“Oh my God.” Jackson gapes, his big eyes somehow managing to grow wider.

“I know. I have no idea where that came from.” Youngjae says and collapses onto Jackson’s bed. He came straight here after leaving Jaebeom’s studio. It’s Jackson’s day off from his job as a choreographer for a small entertainment agency that’s on the rise. Youngjae on the other hand, well he should be at work right now, but he couldn’t help rushing here to consult a friend on his entirely random, whimsical, spontaneous and potentially stupid decision to ask Defsoul out on a date. Several dates to be exact.

Jackson joins Youngjae on the bed, plopping down next to him. “So, what are you going to do now?”

Youngjae pouts, considering the question and staring at his hyung. “I guess I have to charm the hell out of him. I’m charming, right hyung?”

“You mean he agreed to date you?” Jackson is shocked anew

“I was shocked too, but I think he only agreed to go out with me to prove a point.”

“which is?”

“that there is no such thing as a stress-free relationship.”

“So his conviction is so strong that he is willing to date you and show you he is right?”

“exactly, and intend to prove him wrong.”

Jackson’s lips slowly stretch into a smirk as he looks knowingly at Youngjae. “Look at you sneaking your way into dating your crush.”

“I know.” Yougjae yells, suddenly flustered and he buries his face into Jackson’s pillow to scream. “I can’t believe this is happening.” He mutters into the pillow, voiced coming out muffled. Eventually he comes back up when the need to breathe becomes too much.

He cups his hot cheeks and sighs. “I never imagined that I could ever date my own idol. Everything feels so surreal.”

Jackson fondly ruffles Youngjae’s hair. “I’ve always told you that you can make your dreams come true.”

“That you have.” Youngjae smiles appreciatively and at his hyung.

“If you need any dating tips or ideas, Jinyoung and I are happy to help.”

Youngjae’s eyebrows furrow doubtfully. “I don’t know hyung. You and Jinyoung hyung are always bickering and teasing each other. I don’t think that’s the best example of stress-free dating. I will, however, consider consulting you later when I need tips on harmless fighting and make up .” Youngjae chortles and laughingly ducks just in time to evade the pillow Jackson throws at him.

********

Exactly three days later, Youngjae decides it’s time to make his move. While taking at work, he texts Jaebeom.

Youngjae: Japanese food tonight?

It doesn’t take long for Jaebeom to reply

Jaebeom: I don’t like Japanese food.

Youngjae: I know a nice place that serves delicious fried pecking duck. Is that better?

Jaebeom: I don’t like fried food

Youngjae smiles, shaking his head as he types: you’re very picky I see :D let’s just go and we’ll decide what to eat when we get there.

Jaebeom: fair enough. Where should we meet?

Youngjae: I’ll pick you up<3

Jaebeom doesn’t reply, so Youngjae assumes the conversation is over and resumes work without another thought about it.

That’s why Youngjae gets stunned when after only heaven know, Jaeebom sends his reply.

Jaebeom: <3

Youngjae nearly squeals and he feels butterflies in his belly at the unexpected response. It keeps him smiling the rest of his work day.

********

“I have this melody in my head and if I don’t do something about it now, I’ll hate myself later. I promise I won’t be long.” Jaebeom says when Youngjae goes to the studio to pick him up.

Youngjae nods in understanding and goes to sit on the couch. This is a great opportunity see Jaebeom do what he does best. 

About 30 minutes of watching Jaebeom making music on his laptop, singing softly and bobbing his head to this melody he speaks of, Youngjae refuses to believe that there is no passion there, that Jaebeom doesn’t crave the love he writes about.

********

Isn’t this great?”

“Yes, but love isn’t all shrimp dates, Youngjae.” Jaebeom chortles

They are at a small but popular sea food restaurant that Jaebeom visits often. They’ve ordered shrimp, rice and vegetables because that’s Jaebeom’s favourite.

Youngjae pouts. “No, and that’s not all I’m promising. I’ll really be good to you.”

Jaebeom’s heart melts because yes pretend as he may, he is still a sap somewhere deep down.

“Let me boil your shrimp for you.”

“That’s okay. I can do it myself.”

“It’s more romantic when I do it for you.”

“I’m not looking for romance here though.”

Exasperated, Youngjae huffs and just reaches across the table to snatch the tong out of Jaebeom’s hand. “I said I’m going to boil your shrimp for you.”

Stunned to speechlessness and maybe a little frightened too, Jaebeom just nods. Youngjae can be so scary sometimes.

They have close to no conversation for a while as Youngjae boils cooks the shrimp, save for a few exchanges about what they did during their day. As much as Youngjae wants to get to know Jaebeom a lot better, Jaebeom’s eyes are half closed, his shoulders are hunched and his head is bowed as though it’s such a struggle to straighten or look up through the long bangs covering his eyes. In a word, he looks exhausted. It doesn’t look like the best time to pull him into a lot of conversation. Youngjae should have known considering how Jaebeom basically slurred through their conversation on the way here.

Well it’s too late to cancel plans now, so the best thing Youngjae can do is make sure Jaebeom does and says as little as possible this evening. They’ll simply fill their stomachs and then head home. It’s having each other’s company that counts.

Eventually they start eating their food and Jaebeom is surprisingly the one who breaks the silence.

He has a small smile on his face while chewing as he says, “This actually tastes better because you cooked it.”

Youngjae chuckles, busy spooning a large portion of rice into Jaebeom’s bowl. “Don’t lie for my benefit.”

“I mean it though.” 

Youngjae looks up then and finds Jaebeom smiling at him. “Then thank you.” He pauses for a moment to put some steamed vegetables on his rice. “Do you cook at home?”

“hm.” Jaebeom hums with a nod. “I like cooking actually. Whenever I can, I look up recipes and spoil myself.”

“That’s nice. I rely on cup ramen a lot.”

Jaebeom makes a face. “That sounds terrible. However, I’m not above eating cup ramen. When I’m too tired to cook, I eat cup ramen as well.”

“So you eat cup ramen a lot too huh.”

“How do you figure?”

“You seem very sluggish right now. I can tell you are really tired.”

Jaebeom doesn’t argue. “I spend a lot of time in the studio even without intending to.”

“Passion can be pain. Trust me, I know.” 

“Exactly.” Jaebeom points his chopsticks at Youngjae.

At this point Youngjae is bordering on senselessness, but he finds even Jaebeom chewing and pointing chopsticks at him attractive. “I have foregone sleep for league of legends on many occasions.”

“You like video games?”

“Yes.” Youngjae beams, ready to get into a discussion about that, but then Jaebeom suddenly goes quiet again. Youngjae is starting to think its Jaebeom’s thing taking weirdly long pauses amidst conversation. Youngjae doesn’t know what to make of it and whether he should ask Jaebeom about what that’s all about.

“I tried playing overwatch once and at it.” a reply finally comes after what feels like forever. “I’m better at the brick game.”

Youngjae laughs hard at the picture of Jaebeom playing the brick game. “I don’t know what to say without hurting your feelings.”

“The brick game is thrilling.” Jaebeom defends his favourite game, but at this point he might just be saying this stuff to hear more of Youngjae’s big, loud, infectious laughter. Maybe to sneak a peek at Youngjae’s nice teeth as well. Jaebeom isn’t even a ‘teeth’ kind of guy and he is pretty sure no one on earth is, but here he is appreciating the charm of Youngjae’s smile because of his teeth.

“You don’t also happen to find thrill in watching the news, do you?”

“I do actually.”

Youngjae laughs again and shakes his head, but he doesn’t say anything. Instead he focuses on putting some shrimp in a large leaf of lettuce. He adds some shredded carrots, cucumber pieces and a sprinkle of peanut sauce then wraps it up nicely and brings it to Jaebeom’s lips.

Jaebeom peers down at the wrap. “More romantic gestures?”

“You catch on quickly. Come on, open up.” Youngjae coaxes and Jaebeom actually complies. He chews on the wrap and his face lights up.

“I’ve eaten here many times, but I’ve never made this kind of spring roll.” He admits, talking around the bite. “What did you put in this?”

“Just some vegetables and peanut sauce.”

“Have you tried it yourself?”

“um no. it was a quick experiment actually.”

“Then I’ll make a quick roll for you too.”

“No thanks. I dislike peanut sauce and cucumbers.”

“Ah, you’re one of those.” 

“One of what?”

“A lot of my friends dislike cucumbers. I don’t understand why. They taste so refreshing.”

“Only if you like them.”

“I guess I can relate. I’ve never understood the allure of fried food.”

“Yeah, what’s that about?”

Jaebeom shrugs and takes another long pause, but this time Youngjae assumes it’s to finish chewing and then take a sip of water. “I just dislike the taste of grease. As a teenager, my mum couldn’t believe that a teenager could possibly dislike fried chicken, so she kept buying me that or cooking it for me. Sometimes I ate it to show my appreciation for her efforts but thankfully she noticed my pain eventually. Nowadays she brings the food I like when she visits.”

“You mum brings you food? That’s sweet. My parents think I’ll never grow up if they baby me like that.”

“You’re so cute though. How can anyone deny you anything?”

Youngjae feels a flutter in his belly and promptly stuffs some shrimp into his mouth to hide his huge smile.

*******

“You didn’t have to walk me to the bus stop.” Jaebeom says. It’s maybe the 5th time he is saying it since they left the restaurant and made the short walk to the station. They are standing by the bench, facing each other.

“Again, of course I do. That’s what boyfriends do.” Youngjae smiles at the way Jaebeom gets shy suddenly. He finds it so adorable how easily flustered Jaebeom gets.