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When Kenny met Craig, it was a warm, rainy, spring day. Though, he used the word “met” rather loosely in this case, since, well…they met on tumblr, of all places.
You see, Kenny, despite his rather popular status in school, didn’t have too many close friends and, of these close friends, only one of them, Kyle, lived close by. So, to try and cure his unbearable loneliness, he joined tumblr, as per Kyle’s suggestion—something about the site's lack of coherent functioning appealed to them both.
Fast forward a few months and Kenny had finally, finally set up his blog—very tastefully named bimboytaeyong—and soon enough he was gaining a steady flow of followers, his number of mutuals growing by the day as he posted offhanded post after offhanded post.
Enter tumblr user redracer, also known as Craig.
Now, redracer stood out in his notifications for a number of reasons. For starters, he had a canon user…for an early 2000s children’s show that stopped airing after a total of 2 seasons and one movie. Then there was the fact that Craig didn’t even post k-pop—his entire blog was made up of red racer gifsets, horror movie analysis (no Kenny did not read his full blown essay on the homoeroticism in the 1996 slasher film Scream, though he was tempted) and the occasional answered ask. And, to make matters worse, his pinned post had a whopping 92 likes.
What is this dude, fucking famous?
Kenny could distinctly remember the confusion he had felt that day as he quickly skimmed the boy’s carrd—even if he had followed first, it was good “tumblr user etiquette”, as Wendy chaeribullet would put it—before exiting out, clicking follow and smiling to himself. He had a feeling they might become good friends in the near future.
In reality, they didn’t talk for four months.
On a Saturday night—or morning, depending on how you look at it—Kenny had finally cracked and sent Craig a dm.
It was a simple message, something the other could easily answer with a short sentence if he didn’t really want to talk, but…the longer Kenny stared at it, the more he started to worry it sounded rude.
Fuck.
bimboytaeyong
hey man! why’d you follow me :D
bimboytaeyong
…i just realized that sounds rude
i was just wondering because we don't really post any of the same stuff!
i mean, you don't even like kpop
After an hour of anxious waiting, he finally received a response.
redracer
you’re mutuals with wendy right?
bimboytaeyong
???
redracer
you send them a lot of asks
sometimes they mention u irl
she thinks ur funny.
Kenny tries to ignore the fact that he just learned Craig redracer and Wendy chaeribullet are IRLs. That's a topic for another day.
bimboytaeyong
…
/she/ thinks im funny?
redracer
yeah.
so do i.
Huh…
And suddenly, they were talking everyday.
From how their days went, to every interest they had, to everything they hated, Kenny and Craig could talk for hours a day without getting bored.
But they never saw each other’s faces.
Five months went by and all they had shared was faceless outfit photos and blurry, zoomed in eye pics where only a bit of their hair was on display, if any at all.
From this, Kenny had gathered that the other had black hair, brown eyes, and he almost always wore a blue hat. Besides that, he knew that the boy had his septum pierced, though he had never actually seen it.
And Craig knew just about the same amount in return—Kenny was a blonde haired, blue eyed, gap-toothed boy, and he had photos to prove all three of these facts.
So, despite the daily texting, and all the nights sitting in call with each other, and the fact that they shared basically everything with each other now…neither had asked to see the other's face, nor had they offered it up.
Until one night when Craig did.
It came in the form of a discord DM, Kenny’s phone vibrating in his back pocket as he gathered his things to leave work.
craig ;p
wanna call when u get home?
i have smth i wanna show u
ken doll <3
show me? 👀
craig ;p
mhmmm
ik we’ve never done cameras but it would be easier if we did for this
if that’s cool with u
Throwing his coat on, Kenny clocked out, sent Craig a thumbs up and headed home, his stomach in knots, but a smile on his face.
For the first time in months, hitting call set Kenny on edge, his palms sweaty even with the constant draft blowing through the gaps in his off frame window. Fanning himself with his shirt lazily—an old Slipknot tee Kyle had gifted him back in the tenth grade—Kenny let out a slow, deep breath before quickly hitting the button, knowing he’d lose his nerve otherwise.
Then, before he knew it, his screen was lit up with the face of Craig redracer.
And, of course, he was hot—because fuck Kenny, right?
Between the jet black hair, and pretty, brown, hooded eyes and olive skin, all complimented by chubby cheeks, a button nose and what was probably the most kissable pair of chapped lips Kenny had ever seen—Craig was to die for.
Goddamn I am gay…
And then Craig was barking out a laugh, braces on full display for just a second before his hand was covering his mouth.
“Fuck…please tell me I did not just say that out loud…” Kenny muttered, dropping his face into his hands.
Craig snorted, nodding his head, “yeah, you did, but hey uhh- I think you’re cute too.” He said, voice unwavering, though Kenny noticed his ears had reddened at about the same time he noticed the other boy wasn’t wearing his hat...and that he had an undercut.
Shit. Dear god.
“Hey, I never said you were cute!” Kenny spat, sticking his tongue out in mock disgust.
Rolling his eyes, Craig shrugged, “well, I am.”
And he meant it.
Kenny wasn’t by any means attractive in the traditional sense, what with his messy eyebrows, blonde mullet and crooked, gap-toothed grin, but Craig couldn’t help but find him cute as hell. It probably didn’t help that the boy had a small braid tucked behind his ear, held together by a fuzzy, pink hair tie—not to mention the plethora of freckles that adorned every inch of skin Craig could see.
“So…you wanted to show me something?” Kenny asked, immediately brushing past Craig’s comment.
Craig smiled softly, nodding as he picked up what looked to be…
“No way…what the fuck dude! Why do you have the Glitch Mode album? Since when do you even listen to NCT?”
“Since I started having the same daily k-pop talks with you that I was already having IRL with Wendy for the last two fucking years.” Craig deadpanned, dropping the album onto the desk in front of him.
“I thought you might wanna see it.” Craig chuckled, watching as Kenny nodded enthusiastically, clapping his hands.
“Hell yeah I do! Shit, you better make all our on cam calls like this from now on, or I’m never showing up again,”
Craig quirked a brow, “really?”
Rolling his eyes, Kenny shook his head with a soft smile, “No need to bribe me, if you wanna see my stunning face-” he paused to pose dramatically, head thrown back as he framed his face with his hands, long nails brushing high cheekbones, “just ask.”
The other boy smiled, beginning to peel the plastic from his new album, “Cool…”
“Cool.”