{crumbs: nct one-shots}

{summer nights: taeten}

concept: ten drags taeyong through the city for a night.

ten and taeyong were sitting on the couch together, facing each other. a concerned frown was on taeyong's face, nearly mirroring the disappointed one on ten's. ten had brought taeyong home to thailand with him since their groups were on hiatus. taeyong was starting to get homesick, but he knew that ten wanted him to stay.

ten grabbed both of taeyong's hands, holding his gaze. butterflies stirred in taeyong's stomach and a light rosy pink covered his cheeks. "give me one more night, okay?" ten asked. "just... stay for tonight, and if you still want to go in the morning, you can."

taeyong hesitated, but nodded. "okay, ten. one more night." ten smiled that beautifully dazzling smile and gently squeezed the older's hands. "but this is your last shot at keeping me here."

"i promise i'll make it worth it, tae," ten said.

"you really think so?" taeyong asked the younger.

"i can be very convincing," ten said with a wink.

"you made it weird," taeyong laughed, hitting the younger's arm.

"you started it by taking it the wrong way," ten said, sticking his tongue out.

"whatever. i'm still going to say it's because you're weird," taeyong said.

"you like my weird," ten said with a pout.

"yeah, i guess you're right." taeyong ruffled the younger thai male's hair. "i'm assuming you have a plan to wow me tonight, then?" he asked, tilting his head a bit.

ten smiled, shaking his head. "that's the beauty of it. there's no plan, it's all up to where the night takes us." he smiled a bit wider and brushed a strand of the older male's pink hair from his forehead. "i just need you to trust me."

taeyong held his gaze for a few heartbeats, neither of them saying anything. he then let out a breath and dropped his head slightly. "you're lucky i do, ten. i have no idea why, but i do."

"perfect. then i'll see you tonight." with that, ten left the couch and headed back to his room, leaving taeyong in the living room alone.

~~~~~~~~

the night had turned out like ten—wildly unpredictable. food, drinks, and a walk through the city with ten pulling taeyong by the wrist. the street lamps spilled yellow light onto the pavement below them, ten dragging the both of them through the rays.

taeyong was suddenly reminded of doing the same with doyoung through the streets of seoul. his heart ached at the thought, wanting to be home. ten brought him back to reality by speaking again.

"the shops and stuff are starting to close, so there's not much else to do," he said. "unless you want to look at locked shops, i think there's somewhere else we can go." he smiled, looking at taeyong again, who gave him a small smile back.

"okay." his hand itched with a sudden urge to call johnny and ask how things were going and tell him he'd be coming home. but the thought of breaking ten's heart and making him feel unappreciated stopped him. "where are we going?"

ten didn't say anything, just continued walking ahead of the older. he had a set destination in mind, taeyong could tell, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was. they strayed farther from the street lamps, toward the edge of the city. a cluster of cherry blossom trees seemed to be harboring a gazebo next to a small bridge over a pond. a park. ten had brought him to a park of all places.

"it's not much, i know. i know they have parks and gazebos and cherry blossoms in korea, but this one is special." taeyong thought the younger was going to step onto the bridge. he surprised him by crouching next to the pond. "they might be asleep."

taeyong joined ten, looking into the water. it was lively with lotus blossoms and algae. "who are?" he asked, trying to see the creature the thai male was talking about.

a sudden flash of yellow and red appeared before them. it darted beneath ten's fingertips. "koi fish. friendly koi fish. you can pet them almost as easily as you can pet stray cats," ten said, seeing how a glimmer had appeared in taeyong's eyes when he saw the fish. "go ahead and try."

taeyong let his fingertips graze the water. a large black and white fish swam toward him. instead of drifting below his hand, he flicked his tail in a violent splash of water, soaking taeyong. he jumped back from the edge of the pond, letting some of the water drip off of him. ten hurried away to join him.

"taeyong, oh my god, are you okay?" ten asked.

"i'm soaked but other than that, fine," taeyong said, brushing off his shirt as if that would do something.

"i'm so sorry, i didn't know they were going to do that," ten said. he seemed to be stuck in a state of wanting to help and having no idea how to.

"it's not your fault," taeyong mumbled, wringing his shirt out.

the two of them were silent for a moment while taeyong tried to dry his clothes. "you want to go home," ten said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"what?" taeyong asked.

"you're getting a flight back to korea in the morning. you're going home because you still don't like it here," ten said.

"ten—"

"it's okay. i understand. i shouldn't have tried to keep you here when you didn't want to stay," ten continued, not looking at taeyong. "what kind of best friend am i, making you this miserable when all you want to do is go home?"

taeyong stepped toward the younger as he started to pace. he reached an arm out toward him. "ten, you're not making me—"

"you're going to go home and we're not going to talk and it's going to be awkward and next time we see each other it's going to be weird and i'm not going to know how to handle it but i'm sure you'll be fine and—"

"ten!" taeyong grabbed both of ten's wrists, stopping him mid-sentence. "you're not making me miserable. you're not forcing me to stay when i don't want to. and yeah, i miss home, but..." he stopped to look over ten's face. "i'm not going anywhere."

taeyong let go of his wrists and ten threw his arms around the older's neck in a relieved hug. taeyong squeezed him back, glad he had made the spontaneous decision he just had. "i'm glad you decided to stay," ten murmured.

"i had to," taeyong said.

"you didn't, but you did. thank you." ten gave him a light squeeze.

"what do you say we continue this vacation tomorrow?" taeyong asked. ten nodded and pulled taeyong back with him to where they were staying and would continue to stay until it was time for them both to leave.