MOONCHILD, kim namjoon

09. d-day

He took a deep breath and opened the door. "Hi."

Namjoon looked like he'd been through a storm.

He was panting, the hair on the top of his head was pancaked and he was sweaty. If Jaehyun had not known the author for about five years, he would roll his eyes and call it inappropriate first date behaviour, but he knew that Namjoon had ridden his bicycle all the way here.

Jaehyun always found that weird and admirable that how, Namjoon, despite being a rich bestselling author, did not use his money the way anyone else would. Half of what he earned went to charity, thirty percent he sent to his parents, and the other twenty percent, he used for himself. Even the house that he lived was decent sized— big but no too big, small but not too small. The thing you could call perfect. He also didn't own a car or any vehicle except two bikes; he didn't know how to drive and wouldn't learn, either. If he ever needed to go somewhere, he would hire a taxi, and when Jaehyun had asked why, he had replied, "It's because it's cheaper. Plus, if I hire a driver, it would only be one person making a living. If I used taxis, I would be contributing to the salaries of so many people."

When Jaehyun learnt all of those, while he was fresh out of teenage and fairly new to meeting Namjoon, he thought it was ridiculous. 'I could do so much better if I had the money!' But as time passed, the editor realised that these were the things that made Namjoon better, unlike any human that ever existed. Even better than himself, Jaehyun would say.

And as time passed, Jaehyun realised, these were the things that made Jaehyun like Namjoon even more.

"I. . . wow. You, are, uh, no offence, completely calm," Namjoon stated, eyes wide.

Jaehyun narrowed his eyes. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Like, you're not about to bawl your eyes out. You're not having an overload of anxiety. You're not biting your lip to the point that it's bleeding. You're completely calm. That's new." Jaehyun could see how the he was holding in his laughter, and suddenly the tense mood was broken, and he could breathe. It felt like all of those times again, when they were just hanging out, given up on the stress that comes along with writing/editing a book. It was just a different label this time.

"You know, I'm considering slamming this door shut, so you might want to think about what you say."

Namjoon straightened up and gave a little salute. "Yes, sir."

☾

Namjoon settled down and looked around warily.

"Don't worry about Duri, he's really fond of the neighbour's granddaughter. I've given Duri to her," Jaehyun assured, immediately knowing what the author was anxious about. Duri was kind of possessive, so seeing someone else close with his people, the poodle did not entertain. It took him so long to get used to Xumin, and it had caused quite a problem for his newlywed sister-in-law.

"Oh, thank you, I guess," Namjoon said. He looked like he wanted to say something, but looked flustered. After a lot of hesitation, he managed, "You—uh— look good."

Jaehyun caught his breath as he felt warmth seeping into his cheeks. He had almost never been told that, and Namjoon just randomly saying that caught him off guard. He looked into his brain to form some sort of answer for that.

"You know, just because we're calling it a 'date' now, doesn't mean you need to prove it by saying stuff. I'm just wearing casual clothes, you really don't need to say anything you don't mean."

Namjoon straightened up from where he was sitting on the couch, snuggled up with a pillow in his arms. "No, I mean it.  It's not like your outfit or how you look today, or anything like that. I mean in general, like, you look good. Your hair looks really soft and makes people want to run their hands through it. And your nose, oh my god. It's literally so pretty, I couldn't ever describe it in words. And you dress so well, too! You just give off a brown vibe, like vintage-aesthetic-Victorian era type."