crush | janiel

chapter twenty

"jack."
i tossed on the other side of the bed, pulling the covers over my shoulders.
"jack," someone's voice whispered once again.
i yanked the blanket, but failed to make it move due to someone else sitting on it.
"corbyn get off the blanket," i assured quietly.
"it's not corbyn idiot."
i giggled softly, knowing that it made daniel jealous for no reason when i pulled stuff like this.
"i know," i whispered, turning around as he pecked my lips softly.
daniel rested his finger under my chin as he kissed me deeper, while i pulled away.
"what?" he said.
"my breath stinks," i replied, rolling my eyes as he scoffed, kissing my shoulder as i opened my eyes, bringing my finger to my eyes to rub them.
"jack look outside," daniel giggled softly, as he grabbed something from his nightstand.
i looked over to the window and smiled gently. small specks of snow fell on the balcony of our hotel room. i looked over my shoulder to look at daniel smiling at me. he knew how much all of us loved the snowfall since all of us lived in la which sadly didn't snow in the winter time. i stared a little longer as daniel laughed at how in awe i was about all of it. that was one of the beauties of new york. a part of me always wanted to move to new york because i felt so connected with the city, just like in la. but there was also the part of me who liked getting away with the city, like hawaii.
"merry christmas babes," daniel exclaimed, as he rose up from the bed and made his way to the bathroom. as the door closed, a knock rose from the door.
"babe could you get that?"
i smiled as i ruffled my hair, opening the door to zach, slipping from knocking the door.
"oh hey!" he said, after stabilizing back on his feet.
"hey, everything ok?" i asked after he beamed brightly.
"did you see outside?"
i looked back at the snowfall.
"yeah its snowing," i replied, while zach and i laughed like little kids about the whole thing.
"the bathroom's free now- oh hey zach," daniel muffled through a mouth of toothpaste.
his hands crept around my waist and pulled me closer as we held the door open for zach in the hallway.
"zach you know you can come in right?"
"well i was mostly going to come here to get you out of the room so we could go see the snow."
"well yeah, give me one second i just woke up."
"i can tell," zach laughed, messing my already messed up hair.

-
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i threw off the black beanie and fixed my hair in the mirror. it was freezing even inside the hotel, daniel and i had to use the blanket from the second bed.
"why're you throwing accessories at my stomach?"
i turned around to a daniel picking up the beanie from the floor.
"sorry, i just don't think the black looks good with my hair."
"but your hair hides underneath beanies?" daniel said, brushing a lock out from my eyes and pushing my fringe back.
i opened my mouth to speak, but daniel tapped my chest.
"oh wait, no you always like to wear your beanies with your hair popping out. i don't know why exactly, but it makes you look cute and is it because your hair will hide colliding with he colour of the beanie?"
i paused to just stare at him for a second, before kissing him.
"what? am i wrong?"
"no you're right, and i think that's pretty cute of you that you notice all these little things."
he blushed as he looked away from me, intertwining his fingers with mine.
"well of course is that a bad thing?"
"no...no it's not," i said with a smile.
daniel looked around the room and crouched down to our suitcase.
"wear this one," he smiled, handing me his violet beanie.
i took it and looked up at him. daniel would wear this beanie everywhere, even with outfits that didn't even match it. but he always managed to make it work. i don't know how. i put it on my head, bringing out a few pieces as if they were bangs out on my forehead.
"ok do i look ok?"
"you're not going to a fashion show but yes, you always you look good," he laughed gently, kissing my lips as he unlocked the door to the hallway.
"hi?"
i pulled away from him as we saw a tired corbyn who looked forced to get up by zach.
"was that all happening in here or-"
"-and we're leaving the building!" daniel exclaimed loudly that even the next door neighbour which was jonah could hear us.
"is he seriously not coming?" i asked as corbyn shaked his head.
"nope, i tried waking eben and him up, they were out out," corbyn yawned.
zach opened the door to the exit of the hotel, as snow instantly fell onto the top of my cheeks and made my nose cold. i looked over at daniel, who looked up at it, admiring it, and zach who was already jumping into the snow with his jeans on.
daniel looked over at me, and i don't know if it was the snow but he looked even more breathtaking than usual. light pieces of snow fell on his eyelashes, which i loved because daniel's lashes were one of my favourite things in the world. he looked down at my lips as he pressed his on mine, and held me close which i loved because it was freezing outside.
"you know, i wish it snowed during the christmas time in la, no one likes a humid christmas."
"you know australia never has a white christmas?" zach chattered, as we looked at him freezing from the snow.
"ok cut the parental disapproval look and give me a coat," he scoffed, as i lended him my scarf, entering the hotel's loft.
"took you guys long enough to get out of the snow," eben called, as an exhausted jonah sat on the other end of the sofa, holding our gifts and theirs in their laps.
"shut up, it was actually really fun," i shivered, grabbing a glass of hot cocoa from eben's hand.
"aw did you guys bring the gifts down to the lobby so it looked like they were under the tree?" daniel giggled.
jonah nodded as corbyn cuddled in his shoulder and yawned once again.
"is that even allowed?" zach asked sitting down next to corbyn, as he pushed him away a little because he was wet.
"not really, but they let us, now shut up and open your presents," jonah said, handing the first one to me which was from him.
it was decorated with golden and dark blue wrapping paper, as i teared it open, hurt by it because usually i wouldn't want to tear something that takes forever to wrap. it took me a whole 45 minutes to wrap daniel's.
"there's no way," i said, putting my hand to my mouth as i held up the watch in my hand.
"is this because you broke..." zach started, which resulted in jonah telling him to shut up.
"thank you jonah, i actually lost mine when we went to hawaii last year. this means a lot i love you," i responded, hugging his side tightly as daniel took it from my hand to put it on me.
the circle continued to go around jonah's gifts, then corbyn, then eben's, then zach, and then me, as daniel was the last to open mine. he looked up at me in shock, as he pulled out a little box.
"jack?" he stuttered as i shook my head.
"this isn't a proposal idiot, i would never do it in the middle of a hotel lobby. just open the box!" i remarked quickly, which resulted in a groan from corbyn and zach.
daniel opened the box and smiled at me, as he pulled out the customized pick from the box. it was transparent with the hue of blue, which i got because it reminded me of daniel's eyes. it also had his initials engraved on the top of the pick in white ink with another design engraved on the sides.
"do you like it?" i asked quietly, because i didn't think he did.
"jack i love it, shut up," he laughed, kissing my lips softly as zach let out throwing up noises.
"ok now be the first to open my gifts!" he said excitedly, as he handed me a small box wrapped in silver and white wrapping paper. it made me smile because of the way daniel'd written my name on it, and also that he went with the wrapping paper i picked. i unwrapped the gift, as a piece of paper came with the box, which i unfolded and read. my heart instantly melted, as i looked at daniel. it was a poem.

jack.
the light in everyone's lives.
the laughter in everyone's souls.
the love and comfort in my heart.
you manage to make me feel wanted.
you make me feel safe
and most importantly.
you make me feel loved.
never have i felt like this with anyone else.
and sometimes i wish i could express how i feel about you.
but there's not enough pieces of paper in this world to write those meanings down.
you are always mine.
and i always yours.
my little golden boy.

i looked up from the poem as i walked over to daniel, pecking his cheek even though i just wanted to kiss him so much. i wanted to kiss him all the time, and let him hold me, because those were one of the best feelings in the world. everything about daniel was my favourite things in the world. his words were so well spoken,
even though they were only a few which manages to make me cry.
"aw don't cry love," daniel laughed as he looked at the box in my hand which was the real gift to him. but to me, he didn't need to even give me a gift in order for me to feel like i didn't have a present. daniel was such a gift to me always. and i was lucky because i had my gift around all the time and not just on christmas day.
"can i read it?" zach asked, tapping daniel's shoulder as he rolled his eyes.
i opened the tiny box as my whole body froze completely. my heart was beating fast as i picked up the ring from the box, which caused the guys to gasp and yell, as daniel shushed them because hello, we were in a hotel lobby. the ring was silver, which made me think back to the time where daniel kept bothering me with the question of what i wanted for christmas and i answered by saying i wanted anything that i could wear. and he got me a ring because he knew how much i liked to flood my hands with them. i tilted the ring to read the inside of it, as there was an engraving of a saying inside of it.

always mine. and always yours.

"and you said you'd never propose in a hotel lobby," corbyn laughed.
"oh shut up," i replied ignoring him and went back to daniel, hugging him as tears fell out of my eyes.
"can we at least see it on?" jonah smiled, as i pulled away from the crook of daniel's neck, as he wiped my tears away with his thumb. i stated at it for a little while longer, then slipped it on my ring finger and opened my hand to look at it with the others.
"do you like it?" daniel whispered as he held my hand.
"i love it. thank you," i snuffled as he kissed my cheek again.
"ok so now that your proposal is done, can i unwrap what you got me?"
we all bursted into laughter as i nodded at zach.
"oh shut up, go ahead," i answered, as i watched zach open the gift up vigorously, watching as the lights around the lobby reflected in daniel's eyes, as i snuggled closer into his chest, feeling safe as he laughed gently, holding my hand as christmas tunes faded in the background of the lobby.