captain - jaeyong

twenty three.

taeyong couldn't get jaehyun's actions from his mind for almost a week after the event actually happened. he'd thought on it so much that it hardly felt real anymore and he'd talked about it so much that doyoung and winwin had both gone to his house one night after school to stage an intervention with him.

taeyong was due to return jaehyun's jacket to him tomorrow and despite how many times jaehyun had reassured him that he would love it, taeyong couldn't help feel nervous.

as he's shown the design to his friends that night to get their opinions, both boys had stood with their mouths hung wide open in awe. "really taeyong i don't understand why you don't try and make a business out of this, do you know how much people would pay for this? you could rip off rich people," doyoung whined.

"it's too much effort, i can't rip people off without the paintings actually being good," taeyong huffed causing doyoung to roll his eyes.

"anyway that's not what we're here for," winwin cut in and doyoung seemed to be pushed back on track by that.

"oh right, taeyong you need to tell jaehyun you like him, you're driving us insane," doyoung spoke out frustratedly.

taeyong nearly dropped the jacket at his words.

"i can't just do that," he protested, "that's like rule book 101 of what to not do."

"why?" doyoung groaned, "didn't he literally kiss you?"

taeyong thought about it for a second. it was true, jaehyun had kissed him but it was only on the cheek and it wasn't something that he and doyoung hadn't done before.

"you've kissed me on the cheek before," taeyong pointed the very same fact out to doyoung.

"yes but there's a difference, i'm your best friend and jaehyun has a fat crush on you."

taeyong sighed, "you want me to ruin my potential friendship with jaehyun just because you think he has a fat crush on me."

winwin was the one to speak up that time, "if i'm honest i would say i know that he has a crush on you, you need to do something."

"says you, yuta is falling at your feet and you just let him," taeyong whined and winwin simply laughed at that.

"at least we're getting somewhere but that's a conversation for another time."

taeyong stored the thought that he had to ask winwin about yuta later in his mind before flopping down on his bed. he knew why the two boys were there, it was obvious that their sole intention in coming to his house that night was to try and convince him to confess to jaehyun but it just wasn't going to happen.

despite his seemingly confident nature, taeyong was also highly insecure. he wasn't sure why or where it came from but he was never able to see himself in a good light and the fear of rejection from jaehyun and how that might impact his confidence even more terrified him.

really, he knew that this was something he should discuss with doyoung and winwin yet he just couldn't bring himself to. maybe he was embarrassed, taeyong didn't know but it just felt too deep and personal for him to talk about even to his closest friends.

"taeyong i can literally hear you thinking from over here, it's not healthy to think that hard," doyoung spoke as he sat down next to taeyong on the bed and winwin took a seat at his desk.

"you know you can talk to us about anything right?" winwin asked, "we're your best friends, you can rely on us and we'll give you any support you need."

"thank you," taeyong breathed out, "i think this is something i have to work through a little myself before i ask for help though," he spoke honestly then. doyoung and winwin nodded gently in understanding.

"well as soon as you feel like you're ready, remember that we're here to listen to you okay?" doyoung asked and taeyong hummed in response.

he had always felt blessed to have friends as kind and reliable as those two were. even in the stickiest of situations, one of them would always come rushing to taeyong's aid and they both had the ability to cheer him up immensely whenever he was sad.

taeyong couldn't be more thankful for both of them and he told them as much that night. regardless of what was happening with jaehyun and whether taeyong would ever get the courage to confess, one thing he could say for sure was that he knew that doyoung and winwin would be there for him.

he let his eyes wonder back to the jacket after a while when doyoung and winwin had given up on convincing him and were talking to each other about something else.

taeyong couldn't help the fear that crawled inside of him. what if jaehyun didn't like it? it was possible and taeyong didn't think that he'd be able to handle it if he didn't. of course, he knew that jaehyun wouldn't tell him out right but at the same time, the younger boy had never been good at hiding his true emotions from people.

regardless though, taeyong tried to push the thoughts to the back of his mind and think of positive outcomes as well. what if jaehyun truly loved the jacket? what if he liked taeyong too. the boy almost scoffed out loud as his mind ran with that idea.

he was so convinced that there was just no way that he felt almost stupid for even considering the other idea. despite there being a chance that jaehyun might like him too, taeyong just couldn't accept that. he was so used to focussing on negatives that even when there seemed to be no other explanation than a positive one, he still couldn't see it.

doyoung and winwin watched on in despair as they saw their friend once again overthinking.

"do you think we should do something?" doyoung whispered to winwin.

"like what though?" the youngest sighed.

"i don't know but we can't let him carry on like this, i'll talk to johnny and ten tomorrow and you talk to yuta, we'll think of something right?" doyoung asked and winwin nodded.

"okay," the younger replied.

they had to do something and quickly.

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tysm for reading!! it really means a lot to me that people read and enjoy this story so thank you from the bottom of my heart ily <33