The Boy From The Bridge - Jakehoon

Chapter 20: Lemonade and Toothpaste 1/6

"C'mon - eat your pickles!" Jungkook ordered. Jake was still lying in bed and was subject to attempts to raise him. He had no appetite and knew he should eat but all he was able to manage were groans of pain.

Jake's condition wasn't helped by the dog sat on the bed with him. Artemis was panting heavily, her warm breath filling his nostrils with the smell of dog breath. Jake took the pickled cucumber in his right hand and nibbled in slightly. The pang from the taste of the vinegar did awaken more of his senses - it also added to the multitude of smells overwhelming him, "I think I'm going to be sick" Jake declared.

"Now, now - just lie there and take things slow." Jungkook instructed. "Get a kid they said, it would be fun - they said!" The joke forced a smile from Jake.

Jungkook saw the signs of life in the teenager and sat down at the edge of the bed. "You had quite a night it would seem!"

Jake managed to put together a response, "It wasn't that big of an occasion."

"Sure, you got hammered, had someone come and sleep with you and THEN they're not even here when you wake up!"

Jake smiled at the joke and his eyes turned to where Sunghoon had slept. He felt disappointed not to see him there.

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Sunghoon hesitated before opening his front door. Weekday mornings had a routine, open the door, rendezvous with 'Jaeyun', walk to Jay's ambush point and then on to school. After the events of the weekend Sunghoon wagered that after their kiss things might get awkward between him and his friend. Knowing there was only one way to find out, Sunghoon took a deep breath an opened the door.

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"Morning, morning!" Jake noticed that his upbeat energy seemed to catch Sunghoon off-guard and surprise him.

"Well, someone's feeling better" said Sunghoon, regaining his composure

"Yeah man, yesterday was rough"

"It certainly looked that way, you could barely speak"

"Yeah and finishing our English homework with a hangover - not a mistake I want to do again"

The pair laughed and went off to school. They decided they wouldn't tell Jay that they had urinated in his bush, allowing their friend to suffer until they felt he had served his punishment. By the easy going nature of the conversation Sunghoon suspected that 'Jaeyun' might have consumed enough alcohol that he didn't remember the incident.

When the trio reached their class they were greeted with an odd site, "where's Yun?" Jake asked his friends. Yun had always arrived before them. She would always be engrossed in some reading but today she was absent. 

The answer to her location came in the form of a tap on Sunghoon's shoulder. Jake saw his friend jump. Remembering what Sunghoon had told him about their 'incident' Jake decided to leave them alone, pulling the oblivious Jay away with him.

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Sunghoon suddenly felt a huge sense of unease - Yun was looking straight at him. "Sunghoon, we should talk". Sunghoon didn't know what to say. Her rejection had knocked his confidence and the prospect that he might have done something wrong set him into an uncomfortable and awkward mood.

"Look about Saturday night" Yun began, "I, I like you - but not like that. I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong signs but..."

'Hang on' Sunghoon thought, 'is she apologising to me?' - that injustice gave him the confidence to speak, "woah, hey - it was me who screwed up. I'm really sorry for being dumb, I hope I didn't ruin your night"

His change of tone brought Yun to a smile and the awkwardness between them eased. "No, no - it was a pretty lame party if you ask me and your attempted kiss was probably the most exciting moment. Also, now I have an anecdote of when I turned down the Ice Prince" she ended her comment with a devilish smile.

Worry returned to Sunghoon, "oh please don't tell people?" 

"Haha, I am just messing with you Sunghoon, we'll just put it down to alcohol and leave it at that - I just wanted to catch you so it wasn't awkward".

Sunghoon was grateful to Yun for her handling of the situation. As they walked into class he saw 'Jaeyun' smile at them, recognising that things were not awkward between them. He had a nice smile. He had nice eyes. Hell, he had nice everything.

Getting to his table, he reassured Jay that nothing was the matter between him and Yun, he then returned to his thoughts. Thinking back to his dreams, 'Jaeyun' had appeared last night too. Nothing out of the ordinary, just them rehearsing their lines of the play. Despite the innocent nature of the dream Sunghoon was coming to a conclusion as to why his neighbour kept appearing his subconscious, why he kept appearing in his thoughts - he liked 'Jaeyun'.

He knew part of him didn't want to like him in that way. His dream erring him against actioning his desires still echoed strongly in his mind. He had never thought of himself as anything other than straight - he had no problem with gay people - sure he was prone to making jokes about the more effeminate guys at school but that's all it was.

 He had certainly never fantasised about a guy in the way he had a woman; his mind went down a path of what he imagined gay sex was like. This prompted him to pull an expression as is he'd just sucked a lemon. His face, a manifestation of his thoughts, was spotted by Jay, "What is wrong with you dude?"

"Nothing - just thinking of weird stuff"

"Then think of less weird stuff" Jay asked before returning to his phone. Sunghoon did as was requested and he left thoughts of a sexual nature to one side. He was able to do  that easily. What he could not do was stop thinking about 'Jaeyun'.

When they had kissed, the surprise and over-thinking of the situation prevented Sunghoon from taking any on of it in. Upon reflecting on it Sunghoon realised it had had a particularly memorable taste. Owning to the circumstance it was a very memorable flavour - very sour, a combination of lemonade and toothpaste. Sunghoon licked the outside of his teeth. As odd and unusual as the combination was he wanted to taste it again. 

'Hang on'. Sunghoon blinked in realisation. 'Jaeyun' had pulled Jay away from him and Yun. He had known instinctively that he and Yun needed to discuss something in private. If he remembered that part of Saturday night he might remember everything - if he did, why didn't he say anything? Why didn't he make things awkward? Sunghoon's heart begun to race at the prospects filling his mind.

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Jakehoon fanfic 3.1