dear, my darling [h.t.s.]
Pairing: bestfriends! taesan x reader
Warnings: a tiny bit of bickering, extreme fluff (?), taesan is extremely shameless, be prepared for tons of blushing.
Synopsis: You understand that Han Taesan is your best friend. You also understand that it’s his birthday soon. So, when he asks to be your boyfriend for 24 hours, you don’t have a choice but to agree and play along.
Genre: Fluff, Slice-of-life, Comedy
Today was Han Taesan’s birthday.
Birthdays meant wishes…
You hate wishes.
You’re always forced to hope that something you desire will finally come true on your special day, and when nothing happens, people forget. Like your wish never existed in the first place.
Frankly, it was a tradition that crushed the dreams of children until they finally matured and grew to accept it was all a lie.
Taesan, however, never let this stop him from his shameless antics and childish shenanigans.
Because, this year, he decided to make a very bold wish on that fruitful day.
Will you be my girlfriend for the whole of my birthday?
Respectfully, what the-
A week before Taesan’s birthday, when the both of you were walking home from school as usual, you noticed that Taesan was being odd.
He was quiet. He didn’t flick your forehead or steal your phone (You must say, it is sad how this is your normal). Worst of all, he didn’t even make fun of your height!
You opened your mouth to make a very clever comment on his “character development” but paused when you noticed that his face was weirdly pink. (Okay…?)
On the other hand, poor Taesan. Little guy was kicking pebbles with his feet the whole time because he had an extremely ridiculous request and knew that it would just make you think of him weird.
Truth is, you already do. You and Taesan have done almost everything together (excluding showering and sleeping, of course). You’ve seen him rip a hole in his pants, and he has seen you burn waffles—his one-time request surely wouldn’t make a difference.
“Taesan.” You call out to him once, but he doesn’t respond. “Hello? Earth to Taesan?” You wave a hand in front of his face in concern as he snaps out of his daze with wide, startled eyes.
“Hi!” Taesan squeaks, his voice cracking slightly as he tries to sound casual.
Dude was far gone…
“Uh, are you okay? You’ve been really quiet today, man. At this rate, you’ll be long gone before your birthday.” Taesan immediately short-circuits at the mention of his birthday, and you sigh internally as you continue walking. What’s wrong with him?
Taesan hurries to catch up to you in long strides, and at this moment, he feels extremely blessed to have long legs (mainly so that he is able to keep up with you).
“Actually, speaking about my birthday—”
“AHA!”
You spin a full 180 degrees to face him as he halts his steps in shock from the… proximity.
“So that’s why you were so quiet, you were thinking about what you wanted for your birthday, right?” You exclaim cheerfully while pointing directly at him, and Taesan looks at your pointed finger nervously.
Taesan scratches the back of his neck awkwardly.
“Well… yeah…”
“Wait, it better not be expensive! I have my standards too, you know.”
You interrupt him before giving him the chance to speak again.
What? Speak!
Taesan offers with a strained smile.
“I was thinking… will you be my girlfriend—”
Yeah, we’re never, ever, ever, ever, ever returning there again.
Which is what led to you waiting for Taesan outside of his classroom building now.
Your classes usually end earlier than his, which meant that he would always wait for you without fail, but for some reason, his professor decided to hold him back for a while today.
On his birthday.
The sheer audacity!
But that matter was soon pushed to the very back of your mind as you spotted Taesan from a distance.
W-what is he doing?
HE’S RUNNING??
His hands are wide open as he runs towards you with that childlike grin, soon colliding into you with his hands wrapped tightly around your figure.
You grunt against his jacket.
“Argh, I can’t believe I actually agreed to this.”
His smile only grows wider.
“If it helps, since our birthdays aren’t that far apart, I can definitely guarantee you that your birthday present will be 100x better than this.”
You gasp.
“Really??”
“Mhm, though I think no gift can ever top the most rewarding gift of spending time with me and having me as your boyfriend.” Taesan smirks that infuriating smirk again, and then you slap his shoulder.
“Ow—ow, ow, ow, that was uncalled for!”
He sulkingly rubs the spot on his shoulder where you hit him in an attempt to soothe the pain (you didn’t even hit that hard, he’s just dramatic).
“Slow down your roll, buddy. I’m only your girlfriend for today.” You shrug calmly while Taesan’s eyes glimmer with mischief.
“Since you’re my girlfriend now, shouldn’t you be calling me something else instead of buddy?”
Somewhere in your head, you would have made the referee give Taesan a penalty card with a piercing whistle that basically screamed “Time-out!”, but it was his birthday, and the golden rule was that you don’t do mean stuff to people on their birthdays.
Seriously, who made all that stuff up?
Anyways, like the kind soul you were, you decided to play along with Taesan’s antics just for today.
“Fine. What should I call you then?”
What’s taking him so long?
Taesan took out his phone and began punching keys into his search bar before flipping his phone around so that you could see his screen.
List of pet names for your boyfriend:
1. Baby
2. Babe
3. Handsome
4. My love
5. Darling
6. Honey
He’s really into this, huh.
“Personally, I would prefer being called baby, but it’s your choice, darling.”
Woah there. The summer heat is really getting to you these days (Really…).
Taesan blinked at you innocently with a tilted head while he patiently waited for your response.
Let’s see now… if we’re really following the golden rule, you guess you would have to call him whatever he wanted then. Baby.
“Alright, you big baby. Where are we going now?”
It seems that Taesan likes following the golden rule (of letting you choose where you wanted to go) too. Unfortunately for him…
The both of you are currently standing in front of the amusement park.
“…[Y/n], you know I hate rides.” Taesan turns to you with a look of pure betrayal.
Admittedly, it’s too funny not to laugh at.
“Okay, but seriously,” you gesture towards a poor boy who got dragged onto the Viking ride. “This can’t be that bad, look! Even a kid younger than us is riding it too.”
You can see the look of fear in the boy’s eyes.
Okay…
Anyways, the tall man agreed.
So here you are, sitting beside Taesan in the swinging ship.
When it first started moving, Taesan was calm. He even managed to make a full sentence.
“I didn’t expect this to actually be doable.”
Five minutes later, Han Taesan would no longer be in one piece.
“AHHHH! Stop this!”
You turned your head towards the neighbouring chaos.
Tch tch tch…
The sight was terrifying.
Taesan’s hair was everywhere, and his eyes were squinted shut as he held onto the safety railings for dear life. The higher the ship swung, the louder his shouts got, and the dizzier he felt.
“Baby.”
His inner baby must have awakened, because he may have just had a vocal breakthrough.
Now you were panicking, because what was one supposed to do in this situation?
“Baby? Han Taesan, it’s okay.” Please, just calm down.
Think fast!
You quickly interlocked your fingers with his, hoping that he would finally come to his senses.
This was a really, really bad idea. You’re never letting Han Taesan get on a ride ever again.
Thankfully, the ride soon came to an end, and he finally managed to calm down.
“Taesan? Are you okay?” You worriedly take in his vulnerable form as he slumps over the safety bar. Poor thing…
“That… was so… embarrassing…”
You also feel extremely guilty.
“I shouldn’t have insisted on this, I’m sorry.” Your grip on Taesan’s hands tightens as he finally looks up.
“Worth it.” His lips slowly curl into a smirk as he brings you along with him, the both of you getting out of the ride.
“Huh?” You pipe up in confusion at his sudden change of attitude. Does he have an alter ego or something?
“Character development.” He looks at you as if he knows something that you don’t.
Ugh, what kind of boyfriend—
“Next up on the list, a photobooth.” Taesan reads off his phone before sliding it into his pocket with ease.
Then he reaches out his hand towards you.
What?
Oh, right. You mentally facepalm yourself as you remember. Not like you were totally getting used to this boyfriend-girlfriend thing. That would be extremely silly!
“I’m really not used to this.” You complain under your breath as you slide your hand into his, savouring the warmth of his palm. Didn’t you hear? It’s been getting really chilly recently.
The both of you enter the photobooth and it’s… cramped. There’s little space in the tiny room, and your back is awkwardly pressed against Taesan’s chest.
“Okay… we can work with this.” You suggest in a very high-pitched voice. “Totally fine.”
“Yeah—shoot, why is the countdown already stARTing??”
For a cheap photobooth, you’re not exactly bewildered by that one-of-a-kind experience. But what really caught you off guard was the photos themselves.
Taesan made cat ears on the sides of your head just because, Taesan tickled the sides of your waist and made you squirm because why not, Taesan blew into your ear because he was trying to cool you down (that was seriously the best excuse he could come up with???).
And the last photo.
Because Taesan decided to behave only when the last photo was about to be taken…
“I’ll be a good boyfriend and behave for now.”
You shouldn’t have believed him. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!
Taesan had his fingers splayed casually on your hips, making you turn around to face him because what on Earth—
Snap!
Looking back at the photos… you finally get it. That must be the reason why Taesan chose this photobooth, so he could get to tease you and you wouldn’t be able to escape. Your eyes widen with your discovery. You’re not so clever after all, Han Taesan. You’re such a genius now. This must be how it feels to be Albert Einstein…
Turning your head to look at Taesan, you see him trying to stifle his laugh at your priceless reactions captured through the camera. His instincts kick in and he notices you staring.
“What, am I that good-looking that you can’t take your eyes off me?” He smugly asks, even though your attention is on none of that. You can’t be bothered to argue with him over that right now… you can’t afford to be distracted!
“That was your whole scheme, wasn’t it?”
Taesan just looks at you weird.
Then his mouth opens in a soft “ah” as realization takes over him.
“Let me guess. You think I intentionally chose a cramped, tiny, and cheap photobooth so that I could be stuck with you. Then, I could bully you all I wanted until time ran out. Is that it?” Taesan finishes unimpressed, raising an eyebrow at you.
You gasp. You wanted to retort, yet you couldn’t.
“Now that you put it that way, my clever discovery just sounds silly.” You sulk silently, even though it’s mainly embarrassment that’s making you awfully quiet right now.
“I can’t believe it, my girlfriend’s mad at me because I told her logic and she didn’t like that it made her idea sound silly.” Taesan pouts as he inserts the photo strip into his wallet and crosses his arms.
“And it’s my birthday too…” he trails off, sneaking glances at you to see if you would entertain him.
You turn to face Taesan.
He looks… nevermind.
You take out a folded piece of paper from your bag and hand it to him, trying to act anything but casual.
“It’s a letter.” You suggest awkwardly. Of course it’s a letter, what else could it be?
Taesan goes quiet. He’s thinking… he’s processing… he’s registering… “Oh.”
Not even a thank you…
“So this is my birthday present?” He questions you with a small smirk playing on his lips. Ah, he’s happy. That should make up for the horrifying Viking ride earlier.
Nope, nevermind. That memory is still too recent to mention. Don’t think about it, forget about it.
“It’s one of them.”
Curiosity visits once again. Taesan is like a little kid (magnet) collecting (attracting) gifts.
“What’s the other one?” He questions, and honestly, you don’t know how to respond. There’s nothing else in your hands, and it’s evident with the way he’s practically bouncing with excitement that he can’t wait long for the next gift.
Too bad, Han Taesan. Hasn’t he heard? Good things take time!
So you simply shrug and offer, “Do you want cake?”
And then he says no, because of course he can’t be like a normal human who eats cake on their birthdays and simply calls it a day.
It’s also very obvious that the only thing Taesan is interested in right now is the other present you have in store for him, and he wouldn’t accept anything but that.
“Whatever, just pretend the other gift doesn’t exist till… we part ways? I’ll give it to you then.”
You can see the agony in his eyes no matter how hard he tries to conceal it.
He would make a pretty good yearner.
CouGH who said that?
A few moments later, you felt thirsty.
Which is why you’re queuing at a beverage store right now. (Duh… where else would you get drinks.)
And because you were simple and minimalistic, you went for the honeydew shake.
Taesan, ever being the curious one he is, asks, “Is that good?”
“Try it.”
He looks at the straw. Then he looks at you, confused.
Have you knocked your head?
“You just drank from that,” he adds cautiously, watching your reaction.
“And…?” Meanwhile, you thought he was acting up and being the weird one.
You really are just a clueless little thing.
But it doesn’t matter, because Taesan shamelessly takes a sip anyway.
“Delicious.”
See? You still don’t get why he was acting so timid about trying the—
Oh.
Taesan pauses at your malfunctioned state.
“What?” He questions, blinking innocently at your very doomed state. Did you and Taesan just have an indirect kiss? Wait. You and Taesan just had an—
“Nothing.” You gulp nervously as Taesan shoots you a knowing look.
Then you think Taesan must have gone completely insane, because he just takes another sip from your drink, completely unfazed.
“W-what are you doing?! That’s an—”
You learn to shut your mouth. Sometimes, there are things that have to be kept hidden. For a greater good, right? That’s exactly it.
Which is weird because why is Taesan looking at you like that…?
Nevermind, that’s not important.
You check your phone… you may be cooked.
The important part is that it is really late at night, and that the both of you will have to return soon in order to make it before the university dorm curfew.
That also means you’ll have to present Taesan with his second gift now.
He glances at you expectantly.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, if this doesn’t work out, you guess you could sayonara! to your sanity. But that’s not happening on your watch, nah uh.
“Taesan.” You clear your throat. This is very nerve-wracking. Your heart. Could. Explode.
“Hm?” Taesan hums in acknowledgment, very (im)patiently waiting for you to carry on.
You take a deep breath in.
“I think… I may or may not have developed a… moderately severe case of liking you.”
He blinks…
Then silence.
Okay, you prepared yourself for the worst. You tried your best, and that’s… okay. Completely fine. You did see this coming after all, but you just had to get your feelings out of your chest. All you need to do is move on. That’s easy, you could do that. Anyone could do that.
Then suddenly, “Moderately severe?”
You panic and start running your mouth.
“Not like—okay, obviously I liked you before, you’re my friend. I mean like like you—”
Oh. My. Goodness. Embarrassment was eating you up alive. If this was the cruellest way to torture mankind, you might as well get it over with now.
Everything around you feels extra loud. You shiver from the sudden chilling sensation (Again, it’s summer.) and your eyes dart to nowhere but him.
A grin slowly spreads across Taesan’s face.
Your lips are pressed into a thin line because you can’t really tell if that’s supposed to be a good or a bad sign, and you’re actively trying to figure it out.
“I’m pretty sure that was a confession, right? I’m going to take it as it is because I like you too.”
Oh, okay.
Wait—what?
“Huh?” You blurt out in confusion.
He bends down to your height and flicks your forehead lightly in amusement, the corners of his lips trying to fight a smile. “You dummy, this dummy likes you too.”
Woah…
This feels surreal.
Is this how the girls in rom-com shows felt?
You could declare that pigs fly!
And because you had no romantic experience per se, you just had to ruin the romantic moment with your witty mouth.
“So you admit you’re a dummy too?” You exclaim in delight, and all Taesan does is look at your lips.
Then he looks directly into your eyes.
“You know, if you keep talking, I might just have to—” Taesan’s eyes widen in surprise as you shush him with your finger pressed to his lips.
Woah, they’re soft.
The moment you put your finger down, Taesan immediately presses a quick peck to your lips before looking at you innocently.
What? Why’re you looking at me like that? I know I’m good-looking, but you don’t have to flatter me like that.
You grab the collar of Taesan’s shirt and pull him closer, kissing him before you can give yourself the chance to chicken out.
For a second, Taesan freezes.
Then he kisses you back.
Everything else seems to disappear.
Your heart pounds so loudly that you can barely take in your surroundings. Everything in the background just seems to fade away, and you can only concentrate on the feeling of Taesan’s lips on yours.
You pull away first, breathless and suddenly extremely aware of what you just did.
Taesan stares at you…
His cheeks are slightly pink, but that familiar grin is already returning.
“Happy birthday, Han Taesan.”
You manage to whisper despite your flustered state, very acutely aware of the fact that the both of you just kissed in public.
He presses a quick peck to your cheek and whispers into your ear, “Thank you, darling. I must say, you’re my best gift this year.”
You immediately start choking on air, your face burning as you stare at Taesan in disbelief.
Don’t get used to it, birthday boy.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
bonus scene:
Taesan seemed reluctant to leave.
And why did you say that?
He kept looking back when you took his hand and the both of you started walking towards the exit.
“What’s wrong?” You asks curiously, turning your head too to see what he was looking at. You see nothing.
“My favourite photo from earlier has got to be the one where you tried to kiss my cheek.”
……
?
You frown, because when did you ever try that?
“Taesan, I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.”
He takes out the photo strip and calmly points to the photo where you turned to face him in shock, not to kiss him or…whatever.
“You’re aware that’s not what it seems like right?”
The expression in your face is one of pure annoyance. What happened to your loving Taesan just a few moments ago? This is tragedy…
“Really? Because it seems like you were awfully close to me and trying to-”
So yeah.
That’s how the both of you end up in the photobooth again for a retake.
The countdown was beginning…
“Why do I feel like you’re planning something?” Taesan looks at you suspiciously, his eyes narrowing slightly.
Mianhae, sir. No time for chitchat!
Just as the countdown neared one, you leaned towards Taesan, bracing yourself to give him a teeny tiny little kiss on his cheek.
But Taesan notices.
Of course he wouldn’t let your efforts go to waste.
And so, he did what any normal human would do.
He turned his head towards you…
Your lips land on something that is definitely not cheeks.
The both of you freeze.
Snap!
Taesan glances at you shamelessly with no remorse as you pull back with a gasp.
He was very proud.
“I’m sorry.” Taesan mumbles as he bends down and retrieves the photo strips, suddenly avoiding your gaze.
“You’re not.” Your eyes lock onto his figure like a hawk eyeing its prey (Sure?).
You can clearly see Taesan trying to fight a smile on his face to maintain an expression of stark seriousness.
“Yeah, I’m not.”
That night, you returned with inexplicable warmth in your chest, still buzzing from the excitement of the day.
Guess the birthday boy got his wish after all.
author’s note: happy birthday to taesan !! ><