annoying mf
hey
annoying mf
are you plotting your escape there in the bathroom because
annoying mf
you need to hurry or you'll be gone in a suspicious amount of time, my parents will catch up and think i'm not actually dating you
jungwon
paranoid
jungwon
i am, in fact, not plotting my escape
annoying mf
really?
annoying mf
i thought you'd want to get out of here
jungwon
yeah
jungwon
only because i cant fit in your window
annoying mf
sarcastic king
jungwon
that's me
annoying mf
🙄
jungwon
but seriously
jungwon
your parents are alright and i think it'd just be rude to leave
jungwon
so it's better to just get things over with
annoying mf
okay. you said so.
annoying mf
NO TAKE BACKS! okay?
jungwon
yeah yeah
Jungwon sighs. He puts his phone back in his pocket and looks at himself in the mirror. Earlier, he excused himself to the bathroom, but it was only to text Sunoo about what's going on. The only thing they have to do now is to not mess up when dinner arrives (which is still in a few hours) and hopefully not let Jay get on his nerves too much.
Nibbling on his lower lip in nervousness of what's bound for him, he leaves the bathroom and returns to where the rest were.
"Why don't you two watch a movie or something? Or Jayjay, you could show him around. I think you'd like the garden if you're into nature- that kind of stuff," Mr. Park suggests, looking at Jungwon with bright eyes. "You can look around the house too. Now be a good host for your boyfriend, will you, son?"
Jay nods, "I will, dad," and Mr. Park smiles at him in a way Jay does.
Insisting on touring him around, Jungwon follows after Jay like a chick to its mother hen. Opening the front doors, people would be met with a big family portrait of the Parks (something Jungwon would scoff about if he wasn't playing an act), white walls and marbled floor, an 85-inch TV, sofa and fancy chairs around one circled table, and various other furniture like mini statues and plants. That was their living room that Jungwon had now grown familiar with.
"So in the back, there's a dining room and a kitchen," Jay leads him behind the living room, separated by a wall. The dining room was huge, consisting of a long table and many chairs, a bar countertop (where Jungwon imagines he'd sit with a wineglass in hand), and in the next room was the kitchen.
"Now, you'll love the kitchen," he tells him as he opens the door for Jungwon to enter, "Or maybe I'm just a little bit biased since cooking is my passion."
The kitchen wasn't as big as the huge dining room, but nevertheless, it had everything. Everywhere Jungwon looked, it was filled with complete materials for a cook and it gave off less elegance than the rest of the rooms Jungwon's been in. "I grew up here kinda," Jay chuckles, "Had so many memories, like getting burns and all that."
"It looks..." Jungwon trails off.
"A lot more simple than the rest of the rooms, yeah," Jay continues for him, eyes scanning around the room with such fondness. "I refused to have it renovated and all. This kitchen has been the same since the very moment I stepped in here as a child. It's my little safe space. Plus, my parents can cook. We never really hired a personal chef since I've started cooking, so it's safe to say, it's kind of my very own place. Well of course, my parents also use it, heh."
Jungwon nods, and in the fridge he sees magnets in the form of smiley faces, and in the walls there are some shaky colored doodles of various plants and animals.
Jay glanced at him and caught him staring at the drawings. He says with a sheepish tone, "I still couldn't reach the stove and everything when I drew those."
"It's cool, Picasso," Jungwon jokes, earning a loud laugh from Jay, and he slightly smiles.
✢
The rest of the day, Jay showed him around. The dinner went smoothly and Jungwon screamed thanks in his mind to Sunsun for training them with questions because everything went well.
Soon enough, the stars were up in the sky, and Jay opened the door to his bedroom. "I'll prepare a makeshift bed and everything," Jay tells him.
Jungwon nods and cringes as he looks at what he's wearing. "Sleeping in jeans and a shirt I've worn outside the whole day doesn't sound so appealing, but hey, I guess this is just one of the pains of life."
Jay glances at him and sighs, "You can borrow my clothes."
"I want to physically recoil right now," Jungwon grumbles, but he doesn't want to be ungrateful. He doesn't wanna sleep uncomfortably either. "But I'll accept it. Thank you."
"Just don't fall in love with me," Jay jokingly rolls his eyes as he gets the clothes, "Remember our contract."
"Oh shut up! I'm never gonna fall in love with you," Jungwon gags and catches the silk pyjamas Jay throws at him. "You're one to talk, as if you aren't the one giving me his clothes and everything. Booo that's such a simp thing to do."
"Give that back then!" Jay grabs the clothes from Jungwon but the latter clutches on it for dear life.
"Please! I'm joking! I thought we were only saying shit for laughs!" Jungwon whines and pulls on the clothes. Jay releases, sending Jungwon falling to the ground, landing on his ass. "Ow! Goddamn it, Park."
Jay laughs out loud, "DESERVED."
"Asshat," Jungwon mutters and stands up on his own. Jay was still snickering as he showed Jungwon the bathroom where he could change, and that's when everything was sinking in for Jungwon and he realized that he's having a sleepover in Jay's house.
He can't wait until this is over with.
✢
Jay's room isn't uncomfortably big. It was just right. When Jungwon was done, Jay was already in his PJs and the makeshift bed was done as well, right beside Jay's bed, except it was more on the floor. There were comforters over a mattress and two pillows that Jungwon assumed was from Jay's bed, along with a blanket with a Spiderman print.
Jay's bed was more grey and plain, but it sure did look comfortable. "What do you think?" Jay gestures to the makeshift bed. "Not bad, huh?"
"Pretty decent actually," Jungwon says as he settles down, wanting to make fun of Jay's spiderman blanket, but he chooses not to say anything more. Jay's eyes seemed to glimmer with smugness and he, too, lies down on his own bed after turning the lights off. It wasn't pitch black as the moonlight peered through the window, and Jungwon lied down there on his back in total silence, but truth be told, his eyelids don't feel heavy and he can't quite sleep yet.
He uses his phone for a while as he hears Jay tossing and turning. As he scrolled through another tweet, he heard Jay mutter. "This is awkward."
"For you maybe," Jungwon softly says, still scrolling on his phone. "But I feel fine. The silence is nice."
"Oh," he couldn't really see Jay, "I'm guessing you don't want me to talk right now?"
"Hm. I can't sleep anyhow, so just talk if you feel like it," Jungwon replies.
"Mmm. Okay. Well, it's been super long since I had someone over here in this place. I guess that's just why I was feeling awkward."
Jungwon turns his phone off and acknowledges Jay's statement with a hum. There was silence for a bit, until Jungwon talked. "This house isn't that far from the university. So why don't you stay here?"
"It's too big," Jay says quietly. "Mom and dad are always out working. Typical, I know, but... It's just too big. It doesn't feel like home if that's the case," a sigh, "And I can't live here forever, you know?"
"Yeah. I get it..."
Another silence. Jungwon notices the glow-in-the-dark stars on Jay's ceiling, and he smirks at the idea of Jay as a kid, putting the stickers excitedly with the help of his parents.
He remembers how he, too, wanted to have wall stickers like those, and he saved his pocket money just to buy them secretly when he could've easily asked his parents. His parents were both working; Jungwon didn't want to bother them. He's more close with grandma because of that, since she'd spend more time with him than his parents ever did when he was a kid.
"So," Jay's the one to break the silence again, "What's with all this? Why'd you agree with helping me with the whole fake dating thing?"
"You already know why. I want to fool my ex."
"Hmm. Yeah. But," Jay's no longer staring at the ceiling as well. He turns his body and leans on the edge of the bed to look directly at Jungwon who looks at him back with a blank, neutral face. "I know nothing about him."
"I don't see why you should," says Jungwon, on the verge of yawning.
"Well... I might have to face him one day. After all, we're pretending to make everyone think we're dating, your ex especially. I wouldn't know what to do or say. I don't know what kind of person he is."
There was hesitation until Jungwon exhaled, relaxing his tensed muscles. "Fine. That guy, he's Jaeyun. He was... sweet, and all that."
"He dresses like a bad boy, honestly," Jay jokes, and Jungwon answers.
"Well. I thought he was sweet. I really did. He was charming and knew his way around words. He always seemed like he knew what to do. He was a great boyfriend, a great guy, but..."
"What happened?" A long, drawn out pause. Jay goes back to his previous position, lying on his back as he watches the ceiling. He regrets asking that out of the blue, but before he could apologize and tell him it's fine not to answer that, Jungwon responds.
"Well. We were together for quite a long time," Jungwon mumbles. "I knew he was at a party. He didn't know I was in there too- had his phone off or something. Then suddenly I just... see him over there. Making out with some girl."
Jay doesn't say anything. Jungwon's not sure if Jay wants to speak or not, but Jay doesn't. The silence is uncomfortable, prompting Jungwon to speak.
"Yeah. It's- it's awful. But hey, I guess that's life. Fuck it, you know? I don't have time for people like him."
"Yeah," Jay mumbles, but it was almost inaudible. "Uh. I don't say this to you often... but.. I'm sorry. I really am."
Jungwon's silent for a bit until he responds, turning his head a little to face Jay but all he sees is his bed from the angle. "It is what it is..." He softly says, shrugging his shoulders despite knowing Jay can't see him.
"But," Jay whispers.
"Hm?" Jungwon responds, staring at nothing.
"Did you love him?" Jay questions, still whispering.
Jungwon doesn't answer immediately. He blinks. He takes a breath. And he shrugs. "Maybe."
Jay turns to his side, cheek against his pillow as he frowns. Being single his entire life, Jay has never felt anything close to that. He has always been fascinated about the thought of love. Still, he doesn't say anything, and Jungwon mutters.
"It hurt, a lot. Knowing I didn't even need an explanation because I saw it with my own two eyes. To, you know, have the person you've been with for the past couple years just kissing someone else while you're still together. I think- maybe I did love Jaeyun. And everything just shattered that night, my trust for him, and all that."
Jay can only imagine how sad and angry Jungwon must have felt. And Jungwon didn't have to say it but being cheated on like that... No one deserves that. And it totally ruins a person. Jay sighs softly.
"He didn't deserve you at all," he mumbles, back facing the ceiling once again.
Jungwon hums softly in response.
And that was it. They both stare at the ceiling in complete silence, and it's not awkward in the slightest. It was just filled with each other's presence. In a way, it was comforting. Peaceful.
Jungwon hugs a pillow and he softly whispers. "Thanks." Jay doesn't respond. And so, Jungwon brings the pillow closer to his chest as he closes his eyes.
Then, he feels something plop next to him. He opens his eyes curiously and sees a giant, brown teddy bear. "What's this?" He whispers, voice dripping with sleep.
Jay's leaning on the side, looking at Jungwon directly. "My teddy bear. It's been my cuddle buddy all my life. My comfort toy. You can hug it better than that pillow, you know? So... I hope you feel less lonely as you sleep tonight."
Jungwon chuckles softly, dimples appearing as he sets the pillow aside and holds the teddy bear close. It smells like Jay, and it feels so comfortable to hug it.
"Goodnight," Jay says softly, disappearing from his view as he goes back to his previous position. Jungwon smiles a bit.
"Goodnight."