Minky dropping in with some Taepyo as requested! Though like our Ubomb, it also contains some one sided feelings. What can I say? This takes place after the two gangs (think Nalina) Black Dragon (Jaehyo, Ubomb, Pyo) and Red Tiger (Zico, Kyung, Taeil) join forces. They have moved into a bigger apartment together.

Pyo Jihoon walked down the hall from the living room where the rest of the gang was gathered. Were they a gang? Jihoon wasn’t sure at the moment, since they all seemed to just be laughing and messing around. He hadn’t known Jaehyo, Minhyuk, and Yukwon for very long, and he’d known Zico, Kyung, and Taeil for an even shorter amount of time. He didn’t really feel like he fit in yet.

Jihoon loved to play and mess around, but lately he hadn’t had anyone to do that with. More than lately, actually. Since the end of middle school Jihoon’s deep voice and tall stature had gotten him into more trouble than he deserved, being more like a large teddy bear than a delinquent. Unfortunately, getting that across to the punks at his school was near impossible. To them he was just another opponent, and so he learned to defend himself and have a lot less fun. Now as a senior in high school, he thought he’d been dragged into the worse trouble yet, what with the territory struggles. People had died. And yet the boys found a way to be happy through it all. His hyungs must be made of tough stuff.

Approaching the door to his new room, he heard a voice. It was soft, lilting beautifully, Jihoon had to stop to listen. He couldn’t make out the words, but it made his heart feel warm. His mind, which had screeched to a halt when he heard the singing, began to move in fast pace again.

There was only one person missing from the chaos in the living room -> There was only one other person who shared his room-> This one person made his heart flip

He peeked around the corner and sure enough, there was Lee Taeil leaning against a bed, facing the other direction and scrawling something in a notebook. And singing. Jihoon’s heart back flipped and stuck its landing, perfect ten out of ten. The crowd went wild.

Taeil trailed off singing and glanced over his shoulder, starting when he saw Jihoon’s intense stare.

“P-Pyo?” He stuttered, eliciting no response from the taller boy. He adjusted his glasses and slowly lifted himself from the floor. Taking a few careful steps toward the frozen boy, he stopped directly in front of him.

“Hey, Pyo. Pyo? Are you alright?” He waved a hand in front of his face, but the boy continued to stare slack jawed and silent at him. Taeil frowned and reached up to poke him on the forehead.

“…Jihoon?”

Jihoon jumped and immediately a blush spread across his cheeks. He began to babble, “Ah! I’m sorry hyung, I just heard you singing but I wasn’t eavesdropping I swear I would have knocked but I kind of stopped moving I’ll leave you alone now.” He spun on his heel and started to march out of the room, but was stopped by Taeil’s hand circling his wrist.

Taeil laughed at the sound of his dongsaeng’s deep intimidating voice making such hasty apologies.

“Wait a minute,” he said, chuckling, “You started to come in for a reason right? I don’t mind if you want to hang out here.”

Jihoon allowed himself to be pulled back into the room and sat down on the floor. He perched rigidly across from Taeil as he grabbed his notebook from where he’d dropped it and began writing again. Taeil looked up over his glasses and said, “You can relax, you know. Tell me a bit about yourself?”

Pulling his long legs inward, Jihoon wrapped his arms around his knees.

“My name is Pyo Jihoon and I’m a senior in high school. I hope to attend college next year and-“

“No, no, I know those things,” Taeil said with a small smile. “I mean more like…how are you? You act kind of quiet, but I don’t think that’s how you really are.”

Jihoon scratched the back of his head and looked down. “How could you tell?”

Taeil set his notebook back down and looked at Jihoon. “Before I got into college I lived in a great orphanage.  The people who raised me were really nice people, but we’d still get a lot of kids who’d been through bad stuff and were afraid to open up.” Jihoon looked up at his hyung, who smiled graciously. “I know it’s hard, but no one here thinks you had anything to do with what happened. We like you, so you can be yourself around us, okay? Tell me, is there anything you’ve been holding back since you got here?”

“I think you’re really really cute hyung!” Jihoon burst out.

“…what?!” Taeil replied bewilderedly after a second.

Taeil scooted back into the bed as he watched Jihoon move in front of him on his knees and intertwine their fingers. The boy towered over him as he went on, moving their hands slightly as he spoke, “Since I first met you I thought you were really cute, and you’re so small and I kind of just want to protect you but I know you probably don’t need it, you’re a guy anyway.”

Taeil watched Jihoon ramble on above him. If any of the other members walked in right then, they’d make a scene for sure. He’d probably feel pretty threatened if anyone else were practically on top of him like this, Taeil wasn’t a fighter like the rest of them after all. Something about his dongsaeng’s relieved and uncontrollable smile was so earnest though, Taeil was sure that he couldn’t be in a less dangerous situation.

He shook Jihoon’s hands back and smirked, “Don’t call me cute, I’m your hyung!”

Jihoon scrunched his eyes and grinned at his tiny hyung’s protest. “I can’t help it, too cute!”

Taeil laughed and pushed Jihoon back so he could stand. “Come on,” he said, “Let’s go join the others and reintroduce you. Though I’m a bit afraid of what you might say to them after that just now.” He left the room to walk down the hall.

“But you’re the only one that I-“ Jihoon cut himself off before he said something embarrassing. He thought that maybe he’d over done it with the enthusiasm, but couldn’t help grinning anyway. Taeil hyung didn’t seem to mind, and that was the most important thing. If he could show that much of himself to him, then the others would be okay too.

Taeil stopped in the hallway and looked back at the door. He wondered what Jihoon had meant to say after that. He’d seen the stuffed animal…thing on Jihoon’s bed and assumed that he just liked cute things, and Taeil guessed he was small enough to count as one of those things. Could it be that Jihoon felt more than simple affection? That complicated things a bit. He hardly knew the guy, and was already confused with his own feelings for Zico. Well…for now, he didn’t have to think about it. He was just glad Jihoon had come out of his shell. Even if it was more of an explosion than he had expected.

I promise the Taepyo will get fluffier and cuter as I go on, just had to get this one out to establish the relationship's beginning!