CHAPTER 05

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“So, you’re telling me,” Doyoung starts, sitting on Taeyong’s bed with his hands folded in front of him, “that you have a date with that boy who kissed you?” He sounds annoyingly calm, and it’s nerve-wracking.

Taeyong is sitting in front of his mirror, looking at Doyoung through it. It’s just them in his house at the moment; the others have yet to come. Taeyong had invited all of them, for the first time, over to his house because he had a date and needed help. He didn’t disclose who he was going on a date with, and the group chat blew up as soon as he sent the message.

Jaehyun had texted him the moment he had reached home, wishing him a good night. He was tired, and his mom was at the door already yelling at him for coming home so late. Even climbing up the stairs was exhausting, and he couldn’t wait to fall on his bed and sleep for centuries, but after receiving Jaehyun’s message, a simple ‘Sleep well :)) had made his night.

Suddenly, he was filled with energy, and wanted to hop off the bed and dance around, and bask in happiness, but he didn’t, which he was thankful for, and just opted to fall asleep. It was a little hard, because of the adrenaline he was filled with, but he managed.

“Yes. We–” Before Taeyong could complete his sentence, Hansol and Yuta burst through the door, breathing heavily and searching the room before they fell on Taeyong. They both greeted Doyoung without looking at him, and had their gazes on Taeyong as they sat on the bed. Taeyong stared back. What’s with his friends and staring?  Geez.

“It’s the boy who kissed him.” Doyoung tells them without them asking, and they both gasp.

“What?” Hansol yells, his eyes wider than they usually are. Taeyong rolls his eyes at the overreaction.

“When did that happen?”

“Well,” Taeyong starts, running his hand through his hair before turning to face his friends. “I met him again the day after at the same location the next day. Remember when I wasn’t answering you guys the whole afternoon?”

His friends nod.

“Well, I was napping after I went to meet with him early morning. I didn’t know he would actually turn up, I went the same time I did with you guys during the dare, and he actually came!” Taeyong smiles at the memory, his cheeks suddenly warm. It was a memory that would never size to make Taeyong smile. He cherishes it dearly.

“Ah,” Yuta nods as everything falls into place and makes more sense to them now. He doesn’t owe his friends an explaination, but he thought he owed them this much because they’re the ones who are going to help him with his date.

“When’s the date then?” Doyoung asks.

Taeyong shrugs, “he hasn’t texted me yet. I don’t even know if it’s today. How about we watch a movie together?” Taeyong suggests, walking over to the bedside table and pulling out Suicide Squad. Doyoung gasps, before lunging over Yuta to grab the DVD from Taeyong’s hands.

“I didn’t know you bought it! I wanted to see it so bad!” He explains, turning over the package like he can’t believe it’s real. Taeyong smiles at the cute reaction before settling on the bed beside his friends. Doyoung delicately pulls out the CD before putting it in the CD player.

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The credits roll up, and Taeyong pulls out his phone to check the time. Taeyong had done a lot of research and had finally found the CD with Korean subtitles for him and his friends to watch, and although he was pretty excited to watch it, it seemed like Hansol wasn’t into it, explaining why he had settled his head on Yuta’s shoulder and had slept like half way through the movie.

Taeyong forgets the time when he sees an alert saying he had a message from Jaehyun. Spluttering, he sits up, unlocking his phone quickly and pulling up the message.

Honey babe – 5:43 PM

Hey, are you free today? We can go out at 9 PM and go to this new Japanese restaurant that opened near my place

Taeyong shakes Doyoung violently by the shoulder, before shoving the phone in his face. Doyoung reads through it before clapping loudly, making Hansol wake up from his nap. Yuta raises his head to glare at Doyoung.

“Taeyong saved his name as ‘honey babe’.” He says loudly, before laughing and slapping Taeyong’s shoulder. Taeyong stares at his friends as they all cackle loudly, calling Taeyong a cheeseball and humiliating him further. Taeyong grumbles before sitting back against the headboard, telling them he was not proud to have them as his friends.

“Okay, sorry. Right… We’d help you with the clothes before we leave you to it, okay?” Yuta says after recovering from his laughing fit, and Hansol still has his head buried in his shoulder, giggling. Taeyong nods as he watches Doyoung get up from the bed and walk to his closet, before Hansol and Yuta follow. He lets them do their thing before looking back at Jaehyun’s text with a smile.

Me – 5:47 PM

Yeah, sounds good! Please text me the address, and I’ll be right there!

Just as Taeyong’s phone buzzes with another message, most likely the address sent by Jaehyun, his mother knocks on the door and comes in. She smiles at his friends, widely at Hansol, ew, and then diverts her attention back to Taeyong.

“If you boys are up for it, I got some snacks and tea ready for you guys.” She states before she comes in, inspecting Taeyong’s closet. She grabs the t shirts Doyoung hands her and she takes a look at them, before handing him a black flannel shirt saying, “This one’s better.”

What? Taeyong gets a little suspicious as to why his mom is suddenly checking out his closet and giving her opinion on which shirt is better for him to wear, as she doesn’t know Taeyong is going on a date. It’s when she’s nearly out of the door when she drops the bomb.

“Have fun on your date, honey.” She says, winking. She’s about to close the door when Mark pokes his head in, greeting everyone before his apologetic gaze falls on Taeyong. Taeyong can only wait for his mom to leave before he can beat Mark’s .

“You told her?!” Taeyong questions, holding Mark in a headlock as his friends mutter suggestions to each other like nothing’s happening. Mark looks scared as he tries to get out of Taeyong’s grip but to no avail, as Taeyong is much stronger than him.

“S-Sorry! I thought you already told her!” He whines when Taeyong rubs a fist over his head before freeing him,

“Not good enough!”

He shakes his hair out of his face as his friends do last checkups on his prepped outfit, before putting it on a hanger. Yuta holds it out, turning it around and showing it to Taeyong to make sure he approves.

His outfit is nothing unordinary; it’s the same black flannel shirt his mom chose for him, and some black skinny jeans, coupled with a white t shirt he would wear under. He’s glad his friends didn’t choose a suit or something, because Jaehyun didn’t tell him to wear something fancy, so he’s okay with it. Plus it looks comfortable, so of course he’d nod his head yes.

Taeyong gives his friends a thumb’s up before he puts the movie CD back into the package and makes his bed. His friends tell him he’s a neat freak whilst Hansol mumbles about how much he loves Taeyong’s mom for preparing snacks for them, and just in general. He suddenly yelps from where he’s behind Taeyong, and Taeyong assumes someone elbowed him in the ribs, which makes him laugh. He’s glad he can lose a little bit of his nerves before the actual date.

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Taeyong sits shifting in his car seat as they near their destination. His mother had volunteered to drop him off at the location, and since his friends were still at his home, they tagged along as well. Even when Taeyong was at the front and couldn’t talk to them a lot, his friends still tried their best to embarrass him, like they usually did.

“Taeyong and Jaehyun sitting in a tree,” Doyoung sings, “K-I-S-S-I-N-G!” All of them yell in unison, including his mom, and Taeyong just shifts deeper in his seat. His stomach was in knots and he was sweating. It wasn’t like it was Taeyong’s first time to go on a date, but it was his first time to go on a date with another man, who he had just met, and didn’t know anything about other than his first name. Doyoung had been extra protective of this fact, putting a small pepper spray bottle in Taeyong’s wallet just in case Jaehyun turned out to be a creep. Taeyong didn’t think so, Jaehyun was willing to walk miles back to the river just so he could apologize for kissing Taeyong suddenly, and just his presence made Taeyong feel very safe, but of course Doyoung wouldn’t believe that.

Doyoung would easily pass as his second mom. Doyoung was there for him when Taeyong was going through a hard break up, or just needed emotional support. He was a shoulder Taeyong knew he could always lean on, and cry his heart out without being judged. He was a friend Taeyong had known since forever, and had kept close to his heart. Unfortunately, he was also a friend who was also around most of Taeyong’s embarrassing moments, which makes him very scared of Doyoung; because if Doyoung ever spilled the beans, Taeyong is gone.

Taeyong had made sure to charge his phone, as suggested by Doyoung, and his real mom, and checked it constantly for any messages from Jaehyun. The last message was from Jaehyun, telling him that he had gotten out of his house and was on the way to the restaurant. Taeyong had messaged him the same when he got out of his house after getting ready, and Jaehyun had read his message, but that was it. Taeyong didn’t want to seem desperate and ask him if he was there already, so he just opted to stare at their conversation before locking his phone again.

His mom steers into a small street, filled with street food and other small shops, and Taeyong can hear the chattering even when the windows are closed. Taeyong jumps in his seat when a little boy knocks on their window, before his mom pulls it down. He’s holding a bouquet of roses, and his mother almost immediately hands him the money before taking the whole bouquet instead of separate flowers like the boy was offering.

“I love roses.” She says, smiling as she takes a whiff of the flowers, one hand on the steering wheel and the other holding the flowers. She plucks one rose out of the bunch and hands it to Taeyong.

“Here. Give it to your date when you see him.” Taeyong nods, moving the rose around his fingers and hiding his face with it when his friends whistle and whoop from behind.

“The roses are as beautiful as you, Misses Lee!” Hansol calls out from behind, and Taeyong turns 360 degrees in his seat just to throw him a glare. His friends are doing the same, except for Mark, who’s laughing his off in the corner, looking out of the window.

“Thank you darling. Oh, Taeyong! Your friends are so sweet.” Taeyong huffs out a sigh when Hansol smiles devilishly and wiggles his eyebrows at him. The street is extra bright, and there are small stores with the fronts written in another language, Taeyong assumes it’s Japanese, before his mother stops in front of a huge restaurant, and it thankfully doesn’t look that filled out.

Taeyong’s nerves are back when he unbuck