alvinthechipmunk
JIWOONG

kjwng
I'm here :)

alvinthechipmunk
I'M GONNA BE LATE 😭😭😭

alvinthechipmunk
I'M SOSORRY

alvinthechipmunk
BUT I'M ALMOST THERE

kjwng
No please

kjwng
Don't worry about it

kjwng
Take your time

alvinthechipmunk
i'm RUNNING!!!!!

kjwng
Stop no 😭 Don't run

kjwng
Be careful

alvinthechipmunk
IT'S OK

alvinthechipmunk
I'M HERE

—

Out of breath, Matthew walks into the restaurant as composed as he could possibly be. Scanning his surroundings, his eyes finally landed on Jiwoong, who he had been looking forward to seeing for quite some time. Matthew had been out of the city to visit family, so he hadn't had the chance to hang out with Jiwoong. As the two locked eyes, Matthew smiled, approaching the table Jiwoong was sitting at, sitting across from the latter.

"You should've let me drive you," complained Jiwoong almost as soon as Matthew sat down.

The younger frowned, shaking his head as he fanned his face with his hand. "Don't be silly," he said. "I was in another city, that would've been too far for you."

Jiwoong reached out over the table, gently grabbing Matthew's hand, caressing it. "I would travel great lengths to see you."

"Oh, shut up," Matthew jokingly rolled his eyes, his cheeks visibly becoming redder than they already were when he first sat down.

In response, Jiwoong just smiled, handing one of the menus on the table to Matthew, spending more time staring at the latter rather than at the menu.

For a while, Matthew and Jiwoong had been seeing each other. They weren't officially together, however, their feelings for each other were very clear. Every time they would go out, Matthew would secretly hope for Jiwoong to ask him to be his boyfriend, however, that hasn't happened yet. Although rather upset about that, it didn't bother Matthew as much as he thought it would; he was content with the way things were if it meant that Jiwoong felt the same.

"Your taste is so cute," commented Jiwoong as he watched how Matthew's plate of chicken strips was placed in front of him.

"Hey, it's a safe option!" Matthew argued, slicing the chicken into bite-sized pieces. "Your taste is just boring," he added, pointing at the steak sitting in front of Jiwoong with his fork.

Jiwoong chuckled, taking Matthew's hand in his once again. It was a habit of his that he picked up almost as soon as he began to be more intimate with Matthew, who couldn't get enough of this habit. "Yeah, sure," Jiwoong teased. "Whatever you say."

Matthew spent a majority of the time in the restaurant talking about his trip back to his hometown, eyes lighting up every time he spoke about something that he found particularly interesting. Jiwoong, being one who would rather listen to a person speak, was happy with this, nodding and adding his own comments to what Matthew was saying to make sure the younger knew that he was listening.

Considering that Jiwoong had insisted on driving Matthew back home, he didn't drink, but that didn't stop the latter from having two glasses of wine. Even though he didn't drink much, Matthew's cheeks had reddened quite a bit.

"Your cheeks," Jiwoong pointed out with a grin, reaching over the table to pinch Matthew's cheeks.

"Trust me, I know," Matthew replied, giggling as he placed his hands over Jiwoong's.

Jiwoong squished Matthew's cheeks with his hands before pulling them away. "It's cute."

Matthew scoffed, jokingly rolling his eyes. "Jiwoong, you say that all the time. It's like a catchphrase at this point."

"It's true, though!" Jiwoong argued before finishing the last few bites of his food.

Despite how often Matthew argued with Jiwoong over his catchphrase, he secretly loved to hear it every single time (it wasn't really a secret due to how much he'd blush, but Jiwoong would never point it out; he found that cute as well).

It was still quite light out once the two finished their dinner, so Jiwoong suggested that they watch the sunset at a nearby park. Matthew agreed almost instantly, with him being a sucker for taking aesthetic photos he'd spam his Instagram story with (not that anyone really cared about it, but Taerae and Hanbin would like every single one of his stories, so he kept it up just for his two loyal fans).

Matthew found himself sitting comfortably next to Jiwoong on a hill after arriving at the park, it being considerably darker outside by then. The sky had turned into a painting of different shades of pink, purple, and orange; it was an exquisite sight perfect for Matthew's Instagram story.

Silence took over and a sudden thought came to Matthew's mind. He glanced at Jiwoong, unsure of whether he should be talking about this or not, but he'd never have a proper answer if he didn't bite the bullet right then and there. "Jiwoong," he started. "Can I ask you something?"

Jiwoong turned his head towards Matthew, a gentle smile on his face. "Anything."

Another beat of silence.

"Uh," Matthew hesitated. "What are we?"

It was clear that Jiwoong was confused from the face he made. "What do you mean?"

"Like, we aren't friends, but we aren't dating either, you know?" Matthew continued. "What are we supposed to be?"

Jiwoong sighed deeply as if he were thinking hard about something, but his reply was nothing but disappointing. "I don't know."

"Okay," Matthew huffed out, regretting the fact that he opened his mouth at all. "Let me put it like this: what do you want to be?"

"I really don't know, Matt."

Matthew didn't know how to proceed. Was he reading his relationship with Jiwoong all wrong this entire time? To him, that didn't seem to be plausible, but with the way Jiwoong was acting, Matthew began to consider that possibility. "Jiwoong," he said softly, taking hold of the older's hand. "I want to be with you. Like, be boyfriends."

Biting his lip, Jiwoong remained silent for an uncomfortable amount of time, rubbing his thumb over Matthew's knuckles. "I want that too," he suddenly replied. "But I don't think I'm ready. I'm not sure if I'll be able to give you the relationship you deserve if we were to date right now. In the future, I'd love to be with you, but just for now, I don't want to subject you to that. I hope you understand."

Letting out a breathy laugh, Matthew felt a wave of relief wash over him. "Oh my God, Jiwoong," he exclaimed, running his free hand through his hair. "I thought you were gonna say something like 'I don't like you' and I was thinking of ways to not start crying on the spot."

"Oh?" Jiwoong was confused once more, his eyebrows furrowed. "You're not angry or anything?"

"No, of course not," Matthew reassured with a smile. "I'm willing to wait for you, Jiwoong."

"Matt," Jiwoong spoke, firming his grip on the younger's hand. "Are you sure? It could be a long time."

"Of course I'm sure, it'll be worth it," replied Matthew, using his free hand to pat Jiwoong on the thigh. "And besides, we'll be unofficial boyfriends for now," he chuckled, twinkling eyes above his bright smile.

"Yeah," Jiwoong agreed, pulling the younger into a gentle hug. "Unofficial boyfriends."

They remained like that for a while, finding comfort in each other's silence. Eventually, Jiwoong pulled away from the hug, caressing Matthew's waist with his hands before leaning in for a tender kiss.

By that point, Matthew and Jiwoong had kissed multiple times already, but even so, that specific kiss felt different. Perhaps it was the fact that their feelings had finally become known to each other, but Matthew didn't care about the reason; he was feeling nothing but euphoria at that moment.

alvinthechipmunk
thanks for driving me home again

alvinthechipmunk
i was really scared of having to walk home in the dark 😭😭

kjwng
Matt???

kjwng
Did you think I wouldn't drive you or what? 😭

kjwng
Imagine I take you out on a date and then abandon you in the darkness of the night

alvinthechipmunk
the chances of u being a murderer are slim but never zero .

kjwng
If I was a murderer I wouldn't kill you 😘😘

alvinthechipmunk
wow thanks 🤩

alvinthechipmunk
that would be a waste of money anyways cause u got me that perfume

alvinthechipmunk
THANK YOU SM BTW!!!! i love it

kjwng
No trust me

kjwng
I already know how thankful you are from how you kissed me when I gave it to you ❤️❤️

alvinthechipmunk
shut up 😒