#sry if this didnt come out well i took a 5 hr break btwn it

[kimsohn]

like i would by zayn with jake sim!!

settle . jake x gn!reader about . 451 words, angst warnings . mentions of toxic relationship

jake shifts as the soft sunlight hits his face, and he grumbles before curling into the soft pillow in his arms, tracing the smooth covers and sequins—

wait, sequins?

his eyes shoot open, and he finds your sleeping figure in his bed, adorned in the black outfit you wore last night as you showed up crying at his door, begging for comfort. the memories rush back to his head as his eyes trace you, memorizing every inch of you before you wake up and decide to return to your toxic boyfriend.

the thought makes him scoff in disbelief. being your best friend of 10 years, jake has seen almost every version of you, and he's fallen in love with you every single time. he's watched you fall and grow to be the beautiful human you are today, and he's grown to love every single one of the so-called 'flaws' your lover berates upon.

it takes every inch of him not to pick a fight with the one person he can't. and it takes even more not to whisk you away and give you everything and more that you deserve. but jake respects and values you, and knows that when the time is right, you'll leave him on your own.

jake brushes back a strand of your hair that had fallen across your face moments prior, tracing the perfections and imperfections that adorn it. he feels a pang in his heart as his finger passes slightly drier lines upon it, symbolizing the tear streaks from before.

if you placed your heart in his hands, he'd make sure to never let a droplet from your eyes form again.

"done admiring me?" he hears, and his eyes find your now open ones, faintly red from your crying upon his favorite flannel.

he merely shakes his head, too afraid to voice out anything to disturb your peaceful face. he wishes he could see you like this forever, forever tranquil and serene within his arms.

you take his outstretched arm into yours, interlacing your fingers and cupping the side of your cheek, a gesture he knows you view as friendship. jake feels like he's wearing his overblown heart on his fingers, and at any moment you might pop it open and see his true feelings for you.

'you deserve so much better,' he wants to whisper, but instead he thumbs your soft cheek stained with the blush of an early morning, mouth sealed with the stitches of your broken heart and his.

at this very moment in time, he can't change the relationship between you two. so, for now, he'll just settle for being the shoulder you cry upon and your secret companion throughout bleary nights.