Summary:

the one where Beomgyu has a really terrible day and Taehyun swoops in to save the day.

[sequel/spin-off to I'm Still Here Though]
[fic for beomgyu's bday!]

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Preparing for a date was something that made a lot of people nervous but it was one of Beomgyu's favourite parts of going on a date.

Finding the perfect outfit for himself, doing his hair and make-up on point and making his date feel lucky when they finally saw him? Beomgyu ate that attention up, the reactions always boosting his ego. He made sure to always let the other person know that he is an amazing person regardless of whether their date works out or not.

Except, Beomgyu always took a long time getting the perfect outfit and doing his make-up– so much so that now, the movie was going to start in 15 minutes and Beomgyu was still in his apartment. Inwardly cursing, Beomgyu quickly grabbed his wallet, keys and phone and rushed out to nab a cab as soon as he could.

Thankfully, the moment he stepped out, he came across an empty cab and flagged it down. He settled in and the vehicle started. The trip to the theatre would normally take 15 minutes and Beomgyu mentally hoped that he wouldn't be too late and ruin the date's mood.

It seemed that the driver was very slow though because Beomgyu wanted to scream from how slow he was driving. “Um, could you please drive a bit faster? I’m getting late.”

The driver just grunted but didn't do anything to actually hurry up and Beomgyu's eyes widened in frustration before he flopped back onto his seat. Mid-way through, he started hearing shouts and sirens and Beomgyu looked out to find the road crowded and jam packed with vehicles and people.

“What happened?” Beomgyu mumbled, looking around for a clue. Two passers-by caught his attention, one of them telling the other that a huge truck fell across the road and the entire way is blocked now. “Oh, fuck.”

“What do you want to do, sir?” The driver looked at him from the front mirror and Beomgyu sighed, getting his phone from his pocket.

“I don’t think there’s a road that will take us there soon enough,” Beomgyu mused out loud. “I mean there is, but the taxi can’t go through. I’ll have to go by foot. I’ll just pay you for the ride till now.”

He stepped out, tapping on his phone to check the time but instead, he was greeted with a missed call from Soobin, his date. Beomgyu immediately called back, waiting as the phone connected but the network was terrible. Meanwhile, the driver was still waiting for the money so Beomgyu got out his wallet and started rifling it for the money.

The distraction made his phone slip from between his ear and hand and fell down on the pavement, making Beomgyu gasp and nearly drop his wallet except the driver managed to save it from falling.

“Thank yo–,” Beomgyu was saying as he went to pick up his phone but before he could finish, the driver u-turned and zoomed back twice as fast as before– and with Beomgyu's wallet still in his hands. The dark haired boy gaped in disbelief at what just happened. The driver just stole his wallet. Thank goodness it only had a little bit of money. He looked down at his phone and tried to turn it on but it wouldn't.

At that point, Beomgyu felt very close to start crying but he was still in the middle of the street, being jostled by people, listening to ambulance sirens in the background coupled with vehicles blaring their horns. So he held it in, and slipped the phone inside his pocket.

Remembering that he still has a watch on, Beomgyu checked the time only to find out that the movie started 10 minutes ago. He was late, had no way to inform Soobin and had no money. Everything was fucking great.

Sighing, Beomgyu decided to make a mad dash to the movie theatre. Maybe he could make it in time to catch Soobin before he thinks Beomgyu stood him up or something. He started with a slow jog, feeling self-conscious about running in front of people but nobody was batting him an eyelash and was preoccupied by the large truck that had fallen over a few metres away.

So Beomgyu slipped into his fastest speed and started running like a mad man through the alleys and shortcuts he knew, hoping against hope that the date wasn’t totally ruined before it even started. Soobin was cute and okay, maybe Beomgyu didn't totally believe that the date would be amazing or end with them as boyfriends or whatever, but he still wanted to have a fun time. Which this was not.

Just a few corners away from the theatre, Beomgyu rounded out of the alleyway and continued running on the footpath, now slowed down to a jog. He was running outside an open café when suddenly, a glass hit the side of his head and drenched him in water.

That made him stop in his tracks, holding the side of his head as it pulsed with pain. He looked blankly at the café, where everyone was looking at him. Two figures that were standing at their table were looking at him with especially wide eyes.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” The girl screeched, making Beomgyu wince. “That wasn’t meant for you, it was meant for this bastard– why did you duck, asshole?!”

“Why would I just let you throw a glass at me, your madwoman?!!” The guy shouted back. It seemed like the two were fighting because both of them ignored Beomgyu in favour of shouting more. The poor waiter was stuck between bowing down to Beomgyu in apology and trying to get them both to stop fighting and Beomgyu just stopped trying to think.

He just needed to get to the movie theatre.

His shirt and sweater was now drenched and even his hair, that he spent half an hour styling, was half messed up with the water. But still, Beomgyu kept on running, not even sure what he was trying to get at. His day had been horrible so far but it felt like if he just managed to get to the movie theatre, everything would be fine. So he kept running until he reached it.

By the time he slipped inside the tall building, it was more than half an hour since the movie had started. Soobin wasn’t anywhere in the lobby and he was the one who was going to get the tickets so Beomgyu didn't even know which seats they were going to be in. He went to the door where the guard was standing.

“Um, excuse me, but have you seen a tall boy here that looks sort of like a bunny?” Beomgyu internally cursed that he did not know what outfit Soobin was wearing. The guard snorted at his description.

“Kid, there’s too many people coming here, I can’t remember them all like this,” he said, not unkindly.

“Then, could you please just let me look inside and see if he’s here?” Beomgyu begged, giving him the best puppy eyes he could. “We were supposed to watch the movie for our date and I know I am super late but he deserves an apology. Please…”

“Look, if you don’t have a ticket, I can’t let you in…” the guard sighed when Beomgyu's face dropped into a pitiful near-tears face. “Okay, but you can’t step inside. Just, look from the doorway and if he isn’t there, you gotta leave. If he is there, tell me his seat and I’ll get him out for you.”

“Thank you, thank you so much!” Beomgyu gave him a deep bow, mentally relieved that something had gone right for the first time since he left for this date. The guard opened the door and let Beomgyu peek inside. The lights were off and the movie’s volume was overly loud as always. Beomgyu could only faintly make out the outlines of people sitting and raked his eyes over them in scrutiny, until they finally fell on the face he was looking for.

Except, Soobin’s arm was around another guy's hand, the two sharing a bucket of popcorn and giggling. It was like everything had faded in that moment. The movie's loud dialogues in the background were like white noise, and all Beomgyu could see was the way Soobin looked happy and unbothered by the fact that Beomgyu hadn’t come. Instead, he was having fun with another guy.

“Well? Is he there?” The guard prompted, jerking Beomgyu out of his thoughts. Beomgyu looked at him with a sad smile, his eyes tear-filled.

“No,” he shook his head, but he knew that he was convincing no one. “Thanks for letting me… check. I really appreciate it.”

The guard only nodded, not wanting to push Beomgyu. He led Beomgyu out and pointed to a door that was next to the food counter. “The bathroom's there, if you need to clean up.”

Beomgyu shot him a grateful smile and made his way there, the tears finally spilling out just as he closed the door of the room behind him. All the cubicles seemed to be empty and there was no one there so Beomgyu let his sobs out, wondering what he did wrong to deserve this.

Except, one of the cubicles was not so empty. A toilet's flush sounded, making Beomgyu inhale sharply and pause in his crying session. The door to the last cubicle opened and a silver-haired guy shuffled out, looking at Beomgyu cautiously. The stranger had heard him cry. Just. Fucking. Amazing.

“Are you… okay?” The guy asked, looking concerned. And that was all it took for Beomgyu’s dam to fully break.

“Oh, yeah,” Beomgyu snorted derisively, tears continuing their freefall once again as he ranted in a garbled way, “The taxi driver stole my wallet, my phone fucking died, a couple’s spat got my perfect outfit ruined and my date is enjoying the movie we were supposed to watch with a whole third guy I have never seen in my entire life! I have no means of getting back, no extra clothes, no way to contact anyone and my house is an hour away if I have to walk back but yes. Everything is okay, fucking amazing.”

The silver haired guy just stared at Beomgyu, who had lost it at this point, and just stared back at him, the tears finally pausing since he ranted it all out. The guy stared a few more seconds before he sighed and went to the basin to wash his hands. Beomgyu dropped the staring match and rubbed his cheeks to get the tears off.

"You shouldn't tell these things to a stranger, what if someone took advantage of you?" The guy sighed, looking at Beomgyu through the mirror. Beomgyu growled at the insinuation and gave him a glare.

"I'll fucking bite you if you even dare to think about trying anything."

"Damn, okay," the guy held his hands up in a way to indicate that he himself meant no harm.

Beomgyu was fucking crazy, shouting at a random stranger for things he had no hand in. His day had been horrible but it was no reason to yell at a guy who was only concerned about him. Beomgyu was better than that, yet he had gone ahead and done just that today.

“Here.”

Beomgyu looked up to find the guy holding out his leather jacket. He looked at him in question and the stranger tilted his head cutely.

“Your sweater is wet, right?” He asked, giving him a kind smile. “I don’t have an extra shirt because I changed my outfit just now and this is the only shirt I have. But you can have this or else you'll catch a cold.”

“Oh,” Beomgyu took the jacket absent-mindedly, really looking at the stranger for the first time since they met. He was handsome, a little shorter than Beomgyu and really good-looking to the point that Beomgyu felt mortified about the way he just embarrassed himself in front of the other.

"Do you want to call someone?" the guy asked, offering his phone. Beomgyu stared at it, wondering who he could call. The only one he could talk to right now was his friend, Kai.

"I could call Kai…" he mused out loud, about to accept the phone when the guy spoke up.

"Ah no, Kai is in a seminar right now," the guy shook his head. Beomgyu looked at him in surprise and the guy blushed, looking away. "You're talking about Huening Kai, right?"

"Y- Yeah, how did you know?" Beomgyu asked, his mind momentarily feeding him with the idea that the boy was a stalker and was going to kidnap him; he really needed to stop watching those true crime dramas at midnight instead of doing his uni assignments.

"I have seen you with him before," he shrugged. "I'm Kang Taehyun, his friend. We're in the same year, different majors. You're Choi Beomgyu, right?"

"Oh," Beomgyu felt even more embarrassed now. The guy - Taehyun? - knew him. Just great. This day was somehow getting even more terrible than he thought was possible. "Yeah, that's me."

There was silence as Beomgyu avoided meeting his eyes and instead opted to remove his sweater and don on the leather jacket Taehyun had given him. The younger boy just glanced at him every now and then, before he finally broke the silence.

"Beomgyu-ssi, do you want to get some ice-cream?"

The offer startled Beomgyu, who looked at Taehyun questioningly. There's no way that the boy was doing this because he wanted to take Beomgyu on a date. This was probably some misplaced pity…

"Are you… doing this out of pity?" Beomgyu asked hesitantly. Even if it was, he could really do with some ice-cream right now. Still, it was better to know the other's intentions instead of wrongly hoping that it was because he found Beomgyu cute or something.

"A little bit," Taehyun gave a small, soft smile. "But mostly because I think you're very cute and deserve to have a better day."

And oh, if Beomgyu fell a little bit in love at that moment, you couldn't blame him. There was just something warm about the way Taehyun was looking at him, like he had always wanted to ask him out but never gotten the chance till now– and Beomgyu wondered how he had never seen him before. How could he have been blind to this angel?

"Then, I would really like some ice-cream," he beamed at the silver-haired boy, watching with a slight giddiness as that made Taehyun flush down to his toes. Cute. "I gotta warn you though, I don't have any money."

"Of course, I'll be paying," Taehyun rolled his eyes, slipping his hand into Beomgyu's and asking through his eyes if that was okay. Beomgyu squeezed his hand in response and Taehyun gently led him out of the bathroom. "I'm gonna take you to a shop that's close to here. You can buy as many scoops as you want, okay?"

Beomgyu nodded brightly, wondering if guardian angels are real and if Taehyun was one. He has to be, right?

"Oh Taehyun, your shift is over?" The guard from before called out and Taehyun nodded back at him. "Get home safely!"

"Thanks hyung!" Taehyun called back before turning to Beomgyu who was eyeing them curiously. "Oh, I work here part-time. That's why I was in the bathroom earlier, my shift ended and I was getting ready to go home."

"Oh, am I taking up your time?" Beomgyu asked, worried but Taehyun was shaking his head before he even completed the sentence.

"Just the space in my heart."

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