On Monday, Johnny finds him after cooldowns and waits for Taeil to catch his breath so he can ask,
"Who's your favorite dongsaeng?"

"Favorite dongsaeng?" Taeil repeats, folding his arms in an attempt to cover himself. During the meet, he was either panicking over his events or covered every time he was in a conversation, so he hadn't realized how awkward it was before now. "Why do you ask?"

The taller tilts his head to look at the ceiling. "Well you see, I was wondering... since I'm your favorite and all..."

He raises an eyebrow, waiting for him to finish. Instead, Johnny motions for him to continue.

"So who's your favorite dongsaeng?" he repeats, folding his arms as well and mimicking Taeil's stance with a smile.

Taeil figures that after the Chicago conversation, maybe they're close enough he can mess with him a little.

"Sorry to disappoint, but Sicheng is my favorite person." He tries hiding his smile and stepping out of the conversation, but Johnny only follows.

"Aha! You said person, not dongsaeng!"

"Well, he's my favorite dongsaeng too. Everyone is my dongsaeng," he adds under his breath. He hasn't really gotten over that, despite the fact that Johnny doesn't seem to view him any worse for it.

He's not even being followed so much as they're walking side by side to the locker room, and Johnny steps ahead to open the door for him.

"I guess I can't be mad, Sicheng is a very charming guy."

Taeil nods absently in agreement, suddenly not knowing what to say. He kind of wishes he could be left alone to get dressed in peace; and, of course, he still has to return the hoodie.

"I need to change," he states, breaking the short silence abruptly and pointing towards the general direction of his locker.

"Okay...? Then go to your locker and change,"

"Well, I don't...really...do that,"

He frowns, confused, until it dawns on him. "You mean you don't get dressed in the locker rooms?"

Taeil looks down at the floor, and that's all the answer he needs.

"Aww, I didn't know you were so modest, Tae. Locker rooms are a sacred place, it's an unspoken rule not to look anywhere that, y'know, violates anyone's privacy."

"Shhh, someone's gonna hear, I don't  need everyone knowing," he hushes him, looking around frantically. No one seems to hear or care that he's embarassed, though, and the taller boy just laughs. "Anyway, you can just wait outside, I'm changing in the bathrooms."

Johnny lets him go back to his locker, and dammit, he forgot to bring the hoodie. Oh well. He takes his bag to one of the bathroom stalls, changes, and leaves the locker room to find Johnny leaning on the outside wall, dressed in a tank top and sweatpants.

Taeil must've stared (probably at his biceps) for a little too long as Johnny has to clear his throat and bring up their conversation from earlier himself.

"So I was wondering, as your second favorite dongsaeng--"

"Bold of you to assume," Taeil retorts calmly, smiling widely anyway. He's bad at staying serious with comebacks.

Johnny puts a hand to his chest in mock hurt. "But did I assume correctly?"

"Close enough."

"As one of your favorites then, I was wondering if we could study together sometime? I saw one of your ads on the walls."

Oh, that. Taeil's been advertising for free tutoring for a while since he needs community service hours, but Sicheng's the only person who ever signs up. Maybe Doyoung, once in a great while, though Doyoung runs his own free tutoring services (and is doing far better than Taeil is).

This is the first time he's had a real 'customer', but it's probably poor business practice to let him know that. He pretends he gets this all the time and offers, "You could've texted me and booked a day,"

"I didn't know if you'd be comfortable with me texting you when I don't have your number outside of the groupchat."

It's dumb, but the older's heart might have just skipped a beat. That's surprisingly thoughtful? Not to mention...

"Johnny, my phone is listed as a contact on the ad."

He genuinely looks sort of panicked as he asks, "Does this mean my request is invalidated?"

"No, you can still book a day," Taeil ammends quickly. They're at his car now, and he wonders when Johnny had started following him, or when Taeil had taken the lead in the first place. He doesn't want to stand there for too long, so he says the first day he can think of. "Tuesday. How about Tuesday?"

"Tomorrow? That works for me. After seventh period in the library?"

"Cool. Cool,"

And that was that.

He doesn't know why his hands are shaking or why he felt the need to put more thought than usual into his outfit that morning.

To make things worse, when he'd mentioned being nervous during class, Yuta had only paused and half heartedly suggested, "Well, he's your first student, isn't he?", and that's been eating at him too and making him more anxious. It feels like he's missing a very obvious answer.

He's a few minutes late--he spent too much time discussing his grades with the teacher at the end of his last period--and to his dismay, someone (Johnny) is already sitting and waving him over from a table at the back of the room.

The figure gets up and they meet halfway.

"You wear glasses," Taeil says before he can stop himself.

Big, round glasses, actually. They suit him perfectly, and his bangs frame his glasses really nicely. He's also wearing a tucked in button up shirt with jeans, and Taeil is staring again, isn't he?

"Yup," Johnny laughs, "I usually wear contacts to practice and meets."

Taeil laughs back awkwardly. "I guess that makes sense, then. Should we go sit?"

"Yeah, I set my stuff over here."

They walk back to the table he had been sitting at earlier, and Taeil still finds himself staring at his outfit. He kind of expected he'd be the type to wear trendy outfits, to be honest, though he can't say he's disappointed.

"Did you have a presentation today?"

The taller stops, backpack in his lap and in the middle of pulling out a book, to smirk playfully. It looks like he knows something Taeil doesn't, but whatever he knows is different than what Yuta had seen.

"Why do you ask?"

"You look like...a dad," he realizes. "A dad with aesthetic glasses?"

Maybe he shouldn't have said that out loud, especially not in the library. He curses his inability to shut up as a student shoots him a glare.

"As in 'daddy', right?"

No no no, this conversation is staying PG and will not give Taeil any more of a panic attack than he's already having.

"No, as in you look like you just came back from a PTA meeting so you could talk to the teachers about your kid's grades. You may or may not also have a golf session planned for later?"

"Hyung! I am hurt. A golf dad?" Johnny gasps. "Couldn't I at least be a hot, single dad with charming good looks?"

Taeil reaches over the table to pat the younger's shoulder, even though he's the one whose face feels like it's on fire. "It's okay, Johnny. Golf dads are charming, too."

"It's a different kind of charm, Tae, golf dads are like...friendly charming. Not attractive charming," he mourns, whining slightly.

"Friendly charming is important, too." The shorter assures him. "Now, what did you need help with?"

"AP Chemistry work, or Economics if you haven't taken AP Chem."

"I'm in both classes right now, so that works."

They stay on task for the most part, much to Taeil's surprise, with the only exceptions being Johnny's usual comments here and there. After they've gone through each other's notes and done some problems together, they reach a point where Johnny doesn't need his help for now, and the older suddenly realizes they're a little too close again. He moves back, only for the younger to nudge him and ask,

"Do you want to listen to music together while we study? You can do homework while I finish this so I'm not wasting your time or anything,"

He isn't sure where to start, and he winds up combining all of his thoughts together. "I--Are you sure? It's not a waste. I mean...I'm your tutor now, so it's not a waste, that's my job. But free I guess."

"Thanks...?"

"Never mind, I have earbuds. Do you want to plug in your phone, or...?"

By which Taeil means, 'please don't make me put on music, I'll get embarassed', though as much as he hopes he can magically convey that thought, Johnny doesn't seem to pick up on it.

"I was thinking you could put on a playlist since I had the aux cord last time."

"But I thought Ten had the--"

"Shhhh, it's okay, I won't judge you for your taste in music," he shushes him, patting his shoulder cheesily. "I'm not picky, put on whatever you want."

Taeil's kind of in a rap mood at the moment. Well, a Migos mood anyway, since they're the main rappers he listens to. He knows he should just put it on--he's allowed to listen to whatever he wants to, after all, Johnny said he didn't mind--but he scrolls down and chooses a ballad anyway. ...An Exoplanet ballad.

Johnny's lips quirk up ever so slightly and under his breath, he mumbles along, "Gurl, I can't explain what I feel," complete with a theatrically closed fist.

Taeil isn't sure whether it's a blessing or a curse that they're currently in a library right now; whilst it does prevent the taller from actually belting out "IIIIIII LOST MY MIIIIIIND", he kind of wishes he could be around to hear Johnny give a full rendition.

And he keeps up with the lyrics, too, to the point where Taeil has to ask, "You listen to What is Love?" midsong.

"You listen to Exoplanet?" He asks in the same tone. "I thought you said you didn't really listen to idol groups."

"I didn't say I didn't like them, I just said I like ballads," the older replies, a lot cheekier than he feels. He wishes he wasn't so embarassed about being a closeted fanboy.

"Touché. Misleading, but touché." His tone is a little quieter and less boisterous as he asks, "You know you don't have to be embarassed around me, right?"

Taeil holds his gaze for all of two seconds before he drops his head, staring at his own fingers in his lap. He shouldn't be surprised, really, yet the sudden shift still catches him by surprise.

"Logically, yeah." he nods.

Johnny leans back in his chair with a sigh, though his words don't sound as heavy. "Dude, my best friend deadass lives in fear of fruit and is into those memes where you censor random shit just to make a sentence sound dirtier than it is. Why would I judge you?"

Why would he?

Taeil's always just assumed people saw him the way he sees himself, come to think of it. Yet Johnny's never shown signs of doing the same, so what's the point of worrying...?

He's back in the loop of worrying about worrying that he always catches himself in when he thinks about it. The answer is so close, slipping against the tips of his fingers, but he still can't grasp what the underlying problem is.

"I...don't know," he admits. "I worry about everyone, I guess."

"You shouldn't, Tae, you're fine. Practice not worrying around me," he suggests. "Promise me you won't worry what I think."

"I...doesn't this seem a bit much for a study session?" Taeil laughs awkwardly. "I'm just overcomplicating things. I'll try."

Johnny holds out his pinky finger and raises his eyebrows.

Alright, alright, he promises. Taeil sighs in defeat and hooks his pinky against Johnny's and they hold pinkies for a moment, as though that will seal the promise any further (or seal away Taeil's worries).

"I promise." he murmurs.

The older lets go first. He coughs a little, then ventures,

"So...do you listen to Stir Fry by any chance?"

Taeil doesn't want to find Johnny as charming as he does.

a/n: tbh i was just going to have them dance to stir fry together (insp. by that edit of taeil dancing to touch, but w stir fry's audio) but the Edge jumped out, y'know?? character development.
sorry this is late and sorry if the 'fav person' gag got overused,, but i hope you enjoyed 💕