Floor 1 - Incubus Haechan

; haechan x gender neutral reader

; incubus haechan, slight religious talk, suggestive, dubcon, demonic aphrodisiac

; 2.4k wc

; The entire room is painted black. The only thing you can see is your friend’s phone screen and the flickering orange light illuminating the elevator itself. It’s old fashion; dark-stain wood plank walls with a vintage scissor gate. The metal looks rusty and you’re afraid to touch it. You step into the small box alone, waving off your friend and nervously reading the attraction brochure for the fifteenth time. It’s creepily vague with way too bold of a font and too many colours.

Welcome to Elevator 127!

Come make an appearance at a spooky Halloween attraction unlike any haunted house you’ve ever seen. Pick a floor for an eerie hour with any of our paranormal members. Free of charge too! Pass the elevator doors and enter their realm far from any experience you’ve ever had.

Select your floor…

The very first listing in the brochure is for an incubus named Haechan; 606 years old, male (in human form), and Korean. There’s nothing but his information printed with what looks like a stamp of a sigil; two circles, one big and small, with three crosses meeting at their ends in the middle , laid 90 degrees separate from one another, with a flicked tail coming from the center. Lilith spells itself out between the edges of the circles in all capitals.

You scan the rest of the options but end up back at Haechan’s section. It’s best to go in order, he’s only a floor up and all the rest are placed in a drastic range from one another. You fold up the brochure and shove it into your back pocket, crumpling up the paper slightly, and scan the button selection for his floor. The pad is a painted rectangle with ten black, circular buttons, arranged in five rows with his placed alone at the very top. It’s damp when you press and you go to check your hands in the case it was your own sweat, grimacing when you find that there’s now a clear sheen on your right pointer.

With a final close of the door, you wipe your finger onto the thin brochure paper that peeks out and stand patiently as the elevator leisurely makes its way up. The floors were either built far apart or this old lift was taking its time on the way there. You check your phone for the time, feeling as if five minutes had already passed just for a single floor, and raise a brow when the device doesn’t turn on. How cliche, you think.

The elevator gently comes to a stop, so naturally that you wouldn’t have noticed if it wasn’t for the slight squeak that sounds when it halts. You press the door button and watch it squeak open, revealing a dim, red room with candles placed all over its wooden black furniture.

A second later, the view is obstructed by a large puff of smoke, a black cloud appearing out of nowhere to drift away in skinny tendrils from the body standing in the middle of it. You guess that this is Haechan. He’s a younger-looking man, an innocent face with a teasing smile and soft but prominent jawline. He’s got caramel skin with the reddest of lips, colour resembling the dark shade of horns that peek through his curled, light brown hair. He’s dressed in all black, head to toe varying from sheer mesh to worn leather in the dark shade.

“Hi,” he giggles as an introduction, a glittering in his black eyes and pearly whites. The man tilts his head like a curious puppy, eyes opening even wider with wonder, and he eyes you up and down before carrying on, “I’m Haechan, demon name is Donghyuck.”

You stand in shock, still taking in the sudden appearance of the incubus and his simple introduction. The first thing you do is give him your own name in a small mumble, biting your lip nervously. His eyes focus on the action with fervor, gaze so strong you swear you can feel a slight burn begin to bubble your skin on the exact spot.

He chuckles when you turn away, blinking in a lethargic manner before taking a step back and directing you into his room with a wave of two fingers. You walk in with a deep breath and the moment your body enters the room, the gate slams shut with a crash and plunges down so fast you can hear gusts of air follow behind it. How lucky that you didn’t have to experience that speed.

The first thing you notice is how warm it is here compared to the elevator, air stuffy, and dense. Your cheeks take in the warmth as you steady for proper breathing, adjusting to the thicker air as you take in the room properly. There’s a king-sized bed against the center of the left wall, covered in red satin and black lace lined sheets. With a proper inspection, the room is actually furnished like any other, only standing out due to its intimate and monotone colour palette. Besides the giant sigil that’s painted onto the center of the floor, identical to the brochure.

“Thanks for choosing my floor, doll. I was getting bored,” he smiles, still not moving an inch. His posture is like that of a statue, the only sense of life is the smile on his lips. With his hands crossed in front of his hips, he continues speaking with a charming lilt in a honey-coated voice, “the only rule on my floor is absolutely no religious or silver jewellery. Go put them in the box behind you.”

You spin around and make your way to the small glass box, open and waiting, before discarding any accessories that seem to be against his rule. The moment your necklace is off your skin and onto the box, you feel Haechan’s body stood a centimetre from your own. Leaning over your shoulder, he watches you drop the last of your rings into the box before whispering, “can I touch you?”

You barely get halfway through a nod before Haechan eagerly wraps his arms around your waist, pressing you against his own body. His skin is searing hot, only slightly hidden by the heat absorption of his clothing. The part that stands out the most is his bare fingers, ungloved, and laid on your sides. There’s a gradual sweltering feeling that forms like a branding print and your body begins to panic at the feeling, needing to run from the danger of burns this very moment. Except you lean into it, the slight numbing feeling worryingly satisfying the more you hold out. Sustaining the touch makes it more intense, more terrifying, yet when his hand drifts up to clutch at a different spot, the fresh searing feel has shivers flying down your spine.

“Close your eyes, doll,” he mutters into your nape. Your eyelids shut without any added thought of his order, lips parting in a slight gasp at the touch of his breath against your exposed skin. It’s overwhelming and you feel your brain go fuzzy, zeroing in on that singular spot and the throb that comes with every exhale .

His hand finds your jaw next, the touch burning just as much as the last, and with a firm hold, Haechan physically gets you to look over your shoulder. With a drowsy blink, you open your eyes to the dizzying sight of his face leaning in to capture your lips in a kiss. Your mind blanks immediately; senses working in overdrive so that all you can make out is static, you’ve forgotten how to breathe and there’s no way to feel if you’re kissing Haechan back properly.

The demon pulls back with a lewd pop, licking away the spit all over his lips with a swipe of his forked tongue before murmuring for you to open your eyes again. “You can relax now, baby.”

The action of blinking open is painfully difficult, eyelids insanely sluggish and head so heavy that even the low luminescence of candle-light is enough to have you wince. You open your mouth to speak but can only manage a smile, tongue lazy after the haze. He doesn’t look nearly as worn out as you, the exact opposite actually. His breathing is slow and controlled, expression alert and attuned to each and every one of your actions.

“I’ll let you relax,” he huffs with a simper, “I’ll have to calm down on how much I take, you’re more sensitive than I thought.” As if to check that truth, Haechan runs his pointer down your neck and follows the movement to the middle of your chest with a light scratch, digging into the midway point of your pelvis before letting go with an amused hum. You visibly shudder.

He pulls away and wanders to the other side of the room. The distance clears your head instantly, muscles gaining their strength back from the jello state they were in just a moment ago. Regaining the ability to breathe feels like a blocked nose finally clearing up after a week long fever and you take deep, desperate inhales, savouring the sensation of your lungs filling properly. Sitting up, you watch Haechan walk over to the glass box and examine the contents through the clear material curiously.

You startle realising you were no longer near the glass box, suddenly you were on a completely different side of the room watching it from a distance away. “What the fuck,” you whisper, gulping down the confusion and panting in fear. Your hands fly up and you look between them and the box so quickly your neck might snap if you do another two. The sleeves of your shirt fall down your forearm to reveal your skin, allowing access to cooling. You relish in the feeling of crisp air on your skin, exceptionally torrid, so much so you swear that you can feel the layer sizzling against one another.

“Don’t worry,” Haechan smirks, licking across his perfectly straight teeth with a calm gaze that only serves to panic you more. “I moved you to the bed while we were kissing.” There’s no shame in his voice, only a hint of pride when recalling the actions, but he’s so infuriatingly indifferent that you feel a whine crawl up your throat, feeling ignored.

Right, you think, inhaling once and twice to ground yourself after that blanking bliss. The satin is damp under your hands and it holds onto your legs surprisingly well, latching onto the sweat that has formed between before and now. “What happened to me?” you ask, breathless.

He stands up from where he was leaning over the box, strolling over the small distance with a slight smirk and watchful eyes. “You get weak when we touch,” he explains with a drag of his words, “having your essence isn’t the most powerful feeling after all.”

“My essence?” The saliva in your mouth is grossly thick, vicious, and somewhat salty. You’re dehydrated. There’s a bottle of water on the bedside table and you gulp half of it down in one go, forgoing the need to breathe in exchange for the cool liquid. The preparation is oddly excessive but you appreciate it nonetheless, necking the second half after less than ten seconds of being out of breath.

He watches you drink with a clouded gaze. The glaze in his eyes have disappeared, black irises dulling in emotion before expanding beyond their circumference, colouring part of his whites. You stare as they change and take a deep breath to control the fearful confusion of the sight. The night was strange enough, anymore questioning and your head would explode. Your lips, swollen and wet with more than just his spit is a delightful sight and Haechan feels himself grow impatient. “Are you ready to continue?” he hurries, trying his best to hide the hunger in his chest.

Continue with what, you don’t know, but there was absolutely no way you could take sitting around and doing nothing under his intense stare for any longer. You nod and he’s in front of you in half a second, on his knees and leaning forward with his hands on your thighs for support. “Okay,” he drawls, setting fire to your skin as he examines every line of your features, “I’m going to touch you. Are you okay with that?”

With the pressure of his hands on your body yet again, you feel your chest constrict once more before panting out a yes. He notices the effect and removes his hands, asking a second time to receive the same response, this time from a clear head. With your cue to go, Haechan’s pushing himself against you with haste and dives in to press your lips together. You chase after him when he pulls away, desperate and empty without his kiss.

“I could smell you the moment you got into the elevator,” he lulls, licking his tongue over the warm expanse of your neck. His saliva was cold, shockingly so, and you chase the chilling moisture desperately. The sharp gasp you let out is embarrassingly loud but Haechan, feverish, soaks the sound up, fingers tightening their grip on your shoulders as he noses at your neck.

“Smell what?” you shiver, afraid of moving even an inch away from his touch. It was dangerously enchanting and you find yourself losing your sense again, giving your all to the greedy demon. Haechan wasn’t taking nearly as much as before, you feel yourself becoming impatient, needing the overwhelming sensation for as long as you can take it. He pulls away with the widest grin on his face, the entirety of his eyes completely painted over in deep black. A misty cloud of smoke, like the one he introduced himself in, begins to surround you.

“Your arousal, of course,” he chuckles. He stuffs his nose into your clavicle, tracing up the line of your shoulder to inhale deeply. “It’s astoundingly suffocating.” The action would be weird if not for the warmth that gathers in your belly, one that dissipates into sparks that race down your limbs in a pleasant buzz.

“Do you like it?” you shudder, throwing your head back as he sucks at a pressure point in the junction of your neck and shoulders.

“Oh, my babydoll,” he growls, gripping your chin with his thumb to stare into your eyes, forcing you to gaze into his black. The rest of the room turns black in your peripheral, partially masking the wings that have grown from his back, but you can’t take notice with how potently demanding his stare is, not allowing you to look away for even a second.

His fingers, with nails that have become tough and black, wander up and push against your lips, fighting for entry before you feel his skin, now leathery and hot enough to bubble, lays flat against your tongue. It feels like your mouth is about to melt away yet you couldn’t want anything other than to be in this exact moment. Haechan’s grin stretches from ear to ear, wider than the length between his horns, and still, the harrowing image does nothing to deter your want. He leans forward and mumbles with the same honey, sweet voice as before, “I more than like it. Your arousal is a gift from God himself.”

ily

; 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.

a night’s escape

; in which you find home in a stranger

; dysfunctional families, angst, comfort, strangers, mention of donghyuck and johnny.

; jaemin x gender neutral reader

; 3.4k wc

The shouting is the loudest you’ve ever heard it, the sound of your father’s resentful voice pushing against the thin walls of your old home to pound in the chambers of your heart, later drowned out by your mother’s shrill screams and the crash of her favourite flower vase being thrown to the ground. You can see the blue porcelain shattered on the floor, water puddling around the shards to help the pink carnations survive only a little longer, a mirror image of the last time she had done just the same.

You stare at the smashed open earphones that lay by your feet, a product of your mother’s previous rage from when she had had enough of you ignoring her yells, now unable to block your ears from the noise just outside your room. Not even blasting the loudest songs could distract from the way you flinch as they raise their voices, battling to be the loudest, most controlling.

You curl up and throw your hands to your ears, staring into the pitch black of your room and mumbling assurances to yourself, desperate to tune out your parent’s screams. It’s a second later that your mother lets out her true frustrations, making the guilt build up in your chest like bile after overeating.

“It’s your fault I’m stuck here. I didn’t want a family. You made me unhappy.”

A choked sob leaves your lips and your ears ring, more piercing than the words of regret you overheard just a moment ago. Your father responds just as passionately, just as fired up, roaring back about how it was not his idea nor his wish to start a family. You aren’t his fault.

You need to get out.

Throwing a coat over your shoulders, not bothering to change out of your two-day-old pyjamas, you put a hand on your bedroom door knob and hesitate, listening to their curses and shouts, before forcing your room door open. The volume increases the moment you pull on the door, your heart constricting painfully tight as you will your way into the main area of your home. You can feel the headache coming on and you rush to leave as soon as you can, scurrying to the front door where your parents are too busy trying to prove each other wrong to notice their child throwing on a pair of old sneakers. A small spark lights itself up in your heart as your father glances your way. He does nothing to acknowledge or assure you but the small motion is enough.

So, you decide to make the effort.

Your lips tug up into a timid smile, hand raising up into a half-hearted wave, and you keep in the fear when your mother shoots you an angry look. “I’m going to go out for a bit.”

You inwardly scowl at the shakiness in your voice but it seems it doesn’t matter, neither of them spare you another second of their time. Your mother waves you off with a flick of her wrist and you can’t help the disappointment that overcomes you with the dismissive reaction. You hate yourself for even caring - for taking notice of how they don’t think twice about letting you out so late at night or worry about exposing you to their broken relationship - for wanting to be nurtured when even they’re at their lowest.

Ignorance seems bliss right about now.

The evening is apparent, the air still and freezing cold. The yellow street lamps are the only things providing a sense of life in the empty suburban street. The front door doesn’t fully muffle their yells and you wince at the thought of neighbours unwillingly witnessing your weak home.

Glancing to the left, you see Donghyuck’s house just a few blocks down and contemplate seeking his comfort. Not even two steps later, you backtrack immediately and begin to walk in the exact opposite direction, imagining his mother’s offer of dinner and his older brother Johnny’s invitation to join them for a game of Monopoly, it has your lungs tightening up in embarrassment. On the way to whatever’s on this side of the street, you continually argue with yourself, bouncing between feeling like a burden and knowing that Donghyuck would be nothing but happier to give you a sense of home. Though, none of your best friend’s comfort could help to drown away the shame that comes with running away, the envy of not being part of his loving family or the guilt of throwing all your problems onto someone who deserves nothing but good. Your arrival would only shatter the stable home.

You end up at a park, away from Donghyuck’s warm hugs and blissful smiles.

You’ve seen this playset in passing the few times your mother wants to invite you shopping. There are no children being pushed on the swing set so late at night, the slides and seesaw unoccupied and wet. Strange, you hadn’t noticed that it rained today. Despite the droplets that threaten to soak through your sleep pants, you step forward and make to sit in the small cubby house by the monkey bars, cramped because the space wasn’t made for anyone over the age of ten in mind.

Apparently that was the wrong move. The crunch of playground bark under your foot alerts someone already here and in turn, their movement startles you. A hooded person, tall and nimble that you hadn’t noticed before, stands up and calls out, glancing around before landing on your frozen figure.

“Hello?” His voice is deep and firm, not shaky like you know your own would be. You stare as he slowly comes closer and you feel your fingers loosen from the fists they were tightened into, fear lessening when you notice he isn’t much older than you, maybe the same age or slightly younger. Yet that air in your throat doesn’t loosen up in the slightest and you force out your next words.

“I promise,” you hiccup, sniffling, “I’m not trouble, just wanted to- uh- hang out.”

He glares.

“Alone,” you reaffirm, “I wanted to be alone.”

He loses the tension in his shoulders when he hears the tremble of your words and steps forward. You move back protectively and feel your breath catch in your throat, regretting your decision to come here rather than Donghyuck’s house. The embarrassment seems so much nicer than this threat.

“Are you… okay?” he asks.

Somehow, you feel safe instantly, his voice just as deep but holding a softness in it that you hadn’t heard anyone use when speaking in so long. Maybe it’s the desperation or the loneliness but you feel all your worries melt away immediately, wanting nothing more than to let in the stranger. It’s pathetic and you think back to all those safety videos and those ugly statistics that come up on the news often. Yet you can’t help but let yourself trust.

You swallow harshly. “I’m not.”

He nods and gives a little snicker, amused at your honesty, and comes closer. With the street lamps now able to reach him, you can finally put a face to the voice. “Are you crying?”

You nod.

He chuckles again but this time, you can see the small smirk that forms on his mouth and the sliver of straight, white teeth that shines through the slight part of his lips. Your heart pinches but you find yourself enjoying the feeling this time. He runs his fingers through his hair, knocking off the protective hood of his jumper and revealing the washed-out blue colour of his locks. Without the shade of his hoodie, his eyes are considerably more visible. They’re dark brown, almost black, but have a glimmer that’s able to shine through the hair that falls past his brows and into the empty night. His nose is tall and slim, lips thin and chapped.

You gulp and fail to hear what he said, distracted with only the movement on his lips to show he was speaking at all. You mumble an apology and ask if he can repeat himself, unknowingly wandering closer to the attractive stranger.

He sighs impatiently but looks at you with just as much kindness as before, looking to have dropped any fear as well. “If you’re here to hang out, want to hang out with me?”

It’s weird and very suspicious of an invitation but the slight purse of his lips and expectant raise of his brows are terribly convincing. You give in to the offer and nod again, not feeling the need to speak and watching him drop on the ground right there.

“Well?” he murmurs, looking up at you from where he sits criss-cross applesauce, “are you going to join me?”

“Right,” you cough, rubbing your eyes red and shaking off the strange feeling of security that comes with settling by his side.

“I’m Jaemin,” he introduces, raspy and slow.

“I’m Y/n,” you give back.

“Y/n,” he lilts your name, dragging out the last letter with an ending hum, “pretty.”

“Thanks.” You hope it’s dark enough to hide the shy smile that works itself on to your lips.

His hands, veiny and strong, pick up a piece of bark and toss it away, toward the footpath behind you. Not looking away from where he picks for another piece worthy enough to be thrown, Jaemin regards you in a hushed, thoughtful tone, “what are you wandering into a park late at night for?”

You stare down at the empty patch he’s created and offer a tight laugh, “I could ask you the same.”

“Yes,” he nods slowly, calm, and looks up at you with a teasing smile, not breaking his strong gaze even when you turn away, “but I asked you first. Shoot.”

“Oddly demanding of you.”

Jaemin flings another bit of damp wood over your shoulder, dangerously close to scratching your cheek, and falls back on his hands, scoffing. The bark is sure to be digging into his palms painfully. “It’s good to get it out.”

You glare, challenging, before scowling at his know it all attitude and dropping your head to face the ground. “How do you even know it’s something I’d need to vent?”

He laughs with a humoured shake of his head, loud and genuine. “You were crying just a second ago.”

“True.” It isn’t like you know Jaemin properly, you won’t see him every day after this and be able to feel shame or regret – like a diary page you’ll chuck out the next day, tangible evidence gone.

You tuck your knees into your chest, circling your arms around your legs to lace your fingers together at the front, holding your own hands tight. You bite your bottom lip harshly, not worried about your skin potentially splitting under your teeth, and feel your eyes dart from his own patient gaze to the swing set to the empty road.

“Whenever you want,” he whispers, knowing you’ve given up on arguing.

Dropping your forehead on the steadiness of your knees, effectively balling up, you try not to worry about whether or not Jaemin’s judging you and begin speaking. “Parents don’t want to be with each other. They regret having me- forced to stay together for a child they didn’t want. They love screaming about it every chance they get.”

“Yikes,” he hisses, unsure how to respond, “sorry you have to go through that.”

You dismiss him with a shrug, so used to being nonchalant about the topic with Donghyuck or worried friends who catch sight of your parents arguing in the car. Jaemin’s response is nothing different from the default that you’ve always been met with, a fake pinch of pity in their eyebrows. “It’s whatever.”

He pouts, clearly not agreeing, but doesn’t bother to scold you on your act of apathy. “For what it’s worth,” he begins, stopping all motion of his hand to show a careful grin, “I like having you around.”

“Thanks,” you smile playfully, not taking the comment to heart but enjoying the good hearted change of pace, rocking back and forth as he laughs along. “Just sucks to know I’m here out of necessity rather than love. Doesn’t really feel like my existence has worth.”

“Right,” he agrees, breathless. You don’t think he really understands but the way he goes along with it, listening without argument or a rush to correct your dejected feelings, it’s nice. It’s more polite than anything else you’ve ever been told and you can’t find yourself appreciating it more. “Some people just aren’t ready to be parents and don’t know it until it’s too late.”

“Correct,” you applaud quietly, “but that’s not what I mean.”

Jaemin tilts his head in confusion and goes to apologise but you cut him off, not wanting him to feel bad for not understanding, “it’s more so that being parents- my parents- is what’s keeping them from happiness. I’m holding them back or whatever.”

His head bobs up and down slowly, fully processing your words before settling into an understanding frown. “That sucks,” he mumbles, looking at you with sorrowful eyes. You refrain from balling yourself up anymore, his gaze reminding you of Donghyuck’s pitying smile and hesitant looks. Though, you feel yourself lighten up a little with his next words, “I’m proud of you… for enduring that every day and still having a sense of worth- no matter how much it may have weakened. You’ll be able to get out of that situation one day, the future is your oyster.”

It sounds genuine and your brain racks at the sentiment of being listened to properly.

You smile, small and flattered, in place of verbal gratitude and turn away, tired of his twinkling eyes. “I don’t think that’s the saying.“

“It works, doesn’t it?” Jaemin grumbles, kicking at your foot.

“I suppose so.” You click your tongue and kick at the little heart he’s drawn into the now exposed soil. He glowers and slaps at your shoe, mumbling about how ungrateful and mean you are before sighing, giving up on drawing any more. “Now,” you begin, tilting your head to rest your cheek on your knee, “why are you here?”

Jaemin huffs, upset it was already his turn to share his sob story. “Would you believe me if I told you that I’m just here for some fresh air?”

“Not a chance,” you grumble, giving a half smile before sighing yourself, “I know a miserable loser when I see one. You’re one of me.”

“Miserable loser?” he repeats with wide eyes, offended and disbelieving.

“Alright,” you loosen up, apologising with a simper, “that was an exaggeration.”

“I’m…” he stutters, hesitating a little. He meets your eyes and you offer a wide grin, cheesy and light hearted, and laughs. “I’m here for the same reason as you.”

"Tomato pasta?” you cut him off, joking. Hopeful that it’ll ease the tension in his shoulders.

It seems to work, his brows furrowed in confusion and lips parting in slight amusement, pupils darting around to study your face for some kind of explanation. “What?”

"That’s why they fought,” you giggle, finding it stupid now that you’re finally out of the situation itself, “dad asked for fried rice today but mum said she’s been craving pasta.”

“That…” he spaces off yet again, completely lost. The thoughtful pout of his lips is adorable and you find yourself inwardly cooing, feeling light. “That’s a weird thing to have a such a big fight about.”

"I agree,” you nod, toes dancing in a fiddle, “crazy how angry you can get when you hate someone.” You decide against explaining the escalation of the argument, letting Jaemin create his own story in his own head. “Anyway, you were saying?”

“Right,” he clears his throat, “here for the same reason as you. Can’t stand my parents.” There’s slight hesitation to his words, the way he rubs at the back of his neck and the guilt that shows in the way he smiles but won’t look you in the eye. He glances in your direction once before darting away the moment he meets your analysing eyes, wondering. It’s wimpish when he mutters, “hate how in love they are.”

The words leave his lips and you freeze, frowning ever so slightly and allowing your eyes to drift away from his apologetic stare, self conscious. “Way to rub it in,” you mumble. You feel your body lean away from his, suddenly insecure and regretful about what you’d just shared.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers, licking his lips with a harsh breath, pushing out an open hand to rest on yours before pulling back when you flinch, reminded you had only just met. “It’s more than that, I swear.”

“What?” you scoff, hurt, “you can hear them having sex at night?” You let out a laugh but Jaemin finds it isn’t at all pleasurable to listen to this time.

“No,” he sighs, head falling in his hands. He looks up and sees you observing the empty road, unable to look at him but too tense to get up and leave. He gives up and gets it out, hoping you’ll understand if he gives you the context all at once, even if you’ve already decided you hate his privilege. “My stepdad. I hate him.”

A second father. Your eyes drift down to your feet and you ask him a question, it’s only to reassure yourself but he doesn’t mind, understands the curiosity. “Is he a jerk?”

“No,” Jaemin chuckles painfully, watching your frown reappear, distasteful, “he’s an alright guy if I let him be.”

“Then why-” you choke, punching at the ground and feeling the bark dig into your knuckles, the pain distracting you from your outburst for a small moment.

He doesn’t let you finish, desperate to clear the air and have you see the full picture. Wanting your approval and not for his sob story to be pitied but for you to be on the same page, he values your perspective of him already. “My stepdad’s a homewrecker,” Jaemin blurts, holding his breath and watching as you let your guard down, angry scowl fading into a look of realisation. You dart your head up, wide-eyed and rushing to apologise, but he sighs in relief, waving you off with an understanding smile.

You don’t look any less regretful as he continues to explain himself but Jaemin finds it sweet, not at all offended by your previous attitude. “I don’t like seeing my parents happy together. My mum doesn’t deserve it,” he hisses at the blunt words and laughs at himself, digging a hand in his hair, “I wouldn’t mind her moving on and finding love but she found him when she was still with my dad- pursued that relationship behind our backs.”

“Jaemin,” you struggle to find the words, “that sounds like such a hard situation.” He nods in confirmation and you purse your lips at the pained smile that comes with it.

He stares down at the ground, unsure why he can’t look you in the eye but loving the feeling of a weight being lifted off of his shoulders, his feelings finally being let out into the open. “I don’t know whether or not to hate my mum for breaking up our family. I think she already hates herself for it- she’s never talked to me about it… I don’t even know if she knows I know- but she has to settle or else she’s alone.”

“Whatever you feel,” you say slowly, carefully, “is complicated but valid. It’s understandable.” It’s a shit response, sounds like a script but it’s the best you can do with how unprepared you are. Jaemin a lot better at this than you seem to be.

“Thanks,” he whispers back, finally looking up at you.

You meet eyes, lips parted and breathing steady, neither of you making a sound but giving the other words of thanks with your steady gazes. Both of you are grateful. The way he stares, silent and caring, makes you wonder if you’d prefer to see him more after this, if having him in your tomorrow would be good for you, if he’s thinking the same. But for now you just sigh, delighted you can look at him in this moment and feel some sense of normalcy, feel understood, lost.

“You’ll be out of there soon,” you chuckle, blinking slowly. With a hushed tone, you reach for Jaemin’s hand and remind him, “the future is your oyster.”

crash the crush.

pairings : senior student!xiaojun x sophomore student!reader
warnings : profanity, underage drinking, mentions of drugs
genre : fluff, a bit of crack? highschool!au
word count : 4.3k

summary : what are the odds of crashing into your crush during the neighborhood-friendly run and mutual friends party?

You were pissed off when your mum said you need to work your lazy ass off. Well, if it’s on the summer break, you’ll most likely agree with her. But it’s only the weekend, and you’ve been studying your ass off these days. A lazy weekend is something you earned, but your mum decided to rain on your lazy parade.

With all those groans and deep sighs, you storm off your house wearing your workout gear. Not much, only a windbreaker jacket paired with shorts and running shoes. Popping your airpods on both of your ears to blast some jams, you take some light jogging steps on your neighborhood. It’s only 4.30 pm, and kinda windy, why the fuck are you doing this? That’s right, because mum literally compared you to your neighbor’s daughter, Giselle, who recently won a karate tournament. Now mum won’t even shut up how much she wants an active daughter, not the lazy one. Yikes.

Back to the streets by Saweetie & Jhene Aiko plays, and you hear a message notification on your airpods. Still on your light jogs, you glance at the notification.

yeri<3 : yo
yeri<3 : wyd

You stop jogging for a while to write your bestfriend back. It’s saturday, she’s probably asking you to hangout along with the gang. Yeri gets easily bored at home and in constant need of hanging out.

y/n : running 
y/n : mum said i need to be giselle

You continue your pace while waiting for her reply. You can see your neighborhood clearly now, seeing the details, since you always go to school in a sleepy state, not really noticing the environment, and also going home from school mostly sleeping in your brother’s car.

The notification rings again. It must be Yeri.

yeri<3 : bitch thats a dancing emoji
yeri<3 : running in a weather like this?
yeri<3 : damn straight u wanna be giselle

You chuckle as you’re about to type the messages once more, the weather is fine, what the hell is she talking about? But then Yeri is still typing. 

yeri<3 : n e ways
yeri<3 : party at lucas’ 8pm
yeri<3 : be there or be fucking square

You sigh. There she goes. No other option than tag along with her, but it’s not like you hate it anyway. Lucas’ party is always awesome, you and your friends also will get a VIP pass because he’s a good friend of yours too, despite the fact that you’re not even in the same grade as him, he’s one year above you and Yeri.

y/n : weather is nice dont jinx it
y/n : fine but pick me up
y/n : cuz doyoung won’t let me drive his car

You send the messages to Yeri to prove her the weather is fine, and indicates that you agree to go to Lucas’ house tonight, it’s a great night to probably get wasted after all those tiring run mum decided to toss on you. It’s gonna be fun, anyways. But the thing about hanging out with Lucas and his senior friends.. You might’ve developed a big fat crush with one of Lucas’ closest friends, Xiaojun. 

You barely had an interaction with him, though, because he’s usually the quiet and calm one in Lucas’ closest friends group. Lucas himself is already so fucking loud, not to mention Hendery, the good-looking clown and moodmaker. There’s also Jungwoo, the one who looks very calm but actually won’t shut up once you talk to him. Mark too, the giggly one with some lame jokes. Well, going to Lucas’ party tonight means you can see Xiaojun, probably getting the chances that you’ll have some interaction over some boozes or something is also quite high.

After feeling all warmed up, you decide to give yourself a run around the block. Yeri’s right, it’s a funny weather to run. It’s windy, but the more you stay outside, the cloud is getting darker and darker. You also knew that you’re not really alone, who’s doing this athletic bullshit in this kind of weather, you noticed that a boy is also doing this silly run when you were typing messages to Yeri. Probably just another neighbor’s child being scolded by his mum of how Giselle is so athletic that his mum also wants an active son? Welp, you didn’t see his face anyway, you were glued to the phone when you saw the figure running from the side.

It’s not even a minute after you started running, Yeri already replied again. Is she really that bored that she doesn’t have anything to do?

yeri<3 : ok i’ll pick u up at 7
yeri<3 : um.. its fucking raining, y/n
yeri<3 : go home and take a shower
yeri<3 : pick ur clothes and put on some makeup instead
yeri<3 : its saturday night, activate your hoe protocol
yeri<3 : mr xiaojun is going to be there tonight

You stop running and stare at her messages. Raining? Is she drunk or what? It’s not even 5pm yet and here she is, hallucinating-

Oop. There it goes. You feel some water drops on your head. Your hand. It was slow at first, but then the raindrops are getting harder and harder, it’s pouring. 

“Motherfu-” you let out a curse, you should’ve trusted Yeri on this. As an intuitive homo sapiens with XX chromosomes, you scan through the streets, looking for some shelter to wait the rain to stop. Spotting a bus stop with a large steel canopy, you run like your life depended on it, avoiding the rain.

Finally arriving, you sigh and sit on the installed chair, typing messages to Yeri.

y/n : omg bitch ur right its raining
y/n : should’ve pretended im dead in my room so mum wont bug me
y/n : u know what after the rain ends im gonna sprint back home and take a fucking shower
y/n : the universe doesnt like it when im trying to be giselle, it gave me rain instead

You sigh as you shuffle through your playlist, looking for some fun jams to pass your time through the rain, when somebody suddenly approaches you.

“Hi, do you mind if I take a seat here?” a boy asks, pointing to the chair next to you. You look up, and suddenly the next thing you wanna do is ascend your soul the fuck out of your body to the sky. 

Oh boy. It’s Xiaojun. The boy you won’t shut up about. He’s wearing a white loose tank and grey sweatpants, drenched in his own sweat. Oh god. This is truly an attack for you. What the fuck is he doing here? And why must you meet him at your mess like being all salty because of those running fiasco and the rain? While wearing your not-so-fashionable workout gear and not-so-tidy ponytails? Oh god.

You can feel your heart is about to explode when you realize that he is actually the person who is also doing the stupid running at this very weather, you just didn’t notice it sooner because you were on your damn phone. Damn, mum was right, everything happened because you were always on your damn phone.

“No, of course! Take a seat!” you answer him, trying your best to crack your sweetest smile although it’s more like sweatiest not sweetest.

He smiles back at you, taking a seat next to you, then his eyes get back to his phone, completely glued. Damn this is the only cardio that is worth it, no running, no jumping, no huff that huff this, only sitting next to Xiaojun on a rainy day on a bus stop. Wonderful.

You quickly whip up the messaging app to type all kinds of gibberish and send it to Yeri. She knows what shit is about to go down when you speak gibberish to her.

y/n : FUCKJSHSJJSKSJK YERI
y/n : OH MY FUCKING GOD SJSGSJSHSKJSK

Lucky you, Yeri has nothing to do than respond to your messages, she stays put on the chat room.

yeri<3 : OMG BITCH WHAT
yeri<3 : SKSHSJJSKS YOU SCARED ME

y/n : HE’s FUCKING HERE AHSJSHSJEK

yeri<3 : OMG WHOS HE??
yeri<3 : THE DEVIL??? IS HE GONNA TAKE UR SOUL? SKEJSJKSKSK

y/n : XIAOJUN
y/n : TURNS OUT HE ALSO LIVES IN THIS NEIGHBORHOOD

yeri<3 : ASKJSJSKSK WHAT
yeri<3 : HOW

y/n : KAHSKSJKS omg bitch
y/n : i was sheltering myself from the goddamn rain
y/n : im in bus stop rn
y/n : this angel came to accompany me
y/n : HE WAS RUNNING TOO OMG
y/n : omg yeri just so u know if im not there when u pick me up
y/n : its bc im in church getting married with my man xiaojun

yeri<3 : BITCH OMG SKSKSKSKK
yeri<3 : GET MARRIED RN
yeri<3 : WAIT dont waste the chance
yeri<3 : talk to him rn!!!

You swear you’re about to scream when Yeri sends that. She was actually right, this is your chance to talk to him, considering that you didn’t really interact that much with him. But really? He didn’t even say a word when he sat, probably didn’t even remember your name? The disappointment slowly gets into your head.

You freeze on the spot. torn between wanting to talk to him and just let it slide, you’ll see him again tonight as Lucas’ house, right?

Just when you decide to give up and not say a word, he turns his head to you.

“Hey, I didn’t know you live in this neighborhood too,” he starts.

Oh god. If every time your heart beats fast you get a dollar, you’d probably have your own private island by now.

You try to play it cool when actually on the inside you wanna scream I LIKE YOU to his face rn. “Oh? Oh yes, my house is number 13.” you answer calmly,

He cracks a smile, “13? You’re Doyoung’s little sister?”

Oh god. What the fuck is this clownery? He knows Doyoung? Why and how? At this rate you just wanna evaporate to the rain, what if Doyoung actually knows that you liked Xiaojun and he spills it? Oh god. 

You smile back at him, holding the panic you’ve been keeping since he mentioned Doyoung’s name. “Yep. I’m his sister.”

“Oh god, why didn’t I notice that earlier? I could’ve taken care of you at school!” he exclaims, and you sure you just wanna evaporate to the rain. Him? Taking care of you at school? YES PLEASE!

You let out a small giggle, trying to be as calm as possible when in reality you’re very sure you just wanna melt like a goddamn popsicle on a hot summer day. “So, how do you know my brother, actually?”

He laughs a bit, wiping away the sweat on his forehead. Oh god, he’s just so beautiful. “Well.. Doyoung and I used to be a dynamic duo in the school’s choir, until he graduated.”

Oh, that. Doyoung is pretty serious about his career in the school’s choir, but you did not expect that Xiaojun is actually a part of it. Of course, he has the face of an angel, the voice is included.

“Now I know why Doyoung never let me come to his house. Turns out he has a cute- I mean, h-he has a sister, and that’s you! M-Maybe he’s afraid I’ll bother you or s-something.” he continues, stuttering a bit, and letting out an awkward laugh. You laugh again, feeling the blood rushing to your cheeks that you can’t hide no more. DID HE JUST SAY DOYOUNG HAS A CUTE SISTER? DID HE JUST SAY YOU’RE CUTE? DID HE-

But then, good things always come to an end. The goddamn rain stops. Oh fuck, no more chitter chatter with the dear crush. Just when it is the fucking time you need to hear the goddamn wedding bells, the rain decided to stop on your rain parade. Fuck.

He looks up, and seems like noticing the rain has stopped. “Well, Y/n. Lucas is having a party tonight, are you coming?”

You can feel your cheeks are still heating from his words, you shyly nod to him. Welp, maybe the rain has stopped, but this stupid crush? No. It goes on. Very much.

He stands up, straightening his white loose tank, getting ready to probably sprint back home. “Okay. See you tonight then, I’m going home. Have a good run!” he says as he walks away from the bus stop, leaving you dumbfounded. And lovestruck. That’s a win, alright.

Xiaojun slowly fades away from your view, and you’re still drowning on your pool of love. Yep, that’s it. You can’t even hold it, you quickly dial Yeri’s number to break out the news.

“What is it, Y/n? You literally left me on read for like 14 minutes straight and now you-”

“YERI LISTEN I’M GETTING MARRIED TONIGHT AND THAT’S A FUCKING FACT!” you shout to the phone, you can picture Yeri is probably goggling out her eyes right now.

“Girl, just because Xiaojun just asked you why the fuck were you running at times like this it doesn’t mean-”

“HE CALLED ME CUTE!” you blurted out,cutting her sentences for the second time,

“-you’re getting married- WHAT?? HE CALLED YOU WHAT?” Yeri yelled from the phone, now it’s pretty clear that Yeri is probably jumping her ass off right now.

You sprint your way to home, while holding your phone to your ears, continuing to give Yeri the details about the bus stop conversation you had earlier. Now she’s just yelling at you to pick the right dress and pamper yourself up, the probability you’ll marry Xiaojun at Lucas’ party is increasing. Sure it does.

——-

It’s 11.28 PM, 3 hours and a half since you and Yeri just arrived at Lucas’ house, escaping from Doyoung’s warning to you, to get back in one piece, and most importantly, sober. As if you’re gonna leave Lucas’ house sober, that’s funny, alright. You and Yeri were greeted by Yangyang and Donghyuck, who are currently setting up the table for snacks and drinks. That was probably the first time you saw Donghyuck ever setting up something, because if not, Jungwoo would’ve set his ass on fire.

The party madness has started, seems like everybody already has enough alcohol running on their system. Lucas is already losing his shirt and starts twerking in the middle of his house along with Jaemin and Jungwoo. Ah yes, the thot trio already started their thing, and all you have to do is just stay back and avoid getting dragged to the dance mess, because the chance of Jungwoo and Jaemin will start grinding at you is kinda high right now.. Considering their.. Twerking fiasco.

You sit back on the couch and watch your friends getting crazy over the playlist Yangyang made just for this event, sipping on your cocktails that Donghyuck put god-knows-what in it, he said it’s just cherry juice mixed with gin and brandy, but somehow it tastes kinda citrusy. You glance to the right, only to see Yeri making out with some random guy (probably one of Lucas’ friends named Changbin but oh well, that’s Yeri’s business).

Slightly grossed out and sad because apparently you’re not making out with Xiaojun right now, you make your way to the patio, and find the crowd that circle around a spinning bottle. Interested, you join Jeno, Mark, Renjun, Yeji, Hyunjin, Sungchan, Karina, Vernon, Hendery, and of course, the (hottest) most important person right now, Xiaojun.

“Welcome! As a newly joined member.. Truth or dare?” Jeno greets you as you take a seat between Mark and Sungchan. Well, you’d love to sit beside Xiaojun, but apparently, that seat is already taken by Hendery and Vernon.

You silently glance at Xiaojun, who is wearing a denim jacket with light-yellow knit top underneath, paired with white trousers. Damn, he looks so damn good that you wanna cry a river.

Your head comes back to the question Jeno asked. Today’s your day, be bold or bald. It’s time. “Well, I’m not gonna put my drunk antics to waste. Dare then.” you answer boldly, earning a few ‘ooooh’s from your friends.

Jeno snickers. Well, fuck. Guess you’re a bit too damn bold tonight, the realization suddenly hits you like a fucking trainwreck, Jeno is kinda extreme for games like this. Wrong choice, y/n. You gulp as you wait for Jeno to come up with something.

“I dare you to kiss Xiaojun!” Jeno exclaims, clapping both of his hands like a goddamn happy seal. Mark and Hendery are high-fiving right now, throwing whistles around Xiaojun, who is silent as a fucking rock.

Oh god. Things you’ve said about not putting your drunk antics to waste should’ve stayed in that goddamn draft. This is where Jeno takes you, even though you’re secretly happy that you finally get to kiss your goddamn crush, that shit is EMBARRASSING. If you wanna evaporate to the waters, then it’s probably the right time to do it.

But why Xiaojun though? Is your big fat crush on him too obvious?

You freeze on the spot as you awkwardly smile and stare at Jeno. This shit can’t be real. Jeno is goddamn crazy. You can feel the air is getting hot, whether it’s because the alcohol starts kicking in, or just because the blood is rushing through your head.

“Scared, aren’t you?” Jeno taunts you, sipping his beer as the rest of the group laugh except you and Xiaojun, who is currently staring at you with a questionable expression. Is he pleased? Or is he pissed? Oh god.

“I-I’m not!” you answer him, leaning to Xiaojun, gulping once more before asking him, “You’re okay with this though?”

Xiaojun smirks, “How can I say no to you?” he asks back, accompanied by a few ‘ayyy~’ from the boys, sending butterflies to your stomach. Your face is probably as red as a tomato by now.

Good god. Is this the same Xiaojun who is quiet, calm, and collected among his friends? Why suddenly he is so bold? Oh, he’s probably just drunk and won’t remember this kiss anyway.. You lean closer to him, closing the gap between his face and yours by sealing the kiss. His lips are soft yet firm, almost like a grape jelly you had earlier this afternoon, with a hint of vodka, of course.

After a few seconds, you finally pull out and linger your eyes on him. It’s beautiful, and mesmerizing. You just wish that you can see it again, and only for you, no one else. As you get back to your seat, you take one more last glance at him, that is currently also glancing at you, with his cheeks red.

Okay. You definitely heard the wedding bells, thanks Jeno. That’s probably one of your dreams, and thanks to Jeno, it came true. But unfortunately, Xiaojun probably won’t feel the same, or worse, he’ll probably forget about it tomorrow.

Everyone claps, exchanging happy exclaims and cheers as if you just said ‘I do’ to Xiaojun lol, when in reality, you were just doing the dare Jeno gave you. You gulp bitterly as the game goes on and on.

—–

It’s an hour past midnight, 1.12 AM to be exact. Thank god you’re not that shitfaced, but Yeri is. She is not even capable of doing anything anymore except being all smiley and shit, Changbin already drove her home like fifteen minutes ago, leaving you behind in Lucas’ lair. You suddenly felt the urge to thank god that Yeri made a fantastic decision last minute before picking you up, she used a taxi instead of driving. If she hadn’t, you’re probably stuck driving her home right now.

You scan through the house while leaning through the stair railings, looking for an easy target to get a free ride. Finally spotted your friends, you now have 3 choices : Donghyuck (who is currently seducing some random girl), Yangyang (who is now playing mobile games with Jaemin and Chenle), or Mark (who recently just hit a goddamn blunt, but he’s very capable to drive).

You sip your glass of water, making up your mind for your ride home. But then, suddenly someone taps on your shoulder.

“Do you wanna go home? Like, right now? I can drive you- I mean, our house is like, near.” you hear Xiaojun speaking to you, holding his car keys on his left hand.

Good gracious, is this even real? Like, Xiaojun, is actually asking you to go home with him? Is this real? Or are you just hallucinating from the goddamn weed you take 10 minutes ago from Lucas?

You stare at him blankly. He bit his lip, “I mean- If you wanna stay longer- or probably-”

“Yes, of course! Let’s go.” you smile at him, cutting off his words.

3 times in a day. Good job, Y/n! The wedding is up ahead!

He smiles and gives you a gesture, “Ladies first.”

-

The drive is not as awkward as you thought. Turns out, Xiaojun is full of surprise though, you nearly choked when he said he once formally apologized to Doyoung before he stood up to defend the dignity of Mint Chocolate Chip flavored ice cream. It’s delightful to find out that he has similar tastes as you, from ice cream flavor to music and school subjects.

Xiaojun also told you the reason why he was on the run earlier, he was bored. Damn, look at it, the difference between a forced daughter whose mum wants an active child, and a bored model-student. He said he didn’t expect to see you because he was embarrassed, he was drenched in sweat.

You can feel the butterflies on your stomach grow wilder and wilder from every word he said, or maybe it’s just the way he smiles when he talks to you? Welp, if it’s anything to do with Xiaojun, you’ll most likely get butterflies.

Just when you thought he was drunk, he is not. He’s capable of driving you home and carrying on some fun convos, also remembering little things. So.. perhaps, he is not going to forget the kiss you shared because of Jeno’s dare?

As you keep on exchanging conversation with him, suddenly it’s time to get off his car and get back to your house, get ready to deal with Doyoung’s nags and scolds for getting home this late.

You giggle as you take the seat belt off, smiling at the brown haired boy.

“Thank you for driving me home, Xiaojun. It was fun.” you say to him, waving him goodbye as you open the door. He smiles and waves back at you.

Just when you’re about to open the gate of your house, you hear the sound of slamming car doors. You turn around and see Xiaojun standing in front of you, eyes sparkling like a goddamn star. Unfortunately, it’s not Christmas.. If it is, all you want for Christmas is to stare at Xiaojun’s beautiful eyes all day, and probably get married to him.

“Um.. Y/n.. I don’t know how to say this but.. The kiss you gave me earlier, it’s kinda..” he starts, smiling sheepishly.

Oh god, what now? It’s kinda what? Gross? You swear you’ll kill Jeno if you hear that from Xiaojun.

You gaze at him as you wait for him to complete his sentences.

“It’s kinda.. Making me feel.. Things.” he finally continues, rubbing the back of his neck while looking away from you, flustered. It’s pretty cute.

You giggle at him a little, the butterflies come back, or maybe they never even left?

“Don’t laugh, Y/n. I’m being honest, I was pretty embarrassed to run into you during sheltering, and now you’re laughing at me for-”

You let out a big laugh before you pull him to another kiss. This one is a bit longer, more passionate and intimate, unlike the one you had before. He cups your cheek as you feel him smiling during the kiss.

“I’m sorry if I invaded your privacy- but your fast typing was very.. Intriguing.. I might’ve seen you texting Yeri at the bus stop.” he giggles after you pull out from the kiss.

Yikes. You feel like you’re about to burst now. He saw you texting Yeri? What kind of clownery is this? Did he see you typing- oh god, that’s too embarrassing to remember.

“No! That’s too embarrassing!” you cover your face, he laughs once more.

“Now, which church are we going to? I’m pretty sure you said we’re getting married tonight, right?” he takes your hands off your face, grinning widely.

You pout and lightly hit him, only to be attacked by his hugs a second later. Aww, finally, dreams do come true. You stay on his embrace for a few more minutes, no talking, just comfortable silence and realization that you’re on Xiaojun’s arms right now.

You glance at your watch, Doyoung would be furious by now. Telling him that you really have to go before Doyoung can rise from his sleep and beat your ass, you finally wave goodbye to him as he gets back to his car.

Finally entering the house, you’re greeted by Doyoung who’s standing in front of you, holding a bowl of salad on his right hand.

“So, kissing Xiaojun in front of my salad?” he raises his eyebrow.

You stick out your tongue as you make your way upstairs. Technically, not in front of Doyoung’s salad, because the door was closed. He’s probably looking through the window, such a nosy brother. You laugh at the thought of Doyoung getting furious while eating his salad as you get a message.

Xiaojun : so, see you at school?
Xiaojun : can’t wait to hold your hand on monday ;)

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.

bet! | lee jeno.

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 :)

taglist.@donutswithjaminthemiddle@dvickyyy@jenosbliss@matryoooshka@luvenshiti@nap-of-a-starr@dojun00@nctdom@yangsbff @bockhyun

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. 

“Somebody’s cranky.” Chenle swings by, a childish smirk gracing everybody’s presence. 

“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?” 

“Ohyeah, I forgot about that! I—”

Your phone begins to b

bet! | lee jeno. [TEASER]

FINISHED AND POSTED! READ HERE.

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. 

“Somebody’s cranky.” Chenle swings by, a childish smirk gracing everybody’s presence. 

“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?

Work In Progress report

Candy Shop | @urlocaltrash28(series)

• NCT dream x reader

synopsis:you and Jisung had gotten into your guys dream college together but he had a full ride and you didn’t. Being a cam girl was only suppose to pay the bills, but you couldn’t lie, the money you made from it was good. You lived life comfortably only making one video a week.

taglist:

release date: summer 2022

A Racer’s Heart(series)

F1driver!Jeno x reader x F1driver!Jaemin

synopsis:You, Jeno, and Jaemin joined the NCT racing team together, you guys came up together, and you guys swore you’d be at the top together. However for Jeno and Jaemin it isn’t only a race for the championship but a race for your heart too. Will one of them win it both?

taglist:@90sgatsby-jjh

release date: TBD

Meant to be(series)

taglist:

release date: fall/winter 2022

Experience(oneshot)

Ballerino!Winwin x Ballerina!reader

synopsis: The best of the best in school only matters if you secure a job after school. This shall be your opportunity to secure your place in the world after the academy. Or will your heart rob you of the opportunity before it even takes place?

taglist:

release date:april 2022 DELAYED

My Duty As Princess

Chapter 3

Lee Jeno x fem reader

masterlist

in collaboration with@urlocaltrash28

preview,01,02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, epilogue

Genre:arranged marriage au! royalty au!

Warnings:none(?)

Word Count: 6.3K

Authors Note: Ahhhhh I finally did it correct and updated on a saturday lmaoooo. Also an updated WIP is coming out, I know I have behind on updating you guys but I will. hugs and kisses to anyone reading <3333

————–

With the wedding in a month, you and Jeno have become closer these past few weeks. Instead of just not liking each other at all, there was mutual respect. One could even argue that you and Jeno have become friends; you spent most of your mornings together, playing with Hades as much as possible. It seemed as if the mornings were the only time you guys got to yourselves, for the afternoons were full of meetings with different members of noble families, wedding arrangements, council meetings, and endless amounts of public appearances. Every day, there was a fifteen to twenty-minute appearance in the public to interact with the people.

Everything in Northcy was different from Modia. Back home, your family never had public appearances, you never had private meetings with the high houses, nor you didn’t have to attend council meetings. The list of new tasks seems to be never-ending. Fei and Mei became distant, they always silently did the work no longer stopping to whisper little gossip they heard to you. Chan and Hyunjin started acting like guards as well, not conversing unless you spoke first, obeying all orders without much argument. You were constantly surrounded by people but felt more alone than ever.

One morning, you woke up feeling your heart drop into your stomach. Your head was spinning and you felt as if you had to double over to throw up. Swallowing the nausea, you got up to begin the day. With the wedding approaching so soon there was no way you could have a sick day now. Finding the will of God himself, you put on the mask and prepare to embark on your day. That morning you had breakfast with the ladies of the council, all the wives of lords and their daughters. The last of the noble families were to be arriving today for breakfast and were planning on staying for the entirety of the month up until the new year. Thankfully, most of the ladies didn’t focus on your presence, mostly occupied with pleasing the queen in any way, whether that be complimenting her outfit, or by marveling at the decor of the palace. Few did pay attention to you, like Lady Qian. She was the wife to Prince Qian Kun, who was second in line to the throne of Varpol. Prince Qian Kun was in Northcy for the wedding as well as a royal ambassador for Varpol. Lady Qian made sure she introduced herself to you personally. She also said, “I hope my husband and your future husband stay in good fortune with each other, for the time to come.” She wanted to ensure that you made sure Jeno didn’t cut off the alliance with Varpol when he took the throne, is what you thought. Varpol was a small country that didn’t offer much to Northcy but asked for a lot in return.

Lord Huang Renjun was the same age as Jeno. It was tragic, his father died at war. According to your lessons, Lord Huang, Renjun’s father, controlled the air fleet; he was flying into enemy territory when they took fire and his plane was shot down. Just as Renjun was going into war, the terms of the union were agreed upon. Lady Huang gave you a confused look, she was angry because you were the enemy, you killed her father-in-law. However, you being here saved Renjun from that fate, so she eventually decided to be grateful for you.

Lady Park was older, but couldn’t be much older than your own mother. The way she carried herself told you that she did this rodeo, one too many times. There was another girl with her, she looked to be about your age, maybe a year or two younger. Her face, figure, her hair, everything about this girl seemed all too familiar to you. She was thin, with a nice tanned complexion, her hair long straight and raven-colored. She was everything you wanted to look like. Then it hit you, this was the girl in the picture that was on Jeno’s desk. The Noble Park family is the most powerful noble family after, of course, royal relatives like the Na noble family. The Park Family controlled the power plants throughout the country; they literally lit the country. The family consisted of Lord Park, Lady Park, their son Park Jisung, and their daughter Park Jisoo. There was a rumor that Jeno and Jisoo had dated for a few years, but no one spoke of how or when it ended.

“Princess (Y/n), pleased to make your acquaintance,” Lady Park spoke to you as she bowed. You put on the mask your parents had constructed; your face held no emotion but pleased. “I am Lady Park Jihyo and this is my daughter, Park Jisoo,” Lady Park said, gesturing to her daughter as she did a small bow as well. Jisoo was furious to bow to you. It was clear to anyone paying attention, the fire behind her eyes lit.

“It is very nice to meet the two of you,” you said, standing straight, refusing to bow to them. Normally, and most likely under different circumstances you would bow, but this is different, you have to show them that you will not become a pushover of a queen.

“It must be very lonely to be away from home without a single familiar face,” Lady Park said, trying to jab at any wounds. The mask you put on refused to break and show the lonely feelings that were festering inside.

“Sometimes, but the queen and her family have done nothing but make me feel welcomed here,” you said. You had to present the front that you and the royal family were united.

“That’s good, I hope you are also pleasing the prince as well,” Lady Park said, reaching for something that wasn’t there. “If you ever need to know what the prince likes, Jisoo here is well versed, I’m sure she could help.” You were wrong. Lady Park wasn’t reaching for your feelings for Jeno, but your feelings of incompetence. Lady Park knew that royals didn’t like the feeling of needing help from anyone, and that’s exactly what she made you feel.

“Thank you for such a gracious offer, Lady Park,” you refused to allow the mask to crack, “but I’m sure I won’t be needing that anytime soon, the prince and I are very happy.” You’ve done it, you put Lady Park and her daughter in their place, but most definitely not for long. The short exchange left you more exhausted than ever, but now was no time for naps. You and the queen had to see to the arrival of the last family member: Jeno’s grandmother, the former queen of Northcy, a rumored fighter pilot in the war, Queen Lee Hye-Young.

-

You, Grandmother Na, Queen Jaeyeon, King Donghae, Jeno, Haechan, and Mark all waited in the main foyer for Queen Lee Hye-Young to arrive. After what seemed like hours of waiting, but was probably only a few minutes, a servant announced the arrival. Everyone fixing their attire and standing straight, Jeno’s parents stood in the front, the king and then the queen, Grandmother Na slightly behind on the queen’s left. Jeno, Mark, and Haechan are behind Grandmother Na, and you on Jeno’s right, slightly behind. The doors opened, revealing Queen Lee Hye-Young. She was a thin woman. Her face had natural signs of age, there was no indication that she ever tried to alter her appearance. Her hair was cut short, a simple bob that rested just below her ears. She wore light makeup, almost as if it were nonexistent. Her outfit consisted of a royal blue satin tea-length dress with silver two-inch heels. She didn’t carry a handbag, wore only a huge pear cut sapphire ring, her wedding ring, a simple string of pearls, and a silver braided tiara that didn’t hold any jewels. Her presence alone commanded attention. She was stunning, absolutely stunning. You could only dream to age as nicely as she did.

“Mother,” King Donghae spoke first, grabbing your attention, he opened his arms to welcome her into a hug. She seemed so small compared to him. “How was the trip?”

“Fine. It was just fine,” Queen Hye-Young said. Even her voice was elegant, she was memorizing in every aspect.

“Welcome home, Your Majesty,” Queen Jaeyeon spoke, bowing to Queen Hye-Young.

“Thank you, my dear. I see you have not aged since I last saw you.” What sounded like a nice compliment was actually a jab at Queen Jaeyeon spending all her time on her appearance and nothing of importance.

“I see time has not made you kind, Hye-Young,” Grandmother Na spoke to Queen Hye-young. You were taken aback by Grandmother Na’s bold words.

“Hello, old friend,” Queen Hye-Young said with a smirk painting itself across her lips, she pulled Grandmother Na in an embrace, and the two shared a small fit of giggles. “Let me see my grandsons,” Queen Hye-Young said, pulling away from Grandmother Na, allowing her to pass through to see Mark, Haechan, and Jeno. Queen Hye-Young pulled each boy into a hug, whispering something different to each of them. “Where is my boy, Taeyong?”

“He’s working, Grandma. He’ll be back for the union,” Haechan answered.

“You best not be working him too hard, Donghae.”

“Of course not, mother.”

“And who is this?” Queen Hye-Young asked, slightly pushing Jeno aside to get a better look at you. She stared you up and down.

“This is Princess (Y/n) of the Modia Kingdom,” Jeno answered, stepping to your side, placing a hand on the small of your back. “She is my fiance.”

“Ah, so this is the princess,” Queen Hye-Young looked at you once more, “it is a pleasure to meet you, princess,” she said bowing to you.

“The pleasure is all mine, Your Majesty,” you said a little too quickly, bowing a little too low, absolutely flustered that Queen Hye-Young bowed to you. Queen Hye-Young’s lip twitched a little watching you, your fluster was all too evident, and she seemed to enjoy it.

-

You were set to have lunch with the Ladies of the council once again, but as soon as you made your way to the queen’s private dining area, you were called away. You had no idea where you were going and were just told to follow the maid. She led you to a french door that you assumed led into a private chamber. The maid knocked on the door and then opened them walking in, you followed.

“Princess (Y/n), as you requested, Your Majesty,” the maid said. As she moved to leave the room, you saw Queen Hye-Young and Grandmother Na sitting, eating lunch.

“Thank you, you may close the door on your way out,” she spoke to the maid. The maid bowed and did exactly as Queen Hye-Young instructed. “Sit, dear,” you sat. “How are you this morning?”

“I am just fine, Your Majesty.”

“Do you plan to take up a consort after the coronation?” Queen Hye-Young asked, getting straight to the point; there was no beating around the bush.

“Excuse me?”

“Are you planning to undermine my grandson during every decision he makes?” Queen Hye-Young continued to eat her breakfast like she was asking about the weather.

“Huh?” You were at an utter loss for words, not knowing how to answer any of her questions.

“Do you plan on making this marriage work, or is this just business? Will we have to fight for you to produce an heir?” Your stomach did flips, palms sweating. You wanted nothing more but to leave. “Are you planning on cutting off Northcy’s alliances with smaller kingdoms? Will you open the palace up for the people to see? Are you ready to manage the budget of our kingdom?” Your head started to spin and wondered when you last ate. You were so busy that you barely felt as if you had time to consume food. “Do you intend on allowing Jeno to have a courtesan? Will you take on one as well? I heard a rumor about a little guard in your favor.” There was a ringing in your ears, Queen Hye-Young’s voice sounded far away. “Do you plan to uphold our family’s traditions? Or will it be only your family traditions from now on?”

You felt your eyes flutter close, only wanting to blink, but couldn’t pry them back open.

-

I was sitting for lunch with Jaemin, Haechan, and Mark, taking a simple half-hour to rest before being stuck in meetings with various Lords.

“Jeno, hello. You there?” Haechan called out, grabbing my attention.

“I’m sorry, what?” was all I could manage. Haechan, Mark, and Jaemin just laughed and shook their heads, going back to whatever conversation they were having before. I waved down a maid for a new glass of water. All I wanted to do was lay in bed, but I barely had a moment to myself. I wonder how the princess feels right now, and what she’s doing.

“Crown Prince Lee Jeno,” a maid called out, standing enough distance away to be respectful. All of our heads turned to face her. “Queen Hye-Young has requested your presence.”

“Very well,” is all I could muster to say, as I stood to follow the maid. I waved back a bye to the guys sitting at the table. Ever since Jaemin arrived, the three of them are always together just like before. I wonder if the princess’ maids are doing alright here. I looked at the maid that I followed. I didn’t see much of Fei or Mei. We made our way up to the second floor, where the chambers were. She said she was going to be having lunch there with Grandma Na.

As we approached her doors, people were running in and out. “Call a doctor,” Grandma Lee yelled out, her military voice suited. She was running past the maid to the bedroom. Did Grandmother Na get hurt? I ran into the room, there Grandmother Na sat on the floor, the princess’ head in her lap. Grandma Lee was checking her pulse. Maids were coming in with supplies for the princess to be comfortable.

“Where’s the doctor?” The question came out as a whisper, quickly drowned out by my grandma’s shouts. My body went numb for a second, so many haunting memories fighting even harder to cloud my consciousness. I never thought I’d see the day where the snippets of my life that I pushed so far back into my mind were exploding back in front of my eyes.

“Excuse me, Your Highness?” a maid asked.

“Where’s the doctor?!” I yelled, rushing towards the princess’ side, pulling her out of Grandmother Na’s lap and towards myself. “Have the doctor meet me at her chambers, she shouldn’t be left on the floor,” I said, gaining control over my voice again, picking the princess up and all but spiriting towards her chambers.

Finally making it to her room, I laid her on the bed. She was looking up at me. “Princess, are you alright?”

“I’m alr-”

“Don’t lie,” I cut her off, my tone more rough than intended. The princess has this habit of telling people what they want to hear.

“My head hurts and I feel nauseous,” the princess sighs. Now she’s actually telling the truth.

“The doctor should be here soon, princess.” As if my words were magic, the doctor walks in. Most would’ve gone to a hospital, but we royals tried to maintain public appearance whenever it was humanly possible.

I stood in the back of the room against a wall, while the doctor did his examination. I knew Grandma Lee and Grandmother Na were right outside the doors because they were quick to follow me when I moved the princess. Looking at the princess, I realize she’s thinner than when she first arrived at the palace. I felt guilt pile in my stomach, my mind taking me back to when I was fifteen, peering down at the frail body of a girl far too young to be hungry, cold, and helpless. I couldn’t save Jia, but did I miss the opportunity to help (Y/n)? Was this my fault?

“Your Highness,” the doctor addressed me, “the princess is alright, she fainted, my guess is from a lack of food and an increased amount of stress. She needs to rest and eat good food.” The doctor’s words confused and worried me: ‘lack of food.’

“Thank you, doctor.” The doctor left, leaving me, the princess, and her maids. “Leave us, please.” The maids looked to the princess, who nodded in approval. The princess sat up on the bed, she was trying to stand up. “Hey, hey,” I said, walking towards the princess, pushing her to sit back down, “the doctor said you needed to rest.”

“Jeno, please. I have things I need to do, I can’t spend all day in bed.”

“Yes you can, even if I have to stay here and watch you,” I said, rubbing my temples, “you haven’t been eating?”

“I have, I-” she started, not knowing how to continue. There was a knock at the door, a perfect interruption for her. Grandma Lee and Grandmother Na were there, standing in the doorway.

“May we come in?” Grandma Lee asked. I looked at the princess who nodded her consent.

“Come in,” I said.

“Are you alright, dear?” Grandmother Na asked, rushing to the princess’ side. She sat on the bed next to the princess, rubbing her arms. Grandmother Na always had a warmer personality than Grandma Lee.

“I am just fine, thank you,” The princess was calm, she wasn’t afraid to be in my grandma’s presence.

“Princess,” Grandma Lee started, she was distant, almost sorry, “I didn’t mean to-”

“Your Majesty, this is not your fault,” the princess cut off Grandma Lee, “I don’t have answers for your questions right now, but I will before long. I plan to work with the prince and be a queen that my and your people deserve.”

Grandma Lee smiled and nodded. I looked between the two. Grandma Lee turned to me and nodded. She approved, that’s what she was telling me, she approved of my union.

-

Neither you nor Jeno was able to have a proper lunch, so he requested food be brought to your chambers and you guys would dine together. Fei and Mei both carried a tray of food each. They set them on the table before you and Jeno. It was chicken noodle soup with rice. You smiled as you looked at the tray. It was a dish your mother made whenever you felt sick.

“Thank you,” you said to Fei and Mei as they exited your room. You brought up a spoonful of soup to your lips, the warm liquid danced across your tongue and ran down your throat. The burn felt magnificent, and you couldn’t help but eat like you have been starved for a lifetime.

“Good?” Jeno asked, looking at you, he mindlessly mixed the soup with his spoon.

“Perfect.”

As Jeno continued to watch you eat, he thought about what made you so special to get Grandma Lee’s approval. Jisoo never received Grandma’s approval, even though she spent years trying to earn it. You only personally knew Grandma for less than a day and you already earned her approval. What made you so special?

“Are you not gonna eat?” you asked, looking at Jeno’s bowl.

“Do you want some more?” Jeno asked, looking at your now-empty bowl. You gave a small nod. Jeno just smiled at you and handed his bowl over. He just continued to watch you eat. It was incredible how you looked absolutely stunning even while eating.

“It’s rude to stare,” you said, looking up from your bowl, meeting Jeno’s eye.

“It’s not rude to admire, though,” Jeno said with a smirk. You smiled at Jeno’s comment, feeling a small heat bloom on your cheeks.

Jeno spent the rest of the day with you, waiting on you hand and foot, refusing to leave. Something about ‘you’re not gonna rest if no one is watching you.’ He did leave you for a few minutes to get Hades from his room, but he made sure Fei and Mei knew that you weren’t allowed to leave until he got back. The only time Jeno allowed you to do anything by yourself was when you had to go to the bathroom. Snacks and drinks were constantly being brought up to the room, per Jeno’s request. He needed to make sure you were more than okay. He couldn’t let another person he cared about leave him through tragedy.

Finally, it was time for the evening meal. All the Noble families were at the palace for the holidays, as well as the wedding. Evening meals have become a feast; everyone sat on one long table, with King Donghae sitting at the head, Queen Jaeyeon on his right, Jeno on his left. Your seat was always next to Jeno, for any event, and if he wasn’t there, then you sat next to Queen Jaeyeon.

“What are you doing tomorrow?” Jeno leaned over to whisper to you while you guys were eating the main course.

“What I do every day,” you said in a hushed voice, loud enough to him while you continued to eat, “follow your mother around.”

“Spare your morning for me,” Jeno whispered, “let’s go on a date.”

Red crept up your neck to your cheeks and the tips of your ears. You can’t deny that after spending the few weeks taking care of Hades with the prince, he was definitely more than just a pretty face, but your feelings were more complicated. “What do you hope to achieve with this?” You asked, putting on the mask.

“Princess, I know you don’t have feelings for me, but there’s no reason not to try,” Jeno said, turning, looking directly at you.

“Alright, your highness, a date tomorrow morning,” you said looking at Jeno. This is gonna make things more complicated.

-

I was set to meet the Princess at 9 am. At 8:51 am, I was in front of the princess’s chambers.

“Chan, correct?” I asked, looking at one of the guards posted outside of the princess’ chambers.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“And Hyu…?” I couldn’t quite remember the rest of his name.

“Hyunjin, Your Highness,” the other guard responded.

“Right, my apologies,” I said to be polite. “Chan…”

“Yes, Your Highness,” he looked stoic with his response, almost awkward with the interaction.

“I know you and the princess are more than just friends,” I started. I knew. I knew from the moment I first saw the princess with her guard. I knew but I denied it, and now no more.

“Your highness, I have no-” I raised my hand, stopping Chan from speaking further.

“I want to try a relationship with the princess.” It looked like his heart stopped, all color draining from his face. “I trust you won’t interfere, but I ask that you be there for the princess should I fail.”

“Your Highness, I don’t understand.” He looked confused.

“I will have to marry the princess no matter what, but should our relationship not work, I will insist that you remain in Northcy for her,” I hoped that my voice remained calm, “this will be away from any family and friends you have in Modia, will that be alright?”

The princess is gonna lose so much, the least I can do is try to make it somewhat bearable. “That will be, Your Highness,” he looked pleased, almost understanding what I asked of him.

“I know this isn’t easy, but I thank you,” I bowed my head to him. It takes a lot to give up the girl you love. I know that feeling well.

I knocked on the door at three to nine. This will be the first time I ever knocked to enter her chambers. Mei opened the door and bowed as she let me enter. I told the princess that we would go into the city this morning. I want to take her to this one cafe called Norts.

Inside, the princess sat at her table drinking a cup of tea. She wore a black turtleneck, with an amber leather skirt and black stockings. There was a long, gray winter coat on the other seat. “Good morning, Your Highness,” she said as she got up from her seat, there I saw the pendant she wore, it was a crown. Thinking about it now, the princess had the title to wear a crown or tiara, but she never did. The most she ever wore was a metal jeweled headband, and that was only for evening meals.

“Good morning, princess. Beautiful necklace,” I said, holding my hand out to her. She placed her hand in mine, grabbing her coat.

“Thank you, it was a gift from my mother,” she said as we exited her chambers, “a subtle way to let people know you’re royalty.” Her voice is as lovely as ever.

“Why?” Was all I could manage, hoping it was enough to encourage her to talk more.

“Mother didn’t want us to be flamboyant; she didn’t want us to flaunt our titles,” she smiled to herself, looking down. We walked down the steps to the main floor, “she thought we shouldn’t act better than everyone, even if we are.” As she finished, she giggled, hand covering her mouth.

“Is your mother always so humble?”

“Actually, quite frankly, no,” she laughed, hand still placed over her mouth, “my mother truly believes we are better than everyone. She just refuses to act like she is.” Her laugh died down a little but was still there. God, her laugh. We were towards the front entrance, my own guards standing by the door.

Once we made it out the door, my car was there, and our guards were behind us. I stepped out in front of the princess, opening the car door for her. “Princess,” I gestured to the passenger seat of the car.

“You’re driving, your highness?” Her voice sounded pleasantly surprised, “don’t you get chauffeured around?” This time, she was teasing.

“For formal events, yes, but this is just me and you.”

She smiled, finally getting into the car. I let out a breath, I can’t recall the last time I actually went on a date. My guards were in the car upfront, her guards in a car behind us. I got into the driver’s seat, started the car.

“May we listen to music?” She looked at me, her eyes were soft, almost doe-like.

“Put on whatever you want, princess,” I handed her my phone, opening it for her first.

“What kind of music do you like?” She scrolled through the options of songs.

“Put on your music, princess,” I glanced at her.

She smiled while looking down at my phone. She put on ‘war with heaven’ by Keshi. She leaned back, smiled, and closed her eyes for a minute.

“Do you know how to drive, princess?”

“I do,” she’s hesitant.

“And?”

“My parents have forbidden me from driving,” she giggles a little to herself. This must be a story.

“Why do they forbid you?”

“I was driving over the speed limit, but it wasn’t really by much. It was only,” she bit her lip, “sxtver…”

“Princess, speak up,” I said, glancing at her, red creeping up her cheeks again.

“I was driving,” she let out a breath, “60 over.”

“60 over?! How fast were you going?!” The shock was clearly evident on my face. Why in the world would she be going 60 over?

“I was doing 160kph (100 mph),” she looked down to her shoes, “well when the officer caught me, it was 160.”

“Why would you be going that fast?” I asked, sliding my hand down my face.

“Racing,” she stated so calmly.

“Racing?” I looked at her again. She gave me a small, timid smile.

“I was different in Modia,” she looked out the window. We were entering the city.

“Different how?” The cafe was only another 2-3 minutes away.

“I had no responsibilities, I wasn’t the heir and was the third daughter,” she looked to be deep in thought, “I was allowed to be a child.”

“And?”

“And so, I went out,” she smiled to herself, “car meets were my favorite. Chan would sneak me out, and I would ride with him, the passenger in his car. He and his friends were big, they were racers, and I was his passenger.” The smile is still on her face. We pulled up to the cafe.

“And you became a racer?” I asked while parking my car.

“I did,” I got out after her answer, rushing around to open the door for her. My guards were already up ahead by the entrance of the cafe, her guards stayed by our side.

“Maybe you should drive back,” I said, opening the door to her. She giggles at my suggestion.

“You wanna experience a police chase?” She questioned.

“Maybe,” we walked arm in arm together into the cafe. They sat us more towards the back, her guards took a table up at the front of the cafe, watching the entrance, and mine took one closer to us. Not close enough to hear us, though. “Did you at least win when you got caught?”

“Of course, I won,” she smirked, as she sat, “have you ever been to a meet?”

“I have not, cars are Jaemin’s thing. I enjoy cars, but not as much as him.”

“Your thing?”

The waiter brought us some water and menus.

“Music.”

She raised her eyebrows.

“I enjoy playing the guitar and biking.”

“I wanted to learn how to play,” she looked at the menu, “but never had the patience. What do you usually get?”

“I usually get something more healthy like egg whites, but I think I’m gonna get something like waffles,” I looked at her. She was still staring down at the menu.

“I think I’m gonna get the french toast,” she put the menu down, taking a sip of her water, “it’s my favorite breakfast food.”

I put the menu down, looking at her, “you know I could teach you.”

“Huh?” Her face filled with confusion, eyes going wide. It was the most adorable look ever.

“The guitar, I could teach you.”

“Oh,” she looked down, fiddled with her finger for a second, “I would like that.” She looked at me and smiled. Her smile was only a half-smile, but by god, she was more beautiful than Aphrodite herself.

We continued our breakfast, talking about her life in Modia and about my hobbies. She was most definitely different in Modia, she lived a life that many of us aren’t allowed to live. I felt almost jealous, jealous of the life she got, the life that I wanted, but the look in her eyes made me feel guilty about those thoughts. Her eyes became glossy when she spoke of how she changed: when the third letter came. I didn’t have a right to be jealous, I didn’t lose what she lost.

We were in the car, on our way back to the palace, my guards in front, hers in back. “Care for a detour, princess?”

“Well I have the time,” she smirked at me, “your mother cleared my schedule for the morning when she found out about our date.”

“Okay then.” There were a few more streets before we left the city. I took a sharp right turn, down another street, stepping harder on the gas. She laughed, holding on to her seatbelt. Her guards were still on our tail. A left turn, a right, and then another right, and they were gone.

“Where are we going?” She was still smiling.

“It’s a surprise,” still speeding just by a little, we drove deeper into the city, past the café. I didn’t think I was gonna take her here, but I want a memory with her here.

“A museum?” She looked out the window at the building. I got out of the car, rushing to her side to open the door, holding my hand out for her to take. “It’s a music museum, commissioned by my grandfather, a gift.”

“Gift? For?” She looked at me with raised eyebrows.

“For me,” We walked into the door, arm in arm. The staff bowed at us, at me, “my grandfather died when I was four. He never saw the results.”

“I can’t believe you got a whole museum as a gift,” she smirked, teasing, “the best I ever got was a car.”

“Let me show you my favorite section,” we walked up the steps to the second level, into a back section, a small room that held a collection of all kinds of stuff. The princess let go of my arm and looked at the collection.

“Is there a theme here?” she looked at me confused, rightfully so.

“No,” I watched her look around, “these are my favorite pieces from everywhere.”

“So this is just your personal collection, within your personal museum,” she’s teasing again.

“It’s not my personal museum,” I stated.

“Right, it’s just a gift,” she smirked, looking back at the collection, fixated on a violin, “what’s the story behind this?”

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” I stepped next to her, looking at the violin with her, “it was mine.”

“Yours? You play?” She looked at me. I stared at the violin.

“I used to, I haven’t played in a while, I’m not sure if I even could anymore,” I looked at her. She held care in her eyes.

“You said,” she looked down, hesitant, “you said your grandfather, the late king… how did he know you were gonna be in music?”

“After his passing, the museum project was left to Grandma Lee. She decided it was gonna be a music museum when it finished,” I looked back at the violin, tilting my head, “she said that she saw it in my eyes: the love for music.”

“It’s a very large museum for just music,” she looked out into the doorway, peering into other sections.

“It holds every part of music,” I stood by her, looking at the museum, “every genre, every instrument, every part of music you could imagine.”

“Amazing,” she was in awe.

“Let me take you around the rest of the museum,” I grabbed her hand, leading her away and onto more of the museum.

We didn’t talk much as we walked and enjoyed the rest of the museum. Her smile never seemed to leave her face. Time stopped, it was only us, the two of us in this little world looking at old pianos, time never moving. If someone shot me right now, a bullet through my head, heart stopping, I would die a satisfied man. Satisfied that I got this opportunity to be in this moment, to be here, to be with her.

-

“Princess (Y/n),” Queen Jaeyeon yelled at you when she saw you running into the palace through the garage door, Jeno right behind you. “Crown Prince Lee Jeno,” Queen Jaeyeon’s face was red, “the two of you have missed meetings with lords, luncheon with your grandmas, and neither of you thought to tell me about a dog you allowed in my palace.”

You wished Queen Jaeyeon hadn’t yelled; her voice sounded so demanding, so chilling, it set more fear in you than anyone else who’s ever yelled at you. “I’m so-”

Jeno placed a hand on the small of your back, stopping you from apologizing, he took a step, standing right beside you.

“Mother, don’t overreact,” Jeno’s voice was calm, caring, “we took a detour, we’ve been in meetings with lords since their arrival, we can reschedule lunch with grandma, and the dog wasn’t in your section of the palace.” He smiled genuinely; it seemed to calm his mother a bit.

“That doesn’t negate the fact that a wild animal is in my palace, and the two of you ignored your duties!”

“I apologize, Your Majesty. Our detour took longer than we had anticipated, I will personally see to the Lord’s family, Grandma Lee, and Grandmother Na to apologize.” You wanted nothing more than to leave right now, you still had to meet with the priest of the wedding.

“Mother, isn’t that enough?” Jeno asked, hand still on your back.

“Don’t make me bring up the fact that the two of you also abandoned your guards, which should anything happen to either of you, could have led to yet another war,” Queen Jaeyeon was still very angry. Both you and Jeno looked down to your feet.

“I have rescheduled the meeting with the priest, and the two of you will be in attendance. For today, all of your prior engagements are canceled. I expect the two of you to be on time to dinner tonight.” Queen Jaeyeon turned away, Jeno started to laugh after she was far enough not to hear.

“That was fun,” Jeno sighed, calming down from his laughing fit.

“You nearly got me killed,” you look distressed, hitting Jeno’s chest, “no more damn detours,” you huffed, rubbing your temples, after giving Jeno a firm look.

“Understood, princess,” he looked at you, making direct eye contact, tilting his head a little to the right. You thought ‘damn he and Jaemin really are related.’

After getting scoldings from Queen Jaeyeon, Jeno walked you back to your chambers. Hades was inside waiting for you. Jeno left you to play with Hades by yourself, you missed enjoying him by yourself. Before long, it was time for the evening meal. Jeno met you at your chambers and walked you down to dinner. Chan and Hyunjin followed you as usual. Chan looked as if he was happy. It confused you.

—————-

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[00:44] “You, you, you,” Taeil stuttered, his face looking full of anger, anger in which you did not deserve, “you bewitch me, and I curse you for it. I have mountains of responsibilities to see to, but you, you are the only thing I care about. I have duties to fulfill, but you are the only person I seem to want around. I have much more important things to attend to, I have things I would much rather attend to.” Taeil took a step closer to you. You could feel his breath fan your face, his lips mere millimeters from yours. His hands hovered closed to your cheeks, almost grasping you. “You have bewitched me, and I curse for it, for I cannot bear a moment apart from you.”

“My lord,” You felt your breath hitch, you wanted to close the already minimal distances between the two of you.

“Say you do not feel the same.”

“my lord?” all of your words were mere whispers, afraid the walls might catch onto your conversation.

“Say I do not bewitch you. Say you are not mad for me. Say you do not desire me the way I desire you, and I shall leave you be.” his eyes looked up at yours, no longer staring down at your lips.

You opened your mouth to say the words, but the voice did not speak. You had been bewitched. You have been mad for him. You desire him in the same way he does you. You urged yourself to speak the words he wished to hear. You opened your mouth to say you did not feel the same, but your voice never spoke. You looked up at him once more, the desperation so evident in his eyes.

“You have my lord. You have bewitched me, you make me mad, I do desire you all the same as you desire me.”

Taeil grasped your face, pushing his lips against yours. A kiss shared between two.

———————————

Loosely based off of season 2 of bridgerton

clarity | johnny | oneshot

pairing: johnny x reader

coffee type: americano (pre-ordered)

bean count: 2.3k+

a/n: hello my beans! i’m back with a pre-ordered americano from this lovely request! this is pure americano so lemme know if this leaves quite an aftertaste

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

being alert was a trait you were proud of. reliant came after, then maintenance. put those together you felt like you were useful to anyone you meet. you were praised because of it, thankfully your nose didn’t grow long- you were too humble.

though when there were good traits, there were definitely bad ones. and that… you’d rather not discuss.

the meeting you had at the law firm all morning finally ended that you were on the way for lunch when your new junior approached you. ah, here we go again. “miss y/n, that’s the man who’s been calling, asking for you for days. aren’t you going to talk to him?”

you licked your lips to moisten them, hearing the same greeting from her. how many times did you have to repeat yourself? “miss joanne shin, i appreciate that you’re doing your job. but i’ve already told you i’m not interested.”

“alright.” she sighed, “but please do tell him that personally. the more he calls here, people may think you have owed someone money.” gesturing to the desperate guy with her head point.

golly, golly, if only she knew. can’t help it though, she’d only been here for three months.

as she strolled off for her lunch, you took your id and scanned it on the reader before walking out, completely ignoring the loud constant calls of your name.

“y/n!” he called out, his echoes spreading through the vast ceiling but you continued on walking towards the entrance of the building.

you could feel eyes shooting daggers from fellow colleagues, clearly not oblivious to what they were witnessing. the man’s been visiting on and off for almost two weeks and you were still confused to why they didn’t even bother to ask him to leave you alone.

your ears heated up, you were becoming embarrassed.

before you could completely avoid it, he finally got a hold of you, just a few meters away from the automatic door. “y/n.”

“what is it now john?” you asked in a slight irritated, tired tone. “why are you here?”

“i’ve been messaging you since last month but you just shove me off.” he stated blantly. “i called and you still ignored me so i figured i’ll just come here myself until you gave in.”

“well are you happy now?” you attempted to pull away from his grasp. “do you mind? i have to go for lunch.”

“please can we just talk?” he sounded desperate as he pressed his lips, waiting for an answer. his face serious and it was intimidating, just like before.

your eyes looked to the side to see your department leader and his friends staring in shock. combing your hair with your free hand, you reluctantly said, “fine.. but not here.”

you and johnny walked to a secluded corner of the outside the building, a blind spot for any bystanders who walked pass. the air and atmosphere was already tense back there, and the fact that you were now both alone brought the tension much heavier. this conversation was going to be heated, for sure. it was awkward, you and him having a staredown. and it wasn’t unnoticeable that both pairs of eyes were twinkling so much like glass, having mixed emotions curling up inside, ready to set off. the surroundings were quiet for a while.. until you first broke the silence.

“ok, talk.”

“what happened between us, y/n?” johnny asked straightforwardly as he put his hands in his back pockets. “i know we broke up a few months ago and we’re basically strangers at this point..”

“we really have to talk about this now-”

“yes.” he cut you off, “i want clarity and it’s about time that this comes to light. also it’s been too long, grace period’s over.”

“ah so you’ve been counting.” you flared your nose, he was pushing it. “okay, i wanted some time alone. focus on myself-”

his chuckle made you look at him with furrowed brows. “seriously? are you trying to hide it?”

“hide what?” you crossed your arms.

“that you still love me.” he brought up ever so smoothly. “until now you’re still being indenial.”

you curled your tongue, looking up at the sky. “i don’t, okay? what happened between us was shortlived. we just weren’t meant to be.”

“so all those i love you’s, hugs, and kisses meant nothing at all?” he asked and you nodded almost instantly. that immediate answer tugged a painful string in his heart. how could you easily throw away everything? he didn’t understand why before and even up til now he was still left in shambles, confusion, and anger.

as stupid as it sounded and just like a high schooler, he was still so madly in love with you.

but you were as hard as a rock.

“you couldn’t even answer.” his scoffed silently, he didn’t like the fact that you were giving him the silent treatment. just what did he do to make you so distant from him? “well? what’s the reas-”

“i can’t handle the stress anymore, okay?” you finally spoke, “i distanced myself because it was too much.”

he closed his eyes. he wasn’t the type to succumb to anger in public. however, something in him irked wanted to burst out. just get straight to the point.. “too much of what, exactly?”

“you.. us.. your parents.. this damned workplace!my g-” you listed out as you covered your face with your hands frustatedly for a second before combing your hair back, giving yourself another second to hold it together. “your parents don’t like me, alright?”

johnny furrowed his brows, why did you bring his parents into this mess? they treated you very nicely during your first meeting when you guys were dating. if anything, they actually respected your relationship. “don’t bring my parents into this.”

“oh and why not?” you tsked. “your parents clearly wanted wendy as your potential partner because of her family, education, and career background. she’s the full, perfect package.” you licked your lips and you felt your eyes start to sting. “while me? i’m just a middle class-undergraduate-receptionist trying to make ends meet. i’m just a stamp!”

johnny squinted his eyes, waiting for you to continue.

“everyone else here looked forward to the ceo’s.. correction, your engagement with her until they found out you were dating me and-” you sighed. “i never felt so humiliated in my life.”

“wendy is just a friend, y/n! she even knows about us dating and is fully supportive. who cares what others think?” johnny tried to connect the dots. sure you felt inferior, but what mattered was his feelings for you and your feelings towards him. not of his parents or other people. he loved you too much that he’d do anything to be with you. “we talked about this before.”

“i know.” you looked at him intently, “but did you ever-”

“that’s why i proposed, right?” he said, clenching his jaw. “they can’t do anything if we’re engaged.”

this pissed you straight off the bat, “yeah but in secret!? are we really pulling a romeo and juliet act here? did you even-”

“i was fighting for our relationship, y/n!” he tried his best not to shout in order to not startle you and attract any attention because the raising voices made a few look his way. “you knew i needed time!”

“by hiding me? is that your solution!? how is that fighting for us when i’m always in the shadows-”

he shook his head and pointed at you with a pained expression, “damn it y/n, did you even try to fight for us!? a relationship is two-sided, not one! and in our terms it seemed like i’m doing all the work!”

you grunted in anger and your tears were on the edge of falling, you approached him mirroring his action. “don’t you assume i didn’t do anything-”

“then how do you explain-”

you had enough. “will you just shut your damn mouth for a second!? i’m trying to explain things but you’re always cutting me off! if you aren’t listening to anything i have to say, don’t even bother wasting my time!”

your pride was hurt as walked pass by him. did everything have to go his way? did he even bother hearing you out? your shoulder bumped into his arm that didn’t even make him budge a bit. however, he wasn’t wrong though.. you still loved him. you were just afraid of the obstacles in your way, scared of judgment and people’s comments that a ceo and receptionist were unmatched.

“i heard something from jae, y/n.”

“john, why the hell do you keep pestering me-“

“is it mine?”

you stopped in your tracks. you bit the bottom of your lip and johnny didn’t miss the small gesture of you holding your stomach, like how you didn’t miss his little voice crack when he asked that question. “w-whatever you mean?”

“don’t try to avoid the conversation.” he turned you around to see you looking elsewhere. “the other reason why you broke up with me was because you’re pregnant.”

“stop.”

“no.” he sternly said. “how far along are you?” he asked with that same cold, yet gentle tone he had earlier with his many questions. looking at your belly before looking back at you, your face was a face he held so dear and loved. it’s crazy how it changed in the span of five minutes of talking.

“john.”

“why didn’t you tell me?”

“johnny, please stop.”

“is the baby mine-”

“the baby’s gone!” you looked at him, voice slightly quivering, but not enough to break down in front of him. johnny’s hold on you loosened, his fierce eyes that was staring at you softened as you replied meekly. he didn’t say a word and just waited for you to answer; if you actually wanted to. “our baby’s gone..” ah those three words hit like waterfall that your tears made its way out completely. you hated this, it was one of your bad traits. and you hated the fact that you were like this in front of johnny.

but he however, didn’t care if you were vulnerable. in all honesty, he actually preferred you being that because it showed him you had a heart instead of putting up a strong front that you tried so hard to maintain.

he didn’t say anything, only moving you closer to his chest to embrace you in a hug, even if you didn’t return it. he actually missed having you in his arms, where he would protect you from anything.

you knew his little gesture of hugging- soft, warm, loved, and protected. your mind’s a mess that you couldn’t think straight. you knew this action was to make you feel protected, knowing his childhood dream was to be a hero of some sort.

unfortunately, he only had you to protect where there were supposedly two.

you and him stayed like that for a few minutes before letting go, to avoid any other people seeing the two of you together when news broke out that you had ended the relationship earlier this year.

“four months.” you replied to his question. “well, i was..” you sniffed then wrapping yourself with your arms. “i was on my way to work, telling you through a phone call was the plan but i was pulled aside by your mom’s secretary. said that she wanted a word with me.”

“my mom? out of the blue?” johnny’s brows met. his mom wasn’t the type to meddle in his relationships but why was that she was so nosy with just this one before realizing it was you.

“she somehow knew i was pregnant because she apparently saw me being cautious in large crowds, holding my stomach as if i was protecting something.” your face squeezed when you felt the waterworks never planned on stopping. “she knew we were secretly engaged and she slapped me for doing something indecent when you were the face of this company.”

johnny sighed quite loudly, obviously upset with the fact his mom would do that. “let me guess, she offered you cash to leave me alone? and you took it?”

“i didn’t take the cash don’t you worry.” you reassured, “she had used force to give me a suitcase full of it. when i resisted, i.. lost my balance and fell.” you cried and wiped your face with your cardigan. “blood came out and i lost the baby soon after..”

johnny pressed his lips and carressed your back. “john, that was only way to prove our love was real and that i didn’t use you for money. i’ll never do that. you were abroad for a business trip and i couldn’t contact you.”

“you should’ve at least told me when i got back, i would’ve protected you and dealt with them personally.” johnny sighed sadly. “we can make this work again, y/n.”

“and if you did that i wouldn’t be here.” you sadly claimed, “your dad warned me if ever i told you, i’ll lose my position. i won’t be able to pay my father’s debts on drugs.” you hiccuped. “look, if anyone sees us i’ll be off my job soon. we have to stop this, johnny.”

“and lose you in the process?” he groaned, holding your arms. “i already lost the baby. i can’t lose you too.”

you shook your head, walking a few steps back before your back faced him. “you wanted clarity, right? now that i’ve told you everything, our conversation’s done. there’s nothing left to discuss.”

johnny didn’t like this, he knew there was more to it. the reason why he kept chasing you all this time even if you had broken up was because he was still in love with you. he didn’t like to see you torture yourself unknowingly when you were already suffering more than before. first the relationship, the people, the baby et cetera. it was burdensome and johnny just wanted you out of those griefs. and besides, there was one more thing he wanted to clarify.

“y/n.. do you still love me?”

you turned around and smiled, one that tugged his heartstrings ever so painfully.

“i do, johnny. i reallydo.. but loving you hurts. that.. i’m very clear about.”