Taehyun’s POV

“What is wrong with you?”

“What?”

“You know what!”

I laugh. “No I don’t!”

“Yes you do because you’re laughing!” Seungyoon laughs with me before continuing. “Why did you suddenly start giggling like that?”

“Because I made a weird noise.” He rolls his eyes. “What? It was funny! You laughed too!” I poke a finger at his chest accusingly.

“It’s only because your laugh is contagious. And it was not a weird noise…” He glances away before looking back at me.

“Ah, I see…” I say, tapping my chin and squinting my eyes. “You’re one of those.”

“One of what?”

“Does this turn you on?” I do my best zebra impression (yes, they make noises), snorting with laughter halfway through. Seungyoon slaps my arm.

“What the heck is that??” he cries, laughing as he rolls us onto our sides. “Whatever, Tae. Yeah, any noise you make is y.”

I smirk. “I’ll make it a point to try out different noises from now on, then.”

He cringes. “Please don’t. Knowing you, you’d wait until I’d lost all sense of anything to spring some wild banshee noise on me. And then you’d laugh, and I’d laugh.”

“But the mood wouldn’t be ruined,” I insist. “It didn’t happen this time.” I cuddle closer to him, snuggling into his neck with both of my hands squished against his chest between us. “ isn’t all pretty noises and things.”

“But that’s all I ever hear from you, so what am I supposed to think?” he replies smoothly, gently tracing patterns on my back. I blush hard and pinch him playfully.

“Shut up,” I mumble. He just laughs at me and holds me tighter. As we lay there, my eyelids start to get heavy and I can feel myself slipping away. He kisses the top of my head before he whispers, “Good night, baby,” and reaches to turn off the lamp.

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Today is just sort of a nothing day. A lazy day. I don’t mind it at all; sometimes it’s nice to have a quiet day. It’s even raining out a little, which makes it just perfect for me.

I like the rain. I like the quiet. I like how cozy it is. In recent times, the quiet had become something that scared me, something I wanted to avoid, but being with Seungyoon like this has made it better and restored my love for it. I like how warm I am, all of our pillows propped up together as he sits with me. My legs are thrown over his lap and my head is resting on his chest. One of his hands is placed firmly on my and the other is holding my MP3 player as he plays DJ for us while we listen to music together, sharing headphones.

I like this position. When he holds me like this, I feel the most… I don’t know, comfortable, I guess? I can’t really explain it. And the silence is never awkward between us, always comfortable. I like when he holds me like this most because he holds me close to him, and for me, there’s no such thing as “close enough” with him. I like holding him back, too; my arms are currently circled snuggly around his middle, my hands underneath his shirt to warm them up.

Oh, I’m rambling… I don’t know. I just… I like this moment.

My mind wanders, and memories of last night start coming back to me in vivid detail, and I blush. I’d asked him to make love to me that time, it was different than most of the other times. I’ve decided I like doing that more than just going at it like a couple of rabbits (Minho’s phrase, not mine).

Thinking of the way he made me feel last night has me thinking of the way he makes me feel all the time. He’s wonderful to me, and the time I’ve spent as his boyfriend has quickly become the best time of my life. He and I just fit together—I never knew how nice it was to be part of a whole. Seungyoon is my heart and I know I’m his, too; he tells me all the time.

In fact, he’s always showing how much he loves me. Whether he says it or does things like take care of me well or give me things or just the way he treats me overall, he makes sure there’s never a moment that I think otherwise. Even when we’re fighting… immediately after it’s all over, when either or both of us are apologizing, it’s a “rule” of his to give me a kiss and a hug.

…Maybe that last one is his cheesiness showing through, especially when he tries to rub his face against mine, but the meaning is not lost on me.

I start wondering what I can do to show him my feelings, too. I know he knows how I feel, but sometimes I feel like I don’t do enough or do as much as he does. He’ll stand and tell me it’s fine until the cows come home, but that doesn’t stop me from trying to find little things or grand gestures that I can do, and that’s because it means a lot to me to be able to return the things he does for me.

I frown as I think. I don’t want to buy him anything… that’s not really my style. Maybe I could paint him…? I stick my lower lip out. No, that’s not it… Write him a song? But I do that all the time, so that’s out, too. Make him a mix tape?

I snort. Too cliché.

Deciding to take a break from all this pondering, I look down at his hand on my . I reach down and grab it, playing with his fingers and moving it so I can admire it better. Seungyoon likes to tease me and say I have a hand , but I don’t (I think?)… I just like his hands. So long, slender, and soft… and so pink. I blush as a small smile works its way onto my face. So cute…

…That’s it! I have an idea for what I want to do for him! I internally cheer, proud of myself. I put his hand back on my bottom and mine back up his shirt and he gives me a little squeeze. I look up and smile at him, pressing a kiss to his cheek as I close my eyes and drift off to the music. I know the perfect thing I can do for him…

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CL raises an eyebrow at me, her wine glass poised at her lips. “You wha…?”

“Please.” I say, looking back at her earnestly. Our relationship didn’t start off the greatest with all my jealousy, but we’ve recently been getting better. I don’t want to say it’s just for Seungyoon’s sake; maybe I did it for him in the beginning, but I genuinely like her now, especially after she helped me during the time I wasn’t with him. Which is why I was hoping she wouldn’t think it odd that I’d come to her…

The leader puts her glass down on the coffee table and leans back to look at me again. “You want my help in… in making a ring for Seungyoon…? Did I hear that correctly?”

I nod. Admiring his hands gave me the idea. He’s recently gotten fonder of wearing rings and expressed the wish to have more, so I thought it’d be cool for him to have a one-of-a-kind one made special by me. It’d look so nice on his pretty hands…

Alright, maybe I have a hand , but don’t quote me on that.

I’ve drifted off into my own thoughts again, excited all by myself about my lovely idea to show my love to him. Because of this, I don’t notice CL’s eyes bug out of her head.

“Taehyun-ah,” she says, snapping me back to attention. “Do you realize what you just said?”

“Huh?”

She leans forward. “You wanna give him a ring. Think of the implications!”

I’m genuinely confused. “Implications…?”

She groans, rolling her eyes at my inability to understand. “Do you want to get married so soon? Because that’s what it’ll look like, you giving Seungyoon-ah a special ring.”

It takes a few seconds. “…M…M-M-M-MARRIAGE?!” I screech, my hands flying to my cheeks in an attempt to cover my blush (it doesn’t work). My whole face is hot. Why didn’t I think of this? Could it really be seen as a marriage proposal??

I deflate. ing dammit… I was really proud of this idea, too. I thought it’d be super special since it’d be kind of funny since we joke about how much I admire his hands, but really sincere too because it’s our thing and it comes from a sincere place and rings are really special in general… It’s not like I don’t want to marry him or anything, because that’s not true, but we kind of can’t right now and I’d rather wait to be engaged. I can feel my lips turn down at the corners. Will he really see it that way…? Do I have to think of something else? I huff, annoyed.

“Plus,” CL adds, “what if someone asks him where he got it? If he answers you made it for him, which you know he will because he’ll be so freakin’ happy to show it off, it could look a bit weird. You don’t need any weird incidents, especially since you guys already—”

“Yeah, I know,” I say, quickly cutting her off. I don’t like to be reminded of it.

She looks down, playing with her nails. “Sorry…”

“It’s fine.” I slump back into her comfy couch, running my hands down my face and whining. “I really thought I had a good idea…! I just want to do something special for him since he’s always doing so much to make me feel special…”

I hear the sound of the other couch rustling, and move my hands to see her get up and come sit next to me. She pats my shoulder before she says, “But you know he doesn’t expect anything in return, right?”

“I know…”

“He just does all that because he loves you and he’s just the kind of person that expresses it that way. It’s okay if you aren’t really good at that sort of thing, Taehyun-ah. He knows you love him.”

I pout. “I know.” I look down at my hands. “And I wanna do this not because I feel like have to do something back. It’s because I want to and I want to do something for him back because I love him, too. I know he knows, but I just want to show it back. You know?” I look back at her, hoping she understands.

CL nods her head, her brown hair shining prettily in the light coming through the window. “I get it.” She then leans back against the couch as well, blowing out a puff of air. “Well. I’m not saying don’t go through with this idea. It is a good one, and I get why you chose this specifically. I’m just saying maybe make something in addition to the ring?”

I perk up, smiling at her. “So you’ll help me then?”

She looks back at me and returns the smile. “I haven’t made jewelry in a while, but I think I’ve still got it.”

I laugh excitedly and pull her into a hug, which she awkwardly returns. Right… I forgot she’s not too big on skinship.

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Seungyoon’s POV

I growl. No one pays any attention to me. Pouting, I groan louder. Still no attention. I finally whine and Minho can’t take it anymore.

“Seungyoon, what the , bro?” he says, looking up at me from his drawing.

“Taehyunnie won’t tell me what he’s been doing all this time,” I complain. Whenever he gets a free moment, he leaves and spends hours elsewhere. He won’t tell me where or why or what he’s doing. I’m his boyfriend—and the leader!—so I have a right to know! But he refuses to spill. “Are you sure none of you know anything? It’s been weeks!”

“Sorry, brat. No clue.” With that, Minho returns to his drawing.

“Rude!” Jinwoo hisses, kicking his leg as he glares at him. Seunghoon just shrugs and shakes his head. I sigh. I will find out soon.

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Later that night, I’m getting ready for bed. I’m in just a towel as I dig around in my drawers for some boxers when Taehyun walks in, tossing his bag on the floor before flopping onto our bed with a happy smile on his face. I roll my eyes and look away from him.

“Hey, hun,” he greets cheerfully. Stupid bastard, keeping secrets from me.

“I’m no Chinese warrior,” I grunt, finally finding some underwear and slipping it on.

As I turn around, I see him sit up on his elbows and raise an eyebrow at me. “Sassy!”

“Damn straight.” I pull on some pajama pants and a sweatshirt, rolling into bed and under the covers. Taehyun stares at me for a moment before “hmph”ing and getting up to go take a shower himself. I don’t wait up for him, nearly fast asleep when he comes back in the room. I feel a hard shove on my shoulder and a pinch.

“Ow!” I shriek, sitting up immediately.

“Wake the hell up, you grouch.”

I glare at him. “Screw you, mom.” I’m being childish and unfair, I know, but I have a right to be annoyed. I don’t understand why he’d keep secrets from me when it’s caused such huge problems in our relationship before.

Luckily for me, he merely squints at me as he slides under the covers. I get out of bed and go to sit at the desk, rubbing my eyes tiredly. He sighs in exasperation at me, obviously trying to keep his temper in check.

“What, I don’t get to know what I did to deserve this attitude? What’s the matter?” I simply give him a pointed look. “Talk to me,” he insists, staring right back at me.

“You know,” I say finally.

“What—” He stops in his tracks, realization flooding his features. “Oh,” he says quietly.

“Yeah. Oh.” I frown. “Why can’t you just tell me what you’re doing? It wasn’t a big deal until you made it one by refusing to tell me.”

He looks down, pushing back the covers and swinging his legs over the edge of the bed to sit facing me. “I know it , Seungyoon-ah…”

“It ? You know you’d be pissed if it were me!” I nearly shout, waving my hands around. “It just hurts, especially when we promised not to keep secrets anymore. What, you can’t trust me with this or something?”

“No!” He sighs, running a hand through his dark hair. It’s silent for a few moments, both of us thinking. When he speaks again, his voice is soft. “It’s nothing bad, I promise. I really just can’t tell you right now. But you’ll know soon, I swear. You just have to trust me.” He looks up at me with those eyes I love, and I sigh too, giving in.

“You know I don’t like not knowing what’s going on.” I bite my lip, and he nods understandingly. “As long as you promise me you’re okay and nothing serious is going on, I’ll trust you to tell me when you’re ready.”

He nods emphatically. “I promise, love.” Pushing his hair back behind his ear, he continues with, “When you finally know, you’ll understand why I can’t tell you just yet.” He gives me a tiny smile, and I return it with one of my own.

“Okay,” I say quietly. He’d better tell me soon… I’m really curious. His smile grows before he leans back and opens his legs a little wider. “Bed time?” he asks.

I chuckle at his cuteness before getting up and approaching him. “Bed time.” He rearranges himself so he’s lying down correctly on the bed and I climb between his legs and lay on him, pulling the covers over us and turning off the lamp as he wraps his arms and legs around me. I nuzzle into his warm neck and whisper a tired, “Good night” before closing my eyes and falling asleep.

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A week later, Taehyun and I are cuddling in bed, still waking up from a nap. It’s cold out again, so everyone’s been in their rooms all day with the warmth of their beds. Taehyun woke up a little after I did and he’s staring sleepily out of the window, his eyes still just little slits. Cute.

He’s the first to actually move, though. Lifting his head up from my chest, he props himself up over me and stares at me with his barely open eyes. I just stare back. Finally, he says, “Do you want some hot chocolate?” I nod, smiling as he leans down and kisses me on my nose before getting up to go make it. I decide that I should probably start moving around too and start stretching. By the time he comes back, I’m already sitting up and playing on my phone.

As he hands me my cup, I notice him shakily take a sip of his own drink before he sits back down next to me. Frowning a little, I reach over and pull him closer to me. “Are you cold, baby?”

He shakes his head. “No. I just, uh…” He can’t quite finish. I raise an eyebrow. Is he finally gonna tell me what he’s been doing for so many hours every day?

“Just what?” I encourage, rubbing his arm. He looks up at me for a second before moving away to reach for something in his bag on the floor next to the bed. When he cuddles back up to me, he’s holding a pink bag in his hand and he holds it out to me.

“I, uh… I made you a thing,” he says nervously.

What’s got him so nervous? I take the bag slowly, raising an eyebrow as I ask, “Are you okay?” He just nods and gestures to the bag.

“Open it,” he murmurs quietly, glancing up at me a little uncomfortably before looking back at the bag.

Well now I’m curious. Doing as he wishes, I reach in and pull out…

Huh. What is this? In my hand is a pretty bracelet—silver steel but with like a deep red undertone to it. It’s solid and very sleek, clean cut and very manly, but there’s what looks to be a tiny, burnt-orange looking gem dangling on the end of the chain used to fasten the bracelet together. It’s… really beautiful.

“Tae, what…” I can’t even complete my sentence, I’m so enamored with it. How did he get this? It looks really expensive…

“I made it for you.” My breath leaves me in this moment.

“Y-You made this??” I ask incredulously. I’m floored.

He nods shyly, blushing a little. “With CL-noona’s help, but yeah, I did.” He looks up at me. “It’s an ankle bracelet. It’s cute, right? Do you like it?”

I look from him back to my bracelet and back to him again. “I—yeah! I love it, Tae! This is…” I really don’t have words. He made this for me!

“Um, there’s more,” he adds quietly, a little more relaxed now.

My eyes bug out of my head. “More??”

He giggles. “Just one. Take it out.”

I reach my hand back into the bag and feel my hand close around a small box. My heart skips a beat. What is this…?

Slowly, I pull my hand out to look at the small box and tentatively glance at Taehyun. He’s watching my every move, anticipating my reaction to whatever’s in there. I turn my attention back to the box and carefully set the bracelet down on my stomach. I pull open the lid and my eyes widen at what’s inside.

Wow. I mean I knew Taehyun was extremely artistic, but damn. This is… it just blows my mind. “Did you… make this, too?” I breathe softly, just staring at the ring. It’s a sleek little band with detailing on it. This one has green undertones to it, but it’s very faint. There’s a thin little zigzag pattern going across it, and there are two emerald-like gems on it.

He snuggles closer to me as he admits to making the ring as well. “Since I like to admire your hands so much…” he starts. At this, I start laughing and he punches me playfully. “…And since you recently took more interest in rings, I thought I’d make one for you so you could have one made special by me.” I feel slight disappointment at his explanation and wonder what exactly I was hoping for. I blush as I think that maybe a part of me thought it was a different kind of ring…

Nevertheless, I love it. I slip it on and smile. “It does look good on me,” I whisper.

Taehyun beams at me. “I’m glad! I knew it’d go well with your skin tone!” He plucks the bracelet off of my stomach and shakes it at me. “Put this on, too! I wanna see you wear it.” Chuckling, I grab it and fasten it around my ankle. It fits nicely without sliding around too much… it fits just right. “And these are pretty good quality, so you won’t get green rings or anything,” he adds proudly, sitting up. I sit up too and just look at him in wonder.

I reach over and run my hand through his hair, and he leans into my touch. “What brought this on…?” I ask softly.

“Nothing,” he replies. “I just really wanted to do something for you.” He smiles at me brightly. “This is something that I can do, since I’m bad at buying presents and things like that. I’m glad it was able to make you smile like that.”

He blushes, and I know he finds it cheesy to say things like this, but I appreciate it. “Thank you. I love them.” I lean forward to give him a kiss.

“So you’ll wear them?” he asks hopefully.

“Of course I will! I still can’t believe you made these…” I admire the ring on my index finger and the bracelet around my ankle. “Really… you’re so amazing.”

He puffs out his chest proudly, smirking. “I know.” Laughing softly, he says, “Do you know why I picked those specific colors?”

“No, why?” Surprise is all over my face, and he laughs even more at my eagerness to know.

“Garnet is your birthstone, so I chose it for your anklet. Emerald is mine, so I put it on your ring so you’ll think of me when you…” He stops suddenly.

“What?” I take his hands into mine seriously as I look into his eyes.

He snorts, trying not to laugh. “God, this is so cheesy of me! I can’t believe it! I was gonna say it!” Uh-huh. He laughs now, but he’s totally blushing. He meant every word, and it makes me smirk.

“Aw, baby, but it’s so cute of you!” I tease.

“Way too much of you has rubbed off on me,” he complains, smiling at me anyway. I smile back and kiss him again.

“I really do love these. Thank you.”

Taehyun just stares back at me and I get the full effect of his pretty brown eyes, a soft smile still on his face. He pushes me to lie back down and I move the bag onto the floor. “Wear these all the time and think of how much I love you.”

“Mm?” I put my arms around him as he lays on me, looking down at me. “And how much is that?”

He holds up his thumb and pointer finger, barely any space between them. “This much.”

“Get out of my bed.”

He laughs at me until he notices me pouting. “Oh, stop it. You know.” He sticks his tongue out at me and I lean up and it. He makes a face at me.

“Yeah, I know.” I yawn, stretching sleepily. I catch sight of the mug on the nightstand and remember the hot chocolate. “Boo, it’s probably all cold now.”

“I’ll make you more later,” he murmurs, leaning down to snuggle me. “For now, please accept me to warm you up.”

“You little weirdo. Why did you say it like that?”

“Fine! Have nothing!” He attempts to wriggle away from me, but I just hold him tighter and kiss him until he stops squirming. Making himself comfortable on me again, he gives me another sweet kiss, then another, and another. When he finally pulls away sighing, he says, “I love you, Seungyoonie.”

“I love you too,” I reply, giving him a squeeze before closing my eyes. We’re quiet for a few moments before I say, “You know we have to get you a ring now too, babe.” He groans and starts pinching me all down my sides, but I don’t have to look at him to know he’s blushing. 

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