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Chapter Text

Valentine’s day 

Yeonjun taps the arm of his seat nervously.

It’s not like he hasn’t flown before. He remembers the times before his father reappeared in his life when he used to travel with his dance team to competitions. For his first flight, he gripped the seat like his life depended on it every time he felt a bump of turbulence. After enough competitions, and going on holidays with Seri, he’s become accustomed to the long plane rides.

This time, he’s nervous for other reasons.

One being that he hasn’t seen his boyfriend in over a year now. They FaceTimed almost every day and texted whenever they could but Yeonjun would be lying if he said that he’s not a little worried that things will be different. A lot can change in a year. Seri had offered to fly him back to his city multiple times but whenever he thought about going back, his throat would close up in panic. So much had gone on with his dad, Soobin, Beomgyu…

Beomgyu.

Reason number two that Yeonjun feels nervous. His best friend (can he still call him that?) barely kept in contact with him after the move. Yeonjun’s pretty sure that he’s called Taehyun and Kai more than Beomgyu. His friend said he needed space to deal with some feelings and Yeonjun allowed it but then days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months and before he knew it, he’d spoken to Beomgyu less than ten times since leaving. They texted but it was always short and nothing of importance.

None of them, except Taehyun who is fetching him from the airport, knows he’s coming home.

After putting the trip off for so long he decided to surprise Soobin for Valentine's Day. Since Beomgyu was a grey area, he turned to Taehyun for help, who seemed more than happy to help out. 

Yeonjun sighs and whips his phone out. There’s still half an hour left. It’s pointless to worry about this now. He scrolls through his gallery to calm himself down. He skims past the pictures he took with the dance friends he made in Italy and all the landscape pictures he took when sightseeing. Near the top, he finds pictures that Soobin had sent him and his own screenshots from when they were on call together. There’s a picture of Huening Kai wearing a party hat at what he assumes is the younger’s birthday party, there’s one of all three of them in their graduation capes and one of Yeonjun’s favourites- a selfie of Soobin wearing the cardigan Yeonjun had shipped to him for his birthday. He smiles and clicks his phone off, leaning his head back. 

Everything should be fine.

They’re all friends at the end of the day.

The plane lands shortly after and it takes ten minutes of shuffling and seatbelts unclicking to finally leave the stuffy air of the plane and step into the air conditioned airport. Baggage claim takes a little longer than usual but soon enough, he’s dragging his luggage to the arrival terminal. He lags a little behind everybody else heading to the sliding door as he tries to remind himself that it’s only Taehyun for now and that there’s nothing to worry about on that front. He’ll only see Soobin and Beomgyu later.

The trolley carrying his luggage picks up speed as he pushes it faster and the sliding door opens to reveal a crowd of families and friends looking out for their loved ones. Yeonjun walks slowly and tries to spot Taehyun’s bright red hair in the crowd but frowns when he doesn’t find the younger one. 

Did he forget?

He takes his phone out, ready to call him, when a familiar voice shouts, “Yeonjun Hyung!”

Yeonjun’s head snaps up and he scans the crowd to find Taehyun pushing through, a big smile on his bright face and with very black hair, Yeonjun notes.

Yeonjun breaks out into a grin and moves toward him. “Your hair is- oof!” 

“HYUNG!” Taehyun shouts as he engulfs him in a hug. “Oh my God, it’s been forever.”

Yeonjun laughs and pats Taehyun on the back before he pulls back and beams up at Yeonjun.

“It has been,” Yeonjun admits, feeling a little less nervous as he looks down at Taehyun’s smiling face. “You even changed your hair.”

Taehyun shrugs and reaches out to pat Yeonjun’s hair. “So did you! Brown looks good on you. Different, but good. Does Soobin know?”

Yeonjun shakes his head with a smile. “That’s a secret too. It’s a test to our relationship, to see if he’d like me in any hair colour.”

Taehyun rolls his eyes. “Don’t you think your relationship went through enough tests, Hyung?”

Yeonjun winces. “Ouch.”

“I’m right.”

“You are,” Yeonjun allows.

Somebody brushes past them in a hurry and Taehyun pulls Yeonjun out of the way.

“Let’s get going,” Taehyun suggests. “Keeping this secret has been awful. I didn’t even tell Huening Kai.”

“And I appreciate that,” Yeonjun tells him, following him out of the airport. “Wanted it to be a surprise.”

“I’m so glad you’re here, Hyung,” Taehyun says once they’re in his car, driving away from the airport. “Hasn’t been the same since you’re gone.”

Yeonjun takes the time to look outside and study the landscape. He’s gotten so used to the old architecture in Europe that seeing all the shiny bright buildings here seems odd. “You’re just being nice, Taehyun-ah.”

“Oh please,” Taehyun miffs, taking a left turn. “You have no idea how much I’ve had to put up with Soobin Hyung and his whining. Every day it’s something like ‘Can’t believe I get a decent boyfriend and he’s an ocean away,’ and ‘I miss Junie soo much I might die.’”

Yeonjun can’t help but smile at the image of the taller complaining to his friends. He feels his heart jump at the thought that he’ll be seeing Soobin soon.

“That’s just Soobin Hyung too,” Taehyun continues. “Beomgyu Hyung has been-”

He stops abruptly.

Yeonjun snaps out of his daydream and perks up. “He’s been?”

Taehyun looks straight ahead, a frown on his face.

“I’m kinda worried,” Yeonjun admits when Taehyun doesn’t answer. “We haven’t spoken much at all. I don’t even know if he’ll want to see me…”

Taehyun stops at the red light and offers a small smile to Yeonjun. “First loves are quite difficult to overcome, Hyung. That’s all I can tell you about Beomgyu Hyung. That doesn’t mean he won’t be happy to see you.”

He turns his attention back to the road as the light turns green again.

Yeonjun bites his lip before he asks the younger one the question that’s been sitting on his mind. “How are you two doing?”

Since Beomgyu didn’t talk to him much he has no clue how their relationship is going. Yeonjun tried getting information out of Soobin but his boyfriend had just shook his head. 

“Not your business,” Soobin had told him one day over the phone.

“Oh come on, Dimples,” Yeonjun whined. “I just wanna know if Beomgyu’s doing okay. We don’t talk anymore.”

“Beomgyu’s doing just fine but that is not what you asked, Junie,” Soobin pointed out. He frowned at Yeonjun over the phone. “Don’t give me that look.”

“I’m not giving you any look,” Yeonjun lied, batting his eyes as best as he could. 

Soobin’s ears turned red. “Your boyfriend privileges do not work here. I’m putting the phone down now.”

Yeonjun thinks back to the convo as he watches Taehyun drive in silence.

“Like I said, Hyung,” he says, changing gears. “First loves are difficult to overcome.” 

Yeonjun’s hand automatically goes to the necklace around his neck, the one Beomgyu gave him a little more than a year ago. He hadn’t taken it off once and whenever he missed his friend, he’d make a point to look at the moon that night. 

Had he liked Yeonjun that much?

After all this time it’s still a little hard to accept.

He shakes his head. 

Focus on Soobin, he tells himself. You know he’ll be happy to see you.

So he thinks about the day he has planned for Valentine’s instead. He made sure to arrive a few days before so he has time to get everything ready and so that he can spend time with his friends before flying back. Seri and his dance friends in Italy helped him come up with the date idea.

“You cannot just take him for dinner,” Wooyoung baffled.

Yeonjun frowned at him as the three of them stretched at the bar. “Why not?”

“You haven’t seen him in over a year,” Yeji pointed out as she plieed in third position, “and the best you can come up with is dinner?”

Yeonjun didn’t have an answer.

They both scoffed and rolled their eyes. 

“Look,” Yeji said, coming to join Wooyoung and Yeonjun on the floor, “it has to be something sweet.”

“I thought dinner was sweet,” Yeonjun mumbled, touching his toes.

Wooyoung reached out to punch him. “You can still take him out for dinner. I just think you should do a little more.”

“Like what?” Yeonjun exasperated.

Yeji ran her hands through her fox-red hair in thought. “A movie.”

Yeonjun stared at her. “Dinner is lame but a movie isn’t?”

“Aish, shut up!” she shouted in annoyance as she swatted his head. “I wasn’t done. An outdoor movie, not like the cinema movies.”

“Hey.” Wooyoung perked up at that, forfeiting stretching to relax and lean back on his hands, “that’ll be cute.”

“See,” Yeji emphasized. “Outdoor movie! Then you decorate the garden all pretty with fairy lights and pillows.”

Her eyes doubled in size as she relays all of this and Yeonjun could only smile. He made a point to remember to tell her girlfriend about the idea in secret.

“You could go for a walk sometime during the day,” Wooyoung suggested, “then take him for late lunch and the movie after.”

“Okay,” Yeonjun agreed, running a hand through his newly dyed hair. “How do I do the outdoor thing?”

“Get a clean, white bed sheet and rent a projector,” Yeji told him. “Fairy lights too.”

Yeonjun scratched the back of his head. He’ll have to ask Seri if she’ll help him with the projector but everything else sounds doable. “Any other suggestions?”

After that, they gave him step by step details on how to make the best of the day. It involved a lot of money by the sounds of it but he pushed the thought to the side. He still struggles to remember that Seri is willing to help him out on that front.

So that’s what he has planned for his Valentine’s date with Soobin: a walk in the park with some ice-cream, late lunch at a restaurant he’s never been to and a movie. He didn’t know where to have the movie at first but after telling Seri his idea, she offered her house.

“I lived there before I married your dad,” she explained to him upon seeing his confused face. “Didn’t want to sell it so I just rented it out now and then. You’re free to stay there too, unless you plan on staying with Beomgyu.”

He looks down at the house keys in the palm of his hand.

“Nervous?” Taehyun asks, calling him back to the present. “I expected you to talk more.”

Yeonjun tightens his fists around the key. The plan is to go to Seri’s house to freshen up and then Taehyun will take him to Soobin’s house to surprise everybody.

“Feel like everybody might have forgotten about me,” he admits quietly, staring down at his closed fist. “Sounds like you’ve all been having a good time without me. I don’t blame any of you, I know I caused a fair amount of problems last year.”

“Oh, Hyung…”

He sighs and doesn’t say anything until they pull up to the address Seri sent him. With it’s wooden panels, triangular roofs and earthy tones, the exterior of the house is already comfier looking than his dad’s obnoxious and pointy mansion. At the thought of his dad, Yeonjun scowls. Sometimes he wonders how he’s doing. 

“I know last year was kind of a mess,” Taehyun says, “but I can assure you, everybody missed you. Me, Kai, Beomgyu, Soobin… even his parents would talk about how you were a big help to them when you were working there. Distance can be tricky but you’re still loved by everybody here. I’m not one to sugarcoat things, you should know.”

Yeonjun recalls their walk together at the camping site with Taehyun’s wide, persistent eyes and the day he rocked up to Yeonjun’s house to talk to him after the mess that was his birthday.

“Okay,” he decides, “Yeah. Everything is in my head. I think.”

“It is,” Taehyun reassures him. “Come on, let’s get going.”

They exit the car and enter the rustic looking house with curiosity. Living with Seri had taught Yeonjun that he really didn’t know his stepmom as well as he thought. It was probably because he associated her with his dad who is all about being proper. No creases in your ties because appearance is everything, homemade food isn’t good enough unless it’s cooked by a professional chef and really, who needs to drive when you have chauffeurs?

Seri ended up being the complete opposite.

The place they stayed at in Italy was a lot like this. Cobblestone walls made up of different shades of browns with ebony floors and floor to ceiling windows allowing enough cool air and sunlight in. Pot plants hang from the high ceilings, swaying gently, and all the furniture is weathered from their past lives but neat and dust free enough to tell Yeonjun that somebody has been here regularly to clean. It’s warm and comfortable, much like his stepmother who likes walking barefoot to feel the grass between her toes and who is a good cook, save for the times she burnt potatoes when she was too preoccupied with sketching a design. Spending time with her just confused Yeonjun further on how she could have landed up with somebody like his dad.

Taehyun helps Yeonjun carry his luggage to the room and tells the older he’ll be in the lounge waiting while Yeonjun showers and gets dressed.

Yeonjun does his best to work fast, both to not keep Taehyun waiting and because it’s finally kicked in that he’ll be seeing Soobin soon. He surveys himself in the mirror and pats his brown hair self-consciously. He wonders if Soobin will like it. Soobin had dyed his own hair back to black the last time they spoke on the phone.

“…Do I really have to give you a reason? Is me asking you not enough?” he hears Taehyun ask.

There’s a long silence and Yeonjun stands in front of him in question with a raised eyebrow. He puts his index of his lips, telling Yeonjun to remain silent as he listens to the voice over the phone.

“It’ll be worth it,” Taehyun insists quietly, “and you said you don’t care anymore. Or was that a lie?”

There’s another long pause before Taehyun finally sighs. “Thank you. I’m heading there now.”

He clicks the end call button and rubs his face tiredly.

“Everything okay?” Yeonjun checks.

“Yeah,” Taehyun tells him, standing up. “Let’s go, Hyung. Your boyfriend will be thrilled to see you.”

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

Soobin’s house is the same way Yeonjun remembers it. A modest looking, two-story powder blue house with a picket fence like the ones he’s seen in movies. It matches Soobin and his family well.

Taehyun’s excitement is hard to ignore. He’s bouncing by the time they reach the front door. He gives Yeonjun’s hand one last reassuring squeeze before throwing the door open and tugging him in. The lounge is empty but Yeonjun can hear sounds coming from the kitchen.

“SOOBIN HYUNG!” Taehyun shouts, giving Yeonjun a bit of a scare, “BRING KAI AND COME DOWNSTAIRS!”

He doesn’t waste time waiting for a response and instead tugs Yeonjun to the kitchen where he finds Soobin’s parents rolling some dough together. 

Soobin’s mother looks up for a split second to greet, “Oh hello Taehyunnie, Yeonjunnie.”

The minute she says it, her head snaps up. “YEONJUNNIE?”

Yeonjun stuffs his hands into his pocket shyly. “Hi Jiyoo-ssi, Eunwoo-ssi. It’s nice to see you-”

He doesn’t get much out of that before Soobin’s mother tackles him. Even if she’s smaller than him, she’s still a fierceful woman so Yeonjun’s breath is knocked out of him for a few moments.

“HAVE YOU GROWN?” she yells, pulling back and pinching Yeonjun’s cheek. Though she’s grown out her black bob cut so that her hair sits on her shoulders, it’s the same woman with crinkles around her eyes that showed Yeonjun kindness all those months ago. Before he can reply, Eunwoo claps him on the back so hard that it sends him lurching forward a little. He’s exactly like Soobin. Never knowing how much strength their huge hands hold.

“Yeonjun-ah!” he exclaims, shaking Yeonjun’s shoulder. “It’s been so long, my boy. I thought you forgot about us while you were all the way in Italy!”

Yeonjun shakes his head vigorously. “I could never. I tell everybody there about the best bakery and bakers I know.”

That earns him a coo from Jiyoo and a hearty, full laugh from Eunwoo. Nothing about Soobin’s dad has changed at all. He’s still equally tall with silvering hair. Jiyoo keeps rattling off question after question, so fast that Yeonjun can’t even answer them, let alone understand them, when he hears footsteps and the sound of a voice that makes his stomach do a thousand flips in under a minute.

“What’s all the fuss about?” Soobin asks.

Yeonjun spins around to find his boyfriend with a look of confusion on his soft face, standing in front of Kai whose eyes immediately dart to Yeonjun. Soobin blinks and blinks (Yeonjun can only do the same) before his jaw drops.

Nothing comes out of his mouth and it’s Kai who is the first to choke out a very high pitched, “YEONJUN HYUNG?”

Yeonjun finds his eyes glued to Soobin’s figure. He has a hand clamped over his mouth and he keeps blinking rapidly, like if he does it enough times Yeonjun will disappear.

It’s not like they haven’t FaceTimed almost every day.

It’s just that there are some things a phone can’t quite capture.

“Hi, Dimples,” Yeonjun greets, walking up to him slowly. He reaches up to peel Soobin’s hand off and takes it in his as he uses the other to cup his cheek. “Miss me?”

The phone can’t capture how soft Soobin’s cheek feels, or how their hands fit perfectly.

It doesn’t capture how soft his lips are, and how he tastes sweet, like the icing on top of a cupcake. His phone fails to show how pretty Soobin really is up close, with his long lashes and eyes made up of glinting hues of brown and gold.

Oh God.

He missed Soobin so much.

Somebody clears their voice and Yeonjun forces himself to pull away from Soobin but keeps his hand on the other’s cheek. He can’t seem to let go.

“Can I get a hug maybe?” Kai shuffles awkwardly on his feet. His hair is a pale shade of mint, like the picture Soobin had sent him months ago. “I missed you too.”

Yeonjun laughs and detangles himself from Soobin temporarily to wrap Kai in a tight hug. “I missed you too, Kai. Did you watch over them all?”

Kai shrugs as he pulls away. “I tried.”

“Nobody made any dumb decisions,” Taehyun pipes up. “I followed up on my promise.”

“Of course you did,” Yeonjun says with a snort.

“Junie,” Soobin calls, bringing his attention back, “what the hell?”

Yeonjun looks back at him and can’t help but smile and cup his cheeks. “Shouldn’t you be happier to see me, Dimples?”

Soobin rolls his eyes. “You’ve been here for five minutes. Can you stop with your…”

“My…?” Yeonjun asks, brushing his thumb over Soobin’s dimple.

“Your stupidness,” Soobin blabs.

“Nice one, Hyung,” Taehyun says dryly.

“Ah, Yeonjunnie!” Jiyoo exclaims. Yeonjun turns back around to smile at her, hooking his arm around Soobin’s waist. “I missed you, dear. The bakery just wasn’t the same without you.”

“I’m sure it became more popular,” he jokes, leaning his head against Soobin’s shoulder.

Jiyoo tsks and shakes her head. “Nonsense. Have you eaten yet? I’m sure the plane food wasn’t good. Eunwoo and I will make something for you all.”

Yeonjun doesn’t have enough time to tell her otherwise because she’s ushering the four of them to the lounge in a hurry. They oblige and take seats around the coffee table with a shrug. A meal wouldn’t hurt. Soobin and Yeonjun sit next to each other and Kai takes the couch opposite them with Taehyun. 

“Hyung!” Kai shouts, bouncing on the couch. Taehyun places a hand on his knee and he reluctantly stops moving so much. “Why are you here? How are you here? How was Italy? How’s dance? Did you-?”

“NingNing,” Soobin interrupts, not unkindly. “One question at a time maybe?”

Kai blushes and sinks into the couch. “Sorry, just excited, Hyung.”

“It’s okay,” he assures Kai with a smile. “I came back to surprise Soobin for Valentine’s Day.”

“HUH?” Soobin chokes.

Yeonjun turns to him with a raised eyebrow. “You don’t think I can be romantic?”

“How did you even get that from me saying huh?” Soobin baffles. “I forgot you just say whatever pops into your mind.”

“I’m sorry,” Yeonjun apologises, taking Soobin’s hand in his and kissing his knuckle lightly. It earns him a blush from Soobin. “I just missed teasing you.”

Soobin only scoffs before looking away in embarrassment. Taehyun and Kai cough and clear their throats.

“Can you save this for when you’re alone?” Taehyun teases. “Trying to have a conversation here.”

“It’s been a year,” Yeonjun reminds them. “Leave me be.”

Taehyun shrugs and Kai laughs.  “Fair point,” Taehyun decides. “Long distance is a bitch. I’m glad you came back for Valentine’s Day. Hyung would not stop complaining.”

“ERM,” Soobin interrupts, voice panicked. “That’s not true. I only mentioned it like one time.”

Kai’s mouth drops open. “Hyung. Every time we went out and saw anything remotely Valentine’s related, you’d complain.”

“I-”

“Literally every time,” Taehyun adds. He perks up and changes the pitch of his voice to mimic Soobin. “Lonely on Valentine’s again. Can’t believe I finally have a boyfriend and I can’t even spend Valentine’s with him. Who will buy me chocolates?” Taehyun slaps a hand on his forehead. “I was close to spoiling the secret just to get him to shut up.”

Yeonjun laughs as Soobin groans and sinks into the couch, burying his head into Yeonjun’s shoulder. “I hate you guys.”

His voice is muffled but Yeonjun can feel his breath warm the spot where he rests on Yeonjun’s chest. Yeonjun uses the hand not holding Soobin’s hand to touch his hair. He forgot how soft it is. 

“How cute,” he coos, twirling a few strands on his fingers. He can’t believe he was worried. 

He feels a light pinch on his leg from Soobin. “Shut up. Tell us about Italy and how long you’re staying for.”

Yeonjun shakes his head. “Forget about Italy for now. I missed you all. What’s been going on with you guys?”

Kai opens his mouth but just then, the door flies open.

“…Probably going to yell at me for being late but that’s nothing new,” Beomgyu mumbles. “I hate myself.”

Yeonjun only knows it’s Beomgyu because of the voice he had become so accustomed to listening out for during his years spent at university. Because from behind, the person entering through the door seems a little too broad to be the Beomgyu that Yeonjun knows. His hair is also longer. Longer, and half tied into a bun with a few pale blonde streaks. 

Everybody remains silent as the other turns around.

The couch Taehyun is seated on is directly in Beomgyu’s line of sight so he frowns at first, completely unaware of Yeonjun’s presence. 

“Don’t yell at me,” he begins, lifting his hands to his chest. “I’m sorry.”

Taehyun doesn’t say anything in response which causes Beomgyu’s frown to deepen. “Silent treatment?”

Taehyun sighs and lets his head drop to his hands in frustration.

“Taehyun-ah, would you just-”

“Hey, Beommie,” Yeonjun interrupts in a quiet voice.

Beomgyu whips to him with bulging eyes. “Hyungie?”

It’s just one word but it’s enough to cause a fissure in his chest.

Before Yeonjun can reply, Beomgyu whirls on his foot and darts out of the door. The door shuts loudly and leaves the four of them in silence. Yeonjun can only blink.

“Can’t believe I’m in love with a drama queen,” Taehyun speaks into his hands, breaking the silence. Huening Kai pats his back in comfort.

Soobin squeezes Yeonjun’s hand and looks up at him from where he’s still seated on the couch. Yeonjun hadn’t even realized that he had gotten up.

“Go talk to him,” Soobin encourages with a soft smile. “He’s missed you.”

Yeonjun lets go of Soobin’s hand and walks away, opening the door to find Beomgyu crouching on the floor next to an unfamiliar car. It’s different from the car he drove around last year that Yeonjun knew belonged to his mother. This must be new.

“Beomgyu-ah…?” Yeonjun says as he approaches carefully. 

He drops down to the floor and reaches out tentatively to try and lift Beomgyu’s head. After some tugging, Beomgyu looks up with tearful eyes.

Yeonjun yelps and brushes away the droplets. “Did I do something wrong?”

Beomgyu shakes his head so hard that his teardrops start flying. “I just missed you a lot.”

Yeonjun sags and lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “Aish, you brat. You had me worried. Come here.”

Beomgyu shuffles forward and Yeonjun engulfs him in a hug that feels like it lasts a year. It’s different with Beomgyu being a little buffer than he imagined but it’s his same soft hearted best friend who likes vanilla cake and holds on a little longer than necessary when you hug him.

Yeonjun holds on just as long this time, until he feels the anxiety that had been chewing on his stomach ease away. Beomgyu pulls away slowly but stops short when he notices Yeonjun’s necklace.

“You still wear this?” he sniffles, touching the moon with his index finger.

“Of course,” Yeonjun responds. He immediately looks at Beomgyu’s neck to locate the matching chain but finds it’s not there.

A thousand tiny pinpricks stab at his heart but before he can ask beomgyu anything, the other pulls him up and says, “Let’s head back in. Taehyun-ah probably wants to yell at me.”

Yeonjun allows himself to be pulled up and ignores the annoying thoughts about Beomgyu’s lack of necklace. He probably took it off when he showered or something and forgot to put it back on. Beomgyu drops his hand and leads them back inside to where they find Soobin watching Kai and Taehyun bicker about something.

Taehyun stops his arguing to look at Beomgyu with narrowed eyes. “Are you done being dramatic?”

Beomgyu doesn’t answer and instead, walks over to plant a kiss on Taehyun’s cheek. Yeonjun can’t help but let the surprise show on his face, though Taehyun looks equally as surprised and swats Beomgyu’s arm.

“Shut up,” he mutters.

“I didn’t even say anything,” Beomgyu responds with a pout. He sits down next to Taehyun and sticks his tongue out.

Yeonjun takes his place back beside Soobin, reconnecting their hands.

They spend time catching up, talking about everything and nothing at the same time. All of them have graduated now which makes Yeonjun feel a pang of sadness. He’s grateful to be doing what he loves but he wishes he could have shared the moment when they all walked down the graduation stage. 

“I know Binnie is on a paid internship,” Yeonjun says through a mouthful of ramen, “but what about the rest of you?”

“I’ve been working as a journalist,” Taehyun says. “I’m mostly the company’s lapdog but sometimes when something exciting happens they let me tag along.”

“I’m trying to get into teaching,” Kai adds, dishing out more ramen into his bowl. “I like helping people.”

The simplicity of the statement makes Yeonjun’s heart warm. 

“Of course you do,” Yeonjun tells him at which Kai blushes. Taehyun smiles and pats his head.

Yeonjun flickers his eyes to Beomgyu who had been quiet for the majority of their catching up. “Beomgyu-ah?”

He opens and closes his mouth several times before shaking his head and looking away.

Taehyun glances at him before clearing his throat. “Still figuring it out, yea? And that’s okay.” He gets up and dishes more ramen and passes the bowl to Beomgyu whose eyes are filled with something Yeonjun can’t decipher. He tries to catch his eyes but Beomgyu’s barely looked at him the entire afternoon.

He tries not to get caught up on it and focuses on how nice it is being around everybody, especially Soobin who doesn’t let go of his hand.

“I brought you all gifts,” Yeonjun announces once they’re done clearing the table after eating. “Can I give them all to you?”

“Oh you didn’t have to, Junie,” Soobin tells him with a slight frown. 

Yeonjun traces a finger on his dark eyebrow. “I wanted to.”

With that, he gets up and fetches the big bag he dumped to the side when Taehyun pulled him to the kitchen in a rush.

Kai was the easiest to shop for. Yeonjun bought him a giant plushie which wasn’t exactly very Italian, but he thought Kai would love it all the same.

“AH!” Kai squeals, clutching the relatively big, animated wolf (apparently the Italian wolf was their national animal, go figure) to his chest in adoration. “I love it so much Hyung.”

He rushes over to Yeonjun and engulfs him in a hug that sandwiches the poor plushie between them.

Next is Taehyun who was the hardest to shop for. He takes out the thick book a little self-consciously and hands it over to Taehyun.

“I know you majored in English Literature so I got you this limited edition version of The Divine Comedy,” Yeonjun explains as Taehyun pages through the book with wider eyes than usual. “It’s translated but it also has these pretty cool illustrations that I thought you might like. Sae-eomma helped me pick it out since I was a little lost.”

“Hyung…” Taehyun marvels as his eyes remain glued to the book. The cover is a crimson red with metallic gold designs twisting and twirling on it. Taehyun looks up in a panic. “This must’ve cost a fortune.”

It had been a little pricey, all their gifts had been truthfully, but Yeonjun had got a job in Italy that paid well enough. Even if Seri offered to pay for everything he needs, he felt like the least he can do is use his own money on his friends.

“As long as you like it?” Yeonjun questions, still unsure.

Taehyun lets a noise of disbelief out. “No offense Hyung but you’re stupid. I love it.”

He gets up to wrap Yeonjun in a quick hug before he returns to poring over the book. He points at some of the illustrations as he pages through it and shows Beomgyu now and then.

Soobin had been the easiest to shop for.

Yeonjun also asked Seri for help with this one so he didn’t buy something cheap and of bad quality. He hands a wooden suitcase the size of a handbag to Soobin who looks at him in confusion.

“Open it,” Yeonjun urges. 

Soobin unclicks the gold latchel and opens the suitcase. He lets out a gasp and looks back at Yeonjun with wild eyes.

“You’re crazy,” he states plainly.

“What is it?” Kai asks, perking up.

“You said you wanted to try out watercolours,” Yeonjun explains.

Soobin shakes his head and brands the suitcase to his friends. The art set is pretty to look at, Yeonjun has to admit that, even if he knows next to nothing about it. An array of watercolor pencils are arranged on the top of the suitcase. He’s pretty sure that every color that can possibly exist is there. The bottom of the suitcase has the watercolor paint (he personally didn’t understand the difference when he bought it but Seri assured him that Soobin would) laid side by side in less colours than the pencils but with equally as many tubes. The bottom half is split in half so while the right contains the tubes of paint, on the left is a smaller version of one of those mannequins that Yeonjun’s seen some people use for pose references along with a pencil, sharpener and an eraser.

“There’s more,” Yeonjun points out, holding in a button that lets you lift the bottom of the suitcase to reveal watercolor paper (again, Yeonjun doesn’t understand why Soobin can’t use normal paper but whatever makes his boyfriend happy) and a few brushes.

“You’re crazy,” Soobin repeats, closing the case to pepper Yeonjun with kisses. “But I love it, thank you.”

Yeonjun tries to stop the heat traveling to his face. He forgot what Soobin can do to him.

Kai makes a gagging sound that makes Soobin stop to glare at him. He places one more kiss on Yeonjun’s cheek before he goes back to geeking over his art set.

Yeonjun finally looks at Beomgyu. He glances down at Beomgyu’s bare neck and feels another pang of hurt as he thinks about his gift. He shakes his head. There’s little he can do about it now.

He takes out the smallest box out of the now empty bag of gifts and walks to stand in front of Beomgyu. Beomgyu looks at Yeonjun hesitantly as he opens up a black box to reveal two dainty rings. They both match, designed in the form of two ropes tying in a knot at the top on which a tiny, flat marble stone sits.

“Since we have necklaces,” Yeonjun mumbles, taking the rings out of the box and letting them rest in the palm of his hands, “I thought…”

“It’s pretty, Hyung,” Beomgyu admits quietly, taking the ring out of his hand. 

Yeonjun catches his hand and shakes his head. Beomgyu looks at him in confusion.

“Have you heard of, uhm, friendship lamps?” Yeonjun asks, feeling a little stupid.

Beomgyu shakes his head.

Yeonjun flips the rings upside down so the back of the marble stone shows. At the back of the stone, almost easy to miss if you aren’t looking for it, is a button built into the stone. The steel looks out of place on the marble but he presses both the buttons on the respective rings as he explains, “They’re these lamps that connect to the internet. Usually, you give one to your friend and you keep one.” Once he holds it in for five seconds like the jeweler explained specifically, and the buttons flash blue once, Yeonjun slips one onto his finger and then puts the other onto Beomgyu’s finger. “Wherever you are in the world, if you tap your lamp, your friend’s lamp lights up.”

Yeonjun touches the surface of the blue marble on top of his ring and Beomgyu lets out an audible gasp as the color on his ring changes to purple to match Yeonjun’s that changes.

“The knot is supposed to symbolize being connected and the two ropes tying together are supposed to show how two people come together,” he continues, placing his fist next to Beomgyu’s open hand as the marble slowly turns back to blue. “The ring needs to be turned on with the button I just showed you so it can connect to the internet signal it emits.”

Beomgyu stares at the ring wordlessly.

“You don’t have to wear it,” Yeonjun rushes, shoving his hand back into his pocket. “I just… missed you while I was away and wanted something to help.”

He shrugs and walks back to Soobin, feeling a lump in his throat. Soobin takes his hand and coos as he inspects it. Yeonjun risks a glance at his friend while Soobin rambles about how cute it is and how come Taehyun or Huening Kai hadn’t bothered to get him a friendship ring.

Beomgyu still stares down at the ring motionlessly but Yeonjun swears that he sees a tear roll down his cheek.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

With Valentines being on Friday, Yeonjun sets aside Thursday for his preparation. He spends Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday with Soobin, Taehyun and Kai. Beomgyu is there too but keeps to himself for the most part. Yeonjun really tries not to let it bother him. He’s having so much fun hanging out with all of them again, it’s hard to stay upset. But still, he wishes that he can spend at least a few moments alone with his friend. He needs to know if they’re okay. When he first left, Beomgyu had asked for space and Yeonjun gave it to him. But how much space is enough?

His time with Beomgyu comes on Thursday morning when Yeonjun decides that he needs to visit his mother.

Seri told him before leaving that she was living at their old house and a caretaker was with her twenty-four seven. If Yeonjun wanted to visit, all he had to do was go back to the place he once called home. On his flight he decided to not visit her but as the days passed, the feeling that he should see how she’s doing kept on nagging him at the back of his mind. His mother didn’t have much of a response when he told her that he’ll be leaving. She had looked at him with that pale face of hers and blinked as if he was barely there. The guilt of leaving her still weighed on him heavily and it’s something he’s been working on with the therapist Seri insisted Yeonjun sees. He feels the need to see her but he knows he can’t do it alone.

He texts Beomgyu, sure that he’ll say no, but his response comes back immediately agreeing. Seeing as how Yeonjun has no car, Beomgyu picks him up with his and they drive to Yeonjun’s old house.

Yeonjun notes that Beomgyu’s back to wearing his necklace too. He doesn’t make a comment about it though and they drive in silence. Once they’re there, Yeonjun finds himself freezing outside the door.

“Hyungie,” Beomgyu says, taking his hand. It has the ring on it too. “It'll be okay.”

Before Yeonjun can protest, Beomgyu raps on the door loudly.

There are sounds of some shuffling before the door opens to reveal a stout looking woman with thick eyebrows.

“Can I help you two?” she asks in a surprisingly soft voice. 

Yeonjun can only stare at her. Beomgyu gives his hand a squeeze and when Yeonjun turns to him, he offers an encouraging nod.

“Yes,” Yeonjun says, clearing his throat. “I’m here to see my mother. I’m-”

“-Yeonjun,” the woman recognises. “Seri said you might come around.”

Yeonjun feels a surge of embarrassment. He told Seri he wouldn’t come but she seems to know him better than he knows himself. The woman opens the door wider to allow them to walk in but it’s Beomgyu who pulls them in.

He surveys the cramped house as she talks about his mother. He doesn’t register much because he’s too busy taking in how clean it looks. No dirty dishes piling in the sink or crumbs on the kitchen counter. No unfolded blankets on the couch, or wine glasses on the coffee table in front of the tiny television.

“…Sleeping right now but you can still see her if you’d like,” he hears the woman finish.

Yeonjun nods listlessly and Beomgyu leads them in the direction of his mother’s room. He opens the door slowly and peeks his head in before pulling Yeonjun in. His mother lays on the bed soundly, no trace of worry on her fragile face. She looks healthier. Her face isn’t gaunt from hunger but instead, her cheeks are full and tinted it’s natural red. The length of her hair is the same but she must have gotten it trimmed because there aren’t any fraying split ends.

She looks like how she did when he was younger, before his dad ruined things.

He drifts forward, Beomgyu following in his wake, and he gazes down at her sleeping face. There’s so much he wants to say to her, so much he wants her to apologise for. But all he does is lean down and place a soft kiss on her forehead. Yeonjun stares at her for a beat longer before he turns to Beomgyu who lets go of his hand to brush away the tears welling in his eyes.

I know, he mouths, retaking Yeonjun’s hand before pulling him out of the room.

Once they’re out and the door is closed, he turns to the caretaker and blurts, “She doesn’t like soy sauce. Don’t cook with it.”

The caretaker blinks at him in shock but nods and says, “I know.”

“She also has a bad habit of falling asleep in front of the TV,” Yeonjun rambles. “You have to carry her to bed whenever she does that.”

The caretaker’s eyes soften. “I know that too.”

“She prefers her ramen with egg-”

“Hyungie,” Beomgyu whispers.

“-But when it comes to cheese it depends on the brand,” Yeonjun finishes, unable to stop himself.

The caretaker opens her mouth to say something then closes it and smiles instead. “I’ll remember that too.”

Yeonjun’s about to rattle off more of his mother’s habits but Beomgyu’s voice cuts him off. “Let’s go, Hyungie.”

He lets himself be pulled out of the house he lived in for so long back into Beomgyu’s car. They drive again in silence. Yeonjun knows he should get on with his Valentine’s Day preparations but he needs a breather. It feels like the wind was just knocked out of him. He doesn’t protest as Beomgyu drives them to his house. It’s a bit of a blur when Beomgyu’s mother greets him in excitement and floods him with questions. He doesn’t even remember answering them, maybe Beomgyu answered for him, but before he knows it, they’re upstairs in Beomgyu’s room. Nothing about his room has changed. Yeonjun finds comfort in it.

Some things do stay the same.

Beomgyu flops onto the bed and holds a hand out to Yeonjun. Yeonjun takes it and lays on the familiar bed as Beomgyu curls up to his side like he’s done a thousand times before. 

“I’m sorry,” Beomgyu blurts.

Yeonjun peels his eyes off of the ceiling where the plastic glow in the dark planets and stars are stuck and looks down at Beomgyu. There are fresh tears in his eyes.

“YJ I’m so sorry,” he apologizes through a stream of tears.

“I missed you, Beommie,” Yeonjun says through his own tears that appeared out of nowhere. “You said- you said we’d be okay and then you just cut me off.”

“I know,” he cries, using Yeonjun’s shirt to soak his tears.

“I waited for you to text or call and you just- it just never happened,” Yeonjun chokes out.

He recalls the countless late nights he’d spend waiting for Beomgyu to say something to him but it was always Yeonjun who ended up reaching out.

“You said you needed space so I gave it to you but you just never came back,” Yeonjun manages to finish.

They sit there sniffing and crying in silence until Beomgyu speaks up.

“I didn’t think it would be so hard, Hyung,” he eventually says, voice barely above a whisper. “I don’t… I don’t know what happened to me when you left. I fell off. Most of my days were spent with you, most of my future plans involved you. When you left it felt like somebody had pulled the rug from underneath my feet.

“I couldn’t be around Soobin without remembering that you loved him in the way I always wanted. It hurt being constantly reminded that I would never hold that space in your heart,” he whispers. “I cut myself off from them all to try and get better. Taehyun deserved better and Soobin deserved to be in the company of people who loved him and didn’t have any animosity toward him. I couldn’t do that for the longest time.”

Yeonjun listens carefully, trying to make sense of everything his friend is saying.

“I thought about texting and calling all the time but I knew it would just set me back,” Beomgyu carries on. “I had to-to get rid of you in any way I could. It’s why I wasn’t wearing my necklace when you saw me. I started doing other things to get better- working out, helping my mum out at the salon. Anything that gave me a reason to be busy. Then I started to feel better. Hanging out with everybody didn’t feel so bad anymore. On bad days, it still hurt with Soobin but not as much. But I couldn’t… explain that to you. You had just found peace in your life. I couldn’t just dump my shit on you like that.”

“I just wish you said something, Beommie,” Yeonjun whispers. “It felt like I lost my best friend, the only person to have ever believed me.”

Beomgyu shoots up at that and looks down at Yeonjun with puffy eyes. “You never lost me. I’m sorry for making you feel that way but there wasn’t a moment where I didn’t consider you as my best friend. I just needed time to go from looking at you as a best friend who I was in love with to a best friend I love.”

Yeonjun looks up at him. “Did it work?”

Beomgyu sniffs and goes back to resting his head on Yeonjun’s chest. “I told you before that I think a part of me will always love you. But I’m not in love with you anymore and the hurt isn’t so strong.”

Unsure what else to say, Yeonjun asks, “You and Taehyun?”

“I cut him off along with everybody at first,” Beomgyu says, “then we were on and off for… a multitude of reasons.”

“Was it, erm, because of me?” Yeonjun asks awkwardly.

“Not everything is about you, Hyung.”

“Ouch. Can we go back to you crying over me?”

That earns him a hard pinch from the younger.

“Aish, you brat! That hurt,” he cries out, rubbing the spot. 

“You were maybe one of several problems,” Beomgyu continues, shifting so that his head rests more comfortably. “There were other things too.”

“Like…?”

Beomgyu gives a short shake of his head. “I’d rather not, Hyung. Point is is that we’re fine now.”

“Fine as in?”

“I am dating him,” Beomgyu puts it plainly. “Taehyun is my boyfriend whom I love.”

“He seemed upset earlier on the phone when you were talking to him,” Yeonjun points out.

“He gets annoyed at me easily,” Beomgyu admits. “I don’t blame him. I tend to not talk about what’s bothering me.”

“You don’t say,” Yeonjun responds dryly.

“Shut up.”

“Did the distance make you forget your manners? You’re my dongsaeng.” 

“Shut up, Hyung,” he adds politely.

Yeonjun scoffs and they spend two hours just laying there, catching up on everything they’ve missed out on.

“Don’t do that again,” Yeonjun murmurs after a comfortable silence, hugging Beomgyu tighter. “Really thought I lost you.”

“Never again,” Beomgyu assures him, tightening his arms around Yeonjun. “We should probably get going to sort out your Valentine’s Day things.”

“That’s true,” Yeonjun admits, giving Beomgyu one last squeeze before he gets up. “What do you have planned for Taehyun?”

“Taehyun usually does the planning.”

Yeonjun stares at him. “Is that your way of saying you haven’t planned anything?”

Beomgyu’s silence is enough of an answer.

“Beommie!” Yeonjun sags, looking at his useless best friend.

Is this how Yeji and Wooyoung felt about him? He’ll have to thank them when he returns. They might have opened his eyes to a few things.

“I mean I was obviously going to get him flowers,” Beomgyu tells him. 

“Just flowers?” 

“Maybe throw in some chocolates.”

“You’re useless,” Yeonjun tells him, shaking his head.

“I’m going to ghost you again when you leave.”

Yeonjun smacks him hard and Beomgyu is too slow to dodge it. He shoots a look at Yeonjun. 

“Come on,” Yeonjun says with a sigh. “Let’s stop your Valentine’s from being a disaster.”

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

The rest of Thursday afternoon is spent getting everything Yeonjun needs for his Valentine’s date while trying to come up with a last minute plan for Beomgyu.

As Beomgyu parks his car outside the store they’ve come to for the fairy lights he says, “I think I’ll just steal your idea.”

“Beomgyu-ah,” Yeonjun deadpans. “If you were to compete in a race for being a good boyfriend, you’re currently in last place.”

“I don’t mean the whole thing, YJ,” he shoots. “I just meant the general outdoors thing. Instead of a movie we could have a… night picnic. I don’t know.”

He chews on his bottom lip nervously.

“Hey,” Yeonjun realises, “that’s not a bad idea.”

Beomgyu looks at him doubtfully as they enter the warehouse-like store. “Really?”

“I’m sure it could work,” Yeonjun tells him. “Let me phone Yeji, hold on.”

Yeji picks up on the second ring and listens to Yeonjun’s idea. As they browse the store for the fairy lights, she gives him a rundown of things Beomgyu should have at his picnic. Once she’s done, Yeonjun ends the call and turns to Beomgyu who eyes him warily.

“That sounded like a lot of work,” he says, a hint of panic in his voice and on his face. “And money.”

“Aish,” Yeonjun says with a roll of his eyes. “Most of it is just food. We’ll deal with that after this. Let’s find those fairy lights. Yeji-ah said you’ll need them too.”

They locate the fairy lights and put money together to buy a bunch along with some other things that seem nice. Including (but not limited to) blankets, pillows and balloons. Yeonjun decides to go with a red theme so all his items range in different shades of red while Beomgyu’s are all hues of pink. Once that’s done, they head to the big grocery store twenty minutes away from Beomgyu’s house to pick out food and snacks.

Yeonjun’s trolley is less filled this time round, seeing as he only really needs popcorn and maybe a few sweets here and there. Beomgyu’s on the other hand is fuller, containing not only sweets and candy, but fruit and some ready to go meals.

“Thank you Hyungie,” Beomgyu says as they exit the store with all their things. “You’re helping me score points.”

“Look at us.” Yeonjun smiles and ruffles Beomgyu’s hair as he carries his packets back to the car. “Who would’ve thought?”

“Definitely not me,” Beomgyu admits. “It’s a little surprising.”

Yeonjun dumps his bags into the car and looks at Beomgyu, reaching out to touch his chin. “In a good way?”

Beomgyu smiles and touches Yeonjun’s fingertips. “In a good way.”

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

“Oh my God, Hyungie,” Beomgyu panics over the phone the next day. “What if he doesn’t like it?”

Yeonjun balances the phone between his shoulder and ear as he picks out what to wear. “Beommie. Relax, will you? There’s no way he’s gonna hate it.”

Yeonjun curses in frustration and flips to speakerphone before chucking the phone onto the bed and tightening the towel around his waist.

“Think about it logically,” Yeonjun reasons, sifting through his suitcase for something nice to wear. “Why would there be any reason for him to hate a picnic?”

He picks out an all black outfit and listens as Beomgyu babbles some incoherent gibberish. “Maybe he hates bugs.”

“If you’ve been dating him this long and don’t know that he hates bugs I'm a little concerned, BG,” Yeonjun admits as he slaps some lotion on.

Beomgyu groans. “You can be unhelpful at times, Hyung.”

“I try my best.”

“He did have something planned, by the way,” Beomgyu adds after some time. “Good thing we chose night. He’s taking me on an aquarium date. Stopping by Kai’s for a short bit after.”

“Kai?” Yeonjun checks.

“Taehyun-ah doesn’t like making him feel left out,” Beomgyu explains. “He makes sure to get Kai flowers.”

“Of course he does,” Yeonjun muses, smiling at the thought as he pulls on his boots. “Treat him well, Beomgyu-ah.”

“I’m trying,” Beomgyu says quietly over the phone.

“Can I show you my outfit?” Yeonjun asks after a moment. 

Beomgyu hums over the phone in agreement so Yeonjun switches to FaceTime and aims the camera at the mirror.

“You look nice, Hyungie,” Beomgyu reassures him.

Yeonjun cocks his head to the side and surveys himself in the mirror. It’s not anything fancy- just a plain black outfit with a t-shirt tucked into some loose pants with a coat over and black boots. He added a beret to not make it look too plain. Living with Seri had made me conscious of what he wore when he went out. She’d always ask him to try some things on for her.

“Are you sure this isn’t your long term crush showing?” Yeonjun asks.

“I genuinely hate you,” Beomgyu deadpans. “You look like a black blob. Stupid grim reaper looking… ass,” he finishes weakly.

“Nice one.”

“Go back to Italy.”

Yeonjun laughs and swaps the camera so that he looks at Beomgyu who seems distracted.

“Are you that worried that he won’t like it?” Yeonjun asks.

Beomgyu nods his head. “A lot has happened, Hyungie. I just don’t wanna fuck up something nice.”

“I understand, BG, but I think you’re just overthinking it right now,” Yeonjun assures him. “There’s no way he’ll be upset at a picnic. But look, if you’re that worried you and Taehyun-ah can double date with Soobin-ah and I.”

Beomgyu hesitates. “Can I take you up on that if I get too panicked?”

“Yeah of course,” Yeonjun tells him. “Tap your ring to let me know if you’re okay. Otherwise, I’ll come fetch you guys after dinner. Deal?”

Beomgyu nods his head. “Deal. I’m going to get ready.”

“Okay,” Yeonjun says. “It’ll be fine, BG. I’ll talk to you later?”

Beomgyu nods his head and Yeonjun smiles. “I love you, happy Valentine’s Day Beommie.”

“I love you too, Hyungie,” he whispers. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

Yeonjun knows he already said this earlier but God, he really did miss Soobin.

Phone calls were not enough to make up for the lack of the hand holding, or the stolen glances and the stolen kisses. It wasn’t enough to make up for not getting to touch Soobin’s soft cheeks or hearing his laugh in real time.

Since it’s Valentine’s Day, the bakery is busier than usual. Soobin has to help out his parents in the morning so Yeonjun joins him. They kept his apron (which makes Yeonjun tear up just a little) and he puts it on to help ease the workload off of Soobin and his parents. He forgot how much he genuinely enjoyed working at the bakery. At first the sugary sweet smell in the air made him a little sick but he grew to love the bakery. It became a place where he spent time getting to know Soobin and building a relationship that he didn’t know would turn out to be one that he’d hold close to his heart.

The bakery is decorated with cute hearts all over that Soobin complains about how he spent all of last night outlining and cutting. Soobin’s mother insists that they wear these Alice bands that have hearts attached to them with springs. They look silly for sure but Yeonjun thinks Soobin can make anything work.

His mother also throws glitter at them when they’re not looking.

“MA!” Soobin shouts, trying to dust the red off of his grey sweater. He’s wearing a white shirt under so the collar sticks out on the top. “WHY?”

“Don’t look so sour on the day of love, BinBin,” she coos, pinching his cheek despite the dirty look he throws her way. 

She goes to the front of the store where her husband is to make sure everything is okay and leaves Soobin and Yeonjun at the back.

“Sorry,” he mutters in embarrassment, blinking his eyes rapidly to try and get rid of the stray glitter that landed on his eye area.

Yeonjun laughs and walks toward him. “Let me.”

Soobin stops blinking and looks at Yeonjun who blows gently to clear Soobin’s face. Yeonjun reaches up and plants a kiss on his mouth.

“You’re supposed to be helping me get the glitter off,” Soobin mumbles when Yeonjun pulls back. He hooks his thumb into the loop of Yeonjun’s pants. 

“I was,” Yeonjun murmurs. “There was some glitter on your mouth. I don’t think I got it all off, actually. Wait.”

He kisses Soobin again, slower this time, tracing the inside of his lips with his tongue. Soobin let’s out a noise and pulls back.

“We are in a bakery,” he states a little roughly.

“Sorry, I just missed you,” Yeonjun apologises with a smile. He brushes Soobin’s cheek with his thumb. “Can’t wait to spend the day with you.”

He hadn’t really been alone with Soobin the entire week, wanting to maximise his time spent with everybody so he’s more than a little excited for later.

“Me too,” Soobin admits, tucking some loose strands of hair into Yeonjun’s beret. “But we should, uhm, you know… work.”

Yeonjun smiles and pecks Soobin on the cheek before stepping back. 

As much as Yeonjun likes squeezing jelly into donuts with Soobin and having him wipe icing off of Yeonjun’s face, the shift drags out longer than it usually would. He wants to be alone with Soobin.

Finally, when lunch time rolls around, Soobin’s parents let them go with a box of red and pink treats. Yeonjun rented a car for a day to take Soobin out so they hop into the rental and Yeonjun takes them to the first destination.

“I was worried you’d forget about me,” Soobin admits as they walk hand in hand through the serene park. 

Yeonjun takes a lick of his ice cream before answering. “I was worried about the same thing.”

“About you forgetting me?” Soobin puzzles.

Yeonjun nudges Soobin with a roll of his eyes. “About you forgetting me, Dimples.”

“Oh!” Soobin realises. “Right.”

They walk and sway their hands gently, the breeze bringing them the sweet smell of all the flowers in the rose garden nearby.

“Could never forget you,” Soobin eventually says. “You're the best thing to happen to me in a while. It would take a lot to make me forget that.”

Yeonjun’s heart fizzes and buzzes. “I love you.”

Soobin gives him a soft kiss on the cheek. His lips are cold from the ice cream. “I love you too, Junie.”

They enjoy the rest of their walk in the park by alternating between comfortable silence and talking about things they’ve been doing while they were apart from each other. Yeonjun talks about his new dance friends and Soobin tells him more about his paid internship. When their ice cream is finished and they’ve talked enough to let their hunger grow, Yeonjun drives them to a restaurant that’s a bit far out. He knows Soobin is fond of finding food places that are different so it took a lot of research to find something the taller didn’t already know about.

It’s mostly for tourists which is why it’s so far out of their main city but he thinks it’s worth it when he sees the look on Soobin’s face. The restaurant is called Bird’s Nest which means that they get to eat dinner in a pod (designed in the style of a nest) in the trees that overlooks the greenery of the forest. It’s a bit weird and anxiety inducing for Yeonjun considering the food and drinks are delivered by a waitress using a zip line but Soobin seems too fascinated by everything to be worried. He keeps going on about how he can’t believe he never knew about the place before today. The food is tasty too and Yeonjun sends a silent prayer to Yeji and Wooyoung who helped him come up with all of this.

He hopes they’re having a good day whatever they’re doing. 

Even though the restaurant was cool and he loved the walk in the park, the best part was probably the outdoor movie.

And it has little to do with the movie.

With the drive to the restaurant being so far out, it’s dark by the time they arrive to Seri’s where Yeonjun had set up everything with the help of Beomgyu the previous night. The rented projector sits on a table and the fairy lights are draped around the white bed sheet where the movie plays. Yeonjun had been worried about how to keep the sheet up but Beomgyu had come up with a plan to peg the sheets to the tree branches. 

The two of them sit on the floor where Yeonjun had set up a bunch of the pillows and blankets he bought from the store. He pays attention to the movie for all of five minutes before he gets distracted by Soobin.

“This movie freaked me out when I was younger,” Soobin mumbles, eyes glued to the screen. “I thought my parents would turn into pigs.”

“Mhmm…” Yeonjun trails off, looking at the shape of Soobin’s lip.

“Why did they let me watch this? Oh my God,” Soobin says, covering his eyes.

“Go figure,” Yeonjun says, taking Soobin’s hand in his.

“Seriously,” Soobin squirms, turning away from the movie to look at Yeonjun. “They…”

The words die in his throat when he catches Yeonjun looking at him. Yeonjun lets go of Soobin’s hand to slide it up his waist and touches the skin under his t-shirt.

“They?” Yeonjun prompts, shifting closer. 

Soobin blinks. “I don’t think I care anymore.”

With that, he connects their lips.

It surprises Yeonjun a little but he sighs as he lets himself drink Soobin in again. Soobin slides down to rest his back flat on the blanket and tugs Yeonjun down with him. Yeonjun uses his one hand to keep himself from crushing Soobin and lets the other creep up his shirt.

“I missed you,” Soobin pants, his voice in Yeonjun’s ear, “so much.”

“Me too,” Yeonjun murmurs against Soobin’s neck where he places kiss after kiss. It’s not enough to make up for the last year. He hesitates for a moment before choosing a spot just below his ear and sucking on it lightly.

Soobin startles but tilts his head back to allow for more room and pulls on Yeonjun’s hair, letting out a sound of pleasure. Yeonjun returns to the spot, letting out a small breath and licking it before sucking on it again. When he pulls back, he smiles after he sees a small mark. He kisses the spot and works back up Soobin’s neck slowly, whose hand rests on Yeonjun’s thigh.

“God,” Soobin breathes out, their shared breath warming Yeonjun’s face. “I missed you.”

Yeonjun laughs and Soobin shakes his head, eyes glazed over in a daze as he pulls Yeonjun back down. He leads them this time, lips warm and soft, tasting like the popcorn they had been sharing, and slips his tongue inside. Yeonjun can only hear the sound of his heartbeat in his ears and the movie playing faintly in the background. Soobin traces shapes on his back and squeezes Yeonjun’s thigh as he bites on his lower lip and tugs on it lightly.

“Either,” Yeonjun says, voice rough as he pulls back and looks down at Soobin, “you’ve been kissing other people because I don’t remember you being this good, or I’ve been away for too long.”

Soobin giggles and brushes Yeonjun’s hair back, letting his hands card through it.

Which reminds him. 

“What do you think about the colour?” he asks, leaning down to nip on Soobin’s soft ear. “You never said anything.”

“That’s because I didn’t notice.”

Yeonjun jerks back at that and stares at him with an open mouth. He’s about to ask Soobin if he’s being serious but just then, his eyes catch on his ring.

He forgot to check up on Beomgyu.

“Why do you look so upset?” Soobin asks with a laugh. “Of course I noticed. I was joking, you look great.”

Yeonjun opens his mouth, feeling terrible at having made a promise to his friend only to have forgotten it, but just then, he watches the ring turn purple slowly. He lets out a sigh of relief and drops his head, smiling to himself.

He’s okay.

“Junie?”

Soobin tilts Yeonjun’s chin up and looks at him in concern. Yeonjun gives a short shake of his head and leans down to press another kiss  to Soobin’s lips.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Dimples,” he whispers against Soobin’s lips.

He feels Soobin smile as he whispers back, “Happy Valentine’s Day, Junie.”