Mark would hate it. Not necessarily that he couldn’t touch you, but that you felt the need to not allow him to do so. He would think you’re beautiful no matter what and wouldn’t understand your concern.
Haechan:
Haechan would also hate that you felt so bad about yourself. I feel like he would do whatever it took to make you happy again and would encourage you almost to the point of being annoying.
Jeno:
It would make Jeno so sad that you weren’t allowing him to cherish you the way you deserve. He would 100% try to convince you that you still looked as beautiful as ever.
Renjun:
This sweet boy would be completely broken if you didn’t let him touch you. All he would want to do is hug and squeeze you all day every day and to take that from him would ruin him.
Jaemin:
I feel like Jaemin would “forget” that you didn’t want him to touch you and would end up doing just that. He would end up saying something dumb like “oh, I must have forgot. You just looked so irresistible that I couldn’t help myself”.
Chenle:
Chenle wouldn’t really understand what you were so worried about. His brain wouldn’t be able to wrap around the fact that you didn’t want him to lay a single finger on your body and it would just end up with a lot of questions being asked.
Jisung:
Hiding would be super upset. He would be mad at himself for not showing you enough appreciation. He would be upset that you felt that way about yourself. And mostly, he would be upset with society for making you feel like you had to be ashamed of yourself.
Anon asked: nct dream reaction to s/o having a lot of male friends
I hope you like This!
-Admin Lionheart
Mark:
Mark wouldn’t really care that much. He would know that they were just friends and as long as that didn’t change or you weren’t spending more time with them than you were with him, he didn’t mind your guy friends.
Haechan:
Haechan would try and act like he didn’t care, but on the inside, he would. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust you, because he wholeheartedly did, he just didn’t trust other men around you.
Jeno:
Jeno would be a mix of Haechan and Mark; he wouldn’t care as long as you spent more time with him than with them, but he still didn’t trust them.
Renjun:
Renjun would 100% hate it. He would feel like he wasn’t good enough or manly enough for you. He would feel like you’d rather be with them than with him and that would kill him.
Jaemin:
I feel like Jaemin would have started out as one of your guy friends, so to him, your friends were also his friends.
Chenle:
Chenle wouldn’t like you being surrounded by other guys all the time. In his eyes, you were a perfect masterpiece and anyone and everyone was trying to take you from him.
Jisung:
I get the feeling that because Jisung is so young, he would be a little intimidated by your guy friends. He would compare himself to them and wouldn’t really feel comfortable with you being around them all the time.
Anon asked: Hi I was wondering if you could do a nct dream or stray kids (if you write for them yet I totally understand if you don’t) to you getting really clingy and your not usually clingy then find out later that you were really tired and stressed and you just wanted some love. Also I love your writing and think you are one of the best kpop writers out there!!
I seriously love that you guys love the dreamies as much as I do. I love all the dream requests. Send more. Never stop ❤️
And thank you so much! I’m so happy that you like the content that we post. It really does mean a lot to both Lilly and I ☺️
-Admin Lionheart
Mark:
Honestly, Mark would have mixed feelings about this type of situation. He would love how much you wanted him to be close, but would hate that it was due to the fact that you were stressed. He would do his best to just be the comforting boyfriend you needed. Plus, he got the opportunity to just admire his s/o, so he wouldn’t complain too much.
Haechan:
Being the sassy punk that Haechan is, he would definitely have some mostly joking words for you whenever you were tired and just wanted to be in his arms. He would complain about how cold your skin was or ask why he always had to be the one holding you; while, at the same time, wrapping a blanket around the two of you and gently playing with your hair.
Jeno:
This cutie pie would just be thrilled that he was the one thing you wanted when you were stressed. He would think it was cute how you would subtly wrap around his arm while walking or how you layed against his chest while on the couch. I feel like he would also get a little flustered/surprised at the same time, though.
Renjun:
Renjun would be SO flustered whenever you would get clingy with him. I get the feeling that he wouldn’t really know what to do as you wrapped yourself around him or slowly scooted closer to him wherever you were. His ears would start to blush a light shade of pink as a huge smile plastered across his lips.
Jaemin:
Sweet, sweet Nana would be so excited/nervous/overwhelmed every time you started to get clingy. When he noticed your eyes starting to droop from being sleepy, he would anticipate what was to come, but it would still shock him. He would probably just end up wrapping you tightly in his arms and whispering “I love you” over and over into your ears.
Chenle:
Chenle would 110% malfunction as soon as he felt you begin to get more and more clingy. As much as he knew it was what you needed to calm down, it would still destroy his brain as he thought about all the things that could make you stress out or how he could make things better as fast as possible.
Jisung:
This boy would melt. He would literally become a melted popsicle as soon as he saw the sleep in your eyes or felt your head fall gently onto his shoulder. As you wrapped your arms around his body and snuggled further into his side, he would just press little kisses onto your head and gushing over how cute his s/o was.
something about this boy is so fcuking attractive to me. his voice? his swag? the bone structure of his face? his duality on and off stage? his laid back attitude. humbleness. that side profile. that lethal jawline. ugh. i am so low key infatuated with this boy, lately. i mean… just fcuking look at him!?
summary. it was bound to bite both your asses eventually. just plain ‘ol comedic luck that you and your best friend’s shared tradition of petty bets get you two to finally cough up years of repressed feelings for one another.
pairing. y/n x nct’s jeno
genre. college!au, best friends to lovers!au
word count.17k
warnings.swearing,fem!reader, underage drinking, emotional constipation lmao, hyuck and yeri hustle often, general dreamies tomfoolery, hyuck and nana are like dumb and dumber, honestly just super chaotic since it’s slice of life :)
i feel like i did a pretty bad job rounding this fic up, my bad… still hope this lives up to the hype from the teaser! to those tagged, many hugs and kisses!! tysm for the interest <3
also biggest thank you to yunn aka @kdyism for being my beta reader and just being super helpful on absolutely everything for this fic! it def got finished faster bc of ya, much love bun :3
“WAS HE DROPPED on the head when he was a kid?”
You can’t help the snort that passes your lips, making a satisfying slap to Jeno’s arm. “Don’t be mean.”
“You didn’t answer my question.” Jeno raises an eyebrow.
“Eh… maybe like once or twice. Not that I would know, I was the same age as him but I’m just guessing.”
You two continue to watch the disaster in front of you befold. Hyuck was currently bothering Yeri. Apparently, he didn’t know the limits as to when to stop because the older senior’s ears are burning red. You’re sure if you were in a cartoon right now, Yeri would have smoke coming out of them, nostrils flaring.
“Should we intervene?” You side-eye Jeno and he’s the least bit concerned, eyes blearily watching the soon-to-be wreck happen in slow motion, cheek squished against his palm.
“Nah. This is way more entertaining than continuing my stats homework.”
You peer over his notebook and he has the word problem and equation written down. Humming, you bring your attention back to the stars of the show and see Yeri grip her notebook tighter, knuckles going white.
“Here we go.” You sing, Hyuck’s screams of protest soon alerting everyone in the campus plaza of his pain.
“He never learns his lesson, huh?” Renjun finally joins, his boots making the fall leaves on the ground crunch. Throwing his book bag on the table, it scrunches Jeno’s current page in his statistics work but the latter doesn’t care.
The two of you nod simultaneously. You and Jeno halfheartedly discouraged Hyuck from going to poke at Yeri around five minutes ago, soon after the three of you had sat down at your usual spot under the only weeping willow tree on campus. It was honestly impressive how quickly your mutual friend could annoy someone so quickly.
“We should time him next. See how long it takes for Yeri to lash out at him next.” You mutter the idea, Jeno pursing his lips after the two shift left and right around Yeri and company’s picnic table, a textbook held high in Yeri’s nimble fingers. Wendy and Seulgi are ducking as Irene begins trying to stop the madness, scolding Joy for cheering on their youngest.
“Not a bad idea to be honest. Bet?” Jeno grins and you shake on his hand without looking at him.
“Bet.”
It was just getting good. Hyuck doesn’t have the endurance to continue but Yeri does. Pilates has done her well.
Renjun quirks an eyebrow, pulling out his laptop as an apple slice is shoved into the corner of his mouth. “You don’t even know the conditions of the bet yet.”
You shrug, thoroughly entertained as Hyuck sits on his knees, his hands rubbing together furiously as he begs for mercy. “Next time, he gets Yeri to go after him in under two minutes.”
“I say three.” Jeno nods and he offers a hand again which you shake.
“You underestimate that little lady’s body. She can hold a lot of anger.”
Jeno hums in response, ending the conversation quickly as Hyuck stumbles his way over, a pout sat on his lips. The well-beaten idiot rubs at his forearms, mumbling curses under his breath as he plops down beside Renjun.
“Didn’t end well, did it bud?”
At the smug expression you have plastered on, Hyuck’s pout deepens. “It’s not funny. I need her to partner with me in Psych. I’ll go fucking crazy if I actually have to work with Felix.”
“Felix’s a sweetheart. I don’t know why you have it out for him.”
Hyuck rolls his eyes, running his hands through the ruffled brown strands. Yeri managed to grab a bunch of pine needles and aim correctly enough, even with the air resistance the leaves have.
Renjun beside him plucks a long green one out the battered boy who’s seated beside him, slouched over on the picnic table. “You can’t have two eggheads who don’t pay attention in class paired together. Isn’t that so, Hyuck?” Renjun baby-voices, the latter placing his chin on his stacked wrists to glare.
“It’s justified.” Hyuck huffs, turning away from the new arrival. You scoot over, bumping into Jeno’s large body to allow Chenle to sit.
“Why are you so meaty nowadays? Take a break from the gym, will you? We can barely fit eight people at this table as it is.” There’s playful malice in your voice but a little truth in there. The asshole was getting too bulky for your liking.
“Ohplease. Mark hardly swings by for lunch with us anymore. And why by chance are you bothered by me bulking up?” Jeno leans closer, eyes impossibly close to yours, “Are you swooning yet?”
Ignoring your heart racing faster, you slap a palm to his forehead, pushing Jeno further away from your face. “No, I’m sick of these freshies asking me for your number, that’s why. You want to know how many have asked for your digits indirectly through me this entire week?”
Chenle and Renjun have suddenly started bickering about something and you have to raise your voice a little.
“Five.Fivepeople. Four girls and one guy. I’d be proud of you if it weren’t for the annoyance starting to kick in.” Jeno raises his eyebrows at the number, finally flattening down his stats paper.
“And what’d you tell ‘em?” Jeno bites distractedly at the cap of his pen, seeming to hit the realization his work has to get done by midnight.
“That they should ask you themselves,” You’re rolling your eyes, nudging at Chenle to back off on his squishing, practically half his body across the table to try and snatch at Renjun’s sliced apples, “I’m kind of sick of your posse trying to scour me for your personal information.”
“Get your own, dingus! We get our rations per month at the commons!”
“I’m not giving up a precious coupon just to get one apple slice, come on!”
“Tell them to stop then.” Jeno tries to solve.
You laugh incredulously, watching Jeno’s concentrated (confused more like) side profile. “You think that deters them? They regenerate into different people every week. The message is not passed on from generation to generation apparently.”
Jeno makes that endearing ‘huH?’ sound and you grab at the notebook yourself, having taken Statistics 101 before. He thanks you under his breath, which you nod at before Jeno slumps onto your shoulder, sighing heavily.
“Sorry. I know it bothers you. I would go around and tell them to back off of you and me personally but I don’t know all their names.”
Glancing at Jeno, it irritates you helplessly that you know he’s not even trying to sound dickish. He’s just that sweet and kind of a guy that makes other people not want to talk to him and ask those types of questions themselves. You know those people that seem too perfect to want to approach? Yeah, that’s Lee Jeno in a nutshell. If you looked up the definition of that type of person in a book, Jeno would be grinning that Samoyed smile of his from on that cursed page.
“I should tape a sign to my back that says, ‘Ask Lee Jeno himself. I’m not his personal owl,’” You peek at his face, “What do you think?”
He slightly smiles, eyes crinkling almost shut even at such a small gesture of amusement. “Okay. I’ll add my signature to it so that they know it’s approved by yours truly.” He looks up to your face and you’re glad the cold can disguise your flustered face easily with this type of weather.
Guess it’s time to actually settle this officially since it’s been clued at a little, but yes: You do have a crush on Jeno. And no, he does not know because when does telling one of your best friends’ that you’ve been crushing on them ever worked out?
No, not in the Wattpad story kind of way, you mean trulyworked out. Because personally, you’ve never heard of it working out ever, especially since you’re practically in the you’ve-seen-him-in-his-boxers and he’s-seen-you-shirtless stage of friendship. Don’t ask, it’s a long story that’s already too long for this kind of boring read.
So,no, you will not take your chances, thank you very much. There were many signs flashing neon that told you Jeno didn’t see you in a romantic or sexual kind of way but the glaringly obvious sign was actually the one you two are discussing currently.
What’s the appropriate way of acting if your crush is being berated by other peers on campus to give them your number? You’re not confident in what it actually looks like because for one, you’re not on the receiving end in this imaginaryscenario, and two, it’s exactly that; an imaginary scenario. You can’t even seriously dream of Jeno liking you if you could. It was just that bizarre.
In the two years you’ve known the boy, he’s never even once mentioned another human being that he could potentially be interested in on campus. It’s not a problem of him not being comfortable telling you either because he’s told you upright that he’s not interested in anybody here (including you who’s enrolled in this stupid university). You’ve even nonchalantly asked Jaemin before and he’s confirmed that even in high school, this kid did not have wandering eyes.
You had wondered if Jeno was asexual, aromantic, or something along that line in the spectrum, eventually having the courage to ask him one day and he shook his head no quite confidently, a small smile laid on his lips.
You don’t know what Jeno’s deal was but the risks in finding out really didn’t lean in your favor. And that’s fine, considering how many fish are available on Earth’s wide sea of potential mates. You’ve killed off even the chance of dating Jeno and that’s all good in your book. You’ve been attracted to your guy friends once and twice and they faded away with time exploring their weird quirks or horrible habits. And even if Jeno was a strange case where you’ve even seen the dude have beer dripping from his nostrils from a shitty keg stand and you still manage to harbor feelings for him… eh.
Time brushes away a lot of problems if you’re desperate and willing enough. Luckily for you, you checked off both boxes easily with this special instance.
You open your laptop and scour your documents for your old stats notes on chi-square tests. Bleh.
Pretending to gag in your mouth at the sight, Jeno smothers a laugh that shakes your shoulder and you share the document his way before scrolling and finding the right topic. You do the problem with few difficulties and write a quick message in the corner of his notebook page.
‘Actually study this because Y/N did the example and took time from her day to do so, thank you.’
“Thanks,” Jeno chirps as he takes his notebook back, removing himself from your shoulder (to your well-hidden disappointment), “I owe you one.”
“You’re right. A coffee works just fine, thank you.” You pipe back, folding your hands on the table cheerily. Jeno is shaking his head in mock annoyance but you knew the next time you two meet, you would not be disheartened, a warm cup pressed in hand.
“A four-dollar coffee is worth one solved problem in your book?” Jeno argues.
You fire back without hesitation. “It’s statistics. And I just sent two semesters’ worth of notes to you. You’re very welcome.”
“You’re right,” Jeno turns, stowing his notebook away, “That’s like seven coffees then.”
“And a scone if you’re feeling nice. A croissant works too.” You beam.
“Now you’re pushing it. Those things are stupidly overpriced.”
“Even for me?” You playfully place your chin in your cupped hands, blinking slowly and looking through your lashes.
Jeno sighs, placing a hand on your head of hair. “Fine. You win, you spoiled princess.”
In times like these, you knew you really asked to be put in these types of situations. And you’re not one to start being a saint and stop being hypocritical but… you deserved what you were putting yourself through, saying these types of things and teasing like this. Trying to get a stir and playact with being more.
Maybe it was a little cruel, somewhat tricking Jeno into saying sweet things to you, just to let your mind wander for a second. Call it… taking advantage of his friendship to pretend a little. Harmless but still adds into your ledger of sins for Judgment Day right?
“Why are Jisung and Jaemin taking so long? I’m running out of apples.” Renjun whines, looking at the bag that’s been emptied. You’re almost one hundred percent sure it was the two other hungry animals sitting at this table and you weren’t even listening to their argument earlier.
“They’re carrying seven people’s worth of food. I think that warrants a little patience.”
“I wouldn’t be nearly upset if these two idiots didn’t steal myapples.” Renjun spits out, glaring. The two culprits wholly ignore the oldest.
A whole two minutes later, Jaemin and Jisung arrive, lugging four plastic bags of takeout. Jisung’s thin arms are shaking with the effort to hold them, Hyuck getting up to relieve him.
“Wah, took you two long enough. Thanks for losing the bet last week.” Chenle slaps a hand to Jisung’s heaving back.
“We just walked… half a mile carrying all this.” Jisung breathlessly collapses beside Hyuck, bent over with his hands on his knees.
“Why didn’t you take Jaemin’s car?” Jeno mumbles around his hamburger.
Jaemin laughs, out of breath as well. “I left my fucking car at Yangyang’s from Friday. I didn’t even remember until today because I can walk to my Monday classes.”
“What the fuck did you do without a car on the weekend?” Hyuck wonders, chipmunk cheeks stuffed full of fries.
Jaemin makes a suggestive face and everybody recoils, not willing to be curious anymore. The culprit laughs airily. “Why are you all assuming bad things right now?”
“You didn’t go crawling back to Eunji or something, right?” Hyuck squints, “Because I saw you talking to her that night and that would be pathetic to hear about right now—”
“No, I’m not that kind of asshole—”
“At least you can acknowledge you are one…” Jisung comments under his breath.
“I simply asked her how she was doing. It was completely innocent,” Nana’s wide bunny eyes scan the table, “Really! I conked out in Hendery’s room after the party.”
“And just so happened to leave your car at Yang’s which is directlyacross from Eunji’s dorm—” Hyuck continues before Jaemin cuts him off with a scoff.
“Again. Not that kind of an asshole. Besides, if you had looked closer Hyuck, we were civil Friday night. I doubt she would ever let me get near her that way again… except for maybe with a baseball bat.”
The table stifles laughs at that, chowing down the food. Everyone murmurs a quick thanks halfway through every food item getting demolished.
“Can you even afford this Jisung?” You mention on second thought, considering the younger boy sat diagonally from you.
“Jaemin owed me too so he paid for everything.”
“Man, you just rack them up, don’t you?” Jeno pityingly looks over to his best friend at the end of the table.
He shrugs, not all that bothered. “I’ll eventually learn my lesson, right?”
“Not if you keep agreeing to our daily bets, stupid.” Chenle quips past his tenders, shoulders shaking in mirth.
“That’s true. You walk right into them when we bring it up.” Renjun supports.
“You should be glad you’re never around to accept Ten’s though. I like to think you would fall for them easily.” You crunch at Chenle’s fries, the younger boy not noticing your swiping.
“What do his bets look like?”
“Skinny dipping. Egging houses. And occasionally, seven minutes in heaven.” Jisung answers for you, which you backtrack at. In fact, everybody does.
Hyuck blinks owlishly at him. “What?”
“How do you know these things, kid? Spill.” You threaten with a long fry of Chenle’s, the soggy potato cut flopping as time goes by.
“You’ve never seen me at Ten’s?” Jisung spills. Everyone gapes.
“Why the fuckwould we see you at Ten’s!?” Hyuck laughs in disbelief, hilarity at the situation peeking at the twinkle in his eyes.
“Yeah, what the heck? Why am Inever invited?” Chenle sulks.
Jeno scoffs. “Because you two are freshmen, that’s why.”
“What are you, fucking Casper the ghost in the corner? How come we’ve never seen you?” Nana is skeptical as well, the only one upset that his baby freshie has managed to sneak into an upperclassmen party.
“Johnny invites me sometimes. When he remembers.” Jisung shrinks at all the attention, nervous with the sudden interrogation.
“Johnny is a bad influence,” Jaemin argues with a fold of his arms.
“Like you’re any better, Nana.” You laugh, bringing an arm around Jaemin to offer comfort. You don’t see Jeno shift at the contact.
“And you don’t take part in the bets, do you?” Renjun implores before he shakes his head, “Wait, no, I definitely would have heard of Jisung having seven minutes in heaven with someone.”
“Oh,no. I’m not insane,” Jisung shivers at the thought. “It’s fun to watch Taeil go crazy though.”
Hyuck slaps a hand to Jisung’s back, the latter wincing at the battering his body is taking today. “Welcome to the real deal, man! My god, why did I not know you came to upperclassmen parties? You sneak in sometimes?”
“What? No! Do I look even close to a sophomore to you?” Jisung looks to make a point, gesturing towards himself. “There’s your answer.”
“I think Johnny favors you then. He has a soft heart for freshies, who knew?”
“Where is my invite then?” Chenle whines, still sulking.
“I’ll take you as my plus one.” Jisung placates his best friend with that and he continues to happily chew on his cheeseburger.
“When’s his next one? Oh, I can’t wait to see how Jisung acts wasted.” Hyuck wiggles in his seat, giggling like a happy toddler.
“Oh no, noton my watch. Baby Jisungie is not getting wasted at any party, ever.” Jaemin acts tough, glaring at the youngest of the group.
“Oh, please Grandpa. You didn’t even realize I was present at these until I just told everyone.”
Nana bursts at that, screeching a scolding noise that startles a pair of girls walking by. “Because I never even expectedyou to be at one! That’s why!”
Jaemin looks to you, eyes wide. “My baby chick. At an upperclassmenparty.”
Giggling, you push at his jaw to turn his gaze towards Jisung again. “Jisung’s got a fair point. Who are you to stop him?”
“I never get wasted anyway. I just come to watch the chaos.” Jisung grins, munching on his chicken tenders like Chenle. As you watch longer, you understand why Nana babies the youngest so much. He’s cute in moderation and it looks easy to want to mother him.
“Whatever,” Nana grumbles, “Guess I have to watch out at parties and babysit now.”
“Oh,pleasedon’t.” Jisung’s face scrunches up.
“This Saturday. You coming, Jisung?” Hyuck grills, pocketing his phone which you didn’t even realize he pulled out to text presumably Johnny or Ten.
“I guess… if Johnny asks me.” Jisung drags out, glancing at Hyuck.
“This sounds like a disaster now that everybody knows.” Renjun leans across to whisper to you and Jeno.
“You two should come to watch the shitshow with me,” You grin, wiggling your eyebrows, “I know you two usually don’t come but sometimes they can be fun.”
“I don’t wanna drink to have fun.” Renjun wrinkles his nose at that.
Waving a hand at that, you offer a tip, “Just fill your cup with a liquid. Nobody is sober enough to check you like a cop.”
Jeno hums at that, Renjun saying that he’ll think about it. Hyuck pockets his phone once again, having pulled it out to ask about Jisung.
“You got the go-ahead, dude. Ready to party with the big boys?” Hyuck wrestles Jisung’s long neck into the crook of his elbow as the younger boy cringes.
“I don’t know about thatbut…”
Jaemin stands up dramatically, slapping both hands on the table. Your cup of soda spills a little when it knocks over, Jeno cursing as the two of you rush to correct the drink’s position.
“Oh,noton my watch, you won’t!”
The table is quiet, absorbing Nana’s usual dramatics.
Chenle raises his hand a little. “I’m going too, right?”
|—————|
It took a little more convincing for Renjun to come. You and Jeno usually like to watch havoc together, pure rapture and popcorn shared between you two. You seriously considered bringing the movie snack to the party but in the end, was unconvinced by the others. Using the microwave at a frat party didn’t seem so smart, especially if your attention dragged away and someone nagged the bag from the microwave before you could notice. Would just be a waste of popcorn.
Jeno and Renjun swing by your dorm building, waiting outside in the cold for a minute or so before you pop out.
You shiver, pulling at your black jean jacket. “How many more layers do I have to put on to not be cold?”
Renjun shakes his head, observing your legs. “You’re wearing thin ass tights, Y/N, what were you expecting?”
Teeth chattering, the three of you begin to walk to the 127 house. “Jokes on you, I’m wearing leggings underneath. These are fake tights with fleece in them.”
“Why are you so cold all the time? Is your body just that weak?” Jeno genuinely queries, your black skirt flying a little too high with the current wind for his comfort. He slows to walk behind you, conscious of the nonexistent people on the deserted streets looking.
“Yeah, you’re actually shaking. Do you wanna turn back to change?” Renjun offers kindly and you shake your head, committed.
“I look cute right now. Fashion sacrifices, am I right?” You grin impishly, eyeing your company’s outfits.
Following your act of observing everybody’s clothing choices for tonight, Renjun laughs at all three of your different fashion senses. “We look ridiculous walking together right now.”
Jeno peeps up from the back of the two of you leading the way. “How? I think we look fine.”
You hum in agreement. “We look like college students going to a party.”
A bark of laughter escapes Renjun’s mouth, tugging at Jeno’s jacket zipper. “Yeah, three differentparties. Jeno looks like he’s about to rob a store. Y/N looks like a grunge girl and I look like I’m heading to the fucking library.”
He’s not that wrong. Jeno’s wearing all black, cargo pants, tee, chunky boots, and zip-up hiding his good figure in the darkness of his clothes. A navy blue cardigan covers Renjun, wearing similar beat-up Converse to you, with a white tee and light blue jeans. Looking down at your own outfit, you pluck a piece of lint off your gray sweater.
“But we all look great. Killing the fashion game. Fabulous.” You strut forward with confidence, the other two amused at your antics.
The 127 frat house lays ahead and you speed up to get out of the cold. Mark greets you with a hug and shout of happiness. You can smell the alcohol reeking his breath and the entire vicinity already. The floor bumps beneath your feet, everyone else in the building bobbing their head to the beat.
“Hi, Y/N! Oh shit, what?” Mark calls out to Jeno and Renjun, dapping them up as his Solo cup dangerously leers to the left. You hurriedly correct it in his hold, not willing to get beer stains on your nice clothes this early into the night.
“What the fuck are you two doing here?” Mark shouts down to you, a dopey grin implanted on his expression, “You convinced them to come for once?!”
“I know, right? It’s a rare occasion tonight!” You yell back, a contagious smile growing on you at Mark’s infectious mood.
Jeno leans closer to break your close proximity to Mark, “Hyuck is gonna get Jisung to let loose. Seems like a good disaster to watch unfold.”
Mark shakes his head fondly at that, grabbing a hold of Renjun’s shoulder and leading all three of you into the kitchen. It’s crowded with humid heat, too many bodies in one room for comfort.
“Grab a drink and toss any cups just laying around, please. I gotta get back to door duty but have fun!” Mark sings, planting a brave wet kiss to your forehead in goodbye before he’s off, shoving to the front of the house again.
You wipe at your forehead, deciding to make fun of sober Mark for this innocent kiss later. Jeno bristles at the sight, grabbing three red cups and pulling out the unopened liter of Coca-Cola in the back of the line of sodas.
Renjun holds the three cups gladly, there being no counter space to easily maneuver for pouring, before passing on the beverage to you. You press your cup to the ice machine and grimace as no ice chunks come flying into your cup.
“Lukewarm Coke it is.” You toast the other three, clinking your Solo cups together before sipping. Getting out of the small kitchen, your eyes scan the crowd.
“See Jisung, Chen, or Hyuck anywhere?” Renjun queries, yelling over the thumping bass. You climb onto the step bar of a stool someone’s currently sitting on, placing a hand on Jeno’s shoulder for support. The height lets you look over the big jumble of people in the large living room, not noticing any familiar heads.
“I see Jungwoo. Maybe he knows.” Jeno calls out, before stepping into the mass of moving bodies. He abandons the two of you for a total of thirty seconds before dragging not one, but two of the 127 boys over.
Doyoung gives a quick side hug, shoving at Jungwoo who comes to lift you off your feet. You make an impact sound at the tall puppy’s strength, patting at his arm to let you down.
Jungwoo’s blonde head of hair is all mussed up and you brush at the strands, laughing. “How much have you had to drink already?”
“A good, healthy amount! I’m on water for the rest of the night!” Jungwoo happily confesses with a thumbs up, all his perfect white teeth on display.
“You two know where Hyuck is?” Renjun bellows.
Jeno adds on, “Or Jisung! We’re here for them!”
Doyoung makes a pulled face at that, Jungwoo bending over in laughter. “What!? Jisung is here?”
The younger of the two frat boys begin darting over the crowd, trying to locate the tall beanstalk.
“What would Jisung be doing here?” Doyoung is puzzled, a little concern crawling into his expression.
“Apparently all Johnny’s doing. Or Hyuck’s, we don’t know at this point.” Jeno shrugs.
“We’re here for the shitshow to commence!” You revealed a little too happily, Doyoung making a forced smile.
“I don’t know anything about this. Johnny’s DJing right now! You can go ask him though.” He points to the far back of the living room. The black-haired senior is head bobbing to the music, a set of headphones half on his head as he waves his gigantic arms around.
You giggle nervously at the obstacle between you and reaching him. “Oh hell no,” You push at Jeno’s arm, “This tough guy is going to go ask for us.”
Doyoung cradles his favorite underclassman by the neck and joins him in his journey to the front. Jungwoo’s a little ways away, dancing wildly. Renjun laughs at the sight, bringing your attention to the silly junior.
“I dare you to join him.” You challenge playfully, and Renjun shakes his head adamantly.
“Fuckno! You think I dance at these parties?!”
“If you have alcohol in you, anyone can dance!” You try to convince Renjun, pulling his lips down.
“Good thing I’m not drinking tonight then!”
Jungwoo gets swept out into the dance floor again, not allowing the three of you to converse more before Jaemin joins the two of you out of seemingly nowhere. He cheers at the sight, ruffling Renjun’s well-styled hair, much to the older boy’s disappointment.
Jaemin grasps at your opposite shoulder, leaning on your head to heave some of his dead weight.
You nudge his side, Nana yelping at the contact. “You know where Jisung is?”
Nana widens his eyes at your question, suddenly remembering his self-proposed babysitting job.
“Ohshit!I forgot! Where is that idiot?” Jaemin gasps, helplessly looking around.
“Trust me, we’ve been trying to navigate this mess for ten minutes since we’ve arrived. Just wait here with us!” Renjun pulls at Jaemin’s belt loop, yanking the same-birth-year boy back into your talking circle.
Jeno arrives a minute later, lugging a slouching Jisung on his back. Hyuck is laughing his ass off, pushing the hair off of Jisung’s forehead to catch the youngest’s drunk face better.
Jeno practically throws Jisung on the now-available stool this stranger just gave up, blowing out a breath of relief. “This kid is way heavier than he looks!” Jeno complains.
Hyuck is still dying of laughter and you and Renjun can’t help but follow in line as Jisung groans, pulling at Jeno’s waist to cuddle him. The latter is halfway between uncomfortable and endeared at Jisung’s affectionate behavior, who’s mumbling nonsense.
“Jesus, why did he drink so much?” Jaemin worries, patting his baby chick’s head.
“Dude, I didn’t even need to say anything! Chenle is the bad influence here, not me!” Hyuck throws his hands up at Nana’s deadly glare. As if on cue, the second youngest of your friend group gathers everybody’s attention in the crowd, pulling 127 boy Jaehyun on the table he’s standing on to make a speech.
“There’snodamn way…” You whistle at the sight, Jaehyun patting the underclass man in pride.
Jisung mumbles something into Jeno’s stomach and the older boy leans down to hear him better.
“Hm… w-wanna go… home…” Jisung hiccups, eyes barely open and Jeno nods.
“I better bring this idiot home. I’ll probably have to sneak his dumb ass past the RA, I’ll be right back.” Jeno grunts as he wraps Jisung’s long arms around his neck, practically carrying the beanstalk like a backpack.
“It’s okay, I’ll do it!” Nana rushes to switch off with Jisung’s dead weight. He groans, looking to Jeno with a grimace. “Ugh, you were right. He is a lot heavier than he looks.”
“Are you sure? I can help?” Jeno halfheartedly makes sure, to which Jaemin nods resolutely.
“I need some fresh air anyways, been here too long!”
“Do you want me to go with you?” You offer, only because you knew sneaking around the RA would manage to get rowdy with just the two of them alone.
“Nah, it’s okay. I better have a drink after getting back from this though.” Nana jokes and you shove the pair towards the door.
Jeno stuffs his hands into his pockets, low-key relieved that he doesn’t have to go back into the cold night. He had just gotten here and despite how disgusting it was thinking about how much heat was being produced, it was better than freezing outside.
“There’s our entertainment for the night.” Renjun lifts his cup in salute.
Hyuck nudges everyone to watch Chenle though, who wants to crowd surf but fails to, nobody willing to hold him up. Everyone starts cackling at the sight, peers practically making space so that Chenle won’t be convinced to just commit and dive onto them.
“Up for a game of beer pong, anyone? I’ve been trying to play all night!” Hyuck hooks around the boys, dragging everyone over to the foyer where two tables were set up. Tons of spills made you almost slip and split your head open. Thankfully Jeno is like a solid wall behind you, not fazed by your clumsiness.
He gets close behind you, hands still on your waist and breath tickling your ear as Hyuck and Renjun take the other end of the pong table. “Wanna bet Mark comes in for a celebrity shot later?”
You laugh nervously, getting hot under his hold and turning to look at Jeno’s expression. “That is oddly specific. How are you so confident?”
Looking over to Mark, he’s chatting with Mina and completely distracted from answering the door now. You’re sure that Johnny, the brother he’s been shadowing in the frat, would not be happy with Mark ignoring his job. Or maybe he would, knowing Mark was actually shooting his shot with a girl.
“I don’t wanna tell you why. Then you won’t agree.” Jeno argues, finally getting his hands off you to roll up his sleeves. You slightly roll your eyes at his words, trying to subtly look at the veins in Jeno’s hands’ flex.
“I think he’ll come in later too. But I say it’ll be for us. Not for Hyuck or Renjun.”
Jeno makes a tutting sound, collecting the empty cups on your side and making the triangular shape. “You’re trying to sell me out here, no way. You’re just gonna convince Mark to come over by…”
Your eyebrows lift. “By what exactly?”
Jeno shakes his head, a small smile sat on his face. You poke at his side, curious. “By what? Now you’ve intrigued me!”
“Whatever. I’ll make a better bet,” Jeno nabs Renjun’s missed shot, to which Hyuck whines, “Mark is gonna ask you out tonight.”
Sputtering on the soda you’ve been sipping on, you watch Jeno whip his ping pong ball like straight butter into your opponents’ cup. The other side’s loud protests distract him from your obvious gaping, confused at the sudden thought of Mark likingyou.
Jeno eventually eyes your expression, making a weird face. “What?”
“What? What do you mean, what?Are you insinuating Mark likes me?!” You angrily whisper, afraid that somehow the person you two were talking about would hear over the loud music flowing throughout the house.
“Why are you so surprised? It’s very obvious! At least in my eyes.” Jeno shrugs. The ping pong from Hyuck hits your stomach, confusing him. You grab at it, just tossing it without a care. The ball whooshes in and you don’t notice, still frazzled.
“You’re joking, right? This is a sick joke of yours?” Peering over at Jeno, he scoffs.
“No. Don’t tell him I said this but when we first introduced you to him, he said you were pretty.” The deadpan way Jeno utters this makes your eyes squint.
“That seems like an innocent compliment to me.” (News flash, you’re denying reality here.)
Jeno lifts a dark eyebrow at that. “When has Mark Lee ever gone out of his way to intentionally compliment a girl?”
You scrunch your nose at that, rubbing at the kiss he planted on your head earlier. “This changes things.”
Jeno only chuckles, plucking the ball from one of your cups and setting it aside. He closes one eye, practically doing the same with the other as he aims. He groans with a failure, looking back to you. “Do you not like him? He’s nice, though you haven’t known him as long as I and the others have.”
“No, no, he is nice! I like him.” The last sentence is pronounced like ‘I like him as a friend’ in your head but Jeno interprets it differently. Maybe the bass from the speakers morphed the tone of your words in his thick skull.
“Youlikehim?” Jeno’s voice tilts high. Hyuck’s next horrible shot plonks straight at Jeno’s forehead, which he ignores in shock.
He’s never shown incredibility like this to show you. You’re diverted to denying his words instantly, not thinking of the consequences.
“He’s… a nice guy.” You look to Mark again and this time, he senses your gaze, throwing up a nerdy gesture of a peace sign. You wave back with a smile and don’t catch Jeno’s suspicious tonguing of his cheek at the interaction.
“Are you accepting the bet or not?” Jeno holds a hand out, which you wait to contemplate after absolutely dunking your next shot. On a roll.
“Mark’s wingman now, are you?” Your tease causes Jeno’s jaw to shift. He acts it off as confidence, nodding with reluctance.
Maybe he had gone too far with the little game of bets now.
“Okay! Bet!” You perk up, wanting to win this easy wager. Mark wouldn’t ask you out, no way.
Accepting the deal easily, you shake on it and smirk internally.
Jeno was easy to read. An open book, you could say. Everyone in your friend group knew it as well, which made him the butt of jokes and teases all too often. He made it too fun to poke at him and you’ve joined in on the game plenty of times. This was just another game of prodding the naive Samoyed you had, though a little different.
You didn’t really understand the reasoning behind Jeno’s disturbance all that much but he was the one that brought Mark’s supposed “crush” to you. And you’re not one to fuck with someone’s feelings that far, especially with sweet ‘ol Mark’s.
You were pretty confident the older boy did not fancy you though; he was never around you in the first place to hint at the notion. Mark was pretty private with his romantic life so you’re not all that surprised you don’t know much. He was glued to the frat more often than usual and has been hanging out with you and company less often.
To be fair, if Mark was with someone, hopefully, he was not blatantly kissing your forehead without care. You were never as close to Mark as the other boys like Jeno had stated before. You suppose if he did happen to ask you out tonight, it wouldn’t be so bad. But the desire to win this bet burns in your veins, even more than usual with the bizarre behavior Jeno is exhibiting at the mere thought of you returning Mark’s so-called “feelings”.
“If you’re making a bet to win this game right now, you’re gonna eat shit!” Hyuck brags, practically vibrating in excitement because the two of you were somehow tied up. Even with this dude drunk, he could be somewhat decent at games. How irritating.
Biting the corner of your lip, you ignore Hyuck, plan to win this short game of cup pong, and then win this bigger game of bets with Jeno. To gain this extra favor initializes a step-by-step scheme of what you were going to do. There was no way Jeno could beat you.
Jeno watches greed grow in your irises, probably confused.
“So you’re confident he won’t ask you out.” He drags out his words, making sure you understood what you just shook on.
“Yeah,” You bob in place now, trying out his strategy of closing one eye to shoot, “Mark won’t ask me out. He’s not thatdrunk.”
“Really?” Jeno feigns interest, throwing his head to Mark fast approaching you, “You sure about that?”
You don’t get to answer, Mark’s alcohol-hazed eyes crinkling. Mina follows close behind, waving a greeting to the both of you. “Hi, Mina! Mark— oomph!”
Thinking Mark’s walk trajectory would stop before reaching so close, the junior bumps chest-first into you.
“Hi!Can I take a celebrity shot?!” Mark yells, overcompensating his volume when you’re glued to him. He swarms your space, placing a touchy hand on the small of your back before standing on his tippy toes and stealing your ping pong.
His mouth is instinctively making ‘Oh!’ noises as he readies it, failing miserably and pouting at the loss. “I could’ve sworn that was close, dude!”
You and Mina share a smile. She knew her friend was a little touchy when drunk so the two of you chalk it up to being just that. Jeno doesn’t though, burning eyes watching the tight hold Mark has on you.
Mark blinks rapidly down at you, pleading with big doe eyes, “Just one more shot I steal. One more celebrity shot!”
You nod, easily agreeing with a laugh. Maybe you had underestimated how turnt your dude was right now. Mark leans backward a little, losing his balance and almost toppling you over with him. Mina pulls Mark away from your space, probably deciding he’s had enough of bothering you.
“Sorry, he is sowasted right now.” Mina apologies, pushing the boy away from your beer pong table to the kitchen for water.
Jeno makes a face that reads “I told you so”, forcing you to bend over in laughter.
“Jeno, you can’t be serious. He acts that way with everyone!”
“You think that Mark touches up every girl like that? He kissed your forehead earlier too.” Jeno genuinely notes and you pause. Just for a split second.
“We’re friends.” It’s as if that statement alone will end this argument and Jeno rolls his eyes.
“And we’re friends too, dimwit. Wedon’t act like that, do we?”
You shift at his words, uncomfortable at the sudden lodging of your throat. Oh, how you wish Jeno did. At least then, you’d have a pathetic hope he had an inkling of an interest in you too.
Instead of replying to him, you turn and take Jeno’s shot for him to end the game. The last cup is yours for the taking and Renjun groans with his head thrown back, almost flying off balance at the shove Hyuck gives his partner for more space.
“Okay, okay! Redemption shot, I got this!” Hyuck steadies his hand and bounces off the lip of your side’s last Solo cup.
“FUCK!”
“YOU ABSOLUTE DICKHEAD, LEE DONGHYUCK!”
There’s a forced smile on your lips at the victory, one that only Jeno can notice is fake up close. Thankfully, he doesn’t pry on it more, seeing as he knew you weren’t going to give a truthful answer in this setting.
You were starting to wish you had a bit of alcohol in your system, as much as you hated the taste of it on your tongue.
|—————|
By the end of the night, you had won the bet as expected. But Jeno being the sore loser he is, tried to convince you to drag the bet on. He was super confident that Mark was into you. Maybe his friend was too wasted to ask or remember your answer if he were to come up to you about a date.
“I’ll sleep on it,” You had said, “Especially since I pity you and I haven’t decided what I want the favor to be yet.”
With that, Jeno breathed out a sigh in relief as he walked you home.
|—————|
You didn’t realize how committed Jeno was to this particular game. And you don’t know why because you had honestly forgotten about it yourself the morning next. Maybe it was his pride and stubbornness stopping him from giving up.
When Jeno swings by your dorm, texting you to come downstairs quickly, you’re confused.
He’s in comfy clothes, hair a little frizzy as he hands you a croissant and a warm cup of coffee that heats up your body temperature.
You blearily squint your eyes at him in suspicion. “What are you buttering me up for right now?”
With no RA in sight, you usher him into the warmth of the dorm lobby, virtually no people around to notice your blatant disregard for rules.
“I’m not buttering you up. I just wanted to be nice this morning.”
Staying silent, Jeno watches your expression breathe incredibility.
“Really! I didn’t know it was a crime to be nice to you anymore, jeez.”
The bet comes to mind and you mention it. “You’re hoping I’m not going to make you splurge your money on my favor, aren’t you?”
Jeno laughs, the sound deep in timbre as the sun rises higher in the cold blue sky. “No, I swear. Although talking about Mark, he is going through it right now. I woke up to a video Doyoung sent me of him vomiting into the toilet.”
You suck your lips in, holding back a laugh. “You know, if you’re trying to sell your man to me right now, describing his hangover is not working.”
Jeno quirks the corner of his lip at that. “He probably drank half his body weight last night.”
You roll your eyes. “And here you were, thinking he was going to be sober enough to consider asking me out. Alright.”
Your friend shrugs, sipping at his drink. “I’m not wrong, Princess. I’ll show you with your own two eyes Mark Lee has the hots for you.”
Cringing at the way Jeno phrased his words, you stuff the pastry you were kindly gifted into your mouth, muffling your reply. “Plea don’ efersay if like ‘at again.”
Jeno’s shoulders shake at your antics. “You’ve slept on my proposition now, ma’am. What’s the deal?”
Swallowing roughly, you mutter, “Can I raise the stakes to three favors?”
Jeno scratches at his hairline at that, face in a grimace. “Fuck. Is this worth it?”
At the hesitation in Jeno’s eyes, you jump like a hound to the smell of meat. Or in this case, a perfect opportunity to score on some free meals.
“Yes!Yes, it’s worth it. I accept your deal!”
“Woah woah woah! I haven’t agreed yet!” Jeno is shaking his hands in front of him, dangerously leering his hot drink side to side. He licks at the lid, the brown liquid sloshing everywhere.
“You brought this new condition up in the first place so,” Taking Jeno’s distraction as a chance to dunk cheaply on him, you take his free hand in yours, shaking on it, “Bet.”
|—————|
It was game on from the damn get-go.
Any chance that Jeno got, which was within a hundred feet radius of a certain junior named Mark Lee, he bolted to the boy’s side.
Poor Mark is so confused at the sudden ramblings Jeno has of you. He’s also even more conflicted because Jeno is going in on his compliments of your smile, smarts, humor, you name it. Mark wasn’t sure whether his friend was either crushing hard and needed to only confide in him, or whether Jeno was trying to make him like you indirectly through his selling words.
Another thing the boy stuck in the middle of this mess notices is your sudden disappearance from his vicinity. You two didn’t exactly share a class but shared a professor, who taught two subjects back to back.
Usually, you would wait around in the auditorium-shaped classroom to catch up with him, just say hi. But no, apparently you now bolt as soon as the professor calls it quits for the day. Mark had a greeting on the tip of his tongue opening up the doors, only to scour your usual seating arrangement and come up empty.
Poking his head out down the sidewalk, you’re speed walking away like your non-existent pet was on the verge of death.
Mark would brush it off to some urgent duty you had but… at the odd behavior of his two friends, he decides to swing by the willow tree at the end of the week. Maybe start his own experiment on what was going on. It just didn’t seem like a coincidence to him.
Andrighthe was in his thoughts.
At the sight of Mark approaching the table, your eyes widen to the size of saucers, whipping your head around to Jeno. You want to slap his smug face right off.
“What the hellis Mark doing here? Did you convince him to come?” You spit out in a whisper, Hyuck none-the-wiser as he hollers for his best friend to sit beside him.
Jeno shakes his head no innocently, lips pouting out. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Swearing under your breath, you plaster a smile onto your face, breathing out a greeting to the upperclassman. He grins at you, to which your cheeks heat up for some reason.
Maybe it was because this dudebeside you had been bragging about you to Mark. Jeno had told you his genius plan of planting unconscious thoughts of you in Mark’s head a few days ago and its effects are now catching up to you, sweat building on your hairline.
Jeno misinterprets it as you getting nervous in the presence of Mark, probably wishing rain to fall on his head at manifesting his final Lee brother to sit down this afternoon.
“What’s up, man?” Mark exchanges a handshake with Jeno as he swings his bag to the ground and tucks his legs under the table. He watches with rapture as you busy yourself with the textbook splayed out in front of you, eyes skittering.
Before Jeno can give a general reply to Mark, Hyuck bumps Mark’s shoulder. “You should text Renjun your order from that Mexican place down the street.”
“Who’s favor are we using today?” Mark asks in curiosity.
You raise a hand rather timidly, to which the entire table is bewildered and bemused. The bewildered people are only Hyuck and Mark because they don’t know the absolute pain-enduring embarrassment to which bemused Jeno has cursed you to withstand. You’ve always been very comfortable with the guys, including Mark, so the oblivious two not in on this bet are raising their eyebrows at your behavior.
“What did Renjun lose against you again?” Jeno pretends to ponder deeply while you throw a heated glare his way. You wish you could burn his eyebrows right off in this moment.
“Oh!” The bulky meathead gasps, “He lost ten-to-two against a game of naming capitals of countries. Isn’t she so smart?”
Jeno is being soobvious. You grit your teeth as he pets your head.
“Take your hand away before I biteyour pinky finger off.” You seethe past closed lips, the audience not hearing your threat.
Jeno jolts his limb away at that, instead, grinning a Samoyed smile toward Mark. The latter is mainly lost in trying to navigate what the fuck was going on.
Hyuck only rolls his eyes, a little more used to your duo’s antics. “They’re probably betting on something right now.”
Mark blinks at that. The picture was becoming a little clearer. He wasn’t sure which way to start investigating this dilemma next.
“No!” The two of you deny instantly, sitting up straighter. It’s even more cause to believe Hyuck’s point.
“Ignore them,” Hyuck acts like an exasperated mother to you and Jeno’s Dumb and Dumber act, pulling out his phone to show Mark the Mexican place’s menu.
As the other pair get lost debating what to order for Mark, you turn to Jeno with a death wish written in your eyes.
“Are you crazy, Lee Jeno!? Whatare you doing right now, you’re practically on the verge of cheating! You’re going to give this entire thing away!”
“No,” Jeno drags out in denial, acting like you’re a child that doesn’t understand his obvious tactic, “I’m just telling him of your intelligence. I have no clue what you’re on about.”
You’re heavily tempted to close your textbook and go bonkers Yeri-on-Hyuck style on him but Mark butts into your killer thoughts before you can pull through.
“What are you ordering, Y/N?”
You stutter to Jeno’s, albeit bitter, amusement. “Um, a chimichanga. It’s… pretty good from there.”
“Okay!” Mark perks up, tapping at the phone in Hyuck’s hand, “I’ll get the same.”
Jeno giggles into your ear and irritation bubbles to the surface of your skin.
“I swear to fucking—”
Mark interrupts your threat once again and you paste another pleasant smile on. “Y/N, I missed you before my class on Wednesday. You were gone before I could even say hi.”
“Oh, yeah. I uh…” You rush to make an excuse, “I really had to water my— plant. Yeah.”
You want to punchyourself.
Hyuck snickers as he texts Renjun Mark’s order. “What the fuck…”
“Yeah, what the fuck? You don’t even havea pet plant in your room. Everything you attempt to raise dies.” Jeno feels the need to contribute. You’re seething at this idiot’s audacity.
Clarifying your mistake in excuse will only deepen the hole you’ve dug for yourself so you shut up, wanting the ground to swallow your entire being whole instead.
“Huh,” Mark chuckles, “Okay. You’re not avoiding me for some reason, right?”
“What? Oh, no. Not at all!” As if to prove a point to Jeno, you give the most convincing smile you can to Mark.
“Okay, that’s good.”
Renjun saves you from continuing this conversation as Hyuck’s phone rings, pressing the speaker button to the call.
“What’s up?”
“Could two of you come to the restaurant real quick? I’m going to need help carrying all this food back.”
“Why didn’t you use your car, dumbass?” Hyuck whines.
“Because it’s a two-minute walk from campus grounds? Come help me!”
Jeno pipes up, “Make Jaemin and the two youngest help you. They haven’t shown up here yet.”
“Wellobviously I had thought of that, Jeno,” Renjun sasses back, “They aren’t answering.”
“I’ll go!” You practically trip in getting up from the picnic table, dying to get away from this awkward atmosphere.
The other three make eye contact.
“Not it!”
“Not it!”
“Not—!Ugh.”
Forfuck’ssake. Your luck is actual dog water.
“Why are you so slow at this game? Your reaction speed is usually good,” Hyuck questions Mark, who groans as he gets up.
“Well, why do we alwaysplay “Not it” then? It’s targeting mespecifically.”
You wholly ignore Jeno’s disgusting grin of satisfaction as the two of you begin to tread down the street. You curse to all above that Jeno gets kicked in the shins one day. It was looking like you were going to be the perpetrator more and more these days.
“So…” Mark drags out, his hands in his pockets, “Do I even want to know what it is I’m currently stuck between?”
You hum as you genuinely consider Mark’s words. “I can’t tell you. It’ll break the bet. And I really want to win.”
Mark’s eyes crinkle in mirth. “The two of you are so competitive. It might take forever for you to win at this rate…”
“Are you willing to be on my side?” You raise an eyebrow, secretly wishing.
To be fair, there were no very clear-cut boundaries to other methods of getting the dub. After all, Jeno is practically begging Mark to get the idea to ask you out.
You could still cheat but not… outrightcheat.
“I guess so, as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone.” Mark shrugs innocently. You fold your hands together, laughing under your breath as you close your eyes while looking up.
“Damn, this is serious, dude.” Mark laughs boisterously, observing your silly act of gratitude.
“It’s on three favors,” You mumble past your silent prayers to the sky, “Of course this is serious.”
“Three?Shit… Well, you have me at your disposal as long as you don’t tell me what the bet is, right? What should I do?”
You smirk, finally looking at Mark with sinister eyes.
The ball is in your field now.
|—————|
“Huh.”
Jaemin looks up from his laptop to Jeno who makes the noise of discernment, watching two figures from afar. Following his best friend’s eyeline, you and Mark are walking side-by-side toward the commons. You’re grinning as Mark laughs, bent over with difficulty while walking.
“When did they get closer?” Jaemin asks in bewilderment. Jeno stays silent as Mark holds the door open for you and the both of you disappear into the commons.
“Don’t know,” Jeno mumbles, finally looking down to his device and rereading the same paragraph over again.
Jaemin makes a face at that, having been able to read his buddy for a while now.
“So…”
Jeno sighs, knowing that Jaemin is obviously hinting at something. “Spit it out.”
“What bet did you make with Y/N?”
Jeno side-eyes Jaemin with annoyance. “How do you even know anything about this?”
“I have my ways,” Jaemin concludes mysteriously, “Answer me.”
“We bet at Johnny’s party two weeks ago.”
“On what though?”
“I said Mark would ask her out.”
Jaemin snorts at that, going back to his laptop. “He’s not into her. He likes Mina.”
“Yeah, well, it doesn’t really seem that way anymore. They’re getting all giggly and close with one another.” Jeno has a tone of temper growing in his words.
“If the bet is over then, why is this dragging on?”
“I raised it to three favors now. It’s indefinite.”
Jaemin glances at Jeno again with fingers halted on his keyboard, holding back laughter. “Why would you ever, under anyconditions, accept that? Against Y/N of all people too? She’s going to drain your wallet for food.”
“She’s convincing.”
“Oryou’re whipped for her.”
“I’m not.” Jeno gives a dirty look to the poor paragraph he’s been on for five minutes.
“You’re in deepdenial, bud. I’ve been saying this for an eternity.”
Jeno scowls at his best friend, not appreciating the entertained, twinkling eyes shot his way. Jaemin tilts his chin toward his neck, looking up through his long eyelashes at Jeno.
“Deny it all you want but I know my shit. She likes you, you like her. It’s simple.” Jaemin chirps.
“Oh, and you’rethe love expert, aren’t you, playboy?” Jeno’s exasperated, practically pouting. “I don’t likeY/N.”
“Really? Why are you bothered with the idea of Y/N being with Mark then? You’rethe one that suggested to her Mark was interested. Now that Y/N is entertaining the idea, you’ve backed off on trying to win,” Jaemin lands a slap on Jeno’s back, “You’re deserving of what you’re putting yourself through, man.”
Jeno sighs as he folds his arms onto the table, laying his chin down. “I don’t like it when you speak sense.”
“For one, I’ve always been speaking sense. But I’m glad you’re finally acknowledging my genius good points. I’ve been trying to get through your thick skull about her for two years.” Jaemin nods in gratification, glad Jeno is opening his eyes a little, even if it took some good ‘ole jealousy to stir his best friend’s heart around.
|—————|
“Ow!”
You cringe, the corners of your mouth reaching your ears. “Sorry! Didn’t mean to do that.”
“S’okay.” He grumbles at the way, rubbing at the eye you just poked.
Pressing the face mask firmer on Mark’s already milky skin, you fixate on a bump and attempt to smooth it over. Once you’re satisfied, you wipe your hands on your pajama pants and clap in completion.
“Perfect!” Twisting Mark’s shoulders around so that he shifts on the bed to face his mirror, he immediately ruins your hard work by bursting into laughter at the sight of the sheet mask on his face.
“Mark! You fucking ruined it!” You can’t help but fall in line with your friend’s contagious sounds of amusement, slapping his arm lightly for him to face you and fix it again.
“I’m sorry! I look so stupid, I can’t—”
Urging him to sit up straight, you shake your head side to side, not able to be actually mad when Mark was so humored by the new experience of night skincare.
“Whatever. I guess I don’t care since you paid for dinner and I paid for this.” Grinning down at him, knees planted on the bed, Mark naturally returns your smile and regrets it as you lightly pinch his ear in retaliation for again, messing up your hard work.
“My bad, my bad. But it’s whatever. Pizza isn’t expensive.”
“That restaurant is kind of expensive though.” You mutter under your breath, brushing Mark’s hair from his head and adjusting his baby lion headband you bought for this tiny sleepover.
“It’s chill. No big deal.”
Settling back to sit on your heels, you raise a teasing eyebrow. “And if I make you sleep on the couch in the living room?”
Mark falls line and sinker, pouting a little. “You said we would put pillows between us tonight.”
Laughing lightly, you rush to reassure Mark. “I’m joking, you know I am,” Throwing yourself back to the pillows on your friend’s bed, you pat the spot beside you and Mark follows, “What movies do you wanna watch?”
He hums, tugging his laptop from its charger on the bedside table, “Didn’t we decide on binging the Tom Holland Spiderman movies earlier this week?”
summary. it was bound to bite both your asses eventually. just plain ‘ol comedic luck that you and your best friend’s shared tradition of petty bets get you two to finally cough up years of repressed feelings for one another.
pairing.y/n x nct’s jeno
genre. college!au, best friends to lovers!au
word count. 2k (of around 17k currently still in the works!)
warnings.swearing,fem!reader, hyuck and yeri hustle LMAO, humor if you can call it that somtimes, general dreamies tomfoolery (all these listed for just the teaser)
taglist. none! (if you would like to join, please comment on this post!)
making a lovelycomeback from my angst train to hit u with the classic college!au featuring ma boy jeno!! this is currently the longest fic i’ve ever written and i’m trying to gain some hype for it right now (started this beast in january can u believe that…) please repost if u want to see it out soon!!! estimated release is early june!!! see y’all soon <3
“WAS HE DROPPED on the head when he was a kid?”
You can’t help the snort that passes your lips, making a satisfying slap to Jeno’s arm. “Don’t be mean.”
“You didn’t answer my question.” Jeno raises an eyebrow.
“Eh… maybe like once or twice. Not that I would know, I was the same age as him but I’m just guessing.”
You two continue to watch the disaster in front of you befold. Hyuck was currently bothering Yeri. Apparently, he didn’t know the limits as to when to stop because the older senior’s ears are burning red. You’re sure if you were in a cartoon right now, Yeri would have smoke coming out of them, nostrils flaring.
“Should we intervene?” You side-eye Jeno and he’s the least bit concerned, eyes blearily watching the soon-to-be wreck happen in slow motion, cheek smushed against his palm.
“Nah. This is way more entertaining than continuing my stats homework.”
You peer over his notebook and he has the word problem and equation written down. Humming, you bring your attention back to the stars of the show and see Yeri grip her notebook tighter, knuckles going white.
“Here we go.” You sing, Hyuck’s screams of protest soon alerting everyone in the campus plaza of his pain.
“He never learns his lesson, huh?” Renjun finally joins, his boots making the fall leaves on the ground crunch. Throwing his book bag on the table, it scrunches Jeno’s current page in his statistics work but the latter doesn’t care.
The two of you nod simultaneously. You and Jeno halfheartedly discouraged Hyuck from going to poke at Yeri around five minutes ago, soon after the three of you had sat down at your usual spot under the only weeping willow tree on campus. It was honestly impressive how quickly your mutual friend could annoy someone so quickly.
“We should time him. See how long it takes for Yeri to lash out at him next.” You mutter the idea, Jeno pursing his lips after the two shift left and right around Yeri and company’s picnic table, a textbook held high in Yeri’s nimble fingers. Wendy and Seulgi are ducking as Irene begins trying to stop the madness, scolding Joy for cheering on their youngest.
“Not a bad idea to be honest. Wanna bet?” Jeno grins and you shake on his hand without looking at him.
It was just getting good. Hyuck doesn’t have the endurance to continue but Yeri does. Pilates has done her well.
Renjun quirks an eyebrow, pulling out his laptop as an apple slice is shoved into the corner of his mouth. “You don’t even know the conditions of the bet yet.”
You shrug, thoroughly entertained as Hyuck sits on his knees, his hands rubbing together furiously as he begs for mercy. “Next time, he gets Yeri to go after him under two minutes.”
“I say three.” Jeno nods and he offers a hand again which you shake.
“You underestimate that little lady’s body. She can hold a lot of anger.”
Jeno hums in response, ending the conversation quickly as Hyuck stumbles his way over, a pout sat on his lips. The well-beaten idiot rubs at his forearms, mumbling curses under his breath as he plops down beside Renjun.
“Didn’t end well, did it bud?”
At the smug expression you have plastered on, Hyuck’s pout deepens. “It’s not funny. I need her to partner with me in Psych. I’ll go fucking crazy if I actually have to work with Felix.”
“Felix’s a sweetheart. I don’t know why you have it out for him.”
Hyuck rolls his eyes, running his hands through the ruffled brown strands. Yeri managed to grab a bunch of pine needles and aim correctly enough, even with the air resistance the leaves have.
Renjun beside him plucks a long green one out the battered boy who’s seated beside him, slouched over on the picnic table. “You can’t have two eggheads who don’t pay attention in class paired together. Isn’t that so, Hyuck?” Renjun baby-voices, the latter placing his chin on his stacked wrists to glare.
“It’s justified.” Hyuck huffs, turning away from the new arrival. You scoot over, bumping into Jeno’s large body to allow Chenle to sit.
“Why are you so meaty nowadays? Take a break from the gym, will you? We can barely fit eight people at this table as it is.” There’s playful malice in your voice but a little truth in there. The asshole was getting too bulky for your liking.
“Oh please. Mark hardly swings by for lunch with us anymore. And why by chance are you bothered by me bulking up?” Jeno leans closer, eyes impossibly close to yours, “Are you swooning yet?”
Ignoring your heart racing faster, you slap a palm to his forehead, pushing Jeno further away from your face. “No, I’m sick of these freshies asking me for your number, that’s why. You want to know how many asked for your digits indirectly through me this entire week?”
Chenle and Renjun have suddenly started bickering about something and you have to raise your voice a little.
“Five.Fivepeople. Four girls and one guy. I’d be proud of you if it weren’t for the annoyance starting to kick in.” Jeno raises his eyebrows at the number, finally flattening down his stats paper.
“And what’d you tell ‘em?” Jeno bites distractedly at the cap of his pen, seeming to hit the realization his work has to get done by midnight.
“That they should ask you themselves,” You’re rolling your eyes, nudging at Chenle to back off on his squishing, practically half his body across the table to try and snatch at Renjun’s sliced apples, “I’m kind of sick of your posse trying to scour me for your personal information.”
“Get your own, dingus! We get our rations per month at the commons!”
“I’m not giving up a precious coupon just to get one apple slice, come on!”
“Tell them to stop then.” Jeno tries to solve.
You laugh incredulously, watching Jeno’s concentrated (confused more like) side profile. “You think that deters them? They regenerate into different people every week. The message is not passed on from generation to generation apparently.”
Jeno makes that endearing ‘huH?’ sound and you grab at the notebook yourself, having taken Statistics 101 before. He thanks you under his breath, which you nod at before Jeno slumps onto your shoulder, sighing heavily.
“Sorry. I know it bothers you. I would go around and tell them to back off of you and me personally but I don’t know all their names.”
Glancing at Jeno, it irritates you helplessly that you know he’s not even trying to sound dickish. He’s just that sweet and kind of a guy that makes other people not want to want to talk to him and ask those types of questions themselves. You know those people that seem too perfect to want to approach? Yeah, that’s Lee Jeno in a nutshell. If you looked up the definition of that type of person in a book, Jeno would be grinning that Samoyed smile of his from on that cursed page.
“I should tape a sign to my back that says, ‘Ask Lee Jeno himself. I’m not his personal owl,’” You peek at his face, “What do you think?”
He slightly smiles, eyes crinkling almost shut even at such a small gesture of amusement. “Okay. I’ll add my signature to it so that they know it’s signed by yours truly.” He looks up to your face and you’re glad the cold can disguise your flustered face easily with this type of weather.
Guess it’s time to actually settle this officially since it’s been clued at a little, but yes: You do have a crush on Jeno. And no, he does not know because when does telling one of your best friends’ that you’ve been crushing on them ever worked out?
No, not in the Wattpad story kind of way, you mean trulyworked out. Because personally, you’ve never heard of it working out ever, especially since you’re practically in the you’ve-seen-him-in-his-boxers and he’s-seen-you-shirtless stage of friendship. Don’t ask, it’s a long story that’s already too long for this kind of boring read.
So,no, you will not take your chances, thank you very much. There were many signs flashing neon that told you Jeno didn’t see you in a romantic or sexual kind of way but the glaringly obvious sign was actually the one you two are discussing currently.
What’s the appropriate way of acting if your crush is being berated by other peers on campus to give them your number? You’re not confident in what it actually looks like because for one, you’re not on the receiving end in this imaginary scenario, and two, it’s exactly that; an imaginaryscenario. You can’t even seriously dream Jeno liking you if you could. It was just that bizarre.
In the two years you’ve known the boy, he’s never even once mentioned another human being that he could potentially be interested in on campus. It’s not a problem of him not being comfortable telling you either because he’s told you upright that he’s not interested in anybody here (including you who’s enrolled in this stupid university). You’ve even nonchalantly asked Jaemin before and he’s confirmed that even in high school, this kid did not have wandering eyes.
You had wondered if Jeno was asexual, aromantic, or something along that line in the spectrum, eventually having the courage to ask him one day and he shook his head no quite confidently, a small smile laid on his lips.
You don’t know what Jeno’s deal was but the risks in finding out really didn’t lean in your favor. And that’s fine, considering how many fish are available of Earth’s wide sea of potential mates. You’ve killed off even the chance of dating Jeno and that’s all good in your book. You’ve been attracted to your guy friends once and twice and they faded away with time exploring their weird quirks or horrible habits. And even if Jeno was a strange case where you’ve even seen the dude have beer drip from his nostrils from a shitty keg stand and you still manage to harbor feelings for him… eh.
Time brushes away a lot of problems if you’re desperate and willing enough. Luckily for you, you checked off both boxes easily with this special instance.
You open your laptop and scour your documents for your old stats notes on chi-square tests. Bleh.
Pretending to gag in your mouth at the sight, Jeno smothers a laugh that shakes your shoulder and you share the document his way before scrolling and finding the right topic. You do the problem with few difficulties and write a quick message in the corner of his notebook page.
‘Actually study this because Y/N did the example and took time from her day to do so, thank you.’
“Thanks,” Jeno chirps as he takes his notebook back, removing himself from your shoulder (to your well-hidden disappointment), “I owe you one.”
“You’re right. A coffee works just fine, thank you.” You pipe back, folding your hands on the table cheerily. Jeno is shaking his head in mock annoyance but you knew the next time you two meet, you would not be disheartened, a warm cup pressed in hand.
“A four-dollar coffee is worth one solved problem in your book?” Jeno argues.
You fire back without hesitation. “It’s statistics. And I just sent two semesters’ worth of notes to you. You’re very welcome.”
“You’re right,” Jeno turns, stowing his notebook away, “That’s like seven coffees then.”
“And a scone if you’re feeling nice. A croissant works too.” You beam.
“Now you’re pushing it. Those things are stupidly overpriced.”
“Even for me?” You playfully place your chin in your cupped hands, blinking slowly and looking through your lashes.
Jeno sighs, placing a hand on your head of hair. “Fine. You win, you spoiled princess.”
In times like these, you knew you really asked to be put in these types of situations. And you’re not one to start being a saint and stop being hypocritical but… you deserved what you were putting yourself through, saying these types of things and teasing like this. Trying to get a stir and playact with being more.
Maybe it was a little cruel, somewhat tricking Jeno into saying sweet things to you, just to let your mind wander for a second. Call it… taking advantage of his friendship to pretend a little. Harmless but still adds into your ledger of sins for Judgement Day right?
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.
![galaxybambam:jaemtens:nct dream - ⸢glitch mode⸥ (jeno) [v3]@hwxnghyunjin help, I’m about to fuck](https://64.media.tumblr.com/eadcba478459692a7bdb3181b896432e/b90b16642494cb71-7f/s500x750/98261b716e3b05cbfe0df80829d20ad11faf61ae.png "galaxybambam:jaemtens:nct dream - ⸢glitch mode⸥ (jeno) [v3]@hwxnghyunjin help, I’m about to fuck")
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![galaxybambam:jaemtens:nct dream - ⸢glitch mode⸥ (jeno) [v3]@hwxnghyunjin help, I’m about to fuck](https://64.media.tumblr.com/4677efaeb8066354305622561e95bc8f/b90b16642494cb71-0a/s500x750/b6ff00b39173c7d547f56187fe6675ed91d2c625.png "galaxybambam:jaemtens:nct dream - ⸢glitch mode⸥ (jeno) [v3]@hwxnghyunjin help, I’m about to fuck")
![galaxybambam:jaemtens:nct dream - ⸢glitch mode⸥ (jeno) [v3]@hwxnghyunjin help, I’m about to fuck](https://64.media.tumblr.com/dab22ad374cd4ff6c3d1fd8b2bb07d2d/b90b16642494cb71-17/s500x750/1715520b8ae456d6c9568c41f3783aace2bdd8ec.png "galaxybambam:jaemtens:nct dream - ⸢glitch mode⸥ (jeno) [v3]@hwxnghyunjin help, I’m about to fuck")
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![galaxybambam:jaemtens:nct dream - ⸢glitch mode⸥ (jeno) [v3]@hwxnghyunjin help, I’m about to fuck](https://64.media.tumblr.com/e4e9a1d0706dc94cc9efee04336ed0e3/b90b16642494cb71-a8/s1280x1920/f0537c79eaa683308421428155228fc5f1f0636a.png "galaxybambam:jaemtens:nct dream - ⸢glitch mode⸥ (jeno) [v3]@hwxnghyunjin help, I’m about to fuck")
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