Hats (7/?)
Title: Hats (7/?)
Author: ygwildchild
Pairing: Seungyoon/Taehyun
Rating: PG-13
Beta: kimnams
Genre: AU, Romance, Friendship, Fluff
Length: Chaptered
Word Count: 3,755 for this chapter
Disclaimer: I do not own any of them, only the story.
Summary: Taehyun wears a hat that brings him to meet a boy with a bright smile named Seungyoon. And it changes every feeling Taehyun has ever had.
Author's Note: Feel free to leave a comment and constructive criticism. Thank you :)
“You look happier each day since last weekend, Taehyun,” Mino said, his bold eyebrows raised, “there must be something you haven’t told us… what is it?”
They were sitting in Mino’s living room that evening, watching a DVD and eating pizza. “I’ve noticed too. It must be something that relates to Seungyoon, right?” Seunghoon added after he finished eating a slice of pizza.
Taehyun responded with a grin, making both Mino and Seunghoon sigh.
“It’s nice to see you’re happy, but please stop smiling like that. You look silly,” Mino said and chuckled, “and we’re currently watching a sad movie, there is any reason to smile at it,”
“What is it this time, Taehyun?” Seunghoon asked without looking up from the TV screen.
“I’m going out with him again tomorrow,” Taehyun answered, smiling.
“Oh,” Seunghoon replied.
“He asked me to go to the pool hall,” Taehyun added.
Seunghoon and Mino turned to Taehyun. They looked quite surprised.
“What for? To play Billiards?” Mino asked as his eyes widened.
Taehyun rolled his eyes, “No, to watch a movie,” he answered with a sarcastic tone and continued, “well, of course to play Billiards!”
Mino laughed while Seunghoon choked.
“He can play Billiards?!” Seunghoon asked before drinking a full glass of water to ease his throat.
“Yeah. Why?” Taehyun frowned.
“I never thought that he did sports such as Billiards,” Seunghoon said, still looking surprised.
“I thought he was the type to play Chess,” Mino added, trying to stop laughing because he still had pizza in his mouth.
Taehyun shrugged, his eyebrows lifted, “Chess wouldn’t make him less attractive though,” he said, then casually taking a sip from his cola.
“Long live the Korean language!” Mino suddenly exclaimed, raising his hands up, ”that was the first time I’ve heard Taehyun call someone attractive!” and that made Seunghoon laugh.
Taehyun rolled his eyes, watching his friends acting silly. Just then, his phone buzzed. Seunghoon and Mino turned their attentions back to the movie, while Taehyun opened a new text message that he just received.
Thu 24 Apr, 07:18pm
Hi, Taehyun. Just a reminder that you will go to a pool hall with Kang Seungyoon tomorrow :p
Taehyun smiled. He liked it when Seungyoon sent him random messages. They hadn’t met each other again after their last meeting on Saturday morning, but they kept texting.
Seungyoon was mostly the one who started their text conversations, and all of the messages were completely random. Like, the one Taehyun received on Tuesday afternoon: ‘Did you know that Hummingbirds can fly backwards?’. When Taehyun asked the reason for telling him that, Seungyoon said it was just because he saw a bird on his way back home.
Thu 24 Apr, 07:19pm
I won’t forget though, but thank you for the reminder, Seungyoon :)
“You’re smiling again,” Seunghoon teased, glancing at Taehyun.
Taehyun didn’t reply. He was too busy texting with the other boy out there, interacting with him.
“He won’t listen,” Mino shook his head and laughed.
***
“Mom, grandma, I’m leaving,” Taehyun said to his mom and grandmother who were sitting in the living room.
“Eh? Didn’t you just come back from campus? Where are you going?” his mother asked as she put her cup of tea on the table.
“I have an appointment,” Taehyun answered, “with Seungyoon.”
“Oh,” his grandmother smiled, “you go out with him often these days. How about Mino and Seunghoon?”
Taehyun chuckled, “they’re fine,” he fixed his hair and said, “I should go now. Bye, mom, grandma.”
"Take care, Taehyun-ah." his mother said.
Taehyun walked to the subway station where he and Seungyoon were going to meet. It was quite rare not hearing anything from Seungyoon before they met. He texted Seungyoon earlier about their meeting, but there weren’t any replies, so he assumed he could just go and wait at the subway station.
Once he reached it, Taehyun sat on one of the benches and checked his phone. There still weren’t any calls or text messages from Seungyoon, though he was someone to reply avidly. He decided to text the boy first.
Fri 25 Apr, 03:12pm
Seungyoon, I’m at the subway station now. Hope you’re okay and will come soon :)
Taehyun looked around. There wasn’t any sign of Seungyoon’s presence. He waited for almost fifteen minutes and decided to call Seungyoon.
No answer. He started to feel upset and worried, and was about to call Seungyoon again when his phone rang. The boy was calling him. He answered the call without waiting any longer.
“Seungyoon, are you okay?” Taehyun asked immediately.
“Taehyun, I’m really, really sorry!” Seungyoon said with a worried voice.
“No, it’s okay, just- are you okay? You didn’t answer my call or reply to my messages. Where are you?”
“I’m fine. I’m at home now. I just-“ Seungyoon paused and Taehyun could hear the boy was trying to manage his breath on the other line, “my mom is sick…her body temperature has risen a dramatically since last night, and she’s wasn’t getting any better until just now. I called the doctor and he just left. I was taking care of my mother the whole day and talking to the doctor earlier. That’s why I didn’t answer your call and reply to your messages…”
Taehyun frowned, his eyebrows sympathetic and slanted, “oh, Seungyoon…I’m sorry.”
“You don’t need to be sorry, Taehyun…I’m the one who’s sorry. I don’t think I can make it to our appointment today…” Seungyoon said slowly.
Taehyun smiled softly, “your mom is more important, Seungyoon. It’s totally okay with me.”
“We’ll go next time,” Seungyoon said, “even without vouchers,”
Taehyun chuckled, “yeah, okay.”
They ended the phone call. Taehyun sighed, and he suddenly got an idea. He decided to go to Seungyoon’s house, since he thought that it would be nice of him if he could help Seungyoon take care of his mother. Taehyun remembered every time he was sick, his mother would make samgyetang (Korean traditional chicken ginseng soup) for him, and it was quite easy to make. Taehyun went to the grocery store to buy the ingredients and headed to Seungyoon’s house.
Taehyun knocked on the front door once he reached Seungyoon’s house and didn’t need to wait too long until the door opened.
“Hi,” Taehyun smiled when he saw Seungyoon was the one who opened the door.
Seungyoon was a bit surprised, but he smiled and replied, “hi, Taehyun!”
“I was thinking that it would be nice to visit your mother and help you with taking care of her a bit.” Taehyun grinned.
“Taehyun…you’re so kind,” Seungyoon frowned, “I’m sorry-“
“Don’t be sorry! Let’s just pretend that you never asked me to go to the pool hall,” Taehyun said, gesturing at the paper bag in his grasp, “Look, I bought some things for your mother.”
Seungyoon smiled and invited him into the house.
“What did the doctor say about your mother?” Taehyun asked as he placed the paper bag full of food ingredients that he bought on the kitchen table.
“She got a fever. The doctor gave her some medicine. He said she will slowly get better.” Seungyoon answered. He looked down, and Taehyun could see the worry on his face, “Do you want to meet her? She will be okay for a few minutes visit, I guess,” he smiled softly.
Seungyoon led Taehyun to his mother’s room and slowly opened the door, “Mom, Taehyun is here to see you,”
Taehyun peeked behind Seungyoon’s shoulder before Seungyoon let him to come into the room.
“Good evening, eomeoni,” Taehyun bowed.
“Aigoo, Taehyun…thank you for coming,” Seungyoon’s mother said softly, still managing to smile, “it’s our first meeting but I’m like this,” she let out a weak chuckle, “sorry, Taehyun-ah.”
“Ah… it’s okay. I really hope you get better soon.” Taehyun smiled.
“Thank you, Taehyun,”
They talked a bit for a few minutes and then he left her to rest peacefully. They left the room and went back to the kitchen. Seungyoon gave Taehyun a glass of water before looking into the paper bag on the kitchen table.
“Wow, Taehyun, what are these?” Seungyoon said as he took out the food ingredients one by one from the paper bag.
“Oh, those are samgyetang’s ingredients,” Taehyun answered as he placed the glass on the table, “my mom makes it for me every time I get a fever.”
“And you bought this for my mom?”
“Yeah…” Taehyun grinned.
“Thank you! I was worried by the thought of my mom only going to eat instant soup while she was sick, because I can’t cook…” Seungyoon chuckled, “do you know how to make it?”
“Well…” Taehyun shrugged, “this would be my first time making it, but I guess it wouldn’t be too difficult.”
Seungyoon smiled, “let’s try it!”
A few minutes later they finished preparing all the ingredients. Taehyun successfully washed the chicken with some sort of ‘ew’ and ‘whoa’ sounds coming out from his mouth, making Seungyoon laugh while he prepared the rice. They followed the directions from a recipe that they browsed earlier on the internet.
“…now, stuff the chicken with ginseng and four cloves of garlic,” Seungyoon read out the instructions.
Taehyun followed the instructions and nodded as a clue for Seungyoon to continue telling the instructions to him. So, the deal was; Taehyun was the one who does the cooking and Seungyoon was in charge of reading out the directions from the recipe - although Seungyoon’s part was mainly to admire Taehyun being cute.
It supposedly took about one hour to make it, but they, as amateurs, needed almost two hours to do everything well. After the last forty minutes were spent boiling the chicken while the other ingredients were in the pot, the samgyetang was finally ready to serve.
“Whoa, it smells so good! Looks delicious~” Seungyoon said, fascinated by the dish they just made.
Taehyun laughed, “We make a good cooking team.”
“Ah… you did all the work, Taehyun. You made it,” Seungyoon said, and he patted Taehyun’s shoulder.
“I wouldn’t have made it properly without your instructions,” Taehyun said. He lifted a spoonful and asked Seungyoon to taste it.
Seungyoon closed his eyes while he tasted the soup.
“How is it?” Taehyun asked, waiting for Seungyoon’s reaction nervously.
Seungyoon opened his eyes and smiled widely, “it’s delicious, Taehyun, well done! My mom will really like it!”
“Really?”
“Yes! You should try it,” Seungyoon said and fed Taehyun a spoonful of the soup too.
“Woah! It is indeed delicious,” Taehyun said after he tasted it and laughed, “I can’t believe we were the ones who made it.”
“You made it,” Seungyoon insisted.
Taehyun smiled. He looked around the kitchen and sighed at the mess they made. He poured the dish into a bowl and gave it to Seungyoon, “serve it to your mom while it’s still warm. I guess it’s time for her to eat and take her medicine, right? I’ll clean all of these,” he said as he started to do the dishes.
“No, leave them here. I’ll do the cleaning part,” Seungyoon held Taehyun’s arm in order to prevent him from doing the dishes.
“No, Seungyoon. You take care of your mother. I’ll take care of this,” Taehyun insisted.
Seungyoon couldn’t do anything but agree. He placed the samgyetang with a bowl of rice and a glass of water on the tray, and then went to his mother’s room.
Just when Taehyun finished cleaning the kitchen, Seungyoon came back from his mother’s room to the kitchen.
“My mom really liked it! She said you cook very well,” Seungyoon said before putting the empty bowl in the sink, “she said ‘thank you’ and is sleeping now after taking her medicine. Thanks again, Taehyun,” he smiled.
“It’s really nice to hear that. I’m sure she will get better soon,” Taehyun smiled and looked at the clock. 7:44pm. He didn’t realized that it was raining until he looked through the kitchen window. He sighed and turned to Seungyoon who was looking at him.
“I think it’s better if you stay here until the rain stops,” Seungyoon suggested, “You don’t have another appointment, right?”
Taehyun grinned, “I don’t like walking under the heavy rain like that anyway.” he said, pointing to the window.
Seungyoon laughed softly, “Do you want to do something for now? I think there must be some good TV shows on around this time…” he headed to the living room and sat on the couch, “come here,” and with that, Taehyun followed him to the living room and sat beside him.
Seungyoon turned on the TV and the scene of a guy being chased by zombies on the street came out first, making both of them gasped suddenly. Seungyoon immediately switched the channel and laughed, followed by Taehyun’s laugh.
“I’m sorry- I wasn’t expected that scene to come out first!” Seungyoon said, still laughing. He knew both of them didn’t like horror.
“Hmpf- me neither! That was scary as hell. I don’t think I’ll be able to get that scene out of my head when I walk back to home later.” Taehyun replied. He face still looked shocked, although he was laughing.
“Oh, Taehyun… I will accompany you.” Seungyoon said.
Taehyun chuckled, “How? You can’t leave your mother alone while she’s sick, Seungyoon.”
“We can talk on the phone later. At least you don’t have to walk alone in silence, right?” Seungyoon smiled.
“Oh…yeah, good idea.” Taehyun murmured. He could feel himself blushing again. He was glad by the fact that Seungyoon cared about him so much.
Seungyoon kept switching the channels, looking for any decent TV shows for them to watch. After changing the channel a few times, suddenly a scene of a couple making out on the couch came out on the screen. Their eyes widened at that sudden scene and the atmosphere turned awkward. The remote slipped from Seungyoon’s grasp and he clumsily tried to catch it before it dropped to the floor.
Taehyun gulped. He bit his lip and slowly turned to look around the living room and through the window, avoiding the TV screen. He tried to hold his laughter.
After a few seconds of struggling, Seungyoon finally caught the remote and hurriedly switched off the TV. He sighed and saw Taehyun looking around awkwardly.
“I don’t think- I don’t think there are any good TV shows on at this time.” Seungyoon said carefully.
Taehyun turned to Seungyoon as calmly as he could, and replied, “ah, yeah. I guess so.” he grinned.
“Ah, it’s still raining outside.” Seungyoon got up and walked towards the window, looking through it and watching the rain, trying to break the awkwardness.
“Seungyoon?”
Seungyoon turned to Taehyun, “Yes?”
“I want to hear your guitar playing- I mean, I only hear it on the phone, so… I want to see you playing the guitar… if you don’t mind…?” Taehyun asked.
“Oh! Yeah, sure!” Seungyoon smiled, “Wait a minute, I’ll get my guitar from my room upstairs,” he went upstairs and back to the living room holding an acoustic black guitar. He sat beside Taehyun.
Taehyun watched Seungyoon tuning the guitar. The boy looked like a professional guitarist. The way he held the guitar on his lap, how he plucked the strings, and how he set the tuning pegs. Taehyun was once again hypnotized by Seungyoon’s charm, and he hadn’t even started to play any songs yet.
“What song do you want to hear now, Taehyun?” Seungyoon’s question broke Taehyun’s reverie.
“Hmm, anything,” Taehyun smiled.
Seungyoon hummed, making knock sounds by his nails tapping against the guitar, “oh!” he suddenly said, ”you have to guess which song this is…” and after that, he started playing the guitar.
(listen)
Taehyun watched Seungyoon play the guitar while humming the tune quietly. He knew the song. He knew the lyrics. He wanted to sing along but remained silent so that he could listen clearly to the guitar’s melody.
“…so?” Seungyoon said softly when he had finished, “Guess, what song was that?”
“I really wanna love somebody, I really wanna dance the night away-” Taehyun sang the part of the song instead of mentioning the title.
Seungyoon smiled and sang along, “I know we're only half way there-“
“But you can take me all the way… you can take me all the way…” both of them harmonized each other’s voices.
“I love that song,” Taehyun said, “and you played it on guitar as amazingly as always! How can you even do that?”
Seungyoon smiled shyly. He rubbed his nape as he said modestly, “I just learnt to play the song well, I guess.”
They both chuckled, and then there was a silence. Seungyoon was playing his guitar randomly, while Taehyun looking through the window. The rain was still falling and it started to get colder somehow. He was wearing a short-sleeved shirt; that must have been the reason why he was feeling cold.
Seungyoon noticed that Taehyun was rubbing his own arms because of the sudden cold. He propped up the guitar beside the couch and got up, “Do you need a blanket? Or do you want to change your shirt to a long-sleeve shirt? I’ll get it if you want.” he suggested.
Taehyun shook his head, “No. I’m fine, thanks,”
Seungyoon sighed, “Never mind, I’ll get a long-sleeved shirt and blanket for you.” he was about to go but Taehyun interrupted.
“You don’t need to, Seungyoon. I’m okay.” Taehyun said.
“No, Taehyun, you’re almost freezing. I don’t want you to get sick. I’ll get the long-sleeved shirt first in my room,” he said and went to his room upstairs.
Just a few minutes later, Seungyoon came back to the living room with a black long-sleeved shirt in his hand. He offered the shirt to Taehyun, “Here. You can use the bathroom to change your shirt. It’s there,” he pointed to the white door beside the stairs, “I’ll get the blanket,” and he left.
Taehyun went to the bathroom, but he didn’t change his shirt immediately once he got in. He stared at the mirror and looked towards the reflection of his face. And he blushed. He closed his eyes and slapped his own face with both of his hands. Wake up, Nam Taehyun. Behave! He repetitively said in his mind to himself.
Taehyun came back to the living room and was already wearing the shirt that Seungyoon let him borrow. There was a blanket on the couch, but Seungyoon wasn’t there and neither was the guitar. Taehyun thought that Seungyoon must have been upstairs to put his guitar back in his room. He sat and glanced to the window. The rain was still falling and even getting heavier. How can I walk back home under this heavy rain?
The clock showed that it was 9:11pm already. Taehyun sighed and decided to send a message to his mother, telling her that he would come home late. After he sent the message, he leaned his back against the back pillow comfortably. Gosh, this couch is really cozy. He threw his arms above him and murmured sounds of contentment. He closed his eyes, enjoying the comfort. He felt a bit tired after the long walk to the subway station, back to the grocery store and then to Seungyoon’s house, and then cooking for almost two hours. In a few seconds, he fell asleep unconsciously.
***
“Taehyun is here, and the rain’s still falling,” explained Seungyoon to Jinwoo, who was on the other line of the phone. Seungyoon was in his room, putting his guitar back, while Taehyun was changing in the bathroom.
“So?” Jinwoo replied shortly.
“So, what should I do?” Seungyoon asked.
“Let him go back home under the rain, or ask him to stay at your house,” Jinwoo answered without hesitation.
“I can’t let him walk under the heavy rain like that…” Seungyoon mumbled.
“Then you should ask him to stay for a night.”
“It’s not that easy, Jinwoo.”
“Yeah, well, you asked about what you should do, but when I tried to give you solutions, you were just complaining this and that. Just ask him to stay, I say; it’s the best thing you can do for such situation like this,” Jinwoo said, annoyed by Seungyoon’s nags.
“…so, ask him to stay?”
“Yes.”
“How should I ask him?” Seungyoon asked again.
Seungyoon could hear Jinwoo sigh, and then his best friend answered, “just, ’it would be better for you to stay at my house tonight because the rain doesn’t seem to stop’, or ‘it would be too late at night when the rain stops, you better stay here tonight’, or whatever you want to say to him,”
Seungyoon grinned, “The second suggestion seems like a good idea.” he said as he heard the bathroom door open.
“Yeah,” Jinwoo replied, hardly interested.
“See, you’re always reliable,” Seungyoon laughed, “thanks, Jinwoo!”
“No problem,” Jinwoo sounded like he was smiling.
“Anyway, I can’t leave him alone too long. I’ll end the call now. Bye!” Seungyoon heard Jinwoo replied ‘bye’ and ended the call. He quickly ran out of his room and walked down the stairs.
Seungyoon walked as calmly as possible to the living room, hiding his excitement. Once he reached the living room, he started to talk, “I’m sorry, I put my guitar back in my room and got a call from-“ he didn’t finish his sentence because he couldn’t believe what he just saw.
Taehyun was sleeping peacefully on the couch. His hair was naturally messy and some of it even fell onto the side of his face. He was breathing softly, and looked really deep into his sleep.
Seungyoon smiled. He walked closer towards the boy who was sleeping, and pulled the blanket carefully to cover Taehyun up to his chin without waking him up.
“You can sleep randomly like this…” Seungyoon whispered. He sat on the table in front of the couch and watched Taehyun sleeping in silence. He studied Taehyun’s face and couldn’t contain his smile. He was mesmerized by Taehyun’s unique eyebrow-line, by the way he closed his eyes, and by his lips that slightly opened with every breath.
The rain was slowly stopping, but Seungyoon didn’t want to wake Taehyun up. He didn’t want to ruin anything that the boy now dreamed in his sleep. But the main reason was because he didn’t want Taehyun to go home; he wanted Taehyun to stay there. This way, he could watch Taehyun sleeping all night, until he fell asleep on the underside of the couch, beside Taehyun.
(tbc)
a/n:
- the song in this chapter is originally by Maroon 5, arranged and played by Sungha Jung.
- samgyetang:
