"He seems to really like you," Taeyong says from the couch, where he lounges with his shirt still unbuttoned, skin bathed in sweat and that familiar postcoital glow. It had been a quick one tonight, just as how he'd wanted it to be, so he wonders why he wants Jaehyun to linger.

Just a moment longer, he thinks as he watches Jaehyun, who's crouched by the doorway with his backpack already slung over one shoulder and everything about him looking just slightly disheveled: his hair ruffled, the shirt partially untucked, the smile loose, the shoulders relaxed

—it makes him look more boyishly handsome than ever, and it doesn't help that Taeyong knows he played a part in bringing about that roughness. His hands were all over Jaehyun's hair and clothes earlier, so it's not far-fetched to say Jaehyun looks the way he does now bcs of him.

"Who? Your cat?" Jaehyun asks as he sinks to the floor, ripped skinny jeans stretching taut as he crosses his legs to form a makeshift bed for Taeyong's cat, who purrs and settles in between his thighs.

"Yeah." Taeyong nods. "Potato doesn't like being petted. But with you..."

"You mean he's sweet only to me?"

"You could say so."

"Ahww, buddy!" Jaehyun laughs and coos. He then lifts Taeyong's cat gently with both hands, brings him up until they're eye-to-eye. He's still snickering when he says, "So you're a Sweet Potato when it comes to me."

Taeyong finds himself laughing now, too. "You can't just change his name like that," he says, shaking his head as he watches Jaehyun rub noses with his cat.

"But I think he likes it," Jaehyun protests, just before he places Potato back to his lap for some belly-rubbing.

"Right?" Jaehyun proceeds to coo at Taeyong's cat. "Sweet Potato fits you more. Tell your dad you like it more."

It's a gentle image that vastly differs from how he is in bed, Taeyong notes with a shiver.

[]

The hold Jaehyun had on both sides of his waist just earlier when he was bent over the couch with one side of his face chafing and burning against the leather with every push from behind is still very much present, still a phantom weight that his body remembers.

Then there are the not-so phantom marks on his skin, the fresh red patches all over his neck and thighs, the cut on his lip where the skin broke. They're nothing near the feather-like litheness w/ which Jaehyun seems to measure each stroke his hand makes against Potato's fur.

"That's unfair," Taeyong blurts out, just in time to see Potato lick Jaehyun's fingers. "He really likes you," he manages to add, and Jaehyun grins.

But it's weak, and it quickly morphs into a small smile that Jaehyun hides as he lowers his head, chin dipping to his chest.

"Ah, in that case, I wish your dad would be more like you then, Potato," Jaehyun says, his voice suddenly so quiet and small, his shoulders constricting as though to mirror whatever's inside his chest. He sighs. "Thank you for liking me. I like you too, you know. Like you a lot."

"First you change his name, and now you're confessing to him?" Taeyong asks with a nervous chuckle. He doesn't know exactly why, but his chest seizes at what he just heard.

"It should be the other way around, actually," Jaehyun says. "Confess, then maybe change his name."

"Don't you think maybe that's a little too fast?"

"You think so?"

Taeyong nods without hesitation. "Yes."

"You're right. I should wait for his answer first."

"Hasn't he given you one already?"

"No," Jaehyun answers and, this time, he meets Taeyong's eyes, "He hasn't."

"At least not directly," Jaehyun finishes.

"Then what makes you think he likes you?"

"Because he's done things with me that he doesn't do with others."

"Right..." Taeyong shifts in his seat. "Potato doesn't take kindly to others."

"Right. Potato. We were talking about him."

"Yeah. Him." Taeyong nods dumbly.

"Alright, then," Jaehyun says after a pause. He lifts Potato off his lap and stands, busies his hands by patting fur off his jeans. "Guess I'll be off now."

Taeyong thinks he ought to say something, but he only manages an "Okay."

A smile, at once tired and amused. "Thanks for tonight." Then a short, almost anxious fiddling with the strap of his backpack but, eventually, nothing. "See you."

"Thanks, too. And, yes, see you..."

And, just like that, Jaehyun is out of the door and of Taeyong's apartment.

The silence settles around the room quickly. But it doesn't take over Taeyong's chest, which pummels with a violence that coats his throat with a tightness and makes it hard for him to breathe, much less to speak.

"Idiot," he hisses and Potato meows in agreement. "I'm an idiot."

"Shit, shit, shiiiit," Taeyong curses, and then he's buttoning up his shirt and grasping around the floor for his pants. Eventually, he decides to forego pants. After all, what's a moment of wearing boxers out in public to a week—possibly an eternity—of Jaehyun being cold to him?

So, utterly pantless and panicked, Taeyong tells Potato to "stay" and rushes out of his apartment, only to bump face-first into Jaehyun's chest as soon as he opens and places one foot out of the door.

"Woah!" Jaehyun exclaims, hands flying to catch Taeyong by the shoulders.

There's a loud, characteristic rustling amid all the movement and entanglement of limbs, and it only takes Taeyong a few seconds after gathering himself to see and realize that Jaehyun had been standing out of his door with a small bouquet of flowers in his hands.

"Roses," Jaehyun explains after catching Taeyong's quizzical stare, "They're a little beaten up cause I kept them in my bag. But I wanted to give them to, uhm, your cat."

Taeyong arches a brow at that. His eyes scan for the hint and, sure enough, Jaehyun's ears are burning red.

Red like the roses, Taeyong notes, smiling slightly at the thought. "Potato?" he says, deciding to play along. He knows how to win this now, but finds that he doesn't want to without teasing Jaehyun some more. "I'm not sure he likes roses though. Or flowers, in general."

The grip Jaehyun has around the bouquet's base tightens. He laments, "Well, that's too bad—"

"But I do," Taeyong cuts him off, and the look of surprise that plasters itself over Jaehyun's face right after gives him too much satisfaction it actually pains him not to laugh.

"Oh, then you can have them," Jaehyun says, and the bouquet rustles when he hands them over. Taeyong tries not to comment on his damp palms.

"Thanks. I really like roses," Taeyong says. Then, after a measured pause, which he spends bringing the flowers to his nose to smell them, confesses, "Actually, I really like you, too."

"Oh." Jaehyun blinks.

Taeyong forges on, "So, yeah. Does that mean I can have you as well?"

Jaehyun purses his lips. Now that he's empty-handed, he can't help but fidget with the loose threads on the straps of his backpack. "Well," he starts to say, the slight quiver on his upper lip indicative of the incoming rambling, "Yeah? I guess. I mean, if you'll have me—"

Taeyong shuts him up with a kiss. It's quick and decisive: starts with a forceful grab of a shirt collar, escalates to something deeper—something more genuine, more tender—then ends with an established yearning for the next, lips already chasing lips before the separation.

It's everything Jaehyun would need to be sure of Taeyong's feelings.

But, still, Taeyong says, "Yes, I'll have you." He hasn't let go of Jaehyun's shirt collar yet, fingers still curled tightly around the fabric like they're afraid Jaehyun would evaporate if they didn't hold on.

It comes in handy when he pulls Jaehyun back into his apartment for another kiss and another around—the first ones with a label.

"Besides," Taeyong says in between kisses, "my cat already likes you, so it makes sense that I do, too."

They laugh, and the door finally closes.

--- tweetfic ends here ---

has been SO LONG since the last one so, if you read this, thank you! hope you enjoyed that silly little drabble!

just linking this here if you have anything to say. have a good day! http://curiouscat.me/lotsofbluejaes