“Jae, I’m telling you. You need to give her some time right now or you’re just going to make it worse for yourself.” Krystal’s voice sounded sympathetic but firm. He groaned in response and even through the door you could hear the frustration in it.

“I just want to talk to her. If she would let me explain-”

Krystal’s voice cut in. “To be perfectly honest she told me what you said and it sounds pretty bad. Maybe go think of what you’re going to say and practice so when she does want to hear what you have to say, you don’t dig yourself a deeper hole.”

Your ears perked up at the silence. Krystal had come to your room to complain about Michael last night and found you near tears. She’d listened to the story and stayed with you for the night. And when the two of you were awoken by Jae knocking on the door Krystal had gone to send him off.

“It’s really not what it looks like.” he told her after a few seconds. “I’m not just toying with her or anything like that. I do like her!”

“Save it for her. I’m not picking sides. Makes for a hostile home environment.” At the sound of feet shuffling towards the door you shifted in your bed so it wouldn’t look like you’d been eavesdropping. The steps paused. “If you had been just messing with her I would’ve killed you though. So it’s good to hear.”

You heard Jae speak as she opened the door and slipped into the room. “How is that not picking sides?”

The door clicked shut and Krystal walked over to sit on the edge of the bed.

The sound of feet dragging down the hall told you that Jae had gone downstairs.

“Am I allowed to be honest?”

You sat up and rested your head on your knees, giving her a look. “That depends. Is your honesty mean?”

“That depends. Are you going to be an overtly sensitive baby about it?”

You rolled your eyes and looked away as you responded. “So yes then.”

“I get that you’re hurt by what he said but you need to hear him out. He rambles almost as badly as you do. You should listen to what he has to say without jumping down his throat and if you still don’t like what he says then at least he can’t say you never gave him a chance.”

You groaned and turned to her again. “It was so embarrassing, Krystal! He turned me down when I didn’t even ask him out! He preemptively rejected me.”

Your friend scoffed before narrowing her eyes. “Wait wait wait. Is this about him hurting your feelings or your pride?”

You paused for a moment before glaring at her. “Both. The two are not mutually exclusive! I will admit that my reaction may have been…exacerbated by the level of mortification I felt at him saying he wouldn’t be my boyfriend. But you can’t say that it’s all me! He basically told me that we can’t be anything real or meaningful but we can do all the stuff that those people get to do. And I’m not a child, Krystal. I know there’s a time limit on whatever we are but I asked him and it’s not about time.”

She watched you with sympathy on her face and reached over to touch your hand lightly. “He’s a decent person, Y/N. He’s dorky and sometimes I wanna strangle him but he’s not malicious. You know that. I’m not saying he isn’t wrong but maybe if you listened to what he has to say you could understand better? Just hear him out.”

Your gaze shifted to stare out the window. “Yeah, I guess.”

The blankets tugged underneath you softly as she slid off the mattress. “Besides, if you listen and you still don’t like what he’s saying we can kill him with a clear conscious. No chance of a misunderstanding.” She walked towards the door.

You smiled but didn’t respond. The door clicked shut and let yourself fall backwards. Staring at the ceiling you thought back to last night. To be fair you had kind of jumped down his throat. Once you’d come to the assumption of what he was saying your anger had blocked out his actual words. That combined with the shame you felt made you desperate to get out of that room. It’s possible you’d fled without getting the whole story, that didn’t mean that you weren’t still hurt. Then again, you’d already decided to not worry about titles so why did it bother you so much when he said it? By the time there was a knock at the door you’d already decided that the sweet cheesy guy you’d grown to care for likely had a good reason for this situation. Figuring who it was you just mumbled for them to come in. The door swung open slowly before fluffy tufts of blonde hair peeked through. He kept his eyes lowered as he shuffled into the room. When he got to your bed he stopped. “Is it okay if I sit?”

You didn’t look at him but nodded. The mattress shifted under the new weight and you heard him clear his throat. Finally looking at him you saw his eyes search your face.

“I’m sorry I hurt your feelings. I didn’t want to. This situation is really complicated and I think I panicked.”

You nodded again.

“I want you to understand what I meant though. Is it okay if I try again? It’s really important.”

Looking down you brought your legs in to cross in front of you.

“I like you. I care about you and I don’t want to hurt you. That’s why I wanted to have this talk. I think it’s only right that I’m upfront with you about this so you can choose for yourself what you want to do about it.”

You stared down into your lap where your fingers twiddled nervously. He continued when you didn’t say anything.

“First of all, I didn’t mean to make you feel like I was just using you to pass the time. That’s not what I’m trying to do. I genuinely care about you. I think you’re amazing. It’s just that I got so wrapped up in what was happening between us that I didn’t think about the issues with it.” Jae scooted closer to you. “And I’ve decided now that I still wanna be with you but I have to let you make that decision too. I don’t want you to end up hurt because you’d never thought about the things I’d already decided I’m okay with.”

You raised your head to look at him. He took a deep breath.

“I made a promise that I wouldn’t get into a relationship for a while. So I can focus on my job. I know it might sound ridiculous but it’s not just me that would get in trouble.”

Jae leaned closer. “If it makes you feel better… If I could date you’d be the first person I’d call.”

His cheeks lifted in a grin as raised a hand in the air as if he meant to correct his previous statement.

“Well top two. You’re in the top two.”

Your jaw fell open. You straightened your back to gape at him in complete indignation. “Second?!”

He gave you a smile. “If you don’t think I’d try tweeting Emma Watson you don’t know me at all.”

You felt your cheeks lift into a slight smile and you thought about his limited time here. You were wasting time with him over what you knew was a miscommunication.

Jae reached over to tug your fingers closer until he could wrap his hands around them. “I hope you understand. This is what I meant. I really didn’t plan on this being an issue because I hadn’t expected to like anyone. But of course you just had to ruin my plans.”

You couldn’t help but smile at the boy. “Obviously.”

“So. I can’t be your boyfriend but I can be…your…” His eyes drifted off as he tried to think of an appropriate term.

“My side ho?” you suggested sarcastically.

His gaze snapped back to you through narrowed eyes. “I do have some pride you know.”

You tapped a finger on your chin. “My gentleman caller?”

“Could you please take this seriously. I’m trying here.”

You laughed before giving him a nudge. “If you’re doing this for me you don’t have to. I get what you’re saying. We don’t need a title. I like you and you like me. We know what’s going on and that’s fine.”

Jae smiled at you and gave your hand a squeeze. “So you do still like me then. Good.”

Your eyes took in his features. His slightly messy hair and his soft smile. Even this subdued side of him made you grin. “Unfortunately for me, I do.”

He leaned forward with a smirk. His lips bouncing off yours in a light peck. After the split second of contact he pulled back a few inches, still lingering close to your face. “So, we’re good then?”

You closed the distance this time. Your lips pressed to his with more pressure than his innocent peck, even sliding two hands up the side of neck to hold his face tenderly. After a second or so you pulled away with a smile. “Mostly. We’re mostly good. My pride took a hit and you will pay but for now we’re mostly good.”

Jae’s mouth turned down into a lopsided frown. “Well that’s not ominous at all…”

You returned his frown with a smirk. “Fear not. It’ll probably be harmless and petty.” You slid your hand into his and hopped to your feet. “Come on. Let’s go downstairs.”

You drug the whining man to the main floor to find Krystal and Michael sitting at the kitchen table. Krystal was paging through another magazine doing her best to ignore Michael’s pestering. An average day in the house you’ve come to know as home. You and Jae slid into chairs across from them just as the annoying man started another series of grumbling complaints.

“Krystal, I’m bored… just play a game with me or something. How long are you going to ignore me?”

The stoic girl didn’t even pause in her page scanning to respond. “How about forever? Sound good to you? Because I am loving that idea.”

Michael turned in his chair to give you the pout that Krystal had ignored. “Y/N, you guys wanna play a game or something? I have uno, monopoly, and apples to apples.”

Jae straightened in his seat to give one of his bright smiles. “Uno! Let’s play Uno! I haven’t played in forever.”

“Jae you are my favorite one in the house.” Michael told the excited boy as he glared to the side at Krystal. He got up to scamper towards his room for the cards and Krystal set the magazine down with a huff.

You watched her for a moment, noticing the slight pout, before lifting an eyebrow. She saw the face you were giving her and immediately began defending herself. “Don’t give me that look. I can barely look at him. You hush and let me handle this my own way.” Her eyes shifted between you and Jae. “You two made up quickly.”

Jae beamed from his seat across the table.

“Mostly. It was his wording that messed everything up in the first place. Once we figured that out I wasn’t as upset.”

Jae brought his hands up to sit under his chin, framing his face. “Who could stay mad at this face?”

Michael returned from the hall with his cards then and set them down with just a bit of unnecessary force. “Krystal probably. Seeing as she’s still mad at me even though I have a face just as cute.”

At Michael’s last words Jae looked to you with questioning concern in his eyes. You leaned over and pat his thigh softly. “Your face is much cuter.”

He nodded and grinned smugly before deciding to deal the cards since Michael and Krystal were bickering again.

“I honestly don’t even know why you’re so mad. I’ve apologized for telling her you were my girlfriend. You have to tell me why you’re mad for me to apologize!”

Jae finished dealing. The two of you scanned through the cards in your hands. The light glared slightly on the laminated surface of the two pick 2s, one pick 4, and two skip cards in your hand. Peeking to your right you saw Jae studying his own hand and smirked to yourself. The time for your petty revenge was nigh.

Okay okay so lemme be honest with y’all I am having some major writer’s block with this story. It’s super frustrating because I KNOW the storyline but every time I try to write it it doesn’t sound right. BUT I have a plan so we’ll be back on track soon~ I have something to distract y’all with in the works so keep an eye out for that. I love you all!