Chapter Text
“Will you stop daydreaming for a while and get your ass over here?”
From his seat by the window of their shared apartment, Jake rolled his eyes and reluctantly stood up. The moment his eyes met the person who just disrupted his ‘moment of reflection’, he immediately directed a glare towards him.
His roommate and best friend Jay, upon seeing his glare that was more adorable than intimidating, only let out a snort. As if he didn’t call Jake like a mom telling her son to clean his room literally just seconds ago.
“My bad. Were you getting to the spicy parts—”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Jake plopped on the soft, pillowed seat in their dining table for two. “What did you want me to do anyway?” He picked up the long-stemmed red rose laying on the table and mindlessly twirled it between his fingers.
You got him. He’s daydreaming, alright—or whatever it’s called when he’s doing it right when the full moon is up at that very moment. But for some reason, hearing it straight out of Jay’s mouth made it sound unnecessarily indecent somehow.
Maybe it’s because of the subject of his thoughts in the first place.
Park Sunghoon, his childhood rival in primary school.
Ten years back, Jake wouldn’t even bat an eye at the short, lanky, pale brat who always either glared at him or rolled his eyes at his presence. Heck, Jake even remembers seeing him trip over air at least a few times back then.
Honestly speaking, he actually would’ve considered being his friend, if only he hadn’t continuously ignored Jake’s attempts to introduce himself on the first day of school. Call him petty all you want, but Jake considers himself raised with good manners. But just like that, he eventually found himself in a cycle of spiteful competition with the mysterious raven, all until Jake left to live overseas for a while.
That’s just where his problem lies. Because who would’ve thought that the brat he once knew would grow up to be this giant ass man who was almost a full head taller than Jake now?
Fast forward their first year in uni, Jake had finally gotten over his excessively competitive phase and learned to slack off sometimes. He flew back home, bringing the warmness of the Australian summer with him and to every new friend he made.
But then, without warning, this guy just walked into the lecture hall, calling Jake’s attention and giving absolutely no fucks about his tardiness on the first day of college.
It didn’t help that Jake was helplessly gay and this stocky fucking Greek god just waltzed into his life again, as if nothing ever happened. To be fair, Jake was probably just another mere forgettable childhood memory for him, but still. There’s no telling if he still remembers him like Jake does.
And who knows what memory could there possibly be? His lame attempts at starting a conversation when they were seven?
No way he’s going anywhere near Park Sunghoon ever again. So what if he has to endure every single day watching him get swarmed by his admirers, who get to see him blush at the attention? So what if Jake feels something bloom inside him whenever he catches a glimpse of that handsome fanged smile? So what if—
“Sim fucking Jaeyun!”
His thoughts were interrupted when a hand swatted his own that was laying under his chin, almost making his head hit the table.
“What’s your prob—”
“I’ve been calling you for five minutes now,” Jay said, then pursed his lips to try and regain his composure. “I thought you wanted to help me? Wasn’t this your idea in the first place?”
Oh yes, that! Jake’s eyes lit up at the sudden reminder. Just to let you know, the said idea was none other than—drum rolls—a love potion.
You read that right. Jake, both a self-proclaimed believer of science and someone who has his own love problems, just recommended his best friend to concoct a love potion. In his defense, it really felt so much like putting together random substances in their school laboratory. Also...
“If you think it’s stupid, why would you roll with it then?”
Interestingly, the person he was making this love potion for actually happened to be Lee Heeseung, Sunghoon’s own best friend. Putting it simply, Jake may or may not have forced Jay into this so he could “accidentally” find a reason to talk to Sunghoon. Hitting two birds with one stone, they say.
“Whatever, just— let’s just get on with this.”
Jake sat up properly and let go of the rose he was holding, only to grab the first thing he could find. An ingredients list.
“Love potion number nine…” he read out loud. “What’s so special about nine? Can’t we use ‘love potion number one’?”
Jay walked over to him and snatched the list from his hands. “It has nine ingredients and needs nine units of measurements. Don’t think much about it.”
“How do you know it’s nothing? Where did you get that from?”
“Pinterest. Now shut up and pick nine petals from this.” Jay handed him the flower which he begrudgingly accepted. Jake started plucking the petals one by one, but still kept on talking despite being told otherwise.
“Is this even edible?” He played with the petals for a while but immediately got bored, so he turned his attention to Jay instead, who was now pouring a few drops of red wine on a small glass jar.
“Whoa, you can really pass for a witch now!” Jake exclaimed, completely forgetting about his earlier inquiry. “Like the witch that poisoned Snow White!” he further teased. Jay only laughed.
“Do you think this would actually work?” Jay reached for the apple juice next. “This is kind of fun, to be honest. I wouldn’t mind if it didn’t.”
Beside him, Jake was examining the list of ingredients written in Jay’s own handwriting. “I can’t believe you’re asking me that. Wouldn’t you — it says nine drops of honey — Wouldn’t you know that better since you’re a psychology major?”
A few seconds passed by without Jay responding to his question at all. Understandable, it was rhetorical, but he wasn’t usually one to back out from any argument however petty. When Jake looked up to find out what he was up to, the older was frantically searching their cupboards for something.
“What’s wrong?” Jake stood up in an effort to help, but before he could even take a step further, Jay was back at the table.
“We don’t have honey…” he said, matter-of-factly. Jake furrowed his brows.
“That’s impossible! I just bought some yesterday, didn’t you tell me to?”
“I know, I… I was just kind of stressed last night so…”
“You ate it all?!”
Trying to defend himself, Jay screamed back, “I wasn’t planning to!”
A few moments of awkward silence settled between them as they decided what to do next. In the end, they sorted it out by putting sugar dissolved in water instead, after Jake claimed that ‘It’s fine! Even honeycombs get wet with rain sometimes.’
Also,
‘You ate all the honey. You don’t get to complain.’
After completing the concoction amid their incessant bickering, the two finally sat on the small space of their carpeted living room floor. Jake sat cross-legged with the small glass jar between his hands, while Jay knelt before him and held the now-wrinkled piece of paper bearing the potion instructions. Around them were about ten white candles lit by Jake and arranged in a circle slightly lopsided, which none of them seemed to notice.
“So for this, we need to close our eyes,” Jay started, reading the directions. No sooner had he finished his sentence did Jake pipe up with a petulant ‘Why?’
Jay sighed. “Because they said so. Look, do you want to do this or not?”
“I do…” Jake pouted, then finally closed his eyes. Whether he peeked at least once to see if Jay did too is between himself only. Surprisingly, Jay seemed to have the instructions memorized already, if the way he did everything seamlessly was any indication. He sure was more serious about this than he lets out.
It took a few more moments before Jay wrapped his hands around Jake’s, earning him an astonished squeak from the younger. But as soon as Jake got over his fright—after a sheepish giggle—they quickly proceeded.
The inhale that Jay took was audible in the eerie silence, until it was broken once again by the supposed chant that he recited next.
‘Let the one who drinks this wine
Shower me with love divine
Love potion number nine,
Let their love be forever mine.’
A full three seconds with only the sound of the air conditioning accompanying the silence was enough to make Jake blurt out again,
“This is stupid.”
Despite himself, he placed the glass jar carefully on the small table by the end of the couch. In doing so, he barely noticed how Jay extinguished the flames in all the candles and collected them, one by one.
“Not as stupid as a pining idiot like you,” Jay replied, making Jake roll his eyes. He stored all the candles away, as well as the potion before he continued, “At least I actually did something about it, right.”
“Whatever.”
When the first yawn broke their ongoing conversation, they took it as their cue to call it a night.
.
In his defense, the line in the library was long and his classes finished late because the old professor went overtime. That was exactly what Jake prepared to tell Jay once the older blew his ears off on the phone for being late again.
What he wouldn’t say, however, was the fact that the extra time taken in his class was only about five minutes or so. And that he was the reason for the long lines because for some reason, he decided it was a good idea to gawk at Park Sunghoon entering the library at that very moment, right in the middle of the queue.
At last came the telltale sound of his phone blasting the ringtone reserved for his best friend. Jake braced himself by taking a deep breath, then he finally answered.
“Hello—”
“Where the fuck are you?!” Jake animatedly pulled the phone away from his ear at the harsh volume, no matter how much he’d been expecting to do so.
Well, he might be late for their supposed meeting time, but he was just right on time when Jay finally blew a fuse. Jake could actually see him pacing around right now on one of the outside tables, but being the best friend that he was, he decided to prank Jay by not showing up for a bit longer.
“Hang on. I’m almost there, I swear,” he began, then went on to narrate the more dramatic description of his encounters today.
“Okay, okay. But where are you right now?”
From the sound of it, Jay was really nervous now. Of course he would—after all, they were only supposed to meet for today the very reason for their love potion: Lee Heeseung. It was nothing big; Jay only had to return a book he borrowed and claimed he wanted to make up for it with a drink. Simple, but it was all just a nasty scheme—Jake’s words.
“I’m on the way,” Jake stalled, trying to pretend that he wasn’t there the whole time. “Did you get me the drink I told you about? You know, the iced—”
“Iced passion tango tea lemonade, right. Of all things, you really had to pick something red today, too. You’re lucky it isn’t the only red drink—”
Holy shit.
Everything that Jay spoke through the call fell on deaf ears as Jake’s attention got caught by something else entirely. Fuck.
Heeseung was approaching fast from the opposite direction and Jay is still scolding Jake through the phone, completely clueless about the other’s presence. To make matters worse, Heeseung wasn’t alone.
Sunghoon was with him.
Fuck it. Out of panic, Jake sprinted towards the table where Jay was currently waiting for him. He paid it no mind when his best friend’s eyes widened at his sudden appearance and instead, made them both sit on the chairs immediately. He also grabbed one of the red drinks and quickly slurped his way through it to make it seem like they’ve been there for a while, that they weren’t just frantic about meeting Jay’s crush today.
In just a few seconds, Heeseung was there with Sunghoon. Together, their shadows loomed over the two who can’t help but get nervous for what they were about to do.
“Hello Jay, sorry we’re late,” Heeseung greeted with an apologetic smile. “Oh, you’re here too, Jake!”
Thank goodness for being known as ‘Jake’. Who knows what he’s going to do when Heeseung calls him ‘Jaeyun’ right in front of Park Sunghoon, his actual childhood rival?
After a timid ‘Hi ’ in return, Jake quickly turns his gaze to Jay as a sign to take things from there. To his frustration, Jay was still looking at him with wide eyes, although he got over it when Heeseung called for his attention.
As the two spoke, Jake felt something weird build up in his chest. Maybe it’s from the stolen worried glances Jay threw at him. Or maybe it’s from the close-up sight of Sunghoon’s bulging biceps underneath his plain white shirt. He might even be staring back at Jake now while the other two were busy conversing, although Jake avoided his gaze by focusing on the glass windows of the cafe.
To his delight (and to Jay’s disappointment), the time to say goodbye has finally arrived. While it passed by rather quickly for the older, for Jake, it felt like an eternity waiting for their meeting to end. Not because he wanted to avoid Sunghoon, but that his presence alone was enough to make Jake’s self-consciousness skyrocket by about five hundred percent.
As he waved back at Heeseung who was already about to leave, Jake felt the funny sensation return in his chest. Thankfully, he was able to actually say ‘goodbye’ to at least end their meeting today with grace.
The very moment Heeseung and Sunghoon turned their backs on them, Jay leaned over to Jake and asked, “How are you feeling?”
But alas, Jake couldn’t find it in himself to even answer anymore. His vision was blurry, his mind was reeling, and every sound he heard all mingled into a steady whirring.
“Jake? Can you hear me?”
Without warning, Jake stood up against his volition. His mind was still in a confused spiral, making him slightly stagger in his step towards nowhere at all in particular. Beside him, Jay was panicking again just as he was some minutes before.
Jake vaguely registered his best friend holding him by the arm and calling his name. But for some reason, he couldn’t find the right words to reply with, so Jay was left to just cluelessly ask,
“Jake? What’s happening, oh my god…”
A few more moments passed until Jake heard the sound of approaching footsteps accompanying his best friend’s helpless voice. Almost like people came by to help find out whatever the fuck was happening with him.
“Is he okay?” Huh. That voice sounded familiar, but he couldn’t quite put a finger on who it was.
“What’s wrong, Jay?” asked the second person, concern evident in their voice. This one was somehow more soothing for Jake, for reasons that it sounded somewhat like Heeseung.
Heeseung?!
Jake stilled. While his companions were already lowkey panicking beside him, like a heartbeat, his mind only went ‘Heeseung. Heeseung. Heeseung. Heeseung.’
That’s right. Heeseung!
It all made perfect sense. No wonder he was feeling weaker than he usually was—because Heeseung wasn’t there with him!
“Should we take him to the hosp—” Heeseung wasn’t even able to finish his sentence when Jake’s arms snaked around one of his biceps and kept a firm hold on it.
And as if clinging on Heeseung like a baby koala wasn’t enough to have the trio’s eyebrows raise to their hairlines, Jake also stood on the tip of his toes to place a… you guessed it right!
A loving kiss on Heeseung’s cheek.
As the four of them walked back to his and Jay’s apartment in an effort to avoid public scrutiny (and further embarrassing himself), Jake faintly recognized the face of their pale companion, who looked rather annoyed by now. But even that was forgotten in an instant, all in favor of Jake finally doting on his long-lost childhood boyfriend .