A/N: It's finally here! For all of you who followed "Watch Out For Rivals!" and "Beware of Falling!", time for some more 2jae! As I said in my foreward, you can still enjoy this without having read the original 2 stories, particularly BOF because it happens concurrently with this story, but if you want to read the origin of the 2jae relationship in this verse, read Watch Out For Rivals! here if you want to. Hope you enjoy ;)

1. Enter At Your Risk!

Jaebum almost collapsed in relief when he finished his last term exam. It had been his easiest thus far-- bio, a subject he had recently become a somewhat expert in-- but it was a simple relief to know that with it at last out of the way, he could go home and enjoy a nice, long winter break. It was an added bonus that his cute boyfriend-- almost three months later, and it still felt a bit crazy to call him that-- Choi Youngjae would be staying with his family until his own parents returned from their anniversary trip to the Maldives.

He glanced back at the exam room as he turned in his paper. Youngjae had a look of ferocious concentration on his face, which Jaebum was relieved to see. They'd studied for this exam together for weeks and he'd been drilling Youngjae on the subject pretty much since the term had begun thanks to Mark kindly passing off his tutoring gig to Jaebum after figuring out the giant crush he'd had on Youngjae. Youngjae had an admittedly terrible grasp on the subject, but he'd been getting better little by little, and all the hours they put in should have been enough to secure him a passing grade.

Jaebum also spared a glance to Mark and Jackson's seats, but Mark had already finished his test and was gone, and Jackson had a glazed over look on his face as if he was fighting off the urge to fall asleep right on top of his test. It would serve him right if he tanked after all the annoyances he'd put him through in the name of “setting up” him and Youngjae (throwing a dead frog at them during dissection so Jaebum would have to “protect” Youngjae, and whatever the hell he'd been trying to do by constantly pushing Youngjae into him at his Congrats-on-not-being-deported party), but if Jackson failed, he might try to worm his way into his study sessions with Youngjae which would be the worst result.

Although, those study sessions would be ending soon, with the term wrapping up. They'd get new schedules, and with their core classes pretty much over with since they were in their second year, they would both be focusing on major-based classes. Youngjae only really struggled with sciences and mathematics, and once he was clear of those, it would be smooth sailing for him again. Jaebum had appreciated all the studying for bringing him closer to Youngjae-- to the point where they had pretty much spent all of their time together this term-- but it would be even nicer to use their free time to spend together not studying. They had been able to sneak things in during their sessions-- provided his roommate Yugyeom wasn't around, that had been his genius reward system of getting Youngjae to memorize his coursework-- but he didn't think it was nearly enough.

He couldn't stick around the exam room since he was finished, so he headed towards the cafeteria to meet up with Mark and Jinyoung and wait for Youngjae. The two of them were squeezed right up next to each other even though they were the only ones at the table thus far, probably getting some last minute flirts in since Mark would be flying back to LA for winter break the next morning. They would be such an easy couple to be grossed out by, but Jaebum was legitimately happy for them. Jinyoung was his best friend, and after watching Mark longing after him one-sidedly starting from their choral competition last year, he was glad they were able to be like this with each other, even if it was nauseating at times.

Not that he was one to talk.

“Took you long enough,” Mark said, pulling away slightly from Jinyoung when he noticed Jaebum arriving. “I thought you'd be the first one who finished, since you devoted your entire term to biology.”

“I devoted my entire term to Youngjae,” he corrected. “And I have memories of teaching him every single one of the questions on the exam, so I had to push those back and actually focus on the answer.”

“Ah.”

“Anyways, let's not talk about bio again for a few mores years, all right?” He rested his head on the table. “You two all done packing?”

“Yeah, did that awhile ago,” Jinyoung answered. “I didn't want to waste the last hours here shoving things into a suitcase.”

“You better not be thinking of sending BamBam to my room to hang out with Yugyeom,” he warned. Since BamBam was Jinyoung's roommate, he and Mark had been routinely kicking him out of the room since they'd started dating, and Jaebum had been routinely kicking both BamBam and Yugyeom out of his own room during his sessions with Youngjae. Although, now that he thought of it, BamBam hadn't been showing up as much as he used to, plus the last time he did turn up, Yugyeom had said something about him being hard to get ahold of out of nowhere.

“He'll be with Jackson,” Mark said dismissively.

“Ew.”

“Someone needs to take that one for the team.” He tilted his head. “Isn't Youngjae going home with you, anyways?”

“Yeah.”

“Sneaking him in right under the noses of your parents,” Jinyoung snickered.

Jaebum grimaced. As much as he was excited about spending the better part of his break with Youngjae, he was worried about that part. His parents were generally agreeable, but if there was one thing they were set on, it was Jaebum taking over the family business and marrying well. And he'd spent the majority of his life planning on the same for himself. He'd had girlfriends in the past, and hadn't really been expecting to fall in love with one of the guys in the university choir.

But Youngjae had been different, in his eyes. Everything about him had struck him when they'd first met. His radiant smile, his always ready laughter, his simple joy when he was singing, his simple joy at every moment, as if he was always taking the most out of whatever he was doing. Being around him gave him happiness, but it was a different kind of happiness than what he felt with other people. He felt like he was being warmed from the inside with Youngjae, like all of his rough edges melted a little and he became a better person, his best self.

So when he started realizing that he was in love with Youngjae, it wasn't as shocking as it could have been. In his view, you fell in love with people when you found the things they had that were missing in your own life, the things you both wanted and needed and couldn't see yourself as being without once you found them. That he had found them in the form of Choi Youngjae was simply how things had happened, and he didn't mind it in the slightest. In fact, he felt 100% lucky that the person he loved was exactly as he was, a bright as sunshine biology dunce with a heavenly voice and a smile that could light you on fire from the inside.

But he wasn't sure that explanation would work half as well on his parents. At least he still planned on taking over the family business, which he was pretty sure was the higher priority in his father's eyes. For now.

“Speak of the devil...” Mark said, just as Youngjae bounded up to their table, throwing his backpack aside.

“I'm 99% sure I passed!” he said brightly.

“Great,” Jaebum said, giving him a high five. “Everything on there was something we'd studied before, right?”

“Yeah. And thinking about having to take a make up exam if I failed made all the answers really easy to remember.”

“Well, we'll find out our results during break. I'm sure you did fine.”

“You're going to reward him if he does, right?” Jinyoung asked. “The poor guy has been studying nonstop all term.”

Jaebum and Youngjae both averted their eyes quickly. Yes, he was definitely planning on rewarding Youngjae, but not exactly in a way he planned on chatting about with Jinyoung and Mark.

“Aha,” Mark said knowingly. Didn't miss a beat, that one.

“ANYWAYS,” Jaebum said loudly. “Let's not worry about it until then. Winter break is supposed to be relaxing, isn't it?”

“I don't know, is it?” a female voice came from behind them.

Jaebum glanced over his shoulder. It was a familiar face standing there, though one he hadn't seen in awhile. Kang Hyejin was the daughter of his father's business partner and also his university uperclassman. She was also in the business major, but since she was in her last year, they didn't share any classes together and didn't cross paths too often compared to the days when they'd both lived back home. Back then, they'd been the neighborhood terrors. Hyejin was a great student and had been top of her class back in high school, but she'd also been as tough as nails and always getting into trouble by picking fights with the brainless iljins and for that matter anyone who looked at her funny. Jaebum had been one of her lackeys, and though he hadn't done much fighting himself, he was quite good at getting out of pinches by coming up with alibis and excuses. He had her to blame for all his piercings, as well, which he loved now even though he'd been grounded each time he'd come home with a new one. His parents couldn't accept that she'd been the one to lead him into any trouble he'd ever caused, though; they thought she was a perfect angel, as did Hyejin's own parents and all of her teachers, contrary to her own insistence to them that she wasn't.

“Hyejin noona,” he said. He noticed her bleached blonde hair had been dyed back to black, a sure sign she was heading home for the holidays, too.

“Can I sit?” she asked, pointing to the seat next to Youngjae. “Oh yeah, and feel free to introduce me to everyone. That kid over there's gaping at me.” She pointed her chin at Youngjae.

Jaebum couldn't blame him. Even without her bleached hair, Hyejin was wearing a military jacket, a jean miniskirt paired with tights that were almost entirely ripped and high top converse. Not a typical look for most of the girls at the university. Not a typical look for anyone living in Korea during the winter, for that matter.

“Noona, this is Choi Youngjae, Park Jinyoung, and Mark Tuan. They're all in the same grade as me.” Youngjae and Jinyoung inclined their heads politely. Mark simply looked zoned out, but Hyejin didn't seem too bothered. He was always like that around strangers. “Youngjae, Jinyoung, Mark, this is Kang Hyejin. As in the Kang half of Kang Im Insurance.”

“Choi Youngjae?” Hyejin echoed. “So he's the one your mother said would be joining for Christmas? Got it. Okay, Im Jaebum and Choi Youngjae. Help me come up with an excuse not to join your Christmas party.”

“Huh?”

“My dad is stuck over in Japan on a business trip, and some big wig CEO or another asked him over for some kind of holiday bash, and it was too important for him to refuse. So instead of letting me decide what I wanted to do with my now-open holiday, he called up your parents and asked them to take me in. Your mom's a saint of course and said yes. So unless you can help me come up with some reason why I can't go to your place, I will be intruding on your holiday.”

“Eh?” Jaebum racked his brain. “I don't know, come up with some school related reason. Like you need to do intensive studying or something.”

“The term has pretty much ended, what exactly do I need to study for? Besides, I should emphasize that your mother REALLY wants me to come. You know her matchmaking thing.”

“Right. And you have that guy, what was his name?”

“Yungchul.”

“Yeah, yeah, the webtoon guy.”

“Um,” Youngjae said tentatively. “What matchmaking thing?”

Before Jaebum could stop her, Hyejin had turned to Youngjae, chuckling. “Oh, you'll figure it out soon enough if I end up in the Im house for Christmas. I was Jaebum's planned fiancee.”

Youngjae and Jinyoung immediately started coughing, and Jaebum sighed. Who even did those kind of things these days except the super wealthy, anyways? Still, his parents and Hyejin's had gotten it into their heads that the best way to keep their business in the family and prosperous was to marry off their kids. Of course, that wasn't something you could just do without consent these days, but they laid on the hints pretty thick when they were younger. Wouldn't it just be perfect if you two got together? You'll be running the business side by side, so why not take advantage...?

But Jaebum and Hyejin had never had any interest in each other, and the engagement talk started fizzling out when they both had other relationships in high school, though it was still a pet dream of both families. Whenever Jaebum or Hyejin split off from a relationship, the suggestions were resumed within seconds. Jaebum had stopped telling his parents about his break ups for that reason, and it was only recently that they figured out that he wasn't still dating the girl he'd broken up with years ago in high school.

“Huge emphasis on the WAS,” Jaebum said, looking at Youngjae who still looked a bit shell shocked. He was from a fairly normal mid class family who probably didn't try to foist outdated traditions on their children. “She's in a serious relationship.”

“Very serious,” she said solemnly. “With the kind of person my parents would hate. Do hate, I should say. I introduced them to him pretending he was a friend just to feel them out, and it was... kind of funny the most part, but they'd never accept if they knew. I was going to spend Christmas with him...”

“Jaebum's from Goyang, right?” Jinyoung pointed out. “You could camp out at Jaebum's house and still meet up with him, it's not that far from here.”

“Yeah, well, that is the back up plan.” She shifted in her seat. “But, there's something else... well, I won't bother you with that. If I have to spend Christmas there, it's no big deal. Your mother makes ace dinner.” She rose to her feet. “If I can't come up with an excuse, guess I'll be seeing you tomorrow when your mom comes to pick you up. It was good to see you again, kid.”

“Kid?” Jaebum grumbled as she walked away. “Who does she think she's talking to?”

“Strangely, I can kind of see the two of you engaged,” Mark said. Jaebum hadn't even thought he'd been paying attention. Usually if it wasn't a conversation he was interested in, he'd just play with Jinyoung's hands until it ended or doze off.

“Um, is that really who your parents want you to date?” Youngjae asked anxiously. “She seems kind of...”

“Like a would-be iljin?” Jaebum asked wryly. “She's actually really smart. Top of her class and all that.”

“Oh.” Youngjae looked a little down at that, and Jaebum internally cursed himself. Youngjae was upbeat about most things, but he really hated appearing stupid or being a burden to Jaebum over the whole tutoring thing.

“But really, she's been in a relationship with that Yungchul guy for ages,” Jaebum said quickly. “The whole fiancee thing was just a delusion on our parents' part. If they knew her real personality, I don't think they'd be so caught up on the idea.”

“I kind of liked her real personality,” Jinyoung said. “She seemed like she probably made fun of you a lot when you were a kid.”

“True enough.” Jaebum slung his arm around Youngjae's shoulders, since he still looked a little bit baffled by the whole exchange. “Hey, wanna head back to the dorm? You and I have some packing to do.”

Youngjae's smile quickly returned. “Yeah, let's go get ready.” He waved to Mark and Jinyoung. “Have fun on your break, guys.”

“You, too,” Jinyoung said, and Jaebum could have sworn he heard him mutter under his breath to Youngjae, “Text me if anything juicy happens.”

Maybe that one was becoming a little more perceptive too, finally.

0

The next morning, the two of them left the dorms at nine to meet Mrs. Im and drive home to Goyang. Jaebum was still drowsy when he found her Kia idling in the dorm lot, and he almost plopped right down into the backseat as soon as he threw open the door.

Except. There was someone already sitting his seat.

A female someone. A female someone wearing a stylish white wool coat paired with a pale pink dress, pattern tights, and matching pink T-strap shoes. She turned her face up to him and grinned wickedly.

Hyejin. Or, more specifically, Hyejin after she was freshly cleaned up and family appropriate.

“You'll have to go around to the other side, Jaebum” she said sweetly. “I beat you here today.”

“Right.” He shut the door and went around the back of the car where Youngjae was standing with the door open, staring at Hyejin blankly. Who is that?, he mouthed to Jaebum, unsurprisingly not recognizing her as the same girl he had met a day earlier.

“Hyejin,” he whispered before sliding in beside her. He met his mother's smiling eyes rearview mirror and smiled back.

“Jaebum, have you not been eating properly?” she fussed as soon as he'd snapped on his seatbelt. “Oh, and just look at poor Youngjae! Practically drowning in his sweater! Be sure to eat a lot when we're home, all right?”

“Yes, mother,” Jaebum said dutifully.

“I'm glad to see you again, Mrs. Im,” Youngjae said. He'd met Jaebum's parents previously at one of their choral concerts, and luckily the three of them had hit it off pretty well. They didn't technically know about the whole part where he was dating their son-- he hadn't been dating him back then, for one, though Jaebum had been pretty head over heels for him already-- but Jaebum took their approval for him as his friend as as much approval as he could probably expect to get.

“Of course, of course,” she said. “What a lovely holiday this will be! I was just telling Hyejin ah, it's been so long since she's visited us, I almost forgot what her face looked like! But she's as lovely as ever, isn't she? You should feel very fortunate, Jaebum.”

“Excuse me?” Jaebum asked. Was he supposed to be jumping up and down over the fact that he happened to have a few attractive friends? If that was the case, why wasn't she complimenting the very bright, adorable, and handsome Youngjae as well?

Hyejin chuckled musically and put her hand on his knee. “Oh, don't be mean Jaebummie. Don't you think you're a lucky guy to be with me? You should at least say as much, jagiya.” His mother's reflection beamed at them in the rearview mirror.

“Wh-” Jaebum started to ask, but Hyejin quickly dug her nails into his knees until his eyes watered and all he could do was squeak in protest. While his mother's eyes returned to the road in front of her, Hyejin gave him a tight smile and hissed, “Just go with it.”

How could he just go with it when his boyfriend was staring at him with an accusing look on his face right next to him? Especially since he had no idea why Hyejin was doing it or what explanation she would want him to give when Youngjae eventually asked what the hell she was talking about.

“Your father will be thrilled when I tell him about you two,” Mrs. Im continued, her voice thick with enough emotion to make Jaebum feel nauseous. “We've been hoping you two would see the light. After all, you'll be running the business together one day, and what better way to run it together than to run it together?”

“Great, mom, that could be our motto,” Jaebum said drily.

Youngjae leaned in to him, apparently not able to wait anymore. “You said you weren't engaged to her, didn't you?” he whispered. “You said she was seeing someone.”

“She wants us to play along with her for now,” Jaebum whispered back.

“Why?”

“I have no idea.”

“So, dear, how did your exams go?” Mrs. Im asked from the front seat. “I've been paying close attention to your results from the term, and you've really improved. Your scores in the sciences have never been better, and you ranked excellently in mathematics as well. Of course your father and I always knew there was a genius in there somewhere, but since you bloomed so late...”

“I think I did fine,” Jaebum said, smiling appealingly at Youngjae. As much as he'd disliked monopolizing all of Jaebum's time for studying, Youngjae was usually a little bit smug about the fact that Jaebum had gone from a chronic underachiever to a high rank student thanks to him. “But wouldn't I still have a job with Dad even if I bombed?”

“That kind of attitude will get you nowhere in life. What about you, Youngjae? I don't think you mentioned before what kind of career you're aiming for.”

“I'm studying to become a music teacher.”

“Oh? Well, you certainly have a lovely voice.”

“And he can play piano, guitar, and violin,” Jaebum added, because he couldn't not brag about his boyfriend.

“If only Jaebum complimented me like that,” Hyejin sighed tragically.

“But you already know you're perfect,” Jaebum said in monotone. Hyejin stabbed him with her nails again, making his eyes water again.

It wasn't a far drive from the university to their house in Goyang, and Jaebum was grateful to get out of the car between nail fighter Hyejin and confused out of his mind Youngjae. Hyejin wiggled in between them as they walked to the door and linked their arms together. “Team meeting in Jaebum's room in twenty minutes,” she muttered. “I have my reasons, I promise.”

Jaebum nodded, and pulled open the door. His father was waiting for them in the foyer, his eyes quickly falling on the place where Jaebum and Hyejin's arms were linked. She had apparently dropped Youngjae's arm before entering the house.

“And the prodigal son returns,” his father said. “And Hyejin and Youngjae as well! Everyone's looking well. Happy holidays.”

“Happy holidays!” Youngjae and Hyejin chimed together.

“Oh dear, I just can't wait to tell you,” Mrs. Im said, brushing a few stray snowflakes from her hair. “Our Jaebum and Hyejin have finally decided to start seeing each other.”

“Oh? You two sure took your time reaching this point.”

“You know Jaebum, he's never one to be moved by people easily,” Hyejin laughed, squeezing his arm. Nice that she was including the part where he wound up being blamed for everything into their play relationship as well.

“I set up the guest room from Hyejin, so will it be fine for Youngjae to share your room with you, Jaebum?”

“Of course,” Jaebum answered. That was what he'd been hoping for, frankly. He had a nice big double bed in his own room, so there wouldn't be any nonsense about them bringing a futon in for Youngjae to sleep on. He could finally, at long last spend the night with the person he loved snuggly in his arms. If Youngjae was that kind of sleeper and not someone who wiggled about or tried to kick him out of the bed. He still didn't know that part of him yet, but was looking forward to finding out.

“Let's all carry our things up, then,” Hyejin said brightly.

“Father will help you out, of course,” Mrs. Im said, shaking her husband's arm.

“No need,” Jaebum said quickly, scooping up Hyejin's bag. “I've got this.” He tried to grab Youngjae's to be a proper boyfriend to the person he was actually dating, but Youngjae shook his head and said he could handle it himself.

Jaebum's room had pretty much remained the same as he'd left it, though it now had a slightly stale smell from lack of use, and of course the majority of his things were back in the dorm he'd left behind. Still, there were all the touches of his childhood left behind, his stuffed bear Doople (he still couldn't remember how or why he'd come up with that stupid name) and pictures of his high school classmates sticky tacked onto the wall.

“It's so you,” Youngjae said with a smile.

“Is it?”

“Or what I thought you might be like. As a kid.”

“Well, if you're really curious, I'm sure my mother and father and Hyejin will be telling you embarrassing stories about me throughout dinner. I won't even complain about it. We've already seen each other freaking out after being pelted with dead frog, so what's there to be worried about.”

Younjae's smiled thinned. “About Hyejin noona...”

“Let me do the talking about Hyejin noona,” Hyejin said as she threw open Jaebum's door. “Ahhh, it smells funny in here, too. And oh, look, Doople.” She plopped down on Jaebum's bed and hugged Doople to her chest. “Just so you know, I'm doing this partly as a favor to both of you.”

“How so?” Jaebum asked. He couldn't recall Hyejin doing a favor for him before, so it seemed like a suspicious explanation.

“Well, your noona happens to be quite observant. I figured out in like two seconds that you two are all hot and bothered for each other, which might not be the best thing to be showing off in front of your parents. They probably wouldn't ever assume it about you, but still.” She looked at them both wryly. “You've got the eyes around each other and everything, it's frankly kind of embarrassing. But since I also happen to be a nice noona, I'll provide a convenient smokescreen so everyone will assume Jaebum at least is happily seeing his female childhood friend and not lusting after his male university one. With all their dreams about the two of us coming true, they'll be none the wiser and you can spend a lovey-dovey Christmas together with no one suspecting a thing.”

“Convenient up until the point where they start planning our wedding,” Jaebum reminded her.

“Don't worry. We'll be breaking up before then, and you'll have to find some other kind of smokescreen or just make the plunge into letting them know, which I really wouldn't if I were you. But maybe I'll be a surrogate for you some day if they get really naggy about the whole grandkids thing. Otherwise, just spend the rest of your life pretending you're a failure at charming women while charming Youngjae on the side..”

“And what are you planning to get out of this, noona?”

“Doing a good turn for an old friend?”

“You can't use that line on me.”

“Right...” Her smile faded, and she folded her hands on her lap. “God, these clothes are itchy. I brought my usual stuff with me, but I can't wear it in front of your parents. At least not yet. You get that, right? In our kind of world, you can be one way inside but still have to show a different face outside. And that isn't fair, is it?”

Jaebum and Youngjae looked at each other and shook their heads.

“Of course it isn't. Maybe some people can live their lives that way, but I don't think I can for that much longer. So I'm using this to plan my biggest bad girl caper to-date. And I can't explain it yet, but having them think you and I are together will help.”

“What? It will be a smokescreen for you and Yungchul or whatever? Or is this just another way of getting me in trouble along with you when you launch your little plan?”

“The opposite, actually. Don't think I don't feel bad about them not wanting to believe all the bad ideas during our childhood were mine. I told them they were, and they never believed me. They thought I was defending you.” She sniffed. “Anyways, to pull this caper off, I need them to finally see I'm the bad one. And I think I've finally found the one way to get them to do it.”

“But you're not going to explain it to me.”

“Not yet.”

Youngjae finally spoke up. “Noona. If you're really trying to help us, thank you. But-”

“As I said, I'm not just doing this for you, so you don't have to feel guilty.”

“I know.” He wrapped his arms around Jaebum's shoulders. “Just don't take it too far to make them believe you're telling the truth. Like the mistletoe hanging in the foyer... or a kiss on New Year's...”

Hyejin burst out laughing. “Oh my god. No. I'm not going to kiss him, even if they beg me to. I'll just pretend I have a cold sore or that I'm too shy. Goodness, you're cute. Your main objection is really the chance I'll get physical with Jaebummie?”

Youngjae looked at her obstinately. “I get that they want someone like you with him. I know that. I just don't want to have to watch it actually happen first hand.”

“I see. Well, I won't make you. And don't feel badly with yourself over it. In a perfect world, they'd want him to be with the person he loved, and they'd want the same of you or me. But this isn't a perfect world, kiddo. You have to take what you can get, and even if you bend the rules, you have to put up with those who won't forgive you for rattling the simple world as they understand it.” She patted Youngjae's hand. “But I'll be on your side. As small as that is.”

Youngjae nodded and Jaebum cleared his throat of the lump filling it. “They're probably expecting us downstairs.”

“Probably.” Hyejin looked at Youngjae once more. “Remember: this is all play acting. You only need to look at that stupid smiley face of his to figure out who he really loves, right?”

0

Luckily, dinner was filled with discussions of grades and classes rather than romance, and very little performing was actually demanded of them. Jaebum rather wished they could get away from talking about school now that they were finally free of it for awhile, but since it was the favorite talking point of the family other than the insurance business, he put up with it and distracted himself with gazing at Youngjae from across the table and wishing someone would start cracking jokes so he could listen to him laughing.

After dinner, Jaebum took Youngjae on a tour around the house, showing off their Christmas tree with all its old homemade ornaments and mementos from his younger years. Sure enough, as soon as his childhood was brought up, his mother pulled out the old photo albums and started showing off embarrassing baby photos to Youngjae. Even though he'd said it wasn't a big deal, Jaebum was still flustered by some of her stories to the point where he distracted himself with texting Jackson, who was freaking out about BamBam coming down with a fever back on campus, so he wouldn't have to listen.

Once embarrass-Jaebum-hour was finished, his father put some Christmas carols on the stereo, and Jaebum and Youngjae sang along. Hyejin joined them for awhile until her cell phone started going off, and she hurried up to her room. It was probably Yungchul, her boyfriend. Jaebum couldn't help but wonder what he would think of whatever her little plan was. He'd met Yungchul once or twice before, and he'd liked him a lot. He was a year older than Hyejin and wrote a popular webtoon under an pseduonym for a living, and like his girlfriend, he had an unconventional style. He had several tattoos and piercings, and wore his hair long in the old style sans the top bun and headwear. He was a nice guy. Whatever his girlfriend thought was best, he'd probably go with.

Jaebum would just have to do the same, for now. He had his own duty to look out for Youngjae during his time here, and a little help keeping just why he was so invested in it a secret would be appreciated. On one hand, he was very proud of Youngjae and probably could tell his parents so if it ever came down to it. After all, he hadn't spent about a year staring at Youngjae obsessively during choir and doing so many stupid things to try and get his attention and smiles just to wind up embarrassed by the fact that he was dating another guy. But still. He needed to protect what was precious enough to be protected. He couldn't let Youngjae be pulled apart from him by anything, especially not by the people closest to him.

Around nine or ten in the evening, Jaebum started to feign yawns for his parents' benefit. “Youngjae and I are pretty tired out from our exams, so we're going to crash early.”

“And you call yourselves university students?” his father .

Don't worry, dad, I'm sure we'll be staying up late for other reasons...

As soon as they had shut his bedroom door behind them, Jaebum unceremoniously shoved Doople off his bed and pulled Youngjae down with him. He honestly was a bit on the tired side from exams, but he was pretty sure he just needed to recharge on his favorite source of energy to start waking up. Sure enough, Youngjae was smiling up at him with those lips of his, and the desire to taste him flooded through his body. Without waiting another second, he leaned in and claimed them. A burning feeling filled his chest-- was this what BamBam meant whenever he talked about “chest fuzzies”?-- and he wrapped his arms around Youngjae's warm body, holding him close.

When they kissed, they always kissed slowly, Jaebum gradually caressing Youngjae's lips without pushing him too far. It was the first time in this kind of relationship for both of them, and Jaebum tended to be overly conscious of the fact of them both being men meaning that if things went too far too quickly, they could both give into ferocious impulses and hurt each other. Or more surely, he could hurt Youngjae, something he would never allow himself to do. Maybe that was the reason he'd put a timeline on being intimate with him, with the qualification of Youngjae having to pass his exams first. On one hand, it was because he had genuinely wanted him to study, but it was also because he was worried. He wanted Youngjae, wanted him to a terrifying extent, and he had no idea how to translate that want into something rational and careful. So he tried to temper his kisses so those impulses wouldn't trigger and it wouldn't be a concern until it had to be. Youngjae usually went with his pace, because really, they had no idea when Yugyeom would randomly decide to burst in on them, and both preferred it to be while fully clothed and not groping each other.

But tonight felt a little different. Tonight Youngjae was quicker to part his lips, and Jaebum was quicker to slip his tongue inside of him, taking in the warmth that felt even better than normal on a cold night like this. He loved the way Youngjae was his neck, the way he made soft noises into his lips and wasn't embarrassed by them, the way he smelled like pine candle that had been burning next to him as he'd gone through the old photo albums. He loved everything about Youngjae, and he wondered for a moment if he'd ever said as much clearly to him.

He pulled away for a moment, his body resting on Youngjae's chest. Carefully, he ran his fingers through his hair, mussing it just slightly, than slid them down to his face, to his pretty mole, to his beautiful lips.

“Choi Youngjae.”

“Hmm?”

“I love you a lot, you know that, right?”

Youngjae started coughing in surprise, but tried to recover quickly and appear cool, which only made it more adorable. “Well... I must have figured something like that...”

“Yeah?”

“But... this is your first time telling me. You always said 'like' before.”

“That's because looking at you up close like this makes me nervous. But it was love even before I confessed to you. So...yeah.”

“Yeah.” Youngjae suddenly started laughing.

“W-what?”

“You're cute, too, did you know that?”

“Huh?”

“Nothing. That was just a great way of ending that thought. 'So... yeah.'” His laugh trailed off, and he reached up to cup Jaebum's face. “Im Jaebum.”

“Hmm?”

“I love you, too.”

Jaebum in his breath, deciding the only way he wouldn't react embarrassingly was by leaning in and kissing Youngjae again. So he did. “Yeah...” he murmured against his lips.

“Love you,” Youngjae said again stubbornly when they broke apart, but Jaebum just kissed him again to hide his expression. “So-” another kiss “much.”

“Yes, yes.” He kept kissing him. Can't you already feel how fricken happy I am this way, Choi Youngjae?

Youngjae was slightly out of breath by time he finally let up on his lips. “Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“How long will it take to find out if I passed my exams?”

Jaebum grinned. “Soon enough.”

Youngjae shook his head. “No. Not soon enough at all.”