jonghyun/taemin; direct eggtion
just like u know two bros egging a house together and then making out at three in the morning and also an incomprehensible amount of yearning and also i just remembered its the same au as this one
it's not even anything; that was nothing. egging a house is small time. petty teenage bullshit. more of a nuisance then anything else. jonghyun has done much bigger, much more impactful, much more dangerous shit before. but here, in the moment, with the cold air in his lungs and the wet grass soaking through his shoes and taemin’s smile glinting in the moonlight, huge and wild with the excitement of baby's first legal citizen behavior, jonghyun has never felt more alive.
taemin 2:30 a.m. hey u up
jonghyun 2:34 a.m. mayhaps ;)
taemin 2:35 a.m. oh
taemin 2:35 a.m. w8 hold on lemme try again
taemin 2:35 a.m. hey u up (not horny)
jonghyun 2:37 a.m. lmfao
jonghyun 2:37 a.m. ye :)
taemin 2:40 a.m. come over?? also not horny
taemin 2:42 a.m. maybe horny later. who knows what the adrenaline rush of [perfectly legal and law abiding citizen behavior] will do to me
jonghyun 2:50 a.m. intriguing
jonghyun 2:50 a.m. on my way!!
taemin 2:50 a.m. bring ur skateboard
the wheels of jonghyun’s skateboard clack over the cracks in the sidewalk, deceptively loud in the silence of the night. he rolls under cold fluorescent circles of streetlamp light, the wind blowing through his hair and rustling his unzipped jacket. as he takes a turn towards the train tracks, the streetlamps turn into old soft bulbs and the trees grow taller, less ordered, blocking some of the wind. finally he comes up on taemin’s street, his apartment complex, his door.
taemin is sitting on the curb waiting to greet him. his skateboard is in his lap, a grocery bag next to him, and his nose is buried in his phone, but as jonghyun approaches and grinds to a halt in front of him he looks up. his smile is wide and lazy in the orange glow of the porch light and his hand is warm when jonghyun takes it to hold for a second. "hey,” he says.
“sup,” jonghyun grins. he holds his skateboard under his arm and grabs taemin’s own skateboard so he can stand up unencumbered. “what super legal citizen behaviors are we engaging in?” he asks.
“uuuhhhh.” taemin hums as he stands and stretches. his box blonde hair looks almost golden in the porch light before he tugs his hood up to cover it. he taps around his phone for a moment, then holds it out to jonghyun. “check this out," he says.
jonghyun takes it; it's opened to a screenshot of a tweet. it's @-ing the local police department with an unblurred picture of a homeless person looking through a garbage can on the curb. they're asking how to get the person arrested for stealing. “jesus fucking christ," jonghyun mutters under his breath. he's already mad.
“right?” taemin says. “like. care about something that matters. but, look." he leans into jonghyun so he can zoom in on the picture. he points at a wavy tree next to an agave cactus, then to a blue and orange mailbox. “i know this house. it's literally two blocks away. so, i figured." he bends down and picks up the grocery bag, showing jonghyun the two cartons of eggs inside of it. “direct action," he grins.
jonghyun snorts. "definitely not what direct action means," he says, "but i’m down." it won't change anything but it'll make him feel better.
"sick," taemin says. "come on." he heads down the sidewalk, skateboard under his arm, so jonghyun follows the same way. they walk side-by-side, shoulders bumping, jonghyun bumping against taemin on purpose, taemin letting him. they walk from streetlamp to streetlamp, ducking in and out of light and shadow. taemin’s hoodie strings are uneven; jonghyun fixes them for him.
“mask?” taemin offers, reaching into the grocery bag and pulling two out.
“oh, sure.” jonghyun accepts it gratefully. always important to wear a mask during legal citizen behaviors. he puts it on with one hand, adjusting the black cloth comfortably over his nose and under his chin.
“gloves,” taemin offers next, holding out a pair that matches jonghyun‘s leather jacket.
jonghyun takes those as well, but he's confused about it. “for why?” he asks, shifting his skateboard to press it between his arm and his side so he can wiggle them onto his hands.
“what if they find, like, our fingerprints on the eggshells?” taemin asks. jonghyun stops everything he's doing to just look at him for a moment, eyebrows raised; taemin shoves his shoulder, waving his hand in front of his own face. “look, i'm just, anxious, all right?” he laughs. “it's my first cri--completely legal activity.”
“okay,” jonghyun concedes innocently. the important thing, he guesses, is that taemin isn't too anxious to engage in these perfectly legal citizen behaviors in the first place. and it's good that he's being careful for his first time. jonghyun could take a leaf from his book, actually. maybe he should start wearing gloves too when he does his own very legal activities. “are you not anxious that they'll wake up and see us, though?” he asks. that's what he's usually anxious about.
“they're on vacation,” taemin shrugs. “all week. they just left today.”
oka, well, sick. that takes care of that. “kind of devious and hot of you to want to do this on the first day,” jonghyun says. “you know the eggs are going to be nasty by the time they get back.”
“yeah,” taemin says. jonghyun can see his grin crinkling his eyes over the mask. definitely hot and devious of him. “how was work?” taemin asks suddenly.
“oh, uh.” jonghyun scratches the side of his head, thrown off guard by the sudden question. how was work? “worky,” he says blandly. not really much to say. “didn’t get yelled at by any shithead customers today,” he adds. it’s not as much of a joke as he would like it to be.
“yo, nice,” taemin says. “best you could ask for.” he nudges jonghyun with his elbow, eyebrows raised earnestly. jonghyun breathes out hard through his nose and shakes his head. sometimes taemin’s optimism is baffling. appreciated, but baffling. “it's that one,” taemin says then, pointing.
jonghyun follows his finger. in the darkness he can recognize the wonky tree in front of the offending house. he can even see the garbage cans put away in the side garden. he's annoyed just looking at it. “egg time,” he whispers.
“egg time,” taemin repeats. they chant it together, egg time egg time egg time, until they're in front of the house, giggling and shushing each other. it looks like taemin was right-- all of the lights are off and there's no car in the driveway. gone on vacation. jonghyun waves and makes a heart with his hands at the front door just in case they have a camera.
next to him, taemin struggles to get into the plastic bag with one hand. “here,” jonghyun says, holding it open for him. with a sheepish “thanks,” taemin reaches in with both hands. he pulls out not a carton of eggs, but two stapled together packets of paper. he heads to the mailbox with them; jonghyun plucks them from his hands before he puts them in, curious.
they’re informational pamphlets: one about how to help people experiencing homelessness and the second about basic internet safety. jonghyun snorts into the back of his hand. how thoughtful. he slots them neatly into the mailbox and then takes the carton of eggs taemin hands him. he pulls out one egg, tosses it up, catches it, and says, “you count it down.”
and taemin, cheeks round over his mask, counts it down: “egg… egg… egg!”
and they egg.
maybe it’s because jonghyun has never actually egged a house before, but it goes fast. one second he’s lobbing the first egg and relishing the satisfying crack; not even a full minute later he and taemin are out of eggs and sprinting down the sidewalk, picking up speed before the road slopes downward to follow a hill and they jump on their skateboards. the boards slam down on the concrete, rattling and clattering loud enough to wake up the entire neighborhood, but they’re going too fast to care.
they hurtle down the block, clacking over each square of sidewalk, until they reach the road. taemin keeps going onto the asphalt without even looking, his hair whipping behind him. all jonghyun can do his follow , his heart stuttering in his chest for two wildly different reasons as they cross the street. he can only assume it's the grace of the moon watching over them that neither of them get exploded into blood mist by a 3:00 a.m. car driving by at exactly the wrong moment. the relief when jonghyun hops his board back onto the sidewalk on the other side after taemin is enough to make him dizzy.
across the street from the neighborhood is a small playground and then a field of grass and weeds. jonghyun barely gets off his board and hits the ground running before they reach the grass. taemin doesn't quite make it and his first few steps are stumbling, awkward, bent way forward to keep balance until jonghyun grabs him and helps him straighten out. and then they're running together, stumbling together, awkwardly bumping and scraping each other with their skateboards, laughing together, the echoes of their joy traveling through the night air.
it's not even anything; that was nothing. egging a house is small time. petty teenage bullshit. more of a nuisance then anything else. jonghyun has done much bigger, much more impactful, much more dangerous shit before. but here, in the moment, with the cold air in his lungs and the wet grass soaking through his shoes and taemin’s smile glinting in the moonlight, huge and wild with the excitement of baby's first legal citizen behavior, jonghyun has never felt more alive.
be gay do crime has never felt better.
taemin loses steam about two thirds of the way through the field. he stops suddenly without letting go of jonghyun so jonghyun jerks to a stop two steps after him, turning from the force of it, stumbling into his arms. taemin catches him, holds him, laughs and pants and breathes in his face. jonghyun can feel his pulse in his fingertips. he pulls taemin closer so their chests press together, so he can feel taemin’s pulse too. their hearts beat a staccato rhythm under the starlit sky.
taemin beams at him, taemin looks down at his mouth, taemin licks his lips, taemin looks into his eyes, taemin grabs his shirt collar, taemin kisses him.
predictable. jonghyun kisses him back without hesitation. he loves what rule-breaking does to taemin.
their mouths move together sloppy and wet, their noses brushing, their teeth clacking. they break apart to giggle, to readjust, before coming back together again. taemin’s hands crawl around the back of jonghyun’s neck, up into his hair, down to cup his jaw. jonghyun curls his fingers into the back of taemin’s shirt, keeping him close, keeping them in contact. he wants to feel every breath of taemin’s pushing against him and feel his own pushing back. he wants to breathe in every breath that taemin breathes out. he wants to be the air that fills taemin’s lungs in return.
he wants taemin’s hand to keep sliding down. he's started a path down jonghyun’s neck, his chest, his stomach, lower. his adrenaline shaky fingers drag against his jacket, push it out of the way to drag against his shirt, to hook into the hem of his jeans. jonghyun can feel taemin hard against him, grinding forward, desperate, reckless, impulsive. he feeds off of taemin’s wild energy like he always does. he absorbs it like electricity in his veins. he lets it make him just as wild, lets it drive him to push his hands up taemin’s shirt, run them all over his back. his skin is hot, tacky with sweat, buzzing underneath jonghyun’s fingertips. it manifests a buzz in jonghyun’s brain, makes him tingle and tremble all over. he loves what taemin does to him.
taemin hisses, curses into his mouth. “jonghyun,” he breathes, “jonghyun.” and just that, just hearing his name in taemin’s raw, deep, breathless voice is enough to have jonghyun hooking his foot around taemin’s ankle and taking him to the ground. he trips taemin, twists him, dips him, holds him, makes his impact light as a feather, then comes down hard on top of him, sitting on his lap, grinding against him, kissing him into the cold wet grass. taemin doesn't miss a beat, just curses more and grinds up against him, matching his rhythm like it's natural, like they were meant to fucking be together.
his hands are everywhere--jonghyun’s hair, his shoulders, his sides, his ass, his thighs, his wrists--and then, suddenly, they're nowhere.
“wait, wait.” suddenly taemin is gasping, breathing hard, wrenching his mouth away from jonghyun. jonghyun waits, panting, taemin’s heart pounding underneath his hand. taemin presses both hands into the grass for just a second before he's pressing them against jonghyun instead, pushing up his chest. “there's fucking bugs in here,” he says.
and he sounds normal, regular. still a little breathless, but his tone is lighter, his voice steadier. he's not even hard anymore. his calm brings jonghyun down too. enough to blink and shake his head and get off of him, enough to laugh. of course. of course there's fucking bugs in there. of course that's an immediate bonerkiller. jonghyun stands up, brushes grass off of his knees, and holds out a hand to help taemin up.
taemin takes it and once he's on his feet again, lets the momentum propel him forward until he's in jonghyun’s arms again too. he gives all of his weight to jonghyun and jonghyun can do nothing but take it, stagger a few steps back, support him like he always does. like he always wants to. like he was born to do. jonghyun holds him even tighter than before.
taemin kisses jonghyun once more, softly, and noses against his cheek. “besides,” he murmurs. his smile curves up against jonghyun’s skin. “you're looking at me like you're in love with me feral style.”
“am i?” jonghyun steps back, baffled. is he really? that can't be right. he's been so on top of it lately; on top of his emotions. he's been so good at regulating himself and taking the time to think through his thoughts and not let them carry him away. he does that now, thinking back along the past five minutes to see what happened.
he supports taemin like he was born to do it, their bodies fit against each other like they were meant to fucking be together, taemin is electricity in his veins, he wants to be the air in taemin’s lungs, taemin’s smile is so gorgeous and wild under the moonlight…. “oh shit,” jonghyun says. he shakes his head, clearing it, then nods, shrugging, chuckling, resigned, when taemin raises his eyebrows. “yeah, i am,” he says. then, “i was.” he definitely was in love with taemin feral style for a moment there. he didn't even notice.
but now that he has noticed, it becomes more and more obvious every second he spends thinking about it. he laughs, burying it in taemin’s shoulder. holy shit. it's been a while since he got so lost in the sauce.
taemin curls his little hands around his waist, snickering next to his ear. it was him, jonghyun thinks, it was taemin and his contagious joy, his infectious energy that got jonghyun all wound up and sprung off to the moon. jonghyun has gotten so good at keeping himself in line but he's been putting off working on the way other people's emotions still affect him more than they should. it just hasn't seemed relevant. until now. until taemin got under his skin at three in the morning and took his heart soaring through the galaxy.
but that's not taemin’s fault, not his responsibility. it’s jonghyun’s problem. jonghyun’s lack of vigilance. what taemin is responsible for is bringing jonghyun back down to earth this time. grounding him. stopping him, gently, and reminding him that there's a reason he's been working so hard at this whole regulation thing.
jonghyun knows full well by now that the higher he flies, the harder he crashes. and he's so glad that taemin was here to keep him tethered. his heartbeat pulses through him, slow now, calm, cozy and comfortable instead of scorching fire through his veins. he looks at taemin, sweaty and ethereal in the moonlight, and smiles with all the warmth of the sun in his heart. “thanks,” he says.
taemin smiles back with all the depth of the ocean in his eyes. “anytime.”
and, of course, jonghyun gets lost in it. lost in his eyes, lost in his smile. his heart feels warm, fuzzy, at home with taemin looking at him like that. "but, i mean,” he says, scuffing the grass a little with his foot. he looks down and back up shyly, through his lashes. “you know i am in love with you regular style anyway.”
taemin looks down, too, and rubs the bridge of his nose with the back of his hand. then he reaches over and ruffles jonghyun’s hair. “yeah, i know,” he says. jonghyun leans into his hand, pleased pink. “come on,” taemin says. “let's go get ice cream.”
he turns and walks off without waiting for an answer, continuing across the field towards the corner store at the other end of the block. jonghyun hangs back for just a moment to grab their skateboards, then jogs to catch up with him and walks beside him, smiling to himself. he's so cute when he's shy. he can handle jonghyun’s ravenous, impulsive, uncontrolled love no problem--but the second jonghyun hits him with a real affection, a thought out affection, an affection that he knows jonghyun means now and will mean tomorrow and will still mean a year from now, he gets all flustered.
taemin glances at him, sees him looking, looks away, laughs. he holds out a hand; wordlessly, jonghyun gives him his board. he catches taemin’s eye again and this time he winks, just to make taemin laugh harder. taemin hikes his board up under his arm, shakes his head, breathes out a big whoosh of air, and says, “you’re in love with everyone regular style.”
jonghyun shrugs. “i sure am,” he agrees. he sure is. he has a lot of room in his heart. people try to tell him he can't be in love with everyone, that everyone loves their friends and cares about them but that's different from being in love with them. jonghyun hasn't listened for years. he knows himself and he knows his heart and he knows that there is no difference he can pinpoint between platonic and romantic, no line that he can place in the middle of a gradient that doesn't even exist for him in the first place. if it were up to him, he'd be dating all of his friends. for all he's concerned, he is dating some of them.
not taemin, though. not right now. taemin doesn't want to get all wound up in anything or anyone while he's still in college. jonghyun will ask eventually, when taemin is ready, but for now, he just likes to remind him sometimes. for fun. because it's cute to make him blush. because he knows taemin doesn't mind. because taemin likes to hear it, even if he doesn't have time to act on it.
so for now, jonghyun is being so brave and considerate and normal about him.
except for the rare occasions where it's a full moon and its three in the morning and they've done a perfectly legal citizen behavior and taemin is so pretty and jonghyun forgets for a minute.
but apart from that, he's being so regular. he should get an award for how regular he's being.
the field ends and they get back on their boards, clacking over the sidewalk towards the end of the block. jonghyun lets the wind rush through his hair. it cools him down, dries the sweat at his roots, refreshes his lungs. taemin’s hair flutters behind him, catching gold and shadow under the streetlamps; jonghyun sucks in a deep, slow breath and looks away. it's not fair how beautiful taemin is.
taemin raises his voice to be audible over their skateboards. “i saw that,” he says. it's smug, mischievous, and his grin pushes his cheeks up high. jonghyun rolls his eyes and declines to answer. taemin doesn't just like to know that jonghyun loves him; he loves to fucking know it.
he further proves this by nudging jonghyun’s side when they walk into the corner store and murmuring, “kinda hot when you're obsessed with me.”
he speaks low and a little husky, leans close to hover the words over his ear. it sends a shiver through jonghyun’s whole body as they walk to the freezers in the back. it's rare for taemin to get cocky like this and it riles jonghyun up every time. but jonghyun shakes it off, gets a stranglehold around his still sensitive emotions, and replies, “if you want to seduce me now, you have to buy my ice cream for me.” he doesn't mind taemin playing with his heart a little bit if it means he can get free ice cream out of it.
taemin just smiles, a little lopsided, a lot warm. they reach the freezers and he opens one up, flourishing his hand dramatically to present all the flavors inside for jonghyun’s choosing. chuckling, jonghyun gets a tub of coffee gelato for himself and a banana popsicle for taemin.
taemin’s eyebrows rise into his bangs with genuine surprise when jonghyun hands it over. “man, you really are obsessed with me, knowing my favorite flavor,” he says as he takes it. then he uses it to block the light shove jonghyun aims at his shoulder.
“okay,” jonghyun snorts, rolling his eyes. this is hardly evidence of anything. “it's literally the only flavor you ever get.”
“whatever, parasocial,” taemin mutters. he doesn't block jonghyun’s second shove, grinning as he steadies himself on a shelf on the way to the register. jonghyun smiles back--until taemin reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone, opening up to a money app.
“brother,” jonghyun says, bewildered. he stops them with a hand on taemin’s arm, staring at his phone with wide eyes. all of his other emotions flood out of him to make way for absolute disbelief. “you brought your phone with you?” he demands, looking up. “to a legal citizen behavior?”
taemin blinks at him a mile a minute, mouth hanging open, clutching his phone protectively to his chest. “uh,” he says, “is that bad?”
jonghyun just stares back at him, at a loss for words. then he sighs, closing his eyes, rubbing his hands over his face. taemin is so cute and so hot and baby's first crime was so fun, but, “you have a lot to learn,” he says. he turns and continues up to the register, shaking his head.
taemin catches up to him and bumps their hips together. “good thing i have you as a teacher, then,” he says.
jonghyun doesn't reply because he's busy getting a hold on his heart again.
