by Aidan Wayne
Taemin reached up to stroke down Marcus’s cheek, Marcus shuddering and turning his head to press a kiss to Taemin’s palm, before he leaned forward again.
The buzzer sounding out in the apartment was loud and startling, making Marcus jump.
Taemin looked at him ruefully. “Food’s here.”
Right. And they both did need to eat. “Yeah,” Marcus sighed, pulling back and helping Taemin sit up.
Taemin grabbed his shirt from where it was lying on the floor and pulled it back over his head. Marcus squashed his disappointment at that but stood, going into the kitchen while Taemin went to answer the door. Marcus had already paid with tip, so Taemin only had to take the food as it was handed over.
“At least it smells good,” Marcus grumbled, opening cabinets until he found the plates, going to set them on the table.
Taemin laughed softly. “It does. Let’s eat. After all, you did want to have a conversation.”
Right. And an important one too. Taemin had already experienced a little bit of Marcus’s… audience, but Marcus really wanted to prep him about what he might be getting into.
And… and the possibility of Taemin deciding it might be too much…. Marcus didn’t want to think about it, but it was a possibility. It was a lot for anyone, but Taemin was a quiet, dedicated man who already worked so hard to do what he did. The last thing Marcus wanted was to be a burden to him.
They served themselves, and Marcus waited until they’d both eaten at least a slice each (which they did, alarmingly fast—but not a surprise after how much they’d worked out). “So.”
“So,” Taemin agreed.
Marcus sighed. “There’s no real humble way to say this, but… I’m kind of known, you know?”
Taemin nodded. “Even from what I’ve seen this past week, I understand.”
“Yeah. And—and okay, uh, I know you don’t really follow social media and stuff, which I don’t blame you for. It can get kind of crazy. But people… care about me. And where I go. And who I date.” Taemin nodded again. “So I—I guess I just want to know your thoughts on that. I really don’t want to compromise on your privacy, but it, uh, it might be better to let the world know in a way we can control. Over it just leaking out.”
“What else are you worried about?” Taemin asked. “I can tell there’s something else.”
Marcus averted his eyes. “The chance of things filtering into Choi’s is… not small. Roshen and Jamal already know who I am, for instance. And Roshen’s picture of me at the school, training there… that could blow up. Might already have, even if it was only like an hour ago.”
“I see. All right. So what did you have in mind?”
“Well, not going live about that we’re dating yet. I don’t want to do that to you, especially not early on.” I want this to last, but I also want to keep you protected as long as possible. “But regarding the academy, I want to at least talk to Billy—he also works on my publicity—about what we could do to avoid Choi’s getting inundated with my fans.”
“That makes sense. And as I said, I understand if that means you aren’t able to actually train with me during classes. Though I will miss it, and I’m sure Preeti and Mr. Avi will too.”
“Yeah.” Marcus sighed. “I’d love to keep coming on Saturdays, but that might not be feasible anyway, with filming.”
“You work weekends too?” Taemin asked, surprised.
“Not always, but the schedule changes. And with such a large production taking place in so many areas, we’re kind of going to be shoving in as much time as we can in front of the camera. Days get long. I don’t spend them all in front of the camera myself—stand-ins are used to check placement and lighting and all that, and other scenes are also being shot, so I won’t be needed every day, not to mention I’m required to get a certain amount of time off a week. But I still will be living on set, for the most part.”
“Oh.” Taemin sounded disappointed. “I supposed that might make seeing each other more difficult, especially since the weekend and some certain times during the day is mostly when I’m free.”
Marcus shook his head. “We’ll make it work. I want it to. Just like you said before—I can make time for something so important to me. And uh, I can talk to some people, see if I can’t get certain days to start a little later. Maybe we could make Thursday morning time for us. You know, before you go to volunteer.”
“I’d like that very much,” Taemin said, smiling. “And you said you got your day out of days in, right?”
“Right. Tentative, but I know what I’m supposed to be doing and where I’m supposed to be doing it for the next two weeks.”
“All right. Then let’s look at our schedules now! We can figure out when we’ll be able to actually see each other, and we can text and call in the meantime.”
Marcus had to breathe a sigh of relief. Taemin understood. And still wanted to try to make this work. “Yeah, of course. Good idea.”
HOW DO I look? Marcus sent to Taemin on Tuesday afternoon. He was wearing distressed jeans, a fitted red shirt, and a bomber jacket. He looked incredibly attractive, if a little overdressed for the middle of May. You get the first sneak peek at my character’s main outfit.
You look very handsome, Taemin replied. I’m sure your fan club will be very appreciative.
I care less about their opinions and more about yours.
Taemin smiled at his phone and sent back a heart emoji.
He and Marcus wouldn’t be able to see each other again until Thursday morning, but they would at least be able to see each other. Marcus didn’t have to be on set until nine thirty, so he and Taemin were going to meet a little before eight to get an early breakfast. It did mean Taemin had to wake up earlier than he usually did on a Thursday—especially after Wednesday, which was one of his longest days—because he usually preferred to do his morning training on an empty stomach, but that was fine with him, if it meant getting to see Marcus again.
They were texting back and forth all the time aside from that, just little snippets about each others’ days. Taemin was learning a lot about how movie sets worked behind the scenes, thanks to Marcus’s stories and pictures. It was all very interesting, though he could see it being incredibly overwhelming. Not for the first time, he found Marcus impressive—not only for doing what he did, but for how far he’d come, from barely being able to meet Taemin’s own eyes.
For now, though, he’d just finished with Kids Kicking Cancer and was headed to Choi’s to get some more training in. Then he’d eat, then go back to Choi’s. Preeti was coming in at about three to train herself before classes; they were going to drill poomsae and bo.
He was looking forward to the break poomsae practice would provide. It was much more deliberate movement, over strength, stamina, and cardio training. And while performance poomsae had to be done at a certain speed, training them could still be very meditative. That would be nice. He was feeling more tired than usual lately, and the thought of Wednesday made him antsy in a way he was unused to. But it was such a long day, starting early and ending so late, and then he’d be getting up early on Thursday, too, when he normally was able to sleep in a little.
He shook his head. No, it’d be fine. He knew what he could handle, and he’d always managed working hard. Granted, all the new additions to his routine all at once—his Olympic training, Marcus—it was more than he had ever done at the same time.
But Taemin had things he wanted to do and people he wanted to see and spend time with, and that was that.
“OKAY,” LEO said, jumping back to his feet. “After you stand, then you step back.” He did so. “Left arm comes back, bam, hammer fist to the face, complete the spin.” He followed through with the motions as he talked. “And right arm comes up for the next punch.”
“Got it,” Marcus said, stepping up and nodding to Daniel, the stuntman who was getting a hammer fist to the face. “Ready?”
Danny saluted and moved into fighting stance, before they started the r
outine from the top. As fight sequences went, it wasn’t super complicated, but it was on the longer side, and a bunch of different takes were going to be needed to cover all the angles so the editors could do the best job possible in the cutting room.
“Time, guys,” Leo said, clapping, after what must’ve been the sixth run-through of the whole routine. “You guys break for now, and I’ll work with the aerialists.” They were using some for the fighting in antigravity bits. The current team all nodded, slapped each other on the backs, and went to go grab water bottles and snacks, some of the more geared-up guys taking off masks or helmets to get some air.
“Here,” Billy said, coming up to him with a water bottle in one hand and a smoothie in the other. “Intersperse.”
“Thanks,” Marcus said, grabbing the bottle and uncapping it. He downed a third of it before switching his attention to the smoothie. It was barely melted. “How’d you even know to have this ready?”
Billy looked affronted. “Um? I’m good at my job?”
Marcus raised an eyebrow.
“Seriously. There’s a place just a couple minutes down the road, and I could tell you guys would be winding down sooner over later. I just ducked out to grab it, then stored it in the fridge. Easy.”
“Thanks,” Marcus said again. “And how’re you doing? Bored yet?”
Billy rolled his eyes. “Please. I’ve my phone, my tablet, and an internet connection. I’m moving mountains.”
Marcus grinned. “No doubt about that.”
“Reset, Veronica!” Leo called up to the girl who was acting as Hailey’s stunt double. Veronica was a Michigan find and actually one of the students at the gym. She and Hailey had approximately the same build, which was very good for a child actor. Hailey was a small eleven playing nine, while Veronica was thirteen. They were already behaving like siblings—the kind that got along. Veronica nodded, and Leo climbed up the rope next to her, calling to the man who was playing the bad guy in the scene.
Marcus watched Billy track Leo as he scaled the rope before he frowned, lips twisting, and turned back to Marcus. “So,” he said. “How did this morning go?”
Marcus couldn’t help a smile. “Really nice.” They’d talked a lot about Marcus’s work, which Taemin had taken an active interest in. Marcus was happy to share. On Taemin’s end, his trials were next Saturday, and he was going to be flying out Friday morning to get settled in before the tournament. He was clearly bursting with excitement about it—a mix of not feeling ready yet and wanting things to hurry up and get started. Marcus had been able to share the sentiment of just working in film in general, but he’d really wanted to focus on what a big, important moment this was for Taemin. He said as much to Billy.
“It’s pretty impressive that he’s made it as far as Olympic tryouts.”
“I know,” Marcus enthused. “He’s really spectacular. You should see him spar—he wiped the floor with me. It was incredible.”
Billy snorted. “Only you would get this excited about being beaten up.”
“I’m serious! I could barely touch him. And I’d like to think I’m in pretty good shape.”
“You are literally a movie star famous for his fight scenes,” Billy said dryly. “I’d hope you were in good shape. Which, I do suppose makes him even more impressive.”
“Absolutely.”
“And you’re seeing him again…?”
“Sunday afternoon,” Marcus said, already wishing it were sooner. “He’s doing an exhibition Saturday evening, and I wanted him to have some time in between to decompress. And nap.” Hopefully. Taemin had said he’d be happy to see Marcus on Saturday after classes and before his exhibition, but that would have given him absolutely no rest time. Time to yourself was important, especially with such a high-intensity, high-interactive job like Taemin had. Marcus knew from experience that going so long would just result in a drop. Often when you least wanted one.
Privately, Marcus felt that Taemin was pushing himself too hard. It might have worked for him up ’til now, but Marcus doubted even Taemin had trained with such ferocity before. Now, with such a big competition coming up, and Taemin also all of a sudden trying to make time to spend with Marcus… that was a lot. So even if Taemin could have made time for Marcus on Saturday, Marcus felt the need to step back.
“That makes sense,” Billy said, after Marcus explained that. “Sounds like he does kind of overwork himself.”
“I don’t think it’d be as bad if he took, like, breaks. But he doesn’t, as far as I can tell”—and as far as Marcus had learned from conversations with Mr. Avi and Preeti—“he just pushes through.”
Billy frowned. “That’s not going to end well, if he keeps it up.”
“I know.” But what could he do about it? He’d only been back in Taemin’s life for a few weeks now. Even if Marcus was worried, he didn’t know if it was really his place yet to say anything. Preeti and Mr. Avi seemed to be covering that anyway.
Not that Taemin appeared to listen.
“I know,” he said again. “I’ll just have to… keep an eye on it, I guess. See if I can’t do anything to make things easier.”
Billy smirked. “You could always offer to take a nap with him.”
Marcus averted his eyes. It wasn’t as though he hadn’t thought about it. “Uh-huh.”
“To actually sleep, of course.”
“Right.”
“After, you know, you tired him out.”
Marcus coughed. Things he had been thinking about a lot since that first kiss… and last Saturday, on the couch, had only made those thoughts more colorful. He’d definitely been loath to say good night and leave.
Last Sunday Taemin had a seminar he was attending in the morning, followed by a meeting in Detroit after, so they had gone out for dinner together, but that was it. No kissing in public, especially not yet. Which was a good thing, because Marcus had been approached in the parking lot as they were saying their goodbyes. Same rule applied to breakfast that morning. Which meant Marcus had barely touched Taemin since Saturday. Wouldn’t get to again until Sunday.
So yeah. He’d been spending a lot of time with his thoughts. And memories. And imagination.
Chapter Ten
SATURDAY WAS a long day for Taemin. It went fine, of course; classes ran smoothly, and the exhibition was fun. But it was still draining. He didn’t even do any training on his own after classes, wanting to save his energy for the exhibition.
And maybe in hindsight he shouldn’t have agreed to it with the Olympic trials so close, but he had been able to handle it. Besides, it was over now. He ached, the kind of bone-deep exhaustion that came from working a touch too hard, but that was nothing some sleep wouldn’t solve. It was pretty early still, but he was about ready to drop, so he went home intending to go straight to bed.
He didn’t have the energy to make a real dinner, but he was too tired to be hungry. He could hear almost everyone in his life yelling at him about it, though, so he grabbed a protein bar and forced that down before he went to take a shower. He spent too long under the spray, head resting against the tiled wall, not wanting to get out. The water was warm and soothing and—
He shook himself awake and got out of the shower.
After drying off, Taemin made a beeline for his bed, and, after a quick debate, set his alarm for a little later than he had been doing in the last couple months. He was going to Detroit to train in the morning instead of the afternoon in order to spend some more time with Marcus, so he didn’t really need to wake up earlier for his own workout. He’d sleep in a bit and then work twice as hard in Detroit. The rest would probably be good for him. Trials were next week. He needed to be on his game. That meant resting when his body needed rest.
Marcus had sent him a few texts during the day that Taemin had replied to sporadically, and his last one had been sent around eight. Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow :) Get some rest.
Right. Taemin planned to. Tomorrow was another full day, but it would b
e a good one. He enjoyed training, and this was his last major meeting before next Saturday. And then he’d get to see Marcus. Taemin was going to pick up Chinese on his way back from Detroit, and they were going to do lunch at Taemin’s place again. Mostly because they’d both wanted the option to be a little closer, and that wasn’t something they could do in public. And it would also cut down on the people bothering Marcus for autographs and pictures—or even just stopping him to ask if he really was Marcus Economidis.
And after they’d eaten, they had the entire rest of the day just to be with each other. Maybe watch another of Marcus’s movies, because it was pretty fascinating to see him onscreen. Or something that Marcus recommended, since Taemin was terrible at media. Or just to talk. To cuddle. Taemin really enjoyed tactility. Even holding hands was something he enjoyed. The last time they’d been alone together had been so special for so many reasons. He’d had Marcus and—intimacy. Just touching and being touched.
Taemin couldn’t pretend he wasn’t hoping for that again.
Maybe for more.
NO ONE on Earth could have blamed Marcus for how much his mind wandered on Sunday morning. From his workout to breakfast to getting together with Leo to shoot the shit, his mind was definitely focused on how soon he’d be seeing Taemin again.
“Man,” Leo said after he’d had to repeat himself for the third time. “You are out of it today. What’s going on?”
Marcus shook his head. “Nothing. I’m just looking forward to getting to see Taemin.” But he couldn’t help his grin.
Leo laughed. “Honeymoon phase has hit you hard, my friend.”
“Yeah, maybe. I’m perfectly entitled. It’s only been a couple weeks.”
Leo shook his head. “I’ve known you for four years. You’ve never had it this bad before. This is something serious, yeah?”
Marcus’s grin only grew. “Yeah.”