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daegall · 1 year

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Lee Donghyuck is definitely drunk.

↳ Sober Donghyuck doesn't have the balls drunk Donghyuck has.

pairing: rival/enemy!hyuck x reader

genre: angst, fluff, crack, college!AU, party!AU, rivals to lovers!AU

warnings: alcohol consumption, pining, much swearing

word count: 5.5k words

a/n: HI GUYS this is actually the long awaited part 2 of the 'is lee donghyuck drunk?' drabble HAHA i didn't expect it to get this long but uh yeah it is now ^^ my writings a bit rusty after a break so i hope that isn't a problem, do enjoy the fic, love u guys ^^

networks/taglist: @neoturtles @knet-bakery @kflixnet @nct-writers @k-radio + @soobin-chois @markhyuckselca @jaehunnyy <3

In freshman year, Lee Donghyuck went to his very first college party, got wasted with his fellow freshman friends Huang Renjun, Lee Jeno, and Na Jaemin, and woke up the next day missing 3 classes. The fact that they were miles away from campus and didn’t have a ride definitely did not help.

Even then, Donghyuck still treasures the memories, keeping them close to him. He has a picture of him and his friends grinning in the bathtub at that very party in his wallet. (he had to pay Johnny Suh 30.000 won to not post the photo on facebook, as they were already completely wrecked.)

Apart from that party, Donghyuck has only been drunk thrice at other parties. He’s usually the driver, so he can’t drink that much. When Jeno takes over, however, Donghyuck goes crazy.

The second party he got drunk at, he ended up filling up a whole bathtub full of milk and cereal and convinced Jaemin to come and eat with him as Renjun took photos of them. Those photos he keeps by his bed. Jaemin is the one who keeps it in his wallet.

The third party he got drunk at, Donghyuck ended up getting the host’s trampoline in the pool, and attempted to have some fun, only to sprain his ankle. The picture Jeno took of him in the ambulance with a drunk smile and a thumbs up is now his lockscreen.

And the last party Donghyuck got drunk at, he made the pretty girl from most of his classes hate him. He doesn’t know how, or why, but all he knows is that whatever he said, made you mad, and made you two rivals now.

Time to add another party in that list, none other than the party he hosted himself.

Donghyuck doesn’t remember much. He remembers meeting you at some point by the couches, bringing you outside, and… kissing you. Lee Donghyuck doesn’t remember much about last night’s party, but he does remember the smell of your perfume, the taste of your lips, your fingers tugging at his hoodie strings to bring him closer.

Everything about you makes Donghyuck completely sober, but at the same time completely wasted, drunk on you. Drunk on the way your eyes shine as they stare into his, the hope that they hold, the small smile on your swollen lips.

Lee Donghyuck remembers some things after that. He remembers frantically getting up, he remembers asking Jeno for a ride to his dorm, he remembers completely shutting himself in his room after that.

Donghyuck remembers that night, he remembers the anxiety sitting at the pit of his stomach, the guilt he feels for leaving you hanging, the regret of kissing you.

There’s no doubt he wanted to kiss you, he’s wanted to since the moment he met you. What stopped that urge, however, was the confusion clouding his mind. Why did he kiss you? Without your consent? Did he even kiss you well? Did you like the kiss? Fuck, wait, do you hate him now?!

What Donghyuck doesn’t know, is that you feel the exact same way. You go back to your dorm heavy hearted, almost heart broken, anxiety hazy in your mind, sick in your stomach, everywhere.

God knows you’ve liked Donghyuck for a while now, after Jeno told you his mistake of making you hate him, of how he regrets it every day and night, how he wishes you two could just be friends.

That night you go to bed with a head full of thoughts as well. Does he regret it? Was it a mistake? Was it a dare? Perhaps he did it for fun. Were your kissing skills just that bad? Shit, does Donghyuck hate you now?!

In the morning, you don’t want to get up.

Neither does Donghyuck.

However, his lucky charms cereal calls out to him, being hungover on an empty stomach sucks.

His breakfast buddy for today is just Jeno, in charge of driving last night, and he senses Donghyuck’s struggles. Donghyuck never plays with his food, especially when it’s lucky charms, and especially when they’re watching TV together on the couch.

“Yo, you good bro?” Jeno mumbles through a mouthful of his food. His eyes leave the daily morning news on the TV to focus on his best friend, who’s clearly way out of it.

Donghyuck hums mindlessly, taking a big bite from his cereal.

“Why are you up so early?”

Donghyuck shrugs, eyes glancing at Jeno, only to land back on his cereal once again.

Jeno grimaces at the lack of responses, placing his bowl of rice and egg on the coffee table. “Jesus Hyuck, just tell me what happened last night,”

Donghyuck sighs, and decides it’s better to tell Jeno than to leave him hanging, he would have some good advice about his situation, right? He clears his throat slowly, gulping, before his arms cross awkwardly, avoiding eye contact.

“I, uh, may have kissed Y/n last night.”

The words come out slowly, softly, as if Donghyuck said it any louder, everyone on campus would know.

Jeno’s eyes widen, and he moves his body to face his friends completely. “Hyuck, are you serious? This is great!”

Donghyuck swallows the rest of his cereal, before nodding, "No, yeah, I agree—well, I would agree, if I just hadn't ran away right after."

Officially, this is the worst thing Donghyuck has ever done at a party. Jeno spent a good 20 minutes scolding Donghyuck, repeating the expression of how disappointed he is, when this could have been the very chance to get you to finally like him.

With Jeno's class only 10 minutes away, he had to stop, but didn't leave without telling Donghyuck to talk things out with you and apologize.

It's way easier said than done, he realizes, as the moment he sees you on campus, Donghyuck feels the thumping of his heart in his eardrums, his knuckles growing white and numb as he grips harshly on his backpack straps.

He tries to push away the anxiety and the urge to turn around and run away and wallow in self pity, and somehow it works. The urges are gone the moment Donghyuck takes a step closer to you, who's lining up by the burrito stand to get some lunch, it completely vanishes when you look up and notice him.

Donghyuck's mind his completely blank, mouth hanging lightly, as he makes his way towards you slowly but surely.

Nothing can stop him from thinking you look pretty much perfect right now, grabbing your burrito and swinging your backpack around to stuff your phone in the front pocket, nothing is ever going to stop the heat travelling ever so quickly to his neck, cheeks, nose, just at the sight of you.

This is it, Donghyuck is right in front of you. One of his hands releases its deathly grip on his backpack, as he reaches out a hand to wave at you. On his lips is an awkward, lopsided nervous smile, and despite that, you can still see the genuine happiness and softness in it.

God, why is he suddenly so attractive to you now?

"Hey, Y/n—"

Donghyuck stops in his tracks, his body freezing, and going limp at the same time, as he feels your presence completely brush by him. Not only have you ignored him, you left a slight nudge to his shoulder.

Donghyuck doesn't enjoy the sensations in his stomach because of what had just happened. He feels regret, the regret of even thinking of walking up to you, and the guilt. All the guilt, from all this time. From the moment you met, to every single snarky and very uncalled for comments he's made about you, every teasing and so fucking frustrating smirk he's given you that's visibly made you the slightest bit upset, the kiss last night.

You don't talk to each other for a hot moment.

Even in class, where everyone expects the both of you to go back and forth about a certain topic, both your mouths are shut.

Every time Donghyuck tries to talk to you, you ignore him, or avoid him.

You have a right to ignore him, right? He ran right after the kiss at the party, he had the guts to try and act normal with you, he's clearly trying to play with you, right?

Some part of you begs that whatever you remember from that night is true, that it was Donghyuck's lips on yours, kissing you so tenderly and lovingly, that it was his hands in yours, his skin burning against your own.

Another parts begs of you to not get your hopes too high, you might get hurt more than you'd like to. And what's your problem, suddenly finding him so very cute and attractive and everything just because he kissed you?

What, just because he made the effort of escorting you outside when someone bumped into you, just because he genuinely asked if you were okay, just because his kiss felt way to genuine, now you're gonna like him?

As much as it is hard to admit, yes. Completely. You've fallen head over heels in love with Lee Donghyuck overnight because his tone was not snarky or snobby like you remember it to be, because even when he's supposed to be inside the party, being with the people as the host, he went out of his way just to make sure you were feeling well

, because Donghyuck looked at you so lovingly, because you know exactly what his look was, because you bet you were looking at him the exact same.

The next time you see Donghyuck other than in lecture halls or hallways or the back of your mind, is a christmas party.

Mark Lee’s Christmas party.

Lee Donghyuck and Mark Lee are known for being two peas in a pod, so there’s no doubt he would be at this party. You just didn’t expect him to look… so fucking cute in his rudolph-the-red-nose-raindeer ugly christmas sweater and raindeer ear headband. The glow in his eyes is captivating to you, instantly drawing you to him.

You hope he doesn’t see you. Partly because you have a god awful santa ugly sweater on you, and also the fact that you’re quite literally gawking at how fine he is tonight.

But alas, the night flies away. You spend most of your time talking to your calc friend Shin Ryujin, who’s excited and jumping around telling you how the girl she’s had a crush on for a solid 8 months has finally agreed to go out on a date with her.

You also spend some time talking to Mark Lee as well, catching up on a lot of things as the last time you talked was months ago. He’s telling you and Ryujin about how his songwriting progress is going, when a certain song gets played by DJ Johnny Suh.

It’s none other than Mariah Carey’s ‘All I want for Christmas is You’, a holiday classic, and Mark is not going to let you just sit down on one of the best bops of the century.

As you’re waving your hands up in the air, Ryujin spinning you around with less-than-innocent giggles, you catch just a slight glimpse of Donghyuck. He’s with his usual friends, Renjun, Jeno, and Jaemin, and they’re all grinning and smiling and dancing like there’s no tomorrow.

Though he looks so happy, the moment he opens his eyes, it’s not as bright as you anticipated them to be. There’s a certain darkness, and you suppose it’s because he’s staring straight at you, but you might have been tripping.

After that, no sign of Donghyuck.

Some part of you tells you to go after him, to just be with him and get back your playful fights and bickering and everything because god, you miss him. Another part tells you to stay put because it’s your fault you got in this whole mess. If you hadn’t been a coward and ignored him, maybe you could be talking, maybe you two could be something more.

You don’t know why you brushed by him that morning, you didn’t even mean to bump shoulders with him. You panicked is all, which caused him to think that you may even hate him now, when it’s the complete opposite.

You hope he knows.

Lee Donghyuck has no idea, however.

He thinks you absolutely hate his guts now, completely ignoring him in class, and in a party, and anywhere you two go. He has nowhere else to confront this too, other than his friends.

As always, Jaemin passes him a drink, and Donghyuck accepts it unknowingly, still speaking to Renjun.

“I mean, whatever I did, can’t be that bad… right?”

Jeno grunts and takes the drink from his hands, shaking his head at Jaemin, and they start arguing, as Renjun gives his response. “Hyuck… you ran away. That’s like the douchiest thing you could do.”

“It’s not like I had bad intentions! I panicked and my feet moved on their own, okay?”

“Okay well, you better explain that to Y/n, because you sound like a douche to me, so she probably sees you as a douche too.”

Donghyuck, stressed and shitting his pants of fear and frustration, slumps in his seat, and starts playing with the Christmas lights taped to his sleeves. Though there could be a thousand different things distracting him right now, hundreds he could be focusing on instead of you, (Jaemin wrestling Jeno for no reason) all he can think about is you.

The way you’re wearing the exact same reindeer headband as him, the way you pick on your sweater as you talked to a beaming Ryujin, how happy you looked on the dancefloor as you danced with Mark. Then his thoughts drift off to that very night he kissed you. He relives the scene in his head, he can feel your breath against his lips and your eyes staring into his, but when he opens his eyes, you’re not there. And he has to change that.

Before any of his friends realize, Donghyuck snatches the abandoned bottle of alcohol that Jaemin left on the floor, and takes a big swig of it. Instantly, all his friends freeze, all gaping at Donghyuck.

“You said you were gonna drive home tonight,” Jeno mumbles grumpily.

Donghyuck smiles wryly at him, before taking another sip. “Need some of that liquid luck if I wanna get with the girl.” His words are lightly muffled by the back of his hand wipes across his lips, and albeit that, he still gets it all over his face again as he takes another drink.

And after 3 more gulps, Donghyuck realizes he really isn’t confident enough to get through this. “Actually, I think I’m gonna need a lot of that liquid luck.”

It’s 11pm, you’re in Mark Lee’s room, looking for some painkillers.

Ryujin had a little too much to drink tonight, and she is in Mark Lee’s bathroom, with Mark Lee himself taking care of her as she throws up into his toilet.

Finally finding the pills in Mark’s drawer, you quickly make a beeline towards the bathroom, which is right down the hall.

However, your course to the bathroom is rudely interrupted by someone who bumps into you quite harshly, and to your surprise, they fall right into your arms. The person who had bumped into you was none other than Lee Donghyuck, all with his rosy cheeks and droopy eyes staring up at you.

Well, this seemed familiar.

“Y−Y/n?” Your rival's confused face finally contorts into a very delighted, joyful and drunk smile as he realizes it’s really you. “Y/n!”

“Donghyuck?”

He stands up straight, only to tumble right back into your arms again, but this time, with his arms circling around your waist. His cheek buries snugly into your shoulder, and you can feel Donghyuck’s breath right by your neck, his lips softly brushing against your skin.

“Lee Donghyuck, are you drunk?”

Much to your surprise, he nods against you, his arms tightening. “Yup,”

“Wha—Hyuck, why are you drunk?”

You have the biggest urge to melt right there in that spot, to throw Donghyuck off you, dig your own grave right in front of Mark Lee’s bedroom, and bury yourself for eternity. Another urge you have, is to place a kiss on Donghyuck’s cheek.

Shit, that name. It has Donghyuck's heart spiraling in ecstasy and bliss, a warm feeling blooming from his stomach and disperses in no time. It causes a grin to spread on Donghyuck’s lips at, and before he can stop it, it's spreading to his lips, and they land clumsily, but softly, on the skin of your neck.

It's warm and loving and so very special, especially when Donghyuck starts giggling and mumbling nonsense into your skin. Why is he so adorable now?

You resist the urge.

“Hey, come on, let’s get these pills to Ryujin and Mark, and then we’ll get you some water, okay?”

Donghyuck is alright with anything you say, as long as he gets to hug you and bring you close to him, he’s down for anything.

Mark is confused why you’re taking such a long time, did you maybe come across something life changing in his room, or something? It can’t be that bad, he doesn’t own anything that crazy, after all.

When you arrive, however, he can say it is life changing.

Because who would have guessed that Lee Donghyuck, your rival and sworn enemy, would be clinging on so dearly to you and grinning into the base of your neck?

“Jesus Christ, what happened to him?”

You throw the pills at Mark, to which he catches very easily, “Man, I don’t even know.”

Ryujin's head pops up at the sound of your voice, twisting around to grin and throw her arms up in the air. “Y/n!! Come here babe!”

Even if you wanted to, you are physically unable to, with a human sized koala stuck to your side and never letting you go.

Donghyuck’s nose scrunches at her words, and he sticks his head out at Ryujin to stick out his tongue childishly as well. “No! Y/n is mine!”

They then start yelling at each other, with Donghyuck pulling you closer to him, and Ryujin attempting to crawl to you. Your breath hitches when you feel Donghyuck’s fingers fit clumsily between yours, and he digs his nose into your neck with more yells at Ryujin.

To your luck, Mark grabs Ryujin, before shoving the pill into her mouth, and passes her his bottle of water. “Drink it, or you’re going to get 10 times sicker.” You take your friend’s distraction as a chance to bolt, but with Donghyuck bolting with you as well, of course.

When you reach Mark’s room once again, you practically throw Donghyuck on his bed, but he doesn’t seem to mind, giggling the moment his head meets the pillows.

“Damn it, Hyuck, why did you have to bump into me…”

Donghyuck’s head springs up at the question, the pout on his lips ever so tempting as he messes Mark’s bedsheets up and brings it closer to his body. “What’s wrong with that?”

You can’t help but sigh, and climb onto Mark’s study chair, squeezing your eyes shut.

You can’t completely tell how you feel about this whole situation. You’re glad you can finally interact and talk to Donghyuck, but at the same time you’re so disappointed that it’s while he’s completely batshit drunk. But then again, if the both of you were sober, there’s no doubt you’d turn the other way and run away from each other. Who knows how long it would have lasted like that.

“Fuck dude, I don’t know! Why did you run away after you kissed me?!”

At your question, Donghyuck squirms around, sitting up, before his eyebrows furrow harshly, and he huffs. “I don’t know! I wanted to stay! I wanted to kiss you again and again and again, especially when you looked so f-fucking pretty, but my legs moved my themselves man!”

He looks up at you, his eyes glazed wet with a sort of clarity, lips pursing, and he grabs your wrist to pull you onto the bed with him. You nearly scream at the sudden action, but instead you groan out in pain when the top of your head knocks into Donghyuck’s jaw.

He doesn’t seem to mind it at all, not a single bit, simply rubbing at the spot. He’s too occupied with something, and that is to make things up with you. Donghyuck still feels a little bit tipsy, but he’s gained so much more consciousness than before, and the surge of adrenaline and alcohol in his veins give him more confidence than he would like.

“Y/n, I like you.” He states blankly. There’s an urge in you to refuse to believe it, to save yourself from some sort of rejection or heart break, but another urge to listen and believe and have hope feels so much better to have. You hope you don’t regret it later.

“I like you, so much. So fucking much, Y/n, I cannot express how frustrated I am because of all my actions.” Donghyuck scoffs, cringing at the memory of your falling face when he ran away, how could he be so fucking stupid? “That night, I meant everything. Every word and action, and the kiss, I wanted to kiss you again, I wanted to love you, call you mine and finally be yours after months of wanting to be yours, but I was scared.”

“Look,” Donghyuck’s hands slide to press against yours, observing each and every crevice and line, tracing the tips of his fingers along them, touch so soft you almost melt. “I know what I did was wrong. And I regret every moment spent away from you after that. I’m glad I’m here, drunk, because if I was sober, I’d be thinking about how fucking stupid this could be, but Y/n, I am stupid!” Donghyuck’s eyes reach up to gaze into yours, his emotions sincere and loving. You can feel the weight on both your shoulders lift as he looks at you so longingly, as if you were the reason for every moment he spends alive, every laugh he’s let slip through his lips, every second he spends smiling.

“So fuck sober Donghyuck, he can go screw himself.” You almost want to laugh, agree, but instead you quietly chuckle and look away. When you look back, Donghyuck no longer looks at you longingly. He looks at you, as if he knows you’re going to spend every moment of his life with him, he’s scared to lose you, but knows he won’t. “I love you,” he whispers.

And suddenly, his hands are released from your hands, one reaching behind you, clasping the small of your back, the other by your waist, pulling you closer. His breath grazes against yours, noses bumping, and you swear your eyelashes brush against his own.

And when Donghyuck’s lips finally come connecting with yours, you realize, Lee Donghyuck is sober.

Well, not completely, but mostly.

You can tell by the way his lips barely taste of any alcohol, he barely smells like alcohol. His kisses are slow, tentative, your lips molding on his softly, unlike all the messy and clumsy drunk kisses you’ve shared.

His hands that hold at your waist are gentle and comforting, sliding up and down to ease your tension. Instantly, you do. Your hands finally release from their previously clenched form, and instead find Donghyuck’s sweater, pulling him closer.

With every kiss you share, with every breath he takes from your lungs, with each touch, you know this is real, he’s not lying, and you’re definitely in love with Lee Donghyuck.

It takes a while to pull away, with slightly tipsy Donghyuck still chasing after your lips, pecking the corner of your mouth, your chin, your nose, your cheek, even, and it leaves you laughing with glee. Donghyuck finally halts, only stopping just to lean back and look at you so adoringly, so lovingly, to sit and bask in your presence and listen to your blissful laughter.

God, how much more perfect could you get?

“You’re so pretty,” Donghyuck finally mumbles under his breath. His fingers trail up to tuck your hair behind your ears, fixing your sweater just after. “Absolutely perfect.”

Your heart swells and jolts in giddiness, your stomach churning with butterflies when Donghyuck leans down to leave one last kiss on your jaw. There’s a permanent smile practically glued to your lips, as he flops down on his bed.

And before you can say anything, before you can ask if everything was real, you turn to see that Donghyuck is completely passed out on his bed, quiet breaths slipping from his lips. Your heart sinks and flips both at the same time because of the sight.

It sinks, because you’re worried. What if Donghyuck didn’t mean all this? Yeah, he might be a little sober, but what if there’s a possibility?

Your questions are all debunked a moment after, because of the reason your heart flips. Donghyuck’s arms are still circled around you, fingers curling around yours, before he tugs you to him roughly, causing you to tumble right next to him on the bed. With a content smile, Donghyuck hums, before leaning forward to tangle your legs together, and stuff his face into the side of your face and ear. You try not to laugh at the ticklish sensations, but in the end, it doesn’t really matter, because not only does Donghyuck laugh along instinctively, he enjoys the sounds of your laughter.

And before you know it, you’re out like a light as well.

Donghyuck wakes up with an aching head, his whole body numb and slightly sweaty, hair stuck up in every single direction. He vaguely recognizes the room, but it still takes him a few minutes to realize he's in Mark Lee's room.

Why is he in Mark's room? What did he do last night? Oh god, did he get drunk again?

When Donghyuck attempts to sit up, he instantly tumbles down due to the immense spinning of his mind, and he falls back to the bed. No, yeah, Donghyuck was definitely drunk last night.

He can't remember what happened last night, just a few fragments of memories here and there, but he won't think too much about it. He'd for sure throw up if he forced his brain to work a little more.

But he doesn't really have to force his brain. Not that much. Not when you come walking in with Mark's apron hanging by your neck, a piece of what seems like pancake between your lips.

Clearly, you don't expect to see Donghyuck awake, and neither is he to see you. When he sees you, your surprised eyes, cheeks stuffed with your breakfast, to the breakfast between your teeth, his memory relieves.

Oh my god Lee Donghyuck kissed you last night. Donghyuck is surprised he can remember it, he usually doesn't remember it, but with an event so big, he's sure he's going to think about it every single night.

You quickly gulp down your food, fixing your apron and appearance in front of Donghyuck, "Y−You're awake!" You cough awkwardly, socks shifting against Mark's carpet, "G−Good morning,"

In Donghyuck's opinion, it really is a good morning.

“Hey,” Donghyuck murmurs, looking away from you. Why did you have to look so adorable in your ugly Christmas sweater and Mark’s damn ‘kiss the cook’ apron?! There’s a light heat that travels to his cheeks, and that’s all Donghyuck needs to know that he’s blushing, and there’s no way he can face you without literally melting.

But to you, you see this as a sign of something negative. You’re not sure, maybe regret, or embarrassment, perhaps he was going to tell you last night was a mistake, everything was a mistake.

Donghyuck bunches up all the courage left in his bones, his blood, everything, just to face you with pursed lips, red cheeks, and soft, shy eyes. It’s really all he can muster, along with his words, “Look, about last night—”

“—Did you regret it?”

Instantly, Donghyuck freezes. “What?”

You shift uncomfortably in your spot, squishing yourself into Mark’s bedroom door frame, hoping it would ease the anxiety blooming in your stomach.

Donghyuck’s shyness and worried state flies away in a second, when he sees the worry in yours, and he knows that his shyness and blushing cheeks won’t do anything to you.

“I mean, you were drunk, so you didn’t mean it… right?”

“Y/n,” Donghyuck’s voice is laced with an emotion, an emotion so deep, one you recognize as a bittersweet fondness. “Y/n…” He repeats. Your heart is beating in your ears, your head almost going light, as he beckons you towards him.

With every step you take towards him, Donghyuck can feel his love tenfold, heart swelling at the way you tug awkwardly at your sweater sleeves, falling deeper in love with you when you sit next to him on the bed.

His eyes furrow when he sees the amount of space you put between you two, his hand reaching out to wrap one of his arms around your waist, the other softly seizing your wrists to pull you closer to him.

“If you can’t tell already,” He murmurs as his fingers fit between yours to play with your fingers. “I don’t.”

His gaze leaves your intertwined hands, glancing back up to yours. Finally, they’re bright with hope, love, surprise, they glisten with adornment and relief. His eyes reflect your own emotions.

“I don’t regret it. Not a single bit. If anything, I should be thankful, because god knows I would never even have the balls to talk to you, not after that one party when I ran, and definitely not when my feelings were scaring me so much.”

Donghyuck’s chin rests on your shoulder, the tips of his hair tickling your ear. “But now, I’m sure of my feelings.” He smiles. “I love you, Y/n. I have ever since that day you stole my answer in calculus.”

You snicker, knocking your head on top of Donghyuck’s, your hands tugging at his to fully intertwine them. “That’s funny, I remember you cursing at me at the end of that class.”

“Hey, I was nervous!”

The room is left in an atmosphere full of laughter, love, actual fucking love, and you realize that you are so butt crazy in love with Donghyuck. A moment later, the room is left in a silence, one so comforting that you don’t want to say anything.

Donghyuck’s rumbling stomach says otherwise, and he hides his face shyly into your shoulder.

“Hey, I was making pancakes for you, want some?”

His head suddenly shoots up from your shoulder, and you’re surprised at the tears that quickly form around his eyes.

“Wha—”

“—Can I kiss you?”

Well, that’s one way to have you swooning. “What?! Hyuck, I just made you breakfast!”

“And that’s a very valid reason for me to kiss you. Heck, marry you!”

And when you’re left speechless, your lips slightly gaped, Donghyuck panics a little. He just got you, how could he already freak you out?

However, the way the corner of your lips curl up indicates that you don’t actually hate the idea, and before he can stop himself, Donghyuck is reaching out and connecting your lips into a kiss.

Oh my god, when you kiss him back, it feels like a dream come true. This time, you still taste like the peach lip balm you use, but with a little tinge of peppermint (he suspects from the stash Mark keeps in the kitchen), and he loves every second your lips spend between his.

Your hand creeps up to tangle in his messy bedhead hair, and you smile lightly into the kiss at how messy it feels.

It seems like the both of you want to kiss forever, never let go, after years of pining, and you truly think that situation is happening, but the thought is short lived as the door slams open.

“Hey Y/n, is Hyuck—Jesus christ!”

You both part, but your plan to fly to the other side of the bed is ruined, with Donghyuck’s arms wrapped around you.

Not only is Mark Lee at the door, but Ryujin, awake and very much sober, is there too, cackling on the floor.

“On my bed! My fucking bed!”

Donghyuck merely shrugs, wiping the corner of his lips smugly, “Do you mind? We’re kind of having a moment—” His façade shatters in a moment, when you smack at the back of his head.

“No pancakes for you.”

“Wait, no, I’m sorry!”

So, does that answer the ongoing question of 'is Lee Donghyuck drunk'? Yeah, he's drunk.

Lee Donghyuck may be sober everyday, but he feels drunk in love every time he’s with you. (You cringe at his words as you try to dodge his kisses on your cheeks, shaking your head, “Hyuck, that’s way too corny.”)

465 notes · View notes

najaemism · 1 year

Text

midnight rain.

— he was sunshine, i was midnight rain.

PAIRING. na jaemin x reader

CATEGORY. social media au, angst, fluff maybe, exes to ???, singer!reader, pediatrician!jaemin

WARNINGS. language, alcohol consumption, mentions of death (not major)

SUMMARY. sometimes you just get some kind of haunted, and you swear you never really think of him anymore—except on midnights like this.

STATUS. on going!

NOTE. sometimes self-care is impulsively writing and posting an angsty exes to maybe lovers smau based on a taylor swift song :D stream midnights! ignore timestamps! updates might be slow so im sorry in advance 😭👍🏼 send me an ask/dm if u want to be added to the taglist (or if ur in the permanent taglist and u dont want to be tagged here!)

PLAYLIST. i. midnight rain - taylor swift, ii. maroon - taylor swift, iii. bigger than the whole sky - taylor swift, iv. the 1 - taylor swift, v. afterglow - taylor swift.

— extended playlist!

PARTS !

accounts part 1 part 2 part 3 part 4 part 5 part 6

part 7 part 8 part 9 part 10

BACKGROUND + ADDITIONAL INFO !

everyone’s aged up! they’re around 28-30 y/o

jaemin, jeno, and hyuck are all doctors.

jaemin is a pediatric resident, jeno is a general surgery resident, and hyuck is an internal medicine resident

y/n is a singer-songwriter and is friends with mark, renjun, and yangyang.

mark is a producer/singer/songwriter that always works with y/n, renjun is an actor and singer, and yangyang is a filmmaker.

y/n and yangyang have been best friends since college and he is staying with y/n while he’s looking for a new place

light mode = y/n’s pov, dark mode = jaemin’s pov

TAGLIST. open.

#jaemin x reader #k-radio!#neoturtles #celesteves #hiraya-m #jaemin smau #jaemin imagines #jaemin scenarios #jaemin angst #jaemin fluff #na jaemin #nct #nct dream #nct x reader #nct smau #social media au #smau #smau: midnight rain #Spotify

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ethereal-engene · 2 years

Text

nap time w/ ENHYPEN (hyung line)

pairing: ENHYPEN hyung line x gn!reader (established relationship)

genre: fluff & slice of life // warnings: none // WC:~2.24k

summary: as the title suggests nap time with hyung line!

note: I hope you enjoy this as & that it reminds you that rest is just as important work.

──・──・・ ♡ ・・──・──

Heeseung

Nap time with Heeseung is mix of comfort and chaotic-ness. He loves cuddling with you which is no surprise. Something tells me before you two actually nap, he’s probably on his phone playing a game. Trying his best not to disturb you as you give into your tiredness.

Let’s be honest though, he isn’t the best at being quiet for too long. He’s cheering as he passes this level of the game he’s been grinding on for god knows how long. With that being said though, you’ll pat his chest softly as a reminder that he needs to be more quiet. Muttering a sorry to you and goes back to his game.

Did I mention, he loves having you lay on his chest? It makes him feels all warm and that he can protect you from things. A somewhat foolish belief but it helps him feel better. If there’s one thing he can do for you, it’s making sure you get rest when you need it. Y’all are both hard-workers, so it’s quite easy for you two to get so lost in the zone leaving no time to actually sit down & live life.

Before he joins you in dreamland, he’ll pepper your face with kisses. To the best of his ability, he’ll also try to bring the blanket closer to cover you - wanting to make sure you don’t get to cold. Somehow throughout the nap time, you get off of Heeseung’s chest and end up next to him. But whenever he feels like you’re the tiniest bit too far away from him, he brings you in closer.

In the case that he wakes up before you and realizes that it’s now dinnertime. Instead of waking you up gently, Heeseung decides to jump on the bed and shake you awake. Besides at this point in y’all’s relationship, he knows that you’d sleep through the gentle shaking or nudging. He unfortunately has been left with no choice but to wake you up as a child would. Not going to lie though, he sometimes enjoys it.

When your eyes finally flutter open to be met with Heeseung’s eyes glaring at you, you try not to scream. Lightly hitting him and asking what time it is. Only for you to hear what time it is and hitting again with “Why didn’t you wake me up earlier?? Now I’m not going to sleep tonight”. This always end up with him shrugging and telling you that he did try. Don’t worry, you end up apologizing as always and Heeseung knows you mean well. Sleeping at night with him is just as easy as it for both of you during nap time. Sure it might take a little longer but before you know it, the sun is already starting to rise when you wake up.

↓ rest of hyung line below ↓

──・──・・ ♡ ・・──・──

Jay

Oh boy. You know damn well this boy naps so much. Anywhere and anytime. So nap time with him is literally the dream. Nothing but comfort and coziness with Jay.

He loves you and naps so to him this is a major win. I feel like he’d be the one to just join you as you’re already napping. His schedule was short one today and decided to visit you. Calling your name trying to see where you are. Jay is slightly worried that you’re in danger until his eyes are greeted with your napping form.

A sigh of relief coming out of him. Before he slips in between the sheets to nap with you, he gives you a forehead kiss. Jay knows that when you nap, you’re a deep sleeper so kissing you won’t wake you up. It is really a blessing and curse with you being a deep sleeper. A blessing because if he accidentally makes a noise or two, you won’t kill him for it. A curse because if someone were to enter your apartment while you were napping, god knows what the heck could happen.

Anyhow, he’ll big spoon you and together you nap. Even when the days are warm and the sun is shining, the warmth between you two isn’t ever too hot. Jay loves napping with you because it puts him at ease knowing that you & him get to rest. The life of being an idol and the life of being a full-time student surely is restless. Nonetheless, y’all somehow make it look effortless. What a power couple!

Waking up together after a good nap is one of the best feelings in the world. It’s a tiny glimpse of the possible future that awaits you two. You move your body to face Jay’s face. His face is resting until he takes notice of your presence. Only then does his face turn into a smile and in turn makes you smile and now you guys are looking at each other like idiots in love....which is accurate.

It’s almost impossible for you two to get out of bed to make dinner. The bed and vibes are so comfy. That is until one of y’all’s stomaches cries out of hunger. When hearing that, suddenly for Jay getting out of bed is the easiest thing to do. Grabbing ahold of your hands to get you out of bed too.

“I can’t let my baby be hungry! Come on, let’s go make dinner togetherrrr. I forgot to mention that I got the ingredients to make your favorite tonight” He cheerily said & just like that, you’re up and out of bed as well.

Giving a him a quick peck and whispering “How in the world did I ever get so lucky with you?”

A cheeky smile appears on his face and the rest of the night takes place in the kitchen. Cooking up a storm together and admiring the dish afterwards.

──・──・・ ♡ ・・──・──

Jake

Oddly enough I feel like he doesn’t take a lot of naps. He’s very energetic and runs on whatever he’s on. But that’s not to say that he occasionally take naps. I’m a firm believer that even if you say you hate naps, you still take them from time to time. Anyway, he would be have to be really tired to nap with you. Coming home from interviews and his schedule, he’s finally able to visit you.

Not knowing where you’d be once announcing that he was home, checking everywhere until he reaches the bedroom. At this point in y’all’s relationship, he shouldn’t be too surprised that you’re napping. While he was following his schedule, you were at university attending classes and studying. It tires you out and napping is a way for you to get your energy boost before returning to your daily routine.

He actually passed by you and somehow missed your napping form on the couch. When he spots you, he fights the urge not to take a photo of you because he thinks you look so freaking cute. Let’s be honest, he probably does snap a photo or two to add it to his collection. It’s embarrassing to know that there is indeed a collection of photos of sleepy you in his phone. Manz cannot help it. He takes pride in it though because when he’s missing you, he’ll look at them.

Back to the imagine, he’ll carry you over to the bed that way both of you can nap together. Tucking you in before he settles in the bed as well. Jake softly mutters to you, even though you won’t hear him, something along the lines of “I’m proud of you” or “Your hard work gives me strength”. It puts him at ease knowing that he got to sprinkle in some positive affirmations before falling and landing into dreamland. Jake knows how much you value words of affirmation and that someone actually cares about the work you do.

To you, it serves as another reminder that love isn’t only a word, it is also actions or comes in another form of actions. It is one thing to say it, I love you, but an entire other thing for it to be shown.

When you two awake from the much needed nap, you wake up confused on where you are until you take notice of the room and conclude that he likely have moved you into the bed. Besides that piece of evidence, Jake’s arm were enveloped around your body. Another big spooner in ENHYPEN. He claims that it helps him sleep better, even as you roll your eyes after hearing that, you still scoot in so that there is no longer any empty space separating you two.

By the time y’all actually get out of bed to make dinner, night has fallen upon the bright day that was there before the nap was taken. That must have been one hell of a nap for you guys to have napped that longs. Head scratches and sounds of sigh are exchanged. When Jake observes that this revelation takes a slight toll on your attitude, he does his best to distract you from it. To him, this isn’t something that should be dwelled upon. You should be able to rest when you’re tired instead of ignoring the clear signs of exhaustion.

So he makes it mission, to make the rest of tonight a good one. Jake orders y’all’s favorite foods and spends the night relaxing with you. Jake even lets you pick a movie to watch & low and behold, it’s one of your comfort movies. He has the biggest smug look plastered on his face because his mission was successful while y’all watch it.

──・──・・ ♡ ・・──・──

Sunghoon

Very similar to Jake, I don’t think he takes a lot of naps. Only when the fatigue gets the best of him and is in desperate need of a recharge.

Howeverrrr, when you do nap with him, it’s one of the best naps. You’d be on your phone or reading a book while your legs are draped over his. The evening sunlight is working with the A/C is blowing cool enough to make the atmosphere perfect for an afternoon nap.

You tell yourself that it’d be a shame if you didn’t just rest your eyes for 5 minutes - which of course leads to a full on siesta (siesta means afternoon nap. it’s one of my favorite words!). Sunghoon, on the other hand, is in charge of playing the music as he scrolls through social media apps.

Letting the media consume his undivided attention, all up till the moment he doesn’t hear an answer from you. He was going to ask you if these pictures were worth posting or not. Shifting his phone away from his face, he gets a clear picture of what just happened.

While it’s not the most comfortable position to be in, he finds himself taking in your facial features. Sunghoon wonders how long you’ve had that there and why you’re so beautiful. As mentioned before, the sun is shining and brushes your face as if it your face is nature’s canvas. It really does a number on highlighting your gorgeousness.

Thinking to him, wow. I’m really dating someone who just takes my breath away. I must have done something grand in my past life to have them. Their existence brings so much joy in my life, I hope they know that I love them and that they never get tired of me. Sigh, they really got me talking all of this sappy stuff to myself. Only for him to quietly laughing to himself.

With those thoughts swimming around in his pretty little head, he starts to dream about all of the experiences and fun dates, he wants to take you on. Slowly but surely, Sunghoon’s imagination gets the best of him and those ideas welcome him as he dozes off. Ever so often, he’d smile and anyone could tell that he was clearly having a happy dream.

You wake up first and stretch a bit. Trying to find out what time it is and all of that jazz. Getting up and out of bed wasn’t too hard. For some reason, it almost slipped your mind that you were with Sunghoon. You looked up from the where you previously were and gushed at the sight of him. He truly looked like he was having the nap of his life. It made you wonder about how tired he had to have been to give into napping, but then again. They were preparing for a comeback so their schedule was packed.

You didn’t want to wake up and went to grab a cup of water. Walking back to the room, Hoon is wiping his eyes awake. He calls to you and asks why didn’t you wake me up with his slightly raspy voice. (I’m ngl, I’d probably die if I heard that). Only for you to respond with a shaking of your head no and “I didn’t want to wake you. You looked like you were in need of that nap more than me. Are you sure, you’re getting enough rest at night, baby?” asking with a concerned face.

“Don’t worry about me. I promise, I am. The full schedules must have made me weary enough for me to knock out like that.”

He takes your cup & sips from it and kisses you on the cheek. Sunghoon begins to make his way to the kitchen and beckons you to follow. The rest of the day is spent cuddled up against in each other talking about everything and anything.

oh wow I almost forgot but please do reblog this if you liked it! (preferably not an empty reblog b/c that doesn’t help) or send an ask/message to me! along with comments I love hearing feedback and what you thought about it.

thank you so much reading this and look forward to my other fics! I hope you take care <3

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soobnny · 2 years

Text

nap of a star — nishimura riki. best friends to lovers. eventual established relationship. zombie apocalypse au. fluff. heavy angst.

synopsis. nishimura riki was sixteen when you taught him what love was. he is still sixteen when the universe teaches him of loss and rips you out of his hands. (1.9k words)

go to “all of us are dead” masterlist

Nishimura Riki was sixteen when you taught him what love was.

It was confusing at first. He didn’t understand why he felt funny whenever you would bump your shoulders with his, why his eyes would trail towards your direction after he would tell a joke, why he’d search for your face in every room, and why he was more aware of his actions when you were around.

You’d approach him, he’d start to sweat. You’d talk, and he’d notice the way your lips would curve up. And even though he didn’t know it yet, love was residing deep in his bones.

And he swears he didn’t intend on it; he’s only sixteen years of age and more often than not, he found that he didn’t care much about anything. He does things when needed, he only says what he needs to say, only listens when it interests him, but with you, he finds himself smiling at the most unexpected times.

He’s so drawn to you, with everything that you do. And suddenly, everything is about you.

The flower he sees while walking to school reminds him of that time the two of you had visited the flower shop and he had placed one on your ear. The shell he finds at the beach reminds him of your favorite pearl earrings. He was in love, and maybe it was because he hadn’t known love otherwise that he never truly realized it before.

He supposes he should feel embarrassed that you’ve managed to seize him entirely, but somehow it didn’t matter.

It’s a Sunday when you find one of the rare photos you had together with Riki displayed on the lock screen of his phone.

“Riki?”

“Hm?”

You still remember the day it was taken. It was after the both of you spent the entire day visiting downtown thrift stores and eating at your favorite stalls, the same day you stayed up talking on the phone until dawn.

You were the one who took the photo, smiling with him at the camera while the two of you wore the most absurd pieces of clothing you found at the thrift store (you had shoved a handful of clothes in his direction and asked him to wear it. How could he refuse when you looked so happy handing them over to him?). There's a light tint of pink on his cheeks, and it’s obvious he’s trying to hold in a smile by covering his lips with a peace sign, and you had your face squished with his.

“You have us on your phone screen?”

It’s almost record-breaking time when his face flushes red. And he’s trying, really trying, to ignore your eyes because he hadn’t meant for you to see that, but it’s difficult when you’re smiling at him like that.

“You weren’t supposed to see that.” He grabs his bag from you, and he’s just standing there, but it’s clear he’s getting shy and flustered because he had just been caught red-handed.

“It just reminds me that no matter what happens, I have you,” Riki mutters quietly, eyes shifting towards your bedroom door as if it was the most interesting thing he’s ever seen. “Do you like me?”

The absurdity and straightforwardness of your question has him choking on his own spit, and he looks at you with wide eyes. He swears he can hear everything in your room, including the loud thuds of his heart beating through his chest.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a while… if you like me or not. I mean - it’s not like you’re really trying to hide it.” Riki’s mouth drops open and he’s quick to cross his arms defensively, shaking his head and trying to unconvincingly persuade you that you were wrong.

“For what it’s worth, I really like you too. A lot.” Your voice grows quieter and Riki immediately drops the hands he had folded over his chest. “Really?” A soft smile tugs on his lips.

“Yeah.”

Riki spends the entirety of sixteen being in love with you.

Nishimura Riki is still sixteen when the universe teaches him of loss and rips you out of his hands.

“Are you okay?” Riki asks. He sounds horrendous.

You’re propped in a makeshift bed he had made you two nights ago after he had devastatingly found out you had been scratched. He didn’t take the news well - sobbing in your arms until he fell asleep. The events of that night are a blur, but you can still remember the haunting words Riki had repeated, “I can’t lose you, please… please tell me this isn’t real.”

The virus was taking an abnormally long time to overtake your system, and every night, Riki stays by your side to hold onto the last moments you will probably have together.

You’re able to see out the window to your left from where you’re laying, where the school grounds had been broken and vandalized, and where people you used to call your friends roam freely on the grounds - barely recognizable. You remember thinking of how you were going to be one of them soon in what you thought were your last hours.

On the first night, you and Riki talked about the day you had slipped out of your house and into the darkness outside to spend time with each other. You had class the next day, but you chose to spend the entire night in a park, a secret to the sleeping world around you. You recall holding onto each other and watching the sun rise. Riki remembers the tiredness weighing down his eyes, but he’d stay up another hundred hours to do it all again.

He falls asleep crying and holding onto you until all he’ll ever know is you.

On the second night, Riki cries again. He repeats, “please don’t leave me” as you tell him about the day you held hands and raced through a crowd to get on your favorite rides at the amusement park - your very first date. The sun was beaming, and the day felt timeless. He sang you to sleep on the way home.

Riki curses to Whoever is Above as you cry into each other’s arms. The both of you fall asleep exhausted, and you make him promise to try and get out of there alive, for the both of you.

Tonight, he lays beside you on the little table he had laid you on to rest. You had become a little more unresponsive - you knew it, and he knew it. There was nothing left he could do.

And you don’t know how hard it is for him not to cry again when every part of his body was screaming for him to do so because he was so afraid. He wasn’t ready to let you go. You were still so young. He had practiced not crying earlier while he was out looking for food and water at the school’s abandoned cafeteria, but nothing could ever prepare him for this.

When he finally speaks, his voice comes out broken and small.

“I’m gonna miss you.”

You have your head rested on his chest, and you let yourself absorb the gentle rise and fall of it. He feels the faint pressure of your hand holding onto his, and when you squeeze onto his hand, he knows you’re telling him it’s okay to cry.

“I’m gonna miss you so much.”

His next words come out in a sob. Riki shuts his eyes closed, running a hand through your hair and breathing in your scent. He tries not to think of anything else, he tries to just be with you. He doesn’t speak anymore, he just allows himself to cry and feel as he holds onto your limp body. Amid everything that was happening, he still felt it deep within his voice.

He still felt love.

And then he hears your voice.

“Sing for me?”

Riki takes a deep breath, and he tries to sing for you, like he always did before, despite his voice being a little wobbly and broken. “I can see even if you're not by my side. I feel you even if you don't say a word.”

It's just the two of you in that room, with time stilling in that tiny room as he sings for you, pressing gentle kisses on the top of your head as if it was the last time he’ll ever be able to do so. “Even if it's just in your memories, my heart is always dancing, just like before.”

You didn’t say much as you listened to his quiet singing.

“I want to be your nap so I can dream with you no matter when, as if nothing had happened. The moments that felt like magic and the brilliant night sky, they're on my mind.” When Riki finishes singing, he lets out the most pained noise you had ever heard. As if it was finally dawning on him that he had to let you go soon. His first love, maybe his only love.

“Don’t be sad…” You try to lift your hand in a weak attempt at cupping his cheek. “Riki, you are the best thing that has ever happened to me.”

There’s a long silence before you see Riki’s face visibly break. You see the way he slowly loses composure of himself until he’s reduced to a sobbing mess. He buries his face deep in your hair, embarrassed. He doesn’t want you to see him like this, he doesn’t want this to be your last memory of each other.

Everything is so overwhelming, and it hurts everywhere. In his head, in his head, in his eyes. Everywhere hurts.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’ll visit you in your dreams.” He keeps his eyes shut closed when he feels your lips press softly on his chin. “Riki, look at me. Please…”

He couldn’t.

“Riki, please… for me?”

He wills himself to open his eyes and look at you, but the moment his gaze meets yours, he finds himself tearing up again. He knows he’s running out of time. He takes a breath too big for him and he’s reduced to a coughing fit.

When he meets your gaze another time, he realizes this could possibly be it. He tries to regain his composure before pulling you closer to his body.

Riki traces a finger on your face, watching you silently and studying your every feature before leaning down to place multiple kisses on the spots he had just traced. “Thank you for teaching me to love, and for loving me in return.” A quiet whisper.

He sees blood dripping down your nose.

“You’ll be okay, right?”

He knows he won’t be. He knows he’s so afraid of living without you, he knows it’s going to be difficult finding the will to survive the undead when you are no longer by his side, but he promised you he would try to live, so he puts everything into the lie that slips from his mouth.

“I’ll be okay.”

“You have to let me go now, you know what to do.” He feels you loosen a big breath and he nods his head understandingly. Riki places one last kiss on the corner of your lips as he breathes out a final ‘I love you’.

He wakes up the next day alone and bloody.

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iyeonjuni · 2 years

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THE TWO OF US — S. JY

synopsis: when the chase for your dreams seem to have no end, you meet someone who’s walking the same road. two swimmers and a fleeting romance, could the both of you touch the stars that always seemed so far out of reach?

pairing: sim jaeyun x fem!reader

word count: 9.7k (a lot shorter than i thought it would be)

genre: highschool!au, swimming!au, strangers to lovers, first love!au, fluff, angst

warnings: insecurities, profanity, very mean coaches

note: it’s finally here! as a 1.3k celebration i’ve been wanting to put out another long fic for a while now and here it is! swimmer jake is in action!! thank you tiff @yeonify for beta reading this for me!! i also i know nothing about swimming competitions but i did watch 2 and a half seasons of free to know what i’m doing ,, hope you all enjoy ‘the two of us’ and let me know what you think!! <3

You watched as the clouds begin to merge with one another, the once blue skies slowly turning to grey. And yet, you stay motionless— the water beneath you keeping you afloat, and the low tide drifting you across the surface.

Drip.

Drop.

The droplets from the sky splatter against your face as it runs down your cheekbones. The raindrops grow bigger and the drizzle is frequent, causing you to close your eyes and feel the water rinse you from above. And even so, you refused to leave the pool— your daydreams filled with frustration, and your mind full of regrets.

Second place again? Don’t dream of entering nationals.

You should be used to it by now— the voices that constantly haunt your self-esteem. It has been five whole years and yet you hear the exact same words. Second place. It seems like it’s all you could ever get no matter how hard you try and how long you practice for. You hate how you could feel your tears in the corner of your eyes, though the rain masks it up. You take a deep breath as you sink yourself, the water engulfing your body a whole. You come up to catch your breath and just like magic, the rain seems to stop.

You pushed yourself off the edge of the pool as you grabbed your towel, heading to the locker rooms to rinse the chemical infused water off your body. A deep sigh leaving your lips as you swung your towel around your neck. It had been a while since the competition had ended, paying no mind to whether people were still here. It was better this way, since you didn’t want anyone to question why you were still hanging around the pool after everything ended.

Tossing your towel on the seats you head for the shower room to rinse yourself, the shower quickly warms up your body from the rain. You quickly got changed and grabbed your belongings from your locker before heading out— till the sound of chatter heightened your senses.

From the corner of your eye, you see a young male with the coach who you seemed to recognise from the male swim team. The male appears to be looking at the floor, as the coach constantly pokes his shoulder. It’s definitely not a heartwarming scene, but it’s something that you’re familiar with.

“At this rate, you won’t go to nationals.” You could hear the coach speak, and somehow it feels like he’s taking a jab at you.

“Second place! Is that all you could do?” Second place. It hits way too close to home. And you felt like if you continued to listen any longer, you would fall into the void of your thoughts once again. You pretend like you heard nothing, and quickly turned away from the pair as you left the building.

There are little to no stars above and the glow of the moon is blurred behind the fog of clouds. Cars are driving past you as you sit underneath the shade of the bus stop, sighing for what felt like the nth time. Thinking back to your conversation with your coach— were dreams always so hard to achieve?

Ever since you were little you loved the feeling of water against your skin, whether it was freezing cold or lukewarm— you had always enjoyed the way it embraced you whole. When you thought you couldn’t love being in the water even more— you learnt to swim, loving the speed, the resistance and the freedom it gave you to travel amongst the waves. You love swimming, and you want to make this a part of your life— to be remembered by something you are passionate about.

But now, just like the moon above— the vision of your dreams seem to be unclear. Like the stars in the sky, your goal seems to be so out of reach.

Always one step behind, and always trailing behind.

You suddenly felt a presence next to you. Usually you wouldn’t pay no mind, but somehow an unknown force brought your eyes to face the person. A male wearing the same uniform as you— instantly recognising him from the swim team, bangs still wet and a solemn expression painted on his face. You watch him as he looks up at the sky and sighs— a sense of deja vu hitting you as he’s acting the exact way you did prior. You’re drawn to him, and you realise he must be the boy you accidentally overheard in the hallway of the locker room.

And although you did not know his name, nor anything about him— you could somehow understand how he feels.

“It’s so far, isn’t it?” You didn’t realise you had said it out loud, though the male doesn’t seem to be fazed by a stranger talking to him unexpectedly.

The both of you look up at the skies. You have seen brighter stars before, but today— it just seemed like a speck of dust amongst the vastness of darkness.

“Will we ever get there?” The boy wonders and you’re surprised that his voice is a lot more soft spoken than you thought. Though it sounds soothing, complimenting the crisp air of the Autumn breeze.

You didn’t know how to reply. Personally you’re not so sure what your future lies ahead and you’re afraid to give him an answer.

So you hum in response, and yet he doesn’t question any further. A comfortable feeling of tranquility between the two of you, as you watch the vehicles run past.

The male stands up from his seat next to you, catching your attention as you look up at him. Spotting the bus halting at the station you’re at, you realise that it must be his ride home. He leaves you as he joins the line to get on, but just before he gets too far from your sight— he turns around to look at you.

“I’m Jake, by the way.” He smiles at you and which leaves a strange feeling in your heart. You realised, you haven’t had anyone genuinely smile at you for such a long time. Your team had never spared any glances your way, your coach was always so angry with you— and even your parents don’t seem to look at you the way he does. A sudden burst of energy, you return him with a smile of your own, your first smile of the day.

“I’m Y/N.”

There’s a line between you and the rest of your team. Sometimes you wonder whether you were really lacking, or was it because they were too good at the sport. Either way, you set yourself expectations every practice— hoping that you’ll cross the hurdle between first and second place.

After your last competition, your coach made you swim extra laps after practice. You tried to think positively, treating this a chance to practice and improve yourself more. Though, sometimes you wished you were as good as the rest of your team. You didn’t understand how your team always managed to get first in every category, and then there was you who grabbed second place every competition you participated in.

After the last lap, you decided to stay in the water a little longer. You had always preferred the water while you were alone. You watched the ripples of the pool, your fingers playing with the water droplets as you took your mind off things. When was the last time you had fun?

But your fun was short lived, hearing the faint footsteps entering the pool. Perhaps you have overstayed your welcome, you quickly swim to the edge of the pool. Pushing yourself up on the ledge, you stand up to grab a towel and leave. Your franticness makes you bump into an unknown figure, causing you to bow repeatedly.

“Sorry, I’m leaving now-”

“Y/N…?”

You look up to see the familiar boy you met at the bus stop, shirtless from waist up making you step back in shock— almost causing you to slip till he reached for your arm to maintain your balance.

“Thank you…Jake.” You sigh in relief as you stand back up, the feeling of his wrist around yours still linger.

“It’s no problem, what are you doing here?”

“Had to do extra laps.” You sound defeated in comparison to the look on your face. You seem way too happy to be doing extra laps, but perhaps it’s because of the boy standing in front of you.

The silence was a little awkward between the two of you, and before it could get any worse— you decided to take your leave, bowing once more before walking past him.

“Do you-” His voice made you turn to look at him, almost a little too quickly. “…want to watch me practice?”

You didn’t hesitate to give him a slight nod, and you swore you could see the slight brightness in his features and the small smile that prints on his lips. He quickly does his warm ups on the side of the pool while you make yourself home on the bench.

He steps onto the platform, his toes curling inwards at the edge of the pool before pushing himself for a dive. You watched him as he spreads his arms out wide, his broad back along with the length of his arms resisting against the water. You assume he specialises in Butterfly, with the way his form is straight as he forces himself up with the movement of his arms. The splash against the water was minimal and he’s going at a steady speed— it almost makes you wonder why his coach was so hard on him when he’s doing such a difficult swim style so effortlessly. You had never watched the male swim team, but if he was always second place— how good were the other players?

Watching him swim was an eye opener— you think that the distance between him and the stars should be a lot closer than you. Everything about him was flawless, and that he did not deserve to be told like he couldn’t pursue his dream.

Just the sounds of water splashing against the kicks of Jake’s feet, and the catches of breath you could hear when Jake’s head comes up to leave the water. You wonder what thoughts are going through his head? The more you watch him swim, the more interested in him.

“Do you want to race?” You don’t realise that Jake had just finished his laps. He places his arms on the edge of the pool to look at you. You realise he looks like a puppy in water, and your heart couldn’t help but feel warm at the sight. You quickly toss your towel next to you as you begin your warm ups.

“Bring it on.”

Jake won.

And even so, it didn’t feel as bad as the races you did. Not because it wasn’t a real competition, but maybe because your mind was at ease with him around. It was like a reminder to you of why you enjoyed being in water so much, you have not had this much fun in a long time. Though, all fun things come to an end.

“Do you think this is the time to play around?” You suddenly hear a shout coming from the entrance of the pool, you turn your head to see your coach and he does not look happy the slightest.

You quickly pushed yourself off the pool and stumbled towards him. Refusing to look at him as your head held low.

“At this rate, you’re going to be second place forever!” The volume of his voice is enough to attack your emotions, feeling the familiar burn in your throat. You’re mustering the courage to say something until you see Jake stand in front of you.

“We were practising together.” Jake looks up at your coach sternly.

You peek up to see your coach looking at you, then at Jake before looking back at you.

“As you both should, since the both of you are bringing your own teams down with your second places…” It hurts more than it should, and suddenly the vision of your dreams began to shatter.

“We will go to nationals.” You look up at Jake in surprise, you never thought that he could say such words with confidence. And somehow, your admiration for him grew even more. Even with such hurtful words coming from your coach, he doesn’t seem to falter at all.

“We’ll see about that.” And your coach walks away from the both of you. Once he was out of sight, you could see Jake lose his balance as he let out a sigh of relief. His stumble causing your reflexes to hold him and he gives you a smile.

“Let’s prove him wrong.”

You remember the first day of your school year. Excited to dip your feet in the large waters of your school’s swimming pool. The main reason you joined Belift High was because of its alumni, as well as the countless prodigies they have supported. In its history, there was not a single time where Belift High swimmers had gotten anything below first place. And you thought that you could walk in the same shoes as them.

You knew it wasn’t a walk in the park, but you didn’t know how competitive it would be.

You had admiration for your current coach, the very person who brought golden trophies to Belift each year. You respected him— you still did, but his words had always brought a knife to your heart one stab at a time.

“What is your future goal?” You remember he asked each student after the first swimming heats of the semester. You remember the expressions on your team’s faces, all sporting bright smiles and eyes glistening with their dreams in mind. You could see your coach acknowledging and nodding at their goals too. So you did the same, your innocence showing and stars in your eyes as your coach asked you the very question he asked his team.

“I want to go to nationals. I want to swim for the country.” And it was then you watched your coach’s expression turn sour, his smile wiped off his face instantly and with a deep breath he gave you the words you least wanted to hear.

“What place did you get today?” His voice is stern and his expression is unreadable. Though with your own instincts, you could tell your coach was not happy in the slightest.

“Second.”

“At this rate, nationals isn’t even close.”

You could feel your throat burn as tears started reaching at the corner of your eyes. The fact that your team was snickering at you doesn’t help your emotions either. Though you wiped your tears with the back of your hand, hoping you could control your broken heart as well as the dimming fire within you.

And even years later when your coach asks the same question, you tell him the very, and he replies with the same.

Today, your coach bumped into you in the hallways mentioning how he wanted to talk to you and the rest of the swim team after school. Usually in situations like these, it either meant two things: you were probably going to be scolded again or there is a competition coming up soon.

And though you should have been used to it by now, you always dread every meeting with your team.

As you made your way to the swimming pool, you took notice of a group of boys coming out of the locker rooms. And there you spotted the boy that you had been slowly but surely, growing a friendship with.

“Hey!” He pants.

“Hey.” You smile back at him as you watched him catch his breath. And you stopped to stare at him a little longer, his hair wet from practice, you could even smell the chlorine mixed with whatever shampoo he uses.

“Did you hear about the upcoming competition?”

You assume that’s what your coach was going to talk to you about today and you could feel your heartbeat out of your chest. It’s no surprise to have competitions once in a while, but this always meant that your coach will train you harsher than before, especially with your coach’s distaste in your skills anyway.

“I think it’s what I’m here for anyway.” You smiled at Jake and you watched him as he gave you a pat on the back.

“You can do it!” He smiles at you with a little fist bump before his friends pull him away. You gave him a wave and waved back before turning back to his friends, you could see them tease Jake as he pushed them away in laughter.

At least Jake and his team get along well.

And as expected, a competition was coming up soon and your practice is scheduled to be a lot more tougher than usual. You were told there may be a couple of scouts and recruiters during this competition and it would be a good chance for the team to get noticed if they ever wanted to be in the national team. The news gave you a burst of confidence, and even though your coach kept looking at you as if he didn’t expect much— you wanted to see the look on his eyes when he realises the potential you could carry.

To do this, you decided that you needed to train a little more and a little harder around your current training regime. You would’ve wanted to ask your team to practice with you but seeing as they do not care about you in any way, you’ve thought about asking your only swim friend.

Speaking of the devil, you watched the classroom window as he walked right past. You quickly got up from your seat, the friction causing a sudden screech alerting the entire room— you ran out of the door to catch up with Jake who was just heading to his own homeroom next to you.

“Jake!” You called for him and he turned around, a big smile on his face as if he was happy to see you.

“I wanted to ask you something, I’m not sure if you’re up for it though…” For some reason you felt your confidence diminish by the way he’s looking at you, he’s staring right into your eyes and that alone left your blood rushing up to your cheeks in embarrassment.

God, he is beautiful.

“What is it?” He tilts his head. And his voice sounds so nice too.

“Ah-” Your admiration interrupted as you went back on topic, “I wanted to ask if you want to do morning swim practice with me for the upcoming competition?”

You refuse to look at him, afraid that he’ll laugh at you for some reason or even question why you’re trying so hard. You slowly take a peek at him and you see him checking his phone, leaving you confused.

“Sure! I have nothing in the mornings.” He then gives his phone towards you, “Give me your number I’ll call you!”

The whole ordeal is happening too fast and way too well for you to imagine. You almost couldn’t believe what you had just heard. You slowly take his phone with both hands and insert your digits. And with a smile on Jake’s face he places his phone in his pocket and waves you goodbye. You wave back though you stood at the same spot, dumbfounded at how smoothly it had just gone. As he’s out of sight you feel a smile slowly creep up, the excitement building up for what’s about to come.

It’s early in the morning, the sun has yet to greet you and the school was filled with nothing but rustling leaves dancing across the field. You had arrived slightly before your meeting time with Jake and you thought to let the security know about your morning practices.

You’re waiting for Jake at your school’s swimming pool. The guard was nice enough to open up the area for you before school starts. You had gotten changed and did your warm up beforehand, leaving you to dip your legs into the water as you waited for the boy. You suddenly hear the frantic footsteps coming from the pool entrance and you see Jake panting with his swim gear.

“I’m so sorry! Let’s begin.” Jake laughs and you laugh along with him, walking towards the diving platform as you wait for him to get ready.

As Jake steps onto the platform next to you, he pushes his goggles against his nose bridge and he gives you a little smirk. You smile at him as you do the same, pulling your swim cap down before gripping your toes against the edge of the platform. Your arms pointed towards the pool as you took a deep breath.

“See you at the finish line Jake.” You spoke quietly but enough for him to hear and he counted down.

“3…2…1…”

“Go!” You both push yourself off the ledge as you begin your freestyle race, your arms flicking towards the air before striking down, turning your head sideways to get a breath in your system. You kick against the water and you could hear the muted splashes against your feet. With the corner of your eye you could see Jake was just in level with you. You turn forward, watching the finish line grow closer and closer as you reach your fingertips as far as you can as you touch the end of the pool. You rose from the water to catch your breath, watching as you see Jake right next to you. You take a look at the timer on the board, and you were only off by three seconds.

“So close!” You removed your goggles, massaging your nose bridge from the pressure.

“You did better than last time! You’re definitely going to do well.” The words that come out of Jake’s mouth reassured you, and you hoped you would hear it again from him on the day of the competition. You quickly pushed yourself off the water and grabbed your towel and stopwatch in the process.

“Alright, let's start with your practice first. Then we could do mine.” You suggested and Jake nodded as he began to swim back to the platforms.

Jake swims as if the water rides along with him, he spreads his arms as wide as he could, the stretch accentuating his broad back and he lifts himself up so effortlessly. It does not make sense that Jake would come in second with skills like this. He truly resembled a butterfly rising through water, his arms as his wings and the water completing the art that he creates through the way he swims. It’s beautiful, and he is everything you wish to be in the eyes of others.

With each lap Jake does, his time decreases little by little. To you, such improvement could only be because he was such a good swimmer. Yet again, how could his coach not see the beauty that is in the way he swims? What was it that Jake lacks in the eyes of his teacher? You look at Jake with glowing eyes and you don’t even notice that he does the same. He has stopped his practice and he’s staring at you. And even without saying, all he does is gives you a smile and it’s like he’s telling you that you could do the same.

You have been practising with Jake for almost a week now, and you do see the improvements in both Jake and yourself as well.

Jake gives you the best comments and feedback in the way you swim, he gives you exceptional pointers on what you could improve and you were always thankful for Jake in allowing you to change the way you swim and yet focus on your usual form.

You wanted to thank him so you had decided to ask him whether he was available for breakfast before school which he agreed to.

You chose a tiny coffee shop close to the school. The coffee shop was hidden in the main street, different potted plants decorate the window sills and the aroma of coffee scented around the entrance door. You’re quite happy that you’ve found such a gem as none of the students in your school seem to visit this shop despite it being so close to your school.

“Sorry, I’m late! I never realised there was a coffee shop around here.” Jake pulls out his chair sitting before you.

“It’s alright. Not a lot of people know about this place.”

“Ooh…then it’ll be our own secret location then.” He gives you a little wink which causes your cheeks to heat up. You could tell that Jake is no beginner in flirtatious acts. He was definitely suave in more ways than you thought and even the wink was natural to him. You tried to put it behind you, even though you could feel your cheeks blush.

“I’ll take an iced latte, you?” You questioned.

“Iced Americano.”

The waiter takes both of your orders with a smile before heading back to the counter. You fiddled your fingers whilst trying to think of what to say to the boy in front of you.

“I just want to thank you for practising with me.” You shy away slightly. Jake’s presence makes you slightly nervous.

“No! I want to thank you for asking me. The sessions really do help me out a lot!” Jake smiles at you before the waiter interrupts your conversation with both of your drinks. You both thank the waiter before sipping your drinks, feeling refreshed at the sudden coolness.

The silence starts to grow comfortable, and you’re no longer nervous in front of Jake after a while of sitting in front of him. You both had been talking about things other than swimming as well as what you’re both up to in school.

Though as you both reveal more about each other, you start to delve into the sport you both shared.

“Why do you swim Jake?” The air grows a little solemn, but you’re curious. Ever since you eavesdropped on the conversation between Jake and his coach, you wonder what keeps him going.

“Because I feel free.” You nodded at his words, completely understanding what he meant. It was the exact same reason as to why you began to swim for the first place, and the same reason why you wanted to pursue a career in swimming.

“Then, what are your goals?”

“Nationals. It would be nice to represent Korea as well.” You looked at him in surprise. Your dreams were the exact same as his, and you suddenly grow a little too excited.

“Me too. Though, it’s hard when you're in second place all the time.” You sound a little dejected and Jake takes notice of him. With your head looking down you suddenly feel Jake’s warm palm on top of your head and you look up at him, slowly— so that he wouldn’t remove his hand away from you.

“We can do it, I’m sure.”

It felt like a sudden surge of energy rushed through you. Never would you have thought just simple words would leave you feeling motivated. He lets go and with the same hand, he gives you his pinky.

“Promise me you’ll make it to nationals.”

You stared at his pinky for a while, a little afraid to make such a big promise with him. You’ve always doubted your abilities, and you hate to make a promise that you can’t keep. You stare at his pinky for a while, and you could tell that Jake could sense your hesitancy.

“Come on, my hand is tired!” He encourages you, and you look at him. He’s still smiling, and with the look on his face he’s still coaxing you to make this promise with him. He has so much hope in you, and you vow to not disappoint him. But that is, if he is willing to walk the same path as you.

“Only if we both make it together.” You give in and interlock his pinky with yours. It’s like you could feel the faintest spark between your intertwined fingers. A symbolised promise between the two of you, and you’re hoping that it’ll come true.

You’ve been practising with Jake for almost a month now, and you have about another week left till the competition begins. Just like the usual routine, you arrive at the pool a little early, Jake runs in apologising for being late, and the both of you start with a race. This time, Jake suggested doing races for the full session so that the both of you are prepared for the real thing.

It’s also a good change of pace between constant sessions of timing each other.

“Loser gets splashed.” Jake speaks up next to you.

“You’re so on.”

The both of you count to one and like you’re most familiar with, you dive into the pool with ease. With multiple practice sessions with Jake, you began to find your own comfort and style while swimming freestyle. Your stamina was a lot better, and you felt a lot lighter in the water. And just a few centimetres away, your fingertips touch the wall and you see Jake trailing just slightly behind you.

“Yes!” Your fist punches the water in excitement and Jake applauds you. You take a look at him and in just a split second he begins to swim away as you push the water against him. You watched as he used his hands to shield the water splashing towards his face, but you gave him no mercy as you continued to chase after him. You caught up to him and in defence he grabs onto your wrists pinning you against the corner of the pool.

The sounds of the water splashing stops and the pool is silent. The laughter shared between the both of you dies down as you realise your compromising position. You think Jake was going to let go but instead he does nothing but, though his grip softens a little bit. You try to avoid his eye contact but it was no use, so you stare back at him and you watch as the droplets on his face drips down to water below you. You watch him focus on your eyes, then now to your lips then back towards your vision once again.

“C-Can I kiss you?” It’s the first time you see Jake so shy to the point that he even stutters on his words. Right now, you would like to believe you were in a dream. Jake was only centimetres away from you, the sunlight from the window behind you shining as if the spotlight was on him. He’s glowing in front of you, and the outline is so bright he doesn’t seem real. So much that you closed your eyes and open them again to just to see if you would wake up from the dream you believe that you are in.

But he’s still standing before you, waiting for your response and he’s quivering— anxious but yet hopeful that you’ll allow him to place his lips on yours. So you nod and you close your eyes once again, and then you feel the cushion of his lips pressed against yours. His soft lips taste like chlorine but you didn’t mind, all you knew was that the boy that you’ve been trying to reach is right in your arms. He lets go of your wrists and holds your cheeks in the warmth of his palms and you wrap your arms around his neck as you cherished the moment.

“I really like you.”

You felt like you were on cloud nine.

There is an unspeakable feeling between you and Jake. After your rendezvous with him, the both of you continued practising with smiles on your faces. No words exchanged but just a newfound understanding between each other. The feeling of being with Jake could not be explained in detail, and yet you feel yourself grow to like him more each day. You’re starting to believe you cannot live a day without seeing him at least once.

There is no label that describes your relationship with him. And you’re aware that in the opinions of others it may be a bother— unsure of what line they are treading across. But you’re quite content with what you and Jake are now. You like to emphasise that it’s more of a relationship between two people who are beginning to learn the feeling of love.

Even without saying it directly, Jake seems to feel the same way. And it’s clear to the both of you that it’s your first time experiencing such an emotion between you. And it’ll likely take some time for the both of you to accept each other as two people who are in love.

You’ve always imagined falling in love to be a magical thing, a slow process between two people and a rare occasion for one to reciprocate feelings for another. But after your shared kiss with Jake, your perception had shifted drastically. Not only has it been less than a few months since you’ve met Jake, but your feelings for him developed so quick that you almost didn’t notice it until he asked to kiss you. And with that, it seemed like he has taken an interest in you too.

Though, you couldn’t dwell on your feelings any longer than now that your competition is only a day away. It sucks, but the both of you have to focus on what’s ahead of you. As the hours go by, you start to feel distressed and worried for what the future holds.

You’re wiping your palms against your uniform as you start to think of all the possible scenarios that could happen at the competition when you accidentally bumped into Jake who had just sent off his friends.

“Oh Y/N!”

You were a bit shy to look at Jake, memories of the morning flashing through your mind. You look away towards the window next to you, but Jake couldn’t help but move his face in line with your vision.

“Now, don’t be shy. You weren’t so shy with me when we-” Your eyes quickly widened and reached for Jake’s mouth to prevent him from teasing you any further, turning your head left and right to see if anyone heard the conversation. Making sure the coast is clear you let go of his mouth with a sigh and Jake chuckled.

“Good luck on the competition tomorrow.” He quickly sneaks in a quick peck on your cheek before running away, shouting a ‘Bye Y/N!’ loud enough for everyone in the hallway to hear his voice. Usually you would want to hide in a corner in embarrassment, but you were too caught up on the sudden peck to dawn on what had just happened.

He’s a sneaky one, isn’t he?

And soon the day of the competition arrives. You were doing stretches in your changing room, while the rest of your team chatter amongst themselves. You plugged in your earbuds, listening to some acoustic music to calm your nerves down. Even so, you could still hear the loud cheers from the crowd outside and you hoped to not disappoint them with another second place.

Your competition was one of the firsts of many races today. The sun was blaring from above, the noises from the thunder sticks hitting against each other along with the chants from the bleachers could be heard in the sidelines. The atmosphere was intense and it gave you the adrenaline rush that you needed.

Passing the heats of your swimming competition was easy but you knew that the finals was what always set you back. The opponents you faced were nothing like the heats nor the players back in middle school. Seeing so many incredible swimmers made you realise that your goal was definitely not an easy ride. Mentally giving yourself a pep talk, you did your final stretch before stepping onto the platform. The sounds of the crowd now tuned out and all you could focus on was the rapid thumps of your heart against your chest.

“On your marks, get set…”

The siren blares through and in reflex you push yourself off the ledge of the diving board. The tips of your fingers pierce through the water as you perform two butterfly kicks before fluttering your feet against the water. You swim past the resistance of the tide, your arms stretching as far as you can to get the most out of your strides. You try to limit the amount of times to catch your breath, hoping to use your stamina to the fullest till you reach the finish line.

With each kick you splash against the water, the closer you see yourself to the end of the pool. So with one final push you stretch your fingertips to the wall, touching it fully before taking your head out of the water.

You hear the crowd cheer and you’re nervous to look at the scoreboard in front of you, it’s only when you notice your coach in the end of the pool with his jaw dropped you look at the board above you.

You did it.

You had made first place, and with the fastest record out of your team.

Then the emotions got the best of you. The tears began to fall nonstop, it’s almost as if your team began to cry with you. As you pushed yourself out of the water, your team immediately ran to hug you— even though they never treated you well and they were also your rivals, you had always felt like they somehow understood your predicament. No matter how skillful one is, everyone has had a journey to get to where they are.

You wrap yourself with your towel as you head to the locker rooms, only to see Jake waiting for you at the entrance. And without thinking you ran up to him and he took you in his arms, crying on his shoulder more. He pats your back in comfort and gives you tiny pecks on your forehead, and if you weren’t too busy crying you would see the slightly watery eyes he has.

“You did so well.”

You pulled back with a smile as you wiped your tears and patted your puffiness down, “Good luck.”

Jake waved you goodbye and you quickly went to get changed so that you could make it in time for his race. You were nervous for him to say the least, but yet you were confident he was going to do well.

Once you were warmed up, you sat on the sidelines to cheer for Jake. He was warming up in the centre lane, and you took a look at his opponents while you were at it. He steps on the platform, realising that he was about to start his race any minute now. You look at him closely, your fists balled in your lap as you silently cheer for him in your heart.

The siren sounds the entire pool and the swimmers dive into the water. Your eyes never leave Jake as he swims just like you have witnessed many times before. He’s still as beautiful as ever, just like a butterfly in his element as he flies across the water. You see him taking the lead and everything seems to go smoothly so far.

Wait.

You stood up from your seat as you took notice of Jake holding onto his arm right for a split second, but yet he acts like nothing has happened and he continues to swim. You begin the worry now, and you could see he’s trailing behind a couple of swimmers right next to him. You quickly walk towards the end of the pool, hoping to catch him at the finish line. You could tell that he’s hurting and even so, he does not give up, and he manages to snatch himself a second place after all. Though with the way he’s looking at the scoreboard he does not look pleased, and neither does the coach who is staring him down. He pushes himself off the water wincing at the pressure he places on his arm and walks away from his team as well as from you.

You would like to believe that he may have not noticed you standing there, but you thought you should leave him alone for now.

You hope that he’s okay.

“Y/N congratulations! It seems like the Seoul swim team has taken an interest in you.” Your coach lets you in on the big news and you stood in front of him mindlessly, trying to take in your coach’s sudden change of attitude as well as what you had just heard from him.

“Seoul?”

“Yes, they are inviting you for tryouts after your senior year ends.” The coach gives you a pat on the back, “I knew you could do it, I was just trying to give you that push.”

You watched as your coach walked away, though you are really happy that one of the biggest swim teams are interested in you— you couldn’t help but worry about Jake.

You had not spoken or seen him ever since the competition, and you thought to give him a few days for him to rest. But as a week goes by, you begin to worry for his well-being. You asked his team his whereabouts and they tell you that he hasn’t been showing up to practice as well as his classes. You tried calling and messaging him a couple of times to no response, so you asked his team for his address.

You’re standing in front of his door and you start to think of the multiple things to say once he opens the door— or maybe he won’t open the door at all. You were about to walk away when you suddenly hear the door open and Jake peeks out to look at you.

“My friends told me you were coming.”

“Ah.” Well this is slightly embarrassing.

“Come on in.” He opens the door further and lets you inside. You proceed to take off your shoes and walk in his apartment. His place was clean, decorated with wooden furniture and potted plants, a couple of medals and trophies from the bookshelf as well as family pictures on the drawers.

“Drink?” You hear Jake ask you from behind, you turn around to face him with a smile.

“Water is fine.”

You made yourself comfortable on his couch, staring at Jake as he prepared your water. Usually he would be happy to see you, he would even be the one to initiate conversation— but today his face shows no emotion, just sadness behind his eyes. Instinctively you walk up behind him, wrapping your arms around his waist from behind and he stops everything that he’s doing.

“Tell me what’s on your mind.” You could feel Jake’s shaking up and you take a peek to see his tears rolling down his cheeks. You let go instantly and made him turn towards you, wiping his sadness away.

“Why is it so hard to achieve your dreams?” You could hear the crack in Jake’s voice and you began to embrace him once again, hoping you could comfort him in some way. He looks at the trophies and medals on his shelf, reminiscing the time when he felt happy in the water.

“Every time I see the finish line, it only goes further and further away.” He lets out an exhale, the words hesitantly coming out of his mouth.

“I’m tired Y/N, should I just…give up?” You look at him immediately and shake your head, refusing to hear any longer. You grabbed onto his shoulder to bring his attention to you, and you watched as his eyes widened. You were furious, you could not believe what you had just heard from him.

“What the fuck do you think you’re saying?” It was rare for you to use such language, nevertheless use a tone towards anyone. But you could not bear to hear Jake demean himself any longer.

“I see you looking at your achievements Jake, how did you think you got to where you are now?” Jake stays silent, letting you continue on. “It’s you. You worked hard to get here, are you really going to let all that go down the drain?”

“But Y/N I just feel like I don’t have a reason to swim anymore-”

“Me!” You cut him off and he looks at you, “I want to see you reach your dreams, I want to see it happen.” Jake softens up at your words.

“I thought of the same thing, I wanted to give up…that was until I met you. You told them you wanted to prove that we can do it right? You taught me to hold on, I don’t understand why you couldn’t do the same.”

“We still have one more competition left, and I want to see you reach the finish line. Whatever place you get, I want to see you swim.” And at this moment you felt yourself get pulled into Jake’s arms, this time a lot tighter than usual. It feels like he does not want to let you go, so you stay still for him to hold you a little longer.

“I’m sorry Y/N…I’m sorry. I’ll promise you, I’ll make it there.” And you wrap yourself around him once again, whispering reassurances to him that it was okay. You’re glad that you’ve managed to talk some sense to him, and you’re hoping he’ll reach for the same star that you’ve managed to get ahold of.

Ever since your win, you had been grabbing first place constantly and even your competition just now, you had just managed to get yourself a gold.

You knew that Jake was coming up soon and you prayed to yourself that he would swim through his laps without trouble. Sitting underneath the shade of the pool, you watched as he did his warm ups.

He was in good condition today, and deep inside you knew that he’ll make it to the finish line.

Like he always has.

You watched as Jake stepped onto the diving board, taking deep breaths, pulling his swimming cap and tightening his goggles in the process. He touches his toes and bends his knees in a position, his toes preparing himself for the push. You could hear the standby lines, and your heartbeat quickens in response. On three, the siren alarms and he pushes himself into the pool, his butterfly kicks smooth underneath the water, his arms stretches and his chest lifting himself out of the water to dive right back in. He’s quick with his arms and you could see him catch minimal breaths before resuming back in the blue. He’s reaching the halfway mark and he’s taking the lead, though you could not be relieved yet as his opponents are only a few strokes behind. Your eyes never left him, you’re holding your breath as he grows closer to the opposite end of the pool and he touches the wall. You immediately look up to the scoreboard and you see his time placed on the first row of the board.

He fulfilled his promise.

You quickly jump up and run to where he was. And you could see him punch the water in excitement as he raises his fists in the air in victory. Ignoring all the warnings of ‘no running around the pool’, you watched Jake leave the water and run up to you.

“I did it!”

“You did it!”

You both laugh in each others arms, ignoring the amount of people who were looking at the both of you. You could see his team cooing on the sidelines, even his coach seems relieved at Jake’s achievement. But Jake’s eyes were only on you and you had never ever been happier for him.

You notice that Jake’s coach is waiting for him, so you insinuate him to go to his team. Though he refuses to let go of his arm, you push him to go— not wanting him to get into trouble.

Everything is going well for the both of you.

You meet Jake at the rooftop of your school. It’s late at night, the moon shaped like a crescent, glows above you. And the stars shined a lot brighter than usual. The wind was crisp but not cold enough for an extra layer, and the air was quiet. You and Jake laid down, appreciating the glitters decorating the night.

“How are you feeling?” You break the silence as you turn around to look at him. Even at night Jake glows brighter than the stars in the sky, you could say that Jake is the star himself.

“Out of this world.” He replies as he turns to face you, his smile never leaving his face and he looks at you with loving eyes. “It’s all because of you.”

“No, it’s all you.”

You both stare at each other for a little longer before turning back to the sky, commenting on which star was the brightest, pointing towards different directions of the darkness. Daydreaming as you stare up at the sky, you could feel Jake intertwining his fingers along with yours, taking your attention away.

“Busan wants me.” Jake breaks the news and suddenly the air is tense, your face drops and you turn to look at Jake who is already looking straight at you.

“I know, Seoul asked for you right?” He continues on. You never had the chance to tell him ever since the incident, and you’re mad at yourself for not being able to tell him yourself.

“That’s good! We’re both one step closer, right?” You feign sadness, refusing to accept the reality that has been shoved right to your face.

“But…what about us?” You did not want to answer his question, nor did you want to face the reality that is your separation. You already swore to yourself you could not live without him, but who were you to stop him from chasing his dream?

“Jake…” You smile at him and he does too. Neither of you wanted to face the truth, and neither of you are ready to move on with your lives. The both of you would be too busy for each other, with training, practice and even your lives— deep inside you both knew that maintaining a long distance relationship would not last.

“You should go to Busan.”

“Y/N!”

“I can’t stop you from going to your dream.” You both stayed in silence. Jake understood you and he thought the same. He can’t bring you with him either and that you both had to accept the harsh reality. You don’t have a lot of time left together, and you did not want to leave Jake in an argument or even sadness.

“Then…let’s just cherish…what we have now, okay?” You nod at his words and he pulls you closer to him. You sniffle against his chest, hoping to treasure the moment with you in his arms.

Just a little longer.

Then senior year comes to a close. You’re wearing your graduation gown, taking pictures with your classmates and your team. Now that your school year has ended, you’ve grown to put all your bad blood and unwanted memories behind and appreciate the new friendships you’ve developed along the way.

No matter how many ups and downs you had with your team, you had always appreciated them in some way. Even though they never treated you well, you thought of them as a motivation to do better. And it took graduation to forgive and forget, and that even such experiences are memories you wished you keep.

However, there was only one person you wanted to see at the moment.

You ran to where his classroom is, peeking at the window hoping to catch a glimpse of where he could be. There you could see him taking pictures with his friends, and for a split second you spot him looking at you, gesturing you to come towards him.

You walk up to him and he passes his phone to his friends. “Hey, can you help me take a picture?”

He pulls you next to him and wraps his arm around you, his friends taking multiple pictures of the both of you in different poses. He takes his phone back and turns to face you, removing the strand of hair and tucking it behind your ear.

“Ah!” You reach for your pocket as you hand him an envelope, a ‘To Jake’ written on top of it. “Don’t read it now! Read it when you’re on the way to Busan.” He takes the letter from you and smiles at your handwriting before tucking it in his pocket.

You only have a few hours to spare before you both have to go your separate ways, and you’ve decided for your last time together the both of you would hang around your shared home.

The pool.

The both of you took your shoes off, dipping your feet into the water as you sat side by side. None of you shared any words, just trying to live the moment as much as you can with each other. You focus on the way the water ripples beneath your feet as Jake does the same, laughing at his antics as he kicks a little water to your side.

You hear his phone buzz indicating that it was time for him to go and suddenly everything hits you. Jake was about to leave you, and the both of you are about to take the next step towards your dream.

You send him off at the bus stop and he gives you one last hug. You did not want your separation to be a sad one, so you held your tears back and smiled at him as he let go. Though you’re still in his arms, you look up at him one last time and he returns you with a smile as well.

“Goodbye Y/N.”

“Goodbye, Jake.”

You watch him as he walks away further away from you, waving at him as he looks at you for a final time.

In your eyes, Jake was a star that you desired to reach. He stood by your side through the journey towards your dreams. You both relied and gave each other a reason to continue forth and without each other you wouldn’t be able to get to where you both are today. Though the moment between the both of you was brief, you knew you will always love Jake no matter how far he goes.

He was a part of your youth and you hope someday in the future, he could be more.

And that was a different story to be told.

Dear Jake,

By the time you’re reading this, you’re probably on the bus to Busan. Though Seoul and Busan are still part of South Korea it still seems so far away.

Do you miss me yet? Because I for sure, miss you.

I remember when we first met at the bus stop, I didn’t even know what came over me but I began talking to you. To be honest, I overheard your coach scolding you. I thought you were just like me— getting second place all the time, getting told off by the coach. So I began asking you, whether dreams were all so hard to reach.

And you questioned the same thing as I did, even though you never gave me a solid answer. But yet again, I couldn’t give you one either.

I thought it would be the last time I’ll ever see you.

But no, we saw each other again at school. And you stood up for me against the coach. It was then I realised you were a lot different than I was. I was so close to giving up, but you were always so positive. You were always so confident that you and I could make it to Nationals— even our coaches couldn’t see that kind of future. But you assured me that we will, you wanted to prove them wrong and you wanted to show them what you were made of. That alone had me motivated everyday, you inspire me to be better and not to give up on chasing my dreams.

And I hope you continued to do the same.

It took me a lot of courage to ask you to practice with me by the way. And bless, that you did. The practice sessions not only improved my swimming overall but I also got to know you even more. It was also then when we realised our feelings for each other. I never knew you felt the same way, and honestly it was slightly overwhelming too. To me, you were someone who was so out of reach, I did not deserve your feelings.

When I won my first competition, I knew I had to see you. You were my motivation, the reason for my win and you helped me so much to improve and find myself. I will forever be thankful for everything that you did for me. Don’t say it was all me, because without you I probably will not be entering Seoul tryouts right now.

Our chapter is coming to a close, but I hope you won’t be too upset. I just want to remind you not to give up, and that you will always get to where you are. It’s just the matter of time that you’ll touch the stars you desire to reach. I hope that Busan treats you well and perhaps in the future, we’ll swim at the same pool.

Actually, I know we’ll definitely see each other again.

Thank you for being a part of this journey with me. I know it sounds dramatic, but my youth was built around you. My final year of highschool ended perfectly with you, and maybe in the future we’ll share the same goal, just as we once did. I hope you take care of yourself, and I wish that you continue to be free.

And Jake, thank you for being my first love.

Y/N.

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1-800-lixie · 2 years

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( .ENHA GOiNG OUT ON CUTE DATES )

% heeseung : skating at the park !

— sends a text asking you if you're up for a midnight trip to the skate park. he literally asks you just as you were about to sleep. "meet you there." that's how you ended up eating take out with him at the park. "come on let's get you home." keeps his arm around your waist the whole time.

% jay : movie night at home !

— every saturday night he comes to your place for your annual movie night. he always steals your blanket in the middle of the movie. "stop hogging the blanket." your lucky he can't resist you. "come here," motioning for you to come closer. happily taking the opportunity to snuggle with him.

% jake : picnic at the park !

— invites you for a picnic just to see you enjoy yourself. always brings his polaroid camera. he loves taking photos of you since you look the prettiest to him. splits all the polaroids he took with you. "this day is all about you." he's such a sweetheart :(( literally made your heart melt. he'd do anything for you.

% sunghoon : coffee break at a cafe !

— takes you out for coffee every friday. memorizes your coffee order by heart. always pays for your order no matter how many times you decline his offer. loves listening to you talk. something about your voice is so calming. "go ahead im listening." can be such a menace though. literally does not stop teasing you.

% sunoo : a walk at the beach !

— invites you to daily walks at the beach for a breather. likes to hold your hand while walking around. talks about everything and anything with you. he doesn't care what he does. as long as it's with you. you make him so calm and relaxed. loves seeing you smile. "this smile is only for you."

% jungwon : studying at the library !

— he knows how important it is for you to study and how tired you can get. which is why he always makes sure to be there with you. he's not afraid to tell you when to stop and rest. would make you lay your head on his shoulder to sleep. sometimes it he ends up doing some of your work since he doesn't wanna wake you up. "it's okay. i finished some for you."

% niki : painting in an art class !

— loves it because he gets to show off his art skills. would get up from his spot to guide you. brushing his hand on top of yours, slowly guiding the paint brush. he would whisper the instructions into your ear and walk away like nothing happened. asks you to exchange paintings with him cause he wants to keep yours. "i wanna hang it in my room."

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jishyucks · 2 years

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All I Want ‣ ldh

‣ pairing: co-worker!lee haechan x reader

‣ genre: fluff!!!, f2l/co-workers to lovers

‣ wc: 1.5k

‣ summary: In which the mix of Christmas music in August and Donghyuck's surge of confidence almost does good for the both of you

‣ warnings?: don't think there's anything but fluff in this!! Donghyuck’s physical touch love language is showing, kinda cheesy?

‣ an: why my brain makes shiet up like this when my coworker actually decided to play Christmas music at work the other day is beyond me (・_・ヾ

Five minutes of silence is five minutes too odd when you’re with Donghyuck.

This is only because he’s never not talking.

Though you wouldn’t always consider it a bad thing. A big part of you actually enjoys the conversations you have with Donghyuck. He always takes every opportunity to speak to you about anything and everything, and thanks to him, your shifts are a lot more tolerable than they used to be. Time went faster when he was there because, with Donghyuck, there never seemed to be a dull moment.

So when Donghyuck’s silent, you can’t help but feel genuinely confused about why he isn’t choosing to talk about whatever’s surfaced from his busy brain. This was all out of the ordinary—not to mention the fact that the cafe’s music was not playing.

Turning off the tap, you furrowed your brows at the absence of sound in the cafe, not that it was supposed to be loud. In fact, barely any customers willingly came to the small shop. Most often, the people who came by were individuals who accidentally stumbled upon the cafe, otherwise, the guests were just older adults who were in need of coffee and this place was the most convenient coffee shop in the neighbourhood.

Leaning against the big sink which sat snuggly at the back corner of the kitchen, you look out to the front where Donghyuck was standing. You can tell he’s occupied himself with the cafe’s ipad, which was mainly used as the cash register, just by the way his head was bowed. The rest of his body is still as a statue. Although you’re curious about what he’s busied himself with, you don’t choose to ask him. Why?

Because it’s Donghyuck. You sure for a fact that you don’t want to know.

Shrugging it off, you decide to turn back to your own task of washing the unnecessarily big pots that were sitting in the sink. But before you’re able to hop back into it, you’re interrupted by the sudden blaring sound of music. It catches you off guard and you find yourself jumping in the slightest. Turning to see why the hell the music is ten notches higher than the stars above, you raise a brow, expecting to see Donghyuck staring back at you with a sheepish look. Instead, you find Donghyuck still standing there as if he’s done nothing, but this time his head is moving along to the music.

Then that’s when you realize…

“Why are you playing Christmas music in August?” You have nothing against it—in fact, Christmas music always brought you some kind of serotonin that nothing else could provide. You simply ask the boy because you’re curious why he’s decided to play holiday music on a hot-as-the-devil’s-asscrack afternoon in August.

Donghyuck finally turns around, beaming brightly. You don’t know whether you want to laugh at how ridiculous he looks or question a small part of his sanity. He shrugs, “Why not?” He begins singing along to the Pentatonix cover, switching from acapella-ing the beat, the various other instruments, and singing when he wants to. This was the first time you’ve seen someone get hype over God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman, but you’re not surprised that the first person you witness to do so is Donghyuck.

It was cute—you’ll admit. It was rather endearing just watching him get happy over the simplest act of playing Christmas music. It was very… Donghyuck of him. Finding happiness in the smallest things. This was why you’ve grown fond of him over the past few months of working with him.

When the next song plays, Sleigh Ride by The Ronettes, Donghyuck’s mood shifts and he starts popping to the—what you previously thought was a—non-poppable and non-lockable song. You stand corrected.

“How can you not dance to this song!?” Donghyuck reaches for your hand and swings it in an attempt to get you to dance with him, “I know you want to!” He bends over to bring his face closer to yours, “I can you see you holding back a smile, Y/N~” Dropping your hand, he pokes your cheek and returns to singing the song, hitting every single note perfectly.

He goes straight back to his original task, hips moving gently from side to side as the music continues to play throughout the entire place. The songs keep him from talking to you but the singing makes up for it. This was equally as entertaining.

After an uncalculated amount of time, just when you thought that Donghyuck would be tired from the almost continuous singing and dancing, one of the most iconic Christmas songs begins to play throughout the still and empty cafe. Donghyuck effortlessly sings along to the beginning of All I Want for Christmas is You, and once it jumps into the main body of the song, you can’t help but sing along too.

In the corner of your eye, you see Donghyuck making his way toward you, bopping his head twice to the left, then twice to the right. Already knowing what he’s going to attempt, you give him a side eye, shuffling away from him in hopes to avoid him. Your efforts fail (curse this small kitchen) when he simply follows you, backing you close to a corner, singing the lyrics with his entire chest. You laugh because he’s closing his eyes and everything, almost performing the song.

He peeks through one eye and smiles—why? Because you’re laughing. That was his goal.

If you found your shifts more tolerable because Donghyuck can always find a topic to talk to you about, Donghyuck finds that he can live through another one of these dreadful shifts if he’s the reason why you’re laughing. It’s something he’s just recently realized.

Donghyuck looks over his shoulder to make sure there were no customers waiting to be helped before taking one big step towards you. There’s a mischievous smile sitting on his face, eyes slightly narrowed as he looks down at you, who has given up trying to dodge whatever Donghyuck was trying to do.

“I just want you for my own~” He sings. Donghyuck’s head moves out of habit, like the singer he is, eyes set on you and only you.

“Hyuck–” You try to laugh off the way he’s looking at you. You can’t help but feel the butterflies being released in your stomach.

“More than you could ever know~”

You try to turn away from him because you know that if you make any more eye contact with Donghyuck, you’d melt right in front of him—and that obviously isn’t something you want happening. Right as you try to turn away, Donghyuck reaches for your wrist to spin you back around. The movement’s quick, quick enough for him to sing the next line, “Make my wish come true~”

You attempt to turn away a second time, but now, you’re simultaneously trying to hold back a smile. Donghyuck notices this and feels confidence surge through his chest. He makes a bold move, one that’s just as swift as his last action. It was practically unpredictable, stunning you both.

With both hands, Donghyuck reaches for both sides of your face, positioning them so that your ears are sitting in between his index and middle fingers and his thumbs are resting just where your cheek bones are. Gently, he uses his palms to tilt your face up to look at him, and at this point, you know you have no choice but to look him right in the eye.

“All I want… Is you.” Did he just? You can’t help but notice that Donghyuck intentionally skipped two words in the middle of the song’s line. Maybe your heart just exploded… if not once, twice.

As the song continues to play in the background, you and Donghyuck stand in front of each other like this for a few, very long moments. His eyes are flickering down to your lips and back up to your eyes—he wants to kiss you, but he feels like he’s used up every last drop of his confidence to go any further.

You want to kiss him too, no doubt in that, but you’re frozen on the spot. You’re still processing everything that’s just happened. Donghyuck had just indirectly confessed to you, and you can tell that it’s not one of his jokes because you’re reading his eyes like an open book.

“Donghyuck I—”

“Ahem!”

Donghyuck quickly lets go of you, bringing his hands behind his back before turning to look at the third presence. You follow his line of sight to see a customer, an elderly woman, peeking over the cash register.

She’s smiling shamelessly, “Sorry to interr–”

“Don’t apologize!” Donghyuck retorts a bit too loudly. You see him quickly look back at you, like he wants to desperately say something but he immediately draws back. Before you know it, he’s at the front once again, turning the music down.

“What can I get for you today?”

°•. ✿ .•°

Tags: @k-radio @whipped-kpop-creators @loverssfevers

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fairybinie · 8 months

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.✰ YEONJUN BF TEXTS

pairings: bf!yeonjun x gn!reader

genre: fluff, crack, angst, suggestive, established relationship

warnings: pet names, mentions of kissing, again suggestive but nothing specific, still implied! reader is insecure at one point, mentions of alcohol/drinking, kys joke/profanity

꒰ 💌 ꒱ thanks again to @eternallyhyucks aka yeonjun’s gf real! credits to this trend and any similar concepts to anyone else’s works are purely coincidental ⋆˙⟡♡

please do not translate, modify or repost on other platforms.

ﾟ𐦍༘⋆ @iyeonjuni @odxrilove @iuwon @ijhyo @cherr-y-eji @ameliesaysshoo @enhacolor @misscalcutta @cherrybeomgyu @wccycc @hyukabean @strawberri-uyu @hyuntaena @feyregels @boba-beom @luvnhwa @ericyjun @ashxxgyu @bibinnieposts @laylasbunbunny @robinsluva @shiguresohmas @h00nerz @beomsbeanie @stepout-09-15 @ox1-lovesick @soobsdior @ifwtyun @peachy-yabbay @sunlightwoo @ttyunz @rikijackson04 @miyawwn @aintgeluh @baekhyunstruly @wxnderingthoughts @forever-in-the-sky2 @myknifeyourlife @uwuheeseungie @luvrgirlkumi @s00buwu @kangfication @xavi-in-kpopland

#🪐 — yeonjun!#🐇 — fairybinie!#kflixnet #k-radio!#k-labels #k vanity #txt fake text #txt fluff #txt angst #txt crack #txt imagines #txt scenarios #yeonjun fluff #yeonjun angst #yeonjun crack #yeonjun imagines #yeonjun scenarios #txt fics #yeonjun fics

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misojunnie · 10 months

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HACKED! ─ yjw. ♪⋆

he’s finally met his match…

profiles 02. the goonsquad

# jungwon ! a computer science major in university, the valedictorian and happy-go-lucky class president. he hacks and scams people in his free time. his priv is @BESTHACKEREVER2.0

# heeseung ! jungwon’s best friend, a sociology major. he’s cocky, hilarious, a model and the captain of the college football team. basically jungwon’s polar opposite.

# riki ! jungwon’s childhood buddy and a senior in high school. he often feels left out considering all his friends are in college. has several pranks and tricks up the sleeves of his designer hoodie.

# sunoo ! jungwon’s neighbor, and a finance major at university. he loves ice cream, girl groups, and annoying the other boys. a social butterfly, he gets along well with everyone.

# jay ! the voice of reason. majoring in psychology, he often is the most rational in the friend group. tells a lot of dad jokes, loves italian food and fine wine. 40 years old at 21.

# profiles 01. | m. list

📂 taglist ! @enhacolor @hiqhkey @mrowwww @dangowon @kxr0mi

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amakumos · 2 years

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SHOT STRAIGHT TO MY HEART! — a maknae line series

🏸 — THE seoul badminton courts are definitely the least romantic place on earth. really, what’s romantic than thrilling competitions that leaves you yelling obscenities, squeaking shoe noises on the courts and shuttlecocks flying in your face? absolutely nothing! so, imagine your surprise when you fall for a fellow badminton player… oh boy.

🏸 STATUS — 0/3 MATCHES PLAYED.

🏸 TAGLIST — OPEN (SEND AN ASK TO BE ADDED)

🏸 AUTHOR’S NOTE — it’s ur resident badminton player with more fics about rackets and shuttles (not the BUS!) also just as a note THIS IS NOT TAKING PLACE IN THE ALL CLEAR! UNIVERSE. every fic will have a teaser posted before release so u get a quick snippet ^_^ i hope u enjoy reading & feedback is greatly appreciated!

MATCH ONE: MIXED UP — kim sunoo!

SYNOPSIS — it’s no secret that you harbour some sort of feeling towards your mixed doubles partner kim sunoo. of course, you try to deny it — but with him always carrying knee pain relief cream in his bag for you, helping you change your racket’s grip and buying you an cold water from the vending machine does not help at all in your quest to make yourself not fall for him. when nationals comes along, you find that every moment you have with sunoo now makes your heart race even more uncontrollably — and you know it’s not because of the adrenaline from matches.

PAIRING — badminton player! sunoo x badminton player! reader

GENRE — fluff, crack, maybe a sprinkle of angst, badminton au, friends to lovers

READ HERE

MATCH TWO: REMATCH — yang jungwon!

SYNOPSIS — finding out that you have to teach badminton to little kids with a friend you haven’t seen in years is surprising, no doubt. yang jungwon returns to your life in the most unexpected of ways, and now that you have to spend every day of your summer holiday with him, it's quite awkward, to say the least. not only because you haven’t seen him in forever, but also because you find that the old feelings you once had for him are starting to resurface.

PAIRING — badminton player! jungwon x fem! reader

GENRE — fluff, angst, crack, friends to strangers to friends to lovers (wow that was a mouthful), badminton au

READ HERE

MATCH THREE: KING OF THE COURT — nishimura riki.

SYNOPSIS — it’s that time of the year again for worlds, and with your mixed doubles partner jake, you’re both determined to win gold. jake tells you to focus on the shuttlecock and the shuttlecock only, and of course you will! except… a player from the japanese team named riki catches your attention. when you find that you have to play against him and his mixed doubles partner, maybe you learn that it’s a little hard to just stay focused on the shuttle when you're crushing on your opponent.

PAIRING — badminton player! riki x badminton player! reader

GENRE — fluff, maybe tiny angst, crack, kinda rivals to lovers, badminton au

READ HERE

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daegall · 2 years

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Tell me everything.

↳ Best friends are supposed to tell each other everything, but Donghyuck isn't all that sure if he can tell you about his feelings. (He obviously also doesn't know that you have a big fat crush on him too)

pairing: best friend!hyuck x reader

genre: fluff, crack, slight angst, best friends to lovers!AU

warnings: um parties, mentions of alcohol, reader and hyuck are so fucking oblivious, bro idk i dont rmember writing this fic im so sorry

word count: 8.8k words

a/n: oh my fucking god the rollercoaster this fic has been to me. i swear to god i have never ever been so blocked EVER im sos ososososoooo sorry this is SO overdue man i feel so guilty and at the same time i feel so disappointed in this fic but its ok ^^ i'll just grow out of it in the future and look back and laugh (with tears </3)

anw BIG HUGE thank you to the godess of editing herself, @jenotapes ! thank you so so sooo much aisha for the beautiful header, i cannot express how much i love it and how thankful i am, it's so gorgeous it's liek theonly good thing about this whole thing HAHA

The first real friend you've ever had, you have to say, is your mother, but really that's another situation.

Other than her, you'd have to say it would be Hung Renjun, someone you've known since middle school. You were inseparable during middle school, and sure you had a few crushes on him, but it's a lot different now.

You grew apart, but it doesn't seem like any of you minded it that much.

Your best friend after that, would be Lee Donghyuck. Someone you met through Renjun.

It was during Renjun's cousin's wedding where you met him. (You were only invited because this certain cousin used to be like a sister to you when you were younger. You like to remember all the tea parties you had together.)

But man, would you like to thank, and scold, both Renjun and his cousin for inviting you. Because of them, you found Donghyuck.

It was quite a unique way to find your best friend.

"You've got some moves!"

You turn around at the unexpected, and unfamiliar voice, alarmed at a (very cute) stranger with a light smile on his lips. Your lips go from a gape of surprise, to a bright smile that slips a laugh, "Thank you!"

"Do you have a phone number too?"

Yes, he had tried asking you out. Not only did you end up giving up your number, but you did go hang out a while after that.

You most certainly did (and still do) have the biggest crush on him, finding him so very charming and cute and, well, your type.

But for some apparent reason, he never asked if you wanted to actually date. You're not sure if he forgot, or he thinks you weren't interested or something, but he just didn't. You suspect he didn't have any more interest anymore. Not that you minded, (now. You minded a lot back then.) but it's getting a lot harder to keep in with every day that you get closer to Donghyuck.

It's gotten to the point where you don't even want to think of him, fearing that it would show and your whole friendship would be ruined.

Instead, you bake, as you always did when you had something particular on your mind.

Chocolate chip cookies, you had decided about 20 minutes ago, the soft and chewy ones that Donghyuck like—

"Holy shit," you whisper to yourself, voice hushed with realization. "did I just make Lee Donghyuck's favorite fucking snack without realizing?!"

Yeah, your crush on him has gotten a lot worse. You suspect this happened when he took you out for breakfast, lunch, and dinner when he noticed your dull state last week. He even paid for all the food!

You decide to let all your thoughts go as you close the oven with your fist batch of cookies, the rustiness of the screws more than enough to distract you. Gosh, nobody in your dorm building takes care of the poor thing. You remember when Yoo Jimin and Kim Minjeong attempted to roast a whole turkey but it came out way undercooked because the oven broke down within 30 minutes.

Just as you thought your mind was Lee Donghyuck-free, the door to the kitchen opens, and in comes all your thoughts once again, as your best friend enters.

"Hey there," he greets.

"Hi,"

"What are you doing?"

You shrug, turning around as you continue mixing the cookie dough. "I don't know, what does it seem like I'm doing?"

A chuckle slips from Donghyuck's lips as he approaches you, choosing to take a seat on the counter, next to the cooling rack. "Cookies?"

You only him in approval, placing the bowl back down on the counter.

To Donghyuck, your baking is one of the best he knows. First, would be his mother, of course, but you’re close to beating her, especially with the cake you baked for Renjun’s birthday a few months ago. He particularly likes your baking when you two are awake at midnight, and instead of using the oven, you choose to use the microwave, to make simple 2 minute microwave cookies or brownies. They’re the best for midnight snacks to have while writing an essay, or having an existential crisis together.

A moment later, Donghyuck finds you rummaging through the many drawers to find something. Once you finally find it, you go straight back to the dough, before you stick the object in, and scoop it back out.

In front of Donghyuck, is a teaspoon, scooped with your cookie dough. He mumbles a few words of gratitude, before taking the spoon from you and shoving it in his mouth.

While Jaemin and Jeno are your favorite taste testers, (due to their immaculate opinions of how much salt and/or sugar you put into your recipes) Donghyuck always somehow finds his way to become number one. Maybe it’s because you like to hear the compliments from him. (or your big fat crush on him. Both, most likely.)

"Oh, yum! This is really good," Donghyuck smacks his lips, savouring each second of the taste melting on his tongue, and gets a small sense of... nostalgia.

"Hey, did you put some—"

"—cinnamon? Yes I did, I remember you telling me how your mom would do it, so I decided to try it myself too. Good to know you like it,"

It was a simple mention during a debate of if cupcakes or cookies were better, but the very random fact stuck to the back of your mind whenever you thought of baking. You’ve been meaning to make some, but never had the time to until now. (Though, you do have a few assignments begging to be finished as you bake.)

While Donghyuck is so very thankful, and delighted, he's a tiny bit worried. He knows you only bake when you have a mind full of things you don't want it to be filled with. This happened when you flunked that one assignment and you baked a whole birthday cake to get your mind off it.

"Are you okay?"

You're surprised at Donghyuck's words, instantly halting your actions to turn to him with shock written in every part of your face. "Huh?"

"I mean," Donghyuck passes you the spoon back, wiping your hand when he sees its got some flour stuck to it, "you're baking. Cookies. A lot of them. You only bake when you're thinking a lot, what's up? I'm your best friend, tell me everything!"

And that is exactly what you've been thinking about. How attentive he is, how caring and kind he is. Gosh he almost makes you go crazy just by doing things like this to you, you might just tell him what's wrong to have him stop completely.

"Nothing," you breathe out, going back to check on the cookies in the oven, "just bored, I guess."

Donghyuck doesn't buy a single bit of it, and you know he doesn't. So instead, you decide to lie a little, hoping he wouldn't catch it.

"I was so busy yesterday, I guess I just wanted to relax. Decided to make some cookies for you."

At this, Donghyuck can't help but chuckle. Cookies? For him? "Just for me?"

Oh shit, did you say that? Silently, you panic, unconsciously shifting away from Donghyuck to hide your growing nose scrunch of embarrassment. "Uhh, f-for us...?" You hope he lets it go, you hope with your entire soul that he lets it go and accepts your stupid and poorly made excused for once.

Alas, he is Lee Donghyuck, your best friend who will never let you live down a single thing if you make a mistake. (You always question why you even like him.) There was a time you accidentally switched the names of two of your upperclassmen. The most embarrassing 2 weeks of your life when he would remind you every other day.

Donghyuck's head throws back with laughter, gripping the edge of the counter for balance. He's always looked so cute while laughing, and you don't miss the way your heart stutters. And neither does Donghyuck. His own heart feels like it's soaring, jumping all around his body, swirling and spinning all because of you. "Oh my god, you're so cute!"

Oh my god, he's driving you crazy.

To shut him up, you grab a cookie from the cooling rack, before shoving it in his mouth, flicking at his forehead. "Shut up or these cookies are going to Chenle."

Donghyuck nods, though laughing and chewing, winking and blowing a kiss at you. Once again, he feels his heart somersault when you reach over to wipe the few crumbs at the corner of his lips.

ii.

Lee Donghyuck never liked business management. Sure, it’s where he realized that the person he hit on at Renjun’s cousin’s party sat 2 rows in front of him, and yeah, Professor Lee is his favorite teacher, and sure, he sometimes likes the lessons–okay, maybe he just hates it today.

Or maybe today is complete shit to him. Yes, he hates today. None of your nagging during breakfast, or even lunch, due to your sudden cold you got overnight. He’s had to go through classes without you, only get one cup of coffee, and he didn’t even get one text from you. What’s up with that?

He feels completely relieved to be going back to his beloved room, expecting to do nothing but sleep for the rest of the day, and maybe watch some of his favorite reality shows. He just… he really needs to rest.

You know what he would kill for right now? Your cookies. The ones you made the other day for him, the ones you added cinnamon to and made him feel all warm inside. In his opinion, those are the best cookies he’s ever eaten. But he won’t tell his mom.

Yeah, one of those would not be bad for this shitty, shitty day. Or maybe you yourself, there to accompany him and cheer him up, but you’ve got a sickness, and need to rest. Him feeling down in the dumps is a lot less important than your health.

But apparently, that’s not exactly your own priorities.

Donghyuck doesn’t expect to see you here, when he swings open his dorm door, but there you are, with a mask on and a duster in hand. You seem to be cleaning out the bookshelf by the window, the one Donghyuck installed with you just for the aesthetics.

Why are you dusting it? Heck, why are you even here?!

“Y/n? What the fuck are you doing here? You need to rest right this second!”

You were just about to say something, to explain why you’re in his room in the first place, but your best friend beats you to it, rushing up to you, before he grabs gently at your arms. You drop the duster in your hand at this, gaping at the way Donghyuck tugs you to his bed.

It’s like every time you’re about to say something, anything, Donghyuck interrupts you with an action, pressing his hand to your forehead. “God, you’re still burning up. Have you taken your meds yet?”

FInally, you’re able to speak, as Donghyuck shuts up to hear you. Instead of words, a light laugh slips through your lips, as you shake your head in disbelief. “No, yeah, I took them right before coming here.” Donghyuck doesn’t say anything, but you can already practically feel the curiosity radiating off him, the frustration he’s about to spew out into words.

“I came here to clean your room,” You say, brushing Donghyuck’s hands off your arms, only to take them in yours softly. Instantly, his thumbs run over your knuckles carefully. You can’t deny the way your heart swirls with love. “since my dusty ass room is what gave me my morning cold.” Suddenly, you grow a bit conscious of how ridiculous you might seem to him, getting up to clean up your best friend’s room.

“Didn’t want you to get one, or something.” You can’t look Donghyuck in the eye, afraid that it would be the last thing to set you off into a hot, shy mess.

But unbeknownst to you, Donghyuck looks at you so gently, so lovingly and softly. He’s so very thankful for you, in so many ways. Just being in your presence has him instantly calming down, and forgetting about every single bad thing he’s had come across him today. Just the thought of you caring so much for him has him forgiving every single thing that’s ever hurt him in his life.

As if looking Donghyuck in the eye wasn’t enough to make you go crazy, Donghyuck’s hands suddenly slide up your arms, his fingertips brushing against your skin, before he wraps his arms around your shoulders, securing you tightly to him.

You feel, and practically memorize every time Donghyuck’s skin comes in contact with yours, touching, brushing, leaving trails of goosebumps. The best kind.

You feel so many things when Donghyuck hugs you. You feel shocked, and surprised, and at the same time so flustered. But those aren’t the strangers feelings in you. Others being worry, and dread.

This hug isn’t the typical ones that Donghyuck usually gives you. It’s tighter, tenser, he’s not giggling, and neither are you. Another thing that makes you feel awfully concerned about this hug, is the fact that Donghyuck has stuffed his head in your neck, and is breathing awfully heavily. It takes you one moment, then two, before you feel the tears and hear the sobs.

Instantly, your arms wrap around him instantly, tucking him closer to you, before you feel tears spring to your eyes as well. You don’t say anything, despite having so many questions, and Donghyuck is so very thankful for that. Sometimes asking for a reason and wanting to understand someone fully isn’t the best, in his opinion, but you don’t even have to ask to understand him. You’ve never had to. Just with an expression on his face, you can tell instantly what he’s feeling.

“One day without me and you’re already struggling, what would you do without me?”

Oh, how Donghyuck feels so safe around you. He pulls away from your shoulder, slightly grimacing at the sight of a damp spt, before a laugh chokes through his sniffling. “Nothing, so you better stick to me for the rest of our lives, alright?”

You do nothing but nod, and chuckle, before you start to wipe away Donghyuck’s tears with the sleeves of your sweater. Not the best choice for wiping someone’s eyes, but that doesn’t really matter right now. Donghyuck needs you, and you’ll be there for him.

“You wanna talk about it?” You mumble softly, brushing his hair from his face. Your best friend finds his heart swelling and thumping erratically with so much love at the look on your face. He’s always liked it when you take care of him. You don’t judge him, not at all. His needs are what you focus on, and it feels good to finally be loved for once.

“Can I?” He whispers in reply, falling into the warmth of your hands. His own grip at your wrists, holding them up to his face.

You smile, and it tells him everything. You’re not going anywhere until he feels better, no matter how long, or how hard the task will be. “Tell me everything.”

And that’s exactly what Donghyuck does. He tells you of how his morning was thoroughly mundane and how he seemed to have struggled to stay awake during class, and how Professor Lee even told him off for dozing off. He tells you each detail, every word and action, and you practically feel like you’re in the scene with how he describes it.

One thing he leaves out, however, is every feeling he’s felt. How could he? He’s sure to blurt out how incredibly safe he feels with you, how worried he was because of your cold, how all he could think about today was just you. Not to mention, how he really believes he cares for you, way more than a best friend should.

Just your presence, the sight of you, it makes him feel somehow inside. Like having a warm picnic late in the afternoon, the warm rays of the sunshine feeling oh so relaxing.

Like watching one of your favorite chick flicks or romantic movies with you after his breakdown, but not even paying attention to the movie because of the way you look so immersed and mesmerized with it has him himself in a daze. That one spark in your eye you always have when you’re so interested, the smile on your lips when you sigh with delight, the way your hands curl around Donghyuck’s wrist to bring you closer.

Donghyuck loves these moments. Donghyuck loves you.

iii.

Alright, Donghyuck does not love you. At least, he doesn’t think he does.

Not in these moments, when you bug him constantly when you very much know he needs to be focusing and finishing his essay.

But hey, in your defence, he’s got 2 weeks to finish it, and it’s not like he doesn’t have everything planned out for it. He’s been ready, much to your surprise. And as much as you are proud of him, you’re not so proud when he’s chosen to use the time where you two usually go to the grocery store near campus to do some assignment.

And it’s not like he doesn’t bug you every time you’re doing literally anything other than hanging out with him. There was a time you had to tutor Jung Sungchan (who will always remain your favorite student) but Donghyuck was around the corner, whispering (not so) quietly at you about how you should totally ditch math and accompany him wherever.

“Please, Y/n,” Donghyuck finally says after attempting to ignore you for 20 straight minutes. His hands are holding at yours, shaking them with the most desperate expression you’ve ever seen on Lee Donghyuck. “I’m begging you to just let me work. 30 minutes. Then we can go get frozen yoghurt from the dining hall, how’s that?”

You really can’t help but snort, and he can’t help but feel all his frustration flutter away just at the sight of your smile. Strange, he’s been feeling things. “What happened to the Donghyuck I knew last week? When I was sick? That made me swear not to leave each other because you couldn’t even last a day without me?”

“My god, Y/n!” Donghyuck exclaims, and at that moment, his fingers intertwine with yours. Great, let’s play a round of ‘how many times can your best friend make you feel things a best friend shouldn’t’ shall we?

“Yes, my love,” There goes one. God do you hate (read: love) when Donghyuck calls you that.

Donghyuck breathes out, trying to suppress a laugh. (it fails.) “I know I said that, and I still don’t take it back! I really mean it, I really do,” That’s two!

“But please, just let me finish this, and then we can go grab a snack, yeah?” Okay, that wasn’t that bad.

“My treat.” And that’s three.

This comment has you shutting up with a small smile, a swirling sensation of excitement stirring in you. This is the only indication your best friend needs to know you’ve agreed to his terms.

And finally, some peace and quiet. At least, that’s what Donghyuck thought.

“What’s your favorite color?” Donghyuck sighs when you start up after promising him you wouldn’t. He glances at you only momentarily, across from him with your arms tightly wrapped around the pillow Jeong Jaehyun left accidentally when he moved out. You have a small, almost mischievous smirk on your lips, as you lightly nudge at your best friend’s knee with your foot.

“I dunno,” he mumbles out, going back to his work, “never thought of it.”

And then he’s back to typing and ignoring you. Oh, how boring this was. It’s not all that fair, in your opinion, how Donghyuck is ignoring you when every time you’ve wanted to work he’s coming over with Chenle’s dog and a bunch of your favorite movies.

“Okay then, what’s your favorite thing to do?”

“Right now?” Donghyuck murmurs, and can’t help the jumping of his heart or curl at his lips when you crawl closer to him to bump your head against his side. “It would be working on this essay.”

“You’re so boring!”

Donghyuck simply dismisses your words, though you can see the slight smirk at the corner of his lips. He’s amused, and though he claims he wants to finish his essay, you know he very much does not mind your presence with him.

“Fine,” You huff out, “I guess I’ll just go and bother Jaemin or something.”

At this, Donghyuck perks up, eyes wide as he watches you roll off the couch next to him. His hand instinctively reaches out to grab at your wrist before you could leave, tugging you back to stumble back next to him on the couch.

Just as you expected.

“Oh? What’s this? The person who has been completely ignoring me is suddenly giving me so much attention?”

“Uh–” Donghyuck stumbles over his words, racking his brain to find a witty enough response to keep you here with him. Alas, as much as he tries, as hard as he searches, his mind becomes completely blank. It’s been happening lately, actually. Whenever he stares into your eyes, he’s struggling to find all the stupid witty comments, his heart feels like it’s being tugged at, it’s so strange.

“God, okay fine! Yeah, I want you here, but please, just don’t ask me stupid shit, okay?” Donghyuck proceeds to pat the space next to him, his gaze turning shy as he looks away bashfully. “Just–just accompany me, please.”

And surprisingly, you comply, for here you are, next to him, staring at his screen. Your head rests on his shoulder, hands playing with the pillows in your arms. You’re bored, but you can suck it up, just for Donghyuck, you suppose.

A sudden thought pops up in your mind, amd before you can stop yourself, you’re blurting it out.

“What do you want for your birthday?”

You notice how Donghyuck’s fingers completely stop typing, his work put on hold. “What?”

“I mean,” You start, your voice growing quieter, “your birthday’s coming up soon, right?”

All the other years you’ve celebrated it, it was always you throwing a big surprise party for him. It was always your gift for him. But since this year Jeno and Jaemin promised they would do it for him this year, it would mean you’re gonna have to get him a present too.

Donghyuck’s never heard this question, and strangely, he doesn’t really like it coming from you. He doesn’t want to demand things like he does with his other friends (read: Rich kid Chenle). He knows that whatever it is, he’s gonna love it.

“Your love?”

Your breath hitches in your throat at the response you receive, before you fly away from his shoulder to throw him a confused look.

Donghyuck’s face is… incredibly cute. He has a teasing smile, cheeks pulled up with his eyes bright. His chuckles are soft, though they resonate repetitively in your ears, and you can’t help but start chuckling as well.

“Oh really?”

When Donghyuck shrugs with a nod, you can finally come up with an equally witty response. “You better not complain if my gift is a kiss.”

To be honest, Donghyuck doesn’t mind. In fact, he kind of–holy shit Lee Donghyuck wants to kiss you!

iv.

Hyuck 🐻: Hey [22:10] Hey [22:10] Hey [22:11]

You: What [22:11]

Hyuck 🐻: Can we call [22:12]

You: Why [22:12]

Hyuck 🐻: Need help with an assignment [22:12]

You: Okay fine yeah sure [22:13]

Only you did anything but an assignment Donghyuck was struggling on. You went on a video call, he showed you a bit of the equations, and then you don't remember anything about any assignment after that.

The only thing you can recall talking about is literally anything other than it. Like Donghyuck's story of how his pinkie apparently stopped growing. (He's told you about 6 times already, but it's got to be your favorite story to hear.)

Nonetheless, you can't say you mind it. Donghyuck has been a bit distant lately, you're not sure why, but it's great to hear from him again.

Unbeknownst to you, Donghyuck is avoiding you just a little bit. Ever since the time on the couch where he quite wanted you to kiss him, he's not sure where his heart lies. In your palms, probably.

And he definitely feels like it is, especially when you start laughing at one of his stupid jokes through the screen. It's a tiny bit lagged, with your smile coming only a few seconds after your laughs, but it still shakes Donghyuck's heart. He can't even remember the joke.

He can't remember anything when he's with you, all he wants to remember is the curl of your lips, the sound of your laughter, the warmth you emit. Well, the warmth his laptop emits.

"Hey," Donghyuck starts. He picks on the bracelet you gave him last year, after you got it from some kiosk you found when you went on vacation with your family. It was the first real gift from you, and he cherishes it with all his heart.

"Didn't get to ask how your week was, how was it?"

Right, because he's been quite clearly ignoring you all week.

You visibly shift in Donghyuck's screen, going unseen for a moment, before you adjust your laptop on your lap. "It's been okay, got extra free time since Sungchan couldn't come to this week's meeting. Been sleeping a lot more."

"That's good," Donghyuck replies to your summary. It really is, because God knows how little sleep you get. Sometimes it's because of studying, or watching some movie just because you felt like it, or someone (read: Donghyuck) is occupying your time.

Your smile flashes on the screen, and it causes Donghyuck to smile himself, tugging his blankets closer to him.

"How about your week? What have you been doing to not call me every other hour?"

Let's see, thinking of you, staring at your contact photo for some reason, contemplating whether to call you or not, and, well, sleeping. And babbling about you to Lee Jeno.

"Not much, really."

His answer is definitely not what you expected, nor was it really what you wanted. You expected a whole rant, story time until the most ungodly hour of the morning, heck, even a witty little comment like how he's been thinking of you would be okay. (He would totally, but just scared if he would sound too serious because it's literally what he's been doing.)

And this clearly shows through your facial expressions, as your nose scrunches in dissatisfaction. "Really? Why didn't you call me then?"

Your words set a zoo that even Donghyuck has no idea of running around his body, sensations of happiness and giddiness ripple through his whole soul, and he has to physically hold back a grin.

"Why didn't you call me? Why does it always have to be me calling you?"

Donghyuck is lucky enough to come up with a natural and witty comment, a pout playing at his lips. They dangerously threaten to curl when you click your tongue, leaning in closer to your camera. "Fine," you mumble, "I'll call you next time."

Geez, and Donghyuck thought the zoo was enough for him. Now he has his heart shaking, bearing and clenching and buzzing with adoration for you. Holy shit... what was this feeling?

"Oh, by the way," these words once again capture all of your best friend's attention, it has him humming intently, unconsciously bringing his laptop closer to him.

"had this conversation with Chenle the other day," you explain the context, though you clearly know this was a lie. There was no conversation with Zhong Chenle, it was just a scheme.

"What's a random thing you have never had?"

Yes, a scheme to find him a birthday present.

"For example, I never had a gemstone before. Pebbles, rocks, sure. But like rubies and all that jazz? Never."

At first, Donghyuck was a little bit suspicious of your actions and words, but the moment you mention the gemstone and have you've never had it, his mind drifts off from the suspiciousness, instead racking his brain to find a thing.

It takes him a solid minute, one minute of a cute little thoughtful pout, one moment of his low focused humming, one minute of staring at his cute habits. God, perhaps you have it bad for Lee Donghyuck.

As you stare at him, you can't help but wonder what this certain object might be. Donghyuck's been gifted very random things by lots of people. There was a time he got a whole pack of chopsticks for Christmas. It was the craziest shit ever.

"Snowglobe."

You barely get to process his words, before you burst out laughing, very amused by his words. Though Donghyuck is confused, and shocked, he can't help but laugh along with you. He always found your laughter very contagious and enlightening.

"What?" He asks softly between chuckles, eyes glued to the screen, where you attempt to stop your laughter, but fail miserably.

"N-nothing," you snort, "that was just the last thing I expected."

And honestly, Donghyuck gets it. He gets it completely. Snowglobe, of all things, but it’s the truth, it really is.

Donghyuck leans in closer to his screen, if that is even possible, smiling fondly as you quiet down from your laughing fit. You have your face stuffed into a pillow, eyes shut as you try to regain and steady your breath. “It is pretty random, isn’t it?”

Your best friend can’t help but think you look… so precious. How many people in the world get to make you smile this much, how many people can get you to laugh as hard? For some reason, he can’t help but feel almost so special to get to have you in his life. To have you listen to his god awful jokes and to have you accompany him in a call. God, how did he even manage to get you to bake his favorite cookies?

And suddenly, when he glances at you, closing the window to his (finished and submitted) essay, you look way too good for a best friend. Grinning down at your laptop as your favorite part of your comfort movie plays, when have you ever looked so good before?

Considering the fact that Donghyuck was okay with you kissing you just a few days ago, and how you seem absolutely ethereal to him, he’s pretty concerned. What is going on? Why is he feeling this way towards you, after months of being so close, why has he only noticed now?

When Donghyuck softly smiles at the sight of you already mouthing along to your favorite dialogue of the whole movie, he realized that not only is he okay with you kissing him, he wants you to kiss him.

It’s been weeks since you’ve actually hung out properly with Lee Donghyuck, and after all this time spent without him, you realize how painfully boring life could be without him and how incredibly boring Lee Jeno is.

You spent a couple of days with him, and you agree with everyone when they say Na Jaemin truly might be his soulmate, because you don’t know how he can deal with such boringness. (Oh my god has Lee Donghyuck been influencing you too much?!)

Strangely, Jeno and Jaemin have been avoiding you too, but you know why. Even if they didn’t tell you, you know it’s because they would accidentally slip up and tell you their plans for Donghyuck’s birthday party and you would go scurrying off and telling him.

False, they are, because Donghyuck doesn’t…. want to talk to you. At least, that’s what you think, and that’s what you fear. What have you done wrong? What went wrong? The last time you spoke was… about 2 and a half weeks ago, when you had gone over to drop off one of his sweaters he left in your dorm.

He was quite awkward, to say the least. Fidgeting, nervous mumbling, he didn’t even hug you once, he was surely fishy. Ever since then, it’s only been texts, no meet ups or calls. Just texts. And you were initiating and continuing them all by yourself.

A pit of fear lies within you at the thought of you doing something to have Donghyuck stray away from you. Anxiety courses through your veins at the thought of him telling you that you should stop talking or something.

Nobody knows how you feel about him. Fear and love, or whatever you feel for him, nobody knows.

Nobody but Mark Lee. That guy’s great at getting you to spill your beans. Just an ‘Are you sure?’ and you’re going on and on about how confused you feel, how scared and how much you adore Donghyuck.

Thankfully, unlike Jisung or Chenle (or both together), he doesn’t have certain days where he’s making fun or not, he’s always 100% considerate. You’re surprised he doesn’t have a significant other yet, he really deserves one.

And here you are, once again, in front of him, but instead of the library, or his dormitory lounge room, you find yourselves in front of a lake Mark had found recently. You might bring Donghyuck here someday.

“Damn, really? I thought this was gonna be our spot, but I guess you always have to show Donghyuck everything.”

“Well sorry, Mark,” You murmur, as you attempt to skip a rock. It bounces 4 times. “I’m sorry I have a big fat huge crush on my own best friend.”

Mark whistles at your 4 skips, nudging your arm with an impressed smirk. “You say he’s ignoring you?”

“Yeah.” You don’t want to be reminded of the fact. Mark can tell, but you do have to face it either way.

“I know these words might be said like, a thousand times to a thousand people, but it’s really what you should do. Give him some time, maybe he’s going through something–”

“–Mark if he’s going through something he would tell me, he always does! He calls me, usually right before he’s going to sleep, and when I hear his sigh I know. I would know instantly. And I’d be over at his in less than 6 minutes, and he would scold me for wasting my breath for him, and I would always counter how he would do the same thing, because he would!”

Mark isn’t exactly surprised to see you’ve finally cracked. Neither did he expect it, but he knew it would be possible. He lets you rant, he wants you to rant. Get all of it out, until it’s all gone.

“And the thing is, I don’t even fucking know if he would at this point.” You groan and grimace at the tears starting to bead at the corner of your eyes, throwing another rock at the lake. “Did I do something?”

“Y/n,” Mark calls out softly. You almost forget you have company, but with Mark’s hand on your shoulder, moving you in front of him, you know you can trust this company. “even if Hyuck did feel that way, he wouldn’t lead you on, you know he wouldn’t.”

He was right, Donghyuck always called out the bad people in his life and didn’t even hesitate to turn them away. It’s a trait you love about him, he warned you about one of your exes, and instead of scolding you, like he usually does, he went to have a full on conversation with him and full on punched him.

“But if he was leading you on, you’d be okay. He might mean a lot to you now, and in the near future, but there will be people there for you.” Mark has now wrapped you in his arms, patting comfortingly. He mumbles softly, as if he knew the perfect tone to make someone calm down. He does have the perfect tone to calm someone down.

“That’s not gonna happen, though. He loves you way too much to do that.”

Mark Lee is crazy good at comforting, he should probably do it as a job, or something.

“Yeah,” You laugh (with a quiet sniffle that follows), burying yourself in his embrace. You wipe at the small tears on your cheeks, laughing embarrassingly, but Mark assures there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. “God, you’re a really good listener,”

“I know.”

“And advice giver.”

“I know that too,”

You pick up one more rock, turn to the lake, before you toss it. “I think I’m gonna confess. I don’t want this to fester into something really bad.”

Mark nods, joining you in rock skipping. His rock bounces 5 times. “Alright, but if he says anything bad I’m beating the shit out of him.”

You laugh at his comment. Mark Lee is like the brother you always wanted.

vi.

It’s June sixth, Donghyuck’s birthday.

You had texted him a quick birthday text this morning, strike at midnight, like you promised. You haven’t texted him since then, only staring at the ‘thanks y/n <3’ he had sent you about 20 minutes after you sent the text.

At first, you were pretty surprised to see that he was up that late, and then the worry came and started getting you just a little anxious, before you brushed it off, concluding that he was only just playing some more video games with Lee Jeno on his birthday.

And then after that, nothing. No texts, no calls, no nothing. It makes you a little sad, but you’re way too scared to do anything about it. You plan to confess to Donghyuck. Today, at his birthday party Jaemin and Jeno are hosting.

It’s only about an hour and a half away, but you have no plans on getting ready for it. Not at all. For now, you have his wrapped gift in your hands as you stare at your ceiling and practice your confession in your head.

You were always good at memorizing things, speeches, formulas, anything. It was a little thing you enjoyed.

But now, trying to clear your head and recite the confession you plan to tell him, you can’t recall a single word. Just the thought of it going to your best friend, who has been ignoring you for god knows how long, it’s got your heart hammering in your chest and your hands shaking, your nervousness spiking.

You check the clock. 40 minutes until the party.

You’ve got to get your shit together.

Before you know it, you’ve found yourself at the party, Jeno and Jaemin both embracing you at the same time.

“A little late, but nothing too bad! Good to see you again, Y/n!” Jaemin mumbles, before planting a playful kiss on your cheek. You fake a grimace, wiping it off your skin. Jeno only giggles at the situation, before ruffling your hair and nudging his head inside. “You’ll be able to find Hyuck somewhere in there. Can’t be that hard, he’s the birthday boy!”

His words are meant to mean well, nothing with generous intent, but it makes you nervous. Just in a matter of time, you’re about to spill all the beans about all your feelings towards your best friend who probably doesn’t even want to be your best friend anymore. (He wants to be so much more, but you don’t know that.)

The party is busy, busier than you thought, with many people from your classes and some other people they brought, probably for free food and a chance of finding love. Or maybe Jaemin and Jeno are just immensely popular.

All these people, and yet no sign of Donghyuck yet.

His gift is tight in your grip, your fingers bouncing and tapping against it quickly.

The first few people you bump into are your close friends, Huang Renjun and Mark Lee, and you don’t miss the hopeful glint in Mark’s eyes. You shake your head quickly with a slight frown, which tells him everything he needs to know.

Next, are Chene and Jisung, who seem… strange. They’re giggling, which is normal, but they keep nudging at each other and they had started… poking and screeching at you when you asked where Donghyuck was. You had no choice but to check if they were tipsy, or something, only to find their drinks were just mixtures of a bunch of sodas. Gross.

About 25 minutes have passed, no sign of Donghyuck. How are you supposed to give him your gift? (read: how are you supposed to tell him you’re head over heels in love with him?) Is he seriously ignoring you in his own birthday party too?

You’re getting agitated, almost anxious as the time passes.

You run up to Jeno, when you spot him near you. “Hey, have you seen Hyuck around?” You yell over the loud music.

His face twists, and the smile on his face is wiped off and replaced with a slight frown. “You haven’t seen him at all tonight?”

You shake your head.

“That’s weird, he would have been the most excited to see you,”

You excuse yourself, the moment you feel a stir in your stomach. You had a slice of cake, and some apple juice, and you don’t think your stomach is agreeing to the combination. Or the thought of Donghyuck completely ignoring you.

It’s not too long of a walk to the bathroom, after all you could make your way through Donghyuck’s place with your eyes closed. Not a good idea right now, you could bump into that guy with 5 plates of birthday cake.

You finally make your way into the bathroom, quickly shutting the door behind you. Instantly, the music is blurred out, and you close your eyes with a sigh when you feel your nerves calm down just a little bit.

Just a little bit.

They double in amount, however, when you realize that none other than Donghyuck is in the bathroom himself, sitting at the corner by the corner.

You both stare at each other, wide eyes of surprise, clearly unsuspecting of finding one another in the bathroom.

“Hyuck? What the fuck are you doing in the bathroom?”

“Uhhh,” Donghyuck desperately racks his head back and forth for a reason, any kind of reason. “Taking a shit?”

No, he was not taking a shit. Obviously.

You feel a whole whirlwind of emotions hit you suddenly, it strikes at your chest, your heart, before it tingles and moves to your fingers, where you squeeze Donghyucl's birthday present, before it moves onto your feet, as you take one step.

That's as far as it goes, however, and you stop very awkwardly in the middle of the bathroom. There's no point in stopping now, he's right here, you both have nowhere to go, and really it's now or never.

You take another step, and another, and before you know it, you're kneeling and plopping down next to Donghyuck.

It's awkward, at least you think it is. You don't dare look at your best friend, afraid that the moment you do, you'djust blurt out how much you love him.

Donghyuck, however, feels nothing but longing towards you. He longs for you, after weeks of ignoring you. But he doesn't let himself, it's his fault, he should deal with the consequences himself.

"Um—happy birthday!" You blurt out, and stick out your hand with the birthday present in it. It alarms Donghyuck, only for a moment, before he reaches out to it with a grin. You missed his smile.

Instantly, Donghyuck has an urge to unwrap it, to see what it is and treasure it with his whole being, to thank you and hug you and finally just be normal with you once again.

And so he rips open the wrapping paper, finding a snow globe sitting in his palm now. Donghyuck's heart follows each and every artificial snowflake floating about in the glass, swelling and swirling at the gift.

You're nervous for Donghyuck's reaction, seeing him gape at the globe with such wide eyes. Did he not like it? Was it too much? Maybe he wanted to get a snow globe himself.

But, it's nothing short of perfect to him. It's got a polar bear in it, with a santa hat and a christmas tree only half its size, there's nothing in it he could ever point out as a flaw.

"Thank you," Donghyuck finallu breathes out, "fuck, this is perfect—thank you so much, Y/n, really."

"I, uh, wanted to put a picture of us, but I didn't know how to do it so I bought a normal one instead" For the second time that night, Donghyuck's heart goes into a frenzy, just at the sight of your smile of pure happiness and eyes of relief. It pains him to think you could doubt yourself over something as silly as a present. You shouldn't ever worry about what you do to him, he's going to love you no matter what.

The atmosphere lifts a little but after that, as you both shyly smile at the situation.

However, it's not a clear sky just yet. There are grey clouds in the way, grey clouds you can't simply ignore.

And at those clouds, you ought to curse at. You haven't brought an umbrella, or a raincoat, even if you knew it was gonna rain. Here you are, sitting in the shade, knowing that if you step out, it'll start pouring.

But at that, you say fuck it! May it be a drizzle worth of rain, a hailstorm, heck a blizzard couldn't stop you.

"Hey, Hyuck?" You take a step out of the shade.

He simply hums back, gaze never leaving the snow globe.

You take a deep breathe, feeling the first droplet of rain on your skin. "Did… did I do anything?"

And when Donghyuck whips around at you with a shocked expression, you feel the winds of confusion kicking in, growing stronger as he rapidly shakes his head and denies it quickly. "What? No, it's just a snow globe,"

"No, no," You can't help but chuckle at his panicked tone, leaning your hand on your palm. "Not that. Just in general, you know?"

In comes heavier rain, feeling so weighted against your skin. It's cold, harsh, and wet, but you know it's going to be worse.

"If I'm doi g anything wrong, please don't keep it in, please tell me," Your words do more than just surprise Donghyuck, a stinging guilt pains him. Is this what you've been thinking about the whole time he's been gone?

"If I'm making you uncomfortable in any way, tell me. If I did something, tell me my mistake." Your voice is laced with more than hurt, or guilt, it has fear, desperation, and Donghyuck wants to punch himself because of all this.

You can't bring yourself to look at Donghyuck, just merely talking to him about the things you've been worried about is already a whole hurricane for you ti deal with, to fight. "If I'm lacking in any way, tell me what I'm lacking. Just please, tell me, Hyuck. You're one of the most important people in my life and I don't want to hurt you or make you feel bad in any way—"

“—Shut up and look at me!"

You hadn't even noticed Donghyuck calling out to you, not until he's grasped your hands in his, inteetwinign your fingers together.

"God, Y/n, I'm sorry. I made you think the exact opposite. I…" Donghyuck's sentence trails off, and before he knows it, he feels himself choking up once again. Just at the sight of you, so desperate, sorry for nothing, feeling bad, he can't get himself to say anything.

Despite that, he tries, shifting on the floor to face you, "Remember when we met? Two years ago, at Renjun's birthday party? Remember what I first said to you?"

It takes you a moment, but you do remember, how could you ever forget?

'You got some moves! Do you have a phone number too?'

Just by the look on your face, Donghyuck knows you remember. "I still stand by my words."

"...I got good dance moves?"

"Wha—No! After that,"

"...I have a phone number?"

"Oh my fucking god, no. I mean what I meant in general. Like—I was hitting on you," Realization rushed in you, and it hits you like a truck once the words roll off Donghyuck's tongue and register in your brain. Lee Donghyuck was hitting on you.

Donghyuck's heartbeat beats in his ears, terrifyingly loud, and his insides twist in fear and anticipation as he mumbles, "I... I fucking love you, Y/n. I love you so much it hurts, and it terrifies me."

"At first, I just thought friends would be enough. But then we became best friends, which I thought would be better, but god was I wrong. Realizing your feelings for your best friend is crazy, because you're scared of every little thing they do! When you asked me what I wanted for my birthday, you... I just really wanted to kiss you right then and there. When you gave me a hug when I had a bad day, I was so afraid that I would accidentally blurt out the words 'I love you', and when you started looking at me differently, longingly, I realized that I had been ignoring you without realizing. And I feel like an absolute bitch about it. I'm so sorry, for everything. For making you feel terrible just because I was being a fool, for neglecting you, and being an asshole and... and for my feelings. I understand if you feel weirded out, or disgusted, or anything, really. I'm just sorry."

The storm you once thought you'd try fighting away is now drying away, replaced by nothing but the sun after the storm, absolute gid and relief waving over you at his words.

Donghyuck looks so fucking ethereal right now, blushing shyly as he stares at the snow globe you gifted him, and as much as he feels embarassed, there's nothing in him telling him to stop holding your hands. He's holding them so dearly, running the pads of his thumb over your skin, his touch warm and comforting.

"Hyuck," You mumble softly. He doesn't look up. "I think I love you too, Hyuck."

In an instant, Donghyuck's head whips up to stare at you, blinking repeatedly and mouth gaping continuously at you.

"Wait—fuck, wait really?!"

You laugh at Donghyuck's shocked expression, leaning forward to bump your forehead against his shoulder.

"Wait—no—Y/n don't play with me. You love me?!"

"Yes, Donghyuck!"

"Fuck, wait, you said you think you love me. Do you love me or not?"

"Oh my god, I love you! I love you, okay? I don't think your feelings are weird, I think it's dope,"

Donghyuck still continues to gape at you, with what seems like the whole galaxy in his eyes, staring at you as if you were his sun and moon and stars and every beautiful thing out there.

Donghyuck gently shurgs you off his shoulder, before he automatically finds his hands on your skin, caressing your face ever so dearly. The look in his eyes do not change, nor do they falter, desperately staring into yours.

"Are you sure you love me?"

You lean forward to bump your forehead against his, "One hundred percent. You sure you love me?"

Donghyuck shifts to brush your noses together, and you can practically feel his grin against yours. "One hundred percent,"

With that, Donghyuck's lips lock with yours, so softly you feel almost lightheaded. His hands on your face still trace their ways through each inch to your jaw and neck, memorizing each part of you. Donghyuck's lips feel soft, taste of birthday cake you can only assume is from when he blew the candle earlier.

Each peck, each push and pull of your lips feel almost like a dream, but the small smiles and occasional laughs bring you back to reality.

When you pull away, Donghyuck instantly brings you into his arms, planting kisses on every free spot he can find on your cheeks

"When did you realize you love me?"

You hum at the question, "Few months ago."

"All those weeks I've wasted… pining over something I already had?!"

"I quite like it, it adds to the yearning, don't you think?"

Donghyuck only huffs, bringing you closer to him.

"Oh right, speaking of all those weeks we've wasted, care to fill me in on those weeks?"

"What should I tell you?" Donghyuck mumbles, pulling your fingers between his. He reaches down to press a kiss to each of your knuckles.

"Tell me everything?"

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najaemism · 1 year

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midnight rain [3]

PAIRING. na jaemin x reader

WORD COUNT. 0.5k

WARNINGS. language, chenle being nosey

SUMMARY. sometimes you just get some kind of haunted, and you swear you never really think of him anymore—except on midnights like this.

AFTER YOUR BREAKUP WITH JAEMIN, he told himself he wouldn’t try to listen to any of your songs anymore. Call him a bitter ex or whatever, but as much as he wanted to support you and your career, he just couldn’t bring himself to listen to them.

Now, it’s been years since you broke up, and he still hasn’t willingly sat down and listened to a single song from you—but he just saw you for the first time in five years, and his friends are telling him to just try and listen.

He sighs as he is sitting in his car at the parking lot of the hospital, staring down at his phone. On his screen is the song that Jeno sent him earlier, as he’s contemplating whether it’s a good idea to listen to it on the drive home.

His thumb hovers over the green play button, and he takes a deep breath before moving to click it. He hears the first few notes of the song, then—

“Doc Na!”

He jumps from his seat and pauses the song, quickly turning his head with furrowed brows, only to see two of Jeno’s interns, Jisung and Chenle, right outside of his car.

He lets out a breath before rolling down his window and forcing a smile at the two. “Do you guys need anything?” He asks.

Jisung smiles apologetically at him. “Sorry, Chenle saw you and wanted to say hi.”

“Oh.” He blinks. “Hello?” He greets hesitantly. “I’m actually about to go home, are you two…?”

“No, Doc Lee just told us to get something, we're about to head back inside,” Chenle replies, and Jaemin nods his head. “What were you doing? You looked very surprised when you saw us.” He then asks, then glances down to his phone. “Oh—you listen to Y/N?”

Jaemin purses his lips and shakes his head. “Not usually, no,” he replies.

“Oh. Well, I heard from the Lees that they’re here,” Chenle says, “by the Lees, I mean—”

“Jeno and Hyuck, yes, I know,” Jaemin cuts off, nodding his head. “Wait, they’re talking about… them?”

“Yeah, I think one of them talked to them earlier. Sounds like they knew them personally, too. Does that mean you do, too?”

Before Jaemin can reply, Jisung beats him to it. “You shouldn’t be eavesdropping on other people’s conversations, you know,” the younger intern says.

Jaemin nods at him, then points at his direction. “You should listen to him, Zhong,” he tells the intern.

“It’s not eavesdropping if they were talking freely in the break room and anyone who walks in could hear.” Chenle shrugs. “Which also reminds me, d’you think the kid is theirs—ah, why did you step on my foot?!”

“Don’t gossip about patients,” Jisung tells him through gritted teeth.

“The Lees did it first,” Chenle reasons.

Jaemin’s brows raise and he lets out an awkward laugh. “Oh-kay… well, I gotta go,” he says, before turning off his phone. “You two should head inside.”

Chenle salutes at him and Jisung only sighs before pulling the older intern away from Jaemin’s car. “We’ll see you tomorrow, Doc Na,” Jisung says and he only smiles back at him.

Once he’s alone again, he lets out a deep sigh. He glances down at his phone, now turned off. “Maybe next time,” he decides before tossing it on the passenger’s seat.

“God, I need coffee.”

THREE. | prev / masterlist / next

NOTE. stream mean it by gracie abrams (w/c is y/n’s song used in this part, and i will also be using other songs as y/n’s “songs”)<3 also, i made a midnight rain playlist :D

TAGLIST. @radiorenjun @bluejaem @pink-but-rosie @renjun-pretty @holdinbacksecrets @rynshyuckies @jelllyjae @jenyongcas @whyisquill @beemarkie @morkxlee @hibuki-chan @moonwalkun @lyyhyuck @baekhyunstruly @lilacdreams-00 @ridinhyuck @archivedmkl @najaeminluvbot @rensiu @morkleetrash @neo444 @hrjchive @keemburley @soobin-chois @yiz-yo @juune04 @nctasdfghj @studywoo @jun5ui @smolpeyy @kkotjia @yoonhanzjaem @stopeatread @goldryush @hibernatinghamster @shwizhies @zgzgzh @bbymatz @eyantice @w0nderr

#jaemin x reader #k-radio!#neoturtles #celesteves #jaemin social media au #jaemin smau #jaemin imagines #jaemin scenarios #jaemin angst #jaemin fluff #na jaemin #nct #nct dream #nct x reader #nct smau #social media au #smau: midnight rain

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woobly · 2 years

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MY FIRST AND LAST . . . 이주연 !

PAIRING. secretary! juyeon x gn! reader GENRE. fluff, ceo ish au, implied childhood friends to lovers WARNINGS. none, kinda corny but when was i never WORD COUNT. 1k words

𓂋˚˖ A/N. for @svhnflwr’s next steps collab! the prompt i chose is being their plus one at an event. pls do check out the works by the other writers in the collab! i tried to make this follow the theme but my dumb ass matched it w/ a conflicting genre so i hope it still works 😭

“AND SHE STEPPED ON THE BALL!”

“I did not!”

“Yes, you did!”

You chuckled as you stretched your cheeks into your nth smile of the night.

“They’re not going to stop bickering, are they,” you whispered as you tilted your body sideways, closer to Juyeon, who was seated to your right on the banquet table.

“No, I don’t think so, Ma’am,” he chuckled.

You turned your head slowly towards him, who was still watching your father’s friends tease each other. This wasn't the first time he addressed you formally in a place where he didn't have to. “Ju,”

Ripping his eyes off the other guests, he returned your gaze and took your hand from under the table. “Sorry. Old habits,” he smiled shyly, causing you to smile as well.

With your other arm, you straightened your back a little to place your elbow upright on the table and your chin on your open hand. “Old habits? Wouldn’t that refer to all those nicknames you called me back in high school?”

He pressed his lips into a thin line and squinted his eyes while looking upwards as if he was thinking. “Technically, we’re at work, so I can’t just do that,”

“But this is a Christmas party,”

“A formal Christmas party for your father’s company that he is also hosting. The first one, might I add,” he corrected you.

You give up, sighing and pouting as you lightly squeeze his hand. Feeling the lack of sleep begin to sink in your body, you yawn as you turn your head so that your left ear is on your palm.

“Did you not sleep well last night?” Juyeon asked, voice laced with concern, as he rubbed the back of your hand with his thumb.

“After you fell asleep first on FaceTime, I stayed up for maybe another hour, so yeah, I slept well. For about three hours,” When you hear him sigh, you lightly chuckle and give him a lazy smile.

“We can leave right now. Only the dancing is left anyway, and I’m sure your father won’t mind,”

“Everyone’s still here, and you already want to leave?” He squeezes your hand and looks at you with a face that says ‘you know what I mean’. You chuckle again, quickly gracing your eyes over his suit and tie that accentuates his shoulders well. “Not when I put effort into picking a tux and styling your hair, you’re not,”

“I think I’ve had this on long enough,”

“No, I wanna see you like this longer,” you pouted, making him chuckle and look away. Even if you two have been friends ever since who knows when, things like still make him flustered, especially because it’s you.

Yawning once again, you slightly turned your body towards Juyeon and placed your arm on the table so that you could put your head on it like a pillow. Watching you get more comfortable in your new position, Juyeon mirrors what you were doing and did the same.

As time ticked by, your eyes were finally beginning to droop even with the loud music blaring. However, before your fatigue could get the best of you, Juyeon started playing with your fingers. Eyes opening lazily, you chuckle once you see how focused he was on your numbing fingers.

“You know what, let’s dance,” you announced, slowly getting up from your seat.

“I thought you were tired,”

“Yeah, but when did we ever actually dance at a party like this? We didn’t even dance during prom ‘cause we were a bunch of awkward teenagers,”

Finally getting convinced, Juyeon stands up and drags you toward the dance floor, where majority of the attendees have gone.

“May I have this dance?” He placed his hand out in front of you, and you take it while miserably failing to hid your growing smile. He spins you around before placing his hands on your waist, to which you place yours over his shoulders.

From an outside perspective, you looked like you were in your own little bubble as if you were the only people present in the large hall. And in some ways, things did feel like that with Juyeon. Even if you were now both working adults, looking at him brings you back to when you used to walk each other to class, both in high school and college. Looking at him makes you feel like a child again, when the two of you would spend afternoons in the playground, free of all care and worry.

But at the same time, seeing him as he is now, especially in this moment with only the fairy lights shining on his features, will always be a new experience for you. He’s no longer just the guy who followed you around school like a cat or your secretary in your father’s company. He’s standing before you as the man who you’ve entrusted your entire heart to, which you perhaps didn’t even realize you did until only recently.

And of course, he feels the same about you. Even if he’s seen you in your most embarrassing times, he still thinks that you are the definition of beauty in human form, that when you open the dictionary and look for the word ‘beauty’, there would be a photo of you under it. Although he spent months on end debating whether he should keep his feelings to himself and simply watch you from a step away or just come out with it and hopefully be the person who holds your hand while you both grew older together, he’s extremely glad he took the leap and did it.

Because in this moment, despite the loud music and energetic crowd, you feel safe and at peace.

Or maybe it was just your exhaustion taking over your body once again as you leaned on him while swaying together slowly, not caring about the eyes looking your way.

Whatever the case, you knew that despite all this time, you’re more than happy to continue your intertwined paths full of new firsts together with Juyeon, your first and hopefully, your last as well.

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soobnny · 2 years

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let’s make it home together — lee heeseung. strangers to lovers. zombie apocalypse au. fluff and angst.

synopsis. with the familiar churn of fear in your stomach at the feel of a hand on your leg and one final failed attempt at kicking the zombie off, you resign yourself to being bitten - telling yourself you were ready to go as you shut your eyes closed. when nothing happens, you open your eyes to find an arrow and the silhouette of a man from your archery club (2.2k words)

go to “all of us are dead” masterlist

The wind creeps over the empty hallway of your school as you move quietly around the pool of bodies on the floor. Moments ago, you had ran the total of the school’s distance, away from the undead - losing your friend in the process.

This must be the peak of your stupid life. The situation didn’t even allow you to mourn properly over your loss.

Tears run down your cheeks quietly as you try your best to remain silent. You hadn’t been in this part of the school before, at least not for the ten hours you’d been stuck in the four-cornered premises, so you don’t know where the walkers were situated. Just that, in your whirlwind of emotions and the blur that is your memories, you ended up here after seeing your friend go.

The world moves slowly, the only open light receding in the grounds being that of the moon seeping through the clouds. You don’t know how you made it this far, all that you really knew was that you needed a new hiding spot.

You make a mental checklist in your head as you try and navigate through the grounds undetected. You needed a room where there was a lock, somewhere that wasn’t infested with zombies (saying the word ‘zombies’ still felt unreal to you), and you needed food.

You’re sure you’re near the gym, and you knew the storage room was usually always locked. You also knew that some parents had recently donated a few snacks and bottles of water for your school’s athletes that were supposed to compete the following week, and that they were surely in the storage room. You just needed to get the keys from the teacher’s office.

The only problem was how you were going to get there.

As soon as you lean against the walls of the gym, sat and hidden behind a few bushes and resigned to the fact that no one is probably coming to rescue you, the loud clap of thunder echoes from the sky and ripples through the floor. You hear the distant screams of the undead and you feel yourself start to tremble again. You weren’t ready to face them again.

Another jolt echoes, one much bigger than the first, one you could feel in your bones. The screams sound much louder now. Rain starts to fall.

It coats your face and gets in your mouth. You gather as much as you could in your hands, bringing it to your mouth quickly and drinking what you could. It tasted chalky, but you didn’t complain.

You knew you needed to go. By the sound of the screams you had heard, they were inching closer to where you were. The floor shakes again - another clap of thunder, there’s a moment of light and you stare horrifyingly in front of you when you see a zombie standing a few meters in front of you.

You stand up and move shakily towards the doors of the gym. Your legs feel like jelly from the distance you had ran earlier, but you don’t allow yourself to give up. Part of you thinks it’s silly to cry as you run from the zombie that’s most likely chasing you, the same part that tells you to just give up, but you don’t give into the feeling of despair. Instead, you continue running.

When you grab at the handle, you freeze in your place when you realize it’s locked from the inside. You continue gripping at the handles, pushing your body towards the doors in a desperate attempt to break it open. It doesn’t work.

As weak as you feel, you pound your fists against the doors. The sound of more footsteps and yells echo behind you, and you try to quickly assess your surroundings. Another clap of thunder, you notice the walkers scream out and temporarily get lost from where you’re at. You take the opportunity to run to your left.

It’s hard to see anything beyond a few feet because of the rain, but you push through. You try to climb at the windows, grabbing a rock from the ground. Your plan - the best one you’ve got - is to throw it at the window and hope that it breaks.

Before you’re able to do so, you feel something grab at your foot and pull you down. The part that tells you to give up comes back. With one final fight, you grip onto the rock you were holding onto and bash it into the head of the zombie that had tackled you to the ground. You scream, trying to push it off - it’s harder to see with the tears bunching at your eyes.

When the weight doesn’t lift, you resort to closing your eyes. This was it, this was how you were gonna go. Your stomach turns over, and you recognize the feeling. Fear.

You keep your eyes shut, prepared to go, but nothing happens. When you open your eyes, you see an arrow lodged in the zombie’s neck and a boy standing by the locked doors of the gym.

Lee Heeseung.

You vaguely remember him. He’s a year older than you, and the only thing you really know about him is that he was an athlete striving to be on the national team and that he was pointed. The type of boy who only talked to the people in his circle, who didn’t bother with anyone else. He spoke when spoken to, and he only did things when needed. He didn’t express much emotions toward those he didn’t care about, and he was bossy.

You reason it must be why people think he’s so mean.

He makes his way towards you after looking around - his hair is sticking to his face due to the rain, and it looks like he’s just been in a fight, a messy mix of blood and rain smudged across his pale face.

For the first time in hours, you allow yourself to hope.

You stare at him wide-eyed, and he’s equally surprised to see you (but he does a good job at hiding it). It’s been too long since you’ve seen another person aside from the friend you were with mere hours ago.

“Are you okay?” Heeseung pulls you up from the ground, grabbing onto your arms to scan it carefully and see if you’ve been bitten. You don’t know what to say. He wordlessly takes his jacket off and places it on your shoulders. “You’re shaking, here, keep this.”

Lee Heeseung is shameless as he takes your hand in his, as if you’ve known each other for ages. But given the situation, you make no comment. He grabs at the rock you had used earlier and breaks the window at the same time as another clap of thunder sounds.

“How’d you find me?”

“I heard a scream. Get on my back.” He crouches down, gripping onto your legs tightly so you don’t fall before guiding you towards the broken window. You squeeze through, and Heeseung makes sure you don’t hit the sharp edges of the broken glass. When you’ve managed to let yourself in safely, Heeseung jumps and climbs inside the window.

“I didn’t think anyone else was alive.” You stare at him in disbelief as you sit on the floor, hugging your knees and rocking yourself back and forth. “Me neither.” He sighs out, moving to sit right next to you. You notice the note of sadness in his voice.

Something’s telling you he had just experienced loss too.

“You’re cold.” Heeseung points out his observation.

“It’s okay, I’m okay.” He knows you’re lying, especially when he can see you visibly shivering with your teeth clanked together. He gives no warning before he has an arm wrapped around your shoulder. “Which class are you from?”

“Miss Park’s my adviser.” He nods his head slowly, hands moving up and down your arms to try and create some friction. “I don’t think there’s anyone left. Why isn’t there anyone left?” Your voice trembles a bit, and you feel Heeseung squeeze your shoulder - a way to tell you he understands.

He allows you to stare into the void for a bit, without any exchange of words. Heeseung knows all too well the face of someone who had just lost someone. He knows because he had stared into the reflection of one a few hours ago.

Heeseung doesn’t think he’ll ever get over losing Nishimura Riki. He blames himself for not being able to protect the boy.

When he sees you looking around the empty gymnasium, he can immediately tell you wanted someone to talk to again, to be able to hear someone, to know you weren’t alone anymore. Something’s telling him you needed to distract yourself from the pain of loss.

“______, right?”

You look up from where you’re staring at the ground. You’re surprised he knows your name. And as if he could read the thoughts in your head, he continues. “I’ve seen you around campus. You come to my games sometimes.”

Lee Heeseung has always been interested in you, pre-zombies. Always finding your face in the crowd, always looking for you in the halls when he walks Riki to class. He sighs at the tragedy of the circumstances he had to go through before formally meeting you.

He doesn’t think it’s the appropriate time to act on his feelings, but he does feel a new sense of determination. He needs to get you to safety - whatever it takes.

“You’re really good, you know.” You try to muster a smile, leaning against him before finally allowing yourself to rest your head on his shoulder. Your eyes feel droopy and your legs are exhausted from running the lengths of the whole school.

You’re just tired.

“Thanks.” Heeseung whispers quietly, resting his own head against yours. “I think you could go pro.” He hums at your response, gently tracing little circles on the back of your head.

“You think so?”

“I know so.” Something akin to a smile makes its way on Heeseung’s lips, something he hasn’t done in a while. “Well, I’ll be sure to invite you to one of my games then.”

You laugh humourlessly. “Yeah, if I’ll make it out of here.”

“We’ll make it out of here.” His words are firm as if he was sure you’d be getting out of here alive. “And I’ll find your face in the crowd again.”

“You’ll find me? Amidst the crowd of thousands, are you sure about that Lee Heeseung?” You raise your eyebrows at the boy, taking your head off of his shoulder to look at him pointedly. He smiles, with his teeth this time, staring back at you. “I will, I always do.”

You laugh a little to yourself, shaking your head before dropping your head back on his shoulder, closing your eyes for a bit. “You’re funny, Lee Heeseung.”

He’s about to tell you not one bit of his words is a joke when he hears quiet snores. He looks at you fondly, smoothing your hair down before adjusting his jacket so it covers you up more. He doesn’t want you to feel cold. Besides, this must be the first blink of sleep you’ve gotten since your high school became ground zero in the zombie apocalypse, or whatever this was.

He pointedly keeps watch of your surroundings before pulling you down gently so you can rest your head on his lap and lay down properly on the ground. “Sleep well, _______.”

When you wake up, you find Heeseung still awake - one hand running through your hair and the other gripped tightly around one of his arrows. You don’t think he had a second of sleep while you were out.

“Hey, you sleep well?” You nod your head, getting up bashfully as you suddenly feel shy when you realized you had been sleeping on him this whole time. However, you’re still grateful for the nap. Despite only being able to sleep for around three hours, it had been the most rest you had in a bit.

“You should try to get some sleep too.” He shakes his head, smiling softly at you before he moves to get off the floor. “We’re gonna have to look for food.” At the mention of food, you’re reminded why you had made the gym your destination when you were out running last night.

You tell him about the storage room and the key, and he inches closer beside you as the pair of you try to think of a plan of action. When Heeseung fails to open the lock with brute force, you know the two of you have to go towards the teacher’s office. You feel the familiar churn of your stomach at the thought.

“I’m scared.”

He pulls you in an embrace, and you think this must be what true comfort feels like.

When you pull away from the hug, he makes a point to look you in the eyes. Heeseung could only hope it reflected pure sureness and genuine care. With his hand in yours, he says his next words softly, yet firmly.

“Let’s make it home together.”

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