Chapter Text
“I have a confession to make.” Baby said, eyes locked on Jinu’s.
Jinu’s heart raced. Was Baby finally going to say it?
Baby stepped closer to him. Without thinking, Jinu took a step back. His back was now pressed against the wall. Looking up at Baby, Jinu couldn’t help but think about how much this moment mirrors a romantic scene in a book; the payoff of a slow burn. Hundreds of pages leading toward a single moment that felt like destiny. However, their relationship wasn’t anything like a slowburn romance, and them being together was far from destined. Their squabbles weren’t even interesting enough to be considered enemies to lovers. The discrepancies made the scene feel slightly jarring. The two were incredibly close at times, but it was far from sweet and romantic. Besides, Jinu could never believe that he was destined for anyone. Though, that didn’t stop his mind from wandering.
Baby wasn’t the romantic type, he often seemed to hate the concept. When Romance or Jinu watched romantic movies, Baby would only join to make fun of the characters. Sometimes it seemed that Baby didn’t understand romantic feelings, and he made it abundantly clear that he doesn’t enjoy romantic gestures. Yet Jinu loves the concept of romance. He loves everything about it, from small gestures, to cute dates, to proclamations of romantic feelings. It made perfect sense to Jinu that his luck would lead him to become closest to someone who hated those things. To Jinu being that close to anyone seemed like more than he felt he deserved. And on the few occasions that Baby would attempt to do romantic things for Jinu, it was certainly more than Jinu felt he deserved.
Jinu glanced around the room, trying to bring himself back to reality or give him the courage to act as he truly wanted to. He noticed that the door of his room was open, not that it mattered much. A closed door meant nearly the same as an open one in their penthouse, so long as it wasn't locked, but it did mean that he could hear Abby and Mystery discussing something downstairs in the living room.
Jinu’s view of the door was suddenly obstructed, and it took him a moment to realize the obstruction was Baby's arm. While Jinu was stuck in his thoughts, Baby had closed the gap between them. His hands were pressed against the wall on either side of Jinu’s head.
The two studied each other's expressions for a moment. Jinu could barely stomach how much he wanted to kiss Baby in that moment, but it felt too sweet. And Jinu always waited for Baby to initiate anything; he had to be sure Baby actually wanted it. Baby examined Jinu’s face, trying to decipher how Jinu felt before continuing with the confession.
Moments passed by and Jinu couldn’t handle staying still any longer. “Y-you were saying?” He asked, trying and failing to sound nonchalant.
Baby leaned in close to Jinu’s ear, taking a second to simply breathe on Jinu’s neck causing him to shudder. “What was I saying?” Baby whispered into Jinu’s ear with a chuckle, a smug grin growing on his face.
“You had a confession to make.”
“Yeah? What do you think I was going to say?” Baby asked disingenuously, moving his head away from Jinu’s ear to examine his face once again.
“I…I don’t know. Why don’t you just say it?” Jinu replied, his tone much harsher than normal. He squeezed his eyes shut, hoping Baby would simply respond with his confession.
Baby moved one of his hands to gently graze along Jinu’s jawline and around to his chin. “Do you really think it’s so bad that you can’t even look at me?” His tone was smug, he enjoyed teasing Jinu.
“Just say it already!” Jinu shouted, his patience had worn thin. He normally enjoyed the teasing, but this was tortuous and Jinu was at his wits end.
Baby laughed, a genuine smile spread across his face. He wasn’t laughing at Jinu, he was overjoyed at seeing Jinu be assertive for once. Jinu’s face turned beet red and he made a conscious effort to keep his eyes open and locked on Baby’s.
“I like this side of you, Jinu.” Baby’s hand was now under Jinu’s chin, his touch so gentle it was barely there. Jinu bit his lip, struggling to maintain what little composure he had, along with the sliver control he possessed over the situation.
“Alright fine, I’ll tell you.” Baby closed his eyes and took a deep breath with a smug look on his face, mocking Jinu. “I-”
“Hey Baby, are we still going to play video games together?” Abby called from downstairs.
Baby breathed a sigh of, what seemed to Jinu, like genuine relief. His typical smug grin returned a moment later and he backed away from Jinu. “I’ll be right down, Abby.” He called back, maintaining eye contact with Jinu. Baby left the room a moment later, presumably to play video games with Abby, leaving Jinu dazed and lightheaded.
Jinu isn’t sure how long he stood against the wall, still reeling from whatever happened with him and Baby, but it was long enough for Romance to walk by and notice.
“Hey, are you okay?” Romance asked with the tone someone would use to approach a feral cat.
After a moment of no response from Jinu, Romance guided Jinu to sit on the edge of the bed and sat down beside him.
“What happened?” Romance asked, prepared to be patient in waiting for Jinu’s response.
“I…don’t know.” Was as much of a response as Jinu could muster. He struggled to comprehend what had happened. Though Gwi Ma could no longer affect him, centuries of his memories being manipulated had left Jinu struggling to believe the moment was even real.
Even if it was real, Jinu had no idea what to tell Romance. Baby hadn’t even said anything, romantic or otherwise. He certainly didn't confess anything.
Romance stood up, grabbing Jinu’s water cup off of his nightstand and headed for the sink to fill it, giving Jinu a much needed moment with his thoughts.
Romance returned and handed the cup to Jinu, who drank most of it in a single gulp as Romance sat back down on the bed beside him.
“Baby.” Jinu started. “He….he wanted to confess something to me.”
“Wh-”
Jinu cut him off, “I don't know, he didn't tell me.”
“But did he seem to indicate…” Romance didn't want to say the words aloud, he knew how much Jinu’s obsession with cliche romantic stories rivaled his own. Romance couldn't risk saying something that might seem to validate Jinu's thoughts.
Romance could understand, of course. He would be the same way if he didn't have the relationships that he did, and a solid understanding of his place in them. And while Romance was willing to be closer to Jinu, Jinu has only opened up to Baby, seemingly clueless to the attempted advances of the others.
“Maybe start from the beginning?” Romance suggested, in the spirit of wanting to help, but equally wanting to know what happened.
Jinu nodded and took another moment to collect his thoughts. “He came in here, told me he had a confession. He got real close. He teased me about it. Then Abby called him downstairs and he just….left.”
“What did you… think he was going to say?” Romance asked cautiously after a pause, ensuring that he chose his words carefully.
Jinu chuckled humorlessly, “Baby asked me the same thing.” He looked away from Romance toward the large windows of the master bedroom, trying to figure out if he could stomach saying what he thought Baby was planning to confess.
“And? What did you tell him?” Romance responded, a tiny hint of exasperation in his voice. Sometimes dealing with Jinu’s self-inflicted problems was more than Romance could bear - especially when there was a solution right in front of him.
“I told him that I didn't know.” Jinu replied, turning back to look Romance in the eyes.
“But you had a guess, didn't you?” Romance reached out and put his hand on Jinu's knee. “Well, you know how much Baby likes messing with you.”
“I know, something just felt….different about this.” Jinu said wistfully.
“Jinu, I think you need to sit him down and have a talk with him about this.”
Jinu looked at the floor for a moment. He opened his mouth to rebut Romance's suggestion, but he knew Romance was right.
“I just….I don't want to mess up what we have.”
“But you do need to be on the same page about what you have.” Romance said strictly, sounding more like a parent than a close friend. “It doesn't matter what it is, but you have to be on the same page about it.”
“But what if we're not on the same page about it?” Jinu replied.
Romance took a deep breath, “Jinu, I know you. No matter how much denial you are in, I know you’re aware that you two already have very different perspectives of your relationship.” He put his other hand comfortingly on Jinu's back, “you need to talk to him.”
“Romance, you're always delusional about relationships, why is this different? Is there something you know that I don't?”
Romance removed his hands from Jinu's knee and back before turning away from him. “Just talk to him about it, trust me.”
Romance stood up and headed toward the door of the master bedroom, pausing a few strides before the threshold to turn around. “After dinner I’ll keep Abby busy. Talk to Baby then.” Without waiting for a response from Jinu, Romance left the room. His footsteps gradually softer as he descended the stairs, until they faded completely.
Waiting until after dinner simultaneously felt like too far away and too close all at once. Part of him wanted to just get it over with and deal with the consequences, the other part of him wanted to push off the conversation indefinitely. He knew that Romance was right, he needed to talk to Baby and he needed to do it soon, but also thoughtfully.