

Johnny looked towards his right side, then the left, he looked behind him, and then ahead. The coast was clear which meant now was the perfect time for him and the others to discuss their plan; the plan that would save Taeyong from a lot more heartache. He leaned in close and was about to begin speaking before remembering he hadn’t checked underneath the table. Johnny lifted up the tablecloth and looked underneath.

Yuta leaned back on his chair, crossed his arms over his chest, and rolled his eyes before letting out an annoyed sigh, “It’s your own freaking house Johnny,” he finally said out loud, “Who would spy on us here?”

Surprised by Yuta’s sudden outburst, Johnny hit his head on the table as he came up from checking to make sure nobody was under there, “Oww!” he let out a loud cry of pain before turning to face Yuta, “You never know who could be watching, we need to be careful!”

“It’s. Your. House.” Yuta said once again, very slowly, “Nobody is watching us here, I can promise you that.”

“Fine, fine” Johnny finally gave in, not wanting to argue with Yuta, “Let’s just begin this meeting. Starting today operation: ‘get Taeyong to stop crushing on Ten and start crushing on someone else who will actually appreciate him because Ten is a jerk who doesn’t know perfection when sees it’ will be put into action!”

Yuta really was trying to avoid arguments, but he couldn’t help it when his savage ways came out, especially with friends like his. So, with the dullest of voices and an emotionless expression on his face he stated, “That’s the stupidest operation name I have ever heard in my entire life.”

Johnny took a deep breath and fought hard to keep calm, “Well Yuta,” he began, “thank you so much for your valuable opinion but I happen to think the name I came up with for this operation is perfect.” He flashed Yuta the fakest of smiles before turning towards Jaehyun, “Don’t you agree?” he asked.

“Well,” Jaehyun started, “I think it’s a bit too lengthy and-”

Before he could finish speaking, Johnny cut him off, “Okay. Be quiet, no one cares what you think.” He looked at Hansol and sent him a pleading look before asking, “What do you think Hansol?”

Hansol looked around at the others and nervously began to speak, “I think that we should stay out of it,” he said softly. “Even though Ten continues to reject him, Taeyong looks really happy when he’s with him. We should be supportive and if he needs us, then we’ll be there.”

For a while all of the boys looked at Hansol with, what he thought, were understanding eyes. After a few seconds, Yuta finally broke the silence, “Oh come on Hansol!” he began, “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard! Even stupider than Johnny’s operation name.”

“Hansol, I love you, really. And I know it’s your personality to be sweet, caring, and supportive but even this is too much for you,” Johnny stated. “I mean, Ten is being such a jerk to Taeyong.”

“B-But-” Hansol tried to defend himself but Jaehyun cut him off before he could.

“No buts,” he looked straight at Hansol and shook his head, “Friends protect each other, look out for each other. Taeyong is always there for us when we need him. We need to prevent him from being heartbroken, we can’t just watch it happen and pretend it’s all okay.”

“So are you in or aren’t you?” Johnny asked Hansol. The other looked around the table, at all of his friends, before letting out a sigh and nodding slowly, “I’m in.”

“Yes!” Johnny celebrated before turning serious again, “So operation: ‘get Taeyong to stop crushing on Ten and start crushing on someone else who will actually appreciate him because Ten is a jerk who doesn’t know perfection when sees it’ is officially ready to commence.”

“That’s still a stupid name,” Yuta mumbled to himself, Johnny heard but ignored it and began discussing how the plan would go down

Ten still wasn’t in love with Taeyong. And they weren’t even considered friends yet. But, he talked to Taeyong a lot more than he used to in the past, and sometimes, if he was lucky, Ten would even flash him his perfect smile. The beautiful smile that successfully managed to make Taeyong’s heart skip a beat every time he saw it. Johnny, Jaehyun, and Yuta saw these small actions as nothing, but Taeyong saw these things as progress (and luckily he had the support of Hansol). Sure, it may take a little longer than expected, but he was determined to make Ten fall for him.

They were currently sitting in the lunch room together. Taeyong was asking Ten a few random questions as the latter played a game on his cell phone and answered. Their conversations weren’t deep or extremely meaningful but, Taeyong still like to know these random facts about Ten. So far, he had learned that Ten’s favorite season was summer, he preferred to write with black ink, he loved to dance and could play the guitar, and his favorite dessert is chocolate pudding.

“Lunch will be over soon,” Ten said as he suddenly put down his phone and began packing up his things, “I better get going.” He stood up to leave but Taeyong grabbed his arm before he could, “Can I walk you to class today?” he asked, expecting the other to say no, like he usually did. However, Taeyong was surprised when Ten nodded once and waited patiently for him to gather his own things.

“Ready!” Taeyong had the biggest smile on his face as ha walked out of the cafeteria besides Ten. He was happy, because there was more progress today. Ten had answered his silly questions and was letting him walk him to class. Everything was working out great and that made Taeyong feel like luck was on his side.

It was a surprise to both of them when a pretty girl suddenly came up to them and stood in their way. Her hands were shaky, she was looking down at the floor, avoiding all eye contact, and when she spoke, her voice was soft and she sounded nervous, “T-Taeyong.”

She forced herself to look up at said male and flashed him a pretty smile as she handed him a folded up note. He reached out, took it and smiled kindly, “Thanks.” It was no shock to Taeyong he was used to receiving love confessions on the daily, he turned to look at Ten, “Lets go.”

He began to leave but stopped when the pretty girl grabbed his arm and stopped him, “W-Wait.” She nervously chewed on her lower lip before speaking again, “I-I like you,” she said bravely, “Please, will you go out with me?”

Ten took a step back and turned to leave, he didn’t want anyone to see his true emotions. He let out a sigh when he noticed a small crowd gathered around them. He tried pushing his way through the sea of people, but it was impossible, no one would let him pass through. Ten looked back towards Taeyong, meeting said boy’s eyes with his own before quickly looking down.

Taeyong turned to look at the girl and took her hand in his before handing her back the note, “I’m sorry… but I already like somebody else.” He flashed Ten a small smile, “But I’m sure you’ll find someone else. Trust me.” He gave the girl an apologetic look before walking over to Ten and whispering, “Don’t worry, I’m still in love with you.”

Ten rolled his eyes, “Whatever,” he mumbled as he finally managed to push his way through the crowd. Secretly, though, he was kind of happy.

Yuta smacked the back of Johnny’s head with a bunch of rolled up papers, “Nice going you idiot!” He said as he took a seat in the chair in front of Johnny, “You made the poor girl cry and then I had to be the one to comfort her because you ditched me.” Yuta let out an annoyed sigh before turning to look at Jaehyun, “And you! I thought you said for sure Taeyong wouldn’t reject her.”

“Well she’s the most popular girl here!” Jaehyun said as he approached them slowly, not wanting to get hit by Yuta, “I thought for sure he’d say yes… plus she was the only one brave enough to do it.”

“We should have just stayed out of it,” Hansol quietly said as he worked on some math problems, “We just put Taeyong in an awkward position and made that girl cry in front of a crowd of people.”

“No!” Johnny said as he recovered from the hit on the head. Who knew paper could hurt so much? “It didn’t work because it wasn’t the right person, but I know someone who Taeyong won’t be able to reject.”

“Who is it?” Jaehyun asked as he too a seat besides him, still avoiding Yuta.

Johnny leaned in close, before pointing at Hansol, who was focusing on the math problems in front of him. Not at all paying attention to any of his friends or their stupid ideas.

“Hansol?!” Yuta and Jaehyun both yelled at the same time.

The boy looked away from his homework and turned to look at his friends, “What?” he asked with an unknowing look on his face. He had no idea what was happening, but by the creepy smile on Johnny’s face, he had a feeling he wasn’t going to like it, “What’s going on?” he asked once again.

“Hansol?” Yuta asked as he looked away from said male and towards Johnny, “Are you crazy?” he asked, “Or just plain stupid?

“I know, it sounds crazy but hear me out you guys,” Johnny leaned in close and spoke in a hush whisper, they were still in school, so he wanted to be sure no one would hear his plan. “Okay, so Hansol and Taeyong don’t seem like they would make a good pair but… you guys know how he is. Taeyong cares about all of us a lot, if he thinks that Hansol is deeply in love with him, Taeyong will give him a chance, only to avoid hurting Hansol.”

“Okay, but I’m not in love with Taeyong,” Hansol states calmly as he looks at Yuta and Jaehyun for support, “This idea is crazy, right guys?”

Jaehyun gives Hansol a nod and then turns to look back at Johnny, “I agree with Hansol on this one,” he said, “And besides, why would you put Hansol through that when you know he’s not completely on board with this crazy plan.”

“Yeah and what would happen later on?” Hansol asked, “I’d have to break up with him eventually, and that would ruin our friendship.”

“Fine, if not Hansol then Jaehyun you do it,” Johnny said as he turned away from Hansol to his other friend.

Jaehyun quickly shook his head, “No! You do it. I don’t wanna have to find new friends.” He said. “Besides, I’m not Taeyong’s type… or am I?” he asked himself.

Yuta rolled his eyes, “How about we just come up with another plan Johnny, this one is pretty stupid.”

“This is the only way for operation: ‘get Taeyong to stop crushing on Ten and start crushing on someone else who will actually appreciate him because Ten is a jerk who doesn’t know perfection when sees it’” Johnny took a huge breath before continuing, “to work.” He leaned back on his chair, “Trust me guys, this will work so someone has to do it.”

Hansol, Jaehyun, and Johnny looked around at each other while Yuta just sat there, looking through his phone, uninterested in the conversation. He didn’t notice when three pair of eyes landed on him, his friends sending each other knowing smiles.

“Yuta!” They all mouthed at the same time, making sure the other wouldn’t hear. Yuta was perfect because if he asked Taeyong out no friendships would be ruined. Taeyong would probably say yes, because he cared for Yuta a lot. But, then he would realize he and Yuta don’t belong together, break it to him gently, and they would go back to being friends… and maybe by then, Taeyong would have forgotten about his crush on Ten.

“Who’s gonna tell him?” Jaehyun asked in a hushed whisper, “Cause I’m not gonna do it.”

“Don’t look at me,” Hansol said as he went back to working on some math problems.

Johnny let out a sigh and rolled his eyes, “Well I guess I’m the only one brave enough,” he said before turning to look at Yuta, “Hey Yuta,” he began. “Don’t you think Taeyong is kind of attractive… he’s a pretty good catch, isn’t he?”

“No.” Yuta stated without looking up from his cell phone.

“But… if you had to, I don’t know, date someone from our group of friends, wouldn’t it be him?” Johnny asked.

“No. If I had to, I would date Hansol because he’s less annoying than the rest of you.”

“Thank you?” Hansol said, unsure if he should take Yuta’s statement as a compliment.

“Yuta, you’re going to pretend to be in love with Taeyong to save him from getting his heartbroken by Ten, and that’s final!” Johnny tried to say bravely.

Yuta looked up at his friend, “No.

“I can’t believe you’re making me do this!” Yuta said in a loud whisper while looking at the third table from his left where Taeyong was sitting next to Ten with the biggest smile on his handsome face. He turned to look back at his friends, “You know, I’m starting to agree with Hansol. Maybe we should just let the boy chase after Ten and be there when he needs us.”

“You’re just saying that because you don’t want to date Taeyong,” Johnny whispered, “It’ll only be a few weeks, five months at the most.”

“Five months!” Yuta yelled, all eyes in the cafeteria turning to look at him, “I refuse to do it. I can’t pretend to be in love with that idiot for five freaking months. He’s my friend, and I love him, I do, but not in that way.”

“You have to do it Yuta,” Johnny whispered, “Or I will leak your to the entire school, you know I I’ll do it.”

“Remind me not to change in the locker room again when this guy is there,” Yuta said while motioning towards Johnny who was sitting there with the proudest smile on his face.

“Just get it over with Yuta,” Jaehyun said with a smile, “I actually kinda wanna see this.”

Yuta glared at his friends as he stood up from the table, “I hate you guys.” Without another word, he turned and began walking towards Taeyong all while taking a deep breath. He was so angry at Johnny for making him do this. Yuta didn’t show it, but he loved all his friends very much, and he didn’t want this to make things awkward between them. It would to lose those idiots as friend because of this silly plan to get Taeyong to stop crushing on Ten.

As he got closer to their table, Yuta noticed Taeyong and Ten laughing at something together. He unconsciously smiled, they actually looked pretty cute together. Of course, Yuta would never ever admit that, but he sort of felt bad now for being part of this whole plan. Maybe Hansol really had been right. They should have supported Taeyong, been there for him, encouraged him, and in the end, if his heart were broken, comfort him.

He stopped in front of the table where the two sat and was silent. Taeyong looked up at him with a smile, “Hey Yuta. What’s up?” he asked.

Yuta looked over at Johnny and took a deep breath. ‘Stupid Johnny!’ he thought before turning back to look at Ten, then Taeyong.

“We’re…” Yuta stopped, unsure of what to say.  “We’re…” he started again but stopped. “Lee Taeyong you’re taking me on  a date, tonight, and that’s final,” he didn’t even stay to see his friend’s reaction, he just turned and left the cafeteria while mentally losing it.

“Wow,” Ten was the first to break the silence a few minutes after Yuta walked away, “I guess you have a date tonight, huh?”

Taeyong was still trying to reel in from the shock. If it had been Johnny, Jaehyun, or even Hansol, he might have thought this were a joke… but Yuta. His friend Yuta? Savage Yuta? The boy who almost never cracked a smile and was always so serious? That Yuta had just demanded that he, Lee Taeyong, take him out tonight?

He slowly looked over at Ten and shook his head, “No… I-I’m sure he was just kidding,” he let out a small laugh and turned back to his food, eating it slowly.

For the rest of their lunch period, Taeyong and Ten ate in complete silence. Ten occasionally looked over at the boy next to him, admiring his handsome features. He really was a good catch, everyone around him certainly seemed to think so. Everyone at school wanted him, in the past two days, Ten had witnessed for himself just how popular Taeyong was around here. So many people wished they could be in Ten’s position, they wished Taeyong would love them. Ten felt lucky, he did, but just because his heart was telling him to go for it, didn’t mean he should. After all, he already had someone. Someone who his parents had specifically picked for him, and he couldn’t go against their wishes.

“You should go out with your friend,” Ten suddenly said, “I mean, he looked pretty serious to me. Why not give it a shot?” he asked.

Taeyong put down his spoon and looked at Ten, “I love you, that’s why.” He let out a loud sigh, “I know you, and my friends, and everyone else thinks it’s just a crush… but it’s really not Ten. From the first day I saw, I swear, I fell for you.”

Ten let out an annoyed sigh, “Well I don’t love you Taeyong,” he stated, “And frankly, your presence is starting to annoy me. I don’t care if you go out with Yuta, or if you go out with someone else, but please, stop bugging me.”

He gathered his things to leave. Taeyong grabbed his arm and pulled him back down as he stood, “You don’t like me?” he asked, “No even a little?”

Ten shook his head, “I don’t.”

“And… if I went out with Yuta,” Taeyong paused before continuing, “You wouldn’t care.”

“He knows you better than I do. He’s a better fit for you. Just forget about me. Forget that something will happen between us,” Ten replied.

“You didn’t answer my question,” Taeyong said, “If I went out with Yuta… you honestly wouldn’t care?” he asked once again.

Ten looked straight a Taeyong and shook his head firmly, “N-No, I wouldn’t care.” Without another word, Ten stood up and walked out of the cafeteria, never once looking back at Taeyong.

THIS CHAPTER TOTALLY ! I’m sorry guys, I honestly don’t know what I wrote. I thought about erasing it and starting over but I haven’t posted in such a =long time so I just kept it. I don’t want Taeyong and Ten to get together too soon and so easily so I tried to add some “drama” but it just turned into this MESS. Also, sorry for the lack of TaeTen in this chapter but a lot of the drama is going to stem from Taeyong’s friends and their disapproval towards Ten so this chapter was filled with Johnny, Hansol, Yuta, and Jaehyun. Anyways, thanks so much for the really nice comments on my last chapter, and for subscribing (I wouldn’t blame you if you unsubscribed though. Especially after this chapter). If you actually read this awful chapter, thanks and sorry. I’m gonna go try and write a better chapter for next time. Bye!