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lazystar · 10 months

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The Office: Romance Day | Or The Office SKZ version

Word count: ~7.2K

Tropes/AU: Friends to Lovers, Fake Dating, Office AU

Age restrictions: 18+ MDNI pls! same w Ageless blogs TY :)

CW/ Content notes: Fem!Reader, ANGST, Himbo Changbin aka LOML, Author not knowing anything about corporate work, Cursing (it’s me y’all be fr), mentions of aliens (don’t ask), mentions of s*x with aliens like 2-3 times (again don’t ask but if you must ask it’s for comedy purposes no alien s*x happening here besties). Alcohol consumption and drunken behavior. Jeongin is a lil toxic when angy, sudden kissing but all parties are okay w/ it.

Y/N = your name, Y/E/C = your eye color, Y/H/C = your hair color

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You had never expected to become an employee at JYP Corp, let alone fresh out of university. You at an office job, in a cubicle? You would have laughed at the notion a couple years ago. But here you were, living in the big city of Seoul, at the top of the sales team at JYP. Before graduating university you had always imagined yourself as a star, or somewhere in the big leagues, but adulthood had changed you, you were happy living that basic life. That is, you were living a basic life until a certain man bumped into you one day three years ago on your way to the copier. That man was Yang Jeongin, a new member to your team who quickly became your best friend both in and out of the office. After the incident of him nearly knocking you over that day he had apologized via coffees and lunches for days and those meals had brought you two close. Conversations began with small talk, then office gossip, to now where you two could debate about if aliens would ever hypothetically be good in bed. He said no but you said yes. Resulting in the random airdrop of pictures of very disturbing fan art of alien characters and a text of “You mean to tell me you would let THAT hit? Side eye Y/N, side EYE.” It was safe to assume work had brought you together with your platonic other half.

But then even this dynamic was changed when you had caught the eye of one of the marketing team members, Changbin. He was attractive in a way that you couldn’t deny. He was sweet, charming, charismatic, funny, and honestly a great catch. But, he just wasn’t someone you saw yourself dating. However, where Changbin lacked was in his ability to accept a no when it came to dating. His ego was severely inflated, being the office crush for almost every other staff member, he just could not fathom that you didn’t see him that way. You had to take your lunches with Jeongin from the break room to cafès down the street to avoid the ever so charming male. Ranting to Jeongin about your misfortune of catching the eye of the office’s resident Gaston became a daily occurrence. At first Jeongin found it hilarious, but recently he’s begun to tell you to stop worrying about Changbin’s feelings and to focus on yourself. Jeongin had always said you were too nice for your own good and Gaston from Marketing as you two had once drunkenly dubbed Changbin truly started to make you realize this.

Everything changed though one mild December day, you had been able to spend some extra time on your work outfit and makeup before you arrived at the office. Your lips painted a festive red, which stood out against your black office dress and blazer. To put it simply you looked like a dream come true and just so alluring, like a Hollywood starlet, a vixen, the comparisons could go on for days as you seemed to collect admirers with every step. Even Jeongin couldn’t help but stare as you strolled over to your desk and let out a low whistle as you walked by. You let out a laugh setting your bag down and shook your head as he pretended to flex mimicking JYP’s resident macho man. Your laughter quickly fizzled out upon accidentally making eye contact with the marketing department’s resident heartthrob, who smiled at you and began strolling your way with a swagger and confidence that only told you he believed that upon the 83rd attempt to woo you he would finally see success.

As soon as your brain registered that Changbin was walking your way you quickly moved into Jeongin’s cubicle like a scurrying mouse. You didn’t even know why you went to his space other than to hide, even though Changbin had seen you, you two had made eye contact for heaven’s sake! Y/N what are you doing?! You weren’t even sure. What you knew was at this point you had exhausted every excuse, every gentle let down, basically every option you could think of to explain to the sweet muscular male that you were not interested in him being your office fling, rendezvous, anything more than a friend. Every option beside looking him in the eyes and explaining you were not the Belle to his Gaston, nor the Beauty to his Beast had been utilized and those last two were a bit harsh by your standards. So now you had to pull at straws for the one option you had left and it was the one you had come up with in the seconds you had before another riveting wink, smirk, “Meet me for dinner and drinks after work gorgeous?” combo came your way.

In Jeongin’s cubicle you met his raised brow and opening lips with a move that may just change your friendship as you know it, but like many great heroes in history you knew desperate times call for desperate measures.

“Don’t ask me any questions just please kiss me right now!” The panic in your whispered voice, your hand on his necktie, the pleading look in your eye’s conveyed to Jeongin your desperation in the moment. As Changbin’s footsteps approached closer and closer you pulled on Jeongin’s tie to bring his face closer to yours, he couldn’t help but smirk at your panic, his smirk was also was in response to the fact that you chose him to play your office lover, even if it was to get the office Adonis off your case.

“I have several questions, comments, and concerns but…okay.” He teasingly whispered back and cupped your cheeks, the warmth of his hands eased your rapidly firing brain synapses and his lips met yours. Your eyes naturally closed and you couldn’t fight the smile that made its way to your lips as you two shared the kiss. Your hands had almost settled on his arms when an awkward cough behind you cut off the moment between you and your best friend of two years.

“You know you really could have just said you and Jeongin were a thing, instead of giving me the run around Y/N.” Changbin grumbled. “I’m happy for the two of you though, genuinely, you make a cute couple.” His Hollywood smile shone at the two of you. His voice was bright and cheerful, but it also was loud, thus it carried across the whole sales department floor.

Soon enough the ruckus of “Wait Jeongin and Y/N are together?!” and similar statements rang over the clatter of keyboards and other office equipment. Your “relationship” became the coffee pot, water cooler, lunch room, basically entire office gossip. Floor by floor it became the hottest ticket at JYP Corp. The “Jim and Pam” of JYP, Y/N and Jeongin.

Two nights later over some wine and shitty reality T.V. you broached the subject with Jeongin. Pausing the latest episode of whatever toxic show you two had chosen to roast that month you looked at him, “Might as well play into it so why don’t we just be one another’s fake office date until it blows over?” your shrug and blunt tone baffled Jeongin ever so slightly. You didn’t seem to care one way or the other but it seemed like the logical solution to being the subjects of office drama.

“You’re fucking crazy Y/N, you know that? But fuck it, let’s do this.” He somehow had conjured up some legal pads and pens like a wizard, he scooted over so he sat closer to you as he drew up the “Jim and Pam Rules” which he had dubbed the guidelines to your forays into acting. The rules of fake dating in the corporate rule.

Rule Number 1. No stupid ass pet names

“Waitttttt. This means I can’t call you my pookie bear?” you pouted playfully.

“Y/N call me that and I’m exposing your alien fetish.” He deadpanned.

“IT’S NOT A FETISH I JUST THINK ALIENS WOULD HYPOTHETICALLY FUCK LIKE GODS!” A swift and perfectly aimed pillow to the head shut you up from your impending one-woman-debate regarding alien prowess in bed.

Rule Number 2. No catching feelings.

“Jeongin this isn’t some slow burn fanfiction or teen romance novel. You’ve seen me puke and cry simultaneously because that one ex boyfriend I had said I had weird eyebrows two years ago.”

“So this should be easy for me to follow.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?! Nevermind I don’t wanna know…I should have asked Felix from the Social Media team to pretend to date me instead. At least he would have been nice to me.”

“YOU TAKE THAT BACK RIGHT NOW! WORST FAKE GIRLFRIEND EVER ALREADY”

“RIGHT BACK AT YOU MEANIE”

Rule Number 3. We “break up” before the company New Year’s Party.

This way you two don’t risk getting into any cheating rumors if you somehow get drunk and find someone else attractive.

The two of you didn’t need to debate or bicker over this rule, it was logical, you wanted to subdue drama, not create more. So putting an end date on a fake relationship made sense.

Rule 4. Nobody can know it’s fake.

Self explanatory.

You didn’t create rules about cuddling, holding hands, kissing, or other forms of physical affection, because those had become staples in your friendship. Plus couples are affectionate, you need this to look real.

With rules in place everything seemed like it would go perfectly, nothing to lose, peace at work to gain. Like you had said this wasn’t a drama or like that. So you both set off on Operation Jim and Pam not knowing how truly drama-esque things would become.

A few days had passed and to your relief Changbin had been leaving you alone, as were any of the other office flirts and nosy colleagues you seemed to attract. This was more than likely due to how the office gossip began to report on your relationship with Jeongin. The talk of the office was now always about his morning routine that as your romance became public, revolved around you. Every morning you would find Jeongin waiting for you with your favorite coffee and pastry in his hands. He would escort you to your cubicle, pull out your chair, hang your coat up, and make sure you had what you needed. Before he would begin his work he would leave a sweet note on your desk stating how you were amazing at your job and to have a great day. At the end of the day he would wait for you to carry your purse, give you a sweet kiss on the cheek, and walk you home. He was the boyfriend drama script writers dreamed of. But you knew it was an act, but forgetting sometimes didn’t hurt, you were allowed to delude yourself that everything was real for a few moments a day. It was only fair that you permitted yourself that speck of happiness.

Outside of work he would be your best friend who would laugh with you about your odd obsession with aliens, who would rewatch Twilight, the Office, and other early 2010s media with you. This brought you to right now, the next meeting of the Jim and Pam Operation. You two had been invited to drinks with your coworkers the following weekend to celebrate surpassing your quotas last month and seeing a rise in profit margins over the past few weeks. The two of you had easily been able to use the quotas as an excuse to avoid answering relationship questions but now you would be unable to make excuses whilst surrounded by everyone who was a part of making these victories happen.

“How we met will be easy, everyone knows we met at the office. Hyunjin saw us bump into one another. He told me the other week if he had known you and I would have ended up dating he would have tried to play cupid so he could brag about it.” He noted sipping his glass of wine as the television flashed the iconic blue hues of the first installment of the Twilight series. “Pfft who really thought this movie was going to be so iconic? The plot though is atrocious. Think about it, Bella should’ve picked them both. Polyamory exists and it would have saved us so much bad writing. I stand by my idea that they honestly should have just dated each other. Bella gets two hot boyfriends, Jacob wouldn’t have been attracted to Refrigerator or whatever the hellspawn’s name was. So no creepy subplot to worry about. All would have been right in the world. ” You snorted at his monologue of how he would have made the Twilight universe sane with the introduction of polyamorous relationships and pelted him with a piece of popcorn. It hit him square in the cheek and you couldn’t help but laugh harder at his whiny pout as he rubbed where the kernel hit him.

“Focus Innie we need a solid story so we don’t get the office detective squad on our cases about how we aren’t actually dating. So we met at work, who confessed first, when did they confess, how, you know the details every grandma asks?” You count on your hands as he nods along. Neither of you had thought this part out before now.

“Okay let’s say I confess while we were having one of our lunches,you looked so beautiful in the sun at the café. Your eyes sparkled [Y/E/C] your hair looked so gorgeous and like a [Y/H/C] halp in the light. I was mesmerized and I just couldn’t stop myself and I confessed how I always found you beautiful and adored your personality as we got closer as friends. You returned my feelings, we hugged and kissed and the world stopped for a moment. Bam! Now here we are madly in love making everyone jealous of how perfect we are.” He smiled and you couldn’t help but blush and look away for a moment. You had this strange feeling in your chest and you couldn’t understand why his explanation made your heart beat just that much faster. You covertly pinched yourself and brought yourself back into the moment and looked back at him.

“U-hum yeah that-that’s perfect. When should we say you confessed, like how long had we been dating?” You stuttered through the question internally cursing yourself for being so affected by his words.This was all an act, this wasn’t real, don’t act like it’s real. You kept mentally repeating those phases like a prayer to the universe above. Until a snap, snap in front of our face brought you back to the present.

“Y/N are you okay? You spaced out for a moment”.” You nodded, not trusting your voice for fear it would crack and so would your ability to hold back on your newfound crush. He smiled and continued. “I said we should say 2 months ago, we loved the café during the fall so that makes sense and the time frame would be logical for keeping things low key until now.” You agreed, the conversation was over as was the film. The two of you cleaned up your mess and he left hugging you good night. You felt this odd weight in your chest. You didn’t know why, everything you and Jeongin are doing is pretend, so why does it feel so real sometimes?

Drinks were flowing as the celebration at Bar Levanter began to get rowdier. You had been glued to Jeongin’s side the entire night, his hand resting on your lower back, your arms wrapped around his bicep. You reminded yourself several times to begin asking him when he took up weightlifting as his muscles felt firm under your grip. You two easily bounced your story of your whirlwind romance from coworker to coworker. Until Changin swaggered up to the two of you. Bang Chan was trailing behind him shaking his head and pinching his nose bridge in frustration. Changbin and Bang Chan were best friends and the whole office knew it, however unlike Gaston’s sidekick LeFou in the movies, Chan didn’t go along happily with all of the antics Changbin would get into.

“Well well well if it isn’t the happy couple everyone’s been talking about! I didn’t get to ask you two how this,” he gestured towards your embrace with Jeongin, “happened. So tell me everything. I love romance stories and to be honest your relationship is adorable.” You and Jeongin went the extra mile cutting off one another’s sentences and giggling when you said the same things at the same time. To an outsider it truly did look like you both were infatuated with one another. It seemed to solidify yo Changbin that you were not interested in him nor would you be for a long time. You sipped a couple more cocktails, growing tired from the alcohol and socialization you found yourself curled up closer to Jeongin on the long bench of the booth you were sitting in. The two of you looked quite intimate, your chest was pressed against his left arm. Your right hand was playing with his hair at the base of his neck, the other playing with his fingers lazily. A soft yawn escaped your lips which you had taken your right hand from his hair to cover. He looked down at you, an endearing look on his face as your eyes met his, a grin spread across both your faces and giggles erupted between the two of you. The night was winding down and coworkers were pouring out the doors saying their goodbyes.

Jeongin kissed your forehead and tried to get you on your feet. He stood next to the booth encouraging you to get up so he could walk you home, he grew a tad frustrated as he spent minute after minute tugging on your hand. His frustrations faded fast as he began chuckling at how your tipsy state reduced the put together woman he knew as his best friend to a woman with the same level of pouty as a toddler. He’s seen you drunk on more than one occasion and he knew alcohol took your walls down and made you lose your sense of maturity, and your sense of reason when it came to doing a non preferred task. Jeongin sighed shaking his head, then tilting it he silently beckoned you to leave. He went so far as to raise a brow giving his “Y/N this is your last warning face.”. But you ignored it and wanting to stay in your comfy spot on the bench.

“Innieee I don’t wanna leaveee!” You stomped your heel clad foot on the hardwood, sticky floor of the bar, your arms were crossed with an exaggerated pout on your lips. You repeated the motions a few more times, shaking your head in protest.. Before you could escalate to a drunk toddler tantrum, Jeongin tsked at your behavior and cut you off.

“Darling it’s late, it’s almost midnight, I need to get your drunk cute little butt home before you do anything stupid, and so I know you make it home safe baby.” He chastised you. A giggle rang from your lips at his words, his choice to mention your ass of all things was incredibly surprising.

“Wait YOU just said my BUTT is cute?! You never say stuff like that to me, Innie!” You bowled over cackling like it was the funniest thing you ever heard. Jeongin sighed, rubbed his temples, and proceeded to scoop you up bridal style in his arms. He tightened his grip on your legs and torso as you briefly thrashed about. He hated playing babysitter but for you he would do it all, plus he got to make fun of your antics whilst you complained about your hangover.

“PUT ME DOWN! HEY!” Jeongin shook his head and carried you out of the bar. Your exclamations of protest and questions of what Jeongin meant by you having a “cute butt” fading away as you two left the bar.

Changbin had watched the scene and your response to Jeongin made him question the whole relationship you apparently had with Jeongin. He looked over to Chan.

“If you had been dating someone for say two almost three months you’d probably accept that they’d compliment your body right?” He asked, taking a swig of his beer.

“Yeah? Why?” The Aussie member of marketing responded.

“Y/N seemed almost shocked Jeongin ‘said she had a cute butt’. Now don’t get me wrong she’s adorable, you know how big my crush was on her for months.” Changbin sighed thinking briefly about if he had made a better move before Jeongin, he would have been the one you looked at with stars in your eyes and he would have been the one to carry you home tonight.

“I mean it’s their relationship but that is a little weird if you ask me. It did seem kind of sudden that they amped up the romance factor after you saw them kissing, and the kiss kind of came around when you tried to rev up your terrible ways of asking her out.” Chan pointed out.

“That’s the last time I take dating advice from Seungmin and Han. Yikes. But you’re right something seems a little fishy. I don’t want to start picking it apart though. It’s not our place to do that.” As Changbin said, the little devil on his shoulder began to speak right in his ear. Well whose place is it but yours, this could be your chance to get in between them.

Nothing between you and Jeongin had changed after that night. You two still had your movie nights, karaoke, lunches, and your other activities. While smiling with him on the outside, on the inside your heart was slowly breaking, time was flying and the party was now only two weeks away. The past few weeks had made you notice more of the features in your best friend that you overlooked previously. How his dimples grew deeper as he grinned, the way his eyes would smile with him, the way his hair fell in soft waves, the smell of his musky yet floral cologne, the way he’ll subtly smell the perfume you wear by nuzzling into the crook of your neck during hugs. Most of all you noticed how he made you feel like home. You had broken the most sacred rule among the ones you and Jeongin drafted. Rule number 2, you had caught feelings. You knew you had to end things fast, you couldn’t risk dragging your heart through this any longer. The next day you had told Jeongin to meet you outside for lunch instead of walking with you from your desk like usual. He didn’t say anything but the quirk of his brow before the thumbs up he gave in response told you he knew something wasn’t right.

You urged him over to the side instead of heading to your usual café right away, this made his suspicions grow even more and the classic eyebrow quirk and questioning gaze you had grown infatuated with almost made you decide to go back on your plan but you stood firm. You knew for the sake of the ruse you had to end things publicly with some coworkers in earshot so you chose the front of the building on the benches.

“Jeongin, we should break up. This needs to end.” You said as soon as both reached the cold gray concrete benches that resided just outside the behemoth office building. His eyes widened in horror, his hands slightly shook, he gaped at you, he had several questions milling around his mind. He had forgotten the inevitable break up, having fallen into a happy routine by your side. You knew you had to rip the bandaid off no time like the present to do so. He sat down, body shaking with emotion and he looked to you, your calm expression making him wonder what you felt to lead to this choice. Was this the end of your friendship?

“What do you mean? We’ve been so good together, this has been working so well? Why?! Give me a reason, something! You can’t just drop this on me like it’s okay!” His voice was quiet and cracking from the turmoil that fueled him with every syllable. He looked everywhere but at your face as he spoke, you were grateful he didn’t look at you. If he did you would have probably taken your words back and apologized whilst covering his face with lipstick coated kisses. You had to remain firm, you were hurting yourself with this plan, you had gotten so caught up in the act of lying you had forgotten to be true to yourself and now two people were hurt. You were breaking your own heart, you didn’t know however, how badly you had destroyed his.

“It’s time Jeongin, you and I both know what I mean. I adore you but it’s time to call it quits, you’re my best friend and I think we should go back to being friends.” You practically whispered. “Thank you for everything you have done for me, you will always be my best friend, never forget that.I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you beforehand. I couldn’t think of how to approach this, please understand this is for the best.” You placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and gave him a soft squeeze before bundling your coat up tighter and walking through the cold late December snow. The white surrounding you glistened as the tears fell down your face. With every step the cracks in your heart deepened, every sniffle burned from the harsh winter air. It was like Mother Nature was punishing you for breaking your own heart. Your tears froze to your cheeks like icicles of heartache. The air in your lungs burned with every breath. Your walk home took much longer than usual, you had to stop and sit on snow coated benches to avoid running into others from how blurry the tears had made your vision. You were a wreck, shaking and sobbing, gathering looks from strangers. You couldn’t tell any of your friends the real reason you were so torn apart about this “breakup” without breaking a rule. You were in limbo grieving your romance that never was on your couch, alone. Absolutely heartbroken and alone.

Meanwhile on the bench Jeongin was still sitting, he shivered with every breath and his head was clutched in his hands. His teeth chattered from the cold wind whipping around him as his own tears froze to his skin. His chest felt empty, his heart cracked with each shaky breath he took in. His friend Hyunjin found him outside in his office coat shivering from the tears combined with the cold December air. Hyunjin consoled him for what felt like hours, holding Jeongin to his chest and rocking him like a child as the younger male sobbed.

After calming down Hyunjin escorted Jeongin to the sales team manager to discuss transferring teams. After discussing the matter the sales team manager Lee Minho knew for team morale and for two of the best employees at JYP it’d be best to keep you two apart in the office while you both healed. Minho emailed you too telling you he had some extra PTO in the budget and due to your diligence you had earned a few days off. You knew he likely saw everything as your breaks overlapped but accepted his show of sympathy as it granted you time to cry in peace.

Your long weekend ended the following Wednesday. You now had only seven days until the party and your heart was still smashed like a piece of pottery on the floor. Your ticket had long since been paid for as was the show stopping dress you had bought for the black tie affair. Every time you looked at that dress hanging in your closet encased in its garment bag you broke down. Jeongin went with you to find your party dress, the dress code had just gone out that day.

•Just after you two began fake dating•

“Black Tie? What does that mean, like we are all expected to be dressing like we are Will Smith in ‘Men in Black’?” Jeongin asks you as you both look at your phones reading the email. You point out the bottom where dress code guidelines are given and he gives a dramatic exclaim of, “Oooooohhh I get it now!” That same day you both go around Gangnam looking for gala appropriate clothing, thankfully your bosses had given company wide raises which allowed even menial employees like the two of you the luxury to afford clothing in the most expensive shopping district in Seoul. Jeongin had chosen his suit already and was waiting on you to try your final dress before you would resort to begging a friend for a gala gown of theirs. When you had stepped out in the dress you had chosen as your final pick Jeongin immediately faked a dramatic swoon and began to act as if he was worshiping you. You laughed slightly at his exaggerated reaction to the dress, he ended his little performance and sat back down in his seat to watch your own reaction to the dress.

You stood on the small podium in the shop and turned in a small circle showing off the dress’ ability to accentuate your curves and the right aspects of your body. The dress was a long slightly fitted gown with bishop sleeves, buttons down the bodice that perfectly matched the shade of the fabric, giving the gown a subtle classic touch. The deep v neckline accented your chest in a classy way that didn’t draw too much attention. The crimson color of the fabric enhanced every ounce of your beauty, looking in the mirror you didn’t see yourself the way you usually did. In that mirror wasn’t “Y/N the young woman working in a corporate job who was content with living a mundane life.” No, before you in your reflection was “Y/N, the young woman who had made early adult life her bitch” You felt like a queen, an ethereal goddess, a gorgeous, and powerful woman. You felt like every woman you had looked up to as you stared at your reflection.

You bought that red dress, but you didn’t buy the confidence it gave you. You couldn’t transfer the way you felt on that podium to your mental bank account to use as needed.

You didn’t know it at the time, but that confidence came from your hype man Jeongin’s support, and you couldn’t buy that either. you went home with a gorgeous gown and an air of elation around you.

•End Flashback•

The office felt lonely. You missed your friend, you missed your notes and coffees, you missed Jeongin being Jeongin. When you had come in you were quickly informed that Jeongin had transferred over to the international sales team and was the talk of their section of the buildingHe was a valuable new asset but he was apparently very quiet and avoidant of conversation. With his absence and the rumors already circulating about the breakup, Changbin had already swung back into action. He walked over to you as you were at the coffee machine preparing a cup to get you through the work you missed. Upon seeing him you began to abandon your Holy Grail of caffeine and walk toward your desk. He caught your wrist and gave you a pleading look.

“Hey Y/N, sorry about what I heard about you and Jeongin. Wait! Don’t leave just yet! Please! I have a little more I NEED to say. I’m sorry for not initially respecting you and your boundaries, I got some stupid advice and I uh have learned now not to take advice from others when one suggestion from them doesn’t work the first time around. Oh and uh not to keep asking someone out when they said no the first time.” His hand awkwardly rubbed against the back of his neck and he looked down. THE Changbin was nervous, looking like the human embodiment of the sweat drop emoji? Letting his guard down around you? You placed a gentle hand on his bicep and gave him the best smile you could. you knew that he needed some comfort. You could tell that this was eating at him a lot.

“Thank you Changbin, really. You’re actually the first person to just briefly talk to me about the breakup, everyone keeps asking questions instead of just saying

‘I heard about the breakup, that sucks. I hope you both are doing okay. let me know what I can do to help.’’ So thank you for just talking about something else even if it’s still dating related.” You mirthfully laugh and give his arm a soft squeeze and smiled kindly at him again. “You know I think we got off on the wrong foot Seo Changbin, friends?”

“Friends.” With grins on both of your faces you interlocked hands and shook like it was a business deal.

Your new friendship with Changbin was nothing like your friendship with Jeongin. Changbin would drag you to his workouts to teach you new techniques to add to your own very mild workout routine. He would be your cooking guinea pig. He would be the more wild person to get you out of your shell. But he wasn’t Jeongin, he wasn’t someone who knew you like the back of his hand, wasn’t as in sync with you, he was different. But leading up to the party, different was good, different was what you needed. Different wasn’t what caused your pain.

Jeongin heard about your friendship with Changbin and was seething. His mind raced with so many emotions and questions. Had you replaced him? Had he been so naive? Did he mean nothing to you? Was this all just a game? Had you ended both the ‘relationship’ and your friendship without really explaining to him? Was any of it real to you? The relationship with you was real from the moment he was able to kiss you better than the panicked one the day this fiasco began. To Jeongin it was real each time he would play with your hands and envelop your fingers in his. It was real the first moment he smelled the way your scented shampoo and perfume lived in harmony whilst you hugged. He was infatuated with everything about you, he wrote that rule whilst breaking it, he had loved you from the moment he agreed to kissing you. Now here you were playfully elbowing the man you wanted Jeongin to help you push away. Was this all a joke? Did you use him to get Changbin to change his strategy? He had no clue what to think or feel. All he knew was he was upset and he needed the truth.

The night of the party came and you and Changbin walked into the beautiful venue arm in arm. The company booked a glorious ballroom in a high rise building in Gangnam, with beautiful chandeliers and a balcony overlooking the city. The windows have a perfect view of what would be the midnight fireworks. The setting was glorious, the food was spread through the room so guests could mingle, and of course the alcohol was bottomless. A recipe for either a magical night, or a tragic night, you as the chef had to decide.

You and Changbin made your way to the balcony and he wrapped his suit jacket around you and you leaned your head on his shoulder. For a while you sat in silence watching the bustling city below you. The sounds of honking cars, drunken cheers, and music lulled you into a sense of melancholic peace.

“Y/N, so never told you but I figured out you and Jeongin weren’t actually dating.” He muttered quietly so no one else would hear him, unfortunately you were not so tactful. The gulp of champagne you had just taken was still in your mouth, however it quickly flew out of your mouth and onto the immaculate marble floor. No one thankfully saw your spit take. Trying to regain composure, you dabbed your mouth clean with a napkin and gave your friend a shocked glare.

“Wait, what, how, what, again huh?!” You harshly sputtered in confusion and slight panic. You were careful to keep your voice hushed even though you wanted to squawk like a panicked bird at this revelation.

“It was the bar night, you drunkenly questioned a compliment from Jeongin and acted like he never complimented you or your physical features and Chan and I found it weird and basically we ended up kinda analyzing how you two interacted. It almost seemed like you were faking a relationship, but I can see now your feelings for him were so real. You really loved him didn’t you?” Changbin opened his arms and you quickly found purchase gripping his shirt and nodding, you focused on holding the tears in as to preserve your makeup and his shirt. Changbin softly rubbed your back and whispered soft affirmations to you to help ease the pain. After seeing how hurt your breakup, if you could realistically call it that made you feel he knew he couldn’t have you, and he was more than okay with just seeing you happy, even if you had found that happiness in another man’s arms. He had mentally moved on from you being the object of his affection and already saw you as a good friend. His affections for you, now platonic felt much better. You gave Changbin a small smile, it didn’t quite reach your eyes. He gave you a knowing one back and brushed off your whispered words of gratitude.

The heartfelt interaction between you two was cut short by an angry Jeongin storming over. “Changbin, if you could excuse us for a few moments I need to steal Y/N for a few minutes to talk.”

“I- Y/N are you okay with this?” Changbin’s apprehension seemed to make the tension among the three of you grow like a bamboo stalk, sharply and quickly. You knew Jeongin and you needed to talk, you just wish it wasn’t right here and right now.

“Binnie I can do this, go have fun. We can talk later. I promise I’ll be okay.” You whisper and hand him back his coat. You quickly followed Jeongin down a corridor far enough from the gala to have a private talk.

“So I see you found a new best friend, or is Binnie your new boyfriend?” Jeongin’s voice was sharp as a blade, cutting you down with each word. Hurt and shock must’ve flashed in your eyes because before you knew it he had stepped back to add more distance between you two. He backed up against a wall trying to not make eye contact with you. “I’m hurt Y/N, fucking broken, you didn’t just fake breakup with me you ditched me for the next best thing, you fucking replaced me. For all I know I was a pawn to make him realize how you wanted to be treated, I could have been a tool to show him how desirable you were, or a tool to make yourself look better to others?! YOU GAVE ME NO REASON! Nothing! No communication either. You never once took a moment to check in on me, not a single time were you asking about my department change, it was like the next shiny thing came and I was forgotten in the mud like a toy, Y/N. Were you too absorbed in yourself to notice I was dying out there?” Your knees gave out as you slumped to the floor and sobs wracked your body. you had selfishly tried to guard your heart, and in the process you broke his and your own if you had been honest and told him your feelings, this wouldn’t have happened and you knew that.

“I don’t even know what to say to explain to you how undeniably sorry I am for what I did. I didn’t want our fake relationship to ruin our very real friendship and I guess it kind of did.” Your words cut Jeongin as did your tone of hurt and reluctant acceptance. You reminded him of how he never had gotten to really call you his, and him raising his voice in hurt may have made things worse. With nothing to lose he continued laying it all out to you.

“I guess you’re right. Well at least you’re happier now with him huh?” He sneered looking down at your shaking form. Your red dress was pitched up as you clutched your knees to your chest. All he could compare you to in his mind was the saddest gumdrop he had ever seen, and he just wanted to take it all back and hold you and say everything was fine. But it wasn’t fine and he was too far gone to stop.

“Why are you so upset I worked it out with Changbin and we’re friends now? Why is that such an issue to you? Communication is a two way street Jeongin and you never once reached out to me either. But that I guess is whatever, what isn’t is you being so mad I made a friend when I was also hurting. So again… Why. Do. You. Care?” By the end of your rant your finger was poking his chest on each of those four words. Your eyes boring into his and your glare matching his. The next thing you knew two hands were clutching your face and your back was pressed against the wall where he was previously standing. You both exchanged a heated kiss, teeth clashing together in an uncoordinated embrace, the kiss went from messy to passionate as you both found rhythm. Hands wandered briefly, panting breaths were exchanged. Saliva transferred from one mouth to the other as his tongue began to find its home in your mouth. It was a crescendo of emotions and need, the days of pining, embarrassment, and turmoil being left behind in exchange for desire, adoration, and pure magic. Your fingers quickly found his hair and his stayed on your cheeks gripping onto your skin like if he wasn’t holding you down you would slip through his fingers. He put every emotion he had into the kiss. Both of you felt hot salty tears run from your eyes as you parted to take deep breaths. Before Jeongin let his desire to kiss you again take hold of him, he knew he had to explain himself, he wish he could throw all of his mistakes into an abyss, but he knew he had to tell you the truth.

“Because I am so undeniably in love with you. I realized right after our plan was underway. I didn’t know how to tell you. I was instantly drawn to you, I truly didn’t know it was possible to meet a piece of heaven until I met you. That’s why I’m mad, because I could lose you, and losing you to him would break me beyond repair.” His voice cracked and cut in and out due to how hard he was fighting more tears.

“Jeongin look at me. Baby, look. at. me.” You tilted his chin with your fingers and looked directly into his watery eyes. “I ran away because I was scared, falling in love with your best friend is terrifying, the day I ended the fake dating was just after I realized how much I loved you. The day we got this dress, I realized I only wanted your opinion on my event wear because you made me feel beautiful. I fucking love you Yang Jeongin and that is terrifying to me.” At your confession, he pulled you into a warm embrace and nuzzled his head to your neck and inhaled the comforting scent of your perfume while you listened to his heartbeat as it settled. As you both hugged and whispered sweet words affirming your feelings for one another you heard a some exclamations coming from behind Jeongin. You had an instinct to look over his shoulder and there were Chan and Changbin exchanging cash with some other coworkers who had all bet on your relationship actually coming into fruition. As you smiled at the sight, you made eye contact with a beaming Changbin who held a big double thumbs up your way, you giggled and shook your head and looked up at your boyfriend, who was now very real. He smiled down at you and shared in your giggles of pure joy. The party began to grow into a full roar as midnight grew closer.

“5….4….3….2….1! HAPPY NEW YEAR!”

As one chapter of life closed and another opened, you shared your first very real kiss, of your now very real relationship. No rules, no faking, no bad pickup lines, and to Jeongin’s chagrin; a beefy new friend to help you get strong enough to carry Jeongin out of the bar when he’s too drunk. Who would have thought a less than stellar acting performance, coupled with some jealousy and a himbo sidekick was what was needed for JYP’s resident versions of Pam and Jim to get together after all.

The End

Tag List:

@veryjeongintxtkid @thisisnotjacinta @shycreationdreamland

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©️ LazyStar

Disclaimer.

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Please do not share my work on any other platform without my express written permission. Please do not translate my work and repost it to another website. Do not place ANY of my work into Chat GPT or similar AI programs.

This is a work of fiction any real people mentioned (Stray Kids) are characters in this piece. This is not to be used for any real comparisons or depictions of the real people mentioned:)

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#stray kids x reader #lazystarwrites #skz fanfic #jeongin x reader #skz x reader #kpop x reader #office romance #“y/n needs to be in the eras tour - my homie #jeongin be kinda a bitch - one of my beta readers

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