Taegong: Boy’s Love

Taeyang and Gong-gi were escorted into a black double-decker bus. On the outside, it looked like an ordinary tour bus, but inside it was massive. It had been furnished with a homely touch complete with a kitchen, mini bar, and a lounge. Upstairs there was a bedroom with a kingsize bed. It was a five-star hotel room jammed inside a bus. Their manager Flo had her own compartment with the driver.

Taeyang and gone through his smartphone to look at the news: Taegong's album track leaked. Flo didn't care about leaks, even though her employees were concerned it lose money by leaking, but she wanted to cause a stir in the press. She knew Taeyang and Gong-gi acting as a couple would cause fans to cause a riot. She loved the sound of their hysteria.

Official Tracklisting for Boy's Love

I'm a Boy

Lace & Leather

Make You Scream

Bad Boys

Kiss Me

Making Out

Slick

Diamond

Classy

Flo had used one of her many sockpuppet accounts to leak the tracklist to their debut album. Taegong's social media accounts already 10 million followers between them. This project had been weeks in the making, and Taeyang couldn't believe how oblivious Gong-gi was to it all. How could he not know about the media accounts? Surely he must have at least a few fans asking him what was going on or if the rumours were true.

Taeyang knew the songs well. They were all old VALENTINE COOKIE demos that Flo had asked him to record over. All the other band members' vocals had been removed, but some of their harmonies remained. Now they were both awake and had actual privacy; the two men could get to know each other.

"So I wanted to know about the songs," Taeyang said to Gong-gi as he offered some of his coke.

"Sure!" Gong-gi took a sip from Taeyang's bottle.

"Some of the songs are amazing, and I don't get why VALENTINE COOKIE didn't release them."

"I can tell you," Gong-gi said, lying down on the bed.

"I'm a Boy has been such a big hit for us..." Taeyang's voice was sophisticated: a far cry from the childish outburst from the airport. "Why release it now? I think it would have been massive."

"We thought it was too repetitive and it had twelve songwriters, but we felt it didn't work, so that's why it remained unreleased until today."

"I think it helps make the songs catchy." Taeyang put his phone in his pocket and joined Gong-gi in bed. "The tune is great. You can't get it out of your head, and our vocals sound amazing. I think the reason why we sing so well together is that we love each other."

"Let's not be too hasty!" Gong-gi pushed Taeyang's arms away. "Remember what we said to the papers."

"I know, but I want to make everybody happy. The record company want us to get it on, and the fans want us to get it on and..."

Gong-gi silenced him with a kiss. "Let's do things our way. Let the music speak for itself."

"Are you mad about what I said about your wife?" Taeyang didn't know why he asked; he knew the answer already. He didn't know what he was thinking. Lowering his head, he gazed art Gong-gi's tensed hands. "You miss her don't you?"

"I never got to say goodbye? Flo just came in and said you're coming with me!"

"Really?" Taeyang sat up. "She always seemed to be a nice woman." His lips quivered when Gong-gi widened his eyes at him. "Okay, she's crazy, but she knows what she's doing. This is the most comfiest bed I've ever slept in. She's even great to us so far."

"When she has her way that is. I breached my old contract. I was suppose to come back after my military service, but I want back to Mini Rose and helped her raise our daughter and then we got another daughter."

"Have you got a picture?" Taeyang was curious if Gong-gi's wife and two daughters were as beautiful as he imagined them to be in his head. The name Mini Rose rang a bell, but all the idols look the same to him.

Gong-gi shook his head. "I left them at home."

Taegang tilted his head and flicked Gong-gi's cheek. "Well that was pretty stupid of you."

"I can't possibly feel any worse."

"I'm sure when this is all over you can be with your family again."

"You really have no idea have you?"

"About what?"

"How the world works!"

"I'm only eighteen." Taeyang hid his annoyance with a teeth smile. "I wonder if they have any cameras in this bus."

Gong-gi shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe..."

"The track list is amazing, and I love the lyrics as well. What's your favourite song?"

"I don't have one at the moment," Gong-gi admitted, helping himself to some water in the fridge. "They're all equal. The album is consistent. I don't think it's my best work, but maybe our next album will be better. I hope we can write some songs too."

"That would be great," Taeyang said. As he said it his mind wandered off into an abyss. Would a young an like him be able to keep up with song-writing, dancing, recording, media tie-ins, interviews and singing all at once. He hated the idea of lip syncing, but he knew other artists did it all the time. He started to realise what Gong-Gi meant now: the music industry were training them to be gods, but he was only human.