#Forgive me for being delusional over Jake in this shirt

[johnnysuhbmarine]

What if it's not the Alcohol Talking?

Pairing: Jake Sim x reader Description: Another party, another night where !best friend Jake comes to your rescue, or at least, gets you home safe. The problem lies in the fact that you haven’t felt normal best-friend-feelings about Jake in a long time, and you might’ve had just enough liquid courage this time around to do something about it…though who knows if you’ll even remember by morning. Content warnings: mentions/consumption of alcohol, mentions/act of throwing up though it’s not described in basically any detail because I can’t even handle that, Jake calls y/n “angel” and dhfusdifhdjkfh, Jake sings at his church but that’s about as religious as this thing gets. Word count: 3,715 A/n: Okay, I wasn’t expecting people to actually read my writing, much less LIKE it, but go off I guess B) I've edited and re-edited this and can't figure out how to make it better so...here's this. I hope you all are doing well - I’m rooting for you, at least, so there’s that. Anyways, here’s one more one shot before university starts to get the better of me. Please enjoy, or don’t…I can’t tell you what to do. As always, feedback would be GREATLY appreciated :)

Your blurry world immediately finds focus when you see your best friend walk through the front door of the frat house you were currently at. It was a Saturday night party at Beta Theta Pi, and while sorority life itself was not your thing, you had enough friends involved to get you into the parties, which you took full advantage of. 

On the other hand, your best friend, Jake Sim, was a complete homebody. He didn’t mind an occasional wine night with you - the two of you scouring every shelf in the store for bottles of Pinot Noir so you could compare them to each other and eventually find the perfect bottle to drink for the rest of your lives. However, parties were way out of his comfort zone, and you cared about him too much to try and push that agenda on him. Besides, you didn’t know what you would do if Jake became a party person like this. You didn’t ever want him to change, not when his juxtaposed gentle presence at the entrance of the frat, only there so he could drive you home, provided you with such warmth that the snow currently outside seemed to be impossible. 

You had a massive crush on Jake Sim, and you also had a massive amount of alcohol in your system. 

Jake stood there shyly at the front entryway, the tension leaving his body once his gaze found your presence. You were standing and talking to strangers in the kitchen, though your eyes were trained on Jake from the moment he walked in, sure your face was lit up in response. Jake let out a small sigh before making his way through all the drunk dancers and couples with no sense of privacy so that he could get to you. 

“Hey, n/n.” He says once he’s beside you, paying no attention to the people you were originally talking with as he gazed at you softly. You immediately break from the conversation you were having so you could respond.

“Hi, Jake.” You slur through a bright smile, causing him to let out a small chuckle. He tilted his head to the side, a habit he always had no matter where he was. 

“Are you ready to go?” He asks, though he knows the answer. He wouldn’t be here if you weren’t ready. He always stayed up waiting for your texts saying that you wanted to be picked up, and then he would come swing by and grab you so you could get home safe. If he minded being your personal chauffeur back from parties, he never gave any signs, so it was a pattern the two of you had since you met in freshman year. 

You nod your head excitedly, but then your world starts to spin and you have to scrunch your eyes shut, holding out a hand blindly to try and stabilize yourself with Jake’s forearm. He gently covers your hand on his arm with his own, sending peace through your body. “You had a lot to drink tonight, yeah?” He asks, not the least bit accusatory but with genuine curiosity instead. You peek an eye open to see his face, a smile covering your own again as you do.

“Maybe.” You reply as your smile turns into a playful smirk, Jake’s own grin widening at your behavior. 

He nods his head in the direction of the exit. “Come on, let’s get you home.” He says lightly as he starts making his way towards the door, still firmly holding your hand on his arm so he knew you were still with him. 

Jake helped you into the passenger seat of his car, buckling your seatbelt for you with focus, trying not to accidentally touch you and make you uncomfortable. The two of you weren’t strangers to physical contact with each other; basically all of your interactions started and ended with bear hugs, but Jake always tried his best to not initiate physical contact whenever you had been drinking…cause he was perfect. 

When he finally walked around to the other side and fastened himself in the driver’s seat, you got your first solid look at him that wasn’t clouded with the dizziness that came with standing up. He was still in jeans and his long-sleeve blue and white striped polo. His fluffy black hair had a slight curl to it, middle parted as the ends fell over the outside corners of his eyes, which were covered by his nerdy glasses that you absolutely adored. It was hard to ever say Jake wasn’t attractive, but something about him in glasses made him look so cozy and boyfriend-like that it quickly became one of your favorite looks on him. 

“You’re so perfect.” You blurt out without thinking. Jake was still waiting for the car to warm up some before he started driving, and you figure that was probably the luckiest it could have played out because Jake rendered still. The initial shock from your statement caused him to jerk back slightly, eyes widening before he completely froze, and you think you surely would have caused a wreck if he was already on the road. 

Your perception of time is surely skewed, but Jake only seemed to be flustered for a millisecond before he let out a small laugh and turned your way with a playful smile and sincere eyes. “You’re drunk.” He states plainly, and you think your face falls into a pout before your previously consumed liquid courage continues doing its job.

“Yeah, but you’re perfect even when I’m sober.” You reiterate with genuinity and your eyes trained on Jake; though, whatever nonverbal cues he might be sending were too much for you to process in this state anyways. His adam’s apple bobs up and down as he swallows hesitantly. For a moment, his tongue darts out of his mouth to lick his lips as he turns his attention to the road, then shifting into drive and starting on the way home without ever replying. 

With his spare key, he opened the door to your place, bringing you to sit on the couch as he took your shoes off, then moving to place them by the front door with the rest of your shoes. In an effort to stay close to him, you get up and try to follow his movements, but the second your bare feet hit the floor, your equilibrium is thrown, and the dizziness has you nauseous now. “Jake.” You mumble out in almost a whine. Jake snapped his head towards you, his gaze landing on your defeated figure and he immediately knew you felt sick. His eyes widen for a split second before he rushes to pick you up. You wrap around him like a koala until he places you back down in the bathroom, which thankfully was the closest room to where you were. 

Jake held your hair back messily with one hand as you threw up, his other hand rubbing gently up and down your forearm. When your body rids itself of the last of your night’s alcohol, you turn around to face Jake, uneasiness still written on all your features. Jake took care of you after every party, but you had never thrown up before, and you were worried this would push him past his limit. 

Instead, Jake lets out a soft chuckle, the hand that was holding your hair now fixing its framing around your face. “You’re so perfect.” He says sincerely, his eyes filled with fondness as he gave a lopsided smile, and before you can even give yourself the chance to get flustered, you’re shaking your head. 

“Perfect people don’t throw up.” You respond sadly, but Jake just sighs, shaking his head minimally in disagreement.

“Everyone gets sick, angel.” He replies calmly. Your face falls blank, eyes impossibly wide. He’s never called you ‘angel’ before, he doesn’t call you ‘angel.’ He calls you ‘y/n’ or ‘n/n’ and that’s it. Calling you ‘angel’ was completely different from that. Jake reads your expression in an instant, a toothy smile adorning his face as he moves to stand. He immediately leans back down to pick you up and carry you out of the bathroom, placing you so that you’re now sitting on the kitchen counter. 

You watch as he moves around your kitchen as if he lived here, first grabbing a cup and celebrating when he saw you still had Sprite in your fridge. He quickly filled the cup before walking back over to you, the drink now extended out for you to take. He raises his eyebrows invitingly as he nods towards the Sprite. “Come on. It will help get the taste out of your mouth.” He says, doing his best to encourage you to take the Sprite from his hands. When you give in and realize you did, in fact, desperately need that taste out of your mouth, Jake resumes his quest in your kitchen. You watch between sips as he gathers a handful of different items, and by the time he’s done, he has a water bottle, Advil, Powerade, and Hello Pandas placed together. 

He turns back to face your confused gaze, answering your questions without you even having to ask. “I’ll bring these over to your nightstand so you have them whenever you need them between tonight and tomorrow morning. I have Advil and water for you, but make sure you also drink the Powerade, okay? You’ll need the electrolytes.” He says confidently. He meets your eyes again before adding on. “Oh! And the Hello Panda box is there just because they’re your favorite snack so I figured you may want some. They won’t necessarily help your hangover, though.” He finishes with a laugh and warmth floods your entire system as you mumble out a weak ‘thank you.’ 

You slowly get down from the counter, helping Jake to carry everything to your room before getting ready for bed. You changed out of your party clothes and into an oversized t-shirt and some athletic shorts, but outside of getting into pajamas, your night routine seemed daunting. You open your bedroom door back up after you finish changing so you can say ‘goodnight’ to Jake, but as he walks in and sees you heading towards your bed, he tilts his head, confused. “Y/n, you still have makeup on.” 

You shrug, sliding your legs under the covers as you sit up in bed. “Too much work.” You get out, and Jake’s features soften. Then, you watch as he exits your room, leaving you to furrow your eyebrows because you were at least expecting him to say ‘bye.’ However, he comes back in moments later with makeup remover from the bathroom and your eyes widen.

He sits on the edge of your bed, his upper body turned to face you as he took a makeup wipe out of the packaging. He looks at it with a frown before facing you again. “I know your actual cleanser is better, but I figure there’s no way I can do that in a non-messy way with you in bed.” He says, a playful grin crossing his face as he no doubt started thinking about the results of cupping water in his hands and running over here. He looks down at the wipe in his hand before making eye contact with you. “Let me know if I hurt you, okay? I don’t know the right amount of force it takes to remove makeup, but I want to make sure I get it all, okay?” He adds, and you just bite the insides of your cheeks. He wasn’t supposed to be this nice. Well…you knew he was this nice, it’s how he’s always been, but with your brain out of whack, it’s considerably harder to tell your body not to turn into a puddle at his actions. So, instead of opening your mouth and risking telling him how perfect he is again, you just nod slowly, and Jake starts wiping off your makeup. 

When he finally gets your face all barren again, you let yourself actually lie down in bed. He moves to throw the used wipes away before heading towards the door. Though, he turns back to you before he leaves your room, a soft smile on his face. “Goodnight, n/n. Call me if you need anything” He says gently, heading back towards the exit of your place afterwards. 

“Jake.” You call out weakly, but he hears it, stopping right away and walking back into your room, his eyebrows raised in question.

“Yeah? Do you need something?”

Your eyes drop to your hands, anxiously fiddling with your fingers while building up the courage to talk again. “Yeah…you.” You say quietly, but Jake picks up on it anyways. His features go soft as he lets out a small sigh. He walks over to where you were in bed, a hand moving to brush your hair out of your face. If you knew how big and pleading your eyes were, you probably would’ve been embarrassed, but you didn’t know, so you continued to stare at him as if he was the entire world. 

“Y/n, you’ve had a lot to drink. With the high probability that you don’t remember any of this in the morning, I don’t want to scare you when you wake up and find me here, too.” He says seriously. You stick out your bottom lip in a pout. Regardless of if he was technically saying all the right things, you hated it. 

“Please.” You beg with wide eyes, and Jake seems to stop breathing for a moment. He finally drops his head to face the floor, shaking it in disbelief.

“Can I run home and change into pajamas first?” He asks, and you smile brightly in response, shooing him out the door so he could get back faster. He leaves with a small laugh and promises of coming back, leaving your heart racing and a permanent smile on your face.

When he returns in his pajamas, he walks into your room almost surprised to see you stayed up waiting for him to get back. He flashes a smile in your direction before grabbing your desk chair and sliding it over near the bed. You scrunch your eyebrows at him. “What are you doing?” 

He looks back at you as though that was a weird question. “About to sleep?” He responds, and your face falls.

“No. You’re supposed to sleep in my bed with me!” You whine, and Jake begins to laugh before speaking softly.

“That was never the plan, angel. I’ll still be right beside you, just not in bed. I’m here if you need me, okay? But I’m not getting in bed with you. Not when it would feel like I’m taking advantage of your drunken state.” He responds as he sits down. The frown doesn’t leave your face.

“But I wanted to hold you.” You complain, and Jake’s face lights up as his smile turns into a shit-eating grin.

“Oh, you were gonna hold me, yeah?” He teases, and a smile slowly starts to creep back onto your face.

“Yes, I was.” You say confidently before rolling on your back to face the ceiling. “But noooo. You’re sleeping on the chair.” You say, unenthused. 

From your side, Jake chuckles again before reaching his hand out to you. You give it a glance before looking back towards him in question. His eyebrows raise invitingly. “Here.” He says gently. “You can hold my hand.” 

Your face lights up and you immediately slide to the very edge of the bed to take his right hand in your left before bringing it to rest on your stomach. Though you were no longer facing him, Jake’s gaze on you remained soft, and when he began to rub his thumb against the back of your hand, you were asleep in an instant. 

You wake up the next morning with a massive headache and instantly roll over to grab the medicine on your nightstand. That’s when your attention is caught by the sticky note laid on top of the Advil. 

N/n, I’m singing at church this morning, so I am already gone. Please drink your Powerade :) I also made chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast if you want the ones left over. They’re in the fridge. Text me sometime today so I know you’re okay, okay? - Jake 

You read and reread the sticky note, trying to figure why he would come make breakfast at your place. It takes about half a second before your jaw drops and your eyes go wide. Jake didn’t just come over to make breakfast; Jake stayed the night. You hide your face in your hands, the embarrassment you felt only adding to your headache as you get out of bed and start to get ready. 

Though chocolate chip pancakes were your favorite, you were in no mood to eat, and instead, you just make the two minute walk off-campus to get to the church that Jake goes to. You got there in time to listen to him sing one last song before the service ended. Then, you stood in the back, waiting for him to eventually get done talking to everyone and realize you’re there. He was talking with the pastor, smiling in response to what you could only guess was a ‘fantastic job’ on his singing today. Then his friends call him over, and he moves to join their circle, but that’s when his eyes land on you. You watch as he freezes before a soft grin comes across his face. One of his friends calls his attention again but he waves them off, apologizing as he leaves their group to come talk to you.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” He asks cheerfully, but you just drop your head.

“I just wanted to say I’m sorry about last night.” You mumble out, and Jake’s eyebrows furrow.

“You’re sorry?” He questions.

You nod your head lightly. “I didn’t mean to make you spend the night…I’m sorry.” 

The cheerful aura surrounding Jake fades away and he speaks slowly, as if still processing your words. “You didn’t mean- didn’t mean it. Um, okay. Uh, just- next time, can you have Heeseung or Sunghoon or just- someone else pick you up from parties?” 

You pop your head back up to look at him, a little confused. “Like, Saturday parties? When you have church the next morning?”

“No.” He replies quickly. “Any party. Just have someone else pick you up.” He says, now facing the floor as you just stare at him in shock.

“I’m sorry that taking care of me last night was so horrible. I didn’t mean to make you upset with me. I don’t even know- did I do something wrong?” You ask, concerned. Jake was your best friend. He was your safe place, that’s why you asked him to be the one picking you up from parties in the first place. He never had a problem with it before, and you rack your fogged memories to try and come up with anything you may have done that had him completely dismissive right now. You didn’t have to think too hard though, because Jake gives you your answer.

“No- yes- y/n, I can’t listen to you beg me to stay the night, get sad when I say I’m not actually sleeping in bed with you, and then have you say you didn’t mean it the next morning…I can’t listen to you call me perfect if you’re going to take it back when you’re sober. I don’t want my feelings getting played with just because you’re drunk. So, get someone else to take you home.” He was visibly sad but his words were stern, and you were standing there speechless.  

“Feelings…” You repeat back softly, and Jake shakes his head in embarrassment, dropping his gaze to the floor once again.

“Yeah, feelings. There’s something you can go laugh with your frat buddies about-”

You cup his face with your hand lightly, forcing him to look your way again. His eyes go wide as you stare at him. “Did you mean it?” You ask seriously. He swallows hard before nodding his head.

“Yeah, angel. I meant it.” He says quietly, and hearing the word ‘angel’ come out of his mouth while sober was enough to make you crumble. You don’t, though. Instead, you grin widely.

“I meant it when I called you perfect.” You respond, and Jake renders still. He looks at you, his emotions scrambled as he blinks rapidly in your direction. You let out a small chuckle. “I came here to apologize because I thought I ruined our friendship by doing so.” 

Jake scrunches his eyebrows at you, more playful than you would expect. “Well, you did.” He affirms, and your eyes go wide with worry. 

“What-?”

“What? I don’t want to be in a normal relationship with you when I could be in a romantic relationship with you.” He replies with a smirk and you swat at him playfully, rolling your eyes. 

“You scared me so bad, Jake Sim.” You say through a laugh. He looks at you with a softness in his eyes that you don’t think you’ll ever get used to, and he moves closer until your faces are just inches apart. 

“Y/n, will you please be my girlfriend?” He asks, his hot breath against your lips making you go crazy. You nod your head, adding a verbal ‘yes’ onto it as Jake leans in closer.

You begin to laugh. “Jake, are you about to kiss me in your church?” You ask, extremely embarrassed. Jake takes a moment to look around at the rest of the people still there before turning back to you and shrugging. 

“Last time I checked, church is where you’re supposed to kiss the person you love…or else, I should probably check in on all those couples that I’ve watched get married.” He says confidently and you smile so impossibly wide it hurts your cheeks. He laughs again, looking at you intently. “Y/n, can I kiss you?” He asks, and you don’t give him the niceties of an answer as you move to kiss him first.