Chapter Text
“Puppy, wake up,” Seongje whispers into his war, earning a pout from the cozied up Juntae in between the sheets.
“What?” Juntae croaks out, his throat parched from dehydration, and the shared body warmth between them now slowly ushering in a new wave of cold.
“It’s not so cold anymore,” Seongje grins, moving away from the mattress, “and the heater is actually doing its job.”
Juntae believes that. He flips the blankets away from his body and finds that it’s quite warm in Seongje’s dorm room, flaying himself on the open space left by his departure.
Although he’s still closing his eyes, not ready to be torn apart from his peaceful slumber, he could hear Seongje boot up his PC right next to him, rolling around in his fancy gaming chair.
As quiet as it’s kept, he enjoys the little moments of silence their love gives. Love doesn’t have to be shared through words, or silly banter and cocky jabs, nor does it always need romantic gestures every single moment of the day.
He rolls off the bed eventually, and Seongje has successfully booted up a game of League to play—seemingly on his own. Without Hwangmo to bother him, it’s more peaceful and less noisy, and Juntae prefers that over anything else.
Juntae soon finds himself on his feet once again, walking to his backpack laying in the corner of the room. He unzips the bag with one swoop, reaching for his Nintendo Switch that Seongje had gifted him and booting up Animal Crossing.
“Eunjang,” Seongje mutters whilst still controlling his character to move to the enemy base, “Come sit on my lap.”
Juntae’s shocked expression as he jerks his head to Seongje would be comical if the Ganghak playboy wasn’t focused on winning.
“If you insist,” Juntae mutters, moving towards the flaming red gaming chair. Seongje is laser-focused on his computer screen, making sure he doesn’t get ambushed.
Luckily, Juntae could fit in Seongje’s lap just fine without restricting his line of sight. He thinks it probably messes with his mobility a little, but knowing Seongje, he just wants any excuse to have Juntae on him.
Definitely quite a needy guy.
Juntae loads up his save, watching as Isabelle pops up on screen with that succinct smile and cheerful demeanor.
He often jokes with Seongje that they should do a romantic getaway on some remote island one day, building their own village just like in Animal Crossing. Obviously, being the realist Seongje is who isn’t misguided by notions of ideal fantasies, tells him that it would be much more tumultuous to survive in that condition in real life.
And also Tom Nook doesn’t really exist…
The snowy terrain of the village fits his reality awfully well. The white coats his small little cottage in pretty decorations, and he waddles around in the snow in a virtual reality. Trees are filled and amplified by the snow, carrying heavier weight. His flowers he grew in the summer now look too bright and flashy for winter, and Juntae wonders which plants would go well with the season.
He does his same old routine, decorating his in-game garden, visiting Nook’s Cranny, and making a handsome little snowboy.
By the time he’s still roaming about, he realizes Seongje is done with his little match, tossing his headphones aside and grinning at Juntae. “Pause your little game. Let’s go find something to eat.”
“Of course, Seongje-ya,” he replies. “You know you should…uh…play with me sometime.”
Seongje glances at the screen, seeing a funny-looking villager which awfully resembles Juntae and a purple pointy-eared cat roaming about.
“We clearly do not see eye-to-eye in terms of gaming,” Seongje blurts out, pensive. “But…I’ll watch you play.”
Juntae smiles.
—
For what it's worth, Seongje actually does what he says he would.
They’re in bed now, still in that cramped space in a dorm, but Juntae is laying on top of him now as he stares onto Juntae’s gaming screen.
Seongje has a kimbap in his mouth, munching on the goodness of the food. The savoury texture sits on his tongue as he looks onwards to see Juntae shovelling up flowers that no longer adorned his little house with beauty, although he doesn’t understand why any of this would matter.
But whereas Seongje would thrive off killing his enemies in game, spamming cocky comments after he emerges victorious—he realizes Juntae thrives off that perfectionism as well. Just in a very different manner.
“Do you think it looks better?” Juntae mutters, moving his console up for Seongje to see.
“Mm,” Seongje mumbles. “I guess.”
“What?” Juntae says, incredulously. “But…I thought white roses fit with winter much better! Do you think I should bring the red back?”
Seongje narrows his eyes. “It looks good either way.”
“You’re not helping,” Juntae huffs, moving his character to another part of the island.
Was Seongje fucking up already? He could bet if Juntae tried to understand League, he would probably lose his first few rounds against the people he plays against for fun.
“Oh,” Juntae lets out, seemingly kicking a snowball. “Look, Seongje-ya.”
He does. Juntae’s little avatar kicks the snow into a cute little ball, until it grows into a bigger more voluminous size. He rolls another and plops it on top, magically creating a snowboy with a smiley face that shouldn’t be possible in real life.
“Isn’t he cute?” Juntae chuckles as he snuggles into Seongje. “I…”
He trails off, wandering about in his little village. Seongje runs his hands through Juntae’s hair, with a low hum. “What is it, puppy?”
Juntae places down his console, letting out a sigh. “I…wanna go out. As much fun as this is…it isn’t right if we just stay in and play games all day, is it?”
Seongje’s lips perk up into a wicked smile. “You’re right. What shall we do, then, hm?”
Juntae’s eyes glisten at the thought of a steaming hot ramen in a weather like this. “I have an idea…”