guys my age | yuta/taeyong

my clothes still smell like you (and all the photographs say you're still young)

Taeyong was right about the lethargy of August. Even work feels slow; none of them get much done, interns and department heads alike. It's hot and humid, even with the A/C, and Taeyong feels sluggish.

Their last day of work is a Friday, and Yuta insists that Taeyong spend the night with his fellow interns. "You'll have Monday and Tuesday free," he says. "I'll come get you in the morning, okay?"

Taeyong's grateful for his insistence, really. They have a little party at the office, and then Taeyong goes out with a bunch of the other interns, including Jaehyun. It turns out Johnny and Ten have gotten together in these past couple of months—something Taeyong missed while he was wrapped up in his own escapades.

"So how did that happen?" Taeyong asks, clinking his beer against Ten's as he takes his seat beside him, watching their friends jump around on the dance floor. "You and Johnny?"

Ten smiles. "It's funny, actually," he says. "We were hanging out a lot, and I was operating under the assumption that we were just doing it as friends, and Johnny was operating under the assumption that we were on, like, our fifth date or something. One day he walked me home, and gave me a goodnight kiss, and everything clicked." Ten grins. "So I invited him in, and we talked about it. After fucking, obviously."

Taeyong laughs out loud. Ten's straightforwardness is always a breath of fresh air. "What're you gonna do this fall, though?" he asks. "I mean, Johnny's going back to the States, right?"

Ten shrugs. "We'll figure it out. He's always back in Korea for holidays and stuff, so provided I'm not visiting family in Thailand, it shouldn't be a problem." He takes a sip of his beer. "I know the long distance thing is hard, but... I dunno. I really like him, and he really likes me, so we'll make it happen."

"That's really sweet," Taeyong says.

"And what about you?" Ten asks. "What happened with you and Jaehyun?"

Taeyong makes an awkward noise somewhere between a cough and a laugh. "Ah," he says. "It just didn't work out."

Ten doesn't press; that's the other great thing about him. For a moment, Taeyong has a flash of regret. If he'd spent more time with his fellow interns instead of Yuta, he has a feeling he and Ten could've become really good friends.

Taeyong gets medium-drunk and decides to stop, a choice he's very proud of later when Jungwoo is throwing up on the sidewalk while Kun tries to flag down a taxi for him. He says goodbye once he knows Jungwoo's safely on his way home, and starts the short trek back to his apartment. The night is clear and warm, and the stars blink at him as he walks. All the interns promised they'd keep in touch. Taeyong flips his phone over in his hands. There's a new group chat on it, right at the top. It's so easy. Why isn't everything so easy?

He gets up early the next morning to get a start on packing. His train comes Wednesday afternoon, and Yuta will drop him off. It's nice, not having to deal with getting a taxi. Taeyong's just worried that he'll cry.

Packing goes surprisingly quickly. He didn't really move in as much as he thought he had—probably because he rarely spent his weekends in this apartment anyway. He removes the drawers from the dresser to check that nothing has fallen behind, and even crawls along the floor to check that there's nothing that's slipped under the furniture. He notices a crumpled shadow under his bed and stretches his arm out, sort of army-crawling a foot or two to get at it. He slides back out from underneath his bed and finds the jeans he wore out that first weekend in his hands, now a little dusty. He grimaces, but not from the dirt. He was such a different person at the beginning of the summer, and now he has to return to a place that houses that person, along with all the ghosts of who he used to be, and try to find his place there among them. He has a feeling he'll find that there isn't one at all.