no regrets 。taekai 。

xxvii

*if you see any mistakes or anything,  point them out! there's another chapter coming out later today*

(merry late christmas!! ❤️ hope you guys had a good day on christmas, even though times are hard, let's hope next year takes a turn for the better!)

。。。

jongin came in skipping into the studio the next day, sporting a wide smile and a full face of make up. sehun, chanyeol, baekhyun and jongdae who had arrived earlier than him just glared at him as the man took a seat next to their producer.

"you're late." jongdae said hoarsely, covering himself with his hoodie.

baekhyun groaned and let his head fall on sehun's shoulder, "it's 4 in the morning, jongin. stop doing that.", the older man held up a hand to block the imaginary beam of light coming from jongin.

"i know i'm late, took a little longer choose the clothes today," jongin stood up and twirled around, showing off his outfit.

"yeah, yeah, focus on singing right now." baekhyun frowned and playfully kicked jongin's shin.

when they all had their turns singing their parts and discussing them with their producer, the men packed up and left the studio.

"oh! hello, fortunate enough people to actually be well rested when recording for the new song!" chanyeol greeted the rest of the boys.

"how is 7 in the morning better than 4?" junmyeon grumbled, "one might argue its worse, it's like seeing the finish line and not completing the race."

"one might be completely wrong to argue, 7 hours of sleep is much better than 4." jongdae bickered.

the boys started to squabble and baehyun was completely done with them. he looked around until he saw jongin checking himself out on one of the mirrors, this made his brow shoot up in curiousity.

the older man made his way up to jongin, scaring the younger in the process.

"why do you move so silently." jongin mumbled.

"why are you so happy today?" baekhyun asked.

"do i have to have a reason to be happy? i'm usually happy."

"not," baekhyun motioned up and down towards jongin, "this happy. especially not getting up at 4 in the morning to work happy."

jongin ignored baekhyun's inquiries as he tried to get a foundation stain off his jacket.

"jongin, i swear i will start screaming if you continue to ignore me." the older opened his mouth to scream.

"wait!! no, wait." jongin furrowed his eyebrows, "you're crazy, you know?"

baekhyun shrugged, lacing his arm with jongin's, "crazy to know why you're like this, you mean."

baekhyun said goodbye to the other boys and led jongin to the cafe in the sm building.

"coffee?"

"a latte, please." jongin sighed, making himself comfortable on the wooden chair.

"right."

baekhyun came back with two cups in his hands, already seating down with an expectant look on his face.

"go on, then."

"i'll pay you back later-"

"no, no." baekhyun shook his head, "pay me back now. with words, preferably."

jongin groaned, "okay, fine."

"i... i slept with taemin."

baekhyun choked on his americano, taking a moment to gulp what was in his mouth so he didn't spit it out.

"you-"

"no! like in the same bed."

"you let me fucking choke on my coffee to tell me about a fucking sleepover."

"we also, kissed. maybe. no, definitely! yeah." jongin stuttered and he had never seem baekhyun so happy.

"you're kidding!" baekhyun squealed, "i thought you were a pussy, guess not."

jongin rolled his eyes and told baekhyun the story as he remembered.

"ooh." baekhyun reacted, "i guess he likes you too then."

"i mean, we did just kiss and i confessed to him... how did you confess to sehun?"

"oh." baekhyun sighed, "i didn't."

jongin motioned for him to continue.

"sehun just started kind of holding my hand and being more touchy with me. so i took it a sign he might have liked me. one day i kissed him and we just kind of have been 'together' since then."

baekhyun sighed again, "i guess it would have been nice to have maybe a cake and a few balloons and a big customized banner say 'i like you byun baekhyun!' but we can't all have movie style confessions."

jongin formed an 'o' with his mouth as he thought about it.

"do you think that taemin would like that too?"

"would you like to have someone confess to you in that way?"

jongin nodded, "i wouldn't mind."

"then i'm sure he'd like it too." baekhyun chuckled.

"you're the best, hyung." jongin high-fived baekhyun and they started looking at cake places on his phone.

。。。

vocal practice was especially hard on taemin that day.

"are you okay, taem?" his teacher asked as he failed to reach the most basic notes.

"i don't know." he said hoarsely, "it was fine yesterday."

his teacher told him to get some rest so they could continue tomorrow but taemin's nerves were over the roof. he dialed minho's number but the older man didn't answer.

he's probably shooting right now, he thought.

he tried everyone else, kibum, jongin, even his parents, no answered

taemin was feeling a bit stuffy inside the building so he headed outside only to be greeted with 30 or so fans shouting and going towards him. his head started spinning as he quickly opened the door again and aimlessly walked around the building until his headache became too much to handle.

he sat down on the floor of a random corridor, back leaned against the wall as he closed his eyes to calm himself down.

if he lost his voice, how would he manage not singing for the rest of his life? crazy, over-exaggerated thoughts ran through his head. taemin didn't even notice the tears rolling down his cheeks.

*last little note

i'm sorry if any of the last few chapters seem a bit rushed or don't make sense or are just cringe :D i really want to end this fanfic before i hit the two year mark with it!! lmao

thank you for those who are still reading since 2019 (unlikely) and thank you those who are reading this from whatever time mark <3 i really appreciate it.