Archive of Our Own ^beta

Jake hated Biology.

He didn’t understand why he even wasted his time doing four hours of this forsaken subject each week when he knew that once he’d get out of high school he’d never even think about the molecular composition of salt and water.

This kind of train of thoughts made it even harder to follow his class.

Well, that and the sight of his beautiful boyfriend two rows ahead of him.

As usual, more than once he had caught himself daydreaming about Sunghoon rather than listening to his teacher. It was to the point that some of them had noticed and worriedly asked him at the end of their classes what was up with him since he was usually active and focused on class.

He couldn’t possibly explain that he was just too busy contemplating Sunghoon’s hair that kind of curled near his ears, letting one of his cute moles shyly peek out.

(He had tried to explain it to his best friend Jay and Jake could only handle so much judgmental stares in one day.)

Sometimes even he laughed how ridiculously whipped and enamored with the stupidest things that his boyfriend would do or… have.

Like how his cute pointy canine would peek out first when he laughed.

Or how he had three visible moles on his face but so many more hidden.

Like how he talked slightly slower than average because he always wanted to pick the right way to phrase anything he had to say.

Or how he would always smile the most adorable grin and tell Jake that he was cool whenever he would speak English.

Or how roses would bloom on cheeks and ears whenever he would shyly lean to peck Jake at the beginning of their relationship and even now, ten months later when he would give Jake stronger and more passionate kisses that left him breathless.

Or when—

“—Sim Jaeyun!”

Jake startled out of his daydreaming at the sudden loud call from his teacher who was looking at him sternly. Few classmates of his chuckled and at this stage, Jake wasn’t even embarrassed anymore of this kind of stuff. He avoided yet another judgmental stare from his best friend on his right and a more questioning one from his boyfriend, though.

“Sorry, teacher,” He bowed his head apologetically, “Can you repeat the question, please?” He tried.

Mr. Kim just shook his head in consternation and tsked, “I didn’t ask anything. I just want you to be able to follow my class without being distracted by one of classmates’ head.” More chuckles ensued after the remark and Jake felt his ears warm up.

From his peripheral’s vision he noticed how Sunghoon turned around to lower his head in embarrassment, touching the end of his longer hair falling on his nape.

Okay, now he was a little embarrassed.

“I’m sorry.” He simply said again because what else could he say, “I’ll try to be more diligent and focused.” He tried to sound convincing but who was he kidding, in reality. He sucked at Biology even when he was focused.

“You better be. Next week you’ll have a test on today’s lesson.”

The class collectively groaned and the moment (read: Jake’s own public humiliation) passed as Mr. Kim explained the detail of their test.

Jake used this moment to fall back in his state of unprecedented distraction.

His eyes fell back on a certain black-haired boy two rows again. This time Sunghoon was gently scratching the back of his head and Jake smiled smally as he noticed the simple white bracelet that peeked out from under his uniform.

It wasn’t the first gift that Jake had given the younger but it sure was the most meaningful one. He had it engraved a small ‘J + S’, matching Jake’s own black one.

Jake still remembered how he thought that it was very cliché and dumb to the point he had been hesitant to give it to Sunghoon on his birthday party, especially with their group of close friends there to tease them to no end.

It was after seeing the most beautiful smile bloom on Sunghoon’s soft face, his eyes turning gorgeous crescent and him muttering a soft and emotional “I love it, Jakey,” that Jake realized he was lost for the boy.

Completely and utterly lost.

“Wow, you’re actually still looking at him.” He heard Jay whisper on his right. Jake saw his friend look at him in deadpan. “You’re so in love, it’s disgusting.”

“Not so loud!” Jake panicked. Even though his teacher was back to enthusiastically teach them about some uninteresting stuff he didn’t want to risk anyone hearing and further his embarrassment.

“You didn’t deny it, though.” Jay remarked and Jake huffed.

Sunghoon, for all the time they’ve been together, never said he loved Jake. Not that Jake didn’t think it every time Sunghoon would look his way, but for some reasons Sunghoon was scared by the idea of saying it.

Jake said it once and regretted it right after.

(It was during one of their sleepovers. Since it was mid-October and that the temperature was lowering everyday, they had the best excuse to snuggle against each other under the covers of Jake’s queen-sized bed.

They had just finished their second Disney movie and were chatting about the most random things like they loved to do it.

Every time Sunghoon and him would laugh at something stupid or simply funny that the other would say they could feel the vibration of their laughter each other’s chests. That just proved how close they were in their cuddling position.

Jake blurting out his feelings hadn’t been something he had planned back then. Actually, the way it just popped out, what had made him think those words, was quite silly.

It was after a whispered but passionate retelling of something cute and surprisingly smart that Gaeul Sunghoon’s dog, had done. It had Jake look at Sunghoon in such fondness that Jake found himself thinking those three words so loudly.

“And so, we actually considered creating her a SNS because of impressed we were. It’s so dumb.” Sunghoon chuckled at that last thought and Jake smiled for a whole different reason.

The room was dark, but the moonlight showed enough of Sunghoon’s beautiful features that crinkled in mirth. He looked tired because it was almost 3AM and they had been talking for nearly an hour now, but it somehow made him even more breathtaking to Jake.

Once silence fell on the room for longer than ten seconds, Sunghoon realized that Jake hadn’t said anything and switch his gaze from the ceiling to his boyfriend. He was about to ask him what was up, but Jake beat him to it.

“I love you, Sunghoon.”

Honestly, Jake hadn’t thought it over. Therefore he really hadn’t had the time even consider how the younger would react.

He hadn’t expected Sunghoon to freeze and for his face to fall gradually, his eyes widening in… fear?

Moments later spent in what seemed to be awkward silence Jake knew he was mirroring his boyfriend’s expression.

Sunghoon looked away, slowly pulling away completely from his embrace in Jake’s arms – making the Australian’s eyes widened in slight panic.

“What did you say?”

Jake hesitated to answer him. He had only seen this kind of coldness from Sunghoon a handful of times in their years of friendship and then relationship and never had it been aimed at him.

“Huh… I said that I loved you.” Jake said with a small frown looking away as well to process what was happening at the moment.

Then, an awkward “Oh.”

And it was all Sunghoon had said to him.

Oh.

So, after two minutes of painfully awkward and unusual silence, worried glances thrown each other’s way, Jake cleared his throat and quickly found an excuse to exit the room, much to Sunghoon’s concern.

When he left the room, he quietly walked to the kitchen, trying to be as quiet as possible as not to wake up Layla that was sleeping on her bed in the living room. Once he was in the room, he opened the cabinet to retrieve a glass and pour himself a glass of water.

Maybe it could help pass the bitter taste in his mouth.

He didn’t know what to think. On the one side they had never spoken of actual love before, but it had been six months since they had started dating and years since they had been friends. Within those years they had said I love you to each other many times and even if it was platonic at the time, it still prove that it wasn’t completely foreign to them.

So why had it been so… awkward this time?

Why would Sunghoon react the way he did?

In the whole duration of their relationship, they had barely fought and were consistent on the way they proved that they care for each other. 

Of course, the younger was completely allowed not to feel the same way Jake felt, even though a part of Jake had been convinced that someone his feelings would be reciprocated. The problem was the reaction.

That coldness. That uncertainty. That uneasiness.

It was something that Jake had never felt with Sunghoon and now he was actually scared that some part of the other felt all those things about them.

Was this a sign for their relationship?

He felt his hands shake slightly and he lowered his glass after he took a big gulp from it. He tried to reign down the ugly feeling that would make the tears that were gathering in his eyes fall. He raised his head to make them put and sighed.

Seconds later he felt soft, lean arms snake around his waist. He startled a little but calmed down as soon as he recognized the smell of Sunghoon’s caramel shampoo.

Sunghoon lowered his head until his chin was resting on the crook of Jake’s neck, like the older loved it. Jake felt his chest press against his back and he instinctively started stroking Sunghoon’s arms around him.

“I really, really like you, Jakey,” Sunghoon whispered in his ears and Jake tried to fight more tears coming out from the array of things he was feeling at this instant.

“You have to believe me when I say that. Please,” Sunghoon pleaded against in his neck this time. Jake gulped slowly and nodded because years of friendship had given him the ability to tell when his boyfriend was sincere or not.

“I believe you… I like you, too. A lot.” Jake ended up saying, trying to retract what he had said earlier. Trying to come back to the previous stage of their relationship where everything seemed simpler and honest. Anything not to ruin what they have.

Sunghoon sighed softly, “I’m sorry you have to do this. I’m sorry for not answering and locking you away like that.”

Jake sighed back and he slowly felt his heart becoming lighter at the gentleness of his boyfriend’s words, at the softness of the way he was holding Jake, pecking his neck once, twice in silent comfort.

“It’s okay. I now understand that I shouldn’t have pushed that unto you like that. I didn’t think before saying it. I’m sorry.” Jake muttered.

Suddenly he was turned around gently by Sunghoon to be taken in a real, warm hug.

Jake breathed in and out the sweet smell of the lavender fabric softener that emanated from Sunghoon’s pajama shirt and of his caramel shampoo. It smelled like comfort.

“Please don’t apologize. I’m just… not ready yet. And I’m sorry for that, I really am. I just hope that you can accept the fact that I can’t say it yet, but that it won’t change how I act with you, how I view our relationship. It’s really precious to me. You’re really precious to me.”

Jake nodded silently, letting the force of his hug show how happy and satisfied with Sunghoon’s answer.

They stayed like that, basking in each other’s presence for some time until Sunghoon slightly pulled away to take him in a sweet kiss that had Jake bite his lip in giddiness.

That night they fell asleep in each other’s arms, just like it was supposed to be.)

Although it had ended on a happy note, Jake had learned his lesson and had promised himself that he would never mention the word Love in that context ever again in front of his boyfriend. Partly because he wanted to let Sunghoon take his time processing their relationship, partly because he was scared that if it came out again, this time the consequences would be dire for them.

His inner thoughts were interrupted just like the class by some knocks on the door. Mr. Kim stopped talking and proceeded to tell the person outside to come in.

Heeseung entered the room with a cart full of flowers, heart shaped chocolate boxes, small plushies and one enormous Teddy bear. The girls and some boys in the class awed and Heeseung’s eyes crinkled as he bowed to Mr. Kim.

“Hello, Mr. Kim. I’m so sorry to interrupt your class but I am here to distribute the first batch of Valentine’s day gifts.”

Mr. Kim smiled at the model student. He was the vice-president of the student council, president of the art club and the top student of his year. Everyone, including the teachers loved Heeseung, which Jake could understand since he was one of his best friends as well.

“You can proceed, as long as it’s quick. I’m sure you’re busier than ever,” Mr. Kim joked and Heeseung laughed back – knowing him, his laugh was probably genuine — before bowing again and scanning the cart.

Jake was surprised that people were already giving Valentine’s day gifts when the actual holiday would be in a week and a half. Everyone seemed giddy to show how much they cared for their valentines. Jake found it cute.

The whole idea of Valentine’s day had always made him so giddy. Sure, you had to show consistency in the way you loved your partner but still.

The fact that you had a special day in the year where you could go the extra-mile to show your significant other how you felt was simply charming to him. He saw how happy his mother was whenever she’d wake up to a bouquet of red roses each year in the morning of February 14^th and Jake had always wanted to know what it felt like.

Heeseung neatly distributed the gifts, creating a commotion in the class, girls giggling at the teddy bears they had received and boys at the chocolate boxes and cards. It was all very cheerful and cute, to the point Mr. Kim let them have their little moments, much to the class’ relief.

After distributing almost everything, Heeseung took the big white Teddy Bear and started walking towards Jake’s way. Jake’s heart actually skipped a beat at the sight. Could it be a gift for him?

He quickly looked at Sunghoon who looked in wonder as well. Jake simply smiled at him when their look crossed.

Heeseung walked with the big plushie, trying not knock things on the desk he was passing by, until he stopped in between Jake and Jay, but much to both Jake and Jay’s dismay he turned towards Jay with a knowing smile.

“This one is for you, Jay.” Heeseung teased the Korean American student. “From your lovely boyfriend Jungwon who insisted to buy the biggest plushie we had to sell.”

Jay was a mess for lack of better word. He was spluttering and blushing but at the same time he looked partly fond, partly annoyed, and partly embarrassed from the unwanted attention.

From Heeseung’s smile it was very likely that Jungwon knew exactly that Jay would react this way. The younger loved to tease his boyfriend and test his patience simply because for all the frustration that Jay loved to pour out on people when they annoyed him, Jungwon was immuned to it. They’ve been dating for two years and somehow the younger had perfected the art of ‘Jay-management’. Anything and everything remotely annoying the younger did, Jay would either love it eventually or ended up tolerating it because it was Jungwon and he loved the younger too much.

The teddy-bear though, it was a lot. Jungwon just knew how to push Jay’s buttons.

“I’m going to kill him.” Jay muttered under his breath as he took the teddy bear from Heeseung forcefully in annoyance. Jake didn’t miss the way that he carefully laid his coat on his school bag to put the big plushie on it, just make sure it wouldn’t touch the floor.

“Anyways,” Heeseung chuckled, “Thank you for letting me do this now, Mr. Kim.” He said as he walked back to his now half-empty cart, he bowed again as Mr. Kim smiled and excused him. Heeseung bowed again and pulled his cart away to exit the class.

Jay was still looking at the bear in embarrassment and you could just see how he was fighting a smile even though he was frowning.

Jake chuckled quietly and looked at Sunghoon instinctively, raising a single eyebrow as to tell him “You’re seeing this?” then he mouthed “I want the same but bigger.” As a joke.

Sunghoon rolled his eyes and shook his head with a smile before turning back when the teacher clapped his hands.

“Alright class, let’s focus back on our chapter!”

*♡ ᴱᴺ ♡*

“Oh, come on Jay hyung! It’s cute.” Jungwon whined.

They were at the cafeteria for lunch break and all seven of them were gather around their usual round table at the back. Sunoo and Ni-ki were in their own bubble as usual, Sunoo helping him studying his Korean quietly. Jake, Sunghoon and Heeseung were just looking at the show in front of them of Jay pointedly ignoring Jungwon who was pouting at his boyfriend. Jay had purposefully put the bear between him and his boyfriend to create a distance between them.

Jake was trying to eat without choking in laughter.

“I had to drag this awful mountain of white fluff in all of my classes, Wonnie! I hit at least seven people with it while I was walking in the hallways. Some freshmen made fun of me! Do you realize how embarrassing this was for me?” Jay hissed at Sunghoon seating across him, still pointedly ignoring his whining boyfriend – although Jake saw the pout twitch to show a hidden smile.

“I really thought you’d like it, though! I gave you a giant teddy bear because you’re my giant teddy bear, hyungie.” Jungwon said cutely and here went the blushy sputtering signature of an embarrassed Jay.

“Damn Jay,” Heeseung whistled, “I didn’t know that pet name went to that extent.” Jay groaned at the older before turning to his boyfriend who was snickering

“Stop calling me that in front of them!” Jay hissed and Jungwon smiled fondly, taking Jay ‘s hand that was gripping the table.

“Oh please! You usually like it!”

“Not here in public, though!”

Jake snickered at the bantering couple and their teasing hyung, before turned to his boyfriend who was rolling his eyes at them.

“They’re sweet.” He said as he ate a bite of his sandwich. Sunghoon nodded while he took a gulp from his bottled water.

“I’m glad we’re not lovey-dovey like that though.” His boyfriend snickered, his nose scrunching cutely, “It’s kind of gross.”

“Grosser than last week’s cuddle session?” Jake raised an eyebrow. At the sight of small blush growing on Sunghoon’s cheeks from the reminder of their intimate moments on the previous Sunday, Jake bit his lip and leaned to peck his boyfriend’s cheek softly, “My boyfriend’s so cute.”

“Right… and you’re fine, I guess,” Sunghoon answered back, trying to hide his embarrassment. Jake scoffed playfully and snaked his arm around Sunghoon’s waist slowly, making sure that Sunghoon was fine with it since the younger didn’t really like big public display of affection. He took Sunghoon leaning in his side embrace as a good sign.

Sunoo scoffed from the other side of the table, “Look at this! You all disgust me. You’re the only non-gross one in here Heeseung hyung.” He scoffed, and Jake almost pointed out how Sunoo was literally stuck to Ni-ki’s side, but he ended up staying silent.

“You clearly never saw Heeseung hyung with Beomgyu hyung before.” Jay pointed out as he started fiddling absentmindedly with the white teddy bear’s ears. “The only reason it’s bearable is because Beomgyu is in the neighbor school. We only ever see them when they’re in public and Heeseung is too high strung to actually do PDA. Not for the lack of trying from Beomgyu hyung, though.”

“Did I ask you to expose my relationship like that?” Heeseung chastised Jay in embarrassment, the younger only smirking at him evilly, a big contrast with how he was stroking the soft plushie. “Anyways, he’s not wrong. Beomgyu has been planning our Valentine’s day plan since New Years finished. So extra this boy…” Heeseung shook his head with a fond smile.

“Everyone is going all in this year, it’s crazy.” Sunoo said before turning to Jake and Sunghoon “What about you two? Do you have anything planned for V-day?”

Jake startled, his mouth full of the last bite of his sandwich. Quite frankly he was a little embarrassed that he hadn’t anything else than ‘Not yet’ as an answer. He let Sunghoon answer for him by nudging him on the side he was still holding.

After seeing Jake’s cheeks full of the food, Sunghoon chuckled slightly before turning towards his friends, “Well, no. We don’t have anything planned.”

“… Yet?” Jungwon finished almost giddily, eager to know about these kinds of details. Jungwon and Jake had that in common, they both were hopeless romantics.

“No, actually we’re not doing anything at all.”

A pretty unusual silence set around the table.

Then Jake processed what his boyfriend just said.

A laugh rumbled in his chest before exploding and soon the rest of the table followed in chortles.

“You’re so stupid Hoonie.” He said after catching his breath and take a sip of his water, “I almost believed you for a second.”

“I’m serious, though.”

“What?!” the whole table said at the same time except for Jake, who froze. Surely, his boyfriend couldn’t be serious.

Surely.

“What do you mean you’re not doing anything for Valentine’s day?” Ni-ki said from the other end of the table.

Jake saw his boyfriend avoiding everyone’s insistent stare by peeling the foil around his kimbap.

“I don’t do Valentine’s day.” Sunghoon simply said.

“You don’t… do Valentine’s day? What does that even mean?” Jungwon said, distraught.

“I think it’s just a capitalist creation whose purpose is to spend ridiculous amounts of money on things that won’t matter days later. People are just brainwashed to think it’s important but at the end of the day you’re just thousands of wons short and stupider.” Sunghoon explained with a growing frustration, and Jake could feel himself tense with the way he was still holding his waist.

Sunoo huffed in disbelief, “You can’t be serious.”

“Why wouldn’t I be serious about that? I just think it’s a dumb holiday and everyone is making such a fuss over it. Some couples would actually break up just because their Valentine’s day wasn’t ‘perfect’! So what? Does it mean that all of the gestures you do for your partner don’t matter if you don’t do something amazing just for one random day in February?” Sunghoon almost spat and Jake could feel him shutting himself away from others. “It’s just so stupid and materialistic.”

Jungwon blinked, “So… My Teddy bear gift is stupid and materialistic?”

Sunghoon backtracked in irritation, “No I just… I just think that maybe people would appreciate this kind of extravagance through more meaningful gestures than huge teddy bears or flowers.”

Jungwon frowned at the answer and started looking at the plushie in uncertainty. At the sight of how upset his boyfriend looked, Jay said reassuringly “I love it. I loved the teddy bear, alright?” Jungwon still looked a little guilty but nodded with a small smile after his boyfriend took his hand gently.

After making sure that Jungwon was fine, Jay turned to Sunghoon, looking at him unimpressed, “I don’t care about your viewpoint of Valentine’s day but you should consider the fact that not everyone show their feelings in the same way. It’s not because you don’t like teddy bears that I don’t love it.”

Heeseung nodded at Jay before pointing out calmly, “Valentine’s day is more than materialistic stuff in my opinion. Take it as a day to emphasize and further showcase how you feel for the person you care for. How much you love them.”

“Not that you’d know how to do that to begin with, Sunghoon.” Jay muttered under his breath but it was loud enough for the whole table to hear.

Another silence took the table and this time it was palpable.

Jake gaped at what had just happened, and he could feel how Sunghoon had frozen at the accusation.

“Okay that’s enough now,” he tried lowly, completely shocked at how Jay just spilled about the tense subject of Sunghoon’s block with the L-word. And the fact that somehow everyone in their group friend knew about it made it worse. “Let’s move—"

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Sunghoon cut him to hiss at Jay, mirroring the glare that Jay was throwing at him. “So, shut up.”

“I know that your lack of commitment made him lose sleep and I had to listen to him cry about over the phone at 3AM.” Jake gaped at his best friend. It was supposed to stay a secret. “I know that all he does is compromise for your own comfort. We all know that Jake is an eternal romantic and if it wasn’t for you, then Jungwonnie and I wouldn’t be the most ‘disgustingly cheesy’ couple here.”

“Jay!” Jake cried out “Stop it now!” he said in English to emphasize how serious he was.

“And you know that Jake loves Valentine’s day but apparently because you have your dumb anti-capitalist opinion, then he’ll end up doing whatever you want during a day that he deems important. Just because sometimes you can be so selfish Sunghoon!”

“Fuck you!”  Sunghoon hissed.

“Enough!” Jungwon slammed the table to snap his boyfriend out of his anger. “Jay, I think he got it now.”

Both his boyfriend and best friend were now panting in anger, a heavy silence yet again overtaking the table. Jake was stunned in what had been thrown that he felt his arms loosen from around his boyfriend’s waist, eyes pinned to the table.

Oh, God. Was it how it looked from outside?

Like he was doing all of the compromise in the relationship? Like it was one-sided?

He felt something heavy in his chest and no amount of gulping could help to pass the thing stuck in his throat. He tried to reign down his tears, but he knew himself. It wouldn’t last before he would

“I need to go.” Was all he said before he left the table to go to the bathroom, much to everyone’s concern. He just needed some time alone at the moment and when he realized his boyfriend hadn’t followed him it was enough to make him walk even faster.

*♡ ᴱᴺ ♡*

He heard a knock on his bedroom door but didn’t move to open it.

What had happened over lunch everyone figured it was preferable to leave him alone to process everything. Of course, everyone had texted him at some point of the rest of the day to make sure he was fine, and he was grateful for it. He had opened and answered to all of them except for Sunghoon’s because honestly, he wouldn’t know how to answer it.

He lo— liked Sunghoon so much and he was convinced that he liked Jake a lot as well but still Jay’s words resonated in his mind until now.

He heard another more insistent and he groaned a lone “Come in,” from under his cover.

The door opened but no one spoke. Clearly it wasn’t a family member because first of all they never knocked to begin with, and second of all… the caramel and lavender scent that slipped through the fabric was enough tell as it was.

He felt Sunghoon sitting next to his figure, right where his body folded to leave enough space. A head started stroking where his waist was over the cover and Jake held his breath.

After some time, a small “Is it true?... Is this how you feel?”

Jake froze at the weakness of Sunghoon’s voice. It was too weak, even for someone as calm and collected as his boyfriend.

Jake peeked just the upper part of his face to see his boyfriend that just looked so guilty and Jake wanted to tell him it was fine. Anything to make his frown go away.

Gosh, even when he was the one that should be upset, he still wanted to make everything better just for Sunghoon’s sake.

“… Sometimes it is.” At the sight of Sunghoon’s face falling even more Jake hushed him, “But I swear it’s not as bad as what Jay described.”

“Did you actually cry over what happened on the phone? Do you feel like I make you go fits just to satisfy me and what I like? Is it that hard to be with me, Jakey?” the more question he asked, the waterier his voice was, and it just broke Jake’s heart.

“… It’s true that I called Jay about what had happened. But it was only because I didn’t want to burden you with my stupid feelings! I really care about you and I just want you to feel comfortable in this relationship, that’s all!” Jake reassured him as he sat up to reach Sunghoon’s level.

Sunghoon was staring at his own fidgeting hands and Jake took them in a gentle hold.

“I just… I wish I could just be so open about how much I care about you, Jake. I swear I don’t ask so much of you just out of stubbornness.”

“I know, baby.” Jake smiled at him a little, squeezed their now intertwined hands, “I know you’re just doing what feels good for you. I’d hate that you’d force yourself just for my sake.”

“But you do it all the time.” Sunghoon whined, something that he barely ever did, except when he was alone with Jake in a great state of vulnerability. No, at this precise moment his boyfriend was wide open for Jake to see and this simple idea made Jake feel so reassured, because at least trust was still there.

“I should do the same for you.” Sunghoon insisted and Jake quickly shook his head.

“No, you don’t. You should do what’s good for you.”

“No, Jake. I want to do this. I want to feel like I deserve to be with someone like you.” And Jake’s heart soared a little.

“Oh, Hoonie. I swear that there’s no one else that deserves to be with me other than you.” He said instinctively before wincing at how obnoxious it sounded. The silliness of the statement did make Sunghoon cracked a small smile though.

“You want to make me happy? Smile for me and forget what Jay said. It doesn’t matter. Valentine’s day doesn’t matter.” Jake sighed that last part and Sunghoon raised his head to look at him with wide eyes.

“It matters to you, though.”

“You matter to me, Sunghoon. Not a random day in February. If you don’t want to celebrate Valentine’s day, then we won’t.” Jake insisted. Honestly, he knew that he would eventually feel upset about not celebrating such a beautiful holiday but he rather have that than seeing a minute more of Sunghoon’s guilty eyes.

“You’re sure?” Sunghoon asked again shyly and Jake nodded in pure fondness at how cute his boyfriend was.

“Yes, I’m sure.” He chuckled at the way Sunghoon’s shoulder sagged at the reassurance. They just stared at each other for a moment, in pure adoration and lovey-doviness.

“…I really don’t know what I did in my past life to have someone like you in my life.” Jake blushed a deep red and Sunghoon’s smile widened.

“You probably saved a country or something.” Jake said in fake nonchalance, and Sunghoon just chuckled and nodded enthusiastically before leaning towards him to take him in a big warm hug.

Jake held him tight, playing with the hair on his nape as he felt his boyfriend relax in his embrace. His breathing tickled his neck in the best way making jake smile even wider.

Sunghoon hummed and softly muttered, “Thank you, I…”

Jake’s breath hitched slightly. Would it slip?

“I… I like you so much.”

Ah. Good enough.

He hugged his boyfriend tighter nonetheless because those words, although not what he expected still had his heart beat so fast.

“Me too, baby. Me too.”

“Besides we can just hang out on Valentine’s day, right? Maybe watch a movie or play the Xbox as usual.”

“Yeah. Then maybe later we can make out until we’re out of breath.”

“Jake Sim!”

*♡ ᴱᴺ ♡*

Days later, things had come back to normal. After some pushing both from Jake and Jungwon’s side, Jay had apologized to Sunghoon and vice-versa and now everything seemed okay again. They were at least all in their usual great terms.

For the sake of Jake, everyone refrained to talk about Valentine’s day.

The only hitch was the fact that the rest of the school couldn’t shut up about it.

When Heeseung had mentioned the ‘first batch’ of Valentine’s day gift, he hadn’t precise the fact that it would be the first out of a hundred. For the remaining of the week until the current day, there was at least one person who sent or receive an early gift. It was probably because Valentine’s day was on Sunday this week and people wanted to make sure to confess during school days. Whole two weeks beforehand though?

“I think that at first it was like one guy who gave his girlfriend an early gift, and then some other guy’s girlfriend whined because they envied this first girl. So then more and more people started doing it in a snowball effect and now here we are.” Heeseung theorized as him, Sunghoon, Jake and Jay walked to their lockers. Heeseung’s locker wasn’t located where they were going but he had spare time to accompany them.

“It’s like the cast of Strawberry Shortcake threw up on the school or something.” Jay pointed out in slight irritation, hissing at yet another girl who hit him on her way with the big plushie she was holding.

Sunghoon shook his head, “I tell you guys. This holiday is the worst. They don’t even offer gifts because they want to but because they want to follow a trend. That’s one of my issues with—”

“Alright we got it, Hoon.” Jay cut him loudly. “it’s a bad bad holiday.”

Sunghoon just sighed and decided not to argue. Jake was grateful for that.

They walked to the locker and jake taped his passcode on it.

When he opened the locker, he was welcomed with a small white plushie and an even smaller heart shaped note. Jake gaped at the sight.

“What?” Heeseung asked as Jake was still frozen and the two others were busy with their own stuff. When he saw the little cute gifts, Heeseung gasped. “Is this… a Valentine’s day gift?”

That snapped the other two out of whatever they were doing.

“What?” Jay almost screamed in English, before scootching next to the pair to watch at the small puppy plushie and the card “Dude, someone gave you an actual gift.”

Jake unfroze and nodded in disbelief, a smile blooming at the sight. “It’s so cute,” he said as he took the soft plushie in his hands. He looked at his boyfriend who… actually had an unreadable expression. His eyes were focused on the small fluffy gift though.

“I’m only assuming it’s not from Sunghoon,” Jay pointed out and one look towards the younger’s way indicated that it was true, “Who is it from though? What does the card say?”

Jake still looked at his boyfriend but eventually unlock his gaze to take the card and actually read it.

“It says ‘Dear Jaeyun, you’re so cool. I hope you have a great week. If not, I’ll make sure to make it brighter. Please accept this little plushie that made me think of you. Happy valentine’s day.’”

“This is adorable,” Heeseung cooed, “You can tell that all of those feelings are genuine and innocent.” Jake nodded in response reading over the message again. It was so sweet. He felt kind of bad to not be able to properly thank whoever did this for their efforts, or to say that no matter how nice it was, he was already committed.

Speaking of commitment, Sunghoon now looked stern and irritated.

They were now walking back to their next class and it was only the two of them. Since Jake had taken everything he needed, he had taken the plushie with him because he didn’t want to go to his locker again. He was holding his plushie on one hand and holding Sunghoon’s hands with the other.

“You’re going to keep that?” his boyfriend suddenly asked, saying his first words in minutes now.

“Yes, why not?”

“Because—” Sunghoon started in growing irritation before groaning slightly and composing himself immediately. “Because it’s a gift from someone else and I don’t like my boyfriend receiving stuff from… strangers. What if there’s a camera in the plushie.”

Jake laughed, “Don’t be ridiculous Hoonie, it’s a simple plushie and card. It’s sweet, nothing else.”

“So, you’re going to keep it.” Sunghoon stated in what seemed to be annoyance.

“Yes, I am.” He said softly, “It’s not that big of a deal. It’s a nice gesture that I want to remember, that’s it.” he said simply as he started swinging their hands while he still was looking at the plushie.

“Besides,” he realized, “This way I get to at least have something for Valentine’s day and now you really don’t have to get me anything. It’s a win-win situation, babe.”

Sunghoon peered at the plushie with a frown before sighing and nodding, “Alright, whatever.”

“Alright?” Jake coaxed him again with a small peck on one of his moles. “We’re good?”

“Yes.” Sunghoon said after the third kiss on his cheeks, “Now stop, it tickles!”

Except that, just like Jake’s kisses, it didn’t stop.

Everyday Jake would get something different waiting for him in his locker.

On Tuesday it was a single plastic rose that smelled really good. On Wednesday it was a small box of chocolate. On Thursday it was a musical card with the song Just One Day by BTS playing. On Friday it was a personalized key ring that showed a cartoon dog holding a heart.

Each day Jake would be almost giddy at the prospect of having a new thing just for him. It was fun as well because they all had no idea of who it could be, so by the second day, everyone was extremely invested this whole ‘secret valentine’s mystery person (The super smart, super obvious name courtesy of Jungwon and Sunoo).

(“It might be Taehyun?” Jungwon suggested from his position sprawled on Ni-ki’s bedroom floor. They generally hanged out either at Ni-ki’s, Jay’s, or Jake’s since those three had the most space in their bedrooms. Their parents were all well-off financially, thank God for that.

“No, I already asked Beomgyu. He said that Taehyun is into someone else from his own school.” Heeseung mumbled, still focused on founding who it was, just lie everyone else.

“Maybe it’s Jiheon?” Sunoo suggested.

“She spent last week receiving gifts from Jeongin, I doubt she’d find time to send some to you?” Jungwon answered while shaking his head.

“Yuna?”

“She doesn’t even know him.”

“Eric?”

“He’s like my brother! Besides he was sick during those last two days.”

“Yeonjin!”

“… She hates his guts. For no reason.”

“What about—”

“Oh, would you stop talking about it?! We’re speculating over someone who wants to steal my boyfriend, here.”

They all stopped.

…For a whole five minutes.

“… You’re sure that Taehyun is completely ruled out?”

“Ugh.”)

His secret admirer even gave him a gift on Saturday when he was participating to his weekly extracurricular activities. They had given him a bottle of peach soda and an embroidered handkerchief with his initials on it.

“Oh, you got to be kidding me!” Sunghoon huffed at the handkerchief. “What is this? America in the twenties?”

The rest of their group of friends snickered at his irritation, half amused half surprised. No one was more shook than Jake though. He had to admit that a handkerchief was a lot. They were in high school, how had the person even had the time to have this done.

“I have to say, even I think this is extra,” Jungwon conceded while laughing, “This person must really like you.”

Ni-ki and Heeseung nodded while Sunoo was taking a selca of himself with the handkerchief, which was… just Sunoo things, they guessed.

“I wonder who this girl is.” Ni-ki said absentmindedly.

“It could be a boy,” Jay remarked, and they nodded again because it was true. The statement made Sunghoon huffed in the side and cross his arms, but they all ignored him.

“Girl, boy or non-binary, they’re probably loaded. Who has the allowance to pay for all those things?” Heeseung said in confusion. “Especially for someone like Jake, that doesn’t even know them.”

Jake nodded absentmindedly, “I guess so… I just want to give it back. All those gifts… It’s too much for someone who can’t give them anything back.”

Sunghoon doubled at the words of his boyfriend, “Why would you even give them something back?”

Jake blinked, “I don’t know… Common courtesy?” Sunghoon didn’t say anything back to that but grumbled in his corner. They let them wallow in his sour mood.

“What does the card say this time? They’re probably going to give you a hint on their identity since Valentine’s day is tomorrow.” Heeseung asked eagerly.

“Huh,” Jake unfolded the familiar heart-shaped letter to open it, “It says ‘Since valentine’s day is coming closer, I should tell you that it was amazing to have been able to give you those things. I somehow knew you’d keep them despite having someone in your life right now. I thought your boyfriend would maybe give you things that would rival with my own gifts but apparently not… Finally, as a last word, I just wanted to say this: You’re great Jake. You deserve the best. And even though we’ll never meet, I was happy I got to make your valentine’s week brighter.”

Jake held the small letter, not knowing what to think of it. He felt a mix of fondness and sadness. Sadness from the closing chapter of this mysterious sweet admirer, but also from how the jab thrown in the letter that just resonated quite a bit with reality. He tried to focus on the positive though.

Ni-ki snickered in disbelief, “Holy shit.”

“Language, Ni-ki!” Heeseung chastised the younger absentmindedly.

Jungwon added, “He’s kind of right though, that was…” he trailed off before daring to look Sunghoon’s way and Jake saw his boyfriend frowning so bad, and he suddenly started feeling a little guilty.

Here he was enjoying some gestures from someone else in front of his boyfriend, even though he knew that Sunghoon didn’t like the prospect of someone else being romantic with him. Jake understood that, though. He hated when all the girls fawned over his boyfriend’s ice-skating skills. Jake wasn’t the jealous type, never had been, but being with Sunghoon changed him in more ways than one. He had to realize that it would be the same with his boyfriend. He should’ve realized way earlier.

“That was silly.” Jake said. “It’s all silly.”

“I wouldn’t call it silly.” Jungwon said with thought, “It’s mostly sweet, even though it was hidden under a jab at Hoon-hyung. Besides now we can assume that the person is here today in school, which narrows down our research.”

“Let’s stop looking for them.” he ignored the groans and gasps from his friends, “I’m serious. It was fun while it lasted but by Monday, I’ll stop receiving those gifts and I feel like this person won’t try to contact me again. They seem too shy. So now we can forget about it.” he said with finality.

“But—”

“No, Jay. Let’s all put it behind us and finish once and for all with this valentine’s week bit.”  He said firmly at his best friend who huffed and crossed his arms.

Jake ignored him and walked to his boyfriend who was back to this unreadable expression, looking in the void. He took his hands softly and that snapped Sunghoon out of his revery “Okay, babe?”

Sunghoon was looking at him in silence with so many emotions that Jake was once again unable to read it.

Sensing the small tense moment, Heeseung cleared his throat and said, “Well… It’s Saturday afternoon and somehow, we’re still in school. We should probably go.” The rest of the group understood the cue and nodded. Once they all said their goodbyes, wishing each other a nice valentine’s day, it was only Jake and Sunghoon remaining.

Jake looked at his boyfriend who was only staring at him, eyes so heavy but hard to describe.

Eventually after some more silence Sunghoon muttered, “You loved it, didn’t you?”

There was no bite in his question, no excessive jealousy or accusation, just genuine wonder laced with something that Jake couldn’t quite put his finger on.

“No, I didn’t love it.” he said seriously.

“But you still liked it.”

“If by ‘it’ you mean the attention then… Yes. But it always feels good when you receive gifts, doesn’t it.” He said rationally, “I don’t have any feelings for them. I wouldn’t have feelings even if they had gifted me a trip back to Australia. I wouldn’t because I—” He cut himself, “I only have eyes for you, Hoonie.” He corrected himself but still said sincerely.

Sunghoon’s eyes widened but his frown deepened. Jake waited for him to collect his thoughts as the younger lowered his head to watch the gentle way Jake was stroking his thumb against the soft skin of his own hand.

“… Fine.” His boyfriend said after some time. Jake tried to read in between the lines of his expression but yet again he couldn’t. He wasn’t convinced by that answer that was for sure.

He squeezed his hand in reassurance, “I’m telling you the truth, Sunghoon. It’s all details to me. You’re important. You and what makes you comfortable. Alright?”

Sunghoon was silent, his eyes still focused on their hands intertwined. Jake then realized that he wasn’t looking exactly at their hands but at his wrist.

His bare wrist.

“You’re not wearing the bracelet.” Sunghoon noted lowly and Jake’s eyes widened.

He usually took the bracelet off when he did because he was scared to have the metal clasp rusting. He must have forgotten to put it back on after his shower on the night before, which was logical since he had fallen asleep right after exiting his bathroom.

“Oh, I forgot to put it back on last night. It’s at home right now.” Jake explained calmly and at the sight of Sunghoon’s resigned expression, he added, “I didn’t do it on purpose. I’ll put it back on as soon as I get home.”

Finally, Sunghoon looked at him again, eyes looking almost desperate and Jake didn’t understand what was going through his mind.

“I know you didn’t, Jake.”

Then why do you look and sound like I did, Jake wanted to ask him.

It felt so weird to be put into this situation with him. It was uncomfortable, something he had barely ever felt with Sunghoon before. They knew each other by heart. They knew each other’s qualities and flaws; they knew their deepest darkest secrets and could pinpoint each other’s most joyful moments simply because they had been there for all of them.

To think that they were speechless, unable to read each other right now broke Jake’s heart.

Following the small but tense silence, Sunghoon sighed, “We should go. He school is going to close.”

He let go of Jake’s hand to pick up his sports bag that was lying on the floor and exchange some stuff in his locker. Jake’s hand suddenly felt so cold all the sudden.

He decided to distract himself by picking up his own bag. At the sight of the handkerchief, he hesitated on what to do with it. After some thought he decided to leave it in his locker. He didn’t’ want to throw it away entirely but he had a hunch that keeping it at home wouldn’t be a good idea either.

After they were both done, they walked to the gate of their school and started walking to go home in silence.

Jake didn’t know what to do. He wanted to talk to Sunghoon, but something told him that he needed some time to think. His attempts at small talks answered by half muttered words were enough to confirm that.

When they arrived in front of Sunghoon’s home it was around 2PM. Generally, they spent Saturdays together doing whatever they wanted, but Jake felt like it would be different this time.

They fidgeted in front of each other, avoiding locking gazes and it was like they were back to the beginning of their relationship except that the awkwardness wasn’t due to giddiness and excitement but to regret and nerves.

“Well, I’d ask you to come in, but I have some homework. The biology test and everything,” Sunghoon said with a small sad smile.

 Jake wanted to tell him that they could study it together (and it would have been exactly what they’d have done if it wasn’t for the elephant in the room), but he refrained. Clearly Sunghoon needed some time to himself and Jake had to respect that no matter how much he wanted to just talk it all out and make the unease go away.

“Alright then…” he said with a small frown. Then he walked to his boyfriend who looked surprise from the sudden closeness (which… Ow) and gently took him for a hug.

He might never know what went on in his mind, especially because for all the amount of skills Jake had in terms of coaxing the truth out his boyfriend, Sunghoon could be hard to read when he wanted to; but it was okay.

“I’m sorry you don’t feel as okay as you can right now. And I hope it passes. Just know that I’m here for you and I’ll stay here with you until you figure things out. I’m always a call or a text away, okay?” he reminded him softly.

Jake heard a small sigh and a nod against his shoulder and that made him smile in instinct.

He was really whipped for this boy.

Once he pulled away, he kissed Sunghoon’s forehead, even though he was taller than Jake, which made Sunghoon’s small frown twitch a little while red spread from his ears to his cheeks. Jake’s smile widened at the sight.

Jake grinned softly, “Okay then. See you tomorrow? For our chill at home date?”

Their non-valentine’s day hangout.

 “Yeah.” Sunghoon said with thought. Then, out of nowhere, he nodded again but this time with more enthusiasm, his eyes sparkling “Yeah! See you tomorrow!”

“What are you so excited for all the sudden.” Jake blinked at him.

“Huh? Nothing.” Sunghoon said almost absentmindedly although his eyes now had a fire that Jake wasn’t used to.

Two seconds later he felt hands on his face and Sunghoon was lip locking him so, so, sweetly. Jake barely had the time to react or to kiss him back before the other pulled away.

“See you tomorrow.” Sunghoon repeated with a clearer, almost focused expression and Jake was still getting over the sudden kiss.

“Bye,” he said but Sunghoon was already walking to his front door, pace determinate. In seconds Jake was alone, still processing everything that had happened in the last minute.

What the fuck?

*♡ ᴱᴺ ♡*

“You’re not doing anything with Sunghoon today, darling?” his mom asked.

Today was Valentine’s day but as it was Sunday, everyone was at home. His parents were spending the day lazying around together in the morning and since Jake had done his homework on the day before, he was baking brownies to pass time.  His brother, Felix, was in Layla’s playpen, leisurely playing and petting her.

“Well, we’re supposed to see each other… I’ll probably go to his house on the afternoon.”

“What do you boys have planned?” His father asked, even though his eyes were stuck on their TV. It was funny the way his dad was multitasking. Following what was on TV, listening to what his family was saying and cuddling his wife on their couch.

“Well… Nothing in particular.” Jake said as he mixed the eggs and sugar.

“What?” Felix finally tuned in, “What do you mean nothing in particular?”

Jake fidgeted on the spot, not daring to look back at his parents and brother, who he knew were watching him like he had grown two heads. They were the ones who had made him the romantic that he was today. Besides, if anyone were going to be outraged by not celebrating Valentine’s day, it would be Jake’s parents.

“Well, he kinda doesn’t like celebrating it. Says it’s a capitalist construct. So, we’ll just spend the day at his house, so no worries.” He explained quickly, hoping they’d change the subject. His parents remained silent and he proceeded to pour the mix of melted chocolate and butter in the sugar/egg mix.

“Oh, honey.” His mother said sadly.

“It’s okay.” He tried to sound convincing, but he couldn’t lie about these kinds of things to his parents. “It doesn’t really matter.”

“But you’ve been pestering us about your first Valentine’s day with your first boyfriend since you were ten.” His brother reminded him, and he heard his mother hum a low ‘That’s right!”

“Yes, but I can’t force him to celebrate it if he doesn’t want to, can I? he answered back immediately, feeling something started weighing on his stomach. “I have to compromise for our relationship to work, right?”

“That is true, but still… he should also compromise for you. Otherwise, it can’t work.” His mother said calmly, using that voice that he only heard when she was serious about a subject that might upset him. “I’m surprised that Jay didn’t say anything about that. He’s so overprotective of you and your feelings.”

“Jay had a fight with Sunghoon about it and we just— No! no. I don’t want to explain that.” He huffed, “You guys are the one who always say that I can’t always have what I want in life. And for once I’m fine with that.” He muttered while he added the flour and started mixing.

“Are you, really? Because you seem pretty upset right now.” His dad remarked and Jake huffed and grumbled.

He didn’t want to think about it more. He already had spent all morning trying to forget about the fact that Sunghoon had stopped answering his messages on the night before, thus he hadn’t even sent him a good morning text on the morning.

“So, you’re just going to hang out, then.” His mother said after he didn’t say anything for a whole minute, “No mentioning of Valentine’s day? No dates?”

“Well, I don’t know about the mentioning of Valentine’s day. Probably not, but we will have a stay-at-home date.”

“So… a hang out.”

Jake sighed as he sprayed some butter on the brownie pan, “Yup.”

“I think you should talk to him about it, son.” His dad said carefully.

“Yeah, it’s not really fair to you if you do 70% of the compromise in the relationship.” Jake was going interject but Felix cut him, “It wouldn’t kill him to do something for the day, you know! It’s not the painful fit that he probably made it out to be.”

“He didn’t make me think anything. I decided to not celebrate it because I didn’t want him to feel uncomfortable.” Jake defended.

“But what about your comfort, dear?” his mother asked in worry. “Sunghoon is a lovely boy but maybe he doesn’t consider your comfort enough sometimes.”

“I think that he’d be more uncomfortable doing it than I’d be by not doing it.” he said quickly before sighing, “I don’t even understand why you look all so distraught. It’s really not that big of a deal.”

“You say that now, but later you’ll come back all upset and it’ll be the same thing as the ‘I love you’ ordeal.” His brother huffed and why oh why was he so honest with his family?

“Plus, there is something I don’t understand. I saw a teddy bear on your desk, and even a rose. I thought that it was an early gift from Sunghoon.” His mother said and his hands shook slightly as he poured the chocolate mix in the pan.

Jake hesitated to say anything. He didn’t know if talking about everything would help or make things worse.

Apparently, his silence was mistaken for something else, “… Are you cheating on him?!”

Jake hissed at Felix, “What?! No, I’m not! I just received those from some secret admirer.”

“How exciting!” his mother said, looking strangely like Layla as her eyes sparkled in excitement.

“Not really. It was just this person who gave me those gifts all week, it was anonymous, so I don’t think that they did it to actually confess.” Jake said as he put the brownie in the pre-heated oven.

“Didn’t they give you hints on who it might be?” his brother asked from the other end of the room.

“Not really. That didn’t stop my friend to investigate all week.” He chuckled absentmindedly ‘It’s all over now, though. So, it doesn’t matter.”

“Aren’t you curious?” his mother asked.

Jake thought of his boyfriend’s reaction, “I mean, I am a little bit. I at least wanted to thank them for taking so much time and efforts for me but unless they manifest on Monday, I might never know. And honestly I’m fine with that.” He said as he started clearing the counter, “I have a boyfriend anyways.”

“What did said-boyfriend say when he saw that someone else was trying to woo, you? On Valentine’s week, too.” His mother said, and now everyone in the room was looking at him with unruptured attention, even Layla.

“He was irritated by it, but he didn’t say anything about it until today.”

“Well, he doesn’t want to celebrate Valentine’s day with you and now he gets mad when someone else wants to.” His father said with a frown. Jake rolled his eyes at his reasoning.

“I’m still his boyfriend, dad. I would be jealous as well if I were him.” He deadpanned. His brother and mother nodded as well. It just made sense. His father relented.

His brother then spoke, “Back to the secret admirer. How did you receive those gifts?”

“It was in my locker by each lunch breaks.”

“So, we now know that the person knows your locker number!”

“My locker number is my birthday though.” Jake muttered.

“Jakey… That’s so unsafe. What if someone tries to steal your stuff?” his mother scolded him.

“I barely use my locker and I always keep all my important stuff with me, so it was never an issue.”

They kept on talking about the secret admirer. Even when he pulled out the brownie, washed all the dishes, and when he went to take a shower and changed himself to go see Sunghoon. They were still making up theories by that time as well. His brother had even pulled out his yearbook from the year before to have faces to pinpoint.

“Oh, Jake, here you are! We have some guesses.” Felix said as soon as he climbed down the stairs.

“Oh, please. Guys, it doesn’t matter who it is. Really.” Jake pleaded as he walked back to the counter to cut the brownies and put them in a Tupperware. He wanted to at least give those to Sunghoon even though they were just going to hang out.

“No but listen, I think that Lixie is onto something, Jakey.” His mother said with enthusiasm. “We think it’s someone you know well.”

“What are you talking about?” Jake said as he carefully transferred the hot brownies.

“Well, the person gave you a puppy key chain and it’s the same breed as Layla and only your close friends know about her. They also gave you a box of your favorite chocolate brand. I don’t think it’s a coincidence.” His brother listed, “Finally, they called you Jake in that last letter. Everyone except for your close friends call you Jaeyun in your school.”

“You have a point…” he said as he paused. His friends hadn’t thought about those particular points.

“You should think about who in your close ones would do this.”

Jake sighed, “All my closed ones are my friends that know about me and Sunghoon. They wouldn’t just do these romantic gestures when they’re all close to him and I.” he pressed

“Maybe it wasn’t for a romantic purpose.” His dad finally spoke up, and even he was invested in this now?

“What?” Jake said as he put the brownie batch in his backpack and walked to the front door to put on his shoes and take his coat and scarf. “That even doesn’t make sense.”

“Yeah, Tom, how would it not be romantic.” His mother asked her husband.

“Maybe it was just to drive attention to something else.” His dad said and Jake had to actually laugh now.

“Okay, I’m really going now,” he snorted, “You guys sound like conspiracy theorists now.”

“But Jake—”

“No. I have to leave, and you have to spend Valentine’s day doing literally anything else than this.” He teased his parents.

“Okay…” his mother finally relented, and he sent her air kisses.

“Have fun not celebrating valentine’s day!” Felix said, and Jake pulled his tongue and waved his family goodbye before exiting his house.

At least he was in a better mood now.

*♡ ᴱᴺ ♡*

As usual, it took around fifteen minutes to arrive at the front door of Sunghoon’s home.

He tried to text him, but just like since the night before, Sunghoon didn’t answer and left him on read. It was odd, and Jake hoped that his boyfriend was alright and not mad at him somehow.

He rang at the doorbell and soon he heard some rushed paces behind the door. Then nothing.

After some time waiting Jake knocked, “…Hello?”

Some more shuffling and paces. Ten seconds later he heard paces growing closer until the door unlocked to show Sunghoon.

A beautiful, dressed up Sunghoon.

“Jake. Hi,” Sunghoon said so warmly, his smile brighter than the sun and his cheeks red.

Jake’s eyes doubled over the sight of his boyfriend wearing a white shirt and dress pants. He had an earring and was wearing the chain that Jake had given him back when they were 14 years old. His hair had been styled and were parted in the middle, showing a little of his forehead. His moles somehow looked… darker? Contrasting more with his milky white soft skin.

“S—Sunghoon, what’s going on?” Jake stuttered, feeling his whole face going red at how gorgeous his boyfriend looked, “I thought we were just hanging out.”

“I changed my mind.” Sunghoon smiled, “Why don’t you come in? You must be freezing.”

Jake let himself get dragged by his boyfriend who smelled… Was that cologne that he was wearing?!

They entered the black-haired home and Jake realized that it smelled like food.

“Am I interrupting lunch?” The house seemed empty. His boyfriend’s parents were probably away for the day.

“No, I was cooking.” Sunghoon answered as he dragged Jake in the kitchen.

“You were cooking?” Jake yelped. Sunghoon couldn’t cook ramen properly on his best days.

“I tried to do it. For you.” Sunghoon said that last part shyly but Jake heard him clearly. He was going to react but then they entered the kitchen and it was a mess.

“What happened here?!” he said in disbelief.

“I told you I’m cooking!” Sunghoon whined as he took the oven mitt to walk to the hot oven. Jake instinctively dropped his bag to start cleaning up the kitchen because he knew Sunghoon’s mother. She wouldn’t hesitate to kicker her son’s ass if she saw the state of the kitchen.

While he was throwing away some eggshells and used wipes, Sunghoon pulled out whatever was in the oven. Jake turned around to see and gasped when he saw the small pies.

“Sunghoon… Are those what I think it is?” Jake gaped at the small dishes that he hadn’t eaten in years, not since he had gone back to Australia three years ago.

“Yeah. I googled the recipe for Australian meat pies. I knew you missed eating them so much, so I tried to make them for you.” Sunghoon explained while poking at the small pretty pies.

“They look okay right?”

Jake could see he was nervous over his potential reaction, but once he raised his gaze, he noticed how wide Jake’s smile was.

“I can’t believe you’ve done this. For me.” Jake smiled so gratefully, feeling butterflies fluttering in his stomach and sparkles in his mind. “It’s so thoughtful of you.”

Sunghoon sighed in relief and smiled back an equally radiant smile, and God, Jake wanted to kiss him so bad.

“I’m happy you like it.”

“I love it…” Jake said as he walked closer to Sunghoon to hug his side. His eyes fell on the small steaming pies. Some of the had burned edges and knowing Sunghoon he must have missed an ingredient or two, but the thought made his heart beat even louder. It was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for him. “Thank you, Hoon.”

Sunghoon smiled and leaned to sweetly drop a lingering kiss on his heating cheek. Jake closed his eyes just to keep all the feelings he felt inside.

Once he pulled away Jake sighed. He was actually overwhelmed by the gesture. Sunghoon wasn’t the type to do these kinds of things for him. He showed how much he cared in small gesture and cooking a dish from his home country definitely belonged to the ‘grand gesture’ category.

“This is the cutest thing ever.” Jake fawned again.

“I’m glad you’re saying that because it’s not over, yet.” Sunghoon said with a teasing tone and Jake’s eyes widened.

“There’s more?”

“Yes, there is.” Sunghoon nodded, “Just help me gather those and follow me.” He pointed at the pies and Jake nodded. They carefully gathered the little pies to put them on plate that Sunghoon had took out of the cabinet. Jake also took out the box that had the brownies and put it behind his back as a surprise. Sunghoon led him to the next surprise and was too focused on that to see him hiding his own small surprise.

“Okay, you have to close your eyes now,” Sunghoon said as he forcefully turned Jake around. As he noticed the box he asked, “What are those?”

“They’re a surprise for later.” Jake said, thankful that the box wasn’t clear. Sunghoon pouted and relented after Jake winked at him.

“Okay well, close your eyes.” Jake chuckled at the excitement in his boyfriend’s voice. He did as told and after promising to not cheat, he felt Sunghoon turn him around. He heard a door sliding and Sunghoon gently held his waist to lead him towards the surprise.

“’Have to be careful here.” Sunghoon murmured and Jake smiled even more because he knew that he was speaking to himself. It was cute.

They walked slowly and Jake felt hard wood under his feet, “We’re on your patio. Oh! They finished the work on it! what does it look like?” He said and Sunghoon chuckled. Sunghoon’s parents had had the patio redone for a whole year, Jake remembered. He didn’t know that the construction work had finished.

“Patience, baby.” Sunghoon answered and Jake almost tripped at the pet name that Sunghoon barely used them, “Be careful, I’m going to help you take a sit. Okay?”

Jake nodded giddily, probably looking like an idiot with his eyes closed. Sunghoon helped him seating on in something soft, “Don’t move, don’t open your eyes.”

“Alright,” he promised as he heard Sunghoon shuffle around him. Soon enough he felt the other sitting closely next to him, and the n a deeper warmness started invading the space, all around him.

“Okay,” Sunghoon finally breathed out, “Now you can open them.”

Jake slowly opened his eyes, but they widened quickly after seeing what Sunghoon had prepared.

The work they had done on the patio was beautiful in itself. Gone was the old wooden beams and the half broken wooden stairs that were leading to the backyard. They had redone the wooden floor and had surrounded the entire patio by glass windows that gave a beautiful view on the garden. They had installed heaters on each side of the patio which explained why Jake felt so hot even though technically he was outside.

But the amazing work wasn’t what induced the sparkles in Jake’s eyes, no.

It was what Sunghoon had done. They were seating on a garden bench, but he had thrown lots of pillows and had already rested two blankets on Jake’s laps. He had put a white sheet on the window in front of them and had installed a projector on which Netflix was already on. the projection was surrounded by pretty fairy lights. On the corner of the white sheet was written ‘Happy Valentine’s day, Jakey’ with little hearts around it. The table in front of them had pictures of them together and all sorts of snacks including the meat pies and…

“Are those fairy breads?” he screeched. “Oh my God, Sunghoon.”

Sunghoon laughed at his shock expression, “Yes. You actually never mentioned those but since you have a sweet-tooth I figured you might have liked them at some point. It was a wild guess, I know.”

Jake was speechless. Everything was incredibly thoughtful and so pretty. Jake was so shocked by how much his boyfriend had done that he barely stopped the tears from welling up in his eyes.

“I can’t believe you did all of this, Hoon.” His voice cracked and Sunghoon cooed at him,

“Aww, baby,” the pet name was the last straw for him. In seconds he felt tears falling freely and he didn’t do anything to stop it. “Please don’t cry.”

“How do you expect me not to when I have the most amazing boyfriend on earth?” Jake sniffled.

Sunghoon smiled and suddenly he seemed nervous, “I’m far from being perfect. I have so many flaws, especially towards you. You do so much for me, for my own comfort. You refrain from being tactile with me, you agreed to act like we weren’t a couple for four months just because I wasn’t ready to tell my parents about us, you do all those nice and thoughtful things for me.” Sunghoon was smiling but Jake could see that his eyes were glistening the more he spoke, “It must be so hard to do all those things for someone who can’t even tell you properly how they feel for you.”

Jake shook is head, “No it’s not—”

“It’s fine Jake.” Sunghoon cut him softly and the way he was looking at him made Jake bite his lip “I know it can be hard. I know that you had to endure quite a lot just because I was stubborn. But I want to change. I want to give as much as you do. I want to make more efforts for us. For you.”

“This is all so… I don’t even know what to say.” He cried out and suddenly he felt Sunghoon’s hands pull him in a hug. Jake didn’t wait to surround his arms around his boyfriend’s waist, squeezing so tightly. He never wanted to let go.

He did pull away though, because if his words couldn’t express how he felt, he at least wanted his lips to do something about it.

Kissing Sunghoon was like being caught in a big wave on a sunny day at the beach. It almost caught your breath from the impact, but it also felt so good to be taken by it. Jake’s lips molded in Sunghoon’s and it was like a puzzle. Everything about it felt familiar but Jake still felt like his body was heating up like it did on their first kiss, ten months ago.

Sunghoon kissed him sweetly, languidly and Jake felt like he was melting inside in the best way possible. He held on the end of the other coat and his other hand reached the end of Sunghoon’s hair, since he did love to play with it, especially when they kissed.

They kissed and kissed until they couldn’t hold their breath, until they had to pull away because they were giggling too much to kiss properly.

Once they pulled apart Jake still insisted to take Sunghoon’s face in his hands softly, to wipe the tear track on his face and specially to kiss each and every mole on Sunghoon’s face.

Just because it was one of his favorite things to do.

Just because the way Sunghoon’s smile bloomed even more made Jake feel complete.

Once they were done, they both were panting, probably looking ridiculous from how teary and red they were. And Jake wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Happy Valentine’s day, Jakey.” Sunghoon whispered against his lips and Jake had to bite them again not to kiss them immediately

So, he simply kissed his mole under his eyes again, took a small moment to breathe in and out the intoxicating is of cologne and caramel and said “Happy Valentine’s day, Sunghoonie.”

And it was indeed the happiest Valentine’s day he could ever ask for.

*♡ ᴱᴺ ♡*

“Those are so good, Hoon.” Jake fawned at the Australian goods cooked by his boyfriend. They were huddled closely under three blankets and Avatar: The last Airbender was playing in the background, because of course they weren’t able to follow anything because they were too busy basking in each other’s presence.

“Right? I’m surprised they taste that good,” Sunghoon muffled out while he was chewing at the food. “I usually suck at cooking, too.”

“You did great, Hoon.” Jake laughed at the cute way his boyfriend’s cheeks were full like a hamster. He kissed one of the wide cheeks and laughed even more at the surprised expression that the other had after the small gesture.

“Seriously, it’s the best gift I’ve ever received, Sunghoon.” Jake awed at the pictures on the table. They were all sneak peeks of their times together, as best friends and later as more than that. Jake didn’t even know when he found the time to do all of this. He had explained that the reason why he was unable to answer messages was because he spent all of the afternoon of the day before and the morning to clean the patio, to install the decoration and cook. And to do one more thing.

“I have one last gift for you,” Sunghoon smiled at the way Jake gasped for the nth time in the last hour.

“For someone who’s supposed to hate Valentine’s Day, you’re really good at it.” Jake teased him as the younger turned around to pick up a small with paper bag.

“Here, Jakey.” He gave the bag and Jake threw himself on it to take out a smaller white satin box.

Jake gaped at the box, it looked like… “Hoon… I don’t—"

“—I know it looks like I’m proposing you, but don’t worry.” Sunghoon read his mind with a chuckle, “Just open it.”

Jake’s shoulder sagged in relief and he shuffled with an embarrassed laugh, focusing on the small box. Once he opened it, he saw two small rigs. They were simple silver bands, a small star engraved just at the center.

“Sunghoon…” Jake said overwhelmed with emotions.

Sunghoon smiled so hard that his eyes crinkled on the side. It was breathtaking.

“Those are promise rings.” Sunghoon explained gently, setting his chin on Jake’s shoulder, making them sit close than before, “I actually had those for quite some time, but I never knew when to give it to you. I wanted it to be done during a special occasion, but I still felt like giving it to you on Valentine’s day was too much of a cliché. But— But I realized yesterday that it didn’t matter, the day I gave it to you. I should be able to show you how much I care about you every single day, and… I guess that those rings is just something that will testify of this promise.”

“… You really want me to cry today, huh.” Jake said, eyes still fixed on the rings, but his heart only focused on the stream of beautiful words that came from his boyfriend. Sunghoon chuckled against his neck, and Jake knew from the warmness that seeped against his own skin that he was fighting a deep blush.

“Yeah, I kinda do,” Sunghoon scrunched his nose and chuckled, “So, will you wear it?”

Jake doubled and turned his head. Their faces were only inches away from one another and Jake’s chest vibrated.

“Yes” Jake whispered as he bit his lip. “Of course, I’ll wear it.”

Sunghoon breathed out another laugh and closed his eyes, like he always did when he was giddy about something. Jake was so enamored with him.

When the younger opened his eyes, it was like they were in sync. Their eyes zeroed on each other’s lips and in seconds they were both leaning to close the ridiculously small space between each other to kiss again.

It was shorter than the ones they had exchanged before, but it still ignited a fire in Jake’s heart.

Once they pulled away Sunghoon carefully took the white box and pulled out one of the rings. Jake gave him his hand and, gentle as ever, Sunghoon pressed the ring on his pinky. Somehow it fitted perfectly and Sunghoon sighed, probably because he noticed that as well.

Jake bit his lips to keep himself from saying something incredibly dumb and cheesy.

After doing the same with the second ring, they held their hands to the air to see how it looked. It was dumb but Jake loved it.

“I love them,” he said so sincerely, so fondly, because it was exactly how felt for his amazing boyfriend.

“I love you.”

Jake blinked.

Then he gaped.

“You— You what?” he turned around to face his fidgeting but smiling boyfriend. Jake had never seen him so red, so nervous, but so disheveled with giddiness.

Sunghoon breathed in and out, and then with more confidence and a fierce look said, “I’m in love with you, Jake Sim.”

Jake’s heart stopped beating. His head was spinning a little and he probably had stopped breathing from the shock.

That was the first emotion.

But then… Then it was replaced by something so purely beautiful. So relieved. So overwhelmingly, incredibly, amazing.

In milliseconds Sunghoon had arms full of Jake, his face attacked by an attack of kisses and cooing.

“I love you, too. So much.”

All of Sunghoon’s apprehension seemed to melt away as he hugged him back even tighter.

“I’m sorry it took me so long to say it.”

“It’s okay, Sunghoon. It’s perfect like that.” Jake smiled against him.

And it was perfect because when you loved someone and they loved you back, it didn’t matter when and how.

As long as they let you into their heart, it could only be perfect.

*♡ ᴱᴺ-pilogue ♡*

“They made up!” Jungwon said in excitement. Jay and he were in a cute cat café for step 4 of their Valentine’s day date when Jungwon received the pictures of Jake and Sunghoon faces stuck to each other hands up to show the matching pinky promise rings. “I’m so happy for them. I’m glad Sunghoon came around and did something for Jake.”

“Yeah…” Jay said, and Jungwon turned to his smirking boyfriend that was seating next to him on the love seat. Jay who usually had lots to say about Sunghoon and his best friend was quite and Jungwon knew Jay too well. Something was up.

“What are you not telling me?” Jungwon narrowed his eyes at his boyfriend whose signature smirk broaden. Jay’s eyes were on their intertwined hands resting on Jungwon’s lap, so the latter squeezed them for him to pay attention. “Park Jay… tell me everything now.”

“Or else what?” Jay challenged Jungwon like usually he loved to. It was just how their relationship worked and they both wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Or else… No step 7 of our date!” Jungwon raised his eyebrow and at the sight of Jay’s frown and the way his face contorted in protest, Jungwon grinned in silent win. He really knew his boyfriend by heart.

“Tell me.” Jungwon squeezed their hands again.

Finally, Jay relented, “Alright, alright. But we’re doing step 7 for sure, then.”

“Yes, alright.” Jungwon chuckled and turned to his boyfriend to give him his whole attention.

Jay sighed at the excited puppy look that Sunghoon gave him, “Damn you and your devilish cute charms.”

Jungwon tried to wink and probably failed because Jay’s faux irritation morphed in mirth and fondness.

“So?” Jungwon dragged the ‘o’.

“Well… Since I knew that Sunghoon was a stubborn idiot that wouldn’t understand how much Jake loved Valentine’s day, I might have… nudged in the right direction.” Jay explained and his boyfriend narrowed his eyes again.

“What did you do?”

“I might or might not have been leaving those gifts in Jake’s locker.”

“You WHAT?!” Jungwon screeched and Jay quickly put his hand on his boyfriend’s mouth before he created more of a commotion. Jungwon could be extremely dramatic when he wanted to.

Jay sighed after Jungwon stopped screaming like a banshee and frightening the cats around them, “Listen, Sunghoon loved jay, I don’t doubt that no matter how emotionnaly constipated he seemed to act. I knew that, but I also knew that he is extremely stubborn and since Jake wouldn’t do anything that potentially make Sunghoon uncomfortable, I took some initiatives.”

“Initiatives…”

“I had to push him to do something about the way he acted with Jake, otherwise I knew that either Sunghoon was going to lose him or Jake was going to feel miserable and would never dare saying anything to Sunghoon.” Jay explained and Jungwon hated to admit the fact that Jay was right.

“So you acted like a secret admirer, paid thousands of wons in gifts, just to make him react.” Jungwon finished for him. Jake nodded with a mischievous smirk.

“You know what beats stubbornness? Jealousy.” Jay concluded.

Jungwon looked at his devil of a boyfriend with a mix of admiration and exasperation. Jay smirk turned into a slightly sheepish smile.

Eventually Jungwon sighed and shrugged closing the space between them to cuddle the life out of his boyfriend. “You’re really… You’re something Park Jay.”

“… I didn’t expect that reaction.” Jay muttered in surprise, even though he collected himself quickly to snuggle back against his pretty boyfriend.

“I know I should scold you for manipulating them but… I’m actually more attracted to you right now, so I’ll let it slide.” Jungwon confessed and Jay chocked a laugh at the bold words. Although he shouldn’t be shocked at this point. Jungwon had always been full of surprise, and that’s what made him so whipped for him in the first place.

Jay kissed Jungwon’s head and cheek, much to Jungwon’s delight. Then they silently basked in each other’s presence.

“I’m still telling them you did it though.”

“What—”