(no subject)
anything for a friend
pg, eeteuk x taeyeon, shiwon x taeyeon
1800+ words
Jungsu doesn’t like the tone in her voice, nor does he approve of the admiration painted so obviously across her face.
a/n: As you probably figured out from the pairings, this is based on the Seoul Song MV. Sorry that I kind of fail endings. :(
Taeyeon tells him about Mr. Gorgeous Behind on a Sunday afternoon. The sun is shining, the park is packed, and all around them life is blooming on the rosy cheeks of young children waving bright yellow balloons. They are on one of their usual walks, ice creams in hand, chatting about nothing in particular. He’s been swamped in assignments, so they haven’t seen each other for a good two weeks. More has happened in those two weeks than he would have expected.
“I saw him again yesterday,” she concludes, having spent a nearly unbearable amount of time describing the dimple on Mr. Gorgeous Behind’s cheek, the carefree way his hair falls in front of his face, and his absolutely gorgeous butt. “I think he goes running every day, at the same time. I wonder how long he goes for…”
Jungsu doesn’t like the tone in her voice, nor does he approve of the admiration painted so obviously across her face. There is flush to her cheeks, a spark in her eyes that squeezes and jerks at his heartstrings. But there is no resisting the smile she gives him when she turns to ask him a favor.
“Anyway, I couldn’t catch up to him with my own two legs even if I trained for a month. But I think I might be able to on a bike. Do you think… you could teach me to ride one?”
It’s always been a sore point for her, that she’s already twenty-two and still doesn’t know how to ride. He knows because he constantly teases her about it. Once, he took it so far that she refused to see him for five days. For her to give up her pride by asking him such a favor, he knows Mr. Gorgeous Behind must really mean something to her.
With an inward groan, he forces a smile and agrees. “I guess I could. But we’d better buy you a helmet or you’ll probably break your head and kill what's left of your brain cells.”
She scowls at him and shoves her ice cream cone in his face. They spend the rest of the afternoon rolling in the grass after he's caught up with her and wrested her to the ground.
---
Their first lesson is a veritable disaster. Taeyeon's fear wins out over her determination and she spends every five seconds asking if Jungsu is still holding onto the backseat of her bike.
"Don't let go. Don't let go. Don't let go. Don't let go!"
While spinning around to make sure he hasn't let go, she loses her balance and topples over with the bike.
Admittedly, she looks adorable as a frazzled mess with her hair all over her face and her legs in a confused lock with the bike. But the pout is not at all attractive, considering he knows exactly what that slight tremble in her lower lip means.
"Jungsu, I told you not to let go!" she practically shrieks at him.
"I didn't!" he insists, lifting the bike and trying to pull her to her feet, too. "You're the one who can't maintain your own balance! How do you expect to balance the bike if you can't even balance on the bike?"
"Let's just try again. I'll get it eventually."
He rolls his eyes, but takes hold of the back of the seat again as she gets onto the bike. It's difficult to look ahead when his hands are so close behind her, but he manages to focus one way or another. "Okay, ready?"
"Ready."
---
Six falls later, they are seated at a bench sharing a banana split. She is dirty and bruised. He is mostly scratched up from her last fall and desperate attempt to latch onto him for safety.
"So what's so special about this guy?" Jungsu asks, trying to sound nonchalant as he focuses on moving a particular speck of syrup around his scoop of ice cream.
Taeyeon grins, shifting in her seat and taking another bite before answering. A small droplet sticks to the corner of her mouth and he reaches over to wipe it away. She grins that ridiculous grin that makes his heart do backflips and he curses himself for agreeing to take part in this ridiculous plot.
"Well..." She doesn't seem to notice the grimace on his face, drawing her knees up to her chest and smiling dreamily up at the sky. "Do you remember when we were in high school, and I was a member of Cassiopeia?"
"Uh-huh..." Jungsu nods slowly, not liking where this is going.
"I always told you that if there was anybody in the world I wanted to be with, it would be Choikang Changmin? And you said it was silly, I don't even know him?"
"It is silly," Jungsu begins.
"I'm not done yet!" She smacks his arm, cutting him off with a glare for interrupting."Anyway, do you remember what I told you? It doesn't matter, because I feel something for him, anyway. I can't describe it, but he makes my heart go dugeun dugeun."
Jungsu watches as she pats her hand lightly on her chest to demonstrate, then looks away lest someone mistake him for a pervert.
"I don't have to know what it is to know what it means. Have you ever had that feeling?"
Jungsu gets up and stretches his arms, willing himself not to look down at her. "No." He knows he'll just see her disappointed confusion if he does. "I have to run, it's getting late. I'll... talk to you later, okay?" He goes without waiting for her answer.
---
Three Years Ago
Jungsu is late for class. So late in fact, that it seems pointless to even go. But he'd rather face his teacher's scolding than his mother's beating, which is pretty much guaranteed if the school calls home about an absence.
In his rush, with his shirt not even properly buttoned and one of his shoelaces coming undone, he trips and knocks himself into a passerby.
"Shit," he hisses, as he knocks his elbow hard into the ground and ruins his newly pressed uniform.
"I'm so sorry!" a shrill voice somewhere above him exclaims, and he turns to see an even bigger mess than himself staring down at him. Her hair is in tangles, entirely windswept, and her uniform looks as though it could do with some dusting as well as a good ironing. She bites her lips anxiously, bent over trying to lug him back to his feet, and he stumbles on his way upwards in a daze.
"I..." He can't hear himself over the blood pounding in his ears, the sudden rapid beating of his heart.
"Are you okay?" she asks, dusting him off and looking over him for injuries. "I'm so sorry. I'm just... I'm really late. But I have to go. And I'm so sorry. I... do you have a pen? Never mind. I'll make it up to you later. I'm so so so sorry."
She leaves him to gawk after her for a good two minutes, until he remembers he has somewhere to get, too. The only thing he's aware of by the time he's regained control of his senses is, "I think I'm in love."
---
"You okay?" Taeyeon asks him later that evening. He often regrets ever introducing her to his mother - ever since they became friends, he rarely gets a moment of privacy.
Jungsu stands up from his desk, pasting on a smile and reminding himself of his resolution. "Hey."
"You didn't answer my-"
"Sorry I bailed today." He cuts her off, determined to go on as normal. It helps to stare at a spot on the wall behind her, rather than look her directly in the eye. "Busy. Homework." It's half the truth. He buried himself in work all the rest of the afternoon to avoid thinking about her and Mr. Gorgeous Behind.
"It's okay." She smiles, apparently reassured by his own, and hurts him all the more for her faith in it. "So if you're done working, do you want to go see a movie tonight? My treat, since you're helping me out and all that."
"Popcorn, too?" His smile is a little more strained.
She slaps him on the arm and he trades the fake smile in for a genuine scowl. "Don't push your luck. It's amazing I had enough in my piggy bank for the tickets."
"Okay, okay." He rolls his eyes, muttering quietly about her being a cheapskate. "Hey! Let me put on some decent shoes!"
It's too late. She's already got ahold of his injured arm and is dragging him out the door, shouting to his mother that they'll be out at the movies for the night.
---
He buys the popcorn, as he was intending to all along, and they share it over a large cola. Halfway into the movie (an action-adventure flick complete with her personal commentary) he's no longer pretending to have a good time.
"I think I have a solution to your problem," he tells her as they walk arm in arm down the road to her apartment.
"If it involves falling on the bike in front of him, I already considered that. But I don't want to look like a total loser."
Jungsu arches an eyebrow at him, marveling at the female mind. It's certainly not something he would have thought of to get anyone's attention. "No, not quite what I had in mind." He reconsiders. "Well, you might have to look a little bit like a loser."
She frowns at him, but offers her ear all the same.
"No way, I'm not doing that!"
Jungsu shrugs, looking up innocently. "Suit yourself. We'll see how much longer you can handle falling on your butt."
That earns him a sharp kick to his own. They laugh the rest of the way back to her house.
---
Hiding behind a tree with a pair of binoculars, waiting for a "tall, muscular guy with a great, and I mean great, ass," is probably one of the more sexually questionable things Jungsu has done in his twenty years alive. He whines pathetically to Taeyeon about it as she's trying to get him behind the tree.
"You came up with the plan!" she exclaims, hands on her hips and looking adorably exasperated.
"I did not. I never said anything about staking him out for you! I thought you said he comes around the same time every day, anyway!"
"But what if I miss him today? Come on, Jungsu, this is the last thing I'll ever ask from you."
"Unlikely," he mutters, and earns himself a kick in the shins. "Ow! What was that for!"
Taeyeon shoves him back behind the tree. "Just do it!" she hisses.
There is really no arguing with that. Especially since she's already run off to get the bike. Jungsu sighs and holds the binoculars up to his eyes, ready to follow orders.
When he gives the signals about ten minutes later, she cycles herself onto the lane, going slowly. It doesn't take long for Mr. Gorgeous Behind to catch up to her. As Jungsu suspected, the additional wheels attached to the back wheel of her bike catch his interest.
He's not that handsome, Mr. Gorgeous Behind. There's something off about his forehead, maybe the eyebrows. And his hair is too long to be left so unkempt. But there's no denying the muscular build, and he does have a great butt.
"Mission accomplished," Jungsu murmurs, unable to resist smiling back when he catches Taeyeon discreetly turning around to give him a thumbs up. On the plus side, she'll probably treat him to movies for the rest of the month.
pg, eeteuk x taeyeon, shiwon x taeyeon
1800+ words
Jungsu doesn’t like the tone in her voice, nor does he approve of the admiration painted so obviously across her face.
a/n: As you probably figured out from the pairings, this is based on the Seoul Song MV. Sorry that I kind of fail endings. :(
Taeyeon tells him about Mr. Gorgeous Behind on a Sunday afternoon. The sun is shining, the park is packed, and all around them life is blooming on the rosy cheeks of young children waving bright yellow balloons. They are on one of their usual walks, ice creams in hand, chatting about nothing in particular. He’s been swamped in assignments, so they haven’t seen each other for a good two weeks. More has happened in those two weeks than he would have expected.
“I saw him again yesterday,” she concludes, having spent a nearly unbearable amount of time describing the dimple on Mr. Gorgeous Behind’s cheek, the carefree way his hair falls in front of his face, and his absolutely gorgeous butt. “I think he goes running every day, at the same time. I wonder how long he goes for…”
Jungsu doesn’t like the tone in her voice, nor does he approve of the admiration painted so obviously across her face. There is flush to her cheeks, a spark in her eyes that squeezes and jerks at his heartstrings. But there is no resisting the smile she gives him when she turns to ask him a favor.
“Anyway, I couldn’t catch up to him with my own two legs even if I trained for a month. But I think I might be able to on a bike. Do you think… you could teach me to ride one?”
It’s always been a sore point for her, that she’s already twenty-two and still doesn’t know how to ride. He knows because he constantly teases her about it. Once, he took it so far that she refused to see him for five days. For her to give up her pride by asking him such a favor, he knows Mr. Gorgeous Behind must really mean something to her.
With an inward groan, he forces a smile and agrees. “I guess I could. But we’d better buy you a helmet or you’ll probably break your head and kill what's left of your brain cells.”
She scowls at him and shoves her ice cream cone in his face. They spend the rest of the afternoon rolling in the grass after he's caught up with her and wrested her to the ground.
---
Their first lesson is a veritable disaster. Taeyeon's fear wins out over her determination and she spends every five seconds asking if Jungsu is still holding onto the backseat of her bike.
"Don't let go. Don't let go. Don't let go. Don't let go!"
While spinning around to make sure he hasn't let go, she loses her balance and topples over with the bike.
Admittedly, she looks adorable as a frazzled mess with her hair all over her face and her legs in a confused lock with the bike. But the pout is not at all attractive, considering he knows exactly what that slight tremble in her lower lip means.
"Jungsu, I told you not to let go!" she practically shrieks at him.
"I didn't!" he insists, lifting the bike and trying to pull her to her feet, too. "You're the one who can't maintain your own balance! How do you expect to balance the bike if you can't even balance on the bike?"
"Let's just try again. I'll get it eventually."
He rolls his eyes, but takes hold of the back of the seat again as she gets onto the bike. It's difficult to look ahead when his hands are so close behind her, but he manages to focus one way or another. "Okay, ready?"
"Ready."
---
Six falls later, they are seated at a bench sharing a banana split. She is dirty and bruised. He is mostly scratched up from her last fall and desperate attempt to latch onto him for safety.
"So what's so special about this guy?" Jungsu asks, trying to sound nonchalant as he focuses on moving a particular speck of syrup around his scoop of ice cream.
Taeyeon grins, shifting in her seat and taking another bite before answering. A small droplet sticks to the corner of her mouth and he reaches over to wipe it away. She grins that ridiculous grin that makes his heart do backflips and he curses himself for agreeing to take part in this ridiculous plot.
"Well..." She doesn't seem to notice the grimace on his face, drawing her knees up to her chest and smiling dreamily up at the sky. "Do you remember when we were in high school, and I was a member of Cassiopeia?"
"Uh-huh..." Jungsu nods slowly, not liking where this is going.
"I always told you that if there was anybody in the world I wanted to be with, it would be Choikang Changmin? And you said it was silly, I don't even know him?"
"It is silly," Jungsu begins.
"I'm not done yet!" She smacks his arm, cutting him off with a glare for interrupting."Anyway, do you remember what I told you? It doesn't matter, because I feel something for him, anyway. I can't describe it, but he makes my heart go dugeun dugeun."
Jungsu watches as she pats her hand lightly on her chest to demonstrate, then looks away lest someone mistake him for a pervert.
"I don't have to know what it is to know what it means. Have you ever had that feeling?"
Jungsu gets up and stretches his arms, willing himself not to look down at her. "No." He knows he'll just see her disappointed confusion if he does. "I have to run, it's getting late. I'll... talk to you later, okay?" He goes without waiting for her answer.
---
Three Years Ago
Jungsu is late for class. So late in fact, that it seems pointless to even go. But he'd rather face his teacher's scolding than his mother's beating, which is pretty much guaranteed if the school calls home about an absence.
In his rush, with his shirt not even properly buttoned and one of his shoelaces coming undone, he trips and knocks himself into a passerby.
"Shit," he hisses, as he knocks his elbow hard into the ground and ruins his newly pressed uniform.
"I'm so sorry!" a shrill voice somewhere above him exclaims, and he turns to see an even bigger mess than himself staring down at him. Her hair is in tangles, entirely windswept, and her uniform looks as though it could do with some dusting as well as a good ironing. She bites her lips anxiously, bent over trying to lug him back to his feet, and he stumbles on his way upwards in a daze.
"I..." He can't hear himself over the blood pounding in his ears, the sudden rapid beating of his heart.
"Are you okay?" she asks, dusting him off and looking over him for injuries. "I'm so sorry. I'm just... I'm really late. But I have to go. And I'm so sorry. I... do you have a pen? Never mind. I'll make it up to you later. I'm so so so sorry."
She leaves him to gawk after her for a good two minutes, until he remembers he has somewhere to get, too. The only thing he's aware of by the time he's regained control of his senses is, "I think I'm in love."
---
"You okay?" Taeyeon asks him later that evening. He often regrets ever introducing her to his mother - ever since they became friends, he rarely gets a moment of privacy.
Jungsu stands up from his desk, pasting on a smile and reminding himself of his resolution. "Hey."
"You didn't answer my-"
"Sorry I bailed today." He cuts her off, determined to go on as normal. It helps to stare at a spot on the wall behind her, rather than look her directly in the eye. "Busy. Homework." It's half the truth. He buried himself in work all the rest of the afternoon to avoid thinking about her and Mr. Gorgeous Behind.
"It's okay." She smiles, apparently reassured by his own, and hurts him all the more for her faith in it. "So if you're done working, do you want to go see a movie tonight? My treat, since you're helping me out and all that."
"Popcorn, too?" His smile is a little more strained.
She slaps him on the arm and he trades the fake smile in for a genuine scowl. "Don't push your luck. It's amazing I had enough in my piggy bank for the tickets."
"Okay, okay." He rolls his eyes, muttering quietly about her being a cheapskate. "Hey! Let me put on some decent shoes!"
It's too late. She's already got ahold of his injured arm and is dragging him out the door, shouting to his mother that they'll be out at the movies for the night.
---
He buys the popcorn, as he was intending to all along, and they share it over a large cola. Halfway into the movie (an action-adventure flick complete with her personal commentary) he's no longer pretending to have a good time.
"I think I have a solution to your problem," he tells her as they walk arm in arm down the road to her apartment.
"If it involves falling on the bike in front of him, I already considered that. But I don't want to look like a total loser."
Jungsu arches an eyebrow at him, marveling at the female mind. It's certainly not something he would have thought of to get anyone's attention. "No, not quite what I had in mind." He reconsiders. "Well, you might have to look a little bit like a loser."
She frowns at him, but offers her ear all the same.
"No way, I'm not doing that!"
Jungsu shrugs, looking up innocently. "Suit yourself. We'll see how much longer you can handle falling on your butt."
That earns him a sharp kick to his own. They laugh the rest of the way back to her house.
---
Hiding behind a tree with a pair of binoculars, waiting for a "tall, muscular guy with a great, and I mean great, ass," is probably one of the more sexually questionable things Jungsu has done in his twenty years alive. He whines pathetically to Taeyeon about it as she's trying to get him behind the tree.
"You came up with the plan!" she exclaims, hands on her hips and looking adorably exasperated.
"I did not. I never said anything about staking him out for you! I thought you said he comes around the same time every day, anyway!"
"But what if I miss him today? Come on, Jungsu, this is the last thing I'll ever ask from you."
"Unlikely," he mutters, and earns himself a kick in the shins. "Ow! What was that for!"
Taeyeon shoves him back behind the tree. "Just do it!" she hisses.
There is really no arguing with that. Especially since she's already run off to get the bike. Jungsu sighs and holds the binoculars up to his eyes, ready to follow orders.
When he gives the signals about ten minutes later, she cycles herself onto the lane, going slowly. It doesn't take long for Mr. Gorgeous Behind to catch up to her. As Jungsu suspected, the additional wheels attached to the back wheel of her bike catch his interest.
He's not that handsome, Mr. Gorgeous Behind. There's something off about his forehead, maybe the eyebrows. And his hair is too long to be left so unkempt. But there's no denying the muscular build, and he does have a great butt.
"Mission accomplished," Jungsu murmurs, unable to resist smiling back when he catches Taeyeon discreetly turning around to give him a thumbs up. On the plus side, she'll probably treat him to movies for the rest of the month.