eternal sunshine - r.nsh + j.sm

two, scent

Jake dreaded the wait for the next day. He replayed the confession in his head again and again, wondering how he could possibly tell the younger boy he was moving to Australia.

It was 2 in the morning, and Jake was printing out his polaroids of said boy, overthinking his decisions again and again until he finally ended up a muffled mess buried in the beautiful photos he usually loved to look at, now the cause of his demise.

Should he take back his transfer? But then he'd lose his job as a photographer.

Should he just tell Niki??

He quickly shook it off, though, shuddering just at the thought of the Nishimura family finding out he likes their son.

But then again— what of the boy he's in love with?

What about him?

..what about us?

He sighed loudly, both sad and relieved that he was the only one in that huge house at the moment, grateful for the mechanical whirr of his mini-printer helping calm his nerves.

He recalled each time Niki had come over to this very same house. He had seen Jake's tastes evolve from cotton candy sci-fi to the pictures now slammed into every corner of his house- they had been through it all— together.

A small smile perked its way into Jake's lips. He turned around, eyeing the king-sized bed that was way too big for one tiny Jake to reside in. Courtesy of his booming best friend, of course.

As soon as he had first bought the house, Niki had been very excited for the furniture that Jake would decorate his house with.
Now, you see— this drove Jake into a hole. He had no idea what he wanted his house to look like!

All he wanted was for it to feel like home! And all the scattered polaroids were enough for that!

And a month after, when Niki came to see his house again despite Jake's desperate protests not to, just to find that the only thing that had changed in that house were the number of photos he had??

He rolled his sleeves up and said,

"I'm taking matters into my own hands."

Niki had always felt a little need to charity his best friend, yet Jake knew he was a fortunate human being. He was pretty well off— Not as much as Niki, he knew, but part of him always felt that that was the motive for Niki's impulsive decision to renovate his house. Well, after Niki took the time to personally furnish it- their house.

Memories flooded back all at once as his gaze on his bed only intensified. There were nights Jake had to work overtime, up late just to pay for his food, with a worried Niki staying with him after his proposal of offering to pay his rent for the entire year got rejected, and then Niki being dead asleep on that very bed by the time Jake was done — usually up till 3 in the morning.

The memory only brightened his grin, Jake wobbling over to his bed, an intense wave of exhaustion enveloping him in as his head hit the extra soft pillows, again, courtesy of his Niki.

Wait, . .

His Niki?

The reason for his distress in the first place hit him like a truck. How is he going to leave him like that?

Screw love, Niki was his fucking best friend!

They were soulmates.

Should he just call in sick..?

But he only had a week left with him.

He couldn't possibly miss one single day.

He held the pillow tight, hugging it as if it were Niki himself. It smelled like him.

A light scent of caramel that he grew to love over the years. It was how Niki smelled.

Riki, the model who he never saw him as, smelled of a strong fusion of perfume and cologne.

Don't get him wrong, he liked that too— yet compared to how fucking pure his pillow made him feel— those chemicals he always promoted were bullshit.

His mind felt so messed up at that moment, but really, he couldn't bother to care when the warmth of his bed provided him with a safe haven to drift off to the land of dreams in comfort.