Don't Leave Yet

˚ ༘♡ ·˚꒰Don't Leave Yet꒱ ₊˚ˑ༄

Junhan x fem Reader

Wc: 4.8k

Warnings: ever so slightly angst, cheesy ending, not proofread

Summary: A former classmate reconnects with Gaon and meets Junhan in the process. They try to avoid falling in love, but can't hold back for long.

"Guys, one of my old friends is coming to visit, PLEASE be normal!" Jiseok stands in front of all five of us to beg us to be normal in front of his friend.

"Do you see who you're talking to?" Seungmin asks him and points to Jooyeon. Jiseok sighs. He knows it'll be impossible, but how can he make a good impression of the new him? Jooyeon looks over to Seungmin with an offended look.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Jooyeon interjects. I sit back and listen to the inevitable chaos that's bound to happen. The velvety blue couch is springy underneath me as I lay back, getting comfortable.

Jungsu was ignoring the entire conversation. He was right beside me, looking at the supposed girls' social media profiles.

"Look, Hyeongjun, she's also a nerd like Jiseok!" Jungsu laughs and shows me the girl. She works in a chemistry lab, experimenting with superacids. No wonder she and Jiseok get along. Jiseok looks over to me and Jungsu with a pout on his face, telling me he's about to whine.

"Guys, don't be mean!" Jiseok whines - just as I expected. I look back down at the profile. She's kinda cute, not bad at all.

"No, she looks cool," I say. Jiseok lights up. I must be his only hope in looking normal to the girl. I'm simply just too shy to act up around new people.

There's a knock on the door and Jiseok panics. He glares at each of us before going to open it, and the girl walks in. She's a lot prettier in person. Her hair is long and dark. She's fairly tall, about the same height as Jiseok. And her outfit is very nice, I'd say business casual. She's wearing a black pleated skirt and a brown sweater. Her hair is in a ponytail, and there's a bow in her hair that matches the sweater. Her shoes are black. You can tell she's an academia girl.

Jungsu leans over and whispers to me, "Well, show some emotion, don't scare her," and I almost laugh at that. She comes over to introduce herself. In my peripheral vision, I see Jooyeon repositioning himself to appear more. . . Flattering? Attractive? I'm not sure, but he's clearly trying to draw attention to himself.

"So what's your MBTI?" Of course, Gunil clicks well with her, immediately making friends. Jiseok must be relieved. At least one of us is good at this. She looks over and starts talking to him.

"I'm an ENFP!" She states with excitement. Jooyeon jumps out of his seat, unable to contain himself.

"NO WAY- ME TOO!" He blurts out. Jiseok is glaring at him, but he doesn't notice. My lips curl upward at the scene unfolding before me. To my surprise, the girl is a lot like Jooyeon. Jiseok made it out to be that she was serious and level-headed. He was far from correct. I should've known. After all, she's a chemist.

When she isn't talking to Jooyeon anymore, she glances over towards me, nearly expressionless. I get anxious and start to feel insecure. Why is she looking at me? Does she think I look weird? After all, I was wearing black lipstick, a skirt, a choker, and painted nails. It wasn't very common, but it's me. I avert my gaze from her and stay silent. She definitely thinks I'm weird. I tune out their conversation until they start talking about our band's music.

"Oh, I LOVE your music!" She says. Jiseok is perky when he hears this, sporting a wide, charming smile. At least she likes the music. I look up when a shadow is cast over me. Seungmin is standing in front of me, tilting his head as a gesture to follow him. He excuses us, and we step out of the room.

"What's up? You look sad." He asks me. I guess he picked up on my vibe

"I'm not sad, I just feel awkward in there with her. She looks at me with a really cold face. She obviously thinks I'm weird."

"Don't let her bother you. She's about to leave anyway." And just as he says that, Gunil sticks his head out of the door.

"Hey guys! She's coming home with us!" He sounds cheery. I'm far from it. My heart sinks into my stomach and incinerates. Seungmin gave Gunil a thumbs up.

"I'm going to the bathroom for a minute, be right back," I excuse myself, and Seungmin knows well enough that I want to be by myself.

In the bathroom, I peer into the mirror. I thought I looked cool. I wet a paper towel and wipe off the makeup. I take off the accessories and put them into my pockets. I try my best to look somewhat presentable before I go back to the practice room.

Everyone looks so excited and cheerful to have this new girl around. I just wanna go home and lock myself in my room.

"Hyeongjun, your makeup?" Jiseok asks me where it went.

"Some of my eyeliner smeared, but when I tried to fix it, it smeared even more, so I just took it all off," my lie was reasonable, and everyone bought it. Well, almost everyone. Seungmin knew what was going on.

"Well, it's time to start heading home. Guys, where is she sleeping?" Gunil asks.

"She can have my room. I'll just sleep with Jiseok." Jooyeon volunteers immediately. No one objects to his idea, so it sticks. We get in the cars and head home.

I sit in the back, as far from her as I can possibly get. She glances back at me a couple of times, and I'm unsure of why. Do I just weird her out THAT much?

At home, I don't waste any time and run straight to my room and lock the door behind me. I'm happy to be alone and in my safe place. I hear incoherent chattering outside, likely in the living room. Someone asks her what she thinks of me, but her voice is so soft that I can't understand what she said. I'm sure she lied and kept the answer as basic as possible to avoid talking about me.

I took a quick shower to clear my mind and changed into some pajamas. They're a lot more basic than my daytime clothes, just a basic and sweats. Now, if I'm forced to interact with her, I'll look just like any other guy out there.

I hear a knock on my door. Seungmin reveals it's him, so I unlock the door and let him in.

"You ok?" He asks me.

"What'd she say?" I ask him.

"What do you mean"

"When one of you asked her what she thinks of me, what did she say?"

"She said she thinks your fashion is super cool and she envies your makeup skills!" Seungmin almost laughs.

"Are you lying? Was she being sarcastic?"

"Definitely not! She blushed at the mention of your name," I didn't notice, but when seungmin smiled at me I realized I must've perked up.

"Cmon, she'd love to get to know you!" Seungmin encourages me, but now that I know she's thinks I'm cool, I'm too shy.

"I can't," I say and Seungmin laughs.

"You can, I'll guide the conversation." He offers, and that relieves enough stress that I'm able to get up and follow him to the living room. I sit on the couch and gulp, waiting for seungmin.

"Hi Junhan," her voice is soft and sweet. She sounds excited, but she's a bit quiet and has an airy voice.

"You can just call me Hyeongjun."

"So, Y/n, how long are you gonna be stuck here?" Seungmin asks.

"Two weeks, I still am so sorry for the trouble." She apologizes. Two weeks is a while. Maybe we can get along.

"It's not trouble at all!" Seungmin says.

"Stuck? How'd you get stuck here?" I ask her.

"My round-trip ticket didn't process, and all of the flights are booked for the next two weeks, and I don't have enough money to pay for a hotel that long," she sighs, clearly feeling like a burden.

"Well, we're glad to have you here," I say, knowing good and well I mean it on my own behalf.

"We really are!" Jooyeon enters the room, having come back from cleaning up his room. I knew he was by far the most excited. He's already in love with her. I feel a quick and weird feeling in my stomach when I think of that, but I ignore it.

Jooyeon takes her suitcase and carries it to his room as she follows him. She looks back at me, but this time with a different expression. She smiles and waves at me. I wave back at her. After jooyeon closes the door behind her, Jungsu starts giggling.

"What?" I ask him.

"Nothing, don't worry about it." He says. I give him a look, and he rolls his eyes.

"You, idiot," my face changes from a glare to confused. Jungsu imitates the way I waved at her, of course adding a bunch of extra that didn't happen.

"I didn't do that-" I got a bit defensive before thinking.

"Did I?" I look to Seungmin for confirmation. His face tells me it's the answer I don't wanna hear.

"Of course, it wasn't that dramatic, and you didn't look stupid, but you did get shy, blush, and smile when you waved back at her." Seungmin clarifies for me.

"Well, I mean, im shy around, new people. What's wrong with that?"

"Not that kind of shy," Jungsu says.

"I don't like her? We just met!" Jungsu shrugs, feeling his argument doesn't need to be defended.

Jooyeon plops down beside Jungsu and sighs like he's in a daydream. Jungsu and Seungmin look at him with disgust.

"What's up with you?" Jungsu questions Jooyeon. There's an attitude to his voice.

"Nothing," Jooyeon says.

"Do you already like Y/n?" I ask him. He looks at me, his face flushed pink, and shrugs. I'll take that as a yes. I guess I won't interfere. I just like the fact she thinks I'm cool, and she's really pretty... and smart. And- I need to stop.

I get up and go to my room, I need to get some sleep. All of this socializing has exhausted me. The door clicks behind me and I turn off my light and get under my blankets. The sheets are crisp around my body. I get comfortable until I finally fall asleep.

The next morning, I go into the living room. My eyes are still near shut, my clothes are all twisted the wrong way, and my hair is standing straight up. Normally, I don't mind, but I see Y/n standing in the kitchen and panic. I run to the bathroom before she notices me. I try to look like I effortlessly look good when I wake up. Wait- why do I even care? I ignore my question for myself and brush my hair so it lays down. I decide I look good enough and go back into the living room.

"Morning, Hyeongjun!" She greets me, and I reply.

"Good morning." I hope my voice isn't too flat. She smiles at me. I can't tell if her face is naturally rosy or if she's blushing. I try to stop myself from hoping it's the latter.

Jooyeon walks into the room, I can't tell why my stomach feels weird all of a sudden. He sits beside Y/n, and it makes the feeling worse. He looks to her, ready to speak to her.

"You coming with us to practice today?" He sounds excited, hoping she'll accept his offer. I hope she joins us.

"I'd love to! I won't get in the way, will I?" She asks politely.

"Of course not!" I say in unison with Jooyeon. We give each other an odd look, not expecting to have said the same thing.

"Then I guess I'll be there!" She says. I want to rip my heart out for feeling so weird right now. I get up and head to Jiseok's room. I want to see what he thinks. He opens the door when I knick. I welcome myself in and plop down on his bed

"Need somethin'?" Jiseok asks me, fixing his shirt in the mirror.

"Yeah, actually, but I don't know what I need,"

"What's it about?" He looks back at me, grabbing the hairbrush off of his dresser and fixing his hair. I hum and 'I don't know' to him, I'm too nervous to mention Y/n.

"Cmon, you can tell me," He says, I feel more pressure to say it.

"How come my stomach feels weird, and I want to rip out my guts when I see Y/n?" I blurt out.

"He smiles in the mirror, looking at me in the reflection.

"It's not a disgusted, angry feeling is it?" He asks. I shake my head, I'm more nervous, my adrenaline is insanely high.

"You're probably crazy attracted to her. Does seeing Jooyeon flirt with her make you angry? Jealous even?" He prys further. After a moment of thinking, I nod. He giggles and covers his mouth.

"I HAVE TO TELL JUNGSU... AND SEUNGMIN... AND GUNIL!" He gets excited, but I get up and grab his shoulders.

"You aren't telling anyone. Got it?" I demand. He nods. That excited smile doesn't leave his face.

"Well, you can tell Seungmin," I say. "But that's it!" He gets excited and squeals before opening the door, causing Jooyeon to nearly fall in.

"You were listening-" I say, my heart skips a beat in fear.

"I was just curious, and Hyeongjun, I think we need to talk." Jooyeon sounded serious, but this had to happen eventually. Gaon still leaves the room, leaving me and Jooyeon to talk.

"You can have her." He says. He sounds genuine, but still sad.

"But you really like her, Jooyeon." I feel bad if I just take her from him.

"I've talked to her a lot, and I think you're more her type. Plus, she gets shy when you're brought up." He encourages me to take her. Eventually, I agree.

"Thanks," I don't really know what else to say. I'm genuinely grateful, though.

"How am I supposed to actually, I dunno- make it happen?" I ask. Jooyeon might be the best person to ask, other than Jiseok, who knows her so well.

"You need rizz, brother." Jooyeon answers, and I cringe at him.

"Rizz- couldn't you have just said I should try flirting?" He shrugs.

"Ask Jiseok if you want a 'real answer." He puts emphasis on the 'real'.

"I will." I say, and he laughs. We both leave my room, he goes to his and I go to Seungmin's. I guarantee that's where Jiseok is.

Seungmin opens the door when I knock, and just as I expected, Jiseok is sitting on the bed, talking Seungmin's ear off.

"So I heard you've got a crush?" Seungmin teases.

"I guess." I reply. Jiseok giggles.

"Jooyeon said I need rizz. Did he indirectly call me a loser?" The two nod. So he did.

"Don't worry, Y/n is too," Jiseok says. Seungmin laughs lightly.

"What do you mean by that?" I ask.

"You all called me a loser and a nerd for liking chemistry, but when she does, it's cool?" Jiseok says. Me and Seungmin laugh.

"But for serious, I can help you get her attention," Jiseok says.

"More than you have already!" Seungmin adds. I guess she does think I'm cool.

"Go get dressed, and dress like you normally would. She likes it." Jiseok instructs me, and I do as he suggested.

Today, I put on a couple of extra accessories. I touch up my nails and put on my eyeliner and lipstick. I feel unusually confident. Not just because I look like a meal, but because someone else, a girl, also thinks so.

Back in the living room, everyone is gathered and ready to leave. Y/n glanced over to me a couple of times, but she looked away as soon as we made eye contact. Is she nervous? We all finally got in the car and made our way to band practice. It's not the longest ride, but it's too long to walk.

My members must've been helping me out because I ended up right beside Y/n. It's a tight fit, and our arms inevitably touch. I feel my face burning. I almost thought it would melt off. My hand slips off of my thigh and falls between me and her. Unbeknownst to me, her hand was already resting there. My hand is lying on top of hers now. Before I could hesitate to leave it, I jerk my hand back up.

"Sorry," I laugh nervously and probably awkwardly. Her face is beet red, and Jiseok is laughing from behind me. I assume mine is as well.

"Put it back," Jiseok whispers in my ear. I know what he means. I take a second to build my courage and carefully lay my hand back on top of hers. Every second she doesn't react feels like an eternity. Soon enough (as in three seconds), she flips her hand over and holds mine. To avoid making eye contact, I use my other hand to play on my phone. She does the same. I look up from my phone to look in the rear view mirror to find Jiseok and Seungmin losing it after they look over the seat.

After we park, our hands separate, and I feel oddly disappointed about it. Everyone gets out, and we make our way to the practice room. All of our instruments are exactly where we left them. I'm in my usual place, and I get comfortable with my guitar, it's like another part of my body at this point.

We start playing. Y/n watches me as I practically put on a show for her. This is the only way I know how to get her attention, so when it comes time for my solo, I give it my all, more than I do on stage. Her eyes are wide as I look over to her. She's fixed on me. Just what I want. The song finishes and she looks impressed.

Her phone rings and it's the airport. They say she will have to come to the airport to confirm her identity for whatever reason. She gets up and makes it to the door. Before I can think of what I’m doing, I’m up there, asking for her number.

“You know, just in case,” I say.

“Yeah, let me give it to you!” I have her number now.

“Do you want me to walk you out?”

“That’d be nice.” She says. The walk is silent, but it’s a comfortable silence.

“I’ll text you what happens,” she says.

“I’ll come pick you up in the car, we should be home by then. Just call me when you’re ready.”

“Ok, thanks, Hyeongjun,” she smiles and then she's gone. The door closes completely as she leaves the building and my heart sinks, but at the same time, I'm full of excitement. Back in the practice room, My bandmates are teasing me.

“That’s the rizz I was talking about now!” Jooyeon says. Everyone’s talking and cheering, they don’t even know the best part yet.

“I’m going to pick her up later, she’s gonna call me” They cheer. I see my reflection in one of Gunil’s cymbals. My smile looks triumphant. I’m happy to see they’re happy for me.

Practice ends after several hours, still no notification from Y/n. I wonder what’s going on. I drive us all home and wait for her to call. I’m done getting ready for bed and it’s insanely late when she finally calls.

“Hey, sorry it’s so late, but I'm finally done. If you’re tired I can walk back.” She suggests walking home to spare me, but not only is that dangerous, I also can’t pass this opportunity.

“No, I’ll be right there.” I sound a bit stern, refusing to let her walk back. I tell everyone else I'll be back and leave. They already know where I’m going. I get in the car and make my way to the airport. When I finally spot her, I see some random man hitting on her. She looks uncomfortable. I park in front of them.

“Oh babe, You’re here!” she says. I blush really hard but realize what she’s doing.

“Yep! Hop in, sweetie, we need to get going. The kids miss you so much!” I reply to her, keeping up the act. The man runs off, pretending he never saw her. She gets in and sighs.

“Thanks, and sorry,” she apologies.

“No problem, he looked like a creep.” I say. I can’t let her know I want to hear her call me babe again and again.

“By kids, you mean Jiseok, right?” She jokes and we both laugh.

“Yes, actually that’s really what I was thinking of!” I laugh.

It feels like a painfully short ride before we make it home. As soon as I get there, everyone’s getting ready.

“Guys, it’s nine pm, what are you doing?” Only Gunil replies to me.

“Get ready,” he says.

“Why, what are we doing?” Everyone’s in what we call our ‘cool boy fits’.

“A party,” Jungsu says.

“Are we playing?” I ask.

“No, just attending,” Jiseok says. I give up questioning any further and put on my outfit from today again and reapply my makeup. Once I'm finished, I see Y/n. My body doesn’t know how to react to seeing her outfit. She's in a cropped bustier top and a miniskirt. She dropped the sweet, smart girl and looked for something significantly more… mature, and I think I like it.

I sit beside her in the car again, and this time we talk. It’s weird to think I’m getting along with her so quickly, that's unusual for me. She smiles and we lock eyes briefly after the car parks. Her smile is full of excitement and it spreads to me. We head into the house. It’s really big and very nice. It must have been expensive.

The first while is spent drinking and dancing. I don’t typically dance, but when ‘Not Shy’ plays, stop watching Y/n dance and join her. She laughs and we have fun dancing together. A new song comes on that I’ve heard, but don’t know the dance to, but she does. It’s ‘Cosmic’. She sings along under her breath as she dances, interlocking eyes with me as she does. It feels as if the lyrics describe our situation perfectly.

One too many drinks and dances, we’re now on the couch, staring at each other. We’re too drunk for it to be awkward. The tension is too much. She starts closing in on me and I reciprocate until our lips are connected. I grab her and pull her closer to me, wrapping my arms around her waist. She complies and kisses me again. The kiss gets more heated until I part my lips for her and she begins exploring my mouth with her tongue. After a while, she pulls away, completely out of breath. Her lips are swollen as she gazes down at me. I glance over to look at the other side of the room and see Jiseok looking at us. Y/n spots him and gets off of me, running out of sight. I don’t see her for the rest of the night.

I wake up with a migraine. The first thing that I think of from last night is the kiss. I leave my room and she's not in the living room. I don’t blame her for sleeping in. Jooyeon comes out of his room, closing the door behind him.

“Is she ok?” I ask him, assuming he saw her in there.

“I dunno, she refuses to come out and she won’t tell me why. She won’t even speak to Jiseok,” It hits me. Jiseok saw us kissing last night. I wonder if he remembers. I get up and head to his room. He answers as soon as I knock.

“What do you remember from last night?” I blatantly ask him.

“If you’re asking about you two making out, yes I remember.” he answers. That answered my first question. My lips tingle as I remember the feeling.

“Then what’s wrong with her?”. Jiseok shrugs. At the same time, there’s a knock at the door. I open it and it’s Gunil.

“Guys, she’s gone.” he sounds worried.

‘She was just in Jooyeon’s room.”

“Well she’s not there anymore.” Gunil says and Jiseok’s phone rings with a notification. He looks and it’s a text from Y/n. She says she was able to get on a flight home today and apologizes for leaving without notice. I don’t say anything before I get in the car and head for the airport alone. I get a text from Jiseok. It’s a screenshot of his messages from Y/n. There’s a new text I haven't seen. It reads “Tell Hyeongjun I love him”.

I speed up, cutting the drive from twenty minutes to ten. I’m going dangerously fast in an attempt to get there before she leaves. I look at the flight schedule and the next plane takes off in ten minutes. I’m not normally reckless, but I speed past the other cars until I see the airport in the distance. I come to a screeching halt by the entrance and run in.

The airport is packed with people, it’s gonna be impossible to find her. I search for her but to no avail. It’s time for the plan, I’d better just give up. I look down, feeling defeated, but when my gaze hits the ground, it lands on a dropped passport. That’s not good, you can't board the plane without it. I pick it up to see who it belongs to before I take it to the front desk. It’s Y/n’s! I run to the front desk and she’s there talking to someone.

“Looking for this?” I ask her and she turns around. Her eyes go straight to me, skipping over her passport. She’s frozen. I don’t hand her her passport, but instead try to convince her to stay.

“Y/n, I love you, and I want nothing more than for you to stay and be with me.” I confess, scared she will shut me down. Her silence scares me. My anxiety worsens the longer she stands there. A plane takes off in the background, it’s hers.

“Well, I have no choice now.” she says. My heart sinks and I realize I may have made a mistake.

“I- I’m so sorry,” I give her the passport and turn around to leave. I may never recover from this, I'm so embarrassed. I’m pulled out of my thoughts as there’s a tug on the back of my jacket. I’m pulled untilI turn completely around and I'm back to facing Y/n. Before I can try to apologize again or brace for a punch to the face, she pulls me in and kisses me. I hesitate briefly before I kiss her back.

“Take me home, Hyeongjun,” and I know she’s talking about mine, but I guess it’s hers too now. I smile and get her in the car. This time I drive carefully.

“Does this mean we’re-” and I interrupt her.

“Yes.” I say. I glance over and see her putting hearts around my contact name that has been upgraded from “Hyeongjun” to “my man”. I can’t help but get flustered by that. I pull into the driveway and a few of the guys come out to see what happened. I get out and so does Y/n. I grab her hand and hold it up victoriously.

“I KNEW YOU COULD DO IT!” Seungmin yells, making Y/n look at me confusedly.

“I’ve been trying to get your attention from day one,” I admit.

“You’ve had my attention since day one,”. She smiles at me, and I have to look away out of shyness.

Ty for finding me and reaching out! Excited for your Jooyeon FF!

Could I get a cute O.de drabble where you tell him how proud you are of him working out?? 🥰🥰

OMG YESSS THIS IS SO CUTE!

You're my first ask and ily, andI've been working diligently on that joo ff 🤭

I hope you like it!!

~

He'd be all sweaty and get home just to have you jump into his arms, and he LOVES it. Every time he gets home from anywhere, the first thing he gets is a good tackle hug.

"I'm all sweaty babe," he'd laugh. Both of you know by now that it doesn't bother you and you're mainly focused on him being home with you again. After the long hug, you take a step back and admire him from top to bottom.

"Before you say it, yes, I love what I see." You run your arms down his muscular and toned arms and he smiles at you.

"How'd you know id say that?" He laughs.

"You say it anytime I check you out," you look into his eyes, your gazes are locked with love and admiration for each other. You swear you can feel your souls intertwined with one another's.

"I'm proud of you, ya know?" This, despite all of your other flirty comments, makes him blush and look away. His face is flushed red, and he smiles wide and bright.

"You are?" He asks, looking for confirmation.

"Very, your discipline is so admirable." You continue to praise him and his heart flutters. He can tolerate flirting, but what you're giving him now is so validating and makes him feel so secure.

"Go get ready. We're going out for dinner." He playfully instructs you and you listen. He smiles the entire time he picks out his clothes and goes to get in the shower to prepare for your spontaneous date.

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Fragments of Ourselves: Jooyeon (smut/fantasy)

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DEATH HAS ITS WONDERS

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About DHIW:

Summary: a zombie apocalypse takes over the school. Riki and Lyra have to figure out how to survive alongside all of their friends. On top of everything, they start to feel attracted to each other and aren't sure how to go about it in such a situation.

+ y/n is Lyra

+ content warnings: descriptive gore, angsty, death, 18+ implications (not riki), multiple groups are mentioned, kiss scenes

+ beomgyu x readers bsf

+ avg w/c per chapter: 2300

Chapter 1/6

(8/30/24)

. . . w/c: 2800

Chapter 2/6

(8/30/24)

. . . w/c: 3300

Chapter 3/6

(9/6/24)

. . . w/c: 2031

⚠️ gore scenes are very descriptive

Chapter 4/6

(9/21/24)

Chapter 5/6

(10/11/24)

Chapter 6/6

(10/21/24)

DEATH HAS ITS WONDERS

DHIW CHAPTER GUIDE

. . . please read the chapter guide. It has all the necessary info like links to other chapters and content warnings

wc: +2800

chapter 1 of 6

And lastly, enjoy~

It isn't too far into the new year, and school has just started back. Some students yearn for spring already, and others could wait a lifetime for the weather to change. Lyra is one of those students. She hates spring- all of the pollen and the fluctuating temperatures. She'd tolerate it, though, because it's the favorite season of her favorite person. Her long-time crush, Riki.

Riki transferred to her school a little over a year ago. He was from Japan and was surprisingly fluent in English. He still had a slight accent, but Lyra found it to be no less than charming. She sat at her desk, spaced out, daydreaming of Riki. The words that spilled from the teachers mouth had no meaning to her as the boy of her dreams sits three desks away from her.

"Lyra," the teacher tapped her ruler on the girls desk impatiently. She looked up as if she had just awoken from a deep sleep. She was lost and had no idea what the teacher had said.

"What was your answer to question six?" The teacher repeated her question. Lyra felt her heart sink to her stomach as she looked down to her paper, devoid of any answers. The numbers and the symbols taunted her, laughing at her for not paying attention. She took a deep breath in and scanned the page for question six, paying occasional glances to the other students. All eyes were on her as she tried to quickly work out the basic math problem in her head.

"x equals 52" she answered. The teacher raised her eyebrows in a twisted look of disgust and surprise. To be fair, the snob never liked Lyra. She always found her to be too quiet, never seemingly paying attention, but somehow still very intelligent. She always knew the material despite not putting in any effort. The teacher hated that. Perhaps it was jealousy. Perhaps her divided attention without consequences irked the teacher's underlying narcissism.

"Correct," she said disheartedly. Before she could move back to the front of her classroom, a hand shot up.

"Mrs. Williams, I don't get it." Riki said. He had other talents, but math just wasn't one of them. Mrs. Williams sighed as she moved her way up to the board. Riki always tried his best to understand what she was teaching, but she didn't have the patience to teach him.

"Meet me after class, you come too, Lyra." Lyra furrowed her brows in confusion but complied. As the end of class neared, everyone stared at the ticking clock, counting down every last second. Just as the bell was about to ring, the power went out. All of the cellphones lit up and screeched a dealthy sound.

ATTENTION: IT HAS BEEN REPORTED THAT THERE IS A RAPIDLY SPREADING VIRUS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY. IT IS RECCOMENDED THAT EVERYONE STAY INSIDE AND AVOID CONTACT WITH OTHERS AT ALL COSTS. NOT MUCH IS REPORTEDLY KNOWN ABOUT THE DISEASE, BUT THE INFECTED MAY LOSE COLOR TO THEIR SKIN.

Lyra closed the notification. Some of the students had already left the room. She tucked her phone into her pocket and left the classroom. Surely, that snobby teacher would cancel that meeting they were supposed to have. On her way to the bathroom, Riki stopped her.

"Hey, have you heard the rumors?" She shook her head. The notification just popped up. How were there already rumors?

"It's a zombie apocalypse," He whispered. She snorted.

"There's no way that's gonna happen," she denied. He looked at her with certainty that it would indeed be real. She pushed past him, making her way to the bathroom. She fixed her hair and readjusted her clothes in the mirror. She cleaned up the minimal smudge of mascara under her eyes and reapplied more.

Upon leaving the bathroom, she found Riki waiting by the entrance. He was leaned up against the brick wall, only turning his head to look down at her.

"Riki? What are y-" He cut her off.

"You don't believe me." He said. She scoffed at him.

"Well, of course I don't believe you! You said there are ZOMBIES"

"Lyra," He said. The way he said her name had every muscle in her body tensed, and her cheeks were flushed pink.

"Follow me." He said. She complied. He led her down the dark hallway towards the office. He held the door shut while they peered inside through the window on the door. The sunlight lit up the room. Inside were rotting corpses knawing at each other. The infection had reached their brains, causing them to lose the majority of their conscience. The rotting of their flesh had just started, thus making them still identifiable. It was a heart-wrenching sight, seeing the principal ripping away the bruised flesh of the secretary.

Lyra turned her head to avoid seeing anything more. It was traumatizing enough. Riki walked her back to their classroom. He stood at the doorway as she went in.

"Where are you going?" She asked him. Her words were genuine and saturated with worry.

"I have to check the class all of my friends are in, I'll be back." He said. She took his words as a promise. A promise he had better not break because now she was worried. He left, and Lyra closed the door behind him. A couple of her classmates sat in desks across the room, seemingly unphased by the situation.

"Get comfortable, guys, cause we're gonna be here a while." Lyra sighed. Her best friend, Juno, looked at her confusedly.

"It's gonna sound stupid, but there's zombies out there." Juno almost laughed at her friend.

"It's true! I'll take you and sho-" A loud thud hit the window. Lyra went silent with her mouth remaining wide open. Her eyes widened, and her breath stopped for a moment. Juno turned around, curious to see what made Lyra go dumb on her. She let out a quiet gasp. Though Juno hadn't seen what fell from the roof, it left a trail of blood on the window behind. Everyone in the room, which was only about six people, ran to the window and looked down to the lawn. A green and purple, bruised carcass lay in a puddle of its own blood. Anyone who was outside squealed and ran out of fear.

"I believe you now, Ly," Juno said, half-jokingly. Though it was still early, the sun grew closer to the horizon, teasing everyone with the darkness that lay beyond the hour. The electricity was out, so it would be dark all night. Everyone made sure to use the bathroom before coming back to the classroom for the night.

Lyra's heart was weighed down. Riki hadn't come back, and she had no clue where he was or if he was safe. However, with the remaining light the sun had to offer, they decided on blocking off the doors to further protect themselves.

Juno returned from the supplies closet with a couple of flashlights and first aid kits. We kept everything out on the teachers desk. Everyone emptied their backpacks to use as pillows for the night. They used the only blanket to stuff the small crack at the bottom of the door to add a touch of safety.

Then, with a heavy heart, Lyra laid down to go to sleep. Only after everyone fell asleep did she get up to see that the streetlights were still on. Only the school's electricity was out. With that observation, some of her fear was relieved. After wriggling her way back into the dog pile of girls, her stomach growled, and she hushed it. Tomorrow, they'd have to eat something.

The morning was quiet. Too quiet for comfort. Everyone who was in the room was still there. The morning sun provided Lyra with some sense of safety. It was still early. She felt it, but everyone's phone was dead except Juno's, which just so happened to be conveniently placed directly underneath her.

The two were close, so close that Lyra didn't hesitate to push her friend over and pull her phone out from under her. Her phones battery life was unhumanly. It still had 20%, and that alone would last half of the day using it regularly. Juno grunted and turned over, eventually sitting up to face the day. Upon looking at the screen, the two girls found it to be 8:30 am. Lyra's stomach began growling again, to which she became irritated. She always hated the sounds her stomach made when it functions.

"Looks like we need to go get food." Juno stated. The rest of the girls were sound still asleep. Lyra got up, and her friend followed. They knew they might run into a zombie outside of the classroom, so they searched the room for anything to use as a weapon. Juno checked the closet again, this time with less of a rush. Lyra checked the drawers on the teachers desk. One of them were locked.

"I found a weird key," Juno said, her voice sounding more enunciated to Lyra as she walked toward her.

"Oh, gimme that, it might go to this drawer." Lyra said. Juno walked over, key in hand. She handed it to her friend, who stuck it right in the keyhole. The drawer was full of candy, but that was about it. The girls still had nothing to defend themselves with. That wouldn't do them justice out in the halls. It's become a place even more wild than before. Juno takes it upon herself to beat up one of the wooden chairs in the classroom. She successfully broke one of the legs off, leaving a pointy screw and some splintering spikes from the broken wood.

"That should be good for now," Juno said, satisfied with her makeshift weapon. Lyra agreed, and they moved on to the next step: clearing the doorway so they could use the door. They emptied their hands and shoved desks and other furniture out of the way.

"I don't think we need this much furniture to block the door next time," Lyra inputted. The door was finally accessible and Juno picked her pointy desk leg back up. They opened the door and closed it behind them. They didn't worry about the small puddles of blood on the ground or the splatters on the wall as they made their way to the cafeteria. Juno handed the 'weapon' to her friend before explaining what she had planned.

"Ly," she started. Lyra hummed in response.

"You keep that, I'm going to find Gyu, I need to make sure he's safe." She mentioned her boyfriend from the class above us, Beomgyu. Lyra was sure he was fine. She certainly didn't want to risk losing her friend either. Though the other part of her knew Juno would be fine and could use this as an opportunity to see if Riki was ok.

"Ask if any of them have seen Riki," Lyra said. Juno nodded in agreement before taking off in the opposite direction. Weapon in hand, Lyra continued her way to get food.

The doors to the kitchen were closed. The employees only sign that hung above them hung lopsided and flickered. The fluorescent lights buzzed despite remaining unlit. Lyra took a deep breath in. The chipped dark paint on the old doors never looked so intimidating. The mustered up all of her courage to poke it with her makeshift self-defense tool. The door creaked, letting the shadows of the dark room seep out into the light. She took her shaky hand, pushing it lightly to open it further. The door creaked as she took her time, only opening it a few centimeters.

From the inside, a hand grabbed the door, flinging it open. Lyra turned around, dashing to the opposite side of the cafeteria. The huffing man stood alert, weapon in hand. He was equally scared but also equally uninfected. He was tall, and his silhouette loomed in the doorway. The sun had peeked through the clouds, illuminating the guy just enough to show his face. Lyra then realized that the man in the doorway was Riki.

"It's just you!" Lyra said through her heavy breaths. Riki let out a relieved chuckle. It was deep and unreasonably attractive. Lyra felt her heart palpitate in response.

"I came to get food for the girls' class." She said.

"And I came to get food for the boys', I have plenty. Let's merge classrooms," He quickly suggested. They let down their defensive poses and walked toward one another, mingling in conversation.

"That's not a bad idea at all." Lyra noted. She imagined the team they could build together. More people, though it meant more resources, also meant more protection from external factors, especially as the virus spread.

"Let's do it," she confirmed her quick decision. The two now walked back to the classrooms, deciding on the girls' room as it was bigger and had more stuff. The boys' classroom had less stuff and could easily be transported.

In the boys' classroom, eleven of the twelve boys were now present with Riki there. Beomgyu was missing, and Juno was nowhere to be seen. Lyra sighed, having assumptions of their whereabouts in mind.

"Don't worry," Jake laughed. "They just went to get bedding from the nurses office!" Riki smiled as he looked over to Lyra, rolling her eyes.

"Who are we talking about? Is it some couple?" Riki asked.

"Yeah," said Lyra. "It's my stupid best friend Juno and her even stupider boyfriend, Beomgyu." Riki laughed at Lyra's attempt at a harsh comment.

"She's just mad because of how single she is!" Yeonjun teased from beside her, sitting on one of the desks. He knows she likes Riki and is definitely trying to set her up.

"Stop Yeonjun, or I'll knock your teeth out," she remarked, trying to appear intimidating.

"Yeah, yeah, sure you will." Said Yeonjun, earning a punch on the thigh from Lyra. He winced at the sudden impact.

"You hoe! We're in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, I need to stay in tip-top shape to protect everyone!" Yeonjun was interjected by Beomgyu, who just came in, hand in hand with his girlfriend.

"More like just beginning, there's still like 3 billion more people that need to be infected before we can say we're in the middle of it." Beomgyu said.

"Already at a billion?" Taehyun asked. Beomgyu nodded in response.

"It's spreading fast. We need to get it together." Jake said. Anxiety filled the previously lighthearted room.

"Welp," Riki started. "I figured we would all move into the girls' classroom together and form one big team until we can get the entirety of the school under control as a base." Riki said. He presented his idea flawlessly. Everyone naturally agreed.

"Let's get moving then!" Jake answered, and everything began to fall into action. The boys gathered supplies and odd contraptions they'd made over the last night of being here. It was a very boyish thing of them to do.

In the classroom, everyone was greeted by a newly organized setup. Karina waved, smiling at everyone. She was among the nicest and most popular girls in school. It just so happened to be a very well-deserved title.

Juno sat on the teachers desk near her friend from the science team, Taehyun. The two's friendship always irked Beomgyu's jealousy. He and Taehyun had always been best friends, and he knew Taehyun wouldn't make any moves, even if he liked her. But he still didn't like the way taehyun couldn't help but glance at her and check her out. He didn't like how his cheeks would flush red when she looked back at him.

"Ok bro, chill," Heeseung patted Beomgyu on his back. He had unintentionally given his friend a death stare, which was what had made him blush in nervousness, not Juno.

"Sorry," Beomgyu said, scratching his head. He averted his attention to reorganizing some of the new things in the room. Sunghoon brought in a battery-powered mini-fridge from the teachers' lounge where they would store whatever they could fit in it until they could fix the electricity issue.

Finally, they were set for the night. All that was left was sleeping arrangements. All eighteen people would pile together like cavemen for the night. All except for two people whom no one wanted to be stuck between or beside.

"We aren't that bad!" Juno said. The way Beomgyu held her waist proved otherwise.

"It's fine, No, at least we have more personal space." Her boyfriend made light of the 'situation', winking at her flirtatiously. Lyra and Riki very audibly made it known how disgusted they were, faking puking sounds and coughs. Juno was about to snap at them but stopped herself in order to not reveal her best friends secret.

"Let's go to bed." Beomgyu finally said.

"I love that song," Juno said, not exactly getting the cue.

"Goodnight," Riki said. Everyone began piling on the blankets splayed on the floor. Lyra ended up squeezing between her best friend and Riki, who politely asked if it was ok for him to sleep beside her. She certainly didn't turn him down.

"Thanks," He whispered, his breath tickling her ear.

"You're welcome, Riki." She said.