NCT ONESHOTS | ships

50. taeyong and ten {ft. johnny} [angst]

"Ten, up." The called male stroke another pose, raising his hands above his head. Flashes lit the room while many clicks from the camera filled the room.

"Perfect! Now look into the camera." The photographer told him, and so he did. Ten lifted his eyes from the ground to look into the camera. His eyes looking dangerously attractive.

The last flashes lit Ten's face before the photographer's voice rang in his ears again. 

"And that's a wrap!" 

Ten got up from his place and walked over to the table behind the camera and the many lights.

"Damn, you did great." His fellow model, Taeyong, commented as he eyed the monitor which showed the pictures. "Your facial expressions are getting better." 

Getting a little shy from the compliments he received, Ten gave the other male a looked and watched the different photos pass by on the screen. "You didn't do bad yourself."

He flashed his usual million dollar smile which left Taeyong with butterflies in his stomach. He never told the younger this but ever since Ten joined Taeyong on modeling for Louis Vuitton he ever so slowly fell in love with him. 

Ten however, would never label Taeyong as something more than a best friend. Really, he told Taeyong the most random things and could act silly whenever he felt like it. Something he barely even did around his parents or anyone else in general.

The two of them occasionally went out together, to grab a drink, something to eat, go to the park, you name it.

He hoped Ten would pick up on his hints, but unfortunately for him, the younger met someone special last week.

"Taeyong, you know I went on a date last week?" The boy was still looking at the pictures, well, more likely looking at how perfect Ten was on them. With his mind still thinking about the shoot they just finished, Taeyong only answered with a hum. 

"You know, I think I kinda like him." Ten confessed while his thumbs were busy typing a text message on his phone.

Taeyong blinked his eyes at Ten's words. "You... you like him?" Taeyong asked, wanting to confirm his ears didn't betray him. 

Ten slightly smiled when he got a text back from a specific male, forgetting to answer Taeyong for the first few seconds. 

"Um, well, it's not like I like like him. It's just that I enjoy his presence, but on the other side, I do sort of like him but not in that way, you get it?" Ten rambled in one breath. He saw that Taeyong was taken back by his short speech on him liking the one he met or not.

"Sorry, it's just, I'm getting so excited talking about him..." Ten admitted. 

"What's his name?" Taeyong asked, trying to show some sort of interest, at least that what he told himself. But he just wanted to know the competition he was against.

"Johnny." Ten said, looking dreamy.

-

"Ten, I'm at the café, where are you?" Taeyong asked the boy on the other end of the line as he scanned the whole restaurant but without any sigh of the other male.

"The café?" Ten questioned as he put the phone between his shoulder and his ear. "What are you doing at the-" 

Then everything clicked in his mind. 

"Oh god Taeyong I'm so sorry, I forgot we were going to grab lunch together." Ten slapped himself on his forehead. How could he forget about his best friend, oh yeah, Johnny asked him out on a date. 

"Tae, sorry but Johnny is picking me up in five minutes, I can't make it. Sorry." When hearing this, Taeyong felt his chest squeeze, even though he already knew his love for Ten was one-sided, hearing this come from his mouth made it all seem more real than it already was.

And there he stood, searching for someone who wasn't even there. The other costumers eyed Taeyong with judging looks.

"That's okay." Taeyong managed to say despite his paralyzed state. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Are you sure? Maybe we can go to the amusement park this weekend?" The fact that Ten proposed to meet another time made Taeyong feel slightly better again, but he still felt an uneasy feeling in his stomach.

"Works for me. This Saturday?" Ten hummed in response. "Great I'll see you then." 

Taeyong didn't even have the chance to say anything back before beeps were all he heard, indicating Ten had ended their call. Having lost his appetite, Taeyong made his way back to his apartment.

-

"Taeyong, head up please." Taeyong lifted his chin and looked right beside the camera, giving the photographer a perfect view on his side profile. At least that was what the staff thought.

Secretly he was looking at Ten who currently got his final touches on his make up done on the side. 

"Taeyong, eyes over here please." Taeyong got startled by the voice and widened his eyes, in combination with the flashes, needless to say, it was the meme of the year.

"We'll take a break now." The staff anounced noticing how Taeyong was distracted without any obvious reason.

"I'm sorry, I'll do better." Taeyong said with a deep bow. He walked over to Ten, hoping he had some tips for him to do better on the shoot although he was the senior in the industry.

Taeyong wanted to strat his sentence but already got cut off by Ten. "Yong, Johnny came to the set today, I don't want him to get jealous so don't approach me please." He said to the older with an apologetic smile. 

Taeyong looked behind the younger and saw a tall man standing in the door opening. "Oh okay." He said, the disappointed clearly audible in his voice. Ten however, didn't catch it as he already walked to the male named Johnny and gave him a long kiss on his lips.

Taeyong felt a burning sensation in his lungs, he hand flew to his mouth and loud coughing erupted from his chest. As soon as he looked at his hand, his eyes widened and he ran to the bathroom.

He turned on the faucet and washed the blood off as quickly as possible.

-

That day when Taeyong got home, it felt like his lungs were giving up on him, another loud cough came from his mouth. But this time, it felt like it wouldn't stop any time soon. He dragged himself to the kitchen by then he got to the sink an iron taste laying on his tongue. He spit out the blood and tried to rinse his mouth with water.

When he got the water in his mouth, it felt like his throat and lungs were on fire. He spit the water into the sink, washing the blood from earlier away. This time when he coughed, he felt his stomach constrict. 

He emptied his stomach as he doubled over. He let the water run and coughed loudly again. But instead of blood like previous times, he felt something else in his mouth. 

Flower petals.

He felt the need to puke again.

More flowers came out of his mouth.

"Ten..." Taeyong grabbed his phone from his pants with shaking hands. He heard three beeps before the call was answered.

"Ten, where are you?" Taeyong asked while he tried to keep his voice as stable as possible, unfortunately he felt another cough coming.

"Hanging out with Johnny... Are you okay?" 

Johnny. Ever since that boy entered Ten's life, everything got ruined. And here he was, coughing and throwing up flowers, all because of one specific male.

Tears rolled over Taeyong's cheeks.

"I wish I were Johnny."

///////

03.08.2020