#cheers to this guy who i held hands with 3 years ago <3

[luvtak]

birthday blues, psh

☆ pairing fratboy!sunghoon x reader

☆ genre/tw fluffy fluff fluff, a twinge of angst, sunghoon has a case of the birthday blues :(( i wrote the mc to be quite introverted, hand holding lmao, cheek kisses! a little miscommunication, a very sweet and soft getting together fic <33

☆ w/c 1705

☆ a/n happy holidays!! i began this fic on sunghoons birthday but because i am terrible at planning anything i just finished tonight lol, so heres a little present from me!! i hope you like it <3

masterlist

With the bad music and the smell of cheap beer, you find yourself regretting walking through the door. The house is bustling with conversation and rhythmless dancing–not a sweater in sight despite the frigid air outside. Not one person you know or like is occupying the four walls around you, and even worse, your drink is weak. 

The melting ice is enough to kick start a negotiation with yourself, you’ll leave after this drink… tell Sunghoon happy birthday, and then we’re gone. You’re not sure why you even bothered… you’ve been on three dates with the boy and barely kissed twice. While he’s handsome and funny, you don’t know if that's enough to endure another mindless frat party while your roommates are cozying up at home watching the new season of Love is Blind. 

While initially you held some reservations about going on another date with a frat boy, Sunghoon proved himself to be very sweet.

 The first date was nice, dinner and a movie (action which was ironically very boring) and a chaste cheek kiss that kept you up way past your desired Tuesday bedtime. His lips were soft and his eyes were kind–a sort of unfamiliar shy glimmer staring down at you. He was ever the gentleman, opening doors and making sure to tell you how pretty you looked… He was perfect. Which was odd for a guy who spent all his time with boys who carried a carousel of girls around. 

The second date was quick but sweet, a speedy lunch in between classes, leaving a smile on your face until you got home that night. He had asked about you the whole time, wanting to know how your day was, and if you had had a good time when you went out before. And finally, the third, wherein the very pretty boy asked you to come to his birthday party before placing a swift kiss upon your lips. 

It was almost like you were possessed. Feeling a great urge to be there to celebrate with him–very unlike the person you claim to be, but he asked so sweetly. His fanged smile was large and on display, and he had a look in his warm eyes that reminded you too much of an overloved puppy. Too much time with those eyes and you were agreeing before he could say please. 

Now, you wished you had the gift of prophecy. If you knew you wouldn’t see the boy once since walking through the doors 45 minutes ago you never would have said you’d come. Of course, it’s his birthday and you’re sure he’s busy being shuffled along friends and pretty girls who’ve long since held his favor, but he asked you to come and if you have to spend another minute listening to mindless chatter you might never speak to him again–no matter how much you like his company.

The boys next to you are crass and the girls much more indulgent than you feel prepared for. Enabling their counterparts with enough alcohol and shitty pick up lines to put you out for the whole year. And while listening in to others' conversations isn’t the nicest thing to do, the loud groanings of, “Hey, pretty lady…you’re heating up this whole place.” were just too nauseating to ignore. 

While slurred words are always swoonworthy, it may be time to head out. 

It is barely eleven, but you’re ready to go–ego bruised and brain ready to rest with some mind numbing television. Not too mention, phone long dead from too many tiktoks watched to pass the time. You can’t believe he didn’t even make an effort to say hello. You made it clear you didn’t like this sort of thing–would rather spend a Friday night away from the hubbub and cheer of a college party that lost its charm the spring of your freshman year. 

Whatever, if he didn’t care you’re just glad he showed his true colors sooner rather than later. While it sucks,  it’s no use crying over another too pretty boy. 

Peeling yourself from the back corner, you find yourself jostled this way and that until your skin meets the chilly December air. A momentary shock of relief rings through your gut, finally away from the rotten place a younger you loved, and an older you was over. 

The night for all its misadventures did end up being a pretty one; stars barely peeking through the light covered city and shining down on the car packed street. Straining your neck to see them for just a minute before making your way to your car, you eye a startling figure sitting on the frat house’s roof. 

A boy with a curious resemblance to Sunghoon, but why would the birthday boy be out here instead of at his own party? His hair is mussed and though he is far up, it’s easy to see the messy state of his clothes–sweatpants and a sweater one could only describe as something a grandfather would wear. 

“Sunghoon? What are you doing up there?” it's too far, but you think you can see the little lift of his lips, a look of relief gracing his features. 

“What do you mean? I’m waiting for you, didn’t you get my message?” His voice, while covered by the echoing party and the nighttime sounds, still carries over the expanse of the front yard as if he was in front of you–as confused as it was, it does little to ease the annoyance of before. 

“What are you talking about Park? I’ve been here for an hour and haven’t gotten anything from you.” 

“Oh I’m Park now? But it’s my birthday.” betrayed by your own temper, you can’t help but let your teeth show. His ever composed countenance running away as he whines his words. 

Maybe it’s dramatic and maybe he did send you a message, but the bitter pain of feeling ignored won’t go away just because he’s cute. 

Even if he is really really cute. 

“How am I supposed to know if you really did send me a message and aren’t just saying that now that you’ve been caught?” 

“Come on now, Silly, charge your phone.” he’s grinning now, tongue running along the points of his left canine. “I’d invite you up, but it looks like you may just push me off.” 

“Why are you up there anyway? There's a bunch of people in there waiting for the birthday boy.” 

It could be your imagination, or a trick of the shadows, but it’s almost like that one word made his whole body falter. Straight shoulders falling below his ears and long eyelashes hitting the peaks of his cheekbones. Eyes closed and figure sad. 

From a young age you’ve been rather curious; looking through hidden presents and asking too personal questions to the people around you, but you don’t think you’ve ever been more interested than now. Looking at this handsome boy–too early to love, but too late to ignore–sitting alone on his birthday is enough to make you pause. 

“Sunghoon? Are you okay? I won’t push you off if you help me up.” 

While he doesn’t answer your question, he does reach out a hand to show you the way. Laughing loudly when you stumble through the tree branches, and quick jabs at your obvious roof climbing inexperience. It’s only when you’ve safely landed next to him that you can really see the slightly blue expression on his face. Of course he’s smiling–you don’t think he’s ever looked at you without one, but there's something invading his form. An ever present dusk sitting along his spine. 

The both of you sit in silence for a long time, looking out at the street and laughing at the party goers retreating through the yard. Young men and women stumbling and giggling their way through another weekend. It’s only when the music changes from obnoxiously loud electronica to obnoxiously loud rap does he speak. 

“I’ve never really liked today, you know? I get so excited for it to come, thinking it's gonna be a magical day that changes everything. Then I wake up and it’s just another boring day. I guess I haven’t learned how to deal with the disappointment, 

I’m sorry you were in there alone, I– I wish I knew you went inside. I was hoping I’d catch you going in and bring you up here. I thought maybe if I spent it with you, it could be life changing. Exciting enough to be worth another year.” 

How interesting birthdays are, to be so momentous and yet so disenchanting. You wait 365 days for a moment to pass, another year older with no magic in sight. Although you can’t ignore that he believed you to be life changing. How sweet, to think after only three dates he’s already decided that you’re who he wants to spend his day with. Face warming and hands shaking, you’re able to let out a soft laugh, before finally answering, 

“Well, maybe we should just treat it like any other day. No cake or presents, I won’t even wish you a happy birthday." It's strange how this seemingly mean sentiment lights up his face: brown eyes becoming crescent moons, a goofy grin settling along his mouth. A look worthy of a birthday. 

“What should we do instead?” 

“Hmm, if you come with me right now we might be able to see the rest of Love is Blind with my roommates. Kazuha and Intak swore they wouldn’t watch the weddings without me… Only if you want to.” 

And the way you looked at him with wide eyes and a hopeful smile, how could he say no. How could he tell you that all day he wished he could spend it with you.

He helps you down and keeps your hand in his as you begin the trek back to your apartment. The night is cold, but his figure next to yours heats you right up–brightening the walk back to your apartment, and making you thank whatever power made you stop to look at the stars, never knowing the tall boy was wishing on every birthday cupcake that you’d join him on the roof and change his life.

© LUVTAK

#sunghoon #enhypen #enha #sunghoon x reader #enhypen x reader #enhypen fluff #sunghoon fluff #enhypen scenarios #sunghoon scenarios #enha x reader

[certifiedlovergirlsstuff]

Hey babe can u pls make Ethan (or Jack) x older reader? (I am 3 years older than him ☠️☠️) drink water n always try to sleep 8 hours ❤️



perfect opportunity to set a rule. i won't be writing for any real people. but I'm happy to write a little fluff piece for ethan! (i’m also two years older, little 2002 baby) also thank you for the love❤️❤️

reader is gender-neutral.

WC: 826

warnings: cursing

masterlist

“you’re fucking with us.”

“no, i’m not.”

the table got silent and then, “nah. no way you have a partner. especially an older partner.” chad planted his foot down. he knew ethan wanted a bit of respect in the friend group, but this was a huge fib.

ethan rolled his eyes, “when you say older it makes it seem like i’m dating a widower. they're just three years older. they work at the school library.” hoping that might give some type of autonomy for them to rack their brains about.

“dude, that doesn’t give us a single clue about them. we don’t study at the library twenty-four-seven like you.” tara pointed out.

“also most of us have easier classes,” mindy with her sarcasm. anika chided her girlfriend before asking ethan her own question, “how long have you been dating?”

ethan got a bit shy, head turning as he scratched his ear. “about three, almost four months.”

“oh, shit. ethan i didn’t know you had that much game.” chad cheered as he clapped ethan’s shoulder. ethan’s face showed confusion, “just three minutes ago you didn’t even believe i had a partner. now you're saying i have game?”

chad shrugged, “eh. still gotta meet this wonderful person that swept little ethan landry off his feet before i one hundred percent believe you.”

“i’m sure they are a lovely person,” anika tried to uplift ethan from the backhanded comments. “maybe we could meet them. if they're up for that?”

ethan smiled at his friend as he nodded his head. “i’ll- i’ll ask them. but they’ve mentioned before wanting to meet everyone.”

tara shimmed her shoulders and awes, “so you talk about us? hope it’s all good stuff.” fist to her cheek as she smiles.

“yeah- yeah. always- always good things.” ethan messed with the pages of his textbook. his homework was forgotten once you became the topic of discussion.

“you two have sex yet?” mindy outright asked. everyone exclaimed loudly, chad was also curious. tara and anika argued with the twins' childish antics.

“you don’t have to answer that ethan.” tara reminded him. she swatted chad’s shoulder. the boy exaggerated the pain the five-foot girl caused to his muscled shoulder.

ethan didn’t even have a chance to stutter out any comment. there was a yell of his name and everyone turned their heads towards the noise. and when ethan turned a smile lit up his face and he jumped from his seat. his head of bouncing curls and jacket pushed by the wind as his converse-clad feet carried him halfway across the campus grounds to your open arms.

your arms over his shoulders and his around your waist. he lifted your feet off the ground, face tucked into his neck, and gave your bodies a twirl, once then twice before stopping in place. you leaned back, hands sliding from behind and cupping his cheeks as he held your hips.

“hi, pretty boy.” a kiss to his waiting lips. he hummed at the touch before you pulled away.

“hi, baby.” another peck between lips. “i’ve missed you.”

a light chuckle, “i saw you this morning.” a hand pushing curls around.

he gave your hips a squeeze, “well now you're making it sound like a bad thing. can’t i miss my favorite person?”

the corner of your mouth quirked up. something over ethan’s shoulder caught your attention and it brought a tilt to your head. from the corner of your eye, you could see ethan’s brows furrow in the middle.

“what?”

you nicked your chin, “there is a group of people behind you just watching us like starving hawks.” right hand left ethan’s features and gave a timid wave to the little group. they all turned away except for a guy who waved back enthusiastically before a girl hit his shoulder.

ethan turned his body, one arm holding you to his side as the other pushed hair from his forehead. he sighed, “those starving hawks are my friends. who happen to believe you don’t exist.”

looking away from his friends and attention turned to his side profile. your eyes detailed the shape of his nose and the point of his cupids bow along with the speckled freckles. 

“well,” arm around his waist hugged him tight, “why don’t i introduce myself? hope they're not disappointed i'm not a unicorn.”

you pulled away from ethan, arm running along his back before catching his hand and tugging him behind you. a look over your shoulder and the flush to ethan’s chubby cheeks, it just made you fall even deeper into the tight grasp that was wrapped around your heart.

your so lucky ethan landry walked into your life on that random wednesday.

feet stopping at the head of the table, ethan behind your shoulder with hands still held. a beaming smile parted your lips while giving a gentle wave to the four pairs of watchful eyes.

“hi, i’m y/n l/n, ethan’s partner.”

#ethan landry oneshot #ethan landry x reader #ethan landry blurb #ethan landry imagine #ethan landry #ethan landry fluff #ethan landry x gn!reader #ethan landry scream 6 #jack champion scream 6 #scream 6 #scream 6 x reader #scream 6 imagine #scream vi #scream 6 x gn!reader #jack champion #jack champion x read #jack champion imagine #erin's blurb request

[v1nsmoke]

𝑷𝑨𝑹𝑻𝒀 𝑲𝑰𝑳𝑳𝑬𝑹 // 𝑺𝑳𝑨𝑺𝑯𝑬𝑹!𝒁𝑶𝑹𝑶 𝑿 𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑫𝑬𝑹

spooktober week 3 - modern au with slasher zoro!

tw: murder, d3ath, g0re, alcohol, can this be taken as yandere?, fire

summary: attending a house party won't be a bad choice, at least that's what you think until something changes the course of the night, and everything turns into chaos.

a/n: phew, my longest oneshot so far! i mean it took almost a week so i was hoping. i just want to say that im trash at writing endings so idk how that turned out, i feel like i fucked it up. also COP SHANKS CAMEO??!?!??! and firefighter Ace too!! LISTEN TO HOUSE OF BALLOONS WHILE READING, IT FITS THE VIBE!!!

first half until the garage scene supervised by lena!

tags: @stargirldelight cause cop shanks appearance at the end ♡ (sorry that i keep tagging u in shanks stuff)

wc: 5.6k

The cafeteria was bustling with people, just the average, daily experience. You munch on the horrid food they serve, the food you always tried to trade with the people who were smart enough to bring their own. You were lucky to have Sanji in your friend group, he always brought a bit of his own, delicious cooking, which Luffy would often steal.

"Here dear, I brought you some of your favourite!" Sanji exclaims, handing you a small portion of your favourite food with a smile on his face.

"Thanks, you're the best!" You take it and immediately dive in, hoping that you won't feel the taste of the cafeteria's food you finished a minute ago. While talking with Sanji, you could feel someone staring, but every time you looked around to check, there was nobody looking at you.

"Okay guys, last night I was thinking." Nami speaks up, now the whole group's attention focused on her as she stands up on the table. "Robin, you already know, I'm talking about what we discussed over the phone." She smiles.

"Just spit it out." Zoro says, losing his patience with the orange haired girl.

"Since it's our last year here together, I was thinking about hosting a big halloween party! And everyone is invited! And I mean EVERYONE. If you know somebody outside this highschool, feel free to invite them! The party is going to be held on October 31st! That's a week for you to prepare your costumes and get ready for the best night of your lives!" She excitedly says.

The whole group and the people present at the cafeteria cheer for her, everyone in on the idea. You haven't attended a good halloween party in years, and when it comes to parties, you know it's in good hands with Nami.

~○~

You walk trough the girl's locker room's door, the fencing helmet held in your hand since it won't fit in your bag.

"Thanks for waiting." You high five Zoro, standing at the entrance since he changed clothes faster. Maybe because he didn't spend a good twenty minutes with gossiping, or more like overhearing converastions going on about some random girl's personal life.

"So, what did they say?" You ask.

"What?" He looks at you bluntly.

"What do you mean 'what'? Oh. So you didn't ask them about the party." You sigh as realisation hits you.

"I didn't ask them about the party." He repeats, almost sounding proud of himself.

"Nami is counting on us!"

"The whole cafeteria heard her, isn't that enough people? Is her house even that big?"

"Even if it isn't, she'll find a way to get all these people together. She's smart, you gotta give her that."

Just then, a guy trying to leave the fencing hall bumps into you by accident. He rapidly looks up, making you notice his strange shaped nose.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to!" He apologises.

"No, don't worry, it's nothing. I was the one standing in the doorway, it's not your fault." You apologise back, picking up his bag that fell from his hands after the impact. He's about to leave, but you call out for him.

"Hey, uh, I was wondering if you could come to my friend's halloween party. October 31st. You in?" You shout, hoping he still hears you. The guy turns around, and shouts back a "sure" in response. "I'll send you the address, I think I have you on Instagram. Bye!"

The guy puts his thumb up and leaves. You turn back, and you're met with Zoro's eyes piercing trough you.

"What?" You ask, seeing he was clearly bothered by something.

"Nothing. Let's go." He sighs and heads towards his car, landing in the driver's seat.

"If you say so." You shrug and follow, getting in next to Zoro. You open your phone, and type in your address into Google Maps so that you won't have to guide him and his poor navigation skills. Sometimes you wonder how he got his driving license.

He stops at your house. You gather your fencing equipment, and step out of the car.

"Are you coming to Nami's party?" You hold the door open so you can speak with him.

"You sure sound very excited about it. I thought you hated parties, the people, drinks and all." He replies.

"I still do. But Nami and the others will be there, at least I won't feel alone. I want to see how it turns out. You still didn't answer me."

"I guess it's worth a try. She will probably buy the expensive drinks, someone's gotta try those out."

"You're saying that because you are an alcoholic, Zoro."

"I know. Bye." He grabs your door's handle and closes it, starts the engine and drives off.

"Yeah... Bye." You say to yourself.

You plop down on your bed, letting your body sink into the soft mattress. Maybe Zoro was right. Maybe you shouldn't go. Parties? You never attended them, the overwhelming amount of people and the disgusting smell of alcohol that would stay on your shirt keeping you away from these events.

But for God's sake, it will be hosted by Nami this time. She was your best friend ever since you started highschool, and she was also your number one supporter from the moment you two met. And now she was going to organise a huge halloween party with everyone invited, there's just no way you wouldn't attend it! Besides, all your other friends would be there, too! Robin or Sanji would definitely let you stick to their sides, you'd be safe there. You've got a whole week to get ready, both your costume and mentally.

~○~

Nami throws another ingredient in the cart, adding to the weight of it, making it even harder for you to push it forward.

"Did you even look at the price of it? Or are you just throwing in everything you see?" You ask your friend.

"We need all these, and I have the money for it. I just can't wait for tonight! This will be the party of the year, and I bet everyone will be talking about it tomorrow!" She exclaims, throwing another bag of potato chips your way. You catch it and place it on top of the heap of other food already in the cart.

"What will be your costume, Y/N?" Nami looks at you as the two of you join the line at the cash register.

"I couldn't come up with anything, I'll probaly go dressed as myself. Not very original, I know." You say as place the groceries on the conveyor belt one by one.

"Hm, I was looking forward to see you in some costume for once, but whatever." She sounds dissapointed, but at least she respects your decision.

After paying the crazy amount of money Nami decided to spend on snacks, you get into her car, heading straight towards her house. A few days ago you agreed to help her set up the party, but didn't expect it to be such a big thing. Sure, Nami was the host, so it's natural that she would plan something huge.

Her keys dingle in the front door's keyhole, and she opens it. Both your hands full with the bags, only being freed after you manage to drop them on her kitchen counter with a sigh.

"What should I help with?" You inquire, leaning on the white marble kitchen island.

"I was only thinking of helping with the groceries and now that's done, but if you're already here, could you put these into bowls? You know where to find them." She motions at the snacks in the grocery bags.

Of course you knew, Nami invited you over more than a million times, you could swear you knew the whereabout of every small item in her house. You open a cupboard, grabbing a bunch of bowls from it.

"I've got some things to tend to, Usopp should be here in about twenty minutes." She waves before going upstairs to take care of whatever she needed to.

"Ayyy! I didn't expect you here! Only here to set things up, or staying for the party too?" Usopp hugs you upon entering.

"Weird to see me here, huh? I'll stay for the party too, though I will probably stay by somebody's side, likely Robin or Sanji, maybe you, we'll see." You hug him back.

"Only an hour before the others arrive, I'm so excited! It's gonna be fun, I promise, and if ya ever feel lonely, find me!" Usopp pulls away and the two of you share your own handshake that took days to perfect.

~○~

The loud music with the same, repetative beat keeps playing from the speakers installed by Usopp earlier today, maybe an hour ago. You didn't expect everybody from the cafeteria to actually pull up, but it seems like you weren't the only one who thought it would be nice to attend a party just this one time. Everybody was there, event those smart students whose daily routine was entirely made up of studying and the quiet kids nobody knew anything about, and they all seemed to have fun. Except you.

You stood alone in the corner of the living room, awkwardly holding the red plastic cup filled with alcohol that you won't drink anyway. Maybe coming here was a bad idea after all.

"Uh, hey." You hear voice behind you, though it was faint since the music was being blasted. You turn around to see the guy from your fencing classes, the same guy that you invited here because Zoro wouldn't do it.

"Hi." You say, your fingers fiddling with the cup as you force a smile onto your face.

"I see you're alone. Zoro didn't come with you? I was sure he would." He starts.

"Uhhh I haven't seen him yet, but the party only started not so long ago, he said some days ago that he'll show up. He's bad with directions and navigation, maybe he just got lost." You explain.

"Oh, alright, if you say so. My name's Kaku. Nice to meet you, I've been watching you during fencing classes."

Zoro's face expressed disgust. Was it worth coming here? He stands still near the doorway of the living room, silently observing the scene currently unfolding on the other side of the room. When he entered, you were the first thing he saw amidst the crowd, but his happiness quickly dissapeared after a guy approaches you. Zoro could recognise him as Kaku from fencing classes, the guy who would always be paired with Zoro (and inevitably lose to him).

He couldn't hear what your conversation was about, the other guests and the music overpowering his hearing. Oh how he hated Kaku. He annoyed Zoro so much, his voice, gestures, everything. And now this man he hated was talking to you. It was supposed to be him. Maybe if he didn't take twenty-two wrong turns, get stuck in a traffic jam AND park his car in front of the wrong house, it could be him. But that wasn't the case right now, because instead of enjoying your company, he stood still on the other side of the room.

It bothered him how you had to force a smile, he could see it across the crowded room, but Kaku standing next to you couldn't. He just kept talking and talking, not noticing the way you were looking in all directions but at Kaku, who didn't seem to care.

"Heyyy, you wanna join me on the dance floor?" An unknown girl comes up to Zoro, pointing at the middle of the living room.

"No." He coldly turned her down, not even bothering to look at this girl. He couldn't take his eyes off you and Kaku, and knew that if the guy tries to do anything, whether it be a romantic or hurtful action towards you, he's going to be there between the two of you in the blink of an eye.

Just then, he notices as Kaku takes your hand into his, the movement making you seemingly uncomfortable. Seeing this, Zoro takes rapid steps trough the living room, squishing himself trough the crowd, his katanas colliding into each other. As he gets closer, he starts to hear you voice.

"No, uh, thanks, I-" you stutter, politely turning him down, trying to pull yourself back to the corner you were standing in.

"Come on, you're supposed to have fun, right? Zoro's not coming anyway, that asshole doesn't care." Kaku chuckles. Zoro deeply inhales. It took his all not to launch at the guy and gut him right then and there.

"No, sorry. I'm not going anywhere with you." You insist, pulling back your hand in hopes of freeing it from his grasp. Your heart was beating faster, and it was definitely not because Kaku's charms. You've already considered all possible outcomes of this. Lucky for you there was a small cupboard with a vase on it next to you just in case of an emergency.

"No way, I'm a nice guy, you know me! I-"

"She said no."

"Zoro!" You smile upon hearing your friend's deep voice, one that you could recognise anywhere. Kaku seems to lose some of his self confidence after Zoro's voice hits his ears, but he still didn't let go of your hand.

"Hey, buddy!" He gives the green haired man a fake smile. This was off to a bad start. Zoro could swear that if this guy called him 'buddy' again, he'll lose it.

"Let her go." He says back, not even greeting Kaku. Instead, he stared into his soul, and if looks could kill, Kaku would be gone by now.

"Alright, fine!" Kaku gets defensive, letting go of you and raising both his hands up like he was being arrested. It looked like he was waiting for a 'thank you', but you sure weren't going to thank him for the bare minimum. Feeling the tension, the guy tries to lighten the mood before Zoro accidentally stares too strongly at him.

"Zoro, buddy, can I invite you for a drink?" He asks.

Zoro nods, knowing that Kaku had no idea of what he just got himself into.

"I'll be back soon." Zoro smiles your way, which is not a rare phenomenon with you, then leaves wirh Kaku following closely behind him, leaving you alone yet again.

~○~

Zoro pours another drink into the cup, Kaku letting out a sigh of satisfaction as he downs it again. Both of them sat at the kitchen counter, drinking up everything they could find. They both consumed the same amount of alcohol, but one of them was definitely drunker than the other. Zoro was an expert at alcohol drinks, and could still stay sober even after an insane amount of drinks. Unlike Kaku. He was deeply drunk by now, just as Zoro expected it.

"Zoro, hi! You're actually here, cool! Though I would be happier if you left your katanas at home." Nami appears, greeting her friend.

"I always take them with me everywhere."

"Yeah, that's exactly why you are banned from so many places."

"Zoro, pour me and yourself another!" Kaku chuckles, his shaky hands holding the cup towards the green haired. Zoro agrees, but when he tries to grab another drink, he notices that it's all gone.

"Strange. I thought you were prepared, Nami." He says.

"I WAS! But you two idiots drank it all!" She shouts at the two, mad that they didn't leave any for the rest of the guests.

"So no more drinks?" Zoro looks over to Nami, earning a sigh from her.

"There is. Go to the garage, I have a few crates of it stored there. Bring those up, but leave some for the others."

"Why do I have to get them? You're the host, do it yourself." Kaku whines, clearly drunk.

"MAYBE BECAUSE I WASN'T THE ONE WHO DRANK IT ALL. NOW GO." she pushes Kaku out of the room, Zoro walking behind them.

He would be lying if he said this wasn't what he was planning all along. The crates in the garage? He knew about it. And he also knew that nobody will be there, all the guests in the living room or one of the guest rooms. He felt a bit bad for leaving you alone, but there were things that had to be done. And it was for your own good.

"Man, I'm telling ya, I would be long gone with that girl if you didn't interfere. Damn bro, I even had some aphrodisiac with me, I-"

Zoro didn't need to hear the rest. His steps slowed down, mind going in multiple directions. Did he just mean you when saying 'that girl'? Did he really want to give you that shit? Kaku may be drunk, but drunk words are sober thoughts, and Zoro knew that. He hated Kaku, but now he snapped. This guy was going too far, and Zoro didn't like the way this crazy dude talked and thought about you.

He opens the garage's door, holding it open for Kaku to enter, and he does so, skipping his way down the few stairs. Unbeknownst to him, he just walked into a trap, one that Zoro has been planning ever since Kaku started making flirty comments towards you during fencing classes, not noticing how you were internally cringing and creeped out by him, but neither of you ever said a word about this. And tonight really did it for Zoro. He didn't invite Kaku for a drink because he wanted to get closer to him. He did it to get him into this drunken state, and made him drink up every drink until there was none left. He didn't need Nami to ask them to get more, he would've done it anyways.

Kaku looks trough the shelves, searching for even more drinks.

"Zoro, you helping me or nah?" He inquires, still looking at the metal shelf.

"Sure. I think I already found one of the crates." He says, carrying a crate filled with whiskey over to Kaku. He tries to hand it to him, but drops it in the process. The glasses break, the alcohol spilling on the floor and Kaku, who is now soaked from head to toe, given that he was crouching when this happened.

"Sorry." There was no remorse in Zoro's tone, but the guy believed him anyways, the drinks doing their thing.

"It's okay buddy, mistakes happen." He smiles, going back to searching the shelf again in case he missed something.

He doesn't notice as Zoro quietly locks the garage's door, trapping the two alone together. He starts searching in his pocket, until he finally gets his hands on the keys to Nami's car, the keys that he stole from the hanger in the hallway. Zoro opens the car's door, sitting down on the leather seat of it, then inserts the key and the engine comes to life with a buzzing sound.

"Ey man, be careful or you'll hit me!" Kaku shouts, still crouching just a few meters away from the car.

"Don't worry. Stay there, and you'll be safe. I just want to test something." He lies, and steps on the gas pedal. The tires of the car squealed on the concrete floor of the garage, which had just enough space for the green haired to roll the car back a bit.

"Buddy, Zoro, no, no, let me just go back, you can try the car when I'm not here." Kaku stands up, ready to leave in this instant.

"Stay put. I'm here to crush your skull, not the car." And with that, Zoro pushes the car's gear, feet forcefully pressing the gas pedal.

A loud thud echoes in the garage as Zoro crashes into the wall, the breaking of bones and coughs ringing with it. Kaku tries to take deep breaths, but now that he was squished between the wall and the car, it seemed impossible. His head was spinning, eyesight hazy, the only thing he tried to focus his eyes on was the man in the driver's seat, staring at him with an emotionless gaze.

Zoro backs up a bit with the car, Kaku falling to the floor with broken ribs. He coughs, clawing at the floor in hopes of being able to crawl away. Zoro opens the car's door, slowly stepping out. Kaku was almost at the few steps leading to the door, when he looks back over his shoulders at the sound of footsteps, the green haired man approaching him.

"No, please, I-" he crawls a bit faster, but Zoro grabs him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him back with force, then dragging him along the cold concrete floor, back towards the car.

Zoro lifts him up, then places him in the drivers seat while he stands at the car's door.

"You're gonna be in big trouble when I tell the others about this." He manages to whisper between coughs, his own blood filling his mouth.

"They won't." And with that, Zoro steps on the gas pedal, quickly pulling his leg back after doing so. A deafening scream pierces trough the air, the car running into the wall yet again, the metal shelf between the two objects breaking right trough the windshield, the end of it sliding trough Kaku's head.

The car sparks at the impact, the alcohol spilled there by Zoro previously catching fire. Was the crate drop a few minutes ago intentional? Yes. Yes, it was. Now the car was in flames, the already dead Kaku stiff in the drivers seat.

Zoro calmly grabs a crate filled with beer from the other side of the room, and makes his way towards the door like nothing happened. He doesn't look back, letting the car burn with Kaku inside it. The whole garage was made up of concrete walls, which cannot catch or spread fire, meaning that Nami's house won't burn down if he leaves the fire to be.

He leaves the room, striding back to the kitchen. Just as he was about to leave the hallway and enter the living room, Nami comes rushing to him.

"Zoro! What took you so long?! We heard loud noises, I was getting worried that something happened to you!" She scolds him.

"I didn't know you could do that." He coldly replies, earning an eyeroll from the ginger girl, who noticed something.

"Wait, where's the guy who went with you?" She asks.

"Oh, Kaku? He told me to feel free to come back, said he wanted to try something. He should be here soon." He lies straight to Nami's face.

Nami shrugs, about to go back to the middle of the party, when she suddenly stops in her tracks. Her nose picks up an unkonwn scent, or more like smell.

"Zoro, can you smell it too?" She asks worriedly, turning back to the swordsman. "Smoke." Realisation dawns on her, eyes going wide. She rushes out the room, a curious Usopp and you behind her. "You're coming too!" She shouts back, clearly meaning Zoro. So, he follows them.

The grey smoke filled the hallway as they got closer to the garage, Nami already suspecting what happened. Usopp bursts trough the garage's door, letting out a few coughs along with Nami and you. The room was filled with smoke, the orange haired girl's car still in flames, it was only a matter of time before it gets worse and the car explodes.

"SOMEBODY HELP! WE NEED WATER! CALL THE POLICE AND FIREFIGHTERS!" Usopp screams. Nami and you nod, running back to warn the others and call for help.

Now Zoro was left alone with Usopp, who was panicking, taking fast and deep breaths to calm himself down.

"You, Zoro? D-don't you feel l-like doing something about this?" He shakily asks, eyes on the green haired man.

"I already did." He answers. Usopp slightly scrunches his eyebrows, not quite understanding what he meant.

"What are y-you trying to say? You're creeping me out a bit, you know." He takes a tiny step back, Zoro looking at him with a colder, more menacing stare than usual.

Usopp swallows hard, feeling uneasy after Zoro doesn't give him an answer.

"Zoro, you... you didn't, right?" He nervously chuckles, but Zoro still doesn't move or say anything. Usopp realises that he's in grave danger here, and it's time for him to run. But just as he turns around, ready to sprint back to the living room, he hears as Zoro unsheats one of his katanas. Usopp grabs a vase, throwing it right towards Zoro, who simply cuts trough it.

"This can't be real, this can't be real, this can't be real!" Usopp murmurs to himself, shutting his eyes for a few seconds. But when he opens them again, Zoro's gone. Or at least that's what he thought, standing up, letting out a deep sigh at the fact that he won't die.

"Sorry. No witnesses." He hears the deep voice from behind, the blade making contact with his upper body. Usopp looks down, and is met with the sight of Zoro's katana going trough right his heart. He sees as Zoro pulls out the blade from his flesh, a hole left in its place. He coughs, blood spilling from his mouth before landing on the flooring beneath him with a thud.

Zoro's hands were now stained with his friend's blood, the crimson liquid staining Nami's floor and his katana's shiny blade. He had to get rid of the body quickly, before you, Nami and all the others return with the cops. So, he grabs Usopp's dead body by the legs, dragging him to the burning car in the garage a few steps away.

You panic, dialing 911 as fast as possible while Nami ushered everybody out the house before something else catches on fire too, or the flames reach the wrong spot of the car and it explodes. But Usopp was down there, trying to put it out with the buckets from the storage room. Or at least that's what you thought was happening.

"911, what's your emergency?" A female voice chimes in from the other side of the line, one that you could recognise.

"Uta, hi! Nami's car got caught on fire in her garage, and she said somebody was there too, it can explode any minute, Usopp is trying to put it out but I'm worried for him, I-" you dump all the information on her, but she calmly cuts you off.

"Alright. I'll ask my dad to go, he'll bring some of his colleagues too, so him and some firefighters will be there in a few minutes."

"Thank you. Bye." You shake, worried for Usopp and Zoro at the garage. Uta puts down the phone, and you do the same as you rush back to the garage to get the two out of the house.

You cough as you get closer, Usopp and Zoro nowhere to be seen.

"ZORO! USOPP! COME ON, WE NEED TO GET OUT!" You shout, hoping they will hear you. You slow in your track when you notice the splatters of blood on the floor and wall a few meters away from the entrance of the garage. Did something happen to them? You think for a second. Maybe the fire wasn't caused by accident. Maybe somebody set it on fire intentionally, killing the person Nami said was there. And now he maybe got one of your friends too.

"USOPP! ZOR-" you call out their names, when suddenly the green haired man appears in the garage's doorway.

"Oh god, you're alright! Look, we need to get out of here, the police, firefighters and ambulance are already on their way, there's nothing we can do about the fire now. And I might sound stupid right now, but there might be even a killer, and-"

"There is. Now come with me and get out of here." He cuts you off and grabs your hand, heading to where you just came from.

"But Usopp-" you try to stop yourself, but Zoro keeps dragging you behind him.

"He'll be fine." He replies, not even looking at you.

"You know what he's like, we can't just leave him here!" You argue back, slightly raising your voice.

"There's no time for him, we need to leave, now."

"No!" You tear your hand away from his. "He will panic that he's alone, or worse, he can die too! Don't you think about that?!"

"I do, but I don't care. I don't care if that fool dies, but if I don't get you out of here and you die because of me, I'll never forgive myself." He lifts you, throwing you over his shoulder, firm hands keeping you in place. You squirm, trying to get out of his touch, but it seems impossible.

He bursts trough the door, then places you down at the front yard. The other guests were either gone the moment they heard there was a fire, or watched in horror as the smoke flowed out the house. Just as you step on the sidewalk in front of the house, the sound of cop cars hit your ears, that same deafening sound as all the other times. Firefighters and ambulance arrive at the scene too, jumping out of the vehicles in an instant. You rush towards one firefighter, the black haired, freckled guy you were friends with.

"Ace! Ace, one of my friends is still inside, please, try to find him and get him out." You beg, tears forming in the corner of your eyes.

"That's my job, sweetheart. Don't worry!" He reassuringly winks, running toward's Nami's house.

You knew Ace since childhood, you both went to the same school and your moms were good friends, so you got to hang out with him a lot. He loved going on adventures, and was a good company. He always dreamt of being a firefighter, and it was like a dream come true for him when he got the job. You knew that he will be great at this job, and you trusted him. When he told you not to worry, you believed him, there was something about your friend saying this that calmed you down a bit.

"Hey, you alright?" Another familiar voice sounds from behind you, his hands placed on your shoulders. You turn around and see the red haired man with scars over one of his eyes, worry displaying in his eyes. You couldn't hold your tears anymore, this was it. You wrap your arms around him, face buried into his chest, sobs escaping your lips.

"It's okay, it's okay. You'll be fine." He hugs back, bringing a sense of comfort to you. Shanks was the usual friendly cop, the one who would always be there when an old lady called the police because her cat got stuck on a tree, the man who would knock into your home just because he was bored and wanted company. You knew him, his little secrets, and he knew yours.

~○~

The rest of the night you sat in Shanks' cop car, a blanket over you after a doctor checked up on you and it was all okay. You were devastated. Ace and the doctors did everything they could to save Usopp, who was found dead in the garage, stabbed. The other victim was Kaku, who died under mysterious circumstances. There was definitely a killer, but nobody knew who it was. Though you did have your suspect. And you could only wish you were wrong.

The last time you and Nami saw Kaku was when he was with Zoro, but Nami said that the two went to fetch drinks and Kaku stayed behind, so maybe that wasn't Zoro's fault. But it was also him who stayed with Usopp, he was last seen with him. And the fact that Zoro carries his katanas everywhere, including this party, and Usopp getting killed by a blade just fit together. Why would he kill Usopp? You had no idea.

Everyone got questioned one by one, and sadly all clues lead to Zoro according to Benn, who was Shanks' colleague. You didn't know him like you knew Shanks, but you would meet him often. He was smart, and knew what he was doing. And that's why you were so worried. Because he is likely right this time too, and that means Zoro, your best friend is a murderer.

You see as Shanks approaches his car where you were sitting, a serious look on his face.

"Is something wrong?" You quietly ask, worried that something happened, something wrong.

"I'm sorry. I really am." He says as he sits down in the back next to you, looking in a direction. You follow where his eyes are focused, and see what you didn't want to. Zoro in handcuffs, escorted to a police car. A tear escapes you, it hurts to think that your friend is a killer. You didn't know his motives, why he did what he did, but he probably had a good reason.

~○~

Life went smoothly. The image of that night was still vivid in your mind, but you forgot about it so often that it was almost like it's gone. You would still sometimes dream about it, but other than that, you were fine. Shanks was worried that you will be targeted after this, so he offered to take care of you and live with him if you want. You have been living alone ever since you were 15, and you knew Shanks well, so, you moved in with him. He has been acting as your father figure ever since, and you totally don't mind it.

You would sometimes still wonder: why did you do it, Zoro?

one piece and all related characters belong to eiichiro oda, i do not own any of those characters.

© v1nsmokes 2023. Do not modify, translate or rewrite.

#Spotify #one piece #oneshot #v1nsmoke #roronoa zoro #roronoa zoro x reader #slasher zoro x reader #spooktober #october #halloween #slasher #zoro one piece #zoro #eiichiro oda #opla #one piece live action #mackenyu #zoro x reader

[pedroschka]

not my type

Joseph Quinn x reader

words: 1.9k fluff

Summary: one sided feelings can destroy friendships, so you and Joe make it very clear that you both are not each other's type, pinky promise clear

A/n: @ghostinthebackofyourhead grab your favorite bread and (hopefully) enjoy because I'm your secret Santa!! thanks to @quinnyfairy for organising this <3

Mid laugh, brown eyes crinkling and his head thrown back, that's the blurry image of your best friend in front of you for the last two minutes.

"Joe as much I love to see your little potato head but your screen is frozen."

" ugh, shit! The bloody wifi connection at my parents' is the worst. Wait a second!" his voice on the other end is a bit muffled as he seems to be moving around, trying to fix it.

It was one day after Christmas and you and Joe are trying to have your own little celebration via video call while you both are at your family's and didn't want to wait till you eventually see each other in person again, unpredictable with Joe's busy schedule nowadays anyway. So you both had sent each other's presents via post and now wanted to unpack them together.

So now you sit on your bed in your old bedroom, presents scattered around you and your tablet in front of you with the frozen image of your laughing friend.

" OK, what about now?" Joe's face finally in time again and him waving at the camera

" yes, now get started I already tried peaking but you really are serious about your sticky tape"

" and see how it came in handy" his cocky little smile makes you roll your eyes while grabbing the first present on your left which already has a bit of wrapping paper ripped out, but sticky tape all around it preventing you from making out what it could be.

At the end, you both sit in a colorful mass out of wrapping paper, presents sorted in a little pile beside you, and now updating each other on the newest family tea.

" no! I swear my aunt was full-on gushing about how Eddie looked like her ex-boyfriend's when she was a teen and started showing pictures of you as Eddie all around the dining table, it was soo uncomfortable!" you comically shuddered and Joe's snickering like a little kid at your theatrics.

As comfortable and at ease you were now around him was the complete opposite when you first met each other a year ago.

You sat on your friend's couch, phone in hand, and playing some stupid game, that only seems to come to use in social situations out of ultimate boredom, but trying to look very busy for the people around you. Questioning why your friend even thought it was a good idea to invite you to one of her parties, celebrating whatever with a bunch of her actor friends, when you were the epitome of socially awkward and just overall really bad at meeting new people.

You tried, you really tried to be a part of some conversations, standing in a group full of, on first sight, cliché book extroverts, all of them with interesting lives and using big words talking about different plays, with you just standing there and fake laughing at their jokes you didn't understand and attempting to stop comparing yourself with them. Which didn't work so after a few exhausting hours in which you've been ignored or got an awkward "was nice meeting you" after you ranted too much about a topic you finally could understand you gave up. Your social battery drained and you loathing in self-pity.

Loud cheers and greetings make you look up from your phone, great even more people. The new guest is a very ordinary-looking guy, plain light washed baggy jeans hanging low on his hips, a plain white shirt, sneakers. Not bad on the eye with tousled brown curls as well as brown eyes but not really your type.

Still he held an aura around him that forced you to keep your attention on him, apparently the people around him felt the same effect as they were hanging on every word that was coming out of his mouth. Or is he... Famous around here?! And you are just the only one who has absolutely no idea who he is?

But you're already admiring him for a different reason, Looking so awkward but at the same time so charmingly charismatic and being able to find the right words and topic for each person. You couldn't help to be slightly jealous.

Forced to look down again as he looked across the room and dangerously close in your direction you continued your game, only looking up again as you felt the couch dip as someone sat themselves beside you, and you hastily tried to turn your phone away to not get caught.

"well, that looks fun" shit.

Unknown ordinary looking /maybe famous guy is smiling at you and nodding at your phone

"uggh, kinda" and your brain is letting you down again.

But he doesn't seem bothered by your brain-dead state and tried again to engage you in a conversation, ending up with him having your phone and you, hanging half over his shoulder, explaining to him how to play the game.

"oh, I'm Joe by the way!"

You met Joe a few times after that again and eventually exchanged numbers which resulted in a weird and chaotic friendship. With his ability to make you feel so comfortable around him and just being yourself, he has to endure your ranting over the most ridiculous topics or oversharing the most private things, but it doesn't seem to bother him, on the contrary, he seems to even encourage your weirdness and just adapt to it.

Because of this connection between you both, you lost count of how many times people thought you both were dating or how many times your friends and family tried to play matchmaker, so a pinky promise between you and joe was made that you both are on the same page, that you are not each other's type, both of you already familiar with how one-sided feelings can destroy a friendship, so better making sure at the beginning right?

It was now new years eve and like you planned with Joe in your last call you both were gonna drive over to a friend's house who's throwing a party to celebrate it together, in person this time.

Joe's gonna be at your place to pick you up in nearly 20 minutes and you're still sitting in front of your wardrobe in only your bathrobe and still wet hair, nibbling nervously on your fingernails and looking over all your clothes, eyes wide with panic debating what you should wear to look presentable for him.

Which is absolutely ridiculous because Joe has already seen you in your absolute worst states, coming over to you with pimple cream all over your face, greasy hair, and sloppy oversized shirts with holes and stains you couldn't even explain.

But you haven't seen each other for nearly a month now, well except for the few video calls but that's just different, and now you are a nervous mess, suddenly worried about your appearance and you hate it.

The buzzing of your doorbell makes you jump slightly, spraying the last bit of hairspray on your head and turning the music off, which you needed to hype yourself up, and speedwalking to the door, taking a deep breath before opening it.

Joe's standing in front of you in black slacks and a slightly striped white shirt, the last button undone and a necklace peeking out of it, and you feel your heartbeat throbbing in your ears.

With a happy call of your name, he went straight into a hug and you suddenly felt distracted by the smell of his perfume, still the same one you smelt a thousand times but different regardless, Like his arms around you, squeezing you firmly into him, it's like your sensory perception is on high alert and suddenly everything feels more intense.

The car ride to the party is awkward to say at least, your nerves preventing you from coming up with anything other than occasionally humming or nodding as an answer, and after a few more tries from Joe he gave up, thinking maybe you're just nervous again because of all the people that are gonna be there and needed a few more minutes for yourself, so the car becomes silent and you hate it because that was your least concern right now, you felt like a bad friend, not seeing each other for a month and you can't even talk to him because this bloody nervous feeling just won't go away. So you both just stare at the road in front of you.

It's loud and full and lights flickering everywhere and you're so overwhelmed and tense that the weird feeling is forgotten for a moment and you're clinging to Joe, following him around like a lost puppy. Him ordering drinks for you both and chatting with people, trying to include you, taking you with him for smoke breaks, the only time when you both are separated is when one of you has to go to the toilet.

A few minutes before midnight a group of people had gathered on the balcony, with them you and Joe, shouting the countdown to the new year and watching fireworks exploding and illuminating the night sky.

" happy new year!" you screamed in each other's faces and laughed as you tackle each other in a big hug. People around you doing the same or walking around and giving the traditional New Year kiss.

Observing this you both looked at each other and shrugged while giggling, both slightly tipsy, and pecked each other on the lips. Physical contact wasn't unfamiliar to you, both being touchy when around people you feel comfortable enough, small kisses when saying goodbye, or cuddling together on your small sofa when watching some movies weren't new either. What was new was the feeling you felt as your lips met his.

As you separated you looked into each other's eyes, you always thought that his eyes were beautiful, even told him so, but you never felt such strong emotions when looking into them, unable to hold eye contact your gaze trailed to his lips, so full and soft looking and you never felt such a strong urge either to be near them. Subconscious you both lean in again and your lips met again but this time for a real kiss.

Warm flooded your body and you can't think of anything else other than the feeling of his lips against yours. His hands found the back of your neck to bring you even closer and you copied him, trailing your fingers through his curls, both of you starving for each other's presence and hungry for more, captivated and lost in your own little world.

Until a person stumbles into you and you remember again where you are.

Both of you catching your breath as you separated again, waking up from the trance-like state, emotional chaos whirling up in you again because you just made out with your best friend, with which you made a silly pinky promise and made very clear to not be each other's type to save this friendship but now you experienced the best kiss you ever had and when you look at his face now he is so beautiful and you can't help to want to kiss those lips again but you were also so overwhelmed because what the fuck does this all mean now.

Luckily Joe answers your questions as he leans in again for a third kiss, shorter but still as breathtaking.

" I know we promised to be not each other's type but do you wanna go on a date with me?" he asked against your lips and you both giggled as you nodded 'yes' before going into another kiss.

(reblogs and comments are very appreciated additional to your likes)

#secret santa project #joseph quinn #joseph quinn x reader #joe quinn #joe quinn fanfic #fanfiction #joseph quinn fluff

[babytarttdoodoo]

your writing is so so lovely! i’ve been really enjoying the mini fic prompts, and if you’re still taking prompts i was wondering if you could do roy being protective and worried about jamie, romantic or platonic is up to you. maybe split between the man city hug scene, and when jamie’s hurt in the mom city episode? considering he’s physically and emotionally hurt in both of those eps, i’d love to see your take on it! would also love to read more from you if you’ve got an ao3 account :)

have a wonderful day <3

Thank you! And sorry you’ve been waiting so long.

Not sure if this is what you were looking for but it’s the kind of character introspection I love to get my teeth into. I’ve tried to intersperse the two scenes as parallels of each other and I hope it’s not too confusing!

Song rec: Soap (this is becoming my anthem for Roy & Jamie, by the way)

—

It had already been an awful, shitty day. It had been the kind of match that could make a player want to walk away from the pitch forever.

Roy could see it in the slump of the team’s shoulders. Could feel the heavy, depressive weight in the air that had no one speaking above a murmur, every movement slow and exhausted.

Even Ted looked knocked for six.

Defeats like this were as much a part of the game as anything else. Roy had been through more than a few in his time. (He still held a grudge against Charlton Athletic. What a fucking mess that had been.)

He didn’t think he’d ever had a crowd bay so viciously for his blood as the City fans had for Tartt’s, though.

***

Jamie was barely out of the tunnel before the boos started. Roy had expected it, knew Jamie definitely had, but for fuck’s sake. They could at least give him a chance to be a prick before punishing him for it.

He saw the way Jamie looked around, the lines of his shoulders and back tensed to a degree that would completely mess up his pre-match stretches if he wasn’t careful.

Roy couldn’t find it in himself to blame him, though. He knew exactly what (who) Jamie was scanning the crowd for.

***

It had been something of a relief, actually, when that security guy said Jamie’s father was there to see him. It saved Roy from doing something mortifying like going over there to try and comfort him himself.

Bad days just happened sometimes. The real kick in the fucking teeth was when someone came along to make them worse.

The moment the old bastard opened his mouth, Roy knew it was going to go badly. Just the sight of him - unkempt and swaggering with a Manchester City scarf in pride of place - put him on edge. Who came to see their kid play at fucking Wembley and cheered for the other team?

All misgivings at the initial intrusion were quickly fortified by his sneering and jeering, insults thrown about with laughter that painted a very uncomfortable, distorted echo of similar locker rooms just a year ago, a younger Tartt being the dismissive, disruptive voice in the room.

***

He just couldn’t catch a fucking break, could he?

That block was spectacular, something only a handful of the lads on the pitch could even attempt, never mind pull off so successfully.

Jamie had kept Richmond in the game, backed up Zoreaux and his team in a way no one else would have thought to do. But fuck everything if it came at the cost of putting himself out of commission.

When he didn’t get up right away, Roy felt ice in his veins. When he crumpled after just a few steps, it turned to lead.

***

The whole thing made Roy’s blood boil.

He was very familiar with this kind of fan. The ones who rode the high of their team’s victories as if they’d put the ball in the net themselves and took any opposition as the most deep and personal of slights. Vindictive in the most pedestrian way.

Jamie’s reaction, though, was something entirely unfamiliar.

Where from anyone else, from even Roy himself, Jamie had no problem meeting disdain head on, any bravado or assertive attitude had fled his frame completely under the onslaught of his father. His eyes were staring off, unfocused, past the older man’s shoulder. He was holding himself like a tightly coiled spring, not quite hunched over but projecting the effort it took to stand tall.

It wasn’t as surprising as Roy would have liked when Tartt Sr’s bile focused in solely on his son and Jamie seemed to shrink before their eyes.

His defiance was quiet but Roy could see the cost it took nonetheless.

***

Roy couldn’t hold back a chuckle as Jamie goaded the crowd, striding back into the game with all the purpose and bravado that had been missing from his game for weeks.

Whatever Ted said, whatever the medics did, something had clearly done the trick.

The team rallied in kind, their excitement palpable when Jamie jogged back into position, still encouraging the City fans to do their worst with a grin in place. They may as well have been chanting his name and his teammates knew exactly how to react.

As soon as Isaac lobbed the ball towards him, it was all over.

***

Everyone else was frozen in an oppressive spell of inaction right up until that piece of shit laid a hand on his son.

Roy twitched in place, ready to intervene, and was immensely proud to see half of the team do the same, the closest to Jamie seeming ready to jump to their feet.

Turned out they didn’t have to.

Jamie landed a solid fucking punch that sent his old man sprawling. The surge of petty satisfaction in Roy’s chest only lasted until he registered the mocking laughter from the floor and all the colour that had leached from Jamie’s face.

He was afraid. Afraid of whatever his dad was about to do.

Thank god Beard had a handle on the situation, hauling that fucker up and out before he could make good on any of the thinly-veiled threats he was hollering at his son.

His son who was still frozen with that horrible, stricken expression of fear.

***

Jamie was flying.

Roy would never get tired of watching this. A player he’d helped mold, doing what he was built to do and making it look like fucking magic.

No one could touch him. His ankle didn’t matter. Bloody hell, gravity didn’t seem to matter. Jamie ate up the length of the pitch with a single-minded focus on the ball at his feet.

There was no doubt in Roy’s mind about where it was headed. He didn’t even need to watch it happen - but he was so glad that he did.

What a fucking goal.

***

It wasn’t a conscious decision to cross the floor and pull Jamie into his arms. Roy just couldn’t stomach that look on his face anymore.

He held Jamie tight against him, hoping against hope that this wasn’t making anything worse but at a complete loss for anything else to say or do.

And like a dam breaking, after long, tense seconds, Jamie shuddered and hugged back just as tight. The shaking didn’t stop and the small, choked off sobs made something ache deep down in Roy’s chest.

But he kept on holding him together.

Words wouldn’t come, and maybe they didn’t need to.

***

“Brilliant, Jamie. That was fucking beautiful.”

Roy moved in to hug him on his way off the pitch, so full of pride and relief he thought he might burst. He saw the same elation reflected back at him in Jamie’s face, eyes still wet with the emotion of a homecoming he truly deserved.

“Thanks, man.” His voice shook but his smile was genuine and wide.

#thematic parallels my beloved #my fic #fic prompts #ted lasso #jamie tartt #roy kent #afc richmond

[andguesswhat]

There are days were the things in my head are shamelessly hopeful and therefore completely illusory.

But “I must dare to dream”, right?

Venice 25

He thought about Armie’s comment when they stood ready to go in front of the mirror.

*

He got out of the car and the crowd screamed.

He was in Venice. Venice Film Festival, September 2025, premiere of Dune 3. The last act.

He loved being in Venice.

Again he wore a handmade outfit by Haider.

A kind of homage to his red sequined outfit from 3 years ago, again a neck-holder, again backless, but this time made of a robust and hard material, fine wire rings interwoven, heavy silver chains in between, a modern chain shirt. Plus some 70s punk rock vibe: leather pants, his boots with the silver heels, silver rings and bracelets on fingers and wrist, a black painted fingernail and a silver choker around his neck.

The outfit felt good, it made him feel strong and forearmed, even if right now he didn't think he needed that. Much more the outfit matched his mood, wanting to kick ass, because that's what he would do now, what they would do now.

He waved briefly to the crowd, the first flash of lightning thundering down on him, and then he held out his hand, just a little, casually, as he always did when he just wanted his partner a little closer, and couldn't help but grin happily as Armie got out of the car.

Armie looked extremely dapper in that deep-dark Tom Ford suit with a fancy little applique on the lapel, and Tim couldn't have been prouder of his partner, of his man, of his husband.

And that was it. Armie was now standing next to him, his warm hand gently running over Tim’s bare back and resting on his hip. They smiled into the cameras. Together, side by side. The way it had been private forever, the way it should be possible in public, too. It felt good and right.

He didn't care if there were hostile comments among the cheers now. The crowd that kept cheering was there and the one that mattered was standing next to him.

Armie.

Armie and him, for all the world to see.

“You look like some kiss ass rock star who has his bodyguard with him just to fuck him.”

It was the right time for them now.

The big blockbusters had been shot, he had a few more awards on his record, he had built a good network, he would be shooting with Scorsese and directors he adored. What more did he want?

He was sure that even if a few offers fell through now, he would still be making films he wanted to make. Maybe he would make less money, but as long as he could keep doing what he loved the most, something that he couldn’t live without, it would be enough now.

Armie smiled at him warmly, towering beside him and he smiled back. What had often taken them so much effort to hide was now there for all the world to see.

There was a rush in his head, his heart was pounding wildly, they had played this day out in his head for too long, too many emotions attached to it, and yet it was pride that trumped everything.

And then a gentle touch of Armie’s hand on his back and Armie was buttoning up his jacket, stepping into the background. Stephane stood on the sidelines and Armie joined him. Tim was alone again, continuing to pose for the photographers, responding to the "Timmy" calls, and although Armie was now no longer next to him, he was still more with him than ever.

When his bodyguard motioned him to go to the fans to sign autographs, he couldn’t say that he wasn’t afraid at that moment.

He tried not to listen, but of course he did hear a few things.

“Are you two really together or is this some kind of PR?”

“Are you gay?”

“How long has it been going on with you guys?”

Later he would say:

I prefer to keep my private life private. I'm with Armie but the rest is non of your business.

Then why this now?

Because I wanted to share this special moment with my partner. And the world can stop worrying about who I'm with. There should be more important things.

So are you gay?

I think we live in a society where we should be long past asking someone about their sexuality because they are with someone of the same sex.

There wouldn't be much more about them from them. Even if the whole world wanted to know everything.

For now he didn't say anything. With trembling hands he wrote autograph after autograph, took selfies, accepted gifts, and when he realized it was no different than usual, he found his voice again, the feeling of happiness increased, as did the selfies with stuck out tongue and middle finger and the joy to kick ass.

"You look amazing!"

"I love you so much!"

The hate would play out anonymously elsewhere, he knew.

Finally, he sprinted back to the red carpet, photos with Zendaya, photos with Dennis, photos with the whole cast. He felt like he was about to burst, brimming with energy, roaring and beaming, his kick-ass energy constantly alternated with pure pure joy. In between, he kept glancing over at Armie, who was smiling happily at him and apparently commenting dryly with Stephane on the whole happening.

Whatever was to come, as it was now, it was the right thing to do. Now had been the right time, and because it was the right time, they had not wanted to wait any longer, he had not wanted to wait any longer.

It was strange to be in that auditorium and watch the movie while outside the news would spread through the world like a forest fire. But he didn't mind.

Armie had been in a play, had taken small roles in television series, and next year Timmy would produce a small indie film starring him. They slowly got things going.

And even if they didn't, he would turn 30 at the end of this year. He had changed. For some time now, they had thought about having a family of their own. They were ready for change, for their new chapter in life, whatever it would look like.

As he walked into the building, and Armie walked beside him, smiling at him, their fingers casually interlocked. And that small, unspectacular touch meant everything to Tim. No boundaries, no hiding, just being themselves.

Dennis had supported him.

"I'm not sure we would have made it to Venice again with the third part without you and your collaboration with Haider. They love you! So take it, it's yours!"

Now they got Amargaddon. They would see how it would affect the box office, but he was grateful to have Dennis' blessing on it.

He loved being in this sheltered place with colleagues, friends and Armie.

Tim had wanted Armie to sit near him, so he heard him cheering in the row behind him when his name appeared on the screen, and turned with a grin when he heard him laughing dirty at a Harkonnen joke. It felt good to have him there. Very good.

When they all hugged during the applause after the movie, he turned around and hugged Armie too, and although they hadn't talked about it before, when Armie slid his hand down Tim's neck and gave him a kiss on the mouth, as other couples would, Tim couldn't stop grinning.

He knew there would be blurry video of that kiss. There wouldn't be much else, but at least they could offer that to their fans.

As they left the movie theater, as they made their way to the hotel, shouting cheerful see-you-later’s to the others, the fog in Tim's head cleared, the buzzing slowly diminished, and when he saw an undisturbed corner, he pulled Armie into it, into his arms and never let go. Armie did the same, squeezing him so tight he almost couldn't breathe.

For quite a while they were just standing there, crying and laughing and hugging and feeling all these feelings they felt. Together.

He felt all the tension inside him release. The tension that he didn't even know was inside him. The prison that they knew how to ignore so much that they had forgotten the freedom they lacked.

"We did it, Armie."

"Yes, we did."

And when he heard Armie's brittle voice, tears came to him, too, and he had to hold Armie even a little tighter.

"It really does feel as good as they say, doesn’t it?"

"It does."

Clap your hands for Tinkerbell them.

Later that evening, they had a carefree premiere party with lots of laughter, dancing and singing. They were happy, they were them. Some more blurry pictures would show that and it was fine.

And even if it was none of the world's business that they were together, it was an incredible feeling that the world knew now.

*

#charmie fic #no smut sorry #armie x timmy #timmy x armie #armie hammer #charmie

[reputationgf]

lovers rock. e.munson

summary - Eddie sees you performing at the hideout and asks you to hang out with his band, completely mesmerized by you. Now you both write songs together rather then actually admitting your feelings.

includes - friends to lovers, song lyrics but y/n and eddie wrote them here, slight angst, kissing. not beta read

a/n - for my beloved miya <3 hope you guys enjoy this <33 def a labour of love 💘💘 reqs open for steve, eddie and robin ! sfw only.

being a girl in rock music was hard, but being a girl in rock music in a new town was even harder. you had just moved in the quaint town of Hawkins Indiana, it was like every other town you had ever lived at, suffocating. towns like this always looked down on you and your bass guitar and heavy black eyeliner you so lovingly wore, towns like this made you feel like your life was slowly slipping away.

and music was what stopped your life from completely fucking stopping.

it took you a week of asking around to find a place with more people like you, people who didn't make you feel suffocating but alive and it felt amazing. you were currently standing on the stage at the hideout, a sly smile on your face as you played a song you made and watched the crowd go wild and insane. your hands skillfully playing your beloved bass guitar and your dark red lips singing the words to your song with the most passion you had. Hawkins flinnaly felt like home.

I saw this angel I really saw an angel

your eyes met a boy's whose name you didn't know, he had crazy hair and a smile that made your heart beat slightly faster. his leather jacket and the guitar in his hand made him seem alot like the man you had always wanted. you held your eye contact with him, a smug smile drew in his face as he watched you perform in all your glory.

you finished up your song and the crowd erupted in cheers, you flashed the boy a dazzling smile and walked off the stage, clutching your guitar as you slightly tugged on your skirt. someone handed you a beer and you took it with a smile, walking around to hopefully find the boy who you noted that silver rings on his hand, they might have looked attractive to you but you weren't going to admit that.

"hey! girl with the guitar!" you heard a voice call out and turned around to see the boy with his guitar and his rings and his leather jacket and oh that hair.

"hi." you said seemingly unphased but in reality you were figuratively screaming and jumping around.

"you're amazing! i mean like you're a great singer not that you're not amazing i just don't want to-"

"thank you! you're really sweet, kinda throws off the leather jacket demeanor you got going on but it's uhm yeah pretty sweet." you rambled slightly, pushing a strand of hair behind your ear as you smiled wildly, "I'm y/n." you spoke.

"and i'm eddie", he smiled at you and you felt your world shfiting, "are you new here? i haven't seen you around and i would uhm definitely remember seeing you" he said sweetly, a soft attempt at flirting leaving his lips.

you smiled once again, "yeah I'm new here actually, i got here in hawkins like two weeks ago and it took me a week to find this place and i start school again in maybe a week, i think."

"you'll go to hawkins high too, i assume?" he asked sheepishly, his hand running through his hair.

"yeah, do you go there too?" you asked hoping he would.

"yeah, senior year" and he did.

"same! maybe you could show me around?" you asked, slightly leaning towards him.

"yes, yeah i totally will! whenever you want!" he spoke and you laughed softly.

"thank you eds" you replied softly and you could swear you saw a tint of pink appear on his cheeks.

"no problem m'lady" he said, bowing to you and you laughed again and he smiled.

eddie liked making you laugh, he liked seeing you laugh. he liked the way your cheeks rose up and the way your eyes slightly crinkled and the way your laugh sounded so sweet. he could listen to it forever. this was the first time he had ever felt like this, it was confusing to him but somehow also comforting.

"do you wanna hangout with me and my band?"

"i would love too"

"okay, great! let's go" and with that eddie took your hand and pulled you, both smiling warmly.

-

ever since that blessed day in the hideout you and eddie were inseparable, you knew his favourite songs and he told you about his day and played songs for you and you were slowly falling truly madly deeply in love with him.

one lazy afternoon with eddie slowly strumming his guitar softly with you head on his lap he suggested you both tried making music together and you laughed.

"you think I'd be good at it with you? the god of metal music?" you teased softly, a laugh leaving his pink lips.

"you'd be the best at it i bet." he replied looking at you with big brown eyes, a pleasant smile on his face showing the remnants on his laugh.

"you're too nice to me eds" you spoke.

"only for you" he replied, brushing stray hair away from your face, "now let's write some songs, yeah?"

"okay, get a notebook" you said now sitting up.

eddie grinned like a devil and ran to get a notebook and a pen, he came back with a cigarette hanging from his lips and a black notebook with a pen in his hand.

"you start" he said, handing you the notebook and the pen you nodded and opened it.

"okay" you said taking a deep breath.

whenever you wrote songs, you always wrote them from the things you experienced or heard people experiencing, you always didn't know those people but putting bits and pieces of their conversion together was fun, and, when you did write songs from your own life it was different, it felt more personal, more vulnerable.

your thoughts only filled one person. eddie, eddie, eddie. he was the only one you were around and he was also the one who consumed your thoughts.

"what you thinking about?" you heard Eddie's voice call out, the smell of cigarette slowly filling the room.

"nothing just," you said softly, "i dont know how to start, maybe you can?"

"of course" he replied and took the book your for hands, quickly scribbling down something as you looked at him curiously. "you turn" he said after a couple of minutes handing you the book and you read what he had wrote so far.

In her place one hundred candles burning

As salty sweat drips from her breast

Her hips move and I can feel what they're saying, swaying

They say the beast inside of me is gonna get ya, get ya, get

Black lipstick stains her glass of red wine

"do you like it?" he asked, a hint of hesitance in his voice.

"i, i do it's very uh personal? very bold I'm sure the person you wrote it for would like it yeah."

"but you uhm, you didn't you know tell me if you like it."

"I'll just," you took the pen, "yeah." and started writing.

I am your servant, may I light your cigarette?

Those lips smooth, yeah I can feel what you're saying, praying

They say the beast inside of me's gonna get ya, get ya, get

I beg to serve, your wish is my law

"here" you said handing him the book, he read the lyrics a smirk playing on his lips.

"he must be one lucky fella" he spoke, confidence slowly coursing through his veins.

"maybe," you spoke sheepishly handing him the book again, "your turn."

"oh i know sweet girl." he flashed a smile.

Now close those eyes and let me love you to death

Shall I prove I mean what I'm saying, begging

I say the beast inside me is gonna get ya, get ya, get

Let me love you too

Let me love you to death

"eddie" you said, reading the lyrics.

"hmm?"

"you don't mean that." you felt suffocating all of a sudden, how could he love you? it was stupid but it was what you felt.

"I do, i really do, just give me a chance, please?" he pleaded, his voice soft but also at the point of breaking, it was tragic almost.

"it's not you, it's me" you said taking the notebook again and scribbling again, tears slowly forming in your eyes

Hey am I good enough

For you?

Hey am I good enough

For you?

Am I?

Am I?

Am I good enough

For you?

"don't do that, you're perfect. you really i don't even understand why you think that" eddie said cautiously, taking your hand in his, putting the notebook away, "my sweet girl with the guitar, i fell in love with you the day i saw you for the first time, it was that moment when i was like 'woah that's the kinda girl i wanna spend my life with', you're the one for me i swear, you're the one i want."

"you're the one i want too eddie." you said, smiling drawing circles with your thumb on his hand.

"can i kiss you?" he asked, his hand now on your cheek.

"yes, yes, please" you replied softly, your voice barely a whisper.

and then he kissed you, it was warm and sweet and a bit like cigarettes, you didn't mind that. the kiss tasted like eddie and that is exactly what you wanted, him. your hands were up in his hair and his were gripping your waist, you could feel him smiling in the kiss.

"let me love you to death" he said, pulling away from the kiss, his forehead resting against yours.

"only if you'll let me." you said smiling.

#zaynsrealgf - eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x henderson!reader #eddie munson x reader fluff #eddie munson x reader smut #eddie munson x reader angst #eddie munson x you smut #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson smut #eddie munson angst #eddie munson fanfic

[filmbyjy]

sunghoon – bad boys

— bad boys main masterlist

pairing: park sunghoon x fem!reader

summary: sworn enemies were supposed to remain sworn enemies but not when sunghoon secretly liked you. honestly, it's a pretty cliche enemies to lovers, what more can i say?

warnings: mentions of death (not reader), just sunghoon using a gun because well, he is part of a gang and that's his job, the name daniel is a general one and does not represent anyone in particular, plot twist, quite a lot actually... maybe a little sexual talk, tad bit suggestive at the end.

no.of words: 7.6K words

taglist: @nyfwyeonjun @ncityy04 @cutiejseong @minkyeos @madebyreyy (@onyourecha) @yuakagi @hoonstrology @luvrjn @kawaiisharkcopjudge @missmadwoman @aerinaga @jiwlys @wtfhyuck @astrosmistisa @woniesbakery @purplepuppychild

NOTE: i proofread this again so yeah, hopefully there is no more mistakes T_T if there is please do tell me so i can change it.

The sound of engines starting up always cheered sunghoon up. He loved the adrenaline while racing, it made his heart feel content. Nothing would beat his passion for racing. Besides, he has been doing this because he needed to help his family. After his dad had passed on 3 years ago, he became the sole breadwinner of the house.

His mom sadly could not work due to her sickness. Poor sunghoon was all alone to do everything by himself but he persevered. He even made enough money to send his little sister to school. One of the things on his bucket list. To see his sister get the proper education she needed.

If you were to ask sunghoon, if he ever felt mad that his father left early, sunghoon in a heartbeat would say no. he admired his dad, a kind man that had a tragic accident at work. Sunghoon misses his dad. They were such a loving family and now they were left with nothing. He never blamed his dad for their misfortune, in fact he was doing this in place for his dad.

One would say sunghoon is a nice guy but certainly they have not heard your side of the story. You were a normal student, you were an extrovert and you loved to make friends. Sunghoon was introverted and rarely made friends, he liked sticking close to the friends he already knew. Now here is where the personalities clashed. Besides, you didn’t like the fact that sunghoon just walked around like he was the boss of everything.

“oh look at you.” sunghoon bends down a little, “milk spilt on your clothes? you should go change.” sunghoon fakes a pout. you glared at the boy.

“you’re an asshole, do you know that?”

“kinda knew about that princess.” he smirks before walking away. the jacket you were wearing was your boyfriend’s. how were you going to explain it to him.

“daniel, i’m so sorry for spilling-”

“It’s okay (name).”

“oh okay.” your boyfriend sighs before turning to speak to you.

“Let’s breakup.” your eyes widen. you felt the tears prickling at the corner of your eyes. 

“Why?” you asked, your voice already wavering.

“I’m tired of this. Of us.” he says.

“did something happen?”

“I just don’t want to sneak around anymore. I want an open relationship.” he leans on one of the bookshelves.

“t-then we can do it.”

“too late. I’m thankful for you and this relationship but i don’t think it’s going to work out anymore.” daniel stood up from his seat in the library, you held onto his hand.

“I don’t understand daniel, our relationship is perfectly fine. We can continue it even if we reveal it. Why do you want to end it.” daniel pries your hand off him.

“he loves you (name). It’s not right for me to be with you.”

“he?” daniel leaves you there confused. Who was he and why did he have to ruin your relationship?

“whoever this ‘he’ is, i’m going to fucking kill him.” you grumbled and left the library.

“hello (name).” sunghoon slides in. you rolled your eyes.

“what do you want, park sunghoon.” you growled.

“sheesh, so feisty today.”

“I’m not in the mood to talk.”

“Cause your boyfriend broke up with you?”

“cause my-” you glared at him. “how do you know about it?”

“overheard.”

“so you were listening in?”

“you could say.” you hit him. “Ow! What the fuck.”

“asshole.” you say before walking away.

Sunghoon truly got on your nerves. you just left for class and went to look for your best friend. You slammed your bag on the desk and your best friend got startled.

“jesus. What’s up with you?” sana says.

“park sunghoon is the problem.”

“ah, him. The handsome guy.”

“first off, he isn’t handsome. secondly, i fucking hate his guts and i want to actually murder him.”

“remind me why you hate his guts so much again?” sana says.

“because…”

And this was where the flashback started.

You were a young aspiring girl, you wanted to be an ice skater. It was your dream. Until a certain boy showed up in your class. Everyone praised him, he was a well-known boy in your class. He was graceful, delicate and his moves were always perfect. The teacher even acknowledges that. You were her top student until he showed up.

Which was when you started hating on the boy. Every single time the teacher comes up with ways to praise the boy, it was like she was talking as if he was her own son. His little smirk and smiles whenever he gets complimented.

“I never liked him. he was just a shithead.”

“okay but what did he actually do to you?”

You remember one of the days, he tripped you and you fell. You hurt yourself so badly that the doctor warned you not to skate anymore. Which was when you found out that you had weak bones and hence you were prone to breaking your legs easily. your parents cried with you in the hospital that day and it took you months to recover.

“Is that why you aren’t allowed to do sports and you’re excused?”

“yeah, well it’s my fate. what else can i do.”

“okay but technically it’s not sunghoon’s fault.” sana says.

“He tripped me and proceeded to laugh at me. I don’t even think he even pitied or said sorry to me.” you sighed. “he has no idea how long the recovery was. I had to be treated like a doll so fragile because everyone was afraid they’d break me.” sana hugs you.

“I’m so sorry that happened.”

After school, you went home. You were walking out of the gate when you spot sunghoon. You rolled your eyes and just walked past him but he was quick to grab onto you.

“can we talk?”

“no.”

“I didn’t do anything to you, why are you being like this?”

“Because i hate you.”

“What the fuck did i do??” sunghoon says.

“Exist.” you tugged your arm out from sunghoon’s grasp and walked away.

Sunghoon sighs. Perhaps, maybe he shouldn’t have messed with your relationship with daniel but he knew he could treat you better than him. sunghoon knew how daniel was like, he was friends with him after all. Daniel was a very playful guy, sure he was pretty serious with you but little did you know he was a master at cheating.

No one knew how he brought 2 girls in the soccer boy’s locker room and did god knows what. Only the team did and that’s because well…they heard the sounds. Sunghoon was frustrated, he liked you and didn’t want you to get hurt. Hence he threatened daniel to break up with you.

Well ‘threatened’ he was doing the right thing because daniel was a player and he didn’t want you to find out. Mayhaps he kinda forgot you hated his guts and wouldn’t thank him for breaking you and daniel up. After all, he did know you were so in love with daniel.

“(name) wait.” you groaned. sunghoon ran up to you.

“you have 10 seconds.”

“what? why can’t it be more-”

“5…4…”

“okay! here.” he shoved his phone in front of you. the video of daniel bringing two girls into the shower together.

~

“now you see why you two broke up?” sunghoon says. you were obviously sad that you and daniel broke up but seeing this…just made you mad. you balled your fist up and decided to walk away. “hey where are you going?”

“to daniel’s house.”

“w-what?” sunghoon chases after you. he follows you. “why are you going over?”

“because he deserves a beating?”

“jesus (name), i didn’t think you’d actually get mad.”

“listen, i’m not a weak girl. If you think just because i loved him dearly for 2 years with all my heart that i’m going to forgive him. you’re wrong.” you say. sunghoon sighs, he grabs your hand and pulls you over to his bike.

“If you want to find daniel, he is not home.” he hands you a helmet.

“then where is he?”

“umm…”

you made it to the destination. a strip club. oh. maybe you didn’t fully know about daniel.

“here?” you say pointing to the club. sunghoon nods.

“this is where he usually hangs out on fridays.” you looked at sunghoon. “I don’t-”

“sure, all guys are the same.”

“(name), i swear-”

you just walked up to the security team.

“hi, could you move.” you say.

“sorry, we don’t allow middle schoolers.” you glared at them.

“Middle schoolers? Listen buddy, I AM OF LEGAL AGE!” sunghoon holds you back.

“sorry, she’s with me.”

“you too.” they told sunghoon. sunghoon rolls his eyes, he laughs and pulls out a gun before pulling a straight face.

“listen, have you ever heard of enhypen?” the security guard laughs.

“some kpop group or something?” they laughed at sunghoon.

“ah, living underground i see.” sunghoon pushes you behind him and whispers, “i suggest you hide in the alleyway. This isn’t going to be pretty.” you nodded and listened to sunghoon. 

In 3 counts, you could hear 2 gunshots. you peaked around the corner and just witnessed the bodies of the two guards. They weren’t dead, rather groaning in pain due to the wound on their legs

“here, maybe a souvenir for you since you don’t know about us.” he slaps a newspaper down on his head.

‘BREAKING NEWS: new gang, enhypen, discovered and their killing record has surpassed past gangs, mafia bosses and mobsters.’

You shivered reading the headline. okay maybe you shouldn’t mess with sunghoon if this was his daily job. Even if he is your enemy, you knew you shouldn’t make him mad. sunghoon grabs your hand and leads you through the place. It was like he knew the place very well.

“(name), i know what you’re thinking and no i have not been here before. This place is easy to navigate. I’m not that kind of guy.”

“uh huh and you totally didn’t try to kill those two bodyguards.”

“hey, they were testing my patience and besides who the fuck doesn’t know our group?”

“uhh everyone who isn’t associated to the black market?”you say.

“well-” sunghoon pauses, he hears sounds coming from one of the rooms and he could only imagine what’s behind the door. his face morphs into a disgusted one. “we should probably come back later. I don’t want to see something i shouldn’t-”

you rolled your eyes and just burst into the room. there daniel was with a girl under him, the girl scrambles to cover herself after she screams. sunghoon covers his eyes, you know..as a form of respect

“(name) what the fuck!” daniel curses.

“daniel, what a lovely surprise to see you here.”

“why are you here?? sunghoon you too!”

“dude, your ex wanted to see you, not me.” sunghoon says. Daniel groans.

“we broke up (name), what’s there more to say?”

“alright, it’s true we broke up but i just wanted to state that i broke up with you and not the other way around.”

“what?” daniel says.

“you cheated on me while we were dating.”

“that’s something you don’t ever need to know,” he says.

“Oh really.” you grabbed sunghoon’s gun. “I don’t like cheaters daniel, you know that.” sunghoon’s eyes widened. At this point, he doesn’t care if he sees anything weird. You were putting someone at gunpoint.

“(name), give me the gun.” sunghoon says.

“sunghoon, don’t.” he stops. you turned to daniel. “I spent 2 years loving you and i find out you cheated on me despite you knowing i got cheated on during my first relationship? You’re a real ass, do you know that?”

“look (name), put the gun down and let’s just talk after i get dressed.” you scoffed.

“you’re going to run away, aren’t you?” you say.

“And what if i am?” you laughed.

“Go ahead. Try me.”

“What has happened to you? I thought you were the innocent, fragile girl whom I dated?”

“I still have weak bones, i may or may not be dead soon but daniel…you don’t know all of me just yet.” you stepped forward and placed a finger under his chin. “maybe you’ve heard of me before.” you smirked and took out something from your pocket, your mask.

sunghoon gasps.

“you’re-”

“angel kim? yeah, i am. nobody knows my identity behind the mask. well at least the ones alive.”

you could hear sirens blasting. the cops were coming and you had to finish this quickly.

“If i let you and this playtoy live, you can’t say anything about my identity. well, even if you do, i’ll find a way to end some innocent lives.” you smirked. “so your choice, either you zip your mouths and no one gets killed or you yap about it and you can say goodbye to our law enforcements who probably have families.”

“you’re evil.” daniel says as he grits his teeth.

“oh am i now. I thought you were the evil one. After all, who has the most body counts?” you say. sunghoon’s jaw drops, now why did he find whatever you just said so hot?

Ah right, he had a crush on your secret identity and you in real life. He never thought you’d be that heartless. You grabbed sunghoon’s hands.

“Let’s leave mr.i am in enhypen. you’re part of gang, i’m sure they are out to get you too.” you teased. sunghoon just lets you drag him away. you ran over to a secluded spot.

“alright, so they would probably be looking for us.”

“Aren’t there security cameras?” sunghoon says as he realises. you pulled out a device.

“I think ahead all the time.” with the device, it could stop all the security cameras in the building.

“that is the coolest thing i have ever seen.”

“and useful too.” you say.

“So…we’ve practically worked together for whatever this is. what are we now?” sunghoon says as he shoves his hands into his pockets. you snickered.

“In terms of field aspect, we are enemies. you should know that.”

“Of course i do.”

“but in terms of school and other things, we can be acquaintances.”

“just acquaintances?” sunghoon says.

“why? Do you want something more?” you smirked.

“both you and i know we’d rather be off with being something more than that.” sunghoon says as he steps closer to you. your heart races. Sunghoon leans forward and just as your lips were about to touch.

RING!!!!

~

You opened your eyes and jolt out of bed. what the fuck actually happened? you looked around, you weren’t in your room. In fact, where were you? You twist your body to the side and when you did, you faced sunghoon. You screamed. He places a finger on your lips and shushes you.

“the boys are sleeping.”

“that doesn’t change the fact that i’m in your fucking bed.” you say.

“Well…you were drunk.”

“me? drunk? Are you serious-” then it hit you. Last night, you went to jay’s party because your boyfriend had broken up with you and hence you were out of it. you did not have a whole badass girl boss moment, it was just a dream. one question you had, how could you travel all the way from jay’s house to sunghoon’s room?

“did we, you know.” you gesture. sunghoon looks at you weirdly.

“you think i’d actually want to do it with you?” ah so you were still enemies with him and he was still a massive jerk. Got it, whatever you really had experienced before was just a dream. A very…real dream.

“As if i’d actually do it with you.” you rolled your eyes and pried the covers off you. you realised you weren’t in your clothes from last night. you turned back to sunghoon.

“what happened to my clothes?”

“you stripped them off last night and then proceeded to whine about how cold it was.” you felt your cheeks reddened in embarrassment.

“don’t tell me you saw something you shouldn’t have seen.” sunghoon sighs.

“(name), you were naked. what else am i supposed to see besides your bare body.”

“you didn’t look away??”

“hey, in my defence i had to change you.” you blush even harder before covering your body up.

“Can’t believe i’ve been violated.”

“you allowed me to do so. besides, that wasn’t the only embarrassing thing you did.” sunghoon says.

“great, there’s more.” you whine. “what more? i’ve already done enough damage.” sunghoon smirks.

“you kissed m-”

“NOT ANOTHER WORD OUT OF THAT TRAPHOLE OF YOURS!”

“oh baby, this is the same traphole you madeout with last night.” he flirtatiously says

“shut the fuck up.” you groaned. The door opens and you yelp. There stood his friend.

“sunghoon, it’s early in the morning. are seriously in here fucking someone aga-” he notices you. “Or not, hey (name).” heeseung says.

“don’t say anything. I’d like to leave thank you.” you say.

“don’t forget to return my clothes.” sunghoon yells after you.

“fucking asshole.” you mumbled under your breath as you left the house.

As for sunghoon he happily lays in his bed, a huge smile plastered on his face.

“you know, you’re kind of an ass.” heeseung says.

“what do you mean?”

“well, you did just practically kick her out of our house while she’s probably still hungover.”

“you know i’m not good with girls.”

“yeah, you’re only good at throwing them to the side.” heeseung says. sunghoon clenches his jaw.

“what’s that supposed to mean?”

“you and jake, that’s the only thing you two were ever great at doing.”

“i did not throw (name) to the side. Besides, we have nothing going on between the both of us. she hates me and i hate her.”

“are you sure nothing is going on between the both of you? sunghoon, i literally see you giving her heart eyes whenever she walks by. you literally smiled after talking to her!”

“hyung, i swear on my life. I don’t like her.” sunghoon says.

“then don’t play with her.”

“why are you being so defensive? do you like her or something?”

“no, she’s my little sister.”

“she’s your what?”

“my little sister. she doesn’t know i’m her brother though. after all, i did leave my family at quite a young age.” heeseung sighs.

“you kept a huge secret not only from us but (name)?” sunghoon says.

“It’s not like i don’t want to tell her. I’m sure she’ll be disgusted with what i do to survive everyday.”

“hyung?”

“yeah?”

“she umm…” heeseung turns around to see you standing by the door. you must have heard everything.

“(name).”

“is that why you always check up on me? greet me? i’m your little sister?” you say.

“dad doesn’t want us to reunite because he knows what i do as a living. you deserve a better life than knowing your older brother is a criminal.”

“heeseung, you’re a year older than me. we must’ve grew up together.”

“we did, until you lost your memories because of me.”

“what happened?”

“I’ll tell you another time. you should get home. Dad is going to be worried about you.” heeseung says.

“I just want answers heeseung.”

“(name) next time alright?”

“heeseung-”

“Please.” heeseung desperately says. tears were already forming in his eyes. guess he didn’t want to be reminded of what happened, he wasn’t ready to tell the truth.

“i-i’ll leave.” you say as you grabbed your purse, the reason why you walked back into sunghoon’s room.

The room’s tension was weird and awkward but sunghoon quickly dismisses it.

“wanna buy mcdonald’s for breakfast?” sunghoon asks. Heeseung sighs.

“i’m going to go for a walk to clear my mind up. if anything happens, i’ll call.” heeseung says.

“o-” heeseung leaves the room, “kay..” sunghoon tilts his head before shrugging and just leaving to take a shower. sunghoon decided to visit the race tracks, after all there was a big competition soon and they all were participating.

“you look down.” sunoo slaps a chocolate bar in front of sunghoon. “eat this.”

“I don’t eat sweet things before practice.” sunghoon says. Sunoo sighs.

“what has got you confused and shit.”

“(name).” sunoo’s eyes widened.

“you finally realise you like her?” sunoo says excitedly. sunghoon looks over at the younger boy weirdly.

“no. why would i like her?”

“because you do?” sunoo says. sunghoon scoffs.

“I will never like her.”

“whatever you say hyung. By the way, have you seen heeseung hyung?”

“he went somewhere.”

“but he should be back by now, we have practice and you know how the boss gets.” sunghoon sighs and picks up his phone before dialling heeseung.

~

“why are you here.” mr.lee says.

“I can’t be a great older brother?”

“you were never a great older brother to (name) and neither were you a great son.” heeseung scoffs.

“at least i actually care about her.” heeseung says. mr.lee gasps.

“what have you become?”

“you but of course, i’m better. I never hurt my wife and kids.”

“I never harmed you and your sister or your mom.” mr lee says.

“sure, physically no. mentally? yeah. You threw hateful words at us and then proceeded to practically fuck with our minds. why do you think (name) is so scared of you?” heeseung growls. (stream blessed-cursed)

Heeseung notices your figure hiding behind the wall.

“let me bring (name) with me.” heeseung stares at his dad, well once his dad since he didn’t want to be related to the man.

“why? you were the one who made her lose her memories when she was 13.”

“but i can provide the love she deserves, you come home late everyday and she’s left home alone every single fucking day.”

“and how do you know?”

“you of all people know who i actually am.” heeseung says. mr.lee frowns.

“if your sister finds out who you exactly are, i don’t think she’d feel safe around you.”

You rolled out your luggage and stood next to your brother.

“you really think i would live with you after you hid from me and never made an effort to make me remember my own brother?”

“(name).”

“don’t (name) me, dad.” you say whilst glaring at your dad.

“so you’re just going to leave me and live with your brother? What if your mom comes over?”

“like she’ll ever come back, you’re just hoping she comes back for you.” heeseung spat out. mr.lee clenches his fist, he gets ready to throw a punch but you quickly pulled heeseung away so he doesn’t get hit.

“Let’s go.” you whisper and pulled your luggage and heeseung with you. Heeseung lets you drag him far from your home (well was your home). He stops you from bringing him along further.

“I have to go somewhere.” heeseung says.

“okay.”

“here, keys to my house. you can sleep in my room. i’ll sleep in the living room from now on.”

“what? It’s your room, you should be sleeping there. I’m fine with the couch.” heeseung sighs. he ruffles your hair.

“let me make up for not being there as your older brother.”

“aright.”

“my room is the furthest one, the ones on the left and right of mine are sunghoon’s and jake’s.”

“Mhm, okay.” heeseung smiles a little.

“I’ll buy you some dinner later on. If you’re hungry right now, you can make some ramen. take from the left cabinet, the other side is specifically for jake and sunghoon.”

“okay heeseung, i am not a little girl. I know how to take care of myself.” you giggle at the protective side of your brother. he pouts.

“but you’re still my little sister.”

“yeah, by a year old man.”

“I am not old-”

“Don’t you have to go? shoo get going.” heeseung huffs.

“this isn’t over lee (name).” you stick out your tongue to tease heeseung. heeseung rolls his eyes and leaves.

You made it over to heeseung’s home. Well, you’ve been here once in sunghoon’s room, hungover. Just thinking about it made you want to slap the crap out of the boy. Speaking of which,

“why are you here?” the said boy says as he startles you. you jumped back.

“heeseung told me to.” sunghoon rolls his eyes.

“alright, just don’t go in my room or touch any of my shit.”

“as if i want to. you probably have some sex toys in there for your ‘victims’.” you say. sunghoon steps forward.

“well, would you like to find out?” you shoved sunghoon away.

“no thanks.” you felt a small furry thing climb at your leg and so you look down. A cute puppy tries to climb at you to get your attention.

“yah, gaeul why are you touching her. she’s the enemy!! Attack her!” but the puppy could only tilt her head at the command before barking for your attention. you snickered before lifting what you assumed was sunghoon’s dog.

“aww how adorable, she shows way more affection to me than you.” you held the puppy. “Is he a bad man? hmm?” you asked gaeul, she only licks your face as a response and you giggle. It felt ticklish.

sunghoon felt his heart flutter slightly, never has he once seen gaeul be nice to strangers. Not even to his previous flings, usually gaeul would either ignore them or nearly bite their finger off. he shouldn’t be feeling something for you. not when the both of you hated each other’s guts. You continue to coo at the puppy.

“can you put her down?” sunghoon says.

“why should i? Your puppy decided to come up to me.” you stick out your tongue. Sunghoon rolls his eyes before he wraps his arm around your waist, tugging you closer. Your eyes widened.

“you should listen to me while i’m being nice.” sunghoon says. you glared at him, the front door opens and jake enters the house. he pauses in his step.

“(name)?” jake says. you shoved sunghoon away.

“jake?” sunghoon turns to his best friend.

“how do you know (name)?” he questions jake.

“ex-fling and a friend.” jake smiles. sunghoon looks over at you.

“what? just cause i look all so ‘nerdy’ and annoying doesn’t mean i didn’t have my fun time.” you looked over at jake. “besides, he was a great partner.” you shrug.

“miss me cutie?” jake winks.

“try me, heeseung will end you.” you say. jake laughs.

“oh, hell no am i going to feel the wrath of him. He’s scary.” jake shivers.

“aww is jakey scared of his poor hyung.” you teased. sunghoon felt his heart clench at the sight of you and jake practically flirting. weird.

the door opens.

“dude, what’s up with the old man. he is so spicy today. I just came late to practice once and he gets all worked up. if he wasn’t paying me stacks, i would’ve killed him a long time ago.” heeseung says. had he forgotten you were staying with them now? yeah, for a second after he said everything and then he sees you with your jaw dropped.

“Heeseung...what did you mean by ‘kill him a long time ago’. what do you and your friends do as a living?”

“Uhh-” you gasp.

“are you a hitman?” jake snickers.

“you could say so but we hit bad man. not innocent ones and we race illegally too.” jake explains. Heeseung throws daggers at the younger male.

“fucking idiot.” sunghoon facepalms. jake pouts.

“was i not supposed to tell her?” heeseung sighs.

“Well truth is out. You probably hate me now.”

“I don’t hate you, it’s just shocking. you are so nice at times and here you are probably with a lot of blood on your hands. besides, this house doesn’t pay itself, obviously you’d be into some shady shit if you live in a modern mansion with 3 other boys.”

“Oh thank god, i don’t want my baby sis to be mad at me because of what i do.” heeseung hugs you.

“It’s nothing besides, like jake said. You kill bad guys not the good ones.” and now sunghoon felt the urge to pull you out of heeseung’s arms. why was he feeling this all of a sudden, why did he feel so jealous over any guy that you come across.

sunghoon was not someone possessive.

heeseung’s phone rings and so he goes to answer it. his face turns serious after he comes back.

“what’s wrong?”

“we have to leave.”

“oh, don’t worry about me hee.” you say.

“no, as in, we have to leave seoul and move away.” heeseung says.

“what? why?” you say.

“is it cause of them?” jake asks.

“yeah.” heeseung runs his fingers through his hair in frustration, “fuck, they never learn huh.”

“who is this ‘them’.” you say.

“some gang, that thinks they can overthrow our spot.” jake says.

“they clearly don’t know their place.” sunghoon adds.

“you guys really to tell me everything about your gang and your jobs. I need to be filled in so i can at least protect myself. i’m sure if they are a gang they may go after me since i am related to heeseung.”

“hyung, she isn’t wrong there. we should be prepared. who knows they may just you know kidnap her.” jake says.

“We’ll just be around her. For now, let’s get to packing and tell the other boys.”

It was about 3am when sunghoon walks into your room, well heeseung’s room.

“yes? what do you need?” you say as you looked up at the boy.

“why aren’t you asleep?”

“you think i can sleep knowing i’m going to possibly get kidnapped because my brother and his friends are in a gang?”

“i was just asking, don’t need to get all worked up.”

“I really don’t understand how you’re so used to this.”

“It’s been like 8 years since i started this whole thing.”

“you started this whole ‘gang’ thing at 11?”

“i was desperate. My mom was extremely sick at that time. She was the so-called breadwinner of our house before i left.”

“What about your dad?” you asked. sunghoon sighs before looking away from you.

“He died when i was 5.”

“oh. sorry for mentioning it.” you say. the awkward tension filled the air, “you should get back to your room. we have a flight tomorrow.” you say.

“right.” sunghoon quickly leaves the bedroom. you were left there to question what was the actual reason he came into the room.

It was about 5am, heeseung came in to wake you up and so you did. you took a shower and changed into something comfortable before meeting the other 3 in the living room. It seems though, sunghoon was the only one ready. the two other boys were probably either showering or getting ready. they needed to bring the bare essentials so that they could be prepared.

you can’t help but stare at sunghoon, he was looking down at his phone with his sliver hair practically covering his sight. It was slightly damp since he took a shower not too long ago. the dim lighting lit him up very faintly and he looked heavenly. your heart races, you wonder why? maybe you liked him but there was no way you two would date, he was of different class and besides, you two loved to argue a lot hence you two were enemies.

“(name), got everything already?” heeseung comes up behind you.

“yeah, i didn’t bring much since i did just leave dad’s home practically yesterday.” heeseung nods.

“jake, is layla okay with the flight back to australia?” you looked down and saw the adorable dog. you gasp before kneeling down in front of her.

“layla!! It’s been a while, my baby.” you coo at the puppy while making kissy noises. jake’s eyes widened, he looks up at heeseung who was confused as to how you know about layla.

“I’m sure you’ve never met layla, how do you know her? She stayed with jake in their apartment until he decided to move in with us a year ago.” heeseung questions you.

“uhhh.”

“they were flings. oh sorry, ex-flings.” sunghoon says.

“jaeyun?” heeseung glares at the younger boy. jake gulps in fear.

“w-we just did it once or twice. nothing more.” jake says.

“Didn’t you mention last night how you’d like to take to (name) back to bed and have fun her since it’s been a while? When i asked how many times you did it with you said practically everywhere in your apartment mostly in the showers.” sunghoon says.

“snitch.” jake huffs.

“we will talk about this later in the jet. (name), you too.” you timidly nod. gaeul tries to climb up you and so you picked her up.

“u-umm sunghoon?”

“yeah?”

“Has gaeul ever flown in a plane before?”

“No.”

“Oh okay. Can i-”

“just take care of her.” sunghoon says before walking off outside with his luggage.

“what’s up with him?” jake says. heeseung shrugs.

[time skip]

“woah.” riki’s jaw drops, “it’s so pretty. hyung, did the old man finally do something right for once?” heeseung snickers at riki’s words.

“maybe.”

“since our dear leader isn’t here, is heeseung hyung in charge?” jay says as he holds onto his girlfriend’s hand.

“yeah.”

“the ladies should rest. jake needs to show us around this place. since, he is a native here.” heeseung explains. you were about to leave when sunghoon holds onto your wrist and hands you something.

“take this, in case somehow someone finds our base.” sunghoon whispers.

“umm okay?” the other boys were watching you and sunghoon. jake nudges sunghoon.

“what was that about? Aren’t you two sworn enemies?”

“she’s staying here alone with yejun. It’s best if they have a form of device to inform us the base is being attacked.”

“aww is little hoonie finally giving in?” jay teases. sunghoon glares at jay.

“come on, let's go.” sunghoon says. Once the boys leave, yejun nudges your shoulder.

“something going on between you and sunghoon?” yejun smirks. you shoved her away.

“no, we are just enemies.”

“enemies with…benefits?”

“you’re lucky your younger sister is sana. she’s my best friend.” you huffed. yejun laughs.

It was pretty late at night, you were about to possibly take a late night shower so you could relax when you heard something crash. Your eyes widened when you noticed someone trying to climb into the bathroom with a ladder. you tapped onto the item that sunghoon gave you and ran over to yejun.

“Let’s hide. I think someone found their base.”

“It’s not even been a day. I need some sleep, the jetlag is ruining me right now.” yejun says.

“well, i’m not willing to become dead meat and i’m sure your boyfriend wouldn’t want that too. I already clicked on this thing so they should be coming home any second now. For now, we need to find a safe place.”

“I think i know a place.” yejun leads you to a library and pulls on one book before it reveals a staircase down.

“how do you know about this?”

“jay showed me around.”

“and mind explaining why he showed you this place first?”

“because it’s where they keep their weapons?”

“weapons?”

“If we need to fend for ourselves, we at least know where to go. Now, let’s actually get in here before whoever broke into our house finds us.” you nod. as the both of you enter, the door closes behind you.

You entered a pretty big underground area. It was filled with all kinds of high tech things and weapons on the wall. yejun makes herself at home. A security camera pops up, you noticed the 6 boys (minus sunoo because he wasn’t allowed to come with them) planning something before they made their way in. they shot around for incoming gang members.

“Feels like i’m watching a movie honestly.” yejun says. You snickered. sunghoon runs around, it switches over to the library camera and he enters the secret room once it was revealed. your eyes widened. sunghoon runs over to you to give you a hug. yejun gasps softly before covering her mouth.

sunghoon breaks the hug and checks up on you.

“Nothing happened right?” he says as he inspects you.

“n-no?” his eyes met with yours. He sighs in relief.

“good.” the other boys enter the room shortly after. jay checks up on yejun.

“The ladies are fine right?” heeseung asks.

“yeah.”

“you should have seen sunghoon running in here and giving (name) a hug.” yejun says. you blushed. Sunghoon’s rolls his eyes.

“we saw him running but didn’t think he’d hug his ‘sworn’ enemy.” jake says.

“jealous?” sunghoon says. jake gasps.

“why would i.”

“sunghoon, the real question is…why did you hug her.” jay says. sunghoon looks away from the boys and you.

“I’ll be in my room.” sunghoon says before leaving.

“sunghoon hyung has a crush on noona. I bet.” riki says.

“alright buddy, how much.” jake smirks. you rolled your eyes.

“stop betting, he doesn’t even like me.”

“20 bucks?” riki says.

“20 bucks it is.” jake says.

“you two are insufferable.” you say.

“that’s riki and jake for you.” jay says.

It was late at night, you were drying your hair with a towel as you took a late night shower. The cool breeze blew from the window. you sighed as you looked out of the window, this was your new life now. Living with your brother and his friends, getting into peculiar situations like previously and possibly getting kidnapped.

You hear a small knock.

“come in.” you called out. the door opens and sunghoon walks in.

“what do you want?” sunghoon sighs.

“your hand.” you tilt your hand. Previously as you were running to hide with yejun, you cut your hand on something sharp by accident. Everyone else didn’t notice it, why did sunghoon only notice. “don’t try hiding it.”

“I’m not trying to hide it.”

“you’re hiding your hands behind your back.” sunghoon says.

“well why do you care, aren’t you park sunghoon? Don’t you hate me?” you say. sunghoon sighs and tugs your hands forward, he settles you down on the edge of your bed before quietly nursing your cut.

you wince slightly and jerk your hand away but sunghoon’s grip was stronger.

“Don’t move.” sunghoon says.

“well, it hurts.”

“If you move, i’ll kiss you.” your eyes widened.

“Kiss me? Are you what? 5? look, park. we are enemies, we hate each other and so if anything kiss-” before you knew it, sunghoon’s lips were on yours. It was only a mere 2 seconds before he pulls away to finish wrapping your hand in a bandage. sunghoon looks up at you.

“enemies can kiss too.” he says before walking out of your room.

what the fuck park sunghoon.

next morning, you went to the kitchen and there stood sunghoon. you felt your cheeks heating up, what has he actually done to you. This was not a normal feeling and you know it. you came up to the dining table and sunghoon places a plate of pancakes in front of you.

“here. I need to leave to get some groceries with heeseung hyung.” he simply says before he steps away. you grabbed his hand.

“sunghoon. wait.” you say. sunghoon turns to you, “why are you doing this?”

“doing what?”

“This? Acting all nice and even making me breakfast. I swear to god if you’re trying to get in my fucking pants-”

“I’m not. I just felt the need to do so.”

“are you pitying me?” sunghoon scoffs.

“why would i?” he gets to your eye level. “I am not pitying you.”

“then why?”

“you’ll find out sooner or later.” sunghoon says before leaving.

“what?” you mumble. Suddenly, you felt a hand grab your shoulder, you jumped at the contact.

“BOO!” jake scares you.

“SIM JAEYUN!!!” you yelled before attacking jake. he yells.

“AH OKAY IM SORRY!!!” jake says. you stopped hitting him and he apologises, “i saw what happened between you and hoon. Those eyes, he seems a little guilty.”

“guilty? Of what?”

“well, maybe for practically treating you like absolute shit for the past years?” you rolled your eyes.

“yeah sure, as if. sunghoon, would never feel pity.”

“he’s not good at expressing himself you know. He’s just shy around you.”

“shy? Around me? yeah, right.” you say before stabbing your pancakes.

“he’s trying (name). he’s trying to make it up to you. you do realise sunghoon has never once made me and heeseung hyung pancakes for breakfast right?” jake says.

“really?”

“yeah, usually we’d eat ramen for breakfast or just visit a cafe. I’m also pretty sure he woke up early in the morning to fix this for you since he has zero fucking clue on how to cook.” you looked down at your food. “so, i’m just saying…maybe you should give sunghoon a chance to prove himself. I think he really likes you.”

“He likes me?”

“i wouldn’t say this if it’s not true. After all, i am his best friend.” jake smiles.

you felt your heart beat faster the minute. sunghoon likes you? now why did you feel kinda excited and happy.

“hey little sis, me and sunghoon are- where did you get that pancake?” heeseung says.

“oh, umm-” why was it so hard to admit sunghoon made it for you. sunghoon arrives next to heeseung.

“so?”

“sunghoonmadeit.” you mumbled.

“huh?” heeseung says. jake snickers.

“sunghoon made it for her.” jake helps you. heeseung’s eyes widened before turning to sunghoon. sunghoon clears his throat and starts blushing.

“l-let’s go hyung.” sunghoon quickly leaves the dining area. heeseung quickly turns to you before mouthing “later, tell me what’s going on.” you nod. heeseung runs after sunghoon.

jake laughs, “i have never seen sunghoon that flustered in my whole life of knowing him. you got him whipped my dear (name).” you smacked the back of jake’s head. “Ow okay, i meant sunghoon’s dear (name).”

“fuck off.”

it was about 3pm, nothing really happened and now you were just watching some movies on your tv. The door bursts open and you screamed. That is until you noticed it’s just sunghoon.

“sunghoon, you really should knock on the door.” he rolls his eyes. “why are you here?” he climbs your bed, your eyes widened. Before you could even say anything, his body was on top of yours.

“sunghoon?” you try to get out of his grasps, he only holds you tighter.

“Let me stay here for a while.”

“what if my brother walks in-”

“I locked the door.”

“sunghoon-” you felt a small peck on your neck, you sighed. Guess he wasn’t going anywhere. 5 minutes pass by, “you know sunghoon. enemies don’t do this kind of thing.” he groans.

“can we not talk about the fact that we are enemies and i’m cuddling you right now?”

“Am i wrong? Enemies argue, they don’t cuddle.”

“then do you want to be my girlfriend instead? just so i can cuddle you?” you blushed at sunghoon’s words. he notices you didn’t answer his question so he untangles himself from you. “(name)?”

“yeah?”

“I’m asking you if you would rather be my girlfriend than my enemy?”

“oh.” you felt your cheeks grow warmer by the second. “well, you see. sunghoon…we aren’t on the best terms and now suddenly you do all of this and make me feel all weird and tingly.” you rant. the more nonsense you spew, the bigger sunghoon’s smile grows. he found you adorable nonetheless. he smirks and leaves a peck on your lips to shut you up. you gasp.

“you’re adorable when you ramble but you’re really confusing me (name).”

“no, you’re the one confusing me park sunghoon!”

“let me make it simple, i like you and have always liked you. you can even say i love you. i tease you only because i wanted your attention and you always have the cutest reaction.” sunghoon confesses. your jaw drops. “so, lee (name). Will you please be my girlfriend? If that doesn’t work, can i at least court you?”

you kept quiet, only because you were stunned he actually admitted to liking you. this wasn’t a dream right? like you had previously where he was some sort of mafia gang?

“this is isn’t a joke right?”

“what do you want me to do to prove that it isn’t a joke.” you bit your lips, sunghoon’s eyes instantly caught you doing so, he leans in. before your lips even touch, you heard someone knocking.

“(name), do you want anything from mcdonald’s? jay is treating us after traumatising riki last night.” jake yells. that poor 16 year old, what did he hear last night.

“uhh, just buy me anything.”

“alright, also have you seen sunghoon? he isn’t in his room and i wanna ask him what he wants.” sunghoon smirks, he opens his mouth to say something but you quickly shut him up with a kiss.

“don’t you dare say anything. my brother will kill you if he knows you’re in my room.” you say once you pulled away.

“why not? it’s just jake.”

“wait- is he in your room?” jake tries to open the door. “hey, why is the door locked? (name), what are you and sunghoon doing in the locked bedroom??” jake says.

“sunghoon isn’t here jake! he just texted me to say he went out for practice!”

“bullshit, there is no practice today! oh wait till i tell heeseung hyung-” you were about to run to the door when sunghoon pins you down to the bed.

“let him go, he’ll tell your brother but i wanna spend a couple minutes with you.” sunghoon smirks. “in bed.” your eyes widened when he suddenly pulls your covers above the both of you.

“park-” sunghoon kisses you.

was this just an enemies with benefits or was this true love? oh who am i kidding, you and sunghoon ended up dating. heeseung was happy for you but he kept glaring at sunghoon after he mauled you like a werewolf. those love marks took 2 weeks to fully disappear by the way. happy ending for both you and sunghoon.

#i'm surprised this was more than the other boys so far #idk how i made it that long #but i did so are you proud? #enhypen #enhypen imagines #enhypen imagine #enhypen angst #enhypen fluff #enhypen x reader #enhypen x reader imagines #enhypen x y/n #enhypen x engene #sunghoon #sunghoon imagines #sunghoon imagine #sunghoon angst #sunghoon fluff #park sunghoon #park sunghoon imagines #park sunghoon imagine #park sunghoon angst #park sunghoon fluff #park sunghoon x reader #sunghoon x reader #enhypen fanfiction

[snellyfish]

Obligatory “what did you feel about the new episode” ask 👀💕

HI ive been out travelling and im an old man when it comes to mobile but ill try to gather my thoughts :)

Ace eating disorder represent,,, woo,,,,,, sad party blower sound,, love thst for us,,,, Holds his hand and makes out with him. Also eternally banger voice actor choice for him. Absolutely amazing performance every time he speaks.

Obligatory I love Arei. recently revamped an OC I made 5 years ago and basing a lot of her personality and stuff off of Arei. Just felt like sharing. I love Arei so much I will make her my oc methinks.

THE MOTIVES MADE ME SO FERAL I PAUSED THE VIDEOS SO MANY TIMES AND WAS LIKE AAIOGIGOGOUUGHHHH SO MANY HORRIBLE HORRIBLE FUCKED UP BLORBOS I CANT WAIT TO LEARN EVERYPONY'S SECRETS OM NOM NOM<33 Speaking of which JESUS CHRIST I really feel like the secret motives some ppl held onto, like, REALLY shouldn't have been kept to themselves omg. I'm sure there's been some behind the scenes stuff of characters gaining distaste/distrust/avoiding certain ppl after receiving certain motives;; I'm not entirely sure WHO specifically, but these are like CRAZY things to not warn the rest of the class about. Was David's the one that Arei got? Killed a man with no remorse? Huh? Shoves you pushes you shoves you into locker and swallows the key

The entire time during episode 9 I was trying and failing to open a jar of ice cream so I was a Little out of it, but from what I gather I'm really dumb and not good at mysteries so i have no clue who the hell did it. At one point I asked "alright who killed a man?" but my bestie heard "who killed min?" so I just kept saying that for the rest of the episode and crying of laughter. Guys, be honest, who killed Min- I'm not mad I just wanna know, guys-

Nico continues to piss me off a little. Teruko goes without saying she pisses me off to no end. When everyone started dragging her handwriting I was whooping and cheering and hollering it was so funny GET HER.

I liked how the two main people investigating the corpse were Arturo and Veronika. They really do get a lot of screentime together and it's starting to scare me a little. Is this like subtle ship fanservice or am I about to meet horrors beyond my comprehension as the story and cases develop. I hope one of them kills the other. They're so in love.

I also liked at one point Veronika dragging Ace's ass. They're ALSO in love btw. Yeah I'll ship my top 3 faves together, what else would you expect from me, man

Rose....<3

DAVID!!!!!!<3333 I know his ass was lying about history of depression that shit was so funny be honest bro you have unfathomable sins keep it 100% with us. If you turn out to not be fucked up or morally grey ykno I'll be a little disappointed. Just keep it real with us.

The motive that's like "where do I even start, everything about your life is worth killing for" is so funny bc if that was mine I would be like. okay. not my problem. That's so incredibly vague that means NOTHING. I'm also assuming it's Teruko's tbh, it's the only one vague and weird enough for her to be like "imma keep ot real with you chief idfk which of these are mine 🐸"

What else. I'm a little hungover

every time they brought up the fish I was like haha. like snellyfish. I'm an accomplice in Arei's murder and I didn't even know!!

kinda hashtag don't blame Hu for not telling whose motive she got bc it was a little suicide coded and very personal

That's all I'm done I forget what else happened xoxo love you all I love drdt so much--

I lied I just remembered that Eden lesbian (sapphic whatever I don't care) and laughed really hard at the idea of like. Charles opening the motive without reading the name and just thinking like "I'M A LESBIAN?????" real

Eden/Nico could be real if I didn't have a leaning negative opinion of Nico rn. I am still patient and hearing them out for now tho.

Ok Now I'm done.

#drdt #danganronpa despair time #ask #anon

[snezfics-n-shit]

yhnrmt - 3 boyfriends 0 braincells

First I want to thank @fluziska for being my rubber duck and putting up with me, I couldn't have shaped the antics of these three without their help.

Lar.ry returns from touring overseas. Mil.es has too much pride and Pho.eni.x accidentally enables him. Gu.msh.oe is a real pal. This story of sorts went through so many rewrites I cannot stress this enough.

     Larry had a habit of not telling his boyfriends when he’d be back in the country. He liked to surprise them as much as possible, even if it meant walking in on the two being intimate. He’s seen worse, he reasoned. Besides, what better time to surprise the couple than after a year in Europe? It’s not like Miles hadn’t done the exact same thing. Sure, that was prompted by a call Larry made, but other than that, it was the same.

Without thinking about how he would announce his return, Larry enthusiastically unlocked the front door and was greeted not by a human, but a large, very fluffy, white dog.

“Pess!” He cheered, happily accepting the dog’s wet kisses on his cheeks. What a lovebug she was! 

“It’s a good thing you’re not a burglar, Larry.” Phoenix observed as he stepped into the living room to spot him. “I wish you would’ve told us you were coming back so soon. We haven’t had time to straighten up the house.”

“A little surprise never hurt anyone, has it? Besides, I’m perfectly capable of cleaning up if you need me to.” Larry stood up straight with a final good pet on the top of Pess’s head. “So,” he cleared his throat, “what have you guys been up to while I was gone? It’s actually been pretty lonely at Franzy and her wife’s place. Our schedules kept missing each other, we hardly had time to talk about another book deal. She agreed on it, by the way.” 

“That’s great, Larry!” Phoenix smiled in pride before kissing Larry on the cheek. “Maya managed to get in another incident a few months ago, but as usual, I defended her and she’s off the hook. Here’s hoping she stays that way.”

“Heh, that’s Maya for- for yhh–!!” Larry was caught off guard by a powerful tickle in the back of his nose; Phoenix also seemed a bit unprepared for what was coming. “Hh’ggtish! Hn’KKSHiu!” Larry made a small gasp and turned away, keeping his head down. “Hhg’tisHHu!! Kk’tshiiu! K’kCHIUU!!”

“Wow, bless you. You’re not getting sick, are you?” 

Larry didn’t even have to look at Phoenix to know he was turning red from watching the display.

“No, no.” Larry insisted. “I feel completely fine.” He sniffled. “I promise!”

“For heaven’s sake…” Another voice joined the conversation: Miles. “You didn’t use any of the hand sanitizer I packed in your bag. You’ve been signing books in libraries filled with preschoolers, and who knows what everyone’s touched before boarding your flights…”

“Edgey, calm down!” Larry set down his bag and opened it to dig up an empty hand sanitizer bottle. “See? I used the whole thing! Used up the last little bit as soon as I was dropped off in front of the house.”

“Hmm…” Miles tapped his elbow with his index finger, sighing through his nose as he evaluated the situation. “Nothing wrong with some extra precaution.” He held his hand out to Larry. “Come on, love. Let’s get some Vitamin C in you.” 

“Like orange juice or is this an innuendo?” Larry smirked.

“Orange juice.” Miles corrected quickly. He was unaffected when Larry groaned in disappointment and simply led him to the dining room table so he could serve him a tall glass of juice.

Larry downed the juice quickly. If any cold was even thinking of settling in his system, he had surely just given it a run for its money. After all, last time he checked, Miles always bought the fancy vitamin-enriched orange juice, just like the kind Larry had seen in Franziska’s fridge.

“Done!” He beamed. “I feel better already! Picture of health!”

“Are you sure you’re alright? Cold or no cold, wouldn’t you rather get some rest after such an exhausting tour?” Miles asked. “We could draw you a hot bath, give you a massage…” 

“I mean, if you want to skip to what I got you guys as souvenirs, that’s okay too!” 

“You brought souvenirs? You know you didn’t have to do that.” Phoenix said that as if he wasn’t immediately curious about what Larry had gotten the married couple. 

“Of course I brought souvenirs! You don’t just visit three countries in Europe without buying something to bring back home. I mean, who would do that?” Larry shot a teasing glance at Miles. “I wasn’t sure how long the trip back home was gonna be, and Franzy’s place was packed to the brim with kombucha and stuff from her last health kick, so no snacks this time. Sorry about that.”

Miles couldn’t help but sigh, making a mental note to ask Franziska just what purpose a fridge stuffed with kombucha would serve, besides to give him a headache when she inevitably urges him to try it too.

“Okay, guys, I think you’re going to love these!” Larry made his way back into the living room for his bags, and Pess seemed curious enough to follow him there. “Don’t worry, girl,” he chuckled as he pressed a fist under his nose, “I got something for you, too.” He dug out three boxes from one of his suitcases, all cutlery from the countries he visited. “Ta da!”

Phoenix and Miles admired the images on the boxes; Phoenix couldn’t understand a word any of them said, but he knew enough about Larry’s taste in cookware to get the idea that these had to be high quality. 

“You bought three sets?” Miles’s eyes widened as he mentally calculated what must have been the cost. “I hope you were able to keep yourself fed.”

“I promise that was not a problem!” Larry assured him, sniffling. “Remember?” He sniffled again. “I was stayi’g with Fradzy!”

Phoenix’s expression fell from a fascinated one to one of concern.

“Are you, uh, doing okay?” 

“Yeah! Just gotta grab a tissue.” Larry yanked one of the soft tissues from a cravat themed tissue box Phoenix had bought as a joke. He took his sweet time blowing his nose, leaving Phoenix and Miles wondering if he really needed to take that long or he just liked the brand. He finally successfully tossed the tissue into the nearest trash bin and continued on with the souvenir gifting.

“Larry, you sound awful–” Miles tried to add, but Larry had already shifted his focus elsewhere.

 “Now, it’s Pess’s turn!” He grabbed a different bag and pulled out a large collection of premium dog treats; as he did so, he could hear Edgeworth muttering something about ‘spoiling her rotten,’ which Pess absolutely deserved to be! “I got to meet Shoe’s nutritionist and she set me up with all these!”

“Shoe?” Phoenix blinked. “The cat?”

“The cat has a nutritionist…” Miles processed the words slowly as they left his lips.

“Yeah, I mean, why not? Cats gotta eat well, too.” Larry shrugged with a grin before turning to the gift’s recipient. “So, what do you think, girl?” 

Pess responded by nuzzling against Larry’s cheek and then promptly shoving her nose onto the treat bag in hopes of digging right into its contents. 

“Looks like she likes it.” Miles observed, chuckling. “Unfortunately, it’s much too late for her to be eating more treats.”

Larry and Pess both looked at Miles’s face with nearly matching pouts. 

“You want me to starve her?” Larry accused. “So mean, Edgey. I can’t believe– Hh! Kk'sshhnn!! Kk’tshu!” Larry prematurely ended his complaints with a small groan, scrubbing his nose with his hands. “Gghhh… it itches…” He mumbled to himself.

“Larry… Maybe you should get some sleep.” Phoenix suggested very delicately. 

“You sure?” Larry sniffled. “I guess it is pretty late…” He conceded before yawning.

“We’ll see you in the morning.” Miles kissed the top of Larry’s head to send him on his way to the guest bedroom.

Phoenix and Miles watched quietly as Larry headed to get some sleep, and once the door had closed, the two looked at each other. 

“You don’t think…” Phoenix started.

“Absolutely not!” Miles scoffed. He knew where Phoenix was going and he was not going to have any of it.

Miles and Phoenix weren’t aware of it, but Miles’s response managed to carry across the hallway, enough for Larry to hear bits and pieces of the conversation. 

Eventually, the sounds of disagreements and Miles’s flair for the dramatic coming out in full force grabbed Larry’s attention enough for him to want to listen in. He peeked his head out the guest bedroom door. While it was easier to hear the conversation continuing in the living room, he couldn’t grasp the entire context of what his boyfriends were discussing.

“I have her papers kept in my office if you’re doubting me!” Miles huffed. 

“I never doubted that for a second, just you’re forgetting one thing…” Phoenix’s voice got infuriatingly softer, saying something that made Miles gasp in offense. 

“She is a lady, Phoenix!” 

“I never doubted that either!”

Ladies? Papers? Were they so sick of Larry they were setting him up with a woman? At least Nicky might be vouching for him. 

“If she is causing issues, it has to be something else.” Miles said adamantly.

“Like what?”

“Well, there are…” Miles’s list was hard to hear from afar, but Larry noticed it was rather long.

Phoenix lowered his head and sighed. Was this when he would finally talk some sense into Miles? When he’d say ‘Larry’s a great guy and we should keep him forever!’

“We could send him over to Gumshoe, maybe? See how he is there?” 

What!?

So Larry was wrong. Nick was voting for sending him away to Gumshoe, now. Gumshoe seemed happily married to Maggey, though… Was this Nick’s way of saying ‘go wreck someone else’s marriage?’

“And then you’ll see he’ll be just fine, I’m sure of it!” Miles assured with a grin. 

Larry didn’t think he was going to be just fine at all. Being sent away, after all he’s done. He wondered if tomorrow, this will all have blown over and his boyfriends will have forgotten this awful plan of theirs. That’s it, he was going to go to bed and in the morning, no one would mention sending him away to Gumshoe or anything! 

Perfect.

. . .

“Good morning, love!” Miles greeted Larry from the kitchen, carrying a large plate of pancakes. “Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah, actually.” 

It looked like Miles and Phoenix had a good night’s sleep as well, given neither of them looked like they were intending on sending Larry to go bother Gumshoe like he had feared. 

“Are you feeling any better?” Phoenix asked, genuinely concerned and lacking that purr he had when asking such things out of pure lust. 

“Yup!” Larry confirmed with a nod. “I guess I was just beat from all the travel yesterday.” He looked around. “Where’s Pess?”

“Out basking in the sun as usual.” Miles answered. “Best to not disturb her nap,” he advised. “Speaking of Pess, I wanted to get your opinion on something, Larry.”

“Well, my opinion is she’s a very good girl!” Larry beamed.

“No, no.” Miles looked at Phoenix for a quick second before returning his attention to Larry. “Her groomer recommended a spectacular new shampoo, and I’d like to know what you thought about it. You did see a lot of pet experts while you were abroad, did you not?”

“Oh, yeah! Cat experts, mostly, but I probably picked up some knowledge on grooming products for dogs, too, without knowing…” 

“Perfect!” 

Miles ran off to the special bathroom almost entirely dedicated to Pess; anyone else might have said that such a room would be excessive, but Miles would insist those people were completely wrong. 

“What’s got him so happy?” Larry tilted his head.

“He’s just being… Miles again.” Phoenix sighed. “Just humor him.”

“I’ve never had any objections to that.” Larry shrugged. “Except maybe when he wanted me to bring that heavy Steel Samurai suit home and into the bedroom…” 

Phoenix blinked in surprise. Miles never told him about that particular encounter; he couldn’t believe they had been married for years and Miles was still such a mystery sometimes. 

“I found it!” Miles presented the pink shampoo bottle that looked better taken care of than most bottles he owned meant for human use. “What do you think, love?” 

“Well, uh,” Larry sniffed the bottle, “there are definitely notes of… peanut butter?” He raised a brow. “You know, I was kind of expecting something a little fancier.”

Miles frowned; Larry took that to mean he might have been offended at the implication Pess wasn’t fancy.

“Dogs just like peanut butter.” Phoenix explained, hoping to draw attention away from the confusion and disappointment he could feel radiating from his husband. “I grew up with cats, so that fact was new to me, too, when Miles and I started living together.” He was only half lying, since he had seen plenty of dogs enjoy the creamy treat before even befriending Miles, but it made for a much less tense conversation while Miles collected himself.

“Well then,” Miles cleared his throat, “we were wondering if you could drop this off at the Gumshoe residence this morning while we ran some errands. The detective has been dying to try this on Missile.”

There it was, Larry being sent off to Gumshoe’s, but— for an errand? That wasn’t half as bad as he thought! 

"I can absolutely do that!" Larry accepted the request with glee, puzzling his boyfriends with this reaction. "You have no idea how glad I am to hear you just wanted to share Pess's beauty routine." 

Phoenix and Miles looked at each other, both shrugging. As long as Larry was willing, everything would go smoothly… or, well, about as smoothly as their plan could possibly go.

As soon as Larry was out the door, much sooner than his boyfriends predicted, the two lawyers began to discuss their intentions for this errand.

"Do you really think this was the best way we could've done this?" Phoenix asked.

"I'm not going to just let Pess's qualifications as a hypoallergenic dog be questioned. Larry will be fine with a common dog like Missile who lacks access to all the high end grooming products Pess does, and then we can narrow things down from there." Miles proudly insisted that was the only way this could possibly turn out. "Pess is a very special and clean young lady, you know!" 

"Yeah, I know, babe, you told me that when you first got the idea last night. But what are you going to do if he isn't fine with Missile?"

"... That won't happen. I can assure you!"

… 

It happened. It was evident the moment Miles opened the door to greet Detective Gumshoe, who was resting his hand on the shoulder of a very pink-faced (and wet) Larry. 

"I don't think your boyfriend's feeling too good, pal." The detective observed softly. 

“I’b fide.” Larry didn’t sound all too convincing there. “It’s dot a big deal.” He sniffled. “I just– H’kksshh!! H'hggshhi! Hhg’tisHHu!!”

“Bless you! You look awful.” Phoenix pulled Larry into a hug. “It’s our fault, putting you through this.”

“No, it’s mine.” Miles spoke up. “I was caught up in my pride, and because of that–”

“What are you talki’g about? I bade the choice to play with Bissile.” Larry shrugged, completely unaware of the bomb he had just dropped. 

“You… You–!!” Miles stammered.

“I forgot to tell you guys, huh. Fradzy got pretty bad at be for that, too, actually… I guess I did’t wadt you guys to be weird about it, which you, uh, sorta did.” 

“Miles was the most weird about it.” Phoenix added with a smirk. 

“Well, isn’t this nice!” Gumshoe commented, seeming relieved to see the three come to as close to an understanding as they could get. “Are you gonna be okay now, pal?” He asked Larry.

“Yeah! I got the best boyfriehds id the world!”

“Awww,” Phoenix couldn’t help himself.

“And we have the best source of headaches in the world.” Miles kissed Larry on the cheek. 

“Yup,” Larry beamed, “that would be— hey!!”

In all fairness, the three gave each other an equal share of headaches, and were sure to give each other plenty more.

#snez attorney #yhnrmt brainrot time #my writing #my fics

[whats-wild-to-you]

new year’s kiss w jay ? 👉🏻👈🏻

Yes please! I’ll take two 🥺

__________________________________________

“I’m sorry.” You mumbled again and again, as you made your way to the front. The fireworks would start soon and you loved them since you were a little kid.

Looking around, you saw couples standing close together, keeping each other warm. You were here by yourself, and realized it would get pretty awkward once the clock struck midnight.

“Doesn’t matter, I’m here for the fireworks.” You said under your breath, but tears were stinging in your eyes. Jay would be busy, once again, like every other New Year’s Eve before. You admired his work ethic, but wished he would take the holidays off.

“I’ll FaceTime you later!” He promised you earlier in the day when you watched him getting dressed. You wanted to say something but chickened out. You wanted to pose an ultimatum but realized it would be unfair. You knew exactly what you walked into when you started dating Jay.

“I’m here for the fireworks!” You repeated again like a mantra.

In your right hand you were clutching your phone tightly, waiting for Jay’s call.

T minus 10 minutes.

You took a few photos to commemorate the event, but deleted them when you saw the couples around you snapping pictures, their cheeks pressed together, smiling brightly into the camera.

T minus 7 minutes.

You waited in the bitter cold, almost sure your nose would fall off any time, when you felt your phone vibrate in your palm. Full of hope you raised it to your face, expecting to see Jay’s face lighting up your screen. But it was your friend calling.

She was supposed to be here with you but got sick and had to stay home.

“Hey, how are you feeling?” You yelled into the phone since it had gotten loud around you.

“Me? Oh, I’m fine. I called because I wanted to ask you for a favor.”

“Yeah? For you, anything!”

“Since you’re at Namsan Tower could you get me tonkatsu?”

“Sure.” You scrunched your eyebrows together but smiled into the phone.

You walked in, and ordered your friends food when the guy who took your order pointed at something behind you.

“Miss, someone’s waving at you!”

“Impossible!” You scoffed but you turned around anyway.

The terrace, that was full of couples a few minutes ago, was now empty except for one person. Even with the bulky jacket on, or maybe because of it, you knew exactly who it was.

Your feet took you outside as if a magnetic force was guiding you. Jay walked up to you, hugging you, lifting you off your feet and into his arms.

“What are you doing here?” You beamed at him, the icy cold wind stinging on your cheeks covered in hot tears.

“You really thought I would miss this?”

“But- And th-”

“All part of my master plan!” He said softly, wiping your tears away.

He carefully set you down until your feet touched the ground again and held his hand out. He walked with you to the railing, inspecting the locks couples had placed there over time, looking closely until he found yours.

You came here on your first date and placed a lock with your initials on it. You thought it was cheesy and too soon but Jay was sure it was perfect timing.

T minus 2 minutes.

“I thought I noticed you wanted to say something earlier today.”

“I didn’t want to sound whiny and needy.”

“You’re not! Your the most important person in my life. I’d drop everything for you!”

In the distance you heard people counting down.

10, 9, 8, 7 …

“I love you!”

5, 4, 3, 2 …

“I love you too!”

… 1

‘Happy New Year!’, the crowds cheered as you closed your eyes, Jay’s soft and plump lips touching yours, his body pressed tightly against yours, his fingers combing through your hair. You broke the kiss, smiling at each other, before you pulled him closer reconnecting your lips, as beautiful fireworks went off all around you.

#jay park #more soju please #send me asks #asks open #ask me anything #ask response #anon ask #anon request

[mamirhodessxox]

By the dock

1920’s!Leon x 1920’s!Reader

Description: Leon & Reader have a 5 year long history. But unfortunately separated. The two ended up on the richest sides of New York City, The reader wedded into an unhappy marriage on the east egg & Leon trying to get his 1 and only love back while living on the West Egg.

Content: Smut?? (Love making), Great Gatsby storyline/party, Alcohol, Smoking, Foul language, Fluff, Angst??, Reader & Leon falling in absolute love all over again, Mentions of domestic violence, Cheating but it’s justified for the reader.

{~I'm very serious with you guys interacting with my writing!!!! it would make me so happy & excited, the more comments & reposts the more inspiration i have to write :) Votes and comments are strongly appreciated so please COMMENT COMMENT COMMENT COMMEENNTTT the more comments the more content <3!!!~}

It was the roaring 20’s everything in new york was covered in parties, music, alcohol, and money. Something Leon loved VERY much. Money & alcohol, but the one thing he loved more was You. He looked at you as if you were s goddess that walked among the world, your voice sounded like honey to him, your skin was so smooth & soft, the perfume you wore everyday smelt rich, it was a raspberry mixture but it wasn’t obnoxious, it was a subtle scent. The way you dressed so elegantly but flashy always impressed him.

He knew you 5 years ago as his one and only true love, he ended up going to fight in the war but you had thought he died, though you still had so much love for him you had to move on, so you ended up wedding with a man who was selfish, careless, sometimes even cruel. Leon had moved into this large mansion across from yours in the west egg. Almost every night he would stand by the dock and stare directly at it & reach his hand out.

Hell even when your close cousin Janice came into town & got a little cottage nearby his mansion he would communicate to her about his feelings towards you. Tonight he held an extravagant party

Music was blasting through the entire mansion, fireworks were going off people were cheering screaming shouting and yet Leon was no where to be found. It was strange. How could a man throw a party and not attend it? Janice had made you take a break from hiding away in that house of yours & took you to the party with her. You were in a black flashy flapper dress & noticed that half of the people that attended this party were random people showing up from new york city. Film directors, models, musicians. Hell the entire city of new york itself was in this mansion. It was insane.

Glitter hit your hair & skin as the party got crazier & crazier. You had no idea what to do with yourself it was almost terrifying. But to your comfort Janice approached you with drinks and a excited smile while shouting through the obnoxious sounds invading this singular house and honestly. You didn’t know Leon was the owner nor party host.

“Having fun darling!” You smile at Janice as she gave you a drink and sat right next to you near the water fountain where people were splashing in like heathens “This party is definitely something! Say who’s hosting? Some old rich fat man I presume?” The way you spoke was so elegant & rich. “No idea Dear! Just noticed that there was something crazy happening over here from all the way at your house! Thought you could use the break! Live a little!” She shouted while placing a random feathery headband atop your head “Only the best of the best come to these parties within this House.” You smiled lightly as you looked around. “I’m going to step out towards the dock for some fresh air! Getting a little claustrophobic in here!” You lightly laugh before getting up and walking off, your heels pattered against the ground and eventually onto the wooden dock causing a slight echo.

You leaned against the wooden fence looking around at the water & stared at the wavy movement’s of the water admiring the ambience. You heard heavy footsteps but ignored them, you felt someone else’s presence close to you but you were just a little too tired to notice. “It’s a nice evening tonight isn’t it Darling?” You turned tour head & ended up face to face with your past lover, Leon. “You stopped writing to me? Why’s that?” He furrowed his brows as you spoke to him in a straight forward manner. “Well dear, You were a newly wedded woman.” It was true. And he wasn’t wrong.

For the rest of the night the two of you would walk around speaking, sneaking off to the garden & spending quality time together. For weeks on end you would visit him at the manor in multiple different styled flapper dresses. When he had hosted another party your husband ended up accompanying you & Janice. You wore a large Boa around your shoulders as you walked down the glimmering stairs while Leon gave your husband the tour, soon you were sat somewhere admiring a jazz band & your husband would make snide comments towards Leon. So he got sick of it & eventually stood up “Would you mind terribly sir?” He gestured to you & your husband sighed before giving you the allowance of dancing with Leon. You smiled shortly & got up taking Leons hand & walking towards the dance floor

“This is such an exciting party Leon.” You admired as his hand was twined with yours & the other around your waist while swaying back and forth side to side. “I’m glad you think so doll.” You two danced for awhile until Leon took noticed your husband had walked off somewhere so, he snuck you both off into the garden. “Had you been reminded that you look stunning today darling?” You smile with love across your face “Just you.” He Hummed & placed his hand on your cheek with soft strokes before feeling his plush smooth lips on-top of yours, his arms wrapped around your waist as you stood up against a tree “oh Leon..” you mutter out before digging your fingers into his hair until Janice so rudely interrupted “Y/N darling? Your husband’s searching for you.” Leon sighed and pulled away ever so carefully as if you were a delicate flower petal.

Since that night an affair between you two sprang, you would often find yourself standing on the dock with Leon wrapping his arms around yours while you two stared at your manor “I wish i could never leave here my love..it’s where it’s the most calm.” You hummed as Leon nuzzled his lips against your neck “What if I told you that you didn’t have to go home my dear?” You heard his offer and smiled softly “Would you like to know what I said when I finally had my daughter?” You muttered out & grazed your hand against his hand “Hm?” He replied, you stroked his suit softly before voicing your small story “I said, I'm glad it's a girl. And I hope she'll be a fool that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool. Did you know my husband has had an affair behind my back? During all of this, the wedding, my birthing, everything. And to make it worse is, some nights after visiting the slums he would often neglect our daughter & slap on me.” Leon frowned “What if I sent out an anonymous report for those things darling hm? Abuse. Child Neglect, what do you think sweetness?”

You looked up at him before turning around & with a flushed smiled displayed across your face while your hands moved up against his chest where you felt the material of his suit. He smiled charmingly while he lifted you just enough to where you two could kiss he ran his fingers up the back of your neck and into your hair lightly grazing the satin scarf you wore as a headband, somehow you hand ended away from the dock but into his bedroom that overlooked the lake he lived across. You were sprawled out into his bed as you kissed each other passionately & lovingly, you were both ridded of your clothes wrapped around each other, You two had gotten straight to the point the moment your head hit the pillows, his thrusts weren’t rough or slow, infact that were just right.

He didn’t get sloppy or harsh, he was at just the right pace for you to still feel the most pleasure that you haven’t felt once you were wedded, a soft moan slipped past your lips while your fingers ran down his back leaving plenty of scratch marks while your legs wrapped around his hips. Leon quickened his pace when he felt his cock start to twitch in which he let out a quiet groan right next to your ear, his body was placed right ontop of yours making you feel some pressure but it was still pleasurable in all the right ways “doing so good f’me sweet thing.” He would speak loving affirmations into your ear before running his hand through your hair & kissing you before moving faster & faster.

The way he would plunge into you without any sort of roughness made you feel ecstatic. You would let out high pitched moans so often as you felt close to your orgasm & he knew it, he snapped his hips into you making you take a sharp breath as his thrusts became sloppy but in a way where he was still making love to you. He smushed his lips against yours one last time & that itself caused you to cum & make a mess & so did Leon, he didn’t have any time to pull out so he had came inside of you but even then you didn’t mind.

He breathed heavily in your ear before holding you close to him while you came down from your high, he had yet to pull out but for some odd reason it was still comforting “You here with me dear?” You were snapped back into reality & smiled tiredly up at him “yeah ‘m here Lee, just, thinkin’ that’s all” he hummed at your response and pressed a soft kiss into your cheek as you both laid there wrapped up in each others comfort.

A week later you two decided that he would come over for lunch where you, your husband & janice would sit as you & leon reveal your love affair and alert him you would be leaving him and taking your daughter with, but what you didn’t know is Leon had set up a deal with the police that around a certain time during lunch they were to practically raid the manor just to arrest your Husband.

It was a hot very hot miserable day within the summer, You & Janice were sat at the table smoking a cigarette and immediately you heard Leons foot steps approaching the dining room. You felt his hand sit on your bare shoulder as your husband glanced out of the window, “y’know they say that the sun gets hotter each yea-actually. No. Forgive me I meant the sun gets colder each year, can you believe that?” You heard Leon scoff causing your husband to turn around. And he immediately knew what was happening between the two of you

“So, your the man who’s been making love to my wife in god knows where?” Leon chuckled while you became upset and started running your mouth about the situation faster than Leon had planned “Yes he is, and I’m leaving you and taking D/N with me since he seems to know how to treat a woman and a child with more class than you could.” You spat at him causing Leon to choke up on the water he took a sip of as Janice gasped fakely and took a hit of her cigar “He couldn’t possibly love you the way I do Y/N, all the pearls I gave you? The glitz, the glamour.” Leon rolled his sleeves up as you fanned yourself from the heat “Your wrong see, Slapping your wife around and neglecting tour little girl and repaying them with fake luxury while also involving yourself in many sexual affairs is not love.” Leon addressed, your husband soon became irritated and paced towards you to attempt on slapping you causing Janice to shriek in concern but Leon pulled you out of the chair and made you stand behind him

“Yet she can be involved with some love affair with y-“ “To make it FAIR!” You shouted before throwing a glass cup at him as you became flustered with irritation, at that moment you saw a bunch of policemen hustle into the room and grab your soon to be ex husband and put him in metal clasps while you heard them explain to him the reasoning behind his arrest, he was shouting, yelling and running a muck while being shoveled out of the house, Janice cleared her throat and dusted off her dress “That was quite theatrical.” Leon hummed and ran his hands down your arm while muttering in your ear “I had your maids bring down D/N with hers and your belongings so we could quickly move into my manor & get you settled” you smiled in comfort nodding

You walked over towards the window & watched as your now ex lover was causing trouble for police men but Leon approached you from behind holding your arms as carefully as possible. Janice was in the entrance of the manor adjusting D/N’s outfit before clearing her throat and approaching you two “Shall we get you settled in & ready for dinner?”

You looked in her direction and back at Leon before smiling and picking up your daughter “Well I don’t see why not.” You chirped out before walking out of the manor with Leon & Janice following behind.

You were finally set free and with the man who you knew was your soulmate for the rest of your life that you could begin a family with and have your child view him as her father.

xtripleiiix’s Masterlist

A/N: OKAY so it’s not the beat work i’ve written but i’m really hyper-fixating on Leon & The Great Gatsby so i wanted to write smth that involved that storyline in someway, I really tried to make it seem like it was the 1920’s but yeah, I hope you guys enjoyed!! <3 feel free to list your opinions in the comments!

🏷️ list: @ginswife @coolpastelartshoe @greatkoalawizard @cokolin044 @kotoriarlert @alicerosejensen @bunnybot55 @valkyrurx @agent-dessis-posts @adollonyourshelf @puppy-princ3ss

[pureimaginefic]

Natalie stared at her phone “You okay?” Bradley asked.

“Have you heard from Neilson yet? Did he call or text you at all?” she asked.

“No not for awhile.”

She sighed sadly “It’s almost midnight and he’s not here” she said.

“He’ll be here alright” Bradley said to her.

“How can you be so sure?” she asked.

“Because I know him, he wouldn’t miss this” he said, she looked at him sadly, he pulled her close and held her.

“Surprise” Neilson said making his way towards her.

“Oh my god!” she said happily jumping into his arms “I can’t believe you’re here!” she said to him.

“I told you I would be” he said.

“I told her you would be” Bradley said to him “Hey” he said hugging Neilson.

“You’re back” Adam said as he and Harry approached them.

“Just in time too, it’s almost midnight” Harry said.

“Where’s Kyle?” Neilson asked.

“Yeah I haven’t seen Zoe in a while either” Adam said looking around, they all exchanged nervous glances.

“Oh look the countdown’s starting!” Harry said.

~*~

“Can I open my eyes now?” Brian asked Vicki.

“Yeah” she said laughing “Well? What do you think?” she asked.

“You look great” he said “Dress looks familiar.”

“It should” she said taking a picture from her purse.

“20 years ago today” she said.

“Oh wow” he said looking at the picture “I remember this night…I asked you to be my girlfriend, remember?”

“I remember” she said as they kissed when he heard a beeping noise.

“Oh” he said fishing into his pocket for his phone.

“What is it?” she asked.

“1 minute until midnight” he said.

“Everyone ready?!” someone at the party yelled, their hats and noisemakers ready.

“10!” everyone yelled.

“9…” Kyle and Zoey said, still perched in the gazebo.

“8...” Brian and Vicki said together.

“7!” everyone at the party yelled.

“6…” Kyle and Zoey said.

“5...” Brian and Vicki said as she laughed.

“4!”

“3…”

“2”

“1 HAPPY NEW YEAR!!” everyone yelled as confetti and streamers rained down on them from the ceiling, Neilson and Natalie kissed deeply, Bradley watching on and raising his glass to them.

“Happy New Year!” Kyle and Zoey exclaimed before kissing.

“Happy New Year” Brian said as they kissed.

~*~

“Guys! Roof!” Bradley said.

“Oh yeah” Neilson said grabbing Natalie’s hand, Harry, and Adam followed behind them.

“What’s going on?” Natalie asked,

Fireworks began to boom overhead “Oh my god” Vicki said breaking their kiss to watch the colors explode in the air.

Natalie gasped as they got to the roof at the fireworks booming over them.

“I got this from behind the bar” Bradley said holding up a champagne bottle.

“I got the glasses” Adam said “Dude where are Kyle and Zoey?” he asked,

They all looked at each other “…champagne!” Bradley said.

“Champagne” they all replied.

“Here they are” Kyle said as he and Zoey joined them on the roof.

“Where’ve you been?” Adam asked.

“We’ve been looking for you guys!”

“Yeah we couldn’t find you” they said to him, he eyed them suspiciously.

“Alright let’s pop this open” Bradley said popping the cork from the champagne bottle.

"So what's your new years' resolution this year?" Natalie asked .

"Uh well I'm going to resolve to NOT get shot, NOT get kidnapped and NOT almost burn to death in an explosion" Bradley said taking a drink from his glass.

"Hey! me too!" Neilson said.

"Dude!" Bradley said as they high fived.

"Same for me" Harry said.

"Well I'm hoping to NOT get taken hostage by a psychopath this year...and what Bradley said about the kidnapping and explosion thing" Kyle said.

“Should we have a toast?” Zoey asked Kyle.

“Alright to 2010 and all the good things that will happen this year.”

“Cheers to that” Natalie said.

“Here here” they all replied.

“Oh and to Damien and crazy papa Winchester who are now crispier than a bucket of KFC” Adam said raising his glass.

“I’ll definitely drink to that” Bradley said.

“Cheers” Neilson said.

“It’s going to be a good year, I can feel it” Kyle said.

#jr. bsb series #original characters #bsb fan fiction #countdown to a new year #new year's eve #resolutions

[spideyjlaw]

happy

25th birthday

tom holland

june 1, 1996

#i love you forevs bffs #cheers to this guy who i held hands with 3 years ago <3 #tbh tom i’ve been calling u 25 for years so now it’s true! so sexy of u #i love you so so much bae #for lifer! #tom holland #peter parker #spiderman

[xoxo-teddybear]

4 weeks - Bakugou Katsuki

Bakugou x f!reader

Warnings: SMUT, cursing, needy Bakugou, 18+, sub!bakugou, dom!f!reader, oral, use of viagra, NOT SPELL CHECKED (sorry >w<)

Summary: Bakugou done fucked up and now he has to pay the price..sorta

BAKUGOU’S MASTERLIST

A/N: just for the sake of the story, your quirk is “Command.” As long as you come into physical contact with your opponent, even for a second, you can command them to do your bidding until you say “rebel.”

“WHAAAATTTTT??????!!!!!!”

You could’ve sworn the whole house, scratch that, the whole world shook as Bakugou screamed at you.

Bakugou had fucked up. During a little heated session, things got a little too rough. As Bakugou was railing you from the back, he tugged at your hair. However, along with your soft locks, he pulled on your thin necklace chain that was gifted to you by your precious 5 year old son. The chain broke and Bakugou didn’t even tell you. He opted to have you both finish before he even mentioned the broken gift.

And now it was the next day and Katsuo, your son, had noticed the missing necklace. It did hurt him a bit especially considering he did so much to earn money and go with grandma to buy the necklace but he assured you it was okay. You sent him off to his room to play as you walked to the kitchen to scold and punish your husband. As you complained to him, he conversed with you as his back was facing you and only turned when he heard your punishment for him.

“You heard me. 4 weeks. No sex, no touching, no hugs or kisses, no nothing. No. Physical. Contact.” You said with a stern and nonchalant face. Your arms were crossed as you faced your husband who looked at you with an open mouth and open palms.

“Wha- but- WHY???” He whined.

“Katsuki come on! You broke my very expensive necklace!” You said, gesturing to your now bare neck.

“Who cares if it was expensive, I could buy you another one! We’re pros Y/N, we could buy a unicorn if we wanted!” Bakugou argued as he was still trying to get out of his punishment. You only crossed your arms and pressed your fingers into your forehead.

“That’s not the point! It’s the fact that even though it was so expensive, our 5 year old son still bought it! And so because you broke it, this is your punishment.” You explained. Bakugou groaned as he threw his head back and huffed towards the ceiling when an idea came to his mind.

“You know..” he began as he walked towards you, “I broke that necklace, on accident, because I was so focused on pleasuring my queen. Anndddd I could make it up to you in the exact same way~” He attempted to wrap his arms around your waist but you spun around and stepped behind him resulting in him stumbling forward. He turned towards you and growled.

“Really Katsuki? You’re gonna snarl at me? Look, you know the rules, so follow them. Now I’m going with Katsuo to get him a new toy to cheer him up, you just...heh, sit in your room and think about what you’ve done.” You teased. You grabbed your purse and had Katsuo get ready. Once he was done you told him to get into the car and you walked to Katsuki to say bye. You smirked as you looked at him and pressed your hands against his chest. You slowly went in for a kiss and Bakugou looked at you in shock before he smirked and leaned in too. But just as your lips were about to touch, you pulled away and walked to the door. As you opened it you turned to him and spoke.

“No kisses. Remember?” You grinned at him. He snarled and picked up a pillow off the couch and threw it towards you but you shut the door before it could reach you. This was gonna be a long 4 weeks for Katsuki.

—

Katsuki awoken to his gorgeous wife....sleeping on the other side of the bed far..far away from him. No touching meant no sleepy time cuddles either. It had already been like this for a week. He looked a little closer at her sleeping figure and smiled at her peaceful state. He scooted closer and he tucked his head into your neck and wrapped his arm around your waist. Or more like he tried to. The second his arm made contact with your body for cuddles, you woke up and smacked his hand away.

“Ah! Y/N!! This isn’t fair!” He whined. He looked at his arm and saw a little red shade forming as he pouted at you. You turned towards your doting husband and just gave him a stern look.

“Who broke my necklace?” Bakugou sighed and flopped onto the bed on his back as he faced the ceiling.

“Me.”

“And now who has to pay the price?”

“Me.” He pouted again. You chuckled as you got up and stretched.

“Stop pouting Suki. You’re not Katsuo.” You giggled but he only looked at you with the same pout.

“He’s my carbon copy, we’re basically the same person.” You smiled at your humorous husband and he smiled seeing the grin that bestowed your face. You kneeled on the bed and leaned into him. You placed your hands on his chest as you got close to his face.

“You’ll survive, Love.” You said and then gave him a loving kiss. His eyes went wide at the surprise contact but he quickly smiled into the kiss and returned it as he shut his eyes to enjoy it. You intensified the kiss but when Katsuki went to pull you in closer by your neck, you quickly backed away. He looked at you in shock before whining again.

“Okay, first of all, I thought you said no touching.” He growled as he clenched his fist.

“I said you couldn’t touch. Never said anything about me,” you said with a cocky grin. Bakugou’s face went red at your devious actions.

“Okay well what the fuck? You can’t just kiss me like that and stop after I already went a whole week without touching you. Come back here,” he said as he tried to grab onto your wrist but you backed up and walked to your bedroom door.

“Get ready for the day love, this is just the beginning.”

—

Mitsuki and Masaru had just arrived. Katsuki was sitting on the couch trying to distract himself with the TV while you were in the kitchen making a smoothie when door bell rang. You opened the door greeting your in-laws with love and expectance.

“Hi Mom! Dad! Come in! Katsuo is almost done packing his bags,” you happily said as you stepped to the side to allow your mother and father in law to enter.

“Umm, what? Why is my son packing his bags?” Katsuki asked as he stood from the couch.

“Y/N didn’t tell you? We called a few nights ago asking to bring Katsuo on a trip. She said yes and told us she’d tell you about it later,” Masaru explained. Katsuki jerked his head towards Y/N in disbelief as she placed her hand on the side of cheek and spoke.

“Oops! I guess I forgot,” you said with sarcasm dripping in your voice. Mitsuki and Masaru believed you but when they turned to face their son again your mischievous grin returned as you also faced Katsuki. He was silently fuming as he watched you go from angel to devil in a second.

“Ah well, who cares. Point is, we’re here to pick up my grandson!” Mitsuki said as she took a seat on the couch. You all made small talk but Katsuki continued to stand as he processed just how conniving his wife was.

“Mama! I’m all set!” Katsuo said as he came down the stairs with his little suitcase and teddy bear in hand.

“Hi baby! Grandma and Grandpa are already here,” you said and Katsuo excitedly ran to his grandparents.

“Grandma! Grandpa!” Katsuo said as he jumped into their arms.

“Ohh, hello my little firecracker!” Mitsuki said, greeting her grandson. “Ready for a vacation in Rio?”

“Mhm!” Katsuo quickly replied but Katsuki just stuttered in shock before he spoke again.

“Woah- wait? Rio? You’re taking him to Brazil? That’s across the globe, how long are you guys gonna be gone?” Katsuki asked with concern. Not for his son, he completely trusted his parents with his child and he knew they would have fun. He was worried for himself. Taking care of Katsuo was a distraction for Katsuki. Watching his son kept his mind off of wrecking Y/N. If his son was away for too long, he didn’t know how long he would survive his punishment.

“We’ll be gone for about 3 weeks. Don’t worry, we’ll be back before you know it.” Masaru said.

“Wha- huh? 3 WEEKS?! .....Y/N you little satan,” he whispered the last part. He turned to face you and saw a Cheshire grin on your face. His face turned red and you swore you could see steam leave Katsuki’s ears but you continued as if everything was normal.

“Alright well, we’ll be going now!” Mitsuki said as she stood alongside her husband. Katsuo said his partings with his parents and they said their “I love you’s” before their son walked out the door with his grandparents. Katsuo was about to have the time of his life while Katsuki was left to suffer.

Y/N was seated on the couch as Katsuki was still seething. She held a grin on her face as Katsuki slowly turned to look at her.

“You got some explaining to do, princess,” he said adding poison to the loving nickname. You only smiled some more as you stood and walked to your husband. He towered over you but right now, you were above him because you held all the power now. You got in his face as you spoke words that would set him off.

“Whatchu’ gonna do now without your little distraction running around, daddy?” You softly but sinisterly and seductively said as you chuckled and purposely bumped into his shoulder as you walked away.

—

Bakugou has slowly been losing his mind. He was on the last day of the second week and it’s been killing him. When he sat down he would spazz a little and his fingers would be having a little seizure. His eye would twitch at night as he kept his back to you to restrain himself. The soft quiet moans you would release in your sleep every now and then would send Bakugou into the bathroom in the middle of the night to relieve himself. Just the sight of you was daring Bakugou to pounce.

You weren’t making it any easier for him either. First you send his son AKA his distraction from his hot wife away, then you tease him constantly, you also allow yourself to touch him but refuse to let him cop a feel on you, and now, you walk around after work in his t-shirt and a pair of cute panties. Your plump ass on display and the sight of your plush thighs drove him wild.

You were sipping tea in the kitchen when your frantic husband came in. You took notice of him and greeted him with a smile before it quickly dropped at the sight of him. He looked awful. Bags under his eyes, a twitching eye, a crooked line for a smile, disheveled hair, and his posture was horrendous. He took a seat next to you saying nothing as he just tapped his foot against the floor.

“Umm...baby? Are you okay-“

“NO! I’m not! I’m not okay, not at all!” He snapped as he looked at you with wide eyes. You stared back at him with the same eyes as you slowly took another sip before continuing.

“What’s the problem, love?” You asked as if you didn’t know.

“What’s the problem?” He began with a whisper. “What’s the problem?! Oh, like you don’t know you TEASE!” Bakugou stood from his seat as he clapped his hands to dramatically to explain.

“HOR-NY!” He said as he brought his hands together for each sound. “I am insanely horny, you shitty woman! I can’t get myself off, I don’t have my son around to keep me busy, work is just annoying now, and my fine ass wife won’t let me touch her!”

You laughed a little as he explained and Katsuki had his jaw dropped at your rude behavior.

“You’re laughing? Oh you think this is funny? Oh okay,” he said and walked away.

“WHEN THIS BULLSHIT IS OVER, YOU’RE SUCKING MY DICK Y/N!” He slammed the door to your shared bedroom but he screamed loud enough for you to hear all the way from the kitchen. “ON SOFT!”

—

The end of the third week. It was almost too much for Katsuki. Katsuo would be back in another week but it would be pointless because the punishment would be over by then. I mean yeah, he’d get to have his son back again (yayy familyyy) but when Katsuo would be back, Katsuki would be completely indulging himself in Y/N. How the fuck were they supposed to keep quiet?

Whatever though. Katsuki had no time to think of the future. He was living in the now, and so he had to come up with a plan to get Y/N to break. In the beginning of the 4th week, Katsuki spent time and time again tweaking his plans and coming up with new tactics until he realized....his damn wife was just as stubborn and hard headed as he was. Nothing was gonna break her. And so we’ve been led to this.

“BABBYYYYYYYYYY”

“...”

“PRINCESSSSSSSS”

“...”

“Y/N BAKUGOU!”

Bakugou resorted to being a puppy that basically had separation anxiety. He would yell and shout and whine at every chance he had. He would do whatever if it meant getting you to break. He missed you. The last time you made physical contact with him was during that kiss and man did it send Katsuki into a frenzy.

Considering Katsuki’s quirk contained nitroglycerin, a chemical commonly found in viagra, it was safe to say it was very easy for you to rile him up. And as he thought about that, it hit him like a train. If he can’t go to you, then he’ll make you come to him. He’ll set you up and he knows exactly how to do it.

Bakugou left the bedroom and ran down the stairs to find you in the living room. You were cozied up with yourself under a blanket that covered your booty shorts that you wore. You were entranced by the story of a book as you allowed the TV to play at a low volume for background noise and Bakugou’s heart swelled at such a domesticated moment. “Hi baby.”

You looked up to your husband and rolled your eyes with a smile as you looked at him. You wondered what trick he had up his sleeve this time around. “Hey. You need something?” You asked.

“Mm mm,” he shook his head with a soft smile, how cute. “Just was wondering if you wanted to watch a movie with me. Get some snacks, sit in bed, and just enjoy some time together.”

You smile grew wider at the thought of a little date night in your shared bedroom and you were quick to agree to his offer. “I’ll get the snacks,”

“No don’t worry about. I’ll get it. I already have everything set up. Picked a movie and everything. All you have to do is just be there with me.” You awed at your husband’s kind gestures as you went up to peck his cheek.

“Thanks Suki!” You happily said as you walked away. Bakugou watched your form disappear into the master bedroom before he quickly ran through all the cabinets and fridge. He frantically looked for viagra but when he couldn’t find any he whipped out his phone. He called a number that he knew was going to be able to help him.

“Listen Dunce Face. Don’t ask any questions, just do as I say if you want to fucking live. I know you have female viagra on you and if you don’t, get your ass to the store right now and pick some up for me. Bring it to me ASAP!” He quickly said and hung up before giving Kaminari any time to reply. Bakugou slowly prepared snacks to eat and in 5 minutes a knock was heard on the door. He ran to it and opened the wooden piece to find a huffing electric blonde.

“I....I....I got it!” Kaminari tiredly breathed out as he held a bag over his head to show the items he brought. Bakugou snatched it out of his hand before giving a quick ‘thanks!’ To show his appreciation and slammed the door.

Katsuki took the pills out of its containers and crushed 2 into a powder. He mixed it in with your bottle of water and finally brought the snacks and drinks up to you. He walked in to find you waiting on the bed for him and you smiled at the sight of him. He placed the bags of junk on the bed as he quickly joined you until he realized something was off.

“Umm...Y/N?” You smiled as you knew what he was going to ask and considering you guys were gonna have a little movie date, you gave in.

“Fine.” You happily said as you gave in and Bakugou was quick to pull you into his arms and become the big spoon. He finally got to hold you after so many weeks but this was not his main goal. No he wanted much more. This was only a stepping stone to his victory.

The movie began and Bakugou had you cuddled in his arms. You were enjoying the warmth of your husband as your eyes were drawn to the screen and you couldn’t help but smile at these sweet intimate moments like this. Yeah. You’ve missed him over the past few weeks but a punishment is a punishment. So you decided to savor this time with him before going back to cutting off physical contact once more.

Time had passed and Bakugou watched as you picked at the snacks and swallow down sips of the contaminated water. He smirked every time you downed a gulp and now the best part was coming up. See, Bakugou chose everything so that he knew exactly how everything would turn out. With that being said, he chose a movie that he knew would help the viagra in your system to get you going.

The erotic scene played and Bakugou watched as you rubbed your thighs together for friction. You bit your lip from time to time to hold back a needy groan and you began feeling heat all over you. And it wasn’t coming from Katsuki. Seeing you in this state, Bakugou slowly went to place a hand on your bare thigh. You didn’t push him away and Bakugou grinned at the fact that you were breaking. He soothed and rubbed at your thigh as he would squeeze it every now and then as well. The whole time you were asking yourself why the explicit scene was so detailed and so long.

Out of nowhere, you felt Bakugou’s hand travel up your leg and to your core but just for a second. The teasing touch had you silently gasp and you craved for more. You turned to Bakugou to see he was leaning against the headboard and he would release a grunt every so often which didn’t help relieve your growing heat. He didn’t seem bothered by anything or affected at all as he watched the movie continue.

Enough was enough, you picked up the remote and turned off the TV. Bakugou turned to look at you with a raised brow but openly smirked once he saw you straddle his lap. You shamelessly began to grind yourself against his core as you both released sighs and moans at the friction. His hands went straight to your hips as he spoke.

“What’s wrong princess? What happened to my punishment?” He teasingly asked.

“Shut up,” was all that you said before you quickly dove in for a hungry kiss that Bakugou happily returned. It was all teeth and tongue as you both pressed against each other, grinding against one another’s clothed centers. Moans were released into the kiss as you began to undress yourself. You both pulled away for a second to remove your tops but quickly went back in for the kiss. You removed your shorts as Bakugou remained in his sweats. You were left in nothing but panties before Katsuki decided to rip those off.

“Katsuki...nobody said anything about you being able to touch me again,” you clarified with sharp eyes. Bakugou’s eyes went wide. He thought this was the end of the punishment. He thought you gave in.

“What do you-“

Before he could finish, you placed your hand on his shoulder and activated your quirk.

“Sleep.”

And just like that, Bakugou was out like a light. While he was unconscious, you took the opportunity to tie his wrists to the headboard using one of his dress ties. You removed his sweats and briefs as you allowed his member to stand tall. You stared at the red, angry tip that was drenched in pre-cum. You smirked as you sat yourself on his waist as your hand went to stroke his member the slightest bit. He moaned in his sleep and you giggled as you spoke again.

“Rebel.”

Bakugou slowly woke up, but once he fully came to, he was completely submerged in pleasure. His eyes were blessed with the view of your naked body, with a beautiful face that adorned a smirk. And he understood why you held the malicious smile. He groaned as he felt your pace at his dick speed up. You leaned down to his ear as Katsuki held heavy breaths with a flushed and red face.

“No touching, remember Suki?” You whispered as you then licked the shell of his ear, sending shivers down his spine.

“F-fuck! Fuck, Y/N please. Please just do something...Ahh~” You trailed your thumb up to his tip as you focused on it. The feeling sent Bakugou into heaven.

“Awww, you thought you could tell me what to do? If you didn’t notice, tonight, I’m in charge.” You said with a grin and devious eyes. Bakugou groaned even more as he waited for you to do..anything! “I’ll tell you what though, Suki. You have been pretty decent for the past few weeks so I’ll give you a little something. And maybe if you’re a good boy for me, I’ll let you have the main course.”

Bakugou watched as you stopped your hand movements and scooted back. You were face to face with his dick as you jerked him off some more. You held his member in your hand as you made eye contact with him. You licked the base of his cock all the way to the tip causing Bakugou to sigh and moan. You kissed the tip before taking it into your mouth and swirling your tongue around.

“Oh s-shit! Baby! Fuck-“

You went down on him one time and moaned around his cock, allowing the vibrations to have full affect on your trembling husband. You pulled off him with a pop as you smiled up at him.

“Oh I’m sorry. You wanted me to suck your dick on soft, right?...Mm, well it’s not my fault you can’t control your hard on.” You teased to which Bakugou growled at you. “Again with the snarling? That’s not what good boys do Suki. Good boys do what they’re told so they get to cum inside a pretty pussy~”

Bakugou perked up at the temptation. Cumming inside you. Breeding you. Pumping you full until you give him another brat. The thought of you walking around beautifully swollen with his kid drove him mad and desperate.

“Let me cum inside you Princess.” He asked with a soft but stern tone.

“Ah ah, you don’t get to tell me what to do. You’re not the one giving orders tonight, Katsuki. So listen up. I’ll go down on you for about 5 minutes. If you don’t come in those 5 minutes, I’ll let you cum inside. However, if you do, I’ll be leaving you here with a cock ring for the next few hours while I go and pleasure myself somewhere else. Understand?” You watched as he attempted to fight against his restraints.

“No.” He refused to give in. He turned his head down, avoiding your gaze and you sighed in return.

“Fine, I guess I’ll just have to take care of myself,” you said and slid off him. You were about to walk away before Bakugou called out for you.

“No wait!” You turned to him and gave a little curl with your lip. “Tch....please.” He said while blushing and staring off.

“Please what suki?” You said, acting dumb. Bakugou really didn’t wanna beg but he’s so close to getting what he’s been craving all month. Screw his damn pride. He was gonna get laid and he was gonna get it tonight!

“Please! ....Fuck me, touch me, suck my dick, let me cum inside you, do something to me! Please Y/N,” he begged. His member still stood erect and you smiled as you walked towards him.

“That’s my good boy,” you said as you caressed his jaw and gave him a quick and passionate kiss before moving down to suck him off. You kissed his tip multiple times before taking him in. He gasped and sighed at the contact and feeling of your warm cavern but he’ll be damned if he came undone in less than 5 minutes. He needed to cum inside your sweet little cunt and he was gonna do whatever it took to do so.

You bobbed your head at a steady pace causing Bakugou to plead for more. You swallowed his pre-cum, which left him gasping. Your hand went to fondle his balls as he fought against his restraints. He wanted to use his hands to take control but he couldn’t, not with them being tied up.

“P-please baby. Faster! Please!” He begged. And who were you to deny your good boy. You sped up your movements and moaned with his cock seated in your throat. “Ohh god! Yess!”

His legs shook as he was close to cumming. He looked at the time and saw he only had 1 minute left. Just 1 minute. Hold it in and he gets to cum inside you. However, he didn’t know you had a little trick up your sleeve.

When you walked away before, you grabbed a mini vibrator. Seeing he only had 1 minute left, you turned it on and placed it at the base of his cock while you sucked him off and moaned some more.

“F-fuck baby! S’too much! Stop- stop! ...ohh fuck I’m-I’m gonna cum!” Bakugou screamed with his head thrown back. He jerked his hips up as he attempted to fuck your mouth but you squeezed and scratched at his bare thighs to get him to stop. And finally, with your permission..

“You can cum now, good boy,”

He filled your mouth as he screamed in pleasure. His legs shook in pure ecstasy as he filled your mouth with his sweet-salty release. You pulled off him with a stuffed mouth and watched as his chest puffed up and fell down. He sighed before he looked at you with rosy cheeks. You smirked at him, opening your mouth to show him his work before swallowing it all. The erotic scene caused him to bite his lips and throw his head back as he puffed some more.

He can’t believe he was at his limit and all because of a blowjob. His dick grew soft but rose once more as vibrations came in contact with his shaft again. He flinched at the sudden feeling and looked at the cause of it and saw you holding the vibrator against him. “Baby? W-what? W-hy?”

“Aww Suki. Don’t you remember? It’s time to give you what you’ve wanted all month,” you smirked at him. His eyes went wide. How could he forget? He wanted to cum inside you so badly, but he didn’t know if he had any left. He didn’t know if he would be able to take it after his extreme climax.

“W-wait! Wait Y/N. I-..I need a break for a second. I can’t-“

“Excuse me?” You cut him off. “So you’re the only one that gets pleasure out of all this? I don’t think so.”

“No baby, that’s not what I meant. I just- it’s just...s’too much!” He cried out as he watched you hover over his erection. You lined his dick up with your entrance and smirked some more.

“You can handle it. I know you can. You’ll be my good boy and pleasure me too, right?” You sweetly said. Bakugou didn’t know what it was. He was never the submissive one but you calling him a ‘good boy’ did something to him. It made him want to completely submit to you and do whatever you pleased. You slammed down completely on his cock as you both cried out in pleasure.

“Fuck!” Bakugou screamed. You began a fast pace bouncing up and down on him. Your hands found placement on his bare chest as he threw his head back and made an abundant amount of noise. “Oh baby! Baby- slow down! F-fuck too much!”

“Mm..c’mon Suki..I thought you wanted this. Fuck- I thought you wanted..to be my good boy,” you teased while moaning. You held a devious grin as you rode him and he couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. Poor baby was so overstimulated.

Bakugou released sobs of pleasure but he enjoyed it all nonetheless. “S-shit! Oh my godd Katsuki! S-So big!”

“Ahh! Fuck! Y-Y/N..baby please! Let me touch you! Please!” Bakugou seethed out. He had his feet planted on the bed as he attempted to thrust up into you. You, growing a soft spot for the man below you, gave in.

“Heh...be a good boy and please me Suki.” You released his wrists from their ties as you never stopped your motions and his hands were quick to find home around your waist.

Bakugou was quick to take control and bounce you up and down on his shaft, controlling the pace. Now it was your turn to scream and cry in pleasure as Bakugou slammed you down on his cock while ramming up into you at the same time. He was going to be a good boy and please you.

“F-fucking shit! You like that? Huh?” He gave your ass a quick and hard smack before continuing. “You like the way my dick feels inside your sweet pussy?”

The pleasure was too much for you. You could barely form words as he catered to your body. His thrusts were beginning to bring you to your end as you felt the familiar tight feeling grow stronger in your stomach. You pussy clenched around his shaft as he released a gruff moan at the squeeze.

“Shit..you gonna cum baby? Gonna cum on my dick? ...fuck yess~ let me fill you up princess,” he said as his thrust grew sloppy. He was close to his end as well and you nodded in approval to his desire.

“Ka-Katsuki! I’m gonna cum..fuck baby I’m cumming!” Bakugou sped up the slightest bit to help you reach your climax until you finally came. You both released cried of euphoria as you both met your orgasms and met each other for a hungry kiss. At the same time, Bakugou stopped his thrusts as he shot his load in you, and a mix of your releases seeped out of your cunt. Your kiss was sloppy as your tongues fought for dominance. Bakugou let his hands travel to your ass where they helped you grind on his dick a little more and smacked it once again.

You both had moaned into the kiss until oxygen became necessary. You separated from each other with small pecks before finally stopping. Bakugou remained inside you as you settled into his chest. He had his arms wrap around you as you both spent time catching your breaths. Once you both finally settled, you bathed in the comforting feeling of the after sex glow and cuddled in a comforting silence. Bakugou had kissed the crown of your head before he spoke up and broke the quiet.

“So much for a punishment,” he teased. You looked at him with slanted eyes as a way of telling your husband to shut up but he only chuckled at you. He lifted your chin and brought your lips to meet his once more for a loving kiss before separating to tell you sweet words.

“I love you, princess.” He said with his husky voice.

“I love you too, Suki.” You sent your hand to intertwine with his and he gladly accepted. He was right though. So much for a punishment. Oh well, you’ll get him next time he fucks up.

A/N: EW THE ENDING WAS SO BAD!!!! WTFFFFF! Whatever. I hope you enjoyed it bear Cubs! I’m sorry I’ve been in my lil slump but I feel myself getting better and I’ll be back soon!💗🧸 And now...to start on the ninth chapter of my series. Yayyyyy😓

A/N: I think my favorite part is when Katsuki yells “Suck my dick!...on soft!” Cuz I be walking around and saying that to mfs who test me. If you disrespect me, SUCK MY DICK..ON SOFT! 🤣 am I a female? YES! But you will suck my soft non-existent dick if you decide to act like a prick for no apparent reason. Thank you!😂

#bakugo x reader #bakugou fanfiction #bakugou imagine #bakugou katsuki #bakugou katsuki x reader #bakugou x y/n #bnha #bnha bakugo katsuki #mha #bakugou fluff #katsuki bakugou smut #bakugou smut #katsuki smut #bakugou katsuki smut #domestic bakugou #dad!bakugou #katsuki bakugou x reader #bakugou x reader #katsuki x reader #bnha bakugo x reader #bnha bakugou #mha bakugo x reader #mha bakugo katsuki #mha bakugou #my hero academia bakugou #my hero academia #boku no hero bakugou #mha kacchan #mha katsuki

[cupofteaguk]

switching my positions

summary: Fresh out of college, Min Yoongi makes a name for himself amongst his online fanbase as an artist who writes about the ins and outs of falling in love. But when he is signed to a record label, his producer insists that he reveal a public romantic relationship to weed off any potential scandals or dangerous assumptions about the source of his love songs. So who else should Yoongi turn to, but you: his manager—but more than that, his best friend and secret crush. 

pairing: yoongi x fem!reader

genre: solo artist!yoongi, manager!y/n, fake dating au, friends to lovers au | fluff/angst 

warnings: yoongi starts off as a musician on youtube but it’s not really highlighted for most of the story, kim seokjin is a Hot Music Executive who’ll take good care of his favorite boy, jungkook gets promoted from a cameraman to a bodyguard and i love to see it <3, nayeon + hoseok cameo as radio show hosts BECAUSE THIS STORY HAS SO MANY CHARACTERS I’M SORRY, IU shows up as a ~superstar~ because i love her so much, it’s a slow burn fic what can i say, mutual pining, actually an idiots to lovers plot tbh ????,  recreational alcohol consumption, POV switches occasionally but i try to make it as obvious as possible as to what is going on, mentions of insecurity, there’s angst BUT IT’S A HAPPY ENDING !!! 

word count: 40.1k 

a/n: big big thank you to @gukyi​ for being my fic consultant for this story! she encouraged me and believed in this story more than I ever could (and contributed like 50% of the foundation that made this fic into what it is), and also reminded me that yes this is a fic so no it doesn’t require one hundred percent accuracy to the music industry despite every discord message i sent her falling somewhere along the lines of “how realistic is this scenario…” she was a very big support for this fic, and this story wouldn’t have existed without her!! 

and regarding the word count… my hand slipped. I’ve clowned this fic a lot over the past month but I am really happy that this is done and so so excited for you all to read it. Pls enjoy!!!!!!! Xx 

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CHAPTER 1: THE DISCOVERY 

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You’re late. 

Yoongi lets you know that much as you have to shove your way through a rather large crowd of people to reach him. When he turns away from his keyboard to glance down at you, your chest is heaving and your knees are bent in order for your hands to rest upon your thighs. There’s a plastic bag curled on your arm, the hard plastic of CD cases reflecting off the street lamps. 

“Sorry, sorry!” You breathe out, giving yourself a few more seconds to catch your breath. Nothing more, nothing less, because there is a crowd of people around you, currently staring you down, counting down the seconds until the clock struck 8:00—but many people wondering just who were you to shove your way towards the front. “The printer wasn’t working, and do you realize how difficult it is to get your stupid picture into these cases?” 

Yoongi scoffs, walking towards you and holding both his hands out. “Don’t call them stupid, you took the picture,” He hisses, taking the plastic bag from you and rummaging through the many CDs you had to make for him last minute. After ensuring that everything he had asked for is in this very bag, he softens up. “But thanks for getting these done for me.” 

You finally are able to straighten up into a full standing position. “Not my fault you underestimated how many of your wonderful fans were going to show up.” 

Yoongi reaches over and presses his index finger straight into your forehead for that comment. The force knocks you back a few steps, and Yoongi takes your few seconds of distractions to pull a phone out of his pocket. “Just go off to the side, dummy, my show starts soon.” 

“Fine, fine,” You tease back, easy smile, but your hand goes up to take the phone from him. “Break a leg, Min Yoongi.” 

Yoongi gives you a playful glare but he turns away from you to line up his CDs along the now-table next to his set. As soon as he starts placing CDs atop the surface, a small line of people step from the crowd—pointing to the CDs and holding out a stack of cash. Yoongi nods, takes the money, and hands over the CD. This happens a few more times before the line of people have died down. Yoongi looks over at the significantly less amount of cases at his table, and looks over at you, where he flashes a thumbs up. 

As Yoongi steps up to his keyboard and microphone, the crowd around him starts to cheer. The claps echo through the gathering of people, enough to draw the attention of passersby who crane their heads to see who has attracted so many listeners. 

Yoongi’s fingers curl around the microphone. “Hey guys, thank you all for coming out today.” 

The crowd claps back in acknowledgement, a few of them giving their own shy nods and waves towards Yoongi—gestures that the boy responds with his own nods and gummy smiles. 

His attention returns back to the next set of words he’ll speak into the microphone. “I got a couple covers and original songs for tonight, all requested by you guys—so let’s have some fun today.” His voice is deep, raspy and gentle, croaks slightly along the edges, but a perfect reflection of the soothing nature he brings to his audience. 

And you are attune to every single second of it. Of course you are. You blend into the crowd but really your responsibilities for Yoongi lie far beyond just packaging CDs for him and dashing through hoards of people at the last fucking second to make your delivery. You further prove this further by logging into his phone and clicking into the first background music he’s produced for today’s show. Using the music as a guide, Yoongi starts to sing. His fingers dance across the keyboard to bring an extra sound to his performance—to give it that extra live element that his fans love. 

You know that Yoongi has added these additional things over the months because he adores his fanbase and would likely do anything and everything he could to give them the best experience he could offer. After all, they’ve propelled him to this very spot—his own little corner of the bustling city streets amongst all the bars, shops, universities, street food stalls, and cafes. 

As the music continues from one song to the next, and Yoongi shifts his focus from singing to rapping to the in betweens, you see his passion. You hear it in his voice, in the way his lines string together where it seems like the boy doesn’t require oxygen anymore. Months of these live shows, even longer years to get here—and the people around him only continue to watch him in awe. Just like he’s done since the beginning. 

Min Yoongi started off his music career on Youtube, where he uploaded music covers with his own special beat thrown into the mix. Yoongi enjoyed music arrangement (still does), and used his videos as an opportunity to explore that hobby and share it with people who could also enjoy it. And enjoy it people did, as viewers started pouring in and his fanbase grew in the form of positive comments and increasing subscribers. From some videos, Yoongi had always teased the idea of original songs he had written in various notebooks that expressed the wide range of his emotions—overall all the trials and tribulations of growing up: the notion of love in all its forms. Normally, there was always a fear of an audience losing interest at the prospect of original songs, especially coming from someone who previously arranged already popular #1 hits. 

But that never happened with Min Yoongi. His songwriting abilities became part of his brand—became his entire brand. Yoongi always wrote out love to be more than sappy pop songs or tragic heartbreak. He established himself as someone who seemed to speak from the mind of every single person he came into contact with. At least, that’s what his comment section claims. 

In the beginning of his Youtube career, you found Yoongi’s online persona unusual and amusing to say the least, but it was always clouded with an air of sweetness and sensibility. After all, you had known him about a year before Youtube was even an option for him to pursue. The pair of you met in a general ed college class—big lecture halls and voices getting lost in the background as the professors’ voice boomed through speaker systems. Yoongi had asked to borrow a pencil, and the pair of you spent the rest of the class making side-handed comments about the lecture material. You sat next to each other for the rest of the semester and have been friends ever since.

So it’s not like Yoongi’s core characteristics have ever been anything other than caring, thoughtful, or loyal—he’s just never been outwardly expressive about those emotions. But Youtube changed everything: it’s made him a more vocal person, more open about his feelings as well as his need to share those feelings with the world. 

The world responded positively—wrote in the comments that they would love to hear some of his original songs, that he had already provided just a small taste of his talent and left them an insatiable desire for more. 

As soon as you and Yoongi graduated, his commitment to Youtube increased tenfold. With the previous obligations of assignments, papers, and research internships out of the way, it left more time for writing, for filming, for editing, for sharing. As his work levels increased, so did his subscribers. And so did the attention. 

You’ll never forget the day his followers suggested live street performances in one of Yoongi’s neighboring cities—a city street more specifically that was famous for taking in street performances of all origins and talents, a place for him to show off his freestyling on a keyboard and finally meet his fans firsthand. The idea caught on so quickly and vividly that Yoongi was immediately attracted to the idea. He held his first performance just a few months ago, as a thank you present for reaching one million subscribers. If you had trouble materializing Yoongi’s musical success before, the first live performance and meet and greet Yoongi hosted did well to eradicate all those thoughts. 

Hundreds of people showed up—standing alongside the shops, restaurants, food vendors, and cafes that already lined the streets, everyone intersecting to meet the artist who made them feel heard. 

You still remember that day very vividly. Yoongi had been so nervous that day, had worked so hard to put together the perfect set for his fans. Obviously, though, he had nothing to worry about. Soon, one show turned into two, and just like the request for live performances and meet and greets, the question of monetary compensation became a topic of discussion amongst Yoongi’s fans. That’s where the question of albums came into play: a singular place for Yoongi to put his covers and original place—and charge money for it as well! 

As per the request, eventually you and Yoongi decided that exclusive covers and original songs would be part of his album as a way to open up different modes of access rather than take away an individual’s general (free of charge) chance to view Yoongi’s content and just simply support without having to spend money. The introduction of his albums has been a very recent development, something added into Yoongi’s live performances after the tenth show and usually always sold out by the end of any aforementioned show. From what you’ve been able to see as of now, the albums have been a good addition. 

In terms of Yoongi’s current career, you acknowledge that it has always been you and Yoongi—him staying up late for last minute song-writing sessions or recording or arranging a specific set of chords he had been holding off for weeks, or you arranging the time and date of his live shows and fulfilling requests to put songs on CDs and figure out how to market those in an era of streaming services. And if there’s anyone who knows that he has what it takes to get big—it’s you. After all, you would do anything for him. As you would have done from the moment you met him. 

An hour later—after twenty songs and a swaying crowd around him singing along—the last song fades out and Yoongi pulls back from the microphone to catch his breath. Everyone else around him seems to hold onto their own, before Yoongi pulls himself back towards the mic to utter his last words for the night: “Thanks for coming out you guys. I really, really appreciate it.” 

In the midst of the claps and cheers, Yoongi smiles towards the audience, turns around to address the circle of crowd that has formed around him. 

As some of the crowd begins to disperse and some begin to linger for a potential meet and greet, Yoongi hastily remembers to return back to his mic for one last word to his audience. “And thank you guys so much for one million subs!” 

You smile to yourself as members of the crowd acknowledge his thanks with thanks of their own. As you watch Yoongi start disassembling his equipment for the night, you simply stand where you’ve stood for the past hour, allowing the crowd to simmer past you towards their next destination for the time. You pocket Yoongi’s phone into your coat, waiting for a few minutes, before you slip around towards the front of the crowd. There, a boy stands in front of a tripod, and his fingers dance around to unclip his camera from the standee. 

“You get the whole thing, Jungkook?” You ask with the tilt of your head. 

Jungkook whirls towards you, bright eyes full of excitement as he holds the camera with both his hands now. He utters your name. “Oh shit, yeah I did. We’ll get to see how Yoongi’s mic set up works.” He taps to the cord that connects the mic on Yoongi’s clothes and on his piano into the camera. 

You perk up at the sight of new technology. “Oooh, going fancy with us, I see JK. Very future.” 

Jungkook’s grin widens, as it always does when talking about cameras and filmography. “Yes. Future…” He stretches out the word with the exact dips, curls, and croaks the way Squidward does in that one Spongebob episode, which makes you laugh. Jungkook clicks through the video of Yoongi’s set that he’s just recorded, before he clicks the screen off and lowers the camera. “It’ll probably be better if I wait until we get back to look through the footage. I’m sure Yoongi is anxious to get back too…” He looks up towards where Yoongi is supposed to be standing a few feet away, but the younger boy trails off. “Hey, look over there.” He jerks his chin towards Yoongi. “Some guy is talking to him. Do you know him?” 

Furrowing your eyebrows in confusion—none of your college friends had texted saying they were going to come by and listen in on Yoongi’s set—you crane your own neck towards the direction Jungkook is gesturing to. Up ahead, Yoongi is indeed talking to some guy that you don’t recognize so of course it would peak your curiosity. 

It’s a feeling that increases tenfold when Yoongi looks up, seems to find you from his search, and points across the space right at you. There’s even something in his eyes that beg you to walk over to him. This makes your frown deepen, because what the hell is this about? 

. 

Min Yoongi doesn’t allow for too much vocal expression that doesn’t involve the assistance of a keyboard or a music arrangement, but he speaks into the microphone without thinking. “And thank you guys so much for one million subs!” His smile widens as the crowd responds with the claps and cheers of their own—all responding to him and communicating with him. This is it, this is what makes coming out to do these shows all worth it. Obviously there’s a thrill he gets from being in front of a camera and another thrill from uploading a video that people can access from all over the world. But to see the faces of the people who have left positive comments underneath those aforementioned videos… now that’s a completely different kind of feeling he didn’t think he would enjoy so much. 

So Yoongi steps away from the mic to put away his equipment for the day. He only gets so far as to open the case for his microphone and mic holder before he’s hearing his name behind him. Turning around, he is faced with a few unfamiliar and a few familiar fans that are asking him for pictures and a short conversation. He indulges them, of course he does, and he signs a few albums while he’s at it. 

It’s like you always teased him about: he really is a softie for his fans. 

The fan interactions only last for a few minutes, before another voice comes in—it’s a deeper voice and radiates so much confidence and presence that it actually halts the next fan from trying to finish a conversation with Yoongi. All gazes turn towards the source of the voice: it’s a tall man with broad shoulders, pointy boots and a long coat that drapes down, hands stuffed into the pocket of that very coat. He looks like a model. 

The man gives an apologetic smile. “Sorry for interrupting, but I need to request a chat with Mr. Min and am in a bit of a hurry. Do you mind if I cut in for a moment?” 

The fan gives a weak smile. “N-No problem.” 

Yoongi gives his own small smile. “Sorry about that. Oh, here.” He quickly makes a grab for the CD in her hesitant hands, signing his name across the sleek surface. “Thanks for coming by. Have a good rest of the night.” 

Her smile brightens. “Thank you so much!” With a quick little bow, she runs off towards her friends. 

This leaves Yoongi alone with the stranger. “What can I help you with?” 

The stranger extends his arm. “Mr. Min, I’m Kim Seokjin. I’m a music executive. Nice to meet you.” 

Music executive. These two words pique Yoongi’s interest. Just enough. “Wow, uh, nice to meet you sir.” Yoongi can’t help but lower his head slightly in a small bow as he returns Kim Seokjin’s handshake. 

Seokjin waves him off. “Oh, no need to be so formal Mr. Min. I just thought that I should finally come by to introduce myself. I’ve been following your Youtube channel for awhile and think that you’re extremely talented, very capable to be a recording artist, in fact.” 

Yoongi blinks in surprise, completely taken aback by the direction of this conversation. When he came out for his show today, having a conversation with a whole ass music executive hadn’t been on the list of things he was expecting. Of course, it was always a dream of his to be a recording artist. But he thought something like that would always just remain a dream.  “T-Thank you.” 

Seokjin continues. “Honestly, this is the third live performance of yours that I attended. Artists like you who radiate lots of passion and dedication both through the screen and on a stage are pretty rare. But your confidence and presence is quite admirable.” 

At that, Yoongi can’t help but laugh a little. He scratches the back of his neck. “Well, I wouldn’t call this a stage, Mr. Kim, it’s just a small street corner.” 

Seokjin laughs. “Fair enough—but you treat this little street corner like a stage and I find that cool. It appears that that’s what a lot of your fans think as well.” He pauses. “Mr. Min,” He starts up again after a moment. “Have you ever considered becoming a recording artist? Signing with a music label, releasing music and being able to reach millions of people? Having concerts in venues all over the world?” 

At the question, Yoongi utters a scoff of disbelief. “I have,” He acknowledges after a few minutes. “Having this youtube channel and these street performances is amazing…” 

“Of course,” Seokjin replies with a nod. 

“But sometimes I do wonder what it would be like to do more than that. So, to answer your question, I have thought about it before. Many times, in fact.” 

Seokjin nods again. “What if I told you that I was interested in signing you, Mr. Min?” 

Yoongi stares at that, stares and stares with unblinking eyes, one hundred percent of his attention on the man standing in front of him—waiting for the signs, waiting to see the laugh or the glint that gives away his prankster tendencies. But none of those things come. Seokjin just stares right back, challenging him to question him and agree to his claim. 

But Yoongi is younger, more naive, so of course he falls for it. “Why would you want to sign me?” 

Seokjin grins. “Mr. Min, I like to think I’m pretty good at spotting talented people who have a fully fledged career ahead of them—which is something my gut is telling me that you can do. And don’t worry, it’s not just the gut feeling I have. Like I mentioned, I’ve been keeping tabs on you for a few months and I’ve seen the numbers and the turn out. You clearly have what it takes to bring fans in, keep them, and create events that’ll drive their attention—and I want to help you make an opportunity out of that.” 

Yoongi hears the words of the older man, he really does, but he still cannot help the feeling of his head spinning at all the positive things Kim Seokjin says to him. Not only that he believes Yoongi has what it takes to make it, but that Yoongi has the concrete numbers to back that up. He is offering Yoongi an opportunity—an opportunity that seemed much too big for his youtube channel to birth, an opportunity that he had always just written off as nothing more than a dream. Yet for Seokjin to say that it could be more than that? And for all of this to happen on a normal performance night? 

Was Yoongi about to faint right now or what. 

Seokjin takes in Yoongi’s stunned silence and smiles. “I understand that this could be a lot to take in. No worries. I have a card for you to take—so call me when you make up your mind, alright?” He rummages into the pocket of his coat before producing a business card. The name KSJ RECORDS is printed on the surface, shiny lettering in sleek font. 

Yoongi takes it wordlessly. 

“By the way, do you have a manager?” Seokjin asks. “You can have them reach out to me if that’ll make it easier.” 

Yoongi stays quiet for a moment. He doesn’t have a manager; he never really saw the need for one if his schedule was as simple as it was. After all, it was more than enough for him to handle with you—! 

His mind explodes, as if someone had just plugged it into an outlet. His gaze flickers to you, where he sees you now standing just a few feet away next to Jungkook. You’re already staring back at him, but your head tilts slightly as if you could read his internal struggle. Before Yoongi can even figure why he’s looking at you, his body seems to act on its own. His arm raises, finger pointing straight at you. “She’s over there.” 

You furrow your eyebrows in confusion, seeming to read something in his gaze that even Yoongi couldn’t figure out. Still, you walk over to them. “What’s going on?” 

Seokjin acts first, turning towards you and giving you a nod in greeting. “Hi there, I’m Kim Seokjin. Yoongi says you’re his manager, is that correct?” 

You blink, caught off guard by the question because you definitely were not Yoongi’s manager. He knows that you know this. You give Yoongi another look, and his eyes widen at you, poorly attempting to transmit a singular message: please. 

You understand immediately, of course you do (you’re his best friend), as you turn back to look at Seokjin. “I am, it’s nice to meet you.” 

The pair of you shake hands. “I was just telling Mr. Min over there that I was interested in signing him to my company. I’m a music executive for KSJ records, and think that he would make a great addition to the team.” 

It takes you a second to process the news, but you do so quicker and much more graceful than Yoongi could ever hope to do. “Oh my gosh, are you serious?” You turn to look at him, bright-eyed. “Yoongi, that’s amazing!” 

“He hasn’t made a decision yet,” Seokjin continues to explain. “I don’t blame him, it’s a lot to process. I just told him that he could have you call me once he made up his mind. Then, contracts could be drawn up.” He pauses for a moment, then seems to scramble on something when you don’t say anything immediately. “Of course, you would remain his manager. I’m sure that he’s gotten as far as he has with your help. I would want you part of Mr. Min’s team regardless.” Seokjin composes himself quickly afterwards. “Like I said, take some time to come to a decision and let me know. Let me give you my card as well.” He mirrors his previous movement at Yoongi towards you now until you have his business card between your fingers. 

“W-Well,” You start, lowering the card and offering up your hand. “Thank you so much for coming by, Mr. Kim. We’ll be sure to send you a response soon.” 

Seokjin takes your hand carefully, giving it a firm shake. “I look forward to hearing from you.” He turns to Yoongi. “And I hope we’ll be able to work together, Mr. Min.” 

Yoongi blinks, but he snaps himself out long enough to return Seokjin’s handshake. “Y-Yes…” He replies, still feeling completely starstruck by what the fuck this encounter had just been. “T-Thank you for stopping by…” He trails off. He stays quiet as he watches Seokjin give one last departing word before he’s turning around and making his way down the street of the city. 

When he regains some of his attention back, he turns to find that you’re already staring at him with an unreadable expression across your face. “Let’s head back,” You say at least, holding up the business card. “We have a lot to talk about.” 

. 

“No way,” Jungkook utters, completely shocked as he practically throws himself onto the couch in the living room. His camera equipment has been set down near the door, too much exhaustion present in its owner for the trudge back into his room. “You got casted today? That’s incredible, hyung!” 

“I-I didn’t even realize what was going on,” Yoongi grumbles back, crossing his arms over his chest. “I still wonder if that moment even happened or if I conjured it up in a strange fever dream.” 

You raise your hand slightly. “I was there. Can confirm that it was real.” You dig the business card out of your pocket and stare down at it. 

Jungkook hikes himself deeper into the couch as he turns on his phone to start scrolling. “I gotta know who this guy is. Kim Seokjin you said? Of KSJ records?” 

“Yeah, KSJ records,” Yoongi replies, looking down at his own business card. “He seemed pretty legit.” 

A whistle from Jungkook confirms that. “Yeah, he’s definitely real. And look at that!” Jungkook turns the phone over to expose the photographs of Seokjin. “Used to be a singer as well. I bet he knows a lot about the industry.” 

Yoongi nods. “He did seem nice.” 

“So, does that mean you’re planning to meet up with him? Get signed and all that jazz?” 

“All that jazz?” Yoongi echoes, but he shakes his head before he could go off on that tangent. “But honestly? Yeah, I’m thinking about it. I really do love youtube and do want to continue that, but I just feel like there’s more for me to explore with the right connections.” 

Jungkook grins. “Wow, I can’t believe my roommate is gonna be famous.” He says the last word with a bite of curl in his tone, flashing a teasing smile when Yoongi merely glares in embarrassment. Jungkook’s eyes flicker further back towards where you are standing in the apartment, calling your name to get your attention. “What do you think of the idea, Miss. Manager?” 

You perk up at that. “Before I get into my answer—when did I suddenly become your manager? I don’t remember us ever having that conversation.” You’re situated in the kitchen, drumming one hand on the counter and using the other hand to stir some last night boxed mac and cheese. 

Yoongi coughs at your observation, sinking himself further down into the couch. “I didn’t want Seokjin to think I was an idiot or something for not having a manager. But when I do officially make up my mind…” He angles his head to stare over at you. “You’ll do it for me, right? You’ll actually be my manager?” 

You frown, hesitant. “You’re serious about asking me? I don’t know anything about being a manager though.” 

Yoongi almost pouts at that, sitting up so he can whirl around completely on the couch to face you. “But you know me and my music career almost better than anyone! And you graduated with a business degree, what do you mean you don’t know anything about being a manager?” 

You flush hotly at that. “It was just a general business degree, Yoongi, it seems like what you need to make it big is a legit artist manager! Someone who will actually know how to schedule your tour dates or keep up with your public image and know exactly how to market you to the general public. You really want me doing that for you?” 

Yoongi gaps at that. “Okay, but who’s the one who literally schedules my street performances and helps me with editing my videos?” 

“Jungkook does some of the editing too,” You grumble underneath your breath. 

“Yah! Stop selling yourself short!” Yoongi interjects, pointing at you accusingly. He does, however, lower his finger long enough to turn and address his roommate. “Not that you don’t help out with any of the editing, Jungkook…” 

Jungkook waves him off. “I know where my talents lie.” 

Yoongi turns back to you. “Besides, Seokjin acknowledged that you and I basically come as a packaged deal. He saw that you were working just as hard to get me my gigs.” 

You give him a one-shouldered shrug, the hesitation still laced in your tone. “I don’t know Yoongi. I just don’t want to fuck up and jeopardize your shot.” 

Yoongi’s attention is one hundred percent focused on you now, so much so that he has made his way into the kitchen and has come so close that he can switch off the stove that held the macaroni and cheese. “Hey, listen, the only reason I’ve even been given a shot was thanks to you. You work just as hard as me to keep my channel up and running—and you already have another job on the side, so you don’t have to do anything for me. But you do.” He plants both his hands on your shoulders and twists you around. “Would you be my manager? Please? I seriously don’t trust anyone else enough to do this for me.” 

You sigh, staring down Yoongi as tensely as he’s staring you down. He sees the flicker of continuing hesitation in your eyes, and responds with just tightening his grip on your shoulders—trying to convey as much pleading as he could to you. Honestly, if you rejected his request, he knows that he wouldn’t be able to do this without you. 

So when you seem to realize that he won’t give up, you sigh and look down for a moment. “Damn that I can never say no to you, Min Yoongi.” 

Hearing those words of confirmation, Yoongi’s gaze hyper focuses on you. Even when you look back over at him, you don’t look away and that merely confirms the unspoken question of your participation. 

When he realizes that you aren’t going to outright reject him, and that you’re actually on board for him, Yoongi’s face lights up as he immediately envelops you into a hug. “Thank you! Thank you—wow, that means a lot to me.” 

You suck in a breath at his words, tensing slightly at his words, but you eventually learn to relax long enough to pat him slowly on the back to return his hug. “Don’t thank me yet,” You grumble into his shoulder. “We haven’t even had a meeting. I may not be able to negotiate as well as you think I can.” 

Yoongi shakes his head at that, tightening his hold on you. From his close proximity to you, he doesn’t notice the way your breath seems to shake and your heart seems to quicken. “It doesn’t matter,” He reassures, finally backing off. “I don’t care if you don’t know how to do all those fancy manager things. Like I said, you’re the only one I could trust to do this.” 

You stare at Yoongi for a few more seconds before you sigh in defeat, knowing that you’ve just put all your thoughts and feelings on the table for him to react to. “Alright then,” You say, placing one of your hands across your chest and onto your shoulder—atop his hand still lingering. “I’ll make the call tomorrow then.” 

Yoongi nods. “Thank you.” 

There’s a brief silence that covers the pair of you, before a voice rings from the living room. “Do you mind bringing the mac and cheese over here?” 

.

.

CHAPTER 2: THE REQUEST 

.

One year later, and you learn that the crowds from Yoongi’s street performances are nothing in comparison to this. This—overwhelming and unmatched in all degrees, the screams and the cries and the shoves, all of it echoes around you just as it has for the past few months. Surprisingly, you’ve always been okay with being a little more firm if the situation called for such and today is absolutely no exception. 

“Off,” You say gently, tapping an outstretched hand trying to get past you and grab at the person behind you. 

The girl you’ve intercepted jerks her hand back as if you’ve burned her, her eyes wide and vaguely hurt as if you’ve singled her out specifically from this crowd. Rather, it’s more along the lines of keeping your client safe and trying to avoid the incident from last week. You block the memory out for the time being. 

You feel a hot breath at your ear. “If you make my fans cry, I swear—!” 

“Try to be less desirable then,” You bite back over your shoulder, holding up your hand when another fan tries to shove a sharpie past you. “Sorry, but we’re in a bit of a rush,” You say to the boy. “Come to the next concert—we’ll have a meet and greet then too.” 

The boy deflates, but that expression only lasts for a second before he seems to brighten slightly at whatever has just occurred behind you. Stealing a glance, you realize it’s because Min Yoongi has just thrown him an apologetic wink. 

The car appears in view a lot quicker than you had been anticipating, which is good as you muster all your energy to pull the handle that opens the car door. You step off to the side, further cutting off the fans who are trying to keep Yoongi from entering the vehicle. Soon enough, a taller and more dominating figure appears next to you as Yoongi manages to slide his way into the back seat. You and Jungkook exchange a nod—you had been in the front of Yoongi’s protection squad and he had been in the back, and the arrangement continues to work wonders. As long as Yoongi doesn’t lose a whole sleeve (like last time) then you would consider this departure a success. 

Jungkook tilts his head towards the still opened car door, allowing you to enter the car yourself. As soon as you’re settled, Jungkook leans forward to join you. He slides his way into the seat all the way in the back of the car. Closing the door behind him, you signal Taehyung to take off with a nod into the rearview mirror. 

The screams and calls of Yoongi’s name are loud, and pass through the metal structure of the car as if it is nothing. But you know that the boy doesn’t mind, and that he lives and breathes moments like these as he has for the past few months. 

It’s crazy to think how much a year could change, after you and Yoongi decided to meet up with Seokjin to discuss how Yoongi was going to be signed under KSJ records. Seokjin had talked about the big plans he had in pushing Yoongi towards the spotlight—and goals like an album, a concert, and meet-and-greets around the country had been promised for Yoongi’s first year. 

And of course, Yoongi was completely enchanted by the promises. Just one final ‘of course’ confirmation to have you as his manager, and Yoongi was signing on the dotted line. Truth be told, you didn’t know what KSJ records would have in store for Yoongi—how long that glimmer of passion would remain in the boy’s eyes. 

A year later, and you acknowledge that you might have underestimated Kim Seokjin. As a former performer, he knew all the ins and outs of the music industry and his well established connections as well as his good ear for good music meant that Yoongi was allowing his music to get the treatment it deserved. Pair that with Yoongi’s growing popularity on Youtube, and it all equates to an EP that debuts with tens of thousands of copies sold within the first week. The EP itself hadn’t been much—just six songs that contained a mix of old songs and new songs, but all written by Yoongi. His previous (although small) experience with producing and arrangement allowed him constant access into the various studios at KSJ records, where he learned from all the other producers on how to make good music.

The hands-on, personal touch Seokjin allowed Yoongi to deliver in his music had been a good call and a large contributor to the success of the EP. You recall fans praising the album and talking about how it matched Yoongi’s youtube aesthetic perfectly, but just with the higher quality element that top notch equipment could bring to music. 

In a way, the current atmosphere of concerts and meet-and-greets is just a way to celebrate the success of Yoongi’s music career launching off into the stratosphere. 

“Hey.” There’s a gentle tap against your head, and you jump before turning to face Yoongi in the seat next to you. “You good?” 

You blink, bringing your finger up to brush the hair out of your face. “Yeah, just spaced out.” 

“Cool. I thought you might have fallen asleep.” 

“If anyone should have fallen asleep by now, it’s you,” You point out. “I think that today’s meet-and-greet was the largest one you’ve had so far.” 

“Don’t worry,” Yoongi says. “I have every intention of following asleep as soon as I fall into bed. Plus, don’t let me hold a pen for the next week—I think my wrist almost fell off.” 

You laugh, angling yourself so you can face him. “But you love it, don’t you?” 

Yoongi’s gaze softens as he lets your question sink in. “Course I do. I never realized how cool it would be to have an audience sing my lyrics back to you. More than that, it was all lyrics I used to write in the apartment, or in between lectures back at college, or late into the night on my phone… back when the idea of all this was just a dream.” He pivots his body towards you, eyes bright as the passion for his current place in life seems to have gotten him hyped up again. “You know, during the meet and greet, this girl came up to me all confidently and told me that my album got her through a tough time. I think that’s when it really hit me that this was all happening.” 

The corner of your lips quirk up into a smile. “Oh yeah, I actually do remember you writing those songs and you showing me the lyrics. You speak from the heart, and your fans understand that. Helps that you’re pretty cute too. Anyone with eyes could see that.” As soon as those words escape your lips, you almost want to chide yourself and immediately throw yourself out of the car. Why would you say something like that—why would you openly admit to Yoongi’s cuteness? Your face grows warm at the realization, leaving you to hope that Yoongi won’t notice your flustered state. 

Yoongi doesn’t notice. He’s too busy gawking at your observation, too busy tearing his gaze away from you to stare firmly out of the car window. 

Jungkook simply shifts his gaze between the two of you. 

In the midst of the silence, you fish out your phone and start scrolling through your social media pages. Due to the third party cookie ads that follow you around, you immediately notice news of Yoongi’s concert of the day has started hitting various news sites—most articles praising Yoongi on his song selections and live adaptations of his music to suit the concert style more. Reading these articles leave you unable to stop the grin, because Yoongi deserves this so fucking much that you could have sworn your heart sings a little as you continue reading. 

It’s a moment that lasts for only a couple of seconds, as recommended articles start coming up that do well in setting up the gray cloud. With the increased amount of attention that comes from being a newly top rated best selling album artist, so does the intrusion into personal life that follows—the dark side of the media, the side that just loves to stick its nose in places it does not belong. It’s something that you had been seeing since Yoongi’s youtube account hit five hundred thousand, but at the time these kinds of questions were more dark shadows or curious inquiries taken in the form of casual comments. 

Now, those questions have become much more normalized, as a common curiosity seems to have taken form from all these drama articles: was Min Yoongi dating anyone? And even better: who is Min Yoongi writing all his love songs for? 

As if love was limited to romantic relationships, and wasn’t a feeling one could recreate from other love songs or romantic comedies. Or just the feelings of growing up. 

“We’re here!” Taehyung calls from the front seat, as you jump up from your train of thought. Refocusing on your surroundings, you realize that you’ve made it into the parking lot of the hotel. 

You sigh, regathering your belongings that have moved around during the drive. “Thanks, Taehyung.” 

“Hey.” Taehyung utters for you to come closer to him as soon as the pair of you step out of the car. He jerks toward Yoongi, who is exiting from his side of the car before quickly side-stepping to let Jungkook come out as well. “Was that flirting back there?” 

You protest hotly at once, your hand raising up and wave side-to-side frantically in complete denial. “N-No, it wasn’t—!” 

“Okay, good,” Taehyung interrupts, leaning back to stuff his hands into his pants pockets. “Because if that was the case I think we would have had to re-evaluate your definition of flirting—!” 

“Will you stop?” You squeak. 

“Is everything okay?” Yoongi asks, having rounded around the car to stare over at you and Taehyung. 

You whirl around quickly, tightening up your expression once more to make sure that any remnants of your conversation with Taehyung would be undetected. “Yep!” You say immediately. “Everything is fine. Let’s get going, yeah?” You allow Jungkook to lead the four of you out of the parking lot and into the elevator that’ll take you to the main floor of the hotel room. Yoongi has to slip on a pair of glasses and a baseball cap, just on the off chance that a fan might be staying in the same room—it happened a few stops ago—before the four of you are making your way through the lobby. The four of you have reserved four separate rooms for your overnight stay in the city, rooms that you have already checked into earlier that day, so it feels nice to just make your way to the elevator and select the correct floor. 

Taehyung decides to check in first for the night, waving you all off and congratulating Yoongi on another well done performance. Jungkook lingers around as you make your way to Yoongi’s room next. 

“Thanks for walking me,” Yoongi says, sliding the key card into the slot and pulling out when he hears the beep of confirmation on his door. 

Jungkook flashes him a thumbs up. “Good show today. Now get some rest.” 

Yoongi nods, just about to close the door when you make a sudden noise from the back of your throat. “OH!” You call out suddenly, startling both boys as you reach your arm out suddenly to prevent Yoongi from closing the door. He had been so close too. “Sorry, I just realized. Seokjin sent me an email of some deadlines he wanted me to go over with you. Your sleep is gonna have to be put on hold.” 

Yoongi grumbles something under his breath. 

You turn to look at Jungkook. “We’ll be fine, Jungkook, go rest up—you deserve it.” 

Jungkook nods, grinning at Yoongi. “See you guys around.” 

“No fair…” Yoongi pouts as he watches Jungkook stroll down the hall to reach his hotel room. “Why do they get to rest and I don’t? I’m so tired…” 

“Well, this is the price of fame,” You retort with the shrug of your shoulders. “You have your face the paparazzi want to see, and the name that sells the albums. Naturally, it means you just have to put in more work than everyone else.” 

Yoongi runs a hand through his hair, still pouting but less so as he opens the door once more for the both of you to enter. “When you put it that way…” 

You giggle behind him. “For the fans, Min Yoongi.” 

You immediately task yourself with throwing yourself atop his bed, surprisingly put together despite the fact that you had checked everyone in earlier that day. You would have assumed he would have taken a nap. But the bed doesn’t look slept in at all. 

Yoongi notices your observation immediately. “I was too nervous to fall asleep earlier today,” He provides, taking a seat on the couch on the other side of the room. “So what was it that Seokjin needed you to go over with me?” 

“It’s short, I promise,” You reassure, pulling out the iPhone from your pocket. As soon as you unlock the device, you’re faced with the articles you had previously been looking up—the ones about Yoongi’s dating life. Without meaning to, you sigh heavily at the sight. 

Yoongi quirks an eyebrow. “What’s up?” 

You jerk up. “Oh, no, nothing sorry. I just…” You hold the phone up for Yoongi to see. “These articles about you and your dating life—it’s getting worse.” 

“Oh.” Yoongi’s fingers fiddle with each other. “Yeah, I’ve seen a few of those floating around too. Honestly, for someone who writes a lot of songs about love, these curiosities don’t really surprise me. I wish that they wouldn’t be so intrusive.” 

“Unfortunately, people always think it’s their right to know who these love songs are for.” You spare him a quick glance, only to realize that he’s already staring at you. Hastily, you look back down. “If the songs are even for anyone, that is.” 

Yoongi is quiet for a moment. “Right.” 

“Anyways…” You exit your internet app, tapping through until Seokjin’s email comes up. “Seokjin just wants to know your progress on the new songs. He’s trying to gauge your progress so he can see whether or not to arrange studio time for you to start recording.” 

The new songs—it’s a reference to Seokjin’s next plan for Yoongi’s career. With the launch of the EP and the current success that it has been harboring, it makes sense that the next step would be to launch a full-length album. Technically it could be called a repackage, since the album would most likely feature a few songs from the EP and cover the rest of the spots with new music. 

But aforementioned new music takes time to write, not that Yoongi ever had a problem with writing music. That has always been second nature for him—and was something he could do anywhere so long as he had a functioning, conscious mind. It was all just a matter of whether or not he could create the required number of actual songs within the scheduled deadline. With those higher expectations, time definitely plays the biggest issue and it makes sense if Yoongi couldn’t write proper songs given the current circumstances. 

Nonetheless, Yoongi nods at the question. “I actually have rough drafts of most of the songs, if that was okay with Seokjin. We could probably schedule some meetings to polish up the writing, since a lot of them are still in the beginning stage.” 

You blink at his answer, surprised by his response. You had been expecting one, or maybe two songs to be written out but to have all eight songs written out? “W-Wow…” You utter. “You wrote so many songs so quickly.” 

Yoongi shrugs, but he does look a little prideful at your words. You don’t notice his lingering gaze. “I have a lot to reflect on, what can I say.” 

“I-I mean,” You stammer, not really hearing his response. “I could schedule the meeting with Seokjin, but if he knows that you have everything basically done, he’ll probably be okay with giving you a little more time to polish up your work yourself.” 

Yoongi ponders this, but he shakes his head. “No, go ahead and schedule the meeting. It’s actually nice having extra hands in the music.” 

You nod. “Alright then, I’ll go and do that. I think I should also just go over tomorrow’s schedule with you.” Quickly, you relay the time details of what tomorrow’s day will look like since you’re flying out for another show the next morning. You give him some details about the stage, how many people are going, and how many people he will be meeting afterwards. It’s a standard review conversation, one of the many that you’ve had with Yoongi over the year. “And… that should be it,” You wrap up as soon as you’ve reviewed the day. Looking over the schedule once more, you cannot help but sigh once more. 

“What is it this time?” Yoongi asks from the side. 

“Oh, no nothing!” You reassure with a promising smile. “Just another busy day.” 

Yoongi gives you a grin, but you can see the exhaustion clinging to the corner of his eyes. “There’s only a few more stops left of the concert—what happened to you being positive rock?” 

At that, you laugh nervously. “Sorry, sorry. You’re right.” You clench a fist in front of him and pump it up to showcase a display of energy. “Another day of excitement and one more day towards fulfilling your dreams!” You lower your fist and give him a slightly dryer look. “How was that?” 

“I could have done without the look at the end, but it’ll do, I guess.” Yoongi stands up from his place on the couch and throws himself atop his bed. His head ends up near you, his back on the mattress, and his feet dangling off the side. “There’s only a few stops left of the tour, and for some people this is their first time seeing me live. And for other people, maybe they saw me back when I would perform on the streets, so in that case it’s their first time seeing me perform on a stage and everything!” He lifts one of his hands up into his field of view. “Either way, I just want to do the best I can for the people that take time out to come see me and support me. Because I owe them everything—I owe them more than what I can give them.” 

You don’t say anything to that. What could you say, anyways? Instead, you reach over and run your fingers through his hair. After a second, you retract your hand. You shouldn’t let yourself linger for too long anyways. “It’s late,” You say, a tone of finality in your voice. “I should head to my room. I’ll make sure to let Seokjin know your update.” You slide off the bed into a standing position. “You should get some rest.” You turn to him. “You may not think you can pay back your fans, but you probably help them out every single day. The same way they help you out too.” 

Yoongi tilts his head back to see you. Upside down, but still look at you nonetheless. He grins. “There’s that positive energy I was looking for. Thanks.” 

You laugh, already making your way towards his hotel room door. “Thank me by giving me another kickass performance tomorrow. Makes my job a whole lot easier.” 

. 

The following weeks of concert tours pass by without a hitch. To Yoongi, any event now that doesn’t end up with a torn sleeve and nail scratches up and down his arm is a success. And you haven’t freaked out for the remaining dates as you had when security had been at its worst—so he’d consider that the icing on top of the cake. Although he’s glad to finally be be home and be anchored to his own bed and be in his own space for the first time in months, he knows that his first concert experience to celebrate his first EP had truly been a memorable undertaking. 

And it had been more successful than anyone at KSJ records could have predicted. At least, that’s what Seokjin tells him when Yoongi arrives at the studio the following day to start going through the process of polishing up his song lyrics. 

“It seems that you really enjoyed yourself throughout the tour,” Seokjin remarks as Yoongi steps into the former’s office. Seokjin is scrolling through some articles on his laptop. He closes it as Yoongi takes a seat and regards the younger boy with a look of curiosity and wonder. “How was it?” 

Yoongi brightens. “So much fun. I didn’t realize how cool it would feel to have audience members sing song lyrics right back at me, but that was probably my favorite moment.” 

“Ah, of course, first time for everything as they always say.” Seokjin folds his fingers atop one another. “And how was your team?” He says your name, given that you are Yoongi’s manager. “Along with Jungkook and Taehyung? I wish I could have given you more people, but we didn’t know how crazy moving you around was going to be.” 

Yoongi nods. “I mean… it was fine. Jungkook was really good.” He can’t help but think that Jungkook should have been good—after all, Yoongi is the reason why Jungkook has been getting safe with job security recently. “And Taehyung too. I think having the small team was good because we ended up all getting really connected and had this whole system in place after a few stops.” 

“I heard a fan tore your sleeve,” Seokjin points out, looking mildly concerned. “How did that go?” 

“Oh, it was just a one time thing,” Yoongi tries to brush off with the wave of his hand. He thinks of you, because of course he does. He mentions you. “She would tap the fans who were getting too close. It was reassuring, honestly.” 

“That’s good to hear,” Seokjin says. “And I’ve heard that you’ve been making a lot of headway with the upcoming album. So we’re definitely gonna set some time for us to go through the lyrics and structure what you’ve come up with already. But I did want to go over something with you first—the main reason I called you in, actually.” 

Yoongi tilts his head. “Okay, what’s up?” 

Seokjin re-opens his laptop, and clicks through a few links before he’s pivoting the laptop in a 180 degree motion so Yoongi can see the screen. At once, he’s faced with several articles, all centering around the topic that has been haunting him since the beginning of his concert journey. He gets a flashback to one of the nights you came into his hotel room to discuss scheduling, and how you had mentioned this particular topic showing up more and more.

Yoongi had known it was becoming a problem. He just didn’t think it was something that required urgent discussion. 

“As I’m sure you’re aware, your growing popularity means that people are developing a growing interest in your relationship. Since you are labeled specifically as a song-writer who writes songs about growing up, struggles, and love, this only heightens people’s curiosity.” 

Yoongi allows Seokjin to continue talking, as he moves forward in his chair to actually scroll through one of the articles Seokjin has pulled up. It’s entitled: UP AND COMING SINGER SONGWRITER MIN YOONGI IS DEFINITELY IN A RELATIONSHIP, BUT WITH WHO? As he scrolls down, there’s several people that are listed as potential girlfriends to Yoongi’s partnership—some people he does not know at all, some people he has only seen once. 

You’re on the list too, and Yoongi’s eyes widen when he identifies your picture amongst the lot. He zeroes in on the description underneath the simple title: Yoongi’s manager? Although most manager and artist relationships are platonic, we can’t leave this one out! Fans have tracked down Min Yoongi’s current manager as an old assistant from Min Yoongi’s youtube days, so there’s definitely some history between them! 

“This article has been blowing up. You may or may not know, but people making assumptions about your relationship status could be dangerous. Since you write songs about relationships, it leaves a lot of room for error and scandals, especially if news sites decide to publish something or someone else with bad intentions try to claim you wrote a song about them. Or something else of the sort.” 

Yoongi nods slowly at that, not entirely understanding what direction Seokjin is going with his build up. It makes sense though. Leaving Yoongi out in the open like this could be dangerous for his career. “S-So, what ideas do you have to combat that?” 

“I’ve been thinking about this in the recent weeks you’ve been on tour,” Seokjin says quietly, pressing his hands together. “I think that we should push your relationship status into the public—get you a girlfriend to maintain your ‘pure romantic heart’ reputation so it looks like you’re writing love songs solely for your girlfriend.” 

It takes a second for the words to sink in. “Aaaaah,” Yoongi finally says, but his voice sounds far away all of a sudden, the further time seems to creep on. Sure, he’s seen this concept of surface relationships between in film and television—and the idea of it makes some sense. For someone whose best songs were related to moments of being in love, surely most people would suspect that the inspiration for those songs had to come from somewhere. If Yoongi came out to admit his lack of relationship experience, would people approve of that? Or would they think he was lying? 

In that regard then, it makes sense that Seokjin would come up with the idea. But faking a relationship for the sake of faking a relationship has never been something Yoongi thought he would ever have to go through. 

Mainly because first of all—who would play Yoongi’s girlfriend? 

Now, Yoongi isn’t the worst actor in the world. But he can be stiff at times, and if Seokjin wants to push a relationship status into the public eye then Yoongi imagines that this girlfriend would be someone Yoongi felt the most natural around. Someone he wouldn’t mind pretending to be in a relationship with. 

Would Yoongi even get a say in the matter? Or would Yoongi’s approval be the only requirement before Seokjin went off to find a girlfriend for Yoongi himself?

“D-Did you have someone in mind?” Yoongi finds himself asking instead. 

Seokjin hums, tapping his chin with his finger. “Not at the moment. I just wanted to bring it up with you in case you had an idea for someone.” Mindlessly, he reaches to take back the laptop and flip it back towards him. This exposes him to the article Yoongi had been previously scrolling through—one where pictures of you are plastered over the current screen. 

At the sight, Seokjin wavers slightly, staring down your pictures and furrowing his eyebrows. Yoongi looks over, noticing immediately that the laptop (and the pictures of you from that article) is no longer right in front of him but rather in front of Seokjin instead. When he glances over at Seokjin, he finds the older man lost in thought, running the side of his finger across his lip. Back and forth, clearly pondering something. 

“Yes…” Seokjin says after a moment. “That could work, actually.” He looks across the desk at Yoongi. “Good idea, Yoongi. I think originally, I would have said no, but these pictures and this description actually makes a valid point.” 

Yoongi blinks, not really connecting the dots right away. “Uh, sorry, Seokjin, but I’m not really following…” 

Seokjin makes a noise, gesturing to his laptop screen that he has just gotten back from Yoongi. “You were suggesting Y/N as your fake girlfriend, weren’t you? I’m assuming that’s why you stopped on these pictures. My initial thought was that it probably wouldn’t work, but actually considering your history with each other it seems like this could be the most likely case scenario.” 

It takes another second for the information to fully process. You. His fake girlfriend. Seokjin misunderstanding that unintentionally stopping on your pictures meant that Yoongi was trying to convey some sort of message. 

You—playing the role of his fake girlfriend, the ‘supposed’ inspiration for all his music. It would be funny if it wasn’t so ironic. 

It would be funny if you didn’t inspire all of his music—but you do. And Yoongi isn’t laughing.  

He should say something. He knows that it would make sense, as Seokjin is claiming, but it would also potentially inch him towards a can of worms he has been so sure would never see the sunlight. More than that, having you as his fake girlfriend would bring him the closest he has ever been to feeling hopeful. 

He really should say something. 

But for some reason, the words don’t come out. He just lets Seokjin believe his ingenious plan. “Yes, yes!” Seokjin continues after the many moments of silence that lapse between the two of you. “This could work actually. You guys have known each other for years, and older fans of yours from the youtube days would definitely recognize Y/N. That way, the announcement of your relationship wouldn’t seem entirely out of line, especially if we say that you guys have been dating for years. It also makes sense that we could say you becoming Yoongi’s ‘manager’ was always part of a cover up—after all, that’s what they did in that movie That Thing You Do…” 

The more Seokjin drones on and on about his plan, and how exactly he intends to work up to it, the more nervous Yoongi gets. Was Seokjin actually planning on doing this—enlist you as Yoongi’s fake girlfriend and drag you along to participate in this facade? Yoongi is mildly shocked. He should have known Seokjin would follow through on the question, but he had just assumed that today was just the idea phase and that plans to arrange this fake relationship would take weeks. 

But if there’s anything Yoongi knows about Seokjin, it’s that the man knows how to get something done. Quickly, too. In Seokjin’s word, it’s a natural occurrence for a simple idea phase to morph into actual concrete plans within the time span of a day. Yoongi should have planned this out better—but then again, he didn’t think that him accidentally stopping on a picture of you from a fucking drama article would serve as the catalyst for Seokjin’s ideas. 

Yoongi straightens up onto his feet. “Why don’t I talk to Y/N first about this?” He asks. “The idea may seem good on paper, but if she’s uncomfortable then it’s a no go.” 

Seokjin studies Yoongi carefully, before the former relents. “Okay, fair enough. Let me know what happens.” 

As soon as the pair of them exchange the last nods, Yoongi is dashing out of Seokjin’s office with one clear objective in mind: to talk to you. 

Luckily, you aren’t too far away. You’re in your office, typing up something on your laptop and your eyes scanning through what he can only assume are emails. It’s eyes that widen when Yoongi practically storms into your space, shutting the door behind him. 

You straighten up. “Yoongi, you alright? You look like you just ran a marathon.” 

Yoongi doesn’t even realize that his chest is heaving until you point that out. He coughs. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Didn’t run a marathon though.” 

Your eyebrows furrow, but the corner of your lips turn up in mild curiosity. “Okay. What’s up?” 

Yoongi presses his lips together. Even with the many feet of space between the two of you—he can make out the glimmer in your eyes from the sunlight pouring through the window, he can see the shadow of your eyelashes and the line where your collarbone dips below your blouse. Fuck, he’s in deep. There’s no way he could ask you something so monumental to the downfall of his sanity. But he knows that it’s too late to just walk away. Partly because he’s already in your office and partly because the idea has already been planted into Seokjin’s head. And if Yoongi didn’t speak up, then Seokjin was going to. 

So Yoongi opens his mouth. “I may or may not have gotten you into a situation,” He starts up. 

You snort, of course not taking him seriously. “That might just be the summary of our relationship.” 

“No, I don’t think you understand…” Yoongi pleads, stepping deeper into the office. 

You frown at his behavior, closing your laptop this time to address him completely. “Okay, what’s up, really? You’re kind of scaring me…” 

“Oh, don’t worry, it’s not… scary or anything…” He trails off. 

You raise an eyebrow. “Let me be the judge of that.” 

So Yoongi shoves his hands deep into his coat pocket, and slides next to your desk, leaning against the surface as he starts his story. He covers everything: from Seokjin bringing up the drama articles about his relationship status, how he had scrolled through and saw your name, how Seokjin had misinterpreted that as a sign, and worse of all, how Seokjin thought it would be a good idea for you to play as Yoongi’s fake girlfriend. 

To say you’re appalled would be an understatement. You’re staring up at him, eyes wide and lips parted. “Are you serious?” You ask. “B-But I’m your manager!” You scoff at yourself. “No, more than that—I’m your friend, Yoongi. Seokjin must be on something. He has to be. What did you guys decide on? Please tell me that you said no.” 

“W-Well, there was no agreement or disagreement,” Yoongi argues weakly. “I walked out before Seokjin could make up his mind.” He pauses for a moment, something sinking in. “Wait a minute,” He brings up, a slightly teasing smile across his face. “Do you really find the idea of dating me that gross?” 

You make a noise in the back of your throat at his accusation, and you immediately begin to scramble. “I-I mean,” You start, the flush present in your throat as you start speaking very quickly at once. Both your hands go up in a defensive position. “It’s not that I don’t find you gross… because I don’t! You’re a very attractive person—it’s just that—we’re friends and—stop looking at me like that!” You stand up, slamming your palms onto the table when you realize that he’s just flashing you a shit-eating grin. 

He has half the mind to be mildly disheartened that you are so against the idea of dating him. But then again, he’d probably say no to fake dating you if he was being forced into a situation like this. He’d definitely say no. 

Okay, he’d probably say no. 

“Well, I told Seokjin that if you were uncomfortable with the idea, then it’d be a no go and he seemed to respect the idea.” 

Still standing, you sigh and press your face into the palm of your hand. Your fingers brush through your hair. “Okay, let’s step back for a moment.” You remove your hands from your face. “If I were to say yes, what exactly would that entail?” 

Yoongi manages a weak one-shouldered shrug. “I’m not sure exactly. Seokjin would probably have a better idea of that. I imagine KSJ records would release a statement about our relationship, and we would be scheduled to go to variety shows or press interviews together. We’d probably have to go out to restaurants together too. Hold hands…” The thought of holding your hand dries up his throat a little, but he passes it off well by faking a cough. “That sort of stuff.” 

You glare at him. “And what about your fans? You’re trying to preserve this ‘pure romantic heart’ image, but I’m sure there’s a lot of fans that like to believe the songs could be about them.” 

He shrugs. “That—I’m not too sure about. I imagine Seokjin prefers the idea of my fans believing that my heart only belongs to one person rather than them believing that I’ll just write a love song for anyone.” 

You nod. “That’s valid, I guess.” 

Yoongi stares at you from the smaller space of distance between the two of you. “Again, you don’t have to say yes. Frankly, I think it’s a batshit crazy idea.” 

“It’s not… completely out of line.” After a moment, you sigh. “I can actually understand why Seokjin would get the idea of trying to set you up like this. The news articles will probably get worse. And since your songs market themselves on being personal, people want to know who the songs are about. If Seokjin gave the public a face, then there’d be no room for assumptions and even less room for scandals to come about.” You give him a look. “Sadly, if you were to stay single, there’s only so much I could do as your manager to control that bad press.” 

Yoongi raises both his eyebrows up. “Does that mean you’re saying yes—?” 

“I’m not… saying anything yet.” You plop yourself back down into your seat. “I’m not saying yes. But I’m not saying no either.” You sink further into your seat. “Hopefully Seokjin will change his mind before I have to make up mine?” 

That’s an unlikely case. But Yoongi doesn’t argue with you, and you don’t wait for him to. He simply nods one more time before leaving your office. 

.

You would be lying if you said you never thought about dating Yoongi. Of course you have. You’re sure that you’ve had a crush on the boy within the first week of your introductions. This crush explains so many of your past actions—your support for his Youtube channel, your fulfillment as his manager, and now this pull towards agreeing to become his fake girlfriend. And you hate yourself for the every second you consider it a good idea. 

Because it’s not a good idea. It’s a terrible idea. More than that, it’s an unfair idea. Agreeing to fake date someone you actually want to date seems like too cruel a hand to be dealt. Considering your more-often-than-not fragile state, setting yourself up with Yoongi in this way already seems doomed to fail. It would be unfair to Yoongi, because agreeing to this would deprive him of an actual relationship he could be happy in. But it would be more unfair to you, because losing control would mean losing your best friend. 

So you don’t give Yoongi a positive confirmation. But you don’t give him a negative one either. See, you don’t have the heart to just outwardly reject him, because you know that he needs you to help him with this. You know that he understands the situation he’s been put in, and that getting a fake girlfriend seems to be the best case scenario. You know that it wouldn’t make sense with any other girl—it had to be you. Saying no straight to face is something that you don’t have the heart to do. 

Rather than give a yes or no answer, you opt for the second best option: hold off and avoid indulging too deeply. 

It’s a strategy that works for a grand total of one day. 

The following day post Yoongi’s conversation, you show up to work with information that Yoongi is going to start recording songs for his new album. His first full-length album, at that—something he has been working hard for since the beginning. Every second of free time available to him during the tour, during off-days had been dedicated to writing the music necessary to fill the album. You know how hard he’s been working—you’ve watched throughout the duration of his tour, and spoke to him for many nights about the progression of this album. 

You just didn’t think that the recording part would be coming around so soon. 

This is a thought you reflect to Seokjin when you enter the recording studio. Yoongi is already behind the glass, and his voice is amplified in the studio, where they appear to be discussing the arrangement for how a song is going to go. This leaves you vaguely surprised—if Yoongi is in the booth already, it means that there must have been some ground covered on how the arrangement was supposed to go. Just how long has Yoongi been in the studio before you showed up? 

“Ah, good morning,” Seokjin greets from the back of the studio, seated on the couch and his arms resting along the back. “Don’t get mad, but Yoongi worked through the night again.” 

Your lips part into a gape as your eyes widen in disbelief. “Please tell me you’re joking,” You return. 

Seokjin merely laughs in return. “I wish I was! When I left, he was going at it with Namjoon and when I came back this morning they were still going at it. But, you know, who am I to rain in on a breakthrough moment?” 

You relent your control of the situation slightly (only slightly) at Seokjin’s rhetorical question. Namjoon is one of Seokjin’s top producers and arrangers—very gifted in songwriting and how to make a good song. From the year that you and Yoongi have been a part of KSJ records, Yoongi and Namjoon have gotten along great and their close relationship has been the reason for many late nights. The pair of them were always caught in the drift of making sleepless but record-selling hits. 

Like Seokjin said, who are you to interrupt art in progress? 

Although you have a sudden flurry of desires and objectives (mainly to reprimand Yoongi for being so careless with a slap or a hit where you could put him to sleep yourself), you bite it down long enough to shed your jacket and rest it on the armrest of the couch. “Fine, fine, I’ll let it go this time.” 

Seokjin chuckles at that, removing his gaze from you and sliding it across the studio back into the booth where Yoongi is still in the midst of discussing something with Namjoon. Something about how the arrangement isn’t as smooth or on beat as they had originally intended. “You’re a good manager,” He says at last. “I can tell that you really do care about him and will definitely give him a peace of your mind once he’s done with today’s session. And what’s more…” He laughs. “He’ll actually let you walk all over him. You’d be surprised how often I see managers in it just for the money, where they don’t have their artist’s best interest in mind. You’re definitely not like that.” 

You slide into the vacant seat next to Seokjin. “If I don’t keep an eye on him, I know that no one else will. It’s nothing against other people, but no one else in his life is as involved in his career as I am. But I’m his friend first, and his manager second.” 

The pair of you are quiet for a moment, as you watch Namjoon fiddle with some of the switches on the music panel. They seem to come to an agreement on the newly modified beat, because it starts playing through the speakers in the booth. Yoongi presses his hands against the headphones he’s wearing, and starts to relay the lyrics into the microphone. It starts off slow—Yoongi has his phone in his hands to read the lyrics, to double check the flow and the tempo. After a few lines, he stops. “Ah—let’s reword this line. I do like the change we made to the music, so let’s change the lyrics to match.” His voice is amplified through the studio. 

Namjoon presses a button on the music panel, allowing him to communicate with Yoongi. “Sure. Want to head in and make the changes?” 

Yoongi ponders this for a moment, but shakes his head. “Give me a second. Maybe if I listen to the song again, I can feel what I vibe with.” 

“Sounds good.” Namjoon releases his hold on the button, and turns around in his chair to face you and Seokjin. The sight of you makes his eyes widen, as Namjoon coughs back a choke. “O-Oh, Y/N, you’re here—!” 

His words make you narrow your eyes as you point a finger at him. “YAH! Which one of you was it that contributed to your all-nighter?” 

“I don’t know, I don’t know!” Namjoon protests, raising both of his hands up in defense. “We were both in the groove!” 

You lower your finger with a sigh. “You’re lucky that you’re in the middle of helping Yoongi achieve his dreams. Otherwise I’d kick both of your asses.” 

Namjoon seems to realize that you’re not messing around, because he emits a nervous laugh. “I promise we’ll be a little more careful next time…” 

“Oh, Namjoon, I rewrote some of the lines!” Yoongi calls from inside the booth. 

Namjoon whirls around in his chair again to press the button. “Sounds good, let’s do it.” 

As the music starts up again, Seokjin decides to speak up once more. “Yoongi told me that he talked to you about the little fake dating plan I had.” 

The mention of it, as well as your previous internal insistence of not talking or thinking about that, makes you stiffen. “He might have mentioned something like that.” 

When you turn to look at Seokjin, he has an unreadable look glinting in his eyes. “Since you were talking about achieving Yoongi’s dreams and all…” He trails off. “I wanted to apologize for bringing that idea onto you so quickly. I didn’t really consider how you’d feel about the arrangement. I just wanted to try and do what I thought was best for Yoongi.” 

You sigh. “I know why you thought of the idea. And I totally agree with you—I think that if he wants to carry on, this is the least costly next step that should be taken. I just… I don’t know if I’m the best fit for it.” 

Seokjin nods. “I respect your decision. After all, Yoongi told me that if you were uncomfortable with it, then it’d be an immediate no go.” 

The corner of your lips turns up upon hearing Yoongi’s thought process. Even though you’ve already heard the words from the man himself—it’s nice to hear that assurance from his boss. Knowing that Yoongi puts your thoughts and feelings on the forefront of his mind is a nice feeling. A misleading feeling if you let yourself think too deeply into it. But a nice feeling, nonetheless. 

You decide not to comment immediately on Seokjin’s apology; rather, you tune into what exactly Yoongi is singing about in the song. It’s got a softer beat to it—an opening song to the album, perhaps? It’s much more whimsy compared to his hard-hitting personal rants that touch on the frustration of miscommunication, of not saying something when he should have said something. 

Instead, this is a song about distance—about missing someone due to distance and the longing of returning home because of the normality it brought. About how even closeness sometimes isn’t enough to fill the gap of desire in his heart. It takes on a beat you’ve never heard before, and a feeling of missing something that isn’t even tangible for you as a listener. Nevertheless, his words, his raspiness, and the hard lines hidden within the otherwise soft tone of the song work hard to poke at your edges and your weak spots. The parts of you that have always been willing to cave for Yoongi, the part of you that has never hesitated to do what needed to be done if it benefited Yoongi. 

You were his manager, so you always want what’s best for him. But you’re also a friend who has been in love with him for years, so you will do whatever it takes to get him there. 

You hope you don’t regret this.

“Actually,” You admit quietly, but it’s loud enough to perk Seokjin’s attention. “I’ll do it.” 

Seokjin blinks, clearly trying to process your words right off the bat. “You’ll…” He trails off.

You look away. You have a feeling that if Seokjin looks at you for too long, he’ll see your emotions spill out across the entire fucking studio. “Do the fake dating idea.” 

Seokjin fumbles a little. “H-Hold on a second—are you sure? Seriously, I’m not trying to pressure you or anything. Since you’re the one least adjusted to being in the spotlight, a lot of this pressure is going to fall onto you. I don’t want you to say yes and then regret it later on… so maybe you should think a little more about this…” 

You steel yourself. It feels a little bit like holding your breath. Finally, you spare Seokjin a look. “I won’t regret it,” You say. “You and I both said that Yoongi needs me to keep going at this pace—I was going to get roped in eventually, so I think it’ll just be easier if I agree now rather than drag this thing around for a couple of months. Besides…” You try to relax a little in your seat, but it’s hard to tell if you’re being convincing or not. “It’s nothing too serious right? You just want us to go out together, hold hands occasionally, speak highly of each other… We already do half of those things but it’ll just be emphasized now. No big deal.” 

Seokjin is wearing that unreadable look in his eyes again, like he knows something that you don’t even know yourself. “You’re right,” He settles with after a long pause. “It’s nothing too serious. You’ll probably have people also digging into your space though, but we’ll make all the necessary arrangements before any sort of announcement.” 

“If that’s the case,” You reply. “Then I’m sure it’ll all be fine. Besides.” You try for a smile. “It’s all just fake anyways, right? As long as the ones who really matter know that, then I don’t really see the harm in it.” 

Seokjin only continues to stare at you, before he relents. You know just as well as he does that your decision is one of an adult, and that if you really had a problem with something you would vote your opinion without hesitation. No matter if he can somehow read the thoughts in your head. 

At last, he nods. “We might need you to sign another NDA but…” He extends an arm out towards you. “Welcome abroad, Min Yoongi’s girlfriend.” 

You laugh a little, hollow but still present, as you reach over to take his head. “We’ll start having problems if that nickname becomes a regular thing.” 

Seokjin laughs a little louder, a complete opposite of his more quiet and observant side displayed just a few seconds ago. “Don’t worry—just for formalities. HEY, Namjoon, let me talk to Yoongi for a second.” He practically throws himself off of the couch and towards the music panel where Namjoon and Yoongi are still mid-discussion about another aspect of music you do not understand. Namjoon relents, pushing himself and his chair off to the side as Seokjin comes up to press the button on the panel that allows for discussion between the booth and the studio. “Hey, Min Yoongi, there’s been some discussions behind the scenes. Say hello to your new girlfriend!” 

There’s a brief silence in the studio, and Yoongi’s eyes immediately bug out of his head like this is the last thing he expected to hear on this very casual Wednesday morning. Knowing the agenda for the day, it probably has been. “What?” Yoongi says after a long moment, his voice amplified by the speakers in the studio. 

Seokjin turns towards you, jerking his head at the booth, and you get up with a sigh. You approach the music panel where Seokjin and Namjoon are currently situated—and aren’t sure how to feel when you see the way Yoongi’s eyes widen at the sight of you through the window. 

Still, you cannot help your own weak smile as you lean in towards the microphone. “Hi honey,” You say. 

Yoongi continues to stare at you, before his lips part and his face takes on a very unusual shade of red. “HUH?” 

. 

. 

CHAPTER  3: THE ANNOUNCEMENT 

. 

KSJ records releases a statement within the next following days, and it gains momentum like nothing you’ve ever seen before. 

HELLO, WE ARE KSJ RECORDS. 

Recently, we acknowledge that many fans have developed a curiosity about the relationship status of our newest artist Min Yoongi. The release of his latest EP and the undertaking of his concert has left many questions regarding who he writes his songs for—and many of the different assumptions made by people around the world could leave very dangerous and lasting impressions on people that our artist sees as platonic. We want to respond properly and say the truth. 

Min Yoongi has been in a relationship with his current manager, Y/N, for the past three years. When Min Yoongi was first signed to KSJ Records, they were already in a relationship and Y/N was assigned the task as Yoongi’s manager given her experience working alongside him during his Youtube career. They have good feelings about each other, and have agreed to make this information public to avoid future misunderstandings. KSJ Records and Yoongi hope that you all will support their relationship as they continue to navigate through Yoongi’s growing career together. 

You cannot help but laugh a little at the statement, which is flying so close to the truth that it might as well have been your reality. And in a way, it is. You’ve already prepared, molded your online presence just barely to meet these new expectations to the new facade you have to put up. 

And it’s not like the announcement actually changes anything in your daily life. In the days leading up to the post, you had decided to delete your Twitter account (you weren’t making much use of that platform anyways—what, with all the thirst accounts for Yoongi that you were stumbling upon due to internet cookies and the algorithm), and archive a fair number of your Instagram photos on an account that was already set to private. For someone who didn’t live and breathe social media, it wasn’t too hard to rid of that element in your life. 

One thing you hadn’t really accounted for, however, were the news stories that wrote about you in the hours following the press release. Several of them were base-level lists about your childhood and how your relationship with Yoongi could have festered—most of which were correct given that older fans of Yoongi knew what university he attended and how you were also a student there. But that information is generally public, and it’s not like you attend the university anymore.

Other than that, there are a few comments on your looks, a few assumptions on your personality. But surprising, there’s nothing too severe. At least, from the surface-level information you can collect from just doing a basic google search. Social media would probably be a more difficult battle, one that you would need nerves of steel and a hardened heart in order to navigate, but like mentioned: professionally managing your own personal social media isn’t exactly your forte. 

Over the next week, you follow Seokjin’s advice to lay low and let the news of your relationship with Yoongi continue to spread through the ranks. You spend that time in your apartment, answering a few messages from friends and family but doing what you could to keep the information as limited as possible. You assume that too many people knowing, regardless of how close or trustworthy they were, sort of went against the NDA you had to sign. And you’re not sure how your friends would react if they found out you were only dating Yoongi for a cover-up. Especially since some of them actually are fully aware of your feelings for him. 

Regardless, you carry on. Yoongi sends you some screenshots he takes of supportive messages from his fans wishing the both of you the best in your relationship, and he also sends you some memes about your relationship that make you laugh. His fans have a good sense of humor, what could you say. 

However, a week is the most you allow yourself to hide away within the comfort (and boring nature) of your apartment before you’re already texting Seokjin with news that you were showing up to the studio. 

Surprisingly, Seokjin doesn’t question this. He calls you. “I was just about to ask if you were going to come over anyways!” He says in a rather upbeat nature. “So it’s good to hear that we’re both on the same page.” 

So you step out of your apartment, dressed up in your usual work uniform and feeling much more put-together than you had been for the week you were ordered to remain quiet and lowkey. There’s something exciting about stepping out after being unable to do so for an extended period of time—and it shows in the little bounce that occurs with every step that you take down the sidewalk. Since you usually take the subway to work, you decide to dawn a bucket hat with a face mask tucked over your nose and mouth to blend in just enough but not so much so that your strange fashion choices could draw attention. 

It doesn’t, and you enjoy the rocking of the subway racing down the tracks as you peer out of the window quietly. KSJ Records is just a few stops away from your apartment, so you waste no time standing out and stepping out as soon as the doors of the subway open at the right stop. You bound up the stairs, through the familiar pathways you’ve always taken to get to work, and after a few blocks, you arrive at the building of KSJ Records. 

As you shoulder open the door, you greet the secretary behind the table, who smiles back at you. “Oh, good morning!” She greets cheerfully. “Seokjin is waiting for you in his office. I believe Yoongi is already with him.” 

You nod. “Sounds good, thank you so much!” You bound deeper in, navigating through the different hallways until you arrive at Seokjin’s office. True to the word from the front desk, Yoongi is already there. He looks surprisingly meek for someone who has been trending on Twitter for a few days, but you suppose that he’s still trying to adjust to the fact that Seokjin’s plan is already in motion. After all, he didn’t even get the final say before Seokjin started taking the situation into his own hands. The last he had heard of it was your apparent agreement before Seokjin drew up a company statement for him to approve. 

A part of you feels guilty—but Yoongi had been the one to ask you first! Perhaps he’s still in that normal state of uncertainty. After all, you feel like that as well. 

“Good morning guys,” You greet as soon as you register who exactly is in Seokjin’s office. You close the door behind you as both boys turn to acknowledge you. 

Seokjin grins. “Hi, thanks for coming in.” 

You wave him off. “You gave me the week off. I was starting to get a little restless.” You take a seat in the other vacant chair, in front of Seokjin and besides Yoongi. “What’s up, Yoongi?” 

Yoongi is already looking at you when you turn to greet him, but as soon as you ask your question, the corner of his lips quirk up into a vaguely uneasy and nervous smile. “H-Hi honey.” 

You freeze at that, immediately furrowing your eyebrows as you produce your own nervous smile. “Hi?” You return. “What the fuck are you on?” 

Seokjin interrupts before Yoongi can get an answer in. “Stop, stop, you’re way too stiff, Yoongi!” 

“Well, I’m trying!” Yoongi spits, before looking back at you with an utterance of your name. “Sorry, Seokjin wanted me to try treating you the same way I would treat a girlfriend. Apparently I didn’t do too hot.” 

“Not apparently, you just didn’t do hot at all,” Seokjin retorts back, flashing you an apologetic smile. “We were trying out a few moves easier to see how well you guys can adjust from having your normal manager slash artist relationship to displaying a long term, healthy and happy romantic relationship. It’s one thing to say that you guys are dating, but you guys do need to have something of an act ready.” 

You fold your fingers over each other, your mind on a dissociation for the briefest of seconds as the realization sinks its teeth just a little deeper. Holding hands and saying cute shit to each other had been easy to talk about in passing dialogue to Seokjin—but actually having to do it is a hurdle you hadn’t considered to the fullest. 

“I mean…” You speak up after a moment. “What if we’re just one of those couples that aren’t handsey with each other? Or don’t need that lovey dovey look in each other��s eyes to prove that we’re in a relationship?” 

Seokjin ponders this for a second. “True. But if we’re starting this, there needs to be a full level commitment on the act. If people start questioning the legitimacy of your relationship, that would be an even worse scandal than just letting people make assumptions about Yoongi’s relationship status in general! We definitely, at least, need to develop a basic level of your relationship, and then you guys can work around your own varying levels of comfort. This is something that we need to get rolling as soon as possible, because you.” He points at Yoongi. “Are booked in the next few days to do some radio interviews. And you.” He points at you. “Are going to go with him, as his girlfriend.” 

Even though you had known the label was coming, you can’t stop from feeling hot all over at how you were now technically Yoongi’s girlfriend. 

“So,” Seokjin continues. “How about I give you a base level of what I’m looking for. And we can do a few practice runs to make sure you guys are comfortable enough with these expectations?” 

Yoongi nods, leaving you little option but to do the same. But the thought from the recording booth bubbles up again: you hope you won’t regret this. 

. 

A few days later and you don’t think you’ll regret the outcome of this situation. But you’ll definitely get a little sick on the way. 

“I don’t know if I can do this,” You say in the car. You’re sitting in the back, next to Yoongi, staring straight ahead at the passenger seat before you. “And stay all in one piece,” You add as an afterthought. 

Yoongi glances over at you, looking nervous enough to admit a pout. “At least you don’t have to say anything—I’m the one doing all the talking…” 

You huff out a breath. This is true. You’re just here to play the supportive girlfriend, the agreeable partner who’ll publicly accompany Yoongi to a public event since a public announcement. Seokjin says that doing this with the lense of a romantic relationship makes you seem friendly, open, and supportive of the relationship. You’re not too sure how public perception is shaped, but you understand where Seokjin is coming from. Tagging along to an event as a girlfriend instead of a manager makes you and Yoongi seem free. Like you have nothing to hide. 

Only in reality, it’s the complete opposite. With everything coming out to the surface, you have everything to hide. 

It only takes a few more minutes of driving before you arrive at the radio station. The instructions for today’s assignment have been easy: get out of the car, and walk the many steps needed to reach the entrance of the station. The empty step ahead is surrounded by paparazzi and fans, all screaming and shouting—trying to get their fill of Yoongi. 

You sigh. You could do this. You and Yoongi have been practicing for the past few days. Albeit, ‘practicing’ just mainly consisted of the pair of you walking down a hallway close together. It was more lackluster than anything else, and you don’t think it was entirely productive use of time. Seokjin seemed to think that the pair of you needed to work on a closer level of proximity. But you know the truth about your feelings, and know that the complications will come from just being too close to him. 

Yoongi unbuckles his seatbelt and is already moving to tug at the handle that’ll open his side of the car door, immediately exposing him to the walkway along with the flashing cameras and loud screams. Before he can pull all the way, however, he stops short. You’re about to ask what the problem is, before he angles towards you and flashes you that grin he has when he’s thinking of ideas you wouldn’t approve of. “I have an idea,” He breathes out, quickly reaching over to grab your hand. 

You stiffen at the contact, trying to ignore the flash of your heart speeding up in your chest. You and Yoongi hadn’t agreed on this—if you had, maybe you would have been a little more prepared for the situation! Oh god. 

On instinct, you try to wiggle out of his grasp. “What are you doing?” You hiss. 

Yoongi gives you a dry look, reaching over to grab your hand again. “Calm down,” He argues back, lacing your fingers together for extra measure, like that’s gonna be the thing to help you calm the fuck down. “This’ll help sell it, okay? Just trust me.” 

Leaving little room for arguments, he squeezes your hand briefly before loosening it enough. He pulls the car door handle, pushing it outwards, and stepping out into the wild. People notice his appearance immediately, because the screams grow louder as Yoongi uses his unoccupied hand to wave and bow towards those who have come out to see him. 

You trail behind rather helplessly; the hand connected to Yoongi pulling you out of the car. Yoongi stays near the door, staring down at you with a rather watchful gaze that only leaves you feeling hotter than before. Still, you don’t speak of it as Yoongi steps back just enough for you to step out of the car. “You okay?” He asks. 

You nod, readjusting yourself with one hand before Yoongi starts to pull you alongside him to walk the distance towards the radio station entrance. Although you want to engage slightly with the crowd, your nerves keep you mainly at bay, forcing you to angle your head downwards just enough to avoid any serious eye contact. Yoongi keeps his gaze ahead, walking a rather brisk pace towards the radio studio—where security leads the way in opening the door for the pair of you. Whether he’s walking fast because he doesn’t want to keep up the charade of holding your hand for so long… or because he can feel how sweaty your palm is getting. You don’t know. 

It’s only a few more steps before you and Yoongi are entering the building for the radio show, where Jungkook is lingering near the entrance. He’s on his phone, probably having just made a call with Seokjin about your arrival, before he spots the two of you entering. “Hey guys, how was it?” 

Yoongi nods. “A little loud, but I think it went alright.” 

Jungkook’s eyes flicker down to your intertwined hands. “Wow, you guys are committed,” He comments. 

You seem to remember that your soul has returned to the body that is still currently holding hands with Min Yoongi. Alarmingly, you take your hand back. “Y-Yeah, Yoongi thought it would be a good show for the people outside! No biggie—just a simple hand holding technique, people do that all the time!” You realize that you’re rambling. 

Yoongi, oblivious as always, raises an eyebrow. “You okay?” 

“Y-Yeah,” You manage. “Why do you ask?” 

Yoongi is about to answer, before an intern shyly approaches the three of you with an iPad in hand. 

“Are you all under Mr. Min’s team?” She asks, fishing out some badges when you nod in confirmation. “Okay, so make sure to take these so everyone knows who you are. Mr. Min? I can lead you to the studio you’ll be interviewing in, if you’ll follow me—did you need me to grab a soda for you?” She begins listing a series of questions about his well-being, leaving you and Jungkook behind in the hallway with your newly acquired badges in hand.

Jungkook, observant as always, gives you a look. “What was that all about?” 

“Huh? I-It was nothing…” You trail off looping the badge around your neck, meeting Jungkook’s eyes and realizing that he’s wearing a shit-eating grin. The same kind of grin that Taehyung gives you when you’re standing too close to Yoongi. Your eyes flare. “WHAT DO YOU KNOW?”  

Jungkook laughs. “Calm down, calm down, Taehyung and I gossip a lot on the side—hey, what the fuck, don’t hit me—we’re in a public place!” 

You relent your aggression, but only slightly. You lower your arms as well. “Just—don’t tell Yoongi.” 

Jungkook levels with you a dry look. “Do you think I have a death wish? C’mon, let’s head over.” 

With a hesitant sigh, you relent and let Jungkook lead you down the halls of this studio, until the pair of you find a door with Yoongi’s name written on the white board. There’s a darkened LIVE light panel above the frame, indicating that Yoongi’s radio interview hasn’t started yet. There’s some people lingering about, who nod and open the door for you when you present your TALENT badge at them. The inside of a radio booth is similar to the recording booths Yoongi has found a home in as of late. There’s people in this current room, headphones on and monitoring what’s happening before them while being surrounded with sound panels and laptop screens. On the other side of the glass is Yoongi, and the main hosts of the radio station, Jung Hoseok and Im Nayeon. 

From your side, you can hear their conversation amplified through speakers in the studio. They’re all currently joking around about external matters—it makes sense too. Yoongi has been on this particular radio show a handful of times. 

“Okay, okay, you guys,” Hoseok speaks after a few more minutes of playful banter. “Today, we have a very special guest with us today. He’s fresh off the tour of his first and most recent EP, we have Min Yoongi in the studio! Yay!” He claps. Nayeon follows suit. 

Yoongi stops his clapping sooner to speak into the microphone in front of him. “Thanks for having me back.” 

“Thank you for deciding to hang out with us for the afternoon,” Nayeon says. “Especially since you’re a big hot shot now.” 

Yoongi laughs. “I wouldn’t say that… I just finished my first tour, Nayeon, no big deal.” 

“‘No big deal’,” Nayeon quotes him. “As if your EP didn’t chart into a top 50 list or anything like that.” 

The conversation trails like this for a little bit. Yoongi is scheduled to spend thirty minutes doing a segment, which is meant to be uploaded onto Youtube later, so it gives the three of them a lot of legroom to play around and play off of each other. The purpose of the interview is to discuss the tour, the progress of the album, and (if anyone dared venture there) the status of his relationship—! 

“Well, moving on from the album—which I’m sure is going to be a huge success, by the way,” Nayeon continues on, bringing you back from the daydream that you’ve slipped into. “Seriously, it’s a very highly anticipated release.” 

Yoongi manages a nervous smile. “I’ll make sure not to let anyone down.” 

Nayeon nods. “I think it’s a good time to ask about a recent development that has occurred with you as of late.” 

“And, that is the announcement of your relationship,” Nayeon carries on. She glances at Yoongi from across the table. “We’re allowed to ask you questions about it, right?” 

Yoongi nods, choosing his words very carefully. “I’m all ears for your questions, Nayeon.” 

Nayeon brightens at that. “I just think that a lot of people want to know: how are you guys doing since the announcement?” 

He takes in a breath. To the general public, it’ll probably look as if he’s steeling himself to finally come clean about a relationship he’s been hiding for three years. But to you, you know it’s because he’s just trying to figure out what exactly to say. 

“We’ve been doing well,” He says with a nod of assurance. “It was a little stressful at first, and it still is because of how recent the news is, but I am glad we decided to make this call. Y/N has been with me since the beginning and has supported me and has been the inspiration for a lot of my music—and I’m at a point in my life where I want my fans to know that rather than drag them along and just make them assume these parts of my life.” 

“That’s so sweet,” Nayeon gushes. “So Y/N wasn’t always just your manager, even back in your Youtube days?” 

Yoongi shakes his head. “Actually, she was my girlfriend before I decided to upload song covers.” 

Nayeon swoons a little. “Can you tell us the story of how we met? You can be brief, of course.” 

Yoongi laughs. “We shared a class together in college, and she was probably the funniest person I had ever met—of course, we were friends for about a year before we started dating. But Y/N was always very supportive about me pursuing music, even when it was just a hobby. When I did start my Youtube channel, she stayed up to help with editing and just letting me know how some lyrics I had written would sound. She was a business major in college, so it felt right to let her have the reins on scheduling my appearances—and now she’s my manager. Besides just being my girlfriend, we work together really well.” 

You huff out a breath, something you hadn’t even realized that you were holding. You didn’t think Yoongi lying straight through his teeth could cause you so much anxiety. As if there are people around this radio station to fact check everything leaving Yoongi’s mouth. 

Nayeon hesitates for a moment. “Alright, I want to ask one more question.” 

Yoongi gestures for her to continue. 

“You write a lot about being in love and all these little moments of stability and that feeling of contentment—but what is your experience with love? How did you know that you were in love?” 

Your lips part in shock at the question, having not expected it. After all, Seokjin didn’t quiz Yoongi on this answer. And to talk about love in such a personal manner—would Yoongi even have an answer for everyone? 

Your gaze is trained on Yoongi, watching them through the glass separating you from him. It seems as if the entire room is silenced in anticipation. You can feel Jungkook’s gaze hot on your back, clearly trying to gauge your response—but you try not to give him the satisfaction of a reaction. 

“It’s actually funny,” Yoongi speaks up after a moment. Your heart lurches, thinking that he’s going to divert from the question. But you should know him better. “I always thought love, when it came to romance, was supposed to be this big explosion of fireworks and what not—like in the movies. You see someone and there’s this feeling in your gut right away, you know, this whole concept of love at first sight. I used to think that was how I was going to fall in love. It was going to be dramatic, but everything I wanted right away, and I was going to be whisked off and everything would be sunshine and rainbows. I thought that I’d meet someone, and they’d be everything I wanted them to be right off the bat, and that I’d know right away they’d be the one. 

But the truth is, through my relationship, I realized that it’s not like that. I didn’t know Y/N would be the one right away. It took a long time—because we liked each other, but that’s not the big explosion of fireworks I was promised. We liked each other, but it was never love at first sight. And truthfully, she wasn’t even everything I wanted right off the bat. I’ve realized that love is more about these adjustments you as people have to make to fit, and it happened so subtly with me that then I didn’t realize it was happening until I just woke up one day and knew. 

I knew because one morning, I woke up in a fit—I had fallen asleep at my desk again trying to get through some of the music arrangement of this one video I was working on, or something like that. I was always working on music and editing—so I actually don’t remember. Anyways, I woke up and my head was resting on a pillow, and there was a blanket over my shoulder, which I didn’t remember fixing up the night before. I got out of the little makeshift studio I had in my apartment, and there was breakfast food from this cafe I really like around the corner at my table. It was a little cold, but Y/N had taped a little note on the bag with heating instructions and what not, just telling me to do my best—really nice and supportive things. I had assumed that she had gone back home, because she knew I was pulling another all-nighter for work. That’s what I thought, until I look into the living room and find her sleeping on my couch. More than that, her hands were still on her laptop, where she had been in the process of still editing one of my videos. She still had her headphones on and everything. We had been dating for a little less than a year at that point, so it wasn’t like this was a rare thing. It was a pretty normal thing for her to do—wrap me up in blankets and buy me breakfast food the following morning, even falling asleep on the couch was a weekly occurrence. But I just saw her sleeping on my couch and I felt this wave of warmth and contentment. Like I always knew that she’d be on my team. I think that was the moment I really knew what love was.” 

It’s a long story, one that ends with a stunned silence—like no one had expected him to give out such a detailed answer and make it sound poetic at the same time. That’s the songwriter Min Yoongi for you, you supposed. 

Quickly, both the studio and the booth give out a chorus of aw’s and ooh’s, gushing amongst one another over the charming nature of Yoongi’s story. But you are still trapped into submission, staring straight through the glass with millions of questions still going through your mind. The spike in your heart rate also points to the rush of adrenaline flowing through you. Because you know this story that he is telling. He’s not lying through his teeth. You remember this night. Or, one of the nights, at least. Like Yoongi had said, you giving out blankets and food like air was second nature in your friendship. So was you falling asleep on the couch. 

Did those situations hold as much weight for him as they did for you? Or, was he just making up his feelings? After all, the key to lying was skirting as close to the truth as possible. That kind of situation may work for Yoongi, as the liar, but it wasn’t as comforting for you. 

You watch the way Yoongi laughs at the gushing Nayeon does, the way he smiles brightly and continues to reinforce how important you are—and you recognize his facade better than anyone else. Of course he’s lying, and you reach their realization with a bit of downfall in your stomach. There’s no way he would be telling the truth, especially considering the situation the pair of you are now in where Yoongi’s career is dependent on his ability to tell a proper lie. 

You allow yourself to sink a little deeper into the studio, near the back where the producers of the radio station can discuss amongst each other. This puts you with Jungkook, who has been watching the situation closely the entire time. 

“Yoongi can be quite the actor,” Jungkook mumbles. He has this unreadable expression in his eyes, but you know that Jungkook knows that situation Yoongi is describing. It had been Jungkook’s apartment as well. He glances at you, but says nothing. 

You continue to stare ahead. That pensive silence continues as Yoongi is released from the radio interview, and thanks Nayeon and Hoseok eagerly for their time and energy. Nayeon returns the gesture, waving to you through the glass when Yoongi points you out. You weakly return the action. 

It isn’t until you get into the car, where the pair of you are safe from the wandering eyes and careful ears of the entire world, that one of you elects to speak up. “So, what did you think?” Yoongi asks. 

By this point, you’ve recovered swiftly from your disappointment. You smile like it’s your only shield. “As your manager, I’m glad that you were able to make love so poetic—just on brand for you. As your fake girlfriend, I also really have to congratulate you for your storytelling. I even remember those nights too, so it was definitely a good memory to lie about.” 

Yoongi flushes a little at your comment, looking pleased with himself for a moment. You smile at his expression, before turning to train your gaze out of the window. The gesture makes you miss the way the smile slips off his face, the way he glances over at you. A good memory to lie about—right. 

.

Yoongi’s radio interview goes viral, and so does any hope you have in trying to forget the tale he had spun during it. Granted, you are happy that people bought his story. You just wish that it wouldn’t have muddled up all your thoughts and feelings along the way. 

Naturally, Seokjin is excited about the good press and the fact that the pair of you completed your first assignment well enough. At least, that’s the display he’s presenting when you walk into his office two days after the radio interview. Yesterday was spent looking over social media to see the public��s reaction to Yoongi’s speech about love, and if you as his manager would need to do any damage control. Luckily, you do not. As his manager, it leaves you in good spirits. 

But as someone who actually has a crush on Yoongi, it’s less so. 

That dejection only furthers itself when you see how excited Seokjin looks, like he’s already plotting the next steps to his little project. 

“Ah, Y/N!” Seokjin greets carefully. “Hi, hi, congratulations on your first successful outing with Yoongi! Per the reports I’ve been seeing over social media, you guys did a very good job.” 

You sigh, placing four coffee orders onto the table and sliding into the seat in front of Seokjin’s desk. “I didn’t really do that much,” You admit with a half-hearted shrug. “Yoongi did all the talking. I just waved at Nayeon through the glass window.” 

“Aaahh,” Seokjin hums, opening up his laptop and turning it around in order for you to see what is on his screen. “Seems like you did a little more than that.” 

Your gaze flints down to the big, bold words across the screen: THE INSIDER REPORT ON MIN YOONGI’S RADIO INTERVIEW: Employees at the K-IM Radio Station detail their experience meeting Yoongi and his girlfriend following the announcement of their relationship. 

That piques your interest, and you scoot forward in your chair slightly in order to reach out and see what Seokjin is talking about. It’s not a very lengthy article—there is a summary detailing Yoongi’s interview, of course referencing his grand speech about love—but that’s not what takes up the most space. 

Your eyes continue to skim over, almost not even believing what you were reading. The intern that first greeted you and Yoongi is in here, talking about how the pair of you were holding hands “in such a loving way, and the way they looked at each other before I led him to the radio booth was so romantic!” (The intern’s words, not yours). There’s even some excerpts from the employees and producers inside the radio booth, the same room you had spent the interview in. Surprisingly, a lot of the accounts are not talking about what Yoongi said. It’s all about how you looked when Yoongi was telling his story. 

“It was such a powerful speech, I couldn’t help but look over to Y/N to see her reaction, and she was staring back at Yoongi in such a way that I knew immediately that the genuine nature of their love was a two-way street.” 

“... a definite softness in her gaze, like she was reliving that memory with him.” 

And so on, and so on. 

Your face feels a little warmer when your eyes as you push the laptop away, glancing up to see Seokjin’s staring at you. “See? You did good. The small gestures you do can go a long way—especially when you don’t notice you’re doing them.” 

You close the laptop, as if that can physically distance yourself from the assurances of those who had been around you. “Right…” You manage weakly. 

“Well,” Seokjin hums, already moving onto the next point of the conversation. If he senses something fishy in your response, he doesn’t comment on it. “Anyways, Yoongi is in the studio right now with Namjoon, so I just want a little update report on your relationship with Yoongi. As in, how is it going between the two of you?” 

You ponder this for a moment, thinking about how he took your hand in the car, how he recounted such a personal story to explain the details of his love, the look he gave you when you congratulated his storytelling abilities—like he knew something that you did not. 

At the same time, it was such a minor appearance that you didn’t get much of a feel about the romantic aspect of this fake relationship. This is why you sigh. “I’m not too sure. We had such a minor acting role together that it’s hard to say. I will say that right now it feels pretty much the same.” 

“Alright, fair enough,” Seokjin approves with a nod. “So you don’t have a problem if I want to plan some informal hang-outs for you and Yoongi? Just as a way to keep your guys in the public eye enough times that fans don’t start doubting your relationship.” 

You smile weakly. “Of course. That’s what I signed the NDA for.” 

Seokjin laughs, finally waving you off. “Okay, sure. I’ll look into where I think your relationship will make the biggest impact and will update you and Yoongi when I’ve made my decisions.” Finally, he looks over the multiple cups of coffee you had brought over on your cardboard tray, and fishes out the one with his name on it. “This one for me?” 

You lean over, flickering your gaze from the cup to his face. “Well, at the very least, I know you can read now.” 

His relaxed expression morphs into a playful scowl. “Get out of here brat.” 

Your laughter echoes through his office as you take your cardboard tray of three coffee cups and reemerge back into the hallway of the record studio. You walk the familiar path until you reach the door to the recording room—pulling open the door and letting yourself in. Inside the booth, Yoongi is rapping away into his microphone, as his low voice fills the tiny space of this studio. You place the tray down onto one of the tables, picking up your own before sliding over to take a seat on the couch. 

As you continue listening to Yoongi wistfully hum about a desire to cross an emotional distance, about how he tells the truth because “it’s you, it’s always been you”—you cannot help your mind wandering into what Seokjin has in store for you over the course of the next few months. 

.

. 

CHAPTER 4: TURNING POINT 

. 

Yoongi’s first full length album is set to release in two months. 

At least, that’s what KSJ records claims after uploading a quarterly report of Yoongi’s schedule. At first, you don’t think it’s a big deal for Yoongi’s label to post a tentative update about his music progress, but his fans are extremely observant and catch on immediately. It’s good to draw up the hype, you suppose. 

Anyways, at the rate that Yoongi is working on the songs for the album, you won’t be surprised if he manages to follow the schedule down to a T. The boy lives and breathes music, and last time you checked the album would consist partly of songs from his EP and new songs—meaning that it cuts down Yoongi’s usual workload into half. Not that he minds, at any rate. 

“Okay, Min Yoongi,” Seokjin starts up, standing at the head of the meeting room which only consists of three people. Normally, with meetings with the head of KSJ records himself, there’s a lot more people around to discuss schedule, promotions, and the likes. The fact that it’s just you and Yoongi tells you exactly what you’re doing here. “It’s been a few weeks since your radio interview, and I know that you’re doing well in your progress of the album—but I think it’ll do you well to take a break.” 

Yoongi huffs. “It’s nice that you’re reminding me about this, but I’ll rest when the album is released.” 

Seokjin snorts. “When did I say rest? I just meant take a break from your album work. Plus you need to get some vitamin C, or whatever shit you get from the sun.”  

“It’s vitamin D,” You interject gently. 

“Pish posh,” Seokjin waves away your interruption. “Anyways, like I was saying, there is a way for us to kill two birds with one stone. So that you.” He points to Yoongi. “Can get out of the studio for a few hours and you.” He points to you. “Can play into a relationship that’ll help us kill two birds with one stone.” 

You raise an eyebrow. “What exactly are you proposing?” 

“Well,” Seokjin continues, leaning over his side of the table to get a few good at his laptop, where it appears that he has a few notes written down regarding the direction of this meeting. “In order to continue generating curiosity about Yoongi’s upcoming album and maintain the public’s constant queries about your relationship, I want you two to go on public outings. I have a few specific places I think would be good cornerstones to touch on, but I’m also willing to let the two of you figure out where you want to spend your time.” He glances up at the two of you. “That should be okay, right?” 

You and Yoongi glance at each other. Come to think of it, the pair of you haven’t talked about nor reviewed the events at the radio station since it happened and the underlying questions you still have about his side of the story feels vaguely like a weight hanging over you both. But Yoongi smiles at you, and you think that you can continue to do what you’ve done for years: hide away your feelings. 

“Yeah, that should be fine,” You speak up first, smiling back at Yoongi. You turn to Seokjin. “What did you have in mind?” 

The question is how you find yourself in a car with Yoongi a few days later, your hands in your lap and your mind spinning with nerves. The radio interview had been one case, but a limited one at that—your role had been very minor and your interaction with Yoongi had only been seconds long. They had definitely been a lot smaller than this new role that Seokjin has assigned to you. 

For today, Seokjin has directed the pair of you to the streets of Yoongi’s old stomping ground—the same shopping district with the same corner Yoongi spent all his nights performing in from a time period that seems so long enough. Not long enough, apparently, as Seokjin thinks it would be a nice nod to be ‘accidentally’ discovered walking along a place that holds so much memory. 

“I just want you guys to walk around—be happy, but be close,” Seokjin had noted just a few hours prior to you and Yoongi’s departure. “Just look like the pair of you are on a date. Hold hands, smile at each other, all that jazz. Nothing too serious.” 

Too bad it actually was kind of serious for you. 

You and Yoongi make minor conversation, making some jokes here and there that do well in helping to ease your nerves. You don’t think Yoongi would take notice, but he can be strangely observant. Perhaps the way you keep bouncing one of your legs helps let him know that something is up. 

“Are you okay?” He asks. 

You stop bouncing your leg. “It kind of feels like I’m about to perform, or something—it’s that same kind of rush.” 

Yoongi stares at you for a moment, before he looks out his side of the window. “Well, technically speaking, you are about to perform. You know, with this whole relationship being an act and all.” 

“Very true,” You say, nodding your head. “Do we need a game plan?” 

Yoongi shrugs. “I thought that we’d just wing it. We held hands back at the radio station so, uh, I’m assuming that you’re still comfortable with doing that?” 

“O-Oh yeah, of course!” 

“Then, we can do that. And walk around. Improvise while we do so—just see how the day goes.” 

You nod. “Okay, true, true. That sounds good.” You can’t help but give him a sneaky smile. “Look at you, Min Yoongi, you’ve become quite the performer. Improvisation used to be something you were never too good at.” 

Yoongi flushes a little, smiling back at you. “Give me a little credit. You gotta have backups for your backups, especially in situations when your sound gives up on you in the middle of one of your sets.” 

You laugh, because this reminds you about one of Yoongi’s first live sets along the very street the pair of you will be approaching shortly. His speakers had just given up, forcing Yoongi to go entirely acapella. In a way, that mistake ended up garnering him more fans who grew to respect his craft and talent for music and singing. But as they say, hindsight is 20 20. 

You and Yoongi continue to laugh about that memory for a few minutes before Taehyung arrives along the outskirts of the shopping district, pulling up along the curb. The car is on the other side of this bustling area, just a few feet away from the pedestrian walkway that is littering with people going to and fro. 

Taehyung turns around in his seat to give the pair of you a look. “Now kids, I want you to call me whenever you’re ready to get picked up.” He’s grinning around the words though 

You glare at him. “Sure thing dad,” You bite back, already opening the car door to take your leave. Your feet land onto the concrete of the sidewalk as you pull yourself into a standing position. Yoongi joins you shortly after, standing close to you. “Bye,” You say, slamming the door into Taehyung’s face before he can get in one last snarky reply. 

Yoongi looks like he’s trying hard not to laugh for Taehyung’s benefit. But it’s an act he can only hold together for so long, because he does start to laugh as soon as Taehyung and the company car turn the corner and disappear out of sight.

After a second, Yoongi turns to you and gestures towards the pedestrian walkway just a few feet ahead. “Shall we?” 

You nod, taking the hand that he extends out to you. Just an act, you tell yourself, you allow him to lace your fingers together. Nevermind the fact that the weight on your hand feels entirely too reassuring and comforting for the current context. 

Ignoring that feeling, you squeeze his hand and let him lead you towards the walkway, where you cross the street with no problem. Since Yoongi nor Seokjin had announced Yoongi’s presence at this plaza for the day, you can only hope that too much attention won’t be drawn to you. 

It’s a thought that you are able to entertain for a few minutes. Yoongi may not have the star quality status of mainstream celebrities (yet), but he’s still someone who has been on the radio, has done a country-wide tour, and has a youtube following of a couple million people (four now, the last time you checked—subscriber counts tend to zip by after a person hits a million). That small list of accomplishments is more than enough to drag in a few wandering eyes. Okay, maybe a little more than a few. 

You think that you’ve kind of developed a seventh sense to knowing when Yoongi was being recognized. It’s shown in the double-glances some people start shooting at him, at quick whispers behind closed hands, and craning necks over shoulders. 

You’re okay with people knowing about Yoongi’s current location, but the memory of his tours and even the crowd problem that came up during his street performances flashback in your mind. You don’t think you want to deal with that situation right now—secretly preferring if people just observed from a distance. 

Without thinking twice, you tighten your hold on Yoongi’s hand long enough to lead him into one of the stores along the sidewalk—an accessories booth with fake glasses, rings, earrings, the likes. 

Yoongi watches you, a touch of amusement in his eyes like he knows what you’re thinking. Still, he asks. “What are you doing?” 

You rummage through the wide selection of glasses, fully aware that one or two people have spotted the pair of you and are lingering near the entrance to catch a glance at what you two are doing. From the looks of it, no one is going to stir up a commotion. You still want to make sure. 

“You stand out,” You explain vaguely, finding a pair of circle glasses in black-rims from the pile before turning around and more or less smashing the glasses against his face. It’s difficult to try and put glasses on another person, you miss his ears a few times and almost get him in the eye, but Yoongi strangely enough lets you manhandle him. 

In the midst of your last few attempts you step forward and scoot even closer to him to try and get the glasses more properly situated on his face. Due to the proximity, Yoongi’s hands fly up from his side to avoid being pressed uncomfortably against his chest, choosing to rest at your waist. At first, you don’t feel the weight of his hands, you’re too focused on making sure the fake glasses you’ve selected can fit in place. 

As soon as you’ve properly aligned the glasses to his face, you lower your hands from his face. The action makes you suddenly hyper aware of the current position you’ve put yourself in. It’s not very often that you get handsy with Yoongi, it’s a side of you that comes out when the pair of you are in a hurry, but hardly during candid moments like this. 

Immediately, Yoongi’s hands feel like warm flames tickling your skin, and you suddenly feel hyper aware of his position, of his closeness. Your eyes flicker up, seeing his face with those glasses you’ve just shoved onto him sitting nicely at the bridge of his nose, highlighting the intensity of his gaze. The stare he’s giving you only heightens the gravitational pull you feel towards him. 

You don’t know how long the pair of you are just standing in the middle of the store, staring at each other, until you feel the weight of a third party approaching the pair of you. 

You practically shove yourself away from Yoongi, trying to make it seem as if you’re just stepping back to get an overall look at his face (Yoongi featuring glasses). Yoongi lets you go. 

The third party is an employee of the accessories booth, smiling widely. “Sorry to interrupt,” She says, looking over at Yoongi. “Sir, I just want to say that those glasses look great on you. And just to let you know we’re having a sale on that collection so it’s a buy one get the other one half off so maybe you two can match if you’re up to it…” 

You tune her out after a second, realizing that you can’t really keep up with what she’s saying considering the current firestorm that’s going on inside your head. Why couldn’t you have just asked Yoongi to put the glasses on himself? You curse yourself for letting your guard down—sometimes you try to do things of your own accord, and today you were paying the price.

When you don’t speak after a few seconds, Yoongi smiles at the employee. “Got it, thanks a lot.” He waits until the employee returns back to rearranging some earrings on a nearby shelf before turning back to you. “How does it look?” 

He does look good, but you play it down by tilting your head and settling with a shrug. “Well, you’ve looked better—but this’ll have to do.” 

Yoongi laughs, before he does something that catches you off guard. He steps closer to you. “So you think there are times when I do look good?” 

You try not to look too bewildered at his gesture. You can tell that he does feel a little nervous about the fact he’s testing the waters so boldly without any practice, but it’s all part of the act. Just as Seokjin said: be happy, be close. 

So you place a hand on his chest, pushing him slightly with your own little teasing smile. “I said better—that doesn’t always mean you were ever good to begin with.” 

Yoongi makes a noise of protest, and without warning just swings his arm around your shoulder and pulls you close to his side. “You’re breaking my heart everyday!” 

“You must like the abuse, you’re still with me,” You bite back playfully without thought. For a split second, it doesn’t feel like you’re in a store with people who vaguely recognize Yoongi’s appearance—for a split second, it feels like just you and him, and everything you’ve ever wanted. 

Upon Yoongi’s lips hover over the shell of your ear. “Good job, I think the group of girls outside caught our picture.” 

That dreamy fantasy where it was just you and Yoongi and nothing else mattered came crashing down, squaring you right back into reality. It’s not a disappointing feeling per say—just a vague extra hammering of your heartbeat, a vague guilt that you let your mind let its guard down like that. “Right,” You say. “Uh…” You try to think, which proves to be a difficult thing to do with Yoongi’s weight pressed up against you and everything. You clap your hands together. “Okay, let’s grab a hat and then we’ll be on our way.” 

You make sure to be a little less handsy when it comes to hat selections, but you knew there was only so far you could escape given the current context of the situation. Yoongi seems to know that, because he stays close to you as you’re both shifting through hats, and even when he pays for his hat and glasses combination before exiting the booth. The pair of you pass through the two girls that were lingering outside of the booth, where Yoongi gives them the smallest wave and hello before carrying on with the rest of the trip. 

With the hat and glasses combination, it definitely draws less attention to Yoongi’s classic fluffy black hair and gummy smile—especially if you’re using what was going on in the beginning of your trip as a baseline. This means that you and Yoongi can carry on with the rest of your outing with feeling the obvious heavy weight of gazes on your shoulder. 

With intertwined hands the pair of you first stop by one of the local cafes and sit right alongside the window to enjoy some pasta and soda combinations. You roll up the noodles onto your fork and clink utensils with Yoongi before slipping the noodles in your mouth—tomato sauce with flavor slipped into every side piece of noodle. It’s amazing, and you cannot help but gush so as you smile brightly around your fork. 

You’re too busy stirring your fork around yet another string of pasta that you fail to see the softening look of the boy across the table from you. It’s a look that disappears by the time your gaze glints back up to resume the conversation. The pasta is considered a snack above all else, so it doesn’t take long for the pair of you to finish up your meal. Leaving a tip behind on the table, Yoongi walks over to you just as you’re straightening up from your chair. Silently, he offers his hand to you. 

Knowing the routine by now, you take his hand, silently lacing your fingers together and letting him lead the way out of the cafe and back onto the sidewalk. The later afternoon shows itself in the steady increase of people, which is good because it makes you feel as if you can blend into the crowd either. There are still the occasional phones out, trailing after you and Yoongi as you walk along the sidewalk, but nothing that ever makes you feel as if you need to call Taehyung. 

“Actually, this isn’t as bad as I thought it’d be,” You grumble to Yoongi quietly, a comment that he laughs at. 

“I’m not that famous,” Yoongi jokingly teases you. “And my fans are just being respectful—give them a little credit.” His voice dies down shortly after, however, but it only takes you a few seconds to realize why. 

The pair of you, in the midst of your simple ‘walk along the sidewalk’ plan, have arrived at a very familiar street corner. The sunset means that arriving performers who work best once the sun leaves are just beginning to set up their stage—laying out equipment, testing out sound systems, saying hello to some passersby who recognize the artists getting ready. You can read the signs of these interactions very easily. After all, it’s what Yoongi used to do a year ago, at this very spot too. 

In front of you, a new performer, a singer, is setting up her own equipment—guitar in hand as she practices her strumming. You inch closer to Yoongi, your arms molded against each other. “Hey, hey,” You whisper at Yoongi. The boy leans over to better hear you. “She reminds me of you.” 

Yoongi laughs. “What do you mean? How?” 

You glance over at the girl again, not noticing the way Yoongi is still staring at you, quietly awaiting your answer. “You guys have the same drive,” You eventually note. “And the same determination. It’s easy to see in her, just as it’s always been like that for you…” You trail off, looking over to realize that he’s still looking at you. 

“You noticed those things, huh?” Yoongi asks quietly. 

His gaze is too enticing to look away from, pulling you in through a situation not unlike what had happened at the accessories shop earlier that afternoon. “I-I mean, of course I do…” Yoongi’s gaze feels like hot magnets that are just pulling the next words out of you. “I always notice with you.” 

The world seems to quiet down at that, everything slowing down as you feel yourself mentally curse yourself out for those words. Why would you say it like that? 

A million thoughts go through your head at once. You weren’t really lying or trying to play a part. You were being honest. You do always notice with Yoongi. And since he clearly only sees you as a friend that could participate in whatever scheme he can get himself into, then he would obviously hear your statement and think of it as nothing more than a friendly complement. Right? RIGHT? 

Except, Yoongi is still just standing next to you, staring at you, not making any sort of comment whatsoever. He has that unreadable expression in his gaze, a look he always gives you when you let the cracks slip in your facade, but it’s something he never talks about, never explains to you—just like right now. 

The silence grows tense, so tense that it begins to feel like weights on your shoulders, like a coil wrapping itself around your heart, because why isn’t he saying anything? 

Yoongi hums, low and throaty and that coil around your heart drops into your stomach. “Is that so?” He inquires softly, continuing to gaze at you. 

His gaze drops down to your lips, and that coil is replaced with butterflies all around you. It starts are a flutter in your stomach, in your heart, and your mind starts to race because what the fuck is happening?

Around you, the growing number of people means that someone accidentally bumps into you, driving you forward right into Yoongi’s chest. The pair of you stumble, effectively dissipating that cloud of tension that had threatened to curl through you. You cough, taking a small step away from Yoongi so that while the pair of you were still holding hands, that was the only thing connecting the pair of you. 

You and Yoongi don’t have another run in like that for the remainder of the date, as that late afternoon sunset fades away into nighttime and you and Yoongi spend that time trying to enjoy each other’s presence whilst also not engaging in too much physical contact. Your fingers remain loosely intertwined but it never tightens as if the small air of space between your hands can hide away the nerves and tension you feel yourself trying to contain. 

Even when Taehyung comes to pick the two of you up, and you no longer are under the obligation to hold hands, that air of space still feels heavy between the two of you. 

.

The overwhelming positive response of your first official public date sends Seokjin through the moon, as well as provides him with a drive to arrange and send you and Yoongi out on more dates. All of which, fortunately for you, don’t come nearly as close to the level of tension experienced from the first date. Partly because you know your limits, and go into each planned date with a level of expectation for yourself as well as rules that you’ve internally programmed yourself to follow every time you and Yoongi step out of the car. 

At the museum date, you make sure to keep your distance, using your intertwined hands with Yoongi as the only signal of your relationship. The pair of you joke around about the art pieces, whispering between each other about how many fans have taken pictures of the pair of you lingering about the museum, as well as relay information to each other about various rooms that you are interested in. But in a way, it definitely feels more like a typical friendly hang-out rather than a date. 

The same idea can be applied to the next date Seokjin sends you on—a casual date at one of the local botanical gardens, each garden filled with a different culture to serve as the theme for its layout and plant growth. Some gardens have little cafe booths and grassy fields to buy some snacks before sitting down to enjoy the sunlight, which is an idea that Yoongi suggests that the two of you do. He points to one of the ice cream shops along the outskirts of a garden, and claims a seat on one of the benches so the two of you can enjoy your treat. The current summertime weather emits a warmer heat and breeze that curls lightly through the air throughout the day, making for a perfectly comfortable season to wear a sundress. It’s also the kind of undetectable weather for ice cream to melt down the cone, onto unsuspecting fingers curled into the dry waffle texture. Yoongi makes that well aware by poking your cheek with his sticky finger, garnering several pictures of the encounter. 

Seokjin has even tried to implement studio life into his constant narrative to keep up the facade of your relationship with Yoongi. While the pair of you go on these occasional dates, Yoongi also has a deadline to fulfill with his album release. On the days where dates are not planned out, he’ll be in the studio—rearranging songs to fit in with the music beats that have more or less been tapered down to perfection. As his manager, sometimes you find yourself staying past your allotted time slot of being at the studio, before sneaking into the recording booth way past midnight to see what Yoongi and Namjoon are up to. 

Just as it follows: you straighten up, craning your neck backwards a little to allow for slight muscle extensions after sitting at a desk for an extra hour too long. With Yoongi’s album steadily approaching, there are interviews that need to be arranged, magazines and newspapers and radio shows alike all reaching out to you for the opportunity to cover Yoongi’s growth as an artist. Albums also equate to tours to help promote the album, and with the close call from Yoongi’s last experience with such, it means that you need to book more locations—or the same location across multiple dates. 

Overall, the growing pile of work means that you and everyone else at KSJ Studios are just as anticipated for Yoongi’s album release as the general public. It seems as if his collective fanbase are hoping and waiting under the same parameters: was the album going to be as good as they were expecting? 

You shoulder your purse, stepping out of your office and shutting it behind you. You navigate through the hallways, glancing sideways to peek out the long glassway of windows, all overlooking the city skyline, the multicolor lights flickering ahead in the distance. You quirk a lip. 

Your usual brisk pace dies down when you pass the studio you know Yoongi and Namjoon are recording in. The soundproof walls inside mean that hardly any music ever seeps out from between the cracks, only heightening your curiosity. Your busy schedule recently has made it so you have hardly been able to hear what Yoongi and Namjoon have come up with. 

You glance down at your watch. It was nearing midnight. Well, you think to yourself, a little peek wouldn’t hurt. You reach over to grip the door handle, pushing it down and pushing it open. Inside is the usual scene: Yoongi behind the glass, his fingers curled around the headphones as he speaks into the microphone. His voice filters through the main studio area, where Namjoon sits behind computers and music panels, capturing every single second of what is going on. 

Further driven by curiosity, you find yourself pulling harder at the door to let yourself in. Namjoon turns at the sound, but softens a little when he sees that it’s you. 

“Burning the midnight oil?” You tease, standing next to Namjoon at the table, watching Yoongi’s closed eyes as he loses himself in the song. 

Namjoon grins back. “You’re not gonna tell us to stop, are you?” 

“Hey.” You bring both arms up in a sign of surrender. “I’m off the clock on this one. Just wanted to see what you two were up to.” 

Suddenly, Yoongi calls your name from behind the glass, as the noise is amplified through the studio. You jump slightly, having not expected to be noticed so soon. Yoongi waves. “It’s late!” He calls. “What are you still doing here?” 

You lean forward to press the button that opens the two-way communication. “I’m not sure you heard, but there’s an artist in this studio that’s working on an upcoming album—it’s causing a lot of pain for the rest of us.” 

Yoongi laughs at that. “Touche, touche.” He brightens up slightly. “Hey, we’re wrapping up on this song, so if you stick around I’ll drive you home.” 

This is a natural offer for Yoongi to make, considering the extent to which you’ve spent long nights here. Brushing it off as nothing more than Yoongi just being a good pal, you nod and flash him a thumbs up. “Sounds good, sounds good. But take your time. Don’t let me get in the way.” 

You turn around, allowing the music of Yoongi’s song to refilter back through the studio. You park yourself atop the couch at the back, settling into the soft cushions. Come to think of it, falling asleep definitely isn’t the worst thing in the world to do—especially on this couch. And you’re exhausted, what with scheduling events all day and having to burn through your social battery by making one too many phone calls with various people within the industry. 

The last thing you remember is Yoongi’s soft humming that fades away into a quiet static. 

You jerk awake after what feels like a few minutes—but judging from your new position on the couch (horizontal this time, instead of vertical) and the blanket that has been tucked under your chin, you realize quickly that this few minutes has actually been a few hours. It might be hard to believe that, because the world around you still seems very similar to what it had been when you fell asleep. The lack of windows in the studio make it very difficult to distinguish time—although Yoongi’s voice sounds much closer than it had when you first fell asleep. 

You sit up. 

Namjoon and Yoongi jolt at your sudden movement. “Woah! She’s awake now,” Yoongi teases. 

Blinking for a few seconds, you turn your head to find Yoongi out of the recording booth and instead sitting at one of the tables in the actual studio setting. Surrounding Namjoon and Yoongi looks like an entire McDonalds family meal: chicken nuggets, $1 menu burgers, lots of french fries… 

You let out a breath to help further situate you to your new surroundings. “Min Yoongi…” You start, voice hoarse. “You said you were just finishing up.” 

“I was,” Yoongi explains, looking vaguely guilty. Only vaguely though. “But I had this sudden epiphany, like holy shit you really had to be here—it was crazy.” 

“I was here,” You choke out. 

Yoongi waves you off. “You know what I mean—here here. Anyways, yeah, we realized that we couldn’t leave, especially when I got Namjoon on the same page. He was just as excited as I was!” 

Namjoon slaps his hand. “Don’t drag me into this!” 

Yoongi ignores him. “Anyways, it’s like two in the morning and we got hungry. McDonalds is the food of champions, after all. You hungry? Here, have some water first.” He grabs a bottle of water from the table and unscrews the cap. Suddenly, he’s standing up and making his way towards the couch. He sits down next to you, offering the water to you. “Here. You must be thirsty.” 

You are. Still heavy-lidded too, but you try your best to blink away the exhaustion as you blindly reach for the water and manage to grab it after Yoongi adjusts his own angled arm. He watches you as you tilt your head back to down some of the water, accidentally drinking a little more than your mouth can handle. Some of it slides down the corner of your lip, making you angle your head back properly and remove your lips from the bottle head. 

Yoongi softens a little at your clumsy nature, tugging the sleeve of his long-sleeved forward in order to pat the corner of your mouth. “Aw, look at my tiny little baby, can’t even drink water properly,” He coos. 

You flinch slightly away from him, trying for a glare that comes out more like a pout. Yoongi laughs softly at the sight. “There are no cameras around us, Min Yoongi,” You grumble out. “You don’t need to be so attentive.” 

“Nevermind that, I’m just trying to be a friend. You want a french fry?” He reaches across the space separating the couch from the table, and grabs the box of salty french fries. His voice carries that usual positive disposition from previously, but the light in his eyes has died down a little. You don’t notice it, too busy looking at the french fries and realizing that you are actually a little hungry. 

The remainder of Yoongi and Namjoon’s break is dedicated to finishing up the family meal, before Yoongi looks at the clock and claps his hands together. “Hey Namjoon, I think I should take my girl home before we get back to working. Is that okay?” 

Namjoon’s eyes flicker between the two of you, but he relents. “Of course.” He utters your name. “Have a good night.” 

“I should be saying that to you,” You return teasingly, more of your senses have returned since putting food into your stomach. “See you tomorrow, Namjoon.” 

So Yoongi takes you home, driving through the darkened streets, making light conversation with you, completely ignoring the fact that he has just addressed you as his girl, before your phone starts to buzz in your lap. It’s a notification from Instagram, saying that Namjoon has tagged you in a picture. Raising an eyebrow, you tap the alert, which takes you to a picture from just a few minutes ago—you and Yoongi at the studio, Yoongi tapping gently at your face with his sweater paw. The caption burns into your mind: three am company, ft my favorite artist and his favorite girl. 

His favorite girl. 

His girl. 

.

.

CHAPTER 5: HIS GIRL 

. 

Yoongi’s album is entitled Y2, and it releases in the autumn, when the leaves are colored orange and the breeze has called for cozy jackets and big sweaters. It’s the perfect attire to wear as the earphones get plugged in and slipped into ears—curled up by soft cashmere and Yoongi’s luring voice. He’s got about sixteen songs on the album, a sweet mixture of loose beats and soft vocal voices that seem to simultaneously battle the drawn out harsh tone of stories extended across various three minute arrangements. The stories cover the low point—passive aggressive fights, of late nights, of “holding your hand, being so close, yet feeling so lonely”. But the songs also touch on the high points—coming back together, of soft morning light, of “being with you, wiping the traces of exhaustion from the corner of your lips, so close yet so far away, and still knowing you’re all I [he] could ever want”. 

At least, it is what one article touches upon in a Y2 review, where the journalist gives high remarks to Yoongi’s album. She calls it a refreshing interpretation of music, continuing in the era of singers actually singing about their feelings. More than that, an era of storytelling in music. Of anything, of life, of the highs and the lows—the sadness, the happiness, the softness. 

Safe to say that Yoongi is very excited to read this review on his phone, along with the surplus of positive things people have to say—from highly regarded journalists who belong to highly regarded newspaper companies, from social media, from his friends and family. Most especially, from you. You: whose hand he holds underneath the table as the numbers of listens start pouring in from various streaming websites. 

He’s been nervous about this. He’s put his blood, sweat, and tears into the creation of this album, every song has been nailed down to perfection. His name, and his heart, is back out into the world. 

The night of the album release is the launch party. 

“Dude, it’s supposed to be a chill night,” Jungkook calls from the hallway, and you can’t help but laugh at how exasperated the boy sounds. “Would you just calm down?” Jungkook emerges from the aforementioned hallway. Despite his mention of this ‘chill night’, he’s still wearing something vaguely casual chic. “You’re his manager. Manage his overthinking tendencies.” 

You laugh, watching as Jungkook plops down into the empty spot next to you on the couch, immediately leaning back into the cushion. “You know as well as I do that I don’t have that much control over him.” 

Jungkook shrugs his shoulders. “You probably have more control than you think.” 

Before you can ask more questions, think more deeply into what the fuck Jungkook means by that, his eyes land on the hallway entrance before straightening up in the cusion. Your eyes follow Jungkook’s movement, where Yoongi is now standing in the once vacant space of his apartment. But his stance isn’t what gets you to stare, what makes your breath feel like it has just caught in your chest. Although he’s following the ‘casual chic’ dress code that Seokjin has ordered, there’s something about a white t-shirt that hits differently when it’s paired with a coat and dark jeans that highlight his long legs. 

Yoongi gestures down at what he’s wearing meekly. “What do you think?” Although it appears that he’s addressing both you and Jungkook, his gaze is almost entirely fixed on you. 

Trying hard to ignore the racing of your heart, you straighten up and somehow manage to make your way over to him without snapping your ankle on your chunky platform boots. Doing your best to pay attention to his outfit over his face, you reach over to straighten out the silver necklace he’s got dangling at his chest. “You look good,” You settle calmly. “And Jungkook is right—it’s supposed to be a chill night. Seokjin just invited people from the label. And some of your friends as well. Relax a bit, will you?” 

Finally, you force yourself to level your gaze with Yoongi’s, fully confident that he’s just staring at you and probably wondering why you aren’t making eye contact with him. But when you do manage to glance at Yoongi’s face, you realize quickly that he’s not even staring at you. Instead, he’s staring down, at the curve of your throat. 

Without warning, your cardiac system seems to pump itself too hard, because your breath of surprise comes out through your nose, effectively bringing up and lowering your lungs so fast that anyone would be able to read your vital sounds now. This proves to be true, because Yoongi’s gaze darts up from your neck to your eyes so quickly, that you probably wouldn’t have noticed had you stuck around without looking at his eyes. Doing that, however, might have saved you from this now tricky situation. “Sorry,” Yoongi manages, eyes flickering between yours. “I, uh, didn’t hear what you said.” 

You realize the gravity of your position—your fingers now curled around the lapels of Yoongi’s jacket and one of his hands curled around your waist. That gravitational pull from every single one of your dates with Yoongi comes back again, curling around your neck and seeming to push you closer, closer—! 

Jungkook coughs loudly from behind you. 

You and Yoongi tear your gazes away from each other, as you uncurl both of your fingers from around Yoongi’s coat. “I-uh,” You start. “Was just saying that you should relax a little. You don’t have to try and impress anyone tonight.” 

Yoongi sneaks one last glance at you. “We’ll see,” He says, before stepping away from you and brushing past Jungkook to make his way towards the door. Jungkook turns to look at you, wide-eyed and mouthing the words ‘what the fuck was that?’ 

To which you shake your head, very sure that you don’t want to get into this tonight of all nights. This was supposed to be a celebration for Yoongi. Just as you’ve done for the past few months, you can continue to keep your emotions in check. Easy-peasy. 

Except it’s not easy-peasy because you see Seokjin at the club that he’s reserved for Yoongi’s album release party, and you realize that this is not a chill event for you—you still have to keep up the facade of your relationship in front of everyone. 

Yoongi seems to realize this at the same time you do, because he inches closer to you and laces your fingers together. From afar, Seokjin nods in an unspoken confirmation regarding your behavior. 

The beginning of the party starts with the trickle in of the various guests Seokjin has invited—from the friends he has made in the business, to others signed under the KSJ records label, to you, Jungkook, and Yoongi’s personal friends from college. The onslaught of new people fills you with the usual sense of excitement after not having attended a party in what feels like years. Working as a manager for a budding new artist is a lot less about the parties and more about the hustle. 

The first hour of the event is dedicated to the mingling of people—of free food and conversations around the bottomless cocktails that every guest rushes to the bar to take full advantage of. It’s nice to be able to catch up with the friends that you and Yoongi haven’t spoken to since graduation—which is the group you and Yoongi first approach, as Yoongi is slinging his arm around one Park Jimin. The latter whose eyes widen and lips curl up into a grin at the sight of the two of you. It’s nice to see an old friend again, it almost brings you back to a time where you and Yoongi were both in-tune and surface-level friends.

“Hey, congratulations on the new album release!” Jimin exclaims brightly after the three of you have acquired some drinks from the bartender. Jimin raises his drink first, to which you and Yoongi follow suit. 

As the glasses clink into the air, Jimin adds in another thing that reminds you of the fact that you and Yoongi are not back in college. You are here, in the present, with a fake relationship on the line. 

“And congratulations to your relationship announcement,” Jimin continues. 

You cough on your drink at that, lowering the glass immediately, feeling guilty all of a sudden. “Jimin, I know what all those reports have been saying…” 

“Don’t worry,” Jimin brushes off. “I read through some of them. You guys have been dating for three years, right? I’m honestly surprised I never saw it. In hindsight, it makes sense.” Jimin takes a longer sip, gesturing towards Yoongi with a noise of acknowledgement coming from his throat. “Hm—I guess because you guys are dating now, I can let the cat out of the bag—but, Yoongi liked you from the first moment he met you.” 

Now it’s Yoongi’s turn to choke on his drink, his chest heaving as he coughs into his sleeve. “Jimin, ah, you don’t need to talk about that—!” 

Jimin laughs, naturally assuming that Yoongi’s choke was done out of shyness and not something deeper than that. “What, you think just because this happened when we were at college, I wouldn’t have said something all these years later?” 

You can’t help but smile at their exchange. Although Jimin’s comment about Yoongi’s crush definitely piques your interest. You turn to Yoongi. “You had a crush on me back then?” 

Yoongi opens his mouth, but Jimin beats him to it. “Oh yeah, he wouldn’t shut up about you—said that you had this smile like starlight and were super easy to talk to.” 

“You have a great memory for someone who almost flunked college algebra,” Yoongi bites out hotly. 

Jimin, clearly oblivious to the situation, laughs out loud. “I agree. Normally I would have forgotten all about that. But.” With Jimin’s fingers still curled around the wine glass, he is only able to point an index finger out at Yoongi. “I’ll never forget that look in your eyes. Like you saw something you were never going to let go of.” 

You know Jimin is the one talking, but you cannot help but look at Yoongi as you feel your world spinning slightly around you. You blame it on the alcohol—as small of a sip as you have taken so far. Jimin, unlike a lot of the other parties you’ve been spending your time with, is not in on the joke of your relationship with Yoongi being a PR cover story. So there has to be some merit to it. Right? 

Right? 

Before you can even think how to phrase the billions of questions flying through your mind, the soft beat of a hand against a microphone sounds through the bar, as the original music that has been pounding through the club gets lowered to show that someone is trying to command everyone’s attention. 

It’s Kim Seokjin, situated at the stage, with the microphone in hand. “Hey everyone! Before we actually start unveiling the numbers that Y2 has hit so far, I just want to say a few words. First of all, thank you everyone so much for joining us tonight as we celebrate the anticipated release of Min Yoongi’s album.” 

Lots of claps sound from the guests, several cheers, one of you and Jimin join in just for the sake of embarrassing Yoongi. If he’s flustered with the attention, he’s gotten a lot better at hiding it. 

“Actually,” Seokjin continues. “Why don’t we have the man of the hour join us? After all, my words don’t mean shit up here—I wasn’t the one who just released new music. Yoongi, come on up!” 

Lots more claps and cheers, and the music volume increases dramatically just to give Yoongi some sort of platform to enter on. It makes you laugh. Seokjin is clearly having fun with his role. So you watch, sticking by Jimin, as Yoongi emerges from the crowd to step onto the stage. Seokjin pulls the microphone away from the pair of them as he leans over to whisper something into Yoongi’s ear, where the latter nods a few times before accepting the microphone that is now being extended out to him. 

Yoongi clears his throat, speaking over the lowering music. “Hi guys, thanks so much for coming out,” He starts, laughing a little when there is another round of cheers. “As I’m sure a lot of you know, this is my first full length album that’s being released out into the world and it’s basically everything I ever could have dreamed of. One lesson that I’ve learned is that making albums of both the cover songs I did and the original songs I would produce in my shitty college apartment is a completely different experience than getting professional equipment to do a lot of the work for me.” 

You laugh at that, the memories floating through your mind. 

Yoongi smiles a little at the feedback he gets. But he continues. “And of course a lot of that professional equipment was able to work in my favor because I had helped. Seokjin of course, deserves a thank you for letting me learn and experiment with new sounds, and for letting me take a risk by trying out beats and stories that a lot of people might have turned down. And Namjoon.” He seems to spot Namjoon from the crowd, because he delivers a nod. “For being more than my favorite producer, but also my mentor and my guide. We had a lot of lightbulb late nights together. And finally…” His eyes land on you, and you feel yourself self-consciously straighten up. “Y/N—my Y/N. For those of you who don’t know, my girlfriend is my manager and we recently made our relationship public. I thought the transition from private to public would have been the hardest thing of my life, but she made it so easy. Just as she’s always made it so easy to inspire my music, to be my best friend—and to love her.” 

Love. 

You suddenly feel like you’re seeing the world through a small lens, unable to believe the words you are hearing and the sights you are seeing. Yoongi is staring right back at you, with all this love and adoration in his eyes, lips quirking up as a result of the coos from the audience. 

It’s a vague kind of spotlight anxiety from seeing so many people looking at you considering the circumstances. It’s a feeling that only heightens when Yoongi opens his mouth again to continue speaking. “Actually, honey, why don’t you come up here, so I can thank you properly.” 

The whoops and cheers sound again, and Jimin has to nudge you in the ribs to get you to move. Your initial thoughts are one of panic, suspicion, and curiosity. One glance at Seokjin’s direction conveys the high influx of questions that are flowing through your mind—what exactly are those two boys planning? 

Yoongi’s hand extends out to you, helping you up onto the stage, as you turn around to face the crowd of people Yoongi has just been addressing. Of course, you have less experience hiding your general shyness around crowds, so the most you can muster is a smile and a wave. 

Yoongi laughs into the microphone. “Don’t worry baby, I didn’t call you up to embarrass you. I just wanted to show you that all of this…” He gestures to the whole club, the crowds of people who have taken time out of their schedule to show support, the sounds of his album now filtering through the speakers. “All of this was possible because you believed in me, you supported me, and agreed to help me work toward my dream. This is all as much yours as it is mine.” 

Then, he surprises you by leaning forward to brush his lips across your cheek—a gesture that further incites a bigger reaction of positive cheers and hoots from the audience. You turn your head immediately towards him as soon as he pulls away, your eyes wide with surprise. After all, you and Yoongi have never discussed the rule on kissing before, have never brought up any sort of lip contact to any degree. His boldness is something that takes you completely off guard. 

And judging from the uncertain look that dances behind his eyes, a flicker that only you can see and decipher, you can tell that he hadn’t been expecting that from himself either. 

You’re about to pull away, maybe walk off the stage and take another drink to whatever the fuck that was all about, before Jimin’s familiar voice sounds off from within the crowd. 

“You call that a kiss, Min Yoongi?” Jimin calls, close enough now that it’s easier to see him. “C’mon, kiss your girlfriend like you mean it!” 

The rest of the crowd immediately catches onto what Jimin is doing, and they play into it immediately. Suddenly, shouts of “KISS HER, KISS HER!” sound throughout the guests. 

The new direction that this has taken over the span of just a few seconds seconds you into another wild onslaught of differing emotions. Nevermind the fact that you’ve never agreed to actually kiss Min Yoongi. Obviously, the internal choice has been made for a handful of reasons, none of which you can explain to Yoongi or Seokjin without digging yourself further into this hole where you would truly have no way of escaping.

Which is why you clearly can’t say anything of protest right now. Everyone thinks the pair of you have been dating for years, and that kissing has become a natural action for you both to do. Of course they would play into Jimin’s game, thinking nothing harmful of it. 

Your heart pounds loudly in your ears as you shift your gaze from the crowd of people before you to Yoongi, who looks equally as stunned by the request as you. He plays it off a little bit, however, smiling as he brings the microphone close to his mouth again. “I’m not sure you all would want to be subjected by some PDA, especially you over there, Park.” 

Jimin makes a noise of disapproval. “It’ll just be this one time! I’m sure people don’t mind! Spread the love, Min.” 

Other people from the guest list add on that they don’t mind in between their laughter and giggles, probably writing off you and Yoongi’s shy disposition as just that: a shy, private couple who is still getting used to the watchful eye of the general public. Nevermind the fact that you and Yoongi have just never kissed each other before. 

Yoongi then turns to look at you, microphone down to his legs so that it can’t pick up the small whispers the pair of you start exchanging. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have brought you up here…” 

“No, no, it’s fine, I understand why you did it…” You trail off. “Kissing my cheek, on the other hand…” 

Yoongi groans. “Yeah, that’s my bad. Seokjin said I could consider doing it but I wasn’t thinking when I leaned over. I completely forgot that Jimin is a menace to society. I’m gonna kick his ass after this.” 

You want to continue this private, side-lined conversation, but it is overrun by the louder voices that keep repeating the same two lines over and over again: “KISS HER, KISS HER!” until the echoes of it start ringing in your ear drums. 

Yoongi switches topics to the more pressing one at hand. “So, uh, I guess we should…” 

You exhale quickly, nodding. “It seems so…” 

Yoongi inches closer to you, his breath fanning your lips as your eyes instinctively close. “I’m sorry,” He whispers, the final thing he says to you before he kisses you. 

Now, let’s backtrack a little. You’ve liked Yoongi for years, so to say that you’ve never thought of this moment would just be a lie to yourself. Of course you’ve thought about kissing Yoongi. Or, at the very least, you’ve caught yourself staring at his lips when he would go off on another spiral about his passions. That type of talking is very hot, so what? 

But you never thought you would be able to experience it, to kiss the lips you’ve flickered your eyes to more times than you’re willing to admit. So as soon as you feel the weight of his mouth against your own, your brain goes haywire. Suddenly, all your senses are hyper focused on Yoongi—from his lips, to the warmth of his body wrapping itself around you, to his fingers curled around your wrist. 

You hardly hear the cheers from the audience, too busy allowing your heart to melt into butterflies as he presses harder into you, moving his lips against yours. You part your lips as well, curling your wrist to gather the material of his shirt into your hands. 

It feels like time has stretched out before Seokjin claps both of you on the back, forcing you to jolt away from Yoongi. He actually looks flustered this time—pink cheeks and reddened lips, his eyes are fixated on you, chest heaving. You feel like you’re in a similar state of shock, especially because kissing Yoongi makes something dawn on you. A realization of ice cold water. 

This isn’t just a crush you’ve harbored on Yoongi for the past few years. This isn’t just some small schoolgirl crush living out a fantasy, or something you can easily brush off, or simple butterflies you can squash everytime he reaches out to hold your hand. This is love. You’re in love with your best friend. And you have absolutely no fucking clue what to do about it. 

If the audience is taken aback by this long-term couple in front of them looking zero point two seconds away from devouring each other in a frenzied passion, no one settles long enough to comment or stare upon it for too long. Seokjin does well to grab the microphone from Yoongi and bring the attention back to the actual party on hand. He mentions another round of free alcohol, which are two words that can take anyone’s attention away. 

“And Yoongi, uh, I actually need to borrow for you a moment,” Seokjin murmurs in a low voice. “So I hope I’m not taking away from…” He trails off, gesturing awkwardly between the two of you. “Whatever this is…” 

“Oh no!” You interject quickly, taking a step away from Yoongi. “Not taking away at all.” 

Yoongi gives you a concerned look. “Maybe we should, uh, talk about that…” 

You shake your head. “No, it’s okay, seriously.” You shrug a shoulder. “Just part of the act, right?” 

Yoongi’s concern melts away into something that might be hurt, but it’s gone just as quickly as it had come. “I’ll try not to be long then.” 

You nod. “Yeah, no problem—no need to rush or anything… I’ll just be hanging out with Jimin…” 

Yoongi gazes at you for a few seconds longer, before he lets himself get dragged off the stage by Seokjin. Rather than immediately go out to seek your old friend, you find your gaze following after the two of them, trying to see where exactly Yoongi is getting roped into. 

You continue to trail after them in the club, until the two of them are pulled into a booth—the person opposite of them makes your lips part in utter shock. 

. 

“Yoongi, I want you to meet an old friend of mine,” Seokjin starts as he and Yoongi dive deeper into the thrones of people. Yoongi feels himself being directed towards a corner booth, currently occupied by two people. “She wanted me to introduce you.” Finally, the pair of them stop at the head of the table. “This is Lee Jieun.” 

Right off the bat, Yoongi is vaguely insulted that Seokjin thought that someone like Lee Jieun needed an introduction—because who wouldn’t know who Lee Jieun? 

Lee Jieun, like Yoongi, is a singer-songwriter with a sweetheart reputation, who weaves stories and experiences through her music. But unlike Yoongi, who got his start through Youtube and built himself from the ground up, Lee Jieun signed into a record label at the age of 15. As one could tell, she was that talented. Still is, as a matter of fact. Her albums are continuously winning awards, establishing herself in the charts, connecting with people all over the world. He would know—when Yoongi finally discovered Jieun in the midst of his Youtuber days, it was the catalyst that served as the biggest influence towards the release of his original songs. The fact that they’re both the same age only makes Yoongi even more in awe of her. 

Yoongi being able to see Lee Jieun, in the flesh, is a powerful enough sight to leave him speechless. 

Lee Jieun sits at the booth, looking all prettied up with her big eyes and red lips. Everything about her seems regal, from the smile she flashes Yoongi to the hand she extends out towards him. 

It takes a second for Yoongi to register what he needs to do. Hastily, he steps forward and takes her hand in his. Despite her delicate nature, her handshake is firm as the pair of them move their joined hands up and down once. Honestly, considering their status difference, he feels like a handshake is too casual for them, but he doesn’t speak of it. He just basks in the moment, until he lets go of her hand. 

Afterwards, he joins Seokjin in the booth, sliding into his seat. 

Jieun smiles brightly at the two of them. “Thank you for going out of your way to come talk to me. I hope I wasn’t disrupting your night.” 

Yoongi shakes his head immediately. “Oh, god no. Of course not. I’m just—I’m really honored to see you here. I-I had no idea that you were friends with Seokjin.” 

Jieun laughs. “Oh yeah, we go way back—we were actually signed under the same label. Seokjin left to pursue management a few years ago, but we’ve always kept in touch.” She reaches over to take her glass of soda from the table. “He told me when he signed you, you know. He said that you were doing street performances a few cities down?” 

Yoongi flushes at that. “Oh yeah—my origin story.” 

“I mean, everyone starts from somewhere,” Jieun brushes off, laying down her cup again. “So I’ve honestly been looking out for your name since Seokjin signed you. I heard about your tour, but knew that I wanted to wait until your first full length album just to make sure your reputation was a little more fleshed out before bringing up my idea with Seokjin.” 

Yoongi blinks, switching his gaze from Jieun to Seokjin. The latter nods, as if to let him know that Jieun would be the one providing information. So Yoongi turns back to Jieun. 

Jieun continues. “Since it seems that we’ve both developed a songwriting, storytelling reputation amongst the music industry, I was hoping that you’d agree to do a collaboration with me. Just one single, both of our names attached to it. It’s been awhile since I worked with another artist, and I’m sure that doing this will only further put your name out there. It could also be a really good learning experience.” 

Yoongi almost cannot believe his ears. Lee Jieun wanted to do a collaboration? With him and his inexperienced ass? 

Yoongi coughs out in wonder. “Wow.” 

Jieun smirks. “Not what you were expecting?”

“No, no, not at all!” Yoongi reassures, but then he backpedals a little. “I mean, it’s not that I was expecting you to ask for a collaboration—I just—!” He cuts himself off, exhaling heavily to calm his nerves. “It’s just, you were a very big reason I even wanted to sing my original songs back when I was street performing. So the fact that you’re asking me to do a song together is honestly so crazy to me.” 

Jieun grins. “I’m honored—so are you agreeing to my request?” 

Almost on instinct, Yoongi turns to Seokjin. It’s not that Yoongi doesn’t want to do the collab, it’ll probably be the single most greatest thing to happen in his career, but Seokjin was technically his boss and their contract had it so Seokjin usually had to final say in what he believed would be best for him. 

And for the briefest flicker of a second, Yoongi’s mind switches to you. More than Seokjin’s approval, he finds himself seeking your praise the most. After all, you know how much he admires Lee Jieun. He wants to share this moment with you. 

Instead of jumping up to go find you, he forces himself to stay rooted to his seat. “I-I think I would be the one who feels honored. T-That is, if Seokjin says it’s okay.” 

Seokjin holds his arms out. “Of course it’s okay! The collaboration was also partly my idea. Anywho.” He turns back to Jieun. “We’ll have to run through Yoongi’s schedule with his manager just to see when he’s available. But after that, we can get started.” 

At the mention of you, Yoongi’s manager, Jieun’s eyes brighten with her smile. “Oh yes, your girlfriend.” She sits a little straighter, trying to seek you out. “She’s here at the event right? I’d really love to meet her, if that’s okay?” 

Yoongi nods immediately. “O-Of course!” He also sits up a little straighter, moving about in his seat to try and locate you. He finds you near the bar, seeming to have ditched your hang-out with Jimin, as you take an occasional sip of your drink. “She’s over there.” 

With a nod, the three of them move out of the booth and towards the bar, where you’re still slouched over, scrolling through Instagram on your phone. You seem to notice their approaching presence, because you take a quick glance over to acknowledge them, before doing a double take when you realize who else is in Yoongi’s company. 

“Oh my gosh!” You exclaim, immediately sliding out of your bar stool, your gaze fixated on Jieun. 

Seokjin laughs at your starstruck reaction. “Y/N, this is Lee Jieun—but I’m guessing you already knew that?” 

You seem to realize your behavior, because your shyness comes back. “I do. Um, hi! It’s really nice to meet you.” You reach over to offer your hand. 

Jieun takes it, shaking for a second. “The pleasure is all mine.” 

Your gaze immediately flints to Yoongi. “Yoongi, you didn’t tell me that you were acquainted with Lee Jieun herself!” 

Yoongi waves you off. “Actually, Seokjin is the mutual party.” 

Your lips part in shock, as you nod once, twice, in understanding. “Well, uh, in that case, I hope you’re having a good time tonight, Jieun.” 

“It’s really a wonderful launch party,” Jieun praises. “But I do admit to having ulterior motives. I actually came by to ask Yoongi if he wanted to work on a collab song with me.” 

Your lips part, and Yoongi feels a vague sense of pride swell up in his chest when you turn to look at him, eyes brighter than they have been all night. “Yoongi! That’s so amazing! I hope you agreed.” 

“I did, actually,” Yoongi says with the nod of his head. If you notice that he’s puffing his chest out a little as your words go straight to his head, you don’t comment on it. “We’ll definitely have to go over my schedule with you, pick some dates where Jieun and I can have some writing sessions, and then the recording sessions, just to name the big picture stuff that’ll have to get done. But we should all be good to go.” 

As Yoongi continues to list everything that’ll need to be done in order to create music together, your gaze shifts between Yoongi and Jieun occasionally, taking in their equal excitement and passion for the long project ahead. It isn’t until the end, when you and Yoongi leave the launch party, after having collected praise and much more from the many friends and connections that have been gained throughout the night, you enter the car wearing an unreadable expression—like you’re pondering something that threatens to break you. 

. 

To be frank, you aren’t surprised that Lee Jieun asks Yoongi to collaborate together. Sure, maybe she came a little earlier than you had expected, but you always knew it was a matter of time before the pair of them met. Their reputations are too similar, their personalities too good together; you’re sure that fate would have lined them up at some point. 

It just feels like maybe the universe made them a little too perfect for each other—and it’s something that becomes glaringly obvious as a month of songwriting goes by without a hitch. Every few days, Jieun would turn up to KSJ Records, bright-eyed and always looking so, so pretty. Every few days, Jieun and Yoongi would sit next to each other, conversing about the story of their song, both bright-eyed with unbridled affection for what they were writing. And sure, Namjoon would be a part of these songwriting sessions. But that’s not the point. 

The point is that as Yoongi gets bigger and success becomes a more natural occurrence in his life, the more people he’s going to meet with whom he shares a common interest and dedication for. People he would probably (most definitely) get along with a lot better than he could get along with you. Friendship is nice and all, but it can’t substitute for the powerful combination of passion, intimacy, and commitment that comes out of romantic companionship. 

And you see it in his eyes: the excitement he gets when he’s surrounded with like-minded people. You’re Yoongi’s manager, sure, and one of his best friends, obviously, but there’s only so much you can contribute to conversations about the actual music. Truth be told, when it comes to editing, you just do whatever Yoongi tells you to. And don’t even get you started on the music arrangements—you can’t even lift a candle to what Yoongi himself can do. Or Namjoon. Or especially Lee Jieun. 

And although you know that Yoongi means no ill-intention, it feels as if he takes every opportunity to remind you of that fact. 

“I mean, she’s amazing.” He’s sighing dreamily over his bulgogi. The pair of you are at a corner booth in a Korean barbeque restaurant, on another fake date Seokjin has prearranged for you. It’s not the first date you’ve been on since Jieun entered the picture, and it’s definitely not the first time Yoongi is bringing her up. And although this isn’t even a real date, and although this isn’t a real relationship, there’s only so much you can take—both as a friend and as someone who is starting to feel the curl of jealousy in your stomach. 

Still, you refuse to let the cat out of the bag. So you sigh, picking up your chopsticks and digging into your meat. The only thing you can manage is: “I bet she is.” 

But Yoongi doesn’t stop there. “You should have seen her today, she was on fire. Songwriting abilities, obviously. We were stuck on this one part of the song, but then she just swooped in with this perfect one-liner that made my heart drop. Seriously, it was so cool. I don’t know how her mind works, but I want to keep hanging out with her to learn more.” 

You almost drop your meat completely into your salt dish, but you recover quickly with a cough. The noise helps cover up the fact that your heart feels the white-hot burn of frustration and confusion. “W-Well, you guys do make a good team. You know, being on the same level talent-wise.” 

Yoongi laughs at that, completely oblivious to your state of mind. “Talent-wise? I wouldn’t say I’m anywhere near the level Jieun is at…” 

As he trails off, you dare yourself to flicker your gaze up to him, seeing the pink flush that dusts along his cheeks. Interpreting this as shyness for the internal praise and fondness he has for Jieun, you look away and pick up the plate of raw beef brisket to dump into the grill. 

Yoongi notices what you’re doing, and immediately reaches over to take the plate from you. “Here, let me do it.” 

A part of you wants to fight about it, but you know doing so will just lead you down the path of no man’s land. So you let go, offering the tongs to Yoongi as he takes it to scrap the meat into the grill between the two of you. He takes the silence as an opportunity to further gush about Jieun, and how he can’t wait to work on music arrangements with her, how he’s excited to record the song with her, so on and so forth. 

How could you even contribute to a conversation like this? He’s talking to you about a girl in a way that reminds you of your college days—back when the pair of you were strictly friends and nothing more, and he would talk to you about girls he thought were cute. It feels a little bit like right now. Yoongi and Jieun do make a good team, they get along together, and have formed a closeness within such a short period of time that anyone passing by the studio would assume they’ve been friends for years. Or, even further, that they were dating. At the very least, Yoongi speaks highly enough of Jieun that one could assume that she was the one he liked, and not you. 

It feels a little bit like being left behind—it’s a thought that only continues to fester. 

.

It takes a few more weeks, but you eventually draft up Yoongi’s tour schedule. It’s a few sheets of paper that detail the duration of the tour, the cities, the locations, the dates of each location, the size of the venue, how ticket distribution will work, on, and on, and on—all information that Yoongi has insisted on knowing about ever since he was signed into KSJ Records. The man just likes to know what his fans have to go through in order to see him, and you respect that. 

However, before you can officially create the tour post that’ll be up on the KSJ Records social media account, it needs to go through a final approval: from Yoongi himself. And because he likes to take notes with paper and pen, like the old-fashioned songwriter he is, he’s asked you to print everything out for him. 

This is what leads you to stand near the printer in your office, waiting for the last page to print and slide into your awaiting hands. Once all the pages come out, you flip through them to make sure that every city on the tour is accounted for. You turn back to your desk, collecting some magazines that have been stacked on top of your table. 

Along with getting the setlist for the tour, Yoongi had also asked you to get a hold of some magazines and articles that provided reviews from his first tour. Something about wanting to read any critiques people might have had for his show.

You gather the small stack as well before sliding it into your bag and stepping out into the hall. It’s surprisingly early for you to be leaving your office, the late afternoon, but there’s a part of you that just wants to give the document stack to Yoongi and dip out for the rest of the night. By now, the doubts of Yoongi’s affection for Jieun has dug itself deeper into your mind and letting yourself be around Yoongi for too long brings up too many questions that cannot be good for your mentality. 

Questions like: If he could, would Yoongi prefer to date Jieun for real? 

Was Jieun better than you? 

And the best one of them all: Were you just holding Yoongi back from better relationships? 

You continue to walk down the hallway of the building, your pace a little slower than normal because of the cloudy thoughts that threaten to overtake your mind. Finally, you stop outside of the studio you know Yoongi and Jieun are recording in. You take in a deep breath, forcing your usual cheery personality to shine through as you pull down on the handle and let yourself into the studio. 

As soon as you step inside, you almost wish that you had just slid the documents under the door. The sight of that would probably have been easier to process than the one in front of your eyes right now. 

Namjoon, as usual at the desk surrounded by music panels and laptops, playing the recently finished music through the recording booth situated on the other side of the glass. Behind this aforementioned sheet of glass are Jieun and Yoongi. With headphones on, they’re standing next to each other behind the microphone. Their shoulders practically touching, you don’t miss the way they both keep sneaking glances at each other, the corner of their lips turning up, looking like they’re having the best time together. 

You try not to slam down the door behind you, but your grip on the knob is a little too harsh to call for a softer click. Fortunately (or unfortunately, given how much fun Yoongi and Jieun look like they’re having—wait, did Jieun just touch Yoongi’s arm), neither of them notice your arrival. 

Namjoon, however, notices. 

He turns around to look at you. “Hey, what’s up?” 

You try for a smile, your hand brushing against the door. “Sorry, I slipped a little,” You lie cleanly. You hold up the documents in your other hand. “Yoongi wanted me to prepare a few things for him, stuff for the upcoming tour.” 

Namjoon gestures for you to sit next to him, something that you follow. As soon as you sit down, Namjoon asks to see these aforementioned documents, which you pull out of your bag and hand over to him. It’s quiet between the two of you, the only sounds being the laughs and giggles between Yoongi and Jieun—as if one has them as just told a secret only understood between them. It’s a feeling that doesn’t settle well in your stomach. 

“Wow, this is very efficient,” Namjoon observes, seeming completely oblivious to your internal seething. 

You shrug, eyes still locked in on the inside of the recording booth. “Yoongi asked for the best, so I gave him the best. Hey, so—!” You change topics. “Is there a reason they’re in the booth together? Don’t a lot of collabs nowadays just exchange everything virtually?” 

Namjoon hums. “I didn’t know the jealous girlfriend was a full time act of yours now.” He’s clearly just trying to have fun. After all, only Taehyung and Jungkook know about your crush on Yoongi. “But honestly? I’m not too sure. They just wanted to go in together—said that they could be more personal when working in a face-to-face setting. And they’re actually making a lot of changes as they keep going through the song and hearing how the music is turning out. They’re a good team.” 

Namjoon’s usage of the very same phrase that has been haunting you for the past few weeks doesn’t sit well in your stomach. 

Namjoon returns the documents to you. “Did you want to talk to him now? See if he’s cool with you just dropping it off?” 

You nod. “If that’s okay?” 

Namjoon smiles. “We’ll just wait until they take a breath.” 

Waiting doesn’t turn out to take a long time, because Jieun stops the song to make another statement about what line should replace the one they just sung. And Yoongi looks at her like she’s just hung up all the stars in the galaxy. 

“Namjoon, do you mind starting the song over? We got a new idea for this part,” Jieun calls from inside the booth. 

Namjoon leans forward to press the button. “Actually, you guys have some company.” 

You lean forward as well. “Hey guys.” 

Jieun grins, waving at you through the window. Yoongi acknowledges you as well, but there’s something suddenly stiff about his movements. You notice that he’s also stepping away from Jieun, as if to hide what has been going on between him and Jieun. As if that makes you feel any fucking better. 

“Hey, uh, Yoongi?” You continue. “I have the documents you asked me to prepare for you. I can just leave it here for you to go over if that’s cool. Maybe take a little bit of time today to go over everything.” 

Yoongi thinks about this for a moment. “Actually… honey,” He adds the pet name as an afterthought. “Do you mind dropping it off at my apartment? We’re probably just gonna be focusing on the song until pretty late tonight.” 

The acknowledgement Yoongi has that he and Jieun are in for another late night only grows the seeds of doubt in your mind, as you clench your teeth. You can’t let your insecurities get the best of you. Not now. “Sure,” You manage, trying for a small. 

Yoongi grins. “Thanks baby. I’ll make it up to you this weekend, okay?” 

At this point, it just feels like he’s teasing you and it’s something you find you aren’t really in the mood for. So you manage a curt reply, giving a positive response that you’ll drop by his apartment to deliver the documents regarding his upcoming tour, before you’re up and out of the studio before Jieun, Yoongi, or Namjoon can say one last thing. But you don’t care. The sooner you’re out of there, looking at the heart-eye festival between Jieun and Yoongi, the better you feel. 

So you take the train to Yoongi’s apartment, a now much bigger space in a slightly nicer area of the city. At least, nicer than the college apartment he shared with Jungkook that was no stranger to bed bugs and constant maintenance issues. The newer apartment Yoongi has recently acquired is nicer, has more modern finishes, and is now a space he fills in all by himself. 

As you unlock the door to his apartment, you immediately make your way down the small hallway entrance, where a mirror and his shoes occupy a small corner of the area. The hallway opens up into the living room, and you turn on the light and take in the vaguely familiar sight of his new furniture—home pieces that you helped arrange with him a few months ago. Come to think of it, that was probably the first and last time you had come by Yoongi’s apartment. Before certain life elements got involved. 

Tonguing the inside of your cheek, you plop yourself down on the couch and place the document stack at the corner of the coffee table. It looks rather strange just stacked like that, no context provided, so your eyes shift over for a pen and a post-it note. 

You find a stack of post-it notes, and find a pen sticking out from inside a notebook. Paying little attention to the notebook, you just make a grab for the pen and rip it out of the notebook with the aggression of a gorilla. The notebook flies open, the contents inside barring itself right at you. 

Your immediate reaction is to close the notebook. After all, it just takes one glance at Yoongi’s scrambled handwriting to know that this is one of his writing journals. His most recent one, in fact, judging from how flat the pages after the one currently open appear—like it hasn’t been stained with a pen yet. 

You want to close it—you really do. You and Yoongi have built a friendship on trust. That’s what kept you both together throughout the long years, and you know better than to risk everything just for the chance to scope through what is essentially a songwriter’s diary. 

Your fingers inch towards the edge of the book, about to close it shut, before the title at the top header makes you freeze. 

MY SECRET 

Without meaning to, your eyes read over the lines. And you feel sick to your stomach. 

The song is so raw, so personal, brimming with desire in every verse. It covers lingering stares, secret smiles. A barrier. How Yoongi “wants you more and more with each day, but I know I can’t have you, that I shouldn’t have you”. And you know Yoongi—you know him better than anyone. You know that for all the love songs he sings and the topics he sings about that he feigns ignorance for, he draws on personal experience to write his music. How else could he make everything so personable? 

How could this song not be about Jieun? 

The lingering stares, secret smiles: it clearly points to the events in the recording booth you saw earlier that day, and if he’s writing a song about it, it’s obvious that today hadn’t been the first time for those stares and smiles. 

The barrier: obviously you. The relationship facade he’s forced to put up with you, when he’s clearly so much happier with someone else. 

With those factors, it’s so clear that Yoongi would want Jieun, but would be unable to have her. 

And you’re just the girl in the background with the starry eyes for a guy who would never even look at you the way you want him to. 

That realization brings the hot tears to your eyes, as you slam the notebook shut and bring your hand to your mouth, biting your finger to muffle your sobs. What comes out is the build-up of months of insecurities, of having to keep the biggest secret of your life to yourself, and the additional jealousy brought in by a third party. 

This despair and sadness isn’t good for you, and you know that only continuing to hide it away in light of Yoongi and Jieun’s partnership, in light of your feelings, and Yoongi’s exploding career—you should only be able to handle so much. You’re a human being, and you have your limits. 

And you think this might be it. 

.

.

CHAPTER 6: TRUTHS 

. 

“Y-Yeah, I think it’s food poisoning or something,” You speak quietly into the phone, playing with the edges of your blanket. “I’m really sorry, Seokjin, I’ll try to send out some emails to respond to news outlets today…” 

“Hey, no, you’re totally fine,” Seokjin replies hastily. “I don’t blame you for that. Just try and get some rest today, and update me on how you feel tomorrow.” A pause. “What was it?”

“Uh, it must have been in the takeout I got last night.” That’s a lie. You cooked your own dinner last night, and are lying straight through your teeth regarding your condition, but you can’t find it in yourself to go to work today. Not since the discovery of Yoongi’s crush on Jieun made you want to dig yourself into a hole and never crawl out. 

It’s not like you ever thought you had a chance with Yoongi—but you had just thought maybe something would be different after the hand holding, after his radio interview, after your kiss together. 

But Jieun serves as that nice splash of reality that Yoongi wants someone better than you. Someone more like him—someone passionate about music, who gets along with him better, who can write music with and write music about. 

At this point, it just feels like you’re a weight, dragging Yoongi down in the waves of his past. 

On the other side of the phone, Seokjin sighs. “Damn, that’s always the worst. Those are the ones you suspect the least. Anyways, I’ll let you go. Get some rest. Maybe I’ll let Yoongi know so he can bring some soup.” 

The mention of Yoongi makes you feel like you could actually get food poisoning. “You can let him know, but he’ll probably be too hung up on Jieun to give a shit.” 

Seokjin, of course, knows nothing, so he laughs at what he thinks is your joke. “That’s true. They’re actually at it again today, which is surprising considering Jieun only comes by a few times a week. But no, she was here bright and early and so was Yoongi. Basically, they showed up to the studio at the same time. They called it fate, or some shit like that.” 

“You don’t say,” You return dryly. 

Namjoon’s confirmation that they make a good team, paired with Seokjin’s admittance that Yoongi is hung up on Jieun, puts you in a delicate mood for the rest of the day. You try to watch some TV shows, some movies, play some video games, but you are constantly distracted by thoughts of Yoongi and Jieun. 

You’re all curled up on the couch, about to click into another movie, when there’s a knock on your door. Your heart leaps in your throat as you stand up. You hate the brief flicker of hope in your chest, the curiosity that perhaps Yoongi is the one knocking. 

All those hopes are dashed when you see it is Jungkook on the other side of the door. 

“Oh,” You remark, the smile dropping from your face. “It’s just you.” 

Jungkook looks at you like you pissed in his cereal. “Uh, I don’t see other amazing friends over here bringing you store-bought chicken soup because they heard you got food poisoning last night.” He holds up the bag for extra emphasis. 

You roll your eyes, grabbing the bag from him. “I don’t actually have food poisoning, I just didn’t want to go to work today.” 

Jungkook furrows his eyebrows at your statement. There’s a lot you’ve given him that he can work with, lots of things he can ask about. Maybe ask why you would lie about your food poisoning, maybe ask why you didn’t want to go to work today, maybe ask why you still looked like shit. 

But the first thing he says: “You owe me twenty dollars.” 

You roll your eyes, beckoning him inside with the jerk of your head. “Sure.” 

Jungkook laughs a little. “Wait, okay, I was actually kidding.” But he still steps into your apartment. “I’ll be serious now. Why lie about food poisoning? And since when do you not want to go to work? If anything, you love to go so you can stare at Yoongi’s ass through the recording booth—!” He cuts himself off when you give him a glare of such pure hatred that it actually shocks him. “Wait, are you mad at Yoongi?” 

You tear your gaze away from him, placing the bag of groceries on your countertop. Sorting through what Jungkook has bought serves to be a good distraction. 

Jungkook continues to look at you. He’s quiet, but he always has a lot to say, and since you’ve been his friend for so long that only heightens his need to talk. “I knew it!” He finally says. “I knew you were mad at him. Taehyung and I were placing bets down.” 

You slam the can of chicken soup on the counter. “HEY. What did I say about gossiping?” 

“Not in front of your face?” 

Your hand flinches, as if to stop yourself from grabbing the can and throwing it at his stupid face. Jungkook doesn’t even move in fear, the bastard. “I’m just gonna pretend I don’t know about the bets. You want a can of chicken soup?” 

Jungkook confirmation finds you at the stove, heating up two of the many cans Jungkook had bought for you. Included in his twenty-dollar purchase had been a few containers of tums, and some orange juice. 

Jungkook lingers in the back. “You wanna tell me why you’re mad at Yoongi?” 

You whirl around to face him. “How did you even know I was upset?” 

Jungkook snorts, but quiets down when you glare at him. He coughs. “You’re pretty easy to read, you know. You’ve been acting weird ever since Jieun started coming by the studio.” 

“Weird how?” 

He shrugs. “I don’t know. You’re just a little quieter. And you haven’t been spending as much time in the studio as you used to. That was the biggest giveaway.” 

You’re quiet for a moment. You rub at your cheek. “Does Yoongi know?” 

Jungkook shakes his head. “Doubtful. But I think he knows something is up. I was on the phone with him last night.” 

It’s your turn to snort. “Okay, that’s really fucking funny.” At Jungkook’s raised eyebrow, you explain. “I thought he’d be too busy comparing Jieun to sunlight, or something, to notice me.” 

“Oh, so you’re jealous.” 

You and Jungkook have a staring contest, before you sigh. “I accidentally saw Yoongi’s writing notebook yesterday. It had all these love confessions in it, and I’m pretty sure he was talking about Jieun.” 

Jungkook’s eyes widen. “No way? Are you sure?” 

You cough. “Well, I’m not a hundred percent. But it was all about this forbidden crush he couldn’t act on because of a barrier. Who else could be the barrier? He obviously thinks I’m holding him back from pursuing a relationship with Jieun.” You think about your words for a second, trying to decide if Jungkook is trustworthy enough to disclose this information to. “I think I’m gonna break it off with him. Maybe quit too, while I’m at it.” 

Jungkook’s lips part. “But why?” 

“What else am I supposed to do?” You cry. “I can’t keep up this fake dating with Yoongi anymore, it’s too complicated, and I’m actually in love with him so that opens up this whole other series of complications. And it’s not fair to Yoongi—he shouldn’t have to deal with feelings he obviously doesn’t return. The whole charade thing just isn’t doing me any good. And even if I break off the relationship, I would still have to see him all the time because of the whole manager situation. Quitting just seems like the best option for me.” 

Jungkook is quiet for a second. “How do you even know he wrote that song about Jieun?” He finally asks, speaking carefully. 

You shrug. “I don’t know. I just have this feeling. Who else has he been spending all this time with? Who else could that song possibly be about?” 

Jungkook gives you a long, hard look, like he almost can’t believe your brain can be thinking those thoughts. But he relents. “I think you should talk to Yoongi before quitting. He’s one of your best friends. He deserves to know why, at least.” He looks over your shoulder. “The chicken soup is done.” 

You whirl back around to turn off the stove. But also so Jungkook can’t see the tears glassing over your eyes. 

. 

It turns out, telling Yoongi you want to quit is a much more difficult task than you could have thought. For starters, Seokjin sets the pair of you up on more dates than before. Apparently, there are some rumors going around regarding Jieun’s more and more frequent turn-ups at KSJ Records, and people have started connecting the dots that her appearances are tied to either one of two reasons. Either Yoongi and Jieun are collaborating on music. Or they’re dating. 

The second reason is a lot juicier, much more exciting, so naturally a lot of people have gravitated towards supporting that reason. To try and expel those thoughts, Seokjin sends you out on more dates with Yoongi. It’s all fine, but your thoughts about breaking off this relationship and quitting just makes you more quiet and closed off as you wallow deeper into your thoughts. 

You suddenly don’t know how to contribute to the conversations Yoongi tries to bring up to you. The words seem to fail you every time, and you feel yourself constantly resorting to silence or one-worded answers. And it constantly always feels like Yoongi is standing too close to you. Every step towards you is a step away from him. When he tries to hold your hand on the sixth date in two weeks, you wiggle out of his grasp and pretend that you need to fix your jacket. 

Your own journey to self-destruction means that you are completely oblivious to the hurt in Yoongi’s eyes with every step you take to distance yourself from him. But what could you even say to him?

How could you tell him you want to quit your job in public? That would obviously lead to a fight, and it would reflect badly on Yoongi’s public image. Just because you want to quit doesn’t mean you still care about him, because you do. And you still want him to succeed. With Seokjin’s constant scheduling of dates, it leaves little room for you to share in an actual private discussion. The only off times Yoongi has are the days Jieun comes by the studio, and you try to stay a mile away from that place now. 

But it turns out, you don’t have a choice today, because Seokjin calls you into his office and tells you to drop off the samples of cover art that has just been dropped off at the studio. The cover art is something that Jieun and Yoongi have designed together for the album, to be displayed when the single is released. 

With heavy feet, you make your way through the hallways and towards Yoongi’s studio space. Every fiber in your being hopes that Yoongi and Jieun will be in the recording booth, working on their song (or even better, just not in the studio at all), so that you don’t have to face them enjoying each other’s company right in front of your face. There’s no music coming through the door, so your heart soars that latter prospect. 

As you open the door, however, you realize that there’s no way for you to be so lucky. 

Inside, Yoongi and Jieun are eating lunch, takeout noodles split between the two of them, and they’re in the middle of laughing. The laughter, however, stops when you open the door, effectively interrupting their fucking date. Which is a thought that does nothing to make you feel better. The silence that echoes on only further makes you feel like shit. 

You and Yoongi sharing a room privately nowadays is a rarity, since you’ve been doing a good job at avoiding him at all costs. His unanswered text messages and shortened calls echo through your mind at the sight of him. With the look he’s giving you, you wonder if he’s thinking the same thing. 

Jieun, however, remains completely oblivious to the situation as she gives you her normally bright cheery greeting. You stare at you, momentarily stunned. You would have thought Yoongi shared the troubles of your relationship with her, for some reason. You try to remain nice about it, though, giving Jieun a small smile as you return her greeting. 

“I, uh,” You start, bringing the package up for both of them to see. “Your cover art came in today. Seokjin just asked if I could drop it off here.” 

Jieun brightens at the sight. “Oh my gosh, it came! Do you mind if I…?” She trails off, hands reaching out to take the package from you. You give it to her. “Yoongi, isn’t that so exciting?” 

“Yeah…” Yoongi trails off. A quick glance at him tells you that he’s staring at you. You look away. “Did you see it yet?” He asks you. 

You shrug. “I, uh, haven’t. But, anyways, I have to get going.” 

“Hey,” Jieun calls, freezing you slightly in your path. “Thanks for bringing this over. We really appreciate it.” 

We?

The use of that specific noun, while supposedly harmless in the current context, makes your stomach flare with that white hot curl of jealousy. Your teeth clench, as you swallow down the spiteful words that almost manage to escape into the air around you. You smile, no teeth. “You’re welcome.” That’s the only thing you can manage before you’re turning around to open the door and practically bolt yourself out of the studio. 

You only make it a few feet before the door to the studio opens and you hear footsteps trailing after you. He calls your name, and your heart drops. You are so not ready for any type of one-on-one conversation with Yoongi right now. 

But your entire soul still gravitates toward him, so you stop and turn around to face him. 

Yoongi is by himself this time, and looking like a mixture of confused and defeated as he approaches you. “Listen,” He starts. “I know that we haven’t had a lot of time to really talk…” 

“It’s okay,” You brush off. 

Yoongi says your name again. “You know, you don’t need to lie to me. You’re my best friend—I can tell when you’re hiding something from me.” 

You sigh, shaking your head as every nerve in your body is telling you to walk away. “Yoongi, I’m not sure I can do this right now.” 

“Do what?” He presses. “I know that I’ve been super busy, but if you want to talk you can just let me know. Tell me what’s bothering you, okay? Because I…” He trails off, sighing, and you feel that vague sense of guilt wash over you. “I can tell that you’re avoiding me and it’s really shitty. I can’t even focus that much on my song with Jieun.” 

The mention of Jieun stiffens you up again. “Well, sorry for being an inconvenience,” You spit. “Why don’t you go back to your new fucking girlfriend if you’re gonna bring her up to my face again.” You couldn’t stop yourself this time—the words were too ready at your lips. Your chest is heaving from it too, but it is things that you know that you will regret saying. 

Yoongi’s eyebrows furrow deeper together as your words. 

You stare right back at him, the shadow of a thought passing over you. If you’re going to tell Yoongi your biggest secret, it might as well be right now. You don’t know the next time you will be this brave, this reactive, this bold. 

Both of you open your mouths at the same time. 

“Did you just call Jieun my girlfriend?”

“I’m quitting.” 

You clamp your mouth shut. You hadn’t meant to speak at the same time as him. A small wave of regret passes through you, as you hope that Yoongi wouldn’t have heard your statement over his question. But of course he does. 

Yoongi’s frowns at you. “Did you just say you were quitting?” 

You take a step back, running a hand through your hair as your exhale comes out shaky. More shaky than you intended it to. Oh no. “Yeah,” You manage, already feeling your emotions bottling up. “I was gonna try and talk to Seokjin about quitting before I left.” 

If Yoongi thinks you were joking before, he definitely doesn’t now because he takes a step towards you and catches your wrist before you can go that far. “B-But why?” His eyes have gotten a little wider, and he’s staring at you like his world is being pulled apart. 

You try to tug your wrist away to no avail. Your mind tries to flash through several different excuses, but you realize that you need to tell him the truth. Yoongi deserves that much, at least.

As you try to collect your thoughts, Yoongi starts scrambling. “W-Was it something I did?” He asks quickly. “Because normally you’d always try to call me out and I’d fix myself immediately. A-Are you unhappy with your position? Because I can try to get Seokjin to give you less workload or something. I-I’m really sorry if it was something that I did to hurt you. I-I just really need you here so talk to me… please…” 

You shake your head. “It’s a little more complicated than that,” You whisper. “I know your secret, Yoongi, and that’s why I can’t do this anymore.” 

“W-What secret?” His eyes are still on you. 

You take in another breath. “I went over to your apartment that night,” You start. “And I saw what you were writing in your journal. I know that you’re in love with Jieun, and that you only see me as a barrier to pursuing a relationship with her. And that sucks because normally, I’d encourage you to go after her. But we’re doing this whole dating thing, and I feel like I’m neck-deep because…” Your words come out a little more shaky. “Because I’m in love with you,” You whisper. “I’ve been in love with you for years. B-But I know now that I’ll never measure up to Jieun, or any of the other girls in this industry who deserve you more than I do. I thought that I could keep being professional for you and your career. But it’s too hard for me.” 

“W-Wait,” Yoongi says, tightening his grip on you. “Can you just let me explain, please? It’s not like that, I promise you.” 

You rip your wrist from his hand. “I read it!” You retort loudly. “Who else could be the person you want more than anything, but can’t have because of a physical barrier? When else have you used a real person to inspire your music? It’s too hard for me, Yoongi! I can’t keep doing this!” 

Yoongi seems to be struggling with his next words. “So, what?” Yoongi asks, circling around his next question carefully. “You’re just going to leave? Is this… the end of our friendship?” 

You sigh, running a hand through your hair. “I don’t know! I haven’t thought this out that far. But I know that we shouldn’t be doing this fake dating charade anymore, because I know there’s no way these past few months have meant the same to you as it did to me. I also know that I can’t really be in the same room with you right now.” 

Yoongi hopelessly gazes over at you, his own chest heaving as he himself struggles with what to say. “Please don’t do this,” He returns softly. 

Your gaze lingers on Yoongi’s for just a while longer, trying to burn the image of him in your mind, before you shake your head. “I’m sorry.” 

. 

As it turns out, Seokjin is out of the office for the rest of the evening. Which is fine, right? Whatever. You can just call him tomorrow morning and schedule a meeting with him, tell him the urgency of it and will definitely be able to muster your strength for another conversation about your secret feelings for Yoongi. 

You return to your apartment and immediately burst into tears as the weight of today’s confrontation sinks its teeth right into your neck. You just shared your feelings with Yoongi, you threatened your employment, and almost cut off your friendship with Yoongi as a result of that. 

Your many years of friendship, of late nights, of laughter together. It seems silly to want to cut off an important friendship just like that—but it just seems unfair of you to carry on with a friendship where you’re always going to crave more. And if Yoongi is smart, he’ll know that as well, and he won’t come back. 

Still, a part of you just hopes a little. Even though, of course, it’s a stupid thing to hope for. Yoongi has already established his taste, and it’s definitely for people leagues above you. The thought only makes you cry a little harder, so much so that you try to drink some water in order to calm down. 

You’re in the beginning stages of patting down your face, of grabbing some spoons to put into the freezer, when there’s a series of frantic knocking at your door. You turn your head towards the source of the noise, trying to figure out who could be visiting at a time like this. It’s been a few hours since your confrontation with Yoongi at the studio, but you assume that he’s probably blowing smoke up Jieun’s ass. There’s no way that it could be him. 

So you open the door, and freeze when you realize that it is Yoongi. 

More than that, it’s Yoongi with his chest heaving. Almost like he has just run around the entire city to reach you. 

The only thing you can manage right now is a wide-eyed stare.

Yoongi stares right back at you. Just a few hours ago, he had looked so helpless and lost for words. A first, actually. But this time, he’s staring at you with so much intensity that you cannot look away. 

Yoongi finally seems to catch his breath. “You’re an idiot,” He states. 

You’re so caught off guard by that statement that you forget you’re supposed to be upset with him. “I’m sorry?” You ask. 

Yoongi huffs, practically barreling past you to step into your house. You try to tell him to stop, but he’s distracted by rummaging through his backpack for something. With a sigh, you decide to close the door. As soon as he’s standing in your kitchen, he finds an old, beaten up notebook that you vaguely remember from his college days. He points at you with his notebook. “You’re an idiot,” He repeats. “If you think that the lyrics on my coffee table are the first time I’ve written lyrics about a specific person.” 

At your shocked expression, he immediately starts flipping through the notebook. You notice that certain pages are marked with sticky tabs. 

Yoongi settles on a page and clears his throat. “Hidden within the walls of our lecture hall, your laughter curls through the cracks like liquid fire. You light up my day amongst borrowed pencils and shared jokes. I knew that you were going to change my life,” he reads. He looks up at you. “The first day I met you, when I asked you to borrow a pencil.” You remember those lyrics. It was from a song he had written called ‘starlight’—the opening song on his first EP. 

He flips through a few more pages. “I never learned about love, but I watch her believe in my dreams, take the same steps to join my team, and I feel like I could figure it out.” He looks at you. “When you agreed to help me with my Youtube channel.”

He continues through his notebooks of lyrics, of stories, of secrets. Every single lyric he reads to you connects back to some memory he holds of the two of you. All the memories together in college: from the panic attack he had in the bathroom of the first party the pair of you attended, to exploring the nearby cities via subway until early mornings, to corner ramen shops. 

Soon enough, he moves on to the lyrics he had written during his first tour. The distance he felt, and how that related to the emotional distance he felt with you—that desire he constantly felt for more, and how the manager and artist relationship the pair of you had couldn’t hold a candle to the friendship you once held. The distance was never a physical challenge, and that was something you could never connect the dots on. 

Every stone of his hidden affection is turned over, every lyric he has marked read over and explained with such a passion. It’s like he has waited years to finally have his turn, to finally speak the way he’s always wanted to—directly, with no tricks of music and whimsical arrangements to make you doubt everything he could say. 

He had written whole songs about the fake dating experience, of how he wasn’t sure he could only pretend to love you when it was the only thing he ever knew how to do. 

Finally, he flips to his most recent song. The very song that you had stumbled upon the other day in his apartment. “I want you more and more with each day, but I know I can’t have you, that I shouldn’t have you,” He reads. He looks up at you. “The barrier was the blanket of our fake relationship. You were never stopping me from doing anything, because you were the only thing I have ever wanted. So…” He gestures to all the notebooks that he has laid out across your kitchen counter. “Do you now see how many song lyrics are actually about you? All about you. Because you’re all I’ve always known.” 

Your gaze carefully studies each notebook, layered over each other, overflowing with dedication and passion. The privacy of someone who has surprisingly spent his entire singing career sharing nothing but his darkest secrets. Your arms are overlapped with each other, tightening against your form. “I-I had no idea.” 

Yoongi shakes his head, but when he looks at you, his eyes are soft. “I figured that.” He’s leaning across the counter to keep his gaze leveled with you, but he pushes himself even closer to tap a finger on the spot between your eyes. “I thought I made it so obvious. You were never listening.” 

“I-I never thought to,” You admit softly. But Yoongi has a point. Ever since he started writing and sharing his original songs, he has done nothing but sing them to you in any and all forms. From the private sessions the pair of you shared in his college apartment, to the performances he would deliver on the street, in the recording booth at all hours of the day, to the tours and the audiences that sing those love declarations right back at you. For years, Yoongi has done nothing but give, and give, and give. And you had no idea. 

Your breath hitches, and Yoongi rounds the counter and gathers your face in his hands. “Shh,” He coos softly. “It’s not your fault.” 

You sniff. “It is my fault! I’m such a stupid bitch. And I treated you and Jieun like shit because I thought you were in love with her. I thought I was holding you back from being able to date who you really wanted to be with.” 

Yoongi shrugs. “I mean, technically, you were.” At your look, he hastily goes to explain himself. “The person I really wanted to date was you. But since we were, uh, fake dating, that prevented me from being able to date you for real…”  

You groan at his teasing grin. “You idiot, that was so bad.” 

“Sorry, sorry.” Yoongi is still grinning though, tracing his thumb over your cheekbone. His eyes follow the movement, mentally outlining you into his mind. “I just wanted to see you smile.” His smile slips a little. “Since you had been ignoring me for so long.” 

You pout. “I told you, I thought you were in love with Jieun. And honestly, that would make a lot of sense… she’s really pretty and talented and you guys could talk about music for hours, especially compared to me—!” 

“Stop,” Yoongi cuts in, closing his eyes briefly. “I’m gonna stop you there before you say something I don’t like.” He angles his head to level his gaze with you. “Jieun is really cool, I’ll probably be the first one to admit that. But she’s not you. Hey, c’mon, look at me.” He forces you to look at him again. “You are also so, so pretty and smart and talented. You may not know a lot about music and songwriting, but you were always the one who pulled all-nighters with me to edit my videos, or learn music with me, or point out if something in my music didn’t sound right. Your passion to help is something I really love about you.” 

You pursue your lips to hide your smile. “Love, huh?” 

Yoongi doesn’t even hesitant. “Well, yeah, because I’m in love with you. I thought that was obvious.” 

You exhale. “Yeah, well, it’s different hearing you say it outloud.” 

Yoongi grins. “Well, hopefully you’ll get used to it. I have many years to make it up to you.” His smile dies down a little. “I’m sorry,” He finally settles with. “I should have been more straightforward and honest with you about my feelings. You must have been suffering for so long, having to keep it all in and everything.” 

You shake your head. “I’m also sorry,” You whisper. “For jumping to conclusions so fast. And also not really listening to your lyrics. That was kind of stupid of me, considering I’m your manager and everything.” 

Yoongi laughs. “It seems like you’re good now, seeing as you’ve just gotten an exclusive behind-the-scenes artist cut and commentary about his songs.” He pauses for a second. “So, I hope this means that you won’t quit being my manager. And that, maybe, we can promote our relationship from fake dates to real ones.” 

You smile. “I’d like that.” 

His smile turns softer. “And I was hoping that maybe I can kiss you again. For real, this time. No cameras, no Seokjin breathing down our necks.” 

You giggle. “Just so you know, if the kiss at your album release party had been a real one and we were actually dating at the time, I probably would have wanted you to fuck me in the bathroom or something.” 

Yoongi groans. “Don’t say that with that cute smile on your face. Makes me want to do things to you.” 

“I don’t see you pulling away though.” 

“Of course not.” Yoongi’s figure loams over you now, his lips brushing against yours. “I have three years to make up to you.” 

With that, he kisses you, silencing whatever next words you were going to say. That is, if you even had any to begin with. Now that he’s kissing you, stealing the breath from your lungs, you’re not even too sure any thoughts have been floating around at all. Unlike the kiss at the album release party, which had been softer and dainty, held back to hide a secret, this kiss is rougher. Yoongi is already moving his lips against yours, already parting his lips to brush his tongue against your lower lips. His hands are already sliding across the counter, trying to cover you more and more. 

His hand slips on the counter though, almost sending his sprawling on top of you. You catch him with your hand on his chest, as the sudden action makes both of you pull away from each other. The sight you both face is very much like the sight from the launch party: flushed cheeks and redden lips, a desire for more flickering behind eyes. 

But this time, there is no expectation to carry on in a party like a long-term couple. That is what allows Yoongi to wrap his arms around you, pulling you to his chest this time. He kisses you again, slower, softer, but you deepen the kiss with the part of your own lips this time. There is an unspoken agreement between the two of you as he lifts you into his arms and blindly navigates through your apartment, into your bedroom, where you both fall atop the mattress. 

“And just for the record,” You whisper, right when Yoongi pulls away to let both of you catch your breath. “I love you too.” You’ve already admitted your feelings earlier in the day, but it’s worth it to see Yoongi deliver that heart pounding gummy smile. 

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