#no im not taking the sat bc im staying in canada but god god god

[woahajimes]

grah

[justsomekpopstuff]

Number (Taeil)

Pairing: Taeil x Reader

Genre: Soulmate AU

MASTERLIST

A/N: Finally starting my NCT 127 series. Hope this goes well. Btw, if you live in the U.S. and Canada, PLEASE continue to call and contact your representatives to upkeep net neutrality!

You and your soulmate are connected by number - you are born with the same identification number that you use until you officially meet...

the world had developed a system for insuring soulmate matches from birth

when you were born, you were given an identification tag that held a number

that number would be an exact match to your soulmate

you were never allowed to remove the tags at any point in order to avoid missing your soulmate completely

you were born with the number 2016127 bc i think im hilarious let me live

that was all you were to be called for your entire life until you met your soulmate

the only way you would receive a name is if you met your soulmate

so, you went about your life as 2016127

that was all you were called at school, at work, everywhere

you had gotten used to the numbers, but there was still a piece of you that wished to have a name 

you found it ridiculous that you would only identify as a number until you had another person in your life

you only could hope that whoever your soulmate was, that they understood your position

little did you know, your soulmate actually knew exactly how you felt

Taeil had gone his entire life hearing the same numbers, and he hated it

he was so sick of seeing the same numbers connected to him, never being able to be himself

he would always be ‘the one with the missing soulmate’ or ‘the one still looking’ to everyone

he hated that it took another person for him to have his own identity

he longed for the day that that would no longer be the case

and that day would come sooner than both of you expected

you had recently taken a job waiting tables in a hole-in-the-wall chicken restaurant in an attempt to make some extra money for school long live broke college students

this particular night was particularly slow, with very few customers  coming in during your shift

you sat in the kitchen, bored out of your mind, until a large group of boys came in 

you sighed, knowing that you would now actually have to work, but if it meant getting paid, you knew you had to

you went out to the group and politely introduced yourself before taking their order

after he heard your number, Taeil could not take his eyes off you

he wasn’t sure if he heard you wrong, or if you were really his soulmate, but he was determined to find out

after you left to put in their order he could feel multiple pairs of eyes staring at him before he heard multiple voices beginning to whisper yell to him

“dude, I think that was your soulmate” 

“seriously, why didn’t you say anything”

“you gotta talk to them dude”

Taeil shut them up quickly with a shush before replying

“what if we heard them wrong? we have to be sure that its them before we go and do something dumb”

the boys sighed in frustration, knowing that they were not going to get anywhere with him

you could hear this sigh all the way from the kitchens, making you concerned that it was because of your service 

the boys minus Taeil began to silently plot how they would finally get Taeil his soulmate

you eventually came back out with their order, apologizing for the wait

they were very kind and told you not to worry, and that you were doing just fine, making you feel a lot better pls treat service workers with respect

as you were about to turn to go back to the kitchen, one of the boys stopped you

“so, your identification number is 2016127, right?”

you nodded, wondering why they were bringing this up

“WOW, ISNT THAT SO FUNNY 2016127?!” one of the other boys yelled obnoxiously

you were confused as to why he was yelling until you saw where his gaze was pointed

it was pointed at the boy who couldn’t stop looking at you earlier

you saw him shift in his seat, obviously nervous and embarrassed because of his friends

you knew how he felt tbh

you cleared your throat before talking semi-confidently

“is that your id number? 2016127?”

he finally met your gaze and nodded

you could see the nervousness in his eyes, telling you that he was pretty shy 

“its nice to finally meet you,” you stuck out your hand for him to shake

he slowly shook your hand, and you could feel your id tag start to heat up

the two of you broke apart to see what was going on

instead of seeing the usual numbers, you only saw letters

it was your name

“(Y/N)... that’s my name... its (Y/N)”

“Mine’s Taeil... Moon Taeil...”

“We have names now...”

“oh thank god,” one of the other boys at the table “now he can finally shut up about it”

after a few moments of silence, another boy piped up

“well, this is awkward”

after giving him a smack, the others invited you to sit with them while they ate

you had to decline because you were still on duty, but you let them know what time your shift was over just in case

you continued to go about your work until your shift was finally over

you knew it was probably unlikely that they stayed, but when you passed by the table, there was still one left

Taeil

“hey, my shift is up. you want to get a drink or something?” you asked him

he gave you a shy smile and nodded before joining you out the door

on your way, you two attempted to make small talk in order to get to know each other

“you know you didn’t have to wait there the entire time”

“I know...but I wanted to. I figured it was only right since you are the person that finally gave me a name”

“I hate that that’s what it took, but I appreciate it,” you mentioned

you could feel his gaze on you

“I hated the idea that it would take someone else to give me an identity, but I guess we had no choice in it” you continued

“FINALLY,” you heard him sigh, “someone who understands!”

“you hated it too?” 

“YES!” he confirmed

the two of you continued to vent your frustrations to each other as you walked

“you know, I guess it can’t be all bad,” you mentioned

“why do you say?”

“because it led me to the one person who understood how I felt”

the two of you shared a smile, knowing that this was only the beginning

now there were no more numbers to hold you back