Beastly Candy
TaecBaek.
PG.
BEASTLY CANDY
Taecyeon doesn't remember the first time he saw her. The entertainment business is like a huge family, and it could be two seconds backstage before a common performance or two hours on the same television set, he's not sure.
When he still didn't know her as a friend, his opinion was basically: "brainless with a nice body". Hey, he's a guy, what do you expect?
Things have changed, now, and in his mind she's not "the one who sings well" anymore. She's Baek JiYoung, the woman that makes him feel awkward and dorky and so happy, the one who has her phone number repeated over and over his call list, the one who looks at his clothes and makes funny faces, the one who blushes when he tells her she's pretty.
It took My Ear's Candy, and also more, for the change to operate. One day, management tells him he's been asked to perform with the famous Baek JiYoung for a duet. Asked. Still now, she refuses to tell him if she wanted him specifically, or if any tall guy with a low voice would have fitted. He tries to imagine Chansung holding her close like that, but the image isn't really right, in his mind.
The lyrics made him first giggle, then sink in consternation when he understood he would be the one to sing them. He watched videos and MVs of her, to get the feeling and the mood right. The links are in his Favorites list, and the only reason he accepted at that time was Nichkhun whistling and Junsu mumbling about how unfair it was that *he* never got any duet with attractive women.
“Make me your candy?” Jay asks incredulously. “Does that mean she's gonna lick you all over?” Of course Taec never had fantasies about this later.
She got him right after the few words they exchanged. She was *smart*. Witty, in a sort of candid and caring way. And she liked his eyebrows wiggling, she laughed at his jokes, she punched him in the arm. For the first time in his life, Taec felt at ease with a pretty, sexy woman. Nothing was embarrassing, neither the shooting of the MV, nor singing: "I love you" on repeat like the beastly idol he was. He was as happy as she was when they first performed it on stage.
And he understood he was in love because he got that sudden, impulsive urge to hold her in his arms and to kiss her for real.
He's here, now. In love with her and stuck because he doesn't know what to do. On the outside it's still easy, they still laugh together, but Taecyeon wants more. He hoped nobody would notice, how he laughs stupidly whenever someone says her name, but 2PM are surprisingly perceptive. Even Junho knows. They all learned *his* eyebrow-wiggle to torture him whenever Jay croons: "Make me your candy!" in a mock high-pitched voice. They're cool with it though, aside from that. They elaborate strategies to send him on dates without management knowing, they plan on inviting her over for lunch and ask what her intentions are. It's horribly embarrassing but it's also comfortingly supportive.
Still she doesn't know, she doesn't know that when Taec holds her waist between his hands he'd like to drag her even closer, to never let go, she doesn't know that he longs for a real kiss, she doesn't how her smiles and eyes and body drive him mad. He wants her. He's a bit sick of being the goofy dog who woofs with his ear flapping around. He'd love to show her he's serious, he's hot and cool and smart and sexy and, hey, check those abs. That was Jay's line.
He does try. He lets his hand brush hers longer than necessary, he leans close over her shoulder and once, just once, his lips touched her skin, just behind the ear. That made sparkles of heat crawl under his skin and he retreated quickly. She didn't mention it afterward.
So goddamn stuck.
Concert. The lights, the urgency, and the lack of time to think. They're all performing tonight, OneDay and Baek JiYoung and Davichi and the Brown Eyed Girls and SHINee and BiRain (“I'm so excited,” he tells Junho who looks like he's about to faint.) and so many artists it's a wonder how they're all going to fit on stage. The greatest charity concert ever.
It's their turn to step on stage, to sing their song. It goes well because it couldn't go wrong after the number of performances and rehearsals. “Make me your candy,” he says, then: “I love you”, and she repeats: “I love you”. She flies by him in a whirlwind of shiny, sparkly fabric, comes back, smiles, and dances close and away again. The first notes of SHINee's RingDingDong mix with the end of the song, the mics get tuned out and he's pressed against her, the next move makes him cringe already. She turns her head in fake abandon. He lifts her and carries her off-stage, she weights almost nothing and he could stay like this for hours if it meant she was his in his arms. But he'll let her down and she'll laugh and walk away. Her arms already slip from around his neck.
“I love you,” she whispers in his ear when her feet touch the ground. He gets to taste her smile.