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saythenametotheworld · 2 months

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Message in a Bottle [2]

Genre: strangers to lovers; fluff; slow burn Pairing: Choi Seungcheol x Reader Warnings: mature themes, suggestive Notes: 14k words, song prompt was Message in a Bottle by Taylor Swift. The love this received was overwhelming. thanks sm. Synopsis: What's next for you and Seungcheol? You have no idea yet, but boy you're so eager to find out. Taglist: @brownsugarbaybee, @shuamorollss, @kpopficenjoyer

[Part 1]

Dinner was just okay. For you, at least. Everyone else seems to be having a good time. You’re not trying to be a spoilsport, but you can’t help but space out whenever you remember the encounter with Seungcheol earlier that night. It excites and enrages you at the same time. Part of you wanted to drag Seungcheol out so you could talk properly. Another part wants him to disappear and never show himself again.

“He’s in the market. A little older, but he’s a great man. You can try shooting your shot,” the professor joked after one student asked if Seungcheol was married.

“Tell us, Seungcheol-nim; are you seeing anyone right now?” Sua chimed.

Seungcheol chuckled nervously, rubbing his hands over his thighs. “No, I’m not.”

His response was met with squeals from all the girls except you. When your gazes met, you raised an eyebrow at him as if to ask him what he was looking at you for.

“But I already have someone I like,” he added, not tearing his eyes away from you.

The girls squealed again, giddy and taken by the conversation. You, on the other hand, were looking away, trying to calm your heart. Seungcheol saw you get flustered but you rolled your eyes at him and started drinking with the others.

It was about 9pm when everyone decided it was time to go. The professor had to leave early, so Seungcheol—despite not wanting to do it, had to drive his uncle to his house. He couldn’t even say goodbye to you because he didn’t want to raise suspicions.

When your classmates suggested that you go for drinks in a nearby pub, you joined them intending to loosen up. But then your male classmates began hitting on you which was annoying, especially since one of them can't seem to take 'no' for an answer.

“I said,” you barked at the guy who kept badgering you with annoying questions, “LEAVE. ME. ALONE.”

You turned to finish your conversation with Haeyoon but your jerk of a classmate jeered. “Why are you being such a snob? Do you think you’re so pretty because I’m flirting with you? Bitch, you’re just another girl in a pool or hundreds. I can find others way prettier than you’ll ever dream to be.”

“I can find others bleh bleh bleh,” you mocked, rolling your eyes. "Then go find them and leave me alone."

"Crude ass bitch."

"Why this little—" You stood up from your seat and looked around in search of any security personnel. When you spotted one, you pointed at him and shouted, “Excuse me! This guy is harassing us!”

“What? Me?”

The security quickly came over holding a baton and being followed by service staff. Your classmate was escorted out and while you felt proud of yourself, your other classmates seemed unimpressed.

“Damn it, y/n. You’re such a bore.”

“He was just joking around. No need to be so sensitive.”

These people are so wrong to contest with you when your liquid courage is in effect. “If you can’t stand it, then leave,” you countered, smirking.

“Yeah! Get your enabler asses out of here,” some of your female friends jeered.

“Go to a club or something!” Dahee, another close friend of yours, hollered.

Several of them started leaving but most of the girls stayed behind, drinking the night away and looking to get wasted. Your table was rowdy with laughter, giggles, games, and occasional gossip. By midnight, you were starting to feel numb so you stayed seated, barely participating in the games anymore.

“Y/n?” You looked up when you heard someone call your name. Squinting a little, you tried to recognize the man before you. “You’re pretty drunk. Do you need me to take you home?”

“What the hell? I thought you were him,” you pouted, rolling your eyes at Jinwoo. He just laughed.

“Who do you mean?” he questioned, holding your hand. “Come on now before you get completely wasted.”

“Jinwoo,” one of your friends called. “What are you doing here?”

Jinwoo scratched his nape. “Someone told me you guys were here so I came over.”

Haeyoon tilted her head. “Really? Come join us, then. It looks like y/n isn’t ready to leave yet.”

You grinned and raised your hand. “Absolutely not, love,” you chimed, taking the glass she was handing to you.

Jinwoo gave up trying to convince you and stayed to join you instead. At first, he was fun to have around. He was funny and joined in on the games. But a few drinks later, you noticed he was getting handsy so you tried to move away.

“What’s wrong?” he asked after you scooted away from him for the third time.

“Go away, Jinwoo,” you told him before standing up. You steadied your pace, keeping your eyes locked on the bathroom sign across the room. Just as you were about to reach it, Jinwoo caught up to you and helped you stand steadily.

“Let me help you,” he offered, placing his hand on your waist and the other on your shoulder. The contact made you shudder so you pushed him back.

“I’m fine, Jinwoo.”

He chuckled. “No, you’re not. Come on, just let me help.”

This time, he grabbed your waist with both hands. You squirmed, trying to get away but you couldn’t because the alcohol had weakened your limbs.

“Get off me, you–” You punched his face but it was too weak to do anything. He trapped your hands in his and pulled you in a tight hug.

“It’s okay, y/n. I got you,” he whispered in your ear, giving you goosebumps all over. He then grabbed a handful of your ass and you were so horrified that you gathered every energy in your body to push him away.

“Go away you asshole!” you hollered, nearly sobbing.

“Hey!” said Seungcheol, landing a heavy punch on Jinwoo’s face that sent him staggering backward. You fell on the floor, knees weakened as you watched Seungcheol being restrained and other people helping Jinwoo up. Your friends heard the commotion and they rushed over to help you up.

“What the fuck is your problem?” Jinwoo fumed, the corner of his mouth bleeding where Seungcheol punched him.

“You stay away from her!” Seungcheol hollered back, trying to attack but he was being restrained. “How dare you touch her, you fucking prick!”

“Fuck you!”

Seungcheol hissed. “No, fuck you!”

Everything else happened abruptly. Police were called and they were both taken to the station for questioning. As you sat with your friends in the waiting area, you listened to Jinwoo's rant about how Seungcheol attacked him and how he was the victim and Seungcheol should be locked up.

“Sir, no one here is getting locked up except you,” the police officer deadpanned. “This isn’t about physical assault. It’s a sexual harassment complaint.”

“Sexual harassment?” he repeated mockingly. “Who? Her?” he pointed at you. “I never harassed her. She was drunk and she was being clingy to me.”

“That’s not what the witnesses said.”

“Well, they’re all lying.”

The police officer rolled his eyes as if he was getting bored. “Are you sure you want to do this? My colleagues are obtaining CCTV footage from the establishment as we speak. I wonder what that video will tell us.”

Jinwoo closed his mouth and glared at you. You glared back, disgusted. He then looked at Seungcheol and then faced the officer. “What about me? I was assaulted. He attacked me.”

The officer shook his head as he toggled to his computer. “If you want, you can file a complaint against him. But if I were you, I wouldn’t dream of it. He was in the wrong but he acted out of protection for Miss y/n here. Plus he’s a lawyer. Don’t push your luck.”

Jinwoo swallowed upon hearing that Seungcheol was a lawyer. Seungcheol, on the other hand, looked at him with an arrogant expression, enjoying the sight of Jinwoo crumbling beside him.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Seungcheol asked for the nth time tonight. You pulled his coat tighter around your body and nodded. “That asshole.”

“Thanks for coming, Cheol,” you told him, smiling sheepishly.

“Yeah, thanks for coming Seungcheol-nim,” Haeyoon added. “How did you know where we were though?”

Seungcheol smiled. “I heard from someone.”

“Gosh, I still can’t believe Jinwoo did that,” Dahee mused. “I know he had a huge crush on you but I didn’t think he’d harass you like that.”

“Right? He didn’t look like someone who would do that. Was he just pretending to be a nice guy all this time?” Haeyoon sighed.

Dahee gasped in horror. “Guys, I think he did well hiding his true self.”

While your friends shuddered at Jinwoo pretending to be a good guy, Seungcheol tugged your elbow. “Should I drive you back to your apartment? Yoori and Seolhee must be worried.”

“Yeah, they’d probably freak out if they found out,” you chuckled, sighing. “Should I just keep it a secret?”

“You can, but for now, you should get some rest,” he suggested and you nodded in approval.

Your friend heard your conversation and interjected. “I’m sorry, Seungcheol-nim but we can’t let you take her home.”

“No, we can’t. No offense but we won’t feel at ease if we leave her with you. Especially after tonight.”

You chuckled. “Girls, I’m fine. I know him personally.”

“Are you sure? You personally knew Jinwoo too.”

Seungcheol cut in. “How about I drive everyone home?”

And he did. He drove you and your friends to your homes, all while keeping up with your friends’ questions. He told them you were a close friend of his when they asked how you knew each other. At some point, you tried to mediate and get them to stop being inquisitive but they kept going. You were able to relax only after Seungcheol had dropped everyone else and it was only just the two of you in the car.

You leaned your head on the backrest of your seat, closing your eyes to help alleviate your ringing headache. Seeing your tired expression, Seungcheol reached to touch your shoulder.

"Are you alright? Don't worry, we're almost at your apartment."

You hummed. "Thanks for coming, Cheol. But how did you know we were there?"

Seungcheol chuckled shyly. "I, uh... I went back to the restaurant and asked around until someone told me they heard you were going to that pub."

"You asked around? I thought you were a lawyer, not a detective?" you quipped and he laughed.

“You did well protecting yourself back there,” he told you, smiling as he squeezed your shoulder before letting go. “I’ll make sure to put that guy on the record.”

You scoffed, thinking that was too much of a punishment considering nothing major happened. But you didn’t try to change his mind because you too, want to make sure Jinwoo regrets his actions.

“I always believed I was a good judge of character,” you chuckled, shaking your head. “Damn him.”

Seungcheol just scoffed as he pulled over by the sidewalk in front of your apartment. “Can we talk tomorrow?”

You opened your eyes, peeked outside the window, and then looked at Seungcheol with a smile. Nodding your head, you said, “Okay. Let’s do that.”

Seungcheol smiled back, reaching for your hand and squeezing it gently. “Come on. Let’s get you to bed.”

You were half-asleep as you entered the apartment complex. For a while, the house was filled with questions and worried expressions from Seolhee and Yoori. You’re not sure what Seungcheol told them but they eventually stopped nagging and brought you in to get some rest.

When you woke up the next morning, your head was so painful that you feared it would break. As you tried to rise out of bed, you found yourself sniffing and realized you had caught a cold.

“Argh,” you groaned, falling back into bed when you couldn’t find the strength to get up.

Luckily, it was the weekend and you had no classes so you stayed in bed all day, watching a romance flick and eating your sickness away. Seolhee took good care of you, although she never stopped nagging and scolding you. You took it all in stride, happy to receive her help without asking for it. You have yet to tell them about the incident with Jinwoo and while you have no intention to keep it a secret, you decided to put it off for later. As impulsive as they are, you feared Seungcheol would end up lawyering them both out of jail for physical assault.

It was almost dinnertime when Yoori arrived with some news. "You have a guest," she announced as soon as she walked into the apartment. You craned your neck to look in the foyer and found Seungcheol towing behind Yoori. Then you remembered that you made plans with him last night.

“Cheol?” you called out, surprised. He smiled sheepishly, showing a small wave. You then noticed the paper bag in his hand as you strode over to greet him. “What are you doing here?”

“Me?” He pointed to himself. “Oh, I heard you were sick so I thought I’d drop by. Here.”

“How did you know?” you asked as you took the paper bag of food and another bag from a drugstore from his hands.

“Yoori told me. I asked her because I was worried after you wouldn’t respond to my texts so… yeah,” he explained, flattening his lips into a shy smile.

“Well, don’t just stand there,” Yoori called out. “Come in and join us for dinner.”

“No, I’m fine. I have dinner plans with my parents.”

“Are you sure? You should just eat since you’re already here.”

Seungcheol beamed. “I’d love to, Yoori, but I have to go.”

Yoori shrugged. “Alright, then. Maybe next time,” she said before heading to the kitchen.

You walked Seungcheol out of the door and bade him goodbye. “You didn’t have to come, you know.”

“I know,” he chimed, his face stricken with worry. “I just wanted to see how you’re doing.”

You looked down at your feet, attempting to hide your flaring cheeks. “Well, you’ve seen me. I’m fine. It’s just a cold.”

“Get some rest, okay? Let’s talk soon.”

You nodded, only glancing at him ever so briefly. “I’ll text you back.”

“Alright, y/n.”

“Alright, Cheol.”

“Alright…”

When you went back inside, you pouted at Yoori and said, “Don’t you care about my heart at all?”

“Why do you think I told him you were sick?”

“Why?”

Yoori snickered. “To see how he would react about it, why else?”

You rolled your eyes at her before sitting on your place at the table. Then you caught Seolhee's gaze and realized she'd been staring at you. "What?"

Seolhee tutted and shook her head in disappointment. "You forgave him too quickly."

"So what if she did? They both like each other."

"He made her ugly cry," Seolhee reminded. "You don't easily forgive someone who makes you ugly cry."

Yoori was shaking her head as she placed a plate on the table. "As long as he's willing to make up for it, he's fine."

"Wasn't it you who said you'll kill him?"

"Guys," you interjected. Your roommates fell quiet and you were able to eat in peace.

A whole month. That was how much time you had to get over Seungcheol. Although you didn’t completely erase your feelings for him, you were doing a good job getting over him. Just as you were about to move on, he had to come back and do this. He had to show up and ask you to try again. How many times has it been? Each time you find a reason to stop, he always comes strutting back in like he rightfully belonged in your life. You thought this time would be the last, but then he does it again.

“I guess the universe wants to see us together,” you mumbled while you sat on your bed, scrolling through your phone gallery and looking at the pictures you took with Seungcheol. “Did it have to be this complicated, though?”

You tapped on his face on the screen, aggressively thumbing his head so the photo zoomed in and out several times. You were doing that when your phone rang and you accidentally tapped the End button to Seungcheol’s call. You gasped, shrieked, and dropped your phone in panic.

Steps thundered on the floor from outside before Yoori’s head peeked through your door. “What happened?”

You pouted at your friend. “Cheol called and I declined by accident.”

Worry left Yoori’s face almost immediately, replaced with that of deadpanned annoyance. “This bitch.”

Yoori left your room just as your phone started ringing again. You picked it up quickly and checked to see if it was Seungcheol. When you confirmed it, you cleared your throat and waited a few seconds before answering.

“Hello?”

“Hi,” he greeted back, his voice reverberating beautifully in your ears. You had no idea you missed it until you heard it again.

“Hi, Cheol. What’s up?” you replied, hoping nonchalance would hide your excitement. “Sorry I hung up on your first call. I tapped the wrong button,” you told him, hoping he wouldn’t ask why. You’re not about to tell him you pressed the wrong button because you were giddily tapping on his picture!

“It’s alright. I figured that much,” he chimed. There’s a lilt in his voice, making you assume he was in good spirits at the moment. “What are you doing?”

“Me? I just finished getting ready for bed.” You tucked yourself under your blanket, basking in the warmth.

Seungcheol hummed. “Your meds?”

“Done.”

“With lots of water?”

You rolled your eyes, but you were smiling from ear to ear. “Yes, Doctor Cheol.”

He chuckled from the other line. “Alright. Good girl.”

Your heart leaped. “What am I, a child?” He just laughed. You could hear faint music from his line. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing much. I’m at home on my laptop,” he replied and then chuckled. "Million Dollar Smile, huh? Who came up with that?" he added.

Your brows creased, confused. "A million what?"

"A Million Dollar Smile."

"I don't get it."

"That's your title. Apparently, your peers call you the Beauty with a Million-Dollar Smile."

"Me? They call me that?"

"Oh, you didn't know?"

You shuddered, the hairs on your arms raising. "That's so creepy."

Seungcheol's laughter filled your ears. "I think they meant it as a compliment."

You shook your shoulders and head to get rid of the cringe feeling. "Well, they're creepy."

"You seriously didn't know? There are plenty of articles about you in the university forum. Most of them mentioned your title."

You laughed incredulously. "I don't hop on the forum and look up articles about me. That sounds so narcissis— wait are you reading about me? Right now?"

"I am," he replied nonchalantly. "They write about you a lot, you know. All good things. I didn't know you were an athlete. Tennis?"

"I'm not," you chuckled, rolling on the other side of your bed. "I only played for the sports meet because no one in my department wanted to."

“We should play sometimes.”

You rolled your eyes, albeit he couldn’t see it. “Do you even know how many plans you’ve made with me already?”

He chuckled. “Have they all piled up? We should probably do something about it soon.”

“There. Another plan.”

Seungcheol laughed from the other line and you couldn’t help smiling at the image of him in your head, laughing wholeheartedly. “Get well soon, y/n. Let’s catch up on everything we missed.”

“Alright.”

“I missed you.”

You froze, dumbfounded by his unexpected confession. For a minute, there was nothing but silence between the two of you, as you were carefully considering the correct approach to his statement.

“I’m sorry, y/n. I was…” he paused, sighing. “I was wrong. So wrong. I was clueless. I had no idea what I wanted. I ended up pushing you away. For that, I’m very sorry.”

“It’s okay, Cheol,” you told him softly. It’s not, obviously. But you didn’t want to dwell on it anymore. You only want to focus on the now and see where it takes you. Finally, Seungcheol was clear with his intentions. What else should stop you from doing the same?

There’s no reason to decline his affection, especially when you know you want it too. You wished for this day to come, you craved it, prayed for it, and hoped it would happen despite the impossibility of it. Now that it’s here, on a silver platter, willingly being served to you, why should you decline it? Your heart is fragile, it breaks so easily but it heals as quickly. The best thing about this heartbreak is that it was Seungcheol himself who was trying to mend the broken pieces back together.

You welcomed Monday with a bad headache. No, you're not sick anymore but rumors are going around about you and that was what’s making your head throb terribly. People at school had been talking about you dating an older guy, and allegedly breaking off his previous relationship. It was posted by The Gossiper, a notorious gossip monger in your university who operates on anonymity. You have no idea where or who tipped them but the boys at school who used to try every means to sweep you off your feet are now calling you a hoe in the online university forum, while some girls are now considering you an enemy for not being a "girl's girl". Of course, rumors are only rumors, and you don't give a damn about the people talking crap behind your back, but it was still a terrible situation to deal with on the first day of the week.

"By older guy, are they referring to Seungcheol-nim?" Haeyoon asked during lunch. You placed your chopsticks back on your tray and started massaging your temples.

"Really, Haeyoon? Right in front of my special jajjangmyeon?" you groaned, pretending to be offended. "You couldn't wait till we get a taste before spoiling everything?"

Haeyoon pressed her hands together and bowed. "I'm so sorry, special jajjangmyeon."

You and your friends laughed as you started eating. Sua, however, wants to know more about the rumors.

"Seungcheol-nim? Is he the older guy from the Gossiper's post?" asked Sua, looking curious.

Dahee sniggered. "If y/n is seeing anyone, we'd be the first to know. Right, y/n?"

At that moment, Yoori appeared next to Dahee, placing her tray on the table as she shook her head. "Wrong. We'll find out first because we're flatmates."

"Ugh, what a show-off," Dahee sneered, nudging Yoori's arm as the latter sat next to her.

Sua tapped on the table to get your attention. "The anonymous post said they saw you with the older guy though. They also said they knew him and he broke up with his girlfriend because of you."

"Don't believe everything you see online, Sua," Dahee chided gently, giving Sua a stern gaze.

"So it's not true, then? The rumor?" Sua questioned so you shook your head in response.

"No," you replied curtly. If people you barely know are curious about the truthfulness of the rumors, of course, your friends would be too. Still, you don't see the need to explain to anyone why and how the gossip in the hallways is false. Saying it isn't true should be enough. Sure you can divulge details if you want to, but you won't because you are entitled to your privacy and so is Seungcheol. You don't want everything that went down between the two of you to become a topic for other people's mouths to feast on.

"Then what’s going on between you and Seungcheol-nim?" Sua pressed on, earning her a few annoyed looks from your other friends.

"None of your business, girl," said Yoori, placing a piece of sliced orange on Sua's tray. "Stop asking and just eat."

There are reasons why Sua seemed like she was being alienated from your friend group. First, you weren't friends with her in the first place. She just started following Dahee around and casually joined your circle. Second, you have a feeling Sua is spilling private details about you and your friends to other people. No one was able to prove it yet, but ever since she joined your circle, you've been hearing other people talk about things that only you and your friends were supposed to know. It might all be just an assumption and you could be wrong about her, but she's a writer for the school paper which also handles the gossip account in the university's online forum.

“Hey.” Yoori nudged you. “We’re going to a concert tonight, me and Seolhee. Would you like to come?”

You shook your head. “I am…” you trailed off, hesitating. “...going out tonight. I made plans. Have fun though.”

Yoori flashed a menacing smile, making you laugh and say, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

She shrugged, still sporting the smile. “When was the last time you made plans with a guy?”

“How do you even know it’s a guy?”

“Roommates for three years, friends for five. I know you inside and out, y/n,” she teased and it made you giggle, shyly looking away and touching your blushing cheeks. Yoori cooed at you, “Don’t you think you forgave him too quickly?”

“Did I?” you asked, pondering on the question. Indeed, it was such a quick forgiveness. He didn’t even need to put in too much effort to win you back. But then again, you know what you want: him. Why would you prolong the process when you can just open your arms and welcome him wholeheartedly? It may be foolish, and there’s a chance that you may be making wrong decisions. But weirdly enough, you were willing to take the gamble and bet your whole heart on it.

Seungcheol’s smile was ear-to-ear when he saw you outside the CoffeeHouse. You couldn’t hide your delight either, waving at him as you walked to where he was waiting for you.

“How were your classes?” was the first thing he asked you and it made you roll your eyes and groan.

“Ugh, really? That’s what you want to talk about? I should have gone to the concert,” you retorted, chucking your phone into your bag.

“What concert?” he asked as he opened the car door for you. You got into the car and waited until he was in the driver’s seat before answering.

“It’s by a band we like. Seolhee and Yoori are going.” You pulled the seatbelt over your body and tried to lock it but your backpack on your lap is making it hard for you to reach the lock.

Seungcheol leaned over, surprising you with his sudden movement and how close he had gotten to you in a split second. He locked the seatbelt with ease, withdrawing to sit properly like he didn’t just give you a minor heart attack.

“Did you want to go? You should’ve told me. We could’ve just rescheduled,” he stated, eyes focused on the road the moment he turned his engine on.

You cleared your throat. “It would be fun, but I didn’t feel like it. Besides, we had plans.”

“Right,” he replied, gleaming. “So, what’s the plan?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, what’s on your mind? What should we do tonight?”

You scoffed, eyeing him with furrowed brows. “Are you telling me you don’t have a real plan?”

Seungcheol chuckled nervously.

“Why did you ask me out if you didn’t know what we should do?”

“To be honest, I didn’t think you’d accept the invitation. So, right now, I’m just improvising.”

“Improvising?” you repeated, chuckling. “Doesn’t seem like you at all.”

“I know,” he gave up. “You’ll have to forgive me, this is kind of a new territory because I’ve only known spontaneity when I met you.”

Your jaw dropped but you closed it again before he could catch you. Then you glanced outside the car, your hands over your mouth out of sheer shock. You don’t know why he said it like it was an embarrassing thing to say because the effect on you was entirely different. You’re realizing right then that Choi Seungcheol can sweep you off your feet so easily without even trying too hard.

You exhaled and snickered at him. “Your rizz is quite something, Choi Seungcheol.”

“Rizz?” he questioned, briefly glancing at you.

You gawked at him and then remembered that he’s the technologically challenged lawyer who’s almost thirty. “It’s nothing. You won’t get it.”

Seungcheol shrugged. “I’m pretty smart if you explain it properly.”

“It’s slang,” you began but then hesitated. “You know what, don’t worry about it. I meant it as a compliment.”

He chuckled. “Well, thank you very much. Your rizz is quite something too.”

His reply made you laugh and from then on, you two have never stopped laughing in the car on your way to nowhere.

Your first date with Seungcheol went like that, driving around the city and eating takeout in the car. As the night grew later and the streets stretched longer, you noticed that you’d reached the outskirts of the city, so you rolled the window down, pushing your hand out to feel the cool air. Seungcheol noticed this and smiled.

“What time is your bedtime today?” he asked so you glanced at the time on the dashboard. 11:45 pm.

“It’s a little early, but we should probably head back,” you told him. You didn’t want to go home just yet, but you have class tomorrow and you were certain Seungcheol has to go to work early too.

“Alright,” he replied, slowing down as he prepared to turn back.

You spotted a cafe up ahead so you tapped on his arm. “Later, after we go to that cafe.”

And you did. You went inside the cafe, admired the warm ambiance, and took a few pictures to commemorate it. Seungcheol was reluctant, but you managed to convince him to pose for one picture only.

“Old people are spoilsports,” you complained jokingly, feigning disappointment as you checked how the photo came out. While you were looking down at your phone, you felt an arm around your shoulder, making you glance at it only to find Seungcheol raising his phone camera as he pulled you closer to him.

“Smile, y/n,” he lilted. You panicked at the proximity, but you managed to squeeze out a big grin for the photo. As quickly as it took to capture the photo, Seungcheol parted from you, smiling as he stared at his phone screen for a minute.

You turned away, touching your warm cheeks and hoping you were not blushing too much. Then you cleared your throat and side-eyed him. “I thought you didn’t know how to use a phone?” you quipped, hoping humor would hide your glee.

“I never said that,” he insisted. “And, hey, come on. It’s a selfie. Even babies know how to take one.”

You snickered, pleased to have riled him up even jokingly. He approached the counter with you behind him. After telling the barista his order, he turned to you to ask, “Spanish latte with oat milk?”

“Yeah,” you replied, nodding with a smile. He gave the barista your order too and since there were only a handful of customers, Seungcheol was told he could just wait by the counter for your orders.

Seungcheol was all smiles when he approached your table with a tray. As he pushed your coffee towards you on the table, you eyed his iced coffee that was so dark you could barely see the ice in it.

“Aren’t you cold?” you asked.

Seungcheol understood what you meant by the question. “I am but I like cold coffee.”

“I can see that,” you chuckled, blowing the steam from your hot mug. “But why?”

“I haven’t told you yet?” he wondered and you shrugged in response. “Hmmh, I thought I told you everything.”

“Not nearly,” you jeered. “You rarely shared anything about yourself.”

“I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure I told you things I haven’t told other people.”

You nodded. “Yeah, but you haven’t told me the most basic things about you. You know, things people usually talk about when getting to know someone. Your favorite color or food. Your family, your workplace, and things like that. You never even told me you had a pet. And,” you paused, pointed at his coffee, and added, “why you like your coffee like that.”

He looked at his coffee and then back to you. “I didn’t realize that.”

“It’s alright. You don’t have to tell me anything. I was just under the impression that whenever you’re with me, you tend to detach yourself from your life outside our friendship. Like you’re just Cheol, not the Lawyer Choi Seungcheol from a very wealthy family and works in a very big law firm and has a pet he calls Kkuma.”

“I do, don’t I?” he gleamed, like he was only now realizing that fact. “I think you’re right.”

“About everything?”

“Yeah, about everything.”

You chuckled, passing it all off as a joke. But Seungcheol was serious, and so for the entire time that you sat in that cafe, he talked about himself and everything you needed to know about him.

Friday.

“Can’t we sue them for defamation? Maybe cyber-bullying or something like that?”

You walked in on Yoori and Seolhee scrolling through a laptop in the living room. As you watched their concerned expressions, you went to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. Seolhee spotted you then.

“There you are!” she sighed, looking like she just had the most stressful day of her life so far. “The Gossiper is at it again.”

“What is it this time?” you deadpanned. For the entire week, every single day, The Gossiper always had ‘something new’ to write about you. First, it was about your rumored beau. Second, your past relationships were brought up. And then they started doubting your good grades and good relationship with your professors, calling it unusual and suspicious after revealing that your parents were legacies—as if a good half of the student body aren’t legacies themselves. Just yesterday, they claimed that your mother’s cram school isn’t inclusive and accepts only the rich kids. At this point, nothing they write can surprise you anymore with its incredulousness.

“I can’t even bring myself to read it again,” Seolhee replied, pushing the laptop towards you when you sat with them.

What’s the truth about Miss Million-Dollar-Smile’s tutoring jobs?

According to the article, a close confidant of yours told them that your part-time tutoring gigs during your sophomore year were actually escort jobs, adding that your clients aren’t middle schoolers but their rich fathers. You were so appalled that your jaw hung open the entire time you were reading the article. Yoori had to prompt you because you were staring at the screen with such an expression.

“Crazy, isn’t it?” Seolhee commented.

“Crazy? It’s not just crazy,” Yoori scoffed, exasperated. “They’ve gone too far! This Gossiper, whoever this is, they need jail time.”

People are now calling you two-faced, claiming you had been pretending to be a decent girl all this time. Some were saying you were hiding behind a righteous, goody-two-shoes persona. Not to mention the amount of people calling your slurs like a hoe, a social climber, homewrecker, the list just goes on.

“Why are they so obsessed with you all of a sudden? Honestly, where is this aggression coming from?” Yoori added. Truth be told, you don't care. You're about to graduate anyway. As long as they don’t do any real damage to you, you don’t care what they say.

“Let them be,” you told your friends, smiling meekly. “Who knows, maybe if we ignore them, they’ll leave me alone.”

“What about all these people commenting about you and calling you names?”

You shrugged. “Let them talk. I’ll see it as a form of charity. Their lives are boring and so unhappy that they’d rather talk shit about someone they barely know. At least I get to help make their days interesting.”

“You’re nuts,” Yoori exhaled. “Seriously, you’re so unbelievably optimistic. That’s not normal.”

You grinned at her. “You know what they say, there’s a silver lining in every difficult situation. You just need to find it.”

“And who said that exactly?” Seolhee asked so you turned to her and shrugged.

“Me.” You snickered. “I made it up based on a very common thought that’s been cited hundreds or thousands of times already by probably millions of people. My mind is so impressive.”

Your friends laughed and seeing their smiling faces eased your heart. To be completely honest, the backlash you were getting scared you. You tried your best to not care but little by little, it has started to get to you. Before walking down the halls, you first need to take a minute to think, calm your nerves, and condition your mind to ignore the murmurs and the looks you keep getting from people you barely even know. As much as you look forward to another day, a small part of you is afraid that there might be new gossip about you being discussed online. Even outside the campus, sometimes you are overcome by an eerie feeling that people are staring at you judgmentally. Of course, you are more confident than scared, but the little girl inside you who’s cowering in fear of the people talking about you is slowly growing to take up a larger space.

“Hi!” Seungcheol greeted into your ear, making you jolt in your seat at the cafe. Your reaction made him chuckle. But when he saw that you weren’t laughing, he cleared his throat and said, “Am I late?”

“No, I’m just early,” you replied, sighing quietly.

“I see. I came here as quickly as I could,” he told you as he took off his coat and placed it on the backrest of his chair.

You hummed. “Have you ordered?”

“I have, yes,” he beamed and you tried your best to smile back but couldn’t. It really couldn’t be helped that you were feeling down today.

Mingyu came at that moment, the tray in his hand told you he was carrying Seungcheol’s order with him. He smiled at each of you and greeted you with a jovial, “Good evening!”

“Evening, Gyu,” you replied, flattening your lips together in a smile that didn’t reach your eyes.

“Oh, wow, the vibe is so weird here,” he noted, shifting eyes from you to Seungcheol. “Did you guys fight?”

“Did you make my order right?” Seungcheol retorted but Mingyu ignored him as he placed the coffee and pastry on the table.

“What did the Landlord do?” he asked you. On a normal day, you would have had a witty response to that, and then you would bicker with Mingyu for a bit. But today as much as you would enjoy a regular battle of wits with this giant himbo, your energy to socialize is at an all-time low.

“I didn’t do anything,” Seungcheol insisted, but then he did a double take to look at you. “Or… did I?”

Mingyu chortled. “Crush him up, y/n. He might be bigger than you are, but you can pulverize him just fine with that snarky—”

“Just go away, man,” Seungcheol scolded, playfully hitting Mingyu’s abdomen with the back of his hand. “Go entertain your fans or something.”

“Aha!” Mingyu exclaimed, pointing a finger at Seungcheol. “You’re picking up a thing or two from y/n!”

You smirked and then rolled your eyes. “Yeah, go away, Gyu. Your fanmeet is starting.”

Mingyu was pouting when he left your table and Seungcheol snickered at him as he did. He always found it entertaining to watch you bicker, even calling it a real-time UFC without the physical fighting. You stared at Seungcheol, examining his features as if you hadn’t already memorized them by heart. Still, you always find something new to admire about him. Today, it was his hair which has grown a little longer than when you first met him. Your hand on the table twitched, overcome by an urge to reach forward and run your fingers through his head of soft-looking brown hair.

“What are you reading?” he questioned, motioning at the Kindle tablet in your hand.

“Nothing that would be interesting to you,” you said sheepishly, putting the device face-down on the table. You hadn’t meant for your response to be off-putting, but it came out that way and you kinda regretted it.

“How do you know that?” he asked so you shrugged unsurely. Then he added, “Anything you do is interesting to me, y/n,”

A smile crept up on your lips before you could even think of hiding it, and Seungcheol’s face lit up when he saw it. His smile gradually became bigger and there was even a faint tint of blushing on his cheek.

“God,” he muttered, looking down and covering his face with his hands. You scowled, wondering what was wrong with him. He was mumbling incoherently and you tried to listen but you didn’t catch a single word.

“What’s that?” you questioned, so he looked up at you looking utterly defeated.

“Nothing. You’re cute, that’s all.”

You scoffed loudly, so much so that you choked a little. You had to clear your throat but you declined when Seungcheol offered you water. “I’m fine. Stop flirting with me, Cheol.”

He just shrugged. “I beg your pardon. But what else should I be doing if not to flirt with you?”

“I don’t know. Just be normal. You know? Like you used to be?”

He still had a clueless look on his face. “I can’t.”

“Of course, you can.”

“I know, but I can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t? That’s dumb.”

“I wasn’t in love with you then. Now that I am, I can’t.”

“Why you—” You stopped, looked away, and laughed derisively. When you looked back at him, he had a proud look on his face. “Since when were you so smooth?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he grinned, sipping from his straw as he looked away from you.

You just chuckled, shaking your head as you took your fork and started eating your cake. “This is so good.”

“Is it? Can I have a bite?”

You hummed as you nodded, and then pushed the plate towards him. He grabbed his fork and took a slice. And so you sat there, eating pastry, drinking coffee, and just letting the time pass by without caring about it.

On the weekend he took you to play tennis in a posh neighborhood, where you met some of his friends. He had brought it up the last time you hung out and asked if you would like to join them.

“You might find them a little boring, but they’re nice people,” he had told you at the time.

Since you had no plans and you were also curious about his friends, you agreed. You realized as soon as you were introduced that Seungcheol hung out with people who were just like him. Not only did they seem more mature than you were, but they were also evidently wealthy. Nevertheless, they were nice to you and acknowledged you with respect. And contrary to what Seungcheol said, they were fun to hang out with and you were convinced Seungcheol was the Designated Serious Friend™ in their trio dynamic.

Through a round of Flip-a-Coin, you got paired up with Seungcheol’s friend for the game who made you promise not to show them any mercy. In the end, you massacred your opponents and won free coffee and food at the clubhouse restaurant.

“I’m guessing you’re over that other girl?” your game partner asked Seungcheol over coffee after the game.

The other one protested. “Hey, Hyunwoo! Why would you ruin the mood like that?”

“It’s an important conversation to have!” Hyunwoo contested. “He was so smitten by her that he blamed himself for the breakup. In his eyes, that girl can do no wrong.”

“Wait, you’re right. He downright worshipped her. He even said he would wait until she’s ready to come back to him,” Suhwan added, shaking his head. “Man, those were troubled times.”

“Yeah, troubled times,” Hyunwoo affirmed.

“I don’t have to explain myself to you guys,” Seungcheol told his friends. To you, he said, “Ignore them.”

You nodded with a smile, taking a sip of your juice to look away. Honestly, you were curious about Seungcheol and Mina—about how it ended, and the reason why. But you were too shy to ask and while you were hoping his friends would let it slip, they only made comments here and there and never said anything explanatory. All that you got was that the breakup was bad, and they disliked her from then on.

Hyunwoo nudged your shoulder, and seeing your proximity made Seungcheol tut at him. Hyunwoo just laughed at him before asking you, “Has he told you about Mina yet?”

You shrugged. “Only that he was trying to get back with her.”

The chorus of a baffled “What?!” from Hyunwoo and Suhwan was loud and comical.

“You’re still trying to get back with her?” Suhwan asked Seungcheol who looked perplexed.

“I’m not!” Seungcheol insisted, giving you a bewildered glance as his friends bombarded him with questions. You snickered quietly, watching him defend himself from your seat. When their overlapping questions became too rowdy, Seungcheol stood up in an attempt to silence them.

“I like y/n so much!” he shouted, silencing his friends and grabbing the attention of everyone else in the restaurant. He gawked at your dumbstruck expression, and then looked around at the people in the hall. Embarrassed, he sat back on his chair, playfully hitting his two friends before sinking low in his seat.

“What was that?” Hyunwoo teased.

Seungcheol mumbled in his seat, looking away to avoid your gaze and everyone else’s. He quietly sipped on his coffee while the guys continued talking to you. You were shocked at Seungcheol’s admission, but you had no time to process it because his friends are full of energy and are very talkative. So the only thing you can do was watch Seungcheol wallow in embarrassment, stealing glances at you and looking away each time you caught his eyes.

After coffee, you trekked back to the court to collect your belongings and head home. On your way there, both Suhwan and Hyunwoo were on either side of you, while Seungcheol was towing behind like a loner.

“So what I’m saying is, whatever happened between them is not our dirty laundry to air out,” Hyunwoo stated. “But, if it’s true what Seungcheol said that he’s serious about you, you can trust him.”

“Yeah, you can,” Suhwan affirmed. “He has changed a lot these days, you know. He’s less sullen and more talkative than before. He also smiles a whole lot more. I’m sure you have something to do with that.

“He’s funny now too,” Hyunwoo sniggered. “That man can’t crack a joke. But now, he has become the wittiest out of the three of us.”

“I am flattered,” you replied shyly. “But I take no credit. He’s funny in his own little way.”

Suhwan laughed a little too loudly as if he heard the most ridiculous thing ever. Meanwhile, Hyunwoo was shaking his head in disappointment.

“Damn, you must really like him,” Hyunwoo sighed. “The only way you’d willingly say something like that is if you like him.”

“I’d say, she’s head over heels in love with him.”

Hyunwoo nodded. “Yeah, that’s the perfect definition.”

You chuckled, your cheeks hot and red. “I’m serious. I mean, obviously, his humor is not his defining trait, but he’s not that bad.”

“Ah,” Suhwan deadpanned, then looked at Hyunwoo. “Head-over-heels.”

“Head-over-heels,” Hyunwoo affirmed and it made you holler with laughter.

“Hey, what are you guys telling her this time?” Seungcheol called from behind you, catching up to shove Suhwan and take his place next to you.

Seungcheol glared at his friends who were grinning as they enjoyed getting a rise out of him. While Hyunwoo and Suhwan lagged behind to give you privacy, you nudged Seungcheol’s arm, making him look at you.

“Ignore them,” he told you.

You just smiled as you linked his arm with yours. Seungcheol saw that and it made him smile. And so you walked holding his arm, while he held your hand in place with his big palm. For the rest of the day, the massive grin on Seungcheol’s lips never left his face.

On Monday afternoon, you sat in a burger joint with your friends for lunch, talking about the upcoming school event and the things that would take place on that day. It was quiet and peaceful until Yoori suddenly stood up and slammed her hands on the table, startling all of you.

"That backstabbing tramp!" she fumed.

You blinked a few times, wondering what was up. Your friends must be wondering the same thing too but you all remained quiet, waiting for her to explain what's going on. She glanced at you and then pushed her laptop towards you. Without asking, you and your friends squeezed together to look at whatever Yoori was trying to show you on the laptop. The first thing you saw was the image of you stepping into a car that you recognized right away. It was the day you went to the bridge with Seungcheol. Shocked to find out you were photographed, you held the edges of the laptop to read the gossip.

Dahee started reading it aloud. "CAUGHT IN THE ACT! The university's sweetheart on a rendezvous! Looks like y/n's older man is not only older but also loaded. Thanks to an anonymous tipper, we managed to take the mask off of this mysterious older man. Turns out he's an alumnus who graduated from Law School at our university: Choi Seungcheol."

"It's Sua," Yoori declared, pointing at the laptop while gritting her teeth. "I swear to god that girl— gosh, I'm so annoyed right now."

"We don't know for sure if it was her," you sighed. Of course, you're thinking it was Sua. As far as you know, no one else in your friend group would blab about Seungcheol. But now that you're staring at Seungcheol's face in the article, you realize you've been out and about with him these past few months. Anyone could have seen you. Heck, that day when you got into his car, someone from school must have seen you too. You can't single out Sua anymore.

"It was her! I just know!" Yoori insisted. "The picture doesn't even show Seungcheo-nim at all so I'm sure whoever took this picture didn’t know him. Unless one of you went telling other people about Seungcheol-nim, the anonymous tipper is Sua! She told the Gossiper about him!"

You heaved a sigh and stood up, grabbing your belongings and then stuffing them in your bag. "Let's just leave it. There's no point in fighting any of that. The Gossiper can say anything about me to the world for all I care."

"But y/n. She's gone too far. Last time it was about your family. Just the other day there was one about your tutoring job! Now this?" Haeyoon ranted.

You gave them a reassuring smile. "It's fine, girls. We know none of it was true. As long as you believe my words over theirs, I'll be fine."

"I hate you," Yoori sneered. "You're too kind." No, you’re not, but you just had to be for the sake of your peace.

You tried your best to ignore the articles online as you were busy preparing for the school event. As a senior, you were tasked with an important role in your department’s fundraising booth. Food is where there is money, so you decided to set up a pastry booth. All planning and facilitating were done by you and a group of students from your department while the rest were responsible for the food production. Aside from that, you had to play for your department in the games as well. This time, it wasn’t tennis, but a game of scavenger hunt against other departments.

You got busy for the next few days, so much so that you kept declining Seungcheol’s invitation to go out. He was understanding and kept cheering you on the whole time. He made sure you were getting some rest, eating well, and taking care of your health despite being busy. He did so by texting you reminders and sending food to you from time to time. It was endearing and it surely helped make days bearable for you.

“Are you ready?” your department head asked you and your teammate for the scavenger hunt.

“Yes, sir!” you replied in unison, both excited and nervous about the games.

The game began after a quick briefing on the rules and mechanics. The game was easy, you just needed to follow the map and search the designated area for treasure chests. The first group to collect a certain amount of treasure within the given time limit wins the hunt. Half an hour in and your teammate already found one for your team. You were feeling fired up.

“I’m confused about this part of the map,” you told your teammate halfway through the four-hour hunt. “There are two pathways here but the map only showed one.”

“You’re right. I was just about to tell you about that too.”

You were in the Culinary building, as it was the venue of the hunt. At this point, you only need two more treasures to win the game but you’re on a roadblock because of the map.

“Should we split up?” you suggested.

“Can we do that?”

You shrugged. “There wasn’t anything in the rules against splitting up.”

“I know, but what if something happens to either of us?” she asked, looking sheepish.

“Like anything would happen to us in the school,” you chuckled at her, but you knew she had a point. “How about this, we split up for a bit, figure out the map issue, and convene as soon as we can. I’ll call you after twenty minutes for updates.”

“Okay. Let’s do that.”

You high-fived before you each picked a path to follow. You found yourself walking to the deserted kitchen, which you assumed was the place where Culinary students hold practicals or something like that. Since there was no hint that the area was part of the hunt, you continued walking. As you did, you heard a loud thud coming from the pantry. That caught your attention but you chose to ignore it and continued following your map. But then someone called your name from the pantry, making you glance back in curiosity.

“Who’s there?” you called out, slowly making your way to the area. You reached the pantry room and looked around for any signs of a person but there was no one there. So you walked further into the room, and as you did, the air grew colder and colder until you found that the door to the cold storage was left open. Exhaling sharply in your attempt to quell the cold, you concluded that someone had left it open by accident.

“I know you’re here,” you called out, looking around as you reached for the cold storage door. “Come out or I’ll leave.”

There was no response from anywhere, so you just sighed and shook your head in disappointment. This is no time to be scared of ghosts or whatever. It’s broad daylight and whoever called you there is a living person. What for? Probably to pull a prank or something. Ridiculous.

That was your line of thought before a sudden sharp spike of pain on the back of your head silenced your brain. It slowly faded into a ringing ache as you fell on the cold floor with a thud, your eyesight blurring into nothingness before you completely blacked out.

Next thing you know, you were on a stretcher, being hauled into an ambulance. You’re lightheaded and weak, and you can barely make out the figures of people around the stretcher, calling your name in fading voices. Your entire body is numb, so much so that you feel like your limbs are gone. Terrified, you let out a slow exhale before falling back into a stupor.

When you woke up, you were greeted by Seungcheol’s worry-stricken face, talking to someone from across the room. He was holding your hand, and only when you moved it did he notice that you’d woken up. He leaped from his seat, staring at you with widened eyes.

“Are you alright?” he asked repeatedly, and you could only respond with a weak smile. Your other friends surrounded you, the doctor was called, and your parents arrived in the room looking extremely worried.

By the time everyone calmed down, you were sitting on the bed, feeling warm and cozy in your clothes. Your mother was peeling an orange for you while continuously nagging. Yoori and Seolhee are across the room on a couch, quietly chatting with Seungcheol. You watched as your father told him something that made him stand up and follow him to the door.

“Where are they going?” you asked Yoori and Seolhee.

Seolhee glanced at you. “Oh, they’re heading out to get your medical certificate.”

“What for?” you asked.

“Your father is adamant that someone must be held accountable for what happened to you,” your mother stated, exhaling sharply. “Especially since it’s an assault.”

And then you remembered. Someone had hit your head that day. Someone deliberately locked you in there and left you to die. This wasn’t an accident. Someone out there has it out on you and was prepared to commit a crime just to hurt you.

“What have they got so far?” you asked and your mother tutted sternly.

“Don’t worry yourself about it, dear,” she chided softly, tucking away stray strands of hair on your face. “For now, you should focus on getting well.”

You saw your friends nodding in agreement. Yoori said, “I’m sure they will figure it out. Your well-being is more important.”

“And that man,” your mom trailed off, placing the orange in your hand before giving you a teasing smile. “Seungcheol, was it? Is he your boyfriend?”

“Mom! No!” you hollered, hotness building up on your face. “He’s not.”

“Why not?” she exclaimed, flabbergasted. “He’s a good guy!”

“That’s what you said about Yeol too.”

She shook her head. “No, I was wrong about Yeol. This time, I’m sure of it. He cares for you.”

You looked down, feeling shy to admit something. “I know he does.”

“You know? Good. So, why aren’t you dating him?”

Yoori cut in at that moment. “Wait, hold up. You guys aren’t dating yet?”

You shook your head at her. “You know we’re not, Yoori.”

“That’s what I thought too but he didn’t act like it.”

You wanted to ask what she meant, giddy to hear anything about Seungcheol that you had missed in the last two days that you were passed out in bed. But before you could ask, your father came back with Seungcheol.

“We’re going up to the station,” your father told you as he approached you to give you a kiss on your forehead. “We’ll talk to the police and sort things out. They might drop by later to talk to you. You don’t have to worry about anything, alright? Just tell them what you remember.”

“Okay, Dad,” you beamed, nodding. You turned to Seungcheol who approached your bed as soon as your mom and dad gave him the space. “Thanks, Cheol. For being here and for helping my dad.”

He smiled sweetly, reaching for your hand and squeezing it affectionately. “Anything for you, y/n.” He placed a hand on your head, patting your hair down gently. “Get some rest. I’ll see you later, alright?”

“Alright.”

“Alright, good girl,” he chimed.

He then left with your father, and your mother went to send them out. Yoori and Seolhee were quick to come near you and squealed as quietly as they could.

“What was that? Did he just call you a good girl?”

Yoori teased. “My god, y/n. I didn’t know you had that kind of kink.”

“What the hell are you even talking about?” you scolded, scandalized, but then you covered your face, too shy to admit that you did like it when he said what he said.

Both your father and Seungcheol refused to tell you anything new about the case, but they assured you that they’re taking immediate action about it. You went back to school after a week, despite your mother’s disagreement. You’re alright now and you didn’t want to waste time at home when you should be catching up on your lessons.

People congratulated you for getting out of the hospital, while others expressed their sorrow about the accident. You were the subject of their pity for a whole day, but they eventually went back to talking about your romantic exploits the very next day, especially after The Gossiper posted another ‘exclusive’ about you. At this point, you truly, genuinely don’t care anymore. You’ve gone through a near-death experience, nothing the Gossiper can say will scare you anymore.

“Miss y/n?” the professor called as soon as he entered the classroom. You raised your hand in response. “You’re being called up at the dean’s office.”

The office was five floors up and the walk there took about five minutes, and your heart hasn’t stopped beating wildly ever since you left your classroom. When you pushed the door open, you found your friends there–Yoori, Dahee, and Haeyoon. All three of them were present in the scavenger hunt during the incident; Yoori as a facilitator, Dahee and Haeyoon as fellow participants. Yoori tapped the space next to her, inviting you to sit there.

“What’s going on? Is this about the incident?”

Yoori shrugged. “That’s what we thought too. Seungcheol-nim is inside with the dean.”

“Seungcheol is?” you repeated, glancing at the inner office. As you did, its door opened and the dean came out with Seungcheol towing behind her.

He spotted you and flashed a small smile. He looked rather professional today, in a complete set of suits with a briefcase and an envelope in his hand that the dean just handed back to him.

“All four of you are here. We just need to wait for Miss Min Sua.”

Alas, you knew this would happen. The school has to do something about the incident, and this must be the day it all unfolds. Although you were impatiently waiting for this, you were clueless as to how things would pan out.

The office door opened, revealing Sua. Her face contorted to annoyance when she saw who else was inside. It seemed like she was thinking about turning back but the dean told her to come in and sit down.

“This here is Lawyer Choi Seungcheol. He’s here as Miss y/n’s legal counsel,” the dean introduced and you all made a slight bow as a greeting. “It has come to my attention that the recent incident in the Culinary building wasn’t an accident but a premeditated attack on y/n by Min Sua.”

“I beg your pardon?” Sua interjected.

“And it is not a baseless accusation as Lawyer Choi here has provided ample evidence to prove the matter,” the dean continued, placing a stack of photographs on the table. Your friends picked them up to check and you saw that those were screenshots of CCTV footage showing how Sua deliberately locked you in the cold storage.

“That’s bullshit!” Sua bellowed.

Calmly, the dean said, “Correction, that is evidence and you will do well to remember that profanity is not to be spoken in my office, Miss Min Sua.”

Sua sat back, annoyed. She caught your gaze and glared at you.

“Given the gravity of the situation, they have decided to push through with the investigation and you will be taken in for questioning,” the Dean continued and Sua looked horrified. “We would like to avoid a scene, so some school staff with escort you to the gate where the police will be waiting for you. You will go away quietly, without causing a ruckus.”

You clenched your fists, steadying your breathing as you listened some more.

“And I, as the dean, demand that you apologize to Miss Y/n before you leave.”

Sua scoffed arrogantly. “Y/N can go kill herself and drop dead.”

“Min Sua!” Yoori scolded but the dean showed her palm to tell everyone to be quiet.

“Miss Min, this is a serious offense,” the dean said sternly. “Your actions were rash and dangerous. You assaulted a student and left her to die. It’s attempted murder. Whatever was y/n’s fault, if she had one, that is not enough justification to attempt murder.”

“I wasn’t gonna murder her,” she clapped back. “It was just to teach her a lesson. You see, she’s fine and healthy. And she’s very alive… unfortunately.”

“Min Sua, you sick bitch!” Haeyoon blurted, standing up to attack Sua but you and Yoori held her back. “You sociopathic bitch! How dare you?!”

“Everybody calm down! Let’s all calm down for a second,” the dean declared, knocking on the wooden table with her knuckles.

“Miss Min, I’m afraid we’ll have to sort this out in a criminal court. We tried to be civil and give you a chance to apologize with sincerity. Since you’ve shown no remorse for your actions, the police will be here in a minute.”

“I don’t think that necessary,” you told Seungcheol but your voice was drowned by Sua maniacal laughter.

“You can’t send me to jail. Who do you think you are? He can’t do that. Right, Dahee? Haeyoon?” Dahee just looked away while Haeyoon glared at Sua. “Fucking traitors.”

“What was that?” Haeyoon exclaimed, walking up to Sua but Dahee was quick to stop her. “What did you just call us?”

“Traitors!” Sua screamed at the top of her lungs, veins almost popping from her forehead and neck. “You call yourselves my friends but you’re siding with her? You’re both traitors! You all are!”

“You’re the traitor, Sua!” Haeyoon hollered back, struggling to get out of Dahee’s grasp as she tried to approach Sua. “You’re the snake! You kept hanging out with us, you ate at our table, and we treated you like a friend but you kept backstabbing us! And you know what? We all thought that was the worst you could do, but no. You tried to murder someone! You’re a sick sociopath with zero remorse and accountability!”

Sua shrieked. “You never made me feel welcome! You didn’t care about me and only focused on yourselves! Is that how you treat a friend?”

“That’s not a good reason to take someone’s life, Sua! What you did was sick. And if you don’t realize that you’re in the wrong, then you seriously need help,” Yoori argued.

“Guys, that’s enough,” you tried to mediate, hoping to end the argument and continue talking in a civil manner. “We didn’t come here to fight.”

“Oh please, y/n,” Sua spat, giving you a disgusted look. “Always the rational one. Always the smartest. Always the bigger person in the room. Don’t you get tired of keeping that facade?”

“I don’t want to argue with you, Sua.”

“Fine, Miss Beautiful and Kind. You shouldn’t bother yourself with someone like me, pathetic, pitiful, a sick criminal,” she scorned, laughing derisively. It was also at that moment that three police officers entered the room. Sua scoffed at them. “You want to send me to jail? That’s fine. I’ll beat it out of there and come back to kill every single one of you. When that happens, I’ll make sure to do it right!”

She tried to push the officers away but she was restrained with ease and put in handcuffs. She kept cursing everyone—you, the dean, your friends, Seungcheol, and even the police. Slurs were spoken and her manic laughter filled the room.

“Min Sua,” you called sternly, making Sua stop squirming.

She had a smug smile on her face. “Are you happy now? Everyone hates me. My friends have turned their backs on me. I’m ruined and I’m going to jail. Everyone’s on your side. Are you satisfied?”

“The only one who finds happiness in other people’s misery is you, Min Sua.”

“You’re right. I’d love to see you miserable. But why won’t you fucking weep? You won’t even fucking die!” The frigid, cold-blooded smile Sua flashed sent chills down your spine.

For a second, your heart faltered with fear but it was soon replaced with pity. Pity for Sua and the life she was willing to throw away just because she was overcome by envy and spite. She needed help and you hoped you could give it to her, but all you can afford is to hope she finds that help somewhere. You don’t want anything to do with her anymore. You want to completely cut ties with her and forget this ugly phase in your life. You want it over and you want it to be over now.

“From the bottom of my heart, I wish you all the best, Min Sua,” you told her. She just scoffed as she was being taken away by the police, her laughter echoing down the halls.

You watched her leave with her shoulder rocking as she laughed. Her manic laughter will surely haunt you for the next few days. You will surely be wary of everyone around you, suspicious that someone might harm you or that one of them is Sua getting ready to attack you. Try as you might to appear calm and collected, not too deep inside, you are scared–terrified to the bone. You are shaken and nervous. Will this event let you sleep? You’re not so sure. It has given you a few sleepless nights already. It might get worse now that you’ve found out that the person responsible for your near-death is not even slightly remorseful.

The deep, but soothing voice of Choi Seungcheol as he called your name pulled you out of your musings, quieting your brain and calming your heart. He placed a hand on your shoulder, squeezing it gently as if to comfort you. “Are you okay?”

“No,” you confessed, but you gave him a smile. “But I’ll be fine.”

He held your hand, massaged it in his hand, and gave you a comforting smile. “I got you.”

“Thank you,” you beamed. Behind him, the office door opened and your friends came out. You took your hand from Seungcheol’s hold and approached your friends with an embrace. For a while, you stayed in their arms, finding solace in their warmth. “Thanks, guys.”

“Everything’s gonna be fine, love,” Yoori assured you.

“I know. Thank you.”

The last few days were crazy. While the school and Seungcheol tried their best not to cause a stir, Sua was the one who made a spectacle of herself; shouting down the halls as she was being taken away and laughing like she was unhinged. For days, it was the talk of the school, with most of them saying she was a psychopath and would probably be sent to an asylum instead of jail.

Two days later, you were called to court for her arraignment, which didn’t even take long because Sua pleaded guilty–despite the discouragement of her lawyer. She also admitted to spreading rumors and gossip about you and confessed that she’s running the gossip blog in the school portal. Everything she said, you already knew, but it still shocked you to hear it directly from her.

Seungcheol told you there would be no need for you to attend any trial because the judge accepted her plea and offered her a deal. You were both saddened and relieved by that news. Saddened because Sua was still a part of your life, and at one point you were genuinely friends with her. Relieved because you never had to deal with it again, or see her in person anymore.

After that, the next several days were an ecstatic blur. Your grades were good. Your friends are great, And your relationship with Seungcheol is progressing steadily. You went out on dates, tried new and old things together, and got to know each other very well. He introduced you to his parents too, this time, as someone he was trying to date. It was also worth noting that he had been spending time with your father. Whatever it is that they bond about, you honestly have no idea but you’re happy that they get along.

You could swear you’re already dating, but no words have been spoken yet to confirm this. And during the routine dinner date that you do once a week, you were so in awe of his entire being that you suddenly thought to ask him the question.

“When will you ask me to be your girlfriend?” you asked and it made him choke on his food. You watch him cough for a while, rubbing his chest as soon as he can breathe properly. With a smile, you pushed the glass of water towards him so he could drink.

“Thanks,” he mumbled before taking a long sip.

“So?” you inquired after he had put the glass back down. “Whennnn?”

“This is not the place or situation that I envisioned in my head whenever I think about asking you to be my girlfriend,” he confessed, clearing his throat out of shyness. “Can I ask you today, though?” he asked with uncertainty in his tone but you still nodded enthusiastically. Seungcheol chuckled fondly, reaching for your face to squeeze your cheek. “You’re so adorable.”

“I knooow! Ask me now!”

Seungcheol scrunched his nose. “I don’t think I should. It’s not that I don’t want to, but it wouldn’t be special if I didn’t do it properly. You know, with proper preparation, a proper setup, and whatnot.”

“Does it matter? We like each other, don’t we?”

“Yeah, we do.”

“And we’re pretty much dating already. Just ask me so we could make it official,” you suggested and again, Seungcheol laughed at your cute eagerness. “If you don’t ask me, I’ll ask you.”

“Okay, alright. I’ll ask you,” he blurted, giving up. You smiled widely, giving him your hands when he reached for them on the table. You straightened up in your seat, waiting for him to say the words. With a smile, Seungcheol said, “Let’s date officially, y/n.”

You scowled. “Are you serious? That sounds so unromantic.”

He laughed heartily. “What do you mean? How?”

“Will you be my girlfriend, y/n? Just like that,” you coached, Seungcheol shook his head. “Ah, come on! Just do it!”

“Okay. Y/n, will you be my girlfriend?”

You smiled, contented. Seungcheol smiled back and for a while, you stayed smiling at each other, the happiness and love in your eyes were so evident. One would look at you and envy how much you adored each other.

“I’ll think about it,” you said briskly, retracting your hand swiftly and taking a swig of your beer.

Seungcheol just exhaled and shook his head, a fond smile still on his lips. You then held his hand just as he was about to pick up his glass.

He gawked at you and you told him, “Okay. I will be your girlfriend.”

He couldn’t help laughing, eyes gleaming as he grinned. He squeezed your hand and kissed the back of it. “Y/n, you have no idea how much I adore you.”

After dinner, you went down the beach and sat next to him on the sand, leaning your body on his chest while his arm was over your shoulder. His thumb is rubbing your shoulder, occasionally squeezing it as he talks.

“You know, I have thought of at least a dozen scenarios in my head about the day we’d finally start dating,” he continued. “This was not how I imagined it would play out.”

You giggled, nuzzling closer to him. His body is warm, combatting the cool wind that’s blowing against your skin. “Please don’t be cheesy and say you think about me all the time.”

“As a matter of fact, I do think about you all the time,” he confessed, making you laugh heartily.

“No, you don’t,” you insisted and Seungcheol laughed, making his body vibrate against your ear.

“You’re right, I don’t. But I do think about you 80 percent of the time.”

You hummed, contented. The sound of the sea harmonized with the sound of his beating heart. It feels like you could just stay here forever and that would be enough for you. The road to this wasn’t a smooth one, but when you finally arrived, it was most fulfilling and beautiful. Your heart is at ease; happy, content, and over the moon.

“So,” he prompted after a few minutes of silence. “Do you wanna go back to the car and kiss?”

You pulled away from him, throwing your head back as you laughed. Seungcheol watched you with fondness in his eyes, enamored and totally taken by you.

“You can’t be naughty on your first day of being in a relationship.”

Seungcheol shrugged. “It’s just a kiss.”

You scoffed and mocked him. “Just a kiss.”

“I swear,” he insisted. “But we can make out too. You decide.”

You playfully hit his chest. Then you scoot closer to him and leaned forward to press a soft kiss on his cheek. And then on his forehead, his nose, the corner of his lips, and then the other corner. You showered his face with chaste little kisses, and he seemed to enjoy it until he realized you were purposely avoiding his lips despite him offering it each time. He eventually dodged your kisses and tutted, and you sniggered at his annoyed expression. He cupped your cheeks, pulling you so he could kiss your lips, ever so gently, like the gentleman that he is.

When he pulled away, he stared at you and exhaled contently. “You’re everything I want, y/n. Everything, and more.”

You smiled back, loving how his eyes were gleaming and beautiful. “Took you long enough to realize that.”

Seungcheol laughed, forever amused by your wit and adorable tendency to ruin a heartfelt moment with banter. Maybe, that’s what made him fall for you in the first place.

“My god, I could kiss you forever,” he blurted.

“Well. don’t be shy now,” you quipped so he kissed you again.

Dating Seungcheol turned out to be more adorable than surreal. He was adorable, often stumbling on his words and feeling shy around you. It was ridiculous, considering he never acted this way before, and also endearing since you knew he liked you so much that he kept making a fool of himself. An adorable fool, if you do say so yourself.

“Are you sure you want to come over?” he would ask whenever you made plans to sleep together in his flat. “You don’t have to if you’re uncomfortable.”

“Cheol, I was there last night,” you would remind him.

“I know, but still? What if you change your mind?”

And you would assure him. “Then you’ll send me home if I did. Although, I’m sure that won’t be necessary.”

He often acted all flustered and shy, but when you’re alone with him, he gets so comfortable that he forgets personal space. He would be all over you, wrapping his arms around you while you make food in the kitchen or something. When you’re watching TV, he’d have you lay on his lap, playing with your hair throughout the movie. Even when he’s working on his laptop and you’re on your phone, he’d be beside you, your shoulders pressed together or your back leaning on his chest while he locks you in one arm. And your favorite thing to do with him was to read. He had a huge window balcony in his apartment and when you started dating, you turned it into a reading nook. There, you would read for hours, quietly basking in the sun while Seungcheol sat with his back on the wall and you’re prostrated on the balcony floor with your Kindle.

You can’t even begin to talk about the intimacy that you share under the sheets. Long story short, he was intense—the good kind of intense, but still intense. Yoori must be right after all.

“That reminds me,” Seungcheol said over dinner with your friends where the case with Sua was discussed. A few months have passed since then and today, you were told that she had been convicted. “I looked up The Gossiper.”

You looked up at him, curious. “You did?”

“Yes and it’s an awful page,” he replied, shaking his head. “The school must not care about ethical journalism.”

You chuckled. “It’s not a big deal anymore. They’ve stopped posting since Sua left.”

“The articles stopped, but people still talk about you, you know,” Seolhee sneered.

“I know,” you snorted. “They’ll get tired of it.”

Yoori turned to Seungcheol. “They keep saying she’s got a sugar daddy.”

“Funny thing is,” Haeyoon chuckled. “The sugar daddy is you, Seungcheol-nim.”

The table laughed at that and so the night went on with more laughter, good food, and good conversations.

You and Seungcheol stumbled into his apartment, both drunk and giggling when he bumped his forehead against yours as he tried to kiss you. He groaned for a minute, rubbing his forehead and yours before swooping in for another kiss. You inhaled his scent, along with the fiery hotness engulfing your whole being. His arms were strong and muscular around your body, and his lips were urgent against yours; sucking, nipping, smooching.

“Let’s take this inside, shall we?” he asked, although you knew it was a statement and not a question.

With a swift movement, Seungcheol lifted you off your feet, his lips finding the supple skin of your neck. The moan you let out was ecstatic and he kept going until he had brought you across the room, then placed you on the long couch.

“I thought you wanted the bed?” you asked, grinning as you helped him strip off his coat.

“I don’t think I can wait,” he breathed before leaning to ravage your neck once again. Your head automatically tilted back, your lips parting, as you closed your eyes in ecstasy.

“Cheol,” you whispered.

Seungcheol stopped to take off his shirt and then yours when you lifted your hands up. He marveled at your beauty, taking in your shape, your curves, your skin, your moles, everything. “God, you’re beautiful.”

“Take me, Cheol,” you begged.

You didn’t need to tell him twice because that’s exactly what he planned on doing.

“It’s her.”

“Who?”

“Her. Over there. Y/n from Arts and Sciences.”

“Oh! The one with the sugar daddy?”

“Shh, she’s passing this way.”

Haeyoon glared at the gossiping girls as you passed them, while you continued walking without paying them any attention.

“These people think you’re deaf,” Haeyoon spat, annoyed.

“I thought we agreed to leave them alone?” Dahee reminded and Haeyoon groaned.

“I can’t stand them.”

You beamed at your friend as you snaked your hands around her arms and leaned on her shoulder while you walked. “Your aggression towards my haters is making me feel loved and special.”

Haeyoon rolled her eyes. “What do I do to convert your optimism into passive-aggressive rage towards those gossiping skanks?”

You ignored her questions, giving her your sweetest smile instead. Haeyoon was laughing on your other side.

“Seriously, if I was in your situation, I would be in jail by now,” Haeyoon added.

You released her from your embrace and shrugged. “You can consider yourself lucky. Jail doesn’t look good you, love.”

“Speaking of love,” Dahee interjected as you neared the steps of the main university building. “Mr. Lover Boy decided to show up today.”

You followed the direction of her gaze and your mouth hung open at the sight before you. Waiting below the steps was Seungcheol, looking handsome and chic as he leaned against his equally chic car. He’s looking down at his phone, typing away while several students take notice of his stylish appearance. There are murmurs around, all of them sounding impressed and curious.

Your phone buzzed in your pocket so you fished it out to see Seungcheol’s name on your screen, calling. Instead of answering, you locked your screen and walked up to him. The sounds of amazement from onlookers as they watched you approach your boyfriend gave you pride.

“Isn’t that y/n?”

“It is. OMG, the rumors must be true that his boyfriend is loaded.”

“Doesn’t he look too young to be a sugar daddy though?”

“Sugar daddy or not, that guy is hot!”

Seungcheol’s face lit up as soon as he saw you. “Hi, baby,” he greeted. “I was just calling you.”

“I know,” you beamed. Seungcheol tucked his phone away before leaning to kiss your cheek. His arms around your waist were for everybody to see.

“Shall we?” he asked, opening the car door for you.

“Thanks.”

As if to further stoke the fire, Seungcheol didn’t drive away as soon as he got into the car. Instead, he gently pulled you by the nape and gave you a sweet kiss on the lips. In the corner of your eye, you can see people swooning outside. You smiled into the kiss.

“I must say, your showmanship is top-tier,” you commented and it made him chuckle.

“I did good, didn’t I?”

“You did amazing, babe,” you replied, caressing his cheek and then giving him a quick kiss.

“Let’s go. The wakepark will close soon!”

You rolled your eyes. “Relax. It’s 10 am.”

Seungcheol shook his head, his face bright with excitement. “The earlier we get there, the more time we’ll have to enjoy it.”

You laughed heartily, adoring your giddy boyfriend even more than you already do.

[fin]

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miaroseindreamland · 1 month

Text

A LITTLE HELP

Pairing: Changbin x femReader

Word Count: 1,689

Summary: A group of friends attending Chaeryeong's birthday party, with a particular focus on the friendship and relationship between Changbin, Chaeryeong, and you!

Warnings/Tags: Suggestive, alcohol, not consensual, aggression, violence, harassment, abuse.

A/N: I love Chaeryeong and Changbin's friendship. I love Itzy too so if you are a Midzy please follow <3

"I don't care," Changbin said, glancing at Chaeryeong.

"Are you sure?" She smirked. "His name is Lee Dohyun. And he will be at my party."

"Damn! I don't care!" Changbin crossed his arms, clearly uninterested.

"Well, he is kinda handsome. Y/N seems interested," she teased.

"I bet. She's always had a thing for dumpsters," Changbin remarked, prompting a chuckle from Chaeryeong.

"Just as yourself? You're calling yourself a dumpster." she quickly retorted, catching Changbin off guard.

"What did you say?"

"I..I said you're right!" Chaeryeong panicked. "Oh, I hear the manager calling me," she said, attempting to escape, but Changbin grabbed her arm.

"No! Y/N likes me?"

"No! I did not say that. I didn't!" She denied.

"Chaeryeong-nim, photograph time!" Chaeryeong's manager appeared, and Changbin released her.

"Hey! This isn't over!"

Chaeryeong left a frustrated Changbin behind who picks his phone to search for your number. When he finds it he starts to write a message:

Frustrated, you left your office to call Chaeryeong.

"It was an accident!" she exclaimed the moment she answered the phone.

"That's what I'll be saying after I KILL YOU!" you retorted.

"Y/N, calm down, please. I'm sorry. We were talking about Dohyun, and he mentioned something about you liking dumpsters and trash, so I called him that."

"He said I liked dumpsters?!"

"Oh god, I'm done! I'm not talking to you two again. Let's just deal with this tomorrow at my party." she said, and then abruptly hung up.

Next day, arriving at the club that night, you greeted Chaeryeong with a hug and presented her with a birthday gift.

"I should have come empty-handed," you said, as she chuckled.

"Oh, don't be silly. He's not coming tonight. Said he had some music to work on," she explained.

"As usual. Anyway, you look stunning!" you complimented her as she spun around to show off her outfit.

"Thank you!" she replied with a smile, and you watched as she greeted other arriving guests.

"You look beautiful," a voice interrupted. You turned to see Dohyun, a dancer who occasionally worked with Chaeryeong.

"Thank you. I didn't know you'd be here tonight," you smiled.

"Chaeryeong invited the dancing team who worked with their last tour."

"I see. I noticed your team is working with Stray Kids?"

"I'm not directly, but yes. Well, are you still up for a date?" he asked.

"Maybe," you said playfully. "You should show me today why I should go on a date with you," you teased, and he nodded with a smirk.

As the night wears on, the party's energy continues to escalate. To your surprise you notice Changbin seated on one of the couches, engaged in conversation with Chaeyeong, Chaeryeong's sister.

In the middle of the lively atmosphere, Dohyun's voice breaks through, whispering in your ear as he offers you a drink. Without hesitation, you accept, the liquid warming your senses.

You found yourself drawn to Changbin, but despite your feelings growing, you couldn't shake the disappointment that came with his consistent excuses whenever you tried to get closer to him.

"He doesn't want me? He doesn't likes me? I will show him" you whispered to yourself.

Your attention drifts back to Changbin who glace at you for a second, however his expression frowned when he sees you closer to Dohyun. As the drinks flow, inhibitions fade, and before you know it, Dohyun's hands were on your waist and in a fleeting moment he almost kiss you. Lucky you turned around, and once again your eyes search for Changbin but you couldn't find him.

Maybe he left. You thought and concentrated in dancing.

As the night goes on, the world seems to spin around you, and you feel increasingly lightheaded and disoriented.

"I'm going to the bathroom" you told Dohyun and walked away.

"You're drunk," his voice cut through the noise, dark and deeper. You turned around and gazed at Changbin.

"And?! What's it to you?" you slurred in response, clearly intoxicated.

"Do you want my attention that badly?" he chuckled, his tone tinged with amusement, as you rolled your eyes at him.

"Cocky as ever," you retorted.

"I'm just stating the facts. No matter where you look, you won't find me in Dohyun or whatever his name is."

"Jealous much? Maybe he'll actually pay attention to me tonight, unlike you ever did," you shot back, fueled by alcohol you drank.

"Drunk? If he does that, then he truly is trash."

"Like you?"

"I'm not trash. I would never take advantage of you. But you can choose what you want. Have a good night," he said firmly, before turning away.

Once inside the bathroom, you lean against the sink, trying to steady yourself as waves of dizziness wash over you. The warmth of the room does little to alleviate your discomfort, and you find it difficult to focus as you try to collect your thoughts.

You're taken aback as you remember Changbin's words, a mix of surprise and frustration washing over you

"Cocky" you said. "Why I'm so dizzy?" You asked looking at yourself in the mirror.

After leaving the bathroom, you find yourself seated beside Dohyun, your jacket now in his hands. Your eyes open as you take in the scene, the pulsating rhythm and vibrant atmosphere surround you, a whirlwind of emotions and sensations. Despite the chaos of the party, you find yourself alone with Dohyun in the couch. His lips touch your cheek.

"Do you want to go home?" He asked while his hands pulled you closer to him.

You started to feel Dohyun's hands on you, your voice trembles with fear and confusion. His touch is unwelcome, and you instinctively recoil, trying to push him away. Despite your efforts, you feel powerless against his advances, your heart pounding with a mix of panic and desperation.

"I will take care of you, I promise beautiful." He chanted while kissing your neck. Your eyes close as you fall almost unconsciously.

On the other side of the club, Yuna spotted the scene and quickly grabbed Ryujin, who was engaged in conversation with other guests.

"Unnie?" Yuna pointed, directing Ryujin's attention towards you lay down in the couch with Dohyun over you.

Changbin, on their side, glanced over and saw you attempting to push him away as he forcefully grabbed your wrists. His expression darkened as Ryujin hurried over to you.

"Hey! What are you doing?! "

Your eyes opened as you see Ryujin rushing to your aid, attempting to pry Dohyun away from you. Before Dohyun can react, he's forcefully shoved back by someone much stronger.

Dohyun, now on the defensive, finds himself receiving a punch that sends him crashing into a nearby table. Through the haze of confusion and fear, you catch sight of Changbin, who steps in to protect you and Ryujin from further harm.

"You sick bastard! You drugged her, didn't you?!" Changbin's accusation is met with denial from Dohyun, but the tension between them remains as they're separated by others at the party.

As the confrontation reaches its peak, Chaeryeong arrives by your side, taking charge of the situation and swiftly calling for security to intervene. With their help, Dohyun is taken away.

Chaeryeong tends to you, gently splashing water on your face in an effort to help calm your dizziness. Changbin's expression softens as he looks at you.

"She needs to go to the hospital." Ryujin said.

"No...I want to go home." You said weakly.

"I will take her to home." Changbin assured.

With a sense of assurance, Changbin carefully lifts you into his arms, a protective gesture that doesn't go unnoticed by Chaeryeong who trusting him nods.

Changbin pulls up to your building and parked his car close. Carefully he retrieves your keys from your purse and with gentle hands, he unbuckles your seatbelt and cradles you against him, allowing your head to rest on the crook of his neck.

With his coat draped around you to shield you from the chill of the night air, Changbin carries you inside your home, laying you gently on the bed before setting about making tea. When he finished, he placed the cup of tea on your nightstand and covered you, letting you sleep while he returned to your living room and lay on the couch.

During the night he wakes up with your voice and movement in your bed. He sees you moving on the bed as you try to take your clothes off. He helps you as you stay in your underwear. He quickly picks pajamas from your wardrobe and dresses you with it, he then covers you. Your hands lazily searched for his as he lay down next to you.

"take my bra..."you asked drizzly as he removed your bra at your request, you murmured his name softly. His gaze softened as he watched you, concern evident in his eyes.

"Why aren't you doing anything?" you slurred, his hands brushing against your abdomen. "Am I not pretty?" you questioned, your voice tinged with insecurity.

He reached out, gently brushing a stray strand of hair from your face. "You're beautiful," he reassured you softly. "But you're not in the right state of mind. I'll take care of you in other time, okay? Just rest now."

His hands intercepted yours as you searched inside his shirt, halting your movements.

"I said no, Y/N. Rest," he spoke firmly, his tone leaving no room for argument. You nodded and pout.

"Can you stay with me?" you asked, a hint of longing in your voice, but he sighed in exasperation. He was only a man, after all.

"It's better if I don't," he replied, and you sighed sadly in response.

"I want to kiss you," you confessed, your eyes fixed on his lips as your hand reached out to touch them. Changbin leaned closer, his lips brushing against yours briefly, but before you could deepen the kiss in frustration, he pulled away from your grasp.

"Rest. I beg you. Don't make me do something I will surely regret." He pleaded as you nodded. "Your sister is almost here." He said and covered you again as he stared at you while your eyes closed.

Should I continue?

#straykids #straykids reactions #stray kids #fluffy #skz reactions #skz #kpop #seo changbin #changbin #skz changbin #stray kids changbin #skz imagines #stray kids imagines #itzy #chaeryeong #chaeryeong gifs #chaeryeong itzy

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lovelynim · 9 months

Note

Hello nim!! I'm truly happy for your 500 followers milestone! Since I'm also currently obsessed with honkai star rail, please consider writing a fic with "discovery theme" with lee jingyuan and ler danheng! Since danheng's memory has been "reset", It'll be fun if he "discover" what tickles is (probably from march/trailblaizer... or yanqing doing it to jingyuan), and since he's curious, he tries it on jingyuan.

I hope this idea is good!! Have a good day!

The Dragon's Lesson

Honkai: Star Rail - Dan Heng x Jing Yuan

[500 Followers Milestone Event - "Discovery"]

A/N: Hii anon, thank you so much for your support, heheh. I tweaked a little bit the prompt, so I hope you don't really mind it. I had a reaaally hard time trying to figure how to write this pairing out, but It turned out quite nicely... I think. Anyway, I hope you like it, hehe ~

Summary: After spending some time with the general, Dan Heng finds out something pretty interesting after engaging in one of his games

Word count: 1702 words

“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?” March 7th pouted, crossing her arms while Caelus and Welt stood behind her, waiting for Dan Heng’s answer. After the latest events in the Xianzhou Luofu, the crew was finally able to catch some rest before departing to the next destination. And, thanks to the insistence of the general and the master diviner, Welt suggested they should, indeed, spend some more time around. But…

“Yes,” Dan Heng said with a slight smile, looking down before he resumed speaking. “There are a few things I need to take care of and… I’m not sure how welcomed it would be if I walked around the Xianzhou looking like… this,” he muttered, knowing very well how much he resembled a certain person.

The girl was ready to nag him some more, but feeling Welt’s touch in her shoulder, March decided to let it be. “Alright, just call us if anything happens, ok?” The man said, looking at the other two, “let’s get going, then, the ms. Fu Xuan wouldn’t like it if we showed up late.”

Slowly waving his hand, Dan Heng said goodbye to the members of the Astral Express as they walked out the room. It was a large, fancy place, requested by no other than the general himself to accommodate their honorable guests.

The general…

Dan Heng let out a sigh when Jing Yuan’s figure occupied his mind. He wasn’t sure how to feel about him yet, nor what kind of relationship his past self used to have with the general, but it wouldn’t be right to say that there was no feeling at all. It was just… uncertain.

Letting himself get lost in a turmoil of thoughts, one after the other, Dan Heng was caught off guard when someone suddenly knocked on the door. Shooting his eyes open, the vidyadhara turned his attention to the door, as whoever was on the other side knocked again. “Just a second,” he voiced, walking over. “Who’s there?”

He could feel the hesitation on the other side, letting the silence take place for a few seconds before the other person would finally speak. “Did I come at a bad time?” A male voice chuckled, making its identity clear.

Opening the door, Dan Heng was met with the general friendly gaze. A warm, but contained smile formed on his lips. “Not at all, general, but… do you need something? May I be of help?”

“Ahaha, there is no need for such formalities between us,” Jing Yuan said, shaking his head, “I was just hoping I could invite you for a walk. The gardens have been somewhat… lonely lately and I’d love to hear more about you.”

If Dan Heng’s tail was visible at that moment, Jing Yuan would be able to see it wagging in excitement.

“Ah… sure, it would be a pleasure.”

Taking a step back, Jing Yuan gave the other some room to step out, closing the door behind him before starting to walk side by side with the general. Dan Heng was still confused, not able to figure out exactly how he felt towards Jing Yuan and, even more, if those were his or Dan Feng’s feelings.

As they arrived in the gardens, Dan Heng couldn’t help but feel a sense of familiarity towards that place, but, at the same time, curiosity to walk deeper into it.

“You- I mean, Dan Feng used to come here often,” Jing Yuan said from behind, hoping to not disturb the other’s experience, “well, at least when Yingxing wasn’t around, hahah.”

Gently lifting a flower from the ground to feel its scent, Dan Heng let out a small chuckle hearing the other’s mistake. An habit that at first annoyed him, but, after spending more time with the general, he began to find it more amusing. “I see… and I suppose this was where you met him the most? What else did you two used to do when he came over?”

The general sighed in contempt, shaking his head as he chuckled softly. “It all used to happen when I was younger, hahah. You’ll have to apologize to me, but this old man’s head isn’t as good as it used to be back then.”

Dan Heng arched his eyebrow, turning his attention back to Jing Yuan, who was fondly smiling at him. “If you don’t wish to share it, general, there is no need to lie to me,” he pouted lightly, to the level where it was almost unnoticeable.

“I’m not lying,” Jing Yuan insisted, raising his hands in front of his chest. Dan Heng sighed, he didn’t seem to want to push the matter further, having a bad feeling about it, but he couldn’t help but feel a little upset. “I swear I can’t remember, don’t be mad ~” Jing Yuan mused as he walked over, watching the Vidyadhara Elder slightly turn his face away.

“You are acting just like Yanqing when I turn his spar requests down,” the general teased, noticing how Dan Heng insisted on treating him with silence. “If you keep this up, I’ll have to treat you like I treat him, then.”

Dan Heng needed to keep looking away, otherwise Jing Yuan would be able to see his lips curling into a smile as well. This playful approach of the general enticed his curiosity even further, making him wonder what he had up his sleeve.

Then, before he could wonder about Jing Yuan’s next step, Dan Heng felt a pair of hands attack both his sides, gently squeezing the spot. Letting out a surprised - and embarrassingly loud - squeal, Dan Heng quickly moved away from the general, turning back to him with an annoyed look. "What was that about?!"

"Oh, so you were listening to me, huh?" Jing Yuan laughed, wiggling his fingers menacingly towards Dan Heng. "But it seems you are pretty sensitive…"

"Don't you dare, general. Or I-"

"Or you what, Dan Heng? Come on, it's just a little tickling…" He took one step forward, making the other take one step back, trying to keep the distance between them the same despite Jing Yuan`s attempts to get closer.

"Or I will tickle you," Dan Heng said, not thinking properly before snapping back at the general. Those words, however, only seemed to amuse Jing Yuan even further, making his grin grow larger. There was no way he was letting such a discovery slip through his fingers like that.

"Oh? You'll tickle me?" He continued in a defiant tone, trying to read through him. If it was Dan Feng, he would be sent flying away in a blast of water for trying such a thing. But Dan Heng? He was pretty sure he could beat him in this kind of fight.

Tired of waiting, Jing Yuan decided to make the first move, reaching out his hand towards the other man. However, as he was merely inches away from Dan Heng, the general could only catch a glimpse of his tail moving in a defensive manner, landing a heavy - but not so strong - strike against his middle, enough to tackle him to the ground.

Letting out an audible grunt when his back hit the gardens’ ground, Jing Yuan could only let out a chuckle. “Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to ann-”

“I warned you, general,” Dan Heng interrupted him, smirking as he sat down on the other’s lap, his nimble hands already finding their way to Jing Yuan’s waist, pinching the spot through the cloth in his way. “And it seems… you are also a little sensitive, hm?”

A crooked smile quickly formed on his lips as some panicked giggles escaped. Wait, was he for real? Was he actually fighting back like that? The general tried to hold his wrists and push him away, twisting his torso as he attempted to escape. “D-Dan Feheng, wait- ahaAH!”

A louder cackle escaped right before he could say something else. The vidyadhara gave him a stern look, shaking his head in disapproval. “That’s not my name, general, how many times do I need to tell you that I’m not him?” Dan Heng said, feigning annoyance as he dug a little harder on Jing Yuan’s sides.

But there was no doubt this wasn’t the former elder, not a single one. After all, Jing Yuan knew very well Dan Feng would never engage in his “foolish and childish” games. Maybe that was the reason why his reincarnation could catch him off guard so easily.

“S-sohohohorry! A-ahAHah, y-you can stohohop now!”

“Didn’t you say yourself that “it’s just a little tickling”?” Dan Heng mused with a smile, clawing at the general sides, making his laughter grow a little louder. If anyone from the Astral Express saw him right now, he wasn’t sure how he would explain himself - but it was just too early to stop.

With his legs immobilized under Dan Heng’s tail’s weight and his waist straddled, there was very little room for Jing Yuan to squirm - not to mention the fact that the other placed himself in such a way that he was sitting just out of the general’s reach, make it actually really hard (or impossible) to properly fight back the tickling. “I-I wahas wrohohong, Dan Heheheng!”

Jing Yuan pressed his eyes shut and laid his head back as he gave himself into the laughter, unable to do anything else other than hope to receive some mercy. “AhahAH, j-juhust quihihit it!”

Dan Heng slowly stopped moving his fingers, chuckling to himself. It was a rare sight to see the general laugh so carefreely, a much different sight from his usual self. “Guess Yanqing isn’t the only one that needs to learn… how to properly pick up a fight, huh?”

“A-ah, I suppose… I still have a few things to learn…” Jing Yuan sighed in relief, shyly giggling at himself. Just when he thought it was over, the general could feel the tip of the other’s tail tapping against his leg. Taken by curiosity, he opened his eyes, looking up to Dan Heng to be met with a mischievous grin.

“So… let’s see if you really learned your lesson, general.”

“Hah… surely, I look forward your teaching, Dan Heng.”

#500 followers event #500 followers milestone #milestone event #honkai star rail #dan heng #jing yuan #jingheng #dan heng x jing yuan #lee!jing yuan #ticklish!jing yuan #ler!dan heng #tickle fic #requests #anon

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sleepymccoy · 6 months

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Starting @sponesevents (check it out if you don't know it) has made me want to run another star trek event

A few years ago I ran a prompt challenge to draw like Joanna, McCoy's daughter. It was lovely fun, people who don't consider themselves artists were submitting pictures cos drawing like a child was encouraged!

Here's some pics from last time, credit to the contributors @beastlyanachronism @nim-lock @dustyjournal (who must've changed their url cos it's not showing up) (I hope you don't mind my sharing your art again, these three were the first that popped up in my tag when I searched)

I'm wondering about either doing that again, or making it any trek kid or just saying submit something like a child in the trek world saying thanks to Starfleet.

#star trek #star trek event #star trek community #star trek fanart

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lumen-tellus · 4 months

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fic: like scheherazade, i recite love

birthday fluff + mild angst

all platonic relationships: -> kdj & 1863rd hsy -> kdj & kimcom (eventually) -> 999th yjh & 999th crew (which includes Yoo Mia and Lee Seolhwa because i said so)

multi*-chapter fic *(when i update with chapter two. eventually. sweats)

excerpt:

[ There's no need to apologize. You're right, I haven't written about Yoo Joonghyuk's birthday yet. But I surely will. ] [ Really? Ah, thank you very much, author-nim!! But I hope that doesn't change anything with the story. I mean, if it came off as a pushy request, please disregard me and my curiosity. ] She doesn't really know what prompts her to keep replying - as it is, she doesn't have too much time or energy to spend, being awake at night only, and she's practically dedicated her life to writing a ridiculous amount of chapters for the foreseeable decade. As all writers would know, that's neither easy or a five-minute task. But that's the logical side of things. And if Han Sooyoung listened to it, she would not be here, writing a crappy novel that will condemn billions - nor talking to Kim Dokja, who would simply not be here. [ It's not a bother. If it were, then I must bother you in turn and ask when your birthday might be? ]

(read on ao3!!)

#orv #omniscient reader's viewpoint #kim dokja #orv spoilers #fanfic #HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY STAR TO MY MEOW MEOW MEOW TO MY MOST MENTALLY ILL BUT BELOVED SON OF ALL TIME MY DEAREST READER AND KING AND CONSTELLA #i didnt sleep properly for three days or something which is why this is multi-chapter susigdsuysduy

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chellesdump · 8 months

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Hyompirina - MoHyo

"Hyo was watching Disney Junior with her Momo unnie when she decided that she wanted to dress like the protagonist from the show they were watching. Momo complies and buys it for the little girl, but she soon comes to regret the decision since Hyo got so into the role"

word count ─ 1k

tags ─ little kid! hyo, big sis! momo, piranha girl, costume, momo doesn't know why she does the things she does, Vampirina from Disney Junior

notes ─ This is for the Vampire prompt. Please enjoy :3

Hyo was watching the TV in Momo’s room, anytime she wanted to watch anything Disney she would go and ask her unnie to watch it, Momo loved to watch anything Disney when any of the girls were little, and of course, her leader-nim wasn't an exception.

The girls had settled on watching Finding Nemo while eating some toast with jam spread, Momo didn’t really care about the mess that would ensue, surely Jeong would come to berate them later but for the moment it was a joyful one. They had to stop the movie around the 20-minute mark since Hyo was in need to use the potty, Momo had to go with her in case the little girl needed help, she had regressed at around 4 years old and didn’t really need help most times, but sometimes getting her clothes back on was such a hassle.

After her potty break Hyo decided that she needed to go back to her room to do something important, which was making her bed, “Hyo why do you need to make your bed at this moment?” asked Momo desperate to go back to watch the movie, “I saw Momo unnie's bed, remember that you shoul’ not be sloppy” stated without tact about her unnie’s feelings. When they finally went back to Momo’s room to continue watching the movie, Hyo made Momo make her own bed before letting her press play on the movie, grumbling the older girl complied not without berating herself about asking that question to Hyo.

That’s how they spend the rest of the movie, stopping every so often so Hyo could go and do something, but when the scene with the little girl with braces came on she didn't dare move an inch, that was one of her favorite scenes and she wasn’t going to miss it. Alongside Darla, Hyo said the words copying the movements as well, “I'm a piranha! They live in the Amazon!” she finished trying to bite Momo’s finger, but thanks to the universe Momo could see Hyo's mouth getting dangerously close and moved her hand away from the line of danger.

Momo told the little girl about how she shouldn’t try to bite people, and after the tiny Mianhae that came from Hyo’s mouth they continued watching the TV, once the movie was over they put some cartoon that Hyo loved, Vampirina was one of her newly favored shows to watch from Disney Junior.

Momo didn’t really understood things about the show, but if Hyo was happy she was willing to continue watching with her, the little girl was entranced by the show before, her barely moving, after 3 episodes she woke from her trance and looked to her unnie.

“Unnie! Unnie!” said Hyo trying to catch the elder’s attention, “Mwo?” responded Momo putting her phone down to give her full attention to the little, “You think I can dress like Vampirina?” asked Hyo, “You want to dress like the little vampire girl? Why? And when?” questioned Mo, “Don’ know, just wants to dress like her” shrugged the little girl.

“Sure why not, should we look for a costume?” said Mo opening the browser on her phone, Hyo excitedly nodded and sat beside her unnie to look for her costume, they found one that was deemed enough by the little and bought it. Hyo didn’t know if she would be able to wait the days it would take to arrive.

A whole 5 days after they ordered it it came in the mail, at the moment Jihyo wasn’t little she was her own adult self hanging around the girls, she heard the door open but didn’t think to much of it, with so many people living there opening doors wasn’t an uncommon occurrence.

Until Momo said the words JIHYO. YOUR. COSTUME. ARRIVED. and that’s all it took for Hyo to reappear, she ran to Momo and took the box from her hands, it was exactly how she had imagined it and she wanted, no, needed to put it on at that exact moment.

Recruiting Momo’s help Hyo put the costume on, she ran back out into the living room to show everyone what Momo had got her, the members awed and cooed at how cute the little looked. And Hyo beamed at everyone, almost bursting at the seems from the happiness that was filling her tiny body, the first thing she did after getting all the compliments was asking Mo to watch Vampirina once again, the older girl complied and they did that.

Everything was cool, until it wasn’t anymore, in the first chance she got Hyo escaped from the room, she got so into the role of being a vampire that she hid in the shadows, stalking everyone, preying on her next victim. The crime she was comitting? Bitting everyone.

All the members knew that in or out of little space, Hyo just likes to be biting her fingers or people, they always try to redirect that energy into healthier alternatives, but since today she was so into the vampire role and stalking them there wasn’t a chance to redirect the bites.

Hyo started pouncing on her members, giving them surprise bites on whatever exposed part was available, Jeongie ended up with a bite mark on her shoulder and another one on her ankle, Sana had a bite mark on her upper arm, Tzu on her wrist, Dahyun on one of her cheeks, Mina on the back of her leg, Chaeng on her back, and Nayeon on her neck and ear. So far the only one who had saved herself from the tiny vampire was Momo, but once she came out of the bathroom and into the living room she was attacked and her nose was bitten.

After her attack to Momo, Hyo was caught and taken to the time-out chair, after her time was served NaJeong explained how she wasn’t supposed to bite people even if she was dressed as a vampire, because she was hurting everyone. Momo also got berated because she was the one that bought her the costume, they asked her Why couldn’t you buy her a more friendly costume, like a princess or something like that?.

In the end, both of them got berated and would certainly be more careful with what the girl watched, apparently anything with bites was out of the table. Their next online orders were inspected by NaJeong before being given to MoHyo, wanting to see if they would not be affected by the things.

But let’s be real, Hyo would bite people even if she was not dressed like a vampire.

#chellesdump #age regression #sfw littlespace #twice agere #twice little space #little jihyo #big sis momo #vampirina #hyo has such an obsession with biting people #everyone in the dorm gets bitten by the little vampire #someone give them band-aids please #ageretober #ageretober day 18

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threetangerines · 1 year

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My submission for Readers Create game!

Title: Golden Hour

Prompts: Sunlight and Summer

Summary: A stolen afternoon.

Warnings: Explicit smut, kissing, cuddling, handjobs, orgasms, cunnilingus, dirty talk, fluff, sleepy Yoongi, ethereal Yoongi, reader in her feels, internal dialogue, teeny tiny angst, honestly I can't decide if this is fluffy smut or smutty fluff 😅

Word count: 641

Note: *Nervous huff* I feel so lucky to be able to contribute in some tiny humble way to the body of work that is this legendary story. I tried to lean way into the prompts and do something in my own way that hopefully, while under a different lens (?) still translated these lovely characters as our beloved author-nim intended them. I'm so scared to submit, but also so excited to have been given this gem of an opportunity. Thank you so much, Ryen, for opening this up - I had a blast!! 💖

______________________________________________________

You were bent over on the bed, the hoodie you were wearing - his - was pooling around the top half of your torso, it's warmth contrasting deliciously with the cool air hitting the rest of your otherwise naked body. You let out a shuddering sigh, digging your fingers into fleece lining that was not nearly as soft as the tongue sliding languidly up and down your labia. It was almost too warm for second layers, but his window was open and a breeze was wafting through the room. You could hear the chirp of the birds and the tinkle of a windchime as his lips found your clit and suckled.

"Yoongi…" Your voice was softer than usual, even as you whined his name.

Everything was softer.

He was softer.

He hummed in response against your sex, devouring you with a leisure befitting a stolen afternoon.

You had just come over to return something he had left at yours. When he had answered the door with mop of lovely mussed hair and a white tee and sweatpants, it had been immediately apparent that you had awakened him from a nap. When you had apologized and begged off he had grabbed you by the arm and pulled you into him, his lips skimming your temple. You had protested weakly, insisting that your brother would be home from work in a couple of hours and that it was your dinner night and other nonsense you secretly hoped he would ignore. He had said nothing, but had tugged you along and down into bed with him, pulling you against him greedily and nuzzling into your neck with a smug, if sleepy, grin, as if he know all along that you never meant to leave. The moment your bodies had fitted together in that way they always did, any thought of departure, or cooking obligations, or complicated consequences left your mind entirely. Yoongi, his warmth, his comfort, the butterflies in your stomach and the peace in your heart were all you could fathom. You had drifted off, then awoke to little kisses across your cheek. His hair was curling around his face, longer than usual recently (you knew it wouldn't last, he always changed his hair), and the light from the window behind him and spilling into the room around him made him look angelic. Demon that he usually was, his dark eyes so often full of hunger as he leaned over you, this visage of him took your breathe away. Unfair. "Hustler?" he had murmured in question to your staring, his voice gravely from sleep. You didn't answer, not with words - there was a golden spell hanging in the air, one you thought might shatter if you spoke above a whisper, so, you kissed him. You him kissed unhurriedly, in all the sorts of ways you had ever wanted to, just feeling his mouth move against your own. At some point you had pulled his pretty cock out of his pants started stroking it until he had cum, shaking and cursing softly, against your shirt.

That's how you had ended up in his hoodie, bent over, with his tongue inside you. You were so hazy with the decadent lust of the moment that you could barely hear his mummers against your sopping flesh. He was calling you 'doll'. He was cursing sweetly. He was lewdly and perfectly praising you. With a soft cry you came against his mouth, your orgasm dragging out sweet and long like a spool of honey as his lips continued to purr filth against your sex.

An hour later you were on his doorstep. He was leaning against the frame and looking down at you. Warm eyes, small smile. No rain. Not this time. This time the sky was gold.

They say that nothing gold can stay, but maybe, just maybe…

-Fin-

#ryen’s notes:#WHAT IN THE FUUUUU #VIOLETSIREN THIS IS BEAUTIFUL😭😭😭#holy hell you really went in and it’s under 700 words?!#damn. i’m so honored you wrote and shared this #these two need more soft moments and you totally delivered here #wow #love the soft atmosphere and could feel the heat and calmness?#floored!!#submissions #3fan:fic #3milestans #violetsiren90

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ffion451 · 1 year

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Chapter Nineteen: Here Alone | Diving: JJK (m)

Chapter characters/pairings: Jungkook x reader, broinlaw!Namjoon, diveinstructor!Hobi | AU/Genre: non idol au, angst, smut (see warnings below) see series m.post for fic summary etc.

Rating/Chapter warnings: ⚠️🔞 M - Adults only 🔞⚠️ explicit smut (f>m oral, rough(ish) unprotected m/f sex), mild angst.

Word count: 4130

Beta credits: A huge thanks to the ever-wonderful and excellent 🌺@moonleeai🌺, 🦋heathfritillary(AO3)🦋 and 🍒@cherrysoulth🍒 - thank you for your advice and input 💛 Lovely readers, all three are excellent writers, so please check out their works!

Note: This is the conclusion (ish) of their story - only the epilogue to follow, which will be posted very soon! Sorry to be annoying and post them separately, but they really are two very different chapters and there’s a time leap!

<<< Chapter Eighteen | Chapter Twenty (Epilogue) >>>

With his thumbnail he guides the spilled granules of sugar into the fractured grains of wood; tiny grains fall like snow, frosting the little crevices. On the other side of the coffee table Namjoon watches him, his gaze isn’t intense but he’s watchful, waiting for Jungkook to speak. Someone that was only half as clever and sensitive as Namjoon could have figured out that it is undoubtedly to do with those photographs and the context Jungkook needed to give you. Knowing the problem isn’t the issue, what to do about it is. Maybe it takes someone like Namjoon to know how to get Jungkook to share what’s on his mind.

Another push of his thumbnail and a miniature avalanche falls into the miniature cavern; a little world entirely in his control. It’s only when Namjoon follows Jungkook’s eyes as they flicker across the table that he suspects he ought to act. He watches the younger man’s large eyes light on the jar that holds the neat little sachets of sugar and he intervenes, stretching an arm across the coffee table to create a barricade.

Jungkook looks up at him, first with a mild look of betrayal before it’s swiftly replaced by embarrassment,”I wasn’t going to spill more…” he explains softly, shifting guiltily in his seat.

“Hmm, ok,” replies Namjoon, unconvinced, “Either way, I don’t think the staff here want to clean sugar out of every crevice of this table. Think of the ants it’d attract.”

Why am I talking about ants? Namjoon thinks, frustrated with himself for dancing so foolishly around what he really wants to say. With a clearing of his throat, and a steeling of his nerves, he decides directly addressing the issue is the best solution.

“So, did you tell her about the photographs?” It’s a simple question and not too forceful, if Jungkook chooses he can answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’, but Namjoon hopes for more detail. He hopes Jungkook will open up to him.

“I did,” Jungkook states, “It was fine, she was relieved more than anything else - said she was glad that the mystery was resolved.”

“Ah,” replies Namjoon, to fill the silence. He believes Jungkook when he says it went well, so he struggles to understand why Jungkook seems so affected. He let’s the sound sit, waiting for Jungkook to go further, if he wants to.

“I asked how she felt about it,” Jungkook elaborates eventually, “She just said that she wasn’t surprised that he’d do something like that, that it was typical of him.”

“And?” prompts Namjoon, sure that he’s reaching the kernel of what’s upsetting Jungkook.

“And then I was reminded of something Kang Taegi said,” Jungkook explains, “When I first found out about Jion and his situation I told my friends and we spoke about it. Taegi-nim said then that I could never compete against Jion and that I shouldn’t try to. He said that I had to learn to live alongside him and I can, I think I can, but I just don’t know… I mean, it’s not a competition, I know that. But, doesn’t it make sense to compare us? Isn’t that the thing? Won’t she always think ‘Would Jion have done that?’ or ‘How would Jion have handled this?’ and…” running out of steam, Jungkook takes a breath and trails off.

“I don’t think that’s how it works,” Namjoon says kindly, “Is that’s what’s worrying you?”

Jungkook laughs darkly, “Yeah, because be honest,” he says humourlessly, “How will I ever measure up against him? We’re nothing alike and as far as I can tell he was, he is, this perfect soul,” he says carefully catching his use of the past tense and notes Namjoon’s reassuring nod.

Namjoon rolls his hand ever so slightly towards Jungkook, a simple gesture that tells him to go on.

Jungkook does: with a deep breath he begins, “Meeting him, even though he’s not well, I could see that the photos don’t do him justice. He almost fucking glows, hyung! He has this whole aura of gentleness and he’s so fucking handsome - he’s like an elf or something - he’s unreal. Then, on top of all that he is her soulmate and they had this perfect thing. How can I live up to that? How can I, with all my shit and all the mess her and I have been through, ever compare to him?”

Namjoon laughs, “Ok, one thing at at time,” he smiles, “Firstly, he’s not an elf. Yes, my brother is very handsome, but you’re not so bad yourself, Jungkook - you have to admit that.”

Jungkook grunts dismissively, “I know I’m not ugly,” he admits, “But he and I are nothing alike, can she change her whole type?” he complains.

“There are no types, my sister isn’t shallow. She sees people, not a set of characteristics,” Namjoon fires back, though not unkindly, “Does my sister look like Kwon Hari? Or other women you’ve loved?” he asks with a raised brow.

“Of course not, nobody compares to her,” Jungkook is quick to reply, “I know it’s stupid and vain or whatever, but that’s the thing. I can’t compare her to any other woman I’ve loved because I have never felt this way about anyone ever before. It’s the best and worst feeling in the world because I am so fucking happy to have her and I am so fucking afraid of losing her at the same time.”

Namjoon nods, ordering his thoughts before he replies, “You two didn’t have an easy start, so I understand that you’d feel insecure. But she loves you too, and I think things are solid between you two now. There’s no immediate solution to how you feel, only time will make you feel safe in your relationship - it’s still early days for you both, but it’ll come. No good will come of comparing yourself to Jion though, you’re two very different men - there’s no point in it.”

“I know there isn’t,” admits Jungkook hopelessly, “I know I’d never measure up. As I heard it, it was smooth sailing from them from the start. None of the shit that she’s put - I mean, that we’ve been through.”

Namjoon shrugs, “There’s no point pretending they weren’t very happy and that they weren’t very much in love, but in the same way as that version of Jion is lost, so is that version of her. She’s not the same woman as she was then, you never knew her with him so you’ll just have to believe me that she’s different. What’s happened to Jion has changed her. Jion wouldn’t know what to do with her now - he was too innocent and gentle and pure.”

Jungkook makes a little noise of surprise and Joon laughs, “What? it’s true! You should’ve been honest right now and admitted that it’s her that’s put you through shit, not the other way around. I love her, but I can admit that she needs a partner who can stand up to her when she’s unreasonable, she isn’t always, but when she is, she need to be called out. My brother wouldn’t have the strength to tell her things she needs to hear but doesn’t want to. It’s more than that, she needs someone who has lost their way too, someone who knows those feelings of confusion and hurt, someone she can relate to. You are the right man for her, Jungkook, I promise.”

All the time Namjoon has been talking, Jungkook has been thinking, his head cast down. Only when Namjoon finishes his speech does Jungkook lift his gaze to look at Namjoon through his thick mop of hair, tilting his head as he considers what’s been said.

Namjoon knows Jungkook needs time, needs to think and to process things so he changes the subject, trying a little levity. He imitates Jungkook, making a slightly clicking, creaking noise as he mimics Jungkook’s head movements, “Hey Sadako,” he laughs, “Now that you’re in a big city, why don’t we get that mess on your head trimmed before we hit the gym?”

Jungkook tosses his hair back as he laughs readily and genuinely, “Yeah, it’s starting to do my head in a bit,” he admits, “She’s been telling me I ought to get it trimmed, she says she likes to actually see my face once in a while…”

Namjoon laughs, “Because you are her ‘type’” he smiles, “She wants the best for you - I think she’s the right woman for you too.”

Jungkook smiles, “I’m not easy to handle,” he confesses, “But I’d do anything she asked me to.”

Namjoon rolls his eyes, “You don’t say,” he intones sarcastically, “You’re so obviously a complete sucker for her.”

Jungkook presses his lips together and nods amenably, “I’m not even ashamed of it.”

“There’s no reason to be, she’s just as crazy for you,” Namjoon smiles, glad to see Jungkook is a little lighter. He doesn’t want to belabour his points, but he seeks a final bit of reassurance, “You heard what I said about Jion, yeah?” he presses, leaning forward to ruffle the younger man’s hair affectionately.

“I did,” Jungkook nods, running his hands through his hair to try and tame it, though he’s touched by Namjoon’s brotherly gesture.

“You might as well tell me everything - what else is wrong?” Namjoon adds perceptively.

Jungkook laughs awkwardly and clicks his tongue, “The thing is that that’s it - nothing’s wrong. Things have been going so well recently that I guess I feel nervous about how it might fuck up again as it always seems to.”

Namjoon nods sagely, “I understand that, but I think that’s behind you now. Trust in her, she won’t let you down.”

Jungkook smiles, “I won’t let her down either.”

As Namjoon leaves cash on the table and stands up, he grins, “I know you won’t - I trust you. It didn’t even need saying.”

___________________

You barely have time to process Jungkook’s new haircut when he gets back from his boxing session before he’s escaping to the shower to wash the sweat from his limbs. He’d returned flustered but glowing, Namjoon had headed to work to shower where he keeps his suits and Mina was hosting some lunch or another… You know you two are alone in an apartment that suddenly feels several degrees too hot.

You’re left pacing the kitchen in his absence, unable to tear your mind from the momentary glimpse of his glistening skin and tousled hair. In the last week or so your limited time with Jungkook has become an ever-present thought in your mind. Naturally, it’s affected you: you want to spend all your time with him; you find it hard not to be near him; you crave even the slightest touch and you think of him constantly. That’s not it all though, because it has also made you absolutely feral for him. Since the two of you started having sex regularly, you’ve found it hard to control your desire for him but now you have barely any control at all. The slightest smirk is enough for you to soak through your underwear… You’re so weak for him that you feel utterly pathetic but who is there to judge you? Certainly not Jungkook - he loves it. So why should you be your harshest critic? Having successfully appeased yourself, you give in to your basest instincts. Who needs restraint anyway?

You follow your feet and dirty thoughts to the master bathroom.

Namjoon’s shower is huge: it has no door, there’s only a glass partition that you walk around to reach the massive waterfall shower-head and inlaid jets. You couldn’t be more grateful for it because it allows you to creep into the shower without Jungkook noticing as he soaps his body, eyes closed. You can’t help but admire his sinuous, muscular form as he works the foam into his skin: Jungkook isn’t a gym rat by any description, but his entire body is firm and toned, the muscles in his arms, thighs and abs all clearly defined and currently dripping with suds and water, making your thighs clench.

You never thought you’d be grateful for the tumultuous path your relationship has taken, but right now you are. You thank the universe that the course has been gradual and slow-building, because if you saw Jungkook like this from the start, you don’t think you’d ever have built up the confidence to speak to him, let alone allow him see you naked.

You are admiring the curves of his ass as he turns from the jet; fate remains on your side as he keeps his eyes closed. You don’t want to startle him, but the sight of him and the throbbing between your legs can no longer be ignored, “Don’t open your eyes,” you say softly.

He jumps a little, and his breath quickens, but he obeys your command. In response, you smile as you shed your joggers and tee, leaving yourself in your underwear, a fairly sporty crop top and shorts combination, and approach him.

“Keep them closed,” you whisper, trying to sound seductive, but you can’t resist booping the tip of his nose with your finger, drawing a small giggle from him. Then you glide your hands down his smooth, water-slicked torso, sinking to your knees before him as his giggle turns into a strangled moan of anticipation.

___________________

Jungkook screws his eyes shut as he strives to contain his whimpers. If awards were given out for sucking cock, he knows you’d sweep the board. That night against the lighthouse, he thought you were going to suck his soul out of him and this is no different. You edge him to the point of madness; one of his hands tangles in the wet mess of your hair whilst the other clings desperately to the tiles of the shower, the grout flaking beneath his clawed nails as he fights waves of frustration cresting over waves of pleasure.

You’ve nearly gotten him there; he’s so far down your throat now that every lascivious moan you make vibrates against his throbbing cock deliciously. Jungkook is lost in sensation, the flow of the water, the darkness of his closed eyes and the echo of the space makes everything far more intense. Your hand feels so good clenched into the meat of his ass, as does the other that rolls his balls; you tug them gently then, and that final pressure, the press of your tongue and the hollowing of your cheeks pushes him over the edge unexpectedly and he comes like a firehose down your throat. You cough and splutter as his eyes fly open; he’s surprised to watch you swallow his load without retching, though your eyes, wide and innocent despite the filthy things you’ve just done to him, are a little watery.

In his post-orgasm moment of clarity he thinks of how often he used to touch himself to the thought of you sucking his cock in his shower, and he can’t fully process that his fantasy has become reality. Desperate to have you near, he pulls you to your feet and into his embrace, careful to protect his sensitive cock, though he can’t control its twitching when your hard nipples press into him through your soaked crop top. He doesn’t pause or seek permission as he yanks it down and attaches his mouth around your breast, sucking harshly and groaning as he draws a whining moan of desire from you. With a sharp nip and a flick of his tongue he releases you, panting slightly.

“Towels,” he orders in a low, guttural voice, “Let’s fuck.”

Moments later, you’ve both hastily towel dried yourselves and been sure to leave the bathroom free from any evidence of what you’ve done. As soon as the last towel is hung over the heated rail, Jungkook is pushing you towards his new bedroom. He throws you on the bed unceremoniously as soon as the door is locked behind him and he’s quick to clamber over you. Now your head dangles over the edge while he ploughs into you, his hips seemingly moving on their own accord as he fucks you with desperate, unbridled desire.

“Jungkook,” you whine, hands clawing at his shoulders as your head painfully fills with blood.

He takes in your expression and bites his lip in concern, immediately his hands are under you, slipping beneath your shoulder blades to pull you into his lap. His new fringe sticks to his forehead, sweat-soaked tendrils curling into his eyes. You brush the layers of his hair back from his face as you lean in to kiss him, “I really like this cut,” you whisper into his mouth as he groans into the kiss, nipping your lip.

Sat on his lap, his cock inside you and your legs around him, you roll your hips into him and he sighs heavily, “Did it for you,” he manages to pant out. You kiss him sloppily in thanks.

He’s exhausted from the gym but he finds it impossible to cede control completely to you. In this position he can still just about fuck up into you, but he’s grateful that you can meet his thrusts as he struggles to find the energy to match his desire. It’s sex at its messiest, lacking rhythm or control but the passion beneath is desperate.

“Jungkook,” you whine as your high reaches a tipping point but you’re not quite there, the friction just not enough to push you over the edge.

He smirks as he spits on his thumb and reaches between your bodies, “I’ve got you,” he promises as he rubs your clit vigorously. You whine in protest, the pleasure building too fast: the heat builds in your body and you know you’ll come soon as you try to communicate through desperate whimpers.

“I can’t hold out much longer,” he explains, “Need to feel you come around me babe.”

Moments later, you do, throwing your head back and crying out as pleasure rips through your body on a wave of white-hot sensation. The arch of your back allows Jungkook to hit you deeper and it drives him towards his own high seconds later. His mouth latches to your throat and he sucks a messy bruise into the skin as he fills you. Soaked in sweat, you come down slowly from your explosive orgasms, leaving you shaking and trembling in each others’ arms.

As he recovers from his high, Jungkook presses a kiss to your cheek, still buried deeply inside you. You sigh, resting your cheek on his shoulder, “Are you ok, baby?” he asks soothingly.

You only hum in response, drawing circles with your nails on his back as he shudders pleasurably.

“I love you,” he declares, pressing a kiss into your hair, “and I could stay here forever, but we better get a move on if we’re going home tonight.”

You lift your head and press a tired kiss to his temple, “I know - love you too.”

Separating yourselves is a messy task and both of you pad to separate bathrooms to shower again, avoiding temptation and any scandalous behaviour should Mina arrive back earlier than expected. The rest of the visit flies and before you know it, you’re both collapsing into the comfort of your bed, the dogs curled happily in their basket as you fall into slumber in each others’ arms.

___________________

“Tempus fugit,” calls a wizened patron from outside the pub, listening in on Hobi and Jungwon’s conversation, “Can’t believe your boy is off already Jeon Jungwon!”

“Repeating someone’s words in Latin doesn’t make the earwigging any less rude,” snipes Hobi’s wife as she loads a bag of supplies from the pub into the truck, looking at all the boxes within. She turns back to Jungwon, “How much stuff is he taking?”

Jungwon smiles, but sadness lurks beneath, “Most of it is his music equipment from the lighthouse.”

“Is that where he is now?” she asks, the implication being ‘is that where he is when he should be here helping out?’

“It’s hard for lovers to say goodbye,” calls the old drinker again.

“That’s enough from you!” Hobi calls, his tone is teasing and pleasant, but firm; he knows if he doesn’t intervene, his wife will lose all patience.

Jungwon smiles benignly, “It is hard to say goodbye,” he agrees, “I think he wishes she was taking him to the city, but it’s best they say goodbye here, I don’t like the thought of her travelling back here alone and upset. It’s good of her brother-in-law to put me up for a few days. It’s been years since I’ve been to the city and I want to check my boy settles in ok.”

Hobi smiles softly, “How does she feel about that?”

“It was her suggestion, of course,” Jungwon smiles, “She is so considerate. She makes the perfect daughter-in-law, not that I am planning ahead!”

“No, of course not,” Hobi teases before he nods, looking over Jungwon’s shoulder and raising his chin to indicate Jungkook’s approaching truck, “Here comes the would-be groom now.”

The three of them line up as he pulls to the curb, leaving the engine idling, “I’ll go park up in the house and I’l be over,” he says flatly.

“Are you ready to leave?” asks Hobi gently, taking in Jungkook’s swollen eyes, and tear-stained puffy face.

“‘m fine,” he sniffs unconvincingly.

“Of course he is,” adds Hobi’s wife brusquely, “It’s only eight months for god’s sake, he’ll be back most weekends. Stop your fussing!”

Jungkook clenches his jaw, attempting a brave face, “Exactly, you won’t even know I’m gone.”

“Good lad,” she says as he pulls off.

She turns to Jungwon, “Take my advice,” she says softly, “Don’t coddle him now or he won’t get through it. It won’t be easy for him to be separated from her and Bam - I bet he’s not even begun to reckon with what it’ll be like when he’s there and he realises that he’ll also be separated from you and this place, this community. It’s going to be hard for you both. Brave faces, yeah?”

Jungwon nods, “I know,” he smiles, turning to Hobi, “You married a wise woman.”

Hobi smiles, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and kissing the top of her head, “Wise and brutal,” he laughs as she wraps an arm around his waist and beams up at him, squinting in the midday sun.

There, under the glaring light reflecting from the truck windscreen and the calm flat of water that stretches before them, the three of them wait for Jungkook.

___________________

You watch the same expanse of glittering blue from the cliff top, the same brave face plastered over your own sadness, but this time it’s for the sake of the dogs, especially Bam, who is still perturbed by Jungkook’s tears.

You’ve known loneliness in all its forms: the agonising pain of growing loneliness as someone slips away from you; the desperate, aching absence of a void in your life; the false embrace of the darkness that pulls you in and tells you that loneliness is what you want… You’ve known them all. Right now, here alone, you do not fear it.

Not that you’re alone for long anymore: now that you’re embedded in this small community and with a family that love you, company is never far away. You turn at the gentle toot of a horn and, even through your puffy eyes, you can make out the beaming smile of Seolhee in the passenger seat of the approaching car.

The second the car pulls up she rushes to you, leaving Taegi behind her to wrangle the excitable dogs.

“You ok?” she asks as she pulls you into a strangling hug.

“I will be,” you say, smiling at Taegi from over her shoulder, “Thanks for picking her up and coming over. I cooked and it’s proper food this time. I followed a recipe and everything.”

He smiles, “A recipe? We are spoilt! I am absolutely famished. I made so many dishes for Jungwon to pack up that I’ve worked up quite the appetite,” he admits, “So don’t worry, Jungkook won’t starve!”

“I’ll cook for him too when I visit,” Seolhee smiles, “I’ll be over there all the time making a nuisance of myself and making sure that Joon and him are ok!” she promises sincerely.

You smile at them both, “Where would we be without friends like you?”

Both of them smile, touched by the sincerity of your words. Blushing a little, you gesture for them to move into the house, “Let’s eat and drink and not be sad!”

They simply laugh; Seolhee maintains a firm grip around your waist as you head inside, the sun at your backs, warming you and lighting your path.

A/N: Thanks for reading - please let me know what you think!

<<< Chapter Eighteen | Chapter Twenty (Epilogue) >>>

<<< back to series m.post

Taglist (always open, let me know if you want to be added to a permanent one): @moonleeai , @hoseoksluv89 , @babyboo22 , @uwu2rawr

#bts fanfic #bts smut #jungkook fanfic #jungkook smut #jungkook imagine #jungkook x reader #jungkook scenarios #minors dnr #bangtanwhq #btswritersclub

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goddamnosamu · 2 years

Text

sick? i just miss you

Prompt: “y/n told me they’re sick so I'm just really worried—”

“Since when did you get here?!”

pairing: idol!jeongwoo x reader

a/n: this was SOOO long overdue jesus but the inspiration behind this fic is from another fic i read and the prompt is a bit similar to that so yeah! This was originally for junghwan but i felt like jeongwoo would fit this prompt more so enjoy! I’ll post another fic for compensation for the lack of works i post so pls dont forget to leave a like and reblog this post if you enjoyed it!

You knew what you signed up for when you started dating THE park jeongwoo of treasure. You knew how busy his schedule would be and all the hardships that come with an LDR relationship, but that’s what made your relationship special. Despite the conflicting schedules, missing calls, or lonely nights, it was all worth it whenever you both share the same sentiments with one another.

Finally having a 2-week break from your university, you decided to book a flight immediately to South Korea to visit your boyfriend. But you knew you couldn’t just appear anti-climactically. And what better way to come visit is with a bang.

“I’ll try to call you back, I’m going to visit the pharmacy for meds.” You said with your best sick impression, even adding a cough at the end of the sentence to make it realistic.

“(sigh) alright, text me when you get home. I really wish I could be there with you right now.” jeongwoo said with a worried tone. He tried not to show it, but he was panicking from the inside. Your exaggerated “sickness” made jeongwoo act like he wanted to book immediately to you because of how anxious he was about you being sick.

“alright, (sneeze) I’ll text you in a bit.” you said while putting the remaining things in your luggage and fixing your plane ticket and passport.

You tried not to chuckle because he wouldn’t end the call. He always insisted you end the call because his excuse was he would always forget to press end (he really just wants to hear your voice longer). After insisting on ending the call, you immediately texted hyunsuk to say that you were on your way to the airport for your flight.

leader-nim hyunsuk

Aigoo, I overheard your conversation with jeongwoo and he always looked like he wanted to cry.

You chuckled and told him to try and cheer him up because sulky jeongwoo, even if it was something you love to tease him about, always pinches your heart and you try to comfort him (he secretly fakes it so he could be babied, but you don’t know that).

━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ

“Jeongwoo, focus! The concert is in 4 days.” Jihoon scolded, as he can see jeongwoo not focusing in the studio. Jihoon knows you’re coming to their dorm at night to surprise jeongwoo, but why not make the most out of it and prank him as well?

“I know hyung, I’m sorry.” jeongwoo sighed. He really had a hard time focusing because he’s too worried about you. He drank some water to help calm down and sat down on the studio floor to catch his breath.

“yah jeongwoo, what’s up with you today?” Jihoon said in an annoying, teasing tone. He really is having the time of his life pranking the poor boy.

“y/n is still not replying to my texts when I told her to update me. What if something happened hyung? What am I gonna do?” jeongwoo looked at jihoon with teary eyes as he desperately looked at his hyung’s eyes, as if finding an answer under his mischievous eyes.

Jihoon sat beside him, and gave him a pat at the back. “Don’t worry, she’s a stubborn one just like you. I doubt a sickness like that will get to her.” He tried so hard not to giggle, but he really couldn't help sympathize over a worried jeongwoo whose girlfriend isn’t even sick.

Unconvinced, jeongwoo stood up and said a small thanks, and continued working on the choreography. Jihoon just smiled, ruffling the worried boy’s hair and earning a small whine from him.

“Why don’t we just head home for today, and take a rest? Overworking yourself here will do you no good.” and while jeongwoo was packing his stuff to leave the studio, jihoon got a text from hyunsuk that you were already at the dorm. Jihoon teased jeongwoo saying they don’t come home quick, they wouldn’t have any food delivery back at the door.

━☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ

At the dorm, you were conversing with the other members, trying to catch up on all the latest updates when hyunsuk got a text saying they’re almost at the door. All the members were happily munching their food delivery (courtesy of you because of the never-ending teasing of junkyu and junghwan), you tried to blend in with the members as much as possible to not get caught immediately.

Once the two boys arrived at the dorm, jeongwoo immediately went to throw his stuff in his room and sat beside doyoung. Jeongwoo, with an indescribable look on his face, went on a typing spree as if he’s fighting someone on the internet.

Doyoung, who offered pizza to jeongwoo who took a grateful bite, asked who was he texting.

“my girlfriend, she still hasn’t replied to my texts yet and I am getting frustrated.” jeongwoo said as he took another bite from doyoung’s pizza earning a chuckle from the others.

“y/n told me they’re sick so I'm just really worried—” he wanted to explain your situation to the members, even when they know it already.

“Why don’t you try calling her?” you asked with your best doyoung expression, you and the other members trying not to laugh at the oblivious boy.

“She probably won’t reply, but i’ll try again.” jeongwoo, who couldn’t care less about why the other members were giving him looks, took another pizza out of the box when he heard the familiar ringtone of your phone, which was him screaming his lungs out when they had a t-map episode in iksan.

He looked at it puzzled, wondering why your ringtone (even if he was embarrassed because it was blaring) and his name with a heart was on the table. His eyes frantically looked at all the members when his eyes landed on you sitting beside haruto and yoshi trying to hide your laugh but failing miserably.

“Since when did you get here?!” he pointed at you, accusingly. As if his dramatic ass witnessed the worst betrayal ever. Everyone started laughing, throwing their bodies to the people beside them, and clapping frantically. Some members (jihoon and junghwan) couldn’t help but tease jeongwoo from the side.

But jeongwoo didn’t pay attention to any of them and went straight to you. Engulfing you with his hug, tightening his grip on your hold as if scared that you’ll be gone when he lets go. He started to tear up a bit but brushed his face on your shoulder to remove the tears and you couldn’t help but laugh again.

He cupped your face and looked into your eyes while you’re still trying to stop your laugh

“stop laughing, this is not funny.” he whined to you while shaking you a bit to show that he’s starting to sulk.

“oh, it was really funny.” you teased while copying his stance when he pointed a finger at you when he saw you. He tried to stop you by hugging you, which was always effective when stopping your teasing. But the hyungs started doing the stance as well, and he knew they will never live this down.

after the laughter died down, and everyone’s conversing about the concert and sharing their excitement with you. jeongwoo just kept playing with your fingers and looking at you from time to time to admire you while you talk with the members. He was giving you your time with the members now so he could have you all for himself later.

#park jeongwoo #treasure jeongwoo #treasure imagines #treasure fics #treasure fluff #treasure park jeongwoo #treasure kpop #park jeongwoo au #park jeongwoo imagines #park jeongwoo fluff #park jeongwoo fics #park jeongwoo x reader #treasure kpop imagines

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nochukoo97 · 9 months

Note

Hiii author-nim, i wanted to drop by saying your jk boyfriend drabbles series have always made my day and i look forward to each an every one of them :)))

Your writing style is admirable because is simple, straightforward but so pretty, it doesnt have too much philosophy which sometimes i notice writers do and it cuts the flow of their fics but youra so so- irl based and short, its a quick read everytime and always brings a smile to my face.

Anyways i wanted to ask if you could do a bf jk drabble with the prompt of meeting the parents? It could be jk meeting oc's or vice versa, i just want to see them get immediately adopted into the family and them being like OJO....'that was easier than i thought' Nd the parents being like "i had a daughtrr now i finally have a son" type of thing. Idk lol, it just burst into my mind. Just wholesome fluff lol 😆

Also.....could i be in the taglist for your drabbles 🥺👉👈

C u soon!!!

-Lyf

HIIIIII OMG UR TOO SWEET!!! this means so much to me ❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹🥹🥹🥹🥹 you made me smile so hard hehhehehe

heres the fic!! thank you for requesting!! ❤️❤️

#juliaanswers #juliasrequests!

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kdj-225 · 2 years

Note

OH OH JAY-NIM IF YOU'RE STILL TAKING PROMPTS CAN YOU WRITE ABOUT THE OLDER!KDJ AND YOUNGER!YJH AU BUT WITH KDJ INTERACTING WITH YMA??? I wanna know how YMA feels about KDJ in this AU 🥺 I feel like KDJ would pamper and spoil YMA as much as he can in this AU, even when he was younger 🥺🥺

[ahhh I had too much fun writing this short thing, thank you so much for the prompt!!!! YMA is truly the cutest wahh 😭💖💖💖]

For those who missed it, here's the first part!

--------

※DO NOT REPOST / HOST MY WORK ON OTHER APPS OR SITES

“Oppa.”

Dokja blinks sleepy eyes open at the sound of a little girl’s voice, and finds Yoo Mia toddling over to him. She’s so, so tiny, it’s almost scary to look after her…

But Joonghyuk lets him into his home to escape his relatives, so this is the least he can do.

“Mia-yah,” he greets, smiling when she successfully reaches him. Chubby arms splaying out over his chest, chubby legs bumping against the bed—she’s so adorable, it makes him wonder how similarly Joonghyuk must have looked when he was a baby.

“Oppa,” she grumbles. “Get up.”

“I don’t want to,” he sighs. He rolls over until he’s on his side, facing her. “I wanna sleep.”

“No.”

“Wow, you sound like Joonghyukie.”

She brightens up at his words, round cheeks emphasized with the force of her grin. So tiny, and yet, already a brocon…that’s going to be dangerous in the future, isn’t it?

“Let’s sleep,” he whines, closing his eyes again.

She smacks a chubby hand onto his face. Ow.

“That’s mean,” he says, squinting his eyes open to look at her. Those round eyes of hers stare down at him like he’s an ant, and he huffs out a breath. Isn’t she too young to be influenced in such a bad way by Yoo Joonghyuk? That little brat, what is he teaching his baby sister? “You shouldn’t hit people like that, Mia-yah.”

“You were rude first,” she grumbles. “Don’t ignore me.”

“I wasn’t.”

“You were trying to sleep!”

Her nose scrunches up, lower lip wobbling like she’s going to cry. Of course, he panics; this is Joonghyuk’s little sister, and he doesn’t want to make her sad. “Ohh no, no no,” he says in a rush, sitting up—

And immediately crumpling down with a groan, only barely managing to support himself up with a hand to the bed’s edge. Shit, he shouldn’t have sat up so quickly. How could he have gotten so dizzy just from that? How weak is he?

“Oppa? Oppa!”

“S’fine, I just got dizzy,” he says, closing his eyes to ward off the dizzying sight of the world flashing black and colorful in front of him. He waves a hand in dismissal at Mia’s worrying. “Uhh, this oppa is still tired, so maybe Mia can play here with me instead.”

“...okay.”

She climbs up onto the bed with him with no prompting, before gently urging him down onto his back with small hands patting at his chest. “Um, Mia-yah..?”

“Sleep,” she insists, successfully managing to push him down. What ridiculous strength from a child. Through his squinty-eyed vision, he can see her glaring at him. “Oppa, you’re too weak.”

Damn. That’s more painful than a smack from her, to be honest.

“I’m not that bad…”

“You are.”

Ugh. These horrible siblings, just because they’re ridiculously smart for their age…

“Oppa,” she says again.

He keeps his eyes closed. He’s petty, what can he say? “Mm.”

“You should take care of yourself.”

Something tells him that Mia’s face must look really sincere right now. That she must be serious about this, or maybe even worried about him.

It’s exactly why he doesn’t open his eyes.

“I am,” he says.

“Liar.”

He laughs, raising both hands to rub at his closed eyes. “Maybe. But I’m doing what I can.”

“...do better.”

“Again, sounding just like Joonghyukie.”

He wheezes out a breath when he feels the sudden weight falling upon his chest. When he opens his eyes to check, Mia is already resting on top of him, arms folded underneath her chin as she squints at him in seeming disappointment. “What? You’re a little heavy.”

“My oppa doesn’t say that.”

“That’s because he’s your oppa who spoils you.”

“And you don’t?”

“Hey now…”

“Dokja-oppa,” she says again. Those eyes of hers are huge, still so innocent, he feels guilty enough to look away. She’s just a baby, and yet, why is she the one trying to look after him like this? He can’t be this pathetic.

“Dokja-oppa.”

“Yes?”

“Take care of my oppa.”

He looks back at her, confused. All of a sudden? “Joonghyukie? I mean, he can take care of himself just fine—”

“I’m talking about you.”

“Huh?”

She buries the lower half of her face behind her folded arms, gaze looking away from him. Blurrily, he can make out hints of pink on her cheeks…is she blushing?

“You’re my oppa too. So, take care of him for me.”

“...ah.”

She glares at him. “Yes?”

He looks back.

Then, he smiles. It feels awkward on his mouth, a little too big for his preference, but he can’t help it.

Isn’t she being too cute right now?

“Okay.”

She holds out her hand to his face, pinky finger extended. “Promise?”

Well.

He raises his own hand, and curls his pinky finger with hers. Even if not for himself, maybe he can try just for her.

“Promise, Mia-yah.”

#kim dokja pov #omniscient reader's viewpoint #orv #fanfic #my writing #request #yoo mia #kim dokja

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chaengsswife · 9 months

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hey author nim! can I make a request for your one shot stories?

The idea is that mina is a villain and chaeng is a hero. Chaeng fell for mina but maintains her sense of duty. Mina is also in love with chaeng and does her best to get chaeng's attention.. they don't know each other's feelings and the fights continue until one day mina stops getting interrupted by chaeng and in her place is someone else.. this continues for a few days until mina learns the truth that chaeng is currently fighting another villain( who actually was planning on backstabbing mina after earning her favour and chaeng couldn't control herself when she heard that).. they both were badly hurt but the villain managed to escape with the help of his goons while chaeng was badly hurt(she managed to beat him up pretty badly but was attacked by the entire villain group and couldn't take them out).. Mina arrives at the scene to see a wounded chaeng and safely carries her back to her lair..she learns the story from Dahyun who is chaeng's friend and colleague..and is touched by chaeng fighting for her sake and falls for her all over again... (Of course she confronts the villain and shit goes down for him) .. she personally takes care of chaeng, cleaning her wounds and using her powers(?) If she has any. She decides she doesn't want to let her chaengie go

how is that? I tried to provide as much detail as possible..you can add or modify things to your interest. Would love to read your story on this prompt☺️(only if you want to though..no pressure). I just wanted to share this idea with someone.

🤯 This is totally amazing!!! What an awesome idea!!!

I’ve actually been seeing a lot of prompts and I actually just read a really good fic for another fandom based on hero x villain so this came at a perfect time!!

And wow! Thank you for all this detail! It is so much easier to write when I have a story outlined to me so I really appreciate you giving me as many details as possible!!

Villain Mina is going to be the greatest thing 😫 I can’t wait to write this!! ✍️✍️✍️✍️

Thank you so much ❤️❤️

#thank you!!!#ask #oneshot book #michaeng #this is phenomenal

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lokislytherin · 1 year

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Heyyyyyyyy so this ask is just out of pure curiosity, but what is your lookism

otp

rareship

kinda popular pairing u cant just jive with so much

hello curious anon! thank you for the ask hope you're having a pleasant timezone!

otp: idk if you've seen my posts or my ao3 but i am literally a janiel writer. jaeseok is literally The lookism otp for me. but if i had to pick a second otp it would be zami bc they're so good for each other sorry vinzackers but zami is one of my only few valid het ships that i'll actually die fighting for (i like danizoe too but i think they're better off besties bc they both need a bestie of the opposite gender so 1) zoe can realize guys are not that great 2) daniel can realize he can be good friends with girls without having to date them)

rarepair: idk if anyone ships this other than me but yuimira? i made a bs headcanon post when i saw lookism rarepairs prompt-ish thing and i'm too lazy to link it but if you search yuimira on my blog i bet you'll find it but anyway! mira's 'i can fix them' energy is so strong (read: zack, johan) but she's also really sweet and her angel energy could really balance out yui's bitch energy you get me? hence why i raise you the even rarer rarepair of zamiyui bc zack is also a bitch at least to others you can't tell me no

non-ship: hmmge. HMMGE. CURIOUS ANON YOU'RE GONNA GET ME STONED FOR THIS but i'm gonna say quite a few ships actually so i might as well let the homies flame me sooner rather than later btw some of this might get a little nsfw!

gundaniel: i'm sorry but you can't tell me daniel would ever love gun romantically of his own volition. i only ship it as gun simping for daniel and daniel being terrified and disgusted / noncon / possibly dead dove ish with the broken bone and blood kind of gore combined with noncon

gungoo & jakemuel: they act like brothers. i thought they were brothers for the longest time i can't ship them romantically, sorry for the anon who asked me to write gun x goo and jake x samuel sheesh both of my non-ships!

jakejiho: idm jake but i HATE jiho with a burning passion. i love his bastardisation arc and it was really well written but 1) it took up too much of the main story imo like daniel literally wasn't the mc of lookism for that arc 2) his ending SUCKED. he just died like that and i think it was just like ??? why so sudden?? why he just end like that? haiyaa ptj-nim you already made him bad why not make him Worse and keep him in the story (and keep me fuming every other chapter /LOL jiho's the one guy i would hate irl more than gun bc he's so fucking pathetic istg)

vasco and jace: this is the one i'm gonna get flamed for more than anything but LOOK. vasco's neurodivergent aroace vibes are so strong to me and just. male friendship yk. they're platonic soulmates bc that's good too yk. they're more than besties but not lovers in that sense... not me hinting at my vascojace platonic soulmates agenda in hit and run with "jaeyeol and hyungseok have the special bestie telepathy like vasco and beomjae, but it's different for jaeyeol and hyungseok" as in romantic difference, and one of my readers immediately went omg yeah vascojace should totally get married and i was sobbing like NO THAT WASN'T WHAT I MEANT AT ALL

vinzack: i just can't see it. sorry. i believe in mira supremacy but that might be bc i'm gay and i would date mira if zack doesn't

phew that was a lot LMAO but it had to be said! once again thank you for the ask curious anon feel free to come back to ask more!

#rinanswersthings #lookism #in terms of rarepair i also think gunjaniel would be interesting #bc janiel is daniel x daniel simp (positively toxic)#and gundaniel is daniel x daniel simp (negatively toxic)#where jay is 'he can fix me' and gun is 'i can make him worse'#and i have my Gunjay Parallels #i just wanna see gunjay interact #jay being out of his mind with jealousy at the sight of precious cinnamon roll daniel with the most evil yakuza man ever #daniel: he teaches me how to fight :D #gun smirking bc he Knows jay is weak for daniel: i pin him to the floor and he likes it #jay: *depressed gay teeth grinding*#don't stone me to death in my sleep for thid guys #this is my honest truth

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theangstmeister · 1 year

Text

Hold Me Tight (Before I Let You Go) - Chapter Two

Please see masterlist for warnings

Present Day

“Oppa-nim, have you finished drawing my princess yet?” Soyeon asked, skipping across the room from in front of the television which was tuned into some kind of children’s show.

“Soyeon-ah, don’t be rude,” her sister, Jiwon, scolded.

Jungkook smiled at Soyeon, the little girl was pouting with her chin on the table-top.

“Nearly. But you did make me do your hair halfway through,” he reminded her, flicking the tuft of hair.

“I wanted to be like oppa-nim.”

The landlord had turned up late that afternoon, Jungkook assumed when the girls had finished school, and begged Jungkook to watch them for half an hour- two hours ago. He didn’t particularly mind though, it wasn’t the first time he’d done so and they were easy enough to keep an eye on. Jiwon was quietly doing her homework while Soyeon, with her youthful confidence, had Jungkook sketching her pictures to colour in.

He finished off the crown before sliding the picture across to Soyeon.

“Thank you, oppa-nim!” she said, giving Jungkook a quick hug around his waist before running back across the room to lie on the floor, a collection of Jungkook’s lesser used coloured pencils scattered around her.

Jungkook wondered if he’d ever been that carefree- he didn’t think so.

He pulled his sketchbook towards him to continue working on his sketch for class. More like start it. The prompt was simply “love” but the seemingly endless possibilities were crippling Jungkook. He knew he should probably do something based on Yoongi but he couldn’t get Taehyung out of his head.

However, before he had chance to fall down that hole, he was interrupted by Jiwon. She hadn’t said anything but her pen has stopped scratching its way across her exercise book. He knew she was looking at him, he’d developed a great sense for when attention was on him from a young age.

“Oppa-nim?” Jungkook looked up, acting surprised that she had called him. “Can I ask you something without you telling my dad?”

“Of course, Jiwon-ah. What is it?”

“Promise?”

Jungkook held his hand out to her across the table, his little finger raised, “I pinky promise.”

Jiwon hooked her little finger through his and shook their hands together vigorously.

Releasing Jungkook’s hand, she glanced furtively over to her sister, checking that she was either engrossed in her colouring or the television.

“Did your parents ever get divorced?”

It hadn’t been the question Jungkook had been expecting and if her parents were having marital problems, it certainly wasn’t something Jungkook felt comfortable talking about- not with the complicated relationship he had with her dad, his landlord.

But he also remembered what it had been like to feel like you couldn’t talk to anyone.

“No...but they argued a lot.”

That was the child-friendly way of putting it, and while Jiwon was sixteen, Jungkook had learnt that sixteen year olds really were still children in the ways that mattered.

“How did you deal with it?”

“You have to find a way to block it out and look out for your sister, but I can’t tell you how to do that because I only had to look out for myself.”

And Jungkook had never stopped doing that.

“You told me once that you’ve got a brother.”

Jungkook hummed, nodding, “I do but he’s older so he looked after me, like you look after Soyeon.”

That was of course a lie. Junghyun had been one of Jungkook’s tormentors, one of many, but always the one capable of hurting him the most.

When they’d been younger, they’d gotten along well and Jungkook had trailed after his brother, learning from him in the way that younger siblings tended to do. He’d even been reasonably close to Yoongi, who had been his brother’s best friend since their first day at school together.

But then those three years between them had carried more and more weight as Junghyun became a teenager and didn’t want his little brother around anymore.

When the two older boys had found their way into Busan’s dark underbelly, Jungkook had been left behind to flounder on his own, ignored by everyone until Taehyung had appeared one day like a light in the darkness.

Jungkook would have been happy if things had stayed that way, being ignored didn’t bother him that much but the drugs had brought out the worst in Junghyun, turning him into a miniature version of their father at the exact same time as it was becoming increasingly obvious that Jungkook wasn’t straight.

It had been an unlucky combination of circumstances which had sent Jungkook’s life spiralling out of his control- bullied at school and beaten at home- with only Kim Taehyung to keep him afloat.

But he didn’t even have that anymore. Just Yoongi with his own crippling self-hatred that made him so dependent on drugs.

Except that Taehyung had slipped back into that role with such ease, and Jungkook’s heart ached to accept the lifeline that was being extended to him in the form of Taehyung’s phone number.

He shook himself- such thoughts wouldn’t lead anywhere good.

Because even if Taehyung’s boyfriend made the alarm bells in the back of his head clamour for his attention, he had no right to get involved. He’d forfeited that right years ago.

Looking at the girl before him, Jungkook wished he could offer her something more concrete but what could he possibly give her when his own life was such a mess? If he could, he’d offer her a safe place to come to whenever she needed to get away- he was home most of the time during the day due to the nature of his degree and work, and his landlord lived in the building- but he didn’t think he should risk exposing them to Yoongi too much. Usually, he arranged for Yoongi to be out whenever he watched the two girls, only agreeing two hours earlier at such short notice because Yoongi had gone to deliver a track he’d produced to someone (Jungkook knew these things could be done digitally but he and Yoongi both knew it was an excuse for Yoongi to get hold of cash and then happen across his dealer on the way home).

When the door knocked loudly, Soyeon leapt up, “Oppa-nim, it’s Appa!”

Jungkook rose from his chair, waylaying Soyeon, “Let oppa open it, just in case.”

It probably was her dad but it could easily be Yoongi, in god knew what state.

With Soyeon’s small hand in his, Jungkook opened the door to what was indeed his landlord.

“Appa, you have to come see my colouring,” Soyeon beamed, dragging him into the flat and towards the living room.

“Soyeon-ah, I don’t think Jeon-ssi wants us invading his home any longer than we have to.”

“It’s fine, they’ve both been good as gold anyway.”

He knew that the other man didn’t really know how to treat Jungkook. After all, what were the chances that he asked any of the building’s other residents to babysit for him? And Jungkook would have bet good money that he was the only one sucking his dick to get out of paying his rent.

“That’s really good colouring, Soyeon-ah,” he praised his daughter. “Did Jeon-ssi draw the pictures for you?”

Soyeon nodded emphatically, “And he tied my hair up like his so I can be a proper artist.”

Meanwhile, Jiwon silently packed her school work into her bag.

“Well, make sure you thank Jeon-ssi properly and then you and Jiwon can go back upstairs.”

Jungkook frowned slightly- he was clearly wanted for something.

“Thank you, oppa-nim,” Soyeon said, hugging Jungkook.

He hugged her back, “You’re welcome, Soyeon-ah, make sure you behave yourself.”

“I will oppa-nim.”

“Thank you, oppa-nim,” Jiwon muttered, taking her sister’s hand and leading her from the flat.

Jungkook tugged on his earrings as he heard the two girls leave the flat- he honestly wished he could be more to help Jiwon but he also didn’t think he should get involved. He couldn’t risk getting kicked out of his flat.

“Do you want to sit down, Park-ssi?” Jungkook asked, indicating towards the sofa.

The other man sat down with a long sigh- he looked like he’d had an exceptionally long day- and Jungkook seated himself sideways on his lap, wrapping his arm along the back of the sofa.

It was like being at work and Jungkook slipped into his role with ease. The other man had taken to talking to Jungkook about his issues but Jungkook would always be the pretty boy downstairs who sucked him off to pay his rent so he had to play the role of the seducer.

Not that it would be the first time the two had done nothing but talk- the older man didn’t have anyone but Jungkook to talk to about his struggles with his sexuality.

Yoongi didn’t know that, though. Jungkook had told him that the landlord liked to watch him finger himself to cover up for the lack of noise. He wasn’t sure why he lied but something had told him that it wouldn’t be good for Yoongi to think their relationship was anything but a sequence of sexual favours over the last year.

Not that Jungkook was at all interested in their landlord- he just wanted somewhere to live- but that didn’t stop him feeling sorry for him.

He was like most of the men that came into the club. A good number of them were married to wives they didn’t love and they used the club as a safe place to express their true desires. For many of them, coming out would mean losing access to their own children so Jungkook liked to think he was doing some good.

And perhaps that was why he attracted so many customers to him- he understood what his job really was. It was more than stripping (or even sex if you knew who to ask). It was about allowing those repressed men a moment of respite.

In a way, Jungkook thought he’d been lucky. He may have been labeled as something he didn’t think he was, and he may have suffered for it, but at least he hadn’t had to pretend to be straight anymore. He’d been given a kind of freedom.

And he’d had Taehyung to guide him, to help him see that there was nothing wrong with him but with his family and society at large.

Jungkook brushed Mr Park’s hair away from his face, his fingers then trailing down the side of his face to hold his chin, “You can touch me.”

Jungkook had learned that once you took down the barrier between people and what they desired, everything else came spilling out. Sexual desire was so repressed in so many people that it was often like breaking down a dam.

The older man’s hand settled on Jungkook’s thigh, still timid even after a year of their arrangement.

“I don’t think I can stay with my wife anymore, Jungkook-ah.”

“What’s changed?”

They’d been together for, Jungkook thought, nearly twenty years- something had to have changed.

“I worry about what I’m teaching my girls by hiding who I am. I don’t want them to grow up thinking that they should be ashamed of themselves but shouldn’t I teach that by example?”

“I think your daughters would be very upset if you divorced your wife and they couldn’t see you anymore.”

“Maybe they’d be better off without a man like me. Look at me, I’m accepting sexual favours from my resident like a pervert.”

“One: I started it. Two: there’s nothing wrong with what you are. And there’s a difference between knowing and accepting that, and being out. Maybe that’s the balance you need to find.”

Taehyung had needed to find a similar balance when it came to Jungkook; a balance between his love for and attraction to Jungkook, and the fact that the narrow worldview of other people meant that they would never have been able to look past their ages.

But Taehyung had never managed it and, in the end, it had strained them both to breaking point.

“When people are ashamed, they hurt the people around them even though they might not mean to,” Jungkook said gently. “If our arrangement means that you’re not ashamed and that you can be a better father, then isn’t that worth something?”

The older man nodded, Thank you, Jungkook- for talking to me.”

He thought about trying to get the man to come to the club but he decided against it. Part of the reason their arrangement worked was that there was a kind of exclusivity to it, Mr Park got to feel like Jungkook was his and his alone for ten minutes each month, and that gave him the emotional gratification he needed.

It would be far too risky to mess with that if Jungkook wanted to continue to have a roof over his head.

“You should go back upstairs before your wife gets any more suspicious of me,” Jungkook chuckled, pecking him on the cheek before rising from his seat.

The woman would have to be an idiot not to suspect there was something going on when Jungkook hadn’t paid his full rent in a year and her husband spent longer collecting Jungkook’s rent than he did with anyone else.

Also, Yoongi would probably be home soon and Jungkook made sure to keep him far away from their landlord. Jungkook was exactly what he wanted- his wide eyes giving a look of innocence while his physique provided a touch of sin- while Yoongi was all sin with his bleached hair and arms covered in tattoos.

Mr Park let himself out, leaving Jungkook to tidy up before going back to his classwork.

Half an hour later, completely engrossed in his work, Jungkook was startled by Yoongi coming up behind him.

“What’re you drawing?” Yoongi asked, pizza box in his hand.

Jungkook’s mouth watered at the smell of the warm dough but it wasn’t strong enough to cover up the distinct herbal scent clinging to Yoongi’s hoodie.

“It’s just for class,” Jungkook said.

“Yeah, I know that but what actually is it?”

Jungkook had only got as far as an outline of a broad back with two wounds on the shoulder blades but he knew exactly what he was drawing now.

“A fallen angel.”

“I thought your theme was love and sexuality?”

And to Jungkook, love was a fallen angel in ripped jeans and loose T-shirts, and he had been the one to make him fall from grace.

“Let me get to a good stopping point and I’ll come eat,” Jungkook avoided the question.

Once he’d finished, he sat beside Yoongi, who had the pizza box balanced on his lap, on the sofa, tucking his legs up underneath him.

With one hand, he held a slice of pizza and with the other, he pulled Yoongi’s arm into his lap, turning it over to admire the brightly coloured ink that covered his arms.

“What are you doing?” Yoongi mumbled around a mouthful of food.

“Admiring my handiwork.”

Jungkook had drawn each and every tattoo, just as he’d drawn his own, for the tattoo artist to follow. He was most proud of the traditional style drawing depicting the mountains and the sea- for Busan. To Jungkook, that city would always be where he had been the most miserable but also the happiest he had ever been, so he’d had it inked it onto Yoongi’s skin.

His own was reserved for his dragon, for Taehyung.

Not that Yoongi realised that. Jungkook had cried when he’d gotten it done and Yoongi had assumed he was a baby who couldn’t handle the pain of the needle.

As if Jungkook was a stranger to pain.

“Do you remember when you drew that first one? When you were… how old were you?”

“Fourteen, it was just before my fifteenth birthday.”

August 2015

Jungkook sighed contentedly as he felt Taehyung’s fingers carding through his hair, easing them through where the strands had stuck together from the sticky heat of the afternoon.

He relished these quiet, secretive moments with Taehyung. Nobody else knew Taehyung was there so they didn’t have to pretend that they were nothing to each other.

In Jungkook’s bedroom, lying together on top of the duvet, they could simply be them.

However, their peace was interrupted far too soon by Taehyung’s phone beeping, signalling that Taehyung needed to leave and come back in an hour (via the front door rather than Jungkook’s bedroom window this time).

“I don’t want you to go,” Jungkook said softly, wrapping his arms tightly around Taehyung.

“I have to go, sweetheart or you won’t have anything to eat. But I’ll be back straight away.”

“No, you won’t be, not really. You’re different when you’re with them.”

Taehyung may have been spending most of his time with Jungkook, holed up together in his bedroom, but he was still friends with Junghyun and Yoongi, which meant that he had to hang out with them, too.

“You think I like the way things are? I can’t stand your brother, or the way he treats you, but it’s far less suspicious for me to bring you food if I pretend I’m still his friend.”

Jungkook knew that, he did, but it didn’t stop it from hurting. He wanted people to know that Taehyung was his and that it didn’t matter how much they mocked him at school, or how many bruises he got at home, because he had something they didn’t.

He was free in a way they never would be by constantly conforming to society’s expectations.

“You can go if I get a goodbye kiss.”

“Are you eighteen yet?”

“No,” Jungkook pouted.

“Then no.”

“But you’re not eighteen yet so it’s fine.”

“And you’re fourteen so it’s not fine.”

Jungkook sat up, fiddling with the rings on his fingers, “It’s only kissing, it’s not sex. That’s what I have to be sixteen for.”

Taehyung rubbed his face with his hands, “Why do you always do this?”

“Do what?”

“Put all the responsibility on me to say no to you,” Taehyung snapped.

“Maybe because I’d like it to actually be clear what this even is between us!” Jungkook’s voice rose sharply as his temper flared defensively. “Instead I’m left to feel like a- a-” Jungkook stumbled over his words, thoughts flying through his mind faster than he could catch hold of them. “-like a placeholder until something better comes along.”

Would they even be able to say they’d broken up when that inevitably happened? And without being able to use that phrase to describe what had happened, would he ever be able to get any closure on what they were to each other right now?

Not that Jungkook fully understood whatever it was between them. Taehyung always skirted around it, only going as far as to describe them as “exclusive”, but Jungkook’s life was filled with too many uncertainties already.

He never knew when his dad would come home drunk, or what tiny action might set him off when he did, and he never knew when his brother’s own pain would spill over into using Jungkook as his punching bag, either verbally or physically.

But he did know that Taehyung cared about him and that had been the one constant in his life since he was twelve years old, and now, nearly three years later, he was willing to risk it all because he couldn’t ignore the feelings that swelled inside of him everytime he saw Taehyung.

Perhaps he shouldn’t have been so caught off guard by them- he’d had a crush on Taehyung ever since they’d first met but that had been juvenile. Not like the way he felt now.

Taehyung reached out for his hand, “Jungkookie-”

Jungkook snatched his hand away, “You should go before hyung starts phoning you in a bit and hears your phone going off in here.”

“We’ll talk about this later. I don’t know when but,” Taehyung sighed, “later.”

Jungkook didn’t respond. He knew all that would come out would be a demand that they talk about it now, and he didn’t want to ruin their limited time alone together more than he already had.

Taehyung pulled Jungkook into his side briefly before releasing him and climbing out of the bedroom window.

After a few minutes, Jungkook picked himself off the bed and carefully pushed his door open. He checked there was no sign of his brother before emerging fully.

Whenever he was upset like this, he went for a shower. The running water hid any sound of tears that might be shed while the hot water reminded him of when his mum used to hug him. Not that she’d done so for years- his dad had made her stop, saying that Jungkook was a man now and men didn’t need hugs from anyone.

Jungkook had been ten and he definitely still needed to be held in someone’s arms.

Now, that someone was Taehyung. Those gentle touches had started off with nothing more than the older boy ruffling his hair but then Taehyung’s fingers had started to linger and thread their way through Jungkook’s hair. Then Jungkook, seeking the kind of comfort he hadn’t had in years, had crept closer until folding himself into Taehyung’s arms felt as easy as breathing.

But his feelings for Taehyung were like a double edged sword- impossible to grasp.

Would things be easier when they were older?

Jungkook hoped so because he didn’t want to think about what his life would be like without Taehyung.

Jungkook lay on his bed, his hair still damp from his shower due to the humidity of the summer air. Staring up at the cracked ceiling, he inhaled deeply, smelling the spicy aroma that wafted to his room from the kitchen.

He’d heard Taehyung ask Junghyun where he was numerous times since he’d got back with the food shopping he’d done for Jungkook.

Good, he’d thought to himself, let him be the one who’s left hanging for once.

Barely a week went by without Jungkook having to powerlessly watch what seemed like every girl in Taehyung’s year flirt with him because Taehyung kept him secret.

His secret shame- that he was in love with a fourteen year old (and Jungkook suspected at least slightly attracted to though Taehyung steered clear of the topic at all times).

He knew it had nothing to do with coming out as gay, Taehyung would’ve come out before now if it hadn’t meant being cut off by Junghyun. It was all because he thought there was something wrong with him for loving Jungkook specifically.

Well, if he was going to leave Jungkook to hang all the time, he could do the same

Maybe he’d start flaunting himself around in front of Yoongi, that would certainly get Taehyung’s attention. And it was becoming increasingly obvious to Jungkook that as he filled out, love of dance gifting him with a more toned physique, Min Yoongi’s interest in him had grown.

There was a soft knock on the door followed by Taehyung’s warm voice, “Jungkook-ah? I’ve cooked dinner but if you’re not hungry yet, I can leave it in the oven.”

Jungkook rolled over hugging his pillow to his chest as he lay there, not answering Taehyung.

“Jungkook!” his brother yelled, banging violently on the door, making Jungkook jump slightly.

“Why do you have to do that?” Taehyung’s voice was clear through the door.

“Do what?”

“Try and scare him all the time. You know, I remember when you were scared of your dad and now you’ve gone and turned into him.”

Previously, Jungkook had wondered how Taehyung got away with speaking to Junghyun like that when nobody else would have dared. But he’d realised that Taehyung got away with it simply because he dared, and some part of Junghyun respected him for that.

He also thought that was how Taehyung was never called out for wearing make-up and jewellery, or the way he carefully styled his hair. Instead of ever hiding those more feminine aspects of who he was, Taehyung left them out in plain sight, and that was what prevented him from being called out for it.

In a city where the slightest deviation from traditional masculinity may as well be a death sentence, Taehyung expertly hid himself in plain sight.

Not like Jungkook, who had only been able to truly express himself after he’d already been found out for not being straight (and incorrectly labelled as gay. Jungkook didn’t know what he was but that wasn’t it). But in a way, he was free from that now.

Distantly, Jungkook heard Junghyun’s own bedroom door slam shut.

After a few seconds, Taehyung’s voice came through the door again but lower down this time, like Taehyung was sitting on the floor.

“Jungkookie, please come eat.” There was a pause. “I’m sorry I snapped at you earlier, I know it’s not easy for you either, and that you worry that I don’t feel the same way about you as you do about me.”

Jungkook rolled the other way to face the door.

“Do you really think I’d be so worried about the legality of what we have between us if I didn’t feel the same way? Or if this was about stringing some kid along just because I could? I don’t want you to have any regrets or to ever feel pushed into anything you weren’t ready for because I want us to be able to be happy together in the years to come. And I hope that we can be together for the rest of our lives because I can’t imagine being with anyone else.”

Jungkook could hear the sincerity in Taehyung’s voice, could imagine seeing it in his eyes.

He rose to his feet and padded towards the door, pressing his ear to the wood as tears began to spill silently from his eyes.

“You’re everything to me, Jungkook and that scares me because I’m scared of what I might do in order to keep hold of you. So I have to keep those concrete boundaries in place to keep you safe from me.”

Jungkook opened the door to find Taehyung kneeling on the floor outside. At the sound of the door opening, he looked up, a plea in his eyes for Jungkook to forgive him.

Crouching down, Jungkook cupped Taehyung’s cheeks in his hands, pressing their foreheads together and breathing in the light, vanilla scent of Taehyung, “You’re the only thing in my life that I don’t need protecting from.”

“I’m not so sure, Jungkookie.”

“Then let me be sure enough for the both of us.”

Taehyoung picked himself up off the floor, holding his hand out to help Jungkook up.

“Come on, you should eat before Yoongi gets here.”

Jungkook frowned, “Why?”

“Did you not hear him the other day?” Taehyung asked, leading Jungkook by the hand to the kitchen table. “He found his biological mum, don’t ask me how, and he decided to go see her today.”

“But isn’t that good?”

Yoongi felt like a great disappointment to his adoptive parents, who had been hoping for a more well-behaved child that did better in school. Not one who smoked weed and did nothing but write lyrics and melodies during class.

Taehyung placed a steaming bowl of beef stew in front of Jungkook, along with a set of chopsticks and a spoon, “She gave him up for a reason. I’m just worried he won’t like what he finds and then he’ll be looking for something or someone to take his anger out on.”

“I doubt that’ll be me.”

“If it was just Yoongi I’d agree but he goes along with your brother far too easily for comfort. I’d just feel better if you were safely out of the way.”

Out of the way and away from Taehyung.

Taehyung must have seen the look on Jungkook’s face because his long fingers began threading their way through Jungkook’s hair, soothing him.

“I’ll try and sneak into your room, sweetheart. They’ll probably just get stoned so it won’t exactly be hard.”

Jungkook nodded, appeased, and tucked into his dinner.

Distracted by the film playing on the television, Taehyung’s fingers absentmindedly traced circles into the skin above Jungkook’s knee, his legs slung over Taehyung’s, occasionally drifting under the hem of his shorts. His other arm was wrapped around Jungkook’s waist, holding him close.

Yoongi hadn’t turned up so Taehyung had suggested they watch a film, convincing Junghyun to let Jungkook stay in the living room with them.

Junghyun was beside them on the sofa having fallen asleep- he always said he found horror films boring but Jungkook knew that he purposely fell asleep because he was scared. Taehyung probably knew that too.

Even so, it was still risky but they both needed to be close to each other, especially after their earlier argument.

Taehyung gripped Jungkook’s leg as a black figure appeared in a doorway behind the film’s protagonist

“Scared, Taehyungie?” Jungkook teased.

“Why’d you have to pick one in a foreign language?” Taehyung whined, unable to look away from the screen lest he miss what was being said.

“Because if you didn’t have to read the subtitles, you’d be hiding behind your hands.”

And Jungkook was perfectly happy with Taehyung’s hands where they were.

At the sound of the front door knocking, the two of them leapt apart, and Jungkook quickly glanced over to his brother but he was still fast asleep.

“I’ll get it,” Taehyung said, rising to open the door.

Jungkook leaned forward so that it was in his eyeline, the film forgotten as Taehyung opened the door to Yoongi.

Jungkook’s eyes widened at the sight of him, not because he’d turned up at gone midnight, but because he had clearly been crying- his eyes and nose were bright red. Taehyung was obviously as shocked as he was, stepping silently to the side to let Yoongi in but making no move to comfort him.

“Oi, Junghyun! Wake the fuck up!” Yoongi yelled, kicking his shoes off.

Beside Jungkook, Junghyun stretched, rubbing his eyes blearily, “About time you turned up, Min.”

“Yeah, well, I got us something to have a little fun,” Yoongi smirked, pulling a small plastic bag of white powder.

At the sight of it, Taehyung crept around the back of the sofa, towards Jungkook.

“Is that what I think it is?” Junghyun asked, grinning. “How did you get hold of it?”

“Our usual dealer gave me some other guy’s number.”

Jungkook thought it was safe to say that Yoongi meeting his biological mother had not gone well. His nose wrinkled at the cloying scent of alcohol that clung to the older boy.

“Go to your room,” Taehyung muttered, leaning down to Jungkook’s ear.

Jungkook nodded. He already knew he didn’t want to be around for this. Weed mellowed his brother out to the point where he didn’t remember Jungkook was in the room but cocaine was going to hype him up, and Jungkook didn’t know what that would entail.

Unfortunately, Yoongi had overheard them.

“No, the kid stays in here. I want him to draw something for me.”

Jungkook glanced up at Taehyung, unsure of what to do.

“I’m not going to do anything to you, Kook-ah,” Yoongi rolled his eyes. “I want a tattoo and I want you to draw it.”

“Why would you want him to draw it?” Junghyun drawled.

“Because have you seen the way the kid draws?”

“Whatever, as long as he stays out of the way.”

“I’ll stay until they fall asleep,” Taehyung whispered.

Jungkook nodded and fetched his sketchbook and pencil case from his room, carrying them to the adjoining kitchen so he could sit at the table.

He sat there for hours, drawing sketch after sketch, with Taehyung staying nearby, until Yoongi was satisfied.

“Have you ever kissed anyone, Jungkook-ah?” Yoongi asked conversationally as he ripped the page out of Jungkook’s sketchbook and folded it up to take with him.

“That’s a weird question to ask a fourteen year old,” Taehyung interjected.

“He’s nearly fifteen, Taehyung. He’s not a child anymore.”

The two older boys were like day and night. Taehyung was warm and light, with his tanned skin and voice like honey, while Yoongi was icy-cold, his veins clearly visible under his pale skin, but there was a strange softness to him.

Yoongi was the devil, enticing him towards sin, and Taehyung-

Taehyung was his guardian angel.

“I’m the school faggot, remember? What do you think?” Jungkook muttered, twirling a colouring pencil around his fingers.

“Don’t call yourself that,” Taehyung scolded.

“Why not? It’s true.”

“Because you shouldn’t put yourself down like that. There’s nothing wrong with you.”

“It’s a shame, really,” Yoongi mused. “You can tell you’ve started working out, I bet the girls would be all over you if they didn’t know you were gay.”

Taehyung’s fingers curled into a fist on the table. At first, Jungkook was confused but then he realised. Taehyung was getting jealous.

“It’s really just for dance,” Jungkook shrugged. “Jimin-hyung, he’s on the team, he told me that it’s better for your muscles if you strengthen them, then you’re less likely to pull something dancing.”

“I see, and looking good is just a lucky side effect?” Yoongi smiled.

“I can’t believe I’m having to say this again,” Taehyung hissed, “but he is fourteen whether his birthday’s coming up or not.”

Jungkook knew the comment wasn’t aimed entirely at Yoongi, that Taehyung was also reminding himself of that fact.

“Yoongi, time for another hit?” Junghyun asked, putting on some music.

“Sure, let’s go,” Yoongi said, getting up. “Come on, Tae.”

Taehyung stood reluctantly, glancing back at Jungkook as he went to join his supposed friends.

Jungkook pulled his sketchbook back towards himself, blocking out the drug fuel frenzied energy of his brother.

Jungkook eyelids felt heavy, telling him he’d accidentally fallen asleep at the table again, too absorbed in his drawings to bother going to bed.

“Get off,” he whined as someone lifted his arm.

Taehyung’s voice hushed him, “It’s only me, sweetheart. I’m just putting you to bed.”

He was easily lifted into Taehyung’s arms, his own arm slung across Taehyung’s shoulder and his face nestled into the crook of his neck.

“Wait, I need my sketchbook,” he said, reaching his other arm back towards the kitchen.

“I already put it in your room, Kookie,” Taehung reassured him, knowing that Jungkook wasn’t keen on the idea of his brother looking through it.

“Stay tonight, please,” he pleaded when Taehyung lowered him into the bed, clearly not planning on getting into it with him.

Taehyung tucked the duvet up around him, “I’ve got work later or you know I would. But my break’s at two so you can come visit, if you want to.”

Taehyung worked at one of the many small independent coffee houses in the city so that he could buy Jungkook food whenever his parents were away as well as restock his art supplies. Most of Jungkook’s wardrobe and jewellery were also from Taehyung but in the form of hand-me-downs (not that Taehyung hadn’t tried to take Jungkook clothes shopping after his last growth spurt).

“Of course I want to.”

And with his parents away, there was nobody to stop him.

“How about we have lunch together?”

“Sounds good, Taehyungie,” Jungkook murmured, being dragged back down into sleep.

Distantly, he could feel Taehyung’s fingers stroking his hair while he sang to him, “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine…”

Present Day

“What’s the theme?”

The sound of Jimin’s voice made Jungkook jump, snapping him out of the intense concentration that came over him when he sketched.

He’d made excellent progress (in his opinion) on his project for his class. His piece for “love” was now a double-page spread with the fallen angel on one side, feathers scattered around the hunched figure, and a man laying spread-eagle on a bed of flowers on the other.

Jungkook put his pencil down, deciding that it was as good a time as any to take a break since he’d already been interrupted. He looked around for Yoongi but he was nowhere to be seen- Jungkook assumed he’d gone to get takeaway, spending yet more of Jungkook’s money.

“Love. It’s pretty broad.”

Jimin perched on the end of the table, his pupils blown wide from whatever he’d been taking (Jungkook kept an eye on what Yoongi bought and flushed anything he deemed too far, and generally Yoongi took the hint, but Jimin was a mystery to him as far as that was concerned), “I’ll be honest, Kook… I don’t get it.”

Jungkook sighed, “You have to look at both together, hyung. The fallen angel gives his wings to the man he loves.”

“So it’s about Kim Taehyung. You used to call him your angel.”

“Not like that,” he lied.

Jimin raised an eyebrow at him, “I was in Taehyung’s year, do you really think I didn’t see that photo?”

Who hadn’t seen that photo?

Yet that day had been one of the best days of Jungkook’s life because Taehyung had finally-

No, he wasn’t going to think about it. It was pointless, he couldn’t change the past.

“It wasn’t like Junghyun said.”

“I know, I remember thinking that picture was pretty damning but also that your brother must be blind and an idiot. And everyone else, actually,” Jimin mused.

“What do you mean?” Jungkook frowned.

Jimi thought for a moment, dragging up his memories of what had happened back then, “Well, your brother obviously put it out that Taehyung was taking advantage of you-” Jungkook nodded along, he knew that part “-but I remember when he used to bring you to dance practice. At first, I thought it was a bit creepy the way he used to be so fixated on you but it soon became obvious he was absolutely head over heels in love with you. Guy must have had bad taste,” Jimin teased.

“Very funny, hyung,” Jungkook said flatly.

“Anyway,” Jimin continued with his version of events, “when you left the team and came back a year later with Min Yoongi, of all people, on your arm, I had to wonder what happened with you and Taehyung.”

He could keep on wondering because Jungkook certainly wasn’t about to start talking to him about it. He was very aware of where Jimin’s loyalties lay and wouldn’t trust him with anything he might not want getting back to Yoongi.

Jungkook shrugged, “Well, things didn’t work out and I preferred Yoongi.”

Or he’d been an idiot and thought the ability to stick a clear label on a relationship, and to be given that physical aspect, was worth more than everything Taehyung had ever given him.

Jimin rolled his eyes, “Yeah, and that’s why I haven’t seen you look genuinely happy in three years, because you and Yoongi are so happy together.”

He picked up one of Jungkook’s pencils, holding it up to inspect it.

One of the pencils from the last set that Taehyung had ever bought him, and had been hidden at the bottom of a drawer ever since they moved to Seoul a year ago. He wasn’t sure why he’d gotten them out now except maybe to torture himself.

“Stop acting like you know me,” Jungkook snapped, snatching the pencil from Jimin’s hand. “I’m going to work in the kitchen.”

He didn’t spare Jimin a second glance as he hurriedly gathered his supplies into a messy bundle in his arms and carried them into the other room.

After dumping everything unceremoniously onto the small table, Jungkook moved over to the fridge. It was bare except for a single photograph, taken on a rollercoaster when he, Taehyung, Yoongi and Junghyun had gone to a theme park when he’d been fifteen.

Really, Taehyung had wanted to take Jungkook out for the day but he couldn’t do that without taking the other two, or it would have looked too suspicious. However, Yoongi and Junghyun were both terrified of rides so he and Taehyung had plenty of time just the two of them.

His fingers brushed across Taehyung’s face, his boxy grin impossibly wide as he’d laughed at the way Jungkook had cheered the entire way around the ride.

But those days were over and there was no point crying over spilt milk.

Except that Jimin was right- Jungkook was miserable, staying with Yoongi out of a sense of duty more than anything else.

If he could, he’d walk out of the flat and get on his knees to beg Taehyung to give them a second chance. But Yoongi’s threat echoed through his mind. He’d been high as a kite when he’d said it but that only made his words more sincere.

“Kook, can you get some plates out?” Yoongi called from the hallway, apparently back with food.

Wiping the tears from his eyes, Jungkook moved to do as he was asked, reaching into the top cupboard to pull the plates down.

However, he forgot about the mug he’d also stowed in there, just to the side of the plates, because he’d been too tired to put it in the proper cupboard after drying up. Unnoticed by him, it was pushed slightly by the edge of a plate until it tumbled from the shelf to shatter on the floor.

Jungkook froze, staring wide eyed at the shards of porcelain scattered across the tiles.

Quick, pick it up before dad sees, you idiot!

Heart racing, Jungkook threw himself onto his knees to pick up the broken pieces of the mug.

“It’s alright, Kook, it’s just a mug,” Yoongi said, coming into the kitchen “we’ll just- Jungkook, what are you doing?”

Jungkook stared at his hand clenched in a tight fist around a shard of porcelain, blood oozing between his fingers. He suddenly gasped in pain, like he hadn’t been aware of it until he looked at it, but he didn’t let go.

Instead, he gripped it tighter until he cried out.

You deserve this pain for what you put Taehyung through and what you’re putting Yoongi through. To love you is to be burned.

Yoongi prised his fingers open and the shard fell from his palm, sticky with blood which now dripped onto the floor.

“Fucking hell, Jungkook.” Yoongi held Jungkook’s hand up towards the light, inspecting it. “Come on, we’ll have to take you to get this looked at. What were you thinking?”

Jungkook pulled his hand out of Yoongi’s grip, “I’m fine. I’ll take myself to the minor injuries unit.”

The hospital wasn’t far away, he could walk the distance in less than twenty minutes.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Yoongi scolded, yanking the tea towel from a drawer handle and wrapping it around Jungkook’s hand, “you can’t go on your own.”

“The Chinese takeaway down the road might not care that you’re stoned but the hospital will, Yoongi. I’ll be fine, it’s not like you’ve ever looked after me before.”

Yoongi had no response to that because he knew it was true. Yoongi might have been in pain and needed the drugs to numb himself but what about him? What would they ever have done if Jungkook had seriously injured himself?

Jungkook stood up and, being careful not to get blood inside the sleeve, tugged his jacket on in the hallway.

“At least text me,” Yoongi said, following him.

“Yeah, whatever,” Jungkook mumbled as he opened the front door and slipped out into the foyer.

He had twenty minutes to think of a good excuse for why he had a gash across the palm of his hand. He definitely couldn’t tell them he’d zoned out while he’d done it, or that he deserved it.

For one thing, he couldn’t afford to take the time off work when they no doubt chalked it up to stress and signed him off. The good thing about his job was that he was technically self-employed so could work as and when he chose but the disadvantage of that was the lack of sick or holiday pay.

Luckily, it wasn’t the first time Jungkook had had to lie about how he got an injury.

Taehyung spun around on the swivelly chair that had somehow found its way into the break room. He should probably be making the most of his break but with ten minutes still left, he was bored.

That was the problem with working the night shift- he couldn’t go anywhere on his break.

“Taehyung?”

He spun back around to the door, sitting up straight but relaxed when he saw it was only Soojin. The two of them had been at university doing their nursing course together and after graduating that summer, they’d both gotten jobs in the minor injuries unit at the same hospital. He was glad for it though- Soojin was the closest thing he’d had to a friend in nearly ten years.

“What is it?”

“There’s a young man in the waiting room, he’s just cut his hand, and I know you’re on your break but do you mind seeing him? I’ll tell Choi-nim and you can have the extra ten minutes after.”

“Why don’t you want to do it?” Taehyung asked, suspicious.

“Remember that kid that came in a few weeks ago and we suspected that the broken arm maybe wasn’t an accident? And how you were really good with him?” Taehyung nodded, unsure where she was going with this. “Well, this guy’s crying silently.”

“And? Maybe he’s embarrassed?”

“No,” Soojin said firmly, “people cry because they’re hurt and their instinct is to attract attention so someone will help them. People only cry silently because they’ve been conditioned not to attract attention but they still can’t stop themselves.”

Taehyung considered her words- he knew she was right. Soojin’s hobbies included reading psychological research papers in her free time.

“Also, he’s clearly lying about how he did it,” she added. “He’s dripping blood onto the floor but he says a broken bit of mug was wrapped up in something else and he accidentally grabbed it. He’s obviously used to having to lie about these things. And you’ve got a knack for these types of things. I haven’t got the emotional capacity for it.”

“Fine,” Taehyung strode towards her, holding his hand out, “give me the sheet. What's the name?”

“A Jeon Jungkook,” she said, checking the clipboard as she handed it over.

Taehyung’s blood turned cold.

“Tae, what's wrong?”

“Nothing, I just know a guy with that name.”

And a boy who used to cry silently

“Well it's a pretty common name, so I'm sure it's not the same one.”

“You’re probably right, you always are,” Taehyung said, smiling reassuringly at her before making his way to the waiting room.

He looked down at the board as he stepped through the double doors, acting as if the name meant nothing to him, “Jeon Jungkook?”

When a chair creaked to his left, he looked up straight into the eyes of his Jungkook.

“I’ll go to a different hospital,” Jungkook said, hastily wiping his eyes as he walked away

Taehyung’s eyes moved from the blood-soaked towel wrapped around his hand to the blood on the floor to the trail of blood that dripped from Jungkook’s hand as he walked away.

He took a deep breath, he had to be careful, he couldn’t make it look like he knew Jungkook.

“The closest one is a forty-five minute drive away,” he called, following after him.

He knew Jungkook wasn’t stupid and there was a concerning amount of blood on the floor. Hopefully, the reminder would be enough to make him stay.

Jungkook stopped and turned on his heel.

“I want someone else to see me.”

“There’s nobody else available.”

“I can wait.”

Taehyung stepped closer, keeping his voice low so only Jungkook could hear him, “Jungkook please, just let me-” do my job , that was what he was supposed to say “-look after you.”

Jungkook shook his head, “I can’t-”

Taehyung caught him as he stumbled slightly.

Under the guise of supporting him, Taehyung discreetly moved one hand down to Jungkook’s waist, and whispered into his ear, “Sweetheart, this is silly… I’m still your angel.”

Jungkook’s breath hitched and Taehyung worried he’d pushed too far. But Jungkook silently nodded, allowing Taehyung to lead him out of the waiting area.

Usually, he would have dealt with this kind of injury on the main ward but given the circumstances, he opted to go to one of the private examination rooms, making sure to lock the door behind them.

“So you really did come to do that nursing degree,” Jungkook mused, seating himself on the bed.

“Why would you think I didn’t?” Taehyung asked, putting a couple of pillows behind him and gently pushing Jungkook back against them.

He then went to the sink and washed his hands while Jungkook spoke, “I wondered if maybe you’d lied so you had an excuse to leave.”

“You left me first,” Taehyung said, collecting a wad of gauze, a bottle of disinfectant, bandages and a needle and thread.

“You pushed me away, you asked me to live with you but not as boyfriends, like a parent and child,” Jungkook muttered bitterly.

If the night before he left for Seoul was the second worst night of his life then the night Jungkook was referring to was the worst night of his life. He’d messed up, he knew that, and he’d had four long years to think about that.

Jungkook was right, he’d wanted Jungkook to live with him so he could look after him properly and get him out of that house, but he’d failed to appreciate that Jungkook would see that as a rejection, and Jungkook had reacted badly to that.

The only person who had shown him genuine love and affection had seemingly rejected him, of course he’d lashed out and threatened Taehyung with the prospect of leaving him for Yoongi. It wasn’t as if Jungkook had ever been shown how to handle emotions properly in a home like his.

And Taehyung had reacted even worse than Jungkook.

He surreptitiously wiped his clammy hands on the inside of the pockets of his scrubs before pulling the trolley over to Jungkook. He also dragged the wheeled stool over with him to sit on beside him.

When he unwrapped the sodden towel, Taehyung found that some of the blood had dried, sticking the towel to the wound. He pulled it off as gently as he could, tensing everytime Jungkook hissed in pain.

“Remember step one, Kookie?” Taehyung asked, pressing some of the gauze he’d collected into Jungkook’s palm.

“Stop the bleeding.”

“So why are you still bleeding everywhere?”

“I tried,” Jungkook pouted.

“You should have lifted it above your heart,” Taehyung told him, lifting Jungkook’s arm with his own fingers pressing tightly onto the wound.

“You were always better at this than me.”

“I kind of had to be.”

How many times had Taehyung patched Jungkook up, whether from his dad’s fists or the bullies at school?

Jungkook leaned back against the pillows, “My head feels funny.”

“You’ve lost a fair amount of blood but you should be alright in the morning, you just need to rest and let Yoongi pamper you a bit.” Jungkook snorted derisively. “And no…” Taehyung paused awkwardly. He took a deep breath and reminded himself that he needed to do his job still. “And no getting aroused for the next week or so or you’ll feel dizzy. You need your blood to stay in your head.”

“I’ve only ever been attracted to one man in my life and it certainly isn’t Min Yoongi, so I don’t think that’ll be a problem.”

“Why that one man?”

He didn’t need to ask who it was as he looked into those warm, doe-eyes.

I’m not into boys either...apparently that doesn't apply to you... I want all these things that I’ve never wanted before and it scares me...

“I’ve never really been able to work out my sexuality but I think that for me, attraction is based on the emotional connection.” Taehyung nodded to show he understood. “The only man I’ve ever been attracted to is also the only man I've ever truly loved. But then he left me and came to Seoul.”

“This isn’t the way I wanted things to be either, Jungkook.”

“If you’d let me have what I wanted, you would’ve had what you wanted.”

“You needed stability and a good home, and I had to choose between what you needed and what you- what we both wanted.” Taehyung lowered Jungkook’s hand, gently lifting the gauze to see that the bleeding had stopped for the time being. “Or so I thought but I was wrong, and I’ve regretted it ever since.”

He knew he’d said too much but everything had always come spilling out of him around Jungkook. Just never the right things.

He’d never managed to tell him that he loved him.

“Right, let’s get this clean and stitched up,” he said brusquely, avoiding the tension crackling in the air, not giving Jungkook a chance to shoot him down.

“Does this mean I’m going to end up with a cool scar?”

Taehyung was glad that Jungkook was playing along.

“Maybe but you might not be able to see it very well because your palms aren’t smooth anyway.”

The lines criss-crossing the skin were likely to obscure the kind of faint scar that Jungkook might get.

He wiped the blood from Jungkook’s fingers before dousing a cotton pad in disinfectant and making sure the wound was properly cleaned.

Jungkook flinched when it came into contact with the cut but Taehyung had been expecting that and held his wrist firmly. He’d always been the same.

“What happened, Kookie? This wasn’t just from accidentally picking up a broken bit of china, it’s too deep.”

Taehyung prayed to a God he didn’t believe in that Jungkook would let him in the way he once had.

“I’ll tell you but as Taehyungie, not Nurse Kim.”

“I was asking as Taehyungie,” he reassured him, threading the needle to stitch the wound.

It would give him something to concentrate on while Jungkook talked. He just hoped he could keep his hand steady.

“I accidentally dropped a mug and I was picking it up, but I… I don’t know… it was like I zoned out and when I came back round, I was holding one of the pieces in my hand and then I thought, I deserve this, I deserve to be hurt like this.”

“You don’t deserve it, Jungkook. You never have.”

“Don’t I? I kept pushing you when you were trying your best.”

“And you’d never been given a chance to make mistakes and grow from them. It’s human to make mistakes, Jungkook. I wanted to give you a space to do that but I ended up doing the opposite.”

With the cut stitched, Taehyung held a dressing over it and began wrapping a bandage around it with practiced movements.

“I really am sorry, Jungkookie. I was so focused on your immaturity that I forgot about my own. But really neither of us were equipped to deal with such a delicate situation.”

He’d seen everything in black and white- what Jungkook needed versus what he wanted- but the two things weren’t that easy to separate.

Jungkook hadn’t needed a boyfriend in general, but he had needed for Taehyung to take that final step after two years of walking that fine line.

Most teenagers had the chance to have their little crushes and their “relationships” that nobody expected to go anywhere. But they hadn’t.

They’d collided into each other and neither of them had been able to handle it.

The only difference between them had been that somewhere inside himself, Jungkook had known that so he had bowed to what Taehyung thought best while Taehyung had plowed ahead, sure that he was right.

Maybe he shouldn’t be telling Jungkook that right now, maybe it was too late, far too late… but Taehyung was still desperate for the one thing that only Jungkook could give him.

He wanted to be forgiven.

“Wiggle your fingers for me.”

Jungkook oblingingly curled and uncurled his fingers.

Satisfied that everything was working fine, and that the bandage was secure, Taehyung picked up the bloody gauze and got up to put it in the bin, turning his back on Jungkook.

Suddenly, arms wrapped firmly around his waist.

“I forgive you,” Jungkook breathed, his warm breath tickling the back of Taehyung’s neck.

He stepped forward slightly and Jungkook’s fingers snagged in the fabric of his scrubs.

“It’s alright, I’m just turning around.”

He hadn’t held Jungkook in his arms in three years, and this could be his only chance to ever do it again, he wanted to do it right.

Taehyung held Jungkook tightly, burying his nose in the hair that was as feather-soft as he remembered. Jungkook had always seen Taehyung as his caretaker, his guardian angel, but there was something about having Jungkook’s arms wrapped around him that made Taehyung feel safe.

It made him feel whole.

“I’m sorry for being so aloof at the club,” Jungkook said softly. “I just didn’t know what to do and I didn’t want to get hurt again.”

“What are we going to do, Jungkook?”

He couldn’t bare to lose Jungkook again but he didn’t have the right to ask anything of Jungkook.

“I don’t know but we’ll work it out. We found each other in this huge city, that means we’re meant to be.”

“I wish I had your optimism, Jungkook.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got enough for the both of us.”

“Come on, I’ll give you a lift home,” Taehyung said, his heart heavy.

He wondered if this whole encounter counted as a form of self harm.

“I don’t think you’re just allowed to leave work, Taehyung,” Jungkook smiled, pulling away from him, though his hands still lingered on his waist.

“Soojin can cover for me for a bit, she owes me for interrupting my break to deal with you.”

Jungkook raised an eyebrow, “I thought you said nobody else was available to treat me.”

“I lied.”

“I’m glad you did.”

“I can’t believe you lived so close the entire time,” Taehyung huffed, pulling up outside of Jungkook’s block of flats.

He noted that Jungkook’s directions had taken him the long way round despite Jungkook always taking the most direct route everywhere back in Busan.

“Like I said, we’re obviously meant to be.”

“Except that both of us have boyfriends and I know you, you won’t leave Yoongi because we both know he’d end up on the streets.”

He was trying not to think of how he would ever get away from Hoseok.

“Does that not mean we can be friends?”

Taehyung felt like he’d been punched in the gut even though he shouldn’t have been surprised by the words.

“Yeah, of course,” he said, smiling through the pain of his heart shattering into even more fragmented pieces.

Jungkook unbuckled his seatbelt, “My phone number hasn’t changed, by the way.”

“Who says I kept it?”

“I do because I know you. I bet you still have that memory box, too And I bet your boyfriend really appreciates that.”

“He doesn’t know about it

Jungkook clicked his tongue, “I see. You’re still ashamed of me.”

“It’s not like that, Jungkook. He gets jealous easily and I don’t want him to destroy any of it.”

“Sounds healthy,” Jungkook drawled, in a tone reminiscent of Yoongi.

It made Taehyung want to punch something.

“Yeah because you and Yoongi are the poster children for healthy upbringings and relationships.”

Jungkook shrugged, “At least now we’re only messing each other up, and like you say, neither of us were exactly undamaged to begin with.”

“I should get back to work.”

“Wouldn’t want people to say I was the bad influence this time, would we?” Jungkook chuckled, getting out of the car. “Bye, Taehyung.”

When Jungkook was a few paces away, Taehyung rolled the passenger side window down. “Jungkook!” he called.

Jungkook came back to the car, leaning his forearms against the rolled down window, “Yeah?”

“Make sure you keep that hand clean.”

Jungkook smiled brightly, his slightly oversized front teeth on full display, making him look like that twelve year old boy Taehyung had first met all those years ago, “Of course, angel.”

April 2016

Taehyung grunted as he lifted the shopping bags onto the kitchen side.

“Hey, Taehyung,” Jungkook greeted him cheerfully, unphased by Taehyung letting himself into the house. “Do you want some help?”

At least he’d been able to come in through the front door instead of sneaking in through Jungkook’s bedroom window. He’d been hoping that Jungyun would move away for university to make things easier both for him to see Jungkook and for Jungkook to get some peace at least when his parents went away. But it seemed like the universe wanted to constantly spite him because Junghyun was still living at home and if anything, more likely to be there than he had been before since he needed somewhere to bring girls home to.

“No, you just sit,” Taehyung said, starting to unpack the shopping.

He knew Jungkook only wanted to sneak the bag of dried seaweed out of the bag before Taehyung could stop him and he didn’t want him ruining his dinner.

Jungkook hopped up onto the side, kicking his legs, “Do you know where Junghyun is? He’s been gone for two days.”

Taehyung wondered if Junghyun knew that Jungkook worried about him and always asked after him. Would he even care? Or would he find some way to twist it against that sweet boy?

“I’m sorry, Jungkook. I only saw him today. If I'd known, I would've brought you food sooner.”

Of course Jungkook could have text him but he never did so Taehyung had stopped expecting it. The pride that Taehyung had noticed in him when he was only twelve had only grown in the last three and a half years.

“Is he alright?” Jungkook pressed.

“He’s fine, Jungkook.”

“Is he with Yoongi?”

“I’ll give you three guesses.”

Jungkook hummed thoughtfully, “I tried texting Yoongi to find out but he never replied.”

Taehyung’s jaw clenched, he was having to constantly reign himself in whenever he was around both Yoongi and Jungkook. The way Yoongi was looking at Jungkook made his skin crawl.

“I never used to like Yoongi,” Jungkook continued, “but he’s been different lately. He’s stopped calling me a bratty kid and actually talks to me. He told me he's going to move up to Seoul and make music.”

“You should stay away from Yoongi, Jungkook.”

He was only interested in Jungkook when it was convenient or when he wanted an ego boost, and Jungkook liked to use Yoongi to make Taehyung jealous whenever he was feeling insecure (which was most of the time), or to get back at his brother. Taehyung couldn’t think of a worse combination.

“Worried I’m going to replace you with another one of Junghyun’s friends?” Jungkook smirked.

“No, we both know you could never replace me, Kookie. Who else is going to remember to buy all your favourite snacks?”

And who else would be willing to stand up to Junghyun the way he did?

“I’d like to try charcoals next but they might be a bit too messy…”

Taehyung had been listening attentively while Jungkook rambled about what he’d been drawing recently and what he had planned for the future.

They were sitting on the kitchen side together, their legs brushing against each other comfortably.

“I’ll get you something to put down while you do it, then you can just wash that every now and then.”

Jungkook opened his mouth to say something but froze when the front door banged open.

“Tae? What are you doing here?” Junghyun called from the living room, obviously spotting his shoes on the rack.

“Someone had to feed your brother.”

“He’s capable of cooking, you know,” Junghyun laughed, coming in with his latest girlfriend on his arm.

Taehyung had probably been told her name at some point but they came and went so fast that he never bothered remembering them.

“Not when there's no food in the house he’s not,” Taehyung snapped.

“Just remember whose brother he is, Taehyung.”

“You’re the one who needs to remember that, not me.”

Junghyun laughed, “Maybe you could hook Tae up with one of your friends?” he said to the girl. “I think getting laid would really loosen him up.”

The girl looked him up and down appraisingly, “I’ve got plenty of friends who would be interested in him.”

Taehyung fixed Junghyun with an icy glare, “I told you, I’m already with someone.”

Beside him, Jungkook tensed.

Taehyung discreetly reached behind him until his fingers found Jungkook’s and squeezed them reassuringly.

“And you won't let me, your best friend, meet them so you're clearly not that into her.”

“More like you're a dick and he doesn’t want to subject people to you,” Jungkook shot back, stung by his brother’s words.

Junghyun’s cheeks flushed with rage and Taehyung shifted forward, ready to dive between him and Jungkook if he had to. Fortunately, Junghyun remembered who else was there and merely snorted dismissively before leading the girl to his bedroom.

“You shouldn’t rile him up, Jungkook.”

“He already hits me for being something that I’m not, what else can he do to me?”

Taehyung didn’t know but something told him Junghyun was, despite his hard exterior, even more vulnerable on the inside than Jungkook, and far more volatile if pushed.

“I just think you should be careful.”

Present Day

Taehyung gazed out of the window towards Jungkook’s building, the engine still running.

He knew he shouldn’t be there, that he should be leaving it alone, but he couldn’t ignore the fact that despite getting a scholarship, Jungkook was still having to work at a strip club.

Just how much money was Yoongi wasting on drugs?

He couldn’t stand the thought that despite managing to escape his childhood home, Jungkook might still be going hungry because of the person who was supposed to love and look after him.

Except that had been him and what had Yoongi ever done?

He doubted Jungkook would accept any kind of financial help from him but he wouldn’t be able to look his reflection in the eye if he didn’t try.

Hoseok would kill me if he knew what I was planning on doing , he tried telling himself as if that would do anything.

Jeon Jungkook was quickly filling Taehyung’s world once more, eclipsing anything else, and Taehyung welcomed it with open arms.

December 2017

“I just think you should try it, Kook-ah.”

Partway through his warm-up stretches, Jimin looked over towards the studio entrance, expecting to see a newcomer to the dance club. Instead, he saw a boy he hadn’t seen in over a year and hadn’t expected to see ever again.

And certainly not with the infamous Min yoongi in tow.

But there was no mistaking those wide eyes.

He couldn’t help feeling sorry for the boy- Jungkook- after his brother had cruelly sent that picture around everyone in his own year, Jungkook’s and Taehyung’s. Of course that had been enough to make sure that the whole school saw it.

Jimin went over to the pair hovering by the door, smiling brightly, “Hey, Kook-ah, are you rejoining?”

“No,” Jungkook folded his arms over his chest.

“Yes,” Yoongi said firmly.

Jimin thought he had a good idea of why Jungkook was so reluctant to come back.

“Hyun-Woo left a while ago,” Jimin told him.

Jungkook instantly perked up, “Really?”

“Really. You should go warm-up before we start.”

Jungkook practically skipped on his way to the coat hooks.

“Thanks,” Yoongi muttered, watching him go.

“It’s nothing, I always thought he was kind of adorable. I’m Park Jimin, by the way.”

Yoongi fixed him with an intense gaze, “Min Yoongi.”

Jimin giggled, “Yeah, I know who you are. The only people more well known than you are him-” he stuck his thumb out towards Jungkook “- and Kim Taehyung.”

Yoongi sighed, his eyes moving back to Jungkook, “Why do I get the feeling that name’s going to follow me fucking everywhere?"

Jimin didn’t respond, he didn't think Yoongi would like the answer that came to mind.

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