a song of ice and fire // jakehoon

nege en twintig ;

Sunghoon's steps were heavy as he walked beside Jake with his hands in his pockets. It was pretty cold, so the two just stuck with putting their hands in their pockets, rather than holding hands as they usually would. Sunghoon was beyond nervous — his parents would be arriving, and he had no idea how they would feel about Jake.

"You're nervous, I can tell," Jake said after some silence. Sunghoon sighed heavily, his breath visible as it was quite cold. "Are they that bad?"

"They're horrible," Sunghoon replied immediately. "I guess Yeji is okay, but… my parents are both of ice. It's hell with them, and I'm not sure if they'd like the fact that my soulmate is a guy."

"Oh, but I'm good company, so I'm sure they'd like me," Jake grinned, trying to lighten the situation. It made Sunghoon smile, which was a good first step. "I know they hurt you a lot in the past, but we're going to face them together, okay? I won't let you go in there alone."

Sunghoon smiled a brighter this time, bumping his shoulder into Jake's playfully. "I wouldn't let you, anyways. Besides, I'm sure Yeji would like you. She has a thing for 'handsome oppas'. And I'm pretty sure she's of fire, because she is much different from the rest of us."

"It must be hell living there if she's of fire."

"Oh, she's fine, I guess," Sunghoon shrugged. "She just… she has a lot of pressure for school, that's all. She's still young — only thirteen — so they want her to stay on top for as long as possible. But you know how Korean parents are."

"Can't relate, my parents are amazing."

Sunghoon looked down, his smile faltering ever so slightly. "I'm a little envious of that. Your family is great. Your dad was more of a father to me in three weeks than my father has been for 18 years. I'm glad he accepted me."

"It's inhumane to reject a person for just discovering and accepting themselves," Jake said, looking over at his boyfriend. Ah, boyfriend. The word still gave him goosebumps. "You're simply finding more reason to love yourself. That's why they're so inclusive of the LGBT+ community. You're the first guy I really liked, and the fact that they accepted it so quickly shows that they love me. Hyuna was unhappy with her gender, and they're doing everything in their power to help her, and that's just being human — helping others love themselves."

Sunghoon smiled, but let out a soft sigh. "Let's just hope my parents are inclusive as well, or we might never see each other again."

•

Sunoo was nervous as he waited in front of his home. The wind from the past few days had settled significantly, but it was still cold. It was merely autumn, so temperatures got to a comfortable 11°C, although it was still pretty chilly. The countryside was always colder than the city, Sunoo noticed.

But despite this cold temperature, proven by his pale hands yet red fingertips, his cheeks were burning with warmth. Nishimura Riki, the adopted grandson of the farmer Uncle Hyeokjoo, was his soulmate. The boy that he probably would've met earlier if he just went to the farm later in the day. But destiny had its timing, and it felt that now was the right time.

He and Riki barely spoke the previous day, as Sunoo was running an errand for his mother so he had to be quick, but the two promised to meet up the next day, which was that current moment. He also stated that, with the few friends he had, he preferred being called Niki, a combination of his last name and first name, so Sunoo decided to call him Niki instead.

Sunoo heard the familiar sound of the horeshoes against the tarmac and stood up from his patio, walking down the white wooden stairs quickly. He clenched his fists at his side, snd fekt his insides melt at the sight of the younger Japanese boy arriving on his horse. Beside him was his older brother, Jongseong, also known as Jay.

"Who would've thought," Jay chuckled as they stopped before his home. "Our soulmates are neighbours, Riki."

"Ah, don't make it weird," Niki muttered, his cheeks burning as well. "You can walk on ahead, I'll get you at the field in a minute."

Jay nodded, putting a sneaky smile on his face. "Don't take too long."

Niki glared ever so slightly as Jay ushered the horse forward and it walked along. Sunoo recognised the horse as Peanut — the horse from the day before. Sunoo didn't recognise the one Niki was riding. Niki carefully got off the horse, bowing politely at the older boy. Sunoo had to keep in mind that Niki was two years younger in age, and that he was still quite young — in fact, he was only 15 in Korean age at the time, while Sunoo was already 18 in Korean age.

"Hello," Niki smiled shyly, looking down at the ground. Sunoo bowed at well, but he was still quite shy.

"Did you sleep well last night?" Sunoo wanted to just walk away due to how awkward he felt, but Niki's enthusiastic nod made him feel a but better. "I didn't think I'd meet my soulmate so quickly, and you're still so young, too."

"Yeah, I'm very young," Niki nodded, putting his hands behind his back. "Uhm… Jay hyung and I are going to feed Peanut and Tofu in the grass field near the river pass — want to come with?"

Sunoo nodded shyly and Niki smiled brightly before holding his hand out. Sunoo felt his heart beating erratically in his chest, but he took the younger's hand and was guided to the side of the horse. Sunoo had climbed a horse before, shown by Jay before, and could do most of the work himself.

But for the lack of an inexperienced description, Sunoo was on the horse's back eventually, and Niki sat behind him. He was quite tall and could see well enough from behind Sunoo. Besides, he just wanted an excuse to put his arms by Sunoo's sides.

"Are you comfortable, hyung?"

"Yep."

"Then let's get going."

[ early update because I get ny final results tomorrow, so I'm not sure how busy I'll be. Hope you're enjoying the book so far! ]

[ here, have a free heeseung since I'm not sure he'll pop up in the book 😬 ]

[ — ERICVERSE ]