sweet nothings.
she doesn’t know what it is about tonight, if it’s the joy of a new game or growing a year older, but jeno softly laughs at almost everything she says and does and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to brush off the butterflies in her stomach and the pink to her cheeks. she’s called him a ‘nerd’ a million times, seen him smile in response just as many, but today it feels different for some reason — fonder, sweeter. perhaps it’s their proximity, or the fact that every so often she has to fight to keep her eyes open. it doesn’t help when he turns to face her, those same sparkles now in full view and tip of his nose just begging to be kissed. but he’s talking before she can succumb and she’s grateful, even if he does tell her ( playfully ) to shut up. “no, you,” is her weak-willed reply, but it comes with another inch closer so she doesn’t think it’ll be too much of a surprise that she didn’t put up a fight. “I bet they do. they literally raised you, jen. anyway, whether you care or not, I am here, you’re right. here to bother you and feed you birthday cake.” and give you birthday kisses and try to keep all my squealing and/or crying internal so you don’t freak out as much as I am right now— or maybe just the cake.
“mhmm… sorry, what was that? I wasn’t listening, do you think you could say it another nineteen times for me?” she quips back, carefully pushing back stray hairs that can’t seem to stop falling into her eye line. it’s hard to watch the screen, jeno and the inside of her eyelids from time to time with hair in the way. alas, she misses his glance at her again — misses that same glimmer in his eyes and soft grin on his lips. maybe it’s for the best, though; whilst she’s this tired, she’ll only end up thinking there’s something written between the lines that isn’t actually there. “I suppose they must really love making these remasters of old games. sure, they’ve got to work super hard on the graphics, but they don’t need to write a brand new story or make a bunch of new characters. plus you know people are going to buy it because the original sold so well. it kind of freaks me out sometimes when you play those hyper-realistic games, though… I think I’m too used to animal crossing.”
each time he looks at her and they have this moment where their gazes meet, he feels like he’s genuinely melting. he wishes he could say that it was all pleasant and soft, but he also gets super warm and feels his face and ears heat up which is a clear indicator that he’s more than likely blushing like crazy which is the dumbest thing ever. the last thing he wants is for her to notice and realize that it’s because of the way she causes his thoughts to become all jumbled and his heart to beat so fast he’s almost sure it can’t be healthy. luckily for him, though, all she really responds with is the weakest counter in the universe and all jeno can do is fondly laugh. “um... no, siyeon. you.” it’s childish and even dumber than his stupid blushing, but he doesn’t care because it’s just another part of their dynamic and he would take their weak, silly “arguments” over anything else in the entire world. he takes notice of the way she inches even closer, which causes him to lean further against her, taking his eyes off the screen to watch her for the nth time. he wants to tell her how pretty she looks right now, but he holds his tongue.
“i mean... they care a normal amount, but no one was going out of their way for me or anything. well, no one other than you. just accept that you’re superior so we can move on from this feeling fest, please.” his response is entirely playful and dramatic, which is obvious by the huge and teasing grin playing at his lips.
“ha ha, you’re so hilarious.” his sentence dripping with sarcasm, yet oddly enough, he truly does find siyeon very funny. that’s likely given away by the small smile that he can’t entirely seem to fight back. fortunately, siyeon seems kind of distracted and tired and he has a lot of faith that she isn’t taking notice of too many of his facial expressions. even though she is still awake enough to look at the screen and attempt making conversation about games with him, he’d bet everything that she would be asleep within the next twenty minutes. but, she’s trying to be good company and spend time with him on his birthday regardless, which makes him love her even more (which he had no idea was possible). “yeah, no kidding. sometimes, games are re-released without much even changing. i can’t even tell you how many times skyrim or gta 5 have been released, just on different consoles or as vr or whatever else. anyway, i don’t know why you’d say it freaks you out. don’t you think it’s cool? i think it’s cool. animal crossing is too, though, so that’s valid.”
