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#what are they both staring at in the 2nd one? you decide again

propertyofwicked · 1 month

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SECRETS part 3 - LN

lando x fewtrell!reader

no content warnings for this part ! :) (there is more fluff in this part, finally)

p.s i wrote half of this on a train that smelt so bad so if its bad we blame thameslink <3

part 1 -> part 2 -> part 3 -> part 4 -> part 5 -> part 6 -> part 7!

max decided he’d talk to his sister later, right now, he needed to focus on being there for lando. right now, they were sat in the mclaren garage, qualifiers underway and lando doing so well. even y/n started to believe she was a lucky charm. and indeed, lando now believed she was 100% his lucky charm.

the moment his post-qualifying responsibilities ended, he came bounding over to y/n and max, first taking max into what y/n could only describe as a bro hug, ending when he swiftly moved to embrace her, mumbling a chant of ‘thank yous’ in her ear. he caught max in an awkward stare, prompting him to let go of y/n.

“thank me? what for? that was all you lan,” she said, smiling up at him as she moved her arms to cross over her chest.

“thanks to my lucky charm,” he said to both of them, but smirking at y/n, “im starting 2nd on the grid tomorrow. strong start means a strong race,” he finished, still beaming from ear to ear.

“me and y/n are going out for some food in a bit if you wanna join mate,” max said, smiling back at his friend.

“yeah sounds good. ive got to shower, but i’ll swing by and pick you both up from your hotel at 5?”

“perfect, see you there mate.”

the drive back to the hotel was silent, y/n assumed her brother was tired, her brother was in fact thinking. more specifically, thinking about his sister and where she had been the night before. he tried to stop his mind wandering further and yet, images of his sister and best friend infiltrated his thoughts. max’s brain couldn’t stop dwelling on the way lando embraced his sister, how his hands gripped at her waist, and then he thought back to that night in monaco. the way his best friend stood behind y/n, his hands on her waist, her head rolled back onto his shoulder as they danced to the music. before he knew it, the fear and anger he thought had dissipated months ago, was bubbling back inside of him, his hands gripping the steering wheel to ground him from the feeling.

y/n noticed. of course she did. spending 20 years of your life around someone tends to give you the ability to read their every emotion - and this one was one that y/n was not too familiar with. max usually held his anger and sadness well, so the only times she’d seen this was in his earlier driving career when races didn’t go his way. she hoped so desperately he wasn’t angry with her, after all, nothing had happened, and as far as she was aware, nothing would happen.

by the time 5 o’clock came around, max had returned to his normal self, conversing with y/n normally. that’s a good sign, y/n thought to herself. and now, he was chatting to lando as he drove them to a restaurant outside of the town they were staying in. it was all going so well, max was calm, y/n and lando were friends again and nothing could ruin this moment.

“y/n, why is your lip balm in lando’s centre console?”

shit.

“oh i think it fell out the top of my bag when i climbed in the back,” she said panicked, her eyes quickly darting to lando, who was suddenly very interested in the road ahead. max seemed ok with her answer, humming with a quick nod before continuing his conversation with lando. y/n, however, was filled with a new wave of anxiety. why did she feel like this? she hadn’t even done anything? and yet, her mind was now plagued with guilt.

her hands came together, playing with her fingers and twisting her rings around to calm the anxious thoughts, a trait she’d had since childhood. lando glanced at her in his rear view mirror, seeing her facial expressions - her eyebrows furrowed and her mouth falling into a natural frown. he then spotted her hands. he tried to join her into the conversation, tried to distract her, but soon enough they were parked and walking into the restaurant. max chose to sit opposite his sister, leaving lando and y/n pushed together in the booth.

her foot tapped the floor, shaking her whole leg, as the boys talked, y/n chiming in occasionally.

“mum and dad are coming up tonight for the race tomorrow,” lando said to max, but his hand came to brush the side of y/n’s bouncing leg, his finger drawing small circles on her thigh, “they’re staying in your hotel i think.”

“good thing you did well today then isn’t it,” max replied, laughing slightly, “i can drive them to the track tomorrow morning if they want?”

“i’ll ask, im sure they’ll be glad. dad hates driving before my races, gets to nervous and forgets to indicate,” lando responds, joining max in laughing at the thought of adam norris forgetting how to drive.

“i’m just gonna run to the toilet, do either of you want a drink whilst im up?” max asked, pushing his chair back under the table as he stands. y/n nods, asking for another diet coke whilst lando declines, holding up his half full glass.

the moment max disappears from sight, lando takes y/n's hand in his, brushing his thumb up and down the back, her leg slowing its bouncing.

“what’s wrong?” he asks, quietly, sad eyes coming to meet hers.

“my lip balm lando. i don’t want to know the conclusions max will jump to, and i don’t want to be on the receiving end of his anger.”

“it’ll be fine, i promise. he’s got nothing to be angry about, we’ve done nothing wrong.”

“you didn’t see him earlier. i thought he was going to rip the steering wheel off.”

“we’ve done nothing wrong,” he repeats, “besides, you’re a grown woman who makes her own life decisions. fuck it if he has a problem.” y/n nodded in response. he had a point. she was a strong independent woman, she didn’t need her brothers permission to do anything.

for the rest of the evening, she re-joined conversations, feeling a new sense of confidence in herself that she had been lacking all weekend.

race day had approached quickly, y/n found herself sat in lando’s drivers room. max and lando’s parents had gone for a walk to grab some food, leaving the two of them alone. lando was pacing, his pre race nerves grew stronger every minute. quite frankly, y/n was sick of it - she sat back on the sofa, her eyes darting back and forth like the audience at a tennis match as she followed lando’s strides back and forth across the small room.

“lan?” she asked him, but he didn’t stop moving, and barely grunted to acknowledge that she’d spoken.

“lando? can you stop pacing? you’re making me dizzy,” she said with a sigh, and he finally came to a stop, and turned to look at her.

“sorry,” he said, smiling at her, as she stood up and walked towards him.

similar to last night, she took both of his hands in hers, pulling them to rest at the top of her chest. her eyes found his, staring directly into them.

“you nervous?”

“how could you tell?” he said, laughing slightly.

“you don’t need to be, you smashed qualis and you’ll smash this. besides, your lucky charm is here to save the day,” y/n said, adding a grin at the end of her sentence. the room fell into silence as he mulled her words over in his head. she was still looking at him, and he tried not to break the eye contact, but his eyes gradually dropped to look at her lips. she was still smiling at him, trying to calm him down the only way y/n knew how to. and she was still smiling at him when he leant down slightly, closing the gap between them even more.

“can i kiss you?” he asked slowly, as if to test the waters, the tension between them rising more than it ever had.

“i think that would be ok,” she said. he didn’t wait to join their lips together finally, pressing a soft kiss to her lips as his hands dropped from hers to fall and grip her waist softly. y/n’s hands moved to rest on the back of his neck, pulling him in closer, his tongue swiping her lower lip as her mouth parted to deepen the kiss.

he could’ve stayed in that moment forever, and he would’ve if a knock hadn’t interrupted the moment - y/n tensed up at the sound.

“lando are you ready? it’s time to get in the car.”

“uhh, yea. just give me a second,” he said, glancing down, first at y/n, panic leaving her shoulders as she established it wasn’t max, and then down to his fireproofs, readjusting the rest of his suit around his waist.

“we need you now, lando,” the voice said again, staying behind the door.

“we’ll continue this later,” he said pressing another kiss to her lips and her forehead, before walking to the door.

she grabbed her phone, her best friend was the only person she could trust to advise her now.

“well done lando, that’s p2,” lando’s race engineer announced through the radio, cheers erupting in the garage. y/n moved to cisca’s embrace, celebrating his win, after spending the entire race on the edge of their seats. the group, consisting of max, y/n and lando’s parents moved round to where lando’s car would pull in, excited to celebrate his podium with him.

when he was finally free from the cockpit, he moved to push his visor up, eyes darting around the crowd in hopes of spotting a familiar face. he spotted his mum first, and then the girl stood next to her. her smile could outshine the sun, he had thought to himself as he made great strides towards the group. lando reached over the low fencing, grabbing his mum into a tight embrace, her hand rubbing up and down his back supportively. when he stepped back and looked to his right, he saw y/n again. still smiling up at him. he would never get tired of seeing her smile.

his hands moved to her face, holding her jaw, eyes staring into hers. she couldn’t see his smile through his helmet, but she knew he was beaming. her own hands had risen to hold the sides of his helmet. he stared for a second longer before moving to pull her into an embrace tighter than his mums.

“my lucky charm,” he said to her, loud enough for a few people around her to hear.

“go get weighed and finish up. ill see you after,” she said as he pulled back, him nodding at her. just as he turned to celebrate with the rest of the team, she pulled him back.

“oh, and lando - im proud of you.” with that he left.

y/n turned to her side, looking at cisca, who was still smiling, an odd glint to her eyes. she then turned behind her, expecting to see her brother. but he wasn’t there.

“adam? where’s max?” she asked the man who had been stood next to max.

“he, um, he just left. didn’t say anything to me. he just kind of, walked off?” lando’s dad responded, looking as confused as she did.

this was not good. in fact, this was very bad.

★ ☆ ✦ ✧ ✩ ✶

tag list: @harrysdimple05 @scopeiguess @hiireadstuff @landosgirlxoxo @natt9598 @phantomxoxo @val-writes @secretgal66 @ririyulife @littlehoneyfreak @leclercdream

#lando norris #lando norris x reader #lando norris smut #lando x reader #lando smut #lando norris imagine #lando norris fanfic #formula 1 #mclaren f1 #mclaren #lando norris fluff #propertyofwicked #maxfewtrell #fewtrell!sister

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feelbokkie · 6 months

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[8:39 PM]

☀️Feelbokkie M.list☀️

genre: fluff drabble

pov: 2nd person

description: You decided to ask your boyfriend an innocent question. You didn't expect him to answer so honestly.

pairing: bf!Seungmin x gn!reader (reader wears makeup)

warnings: swearing (just one!)

word count: 476

"Seungmin, when do you think I'm prettiest?"

"I'm not falling for that trick." He answers without wasting a second.

Both of you got home for the day around the same time and have been relaxing on the couch together in silence. You were scrolling through tiktok, showing Seungmin ones you thought were funny, while he hummed quietly and read. You only stopped scrolling because you saw a new trend where people would ask their partners when they thought they were the most attractive, pretties, handsome, etc. It made you curious to see what Seungmin's answer would be.

"There's no trick. I'll even tell you what my answer would be for you. But only after you answer. Please? I wanna know." You get up from his side and face him. He presses his lips together and stares at you. You're not sure if he's considering answering or trying to think of an answer. Maybe he just thinks you're stupid for asking the question in the first place.

"I think you're prettiest the second you take off your makeup." He says after a moment of silence.

"What?" You're taken aback by his answer. You want to laugh but you're not sure if he's actually joking or not. You know that if he's being serious and you laugh it'll hurt his feelings and he'll immediately retract his statement saying something along the lines of, 'I don't find you pretty at all. You're really ugly.'

"You're really pretty when you put your makeup. You do it really well and it suits you the way you do it," He closes his book and turns to face you more directly, "But I think you look best bare faced. It's my favorite version of you. I don't know, it's just my preference maybe. And I like watching you take off your makeup. It's almost like opening up a present on Christmas. Watching you go from one beautiful version of yourself to the most beautiful version makes me really happy-- Hey, why are you crying?"

"B-because, that is the sweetest thing you've ever said to me!" You blubber. You can't help but crying at Seungmin's answer. He had such a soft voice and bright smile while he was talking, it made you realize how much he really loves you. And how much you love him back.

"I'm sure I've said sweeter things," Seungmin brings his left hand to your face and wipes away your tears with his right hand.

"I don't care. This is number one now. I was going to say you look prettiest when you smile but that sounds lame in comparison." You sniffle.

"If you said it, it wouldn't be lame."

"I will cry again,"

"You also look pretty when you cry." He adds, smiling.

"I'm about to become so fucking beautiful in a second if you don't stop being sweet."

—

Buy me a coffee?

—

Permanent Taglist

Red means that it wouldn't let me tag you (either at all or properly)

@amyysfics @berryblog @jaydebow @junebug032 @boiohboii @heistheavatar @lieslab @rainbae-anon @k-cock @hamburgers101 @mrswolfiechan @soulboundauthor @weird-bookworm @thisisnotjacinta @seungmyynie @halesandy @kpopsstuffs @honeydew93 @dandycharmer @stay278 @jaiuneamesolitaiire @babrieeee @brain-empty-only-draken @tenmii @blueforte @jihanlovic @felixglow @nuronhe @soonyoungblr @hello-2-u-from-me @phtogravi @jiisungllvr

#feelbokkie writes #stray kids #skz #seungmin #kim seungmin #skz imagine #stray kids imagine #seungmin imagine #kim seungmin imagine #skz imagines #stray kids imagines #seungmin imagines #kim seungmin imagines #x reader #seungmin soft hours #seungmin drabble

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dejwrites · 1 year

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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀recovery, nanami kento

the shibuya incident shook the sorcery world (and japan) drastically and nanami kento is slowly transitioning back into the world. the dreadful feeling of not being able to help the youth he worked to protect sits heavy in his mind as his scarred hands tremble to do simple tasks. but nothing causes his stomach to twists in the most horrendous knots until he have to face his five year old daughter and the world again with his new battle scars. but as a good wife

♔ ˖ ✧ — general warnings: female reader, her/she pronouns, female anatomy described, black reader written in mind, physical descriptors, canon verse but also a what if nanami survive au, jjk spoilers, established relationship (reader and nanami are married), mentions of ptsd, mentions of scars and burn scars, cane usage, mentions of therapy, reader and nanami have a daughter named yu, same reader & nanami from family affairs series, first half is told in 2nd/reader pov & other half in nanami’s pov // smut warnings: cowgirl/riding position, breasts play, pet name usage (baby), finger sucking, praise kink, // word count: 4.4k, minors dni.

OCTOBER 31ST WAS A DAY THAT CHANGED YOUR LIFE DRASTICALLY. You remembered dropping your five-year-old daughter Yu off with a friend after an emergency call for many sorcerers to the Shibuya district. You remembered kissing both sides of your daughter’s cheeks because whenever her father wasn’t with you to drop her off, he always told you to make sure you gave her as many kisses as he would give her until she was a giggling mess begging for you to stop. You recalled how your fingertips were imprinted with the fragrance of blood despite you wearing latex gloves the whole time—with the number of deaths you marked down, perhaps that scent just was in your mind. You remembered having a drag of your first cigarette (complementary of Shoko) after the long day of horror—you hated it. You thought it would ease your growing anxiety when you didn’t know where your husband was at. You recalled how you noticed Shoko’s whole demeanor changed as her quick strides towards you seemingly were used to push you further away from seeing the horror that was soon displayed in your view.

You remembered how disoriented you felt. You couldn’t keep much food down and practically slept at the hospital. You just didn’t feel like yourself—but who would when they knew that the events at Shibuya had nearly killed their loved one? It broke your heart lying to your own daughter. Your tongue stinging, even uttering out the words that mommy and daddy had to take a work trip and will return as soon as possible. Your daughter thought you were away at work, but here you were, staring at the monitor in Nanami’s room beep. You didn’t want to lose him; you didn’t know what to do without him. You didn’t know what Yu would be without him, she was such a Daddy’s girl, and it would crush your soul for her first love to be taken away from her.

Nanami was strong. He pushed through. He wouldn’t be the same, but he pushed through. It was quite a journey of physical therapy, support groups, and even him deciding to stay at a hotel for a while, fearing how his daughter would react to seeing him like that. It took him two weeks and your constant encouragement until he finally decided to return home. Even when he decided to let his daughter see him eventually, you still basked in silence in the car, waiting until he was comfortable. Although your daughter wasn’t home yet, Nanami hadn’t stepped foot into your shared home in what seemed like a year—when it only had been a couple of months. The words of what he would say to his daughter swirl around his mind like a carnival carousel curling around. He had to do this. He couldn’t avoid being in his daughter’s life because of the triggering aftermath of Shibuya.

He refused to give Mahito that much power over him.

“I’m just afraid of how she’ll react.” Nanami lets out a sigh as he packs up his clothes. His scarred hands trembled as he folded his clothes to put them in his suitcase neatly. Nowadays, it takes him longer than usual to do simple tasks like buttoning his shirt, and he now attempts to fold his clothes.

“Our daughter is extraordinary; she’ll understand what we do when we explain it to her fully.” You grabbed Nanami’s trembling hands to get his full attention. “We told ourselves that we want her to enjoy her youth. We’ll protect her just so she can do that, but she‘s growing and becoming more curious—we can’t shelter her from a life that she could soon be interested in pursuing.”

You watched as Nanami’s lips formed a straight line. He couldn’t argue against your words because they were true. His daughter was five. It was no point to stir her away from the lifestyle her parents (and a good portion of people she interacted with) were so familiar with, especially when she could possibly already see the ghoulish creatures that haunted his nightmares when he closed his eyes.

“You’re still her father, Ken,” You mumbled as your eyes glanced up at him. “No matter how you look right now, she will still know it’s you because of this.” Your index finger pokes his chest where his heart is.

During some moments within the day, you watched Nanami do simple tasks around the house as the two of you were waiting for you to have to pick up Yu from your friend’s house. Deciding to do what you guys usually do on a bright Sunday morning: clean the house. Your eyes couldn’t help but shine in worry seeing his right-hand shudder while he tried to do something like help you cut up vegetables for dinner. You knew this took a toll on him because cooking dinner together was your thing. A form of love language created when you first started dating blossomed into a tradition—it was just something you two did together. Even after long days of work and raising a very bright personality five-year-old—you two always met in the kitchen, whipping up dinner together and sharing subtle kisses here and there.

Your lips parted to ask if he needed help, but it was as if he read your mind—Nanami shook his head as he continued to cut the vegetables. This time he had a better grip on the knife and was doing it perfectly. If you looked closer, you could even see a twinkle in his eye at him being able to do such a task. Your lips curve into a small smile before you return to doing what you were doing. The two of you moved in sync in the kitchen as if you were competitors in a cooking show—managing to finish dinner and set the table just in time for you to have to pick up Yu. You kissed Nanami’s cheek, mumbling about how you’ll be back as soon as possible. Your friend only lived about fifteen minutes away and didn’t mind dropping Yu off, but you felt it was best for you to talk to her first.

You hated to admit that you were afraid of how Yu would react at the sight of her father—especially considering that you never went into detail about what you two do. She knows you’re a doctor and heal people, but that was it. She had no clue about curses, cursed energy—any of that. Was it wrong to shield her from that, considering that her parents would die? Maybe. But you and Nanami wanted to do everything to protect her youth and her ability to be young. When you picked Yu up, you couldn’t help but smile, seeing her bright smile as she skipped out of your friend’s house with her belongings in one hand and taiyaki. She hugged your leg as you opened the car door, rambling about her adventures with your friend. You helped her in her booster seat and strapped her in before climbing back into the car and returning home. Your mind is running with thoughts of telling your daughter that her father was back from the work trip, but he got hurt. He didn’t look like the last time she saw him.

“Yu, we have to talk.” You said while stopping at the red light. You look in the rearview mirror, watching her snack on the sweet treat. Mentally, you’re cursing your friend for giving her sweets so close to dinnertime—but maybe that would help her process the burdening news.

She glances at you with a smile. A toothless one because Nanami lost one of her front teeth after biting an apple while she was going. Another moment Nanami has missed. You broke eye contact with her to continue to drive, and you could even see the familiar driveway of your home.

“Is daddy finally coming back?” Yu asked. You could hear her kicking her feet, and you simply sighed.

You were turning into the driveway and parking the car. You unbuckled your seat so you could turn to look at her. Her curious expression looked rather adorable with the taiyaki crumbs on them. You knew you couldn’t lie to her. Ignoring her question, you exited the car and helped her out. You figured it would be better to be closer to her when you dropped the colossal bomb that could alter how she sees her father. Closing the car door and kneeling to her height, “Sweetie, I need to tell you something about your father.”

Yu’s head tilted in confusion, and her eyes shone with curiosity and fear. Your hands would give her a comforting squeeze, tugging the coils out her face that fell out of the red headband Yuji brought her on one of his free days from being a sorcerer student.

“Daddy got hurt badly at work.” You tried to explain, but your voice seemed to crack in the back of your throat as you tried not to cry. This hurt.

“Your dad was hurt really bad, and I just wanted to let you know that you must take it easy on him. He’s still your dad, who will protect you no matter what.” You rubbed your thumb against her cheek brushing away any crumbs off her face.

Yu only give you a nod. The five-year-old had to comprehend that something happened so quickly that she didn’t even know if she should be asking more questions. She was one curious kid that always had a question about something. You opened the front door holding onto Yu’s hand, and the house seemed too quiet other than the sounds from the dining room. You glance down at Yu and lead her to the kitchen; you can’t help but chuckle at the sight.

Nanami set the table slowly; he didn’t even notice that two of his favorite girls had returned. You felt Yu grip your hand harder at the sight as you cleared your throat to get his attention just in time as he set the last place at the table. When he looked up and saw the two of you, you gave him a reassuring smile. It was okay. It was a huge step, but it was okay. The skin on the right side of his body was bare and burnt and could be considered quite distracting to people who walked by him when he went to physical therapy. His mangled scars traveled up from the side of his face and down to his foot. His right eye was covered with a black eye patch as he stared at his wife and Yu.

Yu’s mouth gasped open as she clutched to your pants leg. You didn’t want to nudge her forward; you were aching to know what was running through your daughter’s mind. Yu’s eyes seemed to be eyeing Nanami, who was standing before them. Nanami feared what his daughter would do and how she would react. He was afraid that his daughter wouldn’t recognize him due to the permanent scars he now had on his body. His palms grew sweaty at the silence in the kitchen. He still remembered the conversation you two had before all of this. He couldn’t shutter away in fear in a situation like this, and it was something Mahito would want.

Yu finally detached herself from your pants, dropping the snack she once was eating and running to hug her father’s leg. The sight shocked you as you watched Nanami lift her in his arms and pull her close. Yu’s small arms wrapped around Nanami’s neck as she started to cry. Your eyes began to burn with your tears, quickly going to swipe them away before you became an emotional wreck. You were happy to see her show that emotion to you and Nanami.

Yu lifts from the crook of Nanami’s neck to say through sniffles, “Daddy, I can’t believe you’re a pirate now.”

You chuckled at her statement before speaking, “How about you two go get cleaned up, and I’ll put the food on the table.”

Nanami put Yu down, and he extended his hand for her to take so she could lead him to the bathroom so they could get ready for dinner. A warm feeling overwhelmed your heart watching Yu drag him away, but she did it so gently, considering that Nanami still used a cane to help him walk better to his destination. You let them get cleaned up while you cleaned up the snack your daughter dropped and finished setting the table.

Dinner felt like a nostalgic feeling—a nice nostalgic feeling that made you smile so hard. Yu was telling you about all the adventures she went on while you were away, from going to the countryside with Nanami’s parents to going to a pig cafe with your friend. She had so many stories to tell that she must have been holding in to tell the two of you.

“And I lost my tooth.” She grins at the two of you as she lets her tongue glides across the place where one of her teeth once was.

“I’m sure the tooth fairy came and visited you,” Nanami adds.

“Yeah,” Yu placed her fork down to dig into her pockets, and she pulled out her yen bills. “Then I also made a new friend at school.”

“You’re one social butterfly,” You said aloud, sipping your water.

“He’s so nice but has an ugly imaginary friend.” Yu shoved her mouth with vegetables leaving both Nanami, and yourself stunned at her words.

“Sweetheart, it’s not very nice to call someone ugly. Even if it’s an imaginary friend.” Nanami glances at his daughter, who lets out a familiar dramatic sigh he has heard from you.

The blonde-haired male tends to forget that his daughter had a carbon copy of your personality. He watches as she pushes her vegetables around her plate before speaking again, “It’s just his imaginary friend who makes weird noises, and it looks like they make my friend unhappy.” Yu explained

Nanami’s head tilts in curiosity, hearing his daughter describe something he was acquainted with. His hold on the fork tightened as he realized what his child was describing, and his stomach formed the most monstrous knots. He took a sip of water as he watched you grab hold of his hand and give it a nice squeeze.

“How long have you been seeing this imaginary friend?” You asked.

“Hm, since Monday,” Yu admitted.

“How about we invite your friend over? Hm?” Nanami asked.

“Really?” Yu questioned excitedly.

You made eye contact with Nanami. You didn’t want him to push himself so much that he was uncomfortable. “Are you sure about that?” You questioned as you collected Yu’s plate in front of her.

“It’s okay.” Nanami gives you a grin. “We’ll just have to ask the little guy's parents, that’s all.”

Dinner continued with laughs and stories. Yu was so excited just to see her two parents together again. She couldn’t stop discussing everything she wanted to show you and Nanami. Even as you wrapped up dinner and told her to get ready for bed—she begged Nanami to help her. Due to Nanami being the girl dad he was, he couldn’t resist that charming smile and the puppy dog eyes Yu gave him when she wanted her way.

“I’ll meet you in our room when I’m done. Make sure she brushes her teeth.” You smile as Nanami pecks your lips and watches him disappear towards the stairs with your energetic daughter.

NANAMI’S FINGERS GRASPED AT THE FLUFFY PINK TEDDY BEAR AFTER HE HAD TUCKED YU IN. Nanami Kento hasn't done this in months. He hadn't tucked his daughter in and placed a soft kiss upon her forehead in months, and the feeling felt so foreign to him even though he had held her so close when she was only a tiny baby. Or the fact that he witnessed her take first steps towards not him or his lovely wife Y/N, but freakin’ Gojo. Then Nanami couldn’t forget holding her hand as he walked into her first dance class.

Yu looked at him as if he was the whole world—as if he was her protector and knight in the fairytale world that she dreamt about. Now, the guilt and the harsh stab in his heart hit him that he possibly wasn’t strong enough to protect her however he wanted. How can he protect something he promised to protect when she was just a baby now that his scarred hands shook doing simple tasks like tying his shoes, and when he closed his eyes, his nightmares were filled with him.

“Daddy?” Yu broke the blonde-haired male out of his thoughts as she looked at him. “Where’d you go? Mommy said you went away for work.”

He sits on her bed, and his weight causes the mattress to sink. He felt that question was coming; she just didn’t feel comfortable asking just yet. “Yes, I did. I just got hurt while doing so,” His lips form a reassuring grin that he hopes she will return.

Instead, her chocolate brown hues only lit up in curiosity. It was a look he had seen in Y/N’s eyes many times when he stepped into the medical room at the Kyoto school. Yu snuggles closer to the teddy bear in her arms before asking, “Does it hurt? Mommy can make you feel better with her mommy powers, or Auntie Shoko can help you..” She then flashes Nanami a smile, and it just hits Nanami that his little girl was missing one of her front teeth.

She extended her hand, and Nanami’s scarred one held on to it. He watched her small thumb rub against his hand with a small smile. “I missed you, Daddy.” Her eyes start to water, and the waterworks begin.

He cradles her in his arms so tightly, similar to when she was only a tiny baby in his arms years ago. Nanami didn’t want to let go. He held onto his daughter until she fell asleep with dried tears staining her cheeks. When he tucked her in tightly with her favorite stuffed teddy bear next to her, he placed a kiss on her forehead.

“I will protect you forever, no matter what, princess.”

After those words, he knew she probably wouldn’t remember, he turned off her room light. The only thing that illuminated Yu's room was a nightlight plugged up near her bed while Nanami closed the door just a bit for it to be cracked.

Nanami settled in bed after showering. With one of his favorite books in his hand, he didn’t even notice that Y/N had skipped into the room after checking on Yu one last time before bed. The oversized Star Trek shirt that once was owned by Nanami hugged your figure, and with each step, you took to climb into bed—Nanami could get a glance at the cup of your butt.

Y/N climbed into bed, and Nanami expected her to snuggle up close to him like she usually does when he reads before bed. She’ll always tell him how comforting his voice is when he reads aloud to her. Subtle jokes about how he could have been a speech coach or something instead of fighting curses. He wished his life was as simple as that. Instead of being scouted to go to a school to fight curses, he would have lived an everyday life. He would meet Y/N in a hospital in another life because now that he’s been married to her for years, he couldn’t fathom another life where she wasn’t a part of it.

Nanami’s chocolate brown hues scanned over the words of the book he was wearing as he felt the weight of Y/N climbing on top of him. Her tummy was now supporting his book as she glanced down at him, and when his eyes finally looked up from his book—his lips formed a crescent moon-shaped smile at the sight. She hadn’t wrapped her hair yet, so her kinky coils were sprawled all over her head like a golden crown.

“I missed you, you know? I missed this.” She says as her teeth grind against the plump lower lip.

Nanami folded the corner of the page; he stopped reading and closed the book. He placed the book on the oak-colored nightstand, and his hands found comfort on Y/N’s waist. “Me too.” He answered truthfully.

“I can tell, Ken,” Y/N says lowly as her hips rock against Nanami’s bulge, which displays how much he had missed his wife since his months of being away.

His fingers tiptoed up the shirt, but he soon snatched his scarred hand away in embarrassment. The insecure feeling of his rough and tainted fingers caressing something so soft as his face grows red. Y/N’s eyebrows raised in confusion because he didn’t want to touch her. She didn’t take offense to it, considering that she knew this was something Nanami would have to get used to. That half of his body was permanent with scars that she would help him love.Y/N tugged her shirt over her head, tossing it on the floor. Her hand grasped Nanami’s scarred one and she kissed his knuckles before placing his hand on one of her breasts.

“It’s okay. I want your touch. I crave your touch.” Y/N says. She guided Nanami’s hand up and down her soft brown skin before she began to rock her hips again. She knew Nanami was enjoying because, through the curls that fell in her face with each rock of her hips, she saw how his chocolate brown eyes lit up. “And I can tell you’re craving my touch also. You’ve missed me so much, didn’t you?”

Nanami’s words were so caught up in his throat that he didn’t even know how to respond. His mind couldn’t focus on everything all at once because he wanted to do so much for Y/N. His scarred index and middle finger rolled her nipples in between them, gaining a moan from her, and it hit him hard at how much he missed this. He missed seeing how Y/N’s eyes fluttered close in pure bliss when he touched and kissed her. He’s so eager to get out of his boxers that he didn’t even catch the way she had some shit-eating grin on her face.

But it was another thing that Nanami adored. He adored seeing that expression on Y/N’s face when he finally slid in. The way she would chew on her lower lip to muffle a moan when he had only slipped his tip inside her. Which only would cause Nanami to finally shove his cock further inside her just to hear her yelp out his name and have that dreamy expression on her face.

That same expression she had on her face right now that Nanami’s cock was inside of her. A look of affection that the retired sorcerer missed so much. His hand grasped her waist, guiding Y/N’s hips in a pleasurable, rhythmic pace for both of them. Y/N props her hand on Nanami’s chest to help her balance upon riding him. Moans trembled out her mouth with each roll of her hips, and she had only had Nanami on her mind. It was quite strange how he could plague her brain like a catchy summer tune. That was just the type of spell he had on her.

Nanami tried his best to thrust upward just to hit the spot that had Y/N speaking one of the languages she knew, but it had only taken a toll on his body, and Y/N noticed immediately.

“I got it, Ken. Just relax.” Y/N’S leaning down, kissing at the corner of his lips (specifically the side that’s decorated with burn marks and soon his lips as she cocked to bounce upon his cock. “I know you want to ensure I’m getting more out of this than you.” She adds.

“Y/N…” Nanami breathed out. “I just want to make—”

His words were cut off by her, “Make sure I orgasm; when do you not make me orgasm?” She glances down at him.

“Can I take care of you for once? Hm?” She asked that question with a roll of her hips for each word and syllable that left that pretty mouth of hers.

And Nanami’s brain turned into mush, his face got so hot, and his balls grew heavier. The only answer he could give to Y/N was, “Fuck.”

“Good answer.” She cockily responds before her hand reaches at the headboard to help her ride him some more.

The mess built between their naked bodies was driving Nanami insane but in a good way. After months of being touch-deprived due to surgeries and physical therapy, he needed this. He relaxed under Y/N; he let her take control until he could feel himself about to cum.

“I’m about to—Shit,” Nanami uttered. Before he could say anything else, Y/N could feel the thick ropes of cum shooting inside of her. She’s leaning down, capturing his lips upon his and slowly grinding against him to ensure his cum stays inside of her.

When the kiss broke apart, Nanami looked up at his wife as if he had hearts in his eyes. “I fuckin’ love you.”

“I love you too,” Y/N giggles through her subtle pants.

With the Star Trek shirt back on Y/N’s body, which was now stained with the scent of Nanami and sweat, she glances over at her husband, who is sincerely thinking about something. She hoped he still wasn’t thinking about the scars on his body. “What’s on your mind?” She glances up at him through her eyelashes.

“Yu can see curses now.” Nanami looked at his wife. “She’s only five.” He adds with a sigh.

Y/N hated to admit that her assumptions of what their daughter told them during dinner were accurate. She felt like Yu was too young to see them and finally realized that her world was much different than her friends in class. But Yu had two amazing parents. Two parents would guide her through this. Due to Nanami being the wonderful husband he was, it was as if he read Y/N’s mind.

With a sly grin and a quick, playful peck on the tip of Y/N’s nose, he says, “We’ll guide her through it, though.”

━━ ♡ // @maydayaisha @eiflawriting @unknownspecies @violxtbxbyy @kama-star @superluckystar @minniecums @neesiewrote @lisia-primary @plopifuee @discobeachbarbie @yeagerfushiguro @dontmockwhatilove @omb-lnn @sukunasdirtylaugh @zu8her @loveupeople @atiny-dazzlinglight @p00pdev1l @macxera @onlybambibambi @dior-fawn @sleepysnorlaxsblog @mstsukii @jujutsukaisenfan @adcree @aichaaa @sexlapis @syomi @si00p @madness1999sworld @pt6dio @daisynik7 @woahhajime @blaxxbutterfly

thanks for reading, reblogs & comments are greatly appreciated.

#nanami kento x reader #nanami kento smut #jjk x reader #jjk smut #anime x reader #anime smut #black reader #x black reader #jjk x black reader #anime x black reader #female reader #fem reader

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marvelavengerspovs1 · 3 months

Text

Stress Relief

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x F!reader

Warnings: None, this is all fluff!

Length: 869

Summary: After deciding to go back to school for college you find that it is a lot more stressful than you imagined. Luckily, Bucky is there to help you.

A/N: Hi! This is my first-ever post, so any critiques are welcomed!

I do not give consent for my work to be translated, copied, or sold!

Bucky watches you from the couch. You’re sitting at the dining room table working on an assignment for your calculus class. When you decided you wanted to get a college degree, Bucky was supportive of you. You decided that while being a medical assistant was nice, you wanted to work to become a doctor. Part of the reason was that the Avengers agreed to hire you after graduation.

It’s the start of the 2nd semester and you’re only 2 weeks in but the stress is already getting to you. You want to stay on top of your grades and not burn out, but it is getting increasingly difficult. Now you’re using what used to be your free days as study days surrounded by printed assignments, textbooks, and your laptop.

“Oh my god, this is so stupid!” You scream and throw your pencil down and cradle your head in your now empty hands.

“Are you ok doll?” Bucky asks from the couch.

You just take a deep breath and rest your head on the cool surface of the table. Bucky takes that as a no and gets up from the couch to sit next to you.

He places his hand on the small of your back and rubs small slow circles. “Do you want to talk about it?”

You shake your head and wince when the side of your head hits the corner of the textbook. “Maybe it was a mistake to go back to school.”

Bucky stares at your deflated figure. “Don’t say that doll. This is only right now, you’re not going to regret it once you walk that stage and start med school.”

You tilt your head and look at him. “I just hate calculus.”

Bucky laughs. “I’m glad I never had to take it. Here, let me look, it can’t possibly be that hard.”

You lift your head so that Bucky can look at your notebook with your notes and the scrap paper you used to solve the equation.

Bucky’s eyebrows quickly furrow. “What the fuck is that symbol?”

You look at the paper to see what he’s pointing at. The equation is a limit function.

You laugh. “Oh, that just means you have to find the limit as x approaches -2 of that equation.”

Bucky looks at you with a lost expression. “Doll, maybe you should just take a break.”

You shake your head. “I can’t. This is due next Wednesday and it’s already Tuesday.”

Bucky smiles at you. One of the many things he loves about you is how you like to get things done in advance.

“Doll, it won’t be long. You just need a little break to clear your mind. You’ve been working since 7:00 this morning and it’s already 6:00.”

“Ok, but only for a little bit. I want to get this done.”

“I promise.” Bucky grabs your hands and helps you get up from the dining room.

Bucky gently guides you to the couch and makes you sit down. He goes and grabs a blanket for you and two beers from the fridge. Bucky lays the blanket on you and hands you one of the beers before going to the door.

“What are you doing?” You ask him.

“Just wait, doll,” Bucky says and there’s a knock on your door.

Bucky opens the door and you see a delivery driver hand him a bag of your favorite Chinese takeout. While most of the food is not authentic Chinese food, you couldn’t deny how delicious it was.

“When did you order this?” You ask once Bucky sits down next to you and places the food on the table in front of you.

“I ordered about half an hour ago. I knew you didn’t eat any lunch and were going to be hungry soon.” His point was made when you both heard your stomach growl.

You lean forward to kiss him and grab a box that’s filled with orange chicken. “Thank you Bucky, this is really sweet.”

Bucky smiles and kisses you again. “Anything for my doll.”

You and Bucky eat the takeout he ordered and watch trashy reality TV. You laugh as you see Bucky yelling at the TV that everyone is lying to each other and that they shouldn’t trust people so easily. But when you’re not looking, Bucky stares at you. He looks at the way your eyes crinkle when you smile and laugh, the way you blush when you catch him looking at you, and how hot you look while you’re wearing his sweater.

You look at your phone and realize that it is now 7:15. “Ok Buck, I have to get back to my work.”

Bucky pouts and grabs your wrist as you start to get up. “One more thing Doll.”

You smile down at him as he pulls you to straddle his lap. “And what is that?”

He puts his left hand on your hip and his other on the back of your neck. He pulls you in for a long kiss but lets you go once you start to melt into him. “Go finish your assignments before I have my way with you.”

#sebastian stan #bucky barnes x female reader #bucky barnes #bucky x reader #bucky x y/n #bucky x you #james bucky buchanan barnes #avengers #bucky fanfic #bucky barnes fluff

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plentyoffandoms · 10 months

Text

Yellow (Part 1)

wearer is willing to hug

Gwi-nam x f/Reader

Main Masterlist ♡ All Of Us Are Dead Masterlist ♡ Yoon Gwi-Nam Masterlist ♡ Jelly Bracelets Masterlist

Just like all my other stories, this has not been proofread, but please enjoy.

Am I late to this fandom? Oh hell, yes, but the show was so good.

Warnings: Some swearing. Nothing sexual yet

WC: 869

Gifs & photos do not belong to me. 1st gif @weputthefunin-funeral 2nd & 3rd gifs @dramastream

YN’S POV:

He is staring again.

Ever since I transferred to Hyosan High School a few months ago, I was used to being stared at, as I joined a month into the new school year.

Many people wanted to know where I was from. Why did I transfer?

Did I do something bad that made me have to transfer to a whole new school and leave my friends behind?

The answer was no.

My father got promoted and we needed to move for his job.

I quickly became old news and made friends. People stopped staring at me, except for one.

Yoon Gwi-nam.

"He is staring at you again." Jang-Mi said to me as she nudged my foot under the cafeteria table.

"I know. I can feel his eyes on me wherever I go."

"Maybe he likes you." Sun-Hee said as she nudged my shoulder.

Before I could say anything, Jang-Mi quickly said, "No shit."

The two of them started to bicker, and I ate there in silence, trying to wrap my head around what Sun-Hee said.

I wasn't really paying attention to what the teacher was even saying. I was staring out the window, playing with the bracelets that I had on my wrist.

Laughing silently to myself at the myth that came with these so-called sex bracelets.

They were a going away gift from my friend Ye-Rim. She knew I like to try and accessorise the school uniforms as much as possible without getting in trouble, of course.

"Just make sure no one snaps them." She said teasingly.

"Or what? I will have to do what that person says?" I scoffed as I looked down at the bag of jelly bracelets.

"Yes." She then on to tell me what the meanings were behind each of the colours.

I felt a tap on my shoulder, and I sat up straight and leaned back slightly to listen. "You are gonna get caught." Dal-rae, another one of my friends whispered to me.

I was gonna say something back, but I was called on by the teacher to answer a question.

I ran as fast as I could towards the school, but even I knew I wasn't going to make it on time, and that was going to be three demerit points.

Either way, I was gonna be late, so I decided to stop running and take my time, but I wasn't the only one.

Myung-hwan and his pathetic group of friends weren't that far from me, and that included Gwi-nam.

Who seemed to have a sixth sense of when I was close to him because he looked over his shoulder and I could see the half-smirk on his face.

He said something to Myung-hwan, who looked back at me as well and said something back to Gwi-nam that had the both of them laughing. Gwi-nam stopped walking, and the others continued walking.

I held my head up high and went to walk past him, but I didn't realise he had his hand out to grab my backpack until I was pulled back into his chest.

"Now, now, YN, where are your manners?" He tutted at me.

Gwi-nam's POV:

She raised her eyebrow at me. "What do you want, Gwi-nam?" She asked instead.

This is probably the first time I have heard her say my name. I mean, I hear it in my head as I think about her, but never once from her own lips.

"All I want is a hug."

She took a step back and looked me up and down, clearly confused.

"Why would I give you a hug? I don't even know you."

I figured she would ask that.

"You see YN when I saw those bracelets that you constantly wear under your jumper one day, I remember one of my older cousins mentioning them and said they were all a fad in North America when they did a student exchange program."

"They have no meaning." She tried to say.

"But they do. Now I would like a hug." I held the snapped, yellow bracelet up high for her to see.

YN gasped and looked down and saw that it was indeed gone from her wrist.

"Unless you want me to tell everyone that you actually had to come here because you got caught cheating on your exams at your old school."

"You are willing to tell some stupid lie just to get a hug? Why? No one else will touch you?" I could tell she was angry, but I stood my ground.

She looked like she was having an inner battle with herself, and she sighed and held her arms open and wrapped them around my waist, and I wrapped my arms around her.

The hug wasn't very long, but just as she was about to pull away, I made sure she heard me say, "You will be mine, YN." and I let go of her.

YN quickly turned to walk towards the school.

"Oh and YN?" She stopped and didn't say anything.

"Make sure to keep wearing those bracelets. I think you and are going to have fun with them."

Orange (<-Part 2)

#female reader #reader imagine #reader insert #aouad yoon gwi nam #all of us are dead gwi nam #aouad gwi nam #gwi nam smut #yoon gwi nam #gwi nam x reader #gwi nam x female reader #gwi nam #gwi-nam fanfic #all of us are dead #all of us are dead imagine #all of us are dead fic #all of us are dead fanfic

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kittyamore0 · 1 year

Note

Ethan Landry x Dewey and Gales kid reader??

A/N: Dewey and Gale! Dewey and Gale! ◝(ᵔᵕᵔ)◜

𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕

˗ˏˋ 𓆰•ᴗ•𓆪˗ ˎˊ˗˗ˏˋ 𓆰•ᴗ•𓆪˗ ˎˊ˗˗ˏˋ 𓆰•ᴗ•𓆪˗ ˎˊ˗˗ˏˋ 𓆰•ᴗ•𓆪˗ ˎˊ˗˗ˏˋ 𓆰•ᴗ•𓆪˗ ˎˊ˗˗ˏˋ 𓆰•ᴗ•𓆪˗ ˎˊ˗˗ˏˋ 𓆰•ᴗ•𓆪˗ ˎ

✧ - FANDOM/GENRE: Horror, dark romance, scream 6, Ghostface, Ethan Landry

✧ - TAGS: @kittiescrownedsoul, @zspen, @h34rtsformilli ✧ - PAIRING: Ethan Landry x GN! Reader

✧ - RATING: SFW

✧ - WRITING STYLE: One-shot

✧ - POV: 2nd person

✧ - REMINDER: Do NOT transfer, translate, copy, modify, OR steal my ideas! ✧ - CW: Mentions of killing, knife usage, deaths, guns, setting people on fire, deaths, wounds, slitting throats

At first, Ethan hated you, and you hated him. You were related to Gale Weathers and Dewey Riley. The same very people who tried to stop Richie and Amber from their genus plans, and managed to do so.

Dewey tried to help, and he died. Deserved, is what Ethan would like to think, but Gale, Gale was much harder to shake. A fighter, per-say. She was the one to hold Amber at gunpoint and set her on fire.

Sam Crap-enter, and Tara Carpenter. Oh, how much he hated Sam for slitting Richie's throat. Tara? She wasn't as bad, but still bad.

You? Hated you for your parents, but was all...he couldn't find any other reasons to hate you. You were just...perfect? Kind, funny, smart. All of the above. It infuriated him. God, he couldn't stand to see your perfect face, the same face that made his heart jump up and down, cheeks flushed an words caught in his throat.

Why did you hate him? Well...you happened to catch him talking to Quinn, about Richie being their brother. The same Richie that attacked your friends, parents, and you. Although, you didn't stay long enough to hear them talk about some...Ghostface matters.

But just like Ethan, you grown warm, nice, but overwhelming feelings for you. The shy, dorky, fun, funny, kind, nerd. You two always hung out, despite hating each other. It went from distant, to practically sharing food with the same forks!

The more closer and comfortable you two got, the more you both realized what the feelings you held for each other were. Now, it did infact make it more difficult to not give out any weird signs to each other.

Quinn hated the way her brother swooned for you. You were their next victim, not Ethans next lover. She'd always slap the back of Ethans head when he day dreamed about you. "Ow! goddamit...the hell is your problem Quinn?" Quinn sighed. "Stop thinking about your love duck and focus on the plan!" Ethan rolled his eyes.

You were the first to confess. You were drunk at the Halloween party and Ethan? Somewhat sober.

⚬˶♡˶⚬��˶♡˶⚬⚬˶♡˶⚬⚬˶♡˶⚬

"Etahn, I've be been look for you!" You giggled, as your body collided with Ethans. "Woah, you okay?" You nodded and nuzzled in his chest. "Now that you're here..." His cheeks flushed bright pink. "How much had you have to drink?" You shrugged. "3...no, wait...5...?" Ethan 'ohh-ed' before gently pulling you closer.

"You're drunk..." He whispered. "Wait...who are you again?" His smile dropped. "Im Eth " You chuckled and grabbed his shirt. "You look just like Ethan!" His eyebrows furrowed, but he smiled, deciding to play your little game. "Really?" You nodded quickly. "Mhm, yea!"

You hugged him. "Hes really cute, and handsome. Hes so nice to me. I like him a lot. I want him to be my boyfriend!" Ethans eyes widened and he stared at you in shock. "What...? "

You put your index finger on Ethans lips. "But shhh! Dont tell him. I dont know if he likes me back..." You murmured sadly. He gently smiled. "Tell you what, Im a friend of Ethans...and and he tells me how much he likes you. How pretty/handsome you are, funny, kind..." You blushed and averted your eyes away from his.

"Guess what?" You looked back at him. "What?" You spoke quietly. "Im the Ethan you're talking about..." A smirk played his lips. "What? No way!" You softly hit his chest. "Yes way!" You replayed in your mind about what he said. "Does...does that mean you like me too?" He nodded. "Want you to be my lover..." He sighed into you and placed his chin on your head.

"Will you...?" His eyes shined in the blue lights. "Yes." You closed the gape between you two.

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lala3244 · 7 months

Text

Heartbreaks: Lord DIAVOLO

-First time using 2nd POV. I hope I did okay :)-

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You started dating them but others had decided they should date demons of powerful lineage not a mere human.

Warnings: Hurt/no comfort

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lucifer Mammon Satan Belphegor Asmodeus

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You arrived in Lord Diavolo’s office. The Prince was sitting in his chair, sadness written on his handsome features. You frowned your eyebrows, wondering what was happening. He stood up when you entered the room and smiled. He showed you the chair in front of his desk and you sat down with a nod. You sat straight and put your hands on your lap. He was staring at you all along and waited for you to be comfortable. He still had his smile on his face but it wouldn’t reach his eyes. After a few seconds of silence, he cleared his throat. “I need to tell you something and it’s not easy.” You looked at him, your frown still on your face and nodded at him for him to carry on. “I… I don’t really know how to tell you this but a few of the nobles’ families had a council a few nights ago and they had decided that I should start courting a demon of one of their families to produce an heir. I guess they’ve heard rumours about the two of us dating and they don’t agree. Unfortunately, even though I am their ruler, they hold a lot of power and can decide or veto who I date so we won’t be able to go on dates anymore.”

While you were listening to him, your chest started to become painful and you couldn’t breathe anymore. Tears were forming in your eyes which you tried to retain. When he said the last sentence, you stood up and said “I understand Lord Diavolo…” and before you could say anything else, he was in front of you. He grabbed your chin so he could look in your eyes. His eyes were a mirror of yours. Tears forming and sorrow darkening them. He pulled you closer to him. “Please, don’t be sad…” You took a deep, shaky breath and smiled. He lowered his head and rested his forehead on yours and took a big inhale to smell your odour. He closed his eyes to remember this moment. You put your hand on his cheek and whispered “I will miss you Diavolo”. You kissed where your hand was on his face and left.

Once the door was closed, you let your tears fall freely and ran towards the House of Lamentation. While running, you started to wonder how they knew you were dating Lord Diavolo. You remembered you had a talk with him and except you holding his arm when you entered a room you never showed any intimacy towards each other whatsoever but surely you were slowly falling in love with the future Demon King. Maybe was it the way you both looked at each other or how you would talk? You kept asking yourself all those questions that you wouldn’t be able to answer. You finally arrived in front of the House of Lamentation and opened the door violently then ran up to your room, leaving the front door open but slamming the door of your room. You locked it, so no one would bother you, and sank down on your bed, sobbing.

A few weeks had passed after the end of your relationship with Lord Diavolo. All of the brothers tried to cheer you up. They didn’t know what had happened but they didn’t like seeing you so depressed. You slowly started to feel better when you all received an invitation. Lord Diavolo was having a party at his castle to celebrate his new relationship with a demon from the most powerful family in the Devildom. Yours had a handwritten note attached to it. It read “Hello my dear, I know it is not easy but I really wish for you to come. I would love to see you again as it has been weeks since I last saw you. Of course, it will be your choice. I miss you. Diavolo.” Your hands started shaking and you tried to hide it as the brothers were all around you and they still didn’t know about your relationship with their Prince. You heard Asmo squealed with happiness but slowly you could hear your heartbeat in your ears and it drowned all the sounds around you. After a few seconds, you looked at all of them and smiled. “Ah good, I am happy for him!” You hoped you sounded cheerful.

The day of the party was there and you were a crying mess. You weren’t sure how you would be able to stop crying before you had to leave the house. You decided to put some music from the human world, music that used to cheer you up before and it worked slowly. You washed your face then started to get dressed. You went shopping a few days ago with Mammon and Asmo to get an outfit for the party. You wanted to look your best so Diavolo would see what he was missing and also you hoped it would help you feel better about yourself. You had a really good time with the two brothers and they even said they would be your date for that night. You had laughed at them but said yes so you all bought matching outfits. Asmodeus and Mammon knocked on your door so you could finally go to the castle.

You arrived in front of the building, you took a deep breath and braced yourself to get inside. You entered arm in arm with the two demons. You looked at the room and you saw them. Lord Diavolo saw you arriving with two handsome demons and his gaze darkened. You had a big smile on your face while Mammon was talking. He caught your gaze with his and slowly you approached them. You smile faded slowly with each step you took towards them. You were staring at her. She had dark hair and was pale skinned. She was the total opposite of your prince but she was such a beautiful demon. You gave them a weak smile and with tears in your eyes you bowed down, thing you’ve never done in front of Diavolo and left in a hurry. While your back was turned Diavolo started to follow you but Barbatos stood in front of him and slightly shook his head to let his master know that he shouldn’t run after you. He returned to his place, a sad look on his face. You carried on running tears finally flowing freely from your eyes. You ran and ran not caring about your way and after a while you stopped. You found yourself back at the Hall of Lamentations and contemplated either if you should go inside or go somewhere else.

================================================

THE END

Might do the others. I will see :)

No talk about cat this time

#obey me #obey me fandom #obey me mammon #obey me fanfic #obey me swd #obey me shall we date #obey me x reader #obey me diavolo #obey me barbatos #obey me mc #obey me story #obey me fanfiction #diavolo x reader #angst #hurt/no comfort

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obae-me · 1 year

Note

tacking onto what castlelibrarykeeper said - I have also done something like that, I cut my elbow open in 2nd or 4th grade and didn't notice until people nearby started freaking out... never knew how badly I wanted to read about an MC doing this

We're all just out here doing similar things, huh? Oh, I had another instance when I was like 12 where I was riding a four wheeler while someone else was driving it, and this stupid teen at the handles decided to drive us in-between/through these dead hedges, and I remember watching his body push this thin branch forward, and then it swung back and hit me in the face. I didn't feel it much till I went back inside the house and someone else had to tell me I was bleeding.

Guess it's not that uncommon, since humans can be surprisingly fragile.

…I want to have MC do this too...darn it, guess I gotta write it out or I won't be satisfied!

Just a little mini fic won't hurt... Jokes on me, it's a bit more than just a 'mini' fic.

Dumb Injuries

TW: Blood and Injury

It was bad enough being a human in general. Every demon and angel they'd come to know already felt as if they might break from the smallest of things. So, of course, the human felt a constant need to reassure them that they were not a Porcelain Doll. Although, making sure they stayed safe down here was harder than they expected. Who knew Devildom wind storms could literally pick them up and blow them away? Having a demon simply run into their shoulder in the hallway nearly left them with a bruise for days. That's not even to mention the curses that could be sitting around any and every corner.

Plus...human clumsiness is a given. Mistakes were bound to happen. Who knew a little blood would cause such an uproar, though?

It had been a silly thing, really, which wounded their pride more than anything. They were simply walking up the stairs to the second floor of the House of Lamentation, texting while they were doing so. Next thing you know, the tip of their shoe clipped the edge of the stair as they were heading up, gravity doing the rest. They hardly processed what had happened, getting up, looking around themselves, hoping to whatever higher power existed in this world that no one had seen them just absolutely eat it-- in other words, slam their face into the stairs.

Heart pounding, absolutely mortified that they'd just done that, they rushed the rest of the way up the steps with their hand firmly on the guide-rail. It does exist to prevent such things, after all. They shook their head as soon as they reached the upper landing, sighing in relief that it seemed they got away from their blunder scot-free. Jeez, if any one of the brothers had seen them do that, they'd never hear the end of it. They padded down the hallway, a little grin on their face as they rounded the corner. Good thing no one--

A deafening screech rang through the halls. MC hardly even had the time to turn their head in the direction the screech came from before two hands grabbed them by the shoulders. "What happened?" Asmo looked frantic, like he was about to burst into tears. MC stared at him curiously, opening their mouth to question him. Before they could get their words out, Asmo shouted again. "Someone come help!"

Two doors opened at the same time. Satan exited his room first, lips formed into an annoyed scowl while his eyes still scanned over the book in his hand. Seems he didn't take Asmo's plea too seriously. "What are you screaming about now?" After he finished the page he was on, he shut the book with a brisk and satisfying smack. The moment his gaze lifted, his eyes widened. The book that was in his hand clattered to the floor, the pages fluttering. He nearly shoved Asmo out of the way just to get to them, cupping his hand around their chin. "What did this?!"

"I don't know!" Asmo released his grasp on their shoulders, covering his mouth with both hands in terror. "What do we do?!"

Going back to the second door that had opened, Levi had come out rather irritated, headphones over his head with one of the cushions pushed back to free one ear. He had simply tilted his head out of the doorway, ready to tell his brothers to be quiet. He was trying to concentrate on his games! Then, he too fell victim to the calamity. "I-I-I-I," he stuttered, taking a moment to catch his words, swaying on his own feet, like he was about to faint. "I'll go get Lucifer!" Then he dashed away.

"I don't--" MC had tried to say, confused at what exactly was happening.

"Shh." They were shushed by Satan. "Don't use up your energy. It'll be alright...You'll be okay."

At this point, MC felt like they must've been being pranked or something, right?

The noise brought a few more people out into the halls, Mammon's bright-white hair bobbing from around the corner. "Oi, oi, oi! What's everyone freaking out--" He caught the sight of them and the life seemed to drain from his eyes. In a flash, both Asmo and Satan were thrust aside, his hands holding the side of MC’s face. "What the hell happened?!"

That had been enough. MC pulled themselves away from Mammon, glaring at the brothers around them. "Will you guys quit it?! Seriously? What are you all even talking about?"

Saying that only seemed to make the brothers look even more concerned, each of them frozen in place, stunned, like they had seen a ghost. "MC, darling," Asmo finally spoke up. "You're bleeding."

“You mean to tell me you didn’t even notice?!” Mammon’s jaw was slightly open.

"Huh?" The human went to raise an eyebrow, only for them to be met with a sharp pain when they tried. They glanced down to Mammon's hands, the side of one of his palms lined with a bright red liquid. No...they couldn't be...They raised a few fingers to touch a spot on their forehead that felt a little bit sore. Soon enough, they were rubbing away crimson from their fingertips.

Well...this was a problem.

The twins were next to join the group, Beel genuinely concerned at the sound of all his brother's frantic voices. Belphie, however, was not as worried. In fact, he probably wouldn't've even joined at all were he not being carried by his twin. "Is everyone okay?" Beel wondered, settling Belphie down on his own two feet. "We heard yelling."

"Everything is not okay!" Asmo's shrill tone almost made MC's head spin...or maybe that was finally the pain starting to settle in. "Just look at the state MC is in!"

Surprisingly enough, Belphie was the one to spring to action, looking absolutely furious at his other siblings. It was pretty terrifying. "Why are they still standing?! Make them sit down!" He nearly got into a sparring match with Mammon, pushing the second-born away so he could support MC by their side, guiding them down to the floor.

“Be gentle with ‘em!”

“I am!”

“Will they be okay?”

“What if they go into shock?”

“Someone do something!”

“You’re not doing anything either!”

Too many voices cluttered MC’s mind. "I really don't think all of this is neces--"

"What have you all gotten yourselves into now?" An exhausted voice announced itself before the person dragged himself into view. He had his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose, eyes closed as if he were mentally preparing himself for the disaster before he laid his eyes on it. Levi came stumbling behind his older brother, a stuttering mess, presumably unable to explain himself to Lucifer clearly. MC thought that maybe, maybe the most logical one in the family would be immune to such panic. All hopes of that were dashed as he audibly gasped as soon as he rested his eyes over them. At the very least, he was the order to the chaos. "Mammon, grab the first-aid kit we keep in their room. Satan, get a clean rag with warm water. Beel, help me carry them to my room. Now."

Everyone who was given a mission ran off without another word, Beel coming over to scoop the human up into his arms. It was all very disorienting. All MC could do at the moment was blink as they were rushed into Lucifer's bedroom, settled onto his couch. Lucifer lagged behind, coming into the room a few moments later, shaking the last bit of moisture off his freshly washed hands. With a shrug of his shoulders, he let his coat fall to the floor, striding to MC at a brisk pace, thumb and finger settled over their chin to turn their head in his direction. Those of the brothers who weren't given a task hovered nervously behind the eldest, Belphie coming over to sit at their feet, dangerously close to crawling into their lap.

Satan and Mammon nearly crashed into each other, arriving at the bedroom at the same time. Mammon squeezed through first, opening the first-aid-kit as he kneeled beside the couch. He sounded quite breathless as he spoke. "What do we need?"

"We need to stop the bleeding, then we can clean it," Lucifer announced, telling Mammon what to grab to hand to him so he could treat their wound.

"Is it really that serious?" It was the first question MC was able to fully ask without being cut off. However, instead of a verbal answer, they figured out for themselves how bad the wound was as soon as Lucifer began treating it, the pain making itself known in pounding droves. They winced, trying to tug their head away from him, but stuck in his grasp. Satan leaned over the huddle of brothers, using the rag to clean up the blood that had dripped down their face.

"Whatever in the world happened?" Lucifer asked, his frown growing ever deeper every time the human hissed in pain.

A different kind of heat flooded MC's body, one of humiliation rather than agony. "I don't know," they lied, immediately getting seven different pairs of eyes squinting at them suspiciously.

"Was it a curse?" Satan wondered.

"A creature?!" Asmo suggested.

"A- A criminal?!" Levi assumed.

Mammon clenched his hands into fists, a dark aura manifesting itself at Levi's suggestion. "If this was because of some other demon... If I find out who did this to ya, I'll go and--"

MC really had to stop this before it went any further. "It wasn't any of those!"

Belphie crawled up to them further, resting against their knees. He suddenly pointed directly at them, staring straight into their soul. "I bet they did something dumb again. Fall out of bed?"

Beel nodded, which only added insult to the literal injury. "Cut yourself trying to cook?"

"No! How would I even hurt my forehead that way?!" MC tried to sit up straight, only to be pushed back down by Lucifer. Their cheeks burnt with frustration. They rolled their eyes, their gaze stuck on the ceiling as to not look at any of them directly. "I trpedonhestrs," they muttered, jumbling their phrase into something nonsensical.

"Pardon?" Lucifer lowered his hands from their face the bleeding having stopped, MC suddenly gasping in pain as their entire body prickled as he began to disinfect the wound.

MC gritted their teeth for a moment, taking a deep breath. "I just tripped on the stairs, okay?!"

The room went silent. Much too silent. Like all seven of the demons stopped breathing all at the same time. MC found the courage to glance at all of them, a strange shadow seemingly covering all their faces. Finally, Mammon was the one to speak first, his usual energetic voice a frighteningly cold monotone. "You hurt yourself that badly...trippin’ on the stairs?"

MC laughed awkwardly. “Yeah, but it’s okay! Stuff like this happens to humans all the time! Nothing to worry about! Just one of those dumb accidents, you know? It could’ve been worse!”

That was probably...the worst thing they could’ve said.

Asmo rested a hand over his chest like he was about to have a heart attack. “Happens...all the time?”

Levi hadn’t blinked in a long time. “C-could’ve been- been...worse?”

"Wait..." Satan turned his head in increments so slowly he appeared to be glitching. "I think...I've read that some humans can actually die if they fall down the stairs."

Oh no...Dear God no...MC wasn’t going to be able to go anywhere by themselves for the next few days, weren't they?...

#obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me headcanons #obey me imagines #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me levi #obey me satan #obey me asmo #obey me beel #obey me belphie #tw blood #tw injury

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feelbokkie · 4 months

Text

Let’s Fall in Love, IRL | Chapter 10

pairing: Jisung x fem reader

genre: smau, crack, angst, fluff, non!idol au, Pen pals to lovers, friend of a friend to lovers

pov: 1st/2nd person (depending on how you view it); 3rd person

warnings: swearing (what's news), slight depiction of a panic attack, mention of food

summary: When she was a child, L/n Y/n was in a horrible accident that left her face disfigured. After getting bullied relentlessly by her classmates for her appearance, Y/n escaped to the digital world where she meets Felix. Now an adult, Y/n has be come a complete social recluse, only talking to her 4 childhood best friends and roommates and her only friends. When Felix goes AFK one day in the middle of a game, Felix’s roommates decides to step in. Is this the start a new relationship or will Y/n’s crippling social anxiety get in the way?

taglist: CLOSED

word count: 1,840

screenshot count: 11

previous | masterlist | next

"Do you want me to drive on the way back?" Hyunjin asks as he climbs to the front seat.

You watch as Seungmin walks away from the car, straight into the store. Inuyasha sits in the back, now occupying the entire backseat now that Hyunjin is sitting in the front with you. The car is off but soft music plays from Hyunjin's phone.

"I'm fine. Like I said, the car is another safe space." You reply softly.

You lean your head on the headrest of your seat, turning to face out the window to take in the scene. It's gloomy out. Even in late October, it's too cold. If anything, you're glad to be in the warmth of the car. Seungmin is insane for wanting to be out in the cold.

Your eye focuses on Seungmin as you watch him walk out of the store empty-handed. You wait for him to get closer before rolling the window down.

"They didn't have what you're looking for?" You ask as you unlock the car for him to get in.

"I didn't look yet." He says as he pops his head in through the window.

"Then why are you back here? Did you forget something?" Hyunjin asks, looking around his seat.

"No," Seungmin turns to face you again. His bangs just barely reach the top of his eyelids. He dyed it recently, opting for a lighter color than you're used to. His blonde hair resembles the golden brown of Inuyasha's fur. In a way, it makes him look like your dog. "It's pretty dead inside. Do you want to come with me?"

bum, bum, bum

You freeze. You're not sure if it's the late autumn air coming in from the open window or your nerves, but the car suddenly feels much colder than it was just a few seconds older. You can't help but stare at Seungmin. His eyes are soft and concentrated, hoping for you to say yes. The car moves suddenly as Hyunjin adjusts himself in the seat.

"Seungmin, what are you--"

"I'm not talking to you, Hyunjin. I'm talking to my sister."

"She's my sister too, dumbass--"

"I'll go," You say quickly.

You blink at Seungmin, unsure of where this newfound confidence is coming from because you feel anything but confident. Your heart is pounding so hard in your chest that you can feel it in your throat. You’re waiting to throw up your heart any second. Your body feels cold and clammy. You regret your impulsive answer.

“Are you sure?” Seungmin asks, taken aback by your answer.

You think for a moment. The parking lot is empty, meaning Seungmin is right, the store is dead. You should be fine. Plus, you have Inuyasha, if something goes wrong, he knows what to do.

You quickly nod your head before you change your mind. If you need to, if it really is too much, you could always come to the car. Both Hyunjin and Seungmin share a look before Seungmin moves out of the way of your door. You roll your window up as you mentally prepare yourself to leave the car.

It's daunting, the idea that you're about to walk into a store. The risk of running into someone is exponentially higher than your walks with Changbin. He would purposely choose backroads to have less of a chance of seeing other people. But it's almost impossible to avoid running into someone in a store. Your hair might get jostled or your mask could fall, and then what?

You take one, long, shakey deep breath before opening your door and stepping outside. Hyunjin, who you weren't even aware left the car, hands you Inuyasha's leash. Inuyasha hovers closer than he normally does. You close the door behind you, taking one tiny, minuscule step forward before freezing.

"I..." You start, not sure what you want to say in the first place.

"It's okay, I got you," Seungmin says softly as he slips his hand in yours. Your fearful eyes turn to meet Seungmin's hopeful ones. He gives you a small smile.

déjà vu

An image of younger Seungmin flashes in front of you for a second. You remember, your first day at your new school after you entered the group home. You were scared. You didn't talk, having become mute from the shock of the accident that took your parents and your left eye. You weren't close with any of the other kids in the house yet. But on that first day, you stood outside the school gates, terrified to walk in, and Seungmin, barely 5 years old himself, took your hand and didn't let go until you were ready.

"When my mommy and daddy were being mean, I would get really scared. But then my noona would hold my hand and I would be not so scared anymore." His small voice echoes in your mind.

You spent most of your life with Seungmin holding your hand, dragging you along with him so you wouldn't be scared. Not once has he ever complained. Or if he did, he never said anything to you about it. Hyunjin was always on your other side, either with his arm around your shoulder or on your head. He took his job as the oldest of the trio seriously. Always the first one to run to you when you got hurt. Always the first one to say some smartass comment if anyone said anything rude to you. Always the first to get Chan or Changbin if they were needed.

You feel small, like you're 5 years old again, while you stand in the parking lot. But, with Seungmin's hand in yours and Hyunjin's arm being placed on your shoulder, you feel stronger than you did back then. You feel, not so scared anymore.

"Okay," Your grip on Inuyasha's leash and Seungmin's hand tighten as you turn to face the store again.

"We don't have to if you don't want to," Hyunjin whispers as he pulls you into a side hug. You weren't even aware that you were shaking until Hyunjin's grip tightly wrapped around your shoulders.

"I...I can go in. It's fine." You take one deep breath while you stare at the store.

"I need you to understand something--"

"Ah, what the fuck!" Jisung jumps as he opens the door to the apartment, dropping his phone and keys in the process.

He's been gone for a few hours, still trying to process his earlier conversation with Felix. He left him on read, which doesn't look good given the circumstances.

"Were you just sitting in the dark waiting for me to come home?" He asks, holding his hand to his heart.

"That makes me sound like a creep," Felix says as he flips the lights on.

"And you don't think you are?" Jisung finally calms down enough to pick up his phone, silently praying that the screen is still fully intact.

It's painfully quiet in the apartment. Neither Felix nor Jisung dare to say a word while Jisung checks his phone over. The tension from their earlier conversation still loomed over them. Felix teeters on the balls of his as he waits to say something, his earlier confidence completely disappeared when Jisung screamed. The nerve he built up while he sat around waiting for Jisung to come home.

"What were you saying?" Jisung asks as he slides his phone back into his pocket.

"Oh, right," Felix rubbed his hands together, trying to build up the nerve again. "I need you to understand something. I don't like, Y/n. Not like that."

"But?" Jisung hesitates, unsure where this is going.

"No buts. I don't like her like that. End of story." Felix says firmly, emphasizing his position with a final hand gesture.

"So our earlier conversation? The way you've been weird since you found out we were talking? What was that?"

Felix bites his bottom lip, thinking long and hard about how to respond. Because the fact of the matter is: Felix doesn't like you. To him, you're just one of his best friends, and that's all. But that doesn't mean he's not jealous. You're his best friend. He found you first and adopted you as a permanent fixture in his life ever since he was an awkward middle school teen.

"I don't like sharing," He explains simply.

"And?" Jisung walks past Felix, moving to the couch to continue the conversation. "Is Y/n some sort of toy? What are you getting at?"

"That's not what I'm saying. Look," Felix runs his hand through his hair, very nearly ripping it out. "There's not much in my life that I've had that was just mine. My clothes, my career, and my friendship with Y/n. That was it. I shared a room with my sisters and so much other shit throughout my life. I live in a shared space where we pretty much have everything be common use. But--"

"But you didn't have to share friends with Y/n?" Jisung finishes.

"Exactly," Felix finally sits down, leaning against the back of one of the couches.

"I'm sorry...But you're not exactly sharing her. We have our own inside jokes and conversations and all that."

"I know, but...If you two start dating and it goes south, your relationship with her isn't the only one going to suffer."

"What are you...?' Jisung asks softly.

Jisung freezes, finally understanding what Felix is getting at. If you and Jisung broke up, Jisung wouldn't be the only one heartbroken. Your relationship with Felix would be at risk too. Felix introduced the two of you, therefore, he's guilty by association. Felix would rather have Jisung hate him and be jealous than have you not in his life. Even if it makes him look selfish.

"I don't want you to talk to me about Y/n because I don't want to be caught up in your relationship if that's what you really want. I don't want to give her any reason to blame me or walk out of my life."

"You say that like you're expecting me to fuck up," Jisung sits up in his seat a bit.

"I'm not, but I know how Y/n is. She is my best friend. My platonic soulmate. And I want to keep it that way. I rather not have you two date, but that's not for me to say. Just--I don't want you to misunderstand."

Jisung sit quietly for a moment, his eyes fixed on the front door to the apartment. He gets where Felix is coming from. But at the end of the day, he would never dream of hurting you. He likes you. He may even be in love with you. Hurting him would feel like hurting himself. Insane for a relationship that developed by accident a few months ago. The way that you and your voice have completely taken over his brain terrifies and excites him all at once.

"I get that, I get your fear. But I would never hurt Y/n. I can promise you that. I'll take good care of her."

—

Buy me a coffee?

—

Taglist

Red means that it wouldn't let me tag you (either at all or properly)

@amyyscorner @jiisungllvr @phtogravi @lilcutieana @veedoesntknaur @yongbbokkie @brain-empty-only-draken @thisisnotjacinta @thefangirloncrack @chlodavids @heartz4chuu @sunshinessky @reverse-soe @its-hannjisung @angelsandtimelords @zeejones @liknws @marked-unknown @sansona @aaasia111 @jhstayy @aslou @hyunbae-35 @kangaracharacha @skz-streamer @btskzfav @weird-bookworm @jihanniee @everglowdaisies @puppysmileseungmin

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promptthebear · 10 months

Note

🐰 25 with frank castle!

Hello! Sorry this took so long, and congratulations on being my first Frank Castle fic!

Frank Castle x Reader- Jumpscare

Prompt: I can't smile, I'm mad

CW: Established relationship, F!Reader, written in 2nd person, reader referred to as "you". Body shape, hair colour, eye colour left ambiguous

Summary: You're home by yourself and watching a scary movie. Frank comes home after being gone for awhile. Chaos ensues.

You should’ve known better than to watch a scary movie when you were home alone. But Frank was still away, there was nothing else on and you were already too invested to turn it off.

Which is how you found yourself, up past midnight and still watching the hapless teens meet their doom at the hands of a knife wielding killer. Your black lab mix, Riley, was loyally snuggled against your side, fast asleep and completely indifferent to your growing anxiety. You ran a hand down his back, mindlessly working your fingers into his soft fur to try and soothe yourself. It didn’t have the desired effect however, since you nearly jumped a foot in the air as the movie killer leapt out from a closet onscreen and snared yet another victim.

Riley jumped with you, his head jolting up and a soft growl rising in his throat as he looked around for the hidden threat. You couldn’t help but laugh at yourself, reaching down to rumple the dog’s ears to try and calm the both of you.

“Sorry boy, just the TV.”

Your dog stared up at you for a moment, before letting out a heavy sigh. You could almost hear the annoyance in the sound, as if Riley couldn’t believe you’d woken him up for something so stupid. You watched as he shifted position and tucked his muzzle beneath his paws, most likely trying to block out any further interference with his sleep.

“I hope your Dad comes back soon” you said, half to Riley and half to yourself “I always get so jumpy when he’s gone.”

The movie certainly wasn’t helping. Every creepy sound effect from the TV seemed to echo back at you from somewhere in the apartment, and you kept glancing over your shoulder as though you expected the killer to pop out the second you looked away. You thought about texting or calling Karen, knowing your friend’s cheerful disposition would soothe you instantly, but decided against it when you remembered how late it was. Even though you knew Karen would answer right away, you didn’t want to disturb her. She was so busy with her new job at the paper, and it was your fault for putting yourself in this position anyway.

“Watcha watching?”

“Jesus SHIT” you shrieked, flying from the couch the second you felt a breath ghost against your ear. Riley, good boy that he was, followed suit, barking for all he was worth and doing his best to get a grip on the slippery hardwood so he could put himself between you and the intruder.

Said intruder however, was none other than Frank Castle. He was standing behind the couch, eyes wide and hands held up in a submissive gesture. A bag of takeout from your favourite Thai place hung from one wrist, and his keys were still in the opposite hand, which told you he’d just come in. How had you not heard him?

“Frank!” you yelped, reaching down to grab a pillow from the couch and lob it at his head “What is WRONG with you?!”

Frank ducked, the pillow barely grazing his ear as it flew past. He was upright again in seconds, years of Marine training giving him reflexes you could only dream of.

“Hey now” he said, a lopsided smile already tugging at the corners of his mouth “Is that any way to greet your husband?”

A sigh buzzed past your lips as you sank back down onto the sofa, your heart pounding a mile a minute in your ears. Riley, upon realizing it was Frank and not the Boogeyman, had stopped barking and was now doing a happy dance towards his master. Frank smiled down at the big dog, setting the bag of takeout on a end table next to the couch and kneeling down so he could greet Riley properly.

“Hey mutt” he said, his voice soft as he rumpled the dog’s ears “You been taking good care of your Mom for me?”

Riley squinted up at Frank, his tongue lolling out in a doggy grin as his tail wagged a mile a minute, nearly catatonic with delight. Yes he seemed to be saying Please tell me a did a good job because I tried so hard.

Frank gave the dog’s side a couple more affectionate pats before rising and turning to glance in your direction. You could feel his eyes tracing your profile, but you refused to meet his gaze. Instead, you bit your lip and stared resolutely at the TV, though the credits on your movie had started to roll.

“Babe?”

Nope. You weren’t going to look at him. Yes, he had been gone for at least a week and you had missed him so bad it hurt, but after that entrance he was going to have to work his way back into your good graces.

“Hey. Babe, look at me.”

The sudden closeness of Frank’s voice finally made you look up. He was leaning in front of you, his hands braced against the back of the couch so his arms made a cage around your torso. You could smell his aftershave and the coffee he must’ve drunk on the way home. It was a potent cocktail that made you want to grab hold of his collar and kiss him stupid, but you held fast.

“I haven’t seen you since last Saturday. Doesn’t that at least get me a smile or something?”

You ducked your head down, trying to hide your face from Frank’s probing gaze.

“I can’t smile, I’m mad”

Frank chuckled, the sound a deep rumble in his throat, before grabbing hold of your chin between his thumb and forefinger. He paused for a moment, gauging your reaction to the touch and waiting to see if you’d jerk away. When you didn’t, he gently tilted your face upwards so his eyes met yours.

You wanted to tell Frank to fuck off, that he was a jerk for scaring you and he wasn’t getting shit until he apologized, but any response you may have come up with vanished the instant his lips met yours. You melted into the kiss so quickly it was almost embarrassing. Within seconds, you had thrown your arms around Frank’s neck, clinging to him as though he was gone a year instead of just a week. Your eagerness wasn’t lost on Frank, and he pressed at the seam of your lips with his tongue, tightening his grip on your waist when you moaned in response.

You were about to open your mouth and reciprocate, when Riley pushed himself between your bodies, breaking off the kiss to give out some of his own. The two of you laughed as the big dog eagerly licked your faces, re-establishing himself as the centre of attention where he rightfully belonged.

“Ah, you missed me.” Frank said as he plopped down on the far side of the couch, leaving room so Riley could still sit in the middle. The big dog sprawled out as soon as Frank settled, his head in his master’s lap with his rear facing towards you for maximum pat potential. You happily obliged, scratching the spot between his hips you knew he loved.

“No way” you shot back, unable to keep the smile off your lips “I’m mad at you, remember?”

“Oh yeah? Well, you don’t kiss like someone who’s mad.”

You let out a snort and threw another pillow in Frank’s direction. He caught it nimbly instead of ducking this time, and leaned forward to tuck it behind his head. Once he was comfy, he held a hand out in your direction, loosely open with the palm up. With a sigh, you grabbed the remote from the nearest side table and handed it to him, turning back to grab the bag of takeout as he started to channel surf.

“You in the mood for another movie?” you asked as you placed the various Styrofoam containers on the coffee table. Like an idiot, you’d skipped dinner in favour of snacking on popcorn and the smell of the sai oua and fried rice almost had you drooling.

“I dunno,” Frank replied, his eyes trained on the screen “It all looks like horror stuff. You up for that?”

“Yeah. It’s not so scary when you’re here to protect me.”

#easter event 2023 #frank castle x reader #frank castle x you #frank castle oneshot #frank castle fluff

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charlotte-official · 8 days

Text

4/1/24 - 4/4/24.

a/n: salutations from the team working at the Steambird~ We're back with another issue, recounting all your favorite stories from April 1st to April 4th in the Teyvat space~

WELCOME OUR NEWEST TEAMMEMBER ARIAN!!! WOOHOO!!!! (@charnverite)

heyyy :333 teheehee.. new editor... i hope you like this.... rrrrr (also yes i think we're late on this one again) welcome @steambird-editor to the team,,? -Arian

“An apple a day, keeps the doctor away.”

This is a saying that most people would interpret as eating healthy foods(such as apples) prevent the need to have to visit a physician. However, it was proven that this saying can take on.. mildly different meaning.

Tartaglia, 11th and last of the 11 Fatui Harbingers threw an apple at the 2nd Fatui Harbinger, il Dottore, otherwise known as “The Doctor.” Having seen the apple catapulting his way, Dottore accepted his fate, screaming, “AH FU-“

Those were his last words before he evaporated.

That’s right, 2nd of the Fatui Harbingers evaporated from having an apple thrown at him. You know what the “an apple a day, keeps The Doctor away.” One of the Doctor’s segments, Webttore, happened to be at the scene of crime, so the two simply stared at where Dottore once stood.

Tartaglia soon turned to Webttore, asking if they would hold a funeral or throw a rock named after him into the sea. Webttore waved these suggestions off, and instead said that they’d name a bug after him and feed that bug to a lizard. And they do.

ft: @webttore-official @dottore-official @snezhnayain-carrot-top

CERTAIN HAT WEARING VAHUMANA SCHOLAR BOMBARDED WITH BOOPS. (MUCH TO HIS DISMAY)

While the overall reception towards the temporary function added for April Fool’s Day(booping) was widely well received, naturally there was some negative reaction. Hat Guy, a Vahumana Scholar who participated in Sumeru’s Interdarshan tournament, was one of which who was strongly against it. Upon receiving various boops, the scholar posted a statement demanding that the boops being directed towards him cease.

In response, an anonymous user daringly enough sent him a simple “no <3”. The Akedemiya scholar was upset and threatened the user to stop, but the user continued to decline. Additionally, another anonymous user began booping Hat Guy as well through his ask inbox rather than via the literal button. As the scholar gradually lost anger, he dejectedly(though still upset) responded, continuously telling the anonymous users to get lost.

Of course, it would’ve never been that easy, so the anons continued to reject the proposition of halting their shenanigans. In the end, one of the two ceased after 10 boops, while the other anon, who dubbed themself “no <3 anon”, continued to argue with the Vahumana scholar. What really got on Hat Guy’s nerves, however, was when no<3 anon decided to begin addressing him with sorts of pet names like “darls”.

In the end, Hat Guy gave the anon a reminder of who really had the upper hand, as it was the anon who was delivering anonymous notes in HIS blog’s inbox. When the anon rejected the idea, Hat Guy kept the ask stuck in his inbox for a certain period of time rather than answering it, rather smugly commenting that the sound of someone being silenced was quite poetic.

ft: @the-wanderer-official (various anons)

HARAVATAT SENIOR SCHOLAR AND VAHUMANA STUDENT: BACK TO BICKERING

In the online Teyvatian space, old faces will remember the duo of Madam Faruzan and Hat Guy of Vahumana for their endless bickering. The two recently were found to have prolonged absences, but funnily enough, they both returned online at the same time. Upon return, the Haravatat senior announced her coming back.

In response to Madam Faruzan’s announcement, the Vahumana student commented on her “tendency to be nosy and stick her head into situations which she is not part of,” and he asked her to take his “pesky” anons off of his hands, who were consistently “booping” him, as per the temporary feature for April 1st(much to his annoyance). Faruzan was not pleased with the snide comment and upsetedly asked if he had just called her nosy, and told him to keep his “problem children.” Hat Guy called her dense for having needing clarification for such.

Later, feeling petty, Madam Faruzan would use the boop function as a way to annoy the Vahumana scholar. When Hat Guy confronted Faruzan for her obnoxious activity, saying that he wasn’t surprised but certainly curious, Madam Faruzan simply replied that she annoyed back those who annoyed her.

ft: the-wanderer-official @faruzxn

ANON DUBS SCHOLAR A TURKEY.

Most people wouldn’t go up to strangers and call them turkeys. Scary anon would, though. An anon, whose roots come from nagging at a certain blonde architect to stay hydrated and healthy(refer to past steambird issues), called the senior scholar Madam Faruzan a Turkey.

Madam Faruzan saw it incredibly unwarranted and was surprised that this anon she had never interacted with was suddenly referring to her as “a fat bird” as she put it. Mysteriously enough, Scary said she allegedly knew what she did. Madam Faruzan continued to deny as such.

(All jokes, it turned out that it was Faruzan mod who was repeatedly using the boop mechanism for April fools and booping Scary.)

ft: faruzxn @scary-anon

LIGHT OF KSHAREWAR HAS A REVELATION AFTER BEING ATTACKED BY BOOPS

With the light of the April Fools boop function, another victim of serial booping just so happens to be the famed architect known for designing the Palace of Alcazarzaray. The architect, Kaveh, Light of Ksharewar, has quite the presence in the online space and is bombarded with boops.

With the excessive quantity of boops he was receiving, the architect was naturally intimidated and pointed out a certain user who had been repetitively booping him(in fear). Perhaps surprised at the sudden shout out, the user admitted to being excited to interact with the architect.

Kaveh, despite his prior frightened demeanor, was flattered by the user’s excitement who told him they loved his blog. In a moment of realization, the Light of Ksharewar came to the revelation that the user, and probably the rest of his blog’s followers preferred seeing him interact with Sumeru’s inhabitants and scream. This was incredibly depressing to the architect, who became mildly annoyed. The user sheepishly could only reply “Welllllllll…” Kaveh could only dramatically sigh and quickly ramble in between coughs, “PALACE OF ALCAZARZARAY COULDN'T EVEN MAKE THE PEOPLE CARE.”

The user started to feel bad.

ft: @kaveh-official (user in question ~ @just-sarah-xx)

RESIDENT ELDRITCH HORROR THAT USUALLY TAKES ON THE FORM OF A BLACK CAT AND FAMOUS SUMERIAN ARCHITECT BOOP EACHOTHER.

Adi though now commonly known as the Eldritch horror of a void cat, actually shares a history with the light of Ksharewar(refer to prior Steambird issues) and the two share a silly friendship. Heartwarmingly enough, despite the void cat being entangled in various conflicts and being relatively serious, Adi still is able to be silly with their friends. (As displayed by Adi and Kaveh following.)

With the temporary addition of the booping mechanism presented for April Fools Day, Kaveh sent Adi various boops, and the two friends exchanged and shot back boops to eachother. In the end, Adi did end up strangling(metaphorically) the Light of Ksharewar with too many boops to counter, but the interaction was wholesome overall.

ft: @adi-cat-anon kaveh-official

WOW, THE FATUI MUST DEFINITELY LIKE GIVING OUT BOOPS.

article written by team member arian(@steambird-editor) and edited by charlotte~

During the surge perhaps now being able to be formally labeled as "the booping incident", the overall reception was positive, feelings towards the mechanism being that of silliness and enjoyment of being able to boop friends and otherwise.

Addition to the positive reactions, there must also be negative but unsuspecting reactions to the "booping". Just like how the Light Of Ksharawar was alarmed and frightened upon the booping. We'll gladly share some quotations from [April 1st] from The Light of Ksharawar.

"Hey- What- UH. What are.. boops..?? AND WHY DID I GET SO MANY."

"AAAAAAAAAAH (screaming out of fear of the boops)".

"THE FATUI ARE GIVING ME BOOPS. THIS IS A SERIOUS MATTER".

As the light of Ksharawar gets booped somewhere else in Sumeru, Hat guy (who refers himself as 'Wanderer') gets booped aswell. By the Fatui just like the other. He does not seem to enjoy it very much. But who would? It is the fatui afterall. (He basically yells at them to get out)

I would mention some of his quotations, but I believe they would be.. too threatening for this article, so I will refrain to add those quotations.

"You people would be better off spending your short time in this life doing anything else"

"Your tenacity is concerning and an annoyance"

"FATUI GET OUT OF MY NOTIFICATIONS"

ft: the-wanderer-official, kaveh-official, @fatui-subordinates-official

#the steambird #steambird specials #wanderer #genshin impact wanderer #Scaramouche #Scaramouche genshin #faruzan #faruzan genshin #childe #tartaglia #childe genshin impact #il dottore #dottore #webttore #kaveh genshin #kaveh #fatui

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apomaro-mellow · 1 year

Text

Part 2

This time around, Dustin let Will handle the camera. Not only because he was super busy on this day, but Will had also proven himself a talented director. He was currently capturing grade A gold of Steve deciding which hair products to pack away for the day.

He had packed and unpacked the bag at least three times while Dustin was making final arrangements in the kitchen by phone.

“Steve, I swear to god!”

“Hey! No yelling. You promised this would be the one day, no yelling”, Steve snapped.

Dustin huffed, then returned to his phone call.

“I think you’ll look fine”, Will said from behind the camera. “Eddie’s gonna love how you look no matter what.”

Steve smiled fondly at him for that. “Remind me why I didn’t make you my best man again?”

“Because Dustin would have skinned you alive?”

“Yeah, that’s why”, Steve nodded. He figured out his perfect products and closed up the bag. “Alright. I’m ready to get married.”

More like he was ready to begin preparing for the process to start getting ready to be married. But he was ready all the same.

Dustin was his best man. For the record, he had asked Robin first. But then she spent about an hour rambling about how horrible of a job she’d do with the planning and her anxiety and ruining his perfect day while being incredibly flattered and Steve decided to take her out of her misery.

“Just be where I need you”, he had said.

“Can do.”

--------------------

While Steve went into a small room to get started on his hair, Dustin talked to Will, camera off.

“Okay, we’ve got a small window here. You ready for this?”

“You really think they’ll like it?”, Will asked.

“Those saps? They’ll be showin’ it to their grandkids”, Dustin said.

Will beamed. They could do this. And hopefully Steve and Eddie would appreciate the thought behind it.

-----------------

Eddie had proposed on January 2nd, 1990. He definitely planned to do a whole New Year’s thing, but had both chickened out and gotten distracted (another story for another time). But when he finally nutted up, he had told Steve he didn’t want another decade to go by without Steve being his husband.

“I’ve wanted this since the first time I saw you in a mosh pit, babe.”

“Eddie, that was three years ago.”

“Three years of torture.” Of not really knowing what the future held for them. Of knowing that even if they belonged to each other in every other way, it wouldn’t be recognized in many people’s eyes. But Eddie finally decided that he officially didn’t care if it wasn’t official. It was real to him and the man he loved. That made it more real than anything else.

And now he was staring at him, with El standing as officiator. She had been the flower girl at her first wedding (Joyce and Jim’s) and had been very fascinated with the person who got to actually marry the couple. She cleared her throat and began to speak, welcoming all the guests in a voice that was strong and full of adoration for the idea of two people professing their love in front of an audience of family and friends.

Then it came time for vows and Eddie typically didn’t shy away from his feelings but he had planned wear even more of his heart on his sleeve. Not only had Steve’s parents responded to the invite, they had attended. And he was gonna let them know just how special their son was.

When it was Steve’s turn, he was definitely already tearing up, but he got out everything he wanted to say. He wondered briefly if Robin saw a similar future for herself or Will.

But then El was practically bouncing on her heels to say her favorite part of all this and anything pertaining to non-Eddie thoughts left his mind.

“I now pronounce you husband and husband. You may kiss the groom.”

It really was the sweetest kiss Steve had ever received.

--------------------

The musical selection at the reception was probably the oddest playlist possible but both grooms had wanted everyone to have a chance on the dance floor. Once it into full swing, everyone was getting a little of the grooms’ attention. And if it wasn’t the guests, they had their eyes on each other. So they could be forgiven for not noticing when a few of their friends disappeared.

Will, Jonathan, Nancy, and Dustin had left the hall to prepare their gift for the couple. When it was ready, Dustin walked out onto the stage to get everyone’s attention.

“A few of us have made something special for the men of the hour. Steve, Eddie, with all due respect: I told you so. And without further ado, solid proof that I am always right.”

A video began playing on a projector. One with Eddie and Steve as the focus, with Dustin obviously narrating from behind the camera. It was a little shakey, but something in Steve’s heart cracked at hearing Dustin’s still cracky voice from years ago, putting his own little spin on his and Eddie’s courtship.

“That little shit”, Steve whispered when the scene of him in the bathroom came up. But it had none of the bite it normally did when he was tearing up. Eddie brought his hand to his lips and kissed his knuckles. He was feeling a little vindication seeing their romance from the outside. In some of the scenes, Steve looked just as nervous as he had been. He had just been too blinded by love at the time to notice.

But then it changed from clips of their budding romance to the current events of today.

As Dustin had been busy with best man business, Will was handling the camera and Lucas was voicing over for Steve’s actions from outside a window.

“On this, the most important day of his life, Steve is attended by the most trusted members of his pack.”

Steve sat in front of a mirror while Robin did his hair, slapping his hands away every time he tried to interfere. Dustin was using a lint roller on his suit. Steve’s face was a storm of emotion as he tried to fidget with his hair. But Robin was on top of her game today.

“In less than an hour, Steve will officially enter a pair bond for life. Now let’s check in with Eddie.”

The shot changed to Eddie’s preparation. And while Steve anxious feelings were palpable, yet under control, Eddie was letting them all gush forth in the adrenaline thick atmosphere among his groomsmen.

“I’m gonna marry him!”, he shouted.

“You’re gonna marry him!”, Gareth and Jeff shouted back.

Eddie was pacing wildly around the room, sometimes pausing to hop on his feet. “I’m getting married today. I’m marrying Steve. Let’s go! Let’s do this! Nancy! Hit me!”

Nancy obliged him with a slap on the face and that got him even more hype, lifting the energy of the room even more. The handler of the camera turned it towards themselves, revealing Mike was the one recording. And he was definitely wondering how he got here. Then he turned it back towards Eddie.

“Okay, I just gotta ask one last time...”

Nancy gave him a warning look. “Mike...”

“Why Steve?”

Eddie’s smile got even bigger if that was possibly. “He’s belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Mini Wheels. It’s like I’m in little league and I hit a home run against a pro. You shouldn’t be asking me ‘why Steve?’ You should be asking me how.”

Steve turned to Eddie and was trying to convey just how with only his eyes. As they had just described in vivid detail in words. Eddie got the message and kissed him again.

The video went on to show the actual wedding, Will and Jonathan handling two cameras and then a third, floating at an impossible angle. Leave it to El to work double time for such an occasion.

Seeing it all again from the outside...It had really happened, hadn’t it?

“We’re married, baby”, Eddie beamed.

When the video ended, they were kissing each other again. And again and again and for once, Dustin’s self righteous attitude didn’t rain on their parade. If anything they were actually proud of him for seeing what they hadn’t. You’ll never get them to admit it though.

END

Tag Team

@henderdads

@lightwoodbanethings

@mightbeasleep

@beautifully-useless

#apo writes #stranger things #fanfiction #steddie #dustin henderson #i do wanna actually chronicle a whole steddie wedding day #but another time #tell me el officiating a wedding bc she's in love with love isn't precious

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sungbeam · 1 year

Text

OFF THE RECORD ▷ PART TWO (EP9-17)

nonidol!ji changmin x fem!reader

everyone thinks ji changmin is cute and harmless, but you know that's not who he really is.

▷ genre, part warnings. e2l, childhood friends gone bad, (extra) slow burn, fluff, angst, crying lol, mentions of childhood trauma and parental manipulation, arguing, bittersweet galore, nct ten is there for the sole purpose of being nosy like the rest of us or for being a 2nd male lead who knows!, swearing, hurt/comfort, kissing!, ji changmin dancing (need i go on), symptoms of panic/anxiety, a lot of non-tbz moments sorry i meant it when i said extra slow burn, im literally writing abt people who dance like gods but im a plebian w two left feet i have no idea what im looking at except for hips—, pining haha...ha (more subtle until the end), he's in a bathrobe near the end sorry children

▷ PART TWO WC. 17.6k

love in unity series m.list / otr part one

a/n: if u haven't read part one GO AWAY GO READ PART ONE ??? WHAT'RE U DOING HERE

EPISODE NINE: OFF THE AIR

IT was common knowledge that the week before finals week was referred to as the dreaded Dead Week. Campus was barren, coffee shops and libraries were packed, and almost everybody lived in some variation of sweats, hoodies, and eye bags. You were actually holed up in the research lab (yes, again) because your deadline to get this paper to your graduation advisor was literally looming over your shoulder, and though you were practically done, you were too paranoid of not catching some dumb typo before you turned it in.

Plus, the coffee in the lab break room was free and sponsored by your resident graduate student supervisor, and beloved older brother figure, Qian Kun. God rest his workaholic soul and empty pockets.

There weren't many people here this afternoon; most had retreated to their own homes or offices or wherever they dwelled during the Week of the Dead.

Then there was Ten.

"So do you guys just wither away here by yourselves?" Amongst the empty workbenches, his words seemed to unnecessarily resonate. From his perch in Kun's office, he spread his arms wide to gesture to all the empty space.

Kun pressed his fingers to the space between his eyes. "Yes, now let me wither in peace."

"No, I don't think I will."

You felt yourself smile. Ten had come in a few hours ago with lunch for both you and Kun. Supposedly, when he had heard that the two of you habitually ran on only coffee and dreams during Dead Week, he took it upon himself to swing by the nearest fast food restaurant and pick up a very belated lunch for you both. You’d chomped down on it with Kun in his office, but as soon as you were done, you retreated back to your desk.

The sky outside of the research laboratory was already beginning to bruise to a gray-blue-purple, the color of a dusty blueberry. Soon, you would have to surrender yourself to the night and head back home, but hopefully before that, you would decide that you were at least too tired to continue staring at these same seventeen pages for hours on end…

All three heads perked up at the sound of the laboratory building door opening and closing in the distance. None of you were exactly expecting anyone, especially when people usually indicated when they would come into work. You craned your neck from your workbench to see who had come in—

“I’ll only be a minute,” you heard and recognized your colleague Jacob Bae as he strode in from the outside corridor and into the main laboratory floor.

He met your eyes and smiled. “Hey, Yn.”

“Hey, what’s up?”

He let out a sigh as he jogged past your desk and headed toward a cupboard in the back corner. “I forgot that I left my—” His voice cut out as he ducked into the dark cupboard and withdrew a giant plastic tub. From the plastic innards filled with paper, he fished out a specific packet of paper shoved into a flimsy manila folder. “Forgot my thesis draft.”

You coughed out a laugh. “Dude.”

His grin was innocent and boyish, standard Jacob. “What? A guy’s gonna forget some things sometimes.”

“Is that what you tell your girlfriend?”

He sent you an unimpressed look. “Ha ha, Yn. Very funny. For your information, she’s more forgetful than me sometimes.” He stuck his tongue out at you as he passed by your workbench, and you, as the very mature person you were, stuck your tongue out back at him. It was only fair.

A cough sounded out from the entrance to the laboratory, and you turned your head to find Changmin, out of all people, standing awkwardly in the doorway. Peering out from behind the corner of the wall, however, was his friend Sunwoo from that other night. And yanking Sunwoo back behind the wall was Chanhee. Strange.

Someone (you suspected Chanhee) gave Changmin a firm shove into the laboratory, sending the latter stumbling in before he caught himself and regained his balance. He was swaddled in a dark colored puffer jacket and a red scarf, his red-tipped nose and cheeks bitten by the cold. For the first time, he looked smaller than he was, almost shy or nervous. You hadn’t encountered this Changmin in a long time.

He wasn’t one to look vulnerable out in the open like this.

As Jacob passed by Changmin, he clasped his shoulder in reassurance.

“Hi,” Changmin said slowly as he approached your workbench.

You were still a little dumbfounded that he was here again. “Uh, hi. What’re you doing here?” The argument the two of you had earlier in the week replayed in your mind, and you almost grimaced. You’d both said even more hurtful things, and you supposed you had just been so sensitive that your brain just automatically went into defense mode to protect yourself.

No, you hadn’t been there that night for him. You hadn’t expected to see anyone there at that time of night. That was the whole point of you going so late. You had been trying to get yourself to go into the practice room on your own, but the longer you had stood there, staring at the door, the more you realized you couldn’t do it. It still didn’t sit well with you, how affected you were by your mother’s past words.

Changmin kept his distance, but he came close enough that you could hear what he was trying to say without the others listening in too much. “I was wondering if we could talk.”

You blinked. “Talk? Like right now?” Your eyes darted to your computer screen and the practically finished paper displayed. It wasn’t like you wanted to keep working on it, but your heart beat startled at the sudden thought of having that very important conversation right now, when you weren’t ready.

He caught onto your movements though. “No, no—I mean,” he stammered, recovering with a quick swipe of his tongue over his lip, “just whenever. It doesn’t have to be now. I just figured it’d be best to get that… out in the air, you know?” I think it’s what we’ve been needing all this time. Something proper; no more yelling matches.

For a second, you thought you could see some of the old Changmin in this one. It wasn’t like he had changed, per se, it was more like he was finally showing that part of himself that you had been missing all along. You swallowed, nodding. “Okay. Yeah, I’ll, uhm, text you sometime tonight after I turn this paper in.”

He nodded back at you. “Yeah, cool.”

When you saw him begin to back away, a thought suddenly occurred to you. You called out to him to get him to stop, and you could have sworn that there was a gleam in his eyes then. “Changmin—about Sumin…” You inhaled deeply as you fought for the right words to express your next thoughts, “be gentle with her, okay?”

Even then there was a pang in your heart as you uttered those words. Sumin had texted you all about her interaction with Changmin a day or so ago regarding his “interview”, and she had been gushing about her crush on him. She had even asked you how much you knew about him and if you could give her a crash course in all things dance or even Changmin. Suffice to say, you felt trapped between a rock and hard place, but you didn’t want to let her down. (You’d always wanted to be a big sister; you didn’t want to push her away because of feelings that you were too petty to address.)

Changmin’s head tilted to the side as he made a confused face. “Huh?”

You sighed, “You seriously didn’t notice?”

“No, actually,” he quipped.

You pursed your lips; why weren’t you surprised? It wouldn’t be very cool of you to reveal Sumin’s crush on him if that wasn’t what she wanted. You would have to be subtle, but also not subtle, then. “Just—” you made a vague gesture with your hands, “—don’t be brash.”

“Brash?”

“Don’t be mean,” you amended.

“I still have no idea what you’re talking about.”

You thought even Ten rolled his eyes from where he was in Kun’s office. “You’re hopeless, really.”

Changmin’s face pinched, and he was moving back closer to your workbench. “I’ll have you know that we’re both hopeless.”

You deadpanned. “Now I’m pretty sure we’re not even in the same ballpark,” you muttered in exasperation. “Whatever. Your friends are waiting for you, Changmin.”

His lips pressed into a line. He glanced quickly over his shoulder where his friends were pretending to not be eavesdropping, then looked back at you. “Okay, yeah. Just don’t forget.”

“I won’t,” you promised.

EPISODE TEN: OFF THE MARKET

CHANGMIN glanced up at the entrance to the coffee shop, matching the sign in the window to the one he had searched up on his GPS app. It seemed to match from what he saw.

Today was the Friday of Dead Week, a handful of days after he dipped out of his interview with Sumin and confronted you at the laboratory. He had consulted Chanhee that day, regarding his mess of feelings about the situation with you, and Chanhee had practically forced him to go with him and Jacob to the laboratory. (Sunwoo just happened to tag along because he, apparently, felt left out.) Changmin wondered how Chanhee could have possibly known that you would be there, but Chanhee dismissed his worries by assuring him that after he asked you, he would feel a lot better and less like a hot pile of shit.

Chanhee was right, as per usual. Not that Changmin was going to admit that aloud to him ever.

But today was important because of two things in particular, and they both had to do with things that occurred several days ago. The first item on the agenda was going into this cafe to finish up that un-started interview with Sumin. After he had given her his number that day, she was swift to send a greeting text to him to set up a time and place to meet. Changmin actually had yet to visit this coffee shop in particular, but then again, he was a bit partial to the one Jacob introduced to the group last quarter.

Your words of advice, or caution, rang in his ears like the bell that twinkled above the door as he walked into the building. Be gentle with her. Don’t be brash. Don’t be mean. What did all of that even mean? He liked being interviewed, especially when it was about dance, so why would you think he would be anything but well-behaved? Part of him thought it was based off of the two of your interactions for the past three years, but he knew you had the good sense to know he didn’t treat just anyone like he treated you.

The thought remained fresh in his mind even as he scanned the room for a familiar face.

Sumin was seated in a secluded booth in the corner of the coffee shop. When she saw him, she waved him over excitedly, slipping her compact into her purse. Her laptop was left on the table in front of her, but unopened. Huh, maybe she just got here, too.

Changmin slid into the booth across from her. “Hi, sorry, were you waiting long?” He asked as he shouldered his jacket off and set his bag on top of it.

Sumin perked up a little bit. “Oh, no! Don’t worry. Did you have a good week?”

“Ah, as good as the week before finals can be, I suppose,” he chuckled, leaning back against the booth seat. His eyes darted to the unopened laptop still in the middle of the table and he cupped the back of his neck. “Did you wanna order anything to drink? Or have you ordered already?”

She shook her head, her hand reaching up to fidget with the end of one of her curled locks of hair. “Hm? No, I didn’t order yet! I was waiting for you so we could order something together—I mean, at the same time.”

“Cool, yeah,” he cleared his throat, signaling for one of the workers’ attention with a wave of his hand. “We can order and then get started.”

“Ah, ha, right.”

Once orders were taken, Sumin finally cracked open her laptop and got a couple things set up. Changmin patiently waited for her to get all settled, his eyes wandering about the shop and absentmindedly observing the workers behind the counter as they bustled about to prepare drinks and pastries.

Sumin coughed, “Okay, I figured that recording is a little unnecessary, so I’ll just be jotting some notes down on my laptop.”

Changmin bobbed his head. “Sounds good.”

She shifted in her seat, her posture straightening, as she figured out how exactly to start. “I hope you’ll be patient with me since I haven’t been doing this for a long time, but Yn gave me some pointers to start with,” she said sheepishly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

“No problem! I totally understand; take your time.” He cocked his head to the side unconsciously, “Yn didn’t offer to sit in for your interviews?”

“Oh! Uh, she did, but I insisted that I was feeling confident enough to do them on my own,” she laughed lightly. “Definitely a bit nerve-wracking, but I think the interviews with Juyeon and a few of the other dancers went well earlier in the week.”

“Hey, I mean, I admire your courage,” he said with what he hoped was an encouraging enough smile. “Just take your time with it, Sumin. We’ll make sure to get you all the info you need.” There. Was that what you meant by not being mean? Wasn’t this just being considerate, though?

His foot tapped against the ground absentmindedly as he thought about the next thing on his agenda after this interview: talking to you. It was weird, having to almost set an appointment to have this very needed talk, but as you had said, you texted him your availability and the two of you just happened to both have this evening free. He just needed to finish this interview… There was still plenty of time.

His words to Sumin seemed to make her shoulders relax a little bit, and she jumped right into her first question. Changmin would answer as thoughtfully as could, which wasn’t too difficult seeing as he was literally talking about one of the things he was most passionate about in this world. He could probably talk about dance and his love for dance for days on end. Sumin, in turn, would skillfully and naturally continue the conversation so it felt a lot less like an interview, and more like an interaction between friends about dance.

Perhaps he didn’t even realize when the questions became less about his experience about dance and more about him; when Sumin gradually stopped typing notes down on her laptop and instead leaned her chin onto her hands to watch him; or when she suddenly asked—

“Is that your ideal first date then?”

Record scratch.

The words on Changmin’s tongue died instantly, and his brain scrambled to process what she had just said. “Sorry?”

Sumin’s eyes widened, her cheeks flushing. “I—I mean, you were talking about going to see live dance shows with your former partner and I just…” She shook her head with an embarrassed laugh, “Sorry, was that too forward?”

Changmin blinked once, twice; dear god, he must have been running his mouth without even realizing. “I was talking about Yn?”

That ripped Sumin right out of embarrassment—well, it was closer to mortification. The color on her cheeks had turned pale. “Yn is your ex?”

Fuck— “No, no, no! She’s not. She’s definitely not—”

Sumin covered her face with both of her palms in distress, a sentiment that was definitely shared between both parties in the booth. “Oh my god, and I’ve been telling her all about my crush on you, too. I must have looked so stupid.”

His eyes flew open. “Huh?!”

“Please, I’ve been so obvious, Changmin!”

Not to me, he thought. Jesus, was he really so blind? Was this what you meant this whole time? Changmin waved his hands around in an X formation, trying to reign the conversation into some level of sanity. “Sumin, I can assure you, that you definitely weren’t obvious until you literally just said it,” he began. “And so we’re clear, Yn is not my ex-girlfriend. She was my ex-dance partner and friend, but not a significant other.” As much as it sucked to admit that—

Sumin slowly lowered her hands from her face with the light reflected in her eyes wobbling. “Oh… okay, I guess that makes sense then.”

Changmin let out a haggard sigh, holding his hand to his head. “Yeah, well… I guess I should say that I’m sorry, but I don’t really share the same feelings for you?” He shook his head to himself, trying to rephrase: “What I mean is that I’m not exactly looking for a relationship. I’m kind of messed up right now.” Understatement of the century.

She pursed her lips, but nodded. “I get that. Thanks for being so cool about it.”

“Least I can do,” he said, clasping his hands together over the table.

“So,” she drawled with a wince, “I take it this interview is over?”

He brushed a hand through his hair. “If you have everything you need and there are no hard feelings?”

She inclined her head in the affirmative, and that was that.

— ✶

Even on a Friday evening, if it was the week before an exam season, the library study rooms were always packed, one occupier after the other. Attempting to score one was the equivalent of launching a stakeout, complete with charging cables, two cups of coffee, and a will of steel (to wait hours for a room to open up). Someone must have been looking out for you though as you managed to snatch a study room as soon as you arrived on the second floor of one of the main student libraries on campus. When you and Changmin had exchanged an, albeit brief, bit of texts, you both agreed that meeting somewhere that could serve as common ground would be good for the both of you. It had to be semi-private, as well, since neither of you wanted to let anyone else in on your private, personal problems.

The library study rooms were your solution, and maybe this was the universe’s sign that this discussion needed to happen.

As soon as the door closed gently behind you, you set yourself up in one of the chairs around the small, rectangular table at the center of the room. Changmin said he would be a couple minutes late because the bus had been late to pick up his stop and Chanhee was borrowing his car, so you texted him to let him know which room you were in.

While you waited, you attempted to ease your mind by scrolling through social media and flipping through emails and returning to social media, and wait, did you ever get a reply back from that one TA? All the while, your knee would bounce up and down ceaselessly, your fingers shaking and cold and numb. You were perhaps seconds away from your throat closing in on itself again, but then the door opened.

Changmin murmured a “hey” to you as he closed the door behind him and lowered himself into the seat across from you.

The room was quiet. “Hey,” you said back, clearing your throat.

You watched as his nostrils flared slightly as he exhaled. “What did you mean by ‘when did I stop caring’?”

You were a little startled that he decided to start right away, but on the other hand, relieved that he did. You wouldn’t have known how to begin anyway. “When did you stop caring?” You parroted in case you hadn’t heard him right. If you weren’t mistaken, he was referring to what you had said that night in front of the practice rooms.

He gave a nod. “Yeah, I was thinking about what you said…” He scratched his jaw, continuing lowly, “...y’know, on the bus ride over here. And I just don’t understand where in the world you got the idea that I ever stopped caring about you.” He met your eyes then, and you could see the tightness in his jaw, but the gleam in his irises.

This wasn't about being right anymore; it was about making things right.

"You—" you grappled for words, finding yourself pinned down by Changmin's relentlessly piercing gaze, "—I just got so much radio silence from you."

"You were giving me the same excuses."

"Because it was the same, exact problem," you fired back. "And, okay, so they were excuses, but god, Changmin. I could just see how with each passing day, you looked at me differently because I was late or I told you I couldn't make it. Didn't I give you reasons why? Just that disappointment and cold shoulder…" It broke my damn heart.

Changmin's arms were crossed over his chest as he considered your words, his tongue poking the inside of his cheek. "I never," he began, "thought poorly of you, Yn." It sounded like he was struggling to piece together the right words, too, and he choked down a swallow. "I was going through a lot of shit around that time, and my patience was always paper thin by the time it was our usual practice time, y'know? It was never you specifically I was mad at."

He paused for a moment. His head hung, and he picked at a stray thread on his jacket cuff. "My parents said they wouldn't support me if I majored in dance."

Your heart stopped clean.

"They basically said I'd have to finance myself for all four years if I wanted to make dancing a career," he said with a flippant, helpless gesture. "I was given some scholarship money from the school, but it was nowhere near a full ride. So I was stressed the fuck out because I knew I needed to win those comps to get more money. They were cool with me dancing as, like, a hobby or a way to get into college, but as soon as I told them my intended major was dance?"

Well, shit.

Horror pooled in your gut, the kind that started up at your shoulders and spider-crawled down the length of your spine. "I'm so sorry, Changmin. That must have been so much pressure for you, oh my god."

This entire time, you'd been under the impression that his parents were fine and dandy with their son becoming a dancer. He'd always had a natural, prodigal talent for the art form. He was the absolute cream of the crop from your class, and you couldn't believe they could be anything but proud of having a son like him.

But you supposed you shouldn't have assumed. There was a cost to being a hypocrite.

Changmin nodded, but it wasn't very affirming. It was like he had heard it all before and had already accepted it all grimly and reluctantly. "Yeah, well… I won all those comps, but what did I lose in the process, y'know?"

He gestured to you. "I just thought I'd always have you to run back to, but you were going through your own stuff. I'm not trying to pin the blame on you—it's… just that… you were my best friend. My partner."

"It's funny you say that," you said then, drumming your fingers anxiously against your leg. "I thought I could rely on you, too. And I definitely drifted away from you, but it was because of my own reasons."

Changmin nodded, settling his hands on top of the table and leaning in slightly.

Still, every time you told someone, you could never get it right. But maybe you could get it right this time. "You know how my parents got divorced and I said that my mom had changed?"

His forehead creased then, and he nodded again.

"She started yelling a lot," you said. "Would always make me listen to her scream in my face about how dance was useless, how dance would never help me in the real world, how I was absolutely awful at it and that I should be focusing on something worth my time." You swallowed, continuing on, "And when I told you I couldn't make it or that I was late, it was because she started refusing to take me to practices and competitions and shows.

"And I mean—I tried really hard to keep going, Changmin, I really did." You raised your eyes to meet his and found him staring at you still, but this time you saw that glisten in his eyes again. The tension in his jaw had slackened, and had been replaced with that same dread you had while he was telling you what happened to him. "I thought that I could get past what my mom kept telling me, and that once I got to the practice room—I just needed to get to the practice room—it would all be worth it."

There was a stinging feeling in the back of your eyes, at your tear glands. Your vision was blurring and you blinked back the traitorous tears.

Changmin pursed his lips, his face contorting slightly as he too tried to contain the emotions welling up in him. "And then I shut you out."

"We shut each other out."

"Why—" he rasped, his hand coming up to cover part of his mouth, "—didn't you tell me? I would've—god, I would've—" He didn't know, actually, but all he knew was that he would've been better. Would he have though? Truly? Would you have?

"I didn't like talking about it," you confessed, sniffling. You were ashamed of yourself, both then and now. You raised your hand up to wipe the corner of your eyes. "I'm sorry."

"No, fuck, don't apologize." He stood, arms opening and palms turning upward like an offering, "C'mere."

Both of you, teary-eyed messes, stumbled out of your chairs to close the distance in each other's arms. It was the feeling of finally holding each other after three years that made the two of you break down completely. The study room's quiet was filled with sounds of messy, blubbering sobs—hands grappling at the other's jacket, faces shoved into the warmth of a neck or shoulder.

Two pieces of a puzzle having finally been reunited.

This was where you belonged.

"This was all I wanted," you bawled into his shoulder.

It seemed to make his body tremble harder. "I would've given it to you—god, I would've given you anything. I'm so goddamn sorry."

"Hey," you mused half-heartedly, "if I'm not allowed to apologize, then neither are you."

He gave a watery chuckle. "Okay, fine." His wet eyelashes fluttered as he closed his eyes and tightened his hold around you. "That must have been awful, Yn. How…? Just how."

You rested your cheek against his toned shoulder. "Somehow… I don't really know. I'm proud of you, though, you know? I'm really proud of you."

"Thank you. I'm proud of you, too." He sniffled, mouth pressing against your shoulder. "All this time, I thought you hated dance and hated me."

"Oh, god no," you sniffled, sucking in a breath. "I—I knew I couldn't be strong anymore; I didn't want to disappoint you." And when you could no longer attend those practices, you had believed it would be better to not be there to drag him down. You thought that without having to wait on you every time, he would have been all the better. You see now that perhaps you were wrong in your logic.

For a moment, the two of you stood there in the other's arms as words settled and feelings sunk in. The realization that this tension between the two of you was possibly over now was crazy.

"For the record," Changmin murmured, "you're a great dancer. No matter what your mom told you, you'll always be a great dancer."

You laughed a little, shaking your head. "Not anymore, I'm not."

"That's where you're wrong." He pulled away from you and you saw the tears staining his dimpled cheeks, but the smile he was giving you was something out of a dream. He gently, playfully punched your arm. "You're still my partner, after all."

EPISODE ELEVEN: OFF THE SHELF

EVER since Changmin, Chanhee, JC!Yn, and her roommate Kei decided to change the weekly grocery shopping session to Saturday mornings, Changmin had never been so grateful for such a change until now. It used to be on Sunday mornings during the fall quarter because JC!Yn volunteered at the local children’s club on Saturday mornings, but since the Sunny Side Up Club had begun closing its doors on the weekend until summer break, her Saturdays had suddenly freed up.

Kei, as usual, had waltzed off in search of her own shopping list items, leaving JC!Yn and Changmin with the shopping cart of groceries and Chanhee sitting in the middle of it, cross-legged and swaddled in a pink hoodie.

“That’s awful,” JC!Yn lamented as she slowly trailed after Changmin while pushing the cart. There was a frown etched into her face, as well as Chanhee’s, while and after Changmin had caught them up on the events of the previous day’s talk with you. “I mean, I know some parents are super strict about their kids studying, but…” She shook her head, “You’ve both been through a terrible amount of shit, man.”

Chanhee nodded his agreement, peering up at Changmin who was at the helm of the cart, staring at the label on a container of canned corn blankly. “Yeah, for sure. How’re you holding up, Changminnie?”

Changmin shrugged half-heartedly and rather mopey. “As well as I could be.”

“Well, are you guys good now?” JC!Yn asked. “Y’know, after clearing all the air?”

Changmin made a face at the canned corn, but handed it to Chanhee to place amongst the other things in the cart with him. “I mean, kind of? Not really?” He scratched the side of his head, and his two friends looked on at him, then exchanged worried glances. Usually Changmin was the one cracking jokes, but to see him in such a state… “It’s just a little awkward now because we’ve been on ice around each other for years. Going back to normal shouldn’t be easy, should it?”

Chanhee pursed his lips, his head tilting from side to side. “That’s true. When you guys were still in grudge era, you let all the angst between you do the talking.”

“Angst? I was not angsty, for your information.”

Both of his companions scoffed their disagreement. “Every single time her name was brought up around you, you gazed far off like some kind of angsty main hero,” Chanhee retorted. “Like Kevin at that one dinner when we were interrogating Eric.”

JC!Yn laughed. “That feels like so long ago.”

Changmin sent her a look, the corner of his lips tilting upward like the arch of his eyebrow. “That’s because you and Jacob act like you’ve been married for ten years.”

Her face heated at those words, but she held her chin up in pride. “I’m gonna pretend this is your jealousy talking.”

“Oh, please,” he quipped back and turned back to the shelves to hunt for any other familiar labels that would trigger his hunger. “If I wanted to be so grossly in love—”

“Then you’d go find Yn?”

“—Then I’d go find Y—HEY!” Changmin sputtered as his cheeks lit up like the can of roasted red bell peppers in his hand. Chanhee and JC!Yn exploded into equal fits of delighted cackles, the former extending his arm back so the latter could return his fistbump. Changmin scowled through his flustered haze. “Whatever; taking advantage of my vulnerable state is not cool, guys.”

Chanhee beamed up at his best friend with the kind of smile that no one could be mad at. It was impish, adorable even. “Aw, it’s only ‘cause we love you.”

“Gross,” Changmin muttered, wrinkling his nose dramatically, then nudging his glasses up his nose.

As she stopped the cart behind Changmin, JC!Yn rested her arm against the bar and let her chin sit atop her fist as she and Chanhee watched Changmin scour the shelves again. “Didn’t you say you had feelings for her back then, Changmin-ah? Would you say they were still present or not?”

He sucked in a breath at the question as he let the question marinate in his brain. After yesterday’s world-altering talk with you, neither of you were able to stay too long afterward to catch up. You’d both, unfortunately, been called to your own separate summons. But this morning, when Changin had woken up with the information having been properly processed in his brain and given him room to overthink as he did… Truthfully, he had no idea where the two of you stood with one another. It wasn’t going to be the same, not like childhood and not like the past three years.

He didn’t exactly know what to say to you now, only that there was still that emptiness in his chest. He hadn’t expected the feeling to go away, but he also hadn’t expected it to remain. What was he supposed to do? He was pretty sure you didn’t even like him like that back then, so there was no way your feelings would have changed in that sense over the past three years. Some said that distance made the heart grow fonder, and while Changmin wasn’t one for cliche lines, he did feel an ache for you. He wanted to make up for lost time. Even if you didn’t feel the same way he had back then, it didn’t mean that he still felt the same… right?

“I think we lost him,” came Chanhee’s very loud stage whisper.

Changmin shook out of his mind and leveled a glare at his two friends. “I’ll think about it.”

“Didn’t you just think about it?”

“Hey, if JC!Yn-ie can take an entire quarter to tell Jacob-ssi her feelings, then you can give me like, five minutes to think about mine!” He squawked, waving his arms around in the air like one of those car-wash balloon people that flopped around in the wind. Except this one was high on emotions and his round lenses were slipping down his nose, adding to his overall mad man-like look.

JC!Yn deadpanned, shaking her head as she began pushing the cart after Changmin. She muttered under her breath, “He’s just astounded that he has feelings for someone, JC!Yn. Let him be touchy today.”

Chanhee, who had heard her speak to herself loud and clear, twisted around to grin and pat her arm reassuringly. “He’s just malfunctioning because he might actually have a chance now.”

“I can hear you!”

Chanhee chuckled, and the sound was villainous.

The three of them, as per routine, met up with Kei at the checkout lanes. There was one occasion where one of the workers was so tired that they tried to scan Chanhee and make them pay for him, but other than that, most people just offered him a sweet from the jar on the counter. As groceries were bagged up, and Kei was caught up on the situation at hand in verbal bullet point format, she took only a moment to suggest: “Why don’t you invite her to the dance showcase?”

All eyes went to Changmin, even as JC!Yn pushed the cart out with the group.

Changmin chewed his bottom lip. “I would, but... I dunno. I don’t want to trigger anything for her.” He winced to himself, “It would be really cool to have her there, of course! But I literally saw her in the practice room a week ago and she looked like she was seconds away from having a full-on panic attack.” As much as inviting you to watch him perform for the first time in three years thrilled him (and nearly sent him into cardiac arrest), he had seen you that day—blanched, struggling to breathe. He couldn’t imagine just what thoughts were running through your head then, especially after hearing what you had told him yesterday.

He was so—god, he was so angry at your mother. He knew about the divorce and the negative effect it had on her, but for her to practically take all that energy out on you? It was something simply unforgivable. His heart hurt for you.

Chanhee dipped his head in a slight nod, mouth curved down into a frown again. "That's fair. But I mean, it wouldn't hurt to ask, would it?"

"I just don't want to come off as insensitive, especially after three years of the cold shoulder." Your words from yesterday had penetrated him deeply—he hoped to never make you feel abandoned ever again.

Kei peered around at Changmin from the other side of JC!Yn. "If it counts, I don't think she'll take it as being insensitive, Changmin."

"She might feel better about getting, y'know, a personal invitation from you," JC!Yn chimed in. "Even if she isn't comfortable with going, she'll know you're thinking of her."

Changmin pressed his knuckles to his lips, bouncing on the balls of his feet anxiously. It was amusing, and perhaps a little concerning, for his friends to see him like this. He flapped the ends of his sweater sleeves in the air like he was hyping himself up. "Okay. Okay, yeah, I'll invite her to see me perform."

He raised an arm into the air toward the sky. "The next time I see her, that's what I'll—"

"Oh, look, she's right there," said Chanhee, pointing in the distance from his cart throne.

Changmin squeaked, "She's what?!" He slid behind JC!Yn in a very poor attempt to hide himself from the oncoming party.

Said party consisted of you, Yeri, Mark, and Ten—again. Except, instead of the coffee shop across the shopping mall, it was the parking lot on his friends' turf. Mark and Yeri were the first to see Changmin's friend group, both of them making unsubtle glances at Changmin. They passed by with friendly greetings, excusing themselves as they argued over the possibility of the store having watermelon (the answer was no; sorry Mark).

You and Ten lagged behind slightly, seemingly deep in conversation. The latter listened intently, but he felt eyes on him and looked up. His eyes twinkled as he made eye contact with Changmin—Changmin couldn't tell whether or not he liked that feeling.

You realized that he was looking outward and onward, and so you followed his gaze. Your eyes widened a tad at the sight of Changmin's friend group manifesting out of nowhere. "Hi guys," you said with an awkward smile when you and Ten met them in the middle.

"Hi Yn-ie," Chanhee giggled, turning around to wag his eyebrows at Changmin.

Changmin threw back a very unimpressed scowl. He let a smile grace his face just as he looked back at you. "Hey Yn, Ten."

JC!Yn unsubtly began pushing the cart to uncover Changmin. "Hey, you two. Changmin was actually just talking about you, Yn!"

Traitor! Changmin's jaw dropped.

Ten grinned. "That's really funny, 'cause Yn was just talking about you, Changmin."

You glared daggers at your friend with the same level of betrayal in your eyes as Changmin expressed. At least you were both getting thrown under the bus.

Kei nudged him. "Don't you have something to say to her?"

"We'll get out of your hair!" Chanhee chirped, patting the side of the cart as JC!Yn resumed her pushing on the cart past you and Ten. "See you at the car, Changminnie!"

As Changmin's last line of defense walked away with JC!Yn and the shopping cart prince, Ten inclined his head to you. "Should I stick around for this?"

You sighed under your breath. "Probably not. I'll see you inside?"

"Whatever suits your fancy," he mused, shrugging. As he passed by Changmin, he winked, then whistled some random tune as he went on his merry way.

"So what's up?" You asked him then. It seemed to be a cozy morning for you as you fidgeted with the ends of your big, woolen sweater. There was something delicate about the way the corners of your lips curled up into a smile.

Changmin cupped the nape of his neck. "Oh, uh, I know we had that whole talk yesterday, and I was wondering if you'd wanna come see my performance at the winter showcase on Friday?" He added quickly, "No pressure, of course. If you're uncomfortable, then you don't have to worry."

Your lips pursed together in a slight pucker. "I'd actually love to go. I mean—" you swallowed, "—I haven't gone to one since freshman year, but I'd love to."

"You can leave whenever you start feeling uncomfortable," he assured you, but he was smiling widely now. "It'll be cool to, y'know, have you in the audience."

"That means a lot, Changmin," you said earnestly, your smile sweet. It was almost weird to not have you frowning or glaring at him. It felt… good. It felt really good. “I will try my best.”

He shoved his hands into his pockets as he rocked on his heels, teeth biting down on his bottom lip to suppress the eager grin threatening to come out. “That’s all I could ask for.”

EPISODE TWELVE: OFF THE CHARTS

YOU were late. You were extremely late, actually, and to be honest, if you had known the bus was going to break down in the middle of the stupid road, you would have gotten off and walked. But then again, you were practically buried in all of the bundles of flowers you wanted to bring for your friends performing tonight. There were four bundles in total that you bothered to pick out just about two hours ago, one for Minho, one for Jungwoo, one for Ten, and of course, you could not forget one for Changmin.

When Changmin had personally invited you to come see his performance tonight earlier in the week, you couldn’t deny that the feeling made your chest warm and fuzzy. Even as you trudged your way up the stairs to the front of the performing arts building, you were filled with adrenaline and antsy energy. You’d waited so long for this, hadn’t you?

The last time you had come to see the winter showcase was in freshman year, the year the Daily asked you to write a review piece on one of the performers debuting that year, and even that had been enough of dance for the years following. It would be nice to know, this time, that you were wanted in the audience. (Changmin would have wanted you in the audience all this time, but you didn’t know that.)

Because you were unquestionably late, the doors to the hall would be closed shut now.

That was why having a friend like Boo Seungkwan was paramount.

“Thank you,” you gasped as one of the doors to the performance hall burst open and allowed you into the warmth of the lobby. You could hear the bass of whatever song was on and the audience’s cheers from here.

Seungkwan swept half of the bouquets from your arms with a click of his tongue. “Yah, you’re insane for taking the bus all the time. Yeri even asked to pick you up!”

“I know, I know!” You cried, the two of you scurrying over to one of the doors in the hall. “I panicked at the last second to get flowers and then I had to go all the way to the shop on fifth! By the way, did you know they’re open until 11?”

Both of your voices quieted as you slipped into the darkened auditorium. The stage was the only part illuminated in blinding, searing hot spotlights. You had just walked in on a brief break between acts as performers switched on and off stage. Seungkwan led you to one of the rows of seats in the nosebleeds that was relatively in the middle.

All of your friends practically occupied the entire row, and they lit up in delight at the sight of you.

“Yo Yn!” Mark whispered as he leaned over Yeri. “You’re actually here!”

Yeri reached over to squeeze your hand as you took the open seat next to her, and Seungkwan took the last seat in the aisle. “I’m so happy you’re here, Yn-ie.”

Doyoung and Kun peered out from around Mark, and you recognized a couple others from the NCT frat and RVE sorority further down the row. “Hey guys,” you said quietly to them as you wrangled your purse into your lap and adjusted the flowers in your arms, “how much did I miss?”

“Not much at all," Doyoung replied. "It's just been a few of the first years."

"We've got a little while until the older batch," Kun said with a wave of the program in his hands.

You nodded your understanding and settled into your seat to get comfortable. The performances went on one after the other. There was a mix of all different genres, ranging from contemporary ballet to tap and popping. Because everyone in the final winter showcase were in some kind of dance course on campus, a lot of the acts displayed a ton of experience already, even as first-years.

The longer the night went on, the less you believed your antsiness was a result of a nervous tick, but rather the bottled up adrenaline building up from watching all the performances. At some point, you realized you weren't even analyzing the performances anymore, but rather, sitting in awe of each one.

When a brief intermission was announced, Yeri and one of her sorority sisters squeezed past to head to the restroom while a few others from the row headed out to stretch their limbs and find some other friends. You and Seungkwan lingered in your seats, discussing your favorite performances so far, as well as how your finals weeks had gone for each of you.

"I'm just so glad we have spring break now," he groaned, his head hanging with exhaustion. "I might have skipped tonight if that meant I could sleep early."

"You would have regretted it though," you pointed out to him.

He gestured with his hand. "Right, you are." He let out a sigh as he raised his head and met your smile with a tired one of his own. "Well, Yn, you did it. You're watching your first full winter showcase. How do you feel?"

Your gaze flickered back to the stage. The house lights had come on for intermission, leaving the stage drenched in darkness. You could have sworn you saw the heavy red curtains shudder as if someone had poked their head out to view the audience. You remembered when you and Changmin used to do that when you were kids.

You turned back to Seungkwan. "I feel surprisingly okay," you confessed. "I was a little nervous before, but I think that I'm doing good."

He nodded. "Good. I'm glad you're here."

"Thanks, Kwan." You exhaled. "I didn't fully realize how long this was gonna be," you mused.

Seungkwan raised a brow at you. "Well, didn't you only stay for like, Changmin's performance last time you were here?"

"Well, yeah—"

The house lights suddenly shuttered off, and people rushed back to their seats. Your friends who were coming back squeezed past you and Seungkwan, effectively cutting off your conversation from before. The last half of the night would be handed over to the students who were majoring in dance and had been a part of the program for over two years.

You were properly in awe of the next performances. They had decided to put Ten out first, dancing to a song called Baby Don't Stop. He had mentioned the song to you once, but you hadn't really thought much about it until now. It was a side of Ten you hadn't seen yet since you had never seen him dance properly, but… you were definitely going to need to gush about this to him afterward.

You were pretty sure the crowd didn't quiet down for five performers in a row, as crazy-talented dancers such as Minho and Jungwoo followed after.

Each performance was incomparable to the next, and soon, you were sucking in a breath to the sound of Changmin's name being announced.

You slapped your hands onto Seungkwan's and Yeri's on either side of you, both of whom squeezed and shook your hands back as the curtain rose.

The lighting began a deep, electric purple, painting Changmin to look like a dark silhouette on stage. You almost couldn't make out the details of his white and black suit-like uniform. It was dynamic and unique with the suit cut outs and gloves, and he paired it all with an eye look that made his eyes feel darker and smokier.

He was still at first—until a set of horns, like trumpets, blared from the speaker's and he began striding forward.

You heard Mark gasp from two seats over. "Holy shit, he's dancing to Action Figure."

You vaguely recognized the title, but if you were thinking of the right song, then the room was about to get a lot louder. Unconsciously, you squeezed Seungkwan and Yeri's hands as you leaned forward and lingered on the edge of your seat.

The performance was everything you expected and more. Changmin was, as you had expressed before, the absolute cream of the crop. Each movement was brought with sharp precision, like the blade of a knife. Even during the slower bridge portion, he somehow executed the legato-like movements with a crispness of 4K HDR quality.

Everyone in the room held their breath (or screamed it out) with each sultry gaze, each lick of his lips, each smirk—a great dancer, a great performer; he would forever be one of the greats. That, you were very certain of.

When the song came to an end and he raised his head to peer at the audience through his bangs, you and everyone else erupted into applause, whistles, yelling—all the works. Your heart palpitated so hard in your chest that you thought it was trying to mimic his own dance. You were practically shaking from all of the bottled energy, and…

"Wow," you breathed out as you leaned back in your seat as the stage was reset for the next act. Your knee began bouncing fervently, sending the flowers in your lap up and down as well.

Seungkwan murmured his agreement, "Whew. I can't tell if I'm attracted or intimidated."

You snorted, patting his hand with your palm. "Both?"

"Probably."

You laughed, your hand lifting up to absentmindedly press against the base of your throat and sternum.

You couldn't help but think about what Changmin had revealed to you that day. How could a pair of parents not be absolutely floored to have a son as talented as Ji Changmin? It was so unbelievable to you, but you couldn't imagine how it might have felt to suddenly have all that support be ripped out from beneath your feet like his support had been.

The performances following would finish off those of the solo category. Afterwards, a handful of groups performed, including repeats of a few performers. Minho and Jungwoo had performed a stage together (Finesse, if you weren't mistaken), while Changmin and Juyeon made a return to the stage with another sultry hit by the name of Light a Flame.

By the end of the night, you were eager to head backstage to see your friends who had just performed their hearts out.

Plus, the bouquets were wilting.

Once the house lights had thunked to life, and the crowd was beginning to lessen, the row you were seated in with your friends stood together. Some of them were going to head straight home, but a few others planned to stay back to congratulate the performers on a night well done.

"You guys ready to head back?" Mark asked while nodding toward the stage with his hands shoved into the pockets of his puffer vest.

The high you were on was gradually fading out, and you had to clear your throat. "Can I meet you guys back there? I think I'm gonna take a quick breather and then just go in through the backdoor."

They were more than okay with accommodating you, encouraging you to take as long as you needed. Mark and Yeri both took the remaining two bouquets from your arms as Seungkwan ushered you out the door to take that breather.

As you hit the cool, early-March air, you wrapped your coat tighter around yourself and inhaled deeply. All around you, people lingered and chatted with each other, gushing about their favorite performances and reenacting the most memorable parts. You smiled to yourself when you overheard a group of boys near you talking about Changmin's tasteful choice in music, as well as the cohesion of his entire performance, ranging from not only the music choice, but down to the costuming as well. (And the choreography, of course. Everything about his performance, as emphasized, was breathtaking.)

With a sigh, you began rounding the building toward the back entrance.

Now that you had the space to deconstruct your thoughts, you realized that although you felt an indescribable amount of pride for your friends, you couldn't help the pit forming in the bottom of your stomach. In a way, you envied the performers onstage. You wished you had held on a little longer; maybe then, you could have been one of the people on stage tonight like you had wanted when you were just a teen.

When you reached the back door, you managed to gather your strength and let yourself in.

Like that day you had taken Sumin backstage, it was all hustle and bustle, but ten times that. Pandemonium erupted as performers raced past you left and right trying to find their friends, fellow performers, and even the location of their hairspray. (They should have put their name on it, you thought cheekily, but even then, it might not have worked still, you supposed.)

You kept your arms crossed over your chest as you squeezed past people toward where you were hoping to find your friends. As you walked into the dressing room corridor, you nearly collided with a silky dress shirt.

"Yn! I can't believe I found you," Ten chuckled.

You laughed, wrapping your arms around him in an affectionate embrace. "Ten! I can't believe you found me either. It's a madhouse here." You scanned the faces and bodies buzzing about for any sign of your friends. "Have Mark, Yeri, or Seungkwan found you yet? They have the flowers I was gonna give you."

Ten's lips curled up into a smile as he pressed a hand to his chest. "Gasp, you got me flowers?"

"Yes, and please never say 'gasp' aloud ever again," you winced.

That only made his smile grow. "No promises. But what'd you think of the show tonight? I'm glad you stayed the whole time."

"It was incredible! You were incredible," you amended with your eyes likely the shape of stars. "Who gave you the absolute audacity to be so talented, sir! I swear I heard some girl faint a couple rows behind me," you joked.

His eyes narrowed into sly, little crescents. "Oh? And did you faint for mine, too? Or did you save that reaction for another special someone?"

You flushed, your eyes averting to anywhere but the nosy feline before you.

Ten threw his head back in a loud guffaw. "Okay, okay. I see how it is. He's been looking for you, by the way."

Your eyes went wide. "And you wait until now to tell me?"

"I wanted my dose of Yn affection, too," he shrugged, giggling like a schoolgirl. "Plus, the look on your face was well worth it."

"Sometimes I hate you."

"Some is not all," he pointed out.

"—you said she was over here? Yn!"

Yours and Ten's heads turned and you watched as Changmin's eyes found yours in the crowded room. He began pushing his way toward you, sweat still dampening the strands of hair and falling into the collar of the dark blazer he wore for Light a Flame.

Ten snickered under his breath. "Well, I'm gonna go find Mark to get my flowers. Text me later, 'kay? Okay!"

Before you could blink, Ten had disappeared into the masses. You swore that man was so slippery sometimes.

You glanced back in the direction that you saw Changmin coming from,but when you couldn't find him, you frowned. It really was awfully hard to find people in here…

"Boo!"

You swore your soul left your body for five seconds. You whirled around, glaring daggers at the impish squirrel man who somehow ended up behind you. "You're such a menace."

Changmin grinned so wide it looked like even his dimples were strained. "Sorry," he wheezed, not sounding sorry at all. "The opportunity presented itself on a gold-plated platter."

"You should feel very lucky that I wasn't holding lemonade this time."

"Okay, but why were you drinking that without a cap on the cup? Did they not give you a plastic lid or something?"

You felt the corner of your mouth lift. How was it so easy to recall these things? "It's just the universe telling you to end your pranks."

He shrugged helplessly. "I can't help that you are so easy to sneak up on."

"You're gonna say that when I somehow heard you asking if I was in here from across the room?"

"That's because I let you hear that; there's a difference," he said, leaning against the corridor wall next to you. He looked you up and down, tongue darting out for a moment. "Thanks for coming tonight."

You leaned your shoulder against the wall next to him. "I enjoyed myself," you said in reply. "You did really well tonight though, Changmin. It was a great performance."

He grinned, and his tongue had to poke the inside of his cheek. "Just great?"

You raised your eyebrows at him and decided to bypass that question for the moment. "Did my friends give you your flowers?"

Changmin showed his empty hands and you deadpanned.

"What?" He giggled. "I'm just stating the obvious."

"You're so infuriating sometimes."

He gently bumped your shoulder with his. "Nothing new."

Nothing new, indeed. It was strange, actually, falling into this kind of easygoing, light-hearted banter. You'd seen how easy it was that night in the lab, but this was nice, you had to admit. Banter and arguing were two different things, you learned, and the latter always took such a toll on those involved.

How did the two of you stay away for so long? Maybe you were both too prideful, too afraid to break the ice.

Changmin's expression sobered a little as he observed your expression. "What're you thinking about?"

You blinked, glancing over at him. "Nothing, just…" Your voice lowered to something like a whisper, "I missed this." I missed you.

And as you met his eyes again, you knew that he had heard you. He swallowed, roughly. "Me too."

EPISODE THIRTEEN: OFF THE CUFF

THE quad was in bloom with the coming of spring and spring break. It was tradition at your university to take pictures and to take a stroll through the freshly bloomed cherry blossom trees lining the rectangular lawn. Only in spring did the trees reveal their beautiful, baby pink flowers, so it was optimal to go frolic amongst them while they were full.

Changmin had been dragged out by Chanhee. Well, he liked to say that Chanhee forced him outside, but in reality, Changmin had put just as much effort into his appearance today as Chanhee did, just not as formal. And luckily, it wasn't just the two best friends who were out with them among the crowd of people, but also the entirety of their friend group—plus the significant others, too.

"I hate this more than Valentine's Day," Sunwoo grumbled as he blew a curl out of his eyes. He was referring to the couples all around them taking pictures and holding hands and kissing.

"You're telling me," Kevin sighed as he messed with the settings on his camera for the pictures he wanted to take of the scenery. "At least on Valentine's Day, people won't photobomb you."

Sangyeon had his phone out and was already taking photos of the blooming flowers around him and in the trees. He suddenly turned his phone around, set at point five zoom. "Hey guys, look here and smile!"

Everyone in the shot (all the singles: Chanhee, Changmin, Sunwoo, Kevin, Juyeon, and Hyunjae) slapped smiles onto their faces. As soon as Sangyeon put the phone down, their smiles dropped.

"Who was that for?" Juyeon asked as he slung an arm around Sangyeon's shoulder to peer at the eldest's phone screen. He made a groaning noise before peeling away. "Ahhhh, 'The Girlfriend'. I see."

Sangyeon cocked a brow at him. "Have you finally accepted that I have a girlfriend?"

"Nope."

Sangyeon's eyes looked up and away in exasperation, before he shook his head and returned to doing whatever he was doing.

Changmin surveyed the crowded quad with disinterest. He scanned all of the faces present around him; too many to count that was for sure. Jacob and JC!Yn had separated from them almost immediately; Eric and his girlfriend were off being cute or something; Younghoon and his partner hadn't even traveled here with most of them; but at least Haknyeon and his significant other stayed with them for the first five minutes to make conversation about the dance showcase a few nights ago.

He sighed. That was how long ago it had been since he last saw you. (My god, he sounded like some kind of lovesick teenager, waiting by the landline for his lover to ring him up—)

On the other side of the quad, you and your friends had just arrived to do the same exact thing Changmin's friends were. But as soon as you saw the crowd, you were five seconds from simply giving up.

"We'd get like, one flower, and that's it," Seungkwan argued to Yeri who was trudging forward despite the load of people around.

Yeri huffed. "Not if you don't try, Boo Seungkwan."

He made a noise of disgruntlement, his head lifting up and nostrils flaring. "Oh my god—"

"Yn, my wife, defend my honor!"

You snapped up straight, tuning back into the conversation. Mark and Jungwoo trailed somewhere behind the three of you and if you weren't careful, you'd lose them, too. "Huh? Oh, well, Seungkwan…" Your voice trailed off, and your eyes wandered to a specific gathering of trees further down the lawn from where you currently were.

It was unfair how he was framed like a K-Drama shot: the slow motion pink petals drifting around him, his lithe body gracefully leaning against the dark bark of the cherry blossom tree, the green sweater vest layered over a white shirt and pants. You gulped—he looked way too pretty to just be standing there—

"—hello? Earth to Yn?" A hand was waving in front of your face and someone was poking your shoulder.

You shook away from them, eyes wide like a child with your hand caught in the cookie jar. "Huh?"

Seungkwan and Yeri sent you curious looks. "You were staring at Changmin," said Yeri, arms crossing over her chest.

Seungkwan let out a dramatically wistful, little sigh as he scratched the side of his head. "You're so lucky that Ten's not here; we are so very merciful compared to him."

You rolled your eyes, even though they were right. "I wasn't staring! I just—I couldn't tell if it was really him or not."

"Because I'm just so breathtakingly beautiful?"

"Definitely n—what the fuck," you yelped, nearly leaping out of your skin again at the right of Changmin's dimpled smile as he seemingly appeared out of thin air right next to you.

Changmin erupted into howling laughter, folding over onto his knees as he slapped his leg once, twice—

"You're not even that funny," you grumbled, side-eyeing both him and your friends. (Guess you really did lose Mark and Jungwoo…)

Seungkwan and Yeri did not hide their own laughs very well, but they definitely weren't knee-slapping themselves.

"How'd you even cover so much ground that fast?" You queried, whirling back on Changmin.

He lifted a shoulder in a half-hearted shrug, his hands resting in the pockets of pants as he stood in a relaxed posture. His skin was unfairly pretty in this lighting, like his smile. "I harnessed my inner squirrel."

"You mean your inner furry?"

Seungkwan and Yeri chose this moment to slip away, calling out something like "we're just gonna go walk a tree" before bowing out. Changmin feigned an expression of offense, pressing a hand to his chest. "Rude! It's called athleticism."

You wrinkled your nose. "Like you know what athleticism is."

"I'll race you to the stairs over there right now—HEY, CHEATER! I DIDN'T SAY GO—" Despite his indignant squawk, Changmin's cheeks hurt from how hard he grinned as he raced after you toward the stairs at the other end of the lawn.

— ✶

"So… no Ten today?"

After a daring race, you and Changmin settled on top of the stairs overlooking the entire lawn. The sun hung at golden hour position and painted the landscape and people below in beautiful, buttery gold wash. You even swore you saw Chanhee chasing after Sunwoo with a handful of loose cherry blossom petals, no doubt to dump into the latter's hair.

You looked over to where Changmin was leaning back onto his palms next to you. "This again?"

He pursed his lips. "Well, I mean," he drawled, "you guys are pretty close. I just figured you'd do this kind of thing together."

"That's fair," you conceded. "Uh, he's actually on a trip with a couple of his frat brothers this week. Something like backpacking in Switzerland."

Changmin gave an indulgent nod of his head. "Wow. Switzerland."

"I know, right?"

He peered out into the distance, eyes squinting against the strength of the sun, but he looked like an art piece nonetheless. “You and Ten aren’t, like, together? Are you?”

You tilted your head to the side. Interesting question. “No, we’re friends. I think in the beginning it might have felt like something on that level, but we’ve both—I think we’re both on the same page where we stand with each other.” You didn’t know why you were telling him so much; he’d only asked you a question. But speaking of being together with someone… You coughed, “Sumin told me what happened during the interview a couple weeks ago.”

Changmin smiled sheepishly, reaching up to scratch the back of his head. “Oh, ha, she did? I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised.”

“You really didn’t know?”

“That she liked me? No,” he laughed with a shake of his head. He leaned forward onto his knees then, turning his head to the side to look at you with his fingers laced over his knees. “Who do you take me for, hm? I couldn’t just assume she had a crush on me.”

You feigned a look of disagreement, and he gasped, shoving your upper arm playfully. “I’m not that bad!” He exclaimed.

“You could be that bad,” you teased.

You watched as his expression cooled and the air around the two of you shifted. There was an earnestness in his eyes now, emphasized by the brilliance of the setting sun reflecting across his smooth lines of his face. “Have you ever thought about, you know, like trying to dance again?”

You weren’t sure what prompted this change in subject, but you gave it a thought. “I definitely have,” you said honestly, “I just can’t really step into a practice room without getting nervous.” You picked at a stray thread on your pants as you spoke and felt his gaze on you. “That night—the one when you saw me in front of the performing arts hall really late at night—I was trying to get myself to go in. To at least… try, y’know. Maybe prove to myself that I could work up the courage to go in, but I couldn’t.”

Changmin was quiet for a moment. His knees angled themselves toward you, and he leaned forward so his chest practically laid over his legs. “I said a lot of bad things to you in senior year,” he said lowly. “They were stupid—I was stupid. And—and if your anxiety with practice rooms comes from me, then—”

“Changmin,” you interrupted and captured his attention. You shifted to mimic his body positioning, so your eyes were level and you were both just as small as the other. “I said really shitty things to you, too.”

“I told you that you should quit,” he rasped. He had to turn his head so you wouldn’t see the silver pooling in his eyes. “I’m sorry, Yn; I didn’t mean it. I didn’t mean any of it.”

You heard his sniffle over all of the chatter from the lawn below and you moved closer to him until your legs and arms were pressed together. You wrapped an arm around him, only for him to raise himself up and practically drape himself over you, his arms looped around your upper body and his face tucked into the side of your neck. Your heart tripped over itself in surprise, but you let yourself lean into his body heat.

“I’m sorry, too. I know you didn’t mean any of it. I didn’t mean any of what I said either.” You breathed for a moment and sighed, simply allowing him to stay in your arms for however long he needed. “I think,” you started, “even after three years, I still blame myself for letting all of that get to me. Sometimes, I want to go back in time and slap some sense into myself; maybe tell myself that I shouldn’t have let what my mom said bury itself so deep inside me. I mean… where would I be now had I not listened to her?”

Changmin pulled away then, resting his forearms on his legs again, but he didn’t back away from you. “You were just a kid, Yn. You can’t blame yourself.”

You rested your cheek against your fist. “I know. It’s hard not to, though.”

“I know.” He took another look at you, and you felt his eyes really take you in for a moment. The corner of his lips lifted. “Are you happy?”

“With?”

“With how you turned out? Where you ended up?”

You held your breath. It was a good question, and as you turned to search yourself inwardly, you came to a couple of conclusions. “In a way, I am. It’s probably just bitterness and regret I feel when I wonder what could have been, but maybe things happen for a reason.”

He nodded, his hand reaching up to pick out a stray leaf that had fallen into your hair. “We can always make up for lost time now,” he said. “We never did get to finish that duet.”

EPISODE FOURTEEN: [GET] OFF THE GROUND

THE next day, you found yourself standing outside the back door to the performing arts building. Because it was spring break, a large helping of the student population had abandoned campus as soon as their finals were over, leaving the place barren except for the area with the cherry blossoms. You stood next to Changmin, the latter holding his bag by the strap over his shoulder. You had been staring at the door for more than a minute now, trying to slow the palpitations of your heart.

“We can leave whenever you want to,” he murmured to you, the back of his hand nudging yours. “Let’s just try.”

You got yourself to nod.

The hallways were uncharacteristically quiet compared to the previous couple of times you had been back here. Since there was no one else here, you and Changmin got to pick whichever practice room you wanted. The largest one was the winner, and the lights flickered on to wash the shadows away. You immediately moved to one side of the room to set your things down, and Changmin went to his corner by the speaker. He was already hooking up his phone to the aux cord, but kept one eagle-eye on you as you inhaled the sight of the empty room around you.

As usual, your throat began closing in on itself, and you coaxed yourself into taking deep breaths.

You started out on the floor in front of the mirror, your legs crossed over each other and Changmin’s phone in your hands. Changmin had shouldered off his white athletic jacket, and began stretching as you swiped through the selection of music on his phone. The two of you collectively agreed for you to start off just watching. Once you were comfortable in the practice room environment, and if you wanted to dance, you would join him whenever you were ready. If you were never ready, then you could continue to just watch him and cheer him on during the practice.

You watched him card a hand through his hair as he peered at himself in the mirror behind you. “I always thought this mirror made you vain,” you chuckled, your hand having settled into your lap instead of at the base of your throat.

He furrowed his brows at you. His hands rested on his hips, the muscle in his forearms emboldening from the action. “Rude. I think you were the one who made me vain.”

“The fuck? How so?” You challenged.

“You always said you admired my facial expressions and my pretty smile,” he grinned at your reaction, snickering to himself. “Did you pick a song yet?”

You watched him dance. For the first few songs that played on shuffle, he was simply warming up his body and freestyling to whatever he heard. You knew Changmin was no stranger to people watching him dance, but there was something still so intimate about watching him in this space. You could watch him create things like magic, as well as watch him fumble and laugh at his own misgivings. Except, instead of doing it all by himself, his eyes would find yours and smile.

Next quarter, Changmin was supposedly signed on to be a TA for one of the dance courses, so he asked for your opinion on a few of his ideas for choreographies he could teach.

After showing you his second idea, he gestured to you then looked back at himself in the mirror. “What do you think? I’m not sure if writing something for each nuance in the beat would be a bit too much or if it’s something that should be used as a challenge routine.”

You hummed in understanding. “Well, if it’s an intermediate dance course, then I think it could be worked up to. Are these people dance majors or… maybe minoring in dance?”

He nodded when you said the latter. “Supposedly, they aren’t necessarily dance majors. But yeah, I agree—it could probably be brought out later in the quarter instead.” He made a motion with his hand as he backpedaled a couple steps to give himself more room between you and him. “Could you rewind to the first verse again? I wanna see something.”

You obliged him and rewinded the song to his desired timestamp. He tried out another possible set of choreo, but ended up stopping halfway through the chorus.

Again and again, you rewinded the song for him to try something new, but each time, he was met with his own dissatisfaction.

You suddenly stood, setting his phone on the ground with the song having been rewinded just slightly before the intended timestamp. Your hands were shaky and your heart was probably beating at an unhealthy speed, but you needed to try out something.

Changmin’s eyes opened wide as you came to stand next to him, but he said nothing. Instead, he let you loosely show him what you had concocted in your head while watching him go through trial after trial.

Before you knew what was happening, the two of you were weaving your ideas together, taking pieces of his original choreography and amending it with yours. You had watched him from the beginning so many times that you didn’t need long to pick up on the rest. By the end, the two of you had danced the entirety of the song together, your chest rising and falling fast with the speed of your breath.

Changmin released an exclamatory yell, thrusting his fist to the ceiling, then clasping your hand with his. “Let’s go! I really like that, Yn,” he said with his face split by a shit-eating grin.

Your heart was bursting again, not with nerves, but something you hadn’t felt in a long, long time. You brushed the hair from your eyes, a satisfied beam set on your face. “I like it, too.”

There was a sheen akin to pride in his eyes. “I wanna show you something,” he said, walking over to his phone with a skip in his step. “Stay there! I wanna teach you this bit of choreo that’s been living in my head for a while now.”

And so, you followed Changmin’s instructions as he put on a groovy-type beat. The routine was simple enough—looks-wise. But if you knew anything about the things Changmin choreographed, the difficulty was all in the subtlety and technique. When you were younger, the appeal between you and Changmin as partners were that you were practically foils for each other. While Changmin ruled the arena of sharp, focused isolations and movements, your area of expertise laid in bigger, fuller movements like that of a brushstroke. When you had watched Juyeon and Changmin’s performance during the winter showcase, you supposed that was why they were able to complement each other well. It was essentially what you and Changmin were, in combination.

The longer you and Changmin danced, the more your chest filled with air and warmth and love and happiness. The guilt and fear from before had melted away to reveal this suppressed portion of you that had been hidden for a long time.

At some point, the two of you were just messing around, and ended up sprawled on the polished wood floor of the practice room clutching your stomachs while choking on laughter.

Changmin rolled onto his side, eyes still squinted in delight as he tried to get a grip of his breathing. “Is your back okay?” He managed to wheeze between gasps and howls.

You wiped a tear that crept out from your eye. “No! I just tried carrying a fifty-something-kg man on my back. Do you think I’m okay?”

“In my defense,” he said, peering down at you as he rose into a sitting position and leaned back onto his palms, “you claimed you were stronger than me and could be the base.”

“A warning would have been nice!” You exclaimed. You rolled onto your stomach, laying your chin over your arms. “No one in their right mind just jumpscares people like that.”

“Have you met me?”

“Fair enough.”

A remnant of that merriment remained on his lips as he felt around the floor around him for where his phone had fallen out of his pants pocket. He caught a glimpse of the time, sighing, then raking a hand through his hair. “It’s already one o’clock. Are you hungry? Wanna get lunch or something?”

“Sure, what do you feel like?” You asked, eyes following his movements as he clambered up to his feet and tucked his phone back into his pocket.

He pressed his lips together in thought, humming, “Dunno. Fast food maybe?”

You rolled into a sitting position, similar to the one he had been in just moments before. “Okay.”

“Come on; let’s get up then.” He offered a hand out to you, and you clasped his forearm tightly.

In one fell motion, Changmin swept you upright and to your feet—but he used a little too much pulling force, and you were stumbling into him, palms pressed flat against his chest, and his arms coming around your waist. You held your breath as the two of you fought to stabilize the other.

“Shit, sorry about that,” he muttered from above you with a low chuckle.

You opened your mouth to reply, but as you raised your head to meet his eyes and not just his Adam’s apple, you lost all your breath. There was barely a hairsbreadth distance between your face and his. Changmin came to the same determination as you had and his eyes went wide.

A curious thing happened. His pupils dilated, and his eyes darted down to your mouth and his tongue swiped over his own to dampen them.

Your breath as you exhaled was as unsteady as your heart rate.

You felt his hold on your tighten slightly; his Adam’s apple bobbed. And then he was leaning forward, his eyes fluttering closed—

He kissed you then.

His lips were soft over your own with the slightest bit of pressure, nose nudging the side of your cheek.

Your hands moved up the plane of his chest to grasp his toned shoulders; he shifted his left hand to cradle the back of your head.

Wait, what is happening—

You both pulled away, as if the same thought had echoed through both of your heads at the same time.

Panic leapt into the two of you and you jolted away when the distinct sound of Boss by some group called Neo Culture Technology blasted throughout the quiet practice room.

"Fuck," you swore. You glanced back at Changmin and saw the question, the uncertainty, the—you couldn't even tell. Your mind was everywhere and nowhere at once. You could still feel his mouth on yours. "That—that's Doyoung's ringtone. I have to take this."

"Okay," he whispered inaudibly, and you slipped out from his hold.

With your back to him, he rubbed his hands down his face and an indescribable emotion seized his chest. He rubbed a thumb over his lips…

"Doyoung, you need to calm down," you said as Doyoung's voice quite literally rambled at lightspeed into your ear.

You heard your friend take one deep breath, then repeat, "I think one of these final draft files are corrupted. I'm freaking the fuck out right now, and I know you're not out of town, so if you could please—for the sake of my sanity—come to the office and help me!" He was pleading, begging, and Kim Doyoung did not beg. He sounded like one hair-pull from dropping down to his knees.

In any other context, you would have wanted to record this for the history books. Any other context.

Your eyes darted over to Changmin who was still standing in the middle of the room, hands tucked into his pockets, and gaze pinned to you.

You couldn't just—leave? Could you? Not after that—

Then you caught Changmin nodding his head in the direction of the door, his head cocking to the side in silent question. Do you need to go? He mouthed.

You pursed your lips with a reluctant nod. Something's wrong with the paper.

Then go. We'll talk after.

Talk. Yup. You started grabbing your things and you squeezed your phone between your ear and shoulder. "—okay okay, Doyoung. Can you stop wasting your energy for me, and tell me exactly what the screen is telling you?"

You began making your way to the door, but halted in the doorway. You hesitated, turning back to look at Changmin. You really shouldn't leave—but you had to.

"Yn."

You grabbed your phone and pressed the speaker into your shoulder. "Yes?" It sounded breathless.

Desperation gleamed like silver in his eyes. One did not often see that emotion from Ji Changmin. "Don't shut me out."

EPISODE FIFTEEN: OFF THE BOOKS

THE first person that came to mind was Choi Chanhee. "What—"

"I kissed her!" Changmin blurted, hand slapping over his mouth.

"You what?!"

— ✶

You were breathless, brain muddled, a hot mess of a shitshow, when you got to the Daily. The rest of the Board members were on break, including your resident tech expert, so you had assured Doyoung that you were free if he needed anything. (If you weren't deeply regretting that now though.)

You had fast walked all the way from the performing arts center to the Daily's newsroom, effectively cutting travel time down from ten minutes to seven, even with your bag of items. Though, it definitely didn't help your headspace. You could hardly think about Changmin, the kiss, and a corrupted file all at the same time. Not to mention, you finally managed to wrangle Doyoung off the phone with you so he could go splash water on his face to calm the fuck down.

The newsroom was dark when you got there, but you saw the light from Doyoung's office shining down the corridor. He was seated behind his desk, his expression a lot more calm than he sounded from the phone, but his face and bangs were a bit damp, meaning he had actually gone to wash his face. Good.

He saw you trudging down the hall, your baby hairs flying everywhere, and your breath coming out in pants. He noticed the bag slung over your shoulder and had the nerve to ask, "Oh, were you on the way somewhere?"

You sent him a pained stare and collapsed into the chair on the opposite side of his desk.

"You look stressed."

"Changmin and I kissed."

Doyoung's eyes nearly fell out of his head and his body was half an inch from falling out of his chair. "HUH?"

Your head craned back against the back of the chair. "I know."

"Girl, why are you here then?"

"You said it was an emergency!" You cried, straightening. You didn't even acknowledge the fact that Doyoung had just called you "girl". "Now, let's work this file situation out."

Doyoung moved his laptop further away from you. "Oh, nuh-uh, Missy. You're gonna just send me your copy, and then you're gonna go on your merry way back to Mr. Dancer Man and kiss him again."

Your face scrunched up. "Hello?" What was in the sink water in this building…

"Did you talk about it? Are you two dating now?"

"Doyoung," you whined, scrubbing a hand over your face, "you literally called right after we kissed."

Doyoung made a noise of disappointment. "Damn, I'm never gonna live this down."

"Seungkwan's gonna call you a cockblocker for the rest of your life," you muttered in agreement.

He snorted. "You said it, not me." He sobered then, closing the lid of his laptop so he could lace his fingers over it and fix you with a serious expression. "So how do you feel? Tell me what happened."

You twisted and dropped your bag to the ground by your feet, moving your chair closer to the desk so you could drape your upper half on top of the cool surface. "We were dancing—"

"Really?"

"Mhm," you hummed against the table. "It was… it was really nice, Doie. I actually had fun. And then we just—I don't even know—we played around a little and he was helping me up off the ground, and suddenly we were kissing."

Doyoung's brows furrowed together. "Ah, I see. Did he kiss you or did you kiss him?"

"He kissed me, but I didn't stop him." You could recall the look in his eyes with a striking amount of clarity. "I… I don't really know what it all means, or what it means to me. I'm a little confused, if I'm honest."

He sighed. "And that's okay. I think this is something you definitely need to go back and talk to him about though, hm?"

"Yeah."

"But Yn," he continued, reaching over to rub the top of your head and get you to look up, "did you ever have feelings for the guy?"

You slowly raised yourself up from the table with a frown on your face. "When I was a kid, I didn't really see anyone else but him," you confessed, almost unconsciously. You hadn't known what the feeling you harbored for him was back then, but maybe you could seek to understand it now.

Doyoung made a vague gesture with his hand as he sat back in his chair. "Well, that's a start for sure. But you and he have been on rocky terrain for years now. You're not kids anymore and a lot of things have changed." He was right, in some sense. You and Changmin had spent three years convincing yourselves you didn't need each other. Perhaps it had been the opposite the entire time, but what did it all mean?

"I'm glad to have him in my life again," you said quietly. "I think I've always felt… different about Changmin than any other friend I've had before, y'know? It was just unconscious in a way."

"Would you want to act on that then? See where it goes?"

You let his questions resonate around your head for a minute. But the more you thought about it, the more certain you became of your answer.

— ✶

The back corridors of the performing arts hall were just as dark as it was when you had left. For a moment, you were afraid that Changmin had left. But as you neared the practice room from earlier, you could make out the sounds of voices drifting from the cracked open door of the room.

You strained your ears—who was that with Changmin?

You reached the door, quietly pressing yourself against the wall to peer in through the cracked doorway. There, sitting opposite Changmin on the practice room floor, was Chanhee.

"—think about it, Changmin," said Chanhee as he dropped his friend by the shoulders to keep him from sulking. "She kissed you back. Don't you think that means something?"

"She could've just been caught up in the moment," Changmin countered. "She could've—" He made a frustrated noise and threw his hands out in front of him, "Maybe I just don't want to be disappointed."

Chanhee frowned. "Disappointed… that she doesn't return your feelings? Changmin, can you be honest with me for a second?"

He gave a solemn nod.

"Those feelings you had for her when you were a kid—have they ever gone away?"

You had to back away from the door and press your palm against your mouth. But because of that, you weren't able to catch Changmin's answer. Your heart slammed against your ribcage, your hands shaking as your thoughts raced in your head. You had to open the door now. You'd already intruded when you eavesdropped on their conversation.

Sucking in a breath, you pushed the door open wider. No going back now.

Changmin and Chanhee were both frozen in place when you poked your head into the room. The former paled in the warm-toned practice room lights, and you saw him gulp.

"Yn!" Chanhee laughed nervously as he and his friend both scrambled to their feet. His car keys jangled noisily from where they hung on a clip from his belt loop. "Uhm, I think I should leave," he said, clearing his throat and brushing past you.

You grabbed your arm as you shuffled into the room and gently kicked the door closed behind you.

Changmin cupped the back of his neck. "How much did you hear?" He asked, not even bothering to hide the open glisten in his eyes, the pure vulnerability lying stark on his face. It felt like you were seventeen again, standing alone together in the practice room, not really sure what the other person would say or do or feel.

"What did Chanhee mean by you having feelings for me when we were kids?" You asked.

The silence was palpable. "You really didn't know?"

No, you shook your head, definitely not. "I—I mean, no. Not really. I guess I always thought… I don't know what I thought."

He braced both hands behind his head now, his eyes tilted back toward the ceiling. "Yn," he said before looking you in the eyes again, "every time I saw you, I saw someone who put the fucking stars in the sky. If you watch any of our videos from back then—" He pushed out a haggard breath from his mouth. "I could never not care for you, could never stop caring for you. It hurt a lot when we stopped being us because I thought I…"

His hands fell to his sides, helpless. "I thought I lost you. And then it felt like you hated me, so I tried to hate you, too. And then we worked shit out. And then…" Changmin brushed his bangs back and was unable to look you in the eyes for longer than a second with each glance. "I'm sorry I kissed you. I don't want to lose you again, Yn."

Your heart thundered in your ears so loud that you almost thought he could hear it, even from so far away. You got yourself to take a step forward, and then another.

Changmin waited as you walked closer to him, his lips pressed together.

You inhaled. "Changmin, I can't say for sure what I felt for you back then, and I definitely can't articulate my feelings for you as well as you just did—" His eyes clashed with yours, that energy colliding, "—but I'm not sorry you kissed me, or that I kissed you."

You thought you heard his breath hitch for a moment.

"I don't want to lose you again, either," you said and tentatively reached for his hands. Never in your years of knowing him had you known a moment where his fingers trembled like they did now. "And I—I really want to see where this goes. Would you want to see where this goes with me?"

His fingers curled around yours as he nodded. "Yes."

EPISODE SIXTEEN: OFF [MY] FACE

"WHAT about that one?"

"Don't touch that one."

"Will it burn my skin off?" Changmin asked in a sleepy daze as one hand rubbed his eye and the other reached for the gallon of liquid that sat behind a locked cabinet with a clearly marked DO NOT TOUCH. DANGER. plastered on the side.

"Yes," you said without looking up from your organic chemistry textbook.

Changmin's hand dropped immediately and he turned to send a look your way. "Well, that's not very safe."

His hoodie-covered head began bumbling back over to you through the maze of workbenches. It was the first week back to school from spring break, thus, the very first week of the spring quarter. You and Changmin were currently in your regular lab space that you unofficially dubbed your study area. Kun was in the break room probably half asleep over a bag of shrimp chips, and Ten… Ten was somewhere around here. Maybe he got lost down the hallway looking for the bathroom or something.

Changmin had come to hang out with you though, even though he was practically a walking baby giraffe as drowsiness possessed his whole being. But he insisted on staying until you went home.

"It's actually just distilled water," you said with a chuckle. "The lab professors just don't want people using it because for some reason, the convenience stores around here are always out, and they don't want to go hunting for more."

You felt him drape over your back with a fwump. "I love when you talk dirty to me," he said through a rather large yawn.

You grinned to yourself, shaking your head. "Okay, I think we need to get you home."

"Not before you take me to dinner first."

"Are you sure you're not drunk?"

You packed your things up quickly, especially when you saw Changmin nodding off while standing upright. It was already around nine o'clock by the time you said good night to Kun and located Ten (yeah, he'd gone looking for the bathroom and almost gotten locked in a supply closet instead).

Changmin tried to convince you he was okay to drive, but by the way he couldn't even figure out that his keys were hanging on his belt loop, it was safe to say that you were driving tonight. The drive over to Changmin and Chanhee's apartment was an easy one since they lived in the university district and the streets were quite barren at this point. You helped him up to the apartment, greeting Chanhee who was in a fluffy pink robe and matching headband.

"Hi Chanhee," you sighed as you pushed Changmin into the bathroom to shower.

Chanhee looked on in ill-concealed amusement. "He'll be much better after he showers," he reassured you from his perch on the couch. You saw the page-long math problems spread out on the coffee table and held in a gag.

"Dear god, I hope so."

Chanhee directed you to where Changmin's room was and you dumped both yours and his backpacks on the floor by his desk. You actually had yet to step foot in here until now, so while Changmin was doing his thing in the bathroom, you let your eyes roam all around the room. It was relatively clean (emphasis on relatively) with walls that were minimally decorated. There was a whole separate rack of shirts and jackets left outside the small wardrobe, and you recognized a couple of them.

You leaned over his desk to see what he had posted on the wall above it. There were a couple dozen printed photographs of him and his friends, as well as an award or two that were big in name and no doubt special to him. You felt yourself smile; you didn't have to be up here, but you liked seeing his smile in all of these pictures.

And then you saw it.

There was a printed copy of a review pinned amongst the pandemonium of memorabilia. The layout of the page was incredibly familiar, and with widened eyes, you realized that it was a review from the Daily's Opera Glasses.

In fact, as you squinted and skimmed, it was your review from freshman year. It was your (anonymous) review about his debut winter showcase performance.

Wow.

You barely registered Changmin shuffling into the room in slippers and a bathrobe of his own, his dark hair still dripping with water.

He passed you a glance while heading for his wardrobe. "Hey, do you wanna stay over?"

You definitely weren't prepared for that question. "Stay over?" You parroted dumbly. "Also, you have an Opera Glasses review printed out?" Your hand gestured to the sheet of paper pinned to the wall.

Changmin's head turned and he abandoned the wardrobe to walk over to you and his desk. You pressed yourself against the wall to the side to give him space to look. "Ah," he said with a boyish grin, "that was yours, wasn't it?"

"How the hell could you tell?"

He leaned in close to you, bracing an arm above your head. The smell of his shampoo was strong and you came to the realization that he was still in a bathrobe. His tongue darted out to wet his lips. "You don't think I could tell what your writing voice sounded like?" He asked, his voice suddenly lowered.

You inched forward, a dare. "Are you gonna get dressed, Changmin?"

His smile widened. "I could," he teased.

"Hey! Can you guys close the door or keep it down? Some of us are single and have math homework!"

Both you and Changmin laughed at Chanhee's outburst even though your face was definitely heated up.

Changmin took advantage of your unassuming state and pressed his mouth to yours, tasting your laughter on his tongue until you could only taste his in return. It was a dizzying sort of kiss, his arm still above you and his other curled around your waist.

When he pulled away, he bit his lip around a smirk. "I'll get changed now."

Criminal. Absolutely criminal.

He indeed got changed. And so did you. Apparently, he was being serious about you staying the night, and soon enough, you found yourself buried beneath his covers and swept in his very clingy arms. Not that you were complaining; he smelled nice.

You and Changmin laid facing each other in the darkness of his room. Round spectacles sat awkwardly on his nose bridge since the side of his face was pressed against the pillow, but he said he wouldn't take them off until he was just about to drift off.

"Yn-ie."

"Hm?"

He giggled, turning over and reaching over the side of his bed for something. You were about to question what he was doing until he quite literally shoved his wretched Chucky doll into your face.

"What the flying fuck—" You glared at the toy and its creepy stitched face. You had been startled by it, but you had grown used to it after having to deal with his obsession with the damn thing in the last two years of high school.

Changmin hugged the abomination to his chest as he snickered loudly.

"I thought you got rid of that thing."

"You clearly don't know me well enough."

You began to sit up and make a show of throwing off the covers. "I'm leaving—"

"Wait, wait, wait!" He blubbered, grabbing your upper arm and yanking you back down onto the bed next to him.

He leaned over you, his Chucky doll still tucked in the crook of his arm, as Changmin pouted. The glasses were practically sliding off his nose and his hair was sticking up in the back. What a duality. "I don't want you to leave."

"I'm not cuddling with Chucky, Changmin."

"But—"

"I will go ask Chanhee for an extra blanket."

Changmin's pout contorted into a scowl. "I'll murder him."

You wanted to laugh at the ridiculousness of this conversation. "I think you need to go to sleep."

He flopped back onto the bed next to you, reluctantly setting Chucky back down on the floor next to the bed where the wretched thing had been hiding this whole time. You suppressed a shiver.

Finally able to breathe easy, you settled back into Changmin's arms. He tucked you against his chest, his chin settled on top of your head. You felt him shift as he took his glasses off and reached behind him to set them on the nightstand.

You were just drifting off to sleep to the melody of his heart beat when: "Yn?"

"Hm?"

His lips pressed to the crown of your head. "I missed you."

You knew what he meant. You pressed a kiss to his chest and heard the shuddering breath that fell from his lips. "I missed you, too."

EPISODE SEVENTEEN (EPILOGUE): [ON OUR TERMS]

THE problem with the restaurant was that it reminded you of something like the word "home". The sign above the door was made with some common font that one could find on Microsoft Word and you were pretty sure they only took cash, too. There was a reason you had chosen this restaurant in particular, and it was because you thought that eating at a place with your comfort foods would, well, comfort you. But you had been staring at the front for a minute or two now, and you weren't sure it was working.

From beside you, you felt someone take your hand in his. "We don't have to go in," said Changmin, his expression blank and reserved as he looked at the eatery, but softened a considerable amount when he looked over at you.

Your mother was waiting for you in there, somewhere. You wanted to finally talk to her—maybe make some peace with yourself. You'd told Changmin about it, and he insisted on coming as moral support.

You squeezed his hand and he squeezed back. "I can't just not go, Changmin."

His touch was gentle as his thumb grazed over the back of your knuckles, just as gentle as his voice was, "You don't owe her anything, Yn. You deserve an apology from her and you deserve closure, but you don't owe her anything. Not after what she put you through."

You were quiet for a moment and your free hand brushed over the hollow of your throat where the tightening sensation was.

Changmin added, "I'll support whatever decision you come to."

You considered the restaurant again. It had always held a great amount of significance and comfort for you. Did you want to ruin that with a potentially sour conversation? For all you knew, this could end incredibly poorly.

But… there were some things that needed to be done.

You steeled your resolve. "Ready?"

Changmin, all dapper in his dress shirt and pants and styled hair, flashed you a dimpled smile. "Whenever you are."

a/n: wow ... anyways lol thanks for getting through that madness, and hope u enjoyed!! pls do consider reblogging, commenting, or sending an ask to my inbox teehee i would really appreciate it ! now, onto hyunjae's ! >:)

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