a fighting chance
taecyeon has trouble finding the line between acting and reality.
wc→1,009; taecyeon/soohyun (the actor); pg-13
taecyeon supposes that soohyun’s acting is superb, especially if he starts to act like samdong off-camera. but when he ignores taecyeon whenever they’re in the same room, avoiding eye contact unless they have to look at each other in a scene in a scene, and using all methods possible to completely blow him off, taecyeon starts to think that enough is enough. their job is stressful enough as it is without all this tension.
the greatest shock is the scene when soohyun bowls him over, right into the sofa. the impact is startling because it hurts, and when soohyun lifts his head, taecyeon’s almost surprised to see the flush on his cheeks as he spits out his lines. taecyeon’s mind goes blank and he almost forgets to act, almost forgets to breathe, and its not until the last second that he stammers out his own lines. they have to repeat his lines five times before he finally gets it right, and soohyun glares at him throughout like a cold statue.
when they’re done with the scene and soohyun stalks off, suzy raises her eyebrows. “did you two have a fight?”
taecyeon shakes his head, scratching at the back of his neck. taecyeon’s an easy going guy, he doesn’t really like confrontation all too much. but he doesn’t like when people are mad at him either. it might just be acting, but he doesn’t know, he can’t distinguish between the two because it just feels too real.
he finds soohyun in the practice room set, sitting on the floor and staring at his feet. taecyeon can almost feel the thick rage in the air as he slowly steps towards him, afraid he’ll jump up and tear his head off. maybe he’ll be passive-aggressive like nichkhun. taecyeon has no idea, and it bothers him.
“hey,” he squats down beside soohyun, and almost flinches at the glare he receives. he forces a smile. “are you okay? did i do something wrong?”
just like that, soohyun’s glare melts into concern. “no, why would you?”
taecyeon just stares. soohyun stares back. taecyeon shuffles his feet and soohyun looks down at them. was this all a dream? “so why have you been glaring at me?”
“i was acting,” soohyun looks up at him an his face breaks into a wry smile. “why, is my acting so good?”
taecyeon opens his mouth to say something, but closes it again when nothing comes out. he does this a few more times before soohyun laughs and uses taecyeon’s shoulder to push himself to his feet. “it just takes time for my feelings to wear off.”
taecyeon grimaces and follows soohyun towards the door. this is what real acting is like. soohyun must have sensed his mood because he wraps an arm around taecyeon’s shoulders and pats him. “don’t worry taec,” he starts to say, but when taecyeon looks up from the floor, their noses touch and the shock makes them both freeze.
soohyun’s eyes remind him of hot chocolate, the good kind. it fills him with warmth when they’re happy and it makes his lungs freeze when they’re angry. they’re beautiful--like soohyun, andthe next thing taecyeon knows, his cheeks are being cupped by two warm hands and lips make contact with his open mouth.
his jaw drops as his heart jumps into his throat and then soohyun jerks his head a way, wiping taecyeon’s drool off his face with the back of his hand. “that’s so gross.”
“...yeah,” taecyeon says dumbly, trying to think of something to say--anything to say, some joke. soohyun glares at him again, and taecyeon flinches. now they were back to that again.
“stop taking life so seriously,” soohyun grins. taecyeon, feeling kind of like he’s just been whipped around like a doggy chew toy, grins back.“its too short to waste.” he pats taecyeon on the cheek and runs out the door, blushing mad.
it takes taecyeon a full minute to chase after him and wrap his hand around his arm and shove him into the first dark corner he sees to kiss him properly this time.
“next time you tackle me, try not to hit me so hard,” he whines, when they’re both gasping for breath.
soohyun’s eyes are hooded by his hair but his teeth flash white in the darkness as he grabs taecyeon’s chin. “i make no promises.” taecyeon’s slightly jealous of how good he looks in this light, how smooth his skin is, and when he runs his hands up his shirt, how slim his body is. what he wouldn’t give for a body like that, lean and slim. what does it feel like to not be a human tank with hard chiseled features?
he bends his neck to kiss him again, but the call comes for the next scene and they stare at each other for one floundering moment until something in taecyeon says fuck it and plants a teasing kiss on soohyun’s mouth. soohyun hisses in response, because the director is starting to sound very irate.
“just tell him you’re getting into the mood,” taecyeon says, fumbling with soohyun’s belt. “our characters are definitely gay for each other, anyway.” a teasing grin lights his lips and he ends up laughing, burying his head in soohyun’s shoulder instead of any other promised events.
soohyun tries not to be too disappointed, curling his arms around taecyeon’s neck and biting his ear, hard, just to make him yelp. “shut up!” he punches him, and taecyeon pulls away pouting, helping soohyun fix himself before running out from under the stairs.
(they think they get away with it, until later when suzy cocks her head and says, “you two would look good together.” they both turn and stare at the mischievous smile on her lips. taecyeon shivers when she realizes that she’s staring at his still-red ear.
soohyun and taecyeon turn and look at each other, and taecyeon’s the first one to speak. “he hits to hard.” soohyun punches him in the shoulder.
taecyeon’s not surprised when he wakes up the next morning feeling like was hit by a tank.)