eight
A Worth Obsessing Over
The night wasn’t over.
It could never simply be over when houses, shops and rundown warehouses harbored a familiarity he couldn’t ignore. As soon as he took in his surroundings, it was like something clicked and Daehyun was suddenly flooded by a host of memories of a life he had no right to call his own. This place, this area…his home away from home. It was everything he learned to ignore - everything he willed himself to forget. But as he made his way into the famous tunnel graffiti artists utilized as a means to express themselves, he soon learned his curiosity of a past life he longed for came with a price. He heard whispers from behind him and took note of the footsteps that soon ceased its advances when the calling of his name came to ear.
“Daehyun.” He recognized that voice almost immediately. “I can’t believe you have the audacity to show your face here.”
Like wolves, they traveled in packs and looked to one another to compensate for weaknesses each and every one of them possessed. Upon first glance, anyone would be quick to peg them as uneducated hoodlums by their attire alone. The man who addressed him had a black bandana warped around his head that contrasted with the ivory-white of his skin, his clothing ripped and tattered in places that would be considered fashionable in this day and age; Not that anyone paid attention to the vests they wore or the skinny jeans they had on when each and every one of them possessed features fit for the runway. They were gorgeous, a real force to be reckoned with who had the looks, the brains, and the street smarts to overcome the misfotunes life was known for.
But they were still street rats in the eyes of ignorant fools who couldn’t see beyond the tough exterior of those who actually had a heart of gold. They were more than punks on an idiotic mission to wreak havoc on their neighborhood. He should know; Daehyun was one of them a long time ago after all. “Luhan…I’m so sorr-”
“Shut up Daehyun.” They were all upset with him - as they should be. Luhan was beyond pissed and D.O., who stood beside the leader of the pack with a bat rested upon his shoulder, matched the lividity of a stare that Xiumin and Chen both adopted at the very mention of Daehyun’s name. The only ones who were partially on his side were both Tao and Lay. There may have been a great divide between them - a metaphorical line that kept them from physically standing by Daehyun’s side - but Tao and Lay still had his back as they looked to him with apologetic gazes that told him to prepare for what was going to happen to him from there on out.
“You left us behind.” D.O. accused.
“After everything we all went through together,” Xiumin venomously added in. “You decided to leave as if we didn’t matter.”
“I had no other choice.”
Luhan scoffed at the desperation that weaved into Daehyun‘s every word. “You didn’t have a choice?” He couldn't believe it. “You said it so seriously that I almost bought into your act for a second there.”
It was Luhan who first approached with hands that came at him so quickly, Daehyun was force to stumble back a bit when fingers curled into the front of his shirt. “ ‘No one understands us. Society and the government that control them is a joke. The people in this world are as boring as the life they live, and that’s what separates us from the posers that don’t know two s about what it means to be a family.’ That’s what you said. That’s what we all lived by but you….you just left us when we needed you the most! You left us!” His head was forcibly turned to the side by the fist that sent Daehyun falling back onto the dirt floor.
Luhan stood over him, bending down to take a hold of the front of his shirt once more as he lifted the upper half of Daehyun’s body just enough for cold unseeing eyes to catch the other’s gaze.
“Okay, I screwed up. I screwed up bad. You can beat me to death if that makes you feel better.” Daehyun offered with the intention of triggering another fist that sank knuckles painfully into his cheek. He was laughing, his bloody lips curling into a smirk that snipped at Luhan’s last strand of patience.
“You were always the funny guy.” Luhan pulled back his fist in preparation for another blow, but came up short when Tao took a hold of his arm.
“Please stop.” Tao was the ’baby’ of the group, so to speak. He hated violence despite his expertise in the artful techniques of Wushu. From what Daehyun remembered, he was the kind of guy who cried easily whether it stemmed off of pure joy or sadness. “He doesn’t deserve this…not from us. We’re still family. He still cares about us and I know you and everyone else still cares about hi-”
It was ridiculous. Chen found Tao’s little heart-felt spiel so absurd that he wrung an arm around Tao’s neck and drag him away from the two before he said anything else he’d regret. Tears had a way of stinging Tao’s eyes whenever a situation went out of hand. He was sensitive in a way that made Daehyun just want to endure the pain without the two, who still believed in him, witnessing what he truly deserved.
“I wanted to change my life Luhan. I needed to change.”
Luhan returned his penetrating gaze back upon the man that was forced back on his feet. “But you didn’t change. You’re still the same idiot who gets himself into trouble. That’s who you are and that’s who we are, and you can’t change that. You belonged with us.”
But he wasn’t a piece of property they could claim as their own.
Luhan was so blinded by anger that he couldn’t, and probably wouldn’t, understand him or the intentions behind a decision he still regretted to this day. So, for once in his natural born life, Daehyun kept his thoughts to himself.
“Let’s go.” He couldn’t take it. After staring into the vacant gaze of a man who refuse to grant him a reply, Luhan shoved him toward the group that acted like a human cage. “We’re going to have some fun Daehyun. I know how much you like playing games so it should make for an entertaining night.” They left the tunnel Daehyun once considered his safe haven.
Nothing was as it seemed anymore.
And as he was followed the men who surrounded him, Daehyun realized the people he use to laugh with, the friends he use to share his secrets with and the family he sworn to protect with every miniscule fiber of his being were far out of reach just like the red umbrella he was forced to leave behind.
“I’m worried.” They were standing in the shadows of the alleyway that concealed them from the large group that stood in the park across the street. “Daehyun hasn’t called me. I had to cover his shifts for work and he hasn’t been to school all week.” Youngjae racked his hands distressingly through his hair. It was out of character. For Daehyun to disappear off the face of the earth without calling or dragging Youngjae into one of his many crazy adventures had to be a hint of some sort that something was wrong.
“Isn’t he always like that.” Himchan offered in an attempt to comfort his boyfriend who was pacing at that point.
“Not really.”
“Well, you said he was excited about this game so I’m sure he’ll show up.” Daehyun was an -hat. For all he cared, the annoying little prick could throw himself in a ditch somewhere. He didn’t care and he wouldn’t have cared for all eternity if his boyfriend wasn’t threatening to pull his own hair by the roots over a man who wasn’t worth . “It’ll be okay.” He felt inclined to offer some words of reassurance for Youngjae’s sake. It was what any ‘How to be the most awesomest boyfriend’ dummies book would’ve told him to do.
Himchan gathered the frustrated mess into his arms and soothed away the tremors that always accompanied his concerns. Youngjae leaned into him and rested his head upon Himchan’s shoulder as he indulged in the fingers that combed comfortingly through his hair. “It’s going to be alright.” The man repeated, bringing hands at either side of his face, fingers splaying over cheeks that warmed up at the sight of Himchan’s smile and the eyes that seem to capture his soul. Those lips of his didn’t wait to take Youngjae‘s breath away. In fact, Himchan's entire body couldn’t restrain itself from pushing the Junior back into the wall behind him. It was as if fingers that curled and pulled at the sleeve of his shirt, and the sharp intake of air that clouded his ear in a tempered sigh intensified a hunger only Youngjae’s body could satiate.
“H-Himchan hold…hold on a b-” He was silenced by rough demanding kisses that kept his whole body within the grasp of the man who traveled his fingers to the sensitive part of him that always made Youngjae silly-putty in his hands. Youngjae tightened his hold upon his sleeve, his mind in a fog and his thoughts caught up in the heat of the moment that made it hard to breathe.
But he couldn’t do this now.
“W-Wait. Just wait.” He couldn’t get lost in his desires when his mind was on Daehyun who had yet to make an appearance. “We should go. The game is about to start.” He could feel the heat of Himchan’s breath against his skin, his temptations attempting to change the younger’s mind when he kissed him once more. But Youngjae didn’t waver. With the palm of his hands pressed firmly on his chest, Himchan had no choice but to step away from him and scratch at the back of his head in mild frustration.
“C’mon,” Youngjae tugged at the end of Himchan's sleeve to lead him out of the alleyway. “Let’s get this night over with and -”
“Wait.” The rich material of Himchan’s wardrobe slipped from his fingers, the older adjusting and rearranging his cuffs as he casually walked passed Youngjae with a smile. “Wait here…I’ll go first. Okay?”
That’s right.
Youngjae almost forgot they weren’t supposed to be seen together, that it was a rule they couldn’t walk along side each other or god forbid, the world was going to end. A reply drowned in silence. He couldn’t say anything but nod his head as if he understood the double lives they lived. It was understandable. Being left in the dark all alone to watch as his boyfriend happily greeted his friends with smiles, laughter and the occasional fist-punch was something he was okay with. To watch from a distance, to pretend they didn’t almost every other night and to convince himself it was what couples like them do: it was everything he had to endure and understand even if it slowly ate away at a part of him that didn’t want to be left behind aymore.
“And I say this again.” Unexpectedly, someone crept out of the shadows and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “If I was your beau, I wouldn’t leave you.” The smile upon the other man’s face leaned upon his shoulder from behind, his free hand pinching at his cheeks to turn his frown upside down.
“Daehyun?”
“I just rhymed.” Daehyun chuckled in his ear, Youngjae’s head shaking at the statement. “But it’s true, I wouldn’t make you feel so blue.” He chuckled yet again. “And there goes another rhyme.”
“Daehyun, where were you? I was going crazy when you didn’t show up for 3 days.”
“It was actually 2 days and a half…or somewhere around those numbers.” Did it matter? 2 days? A couple of hours later? A week? The fact that Daehyun didn’t tell him where he ran off to was the focal point of this discussion, not the length in time, even though it was a partial concern of his.
Youngjae circled around to face the teen who still held him in his grasp, arms stretched out with fingers lacing at the back of his neck. “Yah! You were gone. I went to your house every single day this week and your mom and Hakkun said they didn’t see you since Tuesday. Where did you go?”
After staring at the angered look on Youngjae’s face for what felt like a whole minute, Daehyun let him go and gave him a shrug of a reply. “I was just around doing some things. Yanno’…the usual.”
But he didn’t know, which was why Youngjae continued to press him on the matter. “Daehyun. I don’t understand what is -”
“I’m fine Youngjae.” And to show him just how fine he was, Daehyun took a step back and spun around so his best friend had a 360 degree of a woundless Jung Daehyun. “See, I’m good. I’m great, which means you don’t have to worry. I’m here after all, aren’t I?”
He wanted to stay mad. Yoo Youngjae wanted to stay angry but it was hard to do just that when Daehyun was working a wardrobe that seem to boost the brunette’s confidence by tenfold. He looked good. No; he didn't just look good. The man was what many would consider as a ‘smoking timebomb of pure hotness that could set himself ablaze’. The was on fire and despite how pissed off Youngjae was about the nonchalant way he handled his questions, he couldn’t deny how good Daehyun looked.
His hair was styled and sprayed to perfection, layered locks resting neatly on a bed of freshly cut fringes that were neatly brushed off to the side. The dark kohl that beautifully rimmed eyes of gorgeous chestnut brown accentuated every facial expression he made, his stare, no matter how casual and calm it may be, having the potential to capture and even penetrate through the most unimpressionable of souls. He wore a white mesh shirt beneath a black suit fit for the party scene, it’s collar flooded with magenta hued skulls matching the dark denim jeans modishly stitched with that of the same red color.
With Daehyun financially helping his mother out with what little cash he had, it was a surprise he could afford to sport shoes that were clearly way over his budget. It completed his outfit of course, but Youngjae had to wonder at what price. “You look expensive.”
Daehyun popped his collar and gave him an all-too-knowing raise of a brow that made him look 100 times more cocky than he usually was. “It says dress to impress and I guess I hit the nail on the head since even my gay best friend is lusting over me.”
“I’m not lusting over you.” Youngjae defensively stammered out.
“You sure? ‘Cus it’s completely understandable if you are.”
“You are so full of yourself right now.” Youngjae crossed his arms over his chest just as Daehyun took him by the shoulder. They walked out of the dark alleyway together, Youngjae smiling just a bit when Daehyun blurted his apologies.
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry I’m a big-headed bastard right now but it’s not every day I dress like this.”
“Yeah, whatever. Let’s just get this night done and over with.”
So it began.
As soon as the clock struck 9, a guy dressed in all black stepped out into the clearing where everyone was instructed to gather. He had two other men with him who carried metal suitcases, its content soon deposited to their rightful owner as Mr. men-in-black explained the rules. “You are to keep the phones and earpiece on at all times.“ Everything looked so sleek and, of course, black like the darkened skies overhead.
They were all handed their phones and earpieces that everyone immediately inserted in their ear. The man continued. “You’ll be able to contact everyone at a press of a button. We also enabled the choice of omitting conversations from the opposing team. As you know, this years theme is ‘the nightlife’ in the most popularized party district in all of Seoul where the game of ‘Simon says’ is put into play.” The man paused as the other two who assisted him went back to their suitcases to pass out yet another item. “Before we continue…get into your groups.”
Everyone shared a look and were about to prepare their own teams when suddenly, everyone’s phones started ringing with a text message that sent disturbed groans and ooks of disappointment throughout the little crowd that surrounded them. It appeared everyone was paired with their mortal enemy or people who refused to look each other in the eye. Daehyun didn’t want to see his faith. If anything, he wanted to chuck his phone in the Han River because he knew - Daehyun just knew - the only ‘mortal enemy’ he had was Bang ing Yongguk.
However, when he forced himself to scan over the name that was on his phone, Daehyun felt like dying as he let out a disgruntled cry of pure, unadulterated misery that nearly scared Youngjae to death. “! No! No! This can’t be! Holy !” Why has god forsaken him? What did he do to deserve this?! Daeyun hadn’t a clue what made god hate him so much but he swore to the heavens that he’d give up cheesecake for a whole month if technology gave him a person he could actually work with.
“Who did you get?” Youngjae questioned over the never-ending line of curses that shamelessly escaped him.
“Kim ing Himchan.” He hissed, wanting to trade with Youngjae like he just received the most test Pokemon card on the planet. But seeing the look of dismay on Youngjae’s own face, he didn’t know if his partner was any better than the that was already glaring in his direction.
“I got Yongguk.”
“This is so ed up. I hate this game already. I hate it!” He could and moan all he wanted, but when it came right down to it, no matter how much he complained, no matter how much he wanted to flip a table, he couldn't get out of standing along side his new partner just as everyone else did. Some pairings were so destructive that a few decided it wasn’t worth the stress and they simply quit the game right on the spot.
Talk about weeding out the weak. This challenge was no joke.
“We are now handing out your IDs. You are to stay near your partners at all time unless told otherwise. Break the rules or fail to complete the missions that are given to you and it’s game over. Once you received your ID, you’re free to go to your next destination.” And just like before, their phones rang out and a place, along with an unknown address covered their screens.
“Youngjae, what did you get?” He didn’t care about his partner. Sure, they were supposed to strategize or do something equally as helpful to get their little mission complete, but all Daehyun could concern himself with was the man who quietly stood along side Yongguk.
“Itaewon.”
‘Thank god.’ At least they were going to be in the same area. Daehyun felt an overwhelming surge of relief and was about ready to excitedly state they were going to end up in the same place when Yongguk caught him off guard. It wasn’t that he was standing near Youngjae that made him suddenly tense up with agitation, but the way he grabbed at his best friend’s arm and tried to drag him away that made his blood boil.
“Yah!” Daehyun roughly shook Himchan’s shoulder. “He’s manhandling your boyfriend.” He said in a stage whisper so he wouldn’t break the supposed ‘straight man’s’ cover.
“What?”
Daehyun pointed at the pair who was walking toward the car, a struggle obviously unfolding between them. “I said Bang ing Yongguk is manhandling your boyfriend. Do something about it.”
He wanted to develop a practical level of hope for a relationship Daehyun otherwise went through great lengths in burying under mounds upon mounds of scrutiny. Youngjae loved Himchan. He could see it in his eyes and hear it by the way he tried to bring him up at least once a day. His infatuation for a man Daehyun had no reason to like was what made him hope that the love Youngjae expressed time and time again wasn’t a one-way streak.
Daehyun wanted Himchan to do the right thing...to do his part as his lover.
“What do you want me to do, huh?” But it was clear enough that he was too caught up in his own lies to ‘grow a set’ and be there for the man he chose to watch from a distance.
“And this is why you are so ed up in my eyes. This is why I hate you so much.” He was going to show him. Jung Daehyun was going to show Himchan what a real boyfriend should do in a situation that required his utmost attention.
“Yah!” Daehyun shoved Yongguk from behind, the brute force of his actions triggering a series of events that nearly sent Yongguk on all fours. Luckily, for him, he caught his footing at the last minute and turned sharply to the seething male that stood his ground even as Yongguk approached him. “You can push me around, do that’s as ed up as handcuffing me to a bed and threaten me with whatever you think can bring me down, but don’t you think, even for a second, you can treat my friend that way.”
A few who had stayed behind and watched from the sidelines expected some kind of brawl to start off the competition. Their stares were so heated, their words venomous and their unwavering stances so menacing that they practically anticipated for fist to start flying. But the world renowned ‘party-pooper’ of the century had wedged himself in between Yongguk and Daehyun before the situation got out of hand.
They didn’t say anything to one another as Youngjae backed Daehyun away from the man who allowed a smile to grace features that were completely and utterly amused by the fuse that was growing shorter by the minute. Yongguk got such a kick out of it that he decided to push his luck even further. ❝You better watch yourself.❞
A state of shock took a hold of him when the French language fell from lips that bent into an even more conniving grin. No one, not even Youngjae, knew that he took French at the tender age of 11 due to some weird notion that it would get him a girlfriend. He was diligent in his studies, so very dedicated that he secretly stuck with it until he was fluent enough to read, write and speak what many referred to as ‘the language of love.’
But how did Yongguk know that?
❝You don‘t want to be so obvious with your feelings Daehyun. There‘s a reason you kept it a secret after all, right?❞
‘Damn him to hell!’ His lies were biting him in the right about now and all Daehyun could do in retaliation was bite at his own tongue and take Youngjae’s advice by leaving Yongguk alone.
As much as he didn’t want to, he turned around and trusted that Youngjae could hold his own against a demon who Daehyun was determined to take down as soon as possible.
“You always make a scene. It wasn‘t like Yongguk was going to hurt him.” Himchan was brave enough to state as they both made their way to Himchan’s car.
“Shut up. You just have no balls okay. You act like everything's hunky dory when it's not. Youngjae hates this whole set up.”
“What set up. There’s no set up.”
“The stupid little routine you two got going on you . He tells me everything…tells me how much he hates being left in the shadows and feeling like he’s your ing pet you can touch, hold and play with whenever you want.” Okay, so Daehyun was putting words in Youngjae’s mouth. He didn’t really say everything Daehyun had just threw at Himchan without a care in the world. But he knew his best friend from the inside out and because of that, he felt he had some sort of right to express what he assumed Youngjae felt. “He loves you. He loves you for god knows why and I bet you didn’t tell him once how much you love him…” Daehyun pause to take a breath. “And no….ing him isn’t telling him you love him….if you even love him at all that is. He needs more than a up his to feel how it’s like to have someone that is always by his side no matter what life throws at him. He needs someone to be his boyfriend...his lover. Not a booty call.”
It was like someone opened Pandora’s box and unleashed every nasty, ugly, vile and repugnant opinion he had locked up inside him for too long. After all that he went through this week, Himchan was the unlucky one that took the bulk of his frustrations as he attacked him with one derogatory term after the next. And it was strange how Himchan just took everything with a quiet and repress demeanor that let Daehyun vent out whatever he needed to say.
When he was done, they made their way to Itaewon in silence, their own thoughts making the drive to their next destination so much more unbearable than it would’ve been if Daehyun just kept his mouth shut.
“Why do you do that?” It took him about 30 minutes into the drive to summon up the courage to speak his mind. Unlike Daehyun, Youngjae needed time to sort out his thoughts before diving head first into a verbal confrontation he made sure to prepare himself for.
“What am I doing exactly?” Yongguk coolly inquired.
“You intentional push at Daehyun’s buttons whenever you see the opportunity to do so.”
“It’s not my fault he easily gets pissed off.”
“But why even do it in the first place? Why try to get a rise out of him when you know exactly how he’s going to react?”
Calculating eyes loomed over Youngjae just as the car stopped at a traffic light. He couldn’t meet the other’s gaze. Youngjae was dodging him, eyes staring elsewhere upon a single area on the dashboard as the tension in the air soon took a hold of his entire body. “You’re not like Daehyun at all.” Of course he wasn’t. Youngjae was his own person and he wasn't going to change that for anyone. “You’re the complete opposite of who he is. You’re quiet, you intimidate easily and you try to avoid trouble when Daehyun only ever tries to find it. You’re an only child, which seems to be the only thing you two have in common. You live with your dad, you excel academically and you think you know your best friend, when in truth…you don’t know him at all.”
Everything was true. But when the latter came up in a very condescending fashion, Youngjae turned sharply to meet a smirk practically taunting a friendship Youngjae believed no one could measure up to. “I know Daehyun.”
“Is that right?”
“I don’t have anything to prove to you. What you think doesn’t matter to me. If anything, you’d be the last person I’d ever allow to get to me. You can’t mess with my head.” Youngjae turned away from him. “It’s like you stated…I’m not like Daehyun. You can’t push at my buttons.” The low huff of laughter had a way of getting under his skin. It was derisive in nature, very contemptuous in a way that provoked a challenge Youngjae didn’t want to be a part of. He would just sit in his chair without concerning himself with whatever ran through Yongguk’s head.
He didn’t care.
What he had to say, what he wanted to do, what his intentions were had all been relinquished from the younger’s thoughts as he kept to himself.
“You asked me why I mess with Daehyun…” Yongguk succeeding in prying Youngjae’s gaze off of the blur of the city as he focused upon the dashboard once more, waiting for him to finish. “You still want to know the reason?”
“Are you actually going to tell me? Or are you going to play around with another set of statements pertaining to anything but the topic at hand?”
He was smart. From what he could recall, Youngjae was at the top of his class and it showed by the quick retort that dared to put Yongguk in his place. “I’ll tell you the truth.” He started, his expression neutral and his eyes stripped from the amusement he felt seconds ago. “But you won’t believe me.”
“Try me.” Youngjae had all the time to wait for a reply Yongguk took his sweet time in conveying into words. He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he waited until he stopped at yet another traffic light, the cessation of movement bringing that nerve-racking stare back on the man who still refused to look at him. There was just this strange sense of eagerness wafting in the air as if whatever Yongguk had to tell him was a premeditated act he had anticipated to reveal for quite a while now. He was calm though, very ‘at one’ with himself and the thoughts that crossed his mind. Because when Youngjae couldn’t withstand the gaze that situated upon him, he turned and beheld a confidence in the eyes of the man who genuienly said:
“I mess with him because I want Daehyun for myself….I want him to fall for me.”
A/N: Apparently, there is a small tropical storm coming my way and threatening to shut off my power
Oh my Gosh...it's not fair...I just finished summer courses and a tropical storm wants to shut down my comp /sobbing/
Hopefully that wont' happen lulz
But yay, another chapter...so much stuff happened in this chapter owo...I'm just like damn...this got long...AGAIN OTL
hm, I don't know what to say now lulz...I"m sleep-depraved right now OTL
Hope y'all liked it tho...the chapter I mean xD okay I'll stop typin now lulz
oh god, I'm using so much 'now' in my sentences OTL OTL /fail
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