Work Text:
1.
Jay doesn’t have any delusions about his relationship with Daniel.
It’s painfully obvious to him that Daniel has nothing but platonic feelings for him, and Jay is long past hoping against reality.
But, even if he knows Daniel will never see him the way he sees Daniel, Jay can’t help but revel in the fact that, no matter how many girls throw himself at him, Daniel rejects all of them.
Everyday there’s another letter or gift sitting on Daniel’s desk, and everyday Daniel tracks the sender down and politely refuses their advances.
Daniel only ever accepts gifts from Jay.
That is, until a mysterious new girl wriggles her way into Daniel’s life.
Jay can’t help but quietly seethe when he overhears Daniel asking Zack about gift ideas.
“Yeah, there’s this person I like,” Daniel blushes, scratching the back of his neck, “who keeps giving me gifts. I want— I want to repay the favour.”
Jay tunes out Zack’s reply, mind running wild with the implications of what Daniel said.
Daniel likes someone? That person is giving him gifts?
Jay knew this day was coming. Daniel wouldn’t stay single forever, especially not with half the student population of J High not-so-secretly crushing on him.
That doesn’t make it hurt any less.
The question of the identity of this crush rises in Jay’s mind unbidden, and he crushes it.
Anything else. I need to think about anything else.
The memory of Crystal placing a jacket over Daniel’s shoulders flashes before his eyes and the puzzle pieces fall together in Jay’s mind.
Of course, of all people, it would be Crystal Choi. She’s perfect. Perfect for Daniel. She can actually speak to him, can hold his hand in public and take him out on dates, can look him in the eyes without a barrier of hair in between. She can do everything Jay can’t. She has everything Jay doesn’t.
Including Daniel.
Jay’s throat closes up and his breath quickens. His knuckles turn white with the force of his grip, and Jay can feel the wooden desk splintering under his hands.
Jay does not hear what Zack says next. He does not hear Zack telling Daniel that he was hopeless and he should just trick his crush into picking out a gift for themselves without realising it.
So, when Daniel comes up to him after school and asks for Jay’s help in picking out a gift, the thought that the gift might be for him doesn’t even cross his mind.
Jay just smiles bitterly and agrees. Even if all he wants to do is go home and scream into his pillow about the unfairness of it all, Jay can never say no to Daniel.
So, understandably, when Jay finds the gloves he helped pick out in his own bedroom, he assumes Daniel forgot them.
But, when Jay places them on Daniel’s desk the next day, Daniel pushes them back into his hands.
“It’s getting colder, and I uh. I noticed you never wear gloves but you’re always rubbing your hands together, and um, you always get so many things for me so…” Daniel trails off, not meeting Jay’s eyes.
But then what did he get for Crystal Choi?
Jay wracks his brain for a memory of Daniel buying another gift while they were out yesterday, but he comes up empty.
Huh. Weird.
2.
The topic of Daniel’s crush doesn’t come up again for quite a while.
It takes a few weeks and Zack accidentally letting slip the existence of said crush to Zoe before Daniel mentions that person again.
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me! Who is it?” Zoe pushes.
It’s Crystal Choi, Jay thinks to himself, but Daniel doesn’t say anything.
Daniel laughs weakly and looks anywhere but at her, clearly wishing for the topic to change. Jay empathizes. He too would rather talk about anything but the person Daniel likes.
“Come on, just describe her if you’re going to be so shy about it,” Zoe insists.
This time, she doesn’t let Daniel duck away, holding his gaze.
“Well, um,” Daniel begins and Jay wonders if anyone would notice him disappearing for the remaining duration of this conversation.
“They treat me special? Like, I’ve seen them with other people and they’re usually so curt and unapproachable.”
That’s Crystal Choi all right.
“But,” Daniel’s voice softens, “they’re not like that with me.”
Zack interrupts Daniel to complain about how sappy he was being. Jay silently thanks him. He doesn’t know how if he could survive Daniel waxing poetic about how Crystal Choi acts around him.
It’s what Daniel deserves, Jay tells himself, Daniel deserves someone who treats him like he’s their entire world.
So why can’t I be that person?
Maybe if Jay wasn’t so lost in thought, he would have noticed Daniel peeking at him through the corner of his eye every few seconds, cheeks stained red.
3.
Daniel’s crush on Crystal Choi fades out of Jay’s life after a while.
There’s no mention of her, no more excursions to pick out a gift for her.
Within a month, Jay’s beginning to wonder if Daniel’s over his crush altogether.
But, of course, the universe is not that forgiving.
“So,” Joy begins, scooting closer to Daniel on the sofa. Jay immediately gets the feeling that he doesn’t want to hear whatever she has to say.
It’s bad enough that she basically stuck herself to Daniel the second he arrived, filling up the conversation with endless questions aimed at Daniel.
Jay had hoped they would have this day to themselves. Well, them and the dogs. But Joy had overheard their plans and coincidentally dropped by around the time Daniel was meant to come by.
And now:
“How did you know you liked your crush?” Joy asks, clinging to Daniel’s arm.
Oh for fuck’s sake.
Daniel chokes on his drink, and instantly both Hong siblings are by his side, asking if he’s alright.
“I guess,” Daniel starts, once he can breathe again, and Jay realises, horror mounting, that he’s replying to Joy’s question.
“I guess, I feel safe...I feel protected around that person. I’ve been in a lot of tricky situations, but they were there, and I got out because of their help. There was something that I know I wouldn’t have survived if they hadn’t come for me. I guess I realised that day,” Daniel avoids looking at either of them, head hung low, but Jay can still see his face burned red.
Jay wants to scream.
The one time I was out of town. Your crazy stalker had to kidnap you that day, you had to go to Crystal Choi for help.
“Oh,” Joy says, and fires yet another round of questions at Daniel, steering the conversation away from Daniel’s crush.
But Jay's thoughts are not so easily steered in another direction.
When he closes his eyes at night, all he can see is Daniel’s soft smile when he said he felt protected.
Don’t you feel safe with me?
4.
Jay doesn’t know whether to be honoured or upset on Daniel’s behalf that Enu still refuses to live with Daniel again.
To be fair, that probably has less to do with Jay and Daniel themselves, and more to do with the fact that living with Jay means living with her puppies.
But still, every time Daniel tries to coax Enu, Jay can’t help the tug on his heartstrings at his forlorn expression when she inevitably refuses.
Jay knows Daniel misses her a lot, so he manages to be ‘passing through Daniel’s neighbourhood’ at least once when he takes her out on a walk.
Their neighbourhoods are nowhere near each other, and Jay’s butler is always two seconds away from phoning him in as missing by the time he gets back. But neither the extra time taken nor his butler’s constant threats to put a tracker on Jay deter him.
Jay knocks on Daniel’s door.
Daniel pops out the door without asking who it is. Jay scolds him for opening the door so easily, but as always, Daniel doesn’t listen.
“Hm? Why’d I open the door without asking who it was? Well, who else would visit me other than you?”
Jay wants to counter that his roommate could have guests too but Daniel’s focus shifts to Enu and Jay knows Daniel isn’t listening anymore.
“You’re such a good girl, waiting silently for me to notice you,” Daniel coos. Enu nearly pulled Jay’s arm off when she realised where they were headed, racing ahead to get to Daniel, but Jay doesn’t point that out.
“She listens to you so well,” Daniel marvels, smiling at him.
Twin spots of red appear on Daniel’s cheeks and he bends down to ruffle Enu’s fur, angling his face away from Jay.
“You know, I’m glad that Enu approves. I don’t think I could continue liking someone that Enu disapproves of.”
Why’s he talking about Crystal Choi all of a sudden?
Jay knows that Crystal and Daniel both used to take care of Enu before Jay adopted her puppies. But to think that Daniel still thinks of her when he sees Enu?
Jay’s mood drops. He tunes the rest of Daniel’s babbles, not wanting to listen any further.
“...so, will you?”
Jay snaps back to attention.
Thankfully, Daniel hadn’t realised that he wasn’t listening. Daniel scratches the nape of his neck, looking at his feet. The twin spots of red have taken over his entire face.
“It’s fine if you don’t want to go with me, but we had fun at Lotte World last time, so I thought…” Daniel’s voice is barely above a whisper.
Jay doesn’t know how the conversation reached this point, but he would never turn down going somewhere with Daniel.
Jay nods, and Daniel’s face breaks out into the largest smile Jay’s ever seen.
“I’ll see you tomorrow!” Daniel bounces on his feet, grinning like crazy, before Enu decides she’s had enough of being ignored and starts chewing at Daniel’s shoes.
Jay’s pretty sure he has some meeting scheduled tomorrow, but oh well.
+1.
It is shockingly easy to sneak past his butler.
It's not like today's meeting was important or anything, he justifies to himself, I didn't even need to be there, I was only going to observe Kitae.
Jay doubts anyone will even notice his absence. His father couldn't care less about what he does, so long as he stays out of trouble.
Perhaps Kitae would notice. But then again, it's equally likely he wouldn't.
Jay reaches half an hour early to find Daniel already waiting for him.
Daniel doesn't notice him at first, not until Jay's about two inches from his face and still closing in.
"Oh!" Daniel startles, but he doesn't pull away. They freeze.
Daniel's eyes are so dark brown...I never noticed. As if they're never ending.
Jay can see Daniel's ears flaming red, but he doesn't seem embarrassed. He seems almost...determined.
For a moment, Jay can swear he sees Daniel moving closer.
Jay flinches, stumbling back, and the spell is broken.
Daniel clears his throat, and from a distance Jay can see the blush has spread to his neck.
"I didn't expect you to come so early," Daniel mumbles, laughing nervously.
"What? We're the first ones?" Daniel frowns, "...did you invite someone else?"
Jay shakes his head.
Daniel's expression erupts into a smile. "Well, then it's just us, silly!"
With that Daniel grabs his arm and pulls him towards the entrance.
It's...just us?
Daniel drags him all around Lotte World, and Jay is starting to get suspicious.
Jay didn't think much of it when Daniel dragged them into the photo booth, positioning their faces a bit too close for Jay's sanity.
Jay tried not to think much of it when Daniel insisted they get matching hairbands, and beamed when an employee offered them a couple discount.
But when Daniel takes them both to a ride called 'The Boat Ride Of Love', Jay has a hard time just dismissing it.
The boat is way too small for two people, leaving Daniel practically sitting in his lap, and Jay finds it a bit hard to think after that.
When the boat ride ends, Jay gathers up his courage and tugs on Daniel's sleeve.
"Hm?" Daniel smiles at him.
"...what do you mean is this a date?" Daniel's eyebrows are furrowed, nose scrunched up in confusion. Jay feels dread sink in.
I knew it, I knew I was overthinking things and I ruined everything. Obviously this wasn't a date, why would Daniel go on a date with me—
"Obviously this was a date," Daniel bites his lip, frowning, "...do you not want this to be a date?"
Jay grabs Daniel's arm, desperately shaking his head.
Daniel's expression melts into a smile and Jay wonders if he's dreaming.
But he can't help the niggling doubt in the back of his head.
What about Crystal Choi?
"Hm? What about her?" Daniel's still smiling, and at that moment, all the pieces fall together in Jay's thoughts.
It was me.
It was me all along.
Dazed, Jay shakes his head, staring off at nothing.
This time, he doesn't miss Daniel smiling fondly at him when he thinks Jay's not looking.