NeoNara || TXT || taebin || yeonkai

2014: Sunday, Part Two

2014, DAY THREE
Sunday, August 17, 2014 9:27 AM

"Oh. My. Goodness." Yeonjun puts his hands together and tries to keep from screaming. "I love it! I love it. You have to do it. Oh my God, I'm already thinking of like fifteen bajillion ways we can put the living room together for you."

Taehyun laughs, the nervousness showing on his face. "That is, if my parents say yes."

"You're an adult. You can make your own decisions!"

"I know...I guess I just don't have a lot of practice making them."

"Is it okay if he only stays for a month?" Soobin asks.

Yeonjun smirks at Soobin. There is no way in hell he is only staying for a month, but I'll let you entertain that fantasy for a little while longer. "Yeah, sure. No problemo at all. Ooh, I'm so excited! Now I will have two younger siblings!"

Taehyun paused. "...I'm not a younger sibling?"

"That -- what I mean is, I'm an only child, you know that, right? Soobinie here grew up in Korea with a whole big family, but I was stuck in Jersey with my eomma and appa and myself. And I always wanted a younger brother, but it just never happened. Then I moved in with Soobin at college, and it was like I finally had a little brother. Now that you're moving in with us, I have two little brothers!"

Taehyun pauses. "You know...I grew up an only child, too. Comes with that whole being adopted because my parents can't have kids thing. So does this mean you're my older brother?"

Yeonjun literally has tears in his eyes. "I'm a hyung again! Wait, do you even know what that means?"

"A...what?"

"I'll take that as you not knowing." And while Yeonjun waits on his interviewee, he teaches Taehyun about Korea and honorifics and respect for people even a year older than you. Taehyun nods and wishes he had his phone to take notes, but Mayumi has it still, somewhere out in the ether. Instead, he settles with the knowledge that he'll always be able to ask Yeonjun this, especially if he moves down to the city.

The city...It sits in Taehyun's stomach like an entire cage of butterflies. Taehyun can't really remember the last time he went down to the city, probably for a field trip in elementary school or something. Lots of kids in his high school would take the Amtrak down for a weekend of hanging at Webster Hall and attempting to get drunk. It really hadn't been Taehyun's scene, and then Mayumi had forbidden him from going down without her, and she never seemed to have the time. She had always wanted to blow all her money at some Japanese bookstore --

Taehyun jumps as he feels an arm come around his waist. Soobin looks down at him. "Back to reality?"

He blushes. "Yeah."

"Oh, that's right." Yeonjun leans on his hands. "So, are you two official?"

Soobin shakes his head.

Yeonjun pouts.

"No, I'm okay with it," Taehyun says. "I..." His mind drifts off to nowhere in particular for a moment, and then he tries to snap back to reality again. "I'm a little...I feel like, without Mayumi, I don't know what I'm doing or where I'm going. She was the only constant in my life for so long. So I need to figure out who I am without Mayumi first. And that's the big reason why I want to move to the city. But when I feel better, then yes, I'm going to date Soobin." He leans, casually, into Soobin's touch, just enough for it to seem like a public display of affection. Even here, he feels jumpy, like she's going to just...appear. He keeps glancing at the tent's entrance, trying to see if she's coming, flinching at the sight of anything pink. And Soobin stays by his side, and Yeonjun eventually gets up to get them all new soda pops.