2jae

E for Everyone

Fluff, just...fluff

Jaebum groaned as he sat down at their usual table in the university coffee shop. It was small but warm and full of weathered wood and jade fabric. The group of college students had shed all of their external layers and left coat hanging on chairs, gloves and hats scattered about and scaves hanging precariously in the way of passing coffee drinkers. His usual order already sat on the table in front of his seat and he briefly wondered which of his friends had ordered it for him. The scent of desperation and espresso wafted through the air, or maybe that was just Jaebum projecting his own feelings into the atmosphere?

“You you guys just...like...not today?” Jaebum asked glaring at the two couples on either side of him.

Mark snorted quietly and shifted closer to Jackson, whom gave Jaebum the stink eye. The two blondes went back to their own world of cuddling in public and giving Jaebum every reason to gouge his own eyes out so he wouldn’t have to look at them. BamBam, on his other side, tactfully ignored the comment as he pulled out his phone and took yet another picture of his boyfriend, Yugyeom, who simply smiled and posed with his cappuccino (and sent more heart eyes to his thai significant other). The only person who seemed to empathize with Jaebum’s anguish was Youngjae. The brown haired man sat across from him, sipping on a hot chocolate and looking completely comfortable in the warmth of the shop and his adorably large sweater. Youngjae shrugged his shoulders but gave him a small sympathetic smile nonetheless.

Aside from Jaebum, Youngjae was the only other one in their friend group who wasn’t disgustingly in love or in a relationship. Not that Jaebum didn’t like relationships. He was actually quite jealous of his friends. They had someone to share their lives with in a way that friends never could.  Truthfully, there was someone that he wanted to take up that empty space in his life, but he was always too unsure to ask. He could never quite tell if the other liked him or not and, believe it or not, he’d rather remain unhappily single if that meant he could still be with that person.

Jaebum sighed and looked on either side of himself before he felt his resolve crumbling completely. It was about damn time he finally did something something about his outrageously single life, because he couldn’t stand it anymore. Not when Youngjae, the owner of his affections, was sitting so beautifully across from him swimming in his sweater and smiling so prettily at him. Grumbling, Jaebum suddenly slammed his hands on the table, startling all of its occupants and shaking their drinks.

“That’s it,” Jaebum growled, “I’m tired of not being in a relationship! You-” he pointed at Youngjae “-We’re in a relationship now.”

The table went silent, but Jaebum didn’t care. He expected the couple to all have varying shades of shocked and concern of their faces but he only focused on Youngjae and the fresh pink blush that was slowly creeping up his face.

Youngjae blinked owlishly for a moment before nodding in disbelief, “Um...ok?”

It was at this point that his statement and Youngjae’s response finally seemed to compute in the brains of the other occupants of the table. Jaebum willfully ignored BamBam’s scandalized “wHAt?!” and Jackson’s cheering. Mark simply clapped while Yugyeom laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation.

Jaebum, however,  nodded in satisfaction before grabbing his drink and standing up, “We’re going on our first date now because I’m sick of looking at them.”

Jaebum quickly wrapped himself up in his coat, putting his beanie and gloves on before striding around the table to pull Youngjae’s chair back. The brown haired man gave his friends a flustered look before standing as well. He struggled to wrap himself back up in his outerwear so Jaebum took care of that as well, silently loving the way Youngjae's cheeks colored as Jaebum wrapped his scarf around his neck. When he was all dressed, Jaebum passed the man his hot chocolate from the table before taking his other hand in his own.

Grabbing his own coffee, Jaebum gave a small cup salute to the rest of the table, “See ya bunch of animals.”

Youngjae blubbered out a goodbye as Jaebum pulled him out of the coffee shop.

“So, where do you want to go?” Jaebum asked, wincing slightly at the bite of the winter weather.

“Warm,” Youngjae mumbled through his scarf, hoping Jaebum had heard him.

“Good idea.” Jaebum shivered and tightened his hold on Youngjae’s hand.

Youngjae allowed Jaebum to guide him down the street. They walked in silence for a few minutes and Youngjae’s thoughts ran wild. It wasn’t long until Youngjae started recognizing his surroundings. He lightly tugged on Jaebum’s hand to get his attention. The man stopped walking and shuffled closer to Youngjae for warmth.

“Yeah?” Jaebum asked, warm breath fanning over Youngjae’s face.

“Are we going to your apartment?” Youngjae asked carefully pushing Jaebum to the edge of the sidewalk so that they weren’t in the way of passing people.

“Uh, yeah,” Jaebum blushed slightly, “Sorry if it’s not that romantic or anything, but you said you wanted to go somewhere warm so I thought we could watch a movie or something and like...cuddle?”

Youngjae was speechless once again. He looked up at Jaebum with big, round eyes, mouth slightly agape.

“Y-you. Wait, you’re serious? Like you actually want to date me? Not just- I don't know- like...pass the time?” Youngjae stuttered through his thoughts, caught completely off guard by Jaebum’s sincerity.

Jaebum’s eyes suddenly widened more than Youngjae had ever seen (or thought was possible), “Oh my god! I- I’m so sorry! DId-did I make it seem like this was a joke? I- oh god, Youngjae- I really want this like...Yeah, I’m tired of being single, but that’s because I want to be with you! Crap, how do I explain this- I can’t even-”

Jaebum ranting was cut off by Youngjae’s boisterous laughter. The younger nearly doubled over, sloshing his hot chocolate dangerous and let go of JAebum’s hand to hold onto the man’s shoulder for support. Jaebum looked back at the other in confusion and slightly offended that he was laughing at his terrible confession, ok, so maybe he could laugh… it was a terrible attempt.

“Hyung,” Youngjae spoke through giggles, “You’re so cute! It’s ok, I think I get it now.”

Youngjae smiled widely and slid his hand down so that he could wrap it around Jaebum’s back. He shuffled closer and pressed his forehead into the fur collar of Jaebum’s coat.

“I’ve liked you for a while now, hyung,” Youngjae mumbled shyly into Jaebum’s neck, “and I would really  like to date you.”

Jaebum immediately tossed his coffee on the ground and wrapped both arms around Youngjae, shoving his nose into Youngjae’ scarf.

“So, you’ll be my boyfriend? For real?” Jaebum asked Youngjae’s neck.

“Yeah, if we can get to your apartment in the next five minutes. I think I lost feeling in my toes,” Youngjae giggled happily, shuffling his toes on the pavement.

“Then let’s go,” Jaebum let go of Youngjae in favor of grabbing his hand and tugging the younger into a run.

They laughed their entire way to Jaebum’s apartment where the elder threw Youngjae onto the couch before covering the boy in nearly every blanket he owned. Jaebum quickly chose a movie that he knew the younger would love before sprinting to the kitchen to grab snacks. When he returned he dove into the blanket pile and snuggled behind Youngjae, so that the younger’s back rested on his chest. Jaebum wrapped his arms around Youngjae’s middle and sighed happily. Youngjae giggled in response before turning to press a quick peck on the older’s cheek. They continued watching the movie, occasionally feeding each other or sneaking quick cheek kisses. As much as Jaebum wanted to just press Youngae against the couch and litter his face with kisses and give him all the love he deserved, he figure that it might be a bit too soon in their relationship to do such things. He definitely did not want to scare off Youngjae now that he had him.

“Wow,” Jaebum eventually gasped, squeezing Youngjae just a little closer to himself, “I could really get used to this.”

“Me too,” Youngjae agreed with a cute nod, “Just wait, one day we’ll be just as cheesy as our friends.”

Jaebum smirked mischievously, “Let’s make them suffer.”

They spent the rest of the evening in blissful warmth and elated laughter. The next times they met up with the two other couples, the new couple made sure that they were every bit as coupley (if not more) as the others.