Archive of Our Own ^beta

Wooseok might blame it on the endless stream of kids seeking advice that leads him here, standing at the storefront of Elsa’s Castle in some dingy Myeongdong side street, but he will never admit that it’s because he’s lonely.

Because he is, but not the desperate kind. He’d convinced himself that he was lonely for adult conversation after Yohan would not leave him alone about how to get some athlete sunbae to notice him, and Junho and Yunseong kept trying to give some of their hours to Dongyun even though the teens barely worked the entire week. In short, while he loved his kids as if he were their parent, he was tired of dealing with ‘children problems’. So, today, he promptly left Yohan with instructions to close before he could be bombarded with an extra hour troubleshooting the lives of his work family.

It’s not until he’s jostled by a group of school children giggling over their new Turning Mecard toys that he remembers why he’s here in the first place. Slightly ducking to avoid the strand of plastic icicles adorning the doorway, he’s met with what is basically a more expensive version of Jinhyuk’s bedroom.

“Having fun stealing all of these kids’ snack money on a daily basis?” Wooseok asks.

Jinhyuk, all 185 centimetres of him, clad in a useless but somehow classy black waist apron, swivels around on one foot and glares at the voice he’d basically grown up listening to.

“You’re lucky we’re in public or I’d strangle you here and now.”

Wooseok smirks. “Hmm, you gonna strangle me later or something?”

That comment earns him a swift smack to the arm and he grins cheekily, always pleased to get any kind of rise out of his friend.

“There are kids here! Somewhere!” Jinhyuk exclaims, eyes wide. He steps back and fixes Wooseok with a confused stare. “Question is why are you here? Didn’t you call my store something like ‘the only thing an otaku like myself could ever do’?” Eyes narrowed, he adds pointing rapidly back and forth between them, “I should also remind you: pot and kettle.”

Wooseok pretends to inspect the pristine state of his nails, like his own bedroom doesn’t have a few shelves dedicated to figurines and one-of-a-kind anime cels.  Instead, he asks, “Can’t I just grace you with my presence every now and then?”

That makes Jinhyuk laugh, bent backwards, hand over his eyes and almost gasping for breath. There are two middle schoolers in an aisle nearby who very slowly make to put down their purchases before Wooseok intervenes, quickly shoving Jinhyuk aside to reassure them that the owner isn’t usually a weird man. All in a few moments, he rings up the purchases and hands both boys a lollipop each, telling them to come back soon.

“I’m not paying you for that.”

Wooseok eyes the sizeable pile of receipts stacked below the register and smiles softly. While it’s true that he did say that about Jinhyuk’s store five years ago, he’d said it out of a place of worry for his friend who went into opening a business without any real know-how.

“Pay for dinner. You asked me why I’m here - that’s why.”

Jinhyuk laughs at that. “Don’t you have some rotating list of super rich ladies who come into your cafe and drop a ton of money on drinks and snacks that they never actually consume? They can take you. I will say, though, you should be the one taking me to dinner if you’re here.” He pauses, eyes rolling around trying to think if he’d missed something important. “Wait, did I forget your birthday or something and you’re here to guilt trip me for being a bad friend? But we already celebrated.”

This. Wooseok misses this - teasing and getting a reaction, but also the predictability of someone he knows too well. While it might be sometimes gratifying to have people seek his advice and thank him for listening, he kind of misses being challenged.

“Hey, if you two are done flirting, I can take over and close the store,” says a voice from the back of the store. A face pops out and grins, full dimples and all.

“Oh, hey!” Wooseok says brightly. “Long time no see, Byungchan.”

Clad in the same apron as Jinhyuk, Byungchan makes his way to where they’re all standing near the register. “I think the last time I saw you was at the store opening.”

“You know that’s a lie. Don’t even try me, Choi Byungchan,” Wooseok says, already rounding on the taller male. “I still have that video of you drunkenly sexy dancing at noraebang for Jinyuk’s birthday.”

“Yeah,” Byungchan drawls, “but I’m guessing you wished it was y- OW!”

Their nearly ten centimetre height difference doesn’t stop Wooseok from sharply jabbing Byungchan in the ribs with an elbow. Jinhyuk pulls him away and sends his co-owner back to the break room.

“Why are you like this?” Jinhyuk exasperates as he removes his apron and Olaf name tag.

“You asking rhetorically or are you expecting an actual answer?”

Jinhyuk smiles tiredly at that and wordlessly pockets his phone before dragging Wooseok out into the street.

---

It’s over spicy stew, chicken feet, and beers that Wooseok finally tells him. He leaves out the word ‘lonely’, though, wholly unprepared to receive Jinhyuk’s patented pitying stare. He’s confident that Jinhyuk’s natural ability to be compassionate would be overwhelming and very embarrassing, and it’s not even really that big of a deal to him that he craves more mature interactions. So, he opts for a kind of discontented parental tone when he rambles on about what’s been going on at the cafe in the past few weeks.

“It’s honestly so tiring dealing with managing the cafe and handling all of these kids asking me for advice and having to solve their problems. Literally the only adults I get to talk to are customers, and it’s not like I can hang around and chat with them,” he says.

Jinhyuk nods slowly, offering, “Or you could and get crazy tips from all of those rich ladies. Remember that lady who said she’d buy you a Beemer if you accompanied her to her ex’s wedding as her arm candy? Oh!” he exclaims excitedly, “that other one who said she’d open a franchise for you right next to her husband’s office so she could visit you everyday?”

Wooseok frowns and makes to throw his chopsticks, only laughing when Jinhyuk flinches purely out of reflex. “I never took any of those offers! And listening to them talk about what they can buy me is a different kind of tiring and it makes me feel like I’m selling myself even though I refuse all of the time. All I’m saying is that now that Yein and Minsoo are off doing their school stuff, I need quality adult interaction.”

He isn’t lying. With Minsoo having left them the year before to get his MBA and Yein leaving right after Jinhyuk’s birthday to get his MFA, Wooseok had definitely felt their individual absences even more than when they had all gone off to do their undergrad.

“So that makes me your literal third choice of a human adult to hang out with,” Jinhyuk reasons, eyes unamused and also unsurprised.

“Your words, not mine, but sure. Yein and Minsoo get me like you don’t,” Wooseok states airily, like it’s a simple fact. It’s mostly a lie and they both know it, but he did hang out with and talk to Yein more than the rest of them.

Jinhyuk takes a long drag of his beer. “What’s to get? You’re a cat. This is how you are and how you’ve always been. You’re lucky I’ve stuck with you this long.”

A pause and then, “Hmm, agreed.”

At that, Jinhyuk’s jaw drops momentarily. “Oh, no, I get it. You’re dying and trying to be nice to me before you meet your demise.”

Wooseok bursts into laughter. “No, idiot. Also, why ‘demise’?”

Jinhyuk chooses to ignore him and continues. “Your mom would definitely tell my mom and she would tell me, just so you know. You better not be dying,” he warns.

“Dying of teenage drama, though. That count?” Wooseok breathes dramatically. “I promise you, I’m the pinnacle of health.”

“Says the man with spaghetti arms,” Jinhyuk retorts but then adds, “oops, self-diss” when he inspects his own limbs.

The two share a laugh this time and lament that them plus Yein make them the noodle triplets and how Minsoo once remarked how he felt left out of that particular group.

Wooseok’s phone flashes with a message from Yohan about the cafe being locked for the night, and he decides that they’ve sat long enough now that their table is cleared save for their drinks. “Let’s go,” he says, explaining that he has to open the shop tomorrow for an early shipment. Wooseok rises and makes the quick few steps towards the elderly woman at the cash register. He bats Jinhyuk’s hand away and passes the woman his card, thanking her for the food and service.

Outside, in the throng of passersby, Wooseok hooks his arm through Jinhyuk’s elbow and asks his friend to walk him home, enjoying the taller male’s look of surprise at the show of physical interaction.

That night, he goes to bed much less stressed out and pleasantly warm and not necessarily because of the stew or beer.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

It feels like dejavu nearly two weeks later when he finds himself standing outside of Elsa’s Castle. Only this time, it’s late November and the smell of charcoal burning in the air is both comforting and familiar.

“Do you want to build a snowman?” he sings under his breath as he once again ducks underneath the plastic icicles.

Jinhyuk looks up from his stool at the register and smiles.

“Nice haircut,” Wooseok says by way of greeting.

“I can’t tell if that’s an insult or a compliment, and I honestly don’t know which one I’d rather have.”

Wooseok leans against the counter, the ends of his scarf brushing the starburst tinsel bordering the entire outer length of the register area. “Well, it’s certainly better than that longish mess that was hanging in your eyes.”

“Insult. Why would it be anything else? Hi to you, too, dark puss-in-boots.”

This time, Byungchan is stocking model kits at the front of the store. “You two going out again?” he asks before collapsing a large and empty cardboard box.

Wooseok runs a finger over the spools of stickers at one end of the counter, shrugging like he’s disinterested. “I decided to grace bossman with my presence again. His loss if he doesn’t want to.”

“I’ll go with you if he won’t!” Byungchan volunteers eagerly.

“You can’t. Jinwoo is coming in at 7 for cash register training, remember?” Jinhyuk reminds him. He then turns to Wooseok and adds, “Jinwoo is my son, by the way. I have a son now.”

Byungchan’s initial frown turns to a soft smile. “Jinwoo is really the cutest. He follows us around all ‘hyung this’ and ‘hyung that’. I think Wooseokie would enjoy him if only to turn the poor kid against Jinhyukkie.”

“Well, I guess I’ll meet him some other time. Are you coming or should I take up one of those chaebol ladies on their offer for ‘dinner’” Wooseok says with air quotes and an eyebrow waggle, “and we take a raincheck?”

Jinhyuk laughs, mouth open and eyes covered with one hand. “I’d like to see you try!” exclaims the taller male. “You’d probably slap her hand away if she tried to touch you.”

“You wanna watch a middle aged woman make moves on me? Interesting. This is a side of you I’ve never known,” Wooseok replies with a sly grin that intensifies when Jinhyuk makes a show of seething in his usual brand of insulted upset.

Huffing half in disgust and half in amusement, Byungchan pushes the two friends out and tells them to come back after they’ve stopped dancing in circles around each other.

Expecting to eat at their usual spot, Wooseok heads down the road only to get tugged the opposite way. Jinhyuk explains as they walk the familiar roads to his apartment that he’d bought groceries the day before and had everything ready for hotpot at home. That, and he got a newly released game.

---

Wooseok can’t remember the last time he’d come to Jinhyuk’s place without at least Yein or Minsoo in tow. It’d been so long, but the inside still looks the same: organised, tidy, but very much filled with shelves of figurines, games, and Jinhyuk’s prized big screen TV complete with no less than three gaming systems neatly placed in their respective cubbies beneath the screen.

“Ah, remember when I said we should go halfsies on this?” Wooseok says, pointing to a completed Gundam figurine housed in a protective acrylic display box.

They’d been maybe 20 at the time and had gone on a group friend trip to Tokyo during summer. It was no surprise that the two of them found themselves in Nakano Broadway, a true old school otaku’s dream, roaming some of the seemingly shadier shops, when he and Jinhyuk had come across a discounted Gundam figurine set. 

“Yeah. You said I should make it and give it to you,” Jinhyuk replies. Both of them can laugh about it now, but at the time, the two had spent the better part of ten minutes trying to convince each other of the opposite - that Jinhyuk would enjoy the creating and painting process while Wooseok would enjoy displaying it, or more realistically, that Jinhyuk would take a grueling month to put it together and Wooseok would take credit by displaying the finished product.

“Offer still stands,” Wooseok suggests with his patented barista smile.

Jinhyuk’s back is facing him, presumably getting the ingredients ready for dinner, but he says easily, “Take it if you want.”

Fingers tracing the smooth wood surface of the display shelves, Wooseok frowns. Well, now he doesn’t want it, nor can he imagine lugging the entire display box back to his own apartment. The fun of it, making Jinhyuk do all of the work, is gone, and he no longer has anyone to show off to. 

Instead of replying, Wooseok makes his way to the kitchen, rolls up his sleeves, and washes his hands to help prep the food, citing that it’s because he’s hungry that he’s helping. Jinhyuk merely hums and hands him the vegetables to clean and chop.

When everything is ready, Jinhyuk sets up a portable gas range on the counter that doubles as a kitchen table and sets the pot of soup broth to boil.

“We should do this more often,” Jinhyuk finally says. He hands over clean chopsticks and a small dish for mixing sauces towards Wooseok.

Wooseok watches the soup begin to boil and nods in agreement. If he thinks back, middle school was probably the last time that the two of them had ever really regularly hung out together. Gone were the days where they bolted from their elementary school grounds to the nearest arcade, or, when they were older and in middle school, slumping their way together to art, math, or some kind of cram school. Once they’d met Yein and Minsoo in their first year of high school, they’d been somewhat of an inseparable group of four. Through all kinds of means, it’s returned to just the two of them.

An hour speeds by as they eat and trade childhood memories that only the two of them remember, and after, they share cleaning duties until both find themselves seated on Jinhyuk’s couch, each with a game controller in hand, though they both know that Jinhyuk is going to be the one controlling the game.

“Do you want me to explain the game? It’s all in Japanese, but I mean, I think you get the gist of it: fight baddies, gain EXP, save friends along the way, beat bosses?” Jinhyuk offers.

“Only you would import a game and struggle through the language instead of wait for the official Korean release,” Wooseok mutters. He leans over Jinhyuk’s shoulder and hits ‘start’ as his reply, though, and the two of them are quickly absorbed into the gameplay.

Minor quibbling turns into a rather vocal dispute when they reach the first boss level, however. It all goes fine and they even compromise on training in the woods near the town to be able to get supplies if they run low. Fine, until they’re in the midst of battling the first big boss.

“You gotta, okay, come on-”

“Wooseok, you’re not playing right now so you gotta be - shit!”

The boss deals them damage equal to half their current HP, which is something they expected. But-

“Come on, health potion! Give yourself some time to restore your attack gauge.”

“No, now is the crucial time to attack! He’s hibernating for the next wave!”

It’s then that the building lights flicker and for a mere handful of seconds, the power goes out.

Jinhyuk releases a frustrated yell so loud that Wooseok has to kick him from the sofa to shut up.

“I was about to win!” says the taller male as the lights restore to their steady brightness. The damage, however, is done. The TV screen shows the game intro and despite auto-save, there’s no such feature as saving mid-battle.

Wooseok sighs. “You were not about to win, dummy. You could have also just as easily died,” he points out, specifically referencing how much HP the boss still had remaining.

“No way. I could have built up to his limit break and would have gotten the boss before he hit us with that whatever mega strike,” Jinhyuk insists. His eyes are wide, slightly crazed. He twists in his seat to grab Wooseok’s collar and adds, “You are the least helpful side-coach ever.”

In return, as awkward as it is for him in his half-prone state on the couch, Wooseok also grabs Jinhyuk’s collar partially as a reflex from whenever they’d argue as kids, but also to shake some sense into the other male. “You wouldn’t have made it this far without me coaching you!”

Banging on the wall comes from next door - likely a warning that they’re too loud.

“It’s not even that la-” Jinhyuk yells back when he realises that actually yes, it is quite late. Just past 2AM. His hold on Wooseok slackens and he releases a long breath, defeated.

Wooseok flops back onto the sofa. “Well, that’s a done deal. I guess should get home.”

Stretching with a satisfying pop in both shoulders, Jinhyuk shakes his head. “Just stay over. It’s so cold outside.”

It’s a rare Saturday that he doesn’t need to be there at the crack of dawn to open the store - he has Yohan for that - and so he nods, turning comfortably onto his side with an audible yawn.

Then, Jinhyuk is up on his feet and tugging Wooseok’s arm to get up and follow him. “Come on, I’ll give you some clothes to change into and a blanket. Got a multipack of toothbrushes from Emart last month, so just take a new one from the bathroom cabinet. You know where everything else is, right?”

Wooseok nods, accepting a hoodie and sweatpants, as well as a blanket from Jinhyuk.

---

He doesn’t wake up until his phone rings and rings past lunch time.

“Hyung, are you okay?” comes Yohan’s worried voice over the line.

Groaning, Wooseok turns to his side and sandwiches the phone between his ear and the couch cushion. Eyes still closed, he says, “Yeah, what’s up?”

“Are you coming in today? I thought you were supposed to be in at 1. It’s almost 1:45, hyung.” Then, softer, “Are you hungover?”

“No! I’m-” he begins to say and then really remembers where he is. “Shit. Okay, I’ll be there in like half an hour. Things are okay, though? The kids came in to help you at 9?”

Soft cafe jazz plays in the background while Yohan gives him a quick breakdown of the somewhat uneventful day thus far. Nothing big, no real issues, the same Saturday crowd of students and neighbourhood employees pass through the cafe.

“Okay, I’m on my way,” says Wooseok, flinging the blanket off and grabbing his clothes before hanging up and jumping into the shower.

Later, when Yohan’s eyes go round at the semi-wet hair and yesterday’s clothes, Wooseok just tells the younger male to shut up and work, ignoring the stream of questions regarding his whereabouts last night.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Somehow, Friday dinner and gaming or movies becomes a routine over the next few weeks. By the third Friday, Wooseok had taken to packing an overnight bag, stating that it is far less work for him to just get ready at Jinhyuk’s place and then go into work than heading back to his place to freshen up and go into work. Jinhyuk didn’t say anything and just offered his couch and blanket, now a heating pad with it being well into winter.

Before they realise it, the Christmas season is upon them.

“Hey, Yein wants to video chat. He’s going to call at around 1AM, so we better get this movie out of the way now,” Wooseok says mid-meal.

“Yeah, that’s fine. I think the movie is like two and half? We’ll be done before then,” Jinhyuk replies. He tosses a chicken bone into their collective pile.

Wooseok looks over at him and decides to say what he’s been thinking for a while. “I think Yein and Minsoo are seeing each other.”

“Wha-” is all that Jinhyuk manages to say before he chokes, thankfully not on bone, but enough that he has a momentary coughing fit, complete with watering eyes and needing to be hit on the back by a not-so-sympathetic Wooseok. When he finally regains the ability to breathe properly, he tries again: “No way! Last I heard, Minsoo was potentially seeing this girl whose dad is like the vice president of Shinsegae. I mean, not like he wants to be dating some heiress, but I thought his dad wanted him to-”

Wooseok waves that thought away. “Minsoo is seeing that girl, but obviously not willingly. He said she’s in the same position: they’re put together because of how good it looks for their families. I’m saying that he’s seeing Yein like, for real . Haven’t you seen the kinds of things they’re posting on Insta?”

Jinhyuk frowns, looks like he’s thinking hard for a moment, and shrugs. “They’re in totally different places, though.”

“Long distance, dummy. You are not sensitive to anything, are you?” Wooseok replies tiredly. He’d caught on that something was different around summertime but hadn’t said anything because he thought Yein would tell him, or at least that Minsoo would hint to something. Months later and despite all of the mundane and random messages he’d traded with his friends, there was no such news or even teasing about any sort of relationship between his two friends.

“Hey, I’m sensitive enough to know to buy different detergent! You made that one comment weeks ago about the blanket smelling like artificial lemon freshness, so I switched to that lavender stuff that you like,” Jinhyuk counters, mumbling something about how lavender is infinitely not better than a number of other scents.

Wooseok has no reply for that. He’d noticed maybe two weeks ago when they’d both finished their Friday night bed routines that the blanket smelled familiar - like home, in a way - and he had been tired from not only a trying and long day at work but also a suspenseful movie that required him to follow the storyline closely. He’d never had a chance to point out the change.

“Ha, gotcha there,” Jinhyuk says triumphantly. “I notice things, too! Just you know, not Instagram stuff. Besides, if they’re not going to tell us, I’m not going to pry. I didn’t when-” he stops himself mid-sentence, Wooseok’s sharp glance a deterrent from finishing what he intended to say. “Shit,” he mutters softly. Then, “Sorry.”

“What? About me and Minsoo in high school?” Wooseok finally supplies. “I’m not sure why you and Yein never talked to us about it.”

‘It’ being a momentary - think one month - fling over summer break right before they entered their final year in high school. There had been a lot of cancelled plans at the last minute when they should have otherwise been having the time of their lives before the crushing reality of CSATs, hush-hush giggling between Wooseok and Minsoo, and all the while, nobody ever called them out on it.

Jinhyuk frowns. “Well, sorry, but we weren’t sure why you never talked to us about it,” he counters somewhat bitterly. “I’ve known you the longest. Did you suddenly think that I wouldn’t want to be friends with you over it?”

Thinking back, Wooseok isn’t sure why he or Minsoo did any of that in the first place - all the poorly veiled secrets, not the fooling around. Might have been them coming to terms with themselves, might have been - at least for Minsoo - pressure from the family to live up to high expectations, and it could have just been companionship during a time so confusing and lonely that they sought out one another. Part of him regrets it, not having the courage to tell his friends the truth about himself and for not allowing him and Minsoo to have better memories of their first everything together. Yet, another part of him feels unapologetic about that particular aspect of his past: it wasn’t the right time to say anything even if his friends were supportive, and without Minsoo’s help, he probably would have continued to struggle into his adulthood.

Wooseok is quiet for so long that Jinhyuk nudges him gently. “Hey, you okay? I didn’t mean to, you know...”

“I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t sure yet. I just-”

“I’m not asking you to explain yourself all this time later,” Jinhyuk interrupts, although he doesn’t make eye contact with Wooseok.

“Let me finish, will you?” says Wooseok. “I knew that I wanted to be sure. And because Minsoo’s family is powerful, I didn’t want to jeopardise things for him because it was obvious that he and I were experimenting with each other. I thought if I told you later - and I did - that would be a better time to do it because I knew myself better, and I wouldn’t be putting anyone in danger except myself.”

Jinhyuk nods through it all, is able to understand Wooseok’s reasoning and had figured as much even several years earlier. Had Minsoo just been a regular kid like the rest of them, it might have turned out differently, but with Mr. Go being a regional manager of the city’s department store and on his way to moving up within the company, the suspicion of even possibly being out would have destroyed Minsoo’s future.

Finally, he says, “I know. I get it. Just, try to imagine it from our point of view, too. It felt like you didn’t trust us. Had it not been for Yein pulling us all back together, I don’t know if we would be here today hanging out in PJs on a Friday night.”

Wooseok laughs at that. “This is sad,” he says, arms spread.

“Hey, nothing wrong with two best friends hanging out in PJs on a Friday night,” Jinhyuk retorts playfully. 

“Thanks,” Wooseok says as he places a hand on the taller male’s shoulder.

“What for?”

“For making this,” he says, again with his arms, “a regular thing with me. And for not being a jerk about, you know,” Wooseok says.

Laughing, Jinhyuk reaches over and squeezes the same hand still lightly placed on his shoulder. “Thanks for coming to my castle in the first place. Who knew that all it took were kids driving you nuts to come and find me?”

Mid-laugh, Wooseok’s phone rings. Yein’s name pops up on screen, and Wooseok quickly pats the couch cushion beside him for Jinhyuk to come and sit. He presses “Answer” and is met with Yein’s smiling face surrounded by what looks to be like a nicely furnished place.

“Hi!” Yein says with a cute wave. “Oh, Jinhyukkie’s there too! Hi! How are you guys doing?”

“We’re doing movie night at his place,” Wooseok explains quickly. “I’m good. Things are same ol’ same ol’. Where are you right now?”

Yein takes a moment to flip the screen to take them on a quick tour of his apartment, describing the knick-knacks he picked up in Vienna and even shows them his new headshot for the choir he’s currently a part of. All the while, Wooseok and Jinhyuk, eyes glued to the screen, utter a myriad of oohs and aahs, neither having been to Europe but glad to see part of it via their friend.

“That’s a cool place you’ve got there,” Jinhyuk says. “I mean, I’d show you my place, but it’s the same.”

Smiling, Yein waves a hand as if to say it’s no big deal. He does, however, say, “Well, Wooseokie is there, so not quite. You two dating or something?”

Wooseok feels his ears become warm for some inexplicable reason. “No! We’re just two best friends hanging out in PJs on a Friday night!”

“Relax!” Yein says, giggling. “Jinhyuk told me weeks ago that you guys started hanging out again. He said you were trying to escape parenting your work kids.”

Oh. That, he did not see coming. He knew that they all still kept in touch from time-to-time, but Yein had never mentioned Friday night get-togethers or even that he was looking forward to seeing Wooseok and Jinhyuk today.

“Yeah, well, sometimes desperation makes you do crazy things,” Wooseok jokes before gasping and squirming when Jinhyuk jams his bony fingers into his collarbone as retaliation.

“Wow, we’re nearly 30 and you’re both still like kids,” Yein comments. His head is resting on one hand like he’s watching them fondly, utterly unsurprised by their behaviour.

For the next half hour, Yein goes on to talk about concerts and tours and it isn’t until they hang up, promising to try and make more regular video calls, that Wooseok realises how his and Jinhyuk’s bodies have angled towards each other, and that Jinhyuk’s arm, the same one holding the phone for the both of them, had been around his shoulder all this time. He doesn’t have much time to dwell on further thoughts when Jinhyuk stretches his legs from having sat crunched on the couch awkwardly.

“Bed time?”

Wooseok nods.

“Okay, you wash up first. I’m gonna go throw out the trash,” Jinhyuk says before releasing a huge yawn.

“Just throw it out tomorrow. We can just wash up together.”

“No, the garbage smell, though.”

Wooseok waves a dismissive hand at that. “It’s winter and you throw out garbage almost every day. One missed day won’t kill you.”

Jinhyuk yawns, another one like his jaw is going to unhinge itself, and nods in understanding, but adds, "sleep with me if it gets stinky over there. Night." And then, he's gone down the hallway with just the click of his bedroom door closing.

Wooseok doesn't sleep well that night.

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"My sister's visiting this weekend," is the first thing Jinhyuk says the moment that Wooseok pops into Elsa's Castle the following Friday.

"Oh, that's okay. Wish you'd told me earlier," he says, shaking his overnight bag but smiles all the same. Wooseok hadn't seen Jinhyuk’s older sister in years - she’d already gone off to university the last time he'd visited the Lee house.

Jinhyuk shakes his head rapidly. "No, I mean, okay, I should have told you earlier but she barged in today. Sent me a message asking my door lock code because 'the old one didn't work'," he says with air quotes. "Well duh, I changed it."

"She and your mom get into an argument?"

Jinhyuk sighs. "Dad. He found out she was trying to get a loan from the bank so that she could buy a Birkin. Ridiculous. And now I have to deal with her but I just want to hang out with you," he complains.

Something in Wooseok blooms warmly and spreads. So much, that Jinhyuk feels the need to ask him if he's going through some kind of hot flash or is suddenly feverish.

"No, I'm, I have no idea what that was. I'm fine!" Wooseok insists. "Um, do you, I dunno, maybe hang out at my place this time? I mean, I know Soonjung noona is there, but she can take care of herself. If you want, I mean." In his head, he feels like he's stuttering, like he's ten all over again and telling his fourteen year old neighbour that he thinks she's pretty and likes her.

Wordlessly but not without emotion, Jinhyuk scoops Wooseok into his arms and exhales a "thank you" into his friend's ears. "But I can't. What if she tries to sell my rare stuff?!"

Wooseok laughs as Jinhyuk lets him go. "She would not do that. I mean, she tried to take a loan out from the bank to fund her extravagant addiction to name brands. She could have just stolen your stuff way before."

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Jinhyuk shakes his head. "Why do you think I changed my door lock code? Me, who uses the same code for everything if I can get away with it?"

"Well, shit, that sucks."

Jinhyuk's phone buzzes. It's a picture from Soonjung with the following message: 'This looks old. How about I take it off your hands?'

"I'll watch the store if you need to run home," Wooseok offers when he sees that one particular stress vein popping near Jinhyuk’s temple. "Not like I have anything else to do." He doesn't mean for the last part to come out sounding petulant, but Jinhyuk is already throwing on his long padded jacket and is rushing out with a bright, if not slightly maniacal smile and a thanks.

"Umm, are you Wooseok ssi, by any chance?"

Startled, Wooseok whirls around and shrieks before collapsing to the ground.

In front of him stands a boy whose name tag reads, "Jinwoo".

"Jinwoo," is all that Wooseok says before standing up.

At that, the boy smiles shyly and Wooseok immediately understands at least a little bit why Jinhyuk calls this child his son.

"Jinhyuk hyung talks about you a lot. Oh, I mean, sajangnim talks about you a lot," Jinwoo says, correcting himself. He smiles again and pushes his round glasses up higher on the bridge of his nose.

Wooseok's eyes narrow in a way that proves Byungchan's earlier prediction about Wooseok and Jinwoo. "Come, sit here and tell me everything about yourself. You can call me hyung, you adorable thing."

Something like an hour later, Jinhyuk is back and is gasping for air like he ran all the way back to the store.

"I came back as fast as I could. My dad's at my place now. They're arguing but what's new," he says resignedly.

Instead of a response, all he can see is Jinwoo and Wooseok sitting at the cash register together, talking and laughing like they've known each other for years. Catching his breath, Jinhyuk smiles even though Wooseok is currently telling Jinwoo a story about the time his classmates tried to pay him to draw dirty manhwa for them in highschool.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hyung, I’m sad.”

Wooseok is busy totalling up the final inventory before they close the cafe for the day and manages a grunt in Yohan’s direction.

“That sunbae I was talking about before. He’s…”

“Hmm?” asks Wooseok as he scans the shelves for anything else they may have missed.

Yohan’s face crumples a bit. “He’s seeing someone.”

“Ah, that sucks. Come here,” Wooseok says, finally putting away his clipboard and pen. He crushes Yohan in a tight and reaffirming hug. “It’s his loss, right?”

Yohan’s head shakes. “His boyfriend is the cutest. Everyone likes him, too.”

Firmly, Wooseok pushes Yohan at arms length and fixes the younger male with a resolute stare. “You are not going to be sad over this. You’re a great kid and I’m telling you it’s his loss. Doesn’t matter is someone is cute and if other people like him. Doesn’t my opinion about you matter?”

“I know!” the younger exclaims. 

He looks utterly defeated and something in Wooseok is trying its hardest to burst forth to confront this Seungwoo person, but he tamps the feeling down to allow Yohan to keep talking. 

“I’m just, I didn’t realise that Seungwoo hyung is super nice to everyone. It makes me feel like I’m not special. He just helped me because that’s what he does for everyone. That kind of sucks, hyung,” Yohan admits. Then he gasps, hands coming up to tug his hair suddenly. “Oh no… I bought him something kind of expensive for Christmas! What do I do?”

Christmas. Right. The holiday for couples and families. A holiday he’d always celebrated with his friends because they’d all more or less been single this past decade or so. Wooseok had forgotten about it despite all of the window displays he passed by daily, as well as the coloured lights and decorations up in his own cafe. He hadn’t done them, had allowed Yohan to oversee the part-timers with that and was otherwise too preoccupied with a slight dip in the cafe’s revenue since a Starbucks opened across the street from them. He needed to get Jinhyuk a gift and had almost no time left.

“Depends what it is, I guess. If you can make use of it, keep it for yourself,” Wooseok suggests. “Or, find out if you can return the item. I wouldn’t give it to him, though.”

Yohan nods slowly, fingers toying with the ties on his apron. He sighs audibly and leans on Wooseok who pats his arm comfortingly.

-----

It’s after work that Wooseok rushes out into the crush of people on the streets, bundled in his thickest long coat, on the hunt for a gift. He’d known Jinhyuk nearly his entire life and presents usually ended up being related to Jinhyuk’s favourite characters, but he couldn’t keep doing the usual. The past few months reminded him that despite how comfortable he’d felt talking to Yein, for example, or how it didn’t bother him to be manhandled by Minsoo, Jinhyuk would always be the only one who really understood him and his needs the most without needing to be told. A mere figurine or model kit, no matter the price, wouldn’t suffice this year.

‘Presents to get a very close male friend’ is what he types into the Naver search bar.

Wooseok scrutinises the search results when most suggestions point to accessories like mufflers, gloves, and socks. He doesn’t want to go that route even though there had been a year or two when Wooseok, Yein, and Minsoo chipped in to get Jinhyuk a nice watch one year and a classy jacket another year, but those were birthday presents and in his mind were a different level of gift-giving.

When had choosing a Christmas gift for his best friend become so hard all of a sudden? He’d given Jinhyuk a number of puzzles last year and some character stuffies the year prior. He didn’t even really need to think about those gifts and simply chose based on what he knew Jinhyuk liked. If the past few months said anything about the shift in their friendship, “just anything” wouldn’t really do, not with how accommodating Jinhyuk had been with not only meals but also playing host to Wooseok’s weekly Friday sleepover.

‘What do I get Jinhyuk?’ is what he types in a message to Yein and quickly backspaces all of the text away. Yein, as far away as he might be, would know right away that something is different. Wooseok isn’t someone to consult with others about things like gifts, after all. No, he’d have to figure this out himself with three days left.

Several hours later, after he’s exhausted himself doing everything from making a coupon booklet of favours to starting and quitting a knitted scarf, Wooseok gives up and pushes all of what he’d either previously made or started to one end of his desk. In doing so, he knocks over a framed photo of him and Jinhyuk at about 10, each of them holding awards from their homeroom’s end-of-year celebration. Wooseok had gotten the art award, of course, and Jinhyuk had gotten one for being class monitor. He smiles, righting the frame, chuckling softly at their height difference even as far back as elementary school, and squints to see his prized piece with its first place sticker ribbon hanging from one corner. Wooseok can look back now and scoff a little at the prize. He’d only started going to art academy after that, when his parents saw that he’d had some kind of knack for drawing, but he never once thought to pursue it seriously despite classmates and even teachers encouraging him to consider it for his future. Jinhyuk, well, all Jinhyuk had ever kept telling him their entire lives was that they should do what makes them happy.

It’s then that the idea hits him and Wooseok digs through his drawers for a sketchbook and pencils. Three days isn’t much time, but with the image so clear in his head, he’s certain that he’ll make it.

-----

“Hyung?”

Wooseok’s head slips from the support of his hand as he turns to the owner of the voice calling him.

Junho’s at his side immediately. “I’ve been trying to get your attention for a while. You look really tired.”

He is tired. The initial rush of energy that he got from his idea to draw Jinhyuk a picture started off well, like all good ideas do. Theoretically, that is. Wooseok’s perfectionist tendencies, however, have proven to be quite the interruption in what should have been a few hours’ work. With one day left and only two-thirds of the image done, he’s unsure what he’ll be able to finish on time to meet up with Jinhyuk tomorrow despite it not being their usual Friday hang out day.

“Just sleep deprived. You know I need at least nine hours, Chacha. I’m okay, thanks,” Wooseok says with a small smile.

Although Junho looks uncertain, he walks away only after Wooseok pushes him to go clear some tables.

Wooseok, however, looks at the clock and sighs deeply, wishing for more than 24 hours in one day. As it is, he’d have to spend the next four at work, clean, close the store, and shove his way through the frazzled Christmas rush crowd to get home and sit there for however many hours it may take to finish drawing. He thanks small miracles that he’d had the foresight to buy a frame and wrapping paper the day before.

Now would just be a matter of finishing everything on time.

---------------------------------------------------------

“Whoa, you look rough,” is the first thing Jinhyuk says when Wooseok very nearly drags himself into Elsa’s Castle. This time, however, it’s not their usual Friday and he’s only carrying a gift bag containing everything he means to give Jinhyuk.

“Yep,” is all Wooseok can manage. It’s not like Jinhyuk can’t see through any front he puts on, anyway.

“Well,” Jinhyuk says, arm already around Wooseok’s shoulders, “I’m leaving it up to you, Byungchan. Merry Christmas!” he says as he leads the shorter male out into the street. “You sure you’re up for this? Work stuff?” he asks as they try to navigate their way through the endless couples and families out and about.

Wooseok shakes his head. “It’s fine. Didn’t get a lot of sleep, but it’s okay. Yein and Minsoo are waiting for us, so we should hurry,” is all he says as they both pick up the pace and make it to Jinhyuk’s place in under fifteen minutes.

While Jinhyuk is getting food set up, Wooseok takes in the sudden change in living room decor. There’s a small white tree in one corner, complete with icicle and glass snowball decorations - not surprising in the least, and a string of white lights that run across the length of the TV stand. It’s not much, but the decorations are certainly different. He places Jinhyuk’s gift at the foot of the tree and bends to retrieve Jinhyuk’s laptop. They’d agreed to Skype Yein and Minsoo since they were all spread out in different parts of the world.

He doesn’t expect to get Jinhyuk’s password wrong, however.

“Ah, yeah, I changed that because of noona,” Jinhyuk supplies when he passes by with ingredients. “I actually made you a guest user, so go ahead and login.”

“What’s the password?”

Jinhyuk grins. “Shortie.”

Wooseok is never surprised, but he does do a double-take when he realises that Jinhyuk had set his user desktop background to Hunter x Hunter.

“You remembered,” he says softly, pointing to the screen. It’s hard for him to not look moved by the simple yet meaningful gesture.

“Of course I did. Oh, that reminds me, that box over there next to the tree is yours. Don’t open it yet!” Jinhyuk informs him. He sets up the last of the ingredients and tells Wooseok to hurry so that they can eat and Skype their friends.

-----

With dinner cleared and dishes done, the two of them take seats side-by-side, backs resting against the bottom of the couch.

“Yein messaged to say that he’s good to go. Minsoo read what I sent him, so I’m assuming he should be okay shortly,” Jinhyuk says as he flashes his phone screen.

Wooseok nods, letting Jinhyuk login and waits. Yein’s name pops up as “available” on the screen.

“So what’d you get me?” Jinhyuk asks suddenly. 

There’s a mischievous grin on his face that Wooseok dreads to know the meaning behind - it’s either going to be that Jinhyuk outdid him, which will probably be true, or that the rushed gift that Wooseok prepared would be poorly received. Maybe even both. After the Skype call, he plans on escaping, which is partially why he didn’t bother to bring his usual overnight bag, because there is absolutely no way that Wooseok would be caught dead in the same room as Jinhyuk for that present unwrapping, and so he shrugs nonchalantly like it’s no big deal. 

Except that it is probably going to be kind of a big deal. 

In his sleep-deprived state, he’d decided to include in the coupon book and some mushy card that he’d scrawled in at something like 4AM. He’d hesitated with the card, to add it or not, but decided that anything he throws at Jinhyuk would eventually, in some roundabout and twisted way, be well-received. Sure, he might have to endure some teasing à la that time he posted an Insta story of himself smooching to the camera and Yein, Minsoo, and Jinhyuk would absolutely not leave him alone about it for the following three months, but he lived. He’d live after this, too. Maybe.

Minsoo’s name pops up as available and Jinhyuk quickly connects them all to a group video chat.

In no less than two seconds, it turns into a flurry of greetings, smiles, and their usual brand of childish insults to welcome one another. 

“America seems to be treating you a bit too well, Minsoo,” Wooseok says cheekily, puffing out his cheeks in a wholly indiscreet manner.

Frowning, Minsoo blows hair out of his face and says, “You know, what you did right there, that’s called body shaming. I wasn’t going to say that you look like a walking corpse, but oops, I guess I did.” His dimples appear even with the slight roundness to his face.

Yein and Jinhyuk, however, exchange mutually fond pleasantries while their other friends two bicker over the importance of taking care of their respective health. It takes an unexpected call from their rare fifth-wheel, Changhyun, on Yein’s phone that breaks up the disjointed chattering.

“I’m putting you on speakerphone!” Yein says as he brings his phone closer to his laptop mic.

“Hey guys, Merry Christmas!” comes Changhyun’s deep voice.

They all chime in individually and the conversation soon settles on ten minutes of them asking their friend about his dance studio and who he’s currently training. Jinhyuk, despite not being able to see Changhyun, seems to lean forward and Wooseok points out that on their tiny viewfinder that he’s taking up most of the screen while Yein and Minsoo laugh softly in the background.

“Nice to hear that you’re all doing well, though,” Changhyun concludes.

“It’s nice of you to call us. We didn’t know if you were going to accompany people on tour or anything, but we should have called you or at least let you know,” Minsoo says a little solemnly.

Changhyun’s deep laugh rumbles through the speakers and tells them that it’s no problem since he’d actually been scheduled to accompany a boy idol group over to Japan but didn’t end up needing to go last minute. He leaves them with the suggestion to get together when they all planned on going home for the Lunar New Year.

Wooseok is the first to notice how unsettled Minsoo looks when the other male seemingly receives a text. “Are you okay, Minsoo?” he asks.

“Uh, yeah. Um, I’ve got this family dinner this with Heejeong’s parents in less than half an hour.”

Jinhyuk throws a sharp glance at Wooseok as if to preemptively warn the other male to not bring up what Wooseok had been suspecting about their friends abroad.

Minsoo looks up at the screen finally, his face a mix of apprehensive and hopeful all at once. “So um, there’s something that I’ve been wanting to tell you for a while. I think now’s the right time.”

Wooseok pokes Jinhyuk’s thigh sharply and smiles a little victoriously. This is it. He’d seen the flash of nervousness on Yein’s face just as Minsoo confessed that he had something important to say. Not that he wanted to gloat, but he was fairly in tune with his friends and while he might want to lord over Jinhyuk for a bit, Wooseok wanted to be the first to congratulate the couple who he’d known for so long. It was about time that some of them found happiness, after all.

Smiling softly, Minsoo looks down at his phone and seems to be scrolling through something before his finger stops moving. “You guys are the first to know, I mean, Heejeong knows something is going on but you know she doesn’t care so it’s not like I really need to tell her yet. But, um, I met someone in New York.”

Jinhyuk’s bony fingers suddenly dig into Wooseok’s thigh.

“He’s actually a regional manager for Emart in Gyeonggi, but he came here to do his MBA just like me,” Minsoo says carefully. Then, a little more eagerly, he brings his phone screen up to show them a picture of Minsoo grinning brightly with his arms around a slightly taller, more muscular male with a kind smile. “Guys, this is Noh Sooil. Uh, I guess he’s my boyfriend?”

Wooseok lets out a small cry, mostly due to the pressure that Jinhyuk is exerting on his already bony legs. “Wow, ow, that is great news,” he manages to get out before smacking Jinhyuk’ hand away. “How long?”

Yein looks somewhat smug for some inexplicable reason. “Five months,” he supplies. “Oops, sorry.”

“Wait, you told Yein before us?” Jinhyuk asks, eyes darting between the two men on his laptop screen.

“He literally knew like two days before you!” Minsoo insists. He proceeds to launch into a story about strange coincidences and how one of Sooil’s managers went to middle school with Yein and whatnot. In a roundabout way, he explains that it was Yein who asked him if he’d known anyone by the name of Noh Sooil and Minsoo, because he’s incapable of lying, told him with strict instructions to not say anything to the rest of their group.

Wooseok feels Jinhyuk’s arm come around the back of his shoulders and he’s suddenly pressed tightly against his best friend’s side.

“This one thought you two were dating,” says Jihyuk smugly. “Explain your theory.”

Ah, he figured this would happen. Jinhyuk, just like him, would take the opportunity to expose his error in judgment to the rest of them. Nodding and rolling his eyes at the same time, Wooseok accepts his fate. “Yes, fine. I mean, listen, you guys were doing some shady couple-y stuff over IG for a while. Can you blame me? Also, what’s up with all of that ‘look what I got?’ kind of posts and the ‘goodnight baby’ selfies? What were we supposed to think?” he asks. The last part comes out sounding a lot more defensive than he intends, and he feels puffs of air from Jinhyuk who’s trying and failing to contain his laughter.

Yein actually cackles at that a little. “Well, I mean, you two get to be in Korea together, so Minsoo and I thought we could be the overseas bffs. We know what it’s like to be in a totally different time zone to the rest of our friends and families, we know what it’s like to struggle with language and different customs on a daily basis, so we figured why not. Also, those bedtime selfies were not for each other! Minsoo started doing them for Sooil ssi and he just asked me if I wanted to do them so that people at home would stop calling us at 3AM because they couldn’t figure out or didn’t care to think about time differences! You have no idea how many times I keep telling my parents that they can’t call me like it’s the same time in Korea.”

Wooseok deflates at Jinhyuk’s side just a bit. It all makes so much sense now that he thinks about it. “You could have just told us,” he finally says, albeit a bit pouty. “I mean, Minsoo could have told us earlier.”

“But this is much more fun,” Yein cuts in. “Also, it’s not my information to tell. Neither of us assumed you and Jinhyuk were dating.”

Minsoo lights up at that. “I was waiting for the right time to tell you! And yeah, speaking of which, you two could easily pass for a couple.”

Defensively, Wooseok throws Jinhyuk’s arm off of him. “Us? I doubt it. We hang out because you two losers ditched us to be famous and rich and all that. We’re the OG friends, anyway. There’s no way we’d date,” he says almost too animatedly, only briefly registering a strange look from Jinhyuk that he can’t quite place.

“Uh, yeah. No way, no way,” Jinhyuk says, hands moving as if to sweep the idea away like it’s impossible. “Find me a person who can deal with this one,” he adds, thumb jerking in the direction of Wooseok.

Yein smiles fondly. “I dunno, I think you guys would be that dumb couple that are dating but don’t even know it. But hey, if you say so. I know plenty of people in Korea who’d be great for either of you.”

“Same. You wouldn’t believe the kinds of drunken things I see and find out at business gatherings!” Minsoo adds with a laugh.

“Anyway!” Wooseok says loudly, “Merry Christmas to you both. Minsoo, go off and pretend to be a good fiancé. Yein, wipe that goopy look off of your face. If I don’t get a chance to talk to you in time, Happy New Year.”

Jinhyuk pushes Wooseok aside so that only his face fills the frame and repeats basically the same thing, only more nicely, before they all say their goodbyes and respectively hang up.

“Um, I guess I’ll go. We both still have work tomorrow so yeah. Merry Christmas, Jinhyukkie,” Wooseok says. For an inexplicable reason, he feels shy to say those words and chalks up the nervous and hesitant feelings to them sitting so closely on the floor.

Silently, Jinhyuk opens both arms and pulls Wooseok close to him. “Merry Christmas, shortie.”

That comment earns him fingers in his ribs and he shrieks laughter as he holds tightly to Wooseok. “You can open your present now if you want,” he says softly.

Wooseok is 100% sure that he does not want to do that and says so, only neglecting to add that his refusal is due to him not wanting to be there when Jinhyuk opens his present. Jinhyuk doesn’t seem to want to relent and drags Wooseok to his feet to the rather large box by the tree.

“It’s really not a big deal. Just, okay, I’ll open it for you and you can decide if you’re going to thank me for it or make fun of me for it,” he offers.

“Only if you open my present to you when I’m not here,” Wooseok concedes after a few seconds of thought. He chews on his lip imagining what could possibly be that large and can’t help but worry that because it’s Jinhyuk, the gift will probably be extravagant and ridiculously thoughtful. He’s already dreading it.

Jinhyuk nods and crouches down to unwrap the paper. “Fine. I’ll let you escape, although I don’t know why you’d want to do that. I literally could not be surprised by anything you throw at me at this point in our lives.”

Quietly, Wooseok watches as the paper comes undone only to reveal a plain cardboard box. Jinhyuk chatters the entire time his hands work to lift the tape and he pulls out a plastic protective cover containing something that Wooseok could not have expected.

“Tada! Your own bedding for when you sleep over! I mean, we definitely need to wash this to get rid of that factory smell and all, but it took me forever to find a set that had black and purple in it and not look cheesy. I did good, right? You don’t have to keep borrowing my old quilts anymore,” Jinhyuk says proudly. He shakes the duvet out and waves it back and forth like it’s supposed to be something tantalising.

A huge part of Wooseok is absolutely moved by the gesture, that Jinhyuk would make such an effort to do this for him, and a tiny part of him is kind of sad that he’d no longer be using quilts that Jinhyuk had brought all the way from his childhood bedroom to his apartment. Wooseok had grown up with those quilts and loved the threadbare feel to them.

“Hey, earth to Kim Wooseok,” Jinhyuk says a bit nervously. “I mean, I figured this would be well-received, but I didn’t think it’d render you speechless. Also, uh, you might wanna ease up on your lips there. You look like you’re about to chew a hole through,” he adds cautiously.

Wooseok’s mouth stops. It’d been a nervous habit of his, something that he hadn’t really done in a long time given that his life was mostly predictable. Even in the face of some trying days at the cafe, he hadn’t really resorted to his old habits, but he can’t really think of anything to say without embarrassing himself. The idea of being given bedding is unheard of to him, as if it’s too intimate despite them never having slept in the same room the entire duration of their weekly sleepovers.

Finally, he decides on the only thing he knows he can safely say and mean: “Thank you. Seriously. It’s…” he trails.

Jinhyuk’s eyebrows draw together. “Ugly? I mean, I did my best to find something that wasn’t camo or, oh man, you should have seen some of the patterns they had-”

“Perfect,” Wooseok interjects. “I was about to say that it’s perfect. Thank you.”

Preening at the positive reception, Jinhyuk gathers all of the bedding. “I’ll have this washed and dried for you by Friday. Two days until you get to use them!” he says excitedly.

“Yeah,” echoes Wooseok. “Hey, Merry Christmas. I’m going to head home now. Thanks for dinner, too. See you Friday, right?”

Jinhyuk nods and sends Wooseok on his way with a big smile and a wave.

Had it not been for pure exhaustion, Wooseok isn’t sure he would have been able to sleep with all the thoughts he had about Jinhyuk’s gift to him.

-----

Wooseok startles awake to loud banging and someone yelling. It’s unlike his neighbourhood to be this noisy at night, or rather, morning, when he blearily eyes his phone. It’s past 3AM. And there are about fifteen missed calls and several unread messages from Jinhyuk.

Then, his doorbell rings and the knocking continues.

“Open the door, Wooseok!” comes Jinhyuk’s frantic and muffled voice.

Groggy, Wooseok pulls himself out of bed and drags on a thick zip up hoodie as he shuffles to the door. He should be mad. It’s 3AM, after all, but he knows Jinhyuk not to be the type to do something like this unless it’s very urgent, and so he unlocks the door only to be flung against the wall of the entryway with just the jarring sound of the front door slamming closed and Jinhyuk’s heavy breathing.

“Wha-” is all he manages to get out before he’s tightly enveloped in a hug.

“Sorry, I know it’s late. I was going to wait until morning, I mean, proper morning, but I just couldn’t,” comes Jinhyuk’s rapid-fire explanation. 

He smells like winter and lavender, and Wooseok allows himself to be held, hearing more than seeing how his childhood friend is gradually calming down.

“I need to ask you something,” Jinhyuk says, pushing himself at arms’ length. “I mean, first, thank you so much for that drawing. It’s gorgeous. It’s going straight up on whatever wall space I have available at the store first thing tomorrow.”

Wooseok sags a little in relief. Initially, he thought it would be fun to make a caricature of Jinhyuk as an ice prince alongside Elsa, but what should have started off as something comical took a drastic turn when Wooseok had found himself drawing far too realistically an image of Jinhyuk from last year when they’d treated him to a makeover for his birthday. Jinhyuk had gone silver and for weeks, he’d had veritable groups of girls coming into the store to catch a glimpse of him. Wooseok had put everything into that drawing and was dissatisfied with the final product - his perfectionism not allowing him to just let things be - but had no choice due to lack of time. He’d honestly imagined that Jinhyuk would be amused by the drawing.

“I need to use this,” Jinhyuk says. He presses a slip of paper into Wooseok’s hand.

‘Good for one hug,’ reads the voucher.

“I also need to use this,” Jinhyuk adds, adding yet another slip of paper. “Wait, I want to use this first.”

‘Good for any favour. Exceptions are if the favour involves criminal activity or sweat.’

Wooseok doesn’t know what to expect at this point. All he knows is that he fully regrets throwing in the book of handmade vouchers.

“This,” Jinhyuk says, waving the cheesy Pokeball-shaped Christmas card Wooseok had written to him. “I need you to explain this to me.”

“But I don’t even remember what I wrote,” Wooseok says. He really doesn’t. By the time he got around to writing the card, he was so tired that he wasn’t even sure that he wrote coherent sentences.

“‘Thank you for coming into my life. I love you ’,” reads Jinhyuk aloud. “I know I was joking before, but are you dying? Do you have some horrible disease that you’re trying to hide from us? Nobody just says that to a friend, you know.”

Oh, that. Well, okay, Wooseok remembers writing that. He shakes his head. “No, seriously, I’m fine. I guess I just meant it as a thank you for being my friend. You’re, you know, the only person who really gets me. I was just thanking you for that. It’s really not a big deal, Jinhyuk,” he says.

For several seconds, Jinhyuk remains silent. Finally, he fixes Wooseok with somewhat sad but resolute eyes. “Listen to me for a second. I mean, I wasn’t planning on doing this, but your present and, ugh,” he groans, “I can’t keep this to myself for any longer. That last part in the card, do you mean it?”

Wooseok blinks hard. “Thanking you?”

“No. ‘I love you’. That part.”

“Oh, well, yeah, I mean-”

Jinhyuk pulls him into a fierce hug. “I’m using that second coupon now. You gotta listen to me, though, okay? Wooseok, you gotta listen.”

For a few seconds, the only thing that Wooseok can hear is his friend’s breath and thudding heartbeat.

“This could screw us up, but I know you. I know you better than anyone in this entire world,” Jinhyuk starts, shaky but determined. Another handful of seconds passes as he takes a few calming breaths before continuing. “Wooseok, I love you. You have to know that. I mean, not in the way that we’ve been friends since we were seven, but in the way that I’m in love with you.”

Wooseok feels Jinhyuk’s grip on him tighten and despite the lack of sleep, there’s something about the moment that feels exceptionally clear to him, like this isn’t some dream or fantasy that his tired subconscious concocted. Jinhyuk is solid, holding him, telling him that he loves him. Somehow, Yein’s words from their Skype call comes back to him. Had they been dating this whole time and not known? Was Jinhyuk’s hurt look from before, when he said they’d never date, because of Wooseok’s panicked deflection?

Jinhyuk lets go of him and steps back, head hanging defeated. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I mean, I shouldn’t have come.” He turns to leave, card and remaining book of vouchers falling to the floor as he grips the front door handle. Softly, voice sticky in his throat, he adds, “I think I’m going to have to take a raincheck on Friday if that’s okay with you.”

“No, just- Jinhyuk!” Wooseok cries. He grabs whatever he can - the lapel of Jinhyuk’s winter coat - and yanks hard. “Shouldn’t I have at least a few seconds to process what you just said?” he asks quietly.

Jinhyuk refuses to turn around but allows Wooseok to hold him in place.

“Remember what Yein said earlier?”

“No.”

Wooseok takes the opportunity to slip a hand into Jinhyuk’s free one and squeezes reassuringly. “We’re that dumb couple that doesn’t know we’re dating.”

Jinhyuk’s head bangs against the door just once before he bursts into laughter.

-----

Wooseok wakes feeling crushed.

He is, though, and groans a little.

“Finally awake?” comes Jinhyuk’s voice from behind. There’s a smile in the way he says that, one hand coming to twine its fingers with Wooseok’s.

They’d both agreed after laughing their way to realisation that they could talk about ‘them’ after sleep. Now that they’re awake, Wooseok isn’t really sure what to say. So, he goes with what he knows best: “You talked to yourself in the mirror before coming here, didn’t you?”

Jinhyuk exhales a chuckle into Wooseok’s hair. “Of course I did. A solid hour, which is why I ended up here so late. Sorry, by the way.”

“No, it’s okay,” Wooseok replies. He finally feels ready to face Jinhyuk, literally, and turns onto his opposite side. It’s no surprise, really, that they don’t look their best right now. A confession of love, a realisation of how they’d probably been dating this whole time without knowing it, somehow doesn’t make this morning seem anything more than the two of them wrapped up in each other, pillow creases, morning breath, and all. Wooseok had never imagined how comfortable this could feel even with the countless sleepovers they’d had as children and teenagers.

Jinhyuk pulls Wooseok closer to him, presses his head just below his jaw and says, “I told myself that if there was anything I needed to act on, I needed to do it now. I mean, there was a point where I almost talked myself out of it, but I’m right, aren’t I? I know you.”

“Mmm, you do,” Wooseok agrees, smiling when Jinhyuk complains that his hair tickles. “We can’t tell Yein that he was right, though.”

“Oh, no way, we are definitely not telling him that.”

“So then what do we say?”

Humming for a moment in thought, Jinhyuk suggests, already laughing, “You realised that I’m a great catch and ruthlessly pursued me until I finally gave in?”

Wooseok bites the closest thing he can since he’s more or less trapped in Jinhyuk’s hold.

“Oww! Why my neck?!” comes Jinhyuk’s surprised cry. He squeezes Wooseok in retaliation, using both legs to also wrap tightly around Wooseok’s lower half until the smaller male gives in, but not before whispering something that makes Jinhyuk loosen up his hold immediately.

“Love you too.”

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Epilogue:

“Oh, over here!” comes Yein’s high voice despite the very crowded barbeque restaurant.

Wooseok tries to push forward without losing his cool, but the sheer amount of people packed into the restaurant is why he hates going out during Lunar New Year break. Jinhyuk’s steadying hand in the middle of his back urges him forward, the taller male excusing the two of them as they eventually cut through the crowd to a table near the back where Yein, Minsoo, and Changhyun are already seated.

“You made it!” Changhyun says excitedly, reaching over to hug the two of them.

“Yeah, well, we could have been here earlier but someone decided to change his outfit when I wanted to leave,” says Jinhyuk.

“You should have changed your outfit. I hate that jacket,” Wooseok retorts, lip curled in mock disgust.

Minsoo glances at Yein. “Is this high school all over again?”

“Yep. They never left it.”

Just when Minsoo is about to launch into one of hundreds of anecdotes about Wooseok and Jinhyuk as teens, Changhyun notices something that flashes across the screen of Jinhyuk’s phone, just as the toy shop owner moves to flip his device face-down.

“Hey, lemme see your phone real quick?” the choreographer asks.

“Let’s order first!” comes Wooseok’s rapid suggestion. His hand swipes Jinhyuk’s phone off of the table and presses the device into his own jacket pocket.

There are a solid few seconds of exchanged yet silent glances before Yein smiles triumphantly. “You guys owe me. I called it.”

This remark starts a rather loud squabble about when, where, how, and how long. Through it all, despite staying close-lipped about anything, Wooseok reaches underneath the table to hold Jinhyuk’s hand in his own.

This is a conversation they knew they would have to have, but maybe they can wait until at least part way through the meal to explain why Jinhyuk finally changed his Elsa background of three years to one candid of Wooseok making a latte at work. Although, there really isn’t much to say in the way of what has changed, what with Wooseok very much against obvious couple stuff like matching clothes or accessories and being absolutely averse to using pet names or ending all conversations with declarations of love. No, he supposes the only thing that he’s eventually going to have to tell their group of friends is his change of address.

But that is something to share at a later time. Instead, Woosek just enjoys, endures, really, the teasing so long as Jinhyuk is there by his side.