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“So what you’re trying to tell us,” Jake says slowly, “is that the two of you are together. You. And Sunoo.”
“Yes,” Sunghoon replies confidently, while Sunoo clutches at the cup of eggnog in his hand and wills himself to sink into the floor.
“B-but,” Jungwon stutters, his eyes darting back and forth between them, “you guys are…”
“Enemies?” Sunoo supplies helpfully. “Yes. Well, we were.”
While their friends continue gawking at the spectacle of their intertwined fingers, Sunoo rolls his eyes up to the ceiling.
How exactly did he find himself in this situation, hand in hand with the bane of his existence, Park Sunghoon? Good question.
~One week prior to the party~
"They think that we hate each other," Sunghoon explained emphatically. "So what better way to prove them wrong than to pretend we're in love?"
"There's literally a million better ways to prove them wrong," Sunoo retorted. "Not accounting for the fact that they're actually right."
“That’s besides the point,” he said dismissively. “Also, I think we should kiss for good measure.”
~Present~
Sunghoon isn’t entirely sure what exactly he’s trying to do, if he’s being honest. He watches Sunoo chatting animatedly with the others, the way his eyes shine and his cheeks glow pink and green from the lights Jay has taped up around the perimeter of the ceiling.
He looks beautiful. Someone he’s not at all embarrassed to claim as his fake boyfriend. Sunghoon stares into the depths of his cup, Sunoo’s bell-like laughter ringing in his ears.
Like most impulsive decisions and reckless ideas, this one started with Ni-ki.
~Two weeks prior to the party~
“You and Sunoo are so annoying,” Ni-ki whined, knocking the ball back to Sunghoon with his knee. “I’ve never seen two friends who legitimately hate each other. I swear, you’re gonna spoil the party again with all your bickering.”
Sunghoon opened his mouth to argue that this wouldn’t be the case, before he was assaulted with a medley of flashbacks.
The year before, the Christmas tree had been demolished. This was the result of Sunghoon chasing the boy around with a saliva-sharpened candy cane, causing him to tumble face first into the PVC-plastic foliage.
The year before that, the whole group had to rush Sunghoon to the ER after he insisted he was feeling the hypothermia set in from Sunoo’s targeted snowball. In the end, his temperature had been perfectly normal, and no limbs had to be amputated from frostbite.
And the year before that… well, they had all agreed never to speak of it ever again. But while Jay continued to decorate the mantle with figurines and candy-filled stockings, the fireplace was never lit again.
~Present~
“So…” Jay drawls, leaning over the counter. “You and Sunghoon, huh?”
Sunoo titters nervously, fiddling with the edge of his bangs. He’d slipped into the kitchen for a drink, where his friend had accosted him.
They can hear the music blasting from the living room, Heeseung making quite a valiant effort at hitting Mariah Carey’s whistle tones. They both wince simultaneously at a particularly shrill note.
“What can I say?” Sunoo cracks a smile. “Despite everything, he’s got a pretty face.”
“If that’s your reasoning,” Jay says, pressing forward, his lower lip pushed out into a pout, “I’m kind of hurt that you didn’t choose me.”
Sunoo’s eyes widen; he can feel the heat rising to his cheeks. Before he can answer, however, a hand slams down onto the marble counter-top between them. They spring apart.
“Hey, darling,” Sunghoon turns to him with a sugary smile. “Won’t you come dance with me?” He glances at Jay sharply, as if daring him to interject.
“Sorry, Hoon,” Jay says in that tone that indicates he’s fucking around, though Sunghoon seems too riled up to notice. “I was just chatting with your… boyfriend.”
Neither of them miss the skepticism that colors that last word, and Sunghoon’s lips pull back over his teeth. But Jay just shrugs and grabs his glass, slipping out of the kitchen with a “don’t make out on my table,” flung over his shoulder. The door closes behind him, and for the first time that night, they’re alone.
Usually, this would be a catastrophic precedent. All of them know that the two of them can’t be left alone together, not unless they want their trees destroyed, or a life to be lost, or the house burnt down to the ground. But Sunghoon doesn’t say anything.
He shows no intention of antagonizing Sunoo, neither by provoking him with irritating quips, nor by reaching over to pour the jug of homemade eggnog over his head (though he’s not one to repeat a previous year’s stunt anyway).
He simply stares at him, mouth closed, eyes wide. Sunoo has had enough.
“Park Sunghoon,” he says brazenly, “What do you want from me?”
~Four years ago~
“What is your problem, Park Sunghoon?”
Sunoo is yelling at him, his eyes wet with the strength of his volume. Sunghoon can’t help but think he looks beautiful like this, flushed with frustration, a smile pulling on his lips that he tries to force away.
The smile that tells him that they both enjoy it, this push and pull of theirs, the unspoken competition to see who will be the first one to break. No— the first one to fall.
Truthfully, Sunghoon had surpassed his tipping point long ago. Now he’s only waiting for Sunoo to catch on and declare himself the winner.
But he doesn’t.
Years pass by, and he still doesn’t notice.
They step on each other’s heels and tug on each other’s sanity, just to see that glimmer, just to feel that spark.
They bicker and they fight, they pelt each other with snowballs during the winter and push each other into pools during the summer. And every time Sunghoon gets pushed, he allows himself to slip, to lose his balance, and in his head he thinks again and again, that there is no greater inconvenience than falling for Kim Sunoo.
“My problem,” Sunghoon replied calmly, “is you.”
~Present~
“What were you doing in here with him?” Sunghoon asks. His jaw flexes, and Sunoo stares at the movement for a second before forcing himself to snap out of it.
“What are you talking about?” he snaps. “I was getting a drink. It’s just Jay.”
There’s no way, he thinks to himself. There’s no way that Sunghoon is jealous.
But there it is, the curling of his fist, that flinty gaze that Sunoo knows so well, the one that Sunghoon acquires when an obstacle is standing in the way of something he’s trying to achieve.
“I saw the way he was looking at you.”
Sunoo sighs exasperatedly. “He was just screwing around. He’s in love with Jungwon, anyhow.” He suddenly narrows his eyes at the boy across from him. “What do you care, anyway? You do know you’re not actually my boyfriend, right?”
Sunghoon’s mouth clicks shut, and something in his expression flares to life. Sunoo’s heart lurches into motion; he can feel his pulse in his fingertips. Heated eyes sear into his skin.
“Look up,” Sunghoon says.
“What?” Sunoo asks, baffled, but his gaze trails upwards.
Mistletoe.
Dangling from the ceiling, almost comically placed exactly in between the spaces where Sunghoon and Sunoo are standing.
Blood is coursing through his veins now, hot and heavy, and when he finally looks back down, Sunghoon is two steps closer and nervous breath is falling over his face.
“I never hated you,” Sunghoon whispers. “You know?”
Sunoo tries to swallow, but it’s like all the moisture has been sucked out of his mouth.
“I know,” he whispers back. A hand grazes his cheek.
“I think,” Sunghoon says, “that I actually might sort of love you.”
Sunoo’s eyes snap open; he claps a hand over the back of Sunghoon’s neck. With his other hand, he jabs his finger up at the hanging mistletoe with force.
“You talk too much,” he hisses, and then Sunghoon is reeling forward, and their lips are clashing against each other, and maybe, just maybe, this year’s Christmas won’t end in lovesick disaster.