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mysticpetals · 3 years

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Sorry for bothering you, but I had another idea! :D If you don't mind me sending two requests, how about a headcanon (or imagine if you want, you can choose what you like best) where Jake will meet MC's parents and he is super nervous because he is afraid of what they will think of him and if they knew that he is a hacker. But when Jake and MC arrive at her parents' house, they are quite different than Jake thought.

I'm sooooo sorry that this is super late but life got in the way and I just couldn't bring myself to write. And when I did have the time, I was almost ashamed of how long it had been and delayed it even further.

So this is me, finally writing what I should have done months ago. Thank you so much for your patience!!! ❤️

Jake and f!MC headcannons

(meeting the parents)

There aren't a lot of things that phase Jake

In fact, he's seen so much over the years he was on the run, done some illegal things too

But nothing and he meant nothing, could terrify him more than when his girlfriend told him that her parents had invited them over to have dinner together the next week

"next week? Like....like seven days later?"

"yes." she nodded and his brain short circuited.

"oh my god, oh my god."

MC amused herself by looking at Jake panicking about it for a few minutes and then grabbed his shoulders and made him look at her

"relax, babe. You don't have to. I can tell them that you're busy or something."

Jake calmed down for a moment but then he noticed the sad smile on MC's face

And he doesn't like seeing her sad

At all.

So despite his nervousness, he steeled himself to do this

"why don't we go? I think it'll be fun."

MC's face was priceless.

Shocked beyond belief, she cupped his face in her hands and leaned forward, eyes wide

"are you sure, honey? You don't have to force yourself."

She looked so hopeful and excited to hear his answer

And they had been dating for a while. So it was only natural that they meet each other's families

And since MC had already pretty much met his (only the people he considered as one!), it wouldn't be fair if he didn't make an effort too

"yes. We should go," he smiled and MC squealed excitedly, pressing a quick kiss to his lips

"oh my gosh, I'm so excited!! I'll go call them right now!!"

:))))

Did he make the right decision?

Wellllll, standing in front of MC's house, he was sweating profusely

He had worn his best outfit, a white button up shirt and black jeans

And they had already been late because MC liked his look a little too much

Anyway!!!

He was anxious about making the best impression and he really hoped that they wouldn't be put off by his shyness

Or his profession

About which they didn't know

It's fine it's fine it's fine—

MC's hand slips into his, she gives him a soft smile and the world around them fades away

"I'll be with you the whole time. Tell me if it becomes too much."

Jake swears he's never been more in love

Okay, he can do this!! Absolutely!!

He nods resolutely and MC leads them to her parent's doorstep

Jake's heart is pounding but he's ready

The door opens and he's immediately engulfed in a bone crushing hug

He thinks he can't breath and he looks at MC with wide eyes, asking what to do and she just rolls her eyes in fond exasperation

"really feeling the love here, dad. Not like your daughter is here."

And the weight immediately lifts off of him and turns towards his girlfriend who is laughing as her father hugs her to himself

She squeezes him tight in return and Jake feels himself smile

"it's been too long. I wish you'd come by more. And Jake! Welcome home, son!"

Jake is flabbergasted by the warm welcome. Especially coming from MC's father.

Aren't fathers supposed to threaten the boyfriend?

The flashcards he used to prepare for today did not cover this

"Um, thank you," he stammers out somehow and the man laughs

"My daughter here did say you were shy but no matter! Come on in, I won't bite."

He led them inside and Jake just knew that MC was enjoying all this a little too much judging by the amused tilt of her lips

He stopped dead in his tracks as he saw a stern woman sitting on the couch, watching them walk in

"mom! How have you been?"

MC immediately went in for a hug while the older woman kept staring at him and MC's father leaned close to him and whispered

"She's a tough cookie to crack. Good luck, son."

He was so screwed

Jake gulped and watched the smallest of smiles cross her lips as she regarded her daughter, who was talking excitedly

"and this is Jake! My boyfriend!"

Jake literally felt the temperature inside the room drop, when her mother looked him in the eyes

"h-hello ma'am."

She nodded at him and well, that meant she acknowledged who he was, right?

She immediately turned away from him and started asking her daughter how she had been

Well, apparently not

"sorry, Jake. She's not trying to exclude you. She's just....a little hard around the edges."

He appreciated MC's dad because at least one parent didn't seem to hate him

"I appreciate that, sir."

He looked horrified at being called sir

"please don't call me that. Makes me feel old. Call me dad!"

Jake was once again astounded by the man's openness and not wanting to offend him, nodded hesitantly

He smiled widely and Jake was immediately reminded of MC's face when she laughed

"that's more like it! Come on now, the ladies shouldn't be left alone, they'll talk the night away."

MC smiled as soon as Jake entered in the kitchen where both the women were cooking and bringing out the cutlery

"had a nice chat, you two?" MC asked and her father nodded enthusiastically

"I like him! He's very nice, I approve."

"you've known him for two seconds." MC's mom deadpans and Jake smiles nervously

"can I help you with anything ma'am?"

She appraises him for a few moments and then nods

"then please help MC set the table."

Jake literally sighs in relief when the two of them come out from the kitchen

"your mom is scary."

MC laughs and pinches his cheek

"only because you look terrified of her. She enjoys making you squirm."

"well I almost wet myself because she looked at me like I murdered her dog or something"

MC laughs loudly and her father pokes his head out of the kitchen

"alright you two?"

Jake fights off the blush he knows he's sporting and prays that neither of her parents heard what he had said

Table was set quickly, with MC telling Jake about her childhood memories and her parents brought out the food

Jake thought he might have seen MC's mother smile when he made MC laugh but he wasn't sure

Dinner was a loud affair, with MC and her dad competing about who remembers the most about MC's childhood and Jake and her mother listening quietly

He definitely knew where MC got her charisma from

MC's dad was sweet to include Jake in their conversation, addressing him directly and asking him about his own experiences

He slowly found himself relaxing in their presence and telling them about his own hobbies and pet cat

MC's mother gave an approving nod at his choice of pet and asked him to bring him along the next time

Next time

Jake's brain short circuited at the thought that she wanted Jake to come over again

Does that mean tonight was successful?

"so Jake, you didn't say what you do for a living."

Ahhh

Well, it had to go wrong somewhere, right?

Jake froze and looked to MC to see her in a similar state and immediately deduced that she had not told them about his profession

Well

He knew this was going to come up eventually

"I'm a hacker."

Pin drop silence

You couldn't even hear anyone breath over the quietness

MC's mother put down her spoon slowly and opened her mouth to say something but Jake interrupted her before that

"I know you might think it's not a respectful job but it's what makes me happy. And MC supports me every step of the way and I promise you that I'll do everything in my power to honor her confidence in me. Keeping her safe and happy and healthy is my priority and I'll give my all to make sure that she's never unhappy with me."

Everyone at the table looked at him, MC with tears in her eyes and her father looking very proud

Her mother's expression was still unreadable until she smiled at him

The first smile directed at him

"I was going to say that's very interesting. I myself work in cyber security so I've had dealings with hackers. I've found that they're usually very polite."

What

The

Fuck

Jake blinked slowly and MC shifted guiltily in her seat

"haha what a coincidence, right?" She smiled nervously and her dad picked up quickly at her hint

"oh definitely! Why don't you two talk about work stuff and MC and I can clear up the table?"

MC and her father practically fly out of the dining room and Jake and her mom are the only ones left

It was MC's mother who initiated the conversation this time and Jake replied to her questions

He found it quite pleasant to be honest

It was not a regular occurrence that he could chat with someone who knew about computers so this was a nice change

And MC's mom was quite knowledgeable

She even offered to hire him the next time her company had a need of someone to check their software

Jake had no problem agreeing to her wish

He found that she was actually a very kind but fair woman who loved her family dearly, judging by the way she spoke of MC and her father

His heart warmed to know that MC had grown up in such a loving household, even if his heart gave a twinge at never having felt something akin to parental affection

"okay, you two. I think that's enough chatting for today," MC's father said and Jake looked at the time

Holy shit

How is it so late??

MC gave him a discreet thumbs up behind her mother's back and he had to stifle a laugh

"as much as we loved having you two, you should probably get going if you want to reach the city before midnight."

The goodbyes were a little sad and Jake found himself getting a bit emotional too

He really felt like he belonged here and not like an outsider

And MC's parents are so nice and inclusive

No he did not cry

Not at all

To Jake's surprise, MC's mom pulls him into a hug

"take care of my daughter."

And then he's getting roped into another hug, this one much tighter by her dad

"you hurt her, I'll kill you."

And when he stepped back, he was smiling as usual and Jake almost thought that he imagined his words

Anyway!!!

They are in the car and MC is already planning their next trip

And before he would have been scared but now, after spending time with her family, he knew he had found people worth considering his family

#duskwood #duskwood jake #everbyte duskwood #duskwood game #everbyte #jake × mc #duskwood jake × mc #jake × player #duskwood headcannons #duskwood fanfiction #duskwood fanfic #duskwood fic #duskwood jake x mc #duskwood jake fic #everbyte studios #everbyte game #duskwood player

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thenovelartist · 3 years

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Burned Beginnings, chapter 2

<<Previous Next>>

4. Best Friends

In the month or so he’d been working there, Adrien hadn’t worked much with Marinette. Tonight, though, he’d be running a night shift with her.

“Adrien, I would never say anything bad about my daughter,” Mr. Dupain said with a sympathetic expression. “But if she gives you trouble, don’t hesitate to tell me.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it,” Adrien dismissed. “I’m pretty sure I know why she acts like that.”

“What was that?” Mrs. Cheng asked, entering the kitchen.

Mr. Dupain looked confused for a moment, and Adrien thought it wouldn’t hurt to explain everything to them. This was their employee and daughter, after all. If Adrien were in their shoes, he’d like to be in the know. “A childhood friend of mine is Chloe Bourgeois.”

In an instant, Mrs. Cheng nodded as though she understood. “I already see where this is going.”

“I don’t know all the details, but they were seemingly at each other’s throats often. And from what I can guess, one of those topics that set them off was apparently me. But that’s only my best guess.”

“As much sense as that makes,” Mrs. Cheng said, “that’s still no excuse for Marinette to act that way around you, and she knows it. If it continues, Adrien, I’ll have a talk with her.”

“Don’t,” Adrien cut in. “Really, she’s free to think that way. I don’t hold it against her.”

The two owners exchanged a look Adrien couldn’t quite decipher before turning back to him.

“Well,” Mr. Dupain said, a slightly forced smile on his face. “Maybe tonight will give you two a chance to break the ice.”

Adrien shrugged. “Only if she’s open to it. But don’t bug her about it, okay?”

“Sorry, Adrien, but I can’t keep that promise,” Mrs. Cheng spoke up. “Because no matter what you think of each other, this is a bakery that needs to function at its best. And it won’t be if she refuses to cooperate with you.”

“We won’t tell her what to think,” Mr. Dupain said. “But my wife is right: Marinette can be a bit stubborn at times. I feel like you two are somehow similar in that way.”

Adrien snorted. Him? Similar to Marinette? He doubted it. She had way more fire in her than he did, and he was not going to press his luck and get burned by it.

Still, upon seeing the earnestly worried looks on his bosses’ faces, he wouldn’t press the issue. “I’ll try breaking the ice, but I’m not forcing her.”

Mr. Dupain sighed, but his smile widened. “You’re a really good kid, Adrien. I knew I made the right choice in hiring you. Thanks for being such a good sport.”

Adrien wouldn’t deny how nice it felt to be complimented like that. “Thank you, sir.”

…

Adrien fully expected a mouth full of sarcasm and sass that night. Shockingly, it never came.

“So,” she said, holding the special-order sheet out for him to see. “I’ll run you through how orders like these are taken, and then I’ll show you how to plan for them and complete them, okay?”

He didn’t fully trust that she’d just dropped the cold shoulder overnight for no reason. Therefore, he wouldn’t push his luck. “Understood.”

Throughout the whole process, Marinette didn’t take it slow like Mr. Dupain would have. She ran through things quickly and efficiently, yet she paused frequently to ensure he understood.

“Okay,” she said, placing the special-order sheet off to the side once she’d finished explaining everything. “Then I’ll start on this portion of the order if you want to do this one?”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Okay, I’ll let you get started. Tell me if you need anything or have any questions.”

Eventually, the two of them fell quiet as they each worked on their part of the order. Adrien could tell Marinette still held a cold shoulder towards him, but it wasn’t so bad as before. And after a while, he decided that maybe he did want to push his luck tonight.

“You hate me.”

Marinette froze, glancing up at him for barely a second before returning to her work. “What makes you say that?”

“You’re really cold towards me.”

She didn’t respond.

He saved her the trouble. “I know it has something to do with Chloe.”

Again, she spared him another glance. “Won’t deny that.”

Adrien paused in his work as he thought about the words he wanted to say next. “I don’t want to force it out of you, but I kinda want to know why.”

“Why does it matter?”

“Because we’re co-workers and your parents are nice, so I thought we could at least get to a place we could cooperate well for the sake of the bakery.”

Marinette took her time thinking about it, turning on the giant mixer she stood by. “Yeah, my parents don’t deserve it,” she eventually whispered before turning to him. “And I know that.”

Adrien dropped the dough in his hands onto the counter. “How about this,” he said, leaning against the counter. “I’ll give you the next 30 seconds to spill any and all your beef with me. I won’t take it personally, and I won’t hold it against you. From what I understand, you and Chloe were practically mortal enemies, and so I can imagine me having been close to her doesn’t endear me to you.”

She huffed, bemused. “Well, you’re right about that.”

“So you can start whenever you’re ready.”

Marinette fidgeted for a moment before glancing into the mixer again to see how the dough was coming along. With a sigh, she turned towards Adrien and slapped her hands against the counter.

The fire in her eyes almost made Adrien regret this decision. Almost. He was both terrified yet turned on.

“Chloe was my school bully for almost every single year of my schooling,” she began, not bothering to hide the bite in her tone. “It is her fault I got my first suspension, and in some way, she was the reason for every one that came after. And then, because of all ofthat drama, I was barred from every single university I thought about attending. And it sucks when the rug is ripped out from under you like that. So forgive me if I’m not so willing to open up to the guy Chloe practically worshiped like a Greek god, because the last person I wanted to have started working here, excluding Chloe, was her lover.”

Adrien froze, listening to those words. They took way too long to register in his head, and when they did, he felt his stomach twist into knots. “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” he cried, backing up and waving his hands before him. “Who are you calling Chloe’s lover?”

“You, of course. Unless you want to deny that.”

“The hell? Yes I want to deny that!” Adrien cried. “No. No no no! What the hell would give you that impression?”

She quirked a challenging brow. “Do you knowhow she talked about you?”

“No, but if the conversation is going to go the way I think it is, I really don’t want to.”

“She constantly was talking about how strong you were,” Marinette said, clearly ignoring him on purpose if that grin and her mocking tone was anything to go by. “As if she had personally run her hands over your body.”

Adrien felt like he was going to be sick.

“And then she talked a couple times about your bedroom and how she was adamant your silk sheets were the most luxurious of any she’s ever known. Oh, and before my thirty seconds are up, I’m going to toss in that she constantly bragged about how you were on her side, and how when you told all your friends about me, they all agreed I was the Queen Bitch of Paris. There, I’m done.”

Unable to do much more than hang his red face in shame, he took a deep breath, trying to collect his thoughts before meeting her gaze again. When he did, the bitter smile on her face proved how much Chloe had hurt her, and used his name to do it. “I am no longer surprised you hate me.”

She just hummed.

“Marinette, I swear on my dearly departed mother’s grave that never happened.”

Marinette looked mildly surprised at his words.

“Really,” he continued. “Chloe and I were childhood friends because our mothers were friends. I never saw her as anything more than that, and I never did… that with her. Never even consideredit. No. Just…” He grimaced at the thought. “No. And secondly, yes, I did hear a lot of stories about you from Chloe. That you were a ‘royal bitch’ and you harassed her and spread all sorts of nasty rumors about her around school.”

Marinette shrugged dismissively. “Well, in the spirit of being honest with you, I won’t deny any of that.”

Adrien paused for a second, surprised at her easy admission, before shaking his head. “And in the spirit of getting along with my co-worker, I’ll let that go. The point I was making was that while I heard all the stories about you, I never told anyone. I don’t really even have anyone I’d consider a friend. Co-worker or acquaintances, sure, but no friends. No, actually…” He held up a finger in realization. “I kinda lied there. I might, in conversation, have complained about Chloe’s constant complaining about some girl harassing her. I’m pretty sure that ended in my co-worker hoping you’d give her more hell because Chloe deserved it.”

Marinette snorted, the corner of her lips quirking up while a mischievous light in her eye twinkled.

Adrien had to take a moment to recollect his thoughts, pulling them away from ‘cute spunky bakery girl’ back to the current topic. “So, uh… there you go. Truth all out on the table. And I’ll work hard to prove that to you if you give me a chance.”

A short silence slipped between the two of them, one only broken by Marinette walking back over to the giant mixer to check on the dough again. She turned it off and pulled the bowl over to the counter. “Well,” she finally said, heaving the giant doughball onto the counter. “I’ll consider your request if you answer one more thing for me.”

A weight he hadn’t realized was on his chest lifted with those words. “Yeah, sure.”

She grabbed a bench scrapper and scale to begin portioning out dough balls. “Why does a model want to work in a bakery, of all places?”

“Normalcy.”

“Normalcy?”

“A life of glitz, glamor, money, fame, and girls throwing themselves at you gets old after a while, especially if you never wanted it in the first place.”

Marinette regarded him with surprise for a moment before she turned back to weighing the dough.

“I wanted out,” Adrien continued. “So, I rebelled a bit until my dad kicked me out. With no obligation to live that life anymore, I get to figure things out on my own. I get to be a regular eighteen-year-old who’s figuring out what he wants to actually do with his life and hold down a real job in the meantime.”

Marinette paused, listening to his words. “So, that’s what this job to you? Real-life experience?”

“Yeah.”

Her lips pursed in thought, but slowly, she nodded. “I can respect that.”

Adrien bit his lip. “So, um… can we call this a truce of sorts? A mutual understanding, maybe? For the sake of working together and your parents’ bakery running smoothly?”

She quirked a brow up at him before sighing. “I don’t think we’ll ever be best friends,” she began. She then extended a hand towards him. “But I guess I can stop acting like a ‘royal bitch’ towards you.”

With a smile, Adrien took her extended hand and shook it. “For the record, I never held it against you, ice princess.”

She scoffed, her lips quirking up to the side. Again, Adrien felt his chest tighten at the sight. “Don’t call me that, or I’ll go right back to ‘royal bitch’.”

He chuckled, a warmth easing though him. “Whatever you say.”

5. Jagged Stone

Help me

Those were the words Adrien mouthed at her as she passed the bakery kitchen.

It was her day off, and when she’d come back home after going out for the day, she’d passed a long line of customers who wanted their baked goods and wanted them now. Her maman looked to be handling things well enough, but then again, Maman was completely unflappable.

Adrien, on the other hand, looked to be drowning in work.

Day off she mouthed back with a wink.

That’s when Adrien had the audacity to look appalled, pantomiming being stabbed through the heart and slowly sinking behind the tall bakery tables.

She couldn’t help but roll her eyes. What. A. Weirdo.

Popping back up from behind the table, he shot her a grin that looked a little tired before finishing assembling a tray of goods as quickly as he could.

Deciding she’d take pity on him, Marinette grabbed an apron and tied it around her waist. “I will only assist in icing and bringing goods to the front.”

Adrien’s grin brightened. “Your assistance in any capacity is something I will gladly take.”

After turning off the faucet and shaking excess water from her hands into the sink, Marinette dried her now clean hands and went to work assembling the large pile of macrons. After that large bakery order they had to work together on last month, Marinette had been forced to swallow her pride and eat crow. Adrien wasn’t at all the model Chloe had used to brag about. Instead, Marinette was surprised to find he was actually down-to-earth. While his looks screamed ‘rebel’, he wasn’t a scoundrel. He took care to do his job to the best of his ability and was quick to pick up any new tricks or skills he was taught. For that, Marinette could admit her past prejudice and say he was a good coworker.

He also seemed to open up a bit more to her, as well, slowly exposing the fact he had a decent sense of humor.

No wonder he and her father got along well.

An hour later, the rush had finally died down. Marinette had bounced back and forth between the kitchen and the front, both retrieving pastries and boxing them. Currently, she stood in the kitchen appraising the situation.

“Wow,” she said, taking in the massive amounts of icing, crumbs, and white dust—who knew if it was flour or icing sugar—that covered the kitchen. “This… is a train wreck.”

Adrien simply nodded.

“Well, good luck with that!” Marinette patted his shoulder with a wicked smile before spinning on her heel and heading out of the kitchen.

“Whoa, hey! You’re not gonna help me?”

She looked over her shoulder, unable to keep her grin from widening. “You’re lucky I helped you in the first place.”

Adrien tossed his head back and heaved a sigh. “Fiiine.”

She couldn’t help but laugh as she took off her apron and replaced it on the hook by the kitchen door.

“Hey.”

“Hmm?”

“Thank you for the help,” Adrien said, giving her an earnest smile. “Seriously, you saved my butt.”

If it were her parents, she’d just shrug it off. But this was Adrien, and she found that she quite liked having the upper hand on him. “Maybe I should have told you before,” she began, not bothering to temper her teasing tone as she slowly stepped up to him, “but I don’t do favors for free.”

His grin grew, and his eyes got a little sparkly. He was onto her game, but he looked like he was going to play along. “Yeah? So I’m in your debt now?”

“Mm-hmm,” she said with a smile. “And don’t worry, I’ll be sure to abuse the privilege.”

Adrien laughed. “I’m sure you will, you little minx.”

She shot him a wink before spinning on her heel again and strutting out of the kitchen.

“One last thing before you go?”

She turned towards him, eyebrow raised. “Yeah?”

He pointed at her t-shirt, one she got from the Jagged Stone concert she went to last year with her girl friends. “You have great taste in music.”

She grinned. “Thank you,” she said with a wink. “I’m classy that way.”

6. Anime

“I’m sorry, repeat that for me?”

Adrien chuckled. “What? Don’t you know anime has ridiculous titles at times?”

Marinette gave him a look as though he’d grown a second head before shaking hers. “You know what, no. I don’t even know why I’m surprised. You…” She pointed her finger at him while trying to give him a look, but Adrien could see the hint of a smile on her lips. “You are weird,and I know this about you. Of course, you watch anime over regular tv.”

Adrien scoffed. “Please, regular tv is trash. Anime is an art form.”

Marinette rolled her eyes at him, and he couldn’t help but chuckle. Ever since the night they had to work together to complete a large special order, Marinette had defrosted her icy attitude towards him. While he was thankful because it helped to be on good terms with coworkers, he was rather happy to get to know the girl underneath the cold exterior. She was a natural spitfire, a total tease, and had a great smile he’d do anything to bring out of her. She wasn’t just a pretty face, though he couldn’t deny that he quite liked that, too. If this persisted, Adrien thought she might actually become trouble for his heart.

And times like this made him believe he might just be okay with that.

“You are a regular nerd, aren’t you?” Marinette sassed, grinning as she easily piped the icing on a cupcake.

“Total otaku.”

“I have no clue what that is.”

“If you watched anime, you would know.”

“I’m good.”

Adrien snorted, going back to his own work piping macron cookies onto a baking sheet. After four months of working here, he’d finally gotten the hang of piping perfectly circular and even cookies.

“Honestly,” Marinette continued, not letting up her sass. “I feel like a pair of glasses would suit you better than the rebel look. Pins you for the nerd you are.”

“Aww, but princess—”

“I thought we were over the nickname,” she deadpanned, shooting him an unamused glare.

His grin widened. “Not a chance—there is a rule in anime that guys with glasses are considered hotter.”

Marinette huffed, amused. “Really?”

“Totally.”

“You made it up.”

“No, but it is unofficial.”

“Knew it.”

“But the point stands that you would not be able to handle me in my glasses.”

At that, Marinette raised a brow at him. “You wear glasses?”

He nodded. “I wear contacts here because I don’t want them to fog up in the fridge or steam by the oven or get covered in flour. The point of glasses is to be able to see clearly, and therefore, the purpose is rendered mute if they get dirty in a kitchen.”

“Fair point,” Marinette relented, going back to her cupcakes. “Still don’t believe that glasses automatically make guys hotter. Isn’t it supposed to be the opposite? You whip off the nerd specs and bam!Instant hunk?”

“Tell you what,” Adrien said, putting town the piping bag in his hands so he could fully direct his attention on her. He was finished with the cookies, anyway. “I will come into work one day wearing my glasses, and if you take even a second to stare at me in surprise, you have to watch an anime of my choice.”

Marinette regarded him with a flat look for a minute before that smirk of hers came back. “You’re really working the anime angle, aren’t you?”

“Shamelessly,” he admitted, leaning ever closer to her. “So, what do you say?”

Marinette grinned, eyes gleaming with defiance. “Bring it on. Glasses or no, you’re not getting any reaction out of me.”

Knowing her, that would likely be the case, but deep down, Adrien did hold a little hope that she’d be surprised. He thought he was over wanting attention, but apparently, when it came to her, all rules went out the window.

And at the moment, he found himself perfectly fine with that.

#miraculous ladybug #fanfiction #adrienette #AdrinetteApril2021 #adrien agreste #marinette dupain cheng #Sass #So much sass XD

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looselucy · 6 years

Photo

The Tin Mouse

Louis was already seated at the pub by the time I got there, a pint lifted up to his lips as he waved me over to the corner of the room. I gave him a big smile to show I’d noticed him before going over to the bar and ordering myself a pint.

Thankfully, it was rather quiet in there that night. Due to the lack of options when it came to drinking spots and how small and quant our village was, you never really knew whether you’d walk in there and it would be chockful or the total opposite. That night, there were a few elderly locals in there on their own enjoying some ales, but that was about it. “Y’alright, Jim.” I greeted a regular at the shop who was enjoying some alone time at the bar. “Aye, not bad, are you?” “Yeah, m’alright. Saw your Liz at that self-defence class earlier.” “Aye, she said it was alright.” “Yeah, seems decent.” My drink was passed over to me, and I passed back the exact change. “Thank you. See you soon, Jim!” “Nice to see ya, love.” I scuttled over to Louis quickly, wanting to tell him about the guest who would be joining us at the pub that evening. I was still trying to wrap my head around it, really. It was a big enough deal that he’d moved to Rosebury at all, it had gotten everyone talking. That combined with his self-defence classes, his obscenely loud motorbike and the house he’d moved into, he was enough to send us all into a tizzy, and that was excluding how gorgeous he was. The dynamics of the friendship group I had known and loved so dearly since I was around nineteen years old hadn’t really changed over the years. Even when it came to Sam, he and his best friend Tom hadn’t been fully involved; they’d join us at the pub every now and then and it certainly wasn’t odd when they were around, but since our breakup, it hadn’t happened and they certainly weren’t missed. Though things were still hazy when it came to him, they hadn’t been joining us in our social activities and I was thankful of that, nor was it a shock to the system. This Harry chap joining us at the pub was the biggest shakeup our group had seen for a while. “Hi!” “Y’alright?” He returned. I skipped over to Louis, sitting down right next to him, so close we were touching, despite the many seat options. He seemed very puzzled, scowling as he looked me up and down. “Guess what?” “What?” “We have someone new joining us for drinks tonight.” “What?” He whelped. “Who? I swear to god, Alf, if it’s fucking Sam-” “Nope. I promise.” “Then who?” “OI OI!” We heard from the doorway. Lincoln and Libby had arrived, having to grab our attention for a moment before they went off to the bar, Lin offering drinks despite the fact he could see we both had almost full pints. We politely declined. “C’mon,” Louis encouraged. “Who’s joining us? IS IT NEIL?” “No. Well, I dunno, I haven’t spoken to Niall. Maybe he’ll bring him. That’d be interesting.” “Then who? Spit it out?” “Uh… It’s weird. It’s the guy who ran the self-defence class today.” Another alarmed look shot across his face, clearly rather sceptical already, and I can’t really say he was alone in that. Being from such a small place, it was so easy to become trapped in a certain routine, it was one of the many reasons I’d stayed with Sam for longer than I maybe should have. It shouldn’t have been so odd having someone else join us for an evening in the pub, but it was. “Really? Isn’t he really old?” “No, he looked around our age. Chloe is in love so… she forced me to invite him.” “So I’m guessing he’s not the guy who mugged you then?” “Nope.” “Good. Be weird if he was and you still invited him for a drink. I know you’re pretty forgiving but that’d be a step too far, I reckon.” Lin and Libby were with us then, pulling up stools and giving us friendly greetings and I could immediately tell that Lincoln was excited, which made me think Libby had updated him on the fact we had a guest for the evening. “You told him?” “Yeah, he’s buzzing his tits off.” She rolled her eyes. “I can’t bloody wait.” Lincoln beamed. “We need a replacement for Sam. We need a shake-up. So much stuff has been happening recently, I’m bloody loving it. Not that I loved you being mugged, Alf, but… y’know. It’s exciting, innit?” Louis buried his face in his hands, cringing over the way that Lin spoke about what had happened to me, but it genuinely made me laugh. It was nice to have people not take it too seriously and make it this thing to fear, rather it was just something that had happened that I could move on from with more ease than I thought was possible in the first few days after it had happened. “If the shake-ups can just stay as attractive men rather than people being strangled,” Libby huffed through a smile. “I’d really appreciate that.” “Wouldn’t we all.” I added. “Is he a looker?” Louis asked. “He’s alright, yeah. That’s why Chloe is obsessed.” It was almost as soon as I’d said her name that Chloe burst through the door, wearing a very tiny dress which must have been extremely unforgiving in the bitter winds outside, but I knew that the weather was the last thing on her mind. “I can see your nipples a mile off.” Libby joked as she made her approach. “Good. I’ve got good nipples, I should show them off more. Do I look okay?” We all answered at the same time with different variations of telling her just how amazing she looked, causing her to be smug as she took her place around the table, checking back over her shoulder for a second to watch the door, waiting eagerly for the newbies arrival. I suppose that was another reason to be eager, really. Living in such a small town meant there were an alarming lack of men available to us, so of course she was jumping for joy at the sight of a new one who was actually our age. As wonderful as it was living somewhere so idyllic, it certainly had its downfalls, and that was one of them. Chloe was practically claiming him and I couldn’t blame her for jumping so eagerly at such a rare opportunity. “So, are you wanting a bang tonight or are you wanting to marry this guy?” Lin asked her, clearly quite amused by the situation and her obvious excitement. “I dunno, I haven’t thought about it.” “Clearly.” He huffed sarcastically. “I just want him to know that I am here and I am available and-” “You have great nipples?” Louis quipped. “Exactly.” Looking over her head, I watched the man of the hour walk through the door, hands in his pockets and teeth gnawing nervously at his lip, searching rather frantically for a face he knew, soon turning his head to see me smiling his way, attempting to be welcoming. “He’s here,” I whispered, trying not to move my mouth too much so he wouldn’t catch on that I was clearly talking about him. “So everyone be nice and welcoming and not weird.” Harry seemed different as he approached us then. After experiencing his class, I only really knew him as this confident man who could control and own an entire room with what seemed to be little effort, but as he came to a standstill just behind Chloe, all I could see was how anxious he was. I couldn’t imagine how difficult that would be, moving somewhere completely new, completely alone. I knew that we were all hugely set in our routines, so that idea was remarkably odd for us because most of us had grown up in Rosebury and I didn’t think any of us had any plans to ever leave, but even so, the thought of what Harry was currently going through made my own mind uneasy. To situate himself somewhere so small where the people were already so settled and there wasn’t much going on seemed like a lonely venture. I really hoped we could help him not feel that way. “Hi.” I grinned up to him. “Everyone, this is Harry. Harry, this is everyone. That’s Lincoln.” “Y’arlight, man?” “That’s Libby and Chloe who were at the class.” Libby waved, where Chloe did a dramatic turn in order to face him, wildly flicking her gorgeous auburn hair and grinning over her shoulder, Harry looking a little puzzled, sort of dodging her hair but trying to remain polite, still with his hands dug into his pockets. “And this is Louis.” I gestured to my right, Louis elevating himself slightly so he could shake Harry’s hand. “Nice to meet ya.” “Yeah, you too.” He choked, his shake firm. “Um… I’m gunna go get a drink, does anyone want anything?” “I’d really love a G and T.” Chloe batted her lashes, still with her body twisted in such an awkward position I figured her neck was hurting. “Would you like some company?” “Uh… yeah, sure. Thanks.” I’d never seen her leap to her feet quite so quickly, sauntering over to the bar with him, the four of us trying to supress our sniggers but she made it so difficult thanks to her dramatics. It was a side of Chloe we’d all seen before, but didn’t get to see too often. She’d been similar with Niall when he first moved to our village when he was 18 years old; she’d spent a good few weeks practically dangling off his body until he plucked up the courage to inform her that he was actually interested in men, meaning her fascination had died rather abruptly. She was like that, though. Her interests were often fleeting and rarely emotive. Chloe liked to get what she wanted and then she’d lose interest. Chloe was a lot of things, but reliable wasn’t really one of them. “She would eat him alive.” Lincoln noted, turning his back to them and picking up his drink. “I dunno.” I squinted my eyes, keeping watch of the two of them at the bar, witnessing her chewing his ear off. “He seemed totally different in the class today. Pretty sure he can handle himself.” “Yeah, I know what you mean.” Libby agreed. “We’ve probably weirded him out already. Doubt Chloe is helping the situation, but… I dunno. He was a beast today. I think he’d eat her alive.” The gang continued to chat between themselves, yet I simply watched Harry at the bar, silently coming to conclusions before he came over and spoke properly and gave me definite answers. I’d always thought that sometimes conclusions could give you answers about a person that they wouldn’t vocally give you themselves. Even minor movements could mirror emotions. It was clear that he was nervous about his current situation, and his nerves were working as a rather wonderful shield for other signals he was just about revealing. But in the same breath, I could almost see a relief he was feeling, a thankfulness that he was out of the house, around people and meeting people. He was easing and accepting his surroundings. Other than that, I couldn’t get much of a read on him. He was wearing black fitted pants, rolled up slightly to reveal some worn pink converse, the only burst of colour upon his all black look, black t-shirt and thick fluffy jacket to block out the cold. The more I looked at him, the more I came to terms with just how attractive he was. By the time they were walking back over to us, Chloe was laughing manically and Harry had an absurd look on his face that suggested he hadn’t said a single thing that warranted such a reaction, but with a face like that he must have been used to having such an effect on people. “Sit down, man.” Louis tried to create a more normal atmosphere than the one we could see Chloe had created for him. “Tell us about yourself.” “Um… not much to tell, really.” He smiled, pulling out an old barstool and basically straddling it. “Well, I’m Louis. I work in Alfie’s shop.” “You own a shop?” He took his eyes to me. “Yeah. A little wine shop.” “That’s amazing.” “So if you wanna buy any wine, you have to come to me.” “Not really much of a wine drinker myself, but if I ever fancy some I promise I’m all yours.” He was rather quickly becoming the boy we’d met earlier in the day, rather charming, settling himself into the group. I think it helped that we weren’t all at his throat at once; Libby and Lincoln were chatting between themselves, none of us really wanting to overwhelm him. Chloe was kind of between conversations, but her eyes just kept going back to Harry, no matter how hard she tried to play it even just a little cool. “So what’s brought you to Rosebury?” Louis asked him next. “Um… m’not sure.” “No?” “No. I mean… I guess it looked pretty idyllic.” “I know it looks nice and everything, but there’s really not a lot goes on here.” “Yeah, I think I need that.” He spoke, after clearing his throat with a swig of ale, one of the local region ones. “Quiet sounds nice to me. I’m ready for quiet.” The sound of the front door crashing against the stone wall made Harry physically jolt, whipping his head over his shoulder to get his first look at Niall, who had made a rather dramatic entrance and demolished that quiet Harry had been talking about. “NEIL IS A CUNT!” He yelled so fiercely his face was bright red, shutting up the entire pub up, looking as though he was about to yell again before he looked across to the bar. “Oh. Sorry, Jim. Excuse my French.” Jim merely rolled his eyes and went back to drinking his pint. Harry looked back to me and Louis with a giant grin on his face as Niall stormed towards us, and I could tell he liked him already, which was bloody typical. He was charming even when he was cursing like a maniac and had clearly already had a few strong drinks. “Neil’s a massive cunt.” He declared once again when he’d reached us. “Yeah, we gathered that.” Louis sniggered. Harry turned his head to gage Niall again, trying to be subtle about it, but he’d caught his attention almost instantly. “Hello, are you a gay man?” Niall looked down to him, hands on hips, tone solemn. “What?” Harry baffled. “Are you gay?” “Uh, no. Sorry.” “For fuck sake. Fine. Niall, nice to meet you.” “Harry.” They shook hands briefly before Niall marched towards the bar, every single move and step he made large and filled with frustration. “Uh… So that’s Niall.” Lincoln offered. “He’s one of us.” “And who’s Neil?” Harry asked, still grinning. “He went on a date tonight,” I answered. “I’m guessing it didn’t go too well.” Harry looked extremely eager to hear the tale by the time Niall was stomping his way back over to us, finishing off the first quarter of his pint before he’d even sat down. He pulled up a stool between Chloe and Lincoln, everyone just waiting in silence for him to begin. Niall wore his heart on his sleeve and his humour on the very tip of his tongue at all times, meaning that I already knew he was extremely disappointed with how his night had turned out, but he was going to turn the whole thing into a joke so he could stomach it and make light of it rather than let it bother him. “So we’re there, right, at this restaurant, having a nice time, and then the fucker decides to tell me that he has his literal dick out under the table and was wondering if I’d like to have a good go on it.” “You’re fucking lying.” Lincoln declared, but his eyes were so wide it was clear that he did believe him but found the situation as unfathomable as it was. “Unfortunately, I’m absolutely not fucking lying.” “I would have literally called the police,” Libby commented. “That’s prime pervert behaviour.” “I should have, shouldn’t I? Damn. That’s a missed opportunity.” Niall had experienced many terrible dates, but that one was certainly the worst we’d heard of. I noticed then that it had very quickly become extremely natural having Harry there with us. He had slotted himself in quite nicely, meaning that we’d gone from being so aware that someone new was joining us to simply feeling as though nothing had changed, like everything was how it always had been. He’d slotted himself into our foundations quite nicely. “So what did you actually do?” He asked Niall. “I just left! I’ve been thinking about all the cool and hilarious stuff I should have said to him, but at the time I had nothing. The whole evening has just been extremely disappointing.” He huffed. “Sorry, not to be rude, but who’re you? You’ve just appeared.” “My names Harry.” He chuckled. “I just moved here. I’m running the self-defence classes so I met the girls tonight and they invited me.” “Oh! Well, nice to meet ya. I’m Niall. You sure you’re not gay?” “If I was, I’d take you out in a heartbeat.” Though the news of Harry’s sexuality was a tough blow for Niall, I could see Chloe coming to life over the confirmation, leaning a little closer to him again, fluttering her lashes. It couldn’t have been possible that Harry hadn’t caught onto how she was acting and what that meant, but he definitely wasn’t acknowledging it, for whatever reason. Even Niall had humoured her a little bit when she had been the same way with him. She was gorgeous, it was almost foolish not to! But Harry acted as though he hadn’t seen her batting her eyelashes at him, flicking her hair, laughing at nothing and staring like he may disappear before her eyes. I think we all hoped he wouldn’t be going anywhere for a while. We all liked him instantly.

“What the fuck do I know about fear? It’s not my place to tell women what they should be scared of, y’know?” “Yeah.” He was fascinating. He was engaged and animated and passionate and it was just amazing to be wrapped within the energy he was creating as he spoke about his job. The group around us were missing out, because somehow this was now just a conversation between the two of us whilst the rest of them babbled on about nonsense, and if I wasn’t so wrapped up in what he was saying I would have stopped the conversation just to get everyone else to listen; to hear what he was saying and feel his avidity. “And like… I’ve never said my classes are just for women, never. But it’s only ever women who show up, because you are the ones who experience this fear so often. We can’t relate. I can’t relate to that. It’s women who have to feel threatened, just for fucking existing. I shouldn’t tell you what to be scared of, you should tell me, because what the fuck do I know about it?” I nodded, my empty glass still in my hands because I couldn’t take my eyes off him. I swear he hadn’t even blinked the entire time he was talking, he just stared right back. “Haven’t you ever been scared?” I leaned a little closer, hushing my voice just slightly. “I mean… haven’t you ever felt that fear?” “I’ve been scared.” He lowered his tone too, becoming almost sombre as he spoke. “I’ve been terrified. I… I know fear, well. But… I don’t feel afraid walking down the street. I don’t feel afraid at the pub. I don’t feel afraid at work. That’s the kind of thing that women have to deal with all the fucking time, and it would be naive of me to say I understand that. I know fear, but I don’t know what it’s like to feel afraid in the places where I’ve always felt safe.” Until recently, I had felt rather safe in my life. Rosebury was quant and calm and the kind of place where it didn’t really feel like there was much to fear. We were all lucky in that sense, but I still completely understood and agreed with him and what he was saying. There is a fear ingrained and taught to women that men couldn’t possibly understand. “Does your job feel like a noble thing to you?” “No.” He answered quickly, which I liked. “Does it feel like… just going to work?” “No.” He repeated, with just as much speed. “How does it feel?” “I… I don’t know. I just know I love what I do.” I liked his answers. I liked the fact he didn’t see himself as this saviour, someone we all needed who could guide us and impose wisdom, but it wasn’t just some humdrum job to him either. I think he saw the need for the classes he held, understood it beyond just teaching women. He saw the reasons those classes truly needed to exist and I got this impression from him that they felt like something he needed to do. It made me all the more intrigued about him. “You’re interesting.” I leaned back, tilting my head and scoping him. “I’m not.” “I think you are.” “Well, thanks.” I couldn’t smile at him for too long, because looking over his shoulder, I saw Sam and Tom wander into the pub, Sam’s eyes automatically on me because he knew where our spot was in there. I cursed quietly, leaning back against the wall and tilting my head downwards, but still keeping my eyes on him as he sauntered over to us, hands in his pockets, mood blatantly low. I could practically feel everyone around me tense up, other than the blissfully unaware Harry. My situation with Sam was currently in a bit of a grey area and everyone knew that, but we’d kept it between the two of us at the same time. Since we’d broken up, I only saw him when it was just the two of us round at my place, because at least then it was our situation that we didn’t need to impose on anyone else and create an awkward atmosphere. I could tell things weren’t going to go well before he’d even opened his mouth. “Y’alright, Sam?” Lincoln choked. He came and stood beside me, glaring down to his left to get a good look at Harry, scowling sinisterly and refusing to look anywhere else. Harry raised his head and looked back at him, catching onto the atmosphere but clearly not understanding it. Sam almost sniggered before he spoke. “Who the fuck is this?” He grimaced. “Nice, Sam.” Louis huffed. “As polite as ever, I see.” He ignored him, continuing to glare at Harry as though hoping to intimidate him, but as far as I could see he was failing miserably. Harry hadn’t said a word, he’d barely flinched nor blinked, he simply stared up to him. I swear he was even on the verge of smirking. After a while, Sam faltered, quite clearly struggling with the fact his bravado wasn’t seeing him through a situation in the way it usually did, running his tongue across his teeth before turning to me. “Can I talk to you?” “Do I have to?” “Yeah.” “Fine.” I shot up to my feet, glad to be taking the following conversation elsewhere, noticing a rather drunken Irish lad before we left. “Niall, keep Harry entertained.” I caught a little bit of what Niall was saying just before we walked out the back door towards the smoking area where our relationship had ended only a week prior. “So, tell me, Harry… which specific gods carved your face?” The fact I was giggling by the time we were both outdoors only seemed to sour his mood further, pulling a packet of cigarettes out of his back pocket, shaking his head as he lit one up. “Why’ve you got a face like a slapped arse?” I asked him, folding my arms. “Who the fuck is that guy you were talking to?” “He’s the guy running the classes I was telling you about.” “The guy who bought the house in the woods?” “Yeah.” “The fuck? That place must be worth a fortune. How old is he?” As much as he was frustrating me, I understood it at the same time, his attitude made sense to me. I wouldn’t have liked to walk into my local and find Sam talking to a girl I had never met before, so I had to go easy on him and switch our roles so I didn’t snap at him. I didn’t appreciate him being so rude, but I definitely understood why he was acting that way. “I dunno. Only met him tonight so can’t say I know much about him.” “Why’s he even here?” “Why’re you even here?” “You don’t own the damn pub, Alf. I can come here if I want.” “You knew I’d be here, so what do you want?” More often than not, we’d go to the pub on a Wednesday night. It felt like the perfect way to break up the week, and our Wednesday night spot had always been The Tin Mouse. He knew I’d be there and there was definitely a reason he had turned up beyond wanting a drink. He took a few drags of his cigarette before shyly looking back at me, admitting why he’d shown up. “I was wondering if I could stay at yours tonight.” He asked rather timidly. Despite the fact I kept letting him into my flat and fucking with both of our heads in the process, I’d been persistent and clear with the fact I was confident our breakup was the right thing and I didn’t have any plans to fully rekindle with him. He knew my company wasn’t a given. “No,” I sighed, rubbing over my eyes with the back of my hand, fibres of mascara dropping to my darkened beds. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.” “Why? We’ve been good the past few nights!” “Yeah, but then you turn up here and act like a prick and I’m reminded why I ended things! It makes me… feel like an idiot for letting you in in the first place. I wanna draw a line under this. We need to draw a line under this, Sam.” “Alf, I need you to understand that I wanna change for you.” He took a step closer, a little life leaking back into him. “I wanna be better. I wanna… make you happy, like I used to. You have to give me a chance to prove myself. Please.” I’d known it was going to be hard. I knew it was right, but I wasn’t numb to the reality of the situation either. We lived in such close proximity, we had a singular group of friends and everyone knew everyone. Then after what had happened to me, I was bound to fall back on something or someone familiar just to give me that sense of security, that sensation of safeness. I knew I would struggle to completely cut ties with him, but what had happened had only increased the difficulty. It would have been hard even if he wasn’t so damn desperate. “I can’t have this conversation again. I can’t keep going round in circles. I’m sorry.” When I looked at him then, I allowed myself to look past the façade I had been seeing. I’d been convincing myself that the only thing I’d been hurting was his pride, the only thing I’d really been shattering was the humdrum reality we shared. But I dropped my guard for a moment, softened my vision and truly saw him. He looked exhausted, both by the situation and physically, his body lacking its usual confident poise, like he could cave in on himself at any moment. I think I’d chosen to ignore that he was aching in an attempt to help myself, to force him to be this body of negativity and amplify all the bad aspects of our relationship and the boy he’d become. But in those moments, I saw the boy I’d loved rather than the boy I’d grown to almost despise. Our relationship ending had really hurt him and shattered his heart. We stood in silence for quite some time, Sam finishing his cigarette slowly. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen him seem so reliant on the smoke he was inhaling, like it was the only thing pulling him through, the only thing keeping his tears at bay. “I think I’m like… annoyed at myself. For fucking this up. Y’know I worship the ground you walk on. M’gunna keep… showing you that, as much as I can.” “I’m sorry.” I whispered again. “M'gunna get a pint. I need it.” He threw his cigarette to the floor, clearing his throat and clearing his mind before making his way back indoors, me trailing quietly behind him. All eyes were on us when we got back in there, they weren’t even trying to be subtle about it. It was awkward and odd and made even worse when I noticed that Sam was walking right past the bar and making a beeline straight to Harry. “Look, mate, I’m sorry for acting out.” He offered his hand, which Harry rather hesitantly reached upwards and shook, looking up to him. “It’s just… she’s my girl, y’know? I get like that. I’m sorry.” “Don’t worry about it.” Harry accepted vocally, but his posture suggested otherwise, his face seeming to read that he couldn’t figure Sam out, but what he’d seen he didn’t like; his eyes a little low and his jaw tight. Sam chose to ignore the way that Louis had sniggered when he had said I was his girl, giving Harry’s hand a firm shake before turning on his heel and heading towards the bar, not looking me in the eye as he went. I approached where I’d been sat, picking my bag up off the floor. “I’m gunna head home.” I told everyone rather quietly, once again drained after feeling like I’d broken up with him all over again. “Yeah, I’m coming with ya.” Louis agreed, picking up his drink to finish the last dregs of his pint. “Think we’re all done.” Libby added. “We calling it a night?” “I wanna stay and get Harry drunk.” Niall said rather playfully, or at least I hoped. “I think you’ve had enough for everyone.” Louis grabbed his hand, pulling him to his feet. “Let’s go.” None of them would have admitted it, at least not to me directly, but I knew that they were cutting their nights short just so I wasn’t walking home on my own. I didn’t like to admit it was something I was worrying about and they didn’t want to admit they were being lovingly overbearing, so none of us said anything about it. We just finished our drinks, grabbed our things, and left. Sam and Tom watched us all from the bar the whole time, mumbling between themselves, to which I paid as little attention as possible. I was just glad to get out of there. The seven of us set off down the long country road together, back towards the centre of our village, our high spirits returning slowly but surely. We could chatter quite loudly between ourselves in that location, due to how far away we were from those slumbering in their homes. The Tin Mouse was a lone building, overlooking fields and cattle and feeling utterly secluded. I loved it there. I noticed that Harry had fallen behind in the crowd just slightly, unsure where to place himself, so I lingered a little, pacing myself so I could walk by his side. He smiled at me softly before dropping his head, watching his feet as he wandered. Niall kept looking back over his shoulder, winking at me before flitting his head towards Harry, as if I didn’t already know exactly what he was winking about. His attention was taken back away when he tripped over his own feet, Chloe practically catching him, the lot of them laughing about something as I looked to my side, gaging Harry. “It’s because of the date.” I introduced a topic. “Huh?” “Why Niall’s being full on with you. It’ll be because of his date tonight.” I clarified. “He puts on a good act, but he’s really soft. He usually flirts with Lincoln when he gets like this, but you’re fresh meat. “Yeah. I mean… that date did sound fucking awful.” “It did.” I sniggered. “I just… I know he’s been a little much tonight, but he’s amazing. He’ll die when he remembers this tomorrow.” “I don’t mind.” He shrugged. “He seems like a really good lad. It’s all fun, innit. I don’t get touchy about this stuff.” “Always nice to be flirted with.” “It is.” He smiled, finally lifting his head and looking to me. “What about you?” “What about me?” “That seemed like… a pretty intense situation back there. You okay?” His voice was sweet, suggesting that he genuinely cared to know how I was feeling rather than simply wanting to know the ins and outs of what he’d found himself in the middle of. “Uh… Yeah, I’m fine. It’s complicated… but that’s my own fault, so… Yeah. I’m good though.” “Good.” He nodded, leaving quite some time of silence and going back to watching his feet as we wandered, before he turned his head back to look at me. “Is he always such a twat?” “Yep.” I answered after blurting out a beast of a laugh. “Pretty much. That’s one of the many reasons I broke up with him.” “Ah, okay. That explains a lot.” He grinned. “Is it recent?” “Just last week. But then… with that guy attacking me… I dunno. Things got complicated. I’m gunna shut up now, I’m sure you don’t wanna hear all this shit. I’m sure it’s a can of worms you don’t wanna open.” “Do you mind me asking what happened? With… the guy attacking you?” “Um… I was walking home on this road last week and he just came from nowhere. He took some money and obviously… hurt my throat, but I got off lightly. I know it could have been so much worse so I’m just trying to focus on how lucky I am and… learn how to throw a decent punch. I’m hoping you can help me with that.” “I can. I will. If you keep paying.” He quipped. I laughed again, knowing that comment shouldn’t have been taken seriously thanks to both his tone and the conversation we’d had a little earlier on. It wasn’t too long later that the turn off down the tattered path to Harry’s home appeared just ahead of us, all of us aware that he was about to veer off and leave the group because we knew the place he’d bought rather well. “Hey, I have a question.” Lincoln spun around, steadily walking backwards to keep his eyes on Harry. “For me?” “Yeah. How come you bought that house?” “Why wouldn’t I?” “Ignore him.” Chloe looked over her shoulder. “It’s this thing the kids do round here. That place has been abandoned for years before you bought it.” “I used to go there when I was little.” Lincoln told him. “Me and my mates used to go up that path and freak ourselves out. We’d convince ourselves we saw people in the windows and stuff.” “He’s still superstitious about it,” Chloe continued. “So that’s why he’s asking.” “It’s run down as fuck!” Lin tried to justify his question for a different reason other than the fact we all knew there was still a very sweet and innocent part of his mind that still felt eerie and spooked at the thought of that house. “It won’t be when I’m done with it.” Harry answered. “And it’s like… pretty far removed from everything else.” Lin added. “Too far away from me.” Niall groaned. “Yeah. I like that. I like… quiet. I wanted somewhere secluded, so it’s ideal for me.” He explained. “You won’t think it’s haunted once I’ve worked my magic on it. And like… the inside was barely touched, it didn’t look run down at all! I fell in love with it, I had to buy it.” Lin shrugged, pretending to understand his reasons for buying that house but clearly being baffled by it, before turning back around so he was walking forward once more. I didn’t necessarily want our night to come to an end. I’d spent the last week cooped up indoors feeling sorry for myself with Sam by my side, so it had been truly refreshing and lovely to not only get out of the house, but to spend my evening with someone new, who had new-fangled stories to tell and opinions to share. I loved my friends dearly, but the shake up of having Harry around felt almost needed. I looked down the dark path that Harry was just about to take, the way it was woven between the trees meaning we couldn’t quite see his house. Even that sight, the tall trees looming over the road between them, obscurity dripping from their branches, a heavy gloom that seemed to suggest light had never touched the surface; it did feel a little sinister. “This is me.” Harry slowed himself down. “I just wanted to say thanks for inviting me. It’s been nice, so… cheers.” We all stopped ourselves to bid him a proper farewell, Louis reaching out to shake Harry’s hand, both Chloe and Niall looking at Harry wistfully as though they could feel him slipping through their fingers. “Nice to meet you, man.” Louis made sure to be extra friendly. “You’re welcome to chill with us whenever.” “Day or night!” Niall added for good measure. We all started saying goodbye, taking slow and steady steps down the rest of the road, but bloody Niall was lingering like a lunatic and Harry caught onto that, smiling and shaking his head. “Niall, c’mon!” I tried, struggling to take his hand and drag him off with us. “I miss you already.” He sulked to Harry. “He’s gunna regret every fucking word tomorrow.” Libby huffed. During my attempts to literally pull Niall away, I noticed that Harry was fully grinning; a devious smirk appearing on his lips he took a step towards Niall, leaving me questioning “Oi, c’mere.” He simpered. He ticked his head, then reached up and forcefully pinched Niall’s chin with his fingers and thumb, dragging his face to crash into his, smacking a huge kiss on his lips. I was staring at the minor interaction in disbelief, Niall looking utterly dazed as Harry pushed his face back away after only a second, completely unsteady on his feet. I could hear a few laughs and applauses coming from behind me, but I just stared at Harry, seeing how wonderfully smug he appeared. “Better than Neil, right?” He raised one brow, so tempting and gorgeous that I found myself subconsciously biting my bottom lip. Niall couldn’t even muster up the strength to reply. “Is that gunna shut you up?” “I’m never shutting up about this.” He managed to gasped. “That’s all you’re getting from me.” Harry turned to walk towards his home, grinning over his shoulder. “It’s enough.” “Cheer up, alright? You can do better.” He yelled to make his voice clear. “Goodnight, team. Thanks for having me!” I wasn’t sure Niall would ever walk again. He just had his hand on his chest, keeping his eyes on Harry as he wandered home, hands back in his pockets, and although I couldn’t see his face I knew for a damn fact that he was grinning wildly. He had to be. It took a while for Niall, and me, to find our sense again. By the time we’d stopped gawking, Harry had disappeared into the darkness, vanishing before our eyes and leaving me questioning if he had just been a figment of my imagination the whole time, if my eyes and my mind had been playing tricks on me and conjuring up a boy so interesting I could forget about all the distressing things that had been happening in my life, just for one night. He didn’t seem real to me. “Really? He kissed Niall?” Chloe grovelled loudly. “Of all fucking people, wow.” “I really like him.” Louis spoke fiercely. “Really fucking like him. He’s sound, we’re keeping him around.” “Agreed.” Lincoln added. “Niall?” Chloe continued. “He kissed Niall? He’s not even fucking gay and he kissed Niall? When I’ve been here with my great nipples all night?” “Did that just happen?” I giggled. “If I had known harassing him all night would have gotten me a kiss, I’d have done it!” She prolonged her whining as we continued our journey to town. “I’d have been totally fine with that!” As the group began discussing and laughing together, speaking of the boy we’d spent our evening with, I found myself continually checking back over my shoulder, as if I was trying to get one last glimpse of him even though I knew he was completely out of sight. There was something about him, something that made me want to learn, pick him apart and study the pieces one by one with care and precision. He’d captured my attention in abundance and I knew I wasn’t the only one who was feeling that way, and it wasn’t just because he was new and he’d bought that house and he was running those classes and driving that obscene motorbike, it was him. There was this aura around him that I wanted to submerse myself within; he had an energy that I could barely fathom. I realised then that Sam didn’t just feel threatened because Harry had been talking to me, but because there was something about him that felt otherworldly to people like us. Trying to shake the feelings he’d inflicted, I scuttled so that I was beside Chloe, who was now marching along with her arms folded across her chest. “Did you chat with him much?” I queried. “Barely.” “You’ll get your chance, don’t worry.” “Nah, I’m done. Y’know what I’m like if I don’t get immediate attention, I just give up. It was a nice thought.” “You give up too easily. Give it a chance, just… don’t use Niall’s technique. I don’t think that would have worked with any other person.” “I’m not getting my hopes up again.” The dull and sparse flickers ahead of us confirmed we were just about to cross the bridge and reach the centre of our village, and I would be the first drop off. There wasn’t much more there than a gathering of cottages, really, with tiny roads veering off from one another to create a small space of homes and stores and pubs and not much else. There were hills in the near distance around the whole village, which only strengthened the seclusion we felt, being buried into a small valley. I loved it there. I never wanted to leave. I lived above the wine store I ran; the top floor was my home, the ground floor was the shop, and the cellar was part of the shop and also used for most of my stock. I had everything I needed in one building. “This is my stop.” I smiled towards the small white sign that hung above the front door, Witchcraft Winery. “Thanks for another interesting night. See you all soon!” “See you in the morning!” Louis bid loudly over the other goodbyes I was receiving. “Bright and early!” Before letting myself through the front door, I watched my friends wandering off down the road together, laughing, talking, being so happy in one another’s company, and I found myself smiling. I just stared and smiled and had this feeling that everything was going to be okay. Life would go on and I’d get back to normal and figure everything out, slowly and steadily. But I didn’t know that the boy we’d met that night would change my humdrum existence. I didn’t know what he’d end up meaning to me. I didn’t know.

#HAPPY FUCKING SUNDAY #LETS GOOOOO #HBS4 #this is a long one #almost 8000 words #lap it up #1dff

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dotbammie · 7 years

Text

Walk You Home//Lee Jeno

Pairing: Jeno x Reader

Genre: Fluff (Of course excuse me he’s still a baby)

Summary: You had never expected to make so many new friends so quick.

Author’s Note: This scenario is for my friend whom i love dearly! This is my first time writing in a while, so I apologize if it’s bad >.< I hope you enjoy~

xoxo Sara

It was a stressful day, and you had no idea why. Could it have been your homework? Maybe it was because your teacher was talking too fast, which prohibited you to copy down as many notes as you would have hoped to? Or maybe it could have been the stress of being in a semi-new school?

You didn’t want to call it new; you had been there for a couple of months, but it still felt surreal to you. You were never used to the large walls, the classrooms, the students of teachers— you were usually homeschooled, but you had decided to try something different upon moving to some place new.

You weren’t a bad student, not in the least. You studied as much as a normal student would, you paid attention in class, and more times than not, you handed in your homework on time. You just didn’t like being surrounded by unfamiliar faces.

You felt as if you were outgoing, but not outgoing enough to introduce yourself over and over again to a bunch of new people, so you just sat at the front of the classroom, listening to lecture after lecture being given, and hoping that there wouldn’t be a group project in the near future.

Once the bell rang, you left for your lunch break. You walked outside to the small table where you usually ate; you were surrounded by classmates chattering , people blowing straw wrappers into others faces, while others sat and tried to do homework so they could lessen the load they’d have to do at home.

You sighed softly, running your hand through your hair, when you felt a soft tap on your shoulder. Confused, you turned around, to see a boy with a bright purple hair and a friendly smile on his face.

“Hi!” he said, a small, high-pitched chuckle following right after as he examined your facial expression, “Don’t look so scared of me. I don’t bite, I promise.”

You squinted your eyes at him for a moment, trying to make out his features while he stood straight in the sunlight.

“I’m in your class,” he continued, pointing down a bit, “Is it alright if I sit here?”

You followed his pointer finger to the seat next to you, which instead of a person, your bag had occupied . You nodded, taking the bag from off of the seat while he inserted himself where it had once been.

“I’m Chenle,” he smiled, pulling off his back-pack so he could take out his lunch, “I sit a couple rows behind you. I’m sure you’ve never noticed me there since you’re always looking up at the board and never behind you.“

You thought about the tiny classroom in your mind, pulling together memories of the past to try and find his face, and sure enough there he was in the back of your mind, laughing alongside friends before the class started.

“I’ve noticed you before,” you took a sip of your juice, looking at him slightly before smiling a bit, “I’m (Y/N).”

“I know,” he smiled, unwrapping his sandwich, “You’re always quiet, but you always write the correct answer on the board when you’re called up, so I assumed that you must be smart and you like to keep your head in your books.”

“I’m not too smart,” you refuted, watching as he took a big bite of his sandwich, “i’m average, I guess.”

“Better than me,” Chenle smiled, “Whenever i get called up, I draw a smiley face on the board if I don’t know the answer.”

You chuckled at his comment, his eyes wandering over to you for a moment. “But you seem so nice. Why haven’t you talked to anyone in class yet? I know you moved here a couple of months ago, but I never see you talk with anyone, or walk in the halls with anyone.”

You stayed silent for a moment.“I don’t know,” you put your juice down on the table, “I’ve been focusing on my work a lot, I guess. I didn’t really have time to make new friends with the move and stuff, you know?”

“I know,” Chenle said in an understanding tone, “I’m also a transfer student. I moved here last year, and I was really nervous at first, but one time i laughed in class and everyone thought my laugh was funny, so I used that as an ice-breaker. Hi, i’m Chenle, the boy with the dolphin laugh from class 1B!” He smiled, giggling softly, which made you giggle in response.

“I made a lot of friends. Actually,” he said, looking behind him for a moment, “They should be here soon.”

You followed his eyes over to the door which lead to the courtyard. “One of them is going to come late, though. He always does, so he could get some extra study time in.”

He looked at you, a bright smile on his face. “You should meet them! I think they’d like to have a new friend in the group. One of our friends graduated last year and it feels so weird because now we have an empty seat at our table now.”

“Ah, so you’re using me to fill up your empty s-“

“Hey now,” he interrupted you, holding his pointer finger up to you, “That’s not what I meant. I genuinely want to get to know you. Plus, one of my friends saw you out here yesterday and sent me on a crusade to befriend you so he could talk to you too.”

You raised an eyebrow at his comment; you didn’t know people had noticed you amongst everyone else. You usually just sat and ate lunch and went back inside before class started, which, in your mind, wasn’t very noticeable.

“Oh look, here come some of them now!” Chenle said, patting your shoulder as he stood up, gathering his things messily and shoving them back in his bag. “Come on, i’m sure you’ll love them. They’re pretty nice.”

You watched him briskly walk over to a small group of boys that had just entered the courtyard; one with black hair, two with blonde hair, and one with a reddish hair color. Gathering up your things, you began to stand when you heard Chenle’s voice again.

“(Y/N),” He said, startling you for a moment and causing you to flinch. You heard soft chuckles as you sighed and turned around to see the four boys you had witnessed from a distance now up close to you, “These are my friends!” His smile was bright as he gestured from them from left to right, “ This is Jaemin, Renjun, Jeno, and Haechan.”

They all waved to you and you waved back with a smile. You tried to see if you could recognize them in your memories from the times you looked behind you in the classroom, as you did with Chenle, but you couldn’t seem to do so.

“They’re a year older than us,” Chenle said, almost as if he has went into your thoughts and plucked out what you were most confused about, “There’s one more coming too, but he’s a year younger than us. His name is Jisung, i’m sure you’ve seen him in school. He’s really tall, and he’s got this bright blue hair,” Chenle continued to talk as all of the others kept their eyes on you; their stares almost burning holes into your skin.

“Let’s go sit at the table,” Haechan said with a friendly smile, “It’s just over there, but it’s big enough to fit all of us.”

“Unless Jisung decides to stretch,” Jaemin commented as they all turned around, soft laughs seeping from each of them, “Then some of us get pushed off of the seat.”

They all began to walk in front of you, leaving you trailing behind as you made your way to a small table. The table seemed to be unnoticeable and excluded; almost hidden among the trees rather than being near all of the other tables in the middle of the courtyard. They all placed their things down and sat, waiting for you to sit with them. You had decided to sit next to Chenle, who was patting a space between him and the boy he introduced you to as Jeno. He smiled at you as you sat, his eyes turning into little crescent moons as his gentle smirk took over the rest of his face, making his cheeks plump up.

Boom boom.

You quickly looked away, pulling out the rest of your lunch as the boys began to talk about the lectures their teacher held today, complaining about her teaching style and how they could barely get down any of the notes. You felt relieved that the boys in the grade above you were having the same problems as you, and that made your stress level go down a little.

Chenle began initiating you into their conversation, trying to get you to talk to all of them little by little. “(Y/N) is actually really smart,” he began, “I’m surprised they didn’t like, move her up a grade or something. She always gets her answers correct.”

You sighed as the boys let out ‘ooh’s and ‘aah’s , a small smile sliding across your lips. “No, i’m not smart, but I actually do my work instead of putting smiley faces on the board when i’m asked to do something.”

The boys laughed at Chenle’s demise while another boy slowly approached, squeezing his way in between Chenle and Jaemin, which inevitably shrunk the space between both you and Chenle and you and Jeno. He introduced himself to you as Jisung before he began eating his lunch, saying few words after that. You were happy to have been introduced to some new friends, but you wondered how you were going to keep them if they were in a grade below and above you.

You waited to hear Jeno speak from next to you, but he barely did the whole time that you were outside. He added in commentary here and there, but he never seemed to tell one of his own stories, and it made you wonder about if he was just as shy around new people as you were.

As the bell rang and lunch ended, you all got up and exchanged goodbyes. Since Chenle was in your class, you two walked down the halls together, dropping off Jisung at his class, which was on the way to yours.

“So, did you like them?” Chenle asked you, a small smile on his face as he bumped his arm with yours, “Not so bad, right? They’re pretty cool sometimes, when they’re not teasing me or something.”

“They all seem really nice,” You smiled back at him, letting out a soft chuckle at his comment “But I feel bad that I didn’t talk as much they did.”

“Well, you’ll have the option to talk more when you come hang out with us tonight,” He smiled at you, turning to you in the hallway and inevitably blocking your path to class. “We all live together and stuff. It’s pretty fun, so you’ll have plenty of opportunities to talk to them when you come over.”

“I never agreed to coming over.”

“Well, you should agree to it now, because i’m not letting you leave the hallway if you don’t.”

“Ch-“

“Just say yes,” Chenle said, patting your head softly, “Come on, it’ll be fun, I promise. We have lots of snacks and it’ll most likely be clean when we get there. We can walk you there too, it’s not too far from the school.”

You looked at him momentarily, pondering in your mind if it was worth it; it wasn’t a school night, which meant the homework that you had could be dealt with at another time. Plus, it gave you the chance to be able to get to know the boys, and Jeno, more, because you didn’t have a time restriction on how long you could talk.

“I guess I could come over for a little while.”

“Awesome,” Chenle said, turning around and almost jogging toward the classroom, “Hurry up! If we’re late, i’m blaming you!”

As you sat in class, you pondered how a living space that held six boys could possibly be clean; you wondered how far it would be from the school, how late you’d stay, if you’d stay for dinner, and how you would get home. It was the first time you were meeting anyone outside of school to hang out, so you were both excited and nervous.

When the bell rang, you got up and began to pack your stuff, when you felt an overwhelming presence near you.

“Ready to go?” Chenle asked, leaning his chin on your shoulder as he watched you pack up, “Do you need help with packing up? You’re pretty slow with it.”

“No, it’s okay,” you zippered the backpack and put it over the shoulder that Chenle’s chin wasn’t on, “I’m not slow, you’re just impatient.”

“I’m excited to hang out with you outside of school,” Chenle commented, leading you both to the doorway of your classroom, “So are the boys. They were texting me all class asking if you said yes. They think you’re really nice.”

Smiling at your feet, you walked beside Chenle as you went to pick up Jisung from his class. The other four boys arrived shortly after, waiting for the youngest to exit the classroom. You smiled and waved at them as they each came over, examining their faces one by one, until your eyes landed on Jeno.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

He waved back at you for a moment and smiled, making your heart begin to race. You quickly looked away, hoping that you looked away in time to avoid your cheeks getting red. Why did you feel so nervous around him?

Once Jisung had gotten out of class, you all left the building, small conversations up in the air about small things that happened in the time that the boys had not seen each other. You listened and smiled, laughing when someone told a funny story, adding in small commentary when you felt like it was relevant. You liked being able to talk to them; it was much more refreshing than walking home alone while listening to music. You loved to be surrounded by people, and as you looked at Chenle, you felt grateful that he had introduced himself to you not even a couple of hours ago.

As the days passed by, they turned into weeks, and yet the boys that you had met (and a couple of new friends that you had met that they lived with as well) never seemed to leave your side. You had exchanged numbers on the first night and they all had you in a group chat; mostly to talk about when you would see them next and vice versa, but it was enough to keep you attached at their hip.

You hadn’t felt this happy since you moved to the new town; you had left your old friends behind and felt alone and helpless, but the boys had filled the void in your heart that was made from that time, and you couldn’t be more glad. Their small place had become almost like a second home to you, since you went there frequently. It felt like everyday you were witnessing Mark (A new friend you had made) playing video games while Haechan tried to distract him, or Doyoung (another new friend) baby Chenle and Jisung by making them do their homework or just embarrass them to get a giggle out of everyone. It all became second nature to you—not that you were complaining, though, because it made you finally feel like you had belonged in your new city rather than just being an outsider.

You had gotten all of them to talk to you more as you all began to hang out. Even Jeno began to become more and more talkative around you. Now, he would tell stories about school even if you were the only one listening, and he would even tell you about his family and his pets back at home. You were shocked that he actually talked to you that much. You felt that he had finally let you into his heart and allowed you to become his friend.

It had been another day at the dorm, though, when you began to feel something different. You recall back to the first day you had met everyone and got acquainted; how your heart would speed up when he would smile at you. Even just his smile presence made a warm pit full of butterflies in your stomach grow. Since then, it hasn’t grown much, but it was still evident.

“(Y/N),” you heard your name being mumbled sleepily as the door opened. It was quite early on a Saturday morning— Chenle and Renjun inviting you over to watch cartoons that they had wanted to show you— but usually, they were the ones that were opening the door.

When the door swung open, you were astounded to see Jeno, decked out in his Pj’s, rubbing his eyes with a tired smile on his face. The sight made your heart tremble, and you didn’t know why.

“You’re up?” you whispered, almost in disbelief, “You’re never up this early, Jeno.”

“Renjun wanted me to watch cartoons with you guys,” he said, side stepping slightly to allow you room to enter, “Come in. They’re on the couch.”

You walked in and took off your shoes, Jeno standing over you slightly with a confused look, “But you’re here early, too. Don’t you watch your baby sister on Saturday’s?”

“My dad is letting me stay out a bit, but I have to be back at one. I’m sure cartoons will be over by then.”

Jeno nodded, sliding his hands into his pockets while you made your way to where Renjun and Chenle sat.

“Goodmo-“

“Shh,” you shushed Chenle, placing a hand over his mouth, making Renjun giggle, “Not so loud, Chenle. It’s nine in the morning, people are still sleeping.” You sat on the couch, exchanging hi’s with Renjun, as Jeno made his way over. He plopped down on the couch with a thud, his tired body heavy with sleep as he curled into the side. He looked so cute and peaceful as his eyes fluttered shut, your heart beginning to beat a bit faster than normal as you witnessed him tucking himself inside of his sweater.

As the morning went on, you couldn’t help but noticed every shift that came from your left side. Each time he shifted, he got closer and closer to resting his head on your lap. You looked over to Renjun and Chenle for help multiple times, but each time you did, you would find them indulged in their cartoons, digging into the bowls of cereal that they had laying on the coffee tables. You sighed, looking over to Jeno, who had completely changed his position at this point; his feet now where his head one was, while his head gently rested against the outside of your thigh. He had a soft pout on his lips as he slept.

Boom Boom Boom.

You looked away, your cheeks already beginning to feel hot. You tried your best to focus on the cartoon that Renjun and Chenle wanted you to wash oh so badly, but you couldn’t seem to focus on anything but the sleeping boy next to you.

After the final episode of cartoons was over, Chenle got up, causing you to sink into where his spot had been. You watched as Jeno stretched out into where you had sad, but it still wasn’t enough for him. You looked over at Renjun, who began to clean up the bowls of cereal, before he felt his eyes on you. He turned to you, eyes shifting from you to Jeno, before chuckling.

“Want me to wake him for you?” Renjun asked, “He’s a very cuddly person, he can’t help it. When somethings warm he wants to hold it, especially in his sleep.”

“No,” you shook your head, looking down at him once more, “You don’t have to wake him. But I feel bad. What if I want to change the way i’m sitting?”

“I’m sure he’ll follow your movements, then,” Renjun smiled, taking the plates to the sink and leaving you alone with the dilemma you were facing.

Very gently, you allowed yourself to grab a pillow from the side of the couch, trying your best not to wake Jeno up. You didn’t want him to think that you were leaving him; that wasn’t the case at all. In fact, he was quite warm too, and his warmth was making you sleepy, but you wanted to change position a bit so you could be comfortable as well.

You didn’t want to admit to yourself about the little crush that you had on Jeno, but watching him continuously search for you whenever you left his side made your heart warm. You loved the way he smiled at you when he thinks you’re not looking, you loved the way that he focused on you so intently when he talked, and you especially loved the way that he treated you, but you would never admit that to him. You were too afraid to be reject to do that. You didn’t want to ruin the friendship you had with him, or the friendship that you had with the boys, and it scared you to death to think that all of that could be over with simply expressing your feelings. You’d rather keep it inside than risk losing everything you had come to know and love.

You had ended up laying down, Jeno comfortably cuddling your legs like a warm pillow while you patted his hair gently. You sighed in content, finally being able to close your eyes for a moment or two.

That is, until you heard the soft pitter patter of feet coming down the hall.

“(Y/N)?” Jaemin all but yelled, making your eyes shoot open to see him standing over you both, “You-“

“Sh,” you shushed him, looking down at Jeno and back up to him, “Don’t you see that Jeno’s sleeping?”

“Yes, I see it,” Jaemin smiled, “I can’t believe it. Did he confess? Did you say yes?”

You felt your heart stop and Jaemins words.

“Confess? What do you mean?”

Jaemin went quiet for a minute, looking away for a moment before letting out a soft, “oh.”

“Explain,” you said simply, gesturing over to the free recliner that was perpendicular to the couch that you were sitting on, “What do you mean, ‘Confess?’”

Jaemin sat down slowly, avoiding your eyes and looking at whatever else he could stare at, before beginning to sleep.

“Jeno… likes you. A lot. But he was nervous to tell you because he thought that you found him boring since he never really talks. He was going to tell you but I guess I let the cat out of the bag on this one.”

You felt your heart speed up as you looked from Jaemin to the sleepy Jeno in your lap. You didn’t know exactly how to respond with anything but a smile.

“Don’t tell him that I told you, though,” Jaemin stated simply, “He’ll kill me.”

Soon, you began to feel Jeno shift again, his head slowly lifting off your legs as he forcefully blinked his eyes open. He looked from your legs, up to your face, before turning his head.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured, beginning to sit up to stretch, “I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you. I’m sorry if it made you feel uncomfortable.”

“Not at all.” You smiled at him, stretching a bit on your own, as the boys slowly began to fill the room.

“Look who’s finally awake,” Mark said, plopping down on the couch on your free side while Renjun took the free seat by Jeno,” You guys were knocked out for a little while. Well, Jeno was.”

“How’d you sleep, hm?” Renjun teased, patting Jeno’s head while Jeno pushed his hand away, “You both looked pretty comfortable.”

“Maybe (Y/N) Should sleep over from now on and be your body pillow,” Mark took the remote while he spoke, unaware that he had cause a blush to rise on both your face and Jeno’s, “You slept more than you do while laying on her.”

“It’s afternoon now,” Renjun continued, “(Y/N) shouldn’t you be getting ready to walk home?”

You sighed, “Yeah. I have to watch my sister at one so I should probably start heading home now.” You began to get up, allowing for mark to fall against Jeno. Jeno stood after you, though, watching you grab your stuff.

“Do you want me to walk you home?” He asked, running a hand through his messy bedhead before smiling, “I need to wake up a bit after sleeping for so long.”

You waited a moment, nodding softly before gathering your things. “Yeah, sure.”

Jeno smiled, heading over to the door with you to put on your shoes. You exchanged goodbye to the others as you and Jeno left the apartment.

The walk to your house was silent, although you didn’t mind too much; you enjoyed the silence, and you knew Jeno did too. You would talk about the small things around you; the way that the leaves are already beginning to change color and how they crunched so easily underneath your feet, how the wind felt so nice and yet so cold at the same time, and he would just sit and listen to you.

You felt his eyes at one point, which made you feel a little nervous. You looked at him for a moment before looking away, rubbing the back of your neck shyly.

“What’s up?”

“Nothing,�� he stated all too quickly, shrugging his shoulders, “You just look… Really cute right now, is all. Your cheeks are red from the wind.”

Although you didn’t say, you knew that your cheeks were red because of him, not the wind. Still, the small compliment made your heart flutter. You mumbled a thank you as you continued on.

You both arrived to the corner before your block, when Jeno stopped. You continued to walk, before noticing that he wasn’t beside you anymore. You looked back at him, raising an eyebrow before going back to meet him by the stop sign.

“What’s up?” You asked, looking behind you for a moment, “I thought you were walking me home.”

“I don’t want to take you home just yet,” his voice was soft, almost as if he were nervous. You felt the butterflied begin to form in your stomach once again as you stared at him; for some reason, he seemed so vulnerable, which was something you weren’t used to seeing from him.

“Why not?”

“I don’t.. want to leave you.” He avoided eye contact, looking at everything that he could as long as it wasn’t your face. “Not yet.”

“I’m sure we’ll see each other before Monday,” you mentioned, “If you want, I can come over to the dorm after i’m done babysitting for a li-“

“No,” he sighed softly, making your words get caught in your throat as you waited for him to speak again, “I need to do this now.”

“Do what now?” you questioned him, beginning to feel your hearts pace begin to speed up as he finally found the courage to look at you. His cheeks were slightly tinted as well, and you had thought that it was the wind, until you remembered the words that Jaemin had told you.

“(Y/N),” Jeno began, a gentle tone in his voice as he spoke, almost as if he were too afraid for the words to escape his mouth, “I have something to tell you.”

“What is it?”

Although you thought you had an idea as to what he could be hinting at, you were still nervous; your heart pounding in your ears, almost too loud for you to hear the cars zooming by on the streets.

He took a deep breath, which made you inhale deeply as well, “I really like you, (Y/N). You’re always so nice to me, you understand that sometimes i just don’t want to talk, but when I do talk you always listen to me and you make me feel like i’m not as boring as everyone says that I am, and it makes me so happy. I really wanted to tell you before we got to your house so if you said that you liked me back, I could hold your hand while we walked there.”

He breathed in again, seemingly saying his whole speech in one breath out of nervousness. Your heart fluttered at his words; although you knew that they were coming, you couldn’t help but feel happiness run from your head all the way to your toes. You sighed, taking his hand in yours gently, saying a simple, “I like you, too.” You smiled at him, watching as his face soon mirrored yours as a smile spread across his cheeks. He squeezed your hand a bit, at a sudden loss for words, before beginning to pull you along down your street.

you couldn’t get over how perfectly our hand fit in his; his hands made yours feel so small and delicate, and you loved it. the vulnerable and scared side of jeno you had witnessed moments ago was gone, and now it seemed like he couldn’t stop smiling.

“Since you like me back,” he began, swinging you hands in between you two slightly, “Does this mean that you’ll let me take you out on a date? Without the boys?”

“It wouldn’t be a date if the boys came,” you laughed, making him blush before you looked up at him, “Of course.”

He brought you to your door step, engulfing you in a tight, warm hug. He smelled like wind and still felt warm from sleep, and you relished in the feeling before he pulled away. You exchanged goodbyes, him waiting until he watched you get in safely, and for some reason, even though he had just watched you leave, he already missed you.

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