Hats (9/?)
Title: Hats (9/?)
Author: ygwildchild
Pairing: Seungyoon/Taehyun
Rating: PG-13
Beta: kimnams
Genre: AU, Romance, Friendship, Fluff
Length: Chaptered
Word Count: 3,190 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: It took me so long to update omg (their ~amazing~ debut is one of the reason ^^;;). I really hope you enjoy this chapter! a little note: this chapter is kinda angsty lol. Feel free to leave a comment and constructive criticism. Thank you!! :3
Late at night after their meeting, Taehyun was lying on his bed, sleepy but not really wanting to sleep, staring at the ceiling as he kept thinking about what had just happened earlier at the café. Seungyoon had actually seen him last January? Like, wow. He indeed came to the festival, but he didn’t spend a long time there, and left with Seunghoon and Mino to go to their friend’s party instead.
It was a coincidence. He thought. It might be. It might be a coincidence that Taehyun needed to come to that festival, dragging his best friends, only to see his favorite indie band perform two or three songs, and then left. He really didn’t have any other reasons to come besides that. It might have been a coincidence that Seunghoon had an extra dance class and Mino was on a trip with his baseball club mates that day when he met Seungyoon for the first time. He didn’t have other choice that day except for him to do his favorite thing; read - or study - at the park.
Was it a coincidence? He was thinking about that again on his way back home, and thought that Seungyoon was right. It wasn’t just a coincidence, it was fate.
He reached his phone on the table beside his bed and, “oh!” there was a text from Seungyoon. He might have been really deep in thought earlier, so he didn’t realize that his phone had buzzed earlier.
Sat 10 May, 11:29pm
Arrive home safely, Taehyun? :)
Sat 10 May, 11:43pm
Yes, don’t worry, dad! :p
Sat 10 May, 11:45pm
Actually, there’s still something I’m curious about.
Sat 10 May, 11:47pm
What is it, *son*?
Sat 10 May, 11:48pm
The drawing.
Sat 10 May, 11:50pm
Oh. What about the drawing?
Sat 10 May, 11:51pm
Did you draw it *before* or *after* you found out that it was me with that hat?
Sat 10 May, 11:52pm
You want me to be honest right?
Sat 10 May, 11:53pm
Absolutely.
Sat 10 May, 11:54pm
Before.
Sat 10 May, 11:55pm
Really? Why?
Sat 10 May, 11:57pm
Because of your hat~
Sat 10 May, 11:58pm
You’re not telling the truth, are you?
Sat 10 May, 11:59pm
I am!
Sun 11 May, 00:01am
Ok. I’m not. *after* is the right answer.
Sun 11 May, 00:03am
Nice.
Sun 11 May, 00:04pm
When I said I was leaving, I wasn’t actually leaving. I drew that from quite afar.
Sun 11 May, 00:05pm
You think I was stalking you right?
Sun 11 May, 00:05pm
Not stalking, ok?
Sun 11 May, 00:08pm
See, you seem to like to send more than 2 texts, too.
Sun 11 May, 00:09pm
That’s all because of you. I’m affected.
Sun 11 May, 00:11pm
Go to sleep, stalker.
Sun 11 May, 00:12pm
:)
***
“Wow! I remember you were begging us to stop by the festival just to see that band!” Mino said. His face looked as if he just founded a new invention.
The three of them were sitting at the cafeteria the next Monday, having their lunch together as usual.
“More like, clinging and whining,” Seunghoon added, “but yes, I remember that, too. How did he see you? Like, when exactly? Did he tell you?”
“He just said that he saw me when he was looking for Jinwoo and his girlfriend.”
“His girlfriend?” Mino asked, surprised.
Taehyun raised his eyebrows. “Jinwoo’s girlfriend!” He exclaimed.
“That’s all?” Seunghoon asked again.
Taehyun narrowed his eyes, trying to remember. “Yeah. That’s all.”
“Nothing more, like, he saw you and he has liked you since then or something?” Seunghoon teased and chuckled.
Taehyun hit Seunghoon’s arm. “No.”
Seunghoon and Mino both shook their heads. “You both should just date each other, seriously. Tell him you like him. What are you waiting for? He likes you, Taehyun.” Seunghoon said.
“Why are you so sure he likes me?”
“Why are you so dense?” Seunghoon and Mino asked back simultaneously.
Taehyun frowned. “I don’t know. I’ll wait a bit more, I think…? He is just really nice to everyone. I can’t say he likes me just because he’s nice to me. I just met him a month ago!”
“Oh, to everyone?” Seunghoon started again, “Have you really seen him being nice to everyone? Does he treat everyone the same way as he treats you?” Seunghoon’s question hit Taehyun right in his stomach.
Taehyun didn’t answer.
“We told you to not think about that, yes. But that doesn’t mean you don’t have to tell him how you really feel.” Mino added.
“I think now is the best time for you and Seungyoon to actually start dating, really. You both are currently in a good state of relationship; like, you’re single, and you both evidently like each other,” Seunghoon said, “it would be different later if you - or Seungyoon - met another person when you both are not dating. You know what I mean, right?”
“Shortly, make it official before some jerk bumps in.” Mino concluded.
***
Taehyun walked slowly on his way back home, looking directly ahead of him, but his eyes were empty. He was deep in thought again - he really had so many things in his head lately. His best friends were right. He was enjoying his current relationship - or friendship - with Seungyoon now. He didn’t want another person to come in the middle and ruin everything. He had to make his relationship with Seungyoon official. But… how?
Taehyun opened his house’s gate and walked to the front door. He was about to open the door when he faintly heard the sound of strumming guitar strings and someone’s singing voice. He stayed outside for a few seconds and realized that those sounds were from inside his house. Once he came in, he could hear that Donghyun was singing in the living room, accompanied by the sound of a guitar.
Taehyun was going to tease his brother for singing so well. He tiptoed towards the living room, holding his laughter, until he reached the end of the hallway ready to surprise Donghyun, but suddenly realized that Donghyun wasn’t alone. There was someone who sang along with his brother quietly. He frowned, trying to figure out who that was with his brother. Unfortunately, he lost his balance and fell with a thud, followed by an, “Ow!”
Donghyun stopped singing. “Mom? Is that you?” he stood up and walked towards where the thud sound came and found Taehyun lying face-down helplessly on the floor, with a pathetic grin on his face. “Hyung? What are you-“
“Sshh!” Taehyun immediately got up, although his arms were hurt by supporting his body from falling. “Who are you singing with?” he asked quietly.
“Donghyun, is that your mother? Is she okay?” asked the person from the living room. And from the sound of him talking, Taehyun finally recognized that it was Seungyoon.
“No, hyung. It’s Taehyun hyung.” Donghyun could answer before Taehyun covered his mouth using his hand. Taehyun shortly removed his hand from his brother’s mouth, knowing it was useless.
“Taehyun?” Seungyoon stood up when Donghyun dragged Taehyun to the living room. “Hi! Are you okay? It seemed like you fell really hard…”
Taehyun grinned as he fixed his hair, embarrassed.
“Seungyoon hyung is here to practice with me. We’re going to perform at the charity event this Sunday, hyung.” Donghyun explained as if he knew that Taehyun would ask about that. He sat back on the couch.
“Yes, Taehyun,” Seungyoon added, “Donghyun would like to have an acoustic performance, too, so we decided to do a duet.” He smiled.
Taehyun nodded. “Oooh… sounds great!”
“You… can come this Sunday if you want. It’s free.” Seungyoon said. The way he smiled at Taehyun clearly showed how much he wanted Taehyun to come.
Donghyun scoffed. “I doubt he would come.”
Taehyun glared at Donghyun, and replied, “Sure! I will come.”
“Oh, because it’s free, right?” Donghyun continued on teasing his hyung.
“What time is the event gonna start?” Taehyun asked to Seungyoon, completely ignoring his brother.
The childish bicker between Taehyun and Donghyun made Seungyoon feel a bit awkward around them, but he couldn’t stop himself from smiling. He thought it was cute, since he didn’t have any siblings. “After lunch. From 1pm to 8pm,” Seungyoon answered, “we will perform at around 3 to 4pm, I guess.” He smiled.
“Cool, I will come. I’m so excited to see my brother perform!” Taehyun said sarcastically to Donghyun. “I’m going upstairs. Enjoy your practice.” He smiled at Seungyoon and left to his room.
“He will beat me up after you leave later, hyung.” Donghyun said after they heard the sound of a door being closed from upstairs. He sighed.
Seungyoon laughed. “You’re lucky. I don’t have anyone to beat me up at my house.”
Donghyun grinned. “Yeah…” he paused, “but, really. Don’t mess with Taehyun hyung. Either he will completely ignore you for a long time, or beat you up until you think he’s broken your bones.”
“Really? Whoa!” Seungyoon was quite surprised.
Donghyun nodded. “Don’t disappoint him.”
Seungyoon made an ‘ok’ sign using his hand and said, “Let’s continue our practice.”
***
Taehyun really came to the charity event on Sunday. He asked his best friends to go with him, but they already had other appointments.
“I’ll go to my sister’s house in Busan. It’s my nephew’s birthday on Sunday.” Seunghoon said when Taehyun asked him, while Mino had promised his dad to go fishing with him.
So there he was, standing alone in front of the gate of the event which took place at the small park beside the Church. There weren’t too many people, but it was really nice to see that everyone was having a good time there. Taehyun looked around and finally spotted Donghyun, who was sitting by himself next to a small stage. It seemed like he was tuning his guitar.
“Hey.” Taehyun patted Donghyun’s shoulder when he reached his brother.
Donghyun looked up and replied, “Eh? Hi, hyung! You’re here!” he said excitedly.
“Yeah, I’m here,” he said to Donghyun, but he was looking for Seungyoon’s presence.
“Seungyoon hyung is there,” Donghyun said, pointing to a small group of people who were having a discussion. “He’s discussing the performances.”
Taehyun nodded. He turned to Donghyun, “so the aim of all the performances later is to raise money and then donate it for charity?”
“Yep.” Donghyun answered. “Make sure you donate, hyung.”
Taehyun smiled, “Sure.” He sat on the empty chair beside Donghyun and talked about other things with his brother, until Seungyoon came to join them.
“Hi, Taehyun! You really came… thanks!” Seungyoon said once he reached the Nam siblings.
“Hi, Seungyoon!” Taehyun smiled, “Donghyun said that you’ll perform two songs…?”
“Yes!” Seungyoon said, looking adorably excited. He took Taehyun to walk around for a bit, having a casual conversation just like they usually did.
“Here’s your rundown, Seungyoon.” Someone suddenly said from behind Seungyoon.
Seungyoon turned around and Taehyun could see a black-haired boy holding out a few sheets of paper to Seungyoon. The boy was shorter than Taehyun and Seungyoon, but Taehyun was sure he was around their age, because he called Seungyoon by his name.
“Thanks.” Seungyoon took the rundown, gave a quick smile to that boy, and turned back to Taehyun.
“You’re welcome.” That boy said, but he didn’t leave. He smiled as he kept looking at Seungyoon - who had his back facing him.
Feeling awkward, Taehyun told Seungyoon, “Uhm, it seems like your friend has something more to say.”
Seungyoon looked a bit annoyed. He turned around. “Is there anything else?” he said to that boy.
The boy let out a sarcastic laugh and licked his lower lip. “Are you not gonna introduce your friend to me, Seungyoon?”
Seungyoon gave a forced smile and pulled Taehyun from behind to be beside him, and that startled the younger boy. “Taehyun, this is Jinhwan. Jinhwan, this is Taehyun.” He said.
Taehyun smiled. “Hi.”
“Hi, Taehyun. It’s nice to meet you,” Jinhwan said and smiled at Taehyun, “how long have you known Seungyoon?” he asked, still smiling, looking like he was trying too hard to be nice. There was something in his smile that made Taehyun uncomfortable.
Seungyoon rolled his eyes, but he was silent, and he looked away from Jinhwan.
“A month and a half, I guess.” Taehyun grinned.
“Oh, you two just met not too long ago, then?” Jinhwan replied.
“Yeah…” Taehyun shrugged and tried to keep being nice, although he felt more uncomfortable.
“Well, are you finished with the introduction?” Seungyoon asked. He looked really annoyed this time.
Taehyun didn’t say anything. Jinhwan laughed.
“Don’t worry. I’ll leave you here,” Jinhwan said, “Enjoy the event, Taehyun.” And with that, he left.
There was a long silence after Jinhwan left. Taehyun didn’t dare to ask or say anything. He saw a look in Seungyoon’s eyes that he hadn’t seen before, a mix between guilt and anger. They walked in silence until they were back at the waiting room for the performers.
“Is it okay if I leave you, to practice with Donghyun for a bit?” Seungyoon asked, giving a small smile to Taehyun.
“Yes, it’s fine. Go ahead.” Taehyun tried to smile casually. He knew something was wrong with Seungyoon since they met Jinhwan earlier, and he was dying to ask, but he held himself to not talk about that. Somehow, it felt inappropriate; the look in Seungyoon’s eyes after he saw Jinhwan made Taehyun scared. What was it with Jinhwan that made the usual calm and kind Seungyoon turn into the state he was in right now?
***
Seoul University of Art: New Year 2014 Festival. Wednesday, January 1st 2014, 00:14am.
The fireworks show had just finished, but the festival was still going. Seungyoon and Jinwoo were standing near the gate, talking about something, clearly not in a state of ‘enjoying the festival’.
“I’m such a pathetic guy, aren’t I?” Jinwoo said as he deepened the whole part of his neck, up to his chin, into his coat. There was worry clearly painted on his face. That worry send floods of uneasiness through the atmosphere, bleating within his wide eyes, and Seungyoon could feel it. “We’ve only been dating for nearly a month but I made her disappointed already.”
Seungyoon sighed. He patted his best friend’s shoulder. “Girls are like that, Jinwoo. They need you to understand.”
Jinwoo shook his head. “How can I understand if she never tells me what’s wrong or what she wants? How am I supposed to understand if she doesn’t say anything? I asked her, Seungyoon, I asked ‘what’s wrong?’ but she replies to me with ‘you don’t know what’s wrong?’ and leaves me dumbfounded.”
Seungyoon laughed. “Now where is she?”
“Do I look like I know where she is?” Jinwoo scoffed. He looked around. There were some people there that he barely knew. His faculty mates were nowhere to be seen. He saw only a few of his friends from another faculty that he knew from school and additional classes. He still didn’t see Seulbi around.
“I’ll help you to look for her.” Seungyoon said.
Jinwoo turned to look at Seungyoon. “Are you sure? Aren’t you supposed to meet that guy from the Church? What’s his name again?”
“Jinhwan?”
“Yeah, Jinhwan.”
Seungyoon shook his head.
“No? Why? He is nice! He seems likes you.” Jinwoo said, forgetting a slight bit about his problem with Seulbi.
“He is… not my type?” Seungyoon tried to explain.
“Whoa, you’re so mean.” Jinwoo covered his mouth with his hand, faking concern.
“I mean, we can be just friends, right? It’s not like I don’t like him, I just don’t really match with his friends.” Seungyoon stated.
“Really? Just because of his friends?”
Seungyoon sighed. “Try to hang out with Hanbin and Jiwon, and find yourself the answer to why I don’t match with them.”
Jinwoo rolled his eyes. “Do I have to? What’s wrong with them though?”
“There’s nothing wrong with them. They are fine. It’s something wrong with me hanging out with them,” Seungyoon said, “Like we barely have anything in common. And that makes us really, really, unable to get what each other are talking about.”
“But you can still talk to Jinhwan.”
“Yeah, but when he is with his friends, he doesn’t really help me either.”
Jinwoo chuckled.
“Let’s just look for your girlfriend.”
“I’ll go around there,” Jinwoo pointed at the bazaar area, “and you, try to look for her at the music show area.”
Seungyoon went to the area where the music show was held. There was an indie band which had just started to perform their first song. Seungyoon looked around casually; he didn’t want any suspicious looks from anyone for looking at people’s faces. He forgot to ask Jinwoo what Seulbi wore that night, at least the color of her coat, to make it easier to find her. He didn’t have any other choice than to carefully check out people’s - girls’ - faces.
He reached almost the front area of the audience, but he needed an extra strength to break through the over-excited people in the front row. So he refused to continue and turned around. He checked out his phone and Jinwoo actually had texted him that he thought he was lost. How could he get lost in a small area like that? He put his phone back into his pocket and started to walk back. Now he had to look for both Jinwoo and Seulbi. He sighed.
On his way back, he saw someone excitedly watching the performance, singing along to the song just like the other audience members. But what made Seungyoon stop to look at him again was the smile painted on his reddened face - probably because of the cold air - and the droopy eyebrows following his smile.
He stared at Taehyun - but back then he didn’t know that was his name - until he felt his phone buzz. Jinwoo called. He couldn’t talk on the phone in such noisy area like that so he got out of the music show area and picked up the call, forgetting about the boy he just stared at.
But he never really forgot.
***
Taehyun sat in the middle row of the audience, enjoying the performance of - they said - a sibling duo, who composed their own songs especially for this event. Donghyun said that he and Seungyoon would perform after the sibling duo performed.
Just when the duo started to sing their second song, Taehyun felt someone pat his right shoulder. He turned and saw Jinhwan already sitting beside him. Jinhwan didn’t say anything. He just smiled and enjoyed the performance just like the others.
Taehyun, who felt more curious than ever, decided to ask, “Have you known Seungyoon for very long, Jinhwan?”
Jinhwan was startled by the sudden question from Taehyun, but he answered as casually as he could, “I’ve known him for a year.”
“Oh.” Taehyun had a feeling that this conversation with Jinhwan would lead him to a bad result, so he tried to just stop there.
But Jinhwan didn’t want to end it there.
(tbc)
a/n: a little reminder that you have to keep watching Color Ring and Empty M/Vs ^^