Chapter Text
Yuta wonders how he ended up in this situation.
He’s in a van behind Doyoung and Johnny, who are giggling about the fun activities they have ahead, specifically for soon-to-be newlyweds, apparently. Yuta hasn’t even bothered looking at the schedule, he’s decided he will get surprised every day. It’s not like he doesn’t want to be here, he’s just complaining cause he can, he’s happy, actually. His friends are gonna get married, and they kindly decided to exchange a lavish and crazy GAY bachelor’s party for a trip with their close friends to the coast. They’re staying in a beautiful beach house and the travel company set them up with all kinds of things to do and experience. This is as wholesome as he can think, but he can’t help being bothered a bit. A lot. Why? Because one of said close friends who’s been invited is his ex.
Moreover, the weather is kinda unbearable, right now. Hot. And yes they’re in the middle of summer, so no shit, but it’s really inconvenient because he can see through his peripheral vision how said ex is unbuttoning his already see-through shirt, damped with sweat. Appalling.
Hot, too. Unfortunately for Yuta.
Their break-up was long ago, but not on the best of terms. It was public and messy; Yuta hated that the most, being exposed like that. Every time he remembers, his left eye slightly twitches. When it happened, he thought he would never get over it and would always resent Jaehyun.
That was a long time ago, though.
It’ll probably be easier than he thinks, to stand a whole month here together, given that Jaehyun hasn’t looked his way or acknowledged him since they all met at the airport. Maybe all they have to do is pretend the other is not there at all for the rest of the trip.
At this moment, he just wants to get to the house, take a cold shower and relax in his room.
Relax. As if that were possible when he has a whole fucking month ahead in the same house with Jung. Jae.Hyu–
“GUYS!!! Let’s go to the beach after lunch” Says Jungwoo animatedly and startles Yuta, who was deep in thought.
“Puppy’s excited” He turns around to stick his tongue out at Yuta and pants like a real dog.
The window’s rolled down all the way and the wind’s messing with his hair, making it look almost like dog ears flapping.
“The weather is so nice right now, it’s crazy.” Taeyong is shirtless already, stretching his thin shirt over his head “I say beach, too. I wanna swim, the sea looks incredible from here. I can’t wait to get in.”
“Okay. We’re almost at the house. 10 minutes” Says Johnny looking at his phone.
“Sounds good. I just wanna get out of the car, it’s stuffy in here” Says Doyoung, fanning himself with his hands.
“Maybe if you were not wearing a long-sleeve t-shirt, Dons”
Doyoung pouts, saying he just doesn't wanna get burned on the first day and blushes when Johnny winks at him. “You’d look pretty even red as a tomato, baby, you’re the cutest”
Yuta rolls his eyes and mock gags.
“You’re sexy” Johnny doubles down and Doyoung slaps his arm and giggles.
Ugh. They’re total lovebirds. Disgusting.
When they reach the house, things get worse for Yuta. Johnny and Jaehyun are gathering the remaining luggage from the car while the rest of them is in the living room together, it’s really spacious and has big glass doors that point to the beach, the view is amazing, but he can’t enjoy it because it turns out there’s not gonna be a “his room” where he will relax, they will have to share.
When Doyoung announces this Yuta feels his body stiffen on the big couch. What’s a fancy beach house that doesn’t have 10 different guest rooms anyway. He’s about to say he’s gonna find a hotel when his friend continues, while looking at him “Don’t worry, Johnny and I thought of everything. Oh they’re back! Jae come sit, we’re about to distribute the rooms.”
They put the luggage aside and Johnny goes to sit next to his fiancée and Taeyong.
“So, there are 4 rooms, Johnny and I will be staying in the one with the king-sized bed obviously”
“That’s right,” adds Johnny, looking smug.
Jungwoo is sitting next to Yuta but there’s still one seat available on his left. Jaehyun only looks at it before walking past to sit on the arm of the opposite couch.
“The three left have a queen-sized bed each, except for the small room, which has a regular single bed. We thought Jungwoo and Yuta could share one of the queens since Jungwoo asked beforehand and Taeyong and Jaehyun could play rock paper scissors for the other two”
Oh, maybe Yuta shouldn’t have worried; there is no way his friends would put him and Jaeyun in a weird situation like that. Well, weirder.
Jungwoo is good to room with, they have roomed together in the past. He’s clean and mindful of the noise. He’d be okay, but then he considers the fact that they’ll be together for a whole month. Jungwoo can get a bit clingy with Yuta; it’s actually gotten a bit worse lately, and, don’t take him wrong, it’s nice to know he’s well-liked, and he likes Jungwoo too, but Yuta values his solo time a lot as well.
“Ay, you love me too much kim chukwu” he playfully pushes his arm next to him.
“It’s part of my plan to spend as much time together as possible, hyung” Jungwoo intertwines their arms.
Taeyong asks Jungwoo why he didn’t choose him to share with, and is met with everyone chirping in with how bad of a sleeper he is. Doyoung said it had already been decided Taeyong would sleep by himself because he’s a really bad sleeper “even a fly could wake you up and then you complain nonstop the next day, it’s so annoying”.
“And don’t forget that when he sleeps he tosses and turns a lot and starts kicking everything around him, I got an awful bruise on my thigh last time we shared” Jungwoo admits.
“Oof, I was a victim of that too, hyung” says Jaehyun. And it feels weird to hear his voice in person, he’s had that sensation since the airport where they all got together and it doesn’t wear off yet. Even if whatever Jaehyun’s saying is not directed towards Yuta.
Yuta looks in Jaehyun's direction for more than one second for the first time since the trip started. He dares to take him with his eyes now that he’s distracted, playfully bothering Taeyong with the rest. He looks well, maybe even better since the last time he saw him, his hair is a bit longer than he used to wear before, chest and arms a bit fuller, as well as his cheeks, now pink due to the heat, although the air conditioner will make that go away soon.
“I also remember you farted after that”
“I did not!!! Jaehyun, you traitor” Laughs Taeyong, turning pinkish in the neck and face, his eyes freakishly big like a cartoon.
“Hey, the truth is the truth” Jaehyun raises his hands and looks around as if to say he’s innocent and in that, he almost catches him staring but Yuta’s quick to look down at his own hands.
“I fed and raised you, you should protect my honor!”
“You did that when you were AWAKE, though, Yong.” it comes naturally to yuta, he was born with the bother-taeyong-whenever-you-can gene.
They all laugh and Yuta can’t help but single out the sound of Jaehyun’s and feel something familiar. But he tucks it away quickly, too.
Yuta was convinced of going to the beach after lunch, Jungwoo’s persuasiveness is powerful, he’s gonna cutely annoy you until you give in, and he’s relentless, so you better take him seriously.
It’s a really hot day but he will stand it because the scene in front of him is breathtaking, the sky looks amazing, like the ones you see on postcards, the sea is a greenish blue color, so beautiful.
He extends his towel under an empty umbrella and sits comfortably as he watches his friends play. Taeyong is carrying Doyoung to throw him in the water while Johnny does the same to Jungwoo. Then Doyoung and Jungwoo try to do the same to Johnny but they fail. Jaehyun’s recording everything. They must not think of tickling him as a strategy, it always works.
He knows one of them will come to retrieve him from the shadow this big umbrella provides when they notice he’s gotten comfortable, probably Jungwoo, but he will enjoy his leisure time for now.
After a while, Yuta remembers to reapply sunscreen. He’s really twisting his arms to get to cover his back well. When he glances over his shoulder, he sees Jaehyun approaching him.
He walks till he’s towering over Yuta, almost stepping on his towel and doesn’t say anything, he just sits down next to him, not too close, but still under the same umbrella.
He quickly scans Jaehyun, estranged, why is he suddenly here when he hadn’t bothered to acknowledge him before. He’s on his swimming trunks and sunglasses, he seems to be relaxed as he sits crosslegged and plays with the small terry loops of the beach towel. A flash of anger goes through Yuta.
“I thought you were gonna avoid me as much as u could” Yuta says flatly.
“Mm” Jaehyun hums and presses his lips to reveal his dimples. “That’s childish, don’t you think?”
“Childish” Yuta huffs. He caps his sunscreen bottle and throws it behind him. “Yeah, whatever”
Jaehyun shifts from facing the sea to facing Yuta. “I thought…we can’t spend the whole trip pretending the other doesn’t exist.” He observes Yuta after he doesn’t react. “I mean, maybe you wanted that and I understand, but for the sake of Doyoung and Johnny, I think we should at least be cordial and treat each other respectfully–”
“Respectfully” Yuta deadpans.
Jaehyun slides his sunglasses down his nose and looks over the top of his frames. “like adults.”
Adults, specifically, are the most disrespectful, Yuta wants to refute. However, Jaehyun has a point. His friends deserve a nice trip, they deserve to thrive and make good memories.
He already knows Doyoung and Johnny are trying to be as accommodating as they can, they’ve been, all this time, since their breakup. After the scandal, Doyoung was the first to reach out to him, when the wound was still fresh, he and Johnny would meet them separately and would make sure they didn’t overlap at events. They’ve protected and nurtured their friendship so no one feels left out, they even invited them to this meaningful holiday. Yuta would hate even the slightest possibility of being the one to make the atmosphere weird and make them uncomfortable. He will make sure they don’t have to walk around in eggshells when it comes to Jaehyun and him. He watches them playing still in the water, they seem so content, and that’s how Yuta wants to keep it.
“You might not want to see me, but we’ll be here for another four weeks and–”
Yuta peaks at Jaehyun since he stopped talking suddenly.
“What are you thinking?”
“Nothing, you’re right. For Doyoung and Johnny. Let’s be… neutral to each other.”
“I’m okay with that.” He’s back to playing with the towel’s threads “I really couldn’t live with myself if I somehow became a nuisance for them during this trip and i figured you’d be the same”
“Mm.” Yuta clears his throat. “What are the parameters though?”
Jaehyun straightens up at that. “What do you mean?”
“Like, are we gonna talk to each other just when Doyoung and Johnny are present or we’re okay with talking whenever? What topics are allowed and which aren’t?… that kind of stuff”
Jaehyun takes his sunglasses off completely and combs a hand through his hair as he sighs “I didn’t think about specifics. To be completely honest, the fact that we’re talking right now and we’re not yelling hasn’t settled yet as real in my mind yet. “ He glances at Yuta “It 's been so long.”
It’s been almost two years. One year, ten months “Yeah”
“Still, we should figure out rules. I think it’s safe to safe we should avoid one on one conversation whenever possible”
“We’re off to a great start” Jaehyun remarks. Yuta almost smiles at that but he schools his face. “But I agree. If we’re gonna talk it should be in public areas with others around, like the kitchen or living room for instance”
“Yes, and um no bringing up the past” Yuta has started scratching his arm nervously “no relationship talk”
“No, yeah, agreed. Not with any of the guys”
“SPECIALLY with any of the guys, we don’t wanna force them to pick sides… Not that, Um–” “Also, each other’s rooms, are off limits”
“So I can’t visit Jungwoo?” Jaehyun feigns disappointment.
“Ask him to visit you instead, you can lure him in with food” He’s joking but he is not joking, if that man is hungry he will go where the food is.
“I will. I know how to cook” Jaehyun somewhat smirks in a way that makes the dimple on that side seem deeper. He’s still so handsome, and Yuta hates the fact he thinks of that.
“He would pick you, though.”
“Pick me?”
“If he had to choose…” Jaehyun trails off.
“I’m not a good cook”
“You don’t need to, he’s obsessed already”
Yuta doesn’t know how to respond to that. So he just moves on. “Anything else?”
He coughs awkwardly and covers his mouth with his fist ” Yeah. Should we tell them? that we have an agreement? Just so, like you said, they don’t feel like they have to pick sides…”
“We could. Let them settle well in the house and we can tell them maybe before the first big activity in the schedule”
“That sounds good” Jaehyun looks around. Yuta does too, his friends seem to not have noticed they’re talking, or at least they’re not looking at them.
“We can do it, we can get along. We’ve done it before, haven't we?”
“Yeah” Yuta can’t forget, despite how things ended, they were friendly once, good friends later and then, more.
This time Jaehyun’s not even asking to be friends again, they just have to not make things awkward. Act like they’re not carrying baggage. Enough time has passed anyway, and Yuta’s sure he doesn’t wanna be treated as if he were a delicate flower who can’t get over a bad break up.
“I’ll get going then” Jaehyun stands and takes a step to leave, he hesitates for a second, then turns around and asks “by the way, do you want help?”
“With what?” He looks up at Jaehyun, confused.
Jaehyun points at the discarded sunscreen bottle and then to Yuta’s back and lifts up his hand making circular motions showing his palm to Yuta.
Oh. “Are you kidding? Here’s another one. No touching” Yuta manages promptly, extending the vowel in No. “Not even by chance” Yuta scoffs at the idea.
This guy. He thinks he’s funny.
After Jaehyun’s gone, Jungwoo comes to get Yuta, just as he predicted, because he wants to play beach soccer. Yuta was kinda waiting for him to ask him about what Jaehyun and I were talking about. But it never comes. If he saw them, he decided to not comment on it.