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“Haruto-ah, your nail color is so pretty.”
Jeongwoo used to hear Junkyu fuss about in the practice room when Haruto decided to change his nail polish for the third time that week, not quite sure what to use once they film their music video or when their comeback gets out. That time, Haruto wore green. A soft, pale shade. It was cute.
Junkyu held Haruto’s right hand, delicately and with grace, inspecting Haruto’s nails with sparkles in his eyes. Mashiho came along, checking what the fuss was about, then ended up complimenting Haruto as well when he noticed his new nails. Until, the other few members also crowded Haruto’s frame, throwing out encouraging words and suggestions for Haruto’s nail color picking struggle.
At that time, Jeongwoo was just stretching in front of the mirror, although his ears were at a different place. Jaehyuk noticed this when he walked by, stopping for a fleeting second as their eyes locked on the mirror. The older one lightly chuckled, gave Jeongwoo a tap on the shoulder, and left.
Jeongwoo had no intention in talking to Haruto about his nails, for the sole reason of not knowing anything about it. Those who were on the topic knew everything about fashion — Hyunsuk, Doyoung, Yoshi and Mashiho, while for Junkyu, well, he’s listening quite eagerly to the others as if he was in Haruto’s shoes — so Jeongwoo just left it to the older ones. He only puts on a plain white shirt, slacks, and some black converse on the daily and already calls it fashion. He would be shameless if he added anything on the plate of gold advices, so he just didn’t.
Besides, he was shy, because Junkyu had always been right. Haruto’s nails are pretty. Haruto got more pretty with nail polish on. Jeongwoo never meant to stare, but whenever Haruto talked while doing things on his face like scratching his nose, or picking a stray eyelash on his cheek, and even while resting his chin on his palm, Jeongwoo would just stare in awe. He doesn’t even know what Haruto was saying to the members at some point, but Jeongwoo was still so focused on him.
All colors suited Haruto well, a thought that would always linger inside Jeongwoo’s head. Even if it weren’t pastel colors, even if it’s black, or bloody red, or neon, Haruto would still be stunning.
But, of course, Jeongwoo won’t say that.
“Park Jeongwoo! Let’s go!” He hears Jihoon’s solid voice coming from the exit of their shared dorm. Jeongwoo flinches back to reality and finds himself in front of the mirror of his bathroom after reminiscing for who knows how long. He had no time to waste, so he quickly ruffles his hair into place before jogging to the others from his room.
These days, Haruto haven’t been wearing nail polish. The last time he did was a few months ago when they first shot Winter Camp. His nails were painted in a sky blue color. It’s quite a pity. Jeongwoo misses seeing the older one with his nails colored.
So, he shows up in Haruto’s dorm that night.
“What are you doing here?” Asahi, who sat on the dining table, hits him right off with a rude, joking tone once Jeongwoo enters his territory, uninvited. The younger one stretches his face muscles to make an ugly expression, mocking Asahi instead of giving him an actual answer. Sizzling rice continues on the background as Jaehyuk cooks dinner while Jeongwoo walks further into the dorm.
He comes across Junghwan, who’s casually walking around with a ramen cup. “Hey,” the youngest greets while chewing, lifting the side of his fist with his smartphone secured inside.
Jeongwoo bumps arms with him, “Hey. Where’s Haruto?”
Junghwan nudges his chin towards the hallway behind him, “In his room.”
“Okay. Thanks.” And the conversation cuts right off.
It’s a bizarre thought that has been circling inside Jeongwoo’s head the whole day. He got caught by the older members multiple times for spacing out in their schedule. Jeongwoo can’t help but get all red from embarrassment every time he gets caught lacking.
Nails. His fingers. Cute pastel nail polish. Haruto. Me. His smile. His smooth skin. Nail polish. Haruto. Haruto. Cute pastel colors. Haruto. Me.
Was all Park Jeongwoo could think about for twelve hours straight. At some point there, Jeongwoo finds himself fantasizing about painting Haruto’s nails for him. It was a bizarre thought, but he couldn’t stop himself. He wants to see Haruto with nail polish again. Just cause it’s pretty. Haruto is beautiful with them on.
Jeongwoo pokes his head through the small crack of the door once he heard Haruto’s muffled voice, insisting that the door is open after he heard knocks and a soft call.
Haruto looks at him through the lens of his specs. He raises his eyebrows in curiosity, “Jeongwoo? You’re here?”
Jeongwoo timidly nods his head, feeling a bit guilty because he kind of interrupted Haruto’s reading time. He feels a bit dumb now.
And maybe his face betrayed him, revealing his emotions without consent because Haruto suddenly lets out a light laugh and says, “It’s fine, idiot. What are you standing there for? Just come in already.”
The tanned boy hesitates at first, looking at the other as if asking him if it’s really, really fine. Haruto reassures him with a nod and a genuine smile. His eyes read, I don’t mind, so Jeongwoo is sure now. After all, they always know what each other wants to say even if nobody speaks.
Jeongwoo walks in, finally.
“So, what do you want?” Haruto asks once a weight gets added on his bed, the cushion sinking from where Jeongwoo sat. Jeongwoo pauses. He takes a deep breath, lips shifting into a thin line.
“I don’t want anything.” Jeongwoo breathes with tensed shoulders and a tight voice.
A bad liar, indeed.
They stare at each other for long seconds, suspiciously. Haruto’s eyebrow is raised the whole time, before he breaks the silence with a deep sigh. “No. I know you too well. What do you want?” Haruto repeats for Jeongwoo, but his gaze moves back down on the book he’s currently trying to finish.
Jeongwoo doesn’t talk again yet. He’s currently having a debate whether this is a good thing or not with his multiple sides inside his head. He is clearly overreacting. What’s so bad about wanting to paint Haruto’s nails, huh? Jeongwoo is just bored. He is not just bored because he also thinks Haruto is pretty with nail polish on, and is that a good thing? It’s a bad thing.
Obviously because he has a crush on Haruto. The type of crush that you daydream about sappy and ridiculous scenarios about. The type of like that makes your chest tight and face hot just by looking at him walk by without doing anything so special. The type of love that makes you go crazy, and weird, and awkward.
“I want to try… painting your nails.”
Haruto instantly lifts his chin, eyebrows meeting, questioning himself if he really heard that right? He blinks at the other, not talking, and Jeongwoo thinks, oh… I’ll be damned. “You want to what?”
But, there was no turning back now, is there?
Jeongwoo exhales a shaky breath, eyes landing on the bedsheet. He fidgets, rubbing the soft fabric between his thumb and index, “I want to paint your nails.” He repeats, clearer this time.
“Oh.” And Haruto feels his heart skip, unable to say something human, “Where is this coming from?” He sounds dumbfounded. Jeongwoo can’t bear the embarrassment now, but he still continues because he really, really, really wants to try doing Haruto’s nails for him.
The boy exhales heavily, preparing himself, “I just… you know? I guess it’s because I miss seeing you with nail polish on. And I want to do it for you. Even if I don’t know how to… do it. You look good with nail polish, so I thought… Ah, what am I saying?”
He sounded like a complete idiot. Jeongwoo pouts, feeling like he failed to convince Haruto. He glances through the long strings of his bangs to see if Haruto is about to laugh, but no.
Haruto is blushing now. His flushed face sends sparks throughout Jeongwoo’s veins, making him remember that he’s still alive and breathing.
“Ah.” Haruto shyly looks away. Jeongwoo takes note of his red ears and neck. “Well, I mean, sure. Why not?” He says, glancing back at the boy up front, “I’ll let you paint my nails.”
Jeongwoo’s head right now consists of only loud cheers, confetti and fireworks upon hearing the other’s approval. He flashes a happy grin.
Five tiny bottles with different colors and brands are scattered all over Haruto’s bedsheet, as the strong smell of nail polish mixes with the air conditioner’s breeze. You can hear the complains coming out of Haruto’s mouth, as well as Jeongwoo’s tongue clicking, quite frustrated.
Painting nails is not as easy as Park Jeongwoo thought it would be.
“Jeongwoo.” Haruto warns sternly. It was hurting him to watch Jeongwoo’s unstable hand that keeps swerving, resulting the paint to dry on Haruto’s flesh.
“Trust me, trust me.” Jeongwoo mumbles as he holds Haruto’s right hand with his own, eyebrows furrowed, way too focused on making Haruto’s nails look perfect but the outcome is always not perfect.
“How can I?!” The Japanese boy whisper yells, high pitched voice cracking, “You’re just making a mess!”
“Look, I’m trying my best here,” Jeongwoo defends, moving away to look at the result of his work on Haruto’s index finger. As of now, he had painted four out ten, but that doesn’t mean it’s looking good. Dozen dots of nail polish stains are all over Haruto’s fingers now. He saw one on his palm earlier, and honestly, he doesn’t know how that even got there. Haruto sighs, staring at Jeongwoo in disbelief. The younger one shrugs, “Not my fault I’m left handed.”
Before they started, Jeongwoo chose three set of colors: soft green, yellow and blue. He thought it would look cool if the colors have a pattern, so Haruto was expecting, but it’s already ruined half way there. The paint on Haruto’s nails aren’t that clean. Sometimes, it’s smudged, has Jeongwoo’s finger print, or the paint misses the edges of Haruto’s nail because of a certain someone who has a shaky hand. Although it’s messy, Haruto likes to see Jeongwoo trying hard to do it for him, though it doesn’t change the fact that it’s messy.
“Are you seriously still continuing?“
“What?” He hears Jeongwoo whine, “Obviously. I’ll do both of your hands.” He declares, pulling Haruto’s hand to get it done with. Haruto can’t do anything but just sit there and gloomily watch his hand get treated badly. Jeongwoo notices this.
He looks at him for a brief second before focusing on the sky blue nail polish getting applied. He tries his best to do it carefully, “Stop looking so sad.” He tells.
“Just how?” Haruto pouts, “You suck at this. Even I’m a bit better than you.”
“You grew up with a sister, while I grew up with a brother, of course you would know better than me.” Jeongwoo scowls. Haruto stares at him. “Besides, I’m a singer, not a manicurist!”
And Haruto scoffs upon hearing that. Well, it is true. Jeongwoo grew up with an older brother, he’s left handed, and knows nothing about nail polish, and yet he’s here doing Haruto’s nails just for him. He even came up with the color combination. Haruto remembers so well how excited Jeongwoo got as he explained what he wanted to do, so that’s probably why Haruto let him do it. To not burst Jeongwoo’s bubble.
Besides, isn’t he cute like this? Haruto just begins to notice once his impatience dried out. He focuses on his best friend, crossed leg in front of him on the bed, unconsciously pulling out his bottom lip because of how focused he was. Jeongwoo looks determined that Haruto can’t help but chuckle lightly.
He also begins to realize the way Jeongwoo held his hand. How Jeongwoo’s hand rests so nicely on his. How warm, and how they fit so perfectly. Haruto’s smile fades, his heartbeat rapids, as everything around them slow down.
Haruto also notices how romantic this is. Your partner holding your hand as he paints your nails in beautiful pastels, even if he doesn’t know how to properly do it. Yet, he tries. For your sake. Heat rushes to Haruto’s pale cheeks. He can’t help but melt into a smile. Tender and fond.
Park Jeongwoo really is interesting.
“You’re getting the hang of it.” Haruto whispers, shifting closer to the tanned boy. Jeongwoo’s lips twist upwards after hearing the praise.
“You think?”
Haruto hums.
“Thank you. I’m enjoying this. Your hand is really smooth.” Jeongwoo comments out of the blue, his thumb beginning to stroke Haruto’s knuckles. The action was subtle, and Jeongwoo probably acted without thinking, but Haruto is about to burst.
He tries so hard not to scream right now. A tiny squeak comes out of him instead of the right words as he nods, acknowledging the compliment.
Jeongwoo knows what he’s doing. He likes to see Haruto get all flustered around him. But of course, he won’t say that.
He smirks as he chuckles quietly.
After thirty minutes, Jeongwoo finally finished doing Haruto’s nails. Haruto ends up being fond of Jeongwoo’s messy work. He said he just needs to wash his hands so that the stains on his fingers will get removed. Jeongwoo agreed with that.
Haruto, also, couldn’t stop himself from posting a selfie in their official Weverse, posing like a tiger showing it’s claws. Not even two minutes have passed when Asahi already started yelling from across the dorm.
“Ruto! Why is your hand so dirty?!” The older complains. Haruto bursts out laughing while Jeongwoo whom laid beside him merely grins.
“Don’t be so mean! I painted Haruto’s nails for him!” Jeongwoo shouts back.
“That explains why it’s so messy! Ruto-ah, you shouldn’t have let him!” Jaehyuk adds, and his statement is immediately followed by Junghwan’s loud laugh.
Haruto chuckles from Jeongwoo’s side, “Look, even the fans are noticing it.” He shifts, flashing his phone screen in front of the tanned boy.
“What did they say?”
“They said I should hire a new manicurist.”
And, Jeongwoo laughs.