#like. i could be worry free for at least another semester and yet. alas. here i am worrying myself into a tizzy | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bbugyu · 4 years

Note

hi! could i request a jeonghan enemies (or friends that bicker a lot) to lovers? ty and i love ur writing !!

i am so glad you requested this because i have had this in the works for so long that i had to throw it into a case converter because it had capitalization and i was Not gonna finish it if i had to type it proper (i'm a fucking gremlin ok)

thank u for reading my work and thank u for giving me the perfect excuse to be hopelessly in love with jeonghan!!!!

falling + yoon jeonghan

finally, he thought. someone on his level. what’s the catch?

part one | part two

wc.10009 (fuckin oops) | fluff, humor, uni/coffeeshop/enemies to lovers au, gender neutral reader, slow burn, drinking, like lk too much drinking, swearing, throwing it back to sistar, copious argumentive flirting, everyone is MEAN but like in a funny way, bff!mingyu, it's your resident mingyuzi shipper, the only person more of a little shit than jeonghan is y/n

i used to be a barista and i would get exceptionally hateful towards customers for really stupid reasons and the only thing that could stop it is if they were really hot. this seems to hold great jeonghan energy. also i made y/n, like, mean as hell. like not actually mean but like. Mean. sorry. also all bars mentioned are real bars on capital hill in seattle that i love so if you recognize them that’s why. enjoy this enemies to lovers courtship.

you were pretentious, jeonghan thought. you acted like you were better than everyone else, and he hated that he had yet to find a reason to call you wrong.

he saw you almost every day during the week, between the class you shared on tuesdays and thursdays, and the cafe he worked in that you frequented to study. your demeanor was always polite, but what most people would describe as cold. you had caught his attention the first day of the semester, something about you seemed familiar, but he couldn't place it until he made your coffee the next day. you usually sat in the row in front of him, a few seats over, and he would chew on his cheek and wonder how you could sit back in your chair, arms crossed and eyes hardly opened, but still get the highest essay scores in the class. at the end of lecture, after he was done spending all his brain power stewing about your ability to succeed in visual culture without really trying, he would text his friend that took the class last quarter and ask, panic stricken, if he still had his notes, the irony of the situation completely lost on him.

at the cafe, you would come in, order an americano, and sit yourself in a well lit corner to work on your classes for a few hours, the coffee mostly undisturbed on the table beside your favorite armchair, then leave. there was never a smile on your face, and you were always alone. jeonghan watched the ice in your americano melt, watering down the coffee he made. maybe he had let the shots of espresso sit too long before saving them. maybe he let them burn on purpose just to see the face you made. but alas, you hadn't even put the metal straw to your lips. he wondered why you even ordered a coffee if you weren’t going to reap the benefit.

joshua spotted him leaning against the counter as he came out of the kitchen and laughed, setting down the freshly washed milk pitchers. “ask them out.”

he stood up straight. “why?”

“why not? you clearly like them.”

“i really don’t,” jeonghan laughed. “you’re crazy for thinking i do.”

joshua rolled his eyes. “no one spends as much time as you do staring at another person if they don’t find them at least a little attractive. have you ever even talked to them? outside of taking their order?”

he hesitated. “no?”

“so what if they’re actually really wonderful and you have a lot in common?”

“as if.”

“wow,” joshua said, leaning against the counter. “i can’t believe yoon jeonghan is afraid to talk to his crush.”

jeonghan shoved his friend's shoulder, giving him a look. “absolutely not. i'm 99% sure they're a pretentious asshole.”

he crossed his arms. “what does that make you?”

“shut up.”

“whatever, han. i’m just saying it’s kind of pretentious to hate someone solely because they don’t smile wide enough for you when they’re saying thanks.”

“it’s not that hard!” jeonghan said, maybe a little too loud. “i don’t wanna smile either, shua! but i do it! so can they!!”

joshua laughed. “lower your voice and go say hi, you freak.”

much to his chagrin, jeonghan got shoved towards your spot in the cafe with the front of the tables needing to get wiped down. he looked at joshua and seokmin with a furrowed brow as he wrung the towel, both of them giving him thumbs ups with wide grins. begrudgingly, he slowly made his way over to you.

“hey,” jeonghan said, doing his best to project something other than the absolute turmoil going on inside his head. you looked up from your textbook, pulling the earbud out of your ear. “why don’t you drink the coffee?”

you furrowed your brow and looked at your untouched americano. “i- uh, what?”

“you never drink the coffee,” he repeated, nodding at the glass. “why do you get it anyways?”

you blinked up at him. “are you offended that i’m not drinking your coffee?”

he almost laughed at the look of disbelief you were giving him. “no, i just don’t get why you waste the money here if you don’t even need the caffeine.”

“it’s cheaper to buy an americano than it is to rent a stall at a study cafe,” you said, habitually hitting save on your notes document. “why are you so worried about me, yoon jeonghan?”

he faltered, surprised. “you know me?”

“nametag,” you didn't miss a beat, pointing at his chest and giggling. “do you know me?”

jeonghan’s lip twitched, feeling almost embarrassed by not thinking of his own nametag, and definitely not an involuntary reaction to seeing you smile for the first time. “uh, yeah. we have a class together,” he said as casually as possible as he folded the washcloth in his hands. “visual culture.”

you nodded, looking into space for a moment. “hmm. weren’t you also in child psych with professor moon last winter?”

he blinked back at you. “yeah? you were in that class?”

you nodded, holding in a laugh. “yeah, yoon jeonghan. i was. head in the clouds?”

for some reason, the way you said his full name made his ears heat up. “maybe you were easy to forget,” he said dismissively, even though you both knew that wasn't the case. “isn’t it better to study in a library? that one’s free.”

“there’s never any open tables at the library,” you said, unfurling your legs and sitting straight, textbook in your lap. “and the chairs are uncomfortable, unlike this armchair. and people usually don’t bother me here.”

jeonghan sighed. “well, if you’re insistent on going to a cafe, there’s one down the street with a better espresso bean and it’s less busy. less people to bother you and a better tasting americano that you won’t drink.”

you cocked your head, closing your laptop. “is that an invitation?”

and for the first time, you saw jeonghan stutter. “n-no? just a suggestion. i think it’s cheaper, too-”

“don’t you work here?” you asked, eyes shining. “shouldn’t you be happy i’m wasting my money here?”

he eyed you, beginning to turn his body to leave the conversation. “do whatever you want. i’m not your dad.”

you grinned, leaning forward in your chair. “are you busy after class tomorrow?”

“why?”

“i need you to show me where this cafe is.”

jeonghan sighed. “can’t you just look it up? cafe nomu.” he wrote the characters with his finger in the air. “no-mu. use naver.”

“i get lost easily,” you said, standing up. jeonghan wondered if you were telling the truth. “we can go together?”

jeonghan watched you pack up your things, confused. “why?”

you paused, looking at him. “why not?”

he was getting real sick of people asking him why not.

“did i drive you away?” he asked instead, nodding at your now packed bag.

“no, i was headed out soon anyways.” you swung the bag over your shoulder and picked up the untouched americano. “do you want this?”

jeonghan couldn’t help but scoff as you handed him the glass that had been the subject of his staring all afternoon. “you can't be serious.”

you grinned and patted his shoulder. “i’m y/n, by the way. i’ll see you in class?”

he squinted at you as you walked away, suddenly confused by the quick succession of questions you had thrown back and forth. you were cute, sure, and his distaste for you was misplaced, perhaps, but he couldn't help the annoyance that bubbled up in him as you sauntered out of the cafe like you had won a debate. he walked back to the counter and set down the americano, an excited seokmin waiting for him.

“so?” he grabbed the glass and dumped it in the sink behind the counter. “how’d it go?”

jeonghan looked at the door you had left out of. “i think i just got asked out.”

“what?” seokmin’s hands made fists in front of him while he grinned. “y/n did? are you serious? you said yes, right?”

“not really,” he replied, looking back at the younger and exhaling deeply. “but i don’t think i can avoid it.”

you had known of yoon jeonghan for a while. a class here and there, a few mutual friends, and of course at the cafe. but the night you learned his name really stuck out to you, when he had been singing at a karaoke bar right after finals last quarter.

it was common to celebrate the end of finals week with partying and drinking, and your friends had invited you out to barhop until the sun came up. you started at a dance club, had way too much rum at a hula themed place, took tequila shots at a gay bar, then landed at a karaoke bar with a can of beer in your fist and a grin on your face. your friends liked to sing, so you had fun encouraging them to get on the slightly raised stage and show their chops.

“no, no, no,” mingyu said, grabbing your hands as you tried to push him towards the dj. “no way, i recognize the names on the list. there’s real singers here.”

you looked at the screen that displayed the queue. “what do you mean? who?”

“that guy,” mingyu said, pointing at the screen easily, despite you having to crane your neck to even view it. “no way. he’s in jihoon’s band, i’m not following that guy.”

“hangguk’s angel yoon jeonghan,” you read, squinting. “sounds like a pretentious asshole.”

mingyu laughed. “wait til you hear his voice, you’ll see how he got the name.”

"y/n's right," jun interjected, leaning heavily against the standing table your quad squad had claimed, pouring more soju for himself and whoever would claim the other glass. "he is a pretentious asshole."

you pointed at him, brows raised at mingyu. "jun is never wrong."

mingyu rolled his eyes. "pretentious assholes can still sound like angels."

“where the fuck have you been,” you asked, startled by your third and final friend suddenly appearing beside you.

“around,” vernon said, sipping at the nondescript brown liquid in his glass through a bright pink straw. he laughed when you quirked an eyebrow at him. “soonyoung’s here with his posse, he caught me while i was getting another drink.”

“see!” mingyu shook your shoulder, nearly choking after downing jun’s companion shot. “i told you! jihoon’s band.”

you whacked his bicep. “who cares? just go queue a rap song or something, you pussy.”

the singers cycled through and you cheered on many of your fellow drunk university students as they sang with no remorse. jun dragged you onto the tiny dancefloor and forced you to help him hype up soonyoung - his dance team captain - as he screamed along to hurricane. then one of vernon's friends performed a near flawless rendition of shake it by sistar after yelling something about bringing the summer to this cold winter night, earning him a cheering and dancing crowd, and you had known far more of the choreo than you had thought. mingyu was whooping and hollering at you playfully every time you threw your ass out to the song, and he only got louder when jun and vernon did their best to follow along with you, and you had almost forgotten about the name that everyone insisted was to be feared.

“that guy?” you asked, the self-proclaimed angel stepping onto the stage. you recognized him immediately. “that’s my barista.”

mingyu made a noise that almost resembled whistling, if he had been capable of doing so. “i should start studying with you next quarter.”

and when he sang, it clicked. despite the tonal difference, you couldn't help but become enthralled by his voice. gyu was right. pretentious assholes could still sound like angels, and perhaps that was by design.

his voice drifted through your head again when you noticed him in your visual culture class, seated and giggling at his phone on the first day of the quarter.

"you have another class with him?" mingyu groaned a week later, walking beside you. "why you? why aren’t there hot guys in my major?"

"because pre-med kids are too busy to be hot."

he gave you a look. "damn, okay. like, you're not wrong, but damn."

you rolled your eyes. "don't act like you don't love being the pre-med heartthrob. you would be pissed if you had competition."

"anyways, are you gonna ask him out?"

you pause at the stop light to wait for your turn to cross, turning towards him. "why would i do that?"

“because he’s hangguk’s angel yoon jeong-honey voice,” mingyu said, moving his head as he dramatically pronounced each syllable in your face. “if you’re not already in love with him, you will be soon, and it sounds like fate's trying to bring you together. didn’t you say he’s your barista?”

you rolled your eyes. “yeah, and his americanos suck now. i don’t even drink it when he makes them anymore.”

he looked at you with a cocked eyebrow. “what the hell? why do you still go there, then?”

you pouted. “it’s quiet and there’s a comfy armchair.”

weeks passed, and you continued to spot jeonghan in your class when you arrived, hearing the faint sound of his singing voice in your head. when he took your order at the cafe, he had a vague snottiness to his voice, and while you absolutely believed that this was the same person as the one you saw sing a soft love ballad with a sobering intensity at two in the morning, you still struggled to connect it to the one you watched run off the stage, immediately curling into himself and laughing with his friends in embarrassment.

you became more and more fascinated by yoon jeonghan as time passed, but his americanos continued to suck. so when he suggested a cafe with better espresso, you lit up. and when he got flustered, letting down his guard unintentionally, you lit up even more. that was the drunk, embarrassed boy you had seen, pink faced and giggling as he hid behind his friends.

jeonghan sat in his usual seat in class, anxiously glancing up at the door every time a group of people entered the lecture hall. when you arrived, your usual minute before the turn of the hour, he rubbed his palms against his sweats. the sweats that he had worn with the specific intention of making sure you didn't think he was trying too hard to look nice around you. despite that fact, part of him still felt annoyed that you were also dressed down, swimming in a hoodie several sizes too big for you. he tried to make sense of the sudden nerves he had, but not once did he consider they were because he thought you were disgustingly adorable.

instead of taking your usual spot, you marched right up to jeonghan’s table and grinned. “is this seat taken?”

he blinked at you. “yes.”

you laughed and slid into the seat beside him anyways, ignoring the dagger stare from a girl across the room that usually sat beside jeonghan silently. “you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“how do you expect me to react? you’ve never even smiled at me before yesterday.”

shrugging, you put your bag on the table and leaned back in your seat, assuming your usual position for this particular class. “you didn’t deserve it before yesterday.”

jeonghan wanted to argue with you, but the professor cleared his throat and introduced the subject of the lecture.

after only ten minutes, jeonghan could have sworn he heard you snoring. he poked your shoulder with his pen.

you looked over at him, eyebrow quirked. you mouthed a “what” at him.

he exhaled suddenly, mouth forming a vague smile more in disbelief than from being entertained. he seemed annoyed with you, despite the fact that he was the one interrupting your allocated meditation time. he leaned forward, turning his body towards you and spoke in a hushed tone. “how can you do that every day and still be top of the class?”

you mirrored his body language, leaning forward over the desk and resting your cheek on a fist, speaking in the same hushed tone. “visual culture is subjective. as long as you understand the concept; i-e, how we as humans visually design the world around us and how that becomes an important aspect of our place in nature, in the universe, in existence, etcetera; then you can write about literally anything. my last essay was about skate parks. the more opinionated the essay, the better score you get.” you pointed a finger at the man speaking at the front of the class. “i watched the prof’s ted talk before the quarter started - every lecture is just a regurgitation of the same concepts. it’s an easy a, as long as you have strong opinions.”

jeonghan stared at you for what felt like an eternity. “you do seem like you have strong opinions.”

“and you don’t, yoon jeonghan?”

he supposed he couldn’t argue with that, but it still frustrated him to no end that you had found some kind of loophole that he had missed. you gamed the system better than he could, and he had been stuck pouring over his friend’s notes from the previous quarter and bullshitting some essays about architecture that he didn't give a shit about. and so, instead of spending his whole class stewing like he normally did, he decided to waste no time adopting your approach, pulling his sweatshirt hood over his head and catching up on some missed sleep. when he woke up again, it was to your prodding finger.

“what time is it,” he said immediately, squinting at his surroundings. he suddenly remembered he was in class as he saw fellow students packing up their things and filing out. he looked at you, blinking at your grinning face.

“time for coffee,” you said, tugging on the drawstrings of the light blue hoodie he wore. “did you have any sweet dreams?”

jeonghan shoved his blank notebook into the tote bag he used for classes and stood. “of course not.”

“i did,” you said, throwing your bag over your shoulder and following him down the hall steps. “i dreamt you paid at the cafe.”

he turned, eyeing your shiteating grin from behind his hood. “yeah, keep dreaming.”

“worth a shot,” you said, trotting down beside him. “so, what’s your major, yoon jeonghan?”

he rolled his eyes, almost forgetting about your habit of calling him by his full name. “do you really care?”

“what else are we gonna talk about, my drinking problem?”

despite himself, jeonghan laughed, looking over at you as you left the lecture hall. “maybe! how bad is it?”

you grinned, feeling successful from making him break his serious persona. “wouldn’t you like to know.”

he clicked his tongue, pushing open the doors of the social studies building. “no fun.”

“you’ll have to invite me to a bar next time,” you said, following after him out the door into the sunshine that cascaded over the quad. it was a beautiful spring day, but a bit chilly, and you shoved your hands into your sweatshirt pocket.

“hmm,” jeonghan said, letting his blue hood fall off his head as he stretched in the sun. “i only really go to one bar.”

you watched him bask for a moment, wondering how many sides of him you had yet to see. his hair was dark, but the lighter chocolate tones reflected in the sun. “bet i can guess which one.”

jeonghan paused on the sidewalk, making you walk ahead of him a couple steps before you turned towards him questioningly. “okay, yeah. guess. you won’t get it.”

you size him up a moment, taking his words as a challenge. “if i guess right, you buy coffee?”

he exhaled, an amused smile on his face. “why are you so obsessed with me buying you coffee?”

“it tastes better free.”

“okay, fine. but if you’re wrong, you buy.”

you groaned. “do you know how many bars are in this city? that doesn’t seem fair.”

jeonghan resumed walking, gesturing for you to guess. “i’ll give you three tries.”

you chewed your cheek, trying to conceal your sly grin. “okay, three tries. deal?”

he nodded. you made it way too easy for him to win. “deal.”

“let me think.” jeonghan watched your feet fall easily into step beside him. “what bar has a stupid gimmick you would be into... pie bar?”

he shook his head, almost laughing at your teasing. “i’ve been there before, but it's not really my thing.”

you exhaled sharply. “shouldn’t that count for a stick of gum or something?” jeonghan laughed, insisting that this was an all or nothing situation. “then i give up.”

“you can’t give up!” jeonghan said. “you said deal. no going back.”

“fine," you pouted. "why can't i remember any bar names? uhh, r place?”

he stopped. “the gay club?”

you stopped, looking at him expectantly. “well?”

jeonghan laughed as he walked again. “no, not r place. jesus. you have one last chance. i’m really excited to order something expensive today.”

you chewed your cheek. “where would someone like yoon jeonghan go to drink… hanguk’s angel yoon jeonghan…”

he stopped in his tracks. “what did you just say?”

you tapped on your chin with a finger, arms crossed. “yoon jeong-honey voice… where would someone like him go? maybe… a karaoke bar?”

“hey, hey-” jeonghan pointed at you accusingly. “are you serious? you’ve seen me?”

“hmm,” you continued, laughing as you avoided his gaze. “oh, i know! the rockbox!”

“yah!” jeonghan was laughing, pointing at you in disbelief. “what the hell! this isn’t fair!”

“you said deal, no going back.” you grinned in victory. “wow, maybe i’ll order something expensive. i can’t believe i won.”

jeonghan’s tongue ran over his teeth as he watched you giggle and happily trot ahead of him. “fine, fine. you win. when did you see me there?”

“after winter finals,” you said, cheesing. “i was there with friends and you sang.”

he tutted. “damn. did i just miss you or did you not sing?”

“i don’t sing,” you said, smiling as he continued walking with you. “my friends do, though. and i was forced to be in soonyoung’s hype squad for hurricane.”

jeonghan clapped suddenly, remembering in his perhaps too drunk stupor that seungcheol had pointed you out, calling you “the cutie that keeps looking at him.” he had, admittedly, checked you out, despite the fact that he had been too embarrassed by his too-serious song to go and talk to you, and he had thought you looked familiar. “oh my god! yes! i did see you! how do you know soonyoung?”

“mutual friends,” you said. “chwe hansol?

he nodded. “we’ve met once, i think. were you there with junhui?”

“yeah, actually,” you said, remembering the opinion of jeonghan your friend had volunteered up for you. “how do you know him?”

“i haven’t talked to him a lot directly, but i know both his roommates pretty well,” jeonghan said. "we do music together.”

“ah, yes,” you nodded in recollection, but refusing to acknowledge how insanely pretentious it was of him to say something like we do music together. “jihoon’s unnamed but immensely prolific band.”

he rolled his eyes. “why is it jihoon’s band? why can’t it be jeonghan’s band?”

“don’t ask me,” you said, putting up hands in innocence. “i didn’t even know it existed until that night. mingyu wouldn’t shut up about it.”

the name sounded familiar to jeonghan, but he moved on as the two of you reached a stop light. “do you go there a lot? or was that a one time thing?”

you eyed him. “this is starting to sound like an invitation, hannie.”

he didn’t comment on the nickname, despite the weird way his arms tingled at it. “you should learn what an invitation actually sounds like. you tend to assume a lot.”

you laughed heartily, and jeonghan ignored the way his stomach flitted while you started to cross the street. “call it wishful thinking, but i think i get you, yoon jeonghan.”

“the hell is that supposed to mean?”

you never answered his question, but grinned instead, which gave jeonghan a sense of unease and a touch of curiosity. as he led you to cafe nomu, he caught himself smiling. laughing. enjoying your company and conversation.

maybe shua hadn’t been completely off base.

by the time jeonghan had realized that his feelings towards you might have evolved from vague malice into something more akin to genuine interest, he was pushing open the door to the cafe for you and mentally double checking that he had put on deodorant that morning, cursing his inability to control his own nerves. ah, he thought. that explained the weird feeling he got waiting for you in class, too. and why he got flustered the day before at his work. he only snapped out of his crowded mind when he heard you ordering an iced americano.

“and for you?”

jeonghan blinked at you, then at the barista that was addressing him. “make that two.”

“thank you for the coffee,” you said, pressing your hands together as he inserted his card.

he waved you off, chuckling, but kept his eyes as far from yours as he could. “a deal is a deal.”

you looked around the quiet cafe, quickly scoping out the seat options as jeonghan accepted the buzzer for your order. he thought it was a little silly, considering the two of you were half of the customers in the cafe currently, but said nothing as he turned it over in his fingers, standing next to you.

“there?” you asked, pointing at a table by a window.

jeonghan bit his cheek, thinking about how joshua would likely be walking down this street to go to his shift, if he had one. “yeah, wherever.”

you were already on your way to the seat when he responded, and he followed, dropping his bag off his shoulder to hang on the hook under the table.

“i thought you were going to get something expensive,” he teased, sitting across from you.

laughing lightly, you pulled your phone out of your hoodie pocket and set it on the table. “you said the espresso was good, i wanted to try it.”

“don’t you not like coffee?” jeonghan asked, squinting at you.

“i love coffee,” you said, quirking an eyebrow.

“then why don’t you drink the americanos i make?”

he was leaning forward, staring at you, fingers folding over each other on the table. you pouted, avoiding his eyes suddenly. “no reason.”

leaning back again, he kept a wary eye on you. “that’s convincing.”

“good, it’s the truth.”

jeonghan decided to put a pin in that interrogation in favor of asking you your major.

you laughed again, making a small smile appear on his face. "communications," you answered, despite thinking of how he denied the same question from you earlier.

he let out a low "wah" and cocked his head. "what's up with that? same major."

"really?" you leaned over the table. "what year are you?"

"third."

you put a peace sign next to your eye like you were posing for a photo. "second."

you couldn't help but giggle at the "pfft" that spilled out of jeonghan's lips as he laughed at you, muttering a "really" under his breath at your pose. he was running a hand through his extremely soft and fluffy looking hair when the buzzer went off, and you blinked yourself awake from your trance to nod after he said he would go get the drinks.

admitting to it was the last thing you wanted, but you couldn’t help but hear mingyu’s voice rattling around your head, telling you that you would fall for jeonghan eventually. you had once thought he was completely up his own ass, but you kept getting glimpses of this really cute, really sweet version of him, and it made you want to get to know him better. additionally, it was getting harder to find people that would happily play along with your teasing, and he had no qualms teasing you right back.

when he returned with the americanos, you pressed your hands together in another thank you before taking a sip. he slid back into his seat and looked at you expectantly. "well? what do you think?"

you paused a moment, appraising the flavor. "delicious. thank you."

after he sipped at his own, he nodded. "the beans here are really good. balanced. i wish i could convince my boss to source better stuff."

you watched him sip again, letting out a praise under his breath. you sighed. "i have a confession."

his eyebrows quirked at you, and he did his best to not show the way his stomach flipped. "what kind?"

"i don't drink your americanos because they're shit."

there was silence as he processed your words, and you wondered if you had royally fucked up by saying something. suddenly, he was laughing, and you stared at him in shock as he calmed down. "oh my god, yeah, they are."

"wait, you know?"

"i-" jeonghan paused, rubbing his face, still laughing. "god, this is so stupid. i burn your shots."

your jaw dropped open, but a smile creeped across your face as you understood. "wait, on purpose?"

"you never smile!" he attempted to explain himself with a bit too much enthusiasm, finding his own pettiness ridiculous in hindsight. "not even when i smiled at you. i had a grudge. i'm sorry."

you were sipping your non-burnt americano with a sly look on your face. you wanted to be mad at the wasted money on countless gross americanos, but somehow, you couldn't be. "do you hold grudges against everyone or am i just lucky?"

"uh, depends," jeonghan said, crossing his arms and thinking. "when the prof that failed my roommate comes in, i burn his shots, too. i think he might like it that way, though, because he's always really nice to me."

you almost snorted. "well, you owe me a lot of coffee."

he nodded and sighed, resigning to his fate. "when you come in, your coffee's on me. and i won't burn it this time."

you pouted a second, and jeonghan barely caught it, but he thought the expression was far too cute. "i was hoping you would invite me out again."

"again?" he asked, letting a few 'ha's fall from his lips in quick succession. "you mean for the first time?"

you gestured to the cafe you sat in. "was this not your idea?"

he rolled his eyes. "you invited yourself out and held me hostage."

"does that mean you have stockholms?"

he laughed at the diagnosis, remembering the class you claimed you had both taken the year before. "you're a very charming captor."

you smiled at the compliment, despite the sinister implication.

the next time you saw jeonghan, it was saturday. you had rolled out of bed far earlier than you had intended to when you had fallen asleep at 4 am after a very drunk and extremely conflict heavy game of uno with the guys. you winced at the sunlight streaming through your shitty dorm blinds, fumbling your way to the water dispenser on your desk to rehydrate.

you stared at your roommate's empty bed, remembering they had said they worked early shifts this weekend as you brushed your teeth, and you wondered how they had dealt with you stumbling into the dorm in the wee hours of the day.

you almost gagged on your toothbrush. an empty room on a saturday morning with too little sleep and a nasty hangover, you thought. bad decisions could never be made under these circumstances.

"does jeonghan's cafe do breakfast sandwiches?" you thought aloud with a mouth full of toothpaste, leaning over the sink to spit. you kind of remembered seeing them on the menu, though you never thought to get anything beyond the occasional muffin. maybe today was the day.

after washing your face and cleaning up your hair a bit, you had to dig in your clothes to find your favorite pair of black sweats and a shirt to tuck in. you last minute decided to bring your good headphones, just in case hanguk's angel wasn't there to bug, and ran out the door with your wallet and phone, a pair of sunglasses shoved onto your face.

the walk to his cafe is short from the dorms you lived in, which was another reason you liked it there. it was warmer than it had been during the week, and you watched a big muscular dog running alongside its owner. before long, you were tugging open the door, seeing no line. you grinned at how lucky you were as you pulled your headphones down to your neck.

"yoon jeonghan! you are working!"

he seemed startled by your voice, his shoulders raising slightly as he turned towards the door. "oh, what the hell? what are you doing here at 9:30 on a saturday?"

you pouted, walking up to the counter and tugging off your sunglasses. "are you not happy to see me?"

his laugh was genuine and completely out of his control. "sure i am. nice eyebags."

that, you noted, was the first time jeonghan had ever greeted you with a smile, and it seemed appropriate that it was paired with an insult. "thanks, i'm violently hungover right now." you said, noticing your best friend's roommate standing further back behind the counter, pretty obviously pretending to not be listening to you.

"do you wanna redeem a free americano?" he asked, poking at the touchscreen register.

you hummed, crossing your arms and staring at the menu board. "not today, i wanna try a latte. something tasty, and something for breakfast. what do you think?"

jeonghan stared at you, and you stared back, a small smile on your face. he blinked. "have you ever tried lavender?"

"lavender?" you shook your head, genuinely surprised. "is that a good flavor?"

he nodded, looking down at the screen and adding items to your order. "we have this seasonal syrup that we make in house," he said. "it's my favorite one of the year. honey, lavender, and vanilla bean. big one?"

you blinked at the cup sizes, trying to remember how many bottles of soju you had bought the night before, and subsequently how much money was left in your account. "uh, yeah."

"will you be offended if i give you a vegetarian sandwich? it's the best one."

you cocked your head. "i mean, if it's the best one…"

jeonghan smiled slightly, pulling out his wallet from his back pocket. "it's the best one. and it's my secret hangover cure."

you noticed his card too late. "hey, what are you doing?"

he quirked an eyebrow at you. "buying your coffee. like i said i would."

"that was way more than an americano."

"and i've burned way more than an americano," jeonghan reminded you. "and if you don't accept that, i'm buying you breakfast as a peace offering."

your eyebrows raised. "a peace offering?"

he avoided your gaze. "i've decided you're not a pretentious asshole."

you laughed at his word choice, and how it mirrored your own. "i mean, i can be kind of pretentious sometimes. and a major asshole a lot of the time."

jeonghan grinned. "me too."

he washed his hands and passed along the sandwich order to his coworker as he moved to the espresso machine, briefly explaining to you that he was completely useless with food as soon as a heat source becomes involved, but assured you that seokmin was a master with a turbochef, and that your sandwich was in the best hands.

you giggled, watching his hands as he found a squeeze bottle and shot the contents into a glass. "i trust you."

his eyes flicked to you briefly, and you leaned against the drink pickup counter, squinting at the syrup. he held the glass that would soon be your drink up for you. "see the specs? real vanilla."

you hummed. "it smells good."

"it tastes like sunshine, i swear to god."

your eyes followed his hands as he expertly filled and packed the portafilter with fresh grounds. he felt you watching him, and did his best to suppress the itch to fumble. you watched him not burn your shots, stirring them with the syrup and pouring milk from a jug. he added ice, put a metal straw in the tall glass, then placed it on the counter in front of you.

you made sure to smile when you told him thank you, and jeonghan was pretty sure he would have collapsed from how cute he found you if he had slightly less resolve.

"veggie sando for… y/n?" seokmin announced to the cafe, eyes creasing into a laugh as he appeared with a plate.

you gave seokmin a nervous smile. "sorry for staying over so late. i didn't know you worked this morning."

jeonghan looked between you suspiciously as seokmin assured you it was fine, claiming he was knocked out by midnight and didn't even know when you left. who did seokmin live with again? jeonghan chewed on his cheek as he put your drink and sandwich on a tray.

your eyes flicked over to the front counter as a few customers entered the cafe, seokmin already heading over to greet them and begin the order. you tried not to let your disappointment show when you told jeonghan you should probably let him get back to work. he tried to not let his show, either, when he nodded in agreement. neither of you did a great job.

"someone's clocking on in half an hour, i can take a break then. don't leave?"

his almost pleading tone made your lip twitch upward. "don't act so clingy, hannie."

he grinned, then stopped you before you picked up the tray. "first- hang on," he said, pulling his phone out of his pocket and unlocking it, quickly going to the keypad as he looked over his shoulder at the customers. "give me your number."

your eyes met his briefly as you took the phone, quickly punching in your digits and tapping to add yourself to his contacts. he smiled at the profile name - "americano" - as you picked up your tray and headed to your favorite armchair. even as he was making other drinks and serving other customers, he couldn't take his eyes off you, sitting in your armchair with your headphones on. it had only been two days since he saw you last, but he hadn't thought of anything but you the entire time. he had almost considered asking shua to swap shifts with him so he could have a chance of seeing you the day before, but he knew his coworker would refuse to take the saturday opening shift. he spent his whole afternoon off sitting on the couch in his apartment, staring at the back of his roommate's chair, trying to figure out why he didn't ask for your number.

"hey," jihoon said, and jeonghan had only then noticed that his roommate had spun his tall cushioned chair around to look back at him. "i said, do you know when seungcheol invited people around tomorrow?"

jeonghan stared at him for a second, then sighed dramatically, rubbing his eye.

"woah," the younger laughed and leaned back in his seat. "who'd you sleep with last night? i need to warn them you're crazy."

"no one," jeonghan pouted. "what the hell? i'm not crazy."

"hyung, i say this with the most respect i can," he said, leaning forward. "you're batshit, especially when you catch feelings for a one night stand."

"ugh, whatever," jeonghan pushed the pillow off his lap and ran a hand through his hair. "we didn't even do anything."

jihoon squinted at him a moment. "okay, hang on, i feel like our definitions of not doing anything are different."

he rolled his eyes. "we didn't do anything," he repeated, standing from the couch and walking over to the kitchen to get water. "like, nothing. we didn't even touch each other. not once."

jihoon looked around, trying to understand what he meant. "i'm confused. you didn't touch your one night stand?"

"it wasn't a one night stand!" jeonghan threw a dagger glare at the other before he drank his water, muttering a "really" beneath his breath.

jihoon's face didn't change. "so… you went on a date?"

jeonghan swallowed the water hard, putting the glass down on the counter and leaning against it. "kinda."

"you are really not making this easy for me at all."

"we got coffee," he said finally. "we have a class together, and we made a stupid bet over who would pay, and they fucking tricked me, so i had to pay for it and we talked for, like, a stupid long time, and i think i actually really…" he exhaled, both hands rubbing his face. "i think i really like them."

jihoon whistled. "i just wanna say before the moment passes that it is incredibly on brand for you to fall for someone because they conned you into buying them coffee."

jeonghan glared at the younger, but he couldn't argue. "we got coffee and talked and then they just…" his palms faced the sky as he gestured, shoulders raised. "they just left. i didn't even get their number."

"okay, and?" jihoon swivelled back and forth in his chair. "you have a class together. you'll literally see them next week."

he groaned, pressing his forehead against the fridge. "but i wanna see them now."

and now, he was seeing you. much sooner than he had expected, yet not soon enough. the saturday morning rush began to pick up, and even when an additional barista arrived, jeonghan wondered if he would actually be able to slip away for a break.

"go ahead," seokmin said, grabbing the steamed milk pitcher from his hand. "me and hyejoo can handle it for a minute."

jeonghan looked at the shrinking line and nodded, quickly pulling off his apron as he walked around the counter. he knew he didn't have a lot of time, and pulling up a chair seemed silly, so he instead just squatted and folded his arms over the arm of your favorite seat.

you looked up from your phone at the motion, pulling your headphones off and grinning. "hey! the drink is delicious and extremely not burnt."

he smiled, noticing it was almost gone. "i'm glad! it's still busy, so i can't really take a proper break, but i wanted to ask you something."

you squinted at him. "what kind of something?"

"do you have plans tonight?"

"depends," you said, turning your body to face him better as you sucked on your cheek. "what's going on?"

jeonghan exhaled, amused. "my roommate is having people over for a few drinks or something, it'd be cool if you came by?"

you looked at a light, gauging the state of your hangover. your voice almost cracked when you asked "tonight?"

"you don't have to drink," he said, remembering what you had told him earlier. "and you can, like, bring a friend if you want. i know it's weird that i'm inviting you to my place."

you thought a moment. "don't you live with lee jihoon?"

jeonghan blinked. "uh, yeah?"

"i'll bring a friend," you said, tapping your fingers on the back of your phone. you looked back to him and smiled. "text me details?"

jeonghan stood. "yeah, i'll text you," he said, glancing up at the door where more customers were walking in. "fuck, i should go."

you followed his gaze. "i think i'll stick to weekdays. this place gets crazy on the weekends."

"tell me about it." he started to walk back to the counter. "i'll talk to you later?"

you smiled and nodded at him, and you waved enthusiastically at him as you were headed out about ten minutes later.

"i'm still waiting for a text," you teased, peeking over the counter as he made a drink.

he laughed. "i'll get to it when i get to it."

"thanks for the sandwich, seokmin! it was delicious!"

seokmin waved at you with a big grin and you looked back at jeonghan.

"i'll see you tonight?"

he nodded, a smug smile teasing his lips. "yeah, i'll see you tonight."

you didn't show the way your stomach flipped when he made eye contact with you, but you slid your sunglasses back on and put your headphones back on your head, and walked to the rhythm of love songs in the sun on your way to your friend's apartment, a stupid childish giggle threatening to surface the entire time.

"hey, is mingoo around?"

minghao blinked at you, standing at his front door with a smile on your face. "dude, you left like four hours ago. what are you even doing here."

"uh, no, myungho, i left like seven hours ago, get it right." he let you walk past him into the apartment. "is he still asleep?"

"is that actually a question?"

you trotted into mingyu's room, humming along to the song playing through the headphones around your neck as you pulled open his blinds.

"god, what the fuck," his rough voice went behind you. "the hell is wrong with you. go home."

"that's not a very nice way to treat the person that's gonna set you up with your future ex-husband."

mingyu's hair stuck in several different directions and his eyes were still squeezed shut, but he had pushed himself off his pillow enough for you to know you caught his attention. "which one?"

you grinned. "the one with the pretty voice."

"wait," mingyu fumbled with his comforter as he tried to sit up. "wait, hang on. jihoon?" you laughed and nodded as he sniffed noisily. "he is not my future ex-husband, y/n. he's it. he's the one that's gonna make an honest woman out of me."

"well, lady, get ready to be honest, because i got an invite to a kickback at his apartment tonight and i snagged a plus one."

he squinted at you. "what's the catch?"

you rolled your eyes. "there isn't always a catch. maybe i'm just trying to be nice."

"yeah, uh huh." mingyu flopped back onto his bed, rubbing his eyes. "why didn't you just text me or something? it's so early."

"it's like, barely morning."

"it's ten."

you exhaled. "it's 11:17, asshole. are you going with me or not?"

mingyu groaned and flopped around, his head aching from the drinks that had stopped too recently. "when?"

"uhh," you stalled as you checked your phone. no new messages. "not sure yet. i'm waiting on a text."

he squinted at you. "who's texting you? soonyoung?"

you shrugged. "sure."

"oh my god, it's jeonghan, isn't it?"

"whaaaaaat?" you deadpanned, walking over to mingyu's bed to sit on the edge, staring at your phone. "why would i be waiting on a text from that loser?"

"i knew you were acting stupid yesterday for a reason," he accused. "and you asked jun what his deal was. you like him, don't you? what did he do? did he corner you?"

"absolutely not," you said, sighing and throwing your phone down on his bed, slightly offended by him saying you were acting stupid but truly not being able to remember if he was wrong. "i cornered him, at his workplace, no less. then i made him buy me coffee. then i showed up to his workplace, again, incredibly hungover, and he still asked for my number."

mingyu's lips formed a pout as he hummed, rubbing his eye again. "never would have pegged jeonghan as the simping type, but sure."

"shut up," you laughed, and mingyu whined about whether or not you had washed your hands when you plopped your palm against his face. he pushed your wrists away. "do you still have that bottle of white wine?"

"you mean the one hao refuses to drink even though i spent good money on it for his fucking birthday? yeah, why?"

you grabbed your phone again, despite it not vibrating. "it'd probably make a good first impression if you bring a nice bottle to the kickback you were last minute invited to. i bet jihoon will be so impressed by your manners."

mingyu blinked heavily. "you're devious. what about you?"

"i don't need a good first impression," you said. "i already made an awful one and he still likes me."

he sighed. "you always have been a charming dickhead."

you grinned at your best friend. "thanks, babe."

mingyu groaned against his palms. "god, fuck, i was supposed to study for my exam today."

you clicked your tongue. "that sucks dick."

"you suck dick."

you pouted out your lips when you got a text from an unknown number. "i'm trying."

you hadn't fully decided yet how you were going to make sure jeonghan really liked you, especially after jun regaled his "disgusting sexcapades," as he described them. you took his words with a grain of salt, considering the guy had an extremely low opinion of him from the get go, but either way, could you really blame jeonghan for putting his incredibly good looks and charm to use?

you, however, found flings incredibly uninteresting. most of the men that went after you were dull at best, and definitely would have fallen for any stupid prank you had played on them. with jeonghan, though, there was a challenge. there was always the chance he would out-trick you. it was new and exciting. playing with people, you decided, was only fun when there were some stakes involved.

inviting you to have drinks at his place seemed like such a transparent ploy to get laid, but you couldn't help but expect more from him. something told you he knew that you wouldn't be that easy, and you wondered what his game was.

i think i'm here >

which apartment was it? >

you definitely could have scrolled up in your conversation with jeonghan to check, especially since mingyu was complaining next to you on the street outside the apartment building, but you preferred the power move of asking again. you hadn't considered, though, that jeonghan was absolutely the type to know exactly what you were trying as soon as he saw the notification and make you wait. you squinted at the window that clearly had a party going on inside of it, willing the boy to respond.

"bro, it's apartment 2-b. soonyoung says he's 'the b in 2-b' like, every chance he gets. let's just go up."

"hang on, i'm plotting," you said, putting up a finger and scrolling through your contacts.

mingyu groaned as you put the phone to your ear, pressing the cold wine bottle against his eye. "you are the most annoying person i've ever met."

"yet you ask me to hang out constantly."

mingyu glared at you with his uncovered eye. "i also watch a lot of shit television, so don't take my taste as gospel."

inside, soonyoung patted down his pockets when he heard his ringtone, then looked at the kitchen counter where he had left it when he was making drinks. he grinned wide when he saw the contact info and practically yelled when he answered the phone. "y/n! please tell me you're finally coming over?"

jeonghan heard your name, his head whipping towards the sound. he stared at soonyoung, phone to his ear as he laughed into it, and he exhaled when he realized what you had done. he looked down at the ignored notification on his phone, his thought process being that you would call as it became more urgent.

and you had, just not him. he cursed under his breath. you were always one step ahead.

"yeah, second floor! come on up, i'll meet you at the stairs!"

jeonghan watched soonyoung shove his feet into a pair of slides and exit the apartment, then quickly downed the rest of his drink. he was gonna need an excuse to ask if you wanted one.

you followed soonyoung down the hall as he excitedly chattered about how he didn't know you were coming.

mingyu laughed. "yeah, we didn't either. y/n got an invite from jeonghan this morning."

"jeonghan?" soonyoung looked at you. "i didn't know you knew each other."

"i enjoy being a mystery," you said, checking quickly to see if your message had been seen yet.

soonyoung couldn't help but laugh at the idea of you and his roommate, especially with a few drinks in him. "you definitely suit each other."

jeonghan hadn't lied when he said people were coming over for drinks, but he had definitely made it seem much smaller than it was. the living area had enough people that you didn't want to bother counting, but probably somewhere in the twenties. there was music playing, but the conversational chatter was still audible over the beat, and people were laughing with each other on just about every surface you could see. you noticed jihoon by the kitchen counter as you were taking off your shoes, and grabbed mingyu's arm to face him towards you.

"jesus, fuck," he stumbled over his own shoes. "why do i hang out with you?"

"he's in the kitchen and he's alone," you said, your fingers digging into his bicep. "now's your chance. ask him where you should put the wine."

mingyu peeked over his shoulder, then looked back at you with wide eyes. "are you serious? right now?"

"right now," you reassured. "you got this, big guy. you're hot, smart, and tall. say you like his music and blow his mind."

he exhaled, his lips forming an o, and shook his hand nervously. "okay. okay. thank you. i love you. i'm sorry i ever called you annoying."

you laughed, smacking his arm. "love you too, goo."

he shut his eyes and spun, walking towards the boy of his affections. you watched him for a moment, though slyly, as you wandered into the party. you wondered where soonyoung had gone so quickly, then clenched your fist in victory when you saw jihoon get wine glasses out of a cupboard and laughed at something mingyu said.

"oh, y/n!" you spun to the familiar voice, spotting jeonghan leaning against a wall casually, half engaged in a conversation. he pushed off it as you closed the short space between you. "you made it! why didn't you tell me you were here?"

"i did," you said, cocking your head at him. "but you probably knew that."

a sideways smile creeped onto his face. "hey, are you drinking tonight? i don't wanna tempt your self proclaimed alcoholism, but i've been sitting on an empty drink for a while, i could make you one too."

you eyed the red cup in his hand. "what's on the menu?"

"paloma," he said, lifting the cup. "but i can make you something else."

you thought for a second, then looked at him. you hadn't had tequila since the night you saw him sing. "i trust your taste."

he tilted his head as he moved, gesturing for you to follow him to the kitchen. you nudged mingyu with your hip as you settled against the counter next to him to watch jeonghan make a drink for you. he looked down at you, then put an arm on your shoulder as he sipped the wine he had brought, and you noticed jihoon had a matching glass. you smiled proudly.

"mingyu?" jeonghan asked, gesturing.

you nodded, then looked up at your best friend. "this is jeonghan," you said, pointing.

mingyu smiled at him. "good luck with this one. jihoon, this is my worst friend, y/n."

"i'm also the reason he's here," you said, leaning forward to direct the speech at boy you were being introduced to. "you're welcome."

jihoon looked at you, mouth parted into an almost smile. his eyes went to jeonghan, remembering their conversation the day before, then to mingyu again, who was covering his eyes with a palm in embarrassment. "this is why they're my worst friend."

jeonghan laughed, pulling your attention back as he popped open a soda with a bottle opener. "so you're like this with everyone?"

"i’m sure i don't know what you mean," you quipped, sliding out from mingyu's arm to grab the bottle and inspect the label. "jah…ritos?"

"jarritos," jeonghan corrected, pronouncing the h sound. "mexican grapefruit soda. it's the best for palomas."

"see, this is why people think you're a prick," you said, putting the bottle back on the counter. "you get fancy soda specifically for your fancy cocktails."

he just laughed at you as he poured tequila from a bottle into two cups of ice. "if i cared what people thought, i would have changed my ways years ago."

you let that marinate for a moment, then decided the two of you were much more similar than you had originally thought. he grabbed the bowl of cut lime wedges that seungcheol had prepared and squeezed two into each cup, and you watched as he topped the drinks with the soda.

"can you handle heat?"

you looked at him. "that's a loaded question."

he laughed again, and you wondered how many palomas he had before you arrived. "i like chili on the lime, but i wanted to be nice and ask before i did it for you, too."

"i'll try anything once."

then you tried it again.

and again.

jeonghan really was charming, you thought. and pretty. and he had a lovely voice.

at some point, soonyoung found you again, just to waggle his eyebrows at jeonghan when he thought you weren't looking, and you got introduced to seungcheol, who you both recognized and were recognized by. jeonghan rolled his eyes and shoved him away when he gave him a look, remembering how he described you at the bar ages ago.

you barely even noticed the time passing, but your drinks kept draining and you kept accepting more, and you wondered if you were really stupid enough to say yes if he asked you to join him in his bedroom tonight. but the more jeonghan talked, the more you were kind of okay with the idea.

"do you wanna get out of here?"

you blinked, chin in your palm and elbow on the counter, face inches from jeonghan's as he put down his cup. "and go where?"

he pouted as he thought. "i could really go for tteokbokki right now."

at that moment, you decided jeonghan really liked you. you grinned. "that sounds so good."

he smiled back at you, and you didn't comment on the way his eyes lingered on your lips, even if you really wanted to. "better tell your chaperone."

you rolled your eyes at the title mingyu had given himself earlier when he was trying to convince you to not take a fourth drink. "don't let his stupid height trick you, he's more of a lightweight than me."

"at least you don't have to worry about him, jihoon would never try anything. the poor guy is so shy, he was probably flustered just when mingyu said hi."

you quirked an eyebrow at him. "does he have to worry about me?"

jeonghan laughed. "if i wanted to get you drunk, i would have poured heavier."

"speaking of," you said, tipping your cup. "this one suspiciously tasted like not tequila."

he stood suddenly, palms on the counter, trying to force down the blush on his ears. "if you're gonna complain about every drink i make you, maybe you should stop asking for them."

you giggled, standing and imitating his stance. "just admit you care about me, yoon jeonghan."

he looked at you, a smile teasing his lips. "only after you admit you're in love with me."

you squinted. "a draw."

he grinned. "tteokbokki?"

#hi im in love with jeonghan!#what i wouldnt give for a fun teasing sexy realtionship with yoon jeonghan #yoon jeonghan imagines #yoon jeonghan scenarios #yoon jeonghan fluff #jeonghan imagines #jeonghan scenarios #jeonghan fluff #seventeen imagines #seventeen scenarios #i like this one a lot i hope yall do too #i wrote dis #hannie

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babyflossy · 4 years

Text

i miss you | p.js

pairing: jisung x reader

summary: the months you spend apart on a study abroad program in paris are almost worth it just to be in each other’s arms again.

genre: fluff

warnings: unedited, cringy french that my french tutor would laugh at me for

word count: 1.6k

when you had told jisung you were applying to a study abroad program, he had plastered on a smile and told you he thought it was a great idea. you had always tried your hardest to be his biggest supporter when he had a comeback, or when he went on tour, the least he could do was repay you in this way. what he didn't tell you, was how scared he was for you to be so far away from him for so long.

sure, your relationship had survived the early mornings and the late nights of his seemingly never-ending work days, it had held strong through the weeks you couldn’t see each other face to face. seeing you had been his biggest motivation on so many occasions, whenever he was anxious to try something new, a new concept or a new show, you were right there beside him; physically or on the other end of the phone line.

so why was it so hard for him to accept this? the one thing you needed in return for all the things you did for him, and he was having such a hard time finding the power to get excited with you.

paris. that’s were your school placed you when you successfully passed the interviews. paris, a twelve hour flight and a seven hour time difference. but when he saw how your eyes lit up whenever you spoke about it, he couldn’t bring himself to voice his worries. he would brave it with a smile, just like you always did.

you were due to spend a semester there, a whole three months on the other side of the world to him. jisung wasn’t sure why he found it so difficult to process, being away from you for so long. what if you found a french boy that you liked more than him? or what if you loved it so much you decided to move there? he didn’t know what he would do if you left seoul for europe.

the departure date you had typed into his phone calendar approached faster than any day ever had, and it was with teary eyes he sent you off the airport alone, unable to risk being spotted in public. you had spent weeks promising to call every day, that it wouldn’t be that different to when he was on tour.

but it would be, he knew that. even on tour, you had always found time to surprise him at different venues with the help of the other dreamies, and when he was kept from you due to his schedule, there was the knowledge that if something bad happened, he was never that far away.

paris wasn’t just a quick drive, though, and the reality set in after he received the last text from you in the same country, telling him you had put your phone onto airplane mode but you would call him when you landed.

the promise was kept, of course, yours always were, and he listened to you ramble tiredly about the flight whilst you spoke hesitant french to the airport staff, trying to find your way to baggage claim. at that moment, the only positive he could think of was how nice your voice sounded speaking french, and how much he wanted you to teach him.

over the next months, you made a point to call jisung at every opportunity you had; in the early hours of the paris mornings before you had fallen asleep and jisung was already waking up for his days, right before he fell asleep as you were cooking dinner. you would facetime and go about your tasks together, finding comfort in the company.

every now and then you would have nights where the longing you felt for your little seoul apartment was overwhelming. where you would wish for nothing but being in your boyfriend’s arms, breathing in the smell of his bodywash and wearing his hoodies. but, alas, you were on the opposite side of the globe with nothing but one of his hoodies and the picture of him as your lockscreen. and your homescreen. and your laptop background.

when the halfway mark passed, jisung felt a little better knowing you coming home was an event on the distant horizon. the last thought he would have before he fell asleep was you next to him again, the smell of your shampoo and your perfume and the tinkling of your jewellery lulling him into a peaceful slumber. the memories of the nights he spent cuddled up to you in your apartment, or falling asleep on the couch in the dorm's living room were almost painful for him when he knew it would be at least another month until he could make new ones with you.

sometimes when he fished one of his shirts out of the bottom of his wardrobe, he would get a drift of your washing detergent, or the candles you burned before you fell asleep. in those moments, he would reach for his phone, texting you a sad message of how much he missed you and wait for the ringing when you face timed him, a melancholy smile on your features in the soft light.

one night after a particularly hard practice session where he had been scolded by the dance teacher, he collapsed on his bed, mentally and physically exhausted. just when he was thinking of heading to bed, the familiar ringtone he had set for exclusively you cut through the gloomy air of his bedroom, a spark of hope shooting through him.

"jisung! how was practice?" your voice crackles over the line and he frowns at the screen, watching you shield your eyes as you stared down at your phone.

"i got shouted at," he mumbles quickly, still trying to figure out where you are. over the time you spent in paris, jisung had gotten to know your surroundings, the different backgrounds in your rented flat, the cafe you frequented, the convenience store at the bottom of your street. but he couldn't make out where you were. "where are you?"

"look!" you beam at him, turning the camera around to show the view in front of you. before you stands the eiffel tower, sheets of rain distorting the picture to your boyfriend. "i know it's raining, but i wanted you to see it! i haven't had time to do proper sight-seeing yet."

"y/n, it's not just raining, it's storming!" jisung exclaims in surprise, watching the monument glitter under the dark clouds, "you're going to catch a cold!"

"i'll be fine, jisung! i promise!" and your promises were never wrong. “but look at it! isn’t it beautiful!”

“it is, i wish i could see it in person with you!” the words come out quieter than he expected and he’s unsure if you’ll be able to hear him over the pouring rain.

“then i’ll have to bring you here one day,” the camera turns to face you again, hair drenched, mascara collecting under your eyes. in that moment, he thinks he’s never seen such a dazzling sight.

the last stretch of your time in paris is painful for jisung, but the days slip through your fingers as you prepare to fly back to seoul. you spend the last week packing your things and saying goodbye to all the friends you had made, promising to stay in touch so you could practice your french more.

the night before your flight home, jisung calls you one last time, but when you hang up there is no heaviness in his heart, just the burning anticipation of you coming home again.

“y/n!” the voice that shouts it is so painfully familiar, but it sounds so different in person than over the phone. you freeze, eyes scanning the crowd in front of you to meet the pair you’re looking for. when they do meet, you think you can feel tears fill your eyes.

in an instant, a body collides with yours. the fabric of a hoodie is pressed into your face, a bodywash you would recognise anywhere floating up your nose, the arms you had missed so much wrapping themselves around you. for a prolongued minute you stay like that, jisung’s cheek pressed into the top of your head nestled under his chin.

the mask covering his face prevents you from kissing in front of the crowd but he holds you at arm’s length to examine your face. when he’s satisfied you still look like the same old y/n, he buries himself into you again.

“i missed you so much,” your words are muffled by his clothes and only then do you feel the wrapping crinkling behind your back.

“you have no idea how much i missed you,” he mumbles when he pulls away, pulling the brightest purple flowers from behind your back. the look of surprise on your face makes him laugh gleefully, still not believing you’re finally back in front of him. “they’re iris flowers, apparently they’re french. something to remind you of it, i guess.” there’s a blush on his cheeks as he sputters out his explanation, free hand coming to rub the back of his neck nervously.

the tears in your eyes spill over as you launch yourself back onto him, the both of you stumbling back slightly before jisung can catch his footing. “i love you so much.” you press your lips to the expanse of his exposed jawline, hands gripping his shoulder tightly.

“i love you so much as well, but you gotta teach me how to say that in french.”

“mon coeur est à toi pour toujours, jisung.”

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neo-culture-taste · 5 years

Text

Loosen Your Tie, Doyoung

Genre: AU, college, frat life, comedy, romance

Pairing: Doyoung X Fem (w/ the lovely appearance of fuccboi Yuta)

Rating: M for language, suggestive themes

Word Count: 9100+

Summary: He was an uptight nerd that just wanted to relax after taking his exams, but the universe had something more eventful planned for this particular evening.

Masterlist in blog description @neo-culture-taste.

Author’s note: A year ago Nctzens were given the gift that was NCT 2018 and with that gift came Doyoung’s teaser photo with him donning a blazer and tie. That one photo caused my creative juices to flow and thus this oneshot was born—an entire year ago. So a whole year later and a few tweaks here it is. Enjoy! - C

P.S - my imagination was running rampant when I first wrote this so 🤷🏽‍♀

“You have five minutes left.”

He flinched at the sudden tickle of the proctor’s words against his skin as he whispered into his ear. Doyoung absentmindedly nodded in agreement forcing down a scowl at the interruption of re-re-re-reviewing his physics based calculus midterm exam for the fourth time.

He absolutely hated computer-based exams. He had written several letters to the head of the physics department pleading that they change their decision on computer-based tests, citing that difficult mathematical exams of this magnitude would be more beneficial if the professors were present for any questions the student(s) may have. Not to mention the wrong numerical typo could be the decision between an A or D, and unfortunately Doyoung had witnessed that first hand amongst he and his classmates. It was a depressing sight to see aspiring engineers momentarily yanking their hairs out in fear of failing an exam thanks to one little, measly typo.

At first his letters fell on deaf ears until he became a class representative for his major on the student council. He was tired of seeing his classmates struggle and tired of having to visit his professor after each exam on the basis of a typo in order to raise his 93% A to a 100% A+. The department heads had no choice but to listen to the pleas of both Doyoung and his fellow students after a lengthy, yet informative presentation to the entire department.

After reaching the final question on what would be his last computer based physics exam of the semester, Doyoung took a deep breath and hovered the mouse over the submit button. The computer would automatically score his test once the time went down whether he was ready to see his grade or not; so deciding to bite the bullet, he closed his eyes and hit submit only waiting a few seconds before opening his eyes.

A beautiful 15 out of 15, 100% A+ graced the liquid crystal display, and a large smile fanned over Doyoung’s face as he released the breath he didn’t know he was holding. Unfortunately, the wretched garlic breath of the proctor finally infiltrated his senses despite occurring five minutes prior. That was just how focused he was.

Doyoung exited the exam’s browser and reached for his backpack underneath his chair, careful not to disturb the other students. With a bounce in his step he made way for the quad, stopping momentarily to do a celebratory twirl in the middle of the hallway and then popping in his earbuds. He had aced all of his midterms and could finally relax and take full advantage of a well-deserved break.

The sun was shining as brightly as ever casting shadows on students spread throughout the quad. Some were furiously doing last minute cramming, while others cried oceans of tears over their unsuccessful attempts at cramming, and others mirrored Doyoung and radiated the same exam-passing glow.

Feeling starved after supplying the neurons in his brain with enough glucose to ace his exam, Doyoung decided to make a quick turnaround in the quad and head towards the dining hall. Upon entering the cafeteria, he swiped his meal card before quickly reveling in the realization that today was Pizza Friday.

He grabbed a plate from the counter and loaded it with four slices of pizza before moving to the fruit counter to grab some watermelon. Once he was finished, he noticed that his favorite booth in the back corner of the dining hall was free, prompting him to maneuver his way towards it. He carefully placed his plates on the table and threw his backpack in the other side of the booth before realizing he was missing a nice, cold beverage to accompany his lunch.

He made his way to the drink counter which was only a couple feet away, filling two plastic cups with soda so he didn’t have to get up and get more later. Once finished, he made way toward his booth, the music in his ears keeping him walking at a steady beat, but also prompting him to do another victory spin.

However, his twirl unfortunately did not come to completion because he felt the sudden collision of his hands against another object. Despite the heavy base rippling through his ear canal, he heard the spine-chilling shriek erupting from the human body directly in front of him; the contents of both his glasses inappropriately bathing the front of her blouse. He quickly popped out the ear buds form his ears, a flurry of apologies falling from his lips--some coherent and some barely even a language.

He looked down at the ruined white blouse before him in dismay. The palms of the soda soaked girl were turned upward as if she had absolutely no idea how to move on from this situation that could have been avoided. And the longer she stood in front of Doyoung, the quicker the liquid spread across her blouse, finding a comfortable fiber to soak into all while revealing a baby blue lace tank top underneath that clung to the curvature of her bosom. To make matters worse, the liquid had trickled down the front of her skirt and down her legs, causing Doyoung to give her an unintentional once over. Once his eyes returned upward, she served him expressions of both shock and lividness to say the least.

“I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you-“ He said quickly setting down his now empty glasses in order to grab napkins to help her. With a bit too much force, she yanked the napkins from his hands and began aggressively patting her chest. He felt bad. But not bad enough to dampen his post test high. Ain’t nobody would be fucking with his post test high. “I can go ask for a towel-“

“Ew. A dirty dishrag? Don’t worry about it. I live in the dorm next door. But watch where you’re twirling next time, you fake ass ballerina.” The girl abruptly threw her damp napkins on the table, her neck tinged with a rosy shade from anger and embarrassment before quickly scurrying away.

Doyoung hung his head low and turned back to his table picking up the wet napkins in disgust, as she had thrown them on his Friday pizza and watermelon. It was an accident for goodness sake, but she didn’t have to be so rude about it either, Doyoung thought. He tried to apologize! And that was one of the reasons why he kept to himself most times and disliked significant amounts of human interaction. Someone was always bound to piss him off.

"If you're just going to sit there and mean mug your plate, then why not give me what's on it.”

Speaking of someone always pissing him off, Doyoung looked up from the table as he was pulled away from glaring at his pizza by the voice of the ultimate pain in the ass of his life: Nakamoto Yuta.

“Shake it off, bro. A little wet pepperoni never killed anybody,” said Yuta has he grabbed a slice of pizza from Doyoung’s plate and shook it from side to side before sitting across from him. Yuta was one of Doyoung’s few close friends and the use of the word “friend” to describe Yuta was oftentimes inaccurate.

Continuing to munch on Doyoung’s pizza, he chuckled. “I saw what happened, dude. Smooth move! When I suggested you should get a girl wet after midterms I didn’t mean like that.” Yuta was the last person Doyoung wanted to see his blunder with the opposite sex. Whenever hilarious, embarrassing, or social status dampening events occurred, Yuta was like the appointed historian to always make people remember times they wished hadn’t even occurred.

Doyoung sent Yuta a death glare but it only resulted in more loud chuckling from his friend. It really was times like these that Doyoung questioned why he had continued to keep Yuta around after entering university. He didn’t take his studies seriously like Doyoung, despite being at the university on a soccer scholarship where he needed to keep his marks up. He also had proved to be unreliable, as on countless occasions he flaked on hanging out because he said he “needed to give thanks to mother nature for the cosmic gift she had bestowed upon man in the form of female orgasms” through numerous trysts with the university’s cheerleaders. One would assume that someone who only wanted to climb the social ladder, attend the best college parties, and drink until he was ass-backwards or passed out (if it was the off season) would have already left a hardworking nerd, who desperately wanted to become an engineer. Alas...he didn’t. The two of them were like night and day, yet they just couldn’t be one without the other.

Despite being a huge nuisance to his nerves, Yuta did however possess the minimal characteristics of what Doyoung would qualify the use of the “friend” title. Sometimes. He was an asshole but he was an asshole that looked out for Doyoung and was always there to lend a helping hand, albeit it oftentimes led to more harm than good whenever Yuta inserted himself in a situation. But his intentions were in the right place and the situations would eventually work themselves out. All in all, there was some use to keeping Yuta around. And it wasn't all one big headache. They had fun a lot of the time, too.

Defeated, Doyoung picked up one of his slices that hadn’t been tormented by the wet paper. “Why are you here, Yuta? Shouldn’t you still be in a midterm or something?”

Yuta sighed. “I just finished up, actually. It was an oral final, but it didn’t last that long.” He shrugged his shoulders with disinterest.

“You waited until the last minute to come up with what you were going to say, didn’t you?” questioned Doyoung innocently wiping some pizza sauce from the corner of his mouth.

Yuta cocked his head to the side and looked at Doyoung somewhat disappointedly. “No, no. I went prepared. I could have tongued a few more sentences if she would have let me. But she grabbed the back of my hair too roughly, and then she came all over my tongue, but was too stimulated to con-“

Doyoung choked for obvious reason. “Yuta!” He reached for one of his glasses only to realize it was empty and quickly remembered the accident with the girl that had happened a few minutes prior.

“What?” asked Yuta nonchalantly.

“I’m eating! And it’s pizza day!” He was accustomed to his friend being lewd at all hours of the day and normally it wouldn't phase him, but he had been caught off guard this time.

“And I got an A! What’s the problem?!” Yuta reached in his backpack for his water bottle and tossed it towards Doyoung who was still coughing over loose pizza crust.

Taking a long ass swig, Doyoung gave Yuta a pointed look before harshly whispering. “You had relations with your professor?! Do you know how much trouble you would be in with the university if anyone found out? Not to mention you would probably get kicked off the team and consequently kicked out of school!”

Yuta did a dramatic neck and eye roll at his friend across the table. “Sometimes...I want to twist the stick that’s shoved so far up your ass and make you mellow out.”

“You and everyone else,” muttered Doyoung as he stared incredulously at the idiot.

“I’m in college, dude,” continued Yuta. “I’m allowed to fuck up. And if you must know I did do my presentation in class and earned my A the right way. I just…had more things to say that wasn’t able to fit within the time limit. And I had already requested an appointment for office hours beforehand and this chemistry had been brewing between us since the beginning of the semester. So one thing led to another and--“

“Yuta, fuck off,” said Doyoung, his tolerance wearing thin. “Between you and that girl I just ran into, the both of you have tried my patience today. I aced all my midterms and I just want to be left alone to recuperate.”

“Now you know how I feel having a friend that only wants to study all day! You’re always so serious. Once we graduate you will regret not having as much or more fun as I’m having. You need to loosen your tie, Doyoung, and liiiive~. The books will always be there but your youth won’t. Get this pussy now and get the money later!"

Now it was Doyoung's turn to cock his head to the side as he absentmindedly forked his watermelon. “Do you ever think about what you say before you say it, Yuta? Do you ever realize what kind of idiotic logic you’re spewing?”

“It’s not idiotic. It’s fact. Now moving on to the real reason I interrupted your lonely ass pizza day.” He shoved a neon green flyer adorned with terrible font towards Doyoung’s side of the table. “I’m throwing my first official party tonight at the frat house. You had been ignoring my texts all week because you were studying or whatever it is you do when you read a book and make flashcards. So now I’m reminding you in the flesh. I’m treating this party as if it is my first kid. If it’s successful, I know I can bang out a few more. So I need you to come out and support me like the true friend I know that you are.” Yuta batted his eyelashes at Doyoung who merely pushed his plate away, his appetite clearly vanishing.

“Yuta, I hate parties and all that encompasses them. And as a true friend you would already know this.” He slid the flyer back towards Yuta and reached for his backpack.

“Doyoung, please. You haven’t been to a party in the three years that we’ve been here and you literally have nothing exciting planned for tonight, and I know because you're you and you never really do anything besides…doing nothing.”

Doyoung scoffed and stood up, partly because he was annoyed and partly because Yuta was correct with his assumption. He was indeed going home to do nothing exciting in particular, but at least he wouldn’t be surrounded by wasted young adults who just wanted to fuck each other and adults that couldn’t take the hint and graduate already because they were scared of adult responsibilities.

“C’mon, dude!” Yuta stood up to stand eye level with his basic ass friend. “I really need you to be there.”

“Why?”

Yuta ran his hands down his face before calmly placing his hands on his hips. “The only way I can strip this one girl and bathe in her cosmic essence—with her permission of course—is if you come to the party and…y’know, hang out with her friend. Who, by the way, thinks you’re really attractive for some reason. I think she likes the way your tie is tightly wound around your neck like it’s choking you, but you find a way to sexily breathe through it. And that any minute you’ll rip it off and bind her wrists or blindfold her or some shit. I don't know. Girls are weird. But she likes you, man! She just wants to make sure your stuck up façade and actual personality aren’t synonymous. And if you don’t hit it off with her, there will be plenty of other girls you can-- ”

“No, Yuta. I will not babysit your potential fuck’s bestie so she can relieve her kinky fantasies and gossip to her friends saying, ‘Girls, he may look like a cute little bunny, but he fucks like a wild tiger that was just begging to be tamed.’” Yuta scrunched up his nose at the high pitched voice Doyoung put on to mimic a girl, and also because he had a hard time comprehending why Doyoung would compare himself to a giant jungle cat in bed. “Nor will I accidentally wind up in some room with some cute girl only to find out she was using me to make her jock boyfriend jealous.”

“DUDE, THAT WAS FIVE YEARS AGO IN HIGH SCHOOL!” Yuta exclaimed, exasperated that his friend was still bitter after all this time. “You gotta let that shit go! I told you not to go upstairs with her. And we need to revisit how you think you’re good in bed when you’ve only slept with like, one person.”

“No, Yuta. Leave me alone. Have fun at your party.” Doyoung curtly walked off and left Yuta standing there at the booth with his flyer crumpled angrily in his fist.

I’m not that stuck up, am I?, thought Doyoung as he left his friend in the dining hall. But he shrugged away the notion and continued to walk toward his apartment.

~~~

The cacophonous soundtrack that played on Doyoung’s laptop signaled yet another end credit scene for one of his favorite tv shows that he promised he would binge after midterms. More like the show was watching him as Doyoung had long casted aside his laptop and curled into the fetal position, sleep having grabbed him no more than ten minutes after he had returned to his apartment. His roommate, Winwin, hadn’t been home, serving as the perfect time to just relax alone.

The only thing that had managed to break him from his snooze cruise was the blatant disrespect of his cell phone ringing obnoxiously loud next to his ear. He quickly stirred and sat up looking at his phone in disgust as the words YUTA YUTA YUTA flashed across the screen. He begrudgingly answered deciding to be rude and not even say hello.

“Hello? Hello?” Asked Yuta whose voice was a bit drowned out thanks to the blaring EDM in the background. “Doyoung?!”

“Yuta! I didn’t change my mind about coming to the party!” Yelled Doyoung because he was pissed off and cranky.

“I know! But Winwin, ugh! Some clown from that BBX frat dared Winwin to keg stand and now your poor roommate is drunk off his mother fucking rocker! I told him not to do it, but he acted like he had something to prove and now he’s shitfaced, dude.”

Doyoung slapped his face and dragged his hand downward. “So, what are you asking me, Yuta? You’re his friend too and more than capable of-”

“Oh, shit! Winwin, that’s fucking disgusting!” Cried Yuta and interrupting Doyoung. “Quick, Kun, let’s take him to the bathroom. Here, Lucas. Talk to Doyoung.”

Doyoung heard the rustling of the phone being passed around through the receiver before a gruff voice spoke. “Hey, man! I’m sad you’re not here but I shall pour you one in your honor...and then not drink it because Taeyong won’t let me.”

“Thanks, Lucas. And you’re under the legal age to drink anyway.”

“Yeah but, I wanna keg stand, too!”

The thought of lil’ baby Lucas acting a fool and puking his brains out like the rest of his friends moved Doyoung enough to decide and go save his roommate. “It’s not worth it, dude. Tell Yuta I’m on my way.” He jumped from his bed and grabbed his keys before heading to the EXT frat house.

The walk to the frat house from his apartment was about eight minutes and twenty seconds. A time Doyoung remembered from several nightly trips when Yuta actually had time for guys night or when he needed to be saved from a girl he decided he didn’t want to sleep with after sobering up. Doyoung was always his scapegoat.

Upon arriving at the frat house, Doyoung immediately noticed all the loitering bodies of drunk college kids on the front lawn. He had to maneuver through the small sea of plastic red cups and beer bottles littered across the walkway before stopping abruptly as some guy flew across the cobblestone pavement and ran into the plastic flamingo on the lawn. “DUDEEE THAT NOSEDIVE WAS SICKK!” was heard causing Doyoung to roll his eyes and quickly make his way into the frat house. The sooner he retrieved Winwin, the faster he’d return home and relax. Well, not really. Not if he had to babysit Winwin all night and make sure he didn’t swallow his vomit and choke.

Doyoung entered the frat house and immediately noticed Lucas standing across in the foyer. He wasn’t hard to miss as he was the tallest human standing in the area with all the other new frat recruits who were tiny compared to him.

Doyoung sauntered over to Lucas who gave him a big hug causing the other recruits to disperse. Although Doyoung wasn’t in the frat, Yuta knighted him an honorary member, meaning no one was allowed to mess with him, yet was allowed to give him special treatment. “Bro, you made it!”

Doyoung’s face morphed into a grimace after telling Lucas he had come to get Winwin. He began to ask what bathroom in that giant frat house had Yuta dragged him to but was cut off when two tall, beautiful young ladies interrupted their conversation.

“Hey, stud? What’s your name?” Asked one of the girls, one Doyoung recognized as being the star junior of the girl’s soccer team.

Lucas quickly looked toward Doyoung as if he needed confirmation of what his name was before turning back to the girls and blushing. “I’m 20.”

Doyoung immediately hung his head low and scratched his eyebrow, rapidly giving up on humanity. He didn’t have time for this awkward shit. He had come here for one reason and one reason only, and now he felt precious time slipping away from him as he stood there fooling around with Lucas. “They asked for your name…”

“Oh, uhh. Sorry.” Said the giant baby clearing his throat. “Lucas. My name is Lucas.”

“Aw, you’re so cute and funny.” Both girls closed the space between themselves and Lucas, causing Doyoung to roll is eyes and become even more annoyed. Like, hellloooo? Were they too entranced by Lucas’ pretty face to not see him standing there having a conversation with somebody?

“Let’s go somewhere and chat for a bit?” suggested the other girl.

Lucas laughed again before his “how to be a fuccboi manual by Yuta, illustrated by Taeyong” kicked in, causing his cute smile to quickly change into a sexy smolder. His voice dropped a couple of octaves lower, which Doyoung didn’t even think was possible. “How about I meet you guys out back on the patio? I have to show my loser friend here something first.” His comment made Doyoung roll his lips into a straight line in aggravation. He knew Lucas had only said that to seem as cool as he thought he was. It was classic textbook Yuta.

“He can come, too,” said the girl eyeing Doyoung up and down. “I like them stoicc.” The annunciation she put on the last syllable was hella thicc.

“I’m sorry, ladies I’m flattered, but I'm really not interested. I have more pressing matters to attend to. Lucas. Winwin, please,” Doyoung demanded to Lucas sternly.

The girls were taken aback by the unintended harshness of Doyoung’s tone and Lucas made up for it by kindly reminding them he’d meet them soon. He lead Doyoung to one of the corridors on the other side of the frat house. There were even more bodies in this area as the pool table and other assorted games were being drunkenly utilized.

As they approached some party goers playing darts and dodging the projectiles as to not be impaled by one, Doyoung heard Yuta’s thunderous guffaw before he even saw him. Brushing past Lucas while channeling on the cackle, Doyoung spotted Yuta and grabbed his shoulder to turn him around. Before he could speak, his attention was drawn to Winwin sitting on the couch across from him, his clothes in perfect place, hair nice, and not a sign of having emptied out his entire digestive system through his mouth. If anything, he would say his roommate was simply a little buzzed. Winwin noticed him staring incredulously and gave him a sheepish smile and a wave. Doyoung was livid.

“Oh, hey~, Doyoung!” A beer in his hand, Yuta stuck his neck out to look around at his perturbed friend and pointed an accusatory finger at Lucas. “Dammit, you! You were supposed to text me when he got here!”

“Sorry, I got distracted! But I’ll be in the backyard if you need me! Bye!” rushed Lucas ready to run off to his rendezvous but was called back by Yuta.

“Oh, bro! You got distracted by some hot girls, huh?!” The knowing grin on Yuta’s face grew twice its size when Lucas nodded in affirmation. “MAH, MAN!” He went in for a high five with the taller young man, but Doyoung blocked them from coming in contact with one another by violently slapping their arms down.

“Enough! ”After using eight minutes and twenty seconds of his precious life to walk over to that frat house for what had now made itself clear as complete bullshit, Doyoung needed to get something off his chest. “Yuta. Can I speak with you in priv--” he began, but he was cut off for the second time that night.

“No, man! No more talking!” Yuta grabbed two bottles of beer from the cooler near his feet and popped them open, the noise agitating Doyoung closer to the point of no return, and shoved both bottles in his hands. “So, Winwin isn’t shitfaced and I lied. You walked into that trap on your own.”

“Yeah, and Doyoung’s the smart one,” cackled Johnny, another one of his so-called friends. He was clearly drunk, so Doyoung spared him from a possible verbal beatdown.

“But you’re here now and that’s all that matters!” continued Yuta. “There’s unlimited drinks and unlimited girls--except this one. She’s mine.” He slithered his arm around the waist of his Friday date (who had a bigger bosom than last Tuesday’s date), who Doyoung assumed was the one who’s friend wanted some facetime with him.

Upon that realization, the gears in his brain quickly switched over to escape mode. His eyes quickly glanced around the room in a small panic that he immediately realized was futile considering he had no idea what the girl looked like. Now with the sudden shift of his objective, Doyoung's top priority was to get out of there before whoever she was entered within a ten foot radius of his person.

“So, go crazy and have some fun! I’m really glad that you’re here, dude.” Yuta raised his beer up, a sly and cheeky grin plastered on his visage that Doyoung desperately wanted to punch. “To Doyoung!”

The people around responded in unison as Yuta clanked his bottle with Doyoung’s, who simply stood there in a silent rage. The aspirated sounds of quenched thirsts emanating from everyone’s throats prompted Doyoung to turn on his heels and walk out the game area. Not only did Yuta forcibly drag him to participate in an event he was clearly against from the moment the flyer was shoved in his face, he used his roommate Winwin as bait. He made a mental note to not invite Winwin shopping the next time their apartment needed groceries as payback. He then made another mental note that he was trying to punish his roommate who wouldn’t ever hurt a fly, and that wasn't something he thought he was capable of doing (purposely passive aggressively hurting Winwin, that is), which caused him to make yet another note that Yuta needed to be unfriended.

“He really likes screwing with me. He should stop harping about being my friend if he can’t under-” Doyoung’s mutterings were cut short when he felt a familiar pillowy thud hit against the back of his palm causing both bottles of beer to fly upwards before shattering on the floor. Tuning out the people around him yelling that he had just committed a party foul, his instincts immediately prepared his lips for a second set of apologizes that day as he looked to see who he had run into. Upon realization, his mouth fell open in surprise and he soon felt the front of his blazer soaking with beer.

“Why does this keep happening to me?!” She screamed. Her palms faced upwards, stuck like they were earlier in the dining hall and her expression was just as dumbfounded. “This is the second time today. First it was the fake ass ballerina and now-” She lifted your head and scoffed in absolute disbelief and possibly even a hint of disdain. “Still the fake ass ballerina. I knew I shouldn't have come here tonight. Ugh! Do you have absolutely noth--HEY! Where are you going, asshole?!”

A little ticked off by her attitude, Doyoung held up a finger signaling her to wait and silently brushed past her to head towards the conveniently nearby supply closet. Despite not even being a member of the frat, this wasn’t the first time Doyoung had to fetch the broom and dustpan from this particular room. He had Yuta to thank for that incident as well.

When he returned to the girl, her body was still tense although she had lowered her hands to pull her soaked halter top away from the front side of her body. Her face was adorned with complete discomfort, however she stepped aside as she watched Doyoung sweep the shards of glass and scoop them up with the dustpan.

He stood in front of her and gazed at her pitiful form in exasperation. He took a deep breath before saying what he had to say. It took a lot of strength for him not to go completely off on an innocent bystander who unfortunately kept getting in his way.

“I’m sorry. Once again, I truly am sorry,” he stressed. “I was lost in my train of thought because of my dumbass friends. Because I, too, do not want to be here. I’m sorry I ruined your outfit again. Although it really isn’t appropriate for this weather, by the way. Especially now that your clothes are wet. But still, I am sorry.” He chucked the shards of glass into the also conveniently nearby trash bin before bending back down to pick up the last pieces.

The girl narrowed her eyes and cocked her head to the side in agitation. “Okay, but your apologies can’t magically dry the front of my shirt and shorts, and remove the awful stench of cheap ass beer. I look like I fucking pissed on myself upwards!” She wanted to cross her arms over her chest, but she would risk getting them sticky.

“That’s impossible,” said Doyoung matter of factly. Standing up again, he looked at her now as if she were incompetent before emptying more glass into the trash bin.

“DUDE, REALLLY?! Is that really what’s on your mind right now? The physical impossibility of me being able to pee upwards is what you’re worried about?!” Frustrated with her current situation, and apparently the world given her actions and word choice since the beginning of the day, she rubbed her hands against her face and slowly slid down the wall behind her.

Now, Doyung was a nice dude. Ladies--even ones outside of his family--found him to be a real gentleman...if you caught him on a good day. He could have very well informed the girl that the ground was still very much wet, but today wasn’t a very good day. Not anymore, at least. So, he didn’t. Instead he watched her slowly sink to her demise, the liquid quickly seeping into her shorts. Any moment now...3...2...1. “AW, FUCK! THE GROUND IS STILL WET! Why didn’t you say anything?!”

He returned the broom and the dustpan to the closet before addressing her question. “I didn’t feel like mopping.” He stated without any remorse. Her eyes almost bulged out her sockets at his response, so he immediately backtracked realizing he didn't mean to be that big of a dick. He wasn’t really a dick at all, actually. “Because I didn’t think you’d hear me over your incessant yelling--” Okay, maybe he was a dick.

“I’m not yelling. This is how I talk.” She ran her hands through her hair in frustration. “Now my ass is wet. And I reek of beer. I don’t even drink! Never even touched the stuff! This has been the worst day of my life. But I can’t leave because I promised to be a designated driver. And if I leave, what if I get stopped by the police?! ARE THEY GONNA BELIEVE THAT I’M SOBER?! I should be at home studying!” She threw her head against the wall and winced at the hard impact she didn't mean to make with it.

Doyoung’s feet made to leave, but his moral compass pointed towards the girl when the word “studying” tumbled from her lips. It was as if she had calmed some of his anger knowing she could be potentially studious as he was. He also sympathized with her on the fact that he too had been roped into being a designated driver countless times. Although, he never attended the parties. He would only show up when he thought his friends had had enough and throw them all into the backseat. Upon rethinking the situation, he made a decision to help the girl and bent down, grabbing her hand and pulling her to her feet.

“W-what are you doing?” The girl was a little shocked to say the least. His attitude had done a surprising 90 degrees. He was being gentlemanly, yes, but it was not a complete turn around. He was still tense, just not as much.

“Follow me.” He commenced to walk her hand in tow, but his pace was hindered by her hesitance.

“Where are we going?”

“To get you out of these wet clothes.” But before she could take it the wrong way and retort, he stopped walking and clarified. “Not like that. My asshole friends are inhabitants of this frat house. My clothes are damp as well and like you, I hate the feeling of wet clothing on my skin. We can grab a change of clothes and then we both can go our separate ways. Cool?”

Visibly relaxing after his explanation, she mulled it over, her tongue poking the inside of her cheek as she weighed the possible outcomes. “Fine. Lead the way.”

He lead her upstairs towards Yuta’s room, flicking the light upon entering the masculinely decorated room. He silently thanked his friend for not being a slob this weekend and not waiting forever to launder his soccer practice clothing that he usually just left on the floor to rot.

“Wait here,” said Doyoung dropping her hand. He quickly moved across the room towards Yuta’s black dresser, opening the first drawer a bit rougher than he intended and caused Yuta’s collection of bobbleheads to, well, bobble. The drawer contained an assortment of socks and underwear neither of which Doyoung needed, so he proceeded to the next row of drawers which contained athletic shorts and shirts.

He heard something ruffle against Yuta’s bed so he assumed it was the girl, his newfound companion who didn’t understand simple instructions of “wait here”. He closed his eyes and clenched his jaw in annoyance, only to reopen his eyes and catch her form in the mirror. She apparently wasn't shy and wasted no time shedding off her sticky shirt. She discarded the wet material on the floor beside her feet and let out a deep sigh. Doyoung relaxed and continued to stand there admiring her reflected figure from behind. His eyes trailed from the top of her head to the strap of her baby blue bralette haphazardly falling down her shoulder, then to her lace trimmed jean shorts that had turned a darker hue (primarily on the curvature of her booty cheeks), which was entirely his fault. And in that moment, he could honestly say he was glad he didn’t tell her about the wet floor.

The motion of her reaching for her bra strap shook him from his reverie and he proceeded to grab two shirts and two shorts from the drawer. With his head hung low and eyes only focusing on the clothes, he turned around and extended a pair of clothes towards her. When she didn’t accept them, he noticed she was no longer standing there. “Hey. Where’d you go?”

He did a complete 180 degree turn and found her standing on the other side of Yuta’s room near his large armoire. “Oh. You move very quietly...umm I have dry cloth--NO DON’T OPEN THAT!”

His cry was too late as the girl had already opened the doors of the armoire and was already being showered with several boxes of condoms that had collapsed from the overstuffed piece of furniture. Before he could move to help her subdued form, he heard the door to Yuta’s room close shut and lock. He ran towards the wooden door and pounded on it, yelling in anger that his attempts to open the door from the inside were futile. “Hey! Open up!”

“No!” Screamed the terrible voice on the other side.

Doyoung dropped his hands from the doorknob knowing full well that no matter how much he retaliated he was not going to leave the room anytime soon. “Yuta...you asshole. Let us out. Right now. Open the damn door!” Doyoung’s chest ferociously rose and fell as his mind shrouded with rage.

“No, Dodo. I will not open the door. If you don’t want to mingle with us rowdy college kids, then mingle with the half naked girl you got in the room with you! Bye!” Doyoung heard footsteps and snickers trail away down the hallway.

He leaned his head on the door before remembering the ladder Yuta used to sneak in and out the frat house after hours. He ran towards the window and lifted it up happy to see the ladder right where he remembered it would be.

“What is going on?” the girl asked as she massaged her temples and continued to lay under the boxes of condoms.

“I’m going to get us out of here.” He kicked some boxes out of his way and grabbed her hand to pull her to her feet. So far their relationship with one another consisted of repeated actions and events. It was so unromantic it was lowkey romantic.

He gave her the set of clothes and motioned toward the closet and told her to quickly change. He discarded his blazer, shirt, and pants before sliding on the fresh pair of shorts. While deciding he could make do without taking off his tank top and tie he heard scraping outside against the wall.

“No, no, no.” He looked out the window only to find a drunk Johnny and Jaehyun trying to confiscate the ladder from the wall. “Stop!” He latched onto the ladder and tightened his grip as the pair pulled from the opposite end. Two against one was proving to be difficult as Doyoung’s waist was starting to go past the window sill, but he tried to maintain his grip as best as he could, hoping the drunks would give up soon.

“Hey these shorts have--OMG!” The girl had come out of the closet only to have to quickly run to the window and grab Doyoung’s waist so he wouldn’t fall forward and out the window. “Let go of the ladder! LET GO! LET GO! LET GO!”

“NO!”

“It’s not worth it!” She tugged him back harshly causing his grip to release from the ladder.

“Have fun Doyoung!” Yelled Johnny and Jaehyun as they hauled off with the ladder, laughing as they went.

“This is bullshit!” He closed the window and threw the dry T-shirt on the floor before he started pacing back and forth in the room. “That was our only way out! We’re going to be stuck here until Yuta decides he’s done playing this little game of his!”

The girl shifted and crossed her arms before speaking, “You have the biggest--“

“STICK UP MY ASS! YES, I KNOW.” He took a deep breath a little sorry she kept getting mixed up in all his shit. “I’m sorry—“

“Stop saying you’re sorry. It’s starting to sound weird coming from you.“ She placed her hand over your mouth to smother a laugh. “And that wasn't what I was going to say.”

“What?” He knitted his eyebrows and looked at her, only now noticing her bare legs peeking from under the hem of Yuta’s oversized T-shirt. Her baby blue undergarments showing underneath. “What is it?”

She picked up the shorts she had been given earlier. “I can’t wear these.” She handed them to Doyoung and stepped backwards meekly, trying to hold in her giggles.

“Why are you laughing?” He opened the shorts and noticed the big ass cut out hole on the crotch area before flinging them to the ground. “Dammit, Yuta! I didn’t know--“ He looked down at the shorts he had changed into and noticed the giant whole in the middle of his crotch, showcasing his Scooby Doo boxers. He looked up and saw the girl keel over on Yuta’s bed in laughter. And despite the outrageous situation, he relished in defeat and succumbed to laughter himself.

Once the girl had adequate use of her lungs to breathe again she said, “I didn’t peg you for a cartoon guy. Your face screams you enjoy the five o’clock news and peer reviewed journals.”

He rolled his eyes and sat on Yuta’s bed as well as wiping the tears that had accumulated in his eyes. “They’re my lucky exam boxers.”

“So you wear them three times a week?”

“The stench holds the knowledge.”

“Gross! Guys are so weird,” she said before locating Yuta’s crotchless shorts from before and chucking them at him.

“No. Not all of us. I never liked that group assumption. Why do girls group all guys together? Some of us are cool!”

“You...cool?” He watched as she stood up from her kneeling position and removed his wet blazer and shorts from the floor before finding her own wet clothes. She went towards the closet and hung the clothes to dry. Doyoung watched her intently, his eyes admiring her backside once again. “You’ve been in a mood since we first bumped into each other. That’s not cool.”

“It’s the circumstance. I’m usually a nice guy. I just...today wasn’t supposed to turn out like this. I was supposed to finish my physics midterm, enjoy Pizza Friday, and then relax at home. Midterms were hard this semester. I deserved the break. I didn’t want to get dragged to a party and get stuck--“

“In here with me?” She walked across the room toward the several boxes of condoms still littered across the floor.

“I didn’t mean--“

“It’s okay. I didn’t think my day would end up like this either.” She bent down and absentmindedly picked up a half full box of condoms. “We can just sit here quietly and not talk to one another until Yuta let’s us out. Or we can talk about why Yuta has an armoire full of condoms that nearly ended my life.”

“Despite Yuta’s assholelery, he’s a big activist for safe sex. He lives with all these young and horny guys so he has to look out for their well-being. Whenever they need protection or stupid advice Yuta is who they run to. Plus, a frat with a reputation for STDs would be bad publicity.”

“Interesting,” she said simply. Doyoung watched curiously as she dug inside the box and pulled out a foil packet that she then proceeded to open with her teeth. “But how’d he get all of these boxes? He went on a condom shopping spree?” She blew air through the condom and tied a knot at the end before neatly placing it on the nearby desk.

“No.” Doyoung watched her tear open another packet and wanted to advise her that opening it that way could puncture and render its contents ineffective, but he stopped himself when he realized what she was up to. “Spring Break contest sophomore year. He had to lick whip cream off a girl’s body and eat a cherry out of her mouth within a time limit at a resort we went to. He won first place, which included a lifetime supply of condoms and 5000 dollars cash.”

“Wow.” She deadpanned.

Doyoung reached for a packet in the box she was holding and began blowing one up like she did earlier. He carefully placed his condom balloon in Yuta’s pencil holder, making sure it didn’t pop. “By the way, my name is Doyoung.” He extended his hand towards his fellow prisoner while reaching for another packet with the other. She stopped blowing her latex balloon to shake his hand. She told him her name in return.

~~~

After going through about four boxes with twelve packets each, both she and Doyoung had run out of air. He was still on a devious power high from semi-trashing Yuta’s room, so he was glad when she agreed to his suggestion of filling the condoms with water. After going through a box of thirty-two, the two of them finally decided to call it quits. Yuta’s drawers, closet, backpack, shelf, bathroom just about every surface of his room was covered in an assortment of either air or water filled latex balloons in various colors, shapes, sizes, and texture. It was a condom carnival.

She was reclined on Yuta’s bed, Doyoung having found her a blanket to cover herself with as Yuta’s questionable fashion sense was out of the question. “So why do you continue to hang out with him if he’s so troublesome?” she asked.

Doyoung took a moment to answer. “Because he’s the complete opposite of me. He’s the fun one and I’m…the not fun one.” Doyoung lowered his chin atop the desk chair he was sitting backwards on.

“Well, I think you’re sort of fun. I’ve only known you for…an hour and twenty-five minutes? Plus the five minutes in the dining hall this afternoon makes it an hour and thirty minutes?”

He laughed. “Thanks? You’re pretty cool, too. I wouldn’t have done this interior decorating we did otherwise. I mean I would have, but it wouldn’t have been as fun.”

“I honestly didn’t think you had it in you. You’re always so focused in class I figured you would be pretentious and stuck up. Plus, you wear a blazer and tie everyday.”

Doyoung’s face fell at her words. “We have a class together?” He chose to ignore the latter part of her comment.

Her cheeks took on yet another red hue that day as she gripped the blanket tighter in embarrassment. “Uh…no not exactly?”

Doyoung clearly heard the inflection on her last word. “Well then how?“

“I’m not a stalker!” she suddenly blurted.

“I didn’t say--“

“Your physics class is across the hall from my physics class at the same time on the same days. You sit down in the front near the door, and I sit towards the top in my classroom, but I can still see you through the doorway. You’re directly in my line of sight.”

“Yeah, that’s a stalker alright,” joked Doyoung. “What physics are you in? Did you pass your midterms?”

She was a little embarrassed to answer that. “I’m in general physics for pre-medical students. I made a 64. That’s a D. I might as well withdraw from the course at this point. I don’t think I can save my grade.”

“Well, that makes sense...Oh!” Doyoung snapped his fingers, something suddenly returning to his memory. “You’re that girl that eats candy and texts the whole class period. You own a light grey sweater that you wear every time the air conditioner kicks on.”

“You noticed me?”

“Yeah. You’re in my line of sight, too. I mean I’ve never seen you up close, that’s why I didn’t immediately recognize you from our run-ins today. But in case you didn't know, your behavior is why you failed your exam. If you ask me, I think you deserved an F rather than a D. And judging by all the candy you eat, I’m surprised you even have teeth--“

Without thinking, she grabbed the water filled condom from the nightstand and chucked it at Doyoung, which burst all over his face and white tank top. He looked shocked and blinked slowly as the water trickled down the desk chair. Before either of them realized what was happening, Doyoung was standing over her popping a balloon on top of her head, dousing her with cold water.

And thus, the war began.

After several back and forths of overhand throws and running around the room, there were now less condom balloons, severely wet furniture, and two soaking wet human bodies.

“Yuta is going to be so pissed,” she said looking around the room.

“He’ll survive.” Doyoung grabbed the blanket from the bed and moved to dry her off but she dodged, considering the wet t-shirt was cooling her skin from her sudden rise in body temperature. The impromptu physical activity, closeness and contact between the two of them, and the way their wet clothes clung to each of their bodies, and outlining every detail of their figures were to blame.

Doyoung dropped the blanket only to catch her furiously fiddling with the oversized wet shirt. “There’s no point,” she muttered. “You won’t be able to get every part of me that’s wet, so why bother?” He watched as she looked to the side at nothing in particular, her fourth time in one day garnering that rosy hue of embarrassment. He was starting to find it rather cute. However, while her expression dictated she couldn’t believe she had said that aloud, his dictated the internal struggle he currently faced with her words bouncing around in his head, immediately causing his lower head to fight against the tight restriction of the wet material clinging to his skin.

Doyoung was very intelligent. However, it didn’t take his stellar 4.0 GPA to know that Yuta’s diabolical plan since the beginning of the afternoon was finally starting to make progress. And one thing he hated was when people, well namely Yuta, got away with their evil plans. So he quickly turned away from her and walked toward the bathroom, closing it shut behind him. He laid his forehead on the door and took a deep breath. Cold water, he thought. Buddy you have to go down. Wait, I’m already soaking wet with cold water. Function, brain! He moved toward the shower anyway when he heard her lightly tap on the door.

“Doyoung? I’m sorry if what I said was inappropriate. What drawer are the clothes in?” Doyoung simply looked at the door and didn’t respond. “Doyoung?” After three more repeats of his name she let it go with a heavy sigh and went to find the drawer herself.

Doyoung felt bad for ignoring her so he peeped his head out the bathroom only to find the wet T-shirt discarded. She was standing in only her bralette and panties this time, the garments perfectly outlining the shape of her assets. He couldn’t help the choking noise that was caught in his throat, causing her to spin around in surprise.

Both their eyes grew wide like two horny teenagers who accidentally saw the half naked body of the opposite sex for the first time.

“I found the drawer and--”

Legend has it Doyoung lost control of his body as he walked from behind the door and into the room. The tent residing on his lower half at full attention and on display for her enjoyment.

He locked his eyes with hers. “After three years of pent up sexual frustration, my prefrontal cortex has decided to shut off and allow my glans and shaft to think for itself. Hence the situation I have in my boxers.” He motioned a hand downwards and she couldn't help her eyes from quickly darting to and from the area. “Now, I’m not one of those dudes like you see running around this frat house that needs to bang girls everyday. My education comes first. Speaking of coming,” her eyes slightly widened at the abrupt segway, “I haven’t done so with another person since high school, which was with my ex-girlfriend who later cheated on me with a football player. Therefore, I’m super clean with minimal, yet enough experience.

“Okay, Yuta is a horrible best friend, but I have to give him props because without him I wouldn’t be in this current situation. I was awarded a full scholarship to this school for my academic achievement, so I’m smart enough to know that there’s a 99% chance of the both of us leaving this room after pleasuring one another.” There wasn't even a chance for her mouth to fall open as he kept on speaking. “If not, I would have killed this boner in the bathroom and you would not be standing here with me looking this damn sexy in your...fuck!” He urgently ran a hand through his hair as sweat started to accumulate on his brow. “I’m not forcing you to do anything, we don’t have to do anything, and I’m not insinuating that you’re a girl that came to this party just to hook up with a guy. We can just continue to sit it out and wait to be rescued and then maybe I can show you what a pizza Friday should be and maybe help you bring your failing class average to a decent C+, maybe even B-. I don’t know. How’d your other tests go? Wait, who’s your profess--“

“Doyoung!” For a guy that looked like he had it together he sure let it all go in front of her. She stepped closer to him, her skin igniting as she did so. Whether the stars were aligned or not, admittance to paying attention to one another during class time was the first step of mutual chemistry. That and the evident arousals in both their underwear.

Doyoung’s breath hitched when she placed one hand over his chest and watched her carefully as she played with his wet tie with the other. “Fuck it,” she shrugged. “I’m all in. Me, mons pubis, and friends.”

Both of them had to stifle a laugh and then she tugged him closer by the accessory. His arms instinctively wrapped around her, his palms warm against the smooth skin of her cold back. He watched her eyes flicker from his lips back to his eyes as she bit the side of her bottom lip.

“Loosen your tie, Doyoung.”

And loosen his tie he did.

- C

#nct #kim doyoung #doyoung fic #nct fic #nct scenario #nct 127 #nct u #doyoung #doyoung smut #nct smut #nct doyoung #c writes

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xoheatherkw · 6 years

Text

Heart of Gold - beggie

An additional treat for the Riverdale Holiday Exchange 2017. For @buggiekinsx with the prompt: beggie + Christmas (with mistletoe, oh my!)

College/future fic. Actual classes and professors based on personal experience (ugh). I *may* have researched cheesy pick up lines for Reggie.

Read on AO3 / FF

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Veronica's celebratory post-finals party was in full swing. Betty was sipping the fruity cocktail that Kevin made for the occasion. She mingled a bit, saying hi to the few acquittances that she made in her first semester at NYU, but ultimately circled back to Kevin and Ethel.

Ethel smiled brightly, noticing her before Kevin had. "Betttyyyyyy! You're back," she slurred.

Betty inserted herself right in between Kevin and Ethel, running a comforting hand down her friend's arm. "You alright?" She asked.

She nodded rather forcefully and slung her arm around Betty's waist. "I missed yoooouuuu," she said affectionately.

Betty turned her attention to Kevin. "You were supposed to keep an eye on her." The annoyance in her tone was unmistakable.

Kevin simply shrugged. "She needs to let loose, and I am keeping an eye on her. Besides, she deserves it after this semester. I could say the same for you," he said with a pointed look.

Betty did not need the reminder. She and Ethel took a course to satisfy one of those pesky general education requirements with the professor from hell. They thought Russian Fairytales would be a piece of cake. In reality, they had more required readings than most of the rest of her classes combined, with pop quizzes nearly every week. It was supposed to be their easy class for the semester. But, at the very least, their non-western requirement for graduation was done and over with.

Ethel leaned into her and Betty rubbed her hand up and down Ethel's arm. "Hey, I'm going to get you some water. Okay?"

Ethel just hummed in response, slightly swaying in her efforts to stay upright.

"You'll keep an eye on her, won't you?" She directed at Kevin. At this rate, Ethel would have a killer hangover tomorrow, and hydrating was key to minimizing it.

"Scout’s honor."

"You were never an eagle scout," Betty huffed. She gently extracted herself from Ethel and made a bee line for the kitchen.

She quickly surveyed the fridge, not finding any water bottles. Either their friends drank all of them, or the more likely scenario was that Veronica forgot to put more in the fridge. She grabbed a glass from the cupboard and filled it with ice and water. She turned, intent on going back to Ethel, when someone's broad shoulder nearly body checked her. She ended up spilling a little bit on her too tight and too short dress (Veronica's doing). "Hey! Watch where you're going- Mantle?"

Reggie was briefly starstruck by the breathtaking beauty in front of him. He had always thought she was beautiful, but seeing her tonight was on a whole other level.

"Cooper, hey," he said casually. He took the few precious seconds of her swiping the water off her dress to really appreciate her. The deep V dress did wonders to accentuate her assets, and the form fitting burgundy dress hugged her curves in all the right places. Combined with her hair down in waves and a smoky eye, he was impressed that he even got two words out.

He hadn't even seen her since graduation - nearly six months prior. He wasn’t exactly in her circle in high school, so they didn’t keep in touch. Much to his chagrin.

Sure, they were going to the same university, but he hadn't had the fortune of bumping into her - literally - until that night. It was only pure luck that Veronica noticed him in the quad the other day and extended an invite to her Christmas themed party before break.

Betty brushed off what she could and finally looked up to meet his gaze. The apologetic look on his face made hers soften slightly. "Just try to watch your step next time, okay?"

He placed his hand over his heart. "I'm sorry, Betty," he said sincerely. Reggie stepped a bit more into her personal space, enough so he could lean down and whisper in her ear. "I was blinded by your beauty." He pulled back, so he could give her a wink. "I'm going to need your contact information for insurance purposes."

Betty let out a good laugh, setting down the glass on the counter as to not spill any more. "Wow, does that line actually work on girls here?" She gently wiped the wetness pooling at her lash line from laughing so hard.

"You'd be surprised," he said with a smirk.

"Then I have less faith in my gender than I previously thought." She shook her head slightly, not the least bit surprised. Reggie was always a charmer.

"How have you been, Betty?"

She smiled softly. "I've been good, Reggie. I'm so glad the semester is over though."

"I hear you on that one. Dr. Alas was a tough grader for my Western Civilization class. I worked my ass off and got an A-."

"You had Dr. Alas too? Which section?" Surely, she would have noticed if they were in the same class, wouldn’t she? Although the class size was over a hundred people.

"I was in his 9am class. Remind me not to take a class that early." He missed a few classes due to hitting his snooze too many times.

"Ahh, the 9am section conflicted with my Creative Writing class. I was in his afternoon section." Betty was thankful she scheduled classes with a two-hour break for lunch, as she recently discovered her love affair for naps during lunch. And it better prepared her for her afternoon classes, so it was a win-win.

"Small world, Cooper. Small world," he muttered.

She ran her hand down his arm, squeezing his hand briefly before dropping it. "I need to get back to Ethel. Maybe I'll see you later?"

He stepped back and ran his hand across the back of his neck. "Yeah, of course. See you around."

She picked up the glass with the same hand that grabbed Reggie's hand. The cool touch did nothing to calm the warmth his skin left behind.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

About an hour later, the party had died down a little bit. Betty took advantage of not being needed at that very moment and she made herself another drink and collapsed on the sofa. Her dress moved on its own accord up her thighs just a touch more than she was comfortable with, but didn't have the energy to care.

She just had to wait a little longer until it was socially acceptable to go to bed at her own party, and lock herself in her room to get some sleep.

"You're not falling asleep, are you?" The familiar voice had Betty picking her head up from the back of the couch and opening her eyes, not even realizing she had closed them.

"No, just resting my eyes… So, we meet again, Reggie," she said.

"Do you mind if I sit?" He pointed at the free spot next to her.

"Course not." She turned slightly so she could prop her head up on the back of her hand, crossing her legs and tugging her dress down with the other hand. He sat down on the spot next to her, accidentally brushing his knee against hers. If she noticed, she didn't back away. "Sorry about running off earlier. I needed to make sure Ethel was okay."

"No worries. How’s she doing?"

"She’s good. She’s in the kitchen with Ronnie. They ordered pizza."

Her eyes started to droop on their own accord. The late-night studying was really taking its toll, and all she wanted to do all break is sleep. And maybe eat Christmas cookies.

"That's good. You know, if you're too tired, I can head out. I'm sure you get plenty of beauty rest." He threw another wink her way.

She patted his knee gently, not bothering to remove her hand afterward. "You're smooth Reggie, I'll give you that. But no, I think I can stay awake long enough to catch up with a friend."

"Yeah, I'd like that Betty." The warmth of her skin was already distracting him, even through his jeans. But he didn't dare say anything to stop her. "So, let me guess, you're majoring in Journalism?" He raised a questioning eyebrow at her.

"You know me too well, Reggie. Are you playing football here?"

"No, actually. I was offered a scholarship, but since my parents could afford to send me here, I figured I should get out before I have too many concussions." At least he had the option available to him.

"Sounds logical. Let me guess what you're majoring in... Business?" She predicted.

"History actually. I want to be a teacher."

She smiled. "I could see that."

She only then registered that her hands were tracing patterns on his knee. She found that she didn't want to stop, mesmerized by the animated story Reggie was telling her about how he wanted to follow his own passion instead of following in his father's footsteps. She felt drawn to him in a way she hadn't, with anyone, in a while. And every now and then he'd look at her with such an intensity that it nearly took her breath away.

They even discovered they were in the same Statistics class next semester, both preferring that choice over the calculus option to satisfy their math requirement.

They laughed and just caught each other up on their lives since graduation.

She was genuinely having a good time. And she found that she wasn’t even tired anymore.

“Betty,” Ethel interjected.

Betty pulled back and shook her head to clear her mind. She found herself becoming more enamored with Reggie, the more time she spent with him.

Reggie's hand stilled, having found her arm at some point during their conversation and was running his fingers up and down her delicate skin.

Betty turned around to find the source, her eyes landing on a very tired yet blissfully happy Ethel. She was a cute and happy drunk, just content to be with her friends.

“Can you take me home? Kevin is preoccupied with a guy from his Economics class.”

Betty rolled her eyes at that. That was the one thing she asked of him, considering she decorated for the party all afternoon. But, he’s been in kind of a funk lately, so she couldn’t blame him too much.

She smiled warmly at her friend. “Yeah, sure. I’ll order us a Swift.” She turned back to Reggie, finding herself surprisingly disappointed that she would have to leave. “I’m just going to ride with her and make sure she gets home safe. I’ll be back, if you’ll still be here?” She raised an eyebrow.

A couple quick taps on her phone said their Swift would be there in approximately ten minutes.

He leaned back on the couch, spreading his arms across the back. Play it cool, he thought. “Yeah, yes. I mean, probably – I’ll probably still be here,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders. He internally groaned over his fumbling. Real smooth.

Betty placed a gentle hand on his arm and smiled. “I’m just going to use the restroom, and grab my coat from my bedroom,” she directed at Ethel. “Meet me by the foyer?”

Ethel nodded and went off to locate her own coat in their hallway closet.

Betty excused herself to the restroom.

When she exited and turned towards her bedroom, she bumped into another broad shoulder for the second time that night. She and Reggie ran into each other - quite literally- in the hallway near the bathroom. Her hands landed on his shoulders and he gripped her waist to steady himself. Neither one of them moved from their embrace.

"You should really watch where you're going," she breathed out.

“We need to stop meeting like this, Cooper.” He let out a light chuckle. Either he was really lucky to keep running into Betty, or the universe was taunting him with the unobtainable.

Just then, Veronica appeared in the hallway, intent on going to the restroom. Until she saw something much more interesting.

"Ooh, look who's under the mistletoe! You know what that means." She slightly stumbled as she took another step forward, extending her finger to point at the pair. "Betty and Reggie, K-i-s-s-i-n-g.”

Betty rolled her eyes. Tipsy Veronica was even less inhibited than usual, and she had been trying to set Betty up for months. As much as they wanted to stay together, the long distance was too much for her and Trev and they broke up about a month into the semester. He was planning on going to school on the west coast next year, so it was only a matter of time anyways.

The gentle caress on her waist brought her back to the present.

The pair leaned back slightly. They looked up, seeing the mistletoe that Betty nearly forgot Veronica had hung (all throughout their apartment). She wasn't sure if she should be cursing or thanking Veronica in this moment. She knew Reggie's reputation of being a play boy, but that was not the impression she got from their conversation that night. In fact, he seemed more focused on schoolwork than she'd seen in his entire four years of high school combined.

His heart was racing, and he gripped Betty's waist a little tighter. He couldn't believe his luck of running into her under the mistletoe. He had the hugest crush on her all throughout high school. But between her childhood crush on Archie, her relationship with Jughead that crashed and burned, and then dating Trevor her senior year... He just never had the chance to ask her out. That didn't even address the fact that she was way out of his league. He noticed the way she gripped his shoulders and her flushed cheeks, so maybe he had a shot after all.

Betty started to lean in, determined to capture his lips in a kiss.

"We don't have to," Reggie confessed.

"I know." She continued forward. She found herself wanting to kiss him, rather than being forced to. If she was being honest with herself, she had a little bit of a crush on him senior year. But she was dating Trev. She thought the crush fizzled out, but seeing him tonight, the exact opposite was true.

Her lips almost brushed his when he turned his cheek, planting a kiss near the corner of her mouth instead.

He brought his lips close to her ear, and spoke low, just above a whisper. “I don’t want our first kiss to happen because we have to.” His brought his thumb up to her cheek and brushed her skin. “I could really see myself falling for you.”

She let out a shaky breath. “I bet you say that to all the girls.”

He pulled back and brought his hand up to caress her cheek, looking lovingly into her eyes. He spoke quietly, so only she could hear. “I’ve never said that to another girl, because I’ve never meant it before. Just with you, Betty.” He lowered his lips and placed a kiss to her cheek for the second time that night.

The phone in her hand buzzed, causing her to regrettably extract herself from his grip. She read over the message and her eyes went wide. “Shit! I need to go.” She spun around quickly and ran off to her room to get her coat. She had her arm in one sleeve and was struggling with the other as she returned to Reggie, still a little dazed from their interaction.

“I need to go take Ethel home. But I’ll see you when I get back.” This time, it was more of a direction instead of a question, and he found himself nodding.

She placed a brief kiss to his cheek and rushed off to get Ethel before the Swift left without them.

“Well, well. That was an interesting development,” Veronica said more towards herself than at Reggie.

He smirked. “I’m really glad I ran into you the other day, Ronnie.” He smiled to himself and went to track down a beer to calm his nerves.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Betty returned to their apartment, and noticed that the party had died down substantially in the time it took her to make sure Ethel got home safe. She dropped off her coat in her room and started to look for Reggie.

She went through the kitchen, the living room, the office, then their formal living room… and nothing. She looped back to the kitchen to find Veronica.

“Hey V. Have you seen Reggie?” Betty leaned her elbows on the counter.

“B, I never thought I’d see the day where you and Reggie would be an item.” Veronica tapped her fingernails on the counter.

“We’re not-”

“Yes, I know, you’re not an item,” she said, making quotations with her fingers. “Not yet anyways. Make no mistake, I approve.” She sent Betty a devilish smirk.

Betty let out a sigh. “So, have you seen him?”

Veronica pointed out towards their balcony. “He went outside right before you got home.”

Betty pulled her best friend into a hug, before turning around and heading towards the balcony.

“I expect many double dates in our future,” Veronica shouted after her.

Betty rolled her eyes and scooped up her cardigan from the back of the couch. She tugged it on and held it shut with one hand, not bothering to button it as she stepped onto the balcony.

The sound of her closing the sliding door alerted Reggie of her presence.

He took the last swig of his beer and turned to face her. “Hey mini Cooper.” He smirked and took in the sight of her.

She laughed and took a few steps towards him. “Hey Reggie.”

“Aren’t you cold?” He pointed at her clothing, or lack thereof. She had on a thin cardigan and her legs were bare past the very short length of her dress.

She walked the rest of the way towards him on the balcony, stopping right in front of him. She plucked the beer bottle out of his hand and set it on the ledge. She placed a tentative hand on his chest. “You see, I know this guy. He puts up this tough exterior, and truthfully, I used to think he was a jerk, sometimes… but secretly he has a heart of gold. I figured he might offer to keep a girl warm,” she suggested.

He brought his arms around her waist and pulled her flush against his chest. “Yeah, I think I know that guy. He had a huge crush on you all throughout high school,” he said sincerely.

Betty’s eyes went wide before softening her expression into a tender smile. “You did not.”

He brought his hands over her arms, rubbing them up and down to generate some heat for her. “Yeah, I did. And I never thought a girl like you would give me the time of day. You’re out of my league,” he said solemnly.

She brought her hands to circle around his neck and inched herself closer. “Well if you remember anything about me, you know I don’t like people making decisions for me.”

He nodded. “Trust me, I remember. The next move is yours, Betty.”

Betty looked up at him through her lashes, thankful for the first time that night that she was wearing heels. All she had to do was tilt up slightly to capture his lips in a kiss. Her eyes flitted from his eyes to his lips, and back up again.

The kindness and sincerity in his eyes is what made her decision for her. She smiled slyly and leaned in to press a kiss firmly on his lips. He smiled into the kiss and thought how perfectly their lips fit together and how right he felt when he was with her. She threaded her fingers through his hair and swiped her tongue across his bottom lip asking for access. He granted it and pulled her tighter, his hands splaying across her back. She hummed happily into the kiss, only pulling away once their kiss left her breathless.

He rested his forehead against hers and brought his hand up to caress her cheek. “Wow,” he whispered against her lips.

She smiled brightly. “Yeah,” she agreed.

“So, what now?”

Her hands played with the hair at the nape of his neck, his eyes closing at the sensation. “Pick me up at seven tomorrow?”

He smiled and reconnected their lips in a sweet kiss. “Now that, I can arrange.”

She smiled into the kiss. “It’s a date.”

#riverdaleholiday2017 #beggie #betty x reggie #beggie fanfiction #beggie fic #xoheatherkwfics #riverdale #riverdale fanfiction #christmas fluff

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jjkfire · 7 years

Text

Wrapped Around; pt.7

Jimin x Reader x Tae // College!AU // 13k words

Summary: Freshman year was a mess and sophomore year doesn’t seem to be looking too good either. You know boys like them are no good for you but maybe they’re just your kind of type

Genre: Fluff, Angst, Smut | Warnings: Anxiety, a lot of sad talk ):

A/N: wew a super late update haha thanks for being patient ya cuties. team tae i know you’ve been waiting!! anyway, it’s a pretty heavy chapter emotions-wise and I hope that y’all wont be too put off by it /:

Previously…

Looks like you were going to have to look for another cuddle partner when you get back on campus and you had just the right person in mind…

A certain Kim Taehyung perhaps?

Jimin doesn't understand why every time he thinks he's getting somewhere with you, life throws him a curveball. It frustrates him, infuriates him to his core, and he wonders how people do this, fall in and out of numerous relationships all the time. The chase alone was tiring him out but his heart yearns for you, aches for you… despite the numerous times his head tells him this was all just too much work.

He sits in the movie theatre alone, watching the show he had planned to watch with you, his phone in his hand as he awaits your reply. At the very least, you're answering his texts now, telling him about how you've been going out to meet all your friends and he finds himself wondering if you had an equivalent to Mina waiting for you back home. He shudders at the thought of having another boy aside from Taehyung to worry about.

Jimin lets out a sigh as he watches a string of messages come in. Every attempt Jimin made at trying to explain himself, or clearly define what the both of you are or where any of this is heading, is completely brushed away by you. You would skip the message completely, choosing instead to start a new topic of conversation. Jimin tried numerous times to steer the conversation back to something along the lines of 'so, what exactly are we?' but after the 4th diversion, he admits defeat. The very fact that you're talking to him at all is something he's thankful for after all the radio silence he had experienced the previous week.

Your week at your hometown passes by fast, way too fast, you think. The bright lights of the city, the sound of traffic and the scores of people making their way up and down the streets at any given time of the day. All things you've missed seeing and hearing. The grit of the city, the orderly chaos, tells you that yes, you are finally home. You don't get a single day of rest. Each day is filled with things to do from spending time with your parents to late-night adventures with your friends. By the end of the week, you are completely exhausted but you're quite possibly the happiest you've been in a while. As you settle down on to the seat on the bus back to campus, your heart feels heavy. A bus ride back to college meant you were taking a return ticket back to stress town and you tremble as you mentally go through your class schedule for the semester. Having barely scraped through the previous semester, you wonder if you'd be able to manage it all over again.

The long bus ride lets you sort through your thoughts, to mentally go through a to-do list you will most likely never complete. You let out a sigh and rest your head against the window. The semester hasn't even started yet and you were already stressing yourself out. Your phone vibrates in your hand and you light up at the sight of the names on your screen. The only silver lining at the moment was the fact that you'd be seeing your favourite three idiots in no time.

You're one of the latest to arrive on campus, trudging through the snow in the dead of the night with your heavy suitcase to your dorm that just had to be on the other side of the university grounds. It felt odd to be back on campus again, like something was off and the bleak cloudy night sky only reminds you of the gloomy weeks ahead. It's not that you hated college as per se... you loved learning, you did, but perhaps you weren't completely satisfied with your winter break and you wanted just one more week of rest. Alas, you are here, swiping your card to get into your dorm and you feel a sense of nostalgia as you return to what is now your second home. Inside of your residence hall, you take cautious steps as you ponder upon the new look. The makeover has long been overdue and you nod in mild amusement at the improvements. The walls have been repainted, the toilets fixed up and the most notable change of all, the locks on the doors have all been replaced.

Everything was great, really, you loved that you could finally take a shower without accidentally hitting your elbows against the walls and it was nice to no longer see paint peeling off the walls but you absolutely hated the stupid new doors. You feel betrayed. It's like the university knew your sole weak point and decided to exploit it. You've always had trouble remembering to bring your key out, a fact that Jimin had gladly taken to his advantage but these new doors were going to force you to have to wear your key around your neck. You see, the doors had a new auto-locking system in place, one that had been implemented for the students' safety, the division of housing had explained but really you think it was just another gimmick for the university to get money out of their students. You have a feeling you're going to be the university's favourite resident, seeing as that by the end of the week you'll probably be paying that penalty for forgetting your key.

Your first day of classes go by okay and by okay, you mean horrible. You first find out that you have a very interesting classmate for your 8 am elective. None other than Kim Taehyung. He's great and you don't hate him, you don’t but you nearly choke him after the fourth time he prods you in class to show you a meme on his phone. He's a literal ball of energy, incessantly turning to you to whisper his ramblings into your ear and you wonder how he does it, stays all peppy for an early class without the help of coffee.

So, great, that was a small hitch in your day, one you think you can get over but then, you figure out that you're shit at scheduling because you would have one class on the east side of campus and the next one was on the west side. At least that meant walking to your classes counted as exercise and you could skip the gym? It's not like you really found the motivation to go to the gym by the time you're into your second week of classes anyway.

Next, you find out all your other classes either have some huge eight-page report or even worse, a group project, due by mid-semester. It takes everything in you to not just stop in the middle of the quad and scream your lungs out. By the time you're done with classes, you make it to the dining hall, looking like you had just come back from war and at least one thing is going your way today. At least, they were serving potatoes for dinner today.

"You look great," Jimin smiles, as you take a seat opposite him, resting your head on the table, next to your dining tray. "So radiant, so full of life."

"Don't start with me," You warn, pointing your spoon at him, not even bothering to look at him and he shakes his head, letting out a light laugh.

"How were your classes today?" He asks and you only respond with a thumbs down, your head still on the table. Jimin makes another attempt at conversation but you only answer with a lift of your shoulders and he lets out a heavy sigh.

"Hi, Jimin! It's really great to see you! Sorry, I didn't reply to your texts about having dinner. How was your day?" Jimin, quips in a high-pitch tone at a horrible attempt to mock your voice. If you weren't going to hold a conversation with him then he was going to have one with himself.

"That's not what I sound like," You grumble lifting your head to sneer at him.

"Oh the text? Yeah it's fine," He continues, completely ignoring you. "Honestly, every time you reply my text, a miracle is granted... seeing as that is how rare your replies are," He sighs. "And my day? Met this girl an—"

"I read your message and I'm here for dinner aren't I?" You grumble and Jimin smirks, knowing the mention of another girl would've got you speaking.

"Would it have killed you to send a reply like yeah, see you there?"

"Yes," You snap, furrowing your eyebrows at him and Jimin simply slides the tray down the table, his chair screeching against the floor as he gets up to move away from you but you're laughing, holding his hand, asking him to stay.

"Okay, I'm sorry," You mumble. "How was your day?"

"Fine," He murmurs, pulling his tray back towards him.

“I’m sorry,” You repeat when Jimin continues to brood, pushing his dinner around with his fork like an upset child. Jimin lets his eyes peer over at you for a brief second before he continues to sulk, letting you know a mere sorry wasn’t enough.

"You free tonight? Let me make good on that rain check. We can watch a movie?" You smile, the offer a form of an apology you were hoping he would take. Jimin tries to keep a frown on his face but you can see the edges of his lips start to curl up at the mention of a movie.

"Sure, if you want," He answers coolly with a shrug, but he's fooling nobody with that fake indifference. Jimin immediately starts wolfing his dinner down, urging you to finish yours as well but you can only laugh at him. The moment you set down your cutlery, signaling the end of the meal, Jimin is hurriedly stacking all the plates onto the tray, quickly putting it at the designated area before dragging you off to the dorms.

The both of you are tucked underneath your blanket, the lights turned off, the movie playing on the laptop and you’re pressed up next to Jimin, quietly reveling at the body heat that radiated off him. Everything seemed right, exactly like how it was last semester, except it wasn't. Your body is stiff and tense almost like you're afraid of him or worse, that you didn't actually want him here. You keep using the words buddy and bro, two words you have long since dropped within the first few weeks of meeting him. Two words you used whenever you talked to someone like Hoseok, someone you had no romantic interest in but you loved dearly. It was as if you were trying to reinforce an idea, one that he's not entirely sure he was okay with.

Every time Jimin tries inching closer, you pull away, grumbling about how it was stuffy or that your neck was itchy but you were doing that thing where you would stutter and mumble and he knows immediately that you're lying. Jimin is confused because you're friendly, responding to his flirty one-liner halfway through the movie but at the same time, you're keeping him at a distance. If there was someone who was an expert at giving out mixed signals, it'd be you. All he wants is to know what exactly is going in your mind but he doesn't ask because he knows he'll never get an answer.

There's only 15 minutes left to the movie but he hears it, your signature murmuring and he knows you've fallen asleep. With a light laugh, he shuts the laptop, placing it onto the window sill before settling down onto the bed. There's a soft whine that escapes you, you're annoyed by all the rustling but you let out a sweet sigh as you nestle your head onto his chest, throwing your arms and legs over him. Jimin can only laugh, his hand wrapping around you to rest at your waist as he relishes being this close to you.

That one week without you was miserable for him and he felt absolutely pathetic feeling that way. He wishes that what he feels for you was nothing more than a simple crush, an infatuation but the undeniable smile on his face at this very moment as he glances down at you is enough to tell him that it isn't. Why you? Why couldn't he have fallen for some empty-headed, plain personality person? The answer was because you were everything but. The problem with that was that it made things a 100 times more complicated because for the first time Jimin realizes that he couldn't smooth talk his way through this one. In fact, he couldn't talk his way through anything with you considering you would bolt every time he hints at having a semi-serious conversation. Jimin is left wondering if all of this is worth it but as you nuzzle against him, your hand finding its way to his waist, he thinks that maybe it is.

"Ouch," You mumble, recoiling in pain as you rub at your temple, your eyes blurry from the little nap you just took.

"The star nerd, sleeping in lecture," Taehyung shakes his head disapprovingly. "Wake up, class is over."

You yawn, rubbing your eyes before you swipe your belongings into your bag. Jimin's 5 am alarms never really bothered you but that was last semester when your earliest class was at 10 am.

"We have a pair project to complete this weekend," Taehyung informs you. "You have to interview someone in this class about their thoughts on different cultures."

"Is it a video assignment?"

"Yes," Taehyung smiles as he watches you let out a groan. "And lucky you, your partner is going to be me!"

You let out an even more displeased groan.

"I was really thinking about asking that other guy who was sitting two seats away from me."

"I saw him pick his nose and then eat his booger."

"Gross but that's okay, I can deal with that..."

"Well too late, I already submitted our names as a pair by email!"

Taehyung was a great guy and you loved having him around because Jimin was lazy, sure but Taehyung... he was just that kind of guy you never ever want to be in a group project with. You could see it already. You were going to be the one who would have to think of the questions, do the editing and submitting while he would just sit pretty and pat himself on the back for hitting the record button on the camera.

Jimin curses at the stupid new doors as he stands outside you room, waiting for you to come back so he could lay in your bed, using your mattress as an excuse for staying when really he just wanted to be close to you. You come striding in soon enough, your voice filling the air and a familiar—

"Jimin!" Taehyung screams as he gallops over, beaming at him.

"Tae," He smiles. "What uhh are you guys up to?"

"A stupid project," You grumble, unlocking the door to your room. "Why're you here?" You question, lifting your eyebrows at him.

"I was... I, umm... My charger," He mumbles. "Did I leave it here yesterday?"

"Don't think so," You hum. "But you can check."

Jimin busies himself with trying to look for the non-existent charger before he settles down on your bed, making himself comfortable.

"What are you doing? Up," You motion with your finger. "Out," You point towards the door.

He stays unmoving, a smirk on his face. Jimin finds it absolutely adorable that you think by putting your hand on your hip, you'd look more threatening.

"I'm taking my nap," He sighs, turning away from you and you simply look on in shock. Was he deaf?

"Yeah, I think a nap is a good idea," Taehyung murmurs as he lies down on your newly purchased carpet.

You storm over, first stopping at the foot of the bed to lightly kick Taehyung on his side before you reached over and dragged Jimin out of your bed. He lets out a light yelp as he hits the carpet. A light laugh escapes him as he watches you try to drag him across the room, his body barely moving no matter how hard you tug.

"Jimin, please," You beg, throwing his arm down. "The longer you stay here, the longer it'll take for us to get the project done."

"But, I'll just be sleeping quietly," He argues. "Nerd, please."

"No."

"Nerd—"

"Get out," You huff, pointing towards the door and you have your eyebrows furrowed, your jaw taut. Your expression is reminiscent to the one you wore standing outside of his house, arguing with him and he quickly gets to his feet, scurrying out your door before he's reminded of the fight.

Jimin returns to your room an hour later, wondering if the both of you wanted dinner but he could smell the pizza from outside your door. He stays standing out there for a little too long, eavesdropping on the conversation. Project, my ass. The both of you were happily talking about everything but whatever it is your project is on. He hears your sweet laughter and he could almost see it in his mind, you sitting in Taehyung's lap, slapping his arm teasingly after he tells another one of his horrendous jokes and then before he knows it, you're kissing him. Okay, maybe he’s being a little too dramatic and you’re probably more than an arm's length away from him but he’s a little new to this whole jealousy thing and it's driving him crazy.

All he's done in the past hour is think about all the times he's had study sessions or pair projects with other girls and 90% of the time, it ended with them doing something other than studying. Maybe that's why his grades were usually less than satisfactory... but really, he knew how Taehyung was around you and how persuasive he was.

Jimin almost feels like bursting through your door to scream hands off! but how could he when he could never get himself to tell you these 3 simple words. I like you. It was all he had to say to make everything clear. You could either a, say you liked him too or b, look at him with mild confusion and let him down easy or maybe c, simply walk away but in his mind, b and c seemed like very likely outcomes and he's not sure he could face that so the words get stuck in his throat every time. Jimin retreats to his room to brood and hope that he'd get to take his nap in your room tomorrow. Maybe you'd be in a mood for another movie by then?

The odds were heavily stacked against him this semester. He had no physics quizzes, no tv series and no unlocked door. The fact that he could no longer stroll into your room and give you no choice but to accept that he was there to stay made him feel like it was going to be so much harder to spend time with you. Knowing that you shared a class with Taehyung made it all that much worse.

A shared class meant that Taehyung would be over a lot to run through class notes or write papers together. Jimin was no idiot. He knows that you and Taehyung have a... special friendship, if you will. Taehyung knew the ins and outs of you better than anyone on this campus and not forgetting that the both of you were previous friends with benefits too. A deathly combination indeed. Add to that the fact that there are more than likely feelings that were never fully discussed given your oh so lovely behaviour when it comes to talking things out, Jimin finds himself at the losing end of this equation.

Tae has a thing for you, Jimin had guessed as much over winter break with the fact that he would constantly text you, constantly crave your attention and of course the classic side eye he'd give in the theatre, as if he was hoping that you and Jimin weren't up to something. Tae always seemed to be a step or two ahead of Jimin at every corner and you've always been more receptive to Taehyung's overtly friendly gestures. Jimin is unsure if he could compete with someone like him when it came to someone like you. Why you? He sighs. Why did he have to like you too?

You're entirely impressed with Taehyung and you're glad that you were wrong about him. The moment Jimin is kicked out, you send Tae a warning glare, one that said if your ass doesn't start doing work now, you're going to regret it which sent Tae scrambling for his bag. He takes out a folder, a multitude of questions written down on a piece of paper and you peruse the list cautiously. By the time you're done with the list, he's on his laptop with the video editing software open. He's already named the file appropriately, has a title sequence made for the video and you have to admit that you're thoroughly impressed.

"So what do you think?" He questions. "All we have to do is record it and I'll edit it."

"You're doing the editing too?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You're seriously willingly doing like 70% of the work?" You ask, your face scrunched up in confusion because since when does Kim Taehyung do work without being asked to?

"Yes."

"Marry me."

"I mean... I was thinking more like a kiss but I guess marriage is fine too," Taehyung shrugs, a smug look on his face.

You roll your eyes at him, not even bothering to reply to his statement.

"What? You think I'm going to do all of this work for free?"

"Yes, that's how college works. You don't get paid for completing your class work," You exhale.

"So what you're saying is I'm not getting my kiss? or your hand in marriage?"

Your reply is a single middle finger held up high and he lets out a light laugh.

"That's fine," He sighs. "I usually get what I want, somehow."

You brush off his comment, not bothering to look at him as you continue to write down a few comments next to Taehyung's list.

"You're a horrible partner," Taehyung groans, when he receives no attention from you.

"So are you," You snort. "I bet booger guy would've been a way better partner."

"Hey watch it. From what I see here, I've done most of the work, babe."

You wrinkle your nose at the pet name before letting out a defeated sigh.

"Fine, I'll pay for the pizza to reward you for all that hard work," You answer while rolling your eyes.

"From marriage to pizza... what a downgrade," Taehyung frowns.

"Or you can just leave and I'll find myself a new partner."

"Did you say pizza? Pizza is great!" Tae exclaims with over the top enthusiasm. "I'm thinking pepperoni but since you're paying, I'll have whatever," He smiles and you can only scowl at him before dialing the number to your local pizza place.

Both you and Tae complete the project before the pizza even arrives, which is something you would've never thought would happen considering he had the attention span of a 5 year old but it almost seemed as if he was trying to get on your good side, to impress you and impressed you were.

Between mouthfuls of pizza and gulps of soda, the two of you fall into a comfortable conversation, laughter racking through your body and more often than not you have to beg Taehyung to stop talking about his nightmare-ish dates he had been on the previous semester or you were going to have soda coming out of your nose.

"So, we never really got to talk about that night..."

"What night?" You question.

"The Mina night."

"Well that's because you probably remember none of it,” You laugh, shaking your head.

"True, but I've heard like 5 different versions so basically it was like I was there."

"You were there..."

"You know what I mean," He grumbles. "What's your version of the night?"

"Mina was being a dick, I retaliated and that was it," You shrug.

"And what did Jimin have to say to you about that night?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"We just don't talk about stuff like that."

"So, you mean you’re just avoiding conversations about your feelings?”

Typical Y/N, Taehyung sighs. If there was one thing he hated about you, it would have to be how you hated talking things out, how you avoided conversations that would force you to reveal anything remotely emotional.

"It's not avoiding if neither of us want to talk about it."

"What exactly are the both of you?” Taehyung questions, tilting his head to one side. Curiosity getting the best of him.

"Friends."

"With benefits?"

"Why are you asking so many questions about Jimin?" You answer with a question, not wishing to talk about what happens between you and Jimin when no one is looking.

"Well I have to size up my competition, don't I?"

Silence. You’re not sure what to say because was he joking like usual or did he mean it this time? All winter he had been slipping in comments like that whenever Jimin wasn’t around but you’ve always taken them lightly… until now.

"How many times?" Taehyung queries when the eerie silence gets to him, a subtle glance to the bed to tell you what he was referring to.

"How many times what?"

"So definitely more than once,” Taehyung hums. So perhaps the both of you were more serious than he thought. He always thought Jimin didn’t do friends with benefits. He never liked sleeping with the same girl more than once… It was one of his stupid rules or whatever.

"This is ridic—“

"I've seen the both of you run circles around each other all winter," He sighs. "So what is Jimin to you?" He asks again, frustrated with the way you’re dodging all his questions.

"Why do you care?"

"I just do.”

"He's a friend."

"Just a friend?" Taehyung snickers, inching his way forward. Either you were in denial or you thought he was plain dumb.

"Just like you are."

"Oh, babe. We're definitely not just friends," He smirks and wait, when did he get so close to you?

"Well if you're referring to the past then yes, we used to be friends with ben—“

"I'm referring to the present," He sighs, his face so close to yours that you hold your breath. He awaits your answer but your mind is blank and you're not sure what to say.

Maybe you were horny or perhaps it was the pent-up confusion you have about what Jimin and you were but Taehyung's lips looks oh so inviting especially when he stares at you while licking them. It's been months since you last slept with him, last thought of him as anything really more than a friend that you may or may not have lingering feelings for and suddenly, everything surfaces, your mind even cloudier than before.

Boys, boys, the bane of your existence but you always found yourself falling right into their sneaky little traps.

"I mean if you insist that Jimin is 'just a friend' then I guess I don't mind being just a friend too," He murmurs, his lips almost touching yours. You want to have the last say, to come back with a snarky comment but your mind draws an absolute blank. All you can think about is if kissing him felt as good as you remember. Your gaze flits down towards his lips and there's only a millisecond before Taehyung is surging forward to close the distance.

His lips are warm against yours, the kiss light and innocent, the complete opposite of what your usual kisses with him are like and just as you let your eyes fall shut, he pulls away. Taehyung strokes your cheek softly with his thumb, his lips curving up to show you a winning grin and you only stare back in confusion, unsure as to why he stopped when anything had barely begun.

"W-wh—” You start, stammering as you struggle to string together a sentence.

"I told you, babe. I don't do hard work for free and I always get what I want," Taehyung smirks.

"You—"

"I'll edit the footage and let you have a look when I'm done yeah?" He smiles, putting his belongings into his bag.

Before you can answer, Taehyung is strutting out your door, his bag slung across his shoulder, leaving you sitting on your carpet, completely dumbfounded.

The semester had just begun and you had a feeling it was going to be a complete disaster because well... you're a complete disaster. You have absolutely no idea why you like to complicate things for yourself. All you had to do was tell yourself no, I will not kiss my friends and no, I will not fall for my friends but you see telling yourself wasn't the part you had a problem with... it was the listening part that you simply couldn't get a grip on.

You had come into campus with a game plan, one you had thought out fully on your bus ride. During winter break, you had time of course for all of this fooling around but this was the second semester of your sophomore year and you wanted to end the year with a strong GPA. That obviously meant you needed to cut the drama out of your life and drama always personified itself in the form of two people, that being Kim Taehyung and Park Jimin but that's fine because you had just the plan to keep everything under control without having to actually confront them. Because everyone knows that confrontation was a big no no in your books.

First, you were going to abandon your silly vendetta against Jimin and leave him be. He was going to be just a friend to you, nothing more. You figured once you stopped showing interest, he'd soon forget about you. Though hints are something you're not very good at dropping or picking up, you think you'll be able to slip one in here or there to tell Jimin hey, last semester was cool and all but I think it's best we stay just friends because you confuse me and make me feel feelings I don’t want to feel. But, how do you do that without actually saying that word for word? Well... avoiding skin contact and constantly using words like bro sent that message right? In any case, that's all you really had in your arsenal so, it was just going to have to work. You hope that in the end, he'd stay your friend because for what it's worth, you genuinely do enjoy his company and perhaps you’ve grown a little too attached to him but honestly, you wouldn't be surprised if there came a day where the both of you would walk past each other without so much as glancing at each other.

Second, you were going to keep Kim Taehyung at an arm's length because damn is that boy sneaky. You're not sure what it is about him but he always knew just what to say or do to have you right where he wanted you. He's always been flirty by nature but you also knew that Taehyung never liked being alone. Ever. He could never stand being by himself and he would latch on to any girl he saw fit to fill in that emptiness he felt and by any girl, you mean multiple girls. Whenever you dropped by his home the previous semester, you'd see an assortment of undergarments in different sizes. Don't fall for his tricks, you repeat to yourself like a mantra. You've already been burned once thanks to his best friend and you're pretty sure you're not interested in a second time.

It sounded like a great plan in your head, really it did, but it was only day 3 on campus and you had already failed miserably. You had woken up in Jimin's arms that morning, effectively rendering your avoid skin contact part of your plan a complete failure and later that day you had kissed Taehyung, on the lips. So much for trying to keep them at a distance, you sigh. It's fine, this week was more like a trial week anyway...

Week 2

You had managed to go through the rest of the first week without kissing either Jimin or Taehyung which was a feat to say the least because the both of them were really testing you and tonight was no different. Solji only watched on in mild amusement as you attempted to enjoy the welcome weekend night out at the club stone cold sober. You had decided that alcohol only made your mind a 100 times worse at making decisions so you stay clear of it. Even while you're sober, you're damn near sweating from seeing how good the boys look in their button downs. It didn't help that the both of them got extremely touchy when they're drunk but you manage to keep most of it at bay, choosing instead to excuse yourself to use the toilet every time you felt like your resolve was going to crumble.

1 am.

That's how far into the night you got before you sneakily make your way out of the club to take the late bus back to your dorm. Your phone lights up with calls and messages not soon after but you simply send the same message back to everyone, something about how you weren't feeling too well... which to some degree, felt true because what the fuck, how were you going to keep all of this up for another three months?

Weeks 3 & 4

The onslaught of assignments begin and the first round of midterms begin to near. You groan at the amount of work you're assigned and you spend every waking day studying your ass off. Taehyung spends a little too much time you feel, in your room and you're holding up good, not giving in to any of his advances but you feel like it's only a matter of time before you break. As much as you want to hate him, he always does the bulk of the work for what your professor has now assigned as weekly partner projects. He catches you staring at him like he's the universe whenever he lets you get away with the bare minimum for the projects so you could focus on your other subjects. At times, you almost, almost give in to his boxy smile and his eyebrow wiggles when he asks for a little payment usually in the form of a kiss for doing all the work but you brush him off, offering him some snacks instead.

Taehyung worries about you especially when he sees your telltale signs begin to show. The shaky hands, jittery legs and the way you'd mutter to yourself about how you can't keep up with all the work piled up on your table. He always gets you to take small breaks whenever he could to make small talk and lighten up the tense atmosphere you seem to create whenever you're stressed. You're grateful for him, you are but you can feel yourself slip whenever you find yourself grinning at one or two of his sleazy lines and as much as you love having him around, you could not afford to get yourself into anymore boy drama. Luckily for you, Taehyung always chooses to leave just before you mess up and give into one of his 'Hey babe... if you're feeling stressed, I know just the activity we can participate in to let off some steam...'

When he leaves, you get a moment of peace where you can relax and let your guard down but that peace never lasts long because the moment you step into the dining hall, you're met with another devil by the name of Park Jimin. He smiles at you from his seat, waving for you to come over and as much as you want to turn away, you find yourself in the seat opposite him after collecting your food. Dinners with him give you a chance to forget about all your homework for a while and it's not until you notice that the dining hall has seemed to empty out do you remember that you have to go to the library like you had originally planned. It was something about the way he would stare at you and listen that made you lose track of time.

Somewhere along the line, Jimin invites himself to your library study sessions, even staying until midnight with you. To your surprise, he's actually studying, actually doing work instead of fooling around like he usually did in your room the previous semester. As the night draws on, you see him struggle to focus and you can only offer him a sad smile. He's exhausted, you know as much because the poor boy had to be up at 5 in the morning every day for practice but you can't deny that his presence is comforting. You're not sure if he stays up only because sometimes you give in, and you let him stay in your room after the study session because he's 'too tired' to make it up the stairs. You groan, making a show out of your disdain for having him in the confines of the pigeon hole you call your room but you know and he knows that you love falling asleep with his arms wrapped around your waist. Though, the best part you feel is the conversations the two of you have in hushed voices because they always make you feel calm, happy even. The comforting touches, the sweet lullaby that is his voice is all you need to silence the worries you have swimming around in your head. So much for keeping him at a distance, you sigh.

Week 5 Monday

Your first round of midterms end and you're allowed to take a breather for a second. You leave the classroom right after handing in your test paper and you feel free, albeit for a short while. On your walk home, you take a detour, choosing to take the scenic route like you usually do whenever you felt you deserved a little quiet walk through the nature path that ran along the lake, which was now frozen and to the back of the boathouse. Perhaps you might even catch Jimin rowing, half naked, you laugh. As you draw closer towards the boathouse, you hear the low bass thumping and the constant shouting from what must be the rowing coaches. You take a glance through the window to find the women's team practicing and you can only watch on in awe as you witness them in all their muscled glory. You try to watch them nonchalantly, hoping that they don't find you staring but eventually one of the girls makes eye contact with you, causing you to quickly duck your head down and pick up the pace in your steps.

At the end of the boathouse, you see 3 boys furiously whispering and for some uncanny reason, you feel that they're whispering about you. You recognize them to be part of the men's rowing team but the only one you can identify by name is Jungkook. Feeling uneasy, you pull out your phone to pretend like you're busy but you still catch whatever they're whispering. They should really work on trying to gossip about people more discreetly, you scoff.

"That's her! That's the girl!" Jungkook whispers and the other two immediately whip their heads around to take a glimpse at you as you near towards them. "Fuck, she's looking. Don't stare you idiots!" Jungkook groans and you have to press your lips together to stop yourself from laughing out loud.

"What girl?" The stout boy standing next to Jungkook asks, as you walk past them.

"The dreamcrusher..." Jungkook mumbles, keeping his voice low.

"Oh the nerd girl," The tallest of the 3 remarks, a little too loud and Jungkook lets out a disappointed groan before glancing to make sure that you've turned the corner and that you're out of earshot.

Except you're not. You're out of sight, yeah, but now that the boys were speaking at a normal volume, you could hear them loud and clear. You stop just behind the corner of the building, standing in a pile of snow with your back pressed against the wall as you listened in on the conversation.

"Yeah, Y/N, I think. You know how sometimes he's late to practice and he says something like, sorry, I was up late?" Jungkook asks. "It's because he stays up to be with her or something. He's always talking about it."

"Yeah," The stout boy nods, recalling the numerous times Jimin has mentioned you. "This semester, his head seems to be somewhere else. Probably between her legs," He laughs and the other boys join in the chorus of laughter.

You can only roll your eyes at his horrible attempt of a joke.

“She’s messing with his head, I bet. She’s the reason he’s been so out of it lately.”

There’s a pinch in your chest and you can feel your palms begin to sweat.

“Damn it, we were great on the Freshman squad and he even made the Varsity squad at the regatta last year but he’s just not the same,” The stout one exhales.

“Coach said he might switch him out from Varsity to Second Varsity… maybe even the Third.”

“I love him man but he’s been piss poor lately.”

“But Varsity won’t feel the same if he isn’t on our squad…”

There’s a lull of silence, the three of them exhaling deeply.

"I don't know what it is but if he doesn't start performing more consistently, he'll be dropped from the team altogether eventually," The taller boy murmurs and you can hear the other two boys hum in agreement. "I heard coach talking about how his scholarship might be under review too…”

“Fuckin’ dreamcrusher. Wish he’d never met her.”

Your heart sinks as you hear those words and you walk back towards your dorm with heavy steps. You had no idea Jimin was struggling with his rowing and what's worse is that you were to blame. Guilt, is all you feel. He stayed up at night to console you or talk to you and never once did he mention anything about himself and maybe you were to blame because you never asked. When you reach your room, you sit in silence for a good few minutes as you try to take in everything you just heard.

A burden. That’s what you are.

Pushing people away is something you're great at, a true talent if you could call it one. You're not too good with words when it comes to emotions and you'd always try to bottle them up and sit on them, hoping they'd disappear that way, but they never do. You let your worries brew and simmer day by day until they grow into something bigger and suddenly you're grasping at anything to help you stay afloat.

It's not like you didn't want to let people in or talk about the things that are on your mind but you always felt like you didn't want to bog anyone down with your problems when they already have their own demons to deal with. If anyone ever took a peek into your brain, they'd find a large shelf of suppressed emotions and feelings pushed far back into the corner of your mind, in hopes that they'd never see the light of day even if you know that somehow they always do. It was a shitty system but hey you were still a functioning human being, albeit a slightly unhappy one. The main point was that it worked and you weren't about to just go and change it.

Until, you met Jimin.

Talk. He always wanted to talk and if you weren't going to do the talking then he was. It's like he had a sixth sense when it came to you and he always knew if something was bothering you. 'Do you want to talk about it or do you want me to talk?' is his classic line and thinking about it, the line sounds pathetic, cheesy even but it's your saving grace. He never questions you if you pick the second option, opting instead to tell you some story about him back in high school or something or the rather. In any case, either option always ensured one thing, that you'd be feeling slightly, if not a whole lot calmer than before he had asked the question.

In the beginning, you always chose the latter option even though he tried to softly encourage you into telling him that you were struggling, hurting, or whatever it was that you were feeling but you'd shrug away his question, quickly changing the topic or just pretending that you'd gone off to sleep. It was easy to keep him at bay at first but soon, it was hard for you to hide that something was off and perhaps he knew it even before you, that your usual routine of pretending like everything is fine had reached its expiry date and suddenly your left in the murky waters of your worries, alone.

“You need to let it all out, just say whatever you need to, whatever’s on your mind.”

You remember his voice as clear as day, the words bouncing off the walls in your room and ringing in your ears for what felt like eternity.

Maybe, you'd never met anyone so intent on listening to what you had to say or perhaps it was the way he didn’t look at you with those sad eyes filled with pity, instead he looked at you with ones that said, I'm here, I'm ready to listen.

Jimin made it seem so easy, so natural and you found yourself speaking about anything and everything to him. Whenever you spoke, he would gaze at you softly, intently nodding, listening and for once you felt like there was someone on this earth that you could finally talk to without having to feel like you were drowning them with your negative thoughts.

Now, lying alone in your room you can only use one word to describe yourself and that was selfish. Perhaps the boys on his team thought the both of you had nightly sexual escapades that were tiring him out or you’re just not really sure what they have in mind but you know exactly why Jimin isn’t doing as well anymore. You see, there’s a price that comes with being a shoulder to lean on and Jimin is now paying that price. It’s those heavy feelings and thoughts that you had, ones you shared with him that are probably now weighing him down and you knew it, you just knew you shouldn’t have opened up to him, to anyone because whoever listened would have to carry around your pain too. You never open up to anyone because it tires people out and you never want them to feel like being your friend was a chore, that they had to swim to keep both of you afloat. You guess, Jimin has been doing just that, swimming for the both of you, but you’re too heavy an anchor and if he doesn’t cut you loose soon, you were going to drag him down with you.

It hits you like a ton of bricks, your anxiety and suddenly you’re back at step one, cowering and shaking beneath your blanket. A burden, that's what you are and Jimin, being the boy that he is would never let you know that all these late night talks were causing his performance to take a dip because if there was one thing Jimin was never really open about, it was his rowing. You've only heard a few comments from him here and there but you know from that one night where he had opened up to you, that he was extremely tough on himself. Good was just never good enough for him because he needed to be great and he'd do anything to make sure he was number one.

Jimin might not always be the first to practice but he was always the last to leave because his one more set always turned into one more after that and then one more after that and he won't stop until one of the coaches reminds him that he has a class to get to. Everyone thinks of him as a party boy and to some extent that's true because he's always at some bar or frat house on a Friday night but what they don't see is the boy that spends his Saturday afternoon at the boathouse, lifting weights or going on a run whether it was blistering hot or icy cold out and they definitely don't see the boy that is up at 6 on a Sunday morning, trying to improve his time or endurance as he sits and rows on the indoor rowing machine, even if the stinging pain from the blisters on his palm begins to become unbearable.

You let out an exasperated groan as you bring your knees up to your chest. God, you'd never forgive yourself if you're the reason why Jimin gets kicked off the team or even worse, loses his scholarship. He had nothing to gain from the curious sleeping arrangement the both of you had and you know he probably only stayed because he worries about you or he's hoping someday you'd find yourself giving into one of his advances again... after all, you did leave him with blue balls over the winter break.

There are two very clear options to deal with the situation which were to either talk to him or avoid him. So really you only had one option, you laugh. It's not like you didn't want to talk to him about it but you have a feeling the conversation would likely not end very well if you were to mention his recent underperformance in rowing, seeing as that is a subject that he's sensitive about. Truth be told, running away from confrontation is your specialty and you're not about to try your hand at talking, which by now you're well aware of, is something you're not so good at.

"Nerd!" You hear Jimin scream followed by a barrage of knocks on your door. “Are you actually taking a nap right now?” He asks from outside and you can hear him bend down to peer through the small space between the door and the floor.

“I know you’re in there. It’s time for dinner,” He whines as he continues to knock on your door.

Just the sound of his voice fills you with guilt and you take your time getting to the door, leaving him to continue talking to himself from the outside of your room. You take a quick detour to the mirror, making sure that you looked decent, normal, like you weren’t trembling on the inside.

You finally open the door, hoping that the fake smile you have on will be enough to hide the fact that you feel like literal shit.

“Finally!” He exclaims before frowning at you. “You were taking a nap weren’t you?”

“Uh y-yeah,” You laugh nervously.

He simply shakes his head at you before he’s pulling you towards the exit by the wrist.

“I’m starving and you didn’t reply my text,” He turns back to give you a disappointed look.

“Right, sorry…”

“You know at this point I’m just used to it,” He shrugs. “Pick up the pace will you? They’re serving potatoes tonight,” He smiles, giving your wrist a sharp tug.

You smile back at him quickly shuffling along behind him.

Dinner is torture because everything is just too perfect. The dining hall is serving your favourite dish and Jimin is cracking joke after joke and for a second you forget that he’s probably absolutely miserable inside. You try bringing up rowing during a short lull of silence and you watch as he frowns and waves away your question with a quick my rowing’s been fine before he changes the topic. You almost sigh out loud, unsure as to how you hadn’t realized sooner that he always seemed to brush away all of your rowing related questions this semester. The guilt sits on your chest like a heavy concrete block and you can’t help but frown at the boy before you.

You’re sure Jimin notices that something is off because he keeps giving you quick glances as the both of you take a seat at one of the empty tables in the library. There’s a question itching at the back of his throat but you’re so focused on your worksheet that he decides on asking you later. You spend your study session completely buried in work, not allowing yourself even a second of rest just so your mind wouldn’t wander onto less than happy thoughts about the boy sitting across you. From time to time you allow yourself a glance at Jimin and sometimes he catches your gaze sending you a greasy wink or a soft smile and you feel your heart flip flop in your chest. You felt horrible for causing the poor boy so much pain because god, it was never your intention, it really wasn’t.

At half past ten, you hear a soft thud as Jimin lets his head sink down onto the table, murmuring something about a quick nap and you can only look on with soft, sad eyes. You quickly push all your belongings into your bag before softly tapping on his shoulder, telling him it’s time to go. Jimin’s head perks up in confusion before he rubs at his eyes to look at his watch.

“But, it’s only 10.30?” He questions, giving you a confused look.

“I’m tired,” You whisper, giving him a sheepish look. “Let’s go,” You beckon as you stand up from your seat.

Jimin packs away his books as fast he cans, quickly trailing behind you as you walk towards the exit. The moment you push the door open, you let out a groan as you watch snow fall from the sky.

“Fuck,” You mumble. “Bet they’re gonna start clearing the snow just when I fall asleep tonight,” You sigh before shuddering at the thought of the sound of metal scraping against the tarmac.

Jimin only laughs at that because he sleeps through it all the time while you’re not as fortunate. You often gaze at him during those times, wondering how he seemed to be able to sleep through just about anything.

The two of you shuffle along, half jogging to get to your room, to escape from the cold and the moment you unlock your door, the pair of you quickly dive beneath the covers to find some warmth.

One last time, you sigh internally. You were going to allow yourself to be selfish just one last time. With your head placed on his chest and your knee hiked up to his hip, you worry your bottom lips with your teeth, wondering if you should say something.

“So do you want to talk about it or do you want me to talk?” Jimin asks out of nowhere and you furrow your eyebrows in confusion.

“Huh?”

“You’re doing that thing,” Jimin sighs.

“What thing?”

“The thing where something’s bothering you but you refuse to talk about it—”

“Nothing’s bothering me,” You interrupt.

“—or acknowledge it,” He laughs.

Damn him and his stupid sixth sense. You choose to stay silent, afraid that you’d give away something just by opening your mouth to speak.

“Okay, I’ll talk then,” He smiles, filling in the silence and you let out a sigh of relief because you’re not sure why he’d let you get away with it this time but you’re not about to question his choice either.

So, you listen, letting out light laughs as he tells you a story about how Taehyung, Hoseok and himself had ended up landing themselves three months’ worth of detention in the second year of high school. You wondered what high school would’ve been like if you had a friend group as mischievous as his. As much as you love the story, the sound of his soothing voice makes it difficult to fight off the way your eyelids refuse to stay open.

Jimin hadn’t even reached the crux of his little tale yet but he hears you murmur incoherent sentences, your slow breathing a sign that you’ve long fallen asleep now. He lets out a quiet sigh before a small smile graces his lips, his thumb running over the skin of your thigh innocently. He wonders if he’ll ever get tired of the fact that he’s always telling you stories that you never bother to stay up long enough to listen to. All he knows though, is he’ll never get tired of this, of your soft grip on his waist and your head neatly tucked under his chin.

Tuesday

[7:22] Jimin: nerd

[7:22] Jimin: where are you?

[7:22] Jimin: dinner????

You wipe the pizza grease on your hands on a tissue before picking up your phone to type in a reply

[7:24] You: i’m at tae’s

[7:24] You: evil professor just assigned us some crazy ass project

[7:24] You: can’t do dinner, sorry ☹

You let out a sigh of relief as you tuck your phone back into your pocket. You hate your professor, you do, but in some way you’re grateful for the project because it meant that you had a legitimate excuse for missing dinner with Jimin.

Both you and Tae work through the night, collecting articles to cite for the 8-page paper on cultural appropriation that your professor had assigned this morning. Sometimes you wonder if your professor feeds off his students’ stress or misery because it’s the only plausible reason to explain why he would want a draft by Thursday and the final essay to be submitted on Sunday.

It’s Taehyung who finally drags you off to sleep at 3 am. He physically lifts you and places you onto his bed seeing that you had refused to heed all his earlier warnings. When you try to climb out of his bed to look for ‘one last paper’ he basically traps you in his hold, refusing to let you go until you close your eyes and go off to sleep.

Taehyung never voices out the fact that he worries about you, he only does it silence. He remembers the screaming match you had with him outside the library when he told you that you were being ridiculous, worrying so much that you were making things bigger than they actually were. Perhaps he shouldn’t have said that and he regrets his choice of words to this day but he didn’t know how else to tell you that you were ruining yourself from the inside out over something you couldn’t change the outcome of. He should’ve chosen more comforting words, ones that would make you feel warm and safe but he had tried that before and it hadn’t worked. Now, Taehyung stays silent, never daring to mention anything about your behaviour but he lets you know through sweet gestures and soft touches that he’s here for you. He hopes that it’s enough, that you do see that he’s trying to make sure you don’t beat yourself down too hard because his heart can’t bear to see you in pain like that. To Taehyung, you’re somewhat akin to a fragile doll or maybe even a ticking time-bomb and he’s afraid one wrong move would mean you’d shut everyone out again, where you’d retreat so far away that he couldn’t reach you.

Maybe it was silly and cliché sounding but you’re the first girl he’s met where he feels like he doesn’t have to pretend to be someone else just to impress you. T’was like a dream come true when you propositioned him to be friends with benefits because well you were you and who didn’t want to be friends with benefits with you? Though that arrangement was great, he rather enjoyed your company outside of that arrangement, learning little facts about you, teasing you until you begin to stammer and blush bright red. He felt so much for you and maybe that’s how everything went south, because he wasn’t supposed to. The both of you had agreed to the no strings attached part of the deal and here he was, feeling like you could play him like a puppet. Maybe he was slightly delusional but he always felt like you had felt the same way about him too because no matter what it was, you found solace in his company too. It had to be true right? Why else would you know so much about him and him so much about you? Why did he seem to know more about you than your supposed fling or whatever the hell Jimin was?

Jessica.

A mistake, an excuse, a reason.

Taehyung remembers the ugly feeling of jealousy creeping up on him when he sees you kiss another boy at a party. He had almost stormed over to pull you aside until he remembered that he had no right to do that. After all, you and him were nothing more than friends with benefits. Taehyung simply broods in silence as he watches you skip away with boys who weren’t him and he wonders how he got here, feeling stuck on you when you didn’t seem to have a care in the world for him.

He never expected it, nor did he go looking for it but it all seemed to happen and unfold in front of his eyes faster than he could blink. Taehyung only remembers being frustrated and upset, moping in a corner after watching you leave the party with someone else and that’s when he met her. She was loud and blunt, straight to the point, two things that you weren’t and from the get go, he was hooked. Jessica came swooping in like an angel, her voice silky smooth and her touches addictive and before Taehyung knew it, he was trapped, completely enamoured by the girl before him. He saw your face twist in displeasure when he introduced her to you and the rest of his friends but he brushed away that scene, chalking it up to a figment of his imagination. Whether it was or wasn’t, it didn’t matter because you had been clear from the start that you hadn’t wanted feelings to get into the mix of whatever you and Taehyung had. But that’s just who Taehyung was… he had a problem with being alone while you rather enjoyed it.

Taehyung remembers your face when he said things were getting serious with Jessica and whatever he had with you had to stop. You smiled at him, nodding, saying that you understood but he could feel the insincerity that radiated from you. You could deal with not having Taehyung as your fwb anymore but you couldn’t deal with the fact that he simply didn’t have time for you anymore. He was… he was your confidant, your solace and suddenly he was nowhere to be found. Perhaps it was for the best, you exhaled. It was difficult, trying to keep your feelings at bay and no matter the other guys you left the parties with, you could never bring yourself to go any further than second base with them because of the twinge you felt in your chest. A twinge that told you that you had feelings for another man, the same man you remember swearing to that you wouldn’t let feelings get in the way of the peculiar arrangement that the two of you had set up. You’re not sure how you got here. Maybe it was the lunches you had with him between classes which always had the both of you talking up till the very last second before you both run to make it on time for both of your classes or perhaps it was the hushed post sex conversations that were filled with laughter more than anything else or maybe it was his ability to remember every single thing about you, even the slightest detail. All you know is, you’re in trouble.

You remember being alone, so alone now that the only person who had seen you at your lowest was too occupied to be worrying about you. The shaky hands, the sleepless nights, the endless train of horrible thoughts that you had to deal with alone. You’re not doing great on your own but you didn’t want to give in, to call him up when he was obviously so happy with her… so happy… without you. You didn’t want to hate him because you were happy for him but it was like he had completely forgotten about you. Were you really just sex to him? Did the endless days of chit-chatting amount to nothing in his mind? Good riddance then, you sigh. You didn’t need him in your life, you didn’t need anyone.

It was a particularly horrible day, you remember. Finals were soon approaching and just like that, your anxiety was amplified and just nothing seemed to be going right. You’re internally panicking as you struggle to get through the last of your assignments and you’re so caught up in your work that you don’t hear the chair in front of you squeak against the floor. There’s a soft touch on your wrist and you perk up, eyebrows furrowed in confusion as you see a familiar set of pearly whites.

“It’s time for a break, babe,” He coos, handing you a cookie and you wave your hand at him, choosing to return to your work.

Babe, you scoff. He hadn’t been replying to your texts or calls for 2 weeks now and he had the audacity to call you babe.

“Hey, come on, just eat it and take a break,” He whispers, sliding the cookie towards you. You simply glare at him sliding the cookie back in his direction and his smile immediately fades. Taehyung rises to his feet at that, walking over to tug you out of your seat and towards the exit. You’re struggling against his grip trying to pull away from him but before you can protest, he’s dragging you out the library.

“What the hell’s your problem?” You ask, finally tugging your wrist free.

“What’s yours?” He questions in return.

“Look, I don’t have time for this,” You grumble, turning away to walk into the library.

Taehyung quickly steps in front of you, blocking your path and you swear under your breath because truly, you had so much to get done and only so few hours in a day.

“What do you want, Taehyung?”

“Solji’s worried about you. She called to ask me to talk some sense into you.”

You let out a scoff, shaking your head because wow he could answer Solji’s calls but he couldn’t answer your texts?

“She’s just being ridiculous,” You mumble. “I have it under contr—”

“No, you’re being ridiculous,” He interrupts. “Have you looked in the mirror lately Y/N? How much longer are you going to do this to yourself? You’re going to burnout before we even get to finals week.”

“You don’t understand.”

“Then help me understand!” He exclaims, grabbing you by the shoulder because god, you looked like you were seconds away from breaking apart and he didn’t want to see that happen. “You just have to stop for a second and breathe, Y/N. You’re just stressing yourself out and all of this is so unnecessary. It’s all in your hea—”

“Don’t fucking complete that sentence.”

“Y/N, please, I’m worried about you and I need you to just fucking stop and take a br—”

“You just don’t understand,” You cry, a tear slipping down your face and Taehyung knows he’s fucked up now but goddamn it why wouldn’t you just listen to him?

“So, talk to me! Explain it to me until I understand!”

“You won’t understand, you’ll never understand how much my parents are expecting of me,” You shout, tears almost falling out of your eyes as you pointed to yourself. “I have to do this, I have to do well so, stop with this fucking bullshit!” You screamed as you pulled your wrist from him and headed back into the library.

Just like that, Taehyung knew he had screwed up monumentally, essentially making the situation worse than it already was but fuck, it pained him so much to see you like that. The way he lashed out at you is one akin to when you’re a child and you put yourself in harm’s way and you stand there sobbing as your parents scream at you, even when they’re glad you’re safe, unhurt but they’re so mad with you but only because they care, care so much. There were probably a million other ways he could’ve handled that situation but he couldn’t keep his emotions in check.

1 and a half weeks. That’s how long his ‘relationship’ with Jessica lasted and in the process of that plus the weeks before where all he did was try to get to know her better, he had damaged his friendship with you. You had just slipped from his mind momentarily and he thought you were doing just fine without him so he ignored your texts, knowing that seeing you meant that he'd be stuck halfway between you and Jessica.

Taehyung spends the next few days with his finger constantly hovering over your number but he never finds enough courage to actually press it. He spends hours forming an apology speech in his head but really, what could he say to you that would help erase what had already happened?

It was perhaps the third day after the incident when he sees his phone light up, your caller ID flashing on his screen. He answers the call to hear your voice, quiet and unsure as you ask him out to lunch and he agrees immediately, already halfway out the door before the call ended.

Taehyung sees you sitting in a quiet corner of the café, hands nervously playing at the hem of your shirt. When he reaches the table, he greets you with his signature smile and his heart almost breaks at the way you look at him, so guilty, so worried. Apologies start spilling out of your mouth the moment he sits down and he’s so worried you might start crying in the middle of this café. It’s okay, it’s fine, I’m sorry too, he says over and over again but you never stop with the sorrys and thank yous until he reaches over to hold you by your shoulders, shaking you softly as he laughs while saying it’s alright Y/N, really… if anything, I’m at fault too.

You know you were wrong to lash out at Taehyung like that that day but you were so caught up in your emotions, your anxiety making it difficult to just step away for a second and think. He was trying to tell you to calm down when you had started screaming at him, pushing him away when all he wanted to do was to help you. Maybe it was those pity puppy dog eyes he flashed you that made you snap or his less than careful choice of words but all you know was that was his way of showing you that he cared and you were more than grateful for him now that you’ve had time to think about it because he’s been there for you more times than you can count.

Solji, she was what you’d consider a close friend, someone you gossiped with, laugh at movies with but Taehyung, in the short time you’ve known him, had become your best friend. He knew all about your family, your likes, dislikes, fetishes, just anything and everything. How the two of you had shared so much about each other just through those lunches is beyond you and you’re thankful to have someone like him but you had to be selfish, had to fall for him out of all the students on campus. You couldn’t find a way to put into words how you felt about him so when the semester ended, you did what you did best, which was to disappear. Taehyung was the most jubilant soul you’ve ever met and you couldn’t imagine him being weighed down by someone like you so you wanted your friendship to die a natural death. You didn’t want him having to worry about you, for him to be the friend that others approached when you weren’t doing too good because he deserved better. He deserved a better friend, a better lover.

Taehyung hates how you deal with problems because you never really solve them, simply avoid them but maybe this is the one time he’ll ever be grateful for your odd solution to avoiding conflict. There’s something off between you and Jimin which he can’t really pinpoint but it’s not the winter romance he had grown sick of seeing but rather a subdued romantically-awkward friendship that was neither here nor there.

You and him have always been an almost couple, he believes. You both harboured feelings for each other, or so he thinks but neither of you ever got the chance to say anything. When the new semester started, and he finally got a hold of you after complete silence over the summer break, he thought he’d have a chance to start fresh with you but murmurings of a fling between you and Jimin stood in his way. He got a chance to start fresh, he did, but this time you and him were just friends… which was not at all what he wanted but beggars can’t be choosers. What were the chances of you being placed in the exact same discussion section and same wing in the dorm as Jimin one would ask? The answer was almost zero and yet it happened. It was like a nightmare come true for Taehyung and he could only watch in horror as his worst fears came to life. If there was one guy Taehyung didn’t want to compete with, it was Jimin.

Jimin was way too interested in you for you to simply be ‘just a friend’ as he had claimed many times in the early semester. Taehyung loved testing the boundaries, knowing full well that Jimin’s feelings for you had begun to grow, probably unbeknownst to the boy himself but Taehyung knew the signs all too well because he had been where Jimin was mere months ago. From frequent flirty texts, to answering your booty call that night, to marking your neck with hickeys, Taehyung could feel the jealousy radiating off Jimin grow with every encounter. What both you and Jimin did behind closed doors will remain a mystery to him but all he knows is if he wanted to have a chance with you, all he needed to do was keep himself in the picture, ready to take Jimin’s place if he ever messed up.

Jimin wasn’t good enough for you and to Taehyung, neither was himself but if anything, a relationship with him would’ve been a lot less painful than a one with Jimin. Having grown up with the boy, Taehyung knows better than anyone that Jimin would lose interest in things at a drop of a hat and that’s why Taehyung never bothered buying that new game or toy because sooner or later, Jimin would come strolling by letting him have whatever it was at a discounted price as he didn’t want it anymore. Though this principle only started applying to girls when he started college, Taehyung wanted to keep you as far away from him as possible and that’s probably why Jimin never really heard of you until the start of the second year.

The perfect boyfriend.

It had been something you used to describe Taehyung once over lunch. You had mentioned it so casually while Taehyung on the other hand was struggling to keep his heartbeat at a steady pace.

“The perfect boyfriend,” You laugh, taking the cookie that Taehyung had just offered to you. “That’s what you’d be you know?”

“I-I—”

“You’d hold doors open, buy roses just because, have their favourite cereal in your pantry, remember every single important detail, celebrate all the little anniversaries, buy them their favourite food,” You smile. “If you weren’t such a fuckboy, you’d really be the perfect boyfriend.”

Taehyung wasn’t sure if you were hinting at something or just spewing your thoughts without a filter like you sometimes do but he simply decides to scowl before throwing a French fry in your direction.

Taehyung has a problem. He acknowledges the fact that he just couldn’t seem to stick to one girl but maybe with you he could, maybe you’d be that one girl. He was comfortable with you, never had to water down his quirky, bubbly self when you were around and lucky for him, everything seemed to be falling in place for him this semester. From the fall out you had with Jimin over winter break, to the shared class he has with you and the many pair projects to come, he thinks he’ll be able to make you see him in a different light. He knows you doubt him, that you lump him and Jimin into the same pot as just boys who couldn’t keep it in their pants, boys who chased after skirts endlessly but he wasn’t like that, not when it came to you.

He smiles at the fact that you’re here, between his sheets, snuggled up next to him like he had always wanted. The perfect boyfriend, he smirks. Perhaps it was time he lived up to the title you had given him.

Jimin Finale // Taehyung Finale

A/N: read the Taehyung prequel!!! also hello i got a little carried away writing this chapter so no, don’t worry, it’s not the last chapter haha. As always, thank you so much for reading and feedback is welcome!!!

rowing jargon: Regatta = main competition in men’s college rowing aka the holy grail. Teams in Rowing: Varsity>Second Varsity>Third Varsity. Freshmen Eight/Freshmen Squad is the boat you wanna be in if you’re a first year. Varsity is the boat you wanna be in whenever cos it’s the best (freshmen can be in it too. if you make varsity as a freshman rower, it means you’re super good aka jimin is a super good rower)

#btswriters #kpopwritingnet #allkpopnet #bts fanfic #bts scenarios #jimin fluff #taehyung fluff #bts fluff #i cant believe this took me so long???? im so sorry????

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