Brian shoots up straight in his bed when he receives a text from Jae. He's nervous, almost regretting him even putting the present in Jae's bag and wondering if it was all a bad idea.

jaepark: BRI

jaepark: thank you. 

jaepark: I love it so much oh my gosh, it's such an accurate model!

Brian smiles at the texts and is about to reply when Jae requests to video chat, and Brian hesitantly answers.

"Hey-"

"Bri! Look at how cute it is!" Jae exclaims and Brian just smiles and laughs,

"Yeah, I know, I bought it..."

"Thank you so much, you didn't have to!" 

"I wanted to though," and Brian tries to bury the fact that this mirrors the conversation Jae had with Sungjin an hour ago, 

"I actually have something for you too, I just didn't wanna give it in front of the guys, so I thought it could wait till when I see you next" Jae admits with a bashful smile, and Brian nods while thinking to himself,

So Sungjin's couldn't wait, huh?

"I'm glad you like it," he sees,

"I'm gonna put it rght beside the bear you gave me from the carnival,"

"Oh yeah," Brian says, remembering that night too. 

"See, right here," Jae says as he shows Brian on the call, placing the plane on a shelf beside the bear, and Brian notices the bear wearing his gloves,

"Hey, my gloves!" he says with a laugh,

"Yeah!" Jae replies, laughing too as he explains,

"And your gift is here." and Brian smiles at the box wrapped in wrapping paper different than Dowoon's and ribbon tied into a big bow. 

"This is like your little corner, with things I need to give you" Jae says and his smile appears on screen and Brian wants to throw his phone across the room with a squeal. 

"Your little card was cute too," Jae says and Brian buries his head in his hand,

"No, don't talk about that with me,"

"Why not!" Jae teases,

"'Cause it's embarrassing," Brian says with a chuckle,

"It was really sweet... but my card is better," Jae replies and Brian threatens to hang up on him.

"Your real card," Jae explains in between laughter,

"The one I'm gonna give you with your gift, because the one I gave today was just for the group thing,"

"Oh," Brian says, and wonders if Sungjin got a separate card,

"You're a softie,"

"Me?!" Jae says,

"Junhyeok cried like twice today!"

"Yeah, but we're used to that already, you're like fresh meat," Brian explains and Jae just laughs. 

"But seriously Brian, thank you,' Jae says and takes the model in his hand and holds it near his face,

"I love it," he says, sincerely, with a wide smile and Brian wants to screenshot it but he just remembers it, glad he took a chance and bought Jae a separate gift. 

"You're welcome," he replies with a smile,

"When am I getting mine?" he jokes and Jae rolls his eyes,

"Whenever I see you next!"

"And when is that?"

"Right now if you want," and Brian's tempted to say yes but he knows Jae is joking,

"Hey Jae," he starts and he's about to ask about what he got Sungjin, but realizes Jae hasn't told him about it. If Jae wanted Brian to know, he would've texted him with excitement and keyboard spams like he usually does. 

"Yeah?" 

Brian's curious, but takes the social cues of Jae not mentioning it himself, so he just asks,

"Did you have fun skating today?" 

"Oh, yeah! Definitely!" and that sends Jae off, talking with gestures and everything as if Brian wasn't there with him the whole time. 

"Oh yeah, Bri?" 

"Hm?" he hums in response, lying in bed, tired but not wanting to hang up on Jae.

"Why did Seungmin wanna see you?" if Jae wasn't on video chat, he would've facepalmed himself. He curses himself for not minding his own business, 

"Oh, he gave me this!" Brian says with mild excitement, showing the keychain to Jae,

"Isn't it cute?" 

"Yeah... It looks like you, oddly enough," and Brian laughs,

"That's what Seungmin said!" and Jae notices his fond smile as he looks down at the keychain. 

They're talking about plans for their Christmas break when Brian gets a text,

SungBro: Hey Bri, you busy rn?

Why am I so popular tonight,

KangBri: not really, what's up??

SungBro: Can we talk?

Brian repositions himself, not necessarily liking the serious tone of Sungjin's texts,

KangBri: yeah sure. text, or person?

SungBro: I think text should be okay

"Bri, you still there?" 

"Yeah, sorry just texting Sungjin,"

"Oo! About what?" Jae asks excitedly and Brian lets out a small laugh, 

"Nothing yet, he like just texted me," 

KangBri: Okay, what's up

KangBri: are you okay? 

SungBro: Yeah, just wanted to talk to you about something

KangBri: okay, shoot

While he's waiting for Sungjin's response, Jae's talking to him about universities he's going to be applying to,

SungBro: so like

SungBro: today, idk if you noticed but Jae and I had the same bag...

Brian furrows his brows,

KangBri: didn't notice, but okay? and??

Jae had the airplane model, it was on his shelf beside Brian's gift, Brian's gloves, the bear from Brian. 

SungBro: I think you may have slipped a box in my bag by accident

Brian freezes, no longer listening to Jae's university rant, and he's actually about to tell Jae he has to go when Jae says,

"Oh snap, I should shower, I got morning plans tomorrow,"

"Okay," Brian says,

"Good night Bri! Merry Christmas," he says with a bright smile and Brian gives one back,

"Merry Christmas, Jae, good night!"

After their call ends, he focuses on Sungjin's text conversation.

KangBri: uh you sure?

SungBro: I put it in Jae's, so don't worry I think he got it

Brian exhales, as Sungjin points out the obvious to him,

KangBri: so

KangBri: What was it you wanted to talk about?

But he knows his best friend, and he knows his best friend knows him.

SungBro: You rarely get Christmas gifts for the group

SungBro: which is why you love our Secret Santa tradition

Brian can't deny it,

SungBro: so...

KangBri: just say it

SungBro: Do you like Jae?

Brian stares at the question, one he's barely answered for himself. So, he gets defensive,

KangBri: I'll answer that if you answer this

KangBri: Do you like Wonpil?

Sungjin doesn't answer, but replies,

SungBro: Meet me at the park.

Brian sighs but when he hears Sungjin's front door open, he throws on a sweater and makes his way to the park. When Brian walks up to the park, Sungjin gets up from the swing and Brian knows that they're both tense. 

"Did you have to respond like that?" 

"Like what?"

"Don't act dumb, Bri" Sungjin replies, and Brian sighs in defeat.

"So, is it true, then?" 

"That's not what matters!"

"But it does!" Brian's starting to raise his voice,

"It does because aren't you being unfair?" Sungjin looks at him, almost confused,

"Weeks ago you randomly text me about maybe having feelings for someone and I don't question it, I just listened to you! I didn't ask who it was, I didn't even pry or ask for any more information that what you told me!" 

Sungjin just listens because knows his best friend's tones, and this one isn't anger, it's exhaustion.

"But you see a gift that you weren't even meant to see and all of a sudden it's 'Bri, do you like Jae?'" he scoffs,

"If I wanted someone to know, don't you think you would be the first person I would reach out to? But I can't! I can't reach out to anyone because-"

Brian cuts himself off, knowing if he continued talking, he might expose Jae's feelings.

"Because I can't like anyone Sungjin, you know that." 

Sungjin looks at him apologetically and just hugs him. They've never been one for sincere hugs but Sungjin could tell that this has been bugging Brian for a while, and this is probably the first time he's talked about the situation out loud.

Brian accepts the hug, closing his eyes and calming himself down, simply thankful his best friend knows that he's not angry at him, he's just tired. A few seconds pass before Brian lets out a laugh and says,

"Let go, I don't like it when we're all heartfelt,"

Sungjin lets him go with a smile,

"Sorry, Bri..."

"Nah, me too... I didn't mean to just explode, it's just I never get to talk to anyone about it," 

"You could've told me," Sungjin assures and Brian shakes his head,

It's not as simple as me liking Jae. Because he likes you, and you like... Who knows.

"Can we pretend like this whole thing tonight didn't happen?" Brian asks, his eyes are pleading and Sungjin doesn't miss a beat when he responds,

"What whole thing tonight?" and Brian smiles before wrapping an arm around Sungjin's shoulders,

"And that is why you're my best friend," and they laugh as they walk back home.

It's only when Brian's in bed, when he realizes although he answered Sungjin's question, Sungjin never answered his. He doesn't bring it up again though because he was the one who asked to pretend like tonight didn't happen. 

burger kang: where are you???

jaepark: i'm literally ON the steps we said we were meeting at!

burger kang: okay well that's a lie

burger kang: because I'm RIGHT here and I don't see you

Jae calls him,

"Hello?" Brian answers,

"I'm on the friggin' steps!" Jae yells into the phone,

"And I'm spinning a full 360 and I see you no where," 

"Well, look harder because I'm right here! At Entrance E!" Brian yells back and Jae freezes,

"Entrance E?" he almost whispers into the phone,

"Yes, the entrance we agreed on last night!" 

Jae quickly scrolls through their text conversation and sure enough, Jae misread their agreed Entrance E as Entrance B and now he's standing on the steps, swirling around like an idiot. 

"Oh," he says in defeat and Brian scoffs,

"You're at the wrong entrance, aren't you?" 

"No," Jae quickly denies while running to get to Entrance E, 

"Gotta go, bye!" and Brian laughs at the abrupt end of their phone call. 

He crosses his arms across his chest with a smile as he watches Jae running towards him, and doubles over in laughter when Jae slips on ice. He jogs up to the boy and helps him up,

"Are you okay?" he says between laughter and Jae's blushing in embarrassment, 

"That's what you get for yelling at me when you went to the wrong entrance," and Jae pushes him off and walks into the mall with Brian close behind, still laughing at Jae's accident.

"Do you wanna get anything to eat?" Brian suggests when they're walking around the mall, 

"Can we get frozen yogurt?" Jae asks with an excited smile and Brian nods, making a mental note of how Jae likes frozen treats even in the winter.

They agreed to meet up today because Jae wanted to give Brian his gifts before the new year began. 

Brian pays for the frozen yogurt, much to Jae's protest and the cashier not knowing whose cash to accept,

"You guys are so cute," she comments as Brian's waiting for his change and Jae went to go get napkins, 

"Pardon?" he says,

"Fighting over who pays, it was so cute," she says and adds,

"You guys look great together," and Brian accept the change with an awkward smile,

"O-Oh no, we're not- we're just friends," he corrects with an uncomfortable chuckle as he looks over at Jae who seems to be struggling with the napkin dispenser. 

Just friends

he thinks with a sad smile before the cashier profusely apologizes, saying she should've minded her own business and Brian assures her it's okay before going to help Jae. 

They practically share their flavours, often switching bowls and reaching over to take a spoonful of the other's, 

"Let me buy you lunch," Jae says and Brian laughs, ignoring the way his heart flutters at the words that sound like they're on a date.

"I'm not hungry, we just had frozen yogurt,"

"If you get hungry, tell me because I'm paying this time!" and Brian agrees with no plans of being hungry later on. 

They're walking through the mall with no real destination in mind but they come across a music store, with records and instruments and they go inside. They're looking at the guitars when Jae says,

"Can you play something for me?" which catches Brian by surprise, and he turns to see Jae handing him a beautiful acoustic with a black body. He accepts it and says,

"What song?" he says, sitting on one of the piano benches,

"Any, I just miss your singing voice," and Brian almost hates the way Jae says words that make Brian's heart flutter with such ease.

He plays out a chord progression and sings rather quietly, aware it's a public store, but smiles wide when Jae joins in to harmonize with him. 

Jae watches Brian with a small smile but when he makes eye contact, something starts up the butterflies in his stomach and he smiles even wider, harmonizing quietly and noticing how well their voices mesh together. He watches as Brian plays the guitar with a content smile, his eyes on the frets and strings while Jae can't seem stop staring.

Brian finishes the song with a smile and meets Jae's eyes, and neither of them look away. 

It's a brief moment, but they just stare into each other's eyes, so many unsaid words from Brian because he's always listening, and Jae almost trying to figure something out. They look away at the same time, Jae almost blushing although he won't say why, and Brian's heartrate speeding up as he puts the acoustic guitar back on display, 

"I like the sound," Brian comments, trying to move on from that weird moment that he doesn't want to overthink but it's too late. 

Jae's flustered himself, nodding and just replying,

"Yeah, me too, though I prefer electric," busying himself with the keys of a piano while trying to cool his cheeks. 

They leave the store with compliments from the owner, urging them to come back sometime and perform to which they reply they'll consider it. 

They continue walking and find an arcade and Jae notices Brian's eyes that instantly brighten, and he smiles when he says,

"Let's go inside," and Brian follows close behind with an excited smile.

Brian almost fights Jae when Jae pays for their tokens, saying he'll just get his own and Jae basically throws a fit near the ski ball machines and Brian gives in. 

"Shall we bet?" Jae says and Brian has an evil smile,

"I'm down," and he adds,

"What's the wager?" as he scans around the arcade, choosing the machines and games he's confident he can win the most tickets on.

"Just pride," Jae replies,

"I don't think you have much left after how many times you fell yesterday," and Jae mocks him, making Brian laugh. 

And with that, they start their arcade escapade, starting with a match of air hockey that Brian wins by 1 point, commenting,

"You're just as bad on artificial ice without skates," but his talk doesn't last for long when Jae wins the ski ball match. 

Unknown to the other, throughout the games, they would steal glances at each other - Brian adoring the way Jae sticks out his tongue a bit when he's focusing, and Jae noticing how much Brian smiled, which made him smile too.

They play almost every game in the arcade, making the most of the tokens Jae bought, before going to the ticket counter where they each feed their tickets, both hiding the screen with the total from the other.

"Okay, ready? We'll reveal at the count of 3. 1, 2-"

"Wait, like on 3 or 3 then the next beat reveal?" Brian cuts off and Jae laughs,

"On 3, Bri."

"Okay, okay," and Brian giggles, excited to see who the winner is. 

"Told you I'd win," 

"It was by 2 tickets! That's barely anything to brag about,"

"Are you sure pride was the wager because you still have a lot of it, talking to the winner like that,"

Jae shoves Brian with a roll of his eyes and Brian just laughs, which in turn makes Jae smile.

They go to the prize counter, ready to trade in their tickets for various prizes, when Jae says he has to go to the bathroom. He's quick, but when he returns, he notices that Brian's talking to a little girl. He watches and smiles at how he's crouched down to be at her height, and he can overhear the conversation. 

"Thank you!" she says and Brian ruffles her hair, and Jae notices he's done that to Seungmin various times, and ignores his other thought of why hasn't Brian done it to him?

"No problem, enjoy it, okay?" and that's when Jae notices a big stuffed toy in her arms, 

"Thank you, again, sorry she pestered you," the lady beside the little girl says, and Brian has a gentle smile when he says,

"No, don't worry! It was a cool toy, I'd want it too... Plus, I don't have too much of a need for the prizes,"

Jae waits for the little girl and woman to leave, the little one waving at Brian and he waves back with a dashing smile, before he returns to Brian's side.

"Did you decide on what prizes you want?" Jae says,

"Yeah, but my budget went down," Brian says with a chuckle, 

"Oh, what happened to your tickets?" Jae asks, ready to hear the story of why Brian gave practically half of his tickets to that girl,

"I think I dropped them or something," is the response Jae doesn't expect.

"Huh?" 

"Yeah, I honestly don't know," Brian replies, laughing at how ridiculous that excuse was, but Jae accepts it with a nod.

"Let's share the prizes then," Jae says with a smile, handing Brian his tickets and Brian's eyes light up and immediately says,

"Let's get the cotton candy then!" and Jae watches from behind as Brian goes up to the worker and asks for 2 bags of cotton candy. 

Jae's seen Brian's cold and hard side that didn't hesitate to throw a punch at Kisung, the one that always stood up for Seungmin - the scary knight in shining armour.

And he's just witnessed another side, once again the hero but with a gentle smile, crouching down to meet a little girl at eye level, and getting excited when his reward is large bags of cotton candy.

He's still smiling at Brian, unknowingly, when Brian turns around and says,

"We still have like 600 tickets left, come choose things!" and Jae goes to Brian's side, and it's Brian's turn to stare as Jae ponders on what to use the tickets on. 

Their day at the mall ends with them bussing home together, as Brian didn't drive there. It's rush hour by the time they're heading home, but they manage to find two seats beside each other. 

"Thanks for today, Bri," Jae says with a smile before yawning,

"Thanks for today, Jae," Brian echoes and returns his eyes to the road.

They're near Brian's stop but still far from Jae's when Brian feels Jae's head fall on his shoulder. Brian instantly tenses at the contact and immediately straightens his posture so that Jae's neck won't hurt when he wakes up.

Brian stares at Jae's peaceful face and feels himself blushing and he's just extremely thankful Jae's asleep. When they're approaching Brian's stop, Brian decides to just get off at Jae's stop and let him sleep a bit longer. 

Brian gently shakes him awake when they're getting close to Jae's stop,

"Hm?" Jae says softly, and rubs his eyes before he realizes what he just did,

"Oh, I'm sorry! You missed your stop,"

"It's okay, I'll just walk home from your place," Brian says as he requests for the bus to stop and they get off. 

They say their goodbyes at Jae's house, Brian refusing to part at the bus stop and insisting he walks Jae home. Jae gives Brian his gift, and his gloves which Brian accepts with gratitude. 

On his way home, Brian's smiling to himself like crazy, skipping and bouncing around when he thinks of the little moments he shared with Jae today - but quickly he reminds himself of the reality of things, and he reverts to walking. 

He reminds himself that Jae likes his best friend, Sungjin.

He reminds himself that his role in Jae's life is to help Jae get with Sungjin. 

Brian reminds himself that he's essentially Jae's best friend, and has a sad smile as he looks down at the gift and card, his gloves feeling warming than usual.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

hi hello mydays!♡ sorry this update was a day late, but here's the second part of their Christmas activities I guess :D if you guys wanna be friends (I swear I'm really friendly and usually very responsive!) you can contact me on:

Twitter / Instagram: @zenkrcovers

Kakaotalk: zenaya

please please please! comment your thoughts on this chapter, or even the story as a whole, I hope it's not disappointing. Hehe JaeBri development ;) but Sungjin ??? you'll find out soon enough. LOL please subscribe to keep updated and upvote if you're enjoying the story!

I'll try and update soon, but until then peace! - Zen