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woojin slams a bright colored poster on the kitchen table.
jihoon doesn’t look up from his phone. “the fuck is this?”
“it’s the solution to our problem my friend,” woojin proclaims confidently.
“is it gonna fix the clogged up toilet?”
“not that problem,” woojin sighs deeply. “i know how we can afford a playstation.”
he finally has jihoon’s attention. “woojin-ah, i told you we can’t steal from daniel hyung anymore. one day he’s going to notice that ten thousand won bills keep disappearing from his apartment,” he says sternly.
“will you let me talk!” woojin yells.
“fine, what’s your brilliant idea?” jihoon humors woojin for a second before preparing to reject him.
woojin hands him the poster, and jihoon squints at it.
“cutest couple on campus? that stupid shit that daehwi and jinyoung win every year?”
woojin nods enthusiastically. “the prize is one million won! we could really use that kind of money!”
jihoon purses his lips. “woojin, did you think we were dating this entire time? because i really like you as a friend bu-”
woojin smacks his head before he could continue. “you dumbass, we don’t have to date for real. we just need to take a picture acting all lovey dovey and shit and then ask people to vote for us.”
out of all the stupid ideas that woojin has come up with (and there were a lot), this was actually one of the least dumb and most feasible ones. jihoon considers it for a second. they’ve always wanted to get a gaming console for their place, but between paying the rent and all the take-out they order since neither of them can cook, they just never got the chance to buy one.
“alright, we can be boyfriends!” he finally agrees. “and i bet you we can be so much better at it that jinyoung and daehwi.”
woojin grins and high fives him.
the cutest couple contest was a valentine tradition in their university that nobody cared about or paid attention to except bae jinyoung and lee daehwi, the reigning champions for two years in a row. best friends and roommates jihoon and woojin are always pressured into voting for their friends, despite the total lack of competition.
“absolutely not!” daehwi says when they inform him of their decision. “this is our thing, you guys aren’t allowed to participate.”
“why not?” jihoon says. he doesn’t have any intention to comply by daehwi’s orders. he isn’t going to let him boss them around anymore.
“we’ll lose two whole votes!” daehwi shrieks. he turns to jinyoung. “tell them hyung.”
“oh my god guys please don’t do it this is all we have it’s the only thing keeping our relationship together,” jinyoung says in a monotone voice. he’s busy struggling to solve his chemistry homework, despite the fact that it’s his third time taking the course.
woojin throws an arm around jihoon’s shoulders. “jihoon-ah, i know exactly what’s going on here,” he says in a serious voice.
jihoon gasps and covers his mouth in faux surprise. “oh my, what might that be?” he replies dramatically.
“i think daehwi is worried that we’re going to completely annihilate them in the competition.”
“oh please!” daehwi barks back. “you guys aren’t even a real couple, you don’t stand a chance.”
“we’re just as good as the real thing,” woojin says confidently. he plasters a big sloppy kiss on jihoon’s cheek. jihoon flinches away from him and wipes his face in disgust. but the most disgusting part for jihoon wasn’t woojn’s saliva on his face, it was how he didn’t hate it as much as he thought he would. what the fuck was wrong with him? this wasn’t the first time that he came in contact with woojin’s spit. just yesterday woojin licked a slice of cake to stop jihoon from eating it and jihoon, already used to that old trick, took a bite from it while maintaining eye contact with his best friend.
maybe all this valentine nonsense was getting into his head a little. focus jihoon. focus.
“case in point,” daehwi says with a smug smile.
“hey, can you guys not do that in my house? if my mom comes in and sees you she’s gonna ban you from entering our house for two months again,” jinyoung pleads, face crunched in disgust. the last time they got kicked out and banned was because they almost burned down the kitchen during what they now refer to as the ‘unspeakable flaming ramyun incident.’
woojin glances at jihoon, waiting for him to deliver the next smart ass retort, but jihoon is still busy sorting out his feeling on the fluids coming from his best friend’s mouth.
“in any case,” he says. “we’re going to get all the hyungs to vote for us. everybody knows that they prefer us over you guys.”
“seongwoo hyung doesn’t count, he’s just scared of jihoon!” daehwi says. “it’s not my fault that i haven’t threatened anybody with murder before.”
jihoon shrugs. “you just do what you gotta do to get what you want sometimes.” woojin nods along in agreement. he was always the person executing the murders in jihoon’s threats.
in contrast, minhyun is brimming with delight when they ask him if he could take the picture they were going to submit for the competition. as a photography major, he always tries to get his friends to pose for him in his class projects, and they would all make excuses to get out of it. jihoon didn’t want to help him again after minhyun made him sit in a bathtub filled with donuts. he still wasn’t sure what that image was supposed to convey.
“thank god, listen i love seongwoo and all but you could only take so many pictures of your own boyfriend before it starts to get dull,” minhyun sighs.
“i’m literally sitting right here,” seongwoo says, offended. they’re sitting in the cafe he works at, and he took time off the shift so he could sit with him and wait for opportunities to mock their plan before jihoon chases him off with a glare.
“love you babe.” minhyun blows him a kiss. “so you and woojin, huh? finally. i can’t wait until i tell sungwoon hyung, he owes me so much money.”
“what money?” woojin asks, frowning.
seongwoo whispers something in his ear, and minhyun’s eyes widen. “nothing! so did you think of a concept for your photoshoot? anything?”
jihoon is about to say ‘nothing really’ when woojin launches into a long-winded description of his vision.
“so jihoon and i are standing by a cliff, right? and he’s holding me in his arms and i’m bleeding but i still look tough because even though i’m dying from a stab wound to the heart, i’m still trying to power through it, you know? and jihoon is like, he’s wounded too but he’s fine because the pain from losing me hurts more than any sword, and the tears are rolling down his face and they look like glistening diamonds and-”
minhyun clears his throat and raises his hand to make woojin stop. “i was thinking maybe something with a little less….blood?”
“glistening diamonds?” jihoon hisses at woojin.
“what? at least i came prepared, unlike you,” he replies defensively.
minhyun sets aside their empty coffee cups and takes out his laptop. he opens a folder labeled ‘couple shoots’ and turns it so woojin and jihoon could see. it’s full of corny poses and cheap sets that have way too many red hearts. jihoon can’t picture them doing any of them, although he didn’t find himself minding doing the one where the couple are lying in a meadow, staring deeply into each other’s eyes, or the one where they’re kissing under the rain.
woojin does look pretty good with wet hair, or just good when he just got out of the shower in general. when he comes out of their tiny bathroom with the steam still around him, and the the only thing he’s wearing is a towel tied around his waist so his pecs were in full display, and he shakes the water off his hair and then reaches for a bottle of water and takes a long gulp and a few drops get on chin and drip down to his pretty neck. there it was again! what the fuck was that? he shakes his head to clear his thoughts, and woojin glances at him curiously. jihoon grabs his face and turns it back to the laptop
woojin grunts and rests a cheek on his hand as minhyun runs hundreds of images by them. they’re about to give up when something finally catches his eye.
“there! that one!” woojin exclaims. “go back a bit.”
minhyun hits the back button twice and frowns. “the clown themed one?”
“no, the one before that.”
minhyun lets out a long impressed ooohhh . “it might take some time to set up, but we can definitely make it happen.” he’s buzzing with energy, his mind racing to put the whole thing together in his head. jihoon hasn’t seen him like that in a long time, and he’s happy that he’s adding a little bit of excitement into that old man’s life.
woojin turns to jihoon enthusiastically. “what do you think?”
jihoon smiles at him endearingly. he looks so adorable when he’s fired up like this. “it’s perfect.”
“woojin?” jihoon says as they walk back home.
“hmm?” woojin replies. he seems a little distracted, quieter than usual. jihoon figures that he’s thinking about the photoshoot.
“are you still sure about this? i mean, wouldn’t it be kind of weird?” he asks cautiously. he doesn’t know if the prize money is worth adding this dynamic into their relationship. doing a couple photoshoot with your best friend is bound to make things at least a little bit weird, won’t it? they were stepping into uncharted territory, and jihoon feels a little concerned that no one around them seems to think it’s a bad idea.
woojin doesn’t hesitate. “of course i’m sure! as long as it’s you and me, it’s always bound to work out, right?” he takes his hand and squeezes it, and jihoon’s heart flutters. the amount of faith and trust that woojin has put into him is incredible.
“you’re right,” he answers, feeling a little silly for overthinking it. “we’re definitely going to win this.”
the amount of dedication that they’ve put into this competition is bordering on ridiculous and completely unnecessary. they spend the better part of the next weekend buying what they need to take the photos
of course, jinyoung and daehwi do not need to take similar measures because they both had albums filled with pictures from their five years of dates and trips and anniversaries on their phones. jihoon wishes he could just do the same, but his woojin album mostly consists of very questionable photos, like one of jihoon sticking a finger up his nose while he was asleep.
woojin wakes jihoon up at four a.m. by jumping on his bed and screaming. jihoon responds by burying himself under the covers and slamming his hands on his ears. woojin’s high pitched voice puts their actual fire alarm to shame. when that doesn’t work, he throws himself over jihoon’s body, nearly crushing him. “do you want a new playstation or not?” he yells directly at his covered head.
“i do, but just give five more minutes please,” he whimpers pathetically.
“minhyun hyung said we need to be downstairs in five minutes,” woojin answers before pulling jihoon’s covers away. jihoon responds by lunging at him and put his hands around his neck, but woojin is unfazed. “you can choke me after you get dressed.”
it takes them a record time of six minutes to get themselves dressed and ready inside seongwoo’s car, although it did require woojin having to personally put jihoon’s clothes on for him and nearly brushing his teeth.
“welcome to the ongmobile,” seongwoo tells them when they get into the backseat. “enjoy the complimentary coffee from yours truly. an americano for mr. park number one aaaaand another americano for mr. park number two.”
woojin eyes him suspiciously. “which one of us is number two? it can’t be me right?”
“you’re both number one to me,” minhyun says at the same that seongwoo mouths jihoon .
they drive out to an empty field for their photoshoot, only an hour away from the city center. minhyun takes out his equipment from the trunk while jihoon and woojin set up the paint and smoke bombs.
“i’ve always wanted to play with these,” woojin says and points one at jihoon like a gun. jihoon points the bomb in his hand in his response and they circle each other like snipers.
“stop it, these aren’t toys!” seongwoo warns them, and they both turn on him. he raises his arms in surrender and yelps. “please don’t do it i’m all that minhyun has left.”
“well my parents won’t be pleased to hear that,” minhyun mumbles behind him.
they change into simple white shirts and jeans, and seongwoo picks up a bucket of paint. “are you guys ready?” he says with a mischievous smile. jihoon and woojin hold hands, nod, and close their eyes.
they spend the first hour messing around with the paint, throwing it at each other and wiping it on their clothes. woojin draws purple whiskers on jihoon’s cheeks, and jihoon retaliates by painting his nose black.
after they’ve both been properly turned into human canvases, they take out the smoke bombs, and minhyun yells poses at them for them to do. they run around the field, leaving a beautiful trail of color behind them and then stand with their backs against each other and the smoke surrounding them. it looks more like a sports brand commercial than a valentine photoshoot.
minhyun tsks. he stops taking pictures and bites his lips as he thinks. “i don’t know, what do you think?” he asks seongwoo.
“maybe you guys could do one of the poses we saw in the pictures that minhyun showed you?” seongwoo suggests.
jihoon blinks at him. the couple photos? the ones with people kissing and princess-carrying each other and gazing into each other’s eyes? with woojin? him and park woojin? he points at himself and then at woojin, and seongwoo nods.
woojin complies right away, he picks jihoon up like he weighs nothing and jihoon screeches and wraps his legs around woojin’s waist. he quickly settles down in woojin’s arms, he’s holding him so securely that his fear of falling and breaking his neck vanishes instantly.
“that’s perfect!” minhyun exclaims as he rapidly snaps the pictures.
jihoon doesn’t know why, but his heart is pounding. he looks down and woojin smiles at him reassuringly. “it’s okay, i’ve got you,” he whispers so seongwoo and minhyun can’t hear, mistaking the nervous look on jihoon’s face for fear.
his best friend is strong, but even he has his limit. he slides jihoon back to the ground as soon with a loud groan as minhyun says, “alright, we got it!” but they keep their arms tangled around each other, and jihoon’s grip on woojin’s neck only tightens. his mind’s a mess, he’s thinking all these weird things about woojin again, and it was getting a little hard for him to dismiss them when he was standing this close to him. he wants to lean in for a quick peck, something that he could excuse with the photoshoot. they’ve done all this already while pretending it’s just for money anyway, so what’s one more, right?
but then seongwoo announces that it’s brunch time and woojin lets him go and rushes back towards them. jihoon gets back to his senses. he isn’t. he can’t. he didn’t really just think about what he thinks he just thought of, did he?
minhyun notices him standing alone and calls out for him while waving his favorite bag of snacks. jihoon deals with his newfound emotions the same way any adult with a lot of emotional maturity would. he stuffs five chocolate banana chips in his mouth at once.
minhyun has the edited photos ready for them a few days later. jihoon wonders if he put off some important school work just to focus on this (and knowing minhyun, he probably did), but he doesn’t care because the photos are gorgeous. they look like something straight out of a fantasy movie. he and woojin were like badass color wizards….who were in love. his own expression while he was looking at woojin betrayed him, he feels embarrassed about other people looking at these photos, but they’ve come this far and they couldn’t back down now.
he sends the photos on their group chat with jinyoung and daehwi. daehwi sends thirty puking emojis and the last time that jinyoung replied to a text message was in 2013 so he says nothing, but daehwi assures them that he’s disgusted too.
daehwi sends him a private message. “looks like somebody’s in love.”
jihoon pretends he doesn’t see it.
“so, did you think of a caption?” he asks them the next time they go over to jinyoung’s house to study (read: gossip about people and make bets about how many choco pies woojin can fit into his mouth).
“we need a caption?” jihoon asks, panicking. the submission deadline is tomorrow and they didn’t provide anything of the sort.
“yeah, i prepared one already,” woojin says swiftly, surprising everyone in the room. woojin was never exactly great with words, especially ones that involved displaying affection. “i’m gonna submit it along with the photos tomorrow morning.”
“you sure about that?” jinyoung looks a little concerned.
“yeah? are you guys doubting me?” woojin asks, and they all shake their heads.
jihoon is worried too, but he decides to trust woojin for now. it’s not like he had a whole essay about his and woojin’s relationship just laying around somewhere.
he checks the nauseatingly bright pink and red contest website after he comes back from class the next day. the first picture up is of daehwi and jinyoung kissing in the flower garden at everland. when was this even taken? jihoon can’t believe that his best friends went to everland without him.
he hits the next button on the slideshow angrily and sure enough, the picture of woojin holding him in his arms is right there for everyone to see. he scrolls down to read woojin’s caption, expecting a single sentence or a quote from a marvel movie, but he’s surprised by what he finds instead.
jihoon and i have known each other since we were twelve and he decided to sit next to me in seventh grade. it’s been ten years now, and we’ve been through a lot since then, but the one thing that never changed is our love and devotion for each other. the paint and smoke are like all the obstacles and shit that life has thrown at us, and in the great chaos of it all, i only have eyes for him. i could never ask for a better roommate, best friend, soulmate.
-park woojin-
jihoon’s heart fills up with affection. he imagines woojin staying up alone trying to come up with the perfect way to describe their relationship, all the embarrassing i love you’ s that he held back on all these years, all the words he wanted to say but couldn’t because they weren’t sappy idiots like jinyoung and daehwi, or open about their affection in front of everyone like seongwoo and minhyun. seeing it all laid out on that ugly website with the flashing heart animations gives him an epiphany.
he knows it then.
he’s in love with his best friend.
“been there, done that,” seongwoo says as he cleans up the cafe and prepares to close down. he actually turned off the lights and pretended that they had closed early when he saw jihoon approaching, and his co-workers, who had already faced jihoon’s wrath, did nothing to stop him. but jihoon pounded on the door while screaming ‘i know you’re in there ong seongwoo’ until one of them caved in.
“and what’d you do about it?” jihoon inquires as he took a sip from his free coffee.
“you mean besides drunkenly kiss and not talk about it for six months?” he pauses and thinks about the question. “i was just honest about my feelings, i guess.”
jihoon shudders. “what if he’s not interested, though? we’re roommates , hyung.”
seongwoo laughs. “i read that little paragraph he wrote about you. trust me, he’s interested.”
“you’re not just saying that because sungwoon hyung owes minhyun hyung money, are you?” jihoon asks, suspicious.
“god, no, of course not,” seongwoo says, clutching his chest and acting hurt. “i care about you guys, i really want you to be happy. we all do.”
jihoon glares at him. “how much money, hyung?”
“two hundred thousand won,” he mutters under his breath.
the winners were going to be announced on the outdoor stage next to the student center on valentine’s day. the campus radio dj and their friend jaehwan was hosting the event.
the date is quickly approaching, and jihoon gets more nervous with each passing day. he has resolved to confess to woojin if they actually win the competition, and he feels like they have it in the bag. after all, he and woojin threatened most of their friends into voting for them. their method is a lot more effective than daehwi’s ‘i’ll write you at least one paper this semester’ offer.
he didn’t tell anyone about his plans, so he bore the burden of planning it all and thinking about what to say all by himself. he didn’t want to be embarrassed in case they lose.
it’s the evening before valentine, and jihoon is trying to focus on studying for the midterm he has at the end of the week. the stress of the competition and trying to act normal in front of the roommate he’s head over heels in love with has taken its toll on him and made him forget all about studying.
woojin walks in with a mysterious package. “they’re finally here!” he says, his eyes filled with excitement.
“what what what’s here? what did you order?” jihoon asks, sitting up. he hopes it’s not anything stupid and useless.
woojin rips off the package and pulls out two matching pink sweaters. “ta-dah! what do you think?”
“park woojin,” jihoon says, horrified. “what the fuck are those?”
“our couple sweaters,” woojin answers with pride. “we’re gonna wear those tomorrow!” he flips one over to reveal one giant half of a heart printed on the side.
it’s the ugliest thing that jihoon has ever seen.
“oh my god, daehwi is gonna be so mad when he sees these,” he says, clasping a hand over his mouth. “i fucking love them.”
“i know! he’s going to call us fashion disasters but he can’t do anything about it. just one more thing to rub in his face.” woojin is completely fired up at the mere thought of invoking daehwi’s fury.
although daehwi did every corny couple thing imaginable with jinyoung, he absolutely detests the concept of couple items. he would sneer at every single couple they see on campus with matching shoes or t-shirts. jihoon figures it’s because his boyfriend has terrible taste in fashion and if daehwi let him have his way, they would be strutting around everywhere in couple bucket hats. he can’t exactly blame him.
“are you nervous about tomorrow?” jihoon asks suddenly, and the shiteating grin fades from woojin’s face.
“not really,” he says with a shrug. “are you?”
woojin still treats the entire thing like a big joke, and jihoon isn’t sure what to make of that. “i’m not.”
his best friends winks and shoots him finger guns as he heads to his room. “we’re gonna kill it tomorrow,” he says confidently.
“you fucking bet we are!” jihoon answers.
jihoon arrives at the stage after classes the next day to find the place a little fuller this year. instead of only six people, all of which were there close friends, there were actually twenty. jihoon recognizes some of them. wait, is that the guy from his history class? hyungseob or something? the guy takes out a phone and jihoon quickly realizes that he’s taking a video to pass around to everyone in their department. he didn’t miss all the snickers and whispers directed at him when he arrived in the lecture hall in that horrible sweater.
he wants to go and slap the phone of his hand when jaehwan spots him and woojin, waves, and rushes over to them from the stage. “so, what do you guys think? the turn up this year is amazing!”
“yeah, wow, i could barely even walk in here,” jihoon answers. “you sure everyone will be able to get a good look at the stage?”
“haha, hilarious. laugh all you want but this is the perfect chance for me to recruit more people into the radio club.”
“maybe if you and sungwoon hyung played anything other than obscure idol music all day long, someone will express interest in your club,” woojin advices, and jaehwan ignores him.
after all the contestants arrive, the event begins. they’re all called to the stage and are instructed to stand on heart shaped platforms. everyone holds hands links arms with their partners, so jihoon takes woojin’s hand and holds onto it tightly.
when daehwi sees them, his face turns from shock to to horror to utter disgust in the span of twenty seconds. “i can’t believe you’re doing this to me,” he hisses at them as he and jinyoung take their place on the platform next to theirs.
“welcome everyone, to the most anticipated event of the year!” jaehwan yells into the microphone, and is met with scattered applause and a single woohoo! from sungwoon. “i’m sure you’re all dying to find out if defending champions bae jinyoung and lee daehwi will win the title again this year, or if a new challenger will finally end their reign.”
“just fucking announce it already,” a familiar voice that sounds suspiciously like seongwoo’s calls from the back.
“hey! who said that?” jaehwan asks, but seongwoo is nowhere to be found. “well, anyway, let’s announce the results, shall we?”
jihoon is more nervous than ever. he could barely get any sleep last night because he couldn’t stop thinking about this exact moment. the fate of his and woojin’s relationship rests in jaehwan’s hands.
“our top two contenders are,” jaehwan takes a long pause in an attempt to mimic survival shows, and the entire audience groans. “bae jinyoung and lee daehwi, and park woojin and park jihoon!”
jinyoung and daehwi turn to each other and scream and hug, and jihoon rolls his eyes. they do the exact same routine every year, and he knows for a fact they practiced all their reactions at home for at least a week prior. the other two couples walk off the stage, sulking, and jihoon has to hold woojin back from yelling ‘that’s right, suckers!’ at them.
“jinyoung and daehwi have a whopping total of twenty three votes, a new record for the couple!” jaehwan says, expecting a dramatic reaction from the audience but gets nothing in return. “and the winner is….”
jihoon’s heart is pounding, he shuts his eyes tightly and tries to even his breathing. this was the moment. it’s now or never.
“park jihoon and park woojin with twenty three and a half votes!”
jihoon gasps, and woojin cheers and envelopes him in a tight hug. they really did it. they fucking did it.
“what the fuck is a half vote?” daehwi questions, furious.
“it’s a vote from daniel’s cat,” jaehwan answers seriously. “her voice matters just as much as the rest of us.”
woojin and jihoon break apart, and sungwoon gets up on the stage with two crowns and matching ‘cutest couple at ymcu’ sashes. he also gives them a plastic heart shaped trophy and a check for one million won. woojin holds up the trophy over his head like he just won the football world cup.
“any words you’d like to say?” jaehwan hands woojin the mic. the small crowd, which peaked at thirty people, is already dispersing.
“oh wow oh my god i never even prepared a speech,” woojin says. “uh, first of all, i’d like to thank my parents for giving birth to someone as handsome and charming as me, and second i want to thank god for giving me this playstation-i mean prestigious award,” he stops and fans his face. jihoon rips the mic out of his hand.
“park woojin!” he says in a shrill voice, and garners a few glares from the students walking by. “i have something important that i’d like to say.”
this is it. he can’t back out now.
woojin looks very confused. he glances around them, and notices that everyone is watching them with bated breaths. “is this about the toilet thing again? because i swear it wasn’t me wh-”
“i’m in love with you!” park jihoon screams. “will you go out with me, you stupid asshole?”
woojin puts the trophy down. there isn’t a single emotion on his face and jihoon is terrified that he’s about to be rejected. he starts to think about how he’s gonna have to find another place to live in the middle of the semester and how bad of an idea this whole thing is and how he should have told someone before even seriously considering it when woojin swoops him into his arms and lifts him the same way he did in the photo. he plants a huge kiss on jihoon’s lips before putting him back down.
jihoon’s face heats up and he feels like he’s flying. he giggles and grabs woojin’s face and brings it closer to kiss him again. “so i guess that’s a yes?” he says when they break apart, foreheads touching, and woojin’s grip around his waist tightens.
“i was dying for you to ask.”
they’re interrupted with the loud sound of rapid camera shuttering, and turn around to find minhyun standing there with seongwoo, teary eyed. next to him, sungwoon has already taking out his wallet in defeat.
“how long do you think their bet has been going on for?” jihoon whispers.
woojn shrugs. “don’t know, don’t care. wanna get out of here and go get that playstation, boyfriend?”
they arrive back in their apartment that night in triumph, with a trophy in woojin’s hand, and a brand new playstation 4 in jihoon’s. they sit down on the living room floor and take it out of the box.
woojin suddenly stops in his tracks and lets out a pained groan. “jihoon-ah, we forgot something important.”
jihoon tears his eyes away from their shiny new toy and looks at him in concern. “what’s wrong?”
“we don’t even have a tv.”