Another week passes by and once again Taeyong is at the club, the only problem is that he’s been here for almost twenty minutes and still no sign of Yuta anywhere.

When another fifteen minutes go by he finally scrounges up the courage to ask the bartender, Jaehyun was it? If he knows where Yuta could be.

“Excuse me,” Taeyong calls out, trying to gain Jaehyun’s attention. “Have you seen Yuta?”

Jaehyun looks his way, squinting his eyes in concentration as he tries to hear the soft-spoken guy through the loud club music. “What was that?”

“Yuta, have you seen him?” He asks again, leaning forward, and seeing the name register on Jaehyun’s face.

“I haven’t seen him all night,” Jaehyun answers, giving him an apologetic smile. “Have you tried Cloud 9?”

Taeyong stares at Jaehyun confusedly, having heard about the place before but still clueless to what it is. “Cloud 9?”

Jaehyun looks at Taeyong with something akin to disbelief then shakes his head with a dark chuckle. “Alright, so…”

¤

With Jaehyun’s directions, Taeyong manages to make it to Cloud 9 and the sight was far from what he expected.

It was further out from the city and looked like some old manufactory complex that now presided as an underground club. Despite every part of his body wanting to turn back around, Taeyong takes one deep breath and steps in.

The sound of rock music can be heard blasting throughout as people crowd the hallways, some dancing or chatting while others were pressed intimately together as they made out and publicly d each other.

Taeyong does his best to avoid anyone from getting close, noting the further he walks in the less clothed individuals he encounters on the way. He can hear sounds of and as he makes it into what he assumes is the dance floor it only gets more extreme.

There are people tied up in ropes and leather, others wearing gag balls, and even one couple full on choking each other. Taeyong turns to the side when he hears a man shout and sees a fight start to break out. He quickly turns away from the scene, feeling hands grab for him as he hurries to get out of the chaos.

Does Yuta really enjoy places like this?

In his rush to leave (read escape), Taeyong ends up crashing into someone.

“Hey!” The man shouts angrily.

“I’m sorry!” Taeyong cowers to the closest wall and looks up only meet a familiar face. Ten.

Ten seems to recognize him as well, though he appears slightly intoxicated, and points drunkenly at Taeyong. “I…I know you from s-somewhere,” he slurs a bit. “Jeffery’s. You’re Yuta’s…friend, right?”

Taeyong nods timidly. “Do you know where I can find him?”

“How would I know?” Ten takes a swig of his drink and looks away.

“You’re his friend,” Taeyong provides.

Ten faces back to him at that with slight annoyance in his eyes. “Was a friend.”

Taeyong doesn’t have time to think on that and instead asks, “Has he been here?”

“No,” Ten replies, taking a look at Taeyong and noting the disappointment on his face. It suddenly clicks and he laughs hollowly. “You too, huh?”

Ignoring his comment, Taeyong moves to leave but Ten grabs his arm.

“Hey,” he lowers his gaze when Taeyong stares at him. “Try a different time.” As much as it hurts Ten to do this, he can somehow tell Taeyong is different. “If he’s not here, try the 80’s, then maybe the 90’s or early 2000’s.”

Taeyong gives Ten a questioning look but Ten just shrugs. “He’s worth the shot, right?” He gives a small nod and Ten releases him.

Walking away, Taeyong gives Ten one last look and hopes the other will be alright, and silently thanking him for his help.   

¤

The next week, taking Ten’s advice, Taeyong hits the 80’s and Neo City has changed to fit the era appropriately.

The first place Taeyong decides to check is Jeffery’s. He makes his way through without much luck and ends up wandering to the arcade area.

He sees another familiar person playing the Pac-Man game and remembers the male to be Taeil.

“Hey,” Taeil says when he looks up to see Taeyong.

“Hi,” he greets back, a polite smile to his lips.

“Golden age, huh?” Taeil says, referring to the game and Taeyong nods mindlessly. “You wanna play?”

“I, uh,” Taeyong turns around to stare at the crowd again. “I’m sorry, I’m looking for someone.”

He moves to leave and Taeil speaks up again. “Maybe next time?” But by then Taeyong has already left.

¤

With the 80’s being a failure, Taeyong tries the 90’s the following week and once again the set-up has changed.

He makes his way through the club with no luck and even checks Yuta’s place by the beach but ends up falling short.

¤

It’s when he’s in the early 2000’s the week after that he finally manages to find Yuta.

The arcade area has expanded more into the club and the sounds of gleeful laughing draw him to there where he sees Yuta, along with Taeil, attempting to match the steps on screen of some kind of game with a dancing platform he’s never seen before.

The duo manages to clear the level they were playing and high-five each other happily. Yuta turns around laughing only to halt once he finds Taeyong standing not too far away.

Taeyong isn’t sure what to make of Yuta’s reaction but he manages to let out a weak hi.

Yuta turns back to Taeil and smiles awkwardly before stepping off the dancing stage. “Bathroom break,” he announces and Taeyong follows after him.

“Yuta, hey!” Taeyong calls out to him as they make their way through the crowd. He grabs the other’s shoulder and turns him around. “Can you just wait a minute?”

“Why are you here?” Yuta asks, giving Taeyong a slightly annoyed look.

Taeyong is taken aback at hearing that. “I was looking for you. Where did you go?”

“I like a change in music,” is what Yuta says but Taeyong can’t really wrap his head around that answer.

“How the hell is this your era?” Taeyong questions in disbelief, gesturing with his hands to emphasis the place around them. Shaking his head, he pointedly tells Yuta “You hid from me.”

Yuta looks away from his accusing gaze and tries to laugh it off. “Okay. One, I did not. Two, I owe you zero explanation. And three…” . He finally spares Taeyong a glance. “See point two!” Yuta then turns away and heads into the bathroom pissed.

Taeyong watches him go for a moment, processing what Yuta just said before going after him, his own anger starting to rise.

As he steps inside, the scene is almost familiar. Yuta staring at his reflection again while Taeyong is standing on the side, but this time his feelings are a lot less lost and more hurt and upset.

“It’s not about who owes who. It’s about manners,” Taeyong counters, not caring how emotional he is getting. “You don’t know who I am. You don’t know what this means.”

Yuta steps away from the sink to face Taeyong. “This means fun. Or it should at least. And this,” he motions his hands between them. “This is not fun. Okay?” He takes a step closer to Taeyong, once again repeating himself. “This is not fun.”

Taeyong can’t hide the way Yuta’s words hit him and feel his eyes welling up with tears as he swallows. “So, you don’t feel bad?”

He watches as Yuta goes to say something but instead remains silent, unable to give Taeyong the response he’s looking for. “Well maybe you should feel bad, or at least feel something,” Taeyong says at least then walks out of the bathroom.

Yuta closes his eyes once the door shuts behind Taeyong, his words lingering along with the hurt expression in Yuta’s mind.

He turns back to face the mirror, looking at his own reflection and feeling the shame rising. Taeyong didn’t deserve what Yuta did to him, he was different in comparison to all the other people Yuta had met here. All of them willingly throwing themselves at him while Taeyong was just this shy, polite, kind guy he connected with. 

And that’s exactly why Yuta hid from him. He wasn’t supposed to find himself interested in wanting to spend more time with Taeyong after sleeping with him. That there might be a reason for staying here longer than the time he was given. It scared and confused him.

Frustrated with the mess inside his hand, Yuta fists his hand and punches the mirror. The glass cracks and shatters with the impact, distorting his image and he looks down to inspect his hand. It’s completely fine. No cuts, pain, or blood spilled. As he raises his head back up, the mirror is restored to its original form with only his reflection staring back at him. Shattered glass and cracks gone, though he can’t say the same for himself on the inside.

Yuta knows what he has to do.

¤

Stepping out of the club, Yuta searches around for Taeyong. There are a lot of people out but none of them are him.

He walks up to a couple not far from him in hopes they may have seen him. “Excuse me, have you seen a guy? Early 20’s, slim figure with brown hair and glasses?” It’s a rather bleak description but it’s worth trying.

The couple look up in thought only to notice someone on top of a building across from them. Yuta follows their gaze and spots Taeyong sitting with his legs dangling and staring up at the night sky.

“Oh ,” Yuta says under his breath and hurries to climb up the fire escape on the side of the building.

Taeyong looks to the side when he hears someone climbing up and turns away once it turns out to be Yuta.

“Hey,” Yuta calls out with a small nervous smile. He doesn’t get a response so he tries again. “Please tell me you got your pain slider set to zero.” And please tell me you aren’t thinking about jumpin