#and had us guess who got what score. why she thought this was a good idea i do not know
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Picture it: sophomore American history. The year is two thousand and eight. The teacher is known for passing out jolly ranchers, one per student per day, when a kid does a good job. One day, she wants us to list every state in the country. Kids start listing them off in unison, mostly alphabetically, but falter around the I states (this is in Indiana, mind). Except one triumphant voice lingers as every other voice trails off in doubt and consternation. This voice flawlessly recites every state in these United States* as the class and teacher stare in awe, and at the very end the resounding voice makes mention of Puerto Rico and Guam as territories. The teacher wordlessly hands over two jolly ranchers.
A new day. List the presidents. Nobody knows beyond Washington, Lincoln, FDR, JFK, Clinton, George W. Bush–the incumbent finishing up his final term in a few months. Except. One voice–just as triumphant–recites every president, in order, even making mention of Grover Cleveland's non-consecutive second term. Everyone–teacher and student alike–stares again, this time almost in horror. The voice, embarrassed and blushing at the stares this time, finishes the forty-three chronologically, and this time as the teacher hands over another two jolly ranchers she overcomes her shock to ask "How did you know that??"
At which the body that contains the voice shrugs sheepishly, pops a blue raspberry in their mouth, and makes a vague "I 'unno" sound–unwilling to admit that the Fifty Nifty song they sang with their class in a third grade recital had permanently seared itself into their brain, as did the Nickelodeon presidents song that aired during the Oh Four election between Bush and Kerry
*I realized after while at dinner that evening when I told my parents about it that I had completely skipped Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, but the listing was so smooth and confident that no one noticed. I never made that mistake again regardless
#american history#jolly ranchers#at one point our teacher in her infinite wisdom decided to announce our grades without our names attached#and had us guess who got what score. why she thought this was a good idea i do not know#but everyone immediately singled me out as one of two completely one hundred percenters. they were wrong tho#i was too chronically exhausted after school to do any kind of homework so i was pulling solid Bs#this class was kinda worthless tho because my teacher–who in respect was really micro/agressive towards Black students–#taught us that 'we' had won the Battle Of Corydon in the civil war#naturally since Indiana was a Union state i took that to mean the Union won the battle and carried that knowledge for years#until one day looking it up on Wikipedia to prove a point to theta i found out the Union LOST the battle of Corydon#and either my American history teacher was an incompetent or she was a Confederate sympathizer with her 'we won' remark#which in retrospect she prolly was#anyway#tagging my hometown because i'm petty#Richmond Indiana
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Misunderstanding. Nika muhl x reader.
Jealous Nika.
You weren't a starter in your team but the coach knew you were what the team needed. Iowa was down 15 points to UConn and you only had one quarter left to win or your dream of winning march madness would be gone.
You didn't have a good relationship with your coach. You two had your differences. You disagreed often which left you on the bench. But tonight UConn was the better team. They had all their best players on the floor . They were comfortable both offensively and defensively. So when the coach came to you to sub you on you knew exactly what your role was. You were on the floor to make them as uncomfortable as you could. You had to disrupt their flow and help your team.
You were successful in the task you were given. You made UConn uncomfortable which allowed Iowa to score enough points to win the game and advance to the final. Despite your huge and impactful effort that helped your team win the game, you still weren't in your coach’s good graces.
You were again benched on the final which your team won but it didn't feel like a victory to you because you were hardly on the floor. As a result in the postseason you decided to request another School. It didn't matter which one all you cared about was being in a team that valued you.
It took a week for you to get the first offer. You were surprised when you saw that it was UConn who asked to have you. You must have made an impression after your last performance.
UConn’s legacy was mesmerizing, so you agreed to their offer as soon as they made it.
By 2 months you were in your new dorm getting ready to meet your new team.
You were very nervous at the beginning. You didn't want anything to go wrong. Your old relationships with your teammates were so bad you would rather retire than go through that experience again. Luckily, your new team wasn't that bad. You quickly bonded with a lot of your teammates like KK Arnold, Izzi and ice. You felt comfortable in your new home at the start of pre pre-season. The more comfortable you got the more flirtatious you got. You would make jokes about it and your teammates would tease you about it too. The victim of your flirtatious attempt was Izzi. You didn't do it so that you two would end up together, you just found it fun to flirt with her. Your flirtatious attempts were going on all season.
One day after a huge win, the team decided to go out and celebrate in a bar near campus. It was you, Izzi, Paige, nika, and ice. After a few drinks you all decided to head to the dance floor where you danced with Izzi. After a while you looked next to you only to find only you two left on the dance floor. Needing a break you decide to go out for some air.
“ I guess it got all hot for you in there too.” you say to Nika when you meet her outside.
“ No, not all of us were dancing like nobody was there.” she replied with an annoyed tone.
“ What is that supposed to mean?”
“ Nothing, just forget it. I am gonna go back to campus.” she says and leaves. Leaving you puzzled.
You go back inside and brush it off.
The next training sessions were strange. A hostile tension was filling up the atmosphere and it was coming from Nika. flashbacks of your old team were haunting you by the time a month went by. You thought that your future in this team would be just like your past.
At team bonding night, where you decided to watch a movie together. A huge fight started between you and nika. It all started by a snarky comment she made about the main character of the movie.
“ I just don't understand why people don't understand vibes and the right places to do stuff.” she says. You felt that that comment was directed towards you so you replied.
“ well some people don't overthink stuff and just do as they feel.”
“ I don't believe that. I think everybody calculates everything and they only do what is best for them.” she responded.
“ guys i am gonna call it a night i am tired.” said izzi interrupting your bickering with nika.
“ Me too.” says nika and she leaves abruptly.
What nika said was stuck in your throat so you followed her to the hall.
“ what the fuck is wrong with you.” you yell behind her.
“ Excuse me.” she says stopping in her tracks.
“ You have been throwing knives at me all the time. if you have a problem with me just say it and stop dancing around.”
'I don't have a problem with you, I have a problem with the way you act.’
“ And what way is that?”
“ i dont like that you are all flIrty and mushy with izzi if you want her do that in the fucking bedroom away from me.”
“ What the hell are you talking about? Izzi and I are just friends. That whole thing is a plan to annoy paige. We are trying to make her jealous. Plus why do you care ?.”’
After staying quiet for a while she says. “ Is there anything between you two?.”
“ No, there isn't. She likes paige. Why do you care nika?”
She leans her head against the wall and whispers something inaudible.
“ i can't hear you nika.”
“ i like you. Okay . the thought of you and izzi makes me so fucking angry.”
“ You like me.” you repeat in disbelief.
“ ever since you joined i had my eyes on you. So when you started doing your stunt with Izzi, the thought of you being with her angered me.” she says with a defeated tone. “ I never meant to hurt you, I just didn't know how to handle not having you.”
You approach her, lift her head up with your hand and cup her cheeks.
“ You look adorable right now.” you say which makes her smile.
“ Can I kiss you?” she asks
“ You better.” you respond.
You then both kiss. You couldn't believe how soft her lips were and how your bodies moved in sync.
“ Can I take you back to my room. “ she asks with a pout on her face.
“ please do.”
#nika muhl x reader#nika mühl#nika muhl#uconn wbb#uconn huskies#uconn women’s basketball#women's basketball#ncaa wbb#wbb
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if i leave, which i must do
MASTERLIST
pairing: han jisung x female!reader
genre: fluff, angst, isekai, portal universe, strangers-to-lovers.
word count: 29,083
warnings: swearing, car accident, mentions of death, mentions of sex, suggestive. (proofread-ish)
summary: a movie night by yourself turned out to be an unexplainable experience as you got stuck in the film you were watching. it was a true nightmare until you found jisung to help you.
a/n: one of my favourites ever! it took me so long to finish it but i can't be any prouder. i really hope you enjoy it!
Being sick was one of the things you hated the most, and there wasn't much you hated. Having a cold meant having to cough every five minutes to clear your throat or blowing your nose all the time to the point it got red from how irritated it was. One perk, however, was that you could use it as an excuse to skip work. Getting to stay at home to do nothing was everything your lazy nature would dream of. Plus, your love for movies and cinema came handy when all you could do was watch films all day.
So when you began to feel your throat getting dryer and your nose building up snot, you couldn't be any happier. The office you worked at had given you very strict deadlines and you'd been working your ass off for weeks to meet their expectations. By taking the next day off, it would give you a very much needed break since all of your documents would be given to someone else to finish them. 22 years old was too young to be doing this much, you thought. But you needed the money so you had to settle for that, only temporarily.
First thing you did when you got home that day was to open all the windows of your apartment, not considering your poor rabbit in her playpen who didn't ask for any cool air. It might not have helped much in making sure you would stay sick the next day but you gave yourself credits for trying nonetheless.
Afterwards, you hurried yourself to get changed into your pyjamas you loved so much and order food since you had no energy to cook. Once your order arrived, it didn't take you long to get settled on the couch to get ready for a movie night on your own. Before doing anything, you still made sure you had everything — meaning your food, water, your blankets, cutlery for your meal, etc. — and then grabbed your remote to turn the television on. As you browsed through Netflix's selection of recommended films for you, you realized how the movies on there became repetitive and you had seen most of them. Still, you continued to scroll in hopes something would be eye-catching enough to you. But none seemed good enough. Annoying, your food was getting colder by the minute.
You were about to move onto another streaming platform until you read a synopsis that grabbed your curiosity. It followed the journey of a struggling artist in his early 20s who can't seem to find the inspiration for his music, all while having to face his personal issues called becoming an adult. This was not the type of movies you would usually go for which made you wonder why it even caught your eye. The duration was an hour and fifty minutes and that was also not what you'd go for on a daily basis. Besides that, heavy subjects as these ones felt a bit much for a Wednesday night. However, you weren't going to work the morning after so fuck it. Happy with your choice, you grabbed your plate and brought it closer to you to dig into it and clicked on the play button.
The opening scene showed a young boy — not much older than seven if you had to guess — playing in a playground with a few friends. Some credits appeared on screen as the mellow score played in the background. As the children continued to laugh loudly, a woman's voice could be heard calling out a "Han Jisung". The boy turned around to see his mother walk up to him as she informed him that it was time to head back home. The boy shook his head violently, insisting on staying longer to play. The woman repeated herself but unlike what she would've liked, her son refused to budge and headed to the swings he was playing close to, holding tightly onto one of the poles. Sighing heavily, she asked him again but he did not move. Poor woman, she was obviously exhausted and wanted to go home to take a nap.
"You and me, girl," you commented in-between bites.
Growing impatient, Jisung's mother approached him and reached her hand out to him. Stubborn, he shouted he wanted to stay, and ran all the way to the other side of the street to get away from her reach. As any mother would do, she ran after him while telling him to slow down as he was much faster than her. He still ignored her demands. Sadly, she was not quick enough to catch up with him and, just as she was crossing the road, a pickup truck collided with her body right before Jisung's eyes. It took him a moment to process everything, he was left speechless. Mouth wide open, he stared at the figure of his mother on the ground in horror. He fell onto his knees, his legs too weak to support his body as he was still in disbelief of what just occurred.
You paused it.
Releasing an exhale you didn't know you were holding back, you stared at the screen in shock. You were barely ten minutes in and you could not believe this had to be how the film began. Setting your plate on the coffee table, you walked to your rabbit's playpen and picked her up, bringing her close to your chest. You jumped right back into your blankets and made sure both you and the animal were comfortable.
"Fifi, I won't be able to finish this if I don't have you with me," you said to your bunny in a child-ish voice.
The screen was still frozen while you debated whether you really wanted to continue it or not. In the end, you gathered all the courage you had and clicked on play, giving Fifi scratches to release your stress.
The next scene was a time skip to Jisung's 23rd birthday. When you thought he was all alone as he was staring longingly at a picture of him and his mother, one of his friends barged in his room as he shouted a "happy birthday". He responded with a smile and set the picture back on his desk before the both of them walked out to their dining room. There were only two other men with him who seemed to be living with him. The place wasn't that big but it was functional which is what mattered really. Jisung's other friend placed a cake in front of him as they sang the birthday song to him, all of them exchanging wide smiles. You learned that he is the youngest since his friends kept on teasing him for being a year closer to their own ages.
"Have we gotten any calls?" he asked after blowing on the candles.
From their reaction, they didn't receive any sort of call that they were expecting. This didn't make Jisung lose his joyful spirit and he went ahead with cutting pieces of cake for the three of them.
"Great, now I'm craving cake," you grumbled to yourself. "Should I get a cake? No, it's too late and the grocery stores must be closed."
The scene switched to an anxious Jisung in his room who kept on rewriting on a piece of paper while tugging on his hair, eyebrows furrowed as to show his focus on the task at hand. He bopped his head up and down and began to hum a melody. Unsatisfied, he shook his head and noted something down on his phone. Multiple shots of him doing the same couple of actions — rewriting, erasing, humming a beat, throwing a paper away, getting distracted by something he saw on his phone —played one after the other. It was like he was stuck in a loop and the more it went, the more he was getting discouraged. Finally determining he wouldn't get any work done that night, he grabbed his jacket and walked out the door.
The following shot was now set outside where the night was slowly settling, sunset on display. As a melodic score played in the background, Jisung walked down a small street as he kept on kicking on a tiny rock he found on the ground. Taking in the fresh air, he suddenly stopped and took notice of his whereabouts after having walked a decent distance. The camera panned out to a playground, the same one where his mother was hit.
You felt movement on your thighs and frowned, only to remember you had brought your bunny out of the comfort of her home. Since the movie didn't seem to be getting into anything as traumatic as the first scene, you stood up to get her back to her playpen. However, with having the screen as your only source of light in the room, you tripped onto the plastic bag that was used to wrap your takeout. You felt yourself fall onwards and let out a yell in panic. Your bunny was quick enough to get away from your grasp and hide underneath your couch. As for you, you kept on falling and closed your eyes shut in waiting of your head hitting something. Only, everything went black.
You didn't know what happened but one thing was for sure. You did not hit your head.
Everything was blurry when you finally opened your eyes after gaining a bit of consciousness. You tried to see better around you but a sudden eerie ringing was suddenly bursting through your ears, making it impossible for you to concentrate on something else. You shut your eyes closed again from how painful the ringing was and put your hands on your ears in attempt to diffuse some of it.
"Miss?" you thought of hearing faintly but nothing was vivid enough for you to be sure. "Miss?" you heard the voice say again, this time a tad bit clearer.
You began to hear again much clearer, allowing you to open your eyes properly. Needless to say you were stunned once your gaze fell upon the man in front of you. He had a concerned look on his face while analyzing your figure, making sure you were not injured in any way.
It couldn't be possible, no.
Looking around for a hint or anything, you realized you were exactly where the character of your movie was standing through your screen only minutes ago. The same character who was now all flesh and bones, standing tall (or short for some people) at 5'7ft in front of your very eyes.
"Miss," he said again. "Are you alright? Do you need help?"
You blinked slowly as you stared at him up and down, almost creepily. You hadn't realized he began to feel uncomfortable until he cleared his throat loudly, bringing your eyes back to his own. With one eyebrow raised, he repeated the question. No luck, you kept silent.
Jisung looked around and noticed the sun was about to get down completely, meaning it would be pitch black in this part of the city. Although he thought of you to be odd, he was humane. Never would he let a young woman — might he add as attractive as you were — on her own this late outside.
"Do you live nearby? I can walk you home," he offered.
Again, you didn't seem to find an answer. Well, how could you even describe that you believed to have gone through your television screen which caused you to travel into the movie's universe? Yourself couldn't believe it to be true. Nonetheless, you couldn't deny the man was very much real and that the cold was very much coming through your clothes.
Your clothes. You weren't in your pyjamas anymore, but rather in a business attire. You held a briefcase that you had no idea what it was for, and you felt an unknown phone in your back pocket. You could feel the blisters on your feet caused by the heels you were wearing and although the blazer was most definitely fashionable, you were freezing. You pondered the possibility of having transferred into a character's body unintentionally.
"Do you have somewhere to stay?" Jisung asked as he caught onto your oblivion.
The only thing you could do right until finding out what happened to you was say nothing and lead your own investigation on how you got here and how you can return to the comfort of your house with your bunny. Fuck, Fifi! Poor her, she must be so afraid without you around to take care of her.
"Hey," Jisung spoke again in a comforting voice. "You'll be okay, I want to help you. Did you forget where you live?"
How sweet of him, you thought. In your own universe it was hard for you to find caring men, you hit the jackpot when stumbling upon him. Still, you had to remind yourself that this person was technically a fictional character, he didn't represent reality. You made a mental note to yourself to check if this movie was directed or written by a woman when you would get back home.
"Do you know your name, at least?"
Oh, right. Maybe the guy deserved some sort of answer at the very least.
"Y/N."
You were taken aback when his face lit up to show his boxy smile. He had a very pretty smile, it was a reassuring smile.
"Miss Y/N, my name is Han Jisung. Now that I know you can speak, can you answer my questions from earlier, please? I would hate for something dangerous to happen to you and I genuinely want to get you home safely."
You chuckled at his words, feeling uneasy from his display of chivalry. "I-I don't remember a lot."
You had seen this in movies: in situations of travelling to an alternate universe, faking having amnesia was the way to go if you wanted to survive through this. People put their guards down usually instead of being wary of you.
Jisung nodded and looked up for a moment to think of what to do next. "I live nearby if you need a temporary shelter for the night. I have two roommates and the place might not be as tidy as what you must be used to, if you remember. I don't know if you are comfortable with it but I'd be happy to help you gain your memories back."
Seriously, why couldn't people be more like this in your world? Trying to ignore to storm of feelings, thoughts and emotions that was happening in your mind, you shyly agreed to stay at his place. For the night only. You should get back in less than 24 hours, no?
Jisung was right and his apartment was no further than a few blocks away from the playground. The building was rather small and a bit torn down but besides that, it seemed to be just fine for him. As long as the necessities were there, it didn't bother him if the quality was not one of a five-star hotel.
It took you three flights of stairs to get to his place which was so painful to climb up with your heels. You still managed through the pain all the way up to when Jisung opened the door wide to let you in first. To say you were startled when you walked in would be an understatement. Two men — you recognized as his roommates — were walking around the flat with no shirt on while they were preparing themselves what seemed to be like chicken sandwiches. The sight was not what you had anticipated, although this whole situation wasn't either, and you let out a scream without thinking first. The two of them shot their heads up and were obviously confused to see a young woman stand there instead of their younger friend.
"Can we help..?" one of them who had blonde hair asked reluctantly.
"Guys!" Jisung exclaimed from behind you before coming to stand next to you. "This is Y/N. Y/N, these two are my roommates. This is Changbin."
Changbin held his hand up, still lost about what was happening in his own home. "Hey?"
"And that's Chan."
Chan was kind enough to grab a hoodie that was laying on a chair nearby and put it on before shaking your hand. Your heart stopped from the contact with his skin and you seriously wondered what was up with the men of this world.
"Y/N is a bit lost, I think she had a some sort of brain injury when I bumped into her. She was holding her head tightly and she was visibly in pain. I asked her a few questions about herself and the only thing she could remember was her name," Jisung explained to the older guy who listened attentively.
"Amnesia?"
"That's my guess. Until we can help her find who she is, I offered her to stay here."
Chan nodded in approval while Changbin shrugged his shoulders. "As long as I can work on my stuff in peace, I don't mind. She's kind of cute too."
"Changbin," Chan sent him a look, making him mutter a quick apology. He then turned to face you which scared you a little. "I bet you're tired. Or hungry, maybe? Can I offer you something to drink?"
"Do you have green tea?"
He clasped his hands together and headed off back to the kitchen. "On it."
"I'll give you a tour of the place," Jisung informed. "It's not big but it's home. Here is the living room which we do not use that much. I'll sleep there tonight, though, so you can have my bed."
You held your hand up in disagreement. "I'll take the couch, it's alright. I'm lucky enough you're letting me stay."
He pfft at you. "Nonsense, take my bed. I insist." When he got a nod from your part, he moved on to continuing showing around. "This is the bathroom. Not that big but it does what it needs to do. Here's Changbin's room and I recommend you don't knock if the door is closed. Just wait until he's done. And here's Chan's room where he never sleeps, just works."
"Not true," you could hear from the kitchen, making Jisung smile, embarrassed.
"Yeah, uh, we can pretty much hear everything throughout the whole flat. It's not that bad from the rooms to the common areas because we tried to soundproof them as much as we could but yeah."
"Soundproofing for your music, or for other types of activities..?" you implied jokingly.
Damn it, the air in this universe was different, you couldn't even be yourself. Well, you did make a lot of bad jokes, sometimes related to sex, back home. Still, you really had no filter there. Noticeably, both of you were quite surprised from your statement and were a blushing mess for a few seconds before he answered.
"Music, but it is useful for these... things."
He cleared his throat and walked away shyly, and you most certainly thought this was adorable. Containing yourself, you followed his lead to the room at the very end of the hallway. Everything you saw from the movie was still at their exact spot, including the picture of him and his mother. While he was telling you about his room and cleaning it up a bit at the same time, you couldn't hear a thing he was saying. Your eyes stuck on the framed image for longer than they should but there was something in his mother's eye. A shine? A glow? Or something more mellow? You couldn't figure it out but it was enchanting, she was beautiful. It was crazy how much Jisung took after her, their features being so similar and yet so different.
"She's pretty," you spoke before thinking, yet again.
Jisung awkwardly walked to his desk and put the picture face down. "It's my mom," he said, clearing his throat and avoiding your look.
"She raised a very kind son," you added and he mouthed a small "thanks" as he kept his eyes on the floor.
You took the opportunity to get a good insight of his personal space. Even if cleaned a bit, it was a mess but not in a disgusting way. It was a comfort kind of messy, the one that screamed "this place was loved and well lived in". His bed had simple dark blue sheets with a single pillow, his desk and dresser were a matching set, and his bookshelf was filled with figurines, one or two books and many music albums. His entire desk was dedicated to his music, even the background displayed a guitar. It felt homey.
"Someone ordered tea?" Chan said as he came in with a mug. He set it on the desk while you thanked him kindly. "Be careful, it's still boiling hot."
Without adding a word, he left the two of you alone in your awkward silence. While you were still looking around, Jisung was biting his lip down, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt with one hand while the other was still on the picture. Eventually, he seemed to snap out of his discomfort and went to open one of his drawers. From there, he pulled a t-shirt out along with a pair of sweatpants before holding them out to you.
"I'm pretty small so hopefully it'll fit. You can use the shower as long as you need, the shampoo and soap are in the basket. Use any towel, we washed them this morning," he informed to which you nodded. The silence was slowly coming back but, decisively, Jisung wouldn't let this one through. "I'll be in the living room if you need anything."
"Thank you, Jisung."
He gave you one last smile before vanishing into the other room, leaving you alone to get changed. That was important, yes, but what you'd been dying to find out was what the fuck happened with you. You didn't waste another second to take the phone in your back pocket and turn it on. Obviously, it had a password unknown to you. What did help was the wallpaper: a picture of yourself hugging a bunny that looked identical to Fifi. At least, you knew you were yourself and not some random woman whose body you had to take over.
If this was your face with your bunny, did it mean it would be the same passcode as the one for your own mobile? You had to try at the very least, this phone was most likely your only chance to understand the situation better. You typed the first five digits and waited a second before typing the last one, tension growing in you. You closed your eyes, pressed it, and slowly opened them back. The sigh of disappointment that left your mouth would be indescribable but it was very discouraging. At least, you knew there was another Fifi waiting for her owner to get home in this universe too.
You quickly got changed, finally taking off these uncomfortable heels, and went to freshen up in the shower. Despite the fact the counter was a huge mess, the shower itself was kept pretty clean, more than you had expected for a boys apartment. You didn't wash for long, already exhausted from the day you'd had. After putting Jisung's clothes on, you walked out the bathroom, went to grab your tea, and joined the man who helped you in the living room.
When he got a good look at you, his eyes grew bigger while his plump cheeks flushed a little. The sight of a woman in his clothes was never something he though of ever happening. And yet, here you were. As beautiful as a model, you were in his clothes.
"Can I join you?"
Fuck, even your voice was pretty. He didn't realize it at first –probably because he only focused on helping you out– but you were drop dead gorgeous. All of the sudden, he could feel his hands getting sweatier and his heartbeat getting faster. What was happening to him?
"Sure," he mustered the energy to answer without stuttering. "How are are you feeling?"
"Calmer, but I'm still worried. I have no idea who I am and the background of my phone is myself with my rabbit who must be wondering where its owner went," you answered and pulled the phone out of your pocket to show it to him.
"Cute," he commented, not knowing if this was directed to you, the rabbit, or both. "Did you try getting in?"
You nodded. "The only password I could think of didn't work and I don't want to risk blocking it."
"I have a friend, Felix, he's studying in computer engineering. I can give him a call tomorrow and he could come to unlock it."
Your face lit up instantly. "That would really help, please."
"I'll do that first thing in the morning."
"Thank you."
He looked away and cleared his throat, your presence was making him so nervous. "It's no problem."
You got up and began to inspect the room, a little bit like you did in Jisung's. The couch wasn't aesthetically pleasing to the eye but it did the job and was the perfect amount of squishy. Their television was without a doubt second handed from someone else while the furniture that supported it was freshly new. You liked how they managed to organize everything to be functional without feeling cramped in the place, since it was very small.
"Do you always do this?" Jisung asked after watching you himself.
"What do you mean?" you frowned.
His face warmed up, embarrassed. "I meant, because you keep looking around like an investigator or something like that."
"Jisung, I've just lost all of my memory. I'm just trying to process everything and the very least of things would be to make sure I wasn't welcomed into an unsafe place, not like I think you're dangerous, but you know what I mean."
He nodded while pursing his lips in understanding. He proceeded to mentally flicker his forehead, swearing to himself to shush it around you. He really was trying to come off friendly and helpful but his reserved nature would force him to tell you stupid things like this.
"I'm done with my tea," you announced, showing him the empty mug.
He stared at you for a second until he snapped out of his thoughts, taking the mug and rushing to the sink to wash it. You chuckled at the sight. You were glad it was him whom you had stumbled upon. Although clumsy, he was being the sweetest.
"I guess I'll go to sleep," you said as he was still rinsing your remaining tea.
He raised an eyebrow at you. "Are you sure you have everything you need?"
"Don't worry, I'll call you if anything."
He nodded his head with satisfaction before wishing for you to sleep well. As he watched your frame disappear, he let out a heavy breath. He knew his social anxiety was bad but this was becoming an issue. He headed to the couch and settled himself to doze off. Still, his mind was on you, on how he had interacted with you. Meanwhile, you were staring at the ceiling blankly, wondering if you were even sure if you could get back home. That, and also thinking how it wouldn't be so bad to stay with these welcoming gentlemen.
To sum it all quickly, you didn't sleep much that night, and neither did Jisung.
If you thought you ever had a headache, the one you got when waking up was much worse than anything you'd had experienced. This was mildly due to the events of the previous day, but also to the screaming happening on the other side of the apartment. You felt safer leaving the door open to have easy access to help in case you needed any but this was not a good choice on your part. You had slightly forgotten men could be noisy as hell when it came to living with other men. And this, it was a confirmation you were not in a dream and still in a fictional character's home.
"Chan, give me the fucking eggs!" you heard Changbin shout angrily while the two others were uncontrollably laughing.
You yawned loudly before getting off the bed, rubbing your eyes in the process. Even if your body was telling you to get back into the soft bedsheets and sleep all day, your mind was screaming for you to not miss a moment to find a solution to your, slightly surreal, problem. Thus, you joined the three boys in the kitchen who were all still in their sleeping attires. By that, I mean Chan and Changbin were shirtless again while Jisung was wearing shorts with a tank top that was a bit too tight in your opinion. You unconsciously began to check them out in silence, standing like a poll.
Changbin finally noticed you and waved in a nonchalant way, visibly annoyed by his friends' antics. "Hey."
Jisung's head shot up from his breakfast to you and he didn't lose a second to join your side. "Hey, good morning. How did you sleep? Are you feeling better? Can I make you something to eat?"
His friends exchanging knowing looks didn't go unnoticed by you but you determined it would be better for the younger guy to be spared from such embarrassment and you ignored them. "I slept alright, although I do have a bit of a headache."
"I have Tylenols in the bathroom's cabinet. Do you want one or two?"
"I'll take two if you don't mind."
He hummed before sprinting to the said-bathroom, which left his friends struggling more to contain their cackles. You ignored them still and joined Changbin, whose body was quite distracting to say the least, and scanned the items displayed in front of him.
"What are you eating?"
The man left a frustrated sigh. "Toast and eggs if only Chan wasn't being a dick by hiding them from me."
"I told you I hid nothing, we just don't have eggs!"
"There were three left yesterday when I checked. How would they disappear out of nowhere?"
Jisung came back with two pills and a glass full of water, sheepishly smiling as he approached his friends. "Yeah, uh, I might have eaten them last night."
Both shut their eyes closed, clearly trying to not burst out at him. Meanwhile, you left out a small chuckle and joined him to get your pills.
"Thank you," you smiled at him and you saw his Adam's apple bop.
He returned the smile shyly to then focus back on the important matter of the day. "I didn't know you'd have an egg craving this morning."
Changbin shook his head. "It's not a craving, I need my proteins for my workout today," he huffed out as it this was the most obvious thing.
They continued to bicker for some time. It lasted long enough for Chan to remember you were still there and probably very hungry. He made two portions of his own breakfast, which was a bowl of cereals and fruits, and sat next to you while placing both dishes on the table. You gave him a thankful smile and the two of you savoured the food while Jisung was trying his very best to defend himself.
"You can just go buy some later," he said, rolling his eyes.
"I needed to eat them now, or it would fuck up my very precise diet."
You let out a grunt, and stood straight up. "Gosh, can you two shut up? I get that I'm bursting into your bubble by having slept here but I have a headache and memories to regain so can you please put your quarrel aside for now?"
To that, Chan pursed his lips and clapped quietly, obviously impressed. As for Jisung, he looked right into your eyes, unable to move. Day two and he was still fucking things up around you, great. He muttered an apology, not even loud enough to be heard, and embarrassingly walked back to his spot at the table to finish his breakfast.
"Sorry, Y/N. I guess I did overreact," Changbin admitted even though you could see it was hurting his pride.
The entire flat was silent for a few minutes with only the sounds from munching your food being heard. Eventually, Changbin went to get changed and headed out to what you presumed to be the gym. Chan was the next person to put his dishes in the dishwasher and lock himself in his room. That left a very quiet Jisung alone with you. He was hunching slightly and his eyes were focused on his phone, almost as to distract himself from your presence.
Feeling a bit offended, you called his name out. His doe-like eyes instantly found yours and you had to keep yourself from squealing at how cute he looked.
"Did you contact your friend for my phone?"
His eyes that were already big enough in your opinion got larger and his mouth opened agape. He most definitely had forgotten.
"I'll call him right now, I'm sorry."
He left the app he was scrolling through previously and dialed up a number before putting it on speaker. Nervous, he was nibbling on his lower lip while his legs were jumping up and down. Even with friends, having to call someone was a challenge for him.
"Han?" a deep voice answered the call.
"Hey, am I bothering?" Jisung asked, visibly uneasy.
"Never, what's up?"
"I got this... Uh, how do I say it? I met this girl yesterday-"
"Wait, a girl?" he cut him off with a gasp.
From the reaction of his friend, Jisung rolled his eyes before looking at you apologetically. He should have expected Felix to react this way by the mention of a girl. Jisung was too insecure and nervous to approach one, it was almost a miracle he even had the courage to even speak to you. Well, the context was much different. He was a man of principles and one of them was to always offer a helping hand to someone in need — you in this case.
"Where? How? What happened? Is she cute? Did you ask her out?"
For what seemed to be the hundredth time to him, he blushed and chuckled nervously. "She can hear you..."
There was a pause from the other side of the line for a brief moment. "Oh."
"Yeah, uh... So I was on a stroll around the neighbourhood and saw her having some kind of panic attack. She's calmed down since but she lost her memories. She has a phone but she can't remember her code so I was wondering if you could come by and unlock it for her, please."
"Sure, I'm with Hyunjin right now, though. Is it fine if he comes too?"
"Yeah, no problem. Thank you, I owe you one." He quickly hung up and smiled before looking at you. "Felix is an expert when it comes to technology, you'll see."
"I trust your judgement," you affirmed. "In the meantime, can I ask you a few questions?"
He was a mystery to you. Not only because he was from another universe, but also because of how he has been acting around you. If you had watched the entire movie before teleporting in it, you would've probably understood his being a lot better. However, his shy attitude and the way he acted when you were talking about his mother was something that bugged your brain cells.
"What kind of questions?"
You shrugged. "I know nothing about myself so I can't really tell you about me. But you have been so nice to me, it's only natural I'd like to know more about you."
"Good point," he let out a breathy laugh. "Alright, go ahead."
"Have you always been this introverted?"
With no hesitation, he shook his head no which wasn't the answer you expected. "I used to be outgoing but things got complicated at some point and I- let's say I rather keep to myself."
"But you've been pretty outgoing with me, no?"
He frowned, seemingly not agreeing with you. "Are you kidding? I'm surprised I'm not having a panic attack right now."
"You're doing good," you reassured with a chuckle.
"Thanks," he said with a nervous cough. "I'm trying."
An awkward silence settled between the two of you while you were still figuring out how to bring up the topic of his mother, especially his feelings towards it. The only thing that you could assume was the trauma it must have caused him based on what you saw on screen yourself.
A knock on his front door was all it took to bring your mind back on track, which caused Jisung to physically relax and run to answer whoever was coming. When the door opened, two men were greeted warmly by the young man. One was standing tall and gracious with his long dark locks falling in front of his eyes. He was pretty, you thought. The other was shorter but his voice was deep, so much you were doubting it was actually his voice. The freckles on his face stood out as much as his smile and his blonde hair was another aspect you took notice of. You learned him to be Felix and the moment his eyes fell onto your small figure, he stared at you with bright open eyes, almost as if he had seen a ghost.
"Oh my, Y/N! I swore Mina and I thought you vanished," he said in a worried voice as he sat where Jisung was previously. "Why didn't you answer our calls? Wait, let me guess, you put your phone on Do not disturb again?"
The taller man, who you were informed to be named Hyunjin from Jisung's greeting, rolled his eyes and sat next to him. The move was very smooth, you were doubting if this man was a model or an angel. Both answers would've made sense.
"Let the girl breathe, you're scaring her. Didn't Han say she has amnesia? Gosh, I'd think you're the one with no memories," he huffed, insinuating that Felix was stupid.
You were a bit startled by his rather rude behaviour but when you looked at Felix's reaction, it seemed to be a normal thing between them. As for Jisung, he stood still next to the door and confusion was sprawled all over his face.
"You know her?" he asked.
Felix lifted his eyes up, as if it was the most obvious thing. "She lives with Mina next to our place."
You nodded your head slowly although you were still totally clueless. "Right, Mina..."
"You really forgot? Damn, okay. Well, I know your passcode because you told me so this won't be a problem. I'm very curious, though. Do you know what happened to you?"
Telling them the truth was tempting but, again, who would even believe you? The thing itself was a mystery to you and felt surreal, you doubted they would take you seriously. Even more so if you mention the movie aspect of it.
"No idea," you shrugged which disappointed Felix.
"Alright, I'll help you regain your memories, then," he sighed and held out his hand in your direction. "Give me your phone."
You did as told and, immediately, Felix tapped the password with no problem before giving it back to you. As you browsed through the apps, you realized not much was different from what you had in your actual phone. If anything, this was the spitting image of it. Your first instinct was to go for the photos you had. As expected, many of them were of your bunny but another majority of them were of you with another girl.
"Mina?" you asked Felix, pointing at the girl's face to which he nodded as a confirmation.
"Your roommate and best friend. If I'm correct, you two have been friends for almost your entire life."
You continued to scroll through the pictures attentively. The other you had a much busier life. You seemed to be out in college parties often and other photos showed yourself in classes with many other friends. You were also quite disturbed to see that your parents were the same ones you had in your real life. Was the movie like this or did your unintentional arrival modify it?
One picture grabbed your attention more than others. It was you at a party again but what your focus was on was the boy behind you smiling happily with a bottle of beer in hands.
"Jisung?" you called for him to see and he proceeded to rush to your sides, hovering above your shoulder to see better.
Your breath cut short at the proximity as you could feel his own hit the side of your face. For a second, your mind went foggy and you turned your head around to look at him. His frown showed as much confusion as you had and you noticed his lips to be pinker than you thought.
"Is this me?" he said in a whisper, which reminded you to focus.
"So you knew who I am!" you exclaimed, almost offended he didn't tell you.
"I swear I don't recall seeing you ever," he tried to justify himself.
Felix stole the device from you and looked at the photo as well, Hyunjin leaning closer to do the same. While he couldn't figure out when this was taken as he was in the picture as well, Hyunjin seemed to have recognized the moment instantly.
"This was at Jeongin's."
"Who?" you and Jisung asked at the same time.
You looked at one another and a blush appeared on both of your faces. Hyunjin, however, didn't give a shit about your somewhat cute interaction and went on with explaining.
"Jeongin, a friend of mine. He hosted a party about a year ago with pretty much the whole cohort of freshmen."
"Oh," Felix exclaimed as the memory came back to him. "Yeah, there were people I never talked to again after that. Must have been the case for you two."
"But if I'm friends with you-" you began but were cut right away.
"We're neighbours, not friends. I don't hang out with you much, no offense."
"None taken."
Suddenly, you heard a small gasp coming from behind you. All eyes stopped on Jisung who was covering his mouth with his hand. You cocked your head to the side to incite him to speak but he shook his head and left to run to his room. You glanced at the two remaining men in search of an answer but they shrugged and continued to look through your pictures.
"Ah, look! Your most recent one dates from yesterday," Hyunjin noticed and gave you the phone back.
You scanned the screen and frowned. In the background, you could see a tuft of hair that was too similar to Jisung's for it to not be his. You were wearing the same outfit as the previous day and you were obviously only taking a cute selfie for yourself. This was without a doubt taken just before you appeared. Was this version of you an actual person? Where was she now if you were in her body at this very moment? What if she was in yours? How traumatic for her would that be if she learned she was nothing more than an extra in a Netflix film.
"I wonder where I was going," you decided to say for now, not wanting to look suspicious.
"If I had to guess, back home. You're on an internship in an accounting company this semester, thus the attire."
You were so grateful Felix knew about you enough to give you a better insight of your life. Nonetheless, this was helping you in no way to go back to your universe. You discarded the phone away from you and let your head fall on the table while mumbling a "thank you" to him.
"The school offers free therapy sessions for those in need," Hyunjin suggested, earning a bump of the elbow from his friend. "What? Sorry for trying to help."
"I can take you back to your place for now, Mina might be better than me to help you," Felix offered, ignoring Hyunjin.
"That would be great, yeah," you said gratefully, lifting your head up. "Can you take me now?" He nodded. "Good. You don't mind if I go thank Jisung first?"
"Go ahead."
The door of his room was closed which came as no surprise considering the way he left so abruptly. Still, you knocked softly and waited patiently for him to answer. It took a minute or so but he did open the door, just wide enough for you to see his face. Just when you thought you had seen him at his most embarrassed, here he was, avoiding your gaze.
"Felix is going to get me home."
He nodded quickly before muttering "That's good."
"I came to thank you again for letting me stay. Not many people are as kind as you have been to me."
He cleared his throat. "I told you, it's no problem."
"Still, thank you."
Since you were visibly making more and more uncomfortable, you didn't stay any longer and were quick to head out, not forgetting to at least wave bye to Chan.
You weren't living far from there, only a couple of streets away. On the walk to your dorm, you learned Felix and Hyunjin were living together and that they were both studying in contemporary arts at the same college you were attending. Both knew you to be the nice girl next door while Mina was much louder than you were. Needless to say, you were looking forward to meet this girl.
"You're at the end of the hallway and we're here," Hyunjin informed as he stopped in front of their place. "Let us know if you need anything."
"Thank you, guys, so much."
Felix sent you one of his warm smiles and the two of them disappeared into their home. You stared at the door in the end of the hallway slightly scared. You had no idea what to expect but, here you were. Having not much of a choice, you went ahead and unlocked the door with what Felix told you to be the key to your place before walking in.
The first thing you saw was a wide playpen with a bunny munching onto its food; Fifi. You wondered if she had the same name or not. Just besides it was a couch where a girl was lazily scrolling through her feed. Upon hearing someone coming in, her head turned to see who it was. From her face, you concluded she was relieved to see it was you. Immediately, she jumped off the couch and came to hug you tightly.
"Y/N, what the fuck! I was worried sick, where the hell were you?" she almost screamed into your ear.
Yeah, she was definitely a loud person.
"Hey..." you trailed off, unsure on what to respond.
She let go of the hug, still holding your shoulders, and gave you a skeptical look. She scanned you from up and down which made you self-conscious for a second. It was almost like she was leading her own investigation.
"Why are you so stiff?"
Upon hearing her remark, you tried to relax a little but according to her expression, this did not work. "Uh, you might want to sit down for this one."
Her eyes went wide and she grabbed you to go sit on the couch. "What? Did you meet someone and slept at their place? Did you get kidnapped?"
Gosh, she really was adamant about your whereabouts and getting answers from you. In a way, you couldn't blame her as she had been thinking for almost 24 hours that her best friend had vanished. It didn't mean this didn't overwhelm you nonetheless.
"Kind of?"
"Which one? The kidnapped part or sleeping at someone's place?"
"The second one."
She gasped in surprise. "You slept with one of your co-workers!"
You rolled her eyes at her assumption, growing tired of her already. "Mina, can you let me speak please?" She seemed to get startled by your intervention but she nodded and kept her mouth shut. "Thank you. Okay, so, where do I start? Uh, first of all, I actually don't know you."
She quirked an eyebrow. "Are you kidding? We've known each other our whole life."
"This is more complicated..."
Then, you proceeded to explain everything to her. Well, the whole amnesia story. She surprisingly sat still and listened throughout your entire monologue, expressing a couple of times her reactions with gasps and hums. When you were done, she was looking up in the air to think. You hoped what you said made enough sense so she wouldn't have any doubts.
"Han Jisung who lives with Chan, no?" she asked and you nodded. "As in Bang Chan?"
You shrugged. "I don't know his last name but I guess it was him."
"Damn, you were with these losers," she exploded in laughter.
If she really was your best friend in this world, you were beginning to question yourself on why you would hang around someone thinking this low of other people. To you, these guys couldn't be any kinder. Besides the fact their apartment was a bit trashy, you couldn't think of a single thing that would make someone call them with such names.
"What's so funny?"
"Oh, honey," she started with an exhale. "They've been telling people they will become a successful group but they've been getting nothing more than a few gigs here and there. Not only that but I've heard Han can't even come up on stage."
Your heart dropped. Of course he would have stage fright, he was so insecure just by stepping foot outside of his home. Something else bugged you about her comments. She had a bittersweet tone coming with it, like she had an history with these guys.
"It doesn't make them losers..."
She scoffed. "Wow, amnesia did something to you. If you still had your memories, you would agree with me."
"I just don't understand why you'd say they're losers if they're struggling with their career. Challenges happen to everyone."
"I know but- You know what? I'll tell you after you regain your memories. For now, I'll help you get back into the real world."
If only she meant this as actually going back... If she were to have this attitude while helping you go through this, you were debating to go back to Jisung's place and let them help you instead.
However, after this uncomfortable altercation, she was being nothing but the sweetest. She went through every aspect of your life slowly, from your birth until now, and made sure you were following along. Everything you had to remember about your present self wasn't so complicated; you were an accounting student following an internship and you were a second year college student. You liked your bunny a lot (who you discovered to be named Fifi as well), your best friend was Mina and Seungmin was your favourite co-worker at your internship. As for your personality, you were pretty much the same with the exception of loving to go out and socialize.
Great. You were going to love being here.
A week or so had passed since your arrival and you were starting to panic. There was not a day where you wouldn't get homesick and miss your old life, nor there would be a moment you thought of the potential other you having to live elsewhere. This was still a mystery to you. In the little time you had to do some research about travelling through different dimensions, the only thing you would find were fictional stories or theories from crazy people that were in no way consistent with what you were experiencing.
Besides that, accounting would never be a field of career you would personally choose which made all the lot more difficult. You were lucky to have Seungmin, a bright guy who volunteered to help you adapt upon learning about your issue.
"You're getting better," he commented after reviewing your report.
"Hopefully I'll be as good as I was in no time," you sighed before letting yourself drop on your chair. "Why did I even choose accounting?"
"You'd do it with such ease, it was an obvious choice."
"Yeah, well post-amnesia me hates it."
"And post-amnesia you is done with her shift for today."
You checked the time and realized he was right. You were glad today was ending in the early afternoon, it meant you would have time to stop by at the school's library to go on with your research. Without losing another minute, you sorted your documents on the small desk that you were assigned at and grabbed your belongings.
"See you tomorrow?"
Seungmin shook his head and chuckled. "Tomorrow is Saturday."
You formed an "o" with your mouth, blushing from embarrassment. You were quick to say bye to him and walk out of the building. Luckily, the campus wasn't too far from there. Nonetheless, you had to use the GPS as you weren't used to the neighbourhood yet. You were hoping you would never get used to it, anyway.
Having to wear heels at the company, you got the habit of bringing a pair of sneakers to change into once the day was over. This way, you could walk like a normal person instead of stumbling onto your own feet.
Once you reached the school's library, you were a bit intimidated by the size of it. There were so many rows just filled with bricks of books, each one of them different than the other. How on Earth would you find what you were looking for?
"May I help you?"
Your gaze moved to the front desk where the person calling for you spoke and you jumped at the sight. While the gentleman at the computer was smiling politely at you, a quiet Jisung was seemingly sorting books behind him, doing everything he could to avoid your eyes.
"Hi, do you have some sort of search browser for the books available here?" you asked the young man.
"There's a browser available on every public computer, although I have one with me just here. I can type in the book you're looking for right now."
"Oh, that's very nice but I'm actually not looking for one book in particular."
The man held his hand up to stop you. "Let me guess, magazine issues for a research project because the teacher asked for a paper reference?"
"Uh, no."
Your answer confused him furthermore, causing him to drop his shoulders in exasperation. "You read for fun?"
"Minho," Jisung interrupted the conversation. "You could help her instead of judging."
You were pleased to know he had enough self-esteem in him to speak his mind. The two of you hadn't seen or spoken to each other since you went back home-ish and you had been wondering what he was up to. Him working at the college's library had definitely not been what you thought he'd do to make money. Still, this was only a student job so it made sense. But a library? You didn't see a single actual book in his room.
"Right," Minho cleared his throat. "I apologize, what can I look up for you?"
"I'd rather look it up by myself if you don't mind," you said, a bit embarrassed.
"No problem, the computers are behind the philosophy essays section."
You nodded your head but didn't move the slightest. While this was supposed to be a place every student would go to get their work done, you didn't know your way here. Heck, it was a miracle you even made it to the library considering you visited the campus once in the week you'd been here.
"Go straight ahead and turn left when you see the couches."
You smiled at Jisung as a thank you, although he didn't return it, and followed his directions. Soon enough, you sat down at one of the stations and turned the PC on. The screen flashed the school's logo beautifully before it changed to the log in page.
Of course, you had to get into your student account to have access to this stupid computer. If you had an account, you certainly didn't have a clue about what your infos were. You went into your phone's notes to check if the other you had noted it down at some point. When you stumbled upon a note named Passwords, you thought you held the solution to your problem. However, the note itself was private and needed another code to get in. Even by trying your phone's passcode, it stayed locked.
Decisively, the world was against you for this one. Having no other option, you opted to look for what you were searching for on your own without any catalog. If it had to take until midnight, you'd stay until midnight.
You searched one row, and this one only took forty minutes to get through. This was discouraging but you wouldn't give up just yet. And so, another row was done after another forty minutes. There wasn't a book remotely close to what you needed, it was frustrating. And so, another row, another forty minutes.
"Need something?"
You really had to stop jumping every time something took you by surprise. Your focus was lost when Jisung, who was leaning on the bookshelf, was staring at you with a concerned look.
What you weren't aware of was that he had been watching you since you stepped foot in the library. He couldn't keep his mind off you since you left and seeing you so suddenly made him quite nervous. Seeing that you were as much of a mess as he was when you were looking around for a few hours now, it was good enough to give him courage to make the first move and come up to you.
"Actually, yes. I'd look through the catalog but I don't have a student account."
"Or rather you forgot it," he corrected and you nodded. "What do you need? It's my second year working here, I know the place like the back of my hand."
"No, I really rather look into it on my own."
He sighed but didn't insist any further. "Alright, I'll log you into my account."
You let out a breathy groan, throwing your head back in relief. "You have no idea how you're saving my life right now."
And you meant every word in their literal sense, unbeknownst to him. He led you back to the computers and chose one where he logged into in no time. You wanted to cry out of joy when you saw the welcoming page pop up with the school's tools already opened for the students.
"Thank you so much, I really owe you now."
He scratched the back of his head in uneasiness. "It's nothing."
You shook your head vigorously, refusing his answer. "You're too kind for this world and I want you to know it."
A blush crept on his cheeks and he allowed himself to smile a little. "Alright, then you're welcome."
With a satisfied grin, you sat down and opened the library's browser immediately. You looked into the categories first to see if you could make a more subtle research before jumping right into the actual topic. The section Legends and Myths caught your attention and you clicked on it. A vast selection of books, magazines and essays were offered to you which almost made you want to give up on the spot. But still, nothing online was helping you so this was your last hope.
You spent a lot of time, too much time, scrolling through the catalog. So much, you hadn't realized how dark it was outside until you looked around. There was nobody left, only you. When you checked the time, it was merely 8:00 P.M. which meant you still had about three to four hours to continue. However, the growl coming from your stomach was telling to take a break and get a snack. Were you too stubborn to quit and kept on searching anyway? Yes, you were.
The sound of wheels coming your way, on the other hand, could not let you focus properly. It was weird as you thought everyone had left. That was until you saw Minho and Jisung conversing while the latter was pushing a cart labelled with a paper reading Returned Books. Minho, who wearing his school bag, waved at his colleague before heading out, seemingly having finished his shift for the day.
"Jisung?" you called out once the man was alone.
He was startled to see you still at the same spot as earlier but he came your way, leaving the cart behind him. "What's up?"
"Is there a section about scientific research or something like that?"
"What kind of scientific research?" he perked an eyebrow at you. "Aren't you in accounting?"
"Uh..." you trailed off. This was too suspicious to your liking, you had to do without his help. "Actually, forget it. I wouldn't want to bother you while you still have stuff to do," you justified while gesturing the cart from afar.
Jisung wasn't having any of your bullshit. Sure, you were sweet and all but because you had been there for almost the entirety of his shift, he was growing skeptical of you. Your sudden amnesia was one thing but it had been a week, surely you wouldn't be in a library for hours not getting any actual schoolwork done if you didn't have something to hide. As observant as he was, he noticed all of your quirks. All of them were so similar to his own, meaning you were nervous. He didn't want to accuse you of anything, he genuinely wanted to help. Nonetheless, your behaviour caused him to doubt.
Or maybe was it just an excuse he was making up to get closer to you...
"The cart can wait," he argued.
And maybe having one person knowing about your situation might actually come handy. And if you had to pick someone to be aware of it, it would be Jisung. You weren't close enough with Seungmin and Mina seemed to have a tendency of gossiping and talking too much. Jisung was ideal. Plus, the man was the protagonist of the movie, a movie you weren't close to have finished watching. Having the opportunity to get a full insight into his personality wasn't an opportunity you'd pass on.
"Uh, okay," you started, preparing yourself mentally. "I- Can you promise me to not tell a word about this to anyone?"
His expression changed instantly, coming from a frown to a surprise. "What are you about to confess? A crime or something?"
"No, but it's still a pretty big thing and- Just promise me you won't tell a soul about it and that you won't judge me. And that you'll believe me."
His frown came back but he didn't seem as taken aback. "Uh, sure, yeah. I'll keep it to myself."
"Thanks... Okay, uh, where do I begin?"
"Hey," he said while putting a hand on your shoulder, a move that surprised the both of you. "I promise I won't say a thing, you can trust me."
This seemed to do the trick and you calmed down. "I don't have amnesia, I am perfectly fine in terms of memory. I just- I'm not from here."
"What do you mean?"
You were so fucking thankful he didn't accuse you of lying right away. "Do you know the theory about the universe having multiple copies of itself? Hence, many versions of a person?"
"I've seen it in movies."
"Yeah, except this is pretty fucking real for me right now and I somehow managed to come into a parallel universe in my other self's body."
You decided to spare him from telling him he's a movie's character. This was already a lot of information to process for him, telling him he wasn't real would be crushing him.
For a moment, he didn't respond. The frown never left his face. If anything, it got more defined. The longer he wasn't answering, the more you were getting nervous. Did you fuck it up by telling him (half) the truth?
"I saw one book about it, but I'm not sure if it applies to your situation."
Good, he didn't call you crazy. "Can you show it to me, please?"
He immediately led you to a section that was the furthest away from the entrance. It was a bit sketchy as it visibly wasn't frequented a lot. His eyes scanned a specific shelf while his fingers ran through the books. Eventually, he picked one out that had a hard cover with nothing on it other than the title: The Multiverse and its travelers.
"Here, hopefully it'll do."
You took it from him and read the back of it to figure out if it was fit for you or not. When you saw the phrase "seizures and blackouts tend to occur before the shift itself", you determined it would do the job. This was the closest you had gotten to knowing what happened, you had to read this.
"It's perfect, thank you."
"Great, I can enter it under your student account now," he smiled as he was about to go back to the front desk.
You shook your head immediately, grabbing his forearm to stop him. "I can't rent this. What if the other Y/N or other people see this? They'll have questions."
He sighed but he got your point. "I can put it under my name if it'll make you more comfortable."
"Please."
It didn't take him long to enter everything in the system before he gave the book back to you. You were so grateful he didn't react as bad as you expected. Not just that, he was even willing to give you a hand.
"Now that this is done, can you explain what happened to you to have travelled universes?"
Okay, maybe he wasn't totally chill with your situation, which was totally understandable. Before you could speak, your stomach made, yet, another grumble to tell you that you must eat.
"We can do this over a snack," he suggested.
"Aren't you working right now?"
He shrugged, unfazed. "Nobody's here and I can empty the returned books tomorrow."
In no time at all, he put the cart back behind the desk, clocked out of his shift, locked the doors, and walked you to the nearest convenience store. He insisted on paying for your drink and ramen, saying you must be exhausted from the day. Although you wanted to tell him otherwise, he wasn't wrong.
And that's how you were now sitting on the benches of the school's empty football field with only a couple of lights for you to see around.
"Alright, go ahead with the questions," you breathed out before taking a bite of your noodles.
He let out a chuckle as he watched you slurp. "Which one do I even ask first?"
"Whatever comes to your mind."
"Okay, uh... Where are you from?"
You hummed. "I actually don't know what to call it. Earth, obviously, but it's just another version of this one."
"Is it different here?"
"Not really, it's the same year and all but my other self is living a completely different type of life."
"How come?"
"I don't party that much, nor do I like anything having to do with accounting."
He let out a laugh. "I'd say I'm the same."
"Yeah, staying at home is ten times better."
"I agree," he acquiesced before taking a bite of his own meal. "What happened before you got here?"
You shrugged. "I tripped, thought I hit my head, and here I am."
"That's odd."
"Tell me about it," you said in a scoff. "How was I when you met me, anyway?"
"Do you mean you as in you or your other self?"
You frowned. "I thought you didn't know my other self."
He sighed. "I do know her, I just forgot about her. At the party, we actually hooked up but when she learned Mina had a feud with Chan, she told me to forget this even happened."
This explained many things, especially why Mina had such a dislike to the three men. You also began to wonder how did Jisung get in bed with the other you. Before your mind could go much further with that, you stopped yourself and let out a nervous laugh.
"Well, it worked," you chuckled awkwardly. "But yeah, how was I last week in front of that playground?"
He bit in lips while thinking, one of his habits you thought to be adorable. "From afar, you were walking around normally but then, you just kind of froze and began to have a panic attack or something."
"And you were kind enough to come to my rescue," you saw with a dreamy sigh, making him roll his eyes.
"Make fun of me all you want, you're happy I'm the one who rescued you."
"I am," you affirmed.
The blush on his face didn't go unnoticed by you, which also made your face red. Gosh, he really had to be this stinking cute? You had to muster all of your energy to not pinch his plump cheeks.
"Your name is really Y/N, right?" he asked just to be sure.
"That part is true."
"Okay, good."
Unlike other times, the silence that slowly settled between you two was rather comforting. Maybe it was because you had been mostly honest with him, or maybe because he was managing to get more comfortable around you. Either or both ways, you were content with how sereine it was.
"This is fucked up," he commented.
"I know."
As a new silence took over, Jisung's eyebrows furrowed as he stared into his ramen cup, deep in thoughts. While he was having what was probably a mental debate, you gave yourself permission to stare closely at his physical traits. He was hard to read and complex, which was mainly what made him so fascinating to you in the first place. His character was developed as someone so real and sincere, you were almost disappointed he wasn't actually real. His bead-like soft eyes, his perfect glowing skin, his hair that-
"My mom died," he informed you out of the blue.
Your heartbeat quickened all of the sudden. While you processed what he just said, the image of her death came back to you. "I'm sorry," was all you found the energy to say.
"That playground we were at last week was where she was hit by a car. I was so young, it was painful."
Sadness rushed through your body as you were now getting a full image of his emotions. You never expected him to be transparent with you about it, even less since you didn't know each other so well.
"Why are you telling me this? This seems to be pretty personal."
He smiled sadly. "I think she's the reason why I wanted to help you then. I felt her around me, telling me to save someone else for her."
"That's very sweet," you commented in a soft voice.
"It is," he laughed out. "I miss her a lot."
"I would too if I was you."
Slowly, the night came as you began to hear crickets around you. Deciding this was enough for tonight, the two of you left the school grounds. Jisung was generous once more when he offered to walk you home. He would lie if he said his heart didn't pinch when you refused. Nonetheless, you parted ways and began to walk in opposite directions on the dark streets. You were getting further away from each other when you decided to turn on your heels and run back to him. As he heard you come back, he turned around, watching you until you got face to face with him.
"Can I have your number? Since you're the only person who knows about my struggle," you explained, even if you used it as an excuse to keep contact with him.
"Yeah, sure. We can meet a few times to search for a way back together," he suggested which made you grin.
You might not have found a way home that day, but you found a friend.
Mina was still staring at you with disgust while you were getting ready to go to Jisung's place. Apparently, Changbin and Chan were going to a party that night which left the apartment to himself. This was merely three days after your interaction at the library and you were still somehow stressed out about meeting up with him. The fact Mina was throwing a few comments at you about him didn't help.
"I'm simply trying to understand what you find interesting in him," she groaned.
"He's done a lot for me since the incident, I owe him."
She sighed in despair. "Alright but if he breaks your heart like Chan did to me, don't be surprised!"
You also took the weekend as an opportunity to get to know your roommate and her relationship she had with Chan. It had taken a toll on her emotionally, so much that she had no intention in being polite with whatever — or whoever — that was in relation with him.
"Don't become besties with him or I'll seriously consider cutting you out of my life," she added.
You deadpanned at her. "You wouldn't actually."
She rolled her eyes. "Of course not but I wouldn't be happy with it."
With that being said, you left the apartment and made your way to Jisung's place with your bag hanging on your shoulder, full since it contained your belongings plus his clothes you had forgotten to give him back. You were starting to know your way around which you didn't consider as a good sign. This meant you were getting used to this place and it just couldn't be like this.
The moment you knocked on Jisung's front door, it slung open for him to welcome you with a smile. He had seemingly cleaned a little around but it was still messy, as expected.
"So, I looked up some stuff online and I'm surprised you didn't see what was on there. It looks like many people believe to have experienced it," he said before turning his laptop's screen to your direction.
"I did see those and it just sounds like people dreaming of another universe before "travelling". For me, I just tripped."
His shoulders dropped. "I see."
"I appreciate the effort, though," you reassured, feeling a bit bad.
He invited you to get to his room where he could make some more research on his PC while you'd have the bed to read the book comfortably. Before going there, he didn't forget to make some hot beverages for the two of you as you were expecting for this to last a long while.
His bed was as comfortable as you remembered, you had almost missed it. Not that your own bed in this world wasn't nice, it just felt a bit too firm. Jisung's, however, was soft and warm. As you began your reading session, the only thing you could hear was Jisung typing on his keyboard and clicking with his mouse. It wasn't annoying in itself, but it was too distracting for you to focus.
When you realized you had been reading the same sentence for the fifth time, you decided to do something about it. Getting up, you tapped on his shoulder which made him take his headphones off.
"Did you find something?" he immediately questioned but you shook your head.
"Your typing is kind of distracting on its own. Do you have music you can play in the background?"
He blinked a few times before nodding. "I was listening to my own stuff, actually."
Oh, right. Jisung was described as a struggling musician in the synopsis, you had almost forgotten about that. This suddenly made him all the more interesting than the search and he definitely saw it in your eyes. Hesitantly, he disconnected his headset and plugged his speakers in before opening his files. There were so many audiotapes, you were stunned. To think all of this were his creations.
"I don't think I've told you but the guys and I are music majors."
"You didn't tell me but I heard about it, yeah."
"Well, we've been experiencing with sounds and beats to find what fits us. This is all of it, pretty much. We're trying to make an actual career out of it but none of the calls we've made have come back," he said as he let out a heavy breath, one of disappointment. "I'm actually starting to consider giving up on that."
You scoffed. "Nonsense, you're great!"
"How do you know? You've never heard anything by me."
Not exactly. The clips of him in his room struggling to make music in the film had a few samples of his songs playing and you did remember them to be very good. Of course, he would never know this, so you had to lie.
"I haven't but I'm confident you're very talented."
He chuckled, embarrassed. "Now I'm just nervous to show you if you have such high expectations."
"Don't be."
He scrolled through his files for a bit in search of the perfect song to show you first. There were many that were done with the other guys. Still, he felt like he wanted to show something that was 100% him. Something raw that you could relate to. The cursor stopped for an instant on his track Alien. Considering the context, this must have been the fittest one for you. So he clicked on it, letting it play through the speakers.
And just as he thought, this could not have been a better choice. From the first note, you were entirely immersed into the melody, bopping your head along with it. And when he began to sing, damn you were melting. Not only were his lyrics so personal and true, his voice had a melodic effect that made you want to squeal. Seriously, why was he struggling with his career if this was what he was putting out?
When the song ended, the only thing you could do was let out an emotional sigh. "You, guys, have so much talent."
He scratched the side of his arm sheepishly before shaking his head. "That was just me," he corrected.
"All of it?" you asked with admiration.
"All of it, from the sound to the singing and the lyrics."
He wasn't one to brag usually, but if it impressed you and interested you, there was nothing wrong with showing off a little. This information had visibly made you more fascinated by his work and you didn't hesitate to steal his mouse and put the cursor over another track.
You did this for a while, playing one song after the other. You were as amazed as you were by the first one every single time. This eventually made Jisung so shy about his work, he had to force you to stop even if you argued you wanted to listen to more. Forcefully, he kept you away from his computer and put a random playlist on for what you had originally requested, which was ambiance music.
You crossed your arms and pouted. "Is it so bad to want to listen to raw talent?"
"When the artist is right in front of you, yes. Now, get back to work."
You snorted at him. "Yeah, yeah, whatever."
Nevertheless, you still opened the book and continued to read. The first couple of pages weren't telling anything new. It mostly consisted of summing up what was already known of travelling through the multiverse, meaning not much. Although the research this author made was impressive, this had in no way the exact thing you were looking for. And as your reading kept on going, the more discouraged you were growing. There was a point you thought of abandoning the book. However, there were still too many pages left to risk missing something out.
"Got anything?" Jisung finally spoke after about an hour of research.
"Nothing, what about you?"
"Apart from a few people on Reddit talking about their shifting experience in their sleep, nothing."
You scoffed. "Yeah, not relevant to my case."
You closed the book and let out a loud yawn, catching Jisung's attention. "Tired?"
"A little," you shrugged. "Are you?"
"No, but this is getting tiring if I'm being honest," he chuckled and you smiled as to affirm you agreed. "How about we take a break and order some food?"
"No need to ask me twice."
In the time of a heartbeat, he jumped off his chair and ran out of his room, leaving you chuckling at his demeanor. Jisung was cute, you couldn't argue with that. Even more so because he seemed to like food so much, something you could relate to yourself. Before he would come back, you decided to look around some more, although you had analyzed the place quite a lot on your first day here. His room was cleaner, probably because he knew in advance that you'd be coming. For once, his closet was wide open which gave you a good opportunity to check what he wore on the daily basis. While you had only seen him in casual clothing, what you could see through his clothes were great fashion items. A shelf was filled with different kinds of hats and a whole section was dedicated to jackets of all sorts.
"It's always the fictional characters," you muttered to yourself, thinking about how none of the men from your world had this much taste in their choice of wearing.
"Alright," a loud voice said while coming in the room, almost startling you.
Jisung, unlike what you thought he'd do, sat next to you with a few flyers in hands from restaurants around the neighbourhood. Ramen, sushi, BBQ, fried chicken; there were too many, you felt a bit overwhelmed at the options.
"What do you want?" you insisted on him choosing.
"We could go for ramen," he shrugged before composing the number to make his order. "What would you like?"
"Anything, I'm not picky."
He gave you a nod before focusing back on the call as it seemed that someone answered. "Is this Felix?"
Felix? Why the hell was he calling him all of the sudden?
"Hey, man, can I have two of my usual?" Jisung continued to speak. "In thirty? Okay, good... Yeah... I'll tell him... Bye," he ended the call.
"You called Felix?" you asked.
He frowned. "Yeah, obviously, he–" he was about to say until he realized you actually didn't know. "My bad," he coughed out, embarrassed. "He works at the best ramen place near campus so let's say I get a few free stuff when it's his shift."
"Oh, okay," you said with a nod.
An awkward silence settled as you noticed him starting to fiddled with the hem of his shirt, looking at anywhere but you. Although you always found him adorable when he got shy, you weren't going to let this be too uncomfortable for him. He was already helping you a lot, this was the least you could do.
"Do you want to watch something?"
He stopped his fiddling and looked up at you. "Do you think you have the same films and shows where you're from?"
You frowned. "Good question. Show me what you have and I'll tell you if it's the case."
He went to take his laptop and turn it on before sitting back next to you. He shyly gestured for you to get comfortable and lay with your back against the wall. You complied and, soon, he positioned himself next to you. You could see he was a bit nervous but he didn't let it show through too much. He was quick to open his Netflix account, which you thought was nice that the platform was here as well, and he scrolled through the few movies and series that were appearing. From the looks of it and based on his recommendations, he was watching a lot of anime movies and series.
"Yeah, it's very similar to what I have back home," you affirmed. "It's odd, how the hell is it the same?"
Jisung frowned as he also realized how bizarre it was. "Maybe you are in the same world as me?"
You shook your head. "How would you explain this other me having an entire different life than me while having the same name and the same bunny I have? Heck, she has the same parents."
Maybe you really did modify the movie by coming here. For the whole part of you having your own life, at least. As for the content of cinematography, it was logical that a movie would put the same cultural references to make more realistic to the audience. How were you going to explain this to Jisung, though?
"I don't think I have the brain to think about this too much, it's kind of freaking me out," he gulped. "I'm actually just starting to realize how fucked up your thing is..."
Your eyes went wide. "No, please, don't think I'm crazy..." you pleaded.
"I don't know, Y/N, this whole thing is weird as fuck."
"I swear I'm not making this up, I find it as bizarre as you do."
He shook his head. "No, I believe you. It's just, how the fuck?" he trailed off.
You only responded with a faint smile as to show him you weren't understanding this any more than he was. Thankfully, the moment wasn't long and you moved on by suggesting on watching a Ghibli movie. You loved them, he seemed to enjoy them, this was a perfect choice.
As the film was starting, the bell rang and Jisung paused it to go greet the delivery person, which you assumed to be Felix. You were confirmed to be right when the man himself walked in the room behind Jisung with two plastic bags. It took him a moment to take in your presence in his friend's bedroom.
"Damn, I knew this was going to happen after–"
He was interrupted mid-sentence when Jisung put his hand over his mouth. "Yes, this is a great reunion but we're just taking the food and you can be on your way."
"But–" Felix started when he managed to push the hand away, only to get cut off again.
"Felix," he gave him a look. "How much was it?"
Finally understanding he wouldn't get answers tonight, the two proceeded to payment while you watched them, still waiting patiently with the movie on pause. You chuckled upon seeing Jisung's slightly pink cheeks as he crawled back to your side with the food in hands.
"You two, lovebirds, enjoy your date," Felix said in a teasing voice before winking at Jisung.
As the boy left the flat, Jisung couldn't contain his embarrassment any more than this. "I swear to God I will kick his ass next time I see him," you hear him mumble under his breath.
You shrugged. "He has a point, it does look like a date night for a couple."
He cleared his throat. "I suppose it does a little... Anyway, this is what I got. I hope you like sea food."
"Not a favourite," you admitted which caused his shoulders to drop a bit. "I like it, though."
This seemed to cheer him back up and he happily took the bowls out of the bag. Next to his bed was a tray he kept close for occasions like these. Well, not the having-a-girl-over part but rather the watching-films-in-bed part.
"Fancy," you commented once he had everything settled and ready in front of you.
"Only the best for your stay here, miss," he joked and then proceeded to click on play.
You would've lied if you said the ramen wasn't good because this might have been the best meal you've had in years. It felt so perfect being in the comfort of a bed with hot soup while watching one of your favourite movies. Not only that, but there was this cute ass man next to you loving it as much as you were. This was quite a turn of events.
Jisung was a gentleman for taking your dishes out of the room after you were done enjoying the food. This meant that, for the remainder of the film, there was only a slight gap separating the two of you. Your focus no longer on eating, the only thing you could think of was the realization of Jisung's presence.
Needless to say, he was no better than you were. His eyes were still stuck on the screen but he could feel his head move instinctively towards your direction. It was much stronger than his free will, he was gravitating to you. As much as it scared the shit out of him, he was surprised to be loving it so much. You were easy to be around of, he didn't need to waste his social battery on you.
"Are you cold?" he asked as the characters on screen kept quiet for this scene.
You shivered a little, not having understood you were, in fact, cold. "A little."
"I- Do you... want to use the blanket?" he asked with uncertainty as he stared at the bedsheets beneath the both of you.
With a shy nod as a response, he invited you off the mattress so he could actually pull the covers down to allow you to make yourself comfortable. As you sat back down under the blankets, you stared at him in confusion upon noticing he sat still in a very stiff position on the covers of his side.
"This is ridiculous, come under here," you snorted at him but he didn't budge.
"That would be weird, wouldn't it?" he said in a small voice, making him too cute for your own sake.
"It is if you're making it weird. Don't question it, come on."
While your boldness took him aback for a second, he obliged the second after and, carefully, positioned himself in a much more comfortable way. Still, he was trying to draw himself away as far away from your body as possible. Of course, you understood the thought process of his actions but he was so far to the point he had to lean towards you to see the screen better. Even if you were thankful he was being respectful, this was simply ridiculous.
"Jisung," you sighed.
"What?"
Seeing that he wasn't moving a tiny bit, you took it upon yourself and scooted closer to his body, bringing the laptop with you before laying it on both of your legs. His body stiffed at the proximity and you thought of noticing him gulp.
"Is this okay?"
He looked back at you and nodded, his breath now cutting short from how close your faces were. If he had it in him, he would have kissed you right there and then. But sadly, this was not what happened and Jisung concentrated back to the movie.
A routine was set quite rapidly after that night. Every once in a while, Jisung would call you up so you could make some progress in your research — which I can affirm was not advancing as fast as you wanted it to — and also just hang out. Whether you wanted this to happen or not, you were close to him and he became someone dear to you. Two months and a half after your arrival and you were closer to him than anyone else even, you dared to think, anyone back home.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" you snorted at Mina as soon as she stepped foot in the office you and Seungmin were working in.
"Tonight is party time, baby," she cheered. "Soohee is hosting the event of the year."
You exchanged glances with Seungmin before looking back at her. "What does that even mean?"
She deadpanned at you. "Soohee, that senior in theater class."
"The girl you told me we should both hate because she got the spot you wanted in that play?"
"So you do listen!"
You rolled your eyes, resulting to Seungmin laughing. You ignored his antics. "What are you implying here, Mina?"
"You're coming."
"I'm not."
"Please!" she pleaded with a pout. "Seungmin can come as well if that can convince you."
He raised his hand in disapproval. "First of all, I am invited already. Second of all, do I have a say in this?"
"No," Mina replied with a cheeky smile. "Come, Y/N, please. I haven't been out with my favourite girl since her incident and I miss getting drunk with her."
"Yeah, you do owe her that," Seungmin agreed to which you answered with a glare.
"No one asked for your opinion."
"But it is greatly appreciated," she said with a wink.
Looking back and forth at the both of them, you let out a huge groan, dropping your arms on your sides. "Fine, you win. I guess it will help with getting my mind off work and all."
She squealed before rushing to you to engulf your body in a tight hug. It was obvious you were going to regret it but did you really have a choice at this point?
"I'm done in an hour, I can continue working on your file if you want to leave in advance to get ready," Seungmin offered much to your dismay.
Mina's eyes glowed at his suggestion. "You're an angel, thank you so much."
"Nonsense!" you exclaimed. "I'll finish up with you, you can't be doing all of this on your own."
Mina tugged your arm to get you up from your seat. "Y/N," she whined.
Seungmin chuckled at the interaction. "Go, I'll be fine," he assured.
"Okay," you said reluctantly with a grateful smile.
You and Mina then rushed out of the building back to your apartment. The time was only 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and the party wasn't going to start in another two hours or so. But Mina was insistant on getting you ready and gossiping. Yes, gossiping.
As she had just sat you down on a chair in front of the mirror in the bathroom, about to curl your hair, she was giving you a look you were not liking. "So?" she said while wiggling one of her eyebrows.
"What?" you responded cluelessly while sipping onto your bubble tea.
She gave you another knowing look. "Oh, please, don't act like you don't know what I am referring to."
"Jisung?"
"Obviously."
You sighed. "He's helping me with some work, nothing more."
"You could have asked me," she shrugged, insinuating how actually hurt she was for not being as close to you as she used to. "I'm great with school work."
"I know but Jisung is... He just knows some stuff."
She scoffed. "Sure, he does. Just admit you asked for his help because you like the boy."
You got flustered very easily, bending your head onwards a little. Mina immediately replaced your head so she could continue to style your hair, inevitably exchanging looks with her through the mirror.
"Y/N," she insisted once more.
"It's not like that."
"If you say so," she said although it was clear she wasn't believing you. "I'm just trying to warn you. These guys are no good news."
"You say this because of Chan."
"I'm not," she argued.
Whether she wanted to admit it or not, her feelings were only getting the best of her. In a way, you were glad she was trying her best to protect you. At the same time, you'd seen no sign as to why you should be wary of Jisung. So far, he was someone sincere and honest, someone you really could rely on. It was hard for you to even think of the possibility of him hurting you.
"What if I like him?" you questioned.
She pondered for a second, visibly troubled by your question, but she answered. "Then I'll be very sad for you."
The remainder of time before the party was a bit awkward. You silently agreed to not speak on the matter anymore, so it was mostly small talk about what kind of products she was using to make your skin glow. It was hard to deny, she had the trick in terms of getting ready for events.
After bickering for a while about what you were to wear, you settled on a casual shirt with jeans while she chose a skirt for herself. You weren't planning on staying there for that long, anyway.
"Bye, my love," you cooed at your rabbit, earning a heavy sigh from your friend. "Hey! Let me love my bunny!"
"Alright, alright," she rolled her eyes. "Come on, now. We don't want to be late."
Soohee was the kind of girl who'd get anything from her parents as long as she kept her grades up. She was an excellent student, meaning she had literally everything she'd ask for. One of them was to have her own house near campus. Yes, her parents were that rich.
So no need to say how stunned you were when you arrived in front of the literal mansion. The music playing inside could already be heard from where you were and you spotted many students walking in and out of the place. This was worth to be in a movie. Funny enough, it was a movie. You began to wonder if this party would occur in the actual film. Probably not, since Jisung wasn't the type of person to go out.
"You're looking gorgeous, ladies," you heard coming from your right.
You smiled at Seungmin before enveloping him into a hug. "You don't look too bad yourself, Mr. Kim," you complimented.
"So," he let out after breaking away from your embrace. "This is what the big deal is about."
"Fancy, isn't it?" Mina said excitedly. "Let's go inside, I need a good drink."
Before you could say something, she was already heading towards the entrance. You and Seungmin couldn't do anything else but follow her. While you didn't feel at ease so much, you were happy to see a familiar face as soon as you walked in.
"Hyunjin?" you called him out.
The man had his arm wrapped around Soohee's shoulder when he spotted you. "Hey! Y/N, right?"
"That's me," you chuckled.
Soohee looked back and forth at the two of you. "You two know each other?"
Hyunjin shrugged. "A friend of a friend of a friend... We met each other a couple of times, nothing more," he explained, seemingly trying to reassure his partner. "Y/N, this is my girlfriend Soohee."
"I know, you're kind of a big name around here," you said to the girl.
"Yeah," she said sheepishly. "Nice to meet you! Any friend of Hyunjin is welcomed here."
Mina nudged your arm, a sign she wasn't too fond of your newfound friend. Nonetheless, she greeted the girl happily as if they had been friends for years. She was a lot better than you in faking kindness.
"I'm glad to see you made it," Soohee said with a smile.
"I could not miss it for the world," Mina said through her teeth.
The couple left to greet more people coming in, leaving your trio together. Mina, who hadn't enjoyed this interaction, hurried herself to go get something to drink — you and Seungmin following her again. The counter had tons of sorts of drinks. Some had questionable colours but most looked tasty as hell. Assuming Mina knew what to take, you picked a cup of the same drink as hers. Seungmin went ahead with getting himself a beer from the cooler near the counter.
"That girl is so annoyingly nice, I hate it," Mina spat out in-between sips.
"Now, don't be so harsh on the girl. We're in her house after all," Seungmin tried to resonate her.
She shrugged. "Sure. Y/N, I'm going to the other room if you want to come with me."
"What other room?" you asked, confused.
"The room at the back is the biggest of the house where interesting stuff happen."
You looked at Seungmin for advice but he shrugged, letting you choose for the three of you. You ended up following her lead since she was the expert in social events like these. She was right, the room was so much bigger and organized as to make a few beer pong stations in the middle while couches were put against the wall for those who preferred sitting down. Mina didn't wait for you when she heard that a new game of beer pong was starting and she rushed to say she and you would play.
"Oh, great," you mumbled to yourself but Seungmin heard you as clear as day.
"Go have fun," he chuckled but received a glare from you.
"Seungmin, want to join our team?" Mina yelled out at him, causing him to sigh.
"Come on, let's go have fun," you copied him teasingly and it was his turn to glare at you.
You took his hand despite his protests and joined Mina at the table. She was already setting the cups ready for the game and you lost no time in giving her a hand.
"Oh, Y/N?" you heard a familiar voice say.
Looking up, you were pleasantly surprised to see Changbin grinning at you. "Hey, Bin."
At the sight of the man, Mina's eyes went wide open. "Fuck, don't tell me..."
The worst she was expecting happened when Chan joined his friend's side. He looked as troubled by Mina's presence as she was by his. You felt like you shouldn't be there, their staring contest was a bit much for you.
"Do you still want to play?" you asked her in a worried voice.
"Why wouldn't I want to play anymore?" Mina acted as if nothing was wrong.
Chan let out a chuckle. "Alright, if you say so."
"You don't believe me, Christopher?"
His jaw clenched but he remained calm. "I didn't say the opposite."
"You're missing a player," Seungmin pointed out.
"Are we?" Changbin cheekily said.
Almost on cue, another man joined the lot as he placed himself next to Chan. As soon as he saw you, Jisung froze. While he didn't want to come to this party originally, he certainly did not expect you to be there. Even less dressed up like you were. That shirt of yours exposed so much of your skin and curves, he could feel the sweat on his forehead.
"My bad," Seungmin said upon seeing Jisung.
Your gaze lingered on him for longer than it should. While it was the others' turn to play, the two of you were exchanging a few looks with each other. It was either funny faces or one of you mouthing something the other couldn't understand. At one point, you were growing frustrated to no be able to decipher what he was trying to tell you. He chuckled as he saw the frown form on your face.
"Cute," he mouthed but you were still clueless.
"Uh?"
Yeah, he gave up. You were not the best at lip-reading, it wasn't your fault. Instead of repeating himself like he had done for a while now, he winked at you. That was new. Not knowing how to react, your face went red as you attempted to look at anywhere but him. He grinned at himself, satisfied by your reaction. You were too adorable, he hated it.
Your team ended up losing, much to Mina's disappointment. The girl had drank so much from the game only, you were growing worried about her physical state. Despite that, her fury against Chan was much stronger than a couple of drinks and she rushed after him once the game was over.
"I should follow her, right?" you said to Seungmin.
"Yeah, definitely," he affirmed which was all it took for you to go after her.
As you got closer, you reached out to grab her wrist but she broke free harshly. "Christopher Bang Chan!" she called out.
You winced in embarrassment, feeling bad for her. Chan immediately turned around, eyes growing bigger while Mina threw herself onto him. Luckily, he was quick to catch her.
"Hey, maybe you should sit down for a minute, yeah?" he said softly to her but she was not listening.
"You're such an ass, embarrassing me all the fucking time," she claimed.
You felt a nudge on your arm and let out a sigh of relief when you saw Jisung by your side. You had been meaning to go see him once you made sure Mina was alright. Clearly, this was not how things were going.
"Maybe we should leave them some privacy," Jisung suggested.
"But Mina is obviously not okay," you argued.
"Chan is with her, it'll be fine."
He took your hand and, reluctantly, you agreed to follow him outside to get some fresh air. The night was just a little breezy, but it was perfect for this kind of social gathering. There was, unsurprisingly, an inground pool along with a jacuzzi and a few outdoor couches. A little fire was lit further away from the house where some guys you didn't know were conversing in laughs. You were glad to see that none of them had a drink nearby, meaning it wouldn't turn into a disaster.
Jisung led you to one of the couches and sat with you. You had not noticed until then but he brought you a drink along with his. You thanked him as he offered it to you and you sipped in silence while watching the other students mess around. Some couples were making out in front of everyone, groups of friend were dancing together, others were simply catching up... Somehow, it was calmer outside than what was happening in the house.
"I never thought I'd see you here," Jisung informed with a small laugh.
"I could say the same about you. What are you even doing here?" you asked, genuinely curious.
"Soohee has some friends who work in an entertainment company. Chan thought it'd be a good idea to make some contacts within the industry so we can get somewhere with our stuff," he explained without much enthusiasm.
"I suppose things are still not taking off?"
He scoffed with a small smile. "We've been putting music out for a while. Shouldn't we at least have established a bit of a fanbase yet?"
"I'm a fan," you grinned widely.
"It's different, the real Y/N wouldn't like our stuff. Besides, you're my friend. That doesn't count."
You tried to ignore the hurt his comment caused to your heart. "What tells you she wouldn't have liked it? And, sure, I'm your friend but I'm honest. I would have told you if your music was trash."
He smiled thankfully but you still saw a hint of sadness in his eyes. "I really appreciate it. Still, you're too nice and you might just be trying to cheer me up right now."
"Fine, guilty," you sighed. "I am trying to cheer you up but I'm sincere. I love your music."
He let out a heavy breath before taking your hand, rubbing the top of it softly with his thumb. "Thank you."
"It's nothing, I'm being truthful," you said while raising your shoulders.
"What about you? Why did you come here?" he said, letting go of your hand to take another sip of his drink.
You tried to hide the fact you missed his touch already and cleared your throat. "Mina."
This was all the explanation he needed. "She would have been too suspicious of you if you didn't go to a party with her at some point."
"I know, that makes me want to go home even more honestly."
He choked up on his drink at your statement. You panicked for a second, patting his back to make sure he was okay. Once his coughing stopped he looked at you right in the eye.
"That much?" he asked in an almost hurt voice.
You gibbered for a bit, unsure as to why he was reacting this way. "I mean, kind of? As much as I love it here, I do miss my family and my actual bed," you tried to joke but he didn't laugh with you.
"Minho's not working this Tuesday if you want to come at the library. We could do more digging into the books," he suggested.
"Oh, sure. Actually, that'd be perfect. Thank you, Ji."
Your smile pained him even more. Of course, he couldn't blame you for wanting to go back home, he would have felt the same. However, there was something about you he became addictive of. Whether it was your being, your presence, your ability to make him feel comfortable so easily... All of it became something he couldn't imagine losing. There was something else within you, a spark. The last time he saw one like it was with his mother.
"Hey," you called for him. "Are you okay?"
Remembering where he was, he gulped and got up. "Sorry, I have to go."
And just like that, he went back inside without a word. You watched him, confused, until his shadow disappeared among the other figures around him. You wanted to follow him but not knowing what had caused him to leave so abruptly held you off. Was he mad at you? And what for? You couldn't bear with imagining you had caused him pain. Hesitantly, you got up and walked towards the back door. Only, you never reached the back door.
"Ouch!" you yelled out when your body collided with a frame bigger than your own.
"Oh my Gosh, Y/N, I'm so sorry," the person immediately apologized.
While you had technically never met him before, you recognized Jeongin from the pictures in your phone. "No, don't worry about it. I wasn't looking."
"But I kind of spilled my drink on you," he chuckled, embarrassed. "And you spilled yours too."
You looked at your empty cup and groaned in annoyance. "Great."
"Do you want my hoodie to cover the stain?"
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, just give it back to me next time we see each other," he said with a bright smile. "Talking about that, I haven't seen you in a while."
You gratefully put his hoodie on and followed as he was walking back inside to get himself a new cup. "Yeah, I haven't been myself lately let's say."
"Beer? Punch? Sangria?" he asked while pointing at the different beverages.
"Sangria," you picked out and he gave it to you before picking one for himself.
"Yeah, Mina told me you had an amnesia episode or something?"
"Or something... I'm better now, though. Well, I think so."
He let out a laugh. "You do seem good. I assume you remembered me since you didn't look so confused when I went on about not having seen you in a while."
"Yeah, I do. It's a bit blurry but it's coming back to me slowly."
"Good, I'm glad. Did you go to a doctor to check it out?"
Oh. That was suspicious, wasn't it? Claiming to have amnesia without getting a professional to take a look at it. Your heart began to race as anxiety spread through your body. What if Jeongin was to uncover your act? What would happen then?
"I brought her to one the first day."
You thanked whoever who had brought Jisung near to save you. You wouldn't be able to explain how relieved you felt at this moment.
"Oh, that's good," Jeongin nodded. "Jisung, isn't it?"
He nodded. "Do you mind if I steal her from you?"
He sent the both of you a knowing look and didn't protest before walking away to elsewhere. As Jisung watched him leave, he sighed as he was about to nag you for not being careful. However, as soon as his focus was back on you, he froze in place when you dropped into his arms. It wasn't too noticeable but he could feel your body shaking.
"Thank fucking God, you were there," you breathed out. "I thought you were mad and I was going to look for you but I bumped into him and then I-"
"Hey," he stopped you. "I'm not mad at you, you don't have to explain anything to me." He pulled away from you but still had a grip on your shoulders. "How about we stick together for tonight?"
You nodded in agreement which he responded with his boxy smile. For a second — although it felt like minutes —, you couldn't see anything else but him. There was no way to describe how you felt around him. It was a mix of safety, happiness, comfort, nervosity, etc. All of these feelings, and more, altogether.
"You're pretty," you unconsciously let yourself slip out.
Jisung's cheeks had a faint pink colour to them but it didn't seem to bother him. "I think you're the pretty one between us," he corrected.
You shook your head and got closer to his face to inspect his features. "You're prettier," you affirmed once you analyzed his face.
He let a nervous laugh out. "Y/N..." he began, but didn't seem to find it in him to finish his sentence.
Your being brought him into a whole other world. If this was travelling universes, he'd want to do it all the time. This world only had you and him in it. Curiously, he was content with that idea. Somewhere where it could only be the two of you.
"Kiss me."
His brain short-circuited. A second ago, his mind was elsewhere, and now, you brought him back to reality in an instant. However, he still wasn't able to acknowledge people surrounding you. His sole focus was on the two words you said, and on your lips. Those pink lips he had always wished to kiss ever since that night when he saw you in his clothes. And you were demanding him to kiss you. Why couldn't he do it?
"Whoo!"
The loud scream coming from only a few meters away from you broke you out of your trance. Your gazes darted away from each other to find Minho, who was very much drunk, proudly showing his empty can to a group of girls after doing a shotgun.
The two of you, still holding onto each other, opted to go back to the main room in order to diffuse the weird tension between you. The sight you stumbled upon certainly was not what you thought of seeing any time soon. Chan was grabbing Mina by the waist, keeping her body close to his, as they kissed hungrily in the corner of the room. Near them was an annoyed Changbin, doing everything he could to avoid looking at the couple. The moment he spotted the two of you, he waved at you to come and join him.
"What's this about?" you asked, motioning towards your friends.
"Long story short, they left for a while and came back like this."
"Who would have thought she'd get laid with Chan?" you huffed.
Changbin glared at you. "Thank you for stating the obvious, Y/N."
Well, Changbin was being pretty sensitive tonight. It might have been the alcohol or the dislike he had for Mina. Anyhow, this looked pretty funny to you.
"The party's here, I see," Felix exclaimed as he joined you, bringing his arms around you and Jisung. "How are you, guys?"
"Tired," Changbin replied grumpily.
Hyunjin, Soohee, and Minho, who had all been following Felix, came to sit on the couch next to you. You had just then realized Seungmin was nowhere to be found, which was odd considering he wouldn't have been the kind to wander around too much.
"Soohee," Changbin called for the girl who broke her kiss with Hyunjin to look at him. "Did they say anything to you?"
You assumed he was referring to these friends of hers who worked in the music industry. Soohee clapped her hands together in response, a wide smile spread on her face.
"They've got a spot this summer for new producers and they told me they'll slide a word to their boss to give you the position," she squealed excitedly.
"You're kidding," Jisung said blankly, not believing her.
"I'm not!" she affirmed.
Jisung heard her right. Still, he couldn't fully process what she said. He had the chance to actually make a career out of his hobby. This felt so unreal, his face remained hard as stone, unable to express what he was feeling. Quite frankly, he didn't know what he was feeling himself. While the others around him were cheering happily about the excellent news, everything was a blur for him. Even if he couldn't be any happier, this also meant things were getting serious. Was he ready for this? He was still so young, maybe this was happening fast.
"Ji?" you said to him softly, noticing that he wasn't quite there.
"Uh?" he said while blinking slowly.
"You good?"
He swallowed and then stared back at you. "It's all a tad overwhelming," he admitted.
You gave him a reassuring smile before taking his hand. "How about we celebrate for now and worry about the rest later?"
This did the trick to bring him back fully from his thoughts and he finally allowed himself to cheer with the others. The first thing he did was bring your body into an embrace, holding you close. So close, you could feel his breath grazing the top of your ears, sending a shiver down your spine.
"Guys," Soohee said loudly enough to grab everyone's attention. "I have to precise, there is no certainty you'd be taken. But if you are, then don't mess it up. You've got one chance, and only one."
"Having the position or not, this is the furthest we've gotten so far," Chan answered. "Either way, this is accomplishment."
"I say we drink to this!"
You widened your eyes when you saw Seungmin leaning onto Jeongin as the both of them walked towards you. This was definitely not how you imagined Seungmin be by the end of the night. He was the last person who'd get drunk like this. However, nobody seemed to care and they all agreed to get themselves more alcohol for the occasion.
Meh, at this point, nothing was keeping you from having fun. Besides, Jisung was there. There was nothing to be worried about, as long as he was around to keep you safe.
You didn't know how long you had been drinking and dancing with Mina when you felt yourself getting dizzy. You tried to shake yourself out of your drunken state but there was no use, you had consumed more than needed. Although Mina wanted for you to keep partying with her, you had enough sanity to decline and make your way back to the couches.
The faint view you had in front of you was of a concerned Jisung discussing with Minho. As soon as his eyes laid on your clumsy self, he lost no time in holding onto you to keep yourself from tripping.
"Hey, there," he said softly before guiding you to sit down. "How about you take a little water break?"
You pfft at him. "Who needs water? It tastes like shit."
"I'm not giving you a choice."
Before you could argue, Minho — who you hadn't noticed had left — held a bottle in front of you. Jisung gave him a thankful nod as he took it from him and opened it for you. One would say you were acting like a child as he was trying to get you to drink. Your whines and uncoherent babbles were both concerning and cute to him. The pink that had appeared on your cheeks didn't help.
"It's near 3:00 A.M." he informed to nobody in particular.
"Wow, so early!" you exclaimed.
"You're right, I think it's time we get you home."
You frowned. "Get me home? You found a way to get me home?"
He shut his eyes close for a second. "Not like that, your other home."
You pouted. "But I miss my bed."
"I know you do. Now, can you be quieter? There are people around," he whispered in your ear which tickled it.
"Ji," you giggled and he sighed in exasperation.
"Chan, Changbin," he said to his friends who were standing next to you both. "I think we should leave."
"Finally!" Changbin said with a groan. "I'll get our stuff."
"And I'll get Mina," Chan said before wincing at the sight of his lover.
The girl had found her way to a table where she had let her body fall onto. Her face was inches away from a beer someone had left behind and you could see in her eyes how she was debating internally whether she should take it or not.
The boys had no problem with taking the both of you in Changbin's car and driving back to their place. Although the two other men argued on getting you to your apartment, Changbin just wanted to go back in the comfort of his room. Not that he didn't have fun that night but he was tired as hell. As he was the designated driver, his friends didn't protest any more and they drove home.
"Are you okay with her?" Chan asked Jisung in a concerned voice as they both helped you and Mina get inside.
"Take care of her, don't worry about us. I'll just help her get in bed," he assured and Chan gave him a nod before disappearing in his own room with Mina.
You were left in his care as Changbin had no worry other than going to sleep. You weren't heavy which made the task so much easier for Jisung. Even if you were still mumbling things he couldn't understand fully, you seemed much relaxed than back at Soohee's which he took as a good sign. He carefully laid you down on his bed, making sure he placed your head properly on the pillow.
"Jisung," you mumbled.
He instantly stopped moving you around and crouched to face you. "What is it? Do you need anything?"
"What if I can't get home?"
His heart stopped for a second. He knew you had worries because you still hadn't found a way to travel back to your world but he hadn't noticed how much it actually was affecting you. He was foolishly too focused on spending time with you to notice that. It was time he showed you what he found, he thought. He couldn't be this selfish any longer, it was hurting you.
"You'll find a way, I'm sure of it."
Of course, he was. He had already found it. He was just not ready to see you go yet. Yeah, he shouldn't have gotten so attached to you. But can you blame him? You were so warm and caring to him, it didn't take long for him to like you.
"I'm not so sure, myself," you began to cry and it broke his heart.
"Don't cry, it'll happen," he shushed you softly, rubbing your shoulder.
Without thinking (well, you weren't thinking at all under the influence of alcohol), you took his arm and pulled him closer clumsily. You somehow managed to get him on the mattress and you snuggled into his chest. You could tell he didn't know how to react but you couldn't care less. You were sobbing and in need of his warmth.
"Y/N," he said in a whisper.
"The thing is, I don't even know if I want to go back anymore," you continued to cry.
He was confused about your statement. "What do you mean?"
The rubs he was giving you on your back gave you goosebumps, you didn't know if you had the energy to keep yourself from spilling anything you'd regret the next day. "I mean that I like being here with you."
His breath increased. "I am fun to be around," he joked as to ignore what he knew you were insinuating.
"As in I like you."
Here, you said it. Fatigue mixed with drinking hadn't been of help with keeping this to yourself. Heck, you didn't even admit it to yourself and here you were declaring your crush on a fictional boy. This was ridiculous. However, your sober mind was not present. You would have to worry about that later.
In the meantime, Jisung couldn't find the words to respond to this. This was what he had hoped for in a while, you feeling the same towards him. Still, he knew as much as you that this couldn't happen. But fuck, he couldn't fake it any more. Not only that but he had also drank his fair share, he wasn't fully aware of himself either. That's why he wasn't able to stop himself from speaking his mind.
"I think I like you too."
Six simple words. And yet, that was all it took for something to snap in your head. Moving to be face to face with him, you pulled him by the collar of his shirt and crashed your lips on his. He was quick to match your movements and pace making your lips move in total sync. Even if this was wrong on so many levels, there wasn't anything that felt as right as this. It was almost like you were meant to be together like this.
Jisung swiftly pushed you to be on your back while he positioned himself on top of you, giving him better access to pepper your face with small pecks. As one of his hands stood next to your head to steady himself, the other had no problem exploring your curves, moving up and down from your waist to your hips. A few squeezes here and there, and you were gasping. You wanted more. Your fingers found their way underneath his shirt and you couldn't stop yourself from touching the skin of his abdomen. Fuck, since when was he so toned?
You felt him shiver under your touch and he growled before attacking your neck, sucking on your skin. You gasped and a moan escaped your mouth. This was definitely going to be visible tomorrow.
"Make that sound again," he said in a raspy voice and it made your mind go crazy.
As he sucked once more, you moaned again and you could tell he was having the time of his life getting you to make these noises for him. In a hurry, you took the hem of his shirt and pulled it up needily. You felt his lips form a smirk against your skin. In the time of a blink, he helped you remove his shirt which now left him totally exposed to you. Your eyes widened at the sight. You didn't know he had been working out, his proportions were insane. From his tiny waist to his prominent pecs to his massive arms; he was perfect.
It didn't take long for him to get your shirt off as well. What he hadn't expected was the lack of bra. He immediately became bright red from seeing your breast on full display in front of him. Although this was a view that took his breath away, it switched something in his mind. He suddenly realized what was happening, as if he was sobering up all of the sudden.
"Y/N," he said again, his voice now shaky. "I can't do this."
You frowned. "What? Why not?"
"We're both drunk, I can't possibly take advantage of you like this."
Before he could hear your complaints, he got off of you and back on his feet next to the bed. Carefully, he brought the covers over your body and tucked you in. While you were still pouting, something about him caring that much about your well-being made your stomach flip upside down. He placed a kiss on top of your head and was about to leave the room. Only, you didn't let him.
Grabbing his finger, you looked up at him. "Stay."
And to that, he couldn't say no. So he stayed.
You would have been much better if you hadn't woken up half-naked in Jisung's bed the next day. While you thought you were in the comfort of your dorm with Mina, the scent of Jisung was all over the covers, engulfing you in another type of comfort. In a way, you were glad it was in his home that you were. On the other hand, his shirtless body laying next to you sent you into panic mode real quick. You had no recalling on what happened after the whole gang began drinking like there was no tomorrow and, frankly, you wondered if you wanted to know what happened.
You sat straight up, pulling the blankets over your chest to cover your bare skin, but an intense headache suddenly hit you. You had forgotten how hangovers were this painful. No shit you weren't going out a lot. As you winced at the pain, a few images came back to you.
The first to hit was Jisung's lips on yours. You suddenly remembered how you had pulled him into a kiss after having cried in his arms in his room. It still wasn't clear why you were sad, but one thing was for sure: you fucked up big time.
Another image that hit you was Mina in a much worse state than yours. Chan had her in his arms while her face became so pale to the point it wasn't a skin colour anymore. Where was she even? Did she make it back home.
The final memory you got back was of you removing Jisung's shirt. Well, at least you knew who between the two of you had been needier than the other. You cursed at yourself, already regretting having allowed yourself to let go this much. This guy wasn't real, for fuck's sake. In no way could you even consider the option of having feelings for him.
Well, there wasn't any feelings, technically. It was only a bit of kissing and making out, nothing more.
"Good morning," a deep and raspy voice greeted you, making you almost jump out of bed.
Jisung stretched his arms out before yawning loudly. Once he opened his eyes fully, he was met with your panicked face. That automatically got him nervous and by the way you were shamefully covering yourself, he felt like nothing good was about to happen.
"Fuck," he cursed out in a whisper before rubbing his face with both hands.
"That's one word to describe it," you huffed shyly. "Do you remember what happened?"
He lifted his head up and perked an eyebrow. "Do you remember what happened?" When he saw you hesitate, he cursed again. "Shit, I'm so sorry."
"No, no," you immediately said. "I do remember most of it. Just, not in details, if that makes sense."
His shoulders relaxed but that didn't dismiss the worry spread on his face. "So, what now?"
"Good question."
You didn't dare looking at one another, you were both too ashamed for that. As you were trying to find the right thing to say next, a loud bang was heard from the kitchen. You determined the boys must have woken up after hearing Chan nag Changbin for being clumsy. You and Jisung exchanged an awkward chuckle but that was it. You still weren't able to say anything.
"What's up, guys! Woah," Chan coughed out when seeing your physical state and he closed the door right after. "Uh, so... I made breakfast if you're hungry."
"Thanks, we'll be out in a bit."
The footsteps faded away after a few seconds which was your cue you were back to the awkward moment with Jisung. He didn't seem any more comfortable than you and you began to question if he had any regrets. Obviously, you hated yourself for what occurred last night but you couldn't regret it. It was so passionate and intimate, you hadn't felt so much lust with someone in a long time.
Jisung was the first to finally move and he walked to his closet. Shamefully, you couldn't contain yourself from looking. His back was well-defined, he was like a sculpture. There was no way his body was this perfect.
"Here," he said before throwing a hoodie your way. "I figured mine would look better on you than Jeongin's."
He didn't let you say anything back and he was out the room the second later, lazily putting a shirt on as he walked to the kitchen. You were left dumbfounded as you stared at the piece of clothing in your hands. There was a hint of teasing and jealousy in his voice, you kind of liked it. It wasn't possible for you that he had noticed Jeongin's shirt so much that he'd mention it to you. It was one way to know he might have feelings similar to yours.
After shaking your mind off these thoughts, you threw the hoodie on and went to join the boys to go eat. As soon as you stepped inside the kitchen, your gaze found Mina's. She looked much better than last night, having found her colours a little. She waved at you happily before taking another bite of her toast.
"I didn't remember you coming here with us," you commented as you sat next to Jisung (which was oddly the last free seat).
"To be honest, I don't remember a thing," she laughed. "But I do know Chan and I made up so that is what matters." She leaned to kiss him and then smiled even more. "I heard the two of you had an exciting night."
Jisung choked on his juice, coughing loudly. You chuckled a little but that didn't prevent you from blushing either.
"I'm guessing Hannie finally made a move," Changbin teased his younger friend with a nudge.
"I'd be more prone to think Y/N did," Chan added.
Your face grew redder by the second. "Can we not talk about it?"
This seemed to do the job and the others kept their mouths shut for the rest of the breakfast, only discussing about Mina and Chan's reunion. While you tried your best to take part in the conversation, your shoulder barely touching Jisung's distracted you too much. Weird, no? Only a few hours earlier, you had no shame touching him but here you were, terrified by his mere presence.
"I'll walk you home," Jisung announced once you were both back in his room.
"I can walk by myself just fine, thank you," you turned him down as you grabbed the shirt you were wearing last night along with Jeongin's hoodie.
"I'm not offering," he insisted. "I need to make sure you get there safely."
"Mina and I will walk together," you insisted back, not understanding why he was being so stubborn.
This time, he admitted defeat and dropped himself on his bed. "Text me when you get home, at least?"
"I will."
It reassured him a bit as he smiled shyly. "I'll text you for Tuesday, also."
Oh, right, Tuesday. You almost forgot about it. With a small nod, you left his room and joined Mina at the front door. She and Chan exchanged knowing looks but you ignored them. Waving bye to your friends, you both took off to get back home.
Tuesday came sooner than you had wanted to. Jisung barely texted you, only a few times to let you know where he was at with his research. Other than that, the few past days had mostly consisted of you ranting about your complicated relationship to Seungmin. The poor guy hadn't asked for anything and here he was, forced to listen to your problems. He actually did not mind, he was simply not very expressive when it came to gossiping.
"Are you sure you don't have more files to work on?" you asked him once again.
He deadpanned at you. "Stop this, you're going to go there and face him."
You whined. "I don't want to."
"You have to."
"Can't you come with me?"
"No!"
You huffed in annoyance. "Are you really my friend?"
He rolled his eyes at your question. "You're being so dramatic. What is even the problem? You like him, he likes you; it should be easy."
You bit your lower lip down. "It's more complicated than that."
"Is it?"
It was no use trying to explain to him, that would involve outing you out and you couldn't risk it. So, you sucked your sappy self up and left the office, earning you a "there you go" from Seungmin. You were supposed to meet with Jisung an hour ago but you were too much of a scaredy cat to actually get to the library and you worked some more to buy yourself time. But Seungmin was right, you couldn't put it off any longer.
You were almost shaking when you found yourself in front of the library's door. From outside, you could see him through the window. He was doing nothing more than sorting books and scanning a couple of them but the sight of him was all you needed to make your heart beat ten times faster. Taking a deep breath in, you repeated to yourself this was no big deal. You were coming to see a friend, nothing more. You finally pushed the door open and walked to the front desk. As he had told you, Minho was nowhere in sight. His back was still facing you, meaning he hadn't noticed you yet.
"Just a moment and I'm all yours," he spoke as he finished up his task.
This was a simple phrase of politeness. And yet, the idea of him being yours briefly passed through your eyes. No, this was getting out of hand. You had to stop this behaviour.
As soon as he turned around, his mouth's shape changed into an "o". "I thought you bailed on me."
You scratched the side of your arm in shame. "I had extra work to do at the office."
"No, it's all good. I just thought-" he was about to say but paused before shaking his head. "Never mind. There aren't many students today so we should be fine in terms of discretion."
You nodded as you watched him walk around the counter. Did he really have to look that good in his red shirt? He seemed to have put much more effort in his appearance than usual. Nevertheless, this was not the time to check him out. You followed his steps towards a section in the back, one you hadn't explored yet. You were quite perplexed when he stopped in front of the fairy tale section and scrunched his nose while scanning through the books.
"Fairy tales?" you scoffed. "You must be joking."
He rolled his eyes as he pulled out one book. "Let me show you first."
"Well, sorry but this is not very promising."
He sent one more glare your way and began to flip the pages. "Don't be mad, I actually found this a while ago. I was afraid you-" he restrained himself from speaking again. "That you'd judge it because it is a fairy tale."
This was not what he wanted to say originally, you could easily tell but the way he cleared his throat. Even though you wanted to insist for him to spill it, he didn't let you by shoving a page in your face. You scrutinized the words attentively as you took the book from him. It might have been a fairy tale, a work of fiction, but the story was almost identical to how you arrived in this world.
Once upon a time, a princess lived in a castle. The girl loved her castle more than you could imagine. She was living a happy life on her own with the company of the animals of the forest. Some were big, some were small, but all loved the princess very much.
One day, the princess was reading a book like she would do every night before going to bed. The only difference was how marveled she was by its story. It told the journey of a boy living in the country, trying his best to live by his late mother's wishes despite not being very wealthy. Something about this boy moved her, she felt for him.
As she was about to go back to her chambers, one missed step on the stairs caused her to lose balance. In the snap of a finger, she tripped. Only, she never really fell. Once she opened her eyes, she was in a place she had never visited before. She was in a quaint little farm where a dozen of hens were greeting her with their clucks. Confused she was but these thoughts vanished when her gaze fell on a boy. She immediately knew who he was.
"How is this relevant?" you groaned, not understanding how he even thought this was anything close to what you had experienced.
"She tripped and found a boy, just like you," he pointed out. "You can skip to the last page, that's where it shows how she came back to her palace."
The boy invited the princess for dinner. It was not much, but it was all he could afford for her. He had cooked all of the dishes by himself, something he was quite proud of. He was hoping he would be proposing to the girl. Tonight was supposed to be the most gorgeous eclipse of their era, according to the village's sorcerer. He would not miss the opportunity to make the most of it.
When the princess arrived in the backyard of his home, her heart melted at how beautiful the boy had arranged the place. It was so simple but it felt like home. A blanket had been laid next to his family's tree and, on top, he had placed the food along with the best beverage he was capable of buying.
The night was perfect. The princess had fallen in love with this place, never wanting to leave. Especially not when she had just realized how fond she had grown of her new friend. Dare to say, she was smitten. As they were watching the last seconds of the eclipse, the boy gathered all of his courage and pulled the princess closer to him. With the shadow over them, they shared their very first kiss.
What they did not know was how this would also be their last. Slowly, the girl's figure began to fade away, vanishing into thin air. The panic on the boy's face was one she had never seen before, one of great pain. She was devasted, so was he. She then understood this was her time to come home. As she forced a smile through her tears, she mumbled the only phrase she had meant to tell him all along.
You shut the book closed, not wanting to read the rest. "Really? A stupid little story is the answer to my problem?"
Jisung almost shivered from how cold your tone was. He had never meant for you to think he wasn't taking you seriously, of course he was. In a way, he did understand why it seemed idiotic of him to show you this. But he knew this was your last hope. Everything you'd tried so far was a great failure. And since the moment you told him how homesick you were at the party, he now wanted nothing more but to make you happy. Even if it meant losing you.
"She was reading a book, you were watching a movie. She tripped, you tripped. She found a boy, you found me," he went on to explain. "And, if I'm not wrong, you fell in love with me like she did."
Your breath cut short. Was it so obvious? You did everything in your power to not let it show, even more to not let it happen. Apparently, love did not work like this and couldn't be helped. This whole thing was shitty, falling in love with someone you could never be with.
"You're wrong," you mumbled. "I care about you a lot, but I wouldn't call this love," you lied — apart when you said you cared about him.
He huffed. "What would you call what happened the other night, then? Because, for me, it looked a lot like it was a confession of your feelings. Unless you'd been leading me on."
It was your turn to huff. "You think I would stoop so low as to do something like this to you?"
"If it isn't because you love me, I don't know what it is."
Unexpectedly, heavy footsteps came your way, You both turned around to see Minho walking to you, red in his eyes. You glared at Jisung since you thought Minho wasn't supposed to be here in the first place.
"If you're to argue about your little love life, can you do it outside? I can hear you from the entrance."
"I thought you weren't working today," Jisung said with a frown, ignoring what his friend had complained about.
"I don't work tomorrow, I'm taking over for the evening today."
Shit, Jisung didn't look at the work sheet properly. Despite your dark eyes still on him, he grabbed your wrist and led you outside, apologizing quickly to Minho as you walked past him. You tried to break away but he was stronger than you were, leaving you no choice but to follow him. He ignored the beeping sound caused by the book you were still holding as you hadn't officially rented it. Once out of the library, he did not stop there. Instead, he continued to walk away leaving you as clueless as ever.
Finally, you began to piece things together when you saw where he was heading to. It didn't take you more than a minute or so to reach the football field, exactly where you had started bonding only two months ago.
"Okay, can you explain to me now?" he sighed, crossing his arms on his chest.
You massaged your wrist. "First off, ouch." He only rolled his eyes which kind of hurt you somehow. "Second off, there is nothing to explain."
"Almost sleeping together after you told me you like me isn't nothing," he persisted.
"Why does it matter?" you groaned, getting annoyed. "I'm to go back to my world, it wouldn't change anything."
"For me, it would."
"Why?"
He grunted in frustration before grabbing you by the shoulders, visibly not in control of his actions anymore. "Because I love you."
You stared at him in silence, mouth agape. You couldn't comprehend fully what he said. He couldn't possibly love you. And if he really did, this entire thing had taken a whole new turn you weren't sure you could handle.
"What?" you whispered, not finding the strength in you to speak loud enough.
"I love you," he repeated, loosening his grip on you. "I've never been the best in terms of opening up and all. But with you? This has never been so easy. There is something about you, a spark. It feels homey and safe. I find extreme comfort and reassurance just by your presence. Not only that, you understand me on so many levels, I wonder if you know me better than myself at times.
"And at the party... Fuck, Y/N, it was like you got me under a spell. I always needed to have an eye on you or I thought of suffocating. Then, when we were in my room, it broke my heart when you began saying you were afraid to never be able to leave."
You almost wanted to thank him for not referring again to the physical part of the whole thing, how you had almost given yourself to him. Despite that, this whole-hearted confession of his was no longer only about mere feelings he had. He actually loved you.
"I'm sorry," you mustered the energy to say.
What were you apologizing for? Even you didn't know. For letting him love you this much, probably. You were dying to tell him you felt the same but in no way was this how things were supposed to be. Loving each other was only going to cause you great pain.
"Tell me you felt something too, please," he pleaded, eyes watery.
You could feel the lump in your throat grow when you shook your head, refusing to tell him what he wanted to hear. That was what made him let go of you as he took a few steps back. You hurt him.
"I'm sorry for reading into things that weren't there," he pettily scoffed. "Read the rest," he motioned the book. "There's an eclipse this Saturday just so you know. Find a way to get back, but don't count on me helping you in this madness anymore."
He turned on his heels and walked off in a hurry pace, obviously wanting to get as far from you as possible. You wanted to call him out, cry, scream, anything. But nothing. Your body was limp and wasn't letting you express what you were feeling. Instead, you dropped on the bench next to you with the book on your thighs.
You opened it back to read the end. Just like you had anticipated, this was only heartbreaking to come to the conclusion neither characters saw each other again. This was what you wanted to avoid, live with an void in your heart because you fell in love with the protagonist.
You did everything to prevent it. But you failed.
Saturday was dangerously coming fast and your stubborn self was refusing to reach out to Jisung. He told you to find a solution on your own, that was what you had been doing. Nevertheless, the only remaining option was him. He had to be there.
You ended up telling the truth to Mina the night after your argument. It was inevitable, your emotionless stare outed you right away the moment she saw you. You couldn't hide it from her anymore. She took it better than you thought. Not only that, you also told her about the whole movie thing. She had been nothing but supportive, not even a bit bothered that she was fictional.
"Fictional or not, what I feel is real and that's what matters," she had answered when you asked why she remained this calm.
She was a bit of a replacement for Jisung, she was fully aware of that. But when it came to trying to get you home, she insisted the fairy tale wasn't just an odd coincidence. And that was why you were staring at your phone with nothing but fear.
"If you don't tell him to meet you at the park tonight, I will," Mina threatened, growing impatient as it had been almost ten minutes since you agreed to invite Jisung.
"He'll think I'm just using him to get home," you argued.
"I guess you are, but he won't care about that. If he loves you, it'll be stronger than his free will to come to your help."
You bit on your lip and finally picked the phone up. Opening your chat with Jisung, your fingers lingered above the keyboard. You knew what to say. The issue was how were you going to word it. After one last glance at Mina, you took a deep breath and began to type.
Y/N: Hey. How have you been?
No, this sounded too weird. It was obvious he hadn't been well, it'd be stupid to start the message like this.
Y/N: Hey! I know I haven't been exactly the greatest friend to you. You are right, I keep leading you on when I fully know that what we have can't even happen. It doesn't change the fact that I never wanted to hurt you intentionally and I am so sorry for the trouble I've caused. If you are still willing to forgive me, and maybe help me, meet me at 4 at the park where we met. There are many things I still need to tell you. I hope to see you there.
Sent. And now all you had left to do was wait. Mina hugged you tight as soon as you let go of the phone. You could tell she was proud, it felt nice to know she cared this much for you.
"If he does show up, does it mean I won't see you again?" Mina asked while still hugging you.
"Most likely, yes," you breathed out. "You'll have your Y/N back."
She chuckled. "She's not like you. Sure, I miss her, but it would have been better if having the two of you was an option."
It was your turn to laugh and you pulled away from the hug. "I promise I won't tell a soul about this," she affirmed.
You smiled gratefully. "Do you mind doing me one last favour?"
"Anything," she didn't hesitate to respond.
"One last makeover?"
The grin was all the answer you needed. You spend the afternoon doing some self-care activities while exchanging and laughing. She asked you some more about your own world and you answered. You hated to admit so but you were going to miss her. You never had one close friend in particular, it was always people scattered a bit everywhere without being so close to them. It was probably a sign you needed to bond more with your own friends.
That was if Jisung showed up. There was no telling when the next eclipse would happen so the option of staying here for much longer stayed in your mind vividly.
4 o'clock was approaching and Mina was still debating whether you should go for a dress or a jumpsuit. You let her have her fun when you heard the notification sound coming from your phone. You immediately rushed to see if Jisung had replied but you were left disappointed when you saw it was only a promotional text from some random company. Your message, however, had been read. But no reply.
Mina said nothing from seeing your sad face, but she came to show you the dress she chose. You were still amazed at how she always found the perfect combination for an outfit.
"Do you want me to come with you?" she offered but you shook your head.
"I'll be fine, but thank you."
She let you get changed and once you did so, the two of you sat in silence in your shared dining room. You were intensely staring at the clock and it was killing you how time seemed to pass by so slowly. Eventually, ten minutes before 4 o'clock came and it was time to head out.
Mina couldn't help herself but cry as she hugged you close to her. "Don't forget me, yeah?"
"I could never," you reassured. "And don't forget, the other Y/N is still me in a way. You haven't lost me completely."
She sniffled as she let go of your body. "Good luck with your man."
You gave her one last warm smile and you walked out the door. You sighed heavily as you walked down the stairs. This was already a day full of emotions, you weren't sure if you were ready for what would happen next. Either you'd be heartbroken Jisung didn't come or you'd have to leave him forever after finally telling him how you truly felt.
The walk to the park was quick and you were about a minute early. You walked to one of the swings and sat there, slowly swinging your body back and forth. You were glad the weather wasn't too cold since the dress wasn't exactly the warmest thing you could have worn.
Minutes passed, maybe even an hour. There was still no sign of Jisung. You began to think it was a bad idea to ask him to meet where his mother had died but you assumed it being the spot where you appeared would be an important factor to get back to your world. Perhaps he simply didn't want to see you again. You did hurt him a lot, it would be understandable.
You weren't counting the minutes anymore when you concluded he wouldn't come. Jumping onto your feet, you were on the verge of walking back to Mina but you stopped on your tracks stiffly.
He was there.
You couldn't quite believe what you were seeing. With only a lamppost nearby to illuminate your surroundings, his face was glowing. There was obvious resentment in his face but you could tell he was not as pissed as the last time you'd seen him. He gradually approached you while you remained hard as stone, unable to move. It was a miracle you were even breathing, in all honesty.
"I guess I still help you in the end," he began, avoiding your gaze.
"I thought you wouldn't come," you said with relief and he sadly laughed.
"You could call this a payback from when you arrived an hour late."
You felt even more relieved he was feeling comfortable enough to still joke a bit. However, you couldn't take his presence for granted. There must have been a reason for him to show up despite the hurt you'd done.
"Can I sit with you?" he gestured towards the swings and you nodded.
"I don't know where to start," you nervously chuckled. "I guess I can start with apologizing."
"That'd be a good start."
You cleared your throat, feeling a tad uneasy with how bizarre the tension was. "I'm sorry for not being truthful. I wasn't honest with a lot of things, including my feelings for you."
He frowned as it clearly quirked his attention. "What didn't you tell me?"
Even if his voice was shaky, it still held so much softness, as to not put pressure on you. If this was his goal, it worked. There was no turning back now.
"I don't have the proper words to put it out easily but I'll try my best. Remember how I've told you I was watching TV when the shift happened?"
His breath hitched. "What about it?"
"It might have been a film about you."
He didn't panic or get mad. In fact, it was quite opposite. He looked relieved and happy. You searched in his face any sign of anger but there was none, which left you more confused.
"Jisung?"
He let out a breathy laugh. "I kind of figured it out, I was just wondering if I was going crazy with this theory or not."
"What- Since when?"
"I'm not sure. It's like I've always known. Same as when you told me you were from another dimension, it just made sense for some reason."
You huffed. "How come are you so chill with it?"
He looked at you as if you had asked the dumbest question. "I might be fictional where you are but, here, I'm pretty fucking real. If I'm not, then I can't explain how I have all of these complicated thoughts and emotions when it comes to you."
You could feel yourself swoon at his words. "I don't want to leave suddenly," you confessed but he shook his head.
He stood up and stopped in front of you to take yours hands and get you up as well. Face to face, you could feel him exhale on your forehead. It felt nice to have his body close to yours again, like you had longed for it without knowing.
"You know you have to go."
You finally looked up at him. "No, I can stay. I get along just fine with Mina and the amnesia lie seems to be convincing everyone."
"Y/N, you already struggled with lying to me. How can you handle putting a façade up for the rest of your life?"
You wanted to scream at him, tell him how wrong he was. Accuse him of how low he thought of you by saying this. The truth was he was right. You knew deep down your place was not here. But just one thing was stopping you.
"But I love you," you mumbled as tears began to fall on your cheeks.
Jisung was surprisingly very sereine and he wiped your tears away with his thumbs. "There, you said it," he grinned victoriously.
You shoved him slightly. "Shut up."
He laughed again and damn was he pretty when he laughed. "That's all I wanted to hear, that you loved me too."
"If you love me, why should you let me go?"
He sighed as he rubbed your cheeks gently. He wasn't going to answer, you both knew it wasn't necessary. Nonetheless, it didn't mean it didn't hurt at all. It stabbed you like a knife. You had gotten so used to being around him. How were you going to deal in a world where he didn't exist?
"Can I kiss you?" he whispered even if his mouth had already had the time to get closer to yours.
It was all you needed to kiss him yourself, standing on your tippy toes to reach his level. It was just like you remembered it; sweet, tender, passionate. It was so addicting, you didn't want to imagine how breaking it would feel like. His hands let go of you to move on your hips before he pulled you even closer.
He didn't want to let go either.
You didn't notice he was crying as well until you reached your hand up to cup his cheek. It pained you more and more, and how you still were kissing him despite getting out of breath was a proof of it.
You both pull away eventually, even if it was clear as day both of you didn't want to. Jisung kept his forehead against yours and, without speaking a word, his gaze dove in yours. He wanted to remember your eyes, get one last good look at it. Because he knew what was already occurring right before his eyes.
"I'm leaving already, aren't I?" you cried out, as if you had read his mind.
"There's an eclipse, and I kissed you."
You nodded slowly and scanned your body. "It's a strange feeling."
He watched you slowly fading away and his heart clenched. "Think of me, please," he almost begged.
"Always," you smiled weakly. "I love you."
"I lo-"
And then nothing.
A loud music woke you up. Your eyes shot wide open as you gasped for air. Taking a look around you, you stood from the ground. Everything was exactly where it had been. The first thing you went to look for was your sweet rabbit. Her nose peeking from under the couch, she wasn't hard to miss.
"Hey, baby," you cooed as you picked her up. "For you, it's been a second, but I haven't seen your cute face in months!"
You carefully placed her back in her playpen. Once she was safe and sound, you finally allowed yourself to look at the screen. It was Jisung, having a blast at Soohee's party. You forced yourself to smile as you watched him hold tight onto a girl. Even if you wanted to, you couldn't finish this movie. Not any time soon, at least. Grabbing your remote, your turned the screen off and crashed on your couch.
It had been a while since you felt yourself relax. Still, the headache you had made you question if what you had experienced was a dream or not. You did wake up because of the music coming from the television. That meant it was very possible this was only a dream.
Either way, it was over now. You had gone back to your life and now you needed to call your workplace to inform them you would be coming in tomorrow in the end.
And tomorrow came as usual. Nothing out of the ordinary; work, eating, more work, and then back home again. It felt rather underwhelming after your journey with Jisung. Somehow, you couldn't get him out of your head, not even for a second to work correctly.
You were very much distracted. Too distracted. Frustrated, you let go of the soup you were slurping and walked to your room. Sitting down at your desk, you opened your laptop and began to look up Jisung's name. You hadn't even noted down the title of the movie, his name alone should do the job.
The moment you clicked on "enter", articles and websites flooded like a river. All of them about Han Jisung. It was him for real, with his actual name next to tons of pictures. So he wasn't fictional after all. Then, who the hell was he?
You scrolled down to find a recent article which mentioned the movie itself. Opening the link, you read it all so quickly. It said Jisung was, indeed, a young artist who had the chance to collaborate with many renowned producers to make a film about his struggles. His main purpose was to reach an audience who could relate to his pain and learn to get through struggles like he did.
You weren't sure what this was referring to since you technically didn't watch the film entirely. What caught your attention, however, was the final paragraph.
The singer has begun his promotion tour where he holds conferences concerning mental health in younger generations. He hopes to spread awareness as much as he can. To see him, his next seminar is to be held in Seoul the Thursday of next week.
You checked the date this article was published and thanked the universe that it was no older than a week. That meant the conference was tonight. You didn't know if it was a good idea but you still had so many questions about everything, you felt like getting the chance to speak to him might answer a few of them.
"Looks like I'll be spending $40 tonight," you groaned to yourself before opening the sign-up page to the event.
You were lucky it wasn't starting too early and that you still had two hours before it began. It was enough time for you to wash up, get changed and hop onto a bus that transported you all the way to the other side of the city.
One would call you crazy for going all the way in for this boy who probably had no idea you existed. But the memory of him was too fresh, it bothered you. You thought it'd help you to see him in person. That was not exactly how it went.
As the crowd settled comfortably on their seats, the host greeted the audience warmly. Needless to say, you were taken aback to see the man you grew to know as Chan on stage. This was surely the actor who played him.
"Hello, everyone," he waved with a bright smile. "My name is Bang Chan and I will be your presenter tonight."
Okay, this was getting weirder and weirder. First Jisung was a real person, but Chan as well?
"As you may know, I have contributed with the production of the movie Alien: I'm so lonely. The mastermind behind this work is my dear friend, Han Jisung. But you knew that, that's why you're here. I ask of you to be patient as him and I will discuss his journey on this project. Afterwards, you may ask your questions and Jisung with happily answer them. Please, welcome Han Jisung!"
The crowd applauded as he came on stage. He looked tinier and intimidated on this big stage in front of so many people. You were starting to question yourself if this was the same man you had in mind. But as soon as he flashed his smile, your heart skipped a beat. This was him. And visibly, these feelings were as strong as they were back in the movie's world.
"I'd like to think you all came here after enjoying my movie so I'd like to start with thanking you all for your support. It means a lot," he smiled before bowing.
The two men sat down and Chan was the one to initiate the discussion. "I had the pleasure to be part of your project but there are things that are still a mystery. The entire film is based on your own experience whether it is the loss of your mother, your struggle to make a name for yourself in the music industry as well as the mental struggles you had to face. However, there is one aspect that was never part of your actual life and it is the character of Y/N."
Your body stiffened. Had you heard him right? This had to be yet another disturbing coincidence, it wouldn't be logical otherwise. The real Jisung didn't know you.
"We're getting right away into your favourite part today, aren't we?" he chuckled uncomfortably. "I had a dream long ago. It consisted of my usual day-to-day life but this girl appeared out of nowhere. We went through everything together the way we did in the movie. It was only a dream but I woke up feeling empty. She wasn't real but she was present for me more than anyone."
"Are you saying you felt more connected to an imaginary friend than to your close ones?"
"Of course not," he scoffed. "I came around the idea she was a fragment of myself that represented my strength. I'd like to think she really existed, but I can't drive myself crazy over that."
The rest of their discussion was nothing but a distant sound to you. Plenty of possibilities about what occurred were now open and, quite frankly, it was giving you a headache. You had never met Jisung in this world, but maybe his other self was still a part of him. That, or you visited his dream and not the movie.
The two men discussed some more details for another hour. After what felt like an eternity, the question period finally arrived. You had forgotten all pre-prepared interrogations you had by then. Despite that, you were determined to, at least, speak to him once. Nervously, you raised your hand while he was already responding to someone.
"So yeah, I'd say my mother was the main reason why I wanted to make this film," he concluded his answer with a nod.
Chan looked among the audience and it was almost like he recognized you. With a knowing grin, he pointed at you. "Miss with the red shirt."
The crew member walked to you to give you a microphone and it abruptly hit you how unprepared you were for this. You gulped as you shakingly brought the mic closer to your mouth.
"I had a question concerning this Y/N character."
Jisung, on his side, looked a mess the instant he heard your voice. He went closer to your side of the stage while squinting in order to take a better look at who was talking. He would recognize that voice anywhere.
"Go ahead," he finally said.
"When you said she appeared out of nowhere in your dream, what did you mean by that?"
And once and for all, he got a good glimpse of you. The actress who played you looked nothing like you. She was no match compared with your soft features. That was why she was the only character he struggled to cast — besides the fact half of the cast was his actual friends playing themselves.
"I-" he pondered for a moment. "You know what? Can you come see me after the conference? I feel like this is not something I can answer in the span of two minutes."
Surprised, you didn't let it show and nodded as you sat back down. What were the odds for him to want to talk to you one on one? Like he had requested to, you remained seated when Chan dismissed the audience.
It wasn't long after that a security member came to fetch you. He guided you all the way to a room backstage. Only from afar, you saw Jisung talk with Chan. He looked disturbed and worried. You started to think it wasn't a good timing to interrupt him. However, before you could have a say in it, the security guy pushed you inside and closed the door.
You looked at anywhere but them, rocking your body back and forth to hide the nervousness. There was a long silence before Chan sighed in a discouraged way. Without saying a thing, he walked past you and left the room.
It was only you and him.
"Is your name Y/N by any chance?" Jisung broke the ice making you look at him. His eyes were filled with hope.
"It is," you confirmed and his body immediately relaxed.
"I don't want to sound too creepy or whatever but..." he hesitated a little as he bit his upper lip. "I feel like I've seen you before."
Your breath cut short. He remembered.
"I might have a similar feeling towards you."
This made his unsure expression break into a smile, which then made you smile. It was like meeting a friend you hadn't seen in years, except you saw this same guy only hours ago. Heck, you were kissing him.
"Do you have time to go out for dinner with me?"
His question might have made you happier than you were supposed to be but you didn't care one bit, and it didn't look like he did either. After you shyly nodded a yes, he walked your way and drowned you in a hug. You didn't fight back.
"I think I forgot to tell you something," he mumbled softly against your ear.
"What is it?" you responded in the same tone.
"You left before I could finish; I love you."
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#stray kids#stray kids x reader#stray kids fanfic#han jisung x reader#stray kids imagines#stray kids han#stray kids han jisung#han jisung scenarios#han jisung imagines#han jisung#han jisung fluff#han jisung angst#stray kids scenarios#han jisung fanfic#stray kids fluff#stray kids angst#skz fanfic#skz scenarios#skz han#skz x reader#skz#stray kids han x reader
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this isnt really a request with an idea but please more jessie 😭🙏
Killing two birds with one stone I am here, I got a request for a jersey swap fic so here we go!
jersey swap? j.f
plot: you and Jessie have always had on field tension but one game when you ask to swap jerseys, she finally makes a move.
warning: smut, obviously I like writing a dom Jessie 🤫. Let’s pretend Sam wasn’t injured for the Canada vs australia match, bi-sexual reader! (Taking inspo from this one tik tok I saw about Lia Walti which made me cackle)
Some matches were more interesting than others you had realised in your second year in of playing at arsenal wether it was against Chelsea or you were playing with the Matilda’s for your national teams.
Nothing had changed within the games except for the fans, since the World Cup people started to know your name and your whole life story but what they loved most of all was seeing you on the pitch with Jessie.
Wether it was Chelsea vs Arsenal or Australia bs Canada the fans loved watching your interactions and your team mates did to.
It was your Australian captain who always whispered jokes into your ear that took the most pleasure out of the two of you.
“I love Canada” you admitted as your team sat on the ferry “why it’s cold” Hayley shivered from behind you “but it’s just so cozy” you smiled as you cuddled into yourself.
“Is that why your always tackling Jessie, cause she’s cozy” Sam teased as she shook your shoulders “no” you said “I tackle her cause she’s good and she’s too nice to tackle me back” you said with a small smile and Sam and Hayley laughed.
“No but seriously what is it between you two whenever you play” Mary asked as she came over “Oh my little Mary, my young prodigy” you started and she rolled her eyes
“Y/n seriously I want to know, I’m also not that young I’m three years younger than you”
“Exactly you’re an infant”
You smirked but gave her an option to lean onto your should “I’m actually not sure how we started it” you admitted “we both had our debuts for Chelsea and Arsenal on the same day and were put on each other we both wanted to make an impact I guess”
“You made an impact all right, two yellow cards” Sam laughed “You’ve had this tension ever since, even when you were dating that Tom guy” she said.
You hid your head as you looked down remembering why the relationship failed, you couldn’t admit you were not sexually attracted to Jessie and he left, funny since later you had found out he had cheated on you with a girl who had been on 2 episodes of love island.
“Yeah well I’m not dating him anymore so” you trailed off and the three girls nodded “Do you think the tension will ever ease off?” Mary asked and Hayley laughed “I think once they finally sleep together-“
“Hayley!” You scolded her “what?” She shrugged “it’s true, even the fans can see it” she defended herself as you scoffed “do you even remember the World Cup!?” she practically now yelled
“Both of your hands were practically around each other when you were on the ball” she said and you laughed “sorry if I just wanted to get possession of the ball so we could score goals”
“We pass with our feet not our hands y/n/n” Mary said and you closed her mouth “hush little one” you said quickly and she shook her head out of your grasp.
“Admit to me you’re not sexually attracted to Jessie Fleming”
“I’m not attracted to Jessie Fleming”
“Now I thought your New Year’s resolution was to stop lying” Sam stepped in and you threw your head back “No you know what I’m going to be nice” you said
“At the game I’m going to ask to switch jerseys as an act of kindness” you smiled and Hayley rolled her eyes “that’s not what I would do” she warned and you shook your head
“Trust me it will work, we will be best friends by the time you know it”
“So you won’t mark her on the pitch?” Sam asked
“Do you want us to lose Samantha?” you shot back and she laughed “anyways” you said standing up “I see Mini standing alone so I’m gonna make sure Kyra hasn’t accidentally fallen off the ferry and drowned”
You ended up finding the girl in the captains area with a bawl of lollies in her hand.
“Don’t tell Katrina”
When you finally made your way to the stadium later the next day you grimaced at the floor “fake grass” you groaned and Polks laughed at you “not a laughing matter” you said and walked into the rooms.
You felt the stadium grow as Canadian watches and a few lucky Australian fans made their way into their seats.
You were tying up your boots when you felt a presence behind you “hey skipper” you laughed as Sam sat next to you “I just wanna say no reds” she said “I know they’re out for blood since World Cup okay and I don’t want a pissy Jessie coming back to Chelsea”
“No reds got it, what about a yellow?” You asked with a cheeky smile “I’ll allow one” she said and you acted like a two year old who got told they can get ice cream.
You both laughed and Sam pushed you out “cmon idiot”.
In the line up, you were out the front behind Ellie when you felt eyes burning into your head, you knew it was Jessie so when you turned around and saw her you just smirked which made her roll her eyes and look back at her team.
“Cheeky” Hayley said from behind you and you just shrugged your shoulders.
You went to your mark on the field where Jessie was as she looked concentrated “stop frowning Jessie it will give your face lines” you told her and she looked back at you “are you talking from experience or?” She questioned as she looked at your forehead and you laughed.
“Let’s just play for now okay and then you can think about my facial features later”
The game wasn’t different than usual, you and Jessie were on each other hot, whenever one of you had the ball the other was quick to try and get you down or stop you from a long kick.
You were a bit more touchier with the legs though as One time you nut-megged her own ball through her feet “come on” she complained as she was to far behind you to stop your assist to Sam’s goal.
You turned to Jessie “you know I can take a tackle Fleming” you teased and she crossed your head at you “Just play the game y/l/n” she said and you smirked from next to her “I seem to be the only person who is”.
Jessie was rough after that, she knew she couldn’t let you get away with anything else, so next time you had the ball she was quick to kick out from under your ankle as you hit the ground, accidentally taking her down with you, automatically you turned over on top of Jessie and you watched the ref walk over to you and the Canadian.
You looked down at the brunette who was still on the floor “did I get into your head?” You whispered before sitting up and reaching your hand out for Jessie to use but she got up herself causing you to roll your eyes and shrug it off.
The red pulled out a yellow for Jessie who shook her head “Still winning” she reminded you with a smirk and you smirked back “ooh she’s coming out of her shell”.
When the game finally finished and Canada came on top you shook all the players hands, lingering on Jessie’s before you joined some of the girls on a lap.
You saw a sign that made you laugh
Australia vs Canada
Nah.
Fleming vs y/l/n!
You smiled as you looked for Jessie and found her with her captain who was having her send off.
“Fleming!” You called out to her and she turned around with furrowed brows “what?” she asked and you smirked “come look at this” you said and turned your head back.
She followed you to the sign and also chucked a smile at it as people quickly grabbed their phones to take pictures of the two of you smiling at the sign as you laughed at each other.
You saw Hayley looking at you with a knowing look in the corner of your eyes before you remembered “Wait Jess” you said before she left, not realising the nick name you let out “yeah” she said “I was just wondering if you maybe wanted to swap Jerseys, last game after all before we face each other off in Olympic hopefully” you asked and Jessie’s cheeks blushed “yeah sure, need some more in my collection honestly”
Your heart raced as you saw the Canadian take off her top, you secretly took a look at her abs as she did so, you don’t know why you waited until she took hers completely off before you took yours off until you hear a whistle from the crowd you laughed and took yours off.
Jessie’s blush grew as she took no shame in staring at your body and your waist.
“Nice tattoo” she muttered as you held your shirt out for her, looking down you looked at your flower tattoo under your sports bra “thanks got it for my mum” you smiled and she gave you hers.
“Ready for the photos” you smirked and she nodded.
When you put them on you heard some fans scream out and you both turned around, you in front of Jessie as she saw her name on your back.
She lingered before stepping next to you and you smiled for some photos before a professional photographer came and you smiled again, one photo where Jessie was looking at you.
You both parted ways after as Jessie kept her eyes on you, pupils diluted as Sam went up to her “good game” she said and Jessie kept her eyes glued onto you and your back.
“She’s staying at the Grand Heir Hotel” she smirked before smacking her Chelsea team mate on the back and walking off with a smile.
You got some shit from the team when you walked in with Jessie’s shirt on, especially from your Arsenal team mates who were whisper shouting.
Sam walked over to you where your cheeks were blushing “I may have told Jessie where your staying” she admitted and you widened your eyes “why?” You asked and she shrugged her shoulders “just cause” she said and walked away.
“Samantha!” You called but she walked away.
You couldn’t help the smile that crossed your face as you turned back to your cubby.
You had showered when you got home and hanged Jessie’s shirt up in the open wardrobe so you could still see it as you lied on your bed.
It was about 10:00 when a knock on your door started. Furrowing your brows you got up and opened it to see a slightly puffed out Jessie Fleming.
“Do you know how hard it was to figure out which room was yours?” She asked out of breath “I’m sorry?” You replied and she nodded “you should be” she said as she made her way in.
“Jessie-“ “call me Jess” she cut you off “what?” You asked and she nodded “I liked it” she said “when you called me Jess”
You smiled “okay Jess” you repeated “what are you doing here?” You asked and she looked around until she found her shirt in your wardrobe and grabbed it and threw it to you “put it back on” she said as she stepped closer to you “excuse me?” You asked and she repeated again.
“Jess I’m in my pajamas I don’t have a bra on” you admitted and she smirked “put it on” she repeated and you grew hot.
fuck she looked hot right now, you thought to yourself as she looked down at you.
“Don’t act like you didn’t hear me” she whispered into your ear and you tried not to shudder at her words. “Do it for me” you whispered back as you looked into her hungry eyes, her pupils were dilated and you were sure yours were too.
Jessie gripped the edge of your white T-shirt before grazing her fingers underneath and hitting your bare skin but she kept eye contact.
“I want you to know that I’m going to fuck you, giving me that yellow today and egging me on, I’m not letting that pass today” she said as she grabbed your waist under your top and pulled you closer to her so that your lips were practically touching.
The feeling in between your legs was aching, you needed her.
“Take off my top Fleming” you told her before you stepped back, getting bing her room.
She smirked before grabbing the ends of your shirt and pulling it over your head, looking at your boobs before lightly pressing on them them “you’re beautiful” she said as she kissed on them, leaning your head back you groaned and she tugged on your nipple.
“No noise until my name is on your back” she ordered and you nodded “so loud on the pitch but I can make you silent with just one touch” she cooed and you closed your eyes out of pleasure, trying to not make any noise.
When Jessie pulled your arms up and slipped her jersey over your head you bit your lip and looked down at the jersey.
“Did you know I’d react like this? She taunted as she planted kissed on your neck “Did you know that I’d want to fuck your smirk out of you” she planted more “Did you know that sitting on top of me in the middle of the game would make want to kiss you right then and there” she taunted as she sucked on your skin, marking you.
“Jessie” you muttered out in pleasure as she walked you to the bed and through you on the mattress. You were so wet you didn’t know if she could see it through your grey tracksuit pants or not.
“We’re keeping to top on” she said as she leaned over the op of you and finally brought her lips to yours and kissed you, you let her take dominance of the kiss as her hands roamed your body until they reached your pants.
She looked at you for permission and you nodded “I need your words y/n” she said and you looked at her “yes”
“yes what?” Jessie taunted and you squirmed under her touch as she traveled her hand from your waist and teasingly down your pants without touching your pussy which you craved.
“yes please fuck me with your finger, mouth anything” you groaned out and Jessie smirked.
She returned her lips to yours before she grabbed the edge of your pants and slid them down, her moth following her as she kept them on you, trailing kisses along the jersey and until she hit your undies.
“Lace” she smiled “did you know I was coming?” She asked “I may have gotten a hint” you admitted and Jessie moved her hands up to squeeze your butt as she jerked your body up towards her,
“My favourite colour is blue” she fainted as she played with your blue lace underwear “too bad I have to take them off” she said as she blew on to your pussy and you moaned.
You were pulsing, searching for any friction.
Jessie slowly pulled your underwear down before she spread your legs apart and slid a finger through your folds.
“So wet, just for me” she said before leaning in and pressing her tongue through you, making you throw your head back and your back arch which she responded with putting her hand on your stomach and pushing you down so you couldn’t move.
She kept on going until you started moaning her name “Jessie- Jessie fuck keep going” you whimpered as she shot her head up, her chin covered in your juices.
“Turn around” she ordered and you did and she walked away “Jess” you nurtured and she walked back up to you “I’m not leaving don’t worry” she assured you and pressed her lips into yours as you tasted yourself.
She walked away as you heard her rummage through her bag she brought with her, you smiled to yourself as you saw the glimpse of the strap she held in her hands before stepping into it.
“Who’s name is on your back?” She asked you, her voice darker than usual “yours” you muttered out before she tapped your entrance with her cock “but louder than that baby, who’s name is on your back?” She asked again
“Yours” you moaned out louder and she slapped your ass making you whimper “exactly” she said before pushing in to your entrance.
“Fuck Jessie” you screamed out her name as she grew her paste wuick almost giving you no time to adjust.
“New question” she said as she moaned, the strap rubbing against her clit as she thrusted into you.
“Who’s cock is going to make you cum?” She asked as she somehow went quicker making you moan out in pleasure, your hair was up in a pony tail so she grabbed on to the end of your hair and pulled you back so your face was reaching the roof.
“That wasn’t an answer” she said and you closed your eyes “Yours Jessie, your cock” you whimpered out and she let go of your hair.
“You going to come with me” she demanded and you nodded “make me cum” you whined and she went in Harder and pressed you down more into the mattress.
It wasn’t long until you felt a coil in your stomach “Oh fuck, I’m bout to come” you repeated and you heard Jessie’s whimpers “me too, come with me” she said and you both let out moans as you came together and rides out your highs together.
You both stayed there until Jessie slowly pulled out and slowly rubbed her fingers over her last name on your back.
She then helped you go on your back as she leaned down and kissed you softly.
“Can we do that again?”
#jessie fleming x reader#jessie fleming#woso#woso community#woso soccer#matildas#matildas x reader#sam kerr#woso x reader#caitlin foord#alanna kennedy#katie mccabe#katrina gorry x reader#leah williamson#leah williamson x reader#lia walti#wsl#hayley raso x reader#hayley raso#arsenal wfc x reader#sam kerr x reader#vivianne miedema x reader#lucy bronze x reader#katie mccabe x reader#lauren james#lucy bronze#wlw post#woso smut#kyra cooney cross x reader#kyra cooney cross
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glad someone is doing Heathers the fandom has been starved. Could you do Heather Chandler x Fem!reader. Could be like strangers to lovers, idc the fandom needs more lol.
Tipsy Hook Ups||
|| Heather Chandler x fem!reader
|| Warnings: swearing, house party, underage drinking mentions, characters get drunk, heather hooks up with reader while drunk (nothing overly detailed)
|| Summary: Reader gets spotted by Heather M and the two become fast friends, resulting in reader joining the Heathers & Veronica. Heather M invites Reader to a house party where drunk!Heather Chandler hooks up with drunk!Reader.
Requests open!
Started: April 19th
Finished: April 21st
~~~
You and Heather Chandler couldn't be any further from different. While she was popular and hot, you were more artsy and "weird". At least, that's probably how she would look at you. You spent most of your time either in the library or art room, places you were sure Heather Chandler would avoid.
And it worked. For a while.
She had no idea who you were.
Until one day she noticed you. That annoying Monday morning where you had decided to situate yourself just below your school locker. Seated on the ground, sketch book in hand. You weren't giving much thought to what you were drawing: just basic anatomy figure sketches. Nothing that was overly detailed or required a lot of thought. You loved art like that. The stuff you could just effortlessly create.
The Heathers walked by your locker, you did your best not to look up and give eye contact to either of them but of course you were noticed anyways. Just not by the Red Devil.
Heather McNamara noticed you. She took one glance at your art and was immediately sitting down next to you with a smile on her face.
"Oh my God! You're amazing at that! What're you drawing?" She asks, leaning over your shoulder. You flinch at her sudden appearance next to you and her energy, glancing at her and then at the others. Heather Duke had her arms folded across her chest, watching you and Heather McNamara with an intense glare while Heather Chandler took one glance at you. Seemed to stop for a moment before she kept walking. You second guessed and thought maybe you had imagined her stopping.
Your eyes shifted from them to Heather McNamara, feeling a little awkward with the blonde next to you," Oh... um... just-"
You're cut off by Heather Duke, though you're almost relieved by that." Heather, let's go!" She makes a 'get up' hand gesture.
"Okay, okay! Just a second!" Heather McNamara replies, looking to you again after looking over at Heather Duke. "Can you teach me how to draw like that sometime? My art score is low and I could use a tutor."
"Sure..?" You raise an eyebrow slightly. That was the last thing you expected to have happen.
"Great! Thanks! Oh! What's your name?" She asks you just as she was about to get up.
"Y/N." You respond, she smiles at you and gives you a quick (awkward) hug.
"Nice meeting you, Y/N! Library after school today?"
"Okay.."
"Great!" Heather gets up and leaves, Heather Duke scoffs and glares at you before they both scramble after Heather Chandler who was a good distance ahead.
That's how you and Heather McNamara became friends. Something you never thought would happen. From what you've gathered, she's much nicer than the other Heathers.
~~~
It's been three weeks now of you tutoring Heather in art, you thought she was getting better at it. On top of it, you both were close friends now. She was just so easy to talk to and genuinely pretty funny once you got to know her.
It was after school, you and Heather M were in the school library. Working on an art project the two of you had been paired together for. You guys didn't have the same art class, but the art teacher was trying this thing where she paired students from different class periods on projects. You weren't sure why, you thought maybe it was her way of getting students to connect with people they normally wouldn't.
"Y/N, I was wondering. Are you busy this Friday night?" She asked you, you looked up from the references you'd been flipping through in a book and shook your head.
"No, why?"
Her smile widened and you immediately regretted not coming up with a lie. You knew that look.
"Kurt and Ram are hosting a house party. I'll have Heather come to yours when she picks the rest of us up!"
Great. Now you're going to a house party. You'd done so well at avoiding those.
"Alright.. but could you come to mine after school first? I have no idea what to wear to a house party." You admit.
"Oh my Gosh! Totally! Ee, this is going to be awesome!" She squeals, throwing her hands into the air. Her excited look made it worth it.
~~~
Friday night rolls around, Heather M had helped you get into a nice outfit (whatever you want to imagine) and Heather Chandler had gotten all five of you to the party. The five being you, Veronica, the Heathers.
You weren't sure what to expect. Sure you could guess but all those guesses made you nervous. Luckily, you had Heather M and Veronica keeping an eye on you. In the time you had known Heather M Veronica had become friends with you too.
It was well into the party now, you had a few drinks. Nothing too insane, but you were definitely a little tipsy. Not as bad as the other Heathers and Veronica, who you were surprised to see as drunk as she was.
You were leaned up against the counter top in the kitchen, watching as Heather M poured each of you another drink. Heather Chandler walked over to you with a smirk.
"Hey, nerd. Come over here for a second." She demanded, you glanced at her in confusion but listened.
Without warning, she kissed you. Heather D & M and Veronica stared at the both of you with wide eyes and confusion. Veronica cheered though.
"Yeah! Get it, Y/N!" She's drunk, leave her be.
You blushed heavily and pulled away after a moment, staring into Heather's eyes. You couldn't read her. You didn't want to admit it, but you had been crushing on her as you got closer with the group. Did she pick up on that? What did this mean?
"Come on." Heather C muttered, grabbing you by your hand; dragging you somewhere upstairs and into one of the bedrooms.
You weren't sure whose but you didn't care enough to figure it out. You just simply followed Heather.
When she got you into the room, she had pushed you against the closed door with a bit of force. Kissing at your neck which got a gasp out of you, you moved her off you so you could gather your thoughts.
"What the hell?" You asked, breathless. She smirked again at that and her hand trailed down your side.
"This is what you've wanted, isn't it?" Fuck.
She knew.
You gulped and didn't answer, which confirmed everything for her," Just relax and let it happen. You're hot, let me fucking kiss you." Heather whispered against your lips.
Part of you knew this was wrong. You were both drunk. Her more than you. You were sure both of you would regret this in the morning. But right now? You didn't care about any of that.
Little did you know neither of you would regret it and that it would turn into something more.
#x reader#fem reader#canon x reader#fanfic#wlw fiction#heathers#heathers x reader#heather chandler#heather chandler x reader#heather chandler x fem!reader
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ʜᴏᴛ ꜱᴛᴜꜰꜰ
Summary: You get to meet the person that was out on vacation when you got into Micheal's group. Robin didn't feel right with you despite what the boys thought about you.
Warnings: Teen!Michael Afton, slow burn, mentions of (Y/n), tension, passive aggressiveness, etc.
Paring: Michael Afton x reader
W/C: 29k
☆════ ⋆★⋆ ════☆
The cord from the console travels up to the remotes onto their hands. The gang of teens sloppily lying on the couch with legs hanging above the top of the couch. Fanning themselves from the summer heat and humid home. Yelling curses at the TV screen and tugging on the cord here and there.
"Donkey Kong reminds me of her," Simon said softly upside down off of the chair. Strands of hair fell past his ears. A pout on his lips looking like a kicked-over puppy.
"Everything reminds you of her." Micheal scoffs rolling his eyes while pressing on the buttons of the controller.
"Who's this 'her'?" Robin asked, lifting herself by her elbows on the chair. Curiosity and jealousy slowly ticking away at her mind. Who is her? Is she pretty? Does she wanna be her or date her? Will she be replaced? Will she have a new girl bestie? All these thoughts make her head stuffy.
"We met this girl at Mike's dad's work. Mike beat her high score in a video game and turns out she works there." Jeremy said, looking back and forth from the screen and to Robin. Recalling the poisonous perfume, pineapple, and honeysuckle lingers with him.
"Oh really? Shouldn't she be doing her job instead of playing on the arcade machines?" Robin asked, swiveling her head. All of them turned her way. Not letting her feel the way she wants to. But if the boys like this new girl so much then why can't she go along with it? Nothing will happen, it's just a hot chick.
"Hey! You leave her alone!" Simon said, flipping right side up. Dramatically waving his hand out like a sword horizontally while holding the controller with the other hand. Aaron passed him into the pixelated hell of Mario Kart, he let out a "Ha! Passed you!" Simon let out a "Damn it!" He jumps in his seat and turns back to the game with both hands on the controller.
"My dad said she's his and Henry's head engineer. She goes around doing whatever they want. She'll repair stuff, build stuff, and help around in any departments that need fixing." Michael explained twiddling a cigarette between his fingers. Takes another puff and breathes it in deeply, seconds later letting out a puff of smoke. Don't do drugs kids. Smoking gets you holes in your throat. That's what his mom always said. If his mom saw what he was doing right now, he would get lectured for hours.
"How did she get that high of a job offer?" Jeremy asked curiously, bouncing his leg up and down quickly.
"The girl is friends with Henry or something. He offered her the job." Michael said not pulling his eyes away from the screen with the bright colors and loud noises. How can a young woman be friends with an older man? I guess it's not uncommon, just so out of the blue.
"We'll go there again, you can meet her Robs. You can tell her about all the good stuff about us! Impress her about us!" Alejandro said, turning to her and pointing to her half-jokingly. Simon nodded quickly while looking at her with a big dopey grin.
"Depends if she's hot, I might have to steal her from you." Robin jokes with a sly smirk getting panicked noises out of the two boys. She giggled but deep down she had a tight burning feeling in her chest.
-----
Pushing open the doors, the group walked through. All excitedly looking back at each other and looking around while Robin was grumpy coming in last. With the growl of Simon's stomach, they snagged an empty table. Wiping the trash and muck onto the floor, some workers saw this from afar and gritted their teeth. One of them broke the broom in half.
"Let's get a pepperoni pizza, make it large. That's 4 bucks. I got 2 on me." Alejandro said, looking through the menu and pulling out the money.
"I have another 2, it will be enough... Simon put your quarters away." Jeremy pulled out his money and looked at the other boy disappointedly. He slowly edged his coins off of the table and into his wallet sadly. The waitress came around and took the order on her notepad, walking off to the kitchen.
"I could've just got us free food. You know that right?" Michael said, smirking giddy. The table 'ooh'ed' in realization and cursed, he laughed at their stupidity. Of course, the boss's son would have all the benefits. They knew this. But in all the excitement they got lost in what they were doing.
"Okay, so what's the plan?" Robin asked, putting her elbows on the table. Peaking over her shoulder to find any hot chick. Accusing random pretty girls of being the girl they were talking about. She was so on edge, so nervous. Her whole friendship might change with the boys. Their group was just fine as is! Ugh, the faster it's done with the less she has to worry.
"We'll eat then go to the arcade, I overheard Henry saying how she is always there if she isn't working or she's in the office with my dad or him," Michael explained. It was weird to him, they were all so close in their little work relationship. But after meeting her family and seeing how she is. He got a grasp on it was more than just a work relationship. (Y/n) told him her hours beforehand and what she does around her job. Though he didn't want to look like a dork in front of the guys. Especially after the first time they met and got into a little rivalry.
Right then and there, the waitress came back put the pizza on the table, and Alejandro handed her the money. Everyone grabbed a slice and started to dig in. Cheese stringing attached to the leftover slices and brown crust around the pepperoni's. Mmm~
"I don't know how long I can last eating this pizza every day," Jeremy said, lifting it and watching the cheese fall from it.
"Every day? How are you guys not dead yet?" Robin asked, licking her fingers at the cheese and grease. Looking at the grease on the napkins. Their stomachs must be butchered. The lengths they go to... jeez!
"Simon and Alejandro like to come here to see the girl we're gonna have you meet," Michael says while chewing. This aggravated something within Robin. What was so special about this girl? That question has been plaguing her mind for days.
Throwing crusts, napkins, and other junk they had on the pizza tray. The money on the side is stacked nicely. Jeremy pushed everybody's seat in and followed them to the arcade. Simon pulled out his coins, giving five to each person. Q*bert's game title screen was bouncing with fun. Robin put in her coin and clicked the buttons. The guys watching over her shoulder. Jumping on the green squares of the pyramid avoiding the purple snakes. However, the further she got, she had failed to an enemy that was surrounded by every corner and got the game over. Jeremy took Robin's place and pressed his coin in halfway.
"Hey, (Y/n)!" Michael waved to her while leaning on the arcade game. He felt like he had the higher leverage after calling her almost every night. Elizabeth always made kissy noises from the hallway when he was on the phone. The result? Michael throws a pillow in her face.
Everyone's heads turned to the person working on a Pac-Man machine to get out some kid's stolen game tokens. She perked her head up shaking her head with a smile. Grabbed the tokens out of the machine and poured them into the kid's hand. He ran away from Pac-Man to find a game that works. She looked back at them getting up from her knees. The group walked over to (Y/n). She noticed Robin first, and curiosity formed. A deep admiration. She was pretty! Hiding her blush from looking at Robin with a melting smile.
"This is Robin Wilson, this is (Y/n) (L/n)." Jeremy introduced the two stutters in his words yet going between the both of them. (Y/n) nodded smiling softly and held her hand out, Robin mugged her and then looked away. She was confused by the passive aggression but didn't let it get to her, shaking it off
"So what are you doing? Still working?" Alejandro asked, Robin came to his side glaring at her. An excitement forming. His friend and his dream girl were finally meeting. It didn't feel normal to not take Robin with them. But she had a reason. She was on vacation with her family.
"Right now I'm done for today. If you guys want to do something?" (Y/n) asked, looking at her invisible watch and shrugging her shoulders. Sure, Henry wouldn't mind. He encourages her to make friends her age. As much as he loves her, he doesn't wanna be her only friend. William on the other hand... doesn't mind her following him around like a puppy. He'll just never admit it out loud.
"Yeah, we can go to Sparky's diner. I haven't been there in forever." Jeremy suggested tapping his fingers on the big video game machine. She nodded and left to the back to clock out and get changed out of the engineer jumpsuit uniform.
The bell jingled on the door as they left, walking down the sunny streets. A family restaurant, Eliot's in the shopping center full of cornered restaurants and different food shops. Full of boyish antics and heels tapping against the pavement. Simon walks next to (Y/n) trying to impress her by showing off volleyball stories from school. he was the team's spiker. Simon would renact the plays and sounds he did from his games. Even though he thinks he was being cool it was dorky. (Y/n) couldn't help but laugh at the display. Michael not too far off of her side rolled his eyes. Shaking his head like a disappointed mother. Though he felt something sting within him, he didn't act on it. The beautiful smile on (Y/n)'s lips showing her pearly whites was enough to make it fade away.
Robin looked back not having any of it. A nasty scowl appears on her face. Her sight darts over to Micheal. He gives her a small smile. Robin waves her finger in a motion signifying him to come to her. A little confused he strides up to her side leaving (Y/n)'s. All she has to do is keep the boys away from (Y/n) and everything will be the same. She was going to do that for as long as she could without being caught. A bell rings at the top of the doors.
"Hi! Table for six?" A waiter comes up holding menus. Nods and yeses were quick to answer. They followed the waiter down to a large table right by the window. The waiter leaving the menus on the table leaves politely.
"Uh, we're missing one more menu." Alejandro pointed out seeing as Jeremy doesn't have one. He was internally panicking from social anxiety letting his hair cover his eyes. Rubbing his hands on his pants.
"Here, we can share." (Y/n) offered putting her menu in between the two of them. Jeremy blushes to his ears just by the feeling of her shoulder against his. He lets out a small 'thank you.' The corners of Robin's mouth twitch in annoyance. 'What the hell is her problem? She would've stepped in to help him. She was literally about to give him her menu. Is (Y/n) trying to take him when he needs help? What's next? His free will?' Her thoughts rang out. Soon enough, the waiter came back to take drink orders. Everyone has a certain order. You can tell it gave the waiter a headache.
"Robs, how was vacation?" Simon asked, leaning over the table. She didn't even realize that they were talking. Snapping out of her annoyed trance.
"It was really fun! A little too hot for my liking. Though there were pretty beaches and sunsets. There were so many people on the beach. I brought souvenirs! They're back at my house." Robin explained looking through her menu. Michael and Simon feel excitement in their guts at having a little gift.
"Where did you visit?" (Y/n) asked politely. They were all talking so casually, that she wasn't up to date on what was happening recently. Feeling a little out of place, this group has known each other much longer than she has. (Y/n) was a little intimidated by the familiarity.
"San Diego, it's in California," Robin said, talking to (Y/n) as if she was stupid. She was annoyed to hear her voice. To Robin, it sounded like nails on a chalkboard. All she could do was stare at her and not look away. Seemingly disgusted and annoyed.
"Oh, that's cool!" (Y/n) said enthusiastically. The conversation changed its course after its awkward encounter. The silence between the two was deafening and uncomfortable. (Y/n) fidgeted with the dog tag around her neck then scratched at her hair and bit her bottom lip before letting them go.
Eventually, the drinks came in waters, lemonades, Shirley Temple, and rootbeers. Simon downed his drink as soon as he got it. It was never known whether it was because he was thirsty or wanted to have fun. The boys started chanting "Chug! Chug! Chug!" (Y/n) rolled her eyes playfully at the group. Robin looked down at her lap sipping her drink, uncharastically quiet. She was trying to ignore (Y/n)'s happiness. Simon let out an atomic burp.
"Dude that's gross!"
"Come on we're public!" Alejandro pushed Simon's shoulder over the table, the two of them snickering. (Y/n) shook her head playfully disappointed by their boyish behavior. Meanwhile, Robin was fuming, if this was a cartoon she would have steam coming out through her ears.
-----
Everybody was eating and enjoying their food. Simon was talking with his mouth full and Michael was encouraging him, laughing at his disgustingness. Robin reached over to take a bite of Jeremy's food with her fork. he smiled nervously and let her take a bite. Robin took a slow bite while looking at (Y/n) half-liddedly. As if she did something. (Y/n) blinked at her confusedly and went back to picking at her food for the good stuff.
Michael reached over grabbing a fry off of (Y/n)'s plate. She shot him a look, throwing one of her eyebrows up smirking. He ate the fry in front of her. Robin rolled her eyes at them, there was a burning feeling in her chest. The boys were chatting (Y/n) occasionally joining in. Robin learned to tune out her voice, her voice was so annoying. They were getting more rowdy by the minute, and people around the restaurant looked at them with annoyance. Teenagers in the diner weren't anything out of the ordinary. However, the girls weren't paying attention to them. Caught up in their tension. Simon playfully pushed Jeremy's shoulder knocking his arm into Robin's drink, spilling it on her shirt. She yelped, a dark stain was forming on her red plaid vest.
"Oh shit! Sorry, Robin! Here." Simon grabbed a handful of napkins for her. She yanked them out of his hands.
She groaned. "Ugh, it's fine." After a few pats, she settled on going to the bathroom. the boys stand up letting her pass them. She made a break for the bathroom. The two sat back down.
"I'm gonna go help her." (Y/n) said, Alejandro got up out of his seat letting her pass by him. She walked towards the bathroom. Robin stood in front of the mirror with a bunch of crumpled damp paper towels. Patting down the dark stain on her cute vest. She looked in the mirror, and (Y/n)'s reflection appeared.
"What do you want?" She said harshly. She went back to cleaning up the soda split on her. "I came to see if you needed help." (Y/n) eyed her shirt. Coming up towards her grabbing some paper towels from the dispenser.
"It's not that bad." (Y/n) Put a little water and soap onto the paper towels. Patting down Robin's vest. She grabbed her hand and yanked it away from her. "Stop it," Robin growled.
(Y/n) backed off, allowing Robin to use the paper towels she got for her. Why was she so mad at her? What did she do wrong? (Y/n) let these thoughts linger in her head. She was trying to be friendly and make a new friend this whole time. The group was new to her but the boys were welcoming. So why wasn't Robin like that? It plagued her to think that something was wrong with her.
"You ruined everything! I hope you are happy." Robin snapped at her. It felt like a stab in the back. (Y/n)'s chest became hollow. "What do you mean?" (Y/n) asked quietly. The other girl glared at her.
"It was perfect without you here. Then you came and messed everything up. All they do is talk about you! It's so fucking irritating. This wouldn't even be a problem if you would" Robin scolded. (Y/n) looked away from her. Everyone had their moments but this was humiliating. There was nothing she could do but listen to the venomous words leaving Robin's mouth. "Oh," Is all that (Y/n) could say. Robin left with her back to the table.
#michael afton x you#fnaf michael afton#michael afton x reader#fnaf#five nights at freddys#five nights at freddy's
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Love at First Massage (Jude Bellingham x reader)
Warnings: feet I guess (?)
Masterlist
It was Vinicius who recommended him the place, a nice, unknown, little massage parlour somewhere along the forgotten streets leading up to Plaza Mayor.
The first thing that caught his attention was how empty the place was, a bored looking lady in the reception table checking out her nails as the typical hallway music played on the background.
The sound of his steps got her attention, her eyes didn't widden -probably used to Vini and other players visiting the place-, but he could see recognition on her face as she nodded her head on greeting as he introduces himself, she stood up and leaded him up to the farthest away chair from the windows and told him to wait.
A small chair was next to his chair topped by some magazines, his face visible in one of them, he still couldn't understand spanish, but he guessed they were throwing praises at him for scoring in all La Liga matches since his debut.
"Hi, I am y/n, I am in charge of your massage today"
A voice, your voice, caught his attention, and he was hypnotised from the very first moment, truly believing that he had died and went to heaven.
He tried to greet you back, he truly did, but not a noise came out of his mouth and he missed his opportunity when you arched an eyebrow and got down to work, he was already barefoot, you put some cream in your hands and started.
It were not only, your face and your voice which were angel made, also your hands as Jude could quickly feel the sourness and tiredness slip away and his feet to feel like new.
You were not talkative, or maybe not just with him after he didn't even greet you back.
Jude cleared his throat, yet you didn't look up to him as he scratched his neck and searched for any reason to speak with you.
"Do you watch football?" he wanted to hit himself, why couldn't he think about anything else? You laughed.
"Is that an indirect way of asking whether I know you or don't?" you inquired, looking up to him, a teasing look on your eye "I do know who you are and I do watch football, but maybe my team of choice won't be of your liking, or maybe yes as everyone knows of those tweets of you recognising the real goat"
"I suppose that means you have also seen that school project in which I wrote what my dream team was"
"I did, my brother went crazy calling you an hypocrite for then going to Real Madrid in what he deems a money operation and nothing more"
"He sounds like a real fan"
"Ask Vinicius what happened the last time he came over and my brother just happened to be here. Also tell him he still owes me that money"
"So, you work in this massage parlour and as a side job you do bets with football players for the extra money?"
"Not everyone is offered like a hundred million euros, you do what you have to do, Bellingham"
So, you were beautiful, you were smart, you liked football and you were funny as well as great at massages.
Jude was already down hard, he even thought about purposely injuring himself to come back sooner.
The massage was entirely too short for his liking -it went on for over an hour, you didn't tell him how you were purposely slow to keep on chatting with him.
Turns out, Jude Bellingham wasn't just great at football, but also at mantianimg long conversations and making sure to keep eye contact even while you worked on his feet.
When you finished, Jude almost asked you to keep going, but he didn't want to seem desperate, but he did leave a special note with his phone number written down alongside a generous tip.
He couldn't help but laugh before asking you out on a date, when you sent him a photo of what you had spent your tip on.
You did look good in red and blue, but he bet you would look even better with his last name on your back.
#jude bellingham#jude bellingham x reader#Real Madrid#football imagine#football player#football#english#English national team#england nt#england national team#jude bellingham imagine
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I’m not sure if you talked about it, but what do you think about A Thief in Thunderclan? I actually liked it, though it definitely had a few ehhh moments
Eh, honestly? Im kinda disappointed that James Barry had to go out on such a low note. I did not like it, it felt like a waste of time.
It wasn't like... offensively bad but I have very little good to say about it. It was fine. If you want to see more ThunderClan you can check it out?
(A lot of Thief in ThunderClan critique below the cut, I didn't like it much)
First of all, the mystery was just bad. I'm sorry. An owl? Swooping in at night for dead animals and leaving perfect scores in the dirt? It felt like a real "running out of ideas" type plot.
Brightheart was NOT fun to follow. She was uncomfortable for most of the story and secondhand embarassment is an emotion I really don't enjoy. Even moments that were supposed to be thought-provoking (like the Brambleclaw name confrontation) just felt like cringe because they were written so poorly.
Like, seriously? "Firestar why did you name Bramble after his father who disfigured me?" "Oh its because i uhhhh wanted to remind ppl of it so they would stop being reminded of it eventually" WHAT? That was a brainless enough choice when it was FIRST made, you can't fucking tell me any cat with a brain cell would go "wao... really makes you think... hngsociety"
I disliked the fact they decided to give Brightheart serious suspicion towards people like Longtail and Brambleclaw, I strongly disagree she would be like that. She feels so much to me like someone who would feel awful for doubting people she logically knows are innocent, and express to Cloudtail that it makes her feel like a bad person, but she CANT help it. She is such a kind, loving, and self doubting sort of cat... or, was, I guess? Or maybe it was never there at all and I'm the fool.
On that note? Her character arc was a mess. As much as I hate Shadow in RiverClan, I can say that Feathertail's arc was a competent *story*. Brightheart is having nightmares, suspects Bramble and Long of treason, is trying to figure out this mystery, trying to help train Rainpaw, the fact she resents not being his mentor is mentioned and dropped, she is pregnant... so much shit is going on and it feels absolutely unfocused.
And even worse, because it's overlapping with the beginning of Firestar's Quest, we end up having to Show Off The Continuity instead of telling a cohesive story. Oop Willowpelt died and Rainpaw is kind of sad about it! But wait we have to say bye to Firestar, make sure to squeeze in the Brambleclaw name confrontation before he goes! GO BACK Longtail has been blinded!! ALSO THE OWL! HERES WHY THE OWL WASNT MENTIONED IN FQ!!
And DUDE if there's anything that's a SERIOUS problem, it's Brightheart's stupid ass cutesy "look who's being USEFUL in here!" When blinded Longtail is helping out in the medcat den
First of all fuck you for the wording of that line! Second of all, GET IT THROUGH YOUR HEAD that disabled people shouldn't have to find a way to be "useful" to belong to their society.
The fact we're getting a book from Bright's perspective as a disabled person and the whole thing is chock full of "useful" language as she struggles with PTSD makes the fact this is COMMON in WC sting so much more.
Anyway back to just, normal critique and not frustration with ableism in wc.
I feel like they really wasted Brightheart's family. I enjoyed finally getting Cinder and Bright hanging out as sisters, but we got a MENTION of Frostfur, and barely anything with her brothers. It's already a mess so why not go the whole way?
Ashfur also has his post-TBC personality retcon which absolutely kills me. Why do we need this shitty "foreshadowing"? Why do we need him to have been so obviously controlling and argumentative? Why are these writers fucking allergic to having a villain that people thought was nice and normal once?
NITPICK: if i have to see another cat gently picked up by a large bird of prey without at LEAST getting a cracked rib I will shapeshift into 10,000 crows and fly away forever
I have some good feelings towards it though, and I have to be clear, this is actually Ambivalent Bones. I'm only mad at the "Usefulness" rhetoric, the rest is just my normal amount of whinging lmao.
I do really like Cinderpelt and Brightheart finally getting some interactions. It's long overdo lmao
I like Cloudtail and Brightheart as a ship so it's nice to see them hang out.
Uhhh this is a bit of a backhanded compliment but I liked how she was upset at not getting one of Whitestorm's children to mentor? I don't like how it bodes for the wider narrative though, because we know this ends in her getting shafted FOR YEARS and unable to get an apprentice. But I liked the plot setup of her having resentment for Cloudtail because of this. I thought that would make a really good plot point for putting a wedge between them to work through. Like, stop being cowards, LEAN INTO Firestar making some very serious, insulting, short-sighted mistakes, and it interfering with Brightheart's ability to heal. Kill your darling.
There were some nice lines. I do remember Ashfur's lame "greedyclaw" insult, which was funny.
I enjoyed the cute moments between the cats in ThunderClan. Ferncloud chasing after her kids, Brightheart convincing people to help her investigate, the Willowkin being upset about their mom. It's a mess but there's some nice stuff in that mess, y'know?
Overall, my memory hasn't been kind to it. I think I was giving it a 6/10 when I first saw it, but it's dropped down to a low 5/10. Not (very) offensive but too messy and pointless to revisit.
#bone babble#Also funfact in bb im turning cinders weird purple snail into a special leech#Little gave it to her because there is literally no stronger display of autistic affection than gifting your best friend a favored creature
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Penalty Box— Quinn Hughes Edition (Part Nineteen)
SERIES MASTERLIST
previous: eighteen
next: twenty
this is long and unedited and idk how i feel. lmk your thoughts!!
SATURDAY, APRIL 8TH (before z’s penalty)
yourusername
liked by _quinnhughes, colemcward, and 8,648 others
yourusername welcome to my postgame penalty box show: quinn actually smiled tonight edition! tonight was the last home game of the season, and that means it was fan appreciation night! not only that, but team awards were also given. and guess who got best defenseman? my best friend that’s who!!!
quintin also received a penalty tonight! this is second penalty in a row, and his record for number of consecutive games with a penalty is three! two of these came from the back to back games against the red wings, and i hate the red wings, so good riddance. let’s see if he can match or break this record for an already amazing record breaking season he’s having! he also have a very lovely speech; something i never thought i would see my best friend do. he’s grown so much this season and i couldn’t be more in awe of him <3
now on to the most important news! mine and quinn’s son (sorry jamie) SCORED HIS FIRST NHL GOAL TONIGHT! HE WAS IMMEDIATELY ADOPTED AFTER! PETEY WAS OUR CONTRACT WITNESS! I AM SO PROUD OF YOU, SON! p.s. nice heckin’ job on that shorty tonight, petey! you’re magnificent as always and i love you sm <3 and kuzy!! congrats on the game winning goal in the shootout bestie!!! proud of you boys! @_eliaspettersson @/kuzy_096
you’ve been a treat to watch (get it?) this season, bubba💙 i love you!
tagged _quinnhughes and colemcward
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_quinnhughes i love you, too, sissy💙 you’ve been a treat to have by my side this season
yourusername aw, quinner! you’re my favorite sap <3
trevorzegras no, no, no, no! do NOT bring back sissy
jackhughes I FORGOT ABOUT SISSY
trevorzegras @/jackhughes keep it that way! i got smacked anytime it slipped out!
_quinnhughes i’m bringing it back
lhughes_06 i’ve been using mom and sissy this whole time
trevorzegras @/lhughes_06 not in front of me!
jackhughes @/trevorzegras she’s your girlfriend why would you call her sissy?
trevorzegras @/jackhughes says her ex boyfriend
yourusername @/trevorzegras we don’t talk about that
user1 COLE GOT ADOPTED
user2 there are… so many things to unpack here
lhughes_06 @/colemcward hi, welcome to the family! i think i’m your half brother?
colemcward hi😂
yourusername let’s say yes
edwards.73 @/colemcward hi, i’m also your half brother!
_quinnhughes @/colemcward remember, you signed up for this! and congratulations on your first goal, kid!
colemcward @_quinnhughes thanks, dad!
kuzya_096 thank you, y/n!💙🏒🥅
yourusername always, kuzy!!!
user3 JACK AND Y/N DATED?!
user4 and the hughes brothers call her sissy?
user3 i am confused
yourusername it was a MONTH so we don’t really talk about it or count it
jamie.drysdale UM?!?
yourusername i said sorry!
_quinnhughes we didn’t get married so she’s still your wife
jamie.drysdale i have more step kids than actual kids…
trevorzegras i detest this
jackhughes @/trevorzegras whoa big boy word!
user4 ZERO SQUARED HA
_alexturcotte that’s my best defenseman!!! way to go quinner!!
_quinnhughes thanks, man!
yourusername what if i… hold my own post season awards?
_alexturcotte @/yourusername do it
_quinnhughes @/yourusername please don’t
edwards.73 @/yourusername please do
yourusername @_quinnhughes i am a mother first and your best friend second. sorry quinny!
user5 this game had me so stressed
trevorzegras @_quinnhughes congrats on your award! (p.s. suck it, i’m far ahead of you now)
_quinnhughes thanks, z! (p.s. just you wait)
yourusername this was mostly nice so i’m taking it as a win! let the world see how you two REALLY are
_quinnhughes @/yourusername no
trevorzegras @/yourusername this is way more fun
_eliaspettersson i love you too!
yourusername and congratulations on your awards!!
user6 the old quinn can’t come to the phone right now. why? because he’s dead
colemcward i’m really happy you got to see my first goal, mom!!!
yourusername me too!! it was amazing!
user7 WAKE UP EVERYONE! QUINN HUGHES SMILED!! AND STUCK HIS TONGUE OUT!! AND GOT A PENALTY!!! HE’S EVOLVING INTO TREVOR!!!
jackhughes y/n and quinn why are you two just spilling our childhood nicknames? first howdy rowdy, then sissy and bubba, i am terrified to what else you two slip out😭 (ps. so proud of you quinny!)
yourusername i’m also terrified of what else we slip out
trevorzegras me too
_quinnhughes i’m not
jackhughes @_quinnhughes that’s because all the embarrassing things happened to us
_quinnhughes 😁
_eliaspettersson added this to their story
colemcward added this to their story
#penalty box series#penalty box series: quinn hughes edition#quinn hughes#quinn hughes imagine#quinn hughes insta edit#trevor zegras#trevor zegras imagine#trevor zegras x reader#jack hughes#jamie drysdale#luke hughes#cole mcward#alex turcotte#quinn hughes x reader#jack hughes imagine#cole mcward imagine#elias pettersson#vancouver canucks#nhl#nhl imagine#hockey imagine#quinn hughes fic
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○●○●○●○●●○●○●○●○●●○●○●○●○●●
Save me (Ushijima Version)
Premise: Ushijima struggles to understand the concept of love and what is expected of him in said equation, but he finds himself in the predicament of wanting nothing more than to be with the woman he loves even if it gets in the way of his established lifestyle.
Word Count: 3297
Chapter 2: Summer heat
Summer was approaching fast, the weather was warmer than it had been for the longest time, the grass in it’s prime as green as it can be, the birds danced happily in the air at the promise of the rainy season now in proximity.
The spring tournament was about to end, and the volleyball team was high in spirits as they managed to reach the finals.
Their club was the one to receive a bigger budget out of the entire school, they were one of the reasons the school was so popular to begin with, so in preparation for the finals and as a reward of some sort, they scored some extra budget for a weekend training camp.
The teacher in charge suggested some beach volleyball, it is harder on your body, and it should help them with muscle building, it was a great time to go to the beach, it wasn’t as hot outside just yet, so they should be able to train on the sand all day.
Washijou was against it, one of his family members was marrying that same weekend and he would prefer to stay closer to the city so he could attend both, but the teacher had already booked an inn for the entire team and the budget was no more.
They were in troubles, the teacher could go with them and surely the team knows what they need to work in individually, they could always ask Ushijima if they needed advice, but what about the rest of things that needed to be done? Their coach is so strict that he only allows one male manager and he doesn’t even allow him in the gym every day, he’s only called when needed, but because of this, he belongs to the astronomy club as well and they were participating in an event of their own the same day, unlike the volleyball team, there he is absolutely necessary and they can’t allow him not being there for the event.
That’s when Shirabu out of all of them, surprised the team with an idea. “How about my class president? She knows what she’s doing, she’s the one in charge of everything related to the events in our class, and all of you seem to like her. Maybe she can go with us?”
Ushijima, who was tying up his shoelaces, got up immediately, giving a deep nod of approval.
“I’ll talk to her, I guess.” Semi got up, heaving a deep sigh. Is not like he didn’t want you to tag along but he was pretty sure you’d be more of a distraction than anything else.
•───────•°•❀•°•───────•
You were on your way to the library; you didn’t want to leave your summer break homework till the very end and thought of getting the books you needed out before someone else borrowed them first. That’s when you heard Semi calling out for you.
“Oh hey, Eita. What’s up?” he was panting heavily, trying to catch his breath. He’s been looking for you all over the school, exhausting all possible locations and found you just before he was about to give up, like if phones weren’t a thing.
“Do you have anything to do next weekend?” it sounded off to you, like if he was asking you out on a date and it made you cover your reddish face in panic, “W-w-why??” realizing what he just did, he tried his best to correct himself, trying to subside his embarrassment, “The team, we got a weekend training camp on the beach area, the teacher needed us to find someone who could help us. Shirabu said you’d be the best option and everyone agreed you’d be a good idea. If you have time of course.”
You were still unsure of going out of the school in general, but you’ve been practicing with Eita, and this sounded like a fun way of spending the weekend. You would also have some extra time to spend with Ushijima who had been really busy the past few weeks and you haven’t gotten the chance to see him as much as you would have liked.
“I mean, yeah why not. Is it like both days or?”
“Yeah, the teacher already booked an entire inn for the team, I’m sure you’ll have your own room. Nothing to worry about.” that was honestly the last of your worries. Your parents were now in a European tour and all your clothing was left behind in your house. Thankfully, you don’t spend much money living in the school grounds, so you could just order something online and it should arrive on time.
“Sure, then just text me the details when you get them, and I’ll go with you guys.”
The guys were overly excited with the news, specially certain captain who for some reason found a splinter on the bench very interesting. Was he excited? He couldn’t describe what he was feeling, it hasn’t happened before. He’s been a bit grumpy the last few days, or that’s what his teammates said, he didn’t really understand what they were basing on to get to that conclusion, but it was a fact that he kept on wishing he could see you. He wondered if you had eaten something for dinner or if you had a good sleep last night, he wondered if you also felt this strange need of seeing him or if it was just him and his recent incapability to control his own body.
But knowing you would be there during the weekend was comforting, he felt like he could train the entire week without any sort of discomfort, knowing he would get to see you in a few days.
Goshiki let out a loud shriek, getting everyone’s attention. Ushijima’s face was twitching in the strangest of ways while plucking the damn splinter out of the bench, the scene itself could be used as source material for a horror film.
Little did they know, his heart was actually smiling.
•───────•°•❀•°•───────•
Going to the beach required many preparations, making you regret your decision of not bringing cute clothing to school with you.
Did you need a swimsuit? You probably did, even if you were there just to support the team, it would be weird having a bunch of shirtless guys playing volleyball around you and be wearing fluffy lounge clothing on the sand.
So you ended up ordering a couple of summery outfits and a two piece swimsuit, the bottom being a cute ruffled skirt.
You also decided to bake some cookies for the ride, this time you made sure to make enough for the entire team and the teacher, he was driving you there and was very nice of him to make sure you would have all you needed as the only girl of the group.
The school bus was unnecessarily big, everyone could have their own seat to themselves if they wanted to, but Ushijima wanted to sit beside you. Even Tendo was surprised by this.
“Toshi-san! Why does it feel like I haven’t seen your face in forever? Come here, let me see you.” you chuckled, and he complied, letting you check every inch of his face, his hands and even his jacket pockets.
There was such a peaceful aura around Ushijima whenever you were around. It’s like if he was a different person, even if he still didn’t talk much.
“(Y/N), you smell like cookies." he’s becoming spoiled and you’re 100% responsible for this. “Yes, I baked some! Here’s your share.” you set his bag on one of his big hands, calling the rest of the guys to come and retrieve their own bag full of treats.
“I know you don’t like me, but isn’t Ushijima-san’s bag way bigger than mine? I’m your classmate!”
Everyone’s bag was smaller, not just Shirabu’s. Even Semi got a smaller share. “He’s bigger than all of you combined. Don’t be a pain, or I’ll give him your share too.” Ushijima was quietly chewing on one of your delicious goodness, he didn’t have anything to say really, he was bigger, that was a fact, but he somehow wished that wasn’t the only reason why his bag was fuller than the rest.
The ride wasn’t long, but you woke up before sunrise to have the cookies ready for the team and before anyone could notice you were dozing off on Ushijima’s shoulder. He could feel the soft puffs of air you were releasing on his arm, your neck straining in an odd position. He shimmied himself down a bit as gently as he could not to wake you up, so you could rest comfortably on him.
If he closed his eyes hard enough, he could feel your heartbeat pressed against his arm, and it was magical, everything in life was so much better when you were there by his side, even the littlest of things like a bus ride could create a core memory for him.
“Toshi-san…those aren’t cookies…don’t eat them…” even in your sleep, you’re the sweetest creature he’s ever seen. “I won’t eat them, don’t worry.” he whispered close to your ear, making you grin in your sleep and nuzzled his arm.
If he could live repeating one moment over and over again in a loop for the rest of eternity, it would be this very moment.
•───────•°•❀•°•───────•
The guys had been practicing all morning and lunch time was approaching. The teacher gave you some money so you could go buy ingredients and prepare sandwiches for everyone.
They haven’t seen you since then, you went to the store then spent over an hour making sandwiches for the army of hungry teenagers baking in the early summer sun. So when you arrived with the basket full of food and drinks, a wave of silence fell on the beach.
Ushijima’s eyes were so widely opened, bugs could nest there if they wanted.
You braided your hair and got a lightweight cardigan over your swimsuit, but it was pretty much all out on display for the raging hormones of more than one to perv around.
It wasn’t revealing, just a regular swimsuit, you were actually the only girl in the beach right now that wasn’t showing her assets in abundance, but they’ve never seen you in anything other than your school uniform, except for Semi, but even him was having troubles concentrating now.
“Hey guys! Lunch is here!” you called out for them, and they all walked over to you, to anyone else looking, it was a scene out of a zombie movie, the way they walked mumbling incoherent stuff, their bulging eyes, unconsciously drooling over you. But in your eyes, it was a beautiful summer day to hang out with the boys.
“Here’s your sandwich, Toshi-san. Don’t tell anybody but yours has an extra slide of chicken breast.” you whispered closely, winking at him and you were expecting him to take the sandwich you were holding out for him, but his hands had a very different plan. He grabbed you by your cardigan, bringing you closer to him so he could close it up entirely, button by button, this making you blink in confusion. “What’s wrong? Do I…look that bad?”
He shook his head, not being able to find the right words, he didn’t even know why he did what he did. Is not like he didn’t want to see you in your swimsuit, it was more like he didn’t want the rest of the guys to see it. But why? You’re your own person, you can do whatever you want. He had no right to do this, what if you get mad at him? That was a stupid move. He was beating himself over his own actions when he heard you laugh, one of your hands came over to cup his cheek, caressing it gently, “You’re being extra cute today, huh? My heart was not ready for that!” you handed him his sandwich and continued handing out the remaining contents of your basket, never unbuttoning back open your sweater.
He didn’t know what just happened, but it felt similar to when he wins a match.
“Cute? She said you were cute? Wow, I always knew she was a little weird but maybe it’s just that she sees things differently.” his friend was nibbling on his own sandwich, sneaking glances to watch over your interactions with the rest of the team.
“So how does it feel not wanting other men to stare at your woman’s boobies?” using his sandwich as a fake mic, he went straight into business. “I did no such thing.”
“Oh my dear Wakatoshi-kun. Then why do you think you closed her sweater shut on this awfully hot day? You weren’t concerned for her catching a cold, were you?”
Why did he do it? It was still a mystery to him. What was even more confusing was why did you laugh it off? Shouldn’t you be upset? He wouldn’t want someone touching him so carelessly, he was expecting you to slap him on the face, not gaze at him lovingly.
“I’m not sure, my hands moved on their own.” life had funny ways of trying to teach him a lesson, he had it all there for him to act, his body was a faster learner, but he still needed to catch up to it mentally and emotionally. “She looks way too pretty today; you didn’t want them to eat out of your eye candy. Instead of sulking you should tell her how pretty she looks, before someone else does.” Tendo caught a stray look from a group of unknown girls hanging out under a parasol and so he left his troubled friend to confront life on his own while he tried to score a phone number or two.
•───────•°•❀•°•───────•
Time goes by fast when you are having fun.
The first day of the training camp was almost over, the stars gifting you the most beautiful night for all of you to enjoy.
The teacher made arrangements for the workers from the inn you were staying at to take care of your dinner arrangements, offering you a lovely and most importantly, very much nutritional meal.
The boys were turning in for the night early, they still had to get up at four in the morning for their team run and had to train all morning, the bus wouldn’t leave until noon.
But since you didn’t have to, you wanted to enjoy the trip a bit more, you haven’t been to the beach in years and just breathing in the salty heavily humid air was filling your heart with excitement.
Grabbing a small pouch from your bag you were ready to sneak from the back of your room back into the beach. It was the perfect timing to hunt for seashells, sunburns aren’t fun to deal with after all.
Ushijima had been pacing in front of your room for the past 45 minutes, trying to come up with an excuse to talk to you and somehow convey the message his friend recommended. So, it isn’t surprising that he heard you sneaking through the balcony. He thought someone was breaking into your room, so without thinking, or knocking, he opened the door to your room and headed in like it was his own house. Your leg was still hanging from the rail and his outburst made you fall to the ground startled.
The confused face he was making made you burst out laughing, this man has the worse timing ever, it’s hilarious.
“Yes, Toshi-san? Did you need me for something?” he was trying to analyze the situation, you looked fine, definitely there was no robbery going on in the premise, were you running away at night?
“I wanted to talk to you about this afternoon. If this isn’t a good time I can come back later-“he was about to leave when you stopped him, calling after him, “It’s ok, I was just going seashell hunting. Would you like to come with me?” Seashell hunting? How do you hunt seashells? Aren’t they like dead already? His confused self just nodded and instead of going out through the door, like a normal human being, he decided to follow your steps, climbing over the railing, causing you to giggle.
There was not even a single cloud in the sky, the full moon so high and bright, there was no need for lanterns.
You walked side by side in a comfortable silence, breathing in the peaceful night until you found a promising patch of sand. You sat close to it and Ushijima followed your lead, both of you digging into the sand with tiny sticks, fully equipped for tonight’s quest.
“So, what was it you needed to talk to me about, Toshi-san?” he took a deep breath, looking up at the moon, “I’m sorry I grabbed you like that this afternoon. You looked too pretty, I was afraid the other guys would also see it.”
You’ve never blushed with this intensity before, and you were suddenly glad you decided to come at night. The summer heat would be the one to blame if someone asked.
“Y-you don’t need to apologize for that. I thought it was cute.” you mumbled quietly, poking the sand some more. “You always say I’m cute.” he questioned you genuinely, the definition of cute he has in his head was very different to what he sees in a mirror when he looks at himself. “That’s because you are, cute.” your eyes twinkled in the dark, the stars wouldn’t rival the beauty of your eyes, not even tonight when the stars shine so bright. “Does it bother you? That other guys see me in a swimsuit?” he was hesitant to answer that question, he was now sure that it did bother him, but he still didn’t know why. “It was not my place to do what I did, for that I apologize. I’m sure your afternoon wasn’t as enjoyable due to the heat.”
“It was enjoyable. I didn’t mind it. Did I make you uncomfortable? Maybe I should have chosen a less revealing outfit.” he made you feel bad, that’s the one thing he was supposed not to do tonight, it’s so hard to get your thoughts across to other people, “You never make me uncomfortable. I just didn’t like the look in their eyes.”
“Were you…jealous, Toshi?” you held onto his elbow, the lack of honorifics causing him to forget he needed to breathe. “According to Tendo, yes. I still don’t understand the feeling very well, never happened before.”
You need some level of patience with a man like him, even if all you wanted was to tackle him on the sand and kiss his very essence, you would wait for him as long as it took. Instead, you laid your head on his muscly arm, taking a deep breath as you searched for his hand. It was so large, pretty much doubled the size of yours. “Is it…ok if I hold your hand?” looking at both of your hands, he just hummed in acknowledgement, wrapping his hand around yours.
You stayed there in silence, holding hands, until it was time for you to return to the inn.
Summer was only about to begin, and it already held a special place in both of your hearts.
•───────•°•❀•°•───────•
The day before the big game, right when classes were over, the door from your class burst open, showing a very exalted Ushijima looking for you.
“(Y/N), I found him. The setter you were looking for, Kageyama. He’s playing against us tomorrow.”
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Tagged babes: @dazaisfavgf @lauraagrace
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#haikyuu!!#fluff#angst#slow burn#haikyuu fluff#haikyuu x reader#haikyuu x y/n#hurt/comfort#haikyu imagines#haikyu x reader#haikyuu fanfiction#haikyuu x you#haikyuu x f!reader#haikyuu x female reader#hq fluff#hq x you#hq#hq x y/n#hq x reader#ushijima wakatoshi#ushijima fluff#ushijima x reader#haikyuu ushijima#ushijima x y/n#ushijima x you#shiratorizawa
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dino - diner
word count : 868
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you and your group of friends had just left the place where prom was held. all of you were crowded in a booth at a diner, and you noticed other people from your school sitting at nearby tables.
"did you hear about the cheer captain?" one of your friends asked.
"about her and that junior varsity basketball kid? it sounds so cliché," you replied to her.
"but it happened! can't deny what's real," another one of your friends spoke up.
"can't believe a jv kid scored her. she's way out of his league," one of the guys said while undoing his tie.
a server came by with your meals. all of you started eating together and took random pictures to commemorate the night.
"this milkshake is too good," you mentioned before taking another sip.
"can i try?" chan asked. he was sitting next to you and only had a water to drink.
"here," you said and slid the glass over. he took a sip before smiling.
"oh, it's really good," he replied.
"hey, chan!" one of your friends called out from across the table. all of you looked over to see a guy looking back at your table, “what's with you and not having a date? i thought you were going with the girl in our class?" he asked.
chan shrugged, "just didn't want to go with her. she ended up asking someone else anyways."
"chan likes someone!" one of the guys from your table exclaimed.
"what the hell are you talking about? eat your food and be quiet!" chan said to him, clearly a bit flustered.
"oh, just admit it already chan," one of the girls said to chan. "i bet it's someone here," she said and started looking around the restaurant.
"stop it already, f/n," chan said and ate some of his food.
"who would look good with chan?" another girl asked.
"hey, stop it already. he's blushing like crazy," another girl said to your friends before picking up her phone. "oh, the seniors are throwing a party right now. should we go?" she asked all of you.
"i can't. i have to go to work tomorrow," you immediately replied. "and i'd prefer to not to be hungover."
"boohoo, you've gone to work hungover before y/n. come on, live a little," one of the guys said to you.
you rolled your eyes, "tell that to my liver."
"are the rest of us going then?" chan asked after he put his glass of water down.
"yea, i'm down to go.”
"me too!"
"hey, who's gonna drop y/n off?" one of the guys asked.
"oh, i can," chan offered.
you looked at him. "you sure? i can just call my brother," you replied to him.
"don't worry about it. i gotcha," he said to you.
"come on, come on. i wanna see if i can get a senior's number," one of the girls said.
-
"bye y/n! get home safe!"
"bye!"
"see you guys!" you waved as you walked with chan to his car. "thanks for driving me," you said to him.
"no problem," he replied.
both of you got into his car and he started driving.
"so why didn't you have a date for prom this year?" chan asked as he drove.
"me? no one asked me, not that i care," you replied. "i would rather go with friends anyways," you mentioned. "you know, i almost didn't go this year. i didn't really care that much."
"then why did you go?" he asked.
you shrugged, "i guess just to be with everyone. better than being home doing nothing."
"well, i'm glad you went tonight," he admitted to you. "dinner was probably the best part," he added.
"dinner was nice. we should've just went to the diner instead of going to prom," you laughed. "so...who do you like?"
"huh?!"
you started laughing at chan, who became flustered again.
"d-don't ask that! i'm driving!" he scolded you while stopping at a light.
"that was so funny," you said to him, still laughing at him, "but seriously, who do you like? i mean, you have to like someone since you didn't have a date."
"i...i like someone. don't know if she's interested in dating though," he admitted. "she's really nice, really sweet. we'll see. her birthday is soon, so maybe i'll get her like a cupcake or something."
"oh that'd be cute!" you said to him as chan drove onto your street. "you should go to the bakery by your dance studio. it's so good," you recommended to him.
"i've been there a few times. i like it," he mentioned and turned into your driveway. "alrighty, here we are," he said as he drove up the driveway. "have fun at work tomorrow," he said after putting his car in park.
you groaned, "don't remind me." chan chuckled. "thanks for driving," you said as you took your seatbelt off.
"no problem. see ya at school," he said. you got out of the car but just as you were about to close the door, chan asked you something. "hey, what's your favorite flavor of cupcake?"
"favorite...flavor?"
your response left chan chuckling.
"for your birthday, idiot."
#sweetiesicheng#kpop#sweetiesicheng seventeen#seventeen#seventeen chan#seventeen dino#seventeen x oc#seventeen x y/n#seventeen x fanfic#seventeen x you#seventeen x reader#seventeen fanfic#seventeen fanfiction#seventeen lee chan#seventeen lee dino#lee dino#dino#lee chan#chan#dino x reader#dino x you#dino x y/n#dino fanfic#dino fanfiction#chan x y/n#chan x you#chan x reader#chan fanfic#seventeen performance team#seventeen performance unit
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chapter 4: signals
word count: 2k
Sonata in Darkness: [3] ... [5]
“God, you look like a mess. What the hell happened?”
“Gee, thanks hon, hello to you too,” you rolled your eyes as you entered the apartment. It was slightly cleaner than the last time you saw it; Selina had made a noble effort at restoring it to its former glory. The cats swarmed to your feet. “Have you checked the news?”
“No, why?” The tv was shut off but the music was playing over the radio quietly. Selina was doing the dishes.
“I had a very interesting morning. Let’s see: Boss man picked me up, we went to the funeral, I met a cute guy, I almost got hit by a car in the church, the guy who crashed into the church had a bomb on him, the cute guy paid for my taxi, and now I’m here.”
“What!? What do you mean there was a bomb?”
Filling Selina in on what happened exactly didn’t take long, although you did leave out some names, cough Bruce Wayne cough—not the D.A.s, however.
“So the D.A. was the hostage?”
“Yeah, he was wearing the same outfit from the other day, too. Remember when he asked if we needed a ride?”
“Yeah. I’m guessing he was taken not too long after that.”
“Had to have been,” you agreed. You opened the fridge to see what was inside. There wasn’t much, you knew that, but you hoped there was at least something. You closed the door, frustrated. After a moment of silence, you remembered something.
“What about that score you were talking about?”
“Oh, the narcotics one. Some guy at the club was talking about it. It’s apparently at Gotham Recycling.”
“Okay, cool. So do you have a way in?”
“…no,” she admitted. You rolled your eyes.
“How about this,” you said after a beat. “I’ll go check it out right now and see if I can find us some cover spots and places to hide. That way we aren’t taken by surprise.”
“Perfect,” she complimented with a growing smile. “Hey, while you’re at it,” she pointed to a pile of broken furniture. “Be a doll and take that with you, hmm?”
“You’re joking, right?”
She smiled and shrugged.
————————————————————————————————
“Can’t believe she made me take all that. I mean, how the fuck do you fit a broken dresser onto a bike?”
Selina was, in fact, not joking about taking some items to the recycling place. It ended up being a good cover, though, because it gave you an excuse to look around the area without being suspicious. It was rather hard to find where you were supposed to drop things off at. Currently, you were complaining as you made your way home after securing the location; there were already some shady guys lurking around, but they didn’t pay you any mind. You had just passed Gotham’s Police Department when you saw something in the sky.
“What…the…fuck?”
The large object soared in the air, which made you slow to a stop in a side alley and get off your motorcycle. When it approached the ground, a parachute popped from its back. It hilariously hit the bridge over top you and crashed onto a bus, crashed into a parked car, hit some garbage, and then finally skidded to a stop at your feet. The masked man groaned as his eyes traveled from your feet to your eyes.
“Well hi there, stranger,” you greeted cheerfully as you crouched down. “How was the fall?”
Batman caught his breath before muttering, “It was shit.” You helped him to his feet. “What’re you doing here?”
“What was that about?” You ignored his question.
“…Nothing.”
“Didn’t look like nothing to me. Looked like you fell from the police building.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Fine,” you shrugged back. “Didn’t want to know anyway—by the way, you look like shit.”
He let out a surprise chuckle before coughing out, “Thanks.”
“And he laughs! Didn’t know you could do that.”
“I can laugh,” he said defensively. You two started making your way down the alley. “And more.”
“Can you now? Like what?” He said nothing, but his eyes held a bit of mischief. “So what, you taking a midnight walk or something to clear your head? Where’re ya going?”
He gave it some thought before responding. It seemed like he trusted you more. “The bat signal.”
“You have a signal? Damn.” You let out a whistle. “So anytime I want to see you I just need to light that bad boy up?” Batman gave a small smile but made no comments or objections. “Anyways, need a ride? It’s the least I can offer after you ate concrete and groveled at my feet.”
Batman got your bike, behind you, and wrapped his arms around your midsection. “I did not grovel.”
“Uh-huh, sure, now tell me where to go.”
————————————————————————————————
“Alright,” you announced as you barged into your home. “I found some spots—it’ll be a piece of cake. What time did you want to leave?”
“Now.”
“Now—oh shit, uh, okay. Lemme get dressed.” Selina was already in her catsuit and sitting on the counter waiting for you. You quickly got dressed yourself, not wanting to keep her waiting any longer. She seemed a little tense. Walking out of your room, Selina hopped off the counter and left the apartment. You followed after her to where your motorcycles were. Putting on your helmet, you asked, “One bike or two?”
“What took you so long?”
“What?” She gave you a pointed look before putting on her own helmet. “I’m sorry, I guess I was a little distracted, why?”
“I thought—“ she paused before continuing. “I thought someone caught you. You were gone longer than you should have, I was worried.”
“Oh.” You felt a little guilty now. You could see how she thought that. “The building was a little bigger than I thought, so it took a bit longer. On my way back, I went a little slow and enjoyed the ride.” Something told you that if you mentioned Batman that she would not be happy. So you shut your mouth.
“Two.”
“‘Scuse me?”
“Two bikes…and I’m sorry for overreacting.” You both got on your bikes.
Grabbing her shoulder, you squeezed it affectionately. “You don’t have to apologize, Cat. I’m the one sorry for making you worry.” She squeezed the hand that was touching her.
“It’s okay, Rat,” she said before riding off. You followed.
As you approached the recycling plant, you moved in front of Selina and followed the path that you planned earlier. You stopped and signaled to her to shut off her bike between two large trucks. It was time to get to work. She grabbed a long chain from the back of her bike as you stretched—you didn’t want to pull anything. You even slipped on some brass knuckles, ya know, just in case.
Quietly making your way past where the trucks were parked, you surveyed the area. You held up a peace sign to Selina. ‘Two guards.’ Nodding, she slipped in front of you and whipped her chains around the first guy’s ankles. You quickly pounced on top of him and knocked him out as he hit the ground with a thud.
“Hey! What happened? You alright?” The man on the other side of the car that you were hiding behind started making his way over, but was stopped by Selina. He also hit the ground, knocked out. Quickly getting up, you followed Selina to the car’s trunk where two duffle bags were located. Unzipping them revealed the cash she had promised.
“Dangerous crowd you’re stealing from.”
Whipping around revealed Batman. You put a hand to your heart, startled.
“Jesus,” Selina sighed out. “Is this how you get your kicks, hon? Sneaking up on girls in the dark?” She was preparing the duffle bags. When she was done, she handed the first one to you. Batman made no move to stop you.
“That why you work in the club? It was all just a score?”
“You know, I would love to sit down and go over every gory detail with you, bat boy, but uh, those assholes are coming back—“ she let out a surprised gasp. You looked over her shoulder in horror and dropped the bag.
Annika was laying in the back of this car in a body bag. Batman looked intensely at the girl and furrowed his brow. He was about to say something, but gunfire ruined it. Batman, almost thoughtlessly, let the bullets bounce off his suit as he instantly moved to cover you. Everyone dropped to the ground as the men making the drops deal moved forward. A nearby car revved and sped closer, gaining the attention of the armed men. An undercover cop stepped out of the car and gave you guys some cover, which gave you time to look over at Batman. He was knocked breathlessly onto the pavement from the barrage of bullets.
“Shit, shit, shit!” You were terrified; your throat choked up on you as the men walked over to your location. You recognized one as Oz when he started yelling.
“Hey, Vengeance!” A wave of bullets pierced into the car that you and Selina used for cover. “You think you can come after my money, huh?”
“What’re we gonna do,” Selina whispered, scared, as tears threatened to spill. You looked over to Batman again, but he was gone. ‘What?’
You could feel Oz’s footsteps vibrate the ground from how close he was. A loud engine captured everyone’s attention instead, causing heads to turn. Daring to take a peek, you could see the silhouette of a car as the engine powered on. Gunshots fired and men started running for their own cars. You dragged Selina with you as you sprinted to where your bikes were parked, using the distraction as cover.
“Kenzie! Get the money!”
Hopping on your bike, you quickly revved your own engine and made your way back to the action. Fortunately, all the cars were driving away after the mysterious car—‘hopefully Batman,’ you thought—which left you with Kenzie holding the two duffle bags filled with money. Swerving your bike last second allowed you to knock the man onto the ground, making him drop the bags. You grabbed one and sped off without looking back as Selina grabbed the other one, following you shortly after.
————————————————————————————————
Bruce was pouring over some ‘Renewal’ files after he had spent the last hour trying to piece together everything that had happened. The orphanage he traveled to seemed to make more questions rather than answer them, and unfortunately lured him away from Wayne Tower when the explosion happened. He was a mess; Alfred was in emergency care, he learned that his father was more sinister than he appeared, and you disappeared after the fiasco down at the recycling plant. He found himself craving your presence after staring at you in the photograph that started it all for an uncomfortable amount of time; the one with Mayor Mitchell, Annika, and you and Selina with Oz in the background.
His monitors flashed to life as a cat appeared through the contact lenses he lent you and Selina. It was your camera. Hope sparked through him as he made out a note that read ‘Where are u?’ printed in neat handwriting.
“Rat?” He sounded a little pathetic when he whispered it. He wished he could’ve gotten your real name instead of your stupid little nickname. After a moment you appeared on the screen briefly, but only to move the cat away. You barely even looked at him–just one quick glance before you scurried away, scared-like. Selina’s face popped into view as you left.
“Can you see me?”
Bruce, slightly disappointed that it wasn’t you, reluctantly answered. “Yeah, I can see you.”
“I need to talk to you. Where can we go?”
Bruce was quiet as he thought of a place. By the way this was going, he assumed that it would just be him and Selina. That wouldn’t do, he had to see you. He came up with the perfect place. “The bat signal. She knows how to get there.” He shut down his monitors, hoping that you would take Selina to his signal. He gathered his things and slowly dawned the bat suit—his mood improved a little bit.
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duetting with their idol crush [ot13 reactions]
ot13 x afab!reader
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no translation needed
lowercase intended
a/n: reader is also an idol! requested by an anon, sorry it took so long!
setting the scene: you debut under pledis a mere year or two after seventeen’s debut. between a fair share of polite bows, awkward smiles and mumbling “hello” in your direction, he’d long discovered a feeling much deeper than silly interactions. to promote both yourself and seventeen further, pledis allowed you to choose one member of seventeen to release a song with on your next album.
♡ naturally when he was called into the office, seungcheol was more than nervous. had he done something wrong as seventeen’s leader? as an idol? he swallowed the lump in his throat and put on a brave face as he entered. he didn’t know what to say nor how to react when his eyes landed on you, sat at the meeting table in a cosy outfit. you stood, bowing and greeting him respectfully and it was like he was froze in time momentarily before he reciprocated the actions nervously before seating himself. it was announced you’d chosen him to collaborate with on a song and seungcheol suddenly found it hard to breathe. he left the office first, doing a silent celebratory dance in the corridor.
song vibes: what you waiting for - r.tee ft anda
♡ there was already rumours about your upcoming album floating around the pledis building but jeonghan knew there was no way he’d scored a chance to work on a song with you and promote it. he was asking for too much there. perhaps his latest prank on seungkwan had been too much? it was about time he got scolded for his actions. yet he opened the door to the office so calmly, blood running cold when he saw you. you’d not long come back from a photoshoot, still wearing the glittery make-up. the hairs stood up on his arms and he shuffled to his chair after greeting you, trying to keep his cool. “ahh, i get it - not only am i good vocalist but i’m pretty handsome too,” he replied cockily to the announcement and you shyly laughed in response, making jeonghan chuckle too.
song vibes: endless dream, good night - akmu
♡ joshua knew damn well you wouldn’t choose him to collaborate with. all week he’d heard the rest of seventeen blabbering on about it, discussing who you’d choose. he was getting tired of it and considerably jealous since he thought the others had more potential. nothing was announced and as he took himself to the office on the basis of “schedule changes,” joshua wondered where the rest of the guys were if this was about schedule. he entered, his heart suddenly jumping into his throat and he bowed to you quicker than you could stand up and bow to him first. “is this about-” “yeah” “holy- thanks i guess,” the interaction was short as he slipped into the chair, his leg visibly bouncing. he couldn’t fuck this up with you.
song vibes: she likes spring, i prefer winter - slchld
♡ junhui hadn’t a clue about the rumours, even though seventeen wouldn’t shut up about them. unusual, considering he knew everything if it regarded you. he couldn’t even think of a reason why he was called to the office - was there a promotion opportunity in china maybe? what junhui didn’t expect was to meet you as you both approached the same office door. he blinked, taking you in as you also stared back for a moment before you both looked away. “wait, you got called to the office too?” he asked, a little dumbfounded. “uh yeah,” you replied shyly, “it’s about our collab song.” junhui’s hand faltered on the handle and you caught it. “yeah.. this meeting was supposed to be the one to tell you.”
song vibes: 国王与乞丐 - hua chen yu ft aska yang
♡ of course soonyoung knew. being close to gossip king seungkwan had perks and this time it was way more than useful. he’d spent the nights since he found out begging that you chose him, he wanted nothing more to be able to spend the time with you that doing a song together would give him. he just wanted to be in your vicinity for more than a quick interaction in the hallway. he had an inkling when he was called to the office, yet faced nothing but disappointment when you wasn’t in there waiting. it would soon fade as the door opened and you stepped in, apologising for being late. soonyoung’s face would light up instantly, a sigh of relief as he let out a relaxed chuckle despite the fact his ears and cheek were burning red.
song vibes: i wanna be - key ft jeon soyeon
♡ wonwoo knew somewhat about your upcoming album, he listened to the other members while he’d read but he still had no real clue what it was all about. but he also didn’t know why he was being called to the office unless it was about their upcoming tour. he respectfully bowed to you before he momentarily froze, a little confused as to why you was in the office. “did i get the wrong office? i’m sorry-” “no no, you’re in the right office.” with that being said, wonwoo nodded nervously and shuffled to a chair. following the announcement, his mouth sort of gaped slightly but he kept his calm until he got back to his room that evening, throwing a quiet celebration.
song vibes: winter flower - younha ft rm
♡ jihoon knew before he was even called to the office - bumzu is more than helpful and of course, jihoon would probably produce most of the music so he might as well have a headstart. but jihoon wanted to confront you and see what genre you wanted with him. so he walked confidently to the office, he couldn’t falter simply because he finally got a chance to work with you but god damn he wanted to. the whole meeting he took you in, drinking in your features and the cosy outfit you was wearing. “i’m looking forward to working with you.” “you too.” we all know he smiled at his laptop screen that night.
song vibes: hello tutorial - zion.t ft seulgi
♡ seokmin had never been so happy yet nervous when their manager leaked that you had the opportunity to duet with a member of seventeen. hell, this was his chance! not only could he try swoon you with vocals and visuals, he was hoping it’d build up his confident enough to ask you for a date. due to the pandemic, the meeting was held through video call and you couldn’t attend - but seokmin was thankful. upon the announcement, he let out an excitable yell (joshua had to yell back to tell him to shut up), punching the air and kicking his legs like a lovesick teen.
song vibes: have we met before - sarah barrios ft eric nam
♡ with a good few interactions, mingyu had managed to become an accomplice of yours and you’d swapped social medias. it was because of this, you felt most comfortable collaborating with him and as much as you was supposed to tell the staff first, you privately messaged mingyu and asked if he’d like to duet with you on your upcoming album. mingyu was working out with wonwoo and seungcheol at the time he read the notification, punching the air and jumping around with a few echoing yells. wonwoo cursed quietly, thankful they’d chose a quieter hour of the day for this workout.
song vibes: red moon - kard
♡ you’d already solidified that you wanted to collab with minghao months before you even found out you’d be allowed a collaboration song on your newest album. the two of you had awkwardly had to take the same elevator together one day and between shuffling feet and avoiding eye contact, you expressed your admiration to him and admitted you’d like to collab. minghao, absolutely dumbfounded you’d express such gratitude to him, was quick to also agree to a collab. due to this, you decided to be the one to tell him, catching him on the way to seventeen’s dance practise studio. “oh - minghao, hey,” you acted surprised to see him and he smiled, greeting you, “i can have a collab song on my upcoming album with a seventeen member.. just thought you should know so we can prepare it.” minghao let out a shy, breathy laugh as he looked away with his cheeks a rosy hue. “they must have heard that elevator conversation.”
song vibes: 今天妳要嫁給我 - david tao ft jolin tsai
♡ seungkwan undoubtedly knows everything. he gossips twenty-four seven and without shame, not to mention using jeonghan’s tricks to get his way with staff sometimes. that includes their manager and bumzu for this scenario. the moment they announced you was choosing a seventeen member, he was praying and begging the staff to try convince you to choose him - “no, seungkwan, she chooses.” he held onto a thick strand of hope that he could work with you not only because he found you to be a fantastic artist but because he’d fell down a deep pit when it came to liking you. when it was announced he was your chosen member, he fell to his knees in the seventeen dorm, crying joyfully as vernon patted his back awkwardly.
song vibes: you, who? - eric nam ft jeon somi
♡ as excited as he was about the news, vernon kept his cool well. he didn’t want to get his hopes too high and face disappointment when you chose another member, so he pushed all thoughts to the back of his mind. he did everything to keep it off his mind - what was the point of fretting all day? the problem was, he forgot about it entirely so when he was called to the office, he was more than confused. furrowed brows, he pushed open the door and his mouth fell open the second he saw you, eyebrows lifted and eyes wide as you laughed at his expression, finding joy in how surprised he seemed to be that you were there. “me? are you sure? definitely me?” he panicked, unsure whether he walked into the right office. you nodded, “yes, definitely you.”
song vibes: you, clouds, rain - heize ft shin yong jae
♡ chan had absolute faith he’d be the chosen member for your collaboration song. he had some gut feeling that was strong and he was following it with delight. no matter how much he listened to the other members discussing it, throwing back and forth each other’s strengths and weaknesses, chan didn’t falter in his beliefs. what did falter his beliefs was when seungcheol was called for an important video call meeting and he wasn’t. frowning, he headed to the in-person meeting he’d been called to. he became a literal statue upon seeing you, standing in the doorway gawking at your shy expression. “i-uh, chan?” your nervous voice snapped him back and he was quick to smirk as if he hadn’t just reacted like that, “so, what type of song you looking for?”
song vibes: mayday - crush ft joy
#cafeshuaaa#seventeen#seventeen fluff#seventeen reactions#seventeen scoups#seventeen jeonghan#seventeen joshua#seventeen jun#seventeen hoshi#seventeen wonwoo#seventeen woozi#seventeen dokyeom#seventeen mingyu#seventeen the8#seventeen seungkwan#seventeen vernon#seventeen dino#seventeen ot13#choi seungcheol#yoon jeonghan#joshua hong#hong jisoo#wen junhui#moon junhui#kwon soonyoung#jeon wonwoo#lee jihoon#lee seokmin#kim mingyu#xu minghao
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The Witch from Mercury Season 2 Reaction
Episode 20: “The End of Hope”
Ominous title
Let’s see. Norea is ready to explode, Miorine is freaking out, Guel seems hellbent on taking down Shaddiq, and Grassley Squad is making their move. Shaddiq again seems to be laying much of the blame on Guel, even though this tragedy happened as he was leaving.
Who knew Rouji of all people had mastered the art of interrogation? Or is Martin just that much of a wuss?
Who knew Lilique could get mad?!
So Suletta has finally gone back to class, but now she’s being harassed as well. Now that she is no longer the Holder and no longer Aerial’s pilot, she’s naturally an easier target.
Now Petra is being nice to Suletta. Guess saving her boyfriend scored her some points.
Guel may be learning to be a better person, but he should learn to be smarter.
Shaddiq seems out for blood now
They’ve released a pissed off witch from the basement and she’s fixing to go on a rampage. The ball is in your court, Number 5.
Looks like Chuchu’s Demi-Trainer is out for the count. They don’t have any mobile suits left.
Petra, stop talking! You’re waving so many death flags right now with the things you’re saying! She’s going to die right after I found a reason to like her, isn’t she?
If Shaddiq is openly admitting his crimes on their comms, I doubt he plans on leaving Guel or anyone else alive.
Look, Guel, you need to understand your father was a grade-A a-hole. You could have a lengthy debate over who is a worse person between him and Shaddiq.
Now Lauda knows Guel killed their father. Will either of them live long enough for that to matter?
Not the Greenhouse! Oh, that bitch done it, now!
Now Felsi is in the firing line! What am I saying? Of course, she is. Any pilots with working mobile suits with the guts to be out there is gonna be. Too bad that even if they didn’t have the school’s limiter, they’d still be hopelessly outmatched.
When Secelia decides its time to move the plot along, she delivers. A brand new mobile suit for Chuchu and the timely return of her traitorous mechanic.
Since when did Pompom Head become a thing? That’s the second person to call her that
It’s not like I don’t get Shaddiq. He is a demon of the Benerit Group’s making. I can’t even say with confidence that in his position I wouldn’t have made similar choices. He’s still crossed a line, and got innocents among both Spacians and Earthians killed. He’s also not as clever as he thinks he is, ready to blame Guel for interfering in his plans when he is the one committing crimes.
Did Guel just outsmart Shaddiq and Sabina? And he disabled their suits without killing them. Not only was that impressive, this might be his first real win in the entire show. Unfortunately it came at the cost of Norea going on a rampage but there was a solid chance it could have happened, anyway.
I begrudgingly give points to Number 5 for talking Norea down. Unfortunately, that win is short lived. Serious though, who was the dumbass who thought it was a good idea to fire on them after they stopped rampaging? And if you were going to do that, why only take out one of them when the other as far as they know is equally dangerous?
Back to Suletta, finally. Aaaaaand, yep. About what I expect. Oh , and there’s the title card!
That is such a Suletta thing to do, honestly. She used to do this kind of thing back on Mercury, too, so really, she’s falling back on what she knows. I’m also genuinely surprised that Earth House hasn’t suffered any casualties, though they’re probably going to get blamed for this, too.
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96th Academy Awards nominations reactions
Well, it wasn't doomsday. But it wasn't the best Oscar nomination morning I've ever experienced either!
And goodness me, the two major Best Picture contenders that have the most upwards momentum right now (Oppenheimer doesn't have upwards momentum, it's been top of the pack for the whole awards season) did well. And it just so happens, those two films are the ones I'm the most terrified to criticize.
Some thoughts:
From some of the talk going around and the lack of love from outside the United States, I'm a little concerned with Killers of the Flower Moon as it stands. It's my personal pick for Best Picture, jsyk. Ten nominations sure, but missing out on Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor for DiCaprio is not a good look, despite the surprise Original Song nomination. Certainly, AMPAS is majority/plurality American, so the story strikes deep chords for any of us who care a smidgen about the nation's history and racial injustice. But I have been seeing chatter - not gonna name nationalities - from outside North America saying how they're tired of American racial guilt movies. That is an aspect of KOTFM, but that completely flattens a morally complicated, beautifully made work. A near-miracle it was made in 2020s Hollywood. I think another part of it is that we are all now taking the Scorsese and Spielberg generation of filmmakers for granted. They've come full circle. Their films have done wretchedly at recent Academy Awards ceremonies as of late, and undeservedly so.
The (imo) overperformance of Poor Things makes the Gladstone v Stone matchup look like it may be slowly tipping away from Lily Gladstone. I don't think I will be writing on the film on this blog but, suffice it to say, I didn't enjoy it. Yorgos Lanthimos is a director that has never truly clicked with me, largely due to his earlier, very cynical work. Poor Things is not as cynical, but I didn't care for the messaging at all (yes, Victorian men were sexual hypocrites and miscreants - how self-congratulatory, I found it) or its sense of humor. I guess some can say that I'm just another puritanical American prude, as well. But I thought the sex was getting into the male gaze-y territory, and the sex work subplot was way waaayyy too sanitized. I also despised the atonal score by Jerskin Fendrix, which was very close to stuff me and my orchestra mates might do if we were messing around in rehearsal (disclosure: I was taught classical piano and violin, have studied music theory up to the college level, played in various orchestras up to a decent level in high school, and am a massive film score fan).
It looks like Oppenheimer is running away with this. I just don't see how anything can stop it in Best Picture. I can respect an Oppenheimer Best Picture winner, even if I'm not even sure if it cracks my top three and Nolan is certainly not one of my favorite filmmakers.
I don't think Oppenheimer is getting Best Actor, though. Rooting for Paul Giamatti for The Holdovers on that one. Shame Dominic Sessa couldn't join him in Supporting Actor, but Da'Vine Joy Randolph has essentially got the Oscar in the bag - despite my reservations on how her character essentially disappears in the last third of the film.
But what about Barbie? It's a movie I respect, deeply. But I never thought it in the caliber of Best Picture nominee one bit. The America Ferrera nomination in Supporting Actress I don't support one bit. Gosling? Sure. Robbie? Had a better case than Ferrera, but I understand why she didn't get it. Gerwig? I'm on the fence over her exclusion in Director.
Sensational stuff for Justine Triet and Anatomy of a Fall. It's probably my #2 vote in Best Picture. I just wish Milo Machado Graner was in for Supporting Actor. This is a dark horse, folks, more than capable of pulling off an upset or two come Oscar night. And a damned good movie, too...
... But its success appears to have come at the expense of Trần Anh Hùng's The Taste of Things. And as the Artistic Director of Viet Film Fest in Orange County, California, that stings, as he's VFF alumni. When France passed over Anatomy of a Fall for The Taste of Things in Best International Feature, there was a lot of outrage directed at Taste by people who had and had not seen the film. Perhaps the damage was already done. A massive shame if that was the case.
Other than Poor Things, the other movie with tons of upward momentum right now is Jonathan Glazer's The Zone of Interest. For the record, I think, on its face, you can still make a morally responsible movie about the Holocaust from a Nazi point of view - which I think Glazer mostly does. But my criticism comes from elsewhere. Glazer, in interviews, has said how he wanted to 1) make the movie not primarily about the 1940s, but about our time and our complicity in atrocities and 2) make a film shorn of cinematic artifice to absorb us into the setting. I think his messaging never evolves beyond the basics on the first point; I think he utterly fails on the second. Cases in point: the use of nightvision cameras that only serve to remind the audience they are watching an artistic exercise, the horrific score from Mica Levi that too many film critics (who don't know better, most notably David Ehrlich at IndieWire - really, everyone at IndieWire), and a weird sound mix that reminds me of when stage plays play off-stage sound effects or background noise but that audio doesn't sound sufficiently "far away" enough.
A slight underperformance by Past Lives. It was never going to get a boatload of nominations. But it appears Greta Lee was squeezed out (I have nothing constructive to say about Annette Bening and Jodie Foster in Nyad as I haven't seen the film) and there was scarcely a campaign for Teo Yoo.
American Fiction is, I think, going home empty-handed. Its nominations are the win, and I think it's a decent satire well worth watching.
Maestro doesn't deserve a Best Picture nor its screenplay nomination, but I'm not happy with some of the accusations of Bradley Cooper Oscar-thirsting that's flying around. You folks are taking it much too personally. Did he defecate on your kitchen table or something? Calm. Down.
And speaking about disrespect, there has been a ton of disrespect towards John Williams' nomination for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Again, we're coming full circle to an iconic figure of late twentieth century cinema. Especially from fans of Daniel Pemberton's score to Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (who I agree should have been nominated in Score). No, Indy 5 was not great. No, Williams' score to the film was not the best score in the series. No, I don't think Williams should win this year. But did you listen to the score? Helena's theme was gorgeous and its integration across the score was the work of a master. The interplay between the Nazi and Dial themes is something lesser composers just simply cannot replicate. And for those complaining that Williams simply reuses material the entire time, I get the feeling you haven't seen the film or listening to the score by itself (or understand how themes can develop). Yes, I know melody is on its way out in film scores (see: Hans Zimmer, his acolytes, and any composer who thinks that orchestras should be used like drums) and pop music in general in favor of texture and a beat. But I bet you many composers will sell their souls to piece together something half as good as a lesser John Williams score. It's a great score, worthy of its nomination.
Where is Robot Dreams, Neon? This movie's been on my radar for some months now, but radio silence! Do you guys not know how to distribute an animated film? Flee (2021, Denmark) had this same problem! I'm so glad it's in, though.
That nomination for Nimona, though? Dreadful. Again, tumblr won't like I'm going to say this, but I thought it was gratingly written, poorly voice acted, and its humor and character behaviors are going to date like milk.
And a massive congratulations to Godzilla Minus One for its Best Visual Effects nomination. After 38 films in the series, the big fella with atomic breath is heading to the Academy Awards!
No Disney in Animated Short for Once Upon a Studio. Surprising, but not completely so. I'm excited for a slate of independent animated shorts when the short film categories come around!
The Live Action Short slate is rather disappointing. I like the category best when it's full of no-name directors and actors. Without having seen anything else, this is going to Wes Anderson isn't it?
Most prioritized films I haven't seen: all short films, Elemental, Io Capitano, Perfect Days, Robot Dreams, Rustin, Society of the Snow, 20 Days in Mariupol
#96th Academy Awards#AMPAS#Oscars#Killers of the Flower Moon#Poor Things#Oppenheimer#The Holdovers#Barbie#The Taste of Things#The Zone of Interest#Past Lives#American Fiction#ATSV#Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny#Robot Dreams#Nimona#Martin Scorsese#Lily Gladstone#Emma Stone#Daniel Pemberton#John Williams
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Hello— ORV whump prompt because I’m Thinking So Many Things and want to see what cool authors like you think about it!
Scenario fic: one member is brought back to the event that led to the first meeting between the party. Of course it’s our Rat that disappears in a poof of sparkles, and of course KimCom think the first people to meet were KDJ and YSA so they rush to head to Minosoft… BUT!
a) on the way they pass a certain all boys school at Just The Right Time
b) LSK is there and knows the Truth and Freaks Out
c) they don’t find him in time and track him down when he’s on the verge of d**th
Dealer’s choice hehe!
hello! i finally sat down and started writing through this ask! i appreciate that you came into my askbox and immediately slammed the button on 'misery', always a fun time lol
anyway. i have ideas. unfortunately if i attempted to fully finished these ideas, you would probably see this ask either in a year with a full fic or in uh, never, so you get this.
There is a teenager.
She looks much like any other teenager bored out of their mind in class. Chin propped up on one hand, other hand wielding a pan tapping out a distracted staccato on her notebook, perfectly in time with the tap-tap-tap of her foot, watching the blackboard up front but mostly watching the clock above it, waiting for everything to be done.
She’s so sick of class. Sitting in one place, trying and failing to listen to a teacher saying shit she doesn’t care about – ahhh, but she’s got to care about it, doesn’t she? Gotta make sure she knows enough to score good on the CSAT, except that’s never going to happen because she’s got shit-for-brains, shit-for-grades. At this point, wouldn’t it be easier just to drop out? Who wants to live this kind of life? Not her. Not anyone else. Who likes school?
…Yeah. Jung Heewon was like that, as a kid.
“Hey, you,” Jung Heewon says.
That image of her younger self ignores her. So does everyone else in her old middle school classroom. The teacher drones on, uninterrupted – and it really is a droning, the kind of indistinct murmur you hear as background noise, only occasionally cut with actual lecture material.
Everything here is indistinct. There’s a vague sense of blurriness about everything. The faces of her teacher and the few classmates she remember are clear, or at least, almost clear. Everyone else? Faceless. Unmemorable.
… Maybe that’s the point.
…
Yoo Sangah likes to think her memory is good, but truthfully, it’s hard to remember the faces of her middle school classmates when she hasn’t talked to them in years. A few that she kept in contact with, sure, but everyone else, she’s likely to get wrong.
They’re in some kind of scenario space right now, and if the scenario is drawing things from her memory, that might be why everything is so… unclear. Unreal, almost, the edges of reality soft instead of well-defined, only sharpening around her younger self as she files out of the classroom, chatting with – is that Ahn Minji? Yoo Sangah hadn’t thought about her in years.
Things only get worse as they head outside. The younger Yoo Sangah is a beacon of clarity, but everything else is just fog, white and dense and casting a featureless pall over everything.
…No. Wait. Not quite.
…
Lee Hyunsung had taken some time to tear his eyes away from that boy he’d once been, talking to one of his seniors – “I guess I’m not really sure what to do. I don’t have to think about it if I go directly into the military after high school, right?” In the end, though, there wasn’t any use to paying attention to that sort of thing, not when he was alone. He hadn’t entered the scenario alone, so where were the others?
Not in his school, he’d looked. The only other thing he could do is go straight into that strange white fog, even if it meant he was walking blindly towards nowhere.
Except it hadn’t turned out like that. In the backdrop of nothingness, he could make out a building, getting clearer and clearer as he ran towards it. So well-defined – that had to mean something, didn’t it?
…
Shin Yoosung pressed her nose against the glass of the window. That building, the only one she’d seen in what felt like forever, was getting closer. Maybe that was where the train would finally stop.
Maybe the train wouldn’t stop at all.
But no, that’d be weird, wouldn’t it? There had to be an end to the scenario somewhere, and it couldn’t end if she was just stuck on a train that never stopped. Or, well, maybe it could, but – the point. The point was that the scenario had to have some way of ending it. It couldn’t go on forever, that wasn’t any kind of proper entertainment at all. That was just throwing an incarnation into an infinite commercial break, wasn’t it? No dokkaebi would let that kind of scenario pass.
Yeah. There had to be a way out, right?
[Ahjussi, are you there?] she sent up tentatively.
Still nothing. There had been nothing for a while. But she had to keep trying, didn’t she?
…
Lee Gilyoung had been trying.
But there weren’t any bugs on this train. Sometimes, he’d get the faintest impression that there was something there, and then – nothing. If he could get a bug, any bug, he could – he didn’t know. Scout. Get some information. Call a plague against anyone moving against him. Something.
That was Plan A. Plan A wasn’t working out, so he was stuck with plan B, which was this: if he kept running through this fucking train, he’d run out of carriages eventually. He’d run into something eventually. Maybe the conductor’s carriage, and then he could press some buttons and force it to stop, or maybe drive it into a building or whatever.
…
Yoo Joonghyuk pressed his hands into his eyes.
He’d really thought that he had died. Ended regression three, back to the start at regression 4, back in that same train carriage all over again, and this time with a death he hadn’t even seen coming.
He’d died three times now, but the shock of it, even though it wasn’t real – hard to snap out of without a scenario in his ears telling to kill someone to live.
What had happened?
There had been a scenario.
He had been with his companions. There had been a scenario, and Kim Dokja had vanished. Then that subscenario had kicked in… what was it?
…
[Sub Scenario – Will to Survive]
Category: Sub (Personal)
Difficulty: ????
Clear Conditions: Help Incarnation, Kim Dokja, realize the will to survive.
Time Limit: ????
Compensation: ????
Failure: ????
…
Kim Dokja blinks.
He had the strangest feeling that he had forgotten something. Something important.
…It can’t have been that important if he’s forgotten about it. He’d already run through his list of things to do, anyway, not that the list was very long. He supposed the right thing to do was to talk with somebody, but really, he had no one to talk to, so there wasn’t any point.
There was maybe Mother, but… no, she didn’t count. He didn’t talk to her, he talked at her, and she never cared enough to give a response back. If she, by some miracle, cared enough to be upset about what he was doing, then – well. She could get over it. There was nothing wrong with him enjoying the sunset. There was nothing wrong with anything he did after that, either.
With that thought firmly in mind, he took one last breath of the air – cool, refreshing – and headed towards the edge of the roof.
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