Chapter Text
Winning the Prince airs the promo for the finale, announcing that fan voting is complete, and Younghoon and Jaehyun are going to be the two finalists. Younghoon snorts to himself when he sees it, wondering how many “fans” work for MNET. At the urging of his manager, he starts posting more on Instagram and his follower count explodes. Buzz has started to build about Romance 119 as well, even though it’ll be another few months until it airs. The producers are hoping to get a boost by airing during the Christmas season for peak romantic impact.
Younghoon is careful to express enthusiasm for the show publicly, while letting fans “catch” him and Jaehyun very occasionally. In one of Jaehyun’s Instagram stories, fans point out the corner of Younghoon’s sleeve and match it with another photo he’d taken, leading to enough online speculation that they cool it with the public meetups. “We don’t want to give away our hand,” Jaehyun says. “But hey, come and visit me on set next week? I want you to meet Juyeon.”
It’s a weird thing to say -- how is he going to introduce Younghoon? Here’s my coworker I sometimes fuck? -- and Younghoon doesn’t know how to answer, so he just rolls Jaehyun over and kisses him until he forgets what he was saying.
Still, a katalk message comes in the next day with a location, date, and time, along with i cleared it with director-nim, you can come for a little bit
Unsure of how to respond, Younghoon sends back a dancing pig sticker. After a few seconds, he adds see you there!
Younghoon has been on enough sets that he can picture what the finished product might look like, despite the bright lights and cameras and noise everywhere. This scene is set at night, after a car chase. A sedan with a crumpled hood is smoking steadily, despite massive sprinklers dumping “rain” down onto the scene.
Jaehyun is wearing a white button down shirt, which is plastered to his body. The outline of his undershirt is clearly visible. He looks beautiful under the lights. Lee Juyeon, the idol dancer who reads poetry, is clearly the more dangerous-looking guy, with fake tattoos and a dark t-shirt. He's handsome, Younghoon admits, and he can see how good they look together.
“Are you okay?” Juyeon says, his eyes locked on Jaehyun. “You're not hurt?”
Jaehyun is doing a good job acting. He looks like he is completely infatuated with Juyeon, his mouth open slightly as he wets his lips. “No,” he whispers. He reaches one hand out, then another.
Everyone on set is quiet as they watch them kiss. It’s so intimate, Younghoon wants to look away but he can’t stop watching. He’s seen so many awkward, stilted kisses on dramas and even more of them on BLs, but they’re close together, Juyeon’s hand fisted into Jaehyun’s shirt, looking like they’ve done this a thousand times and still want more. The thought what does he look like when he kisses you? sets up camp in the back of Younghoon’s brain and it’s so distressing, he barely pays attention to the next part of the scene.
The loop in his head goes something like this:
Do Jaehyun and Juyeon have something going on outside of filming?
Okay, but Jaehyun is free to do what he wants, he explicitly said he wasn’t looking for anything serious, as did Younghoon.
But it would be polite, right? To tell Younghoon if he has another partner?
Why would he have to? They’re just blowing off steam together while they play pretend for the media. It’s not a big deal.
When the director calls “Cut!” Jaehyun jogs over to him with a big smile on his face.
“Hey! I have time to kill while they set up the next scene. Want to grab coffee with me? One of Juyeon’s member hyungs sent a truck.”
There’s a picnic table set up behind the truck and they sit there with their coffees in their hands. Around the middle of the plastic cup, slightly swollen with condensation, is a sleeve printed with Juyeon in different animal ear headbands, making silly faces.
Jaehyun takes a big sip of his iced americano and sighs. “Oh god I needed this.” He nearly drains it in the next sip and turns to Younghoon expectantly. “So what did you think?”
“Wow, you guys have incredible chemistry. Seriously, I couldn’t take my eyes off both of you.” The thoughts he’s been having coalesce in his mind, louder and louder, until he can’t hold it in anymore. They’re adults and they’re just fooling around before the big finale, so it shouldn’t be a big deal, but if something is going on, Younghoon would rather know. For his own information, not to be weird and controlling. Some distant part of his mind realizes he’s being stupid, but the words just fall out of his mouth.
“Hey, um, do you have anything going on with Juyeon?”
Jaehyun puts his coffee down. “Do I what?”
“It’s just, you know. You guys look really good together. I wasn’t sure if there was-- I know it’s none of my business, sorry.” Younghoon is rambling and he feels hot and weird and Jaehyun isn’t laughing it off like he usually does.
Younghoon focuses on his iced latte, sucking in a few big gulps just to focus on something other than Jaehyun’s face.
“Why wouldn’t it be--” Jaehyun says, and then snaps his mouth shut. His leg is jiggling and he’s clearly upset.
“Hey, sorry. Sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.” Younghoon smiles at him, trying to coax a smile back. “Hey, do you want to come back to my place after shooting? We can get breakfast together.”
Jaehyun laughs, but he’s not smiling. “I’m all set. I have some stuff to do. I’m uh, I’m really busy.” He checks his Apple watch and grimaces. “Yeah uh, I need to get back on set. See you later.” He tosses his cup in the trash from a distance in a smooth arc, landing right in the center.
Normally, Younghoon would make a cheering crowd noise, but he just stays quiet and watches Jaehyun walk away.
*****
Younghoon can’t shake the feeling that something has gone wrong, but he can’t figure out why. Jaehyun returns his messages, but later and less often than he did before. They don’t get together again, but that doesn’t stop the fans from making cute edits of their previous meetups and speculating on their relationship. Younghoon repeatedly watches videos analyzing their body language until his own face is unfamiliar. It’s unsettling and unhelpful, and Younghoon resolves to focus on getting ready for the finale.
The next few days are a blur of gym sessions, protein shakes, and a rigid supplement routine, and Younghoon manages to push Jaehyun out of his mind until, shockingly, he gets a call from him.
“Hey so. Next week. That’s it, that’s the finale. Are you ready?” Jaehyun sounds hesitant and Younghoon wishes he could see his face. He holds a finger up to the harried receptionist at the dermatology clinic, bowing apologetically as he ducks outside.
“Sorry, on my way in for a skin treatment.” He shivers, realizing he left his coat inside. “What? Why wouldn’t I be ready?” Through the window, he can see the receptionist staring at him.
“I don’t know, just checking to be sure you’re good with lying in front of tens of thousands of viewers.” There’s something about Jaehyun’s voice that seems off; he’s distant and a little cold, like he has been since that day on set. The receptionist not so subtly checks her watch, then presses her finger to the ipad in front of her. Younghoon very much needs this laser peel today or he’s still going to be red and blotchy. “Hey, I hate to do this but I have to go, just-- don’t worry, I’m ready, okay?” He pushes back through the door of the clinic, giving the receptionist his brightest, sweetest smile. “What was this all for if we weren’t going to follow through at the end?”
“Right,” Jaehyun says slowly.
“Going,” Younghoon says, as the receptionist points to the ipad for him to sign in. “But I’ll talk to you later okay? I’m serious, we need to talk. Please.”
He doesn’t hear anything back and, in the rush to get back into the room for his treatment, plus the exhausted taxi ride home holding ice packs to his face, it doesn’t occur to him until much later that Jaehyun had hung up on him.
***
For someone so concerned with whether or not Younghoon was ready for the finale, Jaehyun disappears completely for the last few days. It's weird, and Younghoon feels weird about it, but he figures they have enough time to talk about it once they get to Udo.
He's tried to stay away from social media about the show and he's certainly avoiding the Pann comments section, but he can't help but see the subway ads with his face on it wishing him good luck, or the increase in requests for advertising and acting work. He's invited to be on several variety shows, to be aired after the finale, contingent upon him winning. Younghoon’s manager seems to think this is a formality.
Younghoon thinks about what he's about to do and feels a little sick. It's harder to maintain his excitement with weeks of distance from Jaehyun and it's hard to imagine that he's going to risk ruining a spot on Nolto for this stunt.
That’s really all he wants. He wants to talk to Jaehyun. Everything made sense when they were making this plan together, and he'd been looking forward to finally having their moment of triumph together. He's spent the last few weeks getting to know every part of Jaehyun and it's so strange to reach out and only find coldness.
He doesn't see any other contestants on his flight to Jeju, which he thinks is weird, but he manages to focus on filming his self cam, pouting and posing for the fans. He sees a bunch of comments asking him about Jaehyun, but he ignores those.
To Younghoon’s surprise, the other contestants are already at the filming site when he gets out of the car. He’d been driven straight from the airport, his overnight bag handed to someone who he assumed would take it back to the hotel. “Hyung!” Haknyeon shouts happily, detaching himself from Sangyeon to make a beeline over to Younghoon. “You made it!”
“Am I late?” Younghoon asks, baffled as he accepts Haknyeon’s handshake and pat on the back. “Is everyone here already?” Is Jaehyun here?
“Most of us got here yesterday, Jaehyun-ssi got here earlier today. We -- the eliminated contestants -- had to give little interviews about you and Jaehyun-ssi: who we thought would win, how it felt to be a few weeks out from the show, all that. So you guys are buddy buddy now, huh? I saw it all over Twitter.”
Younghoon didn’t know how to respond to all that, so he swerved with “Oh, how is Taehyun doing?”
Haknyeon lights up. “Great! He’s been studying the art of the illusion, it’s really crazy --” Haknyeon keeps talking while Younghoon looks around to see if he can find Jaehyun.
The filming site is really pretty; they’re on a beautiful stretch of beach with crystalline blue water lapping on the shore. They’re surrounded by rocky cliffs covered with the kind of short, stunted vegetation you only see close to the ocean. Every so often a tourist on a bike stops to take a picture of them, but it’s not overrun. The crew has set up various tents for equipment and staff, as well as a hair and makeup area and craft services.
“Oh, hyung, they’re calling you,” Haknyeon says, pointing to a frustrated looking assistant bearing down on them.
“Younghoon-ssi!” Her voice carries over the ocean breeze in a way that makes Younghoon want to listen up and do whatever she asks. “You’re late for makeup.”
The stylists are set up in a big, industrial strength tent in a sheltered part of the beach. The assistant leads him into the tent firmly but kindly and hands him off to a man with bleached blond hair and a tattoo on his bicep of stylized clouds and the head of an ox. He's hot and smiling at Younghoon but Younghoon looks past him to the seat behind him, where Jaehyun is staring straight ahead as a stylist takes pins out of his hair.
“Hey,” Younghoon says, sitting next to him. “How was your flight?”
Jaehyun looks over at him, but the stylist repositions his head forward. “Uneventful. You?”
“Same. Hey, can we talk?” Younghoon takes advantage of his stylist walking away and leans over. “Please?”
“We don’t have much time. And we both know--” Jaehyun glances meaningfully back to his stylist and the producer walking up to talk to her. “We both know our scripts.”
“Right,” Younghoon says, and that’s all he can say for now, because someone starts briskly dabbing primer onto his face and he can’t move his mouth much anymore.
We can talk back at the hotel, he reminds himself. After the dust settles from their big surprise -- which he is now ten times more nervous about, now that Jaehyun isn’t talking to him -- they’ll have to be together a lot, if the plan works and they get tons of press. Whatever Younghoon did, he can fix it.
After makeup he’s brought to a trailer to get his suit on -- it’s from the most recent Balmain Spring/Summer collection, and Younghoon quietly and fervently hopes he won’t get it too muddy or sandy -- and he’s corralled to yet another tent, right near the filming location.
Like all film sets, it looks smaller and less imposing than it will on camera. You can see the stakes and tethers holding the beautiful silvery curtains in place, and the underside of the set that hasn’t been painted. The roses are silk, not real, and the sprays adorning the main dais are held in place with heavy green twist ties. Normally Younghoon loves this kind of movie magic, but everything just looks sad and fake to him right now. He can’t help but think back to the last time he was on a film set and how badly that ended. He wonders what Juyeon thinks about this show, about Younghoon. He wonders what Jaehyun told him about why they fell away from each other, or if he did.
He’s mired in these thoughts, looping around in his mind like they have for the past week, when Jaehyun walks into the tent. He’s also wearing a suit from the new Balmain collection and the sweep of highlighter across his cheeks makes him look like he’s glowing from the inside. He’s so beautiful Younghoon wants to cry.
“You want us here, then on each of those--” Jaehyun turns toward the set as he talks to one of the production assistants and Younghoon can’t hear the rest. Younghoon watches as they go over a few more final details, and then the two of them are finally alone.
He wheels around to Jaehyun. “Okay, now will you tell me why you’re ignoring me?” Putting his hand on Jaehyun’s arm, he lowers his voice and says “I miss you. A lot.”
“Why are you doing this right now,” Jaehyun hisses. He yanks his arm away, looking pissed, and then he just looks sad. “Listen-- we’re doing it exactly as we planned, right? Jinwoo says his thing, I interrupt with a tearful confession, and then you do the rest.” His face twists a little and Younghoon wants to shake him and ask where they went wrong. Where he went wrong. “You just have to pretend to be into me for another hour.”
“What are you talking about,” Younghoon says all in a rush, exasperated. “I’ve never pretended anything.”
“You-- you!!” Jaehyun starts to say, but is interrupted by the makeup artist yanking him down by the collar so she can powder his nose. Younghoon slides his feet apart so his makeup person can dab tinted balm on his lips. He tries not to stare at Jaehyun.
“One minute! Sixty seconds and I need everyone in place!”
As soon as the makeup staff is gone, Jaehyun comes over to him. “What do you mean you weren’t pretending? I thought we had something good going on and then -- and then you asked me if Juyeon was my boyfriend!” He throws up his hands. “I thought you were, you idiot!”
“Thirty seconds!” someone yells, but Younghoon can’t move. He stands there, mouth open, staring at Jaehyun for a beat too long until someone grabs him and hauls him to his spot. He can see Jaehyun across from him, adjusting the cuffs on his tuxedo, and he can see Jinwoo up on the dais, beaming down at the crowd. Younghoon manages to smooth his face into a bland smile before someone yells “Action!”
Younghoon knows that the opening sequence will be drawn out, with the hosts doing a little opening monologue, and he is half listening to this while his mind races. Jaehyun thought they were together? They were definitely something, but the only conversation they’d ever had about it was “I’m not looking for anything serious” from both of them. He has a momentary flash of anger that Jaehyun didn’t say anything, but even stronger is a wave of despair that he didn’t see the signs, that he didn’t know he could even think to want that, that he was jealous, oh my god he was so jealous and now Jaehyun is angry and he can’t fix it. He can’t fix it because he’s being filmed and he has to give a fake love confession to the man he wants to give a real love confession to.
The opening theme music kicks in, tinny and barely audible over the waves. It’s there as a cue -- someone else is mixing the theme song into the broadcast-- and Younghoon is thankful for it. He’s half paying attention to the hosts’ patter and half paying attention to Jaehyun, who looks serious and determined. He’s going to raise his hand in a few minutes and go through a little speech about how much he cares about Younghoon and two weeks ago he would have meant it. It’s unbearable that he doesn’t anymore.
“--two handsome, charming young men such as Younghoon-ssi and Jaehyun-ssi.” Younghoon smiles demurely for the camera, trying to focus his thoughts. He has to do something. He has to talk to Jaehyun.
“It has been a difficult decision,” Jinwoo says, smiling warmly for the camera. “But in the end, there can be only one bachelor for me.” He pauses while the background music swells and the hosts make exaggerated reaction faces for their closeups. Younghoon doesn’t know what his face looks like, but he can’t worry about that now because it’s time. He doesn’t need to hide anything anymore. The music gets louder as Jinwoo says something that Younghoon can’t hear over the pounding of his own heart. He can see Jaehyun steadying himself to move.
“Wait!” The words are out of Younghoon’s mouth before he can stop them. Jaehyun whips his head around to look at him in shock for going off script. He’s supposed to be the one confessing, but Younghoon can’t let this play out any longer. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” There is a lot of frantic whispering as the cameras swing around, not sure whether to focus on Younghoon or Jinwoo.
“What are you doing?” Jinwoo hisses, his face momentarily contorting into anger before he remembers he’s on camera.
“I can't do this anymore.” Younghoon walks across the aisle strewn with rose petals to the dais where Jaehyun is standing. “I like you. So much. I have liked you since we first met during the filming and-- and I’ve only liked you more every day since.” Jaehyun is stunned silent for once, his ears getting redder and redder. “I'm sorry,” Younghoon whispers to him, then turns and says it again louder to Jinwoo. “I'm sorry it turned out like this.”
Jaehyun turns to the camera and says shakily, “I know this isn't the romance you were expecting. But we-- yeah.” He looks down, visibly collecting himself. “I fell for him the first time we met.” Is he telling the truth? Younghoon can’t tell. He hopes so. He hopes Jaehyun understands what he’s doing.
Carefully emphasizing his words, because he can’t fuck this up again, he says, “I’m ready to stop pretending.” Younghoon grabs Jaehyun’s hands and steps forward. He can't look away from Jaehyun's slowly widening eyes. “I’m serious,” he says, hoping his sincerity comes through in his eyes, his tone. “I would regret it so much if I just let things play out as planned.” I would regret it if I let you go after this.
“I fell for you so hard,” Jaehyun blurts out. He looks nervous, which is how Younghoon can tell he’s telling the truth. Joy swoops in his chest. “It made me crazy, I've never felt anything like this before.”
“Can we cut the cameras?” Jinwoo roars, startling them both into taking a step back. “I’m suing all of you for defamation! Breach of contract! Adultery!”
“Jinwoo-ssi, I don’t think we need to cut the cameras,” Kyuhyun says smoothly, stepping closer to him with his mic in his hand, smiling.
“Are you really not pretending?” Jaehyun asks quietly, while Jinwoo has all the cameras on him.
“I’m stupid,” Younghoon says fervently, bringing his hands up to kiss his knuckles. “but not that stupid. I miss you. I want to start over, for real this time.”
“Well, we were looking for an unconventional love story and we found one!” Poongja says loudly into the mic. The romantic music around them swells louder and several assistants rush out to hand Jaehyun and Younghoon crowns. “It seems the princes have won each other!”
“I'm sorry to the producers,” Younghoon says, bowing at the camera. “I know this surprise must have burdened you terribly. But I care about Jaehyun too much to keep quiet.”
“I hope it wasn't too difficult,” Jaehyun says, his face smug as he pulls Younghoon closer. “But I can't be too sorry about the show bringing us together.”
Around the calm island of the set itself, the crew and producers are frantically running around, waving and mouthing things to each other. Younghoon can't hear anything above a murmur, but he knows they must be stressed. He's sorry for that.
There’s a little more vamping from the hosts, a hastily thrown together live shot of Younghoon and Jaehyun in front of the silver curtains, during which Jinwoo stalks offstage, and then finally, thankfully, the director yells “Cut!”
The head of the production team comes roaring onto the set. “You!” she yells, pointing at Younghoon and Jaehyun. Younghoon realizes he’s still holding Jaehyun’s hand, but doesn’t drop it. “Both of you! Back to the green room while we clean up the mess you made. And if you even touch your phones before we can spin this, you’re never working again. Do you understand?”
“Yes, PD-nim,” they say together, both bowing before they are hustled off to another sturdy tent with couches in it. The flap closes and the rising noise of everyone outside is hushed, giving the illusion that this space is actually private.
Jaehyun turns to him. His cheeks are pink and his eyes are scrunched up like he can’t stop smiling. “Dummy,” he says fondly. “That wasn’t part of the plan.”
“It worked though,” Younghoon said, walking toward him slowly, confident now that it was all over. “We pissed off that asshole Jinwoo, we got out of having to date him, and I have a hot new boyfriend.”
“I don’t remember the boyfriend part,” Jaehyun sniffs. “You should--mmph!” Younghoon cradles his face and kisses him, smiling at the indignant noises he keeps making.
“You’re right, I haven’t earned that yet.” Younghoon pulls him into a hug and feels Jaehyun relax into him. “Let me try?”
Jaehyun tucks his face into Younghoon’s shoulder. “I guess so,” he says, muffled. “You did just declare your love for me in front of millions of people.”
At that moment, the tent opens up again and one of the assistant producers walks in. “You guys aren’t dead yet,” he says, handing them each their phones, which had been locked up before they’d gone on set. “PD-nim wants a selca from you guys for Instagram and your managers are both eager to talk to you. But for now, you’re off the hook.”
As he goes into a little more detail, Younghoon gets the full sense of how much there is to sort out: the press junket, the trio to Saipan, the legal question of whether there had been a contract violation. But from the second or two that Younghoon catches from his notifications, it seems like the twist is massively popular and people are buzzing about it.
I could kill you but you can't buy this kind of press!!!!!! his manager sends him. Is this the real deal or a media thing, also never keep anything from me again
Younghoon nudges Jaehyun and shows him as he types out real deal
His manager just gives a thumbs up and says lay low until we figure out how to spin it
“Uh oh,” Younghoon says sadly. “I guess we're going to have to just stay in my apartment for a bit.” He wraps his arm around Jaehyun's waist, pulling him into a loose, one-armed hug. “Is that ok with you?”
“Hmmm, I think I still need to make you grovel a little bit more.” Jaehyun says, grabbing his hand to pull him out of the tent. “But I think you’ll like it.”