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Chapter Text

Hyunjin just couldn't understand why it had to be him and Chris.

Being the exact same height as Taylor Swift didn't necessarily mean  Hyunjin was the perfect candidate. Neither did being the only one in  their friend group with long blonde hair. Or knowing the words to her  every song.

As for Chris... fine, maybe he  had a kind of similar smile to the guy in the music video, with the  crescent-shaped eyes and the uneven dimples. And maybe, just maybe, he  was perfect for the role of the cliché highschool football player with  his broad shoulders and his abs, or whatever. It didn't mean anything,  even if his parents got his little sister Hannah an apartment in the  building right next to Chris, thus offering them the absolute perfect  opportunity for shooting the face-to-face window neighbor scenes without  spending any more money than they already have, which is way too much.

But yeah. Hyunjin just didn't get it. It didn't have to be them.

"I  think it's homophobic that I have to play the girl just because I'm a  bottom," Hyunjin drawls and winces when Hannah yanks on his hair a  little too hard as she ties it in a low, messy ponytail.

"I think it's homophobic that you're a bottom, with those hands," she gasps.

"Rest assured, Hannah, he also fucks fucks." Jisung giggles from his spot, kicking his legs on his chair.

"Okay,  TMI, I would really appreciate it if everyone remembered that my sister  is a child, guys?" Chris plops down on the bed next to where Hyunjin  sits cross-legged, facing the mirror.

"I'm eighteen."

"Exactly.  A child." Chris ruffles her hair affectionately, but pulls his hand off at the speed of light when his sister attempts to bite him, teeth  clacking around air. "And a fucking animal, apparently."

"Why don't you take Changbin, Minho and Jeongin over to your apartment and get ready, too? This is a bottom-only zone."

Changbin  scoffs. "Did you just assume I was a top because I have muscles?" He  stands up, flexing his biceps, but doesn't get to protest any longer  before Chris is dragging him out of the apartment by the waist, followed  closely by unimpressed Minho and Jeongin. Changbin dramatically cries  out "Homophobic !" before the door slams shut behind them.

The  excitement is palpable in the way Hannah trots around Hyunjin to pull a  few blonde curls out of the ponytail, letting them fall prettily on his  face. She presses her fists to her hips, towering over Hyunjin with a  satisfied smile that tells him she's pretty much done.

Ruffling  sounds echo in the back and Jisung shows up behind him with Hannah's  computer, the clip to Taylor Swift's "You Belong with Me" paused on an  image of her in the first scene of the video.

Hyunjin  stares at himself in the mirror, reluctantly acknowledging that Hannah  did a great job with his hair, clothes and makeup, because the  resemblance is striking. He hates it.

Fuck, he's really doing this, isn't he?

If  it wasn't for the fact that Felix is essentially their entire friend  group's kryptonite, they wouldn't be here. It's years of seeing pretty  Felix dance his heart out to Taylor Swift's songs that brought them  together in this shithole of a birthday gift, because this time they  wanted to make something a little more personal than simply gifting him  concert tickets since last year they weren't the only ones to have  gotten that idea. Everyone and their mothers knew Felix was a big fan;  if the way he blasted her music for the entire college dorm to hear every  morning at seven fucking a.m. was any indication.

Lucky enough to have graduated first, Chris didn't have to endure  the pain and misery of hearing Felix scream "Look what you made me do"  under the shower every day for a week during that sudden emo phase he  got after breaking up with his ex.

Yeah.  If it wasn't for the fact they all adored Felix unconditionally, they  wouldn't have committed this much to an idea Seungmin threw in as a joke: recreating some of her most iconic music videos.

"Fuck  Seungmin," Hyunjin says out loud, far too annoyed to contain his  thoughts. His head is a Seungmin hate account at this point.

"Speaking  of Seungmin," Hannah bounces back, adjusting the extremely 2010 pair of  black glasses on Hyunjin's face. "Where is he?"

"He's  on birthday boy duty," Jisung replies. "Making sure Felix doesn't show  up in our rooms and get suspicious when he sees that none of us are  there," to which Hannah hums.

"Smart. Should we start filming? You look like the perfect twink version of Taylor Swift right now."

Jisung snorts, "Twinklor Swift."

"I  hope your children grow up to be republicans, Sung," Hyunjin spits, "republican incels. Who eat pineapple pizza— No, who make you pay extra to have pineapple added to a non-pineapple pizza."

"Brutal," Jisung giggles, "but deserved. Ready to start?"

Out the corner of his eye, Hyunjin sees golden light filter out of the closed curtain of the apartment facing Hannah's. The light pours out into the narrow alley as the curtain is pulled open to reveal a familiar silhouette. He cranes his neck to have a better look and it earns him an energetic wave from an all-too-smiley Chris. He's having far too much fun with this.

"Yeah," Hyunjin says and crawls up to sit cross-legged on the bed, feeling up his fluffy socks. "Let's get this over with. Give me the damn book so I can hold it like a fucking idiot."

Jisung obliges, handing him the heavy encyclopaedia they prepared for this. After grabbing her camera, Hannah heads towards the large window and shoots Jeongin—the other side's designated cameraman—a thumbs up. He nods and points his camera in Hyunjin's direction while Hannah finds a good angle to film Chris without catching the others in the frame.

Jeongin lifts up his free arm, mimicking a countdown.

Three, two, one...

A click echoes from Jisung's computer and the next second, funky guitar starts playing. Hyunjin already wants to jump out the window.

He pretends to read for about three seconds before lifting his head in slow motion with the dumbest, doe-eyed facial expression he can come up with, and he swears he can see a dimple appear behind Jeongin's camera.

On the other hand, Chris is... acting.  He's pretending to be arguing on the phone, dramatically flinging his arms in the air, and is frankly so into it that Hyunjin has to physically stop himself from laughing. Lips pursed, he tries to maintain his braindead nerdy girl expression and is quick to look away, moving on to the next step a little early so he doesn't lose it.

Everything else goes smoothly. He grabs his notepad and they proceed to have their friendly window-neighbour conversation: the jock explains that he's tired of girlfriend drama, to which nerdy girl attempts to respond with a love confession like a fucking psychopath instead of providing actual friendly support.

Thankfully, as planned, Chris starts getting ready to close his curtains before Hyunjin can show him the godforsaken "I love you" note. Out the corner of his eye, Hyunjin catches sight of Christopher's shirt riding up, offering a sliver of bare skin, despite it probably being the longest shirt he owns.

"Eyes on the notepad, gay boy," Jisung teases.

"Shut the fuck up," the blonde spits through gritted teeth.

"What kind of dude does that, by the way? Dick move, Taylor was clearly still writing !" Jisung gasps indignantly and it earns him an angry shush from Hannah. "Who cares, you're editing out the sound anyways, right?"

"Yeah, but I'm in the zone and you're disrupting it," Hannah replies.

"Your bottom-only zone?"

"My fucking menace zone," she barks and lowers her camera when Chris shuts the curtains. "That's a wrap for the first scene !"

Groaning loudly, Hyunjin flops back on the bed. He gets to breath for about three seconds before he hears a window creak open, followed by a familiar voice.

"We gotta re-do Hyunjin's last scene. These idiots forgot that if Chris shuts the curtains I pretty much can't film Hyunjin's reaction," Jeongin explains. "We probably should've filmed their individual scenes in separately instead of trying to do it all at once."

Hannah shakes her head. "It's an artistic choice. Makes their reactions more genuine. And saves us time. And it's hilarious."

Fucking hell. The blonde fake-sobs dramatically as he forces himself back up.

"You're nailing that desperate nerd look right now, dude! Keep it up!" Changbin yells far too loud for 10 p.m. on a Tuesday night, and Hyunjin fully expects at least one neighbor to pop his head out into the alley and scream back at him.

It never comes, but Changbin yelps and thankfully gets away from the window before heightening their chances of getting a noise complaint. The smirk on Minho's face is something Hyunjin's seen too many times to not guess that the older man certainly took Changbin being bent over the window as an invitation to obliterate his ass with a slap from the Gods. Again.

While everyone watches the pair bicker incessantly, Hyunjin's eyes find Chris, slumped over in laughter, pretty dimples on display. It makes warmth bloom in his chest as he smiles, staring for a few seconds until... he feels watched.

Smile dropping, Hyunjin whips his head to his left to find Hannah and Jisung staring at him like it's the funniest thing in the world.

"What?"

"Nothing," they reply in unison and share a surprised look that would've been hilarious to Hyunjin if he wasn't the cause of their shared secrecy.

Before he can dig for answers, Jeongin calls out to him — Changbin and Minho having visibly calmed down. The blonde gets ready, settling on the edge of the bed with his notepad clutched tight. Hannah takes the opportunity to film a close-up of the "I love you" note.

They wrap up the last scene with a desperate show of the note at the four pairs of eyes watching him intently on the other side. At one point, Hyunjin meets Christopher's eyes while he's still holding up the notepad and it makes him cringe with his entire body, a shiver running down his spine as he throws the damn pad on the bed and stands up before Jeongin even gives him the okay to end the scene.

"I'm not nearly drunk enough for this shit," he complains, pacing around the room and shaking his arms like the embarrassment is going to bleed out of his fingertips. "Get me a drink, Hannah, I'm begging."

"Uhhhh..." she drawls, "I kind of just turned eighteen."

"Don't you dare act like you haven't delved ovaries-deep in underage drinking, Hannah Bang, I've seen you hungover, you're not as subtle as you think."

She opens her mouth to protest but closes it immediately, defeated. Sighing, she pulls the curtain closed and crouches to pull a bottle of vodka from under her bed. "If Chris finds out I'm telling him you made me do it."

Hyunjin practically snatches the vodka out of her hand. "Thank the Lord and everything that is holy." He unscrews the cap and swings the bottle back immediately. The bitter taste floods his mouth and burns his throat raw as he takes about three gulps before he can't handle any more. "Fuckin' amen. You have horrible taste in vodka, by the way."

"I'm a teenager."

"You still have tastebuds," Hyunjin retorts and represses a burp, face twisted in disgust.

"We should open the curtains before Chris barges in to ask us if we're giving Hannah drugs," Jisung half-jokes.

Once the bottle's been carefully slid back under the bed, Hannah opens up again and ignores the suspicious look her brother shoots her in favor of hiding her face behind the camera again. "Next scene?"

The blonde looks at Chris on the other side. Stupid, stupid Chris, with his stupid smile and his stupid dimples and his stupid broad shoulders and the stupid way his eyes wrinkle at the corners when he stares at Hyunjin's ponytail again and laughs.

Hyunjin flips him off. Chris sends back a stupid flying kiss.

"Yeah." Hyunjin angrily grabs a hairbrush. "Next scene."

Chapter Text

Chris cannot stop fidgeting. Everyone around him is giggling and snorting every two seconds—certainly because whatever's happening on the other side must be hilarious—but he is the only one who has to sit with his back to the window, blind to what must be a wonderful view of Hyunjin in Taylor Swift cosplay acting like an idiot.

And for what? Because his sister's artistic choices apparently decided it would be "more natural and spontaneous" if Chris turned around right when Hannah has to film him.

His three friends don't spare him any suffering either, not even trying to offer mental support by repressing their laughter. The only one holding back is Jeongin, but it's certainly just to keep his camera steady, not out of compassion for Chris.

"What's he doing now?" he asks.

"Air guitar on the bed," Changbin barely chokes out in-between fits of laughter, wiping at his teary eyes, "this is the best thing I've ever s—oh my god." He bursts out laughing again, quickly followed by Minho. Even Jeongin barely resists, this time.

"What's going oooooon?" Chris whines as he bounces impatiently in his spot, boiling with curiosity.

"He just headbanged so hard his glasses flew off," Minho describes, "so Hannah's making him re-do the air guitar scene, I think."

Chris blinks. "Does that mean I have to wait longer?" he asks, to which Minho responds with an apologetic look. "Fuck me, man."

"Hard pass," Jeongin deadpans, "you can ask your crush to do that, just make sure you're not limping afterwards, we still need to finish filming this."

Chris stiffens. "I'm not— He's not— We're not— It's not like that, we're just— Hyunjin's just—"

"Who said anything about Hyunjin?" Changbin smirks.

The older man feels his own stomach shrivel up like a raisin when he realizes that he may or may not have made an assumption that they'll never let him get away with. Tips of his ears a fiery shade of red, he mentally prepares his defense as he half-expects his friends to start teasing him about some crush on Hyunjin he definitely doesn't have, but they do much worse instead. Knowing smiles playing at their lips, they shoot each other understanding glances and silently continue watching the scene on the other side as if nothing happened.

It's nervewracking and painfully obvious that something's been happening in their friend group and Chris hates feeling like he's been out of the loop, but he knows his friends would never leave him out of something he could be included in on purpose. Which means that they're plotting something involving him in secret and it makes it so much worse, because they're already secretly preparing a birthday gift for Felix, and a secret within a secret can't possibly be a good thing.

Before his mind runs any longer and drives him mad, though, Jeongin brings him back to reality with a snap of his fingers and lets him know he can turn around soon.

Waiting for his cue, Chris mentally prepared himself to let out his rehearsed laugh, because while Hyunjin's probably looking funny already, he's not sure he'll naturally pull off the jock's fond, endeared smile.

Chris quickly finds out just how wrong he is about that assumption.

The second he catches sight of pretty Hyunjin with his pretty ponytail and pretty glasses dancing stiffly like a constipated ostrich on the other side, laughter bubbles in his throat so quick he immediately snorts and slouches over, cackling sweetly. Warmth spreads in his chest as he watches his blonde friend act sillier and sillier. Soon enough, Chris has forgotten all about the filming, and his eyes follow Hyunjin while he climbs back on the bed and starts jumping around, using a hairbrush as a makeshift mic for a legendary lip sync.

Just when Chris things he might lose a lung if he laughs for one more second, he briefly sees Hyunjin's face distort in horror, and a split second later the blonde vanishes from view. Next thing he knows, Hannah and Jisung are dropping everything to rush to the side of the bed, where he can only see a single leg hooked over the mattress. It takes Chris a few seconds to register that the fuzzy, colorful sock belongs to Hyunjin, who has apparently slipped right off the bed and landed on the floor.

"Holy fuck, that did not look good," Minho cringes.

"No, it didn't," Chris breathes out, and in a heartbeat he's jumping right out of his seat and darting towards the door.

In record time, he gets to the other apartment and nearly busts the door open, huffing and puffing because he's just flown up four flights of stairs like an absolute maniac—because whoever built this four-story building didn't have half a mind to add a fucking elevator—to get to Hyunjin's side as fast as humanly possible. He half-expects him to have broken a limb and has already calculated the fastest route to a hospital on his way up and mentally prepared himself to carry him down the stupid stairs, but... it's only when he arrives, red in the face, dripping sweat, face twisted with worry, that he realizes he might have overreacted.

Hyunjin's still sitting on the floor but he looks okay. More than okay, actually, seen as he'd been laughing loudly with Hannah and Jisung until Chris got there. Now, all three of them are staring at the older man, a little dumbfounded, laughter dying down as something heavy settles in the atmosphere along with an awkward silence.

"Uh..." Chris pants, scratching the back of his head. "You good?"

Hyunjin blinks up at him, long eyelashes batting in confusion. "Yeah. I just slipped, but I'm fine."

"Cool." His voice cracks. Fuck. "Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool," he repeats, as if the words could paddle him out of the pond of shame he's drowning into. Slowly, he starts to back away towards the exit. "Glad you're okay... mate. Anyways, I'm— I'm just gonna—"

"Did you just run out of your apartment to check on him?" Jisung teases with that shit-eating grin of his and Chris wants to smash his own face against a wall. Jisung's face, too, probably. "You're such a good friend, Chris."

"Yeah, such an amazing friend," Hannah adds.

"The bestest friend," Jisung snorts.

"Grade A friend."

"Top-tier friend."

"Five-star Michelin frien—"

"Okay," Chris interrupts, swinging the door open, "goodbye."

"Wait, Chris!" Hannah calls, and the older man stops in his tracks with a sigh. Fully aware that he'll regret the day he was born, he leans back, head peeking out of the doorway, meets his little sister's michievous stare. "Great performance, by the way. That smitten laugh was really believable."

The last thing they see of Chris is a middle finger slipped through the crack before he slams the door closed behind him.

As soon as he gets back his apartment, his three friends shoot him a look and the second Chris sees Changbin open his mouth he lifts a finger up in the air. "Don't."

Running a hand through his brown curls, Chris flops back down near the window with a loud sigh, praying that his friends assume he's red because he ran and not because he wants to be swallowed up into the ground. Burying his hot face into his palms, he peeks between his fingers at the other side, where Hyunjin's readjusting his glasses with the cutest scrunch of his nose. He's sitting on the edge of the bed in that gigantic shirt that hangs slightly off his shoulder, long legs crossed, blonde strands falling over his cheekbones in the most delicate way. Something tightens around Chris' heart, but he can't look away, still ever so captivated as he absently watches Hyunjin send a thumbs up in Jeongin's direction before he climbs on the bed again—with his mic-hairbrush—and finishes his last scene.

And no matter how hard Chris tries, not once does he stop smiling.

Chapter Text

The bench feels like lava under Hyunjin's asscheeks.

Making Hyunjin sit on a metal bench under the sizzling hot sun on a summer day certainly wasn't their brightest idea, but this spot is the only one they could find that fit perfectly with the scene they're filming: a bench facing a road empty enough for them to be able to film peacefully. The heat seeps through Hyunjin's pants and burns his skin raw until he can't handle it anymore and jumps out of his seat, hopping in his spot as he rubs at his poor butt.

"I can't do it," Hyunjin whines, "I feel like I'm sitting on a barbecue grill."

Jeongin sighs, lowering his camera. He's the only one on filming duty today, seen as they don't need two cameras and since they're filming in the afternoon, Hannah's got classes she couldn't miss. Or, well, that she was very willing to miss, but a certain curly-haired brunette would gut her alive if she missed a class on his watch.

Changbin and Jisung are on birthday boy duty, this time, which leaves Hyunjin with... Minho and Seungmin for emotional support.

Fuck.

"No pain, no gain, sit your ass back down," Seungmin orders.

"What the fuck am I gaining here exactly?"

"The gratification of being a good friend to the sunshine of this universe," Minho replies, "and an opportunity to spend time with your beloved best friends."

Hyunjin isn't sure he loves said best friends enough to cook his own ass for a stupid birthday gift, but before he can voice it out, he sees Chris come out of his spot behind a nearby building with a puzzled expression on his face. "What's wrong? Why is the music turned off?"

"Your boyfriend's ass is on fire," Seungmin deadpans.

Hyunjin's reaction is immediate. "We're not—"

"Ah, is the bench too hot?" Chris asks as he moves to touch the metal, yanking his hand away after a bit. "Shit, yeah." He turns to look at Jeongin. "Innie, give me your jacket."

The younger stares at him with wide eyes. "Fuck no. It's a designer jacket, I'm not putting it on a bench with more bird shit on it than—"

"Jeongin," the older man insists, his tone suddenly a lot drier as he outstretches his arm. "The jacket."

There's a short moment of defiance where Jeongin attempts to stare Chris down, but it isn't long before he's letting out a groan, shrugging his jacket off before tossing it in his friend's general direction. Catching it in flight, Chris pushes Hyunjin aside with a gentle hand on his waist that definitely doesn't burn his skin far more than the bench ever did. Chris spreads the jacket out on the bench and shoots Hyunjin a kind smile, pretty dimples on display.

Brown curls fall on his eyes as he bows before Hyunjin. "There, a brand new throne for your sensitive bottom, your Highness."

"You're the sensitive bottom," Jeongin practically shouts and it has Seungmin sputtering water out of his bottle mid-gulp.

While Seungmin coughs and wheezes, trying not to choke as Minho offers him highly unhelpful slaps on the back, the stars of the MV shoot each other an exasperated look. It's comforting, really, to have Christopher's support in these trying times, because Hyunjin certainly couldn't handle filming the most heteronormative music video in existence if he'd been paired up with anyone else. Chris is the perfect balance between uplifting and compassionate, and it certainly helps that he seems to be going out of his way to make the experience a little less mortifying for Hyunjin.

This time, his precious buttocks don't sizzle as they settle comfortably on the bench—he even makes sure to jiggle his ass on Jeongin's precious garment while looking the youngest dead in the eye—and the filming can finally begin. Hyunjin once again pretends to be reading although his dumb grip on the book only allows him to see about two thirds of the page, and he sets the encyclopaedia down when Chris plops down on the bench next to him.

It's hard to keep his poker face on when Chris gestures around and talks about the most stupid shit he can come up with.

"So I'm sitting there—barbecue sauce on my titties," he blurts out and Hyunjin snorts, thankfully still managing to keep his expression somewhat on check.

It's to make the conversation more believable on camera, to quote Christopher's words. At one point, Hyunjin sees him shift on the bench until they're face to face, and he knows it's coming. Out the corner of his eye, he sees Jeongin move to zoom in on his face, and represses the full-body cringe threatening to shake his body whole as he builds up his practiced doe-eyed braindead bimbo expression the best he can.

Softly, Chris leans closer and tucks a strand of golden hair behind Hyunjin's ear. The blonde stares up at him with sparkling eyes, trying to ignore the light goosebumps when the older man's fingers linger on the skin behind his ear and... hold on, what the fuck is Chris doing?

The cameras are still rolling. The music is... way past the point where the jock pushes the strand of hair behind Taylor's ear, Chris should be pretending to talk again and getting ready to leave the bench so they can move on to the next scene, but Chris looks... stuck. No— Not just stuck, he's got his eyes trained on Hyunjin's own, brown irises littered with flecks of gold under the sunlight, half-lidded, heavy with something the blonde can't quite decipher. Hyunjin just knows that for a moment, time seems to stop and all he can hear is his heart pound as Chris's fingers travel down the side of his neck, making him tremble.

A lump forms in Hyunjin's throat. "Chris?" The brunette looks like he's been struck by lightning as he promptly pulls his hand away from Hyunjin's neck. Hyunjin frowns. "You alright?"

"Yeah," Chris chuckles, wiping his palms on his jeans, "yeah, all good, just got distracted for a sec."

Choked out laughter ripples from the rest of their friend group and Hyunjin looks around like a lost puppy, the impression of being left out of some secret inside joke growing in his chest. He eyes Chris suspiciously but doesn't get to ask any questions before the older man's giving Jeongin a curt nod so they can move on to the next scene. Awkward lipsyncing ensues for a few more seconds before finally... the dreaded moment arrives.

The moment Hwang Hyunjin, a college student who has never touched a steering wheel in his life, has to pretend to have his shit together in a brown wig and slightly slutty pink sunglasses as he rolls into frame in Christopher's car.

Initially, there was a debate about whether Minho should've been the one playing the girlfriend—since he was the only one who could drive besides Chris—but said debate was mysteriously shut down by Hannah and Jisung for questionable reasons; such as the fact it would "betray the original MV's spirit as Taylor Swift clearly made the artistic choice of playing both roles herself", or Jisung's far less articulate argument that "Hyunjin would look funnier in pink sunglasses, Minho would just look hot." Long story short, it all led to Hyunjin sitting in the driver's seat of Christopher's car and finally putting his hands on the wheel after checking his seatbelt about eight times.

Sure, he only has to drive for about three seconds, but still. Hyunjin wouldn't be Hyunjin if he didn't make a huge deal out of absolutely everything.

"I'm going to die," he breathes out, holding the wheel tight enough that his knuckles turn white.

"God, I hope so," Minho spits, "finally some fucking peace and quiet."

Mouth wide open, Hyunjin shoots him an offended glare. "You don't understand, Minho, I'm going to crash this car and burn to death, I know it."

"Can you run Chris over while you're at it?" Seungmin giggles.

"Thanks," Chris drawls, slipping his head into the car window to talk to Hyunjin. "Just remember what I told you, yeah? It's an automatic car, so you don't even have to change gears, everything will be fine."

Batting his eyelashes, Hyunjin peers up at him with Taylor Swift's signature big, stupid eyes. "Will you jump in scorching fire to save me if I fuck up?"

Chris laughs, "Yeah, I promise." His hands travel down Hyunjin's stiff arm, gently pressing down on the inside of his elbow. "Relax and bend your arms a little more, they shouldn't be so straight."

Taking a deep breath, Hyunjin nods and tries to be a little less tense. He watches Chris circle the car to get back to the bench. The wig feels itchy on his head—they did buy it at a funky costume shop for $10—but he does his best to ignore it, pushing the brown bangs out of his eyes before he summons whatever bad bitch he can possibly find within himself. The sign that the camera's rolling comes from Jeongin a little too early for his taste but Hyunjin tries to ground himself as he follows Chris' instructions: eyes on the road, light the ignition, start the engine, foot on the brake, handbrake off, move the gear shift to "drive", press the gas ped—

The car moves backwards and Hyunjin lets out an ear-piercing screech, lifting his hands and feet off of everything like he's being held at gunpoint. The car doesn't come to a stop, though, so he screams again and he slams his foot on the brake pedal hard enough for the car to come a bit of an abrupt stop.

Itchy strands of brown hair all over his face, sticking to his red lipstick, Hyunjin slowly turns his head to look at the stumped expressions on the other guys' faces.

"I'm okay," he squeaks, and it earns him a plethora of barely concealed giggles from everyone, including Chris. "Traitor," he rasps out, pointing his finger at his curly-haired friend.

"Hyunie, you're supposed to set the gear shift on 'D', not on 'R'," Chris explains, dimples on display.

"How about you get off my D, Christopher?"

"I'm sure he'd rather get off on it—" Seungmin dodges the encyclopaedia Chris throws directly at his face. "Hey! You could've killed me!"

"Don't you worry, next time I'll make sure I do!"

Ignoring the ruckus, Hyunjin comically flips back his fake hair, getting back into character with newfound determination. He selects the correct gear mode, this time, and motions for Jeongin to start filming. He successfully rolls into frame and shoots the camera a sultry look as he takes off his bad bitch glasses, and thank the heavens that the camera can only catch Chris's back because he looks every bit like he's about to burst out laughing again. It's endearing, really, how easily laughter comes to him, but it's a little more bothersome that it's so contagious. As Chris approaches the car and climbs in, Hyunjin gradually purses his lips tighter and tighter to not mimic his smile.

He has to move on, fast, so he grabs Christopher's face and pulls him into a fake kiss, roughly pressing his lips to his chin like they agreed on—the angle allowing it to look somewhat like an actual kiss for the camera. A horrible idea, clearly, because Chris immediately cracks and erupts into uncontrollable laughter.

"Cut!" Jeongin groans.

"Way to go, Chris," Minho teases, "I'd like to be done with the emotional support and go home sometime today, y'know?"

Hyunjin scoffs, "You provide zero emotional support, dude."

"My presence is emotional support."

"Your presence is emotional torture!" Chris retorts.

"Will everyone shut the fuck up?" Jeongin intervenes, "the scene didn't feel right anyways, I think we need more... passion, in that kiss. Make it believable."

Seungmin nods. "Right, more passion, more passion."

What the fuck is that supposed to mean?

Puzzled, Hyunjin looks back at Chris, whose ears have once again darkened to an endearing shade of pink. Fighting the intrusive thought to kiss the blush away, Hyunjin busies his mind with scenarios and solutions that would make their "kiss" look more passionate, but he can't think of anything any less mortifying than a full-blown makeout with Christopher's chin, which... no. No, thanks, never, not in a million years. It's already embarrassing enough that he has to kiss him so close to that mesmerizing pair of pillowy lips, he's not about to drool all over this man's chin. Hyunjin will do anything for Felix, but even his love for him has limits.

So they re-do the scene. Again. And again. And again. Jeongin is never satisfied and the other two somehow always seem to agree, even as Hyunjin repeatedly works to deliver his best performance—no matter how hard he grabs Chris's hair, feels up his muscles, stares at him like he's about to devour him, it never seems to do the trick, and Chris... seems to grow more and more embarrassed with every take. He's sweating, beet red, breathing hard with a distressed look in his eyes, and Hyunjin can't figure out what it is exactly that he's feeling but he knows they have to wrap up this scene fast before one of them explodes.

On the eleventh take, Minho hops out of his seat near Seungmin and drags himself to the car. "Chris, come out for a sec," he asks, opening the door to let the older man climb out. "Let me steal your boyfriend for a sec, Taylor."

Minho throws an arm around Chris' shoulders as they seclude themselves in a little corner to talk, their secretive whispers making Hyunjin's blood boil with curiosity as he taps the leather of the steering wheel insistently. Chris comes back redder than before—Hyunjin didn't think it was possible—and he clears his throat loudly as he climbs back into the car.

"What did Minho say?" Hyunjin inquires.

Chris doesn't spare him a glance. "Just... gave me a tip. Nothing special."

"Ready?" Jeongin asks, camera firmly held in front of his face.

The pair nods, swiftly getting into position. Chris closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, and as soon as the music starts again... something shifts in the air. Hyunjin takes the lead as planned, but Chris... Chris doesn't just sit there.

A warm hand settles on Hyunjin's thigh while the other grabs his wrist to guide it on top of Chris's chest, pressing until he's full-on cupping the firm muscle, and just as Hyunjin thinks he might pass out, he feels Chris breathe hotly on his ear.

"Kiss me like you want to fuck me dumb."

What?

Hyunjin blinks in disbelief as he watches Chris move away from his ear to look him in the eyes instead. Speechless, his eyes flicker between pretty brown eyes and inviting pink lips, a million questions lingering in the air in the second he spends hesitating. All those questions vanish when Chris nods softly, moving Hyunjin's hand from his chest to his hair.

Almost on instinct, Hyunjin's fingers tighten around the curls as he pulls him in, lips crashing together in a kiss that makes his head spin. Chris tastes like coconut lipbalm and one too many redbulls and it doesn't matter that his curls tickle Hyunjin's nose or that his chin is still damp with Hyunjin's spit, because everything about the way he kisses makes heat coil in the younger man's stomach fast enough that he nearly forgets they're supposed to be filming. Hyunjin's pressing up against Chris, breathing hard into his mouth, feeling him up all over and god, does he almost climb into his lap when Chris whines for more.

But the sudden reminder that they're being filmed hits Hyunjin like a truck and he refrains from jumping Chris right then and there, pulling away from the kiss and pinning Chris back on his seat hard enough to knock the air out of his lungs. He slips back into character and throws Jeongin a bitchy look before pressing the gas pedal once again and driving out of frame.

Jesus fucking Christ. Hyunjin isn't sure what the fuck just happened, isn't even sure it happened at all or if he should pinch himself to wake up, but what he sure as hell knows is that this wasn't Chris's idea. The Chris he knows—sweet, shy, awkward Chris—could never say something like this, let alone go through with it, and Hyunjin makes a mental note to obliterate Minho after the filming's over.

Hyunjin wasn't supposed to crack like this. He wasn't supposed to give in, he'd agreed with Chris to kiss him on the chin because he knew better than anyone that he wouldn't be able to keep ignoring it if he ever got to actually kiss Chris.

It being the irredeemable, sickening, pathetic fucking crush Hyunjin's had on him for far too long, a crush he hadn't told about to anyone but that his friends seem to be pretty aware of since they simply won't stop putting him in horrifying situations with Chris. Having to film the cheesiest music video in existence with him is already hard enough as it is, but this? What Chris said to him, the way Chris kissed him back, it's... it's too much.

"Are we done?" Hyunjin asks, jaw tense.

"Yeah, that was perfect!" Jeongin exclaims and there's something about his tone that only makes the uneasiness in Hyunjin's chest grow.

"Great," he responds, tearing off his wig and tossing it on the backseat before climbing out of the car. Ruffling his blonde hair, he throws the car keys at a confused Chris. "I'm going home."

"Wait!" Chris calls before he shuts the door, "are... aren't you gonna stay to watch the result with us?"

Hyunjin can't help but glare at him with daggers in his eyes. He doesn't want to; Chris didn't do anything wrong and it's unfair to direct his anger and frustration towards him, but Hyunjin's heart is fucking pounding and he can't form a single coherent thought. He just needs to be far, far away from Chris. From everyone, really.

"No," he replies dryly, and shuts the car door.

Hyunjin feels his friends' stares bore holes into his back as he walks away, but not once does he look back, and no one tries to run after him. Thankful to have been given the space he needs, Hyunjin progressively feels more and more stupid as he cools down on the bus ride home. There's definitely something going on, he can feel that their friend group is plotting something he wasn't made aware of, but no matter what it is, he shouldn't be punishing them for something that concerns him and only him, let alone dump them over something he and Chris chose to do out of their own accord.

Kiss me like you want to fuck me dumb.

Shaking the words out of his head, Hyunjin pulls his phone out of his pocket to check their groupchat, and a smile instantly stretches across his face as he finds a bunch of silly pictures—including a glorious shot of Jeongin, Minho, Chris and Seungmin's double-chins that was dropped on the conversation with so little context that Hyunjin expects to receive a series of question marks when he sees Jisung and Changbin's speech bubbles pop up. But instead, he simply gets two other equally hilarious double-chinned grimaces.

Hyunjin chokes out a laugh and discreetly angles his phone to send one back. He doesn't even get why this whole thing made him so upset, why he didn't just roll with it.

After all, it was just a kiss, with someone he happens to find pretty hot, so he should be delighted. He should be overjoyed with the fact this whole thing finally gave him a chance to make something happen with Chris after pining... no, lusting after him for so long.

Yeah. Lust, that's all there is. Just a kiss, and maybe some no-strings-attached fun. No big deal.

Chapter Text

Chris has been hiding in one of the locker room toilet stalls for the past fifteen minutes.

See, when he first met Hyunjin, his first instinct was to stare. He was pretty sure he was dreaming because there was no way in hell someone that pretty could actually exist, let alone that he'd be introduced to them, invited to breathe the same air as them.

And yet, that's exactly what happened. Felix, his longtime friend, casually started inviting Hyunjin over at every party, every brunch, every movie night, and forced Chris to be in his vicinity without giving him a chance to run. And while Chris already loves Felix with his whole heart, he's especially grateful to him for introducing him to what would soon become his new obsession.

It's why he's here, why he hasn't complained once about this whole thing, why he's ready to go to whatever lengths necessary to make sure Felix is happy with his gift.

He just hopes he won't fuck things up with Hyunjin.

Ever since, Chris has learned to function around Hyunjin, to not stare for too long, to not cower away every time he smiled a little too brightly or tucked his hair back too prettily. His long hair was—and still is—the bane of Christopher's existence in the best way possible, because god, his head's filled with equal parts soft and obscene thoughts every time he thinks about Hyunjin's hair a little too long.

It wasn't even a straight thing. Sure, Chris is into women, but he doesn't like Hyunjin because he has long hair and wears makeup every now and then, he likes him because he's the most gorgeous and selfless person he's ever laid eyes on, no matter how hard he tries to put on an egoistical front.

So selfless, in fact, that he went deep enough into his Taylor Swift role to make Chris fully malfunction once and for all.

Because Hwang Hyunjin is wearing a cheerleader outfit with the tiniest skirt to ever exist.

Fuck.

"Chris?"

Hyunjin.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

"Go away !" Chris shouts, burying his face into his palms, desperately hoping to get rid of the sizzling heat in his cheeks.

"What's going on? You've been here forever, Jeongin says that if you're not out in five minutes he's packing his camera and leaving."

"I'm—" Think, for fuck's sake. Think. "I'm taking a shit!"

Silence.

Then, a tiny snort, quiet enough that if Chris hadn't been hyperfocused on Hyunjin's voice through the stall he wouldn't have heard it. But he does hear it, and now he wants to bury himself eight feet underground, even more so when he hears Hyunjin step closer.

What is he supposed to do?

He can't exactly tell Hyunjin he popped a fucking boner the second he laid eyes on him.

From the gap beneath the stall door, Chris can see sneaker-clad feet strut near the stall in circles for an agonizing moment—during which he feels like he's surrounded by vultures—before they slide to the right and out of his line of sight. Relief washes over him as he leans back against the backrest of the closed toilet bowl, his attire digging into his skin uncomfortably. Shit, thank fucking god he's always stuck to swimming as a chosen sport, he never would've been able to handle wearing the itchy football uniform with all the heavy protections. Chris has never liked having too many clothes on him and it just so happens that his favorite sport in college required minimal clothing. And at least—

"Liar," a voice makes Chris jolt in his seat, but this time it's not coming from behind the door, it's... higher? "You shit with your pants on?"

Eyes wide, Chris cranes his neck to look up and to his right, where Hyunjin is peering down at him with both arms crossed over the wall and a cheeky grin on his face. He's in the neighboring stall, but Hyunjin may be tall, he's absolutely not tall enough to look over the wall like that and if the absence of feet on the ground  is anything to go by, Chris makes an uneducated guess that he went through all the trouble to climb on top of the toilet bowl to check on him.

"What the fuck, Hyunjin? What if I was really taking a dump?"

"That's a problem for alternate dimension Hyunjin," the blonde responds, resting his chin on his crossed arms. "In this dimension, though, I'm trying to figure out why you're lying to me."

One bat of Hyunjin's eyelashes and Christopher's gut sends him a stinging reminder of why he's here. He squeezes his legs together, slouching over to try to hide the big fucking problem bulging in his impossibly tight football player pants.

"Care to explain to me why you scrammed as soon as you saw me?" Hyunjin asks, eyes boring holes in Christopher's skin. "Is this about the other day?"

"No!" Chris immediately protests, resisting the urge to bury his face into his hands since his arms are doing a very important job of concealing incriminating evidence. "No, the other day was... It was great— Look, I just need a moment, tell everyone I'll be out in a minute."

Suspicious eyes study Christopher's figure, making the older man break into cold sweat as he uncomfortably shuffles in his seat. "How can I help?"

"By not being here—"

"Are you sure?" Hyunjin interrupts. He pauses, seeming to weigh his words for a moment. "It doesn't have to be a big deal, you know. I could help... and then we just pretend nothing happened."

Chris frowns in confusion. Then his mouth falls open. "You... know."

"Hard to miss, with the way you're covering your crotch like your life depends on it."

Lips pursed, Chris hesitantly moves his hands away and leans back, blush spreading from the tips of his ears to his chest. He doesn't dare look at Hyunjin, flesh already sizzling between his legs where he knows Hyunjin's staring right now. "I'm sorry, I didn't expect... you to..."

"I take my role seriously," Hyunjin chuckles, "so seriously, in fact, that I'm willing to help you get rid of this fast, so we can go back to filming."

Chris raises an eyebrow. "Is that the only reason?"

It's not. Chris knows it's not, he's not blind, but he's not sure what the real reason is. He doesn't know if it's... what he wants it to be.

He finally dares to shoot Hyunjin a glance, the blonde staring him down with dark eyes and spit-slick lips. Shit. Even if it's not what he wants it to be... maybe this is good enough. It's better than nothing. Better than waiting around, grasping at straws, taking every chance he gets to try and get closer to Hyunjin.

Yeah. This is better than nothing.

Chris reaches for the lock on his stall door, clicking it open. "Come here."

Hyunjin doesn't need to be told twice. He instantly hops down and pushes Christopher's door open, and seeing him again feels like yet another slap in the face.

The dark blue skirt rides high on his thick thighs, too tight around them to really twirl around and it's somehow worse. The matching bodysuit stretches around his waist like it was molded on Hyunjin's body, his lean muscles shining through the fabric. Light makeup highlights his pretty face just right—thank god for Hannah's skills—and Chris is pretty sure he's about to combust when Hyunjin steps closer and he gets a whiff of his sweet cologne. Heat pools in the pit of his stomach, curling and twisting around his insides in a way that makes him so hazy he doesn't realize he's staring until Hyunjin points it out.

"Sorry." Chris clears his throat. "It's just... you— you look— yeah."

Hyunjin chuckles, "How do you want me to help?"

Anything. With Hyunjin? He'd be down for literally anything. Fuck, he'd beg him to choose, to do whatever he wants to him, to just—

"Whatever." Chris shrugs, swallowing to hopefully hydrate his dry throat. "What... What were you thinking about doing?"

Hyunjin's eyes flicker down, face twisting. "As much as I'd love to... really help, I'm not kneeling on this filthy fucking floor, so..." He seems to consider it for a moment, before taking a step forward and plopping down in Christopher's lap. "Is this okay?"

Chris gasps and it takes everything in his power not to glance down at where Hyunjin's skirt has completely ridden up his hips. "M-More than okay."

Lean fingers travel up Christopher's chest to brush against his cheek, tucking a few brown curls behind his ear. Hyunjin's breath is so, so warm against his lips. "Pull it out."

"I— Are you sure you—"

"Chris," Hyunjin cuts him off, firmly wrapping his hand around the older man's jaw. "The others could come looking for us any second. So unless you wanna explain to them why we're both coming out of the same stall and why you're hard... drop the formalities." Before Chris's anxiety can make him triple-check on Hyunjin's consent, the blonde's hips are moving on top of him, sending an electrifying wave of arousal down his gut. "Pull your cock out."

Timidity melting away under the enchanting spell of desire, Chris obliges, feeling like a pathetic teenager as he exposes himself, fully hard just from a little grinding and the sight of a skirt on Hyunjin.

"So tell me..." Hyunjin purrs, never breaking eye contact as he wraps his hand around Christopher's cock. "What is it about the skirt? Is it because it's short? Girly?" Fire licks at the older man's skin as Hyunjin spits on his own hand and slicks him up slowly. "What do you like about it?"

You. It's you.

"I... don't know. It just looks really good."

Christopher's hands itch to touch, to squeeze the flesh, to caress Hyunjin all over, but he's not sure he can, so he just lets his arms hang awkwardly by his sides. A smile stretches across Hyunjin's plush lips as Chris lets a moan slip out. He wants to kiss those lips. Wants to lick and bite and taste them—can he do that? Is he allowed to? Would it be right? Would he like it? Just because Hyunjin kissed him the other day doesn't mean—

"You can touch me, if you want to."

God, yes. Chris wraps both arms around the blonde's waist and pulls him close, craning his neck to catch his lips in a heated kiss. The angle makes it hard to keep being touched, Hyunjin's hand trapped between their two bodies, but Chris quickly finds a solution. Tightening his hold on Hyunjin, he moves his hips until his cock's rubbing against Hyunjin's crotch, their kiss quickly turning into a hot mess of spit and breathy moans as the blonde starts writhing on top of him.

"Chris," he pants, but barely allows himself to stay away long enough to finish talking, leaning in to devour Christopher's mouth again every few words. "If you... If you keep this up... I'm gonna have a problem too."

"What if I want you to?"

Resolve seems to slip away from Hyunjin for a split second, the dazed look on his face making Chris think he might just give in. Almost. "The others are waiting—"

"Fuck the others."

"I'd rather fuck you," Hyunjin grunts and it makes the older man's mind go straight into overdrive. "Fuck you dumb, like you said the other day. Make you bounce on my cock until you can't fucking speak. Can you imagine? A big, mighty jock bouncing on his cheerleader's cock?"

Panting, Chris squeezes the flesh of his ass in warning. "Hyunjin."

"But I'd rather do that without having everyone else on my back, like they clearly have been since we started this whole thing, yeah? So— ah, just let me take c-care of you, and let's—"

"Hyunjin," Chris leans in to whisper in his ear. "You're the one grinding on me, right now."

It's like the words set something off in Hyunjin. Like the realization breaks him down, so much that he can only bury his face in Christopher's neck and wrap his arms around his nape, absolutely flushed from head to toe. "F-Fuck. M'sorry, I just..."

He never finishes his sentence. Trailing off into strings of staccato moans, Hyunjin desperately grinds on top of Chris, composure melting away entirely and it's so fucking hot that Chris can't think of anything but making Hyunjin feel good. His own pleasure is practically forgotten, a mere accessory to his real mission, just a bonus. What matters is the pretty blonde leaking through the fabric of his underwear, clothed cock steadily filling out as he tugs on Christopher's curls, aching for more.

"Pull your skirt up, you'll stain it," Chris gently advises, reaching between them to push Hyunjin's underwear down at the same time so he doesn't dirty that any more than he already has.

And if the feeling of Hyunjin's clothed bulge against him was good, the second their wet cocks slide against one another, it nearly sends sparks bursting behind Christopher's eyelids a little too soon for his liking. He wants to stretch it out, wants to relish every second, wants to listen to Hyunjin moan for hours.

So much, that when the blonde pulls back to look at him with teary eyes and parted lips, Chris almost slips. Almost lets everything he holds in his aching chest spill out. Almost fucks up.

"Hyunjin, I—" He trails off, clearing his throat, watching in complete awe as Hyunjin's face twists in pleasure. "I... I'm close."

"Hah... Aren't you quick?"

Chris lets out an offended huff, reaching between them to wrap his hand around their cocks. "Let's see who's quicker, yeah?"

Hyunjin shivers, thighs tightening. "Hey! That's— That's cheating!"

"Not if I touch us both," Chris whispers into the blonde's mouth, shutting him up with a kiss before he can whine again, drinking every groan that slips out of him as Chris pumps both of their cocks. "Now show me how long you can—"

"M'gonna come," Hyunjin warns, blushing profusely as his hold on Chris's hair tightens. "Fuck, fuck, Chris, m'gonna—"

"I got you," Chris whispers fondly, though he can't stop the satisfied smirk that adorns his lips as he covers the top of Hyunjin's cock with his palm, focusing on the sensitive tip. "I got you, you can come."

It's instantaneous. Hyunjin hunches over, muffling his whimpers in the older man's shoulder as he comes. With Christopher's fist wrapped around his tip, he makes an absolute mess inside that thankfully doesn't stain their clothes. Chris has completely neglected his own throbbing cock, fully focused on milking Hyunjin dry until drops of cum start sliding down his arm dangerously fast.

"Shit, shit, shit," Chris hisses, letting go of Hyunjin to let the filth drip down on the floor while he reaches for some toilet paper to wipe himself clean. "Phew. Closely dodged having to explain why I have cum stains on my clothes."

Hyunjin lets out a dazed chuckle, eyes still droopy from his orgasm. He looks absolutely ethereal. Silently, he looks Chris up and down, and... slides off his lap.

Onto the floor.

"Hyunjin?" Chris calls, cock throbbing at the sight of Hyunjin on his knees between his spread legs, hands anchored on his thighs.

Whatever happened to not wanting to kneel on the filthy floor.

"See, I was supposed to make you feel good, but you just couldn't keep your hands to yourself, could you?" Hyunjin purrs, breath hot on the sensitive skin of Christopher's dick. "I'm just making sure you can't distract me this time."

One lick of Hyunjin's tongue up the underside of Chris's cock and the older man's suddenly remembering just how pent up he is, balls tightening and twitching as Hyunjin's fingers come up to play with them.

God. He's got Hyunjin's mouth, Hyunjin's lips, Hyunjin's tongue on him, licking and sucking at his cock like he's addicted to the taste. And even when he takes in as much of the length as he can, even when globs of spit dribble down his chin as he gags, even with teary eyes and a red face he looks like the most beautiful thing Chris has ever seen.

"Hyunjin," he whispers, running a hand through his hair so, so softly.

The blonde pulls off with a pop, leaning into the touch, though a smirk stretches across his red lips. "If you don't stop calling my name and looking at me like that I might think you're in love with me, or some shit."

Chris freezes. Briefly enough that Hyunjin doesn't notice, and all of a sudden... it all becomes mechanical. The touches, the moans, the movement of his hips... it's still the same Hwang Hyunjin touching him, and he's still devastatingly good at it, but Chris's mind is elsewhere. So far away, in fact, that it takes him a moment to register that he's coming, and he doesn't even get to enjoy the sight of Hyunjin swallowing down his cum.

"To avoid making a mess," he says.

It makes Chris laugh humorlessly.

Right.

They should avoid making a mess.

***

Filming goes uneventfully. The members don't question what they were doing in those restrooms for so long, though Seungmin does try to tease Chris... but only briefly. He quickly notices that he isn't very responsive to his jokes.

Playing his role is just as mechanical. He runs, fake-scores, fake-celebrates, fake-laughs, fake everything.

Or well, maybe not everything. He does make for a very convincing performance when he has to act mad at Hyunjin for fake-flirting with another jock. A little too convincing, actually, so much that Changbin—who plays the other jock—looks a little disoriented between the two. Hyunjin is equally confused, if not more, and Chris blatantly ignoring him every time he isn't forced to interact with him for the filming doesn't seem to help.

Chris knows he's not being fair. He knows it's not Hyunjin's fault for not picking up on things, knows he can't blame him for being clumsy with information he doesn't have.

But shit. Chris wants to be unfair, for fucking once. Wants to be a little less soft on Hyunjin. It doesn't matter if it's not his fault, because Chris is sick of discarding his feelings to accomodate Hyunjin's own.

"Hey."

Fuck.

Chris turns around from where he's changing out of his costume in the locker room. The filming was wrapped up a few minutes ago, and the only ones left are him and Hyunjin, everyone else having left for the day since most of them preferred to just change at home. Chris had rushed to the locker room immediately after finishing the filming, hoping to get changed before Hyunjin was done chatting with the others, but alas, it seems the universe isn't on his side today.

Hyunjin's standing there, fisting his skirt with an indescribable expression on his face. He just looks so very lost. "Is something wrong?"

Chris sighs, "I'm just tired. Can't wait to be home."

"Chris, you've been avoiding me since what happened in the stall. Did I do something wrong?"

Screw Hwang Hyunjin and his ability to smell people's bullshit from a mile away. And especially, fuck Chris for thinking he could get away with giving one of his closest friends the cold shoulder without any consequences.

Especially after what happened. He feels like an asshole.

Maybe he is an asshole.

"You didn't do anything wrong. I'm just following what you said, yeah? We took care of the problem. Now we pretend it never happened. No big deal."

Silence.

Chris pulls on a black sweater, facing away from Hyunjin. He can't look. He can't handle seeing his reaction, no matter what it is.

If Hyunjin looks hurt, it'll break him. And if he looks indifferent... it'll tear him apart.

He can't win.

"Okay." Hyunjin's voice is steady. Too steady. Eerily calm, for someone who was just essentially told he was used as a one-time fleshlight, only to be forgotten.

It's killing him.

Shaky hands gripping his jacket hard enough he fears it might tear, Chris still doesn't look back. He doesn't, even as he finishes changing in the deafening silence of the locker room, desperately trying to ignore the rustling of Hyunjin's clothes behind him, and he still doesn't spare him a glance as he walks out in a hurry.

Maybe, if he'd looked, his problems would've vanished. Maybe he would've seen exactly what he wanted to see. Maybe, just maybe, he would've realized what a giant mistake he just made.

Maybe he would've seen Hyunjin's tears.

But he didn't.

He didn't.