The Boy From The Bridge - Jakehoon

Chapter 34: First Dibs 1/7

The human heartbeat regularly beats between sixty and a hundred times a minute whilst resting.  The rate grows to between one-hundred and one hundred-and-fifty beats during exercise. For Sunghoon, if he were to be asked what his heart's rate was currently he would have to guess at least a four digit number.

His head had been buried into Jake's shoulder for over a minute. In the emotion of confession his eyes had been shut whilst he'd nestled in for comfort and security. It was so nice to be open and honest. He would have thought that unsubtly confessing your attraction would be awkward and sheepish - but it wasn't. 

Sunghoon felt like Atlas if he had being able to unburden himself of the weight of the world from his shoulders. For weeks he had wanted to tell someone  that he was attracted to 'Jaeyun'. He guessed it made sense that the person with whom he felt comfortable enough to talk about that would be said person himself. Sunghoon knew he had a strong connection with 'Jaeyun' even if he'd only just discovered that he wanted to be called 'Jake'.

Satisfied and comfortable, Sunghoon allowed himself to enjoy the moment and he opened his eyes. His forehead was in-situ atop Jake's shoulder. Looking down Sunghoon got a view that he couldn't have imagined in his most sordid fantasies.

 Sunghoon's eyes tracked a globule of water as it trailed its way down from Jake's pectoral muscle. It moved slowly, tracing its way to the abdomen. Jake wasn't a billboard model but Sunghoon preferred him this way, he was real, his beauty attainable and not manufactured. 

The water passed alongside the naval and headed south. Sunghoon could feel his eyebrows raise as it did. He wondered if Jake felt that, it wasn't impossible that Jake was doing the same right now, inspecting and appraising his body as they shared the intimate position. Sunghoon hoped that Jake liked what he saw.

Sunghoon became reticent to the nature of their predicament, the pleasure of watching and being watched was sensual.  This manifested in the pleasant sensation of feeling his blood flow head south causing part of him to grow. If Jake was watching him he would have noticed but Sunghoon didn't fear this, hell, he wanted to be watched. Attraction was difficult to declare, a biological display was perhaps the easiest way of indicating his desires.

The quiet tension was so total it felt to Sunghoon that he could hold it in his hands. He noticed he had quite sensibly made  fists in order to restrain his hands from any sudden impulsive touches. The idea of just one touch of the naked flesh that was before him was so tantalising that he had to focus on his breathing, like he did when he was competing on the ice. He required every single ounce of his training to stay calm and not react as he watched the droplet reappear.

Sunghoon knew it was wrong to look, to glimpse his deepest desires. Despite trying desperately to close his eyes he couldn't bring himself to do it. Ultimately the perversion he felt was too much. He let out a loud sigh as the water droplet found the natural terminus of Jake's anatomy and fell into the puddle of water they stood in. 

"Are you alright Hoonie?" He heard Jake ask. Sound rushed back to him, the past few seconds had been silent, like the noise of water pouring over them had been non existent.

"I think so" As Sunghoon spoke he realised his mouth was dry. To quench this  he tried breathing in the humid air that was engulfing them.

"Are you trying to give me a hickey?" Jake laughed.

"What? No - just trying to... sorry my mouth's dry"

This answer humoured Jake a lot and he pulled his head up, taking a step back from Sunghoon as he laughed. "Crikey Hoonie, am I making you that thirsty?"

"Shut up!" Sunghoon winced, blushing as he also moved away from the spot  where they had been standing. Pressing his back against the cubicle wall Sunghoon smiled at his friend,  "So we're cool?"

"Of course we're cool man, your secrets are safe with me."

"Secrets?" Sunghoon queried the pluralisation.

"That you're gay and that you..."

"...That's quite enough man. And I'm not 'gay'. I don't know what I am but, just... let's not be definite quite yet. All I know is I'm not the guy who I once thought I was." The pair shared a smile as they looked at one another across the cubicle, "Oh and your secret is safe with me too - Jake"

____________

Jake didn't realise the impact that hearing Sunghoon call him by his real name would have on him. The feeling was hard to describe, it was like the opposite effect of what happens when one pours molten chocolate onto ice cream. Melting inside at the sound of his name Jake smiled, his eyes looking as if they were about to cry. "Thank you".

Jake followed Sunghoon out of the shower. Sunghoon had checked before opening the door to  make certain that there was no one else in the changing room. The sight of two people leaving a single shower would raise a lot of questions. While they didn't speak as they got changed there was an obvious new strength in their connection. 'Perhaps' Jake thought, 'it was the release of no longer carrying the secret that they had wanted the other to know'. Whatever it was they were definitely both standing taller now.

With their improved posture they walked from the sports centre to their first class of the day. Jake didn't understand why but he felt stronger, healthier, hell even walking felt easier. As they arrived at the door to their classroom they were greeted by Heeseung and Jay.

"There they are" Heeseung said to Jay, tapping his shoulder and pointing at them.

"Yo, Sunghoon, Jaeyun - big news" Jay said.

"What is it?" Sunghoon asked, not reacting to Jake's other name being used.

"Heeseung's hosting a party" Jay said excitedly.

"A party?" Jake asked, tilting his head in surprise. For the past week Heeseung had been sad and miserable about the betrayal of Yongsoon and anxious about the whereabouts of his mother's Hard Drive - for him to be hosting party suggested a huge wholesale internal change. "What's the occasion?"

"Well, to us I suppose. We're all single now, well unless you've got yourself a girlfriend without telling us Jaeyun?" Heeseung answered smirking.

"What?" Sunghoon was surprised but Jake could detect delight in his voice as he'd evidently never liked Heeseung's now ex-girlfriend. "You dumped Yongsoon?"

"We... broke up" Heeseung corrected him, seemingly preferring his term.

"Is this because of the Hard Drive?" Jake asked, almost regretting the question instantly because of its obvious nature.

"Take a wild guess genius?" Jay said snarkily to him, "besides that's in the past. Now we're all single and we've got a party to plan for."

"Plan?" Jake asked, not knowing that parties required that much forethought.

"Of course" Heeseung said. "We've got to plan which girls we're going to go after so we don't cross wires. Sunghoon you've got first dibs!"

Jake made eye contact with Sunghoon and smiled knowingly as he watched his friend suppress a guilty smile, "First dibs on the girls? Hmmm - let me think"

_______

Jakehoon fanfic 6.1