Chapter Text
“i’m going out,” moondae calls.
lee sejin shouts back, “have a safe trip!” he briefly catches the sight of moondae nodding before the blond disappears behind their front door.
even so, again? park moondae sure goes out a lot recently. it’s at a rate that’s defeating lee sejin’s own records and even ryu cheongwoo’s. of course, it isn’t wrong, he just can’t help but notice.
the expression on lee sejin’s face starts to morph into a more contemplative, curious one.
some mornings, shin jaehyun is a little cute. just a little.
the perfect idol cheongryeo wakes up as shin jaehyun whose bed hair during off days are somehow always uncontrollable. when checking VTIC's reality shows or channel content though, this version never exists for the public consumption. so only park moondae and several other people have seen how wild the cowlicks of shin jaehyun's dark hair can get. he sleepily yawns, though even that messy look is pretty with his face, and rolls out of the bed sluggishly, unwilling to part from the warmth. this one — this face of shin jaehyun, other than his parents and family perhaps in the first life before the regressions, park moondae is sure only he has seen it. not even the VTIC members have seen shin jaehyun slow and unpurposeful.
it lasts only about two minutes each day though, because he's still a scary guy. by the time shin jaehyun finds park moondae by the kitchen counter, he's wholly awake and conscious already, clinging to park moondae who is preparing light breakfast and hugging his waist.
today's shin jaehyun disregards his wild bed hair and presses a kiss onto park moondae's neck and murmurs, voice still gravely, “good morning.”
it sends a shiver down moondae's spine, though he won't ever show it. the hand that isn't holding a wooden spatula comes down to gently pat the back of shin jaehyun's hand as a greeting. shin jaehyun replies by adorably nuzzling into park moondae — which is equal parts dangerous and annoying as it is endearing.
“stop that, i'm cooking.”
“your omelets are always delicious, moondae-ssi.” shin jaehyun presses a kiss onto his cheek.
he doesn't need to take his eyes off the pan to know that shin jaehyun is smiling again, the usual one. the eye smile he's infamous for, combined with the genuine tick of his mouth that's only reserved for certain people — park moondae can practically hear it in his voice. for less than a millisecond, he too gets infected by the smile, though moondae drops it like it burns.
“go sit down on the table. breakfast will be done in a minute.”
shin jaehyun clarifies, “i don't care about breakfast.” ‘i care more about hugging you’ is not said, only heavily implied by the slightest petulant hint in his lowering voice.
“hey, shin jaehyun,” he firmly warns.
“.. fine.” a rare moment of quick concession — that's a lie. in that instant, shin jaehyun cups park moondae's jaw — always gently, always gently, never at all forceful — and pecks his lips. a soft, chaste kiss. his eyes flutter open as they part and his smile widens. shin jaehyun's whole being seems to sparkle under the orange-tinted morning light streaming through the apartment's window, filtered through white-transparent curtains and casting a shadow on neutral-toned walls of their home, leaving a trail of light against shin jaehyun's figure, standing close by the counter. something warmer, more human — his cowlicks are still crazy and distracting and his smile habitually looks colder than other people's, and yet his shoulders are loose and relaxed and he looks well-rested and content. a far cry from the VTIC cheongryeo park moondae remembers taking pictures of during his data pal days — that person was a stranger. this shin jaehyun on the other hand is such an annoying guy for sure — but when his happiness is palpable and when his touch is this tender, how can park moondae not let himself be strung along, led by familiar hands and an even more familiar smile?
the man leaves moondae be, stating he's going to feed kongi first before breakfast. by the time the table is set and the meals are prepared, moondae's portion of the omelet is a little bit burnt. shin jaehyun, graciously, mentions nothing.
“you look cold. should i turn up the heating?”
“there’s no need,” comes the quick reply. “i’ll grab a blanket instead.” park moondae briefly leaves, beelining for the cabinets in jaehyun’s room where he knows blankets are usually stored in neat folds. without even seeing, jaehyun can already guess that he picks out the yellow blanket again — it’s a favorite of his. less of a color thing though, jaehyun is sure, and more of a texture thing, despite the abundance of yellow his junior does own. it’s the softest ones out of the bunch that he has stored, after all. whether park moondae knows it or not, jaehyun is more than familiar with his tastes towards things like these.
by the time jaehyun turns off the sink and quickly wipes off his hands., all the plates used during dinner safely drying on the rack now, park moondae is already back on the couch, a pillow propping his back and the familiar yellow blanket splayed all over his lap while his eyes raptly pay attention to whatever’s on the screen. he doesn’t bother resisting the urge to shuffle closer and lean in, pressing a kiss onto park moondae’s forehead. unusually, instead of monitoring, park moondae has a video of a dog being groomed — it’s a cute pomeranian, all white and fluffy like a cloud, standing cheerily while the groomers work their magic on her.
“can you make some space, hubae-nim,” he says, scooting over. despite the phrasing, it’s more of a demand than a request, really. “i’ll get in too.”
there’s a small murmur of: “fine,” along with a sigh, the force of it slightly held back. jaehyun chuckles lightly, though they fall together with ease — jaehyun’s arm looped around moondae’s shoulders, the blanket now shared between the two. he shifts closer, trying to get into a more comfortable position and park moondae instinctually lies his head over jaehyun’s chest. reflexive and spontaneous — something his junior would’ve never done in their earlier days of dating, let alone their disastrous beginning of knowing each other. that, well. to be honest, jaehyun still holds a lot of regrets over those days — though, what is done is done and it’s unchangeable. it’s a testament to how endless park moondae’s patience seems to stretch, he thinks, that he’s still somehow here with him.
on the screen, the pomeranian is enjoying some sort of jacuzzi and being shampooed, the fur on top of her head shaped into a funny swirl as the groomers giggle. kong is asleep in the other room, a rare occurrence. they’d been taking a lot more walks recently and just this morning, jaehyun and moondae both have enough time off to play with kong in a park, albeit at an ungodly hour as usual — lest they get recognized by stray passersby or any fans around.
and because jaehyun isn’t one to restrain himself around his junior, he murmurs against moondae’s blond hair, interest taken by the screen as well, “are you trying to cheat on our kid?” he supposes there’s merit in these kinds of grooming videos — some sort of calming effect, is it? it’s a bit different compared to park moondae’s usual mixture of funny and cute sloth videos or fox videos though.
“your kid,” moondae weakly protests. his eyes briefly flit to meet jaehyun’s, but soon finds their way back to the white pomeranian being dried off. “you’re the appa, not me.”
they both know that whenever VTIC is in active period or has a tour, or whenever jaehyun himself has a solo promotion to prepare for, moondae — as long as his schedule allows — stops by to check on kong.
“you have kongi’s dog sitter saved on your phone in case of emergencies. you have contacts of all the vets nearby saved. you text me about our kong’s condition more often than you ask for mine during my active periods,” jaehyun bites back.
he doesn’t even need to glance down to know what kind of tibetan fox face park moondae is wearing at the moment.
a loss is a loss though and jaehyun is nothing if not a petty winner who will brag his rights. his finger quickly taps pause on moondae’s phone screen, the surprise causing his junior to fumble with the phone slightly. before moondae can react even further, jaehyun’s hand catches his chin, tilting it upward. he feels his lips twitch into a more genuine smile — not the default one always etched on his face — and sees for a split second moondae’s smallest amount of surprise in his widening eyes, before they meet in a kiss. chaste and simple, yet too long to be a peck.
park moondae doesn’t even bother asking what that was, too used to jaehyun’s antics by now.
Apple: (ID: link of an online store selling dog toys)
CHR: (ID: 20 photos of kong lounging at home in different angles and varying proximity)
CHR: for kong-ah's birthday? thank you ^^
“it’s a surprise, it’s a surprise!” lee sejin singsongs, playing with their building’s lift access card with nimble fingers. the security of their current accommodation really is trustworthy, ever since they’ve moved here, there haven't been problems with break-ins or paparazzi. ryu cheongwoo flashes a smile and nods in greeting towards the receptionist who regards TeSTAR warmly back, seon ahyeon trailing behind him and mimicking cheongwoo’s example with a shyer smile of his own. cha eugene and kim raebin are busy bickering again — this time about the updates cha eugene sent throughout their day off period. bae sejin inwardly suppresses a sigh — these guys are always so rowdy wherever they go. even entering their home feels like a big ordeal.
well, that's what’s good about them too, he supposes.
bae sejin spent his days off with his mother, as usual. they went for a short road trip to a nearby city with a lot of beaches — back when he first sent the picture of the vast sea glimmering under the afternoon sun, cha eugene spammed so many stickers that aggressively conveyed how much he also wanted to be there.
but still, cha eugene had gone home, oceans away from bae sejin — and thank god for that, as much as bae sejin has grown to be fond of everyone including eugene, thank god still — and it’s not like his hometown lacked areas nearby the ocean either. in fact, just a day after, the younger sent a selca of himself and his family on the beach, going as far as tagging bae sejin in their group chat after sending the message.
just like eugene and sejin himself, everyone else had gone back home as well. it’s a longer off period, after all — totalling in over a week, which is rare. ryu cheongwoo had sent updates on a meet-up with cousins, lee sejin had a very hearty time at home with his family, and seon ahyeon seemed like he had a lot of fun vacationing abroad with his family, this time to australia. the kangaroo pictures were so interesting and adorable that bae sejin may or may not have saved them all. kim raebin, on the other hand, had greeted the group chat every morning with different sets of glittery good morning GIFs.
as it has been for a while now, they all each extended an invitation to park moondae to come with them on these various activities. their families are long familiar with one another by now, so this doesn’t come as an awkward surprise. but as it also has been for a shorter while now, park moondae declined, promising to not work throughout the off period and to take some serious days. lee sejin brazenly interrogated him the first time park moondae did this sometime ago, but they all understand by now that he probably just has friends he’s meeting up with. park moondae has always been surprising in many ways, after all.
well, bae sejin has a different theory — in all honesty.
he has a feeling lee sejin and ryu cheongwoo have caught on too but rather than friends they haven’t heard a peep of, isn’t it more likely that park moondae has a girlfriend?
it’s really weird, sejin thinks. all of them are familiar with lee sejin’s many, many friends or ryu cheongwoo’s acquaintances from his athlete days. maybe not all of them, but some have at least come up in conversations once or twice. kim raebin isn’t a guy with a lot of social skills — admittedly, just like bae sejin himself — and even his friends, usually fellow self-producing idols, have been talked about here and there. they also know that park moondae interacts more with the juniors of the same company, the kids from idol co.’s fourth season, more than any of them. for park moondae to suddenly have friends that never at all come up in conversation, if sejin’s honest, it’s odd. his dongsaeng also isn’t the type to be hiding things for no reason.
hence, a girlfriend.
bae sejin isn't in a hurry to know about the details though. park moondae is a sensible person who acts maturely after weighing many factors. when he's ready, he'll come to talk about it. whether it's with sejin himself or with cheongwoo as the leader or even the other members — they all support him whatever his choice is and bae sejin is sure park moondae is aware of that.
in any case, the rest of the guys seem to be either oblivious or not paying attention on purpose. they somehow banded together around four days ago, planning a surprise visit to come back a day before the last day of TeSTAR's vacation. the headmaster of this operation is surprisingly kim raebin — so bae sejin can only guess that it's done out of pure good intentions and maybe a tinge of worry for park moondae. still, is it okay to do this? what if they come back to an empty dorm with park moondae away to meet his girlfriend?
it can’t be helped, since they’re already on their way. stopping the other kids would be too difficult, they all move like a bulldozer that knows no brakes. sighing, bae sejin decides to just go along with it — just this once.
he soon regrets this decision. if he had the sense of foresight, he should’ve stopped all of the guys before the situation snowballs into something bigger.
the lift dings open and cha eugene skips ahead of them spiritedly. the hallways of their accomodation are silent, like always. it’s a familiar sight of the gray-blue walls that stretch without an end, two dark brown doors each on the left and on the right. their neighbor is an elderly couple whom bae sejin really likes — but kim raebin favors even more. it seems like it reminds him of his grandparents at home.
cha eugene obediently stands around the keypad while lee sejin, without a hint of hesitation, punches in their access code while humming. ryu cheongwoo smiles, warm and obviously fond, “everyone missed each other a lot too, huh. it’d be nice when we finally meet moondae too.”
“yeah! i brought some souvenirs too,” cha eugene cheekily grins.
“m-me too..” seon ahyeon pipes in.
“my grandparents made some jams and i brought it as well — i can’t wait to be sharing it with everyone, i’m sure moondae-hyung would be able to magically cook something good from it as well.”
“moondae-moondae~” lee sejin calls as the mechanism in their door unlocks, swinging it open with much fanfare. “surprise, we’re all home! were you lonely?”
and well, while normally park moondae would be nowhere to be seen, perhaps lodged somewhere by the kitchen counters or on his bed relaxing, today the moment they pass by the entryway, he is already there without a need to search for him.
park moondae is sitting on the couch.
well, on top of VTIC's cheongryeo's lap, on the couch.
his shirt is messily unbuttoned, while cheongryeo is just topless. cheongryeo's arms are wound tightly against moondae's midsection, moondae hugging his shoulders loosely. they're both frozen still, wide-eyed like a pair of deers caught under headlights, though they react quickly, disentangling themselves from one another within less than half a second.
belatedly, bae sejin notices the purple love bites lining up across moondae's neck — and down to his chest. bae sejin's brain distantly rings, a wind chime barely touched by summer breeze, a weak sound: he has always been aware of these things to a certain degree as an avid romance reader, but it's most certainly his first time, despite being the oldest of the group, seeing hickeys in real life. 4K high resolution through his own two eyes.
“oh my god.”
that must be cha eugene.
ryu cheongwoo belatedly covers cha eugene's and kim raebin's eyes. lee sejin makes the executive decision to try to cover seon ahyeon's eyes as well, who seem to have frozen in place.
“moondae-moondae—”
“park moondae, you!”
“give me a second!”
everyone hurriedly turns around on their feet without being prompted as rustling noises are heard alongside park moondae's curses and the voice of VTIC's cheongryeo, calm as ever, low and slightly hushed. there's an audible noise of someone getting up, footsteps and then the opening of a room somewhere as the person finally comes back to sit on the couch before the rustling resumes.
“you can.. see now,” park moondae says, clothed now and the most hesitant bae sejin has ever heard him. he clears his throat, “we should talk.”
oh, they have a lot to talk about.
there's no girlfriend.
there’s very obviously a boyfriend though.
“... and that is the gist. we have been seeing each other well and usually moondae-ssi comes over to my place,” VTIC's cheongryeo explains.
kim raebin, easily convinced, nods, “i see! congratulations on your relationship, moondae-hyung and cheongryeo sunbae-nim!”
bae sejin feels a little faint.
“s-so all the times moondae spent vacation alone..?”
“yes,” park moondae answers this time. “i met up a few times with sunbae-nim and we sometimes take his dog out for walks as well.”
“among other activities,” shin cheongryeo corrects.
park moondae's ears go red. “.. among other activities.” he looks like he's cursing internally.
bae sejin feels very faint.
“do the VTIC members know?”
“those guys found out accidentally since moondae-ssi stays over quite a bit.” shin cheongryeo smiles like his answer makes it okay.
“then…”
“i..” park moondae cuts in. he looks uncharacteristically nervous. “..wanted to tell everyone, of course. but it hasn't been that long and i didn't know — well, how the news will be received.”
in other words, he was worried about their reactions.
cha eugene hums, “is it because it's a relationship between two guys?” he calmly continues. “hyung, you know you mean a lot to us. we don't care as long as it makes you happy.”
it's a realistic concern — not everyone has the most positive outlook on different kinds of things. bae sejin can't help the rising empathy at the thought that park moondae must have worried over this for a while as well. wait, isn’t there a more pressing concern though?
“wait, you’re seriously dating this guy ? out of all people, this guy?” bae sejin gasps. the pressing concern at the back of his mind finally makes its presence known loud and clear like an uncomfortable siren. wasn’t this guy the perpetrator of the kidnapping incident that landed park moondae in the hospital? this crazy guy kept approaching him and doing all kinds of annoying things too afterwards.
thankfully, lee sejin chooses that moment to pipe in, “no offense to you, cheongryeo sunbae-nim. but are you sure, moondae-moondae?”it’s more like full offense, really — the sly guy shoots VTIC’s cheongryeo a dirty look, very briefly to a point where it’s almost unnoticeable. bae sejin is sure everyone in the room saw that, though no one tries to comment on it. in fact, seon ahyeon and kim raebin look confused instead — blissfully ignorant and kept in the dark about all kinds of things that occurred with this crazy guy.
park moondae sighs, carefully wording his answer as to not give away anything to those who aren’t in the know, “we’ve gone past a lot of other things. cheongryeo sunbae-nim and i reconciled and worked together in a lot of ways.” and then a pause.
he continues, “to be honest, i don’t know either. why am i dating you again?” the question is said with a criminal offensive side eye, rude words and all in informal language.
the cherry on top is VTIC’s cheongryeo’s burst of laughter. it seems like a familiar tango between the two, because as if he expected all that, he calmly replies, “how should i know? it was hubae-nim’s choice to accept my feelings, after all.” the hand patting park moondae’s waist placatingly is not subtle at all.
bae sejin balks at their flirtatious banter, “wait, park moondae. are you really, aish, this is a crazy guy we’re talking about—!”
“woah, sejin hyung, i understand how you feel but it’s probably not wise to say that right now—” lee sejin tries to hold him back.
“i don’t see what’s the problem? cheongryeo sunbae-nim hits a lot of check marks for the ideal son in law according to a lot of different articles and quizzes online, he’s handsome and charming on top of being financially secure and well-known to the country as a good man, as well as full of talent..”
“thank you for the compliment, kim raebin hubae-nim.”
“love is love, hyung! it’s okay!”
“um, i-if it’s moondae’s choice, then i’ll wholeheartedly support it..”
“no, guys, wait a minute!”
in the end, the elderly lady next door knocks and tells them to pipe down a little since her husband is resting. so the unproductive discussion remains hanging without a conclusion and ryu cheongwoo makes the executive decision to exercise his rarely-used leader card and tells everyone to think about it once more. in the meantime, VTIC’s cheongryeo is kicked back to his home. very politely, but kicked back to his home and very much away from TeSTAR’s dorm.
bae sejin’s peace doesn’t return. unfortunately, he can’t complain, since this is the closest he can get.
for now.
‘breakfast is in the fridge. went out for filming.
— 🐶’
the note reads.
shin jaehyun, freshly awakened and just now conscious, can't help but curl his mouth in good feelings. he places the note on the kitchen counter, going about to kongi's feeding area to take care of his kid first. kong barks out a thanks which jaehyun happily receives, patting the retriever mix's head before even thinking of his own breakfast.
what did park moondae prepare this time?
shin jaehyun is someone who was born to a good family — it might have just been him and his mother, but his mother was financially secure and a capable person through and through. her role in his life might've weakened in the period of time of the regressions — as there were far more pressing things to take care of, far stronger factors at play — but the fact remains that once upon a time, in a distant past, lifetimes ago, she was an important in life. to a certain degree, she still is. just in a different manner than before.
in that kind of household, eating has first and foremost been something jaehyun does to stay alive and to survive. less of an act of pleasure and more of a thing he had to do, a chore, to say the least. as the loops began and restarted and restarted and restarted, it was difficult to even draw any good feelings from any activities, even big achievements, much less small and mundane routines. eating became a hassle. preparing food even more so — at some point, he started to only eat salads and drink protein shakes three times a day and take supplements for the rest of his nutrients. a well-rounded body needs management and care, it's a must in his line of profession. and yet, it's still such a bore to eat.
even so, a lot of things have changed since jaehyun met park moondae.
“haha,” he laughs to himself. kongi responds with a bark, enthusiastic. the food bowl is already clean — which reminds shin jaehyun to go to eat too. in his head, park moondae's tibetan expression flashes, a caring yet carefully monotonous voice nagging him to ‘take better care of yourself, you're a professional, shin jaehyun,’ ironically in the voice of the most chronic workaholic jaehyun knows.
in the fridge, inside a neatly wrapped container, are fried noodles topped with seafood. he goes through the necessary motions to heat it up in the microwave, quickly undoing the wrappings and beginning to eat it.
CHR: i ate well, hubae-nim ^^
CHR: thank you for the food
naturally, he doesn't forget to attach five pictures of kong-ah, whose tail wagged furiously at the mention of park moondae's name, and of the reheated food. the tiny number next to the message disappears, though a reply only comes hours later. the smile on jaehyun's face doesn't disappear anyway.
it's so long ago in his memory that jaehyun thinks maybe he forgets. he doesn't though. it's true: the first time, the group name was VTIC. the first time, his stage name was cheongryeo. the first time, he did want to be an idol and he did want to do well. he did like performing, the rush of adrenaline when he danced on stage, the feeling of thousands of eyes on him awaiting his next move.
shin cheongryeo thinks of the first time as his first life. each and every regression is their own life. it's both part of him as a whole and at the same time a different version of him who went through it all.
he did like it. he does still like it. this profession of being an idol, even in the messed up entertainment industry the way it has always been.
but not every life is good. consequently, not every career, not every year, not every month, week — not every day is good.
he tries not to slam the door shut like he used to do a couple of lifetimes ago. cheongryeo is all too aware of how easy kong gets spooked by loud noises these days.
the apartment is chilly, wintry air seemingly seeping through the walls. the uncomfortably stiff atmosphere isn't offset by the heater, even if the temperature isn't actually that bad inside. for a swift second, a useless thought comes to mind: he should've carpeted the floor — it'd be better for winters. as soon as the thought comes, he disregards and discards it completely, instead dragging his two feet across the entire home to seek for kong's warm presence. he hasn’t even taken his socks off after messily toeing off his shoes by the entryway.
his body is heavy, weighted down by annoyance. anger doesn't quite fit the bill — shin cheongryeo lost the ability to feel intensely a long time ago, he thinks. probably somewhere after the third time he went back. the disparaging fact is a smile still remains on his lips, like a bug particularly hard to kill. a default expression, just like an NPC game character. the perfect idol cheongryeo strives to be is one who doesn't falter and lose his composure, after all. idols are for entertainment — and to be entertaining, the basic skill is to smile well at all given time and situation. it's just unfortunate that in creating this flawless product out of himself, shin cheongryeo forgot to completely erase his ability to feel. the frustrations of the day still creep up inside his chest and threaten to pull him down and slow him further and his smile doesn't slide off his face, but every step his feet take further inside the house feels heavier and heavier.
it just was not a good day. much as his brain wants to overanalyze all the places where it went wrong, how to mitigate the damages, contingency plans, repairs and fixes, erasures, deletions, scrapping and digging and digging for ways to turn back, turn back and reset and do it all over again, the same old steps, and start from the beginning with a perfect run this time, the feel of control slipping out of his hands, the need to grip it tight and suffocate it until it stops flowing out, and yet — and yet something fogs over it all. triumphing over every need for perfection is a desire for familiarity.
shin cheongryeo clicks open a door and kong tackles him to the ground.
his kid is warm to touch and soft to hug. kong licks up his cheek, excited tail wagging. it isn't as furious as the usual tail wag though — and jaehyun allows himself to be deluded that maybe kong is concerned for him. it's irrational and impossible.
overhead, the lamp continues to lit up the night, glaringly and achingly bright. tonight, it's especially reminiscent of a spotlight and jaehyun desperately misses the backstage.
he burrows his head into kong's golden fur, pressing a quick kiss against the dog's head. kong, as if sensing jaehyun's gloom, melts against him and lets jaehyun steal all the warmth.
they stay like that for a long time. jaehyun isn't exactly sure how long — but it stretches like a lifetime or two. or eighty restarts and eighty times waking up on the same bed, under the same ceiling, in the same eighteen year old body.
when he snaps back into his own body, shin jaehyun is dazed. the lights are turned off and kong disentangles from him like a traitor. by the door is a silhouette he recognizes and yet can't see clearly. shin jaehyun's vision is spotted still from the sudden lack of brightness without time to adjust. he can't see moondae's expression, obscured by the backlight from the golden living room lights behind him. kong barks a greeting and when park moondae speaks, warm and inviting even through his lack of intonation and the tone always as blunt as knife, everything clicks easily and familiarly all at once immediately.
“i filled kong-ah's food bowl already. you haven't eaten, right? you come eat too, shin jaehyun.”
his body laxes and he feels as though the air is coming into his lungs slightly like a breeze down a hill. natural as though meant to be, like oxygen didn't hitch and clog his throat and fog his brain just mere moments earlier. shin jaehyun doesn't move.
he registers park moondae's frown by the sound of his voice and not by the looks of it.
“shin jaehyun.”
he steps closer. shin jaehyun still does not even twitch. so he takes a seat right next to jaehyun's still body and park moondae lies his head on his arm, pressed flush against jaehyun's side.
a lifetime later, they awaken together thanks to kongi's persistent efforts. park moondae stirring first and shin jaehyun rousing immediately after, under a familiar yet unfamiliar ceiling, not on a familiar bed but on the wooden floor, in a familiar but unfamiliar twenty nine year old body. it feels like no time has passed at all — though later park moondae makes shin jaehyun eat his dinner anyway, an hour to midnight.
“aren’t you going to eat? i brought beef from the dorm. it’d be cold by now, but we can heat it up.”
with that sentence alone, park moondae helps shin jaehyun up. it’s far too late to be eating for a pair of idols who are supposed to be managing their physiques and the taste of the beef black pepper park moondae cooked is delicious paired with warmed up rice and cheongryeo feels a bit more anchored. it’s even more warm; to slowly eat while being watched by the calm and knowing amber eyes.
he purposefully forgoes using the intercom system this time, aware that the rest of the members are home. instead, shin jaehyun passes a smile at the receptionist and physically knocks on the door.
the front door swings open and a reasonable guy comes out. ryu cheongwoo’s face morphs from recognition to a perfectly amicable and perfectly surface level smile. “hello, sunbae-nim. are you looking for moondae?”
“that’s right.” and because jaehyun has to play a bit nicer, since they’re connected this way now and park moondae finds the group members precious, cheongryeo spares a friendlier greeting. “it’s nice to see you again, ryu cheongwoo hubae-nim. is moondae-ssi home?”
he looks a little troubled, eyebrows slightly creased and hesitant before he opens his mouth to reply, “moondae got called to the company. he was just now accompanied by the manager there. it’s just about ten minutes ago too — sunbae-nim just missed him.”
“is that so. alright, thank you. i guess i’ll come at another time then,” shin jaehyun smiles. he excuses himself and they exchange quick goodbyes worthy of acquaintances who do not know each other well.
later on, while he’s on his way back, he gets a text from park moondae himself.
Apple: where are you? you said you’re coming
ah — really. with such a straight face too. he had a hunch for sure, although to have it confirmed leaves a bitter taste in his mouth. jaehyun feels thoroughly deceived. it was truly no one’s error but his own for letting his guard down — were jaehyun a lesser man, he’d blame it on ryu cheongwoo’s good person vibes throwing him totally off the kilter. really, in truth, it was just his lack of foresight and carefulness. lesson reminded: never judge any book by its cover.
CHR: i’ll come another time ^^ a bird chased me out
Apple: ??
Apple: there’s no birds near our accommodation. did you come to the wrong place?
CHR: ^^;;