[fic] The Taste of Rain
//Pairing//: Doojoon x Junhyung
//Prompt//: {✗} + "under the rain"
//Rating//: PG-13
//Summary//: Junhyung meets Doojoon when they're both stranded outside the convenience store.
//Word Count//: 1,859
//Author's Note//: For daetothebak - I hope the end product is to your liking! Sorry for taking so long! Thanks to comicbookending for beta-ing.
The first time they meet, it’s outside the convenience store. Well, not exactly the first time, as in, the first time ever, because Junhyung has noticed Doojoon plenty of times, mostly when he’s making a monkey of himself on the University’s Astroturf (he means that in the most affectionate way possible). But the first time they meet - as in, for real, with actual greetings and everything (that’s not exactly true either, because Junhyung only sort of squeaks in response to Doojoon’s outstretched hand and throaty laugh - Junhyung never squeaks), the first time they meet, it’s outside the convenience store.
“Quickly Convenience Store - Quickly does it!”
The red-and-white signboard assaults Junhyung’s eyes as he saunters into his local corner shop. He grabs a worn plastic basket from the stack by the door and starts picking ‘essentials’ (tinned sardines, beef jerky, beer) off the tightly-packed shelves. If he didn’t live in such a crappy neighborhood, Junhyung would be able to afford food with a better nutritional index, instead of the stuff he’s buying that probably even his fictional pet dog wouldn’t eat. His housemates Hyunseung and Dongwoon complain that they can’t live on beans and toast forever, no matter how tantalizing that sounds, but they shovel down whatever Junhyung puts on the table, so he figures they can’t mind all that much. Since Junhyung got sacked from his one good gig hauling speakers around Itaewon because he somehow “needed” 22 hours of sleep, finances have been tight, to say the least.
Plus, the supermarket is too far away, so Quickly Convenience Store will have to do.
He stands in line for the cashier, his bobbly sweater an odd-shade of deep pink (to date, Dongwoon has apologized about 57 times for putting the coloreds in with the whites, but Junhyung still hasn’t really forgiven him - it was his best sweater, dammit, 58 apologies wouldn’t hurt). His basket creaks precariously and a broken piece of plastic snags his sweater, eliciting a string of colorful swear words from his lips. The teenage mother standing in line in front of him covers her baby son’s ears with both hands in response to this, shooting him a look of hatred that almost makes Junhyung wants to laugh in her face and say hey baby girl, if the condom hadn’t broke, you wouldn’t be here with that aegi in the first place. But he just bites his tongue and picks at the loose threads on his sweater, adding an extra cuss word or two just to spite her (small triumphs like these are … well, they’re Junhyung’s only triumphs at this point, pretty much).
He doesn’t look at the cardboard standee of cigarettes while paying. Two months ago Junhyung realized that he was spending more money on nicotine-flavored cancer sticks than on actual food and transport, so he made the bold decision to quit smoking (by quit he meant stop buying them - it didn’t mean he couldn’t steal the occasional drag or ten from Hyunseung’s nightly smoke). He thinks by avoiding eye contact with all that tobacco, he will be able to resist the burgeoning urge in him to smoke until he forgets his name (is that even possible? Junhyung doesn’t know, it just sounds epic).
He reaches for a lollipop instead.
This results in him standing outside the convenience store, his plastic bag of junk food in one hand, and one vanilla-flavored lollipop in the other. He squats on the step outside the store just staring at it, until he decides that it’ll go to waste otherwise and apparently simple sugars can be as deadly as nicotine (he just says that to comfort himself - it’s not exactly true), so what the heck. He unwraps the sucker (get it, get it) and rolls the wrapper up into a ball as he sticks the candy in his mouth, just as hard, angry raindrops hit the pavement.
Ah, frick.
He’s stuck outside without an umbrella, so Junhyung has every intention of squatting where he is and waiting it out, until his thoughts are interrupted by the sound of heavy footsteps - footsteps that are connected to beat-up canvas shoes, leading up to khaki pants and a white shirt with an upturned collar. Footsteps that belong to feet that almost bypass him, before they do an about-turn and 5 feet 8 (almost 9) inches of slightly damp Doojoon land right beside him.
“Damn thing won’t light,” is the first thing he says, after giving Junhyung the obligatory nod and grunt of acknowledgment at having infiltrated his personal space thus unceremoniously. He is fiddling with a cigarette (also slightly soggy), holding a cheap lighter to its tip, the weak flame drawing nothing but the odd wisp of smoke (disappointing, to say the least). Junhyung wants to say that he knows how that feels - instead, he says “Hello.”
Doojoon looks at him like he’s crazy, but whether he really does, Junhyung doesn’t know, because he laughs, and sticks his hand out towards him. “Hey, Doojoon. You?” Again, Junhyung wants to say “I know”, but he doesn’t, and this is where the squeak comes in (furthermore, he has a mouthful of vanilla lollipop, which makes things that much more difficult, obviously). But he takes Doojoon’s hand and shakes it anyway, accompanied with a slightly oddly-pitched “I’m Junhyung,” in response.
Once he swallows (vanilla-flavored saliva, nervousness, hero-worship), he manages to make actual conversation.
“I thought athletes weren’t supposed to smoke?”
So much for making actual conversation, Junhyung thinks, with an inward sigh at his obvious non-starter of a conversation topic. The rain is getting heavier now, and his shoes and the edges of his pants are getting wet - as are Doojoon’s, but neither of them seem to care, because Doojoon just laughs, and stuffs both cigarette and lighter into his pocket.
“Yeah. And I thought nice boys weren’t supposed to hang out in neighborhoods like this?”
This makes Junhyung laugh. A sense of humor, now that’s a first. “At least you’re funny,” he says in a tone of voice that breaks the ice - Junhyung’s always had a talent for that… not. Though this time, it really does.
“And if not?” Doojoon sidles closer to him to let someone else pass, using his mustard yellow backpack as a cushion as he holds one palm outstretched, watching raindrops splash off his fingertips (though he does retract his hand eventually to try his luck with the hapless cigarette again - tick, tick, boom).
“If not, you’d just be all beauty with no brains,” Junhyung’s gaze seizes up for a moment, because, Yong Junhyung, could you be any more gay with a guy you just met? No, this isn’t gay - this is just being funny. Humorous. “No one likes a meathead.”
“Yeah, my girlfriend might say otherwise,” Doojoon says coolly with a roll of his eyes, making a sound of approval when he finally gets the cigarette to light, and starts attempting to blow blue smoke rings that make Junhyung’s lollipop start to taste very inferior in comparison (he can almost taste the musky scent on his tongue). Junhyung bites down on the spherical impediment, cracking a piece of candy off it - he’s gritting his teeth so hard to curb his addiction. Doojoon must notice, because he stops talking about his housemates Yoseob and Kikwang, turning those sharp eyes of his on him, cigarette drooping from his lips (which are curved into some sort of smirk).
“Here, swap.”
The cigarette stub is offered to him, pinched between thumb (clubbed! He never knew) and forefinger. Junhyung hesitates for a moment, but in the end he caves, his craving for nicotine and 4000+ chemicals too strong for him to deny what is staring him in the face. In return, he offers his vanilla-flavored lollipop, which has one plane surface where he’s bitten a chunk off (he wasn’t going to, but Doojoon’s hand remained outstretched after he took the cigarette and that was all he had).
He really only means to take one (polite) drag, and return the thing to its owner, but the draw of it (menthol, musky tobacco, poison) is way too seductive for him to refuse, so he takes one, then another, then another, until he almost chokes when he realizes where said cigarette has been. “Err…” the words dry up in his throat, but his body language speaks for itself as he hands what’s left of the cigarette back to Doojoon. To his surprise, the so-called Athlete Who Smokes takes the lollipop out of his mouth, furrowing his eyebrows as he draws in another lungful of cigarette smoke, and pursing his lips as he expels it.
“Rain doesn’t look like it’s gonna let up,” he mutters, as he hands the stub (it really is a stub right now - two more drags and it’ll be gone) back to Junhyung, moving to place the lollipop back on his tongue (Junhyung takes that sucker back quick as a flash). “Oh, sorry,” Doojoon turns to him again and chuckles lowly, sticking out his tongue as he motions for him to do the same too. Feeling slightly violated, Junhyung does as he is bid, only to find the sweet, sticky taste of vanilla on his tongue. It only lasts for a moment, but he tastes something else mingled with it - a touch of cinnamon, lemongrass, sandalwood (his mother used to burn incense, so what), that he realizes, with a start, is what the inside of Doojoon’s mouth tastes like.
One, two, one, two. Doojoon swipes the lollipop across Junhyung’s tongue with a deft stroke of his wrist, before sticking it right back into his mouth, and Junhyung has to desperately suck the life out of that cigarette to take his mind off the riot in his tastebuds.
Because Junhyung’s life sucks (he hears Doojoon talk about something else, but doesn’t really process it, making non-committal sounds as he finishes the cigarette, then stubs it out with a vengeance on the pavement for having left him so prematurely), the rain starts to peter out, as rain often does, but he continues squatting there like nothing’s happening, hoping Doojoon won’t notice. He admits to himself that his heart sinks just one tiny notch when the other man dusts his pant legs off before moving to stand up. In fact, he’s surprised when Doojoon offers a hand to help him up, his sharp gaze lingering on Junhyung’s face a split-second longer than is necessary.
“So, Junhyung. I’ll see you around, yeah?”
“What, like at Uni?”
“Duh like at Uni. Unless next time you wanna make it a date for real.”
Oh, ha-de-ha-ha. “You wish.”
A pause, then a laugh, as Doojoon takes a step in the opposite direction, before saying with a grin. “Yeah, thought so.”
Junhyung purses his lips like he is actually thinking about it for a moment, then shrugs, and nods. “Yeah. See you around. Duh like at Uni.” He laughs, the taste of vanilla still on his tongue. “Okay if next time you wanna make it a date for real.”
“Cool.”
“Cool.”
The next day, Junhyung goes back to the convenience store and buys up all their vanilla lollipops.