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Isack is scrolling on his phone, a bagel in his hand. He frowns, staring daggers at the Pinterest page full of ‘gift ideas’ that is showing everything but that. He closes his phone and pockets it when Pinterest proves to be more useless than the few websites he’s scoured intensely since the moment he woke up.
He unceremoniously shoves the bagel in his mouth, taking a large bite. Mainly, it’s his fault for postponing the gift search until last moment.
Isack barely steps into the living room when he spots Arvid. He’s hunched over the wooden table, his posture tense, clearly concentrated on what he’s doing.
Isack takes another bite of the bagel, stepping closer.
There is an ironing blanket on the table and an iron on the left corner. Arvid’s denim jacket lies on the blanket, a few patches of color that Isack doesn’t remember seeing on it placed in random spots.
Isack tilts his head slightly. He can see the stylistic choice behind the colors and the artsy air Arvid is aiming for the jacket.
He shoves the last bite in his mouth, standing next to the table’s edge. He chews as he watches Arvid placing a... sticker on the jacket’s pocket.
Now that Isack is paying attention, all the color patches from before actually look like stickers.
“What are you doing...” His question comes out more like a dragged out sentence. He’s still trying to understand what’s happening when Arvid picks up the iron, placing it directly over the sticker.
“Eh.” Arvid shrugs. “I saw a newly opened embroidery shop pretty close to where I go skating. Decided to go inside today.” He holds the iron in place for a few seconds, then slightly moves it to the sticker’s edge. “Mostly wanted see their threads color collection. But then I accidentally looked at the display case, and suddenly I was five and clutching the lapels of the jacket my mom ironed a few sticker patches on.”
Isack listens, his heart tugging painfully in his chest. Arvid’s voice sounds faraway, a hint of a smile on his face as he recounts the memory.
Arvid’s expression returns to neutral, smile going as fast as it came. “I guess nostalgia hit me,” he concludes. He sounds a little embarrassed as he presses on the sticker with more force that necessarily needed.
Isack clears his throat, ignoring his slightly flushed cheeks. “I think it’s impressive that you can remember something from so long ago.”
Arvid looks at him from the corner of his eye, his mouth tugging upward. “Maybe when I’ll be your age, I’ll start forgetting things that happened when I was five,” Arvid jokes, his eyes crinkling with mirth.
It both irritates and endears Isack.
-
Isack has a big, big problem when it comes to birthdays.
He finds that, most of the time, his gifts are not as adequate as he initially deemed them to be. They always look too shallow or his ideas prove to be extremely generic.
It annoys him when giving money to the birthday person turns out to be better than putting in the effort to search for a gift.
Isack is currently on Liam’s bed, trying to get the end of a thread through a needle. Liam is snuggled around him, deep in thought as he analyzes Arvid’s jeans from all angles. Isack knows that Liam is not helping at all, even if Liam insists that he’s searching for the perfect placement for a second sticker.
Truth be told, they placed the first sticker way too close to the inseam. Close enough that it was uncomfortable to even look at it for too long. When Liam tried to take it off, the sticker acted like it had been superglued to the jeans.
So Isack had to search for a tutorial in hopes of getting the sticker off before Arvid’s jeans could be classified as ruined. Half of the video was someone droning on about wetting the sticker to remove it, ‘exactly what you are supposed to do once you finish embroidering your pattern.’
Thus, Isack had to go and wash off the sticker. He made Liam dry the wet patch until the jeans looked brand new, frowning the whole time.
The idea seemed more than brilliant when Isack first thought about it.
Right after he left the living room, staying long enough to see Arvid fully ironing the sticker on, he went straight to his room and documented himself on denim stickers.
Isack found that while you can practically buy any pattern you want, you can also embroider patterns yourself.
With Arvid’s birthday approaching, Isack decided to involve Liam, hoping that they could finish the gift on time.
Now, when Liam smacks another sticker on the jeans, somehow making it look awkward, Isack starts to slowly regret it. Not just involving Liam, because Liam is trying his best, and he looks too excited about this whole idea, but because nothing is going right. The thread is bending in ways that defies physics, angling in all directions just to not go through the needle’s eye. It frustrates Isack terribly.
“Liam.” Isack sighs. “Could you try threading the needle, please? It just won’t... cooperate.”
Liam hands the needle after a few seconds, colored thread secured through the eye. Isack blinks at it.
-
Isack exhales, digging the bottom of his palms in his eyes. His heart beats harshly in his chest, his head pounding along with it. Liam is grinning happily, looking all sunshine and rainbows while testing Isack’s patience.
Isack splays his fingers over his face, looking through the cracks at the jeans. He groans when he sees the final result, already calculating the logistics of replacing Arvid’s jeans.
“Isack,” Liam starts, his voice serene, “I’m sure that Arvid will like the gift. It’s the thought that counts.”
Isack groans again.
-
Isack has probably never felt as nervous as he feels now.
Not when he was seven and clutching his mother’s hand, listening to a teacher talking about the typical behaviors found in children, that he was pretty much lacking. Not when puberty came barreling into his life, the changes so sudden that they took him off balance, reminding him of the years and responsibilities to come. Not even when the finals results came, showing his future in big, bold letters, glowing just for good measure.
The concept of giving a gift to the guy Isack’s been hostile toward--because he can’t communicate the romantic feelings threatening to escape every time he’s in this guy’s presence--is doing things to him. Things that Isack doesn’s want to acknowledge nor analyze.
At least Liam is excited for both of them, looking like a dog ready to jump on its owner.
Arvid was supposed to be back from the book club five minutes ago. Isack wouldn’t be surprised if he decided to stay after, going out with his friends to celebrate.
And that’s... fine. It’s completely fine. Isack will just have to suck it up and continue staying under the same cloud full of precipitation, waiting for it to start raining.
Liam presses a kiss on his temple. Isack feels his body melting, but not enough to actually stop worrying.
It’s silly, how a guy can make him feel like this.
Isack really hates the way his roommates make him feel. Even if Arvid is being his usual self, unaware of Isack’s feelings, and Liam is way too aware, waiting for Isack to get the courage to finally say something.
To make them official.
Especially since Isack saw how Arvid’s eyes linger on Liam’s face, body, expressions, attuned to them. How Arvid started to warm up to him, too, ignoring the belligerent façade that Isack tries to hide his feelings behind.
Still. Isack won’t deny that Arvid does annoy him, enough to be belligerent for real.
Isack is deep in thought when the front door opens. He startles when Arvid’s shoes hit the floor, flinching when Arvid launches himself on them.
Isack yelps, getting a lapful of Arvid. Arvid’s hand around his neck pulls him closer, forcing him to take a deep breath of Arvid’s comforting cologne.
It’s terrible for Isack’s heart.
“Ahh,” Arvid exclaims loudly, too close to Isack’s ear. “I missed you guys.” Arvid pulls away, glancing between him and Liam. “You were both sleeping when I had to leave, and then I didn’t get a chance to drop by before book club.”
Liam is sporting a dopey smile, nodding along to what Arvid is saying. Isack knows that nothing is registering in Liam’s mind, other than the happiness on Arvid’s face.
“Well, Arvid,” Isack begins, “happy–”
Liam interrupts, “Happy birthday!”
Isack sighs. “Yes. Happy birthday, Arvid.”
Arvid glances between them again, a large smile spreading over his face.
Isack’s heart is the perfect target, skipping a beat when the intensity of Arvid’s happiness is directed toward him. He wants to push Arvid away, get as far away as possible.
Liam gasps, attracting their attention. Isack looks to the side, blanching when he spots the gift bag in Liam’s hand. The urge to leave multiplies when Arvid sees it.
Isack feels Arvid tensing where he’s still sitting on them.
“We tried making you a gift,” Liam says, bashful. “We succeeded more or less.”
Arvid doesn’t say anything as he takes the bag. Isack observes the way Arvid’s brow creases as he takes the folded jeans out, staring at them for a second.
“Thank you? But, um... these are my... jeans.”
Isack watches in horror as Liam takes the jeans from Arvid’s hands, shaking them from the perfect fold. The empty, stickerless back of the jeans is facing Arvid.
“Turn them around,” Isack mutters under his breath, trying to subtly elbow Liam.
He tries not to shy away from Arvid’s gaze when Arvid briefly glances at him before shifting his attention back to Liam.
When Liam turns the jeans around, Arvid gasps.
Isack looks to the side, unwilling to see Arvid’s reaction. He shakily exhales when a pair of lips touch his cheek, suddenly too close to Arvid’s warm body. He is pretty much sandwiched between Arvid’s chest and Liam’s head.
Isack looks up in alarm when he hears a sniffle, trying to pull away from Arvid’s death grip. Arvid’s hold doesn’t budge. “I can’t believe you embroidered stickers on my jeans.”
Isack stills when Arvid kisses the top of his head. He feels how Arvid shifts to the side, offering a kiss to Liam, too.
Isack resists two whole seconds before he melts in Arvid’s hold. He places a hand on Arvid’s hip and Liam’s thigh, respectively.
Arvid sniffles again. “Thank you, guys. Really. Thank you.”
Isack tries not to think about what this means. How the way they embrace each other changes things.
He opts to focus on the way happiness looks on Arvid. How Arvid’s eyes glaze over as he tells them more about the jackets he had in his childhood, filled with stickers.
Isack holds on to the promise that Arvid makes. That he will bring his digital camera next time he goes back home, to show them the pictures.