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The bathroom smelled faintly like mint cleanser and expensive skincare.
JJ had been talking for ten straight minutes.
Not normal talking either—dramatic, offended, pacing-in-circles talking. The kind where his hands moved faster than his brain and every sentence ended with, “No because listen to me—”
Net leaned against the sink the entire time, arms crossed, watching him with that annoyingly calm expression that only made JJ more irritated.
“You’re not even reacting,” JJ complained, pointing accusingly while holding a makeup wipe in the other hand.
“I am reacting.”
“You blinked once.”
“That’s a reactionv.”
JJ groaned loudly, dragging both hands down his face. “You’re impossible.”
Net finally laughed under his breath. Soft. Barely there. But JJ caught it immediately.
“There! You think I’m funny.”
“I think you’re loud.”
“And yet you keep me around.”
Net stepped closer then, slow and deliberate, until JJ’s back bumped lightly against the counter. “Maybe I like loud things.”
JJ’s face heated instantly. “That was cringe.”
“And you liked it anyway.”
Before JJ could answer, Net reached over to the counter and picked up the black detox mask packet they’d bought earlier.
“No,” JJ said immediately, already suspicious.
“Yes.”
“I’m not putting that on.”
Five minutes later, JJ was sitting on the counter with patches of black peel-off mask stuck unevenly across his cheeks because Net refused to “follow instructions properly.”
“You did that on purpose.”
“It builds character.”
“It looks ugly.”
Net tilted his head, pretending to inspect him seriously. “Still cute.”
JJ looked away so fast it made Net smirk.
Then came revenge.
JJ grabbed the tube from Net’s hand and squeezed way too much product onto his fingers. “Hold still.”
“You’re smiling. I don’t trust that smile.”
“You shouldn’t.”
Net barely had time to react before JJ pressed the cold mask directly across his cheek—crooked on purpose.
“Oh, now we’re fighting.”
“We’ve been fighting.”
Net caught JJ by the wrist before he could escape, pulling him back between his knees. JJ laughed immediately, loud and helpless, almost dropping the tube into the sink.
“Net—!”
“You started this.”
“Because you’re annoying!”
“And you’re dramatic.”
JJ tried to glare at him, but failed the second Net looked up at him like that—close enough that JJ could see the tiny water droplets caught in his hair from his shower earlier.
The room got quieter after that.
Not awkward quiet.
Just… comfortable.
JJ’s fingers stayed loosely curled around Net’s wrist. Net’s thumb absentmindedly rubbed against JJ’s skin. Somewhere in the condo, music played softly from a forgotten speaker.
JJ swallowed first.
“You’re staring.”
Net didn’t even deny it. “Can you blame me?”
That expression again.
The one that always made JJ feel suddenly too warm.
Trying to save himself, JJ grabbed the phone from the counter. and handed it to Net “Here. We’re taking a picture before this thing dries.”
Net opened the camera, but the second the screen lit up, JJ caught Net already looking at him instead of the mirror.
Not even subtly.
Just fully, openly staring.
JJ felt his chest tighten in that embarrassing way he never knew how to talk about.
“Oh my god,” he muttered, immediately covering his mouth with his hand to hide his smile. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like…” JJ laughed nervously. “Like you’re in love with me or something.” He said half joking.
Net stayed silent for exactly one second too long.
JJ’s eyes widened. “Wait.”
Net only smiled, and covered JJ’s mouth with a detox pad.
And that—
that was the exact moment the picture got taken.
—
After the photo, JJ hurriedly tried to go out of the bathroom trying to escape the conversation.
“Nope. Absolutely not. We’re moving on.”
“You asked.”
“You answered with your face!”
Net laughed properly this time, grabbing JJ by the waist before he could run out of the bathroom.
JJ was still laughing too, half hiding his burning face against Net’s shoulder while complaining, “Delete that picture. I look stupid.”
“You look cute.”
“You’re biased.”
“Very.”
The detox pads dried eventually, cracking every time JJ smiled—which was unfortunately every ten seconds because Net kept deliberately whispering things into his ear just to watch him lose composure again.
And later that night, after the pads were peeled off and the lights were off and the teasing finally settled into sleepy silence—
JJ would roll over in bed and mumble into the dark:
“You were really looking at me like that.”
Net, already half asleep, would pull him closer without hesitation.
“Because I really do.”