Archive of Our Own

Doyoung met Jaehyun when he was six years old–technically he doesn’t remember what Jaehyun looked like, or how they met, or where they met, or anything of the sort. But something about Jaehyun triggers distant memories of a bright blue box being shoved into Doyoung’s hands, a scraggly handwritten note, an outfit nicer than the others lining his closet. He supposes the memory of the young boy is buried amongst the blue shirts, khaki pants, striped polos that his mother loved to dress him in, but the only thing that stands out is the bright blue box.

For some reason, Doyoung is convinced that part of it is made up in his mind. Why would this elusive Jaehyun, a small boy who bought him a birthday gift, pop up into his mind randomly and seemingly with no pattern?

Sometimes he’s on the train, squished among the bodies of commuters, and he’ll see the color of the velvet shirt Jaehyun gave him. Is the young boy’s mom smiling behind him? That’s a new part of the memory.

Once he was at the clinic for a check-up, and the nurse on duty introduced himself as Jaehyun. Doyoung scrutinized their face, wondering if this was the boy from all those years ago.

Most of the time, the memory pops up for no reason at all. He’s just struck with the funny feeling he had when he received the gift. Why had that young boy and his mother spent good money on the prettiest shirt Doyoung had ever seen and matching slacks? They couldn’t have been cheap, and they were meant for a rowdy first grader that Jaehyun passed in the hallway sometimes.

They weren’t close friends, and he remembers distinctly feeling a fluttering in his chest. The gift had felt entirely out of the blue. Why had Jaehyun’s mom endorsed it? What conversation had gone into getting the gift for Doyoung?

More than anything, Doyoung probably hangs onto the memory because the unknown surrounding the gift, the bright blue box, the young boy plagues Doyoung.

“Where are you going?” Doyoung shouts out to Taeyong’s retreating figure. They’re at a bar downtown where the music is too loud and Doyoung’s toes are going purple from where they’ve been trampled.

Taeyong barely glances back with a nod of his head, and Doyoung’s known him too long to not know it’s a signal that he’s getting a drink at the bar–and that he’s going alone because he’s hoping to sway an unsuspecting victim into paying for the drink while getting nothing in return.

Doyoung deflates, glancing at the tall table he has his elbows propped up on. There’s rings left behind from the condensation of the glasses a passing waiter whisked away, crumbs from something Doyoung would rather not investigate, and his own watered down rum and coke. He wonders if he should head to the dance floor or wait for Taeyong to come back.

There’s not much time between the fleeting thought and the chilled feeling of someone’s drink being poured down his back. He’s gasping, arching out of the way, “What the fuck!”

He spins around on his heel to catch sight of the prettiest person he’s ever seen staring back at him in shock. His friend is hanging off his back with an equally stunned face and Doyoung wants to explode. They did not just roughhouse so hard Doyoung ended up with his shirt plastered to his back and ice melting in his shoes.

“Oh, my God–”

“Dude, I’m so sorry!”

“That was his fault–”

“Was not, you hit me!”

“You spilled your drink from overreacting, not me hitting you!”

Doyoung can’t believe it. Neither person is looking at him anymore–-they’re more concerned with each other, blaming them for the mishap.

Doyoung rolls his eyes and decides it doesn't matter: he’ll just go in the bathroom on his own and fix the problem himself. Why waste time with two drunk people who are still bickering?

He makes his way to the bathroom with minimal obstacles and starts to peel the shirt from his skin. He prays the guy was drinking water…

It seems not so when he looks down at his shirt. What the fuck was that guy drinking? His shirt is now stained bright blue–like almost offensively blue. How old was that guy? Just barely old enough to be drinking alcohol, if Doyoung had to guess.

He’s mildly embarrassed to be standing in the bathroom completely topless, but he’s not sure he has another choice. Taeyong had insisted they go to the club as light and dark, and Doyoung had drawn the short stick and landed on light. He really liked this white shirt, and he wasn’t about to let the stain ruin it.

He starts running it under the tap, the hot water numbing the tips of his fingers as he tries to scrub out the blue liquid.

“Hey!” The door swings open and the man whose drink has been misplaced into Doyoung’s shirt is busting through the door, causing Doyoung to startle quite a bit. He jumps in place before glancing at the guy.

He expects him to say more, but the guy is frozen for some reason. He’s standing in the doorway with his hand on the handle and staring…staring right at Doyoung’s naked torso.

“Ew, what the fuck?” He quickly drops his shirt with one hand to cover his midsection the best he can.

It startles the man enough that he shakes his head and meets Doyoung’s eyes. “Dude, I am so sorry.”

“It’s whatever,” Doyoung shrugs, not interested in entertaining the guy.

“No, it’s not,” he steps further into the bathroom, finally letting the door swing closed. “I feel really bad.”

“Feeling bad doesn’t fix my shirt, so we might as well forget it,” Doyoung says. He turns away from the guy after he turns off the water. He got out most of the blue. “You should go.”

“Let me pay you back for the shirt, at least!” Damn, this guy is persistent.

“No, I’m fine.” Doyoung forgets there’s a mirror facing him and rolls his eyes. He starts ringing out the shirt, twisting it and letting the extra moisture fall back into the basin. “I don’t want anything from you.”

“Please, I feel so bad–”

“Look, thanks for coming to check on me, but there is quite literally no way for you to amend this situation. Don’t worry about it, please,” Doyoung says. He glances at the guy before turning away and shaking out the shirt with force, hoping to shuck off whatever he can.

“Are you putting that back on?” The guy sounds shocked. Doyoung flattens him with a look.

“I really don’t have another choice, do I?”

“Uh,” he says super intelligently. “I could lend you my blazer?”

The guy moves to take off the linen summer jacket he’s wearing, and Doyoung seriously considers it. The option between his damp shirt and the jacket from a stranger who made his shirt wet…

It’s almost a no-brainer to hold his hand out for the jacket, causing the guy to hurriedly take it off and hand it over. Doyoung shrugs it on and buttons the one singular button. Damn.

“Thanks,” he says anyway. He shakes his shirt out once again and gives the guy a curt nod, scooting around him to go search for Taeyong. He makes it a few steps before the guy calls out, “By the way, my name is Jaehyun!”

Doyoung freezes for a millisecond, wondering if–but no, of course not.

He keeps walking, opting to instead ignore the guy. Technically, if he plays his cards right, he’ll end up with a free jacket by the end of the night.

“Where’s that from?” Taeyong asks when they’re finally reunited.

“Don’t ask,” Doyoung sighs. Instead, he whispers in Taeyong’s ear and they’re fleeing the club with giggles spilling from their lips, hands clasped tightly together.

It’s not until a few weeks later that Taeyong admits he’d met someone that night–the man had come up behind Taeyong at the bar after Taeyong had been admittedly unsuccessful for a few minutes. Apparently, he was tall, beautiful, a charmer, and everything Taeyong wanted in a guy. He’d slipped Taeyong his number, leading to a few coffee dates and– “I’m potentially falling in love.”

Doyoung snorts straight into his glass, not expecting a love declaration from his friend a month into dating someone.

“Jesus Christ?” Doyoung says.

“No, I know,” Taeyong says. He shifts so his feet are tucked under him on the couch. They’re in Taeyong’s apartment, catching up and snacking. “It’s unexpected.”

“It’s more than that–it’s lunacy,” Doyoung says, finally moving to grab a tissue off the coffee table and dab water off his chin.

Taeyong pouts.

“Oh, don’t give me that!” Doyoung says. “You haven’t dated since your second year of college and now you’re falling in love? Sorry for being skeptical.”

“Well,” Taeyong looks away, picking at the skin around his nails. “Maybe it was fate.”

Doyoung fake gags, just for show. “Yuck.”

Taeyong isn’t impressed.

“Anyway…” Taeyong says. “I want you to meet him.”

Doyoung pulls a face. He really wasn’t expecting that. “Why?”

“What do you mean, ‘why?’ Of course I want you two to meet!”

Doyoung doesn’t know how to tell his friend that–no, meeting this guy really isn’t his priority right now. There’s a million deadlines at work, his brother’s birthday is coming up, and his mom has been hounding him non-stop about coming over for a visit. And yet–

“Fine,” he sighs. “What’s his name?”

“Johnny,” Taeyong grins, knowing he’s won.

“Huh,” he says, nodding. “And when should I meet him?”

“I was thinking…tomorrow?” Taeyong says.

“What the fuck?”

“I know, but we have plans to go to this outdoor bar, and since the weather will be so nice I thought it would be fun if you joined!”

“I’m not third-wheeling on a bar date?”

“Well…”

“I’m going to kill you.”

“It’s just that I haven’t met his best friend yet and they’re super close like we are and I thought it would be a fun hang out!”

“It sounds like a blind double date, and I’m not interested, Taeyong,” Doyoung huffs. He sets his glass on the coffee table and stands up to brush off the crumbs from his snack. “It would be impossibly awkward.”

“Please,” Taeyong whines. “I’ll buy you cake next weekend!”

Doyoung is already halfway to the kitchen so he can’t see Taeyong, but he doesn’t have to know the other is pouting. But he’s thankful they’re not facing each other, because the interest in cake would be written all over Doyoung’s face.

He enters the kitchen and pauses, just out of sight of Taeyong. Free cake. He could pick any bakery, including the overly expensive one where the line is always wrapping around the building. He never has the time to wait, but he could force Taeyong to repay the favor that way…

Doyoung checks himself one last time in the reflection of the elevator he’s in front of. The bar is actually a rooftop bar, and the wait to get up to the bar has taken longer than Doyoung expected–he’s now a few minutes late. Taeyong has been shooting him quick texts letting him know where they’re seated and to please hurry up.

He finally gets on the elevator and rolls his eyes at his company. A couple that can’t seem to unglue from each other long enough to be normal in public, and a group of giggling university students who don’t seem the legal age limit. He wonders if he’ll get the pleasure of watching them get turned away at the entrance.

He strategically pushes through the group of students so he can be the first person to hand his ID to the bouncer checking them. Once he gets the nod to head in, he barely glances back long enough to see the students enter, too.

Huh. Maybe they had good fakes.

“No fucking way.”

Doyoung walks up to the table Taeyong is seated at with two other men and nearly turns around to leave again. This can’t be happening.

“Doyoung!” Taeyong says when he hears his friend’s exclamation. “You found us!”

Taeyong jumps up from his seat to give Doyoung an awkward hug—awkward because Doyoung doesn’t move. At all. He’s stuck staring at the bright pair of eyes that stare back at him, equally as shocked.

“Doyoung, this is Johnny!” Taeyong tugs at Doyoung’s sleeve but honestly Doyoung isn’t budging. “And his friend Jaehyun.”

Johnny looks like he knows exactly what’s happening. He knocked Jaehyun’s drink all over Doyoung and watched his best friend chase after the man. He knows the rest of the story, that Doyoung walked out of the club in Jaehyun’s jacket. That Jaehyun’s been obsessing about how to meet the pretty man again.

Knows fate’s twisted sense of humor has brought them together at a rooftop bar in downtown, miles away from the club.

“Doyoung?” Taeyong tries to shake Doyoung out of his trance. He’s dumbfounded by the general discomfort between the other three, like they all know something he doesn’t.

“I’ve met them before.” Doyoung breaks his silence and climbs onto the barstool next to Jaehyun. “Just barely.”

“What?” Taeyong exclaims. “How!”

“They dumped vile blue liquid all over my shirt and I stole Jaehyun’s jacket,” Doyoung says, picking up the drink menu to flick through it.

“Look, I’m really sorry—”Johnny starts to apologize.

“You really don’t have to worry about it,” Doyoung smiles. “I got a free jacket out of the deal.”

“Actually,” Jaehyun says. “I was hoping to get it back—”

“Dude, just let him have it,” Johnny interrupts.

Taeyong is looking at them like he doesn’t fully understand what’s happening, but Doyoung doesn’t know what more there is to say—Taeyong saw the jacket and he knows it’s still in Doyoung’s possession.

“Anyway, did you all order yet?” Doyoung flicks through the obscene number of drink options before setting the menu down. He turns to Jaehyun. “I’m hoping you won’t be drinking something blue?”

Because fate’s hands have Doyoung mangled in their grasp, a cocktail waiter times their arrival perfectly, setting down a bright blue cocktail in front of Jaehyun. She then sets a beer in front of Johnny and a martini in front of Taeyong.

“Can I get you anything, hun?” She asks Doyoung. She yanks out her notepad and hums expectantly.

“I’ll have one of those,” Doyoung points at Jaehyun’s monstrosity, barely keeping the tone of disgust out of his words.

“I’ll be back in a minute.” She dashes off and Doyoung watches her ponytail bob to the bartender.

“So,” he simpers. “What’s so good about this colored drink?”

He asks Jaehyun, but Johnny answers. “He’s a child! He likes anything that will turn his tongue blue.”

The night carries on relatively normal—as normal as it can be when your best friend is Taeyong , who just started dating Johnny and Jaehyun is there.

So not super normal, but Doyoung does his best to enjoy himself for Taeyong’s sake. They laugh together, make fun of silly things, order a few rounds of drinks. They’re considering a few different appetizers when Jaehyun begs them to order nachos. He doesn’t care everyone else was eyeing the artichoke dip—he needs nachos.

When the nachos are brought out, Doyoung definitely respects the adamacy. They look amazing. They’re piled high with beans, cheese, jalapeños, colorful salsas, and black olives. The first bite has the best nacho crunch Doyoung could have asked for, and honestly, he’s satisfied.

There’s a nice buzz, but he’s not drunk. He can really lean in and enjoy the night.

And he does enjoy the night, and Jaehyun really isn’t that bad, until—

Well, technically Doyoung isn’t 100% certain it was Jaehyun’s fault. It makes the most sense to blame him, but everything happened too fast for Doyoung to fully comprehend.

There isn’t much of the nachos left. A few sad black olives, gooey cheese stuck to the plate, and a few chips. Most people would have left it for done.

Jaehyun is not like most people.

Jaehyun scooped the nasty concoction—or whatever he could—onto the remaining large chip and then somehow, the chip landed on Doyoung’s lap.

Jaehyun looks like a deer caught in the headlights and Taeyong and Johnny are cackling, but Doyoung is just trying to figure out what happened. It’s not like Jaehyun’s leaning over him, and there’s no way his coordination from plate to mouth is that bad, right?

Had someone knocked into him?

“I can’t believe it!” Jaehyun starts desperately wiping Doyoung down with his napkin, but Doyoung quickly shoos him away.

“Fucking hell, watch your hands!” He grabs the napkin himself and tries dabbing what he can. It’s barely any use. Jaehyun had managed to scoop some of the oil left over from the meat and Doyoung’s pants are ruined.

“I am so sorry,” Jaehyun squeaks.

“It’s fine,” Doyoung mutters. It’s not fine. Jaehyun’s not about to trade him pants in the bar’s bathroom so he’s stuck with stained pants. Totally not fine.

“Let me take you home!” Taeyong and Johnny double over in laughter at Jaehyun’s words. “No! I mean—shut up, you two! I mean let me take you to my place, I have a really good stain remover because…”

“Because…?”

“I spill on myself all the time?”

Johnny shoots up out of his chair, failing to stifle his laughter. Jaehyun’s ears are bright red, completely embarrassed. And Doyoung wants to laugh, too. But he can’t. He’s lamenting his luck.

“Fine,” Doyoung starts. “But after that I won’t be within a three-foot radius of you ever again.”

“Like that will stop him,” Johnny snorts.

“Bye, Taeyong,” Doyoung barely looks back as he hops off the bar stool and heads towards the exit. No use wasting time, and he’ll just text his best friend later. Johnny passes. For now.

Jaehyun’s on thin ice.

He barely makes it onto the elevator with Doyoung and awkwardly rocks on his heels. He hums like he wants to say something, but keeps stopping himself before words are formed.

Doyoung just lets him stew. Good. He should feel uncomfortable after ruining another clothing article of Doyoung’s.

“I, uh,” Jaehyun forms almost words. “I don’t live too far, it’s a quick walk.”

“‘Kay,” Doyoung sighs. His other option is catching a cab to his house, and really, what’s the point? It’s fun watching Jaehyun fluster and otherwise he’d be going home to an empty apartment, forced to clean his own clothes. This way he can make Jaehyun clean the pants, he’ll probably walk out with free sweatpants, and he might even get an easy lay out of the deal.

Who knows.

It really is a quick walk to Jaehyun’s apartment, but Doyoung knows everyone was looking at his crotch and it sucked to know it was for totally unsexy reasons. Boo.

“Well,” Jaehyun says as he unlocks the door. “Can I get you anything?”

“I’m good.” Doyoung follows Jaehyun inside. It’s a stupid nice apartment. What the fuck? Is Jaehyun rich?

“Can you take your pants off?” Jaehyun’s halfway down the hallway to the right of the entryway, flicking on lights as he goes.

“Can I get something to change into?” Doyoung laughs. Jaehyun looks mortified.

“Oh, my God! Yes, so sorry—don’t know why I didn’t think of that.” Jaehyun disappears in a doorway before quickly popping out with grey sweatpants folded nicely in his hands. “Here, there’s a bathroom just there.”

Doyoung ducks inside and shimmies his pants off. And, oh—these sweatpants are the nicest clothes Doyoung has ever worn. How are they so soft?

They’re a bit big at the waist so he double-knots the tie around his waist before deeming it safe to venture back out. Jaehyun’s apartment is massive, but Doyoung easily finds Jaehyun. He hands the nacho-ridden pants to him as he anxiously is hovering in the doorway of what is inexplicably a full laundry room. In an apartment. In the middle of a city. The massive apartment that Jaehyun lives in.

Jaehyun ducks into the laundry room and pulls out an impressive array of laundry products.

“What do you do?” Doyoung wonders aloud, looking down the hallway to Jaehyun’s state-of-the-art kitchen.

“Hm?” Jaehyun says, glancing up. “Oh, I just spill all the time, you know? So it’s nice to have these on hand! This one is for oil, but this one is for darker colors, like wine and… Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I meant—” Doyoung stutters. He looks around. Is he being pranked? “I meant, what do you do for a living to afford this place?”

“Oh,” Jaehyun flushes so bright red Doyoung wonders if there’s any blood pumping to his toes. “Oh, my God. That’s embarrassing. I never spill, by the way. I was making all that up.”

“Sure.”

Jaehyun scrubs vigorously, taking his embarrassment and frustration out on the fabric. “I work in tech.”

“Gross,” Doyoung sniffs. It gets a snort out of Jaehyun.

“Yeah.” He wipes away some stain remover and decides it’s not enough and continues to scrub. “But it’s got a nice view.”

Doyoung takes it as an invitation to explore further into the apartment on his own. He steps through the living room to large windows overlooking the skyline. He can’t believe how beautiful it is.

Jaehyun turns a light on behind Doyoung and it lights up his reflection. He’d worn a looser button up to drinks and he’s glad he did. It doesn’t look too stupid with the pants.

“I had to toss your pants in with a load of my laundry, I hope that’s okay,” Jaehyun sounds a little unsure.

“Don’t worry about it,” Doyoung calls over his shoulder. He gets a little closer to the window, not ready to stop looking at the view yet.

He feels Jaehyun get closer and closer until they’re nearly shoulder to shoulder. He glances over to study the other man’s profile. Such striking features.

“So,” Doyoung says. Jaehyun looks over. “Are you still drunk?”

“Drunk?” His face scrunches up. “I was never drunk. Kinda tipsy but I’m fine now.”

“Good,” Doyoung says as he grabs Jaehyun’s shoulders and pulls him into a kiss. It catches Jaehyun off-guard, and he doesn’t initially react—and then he’s wrapping his arms tightly around Doyoung’s waist and pulling their bodies flush together.

“What the fuck,” Jaehyun says between kisses, “is going on?”

“Where’s your bedroom?” Doyoung asks instead of answering. That's answer enough.

Jaehyun slides his hands down until they can grab Doyoung’s thighs and then he’s hoisting him up, carrying him to the bedroom.

“I really wasn’t expecting this,” Jaehyun says when he lets Doyoung fall back on the bed.

“Really?” Doyoung props himself up on his elbows. “We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. I just thought that’s why you invited me over…”

“The pants,” Jaehyun says. “I really wanted to clean your pants.”

“That doesn’t seem to be defending you much, actually.”

Jaehyun ignores him in favor of licking back into Doyoung’s mouth. He’s leaning over his body, barely touching him at all. One hand is holding up his weight and the other hand is caressing up and down Doyoung’s side.

The kiss is languid, tongues brushing over each other with no fight for dominance. It’s nice.

It’s not what Doyoung wants.

He flops back onto the bed and grabs the hem of Jaehyun’s shirt, yanking it up over his head the best he can without the other’s help.

Jaehyun just laughs, kneeling back to peel the shirt off. “Do you need to wash up?”

Doyoung shakes his head, earning a deep laugh from Jaehyun.

He watches with sharp eyes as Jaehyun unbuttons Doyoung’s shirt, button by button. He presses warm kisses to every inch of newly exposed.

“Fuck, you’re hot,” Jaehyun says against Doyoung’s navel, sending shivvers all over his body. Doyoung shudders.

“Come on.” It comes out far more desperate than Doyoung intended.

Jaehyun just laughs, sitting him up and pushing the shirt off Doyoung’s shoulders. Doyoung’s pretending to be weightless and when the shirt is off his shoulders, Jaehyun lets him go so he falls back flat against the duvet. The admittedly very nice duvet.

He doesn’t want to be more helpful. He’s content letting Jaehyun do the work. Jaehyun owes him.

Jaehyun tugs at the sweatpants, but they get stuck. He yanks again to no avail.

“Jesus Christ, did you tie these tight enough?” Jaehyun aggressively picks at the knot. Doyoung just pouts. “Fucking finally.”

Once the sweatpants are tossed somewhere across the room, Jaehyun steps out of his own pants and crawls back over Doyoung. Doyoung preens at the weight of Jaehyun’s body on his, rutting his hips up just slightly to feel the pressure against his hard on.

“Fuck, you’re pretty.” Jaehyun’s kissing and licking and sucking and biting Doyoung’s neck, but manages to fit the praise in between. It goes straight to Doyoung’s dick.

“I can’t wait, I need—I need,” he’s stuttering, gripping the elastic band of Jaehyun’s boxers and yanking them downwards. “Fuck.”

Finally Jaehyun gets the memo and he’s tugging both of them out of their boxers and grabbing lube from somewhere Doyoung doesn’t care to investigate.

Jaehyun makes quick work of slicking up his fingers, and then he’s asking, “You ready?”

Doyoung nods, and feels a slender finger sliding in. He wasn’t planning on getting laid after drinks with Taeyong, his new boyfriend, and his new boyfriend’s friend, but he’d had his own fun in the shower before getting ready.

He moans out Jaehyun’s name as he works in the finger, and Jaehyun quickly adds another two without warning. “Fuck!”

“You’re so open and ready, why is that?” Jaehyun teases him, kissing up the column of his neck. It’s overwhelming having Jaehyun all over him. Nowhere on his body is free from Jaehyun.

“Shut up,” he grits out. Jaehyun chuckles.

“You ready?”

“Yes, fuck you,” Doyoung stutters, Jaehyun meanly pressing into his prostate as he tries to answer. “I’m ready.”

Jaehyun takes his time putting a condom on and lubing himself up, enjoying the way Doyoung writhes below him, silently begging to be filled. He kisses him chastely on the lips, unable to help himself. Doyoung looks so sweet, all laid out for him. He pushes Doyoung’s legs up and makes him hold his knees.

Doyoung blushes from how exposed he feels, but Jaehyun’s look of awe offers some solace.

Jaehyun lines himself up, slides in, and Doyoung can’t hold in the guttural sound he releases. Jaehyun is no better, almost immediately collapsing on top of Doyoung.

It feels so good that he doesn’t start immediately thrusting. Just enjoys the feeling, rolling his hips in lightly. He is rewarded with Doyoung’s high pitched moans straight into his ear.

Doyoung tugs lightly on his hair, like a silent prayer for him to start moving. So he does.

Jaehyun fucks into Doyoung with shallow thrusts first, but it doesn’t take long before he’s thrusting in earnest. He pulls out almost entirely before slamming his hips against Doyoung’s ass. It’s heavenly.

He picks up the pace as much as he can without tiring himself out too quickly, and Doyoung can’t help but whine. It’s a lot. He’ll come quickly, sensitive from the time he spent on his own in the shower.

“Jaehyun, please,” he whines. Jaehyun kisses him again and then finally wraps a hand around Doyoung’s neglected cock.

It doesn’t take much before they’re coming together, collapsing into a pile of mush on Jaehyun’s bed.

Doyoung lets them rest for a few minutes before he’s using the strength he has left to push Jaehyun’s body off of his. “Come on, let’s shower.”

He drags Jaehyun by the bicep into the en suite, barely able to hide his smile from Jaehyun acting insolent about not just falling asleep.

The shower is tame, they’re both sleepy and sluggish. Well, tame-ish…Doyoung’s ass has never been touched so much in a casual shower, but he lets Jaehyun get away with it. Sue him.

The other man is growing on him.

“Did you grow up in apartments like this?” Doyoung wonders out loud—it slips out by accident, but it’s already out there. Jaehyun heard him.

“Uh, not exactly,” Jaehyun says sheepishly. “We actually lived a little farther north. It was a house.”

Doyoung nods, cheek squishing against where he’s laying on Jaehyun’s chest.

“A big house?”

“Uh, I guess so,” Jaehyun laughs. “It was near the old mill.”

Doyoung quickly sits up, ramrod straight. “You grew up near the old mill?”

“Uh, yeah,” Jaehyun chuckles. “You know it?”

“That’s where I grew up, too…”

“No way? What a coincidence!” Jaehyun seems content to settle back into the quiet peace they’d had before, but Doyoung isn’t ready yet.

“What school did you go to? For elementary?” Doyoung’s mind is reeling. There’s no way.

“Uh, Northeast Elementary—for kindergarten through second grade, and then I transferred to a private school called—”

“No fucking way. No way. Did you buy me a birthday gift? Please tell me you’re not the little tiny Jaehyun who gave me clothes for my birthday?”

Jaehyun stares at Doyoung for a full minute, with nothing but a blank look on his face. There’s nothing happening behind his eyes. It’s eerily silent between them. And then—

“You’re joking! You’re Kim Dongyoung? There’s no way!”

“There is a way!” Doyoung grabs Jaehyun’s shoulders and shoves him down. “What the fuck is happening right now!”

“I had the biggest crush on you back then!” He’s giggling. This is funny to him. “I begged my mom to let me buy you those clothes, oh my god.”

Jaehyun keeps laughing, but Doyoung doesn’t know what to say. Is this fate? Are they meant for one another?

“I’ll agree to a date if you buy me another outfit,” he finally decides to say. It shuts Jaehyun up really quickly.

Jaehyun is silent for a bit, but not contemplating. Just marveling at his luck. “Deal.”