Wednesdays are the days where Sungjin has no afternoon classes. Usually, he goes back to his shared apartment to find Dowoon and Wonpil napping in the living room, so he silently changes and prepares something to eat. And usually, around the time the food is ready, the doorbell starts ringing repeatedly, waking up the sleeping couple. One of them- mostly Wonpil- would grumpily opens the door, and then the chaos begins. 

Wednesdays are the days where Brian has a late shift, so Jae uses his boyfriend’s absence to come and annoy them. He’d go in, ignoring the complaints of Wonpil, and would boldly grab a plate and fill it with whatever Sungjin has cooked. After eating, he’d invade their PS4 and keep playing until Brian comes to collect him, which is usually around 9 p.m.

However, nothing of the usual is happening today. Sungjin does come back to both his roommates sleeping in the living room, and he does prepare the food, but Jae is unexpectedly late. Even Dowoon and Wonpil find it weird to wake up to Sungjin’s voice inside of the doorbell. 

There’s a single ring around an hour later, and Wonpil rushes to open the door. It is indeed, Jae. The latter slowly walks directly to the living room, where he wordlessly sits on a chair. The three roommates exchange questioning looks before sitting on the opposite couch, watching him carefully. Their friend’s demeanor and silence worries them, because Jae looks sad, extremely sad, his shoulders hunched and his eyes red. Was he crying? 

“Jae,” Sungjin calls softly, finally getting Jae to look at him, “Are you okay?” 

The taller gives him a weak smile and a dismissive, “Yeah yeah, I’m fine. Sorry for missing dinner, I kind of lost track of time.” 

“It’s okay,” Sungjin reassures him, still thinking that something is off. Jae goes back to his deep thinking, while they continue staring at him in concern, waiting for him to say something, which happens a few minutes later.

“Wonpil-ah,” Jae suddenly calls, the said guy jumping in his place startled.

“Yes?” 

“How long have you and Dowoon been together?” 

Wonpil is taken aback, taking a moment to answer, “Eight months, why?”

“And when was the first time you told him that you love him?”

So Jae’s question did come out of nowhere, but is it really necessary for Wonpil to blush and for Dowoon’s ears to get red? They’re always kissing and acting all lovey-dovey in front of everyone, and now they’re getting shy because of a question? Sungjin will never understand those two. 

“Uhhh, he was the first to say it, on our third month together,” Wonpil shyly mumbles, “and I said it back right away.” 

Jae nods, getting into deep thinking. Judging from his questions and mood, whatever is going on, it certainly has to do with his boyfriend. Dowoon seems to get to the same conclusion so he asks the question everyone’s dying to ask, “Did Brian hyung do something?” 

“No, he did nothing at all,” Jae sounds highly irritated for a second, then he goes back to his smaller, sad voice, “And that’s the ing problem.” 

Sungjin can physically feel the anger and sadness radiating in waves from his friend, so he tentatively calls his name again, which pushes Jae to finally explode.

“We’ve been together for a year!” he cries in frustration, “A whole ing year and he’s yet to tell me that he loves me!” 

Dowoon and Wonpil rush to his sides immediately, each trying to silently calm him while he finishes his outburst. 

“I didn’t hesitate for a second when I told him that I love him all those months ago, and I keep telling him everyday, but he’s never said it back! not even for once!” his eyes are starting to tear and his tone got more desperate, “Does he not love me? Do I not deserve his love?”

Dowoon uses a tissue to wipe Jae’s tears while Wonpil keeps saying comforting words while loosely hugging him. Sungjin was ready to sympathize with Jae, until he heard his concern. Now all he wishes for is smarter friends- with an ’s’ because, judging from his roommates’ reaction, they’re nowhere smarter than Jae. 

“Did you talk to Brian about this?” Wonpil questions when Jae has calmed down a bit. Jae shakes his head, “Never directly, just thrown hints here and there.”

“Jae hyung, you should really talk it over with him,” Dowoon advices sympathetically, but the older just shakes his head stubbornly.

“I don’t wanna force him to do it.”

Dowoon and Wonpil nod understandingly, both getting into deep thoughts on how to help their friend. Sungjin, however, is still sitting on the couch, staring at his friends dumbfounded. Where they really that dense? He’s always joked that he’s the only braincells-holder in this household, but today, he’s proven right. It’s hard to be the smart one.  

Deciding that he’s witnessed enough stupidity for one day, he finally intervene in the situation at hand.

“Jae, do you know what ‘Je t’aime’ means?” 

He knows that his question seems out of place, but trust him, he got his reasons. As expected, Jae frowns in confusion, “How am I supposed to know? I don’t speak french!” 

Sungjin would be thankful that at least Jae knows what language it is, if he weren’t too flabbergasted by his oblivion, “Are you for real? Brian says it all the time!” 

Jae has the audacity to roll his eyes at him, “He uses a lot of French expressions to flirt with me, I can’t even keep track of all of them let alone know their meanings.”

“Don’t you wanna know what it means?” 

Sungjin is trying to be as patient as possible, but the other is making it hard for him, especially when he shrugs, uninterested, and says, “It probably means ‘you have a nice ’ or ‘you’re a good kisser’, or some weird thing French people say to their lovers. Even Brian doesn’t know the meaning of half of what he says. He only keeps talking in French to me because I find it y, especially in bed,” he winks at the two by his sides, enjoying their horrified expressions. 

Sighing deeply, and trying very hard not to smack his friend’s head really hard- preferably with a french dictionary, Sungjin hands his phone to him, “Google it.”

The other still gives him an annoyed look, “Is it really the time?”

But Sungjin is not having any of it as he orders once more, and more clearly, “Google. the. damn. words.”

Jae flinches because of his stern tone, and takes the phone. He opens the navigator application, taps on the screen a few times before handing it back to him, “I don’t even know how it’s written.”

Sungjin rolls his eyes and snatches the phone, typing the first two letters before a whole list of french words are suggested to him. Even if he barely knows any french, he still thinks this is common knowledge. Or maybe he’s just an intellectual.

“I really don’t get why you’re ignoring the real issue to teach me some french words. If I needed to learn the language I will start getting some courses.”

Jae is still complaining, even Wonpil and Dowoon are yet to connect the dots, so he taps on the right words before giving the phone back to him, “Maybe you should.”

He watches as the other starts scrolling down, still looking forced and bored, “Great, it’s the name of some song,” he comments sarcastically, “At least now I know it’s not a curse or-”

Finally, ing finally, Jae stop scrolling, his thumb still hovering over the screen, his eyes growing wider. He lifts his face to look at Sungjin, opening and closing his mouth multiple times without uttering a coherent word. Wonpil and Dowoon, who are still puzzled, peek at the phone to see what’s so surprising. There’s a collective gasp before Wonpil shoves Jae’s shoulder, “You ing idiot! You worried us for nothing!” 

Jae shrieks in pain before protesting,“As if you’ve know it before now!”

“Well, I don’t have my boyfriend speaking in french to me all the time!” 

While a full round of bickering takes place in his living room, Sungjin silently keeps watching, still wishing for smarter friends. 

-

That night, when Brian comes to pick Jae, he’s surprised by the taller jumping in his arms as soon as he stepped foot inside of the apartment. His boyfriend’s sudden attack makes him giggle, but still hugs him back tightly. 

“Did something good happen?” 

Jae pulls away slightly and shakes his head, “Nothing. I just miss you so much, and I love you, so goddamn more,” he then kisses him deeply that Brian had no other choice but to reciprocate it. Not that he’s complaining though.  

“Not in my apartment you two!” Sungjin yells from inside when he hears the kissing sounds and a moan, causing them both to break their kiss, laughing. 

When Jae goes to retrieve his bag and jacket from Sungjin’s room, Brian gets the chance to approach the three roommates. 

“Hey guys,” he starts with a hushed voice, “Are you going to tell me what’s going on with Jae?” 

They share a mischievous look, and Sungjin sounds highly entertained when he asks, “Why? Is something wrong with him?” 

“I don’t know,” Brian sighs with a  frown, “Just this morning he’s been really grumpy -which he is a lot lately-, but now he seems really happy about something, so I was wondering if something happened?”

To add to the poor guy’s puzzlement, Dowoon and Wonpil burst with laughter, as if they just  remembered something super funny, while Sungjin shakes his head with a grin, and only replies with a simple, “I taught him French.” 

-THE END- 

I seriously wrote this for fun (and because I'm having writer's block with all the other stories I'm currently writing)
Thank you for reading it, and don't forget to leave a comment if you liked it ;) 

Have a good day/night <3