Chapter Text
“Taeyong just got a whole milkshake thrown at him.“, Yukhei whispers in your ear while taking his seat right next to you. Your head hits the chemistry table in front of you with a loud thud.
“What was it this time, pray tell?”, you mutter still faceplanting the cool surface. Of course, Taeyong was the reason your lab partner was late again. What else did you expect from your best friend?
“He made me promise not to tell you.”
“Oh, I’m sure he did.”
“You’re always so mean to him.”, he whines, and you make eye contact with your second-best friend. Taeyong and you are the same age, but Yukhei is actually two years younger. He moved into your building five years ago. Some protégé, who skipped two whole classes because of his over intelligent brain. His choice of friends begs to differ.
“Taking into consideration the girl’s feelings every time Taeyong fucks up, isn’t the same as being mean to him.”
Yukhei is easily impressed and Taeyong is a guy that demands your worship. So, these two are just a perfect fit. As long as they are not in contact with humans, who actually have feelings. And that’s where you are needed.
“Mr. Wong, please refrain from helping Ms. Y/l/n.”, your teacher interrupts and you feel a warm blush starting on your cheeks. Of course, you are the simpleminded fool, who needs help, not this easily manipulated child next to you.
But that’s how it always is. Your friendship is as natural as breathing for you three, but for bystanders it’s inexplicable:
The basketball protégé and poster boy of the whole sports department with the manipulation skills of Neal Caffrey: Lee Taeyong.
The brainiac transferred from Hong Kong, who takes evening classes on college level and can chug a beer in five seconds: Wong Yukhei.
The weirdo-chick, who plays piano in the school orchestra, but only when the main pianist is bored, and who spends her Sundays at the local knitting group with her grandma: Y/n.
Of course, this doesn’t make any sense for outsiders. They are not a part of the late-night phone calls between you and Taeyong, they are no witness to Yukhei’s breakdowns when he doesn’t get 100% on a test. They weren’t there when Taeyong burned his bedsheets after you got your first period during a sleepover and ruined them. You were so mortified, but he just put you in his shower and destroyed the sheets. No word was spoken about this ever again. That’s why you loved him with every nerve of your body.
[Y/n 01:12 pm] yuk told me everything
[Tae 01:13 pm] lying doesn’t look good on you, y/n
[Y/n 01:13 pm] do you have spare cloths?
[Tae 01:15 pm] worried I’ll streak?
[Y/n 01:15 pm] that was me caring
[Y/n 01:15 pm] which is over now
[Y/n 01:15 pm] streak as much as you want
[Tae 01:16 pm] don’t sulk
[Tae 01:16 pm] your boy’s private parts are just for you to see
[Y/n 01:18 pm] lying doesn’t look good on you, tae
Text exchanges like that make you yearn for Taeyong to no longer be available. And you do mean on an emotional level. Tae and you are best friends since you stepped into his perfectly sculptured sandcastle on the playground many years ago. You spend more time with this boy growing up than with your little sister. Taeyong guided you through everything from kindergarten to school, from swimming to driving lessons. So, this insane crush you have on him is totally understandable. You even think that you could change places with any other female or male person and every single one of them would eventually fall for the sinister smiles, the warm heart and dominant body language.
But growing up with Taeyong and befriending Yukhei made you realize another thing as well: developing romantic feelings for the one who hangs your moon is painful. He is too far away but still always in your line of sight. So, getting Taeyong to hang the moon for someone else might solve this issue. You are a bit disappointed that you haven’t thought of this sooner. The more you mull this over, the more perfect it gets! Taeyong wouldn’t have to break so many hearts by just playing with the opposite sex. He could invest some of his mischief energy into courting someone.
“You’re not really into this whole chemistry learning thing, are you Y/N?”, Yukhei teases you while doing the partner work all by himself. He likes it that way, you like not getting hassled for your imperfect lab work. It’s a winwin.
“Yuk, I think we-… should… uhm find Tae a girlfriend.”, you answer, totally unrelated, and watch his reaction. His gaze moves to your eyes in milliseconds.
“What? Are you out of your mind?”, he whisper-shouts and you shrug.
“Don’t you think Taeyong needs to be a bit more tamed?”, you argue, quite proud of your masterplan that should have been there way sooner. Maybe when you got a slushy-shower because of some jealous girl one year ago.
“That’s what we have you for!”
“Holding Taeyong in check is a fulltime job. Maybe… maybe I need a vacation.”, you answer. Yuk just shakes his head and continues with the experiment while you start your selection process.
“Y/N!” your name is shouted across the foyer and you turn around to see your best friend leaning against the water dispenser. He is wearing his gym shorts and basketball tricot, which makes sense, knowing his beloved band t-shirt and torn jeans were victimized by a milkshake. You make your way over to him, Yuk right behind you. Stepping in front of Taeyong is like stepping into the spotlight – his spotlight. His intense stare makes you feel so warm. Some say making eye contact with Tae is scary. But when your best friend looks at you, you just feel seen, not judged.
“Did you learn something from Yuk?”, he teases while putting his arm around your shoulder. Tae is tall, and you are on the smaller side, so him having his arm around your body makes you feel extra small. You just reach his chest, so his arm, and some of his body weight rested on you. His day must have been tiring.
“Don’t you have to go to practice?”, you answer, while the three of you weave through the throng of students. People naturally part for Taeyong and Yukhei, so instead of bumping into fellow classmates, you can easily get outside the school and onto the parking lot.
“Nah, coach made me sit this one out.” Your face whips around. His brown eyes are lazily set on his car. He doesn’t want to make eye contact. You huff.
“What did you do to make this girl and coach so mad?”, you ask, Yukhei groans. “Can’t you just not do this? It happened. Tae got punished. He’ll train again tomorrow. He’s sorry. You forgive him. We continue playing the video game we started yesterday. Tae beats us both. Y/n makes some snacks. We eat. We have fun. Come onnn.”, Yuk whines and sits at the back of Taeyong’s black car.
As long as he has this car, you’re the only one riding shotgun. You like that. Then you remember that coach doesn’t easily detain his favorite score machine, so you just try to breath. How badly could your best friend have hurt this girl? Maybe you really don’t want to know.
“Good idea! Let’s listen to the genius of the group.”, Tae exclaims and navigates out of the parking space.
Taeyong drives to his house, which is a few walking minutes away from the building where you and Yuk live. The house is deserted, Tae’s mum is at a fundraising trip on the Fijis and his dad is still working at the hospital. So, you three settle in the empty living room, grabbing some sodas and a bag of popcorn from the kitchen on the way. You sit on the floor, the couch table transforming into your personal desk, as your friends fall onto the big couch.
Yuk and Tae start playing, while you start with your homework. This is your rhythm whenever Taeyong has an afternoon off from practice. In the beginning both of them would offer to help you, but you didn’t need a reminder that both of them are way smarter. So, you just suffer in silence, or with the gaming music as background noise, and after you finish, Yuk gives you the controller without you even saying one word.
“I don’t know why you guys thing you’ll ever beat me.”, chuckles Tae as your player dies again. Your phone vibrates, so you unlock your screen and see, that Luna, the main piano player from your orchestra, has texted you.
[Luna 04:56 pm] y/n, my parents make me visit my uncle this weekend. can you sub for me on fri?
Excitement blooms in your stomach.
[Y/n 04:56 pm] hell yes! have fun!
“Tae!”, you squeal and show him the message. He leans forward, so your faces are inches apart. “What is it?”, he murmurs, neglecting the game and Yukhei. His eyes smile, and he kisses your head.
“You go girl.”, he murmurs. You can still feel the ghost of his lips at the back of your head when Yuk punches your arm teasingly.
“So we do have weekend plans!”, he says.
It isn’t often that your music teacher lets you play and you’re always so nervous when she does. Even though it is only because Luna has plans. You try not to think of yourself as the dispensable part of the group. But being the second pianist, when you only need one, isn’t the best confidence booster. Still, you are extremely excited. After this school day, this is exactly what you needed! You jump up and pack all your homework messily into your backpack. You see Yuk wince. He is a bit of a neat freak.
“Guys, I’m gonna leave you. I need to get my hands on the notes for Friday.”, you rush.
“I’ll drive you.”, Tae offers, standing as well. You just shake your head.
“Nah, I’m so excited, I’d like to walk. Get some of the jittery out of my system.”
“Then I’ll walk with you.”, he decides and takes his keys from the couch table. “Yuk, don’t fuck with this place.”, Taeyong orders and gives your other best friend a cold look.
But Yukhei is zoned out again, playing the battle against a lifeless, abandoned player.
The rest of the week flies by. You practice the piano every day after school. Two times with the orchestra, two times alone in the auditorium. Your parents don’t have that kind of money to own a piano, so you make use of the one at school. Taeyong always comes after his basketball practice and patiently waits for you, until your fingers hurt too much. Then the both of you drive to your building and meet up with Yukhei. Your drives are no longer a lazy banter of unintelligent insiders. Now, you have a mission. Getting Taeyong a girlfriend, that he actually wants to keep. You are not as sly as him, but you try to investigate cautiously.
“You like me playing the piano, right?”, you ask looking at the beautiful side profile of your best friend while he drives along the empty streets.
“Y/n, I like everything you do. Playing the piano? Yeah, sure – that as well.”, he shrugs.
You don’t have many friends. And you have literally zero female friends. Taeyong and Yukhei make sure of that. But you do have Luna. She sometimes helps you with difficult passages and sometimes even stays longer after practice to advice you. She is gentle and pretty, so why not? She sure isn’t mean. And Taeyong likes the sound of piano music. Why else would he listen to you practicing instead of just shooting a few more hoops?
“Are you sleeping with anybody at the moment?”
He steps so fast on the break you’re being forced forward – hard.
“What?”
Wide eyes are staring at you. You had a deal. You were so hurt when Taeyong first started to receive female attention, that you made a pact to not talk about the other ones love life. Which means, you were only not talking about Taeyong’s love life. You just needed to protect your feelings, so only seeing the evidence of his… dating – some hickeys on his neck or the free chocolate on Valentine’s Day – were far less hurtful as having him talk about the girl in trig he fingered under the table. Or the girl he fucked against the fridge at her parents’ house while they were having dinner. Maybe you made the deal far too late. Some stories were just burned in your memory. It made Taeyong so much more unreachable.
So, your investigation isn’t going as smoothly as imagined. Now, damage control.
“Well, I just wanted to know, if you were, like,-.. um… available?”, you stammer seeing is shocked gaze turn into a fiery stare.
“Who wants to know?”
You feel yourself vibrating as you answer him truthfully: “There is this girl, that I think would be kinda … eh perfect… for you?” It sounds more like a question and Taeyong’s face is unreadable. He looks like he is trying to figure out your motives. But you just presented him with the truth. Why is he being so distrustful?
“And this girl asked you to ask me… if I’m having sex with someone?”, he says slowly, getting angrier every second. “Which bitch is using you like that, Y/n? Tell me!”, he growls and stares down at you. Oh no, you haven’t seen Taeyong this mad since Irene threw that slushy on you last fall.
You shudder. This is a version of Taeyong you don’t know how to handle very well. Your best friend instinct is trying to calm him, reassure him. The part of your brain, that’s madly in love with this boy in front of you, is getting abnormally excited.
“No”, you stutter, shaking your head. “She didn’t ask me… I just thought… I could matchmake?” The fire in his eyes frosts into a cold, calculating stare.
“Let me get this straight.”, he starts and continues to drive. Thank god the road is empty. “You”, he side-eyes you, “who doesn’t want to know about any of my … uhm lady-business, want to play matchmaker?”
Okay, out loud it sounds ridiculous. I want to play matchmaker, so I can see you in a healthy relationship. I want to see you in a healthy relationship, so I can stop thinking of us being together. So I can move on. And it looks like you are not capable to get in such a relationship on your own!, in your mind you’re screaming it at him.
To his face you just say: “Well, I just thought I’d help you find a better uhm partner than milkshake lady.”
The milkshake incident has taken over legend status in your school. The day of the happening there were only whispers, and Yuk’s gossiping. But the next day, nobody would shut up about it. And they weren’t even being sneaky. No, some girls actually asked you right to your face what the fight was all about. You, that one person who was nowhere near the spectacle.
Needless to say, you spent even more time with your best friends, because they created a safe-zone around you. Nobody dares to approach Taeyong face to face… apart from Irene it seems.
“I apologized for that!”, Taeyong’s answer is full of exhaustion. Yes, he did – after smoking a bowl last night. You both couldn’t sleep, so you agreed to meet up. He wore the old band t-shirt, the innocent victim in this whole act. It triggered your memory and after the high was taking your daintiness away, you just straight out asked him.
“She was being a bitch, so I retaliated with being snarky as well. It’s not my fault, that this country isn’t ready for feminism to be a two-way street.”, he said yesterday. When you come to think of it, he really didn’t apologize to Irene, or you. He just apologized to his freaking t-shirt! But last night, that sounded like the most heartfelt shit, you were seriously swooned.
The car is now parked in front of your building and your personal driver is honking in two long intervals – the sign for Yuk to exit the building.
“You didn’t answer my question.”, you say and try to use a serious voice. This is a bulletproofed masterplan, but your best friend is being overly difficult.
“I’m not.”, he answers as Yukhei closes the gate and walks towards the car. You stare into Taeyong’s fiery eyes while he leans over the gear lever. You can hardly breath. Only an indecent inch from your face apart does Taeyong stop. You can’t move. Grammar is forgotten.
“You… you’re – not sleeping with anybody?”, you whimper and his lips form a sinister smirk when he answers:
“No, I mean I’m not available.”