Chapter Text
Hours later, Jooheon woke to a warm body in his arms. He noted the time, 11:37pm.
When did I fall asleep? he questioned without paying mind to how the other had crept in sometime that evening.
He rubbed off the sleep from his eyes as he focused on the peaceful form before him who was staring deep. “So I’m guessing it went well?”
The other stirred before slowly, gaze heavy on the elder. A smile spread across Changkyun’s face as he pressed himself closer and nuzzled into the elder’s neck. “Very. We talked. A lot.”
“And?”
“And we’ll be friends one day. It’d be cool to be friends with a celebrity.” He chuckled softly, but Jooheon noticed a masked sadness.
“Was he upset?”
“Of course. But more so at himself,” the boy grimaced. “He kept insisting it was his fault. That he was the reason it all went wrong.”
“But it’s not,” Jooheon finished.
“Yeah. It’s my fault. Everything is,” he choked, wall finally breaking down. The elder thought he heard a sniffle but instead of questioning it, he held the other tighter. “I couldn’t understand things on my own, so I had to bring him down with me in my own realization. I was friends with him before. I guess that’s all we really can be.”
The elder felt proud. Not because he could finally claim Changkyun as his own, but because the younger was stronger. In some way or another.
He sighed in content as he felt the younger in his embrace.
Changkyun breathed out a laugh as he looked up at his friend. “So what now?”
“We sleep,” the elder replied simply as if there was no other answer, which earned him an eye roll from the younger, who slipped out from his grip. “Wait, where are you going?”
With an overdramatic groan in frustration, Changkyun crossed his arms and pouted, hovering over his friend. “You expect me to sleep?” he asked in feigned disbelief.
Jooheon gawked at the show the other was putting on.
“Fine. Then I’m leaving,” the younger huffed, strutting out of the room and turning off the lights, leaving Jooheon alone in the dark.
“What a little diva, he is,” Jooheon laughed, throwing his arms above his head on the pillows. Oh, Kyunggie left his pillow here.
With a sigh, he got up and walked into the main part of his house. The scent of cinnamon and sugar filled his senses. “Changkyun?” he asked into the darkness.
On the counter before him, a birthday candle fire illuminated a small, freshly baked cake.
“What’s this?” Jooheon let out a light laugh.
Changkyun wrapped his arms around the elder from behind. “A cake,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Well, of course, dummy. What’s it for?”
The younger mumbled something under his breath before leaning in to brush his lips against the crook of the elder’s neck. He uttered some sort of inaudible answer.
“What did you say?” Jooheon asked as he craned his neck to eye the boy behind him.
“Hmmm, I don’t know,” the younger whined.
The elder chuckled, “I can’t blow out the candle until I know what it’s for.”
“What kind of a superstition is that?”
“Uh, I don’t really know. People make wishes on their own birthday candles, so I don’t wanna steal anyone’s wish if this isn’t mine. And it’s not even our birthdays, so why the candle? Why did you even bake in my kitchen? You rarely bake and why my kitchen?”
Arms tightening around the confused boy, the younger murmured, “It’s for our first day.”
Jooheon froze. The boy sensed the tension he just created. Shit. Dammit. I knew this was too freaking much. Oh my god. I can just—
Thoughts vanished as the elder swiftly turned in place and snatched the younger into his arms. “Say that again,” he said in ecstatic disbelief. “Tell me what you just said but louder. Say it,” he commanded.
“First day. I made it for our first day,” the younger grumbled a few decibels louder.
“First day of what?” Jooheon prodded, Changkyun turned redder, flustered by his sudden confession.
“Dating,” he added quietly, face flushed pink.
A slow, steady smile grew on Jooheon’s lips as he stared at the boy in front of him. “Freaking finally, Kyunggie.”
Cake forgotten, Changkyun closed his eyes and drifted forward, lips gently meeting lips. Jooheon caressed the younger’s jaw with one hand and held the boy firmly around the waist with the other.
Intoxicated with the sweetness of the kiss, Changkyun found himself growing lightheaded and dizzy with each soft touch delivered by his friend. He felt sheltered and loved, more than ever before.
The younger recognized certain feelings deep inside him to be ones that frequented his mind over the years but he learned to push away. Out of misunderstanding. Out of confusion. Out of fear.
But this time he permitted, actually encouraged, these emotions to consume him, realizing that there was nothing to be scared of anymore. Jooheon wouldn’t leave him, wouldn’t reject him. His friend loved him unconditionally. As he did his friend.
Faint traces of sweet, spicy cinnamon were noticed on the younger’s soft lips, dominating all of Jooheon’s senses. Their kiss broke as he grinned against the other’s honeyed mouth.
Changkyun hummed in concern at the other’s sudden action.
Jooheon traced his tongue around the younger’s lips. “Mmm. Cinnamon’s now my favorite, I think,” he giggled.
The other burned crimson, remembering taste-testing the cake as he worked on it.
“How about we eat that cake now?” Jooheon suggested, head nodding behind him to the neglected pastry.
Changkyun sheepishly looked over the elder’s shoulder at his abandoned masterpiece, candle still ablaze.
“You know, that could become a fire hazard. You’d be to blame for arson. How would you take responsibility?” the elder joked over their shared piece of cake. “Would you tell the police that you were baking a cake for your first day with your boyfriend? Would you even be able to? You could hardly tell me, your boyfriend.”
Boyfriend. Changkyun gazed at his boyfriend in adoration. He picked up his fork and fed a small bite to the elder. “I don’t know if this is too fast, but fuck, I love you.”
“I would find that sweet, but I find the swear unnecessary,” he teased. The younger rolled his eyes. Jooheon leaned over the counter to peck the other on the cheek. “But I love you, too. So much, you have no idea.”
They drunkenly smiled at each other for a long time as they finished the cake.
Jooheon yawned, realizing the time. “Dude, I gotta sleep.”
Disappointment flooded the younger’s pouted expression.
“Come join me?” he smirked.
Changkyun bit his lip and nodded, following after the elder.
“You think you can sleep tonight?” Jooheon asked the younger, who was tucked in his embrace.
Changkyun nodded, nuzzling beneath the elder’s chin. “As long as you’re here,” he answered slowly, sleep already heavy in his voice.
Jooheon squeezed the resting boy in his arms, kissing the top of his head. He whispered, “I’m always here,” before joining the other in deep, blissful slumber.