About Now*:・ﾟ| Chapter Five — Gyu You're On Timeout

about now*:・ﾟ| chapter five — gyu you're on timeout

summary: a global pandemic paired with months of lockdown; you're pretty sure you're going stir-crazy. when you come across a viral chat-app, you don't even hesitate to join it. thus begin the chaos of meeting 14 random strangers and how they become a bigger part of your life than you thought they would.

alt: an au where you join an app that puts you into a groupchat of 15 people from different parts of the world

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a/n: the way jihoon looks at carats in fansigns yall,,, im not strong enough for this

about now*:・ﾟ| chapter twenty seven — ready to love

alt: an au where you join an app that puts you into a groupchat of 15 people from different parts of the world

word count: 2.3k words

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join the taglist ?? :D

a/n: AND IT IS HERE FOLKS !! sorry for the late-ish update lol this a big chonky one🤧but i hope the wait is worth it ?? (':

About Now*:・ﾟ| Chapter Twenty Seven — Ready To Love

“Hooold on a second, let me get the file up real quick,” Jihoon softly mutters.

It had been mere moments since you’ve finished calling the rest of the group for a celebratory Christmas call. Your small apartment suddenly feels even smaller as everything falls into silence and you were left alone. A bittersweet sigh escapes you as you stretch, but a notification popping up on your laptop sends you tumbling out of your seat in shock.

Ten minutes later, you sit face to face with the man who has been plaguing your mind and your everyday thoughts. The same man who you have been stressing over day and night and made you feel like a lovesick fool.

(Deep down you knew you are, a lovesick fool; for him.)

He greets you with a stiff wave and despite the tension biting at your nerves, a giggle bubbles out of you in endearment. He rolls his eyes in mock annoyance, but the playful glint in his eyes erases any malice behind his muffled “shut up.” The soft pads and swift clicks of a keyboard fill the air as silence falls upon the two of you. He dons an excited—albeit, shy—smile that he inevitably fails to suppress every time he glances to the corner of the monitor where your figure sits in anticipation. You pretend not to notice that smile, despite how much it made your heart race.

Yet you can’t help but stare at him anyway—admiring the way his lithe hand squishes against his cheek, how long his hair has notably grown as it falls over his eyes—a certain gentleness spreads warmth within your heart. You internally punch the air at how the universe has simultaneously graced you with his companionship but cursed you with the seemingly impossible circumstances to profess either of your feelings and take your friendship any further. However, tonight you were hell-bent on making things right.

As you let your thoughts trail, an air of nervousness renders you stiff. The reality suddenly dawns on you; the sheer magnitude of your feelings for him has lead you to personalise your very own gift package—with a written letter explaining said feelings—that is set to arrive at any given moment now. In this call. The comfortable stance you’ve taken suddenly feels constricting and you reposition your limbs aimlessly. Your eyes flit around until you’re pretty sure you’ve looked at every miscellaneous item on your desk three times already. How the hell did you usually act around him?

As the time ticks on, the jitters in your palms increases and you bite your inner cheek in silent distress.

However, as if he knew the state you were in, your earphones crackle to life with a soft hum of an unfamiliar, yet soothing melody. Instantly, as if it was muscle memory, your body calms down and your thoughts hush into a quiet lull. All you can hear and focus on is Jihoon’s sweet voice washing over you peacefully.

“Is that the new song?” You asked after he finishes humming a verse.

He shakes his head, a small pout forming on his lips and you bite your lip in hopes of repressing the smitten smile threatening to split your face at his cute expressions.

“I’ve been kind of stuck on that one, so uh...” he trails off, wordlessly. You were about to express words of encouragement before he quickly adds, “I made this one instead.”

The small notification startles you as you slightly jump at the sound, fingers scrambling to open the song file Jihoon sent you.

On the other side of the screen, Jihoon quickly drops his head to hide his grin as he finds himself enamoured at all your little mannerisms. It does well in distracting him from the fact that he just sent you an entire song of him simply pouring all of his pent up feelings for you—or…actually not really.

Oh God, he thinks to himself, his nerves suddenly spiking when he hears your delighted cheer indicating that you finished downloading the file and is about to listen to it and fuck, I want the ground to swallow me whole.

“What’s the inspiration behind this one, ‘Hoon?”

He feels his world slow into a standstill. A beat passes. Jihoon releases a breath he subconsciously held as he frantically searches for an answer.

You, obviously, he thinks to himself again. All my songs are all about you.

However his silence stretches on and he sees you tilt your head in question and he blurts out unthinkingly, “why don’t you listen to it first? I think you’ll get where I’m coming from then.”

You only nod enthusiastically before counting down in a soft voice, a distant click! of the keyboard is the last sound Jihoon heard before he sees you immersing yourself in the song. A surprised look flashes your eyes and he sees you flit your gaze towards the screen where he is, before immediately dropping to your fiddling hands. Even through the slightly blurry screen and your best efforts to hide your face, Jihoon notes your reddening ears and he can only assume which part of the song you’re in.

My feelings grew after I met you

Just friends that’s not enough for me

As nonchalant as he acts, Jihoon is apt at picking up your feelings, or more importantly, his returned feelings. He’s not oblivious, nor stupid. After spending hours upon hours talking to you in video calls—whether it was him asking you for company as he cooks dinner for himself, to you randomly calling during his shift at work just to show a quick cat you found at a random park, or your weekly watching parties. Jihoon has called you enough to know how you are at any time of day, to see you go through many ups and downs, and memorise every little habit you have.

I’m a fool of love for you

My heart by your side forever, by your side forever

Jihoon remembers it all, and he treasures it all. Often he’d catch his own expression and how utterly in love, he looks. He would have cursed himself for falling for someone so deeply if not for the fact that one day, you started to mirror that same look to him. Whether you had realised it yourself or not, Jihoon was elated. So he stays by your side, lets your very presence carve itself a home in his heart and hopes that he has a place in yours, too.

Trust me now

To fill my heart to the top

Like you’re short of breath (let me)

You give me purpose

You hung your head and shut your eyes, heart tugging and you wonder to yourself whether it was in denial or hope. Is this truly real? As the last echoes of the beat ring in your ears, you heave a breath. Raising your head, you brave yourself to look into the screen and the moment you saw Jihoon’s expectant face you part your lips, a response ready at the tip of your tongue.

“I’m—”

Ring. Ring.

Not expecting his doorbell to ring so late into the night, Jihoon flinches in surprise, eyes widening as he heaves an exasperated sigh. He mumbles a “be right back” before his figure disappears off-camera, a string of curses leaving his lips before it fades into silence.

You let out an airy chuckle, a giddy smile threatening to break out after your jittery nerves start to settle after hearing the song. Who would have guessed that Jihoon would write an entire song dedicating his confession to you? You shake your head in disbelief, finding it funny at how similar the two of you think as your confessions were coincidentally set on the same day-

Hold on, you thought. Was the doorbell for the—

Before your thoughts could spiral even further, you see Jihoon fall back onto his chair, a wrapped gift in his hands. You see a glint in his eye as his lips stretch into a bashful grin, bringing out his red-dusted cheeks.

“Did you conspire with Seokmin to send me something?”

The box was decked in horrendous wrapping paper, numerous thumbs with little Santa hats littered all over—a telltale sign of your own doing. Despite editing it yourself, you still snort at its tangible form, overly proud of yourself. You hear Jihoon break into a fit of giggles—albeit with half-hearted complaints in between of the stupid thumbs—and you were glad that you were the source of it.

“Can I open it now?” Jihoon asked hurriedly, his excitement evident in the way his fingers tap rapidly on the box. In spite of the slight embarrassment of seeing him react to your gifts (and ultimately your confession letter), you nod, giving him the go-ahead.

Jihoon didn’t really know what to expect, the prospect of receiving a gift from you was enough to send his heart racing but as he carefully opened the package, he felt his breath knocked out of his lungs.

Little assorted gifts filled the box and scanning the notes stuck on them, he recognises some of them as things he mentioned wanting offhandedly in past calls and texts, whether they were your local snacks or certain knickknacks he’s seen you have lying around your apartment. Jihoon feels ridiculous when he remembers how nervous he was a mere hour ago when now, he sits there with a box of, well, your feelings, essentially. So he cherishes it, softly tracing each note, as if in fear it’d disappear if he wasn’t careful with it, with your hard work.

Jihoon delicately thumbs an envelope sealed with a heart sticker. He opens it before he heard your panicked yell.

“Wait! Don’t open that yet, do it last…Please?”

Through its design, Jihoon inherently knew what was inside the envelope, and somehow it made the paper in his hand feel heavier, growing an itch to read its content. Seeing your distressed face, however, leads him to carefully place the envelope on the table; making sure not a single corner was wrinkled. He sees your shoulder sag, and he sends you a smile, “should I check the rest, then?” You nod hurriedly, and he holds back a comment. Cute, he thinks.

A throw blanket. “Now you can stop complaining about using your heavy duvet when you get cold playing on the sofa” Jihoon remembers that time he sulked about your handy throw blanket on your sofa and how he doesn’t have one, leading you to tease him the entire night when you snuggled your face into the said blanket. He remembers how his heart clenches at the sight of you half asleep under it and how he wishes he could revel in the sight with his own eyes instead of through the camera.

A red string bracelet with a bell pendant inside a black mug. “Please stop drinking solely out of sport bottles” Jihoon scoffs at the note before staring at the two items, wondering their significance—breaking into a smile as he figures it out, recognising the familiar designs in a post you sent from Instagram.

“Are these matching items?”

You look away from the screen before nodding ever so slowly. You can hear his airy giggle and even without seeing the screen, you can feel the unadulterated joy emanating from him.

“The red string and bell are from ‘Kimi no Na wa’, so…” Your voice started confidently before fading into silence as embarrassment overtakes you, letting out a groan at Jihoon’s teasing.

A night…lamp? Jihoon picks it up before holding it close to the camera. To his surprise, you let out a grumble before hiding your face behind your palms again. The man only raises an eyebrow and you wordlessly reach out to an identical looking lamp sitting on your desk, bringing it into the camera’s view. You touch the lamp softly as it glows a warm purple in response, and you can see the one Jihoon’s holding react the same way. Realisation falls over Jihoon’s face and a peal of uncontrollable laughter escapes him.

You whine out to him indignantly, “why are you laughing at me!”

It takes Jihoon a few seconds to recuperate, traces of laughter evident in the chuckles under his breath as he puffs out a response.

“You’re genuinely the cutest person ever, Yn.”

The man only grins at the effect his statement has on you, as you curl into yourself again in embarrassment.

“You’re the worst.”

Jihoon snickers and the two of you fall into a comfortable silence. He giggles here and there, picking up graphic greeting cards you drew of his favourite characters, storing them safely on his table, next to the letter. You catch his longing eyes lingering on it for a few seconds, before diving back into the box. Something in you stirs as you see him immediately start to shoot off comments about some more snacks, so before you knew it, you cut him off without warning.

“I’m in love with you.”

Jihoon’s words trail off into a stop. His hands that were busy with the box’s contents pause mid-air too, as if he was under a spell, which is true for the most part. His eyes trace yours for any sign of hesitation, yet what meets his gaze is one so full of love he thought he was dreaming, and he felt every nerve of his body tingle in adoration.

A beat passes. And another.

Tenderness blooms in Jihoon’s features as his lips settle into a soft smile. He takes in your shy yet determined figure, eyes gazing at him in anticipation. He finds out right there and then that what he used to find difficult to admit in spoken words in lieu of a string of melody, somehow falls out of his lips with ease in the presence of you.

“I’m in love with you too.”

extra a/n: we fuckin did it y'all,,,,, it's been a long journey😭 but here's a truckload of fluff for all of ya !! :D

taglist: @wooziujidoots @emilie0nicole @lynniac @wuriwoori @serenadesvt @seokgyuu @3sriracha @ktzuki @seungcheoluwu @justasoftstan @mythicalamphitrite @anothershorthuman @xxirxa21xx @lulpurp @introductionvert @icepandagirl @mingyuahjumma @spicy-hoshi @w8nuzone @caratgether

unable to tag: @berry-kyu ?? ):

About Now*:・ﾟ| Chapter Five — Gyu You're On Timeout

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about now*:・ﾟ| chapter twenty seven — ready to love