Hello everyone!

I've never done anything like this before and I'm also not very good at slowburn, so please bear with me for this oneshot 😚

I've also never written a friends to lovers story apart from that Animal Instincts oneshot and that was complete and utter dogshit so I'm trying again. I hope this one isn't too bad.

IT IS INCREDIBLY FUCKING LONG BTW!!

Like - actually set time aside to read it, coz this shit is 6000+ words. I didn't intend for it to be so long, but it just ended up this way. Consider it as a Christmas present 🤷🏽‍♀️

Best friends Taekook go on a Christmas holiday together. They've been crushing on each other for years, except neither of them know how the other one feels. After years of never being bold enough to take the initiative, Taehyung decides it's finally time to take things into his own hands.

I also have song suggestions for this oneshot, to amplify the feelings. But one song to read to get in the mood, is I like you by Day6. I'm putting the lyrics down below, and here's a lil challenge for you guys: try and spot where I referenced the lyrics in the oneshot! 🕵🏽‍♀️

All of you reading my books and following silly old me, really, truly, absolutely made my 2020 and I'm thankful for each and every one of you 😚

I hope you have a brilliant holiday and a prosperous new year!

Unconditional love,

- BB

💜🎁

SONG SUGGESTIONS:

I like you (Day6)
When you love someone (Day6)
Prove it (Got7)
Breathing you all day (Bumkey)
Let Me love u (WAYV)
Confession song (Got7)
MIST (Ateez)
Attatched to you 정이들어버렸어 (Kihyun)

LYRICS:

In life, there aren’t many days
When things go your way
There are more days when it didn’t go my way
Will today be another one of those days?

I am pretty worried
After I tell you these words
I’m not sure if we can go back
To smiling like we are now
But I have to

I Like you
I tried holding it back
But I can’t anymore
Now I can tell you
I want to love you

Your eyes are shaking
It’s shaking up my heart

After this moment
I’m not sure if we can go back to being natural
But I have to

I Like you
I tried holding it back
But I can’t anymore
Now I can tell you
I want to love

I’ve thought of you like this
But if you don’t feel the same
You just need to tell me
“I’m sorry” and
I’ll be fine

Like you
I tried holding it back
But I can’t anymore
Now I can tell you
I want to love you

*******

“So where do you wanna go for Christmas this year, Taehyungie?” Jeongguk asked as they lay sprawled out together on his bed. Taehyung was lying down on top of him, staring at his phone as Guk ran his hands through his curly brown hair.

“Umm.” Tae said. “I dunno. I picked last time.”

Jeongguk shrugged.

“You can pick again if you want. I don’t mind.”

“Ah. Well in that case, I’d love to go to Malta. I heard their beaches are awesome.” Taehyung smiled shyly.

“Sounds lovely, Tae. But maybe we have to go next year. The airports care closed because of the heavy snow, remember?” Jeongguk said gently. “What about something simpler? Like a cabin or something?”

Taehyung nodded.

“We could make snowmen and drink hot chocolate by the fire!” He grinned.

“Sounds like a plan then. I'll go and look for places to rent. When should we go?” Jeongguk asked.

“Hmmm. From the 19th to the 27th? I gotta go to my parents’ house for New Year's.” Tae said.

“M’kay.” Jeongguk said, patting Taehyung’s head gently. “Get up then. I need the toilet.”

Taehyung whined.

“But you’re so comfy, Gukkie. 5 more minutes?” He begged.

“5 more minutes and I’ll shit myself on your bed. Move.” Jeongguk laughed, rolling Taehyung off him and getting off the bed. “You can take this opportunity to go figure out what you’re going to wear. Make sure to pack warm.”

“Yes sir.” Taehyung giggled as he saluted Jeongguk. He rolled over and sat up, staring at the door Jeongguk just left from.

He sighed, biting his lip and thinking.

Jeongguk and Taehyung had been best friends for 4 years. They had met on the train one cold and dark night, when Taehyung had fallen asleep and accidentally leant on Jeongguk’s shoulder. Jeongguk was far too enamoured to wake up the sleeping beauty, and so he sat there, admiring his gentle features until it was time to get off at his stop.

Taehyung remembers being incredibly embarrassed when Jeongguk woke him up, and even more so when he met Jeongguk the very next day on the train. They hadn’t exchanged any words, but the gentle smirk on Jeongguk’s perfect lips told Taehyung that he did indeed remember him.

For a week, nothing but silent stares were exchanged on the train, and Taehyung never expected it to bloom into anything more, until one fateful night, Jeongguk mustered up the courage to sit next to him and strike up a conversation. It was incredibly awkward and clumsy, but neither of them could deny the connection that was slowly beginning to form between them. Soon, they both became excited to board the train after work and meet each other there. Again, after a couple of days like this, it was Jeongguk who took the initiative to ask for Taehyung’s number. 

Before they knew it, a strong friendship had blossomed, and Taehyung and Jeongguk became great friends. They hung out nearly all the time, and had met each other’s friends, soon becoming closer than they ever would’ve thought.

Jeongguk the charismatic amateur architect and Taehyung the shy nursery teacher.

Their friendship was unusual and unorthodox, but they seemed to click inexplicably well. To everyone else, their underlying romantic attraction was blaringly obvious, but neither Taehyung or Jeongguk ever noticed how the other one felt about them. It was all secret stares and silent pining between the two, because neither of them imagined that there was a chance that the feelings were mutual.

Which leads them to where they are now.

Through the years, they’d created a tradition of spending Christmas together and going away somewhere special. They’d been to Spain, England, Greece and many other places, and they’d created amazing memories there together. They'd walk along beaches and have candlelit dinners, wandering the foreign cities together without a care in the world.

Their friends often teased them about how romantic their trips sounded, but each time, Taehyung would have to remind them that it was all strictly platonic with absolutely no feelings involved.

And sometimes at night on those trips, lying awake in his bed, with Jeongguk sleeping peacefully beside him, Taehyung would have to remind himself too.

Jeongguk entered the room again, throwing a pillow at Taehyung’s head and snapping him out of his daze.

Taehyung glared at him as Jeongguk grinned.

“Arsehole.” He muttered as Jeongguk cackled. “I have a name for a reason.”

“Yeah. But pillow throwing is funnier.” Jeongguk said as he walked over to Taehyung’s closet and grabbed some of his clothes from there. He swapped his shirt and trousers, before walking back over to Tae’s bed and throwing himself on it again.

“I gotta leave for work soon.” He said absentmindedly.

“But today’s Saturday.” Taehyung pouted. “Why do you have to go into today?”

“I gotta finish the blueprints for the new swimming centre downtown. It'll only take a couple of hours.” Jeongguk said. “But we can still go for ice-cream afterwards if that’s what you’re worried about.” He smiled, poking Taehyung in the side playfully.

Taehyung smiled sheepishly.

“You know me so well.”

“Obviously. As your best friend, it’s my duty to put up with your shit.” Jeongguk smiled, earning himself a slap on the chest from Taehyung.

“Language.” Taehyung warned.

“Ah. Sorry Mr sensitive.” Jeongguk teased.

“It’s not that; I just don’t want to slip up and swear in front of the kids. That's the fastest route to unemployment.” Taehyung snorted.

“That wouldn’t be so bad.” Jeongguk said.

“What do you mean? I'd literally have no job and then I’d be homeless.” Taehyung said.

“You could always live with me. You spend most of your time at my house anyways.” Jeongguk shrugged. “Actually, you spend most of your time in my fridge, but-”

Taehyung smacked Jeongguk round the head and cut him off.

“I do not.” He denied, but even he himself knew it was a lie.

“Yeah, you do. And you eat all my chocolate ice cream too.” Jeongguk replied.

Taehyung gawked with fake offence and glared playfully at Guk.

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” He said.

“Oh shit you’re right.” Jeongguk gasped, sitting up and getting off the bed. “I gotta go now. I’ll be back at like 4 or 5ish.”

“Okay then. I’ve got nothing to do, so I'll just be at home.” Taehyung smiled.

“Sweet. I’ll see you later then, Tae. Bye.” Jeongguk smiled, waving and making dramatic kissy faces at his friend as he grabbed his boots and coat from the rack.

“See ya, Guk! You're paying for the ice creams!” Taehyung shouted jovially at Jeongguk as he left the house for work.

Taehyung remained sitting on his bed, zoning out again and getting consumed in his thoughts again. It's not like there was anything else he had to do today. He sat there, letting his mind wander to anything and everything.

That is, until, a cold, wet snowball smacked him aggressively in the face, knocking all thoughts right out of his mind.

“What the hell?” Taehyung yelled, wiping the snow out of his eyes and looking around the room to see where it had come from.

Jeongguk, in all his red nose, rosy cheeked glory, was standing in Taehyung’s doorway, panting heavily, meaning he’d run all the way back to Tae’s house. His fingers were red from the cold snow, and he had snowflakes in his fluffy brown hair.

A giant grin plastered on his adorable face.

“Don’t forget to pack your bags.” He laughed, eyes scrunching with happiness and smiling to reveal his perfect white bunny teeth.

Taehyung stared at his best friend who was standing there incredibly proud of himself, and he wanted nothing more than to get up from the bed and kiss him on that beautiful smile of his.

Instead, he grinned back at Jeongguk and stuck out his tongue, flipping him off too for good measure.

“Go to work you egghead. You're so done when you come back.” He laughed, watching as Jeongguk waved once more and left the house for real this time.

He loved this side of Jeongguk; his playful and childish side which made his tummy twist with adoration. His unique personality which was so completely perfect that it left Taehyung speechless nearly all the time. His spontaneous nature which created events like these, never ceased to make Taehyung fall even harder for him. Just the way he was always completely and truly Jeongguk, was enough to make Taehyung weak in the knees. But even with the way Taehyung wore his heart on his sleeve, Jeongguk always remained totally oblivious.

Kim Taehyung was so deeply in love with Jeon Jeongguk.

*******

“That’s the last of the luggage.” Jeongguk said as he closed the car boot and walked round to the driver’s side.

“Anything else you wanna grab before we head out?” He asked.

Taehyung, who was sat in the passenger’s seat, shook his head.

“I think I have everything. I mean, all the snacks are right in front of me, so I don’t know what else I'd need.” He laughed.

“You know you’re gonna have to feed me some of those.” Jeongguk smirked as they drove down the icy motorway.

They had decided to leave at 8pm, so that they could get to the cabin in the early morning and sleep in all day. Originally, they’d planned to do 3 hours each, but Jeongguk didn’t want Taehyung to be scared, so he decided to drive the whole way himself and let his best friend sit comfortably beside him for the ride.

“No fair!” Taehyung huffed. “Why?”

“Because I'm the one driving for 6 hours straight.” Jeongguk said. “Since a special someone has a thing about driving at night time.”Taehyung pouted.

“It’s so scary. Especially when there aren’t any streetlights anywhere too.” He shuddered.

“It’s alright, Tae. You don’t have to justify yourself; I don’t mind driving. You only have to give me gummy snakes when I ask.” Jeongguk smiled as Taehyung giggled.

“It’s a small price to pay.” Taehyung grinned. “Coz sitting in the front seat means I can blast whatever songs I want to.” He plugged in the aux cord and scrolled through his Spotify, unaware of Jeongguk who was sneakily stealing glances at him.

“Ah-ha!” He cheered, and Jeongguk’s heart melted. “I’ve got the perfect song.” He smiled, and soon, the familiar guitar melody of Lion Heart was playing through the speakers of the car. The two boys began to sing their hearts out, loudly and dramatically, making each other laugh. For two hours, Taehyung and Jeongguk told each other jokes and silly stories, entertaining each other the whole time. They sang songs, and Taehyung fed Jeongguk all the snacks he wanted, admiring his cute little eating pout whenever Jeongguk wasn’t looking.

It was now 10:45pm, and though Jeongguk absolutely was not tired at all, the same could not be said for Taehyung. He was yawning constantly, trying to stay awake so Guk wouldn’t be lonely, but it wasn't really working. After the 4th time Tae’s head had lolled forwards, Jeongguk laughed softly to himself, biting his lip to keep quiet and shaking his head fondly.

“You can take a nap if you wanna, Tae. It's okay.” He chuckled. Tae turned and squinted at Jeongguk.

“Wh-who said I was tired?” He asked, pouting when Jeongguk laughed at him.

“You’re not fooling anyone, Taehyungie. Just go to sleep.” Jeongguk said, watching as Tae yawned again.

Taehyung didn’t reply, he just nodded and adjusted himself in his chair, before closing his eyes and succumbing to his fatigue.

Jeongguk would be lying if he said he didn’t steal glances at Taehyung’s adorable sleeping face the whole time.

*******

Taehyung woke up to the feeling of Jeongguk shaking him lightly.

“TaeTae. You should wake up now. We only have 2 more hours left, and you need to also be awake to have dinner later.” Jeongguk said gently, smiling softly as Taehyung pouted sleepily at him.

“Wh-what time is it?” He mumbled.

“Nearly 1am.” Jeongguk said. “I pulled over for a bit, so you can get out and stretch your legs if you want.”

Tae nodded blearily, opening his door and stepping out into the cold night air. The freezing breeze helped wake him up some more, and he tilted his head to the sky, taking in the breath-taking view of the bright stars.

“They’re so mesmerising.” Jeongguk said as he walked over and stood beside Tae.

“Yeah. Never get to see them in the city.” Tae said. “Too many cars and clouds and not enough time.”

“Well then, let’s take a picture here.” Jeongguk said, pulling out his phone and holding it out to get the both of them in frame. “So you can always have a chance to look at the stars.” He smiled.

“Now stand over there.” Jeongguk commanded once the picture was taken. “I have to get one of you.”

“N-no.” Taehyung whined in embarrassment. “You always take pictures of me.”

“Yeah. I know. But still.” Jeongguk shrugged, smiling as Taehyung slowly shuffled back so Guk could get his picture.

And though his tired eyes were half shut, and his face was puffy with sleep, to Jeon Jeongguk, Kim Taehyung was the prettiest human alive.

*******

“We’re here! Gukkie we’re really here!” Tae cheered as they pulled up into the cabin driveway.

Jeongguk smiled and silently nodded.

“This is so cool.” Tae smiled. “Why did we never think of doing this before?”

Jeongguk shrugged.

“Beats me. Now let’s go inside and take a better look around.” He said, parking the car and unbuckling his seatbelt. He looked over at Taehyung, who was too busy staring at the snow-covered trees to notice Jeongguk’s gaze. Guk took a deep breath, psyching himself up for what he was about to do next.

He reached over across Taehyung, so that they were face to face. He could feel the warmth radiating off Tae’s honey skin, and he wanted nothing more than to press a kiss onto his squishy cheeks. He could smell Taehyung’s scent of vanilla and cocoa-butter, and it took all of his self-control to not to close his eyes and get lost in his delicate scent. Instead, he continued, inching closer to Taehyung, and watching as his best friend swallowed nervously. Guk kept moving until their faces were almost touching, and reached over, unbuckling Tae’s seatbelt for him. He sat back, wordlessly, trying not to smirk at Tae’s adorable red cheeks.

“Let’s go. I’ll get the luggage.” He said smoothly, opening his car door and stepping out.

Guk walked round and opened the boot, pulling out a suitcase and a bag, before walking off to go open the cabin door. He bit his lip, trying hard not to break out into a wide grin, but ultimately failing.

He’s so fucking cute. He thought to himself as he entered the passcode and opened the cabin door.

Jeongguk walked back outside through the snow, grabbing more bags from the car and setting them down inside the cabin. After a little while, Taehyung slowly walked in, with an adorable pout on his face.

“What’s that pout for, Tae?” Jeongguk asked smugly, watching as Tae’s cheeks flushed a deep red again.

“N-nothing.” He mumbled, stepping into the cabin and closing the door behind him. He took off his boots and left them on the rack, finally stopping to take in the breath-taking interior.

“Oh my gosh.” He said in awe, spinning around in slow circles to see everything. “This is so cool, Gukkie.” He smiled.

“I know. I knew you’d like it.” Jeongguk smiled.

“Like it? Guk I love it! I wanna come here each year.” Tae declared.

“We’ll have to see.” Jeongguk said. “We’ll have this week as a trial and we can just buy it if we like it.”

Taehyung snorted.

“Like I have the money to buy a whole-ass cabin.”

“I do.” Jeongguk said simply. “I’ll buy you this cabin if you want.”

Taehyung laughed airily and shook his head.

“You’re crazy.”

“I'm dead serious.”

“It’s okay Guk. You’re not my sugar daddy.” Tae laughed.

“But I can still get it for you-”

“Jeon Jeongguk. You are not buying me this cabin. End of discussion.” Taehyung said firmly.

“Oooh scary. Taehyungie used his big scary teacher voice.” Jeongguk mocked, dodging out the way when Tae tried to kick him.

“Just shut up and go unpack our bags. I’ll go make us some food.” Tae said, grabbing the bad filled with the cooking supplies and heading towards the little kitchen. “Be careful with my things. And don’t hurt Mr Wilson again, or I’ll beat your arse. Don’t think I didn’t see you chuck him into the boot.” He glared at Guk.

Jeongguk smiled softly to himself, staring fondly in the direction Taehyung left in. He bit his lip and smiled even harder as he saw Taehyung’s little duckling plushie Mr Wilson, sitting on top of his suitcase.

Guk picked him up and patted him softly on his head, deciding to ignore the butterflies swarming in his tummy.

*******

“Well you already promised, so stop whining and complaining.” Taehyung said sternly to Jeongguk, who was standing there frowning.

They had been at the cabin for 4 glorious days and Taehyung would be lying if he said there was absolutely no flirting between them. Well. More like, Jeongguk flirted and Taehyung would get cripplingly shy, but Tae would count it as flirting nonetheless.

He wasn’t sure what was going on between them, but he couldn’t deny that he quite liked it. Jeongguk’s touches were lingering for longer, and his eye contact was just that little bit more meaningful. Tae wasn’t sure if it was just him imagining things, but he was fairly certain that Jeongguk was subtly displaying his feelings. He’d cuddle Tae in the nights, and make him breakfast in the morning, and even one time brought him hot chocolate after he got a runny nose from playing in the snow all day.

But sadly, Tae was far too nervous to try flirting back verbally. He was too shy to make any physical moves, and straight up confessions were an absolute disaster waiting to happen.

Which was why he was determined to make gingerbread men with Jeongguk and show him this way. His plan was to make gingerbread shapes and spell it out for him, but unfortunately, Jeongguk’s stubbornness was getting in the way.

“Well I take it back then.” Guk’s muttered.

“You can’t take a promise back, Gukkie. Even my nursery class know that.” Taehyung rolled his eyes. “And besides, it’ll be fun!” He grinned.

“Baking is not fun.” Guk frowned. “It’s shit.”

“No it’s not. You're just shit at baking.” Taehyung retorted smugly.

Jeongguk huffed again.

“Let’s just get this over with.” He sighed, turning Taehyung around and tying his friend’s apron.

“Yay!” Tae grinned.

A small smile tugged at Guk’s lips, but Tae was turned around and didn’t see.

“You’re going to have so much fun making the gingerbread letters with me!” Tae smiled. “I’ll even let you eat the leftover sweets.” Tae promised, watching as Jeongguk’s pout began to disappear.

The two boys washed their hands and got started, bringing out the various ingredients and bowls/spoons.

“Why are we even making gingerbread letters anyway?” Jeongguk asked as he kneaded the dough. “What’s wrong with making regular gingerbread men?”

Taehyung tore his eyes away from the sight of Jeongguk’s flexing muscles as he rolled the dough.

“I-erm. I want to make letters. Besides, I only brought the letter cutters. I don’t have any other shapes.” Taehyung bluffed, knowing full well he even had a mermaid cookie cutter in his bag too.

“So, you remembered to bring all 26 letters, but you forgot the most basic shape there is?” Jeongguk asked.

“Y-yes?” Taehyung squeaked, hoping Jeongguk would believe him.

“You’re so silly, TaeTae.” Jeongguk laughed to himself.

“Be a good boy and grab me the shapes then, yeah?” He asked, watching as Tae blushed yet again.

“O-okay.” Tae replied, leaving the kitchen to find the bags with the shapes. He left the kitchen and nearly screamed, fangirling over Jeongguk silently to himself as he picked up the bag and rummaged through it.

He took a deep breath, taking out the letters he needed, and heading back to the kitchen where Jeongguk was waiting patiently.

“H-here they are.” Tae said, dumping them all on the countertop.

“Tae. I'm no mathematician, but I'm pretty sure this is less than 26 letters.” Jeongguk joked.

“Yeah. Turns out I don’t have any other cutters than these ones.” Tae lied.

“What random letters, too.” Jeongguk pointed out. “ L/K/E/I/U/Y/O.”

“Oh well. We can make this work.” Tae said hastily.

Jeongguk shrugged and picked up a cutter, moving over so Tae could stand next to him. They continued to joke and bicker as they cut the shapes out and lined them on trays, sliding them in the oven and cleaning up their mess. They sang songs and danced together as they waited for the gingerbread shapes to cook. Finally, the timer dinged, and they took the trays out, waiting for them to cool down before they got to work with decorating them.

“I have to give it to you, Taehyungie. These look pretty cool.” Jeongguk said as he finished icing the last letter. “I actually had fun with this.”

“Yay!” Tae smiled. “Told you it would be fun! Now just let me organise these and then you can take a picture of them!”

“Cool.” Jeongguk said. “Hey, quick question. Why did we do two "i" shapes? I thought we were just gonna do one of each letter."

“I-I don’t know.” Tae said. “Doesn’t matter.” He said, nervously arranging the letters to spell out I LIKE YOU.

He breathed out shakily and turned around, facing his best friend.

“Okay. I finished.” He said, excited and scared to see what Jeongguk’s reaction would be, as he stepped out of the way and let his friend see.

Jeongguk stood there for a while, staring at the tray.

“These are so fucking cool.” He grinned, pulling out his phone and snapping a picture of the biscuits.

Taehyung’s smile fell.

“Th-that’s it? That's your only comment? That they’re cool?” He asked in disbelief.

“Yeah. Wh-what else do you want me to say?” Jeongguk asked in confusion. “I think they’re absolutely BrEaThTaKiNg, Tae.” Jeongguk said dramatically.

“B-but-” Taehyung began to speak up, but the words died in his throat when Jeongguk picked up the K cookie and took a huge bite from it.

How could someone be so oblivious?

“What?” Guk asked, genuinely confused.

“N-nevermind.” Tae sighed, wanting nothing more to curl up into a little ball of defeat on the floor.

“Just eat your cookie. I'm gonna go take a bath.” He mumbled, pulling off his apron and trudging out of the kitchen sadly.

“It’s okay, TaeTae.” He said to himself as he sat in his warm bubble bath. “You still have 3 more days to tell him. And you still have another plan. Everything will be fine. No worries.”

Fingers crossed his next plan was a bit more obvious.

******

Chrismas Eve together was always a fun experience.

Taehyung and Jeongguk would brag about the gifts they got each other, and make each other guess what they were given. Then the suspense and anticipation would get the better of them and they’d cave and open their gifts a day early.

Every year.

Their impatience was kind of a tradition in itself, ironically.

This year, Taehyung had gotten Jeongguk a ps5 for Christmas, knowing how much his best friend loved to play video games. Originally, he’d bought them matching rings with their names engraved in it, but decided not to give it to him in case it made his feelings blaringly obvious. But with the recent turn of events, he wasn’t sure it would be such a bad thing. Taehyung was currently jumping for joy and thanking his lucky stars that he’d packed the rings in his bag, knowing that now, he could use them to show Guk how he felt.

Jeongguk was currently in the living room, probably eating the gingerbread biscuits, which had given Taehyung time to sneak off and look for the rings. He shoved the box in his pocket and left the bedroom, walking up to Jeongguk who was actually decorating the living room.

“Hey Taehyung.” Jeongguk said as he hung up the last snowflake. “Do you like it?”

“Yeah. It looks really cute.” Tae smiled. “Especially that mistletoe corner over there.”

“Mistletoe?” Jeongguk said in confusion.

“Yeah. You kiss people every time you pass them.” Tae explained

“Well fuck. I thought they were mini Christmas trees.” Jeongguk laughed.

“Anyway.” Taehyung said, wanting to change the subject. “Guess what I got you for Christmas.”

“Tae, we do this every year.”

“Yeah. No point breaking tradition is there? Now guess.” Tae grinned.

“Fine,” Jeongguk caved. “Is it edible?”

“Nope.”

“Colourful?”

“Nope. Yours is black.” Tae smiled mysteriously.

“You’re such a tease.” Jeongguk laughed. “Give me better hints.”

They continued to bicker and guess each other’s gifts, until finally, after a long 6 minutes, Jeongguk finally guessed correctly.

“Let me see!” He begged like a child. “I wanna see the rings!”

“No.” Tae smiled. “It’s supposed to be for Christmas.”

“No fair.” Jeongguk whined. “You can’t get my hopes up like that and then just not show me.”

“Fine.” Tae said, pulling the box from his pocket and holding it out to Guk.

“Yay!” Jeongguk smiled, making kissy faces at Taehyung and taking the box.

“But before you open it,” Tae said. “I just want you to think long and hard about all the implications this may have. Because I'm seriously gonna go crazy if you don’t get this one.”

Jeongguk nodded eagerly, before peeling off the wrapping paper and pulling out the velvet box.

“Holy fuck.” He said, “This is so cool, Tae.”

“You like it?” Taehyung asked nervously.

“Yeah. These are dope.” Jeongguk smiled gratefully. “And they even have our names on them. You’re the best.”

Taehyung blushed shyly.

“So, what do you think this means?” Tae asked.

Jeongguk smiled knowingly, pulling Taehyung closer to him and sliding one of the rings onto his finger.

“Obviously that we’re such great friends that you want us to have matching friendship rings!” Jeongguk grinned. “You’re the best friend ever.”

Taehyung’s heart broke, and his smile faltered.

He wanted to cry, but his sweet, oblivious best friend was so happy with the fRiEnDsHip RiNgS, so he sucked it up and put on a smile, picking up the other ring and putting it on Jeongguk’s finger.

How could Jeongguk, the same person who was openly flirting with him 20 minutes ago, be so oblivious to Tae’s advances?

It was baffling.

He wanted to bash his head into the wall 10,000 times.

“Thank you so much, Tae.” Jeongguk smiled, “You’re awesome.”

“No problem, Gukkie.” Taehyung forced out a smile.

For someone so bold, confident and authoritative, Jeon Jeongguk sure was blind.

*******

Besides the crippling pain of his crush being blind to all his advances, Taehyung would say his Christmas morning was going quite well.

He and Jeongguk had spent all morning sitting in the mistletoe corner by the fire, opening gifts and drinking hot chocolate.

Jeongguk had gotten Taehyung various things, but Tae’s personal favourite, was the new duckling plushie, whose name was Mr Fergus. Unable to control himself, Taehyung had launched himself into Jeongguk’s arms in a big hug, and they’d kind of just stayed in that position. They were sitting on the rug, and Jeongguk was leaning against the table, sitting upright as Tae curled up in his lap, creating a love-story for Mr Fergus and Mr Wilson.

They spent hours like that; sitting on the rug, tangled together, and it felt incredibly domestic for them both.

Jeongguk would definitely would be put on the naughty list if he voiced all the things he wanted to do to Taehyung, who was in his lap wearing an adorable little Rudolph onesie. It was one of those onesies with the flap on the rear end, and Jeongguk’s mind was going haywire at the thought of opening that flap and fucking adorable little Taehyung crazy in that adorable little outfit of his.

But alas, his friend would probably turn him down if he made any advances, so he decided to keep his hands and thoughts to himself.

He was running his hands through Tae’s hair, softly patting and stroking him. Without even thinking, Jeongguk pressed a kiss to Tae’s head, so wrapped up in his feelings and the soft atmosphere.

Taehyung stilled beneath him, but made no sounds of discomfort or objection.

Shit Jeongguk cursed himself.

Jeongguk was worried that he’d made Taehyung uncomfortable with all his flirting, seeing as Taehyung had been quite nervous around him since and had even gotten him a gift to affirm their friendship. He thought about apologising but with the way Taehyung was curling into him, he wasn’t quite sure if Taehyung even minded too much. Not wanting to make things awkward, Jeongguk decided to just apologise when and if Taehyung brought it up.

“Jeonggukie,” Taehyung began.

“Yeah?” Jeongguk replied, ready to be rejected.

“N-nothing.” Taehyung said.

“No, it’s okay, Tae. Say what you wanted to say; I won’t judge.” Jeongguk said.

“Promise?” Taehyung asked nervously.

“Promise.” Jeongguk said warmly, rubbing circles on Tae’s back.

“W-well. I just wanted to ask if...if you like the rings I got?” Tae asked. It was quite obvious that wasn’t what he was going to ask originally, but thankfully, Jeongguk didn’t push it.

“Yeah, Tae. I love it.” Jeongguk said, holding out his hand to show Tae the black ring sitting proudly on his finger.

“I-I’m glad you do.” Tae said. “B-but what if I told you that they weren’t a symbol of friendship?” He asked nervously.

“What do you mean, Tae? I don’t get it.” Jeongguk said gently.

“N-no judgement, remember?” Tae repeated again, clearly looking for reassurance.

“No judgement.” Jeongguk reassured.

“W-well.” Taehyung said, squeezing his eyes shut. “I don’t wanna say it out loud.”

“It’s okay, Tae. Do what you need to do.” Jeongguk said, eyebrows furrowing in confusion as Taehyung slowly turned around in his hold, so that they were face to face. There were tears sparkling in his brown eyes, and there was worry spread across his face.

“After I tell you these words, I’m not sure if we can go back to smiling like we are now.” He mumbled, sniffling and trying to hold back his tears. “But I have to.”

“I like you.” Taehyung said vulnerably

“I really really like you, Jeongguk.”

He reached up and cupped Jeongguk’s face in his hands, tilting their heads in a kiss. It was brief at first; just the touching of two lips, and it was over far too quickly in Jeongguk’s opinion. Taehyung was staring at him, eyes wide and searching Jeongguk’s own for a response. Taehyung pulled back, fear visible in his eyes.

“I-I’m sor-” He began, but Jeongguk’s soft lips cut him off and took the apology right from his mouth. Tae freezes for a moment, but then kisses Jeongguk back with soft lips and an open mouth. He’s pretty sure Jeongguk can feel him shaking in his arms, trembling with nervousness and relief, but then there’s a gentle hand his on his back and Jeongguk begins to stroke him, caringly and reassuringly, and Tae feels all his fears dissipate. Jeongguk’s lips are gentle yet firm, kissing him incessantly, as though afraid this moment will slip from his fingers. Jeongguk pulled back, staring into Taehyung’s eyes and offering a genuine, loving smile, before they’re both diving back in for another kiss. There was a sound from the back of his throat, half growl, half moan, but either way, it was in satisfaction.

Taehyung wasn’t sure how long they kissed for, but he was sure that he didn’t want it to end. But he knew they still had to talk, so he tried to pull back again, but Jeongguk took his head in his hands and pressed their lips together again and again, not wanting this moment to end.

"G-Gukkie," Taehyung said, finally having the self control to pull away.

"Sorry," Jeongguk said sheepishly, biting his lip and caressing Taehyung's face gently "I just can't believe this is happening."

"R-really?" Taehyung asked meekly.

"Yeah. I-I've liked you for a long time Tae. I was so worried that I'd fucked things up between us by being to flirty or touching you and I was just-"

Taehyung cut him off with a simple shake of his head.

"Gukkie. I've liked you for years. Probably since the first time we met." Taehyung laughed airily. "I was just too much of a coward to say anything. B-but all your words and touches made me think; what if there's a chance that you like me back? A-and when you kissed my head, I thought that I might go crazy if I didn't confess right there and then."

Jeongguk nodded gently, wordlessly bringing Taehyung's body closer to himself and cuddling him close. He pressed a kiss against Taehyung's temple and smiled to himself; an unbelievable weight removed from his shoulders.

They sat in silence for a while, just allowing the reality of the situation to settle in.

"Tae?"Jeongguk called out nervously. "D-does this mean we're boyfriends?"

Taehyung nodded.

"Yeah. We're boyfriends." He said, breaking out into an uncontrollable smile. "About fucking time." He laughed in relief.

"This is the second best Christmas gift ever." Jeongguk said.

"Second?" Taehyung asked with fake offence. "What's the first?"

"Hello?" Jeongguk said, "Do you not see that ps5 sitting over there in the corner?" He laughed as Taehyung smacked his chest playfully.

"Merry Christmas baby." Jeongguk smiled proudly, tilting his head downwards to meet Taehyung's sweet lips in a wonderful kiss.

"Merry Christmas too, Jeonggukie." Tae smiled.

"I can't wait to have so many more with you."

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