Lino Having Long Hair For This Comeback Is Both A Blessing (it Makes Me Fall More In Love With Him) And

lino having long hair for this comeback is both a blessing (it makes me fall more in love with him) and a curse (it makes me fall more in love with him)

the boy is bad news | h.hj smau

ch 19 - do you want me too?

summary: An aspiring journalist, you are the news editor for The Uni Chronicles; the campus newspaper, popular for delivering breaking news at the drop of a hat and providing detailed articles about the various happenings around your university. You think you’ve covered every story there was to cover before you’re tasked with producing an in-depth editorial on a student whose name is on everyone’s lips—Hwang Hyunjin.

a/n: a lil more spice for ya life 😀 things are getting a bit steamy oooo :0 lemme know what y’all think of the relationship dynamics changing 🧐 thank you as always for the feedback~

masterlist

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Taglist CLOSED

'*•.¸♡𝘓𝘢𝘮𝘣 𝘊𝘢𝘬𝘦♡¸.•*'

↻ ◁ ▌▌ ▷ ↺

Taglist : @jdopes-recorder @midsoulz @firnze @curly-fr13s @https-skzology @captivq @tasteskz-sworld @zoeeeeeeeeee @wildesreblogs @chansducky10 @hgema @facelesswrittes @mackjestic @moon0fthenight @lovely-leigh @writersun @hxked @tangerinepies @shadowarchon @hash2013 @vixensss @end0rchans @morklee02 @peachbokkie @gemi-qcs @babyphotos0325 @justletmehavethenamemarsomfg @eastleighsblog @chimicurri-a @lazuligi @qveenbibi @niaalove @deathlypink @vampcharxter @syuuji @capooch @ksywoo @its-hannjisung @bookwyrm28 @hyundumpling @phenomenalgirl9 @bangchansbae @laylasbunbunny @w31rdg1rl @hanniesss @deadgirlwalking3 @marcillfll @stayskzsuro @jiimout @jihanlovic

instead of you [part thirteen] || l.mh

pairing: [best friend’s brother] lee minho x college!reader ft. han jisung

summary: you didn’t expect to spend your summer pretending to be your best friend’s girlfriend- then again, you didn’t expect to fall for your best friend’s brother, either. 

warnings: swearing, mentions of sex (18+ mdni)

word count: 4k

a/n: revamped my tom holland series from my main blog ( @wazzupmrstark ) to try and motivate myself to finish it!!

series masterlist | early access to the next chapter on ko-fi

You should get some rest,” Jisung urged, trying to pry your phone out of your hand. “You’ve barely slept.”

It had been a full twenty-four hours since you landed in Tokyo and you’d only managed to get a few hours of sleep. You were too paranoid, too afraid to let your guard down in front of Jisung’s brothers that no matter how hard you tried you couldn’t relax enough to drift off for more than an hour at a time. 

You knew you were fucking yourself over, but you’d tried everything and still couldn’t sleep. 

“You know I can’t,” you grumbled back, holding your phone out of reach. 

Jisung rolled on top of you, scrambling for your hand. His arms were longer than yours so he was able to reach your phone without much effort, and clapped his other hand over your mouth to muffle your complaints. His brothers were still asleep in their bunks and neither of you wanted to be the ones to wake them up. 

“Jisung!” you protested, trying to push him off of you. 

He surrendered easily with your phone in hand and moved back to his side of the bed, placing it facedown on the bedside table. 

“You’ll thank me when you fall asleep,”

“What are you guys doing?” Felix asked, his voice gravelly with sleep. 

“Nothing, Lix, go back to bed.”

“Well it’s hard to sleep when you two are being so loud.”

“We’ll be quiet,” you promised.

“Good.” He yawned. 

Jisung stuck his tongue out at you from his side of the bed and you did the same, adding a middle finger for good measure. Without your phone you had nothing to distract you, and your thoughts started to overwhelm you again. 

Jisung must have noticed your distant stare because he outstretched his arm towards you, a silent offer. You shifted under the covers so that you could rest your head on his shoulder with his arm under your neck. 

“C’mere,” he whispered, pulling you in closer by wrapping that same arm around you 

You snuggled into the crook of his neck and inhaled deeply, trying to relax. He smelled like the hotel shampoo: self described as lotus and white tea. He brought his hand up to your head and began playing with your hair, absentmindedly twirling strands of it around his fingers as he talked. 

“Want me to tell you a story?” he asked. You nodded. “Okay.”

He fell silent as he came up with a plot in his head and you thought to yourself how long it’d been since you’d done this together. Jisung used to tell you stories all the time in your early college years. On breaks between studying he’d convince you to rest on his bed and tell you all sorts of fairy tales that he’d made up on the fly. You always told him that he should be a writer, but he usually just responded with “maybe in another life”.

You knew that he only offered to tell you stories under the guise of getting you to fall asleep, but you loved them too much to ever call him out on it. They worked like a charm, too. Whenever Jisung thought you weren’t getting enough sleep or suspected you had pulled an all-nighter he would hit you with, “want to hear a story?” and you’d be out like a light. 

Jisung cleared his throat to let you know he was about to begin. He spoke in a whisper so that his brothers couldn’t hear him. “Once upon a time, in a land far, far away… there lived a horse.”

You turned your head to look at him. “A horse?”

“A horse. What do you want the horse’s name to be?”

“I get to name it?”

“If you want.”

You took a second to think. “Persephone.”

“Should’ve known you’d go with Greek mythology.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, just listen to the story.”

You finally started to drift off as Jisung laid out the details of Persephone’s life. She was adopted by the royal guard as a foal, and grew up in the palace stables. Her best friend was a young princess. They grew up together, and Persephone would help the princess to escape the palace to visit her secret lover. It was one of your best friend’s more fantastical stories, but it had the same effect nonetheless, and you fell asleep within minutes. You never got to find out what happened to Persephone. 

When you woke up again Jisung was still laying beside you in bed. He was scrolling through his phone, ignoring his brothers who were having a conversation in the background. He smiled when he noticed you were awake and kissed your cheek. 

“Look who’s awake,” he announced. “Morning, sleepyhead.”

“What time is it?”

“3:36 p.m.,” Minho chimed in before Jisung could answer. That damn Rolex on his wrist was way too convenient. 

“Why did you let me sleep so long?” you whined. 

“You needed it,” Jisung insisted. “We have about an hour before we’re supposed to meet my parents downstairs.”

“An hour?”

“That’s plenty of time to get ready. And Minho and Felix brought us some leftovers from their lunch to eat so we won’t be hungry.”

You sighed, rubbing the sleep from your eyes as you pushed the covers off. It was still dark in the room from the blackout curtains, but you could make out two figures standing near the kitchenette. You blinked them into focus and saw Minho and Felix wearing matching blue t-shirts. You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion, then it dawned on you. 

“We have to wear the shirts again?”

Minho smirked. “Come on, you know you love them.”

You forced a smile through gritted teeth. “Yep, they’re my favorite thing to wear.”

“I knew it.”

“You can read people so well, Minho.”

“Thanks, I get told that a lot.”

“I’m sure you do.”

You slipped past Jisung’s brothers into the bathroom where you got dressed for the day and brushed your teeth. You stuffed your pajamas back into your suitcase and joined the boys at the little dining table in front of the beds. Jisung had reheated some rice and vegetables for you both on the stove.

The food was still steaming when you sat down in front of it, but you started eating it right away anyway. There wasn’t much time left before you had to leave, and you didn’t want to be the one making everyone late. 

“We tried to order stuff that you’d like,” Felix said. 

“It’s good!” you replied appreciatively, holding up your chopsticks for emphasis, “thank you.”

You finished scarfing down your lunch before Jisung and rinsed your bowl in the sink, doing the same with his when he was done. 

The four of you all piled in the elevator together and met the other two Hans in the lobby, where they were also wearing their matching blue shirts. Minho called an Uber for everyone and then you were finally on your way out into the city after two days inside.

“Where are we going?” you whispered to Jisung.

“Asakusa first, then tonight we’re going to Yomiuri Land, which is like a theme park I think.”

“We’re going to a theme park at night?”

“I guess. It’s what Felix wanted to do.”

“Yeah, that checks out, I guess.”

You turned to look out the window and rested your forehead against the glass, watching the buildings and people fly past. Billboards ran up the faces of every skyscraper in sight, depicting colorful characters and neon lights. It reminded you of Times Square, but much cleaner. 

Jisung held your hand as the car navigated through the streets of Tokyo until the driver dropped you off in Asakusa. You walked through the district with the rest of his family, stopping in front of every notable structure and monument to take photos and read informational guides about each one on Google. 

Nikki and Dom decided everyone should take a break in front of the Senso-ji Temple around an hour and a half in, so Felix picked a spot in the shade to rest and everyone followed in suit. 

It was cool for summer, and a breeze was blowing through the arches, making windchimes whistle in the distance. 

It was so nice that you had almost forgotten you were a walking target for pickpocketing with your t-shirts. If it weren’t for the strange looks you were getting from other tourists you might have felt a little better, but locals and foreigners alike seemed to be judging your group for their fashion choices. You couldn’t blame them. You’d be doing the same thing if you weren’t the one on the receiving end. 

Despite the weather you were feeling sweaty, and you had a feeling it had something to do with the man who was not your fake boyfriend letting his shoulder brush against yours as you leaned against the wall together. He was testing the boundaries, testing you. Or maybe it was all in your head and he was just leaning against the goddamn wall without noticing he was also touching you. Either way, it was making you flustered. 

Your thoughts drifted to the other night, when you had been two fingers deep in yourself thinking about your best friend’s brother on top of you, breathless and groaning your name. 

Fuck. 

Minho suddenly made a face at you and you realized you had been glaring at him subconsciously. You quickly averted your gaze and looked over at Jisung who was giving you a similar look. 

“Anyone want to go look at the gift shops with me?” Felix asked, completely oblivious to any tension woven throughout his brothers and you. 

“I do!” you exclaimed, scrambling to stand next to him. 

“Okay!” He seemed excited that you had volunteered. “Anyone else?”

You thanked whatever higher power that had blessed you right then because nobody else seemed interested in tagging along so it was just the two of you. You let out a breath that you didn’t know you were holding and walked with Felix over to the other side of the square. 

The gift shops turned out to be little stalls lined up down an aisle of the street. There were so many things to look at: clothes, toys, hats, lanterns, candy. It was like every shopkeeper had jammed their storefront with as much merchandise as they possibly could. 

You waited beside Felix as he sifted through a manga stand at one of the shops. 

“Will you be able to read them?” you asked. 

“Um, no,” he admitted, cheeks turning a little pink. “I collect them.”

“Oh, what got you into that?”

“When I was in high school we had this assignment where we had to find a pen pal that lived abroad. Mine ended up being this guy named Yuji and we actually got really close through sending letters. He used to send me manga and I would send him Korean stamps. He would roughly translate the manga for me so that I could understand it, but I mostly liked it for the pictures anyway.”

“That’s really sweet,” you said. “Do you guys still talk?”

Felix shrugged. “We follow each other on Instagram, and sometimes we play video games together on Xbox Live, but we don’t send letters anymore. We only really did that for the year I had the assignment, and then a couple months after. But I still collect manga because of him.”

“Did you get an A on the project?”

“I did,” Felix said with a chuckle. “It was the best grade I got in that class. My teacher was shocked.”

“I bet.”

Once Felix had found a couple of books that he wanted, he let you have a turn looking through the stalls to find something you liked. You realized you hadn’t bought many souvenirs on this trip so far. One of the only things you had was that postcard from Minho. It was still folded up inside a pocket of your backpack. 

You ended up purchasing a Japanese mythology book, written in Japanese and translated in English, a flower-printed potholder, an empty journal with a pagoda on the cover, and a Japanese cookbook for Jisung. 

When you returned to the rest of the family they all inquired about your finds, passing each souvenir around like it was show-and-tell. 

“And this is for Ji,” you said, pulling the final item out of your tote bag. You handed him the book and leaned into him as he wrapped an arm around you. 

“Thank you, baby.” He leaned down to kiss the top of your head. “I’ll have to try some of these when we get home.”

“That was so thoughtful of you, y/n!” Nikki exclaimed.

You beamed in response, happy to have won some points from Jisung’s parents. Jisung seemed pleased as well, glad to receive affection from you in front of his family.

“We better get going,” Dom reminded everyone, “it’s going to start getting dark soon.”

Minho called another Uber and this time you fell asleep on the way to Yomiuri Land and were shaken awake by Jisung when the driver pulled up in front of the gates.

The sun had just started to set, and the park was already lit up with hundreds of thousands of Christmas lights. Jisung had told you that the light display was one of the theme park’s biggest draws, and that the displays changed theme each year. 2021’s theme happened to be mythology. 

“They’re beautiful,” you gasped, clinging to your best friend’s arm as he guided you to the ticket booth. 

“Wait until you get inside.”

As breathtaking as the lights were, the boys were far more enthusiastic about the roller coasters, and they dragged you to the line for the fastest one almost immediately. The queue wasn’t too long, and before you knew it you were being called to split up into groups of two for loading.

“Wait, I want to ride with Jisung,” Felix interjected once he saw you and his twin situated next to each other at the gate. Jisung opened his mouth to protest, but Felix cut him off. “Come on, we always ride roller coasters together! Your girlfriend will be okay for one night, right?”

Jisung looked to you and you wanted to smack him. Now you’d look like the bad guy if you said no. So you mustered up a smile and nodded in agreement. 

“Yeah, I can ride with Minho.”

“Are you sure?” Jisung asked. 

“Yes, I’m sure. It’s not a big deal, babe. Go have fun with Felix.”

You cursed him out in your head as the ride operator instructed all the pairs to get into the cars together. 

You and Minho were in the row behind the twins. You slid in first and he squeezed in next to you. Your shoulders touched for the second time that day and you stiffened, pursing your lips as Minho brought the lap bar down over both of you. 

“Sorry,” he said, trying to lean away from you. 

“It’s okay,” you assured him. “It’s a small ride.”

“Yeah…” he trailed off. 

You didn’t know what to say. God, it was awkward. Painfully awkward. You felt like you might be sick, and the ride hadn’t even started yet.

As if on cue, the cars jerked forward, making you yelp out in surprise as they began to ascend the first hill. 

You had a vice-like grip on the lap bar and you didn’t know whether to close your eyes or keep them wide open. The coaster lurched higher, higher, higher until you could see the entire park and all of its lights from the top. Maybe you should have mentioned your fear of heights beforehand. 

You were shaking. Minho bumped your shoulder purposely this time. You looked over to see that he was smirking. 

“Scared?” 

You nodded vigorously. “I’m fucking terrified!”

Minho’s face fell in realization. “Oh shit.”

All of the sudden, he looked as panicked as you felt. You could see the gears turning in his head as he tried to think of something to say that would calm you down. Coming up short, he settled for grabbing your hand. 

“What are you doing?” you shouted.

“Just squeeze my hand!” he yelled back as the coaster began to tip over the edge. “I won’t let go!”

“Promise?”

“I promise!”

You closed your eyes and clutched Minho’s hand as hard as you could, feeling your stomach launch itself into your throat as you began hurtling downhill. You were aware that you were screaming, but you couldn’t find it within you to care. 

Minho’s hand was sweaty. Maybe it was your hand, or both. Regardless, the grip was slippery and you were worried he’d accidentally let go so you slapped your other hand on top of his, sandwiching his hand between yours. Despite the unpleasant amount of moisture in between your palms, you were grateful for the comfort holding his hand brought you. His hands were strong, rough with callouses that had long-since healed. They were much different than Jisung’s, but somehow still felt familiar. 

The coaster rounded around a corner and you were thrown into Minho, who steadied you by turning his body to catch yours. 

“Sorry!” 

“Don’t worry about it!”

You heard the screams from the front of the car and assumed there was another hill coming up so you braced yourself for the drop by leaning against the back of the seat, but instead the ride jerked around another corner, flinging you in the opposite direction instead. This time Minho fell into you, his head knocking your shoulder. He had you squished between his body and the wall of the car, and for a second you felt like you couldn’t breathe. 

Minho was off of you as fast as he was on you, though, because the track dipped and you both went flying forward. 

You forced yourself to open your eyes so that you could see what was coming. Minho was staring at you, eyebrows furrowed in concern.

“I’m fine!” you lied.

“You’re crying!”

You hadn’t even realized there were tears streaming down your face until he said something, but you felt it now. The wind on your damp cheeks was freezing, almost painful, and you could only imagine how windburnt they’d be when you got back to the hotel. 

The roller coaster was an excruciating two minutes long. When it finally rolled to a stop at the loading dock you were still holding Minho’s hand like a frightened child. 

“We’re here,” he said softly. “It’s over.”

“Oh, sorry.” 

You reluctantly let go, noting the tiny crescent moons your nails had left imprinted in his skin. You turned your palm over and saw similar impressions left behind on your own hand. They were deep, physical proof that Minho had taken his promise not to let go to heart. 

“No, it’s okay,” Minho assured you. 

You took a deep breath and stood up. To your surprise, your knees didn’t buckle and you were able to step up onto the platform with Minho’s help. 

Jisung’s face fell as soon as he saw you, and you knew any chance of playing it cool had gone out the window. But to be fair, he’d know something was wrong even if you didn’t look like a wreck. He’d known you for far too long. 

“What happened?”

“I just got scared,” you explained. “It was so high…”

Jisung held his hand out for you and pulled you close once you accepted it, wrapping you in his arms. You melted into him, comforted by his steadiness.

“I’m sorry, baby, I shouldn’t have left you. I wasn’t thinking.” He wiped the tears from your eyes with the sleeve of his jacket.

“It’s okay,” you sniffed. “I wasn’t thinking either.”

Jisung turned to his brothers. “I’m going to get y/n a soda or something. We’ll catch up with you guys after the next coaster.”

“Are you sure?” Minho asked. “We can all go-”

“No, you guys go ahead,” Jisung insisted.

“I’ll be fine,” you added.

You followed Minho and Felix out of the queue and then went your separate ways, agreeing to meet back up at another ride in half an hour. 

Thankfully, all of the park’s signage was in English and Japanese so Jisung was able to find a concession stand without much issue. He bought you a coke and told you to go wait for him over on a bench while he paid. He joined you a minute later with your drinks and a small container of popcorn. 

“I asked for it without butter, but I think there’s still some on there,” he said, offering it to you. 

“Thanks.”

“Popcorn was the only thing on the menu that I figured wouldn’t upset your stomach.”

“It’s good.”

“You should drink something too.”

You nodded and took a sip of your coke. The bubbles felt good on your throat.

“Do you feel sick?”

You shook your head. “No, I was mostly just scared. I haven’t been on a rollercoaster in a really long time.”

“And you’re deathly afraid of heights.”

“I mean, that too. It’s mainly that.”

Jisung took a sip of his own drink, filling the silence. Together you watched people walking past your little bench. Parents chasing their young children, groups of teenagers loudly joking with each other in a language you didn’t understand, older couples who were just there to look at the lights, their eyes still filled with wonder after decades of life. 

You scooted closer to Jisung and rested your head on his shoulder. There wasn’t anyone around to put on an act for, you just felt like being close to him. 

The sun had set a couple of hours ago and it was starting to get chilly even though it was July. Jisung wrapped an arm around you, assuming you were cold. With the breeze making the temperature drop and all of the lights on display the park felt like something out of a Hallmark Christmas movie. You and Jisung would be the protagonists, best friends pretending to date each other to satisfy his family, eventually falling in love for real along the way. 

But you weren’t living in a Hallmark movie. Jisung wasn’t secretly in love with you, and in a few more weeks this would all be over. You thought you would be looking forward to the end of the trip, but now everything was complicated. You should be excited. You’d get your best friend back, finally be able to drop the act, and put all of your complicated feelings from the summer behind you. You’d get to start hooking up with people again. Just not with who you wanted to.

You couldn’t even let your mind go there. Even if you hadn’t been fake-dating Jisung, he was still your best friend’s brother. It was an unwritten line you couldn’t cross. It was also a written line. Jisung had made a whole rule about not flirting with his brothers on the contract you’d both signed. He wasn’t fucking around. 

Not that Minho even saw you like that. Sure, he’d kissed you once when you were both super wasted, but that didn’t mean anything. He was a flirt by nature, it was probably something he did all the time. You were the one that got off to the thought of him. Not him. 

At least it’s only physical attraction, you told yourself. Nothing technically wrong with that. Minho’s hot. Anyone with eyes could see that. 

“Fuck, my brothers,” Jisung said suddenly, making you spit a sip of your coke on the ground. He had been texting them, but he looked over when he heard you choking. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” you coughed out. “Went down the wrong way.”

Jisung looked at you for another second, like he wasn’t sure if he believed you. 

“I’m fine,” you repeated. 

“If you’re sure…”

“I’m sure.”

“Okay, well then let’s go meet my brothers. They’re already waiting at the next line.”

You nodded, your throat still burning from the carbonation. “Sounds good.”

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instead of you [part thirteen] || l.mh

pairing: [best friend’s brother] lee minho x college!reader ft. han jisung

summary: you didn’t expect to spend your summer pretending to be your best friend’s girlfriend- then again, you didn’t expect to fall for your best friend’s brother, either. 

warnings: swearing, mentions of sex (18+ mdni)

word count: 4k

a/n: revamped my tom holland series from my main blog ( @wazzupmrstark ) to try and motivate myself to finish it!!

series masterlist | early access to the next chapter on ko-fi

You should get some rest,” Jisung urged, trying to pry your phone out of your hand. “You’ve barely slept.”

It had been a full twenty-four hours since you landed in Tokyo and you’d only managed to get a few hours of sleep. You were too paranoid, too afraid to let your guard down in front of Jisung’s brothers that no matter how hard you tried you couldn’t relax enough to drift off for more than an hour at a time. 

You knew you were fucking yourself over, but you’d tried everything and still couldn’t sleep. 

“You know I can’t,” you grumbled back, holding your phone out of reach. 

Jisung rolled on top of you, scrambling for your hand. His arms were longer than yours so he was able to reach your phone without much effort, and clapped his other hand over your mouth to muffle your complaints. His brothers were still asleep in their bunks and neither of you wanted to be the ones to wake them up. 

“Jisung!” you protested, trying to push him off of you. 

He surrendered easily with your phone in hand and moved back to his side of the bed, placing it facedown on the bedside table. 

“You’ll thank me when you fall asleep,”

“What are you guys doing?” Felix asked, his voice gravelly with sleep. 

“Nothing, Lix, go back to bed.”

“Well it’s hard to sleep when you two are being so loud.”

“We’ll be quiet,” you promised.

“Good.” He yawned. 

Jisung stuck his tongue out at you from his side of the bed and you did the same, adding a middle finger for good measure. Without your phone you had nothing to distract you, and your thoughts started to overwhelm you again. 

Jisung must have noticed your distant stare because he outstretched his arm towards you, a silent offer. You shifted under the covers so that you could rest your head on his shoulder with his arm under your neck. 

“C’mere,” he whispered, pulling you in closer by wrapping that same arm around you 

You snuggled into the crook of his neck and inhaled deeply, trying to relax. He smelled like the hotel shampoo: self described as lotus and white tea. He brought his hand up to your head and began playing with your hair, absentmindedly twirling strands of it around his fingers as he talked. 

“Want me to tell you a story?” he asked. You nodded. “Okay.”

He fell silent as he came up with a plot in his head and you thought to yourself how long it’d been since you’d done this together. Jisung used to tell you stories all the time in your early college years. On breaks between studying he’d convince you to rest on his bed and tell you all sorts of fairy tales that he’d made up on the fly. You always told him that he should be a writer, but he usually just responded with “maybe in another life”.

You knew that he only offered to tell you stories under the guise of getting you to fall asleep, but you loved them too much to ever call him out on it. They worked like a charm, too. Whenever Jisung thought you weren’t getting enough sleep or suspected you had pulled an all-nighter he would hit you with, “want to hear a story?” and you’d be out like a light. 

Jisung cleared his throat to let you know he was about to begin. He spoke in a whisper so that his brothers couldn’t hear him. “Once upon a time, in a land far, far away… there lived a horse.”

You turned your head to look at him. “A horse?”

“A horse. What do you want the horse’s name to be?”

“I get to name it?”

“If you want.”

You took a second to think. “Persephone.”

“Should’ve known you’d go with Greek mythology.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, just listen to the story.”

You finally started to drift off as Jisung laid out the details of Persephone’s life. She was adopted by the royal guard as a foal, and grew up in the palace stables. Her best friend was a young princess. They grew up together, and Persephone would help the princess to escape the palace to visit her secret lover. It was one of your best friend’s more fantastical stories, but it had the same effect nonetheless, and you fell asleep within minutes. You never got to find out what happened to Persephone. 

When you woke up again Jisung was still laying beside you in bed. He was scrolling through his phone, ignoring his brothers who were having a conversation in the background. He smiled when he noticed you were awake and kissed your cheek. 

“Look who’s awake,” he announced. “Morning, sleepyhead.”

“What time is it?”

“3:36 p.m.,” Minho chimed in before Jisung could answer. That damn Rolex on his wrist was way too convenient. 

“Why did you let me sleep so long?” you whined. 

“You needed it,” Jisung insisted. “We have about an hour before we’re supposed to meet my parents downstairs.”

“An hour?”

“That’s plenty of time to get ready. And Minho and Felix brought us some leftovers from their lunch to eat so we won’t be hungry.”

You sighed, rubbing the sleep from your eyes as you pushed the covers off. It was still dark in the room from the blackout curtains, but you could make out two figures standing near the kitchenette. You blinked them into focus and saw Minho and Felix wearing matching blue t-shirts. You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion, then it dawned on you. 

“We have to wear the shirts again?”

Minho smirked. “Come on, you know you love them.”

You forced a smile through gritted teeth. “Yep, they’re my favorite thing to wear.”

“I knew it.”

“You can read people so well, Minho.”

“Thanks, I get told that a lot.”

“I’m sure you do.”

You slipped past Jisung’s brothers into the bathroom where you got dressed for the day and brushed your teeth. You stuffed your pajamas back into your suitcase and joined the boys at the little dining table in front of the beds. Jisung had reheated some rice and vegetables for you both on the stove.

The food was still steaming when you sat down in front of it, but you started eating it right away anyway. There wasn’t much time left before you had to leave, and you didn’t want to be the one making everyone late. 

“We tried to order stuff that you’d like,” Felix said. 

“It’s good!” you replied appreciatively, holding up your chopsticks for emphasis, “thank you.”

You finished scarfing down your lunch before Jisung and rinsed your bowl in the sink, doing the same with his when he was done. 

The four of you all piled in the elevator together and met the other two Hans in the lobby, where they were also wearing their matching blue shirts. Minho called an Uber for everyone and then you were finally on your way out into the city after two days inside.

“Where are we going?” you whispered to Jisung.

“Asakusa first, then tonight we’re going to Yomiuri Land, which is like a theme park I think.”

“We’re going to a theme park at night?”

“I guess. It’s what Felix wanted to do.”

“Yeah, that checks out, I guess.”

You turned to look out the window and rested your forehead against the glass, watching the buildings and people fly past. Billboards ran up the faces of every skyscraper in sight, depicting colorful characters and neon lights. It reminded you of Times Square, but much cleaner. 

Jisung held your hand as the car navigated through the streets of Tokyo until the driver dropped you off in Asakusa. You walked through the district with the rest of his family, stopping in front of every notable structure and monument to take photos and read informational guides about each one on Google. 

Nikki and Dom decided everyone should take a break in front of the Senso-ji Temple around an hour and a half in, so Felix picked a spot in the shade to rest and everyone followed in suit. 

It was cool for summer, and a breeze was blowing through the arches, making windchimes whistle in the distance. 

It was so nice that you had almost forgotten you were a walking target for pickpocketing with your t-shirts. If it weren’t for the strange looks you were getting from other tourists you might have felt a little better, but locals and foreigners alike seemed to be judging your group for their fashion choices. You couldn’t blame them. You’d be doing the same thing if you weren’t the one on the receiving end. 

Despite the weather you were feeling sweaty, and you had a feeling it had something to do with the man who was not your fake boyfriend letting his shoulder brush against yours as you leaned against the wall together. He was testing the boundaries, testing you. Or maybe it was all in your head and he was just leaning against the goddamn wall without noticing he was also touching you. Either way, it was making you flustered. 

Your thoughts drifted to the other night, when you had been two fingers deep in yourself thinking about your best friend’s brother on top of you, breathless and groaning your name. 

Fuck. 

Minho suddenly made a face at you and you realized you had been glaring at him subconsciously. You quickly averted your gaze and looked over at Jisung who was giving you a similar look. 

“Anyone want to go look at the gift shops with me?” Felix asked, completely oblivious to any tension woven throughout his brothers and you. 

“I do!” you exclaimed, scrambling to stand next to him. 

“Okay!” He seemed excited that you had volunteered. “Anyone else?”

You thanked whatever higher power that had blessed you right then because nobody else seemed interested in tagging along so it was just the two of you. You let out a breath that you didn’t know you were holding and walked with Felix over to the other side of the square. 

The gift shops turned out to be little stalls lined up down an aisle of the street. There were so many things to look at: clothes, toys, hats, lanterns, candy. It was like every shopkeeper had jammed their storefront with as much merchandise as they possibly could. 

You waited beside Felix as he sifted through a manga stand at one of the shops. 

“Will you be able to read them?” you asked. 

“Um, no,” he admitted, cheeks turning a little pink. “I collect them.”

“Oh, what got you into that?”

“When I was in high school we had this assignment where we had to find a pen pal that lived abroad. Mine ended up being this guy named Yuji and we actually got really close through sending letters. He used to send me manga and I would send him Korean stamps. He would roughly translate the manga for me so that I could understand it, but I mostly liked it for the pictures anyway.”

“That’s really sweet,” you said. “Do you guys still talk?”

Felix shrugged. “We follow each other on Instagram, and sometimes we play video games together on Xbox Live, but we don’t send letters anymore. We only really did that for the year I had the assignment, and then a couple months after. But I still collect manga because of him.”

“Did you get an A on the project?”

“I did,” Felix said with a chuckle. “It was the best grade I got in that class. My teacher was shocked.”

“I bet.”

Once Felix had found a couple of books that he wanted, he let you have a turn looking through the stalls to find something you liked. You realized you hadn’t bought many souvenirs on this trip so far. One of the only things you had was that postcard from Minho. It was still folded up inside a pocket of your backpack. 

You ended up purchasing a Japanese mythology book, written in Japanese and translated in English, a flower-printed potholder, an empty journal with a pagoda on the cover, and a Japanese cookbook for Jisung. 

When you returned to the rest of the family they all inquired about your finds, passing each souvenir around like it was show-and-tell. 

“And this is for Ji,” you said, pulling the final item out of your tote bag. You handed him the book and leaned into him as he wrapped an arm around you. 

“Thank you, baby.” He leaned down to kiss the top of your head. “I’ll have to try some of these when we get home.”

“That was so thoughtful of you, y/n!” Nikki exclaimed.

You beamed in response, happy to have won some points from Jisung’s parents. Jisung seemed pleased as well, glad to receive affection from you in front of his family.

“We better get going,” Dom reminded everyone, “it’s going to start getting dark soon.”

Minho called another Uber and this time you fell asleep on the way to Yomiuri Land and were shaken awake by Jisung when the driver pulled up in front of the gates.

The sun had just started to set, and the park was already lit up with hundreds of thousands of Christmas lights. Jisung had told you that the light display was one of the theme park’s biggest draws, and that the displays changed theme each year. 2021’s theme happened to be mythology. 

“They’re beautiful,” you gasped, clinging to your best friend’s arm as he guided you to the ticket booth. 

“Wait until you get inside.”

As breathtaking as the lights were, the boys were far more enthusiastic about the roller coasters, and they dragged you to the line for the fastest one almost immediately. The queue wasn’t too long, and before you knew it you were being called to split up into groups of two for loading.

“Wait, I want to ride with Jisung,” Felix interjected once he saw you and his twin situated next to each other at the gate. Jisung opened his mouth to protest, but Felix cut him off. “Come on, we always ride roller coasters together! Your girlfriend will be okay for one night, right?”

Jisung looked to you and you wanted to smack him. Now you’d look like the bad guy if you said no. So you mustered up a smile and nodded in agreement. 

“Yeah, I can ride with Minho.”

“Are you sure?” Jisung asked. 

“Yes, I’m sure. It’s not a big deal, babe. Go have fun with Felix.”

You cursed him out in your head as the ride operator instructed all the pairs to get into the cars together. 

You and Minho were in the row behind the twins. You slid in first and he squeezed in next to you. Your shoulders touched for the second time that day and you stiffened, pursing your lips as Minho brought the lap bar down over both of you. 

“Sorry,” he said, trying to lean away from you. 

“It’s okay,” you assured him. “It’s a small ride.”

“Yeah…” he trailed off. 

You didn’t know what to say. God, it was awkward. Painfully awkward. You felt like you might be sick, and the ride hadn’t even started yet.

As if on cue, the cars jerked forward, making you yelp out in surprise as they began to ascend the first hill. 

You had a vice-like grip on the lap bar and you didn’t know whether to close your eyes or keep them wide open. The coaster lurched higher, higher, higher until you could see the entire park and all of its lights from the top. Maybe you should have mentioned your fear of heights beforehand. 

You were shaking. Minho bumped your shoulder purposely this time. You looked over to see that he was smirking. 

“Scared?” 

You nodded vigorously. “I’m fucking terrified!”

Minho’s face fell in realization. “Oh shit.”

All of the sudden, he looked as panicked as you felt. You could see the gears turning in his head as he tried to think of something to say that would calm you down. Coming up short, he settled for grabbing your hand. 

“What are you doing?” you shouted.

“Just squeeze my hand!” he yelled back as the coaster began to tip over the edge. “I won’t let go!”

“Promise?”

“I promise!”

You closed your eyes and clutched Minho’s hand as hard as you could, feeling your stomach launch itself into your throat as you began hurtling downhill. You were aware that you were screaming, but you couldn’t find it within you to care. 

Minho’s hand was sweaty. Maybe it was your hand, or both. Regardless, the grip was slippery and you were worried he’d accidentally let go so you slapped your other hand on top of his, sandwiching his hand between yours. Despite the unpleasant amount of moisture in between your palms, you were grateful for the comfort holding his hand brought you. His hands were strong, rough with callouses that had long-since healed. They were much different than Jisung’s, but somehow still felt familiar. 

The coaster rounded around a corner and you were thrown into Minho, who steadied you by turning his body to catch yours. 

“Sorry!” 

“Don’t worry about it!”

You heard the screams from the front of the car and assumed there was another hill coming up so you braced yourself for the drop by leaning against the back of the seat, but instead the ride jerked around another corner, flinging you in the opposite direction instead. This time Minho fell into you, his head knocking your shoulder. He had you squished between his body and the wall of the car, and for a second you felt like you couldn’t breathe. 

Minho was off of you as fast as he was on you, though, because the track dipped and you both went flying forward. 

You forced yourself to open your eyes so that you could see what was coming. Minho was staring at you, eyebrows furrowed in concern.

“I’m fine!” you lied.

“You’re crying!”

You hadn’t even realized there were tears streaming down your face until he said something, but you felt it now. The wind on your damp cheeks was freezing, almost painful, and you could only imagine how windburnt they’d be when you got back to the hotel. 

The roller coaster was an excruciating two minutes long. When it finally rolled to a stop at the loading dock you were still holding Minho’s hand like a frightened child. 

“We’re here,” he said softly. “It’s over.”

“Oh, sorry.” 

You reluctantly let go, noting the tiny crescent moons your nails had left imprinted in his skin. You turned your palm over and saw similar impressions left behind on your own hand. They were deep, physical proof that Minho had taken his promise not to let go to heart. 

“No, it’s okay,” Minho assured you. 

You took a deep breath and stood up. To your surprise, your knees didn’t buckle and you were able to step up onto the platform with Minho’s help. 

Jisung’s face fell as soon as he saw you, and you knew any chance of playing it cool had gone out the window. But to be fair, he’d know something was wrong even if you didn’t look like a wreck. He’d known you for far too long. 

“What happened?”

“I just got scared,” you explained. “It was so high…”

Jisung held his hand out for you and pulled you close once you accepted it, wrapping you in his arms. You melted into him, comforted by his steadiness.

“I’m sorry, baby, I shouldn’t have left you. I wasn’t thinking.” He wiped the tears from your eyes with the sleeve of his jacket.

“It’s okay,” you sniffed. “I wasn’t thinking either.”

Jisung turned to his brothers. “I’m going to get y/n a soda or something. We’ll catch up with you guys after the next coaster.”

“Are you sure?” Minho asked. “We can all go-”

“No, you guys go ahead,” Jisung insisted.

“I’ll be fine,” you added.

You followed Minho and Felix out of the queue and then went your separate ways, agreeing to meet back up at another ride in half an hour. 

Thankfully, all of the park’s signage was in English and Japanese so Jisung was able to find a concession stand without much issue. He bought you a coke and told you to go wait for him over on a bench while he paid. He joined you a minute later with your drinks and a small container of popcorn. 

“I asked for it without butter, but I think there’s still some on there,” he said, offering it to you. 

“Thanks.”

“Popcorn was the only thing on the menu that I figured wouldn’t upset your stomach.”

“It’s good.”

“You should drink something too.”

You nodded and took a sip of your coke. The bubbles felt good on your throat.

“Do you feel sick?”

You shook your head. “No, I was mostly just scared. I haven’t been on a rollercoaster in a really long time.”

“And you’re deathly afraid of heights.”

“I mean, that too. It’s mainly that.”

Jisung took a sip of his own drink, filling the silence. Together you watched people walking past your little bench. Parents chasing their young children, groups of teenagers loudly joking with each other in a language you didn’t understand, older couples who were just there to look at the lights, their eyes still filled with wonder after decades of life. 

You scooted closer to Jisung and rested your head on his shoulder. There wasn’t anyone around to put on an act for, you just felt like being close to him. 

The sun had set a couple of hours ago and it was starting to get chilly even though it was July. Jisung wrapped an arm around you, assuming you were cold. With the breeze making the temperature drop and all of the lights on display the park felt like something out of a Hallmark Christmas movie. You and Jisung would be the protagonists, best friends pretending to date each other to satisfy his family, eventually falling in love for real along the way. 

But you weren’t living in a Hallmark movie. Jisung wasn’t secretly in love with you, and in a few more weeks this would all be over. You thought you would be looking forward to the end of the trip, but now everything was complicated. You should be excited. You’d get your best friend back, finally be able to drop the act, and put all of your complicated feelings from the summer behind you. You’d get to start hooking up with people again. Just not with who you wanted to.

You couldn’t even let your mind go there. Even if you hadn’t been fake-dating Jisung, he was still your best friend’s brother. It was an unwritten line you couldn’t cross. It was also a written line. Jisung had made a whole rule about not flirting with his brothers on the contract you’d both signed. He wasn’t fucking around. 

Not that Minho even saw you like that. Sure, he’d kissed you once when you were both super wasted, but that didn’t mean anything. He was a flirt by nature, it was probably something he did all the time. You were the one that got off to the thought of him. Not him. 

At least it’s only physical attraction, you told yourself. Nothing technically wrong with that. Minho’s hot. Anyone with eyes could see that. 

“Fuck, my brothers,” Jisung said suddenly, making you spit a sip of your coke on the ground. He had been texting them, but he looked over when he heard you choking. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” you coughed out. “Went down the wrong way.”

Jisung looked at you for another second, like he wasn’t sure if he believed you. 

“I’m fine,” you repeated. 

“If you’re sure…”

“I’m sure.”

“Okay, well then let’s go meet my brothers. They’re already waiting at the next line.”

You nodded, your throat still burning from the carbonation. “Sounds good.”

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