#exo neighbor au

[oohfluffy]

SY Ch. 4 | DKS

Group: EXO

Member: Do Kyungsoo

Theme: Angst | Fluff | Neighbor!AU

Word Count: 4,500

chapter 4

Okay, but when will that be?

The constant clicking of keys was your background music as your mind wandered to another dimension. It was only halfway through the day, but you feel like you're already floating away from work. 

You've never seen Kyungsoo in the cafe for the past few days, and you wondered when you will see him again. Will you even see him again? If not, then why did he say that you should tell him about yourself next time? When is that next time?

"I don't think scrolling across the excel file for 10 minutes will do the work, noona."

You snapped out of your reverie when you heard your hoobae tell you that. You pitifully smiled at him, meeting his teasing expression. Being caught while being absent-minded at work by a junior is so humbling.

"Thanks for the reminder, hoobae." 

"A penny for your thoughts?" Hanbin raised his eyebrow at you as he leaned back on his chair. You just shook your head as you faced the computer again. Wonho wasn't around for a meeting, which left just you and Hanbin on the same side of the cubicles. "A guy problem, huh? Is it this cafe guy?"

"Shush." You shut him up as he laughed.

"You've got a crush on him."

"I don't."

"I've met a lot of girls, and your expression says otherwise. I know that face." He smiled smugly, his chair almost completely facing you. "My girlfriend also told me before that she didn't like me, but look at her now, so in love with me as I am with her."

"No need to flex right on my face, young one." You rolled your eyes at him while shaking your head. He leaned on his palm as he looked at you with a teasing smile. "I was just wondering if…" You fiddled with your mouse, fingers slowing down on the surface of the keyboard. "I'll be seeing him around the neighborhood."

"Hmm, maybe? You said the old lady at your laundry knows him, right? He must be living nearby then." 

Hanbin has a point, but you still haven't seen him around even when you were taking walks on the weekend.

Let's drown ourselves with work then. I need him out of my mind. Let's go, go, go.

You had lunch as quick as you can, too preoccupied with the work you had pending for today. Your friends just shrugged your rush as they watched you walk away with a glint of determination in your eyes. As soon as you sat back on your chair, you pulled up the tabs of excel as you took out the papers by your drawer. 

You don't have any deadlines for today, but you felt like you could do the work due the next day. 

Mind full of numbers, data, and analyses, you didn't even realize that it was already time to go home. You were still motivated to finish everything, not wanting to cut the momentum. Your eyebrows furrowed as you stared at the screen of your computer, fingers not stopping their movements as you input data within the sheet.

"It's past 5pm already, Ms. Nam. I think that could wait for another day." 

You almost cursed as you typed the wrong number. You looked up at the guy who disturbed you. He was smiling as you felt the ache on your wrists. It was indeed a long time since you looked around. There were only two other people in the office excluding the two of you.

"I'm almost finished, Wonho. You can go ahead." You said before glancing at your watch.

"I don't know why you're pushing yourself harder today, but if you're just doing this to keep your mind off of a problem, it's going to be temporary. You'll just think about it again at home, and you won't get enough sleep." Wonho leaned his arm on your cubicle divider. You just sighed as you thought he was right. "Let's just go home, man."

You hesitated as you looked back at your screen. You clicked your tongue before saving all your progress, rolling your eyes as you heard Wonho say yes. As soon as you turned off your computer, you took off your coat from the chair and grabbed your bag. Wonho said goodbye to your remaining co-workers being the office's congenial man. 

"Coffee?" He said as you stepped outside the building. Your mind instantly wandered to the possibility that Kyungsoo might be there. Wonho chuckled as he saw your eyes going in the direction where the cafe was. "Okay then. You look like you really wanted to see that guy, huh?"

"I-I haven't even said anything!" Your cheeks flushed as you looked away from the cafe, but Wonho was already walking towards it. "Y-Yah, Wonho-ah!" 

"Come on, Eunjoo. I think I can see the guy from here." 

Let's just say that your feet led you to the cafe without you knowing.

As soon as you entered the cafe, you were in another dimension. The door closed behind you, muting the sounds from the busy street. The smell of coffee and bread with the lovely classical music softly caressing your ears were a delight to your exhausted self from work. 

"That him?" You heard Wonho whisper as you both walked to the counter. Your eyes met with Kyungsoo's as you got near. He was talking to this woman, who was obviously chatting her way as she ordered, while he tapped on the screen in front of him. You were about to wave at him when he looked away and glanced at the woman instead. You lowered your hand, ears reddening in embarrassment.

That would have been really embarrassing, Eunjoo!

"What do you want?" You blinked several times before looking at Wonho. He was raising his eyebrows at you, quite concerned about your mental state. You didn't even notice that it was already your turn to order. "Eunjoo-ah?"

"U-Uh, I'll get whatever you ordered then." You glanced at Kyungsoo, who was intently looking at you. You instantly looked back at Wonho, not finding enough courage to stare back at the man behind the counter. 

"Then two of those, please." Wonho smiled at Kyungsoo.

"Alright, sir." Kyungsoo replied with his gentle voice, making you turn to him again. It felt like a long time since you heard him. What luck should you have to be able to hear him everyday talk in your ears? His eyes darted to you all of a sudden as if hearing your thoughts. 

This time, you didn't look away.

You almost missed how his eyes squinted and how his lips curved. You were ready to drop dead—

"Eunjoo?"

You were brought back to reality when Wonho tugged your arm. You didn't even know that he was already done ordering! You mumbled an apology to the next customer before walking in haste with Wonho behind you, who was obviously trying not to laugh. You chose the usual spot where you sit, taking the seat that faces away from the counter. 

"He's probably thinking that I'm crazy about him now." You said as Wonho took a seat in front of you, grinning at the sight of you blushing like a teenage girl. "Oh gosh, I can't go back here now!"

"Stop it. It's normal for people to be absent-minded at times, you know? Maybe you were just too tired from work that your senses weren't working well already—"

"I was obviously staring at him!"

"It's like your recharging yourself with a wonderful sight—"

"You're not helping!" You laughed at his excuse, making you feel a bit better. Wonho smiled as he noticed your shoulders loosening up. "Well, I-I don't think he noticed at all. He stares at a lot of people here, even the woman before us. It's not that obvious if I did that to him as well, right?"

"Uhuh."

"Your orders, sir." You almost bit your tongue when you heard his voice right behind you. Wonho was just politely smiling at Kyungsoo as he received the plates with cheesecakes. "Eunjoo-ssi."

"Oh, you know Eunjoo?" Wonho played innocent as he took a sip of his iced americano. Kyungsoo placed the familiar bowl with cookies beside your plate, instantly bringing a smile to your face. Wonho's eyebrows raised as he saw that, lips twitching to tease you. 

Your disappointment of not seeing him for days and your embarrassment from earlier were wiped out just with a bowl of cookies.  

"She's regular here, and…" Kyungsoo looked at you. His eyes are so beautiful that you would not get tired looking into them. "...we're friends."

"Y-Yeah, we are!" You suddenly blurted as you saw Wonho nodding as if nonchalant, but you can see his mind going elsewhere. "T-Thanks for these freebies again, Kyungsoo-ssi. I'd eat them well." 

"Do enjoy." He smiled at you before turning back and walking to the counter again. You breathed out with a satisfied smile before taking a cookie from the bowl. You took a bite and your eyes closed at the right sweetness and saltiness of the snack. 

"Wah, you're really enjoying just as he said."

"Ugh shut up." You rolled your eyes at your friend.

"He seems nice. He has this aura that will make you feel comfortable and warm inside." Wonho gestured his hands around before forking on his cheesecake. You nodded enthusiastically as you munched on your cookie. "The customers also seem to be fond of him."

"Well, not only is his personality swoonable, but he's obviously handsome. I get why people are fond of him." You shrugged as you took a bite of the cheesecake. 

"Hmm, I think this guy likes you." 

You coughed as you looked back at Wonho, who was nodding to himself as he stared somewhere. You glanced at where he was looking and saw Kyungsoo behind the counter, not as the cashier but as the barista this time. 

"W-Why? What made you say that? I know we are friends, but lying to me for the sake of—"

"He delivered our orders." He answered as if it was the obvious answer. Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"He always does that with others like the older customers and children. I don't see why…" Your voice lowered as your lips pouted a bit, thinking that you might be more special than you thought. You slightly curved your lips as you sipped on your iced coffee.

"Oh, oh look at this woman." Wonho chuckled at the sight of you suddenly getting shy. "He might be doing the serving all the time for the people he likes. He got back behind the counter as soon as he served our orders. Well, it's bad to keep your hopes up, maybe not?"

"You really just cheered me up just to bring me down, huh?" You tsked at your friend as he shrugged at you while munching on his cheesecake. "I'll figure it out somehow when we get to talk again, but he's always working and I haven't seen him at the laundry shop again." You mumbled as you took another cookie from the bowl. 

You were about to take the cookie into your mouth when you saw a little pink paper further inside the bowl. Your eyes widened as you instantly ate the cookie before getting the paper. Wonho was texting at the moment, his eyes squinting in concentration, so he didn't notice you reading the little paper in your hand.

I've been all around working, so I haven't seen you. I'd like to invite you to dinner. My shift ends in a bit. I know the perfect place for this cold weather. My treat, of course. - Kyungsoo (010-XXX-XXX)

You quickly took the note inside your pocket and glanced at the counter as casually as possible. Kyungsoo was busy cleaning up the counter, focusing on the smallest dirt that he could find on the corners. His lips were slightly pouting as his eyes were full in concentration. 

So hardworking.

"I got a message from my uncle. I'm needed at the meeting he's having with the partner company. I was gonna go home, ah shit." Wonho said with a frown before emptying his plate. 

"You can go. I can go home by myself." 

"I know you can." He nodded as he looked at his watch. "Let's finish up then, so it won't get too late."

"Uhm, I'd like to stay for a while. You can go ahead." You smiled. He looked at you with a questioning gaze before glancing at the counter. "Yeah, I won't stay long outside so don't worry."

"Hmm okay. Just message me when you get home."

—

It was a few minutes before 6 in the evening.

You went to the bathroom to freshen up and check your emails. Your eyebrows furrowed when you saw a message from your sister. She doesn't really text or call you unless she wants something. At first, you were really looking forward to her messages because you feel lonely sometimes being away from your family, but then it gets a bit tiring hearing just requests and demands from her. 

I want we-miss-you and take-care messages too.

You didn't click on the message and decided to open it once you got home. After washing your hands and checking your face, you left the bathroom to go back to your seat. You saw Kyungsoo already talking to his coworker before leaving the counter and going to the back door.

"Maybe he's done already." You mumbled as you decided to wait outside. You already saved his number on your phone, so you texted him that you would be waiting outside. Walking to the door, you realized that you would be really meeting with Kyungsoo outside of work hours and not just coincidentally.

When you got outside, the city lights were dazzling to see along with the buzzing of people and the night sky. It was chilly, making you grip your coat closer to you. You watched as the cars passed by you, people conversing as they walked on the sidewalk, the smoke coming from some vendor stalls right across the street, and—

"Eunjoo-ssi. Sorry for making you wait."

You looked at the casual dressed man right beside you. His hair was a bit messy while his shirt was a bit crumpled as if he was rushing to get ready and out of work. 

He still looks cute though.

"N-No, it's fine. I enjoyed the freebies anyway." You chuckled as you tapped on your stomach. "So, where's this perfect place you were talking about?"

He brightly grinned as you mentioned it. He gestured for you to follow him.

"You won't regret coming with me, Eunjoo-ssi. It's nearby, let's go." He said as he moved to the side of the pathwalk where the road was.

You walked side by side, arms touching a bit from time to time as you admired his side view. The silence between the two of you was a bit awkward, but nothing felt more comfortable being beside him. He really exudes that aura that makes you feel warm and safe. In contrast to your observant and alert self, you didn't even realize that you've arrived at your destination.

"We're here, Eunjoo-ssi." Kyungsoo said as he looked at you, who just got to see where he brought you. "I don't know if this is the kind of place that you were expecting, but the food here is like no other."

"It looks really homey here, I like it." You said as he led you inside the cabin-like restaurant. It wasn't that big, only a few tables and a counter near the kitchen, which can be seen from the entrance. Although small, there were a lot of happy people talking with sizzling food on their table. There was music in the background, but it was not too loud to overpower the conversations in between people. 

The decor was not extravagant and just minimal, while their lights were warm but energizing in the eyes. Traditional patterns were also on the walls, so they must be serving local food here.

Must have warm soup, kimchi, mandu, and—

"Oh, Soo-ah! You're here!" The old man with an apron came out from the kitchen, smiling big as soon as he saw Kyungsoo. He welcomed him with a pat on his shoulder before looking at you. "Wohoho, you brought a girl with you this time, huh? Finally found the one?"

"Ahjussi, stop that. She's a friend of mine. I'm shamelessly advertising your restaurant here, please." Kyungsoo waved off the old man's teasing while your ears reddenned. You just smiled at him as you bowed a bit in greeting. 

"Hehehe, please do take a seat. I'll serve you the best of our menu, oh, but that will be everything on the menu though?" The old man laughed as he gestured to the empty two-seater table nearby. You chuckled while Kyungsoo pulled the chair for you.

"Then let's get small portions of each on the menu. That okay, Eunjoo-ssi?" Kyungsoo smiled at you as you sat down. You were surprised that you'll get everything as the uncle said. 

"Would that be okay? I mean, wouldn't that be too many for us? And that will cost you a lot too." You panicked as you looked at the prices on the menu. The prices were reasonable enough, but addinh everything here is a bit costly. 

Isn't he having trouble making ends meet? Isn't that why he takes so many part time jobs? I don't think I should make him pay after all!

"I-I'll just take the kimbap and mandu, please." You saw Kyungsoo glance at the cook, who just nodded at him. "A bottled water will do too."

"Okay then. You heard her, ahjussi. Thank you." He said before taking a seat in front of you. He placed his bag under the table, getting comfortable on his seat.

"I see that you're a regular here, Kyungsoo-ssi." You looked around the place and observed the interior more. "I didn't even know it was near the business street. I guess I didn't really explore that much around the district."

"Well, I started working at the cafe just half a year ago. I was always all over the place when I moved to the city." He narrated while placing the utensils near you and the seasonings as if it was a habit. "I had a really tiring day, and I wanted to treat myself for doing a good job for the day. But everything was expensive in the business street and I was trying hard to save up, so I walked all around the place and…" He gestured his hand to the entrance. "I found this place. They were having a buy one take one promo on that day, and it was the last day. I could smell the beef and tteokbokki from the outside. The cost was also worth it, I didn't go home disappointed."

You were smiling as he was showing different expressions as he told his story. You couldn't have imagined that he could make those faces. The Kyungsoo that you have just seen was a smiling and polite one, but this one, you really didn't regret coming with him tonight.

"B-But I didn't invite you here because I'm trying to save money! I was just thrilled to let you experience and taste the food here. The food is not only good, but it's not that expensive so it's a win-win thing." He said in haste while you giggled at how he was struggling to say the words. "And…" His voice lowered a bit, making you calm down before your heart pounded faster again.

"I don't just bring strangers over, okay? I was happy to invite you and share this place with you."

"Here are your orders, Eunjoo-ssi, Kyungsoo-ah." The old man served the bowls of kimbap and kimchi with a smile on his face. You didn't get to talk as Kyungsoo instantly helped him bring the tray over to your table. Your cheeks would have fallen off with how huge your smile was.

"It smells really good, ahjussi. Thank you." You commented as you looked at your bowl. You thought that he was done serving your table when he took another tray full of other small portions of each in the menu. "Oh, I don't think we ordered—"

"Thank you, ahjussi. They look amazing as usual." Kyungsoo cut you off as he helped the old man place the bowls and plates on your small table. "We'll eat them well!"

"You better." The old man smiled at him before looking at you. "Enjoy the food, Eunjoo-ssi. I made them with all my heart! Finish everything, okay?"

You glanced at Kyungsoo who was preparing the utensils from the container that you'll be using, wiping them with tissue before placing them on the side of your bowl. 

"I'll eat them with all my heart as well, ahjussi."

"We'll eat well." Kyungsoo said before looking up at you, his gentle eyes sparkling under the warm light. "I hope you like it, Eunjoo-ssi. This one is really my favorite."

 I don't think it's a bad idea to fall and keep my hopes up, Wonho-ah. Ah, I'm getting in trouble.

"It's really warm." You smiled as you put your hands together. Kyungsoo hummed while placing side dishes in your bowl without a word. 

Somehow, it felt like you could get used to this. 

The buzzing you felt on your pocket pulled you out of your thoughts. You glanced at Kyungsoo who was enjoying his meal, and hesitated to touch your phone in your pocket. It was on silent, but it kept buzzing.

"Kyungsoo-ssi, is there a bathroom here? I think I need to go."

"Oh, right that way." His eyes looked over beside the kitchen where a hallway was at. "Just take a turn and you'll see the door sign."

You quickly stood up and said excuse to go to the bathroom. He looked a bit concerned with your uncomfortable expression, but didn't ask. As soon as you got inside the bathroom, you took out your phone and saw your sister calling. You answered the call before you even get to think about the reason why she is calling.

Probably going to ask me to buy her a new dress for an event.

"Eunae-ah." You greeted her.

"Unnie! I've been calling you for hours! We're at the hospital, mom's in the emergency room! We need money! I-I don't know what else to do. D-Dad's not around." Eunae's trembling voice rang through your ears, surprising you with a panicked voice and not the usual demanding one.

"H-Hospital? What-what happened to mom?" Your legs almost gave up, but your other hand gripped on the sink. You could hear your younger sister's sobs while explaining what happened.

"I just got home from school when I heard dad and mom fighting. T-There's something about having another woman and-and mom was freaking out, and then I heard a thud from upstairs. I was scared to even go up, and I didn't want to see them fight." Eunae's voice was unstable, stuttering. Your eyes teared up as you imagined how hard it was for her to witness such a thing. "I just found mom struggling to stand up when dad left. I figured that d-dad might have hit her. She just passed out right after."

You let out a frustrated breath as you looked up at the ceiling. You thought that your parents' relationship got better when you left home, but you didn't expect that they would do this with their daughter around. Eunae didn't deserve that. You wiped your cheeks which were stained with tears.

"Eunae-ah, calm down, okay? Your sister will solve this. I want you to stay focused on getting mom feel better, and be strong. I know it might be hard after that, but you don't have any choice but to do so." You swallowed the lump on your throat. "I'd be sending money later, don't worry. I trust that you'll help mom manage the funds. Comfort mom, okay? Tell her that you're with her all the time, and that you'll help her around the house. D-Don't order her around."

"I-I understand, unnie. I will do that." You could hear her sigh in relief.

"Did she have many bruises? What's her state now?" You were nervous as you asked her the details. You love your mom although most of the time she was very demanding and selfish, but you know that it was rooted somewhere within her experiences. You just love her without judging her, the same with your sister and father.

"She's stable. The doctor said she must have been under so much stress and exhaustion. Her arms got a bit of bruises, and her cheeks were swollen. I didn't even notice that…" Eunae cried.

"I-It's a relief she's stable now…"

Before you could even speak more, a knock interrupted you. 

"Eunjoo-ssi, you okay there? You've been inside for a bit." You heard Kyungsoo's worried voice behind the door. You instantly pulled yourself together before replying.

"I-I'm okay, I'll be out in a second. Sorry." 

"Okay." He said in a hesitant voice before you heard him walk away. You sighed before going back to your call.

"Eunae-ah, I'll go back home this weekend. Hold on a bit, okay? It's going to be fine."

Going back home was a delight for you before, but now, you don't know what to feel anymore. After a bit more of reassuring and comforting your sister, you said your goodbye before Kyungsoo got more concerned. You got out of the bathroom and saw him almost standing up again. When he saw you, he sat back again.

"I'm sorry for worrying you, Kyungsoo-ssi. I got a call from my younger sister, so it took a while." You forced a smile at him when you sat back down, trying to make it a light matter. But Kyungsoo must be a mind reader as he looked into your eyes.

"I understand. Everything fine with her?"

"W-Well, I suppose it's fine for now. I'll be going back home for a while. I need to check up on them." You nodded to yourself, avoiding sharing unnecessary personal issues. "I miss my family too, you know." 

Kyungsoo just hummed in reply, but his gestures were comforting already. He placed a warmed up soup beside your bowl, and placed the freshly cooked mandu near you. You wouldn't have thought that deeply about it, but being in a very emotional state, you noticed how much he was being considerate to you tonight. You smiled.

"Thank you, Kyungsoo-ah."

His eyes widened at your tone. Your voice was so soft that he might have not heard it if he wasn't focused on you enough. His eyes stared into your tearing up ones, breath almost stopping with your sad eyes.

Once again, you made his chest tighten as if you had his heart in your hands.

— ☘ —

A/N:

As promised, I'm updating a day earlier (supposed to be updating on Friday) because I had a break for this day and my mind was in its creative state to write! Striking the iron while it's hot! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll be back for more soon too. Please do wait patiently for this author! 😭❤️

I miss you all, and I hope you are in good health always! :>

☘ Ch.5

#exo #exo fanfic #exo series #exo imagine #exo fluff #exo angst #exo x you #exo x oc #exo x reader #exo do kyungsoo #kyungsoo fluff #kyungsoo angst #kyungsoo x you #kyungsoo x reader #kyungsoo x oc #kpop angst #kpop fluff #exo neighbor au #kyungsoo fanfic #kyungsoo series #kyungsoo imagine #kpop series #kpop imagine #kpop fanfic

[yuwuta]

*TEST DRIVE — YUUTA OKKOTSU

❝I WILL NEVER LEAVE BY YOUR SIDE, DON’T YOU KNOW YOU GOT A RIDE OR DIE

pairings. okkotsu/reader, uhhh implied maki/nobara and sort of itadori/fushiguro but that’s not so important for now

warnings, themes. non-curse/modern au, marriage of convenience au, i thought long and hard about who would fit this trope best and all i can say is that i didn’t really pick just one in the end, so if this spirals in a wedding/marriage playlist, you’ve been warned, um… sort of implied possessive behavior on yuuta’s end but it’s only teased for now :)

word count. 2.5k i can yap about him all day

playing. test drive/ariana grande, going crazy/exo, heart of glass/blondie, idea/taemin, tipsy/chloe x halle 

“I just heard the funniest joke from Inumaki,” Nobara says, welcoming herself into your apartment. You’re not surprised, and continue with your dessert preparations. Yuuji, to your left, spares her a wave, before going back to diligently preparing the vegetables. 

Maki is the only one to respond by turning slightly in her seat to raise an eyebrow at Nobara when she walks up to the island, “Since when do you think Toge is funny?” 

“Not usually,” Nobara admits, taking the neighboring open seat. She crosses her arms atop the counter, and squints at you, “But he surprised me this time.”

Your eyes fidget to Maki, who seems equally confused by Nobara’s unnerving stare, then to Yuuji, who appears none the wiser, because he happily chirps, “Well, I wanna hear it! Tell us, Kugisaki!”

“He said that it was soooo kind of you to share your anniversary date with Yuuta and have us all over for dinner,” Nobara drawls, “Then I got confused, of course—but then I thought, ‘Maybe they’re secretly together and I just didn’t know. Wouldn’t be a huge surprise.’”

You flinch at that, “What do you mean that wouldn’t be a huge sur—”

“This is the funniest part, though,” Nobara squints, “He said that you’re actually married, and he meant that today is your wedding anniversary. He was pretty convincing, though. He’s very committed to the bit—even challenged me to ask you at dinner, but I figured I’d straighten it out now,” she drawls, reaching over to steal a cucumber slice from Yuuji’s station, “You’re not actually married to Yuuta, right?”

You pause, for too long. Maki’s disbelief shifts from Nobara to you, morphing into a threatening glare that makes you chuckle nervously. Yuuji keeps turning his head between you and Nobara, waiting for one of you to crack. 

It’s not her. “Okay… define married,” you mumble.

Nobara all but jumps across the island, standing up and slamming her palms on the counter top. “What do you mean ‘define married’—there’s only one definition!” Yuuji frantically sweeps his preciously sliced vegetables out of her range. “You’re either married to Okkotsu or you’re not, which is it?” 

You pause again. Too long this time. 

“You’re fucking kidding me,” Maki says, “It’s true? Toge says that shit all the time, how he can ‘still hear wedding bells’ when you two are around. Oh, I’m going to be sick.”

“Wait, you’re married?” Yuuji quips, “Since when? You should have told me, I would have gotten you a present!”

“Okay, okay—enough!” you yell, taking a step back, “It’s… true, but it’s not what you think. Yuuta and I are legally married, but we’re not together together.”

Nobara reaches to flick you on the forehead, “What the hell does that mean?” 

“It means, we’re married on paper only,” you explain, strategically placing your knife in the sink, far out of Maki and Nobara’s reach. 

“Say more words,” Maki demands, “Now.” 

You sigh. Even Yuuji has paused his preparations, blinking at you with those big, wide eyes, and you know for sure there’s no way out of this now. 

“It happened four years ago. I—”

Despite being the one who asked you to say more, Maki is the first to cut you off, incredulous, “Four years? You’ve been married to that beanstalk for four years and neither one of you twigs thought to mention it?” 

“Maki, let her finish,” Yuuji pitches in for you, reaching a comforting hand out to your shoulder, “Maybe she was dying and needed Okkotsu-senpai to sign her insurance papers so the government didn’t sweep her away! I saw that in a K-Drama once,” he smiles proudly. Nobara pinches her face in disgust, immediately refuting and calling Yuuji an idiot for believing everything he sees on TV. 

“Honestly, that’s not too far off. I’m not dying—and neither is Yuuta,” you hastily correct the worried faces peering at you, “But he was sick as a kid, and long story short is something got fucked up with his insurance when his parents died. It wasn’t a big deal, at first, but it spiraled into a bunch of issues, the biggest being the threat of taking his parents’ house away from him.”

Nobara pulls back, crossing her arms. “Why didn’t Gojo just do something then? That idiot has more than enough money to spare for some petty hospital bill, even with twenty years of interest.” 

“He did,” you assure her, “But then the house became its own problem. His parents didn’t leave the deed in his name, and the community board tried to say that Yuuta had no assets and wasn’t a favored candidate for their neighborhood, even if he was their son.” 

“That’s bullshit,” Maki interjects. 

“Yeah, totally not fair,” Yuuji pouts, “That’s his dead parents’ house and they wanted him to prove himself?” 

“Pretty much,” you sigh, “Basically marriage is something that helped prove his eligibility… plus some doctored philanthropic donations on Gojo’s end, and letters of recommendation from Shoko and her co-workers.” 

Nobara tuts her bottom lip out. “I don’t know, I’m not buying it.” 

“No, it makes sense. I’m sure by now all his parents’ neighbors are a bunch of uptight, old heads who didn’t want some kid throwing parties nearby,” Maki argues, “But once they hear he’s a young, married, nurse with a side hustle in philanthropy, I’m sure those geezers welcomed him with open arms. Sounds like some shit my family would do, too.” 

Nobara hums, factoring in Maki’s evaluation. “Okay fine. Yuuta marries you, he gets his parents’ house back and probably commits insurance fraud too,” she settles, “But what about you?—You said this was mutually beneficial, so what did you get out of it?” 

You probably should talk to Yuuta about revealing all the details of your marriage to your friends, but you knew it was bound to happen sooner or later. Yuuta’s parents’ death and the issues that came along with it weren’t a secret at the time, but your problems are something you kept private. It’s a miracle you’ve gone this long under the radar, and you know Nobara isn’t going anywhere with unanswered questions. 

“Permanent residency status,” you tell her, “Yuuta’s a citizen, so in marrying him, all my problems about finding a job in six weeks after graduation disappeared.” 

“But… you got a job?” Yuuji questions, head tilted. 

“Yeah, eventually, but I didn’t know I would, and it was either take that chance, or be forced to go back home, and my time was running out,” you reveal, twiddling your thumbs together, “Look, I would have said something at the time, but everyone had their own shit to deal with after graduation. I would have asked any one of you to marry me, but I knew Yuuta was the only one with a reason to say yes.” 

The kitchen falls quiet as the news sits with your friends. Nobara and Maki’s stern disbelief slowly morphs into empathy, and Yuuji’s bright eyes grow steely with concentration as he pieces your story together. 

Then he springs up, “Wait, I totally would have married you, senpai!” 

You laugh, a lightness easing its way back into the room. “Thanks, Yuuji,” you lean to give him a kiss on the cheek, but you’re met with Nobara’s outstretched palm instead. 

“Nuh-uh. Just because I think this marriage is insane doesn’t mean that I condone adultery.” 

“It’s not adultery. I told you, Yuuta and I are married on paper only—he’s free to date and kiss whomever he pleases, and so am I,” You roll your eyes, pushing her hand away and giving Yuuji a kiss anyway, which he happily accepts, sticking his tongue out in mockery at Nobara.

Maki scoffs, “Are we sure that Yuuta knows that?” 

“Of course he knows that.”

“So then why hasn’t he dated anyone?” Maki presses, eyes lowering into a teasing glare. 

“I don’t know,” you shrug, “Who Yuuta does or doesn’t date isn’t really my business.” 

Nobara pulls at her hair, “Yes it is. You’re his wife.” 

“His contractual wife,” you correct. 

“Contractual?” 

“Wait—have Yuuta and Toge not totally kissed on several drunk, or am I the only one who saw that?” Yuuji interjects.

“No, that was you and Fushiguro,” Nobara says, “And nobody cares about you two right now.” 

You put a hand on Yuuji’s shoulder, “I care about you, Yuuji. Please, tell us about your drunk escapades with our dear Megumi.” 

“Save it, Itadori,” Maki cuts in, crushing Yuuji’s bright demeanor, “You and Yuuta are way more pathetic. Keep talking.” 

“Since when do you even like to gossip?” 

“Since she met me,” Nobara gleams, proudly, “Now, keep going.” 

You give Yuuji an apologetic glance before continuing, “I just mean that by the end of this year, Yuuta and I can get amicably divorced without raising any suspicion. Our marriage can’t be contested as a sham, I’ll be eligible for citizenship and housing on my own, and all will be well.” 

It’s quiet again, for a moment. You bite your lip in anticipation. Ultimately, you knew that none of your friends would judge you and Yuuta for what you did, but it wasn’t exactly normal to marry your friends for legal benefits, and then hide your marital status from almost everyone you knew. Still, this conversation was going about as well as it could, until Maki starts laughing. 

Her laughter starts off quiet, then grows gradually, until it becomes concerning. You don’t think you’ve ever seen Maki actually laugh before—a few amused grunts, and occasional drunk giggles, yes, but full-on, blown laughter is a first. It’s scary, and as you glance at Nobara and Yuuji, you’re clearly not the only one worried. 

“You actually believe that he doesn’t feel anything for you—that’s rich,” she says through laughter, clutching her stomach, “God help you if you think you can just divorce him. You two are so fucked, you deserve each other.”

“Wait, speaking of rich, did you sign a prenup? Isn’t Yuuta totally loaded now that he’s a nurse and related to Gojo—I also don’t think that you’ll be able to divorce him that easily, but if you kill him, you could be an instant millionaire,” Nobara reasons. 

“That’s so shallow!” Yuuji exclaims, “Also, I’m a nurse, and I wouldn’t say I’m loaded.” 

“That’s because you’re not cute like Yuuta,” Nobara mocks, “If you were, then you’d make the big bucks.” 

“I’m cute!” Yuuji cries, turning to you, “I’m cute, right?” 

You reach to pat his head, “Yes, Yuuji, you’re very cute. And perfectly well off enough. Yuuta works inhumane hours for his money, don’t be like him.” 

“Itadori, you make, like, quadruple what the average person makes,” Maki reminds him, “You just spend it all just as quickly.” 

Nobara scoffs, “Which he can afford to do because he’s a nepotism baby.” 

“You just said I was poor and ugly, and now I’m a nepotism baby? Pick a story, Kugisaki!”

“I don’t have to pick shit. Nanami-san sponsors your entire life, and enables your bad spending habits,” she huffs, “Yuuta’s a nepotism nurse, too. In fact, you both make me sick.” 

“Okay, then by that logic Fushiguro is also a nepotism baby!”

“Well, duh. He’s, like, the poster child for nepotism babies all around the world.” 

You drown out Nobara and Yuuji’s argument, mulling over Maki’s words instead. Did she mean to imply that Yuuta would make your divorce difficult on purpose?—you don’t see why; Yuuta doesn’t have a malicious bone in his body, and it wouldn’t serve him any purpose. You didn’t sign a prenup, but you would never argue ownership over any of his assets, and you know that Yuuta knows that; he’d already given you so much, you would never try to take anything from him. 

In fact, getting divorced would only open more doors for him. You don’t know if Yuuta hasn’t dated in the past four years out of some lingering loyalty to your marriage, but if that was the case, then you don’t want to stand in his way for any longer than necessary, and you especially don’t want him to grow to resent you for it. He would no longer be unnecessarily bound to you; he’d be free, legally, to carry on with his life—you would be the only one indebted to him for his boundless kindness. 

Truthfully, you hadn’t thought much of your divorce throughout your marriage. You knew that after five years, you could get divorced without consequence, but you hadn’t pictured how that would go. The thought of it somehow messing with your relationship to Yuuta, and your mutual friendships makes your head hurt. Maybe you should have married Yuuji instead. 

“Are you kidding, Yuuta would have mauled him,” Nobara chuckles, “Plus he would have lost his childhood home.” You blink. Guess you said that last part out loud. 

Her words spark more bickering between her and Itadori, and this time you turn to Maki. It was evident that she was just as much in the dark as anybody else about your secret marriage, but, still, it seemed like she knew something that you didn’t. 

“Maki, does... you said I think that Yuuta doesn’t feel anything—then what does he feel?” 

Maki blinks, then shakes her head, “You clearly don’t know who you married. That’s for you and your husband to work out.” She continues, this time that same wicked laughter is back, “Just know that whatever your plan for divorce was, it’s not going to be that easy. Yuuta is stupid, clearly, but he’s not that dumb. At least, I hope not.” 

You pout, shoulders slumping. That was about the most cryptic and least comforting response a person could give, but you shouldn’t have expected more from Maki. Luckily, Yuuji moves to give your shoulders a comforting rub, forgoing Nobara’s exclamations of him being a homewrecking harlot. 

At this point, you can’t tell if their arguing or your overthinking is causing your headache. Maybe you should cancel this group dinner all together; there’s no way you and Yuuta won’t be the topic of conversation all night, and you’re not exactly looking forward to pairing Maki’s mystic messages with Toge’s public humiliation, unless you start consuming liquor now. 

Deciding that’s the best plan of action, you turn to your cupboards to reach for a bottle of wine, pawning off popping the cork to Maki when your phone buzzes, catching your attention. 

It’s a text from Yuuta, similar to one you’ve received on this day every day, for the past four years, with something a little extra tacked on this year. 

from: yuuta 🌟 — happy anniversary (and i’m not just saying that because the feds are watching) (��∇＾) — cheers to us, and many more! 🖤

#tldr; this is all toge's fault lmfaoooooo #jjk x reader #jjk smut #jjk fluff #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jujutsu kaisen smut #yuuta x reader #yuta x reader #yuuta okkotsu x reader #yuuta smut #yuuta fluff #jjk scenarios #jjk imagines #jjk smau #jjk fanfic #gojo x reader #gojo smut

[cultofdionysusnet]

ೄྀ࿐ ˊˎ- Ficrec Week 15: Horror AU

Due to the nature of this genre, all works are automatically rated M for Mature. However, there will be a separate warning for gore and/or violence. Fics marked with "*" aren't tagged with gore/violence, but may contain it, please proceed with caution.

ATEEZ

Arachnophobia by @kwanisms (Gore TW)

The Shadows of Despair by @anyamaris (Gore TW)

Better Run~ by @sanjoongie (Gore TW)

Welcome To Wonderland by @kpop-stories-21 (Gore TW)

A World Turned Red by @kpop-stories-21 (Gore TW)

Fake Love by @kpop-stories-21 (Gore TW)

I'll Bleed For You by @kpop-stories-21 (Gore TW)

GRIMOIRE: TALE OF TALES. DAY 13. by @thelargefrye (Gore TW)

To Tempt Fate by @mint-yooxgi (Gore TW)

Hotel California by @mint-yooxgi *

kill to the beat. by @thelargefrye (Gore TW)

Kinktober Day 31 by @mint-yooxgi *

DR JEKYLL N' HYDE by @ja3hwa *

Scenarios & edits : Ateez as || horror and thriller psychos by @essenteez (Gore TW)

reaper by @seacottons *

Ateez Insuetis by @joongalez *

I Think I Saw You In My Sleep, Darling by @thanks-its-versace *

The hunter by @multidreams-and-desires (Gore TW)

Stray Kidz

What's Your Favourite Scary Movie? by @hwxnghyynjin (Gore TW)

Tomorrow X Together

Exorcism by @kpoptrashlord-007 *

Others

The Doctor WIll See You Now (EXO's Chanyeol) by @kwanisms (Gore TW)

Nature's Deadly Call (EXO OT11) by @kpop-stories-21 (Gore TW)

Monster (EXO OT11) by @mint-yooxgi *

The Neighbor's Son (ATEEZ's Wooyoung and The Boyz's Sangyeon) by @sanjoongie (Gore TW)

Paranoid (NCT's Taeyong) by @mint-yooxgi *

Kinktober Day 31.5 (NCT's Jaehyun) by @mint-yooxgi *

#cultofdionysusnet #ೄྀ࿐ ˊˎ- Fanfiction Recommendations #CoDN Week 15 #Horror AU #horror au #horror #ateez #stray kids #txt

[marvelous-llama]

EXO recs

<<original book

most of the mentioned works is 18+ NSFW, MINORS DNI

pls don´t hesitate to hmu, if any of mentioned links doesn´t work or you have suggestions for more fics... thank you so much for all the love and comments

one shots

Killer by @soobadnoonecanstopher

Chanyeol x f.reader coworkers to lovers, mutual pining - angst, fluff, smut You are back in Korea. You left to rid yourself of a year long crush on Park Chanyeol, but when you see him again your old feelings return.

break a sweat by @breakyeol

Chanyeol x fem!reader (wc - 11.4k) strangers to lovers - smut

And they were roomates! by @youaremy-dreamgirl

Chanyeol x fem!reader (wc - 3.6k) roommates to lovers, mutual pining - smut after an unfortunate run-in, you end up confessing your love to Chanyeol

Verboten by @mybiasisexo

Chanyeol x fem!reader (wc - 9.4k) university AU, enemies to lovers - angst, suggestive? Park Chanyeol is always getting on your nerves, what with his constant teasing. But there might be other feelings brewing under the surface, feelings that are forbidden to have.

Just Give In by @j-pping

Chanyeol x fem!reader (wc - 8.7k) colleagues to lovers, friends to lovers slowburn - fluff Years of working in SM’s production strategy department made you immune to handsome faces -- but not to beautiful souls. A weeklong company offsite tells all.

Dare by @courageouslyfearless

Chanyeol x fem!reader (wc - 3.6k) friends to lovers - angst, fluff

Pretend by @whimsical-ness

Chanyeol x fem!reader (wc - 5.5k) royal AU, arranged marriage - angst, fluff You’re unsure but hopeful about your arranged marriage to the handsome Prince Chanyeol of the neighboring kingdom. But you’re in for an unpleasant surprise when you find out he’s in love with someone else, and completely despises the idea of being married to you. 

series

Entangled by @mybiasisexo

Chanyeol x f.reader exes to lovers - angst, smut Your good friend, Kim Junmyeon, is getting married, and with that news comes a lot of old history with a certain ex that will be present at said wedding–yikes

The 9th Infantry Couple by @justwritedreams

Chanyeol x fem!reader (wc - 15.4k) enemies to lovers - angst, fluff, action, smut You saved Chanyeol’s life, your biggest enemy, and now you will charge.

#exo #exo x reader #exo recs #chanyeol #exo chanyeol #park chanyeol #chanyeol x reader

[rancidtae]

ARCADIA’S LULLABY | CHAPTER 5

Genre: Mafia AU. Vigilante AU. Sci-fi (AI). Warnings: ANGST. fluff. mentions of near-death experiences. mentions of drug use. emotional tension during breakfast. chanyeol crying. Pairing: exo & Original Female Character (Jung Jiah/Kang Rina) - Kim Minseok/Original Female Character - Zhang Yixing/Original Female Character Word count: 11k+ chapter summary: the one where shit gets real and sehun just wants everyone to talk about their feelings and let him have his breakfast in peace. a/n: WE'RE SO BACK. (we're so over) but make it old-friendship-turned-sour core.

guess what you need isn't always what you want from me

masterlist - meet the characters

082809 - 5:34 pm.

13 years ago

“Yo, open up.”

It was the third time he knocked.

Chanyeol pressed his ear against the wood and heard the muffled murmur of a news anchor.

“C'mon, I can hear the TV, I know you’re in there.”

Not one to be patient when people were purposefully being assholes, he fished the set of spare keys Mr. Kang gave his mom from the pocket of his ripped jeans and jingled them extra hard. Just to piss her off and warn her.

“Wow, this is depressing.” he blurted out, closing the door behind him.

His 15-year-old neighbor did not look surprised, nor tried to pretend that his presence wasn't unwanted. Chanyeol, however, had never worries about being on her good side. They'd been annoying each other all their lives.

Tall piles of books covered the living room, some even went over his head. They were playing videos of the memorial with the president giving a speech in the background on the TV. A steaming bowl of noodles and some side dishes waited on the small dining table.

It was the anniversary of the Seoul Metro bombings. 

As always, every year the city shut down for the memorial. No one was allowed to forget such a dark stain on the country’s history. Over 900 casualties, even more injured.

Chanyeol remembered the day of the attack. His mom rushing to pick him, his sister Yoora and Rina from school, earlier than usual. She didn't answer their questions until they got home and she locked the door behind her. Mr. Kang didn't pick up Rina until the next afternoon, and he looked like a ghost.

That was the day he learned the meaning of the word terrorism.

He took a look at the family picture by the entrance and picked up the remote, turning the TV off.

“What is that?” Rina suddenly asked, making him jump on his feet.

She was curiously looking at the pale pink box under his arm, and it took him a second to remember he'd brought it with him. With every year that passed, Rina only looked more and more like her mother, the resemblance was scary sometimes.

He fixed his throat. “Pastries from Swimmy’s”

Of course, she knew that. It was her favorite bakery.

Rina, however, turned around with feigned disinterest.

“Ah. How’d you even get them? Aren’t they closed today?”

“I don’t know. Yoora’s boyfriend sent them, but she hates him right now so she gave them to me.”

“Cupcakes?” she asked over her shoulder, rattling things inside the fridge.

“Multiflavor.” he nodded, fighting back a cruel grin when she stills.

“You want some?” she asked, pointing at the bowl of steamy noodles.

Chanyeol couldn't remember her ever willingly offering him a bite of anything.

“Nope, I’m good.” he chirped.

Her face dropped. Suddenly deciding that there's nothing inside of her interest, she slammed the poor fridge door.

“Ok, let’s go,” he finally said, feeling like he annoyed her enough for the day. He did not lie when he called the scene depressing.

Her sitting down on the floor and eating overcooked noodles alone when there was a perfectly nice summer afternoon right outside kind of softened his heart.

“Where? Why?”

“Seriously? We’re not gonna sit here and eat them alone, that’s some loser shit. Plus, it’s way too much sugar.”

“It’s not” she protested, struggling to put on her worn-out white Converse.

“Maybe not for me, but it is when you spend your life slugging inside. When’s the last time you went for a run, huh?”

Naturally, they ended up making their way inside Arcadia, her father's arcade spot just a few blocks away. They entered through the backdoor, using Rina’s spare key that she religiously wore around her neck.

Baekhyun nearly landed on his ass when he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye, hand to his chest when he recognizes them and immediately lighting up at the prospect of eating pastries.

Rina found a seat on the countertop, while Chanyeol brought two chairs for himself and his legs from the backroom. Baekhyun picked up his copy of Rebirth and saved his strawberry-flavored gum for later, carefully wrapping it in a sticky note, much to Rina's disgust.

The three indulged in a cupcake each, humming in bliss.

“So," Baekhyun smacked "where you been?” 

“Busy.” she said, legs swinging happily, licking buttercream off her pinky finger.

“Doing what?"

"Stuff."

"Like what, sleeping inside a coffin? You look like you haven’t seen the sun in months.”

Chanyeol agreed. “You’re gonna regret staying inside once we’re back to school.”

Rina was not about to tell them she'd been reading those books at home, one per day like an apple. Her father kept bringing new ones, leaving them stacked up on every surface he could find, building a labyrinth out of them.

The last was Fahrenheit 451. Baekhyun would've liked it if, but he was more of a manhwa guy.

She took a look around the room, all the machines were on. She remembered something. “Wait. Why are you working today?”

Baekhyun pointed one finger at the door. The open neon sign was off, and the door was locked. “I'm not. My aunt and my cousins are visiting and I needed some alone time. And they’re all on because–”

“He doesn’t like the silence.” Chanyeol said, mockingly, with his cap on sideways and clearly finding Baekhyun childish.

“Please don’t tell your dad.” he requested with his customer service voice. “That reminds me, you think he’ll give me a raise if I ask him?”

“Aren’t you only covering shifts for Yuan? I don’t think he even knows you work here.”

He did not take well to that. Sitting up straight and dropping what was left of his cupcake on the box, he put his hands on his waist.

“Only covering– what are you talking about? I know this place better than Yuan ever could. I’m more of an Arcadia member of staff than he is or could ever be” he started counting down with his fingers, Rina took a deep breath. “I’m the general manager, I’m HR, marketing, I’m the cleaning and security staff, I keep an eye on Mintchoco at the back and even–”

Thank god, a knock at the front door interrupted his rant. Jongdae was leaning over the glass, cupping his face and pointing at the lock on the door. Minseok stood just behind him on the sidewalk.

Standing up with a groan and still complaining about the disrespect under his breath, Baekhyun let them in.

Minseok was hugging a ball against his side, had dry blood on his left knee, and his usually squeaky clean soccer shoes and white socks all dirtied up. Jongdae was no better, face dripping in sweat, fanning his shirt, complaining about the heat.

“Swimmy’s?” Minseok asked, eyes wide.

“Like I said” Baekhyun continued. “Arcadia is me. I am Arcadia. I know the consoles. I love this place. This is like home to me. I absolutely, totally, most definitely deserve a raise.”

“If you love it so much shouldn’t your pay be enough?” Asked Jongdae, standing under the a/c vent.

“Right. He makes a good point. You should be doing it for free, even”

Baekhyun glared at Chanyeol. “So what are you suggesting? Unpaid labor? I have a family to feed.”

“Your parents do the feeding in your family” Laughed Minseok, asking Rina to pass him a strawberry cupcake. One of the same strawberry cupcakes Rina had threatened Baekhyun and Chanyeol not to touch.

Chanyeol gave her an odd look, she pretended not to notice it.

“Just say you’re saving up to buy yourself a laptop.”

“That I will get my hands on soon if our dear Rinrin here tells Mr. Kang how good of an employee, and friend I am.” he paused. “Maybe just mention the employee part, nepotism goes against my values.”

"Ok” she agreed. But then she crossed her arms and lifted her chin, and Baekhyun’s cheerful grin crumbled. “But you’ll owe me”

“Ah. What’s this?” he sucked on his teeth “I thought we were friends.”

"You said nepotism goes against your values.”

“So you’re blackmailing me.”

“We’re negotiating.”

“Woah. This is unbelievable. You're really growing into an evil little thing.”

"Speaking about evil little things, we saw your boyfriend on our way here. He was totally asking to get his ass kicked.” said Jongdae through a full mouth. “Ith wath him, right Mintheok?”

Minseok tried to telepathically get him to keep his mouth shut, but he kept going, clueless.

“Looked like he pissed Youngjae off again. You know how he hates being stared at”

By her boyfriend, they were talking about Kyungsoo, who was nothing of the sort. He was, though, known for being excellent at getting on the bad side of people. It wasn't his fault, some just read him wrong.

Kyungsoo was just misunderstood. Often. And Youngjae was a bully.

“And now she has been summoned. Our peace maker.” Chanyeol announced, watching her expression drop. She jumped from the counter and started putting her hair up on a ponytail.

Extra tight, extra high. She meant business.

“Wait. For real?”

“You know, just because you’re a girl and your dad’s a teacher it doesn’t mean Youngjae and his friends won’t beat you up one of these days” Jondgae called out, finally noticing his mistake.

“Hold on, wait wait wait! You’ll tell your dad, right?” Baekhyun asked, watching her walk behind the counter and get the pepper spray from its secret spot.

“You’ll owe me.” she said, and walked out of the door.

The guys saw her cross the street and disappear from view.

"What was that?" asked Jongdae.

"Pepper spray."

Chanyeol groaned. “Dude, why did you tell her? Mr. Kang’s gonna be upset if she’s home late.”

Jongdae did not take well to that, and quickly started firing back questions about how is it his fault that she likes to take on other people's problems.

Sighing, Minseok rubbed the crumbs off his hands and silently made his way to the door.

“Really, you too?”

Minseok shrugged. “She shouldn’t be going alone. And you shouldn't have let her take the pepper spray.”

Jongdae, not at all surprised, only shook his head and stuffed his mouth with another bite. The outcome came as no surprise, he was just glad that the possibility of Rina getting in trouble and Mr. Kang being upset about it had significantly decreased.

Minseok wasn't much of a fighter, but he knew how to make younger kids respect him.

“Are these fresh?” Jongdae was frowning at the cupcake. “How’d you even get them today?”

“Mr. Kang asked me to pick them up. I don't know how he did it, but he got them to bake these for him.” Chanyeol answered, pausing for a bit before adding. “He asked me to get her out of the apartment.”

Jongdae and Baekhyun nodded in understanding, no more questions on the subject were asked.

081322 - 05:12 pm 

Consciousness comes in waves.

First, pain. Second, something warm and blinding.

Sunlight.

Third: white.

The room slowly comes into focus. White walls. Wood framing the window. Sheer curtains.

Fuck. It really fucking hurts.

She can deal with that. The disorientation? That’s different.

A burst of anxiety threatens to come to the surface at once.

Everyone has cycles waiting to be kickstarted at the beck and call of the smallest trigger. Good or bad, but most importantly, unavoidable.

Jiah spent a good chunk of her life testing out remedies for the bad ones. Prescriptions. Therapists. Thoughtfully curated lists of habits; healthy for the long term, destructive for a quick fix. 

And even though nothing could have prepared her for this, time has worked on her.

So as the events from last night come back to her and the doorknob turns with a click, she stays calm and lets her eyes close again.

The person lingers for a moment, doing god knows what. His shadow flickers through her eyelids. Eventually, she’s alone again.

When she opens her eyes again the drowsiness has faded. There’s a classic mid-century flip clock on the nightstand. A piranha plant figure stares back at her with its teeth all bared out, and her transmitter’s politely placed next to it.

She knows right away whose bed this is.

Painfully, she props herself up to a seated position and inspects the sling and the dressed wound. No ethical doctor’s gonna give her the dose of painkillers she’ll need for that.

She’s wearing a thin, depressing hospital gown, and that will not do.

He's definitely loaded. The house is enormous, enough to get lost in and fit her apartment maybe five or six times. Several doors line down the hallway leading to a vast, asymmetrical set of stairs. Vaulted high ceilings top up a communal area, with a long skylight that washes everything in abundant natural light.

She pads down the stairs, following the sound of voices and laughter.

And there he is, stomping out of what looks like some kind of office made of glass walls.

“Hey, hey, wait. No. That is not fair, how was I supposed to–”

He locks eyes with her.

Bewildered. Like he forgot she was there and that just a few minutes ago he was in that room with her.

She looks back at him, like she didn’t know it was him the second her eyes landed on that piranha plant.

A tremor goes through his body before he starts coughing violently.

“Fuck— what the fuck?” more coughing, he plucks something from his mouth. A ridiculously chunky piece of pink gum covered in thick saliva.

Heads turn at the rough edge of her voice “That’s what happens when you try to chew a whole wheel of hubba bubba tape at once.”

Byun Baekhyun stares back at her like she just said the most offensive thing possible, gum still between his fingers.

“Well you can’t just stand there and– lurk looking like– like Shanks and not expect to scare the shit out of innocent people.”

Two figures by the kitchen entrance watch them. One looks kind of confused, the other one crosses his arms and holds back a smile.

“One Piece? Are you twelve?”

“Says the grown woman who can’t get her arm through an oversized sleeve.”

“I'm wearing a sling, you asshole.” she snaps. Baekhyun looks down at the fluttering sleeve, sucking in his lips between his teeth.

And then, like switch is flipped, their expressions shift. Her brows soften, and a wry grin tugs at the corner of her lips. A lighthearted smile spreads across his face.

Jongin gives the person next to him a bewildered glance.

“What’s up with the hair?”

Baekhyun runs his fingers through it. “You don’t like it?”

“Let me rephrase that, did you go to Lady’s Room and talk to the girls?”

Silence.

“I don’t know what–”

“You still touch your hair when you’re lying.”

“Ok. Yeah. No.” He points a finger at her “You’re not going Sherlock on us when you just woke up after a near-death experience.”

“Says who?”

“Says me," he snaps with an attitude, quickly adding “Doctor’s orders.”

“So first Yixing’s a cop and now you’re a doctor?” Startled, Baekhyun opens his mouth and closes it. “What’s next, Kyungsoo’s a wedding planner?”

“Youth pastor, actually. Very successful. The youths love him. And I could be a doctor if wanted, by the way.” he scoffs.

She cocks an eyebrow.

“Whatever. Ah, this won’t do. You suck at reunions. Go back upstairs, we’re doing this again.” he waves his arms at her, urging her back up the stairs. Surprised, she spurts out a laugh. The rebound pain from her shoulder makes her stop and hiss.

“Alright, leave her alone.” 

That face she’d recognize anywhere. It’s unfair that they’ve all aged so nicely. Kim Jongdae looks like an upgraded version of himself, just with different hair and somehow, better skin.

“How are you feeling?”

“Lucid enough to steal my clothes, clearly.”

She realizes she's been staring at him like an owl and fixes her throat.

“Been better.” she nods, bowing quickly, awkwardly waving at the end. “Hi.”

Baekhyun snorts. "Did you just bow?"

Jongdae bows back and waves, amused but ignoring Baekhyun. “Wanna take a seat? I bet you're starving.”

She’s famished. The thought of food is enough motivation to postpone the thinking about everything that is happening right now. And since she's not escaping anytime soon, she might as well acknowledge the other person in the room.

“So, is Jongin your real name, or is this another Juyeon/Sehun thing?”

The kitchen is ridiculously huge, with another skylight at the top and an island at the very center. She sits down, leaving an empty stool between her and the impostor, who shares a look with the other two men.

“Yixing slipped up, wasn't hard to figure out.” she explains.

Jongin fixes his throat. “Jongin is my real name.”

“And how do you know Taemin?”

“We used to go to the same dance studio for a while.”

“And he just introduced us. By coincidence.”

Baekhyun steps in. “You had a horde of mercenaries on your track. We were trying to get them before they got you and Jongin was there to keep an eye on you. Him being Taemin’s friend was a happy coincidence.”

It's not convincing at all, and the thinking starts.

That’s for being so fucking stupid. Do you realize what you got yourself into?

Go ahead, big guy.

“Where’s Chanyeol?”

“What, are we not enough for the welcoming party?”

Jongin, however, knows what she's thinking. She doesn't like it.

"It wasn't him. The man in the bathroom came with backup. We thought we’d handled all of them, but a stray one took us by surprise and shot you.”

“I mean, we can show you the footage of him following the guy.” Baekhyun offers immediately. “But come on, you don’t think he–”

“No need.” patching her up defeats the purpose of taking her down, but that doesn't make up for several loose ends. “However, the manhandling was unnecessary.”

“You did kick Jongin in the balls.” Jongdae reminds her, putting a glass of cold water in front of her. 

“If you guys knew I was being followed then why didn’t you just give me a heads up?”

How did they know?

And where’s the rest?

Baekhyun smiles. "You made it abundantly clear to Yixing that you didn't want us near."

"So why didn't he come?"

“He was out of town, but he asked you to be careful. Several times, he said.”

He did. And she rejected his attempts at helping her beyond getting Haneul protection. Several times indeed. He was very insistent. She brushed him off every time.

Disoriented, she sticks to nursing her glass of water in slow sips. Several details keep her alert.

One, eyebrows/Tuxedo Mask/Sehun had or has been protecting Lee Chungjae, despite Yixing’s insistence that they’re not involved with his people.

Two, Baekhyun definitely went sniffing around Lady’s Room, and if she knows anything about him, he didn't just stop at that.

Three, Junmyeon and Minseok are members of the syndicate.

The sound of a motorcycle roaring outside grows closer and gets her out of her head. The conversation has moved in a completely unexpected direction without her.

“This might be out of my expertise, but I don’t think you can compare periods to getting shot.” Jongdae says, unbothered by the noise.

“Why? Blood is blood, no matter where it comes from” Baekhyun argues. “And I’ve heard scary stories about cramps” 

The steel door is slid open just enough for a tall man to come in, balancing piled up pizza boxes and complaining about someone needing to lube up the damn rail.

“This is the last time you use me as a delivery guy” he declares, dropping the boxes on the counter. He stops when he notices her. Stoic as ever, a face impossible to forget. “You look rough. Bet you wish you listened to my advice about not getting in the way of bullets.” 

She frowns, but then another figure walks in. He's holding two helmets, sliding the door shut with a nudge of his shoulder. He takes a look at her, evidently unimpressed.

“I heard you were begging to see me. How you managed to live all these years without me, now that’s an unresolved mystery, one of many.”

“I don’t know how I held up, honestly” she replies, voice flat. “Every day I woke up feeling like my life was missing something.”

“Poor thing.” He tsks, mockingly pouting at her, hanging both helmets on the wall. “But I heard you’ve had some interesting characters keeping you company, so at least you weren't lonely, right?”

The bitter undertone is unexpected.

“Rin,” Baekhyun calls, a smile on his face, and a sideways less friendly glare at Chanyeol. “You still like orange soda, right?”

They move like protocol, opening the boxes and taking drinks out of the fridge, Jongin walks out of the kitchen after losing a match of rock paper scissors to Jongdae.

Chanyeol stares at her like she's about to stab someone. The pizza looks too good for her to care.

“So, up to anything exciting?” 

“Not much. You?” 

“Oh, come on. Half of the city’s freelancers are searching for you as we speak. Those were some expensive mercenaries following you around.” 

“Makes you wonder how shitty the cheap ones must be.” she points out.

“You also looked too calm for someone who thought she had a gun pointed at her face.” he finishes, folding a piece of pizza in two and devouring half of it with one generous bite. "Definitely wasn't your first time."

“I didn’t think you had it in you.” she shrugs, taking a first bite. It's good. She has to close her eyes and sigh for a moment. “And it wasn’t my first time, he ruined my favorite jacket the other night, remember? Got my ear ringing for a few days.”

Sehun shrugs. "You got in the way."

“Right, how’d that happen anyway?” He points at his big ass ear. The left one. Eyeing hers like he didn’t get the point across. Her hair is covering the transmitter, but of course, they don't need to see it to know it's there.

She snorts, not amused at all. “Aren’t you too comfortable?”

Jongdae calls his name, something like a warning. Chanyeol drops the subject and focuses on getting his hands on a second slice, Sehun chuckles at the scene.

“You guys couldn’t wait for us?”

Jongin reappears, followed by a familiar face that feels like a punch to the chest.

His eyes scan the room, curious about the sudden silence. It ends when he notices her. There's a flicker there, but whatever he's really thinking is quickly guarded by a stoic expression.

“Why is she here?”

“She’s feeling fine,” Baekhyun shrugs. “I’d be dying to get out of bed after 15 hours of sleep too.”

Do Kyungsoo offers no answer, doesn’t even spare her or Baekhyun another glance. He washes his hands in silence, takes the spot next to Jongin, grabs a slice of pizza for himself and that's that. Her eyes stay on him, surprise slowly dissolving from her face.

And then Baekhyun claps, starling her.

“Shit, I almost forgot. Dessert first!”

It happens at once—a sloppy plan set in motion by Baekhyun’s insistence. Ignoring whatever he has in store, Jiah beats Chanyeol to the last slice of neapolitan while Jongdae helps Baekhyun look for something in their endless cabinets.

"The drawer by the coffee machine,” Kyungsoo mutters.

Someone must cover her eyes for this, Baekhyun insists. Jongin gives her a careful look waiting for her consent. She shrugs, pushing the last bit of crust past her greasy lips, and soon her eyes are engulfed in the warmth of his hands.

There’s the sound of hushing and Chanyeol’s poorly contained laugh, then a click.

“Ok, ready? Jongin, hands off. You can open them.”

She blinks away the flash of white and frowns at them before looking down.

Cake. 

Pink frosting and strawberries. It’s decorated in terrible piping work, topped with those colorful sprinkles that taste like nothing and several thin and tall candles scattered around.

There’s a message in red jelly, off-centered.

“Sorry you got shot on your–”

Whoever wrote it miscalculated the space they had available, so the word birthday has all the letters stuck together and get increasingly smaller.

Baekhyun’s satisfied grin stays put even when he ducks as a strawberry flies over him. Jongdae yelps dramatically when another hits his shoulder, his hyena laugh is interrupted by a long string of complaints.

Jongin warns her not to eat the frosting, because Baekhyun got excited with the food coloring and it tastes like medicine.

“Did you bake this?” she bites down on a strawberry. It's just a hint of sweet but perfectly juicy, it bursts in her mouth “It’s looks like a 4 year old decorated it.”

“Ok, It’s her." Baekhyun says. "Good job, team."

“Do you think I’m some kind of impostor?”

“You have a whole new name, we had to make sure.”

“Wait, so that was your birthday?” Sehun asks, shaking his head when Jondgae offers him a paper plate with a slice of cake. Only Chanyeol seems to be interested in trying it, taking his sweet time getting rid of the frosting.

The cake itself isn’t that bad. Just the usual vanilla cake mix flavor, a little dry but easy to eat.

“No, today is her birthday.” 

“Is it?” Jongin asks, scanning her face.

“Yeah. August 13th.” Baekhyun stops. “Wait, you didn’t–”

The question trails off when all she does is shove another piece of cake inside her mouth.

“I usually celebrate it in December.” 

Several weirded-out looks come her way. 

“Damn, that’s fucked up.” Sehun mumbles, and now he's getting looked at wrong. "What? I’m just saying, if I had two birthdays I’d celebrate both."

Jiah closes her eyes and blows on what's left of the candles. “That'd be hard to explain to other people, though. My friend Irene gets me flowers, but that’s about it."

Irene. Yeri. Taemin. How could she forget? They must be worried about her. Before she jumps down from the stool, once again Jongin answers a question before she gets to ask it.

"It's ok, I told Taemin we left together."

Jiah stares at him in disbelief. "No, it is not. He knows I don't leave parties with random dudes and--"

Jongdae makes a face. "Jongin's definitely not a random dude."

"He knows me too. He'll have fit, but he knows you're safe with me, trust me."

"But Yeri-"

"Fine. He dropped her off at her dorm."

"Where's my phone?" she asks Baekhyun.

"I'm afraid it didn't make it through the night, but--"

“Question,“ Chanyeol asks out of nowhere. "Why aren't you freaking out?"

"Excuse me?"

“Someone put a price on your head, and they’re being generous about it. But you're... worried that your friends won't believe you had a one night stand?”

“It's not my head they want.”

"Excuse me?"

Chanyeol’s lips part, a burst of surprised laughter escaping his mouth.

“Yeah. No, totally.” he frowns, nodding. “They put a hole through you just for funsies. They were just trying to start a tickle fight.”

“He could’ve easily taken me down in the bathroom, but he didn’t.” She gets different looks of disbelief.

Jongdae frowns. “You still got shot after that, and I’m pretty sure that wasn’t just a warning.”

“Those were expensive mercenaries, right? If they wanted me dead, I would be.”

“And this, everyone, is why they tell kids not to do drugs,” Chanyeol gives the room a look, pointing his hand at her “She wasn’t this delusional before.”

“Shut up and eat your pizza, Chanyeol” Kyungsoo says, much to her surprise.

Baekhyun agrees. “Yeah, don’t be a dick.”

Sehun sucks his lips inside his mouth, subtly eyeing everyone.

Jiah shakes her head. “That's fine, I’m not exactly worried about convincing you.” 

“They want you dead.” Chanyeol enunciates slowly, like he’s talking to a foreigner “You were lucky we were there.”

“Probably, yeah.” She’s not gonna deny that. “I appreciate what you did."

He shakes his head at her like she’s fucking stupid.

“What? You want me to suck your dick or something?”

“Alright, this is fun.” Jongdae exhales loudly, moving away to get a glass of water, slapping Sehun’s back.

Chanyeol pushes his tongue against his cheek, nodding at her. “Right. What’s dying for you anyway, right? You’ll just pop right back up in another decade.”

Jongin doesn’t let Chanyeol’s jab sink, he turns to her in genuine curiosity. “Sorry, but can you explain where you're coming from?”

“You leaked those voicemails. Your name might not be on the story, but they know it was you.” Kyungsoo turns, stirring iced tea with a glass straw “You destroyed Lee Chungjae’s reputation right after his father announced his candidacy.”  

“Im Nayeon leaked those voicemails.” she corrects him, and no one notices, but Baekhyun smiles, a spark set in his eyes. “I only did what was necessary to get them to the public. Therefore, I’m the only connection to her.”

“So what you’re saying is that you’re some– kind of medium?” 

“She’s saying Nayeon is alive,” Baekhyun says, leaning over the island and looking at her with excited eyes. “That’s what you’re saying, right?”

“Yes. How did you—?”

“A week after her death her name came up, just like yours.”

“Her name came up?”

Though Baekhyun’s smile stays intact, he visibly pales, and that’s when Jiah knows she just hit a spot.

The question has without a doubt and without her meaning to, landed somewhere. Jongdae and Chanyeol share a look. Only Sehun, Jongin, and Kyungsoo are doing a decent job of keeping their faces straight.

She just knows they’re gonna have a conversation about this later, once she’s gone.

“Why would someone put a mark on a girl who’s already dead?” They visibly relax at her answering her own question. Kyungsoo just barely squints at her. He knows better.

“Shouldn’t you know that? You’re the one claiming she somehow survived that fire” Chanyeol juts his chin at her.

If she had to put a name to the look on Baekhyun’s face, it’d be all work and no play.

“There’s something I think you’ll want to see”.

081422 - 02:58 am

“You know what’s weird?” Baekhyun mutters as she hands him a photograph.

Fresh out of the printer, the girl smiling in it is Yoo Jeongyeon. She was 23 the last time she was seen last year and attended the same university Nayeon did. The only string connecting the two is a few common friends on Facebook. 

Baekhyun tapes her picture next to the other seven photographs on the board. Like the rest of the room, the board’s made of glass, worn out and opaque by the constant use of tape on the surface, unlike the transparent, clean walls around them. 

The station is rather impressive, she had to just stand there when she first entered and stare at the computer station sprawled before her on the only brick wall at the back. 

A cluster of screens stands tall, commanded by a main, curved, and wide monitor, flanked by a couple more of them on each side. And just in case that’s not enough, an extra trio of monitors hangs above, suspended from the ceiling by sleek metallic arms that sell the illusion that they’re floating. All of them on cast a gentle light on the surrounding consoles, keyboard, touchpad, and devices she does not recognize, each meticulously organized and aligned for optimal efficiency.

Her curious eyes took it all in while Baekhyun scratched the back of his head and acted like it was just some humble setup. Honest work, he called it, still in progress. She still can’t figure out what else he can add, or how he can rearrange what’s an already pristine network of wires hidden at the back, and she’s too afraid to ask.

“None of Nayeon’s friends have posted anything about the investigation or the voicemails. That’s weird, isn’t it? If there was a possibility that your friend was murdered, you’d be outspoken about it, right? You’d want answers.”

“They could’ve been threatened” Jiah reminds him, staring up at the eight pictures on the board.

A line of girls stares back at them, all of them undergrad students, just like Nayeon. There’s a pattern in there, difficult financial situations, complicated and sometimes no familial affiliations or support network, and they’re all seriously attractive under current beauty standards.

Two of them are orphans. Two are foreign. The last one, Jeongyeon, makes an exception by keeping in touch with her mother until the time of her disappearance. Baekhyun started working on the list and gathering info with Yixing last year, and so far, every single case has turned cold. Not for a lack of investigating, she has their files, courtesy of Yixing, splayed around her.

“Still…” he mumbles, leaning his head to the side and reaching for his glass of iced coffee, looking startled when nothing but ice cubes hit his upper lip “If one of the girls at the salon were in that situation, you’d ask for the truth, threatened or not.”

Her stomach twists at the thought. She would not stop at asking for it, she’s confident that she’d turn the city upside down until she found them, but who’s doing that for these girls?

“It’s different. It’s my job.”

“Pretty sure you’ve gone past the limits of journalism.” Baekhyun tuts. “But you see it, right? There’s something here. I’m not being a conspiracy junkie.”

“I see it, yeah.”

“Have you tried talking to Nayeon’s friends?” 

“I don’t think we should be focusing on her friends like that, we might not even be focusing on these girls the way we should,” she says, rushing to explain when Baekhyun opens his mouth “Don’t get me wrong, there’s a pattern, but Nayeon was– she left a message and everything, and these girls are all…”

“Silent?” Baekhyun offers.

“Yes.” she sighs, leaning back and looking up at the ceiling. “They’re all silent, it can’t be a good sign.”

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.” Baekhyun says, breaking her out of her trance. 

She frowns and snorts. “Did you just quote Wilde at me?”

“The Importance of Being Earnest” he smiles proudly. “Kind of out of context, but it’s true.”

She smiles at him, sighing and looking back at the board. “In my experience, most of the time the truth turns out to be boring and people end up disappointed. Everyone wants a conspiracy.”

“That’s true. But when it’s not boring–” He gives her a meaningful look, and she wonders if that’s what she looks like to other people.

“Yeah.” she agrees, he doesn’t need to finish that sentence for her to know what he means. “This doesn’t look boring at all”

“And it doesn’t look fun either, does it?” he sucks in a sharp breath. "Maybe they’re not silent, we’re just not listening the way we should.”

As it turns out, The station has no semblance of soundproofing. When someone comes in through the kitchen, they can hear the low hum of voices, the sound of keys being dropped and groans of relief as shoes are taken off at the entrance.

A few seconds later there’s a soft knock on the glass.

She doesn’t know what she expected, but it was certainly not Kim Junmyeon dressed in casual attire instead of a suit like the last time she saw him, fresh out of a syndicate debut. Now he looks more like an older brother checking on his little siblings. A dad even.

“Baekhyun, it’s 3 am. I know this is how you choose to live but she needs rest” his eyes look as tired as he sounds.

“Do you think she’s here against her will?” Baekhyun asks, offended.

He walks in, leaving the door open behind him. Jiah thinks she sees a shadow walk past through the living room, but it’s gone before she can notice anyone.

“How are you feeling?”

“Better. Thanks for the help. I appreciate it.”

He nods. “It’s what we do”

“And for the lawyer, the other day. Yixing told me” she adds. And maybe it’s the meds kicking in, or the emotional exertion of the day and having to see so many old new faces, but fatigue is beginning to weigh down on her. 

“You did well,” Junmyeon says. “The girl needed help, he had it coming.”

He buries his hands inside the pockets of his jeans, pointing at the board with his chin. There’s a signature curious pout on his face. “What’s this about?”

“Don’t be nosy. We’ll explain in the morning” Baekhyun answers, fingers dancing all over his keyboard with speedy clicks. Junmyeon doesn’t look too convinced, letting out a loud sigh that makes her feel even more foreign in this place.

Do they all live here? Together? At their age? What about Minseok?

“Alright. There’ll be a lot of that in the morning.” he gives her a look she does not reciprocate. “I’m going to bed, you two should get some rest.”

He stops just as he’s about to walk out the door.

“We don’t have a guest room ready, since someone decided to use it as a storage room, so I hope you won’t mind taking Baekhyun’s bed”

“She’s getting the coziest room in this house, she doesn’t mind” Baekhyun speaks for her, standing up and leaning over her to start shutting down his monster of a station.

She catches a glimpse of Junmyeon's reflection on the dark screen that Baekhyun turns off first. He stands there for a moment, looking at them with a pensive expression before he turns around and closes the door behind him.

Some rest might be nice, she thinks, as Baekhyun starts talking her ear off again.

7:34 AM

A few hours later she’s closing his bedroom’s door behind her as quietly as she can.

The house is silent. No one can be bothered to be up so early on a Sunday, and she counts on that being the case until she figures out where her—

“Hey there. You looking for these?”

She can’t escape him, can she? A very sleepy and messy-haired Baekhyun has a hold of her boots and her bag, closing the door across from his room behind him. She gets a glimpse of someone’s sleeping form.

“I hid them, just in case you tried to sneak out,” he explains, rubbing his puffy eyes before stretching loudly. At this pace, he’s going to wake everyone.

“I need a shower” she winces at how loud her voice sounds “And I already stayed here for too long. Can I have them back?”

“Shower?“ he pretends to think over, nodding "We have plenty of those around here, I believe. Soap, towels, shampoo. You still take them at hell temperature?”

She blinks at him.

“Baekhyun.”

“Rina.”

“I’m serious.”

“So am I! You can’t just leave on your own until we’re sure it’s safe for you out there, you’re not exactly in the condition to bite attackers either.”

“Am I a hostage?”

She doesn’t like the sweet little smile he gives her. “You’re a guest.”

“But you’re telling me I can’t leave.”

“We can negotiate after breakfast. Come on, I’m giving you a tour of my favorite spot.”

Thirty minutes later she’s waiting for him to pay for a ridiculous amount of overpriced breakfast sandwiches with different fillings. The cashier, a lanky guy with a bored expression on his face and ginormous red headphones swallowing up his ears puts everything inside a bag. 

Baekhyun sends a cheeky smile in her direction, making sure she’s still standing by the end of the counter, shifting uncomfortably in a huge pair of slippers. The lack of socks makes the experience even worse.

“That’s a lot of food,” she points out.

“We’re feeding ten adults, I promise you it’s never too much of anything in our house” he answers, starting the engine.

“Ten adults?”

“I texted Yixing. It’s been a while since we all had a meal together. I don't remember the last time we used the dining table.”

She sighs, leaning her head against the passenger window and trying to find any familiar street.

“Slept well?”

“I’m very uncomfortable with this and I don’t appreciate you withholding my things”

“Oh-kay, someone’s grumpy in the morning.” he chuckles, leaning over the steering wheel as he takes a turn. “Consider this your punishment for trying to leave without saying goodbye. You got a deadbeat father complex or something?”

She glares at him, half-heartedly. 

“Come on, it’s just breakfast with the boys. Best meal of the day, with the boys.”

“It’s not just breakfast, you know that” she mutters, closing her eyes to rest them for a second. 

“Hey, it’s just us,” He surprises her by finding her wrist resting on the seat. His fingers curl around it, giving it a light tug, like a kid trying to get a grown-up’s attention “No one will jump you or anything. I know things are awkward, but they won’t have to be once we all talk and catch up, yeah?”

The red light goes green after what feels like an eternity. It takes him a second to notice, and he’s back to quietly driving them across the street, still not letting go of her wrist. 

“You trust me, right?” he asks suddenly, giving her a glance.

“Seriously, out of nowhere?”

He doesn’t laugh, only turns to look at her with a serious look on his usually relaxed features. “Cause I trust you, Rin. I hope you know that.”

The fuck? 

“Ok? Thanks–” 

“I mean, I don’t know what you’ve been up to, obviously, or what– you know? Happened, but I know I trust you.” he nods firmly, fixing his throat and suddenly avoiding her eyes. "Whatever happened, it doesn't matter to me. I'm just happy to see you again."

She feels the sudden need to get out of the car, but her shoulder would probably combust, so she gives him the softest of nods. The feeling that it's a mediocre reply lingers.

Eventually, he lets go of her wrist.

About half an hour later, she's watching Jongdae fix a generous batch of coffee while singing his heart out to an OST only someone over 30 could recognize. He was the first to wake up, walked into the kitchen, took a look at her and immediately scolded Baekhyun for not getting her slippers closer to her size. 

They belong to Chanyeol and he thinks it’s just hilarious that she walks like a duck in them.

They all come down one by one in different states of sleepiness. All Jiah can think is that life has taken a seriously strange turn, and there’s not much she can do about it other than hold on to a cup of coffee and watch in silence, hair still wet.

“How are you feeling?” Junmyeon asks once again, taking some multivitamins and eyeing a plate of fruit that Sehun tries to keep safe from Chanyeol’s prying hands, asking him for the third time if he washed his hands.

He looks like Jongdae had to drag him out of bed, bed sheet imprints leaving red lines on his left cheek, swollen eyes and messy hair. There’s even dry drool on his chin. She wants to point it out, but they're not comfortable like that with each other.

He eyes the third spoonful of sugar she drops on her coffee but keeps any comment to himself.

“We can ask Dr. Jangmi for something stronger if you need it, just let me know.”

“Alright, thanks. I appreciate that,” she says for what feels like the 20th time in the past 24 hours.

Thanks. I appreciate that. This is weird as fuck though, can we not do this?

“Huh? What's this? What’s going on here?”

There is a soft giggle at the end of Yixing’s question. He's taking his shoes off, stumbling a bit, not closing the door behind him, holding a coffee cup carrier.

“Breakfast.” Jondgae says, and Jiah suspects he made a face. Whatever that means.

“Hey,” he makes his around the island and engulfs her in a careful hug. He's warm to the touch from being outside. “How are you feeling?”

"I’m ok.” she smiles, not being able to help her lips from pouting. “My shoulder’s kind of fucked, though.”

He frowns, shakes his head slowly, hands moving up and down her good arm, leaning down to press his lips to her temple. "I know. I'm sorry. But the more rest you get, the faster you'll feel better again, so don't rush yourself."

She nods, letting her weight rest on him for just a bit, eyes fluttering open when white cotton and a head of thick black hair passes by, startling her.

Kim Minseok is putting two extra carriers next to the one Yixing left on the island top. The door is now closed, but she never heard him come in. And now he's handing people coffee.

Chanyeol thanks him a thousand times. It seems like Jongdae's coffee making skills are controversial, he nags at them about being ungrateful, but walks over to get his cup anyway.

"Oh, that's–"

Jongdae's extended hand stops abruptly at Yixing's interruption. The cup Minseok was just about to give him is now being held by both of them.

"Dirty chai. That's Rina's." he explains.

Jiah, unsure about how to proceed, stares at the cup in front of her face, neither releasing it. Jongdae drops his hand, eyes shifting between them.

Yixing blinks curiously at Minseok, whose face she's avoiding to turn to look at.

Sehun leans over and grabs a cup of his own with his ridiculously long arms.

"Are you guys gonna give it to her, or–"

HIs comment wraps it up. Yixing gives her the cup, smiling down at her and paying no mind to the tilt of Jongdae’s eyebrow or Junmyeon's side eye.

“Oh, before I forget. I told Haneul you're taking a break. He sounded worried, maybe you should give him a call?” 

Right. Haneul. She’s been so distracted that she forgot about him as well. Yixing offers her his phone, but Baekhyun cuts him off and tells her to focus on breakfast while it's still warm.

Kyungsoo is the last one to take a seat at the table, lazily scrolling through his phone. There’s a pair of thick-framed glasses perched on top of his nose. He sighs at Baekhyun’s loud moan when he takes the first bite.

“Just as good as I remembered.”

The table is filled with the sound of eating and the low hum of someone's lofi playlist playing from the speakers. The moment lingers just long enough to become awkward.

“I don’t know about you guys, but I love uncomfortable silences during breakfast, I heard they’re good for digestion,”

Junmyeon stops mid-bite and gives Sehun a look.

“What? I mean she’s here now, can’t you just catch up? Ask her what happened on the third day?”

“Ok, Sehun. Just finish your sandwich.” 

He rolls his eyes, pointedly taking a big bite.

“Didn’t you have something to show us?” Jongin asks helpfully. Jiah has noticed that him and Sehun stick to each other, despite being on opposite ends of several traits.

“Glad you asked,” Baekhyun claps his hands, standing up as he licks his fingers having successfully devoured his sandwich. He disappears for a bit and comes back wheeling the glass board behind him.

Yixing turns to the side in his seat, pointing at one of the pictures. 

“There’s another girl?”

“Yep,” Baekhyun beams, the excited smile on his face melting immediately. He fixes his throat. “Long story short, these girls all are missing, they’re also all students, and they could be connected to Nayeon’s disappearance. We’re thinking they might help us find her.”

“Did you just say find her?”

“I did,” Baekhyun points his finger at Junmyeon, happy that he caught that “Nayeon is alive.”

Other than Sehun noisily blowing on his drink, the silence is heavy with skepticism. 

“We’re keeping a positive mindset here. There is a big, big chance she didn’t die in that fire. The body they found at her apartment was declared burned beyond recognition, and Nayeon didn’t have recent dental work done on her, so they couldn't even look for a match. And before you accuse me of being delusional, Rina came to the same conclusion all on her own.”

“Is this true?”

Jiah nods at Junmyeon. “She sent her brother the recordings through a shipping company days before the fire and scheduled the delivery. He got the package in the mail exactly two weeks after the fire.”

“So she knew she was in danger.”

“Creative.” Chanyeol mutters, impressed “She found a way to let her brother know without putting him in direct danger.”

“And then he tried to end Lee Chungjae himself.” Sehun adds.

“If she went through that effort, she would’ve tried to hide, right? It was only a theory, but Lee Chungjae probably has a reason to believe this as well, and he doesn’t want any loose ends.”

Junmyeon’s face is unreadable. 

“And well,” she points at her shoulder. “I think that night proved my theory.”

Yixing leans back on his chair, crossing his arms. It’s followed by a dry chuckle at the other side of the table.

“Can we just tell her?”

"Baekhyun tries to interrupt, but Chanyeol has a point to make.

"Nah, let her know, or she’ll go out there and successfully get herself killed this time just because she thinks she has backup.”

Jongdae tries as well, not without giving her a careful sideways glance that she doesn’t return, staring back at Chanyeol with just a slight narrowing of her eyes. Her lack of reaction so far has made his demeanor get a little more vicious.

“Let’s not–”

“How do you think they knew it was you, even with your editor protecting you?” Chanyeol finally asks “Your protector snitched on you, didn’t think twice before selling you out to Lee Chungjae’s team. He’s putting good money on his dad's campaign, did you not know?”

“Protector?” she blurts out, neither a question nor an affirmation. “Are you- wait, you mean Namjoon?” 

She snorts.

“I mean, yes? He knew about the investigation. I let him know before it came out.”

“You’re full so of shit. It's just sad.” Chanyeol shakes his head slowly.

“Like I said before, I’m not worried about convincing you.”

“Why?” he dares.

She can't judge him for being so remarkably slow. He doesn’t trust her, he’s probably terrified of whatever he thinks she represents. Yixing didn't lie about people being wary of her.

It’s disappointing to see him handle what he thinks is a threat so poorly, but then again he always was a heart-on-his-sleeve kind of guy. 

Others keep their silence and listen. Kyungsoo, even Junmyeon. Minseok's glare is impossible to ignore.

“Because sometimes being underestimated can work in your favor.” she speaks slowly like it’s a child across from her and not a man two years her senior.

The tension spikes. All these resources, a wide range of skills, a seat at the syndicate, and just a few harmless words make their mood drop.

Junmyeon leans in. “So what I'm hearing is that you put yourself at risk just to... prove a theory.”

“Of course not,” she wonders if he paid attention at all to what she said. “I hoped they’d come expecting to find Nayeon through me, so I set up a lead. It’s not about if they take it but who does. Chungjae's not doing this alone.”

“And did it work? The bait?“ Jongin sounds hopeful.

"I’m hoping it did.”

“You’re hoping it did?” Junmyeon repeats. “It’s been 48 hours, what if they realized you’re bluffing and decided you’re not useful anymore?”

“I’ve got it handled.”

“You never mentioned any of this” Baekhyun says, breaking his silence.

He has a look of disappointment on his face she wants to get rid of, and then she remembers that pale grin he gave her yesterday, like he was about to break into a cold sweat.

“I’ll let you know what I find.” 

There's something happening right in front of her eyes. As much as she wishes she could trust Yixing, his explanation about them being wary about her association with Namjoon doesn't cut it.

Her eyes find Minseok's and she hopes he's better than Baekhyun at subtlety. If getting himself a seat at the table is any indication, chances are he is.

Something indeed, and she's nearly convinced that it goes against the deal he signed a few days ago.

But that's not it, isn't it? There's more to it.

He lifts his chin, just barely, it feels too much like a silent warning. It has the opposite effect he wants. The dirty chai kicks in at once.

“Frankly, I don’t think you’re in the state to be handling anything right now.” Junmyeon’s amused little chuckle kills her momentum.

“I agree,” Yixing says, much to her disappointment “Even if you’re right, it doesn’t mean you're in any less danger.”

“I know how to take care of myself."

“Do I need to remind you that just almost bled out on the way to the hospital? This is obviously getting out of your hands. I won’t have your picture next to those girls'.”

Junmyeon points at the board. He's wearing a ring on his index finger. She's surprised it fits. Maybe he had it resized.

“You can leave it to us this time, we’ll handle it.”

“I appreciate the concern, but it's not your decision to make.”

"Question," Baekhyun says, a surprisingly serious look on his face. "Would it be so bad to let us help?"

“That's not the point. I promised Im Haneul I’d see this through.”

“Wouldn't be the first time you let someone down. He'll survive.” Chanyeol coldly replies.

Her blood starts to boil. They're cornering her, and her patience has a limit.

“Alright, I don’t know what your problem is, but let’s get it over with."

A deep voice has heads turning to the right. “You know what his problem is. Don’t play dumb, it doesn’t suit you.” 

If Chanyeol’s voice was venomous, Kyungsoo’s tone feels like battery acid.

Chanyeol wastes no time. “Only a handful of people survived Hwacheon's fire, how did you make it out?”

“You shouldn’t believe official records, the prison system in this country is a joke.”

“So no complex escape plan? I was expecting some prison break shit from you.”

“Sorry to disappoint.”

He shakes a finger at her.

“I heard rumors, you know? About this girl that worked for Kim Namjoon. No one knew where she came from, not even back in their hometown. They said she was a witch, could sniff out a traitor from a mile away,”

Jiah has to give it to him, he sure knows how to set the mood with the storytelling.

“And then one day, she disappeared without a trace. People said he killed her after she tried to turn on them, others said someone in their circle knocked her up and he sent her away. Whatever happened, she vanished.”

“A hundred years passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar, an airbender named Aang." Sehun says, arm coming to rest around Jongin's shoulders. He pretends not to hear him.

“I don't know what you want me to say."

“Was it him, Hwacheon’s fire? Is that how you got out?”

To her utter disbelief, he's being serious. All she can do is open her mouth and close it, look around to see if anyone else understands how stupid that is.

Kyungsoo shrugs. “You’re not denying it.” 

“No, Kyungsoo. Kim Namjoon didn’t blow up a federal facility to help me escape. I can’t believe I have to explain this to you. I didn’t even know them back then.”

“Hwacheon is just ten miles away from Songju, isn't it? Right where Namjoon’s operation started. That was you. November 10th, the prosecutor's kids, the clean up, the start of the syndicate. You were there.”

"I was." she says without hesitation, still not understanding what's the big deal.

"Why?"

"Because they helped me out. And I because wanted to."

“Well, since we all know he cashes in all his favors, I guess the big, scary question here is what did you have to do to pay off your debt after they helped you out? Was it witchery, or was it-” 

“Ok,” Junmyeon interferes, putting one hand on the table. “You’re crossing the line.”

“Don’t worry, he’s not even close.” she says with a light tone, but the slight curl of her lips betrays the cutting edge behind her words.

"I just hope that if you got knocked up, you had the sense to get rid of it. Otherwise, you're an asshole for putting yourself in danger when you have a kid somewhere."

“Wow. When did he become this fucking pathetic?” she asks, genuinely curious, but they're all either too uncomfortable or embarrassed to grace her with an answer.

“Ok, I’ll translate for him.” Sehun chimes in, leaning forward with a serious expression on his face. Jongin closes his eyes and expects the worst. “What he's trying to ask is, did you engage in premarital sex with Kim Namjoon and/or any of his associates?”

Yixing drops his head. Jongin looks kind of mortified but kind of amused at Chanyeol's immediate response, shaking his head and rolling his eyes.

“That is not what I’m asking.”

“No? So you’re worried about my hypothetical kid now?”

“Ok. Chanyeol, drop it. Let’s get back on track.”

But she likes this track. She doesn't see the point in dropping it yet.

"If you’re taking the misogynistic route, at least do it right. Don’t be a half-assed piece of shit, it’s pitiful.”

“Rina.”

“I’m not finished, Suho.”

A quick oop follows.

"I get it. I know what this is about. I see you. You're still dealing with your abandonment issues, but that’s not on me."

Chanyeol's face drops.

She carries on, no remorse. "What? You think you're special because your daddy wasn't around to play ball? Give me a break."

“Jesus. Ice fucking cold.”

A sharp grating sound. He forcefully shoves his chair back.

“Hey, hey–”

“Park Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol stands up at full height and others follow. Jongdae tries to talk some sense into him. Yixing doesn’t hesitate to do the same when she mirrors Chanyeol's stance, arm extended in front of her, shaking his head.

Sehun seems to be out of little quips. Like him, Minseok remains seated, looking at the scene from the end of the table.

Poor Jongdae, he's still trying. “Sit down, man. C'mon.”

But Chanyeol's not listening, his jaw is locked in, teeth gritted together. Finger pointed at her, spit spraying in the air.

”You let us all think you were dead.“ 

"I had my reasons.” 

She’s trying her best to not lose it against his stupid loud voice that takes up the room. Her head, her shoulder, her back, they all hurt. She should’ve left the moment she woke up, barefoot.

Chanyeol throws his arms in the air, growling.

“Your reasons? To let everyone mourn you for what? A decade. What the fuck is that about? Who does that?”

“I'm sorry, what’s the acceptable protocol for you? Enlighten me.”

“Dude, you’re seriously not asking that.” he winces, like he'd rather not look at her. “Kim Namjoon, seriously? That was your only option? You. Everything you tried to preach to us. Looking down at us, talking about better ways and shit, like you were some kind of paragon of virtue."

“Ah, fuck off. Seriously, fuck off." she repeats with closed eyes, an exhausted mantra. "Don’t selectively bring shit from the past into this."

"Was that just to make yourself feel a little less bad about, huh? About getting Yuan killed because you couldn’t keep your mouth shut?”

It feels like the air was sucked out of the room. No one was ready for that, perhaps not even Chanyeol. For a fleeting second he looks like he caught himself off guard.

Jiah lets out a shaky, hoarse little laugh, mumbling to herself. "You don't know shit. Not even now."

"You know you can repeat that all you want but that's still the truth."

“You wanna talk about the truth? The only reason I was there that night was to warn you, but you treated me like I was out of my mind. Everything I tried to tell you would happen, happened. That's the truth,"

Silence, she's not done yet.

"And then you got in that stupid car and sped down the fucking street,"

Not even near.

"You didn’t look back. You had the chance to leave it all behind and move on with your life while mine wasted in jail. But now you wanna act like I owe you an explanation?”

There's no way they remember that night as vividly as she does. Every tiny detail, the smell of shitty sewage water against her face, the weight of some asshole’s knee on her back pinning her to the street, the overlapping of people yelling in panic. Red and blue lights blinding her. Blasting sirens.

“I don't blame you. I fucked up time and time again and it’s not like you could’ve done anything to get me out of it.” she admits. 

“That’s right. You fucked up and we fucked up. So you decided that was it? You couldn't reach out for help or at least contact us? Did you not think of the consequences of letting people believe you were dead?”

She can’t help the bitter smile, half of her wanting to ask Chanyeol what he knows about consequences, but he’d mistake that for her wanting to hear an answer. Ten years later it’s not something that interests her.

"Pretty much, yeah,” she replies shamelessly, after a moment of consideration.

“That easy, huh?”

“Honestly, I was miserable back then. I was a kid, I only had you, I thought I could fix it, but everything kept getting worse.” she says, and the dam has not cracked yet, but it might. Any second now. “So yeah, after the fire, when I realized I had the choice to start over, I took it. That part? That was easy, yes.”

Chanyeol blinks at her, like he's not sure he's looking at someone.

“I was very careful. Don't think this situation here happened because of me being sloppy. I never planned to see any of you again, and I was at peace with that.” 

She wants to carry on but her throat feels raw, and Chanyeol’s breathing through his mouth. A couple of fat, anime-like tears spill down his cheek.

The dust has settled and it's clear that the room has shifted. Yixing was just sitting right next and now there’s some distance between them, like she’s exuding toxic fumes. Baekhyun looks like a kid with glassy eyes and a red nose. It’s too late to take back, it’s all out of her chest, too heavy to cage it back up.

“I do have a question though, why are you wearing my rings?”

Kyungsoo stands up, walking past her and stopping just to throw something on the table. The metallic rattle is enough to let her know what it is.

“They meant something,” he replies, chillingly calm. “Back when we thought you were dead.”

“But now that I think about it, I don’t think you made it out of the fire.”

#exo fanfiction #exo fanfic #exo x reader #exo scenarios #baekhyun fanfiction #minseok fanfiction #chanyeol fanfiction #yixing fanfiction #exo angst #jongin fanfiction #jongdae fanfiction #junmyeon fanfiction #kyungsoo fanfiction #sehun fanfiction

[galoresficrecs]

[EXO] Baekhyun

LAST UPDATED ON: Dec 2nd, 2022

newly added ✦ || personal faves ✪ || ongoing ✑

ratings:

not rated || general || teen and up || mature || explicit🔞

❧ baekhyun x chanyeol ☙

✪ he talks like rain by bumkeyhyun [49,1k words] soulmates!au, ptsd, violinist!baekhyun, chef!chanyeol || explicit🔞

✪ Here Be Dragons by Misunkun [39,7k words] urban fantasy, dragons, fame marriage, domestic fluff || explicit🔞

✪ meaning of you by kozen [38,8k words | 4 ch] slice of life, friends with benefits, light angst || explicit🔞

✪ On the Booze with Brahms by NovemberMagpie [45,8 words] college!au, violinist!baekhyun || teen and up

✪ Stopping by Woods by GinForInk [19,4k words] hiking!au, camping!au || mature

✪ When I'm With You (I Have Fun) by noonaofdarkness [57,9k words | 5 ch] slice of life, slow burn, mentions of homophobia || explicit🔞

✪ you were always the one for me by tintatalk [19,8k words] friends to lovers, growing up || mature

❧ baekhyun x yixing ☙

✪ How Could Anyone Resist? by zhyixingie [3,2k words] asexuality, fluff || teen and up

❧ baekhyun x reader ☙

Breathless by whimsical-ness [8k words] f!reader, travel!au, tour-guide!baekhyun || not rated

Dead Giveaway by yehet-me-up [1,6k words] f!reader, she's the man!au, comedy || teen and up

[part of The Cartel] Fire by kpopfanfictrash [3,2k words] f!reader, 1970s!au, set in florida, crimes & criminasl!au || explicit🔞

Hey, Neighbor by whimsical-ness [5,5k words] f!reader, neighbours!au || not rated

Hook, Line & Sinker by whimsical-ness [9,2k words] f!reader, college!au || not rated

[part of Exordia Academy] Imminence by kpopfanfictrash [10k words] f!reader, 1980s!au, academy!au, powers!au || explicit🔞

Lovesick by whimsical-ness [12k words] f!reader, cupid!au || not rated

Nightbringer by kpopfanfictrash [1,7k words] f!reader, pirates!au, smut || explicit🔞

Our Spring by yehet-me-up [2,3k words] f!reader, moulin rouge!au || teen and up

[part of Welcome to the Exodus Mall] Silver Screen Bandits by yehet-me-up [11k words] f!reader, 1990s!au, mall!au, set in seattle, friends to lovers || teen and up

❧ otn/multi ☙

✪ tarantino and tortellini by mochiiks [20,9k words] baekhyun x jongdae x kyungsoo || neighbours!au, established!baeksoo || explicit🔞

Bedhead by kaifectionery_fest [6k words] baekhyun x jongin x sehun || domestic!au, established relationship || explicit🔞

✪ three's a crowd (and i love an audience) by Anonymous [45,9k words | 6 ch] baekhyun x sehun x yixing || stripper/exotic dancer!au, sugar daddy/sugar baby!au || explicit🔞

✪ some good, old-fashioned blood magic by dejakyu [47,2k words | 15 ch] baekhyun x jongdae x minseok || urban fantasy, hispital!au, vampires, witches, established!xiubaek || explicit🔞

✪ that old wintertime magic by unnieunnie [8,2k words] baekhyun x jongdae x minseok || magic shop!au || mature

#exo fanfic #exo fanfiction #baekhyun fanfic

[misswoozi]

REVERSE SCENARIO GAME! 📝

I'll give you guys a list of AUs/prompts + a group and y'all send me a scenario/headcanon/idea (SFW or NSFW!) for the ship you think it fits best!

college AU + TXT

neighbors AU + SHINee

Avatar the Last Airbender AU + NCT 127

magic AU + NCT Dream

paranormal investigator AU + WayV

royalty AU + Day6

coffee shop AU + EXO

vampire AU + Blackpink

Pokémon AU + ATEEZ

bar AU + EXID

apocalypse AU + Monsta X

fake dating AU + Gfriend

celebrity AU + SNSD

[marshmallow-phd]

Picture Perfect

Genre: Neighbor!AU

Pairing: Yixing x Reader

A/N: Okay, @xui-n-soowillbethedeathofme here it is. The last one for the neighbor aus. I hope you enjoy the kdrama tropes, they were fun to play around with!

**

“What do you mean there’s no empty units!”

This had to be the worst day of your life. No other moment compared to this right here.

Somehow, a very important pipe had burst in your loft and now the whole unit was flooded, ruining a good portion of your belongings. At least you had renter’s insurance. And you were also located at the bottom of the strange, stacked-up building which meant you were the only one affected by this event.

At the moment, a group of workers were clearing out your apartment, moving the heavy furniture and other unlucky objects that were touching the floor when the water unceremoniously made itself known. A lot of your things, like clothes and kitchenware, were spared, which was a small victory. But now your landlord was standing in front of you basically saying that you would have to find a place to live for the next month or so while the damage was repaired and he had no way of helping.

“I won’t charge you rent for the time being,” he promised, as if that soothed the current situation.

“So, basically, I’m going to have to hide out in a hotel for who knows how long?” Taking a deep breath, you tried to remain calm, fighting back the tears that were prickling behind your eyes. You were not going to cry out of frustration, even though that was your body’s natural response. It was going to be okay. You could get yourself through this; it was just a bump in the road. Or a very large pothole. Either way, you could crawl over this.

One of the plumbers called your landlord over, leaving you alone to wallow in self-pity.

“Hey, (y/n). What happened?”

Your head snapped up.

Now standing where your landlord had been previously was your neighbor Yixing. He looking at you with the most sympathetic half smile, his dimple barely visible. His black hair was covered up with a knit gray beanie and he wore a jean jacket over his plain t-shirt, looking like he was headed out. Maybe it was your emotional vulnerability talking, but right at this moment, you really just wanted to hug him.

Yixing was always sweet to you, whether it was helping you bring in groceries, keeping an eye out on your place when you were out of town, or occasionally joining you on your front steps for a cup of coffee when the weather was nice. But saying that the two of you were friends would probably be a stretch. You never spent more than five minutes together at max and there still a lot about him that you didn’t know. So, hugging him right now was most certainly out as an option.

“My apartment flooded,” you sighed, wrapping your arms around yourself as if that would hold you together. “And I just found out that our landlord has no other places available for me to stay while they clean it up and fix the pipe. I have no idea what I’m going to do.”

“Well,” Yixing scratched the back of his head, his face pinching in a way that made you think he was nervous, “I have an extra bedroom in my home. You can always stay with me until they finish. If you’re comfortable with that, that is.”

You stared at him, completely taken aback. “Yixing, I-I wouldn’t want to impose on you….”

He stopped you. “It’s not a problem, really. When they’ve got everything cleared out, we’ll pack some of your clothes up to move over to my place.”

“Thank you, Xing,” you sighed. “I really appreciate this. I can help with rent or-”

“Don’t even think about it,” he chuckled. “It’s not a big deal. I’m just glad that I could help.”

**

You took another deep breath before you peeked out of the bedroom, glancing left and right to make sure the coast was clear. No noise echoed around the loft and you couldn’t see any movement in the light shining from under Yixing’s bedroom door.

Okay. It looked like you were home alone.

Wrapped only in a towel, you scurried over to the second bathroom, closing the door in a rush.

It’d been about two weeks since you moved in Yixing. The landlord said they were still only about halfway done with restoring your floors, but at least the plumbing was fixed and reinforced so hopefully this wouldn’t happen again.

You were lucky twice over. Not only had Yixing offered his home to you, but he’d also been fairly easy to live with. Both of you were mostly gone during the day, but the few hours you saw him in the evening were filled with good conversation as well as quiet moments. He’d given you space in the fridge and basically free reign of the place.

Only some things were a little awkward.

In the morning on your first weekend, you were still half asleep and not entirely aware of your surroundings as you’d shuffled into the kitchen to get started on breakfast. The oversized t-shirt wasn’t a big deal, but your shorts were definitely at the length to make Yixing blush before hurrying back to the safety of his room. You felt bad after that and made sure to at least have a pair of sweats laying out for you to slip on before emerging.

Another little issue was showering. For the most part, you’d simply dressed and undressed in the bathroom, but the tub wasn’t properly sealed and your clothes often ended up soaked on the tile. There wasn’t really any counter space to hold them, so you just tried to surround the tub in towels. But that was a little ridiculous in your mind.

Hence, why you were now making your way to the bathroom like a ninja in one of those foreign movies you were always watching at eleven o’clock on a friday night out of boredom. It seemed safe to go out with just that thin piece of cloth protecting you and at this point, you were willing to take the risk.

By the time you were under the rushing water and breathing in the steam, you were calmed down and enjoying the experience of become clean and fresh again.

All too soon, it was time to step out and move on for the day. Turning off the water, you pushed back the plastic curtain, reaching for your towel. You quickly dried off and starting quietly singing to yourself as you finished up in the bathroom. The possible threat of being seen by Yixing was gone from your mind. It was that lack of awareness that would be your big mistake.

Still singing at a much louder decibel, you left the bathroom, turning around for a second to close the door. By the time you swiveled back around, you ran into a solid object. Somehow there was enough force to send you down to the ground, the object falling on top of you. Except, that object was Yixing.

“Oh, my god, are you okay?” he asked loudly. Headphones were clogging up his ears, probably the reason he didn’t hear your self-staring concert.

“I’m fine,” you giggled, mostly out of the awkwardness of the conversation. He was still lying on top of you and him being this close to your face was sending your nervous system into overdrive. “But, huh, I kind of need to get up.”

“Huh?” Yixing scrunched his face up, confused because he couldn’t hear you. How loud did he have his volume?

Squirming until your arms were free, you plucked out his headphones, repeating, “I’m okay, but can you let me up?”

For a second he just blinked. Then he looked and realization hit him.

“Oh, sorry!” He scrambled up, putting an unnecessary extra foot of space between you after helping you up to your feet.

The two of you just stood there in silence, a minute or two going by with no one speaking as your fingers held tightly to your towel, everyone still flustered from the encounter.

“I… should go get dressed,” you finally mumbled. Yixing just nodded, keeping his eyes down like the gentleman that he was.

In your room, you found yourself able to breathe again at a normal rate.

It was just because you’re used to living on your own….

And because your roommate was cute, you argued with yourself as you pulled your shirt over your head. He was too cute. From the dorky way he laughed to how sweet he was in making sure you were comfortable to how he’d stay up late working on whatever and fall asleep on the couch. You always covered him with a blanket so he didn’t get too cold when you came across him like that. Part of you wanted to move him to his bed, but you didn’t want to wake him up and you were neither strong enough nor graceful enough to carry him to his room.

Yeah. You were starting to really like Yixing, but you doubted that he was feeling anything remotely similar. All he gave you were sweet, dimpled smiles in passing that were certainly just out of politeness.

Sighing to yourself, you grabbed your camera and headed out of your room.

Yixing was sitting on the couch, scrolling through his phone. He perked up when he saw you emerge.

“Heading out?” he asked. It had to be your imagination, but you almost could have sworn a hint of disappointment in his voice. That was probably just you searching for some sort of validation for how you were feeling.

“Yeah,” you nodded, holding up your heavy digital camera. “I thought I’d waste some time on my terrible photography skills.”

“What do you mean? You take amazing pictures.” Hopping up from the couch, he walked over to you. “I’d like to come with you. Can I?”

“O-okay.” Don’t blush. Don’t blush.

So, the two of you headed out and just started walking in the most random directions.

At first, you simply took pictures of your surroundings, messing with the settings on your camera to really make the late spring greens of the trees and vines pop against the old townhomes and the lush hills that surround your little city. But then magic happened.

While you were searching around for another view to capture, you glimpsed at Yixing. He was adjusting his red sweatshirt while staring off to the side. As quick as your fingers could be, you snapped the picture, the click capturing Yixing’s attention.

“Did you just take one of me?” he asked.

You giggled as you nodded enthusiastically, showing off the picture that you were actually quite proud of.

“Wow,” Yixing exclaimed. “That’s incredible. I look good.”

“Of course you do!” Searching around, ideas started to pop into your head. You pointed to a rail just a few feet away. “Hey, go standing over there.”

“And do what?”

“I don’t know. Just lean on it.”

Yixing obeyed, naturally falling into a modelesque pose.

Over the next hour or so, you took different pictures of Yixing and loved every second of it. He was at complete ease in front of the camera and taking ahold of his image was the easiest session you’d ever done. You loved this alone time with him, getting to know him even more and, to be honest, you liked the attention he was giving you, complimenting your pictures and making you laugh with his lame jokes in between.

Back at the apartment, Yixing volunteered to make dinner while you sorted through the day’s photographs on your laptop at the table. You were so engrossed in editing and deleting that you didn’t notice Yixing placing the bowl of soup next to you.

“I told you that you were really good,” he whispered, making you jump.

“Oh, thanks,” you murmured, keeping your eyes on the screen and acting like you didn’t just get a little scared by his sudden appearance. But out of the corner of your eye, Yixing’s face was floating next to yours, staring with awe at the photo you were currently working on.

Switching his gaze over to you, he whispered, “You really should have more confidence in your abilities. You’re brilliant.”

You couldn’t bring yourself to say anything, so you just smiled at him. He was so close, you just needed to lean forward a few more centimeters and your lips would touch. But neither of you moved forward. Instead, Yixing straightened up, leaving your heart beating a million miles a minute as he sat across from you and slurped on his soup.

The rest of the evening was spent in comfortable silence, both of you just working on your individual projects at opposite ends of the table. You sighed internally at yourself when it seemed that - while you were hardly able to concentrate - Yixing didn’t seem affected by the closeness of you. It wasn’t fair. Why did you have to be the only one that suffered?

When Yixing decided to wrap it up for the night, you did the same, closing your laptop and grabbing your camera before heading for your room. Just as your hand hit the doorknob, Yixing called out to you.

“(y/n)?”

You looked at him over your shoulder. “Yeah?”

But he didn’t reply verbally.

Stalking towards you, Yixing had a determined look on his face. With his hands, he took your own face in his palms and brought his lips down to yours.

They were soft. Softer than you’d imagined in your fleeting daydreams, molding into yours like a perfect match. Even though your jaw was cupped in his palms, he gave you plenty of room to pull away if you so wished. But you kept on with the kiss, goosebumps rippling up your arms. The laptop and camera clattered down to the carpeted floor and, your hands now free, you entangled your fingers in the hair at the nape of his neck. It was like velvet against your skin. Yixing pulled you in closer, sanking an arm around the small of your back.

He soon leaned away, both of your breaths shallow and ragged, filling the small space between you.

“I, uh-” he chuckled, running his thumb over your cheekbone.

“What now?” you asked.

Whatever tension you’d been feeling lately had truly been a two-way street and exploded in this very moment. But where did you go from here? Where did the two of you stand?

“I think-” Yixing sighed. “I think I would really like to take you out on a proper date.”

“I think I would like that,” you replied, happy for the instant clarification.

He dipped in for one more quick kiss. “How about tomorrow night?”

“That sounds like a perfect idea.”

In typical Yixing fashion, he let go of you and walked backwards to his bedroom door, that stupid dimple poking through his shy smile thrown your way. He disappeared behind the wooden barrier after saying good night.

You bit down on your bottom lip to keep your smile from splitting your face wide open. Picking up your laptop and camera, you examined them and determined that they were fine. Behind your own door, you slid down to the ground, unable to hold back the squeal. Now that the two of you had taken that important step towards each other, you had another obstacle to overcome.

What the hell were you going to wear tomorrow?

#exo #exo fanfiction #exo fanfic #exo neighbor au #exo neighbor!au #exo scenarios #Zhang yixing #yixing x reader #lay #Picture Perfect

[ohhmydyosfics]

(Sesoo) F Floor, Unlucky Door

A couple of college kids moving in next door is basically Kyungsoo’s worst nightmare.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/7827721

#F Floor Unlucky Door #Sesoo #Sehun #Kyungsoo #D.O #Exo #fanfic #oneshot #cute #fluffy #neighbors #college AU #age difference #Exo SC

[sehorec]

as the days go by

Author: tatoeba Platform(s): AO3 Main Pairing(s): Kyungsoo/Baekhyun Word Count: 144,300 Rating: Explicit Genre/Trope: Romance, Neighbors, Author, Single Dad Kyungsoo doesn't expect his handsome new neighbor and his son to be fans of his children’s book series. He definitely doesn't expect them to weave their way into his life so seamlessly either. comments: I LOVE THIS FOR SO MANY REASONS: its warm and fuzzy, dad baekhyun, kyungsoo being cute with a child, two dudes falling in love like DUMMIES and being so dumb and cute about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#a03 #rt;explicit #genre;romance #genre;au #au;singleparent #au;author #au;neighbors #100k #exo fic rec #pr;baeksoo

[personalkdtl]

What You Doing? ~ Chen Scenario

Genre: Neighbors! Au, Romance, Fluff, Pinch of Angst

Summary: You’ve known Chen ever since you were born but you only acknowledged him as your neighbor through the short conversations you two held over the years. You graduated, landed a job and when it was time to get your own apartment you couldn’t believe it….he was your neighbor AGAIN.

Note: Spare my soul since this idea came to my head while listening to Whatcha Doin’ by Yesung & Chungha but I don’t know where this took a turn so ENJOY!

It has been over a year now….

You graduated with a Psychology degree and decided to focus on kids which were your passion; lucky enough you landed a job at a good clinic to afford a simple but elegant apartment of your own but your bigger surprise came when you found out who your neighbor was.

Kim Jongdae or Chen how he liked to be called has been your neighbor since you remember and despite him being the same age at you the two of you just never clicked. You always greeted him and made small talk so the same thing happened when you moved to his building. He helped you carry some stuff over, drank some water and then you two casually met at the elevator for some catch up and went separate ways since you were on the acquaintance side more than anything. 

“¿Rough Night?” Chen asked in the elevator as he saw a yawn escape your lips and you simply nodded at his question

“I stayed up all night to finish a report for a couple scheduled to meet me at 8 am” You explained as he smiled apologetically

“I feel you, I have a large photo shoot for a local company today so I will be having to deal with models and airheaded make-up artists” He joked and a subtle grin appeared on your face

Chen was a well known photographer around these parts, he had a list of usual clients who kept him busy every weekend but when larger companies asked for him he explained that was the most exhausting thing in the world since the amount of pictures he had to review and retouch was crazy.

“Well then, I wish you good luck on your day” You said with a little smile and a friendly way as the elevator’s door opened for you to walk towards the lobby and go directly to work

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

You stumbled to your apartment as you searched for your keys in your coat, you agreed to help a colleague with some of her reports by reviewing the background information of some of her patients and circling the important details for her….it wasn’t your job but at least you wanted to help. You were still trying to enter your apartment when you heard a cute little voice just a few steps from you.

“When is Uncle Chen coming to be with me?” The little voice you vaguely recognized said and your curiosity peaked as you turned to look at him and the person who was with him

“He is going to be here soon” His father answered as he looked worriedly at his phone while his feet was tapping the carpet furiously

“Jongdeok?” You asked with a smile on your face and the said man looked up from his phone to return your smile and greet you

Jongdeok was Chen’s older brother and you had to admit that the two of you had a better relationship than the one you hold with his younger brother. He got married 4 years ago and shortly after he got his baby boy Woojin; you occasionally talked to check on each other so seeing him there was a big surprise for you.

“I was just waiting for Chen since he is going to take care of Woojin today” He said and ruffled the boy’s hair as he grinned at you

“He hasn’t come back yet?” You asked balancing your papers but finally decided to place them on the carpet so you could properly talk to Jongdeok

“His work got extended and said he would be here as soon as he could but I really need to go and I can’t leave Woojin here” He said looking troubled as the little boy clinged to his leg without saying much

Your eyes went directly to Woojin, he was a bigger boy now and even though he had many features from his parents the way his lips curved in a little kitten smile was definitely the same one Chen has which awed you in the boy. You crouched down to his eye level and offered your hand for a handshake, he was hesitant at first but after you showed him a small smile he finally gave in and placed his little hand on your palm and gave you one of those playful smiles his uncle showed.

“Why don’t you leave him with me until Chen arrives?” The word escaped your lips and you rose to meet Jongdeok’s eye level

“¿Really, it won’t be too much to ask?” He asked relieved as you nodded and extended your hand to Woojin who held it with no hesitation

“I work with children, so it won’t be a hassle to be with him” You explained and tried your best to convince him

“Okay, I leave him in your capable hands and I will tell Chen that he is with you” Jongdeok agreed as you smiled in delight and high fived Woojin who was now interested in you

Jongdeok helped you carry all the papers into your apartment and handed you a bag that contained some extra clothes, toys and other things for Woojin so he could get comfortable. He thanked you for the 5th time for being such an amazing neighbor even through all this time and promised that he will repay you someway but you rushed him out of your apartment saying playing with Woojin was more than enough and that he shouldn’t be late.

“How old are you?” You asked Woojin as you took off your coat and walked him inside your apartment

“4” He replied as he held his fingers up and you smiled at how cute he was

You glanced up at the clock and saw that it was 5:30 pm now, so maybe playing with him a little before making dinner would be a good idea to get him comfortable in this different environment.

“What do you say if we move the table in my living room and get to play some games while your Uncle Chen arrives?” You asked and saw how a sparkle appeared on Woojin’s eyes as he tugged on your hand eagerly to have some fun

Playing with kids on your work really helped you to communicate with Woojin, you two played to build a castle with some blocks, drew each other with paint and even got involved into dancing to some child songs as Woojin played with a toy microphone you owned. Soon enough you had dinner and he ate everything without a single complaint but as the night progressed it was getting a little late so you gave him a warm bath, read him a story from one of the books he brought along and soon enough he was far away in dreamland.

“God, that was exhausting” You sighed to yourself slumping on the couch and taking a moment to relax

You close your eyes for a moment but it was quickly interrupted by the light ringing of your doorbell so you had to get up and open the door as you glanced at the clock, 9:30 pm.

“Oh God, I am so sorry I took so long” Chen said as you opened the door and let him inside your apartment

“It’s okay, Woojin was a good company for me tonight” You said and served him a cup of water which he gladly accepted

“It looks like a hurricane was in your house” He remarked with a chuckle and you rolled your eyes at his statement

“Well it looks like your nephew is just like you at this age” You remembered and he laughed heartily while throwing his head back

“You always said I was too loud and preferred to play with Jongdeok” Chen stated as he settled the cup down and you took it from him to wash it and place it back on the cupboard

“You are not too loud now, so it is okay” You joked and there was the kitten smile he possessed

“Talking about Woojin, where is he now?” He asked looking around the living room but only found remnants of the mess he created while playing

“He is in my room sleeping, I will go and bring him” You offered and he nodded as you went down the corridor to look for the sleeping boy

You returned with Woojin sleeping without a care in the world and handed Chen the bag with all his things cleaned and organized as you were really careful to place Woojin in his arms so he didn’t wake up. Chen mouthed a thank you and you escorted him outside of your apartment and waved at him.

“Thanks for covering for me even if you had work to do” Chen whispered and went back to his apartment as the smile disappeared from your face

You forgot to do your work, because you spent the night playing with Woojin.

Just great

The next day you met Chen on the elevator again and he offered to carry half of your papers as you arrived to the lobby so you were grateful since you felt a little weak because of how much you played yesterday.

“I cannot say thank you enough for covering for me yesterday” Chen spoke first and you waved your hand in the air dismissively showing him that it was fine

“You know I love kids, and Woojin is a good kid too” You explained and he smiled back at how you treated the whole thing as nothing

“Let me repay you, what do you say if I invite you to an exposition today?” He asked with a little hope in his eyes that you would say yes

“I have to stay and work late today….” You almost whispered but Chen heard you and only answered with a simple nod, but you weren’t lying since you really had to stay late at the clinic and finish the reports you couldn’t yesterday so you felt kind of bad about saying no to him

“But I am free on Friday, if you still want to go” You quickly covered and then he looked back at you with a dashing smile and he nodded

“Perfect, I will pick you up at 6 pm from your work so we can go together….¿sounds good?” He asked and as the elevator’s door opened followed by a “ding” you couldn’t help but agree at what he proposed

“Sounds good” And as those words left your lips a giddy sensation was building up on your stomach

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

You tried, you really tried to tell yourself and make reason come to your mind that this wasn’t a date. Chen only invited you as a way to say thank you for taking care of his nephew and nothing else, besides you two have been neighbors since forever so he only sees you that way for sure.

But even though you tried to convince yourself that this was nowhere near a date, you placed some extra effort when Friday arrived. You decided to wear a long sleeved laced blouse, black trousers and a pair of nudes heels by the reason that even if this wasn’t a date you would be looking good at a photography exposition….at least that was what you told yourself to believe.

“Are you going somewhere?” Goeun, one of your colleagues asked as you denied with your head walking out of the elevator

“Just some photography exposition with….” You started to explain it was something casual as you fixed the strap of your purse over your shoulder but you were cut off as soon as you saw someone or more precisely Chen waiting for you outside of the building

He was wearing a navy blazer and trousers with a white button up collared shirt underneath paired with a shinny pair of black shoes as he looked at his clock. You halted on your steps for a little as you took in the way Chen looked and you had to admit he actually looked good but you quickly shoved that thought away since he was just going to take you out on a casual event not a date.

“I have to go” You let Goeun confused as you rushed out of the building and met Chen who was waiting outside and looked up to greet you with a big smile

“Hey, you look good ____________” Said Chen as he opened the door of his car for you to get in

“You look good too” You returned with a soft smile and got inside his car so he could close the door and walked to the other side and go to the driver’s seat

The ride to the exposition was actually good since he placed some music as background and you two casually talked about your day and then Chen explained to you that the photography exposition you were to attend belonged to one of his friends and the them was about natural beauty and how he tried to capture it every little thing from plants, buildings and people so it really sparked your curiosity.

“I thought you weren’t going to come” Said Chen’s friend as he walked over to greet the two of you and then introduced himself as Jinyoung

“Today was the last day so I couldn’t fail you” replied Chen with a laugh as Jinyoung patted him in the back and smile at the two of you

“Well then, I leave the two of you to enjoy what I have captured and it is a pleasure to meet you _____________” And with that Jinyoung left to continue greeting the numerous people who were in the place

Chen guided you through the whole exposition as you two discussed what you thought of each piece but sometimes he would slip some joke like “this is a green plant, do you like it?” making you laugh at his never fading childish behavior but still playing along with him so you actually felt very comfortable along the evening

“This one reminds me of our neighborhood, it gives me a very calm and homely feeling” You pointed out at a picture of a little neighborhood with kids playing outside freely as their smiles were carelessly displayed on it

“You remember when we used to play kickball and everyone gathered at our street?” Asked Chen and you nodded, how could you not remember one of the best memories you had of your childhood

“And you whining every time someone kicked the ball far away” You pointed out laughing and he shook his head as he faked a hurt expression

“That is because I was the one who always had to go and look for it” He reasoned and you remembered the usual “wae” that came from him as he practically dragged his body to go and search for the ball so everyone could continue playing

“I think that was the reason why we played, just to see you running and complaining” You held your hand over your mouth as you giggled and he gasped at your statement with over exaggerated movements

“Now I am hurt _____________, I never thought you were this cruel” He crossed his arms over his chest and you lightly poked his arm to get him relaxing again but it was too funny watching him being like this

“Okay okay I will stop laughing so take off that expression” After taking a deep breath you tried to reason with him but he only shook his head

“You will have to go out and eat something with me to make up for this insult” He said with a very serious expression and raising his eyebrow but it only made you laugh even more to the point your stomach almost hurt

“As you say Chen” You replied with a smile not knowing that he was referring about going out now

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

You nervously bit on your bottom lip as you took your seat on a nearby street restaurant; Chen suggested to tone down things a bit and get chicken wings paired with some drinks and drove the two of you to a street restaurant near your apartment building. So here you were chanting once again THIS. IS. NOT. A DATE as the lady bowed after delivering barbecue and spicy chicken wings along with two cans of beer.

“If you don’t like it, we can go somewhere else” Asked Chen looking at you spacing out but you quickly refused and clicked open your own can of beer

“I was just trying to remember when was the last time I ate street food; I haven’t had much time to do it these days” You quickly covered up taking a sip of your beer and that seemed to convince him that you were just fine

“Looks like your reports take more time than I thought” Chen inquired taking a bite of a chicken wing and you nodded

The two of you had shared a little about each other’s work through the year of being neighbors but never really went into details about how each day was or how frustrating it could be when you gave recommendations to the parents but they never followed them.

“Sometimes it’s more the work I have to do with parents trying to follow up my recommendations, I mean, I place them there for a reason right” You said slightly irritated but he only laughed loudly throwing his head slightly backwards at how worked up you quickly got

“You are really passionate about working with kids, doesn’t it tires you out?” He asked placing his can of beer down so he could give you his full attention

“Sometimes it does, but seeing the progress of a kid with TDAH or Autism is so fulfilling it makes me want to keep working harder and do my absolute best since I knew this wasn’t going to be an easy task” You answered truthfully as he listened to every word you said and saw how your lips curved upward when you thought of the good actions you were doing

Suddenly a breeze current flowed through the street and you shivered in your place feeling a little cold. Chen got up and removed his blazer and even though you protested saying that it was okay he quickly dismissed and still placed it on top of your shoulders to keep you warm and you wondered how he could do that so casually.

“What about you, do you feel tired sometimes?” You asked now taking a spicy chicken wing as he ran a hand through his hair carelessly

“When big companies call is a complete chaos, I have to handle a big team and sometimes a really weird and marketed concept but at the end that is what pays me. I prefer working with small clients since they give me creativity freedom and there is where my best work and shots come” Chen explained as you nodded a little familiar with how he felt towards corporative clients

“Which one has been one of your favorites?” Curiosity got the best of you as he got his phone out and showed you one of his favorites work which was at the top of his library

“I remember watching this, the simplicity of the picture made me walk inside this store many times….I didn’t know you shot this” You marveled at the picture of a female model barefaced laying on the grass as a hat was at her side displaying various lotions

“That is what I wanted to capture, natural and a calm environment to match the idea of the products” He explained and you nodded since Chen really had a talent for the industry he worked in.

After some more talking and some beers the two of you walked back home feeling done for the night and truthfully you enjoyed it, it was something casual with no other meaning behind it and it felt nice to get away from work and just let your body take a breather for once.

“Thanks for today, it was really nice to get away from the stress of work” You said handing him back his blazer with a soft smile

“Anytime you want, now go inside and get some rest” He urged you and with a nod you unlocked the door and entered your apartment

“Good night Chen” You glanced back at him one last time with a sincere smile

“Good night ___________________”

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

“These are for me?” You asked in disbelief as there was a bouquet of peonies recently delivered to the reception desk and had your name written on it but nothing more

“Are you seeing someone?”

“Do you have a boyfriend?”

Those were the questions your colleagues asked and stared at you completely surprised; it wasn’t that you were ugly but the fact that you actually made some time to meet someone and go out with him were the shocking situation because you never even gave the slightest hint of going out to dates recently.

“No no, I just went to photography exhibition…..” You started but suddenly you were taking the bouquet of flowers to your office to place them in water as you recalled the only possibility that Chen could have sent those flowers to you

“So it was a date….” You asked to yourself and took a sip of the cup with water they always leave for you at morning

“It was really a date” And you repeated again as you looked at the flowers and softly smiled at the way they looked so beautiful and brought some life to your office

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Every week you would receive a new bouquet of flowers from Chen, place them in your office as all of your colleagues will keep asking who is the mysterious man who will keep sending you flowers over and over again but only wrote your name on the card that came with them.

You went with Chen often too, be some elegant photography exposition, a wine and cheese date at his apartment as he showed you one of his recent works and making lame jokes as you almost lost the air from your lungs by how much you laughed, or even going out at night to walk and relax in the quiet atmosphere. And even though the two of you got closer and an outsider could swear you two were a couple the two of you weren’t officially one.

Sometimes your fingers brushed unintentionally and he would always kiss your cheek when the two of you parted ways but Chen respected you a lot so he never pushed himself on you and gave you space. But at this time you could almost sense he was going to pop the question in any moment so you were only waiting for him to be ready.

-You free today like at 7:00 pm? – Chen

You read the text and smiled as you quickly typed a replied during your lunch break and felt like this was the day, Chen was going to ask you to be his official girlfriend today and though it felt dumb to be acting like a teenager at this moment….you couldn’t help it since you liked him a lot so you hoped he felt the same way too.

-I’ll pick you up at your work and don’t ask where we are going since it’s a surprise – Chen

You looked at yourself and then felt a little self conscious since you looked way too formal for your upcoming date so you could use the time you had left of your lunch break to bring some clothes from home, place on some more make-up and look a bit better. When the day was drawing to a close you quickly went to get changed.

You choose a yellow dress with sleeves which had a flowy skirt, natural make-up and white heels to finish everything and walked proudly to the lobby and wait for Chen to pick you up as the excitement build up in your whole body.

But as you glanced back at your wrist clock you were only getting nervous, it was 7:30 by now and Chen hasn’t shown up or even called to say he will be running late but you trusted him, you knew he will show up sooner or later. When 8:00 pm came the guards told you that you should leave since it was getting dark and with some embarrassment you agreed with them and started walking back home since you didn’t felt like taking the bus.

You changed into a comfortable pair of flat shoes and began your way back home holding your heels in the other hand trying to ignore the twisting feeling building up in your heart. You saw a couple walking by and you quickly shook your head, it wasn’t like you to give up this easily and you knew better.

“Maybe he had something urgent to take care of, I will text him that he can pick me up at the apartment” You tried staying positive and hopeful, you had to

But as you kept walking along a busy street filled with restaurants and ready to text Chen something caught your eye. It was him, outside a restaurant and as he opened the door to his car another woman got out of it and were all smiles and laughing with him. You froze on the spot and silently watch him get inside the restaurant as he opened the door to the other woman and that is when all positivity you had went away.

No tears fell on the bright side, your mind was really shaken up with what happened so you wondered on the streets for a while trying to avoid the feeling of being stood up and maybe even lied to that was haunting your mind. You felt humiliated to say the least, getting your hopes up like this was really stupid from you and it really hurt you a lot.

“Welcome” Said the boy at the reception and you looked up from the floor as you entered your apartment building

Just as you looked up by art of magic you saw Chen at the elevator without a care going up and as soon as his eyes met yours, his doubled the size as he took in your bored expression and the humorless chuckle you sent him as the elevators door closed up not letting you hear calling for you.

That night you took the emergency steps to your apartment, toss the dress in a corner of your wardrobe and turned your cell phone off in case Chen would call you. You focused on work and nothing else for the weekend and did your best at distracting yourself from it. You weren’t going to confront him about what you saw in the very least, you will avoid him and act as if nothing happened…easy as that.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Monday came and you managed to arrive over at work without encountering Chen on the way, truthfully speaking you were grateful for it since you could focus on work and only work. Your day went by normally and he didn’t send you any flowers so that means that he probably were going to drop everything and let you move on. Your phone got 10 missed calls from him, messages stating how sorry he was and how we would like to explain but you deleted everything and diverted your attention to other things.

When the day was over you stayed behind since you didn’t wanted to answer to your colleagues why you looked so depressed, so you waited and after 15 minutes you went out of your office. You took a deep breath and started thinking about what to have for dinner since you were on no mood to cook but your train of thoughts was interrupted by the figure that was waiting for you outside.

Taking a deep breath you walked out of the building to meet Chen, he had a bouquet of Tulips in his hands as he looked tired and his eyes seemed desperate as if they were pleading for you to spare him a glance. You stared at each other for a few seconds before you broke off all eye contact and slowly started to walk away but you felt his hand wrap around your wrist, preventing you from walking any further as he finally spoke.

“Please _______________, I just need to explain for 5 minutes” His voice was soft as you bite on your bottom lip

This is what your friends meant when they say that you are too kindhearted sometimes because here you were; walking quietly next to Chen in a park as you waited for him to explain what happened 3 days ago when you waited patiently for him. He still doesn’t knows that you saw him with another woman entering a restaurant so you decided to keep that information to yourself and see if he was going to be completely honest with you.

“I can explain why I didn’t show up that day…” He started and searched for your eyes to give him any sign of confirmation that you were going to listen and care

“Go on” You said softly and nodding for him to continue talking

“An overseas client came that day and I had to be a proper host. I tried to send you a text explaining that I will be late so I wanted to invite you over to my apartment for some wine and pasta. My phone died and when I noticed I was already at the restaurant so I only prayed that you received the text; I know it’s not a great of an explanation but it is the truth” He explained everything in one go that you almost missed how he took a deep breath at the end when he finally let everything out

The two of you walked in silence as you took in all the information that Chen has just told you and since it was all a work related misunderstanding you couldn’t stay mad at him any longer. You let out a long sigh escape from your lips and Chen looked curiously at your face trying to decipher if it was a good or bad thing.

“I believe you Chen and I am sorry it took me some time to actually listen to you” You said with a soft smile trying to ease the atmosphere a little

“You don’t need to apologize; I should have called you in any case” He rubbed the back of his neck with a nervous laugh and you couldn’t help but find it adorable

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

“_____________, you won’t believe this!” One of your colleagues said almost panting as she busted into your office

“Is everything okay?” You ask raising your eyebrow at her wondering what could agitate her so much when it was almost time to leave

“There is this really handsome guy at the reception desk” She half-whispered to you and then peeked out from the door to stare at said stranger

“Oh really, did he said who he was looking for?” You got up taking your papers and purse as you followed your dazed colleague out of your office as you locked it

“He said he is waiting for someone” You nodded at that and simply heard the multiple whispers from other of your colleagues at the reception desk

To your surprise it was Chen who was waiting for you with a bouquet of peonies in his hand and the moment your eyes met….it was impossible for you to hide the big smile that was in your face as he came forward to hug you and place a soft kiss in your lips to show how much he missed you.

“I missed you, pretty” Chen said handing you the bouquet of flowers so he could lace your fingers together

“Everyone this is my boyfriend, Chen” You simply said with a soft giggle and all of their eyes widened at the news you told them

“I knew it was someone that was interested in you the one who sent you flowers every week” The receptionist confessed and you nodded at her feeling happy that even on the stages of simply going on dates Chen was thoughtful with you

“Well, now if you excuse us we have some plans ahead of us” Chen said with a playful grin and dragged you towards the elevator as you raised an eyebrow at his statement

Once the two of you were walking through the lobby and finally towards his car you gently squeezed his hand to gain his attention and he stopped in his tracks earning a soft smile from you.

“What plans are you talking about?” Your curiosity peeked out as your arms circled around Chen’s neck

“A move date, followed by a wine night and who knows….maybe we can have some fun in my apartment” He whispered the last part with a mischievous grin

“Chen!” Your head tilted over as you laughed at him for being playful at this times but it never failed to make you laugh which was his favorite thing to do, make you feel happy and excited being with him

“You love me, don’t deny it” He teased placing a kiss on your cheek as he opened the door of his car for you

“I won’t do it” And with that you kissed his lips earning a big smile from him

Even if you two took your time to acknowledge your feelings for each other it was worth it, because being close to each other now was everything the two of you needed.

I am not the best when it comes to endings but anyways I hope you like this idea I came up with last week. I also know I promised this a long time ago but it is better late than never :) Happy New Year too! ✨

[Masterlist]

#EXO #EXO-M #EXO Scenarios #Kim Jongdae #Kim Chen #Chen Scenarios #Chen #Jongdae #Jongdae Scenarios #Kim Jongdae Scenarios #Kim Chen Scenarios #Neighbor AU #Chen AU #Jongdae AU #EXO AU #Kpop #Kpop Scenarios

[sundaysundaes]

NCT Masterlist

Click here for my EXO fics. For my Attack on Titan fics, visit my sideblog.

LEE · MINHYUNG [ MARK ]

Our First Time

Summary: Considering your boyfriend never dares to take the initiative to go further than your usual make-out sessions, you have to do the part to actually be in charge of the relationship.

Pairing: Mark Lee X Female Reader

Genre: College AU, Smut, Slice of Life, Romance, Humor

Length: 4.6K

Drunk Antics

Summary: After being caught having sex with your previously virgin boyfriend, you thought Mark and your brother Johnny would never get along. That is until your boy comes back to your room in the drunkest state he’s ever been after a short trip to the bar with his Johnny-hyung, asking you to try new tricks he’s learned from the Master of Sex.

Pairing: Mark Lee X Female Reader

Genre: College AU, Smut, Slice of Life, Romance, Humor

Length: 5.8K

LEE · DONGHYUCK [ HAECHAN ]

Before Our Story Began

Summary: The popular new kid at your campus has this habit of raising his eyebrows when he flirts and you just realized that maybe you have a kink for it.

Pairing: Lee Donghyuck/Haechan X Female Reader

Genre: College AU, Smut, Fluff, Romance, Slice of Life, Humor

Length: 7.4K

Jealousy

Summary: It comes as a nice surprise when you saw your ex-boyfriend at your workplace and you thought everything was going to be fine. You both have moved on, right? Unfortunately for you, your boyfriend, Lee Donghyuck, thinks otherwise.

Pairing: Lee Donghyuck/Haechan X Female Reader

Genre: College AU, Smut, Fluff, Romance, Slice of Life, Drama

Length: 12.2K

Make a Wish

Summary: It’s your birthday today and instead of giving you a box of gift, your boyfriend, who goes by the name Lee Haechan, decides to grant five of your wishes. You can’t help but feel a smirk creeping up your face. It’s time to get a little… creative.

Pairing: Lee Donghyuck/Haechan X Female Reader

Genre: College AU, Romance, Smut, Slice of Life, Humor

Length: 12.2K

Monochrome (Part I) - Spectra (Part II) - Iridescent (Epilogue)

Summary: Lee Donghyuck once believed in the concept of soulmates—how fate would connect a red thread from one lover to another, in a form of dreams and memories. That was how his parents met, that was how they claimed their happiness, and he wanted nothing more but to live his life the way they lived theirs. Until one day, as he sees her slipping away from his hands, he has no choice but to stop believing entirely.

Pairing: Lee Donghyuck/Haechan X Female Reader

Genre: Soulmate AU, Childhood-Friends-Become-Lovers AU, Smut, Romance, Slice of Life, Drama, Angst

Total length: 42K

Love Bites

Summary: Supernatural creatures don’t really scare you, so when the cute neighbor who lives just across the hallway offers you a chance to move in for cheaper rent, you agree in a heartbeat--even when he consumes human blood on a daily basis.

Pairing: Lee Donghyuck/Haechan X Female Reader

Genre: Vampire AU, Roommates AU, Romance, Smut, Humor

Length: 16K

Craving

Sequel to Love Bites

Summary: Dating a brat is exhausting. Dating a bratty vampire is even more exhausting so you wonder, why did I even agree to this?

Pairing: Lee Donghyuck/Haechan X Female Reader

Genre: Vampire AU, Roommates AU, Romance, Smut, Humor

Length: 13K

Delirium

Summary: You met a handsome stranger at a hotel by accident during the end of your mission, and you figured maybe he could be your perfect getaway to escape reality.

Pairing: Lee Donghyuck/Haechan X Female Reader

Genre: Mr. & Mrs. Smith AU, Secret Agents/Assassins AU, Smut, Romance

Length: 3.8K

Unravel

Sequel to Delirium

Summary: Your relationship with the mysterious stranger you met during your mission continues and it intensifies into something deeper, forcing you to break your own rules.

Pairing: Lee Donghyuck/Haechan X Female Reader

Genre: Mr. & Mrs. Smith AU, Secret Agents/Assassins AU, Smut, Romance

Length: 4K

Thirst

Summary: You have walked the earth for more than a hundred years but your eternity finally means something the second you meet a human boy with smiles brighter than the sun.

Pairing: Lee Donghyuck/Haechan X Female Reader

Genre: Vampire AU, Smut, Fluff, Romance

Length: 3.8K

Whispers

Summary: Donghyuck has been busy promoting his new album and no matter how much he misses you, he can’t see you in person due to his schedules. Desperate for your touch, he begins to call you late at night.

Pairing: Lee Donghyuck/Haechan X Female Reader

Genre: Idol AU, Smut, Fluff

Length: 5K

One Night Stand

Summary: Lee Donghyuck is a twenty-one-year-old virgin whose sexual experience only includes nearly knocking a girl’s tooth out of her mouth during a sloppy Seven Minutes in Heaven. Yet, he keeps boasting about it. Wanting to shut his mouth for once, his friend, Jeno, dares him to approach a stranger in a bar.

Pairing: Lee Donghyuck/Haechan X Female Reader

Genre: College AU, Smut, Fluff, Humor

Length: 9.3K

Falling

Summary: In the absence of your warmth, Lee Donghyuck begins to reminisce the loving memories he’s shared with you in the past three years, regretting how your first fight turned into something that ended it all.

Pairing: Lee Donghyuck/Haechan X Female Reader

Genre: Smut, Fluff, Angst

Length: 11K

Started With A Kiss

Summary: Rookie actor, Lee Haechan, desperately wants to get the lead role in the highly anticipated upcoming TV drama. He’s sure he has what it takes to fill the part. Acting as a hero? No problem. Pretending to overcome his traumatic experience? Consider it done. A bed scene? Easy—wait, no. That might be a problem. But he should be fine as long as he gets to rehearse, right?

Pairing: Lee Donghyuck/Haechan X Female Reader

Genre: Actor AU, Smut, Fluff, Humor

Length: 10K

24 Hours With You

Summary: A 24-hour peek into the life you spend with your husband, Lee Donghyuck.

Pairing: Lee Donghyuck/Haechan X Female Reader

Genre: Domestic AU, Smut, Fluff, Humor

Length: 12K

My Words, Your Thoughts

Summary: As an introvert, you are familiar with the silence. Drowning yourself deep in your thoughts has been a habit you’ve become addicted to. Your life begins to change, however, ever since the day you turned twenty. Suddenly, there’s this song that’s stuck in your head, and no matter how much you yearn to hear your thoughts or be comforted by the silence, it keeps on playing. You only get to find the answer to your problem when a young, cute barista hands you a cup of coffee one day, with that song’s lyrics written on the side. And you realize that you’re not the only one who’s been hearing voices in your head.

Pairing: Lee Donghyuck/Haechan X Female Reader

Genre: Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Smut, Soulmate AU, Friends-to-Lovers AU

Length: 36K

MARK X HYUCK

A Shatter in The Dark

Summary: A lethal virus has killed 90% of the world’s population and turns 9.8% into zombie-like, cannibalistic mutants who are extremely vulnerable to the ultraviolet rays in sunlight. And yet, Mark Lee’s number one problem is stopping himself from staring too long at the way Haechan’s jeans are hanging dangerously low on his hips.

Pairing: Mark Lee X Lee Donghyuck/Haechan

Genre: Zombie Apocalypse AU, Romance, Smut, Slight Action, Slight Horror, Angst

Length: 18.2K

LEE · TAEYONG

Into the Forest of Fireflies’ Light

Summary: You can only remember summer. Of the love you could never receive. Of the lips you could never truly taste. Of the warmth you could never take. And of a boy with smiles so soft, being consumed by the fireflies’ lights (strongly based on a beautiful Japanese animated movie called Hotarubi no Mori e)

Pairing: Lee Taeyong X Female Reader

Genre: Supernatural AU, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Angst

Length: 18K

#nct #nct 127 #nct dream #lee donghyuck #lee haechan #haechan #haechan blurbs #haechan timestamps #haechan fluff #haechan smut #nct fluff #nct smut #haechan imagines #haechan scenarios #nct imagines #nct scenarios #nct masterlist #nct fanfics #haechan fanfics #haechan nct #nct timestamps #nct dream smut #donghyuck smut #haechan x reader #mark lee #mark lee smut #mark lee fluff #mark x reader #mark lee x reader #mine

[mychogiway]

do you know where your heart is? - chapter one

Pairings: Park Chanyeol/Byun Baekhyun

Side pairings: Kaisoo, SLIGHT Hunhan

Genre: AU, Romance, Angst (with a happy ending), Humor(?), Fluff (later on)

Status: Ongoing

Length of the chapter: 5k words

Summary:  For Baekhyun, developing a crush is easy, since he gets attached to a person very quickly. While he thinks of it as a curse, his mother keeps telling him to look at it from the more positive side. She says that he has a big heart and lots of love to give.

But can he really not consider his "big heart" a curse when his newest crush becomes Park Chanyeol, his next-door neighbour who seems to hate Baekhyun to the core with passion?

--

for those who prefer AFF, here’s the LINK

#chanbaek #baekyeol #baekhyun #chanyeol #kai #jongin #kyungsoo #d.o #kaisoo #kaido #hunhan #sehun #luhan #exo #exo fanfic #fanfic #neighbors au #kpop #kpop fanfic

[icequeenbae]

Masterlist

Welcome to my masterlist ❤ Most of my stories contain mature content (m), please check the warnings/ summary. And don’t be shy to reach out or leave feedback, I love hearing from you guys!

Networks I am in: @superm-net  @exo-writers-net  @bbh-net  @k-vanity​  @ksmutsociety​​

Non-EXO masterlist

💫 EXO 💫

Byun Baekhyun

✨Oneshots✨

The Duality of Baekhyunie (m) [pt.1] 9.3k – Baekhyun x Reader, female!Baekhyun x Reader

Superpower AU, friends to lovers, slight angst, smut

Double the Jealousy (m) [pt.2] 9.8k – Baekhyun x Reader, female!Baekhyun x Reader ft. Kai 

Sequel to The Duality of Baekhyunie, superpower AU, established relationship, fluff, angst, jealousy, smut

Dior Vernis 1.5k – husband!Baekhyun x pregnant!Reader

Domestic, slice of life, established relationship, slight angst, fluff, bits of humor

Stay with Me (m)  2.6k – Baekhyun x Reader

Long-distance relationship, established relationship, grumpy Baek, smut

Girl, I’m Your Catnip (m) 3.4k – wolf!Baekhyun x caracal!Reader

Hybrid AU, slice of life, some fluff, PWP, smut

Daddy’s Struggles (m) 2.2k – dad!Baekhyun x wife!Reader

Domestic, established relationship, slice of life, fluff, a lil smutty

Call Me, Baby (m) 3.3k – Baekhyun x Reader

Established relationship, PWP, use of sex toys, smut

Witch Charming (m) 6.6k – witch!Baekhyun x halfblood!Reader

Charmed AU, magic, established relationship, fluffy, smut

Lost and Found [pt.1] 3.3k – Baekhyun x Reader

Newdad!Baek, falling out, exes to ???, sfw, fluff, angst(y)

Stay the Night (m) [pt.2] 3.2k – Baekhyun x Reader

Sequel to Lost and Found, dad!Baek, established relationship, fluff, smut

You Ghost (m) 7.6k – demon!Baekhyun x human!Reader ft. demon!Kai Demon AU, soulmate AU(?), horror-ish, angsty, smut [Halloween Special]

You Bet Your Ass (m) 3.6k – Baekhyun x Reader

Established Relationship, PWP, slice of life, sex toys, anal (m receiving), fluff, smut

✨Series & Mini-series✨

Desert Flower (m) 13.5k – Baekhyun x Reader x Baëkhyun

EXO vs X-EXO dynamics, superpowers, complicated relationships, angsty, action, smut

Love Coach [Lev.1] (m) 18k – Baekhyun x Reader

Get You Alone mv AU, nerd!Baekhyun, virgin!Baek, goofy!Baek, slow burn, humor, fluff, smut

Love Coach series full masterlist

Snapshot mini-series (m) 10.5k – photographer!Baekhyun x idol!Reader ft. soloidol!Kai

Photographer AU, fuckboy!Baek(?), PWP, angst, fluff, smut

Boy Next Door (m) 18.5k – neighbor!Baekhyun x Reader

Neighbor AU, slow burn, hurt/comfort, fluff, smut

✨ Reactions✨

EXO Reaction to you wearing sexy clothes 1.7k – EXO OT9 as your boyfriends/ partners

More coming soon!

Will do my best to update the m.list timely. Use the fic names or icequeenbae fics tag to search my blog.

Love, Ri ❤❤❤

#icequeenbae fics #masterlist #icequeenbae masterlist #mlist #baekhyun smut #m.list #baekhyun fanfiction #icequeenbae #exofanfiction #exowritersnet #supermwritersnet

[pesiko]

CHANYEOL ONESHOT RECS

M mature | ✿ personal favorite

Icarus - a piece of the sun crashes down on earth M ✿ [14k]

Love Note - modern Greek God AU, Cupid and Pysche [11k]

The Wedding Date, or; How to Avoid the Singles... [10.7k]

The Lyricism of You - a Tokyo hoodie and playlist titles [9k]

Just Give In - idol PCY, SM Town work shop event [8.7k]

Greatest Gift - can’t form an answer with my lips M [8.7k]

Guilty - failing marriages, affair, forbidden romance [7.6k]

Sussurant - best friends, spilled orange juice, M ✿ [5.6k]

Who Are You? - happiness delight and mango slaw [5.6k]

Pretend - royalty, arranged marriages, cold behavior [5.5k]

Misdial - he thinks he’s calling Baekhyun, angsty [5.6k]

In Absentia - where love is illegal, memory loss, angst [4.3k]

Stressed Out - things happen and you pass out [4.1k]

What Do You Call a Cow? - smoothies, comedy [2.5k]

Close Up - taking photos of you wearing his shirt M [2.4k]

Thinking about You - hearing each other’s thoughts [2.3k]

Obvious - takeout, “you spit in my apartment!” [2.3k]

Console - “I can love you enough for the both of us” [2.3k]

Table 13 - Chanyeol comes in w different women [2.3k]

Sandwich Shop - he’s a big fan of a beauty youtuber [2.1k]

Your Love is What I Prefer - he’s jealous bc of that ring [2k]

Miscommunication - you were both stood up [1.7k]

Criminal - post break up, lies [1.7k]

Prepared - wedding dress practice, “I wasn’t ready” ✿ [1.6k]

Anti Hero - Topaz n Ember, Washington Post advice [1.6k]

Butterflies - studio sleepover, established relationship [1.6k]

Cold - crush Chanyeol comes over when you’re sick [1.5k]

The End - cancer, straight up angst, I cried ✧ [1.5k]

Between Coffee and Kisses - twin bed, 5 minutes [1.4k]

Drink Water - he’s worried about your health [1.4k]

I Want You to Stay - going out, playful suspicion [1.3k]

Just a Little Key Chain - enemies to fwb to lovers [1.3k]

Woes of a Call Girl - overheard phone call, suggestive [1.3k]

Move - “I want you to nag” [1.2k]

I Don’t Like Him Around You - costars, harassment [1.2k]

As the Seasons Change - angst, daughter, loss [1.2k]

You’re It - “don’t talk abt my lil sis not wearing pants” [1.1k]

Frostbite - it’s cold and there’s one way to warm up [1.1k]

Is Bigger Better - neighbor PCY and his xmas tree [1.1k]

Best Friend’s Brother - kitchen, “not just some girl” [1k]

Radiant - PCY comes back from an event, ft Toben [1k]

Babysitting Blues - nephew, power rangers and pasta [1k]

Chords - guitarist, unfortunate misunderstandings [1k]

Coffee-Holic - he’s addicted to coffee and the barista [1k]

Only a Little Drunk

❥ CHANYEOL NAVI

[main masterlist] [exo masterlist] updated 6-16-21

#chanyeol #park chanyeol #chanyeol fic recs #exo #exo fic recs #chanyeol oneshots #exo oneshots #chanyeol fluff #chanyeol angst #chanyeol scenarios #chanyeol imagines #chanyeol writing #chanyeol fic #chanyeol fanfic #chanyeol x reader #exo fic #exo fanfic

[bbhkjiexofics]

FORGIVENESS IS NOT A GAME - CHAPTER 1

Summary:

You were just trying to forget. Forget the past, forget the pain, forget everything, and start anew. Until nine boys come rushing into your life, pulling you out of your loneliness and past traumas. But out of the nine, only one made you believe in the light of love again. Before Jongin, you were adamant about living a life that shuts out the rest of the world, content within the confines of your own bubble, but now, he makes you want to forgive – not just the world, but yourself. You realize that maybe he’s what you’ve needed all along but the question is, are you what he needs or is he just playing a dangerous game?

Author: bbhkjiexofics Genre: romance, fluff, angst, slice of life, smut (later chapters), slow burn Au: Idol!Au Warnings: signs of PTSD, domestic abuse, alcohol abuse, strong language, violence, sexual content  Pairing: Jongin x Reader (feat. EXO members) Word count: 6.9k

A/N: Hi everyone! So this is the first chapter of the first work I’m ever putting out! Safe to say that I’m extremely nervous about posting this but I’m just so excited for this story and I wanted to share that excitement with all of you. Hopefully you get to stay tuned for the next chapters. I’m uploading 3 chapters at a time, still don’t know how many chapters this series will be in total but the next upload will probably be in the next week or so! Hope you all like it! Let me know if you have any comments/feedback with regards to the writing. I’m always open to constructive criticism. :) 

Masterlist Series Mini-Masterlist

CHAPTER 1

You enjoy the wind in your hair, the heat of the sun on your skin, the sounds of your horse’s gallops against the ground. This is the life you have been enjoying for the past 3 years. Even though some nights are still intolerable, you have grown accustom to life in the countryside. No sounds of traffic, no angry neighbors, and no city lights to keep you awake (though you’ve had your fair share of sleepless nights here nonetheless). Everything is what you need in your life right now and you wouldn’t want to change anything about it.

You see your uncle Jaeyoon across the small field where you’ve been doing your routine morning ride with your horse, Blue, and you make your way towards him.

“Good morning, honey!” your uncle shouts as you close the distance between you both and you get down from Blue.

“Good morning, uncle Jae. What’s up?” 

Jae has been your rock, along with his wife, Yuna, these past 3 years. Ever since you lost your parents, you’ve decided to stay in your hometown to help run the stables with him, taking your dad’s place, just so you can stay in the family home you grew up in. Moving to the city for university was so hard for you, being the only child of your parents, you always had a close bond with them and uncle Jae and aunt Yuna, being your parents’ best friends and living only a few houses away, have always been a part of your life. It’s like you had two sets of parents so it wasn’t a surprise when they took you in after the tragic accident.

“Just checking in on you and making sure you aren’t exhausting Blue too much again.” 

You roll your eyes in reply as you pat Blue’s neck, “Blue always has the most energy in the mornings so he never minds when I take a little longer when taking him for a ride. Isn’t that right, boy?” Blue neighs at you and you flash a wide smile at Jae, “See!”.

Jae chuckles and walks with you as you bring Blue back to the stables. “Your aunt Yuna just prepared breakfast for you inside so once you’ve settled Blue back in the stables, just come in.”

You felt oddly suspicious by this because for one, aunt Yuna only ever makes breakfast when there’s some serious things about the stables’ operations that need to be discussed or if there’s something you’ve done wrong and they want to step in to “discipline” you – which is hardly any shouting or arguing because they know they’re not your parents and they respect that you’re basically an adult who can take care of herself but still, they will always be watching you in the sidelines in case you fuck up and they need to help straighten you out.

“Okay… What’s up?” You raise an eyebrow at him before he turns towards the house, already avoiding all your questions.

“Just get inside as soon as you’re done, okay? Or else the food will get cold quickly.” He says as he turns his back from you to walk back to the big house.

Hm. Weird.

Once you finish settling Blue back in the stables, you head towards your house. It’s an odd feeling to have this huge house all to yourself ever since your parents died. Jae and Yuna don’t stay with you as they have little ones of their own and they just live a few houses away so there was no need to have them stay here. But your parents always wanted a big home even though you were only 3 people. 

The house has a very rustic vibe, almost like a cabin and a barn mixed into one design. It has two floors and the bedrooms are all in the second floor – all 5 bedrooms. What does a family of 3 need 5 bedrooms for? Beats you but hey, you loved that house and you cherished every single memory you’ve had growing up in it.

You open the sliding doors to the dining room that overlooks the field and stables and you greet your aunt Yuna with a kiss on the cheek before settling down on the dining room table in front of both of them.

They both look at you with weirdly exaggerated smiles and encourage you to first take bites of your food before they even speak. As you chomp down on the waffles and eggs, you look up at both of them with a raised eyebrow and let go of your cutlery. The sound from the silverware meeting your plate removes their stares from you and you raise an eyebrow at them, “Okay, what’s this all about?” You look at them both in the eye and they try to pull away from the sudden staring contest.

Aunt Yuna clears her throat before she looks at her husband with wide eyes and through gritted teeth she says, “Go ahead, honey, tell her.”

Uncle Jae looks away from aunt Yuna’s intimidating gaze and tries to prolong him having to speak as he chugs his orange juice before facing you.

“Well?” You cock another eyebrow at him. 

“Okay so here’s the thing..” he starts and looks back at aunt Yuna for encouragement and she nods her head at him before she suddenly fidgets with the eggs on her plate.

“Remember my friend Youngmin?” he looks at you expectantly and you just shake your head in reply.

“Anyways, I think I’ve introduced him to you before but basically we’ve been friends since middle school and you know that he’s the manager of some big idol group right?” He stops before he takes a bite of his waffle.

“Okay… and?” you still don’t know why this information is so important that aunt Yuna needed to prepare breakfast for.

“Well, he asked me for a favor..” 

“And that favor is..?” You were honestly growing tired of this conversation as uncle Jae just can’t seem to get straight to the point. Obviously nervous about telling you as he beats around the bush.

He looks to aunt Yuna again and she just looks away from him.

What is the damn favor?

You sigh, “Look, uncle Jae, can you please get straight to the point? I’m losing my appetite already with you trying to prolong this conversation.”

He huffs and says, “Okay, fine. He asked me if the idol group he’s managing right now can stay in this house for a couple of weeks as a vacation from the city. You know… away from the glamour of celebrity stardom blah blah. They just got back from tour and have been begging him for a vacation but he can’t seem to find a place that’s been as secure and secluded enough for them to really unwind which is why he called me.” He finally exhales as he said all of that under one breath.

You look at him with big eyes and your jaw dropped. 

Here!? My house!?

You look at both of them, trying to find the words as you let the shock leave your body and try to calm yourself.

“Here!? With me!? At my house!?”, you shout the words out that were already in your mind.

He nods at you and flashes you a sheepish smile. Aunt Yuna does the same. You groan as you lean your head back and rest it at the top of the chair. 

Your eyes now up at the ceiling, refusing to look at the two in front of you, “Why!?”

“We thought it would be good for you to you know… Try and make some new friends. We never liked the idea of you being in this big house alone so this might be a good experience for you to form new friendships.” Aunt Yuna suddenly speaks.

“First of all, my house is not a hotel or a bed and breakfast. Second, I am not a host, I like being alone even if this house seems empty with just one person living under its roof. Lastly, why would I need to be friends with idols? That won’t benefit me at all! On the contrary, it will make me just want to isolate myself even more!” You retort and try not to raise your voice even more as this bogus idea is making your blood boil.

You like being alone. You don’t want anyone else sharing this house with you as you feel like it’s an invasion of privacy and the last time you let someone into your life and opened yourself up to them, you found yourself in a shitty mess and half the person you used to be. The last thing you want to do is pretend like you’re some excited host, welcoming strangers into your home with open arms like it doesn’t bother you one bit. You’d rather just be alone forever with your horses and live in peace.

“And besides, I don’t want to mingle with some girls and fake my hospitality when they’re probably just going to make fun of the ‘stable girl’, not fit to be their friend and not fit for their lifestyle.” You cross your arms and your eyebrows are furrowed now, you can feel your whole face heating up from the frustration of this whole conversation.

Aunt Yuna and uncle Jae exchange weary glances and uncle Jae turns back to you and tries to speak his next words in the calmest way possible, “They’re not a girl idol group, honey… They’re EXO.”

What. The. Actual. Fuck.

You stand up from the table and make your way to the stairs, making sure your steps are heavy so they could hear the frustration and anger you’re feeling as you walk away from them.

Uncle Jae follows you to the foot of the stairs and gently tugs at your arm before you look at him with still furrowed eyebrows.

“Honey, I know that you’re very protective of this house and of yourself but aunt Yuna and I think it’s a good way for you to try and come out of your shell.. You know, make new friends and not be alone anymore and shut everyone except us out?” He looks at you with pleading eyes.

You cross your arms to your chest in a defensive manner, “I have friends!”

“Your horses are not your friends.” He crosses his arms across his chest in return, trying to match your stance and you know that when Jae does that, he is not backing down from this conversation.

You roll your eyes and huff, “So you’re telling me that you’re allowing this Youngmin friend of yours to bring in his idol group, EXO, who are all male, nine males to be exact, to stay with me all alone in this huge ass house just so they can unwind at my expense!?” You glare at him, still in shock at the fact that he even considered this proposal knowing all too well the discomfort you would feel and how much this affects you.

“They’re good guys, Y/n.. I’ve met them a couple of times before and they have always been respectable, kind, and funny. I never even noticed any obnoxiousness from them considering they are idols.” You suck your teeth and he sighs, holding you by the shoulders so that you don’t run off upstairs before he finishes what he has to say, “I know that what happened before was traumatizing – it was traumatizing for all of us. But you have to start moving on so that you won’t dwell in this loneliness and anger forever. This is a good start and we really believe that this will help you overcome the sadness and fear, okay?” He tucks the stray hairs away from your face and you stare him in the eyes. 

You know that you’ve been trying to shut everyone out for 3 years now but isn’t this too big of a step? Is this whole thing gonna blow up in your face and you’ll just end up being in a shittier state than when you’ve started? You’ve been able to move on by yourself the best way you know how but you know deep down that maybe they’re right.. Maybe you do need this to fully recover from your past.

“You know we wouldn’t even discuss this with you if we knew it was a bad idea.” Aunt Yuna joins her husband and stands beside him, “So what do you say? Can you please agree and give this a try?” He looks at you and aunt Yuna takes your hand and intertwines it with hers. A reassuring gesture that never fails to soften your heart.

You stare at both of them before sighing in defeat, you can never say no to these two, “Fine. They can stay.. But the minute I become uncomfortable or they fuck up anything in this house, I’m dragging them out myself.”

They look at each other triumphantly before they let you go, “Thank you, y/n!” 

You roll your eyes and start going upstairs, skipping steps so that you reach your bedroom faster and you hear uncle Jae from the bottom of the stairs shout, “This will be good for you, honey! This might just be exactly what you need!” You shut the door behind you, not wanting to hear any more of it.

Key word: ‘might’.

Deep down you knew that maybe this is the right thing to do. No matter how scary and uncomfortable the idea of having 9 strangers suddenly live with you may seem, especially guys, this may help you finally leave everything in the past. All the fears, discomforts, anger, all of it. Maybe this could be the start of your new journey towards forgiving the world – and forgiving yourself.

A week of cleaning, getting new bed sheets washed, making sure the kitchen was stocked, and the house was basically as spotless as a museum. You were exhausted. 

Why did you even have to get the house ready? It’s perfect just the way it is but uncle Jae and aunt Yuna practically nagged at you every day to make sure everything was set for the boys’ arrival.

Ugh. Why do I have to be the one exhausting myself? They’re the ones who wanted to stay here so they should be happy with the state of the house no matter what.

But whatever, you just chose to follow whatever uncle Jae and aunt Yuna instructed you to do so they don’t have to complain and bark demands at you every waking moment. Basically, you just wanted them to shut up so you can get everything done as soon as possible and enjoy the last moments of silence you’ll have in this house before you have to share it with strangers.

Well, not really strangers. You’ve heard of EXO before but you were never the type to ‘fangirl’ or be obsessed with any idol group or celebrity. It just wasn’t your personality, you’d rather spend your time riding or being with your horses.

You were already dressed and ready for their arrival after finishing up your morning ride with Blue. You decided that you weren’t gonna ‘dress up’ just because they’re arriving, no. You simply put on a white cropped top, high-waisted jeans, and sneakers. Simple and screams I don’t care who you are but hey, welcome to my home, I guess vibe.

When you reach the kitchen, aunt Yuna is already almost done preparing for lunch. There was kimbap, soup, rice, grilled fish, and a variety of side dishes splayed on the long dining table and you were salivating just by the smell.

You reach for some chopsticks and were ready to taste some side dishes when aunt Yuna slapped your hand away, “Hey!” you rubbed at the hand that she hit and she just glares at you “These are for the guests too, don’t start ruining my food presentations!”

You roll your eyes, “This is still my house, you know! Shouldn’t I be taking the first bites?”

“They’re coming from the city, that’s at least a 3 and a half hour drive, they’re gonna be starving by the time they arrive. So no touching.” She lays down all the plates and walks to the foyer, looking through the windows by the door to make sure they haven’t arrived yet.

You groan and sit at the head of the table and count only 10 table settings. 

“Aunt Yuna, aren’t they 9? Don’t we need 12 table settings here? You, me, uncle Jae, and the 9 of them, right?” 

“Oh honey, we aren’t joining you for lunch.” She says nonchalantly as she looks back at the window, still watching out for their arrival.

“What!? What do you mean you’re not joining?” You look at her with wide eyes and furrowed brows. 

I swear, the amount of times my brows have been scrunched together this past week will surely give me wrinkles faster. And I’m still too young to be worrying about aging. I blame this whole situation. It’s just weird and fucked up in general.

Aunt Yuna finally moves away from the window to sit down at the dining table beside you, “Your uncle Jae and I thought that it would be a good ice breaker for you and the boys if we left you to have lunch alone. You know, get to know each other before you spend how many weeks under the same roof.”

You huff and cross your arms again but she reaches out to hold your hand, “We’ve already met them before and all of them are lovely, we don’t need to meddle in your conversations. And besides, it’ll make you speak up more rather than relying on us to carry the entire conversation.” She smirks. 

Ugh damn it.

You roll your eyes but you don’t let go of her hand. You trust aunt Yuna and uncle Jae with your life. This is something you just have to endure to return them the favor of treating you like their own. You love them too much to disappoint them so you just have to survive the next couple of weeks and you’ll be fine. 

Right?

You hear a car come in contact against the gravel of your driveway, signaling that they have finally arrived.

“Oh! They’re here! Come on, we should help them with their bags.” Aunt Yuna walks away from you to greet them and you breathe in as much of the silence that you have left before it’ll be gone for the next couple of weeks.

You go to the foyer, opening the door wide to make sure that there’s enough space for the boys to enter with their luggage. You are greeted with the sight of two big black vans parked on your driveway, with uncle Jae and aunt Yuna standing at the bottom of the front steps, ready to welcome them with open arms.

The first boy you see come out from one of the vans was so handsome. You actually shocked yourself that he almost blew your breath away with the way he smiled, his face was of golden proportions and what he lacked in height, he definitely made up with his stunning looks. He had red hair, parted in the middle, and he was wearing a black sweater, jeans, and sneakers. A simple outfit yet he looked like a million bucks.

“Suho!” uncle Jae went up to him to give him a warm hug.

“Hi uncle! Nice to see you again!” Suho bowed to both him and Aunt Yuna after uncle Jae released him from his bear hug. 

Good looks and great manners? Okay, good start, good start.

While Suho went to the back with uncle Jae to retrieve their luggage from the trunk, two other boys stepped out of the other van – one that was extremely tall and the other was the same height as Suho, his almond-shaped eyes resembling a cat’s and you thought to yourself, wow, I’ve never seen eyes like that.

The two boys greeted aunt Yuna with a bow as well before she hugged them warmly, “Chanyeol, Xiumin! So nice to see you again!”

“It’s so nice to see you again, auntie!” They both said in unison. 

Okay, why does it feel like no one sees me. Am I invisible?

Just as Chanyeol and Xiumin go to the back of their van to retrieve their luggage, another boy from the van that Suho was in steps out. He had the widest smile and they reached his eyes, crinkling at the sides and he suddenly yelps, “AWAAAAE!” as the boy behind him kicked his butt so he could move out of the way so he could get out of the van too, “You’re blocking the way! I have to pee!”

Suddenly he starts running towards you, “Hi! I’m Baekhyun! I’m so sorry but I really need to pee, can I please use the bathroom?” He’s bouncing up and down and he’s waiting for you to show him the directions to the bathroom.

You just only register that he’s in front of you, waiting for you to speak, and you snap out of it because damn, he’s pretty. You tell him, “Y-Yeah, uhm, just go straight down the hall, the bathroom is the door on the left across the kitchen.”

“Thanks!!” He rushes passed you and you watch him to make sure he finds his way. When you see him enter the bathroom you turn your attention back to the driveway and you are greeted with two guys in front of you, one with really handsome features and he was also slightly tall and the other was shorter but he looked adorable, reminding you of a penguin for some reason.

“Hi! I’m Lay, it’s nice to meet you!” He reaches out his hand and you shake it with a smile.

Hm, has a slight accent. Chinese, maybe?

You then turn your attention to the penguin lookalike, “I’m D.O. Thank you so much for allowing us to stay here.” You were shocked that such a tiny man (brave of you to say tiny when you’re like 5’3, almost all these guys were bound to tower over you), had such a deep voice. You’d think that a voice like that wouldn’t come out of that body but you give him a wide smile anyways, making sure you’re displaying some warm hospitality in it as he can’t reach out to extend a hand because his hands were carrying a suitcase each. 

“Do you need help with those?” You look at his hands and he smiles, “No, I’m good! But thank you for offering.”

You hold the door wider for them to get through, “You can place your luggage in the living room first and just carry them up after lunch.”

They both smile and drop their luggage in the living room just as you said, but they simply stand there, not yet taking a seat as they view their surroundings. You see that Baekhyun has also arrived at the living room and was thanking D.O. Maybe the other suitcase he was carrying was Baekhyun’s.

Suho, Xiumin, and Chanyeol also greeted you with warm smiles and handshakes before you told them that they could also leave their suitcases in the living room as well.

Uncle Jae and Aunt Yuna were giving you a big smile and you just sighed, feeling the exhaustion already as you weren’t used to this much social interaction anymore.

These next few weeks are gonna be looooong and tiring.

You see the man with the wide smile and crinkly eyes go towards you, two suitcases with him as well as he introduced himself with a bow, “Hi, I’m Chen! Sorry I can’t really shake your hand right now as my hands are full but really, thank you for agreeing to host us.” You nod and give him a huge smile in return before he makes his way to the living room to join the others.

One van had already left and you now see the last two boys emerging from the other van, one looked completely handsome but serious. His black hair almost matched his aura which radiated don’t fuck with me or I will mess you up. He adjusted his pants as he got off of the van and he turned towards the door again to help the last member out. The last guy looked like he had a small limp and his left ankle had a wrap around it. The serious looking guy helped him get out of the van and the other guy thanked him but he released himself from the serious guy’s embrace before managing to walk towards uncle Jae and aunt Yuna all by himself. 

He looked fine, maybe his injury was healing? 

You couldn’t really completely see his face yet as his head was down. However, you do see that his hair is silvery, blonde-ish, white-ish? You don’t even know what color that is but you do know that it looks soft as fuck.

The last two tall members were greeting aunt Yuna and uncle Jae with bows and smiles but still, your view was blocked from seeing the last member’s face fully. You heard laughter from the living room and turned your head towards the sound. When you faced back towards where the last two members were, you almost screamed as you were startled that they were suddenly right in front of you, towering over your tiny self as you reached a hand to your chest, trying to calm yourself from the shock.

“Sorry about that, didn’t mean to startle you.” The last member with the soft hair was finally looking at you, revealing the most handsome face you’ve ever seen. 

I think I’m gonna pass out.

You look at him with wide eyes, unable to suddenly form sentences and all you can hear is your heartbeat. You just stare at his face, he looks so perfect. His eyes were a deep shade of brown, almost like milk chocolate. His skin was so golden, the sun hitting it so perfectly that it makes it seem like he’s glowing. His lips looked so soft and plump, it’s like he had pillows instead of lips. He towered over you and you had to make an effort to actually look up at him just to retain eye contact. He was wearing a plain white shirt, a denim jacket with a little bear on the front pocket, black jeans, and converse. He looked absolutely dazzling and for some reason, it was like you were under a spell.

The other member, the serious one, cleared his throat and snapped you out of your gaze as you looked at him, “S-sorry, it’s fine. The others are in the living room already and lunch is ready as well.” You look down as you step away from the doorway so they could come in.

The two of them walk passed you but the guy you were completely mesmerized by looks back at you and says with a smile, “Thank you for agreeing to have us.” And you swore that that smile made you feel like you were about to melt right then and there.

Get yourself together, Y/n. Stop ogling him, you don’t know him.

You finally are able to snap yourself out of it as you bow to both of them slightly, “My pleasure.”

My pleasure!? You literally dreaded this whole idea.

He gives you a wider smile this time before he and the serious member (who didn’t even say a word to you other than clearing his throat to probably stop you from undressing his fellow member with your stare), walk towards the living room.

You turn your head towards uncle Jae and aunt Yuna and they both have smirks on their faces which you scowl at.

“Looks like someone has a crush.” Aunt Yuna wiggles her eyebrows to you and you roll your eyes, “I do not. I don’t even know his name.”

“The one with black hair is Sehun and the guy you were salivating over is Kai.” Uncle Jae whispers to you.

“I was not salivating over him!” You huff and cross your arms.

They both chuckle, “Whatever you say, honey!” Uncle Jae says before he hugs you, getting ready to leave you guys to your lunch.

“Do you both really have to go? This is gonna be completely awkward. I don’t even memorize their names.” You pout and whine, hoping that this will work again the same way it always does so you can have your way.  

Aunt Yuna leans in to hug you before letting you go, “No pouting! You can do this, sweetheart. They’re just normal guys and you’re all the same age. And with the names, that’s the point of the lunch! That’s the only way you guys will get to know each other. So please, just be yourself and be welcoming.”

You roll your eyes before you turn your backs to them to close the door, “If I be myself, I might scare them away.” You grin at both of them.

“Okay, maybe be a perkier you just for today, please..” Uncle Jae begs and you sigh in defeat before you nod, closing the door as you take deep breaths before you make your way to the living room.

When you arrive at the entryway of the living room, they all look at you and you feel so small. They look at you with piercing gazes and the room falls into an awkward silence and you just wish that the ground could just swallow you whole right now.

But you force yourself to find the courage because you know deep down that you have to start this conversation. Save you and everyone else from this awkward misery.

“Uhm..” you clear your throat before continuing with your introduction, “Hi. I’m Y/n. We’ve all met just awhile ago so forgive me if I don’t memorize your names yet..” 

You start only to be interrupted by Sehun (who still hasn’t spoken a word to you until now), “Wait, you don’t know who we are?” his tone harsh as he raised his eyebrow at you and you cross your arms to signal that you’re in defensive mode right now.

Okay, maybe this Sehun guy doesn’t really like me. But two can play that game here.

“All I know is that your manager asked my uncle for a favor. So yes, I know you as the guys who wanted to stay in my house for some reason and I have to accommodate you. Other than that, I don’t know you guys at all.”

Okay, maybe a slight exaggeration but I wasn’t completely lying. I know they’re an idol group but I don’t know know them. At this point, they are strangers to me no matter if they were celebrities or not.

Baekhyun giggles and it somehow breaks the tension in the room as everyone looks at his direction, “What? I like her! At least we don’t have to act like we’re being watched 24/7 like how we were in the city. Isn’t that what this whole vacation is for?”

Sehun looks away from Baekhyun and back at you, “what if you’re lying and you’re actually a crazy fan that just wants us to spill all our deepest and darkest secrets?”

Suho suddenly clears his throat but before he could say anything you were face to face with Sehun, arms still across your chest to hide the fact that he may be serious and probably hates you for some unknown reason but standing so near him in a defiant stance just makes you realize how handsome he is, just like all the other 8 guys in this room.

You push that thought at the back of your head before you speak in a calm yet intimidating manner, “Like I said, I only know you as guys who want to have a little vacation and chose my house for some reason to ‘unwind’,” you gesture air quotes with a mocking tone at the mention of the last word before crossing your arms again to continue, “This is my house and you’re under my roof and if you have any doubts about me or my home, then you’re free to leave any time.” You step back slightly to scan all the guys who are now looking at you shocked and you look back at Sehun, his eyes softening a bit, “The food is getting cold and I’m hungry. You’re free to join me and have lunch here or you can leave. The door is wide open. Your choice.”

You head to the dining room walking passed the boys’ shocked expressions, not sparing them any glances. You take your seat at the head of the table before letting out a shaky breath. With your eyes closed, you let your elbows rest on the table as you lean into your hands, as if you were in a praying position, trying to calm your heart rate from the exchange that just happened.

Your eyes fly open as Kai takes a seat beside you, looking at you with a warm smile and reaches for the rice to put some on your plate.

“I’m hungry too.” He continues to put rice on your plate as all the members start taking a seat at the table silently and Sehun takes the seat at the other end of the table, directly across from you. He gives you a slight smile and a small nod of his head before he takes a piece of kimbap and shove it in his mouth.

“Well, that was some introduction, huh!” Chanyeol, who was sitting at your other side across Kai says as he clapped his hands and everyone starts laughing and surprisingly, you laugh too.

You notice Kai stare at you from your peripheral as you laugh and you could feel yourself blush before you look back at him but he looks away and you swore his cheeks were a little flushed as well.

CUTE.

“I think for us to have a clean slate with the whole introduction thing, maybe it’s better if some members introduce themselves again using their real names.” Suho suggests.

“Real names?” You cock your head to the side in confusion as he continues, “Well, some of us have stage names that we use but I think since this is going to be our home for the next couple of weeks, it would only be fair if we introduce ourselves to you using our real names. Besides, I think we owe you that after our maknae here gave you a little attitude.” He glares at Sehun and he looks away from Suho before taking a sip of water.

Sehun is the maknae!? Wtf!? I thought he was the eldest with the way he was interrogating me.

Suho turns back to look at you with a big smile, “I’m Junmyeon. I’m the leader.” 

“Hi Junmyeon, it’s nice to meet you.” You smile at him in return.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Y/n! Thank you again for agreeing to all this.”

You nod at him, smiling, as Xiumin introduces himself next, “I’m Minseok. I’m the eldest of the bunch.” He gestures to the rest of the members.

“You’re the eldest!?” You were shocked because he doesn’t even look a day over 22.

“I know right? I think I have a talent of never aging.” He wiggles an eyebrow at you and Baekhyun hits him playfully but Minseok hits him back as Baekhyun pretends like he’s in pain.

“Nice to meet you, Minseok.” You giggle at their exchange before landing your eyes at Chen who was about to introduce himself as well.

“I’m Jongdae!” he gives you that big smile that makes his eyes crinkle and you just feel such a warm energy whenever he spoke. You tell him that it’s nice to meet him as well and try to match his smile but to no avail.

You hear a deep voice towards Jongin’s direction as D.O. starts introducing himself, “Hi Y/n, I’m Kyungsoo. It’s nice to meet you!” He finally reaches out his hands towards you for you to shake as he wasn’t able to earlier. Your hands touch just in front of Kai and you can see him stare at the interaction with some sort of unreadable expression.

You let go of Kyungsoo’s hand as he says, “If you need help with any meal preparations, don’t hesitate to ask me! I want to cook a lot during this vacation as I haven’t been able to during tour.” He gives you a shy smile at his confession.

“I’d love that! I’m not that great of a cook so any help is most welcome.” You smile back at him and he nods his head at you in appreciation.

“Hi Y/n, nice to meet you, I’m Yixing!” Lay suddenly speaks beside Chanyeol. His accent still making you curious.

“Hi Yixing, nice to meet you! I can tell you have an accent.” You smile at him.

 “Yeahp! I’m the only Chinese member.”

“And we are forever grateful because every time we visit China, we can always count on him to bring us to the nicest restaurants.” Chanyeol adds.

“Is that all you’re grateful for me for?” Yixing whines next to him.

“Oh stop the whining, you know we love you.” Minseok interrupts and Yixing gives Chanyeol a small smack to the back of his head before going over to Minseok to give him a quick embrace.

You laugh at their interactions because they actually are so cute and funny. You didn’t really expect any of them to be this down-to-earth, let alone actually introduce themselves using their real names on the first day of you guys meeting.

You steal a glance at Kai who was looking at Yixing hugging Minseok and you can’t help but feel butterflies in your tummy. The way he’s idly playing with his chopsticks, parts of his fringe covering his forehead slightly, and his cute dimple showing. You think you’re being hypnotized again and just before you think you’ll be trapped in that spell forever, he looks at you and you gasp quietly. 

You’ve been caught. Great.

You quickly look down at the food on your plate, suddenly the kimbap seems so interesting to you.

You hear Kai clear his throat before he speaks, “And I’m Jongin.”

You look up at him slowly, completely enthralled by his deep honey voice as he speaks his real name and introduces himself.

When you finally meet his eyes, he gives you a warm and beautiful smile that makes your heart skip a beat. You can feel your face heat up again and you look away, cursing yourself internally for being so weak to his charm and good looks. And for being so damn obvious about it.

You barely know this guy and you’re so affected!? Get a grip, woman!

You lick your lips before you face him again and start to speak, but you find that his eyes are now on your lips and you think to yourself that maybe you have something in your teeth?

“Jongin,” you repeat, “I like it.” You smile and his eyes meet yours and he quickly looks back down at his plate as he smiles shyly, you see him blush a smidge and you look away thinking that maybe you do have something in your teeth.. Maybe he didn’t want to embarrass you in front of everyone if he pointed it out.

You quickly take a sip of your water to try to wash away whatever he might have seen in between your teeth and he turns to look at you as you finished gulping down your water.

His face is so ethereal and captivating that you can’t help but look at him.

I think I can stare at his face all day and never get tired.

“I like your name too, Y/n.” 

You can really feel yourself blush now and you and Jongin seem to be in your own world when Baekhyun suddenly interrupts, clinking his knife to his glass.

You both snap out of each other’s gazes and when you turn your head to look in Baekhyun’s direction, it seems like everyone noticed you and Jongin’s exchange. All were now flashing you both a knowing smile and you look down at your plate, completely embarrassed that everyone witnessed you blushing over their brother.

“Well, well, well. Looks like,” Baekhyun looks to you both after he stopped clinking his glass with his knife, signaling for a toast. You spot Jongin glaring at him, stopping him from saying what he was about to as he clears his throat before continuing his toast.

“…looks like we are just gonna have so much fun together during this vacation!” He looks away from Jongin and Jongin lets out a relieved sigh before taking his glass and lifting it up slightly in the air for a toast.

“A toast to all the unforgettable memories we are gonna have!” Baekhyun exclaims before everyone toasts their glasses together. Jongin waits for you to clink your glass to his and you both exchange shy smiles at each other before drinking both of your waters at the same time.

Unforgettable indeed.

Taglist: @cardtak​ 

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