02;; How to matchmake a matchmaker
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"You want a drink? I have some apple juice in the fridge," Jake gestures towards the kitchen, the door open which allowed Riki to peer in.
Riki fumbles with the pancakes on his plate, watching the sticky syrup fold into golden layers onto the white plate. He stabs his fork into the short stack before pulling it out again and fiddling with the toppings again.
"Riki?" Jake leans over and attempts to look at Riki, but his head was tilted down, too busy fixing the positing of his food, "Riki?..." He calls out again, Riki snapping his focus back up at Jake as he cleared his throat. He smiles meekly at him and shakes his head, unable to look at Jake for more than a few seconds.
He felt bad (of course) but what else was he supposed to do? Riki couldn't tell Jake, it would disregard the rules that they always followed but shouldn't this have its own rules. This was definitely not the same.
"You haven't spoken more than a word to me since you woke up, something wrong?" Jake asks.
"No," Riki chuckles uneasily, "I'm just, a little tired that's all." The older looks at him dubiously, smiling warmly before he turns back to his plate.
"That's good," Jake responds after taking a sip of his water, "you've finally gotten this Minsong thing out of your head," Riki stiffens.
"Yeah..." Riki nods slowly, brows furrowing as he lowers his gaze once again, "Jake, what day is it today again?" he suddenly asks but it thankfully doesn't take Jake by surprise.
"Saturday," He didn't look at Riki when he responded and just shrugged the question off.
Riki hums softly in response, drumming his fingers against the table as an awkward silence drift in (or at least he thinks so). He's unsure of what to say or how to act, all he knows is that he must think of a plan and fast.
"Since it's a Saturday," Jake nods slowly, "Can I stay over?" Riki is confident in his question but internally he's screaming.
"Sure," Riki smiles shyly, twiddling with his fingers under the table. His voice is caught in his throat so he just nods, "but I didn't really think you'd want to though," he admits.
"Why not?"
"Well because... never mind," He takes another bite of his pancake and lets his eyes wander around the living room. Riki can't help but think about what Jake was about to say but then again, he wasn't being so straightforward himself, "my parents are out, and I can't really cook very well," he jokes.
"Pizza isn't so bad," Riki teases and smiles at how naturally his words come to him, "and we can always call Jay."
"I don't think Jay would be very happy though," Jake points out.
"True," The two chuckle mindlessly together and let a comforting silence sink in as they finish up their meals. Riki jugs down the still cold water that washes away his thirst, wiping away the water from his lips, "well, I'm done." He pushes out the chair and takes the plate with him along with the empty glass.
Jake follows him to the kitchen with his dirty cutlery, "Just leave the plates, I'll wash them." He smiles warmly. Riki compiles and leaves the dishes in the sink, leaving Jake to clean up. Only one thought swarms through Riki's head at that exact moment, but it feels wrong to say aloud. He glances over at Jake for a split second before he counties walking, a subtle smile folding on his lips.
"I'm just going to use the bathroom," And with that, Riki quickly succories up the stairs before Jake can respond with a hum.
Riki looks around and heads into Jakes room instead of the bathroom to let out his confusion and feelings. He shuts the door behind him and thankfully this time, Layla doesn't scare him (wasn't she sleeping(?) but that's the least of his worries. He takes a seat on Jake bed, his curtains drawn and letting the morning light filter in onto his skin.
Picking up a nearby pillow, he presses the lush fabrics against his cheeks, "JHKSGHVBDJBK GOD HELP ME!" Riki throws the pillow onto the bed and lets out a relieved smile, "all better," he states as he back flops onto the white sheets.
He lays on the bed, still, enjoying the silence around him, "No! It's not all better!" Riki gulps hard, unable to fight his urge to scream but he couldn't risk Jake hearing, so he picks up the pillow he had yelled into and throw it even further into the room.
He pulls himself up and ruffles his ruffled blonde hair back into place, the fluffy mess softening his sporadic demeanour. Riki dubiously slips out his phone from his pocket, his fingers dragging him to face the conversation he didn't know what to think of, reading over his message.
Riki looks over to the large mirror located on one of Jake's walls and notices how paled and uncomfortable he looks, "You need to calm down Riki – deep breaths," he takes a deep breath and presses his hand over his chest, "it's fine Riki – you've matchmaked your friends before it's just this time it's gonna be a little...different,"
Then the realization hits him.
"How do you matchmake a matchmaker?" Riki tugs at his hair again, "Jake knows all our strategies he would find out before any progress even happens. Ugh – stupid Riki!" He falls not his back again, flopping his arms beside him.
"Maybe Google can help," he croaks, licking his chapped lips before pursing them together. He rolls onto his side and begins typing up the oh-so mind-boggling question he was dying to know the answer to, "' How to matchmake a matchmaker'" He is met with not much substance just simply how to matchmake with normal people, not a matchmaker.
Rolling around on the bed and groaning, "Ugh, this is hopeless," He pulls himself and sits on the bed, cross-legged and draws his legs closer to him. A wry chuckle leaves his lips but in fact, this was no laughing matter, love was on the line and if him – a matchmaker – couldn't fix it, then who else could?
"You know what, I'm going to pull myself together and figure something out like a real man," the boy relinquished with a coy smile plastered across his lips which made his victory seem a little more victorious.
He picks up their shared matchmaking rule book and all their records of each student they've matchmaked, Jake was keeping it safe in his room for the time being (they always take turns). Riki flips opens the book from the red drawstring they use as a bookmark, revealing their latest matchmaking which puts a gnarly feeling in his stomach once he realises it was that one. The one that made him give into Minsongs newfound matchmaking order.
Flipping back to the beginning quickly, Riki smiles at their old handwriting and reminiscence on how long ago it was but there was no time for that, this was Jakes house not his so he needed to act fast.
He lets his eyes scan over the first page with writing in it, the large words placed on the first line reads in black ink: 'Matchmakers Matchmaking steps' and in small underneath with the same pen but with his handwriting read: 'to success' which lightened up his mood.
"Okay Riki, focus," The book in his hand felt heavy like a stone almost, weighing him down until he sunk into the comforting fabrics of Jake's bed. He chews frantically on his lip, glancing back to make sure that he hadn't snuck upon him. His fingers trace over their initials in red gel pen which had long dried but even so, the glitter would always get onto his fingers.
"M-maybe this isn't so hard," A coy smile makes its way onto his lips, fingers tracing over the words on the page.
Riki flips the pages and rips out a random page carefully so that it doesn't make a noticeable dent. He places the book open on the first page and leans on Jakes nightstand, picking up a random ballpoint black pen and places it onto the blank paper. He begins writing in big on the first line, 'Matching the Matchmaker' and draws a bullet point.
A fond smile stretches onto his face as he continuous to fill in the rest of his bullet points, "Hey, where's my pen?" He pats around the bed to find the pen that surely hadn't disappeared into thin air, his smile fixing itself back onto his face when he finds it on the floor beside the table.
Until he looks up and realises Jake was behind the open closet door, how long had he been here for? And didn't he lock the door?
A sudden squeak is the only sound he can manage to garner, pulling himself up before Jake can hear him. If he hadn't heard him or saw him yet, there was a chance he could go unnoticed. He slid the thin list of the table and fumbles with the book, shoving the paper into the book and clutching it tightly against his chest,
"Riki?" Jake slams the closet shut and looks down at Riki who is cradling their shared book against his chest, hiding in the corner of his room, "What are you doing here?" He chuckles warmly, "were you trying to prank me again?"
"Mhm," He smiles coyly, letting out a sigh of relief when he notices that Jake is surprised by his presence which must mean he didn't see the paper. Riki doesn't know what to do with the book, he can't just hide it, this is literally Jake's house, so he succumbs to holding onto it, "Can we go downstairs now, my legs are cramping up from how long I've been sitting here for. What were you doing anyway?"
Jake nods, "Let's go downstairs – do you wanna carry on watching 'Luca'?" He holds up the DVD, "I went up to go get a movie," Riki nods and reaches out to grab Jakes open hand, pulling himself up, "What were you doing with the book?"
"Uh, nothing I just wanted to borrow it, for now..." Riki trails off, following on behind Jake.
"But aren't you staying here for tonight?" Jake points out.
Shoot.
"Oh yeah right, I guess I'll just put it back for now..." Riki manages to make a plastic smile resurface on his lips, quickly dashing up the stairs. He swings open the door and lets his eyes wander around the interior of the hallway before slipping out the paper and folding it up, placing it carefully into the pocket of his hoodie. Riki places the book in Jakes draw before taking a seat beside him on his sofa.
Riki cuddles the pillow he was holding, resting his chin on the top of the pillow, "How many movies have we got on our animated movie ranking list thingy?"
Jake chuckles at Riki's sporadic words and shrugs in response, "There must be at least thirty," He nods in agreement, eyeing their hands that are brushed together by the touch of their pinkies, quickly drawing his back, and using it to cradle the pillow.
"Which was your favourite again?" Riki pokes his short nails into the pillow, forcing his attention to the tv even though it was wandering off somewhere else.
"I'm not sure," Jake shuffles in his seat, "maybe, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse but Coco was really good though,"
"I was gonna say," Riki jokes when he gently bumps their shoulders together with a coy grin, "I thought we agreed that Coco was the best one," He pouts and hides his face behind the pillow.
"So, I'm guessing you're favourite one is Coco," Jake gestures towards Riki but he just hides his face deeper into the pillow.
"Luca's kinda really good – don't sue me okay!" Riki holds up his hands in defence and lets the pillow fall onto his lap.
"You have no right to be yelling at me then," Jake bumps their shoulder together again which makes Riki rub his shoulder and playfully roll his eyes.
"Jake," Riki wondered if any of them were paying attention to the movie anymore, both caught up in whatever debacle they had going up in their head, "do you want a drink, I'm gonna go get some cola," he nods.
He stood up, and thankfully Jake answered with a polite hum, placing the pillow on the spot of the sofa he was originally sitting in. Riki strolls around the kitchen, which was white and open plan, he guessed, with large modern plants that made the kitchen feel a little more home-y (even if he didn't really live here).
"What's your favourite drink?" Riki spins his cola and takes a chilling sip of his cold beverage. Jake looks confused at the question, "I-I wanted to make sure it was the one you liked, you did let me stay in your house didn't you?" He watched Jake's confused expression fold into a soft smile that spreads across his own.
The smile against Jake's lips made him feel bad for buttering up to help him with his matchmaking – did the students they helped feel this way about their crushes? But if it was, then this procedure would be normal, Secrets are okay if they have an end... or something like that.
He couldn't help but feel horrible but if he could see Minsong get his matchmaking success and more importantly, be the cause of why Jake got a boyfriend, then a little sting would be necessary to make the ultimate sweet outcome of love.
This will be a piece of cake – a piece of lemon cake, sour but so much sweeter.
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"You did what?!"
"Shush!" Riki yells out harshly, guilt and shame forming in an embarrassing shade of crimson against his cheeks, slamming his hands with full force on the table to try and block out Sunoo from making him feel even worse.
"So, you accepted Minsong's order thing?" Sunoo manage to speak over Riki's loud slam, bringing his voice down to a hushed indoor voice as it should be.
"Yeah," Riki hushing his voice until it's a mere whisper, shoulders caving in when he suspects anyone hearing, "I couldn't let him down again – and besides, what's the harm in Jake getting a boyfriend?"
"Do you even know what you're doing, don't you always do this kinda stuff with Jake – won't he know everything already?" Sunoo states in a matter-of-fact way which earns him an eye roll from Riki.
"I'm a matchmaker and I am one with or without Jake, I have my own plan, don't worry," Riki mummers with a wink.
"Oh, right," Sunoo hummed, "I can totally believe that you're going to be able to pull this off without at least Jake getting a little suspicious,"
"Oh, c'mon Sunoo," The younger of the duo pouts in dismay, "you don't even have the least bit of trust in me?"
"I do but it just seems kinda hard since you know, you're almost always together." Sunoo points out, "and didn't Minsong kinda lash out at you – what if that happens again? You've never tried this before, Riki."
Riki smiles goofily and shrugs off his concern, "Oh c'mon, how scary can Minsong be and besides – who knows Jake better than me? Me matchmaking Jake is really so perfect if you think about it."
"If you say so," Sunoo raises up his hands in defeat and fiddles with the pencil on his desk, "it's good that today we had a supply because we needed to talk after you texted me yesterday – with no context!"
"Doesn't mean he's not deaf!" Riki stomps on one of Sunoo's shoes which caused him to yell in pain, unable to comfort his foot since he was in the middle of class.
"No need to get violent," Sunoo scowls and scrunches his nose, his foot feeling like it was swollen and red even though he doubted it was that bad, "Hey, isn't that Minsong?" Riki is obliged to look at whoever Sunoo was pointing at when he bumps his shoulder.
"Yeah, it is," Riki's furrowed eyebrows are meet with confusion, "I didn't know he was in this class,"
"You didn't know him before this week okay, I highly doubt you would know the classes you share with him," Sunoo points out with a measly chuckle that Riki oh-so badly wants to mock, but their friends after all and stuff, "He's kinda ugly, no offence."
"Are you Sunghoon now?"
"First, just because I do something that Sunghoon doesn't mean I copied him. And second, maybe my standers are a little high – I date Sunghoon." Sunoo responds flabbergasted by Riki's sudden attitude.
"Jake cares more about what's on the inside – you know him," He rests his head on the palm of his hand and couldn't help but stare at Minsong. Sunoo can't help but nod at the statement before he quickly scribbles something onto his paper.
"If Jake's happy," Sunoo smiles and continues to doddle mindlessly on his blank paper, Riki clearly distracted by something, "What are you looking at?"
"N-nothing..." He mutters incoherently and fixates his eyes back on Sunoo, "just a little tired, that's all,"
"You sure?"
"Mhm," Riki looks back at Jake and Minsong with a subtle smile, "just...tired,"
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NI-KI !!!!
(it's also my birthday too:)
I HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT DAY AND STUFF AND EAT LOTS AND LOTS OF CAKE !
But like
*dies*
SUIAGUSGDHHKDJHKFJDK THIS IS LIKE THE BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT I'M LITERALLY DEAD ON THE FLOOR- MY YUNKI HEART :]
—🎉NISCO