Chapter Text
kai should feel absolutely ashamed of himself for discovering something terrible, his guilty pleasure per se. he was innocent to a fault, he didn’t mean to read a whole lot of it - to obsess over it. entirely, everybody knew that he was the most pure and innocent of them all! pinky promise!
but it was drastic to what he found on the web; the all-knowing web. and what a predicament he found himself in as he was vacuumed into the seas of fan media, specifically fan written media. or what most fandoms would chalk it up to… fan fiction.
you might be wondering how he even found himself in that situation, to even find a piece of craft made by their lovely fans. or.. more like a corrupted and dirty piece of fiction that past kai would have never touched so curiously.
rewinding all the way to the beginning, to where it starts.
tired he was, kai was walking down towards the hotel door with his eyes glued to his phone. all the members continuously commented on how he was addicted and attached to his phone, kai shrugged it off because well - he’s too busy on his phone to really care.
unlocking the door to his room, he yawns from the drowsiness. however, he just couldn’t fall asleep not without a little downtime to himself. he liked to watch a little bit of tik tok (hah, he’s going to doom scroll for hours) and twitter as he stalked moa’s posts. he wanted to know what moas were posting after the concert, it was always hilarious and a little devastating.
not before showering though, he felt tired and needed a refresher before settling into the cosy comforts of the bed. he’d also hoped that none of the members would be looking for him today, he wanted some alone downtime where he could just snuggle in for the night without worrying about tomorrow.
kai showered with a scrub-a-dub-dub, squeaky clean without a trace of sweat and stink. or so he hoped anyway, it’s not like he could actually smell himself. he washed his blue hair thoroughly, watching the light shade of blue water drain down. finishing up, he turned off the shower water with a quick flick of the wrist.
he was stepping out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his entire body, he’s cold ok? it’s pretty chilly at night for some odd reason. kai dries himself, shaking his hair through the towel and wipes his face as he applies his skincare in a swift movement.
he sighs of relief, patting his face as he mentally ticks off his night routine. he wore an oversized tee shirt with dark gray slacks, tying a knot to tighten it around his waist. as he was turning off the lights of the bathroom, he finally overturns the blanket and slips his legs in and the coolness of the mattress greets him.
kai wrapped himself around, leaving his arms out to grab his phone and immediately unlock it. he also sticks one leg out in case he overheats, it’s just something he habitually did now.
pondering about which app to choose, his finger subconsciously hovers over tik tok and of course he gives in. it was an addiction and maybe he should start cutting down his screen time hours, maybe.
as he scrolls through each moa’s tik tok, a little gasp, a little giggle. he always enjoyed the content that moa made and in gratitude, he liked the video. maybe it wasn’t much because they wouldn’t know it was him, but he acknowledged it and found it fun.
kai watched for a couple of minutes (honestly, it might have been an hour considering how many videos he went through) and he stumbled on a ship video. it wasn’t uncommon for him to accidentally find a ship video and it always made him feel weird and silly for watching it so he would scroll, but this one was an edit.
he was genuinely invested in the video featuring both his hyungs soobin and yeonjun. honestly, the person was really talented for creating a visually aesthetic edit! he really enjoyed it despite the implications and as he read the caption below, he saw a link for a tweet. the caption mostly wrote:
@/tokishour: ‘inspired by @/yunzbunnie’s twitter socmed au! it was so cute - they are the sweetest campus couple! [link to twitter] #and #a #bunch #of #tags’
‘huh? socmed? what’s a soc.. med? and sweetest campus couple? we’re idols, and we haven’t gone to any college…’ kai was curious to say the least, he couldn’t admit the fact that he had the urge to check out what they were even talking about.
not before checking the comments though, maybe he’ll get some context clues or something.
“@/hunnyjoons: omg bffr, i loved that au IM SO HAPPY THAT YOU MADE AN EDIT TOKIS!!!!!!!!!! YOURE ACTUALLY THE BEST EDITOR EVER!!!!”
“@/snickerhyun: tokis… i’m gonna give you the biggest smooch ever, this is so AMAZING!!!”
“@/bamtae03040203: that au actually made me cry like icl, this edit just brings back the memories ur so good”
well that certainly helped, kai’s budding curiosity grew even larger and honestly, judging from the comments, it sounded like a really good au! and moas had good taste so you know what? if no one was coming into his room, why the hell not.
clicking onto the link had his phone open up twitter, and ain't nobody was going to call it x, it showed a thread of a tweet where there were moodboard images and a title with a little summary. it was about a college au, which ‘au’ turned out to mean ‘alternate universe’ making a whole lot of sense now. it was about soobin and yeonjun who were college students, it was supposedly friends to lovers with high angst and rewarding fluff.
kai was nevertheless intrigued by this wondrous world of alternate universes, although the only part that made him slightly uncomfortable was the fact that this was about his friends. his very close ones at that! seeing them in a romantic light sort of put him in a different thought process. it was his first time reading an rpf after all.
however, it was such an interesting premise that it piqued him. his naivety got the better of him, as long as he drew the line between fiction and reality then he supposes that there was no harm to everyone! he also particularly knew that there were popular ships of them, it popped on his feed frequently so it can’t be that different to an au.
he scrolls down the thread, reading the notes of the au.
— yeonjun x soobin
— angst
— friends to lovers (wasn't feeling enemies to lovers today ><)
— slow updates!!
— all events are fictional and any coinciding ones are to be taken lightly with caution, this au is for fun so enjoy the tissues and let’s get into it!
kai scrolled once more and realised what ‘socmed’ meant, it meant social media and he can tell because they are all fake tweets pretending to be them! that was actually pretty cool. he checked out yeonjun’s fake profile, snickering about how it was almost deadly accurate to what yeonjun would curate on his own personal twitter - if he ever had one anyway.
and zooming in on soobin’s fake profile was even better, it was just anime themed and well it was true that soobin was a huge dork, it was just funny seeing how exaggerated it was on a fake personal profile.
as he scrolled through, he spotted beomgyu, taehyun and his own personal twitter! now that was definitely a first, he’s never seen someone so passionate in making the whole team! kai thoroughly investigated each one with vigorous intent, he really liked how each one had their own personality to it. this moa really captured them awfully well.
swiping left, he stumbled across his one, he couldn’t help but smile at how cute they made his profile. it was something he would have totally made! it was pochacco themed and it reminded him of his sister.
he moved on, entertained by this idea of another universe where they weren’t idols. scrolling down to the next tweet as he watched the events unfold as if it were real. he was immersed, the tweets, the accounts, the replies, the personalities felt so real. even though in the back of his mind, he knew it was fictitious.
hours on end as he scrolled through this dramatised reading, full of crack but neverending misunderstandings and hurt as he feels each member’s emotions. and kai almost cries, almost, because he’s strong willed and powers through. he does not need a tissue at this hour.
reaching tweet 119, he watches as the tension unfolds between his two hyungs as they realise that both of them truly love each other. and their friends cry of happiness as their realisation becomes a celebration of joy, kai allows a breath of relief release as they finally rejoice and hug and kiss and become the campus couple of the year.
his breath of relief gets sucked right back up as he hits a dead end, oh no, it’s the end of the thread. with a little thank you from the author and a link to give thoughts towards them. kai was absolutely wrecked, how could it end so quickly? he was extremely invested and suddenly it was gone like the wind.
kai clicks on the account, he was indulgent with the fan’s social media au’s and wanted to grasp upon more. a master thread is pinned on the top of the profile, as if waiting for his arrival. without a waste, kai jumps straight into the thread feeling stupidly giddy to find another one. his thumb takes him, as though he transferred all his neurons to his hand, to find another one that may or may not interest him.
however, he finds himself in a pickle looking at this one particular tweet that made him perk in shock. it was bound to eventually happen but he thought this was a yeonjun and soobin fan account. it was fan media written about him and… taehyun? woah, that was new. he’s never really come across ship edits between him and taehyun, sure maybe they’ve had their moments but it rarely crossed his mind to see his best friend in another way.
he read the description of the au, summarising that it was a high school unrequited love on valentine’s day, wherein everyone anonymously writes a letter and submits it through the school to have 3 picked out. kai’s letter gets picked and taehyun searches for his secret admirer through investigation.
‘woah! that sounds so cute, but…’ he was of course hesitant, this time it was centred around him and his best friend. however deep down in his heart told a different story, he wanted to see more and nevertheless it’s just fiction. he’ll always see taehyun as a good friend who just happened to be the subject of this particular story.
maybe it was his brain winding down due to the late night or the deep pits of darkness that begged to see more and more stories from their fans, it drove him to read it. and did he regret it? no, not really if he had to be honest with himself.
before the story began, it started with a note from the author:
— taehyun x kai (this is a gift for @/toonZbee, i love your fics so much <<3)
— quick paced fic
— side yeonbin
— one shot!!
it is certainly much more different this time as he rendered in the profiles of each member but that’s what he liked. he liked seeing how moas portrayed each person with niches and interests, like how they put beomgyu as part of the gardening club and was a heartthrob across the school, or how yeonjun was part of the councillors who urged students to have a voice.
it felt like watching a movie, as he visualised each scenario in his head. this time, it was him and taehyun. he couldn’t help but blush slightly everytime they mentioned him and taehyun together even for a slight interaction, he hid under the covers of his bed as if someone was watching him, it was embarrassing reading fiction about yourself and your own friend! but this was not even half as bad as reading fan fiction of both his best friends together!
‘pull yourself together kai! you got yourself in this situation, at least to the end.’ and like the author said, it was a very quick paced story with events happening much faster than the last one he read. each line kai read made him feel anxious for the next, this author knew how to keep the tension going and the mystery of it all reeled him in. he read a block of writing, a hand around his mouth as he watched the scene.
“huening? it was you who wrote this letter..?” taehyun’s eyes flickered towards the warm brown ones that always seemed to hold a love for him, a sweet and tender one. the shorter held onto the note as he compared the writing to the taller’s and indeed it was a match.
kai looked away, a blush on his cheeks which indicated his total embarrassment.
“yeah.. i didn’t think it would be read aloud. you should’ve seen the tweets i made,”
“what tweets? you never tweeted.”
“ha, yeah i deleted them before anyone could see,”
awkward silence ensues as taehyun was not too sure what to say. he feels a flutter as kai walks closer to him. kai asks with a gentle voice that taehyun seems to melt for each time he hears it.
“can you answer my letter?”
and real kai definitely almost screamed in a pillow from that line. he gripped his chest as he read more.
“i’ll answer it now,”
taehyun cocks his head up to look at kai, a small smile as he leans towards him with his own arms around kai’s neck. fluttering his eyelids closed, he gives into the heart’s commands and kisses kai with the kind of love only they ever shared.
kai just exploded from that entire scene, he feels himself heat up despite not even the one experiencing the kiss. it was just so commendable to have kai feel this way. the entire story wraps up with a couple of tweets and a small epilogue, he silently scrolls down in hopes of finding a similar one.
instead, he finds a different link that he accidentally clicks on that was posted by the author at the end of it. he attempts to swipe out before the page loads but it was futile as he finds himself on a different site now. annoyed, he was just about to sign off from the internet due to being on it for way longer than he should be but…
it was the same story with the same title again? although, this time it was uploaded on a different site. archive of our own. before he could even start reading what the fic was about, a terms and service agreement popped up. let’s be honest, only about 3% of their population read the terms and conditions. he clicked agree and resumed back to what he was doing.
it is the same fic again, though this time it was fully written without any of the hilarious tweets. it was serious business with 10k words at that, how was that possible? that a simple plot could be dragged to ten thousand words. it was a gift to their friend with additional extras as a surprise and kai could not resist, a temptation that would last for another hour.
he explored the site, it was foreign but kai was a quick learner that he knew. as he pieced together the different aspects of the site, he ran down a couple of things. there were hyperlinks to relationship tags “huening kai/kang taehyun”, and a fandom tag which obviously had their band name (he wondered how many fics were under this tag), and additional tags. he registers that additional tags reveal more about the story and creative processes - like ‘unrequited love’, ‘idiots in love’, ‘author is sleep deprived’.
he has never come across a site like this, he was more than curious - it is definitely the late night drowsiness that has him kicking his backup brain. he might have reread it again. he’s never really reread something twice so that’s an insane achievement to be proud of.
when he finished it again, heart swelled up as he watched the fictional characters go on dates and small hangouts in their room. the description of it was emotive and it elicited a reaction out of him, kai couldn’t contain his smile as he watched them prance happily in the spring fields.
as he swipes back up, he realises that he could read more of these. if he just clicked on the tag, it would take him to another page where it only showed fics that had that specific tag. kai tested the waters, clicking on one of the additional tags like ‘idiots in love’ but it showed almost every fandom in the world that had this tag on theirs. not exactly what he wanted at the moment but he wouldn’t want to admit what he actually needed.
he undos what he did, back at the original page. kai feels himself flush in embarrassment as his finger taps on the fandom tag ‘(TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band))’. opening and entering a new dimension full of doors through fantasies galore, he finds himself browsing each story with an anticipated breath. he sees a pattern, most of them are yeonjun with soobin or beomgyu with taehyun. he doesn’t mind and decides to taste a fic about taehyun and beomgyu.
as he was about to do so, he glances at the time just in case-
3:41am?! how has it been hours since scrolling on tik tok? he has a schedule up at 7am to meet all the members- meet the members?! oh no, how was he going to face them knowing that he read stuff about them shoving tongues down each other’s throats. no, he just couldn’t let those thoughts intrude him while talking to them, it was just a fan fiction. it’s not even real.
kai should really sleep now, he almost never stays up late and usually sleeps the earliest out of the group. he would only get about 3 hours of sleep but that’s fine, he can survive on a backup generator brain. as long as he didn’t mix up reality and fiction and say something absolutely humiliating and stupid then it should be alright.
he turns off his phone, restless eyes attempting to close and wind down to a deep slumber. alas, it stuck with him with the want to know more, to see more through the lens of romance and fantasy and mystery and… he drifts off.