promdate!jeno takes your hand in his as the final song of the night begins to echo into the bustling venue. he turns to grip your waist tenderly as you drape your arms around his neck, avoiding the other dancers as you both still try to sway in time with the music. as the music goes on, you catch jeno’s eyes always lingering on your lips before he chuckles softly, turning away when he notices your gaze upon him. you can’t help but notice how beautiful jenolooks under the dimmed glare of the lights shining upon the both of you and he does too. he finds himself letting out a quiet sigh whenever he looks at you. out of all the other dancers here, he thinks you look the prettiest out of all of them. when the song starts to slow down, you press your painted lips against his, leaving the ever so faint mark of your lips on his when you pull away. you both giggle to yourselves softly before jenoplaces his lips upon yours, savouring the taste your lips as he starts to pull you ever so closer. you think to yourself as he places his hands upon your cheeks, that this was a night to remember.
you feel yourself become filled with an almost childish glee when bestfriend!marksuggest for you two to go on the ferris wheel together with the last two tickets you have to wrap up the day spent at the amusement park together. hand in hand you step into a pale blue cabin as you watch the cotton candy skies with a bright wonder in your eyes. you point out different shapes of clouds, remarking on how the little lion-shaped one reminded you of mark. he smiles shyly at your comment, his gaze meeting yours for a split second before returning to the sky ahead of the both of you. you could feel your heart start to race a bit faster from his warm eyes meeting yours. as the ferris wheel starts to slow down, you feel a slight tap on your shoulder coming from mark. you turn towards him, puzzled before he places a tender kiss upon your lips. you feel yourself pause at the sudden feeling of his soft lips against yours while you were registering that mark lee, your best friend of nine years and that you hopelessly pined in those said nine years, was in fact kissing you. you felt your heart suddenly race and your stomach flutter as you gave into his touch, his hands slowly cupping your face. you could feel your cheeks burn up furiously and you were almost certain your knees would have given out if you weren’t seated. when you two parted lips, your face still cupped in his hands, he smiles softly at you before he utters quietly under his breath.
“what are you so happy for?” you ask jaeminas you two lie tangled under a blanket, watching the stars twinkle from the comfort of your apartment window. you feel his arms tighten around your waist, pulling you closer to him. “nothing really,” he replies, placing a soft kiss to the side of your neck. “it’s just that i get to wake up to an angel every morning.”jaeminwhispers as his thumb rubs your exposed cheek. you mutter “go to sleep, you sappy dork.” as he giggles softly before placing another tender kiss upon your lips. jaeminfinds himself cuddling closer to him as you both fall asleep in each other’s arms.
y/n’s eyes focused back on her surroundings when she noticed the golden hues painting around her room behind her phone.
her and haechan had stayed in for a lazy day and were just spending some quiet time. when the time had passed she had no idea.
a relaxed smile pulled at her lips as she lazily turned towards her left, wondering what haechan was doing. the boy had been awfully quiet; and although she knew sometimes the obnoxiously loud haechan could also be calm haechan, it was absolutely not in his nature not to cuddle up to her during their usual silent evenings.
her smile widened as her eyes rested on a sleeping angel. he was lying on his side, one hand under his cheek and the other between his knees.
his clear skin being kissed by the setting sun made him shine as bright as the sun he was named after.
knowing how much of a deep sleeper he was she didn’t think twice before turning to her side fully and resting her palm on his jaw. her thumb swiped at his cheek, before it ran lightly along his eyelashes. his bottom lip being the next target as she just admired his beauty.
she took a deep breath as she shuffled a bit closer and raised her self up to softly press her lips to his forehead, peaking through his parted hair.
haechan took a deep breath in as he blindly reached out, with the hand that was trapped between his knees, tapping the sheets in front of his stomach before his hand bumped against her elbow. he shuffled closer, and as he did he pushed her back until her back was flat against the bed again. a soft laugh left her lips.
“what are you doing?” she giggled as he wrapped one leg around her hips and his arm around her stomach. he just groaned before he settled and sighed.
“keep doing what you were doing,” he whispered, voice groggy and y/n laughed before grasping his face in her hands again. she waited a second for his body to relax against hers before-
“AHHHH YOU CRAZY WOMAN LET ME GO!” he wailed as she squeezed his cheeks all of a sudden.
y/n cackled loud as he scrambled away, eyes horrified, before soft laughs escaped him too. the look of pure happiness in her face warming his chest.
as the two looked at each other, in the golden hours of the day, they fell in love with each other a little bit harder.
haechan didn’t think twice to shuffle towards her when she opened her arms. his own wrapping around her as she cuddled her arms around his shoulders.
his nuzzled his head under her chin as she pressed small kisses to his hair.
“i love you,” she sighed and he hummed, the soft squeeze of his arms at her words letting her know he loved her just the same.
synopsis: a misunderstanding drives jaemin away from the only person that he should’ve trusted. when reality slaps him in the face he feels miserable and tries to win his love back. or something of the sort lol
characters: Jaemin, Main Character, Jeno, and a bit of Haechan, Renjun, Chenle, Mark and Jisung.
pairing: boyfriend!jaemin x f.maincharacter
genre: angst angst angst and fluff
word count: 7k (fucking hell it’s THAT long?) sorry lmao
warnings: none
author’s note: this took way too long to finish jfvamejgf but i really couldn’t come up with a good enough ending. or more like i couldn’t write down what i wanted to write lol but i finally finished it heheh i hope you like it and it satisfies the wait i made you go through lol
the many things people told him echoed in his head. the dimmed lights of his studio room and the slow, low beat of the music not doing much to brighten up his mood.
she’s being too friendly with that one friend of yours, don’t you think?
he’s warming up too much to her.
watch out, you wouldn’t want someone to whisk her away from you, she is a bit naive, she could be affected too easily.
and it would all have fallen to deaf ears, because he was never one to let anyone talk about his personal life, only if one of his closest friends hadn’t said something.
“jaem,” jeno’s voice made jaemin turn to his friend. jeno looked around to their other friends before figuring out they wouldn’t let what he was going to say out of the circle.
“yeah,” jaemin smiled at jeno, remnants of his laugher from what renjun was saying. jeno cleared his throat still unsure how to approach the topic.
as soon as the news reached his ears he had searched for his friend. he was unsure of the news but he figured jaemin could always ask y/n and they would solve things if it were to be lies. what jeno didn’t know at the time was all the other stuff jaemin had heard.
“listen,” jeno started, tongue darting out to wet his dry lips, “i.. people are saying some stuff and i-,” he cleared his throat again, in nervousness, “i thought i should let you know. i don’t think they are true at all! but… one can never be too sure, right?” he asked, voice unsure as his eyes darted to meet jaemin’s. the latter’s brows furrowed in confusion, wondering what the hell jeno was talking about and he was just about to ask when he continued.
“in case it’s wrong then you guys can always just clear it out but i heard this from someone close and thought i would let you know either ways,” jeno’s hand scratched his neck in nervousness.
“just fucking say it, oh my god,” chenle huffed, impatient with the suspense the older was building up.
“i swear to god, if you say something like a joke,” haechan warned, mark snorting.
“i’m serious, just,” jeno groaned, wondering why he had to be the one to break the news.
“just tell me, jeno,” jaemin smiled and jeno felt the already heavy load on his shoulder get 20 kgs heavier. he took a deep breath. all in one go, he thought, just like a band aid.
“y/n is cheating on you.”
and jaemin’s world fell apart.
everyone could have been wrong but jeno? could jeno be wrong too?
silence. total silence followed as jaemin’s smile fell and his eyes stared ahead to jeno but not really.
he thought about y/n, thought if he could picture her doing anything like than and the answer came right away, even before he finished his thought. no. just no. she could never. but they always said it’s the people you least expect it from. but y/n? she could never… right?
“what the fuck are you talking about?” it was mark who had spoken, the defensive tone evident in voice as he did nothing to mask it and jeno looked away from jaemin’s eyes to the eldest.
“y/n could never, she’s not like that,” renjun chuckled drily, in disbelief.
“jeno, are you sure about this?” haechan raised a hand in front of him to assess the grave situation.
“that’s what i said. i heard this from someone who’s reliable, i can’t say who, though.”
jaemin cleared his throat catching everyone’s attention. he gulped the lump in his throat before he looked around the group.
“i’ll handle this, don’t worry.”
that was all he said but even if he sounded calm and collected, his eyes said a different story, and his clenched jaw showed a different side of the coin. and as much as they wanted to believe he would handle it with care with y/n, they saw the storm coming even before he did. because jaemin’s eyes were on fire, he was aflame. and that uncertainty he had before had just been consumed with jeno’s confirmation. jaemin’s tipping point was reached. as he turned to walk away a hand grasped his arm.
“jaemin,” it was jisung, jaemin waited for him to go on.
“she would never do that.” was all he said.
the ding of his phone’s notification brought him back from the memory. he reached out to his phone deciding this could no longer be avoided. he was determined enough. with these thoughts running in his head he dialed y/n’s number and pressed the phone to his ear.
“hello? jaem?” she answered, and he sighed because how could she sound so angelic, and how was he supposed to confront her when he felt his heart tighten just by her voice. he sucked up the weakness he felt for her when she called out his name again.
“hey, where are you?” he asked softly, but no matter how much he tried to conceal it, the coldness in his voice seeped through.
“i’m at the cafe near my apartment with kyunhae,” she giggled and at the mention of the name jaemin saw red. what the fuck was she doing with him?
“when will you be done? i need to talk to you,” he deadpanned, voice colder than y/n had ever heard and she felt at alert right away. why was he talking like that?
“jaem?” wonder laced her voice as she silently asked what was up but jaemin said nothing.
“it’s urgent,” he specified and y/n had asked him to pick her up right away, sensing something was wrong. and jaemin was left confused to stare at his phone again.
how long are you gonna pretend you care about me? why are you doing me this dirty? why are you faking caring about me?
with those thoughts he had gotten up, whisked his jacket from behind his bedroom door and out of the house he was.
as he drove through the streets he tried to think again, he tried to figure out again if she could really have cheated on him. he was desperate for it to be a lie but then again, jeno had confirmed it, hadn’t he?
could the girl that held him so tightly when they slept, cheat on him? could the girl he grew to love so much do this to him? how could she even think about it when she cried during children’s movies, had ice cream cravings out of nowhere, cried in his arms, clinging to him when he had almost fainted from low blood pressure, helped him stand back on his feet whenever he was sick, babying him through the whole process. how could she cheat on him when she kissed him so softly, as if he was the most precious thing she had, when she held him so close as he murmured sweet nothings in her ears, when she looked at him with so much love when he smiled, when right as he laughed he would look over at her and she would be staring at him. her excuse? she loved seeing him happy. how could the same person that confessed her love for him in between shallow breaths, gasps and whines as he made her feel good be the same person to cheat. how could she make him feel so loved and so important if it was all fake.
it took him a total of twenty minutes to reach the cafe. he parked the car outside as he texted y/n he was out front. he waited for her leaned against the side of his car.
the door to the entrance to the cafe opened and y/n walked out first, face turned behind her as she laughed with kyunhae. jaemin’s hands balled into fists as he watched the interaction, the anger swam in his veins as he watched y/n collide her fist against his in a fist bump before calling out a text me later.
y/n turned out front to jaemin and the way her eyes seemed to genuinely spark up in bright stars as soon she saw him had his heart clenching in pain. how long have you been mastering this act? how can you look this genuine?
“hi, handsome,” she gushed as she pressed her chest to his, arms wrapping around his neck as she pressed a soft kiss to his jaw. jaemin gulped, eyes trained to her relaxed expression, eyes closed and a soft smile on her lips as she hugged him standing on her tippy toes. his arms shoot out out of habit as they went to wrap around her waist before his hands hovered over her frame. he couldn’t do it. he couldn’t pretend everything was okay.
as y/n didn’t feel jaemin hug her back she pulled away slowly, her eyes looking up at him as her arms slowly fell away from him.
“jaem?” she softly called him and his eyes met hers, cold as ever. her hand raised to rest on his cheek in affection but before she could touch his skin, his fingers wrapped around her wrist and stopped her in her tracks. y/n’s brows furrowed in confusion.
“let’s go,” he simply said as he stepped away and opened the passenger seat door for her, y/n looked at him for a few seconds more as he looked to the side and waited for her to get in, so she did.
the silence was eating y/n alive as she fidgeted with her fingers, suspecting something was wrong. she raked her brain, wondering if she did or said anything wrong but it all came empty.
“jaem?” she tentatively called for him. jaemin waited for a few seconds before he hummed in acknowledgement, but even that small sound seemed cold, colder than he had ever been.
“is something wrong?” she softly asked, hand reaching out to grasp his and intertwining their fingers before resting it on her lap. but as soon as the back of his hand rested against her jeans clad thigh he shook off her hand to grasp the wheel again.
she sat frozen, eyes trained where their hands were, her hand still in her lap the same way he had shook it off. what did i do so bad? she wondered.
“i’m driving,” came his excuse but she knew something else was up. he had never rejected her touch like this.
“if something is wrong please tell me, i’ll help you,” she shook off the hurt before turning to him and sending a small smile, eyes pleading, but jaemin stared ahead, silent.
a few minutes later jaemin parked the car in his apartment building garage before swiftly getting out and waiting for y/n. it took her a few seconds before she was out too. they made their way to the elevators. the elevator came, they got in, and it went up to jaemin and his friend’s apartment floor. all in silence.
jaemin walked in first, leaving the door open for y/n. as she closed the door behind her she made eye contact with jisung. the boy smiled warmly at the girl and stepped towards her.
“oh! didn’t know you were coming over, want some?” he raised the hot pot of ramen, seemingly on the way to his room, and y/n smiled shaking her head as she took her shoes off.
“i ate, but thank you,” she smiled warmly and jisung threw her a thumbs up before walking to his room and closing the door.
y/n walked into the apartment looking around for which way jaemin went before her eyes fell on his seated figure in the living room. everyone seemed to be in their own rooms apart from mark, who stood in the kitchen.
“hey,” he waved, a warm smile on his lips before his eyes shifted jaemin and his smile dimmed a bit, y/n waved back.
she shuffled towards jaemin, still confused as to what happened.
“jaemin?” she called for him, his head snapped her way before he slowly stood up.
“do you have anything to tell me?” he asked and y/n thought hard and careful if she had forgotten anything but came up with nothing so she timidly shook her head, hands picking at the border of her tshirt. the one that belonged to jaemin.
“did i forget anything?” she murmured, head low as she felt guilty for forgetting something that affected him so much.
“you have nothing to tell me?” he repeated, a scoff following and y/n looked back up at him, her brows furrowed.
“okay, let me ask you this,” he said, hands resting on his hips as he looked up at the ceiling. mark watched, debating whether he should leave or not, but then choosing against it, someone had to try and do damage control.
“what is kyunhae to you?” at the new question y/n’s brows furrowed even more.
“jaem what are you reaching at?” she asked, confusion eating her alive. jaemin’s eyes sent daggers her way and she realized that she never wanted to have that gaze on her ever again.
“answer my question; what. is. kyunhae. to. you?” he asked again, emphasizing his words. the agitation clear in his voice as he ran a hand through his hair. mark stepped into the living room area.
“jaemin, chill,” he tried to calm the younger and prevent him from saying anything he would regret later. this wasn’t how he thought jaemin would handle things.
“why can’t she just answer?!” jaemin exclaimed. the more she delayed her answer the more anger rose in him. her lips quivered seeing a jaemin she had never seen. he had never talked to her like that, with so much hartred.
“he’s just a friend! that’s all! why are you asking me that!” she answered, her voice a notch higher as she felt attacked. the way he talked to her made her feel defensive. she had never felt attacked by him and she was scared, she didn’t know what happened, why he was acting like that. but no matter how naive she was she wasn’t stupid.
she heard what people said about her, she knew things reached jaemin’s ears in the past and she had done everything in her power to show him he was the only person she loved, only person she cared about. that he was her everything, her all. she had gifted him with a matching promise ring, to reassure him that she was his, always will be. she had told him not to listen to anyone, only her. she loved him, she really did. that’s why she always told him when she would be out with kyunhae, she wanted him to know that whenever he needed it she will drop him and come running to jaemin. because jaemin was her priority. she had told him about meeting him today too but jaemin had forgotten it seems.
“then why the fuck do i hear different things?” he all but screamed and y/n stood frozen on her spot, scared. he had never raised his voice at her, much less in the process of accusing her of anything.
“i swear jaem,” her voice came out in a trembled whisper as jaemin breathed heavily, “none of it is true, i swear,” she pleaded, her eyes stinging in desperation. she needed him to believe her.
“you’re lying,” he shook his head, an empty chuckle leaving his lips as he threw his head back in disbelief and anger, “you’ve been lying for who knows how long,” he muttered and y/n’s brows furrowed, offended.
“i have never lied to you,” she breathed out, before she remembered mark standing nearby. she took two quick steps towards him, taking a hold of his hand softly, “jaem, let’s talk about it in your room, okay? let’s solve this,” she pleaded as she softly pulled his hand but jaemin snatched his arm away from her.
“no,” he shook his head, “we’re gonna do it here, so you can’t lie to me anymore,” his voice rose as he pointed around him and y/n’s eyes blurred in frustration and hurt. how could he be like this.
“jaem what has gotten into you?” she asked, voice a tremble as the first tears threatened to spill, “please, i don’t want to lose you, let’s calm down and talk about this,” she pleaded again.
“if you didn’t want to lose me you should’ve thought about it before you cheated on me!”
y/n felt her heart break at his words, she felt like he had pushed her off of a building, she felt like the ground was snatched from under her feet and she was left falling into the void. the emotion swam in her expression.
“what’s going on?”
mark’s head snapped towards renjun and haechan’s figures as they stepped out of their rooms and into the living room, eyes widened in alarm shifting from y/n to jaemin and then to mark.
mark shook his head. the three looked at y/n, her emotions set on her face and they knew right away they had the whole situation wrong. jaemin had it wrong.
she didn’t look alarmed, caught in the act or guilty, she looked down right betrayed, hurt, and deceived.
“i did nothing of the sort, jaemin,” her voice came out offended, disbelief swimming in her tone.
“jaem,” haechan walked in front of his friend, partially blocking y/n’s view, “that’s enough, calm down,” he muttered lowly, only jaemin hearing him. jaemin shook his head as he pushed haechan away softly.
“no, i need to know why,” he insisted, “why would you do that to me? why not just tell me?” he asked again.
“i didn’t do anything! i understand you heard it somewhere but hell, jaemin, at least ask me before you assume the worst!” she exclaimed her arms raising and dropping by her sides.
“and you’re still fucking lying to me!” he raised his voice again in exasperation.
“i have no reason to lie to you! why are you saying all this to me? how could i ever do that to you, jaem?” her voice grew quiet at the end, just the thought of his implications finally sending the tears tumbling down her cheeks. jaemin scoffed.
“exactly, how could you do that to me?! all i ever did was treat you with care, i always put you first!” he countered again, the vein in his neck popping.
“jaem, you’re not listening to me, please, just listen to me,” she pleaded a sob escaping her lips as she stepped closer t him, her hands grasping his cheeks in desperation for him to look at her eyes, to believe her, “i love you, i would never ever do anything like that, please trust me, let them all be, just trust me.”
but jaemin took a hold of her hands and let them fall in between them.
“what if it’s someone close to me that told me,” he scoffed stepping away.
“jaemin don’t,” renjun interfered, standing in front of y/n, blocking her completely from jaemin’s eyes.
“just go home y/n,” jaemin shook his head as his fingers ran trough his hair and he turned away.
“yah, you’re exaggerating,” mark called him out and jaemin threw him a glance.
“then why bring me here? why do this in front of everyone when you could’ve done that when you met me, why this whole thing?” she asked quietly. she didn’t know what she felt, she didn’t know who this person in front of her even was.
she understood jaemin, she really did. hearing so many things from so many people must’ve played with his head, she understood it. but fucking hell she wished he had talked to her about it, about all of it. she wished he didn’t lash out on her, she wished he had just remembered who she was and how much she loved him. she was a person too, wasn’t she? she could get hurt too, right?
when jaemin didn’t answer she hurriedly turned around, making her way to the door. she fleetingly saw the youngest two silently standing in front of their door at the commotion but she paid no mind to that. all she wanted was to go away. y/n felt so lost, so betrayed; why didn’t he believe her? why didn’t he just askher?
“y/n wait-” haechan tried to call back the girl but she was already out of the door, quickly walking to the elevator and pressing repeatedly on the button.
“fucking hell jaem, is this how you planned to handle it? really?” renjun scolded the black haired guy. jaemin sat on the couch, head in his hands and eyes brimming with tears. suspiciously all their phones dinged one after the other. chenle and jisung looking at each other in confusion as they were the only ones to notice.
mark ran out of the apartment slowly coming to a stop in beside of y/n. she kept her head down, tears dripping on the floor from the tip of her nose as she sniffled.
“y/n,” mark took a hold of her elbow, “wait for a second, you can’t leave alone. it’s late, I’ll take you home, hmm?” he tried to persuade her softly, careful not to be too loud. but she shook her head.
“thank you, but i need to be alone,” she whispered, her shoulder shaking as she took in a harsh breath. mark’s eyes softened.
“let me call you an uber, at least?” he offered again, hand caressing her hair in affection but she shook her head again.
“I’ll be okay,” she muttered as the doors to the elevator dinged and opened. y/n took a step forward before coming to a stop when another pair of shoes came into her view, she stepped aside muttering a sorry.
“oh, y/n..?” jeno’s voice was surprised, his phone held on his hand and his eyes wide. he looked at mark, who held the most disappointed look on his face, brows furrowed. jeno looked back at y/n in confusion.
she looked up at his voice and the sight of her wet cheeks, red nose and swollen eyes sent an alarm to jeno. his eyes widened as he stammered.
“fuck, y/n, I’m so sorry- i didn’t know-” jeno was at a loss of words as realization dawned on y/n and she smiled bitterly.
“it’s okay,” she simply said as she walked into the elevator and waited for the doors to close.
-
jaemin looked up as mark and jeno walked into the apartment, just at the same time as jisung and chenle stumbled out of their rooms, phone grasping in their hands.
“hyung, you gotta see this,” chenle shoved his phone into jaemin’s face. the latter took in a deep breath, taking the phone from the younger.
“jaem,” jeno muttered, eyes remorseful, “i’m so sorry,” he solemnly muttered out, and jaemin furrowed his brows in confusion before looking at the screen of chenle’s phone.
under the instagram picture, written in bold letters, the words “SHE SAID YES” and the small line underneath “thank you y/n for helping me make it even more memorable” were mocking him. and as jaemin ran his fingers through his hair for the nth time that evening and gripped his roots in a vice like grip, his eyes scanned the picture. the picture of kyunhee and who he assumed was his fiancé now. jaemin felt like the biggest idiot in the planet.
-
so as y/n helped kyunhee with the preparations of his engagement party with the biggest smile she could muster up, the happiness she painted on didn’t quite reach her eyes. jaemin had tried again and again to contact her but y/n made it a point to ignore all his texts and all his calls, only using her phone when extremely needed.
she helped her dear friend through the whole process, never missing a beat to tell him and the lucky girl how proud she was of them both.
kyunhee felt guilty taking her help, so much so that y/n had screamed at him to not give her the pity look. she had explained that she needed the distraction and after much thought he let her handle whatever she wanted.
he told himself if he ever came face to face with jaemin he would’ve made him taste his fist, but he knew they would resolve their misunderstanding. of course they would, they loved each other infinitly after all.
y/n was surprised when two days after the break up her mother came knocking on her door. at first she had thought jaemin had called her and as soon as she was about to send her mother away, the older woman had told, “i knew something wasn’t right, i could feel it.” and so y/n had her dearest mother at her apartment, making sure she got the energy she needed and she ate well.
jaemin on the other hand was lost. completely lost. he beat himself up for how he had talked to y/n, he scolded himself for not having talked it out. he regretted not listening to her when she was asking for him to listen.
he tried calling her a thousand times. he tried texting her from the boys’ phones and every time he would let a dry laugh out when she would reply “tell jaem i don’t want to speak.” he knew his girl knew him too well and he felt worse every time because how did he let go of her? what an idiot.
so it was with a heavy heart and jaw clenched in embarrassment that jaemin was standing in front of a building, waiting for the one he misunderstood. truth be told, he was nervous, for what he still didn’t know but he had a hunch.
“jaemin,” a voice pulled him out of his thoughts and jaemin turned to his right to come face to face with a poker face kyunhee. he cleared his voice, holding out his hand for a handshake.
“hey, i hope i didn’t mess up your schedule, i can only imagine how busy you are,” jaemin smiled a tight lipped smile. kyunhee stared at him for a second before deciding to be cooperative for y/n’s sake. he grasped jaemin’s hand and gave it a firm shake before letting go.
“you technically did,” he sighed, jaemin’s brows furrowed, a confused sound leaving his lips, “mess up my schedule. i had an appointment i had to cancel,” kyunhee said, arms crossing over his chest. jaemin blinked for a few seconds before muttering a soft sorry in embarrassment. silence fell upon the two guys. kyunhee’s eyes stayed put on jaemin’s wavering ones. he could practically see the wheels turning in the black haired guy.
“what the hell are you guys doing?” kyunhee sighed then. jaemin’s eyes snapped on him, eyes wide in alarm.
“i-i’m very sorry for misunderstanding your intentions. i really am,” jaemin blabbed, kyunhee rolled his eyes.
“why are you apologizing to me when the person you should apologize to is somewhere else?” kyunhee asked as a matter of fact.
“she doesn’t want to talk to me,” jaemin whispered, eyes looking away and jaw clenching. kyunhee scoffed catching jaemin’s attention again.
“yeah no shit she doesn’t,” the newly engaged one spat out and jaemin let out a humorless snicker, head nodding.
“you acted like a total dick to her, i don’t even know how she hasn’t blocked you yet,” kyunhee shot again and jaemin listened, for he knew he deserved it. the former’s eyes softened for a second at jaemin’s obvious miserable eyes, before hardening again.
“oi, dickhead,” he called jaemin, foot kicking at his shin, jaemin ducked to hold his shin out of instinct, eyes snapping up in despair.
“oi! what was that for?” he called.
“i won’t tell you to go to her place and beg for forgiveness, because quite frankly, that’s not going to work,” kyunhee deadpanned and jaemin nodded, hanging to his every word.
“give her time, jaemin, she’s hurt,” he continued.
jaemin stared at the floor at his feet as he thought. guilt enveloping him in its arms as usual these days. he took a deep breath again and looked up at his girlfriend’s friend, he offered a small smile.
“thank you, really,” jaemin muttered, genuine gratefulness in his voice, “for holding her up, i know it should’ve been me but i’m glad she has a friend like you, i’m really sorry again.”
“it’s okay, don’t worry about it. just think about what kind of pose you need to hold when you’re begging on your knees for her forgiveness,” kyunhee bit back in a lighter tone, feeling weird about all the formality. jaemin snorted the real smile in a while, grateful kyunhee got rid of the heavy serious air around them.
“congratulations on your engagement, by the way,” jaemin clapped the side of kyunhee’s arm and the latter thanked him, before a thought hit him and his eyes squinted as he looked at jaemin.
“uhhh why are you looking at me like that?” the black haired one asked, an unsure tone to his voice.
“you know what? why don’t you…”
-
“the place looks so pretty!” y/n turned to her mother with a proud smile as the older woman looked around the engagement party venue with sparkling eyes, “you did a great job, love,” she turned to y/n and lovingly caressed her face.
“thank you, mom,” y/n giggled, her hand grasping her mom’s as they made their way through the crowd.
the venue was decorated in hues of white and lilacs, the stage at the front of it was decorated with fresh flowers and thin branches giving it a very fresh look.
her eyes lit up when she saw her dear friend and his fiancé in the distance.
“let’s go say hi to kyunhee,” she told her mother as they made their way towards the couple.
-
it was thirty minutes later, when y/n was enjoying her time with a few friends and their families that the murmurs started.
at first y/n didn’t pay any attention to it because who cares if a handsome guy was at the party, she was already taken. well. not anymore, but that didn’t change the fact that her heart lay where jaemin was.
so imagine her surprise when she turned around to look around the place and her eyes fell on none other than the handsome guy everyone was talking about. na jaemin.
as soon as their eyes met y/n’s head snapped towards kyunhee a few meters away, talking to another guest, and the piece of shit had the audacity to smile at her and throw a wink before returning his eyes to the guest.
jaemin slowly came to a stop beside her, back as straight as a wooden plank, shoulders tense. he threw a tight lipped smile around the few people surrounding him as he greeted them.
“jaemin dear?” y/n’s mother’s eyes sparked up in adoration and y/n smiled softly at the scene as her mom engulfed a chuckling jaemin in her arms, hands grasping his face softly as she gushed over him.
“how long it has been, love, how are you?” she asked and jaemin chuckled before patting her back and stood back up straight to look at her.
“too long, sorry i couldn’t come to say hi sooner, i was stuck with all the assignments i pushed back,” he apologized, ever the gentleman and y/n’s eyes stung a bit as she blinked.
“ahh you study so well, but don’t neglect your health,” she smiled again as she hugged him tighter and jaemin nodded hugging her back. what he didn’t expect was the words the older woman whispered in his ear as she pulled away.
“make things right, love, fight for each other,” and she gave him the most loving smile as she said something about enjoying the evening and walked to a group of ladies.
jaemin’s eyes fell on y/n and she looked away as jaemin stepped up beside her as she pulled away from the small group, saying something about getting a glass of prosecco.
she threw him a side glance as she stopped at the table.
“why are you following me,” at the sound of her voice jaemin let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. his hand twitched to hold hers.
“i wanted some prosecco,” he muttered and a small smile pulled at his lips when she blushed in embarrassment before nodding and moving away with the glass in her hand, jaemin doing the same. the two stood at the side in silence.
“y/n,” jaemin called after a while and y/n hummed, her eyes trained to the live band, “i’m very sorry,” he whispered. y/n stopped in the middle of taking a sip before detaching the glass from her lips.
“i don’t want to talk about it, jaem,” she muttered before taking the sip, finishing the content in the flute all in one go. jaemin’s hand rested against the back of her waist in reflex.
“slow, you’re gonna get dizzy,” he muttered and y/n could hear the worry in his tone, and she hated it because how could he sound like that after all he had said.
there were a few things that put jaemin’s worry at rest. that assured him that y/n was still is girl. he felt a small smile tug at his lips when she called him by his nickname, when she didn’t push away his hand on her waist, his chest puffed out, and when she nodded at his words of worry he felt himself relax a bit.
“you’re beautiful,” he muttered loud enough for only y/n to hear as he took a sip of his prosecco, eyes set on her as she turned around with narrowed eyes, only to blush like crazy when her eyes met his. jaemin’s eyes held an intimacy she couldn’t hold right now. he let out a deep chuckle when her chest and neck set up in flames.
they stood there side by side as they watched the many couples dancing. jaemin’s eyes would settle on her every few seconds, so much so that she could feel it every time.
“what are you two doing?” y/n’s mother’s voice made the couple’s head snap to the side. y/n made sure a soft smile settled on her lips as her mother’s friends followed her.
“who’s this, y/n?” one of them asked, curious eyes settled onto jaemin, the latter giving a polite smile and a bow as he muttered his hellos. before y/n could answer, her mother chimed in.
“oh! this is jaemin, i told you about him! he’s my daughter’s boyfriend, such a gem, let me tell you. sweetest boy i ever met,” she gushed, and y/n’s panic stricken eyes met jaemin’s smiling ones. her eyes narrowed at his pleased look.
“oh my, he’s so gorgeous! you’re absolutely stunning, dear!” one of the women smiled as she caressed his cheek and jaemin chuckled, muttering a thank you.
“well, what are you two doing here? go for a dance!” y/n’s mother ushered as she pushed them to the clearing, where other couples were dancing.
y/n made to protest and push back but her words got swallowed up by the encouraging giggling of the older women as they stumbled upon the floor.
y/n looked at jaemin as he settled his prosecco flute on the tray of a passing waiter.
a few minutes later the two found themselves slowly swaying to the music. one of y/n’s hands in jaemin’s as his other hand rested against the middle of her back. his thumb brushed slowly in a comforting manner, so much so that y/n found herself stopping from leaning her head on his shoulder out of instict.
jaemin’s eyes stayed on her features as hers looked anywhere but him. his heart hurt that she didn’t want to even look at him, but he also understood. he had hurt her deeply, after all.
“y/n,” he called, voice loud enough only for her to hear. she hummed in acknowledgment, “look at me,” he tapped his thumb against her back and she reluctantly looked up at him.
“i’m sorry,” he squeezed her hand, and she remained silent. she didn’t know what to say. what do you say to sorry when you can’t say it’s okay? do you ignore it? do you say i heard you? do you just nod? what do you do?
people say sorry and expect everything to be fine, they say sorry when they know the answer is going to be it’s okay. but, to y/n it wasn’t okay, it couldn’t be okay. she didn’t know if it would be anytime soon or anything. all she knew was that she was hurt, extremely hurt. so she couldn’t say it’s okay.
she loved jaemin tremendously. so much so it was scary. she loved him so much her chest hurt sometimes, her lungs felt like giving out and her heart felt like squeezing the life out of it. it was painful how much she actually loved him. she felt like crying if she didn’t ignore how much she actually loved him.
not because it was unhealthy, but because she knew she would give it all up for him. she couldn’t dwell too much on the love she harbored for him, she just had to live with the knowledge that she loved him a lot. she knew if she tried to think about how much she loved him she would cry so much it would worry him. and she didn’t know how she could ever explain that.
because how do you explain to someone you love them so much you want to cry because your heart hurts, it hurts so much because even your heart is too small to contain that much love. because you love everything about them, all of it. and you know how cheesy it is when people list out all the reasons why they love someone but your love is different; you can’t pin point what exactly you love, you can’t pin point what makes you happy about them, and you can’t bring yourself to just find one physical attribute you love about them because that would be a lie, because that’s not why you love them, and you can’t say personality because as much as that’s the closest thing as to why you love them, it’s not quite there yet.
you just love them. the essence of what and who they are, with all their flaws and imperfections and all things perfect, it’s just them entirely. it’s their ability to smile when they’re hurting, it’s the way they make mistakes and they learn, the way they just are. and you can’t explain it so you just accept it that when someone asks why you love them you’ll just have to say a measly i love everything about them, and as cute as that sounds it’s so basic and so underwhelming to what you actually feel but that’s all that you’re able to say.
so y/n stared at jaemin’s eyes and her eyes stung and moistened up because she could feel her heart hurting, because she let herself actually feel how much she loved him. yes, he hurt her. yes, she was in pain. but the pain she felt from loving him was so much greater and so much more overwhelming.
jaemin was quick to softly push his hand on her back and encourage her to rest her head on his shoulder, knowing how much she hated crying in public. she gladly took the support, resting her forehead on his shoulder. he hushed her as his lips pressed against her hair.
“you hurt me,” she said, and jaemin rested her hand clasped in his on his other shoulder, fingers squeezing hers, arm tightening around her back.
“i know, i’m so sorry, really, i’m so sorry, princess,” he muttered, lips pressed to her hair.
“i felt like i lost everything,” she started, voice trembling as she forced herself to not cry, “everything we build up, everything we went through, i felt like i lost all of it. i tried to care so much for you, i tried to show you how much i loved so hard, but i-” her voice choked, “-i felt like i lost it all, and you wouldn’t even listen to me. i was so alone, i felt so alone,” she continued, and jaemin’s eyes stung as he listened to her, because that was all she needed; for him to listen to her.
he brought her hands behind his neck as he grasped her face in his hands and pulled her back to look her in the eyes. he sent her a soft smile as his thumbs caressed her cheeks.
“i’m so sorry i made you feel like that. i’m an absolute asshole,-” “yes you are,” he chuckled as she interrupted him, “i will make it up to you. i swear, i will, please accept my apologies.”
his lips downturned as she shook her head before his brows furrowed in confusion when she rested her head back on his shoulder and crossed her fingers at the back of his neck.
“make it up to me and maybe i will,” she spoke softly and jaemin smiled fondly as he rest one arm around her waist and the other rose up to caress her head lovingly, and y/n’s eyes closed at the action, a smile pulling at her lips.
“deal,” he chuckled, before he smiled teasingly, “i’m surprised you didn’t cry, you crybaby,” he teased and she mutter a fuck you.
“why would i cry,” she scoffed and jaemin laughed at her words.
after a beat of silence, “i read somewhere if you clench your butthole right when you’re about to cry it stops the waterworks, guess it works.”
and jaemin laughed loudly as she shook in his arms from her own laughter.
; how jaemin expresses love without saying it directly
; jaemin x gender neutral reader
; love languages, pure fluff
; 3k wc
Words of Affirmation
Jaemin doesn’t have a way with words, something clear since the day you met. With his simple vocabulary consisting of mostly sound effects, you wonder how he’s able to melt you with the slightest mumble of praise. It’s everything about him - everything other than his actual words. It’s his compliments coated in honey, slipping from his wide grin beneath gleaming eyes, so earnest and loving, that has your chest tightening.
“You’re even more gorgeous in person,” he cooed when you first met, blinking in appreciation but not straying away from your eyes at all, not even when you stare back in shock. Everyone loves a compliment or two but online, no matter how much you appreciated it, Jaemin’s emojis and capital letters were no match for the cheesiness of his physical expression.
He never learns to tone it down, always sending you an appreciative once over along with a wave of adoring words to last you for a month. Whether that be in the form of text messages, shouting across the hallway, romantic whispers, Instagram comments, or even bragging about you with his friends, Jaemin loves to talk.
“Hey, princess,” he greets you sleepily, feet dragging across the kitchen tiles with no energy to put into actual steps. You smile at his messy black bed hair and turn back to your coffee, stirring with an absent mind. He never learned to stick to one pet name, always bouncing around the few he’s become accustomed to. You think he’s picked up on your favourites though, usually choosing to call you princess with a proud lick of lips.
“Morning,” you chime back, finally lifting the cup to your lips with a hesitant sip. Hot, you think, but let the boiling drink into your mouth anyway, too tired to care about the pain.
Jaemin seems to notice it, sending you a playful giggle as he pops his favourite sunflower seed bread into the toaster. You glare back and put the mug down with a roll of eyes, clicking your tongue at his teasing through a fond smile. Your boyfriend sighs, leaning back against the counter with crossed arms and a soft gaze before humming out, “have I ever told you how cute you look in the mornings?”
You halt for a moment before your lips tug up slightly, shy, and you bring the coffee back up to hide your loving reaction. “You have,” you groan in exasperation, raising a brow at the man to ask what of the comment. As if an embarrassed school girl, you avert your gaze and twiddle your thumbs, attentive to his response but becoming more and more flustered when you meet his eyes.
“It seemed like a good time to tell you again then,” he chuckles with a shake of his head. With a tilt of his head, observing like an innocent puppy, the corner of his lips tug up into an attractive smirk. His words are knowing when he coos, “my princess is so pretty in the mornings. Still sleepy and in my clothes.”
“Yours,” you sigh back in a daze, pupils shaping into hearts at the very sound of the word. The hem of his jumper rolls between your fingertips and you drown in the familiarity of the comforting fabric, worn down and mixed with both of your scents.
“Adorable you are,” he lulls, turning around to pop out the toast impatiently. It hasn’t gotten brown yet. Jaemin spins back around after putting the bread back in with a groan, giving your sleepwear a once over before silently thinking to himself, contemplating. “You should wear that blue shirt you bought last week,” he suggests.
You’d never thought about wearing it to work before.
“I really like how it looks on you,” he compliments, genuine and whole-hearted about his appreciation.
“Thank you.” There’s those butterflies again, the cloudy feeling in your head as your confidence raises just the slightest, reassured. Accepting compliments is always a struggle but with Jaemin, there’s not even any room to ponder the praise, a statement said with so much simplicity and care that doubt just isn’t correct.
Jaemin adds, “though I think you look good in everything.*
Acts of Service
When they say chivalry isn’t dead, they’re talking about Jaemin. There’s no doubt his pride when it comes to helping you out, so in love with receiving a thankful kiss or smile that he’ll go out of his way any time he can. Dishes after a dinner party, making the bed every morning, stocking the groceries, making breakfast, dropping you off to work or school - the list goes on but by far his absolute favourite is giving massages.
With an echoing, exhausted groan you fall into the hot bathtub with closed eyes, allowing your body to slowly submerge and get used to the heat. The water is a pastel purple, white glitter floating on the top with tiny daisies bobbing up and down with every wave your fingers send their way. The air is filled with an artificial lavender similar to that of your car freshener but you appreciate the effort anyway, taking in a deep breath letting the scent flow through your brain like peach fuzz. Candles are lit on your sink counter, the closed lid of your toilet, and the corners of the bathtub itself. Jaemin asks if you’d like the lights off with that and you nod softly, listening to the switch flick as soft music lulls through the air, reverberated by your bathroom walls.
"I made a playlist for this too,” Jaemin grins proudly at his Spotify playlist listed as a single bathtub emoji. How appropriate. He sets it down on the floor at a low volume and lets the world fade away, only orange candle wicks slowly burning away with the movement of water to fill your blank minds.
Jaemin sits outside the tub, fully clothed but just as content, with an adoring gaze laid upon his open palms. “Do you like it, princess?” he asks, already knowing your answer but dying to hear it himself.
“Oh Nana, how much I love this,” you lilt through an exhausted smirk, eyes fluttering open to appreciate his skin glowing in the fire light, “you must’ve worked so hard on this just for me. Everything is absolutely perfect and I couldn’t have asked for anything more, you didn’t even need to do this in the first place.”
He beams, satisfied, “as long as you like it then all the work is worth it.” You hold back an adoring grin, biting on your trembling lip so painfully that you try to grip at the cloudy purple water. He’s kind and you just feel so special. “How was work?” he asks, redirecting the conversation.
“Ugh,” you deflate at the thought, twirling a daisy stem into Jaemin’s hair distractedly. He accepts it with a cute smile. “I was assigned to sort out bills in the afternoon so my neck and shoulders are killing me. I never want to look down again.” Your neck tilts back with the words and there is a small pop in your neck, bones cracking grossly to show Jaemin just how awful it has actually gotten.
“Oh, baby, do you want a massage for that?” Jaemin’s not the best as massages, hands always a little too gentle and wandering with soft touches rather than helping to release stress. Yet you accept anyway, absolutely lovestruck that he’d even offer after all he’s done to set up the bathroom alone.
His hands awkwardly twist around your shoulders, the angle of the bathtub not leaving much room for his arms to be properly placed. The tips of fingers meet your shoulders first, pushing in awkwardly to try and undo the knots in your muscles after a long day. God, does he suck at this.
“Thanks, Jaemin,” you whisper, genuine and appreciative.
Receiving Gifts
Everything always seems to remind Jaemin of you; planned or spontaneous, big or small, expensive or cheap, bought or handmade. The feeling of a fluttering heart never fleets when the man offers you a gift, his adoration for you held in the palms of his hands, ready to be taken by your own.
Sometimes the amount he offers is concerning, both because of how empty his wallet is getting and in exchange, how much space is it all taking up. The bathroom drawers are filled with lipsticks and eyeshadows Jaemin wanted to see you in, the sink right above it with two rubber ducks in matching scarves that he’d bought because “look! They’re just like us. Duck couple!” The wardrobe is getting packed and packed with every new shirt the man buys for you, knowing that you’ve been looking for something like that for a while now. The jar is going to overflow soon, rocks that Jaemin collected by the seaside all packed for a mix of colour and texture through the glass.
“Y/n!” he calls out, the tone of voice familiar, the same eager excitement of a child getting ready to show their parents a painting they did in class today. His footsteps pad up loudly, practically stomping as he sprints, and you turn around to a familiar sight.
Jaemin stands tall, not at all affected by the running, with strong shoulders and hands behind his back suspiciously. You pretend to be clueless, wouldn’t want to ruin a surprise after all. “Yes?” you reply, fond but unaware.
He becomes overjoyed by your unknowing attitude, heels bouncing up and down in an animated manner as he does his best to hold back the giant grin growing on his lips. He fails miserably, obviously. If holding the gift behind his back wasn’t enough, Jaemin’s eyes always glow in an overjoyed thrill when giving you something, curious of your reaction. “Guess what I got you.”
He’s practically shining, glimmering with the way he’s staring up at you with stars spinning around his head. “You got me something?” you chirp, lifting yourself happily and trying to take a peek behind the boy’s shoulder. Jaemin, like always, dodges your advance and takes a step back, a playful smirk on his face when he shakes his head with a click of his tongue.
“No peeking,” he bites his tongue, “I said guess.”
You blank at him, blinking with absent eyes before grunting out a “no.”
Jaemin gives up easily, shoulders drooping down before he rolls his eyes. Through a wistful smile, he mumbles, “I got this for you.”
This is the same too, his timidity whenever actually giving it to you, regressing into a shy attitude once the time for your reaction comes around. It’s probably when he’s most anxious in your relationship. His feet fall flat and he watches with curled shoulders as you gape at the tiny cupcake that finds its way from behind his back.
It’s red velvet in a white paper liner and pink hearts iced all over top. “It’s adorable,” you peep, bending down to get a closer look before taking into your own grasp first, “this is for me?”
“Well I was hoping we would share,” he chuckles, “but yes, I bought them with you in mind.”
The cake is room temperature in your fingers, feeling like butter as you peel off the wrapper. “That’s so sweet of you,” you gush, looking back up at Jaemin feeling like you’re about to burst.
“There’s more.” He rushes back to the hallway and bends down for a small white box that you hadn’t noticed before, too distracted by the singular cake that Jaemin originally approached you with. It’s cardboard with a silk red bow wrapped around the handle, draping down the prism with romantic waves. You almost want to keep the box too. There are all sorts of red velvet cupcakes, all the same paper but with different rises, sprinkles, icing patterns, and colours.
They’re too sweet to eat.
Quality Time
Jaemin is busy. Extremely so. Stressfully so. Any time he has to himself are balanced halves dedicated to you and sleeping. Sometimes you feel like a burden, always taking up every second he isn’t working, time he could be using to unwind alone, but he insists.
Jaemin pushes that he loves to be with you, even when he’s too emotionally drained to chat or stressed to even be touched, Jaemin accompanies you. It’s the small walks together to the SM building before late night practice or the new restaurant he’s wanted to try in Itaewon. He’s around.
“I’m sorry we didn’t watch the one you wanted,” you apologise yet again, kicking at the footpath sadly with your hands folded behind your back. The movie you begged profusely to see was definitely not at all what you thought it’d be and now, regretful, you realise that maybe that comedic drama Jaemin originally took you out for might’ve been the better option.
“I already told you to not be,” he groans playfully, knocking his shoulder into your own until you stumble at the edge of the footpath, toeing onto the road before hopping back up to push him aside in retaliation.
“I wasted your time though,” you sigh, solemn again. The sound on Jaemin’s feet on cement pause and you look up from your own shoes to see him standing behind you, arms crossed and lips in a pout. You rush to explain yourself, panicked by his displeasing expression, “we just don’t know when you’re going to be free next so the only time we had was used stupidly…”
Jaemin stands stoic, unmoving, until you slow yourself down and he softens at your shy purse of lips. “Don’t be sorry,” he begins, moving into your personal space with a reassuring tug of lips, murmuring, “any time spent with you is enjoyable, I love being with you, don’t ever feel guilty, okay?”
You worry at your lip, eyes darting around the cinema’s screens to observe every other movie’s showing times. Jaemin frowns even deeper at this, taking your silence badly and brushing a delicate thumb down your jaw to grab your attention.
Holding eye contact, stare holding so much intent, Jaemin repeats, “okay?”
A shaky sigh runs out your chest but Jaemin is pleased, dropping his hand to grin down at you encouragingly, patient. “Okay,” you chuckle, awkward but just as happy with yourself as he is.
“Now let’s go to the arcade, I’m not done with you yet.”
Physical Touch
Jaemin loves to touch everyone. His friends, family, strangers, and especially you. It’s his encouraging pats on the backs in place of ‘good job’, his hugs that make you forget the entirety of anything that isn’t his hold. It’s his delicate kisses on the cheek that light up anyone’s mood, teasing yet loving all the same. His hands are always everywhere, it’s always weird to see Jaemin on his own, not connected with another.
His hands are always wandering, finding home on any bareskin they can find, bare or under fabric. The touch is warm most days, other than when it’s dry and cold outside, his fingertips taking on the temperature, but otherwise Jaemin’s hands are clammy and rough, padding against your skin gently.
“Hey!” Jaemin yells, kicking at Donghyuck, who had slid into the seat next to you right before your boyfriend could. They bicker over the spot, pushing at one another like children until Renjun cuts them off in annoyance, shoving the youngest to the front seat with a curt glare.
“It’s okay, Nana,” you pout, leaning toward the passenger seat with a reassuring smile. Your fingers tug at his sleeve lovingly, twirling the fabric around your thumb and watching it fall loose before Jeno politely asks you to buckle up already. “We can sit together on the way back.”
There wasn’t anything to be lost, his shoulder is probably cramped from reaching into the backseat the entire car trip, holding onto your own outstretched hand or your ankle, fingers dipping into the cuff of your jeans tenderly. Only thing more he needed was to lay on your shoulder on the drive home.
Kisses of all kinds are Jaemin’s thing, he puckers his lips, all ugly and chapped, before leaning in with mischievous eyes to pepper any surface of skin with kisses. It’s especially dreadful when he’s just gotten his makeup done, tacky lip tints and glosses pressing marks of pink and glitter.
“Y/n! Come here,” Jaemin waves his hands at you, calling you over to his vanity in the waiting room as the details of his hair get fixed for the second performance recording. His skin gleams grossly with sweat but he smiles so purely with so much affection that you can’t help but approach the man with a mirrored look of adoration. It’s hard to not ruffle his hair when he peers up at you cutely, the stylist pulling away until his head is facing the right way again.
You think of complimenting his performance but bite your tongue. Today isn’t a praising sort of day for you and Jaemin. “What’s up,” you reply off handedly, tapping Jeno on the arm as he walks by to send the other man a thumbs up. He receives the gesture with a curt nod before going to get his own clothes fixed up.
Jaemin clicks his tongue and reaches for your hand, your fingertips now mildly damp from Jeno’s own sweat, before pulling it up to his lips to place a small, sticky kiss. A small line is left on your knuckles, sheer red with silver glitter, and you cringe at the sight, internally melting at his sudden affections. Your boyfriend’s lips tug up proudly before his hand weaves into yours silently, humming along to their song that plays in the background as your locked fingers settle on the arm of his chair.
Renjun steals Jaemin’s attention from across the room but his thumb rubs along your pointer, gentle and present.
Funny Prompt #36: “I’m not going to stop poking you until you give me some attention.”
Funny Prompt #38: “Can you stop playing connect the dots with my freckles?”
Word count: around 510
“Baaabe”, Chenle whined, laying his head in your lap. “Mm.” You hummed in response without taking your eyes off of the book you were reading. “Pay attention to meee!” He pouted when he realized you weren’t even looking at him. “In a bit Lele, I’m almost done with this chapter.” You bit your lip in concentration while flipping the page. Chenle sat up from his position in your lap and nodded slightly. “Promise?” He looked at you with hopeful eyes. You hummed noncommittally, focus already back on your book. Chenle smiled and grabbed his phone to play a game or two to pass the time. A couple minutes had passed and chenle was growing impatient. He huffed and sighed trying to make it known that he was upset, but to no avail. Chenle had an idea and smiled mischievously while moving to sit beside you. You paid no attention to his actions, assuming he was just tired of laying the way he was. Everything was peaceful… for a couple more minutes at least. Chenle smiled while biting his lip before poking your side with his index finger. You jumped slightly, looking up from your book for a second before looking back down. He frowned and did it again, and again, and again. He switched between poking your side and your arm. Chenle continued to poke you for about 5 minutes before you sighed in frustration. You laid your book down in your lap and looked at him, who had yet to stop poking you. “Can i help you?” You asked, clearly frustrated that he was interrupting your reading. Chenle just smiled in response, “I’m not going to stop poking you until you give me some attention.” You rolled your eyes, “Seriously lele? Are you five?” He pouted when you turned back to your book. Chenle narrowed his eyes, seeing this as a challenge to get your attention. You sighed in relief when he finally stopped poking you. However, when you flipped the page you were dragged into chenle’s lap. You raised an eyebrow at him as he wrapped his arms around your waist. He shrugged and rested his head on your shoulder, smiling. You shot a smile back at him before opening your book again, determined to finish the chapter you were on. Chenle pouted and decided to kick things up a notch. He took his arms from around your waist and started to tickle your sides. You squirmed in his lap, giggling and trying to push his hands away. “S-stop,” you managed between giggles. Chenle smiled, “Never.” Soon enough you both had fallen onto the floor into a tangled pile of limbs. A couple minutes later, you had both calmed down and were cuddling on the floor of your living room. You couldn’t help but blush when chenle had started to play connect the dots with your freckles. Chenle smiled lovingly at you as he continued. “Can you stop playing connect the dots with my freckles?” You pouted, a blush dusting across both of your cheeks. Chenle smiled even wider, “Never.”
pairing : fratboy!jaemin x sororitygirl!reader warnings : drinking, mentions of drugs, a bit suggestive (but pls note that this isn’t smut), cursing, mentions of divorce genre : fluff, angst, college!au word count : 2.5k
summary : inspired by chloe x halle - busy boy. basically playing around with the local campus playboy, na jaemin for months is not the best thing, not the worst thing either.
—————————————————————————————————— You face yourself in the bathroom mirror, hands gripping the white sink. You saw him, right there. Dancing in the middle of the frat house’s living room with a girl in his arms. Na Jaemin, the boy you’ve been talking with for 3 months now, who recently just texted you “are you up?” on 9.15, and when you replied to him that you’re actually at his frat house, attending the party that Jaehyun hosts, he just texted you back one hour later by saying he’s with his family.
You’re malfunctioning right now, still dazed, don’t know whether it’s because of the alcohol, the weed Lucas gave you, or it’s just you- believing his cheap lies. Cause when you think about it, who the fuck leaves the campus, go home and spend time with family in finals month? Yeah, you’re the one who’s dumb here, actually believing his lies. But who blames you for believing in the first place, anyway? You and your sorority sisters have arrived here since 8.30 anyway, an hour and half is long enough to get you lightheaded from the shots you take.
You glanced at your watch, it’s only 11.28 pm. About an hour since you read his text, and practically 34 minutes after you literally saw him. Facepalming yourself, you close the toilet seat and sit above it. It’s not even right in the middle of the night, but it has been a wild ride for you. It’s kinda frustrating when you are the one who actually started this game, you knew Jaemin is hell of a playboy on campus, yet you decided to get some taste of it just because he’s being a real gentleman with sweet words to you. Yeri was actually furious when she saw Jaemin dropped you off at the sorority house a few weeks ago, she warned you that you should dump him before you’re too attached, but you won’t listen. There it is, the fruit of not listening to Yeri’s 40 minutes lecture of how you should avoid men like Jaemin, Lucas, Yuta, Ten, Johnny and Jaehyun in your love life, big disappointment.
Finally catching your breath, you decided that it is time you get back outside, and actually do something about it, rather than being all somber and gloomy. Jaehyun threw a goddamn frat party in the middle of finals month to relax the fellow students’ mind, not for you to dwell on your sadness, in the bathroom. It’s embarrassing. And a disgrace for your sorority.
You head out, spotting Lucas who’s leaning by the counter with Hendery and Jungwoo. They’re probably hitting more blunt and having some existential crisis over a potato chip wrapping. You continue to scan across the house, only to catch a sight of Joy busy making out with Sungjae on the couch. Or Yeri, who’s currently twerking to Doja Cat’s song, totally shitfaced. You sighed, your friends are either high, shitfaced, or sucking a boy’s face out. You really wanna continue your search for your other sisters, but then suddenly a light brown haired boy appears in front of you.
“Hey, y/n, you alright? You look like you’ve been through 4 divorces.” he asks as he stares at you, raising his eyebrows.
“Yeah, I just went through a fucking divorce. With your homeboy.” you answer him absentmindedly, pointing to the black haired boy who is wearing a black-white patterned wool sweater and a red shirt underneath, along with his slate-grey suit pants and a silver necklace. The boy in the topic is currently talking with the girl you saw earlier, being all smiley and shit.
Mark just laughs lightly as he sips his beer, “Oh him? Yeah he’s quite a busy boy. Probably went through countless divorces with half of the campus.” you chuckle at him, he knows what you’re talking about. All these girls never even had a proper official relationship with Jaemin, including you, but always ended up getting a nasty ass divorce without any reason. You know that, but you did not expect that you’d hang on up until now.
“You wanna do something about it?” Mark asks, nudging your elbow. He’s in a helpful mood now, probably because he is still not completely shitfaced or high. You glance at him, giving him a questioned look.
“Well.. I mean I would do it, but what? Kissing you in front of him so that he’ll get jealous? No, Mark. You know that his head is made out of a fucking rock, right?” You answer him, seizing his beer and take a big ass gulp.
“Hey, that’s my beer- What? Kiss you? Gross, dude. If you are looking for that guy, might as well run to Lucas or Jungwoo.” he lifts his eyebrows, slightly engrossed. You laugh at him, he’s a funny guy when he reacts to your silly jokes.
“Do I look like I wanna give you a kiss, Mark? No offense, but I don’t like crackly lipped boys.” you tease him, now he’s pouting and starts touching his lips, “Is it too crackly though? You have a lipbalm or something?” he asks
You continue to laugh while fishing the watermelon lipbalm out from your black leather jacket and pass it to him. He muttered a small thanks. You set the beer aside to the table then face him once more.
“Anyways, what should I do?” you eye him, who is now done applying the lipbalm.
“Drop your drink to the girl or something? Make sure he notices you dude.” he suggests, shrugging his shoulder.
“You’re dumb, Mark. It’ll cause a fucking catfight in the middle of party.” you deadpanned.
“Oh yeah, you have a point.” he swept his hair to the side, glancing at the whole party situation. That’s when you get the idea. Scratch kissing other boys in front of him, it’s probably the right time to call him the fuck out, you already have alcohol running in your system anyways, might as well go all out tonight, since everybody else also seems like already intoxicated by the liquors.
You lightly brush your hair, stretching your neck and praying to god that he’ll forgive you for what you are about to do. “Toodles, Mark. I’ll think a way when I get drunk, soon enough.” you wave him a goodbye, heading to the dining table to get a bottle of vodka, it’s half empty though, considering you’re being pessimistic tonight.
You chug the bottle with no mercy, wishing it’ll bring you straight to intoxication. You start to feel it kicking in, when you finish the last drop of the vodka. Banging the bottle to the nearby table, you make your way to Jaemin, who is currently sitting on the staircase by himself, checking his phone.
“Ooh, busy boy, aren’t you?” you ask him, not giving anymore fucks. He looks up to you, who is currently squinting at him, face reddening from the alcohol heat. He stares at you, biting his lip.
“Y/n. You’re drunk.” he says lightly as he stands up, tucking strands of your hair to the back of your ear. You squirm from his action. As much as you want to punch him in the face for playing with your emotions, you really miss his touch.
“I am not! Jaemiiiiin, why did you lie to meeeee?” you whine loudly to him on purpose, placing his hand on your face, pouting. Your plan worked, a few people turned their heads to you and Jaemin. He just sighs and snorts, smelling the strong liquor scent that slipped out of your lips. You can feel Yeri is probably trying to kill you with her glare, you know how much she hates Jaemin.
“Listen, baby, what are you trying to pull?” Jaemin whispers close to your ear. You’re not that sure whether it’s because of the loud music blasting in the whole house, or it’s just Jaemin’s voice. Whatever it is, your ears are tingling, sending funny sensations down to your spine.
Jaemin is pissed, you know it damn well from his tone, stern and strong. Oh yes, you love it so much, pissing him off, probably you’ll start humiliating him more and more in his own frat home, because that’s what he deserves for playing with you, and some other random girls.
“Don’t baby me, Jaemin! You said you were with your family, and then I saw you with some random girl!” you shout. At this point, you don’t really care about what others think of you, because they can clearly see you’re being drunk and probably will shrug it off. If that’s what it takes to call Jaemin out in a huge crowd, then you’ll take it. You have nothing to lose, anyway, they’ll agree with you, they all know Jaemin is a big flirt.
And there it is, the anger and humiliation fills Jaemin up. He pulls your wrists, practically dragging you upstairs. You liked it, don’t know why, it’s just fun, making him mad when it’s actually you, who should’ve been mad in the first place. He rushes you to get into his shared bedroom with Jeno and Renjun. Amused, you quickly sit on his bed, acting like you’re dumb.
He shuts the door behind him, crossing his arms. “What’s this all about, baby?”
You snort, “I think you know, Jaemin. You’ve been messing around me for 2 months- or what, I actually lost count because you’re such a busy boy.”
He widen his eyes, “I don’t-”
“Oh shut up, are you surprised that I actually last longer than all your pretty girls?” you stand up, you can’t contain the anger anymore.
“Listen, baby, I-”
“I said, don’t baby me when you do that to probably other 7 girls!” you shout, glaring at him, who is currently freezing on his space.
He sighs and sweeps his hair in frustration, licking his lips. “Will you listen to me first, at least?”
You roll your eyes, crossing your arms while glancing at his study desk. Nicely decorated, and you can see his family photograph neatly placed in a small frame. You noticed that he’s quite a reader too, judging from his book collection compared to Jeno and Renjun.
“First, I gotta admit, you last longer than other girls, yes. And second, it’s because I want to keep you-” he starts, taking a seat next to you,
You scoffed, “Keep me? You think I’m some kind of puppy that follows you around, Jaemin? You’re being such a dick right now! Do you think that I’m just some kind of wh-”
“Can you not interrupt me, baby? I’m talking.” he growls, placing his hand to your thigh. You can feel your cheeks heat up from his actions. Jaemin, being Jaemin, can sense that you’re actually flustered, he lightly squeeze your thigh, just to see your cheeks redden even more. God, he’s such a flirt.
“But first, I got to be honest with you, I was torn between ghosting you or continuing. That explains the lie a lot.” he clears his throat, looking into your eyes. You’re not giving him a reaction (except the fact that you’re already as red as a fucking cooked lobster from his hand placement), just like he said, don’t interrupt him.
“I mean- after all those messing around, I grow tired of it. I-I don’t even want to flirt anymore, I want to be comforted.. Those girls, those people.. They know I’m not serious and they do the same, y/n. We just kinda.. Have a good time and dipped.”
You’re still sitting in silence, eyes fixed on Jaemin, who now looks flustered. This is not Jaemin at all, he’s usually cocky, cheeky, and flirty, just exactly like a few seconds ago. He usually throws wink here and there, but now he actually looks… vulnerable.
“I was surprised you’re still holding on for like 3 months.. Those girls won’t even last for 2 days, y/n. It’ll end up me ghosting them or vice versa, no one ever had a second date with me. But you, you can’t seem to give up when I’m not replying, don’t you?” he chuckles as he looks at you softly,
You giggle at him a little, “Yes. I’m THAT dumb, Jaemin.” you admit to him. In reality, you know it, you know when he’s not replying, he’s probably with some other girls. But you are being deadass, you just don’t know what possessed you, you just keep on texting him like it’s nothing.
He rubs the back of his neck, “I was actually scared that you’ll dump me when I develop actual feelings to you.. Or worse, what if I break your heart after we have something? I mean, if I have to, I’d break it now, so the pain is not too harsh. That’s why I keep on lying to you, and maybe, not replying to your messages.”
At first, you feel bad from hearing him speak truthfully. But after he opened his mouth again, you can feel the anger slowly rising again through your veins. He is very very selfish and self-centered. Is this how he show his true color? A man with a big ego? That’s it?
You tilted your head, “Fuck you. Really. Then why did you start the conversation, Jaemin? You could’ve told me how you felt and we’re set. But I can see-”
He shakes his head, interrupting your words, “I-I told you, y/n. I’m very torn between wanting to pursue you, or letting you go. That’s why I often not replying right after I texted you. I’m sorry, I really do.”
You’re angry. You’re sad. But you’re confused that you’re a little happy too, hearing him speak from the bottom of his heart. But that’s very selfish of him, doing those acts to you. He could’ve told you what he actually feels way earlier than this, so you can make sure what are you two doing, instead of playing pointless games of ghosting and chasing around again.
“I see. You’re so fucking selfish, Jaemin. We talked for months and this is all I got? Am I not worth of your explanation from the start? I know you wouldn’t do anything if I hadn’t drag your ass in the middle of the fucking party!” you stand up, you can no longer hide your disappointment to him, tears start rolling down your face.
His heart breaks a little, watching bundle of tears fall from your eyes. He is the heartbreaker, but those girls were never crying when he ghosted them after they had fun, those girls would catch another boys and forget about Jaemin right away. This is Jaemin’s first ever experience, seeing a girl crying because of what he did.
He knows that he’s an asshole for playing fire, but now he feels like he is THE asshole. He broke your heart right on, and it breaks his heart right back.
You sigh deeply, trying to catch a breath after a few sobs. “Don’t fucking find me. Have fun with your girls.” you look at his eyes with full of anger and hate. With heavy steps, you walk to the door, thinking about things you’re about to do once you get downstairs, probably joining Lucas and the gang, stoning yourself out, so you don’t have to think about Jaemin and his stupid beautiful face.
Just when you try to reach the door knob, you can feel Jaemin is grabbing onto your hand.
“Y/n, I am truly sorry.. After what you did earlier, I realized that I’m a big fucking loser. I can’t even admit my feelings. When you call me out earlier, I just wanna dissolve into thin air. I can’t handle the shame of being such a dick, I should’ve told you what I feel instead of making uncertain decisions.”
You turn to him, seeing his eyes glimmering, probably because of the tears pooling up. You’re hurt, you want to push him away as far as possible, you want to see him suffer. Hell, you just want him to extinct. But seeing him like this, you can’t lie to your own feelings, you like him. You really do. But just like your sorority sisters taught you, yourself comes first, not those stupid silly boys who just fuck around.
“Goodbye, Jaemin.” you say to him, holding back more tears coming in.
Just when you’re getting ready to reach the doorknob for the second time, he pulls you into his arms. You want to let go of him, but he’s strong, and you- actually wanting this for so long. You hate him, but you have feelings for him. You can’t help but stay on his embrace.
And then… There it is, the feels. It comes back, the way you hide yourself from Yeri whenever you pick up his calls, or maybe the late night drive to nearby McDonalds, or maybe flirting through the notes you pass during class, or maybe the first kiss you shared with him in front of your sorority house, and ended up being scolded by Yeri and Joy.
You realized that it was a stupid crush with the stupid playboy Na Jaemin, but you enjoyed your time with him. You remembered how he likes to send you goodnight selfies, or maybe the way he pouts a lot when driving. Those 3 months of on-and-off-unofficial-relationships with him, is actually making you feel things.
“Y/n, I know I don’t deserve you, but really.. This time, I mean it. I promise, I won’t mess around. Please, I know I’ve been such a dick, but if you just give me one more chance, y/n.. But I completely understand, if you hate me, and you probably want to slam me to death, and I will allow you-”
You look up to him and grabbed his face, crashing his lips into yours. He tastes like cherry soda, with a hint of cigarettes. He seems like enjoying the kiss, he cupped your cheeks as he deepened the kiss. You can feel his hands travel around your body, only to land in your hips.
You want to trust him this time. He promised you. He meant it. He will take care of you. And you trust him, this time.
“Alright, busy boy. I do want to slam you, though… But remember, just because you’re so damn fine, I won’t even think twice to dump your ass if you act up.” you warn him.
The tears you shed just bloomed into giggles and smiles. The inconsistency between the 3 months before finally disappeared, and reborn again into a new promise.
He nods. “Believe me baby, you’re the one who wants to be slammed right now.” he teases you, glancing to his bed. You can feel your cheeks reddening again, you lightly hit him, and he laughs. He’s a cheeky boy.
“Busy boy, huh?” he giggles, “Your busy boy.”
The anger within you is released now. No more chasing around like a fool, no more getting late replies from Jaemin, no more nights of hoping that he’d reply, because he’s only busy for you now.
you first met Mark on a Nature Republic photo shoot where your friend was a hair stylist
she called you frantically because the SM staff caught multiple employees from each department posting on their personal social media stories the location and whereabouts of the members and dismissed them from the site
they were shooting at an island in the middle of nowhere which you were conveniently writing a thesis on different landscapes of South Korea
you had no experience of styling other people and only did it for yourself but you knew you couldn’t leave your friend deserted so you came to help in any way that you could
half of the staff were fired on the spot so they immediately pushed you towards the members to prepare them for their next shoot after threatening legal action if you decided to act as stupidly as the other stylists did
you saw your friend quickly adjusting the collar of theHawaiian shirt that was roughly put on Jaehyun and she gave you an apologetic look and mouthed a ‘thank you’
you were assigned at styling Mark’s hair, which you were scared of because you had never styled a man’s hair before never mind a celebrity but you squared your shoulders and hoped for the best
he was already used to the chaos but he was slightly concerned at how well you would perform considering that your eyebrows were furrowed and had sweat rolling down your temples as you scrunched the ends of his hair with mousse to create beachy waves
every stylist that he met was always either professional and stoic or overly friendly to try and get with the members romantically but he tried to suppress his laughter when he saw your distressed face under your medical mask
in such a stressful and hectic situation, he would never talk to the staff to help them focus but he couldn’t help but strike up a conversation with you
you looked younger than him too so he felt more comfortable
“first time?” he asked with a smile on his face as he looked up at you
your hands stopped in the middle of combing the fluffy mousse through his hair and your face dropped slightly, “you could tell?”
Mark covered his laugh with his hand as he didn’t want to discourage you but couldn’t help but chuckle at the cute expression on your face
“yeah,” he answered but then realized that it came out meaner than he had intended
“but you’re doing a great job! Keep going!” He tried to encourage you by motioning with his hands to continue
you patted his hair into place for finishing touches but you pouted under your mask when you realized, “how would you know? You can’t even see it”
there were no mirrors in sight except for the hand mirrors that stylists held on their belt
he choked on his saliva out of embarrassment and rubbed his hand awkwardly on the back of his neck
“well let’s see then!” He exclaimed and you begrudgingly gave him the hand mirror to see
you were bracing yourself in case he thought you made his hair into a bird’s nest and demanded you to be fired on the spot but he let a “wahh” escape his mouth as he admired the hairstyle
“this actually looks great!” He said a little too excitedly
“we were both expecting it to look bad then, huh?” You joked but really you were relieved that he thought it didn’t look atrocious
Mark shook his head to deny but you held his shoulders in place to not disrupt his hair
his face went pink and you realized that you just touched a client, a very influential client
you lifted your hands off of him quickly and stepped back so that he could stand up from his chair and go in front of the cameras to prepare for the shoot
“thank you” he said and you both exchanged bows before awkwardly getting back to work
you stayed on the set with your friend for the rest of the day until the sun went down and the sky turned a bright pink from the previous ocean blue
luckily, that was the last hair and clothes change that NCT needed and everyone started to pack up after the photographer and managers shouted “thank you for your work” and everyone bowed and clapped to each other
while each member started to load into their vans to get back to the city for their next schedule, Mark ran up to you and asked if you were apart of the SM staff or were for hire from another beauty boutique
“oh, I just came last minute,” you said
“I’m not actually licensed for this I came to help”
he let out a disappointed “oh” and decided not to take your number down since it was unprofessional and knew that after the fiasco today that there could be anyone around to expose him if he did
“good night, see you around,” he said in hopes that he would see you again
you doubted that he would see you around but you repeated what he said and waved at him as he ran into the van
the other members were confused as to why he ran off to greet you and were ready to tease him since they noticed that you were his type physically
but he knew that they were about to so he lied and said that he forgot to take a bracelet from you and pretended to fall asleep so that they couldn’t question him further
you thought about that was a once in a lifetime experience until 2 weeks later the campaign was a hit and everyone was fawning over Mark specifically since he looked like boyfriend material in a white button up shirt and blue jeans with messy beach hair
your friend called to tell you that she recommended you as a freelance hair stylist after they asked her who did Mark’s hair
as a broke college student living in another country you took the offer but felt guilty getting an amazing job with no credentials so you got licensed at a beauty school within 2 months
the next time you saw Mark was on the Punch music video set
he had everything on except makeup and hair
you were taken aback at how different he looked with the leather pieces, chain jewelry, and overall bad boy vibes
he was sitting in front of the dressing room vanities and his face lit up when he saw you stand behind him with your cart of hair products and tools
usually he’d stay still in his chair but this time he turned around to face you, “hey! I thought you said you weren’t even licensed?”
“I decided to after getting offered a job” you smiled
he turned around and looked at you through the mirror’s reflection, “or did you come back because of me?”
you coughed through your mask and felt the heat creep from your neck all the way to your cheeks and temples
Mark smiled to himself when he saw your bright red face and was even more excited for the music video shoot knowing that the stylist he thought was cute would be doing his hair on a regular basis and could see him act cool on stage
to not let you out of his sights again, Mark pulled his phone off of the vanity table in front of him and went straight to his Instagram search page, “can I have your Insta by the way?”
you were combing the translucent gel through his hair when you tilted your head out of curiosity of why he would want your socials
“I send what kind of hairstyles and concepts I’d like to try to stylists on here,” he said
in actuality Mark wasn’t one of the idols that really cared of how his stylists dressed him like Johnny or Jaehyun but he wanted an excuse so that his interest in you was too obvious
“oh sure,” you spelled out your Instagram handle and you saw him follow you right away
for the rest of the shoot for the two days that it took place, Mark would admire you every time you came up to him between scenes to wipe the sweat off his forehead and to spray his hair with setting mist
although you were a fan of the group, you didn’t want to make them uncomfortable so you invested all of your focus on making them look their best
Mark appreciated that; you weren’t completely cold and professional but you also didn’t cross any boundaries by asking him about his personal life or interviewing him like some new stylists did
when you got home you decided to look at Mark’s profile and saw that he was only following his family, friends from Vancouver, idols friends, and a few celebrities that he looked up to
you were the only staff member that he was following other than his managers
but you didn’t think for a second Mark liked you
even though during promotions he would text you on his time off about your day and ask you about yourself
“because I don’t want to be to formal” was his excuse to his unofficial game of 21 questions
even though after promotions when he was on his break, he’d ask you to go shopping with him “to get some inspiration from uh hair stuff”
at one point he was bold enough to ask you to go to a cafe because he said he felt like you two were friends at one point
behind the scenes, Johnny caught on quickly at how Mark was on his phone more often when he’d usually just use it to play mobile games or listen to music
“I don’t think you left the bracelet with the pretty stylist,” Johnny would tease Mark one day when he saw him re-reading your texts and smiling to himself
“you left your heart,” he’d say and slap himself on the knee from laughing too hard at his own joke
“can you get out of my room?” Mark would retort in embarrassment but it was worse for him from there
Johnny told both floors that Mark had a big fat crush on the young stylist and was flirting with them 24/7
Mark wasn’t really the type to get in his feelings
sure he’d find different celebrities or employees that he’d work with attractive but he knew it was for business or that they’d just be really good friends in the industry
but you felt like home
like he could imagine that if he was back in Vancouver that you two would meet at a library or something and he’d ask you for a coffee after you asked him to watch your bag to go to the washroom
that was what he’d imagine before he went to sleep at night anyways
half of the time he’d stay up thinking about asking you out officially and keeping your relationship as a secret and the other half of the time he’d kick his blankets scolding himself for even thinking that because it would put both of your careers on the line and he didn’t want you to feel the burden of dating in secret
you also had feelings for Mark but thought that he was just friendly and flirty
even if he did have feelings for you, you thought that it would be best to just stay as friends because you didn’t want to get in the way of his career
one day Mark couldn’t take it anymore and went to the convenient store by himself instead of riding bikes with Haechan and Renjun like he originally planned to
they noticed that he didn’t get embarrassed or annoyed at the teasing anymore and just kept to himself so they followed him to the store and found him outside on a bench with a beer in his hand
both of them sat beside him and Haechan grabbed the beer and took a swig, “just tell her”
Mark placed his elbows on his knees and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, “I don’t want to ruin it for us… Or for her”
Renjun placed a hand on his shoulder reassuringly, “if you both have strong feelings for each other then it’ll always work out in the end”
Mark shook his head although he appreciated the support, “what if the stress gets us to break up? What if I make it awkward for her at work?”
Haechan stopped him and told him sternly, “I see the way you two look at each other and I know that she’d accept if you asked. If the press or pressure causes you to break up then at least you tried.”
Renjun added on more gently, “do you just want to continue suffering forever? What if she’s waiting for you too?”
Mark didn’t want to think about it any longer and as a lightweight, the 2 cans of beer in his system were already giving him courage
if he had another night to think about it, he’d probably never confess to you so he decided in his tipsy state to confess right then
with urgency, he told you to meet you at Hangang River right away
“thank you guys,” he said while standing up too quickly
he stumbled a little bit before starting to walk towards the meeting place, “I can do it!”
“you can do it!” Renjun laughed while holding up too fists to show his support
Haechan on the other hand held up his phone and started to record Mark walking clumsily towards the river, “don’t mess up loser!”
you were finishing up on your readings when you got Mark’s text
it sounded like he was going to confess but you shook the thought out of your head at the thought of a global star asking you out
“probably wants to de-stress with a friend,” you thought before putting on a hoodie and jeans before walking to Hangang
when you arrived you could smell a mixture of beer and mint in his breath
His face was flushed pink which was a result of the alcohol and the 2.2km he had just walked
“why did you call me out all of a sudden?” You asked
“will you go out with me?” He said a little bit too loudly
you quickly looked around to make sure that no one was within a kilometre near you too and asked in a hushed voice, “what?”
“I like you!” He nearly shouted, not aware of his volume due to the nervousness of the chance of rejection
“I tried not to like you ever since I met you but I can’t get you out of my head,” he avoided your gaze and couldn’t believe how cheesy he sounded
Mark continued regardless, “I know that we have to date in secret if you do like me but I promise to protect you and I won’t regret my decision if anything happens. So uh-”
“yes,” you grinned. “I’ll go out with you”
he was surprised at how you accepted with ease, “oh wow I wasn’t expecting this. Thank you for listening to me talk on haha, I don’t even know what to say I-”
to stop his blabbering you held onto his arms to steady yourself for when you went on your tippy toes to peck him on the lips
“that’s not fair” he pouted
“what’s not fair?”
“that’s it?” He murmured under his breath
“then get some more” you teased
his hands cupped the sides of your face and bent his neck down to reach your height
your hand wrapped around his waist to pull him into a hug while his warm lips pressed onto yours
Warnings: profanity (swearing), dirty jokes (like, one) and alcohol intake.
Synopsis: Unrivalled, to be the best and to win. Jeno is a team player and it’s all he has ever known, but when one fateful night leads him to you, he realizes that one must never play games especially when hearts are at stake.
a/n: hi there! i am so excited to be sharing this story with you all. it’s been under the works since April of last year in collaboration with a group titled ‘Hiraeth’. I hope you enjoy! Reblogs are appreciated, tell me what you think :] Also, please let me know if you want to be added to my permanent taglist. Happy reading!
i. Empty words
Parties have always been your scene, and tonight you found yourself in yet another one since the start of your third year of college. Lip locking with someone you just met, their identity unbeknownst to you. It’s not like you could give two shits with all the alcohol in your system at this point.
The crowd that gathered around you were upperclassmen like yourself. The room is doused in darkness and strobe lights scattered the vicinity while the loud music vibrated through the walls. You’ve spilled half your drink dancing against this stranger. You really couldn’t tell if it was a girl or a boy in the darkness. It could be anyone. Again, not like you cared.
“Hey,”they purred in your ear. Short and simple… boring, but it sent shivers running down your spine. So it’s a man, you know this much. His breath tickled your ear and you turn to face the stranger, looking up at him through your lashes. Lee Jeno stood before you in all his glory, white shirt unbuttoned dangerously low, chain peeking out from it.
It must be the alcohol in your body, but you wrap a hand around his neck and pull his face down to meet yours. A kiss, full of want and desire. His mouth tasted like beer, lips molded with yours perfectly. You would definitely be regretting this in the morning.
other characters: taeyong and doyoung as yn’s friends; mark, chenle and taeil as haechan’s friends, jisung
words:14.5k
you’ve never cared much for your dreams. they were always confusing nonsense you forgot in the morning. this until you started to have the same dream again and again and again: a lobby, pleasant elevator music in the background, many golden doors, a handsome young man welcoming you and asking where you wanted to go that night. his name was haechan and apparently you weren’t supposed to know that, let alone fall in love with him.
other characters: taeyong and doyoung as yn’s friends; mark, chenle and taeil as haechan’s friends, jisung
words:14.5k
you’ve never cared much for your dreams. they were always confusing nonsense you forgot in the morning. this until you started to have the same dream again and again and again: a lobby, pleasant elevator music in the background, many golden doors, a handsome young man welcoming you and asking where you wanted to go that night. his name was haechan and apparently you weren’t supposed to know that, let alone fall in love with him.
[ 6:32 pm ] the sun is a bruise in the sky covered by the gray clouds that fan around it. The music flooding in through your headphones has you humming along, words formed on your lips but never spoken. And the thought has you thinking only slightly about a certain boy that you saw in your class today.
Thinking about the class that had you dozing off to sleep except on tuesdays, because he would also be there as a teacher’s assistant. Jeno’s overwhelming love and passion for the subject had you mesmerized if you thought for only five minutes on the topic too. And you promised you tried to be more invested in the words and information that came out of his mouth and not on the way his eyes would get lighter when he got excited about the way a vein drains into another or the wink he would send your way when the rest of your class had fallen half asleep for the second half of the class.
The thoughts keep you warm on the cold spring afternoon, the bruises in the sky blossoming behind you as you make your way back home, cold wind snapping at your face. Your own world, filled with thoughts of classes you couldn’t wait to be done with, melodies that filled your soul and a boy with warm eyes that filled your heart. A world that keeps you distracted until a voice calls out your name for the tenth time (nine of which you had not realized) and you’ve spun around almost crashing into the boy behind - now in front - of you.
He’s painted in hues of orange and gold, dashes of pink in the light that descends from the sun and it’s almost breathtaking until he’s pulling you in arms wrapped around yours in warmth. The varsity jacket, worn out over the year, is soft against your skin and you want to stay trapped in the moment. Arms wrapped around each other, the ends of his hair tickling your cheek. Safe. warm. Comfortable. That’s what it felt like to be in his arms.
The lingering strips of color in the sky threaten to leave, as Jeno breaks away from the hug. Soft smile is ever present on his face as he asks you about your day, if he did a good job teaching and if you needed any help with today’s topic. He’d noticed you weren’t the biggest fan of the topic, something you’d profusely tried to decline to no avail. But his faint smile never left, eyes so warm that if you didn’t think too much about it you would just stare at wondering all of life’s possibilities in regards to Jeno.
A moment, slipping between your fingertips the way water weaves its way through cracks in the road after a rainstorm. Moments between two strangers who aren’t quite strangers anymore, who share gazes they don’t understand. Things that seem so tangible, like the way his lips felt against your forehead, the way his arms felt around your waist and your around his neck, tangling in his outgrown hair.
He’d been wanting to cut it for hockey for a while now, but that resolution had left his mind when you wrapped a finger on a black curl during a stolen moment in the movie theater. And then you’d told him how much you’d loved the light curls that would come when his hair would grow out and jeno had canceled any sort of appointment - one he’d had jaemin make honestly - in regards to hair cutting. And when your phone buzzes in your back pocket an incoming call from your older brother “worlds best brother” - name placed by haechan himself - reality crashes back into you.
The moment shatters, the sky no longer in its beautiful hues and this time the bruised sky dark purple forming over the clouds follow the two of you in your opposite paths back home. Each with a heart reflecting the sky.
info:loosely based on the movie clueless (no ex step siblings lol), enemies to lovers!au
wc: 6.3k
warnings: a guy being an asshole (not jeno)
a/n: i’ve had this written before i even started this blog lol but i finally went back and edited it! also this is a little late but thank you for 400 followers <<3333
You are 7 years old when you decide you hate Lee Jeno. Specifically, at a charity gala where he shoved past you to tackle another boy, resulting in your glass of orange juice spilled all over your new white tulle dress.
Your parents have been friends and more importantly- business associates, with the Lee’s since you can remember; your father owning the investment company the Lee’s family business partnered with. You and Jeno have grown up together at corporate parties, joint summer vacations, and long boring brunches with forced small talk and repetitive classical music.
To you, Jeno would always be that kid that your parents pressured you to get along with, forcing awkward conversation and feigned friendship. But as time passed and you grew up, you began to see less and less of Jeno, which was completely fine by you.
You haven’t really talked to Jeno since you were 15- when at one of the Lee’s annual Christmas parties Jeno bluntly ditched you to play video games in his room. You accepted his non-confrontational gesture of saying “we’re not friends,” and since then spent the dinner parties avoiding Jeno’s gaze and conversation.
Jeno was like you: popular, wealthy, and always had attention wherever he was. He had similar friend circles to you, similarly going to extravagant parties, staying in luxurious vacation homes, and going on spontaneous shopping sprees. Your friends used to beg for you to introduce him to them, shocked you knew “The Lee Jeno”. You always rolled your eyes, “The Lee Jeno” was underwhelming, immature, and annoying.
Jeno was completely not in your life anymore. You- like thousands of other people, kept up with Jeno through his social media of blurry Snapchat stories and thrown together aesthetic Instagram posts. Which is why you don’t understand your father when he happily invites Jeno to intern with him as a financial advisor during Jeno’s month long break from college in between semesters.
Your father even encourages him to stay at your house, reasoning that he’s a college student and shouldn’t have to worry about finding his own housing for the few weeks he was interning- even though you’re both very aware Jeno could afford a luxurious hotel room or apartment. So you feel no sympathy for Jeno and are more annoyed than ever when you find out your return from school will coincide perfectly with Jeno’s arrival.
The more you think about it, the more you’re able to rationalize the idea, reminding yourself it’s not that big of a deal. Your house is big enough and you’re own life was busy enough to avoid his presence. But still, perhaps the more petty and bitter side of you was angry Jeno decided to waltz back into your life and your house.
He’s a selfish little shit who can’t even spare some of his time to spend time with you. His significant other. It’s been a week since you’ve talked to him, and the last time you did, it was an argument over the time he’s spent doing other shit instead of spending time with you.
pairing: son of athena!renjun x daughter of aphrodite!reader
genre: fluff, angst
word count: 6.6k
author’s note: it’s finally here, the first fic in demigods: electric boogaloo! it feels so nostalgic to return to this pairing because i haven’t written them in so long i really hope you guys enjoy it you also might notice that i am including the member’s perspective a lot more than i did in the previous series. i wanted to try something different with the sequels since i rarely ever include perspective shifts in my fics because i find it easier to write with one distinctive voice. please let me know your thoughts <3333
warning(s): depressive behavior
additional: this fic is a sequel. catch up on the original series here!
You’re not sure if it’s because you have been sitting in your bed, wrapped in 3 layers of blankets while shrouded in total darkness for an extended period of time, and your senses have suddenly become heightened because of it, but you recognize who it is by the way he knocks.
It’s Huang Renjun, your wonderful boyfriend and the sole reason why you haven’t completely morphed into one of those single-cell microorganisms that feed on bacteria in the deep, dark trenches of the ocean.
His knocking style is very much like his personality—three raps, short and sweet, but consistent. If Renjun is anything, he is consistent. He’s been consistently in love with you since you met him almost 5 years ago, patiently waiting for you to look his way, and he’s consistent now as he patiently waits for you to allow him to shoulder the weight of your grief alongside you.
Even though some of your other siblings have come by and checked on you, Renjun’s knocking is the only thing that clears your hazy mind for even a moment. You’ve lost all concept of day and night at this point, but even in your stupor, your brain hangs onto every little detail of Renjun.
Does that sound stalkerish? Perhaps.
Are you actually a stalker? Debatable.
“Just a second,” you call out, voice sounding like you have the worst pneumonia of your life. Hurriedly grabbing the cold spoons you’ve been keeping on your nightstand, you place them against your swollen eyes. It’s a depuffing trick that you normally use when you’ve eaten too many salty foods at night, but now they serve as tools to help you hide the fact that you’ve been crying.
After a couple more seconds, you finally say, “Okay, you can come in now.”
The door clicks open and Renjun walks in, holding a tray of food.
“You know, your room is technically going to qualify as a biohazard if you don’t let in some fresh air soon.”
Renjun always tries to crack a joke when he checks in on you, a valiant effort to make you smile. You’re not sure what your expression has been as of late, but you hope you’ve managed to squeeze out something that resembles a smile for him at least once.
With deftness, he navigates through the pitch black of your room and easily makes his way to your bedside, switching on the lamp on your nightstand.
Your corneas feel like they’ve just been lit on fire when he does it, forcing you to squint as your eyes slowly adjust, but you don’t miss the grimace on Renjun’s face when he is finally able to take a good look at you. His stormy gray eyes go over every little detail of your features, and his hand slowly reaches up to cradle your cheek. He gently runs this thumb across the still-swollen bags under your eyes.
He knows you’ve been crying. He always does. After all, you’ve never once been able to fool him when it comes to your heart.
Your eyelids flutter shut as you lean into his hand, wanting his touch to shield you from everything bad in the world.
Renjun, however, furrows his brow and turns his attention to yet another tray of untouched food that he had brought for you on your nightstand.
“You have to eat something, Y/N. Please. Even just a bite,” he whispers softly, taking a seat on the edge of your bed and nudging the new tray of food towards you. “Look, I even took out all the carrots from your curry.”
It isn’t that you’re choosing not to eat. In fact, you’re quite hungry. It’s just that every time you try to put food in your mouth, your insides twist and turn like a taut band being wrung out and it makes you feel sick to your stomach. Whether you’re sick from heartache or betrayal or anger or guilt or a mixture of all of them or something completely different, you’ll never know.
When you don’t react to the curry, Renjun picks up the small bowl of chocolate ice cream from the tray before scooping up a spoonful and attempting to feed you.
“They’re serving your favorite chocolate ice cream too,” he adds, obviously trying to entice you into wanting it by waving it in your face and letting the scent waft over to you.
You can tell how hard Renjun is trying; he always carefully picks out all of your favorites whenever he brings you food, and this time is no different. That’s why you feel so bad every time he has to take back a full tray, and you see his face grow haggard with worry. It upsets you even more that all of this is affecting his well being as well.
So you slowly lean forward, wanting to ease his stress in any way you can, and gingerly take a bite of the ice cream. Perhaps because it’s not a solid food and it quickly melts on your tongue or because Renjun is the one feeding you, but it doesn’t make you feel awful. Rather, the ice cream’s cool temperature and decadent chocolate flavor is a nice reprieve of the constant taste of drainage and bile in your throat.
When you glance back up at Renjun, he looks so relieved that he could cry at any moment. His gray eyes glimmer like crystalline starlight, and he gazes at you with so much love in his eyes. It constantly astounds you that he looks at you the way he does, as if you’re something so precious.
Especially now.
You don’t even want to think about what kind of state your appearance is in, but you’re certain it isn’t anything short of ghastly.
For the past two weeks, you’ve seldom left your bed, only getting up to use the bathroom and doing a bare-bones hygiene routine that keeps you just clean enough so you don’t start to collect grime. You most definitely have not washed your hair during this time, and you can imagine it’s just an oil slick up there.
(Renjun had mentioned a while ago about doing an oil slick painting, so maybe this will serve as inspiration for him.)
You’re wearing one of Renjun’s t-shirts as well, which you’ve lovingly deemed your comfort shirt. It’s a faded spirit tee from his high school days that he normally wears when he’s working with messy art supplies, so it has dried splatters of paint here and there. You don’t mind though; it smells like acrylic paint and Huang Renjun, a mixture that you didn’t realize would be so calming to you.
And like one of those mangled baby blankets that toddlers drag around and scream for when someone tries to take it away to wash it, this t-shirt has metaphorically and literally absorbed all of your pain (snot and tears).
So, in conclusion, you’ve looked better.
But Renjun doesn’t even seem to notice. Rather, he looks at you like you’re at your most beautiful. He always looks at you like that but particularly so now, when you feel the least beautiful, like an exhausted explorer that finally found his treasure at the end of a long journey. No, even more priceless than treasure. He looks at you as if you’re the half-human, half-god incarnate of his very heart and soul—the divine blood that courses through his veins.
You wonder what you did in your past life to deserve someone like him. And you hope in your next life, if you’re lucky, he’ll love you again.
“Do the airplane,” you whisper, a small smile tugging on your lips. You want to tease him, to let him know you’re okay. You’ll always be okay as long as he’s by your side.
He raises an eyebrow, trying to feign skepticism, but you can see how delighted he is that you’re slowly starting to cheer up. “The what?”
“You know, like ‘here comes the airplane…nyooom,’” you explain, waving your arm around and mimicking what parents do when they’re trying to feed their kid.
“How old are you?” He rolls his eyes.
“I just want to see how much I can get away with since you’re being extra nice to me,” you admit sheepishly.
“I’m always nice to you,” he scoffs.
Yes, he is. From the moment you’ve met him. Too nice, if you think about it. You would argue that he could actually be meaner.
And because he is so kind, despite his complaints, Renjun indulges you per usual.
“Here comes the F-16 fighter jet,” he begins, snaking his arm back and forth swiftly as he makes noises that attempt to resemble an engine revving up, but if the engine had popcorn lung.
Right before the spoon reaches your mouth, you catch his wrist and move it aside before leaning forward and giving him a quick peck on the lips.
“I love you,” you say softly after you pull back. You’ve told him many times before, and you could say it until your tongue fell out but it still wouldn’t be enough to encapsulate just how deeply you love him.
Renjun slowly blinks, the spoon threatening to slip from his grasp; every time you tell him you love him, he reacts like he can’t believe you said it. Like this is all a dream that’s too good to be true.
When he finally manages to convince himself that this is real and you, in fact, do love him, he sets everything aside and wraps an arm around your waist as he tries to pull you into his lap so he can kiss you silly. However, you quickly cover your mouth, refusing to make out with him while you’re in this state.
“I’m disgusting right now. In an extremely desperate need of a shower,” you whine, shaking your head.
He doesn’t really seem to care because he perches you on his lap anyways, kissing the back of your hand that’s over your mouth. You wonder if he’s aware of how much your self-control is clinging on for dear life when you feel his soft lips against your hand. He doesn’t push any further though, just opting to rest his forehead against your collarbone and his palms on your thighs as his thumbs rub soothing circles against your skin.
At first, you think he’s doing it to comfort you, but then you realize that he’s actually just fidgeting because there’s something on his mind. Ever the loud thinker, you don’t even need to see Renjun’s face to know that he’s probably got his brows furrowed and his poor lip gnashed between his teeth as he contemplates with that big, Athenian brain of his.
You card your hands through his coarse hair, guiding him away from your chest and tilting his face up towards you so you can look into his lovely gray eyes. Sure enough, they’re clouded with conflict as the gears in his head churn.
“Are you gonna tell me what’s wrong or will I have to seduce it out of you?” you tease.
Renjun doesn’t react to your joke, instead gently lifting you from his lap and setting you beside him on the bed. You search his expression, much more concerned than before, nervously waiting for him to speak. His hands come up to firmly grasp your arms, as if he’s trying to physically hold you together.
“Jaehyun wants to see you.”
And perhaps it’s good that he’s holding you, because you feel your blood run cold as you slump into Renjun’s arms.
Jeong Jaehyun, the child of Aphrodite, resident heartbreaker, your brother, and now—
Traitor.
The reason why the Aphrodite Cabin has basically ceased to function at this point and why you’ve been trapped in this depressive spiral for weeks.
You’re honestly still not 100% clear on what exactly happened because you simply couldn’t bear to listen to it, but you know enough. You know that Jaehyun was the one who stole the Golden Fleece, the magical artifact that protects Camp Half-Blood’s borders. You know that Jaehyun wanted to use the Golden Fleece to resurrect Kronos, King of the Titans and sworn enemy of the Olympians. You know that Jaehyun was the one responsible for the disastrous Capture the Flag game, wherein monsters with enhanced strength (thanks to the stolen Golden Fleece) were unleashed upon the campers and injured almost everyone—leaving you with a broken arm and Renjun having nearly been killed, had his sister, the head counselor of the Athena Cabin, and her boyfriend not saved him.
You know that you can never forgive Jaehyun.
“He’s been asking for you for a while now,” Renjun continues slowly, “but I just…I didn’t want to tell you until you were…better.”
“I have nothing to say to him,” you force out, trying to swallow the lump in your throat.
Renjun doesn’t respond, just wrapping his arms around you and pressing you against his chest, your cheek squished into his shoulder.
“Okay,” he whispers.
The two of you stay like that for a while, relishing in each other’s company as he holds you.
Your mind whirrs as you think about Jaehyun, and all of the memories you’ve had with him flash by—the countless times he’s called you ‘kid,’ the constant teasing, the knuckle sandwiches, the training. If it weren’t for Jaehyun, you might not have even realized your feelings for Renjun.
“You’re so sharp when it comes to other people, but you’re dense as hell when it comes to yourself,” he had said.
He was such a big part of your life, your family, and you owed so much to him. You’re not sure if you can just cut him out like this, not without some sort of closure.
Sighing, you finally say, “But I should, shouldn’t I?”
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do,” Renjun responds.
“But I think I want to,” you begrudgingly admit, leaning back from the hug so you can look at him.
Renjun smiles. “I know.”
“Will you come with me?” you ask, threading your fingers through his.
“I’d go with you to Tartarus if you asked me to,” he answers immediately, brushing your mussed hair aside so he can place a kiss on your forehead.
You wrap your arms around his neck, throwing yourself on him and clinging to him again like a koala. He slightly grunts at the impact, tucking your head right underneath his chin and kissing the crown of your head.
A few seconds pass by before he says, “You could use a shower though.”
You playfully shove him away, rolling your eyes.
“You are so not cute, Huang Renjun.”
A long, long piping hot shower later, you’re armed with another sweater of Renjun’s to serve as your armor and Renjun himself by your side—ready to face Jaehyun once and for all.
Since Camp Half-Blood has no jail or dungeon per se, Jaehyun has been kept under tight supervision in the Hades Cabin, under the watchful eye of the Hades kids while Mr. D and Chiron, the heads of the camp, consult the Olympians on stripping Jaehyun of his powers and expelling him from the camp to live as a normal human.
Your friend Cat, a Hades kid, and her brother, Sicheng, are waiting for you outside as you approach the Hades Cabin. You and Cat became close when you decided she was going to be your next matchmaking project, even setting her up with Jaehyun ironically enough.
(If you were in a joking mood, you would’ve teased that this was not the enemies-to-lovers arc that you had hoped for.)
Ultimately, things didn’t work out and the two of you just bonded over your shared interest in sticking your noses into other people’s love lives.
Cat was actually the one who broke the news to you that Jaehyun was the traitor. In fact, she and Sicheng were on the team of demigods that discovered and captured him in the Sea of Monsters, where he had been hiding out. You were grateful that she told you first, instead of letting you find out through an official announcement via Mr. D and Chiron.
When you see the Hades siblings, you grip Renjun’s hand tighter and unconsciously begin to drag your feet. You wish you could walk up confidently with your head held high, tell Cat that you’re ready to rip Jeong Jaehyun a new one, but your stomach feels like it’s about to rip you a new one.
“Y/N!” Cat waves before rushing over to you and giving you a hug. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I want to hurl,” you answer honestly.
She pats your shoulder sympathetically.
“How are you?” you ask, trying to make small talk so you can delay going inside.
“Miserable,” Cat groans. “I don’t understand why we had to give up our cabin for that loser. I’ve been on nightwatch, so I’ve barely gotten any sleep. But they are letting me stay in the Artemis Cabin for the time being since the Hunters aren’t here, and it’s the most gorgeous cabin ever.”
Since Artemis is a virgin goddess, she has no children. However, she does have a legion of maidens that have sworn loyalty to her, known as Hunters of Artemis. They remain single for their entire lives, rejecting any kind of romantic love, which in turn grants them eternal youth and pseudo-immortality as long as they keep their vows and are not killed in battle. The Artemis Cabin is largely unoccupied during the summer, since the Hunters are traveling most of the time, and no one else is allowed in unless there are special circumstances. Therefore, the interior of the cabin remains a mystery to most of the campers.
If this were any other situation, you’d be pressing Cat for more details, but you’re barely registering her words.
“Where’s your sister?” you continue absentmindedly, looking around.
“She got called into Mr. D and Chiron’s office. I’m not sure why. She’ll tell us when she’s back,” Cat explains breezily, not bothered by your lack of reaction to her other answer.
“I see,” you squeak, “How’s Sicheng?”
“Insufferable.” Cat rolls her eyes. “He got himself a girlfriend and now he doesn’t want to do his job anymore. He’s the biggest fool for Moon, and it was cute at first, but now he keeps trying to ditch me to hang out with her in the Poseidon Cabin.”
“Hey!” Sicheng protests, still within an earshot.
That sufficiently peaks your interest and distracts you from your anxiousness, as you are unable to completely shed your matchmaking ways. You lean forward, eyebrows raised.
“Sicheng got a girlfriend? And I didn’t know about it?” you gasp.
Now that you’re paying attention, you’re not sure how you missed it. As an Aphrodite kid, you can sense it when someone is in love, and Sicheng is exuding it. His aura is so strong that you’re surprised it hasn’t physically manifested itself in the form of a pink cloud that follows him everywhere.
You feel someone squeeze your hand gently. Turning, you see Renjun, who had been quietly waiting for you to finish your conversation. There’s a knowing expression on his face, and you hate that he’s aware of exactly what you’re doing.
“You’re stalling,” he points out.
“Party pooper,” Cat retorts, though she seems to understand too. Winking, she glances towards the Hades Cabin. “If Jeong Jaehyun tries anything, just let me know and I’ll skewer him. Now, go get ‘em, girl.”
You smile at her appreciatively before looking back at Renjun, who is still holding your hand. When you gaze into those cool gray eyes of his, you suddenly feel a lot braver. He gives you a small nod, encouraging you to walk inside.
Taking in a deep breath, you march up the dark stairs of the porch and fearlessly push open the door. Like everything else about the Hades Cabin, the inside is dark, low-lit with torches that are sparsely littered around the room. The entire structure is made of pure obsidian, and there are no windows. Camp Half-Blood doesn’t have a prison, but you imagine the Hades Cabin is pretty similar. It’s a far cry from the bright and pastel Aphrodite Cabin that you’re used to, and you suppose Jaehyun feels the same way.
Speaking of Jaehyun, as much as you don’t want to, he’s sitting in the middle of the room, chained to a chair that appears to be made out of Stygian iron. Stygian iron is a magic metal that is forged from the Underworld and cooled in the River Styx, limiting its wielders to only children of Hades. It’s able to absorb the essence of practically every mythical being, including demigods.
The chains that are binding him emit a faint golden glow, which indicate that it’s Celestial Bronze. Celestial Bronze is what most of the weapons wielded by demigods are made out of. It’s mined in Mount Olympus, and unlike Stygian iron, Celestial Bronze affects mythical creatures physically rather than absorbing their spiritual essence.
Jaehyun himself looks awful as well. His hair is dull and flat against his forehead. There are deep bags underneath his eyes. His face is ashen, cheeks hollowed out. Despite the fact that his body is rippled with muscle, he looks like a skeleton. As if he’s slowly deteriorating. Dying.
It both breaks your heart and terrifies you to see him in this state and being held under such maximum security, making you confront the reality of just how dangerous your brother has become.
Brother.
But he’s not really, not anymore.
“Hey, kid.”
You inhale sharply through your nose, every microfiber of your body screaming at you to turn around and run. Renjun, sensing the spike in your nerves, places a hand on the small of your back—a wordless gesture of comfort, letting you know that he’s right behind you.
“Please don’t call me that,” you respond, trying to hide the quiver in your voice.
“Sorry,” Jaehyun chuckles, a low, sickly rumble that dies inside his chest, “force of habit.”
He drags his eyes away from you and to Renjun, an amused smirk on his lips. “Hey, Renjun.”
Renjun doesn’t respond, just narrowing his eyes. The hand against your back grows firmer.
“Are you Y/N’s chaperone?”
“Why did you want to see me?” you interrupt, moving to shield Renjun from him with your body.
He casually leans back against his chair, comfortable, like he’s in his own living room. Ignoring your question completely, he asks, “How have you been?”
“Peachy,” you lie.
“And the others?” he asks, referring to your siblings. “How are things at the cabin?”
“Wonderful. Nothing but smooth sailing. Barely even noticed you were gone,” you say petulantly.
Jaehyun smiles. “That’s good. I was worried about—”
“Did you call me here to waste my time?” you demand.
“No,” he answers, looking surprisingly genuine. “I wanted to apologize. To my brothers and sisters, but to you especially, Y/N. You were the last person I wanted to hurt.”
If you weren’t so incredulous, you would laugh in his face. “You should’ve thought of that when you nearly massacred the entire camp, when you nearly killedRenjun—”
Your voice cracks when you say his name, tears involuntarily welling up in your eyes.
“I want you to know that everything I did was for my family—”
You bark out a bitter laugh. “Stop. We’re not your family. We stopped being your family when you tried to slaughter us all.”
“I’ll always be your brother.”
Even though this Jaehyun is unrecognizable to you, one look into his eyes and you can tell that he truly believes that. That, in his own delusional way, he does care about you. However, one look into his eyes, and you know that he isn’t your brother. His eyes are void of any humanity, just two vortexes of nothingness.
A shell.
You think about Jaehyun, your brother, and how he smiled. How he laughed. How he joked. How he got frustrated. How he cried. How he lived.
“No,” you say softly, not even noticing that you’re speaking aloud, “you’re not Jaehyun.”
“No,” he whispers after a moment, seemingly coming to the realization himself. “I suppose I’m not. The Jaehyun you knew was weak. He cared, and it’s a weakness that I continue to carry with me.”
You’re not sure what to say to that. Were you supposed to be grateful?
“I came here to say goodbye to my brother, but it looks like he’s already left,” you state flatly, “So, I have nothing else to say to you.”
You turn to Renjun, nodding and allowing him to see the finality in your gaze. He keeps his expression neutral, but you can see how proudly his eyes beam at you.
“Wait,” Jaehyun calls out.
An enormous wave of dread washes over you.
“I want to speak to Renjun too. Alone.”
This is probably bad timing, but Renjun thinks your alarmed face is unreasonably adorable.
You’re staring up at him with wide, watery doe eyes and your expression is a fix of horror and fury as you process what Jaehyun just said. Renjun doesn’t even have time to utter a word before you’re marching straight up to Jaehyun, despite the fact that you were ready to bolt just a few minutes ago, and grabbing him by the collar like a stereotypical thug in a corny 90’s movie.
Again, bad timing, but it’s really cute.
“What kind of mind games are you trying to play?” you hiss, shaking Jaehyun. “You’re insane if you think I’m going to let you—”
“It’s not up to you, is it?” Jaehyun replies smoothly, completely unfazed.
You’ve never been a particularly violent person, but Renjun sees serious consideration of murder flash in your eyes, and he lunges forward to pull you away from Jaehyun in order to keep you from doing something you’ll regret.
He lifts you with one arm, twisting you away and shielding your vision of Jaehyun with his body. And because you’re stubborn and hotheaded (he loves you for it), you try to thrash out of his hold.
“Look at me,” Renjun says sternly, cupping your face with his hands. He waits until your expression is visibly relaxed before continuing, “It’s okay. I’ll speak with him.”
“But—”
“Go outside and chat with Cat. Get the gossip about Sicheng and Moon. I’ll be right out,” he continues gently.
“Renjun, you don’t understand. He’s going to—”
“Use his charmspeak on me,” he finishes your sentence. “I know.”
Charmspeak is an ability that allows the user to compel others to do their bidding with their voice, a power that only Aphrodite children are able to have. However, not all Aphrodite children have this ability, and even the select few that do are able to use it to drastically varying degrees of success. For example, you’re able to use charmspeak if you really put your mind to it, but you rarely do because you don’t like the way it makes you feel. Jeong Jaehyun, on the other hand, is the most powerful user at Camp Half-Blood.
Renjun saw the challenge in Jaehyun’s eyes the moment the two of you walked in.
Maybe he’s stubborn and hotheaded too, but he isn’t going to give Jaehyun the satisfaction of thinking he ran away. Just like you, Renjun is going to face him and his charmspeak head on.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine,” Renjun says, lacing his fingers through yours before placing a reassuring kiss to your knuckles.
“How can I not,” you mutter, but he can see that you’re relenting. “Please be careful.”
“I always am.”
You give him a pointed look before reluctantly trudging out of the cabin, glancing back at him one more time before shutting the door behind you.
Renjun swears that the air chills by ten degrees when they’re finally alone. The silence hangs heavily in the air as he turns back to Jaehyun.
“Afraid?” Jaehyun quirks an eyebrow.
“I am admittedly afraid of many things, but you are not one of them,” Renjun responds calmly.
He laughs. “Then I suppose you wouldn’t mind answering a few questions. Truthfully, please.”
Ah, there it is.
It feels like a fog is slowly settling over Renjun’s brain, and the sliver of rationality he has left is informing him that he’s becoming under the influence of Jaehyun’s charmspeak. His body starts to grow numb, like he’s floating. His eyes become misty and blurry, and he can’t see the expression on Jaehyun’s face anymore.
“Okay,” Renjun agrees. His voice sounds muffled, as if he’s underwater.
“Great. We’ll start with something easy,” Jaehyun suggests, “When did you fall in love with Y/N?”
He blinks at the unexpected question. Even in his daze, Renjun was bracing for something much more sinister.
“What? Did you think I was going to turn you into my evil minion or something?” Jaehyun laughs again, seemingly reading his mind.
“You can try your damn best,” he shoots back. Jaehyun’s charmspeak isn’t so overpowering that Renjun can’t still respond with his usual quips, and he’s pretty sure Jaehyun is keeping his control loose on purpose.
“Relax, I won’t,” Jaehyun asserts, “I just want to have an honest conversation with you.”
A conversation in which he has to use charmspeak on Renjun in order to pry answers out of him.
“I’ve been in love with her since we met,” Renjun finally responds. He would normally stop there, but he feels compelled to continue. Of course, that would be because of Jaehyun’s handiwork.
“I was enamored from the very start, when she barrelled into the Arts and Craft Center without a care in the world—more stunning than any goddess, with a smile so lovely that it would make any nymph green with jealousy. I had never seen anyone like her. She was like…a prophecy. Like a beautiful, fleeting prophecy that could slip through my fingers at any moment. A prophecy that someone like me could never dream of understanding, even if I spent the rest of my life chasing after it. From the moment I laid eyes on her, half of my soul belonged to her.”
He can’t really make out the expression on Jaehyun’s face, but the latter stays silent. A few moments pass before he speaks again, “What do you like about her?”
Renjun wants to laugh. Where does he even start?
“I don’t think there’s a thing I don’t like about her,” he chuckles. “I like the way her eyes sparkle when she’s up to no good. I like that she has to be in everyone’s business. I like how she has a short fuse and how cartoonishly her face puffs up when she’s mad. I like the way her nose crinkles when she sees carrots in her curry. I like the little skip in her step when she walks. I like how she bounces when she’s trying to contain her excitement. I like when she laughs so hard that she has to hold onto my arm to keep from falling backwards. I like that she loves so deeply, even towards people that don’t deserve it. I like that she lets herself feel things, even though she knows it’ll be painful sometimes. I like that she frustrates me to the point of wanting to scream at the top of Mount Olympus, and I like that only she can do that. I like that when she kisses me, I think about how I want to spend the rest of my life with her.”
Gods, Renjun didn’t realize how much of a sap he is. And of all people, he’s being forced to pour out his deepest, darkest feelings to Jaehyun.
“That sounds like a proposal,” Jaehyun teases. “Are you going to marry her?”
“Only if she wants to get married.”
“Do you have a ring?”
“No, I was…I was going to make it myself out of Adamantine,” Renjun explains, wishing that he wouldn’t. Adamantine, another precious metal that demigods typically use for weapons, is typically described as a mix between silver and diamond. “Since I gave her a painting when we first met, I thought it’d be nice to propose to her with something that I made as well.”
“You must really love her, huh,” Jaehyun states quietly.
“Is that even a question?” Renjun snaps, “I would do anything for her.”
“Hm,” Jaehyun muses, “would you admit that aliens don’t exist for her?”
Out of all the questions he’s asked so far, this is the one that makes Renjun hesitate the most.
“I wouldn’t have to because aliens are real,” Renjun says through gritted teeth.
“If she was being held over a volcano, and you had two options: admit aliens aren’t real or come up with evidence right then and there to save her life, what would you do?”
“Well, does this volcano have internet service or access to files from the Pentagon—”
“Answer the question, Renjun.”
“Yes,” he finally chokes out, “I would admit they didn’t exist. Or I’d just jump into the volcano myself.”
“You would die for her?” Jaehyun asks.
“Of course I would,” Renjun says immediately.
Jaehyun scoffs. “It’s easy to die for someone, so tell me this—”
Suddenly, Renjun feels an overwhelming amount of Jaehyun’s power wash over him. The relaxed hold that was over him before, allowing him to still have some semblance of free thought, has been ripped away. It’s as if the charmspeak has materialized into an invisible force that is physically holding him down, slowly crushing him and only promising to ease up if he answers the next question truthfully.
“Would you destroy the world for her?”
The whole world seems a bit like an exaggeration, but Renjun can feel that Jaehyun means it. The world, everyone he loves, Camp Half-Blood, would he destroy it all for you?
“Yes,” Renjun whispers, the answer slipping out with an ease that unsettles him to his core. An answer that has seemingly always been there. “If she asked me to. I would do it without hesitation.”
There is a long, dragged out silence.
But then, all at once, like he was being dragged out from the bottom of a deep, deep ocean, Renjun’s head clears instantly. The fog that lingered over his mind, the numbness of his body, the cloudiness that obscured his vision all disappear in a matter of seconds.
Renjun has never felt this disoriented, squeezing his eyes shut as he tries to recall what just happened—his conversation with Jaehyun already fading from his memory like a Polaroid developing in reverse. All he’s left with are his jumbled emotions and trembling hands.
When he looks at Jaehyun again, he’s astonished at what he sees.
Not a demigod, not a warrior, not a traitor.
Jaehyun, despite being imprisoned and chained, has never looked more human. There’s a light in his eyes that flicker, like the last wisps of a dying candle. He smiles, which makes his lips crack. It’s a haunting sight that Renjun doesn’t think he can ever forget.
An older brother, on his deathbed.
“Please take care of her.”
You throw yourself into Renjun’s arms the moment he stops out of the Hades Cabin. Burying your face into his shoulder, you cling onto him. He delves his hand into your hair, cradling your head against him as he inhales the smell of your shampoo. Your arms tighten around his torso.
“Are you okay?” you ask, voice muffled against his shirt. “He didn’t hurt you, right?”
“No, I’m fine. Are you okay?” He curls a finger underneath your chin and nudges your face upwards to look at him. He can tell by your bloodshot eyes and wobbly lip that you had cried and are currently fighting tears.
“Stop worrying about me,” you sniffle, “I’m asking you. What did he say to you?”
“Not much,” Renjun answers vaguely, “He just told me to take care of you.”
You laugh bitterly. “That’s rich, coming from him.”
Wrapping an arm around your shoulder, he turns you and starts guiding you toward the Dining Pavilion. “Probably his messed up way of acting like a protective older brother or something. Now, come on. I’m hungry.”
“Wha—you can’t just change the subject like that! I want to know exactly what he said to you!” you protest, though your feet subconsciously start walking.
“It truly was nothing,” he reiterates, “He really did just seem concerned about you.”
You start to sulk, and he has to fight to keep a straight face. However, it doesn’t last long because you start to get that twinkle in your eye.
“Sooo, did you, like, profess all the reasons you love me or something to prove that you’re worthy of being my boyfriend?” you ask, waggling your eyebrows.
“If I had anything to profess, then maybe I would’ve,” Renjun teases, rolling his eyes.
You gasp dramatically. “Huang Renjun, you are so not—”
He tugs your body flush against him, giving you the kiss that he had wanted to when the two of you were in your room earlier. He feels you smile against his lips as your arms come up to wrap themselves around his neck. When he pulls away, you give him another quick peck before bumping your nose against his, giggling.
He forgot to add that he loves it when the corners of your eyelids crinkle when you smile at him.
Renjun isn’t really sure if he’s doing the right thing by not telling you about Jaehyun’s last words and the way he looked. He just knows that it’ll shatter your heart in a way that you won’t ever be able to repair, and you’ll carry that guilt with you for the rest of your life. He doesn’t want you to remember Jeong Jaehyun as the fractured man he is, a hollow echo of what he once was.
He wants you to remember all of the happy moments.
So, when you look back, you remember your older brother Jaehyun.
He hopes that you’ll eventually be able to smile when you think of your brother rather than cry.
Renjun can only do that, hope and pray that you have nothing but happiness in your life because you, of all people, deserve that—
and maybe, if he’s lucky, you’ll allow him to dedicate his life to making you as happy as he can.
“Oh my gods!” you gasp, tugging on his arm so hard that his shoulder nearly hits you in the cheek. “Sooyoung’s girlfriend is Sana!”
Renjun blinks. “What?”
“Look over there!” you squeal, whipping out a pair of binoculars out of thin air. The pair that he’s pretty sure he tossed out already.
He glances over, seeing Sooyoung (daughter of Ares) and Sana (daughter of Iris) holding hands as they make their way to the Dining Pavilion as well. Turning back to you, he raises an eyebrow, saying, “You didn’t know?”
“What are you talking about? She said she wanted to keep it a secret back then!” you answer, confused.
“Yeah, but they were kind of obvious about it,” he says slowly, “They’re together allthe time. I thought you noticed.”
“Oh my gods,” you breathe, horrified, “First, I completely miss the whole love triangle situation with Moon and Sicheng. And now, I’m the last one to find out about Sooyoung and Sana. How have I fallen out of the loop so badly that even you know about couples before I do?”
Renjun opens his mouth to retort, but you continue speaking.
“That’s it. I have to get my groove back,” you declare, “It’s time that Camp Half-Blood’s official matchmaker makes her comeback.”
Without even waiting for his answer, you turn on your heel and march back to the Aphrodite Cabin, presumably to start drafting potential couples.
pairing -> spiderman!mark lee x avenger!fem!reader.
summary -> when he gets to know the goblin’s scheme, he sets out on his own to make things right.
genre -> superhero!au, angst, fluff.
featuring -> johnny as tony stark; taeyong as captain america; irene as natasha; doyoung as clint; yuta as bucky; seulgi as wanda; karina as dr. cho; jaehyun as sam.
warnings -> a few curses, injuries.
a/n -> this is from like two years ago and was for the original peter parker w the original avenger characters so it might be a little amateurish lol but yeah here, this is me adding onto the spider!mark agenda!
word count -> 1k+
;
Your phone buzzed, interrupting a sweet, sweet slumber you had struggled to go to in the first place. At first you tried to ignore it dismissing it to be your friends bothering you to come with them to another party. But after multiple rings, you groaned and sat up in bed. it was 2:00 am, somebody better be calling with a good reason.
“Hello?”
“Y/N?”
johnny.
“Uh, hey, johnny” you cleared your throat wondering why he had called at such an odd time.
“Where’s mark?” And that’s when you turn up the light to find the spot next to you empty. The sheets are ruffled and the bed is now cold on his side but his smell lingers.
“johnny,” you answer, a little bit of fear gathering inside you. “He’s not here.”
anxiety begins to bubble up inside you, but you try to remain calm, maybe he couldn’t sleep and was hanging out around the neighbourhood.
“Goddamnit-“
And he cuts the call. You call him again, and again.
But he doesn’t answer, you paranoia begins growing every second.
What happened to mark?
Why was his friend worried about him? and why was he calling you?
What was going on?
Where did he go?
You walk around the room, trying numbers of every avenger that you had. None of them were picking up their phones.
So you decided you won’t wait anymore. You threw on your jacket and grabbed your car keys.
Driving down to the avengers compound, you saw them getting into a huge van. A van that would have been enough to sit an entire school.
You halt your car around the entry and run out of it.
“taeyong,” he turns from getting everybody “where’s mark?”
“Y/N, what are you-“
“Answer my question.”
“We’re going to get him. Everything’s gonna be okay.”
“WHERE IS MARK, TAEYONG?”
“y/n,” johnny interrupts you, “get in the van, we’ll explain.”
You look around inside for a moment. And jumped inside without a second thought even though you knew that not bringing your suit was going to cause some problems for you later.
The door slams shut as the the engine revs up.
“y/n, tell me,” johnny sits beside taeyong, who sits just the opposite of you and puts his hands together and cracks his knuckles “did Peter mention the Green Goblin to you?”
“Yes, of course. He was pretty determined to know it’s identity.”
“Okay, so, he managed to find that guy.”
“Don’t tell me-“
“He went to get him.” taeyong ends. “typical mark,”
“mark, that son of a,” you place your head in your hands, why would he go out there like that? Without any backup? Without you?
“Do you know where he is?”
“We know the whereabouts of the Goblin and we plan to follow that.” seulgi adds which leads you to turn your head to where she sits in the back of the truck.
“What about mark’s tracker?”
“He removed it.”
“What the hell!”
And the minutes that followed were pretty quiet. And you pieced two and two together, why he had insisted on saying “i love you’s” and why he was being all ominous or why his kisses were unusually deep. You didn’t give it a second thought then but now it all made sense.
He was about to do the most stupidest thing he’d ever done.
If,
When,
You found him, you’d slap him. Yes, or maybe even throw some punches at him.
“We’ve entered the area. Everybody get down,” doyoung speaks from his seat at the steering wheel.
“Y/N,” johnny speaks softly and you know what to expect “please wait for us, you don’t have your suit-“
“No.” You say sternly. “I have my powers, with or without the suit and so i’m coming with you.”
taeyong groans as you leap out from the van. you’ve never been one to listen, he shakes his head. you and mark are perfect for each other.
The sight leaves you breathless. The area is covered with smoke and debris. You hit yourself, why didn’t you have the notifications for the news turnt on? Maybe that way you could know how much the damage was.
And you put your foot to the ground precariously, and the rocks under your feet crunch slowly as you make your way around looking in every direction.
Behind you, taeyong, seulgi, yuta, jaehyun and doyoung spread wide, covering the whole area and eliminating all the chances of threat.
Your mind isn’t on anyone killing you, it’s on finding mark, making sure he’s alive and well.
the building or whatever remained of it was completely dusted. even with the time being almost close to 3 am now, a small crowd of neighbours to the place and passerbys had stopped but it seemed like the fight was over so nobody from your side try to stop them from standing there.
The destruction is massive but thankfully is outskirts of the city where there was nothing but forests and just a few towers around. You wonder if it was mark’s doing.
After walking around for a few minutes, taeyong stops.
“I don’t think he’s here.”
seulgi joins him and so does jaehyun, “same.”
While yuta looks to you as you take a turn and keep on walking, your eyes on all four sides.
Lots of debris is piled up in a place just a bit far from where taeyong and the others stood, discussing where the spiderman could be if not here. you hear seulgi discussing the possibility of the goblin taking him hostage.
You stand there for a moment and close your eyes, was he gone?
Would he really leave you like that?
And you hear it. Shallow and shaky breaths, at first you don’t know where the source is, so you look around until you reach the collection of debris.
mark lays there. Eyes closed, barely breathing and covered in bruises.
Your heart nearly drops. And you shout “taeyong, here.”
taeyong takes one look at your face and rushes towards you and over the comm, tells johnny to stop searching the area and reach where they are.
It takes time to remove the stones that are piled up on him. even with th two super soldiers trying hard.
The next few moments pass by in a flash. A blur of melancholy. taeyong picking up mark. The ride to the Avengers compound. The doctor taking a look at him. Standing outside with the team while seulgi rubbed your back and told you that it’ll be alright. And you fall asleep outside mark’s room.
“Y/N,” Dr. Cho jerks you awake. “Y/N, he’s awake, johnny and the others want to question him and told me to inform them first but i think you should take a minute with him first.”
You nod your head in gratitude towards the doctor.
You jump up from your place and straighten out the creases of your shirt. You walk over slowly into the room which smells of sanitizer, clean towels and phenyl.
You catch mark, still laying down, looking at the window at the orange dawn.
“Hey.”
He turns his eyes to meet yours, “i’m sorry, Y/N. i’m really-“
You cut him off with a kiss, explanation later.
After a moment you let go of his lips and pull away your face, “explain, now.”
He tells you about how he paid some of the guys around the city to keep tabs on the Goblin’s news for him. One of them reported that the goblin was up to something. Upon investigating, Peter had found he had installed a time bomb right there in the middle of the city.
So he took it out to a place where it wouldn’t harm anybody.
mark leaves out the part where he saw the green glint of the goblin’s suit from under the debris and he whispered your name, and the address of the apartment you shared, clearly threatening.
“….so that’s it.”
You hummed in response.
“You know, I really thought I lost you. And it was just so so scary.”
“I know, i’m sorry, love.”
“Just don’t do this again.” You bury your head in his chest.
but he knew he had to, he still hadn’t caught the goblin. and he needed to pack his bags too.
