jake is too conscious about the thing sitting on his nose but all for wrong reason. afab reader x roommate!jake ! fluff ! silly ! reader is older than jake ! late night giggling type shit !
ꈍᴗꈍ
"What are you looking at?"
Jake flinched at the piercing coldness of your voice, followed by an annoyed huff. He immediately pushed his glasses back up his nose, the same pair that had been resting on the sink counter for almost an hour now, and stammered “u-uhm, nothing...” You gave him a weird look and shoved his shoulder lightly so you could stand beside him in front of the mirror. Jake quickly realized he was hogging most of the space and scooted behind you. “Sorry… you must’ve been waiting for a while.”
“Fuck I was,” you muttered, lips trembling slightly as you carefully removed your lashes. You reached up to grab your cleanser, which was usually kept in the shared cabinet. The contrast between your basic skincare products and Jake’s shaving stuff almost made you smile—if only you hadn’t just had the shittiest day a few hours ago. Jake was mumbling something behind you, which only irritated you more. Why did he always talk under his breath like you would eat him alive if he spoke clearly? Matter of fact at this point, you actually might.
“Jake do you have a problem?” Your irritated tone made him shake his head quickly. Then he slipped out of the shared bathroom in a hurry.
When you and Jake first met at Sunghoon’s sister’s birthday party, you barely remembered the guy with thick glasses who was strangely popular among yeji's friends and grandmas. He was also well known among Sunghoon’s cousins for being an absolute failure in his dating life. Not that you were paying attention to how a hot guy like him could fail at every date. Nope nada. You were there as sunghoon's long-distance friend, so you knew better than to make some random younger guy uncomfortable by blatantly staring at him.
The next time you met Jake was during apartment hunting in Seoul. The entire mess of him becoming your roommate was caused by a very avoidable mistake that your broker had somehow failed to prevent. And so you ended up stuck with the awkward third year guy who spent the first entire month trying his best to avoid crossing paths with you. Jake wasn’t a bad roommate, except for his obsession with spending more time in the bathroom than you, and his half girlfriend (half the time they were fighting, the other half she was fucking another guy behind his back) who loved crashing at your place.
Well, that had been months ago, and now Jake’s relationship with you was somehow more confusing than the entire syllabus for your master’s degree. Honestly besides the skyrocketing inflation rate in your country, the only thing constantly messing with your brain was: What the fuck was Jake Sim up to? As previously established, Jake already spent an absurd amount of time inside the bathroom. But recently he developed an even weirder habit—standing in front of the mirror and staring at his own reflection so intensely it looked like he was trying to summon a variety of Bloody Mary.
I mean yeah, his face is practically a work of art, but you needed your sweet time in front of the mirror too.
You licked the remaining Cheetos crumbs off your fingers after finishing your second packet, a random episode of Doraemon playing on the huge tv in the shared living room between your bedroom and Jake’s. Your eyes barely paid attention to the round blue robot on screen. Instead they drifted toward Jake, who was currently struggling to drag a heavy carton across the floor. Probably filled with those astrophysics books he recently ordered. You paused mid lick when you noticed the bandages wrapped around his knuckles. A tiny groan slipped from his throat the moment he applied too much pressure to one of his fingers.
You straightened a little.
“Jake do you need help?”
At the sound of your voice Jake froze for half a second before hurriedly dragging the entire carton closer to his room “no y/n! thanks for asking!”
What the hell? You rolled your eyes so hard it almost hurt, a string of creative curses immediately leaving your mouth. It was fucking frustrating okay? You were tired of pretending Jake’s blatant avoidance, awkwardness, and ridiculous nervousness around you didn’t affect you, especially after the two of you may or may not have gone on multiple dates once he admitted he and his ex were no longer in contact. And now he was acting like this again. It made you want to grab your own head and smash it straight into the tv screen.
Jake was definitely hiding something from you, and it pissed you off more than you wanted to admit. Because otherwise, why would Jake, a scholarship student who was already more than financially stable thanks to his mom’s real estate business, suddenly start doing part time jobs out of nowhere? Was his half girlfriend back again? And was he seriously saving money to buy her an engagement ring behind your back?
Yeah yeah. Maybe you were older and maybe a little old fashioned too. But you couldn’t help the way your chest tightened whenever Jake smiled at you or giggled at your stupid daily rants. The corners of his mouth always curled in this ridiculously soft way that somehow made him look even more handsome than he already was. Honey tanned skin and those stupid thick framed glasses. He was so fucking adorable that, at the end of the day, you genuinely hated yourself for thinking maybe you weren’t important enough for him to share his problems with.
Especially when he’d spent months listening to yours.
Well he did at least, until the start of this month. Not entirely Jake’s fault though. You had been drowning in graduation prep while simultaneously dodging your parents’ daily “bring your boyfriend home” phone calls like bullets. Jake had been busy with college too and somehow both of you had slowly lost track of each other’s schedules without even realizing it. Jake wasn’t your boyfriend. Hell, you didn’t even know if he wanted to be your boyfriend.
Truthfully, every date you had with Jake always ended the same way. Two of you sitting shoulder to shoulder by the riverside, hands tightly intertwined while Jake’s fishing equipment rested beside him completely untouched and not a single fish in sight.
Or sprawled across the apartment floor late at night, you desperately trying to keep up with his impossibly soft kisses against your lips, your shoulder blades, your wrists, lower and lower across your chest—stopstopstopstop.
Nothing could make you pause thinking about him without genuinely feeling like a blood vessel might burst inside your forehead.
And the worst part was how every kiss always ended so abruptly. Jake would pull away first, mumbling quiet apologies under his breath while fixing your messy hair, smoothing the wrinkles out of your blouse, wiping the corner of your lips clean if any trace of smudged lipbalm remained. Almost, as if he felt guilty for touching you. And every single time, it left you even more frantic, confused, and painfully in love with him. You seriously couldn’t understand what his problem was. Why did he always look so apologetic after kissing you?
Unless—Oh my god. That had to be it.
Maybe you were just a horrible kisser.
You suddenly sat upright in shock, both hands flying toward your mouth, completely forgetting about the metal tumbler you had been holding moments earlier. It slipped from your grip and clattered loudly against the dirty bus floor. The grandma sitting beside you looked mildly offended, while a high school couple nearby watched you with genuine concern as the tumbler rolled to a stop near their shoes.
Could this day get any worse?
*beep beep beep*
Familiar sound of the apartment door unlocking snapped Jake out of his thoughts. He immediately fumbled with his phone, nearly dropping it in the process, and by the time you stepped inside, he had already flipped the device face down and practically slammed it onto the kitchen counter.
“Uhhh… hi,” he greeted awkwardly and gestured towards the stove “ramen…?”
Oh Jake’s sweet-sweet voice welcoming you after a long day of your professors trying their absolute best to convince everyone that doing a master’s degree was basically self sacrifice disguised as academics. You missed him so fucking much that your stomach grumbled before you could even answer his question. “Oh, uhm…” You bit your lip, far too exhausted to even hide your embarrassment, and simply nodded.
Jake smiled painfully warm again before turning back toward the stove to stir the ramen simmering inside the pot. Your chest tightened. You had to talk to him and end this suffering tonight.
After freshening up and finishing your skincare routine, minus the ten minute argument you just had with your own reflection about how to bring up the topic without sounding completely insane, you finally stepped out of your room.
“Jake…? Do you need help?” you called out after noticing the clattering of utensils from the kitchen had suddenly stopped. You peeked your head out first. The stove was still on and the pot of ramen sat untouched, steam curling into the air while the smell filled the entire dining area. But Jake was nowhere in sight. You slowly walked over, near the counter to check on the ramen, and that was when your eyes landed on Jake’s phone lying beside the stove, the screen still glowing faintly.
You swallowed hard and glanced around the apartment as your heart raced. Don't do it y/n! It's a breach of privacy!
But eventually temptation won and you grabbed his phone. Your brows immediately furrowed when you realized his notes app was open.
“What the hell…” you whispered under your breath, unsure what you were even supposed to be looking at.
Goal: $8000
Saved: $3700
You blinked in confusion. The sound of the bathroom door shutting snapped you out of your thoughts, panic instantly rushing through your body.
“Y/n?”Jake’s voice made you look up, but you couldn’t even bother hiding the absolutely catastrophic invasion of privacy you just committed. Instead you tightened your grip around his phone and asked flatly
“Are you back with Madeline?”
Jake frowned for a second. “Wha—no….why?” Then his eyes dropped to your hand, which was still clutching his phone tightly like it was the only thing keeping you upright. He quickly walked toward you “why is my pho—”
“Jake please, just....be honest with me” your shaky voice only seemed to make Jake more nervous and confused than he already was.
“I am being honest,” he said softly. “Why would I lie to you…?”
You didn’t know what to believe anymore. The phone slipped from your grip and clattered on the floor. “Then why are you saving up so much money?” you asked, your voice cracking “Is it not….to buy her an engagement ring…?”
There it is. You actually fucking said it. Congratulations. The award for being the most insecure and insufferable roommate alive officially goes to Y/n Y/l/n. Jake blinked rapidly.
“No—it’s not for that. What’s wrong…?”
Still visibly nervous, he quickly turned off the stove before grabbing your hands carefully in his. The warmth of his palms against yours only made everything worse. Why did he always have to be so sweet?
“I don’t know, it’s just—” you started, already feeling embarrassed. “You’ve been hiding things from me. You suddenly started working part time jobs, you have injuries on your fingers that you refuse to explain, we barely talk anymore, and I—” Your breathing hitched “I can’t stop overthinking okay? Are you buying an apartment to move in with her or something? I’m sorry if I make you uncomfortable to stay with. I knew us going on dates was stupid…”
Once again everything always circled back to your stupid dating situation. You hated it. Because whatever existed between you and Jake shouldn’t have been measured by something as small as missed dates or awkward silences. You guys were just messing around anyway. At least that’s what it probably was for him. But for you? For you it was painfully serious.
“I’m sorry,” you whispered weakly “I-I don’t really know how to explain this without sounding insecure.”
Before you could even finish Jake pulled you into a bone crushing hug.
“hey…” he murmured quietly against your hair. “It’s my fault too. I should’ve been clearer with you from the beginning…”
What?
“I am indeed saving money,” he admitted after pulling away slightly, “but it’s not because I got back with Madeline or anything.”
You noticed the way he shifted his weight from one foot to another repeatedly—a habit he always had whenever he got extremely nervous. Then he finally looked up at you properly, very much determined and exhaled a long breath.
“It’s for my LASIK surgery.”
Pause. Huh?
you stared at him stupidly “why—why do you need LASIK surgery? Are you like…going blind?”
The moment the words left your mouth, your eyes widened in horror. There was absolutely no way you just said that out loud. You slapped a hand over your mouth immediately and shook your head frantically “I’m sorry!”
Even though the air around both of you was still painfully tense, Jake suddenly broke into laughter. His shoulders shook as he threw his head back slightly “Oh my god y/n no—I’m not going blind!”
Ugh.
Why can't the ground just open up and swallow you as whole.
“Don’t fucking laugh, idiot!” you snapped mortified “do you know how worried I was? I genuinely thought I did something wrong and you were avoiding me because of it!” You smacked his shoulder in irritation before brushing past him toward the living room, desperately trying to distract yourself with Doraemon before you embarrassed yourself any further. But Jake caught your wrist mid motion and with one gentle tug, he pulled you right back against his chest.
“That’s because both of us were busy,” he said softly. “That’s not really what you were worried about… right?”
There he caught you again.
You were so annoyed at him for figuring you out so easily, and at the same time, you were even more annoyed at yourself for being this weak when it came to Jake.
“Why—why are you always so controlled around me?” you mumbled frustratedly “like…why don’t you ever lose yourself—no that’s not what I mean.” You groaned, already feeling humiliation crawl up your spine. “Uhm… why do you never just…go all in?” You somehow managed to get the entire sentence out despite knowing damn well that later tonight the final stage of embarrassment was going to hit you like a truck in the form of insomnia and self inflicted frustration.
Jake stayed quiet for a few seconds, visibly trying to organize his thoughts.
“Ugh! you’re so fucking stupid!” Your whine barely finished before you grabbed his shirt and pressed your lips against his.
To Jake it genuinely felt like you were inhaling every coherent thought left inside his head just by kissing him. His arms moved instinctively around your waist, pulling you closer until your chest pressed against his. The sudden contact made a tiny gasp slip from your lips right into the kiss. Jake let out a shaky breath then, gently cupping your cheeks, he broke the kiss.
“Mmfm—no Y/n, wait.”
Between the loud pounding of your heartbeat and his, you could hear how hard Jake was breathing, like he was seconds away from an asthma attack. Your gaze swept shyly across his face, taking in all the tiny details you swore you wanted permanently etched into your veins. His slightly messy hair, thin sheen of sweat above his brows and his glasses sitting crooked and fogged up from the kiss.
“See…” Jake mumbled, biting his lip nervously. “This is what I’m talking about.” Confused you blinked at him “what’s the problem?”
“This right here,” he whispered softly while adjusting his glasses again, only for you to suddenly feel a sharp tug near your forehead. “Ow…” you whispered and realized a few strands of your hair had gotten tangled in the hinge of his glasses.
“I wanna get LASIK because I want to kiss you properly baby, without this damn thing bothering us,” he admitted before burying his face into the space between your shoulder and neck. Oh my god what?
Ignoring the emotional trainwreck currently happening inside your chest, you slowly lifted your hand to run your fingers through Jake’s hair “Jake…is this—is this seriously why you’re saving money?” Still too shy to properly look at you, Jake nodded against your skin “I want everything to be perfect for you,” he mumbled, his voice muffling on your skin. A huge grin slowly spread across your face.
“Stupid,” you laughed softly. “Jake I promise they’re not that much of a bother like my brain literally shuts off whenever I’m kissing y—”
“No, Y/n, you don’t understand,” Jake suddenly cut you off, pulling back just enough to grab your cheeks again. “That one time I tried kissing you goodnight and my glasses kept bumping into your cheeks and I couldn’t do it properly. And during movie nights, whenever I try resting my head on your shoulder, they won’t stay on my nose bridge. Also, do you remember how stupid I looked in those photobooth pictures—”
At some point your tiny giggles fully dissolved into loud laughter. Jake stopped mid rant and stared at you in betrayal.
“Y/n” he pouted “you’re laughing.”
You immediately covered your mouth with one hand and turned away, trying not to make him feel worse than he already did. But he was just so unbelievably cute and endearing. You genuinely couldn’t help it. “Oh my god I’m sorry!” you wheezed between laughs only for another fit of laughter to escape the moment you looked back at Jake’s expression. He looked ready to legally change his identity and disappear forever.
You grabbed Jake’s face with both hands, his glasses squished against your palms. “There,” you jutted out your lower lip “sooo devastating, we can literally never kiss again.”
Jake let out the most miserable groan imaginable, “you’re making fun of me.”
You rolled your eyes “I’m making fun of the fact that you were fully prepared to spend your entire life savings on some stupid surgery for an even stupider reason.”
“It’s a very valid reason Y/n!” he protested immediately, grabbing your wrists trying to make you understand the grave seriousness of this crisis. “They literally ruin the moment!”
“No they don’t!” you laughed again “and if they bother you that much, then just take them off!” The moment you tried reaching for his glasses again, Jake quickly intertwined his fingers with yours and gently lowered your hands.
“No,” he mumbled stubbornly.
“No?”
Jake shook his head before finally admitting “If I take them off… I-I can’t see your face clearly.” Your chest swelled under the intensity of his gaze. “And I wanna see your face,” he continued, avoiding your eyes now. “Every time I kiss you, hug you or cuddle with you.”
He was genuinely going to kill you one day. Because how could this idiot possibly think his glasses were something undesirable when they were one of the first things that made Jake feel like…Jake? The way he constantly pushed them back up whenever he got shy, when his eyes looked bigger behind the lenses whenever he got emotional—just like earlier or the way they fogged up every single time you kissed him longer than five seconds. How could he not realize those tiny things were the exact reasons you adored him so much? Too bad for him though. You were here now and Jake Sim was absolutely not wasting thousands of dollars on surgery because his glasses slightly inconvenienced his kissing technique.
“Jake…” you murmured softly, biting your lip before looking up at him properly. “You don’t need to change anything.”
Jake immediately opened his mouth to argue “but Y/n, what if—”
“I love you,” you cut him off firmly “and I genuinely could not care less about some damn glasses.”
Jake stared at you looking like a kicked out puppy “but they get in the way,” he mumbled weakly.
“You know what else gets in the way?” you shot back instantly “your giant fucking head whenever you try stealing my ramen.”
Jake gasped in pure offense “my head is not giant!”
“It absolutely is.” you laughed, poking the bridge of his nose gently.
“You’re literally lying to my face right now.” Jake looked like he wanted to argue more, but the second you smiled at him, all the offense immediately disappeared from his expression. God he looked so helplessly in love. You softened instantly.
“Jake,” you bit your lips “You have no idea how stupidly in love with you I am.” His breath caught and before he could say anything else, you lifted your index finger to his lips to shush him gently, then leaned forward and kissed him again. This time Jake relaxed completely beneath the soft peck and when his glasses bumped against your cheek a second later you only smiled harder into the kiss.
can anyone else physically feel stuff in their dreams? had a dream my teeth were growing weird and one of them was like super duper long and skinny and when i started touching it, it completely dislodged and pushed back and the same happened with another one cause it looked off and completely came out and i was just spitting / throwing up blood the whole time until i woke up which literally felt like forever. could feel the whole thing, mouth fucking sore in place of that certain tooth after i woke up
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