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“You are buying me lunch tomorrow.” Sunghoon sounds tired and maybe a bit pissed too.
“Oh come on dude. It’s just today, you know how busy I am babysitting my three cousins all by myself.” Jay whispers on the other side on the phone. Even from the phone call, Sunghoon could hear several screams of children in the background.
“I’m happy for you or sorry that happened. Anyway it’s confirmed you are buying me lunch then.”
“Sunghoon hold on-” the voice on the other side gets cut off as Sunghoon ends the calls and tucks his phone back into his pocket. Serves Jay right for dumping his shift on him. Sometimes Sunghoon wonders why Jay is even doing this in the first place when his parents are rich, like filthy rich.
He turns left on the alleyway and spots an old, musty apartment building. Taking the stairs to the second floor, he stops in front of room 203 with a warm pizza box in his hand. He rings the bell once and waits.
Oh, Sunghoon delivers pizza by the way! It’s not like he wants to do this though. He knows their shop makes the shittiest pizza in the whole town, maybe not even edible sometimes (save from the ones Jay makes but Jay cannot carry the whole kitchen on his back for obvious reasons). And running around everywhere, with an ugly red uniform and square box in his hand makes him look like a fucking loser but Sunghoon is broke. He needs the money to pay for college. So here he is, in front of another customer’s house waiting for them to take the damn food and let him leave already. He rings the bell once again and shouts a rather loud “ Pizza! ” this time.
After a few more minutes, a very pretty boy around his age comes out. His hair is dripping wet and there is a towel thrown over his shoulder, clearly hinting he was in the midst of taking a shower. Then Sunghoon’s eyes go down and well-
You see, Sunghoon is a very respectful member of society. He finds a lot of people attractive but he doesn’t stare at them like they are a piece of food. But the boy before him is wearing sports shorts no longer than a few inches and his exposed thighs make Sunghoon feel like a Victorian man seeing ankles for the first time in his life. They look very toned and milky and Sunghoon starts to malfunction, lots of indecent thoughts taking over his brain. Somewhere in midst of all this, he hears a disappointed Jay saying ‘bonk’ and it instantly snaps him out of his delusions. He clears his throat, trying to play it professional.
“One bacon pizza for Shim Jake.”
The boy nods his head, “Yes that’s me. Sorry for responding late, just wait a minute I will bring my wallet.” Jake hurries back inside and Sunghoon briefly hears him tripping over something and muttering a soft ‘ouch’. Once he is back, Jake hands him the money and gingerly takes the pizza box.
He smiles, “Thank you, Sunghoon.”
“My pleasure- wait, how do you know my name?”
Jake points his finger towards Sunghoon’s chest, ah the nametag.
Sunghoon puts on his best customer smile ever, “Please order from us again.” And then he takes a final good look at him.
The thing is he knows Jake is not gonna order from them again. Nobody with properly functioning taste buds would. As much as he hates to admit it, he knows this will be the last time he ever gets to meet Jake again so might as well ogle him for a few more seconds.
***
But he is proven wrong merely a week after.
“We have an order from that room 203 guy again.” Jungwon shouts from the counter. Sunghoon sits up straight in interest, “Jake?”
Jungwon takes a short glance at his memo pad, “Yeah, that’s his name.”
Jay who just came back from a delivery and is currently sipping on a lemon soda looks over to Sunghoon.
“Isn’t that the super attractive guy you mentioned last time?”
Sunghoon gulps, “That’s right but-”
“No way!” He's cut off by Jay’s sudden scream, it even startles Niki who is still in the kitchen fighting for his life with a pizza. “Dude! He definitely has the hots for you!” he slams his hands on the table in excitement.
“Don’t you try to get my hopes up for nothing.”
Jay raises his eyebrows and smirks, “Oh then what? You think anyone in their right mind would order from us the second time?”
Sunghoon’s stomach does something when he hears Jay’s words. He does have a point but Sunghoon knows better than to trust him.
“Shut up. You said the same thing last time about that girl in our English class and then what? It was actually you she was aiming for.”
“So do you want me to be the delivery boy to your sweet Jake this time?”
Sunghoon stands up and grabs his motorbike keys in hurry, “Don’t even think about it.”
Jake’s apartment looks the same. It’s only been a week after all. He rings the bell and this time Jake answers him pretty quickly. And thank god or maybe curse him actually, Jake is fully dressed with a white shirt and a pair of pale denim jeans. But he has his hair styled and some dangly earrings on and Sunghoon thinks he looks drop dead gorgeous.
Ah is he staring again, you ask? Well of course, brazenly even, maybe for too long because Jake is the first one to break the silence, “Hi there.” he smiles.
“Well hello. You actually ordered again?”
“Hmm.. you asked me to, you remember?” Jake tilts his head slightly and leans his shoulder against the doorframe, the smile never leaving his features.
Sunghoon isn’t usually the one to drool after people. Most of the time it’s the opposite actually. But Jake is one fine charming man and at this point a bird can take a shit on his face but Sunghoon will still think he is the most attractive person he ever met.
“Oh right, I did.” He hands the box over to Jake which he happily takes in return of money.
“That reminds me, Sunghoon, are you still studying?”
“Yeah. A third year at S uni.”
Jake’s eyes widen at that, “No way me too! What department are you in?”
“Uhh Community Arts.”
Jake beams at him, “That’s so cool! I’m in Physics.” Makes sense why Sunghoon never ran into the boy before because Jake’s department building is literally on the other end of the campus. God hates him apparently.
Sunghoon takes the stairs and is ready to leave when Jake peeks his head out and yells, “I will see you next time, Sunghoon!” Sunghoon is gone.
***
After that Jake orders from them on every Tuesdays and Fridays and Sunghoon makes sure to never hand his shift over to anybody else. And they have the funniest conversations ever. Jake is a natural sweet talker and maybe it’s too soon to say this but he is like the perfect example of Sunghoon’s type. And every time he discovers they have yet another interest in common, he wants to jump out of happiness. Nobody has made Sunghoon feel butterflies in his stomach before as much as Jake does. And soon he comes to accept the fact that maybe what he feels towards the other is something much much more than a small crush.
“I think I’m in love guys.” Currently Sunghoon sits in their shop, draped over the table and daydreaming his time away in the zombie business hours.
“You only know him for a few weeks.” Of course Jay is here to ruin his perfect fake scenarios. He was on the good part too. He and imaginary-Jake in his head were just about to kiss after their first date in the park.
“And your point is?”
Jay sighs, “Dude you should go and just fuck him already. Bet he’s tired of pretending to like our shitty pizzas.”
Sunghoon looks mildly offended, “Don’t you dare to mistake my pure genuine love for Jake with some one-time-sex thing.”
“You were screaming about how you want his soft milky thighs around you the last time you got wasted at Sunoo’s birthday party.”
“That was in the past.” Sunghoon straightens himself up, “-well i still want that too but fuck I mean! I wanna take things slow from now on.”
Jay rolls his eyes, “And I bet he wants to get over it already.”
Thank Jungwon for stopping whatever mess Sunghoon was about to cause to Jay’s hair with the mayo sauce. That boy doesn’t get paid enough for this.
***
“You are not Jake.” Sunghoon is standing outside Jake’s room again but this time instead of him another boy around his age comes out. And he is much taller than Sunghoon too.
“I’m not. My name is Heeseung.” He checks the receipt and it indeed says ‘Lee Heeseung’ instead of ‘Shim Jake ’ this time. Well, not his fault though. He wasn’t the one to answer his call for ordering.
“Why are you in Jake’s room?”
The other boy doesn’t respond to him, he merely raises his eyebrows and looks down on Sunghoon. Oh he hates this guy’s ass . He takes the money from him and hands over the pizza. Only then the boy, Heeseung replies, “He has afternoon classes today. And I just wanted to check it myself.” He says this and closely observes Sunghoon in a manner he’d like to call judgemental.
Check what? He means to ask but Heeseung beats him to it.
“-the pizza of course.” And with that he closes the door. On Sunghoon’s face. Fuck him.
***
“He has a boyfriend, guys. An asshole yet very hot boyfriend. I’m gonna kill myself.” Sunghoon lays his head on the table in the midst of work. Jungwon and Niki pay no mind to his tantrum. In these times only Jay is nice enough to console him.
“And he still wanted to bang you?”
Okay, scratch that Jay is not motherfucking nice.
“Shut your mouth! I told you Jake is not like that. He was genuinely interested in me.”
“Yeah whatever you say.” Jay huffs, “This is why I told you to act fast. Now that his boyfriend has already noticed, don’t expect him to call you ever again.”
***
But he does get a call from Jake again.
Or well, that’s what he thinks.
“Jake!” He rings the bell for the nth time since coming here. At first he couldn’t believe his ears. After meeting Heeseung in Jake’s room last Friday he assumed he won’t get a chance to meet his favorite boy again. He even made Jay go out drinking with him on the weekend to soothe his broken heart. But just when he was back from his previous delivery and took his phone out to mindlessly scroll through social media, he heard Jungwon shout from the counter, “The usual to room 203 again.” Sunghoon jumps so hard he feels his head spinning for a good seconds. But that didn’t stop him. He was so excited he even picked up another customer’s order (who thankfully made the same order as Jake) and ran as fast as he could. He completely ignores Niki’s loud complaints behind him. He couldn’ believe Jake wanted to see him again. Maybe Heeseung was not his boyfriend after all. Maybe he was getting all worked up over nothing. Maybe he still has a chance.
But then here he is.
He rang the bell once. Twice. Then even called the boy several times only to receive no answer from the other side of the door.
Great! It must be a prank call from his boyfriend. So apparently forcing Jake to cut ties with Sunghoon is not enough. He has even made Jake move out of the apartment and is now pulling childish pranks like this on Sunghoon just because he had a little crush on his cute boyfriend. It was obviously more than a little crush but of course nobody needs to know that.
He leans against the railings and slowly sits down on the floor. He is not about to cry like a little kid in front of Jake’s house, nope.
Having nothing else to do, he dials to Jay. And surprisingly the other picks up the phone soon.
“Dude I’m about to go on a date right now. Sorry can we talk lat-”
“Jay, I’m gonna jump in a river.”
“Huh? What happened now?”
Sunghoon sighs out loudly. He feels like pure shit. “Jake left me, Jay.”
“Elaborate.”
“I’m gonna cry. It’s all because of that hot, asshole of a boyfriend. He even made Jake move out and prank called me to sit here in front of his house like a homeless person.”
“I don’t have a boyfriend?”
Sunghoon automatically jumps from his position hearing the familiar voice.
“Hey you okay over the-” He cuts Jay off. He can make it up to him later but for now-
“H-Hi” Sunghoon greets the boy before him.
Jake smiles at him and looks a little confused, “Were you waiting? I didn’t think you’d come so soon so I went to buy some stuff for my project.”
Maybe Sunghoon shouldn’t have snatched that other customer's pizza after all.
He feels a huge amount of embarrassment crushing down on him, “Oh not at all. I just came here a while ago.” Lies. He has been here for the past 15 minutes at the very least.
“Is that so” Jake comes closer to him and unlocks his door, “Anyway what were you saying about my- umm boyfriend?”
Fuck Sunghoon and his blabbering mouth, “O-Oh that tall dude you know… he was here last Friday.”
“Oh Hee-hyung?” Hee-hyung! Oh isn’t that nice? They even use cute nicknames for each other! So fucking great!
“Yeah… him” Sunghoon hates how upset he sounds. Jake seems to have taken notice of it. But he starts laughing instead, “Oh come one! What did he tell you? We are not dating, we are just roommates.”
Sunghoon feels dumb again, “What?”
“I’m single and very much available right now, if that’s what you are wondering.” Huh, did Jake just wink at him or his imaginations are breaking the 4th wall now?
“Oh... I am as well”
Jake clasps his hands together, “Great! And what do you think we should do, as two very hot single boys right now?”
Now Sunghoon is stuck and confused. What is he supposed to answer? Date? Kiss? Or something more? He wants all of that of course but he doesn’t know what Jake wants. And he doesn’t wanna say something Jake is not expecting. And moreover what if Jake is just being playful as usual? He opens his mouth to answer just anything to keep the conversation going but perhaps he took too much time already because Jake starts laughing and slaps his back lightly, “Start seeing someone soon, of course! Why did you get so quiet?” And Jake looks kind of… disappointed? Has Sunghoon already ruined it without even saying anything?
Afterwards events are a blur to him. He slightly remembers taking money from Jake and handing him the box like he always does. And oh it is very awkward. Jake doesn’t say a single thing after that besides a barely audible ‘Good night.’ And Sunghoon is pretty sure he has fucked something up.
***
And his suspicions are proved right when Jake doesn’t order from them for two straight weeks.
“Jay, I fucked up.”
“Big time. What did you say to him? You even cut my call like that.” At this point Jay should get paid for being his personal love counsellor all while managing his own busy life.
“I don’t know. I really have no idea what happened.” In all honesty, Sunghoon still doesn’t understand what he did wrong. He is sure Jake was interested in him too, however little that may be. Has he been too obvious and Jake didn’t like that? Has Jake already gotten bored of him?
Jungwon hits his head with a catalogue, “I get you are upset, sweetheart but the pizzas won’t be delivering themselves.”
Sunghoon drapes over the table, “Right, right. I’m going.” But instead of getting up he starts mindlessly playing with the ketchup bottle instead.
Jungwon and Jay both look at him with concerned eyes.
Niki, who has been a mere listener of their conversation, decides to join in, “Hyung, why don’t you just go and ask him? As a friend or acquaintance or whatever. It’s natural for you to be worried if he suddenly stops ordering, right?”
Sunghoon considers for a while, “Won’t he think I’m being pushy and weird?”
“He probably does from the beginning. You don’t need to worry about that now.”
And thank Jungwon for stopping yet another fight between him and Jay.
***
After considering Niki’s idea for a few more days, Sunghoon finally arrives in front of Jake’s room again. This time he is not in his work attire. He is wearing a white tee layered with a blue shirt and some black jeans. A bacon pizza box that Jake loves rests on his hand. He takes a long breath. You can do this, Park Sunghoon. Even if things don’t turn out well, he will just be rejected. Jake won’t call him weird or call the police because some delivery boy is standing in front of his house uninvited. Jake is too nice to do that. He straightens himself and raises his finger to ring the bell just when the door swings open by itself.
Sunghoon gets a mild panic. He tries to greet the other but instead sees somebody completely else.
Oh not you again.
Heeseung is shocked to find him standing outside. Then he smiles smugly, “Don’t look at me like you want to murder someone. I’m going out anyway.” Then he looks back into the room and calls his roommate, “Jakey! He’s here.” He taps Sunghoon’s shoulder and goes on his own way. Sunghoon really can’t read this guy. But he doesn’t miss the way he calls him Jakey and the sudden rush of jealousy makes him more determined to clear his feelings to Jake. Speaking of which, Jake comes rushing out of his room, clearly not expecting the other to come, “Sunghoon? I didn’t order anything though?”
Sunghoon meets his gaze. Jake looks just as pretty as ever and only then he realizes how badly he missed seeing him.
“Yeah. You haven’t been for the past two weeks.” He tries not to but sulks anyway.
“Um yeah. Sorry about that, I have been kind of busy...”
Sunghoon musters up all his courage, “Can I come in?”
Jake looks surprised for a second, “O-Of course but that-” He points to the pizza box in Sunghoon’s hand.
“It’s on the house. So... can I?”
Jake nods shortly and shows him the way in. Jake’s room is well, very much Jake. His walls are painted pale shades of beige and green and there are many posters and furniture around the room. Jake signals him to sit on the bed beside him. He is also the first one to break the silence, like always.
“So what’s the occasion?”
Sunghoon clears his throat. “Nothing really. I just… missed you. And wanted to know if you were doing okay.”
He swears he saw Jake blushing a little just now. “I’m doing good. Just a little busy.” A pause. “You look really great today by the way.”
Now it was Sunghoon’s turn to flush up, “Thanks umm you do too, as always.” Maybe that isn’t the right thing to say to Jake who is clearly in his pajamas right now but to Sunghoon he looks good all the time anyway so it’s not like he is lying.
Then it’s awkward again. Sunghoon hates it. He never imagined it would be like this between the two of them. Not being able to take it anymore, he decides to say his part like he planned.
“Jake, can I say something to you?”
Jake looks up at him and nods, “Go ahead.”
“If you think I’m being weird you can kick me out okay? But I really can’t bear to keep it anymore.” He is anxious as hell. His hands feel sweaty, clammy with nervousness. Fuck, it wasn’t this bad even when he got his finals maths paper back in high-school and mind you, he sucked ass on maths.
Jake, taking notice of his turmoil, scoots closer to him and offers a pat on his back, “Hey, you okay there?”
“I like you so much.” He says it. “I have been since the first day we met actually... as impossible as it sounds. And I’m sorry I don't know what I did to upset you last time but if you are okay with me I will really really like to date you right now.” Well here he goes. He rumbled and maybe it was kinda uncool but what’s done is done. He waits for Jake to politely turn him down and get over it already.
“You are not joking are you?” He looks back at Jake whose face was completely red. He looks so cute Sunghoon almost misses the question directed at him, “What? Of course not. I meant everything I said just now.”
Jake mumbles a soft ‘oh’ and continues, “But last time when I… I kind of hinted that, you looked really uncomfortable. I thought I was the only one wanting this.”
Sunghoon finally realizes what he did wrong last time. How could he miss such clear signs Jake has been giving him? “Oh my god no!” Sunghoon particularly shouts and Jake almost gets startled. “I’m so dumb god… Anyway I’m so sorry about what happened that time but right now, I mean it Jake. I’m really really interested in you. If you don’t trust me you can even ask my friends how I have been gushing about you for weeks” And to that Jake giggles . Maybe this is what you hear at the pearly gates of heaven. But at the same time Sunghoon feels silly, “Hey say it back, won’t you?”
“Of course, of course.” Jake stops his laughs and takes Sunghoon’s hand into his, squeezing them gently, “I like you too, Sunghoon. And I’d be really really happy to be your boyfriend.”
Sunghoon squeezes his hands back and smiles from ear to ear. He is the happiest man on earth right now. But he is a little greedy too.
“I also want to kiss you, Jake.”
“ Go ahead. ” And soon Sunghoon feels his lips touching Jake’s. He doesn’t understand how it’s possible for anyone to have lips this soft and pretty but he isn’t complaining. Kissing Jake feels fucking good and he thinks he can try to write a whole Shakespearan sonnet about his lips only.
Once they part, Sunghoon pecks Jake on his nose, making the other chuckle again. Jake looks at him with such tender eyes, Sunghoon wants to engulf him in a tight hug and keep him in his arms for as long as he can.
But then Jake points towards the pizza box, “Aren’t we um.. forgetting about that?”
Sunghoon shakes his head, “Leave it! I’m not gonna treat you that shit for our first date.”
“Oh is this our first date already?”
Sunghoon hums, “Only if you want to.”
And Jake kisses him on the cheek in response. “Cool. Let’s go out!”
***
“Why do you still insist on eating our pizza? Were you not doing this for me from the start?”
It’s been three months since they started dating but for some reason Jake still orders from them on Tuesdays every week. And he even calls Sunghoon over.
“It’s because it reminds me of you and for your information yes, I was ever since you ogled my thighs on our first meeting.”
Sunghoon flushes at his remark. Oh look how perfectly Jake has him wrapped around his little finger. “So you were aware. I have been that obvious huh?” Jake is still wearing those short shorts right now and maybe he is still ogling a little but it’s not a foreign sight to him anymore.
“I think it’s your charm to be honest.”
Sunghoon pouts. The older laughs and pokes his cheeks in response, “Okay I will shut up darling. Now let’s watch the movie, hm?” Jake nudges closer to him and rests his head on his shoulder, almost making Sunghoon coo at the sight. He still can’t believe he gets to spend his evenings like this with his sweet boyfriend. He recalls all their previous meetings that led to present moments between them and remembers something funny.
“You know it was actually Jay who was supposed to deliver your pizza on that day?”
Jake raises his eyebrow at the new found information. He has met Sunghoon’s friends before so now he knows who Jay is. “Really? Does that mean we would have never met in the first place?”
Realizing that makes Sunghoon a little upset and excited too because goddamn it must mean it was fate right?
“Well yeah. Would you try to shoot your shot on him too?”
Jake laughs loudly at that. He pinches Sunghoon’s cheeks and mumbles a small 'Silly!' at him. “Hmm well Jay is hot. But he likes Hawaiian Pizza so absolutely nope.”
Now it is Sunghoon’s turn to laugh, “So you don’t mind dating someone as broke as me but liking Hawaiian Pizza is immediate dealbreaker?”
“Duh. I’m just as broke as you or I won’t be living in this shithole and yes, it is that serious.”
They giggle together. Sunghoon fucking adores Jake so much. A tiny part of him feels bad for Heeseung who has to deal with their loud noises while doing his assignments in the other room but the bigger part of him just wants to stay with Jake forever.