Eunonia

Chap 9

Heeseung's birthday aligns with the clubs two-month anniversary, so he decides to confess then. He makes sure Jake isn't on his Switch—does it in the last few minutes before the meeting starts, in fact—and then sets his Switch down and gulps. There's really no way back from here. Hindsight truly is twenty-twenty, he thinks to himself absentmindedly as he makes his way to the front of the group.

Of course, they all celebrate—Sunghoon and Soobin bring an entire cake, and Sunghoon blows out the candles before Heeseung can get to them, which makes Jake and Jay burst into laughter. By now most people are active players of New Horizons and their numbers total to over forty people. Heeseung calls the club a success, if the way people chat comfortably with each other and fill out their item wishlists is any indication. Heeseung himself as three villagers now—Freya (his actual favorite villager, past the one Jake had forced him to choose), Marshal, and Coco—and he swears Jake only visits his island to talk to Marshal, though the older boy vehemently denies it.

But the bubbling anxiety sits in his stomach until everyone leaves. "Jakey," he starts carefully, and Jake gives him his full attention. "Did you bring your Switch?"

Jake tilts his head to the side, dark hair falling into his eyes. "No, it's in my dorm room. Why?"

Heeseung internally sighs. Of course Jake would leave his Switch in his room the one day Heeseung needs him to have it on him. "Ah, okay," he says, exasperated. "Can I walk you home today?"

Jake's eyes brigthen and he beams at Heeseung like he's just offered him something extremely great. "Oh, of course! Jeongin's probably at Felix's place so it'll be just us."

For some reason, Heeseung finds himself blushing at the prospect.

It's freezing cold as they walk to Jake's dorm building, and Jake predictably complains the entire time. At some point Heeseung gives into his urges and takes Jake's hand in his own, reflexively hissing at the ice blocks that are Jake's fingers, and when the australian boy glances over at him with wide eyes, he thinks he can chock up the red tint in his cheeks to a little more than just the cold.

Jake waves at the student sitting at the front desk of his dorm building before he proceeds to drag Heeseung up the three flights of stairs it takes to get to his dorm room. Heeseung doesn't come here often—if they hang out, they usually do so while eating at a cafe or restaurant—so it feels a little foreign to watch Jake take his keycard out again and use it to unlock his room, dragging Heeseung inside and flicking the light on.

"Welcome to my humble abode," he says jokingly. "Sorry. It's a mess."

"Ugh, I can tell," Heeseung mutters. It's easy to tell which side of the room belongs to who, because for one, Jeongin's bed is actually neatly made. It's a similar set up to the room he shares with Jay, just with significantly less plush toys and significantly more video games. "Okay, I... um, need you to take out your Switch and go online."

Jake gives him a curious look as he drops his back pack to the ground and takes his shoes off, running a hand through his hair as he collapses onto his bed. "Already? What's up?"

"Just do it, Jakey," he says pleadingly. God, he think he actually might throw up if this continues any longer—he just wants to get it over with now, in all honesty. "C'mon."

"Sheesh, okay, okay," Jake mutters, though he doesn't sound annoyed as he takes his Switch out and plugs it into the charger. It's like everything he's doing is purposefully in slow motion, though Heeseung knows that's just the anxiety gnawing at his insides.

He's never done this before. Heeseung's used to people confessing to him—and by that, he means he was pretty used to girls sneaking letters into his locker back in high school—but he's never been the one doing the confessing. And taking into account the fact that he's confessing to his best friend makes this infinitely worse. But he knows he can't back out, because if he'd acted like everything was normal, Jake would have gone on only to see it later, and then—

Well, that would probably be harder to explain. And anyway, a part of Heeseung wants to be here to see Jake's reaction, as silly as that sounds.

"It's so slow, I'm sorry," Jake mutters as he repeatedly presses the A button, like that'll do anything. "Oh my god, Tom Nook, shut the fuck up."

Heeseung laughs. "It's okay, take your time."

"Right, right." After a few moments, Jake looks up at Heeseung with raised eyebrows. "Okay, what should I do? Am I visiting you? Why isn't your Switch out?"

Heeseung tangles his fingers together. "Um, uh—" You could just ask to see his Switch and then delete the message yourself, the coward in him whispers, but he tells that part of him to shut the hell up and says, "G-go check your mail."

Jake's eyes light up again. "Oh, you sent me something? Okay!"

He feels awkward just standing there as Jake runs to whatever he needs to go, the only sound in the room being the tiny six PM Animal Crossing music. Jake says, "Okay, let me see—"

He pauses, reading the message. Then he frowns, reading the message again, and then he blinks, and then—

"Heeseung?" He asks uncertainly, his voice smaller than Heeseung's used to, and he looks up at him. "You—this is—?"

Heeseung takes in a shuddering breath. He knows what the message says—

Jakey, i just want you to know that i've had a crush on you for three years, and you're extremely important to me—so he knows he probably needs to fill in some gaps.

"Um, I didn't know how else to confess. It's just—uh, yeah I've liked you for... quite a while, hyung. I think I just wanted to let you know that."