#when i was in high school the best literature class i had | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

classypauli · 2 months

Text

She’s the Man

Pairing: Jenna Ortega x fem Reader A/N: I don’t even have words, I definitely wasn’t expecting this feedback, you guys made my day. Thank you for all the likes, rebloggs and comments!! You are the best!! Warning: alcohol, drunk people, grammar mistakes, bad punctuation in complex sentences, spelling errors Word count: 4.8k

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Y/N was walking down the hallway with Mason, they didn´t share many classes except literature. It was one of her favorite classes. Y/N becomes a little nerd if someone asks her about history, paintings, architecture, or literature. When she was a kid, she wasn´t into this kind of things. She used to do a lot of sports and her grades weren´t great but also not worse.

When she started to go to a high school she stopped. Her grades became better and soon she was topping most of her classes. Her classmates saw her as someone intelligent, she wasn´t just book smart, she had good opinions and when she started talking people listened to her, she didn´t know why, maybe because she didn´t talk much so they became interested in her talking.

But she never talked about herself. She was always trying to avoid any questions about her. Y/N didn´t know why she did that. She felt more secure that way, less on target. She likes to keep things like this together. When she used to tell someone about her problems she didn´t feel relief, it was the opposite, she was scared that it wouldn´t end with that person or that they actually didn´t care and just listened to her cause they didn´t want to be impolite. So she found peace in her silence.

When she struggled she picked up a pen and notebook. She kept writing and writing until she forgot why she started. She never read it. Felt ashamed of her words and her feelings. She wasn’t alone after all, she had her family and brother, so why did she still feel so lonely? Y/N knew she wasn´t good with words but she wanted to be better.

When she became older she found herself in poems. Sometimes she was writing about her feelings, other times she was writing about things she likes, saw during the day, or just about her day. In some way they made her realize that being focused on bad things won´t bring her good feelings. And she felt stupid, of course, it was like this but talking about it and behaving according to it were two different things.

„How was your weekend?“ Mason asked as they walked side by side to their class, passing by some of their football teammates, shooting them nods.

„It was pretty good, got some sleep, how about you?“ she shot him a glance. Y/N still can´t believe that someone like him exists, he is so kind and helpful. Today after school they are having practice, she was kind of on the edge of her toes because on saturday they have the game but Mason supported her and calmed her nerves.

„Me too, there was a party going on, it was quite good but it would be even better if you were there.“

They walked into a class and took a seat, chatting about some festival going on this week when suddenly Percy came into a class. He saw her shot her a quick nod and started to make his way to them.

„Hey, Charlie! I didn´t see you almost all weekend!“ Yeah, they were always avoiding each other but not on purpose, Y/N was always somewhere and when she came to the dorm Percy wasn´t there yet, he was sleeping or it was the other way around.

He turned to Mason but didn´t say anything. It was weird, like some tension between them. They just kept looking at each other till Percy asked her about her Friday night.

„How was your hang out with your teammates?“

Mason shot her a questionable look but Percy didn´t seem to notice that. Y/N got stuck. Now there was no way she could keep lying because clearly, Mason was sitting beside her, she could say that she felt sick so she canceled the plans or-

„It was great.“ Mason said from beside her. „Why are you interested? You wanted to join us?“ he asked and kept looking at him for an answer. Y/N knew he didn´t mean the question that way but silently thanked him for saving her. Percy looked at him, stunned, as he wasn´t expecting his statement.

„No, of course not.“ After that, he walked away somewhere behind them to find a free chair to sit on. Mason looked at “Charlie” again with a slightly raised eyebrow.

„I´m not going to ask, if you want to tell me you can, just so you know, I don´t want to force you.“ He said softly. Mason can see the way his teammate is. How she only talks when someone asks her something. He sees how she acts and holds herself. He also can see that something is off but can´t really say what. But still, he has this urge to hold a protective wing above his new friend.

„Thank you, Mason.“ Y/N shot a small smile his way and he gave it back to her. Class began and she can only hope that Percy will forget about their small but tense interaction.

Soon the mentioned festival came. Y/N was walking around by herself not really sure where to head to. There were all the students from her school running around. She saw Georgie on the bench, he was holding big candy floss in his hand looking excited at it. The girl wanted to laugh at him, he looked really funny. Slowly she came to him with a small teasing smile on her face.

„Aren´t you a little too old for this?“ Y/N asked him looking at his change of face at her question.

„There is not something like an age barrier in eating cotton candy!“ Georgie shouted and turned his face around, acting angry at her. Of course, he was right, she liked it too, she just saw the opportunity and took it.

„Yeah, believe whatever you want“ Y/N smiled „Where is the rest?“ she was hitting on Hunter, the two boys were always together, they truly were like brothers, always bickering but supportive of each other. Percy was also a lot of time by their side but Hunter and Georgie were glued by the hip.

„I don´t know I´m waiting for him.“ He said as Y/N slowly took a seat by him. „And what brings you here? Shouldn´t you train for your upcoming match?“ he looked her way.

„Today we have a free day, coach was talking about him having some show at the festival.“ Y/N was looking forward to her match and wanted to be ready, hoping he would let her play for at least a couple of minutes. She wanted to find out how her body would react. She was a little nervous but this stress was healthy. It kept her going.

„Me and Hunter will come to watch you.“ The girl looked at him shocked. He was eating his candy floss with his fingers all sticky.

„You like something else besides eating and taking photography?“ she teased him and he looked at her with lowered eyebrows.

„I didn´t say I enjoy watching it, I just want to see how you lose your first game.“ Georgie laughed then Y/N punched his shoulder. „Ouch! I was only joking you know!“

She stopped and looked around her, feeling like someone was watching her and she was right. There was a girl not so far, looking at her with folded arms and a smirk on her face. She had long brown hair and was short. She started to make her way to the two of them. Y/N straightened her back and waited for what this girl had to say.

„Hey, I don´t think we know each other but my roommate talks a lot about you.“

Now that made the girl sitting on the bench stop. Roommate? She had never seen this girl and Y/N wasn´t sure where she should know her roommate from. The only girl she talks to is Jenna but she´s almost sure that she has no reason to talk about her.

„She is working in the photo booth, I´m sure she would be on top of the roof if you came to see her.“ She still has that teasing smile on her face.

„Uhm... yeah, sure“ Y/N lets out looking at Georgie who´s trying to hold his laugh. The girl left and he lets it out.

„Shut your mouth and keep eating.“ She hissed at him but he only continued with his laugh.

Soon she found Mason and some of her other teammates, they talked about the game how excited are they and how they would smash their opponent. Her brother called her again, saying how his tour was going and he wished her luck. Their parents luckily aren´t suspicious so everything is going according to plan. She takes her walk around the festival, looking at all kinds of booths and how people are enjoying themselves. She stopped by one and just stared, she saw Jenna, and she sat in one of the booths on her face her significant smile. Suddenly the brown eyed girl looked up and saw Y/N. She smiles wider and she indicates with her eyes at the side of the booth. Y/N slowly walks there are is greeted with Jenna´s hug. This was the first time they hugged and Y/N couldn´t focus on anything. She was shocked by the girl´s body language but also glad cause this meant their friendship became stronger.

„Hey, I was looking forward to seeing you today.“ Jenna backed her way out of their hug and looked up at her, still with their bodies close to one another. Y/N looked where they were and she saw that Jenna was working in a... photo booth.

„Uhm... yeah? Why? Do you need something?“ the other girl asked looking down at her again.

„No, I just wanted to see you.“ There goes her dimples again. They are so cute. Her whole face is too pretty. Y/N wanted to say something but was cut off by another voice.

„Hey football player glad you finally decided to come.“ She turned to Jenna „I found her when I went to the toilet, couldn´t hold myself from inviting her to our booth.“ She shot her teasing smile. Jenna face palmed herself, she could already imagine how she approached you and what she said. Gideon was like that, she is a big matchmaker but also really attentive and sweet when it's convenient.

„Charlie this is Gideon, Gideon Charlie.“ She pointed her hand from one to another.

„Hey Charlie, I heard a lot of things about you.“ She smirked and Jenna pushed her away, awkwardly looking around as she stood in front of Y/N.

„Ehm...so, I heard you have an upcoming game this Saturday, are you excited yet?“ the shorter girl asked as she looked at her feet, arms folded. Y/N found her cute right now, how she couldn´t look at her like she did before her roommate interrupted them.

„I pretty am, even though I don´t even know if I will play, I´ve been training only two weeks, and I’m not sure if the coach will let me play.“ She shook her shoulders.

„Oh I´m sure you will be playing, you are one of the best on your team.“ Jenna winked at Y/N and smiled at her. „I saw you a couple of times.“

Now, Jenna was acting as if she had seen her just a couple of times but the truth is, she saw her every practice. She doesn´t know why, at first she just went there cause she didn´t feel like going straight to her dorm, but when she saw you she knew that she wanted to see you again. You were so good. You acted like a totally different person on the field, you were confident and energetic, and your every move was calculated. You could easily catch someone´s attention. You caught Jenna´s attention.

Y/N felt a lot more confident because of Jenna´s words. She wasn´t the first person who said this to her.

„Will you come to see us?“

„Are you inviting me to watch you on your game?“ Jenna teased her.

„Well, if you already have some plans you don´t have to, I mean you probably have better things to do than to watch some stinky players running around the field chasing the ba-“ Y/N didn´t even finish her sentence and the other girls cut her off.

„I will come“ Jenna wouldn´t miss your first game, she was excited to see you being competitive. There was something about you that was always bringing her thoughts to you. You were such a good listener, a soft speaker, and intelligent. She doesn´t think she has ever met someone like you in her life. You were like a fresh air to her stereotypical life. She wanted to be with you cause every time you are together, you give her something new.

Jenna watched Y/N. She couldn’t tear her eyes off her. You were like someone else like they switched you. In-person, you were sweet, quiet, caring, and soft. On the field, you were almost aggressive but not in a bad way, you knew what you were doing. This was definitely your alter ego and Jenna was here for every second of it, you put on quite a show. Running back and forth in your jersey, defending than attacking, the ball moved exactly where you wanted it to move. You were fast, probably the fastest one on the field.

Jenna enjoyed it so much. She used to play football when she was a kid with her family when they spent time together and also in school. But that was a long time ago, she may not play it anymore but she still likes to watch it.

The girl moved her eyes as you got the ball on your foot and started to run trying to get near the opponent's net. Players trying to stop you, running after you, trying to slide their way to you, nothing works. When you got near the goal area you tried your luck and shot the ball into the net. The opponent's goalkeeper couldn’t see the ball because of his teammates standing in front of him, making the ball straight to the top corner. Whistle. Goal.

Jenna stood up clapping her hands big smile on her face as she watched you running to your teammates to celebrate your success. The whole tribune of the students from your school is clapping, yelling supportive words, happy that they are winning against a different university. Your coach is standing near the field with his arms folded and a proud smile on his face. It was definitely a good idea to put you in the first lineup.

“Charlie! That was so good!” Mason tapped your back, he had the biggest smile, and he was so happy for you. You were a big talent.

The game went on and it was almost the end, Y/N became calmer because they were leading. She shot her gaze a couple of times at the tribune and every time she could see Jenna looking at her, she hoped she was enjoying this. Y/N also saw Georgie and Hunter, both boys beside each other smiling widely at her with their thumbs up, Georgie with a hot dog in another hand.

Soon the game ended, and they won 3:0. Y/N was glad that her first match was successful and hopefully, she impressed others. In the changing room, her teammates were chanting, happy about their first match. After that, she walked out of the changing room, bag on her shoulder, still in her football jersey, she’s planning to take a shower in her dorm. She knew that they were a bit suspicious about her cause every time after practice she just took her bag and left, unchanged. But they thought maybe “Charlie” was just shy which was okay not everyone liked showing off skin, even if it was in front of the same gender. Y/N was near the entrance looking into her phone, texting her brother about her game.

„Hey football player.” She looked up from her phone and saw Jenna leaning on her side into the doors looking at her.

„Oh hi, wasn‘t expecting you, did you enjoy the game?” the girl asked as she got closer to her. Now they were looking at each other holding gaze, Jenna looked up biting her lip. You look good right now. Still being in jersey, sweaty forehead, hooded eyes from the energy you gave on the field. If this was someone else she was sure she wouldn’t find them as attractive as you right now.

Jenna nodded her head „Congratulations on your first successful game, pretty cool goal if I have to say.” She says softly still looking at the other girl.

„Pretty cool? It was awesome! Didn’t you see how I ran through half of their players and still shot it?” Y/N started defending herself „I was unstoppable.”

Jenna threw her head back letting out a laugh. She grabbed Y/N by the arm and started to pull her outside of the building.

„Come, we need to celebrate your first win”

„Wait, but I’m still in these clothes, I can’t go anywhere like this.”

Jenna shot her a look „There isn’t any problem if you ask me, but we can stop by your dorm?”

They walked out, still holding each other's hands, Y/N didn’t want to be rude and tear up their hands, she liked this feeling, Jenna’s hand was so soft and warm. Y/N felt good with Jenna, like she has finally someone just for herself.

But her thoughts went to her words, what if her roommate was there and saw them together? He would beat her up. But it was afternoon and he used to be at this time somewhere in the amphitheater.

Y/N agreed as they started making their way towards the dorm rooms. They chatted about some party going on tonight. Jenna’s friend Gideon invited her. Jenna was about to decline but her roommate said there would be also a football team probably celebrating their win. That made Jenna say yes to her offer which Gideon only laughed at.

To Jenna “Charlie” was special, she didn’t know what caught her attention, something inside of her wanted to be with you, by your side.

Luckily for Y/N, Percy was nowhere to be found. She invited Jenna to their room she took her new clothes and went to get a shower. Jenna was sitting on Y/N’s bed, looking around trying to find something which would only make her closer to her friend. Your bed smelled like you, she loved your scent it was like citrus with cedar or something like green tea, she couldn’t describe it in one word. On your desk were books and a notebook, you had it perfectly organized, and everything had its own place. Yeah, you are definitely a perfectionist. When she looked at the other side of the room she could exactly say who was the owner.

The paintings and papers spread around the desk and floor, different types of art. She found them a couple of times in her locker, at the table where she sat, or in her mailbox. Paintings of her. At first, she found it cute but it kept graduating as she got them almost every day. And it was always herself.

But maybe she would be glad, if it ended just with this.

She was in a room where lived two people. One that makes her most pleasant in their presence and the other one she feels most uncomfortable with.

„So what´s your plan for today?“

They were eating in some corner restaurant, Jenna got herself some vegan food, and Y/N sat in front of her with a plate of big burger and some fries. It felt good seeing them like this, both out of student uniforms in their civilian clothes, enjoying each other´s company.

Jenna wanted to know, inconspicuously, if her friend in going to the local party that night. If she said yes then Jenna would also have some plans, that´s for sure. Even though she doesn´t like parties, not anymore.

„Well, some of my teammates are going to some party, I don´t know where, they asked me if I´ll join them.“ She said as she kept eating her fries. „I haven´t decided yet, I´m not really into parties, too loud for me.“ That really didn´t answer her question.

„What about you? Any plans?“

„Gideon was saying something about today´s night but I´m not sure yet.“

„Oh, cool.“ And just like that they continued eating their meals, both hoping, at some point they´ll see each other today. Jenna looked up from the table to Y/N, the girl looked flawless right now, with her invincible walls down, silently eating a burger. Jenna pushed her hand up and stole some fries from her plate. Her friend looked at her with her head not moving from her meat, unimpressed. Softly shook her head from side to side.

„You are lucky it´s you, if it was someone else they wouldn´t have a hand by now.“ She said. She didn’t mind sharing food, sometimes, and she definitely didn´t mind sharing food with the brown-eyed girl.

Y/N was thinking. About Percy to be exact, about their deal or more like his, because he isn´t doing anything to repay. But she promised him she would at least try. And she also tried. When she and Jenna had classes together, like when they were lab partners, she could feel Percy´s stare. His eyes were boring into her skull so hard that sometimes she could even feel a headache. When she looked up at him he moved his eyes to the other girl and back to her. Signalizing what he wants from her.

So she asked. She asked Jenna if she was dating anyone or if she ever thought about going out with Percy. Jenna only laughed at her and shook her head, trying to avoid any questions about him. Y/N could feel something was off, the brown-eyed girl knew the boy and still didn´t even look at him or say hi to him. But Y/N doesn´t know why is she like that. Something happened between them and she wasn´t sure if she wanted to know. It wasn´t her business after all.

After Y/N´s questions, Jenna felt conflicted. She was used to guys asking her out, trying something with her but not you, you were different. You are the only guy who hasn´t tried to get with her. And she liked that. But when you asked her about Percy and said that she would be perfect for him, she almost wasn´t sure if she heard you right.

Perfect for him. But would he be perfect for her? Jenna knew the answer to that question. She disliked him. For what he made her feel. Jenna didn´t want to be perfect for him, she wanted to be perfect for you. And it took her quite a long time to realize that she liked you more than a friend. She talked to Gideon and Emma about it, they told her the same thing.

But did you feel the same?

Jenna was now standing in someone´s living room. Loud music and drunk students were escorting her thoughts. She was looking for her friends, they agreed that they would meet there. She saw Gideon sitting on the sofa, cup in her hand. She was talking to someone Jenna recognized from school. She sat beside her and her roommate looked her way.

„Hey, glad you could make it.“

„What are you drinking?“ Jenna grabbed Gideon´s cup and smelled it.

„Vodka, I got it from the kitchen, down the hallway to the right, you want me to go with you?“ Gideon was sweet, she knew Jenna didn´t enjoy such a thing as a party.

„No it´s okay, I´ll get it, maybe I´ll see Emma or Joy somewhere.“

So with that, she picked herself up from a sofa and started to go into the kitchen. There were a bunch of teens, she barely could make it through them. Some were really drunk and the scent of strong alcohol could be smelled from them. Some guys who saw her shot her flirtatious smirk. She brushed them off and was trying not to make any eye contact on her way. When she saw football players she immediately started looking around if you weren´t somewhere over there. No, you weren’t. She was looking forward to meeting you today but still with no luck. She hoped you would decide to go there.

She made it to the kitchen took a cup in her hand and started looking for some juice. She didn´t feel like drinking, maybe if she was at home with some close friends or you, she would drink but she was at a party, by herself in a stranger´s kitchen.

„Hey.“

Jenna heard a voice from the back. The girl turned around and saw someone she was trying to avoid at all costs. She hoped he wouldn´t be there today but of course he would, they are in the same school after all.

Percy was standing by the kitchen entrance, eyes low, looking at her. They were alone there and loud music could be heard from the other room. Suddenly she didn´t feel safe. The last time they met they were in a room full of people and it still didn´t stop him. Now they were alone and she felt even more scared cause there was nothing that could stop him from doing whatever he wanted.

„H-Hey.“ She shot him nodding with her head and continued with whatever she was doing, with her shaking hands, acting like he wasn´t even there in the first place. But she could feel his cold presence closer behind her. She turned around and was met with his face. He smelled like he just drunk a whole bottle of alcohol. She took a step back from him.

„Is there something you want?“ Jenna asked him. He never broke the eye contact, slowly smirking.

„Yeah, actually, you could help me with something.“ He went to grab her hand but she pushed him.

„Stop, you know what happened last time-“ he cut her off.

„I don´t care! Why can´t you just give me a chance? We could be so good together. You like that, right? You like it when guys are chasing you, it makes you like you are in charge, well Jenna, now it´s different, now I´m in charge here.“

„Please get away from me you are scaring me.“ She felt like crying like she got stones in her throat. Still walking away from him, praying that someone will show up and save her. She felt so small in front of him, no one had ever made her felf like this, like she was some prey.

„What are you doing?“

She turned her head to the new voice that was heard in the kitchen. And she was so glad, felt like she could breathe again. There was you looking at him, no emotion in your face, then you walked up to them and looked right into Percy´s eyes.

She had never seen you like this, you were so serious and didn´t show any emotion. You continue your stare down without blinking. Even though you were shorter than him, not much, you still had a bigger and stronger aura than him.

„Is there a problem?“ Y/N could smell the alcohol from his mouth and could see that he didn´t know what he was doing. So that´s why she knew she couldn´t show that she was scared. It would make him even more confident.

His eyes changed when he realized you were here to get him away from Jenna.

„Charlie, what are you doing? We had a deal! You promised!“ he shouted at his roommate. He knew he shouldn´t trust you. He is sure that you like her. You want to take her away from him!

He started to breathe harder and his eyes became more dangerous. You weren´t scared of him, you were calm and waiting for his next move.

„Leave.“ Y/N said with a low voice, face unimpressed. But before he could say anything else Mason and a couple of others of your teammates came into the kitchen.

Mason walked up to the three of you and stood even taller than Percy. Percy was now in a corner and had nothing to do. So he smiled dryly and walked away.

When he left Y/N turned her gaze to Mason and silently thanked him for standing beside her, he smiled at her with his soft eyes and left with their teammates. You turned down to Jenna and saw her already looking at you. She was hugging herself and looked so gentle and small.

„Hi, you good?“ Y/N asked, almost whispering, waiting for the other girl's answer.

„Yeah.“ She softly let out. She then threw her arms around the taller girl. Head buried in her chest. Y/N hugged Jenna strongly, letting her know that she was there with her.

Yeah, Jenna was sure that you were perfect for her.

next chapter

245 notes · View notes

starlightkun · 6 months

Text

➠ word count: 22.0k ➠ warnings: cursing, mentions of drinking (there’s a frat party), everything i know about hockey is from internet research for this fic i’m sorry for any inaccuracies i tried ➠ genre: fluff, gets quite suggestive (a heavy makeout scene/near sex scene) but no actual smut, college au, hockey captain sungchan, chronically ill reader (chronic migraines), halloween-themed at the beginning, sungchan’s not a frat boy but he’s like... a frat boy by association ➠ extra info: the ages/relative ages of the members in here are whatever i want them to be, don’t read into it too much. this is a very usamerican take on a college au btw. also i call kunhang ‘hendery’ in here like it’s his government name for a one-line gag bc i think i’m hilarious the reader in this has chronic migraines, which i have. when the reader’s migraines and thoughts/experiences as a chronically ill person are described, that is me writing directly from my own life. i am not generalizing the lives of all people with chronic migraines and chronic illness, but i am sending all my love to any readers out there living with a chronic illness, and here’s a reminder to go take your meds ➠ author’s note: hi so this has been a wip for like a year lol. this one long predates sungchan’s deneofication (and subsequent re-debut in riize), hockey player sungchan just lives in my brain rent free ok. anyway, i hope you like ➠ series masterlist

“You agreed to go to a frat party?” Chenle’s eyes were bugging out of his head as he sat across a high top in the dining hall from you. “Do you remember what happened last time, Y/N?”

“Hard to forget,” you snorted.

“And yet it seems you did, somehow, lost in dreamboat Jung Sungchan’s eyes.”

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24

“Now shoo!” Dr. Son waved the small group of you out of his dimly lit office.

It was Phantasmagorical Phriday, a time-honored tradition going back to your freshman year of university. Dr. Son had been intrigued by the four freshmen who were somehow in his third-year class on Gothic Fiction and actually seemed to “get it.” His “Phantasma Phour” as you dubbed yourselves (a nickname that got quickly worn out, persisting only as the title of your groupchat):

Wong Hendery, who ended up in the class accidentally due to an error on his academic advisor’s part (she had gotten him mixed up with a Wong Henry, a junior Literature major who actually needed to take Dr. Son’s class) and he subsequently changed majors at least three times to your knowledge, so you were genuinely surprised he was graduating on time—he finally settled on Communications;

Jung Sungchan, at the time a promising young rookie hockey player who had now blossomed into your school’s reliable team captain—Biology major, being an athlete meant he could pre-register for classes and he picked Dr. Son’s at random to fulfill a gen ed Literature credit;

Zhong Chenle, an honorary member of both Nu Chi Tau, one of the biggest frats on campus, and the hockey team, as somehow 95% of his social circle were Nu Chi brothers and/or hockey players despite Chenle being neither himself, your best friend and also sometimes you swear a demon sent straight from hell to kill you—Literature major, who bullied you into taking the class; and

You, Chenle’s best friend who used to hate anything and everything Gothic fiction that got bullied into taking it anyway and now adored the genre more than any other—Literature major, who took the last spot in the class on registration day.

Dr. Son would invite you all to monthly extracurricular workshops in his office that built up to this: Phantasmagorical Phriday, a writing competition to see which of the four of you could write the best gothic short story. The stories were actually submitted the prior week, but it was the Friday before Halloween that was dubbed the Phriday in question. The four of you were invited to his office that night after classes (and Sungchan’s hockey practice) to review your pieces: how he thought everyone had improved from last year, discuss the writing process, and to finish off the night, Dr. Son would announce his top two stories. Those in the top two had the chance to send him a persuasive letter about why they should win. They had to be sent to him that night because the next morning, your professor would email the top two individually with the results.

Since this was your last Phantasmagorical Phriday, Dr. Son pretended not to see when Hendery brought out four celebratory White Claws for you all. You still had your warm, unopened, orange-flavored seltzer in your hand as the small group of you left the Literature, Writing, and Foreign Languages building together.

“I still can’t believe you couldn’t find anything classier for our last Phantasmagorical Phriday, Hendery.” You shook your head. “Ever heard of champagne? Literally any wine?”

“So you’re not gonna shotgun that, Y/N, is what I’m hearing?” Hendery teased as you all stopped under the light post right outside the building.

“Is that a challenge or what, Wong?” You scoffed, handing it back to him. “But no, I’m good.”

Sungchan thankfully cut in and changed the topic of conversation, “So are you going to start writing your letter of reconsideration, Y/N?”

This year’s top two were you and Sungchan, the member of the Phantasma Phour you spoke to the least. Outside of the monthly “workshops” (which at this point with your differing majors were just get-togethers of questionable academic value), you never saw him. You obviously saw Chenle all the time, and despite the fact that you considered him a bit obnoxious, you were sort of friends with Hendery, joining him for lunch if you happened to see him at the student union or at the coffee shop on campus. Sungchan was perfectly nice and all, you just found that you never really talked to him like the other two.

You looked down at your watch, taking a quick inhale when you saw the time. You’d stayed in Dr. Son’s office a lot later than you’d realized.

“Oh, no,” you casually waved off Sungchan’s question, readjusting your tote bag on your shoulder. “I’ve got something more pressing right now. Anyway, see you guys. It was a good four years, I’m glad we got to do this.”

Lifting your hand in a wave of finality to the three men, you departed.

“She’s really not going to submit a letter?” Sungchan asked, still watching after you as your figure faded away in the distance.

“Nope,” Chenle shook his head, reaching for the spare White Claw in Hendery’s hand. “Y/N never does.”

“You didn’t know that?” Hendery questioned the hockey player, holding the drink away from Chenle.

“Why not?”

“She’s not in it to win really.” Chenle lunged for the can as Hendery jerked it away at the last second. “Just wants to make stuff.”

“So she was lying about doing something?”

Hendery and Chenle were now running circles around Sungchan in their game of keep-away with the seltzer.

“No.”

“What do you—” Sungchan sighed, yanking the drink from Hendery’s grasp and holding it high above his own head, well out of either of their reaches. “Hey!”

Now with their attention, the hockey captain kept his arm straight up as he returned to his question, “What are you talking about, Chenle?”

“Y/N does have something pressing right now. If I tell you where she’s probably going will you give me the White Claw?” Chenle bargained.

“You’d exchange your best friend’s location for an orange White Claw? Not even watermelon?” Hendery asked incredulously.

“It’s Sungchan, someone we’ve known for like four years, not some creep off the street who’s going to wear her skin.”

“No, Chenle, you don’t have to tell me that,” Sungchan shook his head, offering the can out for either one to take.

The Literature major was able to snatch it first, jumping up in celebration, “Suck an egg, Hendery!”

“I wouldn’t—” Sungchan’s words were too late though, as Chenle had already popped the tab, and the overly-shaken seltzer exploded all over all three of them.

“Zhong Chenle, I’m going to strangle you, you little weasel!”

“Ah! Sungchan, save me!”

“I would, except you got fucking orange White Claw in my eyes and I’m fucking blind now! Goddamn!”

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25

Rolling over in bed the next morning, you let out a big sigh and buried your face in your pillow, fully intent on going back to sleep. Saturday morning. No school, no work. Just you, your bed, and some much-needed sleep.

Then, the obnoxious blaring of your phone came from your nightstand. You groaned, reaching blindly for the object, and barely opening one eye just enough to snooze it. Damn, you really had slept in, to be woken up by your first medication alarm. Well, you weren’t going to die if you took your morning doses fifteen minutes later than normal. You were about to stuff your phone under your pillow when you briefly caught sight of your lockscreen after the alarm disappeared.

Text notification from Jung Sungchan?

Flopping onto your back and bringing your phone with you, you squinted against the harsh light of your screen to make sure you were reading that right. Yep, Sungchan had definitely texted you a few hours ago, separate from the Phantasma Phour chat. At almost 7:00 a.m., too. What the hell?

Curiosity won out over a need to sleep for fourteen more minutes, and you opened the notification.

[jung sungchan: Congrats, Y/N!]

You stared blankly at the text, your groggy mind desperately grasping around for any sort of context as to why Jung Sungchan would be texting you that at 7:00 a.m. on a Saturday. Then it struck you like lightning, and you let out an audible “Oh, duh!” as you remembered where you both were last night. Phantasmagorical Phriday. The writing contest. You and Sungchan were the top two. Dr. Son must have sent the email out already, and apparently you had won.

Normally, you wouldn’t check your school email on the weekend until Sunday night, unless you were waiting to hear back from a specific professor—and the Sunday night check was just to see if any of your Monday classes were cancelled. Lord knows you definitely wouldn’t have checked it at seven in the morning on a Saturday. You let out a snort of disbelief as you reread the timestamp on the text. But still, it was nice of him. A good show of sportsmanship, as one would expect from the hockey captain.

You quickly checked your own student email, and did in fact see an email from Dr. Son at the very top with the subject ‘PHINAL PHANTASMAGORICAL PHRIDAY RESULTS.’

‘Y/N and Sungchan:

Thank you again for your submissions. I enjoyed working with everyone these four years.

The winner this year is Y/N. Good job.

Dr. Son.’

An amused smile crept across your face at your professor’s usual blunt email style. But this was also some of the nicest feedback he’d given your writing, even when you had won Phantasmagorical Phriday in the past, or in classes that you’d taken from him over the years. Something about it truly did feel... final.

And so with an odd bittersweetness, you drafted an equally short and blunt email back to your professor.

‘Dr. Son:

Thank you for taking us on these past four years. I will never forget the experience.

Y/L/N Y/N.’

Then finally, you went back to the original reason that you were even doing this.

[you: thanks, sungchan!]

Then, your alarm went off again, making you jump out of your skin. Well, time for your morning meds.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 27

A tall figure was nearing the corner table you had claimed in one of the campus coffee shops the following Monday afternoon, and you looked up from your laptop screen, a little surprised at who it was. Jung Sungchan was standing at the end of your table, black flannel over a graphic t-shirt and dark wash jeans, one backpack strap slung over his shoulder. He had an iced coffee in one hand.

You paused the movie playing on your laptop, taking out both your headphones as you looked up at him inquisitively, “Uh hi, Sungchan.”

“Hi, Y/N.”

“Are you here to study or something?”

“Mm.” He couldn’t seem to meet your eyes. “Not really. Just grabbing a coffee and saw you. Do you mind if I sit with you for a bit?”

“Oh, sure. I’m waiting out the storm to leave,” you gestured to the near-constant downpour that had started right after you’d arrived over two hours ago. Noticing that some of Sungchan’s hair and shoulders were damp, you added, “The storm you apparently got caught in without an umbrella.”

“Oh, yeah,” he ran a hand through his hair to push some of it away from where it had been falling into his eyes.

“I don’t mind having some company while I wait.”

To your surprise, instead of sitting across from you, Sungchan plopped himself onto the same bench that you were on, one leg slung over either side so he could face you directly.

You picked up the mug in front of you, your second cup of your drink of choice. You’d gotten a refill after it became clear that the rain wasn’t letting up any time soon. Sungchan was already a third of the way done with his iced coffee as you blew over your hot drink before taking a small sip. He glanced up at you, and you felt like you were going to choke on the uncomfortable silence. So you took a gamble. Turning in your seat to face him as well, you hiked a knee up onto the bench, bringing your mug with you.

“Do you want to ask me something, Sungchan?”

The hockey player startled, having to catch himself from nearly choking on his coffee. Seems like you were right. Sungchan finally stopped sucking down his drink, setting it down on the table and wiping his palms on the knees of his jeans. “I heard that you never sent in a letter to Dr. Son. Any year you were a top two.”

“Oh, yeah, nah.”

“Why not?”

“Didn’t seem worth it,” you shrugged.

“What?”

“Every year I participated I wanted my work to stand on its own two legs. After the death of the author, that’s all that’s left, right? The work. It has to speak for itself.”

“Oh,” Sungchan nodded, then squinted his eyes, confusion entirely overtaking his features. “Wait, what?”

“Sorry, I don’t know how much Lit Theory you’ve done. Probably not a lot as a Bio major, huh? Death of the author is both literal and metaphorical. Removing what the author meant to do or say with a text from how you actually interpret the text as the reader. It’s a lot easier when they’re actually dead, but the abstract concept is practiced when they’re alive too. It’s… seeing the text as separate from authorial intent. Mind you, it’s only one tool in a literary critic’s arsenal, but I liked it for our Gothic fiction class. All the authors we read in that class, they’d been gone for a while, we had no way to know what they really meant when they wrote all that stuff. And it didn’t really matter for our purposes. All we did have was what they wrote, and that was enough for me. So the same should be enough for whoever reads the stuff I write. Even if it’s just Dr. Son.”

“Huh.”

“Though I guess I just explained myself a little, oops,” you laughed at yourself, taking another sip from your steaming mug. “I’m getting less and less mysterious by the second, aren't I?”

“Chenle made it sound like you didn’t care about winning,” Sungchan asked, cheek in hand.

You arched an eyebrow at this. “You asked Chenle about me?”

“W-Well you left so fast after we saw Dr. Son, and you two are you know...”

“Oh he’s my best friend,” you clarified for perhaps the ten-thousandth time in your life. “And while others may use any litany of swears for him and Hendery calls him a little weasel, I prefer ‘actual demon sent from Hell to kill me.’”

“What?” Sungchan’s eyes widened.

“He pushes me out of my comfort zone. In a good way, most of the time.”

“Got it. Then what do you do for him? If he’s your yang…”

“I’m entertainment?” You snorted, taking another sip of your drink. After setting it back down, you answered more sincerely, “I’m kidding. Sometimes it feels like that but I did ask him one time a couple years ago, when he was tipsy enough that I believed the words coming out of his mouth but not so drunk that it was unintelligible. ‘A safe place.’ And since then… I can see it in us. That’s my yin to him.”

He smiled softly at you. “That’s... really nice.”

“Sorry, what were you asking me before that?”

“Oh, uh— Chenle said you really didn’t care about winning Dr. Son’s contest, you just wanted to make stuff? That’s why you didn’t submit a letter.”

“Generally, sure. Winning would’ve been great, but I didn’t write what I thought Dr. Son wanted. I took all of his feedback with a grain of salt. Took stuff that I liked from him, took stuff I liked from other profs I had. Mixed and matched to make something that was mine.” You pressed your lips together, then leaned forward like you were about to tell him a secret, “I didn’t live for Phantasmagorical Phriday, Sungchan. You do know that, right?”

“Wow,” he blinked, seeming a bit disoriented. “I’ve never really thought about… you like that.”

“Well to be fair to you, you only ever knew me there and in Dr. Son’s class. Makes it hard not to think of me only through that lens. All you know about me is that I presumably like Gothic fiction and I’m a Lit major, right?”

“Right.”

“So what do you think I was doing here before you showed up?”

“…Reading Edgar Allan Poe.”

You couldn’t help but laugh at that, turning your laptop screen to show the paused movie to him, “I was watching Pacific Rim.”

His jaw literally dropped, and you felt the need to save him at least a little. Grabbing a book from your bag, you held it up, “I did come here initially to finish reading this new mystery novel I just got, but then the storm came and I had nothing else to do after I was done with the book.”

“But still… you’re so…”

“I have interests outside the one class we took together?”

“Smart,” he finished, an absolutely adorable expression of wonder across his face.

You weren’t expecting that, surprised giggles bubbling up out of you as you felt yourself growing warm under his awestruck gaze.

“Anyway, your turn,” you tapped his knee with your book before putting it back in your bag.

“For what?”

“To expand my horizons of you. All I know about you is that you’re the hockey captain, and a Bio major who took a gothic fiction class one time like three years ago. Show me you’re a multifaceted individual, too.”

“Uhm, that’s about it.”

“Oh come on, Sungchan.”

“No really, if I’m not on the ice, I’m in class; if I’m not in class, I’m with my team; and if I’m not with my team, I’m studying.”

“You’re here, right now,” you pointed out. “Last I checked I’m not on your hockey team, and we’re not studying. You have to do one thing that’s not for school or hockey. My thing was just watching Pacific Rim this one time, remember?”

“Alright…” he paused to think, fingers tapping along his thighs. “I used to play the piano.”

“Past tense, but I’ll accept it. When did you stop?”

“High school? Around when piano lessons and hockey practice started conflicting.”

“And you chose hockey?” You asked, hoping it didn’t sound judgmental. You really were just curious, trying to understand him.

“Actually, the choice was made for me.” He held his right hand out in front of you, and it was then that you saw his pinky finger was unnaturally crooked as he pointed to the digit. “I broke it in a game without even realizing it. Bruises and stiffness sometimes are normal so me and my parents didn’t know anything was up until weeks later when I was fucking up all the notes at my piano lessons because it still hurt. By the time I finally saw a doctor and got a splint on it, it set up wrong. All dexterity for piano out the window. Hockey on the other hand… guys have done a lot more with a lot less.”

You couldn’t help but curiously run a gentle fingertip over the crook in his pinky. “Does it hurt at all? Now?”

“Not really.” He went to bend and flex the fingers of his right hand, and you saw how the fifth finger didn’t curl up as much as the others. “It’s just a lot stiffer. Doesn’t bother me all that much.”

He brought his left hand up and wiggled the fingers on that hand. “Besides, I’m a lefty anyway.”

“So—apologies if this sounds like a stupid question to you, I don’t know anything about hockey—are there like, different hockey sticks for left-handed and right-handed players?”

Sungchan immediately broke into snickers, and you set down your mug to cross your arms over your chest indignantly.

“Hey, I didn’t laugh at you for not knowing what death of the author was—”

“I wasn’t making fun of you, I’m sorry,” he covered his mouth. “That was just… too cute. Uhm yes, there are lefty and righty sticks.”

You had to bite down your bottom lip to not smile at him calling you cute, and instead keep up your ruse of being offended. “I feel patronized.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” There was still a hint of a giggle in his tone, and you felt your self-righteous façade slip away as he continued, “You should come to a game, then, if you really want to broaden your horizons. The season just started. First home game is this Thursday, actually. 7:00 p.m. and students get free admission with your student ID.”

“Thursday?”

“Fridays are for basketball, Saturdays are for football.”

“Oh. Right.”

“You don’t go to those games either, do you?”

“Oh no, did I make it obvious?” You asked sarcastically.

“A bit,” Sungchan jested back.

Outside the window visible past Sungchan, the rain had let up a few minutes ago, and you briefly glanced over at your laptop for the time. Shit, your next alarm was going to be going off soon. If you left now, you should be home at roughly the right time for your next dose.

Clicking your tongue, you started packing up your things, “Well, looks like the rain’s finally let up enough to allow me safe passage. That’s my cue.”

“Oh.” The hockey player with you looked over his shoulder at the newly sunny day outside before turning back to watch you put your things away.

“Are you heading out too?” You nodded to his empty cup.

“I’ve uh, got some homework to do.”

“Guess this is where we part ways then.”

“Um, you didn’t say if you were going. To the game.”

You tucked your chin to your chest to hide your smitten smile as you put your laptop in your bag. Typically just asking for the details would’ve been taken for a yes, but Sungchan wanted extra confirmation. This boy wasn’t good for your heart, truly.

Turning back to him, you gave him a firm and nearly business-like nod. “Yeah, I’ll be there.”

A bright grin lit up his features. “Okay! Great! Uhm, feel free to bring some friends, I know just sitting in the stands by yourself might be lonely.”

“I’ll see if I can drag somebody else out. It’ll be a tall order, though. Literature majors, you know, we prefer our Shakesperean poetry readings.”

“Oh, well—”

“I’m kidding,” you laughed and stood then, slinging your tote onto your shoulder. “Honestly, have you seen Chenle at a rager? Boy can drink twice his body weight I swear. He shouldn’t, but he can.”

Before you could reach for your cup and saucer to buss your place, the hockey captain spoke up, “I’ll take care of your mug, don’t worry.”

“Oh, thanks, Sungchan! I’ll see you Thursday then.”

“Bye…” Sungchan trailed off, watching the door long after it had closed behind you.

He didn’t actually have any homework to do, and scrolled on his phone for a few minutes to make sure you were out of the area before leaving himself. He grabbed his long-empty plastic cup and your mug. His went in the trash, and as he went to put yours up with the other dishes and trays, his eyes were caught by the iridescent glitters left behind on the rim by your lip gloss.

[you: hey what are you doing thursday at 7:00?]

[chenle: depends on what weird poetry reading you’re trying to drag me to]

[you: not this time. Sungchan’s hockey game?]

[chenle: you want to go to a sporting event?? why????]

[you: i told him i’d go please don’t make me go by myself]

[chenle: did you offer to go or did he ask you to come?]

[you: he asked me to? i guess?]

[chenle: haha yeah fuck no i’m not going with you]

[you: why not????????]

[chenle: a guy invited you to one of his games? yeah no way am i coming with you]

[you: what difference does that make? you’re seriously going to make me go to a hockey game by myself?]

[chenle: i don’t know how to tell you this gently so: he wants to fuck you]

[you: bro???]

[chenle: especially hockey? caveman brain is activated, he wants to show off how big and strong he is for you over the other males]

[you: damn can’t believe i just blinked and woke up in 200 BC]

[chenle: i’m warning you, only go if you’re ready for the consequences. i.e., that]

[you: so you’re not coming with me]

[chenle: no <3]

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30

Your chronically early self had gotten there as soon as the doors opened to spectators in order to scope out the perfect spot for yourself. Somewhere not too close to any speakers, where you could still see what was going on, hopefully somewhere Sungchan could maybe see you, but you could make a quick escape if need be. A lot of parameters, hence the need to be early. That meant that you got to watch the visiting team warm up first, and now your school’s team was warming up before the game. Finally the stands started filling up, and you had to do a double-take at the newest figure entering.

“Zhong Chenle, you lying little bitch!” You cursed out your best friend who was approaching you.

He immediately went to defend himself as he plopped down beside you, “Look, I told you I wasn’t going with you, not that I wasn’t going at all. Come on, Lit major.”

He finished off with a solid knock on your head, which didn’t hurt all that much through the beanie you were wearing, but you still slapped his arm away with a glare.

“Are you sure you want to live until graduation day? I can’t tell sometimes.”

“Half the team are Nu Chi guys,” Chenle explained his being there, then waved at one of the players skating by, 23, who gave a salute back. “Jeno.”

“Oh.” You belatedly waved too, but your friend had already turned back to warming up.

Chenle then gave you the run-down on all your friends and acquaintances’ numbers as he spotted them.

“Goalie. Sicheng, 7.” He just blocked a shot from a familiar number, 23. “Already told you, 23 is Jeno. Right wing.”

“Does he always suck?”

“Here’s Ten, number 10. Right defense. He’s never told me which came first, his nickname or his jersey number.”

Sicheng blocked Ten’s shot.

“2 is Mark, center.” His went in.

“66, Donghyuck, center alternate.” His also went in.

“24, that’s Yangyang, left wing—and a miss!”

“This doesn’t bode well that so many of our players apparently kind of suck.” You muttered to yourself, well aware that Chenle was no longer listening to you.

Finally, the tallest of the team was skating up to take a shot. “And there’s your guy, Y/N. Number 27, Jung Sungchan, left defense, captain, your dreamboat—”

“If you don’t shut up—”

“Oh! All net!”

“Isn’t that a basketball—”

“Hey, you got your earplugs, right?”

“Yep, same ones for concerts,” you confirmed, reaching into your purse for them. You hadn’t been able to take your full tote bag into the school sporting event, so you had to condense the essentials into your smaller purse.

“Good, because uh, it’ll get loud.”

“I figured.”

“Yeah, remember how half the team are Nu Chi guys?”

Your eyes widened in realization, “Oh god.”

“Here they come!”

Whipping around to face the same direction he was looking, you saw a horde of about ten to fifteen guys storming the rink, practically shaking the audience section. They were all donned in blue and orange, your university’s colors, various hockey or Nu Chi merch and paraphernalia, and you would’ve absolutely bet money that at least three of them had Nu, Chi, and Tau symbols painted across each of their chests under their shirts. Chenle leapt up to greet them all, the volume of the area immediately rising tenfold at least.

You recognized most of the Nu Chi frat brothers, they were mutual friends or acquaintances of yours through Chenle over the years, and there were even some familiar graduated faces. Lee Taeyong was the first to pick up on your presence, squeezing past Jisung—a new pledge that had glommed onto Chenle in particular—to plop down behind your seat.

“What are you doing here, Y/N?” Taeyong asked you with a tilted head. “Not exactly a good place for you, is it?”

Taeyong was frat president for your first two years of college and his last two. You had an absolute disaster at a Nu Chi party in your freshman year that he was witness to. Ever since then, when you would see him in passing at other lowkey (or as lowkey as frat functions could get) Nu Chi events that Chenle took you to during those two years, you always got the distinct impression that he was keeping an eye on you during them.

“Could be asking you the same thing, Taeyong,” you countered, fully turning around in your seat to chat with the man. “Didn’t you graduate two years ago? You don’t have anything better to do on a Thursday night? Like your taxes or something?”

“Us old-timers who peaked in college like to come back and re-live our glory days vicariously for the first home game,” he entertained your jibe, making you giggle. “And somebody’s got to be these kids’ DD. They always go at it too hard after the first game. Win or lose.”

Johnny, another graduated Nu Chi brother, spoke up then, eyes laser-focused on you, “So Chenle’s finally dragged you out to a game, Y/N?”

You immediately looked at your friend with wide eyes, knowing what the answer was, and exactly what reaction said answer would garner. Chenle, on the other hand, seemed all too thrilled to join in, turning to face you with his hands on his hips and a knowing smirk on his face.

“Oh no, I didn’t bring Y/N. She actually didn’t know I was coming at all. I found her here all on her own,” he announced to all the guys, who were hanging on to every word he said. If literally anything else were happening, you might’ve laughed at how they were all wrapped around his finger.

“No offense, but you don’t really seem like you’re interested in hockey,” Jungwoo, a junior who you’d shared a couple literature classes with, said curiously.

You sighed, giving Chenle a frank look before admitting, “Jung Sungchan invited me.”

They exploded with various hoots, hollers, whoops, and whistles.

With a shake of your head, you turned back around to look back at the players on the ice, knowing full well that there was nothing you could do alleviate—or even really participate in—the absolute chaos that was happening behind you.

Eventually, the game started. Taeyong, who had moved to sit on your other side from Chenle, quietly explained the basics of what was going on to you: positions, plays, scoring, why the referee made certain calls. Chenle was caught between cheering along with the other Nu Chi guys and rattling off hyper-specific stats on individual players to you, so you were truly grateful to have Taeyong giving you your “hockey for dummies” tips and tidbits throughout.

You kept your eyes on number 27, as Chenle had pointed him out to you earlier. The gear made it somewhat difficult for you to really recognize any distinguishing features about Sungchan himself except maybe his height, made even greater by the skates he was wearing. But as much as the intellectual side of you might’ve hated to admit it, there was definitely some part of you that very much enjoyed watching him play; that got some kind of thrill every time somebody tried to check him and he didn’t budge—or when he checked somebody and they most definitely did budge.

Before you knew it, all three periods were over, and you were jumping to your feet along with the others, cheering wildly. Your school won by a landslide.

“Oh, they’re going to get plastered,” Taeyong murmured from beside you fondly.

All of you had been in the cheering section milled around in the ice rink lobby waiting for the team to get out of the locker room.

“That was fun,” you declared to Chenle as the two of you stood off to the side from the larger group of loud Nu Chi brothers.

“Yeah, you didn’t seem like you were listening to a word I said.”

“Because you were telling me sports stats, Chenle, I’m surprised my brain didn’t start bleeding out of my ears.”

“Well I’m surprised your nose wasn’t bleeding watching your dreamboat Jung Sungchan beat up all those other guys,” Chenle teased. “200 BC called, they want their cavewoman back—”

You lunged at him, managing to get an arm around his throat in the beginnings of a questionably friendly chokehold, “I’m going to kill you, you little—”

“No murder in the rink!” Came the chastising voice of Johnny Suh from afar, and you reluctantly let him go.

The players started streaming out of the locker room soon after, and you nervously scanned the crowd for Sungchan. Chenle was easily dragged into the chaos of everyone celebrating, leaving you standing off to the side waiting.

Finally, you spotted him. Sungchan was wearing a simple pair of black sweatpants and black hoodie with your school’s name embroidered across the front, his hair a bit mussed up. He was deep in conversation with Sicheng, brow furrowed. The goalie’s features were similarly serious as they gestured to each other. You stayed put, not wanting to interrupt. Taeyong had mentioned that Sicheng was sort of like a co-captain, you guessed they might be doing something important.

Then you’d suddenly made eye contact with Sicheng, who was facing you. He gave you a casual head nod, and said something to Sungchan you couldn’t quite make out. The captain whipped around, a bright smile coming to his face as soon as his eyes landed on you. You lifted your hand to give him a small wave and smile back.

Sungchan quickly ended his conversation with Sicheng, making his way over to where you were standing by a wall.

“Hey, Y/N,” he was still smiling down at you, his eyes practically glittering even in the harsh fluorescents of the lobby. “So you really made it out.”

“I said I would.” You fidgeted with the straps of your bag.

“And…?”

You tilted your head, “And?”

“What did you think? You know, are your horizons super broad now or something?”

You couldn’t help but laugh. His phrasing was funny, but also remembering how he played and was now giving you his undivided attention admittedly made your chest flutter.

“It was good, yeah. I had fun,” you confirmed. “You uhm, you played really good. I think.”

“Thanks,” Sungchan scratched at the back of his neck, and you swore the tips of his ears were pink, but that could’ve just been the cold. “Did you drive yourself?”

“Walked, my apartment is close.”

“Uh, so, we all go out to a bar after games usually. It’s kind of a sleazy dive bar, and I know it’s a Thursday, but I’d really like for you to come. I’ll buy you a dr—”

“I’m really sorry, Sungchan, but I can’t. I’d love to, but…” You trailed off, wracking your brain for some concise way to explain why he couldn’t buy you a drink.

“Don’t worry, it’s okay,” Sungchan assured you, and you winced at the way the hopeful smile fell from his face.

An awkward silence descended over the two of you. You were chewing on your bottom lip, desperately trying to think of something to say to gloss over your rejecting his offer. You didn’t want to end the conversation on such a sour note, nor did you want to leave him just yet either. Stealing a glance at the clock above you on the wall, however, you knew that you’d need to be going soon anyway.

The hockey player was the one who ended up breaking the silence, “Can I walk you home? It’s late for you to be out by yourself.”

A relieved smile overtook your features, and you hoped he could see the sincerity in it, “Sure, thank you. Let me let Chenle know he’s relieved of his man-shaped friend duties for the night, and we can go.”

You got on your tiptoes to look around for your friend, finally spotting him in a headlock by Jeno, with Yangyang giving him a noogie. They all seemed to be laughing, so it didn’t look too much like bullying that you felt the need to intervene.

“You know, I’ll just text him, actually,” you chuckled, bringing out your phone to do just that.

“Man-shaped friend duties?” Sungchan questioned as the automatic doors parted for the two of you.

“His words, not mine,” you snorted. “But you know, making sure a woman doesn’t walk places by herself at night, that kind of stuff. Having a man just with her makes her safer, as fucked up as that is. Chenle corrected it to be man-shaped since he’s not the manly protective type.”

“I see.”

“But it looks like you’re on man-shaped friend duties for tonight, Sungchan.”

As soon as the words were out of your mouth, you wanted to stuff them back in. Friend. God, that was absolutely not what was happening here and you knew it. Chenle’s previous texts flashed across your mind. You obviously knew why Sungchan would’ve wanted to invite you to his game, and you said yes purposefully. Friend. Foot, meet mouth.

Sungchan blinked down at you, but seemed to take it in stride, “Of course, Y/N. Anytime you need a man-shaped person at your side, just call me up. I’ll bring my hockey stick.”

He patted his gear bag that was slung over his shoulder, making you giggle.

“I’ll keep you on speed dial, then.”

It was a short walk to your apartment, and you and Sungchan mostly talked about the game. You asked him a couple questions that Taeyong hadn’t covered during it— which Chenle might’ve, except you had tuned him out. And as you came to a stop at your front door, you didn’t yet fish your keys from your bag.

“How often do you have away games?” You asked.

“They’re usually about half,” Sungchan shrugged. “It’s a bit annoying missing classes, and the bus is kind of rank on the trip back.”

“Ew…” You wrinkled your nose.

“But they’re always a lot of fun.”

“So, uhm, when’s your next home game?”

His face brightened as he seemed to realize what exactly you were asking, “Next week. Same time.”

“Okay, cool.” You bit your lip.

“Cool,” he echoed.

You looked up at Sungchan, catching his eyes for a heart stopping moment. Both of you were standing on your welcome mat, he was close enough that you could catch a faint whiff of the detergent from his clothes—a college athlete with freshly washed clothes? You might already be in love—and watched his Adam’s apple bob up and down as he swallowed. You had the urge to grab him by the front of his hoodie and yank him—

A garish, blaring ringing going off interrupted your split-second pros and cons weighing that had been going on. Sungchan startled at the noise, reminding you very much of a baby moose in the moment. You groaned as you reached into your bag for your phone.

“Oh my god, stop it,” you hissed under your breath as you snoozed the alarm that was going off on there. Once it was quiet, you looked back up at the man with you sheepishly, “Sorry about that.”

He joked, “Curfew?”

You laughed lightly, “No, just a reminder for something I have to do after I get home. It’s fine.”

“Well, before you go do that, can I ask you something?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Nu Chi and the team are hosting a joint Halloween party this year, and I’d really like it if I could see you there.”

“When?”

“Tomorrow, people will probably start showing up after like ten, eleven. It’s at the Nu Chi house, theirs is bigger than ours.”

“Fascinating phrasing,” you snickered.

“I know this is last minute, so I get if you have other plans or something.”

“I… can probably swing by for a bit, yeah,” you nodded.

“Great!” Sungchan beamed. “Oh, it is a costume party, by the way.”

“Costume?” You arched a brow. “What’ll you being going as? And please don’t say hockey player.”

He rubbed the back of his neck, “Definitely not… that would be lame…”

“You were planning on going as a hockey player, weren’t you?”

“Me and Mark have been putting all our spare time into planning this thing, I haven’t had any time to think about a costume.”

“Well you’ve given me 24-hour notice for a costume, so this is your 24-hour notice for one too. When I find you at the Nu Chi house tomorrow, I do not want to see a hockey jersey, Jung Sungchan. Any sports player is off-limits, understand?” You poked his chest with finality.

“Yes, ma’am.” He nodded in assent.

Just then, your alarm went off again, and this time you jumped out of your skin. Apparently, another 5 minutes had elapsed. With a sigh, you reached into your bag for your keys.

“I should let you go do that thing,” Sungchan chuckled. “Goodnight, Y/N.”

“Goodnight, Sungchan,” you unlocked your front door. “See you tomorrow.”

Sitting at your kitchen table a couple minutes later, you were looking down at the vitals displayed on the screen of your blood pressure cuff.

“Jung Sungchan…” you muttered to yourself as you added the reading to your digital record, noting how the line graph jumped up with the new data.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31

“You agreed to go to a frat party?” Chenle’s eyes were bugging out of his head as he sat across a high top in the dining hall from you. You two were grabbing a quick lunch between classes, and doing an obligatory catch-up on how your short but sweet walk with Sungchan went last night. “Do you remember what happened last time, Y/N?”

“Hard to forget,” you snorted.

“And yet it seems you did, somehow, lost in dreamboat Jung Sungchan’s eyes.”

You threw a fry from his plate at him, “It wasn’t like that!”

He ducked, letting it sail by his head and hit the wall behind him.

“Then what was it like?”

“It was more like a big puppy that I couldn’t say no to and—”

You were cut off by loud gagging noises from your friend, and went to kick him under the table, but missed and hit his chair leg instead. He still got the message, quieting down to let you continue.

“I told him I’d be able to just pop in for a bit. I’ll be in and out before it’ll get too bad.”

“Famous last words...”

“Hold on, LeLe,” you grabbed your friend’s arm to stop him on the sidewalk in front of the Nu Chi Tau frat house.

Taking another look into your tote bag, you made sure once again that you had everything you could possibly need tonight. Medications, snacks, water bottle, ear plugs, the usual. After closing the snaps on the bag, you nervously fidgeted with the hem of your costume. Generic witch, it was the last thing the costume store had in your size that wasn’t garishly scary. You understood well and good how college Halloween parties worked: you had to look hot, not terrifying. Not to mention that those horror show costumes were also much pricier than your “Sexy Witch” one.

“You look cute, Y/N,” Chenle reassured you, readjusting your witch hat for you. “Jung Sungchan won’t know what hit him.”

Chenle, on the other hand, was an almost scarily realistic zombie. If you hadn’t spent an ungodly amount of time hanging out on his bathroom counter this afternoon watching him apply the SFX makeup himself, you would’ve thought he had hired a professional makeup artist to do it. He’d always gone ham on Halloween since you two were kids, ever since he figured out how to make a Transformers costume out of cardboard boxes in primary school. You usually participated in partner costumes with him, but you really didn’t want him to make you a gross-looking zombie tonight.

“Thanks.” You gave him as confident a smile as you could muster.

Resecuring your grip on your go bag, you started up the walkway to the house with your friend.

You had been able to faintly hear the thumping bass of the music from outside, but once inside, you were almost immediately hit by a wall of music. Just inside the front door you were faced with a mass of people in bright costumes, flashing lights, corny Halloween decorations of cobwebs, spiders, ghosts, and pumpkins all over the walls.

Chenle looked over at you expectantly, “Y/N?”

“I couldn’t find my concert earplugs, only my noise canceling. I won’t be able to hear anybody unless they’re shouting at me if I put those in,” you replied, having to raise your voice to make sure he heard you. “I’ll be fine.”

“Okay…” He sighed and grabbed your elbow. “Come on, let’s find a quieter spot in the house then.”

You gave him a thumbs up and bright grin, already feeling your ears acclimate to the loudness. You could totally do this. It was one night, and you were just going to see Sungchan for a bit then go. Pop in then back out, just like you said.

You didn’t have to wait long to spot Sungchan. Chenle had barely tugged you into the next room over from the small foyer when a familiar head was visible over the crowd, his bright smile focused on you.

“Hey, Y/N!” Sungchan grinned down at you. He was dressed in a suit and tie, what you were guessing was probably his only set, and his hair was parted to one side, styled off of his face. The tie had already been loosened, and the tuck of his dress shirt wasn’t so crisp.

“Hi, Sungchan,” you smiled up at him, amazed that you could hear anything over both the music and now your heart beating so loudly in your ears.

“So you did find a costume.”

“Oh, yeah,” you messed with the hem of your skirt. “Last one at the shop.”

“You look great.” He was still beaming down at you, and you could feel your skin growing warmer. “I’m really glad you could make it.”

“Thanks. Uhm, so what are you? Funeral director?”

“What? No, I’m—” His sentence stopped in its tracks as he looked down at the front of his suit jacket. He started patting his empty breast pocket, then other jacket pockets, then pants pockets, then looked around on the floor. “Fuck.”

“What?” You looked around under your feet, but weren’t able to see anything other than the usual party debris. “Did you lose something?”

Sungchan looked back up at you, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. “Well, I was about to say that I’m Mulder from the X-Files. But I’ve apparently lost my fake FBI badge. So it looks like I’m a funeral director now.”

You giggled. “Maybe you can be Mulder when he retires and buys a funeral home.”

“Yeah, the perfect costume. Won’t take too long to explain to anybody, they’ll get it immediately,” he laughed.

“Hey, I’m just glad you didn’t wear a jersey.”

“I’m nothing if not a man of my word.”

“Oh, have you seen Chenle’s makeup by the—” But when you turned around to gesture to your friend, you found that he had disappeared, leaving you and the hockey captain all alone.

“Chenle?” Sungchan asked with a tilted head. “I didn’t even realize he was here yet.”

You shook your head fondly at your friend’s antics. Well, you’d have to thank him later.

“He must have gone to get a drink or something. Either way, it seems I’ve been abandoned.”

“Well, you can come hang out with me and some of the guys, if you want?” He offered.

“Yeah, I’d really like that,” you nodded, readjusting your bag to make sure it was pulled in tight to your body.

Sungchan led you through the frat house with a hand on the small of your back, and you snuck a glance up at him when he went to greet someone who had called his name as you passed by. He kept you tucked into his side as he slowed to give the guy a friendly slap on the shoulder. As soon as Sungchan had stopped to say hello, two more people appeared seemingly from nowhere, eagerly greeting him as well. You faintly recognized one, Jisung, a new Nu Chi pledge. He’d been at the hockey game you went to, and always found Chenle at Nu Chi events that you tagged along to. You looked up at Sungchan’s animated, handsome face again as he continued talking.

“This is Y/N.” Sungchan’s voice suddenly pulled you into the conversation. You snapped your focus down from his face to the other three that were in front of you, and realized that they all definitely knew that you’d been staring.

“Oh, hi.” You gave the three boys a nervous smile.

“Y/N, this is Jisung, Shotaro, and Renjun. Jisung and Shotaro are Nu Chi pledges, Renjun’s a sophomore brother, and he’s—you’re a Literature major, right, Renjun?”

“Yes.” One of them nodded.

“Renjun’s a Literature major too, Y/N,” Sungchan finished the introduction.

“Cool, cool,” you nodded. It had been Shotaro that called Sungchan over in the first place, you were pretty sure.

“Anyway, thanks for the offer, guys, but I already promised Hyuck I would, so we’ve got to go.”

Sungchan ushered you away to the tune of a chorus of disappointed groans from the three boys, and you wracked your brain to see if you could recall hearing any sort of proposition from them. But nope, between the loud music and your prior lack of attention to the conversation, you had nothing.

“What did they want?” You gave up and finally asked Sungchan.

“Beer pong. Hope you don’t mind that I declined. I’ve already had a couple and am not looking to get wasted quite yet.”

“Oh, no, not at all,” you shook your head. Thank god you didn’t have to deal with that yet. “Not really my thing anyway. Terrible hand-eye coordination.”

Sungchan seemed about to say something when someone walked by you with an exceptionally pungent cologne. The whiff shot directly to your head like a bullet, the sharp pain making you wince and hiss. It took everything in you not to cover your nose like Edward Cullen and instead shift to breathing through your mouth for a few moments.

“Y/N? You okay?” Sungchan’s voice was clearly concerned.

The sharp pain was gone just a couple moments after it had registered, and you opened your eyes up again, giving him a reassuring smile. “Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry, don’t know what that was.”

“Okay, good.” He squeezed your shoulder before dropping his hand back down to your back and continuing your trek through the Nu Chi house.

You and Sungchan finally made it to a room adjacent to the main living room, where there were a couple of beat-up old couches and lots of Nu Chi Tau paraphernalia. The bass of the music playing in the next room over would occasionally make the picture frames and plaques on the walls rattle, and you could hear every word of the songs crystal clear, even though the room that you were in was packed to the brim with partygoers as well. Sungchan stopped you at a group of people gathered around one of the couches, tapping the shoulders of two of them who had their backs to you. Donghyuck and Hendery turned around, immediately parting to make room for the both of you in the group upon seeing you.

Almost everyone in the group was familiar to you either as friends or acquaintances. Your social circle was big thanks to Chenle, who was friends with practically the entire hockey team and Nu Chi house, despite being a member of neither. But now you didn’t have your best friend at your side, just Sungchan and your tote bag, both of which you were keeping close to you.

“Oh shit, Y/N!” Hendery grinned, pulling you into a one-armed hug of greeting. “Damn, it really is you!”

“Yeah, I’m a witch, not a ghost, Hendery,” you retorted jokingly. He was dressed as Prince Eric, if you weren’t mistaken.

“Well, when Sungchan said you were coming, some of us were a bit... skeptical.”

Someone dressed as Venom cut in from Hendery’s other side sharply, “No, I believe you said ‘never in a million fucking years, loverboy.’”

The rest of the group erupted in tipsy snickers and ‘ooh’s, and you felt Sungchan jostle a little as someone had presumably given him a teasing shove.

“Alright, guys. You can cut it out now,” Sungchan spoke over them authoritatively. He then looked down to you, features softening. “Sorry. Anyway, this is Donghyuck, he’s on the team and in Nu Chi—”

He pointed to the boy right next to him, wearing a very classic vampire costume splattered with a little bit of fake blood or fruit punch (you couldn’t tell in the poor lighting), and you wondered if he had also gone to a Halloween store last-minute like you. You knew him both from the game, and from a couple times you’d seen him with Chenle outside of frat or hockey events.

“Mark, frat president and he’s on the hockey team—” He was next to Donghyuck, dressed as Spiderman. You were already familiar with Mark, both from the game, and a group project in a class last year. You wondered if Mark remembered that.

“Ten, hockey and Nu Chi—” Ten was reclined on the couch, a top hat that had presumably been on his head earlier now resting on his propped up knee. Between that and his eyepatch, he clearly was dressed as some character that you couldn’t identify in the moment. You knew Ten outside of hockey, the frat, or even Chenle. He was a Lit major, so you had shared classes and study groups over the years. He raised a friendly hand in greeting.

“Sicheng, my co-captain and he’s in Nu Chi, too—” He was on the couch with Ten, sequestered to one corner as his teammate was taking up most of the space with his legs. Sicheng was dressed up as an angel, fake wings, little halo, and all. And you knew Sicheng through Ten, they’d been roommates since freshman year and could often be found together around campus. He gave you a nod of familiarity.

“Dejun, Nu Chi—” Sungchan had finally reached the man who was dressed as Venom.

“And you of course, unfortunately, know Hendery, Nu Chi.”

“Oh, boo, Sungchan,” Hendery stuck his tongue out at the captain.

You smiled and nodded a little bit at everyone else, but you were finding it hard to concentrate with the music in the background. Did it really need to be that loud?

“Y/N?” The sound of your name snapped your focus up, and you looked around for the source.

A few of the guys had gone back to their own conversations. Sungchan was looking down at you, head tilted inquisitively. Presumably he had been to the one to say your name.

“Oh, sorry,” you tried to give a nonchalant chuckle, but it was getting harder and harder to even articulate yourself with all the stimulation. “The music...”

“Oh!” Sungchan perked up at this. “Do you want to go dance?”

He was offering a hand out to you, and you stared down at it, mouth opening and closing as your brain felt like it was moving through sludge. You quite literally could not process what that string of words actually meant for a good second, and then it took even longer for you to even tie together the right way for you to respond. Cognitive fatigue. Oh this was not good. You squeezed your eyes shut, then open.

You again gave him an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry. I’m- I’m kind of light-headed right now. Could you get me something to drink?”

His features immediately turned concerned. “Of course. Do you need to sit down or a ride h—”

“Can you just get me a drink?” Your brain was stuck in a perpetual loop now that it had locked onto one task. It took all of your energy just to regulate your tone enough to keep your voice (hopefully) as sweet as possible, despite the fact that you had cut him off.

“Of course. I’ll be right back.” He squeezed your upper arm reassuringly before taking off.

Your eyes were fixated on the spot where he had just been, your vision seeming to continuously zoom in and past your head. Squeezing your eyes shut once more, you took a deep breath through your mouth to try to recenter yourself. But it didn’t help any. Your head felt like a balloon that someone was overinflating, and you knew exactly what was coming next. You swallowed thickly, taking a second to look through the crowd. Nope, you couldn’t wait for Sungchan. Not like you could even verbalize much of anything right now. You had to go take your medication.

So you hurried into the crowd, clutching your tote bag to your chest like your life depended on it—which it really did. Mumbling ‘excuse me’s to everyone you shouldered, bumped into, or stepped on the toes of, you finally made it to a door that you were pretty sure was a bathroom. You tried the handle first, and when it gave in, you still knocked as you opened it, just in case. It was miraculously empty. Maybe there really was a God. Then, the balloon started to deflate, the pressure in your head inverted, becoming a harsh, squeezing pain instead. Nope, nope, definitely not a God. Or at least not a benevolent one.

You locked the door behind you with clumsy fingers and shuffled over to the sink. The countertop was in good enough condition for you to toss your bag up there and start rooting around through it. Bottle after bottle after bottle, then you finally secured the right two. You shook out a pill from one, then a pill from the other. The lights above the mirror were becoming more insufferable by the second. You cracked open the fresh bottle of water you had stored in your bag too, and knocked both pills back in one big gulp.

Tossing the water back into your bag, you could fucking finally flip the switch and turn the lights in the bathroom off. After feeling your way along the wall, you eventually found the bathtub, and sat yourself down. The music was somewhat muffled in here, and you figured this was going to be the darkest room in the whole Nu Chi house. Right now, your plan was to wait in here for your medication to kick in and hopefully stop this migraine before it really got going. Then you could make your great escape, and send Sungchan some bullshit apology text later. After tossing your witch hat to the ground vaguely beside your bag, you gently rested your head against the cool tile of the shower with a sigh. Chenle was right, you shouldn’t have come. Cynically, you thought that you should have timed it. See how long you lasted before you got a migraine. You’d be surprised if that was even 15 minutes.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Sungchan returned to the group with your requested drink in hand and another for himself, frowning when he immediately noticed your absence. “Hey, where’d Y/N go?”

“Oh, shit, uh…” Mark looked around with a baffled look on his face. “No clue dude, she was just here a second ago.”

“I’m going to go find her. Here.” He shoved both drinks into Hendery’s hands.

“Sungchan, come on, take a hint, man,” Donghyuck sighed, patting the taller boy’s shoulder sympathetically.

“What?”

“She asked you to get her something to drink and then slipped away when nobody was looking.”

“Y/N’s not like that.”

“And denial’s a river in Egypt.”

“No, she hasn’t been feeling well all night. I think. I’m going to go look for her.”

“So you’re admitting that you make her physically ill.”

“Dude, you’re just asking to get your shit rocked, you know that, right?” Ten warned him.

“Hey, I’m standing up for women—”

Mark cut him off, “Hyuck, you’re on your own if Sungchan decides to fuck your shit up. I don’t care if you’re my little, I’m not—”

“Oh, wahhh, my big strong big won’t protect me.”

“Christ, I swear he’s only had like four shots and a couple…”

His friends’ voices quickly faded into the din of the party as Sungchan pushed through the crowd. He couldn’t spot you, but found maybe the next best thing.

“Hey, Chenle.” He grabbed him by the elbow, turning him away from the arm wrestling competition between Jeno and Yangyang that he was spectating. Or, he at least hoped this was Chenle, it was a bit hard to tell with the zombie makeup.

“Hey, Romeo!” Chenle greeted him jovially, punching him in the shoulder over-zealously. Okay, definitely him.

“Have you seen Y/N? In the past like, five minutes or so?”

“You lost her?” The zombie asked angrily, cheerful mood immediately soured.

“Uh, yes? Sorry?”

“No, I’m not pissed at you,” he shook his head at Sungchan’s apology. “You go check the bathrooms, I’ll look outside. Don’t bother calling her, she’s not going to pick up.”

“What’s—”

But Chenle was already gone.

You weren’t sure how long you had been sitting in there for, but you could feel some of the overstimulation from the party beginning to slide off of you. Which could be either a good or bad thing. Cognitive fatigue was usually a prodrome and postdrome for you. Regaining some clarity could either mean that your medication was working and the migraine was going away, or you were about to enter the proper migraine phase. The fact that the pain hadn’t gone away was worrying. But at least it was dark, and relatively quiet. Oh, quiet... you could put in your earplugs now too.

Just as you had gone to grab for your bag, there was a knock at the bathroom door. You froze. Shit.

“Occupied!” You yelled out hesitantly to them, wincing at the loudness of your own voice. Okay, ow.

The person knocked again, harder.

“Seriously! Busy in here! Puking my brains out!” You yelled even louder, hoping they got the fucking idea this time. There was no way you wanted to have to actually get up and deal with a drunk partygoer that needed to piss and/or puke.

“Y/N? That you?” A familiar voice came through the door. “It’s Sungchan, can I come in?”

“Oh, sure, hold on.” You clambered out of the tub as carefully as you could in the dim lighting coming from under the door.

Against your better judgment, you turned one set of lights on in the bathroom, then cracked the bathroom door open. Sungchan was in fact on the other side, and you stepped back to let him in. He looked around the bathroom, worry on his face.

You shut the door behind him, saying sheepishly, “So, I was lying about the puking my brains out.”

“But you don’t look okay.” He peered down at your face as you were still wincing against the bright lights. “You didn’t drink anything tonight, what’s wrong?”

You went to sit on the side of the tub, feeling a pain in your eyes now. You gestured to the light switch. “Can you turn that light off?”

“Uh, okay…” He obliged, and the room was dim once again.

Your eyes adjusted quickly, and you could still see the general outline of everything in the room. Sitting back in the tub, you pulled your knees to your chest. Well, no chance for your great escape now. Sungchan climbed into the dry tub with you, facing you. He didn’t fit great in the small space, all gangly limbs, and your knees bumped into each other. But he sat there with you quietly.

“I’ve got a migraine coming on, I had to get somewhere quiet and dark and take my meds.” You told him bluntly, opting to just take the plunge. Not like you could even attempt flowery language at the moment anyway. Sure, some of your speech capabilities were coming back now that there was less sensory input, but you weren’t going to be doing any soliloquies tonight.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Sungchan said quietly. “Do you want me to leave?”

“No, no. I actually- I actually don’t want to be alone right now, if that’s okay?” You surprised yourself with your answer.

“Yeah, of course.” He said reassuringly. “Do you want me to take you home?”

“I might not have drank but you did. I’ll be okay here, for the most part. I’m the one who came knowing that I get sound-induced migraines.”

“Wait, really?”

“Mm, yeah,” you pinched the bridge of your nose to alleviate some of the tension there for a moment. “Remember when I said Chenle pushes me out of my comfort zone in a good way most of the time?”

“Right.”

“One of the times it wasn’t... good was when he got an invite to Nu Chi’s Halloween party our freshman year, dragged me with him. And he always means the best when he does stuff like that. I hadn’t made any new friends at college, meanwhile he had a bunch, including some of the pledges at Nu Chi.”

“How he got the invite.”

“Exactly.” You needed to take a pause, resting your head against the cool tile again. After a few deep breaths, you pushed on in the story. “Anyway, we’d been there for a couple hours when the loudness and the music and everything finally got to me and I got a migraine. I had my go bag on me, and went to what I thought was an empty corner of the house to take my meds. But a couple other people saw me knocking back pills and wanted some. My head was hurting like a bitch, and they were trying to grab them from me and anyway, I spilled a bunch of them all over the floor, drenched myself with my water and their beer, and elbowed a dude and gave him a bloody nose.”

“Holy shit,” Sungchan breathed out.

You opened and closed your jaw a couple times to try to relax the muscles and joints there. “I couldn’t even open my eyes because my head hurt so bad. Chenle told me later I was screaming and Taeyong wanted to call an ambulance until Chenle ran up and explained what was happening. They put me, Chenle, and Jeno—turns out that’s whose nose I broke—in Taeyong’s room in the house for the rest of the night. Neither Chenle nor I were in any shape to drive ourselves home.”

“Wait is that how you met Jeno?”

“Yeah, and it turns out he wasn’t one of the ones trying to take my pills, he was trying to break up me and the people who were. Collateral damage.” You recounted it regrettably.

“When Jeno found out I’d invited you, he told me he’d keep his room clear in case we needed it. I thought he was just being a dick.” Sungchan sounded like he was having an epiphany. “Y/N, do you think you’ll be okay to move up a floor?”

The bass was thudding through the door, and you knew that if you stayed here when you transitioned into the throes of however bad this migraine fully got, you’d regret it. Grabbing your earplugs from your bag and putting them in, you gave him a thumbs-up and attempted a smile, but you knew it came out like more of a wince.

Sungchan kept you between him and the wall as you moved through the Nu Chi house, casting as much of a shadow against the garishly flashing lights as possible. Even through your earplugs, the music was raucous, people were practically screaming at each other, and you gripped one hand around his arm and the other onto his suit jacket to keep yourself balanced and to not lose him. When you got to the stairs, he fully wrapped an arm around your shoulders to jerk you out of the way of a drunk Nu Chi member stumbling his way down, and kept it there the rest of the way up. The noise was squeezing around your head like a vice, and you shut your eyes tight at the top of the stairs for a moment in an attempt to clear your head.

Sungchan’s voice was right beside your ear, muffled through the earplugs, “We’re almost there, Y/N, I’m sorry, come on.”

You were vaguely aware of the man with you feeling around on the top of a doorway before jiggling a doorhandle, and finally you were in a blissfully dark and quiet-ish room. Your head definitely hurt more than before, and you practically collapsed onto the bed.

“He was kind enough to stuff all his dirty clothes in the closet,” Sungchan muttered.

You managed a strangled chuckle at that, dropping your go bag onto the floor beside the bed. A moment of silence passed, and you could hear Sungchan awkwardly shifting his weight between his feet at the doorway.

“Sungchan,” you said his name, then patted the empty half of the bed beside you. “You can sit. I know Jeno doesn’t have any other furniture in here besides the bed and his PlayStation.”

“He probably only has a bedframe because it came with the room.”

You snickered, but were cut off by the squeezing pain turning to a sharp, stabbing pain behind your left eye, “Oh fuck!”

“Y/N?!” Sungchan was right beside you, and you felt the bed dip as he sat down beside you.

“Sorry, sorry, it feels like I’m getting an icepick lobotomy! Jesus!” You hissed, cupping a hand over your left eye as if that were actually going to do anything. “It’s normal, I’m fine. Relatively.”

“Okay…”

Still clutching your eye, you rolled onto your side and brought your knees up towards your chest. You blindly fumbled towards the head of the bed, and felt a pillow being pressed into your hand.

“Thanks,” you muttered, tucking it under your head.

“Do you want to lay under the covers?” Sungchan whispered.

“Do they smell like Jeno’s washed them in the past week?”

He laughed breathily at that, “Miraculously they do. I think he was planning on getting laid.”

“He gave up getting his dick wet for me. Jeno’s a real one,” you mumbled, feeling the covers that you were laying on top of being pulled out from under you.

Sungchan gently brought the sheet up to your shoulder, then a blanket too. The stabbing pain behind your eye was still there, and your stomach filled with dread as you acknowledged that your acute medication wasn’t going to be working this time. This was going to be a full-blown migraine, and who knew how many hours it would last.

“Thank you.”

“Is there anything else you need? Water?”

“No. Just uh, let me know when two hours have passed, I can take another dose of my meds that aren’t fucking working then.”

“Oh. Will do.”

You opened and closed your jaw, letting out a distinct groan. Another few minutes passed. Or, you think it was a few minutes, you couldn’t really check your phone for the time.

“Sungchan.”

“Yes?”

“You don’t have to stay. I’m sure the party is a lot more fun.”

“Do you want me to go?”

“…No.”

“I want to stay. I’m not going to have any fun out there knowing that you’re in all in this pain all alone in here.”

You squinted your right eye open, and had to crane your neck to look up at where Sungchan was sitting against the headboard. He had taken his suit jacket and shoes off at some point, now just in a rumpled dress shirt, loosened tie, slacks, and socks. He held your eye contact steadily, head tilted slightly and a frown across his handsome features.

Reaching your unoccupied hand up towards him, he watched it with confusion.

“What do you need? Your bag?”

“No.” You grabbed his hand, giving it a light squeeze.

“Oh.” An adorably radiant grin was on his face now instead.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1

Sungchan knew you’d finally fallen asleep when you stopped muttering swears and curses under your breath, the pained expression fell from your face, and your hand that was holding his went limp. He could still hear the party going strong outside of Jeno’s bedroom, and a glance at his phone told him it was just after one in the morning. He had no want to rejoin his friends, to leave you.

He took his tie all the way off, thinking to himself that if you were feeling better, you might have joked that he looked like Mulder the off-duty funeral director. And he would’ve laughed and watched the cute way the corners of your mouth quirked up when you said something that you thought was funny. He set the tie down with his shoes on the floor beside the bed.

Careful to stay on top of the covers that you were sleeping under, Sungchan shifted until he was laying down too, pillow tucked under his head, facing you on his side, hand still holding yours.

Like usual, you didn’t remember falling asleep, but you did remember shutting your eyes tight and wishing really hard for your head to stop hurting so bad. Or to die. Whichever the Universe felt like granting. And judging by the fact that you were now waking up without a migraine, it seemed like the former.

The first thing you were aware of before you even opened your eyes was that you felt like shit. Sure, your head didn’t hurt anymore, but jeez the morning after wasn’t much better. Tired, achy, and your brain felt like TV static.

The second thing that you were aware of, after opening your eyes, was Jung Sungchan just a few inches from your face. He was still asleep, soft bursts of air passing from his lips and mussing up strands of hair that were falling into his eyes. You didn’t quite have enough in you to coo over his bedhead, but you could give half of a fond smile as you pushed yourself into a sitting position, running a sleepy hand over one side of your face.

Only one of your earplugs was still in your ears, and you looked around the bedsheets for the other one. After securing it, you scooted over to the edge of the bed to put the plugs back into your carrying case before rolling back over and pulling the blankets over you again. You deserved this, honestly. Sleeping in late, a comfy bed, warm blankets, a cute boy next to you, nothing to—

Your happy thoughts were ripped away by the sound of a loud alarm. You shot up, scrambling towards your tote bag to grab your phone from the depths of it and turn your goddamn alarm off before it woke Sungchan up.

“Mm?”

Too late.

Sheepishly, you looked over at him, “Sorry…”

“‘S okay,” he mumbled, flopping onto his back and rubbing a hand over his face. “How’s your head?”

“Better. A lot better, thanks.”

“Good, good.” He yawned, “Morning, by the way.”

“Good morning.”

His eyes were closed as he laid there, a hand resting on his chest, and you weren’t sure if he had fallen back asleep.

“…Sungchan?”

“Hm?”

Taking his inquisitive tone as a sign that you could keep talking, you said, “Uhm, that was the first time I’ve had anybody around for one my migraines in a while. I’m sorry if it was… well, I don’t know. What was it like for you?”

He opened his eyes, rolling onto his side to face you and tucking a hand under his cheek, “Oh, uh, I mean, I wasn’t quite worried, since you seemed like you knew exactly what was happening, you know? But still, I… I was wishing there was more I could do. It was weird knowing that you were in pain but not being able to see where it hurt.”

“I should’ve figured that might be upsetting. Sorry about all that.”

“No, Y/N, it's okay. I get it, you just wanted someone with you when you were hurting.”

“Yeah, yeah, I did,” you nodded, curling one of your hands into a fist in your lap, digging your nails into your palm in an attempt to not cry at how easily he saw right into you.

“I was more than happy to sit with you.”

“I’ve had these stupid migraines for years now. Tried every treatment in the book, been on every regiment. And my friends and family, they don’t treat me like I’m made of glass or anything, which I’m grateful for. Everyone in my life knows I’m a pro at it all: I’ve got my go bag, all my meds, my alarms, I’ve been going to doctors’ appointments, testing, everything for years. But like... they still hurt. The migraines still fucking hurt.” Your voice cracked over the word, and your nails dug in deeper. “And I just… think they forget that part sometimes? I don’t know, I guess they hear the word ‘migraine’ thousands of times over the years it sort of loses its meaning. They kind of forget what one actually is. But it hurts Sungchan, my head just hurts for hours or even days, sometimes so bad I throw up from the pain. I can’t do anything but lay in bed in the dark and cry. Last night’s wasn’t that bad but still… thank you. I needed for it to all be real to somebody.”

Sungchan pushed up into a sitting position, and through your watery vision you could see that his brows were furrowed. You followed where his gaze was locked, and watched as he gently unfurled your fingers. You used the thumb of your other hand to rub at the divots that your nails had left in your skin.

“The migraines are why I’ve been all weird, by the way.” You added, trying to ignore the strain in your voice.

“What?”

“When you wanted to buy me a drink after the game. One of my migraine medications that I take, I can’t drink alcohol on it. It just felt like a weird and long explanation to have to give in the moment. And when you asked if I wanted to dance with you last night, the music would’ve made the migraine come on quicker than it did, but explaining it to you then, again it felt like it would’ve ruined the moment even more.”

“Oh… don’t worry about it.”

There was still one big thing you hadn’t smoothed over. But it looks like you’re on man-shaped friend duties tonight, Sungchan. Stupid, stupid.

Pushing through the discomfort prickling at your skin, you asked, “Sungchan, do you want to go on a date?”

“A…” He looked you dead in the eyes for a moment, mouth parted, and blinked once, twice before he was absolutely beaming at you. “Yeah, yes, I do.”

“Okay.” You couldn’t help but giggle, nerves buzzing through you as your chest was airy and you were lightheaded for two reasons now, “Okay, good.”

“Is it bad for me to say that I’m relieved? That you have migraines? Well, not that you have them, because obviously they hurt, but like, that this is what it was? I seriously thought I was being stupid, like mixed signals or something. Like, you came to my game but then you didn’t want to go to the bar.” He ticked the instances off on the fingers of one hand.

“Medication,” you nodded.

“Right. Then you let me walk you home after, but you called me your friend.”

“That was just plain stupidity,” you admitted with a groan at having to relive that moment again.

“And you said yes to coming to the party, but then you didn’t want to dance with me,” Sungchan had now run out of fingers and dropped his hand back down to the bed.

“The music...”

“And when you disappeared, I thought you left because you didn’t like me. I just… felt like I was going crazy.”

“It’s not awful of you to be relieved about this. I’m sorry, Sungchan. Migraines aren’t conducive to romance, apparently.”

“Oh, bullshit.” He pushed back immediately. “They’re just not conducive to drinking and loud parties. That’s not romance.”

“Alright, fair. I’m wont to agree with you.”

“And you need to stop apologizing for your migraines. It’s not like you’re doing it on purpose.”

“Well, I did come to a loud ass party knowing I’d probably get a sound-induced migraine.”

“Okay, aside from that— which, I’m very flattered by and will never ever ask you to do anything like this ever again.”

“Okay.”

Suddenly the door handle rattled, then there was a banging on the door. “Hey! Are you two done in there?” Jeno yelled through the wood. “You better not be having post-headache sex on my bed!”

“Seems like he didn’t get laid last night,” Sungchan muttered.

“If he keeps up that pounding I’m going to get a rebound headache and he’s going to wake the entire house, please let him in,” you groaned.

The boy with you quickly moved to do so, unlocking the door and throwing it open to whisper aggressively, “Jeno! Shut the fuck up! People are still sleeping!”

“Oh. You’re dressed.”

You rolled your eyes at your friend, “I don’t know what you think a migraine is like, but getting my back blown out is pretty far down on my to-do list for immediately after.”

“How are you feeling?” Jeno was nice enough to ask as he rooted through his closet.

“Like shit. While you guys nurse actual hangovers today, I get to nurse a migraine hangover. Same awful morning after without the fun night before.”

“That sucks.” He secured a rumpled shirt and inside out pair of sweatpants. “I told Chenle you were crashing here last night, by the way. He didn’t just abandon you for shits and giggles.”

“Oh, thanks. He was sober enough to drive?”

“Mark had a Breathalyzer and everything.”

“Wow…”

“Now I recommend you two get the fuck out before everyone else wakes up and sees you sneaking out together.”

“Right,” Sungchan nodded, sitting on the edge of Jeno’s bed and pulling his shoes on.

You quickly gathered your shoes, phone, witch hat, and go bag before giving Jeno a short goodbye and following Sungchan out. The Nu Chi house was thankfully quiet as everyone was still asleep in their own rooms, save for the partygoers and brothers who had passed out on the couches in the living rooms. Once you were on the front porch, the two of you dared to speak again.

“I’ll drive you home, Y/N,” Sungchan offered.

“Mhm, thanks,” you squinted against the bright sunlight, reaching into your bag for the spare pair of sunglasses you kept in there.

He gestured to your bag. “So what all do you have in there?”

“Everything but the kitchen sink.” You sighed, finally securing your sunglasses and putting them on. They did help, but you knew there was no way you were going to avoid a rebound headache today. Realizing that Sungchan might actually have been genuinely asking and wasn’t just trying to be polite, you decided to give him a sincere answer as well. “Uh, my meds, my blood pressure cuff, earplugs, sunglasses, some snacks, other miscellaneous non-migraine related stuff like an umbrella.”

“Blood pressure cuff?” He stopped in front of a sedan parked on the street, and opened the passenger door for you.

Even through your unpleasant migraine hangover, you couldn’t help the giddy smile that crossed your lips at the gesture.

Once the both of you were in the car, you explained, “One of my medications affects my blood pressure. I have to check it every few hours, or whenever I feel kind of funny. That’s partially what the snacks are for too.”

“Really?” He started the car and pulled out into the street.

“Most of my meds I need to take with food, so keeping snacks on me makes it easy. The sweet ones are in case my blood sugar drops though.”

“Blood sugar too?”

“A different medication affects my appetite, secondary effect is on my blood sugar. Fun fact, it’s the same one that keeps me from drinking alcohol. Anyway, if you’re ever craving something sweet, I keep gummies and stuff on me usually.”

Sungchan let out a deep breath. “Wow…”

“Oh and water.” You perked up as you realized you’d forgotten something, and reached in for said item. “I've got my water bottle. I need water to take my meds, obviously, but I also need to drink water to make sure I don’t get kidney stones from my medication.”

The car had stopped at a stoplight, and he looked over at you in disbelief. “What the fuck.”

“Hey, it’s this or be entirely unable to participate in society.” You explained. “I used to get five or six migraines a week, with really bad or mild headaches constantly in between. I couldn’t do anything, they were disabling. Clearly, they still are now when I do get them, but I only get one or two a month.”

“I can’t imagine— I… yeah…” He trailed off as the light turned green, a deep frown etching itself on his features as he clearly was trying to imagine what a huge shift in his life that would be. And was having a hard time doing so.

“People without chronic illnesses usually can’t, until they get one,” you shrugged. “I know I couldn’t imagine it either. Then I got my first migraine. Then my second, and my third. I think the ‘chronic illness’ part really hit for me when I had to order my first sharps disposal bin for the monthly injections I take.”

“You’re…”

“Do not say that I’m so strong or any live laugh love type shit right now.”

He laughed, shaking his head, “No, no, not what I was going to say. I was just thinking… you’re really cool.”

“I just info-dumped about my migraines, medication, medication side effects, and treatment to you for ten minutes straight and that’s the conclusion you came to?” You asked in disbelief as he pulled into your apartment complex, and it dawned on you just how long you had been talking about yourself for. You couldn’t remember the last time you’d been that detailed with someone other than your neurologist or your mom about your condition and treatment.

Sungchan put his car in park to turn and look you in the eye. “I’m looking at the bigger picture here: You’re a Lit major, you like Gothic fiction, you’re good at writing, you’re smart and know things like death of the author and stuff, you like Pacific Rim, you’ve come to one of my games, you’re funny, and you just info-dumped to me about something personal for ten minutes. So yes, I think you’re cool. Actually, cool might be an understatement.”

“Jung Sungchan, you…” Your cheeks were hurting with how wide you were grinning. Whether it was the migraine hangover or truly from how warm and happy his words made you, you couldn’t formulate a proper response, “Congrats, I’m speechless.”

“I think that's good?” He laughed again. “Anyway, you told Jeno earlier that you felt like shit, so I won’t hold you up anymore. Rest well today, Y/N.”

“Thanks. You too, Sungchan.” You wrapped your hand around the door handle but stopped just short of actually opening it. “Oh, and uhm, I don’t know if this too eager or whatever, but I’m free tomorrow.”

His face lit up with recognition at what you were implying. “Me too. But are you going to be okay? Like, recovered?”

“Yeah, I’ve got all day today to sleep it off.”

“Okay.” He grinned.

“Okay.” You repeated. “Text me?”

“Yes, yes. I will.”

“Bye.”

And with that, you got out of his car, making sure to take your go bag that had been on your lap for the whole drive.

Halfway to your front door, you turned around to give Sungchan a final wave goodbye, and he waved back through the windshield. Once you’d finally disappeared into your apartment, he looked over at his now empty passenger seat. Well, not completely empty, he realized. Your witch hat was on the floor of the passenger side, you’d forgotten to grab it on your way out. He picked it up, gently setting it on the seat beside him. He’d just give it back to you when he saw you again for your date tomorrow.

“A date,” Sungchan sighed happily, feeling his chest swell and nearly burst with joy. “A date, a date, a date.”

Putting his car in reverse, he looked through the rear window as he muttered, “Suck an egg, Donghyuck. Man-shaped friend, my ass.”

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 2

Sungchan picked you up at 7:00 p.m. on the dot for your first date. You made sure to take your nighttime meds early and silence your alarms so there was nothing to bother you that night. Migraines notwithstanding, of course. You still had to bring your go bag just in case you needed anything acute, but you didn’t think twice about leaving the majority of it in the car, tucking just a couple individually packaged tablets into your pocket before accepting Sungchan’s hand that he offered to you after opening your car door for you.

Walking into the movie theater with him after he bought your tickets, you were about to start off in the direction that the usher had pointed you when your date stopped you.

“You want anything from concessions?” He nodded towards the long line of other couples, families, and groups of friends.

“I’m not big on overpriced popcorn,” you shook your head with a smile. “Thanks though, Sungchan.”

“You sure you don’t want a soda or candy? How’s your, you know, blood sugar?”

It was then that your polite smile morphed into a genuine, touched one, and you squeezed his hand that you were holding. “I’m doing good, promise. I made sure I ate before. But thank you, seriously. You’re really sweet.”

“Okay, but let me know if you need anything.”

“Sungchan, can I tell you something?” You ducked your head in towards him conspiratorially.

“Yeah, of course.”

You gently shook one side of your jacket, and a muffled rattling sound came from within it. “I snuck a bag of Skittles in,” you whispered to him.

He chuckled as you dropped your jacket back down and smoothed over the inside pocket inconspicuously. “Two steps ahead of me.”

“I just didn’t want to ruin our date if I got low.”

“It’s very thoughtful, thanks.”

“So are you!” You tried to reassure him.

The two of you entered where your movie would be showing, and picked your seats. The previews had already started, so you had to drop your voices to whispers.

“But you’re going to be good with the bright light, and the sounds?” Sungchan double-checked with you.

You nodded insistently. “You’re the one who made me compile a list of stuff that I could do, remember?”

“I know, but you also came to that party knowing that it was like 100% guaranteed to give you a migraine. So I think I’ve earned some skepticism.”

“Okay, fine. You got me there,” you sighed. “But I get nothing out of suggesting things that will give me migraines other than cutting our time together short. Which I don’t want to do.”

Sungchan shifted in his seat, and when you looked over at him, you could see a small, bashful smile on his face. “Good. Glad we got that cleared up.”

The previews finally ended, and the entire theater quieted down, including you two. You settled in to watch the movie, scooting closer to your date, looping your arm under his, and resting your head on his shoulder. He hesitantly leaned his head against the top of yours.

As you left the theater hand-in-hand with Sungchan, you two were deep in discussion about the movie, and in the back of your mind, you realized with a panic that you had far too much that you wanted to say that wouldn’t fit into the short ride back to your apartment. Not to mention that you didn’t want your night with him to be over yet.

“Hey.” You called for his attention as he opened up the passenger door for you, stopping before you got in the car.

“Hey.” He offered you a lopsided grin, still holding the door open with one hand and now caging you between him and the open car door.

If the parking lot wasn’t literally swarming with other movie theater patrons, you swore you would’ve grabbed him and kissed him stupid right there and then. But a family of five walked by at that moment, so you swallowed down the itch.

“We should go somewhere,” you suggested, trying to sound equal parts nonchalant and hopeful. Which was a weird combination, you knew, but you didn’t want to come across as too desperate. Again, a ridiculous sentiment, but it was engrained in you with social conditioning or whatever.

“We just went somewhere,” he pointed out knowingly, and you swore that was a smirk that you spotted on his face in the shadowy lighting afforded by the parking lot streetlamps.

“We should go somewhere else.”

“Like where?”

“I don’t know,” you shrugged, despite how desperate you felt on the inside to just be around him right now. “Somewhere. Are you hungry?”

“Are you?”

You pressed your lips together in a thin line. “Well—”

Finally, he smiled, nodded towards the car, and said, “I know somewhere. Get in.”

Sungchan closed the car door after you before walking around to get into the driver’s side. He didn’t offer you any information or clues as to your new destination as he left the movie theater parking lot. The hockey captain drove with one hand casually holding the bottom of the steering wheel, the other tapping out the rhythm of whatever song was playing over his speakers onto his thigh. You dragged your eyes from his fingers to the passing scenery.

Honestly, you couldn’t remember the last time you’d been on a good date. Even the last date you’d been on was a distant memory. Lunch with some CompSci major your freshman year, a blind date set up by a mutual acquaintance. He just talked over you the whole time. You didn’t deign to go on a second date with him. It wasn’t that your migraines made it impossible to date—they hadn’t even come up at the date with the CompSci major (mostly because he didn’t give you the opportunity to say much of anything)—but you knew that it was always going to be something to get out of way. Either up front or at some point down the line. And it was exhausting enough for you to have to completely restructure your life around them, how could you really ask some stranger who barely knew you—or didn’t at all—to consider doing the same? It felt like it just made your dating pool even narrower, an added standard that you didn’t even get to pick.

But with Sungchan, it had happened in the worst way possible, you disappeared on him because you were having a migraine, without even having told him anything about them. And not only was he more than chill about it, he stayed with you through your entire full-blown migraine. Listened to you explain every ailment, medication, and medication complication that you have, and just tucked all that information away to keep track of your wellbeing. Taken it all in stride and made it look easy. And that was before your first date. It almost made you angry. Not at Sungchan, but at the fact that other people had ever made you feel like an inconvenience.

The car slowing to a stop knocked you from your thoughts, and you didn’t even realize that you had been silent for the entire trip. Sungchan didn’t seem to mind, though, as he hadn’t tried to start a conversation either. He put the car in park as you looked around, trying to gauge where exactly you were.

“Are we… on campus?” You turned to him with an eyebrow raised.

He was already out of the car, though, jogging around to get your door. As he opened it for you, he tilted his head innocently, “What was that?”

You stepped out, taking in your surroundings. “Are we at a campus parking garage?”

“Specifically, the top floor of Evergreen Parking Garage,” Sungchan clarified, rolling the passenger window down.

Evergreen Parking Garage was a commuter-only parking facility, meaning that this level was empty this late at night. It was also located at the furthest reaches of the north block of campus, which bordered a nature preserve, meaning that while on one side was your university campus, the other side was entirely evergreen trees. Hence the name.

Sungchan had parked on the side that faced the nature preserve, and as you turned to question your date as to why exactly he’d taken you to campus, you were instead greeted by the sight of him hunched over to lean into the open passenger window, seemingly messing around with the audio controls of the still-running car.

You tilted your head to one side, then the other as you just watched him struggle for a moment before finally speaking up. “What uh… What are you doing, Sungchan?”

He banged his head on the frame of the window as he went to stand back up. “Fuck! Ow…”

Covering your hand to muffle your giggles, you waited patiently for him to turn around and answer you.

Still clutching his head, he said with a sheepish smile, “Just give me a sec, sorry. Technical difficulties.”

And with that, he opened the door to properly sit in the passenger seat, futzing with his phone and the car radio. Finally, there was music playing from the speakers as opposed to the radio station ads, and he turned the volume up before getting back out of the car and shutting the door. With both the driver and passenger windows rolled down, you could hear the song clearly.

“I was originally going to try to take you to this lookout, but there were other cars there, so I had to keep driving by it and oh my god why did I tell you that—” He scratched the back of his head nervously. “Anyway, since we didn’t get to dance at the party…”

Sungchan offered his hand out to you, and you set yours atop it. The upbeat song that had been playing finished just then, switching to a much slower, softer one. You stepped in closer, smiling up at him as you looped your free arm around his neck. His other hand settled on your hip, and he slowly started leading you in an uncertain sway of sorts.

You let out an airy chuckle, “Was this really the kind of dancing you had in mind for a frat party?”

“Would you believe me if I said yes?” He questioned.

“Would you believe me if I said that I believed you?”

“No.”

You snickered. “Smart man.”

“But this is good, too. Better, even.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, there’s not a bunch of other drunk, sweaty, loud people everywhere knocking into us. I don’t have to worry about somebody spilling beer on me, or other guys looking at you, or the DJ picking something bad. Or you getting a migraine.” Sungchan slotted his fingers with yours. “I just get to think about you.”

You rested your head on his chest, eyes zoning out on your linked hands. It was his right hand, so his pinky finger couldn’t quite fold down along with the others. “Yeah. I like this, too,” you agreed softly.

A cool breeze gently blew across your cheek that wasn’t resting on Sungchan’s chest, and you were glad for the warmth of him pressed against your front. Your feet awkwardly bumped into each other, making you chuckle, and he apologized with a nervous laugh.

“It’s okay,” you reassured him. “I haven’t exactly taken any ballroom dancing classes. Have you?”

“Well...”

You jerked your head back to look him in the face. “You have?”

“You know how Greek life has those formals every year?”

“You’re not in a frat...”

“No, I’m not. But freshman year, Nu Chi had pitched in for this dance teacher and— God, I can’t believe I’m telling you this,” Sungchan said regretfully, tilting his head back to look up in embarrassment.

“Sungchan, come on!” You pleaded.

“Hendery swore me to secrecy...”

“Well now you have to tell me!”

“Hendery’s date couldn’t make it to one of the lessons, so he asked me to fill in for her...”

Your jaw dropped with delight, “Was his date an Amazon? How did that work? He couldn’t have possibly dipped you! Or twirled you!”

“She was taller than him, to be fair,” he admitted. “Nothing that couldn’t be adjusted for with some thick soles, but, you know...”

“You’re such a good friend, Sungchan,” you said through a couple of giggles, imagining the two of them attempting the aforementioned twirls and dips.

He dropped his head, shaking it. “Right, thanks.”

“So I guess I should be leading then, hm?” You teased, your feet bumping his again in that moment.

“I feel like you’d lead us over the edge of this parking deck, Y/N,” he joked.

Before you could make a retort, he stepped back from you to gently twirl you around by the hand, and a cross between a surprised yelp and a laugh tumbled from your mouth. As he brought you back into his chest, you could barely think over the joyful buzzing in your head that resonated out to every square inch of your body.

“Okay, okay, I guess you can lead,” you surrendered, looping your arm back around his neck again.

After some time, the songs had picked up tempo again, but you and Sungchan were long past actually dancing to them. You were more so just holding each other, leisurely swaying, and from here you got to listen to the sounds of his breathing. He’d taken to rubbing absentminded circles into your hip with his thumb, and the fingers of your arm that was around his neck had dipped below the material of his collar, resting on his bare skin.

“Sungchan?” You murmured.

“Yes?” He responded, his voice rumbling right under your ear.

“Thank you for not making me do this in front of a bunch of other cars at the other lookout.”

He let out a couple quiet laughs, his chest shaking with each. “You’re welcome. I figured all of the teens making out in their cars also didn’t want to watch us do this either.”

You mock gasped, pretending to sound scandalized, “You were going to take me to a lover’s lookout? On the first date? Jung Sungchan…”

“Who are you, my grandma? Nobody calls it that anymore.” He pinched your side. “And only because it’s actually got a great view over the city and—”

“I’m kidding, Sungchan.” You pinched him back, lightly, on the nape of the neck. “Besides, I wouldn’t have been opposed to a trip to a lover’s lookout with you anyway…”

You heard the breath hitch in his throat, then Sungchan swallowed and inhaled through his nose, before he finally spoke, “Really?”

His grip on your hip tightened, sending a bolt of electricity along your skin out from the contact point. You brought your head out of his chest and used your arm around his neck to draw him in even closer.

“Really,” you echoed, blatantly staring at his lips now that they were centimeters away from yours. “And it looks like we’ve got our own right here.”

Then Sungchan was using his hold on your hip to push you back step by step until your back was against the side of his car. Your own arm around his neck kept him anchored to you as he stood hovering over you, blotting out any light that would’ve come from the light post above you. Your noses were almost touching, your breaths mingling in the negligible space between your mouths. You were looking at Sungchan’s eyes now, usually a warm, deep brown, now all inky blackness in the dark of night, and staring down at your own mouth. Your tongue instinctually darted out to wet your lips, and that seemed to be the final straw.

His mouth on yours was desperate, but not desperate to get laid, like your previous lover’s lookout banter might imply. Like he was just desperate for you. He stole kiss after kiss from your lips, but never forced his tongue into your mouth, nor moved his hands anywhere else. Despite leaning more and more of his weight forward onto you, utterly pinning you to the car, he kept his bruising grip on your hip and never let go of your hand.

You parted your mouth with a bedraggled gasp of his name, and he finally took this as an invite to slip his tongue into the mix. You shifted to rest the hand that was laced with his above your head, on the roof of the sedan, giving his hand a squeeze. He squeezed your hand back.

Turning your head and breaking the kiss, you hoped he’d get the idea as you continued laying there half-spread out under him. He did, thankfully, kissing from the corner of your mouth across your cheek and down your jaw and neck.

“Sung…chan…” You breathed out his name, stroking the back of his head with your free hand as his lips latched onto a spot at the base of your neck.

Trailing your hand down further, you snuck it up under the hem of his shirt, feeling over the expanse of his chest and stomach. Oh fuck yeah, hockey players. You pulled the article of clothing up towards his head insistently, and he detached from your neck for the two of you to jointly strip him of it. Oh fuck yeah, hockey players. You truly didn’t know if he looked or felt better, but you couldn’t ogle him for long, because he was back on top of you as soon as he’d thrown the shirt into the front seat via the open passenger window beside you. His lips were so warm on yours, his skin even hotter under your touch now as you unabashedly felt up every inch of it and the muscles underneath.

But soon that wasn’t enough either, and you were fumbling at his pants button. He groaned into your mouth, the sound vibrating down into your own chest, as his hand snapped around your wrist.

“Ahh…” He hissed regretfully.

“What?” You looked up at him with wide eyes.

“I can’t get my dick out in public.”

You glanced at the car behind you, with its tinted windows, then back at Sungchan. He met your eyes, then shrugged. “That’ll work.”

It was a mad scramble to get the door to the backseat open, so much so that you accidentally smacked Sungchan in the leg with said door. After lots of apologies through giggles, both of you were in the backseat with the doors closed and locked. Sungchan had the task of awkwardly reaching forward over the console to roll the windows back up first, during which you made a couple observations about his backseat, which you hadn’t seen much of before. His practice bag for hockey was back here—which was different than his gear bag, as you’d already been told. The gear bag actually had his equipment that he needed to play with like mouth guards, sticks, and all of that, while his practice bag had more personal stuff like changes of clothes or hygiene products. You figured his gear bag was either in the trunk or at the rink, as he didn’t always need to carry it back and forth with him. But other than the practice bag and a couple of reusable grocery bags on the floor, the backseat was pretty clean. You were genuinely impressed, especially because he made it sound like he tended to chauffeur a lot of his teammates/roommates around frequently.

Sungchan eventually reentered the backseat fully, focusing a content, closed-lip smile on you. You’d taken it upon yourself to lay down on the seat, your knees propped up by your feet. He settled in to kneel on the same cushion as your feet, but just rested an arm on your knees and his chin atop that forearm to gaze down at you, still smiling.

“What? What’s that smile for?” You asked, starting to feel a bit self-conscious.

“Nothing, I just—” He reached both his hands out towards you, fingers spread, and you got the idea, linking yours with them. “I hope you don’t get the wrong idea. I want this to be a real thing, Y/N. Like, I don’t just want to sleep with you. I don’t even do this kind of stuff—car sex on the first date in a campus parking garage?—literally ever. I’m just kinda crazy about you. I know for most people usually it’s the opposite; you know, they save it for later for really important people. They try to make it special, but I know it’ll be special just because it’s you.”

“Sungchan... I’ve never done something like this either,” you admitted, squeezing both of his hands tight. “I think I’m just kinda crazy about you too.”

“Okay. Cool.” He beamed at you, and you felt your insides turn to mush in that moment. You didn’t think they’d ever un-mush again.

“Now can you please take my clothes off before I spontaneously combust?”

“Fuck. Yeah.” He nodded, immediately turning serious as his brow furrowed and he leaned forward to lock his lips with yours again, propping himself up with one hand to hover above you.

You let your knees fall apart to give him room to settle in between your legs. He pulled at your jacket first, and you sat up to help yank it off, dropping it to the floor with his practice bag. With you no longer laying down, he could use two hands to get the next part, your top. His fingertips skimmed along your skin as he grabbed the hem. You broke the kiss so he could start pulling the clothing up your body—

A loud knock against the driver’s side window quite literally made you scream, and Sungchan jerked up and hit his head once again, this time on the roof of the car. You tugged your shirt back down to cover you, ducking to lay flat on the seat as Sungchan looked at you with panic in his eyes.

Another knock came at the window, this time accompanied by a man’s voice, “Campus security! Roll the window down or I’m going to ask you to turn the car off and step out!”

“Just a second!” Sungchan yelled back, a noticeable crack in his voice. He had a difficult time maneuvering his lanky body over the console fully into the driver’s seat again.

“Now!” The man called out again. “Three! Two!”

Sungchan didn’t have time to put on his shirt before ‘one,’ and he rushed to roll the window down. A flashlight was immediately shone into the car, and you didn’t doubt your own visibility to the security officer. You were remaining laying down for your own mental wellbeing at this point. You didn’t think that you could deal with looking this man in the eye right now.

You didn’t know if it was wisdom or embarrassment that kept your date from saying anything, but he thankfully didn’t speak until spoken to, not offering up any incriminating information. After five entire seconds of silence, the officer let out an audible sigh.

“No overnight parking in this garage,” he said, his tone making it very clear that he knew that was not what was going on. “I’ll be back in five minutes and if you’re still here, you’re getting a ticket.”

“Yes, sir,” Sungchan replied.

“I’m sure that the captain of our hockey team wouldn’t want to get put on probation at the beginning of the season.”

“N-No, sir.” His voice cracked again.

The security officer grunted, but said nothing more. You heard Sungchan roll the window back up, then the sound of another car driving away. Slowly, Sungchan turned around to look at you over the console with wide, horrified eyes.

“He knew who I was…” He whispered. “That was the most terrifying 45 seconds of my life.”

“You’re famous, Sungchan,” you teased, sitting up in the backseat now that the coast was clear.

“Yeah, and fame has got so many perks so far.”

“Almost got into your first scandal already.” You clicked your tongue disapprovingly. “Caught with a girl in your backseat. What will the fans say?”

“Considering my fans are all frat bros, probably something along the lines of wolf whistles and incoherent, congratulatory lewd jeering.”

You couldn’t help but laugh, able to picture that perfectly considering you’d already gotten a taste at the first home game you’d gone to. “Sounds about right.”

“Anyway, I should take you home before that guy comes back.”

“Good idea.” You slipped your jacket back on.

“Are you going to come up here or am I your chauffeur?”

“I suppose I’ll sit up there with you,” you sighed, opening the backseat to get out and into the front normally since there was no security man around.

Back in the passenger seat, you handed Sungchan’s shirt back to him, “Here, have some decency. You’re the captain of the hockey team, you know.”

“I’m sorry, who was going to spontaneously combust if we didn’t get naked in the next 0.2 seconds?” He scoffed, pulling his top back on.

“I don’t recall.”

“Sure.”

“And who’s still hard in their jeans right now?”

“Don’t remind me, I have to drive like this,” he groaned, taking the car out of park with a shake of his head.

As Sungchan drove with one hand, the other reached over to take yours, lacing his fingers together with yours.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6

Just a few days later, and you were at the rink again, eagerly watching the hockey game in front of you. Chenle was beside you, continuing his constant sports commentary on every play that happened. You still mostly tuned it out, but you were pretty sure you at least understood most of the basic rules that Taeyong had explained to you before. You kept your eyes on Sungchan, cheering him on along with the other various Nu Chi brothers around you and other fans in the stands. It wasn’t as full of a house as it had been for the first home game, but you were perfectly content to have a slightly quieter environment.

Sungchan happened to skate by your section as everyone was resetting their positions, giving you a wave through the clear barrier. You gave him a slightly bashful but nevertheless bright grin as you waved back.

“So are you two like... dating now?” Hendery asked from your other side, leaned forward with both of his elbows on his knees as he watched the game. He looked back at you over his shoulder with a shit-eating grin, though, one that made you roll your eyes.

“I don’t know. We’ve been on a date. I mean, there was the Halloween party, but I got a migraine so I don’t think that really counts, so— I don’t have to explain myself to you!” You scowled at him, shoving him away by his shoulder.

He laughed as he let himself get jostled around in his seat from the push, holding his hands up in surrender. “Just curious. Unlike your bestie over there, I think you two are adorable.”

“What?” You looked over at Chenle, who Hendery had pointed at.

Chenle had apparently been listening enough to be able to jump in to defend himself. “It’s not what it sounds like. I think you two are great, promise.”

You turned back to your other friend. “Then what the hell are you talking about, Hendery?”

“He just doesn’t want to lose,” the Nu Chi member explained. “I pegged Sungchan’s huge crush on you on day 1 of Dr. Son’s class. Once the Phanta Phour stuff started, I knew that boy had no chance. Chenle just didn’t think you’d ever... hold on, how’d he put it... be into uh, ‘Neanderthal frat-bro-in-law types.’”

“I was maybe a bit tipsy...” Chenle added in.

“So you made a bet on if Sungchan and I would get together? In four whole years?” You looked from left to right between them.

“Loser has to buy winner a 12-pack,” Hendery confirmed with that same grin. “When Phantasmagorical Phriday ended this year, I really thought I’d lost. But then you turned up at the game last week and I figured Sungchan just might score himself a buzzer beater.”

“You two need to get better hobbies,” you declared with a snort.

“This so counts as sudden-death OT, but whatever,” Chenle scoffed under his breath.

You smacked him across the chest. “And don’t call my dating life ‘sudden death’ either.”

“Hey.” He said softly, grabbing your arm, and you turned your head to meet his gaze. “I really was worried about you going to the Halloween party with your head. I swear.”

“I know, LeLe,” you nodded, giving him a reassuring smile. “You did some great wingmanning once we got there.”

The brief flash of sincerity you got from your best friend was over as quick as it had come, as you heard the crash of helmets on the ice, and both your focuses were drawn back to the game. Two players had collided into each other and the clear barrier right in front of your faces. You grimaced sympathetically as you tried to identify the player from your team. 23— Jeno, ah, he’d be alright. And you were right, he took off almost immediately as the other guy was left behind still dazed.

At the end of the game, with the buzz of another win in your veins and the anticipation of seeing Sungchan thrumming along your skin, you bounced on your heels as you waited in the lobby. You weren't paying attention to the ecstatic, dramatic recollections that Chenle and the Nu Chi brothers were giving of specific plays around you, your gaze entirely focused on the locker room exit.

The very first player to leave was Sungchan, his eyes already scanning the crowd. Without a second thought, you darted over to him, ignoring the couple of whoops and whistles you two got from your friends.

Sungchan beamed down at you as he went to pull you into a hug, and you were immediately enveloped in the smell of the freshly washed clothes that you’d caught last time. This time, though, there was the distinct, crisp smell of ice rink ice under it as well, reminding you of when you’d go ice skating with friends.

“Hey,” you smiled up at him as he let you go, but didn’t step back very far. “You played really good again. I’m pretty sure. A bit more sure than I was last time.”

He was still grinning, looking down at the floor then back up at you before he responded, “Thank you. And I don’t really expect you to become a hockey pro or anything if all that doesn’t interest you. As long as you don’t expect me to remember what death of the author is.”

“This was only my second game, have some faith in me!” You cried out indignantly. “And no, I don’t expect you to become a full-blown literary critic either.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he apologized through a couple of poorly suppressed giggles. “I do believe in you. I just didn’t want you to feel like you had to learn boring sports stuff for me.”

“I do want to be able to follow the basics of a game without Chenle or Taeyong annotating it for me, at least.”

“Oh, yeah, you can definitely do that. Might need to come to a few more games, though...”

You nodded giddily. “Just let me know when the home games are and I’m there.”

“Yo!” A voice had called from the gaggle of guys heading towards the exit. You didn’t even realize that the rest of the team had left the locker room in the time that you’d been talking to Sungchan.

While you couldn’t tell who had gotten your attention, it was Donghyuck that asked, “Are you two coming or are you just going to keep making moony eyes at each other all night?”

“Yeah, Sungchan, you’re our ride!” Yangyang yelled out from somewhere.

“DD!” Jeno cheered.

“I’ll drive you two,” Mark offered with a shake of his head.

“Shotgun!” The two of them immediately dibs-ed in unison.

“Sorry, bitches, I’m his little,” Donghyuck declared. “That means eternal dibs on shotgun in Mark’s car.”

The frat president scoffed, “You only give a shit about that when it directly benefits you.”

“You guys go ahead,” Sungchan cut into their bickering. “We’re right behind you.”

After they had all filed out, he looked back down at you, a nervous smile worming across his face. “Sorry about that...”

“It’s okay,” you said. “So... you ready to go?”

The two of you had already discussed going to the after-game celebrations with the team before this. Sungchan texted you last night to check in and make sure you’d be okay with going from the loud game to a noisy bar/pool hall with a bunch of frat guys after. You’d assured him that you’d be okay as long as you sat away from any music speakers at the bar, and he’d in turn made you promise to tell him if you needed to leave early.

However, he now halted you as you were slowly turning towards the exit. “Wait, I want to try this again.”

With a sneaking suspicion of what he was about to do, you assured him, “Sungchan, you don’t have to—”

“Let me do this. Please.” He gave you those same eyes that had convinced you to go to a frat party in the first place, and you were squaring your shoulders back to face him, giving him a firm nod.

“Okay. Go for it.”

He asked casually, “So, did you drive yourself?”

You had to hold back a laugh, covering your mouth to straighten your face before replying coyly, “Oh, me? I walked. My apartment is close.”

“So, the team all goes out to this bar after home games. It’s a pretty sleazy dive bar, and I know it’s a Thursday night, but I’d really like for you to come with me. I’ll buy you a... soda.”

“I would love to come, Sungchan,” you giggled, adjusting your purse strap.

“Awesome,” he grinned, wrapping an arm around your shoulders.

As you walked up to the passenger side of his car with him, you suddenly realized something. “Wait, did you have your car last time, too?”

“Maybe?” He rubbed the back of his neck, reaching for the door handle to open it for you.

“Then why did you walk me home?”

“To spend more time with you?”

You stole a quick kiss before ducking into the passenger seat.

Squished into one side of a booth with Sungchan’s arm around you, you chatted happily with Chenle, Ten, and Sicheng, who were sitting opposite from you. The team and cheer section were spread out between a couple booths and tables near each other, a few of them up playing pool too. You sipped on your soda between discussions about tonight’s game, upcoming games, classes, or whatever else struck you all. Currently, you were locked in a conversation with Ten about the most recent assigned reading in a class that you two shared together this semester.

“I thought that scene had a lot of great allusions back to the earlier one with her mother and the pie baking,” you gushed.

“Really?” Ten tilted his head curiously. “I was seeing it more as a continuation of the cannibalism-sex-love metaphor, since they were eating figs, you know.”

You nodded knowingly. “That’s true. Everything’s about sex—”

“Except sex.” You two finished quoting your professor in unison.

“And then with figs, there’s the Bible interpretation, of course,” you continued.

“Always the Bible.”

“We can never escape what John Milton did for Christian fanfiction, truly.”

“But I do like the pie scene connection the more that I think about it, actually.” Ten knocked back the rest of his cocktail. “And, tying her mother into the cannibalism metaphor could be a fascinating angle, too.”

Your eyes widened as you were practically vibrating your seat with excitement now. “Yeah, her earliest memory being of food, parental love, and harm...”

“Anyway, I need a refill.” Your friend shook his glass of ice with a smile. “Be back. Good chat as always, Y/N.”

Chenle and Sicheng scooted out of the booth to let Ten out, the former heading off towards the restrooms while the co-captain followed his roommate to the bar, leaving just you and Sungchan. You continued musing over the new connections you’d just made in the text as you turned your gaze back over to Sungchan beside you. He was already looking at you, a fond half-smile on his face.

“Hi.” He said quietly.

“Hi,” you replied, just as quiet.

Sungchan took a swig of his drink, then eyed yours. “You haven’t drunk any water since we get here.”

He’d been sure to not only order your promised soda of choice, but also water, and as you now looked over at your two cups, you could tell that the water had not been touched at all while the soda was practically empty.

“Oh uh, I guess I haven’t.”

“Drink some.” He pushed it towards you insistently. “Can’t have you getting kidney stones on my watch.”

“Okay, okay.” You acquiesced easily, switching your straw over to that glass and chugging a quarter of it in one go. “Better?”

“Much.” He nodded in satisfaction. “So what were you and Ten saying about pies and sex or whatever? Sex isn’t about sex?”

“Oh, it’s just something one of our professors says a lot. ‘Everything is about sex except sex.’ For lit analysis. In literature, pretty much everything is about sex. Or can be. You can turn like, anything in a piece of text into an innuendo or euphemism if you wanted to. Except for sex. Like, if a sex scene is included in a piece of literature, it’s not actually about the sex that’s being depicted. The sex is meant to represent something else. Like politics, or social structures, or whatever other themes are present in the work. Unless you’re just reading porn. But even then, there’s artistic merit to erotica, and plenty to be learned about the social structures at the time it was written, too.”

Sungchan hadn’t blinked the entire time you’d been rambling on, and upon you finally stopping, blinked in rapid succession as he seemed to come to from a daze. “Wow. Uh, interesting. Filing that away with death of the author.”

“Sungchan...” You leaned in to whisper, placing a hand on the inside of his thigh, just above his knee. His leg jumped, knocking his knee into the tabletop. Your hand had narrowly avoided being smashed too, saved only by its position curled around his leg instead of directly on top. You didn’t move it up or down now though, simply tapping your index finger against the loose material of his sweatpants as you giggled. “What are you thinking about?”

He cleared his throat a couple of times. “How you still have three-quarters of that glass of water left to drink.”

You laughed, slumping to relax into his side and pulling your hand back up to a more casual position on top of his leg. With your other hand, you grabbed your water. “Alright, fine.”

Not too long after your water had been drained, Sungchan was driving you home. Some of your other friends had taken off as well, and you didn't put up too much of a protest when he offered. As your familiar building came into view, you suddenly remembered something.

“Oh, visitor’s parking is over there. Sorry, forgot to mention before.” You pointed to a few parking spots painted with yellow lines instead of white, further away from the apartment entrances than the resident parking. “They’re a bit picky. Chenle got towed after like, five minutes one time.”

“Got it. Thanks.” Sungchan smoothly turned the wheel to pull into one of the open visitor’s spots.

Your reason for showing it to him was two-fold. One, to let him know you hoped he’d be coming over more often, so he’d need that information for future reference. And two, for perhaps less innocent ulterior motives tonight. Truly, your apartment complex only towed people after dark. Overnight visitors. Chenle’s five-minute tow had been a fluke.

“I’ll walk you to your door,” he said with no prompting, and you had to hold in a sigh of relief.

Instead, you gave him a genuine smile. “Thanks, Sungchan.”

“I don’t think I thanked you for coming tonight. To the game.” He slowly meandered up the sidewalk with you, hand holding yours.

“Thanks for inviting me again. I had a lot of fun.” You squeezed his hand.

Your front door loomed in the not-so-distant distance.

“Uh, are you busy this weekend?” He rushed to ask. “I have Saturday morning practice, at 7:30, but it’s over at 9:00, and after that I’m free.”

So that’s why he had texted you at seven in the morning to congratulate you on winning Phantasmagorical Phriday.

“No, I’m not busy. I’d love to do something, just pick from the list I sent you. Surprise me, hm?”

“Will do.”

You were finally on your front welcome mat, and watched his face fall as he seemed to be drawing a blank about how else to prolong your night. But you had an idea.

You didn’t let an alarm or anything else possibly have the chance to interrupt you, grabbing the back of his neck and pulling his mouth down to yours. He stumbled forward at you suddenly yanking him off-balance, catching himself with one hand on your front door and the other on your doorframe. Then, he dropped a hand to the small of your back, drawing you in even closer as he tilted his head to deepen the kiss.

Disconnected just enough to murmur against his lips, you asked, “Do you want to come in?”

“Please?” He replied with a nearly sheepish chuckle.

“So polite,” you quipped.

You gave him one more peck before turning around to unlock your door and drag him in by the arm.

➠ sequel | series masterlist | blog masterlist

702 notes · View notes

rikiluvly · 6 months

Text

TWO SIDES TO A BOY

*ੈ ✩ ‧₊˚𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒’𝓈 𝒶𝓁𝓌𝒶𝓎𝓈 𝓉𝓌𝑜 𝓈𝒾𝒹𝑒𝓈 𝒾𝓈𝓃’𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒?

PAIRINGS: spiderman!riki x fem!reader

SYNOPSIS: Spider-Man is the local legend in your city and the one identity that no one can seem to figure out. but one day you and your friend Jungwon decide to do a film documentary about finding out the identity of Spider-Man, If only you had known earlier that it was your high school crush, Nishimura Riki.

GENRE: Spider-Man au, high school au, fluff, lots of crack, first person.

WARNINGS: swearing, inappropriate jokes.

WORD COUNT: 2.3k

*ੈ ✩ ‧ ₊ ˚

If there was one word to describe Spider-Man it would be COCKY. he is this dude who wears a skin-tight latex suit and swings around the city looking for someone to save from possible danger. but while people are out here swooning over the mystery person behind the mask, I'm here swooning over Nishimura Riki.

everything about Riki is perfection. his hair, his lips, his eyes, even his figure for goddamn sake. I thought Jungwon was the maximum height for a guy until my Riki came along.

as soon as Riki joined our school he instantly became best buddies with Jungwon. my friend Jungwon, my only friend Jungwon. so because of that, I had to pull myself together and become friends with Riki too.

It was before school and me and Jungwon were walking into the school gates. we were just talking about whose mom makes the best cookies until we felt a giant breeze come from above us.

the one and only Spider-Man came swooshing through the school here to make his weekly delivery of a girl who faked she was in trouble just to get his attention. Spider-Man placed the girl down in the courtyard as everyone came rushing in to catch a glimpse of the one and only superhero.

"thank you so much Spider-Man!" the girl thanked him. the poor guy.

"your so very welcome lovely lady," he saluted and swung off to wherever he came from. a typical morning if I have to be honest. you looked behind you to watch Spider-Man swing away, but he had already disappeared. not like you cared. he was overhyped anyway.

"where the hell is Riki we have to get to first period," Jungwon grumbled. It's not surprising that he isn't here, he's quite known for being late around school.

"I dunno, don't ask me," Jungwon rolled his eyes as he took a look at his watch. his eyes widened and he clutched onto my wrist a tugged me behind him as he sprinted.

"jeez, why u so desperate to get to class won?" I asked as I got pulled through the hallway. we got a few stares but what's there to expect when I probably looked like a running chicken?

we had finally made it to class but with a few sacrifices. I now smelled like a 15-year-old boy who forgot to put on deodorant and my hair was now frizzed up to the max. Jungwon brought his hands to his knees and breathed like an old man who was at minimum lung capacity.

"okay," he took another deep breath before standing up properly. "let's go," he lifted his bag straps to sit perfectly on his shoulders and strode into class with a beaming, bright smile.

what a weirdo.

*ੈ ✩ ‧ ₊ ˚

it was the middle of literature and me and Jungwon were thinking intensively about what our film documentary should be about. except all of our ideas were stupid.

"what about... 'why The Office UK is better than The Office US?" Jungwon said raising his eyebrows at me. he was right, The Office UK is better than the US one... but I refuse to waste time trying to convince the people in our class to choose what was an unpopular opinion.

"mmm, what abou-" suddenly and very rudely the door to our classroom slammed open. it was my Riki. all of a sudden I don't mind that my eardrums nearly exploded because of the loud noise.

"sorry I'm late miss... I overslept," he said obviously lying, but it's okay I forgive him. he looked over to me and Jungwon and smiled as he made his way over.

"not so fast Nishimura, your late so you're going to have to join another group," the teacher pointed at him. nope. I swear to god If he gets put with Wonhee I will cry. Wonhee is this girl, this girl who tries to act dumb to get guys to like her. I have also heard from a few people about how she has a crush on Riki, oh how I hate this girl.

"mmm, how about with Wonhee and Moka," I did say I would cry but it would’ve been too embarrassing. I watched him as he turned to walk toward the girl who indeed just wants Riki all to herself, she is so selfish.

after that interesting moment, me and Jungwon went back to brainstorming ideas. but my eyes just couldn't turn away from him. he’s so pretty that it hurts to see him talk to other girls, but there is no stopping it really. unless I decided to kill her but that's a bit extreme.

"ok y/n I think I got it now," maybe if I cut my hair he might like me.

"y/n, girl stop ignoring me," or if I changed my make-up routine? nah, I'm pretty enou-

"Y/N STOP STARING AT RIKI!" Jungwon screamed loud enough for the whole class to hear. I looked around only to see many stares, how embarrassing. Wonhee eyed me up and down and I couldn't bare to even look at Riki.

"Jungwon that's enough, everyone back to work," the teacher said.

"I hate you Jungwon, don't do that again or I will tell the whole class you have a crush on Moka!" I blackmailed him, obviously because that's what friends do.

"fine! fine! whatever. okay, can I tell you my idea now?" you shrugged still slightly annoyed. If Riki ever found out I liked him it would be over for me. I may as well just move to New Zealand, they've left that place out of the map a few times right?

"so I was thinking what about we do a documentary on finding out the identity of Spider-Man?" you couldn't lie it was a terribly good idea. you could have good dialogue and maybe you could really become famous for figuring out this mystery. what's the harm?

"okay then, let's do it."

*ੈ ✩ ‧ ₊ ˚

it was lunchtime, my favourite part of the day. yummy food, gossip, and what makes it especially good is the fact that I get to sit close to Riki. It was just me and my one and only at the moment because silly Jungwon wanted to help tutor students.

"so... what did you and Jungwon decide to do for your documentary?" his deep voice spoke from across the table.

"well, we're doing 'figuring out the identity of Spider-Man'," I waved my hands out to show the vision. he didn't seem very impressed, was he mad?

"uhhh, you good Riki?" he seemed to have zoned out for a bit so I waved my hand in front of his face. didn't think I was that boring.

"huh? oh yeah I- I'm fine just eat your food," he nodded his head towards my tray. anything you say, Riki. it got a bit awkward and I really wanted to say something but he looked too lost in his thoughts.

I don't actually know what I did but this is the only time I prayed for the appearance of Jungwon. I can’t believe my friend of 10 years would do this to me.

It was the first day of year 1 and I had just walked into my new classroom. none of the other kids really caught my attention.

until I spotted this lonely boy chewing on the carpet. a bit weird I know but I just went and joined him. but then my mum got mad and his mum got mad and that's how our parents became friends. so really I'm stuck with this carpet-chewing cat the rest of my life.

but... still no sign of Jungwon. you really don't know what to say. you try to think of something that will comfort him in his time of need.

"are you sad because you're actually Spider-Man hahaha," I laughed to myself slowing stopping when I realized I wasn't funny. he didn’t seem impressed as his eyes widened and he said this.

“I actually got to go… sorry y/n,” he got up and dumped his food in the bin. why do I always mess things up?

the rest of school was terrible. apparently Jungwon had left because he had mono. the Jungwon I know has never kissed anyone in his whole life so to me that isn’t very believable.

I was just walking home thinking about what I did to mess up my interaction with Riki, until an adorable kitten came up to me.

the kitten was back and white and looked like it was wearing a suit. how are cats so relaxed? sometimes I wish I was a cat.

well maybe not this time.

the feline suddenly stood up and transformed into a frickin monster? a 9-foot cat was now in my presence and usually I'd be used to seeing weird and strange things around town, but when it's happening to me, it's a different story.

this humongous shit then came charging at me on it’s four paws. I sprinted the other way screaming my lungs off, I was genuinely scared. what if I would never get to sort things out with Riki or I would never see my family again, and whose gonna look after Jungwon?

I turned the corner thinking about how this may be my death. this is the one time I prayed for Spider-Man to save me…

please save me Spider-Man.

*ੈ ✩ ‧ ₊ ˚

“I am not laughing, this shit isn’t funny Jake,” I raised my voice at Jake who was lying in my top bunk.

“I’m sure she was just joking Riki,” he sat up and swung his legs over the ladder.

“whatever, but if she finds out it’s over for me,” I sat down on my wheeley chair and tilted my head back as I spun. if y/n found out it would ruin everything with her.

“I say… ya tell her,” Jake said as he threw a ball at me.

“she’s literally doing her literature documentary on ‘findings out the identity of Spider-Man’, I don’t think that’s a good idea man,” I threw the ball back at him.

why is being the best superhero in the world so tough. If on queue I head some loud as screams coming from below my bedroom window.

I took a look out the window and there was y/n running in front of a giant cat? actually, now that I think about it she was running away from the giant cat.

“shit Jake I think that��s y/n!” I dragged him down from my bed so he can take a look.

“should I save her?” I said scratching my head.

“dude, what kind of question is that!?”

“right, okay!” I stripped off my shirt and pants to slip on the most uncomfortable thing ever. this fucking red suit.

“see ya Jake,” I saluted to him as I fell down my window backwards. I used my webs to grab on to the nearest light posts to try to catch up with y/n.

“you alright ma’am!”

"NO! WHAT DO YOU THINK?!" she was out of breath I could tell. so I used my webs and wrapped them around this fat shit of a cat. I was branched on top of a light post as I pulled the feline so it could stop moving. once the fuck was squirming around I put my index and pinky finger out to wrap the cat fully in webs. easy.

"th- thank you Spider-Man," y/n said as she tried to catch her breath. I jumped off to land right in front of her.

"no problem, you alright?" I'm not going to lie that even though y/n is in a pretty rough state, she still looked really pretty for someone who nearly died.

"yeah, yeah I'm fine... but you sound really familiar Spider-Man," she raised an eyebrow at me. shit. I quickly wrote a note to the police saying: 'big fat cat for you to deal with po po, from Spider-Man' and I placed it on the body of the animal.

"uh- I've gotta go pretty, but make sure not to get into any more trouble!" I shouted as I swung away leaving her standing there confused.

I climbed back up into my room only to see Jake had left. I slipped off my suit and put on some more comfortable clothes just to climb up onto my bed and just lay there. school is shit 98% of the time, the only thing really keeping me there is Jungwon and y/n. being a fucking superhero is also shit; having to save people constantly, being chased down by literal aliens, and the thought of someone finding out it's me.

Jungwon and y/n won't find it out though right? right?

*ੈ ✩ ‧ ₊ ˚

"I NEARLY FUDGING DIED WON!" I screamed at Jungwon through my phone. that was really something I did not expect to happen.

"you really should have been there. oh and what is the real reason you left school? there is no way you got mono."

"mono? now who told you that?"

"Sunoo..." now that I say it out loud, it seems less believable. Sunoo is known around school for spreading gossip and rumors about people.

"right, well it's nothing really... but being saved by Spider-Man, my goodness y/n!"

"I KNOW RIGHT?! and if I'm being honest he sounded pretty familiar, but I just couldn't put a face to the voice." that shit had been bothering me my whole walk home after the incident. who could it have been? I'd ruled out Riki though because I could recognize his voice from a mile away.

"well, tomorrow at school I will bring my camera to film him in the morning. AND BE SAFE! you can't just go off and start dying on me."

"yeah, yeah bye loser." and then I hung up.

maybe Spider-Man isn't so bad after all.

A/N: this took too long and it's only 2k words omg. n e ways Middle Of Nowhere pt 2 soon!

TAGLIST: @heerinnie @microwvdstrawb3rri3s @j-wyoung

416 notes · View notes

aakeysmash · 2 months

Text

Roommate or boss?

part 2, part 3, part 4

Pairing: f!reader x Katsuki Bakugou.

Warnings: none, really. AND THEY WERE POSSIBLE ROOMMATES, MAYBE?

Context: 3k words. Reader is a barista and she only meets Bakugo at the end of this </3. He’s her boss but she doesn’t know. I don’t delve into this tho, just so you know. They’re both 22.

A/N: never thought I’d write a slow burn but I HATE not giving context. This is just me yapping with zero grammar context whatsoever. The reader is super oc in this one, but all the girl names I thought about were UGLY. Let me know what you think about it!

“No.”

“Come onnnn it’s gonna be just this one time” pleads your best friend from the other end of the phone.

“Ochaco, you know I hate when you pull this shit” you reply, while putting your jacket on.

“I knowww, but listen, me and the cute guy have had NO time for ourselves lately and-“

“And you’re leaving me doing this assignment with who knows who? We’re always partners for physics, you know I can’t do it all alone and you can’t phrase your deductions to save your life. We complete each other. You’re my soulmate. Why are you leaving me for a guy?” you whine, while closing the door of your apartment and walking towards your car.

“It’s gonna be just this one time, I promise! It’s not like we’re gonna fail. I think. I hope…” she mumbles.

You sigh. “If we do fail, you’re getting your ass beaten, I am so for real” you concede after thinking about it. You start your car and put your phone on speaker.

“BABEEE I love youuuu! You know you’re the only one for me! I promise to finally tell you all the details on Saturday” she squeals.

You wince. “Nah, I can’t this Saturday. I have to work, manager is on vacay. Maybe Sunday?” you said, knowing she will start rambling.

“Y/N just leave that place, they don’t even value you as a person, let alone as a worker. Plus, your manager is a bitch” Ochaco says sternly. “I still haven’t got over the fact she makes you work double shifts just because she wants to be in Bali with her new stupid tomboy. Who, by the way, cheats on her. You said so yourself, and I heard him and your colleague going at it that one time I came to visit you last week -not Momo, bless her heart, how is she by the way?- oh and he steals her money. And-“

“I need the money, and I do love to make coffees for the nice old ladies that tip me” you interrupt your more-than-protective best friend, knowing that she could go on complaining for hours if you didn’t stop her. “Also, I just got to the cafe and I’m already running late. I’ll text you when I get off, okay? Love you”.

“Yeah yeah. Don’t overwork yourself too much, love you” and you hang up.

You and Ochaco have been friends since you were babies. Your parents were neighbours back in your hometown, and your moms coincidentally got pregnant in a span of 2 months apart from each other. You have been attached to the hip all of your school years, and fortunately you have been accepted at the same campus at university. You moved to different apartments because you wanted to be independent, but you are still living pretty near each other. You are enrolled in literature, while Ochaco has a passion for astronomy; you had chosen physics as a bonus class for some extra credits since Ochaco said it would be easy and you trusted her, but she didn’t take into consideration that you failed math throughout all of high school, and she had to save your ass multiple times in the past. You’ll never forget her face when she got an 86% on one of the graded tests she did for you: she was so disappointed she made you ask the professor to redo the test, which you barely knew the basics of. She got 100%, and the professor congratulated you (her) for being such an overachiever. You never felt more ashamed of yourself and proud of your best friend at the same time. On the other hand, she made you do her English essays on a monthly basis, so she really wasn’t in the place to complain about doing all the dirty work for you.

You had partnered up with her since she was a genius, but she met this “cute guy” a month ago and was head over heels for him. She still hasn’t said his name to you, all you know is that he is a part of the physics course and he apparently just stole your assignment partner.

You sigh inwardly. Sometimes you wished love could come to you as easily as it comes to Ochaco. She is a lover girl at heart, nicer than anybody could ever hope to be, but she sure could bite if she had to. She has been there for some of the worst moments of your life, and you have done the same for her. You really didn’t know what you would do without her. Maybe you should get her an apology pastry from the cafe’s leftovers to make up for the last two missed Saturdays (“they’re for the girls!” she said, and you meticulously met up every week up until you had gotten a job).

You’re a bit distracted by thinking about her when you get into the place you work at. It’s a cute cafe, a little bit too orange for your taste, but it’s cozy enough to make work pleasurable. Plus, it’s 5 minutes from your apartment (15 if you walk, but you are lazy). They pay on time, the coffee is good and the clientele isn’t too bad. If it wasn’t for-

“You’re 32 seconds late. You’re getting a formal complaint this time” says your manager, waiting for you with her arms crossed.

“Put that on the note that says I worked 8 extra hours a week for the last 5 months. Hello to you too, weren’t you supposed to be in the Philippines or whatever by now?” you say sickening sweet, with the fakest smile you can muster, while you pass next to her to get to the room behind the register.

“Shut your smart mouth up before I get you fired!” she almost screams. Some of the people at the table near her look at her like she’s crazy before going back to their cappuccino.

“My oh my miss Utsushimi, it’s not nice to use that tone before the rush hour” you reply, giving an apologetic look at your regulars next to her.

“Mpfh, whatever. Close up this place when you’re done, the boss will probably be in to ask you for the keys at the end of your shift. I’ll be MIA for the next two weeks, bye” she says to you. Then she turns around and smiles sweetly at the clients who previously looked at her with distaste and lies “pregnancy hormones I hope, me and my man are trying for a baby, I’m sorry for scaring you!”. You know damn well she had an IUD appointment last week, because she made you work instead of working herself. Fake bitch.

Without saying anything else, she leaves the place.

“I hate her ass so much”, says someone next to you.

You snicker. “Who doesn’t, Momo?” you face her with a genuine smile.

“Never leave me alone with her ever again, you know I can’t survive this place without you, work wifey” she kisses your cheek fast, before going back to making coffee for a client at the register.

“Ochaco will be hearing about this and she’ll slap you” you laugh heartily.

“I love her too, she’s my work wifey’s wifey, so she’s basically my wifey” she winks at you.

After a few more laughs here and there, you both go back to work like usual.

A couple of hours pass and it’s closing time. Momo waves you goodbye, clocking out. “I’m so tired I could sleep on the floor right now” she whines.

“Yeah, how about no. Let’s go, babe. We don’t want to drag Y/N’s time” says her boyfriend, Shoto, who shoots you a nod of acknowledgement before placing a hand on her lower back and escorting her out of the cafe. “I remember suffering at closing times, let’s leave her be and go home” he nudges your colleague, smiling down at her. He has been inside the cafe a lot in the years you’ve worked here, sometimes picking Momo up. Momo says he was one of the best bartenders the cafe ever had, but he found a job that payed him more and he decided to leave. You couldn’t blame him.

“See you soon, you two lovebirds!” you reply, waving a hand of your own.

Now all alone since even the waiters have gone home, you clean up the counter before packing up the pastry for Ochaco.

“Damn, I have to wait for the boss to give him the keys” you remember, rubbing your face.

You wait 45 minutes before a redhead makes his way into the cafe. He seems busy on the phone with someone.

“I’m here, let me just get- fuck no I don’t wanna talk to Camie about it, Baku- no, wait- fire? Are you going to take her place and finally come down here like the boss you are? Yes, I know- what? And where would we- what do I have to do with all of this? No, I’m going home- fuck, he hung up” the man sighs, before turning his body towards you.

“Sorry to have kept you waiting, not really manly from me” he smiles, looking sorry.

“Oh don’t worry about it!” your smile was really stretched, and you think he notices, because he says “sorry” again. “The manager said to give you the keys. So you’re the boss?” you say politely, stretching your hand with the keys towards him.

You’ve seen him multiple times, he’s a regular. He always gets the same order (one black coffee and one hot chocolate with extra cinnamon), and he always tips you and Momo well. Today he seems distressed.

“I wouldn’t wish to be the boss, to be fair. You could say I’m his right hand. Where’s Camie? Boss needs to talk to her in private before next week comes” he sighs.

“She said she’ll be gone for two weeks” you reply, confused.

“And who said she could do that?” Kirishima, you think that’s his name since you’ve written it on his order just yesterday, looks at you in disbelief. You shrug. “I don’t ask. The less I know about her, the better I feel about working here”. You start to pack your things up, before going towards the door with the man following behind you closely.

“This is nuts. I hate doing job interviews” he mumbles fast, turning the key in the lock. You raise an eyebrow, what is he even talking about?

“Do you live near? If not, I could give you a ride. I’d hate losing the only barista who makes boss man’s drink good enough to not make him pissy” he says, while pointing to his car.

You laugh. “It’s just a hot chocolate. Tell him he should try it with a few drops of hot sauce in it. Sounds disgusting but it’s actually pretty good. Also don’t worry, I live just down the street”. He nods and you wave each other goodbye.

“It does sound horrible. Thanks again for waiting, see you tomorrow for the same exact order I always make” he grins, then gets in his car and drives away, not after seeing you get in your car as well.

Once at home you call Ochaco, who’s “been worried sick, you never get home this late”.

“Y/N you seriously need a roommate. Did you even eat?” she reprimands.

You sigh. “I have to meet someone tomorrow. But you know, girls tend to look at you weirdly when you say you need them to know how to cook. They feel like you’re looking for a maid. Like, I can’t eat sandwiches every day like I did with the last roommate I had” you explain while opening your fridge. Sausages and smashed potatoes from yesterday will do the job for today.

“The psycho who thought vegetables made her look weak? Freak” you hear your best friend snicker. “At what time are they coming over?”

You groan and say “8 am. It’s a guy this time. Who wakes up before 8 am at uni? He’s already lost 2 points for this” while gulping down your food.

Ochaco’s snicker is now a full laugh. “People who have their lives together, maybe? But pay attention, males scare me” she replies quieting down.

“Yeah yeah. I’m gonna sleep now, text me the deets for Sunday, okay?” you clean your plate and go to the bathroom to wash your teeth.

“Will doooo. Good night, babe” she smooches on the mic before hanging up.

After making sure you locked your apartment door, you go to your bed, where you manage to fall asleep in thirty seconds.

The next morning you’re brutally awakened by the sound of your doorbell. You look at your phone screen: 7:42 am.

“Who the fuck is it now?” you grumble, before going down the stairs and looking through your peephole.

“Shitty hair I swear if this takes me more than 10 minutes… she hasn’t even opened the door. Yeah, she said 8 am, who cares if I’m early? I AM NOT the only one awake on a Saturday morning. Y’all are just lazy fucks” a blonde rudely says into his phone. You can hear him talking loudly from behind the door. You widen your eyes, before screaming “coming! Give me 5 minutes!” and rushing towards your bathroom to make yourself presentable. “Fuck, I forgot about the roommate appointment” you whine, while putting on a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie. At least they are clean.

You open the door to find a broad man staring at you menacingly. He’s kinda tall, kinda (really) fit, kinda underdressed for the winter. Kinda hot, too.

“Hi, how can I help you?” you offer him the nicest smile your still sleepy mind can muster.

He looks you up and down, before focusing on your face and levelling you with an indifferent look.

“You must be Y/N. I’m Katsuki Bakugo, we had to meet at 8 am for the spare room offer. I've been here for 15 minutes” he gruffly declares.

You add “rude” to your list of “kinda”. You don’t like his tone. -1 point.

“Yeah, and it’s 7:48” you bite back, your smile faltering while shaking his outstretched hand. He’s definitely going to the gym with the callouses he has.

“Come in, I’ll let you see what you’re getting yourself into”, you say, opening your door more.

You live in a nice apartment, you think. There’s a nice kitchen with a nice island that also serves as a table in front of it, a blueish couch in front of the tv, and a couple of steps that bring you to a corridor with three doors: your room, the spare one and the bathroom.

You describe everything while he stays in absolute silence next to you. It makes you feel uneasy. -1 point.

You just finished showing him the bathroom and are ready to tell him you don’t think he’s a good suitor when he finally speaks up.

“And how much do you pay for this shit?” he asks. Nice voice, you think. Gravelly and rough enough to not sound annoyingly forced. +1 point.

“500 a month” you reply, while returning to the kitchen.

“Your shower needs some work done, it leaks. Also, mold is starting to show on the bathroom ceiling, might wanna check on that. Your oven looks unusable in the condition it’s in. Small tv. At least you’re clean from what I've seen” he begins to say.

You frown and turn to look at him. Did this bitch talk for the first time in 15 minutes only to complain?

“Do you even know how to cook with said oven?” you say, ignoring everything else he just said, and giving him a nasty look.

He tsks. “Yes. Is this your way of asking me to cook you fucking breakfast? I don’t eat with lazy people who get out of bed at 11 am” he makes sure to say.

You scoff. Men really do find the audacity to say stuff like this nowadays? It seems like you've been out of the loop for too much.

“You showed up early. It’s a sign of disrespect, you know? Also no, I know how to fix myself something. I just don’t want you to burn my kitchen down to a crisp and smell takeout whenever I get home” you say in the rudest way you find possible.

He smirks before saying “might wanna check on that fucking attitude of yours too before I poison your food”, tapping your shoulder to get you out of the way and take out some pans. You showed him where to find them earlier on.

“What the fuck are you doing?” you say in disbelief. “This is still my kitchen. Get out”.

He rolls his eyes. “I’m making you fucking breakfast to say sorry for interrupting your princess sleep. Just make coffee while I come up with something. If you know how to make it, that is” he doesn’t even look at you while getting eggs, milk and bread out of the fridge.

You’re baffled. He’s making himself at home when you didn’t even say he was accepted.

“Wait, you’re still not-“

“I'll give you the money at the start of every month. I’ll paint the walls of the room, I hate that fucking green, but painters are scammers so I’m doing it myself. I’m clean, I’ll just need a spare key in a matter of days to take my shit here. I’ll keep myself in my room if you keep yourself in yours. Any further requests?” he interrupts you, assembling his french toasts on the pan.

You’re even more stunned. But you’ve always been quick with your thoughts, so you come up with something.

“I’ll say yes if those french toasts are good. If they’re not, your ass is out” you say, still not looking at him, while making coffee.

“Might say yes if you know how to make a hot chocolate from scratch instead of the poor coffee that machine will make” he watches you from the corner of his eye. You scoff, you’re a barista nonetheless: who does he think he’s talking to? Meanwhile, he could swear he knew you from somewhere.

“Deal”.

Neither to say, the french toasts were “not that bad” and your hot chocolate was “barely fucking acceptable”.

#bakugo katuski #bakugou katsuki #bnha #barista au #bakugo fluff #i guess #how do you tag #bakugou x you #bakugo x reader #katsuki bakugo x reader #and they were roommates #bakugo knows how to cook in this one

293 notes · View notes

jjungkookislife · 4 months

Text

Quarterly Fic Rec List 2023 #4

Hello! This is the last list of 2023! These are the wonderful fics I ended my year with! I hope you enjoy them! If anyone would like to be removed from this list; please let me know! As always each of these fics has its own content warnings, and most, if not all are 18+ so Minors Do Not Interact!

Seokjin

daydream @joonie-beanie

summary: Your literature professor has a bit of a…gift. A gift that let’s him see other peoples thoughts when he wants to. And despite the fact that he warns his class openly about this gift, one day you forget, and find yourself in a bit of pickle when Kim Seokjin reads your mind, and finds you imagining some not so school appropriate scenarios…involving him.

pink panther @gimmesumsuga

summary: The one where your boss, Kim Seokjin, tries to show you how beautiful you are

9 months to fall in love @floralseokjin

summary: It seems like everyone around you is either already in love, or in the process of falling, and while normally you couldn’t give a damn, finding out the co-worker you’ve had a teensy crush on is dating someone else at the office seems to sucker punch you right in the gut. It’s stupid, and you’re irritated at yourself, but you can’t seem to shake out of the funk you’ve fallen face first in. Feeling lonely and heartsore, and mad for no reason, during drinks with your best friend you spot a man at the bar. Tequila confident, you make your way over to the stranger, and successfully one thing leads to another. The next morning you leave before he’s woken up, feeling satisfied in one way, but still as discontented as ever. Telling yourself it was an inebriated mistake, you quickly try to forget about it. Only, three weeks later that night comes back to haunt you – in a very unescapable way…

dream come true @sugaurora

summary: Since your brother had warned you years ago that his best friend Seokjin was off limits, you’d only allowed yourself to safely fantasize about him in your dreams. You’re not sure why tonight his lips feel so much softer and his hands so much warmer than usual, but you’re also not about to complain.

whole @yoongiphoria

Yoongi

can't afford love @dollfaceksj

summary: Your childhood dream of having 2 children in a big house with a blooming marriage by this point in time has been eliminated the moment divorce came knocking at your door. With only one child and finding yourself back at square one, you ask your ex-husband—Min Yoongi—if he’d be down to fulfill 1 of these 3 things on your childhood’s bucket-list. And no, it’s not giving you a big house.

u suck !! @kithtaehyung

summary: Jimin’s cul-de-sac is filled to the brim with autumn leaves, trick-or-treaters, and halloween spirits. but the scariest part of the night? yoongi himself. and the way he looks downright sinful in his costume.

three tangerines ^

summary: throughout high school, you sometimes caught glimpses of your brother’s older friends: some of them were sweet, some of them were smart. but the one closest to him? that guy was a total f*ckboy from day one. after a foray of horrid relationships spanning years - ending with one that broke up with you for an alarming reason - you needed advice on what the hell you were doing wrong… and this wasn’t a conversation for anyone sweet or smart.

broken pt. 1 ^

summary: chilling conversations prolong things even further… until everything goes to hell.

ghostface killers @gimmethatagustd

summary: You’ve had your eyes set on Yoongi for as long as you can remember. What you didn’t know is that he’s had his eyes on you, too.

red & white @sweetestofchaos 💜

summary: you and yoongi have something to share this holiday

Hoseok

spookie coochie @gimmethatagustd

summary: The only monster Hoseok wishes you were interested in finding this Halloween season is his monster c–

drink champagne in my airplane @bangtanintotheroom

summary: Your friend Hoseok decided to use his excessive wealth for good and take the both of you on a much-needed vacation. The flight was meant to be relaxing until he broke out one of his most expensive bottles of champagne.

a holly, jolly crisis @kpopfanfictrash

summary: At this time last year, you thought you had it all. A kick-ass screenwriting job for the hottest TV show in LA, an actor boyfriend whose career was taking off and an affordable apartment with not one, but two bathrooms. Fast-forward to now and you’re single, soon-to-be jobless and searching for a way to scrape together January rent. Everything seems to be falling apart, which was why you told your family you weren’t coming home for the holidays. Enter your little sister, Sara, who recently became engaged to her boyfriend, Yoongi and needs you home to celebrate. The biggest problem? Returning home means you’ll be forced to face everything and everyone you left behind, including Yoongi’s best man – and your ex-best friend, Hoseok.

12 lays of christmas @minisugakoobies

summary: Your brother’s best friend Hoseok really likes your cookies

it's a promise @sahmfanficbts

arranged marriage au

Namjoon

close, closer, closest @augustbutwinter

summary: you know your soulmate is close, but you haven’t met them yet. every day your counter goes up when you pass that one station. until one day it doesn’t.

make an effort @7ndipity

summary: When you ask Joon to be your fake boyfriend, he ends up finding out about your very real crush on him. Luckily for you, the feeling’s mutual.

a word from our sponsors @ugh-yoongi

summary: you’ve co-hosted a podcast with namjoon for three years; have known him even longer. the two of you have always been the picture of platonic, but that hasn’t stopped the internet from doing what the internet does. the shipping? a little weird at first, but you can understand it: two attractive twenty-somethings always in close proximity to one another, obvious (platonic!) chemistry—people have created ships for less. the fanfiction, though? also pretty funny… until you can’t stop thinking about it.

Jimin

cloud nine @suga-kookiemonster

summary: “he’s here again,” viv whispers. “you know who. the hot guy who’s totally into you.” and he is hot--devastatingly hot enough that you know he can’t actually be into you, because the universe simply doesn’t work that way. that still doesn’t stop your heart from pounding when he smiles at you from across the room.

menace @eoieopda

summary: Far and away the worst of your brother’s friends, you added Park Jimin’s presence in your life to the long list of grievances you held against Seokjin. Too bad you can’t keep your hands off him.

crescent bound @parkhabits

summary: One night you’re having the best hookup of your life and the next you’re being told that the little mark on your neck is more than just a hickey and that Park Jimin was more than you expected too.

the dark side of the moon @dovechim

summary: falling in love at first sight is cliche, not until it happens to you on a dark night in a lonely alley. but you’re only human, while Park Jimin is Alpha of his pack; it could never work out. so you resort to pining for him like a wolf howling at the moon, but when Jimin goes feral, that’s when everything changes.

a remedy for mondays ^

summary: all you wanted was just one day off work. but for that to happen, you need to invent a plausible reason. and then somehow, somewhere along the way, things get out of hand, and now people think you’re having a baby with your co-worker Park Jimin after a one-night stand. confused? join the club.

heavy petting @kittae

summary: Your boyfriend is not just a cat hybrid, he’s also very needy! When you come home from work and you expect him to be all over you, you’re fairly disappointed to find he prefers a nap over some well-deserved quality time. You’ll make sure to pay him back for that.

the devil in his details @johobi

summary: Evil comes in many forms. In this instance, it’s a 5′8″ pretty-boy with an even prettier dick. And you’re the form you want him to come in.

me, you, and this thing we have between us @boymeetsweevil

summary: You’re pregnant and jimin is…happy about it

devil's advocate @7cypher

summary: You had met the devil on a hot summer day. He had shown up in a red polo, red cap, and white sneakers on his feet. That day, you had invited your devil into your home and he hasn’t left since.

no strings @kpopfanfictrash

summary: It started off as such a simple question. How to know if you’re bad in bed? Of course when you asked, you didn’t imagine Jimin would actually answer.

the ten days of ex-mas @kpopfanfictrash

summary: Three months following the worst break-up of your life, you finally feel ready to start moving on. The world, it seems, has other ideas when you pick up the phone and find your ex-boyfriend calling. Jimin Park, star right winger of the NHL and (until recently), the love of your life, has a very large problem. Despite the courage he regularly shows on the ice, in his personal life, Jimin is kind of a coward. When you broke up this fall, he could barely admit it. Not to his neighbors. Not to his friends. Not even to his family, who are expecting him home for Christmas. In a desperate plea for more time, Jimin begs you to pretend you’re still dating – and to his surprise, you agree. Faced with a second chance, Jimin is determined not to squander it. If only fixing a relationship were as easy as falling in love.

Taehyung

midnight @sailoryooons

summary: Taehyung loves being your prince charming, even if it means trying to find where you’ve wandered off to in the middle of a Halloween party without your shoes.

the holi-date @kpopfanfictrash

summary: When your ex-boyfriend becomes engaged to his new girlfriend at your annual Holiday party, you admittedly are not in the best place. Which explains why you down six shots of alcohol, enthusiastically drop it low on the dance floor and – oh, yeah – tell everyone you are also dating someone. The only problem? You are obviously not. Good thing your neighbor happens to be cute and in need of a ride to work every morning.

of lace and lust @hobidreams

summary: friendship rule number one: don’t imagine how amazing your best friend’s cock would feel inside you. except that’s all you can think about after accidentally discovering taehyung’s kink for panties. specifically, the lacy ones you’re so fond of wearing.

hush @suga-kookiemonster

summary: four seats, five bodies. “careful, sweetheart,” he breathes into the shell of your ear, hands tightening over your waist in warning. you lick your lips, pausing just long enough to ponder: what if you don’t want to be careful?

rotten angelcake @inkedtae

summary: she’s as sweet as angelcake; he likes her honeyed rotten. this is a series following the complicated relationship between a sugar baby, sugar daddy and his corruption kink.

sausade @kimvvantae

summary: no one is born to be alone and no one can be complete in oneself - that’s why, in this world, every person has a pair, someone that complements their soul in every aspect. you, however, are an exception to the rule, for the mark on your wrist indicates that your pair has passed away way before you were born.

kinda hot @kimnjss

summary: you’ve always been cute, soft, tiny in taehyung’s eyes. but that’s changing one night when you’re accidentally sending him a naughty picture. forcing him to realize, maybe his best friend is kinda… hot?

Jungkook

jungkook drabble @euphoricfilter

summary: obsessed gf m/c and equally as obsessed boyfriend jungkook. he’s the light of her life, and she’s the reason he smiles

blessed with a curse @sweetestofchaos

summary: When your company throws a mandatory Halloween party, you aren’t thrilled. You’re even less thrilled when a delusional coworker ruins the party and places a curse on everyone because her crush, the resident werewolf, Jeon Jungkook, rejected them.

seasons don't fear the reaper @augustbutwinter

summary: life is short, they say. one day everyone meets their death, they say. how often can you meet yours before he takes you with him?

because i love you ch. 13 @readyplayerhobi

summary: According to society, Jeon Jungkook should not be with you. He should be with a younger, hotter and thinner girl instead of wasting his time on you. It’s a good thing Jungkook doesn’t care what society thinks then.

a holiday snowdown @kpopfanfictrash

summary: The Inn on the Hill is in trouble. Or that's what your boss, Namjoon, says during the last-minute All Staff holiday meeting he calls. You need money, and you need money fast, or his parents are planning to sell the resort. When no one can think of an easy solution, Namjoon proposes his parents' idea: a weeklong social media blitz with a celebrity guest. The celebrity? None other than Jungkook Jeon himself: two-time Olympic gold medalist, world-class snowboarder and the nation's sweetheart. What's the problem? You happen to have met Jungkook Jeon before, and sincerely hoped you'd never see him again.

all grown up @btsgotjams27

summary: A family reunion brings back the young boy you grew up with. Though he wasn’t the doe-eyed boy you once knew, he stood in front of you all grown up.

this is us ^

summary: you start to fall hard for jungkook.

OT7/Multiple Members

carnival of terror ch. 2 @theharrowing

summary: The carnival is in town, and it is unlike anything you have ever experienced. Will you make it out alive?

the gentlemen @honeymoonjin

summary: Sick of unsatisfying hookups, boring relationships or the company of your own hand? Apply today for the chance to be on bangasm.com’s very first reality show! Seven attractive young gentlemen will be vying for your choice of who is best in bed. All from different backgrounds, these men claim they’ll be able to rock your world, so don’t hesitate! Apply now!

of storms and vampires @wishesunderthestars

summary: During the worst storm you have witnessed in your life, a bat crashes on your window. When you bring it inside your cottage to take care of it, you realize it isn’t simply a bat but a baby vampire. Your past has come back to haunt you because Jungkook’s sire is no one else but Min Yoongi, who you had left behind when you disappeared five years ago.

oh, little red @jincherie

summary: You knew they warned you about that path for a reason, you knew you shouldn’t take it as a shortcut. You knew, but you were running late, and you did it anyway. Oh, little red, just what have you gotten yourself into?

Ateez

Seonghwa

let me keep you warm @sweetestofchaos 💜

summary: “Are you cold?” “A little bit but I’ll be okay.” “Come here, let’s get you all warmed up.”

#jjungkookislife fic rec list #jjungkookislife fic rec masterlist #jjungkookislife fic recs

254 notes · View notes

blackreaderfics · 9 months

Text

Off the Record | Clark Kent x Black!Reader

↳ Pairing : MAWS Clark Kent x Rapper!Reader (You)

↳ Rating : M (18+)

↳ Summary : Clark knows Kryptonians don't experience sexual attraction in the same way humans do. One night, he figures out who exactly turns him on.

↳ W.C : ~1.2k

↳ Tags + Warnings : logicalnerd!clark, clark is a late bloomer kinda, kryptonian biology is weird i guess, allusions to asexuality, sexual awakening(?), pwp, masturbation, fantasizing, onlyfans lol, mentions of leaked sextape

Masturbation was healthy; that much Clark had already known from sex ed classes and Google searches. And though he knew from his research that most pubescent kids started jerking off in middle school, along with having erections, he had never in his 30 years of life experienced sexual attraction. Ever.

When kids in high school drooled over naked women posing on the covers of Playboys or Maxims, he still tried his best to act the part of "horny teenager". He had crushes in his teen years too, but he never actively sought out sex.

There was this one time when a girl he liked had tried to initiate sex, but he was honest to a fault and truthfully told her that he didn’t like her in that way. Needless to say, she’d gotten offended and never spoke to him again. Since then, he’d hidden that quirk about himself from every single one of his romantic partners without fail.

Don’t get him wrong, Clark has had sex before and from what he could tell, he was pretty good at it too. Just like with his studies, as long he understood the proper mechanics of the subject at hand, he could go above and beyond for any performance.

It was basic biology. Having an erection required a higher flow of blood towards his penis; which he could do himself pretty easily since he had amazing control over his body. That was the result of learning how to be Superman for the past few years. Because of his “training” he lasted long and the (very) few men and women he chose to bed loved him more for it.

There were still some things he thought he’d never understand the concept of, however. Like, how do Kryptonians procreate if he can’t seem to produce the semen to ejaculate? The white liquid he’d seen in porn as a teen was like a myth to him. Jor-El never mentioned that in the Fortress of Solitude. He wouldn't be finding any Kryptonian biological literature available to read at any Metropolis public library either. It wasn’t like he didn’t try, but after some (controlled) tests, he concluded that perhaps Kryptonians didn’t ejaculate and he was okay with that.

So when Clark felt a strange sensation in his pants one night when he saw you on TV, he immediately thought that he’d fallen ill. Which was strange for him because, well, he’d never gotten sick. But there you were, mesmerizing him as clips flashed on screen of you rapping while wearing a risqué outfit leaving nothing to the imagination. Suddenly everything felt too tight, too hot. He gulped, nervously pulling at the collar of his t-shirt, but a knot remained lodged in his throat.

The camera angles panned across your chocolatey skin and ample curves, cutting right at moments where it veered dangerously into porn instead of what it was supposed to be—a rap music video. Clark had seen porn before and full-on bare naked women anyway, but he’d never been affected like this before. So why now? And why you?

Once the music video ended, Clark snapped out of his trance, but it wasn’t long before the now rock-hard and throbbing situation in his pants urgently reminded him of more pressing matters.

He quickly powered on his computer to search your name and, not long after, pictures of you filled the screen. There was a never-ending stream of shots of you on the red carpet, you on stage, photoshoots, and pictures you’d uploaded yourself on social media.

Every time his eyes would linger on a photo of you in a suggestive position, i.e. licking a popsicle or pushing your breasts together, his cock would twitch against his zipper. It didn’t take a genius to figure out where his cock wanted to be right now and it was right at the back of your throat. He unbuckled his pants, letting his first-ever unassisted erection bob up and against his sweater-clad stomach.

He’d never fantasized about someone having his cock in their mouth until tonight. Sure, his partners had given him blowjobs before, but he couldn’t even pretend to enjoy them. Truthfully, it looked like it hurt when they couldn’t even take all of him in, and he never liked to be the reason anyone felt pain. Clark scrolled on.

You had a sex tape? His brow furrowed in disapproval though he could feel his face grow warm. He couldn’t pinpoint what exact emotion he was feeling right now. Whatever it was, it definitely wasn’t a positive one.

The page he had landed on showed a closeup of you, eyebrows knitted in ecstasy as someone (he didn’t want to know who) hovered behind, hands gripping your ass, already in the middle of ravishing you. The screenshot made the corners of his mouth tug down in a frown. He didn’t particularly like the idea of watching other people have sex at all. And he especially didn’t want to see some other guy “balls deep” inside you instead of him.

More importantly, it just wasn’t right. He’d seen reports that your tape had been leaked without your consent; by watching it he would be actively infringing on your sexual boundaries. That definitely wasn’t right either and though he desperately wanted to, he didn’t have the heart to press play.

Onlyfans? Clark's eyebrows quirked up in curiosity. He clicked on a link he’d found on your Instagram page and there you were; verified with pages of content ready to be unlocked. After a moment of thought, he concluded that this was the most ethical alternative; much better than masturbating to your pictures or your sex tape. This way you would be paid for your work, and he would gain implied consent as a customer. He felt much better about this as he clicked the blue purchase button.

His cock throbbed again when he finally saw you, full lips planting soft kisses onto a dildo, your large almond eyes heavy-lidded and boring into him with lust. That’s when Clark brought a hand to his cock and began to stroke. What was once a motion that was alien to him, felt more and more natural as he pumped, matching his strokes to your pace. Your image on screen bobbed your mouth up and down making lewd slurps and moans, purposefully throating the shaft to the hilt. Each brief moment you came up for air brought a mess of saliva with you.

Clark watched on, immersed, bucking his hips into his fist as he imagined he was the one making you make those vulgar sounds. But something in the back of his mind was disturbed. Was this what he, Clark Kent, liked or was it an innate biological desire he couldn’t control from a planet he never knew? He felt disconnected; outside his body until, not even a minute after he had started the video, a sensation he’d never felt before came over him. He groaned and tightened his grip as he felt himself release.

A warm sticky liquid had dripped down his cock and onto his hand. Clark grimaced down at the mess he’d made, breathing erratically until he finally calmed down. His cock twitched and the last of dregs of his cum spilled out from his reddened tip.

He'd made two major discoveries that night:

1. Kryptonians did ejaculate after all, and 2. When it came to you, he wouldn’t be able to last very long.

©️ blackreaderfics // credit to cafekitsune for the dividers

#I have a part 2 idea for this ><#I want him to be assigned to interview rapper!reader lmao #i didnt mean for this to be kinda funny but it is #clark kent x black!reader #x black reader #black reader #clark kent smut #clark kent x reader #my adventures with superman #maws imagines #maws x reader #maws x you #brfwrites

713 notes · View notes

wave2tyun · 3 months

Text

rain and vanilla lattes | ☆

pairing: classpresident!taehyun x fem!reader

genre: highschool!au, mutual pining?? kinda??, fluff, a bit of angst, a bit suggestive (? making out)

summary: kang taehyun, smart, attractive, sweet, class president. the kind of boy that anyone would fall for. he never thought that love could tug at his heartstrings so intensely, until his eyes landed on you

warnings: none!

word count: 4.5k

a/n: because of uni i sadly have not been able to write anything new for tyun's bday, i apologise😖 however!!! i really wanted to repost "rain and vanilla lattes". this was my first ever fic so please don't judge it too harshly asdbdjdsh i personally shudder when i try to reread it but i am very emotionally attached to it + i know that it used to be a big favorite!!! :0 enjoy!!! :D<33 (also i REALLY hope those were the pics i used for it before asdbbhsd)

☆ = repost from my old blog!!

the loud sound of the school bell was more than enough to wake you up from your deep slumber. you only had to push through for one more hour and survive literature class, before you could finally head back home and rest. it’s not that you didn’t like the class, in fact, mr. kim was a lovely teacher, he knew how to explain concepts well and never overwhelmed you with work, it’s just that expressing yourself wasn’t really your forté. mr kim knew that, yet still picked you regularly to answer regardless, not sparing you the embarrassment. this time you really weren’t in the mood for his schemes, so you could only pray that he would leave you alone, just this once. he was punctual, as always, and as soon as he sat down on his chair he made an announcement:

“class, i know you’re not gonna be happy about this, but it’s not long before the end of the semester and i need you all to get started on a project for your final grade.”

groans and complaints erupted throughout the class. nobody was happy about having to start a project so early, and his next statement just made the situation even worse.

“this time, however, you’ll work in pairs. and no, you will not be able to choose your partner. i’ve already prepared the list myself.”

even more complaints could be heard. certain students tried to negociate with the teacher in an attempt to change his mind, but he wouldn’t budge.

“i’ve already made up my mind. you’re not the ones making the rules, i am.”

you let out a sigh and tapped your pencil on your leg nervously as the teacher revealed the project partners. this could either take a turn for the better, or the worse.

“y/n! your partner will be taehyun.”

‘shit-’ you thought, almost dropping your pencil. you glanced over at taehyun, who flashed you a small smile. flustered, you quickly turned your head the other way. shit. you were screwed. you could feel the glares from the other girls in your class, almost drilling holes in your head, but your mind was busy overthinking about the millions of ways that you could possibly embarrass yourself in front of taehyun. after all, kang taehyun wasn’t your ordinary high school boy. he was class president, top of his school, hot, the kind of guy that everyone was head over heels for. love didn’t seem to be a priority to taehyun. girls used all kinds of excuses to talk to him or hang out. however, he would never show any interest back, only letting these interactions happen to a certain extent. you couldn’t deny that he wasn’t attractive, but you knew that he was way out of your league, which is why you never tried to approach him. you were so lost in thought that you didn’t even notice him walking towards your desk.

“y/n, would it be okay for you as well to meet up tomorrow? i think it’s best if we get started early.”

“y-yeah, i think so too. does 2 pm at the library sound good?”

“it’s perfect. see you then y/n!”

you didn’t even realise how fast your heart was beating during your short conversation. why did you even stutter...? you genuinely wanted to slap yourself in the face. you took a deep breath and tried to calm yourself down. 2 pm at the library tomorrow, just you and taehyun, surely you can handle that, right?

───⋆☆─────────────

the next day came by so much faster than you were expecting. it was a saturday, and yet you woke up at 7 am, unable to fall back asleep. giving up, you brushed your teeth and had breakfast...then what? there was still so much time left until your meeting with taehyun. you found yourself pacing back and forth in your room for hours on end. your room became a mess as you kept on trying outfits, struggling to find something that was casual, but not too casual, something that made you look like you’ve put in effort, but not too much effort. there were clothes piled up on the floor and on your chair and your coffee mug was still sitting on your desk. you didn’t want to be late so you couldn’t bring yourself to clean up the terrible mess you’ve made. with that fear in your mind, you decided to leave your house early. you didn’t want to make the boy wait, that wouldn’t leave such a good impression.

you pushed the heavy library door, stepping foot into the quiet room. 1:50 pm. good. looking around for a place to sit until those last 10 minutes passed, you were surprised to see taehyun at a table with a book in his hand, and another stack right in front of him. he was wearing a white button-up shirt, specs on his tall nose and brown eyes shining from the ray of sunshine peeking through the blinds. you couldn’t help but fidget your hands as you were making your way towards him. there was something about his appearance alone that just made you feel nervous.

“y/n, hi! please take a sit” he said once he saw you.

“hii, i’m sorry if you’ve been waiting for long.”

“ah, you’re actually right on time, so no need to worry. i just got here earlier to gather some research material beforehand. here, have a look through this.”

he handed you an exact copy of the book in his hand. a midsummer night’s dream. right...you could vaguely remember mr. kim explaining the project to you. you were supposed to write an essay based on a classic shakespeare play. you completely forgot about it. at the time, you were too busy stressing over your chosen project partner to pay attention to the teacher’s words.

“a midsummer night’s dream has a pretty complex plot...i thought it would be a good pick. i didn’t know how familiar you were with the play, so i brought the copies for us to read.”

you nodded in agreement. you weren’t very familiar with shakespeare, but you trusted that whatever choice taehyun made was a great one.

you both started reading in silence. taehyun seemed to be completely immersed in the story, meanwhile you were thirty pages in and felt like you didn’t absorb one single word. taehyun was already far ahead from you, he was reading with such ease that you were embarrassed by how little you could understand from the play. you were peeking at him over your book. you wanted to say something, yet you couldn’t muster up the courage to form any words. taehyun must have sensed your constant glances over his figure, he cleared his throat and broke the silence:

“is there anything i could help you with?” his tone wasn’t irritated though, but rather calm and sincere. he leaned over the table to get a look at your book and you could suddenly sense the sweet scent of his cologne, making your heartbeat raise its pace.

“i’m having trouble understanding, i guess the writing style is much more difficult than i had anticipated” you couldn’t look him in the eyes as you admitted that.

he hummed in agreement and furrowed his brows “you’re right…shakespeare isn’t an easy read, especially if it’s your first time” “say, would you prefer if we go somewhere else where we can talk more freely? i can explain it to you right here as well, but i wouldn’t want to disturb the other students”

you were taken aback by his proposal. you were expecting him to burst out laughing or make a snarky remark, even though you knew taehyun wasn’t the type of person to do that. you just weren’t used to people treating you this nicely in such situations.

“sounds good” you responded with a smile.

───⋆☆─────────────

taehyun led you to a small coffee shop near the library. the place was covered in plants from top to bottom, it had vinyl records hanging on the walls and faint jazz music playing in the background. it was the perfect place for you to continue your work. however, the wide variety of options displayed on the menu made you feel slightly overwhelmed.

“what are you having?” you asked taehyun.

“the vanilla latte here is really good, so i’m going with that.”

“i see…then i’ll have one too”

taehyun was quick to order both drinks and pay for them as well. “here. don’t worry, it’s on me.” your fingers brushed lightly as he handed you the warm drink and you tried to act non-chalantly about it, but your stutter gave away the fact that his actions did have an impact on you “t-thank you.”

settling for a table near the window, you took a few sips from the beverage. the coffee wasn’t too strong, and the vanilla syrup left a pleasant taste on your tongue. taehyun had excellent tastes indeed. he brought out a small black notebook from his backpack, which seemed to have older notes and analysis from the play. he took his time to explain the plot to you, the usage of the words and their modern equivalents. it would be a lie to say that you didn’t get distracted every once in a while, especially when his sharp jawline was revealed whenever he took sips from his own coffee. he only continued his explanations after making sure you truly understood what he was saying, and by the time he finished, you had a much clearer image of the play in your mind.

time passed without either of you realising. just as you were about to leave, you could see a few raindrops starting to fall down from the sky through the window. you hurriedly gathered your things to leave. nonetheless, once you opened the door to step outside the coffee shop, the rain was already heavily pouring.

“what do we do…the bus station isn’t that close to here” you muttered.

“we’ll have to make a run for it”

taehyun grabbed you by the shoulder and placed his jackets on top of your heads to protect you from the rain. you both arrived at the bus station out of breath and giggling.

“i would have stretched a bit if i knew we were gonna run this much” taehyun’s smile revealed his cat-like fangs, which you’ve never noticed before. ‘so cute’ you thought. “are you okay? i hope i at least managed to protect you well.”

“nothing i can’t handle” you replied, but in reality, your lungs felt like they were on fire “thank you, i really appreciate it. i just wish the bus won’t have a delay like it usually does.”

“i wouldn’t mind that actually, that would just mean that i get to spend more time with you.” he responded playfully, flashing you another one of his charming smiles, making you blush for probably the 10th time that day. “do you live far away from here?”

“hmm kinda. i don’t usually take this route but i believe it’s gonna take at least 40 minutes to get back. not that i would mind though, i enjoy longer rides.” you wrapped your arms around your body in an attempt to get a bit warmer. you spent so much time at home overthinking about what you were gonna say and do that you didn’t even bother to look at the weather. taehyun seemed to notice how much you were trembling though, so he put his jacket over your shoulders again.

“here, this should keep you warm.”

“but then you’re gonna be the one who feels cold…” you argued, almost taking the jacket off completely. taehyun put it back on you in an instant.

“no, please take it. i’ll be fine, that run got me warm enough. i’m the one who suggested coming here, so i wouldn’t be able to stand the thought of you catching a cold because of me.”

the bus arrived right as you were about to open your mouth, not giving you the chance to fight back. you hopped on, taehyun following after you.

the ride was mostly quiet. it wasn’t an awkward kind of silence though. during this time you were finally taking in everything that happened today. you couldn’t remember the last time you felt this good with someone. sometimes not even your friends could make you feel so at ease.

“i wish we could do this more often” you muttered.

“do what more often?” taehyun asked. you froze. you didn’t mean to say that out loud. you weren’t the type to act this bold and straight-forward.

“ah, well- i mean this, you know. us meeting together to study and stuff” you blurted out and looked down. you were trying to prepare youself for the rejection. what if he’s gonna think you’re weird? he probably prefers to meet up with someone who matches his own level of intelligence. what if- “i agree, i really enjoyed our time together today.” you looked at him with wide eyes, taken by surprise. “then…are you free tomorrow as well? same hour? for the project of course.” you rambled again. “sounds great.” he responded tenderly.

you looked out the window and notice that the area was starting to become familiar, meaning that you had to get off soon. but oh my, you just wanted to stay there and keep on talking to the gorgeous boy. he was kind enough to wait until the bus stopped at your location, before finally going back to his own house. and once you did get off, you could see him waving at you from his seat. exhausted, you collapsed on your bed, heart still fluttering at his sweet gestures.

───⋆☆─────────────

your regular meetups were something that you were looking forward to. they didn’t stop even after your project was done, instead they became your own litte thing, a safe space. taehyun would always wait for you at the exact same table with a set of books and two vanilla lattes from that same coffee shop that you’ve visited on your first meeting. you adored being around him, it didn’t even feel like you were going for school work anymore. you loved how comfortable he made you feel and how caring he was, how he never looked down on you and how his eyes gleamed whenever you told him you understood his explanations. he always looked forward to the silly doodles you would leave on his notebooks whenever he lent you one. he also loved how you were shorter than him, teasing you whenever you were unable to reach a book. you pretend to be mad at him when he makes jokes about it. in reality, you found it endearing simply because it was him doing it. shit. you were head over heels for kang taehyun, there was no point denying it anymore. the realisation hit you like a truck and you were suddenly nervous to see him today at the library again, even though you’ve been doing that for months now.

taehyun didn’t show up for the first class that day though. it was weird, especially since he’s class president. his attendance is supposed to be mostly perfect. at first, you tried to brush it off, thinking that he might have just overslept. your suspicion was proven wrong, as he didn’t show up for the rest of the day either. after pretty much dragging your feet along the hall, you anxiously opened the library door. however, taehyun wasn’t there either. ‘strange…’ you thought. it was already past 2 pm. your table was completely empty. there was no sign of the boy, nor could you see his notebooks or any vanilla lattes anywhere else. maybe he was somewhere hidden among the shelves? you frantically looked for him, yet you couldn’t see him anywhere in the library. you sat on a chair and tried to calm yourself down. maybe he was just late, after all he’s human too. you sent a message to check:

( tyun :p )

[y/n, 14:24]: hey, i’m at the library :)

[y/n, 14:36]: is everything okay? you didn’t come to classes today either :(

[y/n, 15:05]: tyun...?

you closed your phone with a sigh, nervously playing with your rings. now you were really starting to panic. what if he picked up on your feelings before you even did? have you been so oblivious towards your own actions? you wanted to cry at the thought of accidentally making him feel uncomfortable. god you were so stupid. he had all those other girls in your class chasing after him, prettier, smarter and richer than you. you couldn’t help but compare yourself to them. why would kang taehyun choose you out of everyone who had shown interest in him? he was clearly way out of your league. you hated your heart for even letting you catch feelings for the boy. you left the library with a heavy heart. your mind was overwhelmed by your own thoughts and you didn’t want anyone there to witness your mental breakdown.

───⋆☆─────────────

it was ridiculous how much the situation affected you. you contemplated staying at home the next day, after just barely getting a wink of sleep. in the end, you forced yourself to get out of bed, you already had enough absences for the semester and didn’t want to get more.

you weren’t in the mood for mr. kim’s class either, so you put your head down on your desk ready to doze off for an hour. a familiar voice snapped you out of your daze:

“sorry for being late mr kim.”

you glanced at the door and right there stood taehyun, out of breath and with messy hair. he looked just as tired as you were. you quickly looked away though, not wanting to have eye contact with him. even today your messages were still left on ‘delivered’. you could feel his gaze on you during the entire class, but you chose to ignore it.

you cursed mr. kim in your mind for making you and taehyun permanent project partners. you still had one more project left for literature class which you and taehyun already started 2 weeks ago. you didn’t want to see taehyun nor did you want to be the one to let down the project and ruin his grade. you somehow managed to successfully avoid him for the rest of the day, sometimes skipping a few classes. you didn’t go to the library like you were supposed to either.

it hurt, but your brain told you that the only way to escape your feelings was to distance yourself from the boy. all the project work would go down the drain if you didn’t finish it, therefore you chose to go to the library at night one last time, hoping that he wouldn’t be there at such an ungodly hour. the place was quiet and deserted, with only a few people seemingly stressed out being scattered around the tables. you were a bit unsure what you were supposed to be looking for, since you didn’t have taehyun around to guide you anymore. you headed towards a familiar section and scanned the shelves for something that could help you conclude your essay. but while you were busy searching, you didn’t notice that one particular boy you were avoiding searching for you. you were startled when two hands suddenly entered your vision, hanging on to the shelf right above your head, trapping you.

“there you are” he breathed out.

you turned around with wide eyes, looking like a deer caught in headlights. taehyun was right in front of you, looking at you with narrow eyes and a slight frown on his face.

“i was worried sick, i’ve been looking for you everywhere” he whispered

“i could say the same thing about yesterday” you replied trying to act coldly. your heart felt warm at the thought of him looking for you.

“yesterday….?”

“you ghosted me yesterday, you didn’t come to meet me nor did you bother to answer any of my messages.” you answered, blinking back your tears.

“i wanted to talk to you all day, but you didn’t even give me a chance to explain-” he furrowed his brows “i had an urgent meeting with the student council yesterday. mr. kim then asked me to retrieve a parcel for him and i left without realising that my phone was still in the meeting room. he took it for me and only returned it to me today after class. i wasn’t ignoring you on purpose. i know it seemed that way and i apologise. i would never do that, especially to you y/n.” he explained. you could tell that he was being sincere and you felt so bad for acting the way you did. why did you let those stupid thoughts push him away? you covered your face with your hands, you wanted to die of embarrassment. “i am so dumb tyun, i’m so sorry. i shouldn’t have acted like that, i shouldn’t have been avoiding you i should have talked to you about it then-”

“hey, you’re not dumb.” he interrupted your stammer. he took your hands in his and kissed the inside of your wrist. then, he gently cupped your cheeks, his gaze softening when he noticed that you were holding back tears. “please, just don’t run away from me again.” he enveloped you in his warm embrace, and you accepted it, slowly wrapping your hands against his waist. this time, you were not going to run away.

“come on, let me help you finish this.” but just after he said that, the lights went out, covering you in complete pitch black darkness. you checked your phone. it was almost 1 am, way past the library’s closing time. you didn’t want to know what would happen if somebody were to find you there, so you both sneaked towards the exit. everything seemed to go too well. as you were passing through the hall, you could hear footsteps going down the staircase. without much thinking, taehyun quickly grabbed your hand and sprinted towards the janitor’s closet, shoving you in before the security guard could see you.

“i’m sorry, i couldn’t risk him seeing us.” he whispered

once again, there was almost nothing but darkness surrounding you. you could barely make out taehyun’s face in the dim light of the closet, so close next to yours. you ended up in a similar position as earlier, taehyun trapping you between himself and the door, with his arms on each side of your head.

“we should probably stay in here for a bit more until it’s safe to go out. are you okay? you didn’t get hurt or anything, right?” you could hear the genuine concern in his voice.

“i’m good, don’t worry, but…tyun, can i ask you something?” he nodded in response “why did you decide to come looking for me so late?“

“why? why do think i didn’t just go on and act like nothing happened?” you looked down and gulped, unable to answer him. he gently lifted your chin up with his hand.

“do you think i like you?” he said trying to gaze into your eyes, looking for an answer. “that’s right…”, but there was a shift in his demeanour. his usual confident façade crumbled, he chuckled weakly and left his eyes on the ground, shoulders going down. “in fact, i like you so much that i can’t even stand the thought of being away from you. during this time where i haven’t been seeing you, i felt like i was going crazy.” you blushed at the boy’s confession. “oh, well then…that means that we both feel the same way” you whispered. you almost wanted to pinch yourself to see if this wasn’t a dream. kang taehyun, the boy who managed to steal your heart so easily, did actually like you back.

“i’m really glad to hear that” taehyun chuckled lowly. the cramped space didn’t allow for much distance between the two of you. you could feel his hot breath on your neck and the familiar scent of his cologne, warm chest on top of yours making you feel dizzy. without realising it, you were holding your breath. you prayed that he couldn’t hear the loud sound of your rapidly beating heart.

“do i make you nervous?”

you couldn’t see him clearly, but you knew that there was a smirk sneaking its way onto his face as he said that.

you didn’t reply this time. you could barely even handle his intense gaze on you, yet alone talk. he somehow got even closer, his lips sitting just a few centimeters apart from yours.

“can i kiss you...?” he asked, voice barely above a whisper.

you nodded, unable to utter a single word. his hand cupped your face, thumb lightly brushing over your cheekbone. he waited for a short moment, as if to reconfirm your permission, then he finally closed the gap between your lips. his kiss was soft, yearning…his other hand grabbed your waist and you moved your hand to the back of his neck, deepening the kiss. you found your fingers tangled in the soft strands of his hair as he kissed you passionately, biting your lip. you pulled away for a second to catch your breath, cheeks burning like they were on fire. taehyun took his glasses off with a swift movement and placed them in his chest pocket before going back to your lips, kissing you more. “we shouldn’t be doing this…” you managed to whisper between the kisses. he rested his forehead on top of yours. “unless we get caught, we’re not breaking any rules”. he started to trail down kisses on your neck, all the way down to your collarbone, not daring to go further and cross any barrier that would make you even in the slightest bit uncomfortable. “but what if we do…you’re class president and i don’t want to get you in trouble-” he pressed his lips against yours in an attempt to stop your ramble. “darling, if you continue talking, then we might actually risk getting caught.” your body was melting against his touch. you were so glad he was holding you because you were afraid your legs might actually give out from the intensity of the situation. he left a few more kisses on your swollen lips.

“as much as i’m enjoying this, we should probably make our move now. come on, let’s get out of here.” taehyun said quietly.

“only if you buy me a vanilla latte.” you replied. taehyun placed a sweet kiss on your forehead and grabbed your hand before making a run towards the exit.

“anything for you, darling.”

taglist: @huekalover3000

#wave2tyun #txt #txt fluff #txt x reader #txt fic #txt imagines #txt scenarios #txt smau #txt headcanons #txt taehyun #taehyun fluff #taehyun scenarios #taehyun fic #taehyun x reader #taehyun imagines #taehyun headcanons

288 notes · View notes

jenscx · 8 months

Text

ANAGAPESIS — nakamura kazuha x f!reader

you never would have thought of losing feelings for someone you love. but when the transfer student causes a rift, you start to entertain the possibility.

TAGS — angst, slight yunjinxreader, best friends, unrequited pining(?), jealousy

WORDCOUNT — 3.9k

anagapesis, your literature teacher had said once. it meant to no longer feel affection for someone you loved. the japanese was unable to pronounce it and you had simply corrected her. it took about 10 minutes until she could say it. within those 10 minutes, you two became best friends. or, as best friends middle schoolers could be— exchanging snacks during break time, taking turns to push each other at the swings and standing up for each other when sunwoo from the class next door bullied you two.

anagapesis.

was it fate when you met kazuha? maybe it was. every single decision that a 10 year old y/n made led up to your meeting with her. kazuha was your best friend. forever and ever, you had stated to her one day.

“pinky promise?”

“of course!”

you reach no further than the first year of high school when you realise your true feelings. (and coming to terms with the fact that, yes, you were madly in love with your best friend.)

“first period’s chemistry,” kazuha sighs, “new class but i think yujin’s still there. can’t forget the last time she spilled iodine on my uniform, i hope mr lee doesn't put us together.”

you hum in acknowledgment.

“i hope you’re my partner.” you turn to kazuha, a mocking smirk on your face, “i’m like, last in class for chemistry. pretty sure i would spill acid and not iodine on you.”

kazuha rolls her eyes playfully. “you’re like second last, not last.”

you hesitate for a second before asking, “second last in chemistry but first place in your heart?” the japanese girl giggles.

fuck, you think.

“yeah. first place in my heart,” she says and you can’t help but think of the glimmer in her eyes and her gummy smile. and in your heart, you pray that mr lee doesn’t put the two of you as partners. you’re not sure how long more you could survive if kazuha looks as pretty as aphrodite every day.

liar, your head says, you would jump for joy if you could spend every second with her.

you ignore that thought and the bell rings with kazuha’s resounding groan.

your eyes dart to the teacher who was currently peering over his laptop screen.

“everyone ready? i’ve sent the spreadsheet of partners for this semester. please check it and get into your pairs,” he instructs. you take in a sharp breathe as you read over the list of students’ names.

you’re paired up with huh yunjin, a rather enthusiastic girl from the states. it was a relief that you weren’t partnered up with a weirdo. yunjin was nice and helpful. thank god. you take a glance at kazuha, whose eyebrows are furrowed and you wonder if she’s paired up with ahn yujin again.

“rei? naoi rei?” you stare at kazuha curiously. she repeats the girl’s name like a mantra and you wonder, is your best friend okay?

“y/n, is naoi rei from japan? is she a transfer student? do you know if she’s from tokushima? does she have bangs with black hair?” kazuha suddenly asks and it’s the most korean you’ve heard her speak.

“uhm,” you mumble, “i’m not… sure?”

your best friend is wide eyed, a look of surprise and awe on her face as students flurry by to find their partner. it’s easy to spot yunjin. her height makes her stand out but kazuha has a harder time finding her partner. rei. her name sounds awfully familiar, maybe kazuha has spoken about a friend called rei before.

“zuha-chan, is that you?” a voice speaks out in japanese. you whip your head and the cutest girl you’ve ever seen is standing right before kazuha.

“are you… do you remember me?” rei blurts out, “you were from the same school as me right? back in japan?” now, you and yunjin were standing awkwardly by the side as the two japanese conversed in their mother tongue. a gasp of exhilaration is heard and you feel a pang of envy when kazuha squeals and runs into rei’s arms.

yunjin nudges you slightly.

“you okay?”

you nod wordlessly and you two walk away from the childhood friends. despite being a few tables away from kazuha and rei, you can still hear their conversation clear as day. you try not to listen in, but is it really eavesdropping if they’re not being quiet?

“i never thought i would meet you again! i’ve missed you so much!” kazuha exclaims.

“me neither… wow,” you can hear the affection in rei’s tone and it makes you want to throw up, “you’re still super pretty and cute.”

you pray she means it in a, ‘gals being pals’ way.

“how long has it been? a decade? how’s your parents doing?”

“they miss you, said they preferred you over me,” rei laughs and you hate how kazuha chuckles back.

at this point, yunjin has given up trying to get your attention and she’s more focused on how your expression sours everytime kazuha giggles at one of rei’s jokes.

“hey,” she snaps her fingers in front of your face which finally works, “are you jealous? in the gay way? or the best friend way?”

you roll your eyes at her and clench your fists tightly.

“both.” while you weren’t the closest to yunjin, you were pretty comfortable telling her your worries and troubles. after all, you bonded before in detention by annoying the fuck out of the teacher in charge.

“yeah, childhood friends meeting again years later. that’s a fanfiction trope right there and you can’t do anything about that.” you stare at her, confused.

yunjin grins, “maybe it’s fate.”

fate. maybe it’s fate. you swallow a lump in your throat. maybe it’s fate that brought kazuha and rei together. maybe it’s like yunjin said, i can't do anything about it.

and if this were a movie, you would be the second lead standing in between the main couple, portrayed as the jealous and insecure best friend who has loved the main lead secretly all these years, only for them to be swept away by a childhood friend.

and fuck. the realisation hits you like a truck.

“i don’t mean to make you upset,” yunjin says, twirling a pen while staring right at kazuha and rei, “but i think rei might just replace you soon if that is any indication.”

kazuha’s warm hand is intertwined with rei’s and you hate it. you hate everything about it. the fact that you envy rei’s position right now. the fact that you know kazuha isn’t one to cosy up to someone so easily. the very fact that it took you more than a year for kazuha to finally be comfortable with hugs.

and rei did it all in an hour. yunjin sends a comforting smile your way. your heart breaks, at the sight of rei and kazuha together and how yunjin’s gaze is full of pity and sympathy.

out of the corner of your eye, you see kazuha’s grin, wider than it ever was when she was with you. you grip the edge of your seat in distraught as rei yells out a string of encouragement. kazuha stops on court and sends her a thumbs up.

everytime you did that, she would just smile nervously without looking at you.

it hurts so much you turn away from the court entirely.

“hey!” you look up from your feet. yunjin’s leaning against the railing separating the seats and the basketball court. “are you here for me?” she jokes and it’s so obvious that she had seen what had happened.

“no,” you giggle, appreciating her distraction, “i’m here for the enemy.” yunjin pouts.

“aw, then who would be my biggest supporter?”

you nod towards the fan club watching both of you intently. a bunch of girls holding up a large sign reading, ‘fighting huh yunjin!’

before yunjin speaks again, a figure slides up to the railing beside her.

“hi, y/n.” your eyes darts to yunjin for help. the american stifles her laughter at your distress.

“uhm,” you mutter unintelligently, not expecting to get kazuha’s attention.

“y/n’s here as my supporter! shoo, don’t take her away,” yunjin swats at kazuha like she’s a fly.

the japanese girl mumbles something but you can barely hear her. suddenly, yunjin’s demeanour changes.

“what? we were always friends,” yunjin replies back defensively.

kazuha frowns. “since when?”

yunjin looks like she’s about to snap at kazuha and you plead with your eyes for her to remain civil. the whistle blows and the basketball game has to start. you can see the angry red blush spreading over kazuha’s neck while yunjin stomps grumpily to her spot. the sight would be funny if you weren’t caught in the middle of their argument.

when kazuha goes to rei after the match, you feel your heart splitting into two. she chose rei, over you.

your best friend, the same one that had promised to protect you from harm, had broken your heart a total of two times. and all in one year, surely record-breaking for the sweetest girl you’ve ever befriended. little did you know she was about to hit a new high.

“you could just confess after prom. or before, so that if she reciprocates you guys can go together,” yunjin explains, her mouth full of a bite of ice cream.

kazuha had decidedly stopped going home with you after school and yunjin took up the role of your closest friend.

“maybe,” you would never confess in this lifetime, but you say it just to placate yunjin, “I’m never gonna do it face to face though. only if she corners me about it.”

“coward,” yunjin laughs.

you shrug. “most i’ll do is write a letter then move to america where she can’t find me.”

yunjin halts in her steps and turns to look at you.

“america? you wanna go to america?”

“yeah? why not. i mean, i’m fluent in english and it would be fun, wouldn’t it? i could apply for a scholarship,” you smile. yunjin’s gaze is full of contemplation and curiosity.

she continues licking her ice cream.

“y/n, i’m being completely serious now, if i were to, hypothetically, invite you to move into my family’s apartment in new york, would you be keen?” you’ve never seen yunjin so serious before that it unnerves you ever so slightly.

“well,” you say, a light tone accompanied with your words, “if, hypothetically, all my expenses would be covered by the huh yunjin, i would be keen.”

“i’m serious, y/n!”

you giggle. “yes, yunjin. let’s go to america together after graduation.”

yunjin’s face brightens up and it’s like her whole world is complete. you can’t stop the laughter that bubbles out when she lifts your body up and spins you around like a doll.

your hold on her is tight and comforting, but you can’t help but feel the kazuha sized hole in your heart ache.

leaving korea would mean leaving kazuha. and were you okay with that? your head is swarmed with thoughts on the trek back home.

“so,” kazuha says cautiously, “what are you planning to do after high school?” it’s been a few days since your conversation with yunjin and after many, many sleepless nights full of research and convincing your parents, you were finally granted permission to go out of the country.

you’re not sure whether to lie or tell the truth. you decide to do the latter.

“i have a scholarship for america— new york university,” you reply casually, and it’s the one time you’re hoping kazuha doesn’t pay attention to you.

the japanese girl falls silent. and it’s deafening.

“oh,” she says after a while, “are you going with yunjin?”

your eyes widen. “how’d you know?”

kazuha grimaces. “it’s all she can talk about during practice.”

“oh, then why’d you ask me?” you question. there’s a flash of exasperation on kazuha’s face as she mutters harshly, “i wanted to hear it from you first.”

you tilt your head.

“aren’t you and rei going back to japan?” rei’s name leaves a bitter taste on your tongue.

“hm? yeah.”

you feel your stomach tighten and your chest squeezes uncomfortably.

“that’s great,” you grit your teeth, “have fun with her.” kazuha stares at you and you feel naked with her gaze. for a moment, it reminds you of way back before rei, before yunjin, and when it was just you and kazuha.

the next time you see your best friend (or ex-best friend), it’s during another basketball match, but today, they were going against one of the rival schools. you head into the gymnasium, seats already filled up with supporters from both schools and the players getting ready on court. you sweep your eyes over the players, smiling when yunjin spots you.

‘come here,’ she mouths. you shake your head but yunjin pouts. her pleading eyes are too much for you to resist, so you walk to the railings, eyebrow raised.

“aren’t you meant to be warming up, jen?” you ask quietly. her teammates pause their activity when they see yunjin hanging around the railings. unbeknownst to you two, anger radiates from one of her teammates.

“yeah, but i wanted to give you something first.” yunjin grins and takes off the necklace hanging on her neck. she gestures for you to lean forward, and as you do, the necklace carrying a snake charm is attached on your neck now.

yunjin sighs contentedly, “it’s my most prized possession from my grandma. but i think, i want you to wear it.”

your eyes widen.

“yunjin, seriously?”

the basketballer only winks, “yeah, so now i have two good luck charms.”

just like before, your bubble bursts when someone approaches you.

“y/n.”

yunjin straightens up and you wave shyly at kazuha.

“hi, kazuha.”

the japanese’s eyes dart to the necklace not so discreetly and a disapproving frown takes over her face.

“can i talk to you alone?” she mutters to you. the american girl chuckles and pats kazuha on the back, “c’mon, talk to her later, kay. we have a game now.”

after a few seconds, kazuha glares at yunjin and then storms away. you sigh guiltily while yunjin just yawns.

they lose the game and you can tell kazuha is fuming when she finally gets the chance to talk to you.

her eyes are gleaming with rage and her knuckles are bruised. she definitely tried to hit her locker in the changing room, you thought.

“so, uhm, what’s up?” you say awkwardly.

kazuha stays silent for a while, which isn’t unusual, but in a setting like this, it makes you incredibly nervous.

“i’m pissed.”

“okay?”

“i don’t like yunjin,” she hisses, “stop being so close to her. she’s not good for you. and why do you keep flirting with her? are you dating her?”

you’re taken aback. your best friend, kazuha, was always calm, quiet and friendly. the kazuha standing in front of you, jealous and angry. you don’t like it.

“who i’m dating is none of your concern.”

“so you are dating her,” kazuha states. if she didn’t look like she was one second from punching someone, you would laugh, because it was so far away from the truth.

“no, i’m not. please stop assuming things.”

“how can i not assume things when you never tell me stuff anymore?” she hisses out.

you sigh, “zuha, i do try to tell you things. but you’re always busy.” with rei.

“so it’s my fault now?”

“i never said that. yunjin’s waiting for me, and you’re being childish right now. text me when you want to talk again.”

anagapesis. you go through it with every passing second kazuha isn’t by your side.

“fine. i’ll text you later. get home safe.”

and the realisation strikes here. the once fluttering words of care and concern no longer make you feel exhilaration. you aren’t losing kazuha. she’s losing you.

prom approaches and you don’t make a move to ask out kazuha. you already assume she’s going with rei and you had decided to go with yunjin in light of this.

you go dress shopping and yunjin’s presence helps to fill the emptiness of kazuha. yunjin skims the shops and ends up with an emerald green dress that you definitely approve of, while you end up deciding between a matching blue one or a purple one.

midway through your dilemma, your phone beeps.

zuha 🤍 [1.27pm]:

get the blue one

you swerve around, eyes darting for kazuha but she’s nowhere to be seen.

“you’re getting which one?” yunjin asks from around the corner and your gaze falls back to the two dresses.

your heart clenches as you eye the blue flowy dress. blue, kazuha’s favourite colour. ironically, that was exactly how she made you feel. blue, the colour for sadness and everything dull. you furrow your eyebrows and turn to yunjin, a soft smile on your face.

“probably the purple one.”

you show up in the purple dress, face decorated in a light layer of makeup with yunjin attached to your arm. your heart is beating out of your chest and your cheek muscles start to hurt at how long you’ve been smiling at others. some of your friends come up to you, eyes glimmering with mischief and they bombard questions about yunjin’s presence as she goes to get drinks.

“no kazuha tonight?” wonyoung asks.

you search around before shrugging. “she’s going with rei, not even sure if they’re turning up.”

the chain around your heart tightens.

“that’s too bad then,” wonyoung smiles widely, “you look great tonight! let’s take some photos later, okay?”

you nod absentmindedly as wonyoung and your friends gravitate to another group.

yunjin returns soon to your side, eyes gleaming and a hand snaking around your waist.

“i got you a fruit punch, darling,” she passes you the drink, “they had this weird looking juice but i think you would get food poisoning.”

“yeah, thanks. i don’t trust this school.”

yunjin smirks but it quickly disappears when she hears her name being called again.

“ugh, i can’t get five minutes with you alone.”

you laugh and push her shoulder slightly. “go find your friends, celebrity. i’ll wait for you here.”

yunjin pouts slightly but walks away, leaving you to be alone. as the hall gets filled up, you wander towards an unoccupied corner where no one would disturb you.

and of course, someone finds you.

“y/n.”

“zuha.”

you rake your eyes across her appearance, it’s the same as usual, but the butterflies in your stomach are missing. even though she’s dressed handsomely, you feel nothing.

“what are you doing here? aren’t you meant to be with,” kazuha flicks her tongue, “yunjin?”

“hm? her friends were calling for her.”

“and she left you here, alone?”

“yeah? i was just about to go find wonyoung. needed a breather from the crowd,” you quickly make up an excuse before kazuha could start badmouthing yunjin again.

the Japanese’s reflexes are quicker than yours, so she catches your wrist in a grip when you try to walk away.

“let’s talk properly this time,” she states. you look at the hand on your wrist and nod. you had no way of getting out of it this time.

“you’ve been avoiding me.”

you look away from her. “no.”

“you have. so what’s the deal? are you jealous that i have another friend now? rei, is that the problem here?” kazuha spits out.

“what are you talking about?”

“y/n—”

“listen, kazuha. you’re the one telling me that my friend is bad for me. i have never said anything bad about rei. i don’t care about her, and if you want me to be honest, sure. i loved you. i loved you ever since we became friends and it was ruining me to see you be so affectionate with someone else. so i’m sorry if you don’t like yunjin, but she was there for me when you weren’t,” you finally say. it’s like a heavy weight was lifted off your chest and the shell shocked expression on kazuha’s face is enough closure for you.

“you love me?”

“i used to. and i’m grateful that i don’t anymore.”

kazuha’s eyes welled up with tears, “y/n, i didn’t… i didn’t know, i…”

“if you knew, what difference would it have made?”

you watch as the japanese girl clenches her fists tightly, eyes closed before opening them and staring at you with determination you didn’t even know she had.

“y/n, you no longer love me?” you nod, exasperated. “how could you fall out of love so easily? i love you too! and now you no longer love me?”

kazuha chuckles dryly.

“don’t you know how fucking painful it was to see you wearing that damn necklace every day? i was hurt too, why couldn’t you have just said something,” she takes a step closer to you, “y/n, i just wanted to reconnect with my old friend— i never wanted things to change between us! but yunjin came along and ruined it all.”

your eyes narrow. “don’t blame this on yunjin. if you wanted to reconnect with rei, you should have balanced your time between us.”

“i know that now! stop reminding me. just please, don’t go with her, stay with me. i would do anything for you. I’m in love with you, y/n!” kazuha pleads.

“stop it,” you say, “you hurt me. a lot.”

“but i still love you.”

the crowd behind kazuha goes silent, all the lights dim down and it’s like time is paused. the only thing you see is your best friend, eyes full of desperation and hope, a silhouette of your lost affection.

you can’t do this. how could kazuha say that when you’re finally done with her? it wasn’t like you were still in love with your best friend, so why did your stomach drop when you heard those words? was it guilt? sadness? or regret, that you could have had something with kazuha, if only one of you spoke up.

“it’ll be hard for me to love and trust you again, zuha. and maybe in another universe, things would be different. but I’m sorry, this isn’t the right time.”

kazuha’s face falls.

“you’re… really heading to america? with her?”

you wince at her venomous tone, “yes.”

her eyes are red and teary, her cheeks are flushed and wet with tears. yet, you still think she looks beautiful. maybe one day, you would truly be over her.

“i hope you have a safe trip.”

“thank you. i hope you stay happy, always.” kazuha gives you one final look, and then nods, before disappearing into the crowd in her pristine white dress. you couldn’t help but think that the blue dress matched hers perfectly.

when yunjin finds you again, she asks, “i saw you talking to kazuha. did anything happen?”

you shake your head, “no, nothing happened.”

she raises an eyebrow.

“seriously? she seemed like she was crying.”

you roll your eyes, “seriously. we talked about stuff and got emotional. she was too late with expressing her feelings.”

“huh. so she really did like you back.”

“yeah. but i think, in this universe, i’m gonna be okay without her.”

(in an alternate universe, none of this would have happened. in an alternate universe, kazuha and you would have been happily together, no rei or yunjin intervening with your relationship. in an alternate universe, you would never have gone through anagapesis.)

#nakamura kazuha x reader #kazuha x reader #lesserafim #lesserafim x reader

379 notes · View notes

svnoohe4rts · 1 year

Text

GAME OVER ! ― part three

prev … masterlist … next

↳ PAIRING: lee heeseung x fembodied!reader

↳ SUMMARY: since you have seemed to forgotten just how cruel heeseung could be, he decides it’s about time he remind you.

↳ WORDCOUNT: 11k

↳ WARNINGS: angst, heeseung literally being straight up cruel, both sungchan and chenle being kind of shitty friends tbh, SMUT ! MDNI .

YOU WERE NEVER TOO BIG ON SCIENCE.

Science was something you despised in high school, which is exactly why you decided not to take that one extra course in college. Looking back, maybe you should’ve joined Sungchan when he decided to take science instead of literature; you probably would’ve saved yourself a lot of unnecessary pain and agony that way.

No having to convince Chenle to take literature with you, no having to sit through hours of listening to your professor talking about how great of a work The Great Gatsby was and how it impacted the history of literature.

Instead, you probably would’ve learned more about black holes.

And most importantly, how to get swallowed by one.

You knew stars got swallowed by black holes all the time, sucking them into oblivion just for them to never be seen again; so why couldn’t one swallow you, too? Well, technically, you knew they couldn’t - you did pay a little attention in science class back in high school, after all.

But that didn’t stop you from wishing, begging even, for one to randomly appear and pull you into the dark nothingness.

Especially in moments like these, where you felt your whole world collapse around you.

‘’Sungchan?’’ Both out of breath and slightly panicking, your voice came out shakily as your best friend finally picked up the phone. After stumbling out of Heeseungs car and calling his number multiple times, each and every call going straight to voicemail - the thought of anyone, especially Sungchan, knowing what had just happened in the darkness of Heeseungs car causing a sudden feeling of distress to spread across your chest.

You wondered just how many people had seen you leaving with Heeseung, you wondered if anyone knew what had happened, but most importantly: you wondered if someone had seen you and Heeseung making out just outside the front door, making it incredibly easy for absolutely anyone to see you.

Wanting to slap yourself across the face for being so reckless, no, you wanted to slap Heeseung across the face for being so reckless. He knew exactly what he was doing, you thought, there was no way he didn’t. He knew you’d kiss him back, he knew you’d let him do whatever he wanted with you; even if it meant he had to do it in front of every person you knew.

Including your two best friends, who both thought you loathed Lee Heeseung more than anything else.

No, you did loath Lee Heeseung more than anything else. And that’s probably why you let him finger you in the back of his car, right?

‘’Where are you?’’ Sungchans sharp voice echoing through your ears caused you to let go of a breath you didn’t even know you were holding, nibbling on your bottom lip. How were you supposed to explain your current situation to him, if he didn’t already know, which he most likely did? The almost bitter tone lingering behind how words indicated that he did, in fact, know.

And the thought almost made your stomach turn inside out.

‘’I’m outside, but I can explain, I promi-’’

‘’Are you okay? He didn’t hurt you, did he? I swear to God Y/N, I’ll kill him,’’

Wait.

You could now clearly hear the concern lingering behind his words as he spoke, something you had managed to miss while internally panicking, his words causing you to frown.

Maybe he didn’t know, and you prayed you were right.

‘’What? No, I’m okay, he didn’t hurt me,’’ You let out, hoping he couldn't hear the distress in your voice. And to your surprise, he didn’t seem to notice it as a small sigh left his lips; the sound of him opening a door echoing through the speakers of your phone. ‘’Fuck Y/N, I was so worried,’’ He mumbled, the bitter tone that had lingered behind his words now nowhere to be found; worry taking its place. ‘’Where exactly are you? I’ll come to you.’’

Turning around to look at the car parked right behind you, you once again found yourself nibbling on your bottom lip. ‘’I’m just down the street, I’ll meet you at the door, alright?’’ You prayed he’d agree to your request, your eyes still glued to the parked car; the car in which Heeseung was still sitting.

A short silence followed, causing you to grow slightly anxious again as your best friend remained silent. ‘’Alright.’’

With shaky hands, you ended the call and took a deep breath. Tearing your eyes off the car, you quickly started walking down the road leading back to the party; deciding it was for the best to not look back, nor did you feel like telling Heeseung you were leaving.

Not that it mattered to him, anyway.

‘’You go ahead, I’ll catch up with you later,’’’

Giving your friend a small nod in an attempt to encourage him to leave the now almost empty classroom, you let your fingers ghost over the keyboard of your laptop. Sungchan, however, just frowned upon hearing your words; raising both his eyebrows as he slung his backpack over his shoulder. ‘’You’re not eating?’’

You just hummed in response, a small sigh falling off the tip of your tongue as your eyes darted back to the computer. ‘’I don’t have time, I have to finish this before noon or my literature professor will be pissed,’’ You mumbled, keeping your eyes on the screen of your computer as you spoke.

Sungchan stared at you for a minute, observing you as you bit down on your lower lip and furrowed your eyebrows while reading the article you had pulled up. You almost began to think he had left, when your laptop was suddenly slammed shut; your eyes landing on Sungchan’s finger, which had just been used to close the computer in front of you.

‘’Well, tell your professor that eating is kind of necessary to survive,’’ Your gaze landed on the boy now standing in front of you, his finger still keeping the laptop shut as you rolled your eyes; grabbing onto his hand before shoving it away. ‘’And I’m telling you I can just eat later.’’ You let out, squinting your eyes at him as you opened the laptop back up, earning an eye roll from your best friend.

‘’You never said that.’’

‘’I just did.’’

‘’You can be so stubborn sometimes, you know that right?’’ Sungchan muttered, shaking his head as he watched you return to reading the article you had just been reading. ‘’Yeah, whatever, now go and eat,’’ You mumbled back, keeping your eyes on your computer screen while waving your hand; signaling for him to go enjoy his lunch.

Accepting his defeat, Sungchan let out a low sigh before fixing his backpack, already on his way out. ‘’I’ll get you something, alright?’’ He let out right when he was about to walk through the door, looking back at you one last time.

Giving him a thumbs up, still keeping your eyes on the computer, you mumbled a ‘thank you’ - which you weren’t even sure if he heard, before he eventually left.

And like that, you were left alone.

A sigh escaped your lips as you placed your elbows on the table in front of you, letting your forehead rest in the palms of your hands as you stared down at the keyboard in front of you. Three days had passed since you allowed Heeseung to finger you in his car, three days since you had managed to convince Sungchan nothing happened between the two of you.

Three days since you lied to your best friend, rather said.

Sungchan had been visibly upset when you walked up the driveway, his back leaning against the side of the house until he eventually spotted your figure coming towards him; practically tunning towards you before grabbing onto every part of your body, making sure you weren’t hurt.

He checked your arms, his fingertips grabbing onto your jaw to make sure you weren’t hurt there and he even asked you to show your legs to him; just so he could make sure he hadn’t hurt you there, too. Of course, he didn’t find any signs of you getting hurt - because you hadn’t.

That part wasn’t a lie, you thought.

The part that came after, though? A completely different story.

With Sungchan glaring at you, waiting for an explanation as to why you were with Lee Heeseung alone; you began rambling about Heeseung pissing you off, which wasn’t technically a lie, he had pissed you off and that’s why you stormed away with him in the first place. You told him you had just dragged him out of there to tell him off, to stand up for yourself, anything; anything that made it sound like you hadn’t let Heeseung kiss you right where the two of you were standing.

You didn’t want to lie to your friend, but you also felt like you had no choice. You knew you couldn’t tell him what had really happened, not right there and then; not when he had just told you he’d kill him if he as much as laid a finger on you.

You guessed that was when you realized you had to lie, when you realized how much Sungchan actually loathed Lee Heeseung. And at that point, you also realized Sungchan might’ve hated Lee Heeseung more than you did.

A part of you wished your best friend wouldn’t have believed your stupid lie, that he’d call you out and tell you he knew; that he knew about the night at Chenle’s birthday party, that he knew about the kiss and that he knew that Heeseung had just fingered you in his car - you just wished he knew.

Because if Sungchan wouldn’t have believed you, it would never happen again. You would never end up with Heeseung’s lips against your own ever again, you would never doubt your hatred for Heeseung ever again - you and Heeseung would never happen again.

But sadly, Sungchan did believe your stupid lie. And what was even sadder, was when you realized it was most likely going to happen again.

‘’You know, it’s kind of rude to just run off like that.’’

A yelp left your lips as a voice suddenly filled your ears, causing your head to snap in the direction the voice was coming from; your whole body flinching in surprise. A low sigh left your lips as your eyes met a pair of familiar ones, a pair that you had grown a little too familiar with.

Heeseung.

‘’I’m not doing this,’’ You mumbled, your eyes darting back to your laptop before slamming it shut, just like Sungchan had done a few minutes prior and you couldn’t help but wish you had agreed to come with him. A chuckle was heard coming from beside you as you began packing your things, rushing to get them into your bag; not wanting to stay in the same room as Lee Heeseung for another minute.

‘’What’s the rush? Your boyfriend left a while ago, don’t worry, I made sure he left before I came here.’’ You just remained silent, not even acknowledging the words that had just left his lips, keeping your eyes on your bag as you began to fiddle with the zipper; trying to leave the room as fast as you could.

You weren’t doing this, not today.

Heeseung, however, seemed to have different plans. As you finally managed to zip the bag shut, you quickly grabbed onto the strap before walking around the table you had just been sitting by; heading straight for the door without even looking Heeseungs way.

Perhaps you should’ve known it wouldn’t be that easy getting away from him, it was Lee Heeseung, after all.

Feeling his cold hand grab onto your wrist, your steps came to an abrupt stop as he prevented you from walking away. ‘’You’re not even going to say sorry?’’ You inhaled through your nose, trying your best to calm yourself down before spinning around; now facing the boy who was still holding onto your wrist.

‘’Say sorry for what, Heeseung?’’ You glared at him, your eyes traveling down to his lips, a small smirk forming on them. ‘’Someone is in a bad mood,’’ He chuckled, his fingers slipping away from your wrist and his arm falling down his side once more. You just continued glaring at him, the feeling of his fingers on your skin leaving an almost eerie feeling to spread across your chest.

He just stared back at you, his gaze traveling up and down your body; making you feel exposed, naked even, as a chuckle left his throat. ‘’I was just coming here so you could apologize.’’ Keeping your eyes glued on him, you blinked. ‘’Apologize for what?’’

Heeseung could hear the annoyance lingering in your voice and you wondered if that’s what he wanted. You wondered if he came here to rile you up, to make you panic - to make you almost look at the door to make sure no one could see you standing there with him, alone. Shaking his head, a grin still on his lips, he looked down at his shoes before eventually taking a step towards you.

Your whole body froze as he looked back up, realizing how close he now was. You felt the need to take a step backward, to run out of there; anything, anything from preventing this from happening.

But you never did.

No, instead you remained standing in the exact same spot as Heeseung brought his hand to your face, his fingertips ghosting over the skin of your cheek. ‘’For leaving me like that,’’ He mumbled, his eyes watching as he put a strand of hair that had fallen in front of your face behind your hair. You just kept your eyes on him, your breath hitching in your throat as his fingertips ghosted against the side of your neck.

‘’I know you hate me, but damn,’’ He lowly chuckled, letting his hand gently cup the side of your face, ‘’Leaving me, without a single word, after I made you cum on my fingers? I think I deserve an apology for that.’’

Oh no.

This wasn’t about to happen.

‘’Heeseung,’’ You almost whined, your voice coming out hoarse as you spoke, ‘’Not here.’’ A chuckle left Heeseung’s throat, his thumb gently stroking your cheek as he tilted his head. ‘’Why? Are you scared someone will see us?’’ He cooed, his eyes low as he stared at you; your lips parting, he was right.

You had fought for your life trying to convince Sungchan nothing had happened between you and Heeseung, that he had just pissed you off and you just went to tell him off; the last thing you needed was for someone to see this, Heeseung cornering you in an empty classroom.

Heeseung clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth as you remained silent. ‘’Tell me,’’ He let out, leaning closer to you; his eyes darting down to your lips, causing your own eyes to mimic his as your eyes landed on his lips. ‘’Would that really be so bad?’’

His words caused you to look up at him once more, your lips still slightly parted; this time in surprise. ‘’What?’’ You breathed, his thumb still gently stroking your cheek and thanks to how close he was, you could feel his chest press against your own every time he took a breath. A grin formed on his lips, tilting his head so he could look at you properly.

‘’Someone catching us, would that really be so bad?’’ He let out, his voice low and you could easily hear the mocking lingering behind his words. The sudden question took you by surprise, every word leaving your throat coming out in a stutter; causing Heeseung to chuckle at your desperate attempt to defend yourself. ‘’I don’t think it’d be so bad, Y/N,’’

His other hand suddenly snaked under your shirt, lightly caressing your side causing a whimper to trail off your lips; your eyes immediately darting down to look, watch even, as his fingertips ghosted over your now slightly exposed skin. Sucking air through his teeth, he let his fingertips dance across your skin; allowing them to come into contact with the hem of your bra.

‘’Wouldn’t it be a good thing? To put an end to the rumors going around about you,’’ His breath fanning across your cheek took you by surprise, too hypnotized by the feeling of his rough fingers ghosting over your skin to notice that he had leaned even closer to you; his lips almost grazing against your ear as he spoke. ‘’Or maybe letting everyone see how easy you fold for me,’’

You felt your breath hitch in your throat as his fingertips suddenly slipped under the elastic band holding your bra in place, another low whimper leaving your throat at the feeling of his cold fingers coming into contact with your flesh.

He was right. You folded for him, again and again, and almost too easily - but there was something about his lanky fingers caressing your skin and his mouth spitting such foul words at you that you just couldn’t withstand; not when you could feel his hot breath against the skin of your neck and his chest practically pressing up against your own. ‘’Heeseung,’’ You whimpered once more, this time as a warning.

The warning, however, just made Heeseung chuckle as you tilted your head slightly to the side; your whole neck on display for him, begging for his lips to decorate the sensitive skin. ‘’You want everyone to know, don’t you?’’ He murmured, letting his lips ghost over your neck as his hand only traveled closer to your breasts. You quickly shook your head no, your eyes fluttering close at the feeling of his lips finally coming into contact with your now burning skin.

‘’Of course you do,’’ He hissed, pressing a soft kiss right below your ear; your lips parting as his hand finally cupped one of your breasts, a moan ripping through your chest. Heeseung, however, was quick to rip you out of your trance - his hand slipping out of your shirt, the loss of contact causing a whine to leave your lips as your eyes fluttered open again; only to be met by him already looking at you with a small smirk on his lips

‘’Unfortunately, you haven’t been very nice, have you?’’ He let out, his head once again tilted. You just stared at him with wide eyes, what did you expect? Did you honestly expect Heeseung, the man who had spent his whole life teasing you, to make an exception, right here, right now? Of course, he wasn’t.

Another chuckle left his lips at the sight of you, both confusion and desperation written all over your face; the palm of his hand grabbing onto your cheeks once more. ‘’But maybe,’’ He let out, watching his own thumb stroke your cheek before swiping it across your bottom lip, ‘’If you be a good girl and meet me by the bleachers, I’ll forgive you, hm?’’

Letting his thumb rest against your bottom lip, his gaze met yours once more; both his eyebrows raised as he waited for you to respond.

You just stared back at him with wide eyes, his thumb gently tugging your lip downwards; there was no way you’d sneak around with Lee Heeseung, no, not like this. And especially not behind the bleachers.

With your back pressed against the cold metal of the bleachers by the football field, just outside the school where all your friends currently were, low whimpers left your lips as Heeseung’s lips gently sucked on the skin right below your ear. ‘’Please, no marks,’’ You whimpered, your arms sneaking around his neck. Heeseung just rolled his eyes upon hearing your words, moving away from the spot he was just nibbling on. ‘’You’re so demanding for someone who practically begged me to fuck her.’’

You really wished Sungchan would’ve seen right through your lie.

You were about to protest as he swiped his tongue against your skin, his teeth lightly nibbling on the skin causing another whine to emerge from the back of your throat. ‘’I didn’t,’’ You gasped as one of his hands found its way into your hair; gently tugging it to the side, giving him easier access to press rough kisses down your neck. ‘’Say you could fuck me.’’

The chuckle that left Heeseung’s throat caused you to whimper, the vibrations only adding to the pleasure of his lips assaulting your neck. ‘’And I never said I’d fuck you, either.’’ He mumbled against your skin, his lanky fingers suddenly wrapping around your wrist; a loud gasp leaving your lips as he placed the palm of your hand against his crotch.

More specifically, the bulge that had begun to grow underneath the fabric of his jeans.

The two times you had been intimate with Heeseung, he had been the one to please you. Well, if you could call the first time pleasing you, that being said, as he left you hanging; he did however make up for it the second time, though, you thought.

But the fact still remained, never had you been the one to please him.

Even though you had most definitely felt his hard-on poke your inner thigh as he fingered you with you on his lap, and maybe if you hadn’t left him all alone in the darkness of his car to wonder where you went that night; maybe you would’ve had the chance to please him, too.

But you didn’t, and a part of you didn’t want to - both because he didn’t exactly deserve it, but also because you had no idea how to.

You had no idea whatsoever how to please someone else.

Your girlfriends had talked about pleasing other guys multiple times, talking about how their boyfriends liked it and practically exposing their boyfriends for the whole world to hear; to which you mostly just rolled your eyes, zoning out as you had no interest in knowing how they sucked their boyfriends dicks or how they jerked them off.

You also remember that one time Chenle bragged about the best head he had ever received in the bathroom of some party he attended, going into detail about how amazing it was and even going into detail about how she did it; and if it hadn’t been for Sungchan telling him to cut it out because neither of you wanted to hear about him getting his dick wet, he probably would’ve given every detail there was to give.

Maybe you should’ve listened to your girlfriends gossiping about their boyfriends and perhaps you should’ve let Chenle go into detail about the greatest head he had ever received, because then you probably wouldn’t have been so clueless as to what to do when Heeseung pressed the palm of your hand against the bulge in his pants.

Heeseung groaned against your neck as he applied some pressure, his fingers gripping onto your wrist even harder. Pressing one last kiss right below your ear, he looked up at you; a small chuckle leaving his lips as he spotted the confused look on your face. ‘’What’s that face for, hm? Is it because I said I won’t fuck you?’’ He let out, your palm still pressed against the bulge in his pants and his finger still tangled into your hair.

You just stared at him for a moment, slightly out of breath from the makeout session you had shared a few minutes prior and you realized Heeseung probably didn’t even know that you were a virgin.

‘’Fuck you, I never even said I wanted you to fuck me,’’ You breathed, trying your best to not let it show how flustered you were by just feeling his cock outside of his pants, the thought of actually feeling it causing your heart to race. You just prayed he couldn’t hear it, your heart almost beating out of your chest.

But of course, he did hear it - and the smirk on his lips proved you right. Licking his lips, he scanned your face. ‘’Good,’’ He let out, letting the hand that he had wrapped around your waist fall to his side, ‘’Because I have fucking zero plans on pleasing you today.’’

A yelp left your lips as you felt your knees hit the grass underneath you, his grip around your hair tightening as he forced you to look up at him. A small smirk formed on his lips as his eyes landed on your face, your eyes wide and lips parted; the smirk slowly being replaced by a pout. ‘’You thought I’d let you feel good, after just leaving me like that?’’ He cooed, his grip on your hair loosening once again as he spoke, his fingers slipping out of your hair. ‘’I don’t think so.’’ He continued, using the palm of his head to stroke the top of your head.

You just stared at him, not being able to do anything else. Your heart was on the verge of bursting out of your chest, your underwear sticking to your core as drops of arousal slipped out as a result of his harsh words. You know you shouldn’t be getting turned on by this, you know you shouldn’t be getting wet at the thought of Heeseung being so mean to you; yet the wet patch that had begun to form in your underwear only continued to grow.

Heeseung, however, just stared back at you; slowly growing confused. Weren’t you getting the hint? Or were you just trying to get on his nerves? ‘’Looking at me like that isn’t going to change anything, you know that, right?’’ He let out through gritted teeth, causing you to place your bottom lip in between your teeth; looking down at your lap to avoid embarrassing yourself.

Oh god.

He had no idea.

‘’It’s not that,’’ You mumbled and Heeseung almost couldn’t make out what you were saying. ‘’What?’’ He let out, furrowing his eyebrows as his hand slipped away from your head, falling down his side. You just nodded, your eyes still glued to your lap; curses running through your mind as you squeezed your eyes shut; if you hadn’t embarrassed yourself around Heeseung enough, you sure were about to.

‘’I just, haven’t, you know,’’ You began, your words coming out mumbled as you tried to find the right words; the words that wouldn’t make you sound stupid. Heeseung just stared at you, still feeling confused; until it hit him.

You had never given anyone head before.

His lips parted as the realization set in, his gaze softening; not that you could see it, as your eyes were still squeezed shut and glued to your lap. ‘’You’ve never given anyone head before?’’ He let out, causing you to bite down on your lower lip once more; fighting the urge to let a curse slip past your lips. Instead, you just slowly nodded your head - preparing yourself for him to burst out laughing.

The laughter, however, never came.

Instead, silence followed. You weren’t sure which one you would’ve preferred, him making fun of you or him benign completely quiet; both seemed equally as bad, especially when you were on your knees in front of him.

That was until you suddenly heard him moving, and you were just about to open your eyes when you felt him place one of his fingers underneath your chin; tilting your head upwards. Your eyes fluttered open, only to be met by his squatting figure; a small smirk lingering on his lips. ‘’Well, in that case,’’ He spoke, his eyes scanning your now flustered face, ‘’How about I teach you?’’

You just stared at him for a minute, feeling both confused and embarrassed. Why was he not laughing, like you know he’d normally do whenever you embarrassed yourself in front of him? You slowly nodded your head, his finger still under your chin; his eyes scanning your face once more and you wondered why he was suddenly being so careful.

Nodding his head back at you, he grabbed onto your hands before standing back up, your eyes following his movements. ‘’Take my pants off.’’ He let out, keeping his eyes on you as he placed both your hands by his crotch once more. This time, however, you just nodded your head before letting your fingertips come into contact with the zipper decorating his crotch.

The feeling of your fingertips grazing over his bulge almost caused goosebumps to form down Heesueng’s arms, the sight in front of him causing his cock to slightly twitch in his jeans. A small sigh left his lips as you finally undid the button of his pants and pulled the zipper down, letting his cock somewhat leave the restraint of his pants before pulling them down to his knees.

You almost gulped as your eyes landed on the now very obvious bulge that had formed in his underwear, letting your fingertips trace the outline of his cock; a low groan leaving Heeseung’s lips at the sensation. Your eyes darted up to look at him, slightly scared you might’ve done something wrong; but the sight in front of you proved you the opposite.

With his eyes low and his head slightly tilted to the side, he watched as you placed your hand on top of his bulge, slowly letting the palm glide against the fabric. Heeseung just let out a breath at the feeling, fighting the urge to just pull his underwear down right there and then and feel your warm mouth around him. ‘’Now take my underwear off.’’ He breathed, causing you to slowly nod once again; letting your fingers travel towards the waistband of his boxers before hooking one of your fingers underneath it.

This wasn’t the first time Heeseung had received head behind those very same bleachers, the football field remote enough for people to never walk by which made it the best spot in the entire school to sneak around. Behind the tall metal bleachers, he knew he’d never be discovered; mentally thanking Chenle for showing him this spot in the first place.

But even though it wasn’t his first time getting his dick wet behind those bleachers, this time felt different. Much, much different.

A hiss left Heeseungs lips as his now almost fully hard cock sprung free as you finally managed to pull his boxers down, followed by a gasp leaving your lips. With your thighs now rubbing together in an attempt to somewhat relieve the aching coming from between your legs, you let your fingers wander back to his cock; slowly wrapping them around his grith, looking up at him for reassurance.

Heeseung almost forgot he was supposed to teach you, as this was your first time; biting down on his lower lip as your big eyes met his and your fingers wrapped around his cock. Remembering you were expecting him to guide you through it, he nodded, wrapping his own hand around your own. ‘’Just like that,’’ He let out, slowly guiding your hand up and down his length, his cock feeling heavy in your palm. You let your eyes dart back down, watching as he guided your hand back and forth; nodding your head.

His hand eventually slipped off your own, finding its way into your hair as a low grunt left his throat as you continued stroking his length; his eyes fluttering shut. ‘’It’s not like it’s going to fall off if you go a little harder, you know,’’ He mumbled, missing the way you rolled your eyes at him. ‘’Shut up or I’ll literally make it fall off.’

Heeseung was about to come up with a snarky reply, when you suddenly began to go faster; and harder, just like he had said. A broken groan left his lips, letting his head hit the metal pole holding the bleacher up behind him; forgetting all about the snarky reply that almost trailed off the tip of his tongue as a wave of pleasure washed over him. A small smile formed on your lips at his reaction, a feeling of accomplishment washing over you, slowly replacing the feeling of nervousness.

‘’Fuck,’’ He grunted, his eyes fluttering open once more as his gaze once more landed on you; his fingers lightly tugging at your hair in an attempt to tell you he was enjoying it. ‘’Now spit on it.’’ His words caused you to slow down, your lips parting as you looked up at him; confusion written all over your face. ‘’What?’’ You let out, causing Heeseung to nod. ‘’You heard me, spit on it.’’

Staring at him for a moment, you slowly looked back at his now fully erect cock; wrapping your fingers around the base as you sat up on your knees, now eye level with his cock. Leaning forwards, you let a glop of spit leave your tongue; dropping right onto the tip - Heeseung’s grip around your hair tightening as you watched your own spit run down the sides of his cock.

Through gritted teeth, a hiss left Heeseung’s throat as he felt you go back to stroking his cock; having to hold back from fucking himself into your fist. ‘’That’s good,’’ He mumbled, throwing his head back once again; if he continued watching you he’d cum right there and then by just looking at your hand wrapped around his cock, he was sure of it. And he didn’t want this moment to end, not just yet.

Nodding in response, you tried speeding up your movements; your eyes darting back up to look at the boy standing above you, the sight in front of you causing your hole to clench around nothing. With his head thrown back and his adam’s apple on full display, you held back a moan of your own; deciding you wanted to see more of this side of him.

Leaning forward once again, you experimentally pressed a soft kiss against the tip of his cock; the feeling causing a broken groan to rip through his chest, his eyes landing on you once again and he wished he hadn’t looked, because what he saw almost caused a whimper to leave his lips.

With your eyes staring right back at him through your lashes and your lips pressed against his tip, all while your hand was still stroking his cock; he pressed his lips into a thin line; grabbing onto your hair even harder and slowly guiding your mouth onto him.

Parting your lips, you let his cock slowly slide into your mouth; your hand no longer stroking his cock and your lips wrapping around his tip, watching as his lips parted at the sensation. ‘’Keep going,’’ He breathed, watching as you went back to stroking his length and slowly letting his cock fill your mouth up. Another hiss left his lips as he felt you swipe your tongue against the underside of his now throbbing cock, resting his head against the metal pole behind him once more.

His grip around your hair softened as you began bobbing your head up and down, your fist still pumping whatever you couldn’t fit in your mouth up and down; remaining eye contact with him as you rubbed your thighs together.

Not once had you thought you’d end up giving head for the first time behind some bleachers, nor did you think it would be Heeseung’s cock you’d be sucking; but there you were, with your knees rubbing against the grass and Heeseung’s groans echoing through your ears.

‘’Fuck, Y/N,’’ He breathed, his other hand finding its way through your hair as well; pulling some of the pieces of hair that had fallen in front of your face behind your ears before letting it join his other hand at the back of your head. Still bobbing your head up and down, you hummed against his cock; placing one of your hands on top of his thighs in order to support yourself.

Panting was heard coming from above you, your eyes darting between him and his cock; feeling his thighs clench under your touch. ‘’Just keep going, just like that,’’ He mumbled, his words coming out slurred as he slowly began helping you bob your head up and down faster, using the hands he had placed on the back of your head.

You choose to ignore the tears forming in the corners of your eyes as he thrusted his cock further down your throat, resting your hand at the base of his cock as you let your mouth do all the work. Swiping your tongue against the underside of his cock once more, you looked up at him; your eyes meeting his.

Heeseung let out a curse as his eyes landed on you, your big, now glossy eyes staring right back at him. The sight in front of him caused his cock to twitch inside the warmth of your mouth, spit forming in the corners of your mouth as he guided your head up and down; his bottom lip placed in between his teeth as he felt his orgasm approaching.

‘’I’m gonna cum,’’ He mumbled in an attempt to warn you, low grunts ripping through his chest as he kept guiding your head back and forth. You only nodded in encouragement, letting your tongue rest against the underside of his cock as he fucked into your mouth; his hands gripping onto your hair even harder.

The feeling of your nails digging into his thighs sent him over the edge, his white seed spilling down your throat as one loud, final groan ripped through his chest; followed by a trail of low whimpers as his hips twitched, his cock sliding even further down your throat.

Trying your hardest not to gag around his length, you relaxed, your nails digging deeper into his skin as you looked up at him; admiring how he looked with his eyes squeezed shut and the veins now prominent on his neck.

Stilling his hips, he opened his eyes; slowly letting his hands leave your hair as he heavily panted. You just stared up at him, slowly pulling your mouth off his now almost soft cock with a pop; causing his lips to part. Ignoring the dryness in your throat, accompanied by a slight pain, you wiped your mouth using the back of your hand; silence engulfing the two fo you.

‘’You did good,’’ His sudden words broke the silence, causing you to look back up at him as you felt him place the palm of his hand against your cheek. ‘’Never thought you’d be so good at giving head.’’ His words almost made you chuckle as his thumb stroked your cheek, using his other one to pull his underwear back up, followed by his jeans.

Offering you his other hand, he helped you stand up properly; wrapping an arm around your shoulders as your legs almost gave out on you, feeling wobbly from being on your knees for so long. Another silence fell upon the two of you, and you found yourself frowning.

Not once had you felt awkward around Lee Heeseung. Annoyed, sure, pissed off, absolutely; but awkward? Never.

Well, until today, that being said.

‘’It’s okay,’’ You mumbled under your breath, lightly shaking his arm off of you; using your hands in an attempt to dust off the dirt that had almost embroidered itself into the fabric of your pants. Heeseung stared at you for a moment and he, too, wondered why it suddenly felt almost awkward to be around you.

Letting his arm fall back down his side, he decided it’d be for the best to just leave you be even though he felt the urge to make sure you were doing okay; if it was for his own best or yours, he wasn’t sure. A part of him wanted to believe it had nothing to do with you, it was just him being a decent human being, right?

Right, it had absolutely nothing to do with you. He couldn't care less about you, a frown forming on his face and he found himself thanking whatever higher being there was that you weren’t looking at him; because if you had, you would’ve most definitely noticed the uncertainty that had begun to form inside his chest. ‘’You can leave, you know?’’

Your words came out mumbled and low, but clear enough for Heeseung to make out what you were saying and pick up on the almost harsh tone behind your words; snapping him out of his trance as he realized he had been staring at you. Blinking, your eyes met his and you wondered if Heeseung had ever looked at you like that before.

You frowned, ‘’We’re done, aren’t we?’’

Heeseung just stared at you for a moment before giving you a small nod, leaving you to furrow your eyebrows together; your lips parting as you were about to ask him why he was looking at you like that, almost like you had managed to offend him in some way - before he tore his eyes off you and walked away.

And there you were, left standing behind the bleachers all on your own; your throat slightly aching as the feeling of Heeseung’s fingertips ghosting over your skin lingered, accompanied by the unfamiliar look in his eyes that had burned into your mind.

Lee Heeseung confused you.

Running his fingers through his hair, a low sigh escaped Heeseung’s lips as he made his way down the hallway; trying his hardest to ignore the sudden burdensome feeling that had spread across his chest.

‘’No fucking way,’’ A voice spoke up from behind him, ‘’Who was it?’’ Heeseung immediately recognized the voice, his steps coming to a halt as he turned around; his eyes landing on his shorter friend.

He had heard someone almost running after him, after all.

‘’Chenle,’’ He let out, immediately catching onto the curious look in his friend's wide eyes; a small frown forming on his lips as Chenle let out a laugh, placing his hand on the taller boy’s shoulder. ‘’I told you, that place is fucking amazing, right? Now who was it, Yunjin?’’

Heeseung placed his bottom lip in between his teeth, staring at his friend; his eyes wide and a small smirk plastered on his lips, and Heeseung realized he had fucked up.

He had fucked up badly.

‘’I have no idea what you’re talking about.’’

A groan emerged from the back of Chenle’s throat as Heeseung attempted to walk past him, the grip he had on his friend’s shoulder hardening in an attempt to stop him from leaving. ‘’C’mon man, I literally saw you leaving from across the parking lot,’’

With his eyes fluttering shut and inhaling through his nose, Heeseung realized the spot wasn’t as good as he originally thought - otherwise he wouldn’t be here, with Chenle grabbing onto his shoulder and staring at him with big eyes; filled with anticipation as he waited for his friend to tell him what had gone down behind the bleachers.

Or with who, more specifically.

Letting a sigh escape his lips, Heeseung opened his eyes to look at his friend - when a thought suddenly hit him.

Parting his lips, he realized there was one thing he could still do to somewhat fight back the thoughts that were currently clouding his mind.

It was only fair, right? With a heavy feeling still lingering in his chest, a small smirk formed on his lips; placing his tongue in between his teeth. It wasn’t fair that he was the only one carrying this heavy feeling around, he thought, right? It was only fair that he did what he was about to do - at least according to Heeseung, and the urge to get rid of whatever the feeling that was only spreading further and further, threatening to swallow him whole any second.

If he was going down, you were going down with him.

‘’Alright,’’ Placing his own hand on his friend’s shoulder, causing his shorter friend’s eyes to widen even more in anticipation, ‘’You really wanna know?’’

A strange, almost surreal feeling had settled deep into your chest.

Maybe it was the fact that almost a whole week had passed since your knees hit the grass behind the football field and Heeseung had yet to utter a single word to you, or maybe it was the fact that Chenle had been awfully distant - you weren’t too sure, but something had caused a bizarre feeling to plant its roots deep within your chest; tugging at your heart every now and then.

Perhaps it was all Heeseung’s fault, as most things were; Heeseung had always been the root of most of your problems after all, especially after that one night.

Chenle’s birthday party, the first night you allowed yourself to get sucked into the world of Lee Heeseung, the world you had feared ever since his laugh had echoed through the hallways of your middle school; it was kind of ironic, you thought, how things had changed - yet everything remained the same.

You still loathed Heeseung, the hatred for the boy running deep within your veins and just the mere sight of him made you want to curl into a ball and never look him in the eyes ever again. Your hatred for the boy remained the same, just like it had formed years back, it still haunted you to the point where nothing but repulsion spread across your chest every time you caught a glimpse of him.

Until one day, it didn’t.

At least not in the same way it had once used to, and even though the repulsion and hatred still lingered; it was now clear to you that something had shifted.

So with a heavy feeling of uncertainty and confusion, you were left with nothing but your own thoughts and the memory of Heeseung’s touch, his rough fingertips digging into your skin and his tongue dancing with your own - you realized that Heeseung was, indeed, the root of most of the problems that occurred in your life.

For once, you thanked Heeseung for once again making your life difficult, as Friday night rolled around and you had the perfect excuse not to attend Chenle’s weekly parties. This time, however, it wasn’t Chenle who wanted you there; it was Sungchan who had begged you over the phone to show up, that he wouldn’t survive without you being there; to which you only replied that he shouldn’t go if he felt that way, because you weren’t going to show up.

You should’ve known that life always seems to have different plans for you, though. Especially when the clock hit midnight and Sungchan’s contact info had taken up the screen of your screen multiple times within the span of two minutes, and you realized that perhaps you shouldn’t have thanked Heeseung - because at the end of the day, he never failed to ruin your life in one way or another.

You had yet to know just how and what he had done this time around, and something was telling you you were about to find out.

‘’Please Y/N,’’ Sungchans pleading from the other side of the phone was starting to get on your nerves, a low groan leaving the back of your throat as you rubbed your eyes. ‘’I’ll do anything, just please come pick me up,’’ Your best friend’s begging, muffled by the sound of loud music and people yelling in the background left a sour taste in your mouth. You truly weren’t planning on going.

‘’Well,’’ You let out with a sigh as you kicked your feet off the side of your bed, ‘’I told you not to go in the first place.’’ Sungchan just sighed at your remark and even though you couldn’t even see him, you knew he was rubbing his forehead in annoyance. ‘’Dude,’’ He let out, ‘’Just come pick me up.’’ You shut your eyes, deciding that maybe you owed it to him; he had been there for you more times than you could count, and maybe picking him up from a party he desperately wanted to get away from was the last you could do.

‘’Fuck you for ruining my Friday night,’’ You groaned as your feet hit the floor by your bed, running your fingertips through your hair as you spoke. A small chuckle was heard coming from the other side of the phone. ‘’We’ll go get some snacks and hang out instead, okay? I’ll treat you to it, consider it a token of my gratitude.’’

His words caused a small smile to form on your lips and you realized that maybe you just had to spend some time with your best friend in order to oppress the heavy feeling that had settled inside of your chest.

Chenle had always been a terrible drunk, something you had first realized the first time he got drunk and he cried in your arms; leaving you and Sungchan to take care of him. Now, years later, it seemed like nothing had changed; despite his position as a declared fratboy.

Especially as you walked down the road leading to the party, spotting Chenle hanging off Sungchans arms as you got closer; and you suddenly felt thankful that you decided to stay home, knowing you’d be in Sungchans position if you would’ve caved in and listened to Sungchan’s pleading for you to go with him.

‘’Gosh, how much has he had to drink?’’ You mumbled as you got closer, Sungchans head snapping in your direction as your voice echoed through the empty stress; almost blending together with the loud music coming from the house a few feet away. Sungchan let a sigh mixed with a chuckle as he desperately tried to hold onto the boy hanging off his arms, ‘’Enough to be blabbering about random shit.’’

A chuckle trailed off your own lips as you scanned the boy, his head low and trying his best to stand upright, failing miserably to do so, and if it wasn’t because of the grip Sungchan had on his arms; he most likely would’ve hit the ground a long time ago.

Your sudden presence, however, seemed to catch the drunk boy’s attention; his gaze shifting from the ground to look at you, and you almost frowned as his eyes widened in what could only be described as pure shock. ‘’There she is!’’ He exclaimed, raising his hand to point at you; causing you to raise one of your eyebrows. ‘’You missed me that much?’’ You playfully let out, tilting your head as a small smile decorated your lips.

The dry chuckle that left Chenle’s throat took you by surprise, his gaze landing on the ground below him once more. ‘’No,’’ He dryly let out, ‘’Why the fuck would I ever miss you when you’re a liar?’’

The small smile that formed on your lips a few moments prior slowly faded, taken aback by the sudden words that had just trailed off his lips. ‘’’What?’’ You let out, your eyes landing on Sungchan; a low sigh leaving the taller boy's lips. ‘’I don’t know,’’ He mumbled, still trying to stabilize his drunken friend, ‘’He’s been going on about you lying to him all night, telling me I’m a bad friend for defending you.’’

The last words trailed off Sungchan’s lips in a chuckle, shaking his head as he looked down at the boy hanging off his arms.

You, however? You were far away from laughing, no, instead you felt your throat beginning to close up.

‘’Defending me from what?’’ Your words almost came out choked and you wondered if any of the boys picked up on the shakiness in your voice; hoping that Sungchan had more to drink than it seemed. ‘’He keeps talking about you and Heeseung, I don’t know where he got that idea from but I keep telling him to knock it off,’’

Your lips slightly parted, but before you could say something another dry and muffled chuckle left Chenle’s lips. ‘’They’re hooking up, you stupid fuck.’’

Chenle’s harsh words caused another sigh to roll off Sungchan’s tongue accompanied by an eye roll, shaking his head in disbelief. ‘’Dude, you’re just being fucking mean now, knock it off, I mean it,’’ Chenle just remained quiet as Sungchan focused on trying to get him to stand up straight, failing to notice the fact that you had gone completely silent.

Fuck.

Debating whether or not to laugh it off, you remained silent; praying that Sungchan would just shrug it off as Chenle being the terrible drunk that he was and scold him for it in the morning, when the sound of someone walking down the driveway suddenly echoed through the quiet road.

‘’There you are,’’ A chuckle filled your ears, ‘’How much did you drink?’’

At that moment, you realized Heeseung had indeed found a way to ruin your life once again; this time by walking down the driveway with his hands shoved down his pockets. Chenle just mumbled something inaudible into Sungchan’s arms in reply, causing another snicker to leave Heeseung’s lips as he got closer.

The snicker, however, went silent as soon as his eyes landed on you and you wondered if your sudden presence took him by surprise - or if it was the distressed look on your face that made his laughter die down.

‘’We’re leaving,’’ Sungchan let out, his voice monotone as he spoke. ‘’Can you take him back inside and make sure he sobers up?’’ Heeseung tore his eyes off of you, looking over at your friend before letting his eyes dart down to the boy hanging off his arms, nodding his head. ‘’Yeah, whatever,’’ Heeseung mumbled, getting ready to grab onto Chenle to bring him inside.

Oh, how you wished he would’ve done just that.

You wished he would’ve left as quickly as he came, that he would’ve taken Chenle inside, that he would’ve left you and Sungchan alone so you could go hang out and forget about what had just happened; that Sunghcan would’ve just assumed that whatever Chenle had said about you and Heeseung was nothing but drunken rambling and years of built up annoyance from the hatred you shared for his friend.

But of course, things never seemed to go your way whenever Lee Heeseung was present; your current situation being no exception.

‘’No,’’ Chenle mumbled, standing up straight as his eyes landed on Heeseung. ‘’Tell him.’’ Heeseung just raised one of his eyebrows, his hands still in the air from trying to grab onto his friend. ‘’Tell him what, dude?’’ He questioned and as his eyes suddenly landed on you, you realized he knew exactly what the boy in front of him was talking about.

‘’That you and Y/N are messing around.’’

Silence.

Complete, utter silence.

Until Heeseung shrugged his shoulders, his eyes still glued on you; and by the small, playful smirk that had begun to form on his lips; you felt your world slowly come crumbling down around you.

‘’You haven’t told him yet? Hiding things from your best friends now, are you Y/N?’’

And just like that, by letting one simple sentence trail off the tip of his tongue, Lee Heeseung once again reminded you of just how cruel he could be.

‘’Fuck off Heeseung,’’ Sungchan suddenly hissed, his eyes glued to the boy standing beside him; his harsh words causing Heeseung to stare at the boy in front of him with raised eyebrows. ‘’You really didn’t know?’’ The chuckle that left Heeseung’s lips following his question caused a shiver to run down your spine, accompanied by the realization that both your best friends were about to find out what you had been hiding from them.

Clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth, Heeseung’s eyes landed on you once again and you could tell he was amused by the clear state of distress you were in; his eyes scanning your wide ones before darting down to your shaking hands. ‘’Go on Y/N,’’ He chuckled, ‘’Tell them, tell them how you’ve been messing around with me.’’

You weren’t sure if the tears that were now prickling in the corners of your eyes were from anger or distress, feeling the need to grab onto Sungchan and get as far away as possible; to tell him Heeseung was full of shit, that you hadn’t been messing around with him - anything to get away from the situation that was currently unfolding.

But instead, you remained standing, feeling glued to the ground as you realized there was no way out. Heeseung had caged you in, and by the amused look in his eyes; you realized that this was how he enjoyed you the most. Having you caged in, never letting you out of his grasp.

You tore your eyes off Heeseung, only to be met by Sungchan looking straight at you. And the moment your eyes met his, you swore that if your whole world hadn’t already crashed around you yet; it most certainly did the moment you spotted the confusion lingering in your best friend’s eyes.

He knew, and you knew he knew.

Even though your lips were parted like you were about to say something; you knew you didn’t have to say anything, he could easily tell by the tears threatening to spill past your lower lashline and your apologetic eyes. ‘’Are you serious?’’ He breathed, his eyes still glued on you; causing you to bite down on your lower lip. ‘’I was going to tell you, I promise,’’ You let out, your voice shaky from the sudden confrontation and overwhelming feeling of being exposed.

You tried to decipher the look on your best friend's face, to no avail. His lips were slightly parted and you wondered whether it was disappointment or hurt lingering behind his soft features. Perhaps it was a mix of both.

‘’What the fuck,’’ He let out, shaking his head and you realized it was indeed disappointment lingering behind both his facial expressions and words, causing you to shake your head. ‘’Let’s go talk about it, yeah? I’ll explain, I promise,’’ Your voice almost broke as you spoke, the desperation and panic being evident in your voice as you so desperately tried to get your best friend to listen to you.

Slightly furrowing his eyebrows, he just stared at you; watching as your bottom lip quivered and tears threatened to drop onto your cheeks. ‘’No,’’ He let out, grabbing onto Chenle once more, ‘’No, I’m not doing this shit,’’ He mumbled, tearing his eyes off of you before wrapping an arm around the boy leaning into his arms.

Your eyes followed his every movement as even more panic settled in, he wasn’t going to listen to you. He wasn’t going to let you explain, let you explain why or how this happened in the first place; no, he was simply just going to leave without letting you explain.

‘’No, Sungchan,’’ You desperately let out, a broken chuckle emerging from the back of your best friend's throat interrupting you. ‘’Fuck you, Y/N, and fuck you too, Heeseung.’’ He spat, his gaze landing on you before letting his eyes dart to the lanky boy standing beside him, the boy who had remained quiet ever since he exposed your shared relationship.

Almost reaching out to grab onto his arm from preventing him from leaving, you raised your hand; just to retract as quickly as you raised it. There was no point, and you knew there wasn’t. He wasn’t going to listen to you, not right now.

Watching as Sungchan dragged Chenle back into the house, the loud music still being heard coming from inside; you were left alone, your eyes landing on the boy standing in front of you once again.

With a small smirk on his lips, he took in the state of you; his hands still shoved down the front pockets of his hands and the dangly earring that had once brushed against your skin as his lips left small kisses down your neck dangling from one of his ears - you felt disgusted.

‘’What the fuck, Heeseung,’’ You whispered, your bottom lip still quivering as you spoke and a tear finally dropped onto the skin of your cheek. ‘’What have you done?’’ A low snort left the back of his throat as you spoke, one of his hands slipping out of the pocket of his pants before pointing at himself. ‘’Me?’’ He let out, both his eyebrows raised before shaking his head. ‘’This,’’ He let out, pointing his finger at you instead, ‘’Is all your doing, not mine.’’

Shaking your head, you let another tear make its way down your cheek as you stared at the boy in front of you in disbelief. ‘’You’re fucking cruel, Heeseung,’’ You let out, pointing your own finger at him as his hand fell down his side. He just stared at you for a moment, before a dry chuckle ripped through his chest.

‘’You were the one who was all over me, Y/N, don’t you dare blame me for fucking over your friends by lying to them, that’s all on you,’’

His words caused you to chuckle in disbelief. The chuckle was dry and if you would've looked close enough, you would’ve been able to see that Heeseung was taken aback by your sudden laughter. But you didn’t, no, instead you inhaled through gritted teeth as your pointer finger came into contact with the boy's chest.

‘’You are fucking miserable, you know that?’’ You hissed, your voice shaky as you spoke. ‘’All you fucking do is ruin things, Heeseung, not only for others but for yourself,’’ Heeseung just stared down at you as you continued speaking, your pointer finger hitting his chest repeatedly as fresh tears dropped down your cheeks. ‘’You’re cruel for leading me on, you’re cruel for even coming onto me in the first place,’’

Looking up at him, you shook your head. ‘’And this? Whatever this is,’’ You continued, pointing between the two of you, ‘’It ends now.’’

Another snort was heard coming from the boy standing in front of you. ‘’Whatever this is? This is nothing, Y/N, there is nothing to end,’’ He spat at you, ‘’There was never anything to begin with.’’

Feeling like someone had just struck you with a knife, jabbing it deep into your heart before twisting it; you just stared at the boy in front of you. His face remained emotionless as your fingertip remained pressed up against his chest, clenching your jaw before letting your hand fall down your side. ‘’Fuck you, Heeseung,’’ You whispered, scared that your voice would break if you spoke any louder, ‘’Fuck you for even coming into my life.’’

Walking past him, you let your shoulder brush against his own; the impact causing him to lightly stumble; slightly turning his body to look at you while you walked away from him, using your fingertips to desperately wipe away the tears that had fallen from your eyes.

With an aching feeling that had now settled deep into your chest, replacing the heavy feeling that had once lingered; you realized that Heeseung had managed to take you down one final time.

And with a clenched jaw and his fingernails digging into the palms of his hands, Heeseung realized that you, too, had managed to take him down.

994 notes · View notes

brewsterispunkk · 1 year

Text

THE TUTOR

eddie munson x reader

part 1/4

pairing: eddie munson x f!reader, eddie munson x shy!reader (only one use of y/n and I cringed writing it)

rating: 18+ mature! minors be gone!

summary: reader has had a secret crush on Eddie Munson for months, only she has been too scared to tell him. When she’s forced to tutor him, she lets it slip that she feels like she’s missed out on the normal “high school experience.” Eddie aims to change that.

A/N: this has been in my drafts since LAST MAY!!! & i am just now finishing it jfc. this is part one to a series I’m looking to make three parts! I’ll finish it if it’s the last thing I do!

You hated first period. Always had, ever since sophomore year when you’d had AP literature with the juniors and Carol Perkins had made it her life’s work to make your life a living hell.

You didn’t know exactly what you had done to make her hate you so much, but early on in the year, she’d made it abundantly clear that you were going to be her new target. And you, being the only awkward, braces-faced sophomore in the class, had elected to suck it up and take the bullying.

After all, she was telling you everything you already knew; your hair was frizzy, your teeth were crooked, your acne was ugly and awful. The usual things that you, with the same awful self esteem that was characteristic of every knobby-kneed 14-year-old, had already heard and already believed.

Eventually, when your study-buddy and the only other underclassman in the class, Nancy Wheeler, found out about the full extent of the bullying, she’d done something about it. She had just started dating Steve Harrington at that point, and despite his larger than life hair and not so great reputation, he was nice to you by association. He was the one who got Carol to stop.

Still though, you thought that that god-awful year of excruciating first-period classes had ruined them for you for good; conditioned you somehow into expecting the worst from your first class of the day so that now, as a senior, you still dreaded it.

Today was no different.

You tapped your foot distractedly in the back seat of Steve’s car as he pulled out of your neighborhood.

“For the last time, Robin, no you cannot play the new Clash cassette. Put it away—“

“Oh come on, Harrington. It’s good.” Robin sighed exasperated. She’d been your next door neighbor since you were five, and your best friend ever since.

“Oh, oh! Like the new Madonna album?” Steve asked, eyebrows raised as he looked at Robin in the passenger seat.

“Or the Duran Duran one?” You piped in, biting your nails and looking at her expectantly. Immediately, her head whipped back to you, mouth open in a silent gasp.

“Wha—“ she made a choked sound, looking between you and Steve before bringing her gaze back to you, narrowing her eyes. “Who’s side are you on?”

“Uhm, the side of good music.” You countered, playfully sassing your best friend.

“Wow..” she drawled dramatically, interrupting you.

“And right now,” you continued. “Harrington has the better mixtape. Sorry!” You batted her hand away as she reached back to smack your arm.

“Boom!” Steve declared triumphantly, raising his hands from the wheel for a split-second. “Sorry, Robs, we love you but if I have to listen to one more of your mix tapes, I’m gonna—“

“Yeah, yeah! I get it.” Robin was silent for a moment before turning around to glance between the two of you. “You know, every day I remember how it was me that got this little group together, and every day it comes back to bite me in the ass.”

“Oh right,” Steve scoffed. “You’re forgetting, I’ve known y/n since junior year, and I’ve only known you for like, I don’t know, nine months.”

“Okay, but you two weren’t friends.” She gave Steve a pointed look. “It wasn’t until I convinced her to come work with us at Scoops Ahoy that we all started hanging out. So what I should be hearing is ‘thank you Robin.’”

In the rear view, you saw Steve roll his eyes at her antics, a smirk on his face.

“Actually,” you pointed out. “Steve and i hung out almost every day sophomore year.”

“Yeah,” Robin pressed. “But that was because of miss prissy-pants, Nancy Wheeler, not because you two were friends.”

You bristled a bit at your best friend’s name for Nancy. You knew she probably didn’t mean anything by it, but still. She didn’t know Nancy like you did. And Nancy had been nice to you when you didn’t have many friends besides Robin. She’d made it her problem when you were being bullied and did what she could to stop it, when she didn’t have to.

You and Nancy hadn’t really talked much since she and Steve broke up. Even after the whole ordeal last summer, with the mall “fire,” and Russian agents in Hawkins, you two hadn’t really reconnected. But there was no bad blood there. You wished her the best.

“I don’t know, Robs,” Steve interjected. “I think she gets bragging rights for knowing me longer.”

You laughed at that.

“Oh whatever,” Robin shook her head, leaning her elbow on Steve’s open window, bopping her head to the music pouring through the speakers.

“Good god, I don’t wanna be going back there.” She groaned as Hawkins High came into view. “It’s not too late to skip you know.” She craned her head back to look at you, a hopeful look in her eyes.

“I’m highly considering it.” You bounced your knee, trying to relieve some of the tension in your limbs.

“Ugh, no I can’t.” Robin exasperated. “My moms gonna kill me if she finds out I skipped again.”

There goes my chance, you thought, knowing there’s no way you’d skip without her.

“Yeah, I do not miss this place, gotta say.” Steve mused as he pulled into the parking lot. Robin rolled her eyes at him. You chuckled. They fought like an old married couple.

“I have Ms. Taylor first period,” you groaned at the memory of the stern, mean older woman who you had for home room this semester.

“Oh god,” Steve laughed. You smacked his shoulder. “Well, good luck with that. I’ll see you two at 3.”

You and Robin begrudgingly exited Steve’s car, facing the pit of despair known as Hawkins High School.

Thank god this was your last year, you thought to yourself.

As you eyed down the beige brick building, you could’ve sworn you felt a bit of your soul get sucked out. It may sound dramatic, but it was true. You felt yourself retreat into yourself the closer you got.

Something about Hawkins high just did that to people. Made them retreat and put on whatever mask they had to go get through the day. You were no exception.

“Let’s get this over with,” Robin mumbled beside you, beginning to walk toward the doors.

“Let’s.” You sighed back.

- - - - - -

There was one aspect of first period English with Ms. Taylor that you considered a saving grace—not that you’d ever admit it out loud.

Eddie Munson.

You weren’t sure why it started, if you were honest with yourself.

In fact, at the beginning of the year, you, like everyone else, were actually a little bit terrified of the lanky, tall metalhead that the rest of the school had dubbed “the freak.”

Before this year, you hadn’t really had many encounters with Eddie Munson. You’d known of him, sure, but never really interacted with him. Besides the few random outbursts he’d have in the cafeteria, and one time when you’d given him a pencil in your art elective freshman year, you’d kept your distance. Most of what you’d heard about him came from the kids; which meant they were lies, at worst, and exaggerations at best. You could tell they admired him from the way they spoke of him—Dustin in particular, who had spoken of Eddie in the way he’d only ever spoken of one person before: Steve. But that was the extent of your knowledge.

Eddie had been two years ahead of you technically, although now he was a senior, same as you, and stuck in the same miserable first period English class with Ms. Taylor.

It had started out innocent enough, you liked to tell yourself. You weren’t always swooning over him and his leather jackets or studded rings. It had just snowballed.

It had begun like this: it was the first day of your senior year, and to add to your nerves at a new dreadful year, Ms. Taylor had given you, and all your classmates, assigned seats.

Great, you’d thought. Just great. Now you had to sit next to a complete stranger while also being a complete ball of anxiety all class.

You were early. Much to your chagrin, Steve had insisted on picking you and Robin up earlier than usual because it was your first day, and what if you have trouble finding your classes. Completely ignoring the fact that you and Robin had gone to Hawkins High for three years and knew it like the back of your hand.

Still, it had gotten you here, 15 minutes early to the first bell, trapped in a room with no one other than Ms. Taylor, and Eddie Munson himself.

“You’ll be right there, beside Mr. Munson.” Ms Taylor had drawled monotonously, eyes focused on a stack of papers on her desk.

You froze, looking over at Eddie, who was scribbling down in a notebook in the second to last row of desks from the back. He looked up at you for a moment before going back to his writing.

“Did you hear me?” Ms Taylor said your last name. You snapped out of it, smiling over at her and gripping the strap to your backpack before making your way to the seat.

“Yeah. Sorry, Ms. Taylor.”

You sat down rigidly, looking anywhere but at Eddie. Ms Taylor left the room to refill her coffee cup in the teacher’s lounge, leaving you and him the only people in the room.

You felt your hands begin to shake at the impending doom of first period rolling around. You knew it was dumb; it’d been two years since the first-period-from-hell, and you still couldn’t shake your fear of home room. You clasped them together, folding your fingers on top of each other on the desk, trying to calm your breathing. Your heart pounded in your ears.

“Look, you can relax, okay,” Eddie’s annoyed voice beside you snapped you out of it. “I won’t bite.”

You looked over at him, his face looked impatient, though if you looked closely, you thought you could detect a little bit of hurt there too. Your eyebrows furrowed, before you realized what he must have been thinking.

He thought you were scared of him.

It made sense, though that was far from what was going through your head.

“No,” you began quietly, before clearing your throat. “That’s not what I—that’s not—that’s not it.”

“Whatever you say,” he mumbled, eyebrows raised as he continued writing.

That was the day it started. The watching him.

It’d begun as a way of coping; a way to distract yourself from Ms. Taylor’s droning on about Shakespeare, or the whispers of the two mean girls who sat at the front and liked to glance back at you and snicker.

Your therapist had mentioned the method to you a few months before, a way to maybe cope with your anxiety in anticipation with the upcoming school year. It was a method that your shrink had described as a way of ‘hyper-focusing’, or concentrating on one thing until the anxiety wore away.

And in the haze of your first day, you’d focused on Eddie.

But eventually, as the year wore on, it developed into something different.

You began to notice his hair; how it would fall over his face as he frowned in concentration at whatever he was writing in that book. His hands, big and flanked with gaudy silver rings. You began to wonder how they’d feel on your skin, running through your hair, over your stomach.

It was almost a type of game you played with yourself; a form of escapism. On days your anxiety got too much, the days your hands would sweat and your feet couldn’t cease their tapping, you could look beside you and focus on Eddie. And it would all fall away.

You supposed that’s why you kept your little obsession a secret; it was embarrassing.

Not the fact that you were infatuated with him, but the fact that you’d been using practically a complete stranger to talk yourself down from anxiety attacks. You hadn’t even told Robin, the person you shared everything with. And somewhere in the back of your mind, you knew that this wasn’t some little crush or admiration—it was more than that.

But you refused to admit that to yourself, because there was one huge, glaring problem. That being that Eddie Munson hated you. You were sure of it.

It was as if after the awkward encounter you’d shared at the beginning of the year, he avoided you like the plague. Not looking, talking, or even so much as breathing your way once. And the one time when you’d gotten the nerve to ask him a question, he’d barely grunted out a response before the had rung and he was gone.

That had been the first and last time you’d attempted to talk to Eddie Munson. Your crush was doomed, you knew it. Not only were you convinced he couldn’t stand you, you also were almost positive that he still thought you were scared of him, like he did at the beginning of the year.

Which, to be fair, you were. Just not in that way. As far as Eddie was concerned, you were scared of him in the judgy, superficial, ill-intentioned way that the rest of Hawkins was, not in the butterflies, tongue-tied, make-your-hands-sweat way that you truly were.

Besides, even if you were the most confident person in the world (you were far from it), and if Eddie didn’t, for some inexplicable reason, hate you, you were sure that you would have absolutely no chance with him anyway. Because why would Eddie Munson, all crooked smiles and sure steps and kind eyes, be even the least bit interested in you? It was inconceivable. Because you were shy and scared and binary and everything he was not.

So, you’d deduced that you were doomed to wait out this life-ruining crush the same way you’d been doomed to wait out countless other things in your high school life: silently.

- - - - -

Today was no different than the other nearly insufferable first periods you’d endured this school year, aside from the fact that today was Monday, which brought with it a more tired you, and a much, much more irritable Ms Taylor.

She’d assigned two detentions so far this period, to Bradley Green and Doug Mitchell, two boys from the basketball team that had been throwing spitballs and harassing Eddie, who merely smirked at them in response, effectively egging them on.

You glanced at the clock, tapping your foot subconsciously on the off-white tile below your feet.

5 minutes left, you reminded yourself, watching the clock tick down. Your hands started to clam up. Perfect.

You let out a shaky breath. A few rows in front of you, Pam Simpson and Diana Fiorelli glanced back, eyes zeroing in on you, before Pam snickered and leaned over to whisper into Diana’s ear.

This wasn’t new; they always had some off-color remark or an unnecessary eye-roll to throw at you ever since they found out about your close friendship with Steve Harrington, former king of Hawkins High.

How two nerds like yourself and Robin Buckley had managed to bag someone as popular as Steve the hair Harrington as a best friend seemed to be beyond them, and they sought everyday to punish you for it.

The truth was: Steve had left all of that behind. From the wake-up call that was his break-up with Nancy, to the whole fighting-monsters-from-another-dimension thing, he didn’t really care about it anymore. He’d found better friends in you guys. The whole Russians-in-Hawkins, and Starcourt “fire” helped too.

It was true what they said about trauma: it brought people together.

You tried to ignore their whispering, like Robin had encouraged you.

She was absolutely livid when she’d found out that Diana had “accidentally,” spilled her yogurt parfait over your new blouse last week. It had taken a whole five minutes of both you and Steve talking her down from her stupor to stop her from marching straight to the gymnasium, interrupting cheer practice, and giving Diana a black eye. After though, when you’d managed to calm your best friend down, she’d gone off—trying to convince you to stick up for yourself, to say something. If not to the mean girls themselves, then to Ms Taylor at the very least.

But that was the difference between you and Robin; where she would act, you would listen. Remain passive. It was a trait that served you well when it came to retaining information or solving upside-down-related issues, in situations like these, it kind of screwed you over.

You turned your head from the front of the classroom, blocking out Ms Taylor’s lecture on T. S. Elliot and instead turning your head to the desk beside yours. Eddie’s desk.

He was hunched over, head on his hands, which were crossed and folded on top of the desk in front of him. His chin rested there, and his dark eyes were focused on the board, squinting, as if trying to make out what it said.

He seemed to be trying to pay attention, a stark contrast to how you usually saw him hunched over around his worm notebook, scribbling or drawing.

He wore dark blue jeans today, instead of his usual black ones, and a Quiet Riot band T-shirt . His leather jacket was draped over the chair behind him, as Ms Taylor’s room was hot today. His hair fell messily over his back and in front of his face. His ringed fingers tapped on the desk—he was evidently as anxious for the class to end as you were.

You knew he had trouble focusing. You’d picked up on as much throughout the school year, watching him try and try and try to stay locked in to whatever Ms Taylor was teaching.

So many of your classmates had written him off: cult leader, satanist, idiot, freak, but you saw something different. The Eddie you knew (well, not really knew, more like observed) was none of those things. He was different, yes. Flamboyant, sure. But he was not an idiot. Nor was he evil or freakish or anything of the sort.

The ringing of the bell snapped you from your thoughts. You jerked your head back to your desk as your classmates began to pack up and bustle out to their next classes, the sound of backpacks zipping and chatter filling the classroom.

Per usual, Eddie was the first out of his seat, already packed and ready, before leaving the classroom with long strides, eyes trained on the floor, narrowly avoiding your gaze.

You shoved your notebook into your bag, bending over to zip it up and run like hell out of the classroom. You hoped to avoid any unnecessary contact with Pam and Diane. Ms Taylor cleared her throat, before saying your name.

“I’d like to see you for a moment, please,” she said monotonously, eyes focused on the grade book in front of her. A shot of anxiety spread through your stomach.

“Yes, Ms Taylor?” You asked quietly, noting that you were the only two people left in the classroom.

“You have one of the top grades in the class, second only to Mr. Levy, did you know that?” She asked, still not looking up. You puzzled. So you weren’t in trouble?

“Uh-I-no, I didn’t, actually.” You mumbled, brows furrowed.

“Indeed,” she hummed. “I also have been made aware that you are lacking an extracurricular for graduation, is that correct?”

Shit, you thought. She was right.

Last summer, you’d been set to take a summer gym elective; the ones that the school offered during the school year were too crowded and made your anxiety act up, so you and Robin had both signed up to take summer gym. However, the upside-down and the Russians’ presence in Hawkins at Starcourt had had other plans, so both you and her had failed the class, due to bad attendance. And while Robin had made sure to complete her gym credit last semester, you’d completely forgotten about the whole debacle until now.

“Yeah,” you breathed, in shock that you’d managed to forget about something so important when graduation was only months away. “I-I forgot—“

“I figured as much,” Ms Taylor cut you off, finally looking up at you. “Well, seeing as it’s too late in the semester to sign you up for any electives, it would seem that you’ll be having to repeat your senior year.”

Your breath left your lungs.

No, you thought, no, no, no. The last thing you could handle was another year stuck here. In this high school, in this city. You felt your breathing stutter at the thought.

“Luckily for you,” Ms Taylor continued, refocusing you on the moment. “I have a solution that may just save you from that.”

You blew out a breath between your lips, looking at her anxiously.

“Yes,” you breathed out. “Anything— I completely forgot about—“

“I trust you’re familiar with Mr. Munson?” She interrupted you. Your brows furrowed. What did Eddie have to do with this?

“Yes.”

“Well, then I’m sure you’re aware that this will be his second time repeating his senior year.” Ms Taylor looked up at you now, her beady eyes laser-focused. “If he fails again, the school won’t be giving him another chance. It would seem that this class is one of the only things standing between him and a one-way ticket out of this school.”

“I dont think I follow—“ you began.

“You will tutor Mr Munson.” She clarified, face stoic as ever. “From now until the end of the spring semester. If you do this, and if I see improvement, I will make it count as your extracurricular. You’ll be able to graduate on time, and he will get the hell out of my classroom for good.”

You were stunned—not only by the fact that you’d be forced into proximity Eddie Munson for the rest of the year, but the fact that Ms Taylor would speak so candidly about a student.

“I—I-“ you tried to articulate what to say next, but found you were unable to gather your thoughts.

“I can’t,” you finally managed, dumbly. Ms Taylor raised a thin eyebrow at you.

“Well,” she said. “It seems that unless you want to repeat your senior year, you don’t have much of a choice.”

“But, Ms Taylor, I—“

“Look,” she sighed your name. “You’re a smart girl. Mr Munson may be… a handful, but I promise he’s harmless. You will be fine. You can even meet on the school premises, if you’d feel better about that.”

Dear Lord, you didn’t know how to tell her that the reason why you couldn’t tutor him was not because of his reputation, or that you were scared of him, it was because you could barely form a coherent thought in his presence.

“Are we clear?” She asked, arms crossed. You tried to speak, but your mouth was dry. You just gulped and nodded.

“Good,” she smiled tightly. You sighed, turning to leave, already knowing you’d be late to your next class. She called your name as you began to exit, your hand on the door handle.

“Just know, I will be checking weekly with Mr Munson to see how tutoring is going. So don’t think that if you fail to show up I won’t know.”

You nodded, shutting the door behind you as you left.

Great. No escaping it. What if you embarrassed yourself? What if he really did hate you? What if—

“Hey.”

You jumped, too caught up in your thoughts to even notice the tall, lanky figure leaning up against the lockers next to Ms Taylor’s classroom.

“Jesus, sorry.” Eddie looked at you with wide eyes, an arm coming to steady you on your shoulder. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

When you just stared at him, he cleared his throat, removing his hand from your shoulder. A part of you mourned the loss.

“So, uh,” he began, looking down at his feet as he walked alongside you. You tried not to notice the faint scent of his cologne that sent a thrill through your gut. “So I guess she told you? About the tutoring?”

When his curly head snapped up to meet your eyes, you quickly faced forward, realizing that you’d been ogling his side profile while he was stumbling over his words. You nodded in confirmation.

“Ok,” he said, rubbing his hands on his legs. “Ok,” he repeated, stopping and turning to face you. “I’m just gonna cut the bullshit: I really, really need the help in this class.” His eyes were a bit wild, panicked. Like he thought you were going to run away from him the moment you got a chance. “Like, ‘really,’ as in, if I don’t pass, I don’t graduate. And I know you really don’t wanna do this, and she’s forcing you, and that you hate me, and you’re scared of me, and all that, but if you could please—please— just help me get through this class, I will make it as painless as possible spending all the time with me.”

By the end of his little speech, he looked frantic, like he was pleading—and you suppose he was. And before you could stop yourself, you just nodded, looking at him dumbly, before remembering to speak.

“I’ll help you pass.” Was all you could manage.

He sighed a breath of relief, running a hand down his face.

“Thank you,” he said, and you could’ve sworn it was the most sincere you’d ever heard him. “Thursday after school in the library sound good?”

- - - -

You arrived early, because, of course you did.

To say you were nervous would be an understatement; you were terrified. Mostly of making an even bigger fool of yourself than you had earlier in the week.

You’d spent the better part of the last three days poring over your last interaction with Eddie in the hallway, when he’d begged you to tutor him, and you’d gotten about five words in edgewise.

He’d practically accused you of hating him, and instead of correcting him—like you’d been dying to do for the whole semester—you stood there like an idiot.

You wished you’d told him then and there in that hallway that he was wrong; that you weren’t scared of him, and that you didn’t hate him. That you were just shy and awkward and he unnerved you. So, you decided to do just that.

Last night, while finally talking through the whole situation with Robin, you’d decided that the first words you’d say to him would be: “I’m not scared of you and I don’t hate you.”

It was a bit abrasive and to-the-point, you knew that. But, you also knew that if you let him get a word in before that, you’d lose your nerve. At least this way, you got your point across.

Your eyes ran over the page of your book for what felt like the fiftieth time. You sighed, throwing the worn novel down on the table.

There was no way you’d be able to get any reading done, not with your nerves eating you alive.

The book wasn’t that good anyway. You had no clue what Robin meant when she said Hemingway was ‘profound.’

You sighed again, eyes finding the clock in the library.

He was five minutes late.

You felt something deflate inside you. Maybe he’d been bluffing about the whole thing, or maybe he’d changed his mind and wouldn’t show. Your mind ran with the possibilities.

The library was sparse at this time.

It was just past three, and most students had already rushed out of the building. It was Thursday, which meant that the town was just waking up for the weekend. It wasn’t uncommon for friend groups to have small get-togethers, or even for one of the bigger cliques to throw a party.

In fact, Steve had managed to convince Robin and yourself to attend one later that night. Which was a feat, because you didn’t make a habit of going out.

It was at Darren’s house: one of the few friends from high school that Steve actually kept up with after, y’know, everything.

Robin was hoping Vicky would be there. You were just hoping to let loose a little.

With all this business with Eddie and your impending (maybe) graduation, your nerves had been through the roof. A party was just what you needed to calm down.

“Sorry,” he appeared out of nowhere, and before you could stop yourself, you jumped.

“Sorry!” Eddie rushed out, slumping down in the chair across from you. “Really, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to scare you all the time. Sorry I’m late.”

You stared at him.

God, he was pretty.

His hair was big and frizzy, per usual, and fell around his face as a halo. His brown eyes were wide and almost doe -like, and his cheeks were rosy with exertion.

He must have been running, you thought. But why? He wasn’t that late.

“Were you running?” You blurted before you could think. Your brows furrowed as you looked at him.

“Uhhhh, yeah,” he drawled. “Yeah, I ran into some trouble getting here.”

“What trouble?”

“The usual.” Eddie rubbed his eyes, and for the first time since he’d sat down, you noticed how disheveled he looked.

His white tee shirt was stained on the shoulder with what looked like… fruit?

“Is that… food on your shoulder?”

“Shit,” his gaze snapped to his shoulder. “Yeah, uhm. It’s jello.”

Eddie looked… embarrassed. For the first time in the time you’d known him, he looked sheepish.

“Was it Jason?”

“That obvious?” He laughed mirthlessly. In fact, it was a little menacing.

“He’s a dick.” You said without thinking.

Eddie just nodded, staring down a place on the table.

“Are you okay?”

He looked at you, dark eyes guarded.

He seemed to be sizing you up, eyes following you up and down. But his usual playfulness was gone. Instead, he looked almost… forlorn.

“Uh, yeah.” His lips lifted into a humorless smile. “Just done with this bullshit, I guess.”

“Hmm,” you hummed.

“I’m tired of people looking at me like I’m a freak. I’m tired of not behind able to fucking walk to class in peace, I’m tired of people being fucking,” he slammed his hands on the table in front of you. When you jump, he throws them up. “Scared of me!”

You stay silent for a moment, letting him stew and collect himself. After a few seconds, Eddie sighs.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t—“

“I’m not scared of you, and I don’t hate you.”

“—mean to—what?”

“I’m not scared of you.” You repeated, wiping your clammy hands on your jeans. “And I don’t hate you, like you said on Monday. I’m Im just,” you stopped to take a breath. “It’s just hard for me sometimes. With… new people.”

“You sure? Because you look scared to me.”

“You aren’t helping.”

Eddie shivered, rubbing at the jello-colored stain on his shoulder.

“Do you… want to change?” You asked shakily.

“What?”

“Nevermind,” you rushed out, shaking your head. “It’s nothing. You just—looked cold. I have an extra sweatshirt.”

“And you think it would fit me?”

“I like to wear them a few sizes too big.” You added lamely.

Eddie contemplated you for a moment, before sighing.

“What the hell,” he said half to himself. “Why not?”

After he pulled the lilac crew neck over his head, he smiled.

“Okay,” he chuckled. “I’m sorry. Thank you for doing this. I know it can’t be great for your…image.”

You snorted at that.

“Yeah, my image isn’t exactly suffering.”

“Yeah?” He leaned forward, setting his chin on his fists.

God, his forearms. You forced yourself to look away.

“Yeah. Not exactly prom queen here.”

“Eh, prom queen is overrated.”

You laughed, your own crinkling eyes meeting his. You thought you saw his eyes soften as they looked at you. The vision of him there, in front of you, made your stomach flip.

You cleared your throat, turning to your notes in front of you.

“So,” you straightened your notebook. “Ready to talk about T. S. Elliot?”

- - - -

The party was loud. Mötley Crüe boomed through the speakers that Darren’s rich family had in what seemed like every room.

You silently thanked Darren for having good music taste. The party would have been unbearable otherwise.

You sighed as you walked out the back door of the house. The inside had gotten a bit too stuffy for you, and with Robin trailing after Vickie and Steve reconnecting with one of his old flames, you were flying solo for the time being.

You brushed your jeans with your hands before sitting down on the back step, a lukewarm rum and coke in the solo cup in your hand.

You felt yourself deflate.

As a senior in high school, this was the closest you’d come to actually living.

While Robin had had her fair share of secret flings and parties and Steve had lived a wild four years of high school, you were just… there.

At eighteen years old, you felt like you’d missed out. Been robbed. The Upside Down had something to do with that, you supposed. Fighting for your own and the kids’ lives from Russians and other-worldly demon creatures tends to do that. Still, it didn’t stop your friends from living. You felt like you’d let your teen years pass you by, but mostly, you felt pathetic.

Sure, you had the grades, but rather than that? You had nothing to show for your time at Hawkins High.

“Hey tutor,” the smooth drawl came from the side of the house. You’d know it anywhere.

Eddie rounded the corner of the house, approaching where you were sitting on the back step.

He wore the same black jeans he wore earlier today, but his jello-stained shirt and your lilac crew neck were gone, replaced by a t-shirt with what looked like Judas Priest’s logo. His arms were crossed over his chest, covered by the black leather he wore more often than not.

“Hey,” you offered lamely, rubbing your hands together.

“What ya doing out here all alone?” He came to stop in front of you, his chunky combat boots taking up your line of vision.

“Just…taking a breather.” You smiled up at him, tight-lipped.

“Hmm,” he hummed. “Scoot over, then. It’s a little too… preppy for me in there.”

You obliged, scooting over a few feet so he could sit next to you. As he dropped down on the concrete step next to you, he was close enough that you caught his scent.

It was deep, some kind of cologne, mixed with cigarette smoke and a hint of what you knew was weed.

“So…” Eddie bumped his shoulder into yours. “Thought this wasn’t your crowd?”

“It’s not,” you pressed your hands between your knees. “Robin and Steve dragged me here. I thought it would help me… unwind.”

“Robin… she’s in band right?”

You nodded.

“And Steve… I don’t think I know that one.”

You chuckled.

“You definitely do,” you peeked over at him, eager to see his reaction. “Uh, Steve Harrington?”

Eddie looked at you like you grew a second head.

“The hair?” He asked incredulously.

“The very same,” you nodded.

“God, sweetheart.” Eddie shook his head. “I’m beginning to question the company you keep.”

Your heart leapt at what he called you. Sweetheart.

“I know, I know,” you held out your hands. “He was an asshole. But he’s different now.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

“He is!” You turned to Eddie defensively. “I wouldn’t be friends with him if he was still the way he used to be. He isn’t like…”

“Jason?” Eddie raised an eyebrow at you. “Like Pam and Diana?”

“Exactly.” You nodded. “He’s still… peppy. He just lost all the bad parts.”

“Hmm,” he crossed his arms. “I’ll take your word for it.”

A moment of silence passed between the two of you, the only sounds being your breath and the roar of the party inside. Your breaths swirled in the chilly air around you.

“Why are you here?” You spoke finally. “You said this wasn’t your scene.”

“It’s not,” he shrugged, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a little baggy filled with green substance. “I’m, uh, supplying the party favors.”

You snorted at that.

“These things good business?”

“You have no idea.” He nodded to the inside of the house. “A lot of these kids’ allowance is more than what my uncle makes in a week.”

You hummed, content to just sit in silence.

Eddie tilted his head at you, leaning his chin on his hands again like he did earlier in the library. He tilted his cheek toward you, an easy smile on his lips.

“So, why are you really out here, tutor-girl?” He looked at you curiously. “You look upset.”

You drew a heavy breath, before sighing.

“It’s dumb.” You picked at your nails.

“Try me.”

“I feel like..” you looked up, before turning to Eddie. “I feel like I’ve missed out. I’m a senior, I’m graduating this year, and I have done nothing.”

Eddie’s eyebrows furrow, but he doesn’t move to interrupt you. He only leans further toward you, spurring you to continue. The alcohol gave you the rest of the confidence you lacked.

“All my friends have had their little rebellions. Their flings, all of it. And I have done nothing, except drink shitty booze and nearly lose my mind.”

You blew a deep breath once you’d finished. Somehow, you felt even worse—more pathetic—now that you’d vocalized it.

But Eddie didn’t look at you like you were pathetic. Instead, he looked pensive, hand on his chin as he contemplated. It was your instinct to backtrack.

You moved to stand

“Sorry. That was a lot. Nevermind. Let’s just forget I—“

“No, no, don’t apologize.” He grabbed your arm and gently pulled you back to sit beside him. “Especially after what I dumped on you earlier.”

Your cheeks were red, you could tell. Whether that be because of the combination of the alcohol and the confession, you couldn’t tell.

“Hmm,” Eddie hummed, still thinking. You snuck a glance over at him and noticed a wry smile on his face. “Let’s fix it then.”

“What?”

“We have til May, don’t we? That’s eight months. Your senior year isn’t over yet.”

You laughed nervously.

“I couldn’t ask you to do that—“

“You’re not! I’m offering. Consider it payback for all the hours you’ll be tutoring me in Taylor’s class.”

“Okay…”

“Okay.” Eddie smiled. “It’s a deal, then .”

#eddie x fem!reader #eddie munson #eddie munson x fem!reader #eddie stranger things #eddie x you #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x y/n #stranger things fic #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things 4 #stranger things #steve harrington #robin buckley #hawkins indiana #eddie munson fem!reader #eddie munson fic #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson fanfiction

1K notes · View notes

ackermanbloodline · 5 months

Text

A/N: Hey, Anons! I have decided to combine these two requests into one fic. Sorry this took me so long to get to. Thanks for sending these in, I really hope you both like it! This takes place in the canon universe, a few years following the Battle of Heaven and Earth.

Word Count: 3.2k

Warnings: Pretty fluffy. No warnings that I can really think of aside from AOT spoilers.

* * *

Through the Threads of Time - Levi Ackerman x Female Reader

It has been years, years since you saw him. Your best friend in elementary and middle school, now all grown up. As he enters the tea shop with some sort of limp through the front door, your eyes cling to him. His once soft jawline is now sharp and defined, his cheekbones high on his face, and his eyes have a silver razor’s edge to them. He’s dressed in a black and white suit, the first two buttons of his undershirt unbuttoned, with a long black trench coat over it all. His hair is parted to the side and his undercut looks freshly buzzed.

He looks… breathtaking?

You nearly drop the piping hot green tea you’re serving to a nearby table of customers.

“Ma’am? Ma’am?” the customer calls out to you in an impatient tone. You’re snapped out of your trance and you muster up the best smile you can conjure as a wave of panic washes over your body.

“Sorry about that!” you apologize in a peppy customer service voice as you set the teapot down gently. “Here you go. Enjoy!”

As you make your way back behind the counter, your frazzled hands make flattening paths down your apron. Before you can run to the bathroom to do a quick once-over of your appearance, a low voice calls your name questioningly. It reverberates in your ears and causes you to freeze in your tracks.

“Is that you?” the voice calls out again.

Your breath hitches in your throat after swallowing a thick wad of saliva. Quickly, you turn around and face your once beloved childhood best friend. A pang of concern hits you in the gut when you see two scars running across his face, one merging into his left eye. The iris and pupil are completely gone, leaving nothing but a white eye behind. You had seen the pictures in the papers but… it was a different story to see it in person.

His gaze travels up and down your body and a small smile tugs at the corners of his lips.

“Levi,” you smile at him. “What a wonderful surprise.”

“I concur. How have you been doing?”

“Never better! How are you?”

“Never better,” he echoes and looks around the shop. “This is where you work? I’ve never seen you here before.”

“I just started a week or so ago. I only work on weekends. I’m a full-time student.”

“Is that so? What are you studying?”

“Literature.”

“That’s… very fitting. After all, I couldn’t have passed many of my classes without your help.”

You’re not sure how to respond, so all you do is give him a chuckle. You look around the room and pray to the heavens above that nobody can see the heat creeping up on your cheeks.

However, he sees you looking around the room and mistakes the gesture for boredom. He takes a deep breath.

“Anyway, I don’t want to hold you up. I’ll take a 12-ounce hot black tea. To go, please.”

“Sure thing,” you say, trying to fight the deflated feeling in your chest as you write the order on the side of the cup with his name. “Anything else?”

“No, that’ll be all. Thank you.”

Once you make his order and hand it to him, he lifts the cup in your direction and nods once at you.

“Thanks. I’ll see you around. Enjoy the rest of your day.”

“Thank you, you too.”

Your eyes stick to his figure as he limps out of the shop. All the way until he’s gone from sight when he rounds the corner of the street outside.

And just like clockwork, Levi comes into the shop at 3 PM, on the dot, every Saturday. Placing the same order, asking more questions about what you’ve been up to the past couple decades, all the while looking dashing every single visit. Once you recognize this pattern, you start to put more effort into your appearance. Not too much that it’s going overboard, but just enough. Your hair is always styled neatly and you go out of your way to slow down the way you apply your makeup.

You certainly didn’t have feelings for your childhood best friend, that’s for certain. You didn’t even know the guy. You both have changed, in every single way. But was he pretty to look at? Absolutely.

And you want him to have something to look at, too.

“I’ve enjoyed chatting with you,” Levi says your name and flicks a few dollars into the tip jar on the counter. “Reminds me of simpler times. Would you be available sometime this week for tea?”

“I appreciate that. And yeah, that sounds great! I actually get off in a few hours and don’t have anything planned after.”

“Perfect. Shall I meet you here?”

“N-no, let’s go somewhere else,” you blurt and his eyebrow raises. “Sorry. It’s my coworkers. They all talk, you know. And I value my privacy.”

“As do I. Would it be too forward to invite you over to my place? I live just right down the road. I could give you a full tea tasting.”

“How can I pass up such an enticing offer?” you smile at him. “It’s a deal.”

“Great. Here’s my address,” he grabs a pen and napkin, both sitting nearby, and uses it to scribble the numbers and words of his residence. “Does 7 work for you?”

“Yes, that sounds good.”

“Fantastic,” he says monotonously as he leans up and holds the napkin toward you. You take it gingerly and shove it into your back pocket. “I’ll see you tonight.”

“It’s a plan.”

* * *

7 PM comes faster than you ever thought it would. It seems to come in a blink of an eye. You’re standing at his front door. His house is a one-story home that features a white exterior with dark green window shutters. The landscaping is kept up on: campanulas and other types of flowers neatly groomed into sections, wood chips in the dead space, and hedges trimmed perfectly. All the visible windows are open with curtains pulled back to let in the warm, clean summer air.

You knock and wait a few moments before the door opens. Levi looks at you, his eyes boring into yours. He’s wearing black slacks and a white tee.

“Hey,” you give him a smile.

“Hi, come in.”

He steps to the side and you step through the door frame. You take off your outerwear at the door. He takes your coat and hangs it on a nearby standing coat rack. You thank him. You place your shoes neatly on the entrance rug, keeping in mind Levi’s clean-freakiness that you came to know throughout the years.

You immediately spot the mahogany kitchen table, which is adorned with a white table runner down the middle. On the table are dainty white tea cups. A number of them. There are also a few tea kettles and French presses with dark liquid in them. On a tiered serving platter are snacks such as cut sandwiches, donuts, cupcakes, macarons, and fruit.

“Holy shit,” you approach the table slowly and gesture to it. “You did all this?”

“Yes, I haven’t had the chance to do this quite yet. And this is a special occasion. So I went all out.”

“I’m honored. This looks amazing, Levi. Truly.”

“Thank you. Let’s wash up and get started, yeah?”

“Okay.”

* * *

You can tell that Levi is fighting back his excitement as he is explaining the ins and outs of making tea to you. You admire the way that he gently pours the hot water into teacups, seeping the leaves just right before serving them to you. It’s so graceful and calculated. All the while, he’s concentrated with his brows knitted together.

You listen intently, through every step. You never thought tea making could get so technical with perfecting the water temp, preheating the teaware, using exclusively loose whole-leaf tea, using filtered water, and so on. After all, you are a novice barista.

Particularly, he is a strong advocate of not adding milk nor any type of sweetener to tea, which isn’t a shock to you as he always declined both with each and every order of his. His justification was so the drinker can truly taste the tea on its own. Makes sense. However, you prefer some sort of additive to your tea, so this was an adjustment.

“This is a bit bitter,” you say, coughing a little after you carefully take a drink of a golden tinted tea. “Is it supposed to be like that?”

“Yes. Young sheng is generally a more bitter tea.”

That is the last of the tea sampling. The tiered platter is almost cleared off as you and Levi both tried some finger foods with the wide selection of tea.

“So, what’s your verdict? Which is your favorite?” he asks inquisitively.

“Out of all these, I liked the hibiscus tea the best. I liked how it was a bit sour and the color of it was super pretty.”

“I understand. Again, that’s very fitting.”

“You’ve said that quite a few times now and I’m not sure if I should take it as a compliment or an insult,” you chuckle dryly.

“It’s not meant to be an insult by any means. Just… not surprising. Despite all these years, you really haven’t changed much.”

“I see,” you say, leaning back in your chair. “We’ve talked an awful lot about me. But what about you, Levi? What have you been up to?”

“Well, to be candid, things have been…” he trails off and looks troubled. His brow is furrowed. “Quiet, since everything ended. My leg has healed tremendously since injuring it. I was condemned to a wheelchair for a long time and… that was also a difficult change for me, to say the least.”

“Of course. That would be a difficult change for anyone.”

“But it only pushed me to put in my all during physical therapy. Being in that wheelchair I felt… incapable. A ghost of a person I once was. Humanity’s Strongest Soldier… reduced into a cripple. Yes, I survived. But I can’t help but wonder… would’ve it been better if I had perished, just like so many of my comrades?”

“Levi…” you say in a cautionary tone, “you know that’s not true, right? You may see a wheelchair as an obstacle or a reduction of your character, but that’s far from the truth. You still have so much to offer the world. That’s never changing. Like, you coming into the shop every weekend was always something I looked forward to.”

The ends of his lips curl ever so slightly upward into a soft smile. You both exchange prolonged eye contact before he looks away into the platter of leftover food and tea.

“I appreciate that, thank you. Everything became difficult, even going to the toilet. Gabi and Falco forced me to hire an at-home nurse. And not only was I dealing with this new debilitating physical ailment… but I was facing a mental one, too. I often asked myself if life was really worth living in my disabled state. I was never truly suicidal, but I did question my existence, my purpose in life. After all, I had fulfilled my mission as a soldier.”

He pauses to look at you. You’re still listening with such intent that it makes him continue.

“But to die by my own hand would mean letting my comrades down. Their lives were taken unwillingly. By force. What a privilege it is to live. To wake up each day. To draw breath.”

“I never really looked at it that way but, yes… you’re right. It is a privilege.”

He clears his throat and sits up in his seat.

“Long-winded answer… Sorry. But right now I’m working on a book. Hoping the guys at Berg will give me some free publicity when I actually publish it. Who knows.”

“Really? A book? What about?”

“The last seven years of my time in the Survey Corps: a first-hand, unbiased account of what happened as Eren Jaeger, once known as the hope of humanity, became the most despised person in history. I don’t want humanity to forget those important events. Otherwise, we’ll be doomed to repeat them.”

“That’s fantastic! And a great point. If you ever want someone to take a look over it, I’d be more than willing to do so. Historical nonfiction isn’t really my strong suit, but I’m sure we could work something out.”

“I will keep that in mind. I’m not even halfway done yet.”

“Well, I’m sure there’s a lot to account for and remember.”

“Certainly.”

* * *

You and Levi end up talking through the afternoon into the late evening. You two sit by the fireplace on his couch and enjoy a glass or two of red wine. The house is completely dark otherwise. There’s a slight pink tinge dancing across the apples of his cheeks. You’ve never seen the man smile as much as he has this evening.

“Thank you for coming over,” he says casually as he tilts his wine in a circular motion, making the dark liquid dance across the waist of the glass. “I really appreciate it. I tend to overstock on tea. So it’s nice to finally share that with someone. Get rid of some of it.”

“Of course. It was quite impressive. Have I told you that already?”

“Just only a million times.”

“And I’ll say it a million more.”

Both of you chuckle. The warmth of the fire spreads across the pad of your foot when you stick it out towards the flames.

“You know, have I ever told you how pretty you are?”

Your head snaps towards him. Did you hear him correctly? “I beg your pardon?”

“Please. Don’t act like you don’t already know.”

“Alright, pal. I’m cutting you off. Gimme.”

Once you put your wine glass down on the side table, you lunge at him and he pulls away teasingly. A smirk spreads across his face. Utilizing the armrest of the couch, you reach again and contort your body over his to try and reach it. As quickly as a lightning strike hits, your hand suddenly slips off, causing your whole body to collide with his. Your face collapses into his torso.

And you notice how close you two are. His body heat radiates onto yours. It somehow seems hotter than the fire. How he’s still effortlessly holding his wine glass despite the clashing of your bodies. He sets it down carefully on the other end table and his hands slowly lower onto your waist.

“Easy,” he breathes lowly as he moves your body so your face is close to his. “Don’t want to spill.”

Your breath hitches in your throat. His breath fans across your lips. He seems frozen in place, waiting for you to do something. You lick your lips and look up into his eyes. His gaze bores into yours. And just like that, you’re too frozen to do anything, either. Hesitantly, he reaches a hand up and slowly guides a tuft of your hair behind the shell of your ear. After, his hand settles on the side of your neck, which allows his thumb to make soft strokes against the round of your cheek. You lean into his touch and your eyes fluttered closed. You hear his breath get caught up in his throat, too.

He leans into you, and when his lips brush yours ever so slightly, goosebumps run along the length of your spine. Your heartbeat rages in your chest. He calls out your name cautiously.

“Hm?” you open your eyes.

He looks almost pleadingly as he whispers a question.

“Is this okay?”

You nod your head, “Yes.”

And with that one word, his lips push onto yours. He’s warm. So warm and soft. He cups your face in his large hands. He’s so gentle in his movements, acting as if you are made of glass, bound to break at any moment. He pulls away from the kiss, separating you two with a quiet smack of your lips. He looks to you to find any idea what you’re thinking.

But even through childhood into now, he cannot deny you’ve always been hard for him to read.

You bite your lip as you reach up to his cheek and gently stroke it with the backs of your fingers. Much like you, his eyes flutter closed.

“That was nice,” you mutter.

“Yeah,” he breathes. “It was.”

“Do you… maybe want to do it again?”

He smiles. A full smile.

“Of course.”

* * *

About an hour later, he’s helping you put on your coat. You tie up your shoes in the same place you untied them.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay?” he says, hinting at a tone of nervousness. “I mean… it’s late.”

“I’m okay. Thank you though, Levi.”

“And you don’t want me to walk you home?”

“No, thank you. I like my solitary walks.”

“So stubborn,” he trails off, scratching the back of his neck. “Elated to see that hasn’t changed, either.”

You roll your eyes at him as you open up the front door. The warm night summer air fills your lungs. People are still out and about canvassing the streets. Once you step onto his porch, you turn on your heel and look into his eyes.

In a compulsory move, you step towards him and kiss him again. He immediately reciprocates as his palms instinctively go to the curve of your waist. He pushes you into him further. His tongue gently pries at your lips and asks for access. You open your jaw to allow it. It’s not long before both of you are panting with need.

You pull away, though, and bury your face in the soft fabric of his shirt. You inhale his clean scent, a smell of detergent and cologne filling your senses. His strong arms wrap around your frame. You stay there for a few moments and relish in the simplicity of the moment.

“Will you go to breakfast tomorrow? With me?” he questions.

“Sure. Where at?”

“The coffee shop.”

“Levi, I told you… my coworkers.”

“That’s fine. Let’s give them something to talk about.”

You fight back the stupidest grin. You can’t deny the idea of it. It’s exciting. You take a step back from him and shake your head.

“Ever the assertive one… that sure hasn’t changed about you.”

“8 AM. I’ll meet you there.”

“Make it 9 and we got a deal.”

“Fine. 9 AM.”

“Okay.”

Levi, in a rush, closes the space between you to kiss you again right there on the sidewalk. He doesn’t want to let you go. He wants you to stay with him. Though he knows the thought is greedy, he can’t help it. He wants to make up for all the lost time.

He watches as your figure disappears down the street. He shakes his head. Who would’ve thought you two would be here after all these years. After all the strife. The struggle. He certainly didn’t. And neither did you.

But never mind that. You both have a breakfast date tomorrow.

159 notes · View notes

primaviva · 8 months

Text

PAIRING: (primary) gwen stacy x fem!reader, (secondary / onsided romance) harry osborn x fem!reader

SYNOPSIS: gwen has liked you for a long time, harry knew this. to gwen's surprise, harry actually liked her for much longer, something she only learned when he confessed and asked her to prom. gwen's rejection hit harry hard. you can imagine gwen's shock when, just as she was about to tell you how she felt and ask to be your date, you revealed that you already had a date. harry osborn.

WARNINGS/NOTES: misunderstandings trope like heavy, a lot of cursing, manipulation on harry’s part, angstyyy, suggestive toward the end, jealous n angry gwen vs sassy man harry, white boys doin too much and not proof read

as summer's hot embrace swept across queens, whispers of anticipation filled the air in midtown high.

the arrival of prom.

the streets adorned themselves with vibrant hues of gold and scarlet, echoing the spirit of the season that gripped the hearts of every new yorker. decorative banners danced in the breeze on campus, proudly displaying the school's emblem as a symbol of community pride. the heat and constant air conditioning mingled with the distant sound of a marching band practicing their lively tunes, weaving a tapestry of nostalgia and excitement for all the locals and alumni.

prom, a cherished tradition to no one but the beckoned who peaked in high school. let’s be real here, what teen beside the tryhard kids trying to form the perfect resume for college genuinely cared for homecoming? nah, not one. the only excitement that came from it was being able to get free food, dress cute, some photo ops with your partner, and just hanging out with your friends. you could technically count the performances by the school bands and dance teams but to be honest all the talent was overshadowed by the patriotic midtown chants praising the school for its community and kindness even though you could’ve swore you saw flash thompson trying to beat on some freshman in the hall the other day.

it’s midtown high… mid is in the name. to be quite honest, you weren’t expecting much. you didn’t even have a date in mind, you just knew you’d end up going with your small friend group consisting of your best friend gwen, peter, and harry.

you were brought back to reality when your teacher pulled an ‘i’ll wait’ on some girl in the front who was just as confused as the rest of the class and was simply asking someone else for help.

as the minutes ticked by in the seemingly endless ap english class, the only escape you found was talking gwen during class to keep you sane.

you leaned towards gwen, a mischievous glint in your eyes. "i feel like i’m trapped in a literary prison. is it just me, or does every sentence, as soon as she opens her mouth, sounds like some philosophy subreddit bullshit?"

gwen stifled a giggle, her eyes sparkling with shared amusement. "oh, trust me, it's not just you. i think i've somehow deciphered the hidden meaning behind every comma in this book. it's like we're on a quest for the nonexistent holy grail of english assignments."

you both burst into a fit of laughter, struggling to contain your amusement while keeping a watchful eye on the teacher. the irony of the situation wasn't lost on you— the passionate exploration of language and literature reduced to a burdensome chore.

however, you couldn’t help but feel a pair of jealous eyes on you. the prickling sensation at your neck coming from the back of the class made you turn your head slightly, and you caught a glimpse of harry's eyes fixed on gwen, his expression tinged with jealousy. his lips pressed together in a tight line as he bit down on them, lost in his thoughts to notice that you caught him looking. he seemed almost irritated at you by the way he stared and to your understanding, for no reason. it’s not like you did any sneak shit behind his back or got on his nerves .

caught in the awkwardness of the moment, harry mustered a teasing smile and gave a nod, as if attempting to play off being caught. the nod was like a silent statement from him to you, that he felt the same way you did in the class. bored as hell.

but beneath the facade, the tension simmered, and you couldn't shake the feeling that something deeper was brewing beneath the surface. questions swirled in your mind, but for now, you chose to let it go and return your focus to gwen.

"this class single handedly ruined how i’ll read for the rest of my life, and you know how much i love to read edgar allen poe," you whispered, barely able to contain your sarcasm.

gwen leaned closer, her voice barely audible. "i swear, if i have to dissect one more sonnet, my brain cells will start killing themselves."

the bell's sudden ring startled both of you, cutting short your whispered complaints and signaling the end of yet another mundane class. you exchanged a knowing look, relief and mischief dancing in both your eyes.

"finally, damn!" you exclaimed under your breath. "let's get out of here before we start speaking in iambic pentameter."

gwen nodded, her lips curled into a smile. "i can't wait another second."

together, you gathered your belongings, trying to suppress the lingering laughter that threatened to bubble. as you made your way towards the door, the teacher's eyes scanned the room, momentarily pausing on your mischievous glances, but quickly moving on.

you were about to respond to her joke when harry osborn approached you two with a slightly hesitant yet determined stride. his sudden interruption caught both of you off guard.

"hey, gwen," harry began, his voice shaky. "can we talk for a minute?"

your curiosity piqued, but you gave gwen an understanding look and assured gwen that you would wait for her at the lockers, giving her a reassuring smile. with a nod, she followed harry to a quieter corner of the hallway, leaving you to be nosy and wonder what the conversation could be about. time seemed to stretch as you leaned against the lockers, the echoes of passing students fading into the background.

minutes turned into an eternity before gwen finally emerged from the conversation, as she walked toward you, you could sense the weight of the conversation hanging in the air. without a word, she shook her head, her eyes filled with unspoken thoughts.

"what did harry want? some chemistry homework answers that been due since last week?" you asked playfully, trying not to make it seem like you were praying for information.

it’s not like you were jealous of harry or envious of him for talking to gwen, you knew where you two stood. but just the way he looked at you? just rubbed you the wrong way. and you couldn't lie and say the curiosity wasn’t killing you as to why he had to pull gwen away from the public to just ‘talk to her.’

gwen's eyes met yours, looking unusually reserved. she hesitated for a moment before responding, her voice barely above a whisper. "it’s nothing, really. he just asked me a stupid question. don’t worry about it."

you left it at that, not wanting to force her into talking about something that was clearly private. you respected her desire to just move on. still, a teasing smile tugged at the corners of your lips as you couldn't resist a teasing remark.

"did he ask you to be his secret prom date?" you quipped, a twinkle of mischief in your eyes.

gwen's face turned pale for a moment before her cheeks flushed slightly as she shook her head, a subtle smile gracing her lips. "no, you couldn’t be farther from the truth. i um… i actually have someone in mind."

you felt your cheeks heat up at her comment, but also a gut wrenching feeling in your stomach. could she be talking about you? no, but then again all the moments where your legs brushed together while you sat, the lingering gazes and stolen looks, her hands on your waist when she guided you through a big crowd, just all the times where the lines between best friend and more became blurred.

however, gwen remained silent, her intentions veiled for now.

you two had similar schedules, so it was everyday you two walked to your classes together. as the two of you made your way to study hall, gwen broke the silence, "wanna share headphones while we work?"

her hand brushed against yours, your breath hitching as you became hyper aware of how close gwen was. you could feel her continue to stare into your eyes as she intertwined her hand with yours. a smile bloomed across your face as you nodded in agreement, unaware of someone else glaring at you from a distance. again.

weeks passed since then. before, prom was less than a month away. now? just days.

you still didn’t have a date. part of you wanted to just go along, not having any interest and anyone besides gwen. but another part of you was still holding onto hope, living in the fantasy world of the imaginary scenarios that she’ll ask you out.

there were doubts in your mind if gwen liked you, and even if you liked her. she’s your friend, best friend even. but your friendship with her is so different from the way you both treat your other friends. you don’t let your other friends call you names, sit on their lap while their hands wrap around your waist, stay up on friday nights and fall asleep on the phone, and so much more. it was more than just the physical attraction you had to gwen, it was the chemistry between you two. you admit, gwen is more than fine. to her tall demeanor and athletic body, and not to mention the hair and piercings. but the way she understood you more than anyone else was the biggest turn on of them all. she can read you like the back of her hand. she knows when you’re sad, when something’s bothering you, when you’re overwhelmed and just want someone to run away with even if it’s temporary.

all year it seemed that you both had been running circles around each other. there was just something different about the way she stared straight into your eyes as you talked about something. or the times where you swear you saw her biting down on her lip as she sneakily checked you out before you could catch her and she’d tell you how pretty you are. the times you would ask her to repeat stuff on the phone because you just loved hearing her voice just to fall asleep to it. the time where she noticed you looked at her while she cleaned her drumsticks and she told you it’s rude to stare. the times where she had no problem sneaking into your home from through your window to comfort you after a fight with your parents.

she felt like your other half and that’s what confused you. everyone talked about their best friend like that, but you and gwen didn’t seem like friends. and you can’t tell anymore if that’s good or bad.

it was clear you were attracted to gwen in more ways than one, but you couldn’t help but be in denial because of your fear that if you did pursue something romantic with her you could possibly ruin your friendship forever, and you couldn’t imagine your life without her.

gwen couldn’t imagine her life without you either, harry knew that first hand. which is why he’s on his way to your place right now.

harry osborn mustered up the courage to confess his feelings to gwen, his heart pounding with anticipation. he found her in the hallway, took a deep breath, and poured out his emotions, confessing his affection and asking her to be his date for the upcoming prom.

"hey, gwen," harry began, his voice filled with a mix of nervousness and determination. "i've been meaning to tell you something... i really like you. you're amazing, talented, and so fearless. i’ve admired you for a while. so, i was wondering if you'd go to prom with me?"

gwen listened attentively, a kind smile on her face that slowly dropped as she kept talking. but before harry could catch his breath, she gently interrupted him.

"harry, look, i appreciate you telling me this and you're such an amazing friend," gwen replied, her soft and cautious. "but, i can’t go with you. i’m sorry it’s just… i actually had something on my mind too for a while. i've been wanting to tell (y/n) how i feel about her for a while now and so i thought prom would be the best excuse. i've just been nervous about it because i don’t want ti ruin anything. you understand, right?"

harry's face fell slightly, his disappointment flickering across his features. he tried his best to hide the bitterness he felt, realizing that gwen's heart was set on someone else.

"oh... i see," harry responded, trying to sound nonchalant. "don’t worry, gwen. i get it. i never caught on that you liked our (y/n), that’s my bad. i'm sure you’ll both have an amazing time at the dance when you ask her."

gwen's expression softened, "thank you, harry. i hope this doesn’t make anything too weird or weirder than it needs to be. friends?"

harry forced a smile, masking his envy as best as he could. "of course, gwen. friends always."

but as gwen turned to leave, harry's mind started to spin. thoughts of revenge began to cloud his judgment.

how could gwen stacy reject him? it was all he could think of. ‘she’s just a cop's daughter’ he thought, balling his hands into a fist.

“hey, could you speed it up?” he pressed the driver, quickly apologizing. “sorry i just… the waiting is killin’ me.”

maybe it was the bitterness fueling his need to boost his own ego, but he still couldn’t wrap his mind around the rejection. all his life, harry was given what he wanted without a second thought from his father or the people around him. it seemed that for the first time he couldn’t have what he wanted and didn't know how to act.

that’s what led him here, to the front of your place. harry pushed open the car door, his oxford shoes hitting the pavement.

“wait for us, will you?” he asked the driver but the tone of his voice made it clear that it was an order.

harry : hey sweets

harry : go look outside your window for me sent at 4:53

you were doing your homework when suddenly you felt a vibration against your desk. you turned your head to the side and noticed your phone lighting up. with a sigh wanting to take a break from working, you picked it up and your eyes went wide as you saw who it was who texted you. part of you hoped it was gwen, but no, it was harry.

the message on your lock screen made you cringe as soon as you saw that he had called you ‘sweets.’

“the hell is this boy on now,” you muttered, swiping up to see the full text in messages.

you : tf you mean look out my window… did you take your daddy’s medicine by any chance ?? sent at 4:55

before you even gave him the chance to reply, you walked up to your window and pushed the curtain to the side. looking down, you were met with the sight of harry typing on his phone before looking up at you with a charming smile.

harry : you wanna come down rapunzel?

you let out a scoff, the sides of your mouth twitching into a smile as you made your way downstairs. you unlocked the door, opening it to be met with harry walking up to you and revealing a beautiful bouquet of assorted flowers to you. it looked expensive and it glowed in the sun.

“don’t tell me those are for me,” you spoke in a whisper, voice caught in your throat from how unexpected this all was.

he smiled, putting the bouquet in my hand as the floral aroma filled my senses. “then i won’t, just take them princess.”

harry knew you were getting weirder out by his behavior just by the way your face had this stank look to it. not like you were disgusted by him or anything, but by how confusing this was.

“what?” he asked with a smirk.

“you’re just acting a lil’ strange is all,” you replied slowly, squeezing the bouquet to your chest and sniffing the assortment. “they smell beautiful harry, thank you. but no offense, why are you outside my home dressed like james dean?”

he did a low chuckle as he looked into your eyes. sure, harry was cute though he wasn’t necessarily your type. and while it is really attractive to have someone dress nice for you, call you sweet things, and even come to your home with flowers, it was just weird. it was just weird. why him?

"just walk with me, please?" harry asked, extending his hand towards you.

“and sight see all the power plants?” you mocked, but seeing the pleasing look on his face made you fold. you hesitated, but ultimately took him up on it.

as you took his hand, you felt his grip tighten, pulling you uncomfortably close. "i'm sure there's a beautiful waterfront or some other scenic spot for us to explore," he said, his voice filled with anticipation.

you couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, a mix of skepticism and curiosity flickering in your eyes. despite your reservations, you found yourself drawn to him and his intentions.

“you look beautiful today,” he added, still looking forward as the glow of the sky highlighted his face.

you let out a laugh, causing him to glare at you from the corner of his eye.

“oh harry, you’re so charming, thank you,” you teased, voice monotone to poke fun at his advances.

he let out a chuckle as you both approached the waterfront. golden hour was approaching, and the sky was painted a deep orange with yellow highlights and a beauty exuding from it. the clouds were faint and moved slowly to the side, like careful paint strokes to a canvas.

as you released your hand from harry's, you walked toward the ledge, taking in the awe-inspiring scenery. it felt like a moment of pure magic, as if the world had paused to allow you to appreciate the simple pleasures surrounding you. the gentle caress of the warm breeze, the distant echoes of laughter, and the soothing sound of water rippling in the wind created a serene ambiance.

harry initiated the conversation, breaking the silence. "you've never been here before?" he asked, his voice filled with genuine curiosity.

you met his gaze with a sly smile, “nah, i never have time to do stuff like this. im always busy with my own responsibilities so it doesn’t really cross my mind to do a tinder style long walks down the cigarette infested new york streets and visit all the landscapes.”

harry approached you, leaning against the ledge with a smile playing on his lips. he let out a genuine chuckle, appreciating your sense of humor.

"there's the (y/n) i know," he remarked, his tone filled with affection. "always quick with the sarcasm. it's one of the many things that make you so likable. you have this unique and mysterious charm about you.”

you studied him for a moment, a dry laugh escaping your lips. "secret charm?" you quipped, raising an eyebrow. "i've never really made an effort to talk to anyone, so l'd be surprised if i had any secret admirers.”

“well, allow me to introduce you to one of them,” he said as he took your hand in his and gave it a chest kiss.

harry's expression turned softer, and he took your hand in his, placing a gentle kiss on your palm. his eyes held a glimmer of and a hint of seduction.

"i know we haven't always been the closest, but lately, you've been on my mind. a lot," he confessed, bringing your hand to rest against his chest. "i've admired you from afar, and i've been nervous to be around you. you're not just gorgeous, but smart, witty, and so much more. i can't imagine going to prom with anyone else but you. so, would you honor me by being my date?"

your heart skipped a beat with each word he spoke. shock washed over you, and your face revealed a mix of emotions. while you value your friendship with harry, you didn't share the same romantic feelings. you hesitated, searching for the right words to convey your thoughts.

but something about it was off. while his words seemed genuine and soft, his eyes told a different story. they were dark and deceptive, gleaming with an unsettling intensity. it sent a shiver down your spine, making you question his true intentions. the way he stared at you felt predatory, like he was sizing you up, waiting for the opportune moment to strike at his prey. it created an alarming imbalance of power, as if he was counting on something beyond your control.

"harry," you began, your voice gentle but firm. “i’m really sorry for this but i don’t see you that way. i’m flattered but you have to understand… there are other girls that would love to go with you. you’re a heartthrob, y’know? you can get anyone with your appeal. it’s just that i’ve liked gwen for a while and have been waiting for something to happen but-“

“it seems i really can’t get anyone, (y/n),” he spat out in anger. harry's demeanor shifted, his face contorting with anger. he turned slightly away from you, pinching the bridge of his nose as if trying to regain composure. his tone dripped with bitterness as he spoke. “gwen huh? always gwen, isn’t it?”

“what?” you mouthed in confusion.

"you really think gwen would ever ask you to prom? better yet, you think she likes you?" he sneered, closing the distance between you until your chests almost touched.

“get outta my face, i’m leaving,” you demanded, frustration welling up inside you as you pushed against his chest, trying to create some distance. “harry, fuck off of me.”

but harry's arms held you firmly in place, preventing your escape. his voice took on a mocking tone as he continued to belittle you.

"gwen already has a date. some kid named miles from out of town. she's been talking to him for a while now," he informed you, his words hitting you like a blow. "she doesn't want you, never has. she's just being nice, pretending to be your friend. so i don’t know when or how you tricked yourself into thinking she has any interest in you."

your world seemed to crumble around you, a sickening feeling settling in the pit of your stomach. your legs grew weak, and you struggled to maintain your composure. tears welled up in your eyes, and you wiped them away, attempting to regain your composure before facing him.

“i know, it’s hard to hear. and she’s a fool for ever letting a girl like you slip away,” he continued, his tone shifting once again. "but you deserve better, (y/n). gwen is a selfish coward who only goes after what she wants with no regard for others. you deserve someone who appreciates you. someone like me. let me show you how you should be treated."

you took a step back, turning away from him, your hand instinctively covering your mouth. the tears flowed freely now, and a sense of disbelief washed over you. had you been deluding yourself all this time? was there truly no spark between you and gwen?

a forced smile played on your lips as you turned to face harry again, your entire demeanor transformed. it was as if a switch had been flipped, and you presented a facade that masked your true emotions.

"i'd love to go with you," you spoke weakly, your voice devoid of its usual strength. though you didn't reciprocate his feelings, you wanted a distraction. maybe he could give you the attention he claimed you deserved.

a wide, unsettling smile spread across harry's face, his expression taking on an eerie quality. it was a smile that sent shivers down your spine, as if there was something unsettling behind it. you couldn't shake off the feeling that his happiness wasn't truly about you saying yes.

"i'm glad," he replied, pulling you closer to his side. "let's get you home."

as you made your way back home with harry, the atmosphere became increasingly tense. the once-pleasant and work filled evening had transformed into an uncomfortable walk home. harry's grip on your arm tightened, his fingers digging into your skin almost painfully.

you attempted to break the silence, hoping to alleviate the mounting unease. "so, what are we gonna wear? have you thought about it?"

harry's response was curt and lacking his usual warmth. "i have a few ideas in mind. we'll figure it out."

you couldn't help but notice the change in his demeanor, his friendly and charismatic personality replaced by something cold and distant. doubts and concerns swirled in your mind, but you couldn't find the energy to voice them. instead, you kept quiet, unsure of how to navigate this unfamiliar territory.

upon reaching your house, you turned to face harry, attempting to gauge his mood. "thanks for walking me home," you told him, your voice laced with uncertainty. "i'll see you at school tomorrow."

harry's eyes bore into yours, his gaze intense and unsettling. "no need to thank me," he replied with a slight sneer. "i'll be seeing a lot more of you from now on."

confusion washed over you as you watched him walk away, his figure disappearing into the night. something was undeniably wrong, and you couldn't shake off the feeling of impending danger. you retreated into your home, the weight of the situation settling heavily on your shoulders.

you went into your room and just jumped into your bed and before you knew it your eyes were wet and you blacked out.

it was saturday morning, and the events of the previous night were a blur in your memory. as you rubbed your eyes and sat up in bed, you glanced down at your clothes, and suddenly, it all came rushing back. you had spent the entire night looking over old photos of you and gwen, shedding tears, before finally succumbing to exhaustion and taking a hot shower to soothe your emotions.

your face felt tight and slightly flushed as you made your way to the mirror. you examined your reflection, noticing the lingering redness in your eyes and the puffiness of your cheeks. even your voice seemed affected, carrying a hint of strain from the relentless sobbing that had consumed you.

it wasn't the news itself that hurt you. it was fine if gwen didn't have romantic feelings for you because it’s not like you’re entitled to her. if anything, you found relief in knowing that your friendship could still remain intact. but the way harry had delivered it to you was harsh and blunt, forcing you to confront things you hadn't even considered before.

to realize that gwen may have never seen you in a romantic light, not even once, left you feeling foolish. the most humiliating part was the possibility of misreading every interaction, every gesture, and every shared moment. and to learn from harry of all people that she had someone else all along made you question how long she had been interested in miles without ever mentioning it to you. although you had heard his name mentioned a few times, it had never crossed your mind that gwen had feelings for him. and it definitely didn’t cross your mind that they had been talking as of recently.

your phone began to ring, causing a pang of agony to surge through you. "please, let it be a scam call," you silently pleaded, yearning for a moment of solitude to process your thoughts.

reluctantly, you picked up the phone and turned it around to see the caller's identity. it was gwen. you felt conflicted as your stomach began to turn once again. on one hand, you longed to talk to her, driven by the depth of your feelings. but on the other hand, the internal embarrassment you felt made you want to avoid her at all costs.

summoning your courage, you swiped to answer the call. "hi," you whispered, your voice trembling as you tried to conceal any cracks.

there was a brief silence on the other end, and then gwen spoke with concern in her voice. "(y/n), are you okay? i tried texting you last night, but you didn't respond," she questioned.

"oh, um, yeah. i've just been having sleepless nights, so i went to bed early," you explained, attempting to brush off the previous night's emotional turmoil. "sorry bout’ that."

"are you sure everything's alright? it sounds like you've been crying," she pressed, genuine worry coloring her words. "if you need someone to talk to or if you want me to come over, just let me know. i’ll be there.”

"i'm fine. i wasn't crying, i literally just mentioned being tired," you replied, irritation seeping into your tone.

"i just want you to be honest with me. can i still come over? i have something i want to tell you," she mustered the courage to ask.

this was gwen's moment. she had been gathering her strength to speak to you about for so long, and now she was ready to make her request.

"yeah, sure. actually, i have something to tell you too," you added, your voice steadier now.

“okay, great- i mean good. i’ll see you later, okay?” she spoke, her voice cheery but a little nervous.

“see you later,” you replied, repeating it back to her as you hung up.

hours had past and it had only made you more anxious. what did she want to tell you? why wasn’t she here already?

you had already changed your clothes and fixed up your appearance to make yourself more presentable. you made sure to put some concealer under your eyes too to try and draw attention away from the puffiness and fading redness.

the knock at your door gave you a temporary relief from the anxiety of your mind as you went to go open it and greet gwen.

“hey,” she greeted, wrapping her arms around your waist and pulling you into a hug.

you hesitated for a moment, but you couldn’t resist the need to feel her touch. you wrapped your arms around her neck and pulled her closer. there was something so comforting about her touch and gentleness. you both pulled back as gwen stared deeply into your eyes. her hands drifted from the sides of your waist to the small of your back as both your eyes flicked over each other's features.

“are you gonna raid my fridge or wanna go straight to my room?” you asked, teasing her as you broke the unspoken tension between you two.

she giggled as a smirk appeared on her lips. she gave your back a gentle slap, “hey! and no thank you, i actually wanted to come talk to you about something that’s been on my mind,” she confessed.

“oh okay,” you said silently, leading her to your room.

gwen made herself comfortable as she plopped herself on your bed. she manspreaded her legs as she threw her head back against your wall, giving you a glimpse of her faint adam's apple before looking down at you. her hair had gotten longer since she shaved the sides, turning it into more of an undercut now as it framed her face beautifully. it was moments like these you remembered that gwen had equally good looks to match her personality. god, she was so breathtaking. her outfit was an oversized band hoodie that overlapped the tied flannel shirt around your waist, paired with black leggings and her signature teal converse.

"do you always have to take up all the space in my bed?" you asked, a hint of sarcasm in your voice as you placed your hands on your hips.

gwen responded with a playful groan, accompanied by a mischievous look. "oh please, there's plenty of room," she retorted, patting the empty space next to her, inviting you to join.

taking a deep breath, you couldn't resist the playful banter, and you sat down next to her, feeling a mix of excitement and nervousness.

"so?" you prompted, your voice filled with anticipation, hoping she would take the lead in the conversation.

gwen's hesitation lingered in the air, her gaze momentarily shifting away as she gathered her thoughts. "i don't know... i've been wanting to tell you this for a while now, and, well, with prom coming up..."

before she could continue, you blurted out your own news, interrupting her. "harry asked me to prom."

the sudden interruption hung in the air, momentarily breaking the flow of the conversation. the nervous smile on gwen's face dropped immediately, and she sat up, her eyes locked onto yours with intensity.

"he what?" she questioned, her voice low and raspy, almost demanding you to repeat yourself.

"harry came here yesterday with flowers and asked me to be his prom date," you explained, sensing gwen's anger starting to simmer.

"(y/n), are you being serious with me right now?" she asked again, slowly rising from the bed as her anger began to surface.

"why the hell would i make any of this up, gwen?" you responded, a touch of frustration in your voice. "he said that he's liked me for a long time and that all he's been thinking about is asking me to prom."

gwen was in shock. anger fueled her thoughts toward harry. could he really be plotting revenge against her like this? was it possible that he would go to such lengths?

"do you think you're the first person he's told that to? he's not what you think," gwen told you firmly, her voice tinged with hurt and anger.

your irritation grew. you couldn't understand why gwen was so angry when she already had a date.

"really? so what is he then?" you questioned, your voice matching her intensity as you stood up to meet her gaze.

"i'll tell you this, he isn't the damn saint you're making him out to be!" gwen exclaimed, her anger palpable. "he's an actor, and if he's got you so hooked with a ten-minute performance, he's probably next in line for an oscar."

you scoffed at her frustration. "you have no business being mad at me for this when you already have your own date. do you want to have your cake and eat it too? because i'm sorry to tell you this, but that's not gonna slide with me. i'm allowed to have fun and talk to whoever i want," you declared, standing your ground.

gwen's eyes furrowed, and she put a hand over her mouth, taking a deep exhale before turning back to you.

"what date? what the hell are you talking about?" she hastily asked.

"don't play with me, gwen. i heard about you and miles. if it's not supposed to be a secret, then why didn't you mention it at all?" you raised your voice, frustration evident.

confusion etched over gwen's face. "did obnoxious osborn tell you this? because it's all bullshit, and he's talking out of his ass. he's literally known for being a heartthrob and making out with random girls in our class under the bleachers. come on, you know better than this," she explained, her voice filled with a mix of frustration and concern.

“i said don’t play with me, i’m not here to listen to you act childish and sound like a psycho tryna rhyme his name with the first words you can think of from a kids vocab book,” you yellee, quicklime calming yourself down.

you took a deep breath, ready to finish this.

"do i know better?" you repeated, stepping closer to her. "you're always disappearing randomly and refusing to open up about it. you act one way and then another, and you give me so many mixed signals that i've had enough of it!"

it felt like everything was falling apart, like a chaotic mess that couldn't be unraveled. after years of friendship, it was collapsing before your eyes like dominoes.

"i can't talk about it, okay? i have my own stuff, and you've never pressed me to tell you anything about that, so i know that’s not the real reason you’re upset," gwen argued back, her voice strained. "the mixed signals are what i came here to talk to you about, (y/n). i... i don't want to be friends with you anymore!" she admitted, her vulnerability showing through.

the room fell silent, the weight of her words hanging heavily in the air. you took a couple of steps back, feeling the ground shift beneath you. is this what harry was talking about? no, you knew better than to trust him over gwen. but in this moment of vulnerability, the conflicting information dragged you in two different directions. was it true that she didn't want to be friends with you, as harry had tried to convince you, or did she see it entirely differently?

gwen put her hands over her face, gripping her hair out of frustration. she tried to step forward, reaching a hand out to you, but you refused, holding your ground.

"shit... (y/n), i didn't mean for it to come out like that," she attempted to explain, her voice choked with tears as she realized the intensity of the situation.

"leave," you told her, your voice stern and harsh.

"what? you can't be serious," she pleaded. "you don't seriously choose his word over mine, do you?"

"no! i just- i just can't do this right now, and i need you to leave," you replied, your voice filled with a mix of pain and frustration.

the room fell into an uneasy silence as gwen stared at you, her eyes wide reflecting her disbelief. slowly, she walked past you, tears streaming down her face as she looked down to avoid your gaze, and left without saying another word.

as the door closed behind her, you sank to the floor, feeling a heavy emptiness settle in your chest. the weight of the broken friendship added a weight onto you, and you couldn't help but question whether things could ever be the same again.

"you told her you didn't want to be friends anymore?" peter asked in disbelief as he leaned against a nearby locker, his eyes fixed on gwen.

gwen let out a frustrated sigh as she slammed her locker shut after putting her books inside, resting her back against it. "i didn't mean it like that, peter. i was just caught off guard. and to make matters worse, harry sabotaged everything," she explained, running her hands through her hair in frustration. "i never even saw it coming.

peter stepped beside her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze. "you know (y/n), gwen. she's smart and strong. she won't let harry manipulate her, and deep down, i think you know she doesn't have any real interest in him," he reassured her, urging her to have faith in your judgment.

gwen nodded, her eyes closing shut as she palmed her face. "i know, it's just... the thought of her with harry makes me physically sick," she admitted,

the image of you with someone else haunted gwen's thoughts. and knowing the person was harry, who didn’t even love or care for you, made it so much worse. she knew he could never love you the way she does. he was merely using you as a pawn in his little game, and it infuriated her that you were dragged into this one-sided fight.

"speak of the devil," peter muttered, gesturing for gwen to look down the hallway.

her eyes landed on you, engaged in a casual conversation with your friend liz allen. that was normal, but what wasn't normal was harry by your side, holding your hand as you strolled confidently down the hallway together. gwen's heart sank as she felt her tongue press against the inside of her cheek. he noticed her gaze and it only made his smirk grow.

“i'm gonna go with liz. see you later," you said to harry before walking away, leaving him with a warm smile

on his face.

"i'ii catch up with you later, baby," he replied, his tone affectionate as you disappeared into a nearby classroom.

gwen winced at the nickname, her inner cheek now bearing the marks of her biting down on it. she let out a deep sigh, her eyes still fixed on harry as he made his way over to her and peter.

"why the long face? the frown doesn't suit you," he taunted, trying to provoke a reaction from gwen.

and it worked.

gwen's frustration boiled over, and without hesitation, she grabbed harry by the collar and pushed him up against the wall, surprising him with her sudden burst of anger. the unexpected aggression caught harry off guard, eliciting a loud grunt from him.

"gwen, wait!" peter called out, attempting to intervene and calm her down.

“she’s not just some toy you can pick up and play with until you don’t need her anymore. she has nothing to do this with and you're seriously pathetic for going this low by dragging her into this just to get back at me,” gwen asserted.

harry let out a mocking laugh, trying to mask his surprise. he carefully chose his words, well aware that the hallways were empty at this time.

“but toys are meant to be played with by definition,” he said, his voice dripping with coldness. “does it make you mad when you see her with me? when i get to touch her the way you’ve wanted for so long and you couldn’t? you call me pathetic, but you couldn't even gather the courage to tell her how you feel. holding her hand made you shy away like a little girl," he retorted.

gwen yanked him forward before forcefully slamming him back into the wall. her eyes blazed with fierce determination. "you are the embodiment of pathetic, harry. this whole mess started because i don't like you, and guess what? that hasn't changed. you believe yourself to be sophisticated and superior to everyone else, but all you do is push others down to get yourself where you want to go. you disguise it behind the glamor and the clothes but behind it you’re just a lowlife with no real friends. you aren’t entitled to anybody or anything. and i guess since you’ve been spoiled all your life it’s up to me to teach you that no amount of money or charm will buy you dignity.”

taking a deep breath, gwen eased her grip on his collar, releasing him from her hold. “you think life is one big party and people are just trends you can skip over, but mark my words, you’re in for a rude awakening,” she stated.

"and what are you going to do?" he jeered, mocking her. what could she possibly do to free herself from the drama harry has ensnared her in, purely for his own sadistic pleasure of watching her life crumble?

"you'll see. but next time you dare to pull a stunt like this, remember who you're messing with," she warned, giving harry a menacing glare as she walked away, accompanied by peter.

gwen wouldn’t let harry get away with this. to her, this wasn’t about revenge, this was about you. this was about her doing right by you and treating you how you truly deserved to be treated. she was going to make sure you know exactly how she feels.

the day of prom had arrived, and the anticipation weighed heavily on your shoulders. it was evident that harry's focus lay not in the outfits you both wore, but rather in the desire to be seen with you. perhaps he aimed to stoke gwen's jealousy, to make her realize what she couldn't have.

as you slipped into your dress, its flattering silhouette accentuating your figure with an open back and slit, you couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness. the night you once eagerly anticipated now loomed before you with apprehension. the fallout between you and gwen had left a void, and the lack of communication had extended to peter as well. the thought of addressing the situation felt overwhelming, so you chose the path of avoidance, despite knowing deep down that it may not have been the wisest decision.

occasional conversations with peter only served to reinforce your initial doubts about harry. he told you that he was acting sketchy, his fight with gwen, and you also shared with him the things harry had told you in his little speech. you acknowledged the validity of those doubts, but a part of you couldn't help but harbor anger towards gwen. you longed for her to take the initiative, to approach you and express her true feelings. while you understood her struggle with vocalizing emotions, the prolonged silence of unspoken words and the feeling of being strung along intensified the tension between you. it was a painful realization that your feelings for gwen had no sign of fading away soon, yet they seemed to have no chance to blossom into something more either. the stagnation gnawed at your heart.

the internal conflict in your mind tormented you, a battle between your desire for gwen's love and the frustration of her fears.

as you stood in front of the mirror, the anxiety of the night filled the air. the sound of a car pulling up outside your home signaled the arrival of harry, who had graciously offered to be your escort for the evening.

taking a deep breath, you gathered your courage and made your way downstairs to meet harry. as you opened the door, he greeted you with a charming smile, his eyes momentarily flickering up and down your body.

“aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” harry stated as he leaned against your door frame. he wore all black which included his blazer and khaki’s, but instead of a button up he fancied himself in a matching black turtleneck. his shoes were equally dark oxford’s that he sported casually.

“who are you, someone’s grandpa?” you asked as a harsh tease.

all he did was chuckle in response, not sensing your bitterness toward him.

"ready for a night to remember?" harry asked, extending his hand to you.

you hesitated for a moment, torn between your heart and your mind. yet, you were in too deep and it felt all you could do now was seize the opportunity to make the best of your prom. you took harry's hand, allowing him to lead you towards the awaiting car.

stepping inside, you were immediately enveloped in luxury. the plush leather seats and the soft ambiance of the car created an atmosphere of opulence. as the vehicle glided through the city streets, you couldn't help but marvel at the passing lights and how beautiful new york looked transformed by the night sky.

you glanced absentmindedly at the raindrops trickling down the window, seeking solace in the gentle rhythm of the drizzle. it acted as a soothing distraction from the swirling thoughts that occupied your mind, thoughts that revolved around one person in particular— gwen.

harry, perceptive as ever, sensed the weight of your emotions.

"you know you made the right decision," he remarked as he edged closer to you, his voice having an untruthful undertone.

you gave him a glare from the side of your eye before turning to face him.

“why do you say that?” you questioned, growing frustrated with everything.

"well, with gwen, you would've never reached this point," he responded simply.

his words stung, it was a bitter realization, one that left a sour taste in your mouth.

a wry smile played on harry's lips as he reached out to adjust the corsage he had bestowed upon you, an accessory chosen not out of admiration, but as a symbol of his possession over you.

harry sensed your conflicted state and attempted to try and ease you up.

"i may have attended plenty of lavish events in this car since i was young," harry continued, a faint shadow of a smile dancing on his lips. "but tonight... tonight feels different with you."

the words echoed hollowly, devoid of the genuine emotions you had secretly yearned for. they were a stark reminder that beneath the glittering facade, harry's intentions were far from pure. you didn’t respond, instead you chose to nod at his words as you recognized you were near the school.

"here we are, mr. osborn," the driver announced, interrupting the tense atmosphere.

harry's face lit up with a triumphant gleam as he turned toward you, extending his hand. reluctantly, you accepted his hand, stepping out of the car, the light raindrops falling around you like a somber symphony. as you made your way towards the entrance, you steeled yourself, preparing yourself for whatever mess that you knew you were about to get into.

as you stepped into the prom venue, a wave of excitement washed over you. the energy was electrifying, with music bouncing off the walls and vibrant lights casting a kaleidoscope of colors across the room. the once crappy gym had been transformed into a breathtaking space, adorned with elegant decorations that made the room look so enchanting and full of life.

the makeshift dance floor was enticing, its polished surface gleaming invitingly under the soft glow of the overhead chandeliers. couples twirled gracefully, their movements synchronized with the rhythm of the music. laughter filled the air as friends greeted each other and took pictures.

the walls were adorned with cascading drapes and shimmering streamers, creating a whimsical backdrop. tables were meticulously arranged, adorned with centerpieces of flowers and flickering candles, adding a special touch to the scene. everywhere you looked, the place was alive.

the dj stationed at the center of the room skillfully curated a playlist that blended popular hits and timeless classics. the beats throbbed through the speakers, encouraging everyone to take to the dance floor and lose themselves into the night.

as you made your way further into the so-called venue, you caught glimpses of friends and classmates as they passed by. yet, still no sight of gwen.

as the hours ticked by, you found yourself consumed by an unexplainable longing to see her. the mere thought of seeing her again stirred a whirlwind of emotions within you, leaving you restless on the dance floor and yearning for her presence.

throughout the night, you caught fleeting glimpses of her, mere fragments that left you wanting more. your attention was drawn to the distinct elements that composed her captivating image. her hair, cascading in waves, held a hint of mystery, teasing you with its untamed elegance. the sight of her donning a black leather jacket ignited a sense of rebellious allure, adding an edgy touch to her.

your eyes traced the contours of her neck adorned with a black choker, layered with multiple necklaces, each one a reflection of her individuality. beneath the jacket, a pink dress peeked through, its front short and the back long, while a layer of dark purple added on top.

black knee-length tights hugged her legs and as your gaze descended, you couldn't help but notice the black boots that completed her look.

as you swayed to the music, engrossed in conversation with your friends, harry slipped out of your view, claiming he was going to fetch drinks for the two of you. he made his way to the drink table, where an array of drinks and desserts awaited.

with a hint of mischief, harry muttered to gwen, "oh, don't mind me, just getting a drink for me and my girl." he poured two glasses, a calculated move to incite a sense of jealousy, knowing that gwen had been watching your interactions throughout the night, longing to be the one by your side. “enjoying the night, hannah montana?”

gwen, determined not to let harry's words affect her, initially brushed off his comment. however, his persistent needling proved too much to ignore. "wow, that was the funniest thing you've said yet! you deserve some applause for that one," she retorted sarcastically, her hands mockingly clapping for his attempt at humor.

he smirked watching her get riled up as he took it upon himself to stand next to gwen. he moved closer to her side, leaning in to speak softly into her ear. “sad to think that you thought you’d have the last word in this all, gwen. after this it’s off to college. you really messed up your chances. not even just with (y/n), but with me. we could’ve had something, but you only really care about yourself, huh?” he turned around fully, holding his two drinks ready to leave. “this is it. i have the last word.”

that was enough to do it for gwen.

gwen reached her breaking point. the music slowed down, the dj's announcement filling the air, urging everyone to bring their partners to the dance floor. the crowd surged, people jostling for space, with a few girls even approaching harry for a quick dance, eager to bask in his wealth and fuel his ego.

this was her time.

"hey, we need to talk," gwen said, her grip tight as she grabbed your arm. startled, you looked up at her, surprised to see her so close, determination evident in her eyes.

"yeah, we do," you agreed, allowing her to hurriedly guide you both outside, away from prying eyes and the bustling prom.

as you stepped into the open, the light drizzle that had fallen earlier transformed into a gentle rain shower. the lobby glistened with moisture, and a soft breeze rustled through the nearby trees. gwen's hand tightened around yours, helping you stay stable amidst the slippery ground.

"gwen," you called out, tone laced with concern, but she continued walking, leading you to a secluded spot beside the school lobby. "gwen, enough! you need to talk too," you exclaimed, feeling the urgency mounting within you.

she paused, her hand covering her face momentarily, trying to rein in her frustration. "i need to talk? you didn't even let me explain myself last time, and then i saw you here with him," gwen said, her words pouring out rapidly as she fought to control her emotions. "but that's not why i wanted to talk to you now. look, harry asked me to the prom, and i said no... because i had planned to ask you," she revealed.

your eyes widened, a mixture of surprise and realization washing over you. you had suspected harry hadn't been entirely truthful, but the revelation that gwen had intended to ask you left you speechless.

"what?" you mouthed, struggling to find the right words. "so when you came to my house?" you managed to ask, your voice trembling.

"yes! i was going to ask you," gwen affirmed, feeling relief as you finally began to understand. "i love you, (y/n). you've been my best friend, but i've fallen in love with you. i've been losing sleep over it. you're always there for me, understanding in ways i've never experienced before, and it scares me. i didn't want to tell you because i didn't want to risk losing what we have. the thought of you saying no and jeopardizing our friendship stressed me out so much. i would have rather kept my feelings hidden if it meant i could still have you in my life. but now, i just want to face my fears and say, 'screw it,' because i meant every word that i told you when i went to see you. i don't want to be just your friend anymore, i want to be more."

a silence settled between you, interrupted only by the sound of raindrops cascading down gwen's jacket. tears welled up in your eyes as her words pierced through your heart.

"you like me?" you simply asked, your voice almost breaking.

"more than like," she chuckled softly, running a hand through her hair. "you have no idea."

slowly, you closed the distance between you, your fingers fidgeting with the corsage on your wrist. "i like you too, gwen. love, even," you confessed. "i felt so foolish, thinking there might be something between us. part of me believed it was all in my head, and then harry started messing with me, planting doubts that you would never be interested. it hit me hard, and that's why i went with him. i felt trapped, but i also wanted to see your reaction."

gwen's smile grew, and she gently placed her hand in yours, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "you wanted to see if i'd get jealous?" she inquired, curiosity dancing in her eyes, a small smile playing on her lips.

"yeah, i guess... i felt this thing between us at times, and it made me overthink. i thought that maybe, if you saw me with someone else, you would speak up. and if you didn't, well, it would be a win-win because at least i'd still have a date," you admitted, your voice tinged with regret. "i'm sorry. i shouldn't have treated you like this. i just get overwhelmed and scared when i don't think things are gonna work out, so i just avoided it all outta fear."

"don't apologize. both of us got caught up in harry's stupid revenge scheme," gwen said softly, her thumb gently caressing your knuckles.

in the quietude that enveloped you both, you found yourselves staring into each other's eyes. the moonlight filtered through the dark night sky, casting a soft glow upon gwen's features. she looked effortlessly beautiful, her blue eyes sparkling, and her hair framing her face. up close, you noticed the delicate touch of makeup—a rosy red on her lips and smokey eyeshadow with a hint of blue.

before you could fully comprehend your own actions, you leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss upon her lips. it was too quick for her to kiss back.

her eyes widened in shock and you felt her gasp against your lips. with the unspoken tension broken, there was no more denying the feelings that had been building between the two of you.

suddenly, gwen’s lips crashed against yours as her hands moved to grip your waist and hold you close. she melted into you, a moan escaping her lips as she pressed herself

against you and kissed you hungrily. the electricity between the two of you surrounded you, a silent understanding passing between you that changed the dynamic of friendship was changed forever.

gwen parted her lips away from yours as they brushed up against each other in the small distance.

her eyes softened, her gaze searching yours. "you deserve better," she said, her voice filled with conviction. "and i want to be the one who shows you that."

her hands massaged up and down your torso gently as your arms found their way around her neck. “you are better,” you whispered to her.

it was like you and a magnetism to you that gwen couldn’t fight as your words encouraged her to kiss you again. it was like a switch was flipped inside gwen. she'd never experienced something so electrifying before. feeling your lips against hers was pure passion. her heart raced with excitement as she let herself be swept along in the moment. when your lips met hers and your mouths filled with the taste of the other, gwen felt there was no more room for hesitation now, and the two of you were lost in an incredible kiss that couldn't be stopped.

"you don't need this anymore," gwen's voice came out in a hoarse whisper as she reached for the corsage on your wrist, the one harry had given you. her eyes lingered on the delicate blooms, appreciating their beauty for a fleeting moment. then, in one swift motion, she tore the corsage clean off your hand, her grip firm and unwavering. the force with which she removed it almost stung. gwen flung it far behind you, casting it away.

gwen pushed you lightly into a nearby wall, her hand cupping the back of your head so you wouldn’t get hurt by the impact. she wanted nothing more than to feel you against her, to have your arms wrapped around her as you kissed her again and again. her heart was starting to beat in her chest, and you could feel her breathing quicken.

but still gazing intently into your eyes and keeping her lips inches from your own, gwen briefly backed away. "i think harry's an idiot," she purred, her tone dripping with confidence.

she pulled you close again, her body pressed against yours as if she was trying to collide with you. "he doesn't know anything about you. you're the most amazing, incredible, sweet, adorable..." she paused, her heart racing. "perfect."

a drop of water landed on her nose and slid down her face, causing her to giggle. her radiant smile illuminated the moment, casting a spell of enchantment.

the weight of her words settled upon you, leaving you blissfully captivated. "perfect?" you repeated.

“so perfect, you don’t even have to try,” she replied, her eyes softening as she sees how flustered you get.

gwen leaned in and nibbled your lower lip as she bit the bottom teasingly, just to see how you'd react. "mmm, " she moaned, her eyes fluttering shut as she pressed her lips against yours again. you felt her lick on your lower lip as she cocked her head to the side to deepen the kiss. your body trembled as gwen's tongue pressed into your mouth. her hands reached out and drew you closer as she gently slipped past your playful resistance and explored your mouth.

her eyelids drifted shut as your tongue stroked hers. this was heaven for her, and your moans were like music to her ears. she ran her hand through your hair, her fingers gently brushing against the back of your neck as she continued to kiss you deeply and passionately. you could feel her other hand running slowly down your back, her fingertips gently trailing your spine. her kisses grew more frantic, her breathing becoming more rapid. all she wanted was you.

gwen felt your cool, plush thighs clamp around her leg as she slid it up between yours through the opening in your dress. her hands slid down your body, one moving past your legs and coming to rest on your thigh, giving it a tight squeeze as she began to knead at your skin while the other put a firm hand on your hips. you winced at the sensation of her hand rubbing between your thighs as the opposite hand pushed you down onto her leg. in all the excitement, she had pushed herself closer, now grinding against you as she tried to find some sense of relief.

with the rain, the kiss became even sloppier. your mascara started to drip and streak, and you could feel it on your lashes. your and gwen's lipsticks ended up mixing and smearing up against each other as you were both kissing. gwen broke away from your mouth and started laying a trail of kisses down your jaw, leaving faint red lip prints in their wake. her red rose tinted lipstick was now much more faint and messy around her lips.

gwen lowered her mouth to your neck and began lightly sucking and nibbling. you almost went weak in the knees from the stimulating sensation caused by her lips leaving open mouth kisses on the surface of your skin that reached your collarbone and the curve of your breasts.

“(y/n)?” you heard a voice call.

shit, it was harry.

“(y/n), are you out here?” he called out once more.

gwen lifted herself off your neck and straightened herself as she glanced up at you with half-lidded eyes. peering from behind the wall that offered a semblance of concealment, you saw harry discovering the discarded corsage gwen had ripped off your wrist. he knelt down, his gaze fixated on it.

gwen's eyes met yours, a mischievous glint dancing within them. despite your scolding look, she leaned closer to you, undeterred by the risk of being overheard.

"he's going to hear us, gwen," you warned, aware of the potential consequences.

"so?" she replied, a hint of defiance in her voice. "unless you care, because i don't. let him hear."

her audacity caught you off guard, your face flushing as she returned to your neck, this time biting down hard on your skin as you felt the blood rush to the concentrated spots. you were sure they were gonna bruise and turn purple later.

“gwen!” you gasped loud, quickly covering your mouth to muffle her name. she went on, and her unexpected senses caught you off guard.

you made every effort to make sure you weren't too loud for harry to hear, but it was difficult to keep your whines under control.

but gwen knew. when he heard mysterious noises, noticed your discarded corsage, and realized he hadn't seen her go back inside, gwen knew he was aware based on the way she noticed in the corner of her eye how his face twisted. he ultimately stood up and turned around as he headed back inside.

with a soft pop, gwen pulled away from your neck. she stared attentively at you as you were breathing heavily against the wall. it was a gaze that held the power to captivate, like a masterful musician surveying their latest composition. in that moment, you felt like a canvas, waiting to be explored and transformed by her artistic touch.

“perfect and beautiful,” she whispered to herself, her voice barely audible. “i’ve wanted to do that for so long- not the makeout and hickey thing. i mean, don’t get me wrong, i enjoyed it even if it moved a little fast but uh… the kiss part. i wanted to kiss you for a while to see how it felt.”

even though gwen was touching you and whispering sweet nothings in your ear with complete confidence, you grinned at how nervous she had become. wrapping your arms around yourself, you shivered slightly, the rain casting a chill upon you.

“you’re cold? hold on,” gwen's concern was immediate as she swiftly removed her leather jacket and draped it over your shoulders. “here, much better than getting hypothermia.”

you chuckled at her teasing as you felt her cheeks heat up. "thank you," you whispered, hugging her briefly.

she smiled down at you, admiring how you looked in her clothes. "no need to thank me. you look stunning in it," she complimented, a mischievous smirk gracing her lips.

as you emerged from your hiding place, she seized your hand.

“what do we do now?” you asked her.

gwen turned to you, a rebellious glint in her eye. “well, i’m over this prom thing,” she admitted as she pulled you closer, her hand releasing from yours to wrap her arm around your waist and hold you snugly against her side. “wanna get outta here?” she asked.

a smile played on your lips as you nodded in agreement. "yes, let's do it," you replied.

just as you both contemplate your next move, your phone vibrates, signaling a new message.

“don’t tell me it’s him,” she groaned as you nodded, confirming her suspicion.

she extended her hand, silently requesting your phone. "can i?" she asked, her eyes gleaming mischievously.

handing her your phone, you watched as gwen opened the camera app and positioned it in front of both of you. "smile!" she declared, capturing the moment with a click. the picture was you smiling as gwen held you jaw gently, planting a kiss on your cheek.

with the photo now saved on your phone, gwen's mischievous side took over. she swiftly navigated through your messages until she found harry's name. grinning devilishly, she selected his contact and attached the newly taken photo.

"just gonna let him know you won’t be coming back," gwen remarked, her voice full of wicked delight. without hesitation, she composed a short message to accompany the photo, her fingers dancing across the screen.

harry : (y/n) where did you go? you missing out sent at 8:53

you : hey harry, it’s gwen. she’s a little busy right now.

you : me and (y/n) are kinda over this prom night so we decided to do our own thing so i promise you we won’t be missing much. hope you enjoy the photo tho!! sent at 9:00

"there you go," gwen told you as she giggled to herself. "let's see how he likes that."

‘it feels good to be petty’ she thought, handing your phone back. the sky stretched out above, an expanse of darkness that seemed to swallow the world below. it was a canvas painted in shades of ebony and indigo, adorned with the twinkling jewels of distant stars. the rain had dampened her hair, causing it to cling to her forehead in an alluring fashion.

“so, my place? i have food,” she suggests, a smirk forming at the corners of her mouth.

you laughed at how casual it was. you two, ready to go to prom and dressed up, would now rather just go to her house and eat whatever leftovers she had to offer.

"wow, how fancy," you jested, your tone filled with playful sarcasm. "please, take me anywhere but here."

together, you left, leaving behind the glitz and glamor of prom and harry’s drama to finally have the night you and gwen deserved. as you stepped away from the whirlwind of glittering lights and laughter, you felt a wave of comfort wash over you in her presence. for just an instant, the weight of the world seemed to lift from your shoulders. although you had fully anticipated having the most miserable prom and an even worst summer, you were now fully content. you had gwen, and that was all you could ask her.

she was just glad she could steal you back faster than he took you.

A/N: it’s finally here….😽😽

287 notes · View notes