"That was a great party, Jinki. I had so much fun." Jonghyun leaned softly on their boyfriend as the two walked home from their favorite restaurant.


Jinki poked their tummy, causing Jonghyun to squirm away and stick out their bottom lip in a pout until Jinki pulled them close and kissed their cheek.


"I'm glad. I hope I didn't invite too many people. Were you ok?" He felt Jonghyun nod beside him. "I wanted to invite exactly twenty five people to have one for each year of your life, but then I got confused cause I wasn't sure if I should count us, and then what if some people couldn't come, so yea. I kinda scrapped that idea."


Jonghyun giggled softly, and Jinki ruffled their hair as he reached into his pocket to pull out his key. They entered into the apartment building and shuffled onto the elevator.


"Sorry I didn't have a present to give you at the party." Jinki said. "I got you something special, and thought you'd probably want to open it in private just in case."


Jonghyun's eyes lit up, and they clapped their hands together, looking at Jinki gleefully.


"What? Now I'm really curious. Do I get to see it today?" They asked.


Jinki just smiled. He was excited to give Jonghyun their present, but he was also kind of nervous that he had picked the wrong thing. He was trying really hard to do the right thing to make Jonghyun comfortable and support their gender expression, but he still wasn't exactly sure what was and wasn't ok yet.


Jonghyun bounced on the balls of their feet as Jinki unlocked the door, and as soon as it was open they zoomed in past him and kicked off their shoes.


"Ok, now we're in private so you can give it to me." They called out from the living room. Jinki shook his head and chuckled. They always got extra excited about presents.


"Close your eyes and I'll go get it." He said in an attempt to calm Jonghyun down. He didn't want them to get too excited and then be disappointed.


Jonghyun closed their eyes obediently, but continued to swing their legs around and kick their heels together. Jinki was always extra good at giving presents. Somehow he always managed to pick the most thoughtful and fun thing possible.


"Ok, you can open them." Jinki whispered into Jonghyun's ear and they jumped, realizing that he was sitting right next to them.


Jinki placed a small box in their lap, and Jonghyun began to tear off the wrapping paper cheerfully. Next to them Jinki was fiddling with the bottom of his shirt, but they didn't notice. They opened the box to reveal something wrapped in pretty pink tissue paper. Jinki watched them intently as Jonghyun gently opened the paper to reveal a soft blue crop top. As they took the garment out of the box and held it up in front of them a small gasp escaped their lips.

"Jinki it's-"

"It's not what you wanted, is it?" Jinki blurted out, looking away. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, but I saw how you were drooling over that one girl group's costumes, and then I saw this in the store and I just thought…"

Jonghyun stopped him by putting a hand on either side of his face and forcing him to look straight into their eyes.

"Jinkiiiiiiii." They whined. "It's perfect. I'm not offended at all. I love it." They gently kissed him on each cheek.

"I know you're worried about not hurting me, and that by itself is enough for me, but you should also know that you understand me more than you think you do. You're so thoughtful, like giving me the chance to open this in private cause you weren't sure if I'd be comfortable with it, and noticing me looking at that group even though I never said out loud that I wanted a shirt like this, maybe because I was too afraid that it was crossing the line." They let go of Jinki's face to grab his hands and lace their fingers together.

"How could it be crossing the line?" Jinki asked quietly, his voice full of affection. "You look great in everything." He untangled one of their hands to reach a hand up and run it through Jonghyun's hair.

"Should I try it on?" Jonghyun whispered, failing to hide the excitement and trepidation in his voice.

Jinki reached over to pick up the crop top and return it to Jonghyun's waiting hands.

"Right now." he insisted, and Jonghyun turned around to take off their shirt. They had always been self conscious about other people seeing their chest. It was a feeling he and Jinki shared.

Jinki had initially been drawn to Jonghyun for their soft qualities. Even back when they identified as male there was something so delicate and pretty about the way they held themself and moved through space. Jinki had been entranced.

Jonghyun coming out as agender had been a big deal for him, not because he was uncomfortable with his partner changing the way they labelled their gender, but because it meant that Jonghyun must have felt very comfortable around him to have revealed such a special part of themself to him.

Jinki didn't have a lot of experience feeling valued or special, but Jonghyun coming out to them was something really important that would always help to reassure him when he was feeling worthless. He made it his goal to do everything he could to support and love Jonghyun, because Jonghyun deserved it, he loved them, and he wanted them to feel happy and be able to fight against the world that told them they were "wrong."

Jonghyun quickly wriggled into the crop top and spun around to show Jinki.

“Tada!” They said, striking a cute pose. “How is it?”

“How do you feel?” Jinki asked. “You look adorable.”

“I kind of feel adorable.” Jonghyun laughed nervously. The crop top clung to them in a comforting way, but it also exposed their arms and stomach in a way that felt freeing to them. Perhaps it would be a while until they felt comfortable to wear it out of the house, but they knew from experience that Jinki would never pressure them to do something like that.

“Ah, I’m so glad that you like it!” Jinki couldn’t stop grinning from seeing Jonghyun look so cute and happy.

Jonghyun launched themself into Jinki’s lap and snuggled up into his chest.

“Hey.” They whispered into Jinki’s ear. “I like you.”

Jinki snorted.

“What a coincidence.” He said, smiling. “I think I like you too.”