Mocking Jay ➳ Jayhoon ✔

8. Consent

"Kid, you better have a reason for bringing your drunk nemesis through my front door!" Mrs. Park yelled from the kitchen.

"Sorry mom! He just uh... needed help!" He didn't explain any further and instead struggled to get Sunghoon up to his bedroom where he basically threw him onto the bed.

"Kinky," he giggled.

"Stop that," Jay said, going to sit at his desk.

"Stop what?"

"Stop acting so fucking weird and nice to me. It's dumb and... weird." Sunghoon sighed, the last bit of soberness in him sad at what Jay said. "I'm gonna sleep in our guest room. Don't touch any of my shit."

***

As soon as Sunghoon opened his eyes, the light from the window burned his eyes and he groaned, pulling the blanket over his head.

Wait a second.

This blanket doesn't smell like him or his boyfriend. It smells like...

"Hey," a voice said from the door, making him jump and come out from under the blanket.

No.

"Why am I in your bed?" He asked. "Where are my clothes?"

"On your body..." Jay said, and Sunghoon looked down to see his clothes from last night still on his body.

He looked up and looked at Jay with confused eyes. "What happened?"

"You got really drunk... and you told me not to bring you to your house because your dad would get mad." He walked over and handed him a water bottle.

"You... helped me?"

Jay nodded, gesturing for him to drink it. Which he did, immediately chugging it to get rid of the burning sensation that suddenly started hurting his throat.

"Why?"

"Because... as much as I fucking hate you, it would've been horrible to leave you drunk, on the floor of a party with a bunch of other drunk idiots."

Sunghoon bit his lip and nodded. "Thank you," he said softly.

"Do you remember what happened with your boyfriend?"

He nodded. "I did give him permission to go with that stripper."

Jay sighed. It sucked to him. Sunghoon wouldn't accept his help even if he offered. Jay realized that the reason he cares so much about this situation is probably because he's the one who knows the most about it.

It gives him some sort of responsibility, but he doesn't even know what for.

Now, Jay didn't know that Sunghoon was lying. Obviously the older boy was suspicious about the relationship, but one thing he knew was that Sunghoon was not a liar.

But...

He was lying now.

"My mom made breakfast," he said. "You can take an outfit from my closet. Just... don't look through my entire life."

He shut the door and walked downstairs, seeing his mom in the kitchen.

"You're lucky your friends didn't get drunk last night. They came back worried about you," she said, shaking her head. "I would lecture you about bringing minors to parties, but I don't have time for that, and-"

"Mom?" He asked, obviously nervous. She nodded for him to continue. "Can I ask you about consent?"

She was obviously taken aback by the question.

"What about it? Did something happen to you?"

He shook his head. "No... this isn't about me. If somebody says they can't... you know what... because they're in a professional place, should the other person say "fine, but you owe me"?"

She tilted her head. "That's oddly specific. But no. They shouldn't."

Jay's mom worked in psychology to help victims of sexual assault and harrassment, so he always went to her for advice on things like sexuality. And now this seemed important.

"So, what would that be an example of?"

"Well, if they're in a relationship, saying "you owe me" is basically a way of guilt tripping your partner into having sex with you, which is a form of dubious consent."

"Kind of forced consent?"

She nodded.

"Hey," Sunghoon said, coming downstairs in Jay's clothes.

"Hey... Sunghoon. I made food. There's ibuprofen, an icepack, and sunglasses all on the counter for you. Anyway, I have to go to work. Love you," she kissed Jay on the cheek before walking out.

"What does your mom do again?" He asked, sitting at the counter, but not touching the food.

"She's a therapist. For victims of sexual assault."

From Sunghoon's perspective, it wasn't that, so he shrugged. "That's cool. I feel bad for people who have to go through that."

Jay sighed. "Me too..."