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Soonyoung drives straight home to his apartment in excitement, his hands shaking on the steering wheel.
Why? For one, Jihoon is there. His beautiful, wonderful, and sexy boyfriend is there on his bed, probably sleeping or listening to some music while waiting for him. Second, his parcel that he’s been waiting forever for–three days but who’s counting–is finally in his room with Jihoon.
Jihoon doesn’t really know what he ordered, just that Soonyoung is really excited. It’s no big surprise or anything like that, it’s really just a keyboard that Soonyoung ordered. He’s seen Jihoon’s studio and he’s seen his gaming setup in his apartment and Soonyoung wanted to have something similar. He wasn’t the most tech savvy but Jihoon and Wonwoo have been helping him out with it and thus far, he’s been using one of Jihoon’s older keyboards. It’s still in great condition, but just isn’t Soonyoung’s vibe. It was a basic black keyboard with backlight see through keycaps that made the RGB light shine through.
He wasn’t exactly too particular with the sound or the feel, or even of the brand or price. Just that he wanted something that was functional and cute—as in something that had tiger prints or anything tiger-related, really.
Thankfully he found one online, it wasn’t too flashy or anything of the like. Soonyoung’s proud to say it was kind of sleek, even. It was a majority black keyboard with accent keys of matte gold and beige, with see through letters so he can have backlight at night that’ll help him see better.. It matched the overall aesthetic of his desk, Jihoon having gifted him with some sleek matte gold headphones and with the few things he’s managed to purchase for his current setup, his desk was gonna be unlike any other.
He parks in his spot and immediately goes straight to his room, the elevator ride up to the top only building up the thrill.
“Jihoonie!” Soonyoung says as he plops on top of his boyfriend, who was peacefully listening to music on his bed. “I missed you!”
“Hey, jagi. ” Jihoon says with a chuckle but reciprocates Soonyoung’s affection with a small hug, nonetheless. “I missed you too, even though we just went on a date yesterday.”
“Every moment without you is a dull one!” Soonyoung rises slowly and looks Jihoon in the eye. “Where is it?!”
“It’s on your desk.” Jihoon says, endeared as ever by his own boyfriend. He watches as Soonyoung swiftly rises from his bed to go straight to his desk, stumbling a little bit along the way. “What is it, by the way? Some type of book?”
“Wow, this is a lot lighter than I thought it would be.” Soonyoung says, not really minding the weight of the box.
It was a small slender box, a lot slimmer than Soonyoung had imagined. He thought it would at least have some weight to it but it honestly was no heavier than moderate textbook. It also wasn’t as long as he thought it would be, he could’ve sworn it was a long keyboard, with a number pad too–Jihoon mentioned a number pad wasn’t necessary for him but Soonyoung was more attracted to the colors anyway.
Soonyoung rips open the package anyway, still as excited as he was in the car, and Jihoon just watches him with a syrup-sweet stare.
It isn’t until the box is fully opened that Jihoon sees the switch in Soonyoung’s look. His initial excitement has turned visibly turned into a pout and sad eyes. “What’s wrong, Soons?” He says, a little bit of concern in his tone.
“There has to be some sort of mistake!” Soonyoung says, taking a look at his phone and his order. “It should be a keyboard, not just the letters!” Jihoon takes a look at the package and sees an entire set of keycaps, with a few them arranged neatly at the bottom. “Jihoonie! Check for me! Did I get scammed?”
Jihoon takes a look at the product description and immediately knows what happened. “Aww, jagi. They’re just keycaps. It’s not a fully keyboard.” He clarifies, not realizing how upset Soonyoung is until he hears a small whine.
“Wait, so, I can’t use them?” Soonyoung pouts, clearly embarrassed.
“Sorry, jagi. The keyboard I lent you isn’t a hot swappable, so we can’t change those keycaps to these.” Immediately, Soonyoung’s stomach drops.
He was so excited! Not only were those the exact colors and themes he wanted for his set up, but it was the ONE time he decided to buy something related to tech without Jihoon’s help! He was so proud when he ordered it but now all he feels is embarrassment.
He doesn’t realize how much it affects him until a small tear escapes his eyes.
“Hey, don’t cry, jagi.” Jihoon says, alarmed at Soonyoung’s tears. “It’s okay, it was a small mistake.”
“But I was so excited! I was supposed to show off to you how I ordered a keyboard by myself! Without yours or Wonwoo’s help! I wanted a cool looking desk too!” Soonyoung whines. “Sorry, jagi, I know I’m overreacting but…” Jihoon cuts him off by dragging Soonyoung on the swivel chair towards Jihoon by the bed.
“Hey, it’s fine to be upset. You were so excited about this and you genuinely liked this set. I can see why, too.” Jihoon says, caressing Soonyoung’s hand gently. “This is so you, see? Anyone could’ve made that mistake, jagi”
“Really?” Jihoon’s eyes soften at Soonyoung’s innocence, it was truly such a sight for him to witness this side of Soonyoung. Everyone only knows how strong and how fierce he is as the Taekwondo team’s captain, but only Jihoon gets to see this vulnerable and petty side of him.
“Of course. Don’t worry about it, okay?” Jihoon says, planting a soft kiss on Soonyoung’s hand.
—
“Hey! Don’t laugh!” Jihoon scolds Hansol, as the latter and Seungkwan laugh at Soonyoung’s mistake.
“It was a mistake, okay! It was just really cute!” Soonyoung pouts into Jihoon’s shoulder while Jihoon takes his time glaring at Hansol.
He may be able to laugh and whine about it now, but Jihoon knows Soonyoung is still genuinely upset. Soonyoung is not some boy genius but he is truly a witty guy, he’s just not the most interested in technology, and that is simply another thing about him that Jihoon willingly takes the weight for. He’d turn his own apartment into a new Black Mirror episode if it meant Soonyoung didn’t have to touch technology ever again!
“Don’t listen to them, Soons. Hansol is just being mean.” Jihoon scowls while the younger baseball team member still laughs at his boyfriend.
“Sorry, hyung. That’s just really cute.” Hansol says in between chuckles. “Don’t worry, Soonyoung hyung, Boo is just like you sometimes.”
“Shut up, Sollie!” Boo pouts and feigns offense. “It’s alright, Cap. You can always purchase again! I’m sure there are a whole lotta keyboards online.”
“But I wanted that one! It looked so good with the rest of the stuff Jihoonie helped me with on my desk!” A pout, one that's been on Soonyoung’s face the entire week, appears again and if only Jihoon could kiss it away without breaking university policy.
Jihoon really really wished Soonyoung asked him for help, it was no more than a simple favor, anyway. He’d buy it for him if Soonyoung would even let him–he’s been really stubborn about this.
“We have to go to class, hyung, but I’m sure we can figure something out!” Seungkwan politely says before leaving with Hansol.
“You know, I still don’t get why you didn’t just ask me?” Jihoon turns to face Soonyoung, whose pout is even deeper.
“It’s just…” Soonyoung pauses, hesitating a little to really tell Jihoon why he couldn’t just ask about it. “...I want in on it too, Ji.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you and Wonwoo know so much about games and tech and all those equipment you got with me!” Soonyoung says, the slight tinge of envy seeping through his tone. “And it’s not like you guys don’t include me or snob me, it’s just, all I ever do is ask for your help about it and then you and Wonwoo start giving suggestions and I have no clue what you guys are talking about!” Jihoons stomach drops. He should’ve noticed much more affected Soonyoung was whenever he would go over to their cafeteria table to ask Wonwoo about his gaming chairs or tech, or how baby Soonyoung would get whenever he had to ask for help again.
“Oh, jagi. I’m sorry. I never noticed and I should’ve paid more attention.” Jihoon says, holding Soonyoung’s hand.
“No, you don’t have to be sorry. Just, I really really wanna feel like we have another thing in common. I can’t game and all but I, at least, would’ve wanted to assemble equipment and help you with your stuff too. So I was just really excited that I chose this piece of tech all by myself, you know?”
Jihoon completely understands and knows exactly what to do.
–
“Babe, I’m in your apartment, okay?” Jihoon shoots Soonyoung a small text with excited jitters.
He’s waited about a week for some stuff he’s ordered, and waited even longer to finally find the time both he and Soonyoung can lounge around in the latter’s apartment for the rest of the day to do this together.
He neatly lays out all the parcels on Soonyoung’s table with the forgotten keycaps at the very end of the line. He’s so excited to do this with Soonyoung, even if it wasn’t exactly so fancy.
“Hey, jagi!” He hears Soonyoung say as he closes the apartment door behind him. “You’re here pretty early. Are you hungry? I’m kinda craving some convenience store foo—what are those?” Jihoon smiles widely as Soonyoung finally notices the aligned parcels on his desk.
“Open them!” Jihoon says excitedly, pulling Soonyoung onto his desk chair. A confused yet elated Soonyoung, who just happens to love surprises and opening packages, willingly complies.
Jihoon chuckles at the obvious confusion in Soonyoung’s eyes. In front of him were two sets of almost everything. Two mechanical keyboard kits, two packs of different types of switches, and two set of keycaps.
“What’s all this, jagi?” Soonoyung asks, still a little confused with everything in front of him.
“Well, you wanted to help me with my setup and at the same time I wanna let you into my hobbies too!” Jihoons responds and starts explaining each part he bought and why he bought two sets. “Let’s build a keyboard together! I mean, I have been looking into getting a new keeb, and you have a set of really cool keycaps that would be such a waste not to put to use. And there’s nothing better than spending time with you so…”
Jihoon, for a second there, almost fears the silence of Soonyoung but turns to see the other with his bottom lip jut out with his eyes shining like a love struck teenager.
“Really? You wanna spend your hobby with me? You don’t mind having to help me with this?” Jihoon is going to combust.
“I love spending time with you and my hobbies are at least a hundred times better when I do them with you.” Jihoon assures him. “Now, it’s time to see who has the best keyboard today.” He teasingly challenges.
Soonyoung scoffs, although still very much melting on the inside. “Of course, mine! My key caps were already a step ahead!”
They start building together.
Soonyoung is so so so happy and Jihoon is glad to see it. It wasn’t just Jihoon helping Soonyoung this time; it also wasn’t just Soonyoung messing up. They were actually spending time doing one of Jihoon’s dearest hobbies together and Soonyoung truly feels like a part of this little portion of Jihoon. Such a minute part of Jihoon’s life but such a substantial fraction of Soonyoung’s heart.
They take time attaching the switches to the kit, and even listening to the switches Jihoon bought to see who gets which. Jihoon doesn’t think he’s seen Soonyoung ever this focused on something outside of Taekwondo—and he’s absolutely spectacularly in love with Soonyoung.
“Jihoonie, look! My keyboard is so sleek!” Soonyoung says proudly raising his creation.
Jihoon got him a black keyboard kit with see thru RGB lighting on the rim. It unmistakably matched the sleek black and matte gold colorway of his keycaps and was customizable enough for Soonyoung to play around with the RGB lighting. It was tri-mode so Soonyoung didn’t have to deal with crazy wires on his desk. He chose switches that would make his keyboard sound deep and thocky, something he’s sure Soonyoung would enjoy listening to or hearing while he’s typing whatever it is he wants to type.
Jihoon’s on the other hand, had an identical keyboard kit with switches that were in the creamier side with a more tactile feel. His keycaps were ceramic which were majority black with accent of maroon and some graphic keys.
“Yours is definitely the winner babe.” Jihoon declares. “Oh, one last thing!”
Jihoon then takes out from his tote bag one tiny box which, apparently, contained two custom keycaps. They weren’t extravagant keycaps but just two simple keycaps with the same custom print: a tiger paw. Jihoon’s was red with a black tiger paw while Soonyoung’s was matte gold with a black tiger paw. The novelty in them, however, wasn’t simply in just the thought that Soonyoung liked tigers, but that there was a J on Soonyoung’s and an S on Jihoon’s.
Jihoon feels a wave of pride through his chest as he hears the pleasant gasp from Soonyoung.
He took Soonyoung’s newly-built keyboard and replaced the ESC key with the new keycap and did the same for his.
“I know you really like it when we match and stuff and I do too, and I thought it would be cute to have some sort of piece of each other this way. Isn’t it kind of cu–” Soonyoung crushes Jihoon in a hug so tight Jihoon can’t even get himself to properly feel happy.
“I love it so much, Jagi!” Soonyoung beams and kisses his new keyboard.
They set everything up in Soonyoung’s table while packing up Jihoon’s keyboard to be set on his table later on.
Exactly two months after, they find a new apartment together, to graduate together and spend every moment together.
Needless to say, building a keyboard was just the first step to building their home together.