Chapter Text
1.
Ollie can’t say no to Yujin. That is an undeniable fact that everyone and their mother and their grandparents know. It’s not very subtle either when Ollie looks at Yujin as if he had hung all the stars in the world and cured all longtime illnesses.
It’s not an understatement that he can’t say no to Yujin either. He quite literally can’t, it’s almost as if he’s physically allergic to saying one singular word to him. Maybe it’s because Yujin will get all teary-eyed if he gets denied anything he wants, or maybe it’s because Yujin is just so smiley and adorable when he smiles, and he smiles when he gets what he wants.
Perhaps it runs through the family blood of not being able to deny your significant other anything they want. A generational curse. His mother and father were whipped for each-other, always spoilt each-other in riches, and Ricky’s not any better than them despite his tough facade, buying whatever Gyuvin even glances at (he’s also just a weak sucker for Gyuvin’s stupid puppy eyes).
Ollie is so doomed. His family is absolutely loaded with money, Ollie has a weekly allowance and he’s richer than everyone he’s ever met, but god, Yujin’s spoilt. Yujin’s never been told no by anyone, not even his parents because he’s… he’s Yujin. Ollie isn’t sure if he’s gonna be able to resist the urge of swiping his card at anything just because Yujin looks at it like he wants it.
It’s fine! Ollie wants to reassure him that he can fight his urges for at least three or four hours walking around with Yujin in the mall. As long as Yujin doesn’t bat his pretty eyelashes at Ollie and talks to him sweetly about something cool he saw in some store, then Ollie won’t have to run around like a dog trying to make Yujin happy. Yeah, he’s totally got this, he’s stronger than this!
Ollie brings his wrist out to the front to look on his watch. There’s still ten minutes until Yujin gets here. They made the arrangement to be here at 12:00 P.M., but Yujin is always late by at least five minutes no matter what. That gives Ollie enough time to rethink everything and decide if he truly wants to be here or if he should rain check on Yujin while he still has time. Surely, Yujin won’t be so upset if Ollie shoots him a quick text saying that he got his schedule all wrong and that he can’t make it, right?
Oh god. That makes Ollie feel even worse about any of this. Just imagining the tiny pout that would form onto Yujin’s form as he reads the message fills Ollie with nothing but guilt. Ollie can even go as far as to imagine the silent treatment that Yujin will give him the day after and it absolutely kills him to even think about. Turns out that won’t be a good resolution after all.
The only thing left is to just wait for Yujin and suck it up. On the bright side, he gets to see Yujin’s pretty face as it lightens up when he sees Ollie. Another pro is that Yujin might wrap him in a tight and warm hug that makes Ollie melt. The slight con though is that his wallet might suffer drastic changes but it’s fine, everything’s fine if it’s all for Yujin, really. The world revolves around Yujin.
Speaking of Yujin, it seems as Ollie was overthinking all his decisions up to this moment, Yujin peeks out from the corner with a loud shout. All of Ollie’s worries end up being forgotten about when he sees Yujin, already opening his arms for Yujin to hop into (he’s just so bunny). At first, Ollie couldn’t decipher whether or not it was Yujin because he first appears just a blob of black hair, but Ollie recognises that voice anywhere when it shouts his name.
“Hyung!” Yujin exclaims, jumping into Ollie’s arms and embracing him. Ollie almost tips over with the amount of impact that Yujin throws himself into Ollie but he manages to keep his stability somehow (if you ask Ollie, he’s not sure how either, his upper body strength is absolutely dogwater, he’s like a frail sick boy).
“Holy fuck, Yujin–” Ollie chokes out, hugging the boy back, “Be careful, you could’ve had us both tumbling on the ground, loser.”
Yujin smiles dumbly (and brightly), “Can you believe it? I had to fight for my life, Gyuvin would barely let me out of the house because he thought I was gonna rob a bank or something!”
Ollie highly doubts that’s how the story is but he’ll choose to believe Yujin for the sake of his sanity.
“Really? Gyuvin-hyung is weird, you should kidnap his dog or something.” Ollie hums, reluctantly breaking away from the warmth of Yujin and forcing him next to him, putting out his hand expectantly.
Yujin looks at the hand confused until he finally takes the hint and clasps his hand together with Ollie, “Well, should we get going then? We have to check out the entire place, I heard they had some new stores in and I wanted to check them!”
Oh boy. Ollie’s fucking doomed at this point, he might as well text Ricky and says that he lost the war and if he sees money slowly draining out of his account until it reaches peak zero that he shouldn’t be worried at all (worst case scenario is that Ricky restricts him from seeing Yujin but he can’t possibly be that cruel… Right?)
“Yeah. Let’s go.”
There’s no going back now, Ollie has already dug himself deep inside this hole and there’s no way to get out.
Yujin beams at him as he tugs Ollie through the doors of the mall, the tense air already attacking them not even a second they walk inside the large building. Stores that go immeasurable lengths surround them, all either popular brand stores like Chanel or Burberry, or some unpopular stores that still sell good items like the exotic snack store stuffed in the food court.
The mall is a bit busier than it is on average days, perhaps because it’s a Sunday and everyone is free on Sundays for some odd reason.
Yujin’s eyes sparkle as he glances at each and every one of the stores, and Ollie has to tighten his grip on Yujin’s hand almost as if Yujin will start running off to some random store and Ollie’s gonna lose him (it certainly won’t be the first time, the first time that they had gone to the mall for a date; Yujin had ended up running off excitedly to some random store and Ollie wasn’t able to contact him for a solid ten minutes before he had to go to the security office and ask if they could announce Yujin’s name through the announcement thingy. Yujin had whined when he found Ollie saying that it’s so embarrassing to have his name called out like that).
Ollie’s the first one to break the silence with an awkward cough, “So… where do you wanna go first?”
Yujin turns his head at the speed of light with a cheeky smile that resembles a cute bunny and Ollie has to resist the urge to pinch his cheeks, “I wanna go to the new stores that opened up. I think there’s one near here, it’s some cute Sanrio store! Gyuvin has been complaining about how he wants a Chococat plush because it reminds him of Ricky and I’m sure Ricky would want a Pochacco since he likes puppies so much.”
Since when did Ricky like puppies? Ollie brings himself to question but he doesn’t voice his thoughts aloud, the most he can manage to do in his current predicament is muster up a small smile to reciprocate Yujin’s, “Well, lead the way then.”
Yujin ends up dragging halfway through a mall for some small booth shop. At least they’re all cute! It’s decorated with multi-coloured confetti and large Sanrio plushies that surely any person would find cute. One that particularly stands out is a Kuromi and Hello Melody pair (they slightly remind Ollie of Yujin, but that could just be because they’re both bunnies and Yujin’s representative animal is a bunny and nothing can change Ollie’s mind on that).
“Look!” Yujin perks up, his hand unfortunately leaving Ollie’s to grab onto a Kuromi plush, “Isn’t it just cute?”
Ollie can’t do much more than nod dumbly.
“Okay. I’ve decided. I’m gonna get one for everyone! I’ll get Ricky a Pochacco one so it reminds him of Gyuvin, Gyuvin a Chococat one so he can think about Ricky, oh! I’ll give Hanbin-hyung and Hao-hyung a Kuromi and Hello Melody plush so they can match, they’re all about that sickeningly cute stuff. Would Matthew-hyung like Hello Kitty?”
Ollie hopes these plushies aren’t charged much. Maybe he should’ve brought a little bit more cash. Do they take card? Ollie sure hopes so because it’s rare enough for him to even have cash on him and if they take card, then if he runs out of money, he can just beg his sweet old brother to lend him some more. Yujin’s arms are already stuffed with plushies and Ollie knows that he doesn’t have enough to pay for it all so before Yujin can even get a word out, Ollie ends up speaking before he can think.
“Get as much as you’d like, I’m paying for today.”
Budgeting is a lie and Ollie did not fall for that lie. It’s not like he can take back his words anyways!
“Really?” Yujin’s eyes have that gleam in them that makes Ollie swoon because they just look so big and bright and happy and just– god, Ollie’s so terribly down bad for this stupid boy.
“Yeah, you dumbass. Did you want me to repeat myself or something?” Ollie jokingly pokes at one of the plushies.
“Ollie, you sweet, sweet angel! You can’t blame me if I run your wallet dry or something then!”
Ollie wants to cry. But Yujin looks so adorable prancing around with stupid plushies in his arms so this is his reward for being so patient and so nice, surely.
When they check out, Ollie attempts to not look at the price and just hands the clerk his card, demanding that they throw away the receipt before Ollie sees it and regrets all his life decisions. When the clerk hands them the bags full of plushies, Ollie doesn’t even know what to do. Should he give them to Yujin to hold or should he hold them himself?
“Yujin, do you wanna–” He starts off, turning around but when his eyes dart from left to right, Yujin is nowhere in sight. “ Oh my fucking god, ” Ollie breathes out, a slight panic filling his voice. Not again, god please. He wants to start kneeling down onto the ground and praying that he did not just lose Yujin in approximately two minutes. Just where did he prance off to in that amount of time? He couldn’t have gotten that far, right?
Ollie hurriedly wraps the bags around his arm before scurrying out of the store in a rush. Right, where could he have gone? Certainly not left because that’s just where they were, trying to get to this booth. Using process elimination, Ollie ends up proceeding through the right area, trying to find just one puff of black hair that could possibly belong to Yujin’s or some random stranger.
“Yujin?” He calls out, albeit it doesn’t come off as strongly as he would like because of all the loud chattering going on around him and he worries. Right. Yujin has a phone, Ollie can just call him or text him and ask where he is, it’s that easy!
Oh, but Yujin never answers his phone when he's in the mall because he’s too busy looking at something… What is he supposed to do now? Have Yujin’s name announced throughout the entire mall and embarrass him like he did the first time, risking Yujin’s happiness (that’s an over-exaggeration, but Ollie fears that Yujin will give him the silent treatment if he does that).
After ten minutes of running around like a lost puppy in the stupid mall, Ollie settles down on a bench, two droplets of sweat dripping down his forehead. This cannot be real. He did not really just lose Yujin in a mall, right? Why hasn’t Yujin been looking for him too? Just where had he went, that stupid id–
“Ollie!”
Ollie jumps up at the speed of light, immediately looking around for the person who shouted his name. God, please let it be the forsaken person that he has been searching for or he might as well put a gun against his head and pull the trigger.
Thankfully, it is because when he swivels his head around to look at the running black figure, he knows that little bunny hop anywhere. Ollie doesn’t know whether or not he should be angry that Yujin decided to just disappear out of nowhere or happy that Yujin had ended up finding his way back to him without bursting out in a flurry of pristine tears.
Being at a five feet distance, instead of just speeding the rest of the way to Ollie, Yujin decides to completely jump onto him, tackling the both of them down on the ground. Ollie lets out a wince from the impact on his body but nonetheless wraps his arms around Yujin as if he’s protecting him from something.
Fuck. That really hurt. Ollie almost says but he manages to keep his mouth shut.
“I was so scared– I thought I had lost you! You have to stop running off, Ollie.”
Ollie’s jaw drops. There is no way Yujin is accusing him of being the one running off when Yujin is literally the one who poofed out of thin air. Ollie brings one of his arms away from Yujin’s side to rub at his forehead in frustration when he looks back at Yujin.
“No, Yujin–”
Yujin cuts him off. “But, I ended up finding you! And, look, look!”
Yujin reaches into his pocket to bring out a cute little Pippo keychain and pokes it at Ollie’s chest.
All of Ollie’s complaints die in his throat as he looks at the keychain. Oh god. It’s cute. It’s small and cute and this means that Yujin went all the way back when Ollie wasn’t looking just to buy him a keychain to surprise him, which Yujin is just so thoughtful and so sweet and so–
He’s perfect, Ollie thinks.
Ollie stares at Yujin lovingly before he swallows the lump in his throat. He takes the keychain carefully out of Yujin’s arm and slips it into his pocket, lifting both him and Yujin up and off the ground. “It’s cute.” Ollie comments and Yujin grins.
“Right?”
Maybe losing Yujin and paying for all his stuff wouldn’t be so bad after-all.
2.
“Happy birthday, Ollie!” Yujin bursts into the room, jumping onto Ollie and smothering sweet kisses all over his face, “You’re finally 17– Oh, you’re such an old hag at this point, that’s so weird…” Yujin pouts, bringing his face away from Ollie in faux disgust.
Ricky gags as he walks in with his arm wrapped around Gyuvin’s waist. He reluctantly lets go with a frown to drag Yujin off from Ollie (Yujin doesn’t leave without a fight though, and he ends up sulking when he has to break apart from his own boyfriend).
“Happy birthday, Ollie! You’re…” Gyuvin pauses for a second, placing his hand on his chin, “Um…”
“Are you fucking stupid? He’s 17 now! What kind of friend are you?!” Yujin calls out instead of Ollie, Yujin placing his hand on his heart almost as if Gyuvin had just pierced a stake through it. “You’re so fake! Ollie, I don’t know why you hang around my brother anyways. Tell Ricky to dump him or something.”
Yujin sticks his tongue out at Gyuvin whose jaw is currently on the ground, “I’m gonna pummel you to the ground, you brat! I don’t talk to Ollie much, how am I supposed to know his age?”
Ricky lets out a grumble, “Can you guys not bicker for one day? It’s Ollie’s birthday.”
Yujin rips himself out of Ricky’s hold and retreats back to Ollie’s side, “It’s not my fault your boyfriend is a dumb puppy who needs to be held on some kind of leash or something. He probably has rabies or something, so you should take him to a vet!”
Ollie chuckles nervously as he hugs Yujin, “Sorry, Gyuvin-hyung…”
Yujin immediately returns the hug with an excited squeak.
“You guys are disgusting.” Gyuvin scowls, covering his eyes from the display of affection in front of him. “Can you guys not be all lovey-dovey in front of me? It’s making me feel lonely!”
Ricky stares at Gyuvin, “Are we not dating?”
“No, because you didn’t defend me from Yujin’s dirty mouth–”
“Alright! Aw, how cute, young love at its finest.” Zhang Hao’s voice pipes up when he walks inside the room with a bag of party-poppers, birthday decorations, and gifts. “Yujin, be a darling and tear yourself off of Ollie, we need to set up everything for his birthday.”
Yujin sadly breaks his embrace from Zhang Hao and somberly walks over to Zhang Hao, folding his arms, like a minion awaiting commands from its master.
“Don’t pout. Don’t you want him to have a good birthday?” Zhang Hao glares, Yujin hurriedly puts on a forced smile, and nods.
Ollie thinks he looks adorable but that’s just for him to know.
“Ollie!” Seungeon giddily shouts when he walks in the room, his hand clasped with Yunseo’s. “Happy birthday, oh my god, I can’t believe you’re turning 17…” Seungeon wipes his nose fakely, even adding an additional sniffling moment, “You’re gonna reach me and Gyuvin’s age soon…”
Ollie lets Seungeon hug him for a split second before breaking it, and Yunseo pulls him into a half-hug. “Happy birthday, Ollie.” Yunseo tells him when he half-hugs Ollie with a gentle smile. Ollie retaliates by nodding his head in acknowledgement.
Five minutes has passed since all of the people in Ollie’s school came. Yujin’s off to the side with Zhang Hao, complaining about how he has so many tasks to do and Zhang Hao scoffs, lightly patting him on the head and telling him he can do it for Ollie. Yujin brightens up at the thought of that and continues doing whatever he was doing.
That puts a smile on Ollie’s face.
Seungeon and Yunseo are chattering amongst themselves as they set the table and get all the food out for the party. For such a small gathering, there’s so many snacks and cake and drinks, and just everything. They must really care for Ollie if they’re putting this much effort, huh?
There’s a slight weight in Ollie’s chest that’s lifted when he remembers that it’s just a small gathering. Ollie’s not a big fan of that many people. There’s just two more people invited and then it’s the whole gang up in here, and Ollie’s fond of that fact because he doesn’t need that many people that he isn’t close with at his birthday party where his overly affectionate boyfriend is.
Don’t get Ollie wrong! Trust, he loves it when Yujin absolutely showers him in affection and love– it’s everything he could have ever asked for, but Yujin is just so touchy and it’s mildly embarrassing when he holds onto Ollie’s hand or drapes himself all over Ollie for a hug, or when he presses millions of kisses against Ollie’s face because he just felt like it. Ollie’s okay if it’s Zhang Hao, Ricky, Gyuvin, Seungeon, Yunseo, and some other few people because they know him, they know about their relationship, but just people that he’s not close with or just strangers seeing him all domestic with Yujin? How embarrassing.
Gyuvin and Ricky are taking care of the presents– Well, just Gyuvin, Ollie supposes, when he glances over. Ricky’s standing behind Gyuvin, his arms wrapped around his waist and his head lying on his shoulder, pressing feather-light kisses to his neck while Gyuvin assorts the gifts according to the sender. For just a few people, there’s too many gifts. Maybe Zhang Hao’s boyfriends have decided to give him something as well. They’re nice, Ollie thinks. Ollie hasn’t interacted with Matthew nor Hanbin much, but he knows that they’re somewhat acquaintanced with Yujin as well. Hanbin and Yujin are good friends, and Matthew just comes along with the package.
Ollie feels a bit lonely just sitting down watching as everyone does their tasks to set up the perfect little birthday party for him. He even feels a little useless, as if he should volunteer to do something as if they aren’t celebrating his birthday. Oh, what a sad and lonely life.
But, it’s almost as if God has heard his pleas because Park Hanbin comes barging in through the doors with a bright entrance, perhaps too loud for Ollie’s likings, but still! “The star of the show is here, fear not, Ollie, because I am here to give you a hell of a birthday!” Ollie can’t help the smile that breaks out. Park Hanbin’s holding four gifts in his hand where he dumps over to Gyuvin (Gyuvin lets out an agitated mumble that Ricky kisses away).
Just like dominoes, another bright visitor bursts into the room, all loud, tackling Park Hanbin, “He’s wrong! He’s not the star of the show, because I, Kum Junhyeon, am now here!” Yujin lets out a cheer when he sees Junhyeon tumble over Hanbin.
This should be everyone, Ollie notes.
Everything’s almost done. Ollie can tell with the way Gyuvin looks so proud of himself and Ricky is staring at him so fondly and full of love that he might just burst. Seungeon and Yunseo are sitting down now, all the food and treats fresh on the table, the main course being the cake, sitting solemnly in the center of the table with pink and blue frosting that spells out ‘Happy Birthday Our Ollie Wonka!’. Hanbin and Junhyeon are in the corner bickering over who should be the main character in their entertainment course, and Yujin’s just adding the tiniest details onto things as Zhang Hao sets up a camera.
Yujin finishes off whatever he was doing with a quiet cheer and the first thing he does is tackle Ollie once again. “I’m done, I’m done, everything’s all prepared, Hao-hyung!”
Zhang Hao doesn’t even bother with Yujin anymore when he smiles at them and presses the last thing to set up the camera. It’s not for use right now but he’s just preparing it for when they’re gonna need it.
The birthday party passes without a flash. Zhang Hao ends up ruining the beautiful present castle that Gyuvin builds (Gyuvin had to be held back as Zhang Hao absolutely demolished it, looking for certain gifts). There are even gifts from people he never expected to get any from, like Hanbin’s boyfriend and Hanbin’s friends. When Hanbin hands him one gift saying it’s from him, then another saying it’s from Taerae, and then another saying it’s from Junghyun, and then another from Jeonghyeon, Ollie’s left speechless. He doesn’t even have their numbers to send a text of gratitude, so Ollie just places them to the side and gives Hanbin a polite bow and to deliver a thank you message to them.
Zhang Hao gives him two gifts from him (what a sweet angel, Ollie bets it’s something that Ollie didn’t even know he wanted), and one gift that Matthew and Hanbin collaborated on. The next time Ollie sees them, he’ll say thank you for the gifts. Ricky doesn’t give him a gift (that’s a lie, Ricky’s just saving it for when the two brothers are alone because he’s too embarrassed to reveal that he actually cares enough to get a gift for his beloved brother, he can already imagine the endless teasing that will happen), and Gyuvin shoves a gift at his chest without saying a word. Instead of giving him an actual gift, Seungeon serenades him (Ollie had a faint blush on his cheek out of pure embarrassment but he thanks Seungeon for the beautiful song because Seungeon’s voice is somewhat soothing to listen to), and Yunseo pats him on the shoulder as he gives him a gift (he also apologises to Ollie about the serenading but Seungeon doesn’t have to know that).
Ollie’s grateful for all the gifts he’s received so far, really, he is, but there’s just one person that he’s waiting for. Ollie waits excitedly when Yujin shuffles through the numerous gifts and picks out a box from the pile of gifts. Should Ollie be nervous? God, what is he even nervous for? Yujin would never give him anything he dislikes because Yujin knows Ollie too well and Yujin would never settle for anything less than first when it comes to Ollie– but would it be suspicious if Ollie opens Yujin’s gift more enthusiastically than the others, would they accuse him of favouritism?
Oh, fuck that, they’re dating, of course Ollie’s gonna favour him more than others. Ollie takes the gift from Yujin’s hands and places it to the side. He’s just gonna open it at home because then nobody can make fun of him if he ends up crying because Yujin’s so thoughtful in his gifts.
“I’ll open all the gifts later.” Ollie starts off, “Can we eat something? Like…” Ollie searches the room for something to eat that they all like before his eyes settle on the cake, “Oh, the cake! I’ve been dying to see what the fuck you guys decided to get.”
Zhang Hao stares blankly at Ollie before refocusing, “Oh. Yeah, the cake. Seungeon, could you grab the knife from the cabinet?”
“Yes sir!” Seungeon salutes before he scurries off to go get the knife. Ollie and Yujin walk side by side closer to the table, Yujin discreetly slipping his hand in with Ollie’s.
“Sorry to disappoint you, Ollie, but we kinda just got you classic chocolate…” Zhang Hao murmurs, almost as if he’s unsure if Ollie’s gonna like it.
“Hao-ge! It’s fine! I love chocolate, anyway.” Ollie exclaims when Seungeon passes Zhang Hao the cake-cutting knife. Ollie squeezes Yujin’s hand a few times as Zhang Hao slices through the cake, getting the exact number of slices for everyone. One for Ollie and one for Yujin. One for Zhang Hao. One for Seungeon and Yunseo. One for Gyuvin, who’s currently distracted, and one for Ricky who’s the reason Gyuvin’s distracted. One for Hanbin who is currently snapping selcas of himself and one for Junhyeon who is in the centre of the room doing his little five year old aegyo thing.
Zhang Hao is about to wipe the frosting off the knife onto a plate when Ollie’s voice peaks up, “Wait, Hao-ge, let me eat the frosting off the knife.”
Zhang Hao looks at him suspiciously before handing him the knife (in a normal situation, Zhang Hao would have never given the knife to Ollie for safety reasons, but today is his birthday and Zhang Hao cannot deny the birthday boy anything he wants). “Be careful with it, don’t accidentally slice your tongue off.”
Ollie grins. Instead of licking the frosting off the knife, he settles his cake plate back onto the table before swiping his finger across the top of the knife to get the frosting off. He rubs a little bit on Yujin’s nose.
Yujin squeaks and scrunches his nose up before grumbling, “Two can play at that game.”
It’s a mess. It’s absolutely a mess that Zhang Hao is gonna kill them for when he sees how much frosting is on their face and on the table. It’s a mess full of love, giggles, and frosting when Yujin smothers some frosting over Ollie’s nose and Ollie does the same to his cheek and both of their faces have specks of frosting over them but it doesn’t matter if it’s dirty or not because they’re both happy and enjoying each-other’s company and they’ve never had more fun.
Yujin pants after the last attack of frosting before gripping both of Ollie’s hands to connect them with his. Ollie intertwined his fingers with Yujin, giving him a little heartwarming squeeze.
And before Ollie can even blink, Yujin’s kissing him. Not on the lips, but on the nose. He can hear a little gasp from Zhang Hao as he presses the record button on his phone, and from the side of his eyes, he can see Gyuvin pressed up against the wall with Ricky’s lips connected to him and nowhere to escape as Ricky pins him. But that all blanks out when Yujin’s soft lips touch his nose to kiss off the frosting and Ollie feels like dying right there and then happily.
“Did you just… kiss my nose?” Ollie questions, almost as if it was a dream and he needed to confirm it.
Yujin nods, a faint blush shielding his face.
“There…. there was frosting all over it so I was gonna wipe it off but there was no napkins around so I decided to just kiss them off!” Yujin furiously wipes his face with his sleeve, almost embarrassed by his recent actions.
Ollie’s slightly embarrassed too. He normally would never let this happen, god, to have everyone see Yujin kiss his nose and to smother him in love– but it’s Yujin, and how could he ever deny Yujin of that privilege as his boyfriend?
Fuck it if everyone sees because Ollie got to feel Yujin’s soft lips. Ollie can excuse this just once.
3.
It’s been tough for Yujin, recently. Ollie knows how exhausted the poor boy must be, his stamina doesn’t even that far surprisingly. He’s been practising and practising for the upcoming soccer game that he hasn’t had any time for himself or anything really. The only thoughts that’s been flooding Yujin’s abused mind is that he should continue on kicking this stupid ball, kick it into the net, figure out strategies, and lead his team to victory.
With how much he’s been buried in his stupid soccer practises as well, he’s barely had enough time to even stop by and have a chat with Ollie. Even Zhang Hao claims that he hasn’t seen Yujin in a century, and Gyuvin can barely talk to him at home because he’s always in a hurry to go back to the soccer field. Hanbin has even given his take on this and he’s barely seeing Yujin around as well, it’s almost as if the boy had become a ghost since the big game had been announced.
You can pry this information out of Ollie’s cold and dead hands, but he has to admit that he’s starting to miss him. Ollie’s world used to revolve around Yujin and it’s as if he had just fallen off the surface of the earth. Ollie’s just about gotten the thought to just stomp up to the soccer field and drag Yujin away from it because he’s sure that’ll do him and Yujin good. He knows Yujin, he knows the boys’ tendencies to just overwork himself into exhaustion where exhaustion ends up resulting in him passing out in random areas.
But he won’t. Because he knows how much soccer means to Yujin, Yujin looks at soccer the same way he looks at Ollie, the same way Ollie looks at Yujin. That special sparkle in his eye that tells you that he’s absolutely dedicated to it, as if he’s fallen in love with it and he’s ready to waste his entire life away just for it. Ollie would never get in the way of Yujin’s passions. No matter how much he’s absolutely itching to tear Yujin away from it for even one second, he won’t.
But it’s getting to feel a bit lonely without him, a little cold. He feels as if he’s been deprived of the warmth of Yujin and it’s absolutely killing him. He’s never been used to not being deprived of Yujin’s touch, the boy always beaming when he sees him and so affectionate that he just can’t keep his hands’ off to save his life. Ollie has always appreciated that about Yujin. Yujin surely won’t be practising beyond ten at night, right? Perhaps he should call Gyuvin and check in on Yujin to see if he’s home. Ollie wouldn’t mind taking a quick trip to Yujin’s house as long as he gets his beloved quality time with him for what feels like the first time in forever.
Ollie finishes contemplating his decisions. He’ll send Gyuvin a text and Gyuvin will reply almost immediately because he’s most likely hanging out with Ricky and whether they’re making out or not is none of Ollie’s business.
There’s a slight change in Ollie’s plans. Ollie did not end up texting Gyuvin. Ollie had ended up putting on his jacket and going to Yujin and Gyuvin’s house before checking if Yujin was even there. And, then, he shoots Gyuvin a quick text asking if Yujin’s home. Gyuvin replies almost immediately, telling him that Yujin was home and in his room. He then proceeded to ask another question that read if there was anything happening between him and Ollie. Ollie had just replied with ‘please open the door hyung’ and shut off his phone, sliding it in his pocket.
Approximately, two minutes later, Gyuvin opens the door. Not to Ollie’s surprise, Ricky’s also there, glaring at Ollie as if he has just ruined a very intimate moment with him and Gyuvin. Ricky’s arms wrap around Gyuvin’s waist and Gyuvin tilts his head confusedly, “What are you doing here?”
“I want to visit Yujin.” Ollie hurriedly says, “Please let me in, it’s kinda cold out here?”
Gyuvin moves out of the way with Ricky following, and Ollie steps inside the familiar home. Ollie would consider this his second home, sometimes he thinks that he’s here more than his actual home because Yujin resides here and Yujin is his home.
“He’s locked up in his room, you might have to knock a few times. He looked pretty tired from practise, but it’s probably because he’s done nothing but practise. It’s getting kinda concerning recently, I’m afraid he’ll overwork himself and he won’t even have enough stamina to actually play the game, which means that all of this effort is for nothing.” Gyuvin, for once, seems to be conflicted. “I wanted to check up on him but he doesn’t even let me in his room, he tells me to go away.”
Ollie is sympathetic for Gyuvin but he doesn’t know what to say to that. “I’m… gonna try to talk to him. I’ll let you know how it goes.”
Gyuvin bites his lip nervously and nods, moving out of the way to let Ollie up the stairs and to Yujin’s room.
As Ollie heads up the steps, he can hear Gyuvin sigh and bury himself into Ricky’s arms. Gyuvin murmurs and Ricky agrees, and when Ollie looks back, he sees Ricky and Gyuvin heading back to Gyuvin’s room.
Ollie’s got this. He knows how to deal with Yujin. He’s dealt with every obstacle with Yujin, truly. Through his oblivious phase, and through all his tantrums and crying sessions, he knows what to not say and what to say to make Yujin feel better at all times, he’s been prepared for moments like this for thousands of years.
So, when he knocks on Yujin’s room, he’s already expecting Yujin to shout the words go away because he believes it’s Gyuvin. Not even awaiting a response from Yujin, Ollie twists the doorknob and peeks through the crack of the door where Yujin sits on his bed, stuffed inside an oversized hoodie that is most likely Gyuvin’s or Hanbin’s.
“Ollie…?” Yujin’s voice croaks out, and it sounds terribly weak and Ollie just wants to bury Yujin in his arms and never let him go, be a safe spot for Yujin to rest on. “What are you doing here?” Yujin tries to muster a smile at Ollie’s appearance but Ollie can already see the fatigue building up on Yujin and rendering him unable to do anything besides sit there and stare.
“Hi.” Ollie breathes out, stepping foot inside the room and shutting the door quietly behind him. “I wanted to see you.”
Short and sweet, Yujin doesn’t like it when people beat around the bush because he feels like they’re trying to hide a secret from him.
“Oh.”
“I missed you.” Ollie mumbles as he slips off his jacket and glances back at Yujin, “We haven’t seen each-other much lately. You’ve been so busy that you haven’t had time for us.”
Yujin looks down at his hands guiltily and picks at the skin, Ollie wants to tear his hands away and hold them for himself so he can stop picking at it. It’s always been a nervous habit of Yujin to do that, picking at it until it bleeds crimson red.
“Sorry. I’ve been… preparing for the big game.” Yujin smiles weakly and Ollie feels a sharp pang in his heart as he slips into Yujin’s bed.
“It’s okay. I know how much this means to you.”
Yujin lets Ollie slip into his bed, and he curls up to Ollie’s side like a cat. “I’ve missed you too,” he murmurs into Ollie’s side and Ollie feels warm again.
“You should’ve visited me at least once. What have you been doing?”
Yujin chuckles nervously before replying, “The moment I get home, I’ve crashed into bed. I haven’t had the energy to do anything else because it drains too much stamina out of me. All my limbs feel like noodles, I hope I’m energetic enough for the game.”
Yujin wraps his arms around Ollie’s neck to get closer towards him, Ollie lets him.
“Are you tired?” Ollie questions and Yujin’s eyes widen before he nods in a no motion. Ollie knows it’s a lie and that Yujin is just saying no because he doesn’t want Ollie to leave. In a way, it makes Ollie smile. It makes him feel nice that Yujin doesn’t want him to leave. He doesn’t want to leave Yujin’s side either. They’ve had sleepovers numerous times, this won’t be any different than all the other times.
“Don’t lie to me, Yujin-ah.” Ollie sighs, bringing the both of them to lay side by side. Yujin cuddles into Ollie’s side and lets out a relieved sigh, resting his head next to Ollie’s. They’re so close that Ollie can practically hear his breath and his heartbeat and his everything.
“You’ve worked well. You’re gonna do outstanding in the game, I just know it. You always do, you always break through no matter how exhausted you are. I hope you are eating and taking breaks though, you’re sometimes a stupid dumbass who is too focused on his own interests that you don’t care for yourself.” Ollie scolds and Yujin lets out a soft giggle.
“Can’t help it. I feel the urge to be first, always. And soccer is no different, you know that.”
“I do know that,” Ollie responds, bringing the sheets up to cover them and searching for one of Yujin’s hands to intermingle with his. When he finds it, he plays with the fingers softly and traces each line on them. They're as soft as usual.
“I was gonna send you a text,” Yujin pouts, “But then you just appeared right by my door as if you’re a wizard. Maybe you really do know when I need you the most.” It was meant to sound like a joke to spare Yujin the embarrassment of saying cheesy things like that, but Ollie knows that it’s genuine. That he means it, and that he’s glad that Ollie’s here.
“Rest. I’ll be here. I’m sleeping over because Ricky’s sleeping over too and if he’s sleeping over too, then I’m allowed to and they can’t complain or I’ll label it as favouritism.”
Yujin lets out a laugh before he closes his eyelids. “You always let me do whatever, you’re too nice, honestly.”
It’s a lie. Ollie’s polite, but he’s disrespectful to his elders and he never wants to call them hyung. He’s only nice to Yujin because he’s absolutely whipped and he would do anything for Yujin. But he doesn’t correct him on it and instead closes his eyelids.
“Goodnight, Yujin.”
“Goodnight, Ollie.”