#n i loved the choreo this was such a serve why didn’t anyone tell me | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

serendipitywrites · 4 years

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Deceptions and Daisies (3)

sorry this took forever. my boyfriend and I are currently packing to move out of state at the end of this month. I hope a longer update makes up for it ♥

words 2,137 this chapter is pure angst. (more smut and semi fluff soon).

chapters (one, two) and if anyone is curious, this is Yunhos’ choreo song. ♥

After leaving Wooyoungs apartment that night, you woke up later to find several messages waiting for you. The sad part was that most of them were from San, since he had woken up early to see you gone he couldn’t help but panic. After reassuring him that you were fine you opened up your messages from Wooyoung.

Woo ♥ Where did you go?

Then another message from a few minutes ago

Woo ♥ Never mind, San said you’re home. I’ll call you later 😘

God. why did these messages feel so fake? Then again, at this point, your entire relationship felt fake. You didn’t feel like replying to his messages, not that he’d even reply anyway, but you truly don’t have the energy right now.

Even if you were able to get a short amount of sleep after coming home, it wasn’t by any means good sleep.

You decided since you were home, you might as well try and be a proper adult and pick up your apartment before your shift at work, and also feed clementine, your goldfish. You aren’t home enough for an animal that needed more attention, but you were perfectly happy with Clem. she makes your apartment feel more like home. Wooyoung would always tease you for referring to your goldfish as your baby, but he’d always be the first one to feed her when he was over and coo at how quickly she ate with pure excitement. Come to think of it, some of your best memories are just being here with Wooyoung. He had also made your apartment feel like home. It’s such a little and almost dumb thing but it all added up to one of the many reasons why you love him. If only loving him just didn’t feel so bittersweet at the moment.

After a few hours of attempting to ‘adult’, you dab on some tinted chapstick and put your hair up in a messy bun (which hair spray could not even save) and start heading to work. you chose to walk since it’s only a short fifteen-minutes away. The scenery always made the trip feel so quick, anyways. Walking along the river always feels so serene and comforting and that’s the kind of positivity you need in your life right now.

Your shift at the café has been pretty standard so far. Not too busy, but not too quiet. it‘s only a four-hour shift anyways, and the extra money is nice. You have a little less than an hour left when you see two familiar faces walk-in.

San and Yunho both spot you and wave with a smile, Yunho gives you his toothy smile and reaches over Sans’ shoulder to wave at you, San just nudges him off and waves again sheepishly. You grin at them, watching as they choose a table to sit at.

After serving a few more customers, San is next in line. he looks almost nervous, or shy? He fiddles with his hands for a few seconds. You shake the thought, it’s San. he’s clearly not shy. This is the same man who flexes in the mirror and brags about it.

‘Is your shift almost over?’ he asks. ‘Yeah, just a half-hour left.’ you reply hurriedly and distractedly while taking his coffee and muffin order. ‘Sit with us when you’re done? We can all head to the studio together after’ he offers.

God, just the thought of going to the studio leaves a knot in your stomach. You haven’t been there since you stumbled upon a conversation you wish you didn’t even hear.

‘I’m sure everyone is busy. I can come another day’ you answer, trying to change the subject.

San narrows his eyes, a strand of his blonde hair among his black hair covers one of his eyes. ‘Nonsense, you’re coming. Yunho has been dying to show you his new dance routine too. You pretty much have to come now’ he says hopefully.

You look over at Yunho and back to San. Feeling guilt. They’re your friends just as much as they are Wooyoungs. ‘Alright, alright. I’ll go, but for Yunho.’ you smile softly. ‘I'll see you in a little bit?’ He looks relieved that you agreed. ‘We’ll be here’ he grins and heads back to his seat.

This is all… so new. You and San went from acquaintances to friends in a little over a week. It’s not that you two weren’t friends, it’s just that he usually kept to himself. You’ve always been closest to Yunho out of Woo’s friends. But San has been a better friend to you lately than most of your own friends.

The rest of your shift goes by quickly, so you head to clock out and grab your bag.

When you make your way to their table, San and Yunho are still drinking their coffees.

Yunho offers you the rest of his muffin, while his face is covered in crumbs and you politely decline and giggle at him wiping his face. ‘So what’s this dance I need to see?’ you glance at Yunho. He rubs the back of his neck, suddenly looking a little flustered. ‘Well, uh, it’s just something I thought of. San is the one who helped me really put it together, though’

San shrugs ‘it was nothing. You did all the work, I just helped’

‘Well, I’m excited to see it’ you say then gently nudge Yunho’s shoulder.

‘Well then, shall we?’ San offers.

It’s another quick walk to the studio, you three just talking about work and university.

The studio was surprisingly empty.

You and San sit down as you wait for Yunho to set up the music

‘So, how have you been?’ he asks

‘I mean, we talked this morning. I’m fine’

‘You’re just fine?’

‘I’m good’ you correct yourself. Which doesn’t really matter, because he doesn’t look at all convinced.

He sighs ‘look, I know Wooyoung has been an oblivious ass lately.’

You want to retort but honestly what he just said is true.

‘San.. who is Hana? Should I be worried?’

He slightly stiffens at your words ‘I know of her but I’ve never met her. As far as I know, they’re just old friends’ he offers ‘but she doesn’t seem like a good person, y/n. The only reason they started talking again is… well, she’s single now.’

You feel irritation well up in your chest ‘what does that have to do with anything? Why does that matter?’ you ask seriously. You’re desperate at this point. You don’t really care how you look you just want answers.

San sags his shoulders ‘this might sound bad.. but she only talks to him when she’s single. It’s been that way since they were in high school.’

God, you feel sick. Your stomach feels queasy. Is that what this is, some cheap distraction for her? For him?

‘So, she’s a bitch’ you say flatly. San chuckles at your bluntness ‘basically’.

You two were about to talk more when Yunho got his music to play.

You and San just sat there completely enamored with the other dancer. Even the song is perfect for him and you can tell he knows that too. He’s so fluid with his movements, you can’t help but sit and watch him with stars in your eyes.

Both cheering him and seeing him try to hide his smile while dancing, you three don’t hear the door right away, but you do hear an unfamiliar high pitched giggle.

When you see them, you see this girl holding onto your boyfriends arm. She has short black hair and is taller than you. You really hate already judging her, but she looks like a cliché mean girl. Also, she is wearing one of Wooyoungs work out shirts.

Wait? What. the. Fuck.

San and Yunho glance at each other in confusion and worry before they stop his song. Wooyoung barely even notices the world around them and any other time you would have found it endearing, but now? It just bothers you.

The two new people in the room startle, yet she still clings onto Wooyoung.

‘y/n, hey!’ Wooyoung says a bit shocked but quickly gathers himself seeing the others in the room. Her arm falls away from him and Wooyoung and makes his way over to you for a hug.

You barely respond to his hug, just staring over his shoulder at this mystery girl, who you are pretty positive is Hana. Wooyoung doesn’t notice that anything is off and that’s the part that hurts the most.

San is the first to speak up. ‘What are you guys doing here?’ he asks, not hiding his irritated tone.

Wooyoung has a small smile on his face ‘oh, well Hana has asked for help with her dancing, so we’ve been practicing all day’

Well, that stings. Wooyoung always had a hard time helping you dance and after a while, you both just stopped trying.

Hana giggles, which sounds grating to your ears. ‘Wooyoung-ie is the best teacher’ she gleams and grabs at his arm to hold onto. Is this really happening right now? Really?

‘And who are you? Wooyoung has never spoken of you’ you speak up, your voice firm, not wavering. Wooyoung looks at you like you’ve done something wrong and at this point you’re close to leaving, to screaming.

‘Oh! I’m Hana. we grew up together, high school sweethearts and all that~ but no worries, that was forever ago’ she giggles at you.

San looks irritated ‘I'm teaching y/n to dance too, actually’ he says.

Wooyoung looks at both of you confused ‘really? Since when?’

‘Since now’ you blurt. Going along with his lie. Wooyoung has the audacity to look jealous at this, to look visibly irritated ‘oh, well if you need a better teacher, I’m always here, love’ he tries joking.

San looks done at this point. ‘I can take care of y/n just fine’ he stares at Wooyoung, as if making a challenge. Woo’s nostrils flare and he comes up to wrap his arm around you ‘still, I’m always here, I always will be’ he says sweetly into your hair. This would feel sweet if other people weren’t in the room and you weren’t aware of your boyfriends’ need to always win over others.

‘I’m leaving.’ you are done with this, this entire situation. You feel like you need a shower, you feel used. ‘Your dance was amazing, Yunho! I want to see all of it next time’ you try to sound cheery. He comes up and ruffles your hair in thanks. San sends you off with a small wave.

You really need to thank San later, he’s been on your side so much lately. You feel so undeserving of him.

walking out of the studio you hear footsteps, turning around you see Wooyoung jogging after you as you make it out the door. ‘Wait!’ he stops you. ‘I missed you this morning’ he reaches for your hands and tries to lace his fingers with yours.

A surge of anger courses through you. ‘Did you? Really? Because I’ve spent all day with San and Yunho. Which, San spent the entire morning making sure I was okay and home safe’ you snap, not caring at this point.

He looks surprised at your outburst ‘what are you talking about? Of course, I did. Is everything okay? Things were fine last night. I thought we had an amazing night.’ he’s staring at you in confusion.

‘We did. Our night was nice.’ you say timidly.

‘Then what y/n?’ he pleads. Instead of responding, you ask ‘why is she wearing your shirt?’ you know you look pathetic right now, you know you look desperate. You want to care, but more than anything you just want an honest answer out of him.

He looks lost for words for a moment ‘ oh.. Uh, her workout clothes got dirty. She asked if she could wear mine and I thought I was just being nice.’

You sigh ‘okay‘

‘Okay?’ he asks. ‘What are you even thinking right now? We’re just friends.’ he says with irritation. ‘I’m gonna go’ you say quietly. His normal caring look is back on his face, irritation suddenly gone. ‘I’ll call you later, okay? I love you’ he plants a soft lingering peck on your lips. ‘Get home safe, okay?’ you nod and both say your goodbyes.

Eventually, you reach home, only to collapse on your couch. Feeling nearly hungover from everything that happened today. then your phone pings with a message.

Woo ♥ I’ll drop by after work tomorrow. We’ll have all day together, sweetheart. I’ll make it up to you.

Even if things are as awful as they are, you can’t help but smile and feel your heart warm at his words.

Why is being in love so painful?

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xiubaek-13 · 4 years

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Lost In Translation - Chapter 24 - Lesson 4

Requested: No Genre: Canon-AU Pairing: ? (at this stage undecided) x Reader

Warnings: None yet.

Word Count: 2,656

“Aww come on Y/N, let me see. I promise I won’t tell.”

��For the tenth time Minseok, no. You can wait and be just as surprised as everyone else.” He’d spent the better part of the last half hour trying to convince you to show him but you weren’t budging on the topic.

“Except Sehun & Yixing…” You heard his mumbled comment and walked straight back over to the bed.

You looked down at Minseok, sprawled out in your bed. He was pouting up at you. “They helped me pick it out but they haven’t seen me wear it yet so don’t you get all huffy with me Mr.”

He raised an eyebrow as he formulated a new approach. Why he so desperately wanted to see you in this cheerleader outfit before everyone else was beyond you. “You mean no one has seen you in it?” You nodded. “Well then all the more reason to show me first. What if it doesn’t fit properly or doesn’t look right. Surely you’d want someone’s opinion before you unveil it. Baekhyun is sensitive, what if it’s too much for him?”

You scoffed. “Then it serves him right for giving me this punishment. Now quit it, you’ve gotta go record in just over an hour and I thought you came down here for some stress relief but you are running out of time.” He pulled you down onto the bed with him, not wanting to waste any more time.

“Fine, but after he’s seen you in it please wear it for me, I’ll make you forget the embarrassment of his punishment. I promise.” He all but purred those last two words into your ear and it sent shivers down your body.

You were actually nervous about the lesson with Yixing. He’d been such a good friend to you since you’d moved in and you didn’t want to make it weird by making advances at him unless you worked out that he had any interest in you that way. You’d tried to subtly find out by checking which members you could flirt with without them taking it to heart. Minseok had assured you that everyone had objectified you at some point. He followed up by assuring you that they all also loved you as a person but that it was difficult to ignore how sexy they found you. You scoffed at that remark but he proceeded to tell you in detail some of the things they apparently wished they could do with you. You let him get 4 or 5 of those wishes out before you threw a pillow at him to shut him up.

You arrived at the SM building a bit after 5pm as Yixing had requested. Your nerves were on edge as you entered the building knowing that the lesson you were about to give was not one that should be done under this roof. Maybe I can convince him to go somewhere else for this lesson…like outside of this damned building. Your thoughts were all over the place as you tried to work out how to do this lesson without anyone catching you and how you would carry out the reward or punishment. There was no way that part could happen under this roof, of that you were certain. You made your way towards the dance studio where the guys were rehearsing and slipped in to catch the last run through of their choreography. The others were heading to recording afterwards but Yixing was to remain. He’d booked the dance studio for a further 2 hours for your lesson.

It was easy to forget that the lovable group of boys you lived below were seasoned stage performers but watching them perform their choreo had you floored. It was intricate and fun. You wouldn’t tell them but they looked damn good doing those moves. The fact that the song was excellent only added to your enjoyment. One of their managers came and sat next to you, smiling after he noticed the look on your face. “They are completely different when they are focused and performing aren’t they?” You nodded, not wanting to speak. “They were supposed to finish up after running through Lucky One but they messed around at the start of practice today so they have to do a quick run through of White Noise & Artificial Love before they can leave. It should only take 10 more minutes then you can get to your tutoring.” He stood and moved back towards the other staff, who were observing the routines.

You focused on each member for a few moments at a time. The last thing you wanted was for them to have noticed you come in and only focus on one or two of them. You’d never hear the end of that whining. What you weren’t prepared for was all of the body rolls in White Noise. Jongin noticed you staring and winked at you, bringing your focus back to the others. You wondered how many times they had to practice the routines before they were able to do them this well because they were a perfectly synchronised unit while you were watching. There was one more routine to go. Minseok spotted you and a knowing smirk spread across his face.

Your plan of not looking at him during that dance failed you when you realised there was no member you could safely watch. The routine was pure sin and you completely understood the smirk Minseok had given you. He threw a little extra into those thrusting body rolls to remind you of that morning. You averted your gaze to prevent the blush that was threatening to form on your cheeks. The dance finally ended and you let out a breath you hadn’t realised you were holding in. Jongin ran over to greet you, causing the rest of the guys to realise you had been present during their practice.

Everyone had a small chat with you before they were ushered out to shower then head to vocal recording. You had told Yixing to go shower as well so that you could set the room up for your lesson. He simply nodded and left the room.

He looked confused when he returned. He kept rubbing the back of his neck nervously while he picked the words he wanted to use. “Uh, why did Chanyeol keep grinning at me in the shower? And why did Baekhyun make me promise to tell him what happened in this lesson? So weird.”

You sighed and chuckled to yourself. Of course those two would almost ruin everything for you. “Chanyeol enjoyed his lesson, so maybe he is just enthusiastic about yours. Who knows with him. As for Baekhyun, he is trying to get around my rules so unfortunately you will have to break that promise and not tell him anything.” You looked at his face as your words registered ant just as he was about to respond you kept speaking. “I tailor each lesson specifically for you so what happens here won’t be what happens for him. He is just impatient, if he really wanted to know he could just request a lesson but he’s being stubborn. Now are you listening to your teacher or your overly curious younger?”

The reply came almost instantaneously. “Teacher noona, of course.” You smiled and gestured for him to come and sit in the middle of the room with you. He sat directly across from you, staring intently, the picture perfect student. So far he was playing the part perfectly, you just had to see if you could keep your cool once the lesson started.

“So for your lesson I decided to use your dancing and composing skills in order to help you memorise your English responses. So what we are going to do is dissect your speech and responses into parts and assign them to dance moves and sections of music. Then we will repeat it until it is second nature for you to associate the piece of music I chose and the moves to the speech and responses. Ready?” You waited while he processed everything you’d said, his brows furrowing as he mulled it over in his brain. He finally locked eyes with you and nodded.

You handed him a laptop and asked him to select a piece of music on it. His eyes widened when he realised that it was a mixture of his own compositions and random existing songs. He went through each song a few times until he narrowed it down to one of his compositions, stating that he wasn’t fond of it so it didn’t run the risk of ever being used in a song. Next you got him to come up with 6 dance moves to associate with his speech. You sat on the floor and watched as he moved toward the mirror.

His posture completely changed and you watched before your eyes as he switched from his normal self into his stage self. This was Lay. The aloofness vanished and it was replaced with a level of confidence you had never seen from him before today. You watched as he repeated each move, his cheeky glances, lip bites and smirks disarming you. The cute smiles that caused his eyes to turn into half moons and the dimples were gone, what stood before you was a completely different person. You had to stop yourself from just staring at the way his body moved to the music.

You stood and stopped the music. Lay turned to face you, his head tilting as he tried to work out why you’d stopped the music. “This time after you do each move I want you to recite the line.”

“Yes teacher.” His eyes bored into yours and he held your gaze. You felt your face start to heat up.

You started the music again and watched as Lay rolled his shoulders and got ready. He completed the first move and spoke. “Hello, I’m EXO’s Lay.” He spared you a quick glance as he moved into the second move before he spoke again. “I’m so happy to be here with all of you. Are you having fun?” You caught the small grin he allowed himself as he dropped to the floor for the third move. “You are all so beautiful today and your screams are so loud - is our concert nice?” His confidence grew at the halfway point and he threw a bit more effort into his fourth move, which included a body roll you were sure strippers would envy. “I could not come last year when we had concerts here because I was filming so I am grateful that we were able to come back so soon.” He tripped up on a few of the words but you were going to wait until he finished to let him know what parts needed improvement. The next move was an intricate pop and lock dance. You knew he was a good dancer but you had no idea he was this good. “Enjoy the rest of our concert, we will do our best for you.” You noted a couple more words to help him with as he moved into the final move which could only be described as a lot of pelvic movement. “I love all of you so much! Thank you!” No words needed fixing there but you needed a moment to collect yourself. This didn’t go unnoticed by Lay who watched you expectantly, a smirk plastered on his face.

“The first 3 phrases and the last phrase were perfect. You tripped up on last year when we had concerts here and your pronunciations of rest and we will do” He nodded and listened as you slowly repeated each word for him.

“Teacher?”

“Yes Lay?”

“Could you come and stand with me so that you can repeat the word as I do the dance moves? It will really help me.” His request was innocent enough so you went and stood behind him. He slowly went through each move while repeating the sentences. When he got a word wrong you would pipe up and help him until he got it right. He was so focused on getting it right that he didn’t seem to realise that somewhere along the way he had moved behind you and performed the moved around you, meaning he rolled his body and did those pelvic moves all in extremely close proximity to you.

After going through the moves and pronunciations another 5 or 6 times you turned the music back on but you didn’t move from your spot in front of him. You stared straight ahead into the mirror and waited. He moved into position behind you and right before the first move you heard him speak. “Ah teacher, you are getting very playful.” You glanced at him and saw the mischief dancing in his eyes. That looked promising. His dancing had been affecting you so it was nice to see that he wasn’t solely focused on the lesson. You figured why not push and see how far he’ll take it. You smirked at him through the mirror.

“Do your worst Lay.” He chuckled and got ready. He altered his moves slightly so that he was touching you in some way. His hand was on your shoulder during his first move, then it snaked around your waist during the second, gripped your hip in the third, then his body rolled into yours on the fourth, and he ground himself against you for the fifth and sixth. When the song ended he let go of you and seemed to realise what he’d done.

“Teacher I’m sor-” You touched two fingers to his lips, cutting him off before he could speak. His eyes darted down to your hand before coming back up to your face.

“Well done Lay, you were an excellent student for the duration of the lesson. Even if your final run through was not strictly speaking, good for a teacher student interaction you get points for being able to memorise the lines even when you altered the dance moves.” You spotted the slight blush forming on his face as he rubbed the back of his neck and looked at the floor. “What this means is that you get to pick a reward. Think over what you want carefully. We are about to break for dinner so maybe have a chat with Suho, Chanyeol or D.O. about what you can choose for your reward. Much like I told them, you can request anything that is possible for me to do. If I am unable to fulfil your request I will tell you and you can pick something else.”

He smiled, genuinely smiled at the idea of getting a reward and it took all of your self control not to pinch his cheeks and poke his dimples. You still had to remain in your role as the teacher for a little longer. “Thank you for the strangest but most interesting English lesson I’ve ever had. I’ll go eat now and try to talk to them. We still have more time booked after dinner so if I work out what I want can we use that time for my reward?”

“Of course. One last thing, when you speak to them, make sure you are alone. No one is allowed to know what the rewards are until they earn them.”

With that Lay nodded and left the room, seeking out dinner and hopefully returning soon for his reward. You’d chickened out of being blunt about what he could ask for but figured this would give him more time to figure out what he wanted to do.

So you waited.

Masterpost | Chapter 23 | Chapter 25

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coffee-for-himchan · 6 years

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No Answer (Jongup x reader)

Requested by: @thevisionandthescarletwitch12 (Thanks!! ❤)

Word count: 4.9 k+

Genre/warnings: fluff ❤

Summary: Receiving a mysterious message from an unknown number seemed rather intriguing, but it became even more interesting when Jongup found no time to respond, and later witnessed how the person typing figured the number had no owner, and turned the chat into a personal diary to lighten the burdens of everyday life. He found himself more and more invested into reading those texts, making it a daily thing, and had a hard time not to respond. Why not? Because that would be weird. He’d been quietly reading messages for weeks already, without leaving any answer. And leaving one now seemed inappropriate. He’d missed his chance, and all he could do now was continue reading, or so he thought at first.

He looked down at the phone in his hands, staring in mild confusion to whether he should respond or not.

I found your number accidentally. Who are you? [17:28]

Accidentally? Junhong called for him to come and join practice again, so he threw another insignificant look to the phone and shoved it back into his pocket, hoping it wouldn’t fall out mid-song like the few other times it did after his rapid spins and turns all through the choreo. With lazy yet graceful movements, he was back in formation, and took only another moment to consider the possibilities of how his number ended up in a stranger’s hands before starting practice.

And then suddenly it hit him hard.

“Jongup-ah, what are you doing!?” Himchan crashed into him, and only then he realized he’d stopped dead in his tracks in the middle of a dance break.

“I’m thinking.”

“Can’t you move and think at the same time?!” Junhong, perhaps, called out while chuckling, but Jongup wasn’t sure - he didn’t really catch onto the speaker’s identity. He had realized a significant detail from sometime last week that could stick to the puzzle, and needed a minute to consider how stupid his assumptions were.

“I ain’t a multitasker,” he said, and with that, was gone with the wind, wandering out of the room to lean against the wall of the hallway.

“I found your number accidentally. Who are you?”

He was Moon Jongup, if he wasn’t mistaken. And he was also a guy who was close to blackout drunk last week, stumbling along the streets with a few old friends only he knew, making small, insignificant mistakes along the way and laughing tons meanwhile as well.

It was stupid, actually. But he figured he wasn’t the brghtest in the head anyways.

“Let’s see who’ll find it,” his friend giggled, scrapping a few digits on pieces of paper, and happily letting them sail away in the rather strong wind while standing in a place you could see the whole city from. He recalled being beyond happy and giggly about this idea, supporting it fully with his other two friends in their drunken states.

“Might get yourself a date like that.”

Or trouble, he figured. But he figured too late, as it’s been a week, and he had finally gotten a “lucky” message. He also wondered if any of the other guys did.

“Stop being a weirdo and come back in. Thinking time is over,” Youngjae presented himself well in the same old sarcastic fashion, leaning out of the doorway and trying to get Jongup back in so they could finally be finished for the day. And, understanding he’d better obey and put everyone’s tired minds out of their misery, he joined them again, pouring sweat and panting lightly for another half an hour before finally departing from the rest and going his own way.

Not that the text was of no significance, not at all. Jongup simply had a different mindset, and was someone to forget things easily. And half an hour of dancing was enough for him to forget completely about all that had happened, and also forget to answer. Hell, he didn’t even care to respond to his hyung’s messages sometimes, so this was simply something he wasn’t that good at. Texting.

He only recalled it when it was too late and inappropriate to respond.

“Should I?” he contemplated, sneaking around the dorm’s kitchen and making hot chocolate at 2 AM, clearly knowing sleep wasn’t his priority but a nice, warm chocolatey drink was. Sleep was Himchan and Youngjae’s priority though, and “nagging mom” and “sarcasm ball” weren’t the ones he wanted to disturb from sleeping peacefully. This was his chance to get some nice, peaceful alone time.

“I’m Moon Jongup.” Would that be.. Appropriate?

It probably wouldn’t. He figured he still was an idol, and even though he thought there were slim chances the person texting him could possibly know who he was, he still hesitated. If he’d ask anyone from the company, they’d tell him off immediately. And possibly even call him stupid, telling him to be cautious with whom he gives his number to.

So scrapping the thought, he quietly sneaked back to his room to do some 2 AM internet browsing. It’s not like he had to respond anyways, but curiosity killed him to know who was on the other end of the line. He figured he’d think of something, and eventually would respond. But later.

Later turned out to be never.

He wasn’t of fault for being a busy man with a short memory and attention span. He already got dragged from schedule to schedule by Himchan, basically serving him as an accessory or handbag, because otherwise he wouldn’t remember to come and would wander off to be present somewhere else. If he couldn’t remember all of that, how could he remember about a mysterious text?

Does this number even belong to anyone? [22:34]

When he saw the message though, he recalled. It had been about a week already, and he figured he was still curious. Yet his fingers stopped him from typing when he saw the three animated dots, indicating something more was being typed on the other end, and would soon pop up on the screen.

Well.. I guess it doesn’t. [22:56]

He chuckled. He was just as quick to make assumptions as the person typing, and for some reason, that was intriguing. First thing in common, and it had been three lone texts. This could actually evolve to be interesting.

Today was an awful day, by the way. [22:57]

He leaned back, looking at the stream of messages that followed. One every other minute, being a detailed explanation of a rather bad day. Troubles at work and with studies. Misunderstandings with friends and even family. God, he really found himself feeling sorry for whoever it was that managed to have such an unfortunate day.

But once again, as he wanted to type, he realized he was unable to do it. Wouldn’t that be creepy? Now, after all this whole heartfelt and emotional storytelling, all of a sudden he would say something really out of place. “Hey, this number indeed has an owner”, “Cool story, but quite sad tbh. Are you alright?” - all the potential responses seemed rather dumb to him. The worst one by far being “Hey, so, I was just sitting and reading, but figured I wanted to talk to you actually. I’m Jongup.”

This helps, actually. [23:31]

He heard the swooping sound, and glanced back to the device, tracing his fingers ever so lightly over the screen. What helped? Typing out things that bothered? Maybe, and right as he figured he understood, he got the response.

It’s crazy, but it helps a little. I’ll call you my new, non-existent friend, number without owner. And maybe I’ll message you. [23:33]

He was quite existent, actually, and he was more than curious to how this could unfold. He thought it was interesting, maybe even cute. And a little creepy, but.. Did anyone have to know? Not really. So he convinced himself it was fine, and he let it happen.

“See ya, new friend,” he chuckled with a smile, and put his phone down, wandering out of his room too meet with needy hyungs who had been calling him for a while already. He swore, if he’d hear the phrase “Jongup-ah, bring me my phone! I don’t know where it is though, but find it!” one more time, he’d move out.

It was days and days of simple, diary-like texting, and he once found himself looking back on the stream of messages, figuring it had been weeks already. Maybe even a month, actually. But he didn’t mind. In fact, after an insignificant amount of time had passed, he had gotten used to it, and couldn’t picture his life without an occasional message every here and there anymore. It had become part of the daily routine.

Her name was (Y/N), so much he knew, and she was the sweetest yet most problematic person he’d ever met. Well, “met” only technically. He hadn’t met her in real life, but he still felt like he knew a bunch about her in a.. non-creepy way. This really didn’t feel creepy to him. It just felt strange. Or rather unusual.

Aaand I do not know how to manage now. I’ve got a week left, and still 30 pages to write. Too bad I didn’t start writing earlier. [19:44]

But I’m a stupid mess, so I’m allowed to make mistakes. [19:44]

He chuckled at the familiar sentence, knowing he’d used it on himself thousands of times. But he also knew that when it came to her, she was far from being stupid. Her conversations with this non-existent friend in the form of a phone number she thought belonged to no one, but in reality was his, made her seem like a lovely, kind, but over all intelligent person. And he found himself lying in bed and smiling at his phone like an idiot.

“You’ll do great,” he quietly said to himself, surprised at how truly he wanted her to succeed, “Because you’ve been studying hard for ages. More than I’ve ever studied all together, to be honest.”

And the more time passed, the more he understood how much he truly cared.

He cared every evening he lied in bed and watched the message streams coming by. He traced his fingers over the phone screen, and desperately wanted to respond. He weirdly found himself hurting every time she had a hard time, and simply wanted to go and do something about it. He didn’t even know who she truly was, or how she looked or anything. Yet this diary-type conversation she typed out to no one but herself every evening made him believe he knew enough to find a liking in her. She was funny and her personality was overall cute. She had a heart big enough to fit the whole world into it, and sometimes he imagined he could find a place there as well. He wanted to get to know her actually, because he thought she was interesting. Yet every time he was about to type something, he froze dead in his tracks.

After all this time, it would be weird to respond. And he didn’t want to weird her out or scare her away. He simply wanted to actually meet her and get to know her.

“What are you grinning about?” Youngjae asked one morning, catching Jongup completely off-guard and making him realize how he once again was staring at the phone and chuckling about seemingly nothing.

“Yeah. Something’s been off for a while already,” Himchan called from behind the stove, walking around with two plates in hand a second later and handing one to Youngjae, “You’re never really abandoning your cereal for anything.”

“Spit it out,” Youngjae budged, and when Himchan had made his way around the breakfast bar and sat across the latter two, it felt like it was maybe time to say something. But right as Jongup opened his mouth to talk, Youngjae frantically interrupted.

“Not the cereal, by the way - don’t spit that out, keep that in your mouth or in the bowl, will ya? I’m talking about the reason you’d been grinning like a madman at mysterious stuff in your phone for weeks.”

“So.. This might sound weird..”

“Like everything else involving you. Nothing new,” Youngjae cheekily remarked, leaning on his hand and choking on his food just a second later because he was too focused on talking and didn’t care to properly chew his food.

“That’s what you get Youngjae-ah for interrupting your friend and challenging the universe,” Himchan remarked, chuckling lightly and turning to face Jongup, “Continue. I’m curious.”

And he told the whole story. About the on-paper phone numbers thrown from a high point in the city, and how he actually received a message after some time. And the weird further events, where the girl on the other end of the line supposed the number belonged to no one, and never stopped typing, gifting him with a diary of her biggest issues and the brightest moments of her life.

“And so you simply keep sitting around and reading everything she types?”

“Yeah, kind of-”

“What a creep,” Youngjae laughed out, making Jongup feel generally ashamed about the whole situation.

“Yeah, I have to admit, it is a little creepy. But at the same time, it’s so absurd, yet.. I don’t know how to say. Somewhat beautiful?”

“In which way, hyung?” Youngjae laughed at Himchan, yet kind of understood his point.

“I don’t know, think about it. He knows so much about her, and she doesn’t even know he exists. Okay, that indeed sounds bad, but let me turn it around. I can imagine it already.”

“A cold winter night,” he extended his arms to both sides, making the youngers laugh at his theatrical, dramatical stare that was directed into the distance, “Don’t laugh, just picture it. A stormy night, and she’s walking home alone. Left to be completely lonely by everyone but the howling, harsh wind-”

“You should do acting, hyung,” Younjae kept laughing, cracking up even more after the casual response of “I know, right?”

“And he emerges from the shadows - our Jongup-ah. The hero of the night, who approaches and lovingly tells her all. ”(Y/N), come with me, and everything will be alright,“ he will say, and she won’t have time to question, because in her pain and despair, he will be her only light. So she will put her hand in his and they will run off into the sunset-”

“You mean sunrise. It was already nighttime in your setting of the story.”

“Yes. Pardon,” he announced, his pronunciation almost on point, “The sunrise. But you get the idea.”

“Oh stop it, hyung,” both of them turned to face a rather embarrassed and blushing Jongup, “That’s never gonna happen.”

“Don’t try to tell me you’ve never thought about it,” Youngjae kept teasing.

“I feel like we’re gossip girls or something right now, talking about this the way we do,” Himchan chuckled lightly, and hit the back of Youngjae’s head playfully, getting up from his spot, “Okay, as always. I cook, you wash up.”

“But hyuuuuung.”

“You can always eat cereal like Jongup-ah instead, if you’re not satisfied with this distribution of duties,” Himchan called from somewhere far away, making Youngjae pout one more time before he got up to do as told, “Although, then you’d have to wash up as well. So it’s a no-win situation for you.”

Jongup stayed in place, glancing at the phone one more time as he heard the familiar, at this point already exciting swooping sound.

And now I missed breakfast, all because of that other research paper that I managed to wrap up only earlier this morning. But maybe it’s even convenient. I guess I’d need to go on a diet anyways. [08:51]

She didn’t, he was certain. She sounded like someone who would constantly criticize no one but herself, and one day he will come up to her and tell her to cut it. Take her out and eat cupcakes or something, and tell her how lovely she was at heart, and at face as well. He was convinced she was beautiful, because everyone who was this beautiful at heart had to be beautiful on the outside as well.

And beauty wasn’t measurable by the size of the waist anyways, right?

Time kept passing, and he kept sitting around and reading. From time to time either Himchan or Youngjae would budge him about it, and poke at him, telling him he had to do something in return. But he only ever answered that he wasn’t good at holding conversation, and rather wanted to simply stay and read.

“Don’t let it slide,” they’d say, but he was hard to convince to act in any way that would reveal himself and who he was. But that didn't mean he didn’t try to communicate with her in other, different ways.

She’d had flowers delivered to her university, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink as they were handed to her and a dozen of jealous girls threw all types of glances her way. Yet she never found out where those flowers came from, since there was no sender’s name left behind. Only a note with neat handwriting on it, saying “non-existent friend”, and she couldn’t quite tie her mind around it. Little surprises continued to await her at every corner - even at a place like her favorite coffee shop - and she found herself wondering who had been kind and generous enough to gift her with all of it. And who even knew enough about her to get something such ad her favorite flowers or chocolates or anything else right.

It all silently continued on the same way, until a particular evening when he found himself lying on his bed again, waiting for the message stream, yet nothing came up. And he was left alone, without company in the evening or any clue of what had happened to her.

He told himself it was nothing at first. She was away somewhere. Out with family, perhaps? Or maybe friend? Although he knew she lived rather far from family, and had only few friends. He was laying around, waiting, and eventually he fell asleep like that, just to wake up the next morning and find nothing but Instagram notifications and cat videos sent to him by Himchan.

Nothing from her. Not even a single message. And as this continued every evening from then on, he became convinced she was gone. Probably forever.

It bothered him. Had something happened, or was she simply busy? She was always busy, or so she stated, yet somehow she was always able to find time for typing. But not in the past weeks, as he was met with total and utter silence from her end of the line, ans finally understood how she must’ve been feeling about this whole thing.

Receiving nothing. It indeed was horrible. And maybe if he would’ve revealed himself to her, she would’ve still been a part of his life.

Only now he figured how truly.. alone he was without her company. It all seemed unreal and unusual, yet he had found peace and comfort in her stories. Her life differed from his significantly, and he figured he was quite interested in her daily life and the things she did. He found it to be a little vacation for his mind for when it was tired of running circles, as reading her stories was always like a little treat of the day. That is, until it all disappeared.

And reappeared after what seemed almost a month already. Or rather eternity, judging by his point of view and perception of time.

I can’t do it anymore. [00:01]

The lone message scared him, and as another long-gone and much missed message stream started blowing up his phone, he sat tight and read carefully, not to miss a single detail.

And then he realized she was crying out for help. To no one but an empty space.

It hurts. Everything does, and I wish it would’ve went down another way. [00:02]

She was talking about her family situation, her studies, relationships and everything else. Everything had seemingly crumbled at this one moment, and he was genuinely worried about her. He only barely knew how it was to feel down and be alone at those moments, since he was usually used to having someone around to help. And he figured this would be a long, boring night for him anyways if he decided to let i slide. Even if this was a mistake, he wasn’t the brightest in the head, so he was allowed to make mistakes every now and then.

I swear, this is the only nice place left in Seoul. I seem to hate everything else at this point already. [00:04]

He glanced at the few further words, trying to recall the location she named and eventually being able to do so. The city was beyond big, but this place she was at wasn’t far away, and that was by far the luckiest coincidence of the week, or maybe even the whole month. And since life had been nice to him and he had been gifted with a location, he simply got up, put his shoes and coat on and headed for the door.

“It’s late, Jongup-ah. Where are you leaving to?”

He turned a little to face Himchan who had just stumbled out of the living room at the wrong time, his “I was napping just a second ago” face going strong. Jongup simply threw him a barely-there smile, and stepped out of the apartment, closing the door behind himself lightly and leaving Himchan alone and confused in the dimly lit hallway.

“To meet a friend.”

It was surprisingly easy to find her, as there was only one person around, and he lingered a little longer as he saw an unfamiliar frame in the place she should’ve been at. He simply feared to be called a creep and get into trouble for it all.

“(Y/N)?”

He saw her turning slowly, throwing him a puzzled glance as she tried to process. And he had to admit that he needed a moment to process as well.

He had imagined her to be beautiful, but this view in front of him was better than any of the images his imagination had created on it’s own with only knowing mere facts she’d slipped in conversation. Her hair fell beautifully, lightly covering her face and her soft features that got highlighted by the street lights to make it even more graceful. Her brows slightly furrowed in confusion as she looked at the rather lost, young man in front of her. And the way she tried to remember who he was, but found herself to be clueless.

“Sorry if I sound rude, but.. I can’t quite recall you,” she quietly said, and only now he noticed she’d been crying.

“Who are you?”

Instead of getting a reply, she saw him shyly fiddling around his pockets to pull out his phone. And with a few taps, swipes and no additional conversation or explanations, his hands extended towards hers, offering her to take the phone.

And she did, not questioning and simply looking down on his hands, her fingers sliding lightly over his as she took the device and threw it a glance.

He inspected her face, and wondered what would happen. A feeling of uneasiness had spread all across his gut, and he simply waited for her verdict. For anything really, as he saw a little crease forming between her eyebrows, indicating she had understood what she was looking at.

“These are my messages..” she quietly muttered, observing the screen with extra care as realization suddenly hit like a train and she stared back at him with a puzzled look.

“I thought that number was…”

“Abandoned? Yeah, not really,” he scratched the back of his head looking away in embarrassment.

He watched her from the corners of his eyes though, and saw she was clueless on what to say and what to do next. He didn’t blame her at all - he was quite puzzled himself in theses types of situations, this one being an extremely unusual case. But at least she hadn’t ran away from him yet, which was somewhat comforting.. Right?

“I’m.. I’m sorry for never giving you a response,” he looked back at her with an unsure glance, yet found comfort in the way she simply listened, without interrupting or anything. He was a stranger, but she could see through him with her beautiful, intelligent eyes, and knew he meant no harm and was nervous, having troubles at explaining himself. So she simply listened.

“I wanted to. But I had schedules..” he looked somewhere away, snapping back and clarifying after a moment, “Working schedules, that is.”

“And I kind of forgot. Until the evening you started typing a whole stream of messages.. My phone kept buzzing, and I read it all, wanting to type something in return. But then I felt.. I don’t know.. Quite ashamed, or maybe even awkward to respond? You had poured your whole heart out there, and it would’ve been stupid to just type back something like “Yeah, nice story. I’m Jongup, by the way, and not a non-existent friend-”

“Non-existent friend..” he saw her recognizing the name, and felt rather stupid for having said that. Looks like she had a rather good memory, and it had just been sparked to recall all the little things he had treated her with.

“Are you behind all of the small surprises?” a mix or utter surprise and shock alongside mild happiness was displayed on her face, and he simply wanted to hide away as he felt his cheeks turning a bright shade or red.

“Well, kind of..”

“This is so.. unbelievably absurd,” he heard her chuckling, and suddenly felt the strong desire to wrap this whole explanation up for once and forever, sparing himself the painful mild awkwardness.

“Listen,” his hand unconsciously reached for hers, and she mildly flinched, yet didn’t pull away as she saw he was too far away from this world to react properly anyways, “I know it sounds creepy, but every time you were typing something, I was sitting on the other end of the line and reading. I found out a lot about you that way, and.. Figured you’re such a nice person. I really like you, actually, and all these issues you have to face all the time that constantly keep bringing you down aren’t worth it.”

“You’re so kind and so nice, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise,” he was looking right into her eyes, making her blush as he spoke shamelessly, pouring everything out of his heart, saying the truth when it need to be said, “And since you’d been having a hard time, I figured I could brighten it at least somehow.. I mean, you sounded happy about the flowers and everything, so I just continued doing it..”

“And why did you never tell me you were there, reading it all?” she said, and he suddenly glanced at their intertwined hands, pulling his away shyly and causing her to chuckle lightly.

“I was, I don’t know.. Anxious to come off weird. Or scare you away.”

“Scare me away?” she suddenly giggled, and he felt how she pinched his cheek a littleonly seconds later, “You’re cute and not scary.”

“Well.. Y-you wouldn’t be able to know that if I’m b-behind a phone screen..” he found himself stuttering at her braveness and the way she wasn’t ashamed to do what she desired, “But yeah, I’m not scary. Just a regular guy, making bad decisions and good mistakes.”

“Good mistakes?” she questioned, starting to walk off. He felt a light tug to his sleeve before her fingers disconnected from his coat, and took it as an indicator that she wanted him to come along as well.

“Yeah,” he chuckled, tucking his hands into his jeans pockets and following closely, “We were out with friends that night, feeling quite tipsy. Thought it would be funny to write our numbers on paper and let them sail with the wind to see if someone would find them and contact us afterwards. So, like a "message in a bottle” type of thing, just less well thought-out and exciting.“

"Sounds like fun-”

“I’m not an alcoholic, by the way. That was just an occasional drink,” she laughed out loud at that, seeing how he wanted to come off as truly nice to her and wanted to leave a good first impression desperately, and simply nodded in agreement.

“J-jongup, right?”

“Yes. I’m Moon Jongup.”

“That’s a cute name, actually.”

“Thank you. Your’s better though.”

And they walked the night away, silently chuckling as the moon shone above their heads, highlighting the shadows their frames cast on the pavement in the most beautiful ways. He was glad she didn’t think of him as a complete weirdo, and found himself liking her a lot, actually. The mere sight of her picture perfect features had him mesmerized, and he scolded himself for behaving like an animal when his mouth started slightly watering at the sight of her nicely shaped lips moving and causing beautiful sounds to come out of her mouth that unconsciously crawled right through his ears, but refused to leave his mind completely once they had gotten in.

He’d indeed imagined her to be amazing. But this had topped all expectations.

And by the end of the night, he was sure - this weird and fuzzy feeling he felt at the pit of his stomach was indeed attraction. Attraction towards someone who was far from being a stranger to him, even though he was a stranger to her.

“And how comes you found me today?”

He turned to her, knowing she’d just said she had to get going and would be away in minutes, and smiled his brightest smile, causing her to melt a little at how genuinely mood lifting his smile happened to be.

“You typed where you were. And after I’d read about all of your troubles.. You know, I didn’t want you to feel alone..”

“I most definitely didn’t tonight,” she said, and with that, walked up to give him an embrace that lasted way too little.

“It’s weird, but I like it,” she whispered, face buried in his coat, and was gone within seconds, leaving him to stand alone and process all that had happened.

“Please, respond from now on.. Existent friend,” he heard her voice rather faintly in the distance, and answered too silent for her to hear, rather saying it to himself.

“I sure will.”

And he did now every now and them, smiling as she encouraged him to tell her more about himself, since he knew all he needed to know about her for the start, but she was clueless on many things regarding him. The tiny surprises never stopped, and neither did her gratefulness for them. Late night walks had become a regular thing, and even thought Youngjae and Himchan’s teasing could become close to unbearable at times, he knew his never-ending indefinite suffering was worth it.

He wasn’t just attracted to her. He really, really liked her, and since a thing he didn’t like was waiting around for too long, he decided to let her know just after a month of actually being acquainted, using another bouquet of flowers to send a message instead having to type it out.

She looked at the neat handwriting on the card, and smiled down on it.

“Who keeps sending you all these flowers?” a friend of hers asked, and she simply laughed in return.

“Someone I really like,” she traced her fingers over the location written on the note, and looked at her friend, “Someone who has become the most beautiful coincidence in my life so far.”

And as she came by to meet him that evening, dressed to impress in her prettiest clothes even though her personality alone already made his heart skip a beat, he didn’t greet her with a “hello”, with a wave of his hand or a hug that lasted a little too long to be considered simply friendly appropriate. He greeted her with a question that mattered to him instead.

“Can I kiss you?”

And all she could do was give him a shy nod before she felt his frame pressing against hers lightly, his arms wrapping around her tightly as he leaned in and lingered before her lips for a little, cautiously pecking them once a second later.

But once was far from being enough, and soon she found her hands trailing to rest on his cheeks, tracing circles in a relaxing and calm fashion as she felt herself being lifted up to heaven. Her feet did in fact disconnect from the ground a little as he pulled her up, leaving her to barely reach the ground on her tippy toes as he supported all of her weight on his bare arms. Yet that was of no importance as he was giving her kiss after kiss, going at a soft, slow pace, making sure it was comfortable and pleasurable beyond anything else. But he had to admit that he was faced with a hard time when holding her like that. The mere touch of her lips had already made his knees weak, and he had to use all his strength not to fall apart and collapse right there and then. Who knew she was this damn intoxicating and addicting?

“You look stunning,” he complimented as he pulled away, and she chuckled, hiding her face in the crook of his neck immediately.

“I’m blushing already, Jongup-ah. Don’t. I’m not used to this.”

“I will continue nonetheless, sorry not sorry. From now on even more, since you have to get used to it. That’s how it’s going to be now.”

And as they walked off that night, with the stars once again shining bright above them and lighting the way, she was glad about all that had happened. With his fingers tangled in between hers, and his calming voice throwing out savage or sometimes simply adorable commentary, there was nothing more she could ever wish for. She knew there were still a thousand different things she didn’t know about him, yet that didn’t bother her, as she believed she’d find out along the way. And she knew it was all unusually absurd, but couldn’t help but take his sudden presence in her life as a sing.

She glanced up at him and made him throw her a questioning look.

“Want to say something?” he questioned, and saw her considering, just to nod afterwards, “You’ve got my whole attention. I’m listening.”

“Thank you for never telling me off and reading through all my babbling,” she blurted out, and made him smile, “And thank you for caring for me, and eventually coming to check on me back then. I..”

“..you?” he chuckled after the little pause she’d made, as he wanted to know the continuing from the depths of his heart.

“I like you a lot, Jongup-ah. And I’m so grateful to have met you.”

And that’s all he’d been wanting to hear for a while, so he smiled in return, and, just because he could, leaned down to press another quick, loving peck on her lips, leaving her to let out a soft sound of disapproval as his lips disconnected from hers a little too soon.

“I like you too, (Y/N). You’re the best coincidence that had ever happened to me,” he chuckled, and wrapped his arms around her, figuring she should get all she ever wanted. Which, in this case, was a dose of him. And he was more than ready to offer it all to her, leaning back down to seal the unnecessary gap between himself and her with yet another kiss that displayed it all.

He was beyond grateful. And he truly wanted to try this out and stay with her.

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