Chapter Text
When Jake was younger, he heard his dad say this one thing a few times.
It went like; “I don’t care if I got a million dollars, I wouldn’t work on something I don’t like.”
And he thought, well, some things just can’t be helped, right? Jake had a constitution in his hand the day he left the womb, at a hundred days old his mother told him that he picked up a pen- but he could argue it was forced into his chubby baby hand before he even knew what it was.
He’s always thought of life as a reward system- if you’re good and do everything right, you should be happy, right? Making six figures a year and making his father proud- it was only natural that he’d be content, full, that he’d never need anything else.
Jake never did anything to step outside the box his parents built for him until he met Sunghoon.
To live a picture perfect life like them he needed to find a pretty girl to marry and provide for her and his future kids for the rest of his life, he was already far too late for a high school sweetheart, but his parents still had hopes that he’d find someone that completed him.
It was funny, calling his mom on a Thursday night, shy voice shaking and his hands gripping the edge of his bed so hard his knuckles were turning white- he remembered hoping no one answered, heart racing and cold sweat building up when the other line picked up, a soft ‘hello, honey.’ on the other side.
“Hey, just wanted to tell you that I met someone.” And for a moment, his mother sounded happy, overjoyed, breathless, bombarding him with questions; What was she like? Where did he meet her? How long had they been together? It made the silence that followed every bit more painful, the silence after he spoke, “His name’s Sunghoon, we’ve been together for six months.”
He hasn’t heard from his father since. His mother, though, visits often and sends Sunghoon homemade meals, the elders' own parents are a completely different story, the two of them completely ignoring the relationship since day one.
Now, moving in together so soon after they’d started dating was probably not a good idea.
Jake was struggling to hold himself up after quitting his job as a defense attorney and going back to university to get a degree on something that truly made him happy, and Sunghoon loved him so much he wanted to give him everything he needed, immediately offering up his apartment for as long as he needed it, it was an arrangement that was supposed to last maybe a few months, but ended up becoming permanent, the two of them far too enamoured with the routine to move out again.
“No, you’re not getting it! It’s like-like a party with all his older friends, I’m gonna embarrass myself so bad!.” Jake blabbled on the phone as he chewed on a gummy bear, leaning on their kitchen counter with one hand holding him up and the other gripping the landline phone, his friend shuffling on the other side like he was writing it all down. “Well then act like you’re older too! Talk about the economy and stuff.” The other said, voice sweet and laced with something he couldn’t fully comprehend, yet, as soon as he went silent to think of a response, Sunghoon snuck up behind him, both arms wrapping around his waist and his chin pressed to his shoulder, sniffing his neck like he hadn’t seen him in ages. “I have to go, hyung, I’ll text you, alright?” And the other simply hummed on the other side of the line, hanging up immediately.
Sunghoon nuzzled his nose on his neck, and Jake squirmed in his arms, hands falling to the other’s where they sat on his waist. “What’re you doing? I thought you were showering.” He mumbled, turning to kiss the taller’s temple, a huge smile spreading on his face, “I finished, you just didn’t hear me.”
The younger sighed, turning in the embrace and pecking his lips before hiding his face in the other’s chest. He didn’t like being clingy, but when it came to Sunghoon it was hard not to be, “Didn’t hear you.” He muttered, and the elder giggled, his hair still slightly wet from the shower he’d taken. “You never hear anything when you’re on the phone.” Jake smacked his chest, hand in a fist, “This is why I told you we should get a puppy.”
“Why do you want another one? Isn’t autumn enough?”
“She doesn’t want me.”
“She’s just jealous, give her some time.”
“She hates me!”
“That’s just because she saw us kiss before I introduced you to her.”
Jake’s own arms wrapped around the other’s waist, taking a huge sniff of his neck before pulling away and looking up at him with round puppy eyes. “She’s yours, though, not ours.” Jake spoke in pout, and Sunghoon simply chuckled, planting a kiss on his forehead, “If you want a puppy, I’ll get you a puppy.” It made him whine, both his hands pressing on the other’s chest. “I don’t want you to get me a puppy! I want us to get a puppy.” The younger was very shy when it came to asking Sunghoon for anything when they’d first started dating, but as time progressed he figure it was just one of those things the elder did to show how much he loved him and while sometimes it made him feel like a opportunist, accepting his gifts was also part of showing how much he loved him too.
Sunghoon hummed, pressing a kiss to his forehead and caressing his sides where his hands gripped him tightly, “We can look in a shelter after new year’s.” It was their second holiday season together, the first one living in the same apartment and the first one spending new year’s eve at a party with Sunghoon’s grown friends, to say Jake was nervous about it was an understatement- he was terrified, especially after finding out they were significantly older than him.
Sunghoon told him he usually went to those parties with the purpose of staying over to sleep in his friend’s house, all four of them drinking until they fell asleep, with the exception of the year before when him and Jake had spent most of the night at the penitentiary trying to bail out his little brother for some DUI.
The elder’s friends were vaguely aware of Jake, while he was painfully knowledgeable about them; he’d been asking around with his boyfriend for weeks about who was going and what they liked to talk about, Jake desperately wanted to make sure he didn’t give the impression that he was just some college kid Sunghoon picked up on the street, but it couldn’t be helped that there would be such a huge gap between them when they were all at such different stages in life. “Are you nervous?” The elder asked, pressing their foreheads together, and Jake nearly came apart at this, nodding as he looked right into his eyes.
“It’s okay if you want to stay home, yeah? We can go to sleep earlier watching Love Alarm.” Sunghoon cupped both of his cheeks, his eyes so tenderly fixed on Jake the younger felt his heart race, pressing his eyes closed to hide from the embarrassing reddening of his own cheeks. “It’s fine, I’ll be fine.” But he didn’t actually know if he was going to be fine and Sunghoon could see that, the last year had been particularly harsh on Jake and it was only now that he was starting to open up about all his own ridiculous fears and complicated feelings; he loved Sunghoon because he treated him like he had every right to feel that way.
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Turns out Sunghoon’s friends are every bit as rich as him, by the time they got to the apartment complex where the party was happening, was more luxurious than anything he’d seen before- a skyscraper with a single apartment on every floor, the elevator showing a buzzer through which Sunghoon simply rang the seventh floor, the metal doors opening immediately and the elder pulling him inside with their hands intertwined; Jake had never felt inferior to Sunghoon because of all his money because he wasn’t in any way out of contact with his own time being poor, but he couldn’t help but wonder if these people were the same, if they could smell just how small he was underneath that expensive suit his rich boyfriend got him on his birthday.
The elevator doors opened and they were greeted by a tall boy with dark red hair immediately wrapping Sunghoon in a hug, the boy trying his hardest to break free from the embrace by tapping him on the back. “Hyung, wait, stop- I can’t breathe.” The taller man stepped back, pinching Sunghoon’s cheeks with a toothy smile on his face. “I didn’t know you were coming this year you idiot!” Jake’s eyes went wide, surprised at how close they seemed to be despite Sunghoon telling him that morning that they hadn’t really seen each other in months. “Who’s this?” The boy asked, reaching his hand out for Jake to shake, and as they did, Sunghoon’s hand rested on the younger’s shoulder, the biggest smile on his lips as he spoke. “My boyfriend Jake.”
The eldest of the three gasped, reaching out to ruffle Jake’s hair. “Hi, Jake, my name’s Heeseung.” Heeseung smiled wide and stepped away so they could go in, Jake still in the midst of bowing to the elder when the other two finally came- Another boy only slightly taller than him with his arm around another boy’s shoulder, the second of the two striking him as possibly younger than him, not only because of his height, but because of his big, round eyes that looked up at Jake and Sunghoon like he couldn’t believe he was finally meeting them. “What took you so long? It’s almost midnight, we were gonna make the wish without you.” The taller boy immediately threw himself at Sunghoon, poking a chest with his finger, though the elder didn’t seem the slightest bit intimidated, immediately pushing him off with a giggle, pointing at Jake with his entire hand. “This is Jake.” And the man immediately turned to him, eyes wide, “Uh- I’m Jay, this is my boyfriend Jungwon.”
Now, Jake wasn’t surprised, rather intrigued. “So you’re all-” And the four of them looked at him with wide eyes, what did he mean? Rich? Gay? Handsome? “Attorneys?” Jungwon chuckled, shaking his head. “Nah, that’s just Jay and Sunghoon-hyung.” How much had Sunghoon told them about him? Did they know he gave up his promising career as a defense attorney to pursue some useless degree in teaching? “Sunghoon told us you’re in school, right? Having two degrees is so cool.” Heeseung said, pouring himself a cup of orange soda.
He simply nodded, leaning on Sunghoon for support and the elder whispered in his ear, asking if he wanted anything to drink. Somehow hearing that had made him giddy, Sunghoon was so proud of him he’d told his friends about him, Sunghoon had bragged to his friends about him, Sunghoon had been so happy to introduce him to them, he seemed so happy and excited Jake couldn’t help but feel relieved that he decided to come anyway, even as he watched the elder get endlessly teased for the new way he’d started styling his hair after Jake told him one time that he looked pretty with bangs.
When the clock struck midnight they were playing monopoly and Jake was on his third drink of the night, they kissed as Sunghoon wrapped an arm around his waist and kept him still when the fireworks went of, it was the second time he’d ever gotten a new year’s kiss in his entire life, and the only thing that made him forget just how scared he was of the explosions outside was Sunghoon’s hand caressing his hip as the scent of his cologne rubbed off on Jake’s own clothes.
The apartment belong to Jay, a family and divorce lawyer with old money from his father that had spent over five years pining over family accountant until he was finally given a chance- it was expensive and over the top with lego figures he and his boyfriend built for decoration to break away from the mundane and lackluster decoration of their three bedroom apartment, Jake had no idea there were people richer than Sunghoon, but meeting Jay was a nice surprise.
The two of them took the smallest room when three in the morning came and Heeseung had beat them all in the game over fifteen times, he’d gotten ready for bed by simply getting rid of his blazer and dress pants, while Sunghoon had packed one of those adorable matching pajamas he loved wearing so much.
Jake was never fond of sleeping in other people’s beds, but he’d found out recently that sleeping with Sunghoon made everything a million times more comfortable, they laid with their legs intertwined, the elders arms wrapped around his waist and his cheek pressed to Jake’s chest, listening to his heartbeat and drawing patterns on his side with his thumb. “I love you.” He muttered, not pulling away from the younger’s chest for even a second, and Jake simply pressed a kiss to the top of his head, hands burying in his hair and petting him gently, watching his breathing slowly sync with his under the glow of the stars peeking through the window, the sound of fireworks so distant he’d almost forgotten they were there.
“I love you more.”