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“Uh, we’re not meant to be here…”

“It’s fine, Youngjae, don’t be such a child,” Himchan snorted, knowing that was just the thing to say to the omega. Growing up, Youngjae had always been younger than everyone around him, and was always pretty defensive of his age. As Himchan expected, Youngjae swallowed and followed them nervously. Would Yongguk fire him if he got arrested for trespassing?

Backstage was dark and crowded, with organizers and staff running around to wrap up the concert. Youngjae felt himself freak out when no one spared them a second glance – they were going to get into even more trouble when they were caught.

He grasped his lightstick tightly in his hands and trudged after the two.

Jongup turned around a corner and pushed a door open, and Youngjae began panicking – there was a difference between wandering backstage and purposely going inside a room and –

Oh god – was that DAE?

His idol was standing in front of a vanity and sipping from a water bottle when the three men walked in. Youngjae tried not to focus on the sweat dripping down his neck as his head was tipped back, or how his Adam’s apple moved as he swallowed. Daehyun stopped drinking and grinned at the sight of them.

Youngjae’s mouth went dry.

“Jongup! Himchan-hyung!” the singer set his bottle down and came over, chuckling. “I would hug you but I’m really gross right now. Who’s this?” He asked, smiling brightly at Youngjae, who gripped the hem of his DAE sweater in embarrassment. His mouth opened and closed like a fish as he choked on the air and tried to register what was happening. Himchan and Jongup were DAE’s friends, DAE was their friend, DAE was right in front of him…

He probably looked like the dumbest person right now, stuttering for words in front of his idol.

“This is Youngjae,” Himchan saved him, slinging an arm around his shoulder. Youngjae wasn’t sure whether to give Himchan a grateful smile or a betrayed glare. He settled for a helpless nod.

Daehyun’s eyes immediately lit up in recognition, “Ah, you’re the person who got the first ticket!” Again, Youngjae nodded silently, not trusting his mouth at all. At this rate, Daehyun would think he couldn’t talk – but that was still infinitely better than Youngjae speaking and screwing up. As if he could read his mind, Daehyun tilted his head and asked a question that Youngjae couldn’t avoid. “Did you enjoy the show?”

Himchan pinched his arm and Youngjae nodded again. “It was amazing, Daehyun-ssi –” Was he even allowed to call him that? No one batted an eye, so he continued, “– I’ve been a fan of your music for a long time.”

Daehyun’s smile, something he’d only seen in photos, was breathtaking. If Youngjae ever met his company’s photographer, he would hit him for not being able to capture such beauty adequately.

“Do you have to stay here for much longer? We should go out for dinner, it’s late,” Jongup said, and Daehyun nodded his agreement.

It was almost ten; Youngjae hadn’t even noticed that he was starving since he was having so much fun at the concert. He forced a smile on his face – he could handle dinner with Daehyun. All he would have to do was stay quiet until the food came, and then he could stuff himself while staring at the handsome singer (who would also be stuffing himself with food, and thus would not notice). It was a great plan. Youngjae couldn’t wait until it was over so he could kill Kim Himchan.

He had to get through a car ride first, though.

Jongup had reservations for one of the most expensive restaurants in the city – Himchan had assured that he wouldn’t have to pay – but much to the secretary’s misfortune, it was half an hour away.

Added onto Youngjae’s bad luck, Daehyun decided to carpool with them. Apparently, his manager had picked him up from his apartment to the venue, so he had no way of getting to the restaurant himself, even if he wanted to. But he didn’t want to; Youngjae hadn’t known before that Jongup and Daehyun were such close friends, but once they started talking, they didn’t stop.

It wouldn’t have been so bad, if Jongup was in the back with Daehyun. But no, since Himchan was driving, Jongup had to be in the passenger’s seat, so the bodyguard could keep a closer eye on him. Youngjae didn’t believe that for one second; Jongup always sat at the back with Junhong when they were driving to university. Himchan was just trying to make his life harder by forcing him to sit with his idol.

At least Daehyun seemed quite nice to Youngjae. He was pretty much ignoring the secretary, which was fine by him.

Once Daehyun and Jongup started arguing about a mistake Daehyun made in one of his dance performances, Youngjae couldn’t help but smile at their liveliness. They really acted like children. Daehyun’s quick eyes caught onto his smile and he immediately asked the secretary, “It wasn’t that noticeable, right?”

“Truthfully?” Youngjae hid his laughter, “It kind of was. You were doing a completely different move to the other dancers.” Daehyun stared at him before cracking a grin of his own.

“Okay, so maybe it was obvious, but the dance for that song is hard, okay,” he defended, and Jongup smirked.

“Junhong and I could do that dance in our sleep,” the young alpha snickered. Youngjae hadn’t actually seen Jongup dance, but he was following Junhong’s Instagram account, and that boy was good. Jongup was probably just as talented.

Youngjae blurted, “Aren’t you guys dancers though? If you really wanted to mock Daehyun, maybe you should try his high notes first.”

Jongup shrugged, admitting defeat, and Himchan hid his smile, continuing to drive.

Daehyun nodded in agreement, “Exactly! Do you sing, Youngjae?” he asked excitedly, and the omega immediately shook his head.

“No. Nope. Definitely not. No.”

“Usually people who deny it that passionately are hiding talent,” Daehyun teased and asked Himchan, “Is he any good?”

“He ,” Himchan said, staring at them through the rearview mirror. Youngjae sighed in relief, only for the bodyguard to continue. “He won the high school talent show for three years in a row, which totally bummed everyone else out. He also played the lead for the school musical in his last year.” Youngjae glared at the man through the mirror, silently threatening him death if he continued.

“It was Sleeping Beauty.” Himchan’s lips twitched, “Youngjae made the cutest Prince Philip. Red cape and everything. A few entertainment companies came to see that performance, actually. They all tried to scout him but he shut them down.”

That settled it. Youngjae was going to murder.

“I knew it!” Daehyun grinned. “You should sing something for me.”

Youngjae shook his head stubbornly.

“Oh, come on, you sang in front of your high school, so I know you don’t have stage fright or anything.” Daehyun complained, pressing closer to the secretary. That wasn’t a fair assumption; Youngjae didn’t exactly perform in front of the school because he wanted to. His moms were just very enthusiastic for him to showcase his singing abilities. “Please?”

“You’ll have to get me drunk first,” Youngjae said flatly, and Daehyun grinned.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

 

The first thing Daehyun did when they got out of the car and into the restaurant, was to ask the waiter for the most alcoholic wine they had. Youngjae accepted a glass of the wine, smirking as he felt Daehyun’s eyes on him as he sipped from it.

It was definitely strong, but Youngjae’s tolerance for alcohol was extremely high. For him, this was nothing.

Jongup and Daehyun also took a glass, but Himchan had to refuse – he was still technically on the job. Youngjae wondered when Himchan last had a drink; in university, the beta had always loved drinking beer with pizza or fried chicken, and would order it with Youngjae at least once a week.

To Himchan’s amusement, Daehyun took the seat next to Youngjae and immediately began pestering him about his singing.

“So, did you ever take singing lessons?”

“For a few years, yeah.”

“Why did you stop?”

“I liked law better.” Youngjae found himself sighing wistfully. “I needed to find a job with more stability, I guess.”

“Did your parents force you?” Daehyun asked curiously.

“No, no. My moms were really supportive, actually! They were the ones who persuaded me to sign up for the talent shows and audition for the musical. I made the decision to do law myself.”

It sounded wrong, but Youngjae’s passion for law had stemmed from his determination to prove how mature than he was, when he was in middle school. It was a complex he had from very young, always being around people older than him. He did eventually find a reason to pursue law that wasn’t because of his insecurity, so he didn’t have any regrets.

His glass was empty, so Daehyun filled it up to the top, just as the waiters arrived with dishes of food. Even though Youngjae was initially planning on ignoring Daehyun once the food arrived, that plan was abandoned quickly. They were both curious about each other, which led to many questions being asked and answered between bites of food.

“So you don’t regret becoming a secretary? Even if you wanted to do law?”

Youngjae’s eyebrow lifted, “Well, being a secretary isn’t my dream job, but I still use my degree. I have to make and proofread Yongguk’s contracts, as well as find loopholes in his statements… just general things like that. It’s nothing too advanced, for now, but I can’t really expect much. It’s not like anyone’s going to hire a twenty-one-year-old solicitor straight of university.”

“You’re twenty-one?!” Daehyun seemed aghast. Himchan snorted.

“How old did you think I was?”

“You said you studied law, so I thought you were like… twenty-four. Don’t you have to study for six years to finish your law degree?”

“Yeah.” Youngjae hummed non-committedly as he drank his wine. As strong as it was, it was actually quite delicious.

“What the hell?”

Youngjae shrugged in embarrassment. “I skipped a few years.”

Daehyun was silent, staring at him with a combination of awe and fear, but Youngjae was used to it. He leaned forward, glad that he finally got the chance to ask, “Did you always want to be an idol?”

“I wanted to be a trot singer.” At Youngjae’s bark of laughter, he spluttered, “Don’t laugh! I was eight!”

“Did you sing trot when you went busking?”  It was common knowledge that the idol was scouted while busking, but no one had ever uploaded a video of him busking on the streets before. Hardly anything was known about Daehyun’s predebut life.

“You’re making fun of me.”

“There’s nothing wrong with trot! I just can’t imagine you singing it. You should sing a trot song,” Youngjae dared him, swallowing a mouthful of his food.

“Only if you sing first.”

“I’m not nearly drunk enough for that,” Youngjae grinned, and Daehyun filled up his glass in response.

“You know, we were planning on embarrassing you, not matchmaking you with Daehyun,” Jongup slurred, already drunk.

To Youngjae’s surprise, Daehyun flushed a dark red at the statement. Maybe he was already drunk, the omega mused.

Suddenly, Jongup’s phone rung and he excused himself, standing up to answer it. He swayed slightly and Himchan steadied him, before following him out of the restaurant to answer the call.

Daehyun immediately changed the topic, asking Youngjae how he managed to graduate four years early.

 

“Jonguppie? Are you home yet?”

“I’m out drinking with Daehyunnie hyung, mom.”

“You sound super drunk… I’m still filming, so I won’t be home until at least 2 o’clock, but stay safe and get home before then, okay Jonguppie?”

“I’ll be safe, I’m with Himchan hyung... Ooh, speaking of Himchannie, he came up with the idea to introduce Youngjae to Daehyun, and they’re totally hitting it off, mom, Himchan’s so talented. Don’t look at me like that, hyung, you know I love you –”

“– Did you say Youngjae? Yongguk’s secretary?”

“Yeah! But Youngjae is nothing like that guy, don’t worry mom.”

“If you say so… Listen, I found something out about the Blood Omega, Jongup… What else do you know?”

 

“I can’t believe it took you two bottles of wine before you finally got drunk,” Daehyun snorted, and Himchan caught Youngjae’s wrist in his hand as he dragged both the omega and Jongup back to the car. He thanked the universe that Daehyun was at least still a little sober.

The drunk secretary giggled and hiccupped, “… I need to pee.”

Himchan looked at his best friend, and then at the alpha clinging onto his arm, cursing at the universe.

“I’ll take him,” Daehyun volunteered, and took Youngjae’s hand from Himchan. The bodyguard gave him a grateful look, before trying to convince the alpha hanging off his arm to enter the car.

“I don’t want to go home, though, hyung,” Jongup whined into Himchan’s shoulder, and the bodyguard patted his head affectionately.

“It’s just like you to get drunk twice the weekend before school starts,” Himchan teased, and Jongup grumbled.

Daehyun made a note to tease Jongup about it later, but he had an equally drunk omega stumbling after him towards the bathroom.

Youngjae was adorable, red in the face and hiccupping repeatedly. He dragged his hand over his face and giggled a little, patting his cheeks softly. “Wow, I’m drunk.”

“Nice observation,” Daehyun pushed him in the direction of the bathroom. “Go.”

Youngjae stared at Daehyun’s face, as if he’d forgotten that he needed to go to the bathroom in the first place. He narrowed his eyes and his mouth dropped open, “Woah. You look just like DAE.”

“I get that a lot.”

Youngjae patted his cheeks and smiled. “Wow.”

Determining he was drunk enough, Daehyun took his hands off his face and asked, “Can you sing something please?”

“You’re the one who looks like DAE, why should I sing?” Youngjae asked him suspiciously, but gave him a sweet smile soon after, eyes forming crescents. “I know all of his songs though! His song ‘Daylight’ is my favourite…”

Daehyun held his breath when Youngjae began singing. He was quiet, the words flowing from his mouth barely audible with the noise coming from inside the restaurant, but Daehyun immediately fell in love. The idol had never thought much of ‘Daylight’ or any of his songs because he never felt satisfied with his voice, but hearing Youngjae sing, he could understand why his songs were so popular. Youngjae knew how to use his voice, and it was clear why entertainment companies tried to recruit him from a young age.

He hummed the tune in between verses lowly, eyes fluttering shut as he enveloped himself in the music. Daehyun thought it was beautiful, how he lost himself in his own singing; Youngjae was beautiful. The omega looked down as he sang, avoiding Daehyun’s eyes completely. He couldn’t see how star-struck the other looked, or how he hadn’t taken a single breath since the song began, almost afraid to interrupt the song with an inhale.

His voice eventually faded as the song finished, and he finally looked up to mumble shyly, “It’s nothing compared to the original, but I sing that song the most in my car.”

“No… it’s better than the original,” Daehyun muttered, and immediately took Youngjae’s hands in his.

Youngjae pulled away and spluttered in bewilderment, before squeaking a quick, “I need to pee,” and running away into the bathroom.

Daehyun rested his head against the wall, closing his eyes. Hearing Youngjae sing was almost magical; the alpha wanted to stay awake for hours, listening to that voice. It was a voice that was made to be recorded, made to be listened to forever. His voice made Daehyun want to sing, for the first time in months.

Daehyun knew he was a good singer. He knew he had a natural control over his voice that other artists trained for years to achieve – but he hadn’t felt a passion for singing for a long, long time, if ever. Performing was just a job for him, something he just happened to be good at, it wasn’t something he exactly enjoyed.

Youngjae, in his thirty seconds of singing, inspired Daehyun more than anyone ever had.

Daehyun made up his mind. As soon as Youngjae came out of the bathroom, looking less ruffled and incoherent than before, the alpha immediately approached him, trying to keep his voice calm so he wouldn’t freak the other out.

“Your voice is amazing, Youngjae,” the singer told him honestly, becoming confused when the secretary blushed as if no one had ever complimented his singing before. He said earnestly, “I know it’s sudden, and a little unconventional, but… I would really like it if you could feature in one of my songs on my next album.”

Youngjae blinked, eyes wide and Daehyun had a mini heart attack – he remembered that Youngjae had forgotten he was DAE, in his drunken state – but the omega’s jaw dropped.

“You? DAE?” he stammered, looking shocked.

“I have a song in mind, actually, it’ll be perfect with your voice.” Daehyun rambled, “It’s called Bleed, it’s the third track, a dark pop-rock kind of song… It’ll be a hit song, I know it.” Youngjae looked kind of nervous, and the alpha reached out to cup his face fondly. “You’ll be fine though. A voice like yours… it’s perfect.”

He probably seemed creepy, Youngjae’s face and talking about how perfect his voice was, but Daehyun couldn’t help it; he was so excited.

Youngjae nodded slowly, but he still looked shocked. “Okay.”

“Okay?” Daehyun repeated, his heart pounding.

Youngjae laughed and nodded again.

“Are you free tomorrow?” he blurted. “Well, later today, I guess.” It was already one in the morning – time flew quickly. Daehyun wasn’t sure if he could get any sleep knowing he had found his muse, but a few hours of waiting wouldn’t be so bad.

The small omega hummed and rubbed his face. “Maybe in the afternoon? I’ll probably have a killer hangover…”

“That’s fine, that’s fine. Here,” he took Youngjae’s phone and quickly keyed in his number and his apartment address. “You should come by some time tomorrow, and we can check out the song together. Sign a few contracts if we’re really feeling productive. Um, maybe get dinner together afterwards too?” he mumbled, and Youngjae’s lips curved into a smile.

“Sounds great,” he pocketed his phone. “No contract-signing though, I’ll be on my heat.” He frowned apologetically.

“No problem! I’d just like to see you again,” Daehyun admitted, and Youngjae’s responding blush went all the way up to his ears.

Just on time, they heard a loud honk outside and Youngjae jumped, releasing a tiny ‘eep.’ He was adorable.

“C’mon, let’s get you home.”

 

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their relationship is going kinda fast but daejae are rly compatible tbh

 or are they ( :

i make things @junhng on tumblr! i kind of made a banglo instagram au here... (x)

comments are cool and make me really happy nd motivated to write so!! if u can that'd be great :D