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so cute ☹️

ᴅᴏɴ’ᴛ ᴛᴀʟᴋ ᴛᴏ ᴍᴇ | psh.

: ̗̀➛ synopsis: you test sunghoon on his reaction to a girl hitting on him after finding one of those videos on tiktok.

: ̗̀➛ warnings/content: written in third pov. fluffy fluff! suggestive jokes (help y/n). hoon’s a little clueless, and gets hit a lot (help sunghoon). lots of teasing. not proofread.

: ̗̀➛ word count: 1.7k

comments, likes, and reposts are appreciated :)

: ̗̀➛ a/n: new formatting for my imagines without song inspirations! let me know if you like it <3

༘˚⋆𐙚｡masterlist⋆.✧˚

y/n and sunghoon were sprawled out on the couch, laying side by side while on separate devices.

the girl scrolled through social media, passing each video until a particular one caught her eye. she let it play, a curl coming onto her lips as mischief formed in her head.

“hey hoon?” she chirped to her boyfriend.

sunghoon nodded his head in response, attention remaining on his phone.

“can i see your reaction to if somebody hit on you at the store?”

he quickly shifted his gaze to his girlfriend with furrowed brows. “what??” he chuckled, slowly processing her idea.

“come on, just like this video.” she shoved her phone into his face, displaying the video of the couple giggling in the store.

a look of disbelief morphed on his face as he turned back to y/n. “am i gonna get into trouble from this?” he asked, raising one of his thick brows.

the girl giggled, softly shrugging her shoulders while replying, “depends on how you react.”

sunghoon sighed, small grin taking over his face. he wasn’t opposed to the idea after all.

“fine, but if you yell at me, just know that this was your fault to begin with.” he teased, quickly leaning in for a peck on the cheek to distract his girlfriend.

“wh— hey!” she wiped off the kiss. “you can’t just say that and kiss me!”

“too late.” he flashed a toothy grin, plastering on his charming fangs as she sent a smack.

“ow, okay!” he draped a hand over the ‘bruised’ hit and murmured, “you can stop hitting me, i’ll do the video!”

y/n huffed out a sigh and rolled her eyes. “my hits weren’t even that harsh…,” she mumbled, allowing a small smile to be seen on him.

“i know, i just wanted to annoy you.”

she reflected his adorable grin, nudging him away as she began propping the phone up.

.　 . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆

sunghoon took up half of the screen, looking busy with his eyes focused on a product that was definitely not his already when y/n walked in.

“oh excuse me…,” she prettily blinked, making him glance up with a little snicker. “can you help me? do you know where i can find this specific soap here?”

the girl let her hands lay on his muscled arms, softly squeezing it, making hoon raise his brows and smirk.

“so.. do you think you can help me?”

he gave a quiet scoff. “yeah, and then maybe you can help me.”

she quickly hung her mouth open in shock. “sunghoon!!” her hand that rubbed his arms smacked him multiple times. “you’re gonna say that when a girl comes up to you??”

hoon giggled, nose scrunched and eyes shut from the joy he got in teasing her. “you rubbed my arms, how else should i have reacted!” he yelled, attempting to shield himself from the continuous hits when the recording paused. “that hurts, gorgeous!!”

“that’s what you get!” she laughed back.

“okay, okay! i got it this time!”

his girl huffed before letting the video start again.

“hey..,” y/n approached him. “i just saw you from far away and you’re just so handsome…, can i get your number?”

sunghoon bit back another smile, trying to stay in character as he cleared his throat, “i know i’m handsome, you didn’t have to come up to me to say that.”

her brows quickly scrunched together in disbelief at his words, though still attempting to be the stranger. “so is that a no, pretty boy?” she blinked her eyes, waiting for an answer from the male who was suddenly blushing.

his cheeks grew red and a smile began to show on his lips. hearing that nickname was definitely not what he was expecting.

y/n lingered her stare into his, enjoying his flustered state when she was usually the shocked one.

he quietly hummed, blood still rushing to his cheeks as he uttered, “… y..yes.”

she quickly tilted her head with scrunched brows. “yes??” another smack to the shoulder. “you cheater!”

sunghoon threw his hands up in defense, smiling at her reaction. “what was i supposed to do?? you never call me pretty boy!” he shouted back, trying to get his girlfriend back into his arms.

she clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes, softly letting out laughs since she knew it’d be his weakness. “so if some girl calls you pretty boy, you’re gonna cave in and say yes??” she tested, crossing her arms.

he huffed out a chuckle, stroking her locked hands with his thumbs. “only if that girl is you.” he leaned in for a kiss, expecting a forgiving and sweet pucker up when she turned away.

hoon plastered on a pout, bottom lip pushing out as his eyes glistened. “baby…,” he tried to sooth, but she only shook head in a teasing way.

“again, hoonie.”

he sighed before letting the video start again.

“excuse me?” y/n tapped his shoulder. “i just saw you from over there, and i really wanted to ask for your number. i think you’re definitely my type.”

the male let out a soft exhale, finding his girlfriend unbelievably pretty. his eyes glimmered with love as he shook his head.

“i’m sorry, i have a girlfriend. she’s all i need.” his head held up high, proud of his answer when he felt a soft hit land on his arm.

sunghoon whipped his head in confusion, making y/n playfully click her tongue. “why are you apologizing for having a girlfriend?” she teased, replaying his words in her head. “and you’re supposed to say ‘leave me alone.’”

he scoffed out a laugh, lips coiling into a grin when letting out a quiet scream. “okay, i got it this time, trust me!”

her eyes squinted in disbelief before complying, clicking record once again.

“sorry..,” she walked close to her man. “but do you know where i can find the—“

before she could even finish her sentence, sunghoon was swiftly moving pass her, not uttering a single word.

“hey! excuse me!” y/n tried to stay in character, stifling back laughs from the cold shoulder she was receiving. “i’m talking to you!”

she reached out for one of his arms but he harshly retracted it back and shook his head.

“sir!” she yelled, unable to hide her wide grins. “sir!! i just wanted to know where—“

“go away!!”

“sunghoon!” y/n laughed, huge amount of giggles escaping her as he turned back with a mirrored smile.

he had a cheesy look on his face, brows raising for her approval while she remained to burst in laughter.

the boy approached her, arms wrapping around his favorite girl as they giggled together, adoring how much y/n found his reaction funny.

“that was good, wasn’t it?” he chuckled, pulling her closer to his chest.

she let out muffled laughs, nodding her head while nudging his arm. “i was definitely not expecting that.”

“so should i always do that?”

“maybe another try.”

he scrunched his nose before sighing and agreeing, pressing the record button.

“hey, you’re a really handsome guy, do you have a girlfriend?” y/n asked, hands playing around with her hair strands.

hoon hid another smile, frowning to stop the corner of his lips from curling as he furiously nodded. “yes i do, her name’s y/n and she wouldn’t like you so please go away. i love her, and i’m all hers.”

the girl softly grinned, almost satisfied with his answer. “she doesn’t have to know about us, you know? i can always come back another time.” her hands reached up to his arms like earlier and squeezed them. “you have nice arms, by the way.”

it took his all to not fold right there, but he stayed composed. “yeah, they’re for my girlfriend, not you, so get out of my sight.” he instantly pushed the hands away, almost shoving his girl a little too harsh.

“ah! hoon!” y/n yelled.

“who’s hoon?? how do you know my name? are you a stalker?” the boy remained in his role, eyes squinting in slight disgust. “you’re weird, leave me alone. don’t talk to me.”

he attempted to push the ‘random’ girl away, hands shoving against her.

when y/n almost took a tumble to the ground, sunghoon pulled her back into his arms as instinct; but with the sudden weight shift, the two actually fell together.

they both yelled in sync, hands gripping onto each other as his person landed on top of him.

they giggled, resting against each other as y/n let her hand lay on his chest with his arm held close by her waist.

“so how was that?” he chuckled, breathlessly staring at the ceiling with his head thrown back.

he heard a soft laugh escape from her as she played with the faint ruffles of his clothing. “you better not catch the girl if that happens,” she playfully smacked his broad chest.

sunghoon scoffed. “you think really low of me.”

“no..,” y/n grinned. “you’re just really nice… and awkward.”

he rolled his eyes at her words before pulling her closer by the waist. “then you have nothing to worry about, pretty girl, because only you know my teasing side.”

her heart fluttered at his response, feeling butterflies rupture in her stomach as she snuggled near his upper body.

“i hate you.” she teased, slapping his arm and earning a deep chuckle from him.

the girl felt his rapid heartbeats while he uttered, “no you don’t, you love me.”

he let her glance up at him, loving the way her eyes beautifully sparkled in any light. his face glowed at the mere thought of her as he leaned in, lips curling and eyes lingering.

a finger hooked under her chin to bring her closer, urging for the yearning kiss he’s been wanting ever since the start of this situation.

their lips finally touched and he automatically grinned, pushing her for a sweeter taste as he held her cheek.

when air became a critical need, they both pulled away, sunghoon smiling ear to ear especially more with his fulfillment of a kiss.

“please tell me that was the last one we’re recording, i don’t know how many more hits i can take until i get a bruise.”

y/n snorted out a laugh before nodding her head. “that was definitely the last,” she murmured, leaning in closer to her favorite person.

hoon sighed in content, loving the way him and his girl were — locked on the ground with nothing but love for each other.

★・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・★

a/n: wrote and published this with little to no sleep, i couldn’t tell if it was good or not but it was very impulsive.

---

HOW TO HAVE FUN WITH A “NERD” — A PSH SMAU

ㅤ✿ SYPNOSIS. being the twin sister of sim jaeyun came with its “perks” and being overshadowed by him was definitely one of them. you were only known as jake’s sister, the girl that only has 5 friends, gets straight A’s and thinks the meaning of “fun” is late night study session with her friends. being your brother, jake “persuades” you into tutoring his best friend, park sunghoon who’s flunking all his subjects. but there was a problem: you two liked each other back in middle school but he broke things off with you, resulting in an awkward tension between you two. now with you tutoring him, old feelings start to resurface but will you be able to keep it yourself?

OR IN WHCH tutoring sunghoon turns out to be more of a lesson for you to learn that the meaning fun isn’t just grades and studying. along the way, an old spark starts to reignite in both your lives . . .

PAIRING ୨୧ brothers bsf! + popular! park sunghoon x smart!fem. reader . . . 𐙚ㅤㅤ

FEATURING ୨୧ enhypen (mainly hyung line), rei, minji, chaewon, minjeong, beomgyu

GENRE ୨୧ romance, fluff, humor, angst (just a little), non idol au, mutual pining

WARNINGS ୨୧ swearing, inappropriate jokes , drinking + yuuhyemin (ig) as face claim, text acronyms used

STATUS ୨୧ upcoming (regular updates)

starts on. 30/6/24 ends on. ????

note. this is a gift for 200 followers <3 thank u!! i’m rlly excited to make this smau

ᶻᶻ profiles: grade A (meat) | freaky mfs

chapter count: roughly 25-30+

01. dunkin supremacy

02. is somebody gonna match my freak

03. babe wake up!! new yn lore just dropped

04. lord farquaad fan(+written)

05. certified lover boy

06. jay’s acting up again

07. it’s giving 2019 gacha music

08. househusband that can’t cook

09. fly high yn 🕊️

10. were u silent or SILENCED

more tba . . .

taglist: open! you can send an ask to be added, i’ll create a specific taglist for this or else ill use my perm tl

perm tl: @en-gelic @dioll @chaewonshoney @ohmydollie @jakesangel @luvvsim

---

FIRST CHAPTER.

sypnosis : you and sunghoon hated each others guts and the whole school knew that. he was the most popular boy and you were just a girl who had some type of popularity. but one day everything sparks up when your partnered with him for a project.

pair : sunghoon x fem!reader

this chapter will contain: angst

mentions of enha hyungline , wonyoung of ive , karina of aespa

extra : bold italic is for flashback.

FIRST CHAPER BELOW.

you couldn't focus during the whole class when you heard that you will be partners with sunghoon. your enemy sunghoon. you sighed to yourself and looked up to see him rubbing his temple while chatting with jake, probably saying bullshit about not wanting to be partnered with you.

after your dreadful class and the announcement your teacher made about project partners all you wanted to do was go home. sighing to yourself as you went towards your friends karina and wonyoung.

"yn!" wonyoung yelped as she held your hand "i saw how sunghoon looked at you. im literally going to slap him!" she said with a scoff , "exactly! who does he think he is?" karina adds on as she starts to ramble on about how annoying she is just to look up to sunghoon walking over to the area "speak of the devil."

sunghoon makes his way over to your group "yn i need to talk to you." he said as he grabbed your arm , pulling you along with him "cant you just say—" "shut up." he said as he pushed you into a secluded area.

"look. i know were partners but you know i dont want shit to do with you." he hissed holding your wrist tightly "okay? so your bitching over being partners?.. get a grip." you giggled out.

"watch your fucking mouth yn. or ill fucking punch you in it." he grabbed your face roughly "listen here. your gonna do all the work, your going to bring it to me to view over and if i approve you turn it in. got it?" he threatened "l-let go.." you mumbled out as the pain started to hurt very bad, tears prickling in your eyes.

"i said.." he let you go before pushing you down , getting to your level just to grab your face harshly again "do you fucking understand? or are you that fucking dumb?" his words and the push made the tears finally come out "i understand!" you sniffle out, finally feeling relieved after he go "next time i wont just push you."

tears rushed down your face as sunghoons figure slowly disappeared. you were left there with a bruise of where his hands were on your face , you got up and decided to just grab your stuff from your locker and walk home.

after you successfully walked home and washed up you thought to yourself about how your going to do the project , you flopped onto your bed and immediately sighed. "why is he such a dick." you said to yourself and sat up.

your phone lit up and you had a text from your groupchat with wonyoung and karina. "ynie! where did you go!?" a text read from karina , you proceeded to reassure them that you just went home early because you knew if you told them about the situation with sunghoon they would rain all hell on him.

thats when you laid on your back and closed your eyes. until your phone lit up again with a new text message that read

text from: maybe sunghoon.

you stared at the text as your breath hitched. this has to be some type of prank right? how did he get your number? you couldn't think straight with how worried you were so you decided to ignore it and try to sleep.

getting comfy in your sheets and putting on a movie you mind started to linger. how did you and sunghoon even end up as enemies?.

your mom walked you to the park as she smiled at you pointing and giggling at all the playstuff , you leg go of your moms hand as she stood and watched you run away to the swings.

you jumped up on one and started to kick your feet to swing but to no avail , you sulked until you felt a pair of tiny hands on your back. you looked behind you and noticed it was a little boy with moles littered on his chubby face.

"do you need help swinging?" he said and you nodded as you held on tight to the swing handles. he pushed you and you swung upwards and repeated again and again.

you giggles as the swing came to a stop and you hopped off, he stared at you and stuck out his hand awkwardly "im.. sunghoon.. whats your name?" he quietly said "im yn!" you excitedly shook his hand and smiled at him "can we be friends!?" you said happily "um... sure.. do you want to play more?" you nodded and tugged him towards the playset.

and from then on you and him were the bestest of friends all up to middle school, grade 6. sunghoon had notified you about everything in his life and you did the same, so it was no surprise when sunghoon got a girlfriend he told you about her and introduced her to you.

it was all smooth until you found out she was cheating on sunghoon from karina, you dashed away from her and immediately ran to sunghoon.

"hoon! i have something to tell you! its important!" you say out of breath and he looked at you confused. "whats going on yn?" he looked at you as you cleared your throat "karina just told me that gf/n is cheating! she showed me screenshots and all—" "yn. are you serious?" he said with a stern look "huh what do you mean—" it was your turn to be confused now "see i knew when gf/n told me you might have a crush on me and try to break us up she probably knew something.. really yn? are you that jealous?" he cockly said "sunghoon? i dont have a crush on you! a-and im not even lying! you can ask karina!" "this is a new low even for you yn. i dont wanna see you again. your a disgrace for a best friend.

and after that you never talked to him again. you remember it vividly.. you cried a bunch that night, blocking sunghoon on everything and even taking you guys childhood photo down. you hated his fucking guts for believe his shit girlfriend over you.

you sniffled and wiped your tears, you didn't even realize you were crying at the thought of your used to be best friend. that fact he hated you still even after the fact him and him girlfriend broke up during that time, hes a sick man and you never ever will think of him no other than that.

you ended up drifting off to sleep and when you opened your eyes it was already morining. you sighed to yourself and got out your outfit for the day before rushing to take a shower and do your skincare. today you were going to ignore sunghoon as much as you can and make sure you dont cross his path let alone see his face.

you were out of breath from your walk and you scanned the packed hall and your eyes immediately fell on wonyoung and karina, you waved at them and made your way towards the girls with a more uplifted mood. "hey wony! hey rina!" you chirped and they greeted you back. "yn did you and sunghoon like.. have a talk or something?" karina asked with a sense of confusion in her voice "huh? what do you mean?" you gulped as your mind flipped back to when he basically humiliated you and left you to cry in the hall.

"he came over here asking if you had your phone on you or some—" "he texted me.." your words shocked the girls and they started to bombard you with questions "look! i dont know what he sent because i didn't look at it." "check it right now!" wonyoung says , opting you to grab your phone and open the message.

message from: maybe sunghoon

" just wanted to tell you a warning. dont tell your low life friends about what i did or theyll watch me beat the shit out of you next time."

your hands trembled while you stared at the text message , shock visible on your face. "so? what he say?" wonyoung asked . her question made your head lift up. "just some bullshit about the project." you shrugged it off and then the bell ringed signaling it was time to go to class. "bye yn! we'll catch you later!"

END OF CHAPTER ONE

cil taglist : @lilifiedeans (send a ask or reblog with the tag to be added)

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a breakup can't break me

➵ sometimes love just isn't enough.

pairing: heeseung x gn! reader

summary: follow heeseung as he learns to move on from someone he really used to love (and maybe still does).

note: I thought sunghoon was going to be my angst debut but I was washing the dishes and "it's alright :)" by kevin walkman came on and I was like hey I could write something about that! you can try listening to it and guess which lyrics are direct inspirations.

warning(s): angst, bittersweet (?) ending

word count: 1.4 k

“wha- hey!” heeseung exclaims as his phone is yanked out of his hands.

having a suspicion as to what the 01 was doing on his phone, jake turns the screen towards himself, and upon confirmation, he levels heeseung with an unimpressed stare.

“really? it’s been, like, 2 years.”

now, truth be told, the man in question only feels the teensiest amount of shame right now. so what if he was using his private instagram account to stalk his ex years after their breakup? it was perfectly sane, normal and healthy.

or so heeseung liked to tell his group members whenever they caught him lingering over your relationship and reminiscing. you two had been highschool sweethearts, and the perfect couple to outsider eyes.

so much so, that he was surprised (although more relieved) that no leaks of the previous relationship had sprung up since he debuted. although, you two had taken care to maintain a proper image even then, aware of a possible future as an idol considering he was a trainee.

truth be told, the breakup was amicable. more or less. there was no big bang or fight full of tears and angry words. just a young boy telling you he was off to chase his dreams and you, unfortunately, had no place amongst those dreams.

heeseung had broken up with you before i-land; for a little bit you had hoped that he would fail and flop out so he could get back together with you. but you knew, even then, there was no stopping the boy from chasing his dream.

and, once you pondered it a bit more, nor would you want to. in your opinion, not only did heeseung live and breathe for singing and dancing, he was born to be an idol.

and you, well you were just born to be y/n. the closest you would come to a star was the ghost of its heat as it shot past in the sky.

heeseung was a global idol, known to millions of fans, and you were just you. you doubted people would even believe you if you attempted to tell them. what would you say, like “hey, that man on your phone home screen? yeah, he used to be mine.”

no way. you actually had told your best friend that you and heeseung used to be an item, for lack of better words, and while they had believed you, they missed no opportunity to tease you about it.

“i heard heeseung has a couple writing credits on their new album,” your best friend would goad, “how much do you wanna bet that they’re about you?”

you roll your eyes, crossing your arms as well, “i highly doubt enhypen would let their title track be about someone heeseung dated several years ago.”

they had smirked, “wanna bet?”

“yeah, yeah, putting aside that we’d have no way of knowing, if we ever find out one of enhypen’s song is about me, you’ll never have to pay for coffee for the rest of your life.” 

they shouted in excitement, rambling something about keeping you to your word, and “no take-backsies” (whatever that meant).

in reality, you had better hope your best friend never encounters enhypen, because then you’d be down a whole lot of money.

truth be told, heeseung considered you his muse. it might be embarrassing, it might be downright pathetic, but he spent a whole lot of time thinking about you and your relationship. about what could have been.

the portion of writing he had contributed to enhypen’s discography was all birthed through thoughts of you, ranging from aching, longing songs, to songs about moving on and acceptance. sure, they were altered to fit enhypen’s style and lore, but, the fact remained that they were written about you.

unfortunately not for you, but about you.

even as the stylists dress him up in ripped clothing for one of their comebacks, he thinks back to when you mentioned about that type of rugged style being kinda sexy. if he had any doubts about his outfit before, they were all cleared when that memory came up.

he smiled with melancholy, what a time his highschool years were. even though heeseung was still young, he considered you to be his youth. you were on his mind a lot, a fact that made the rest of enhypen’s lives harder because they had to reel him in from contacting you.

it’s not that they thought you were a bad person, no, and it wasn’t even specifically for their careers. it’s just, a lot of time had passed. heeseung was a much different person than he was when you were together, and you were bound to be as well.

it wouldn’t be fair for the boy to attempt to light a spark, when he had no idea if he could provide the love and care to nurture that flame. so it was up to them to scold him gently and encourage him to move on.

even if he had that goofy smile on every time your mutual favourite artist came up in the car or in the dorm. the first time, his members were more than a little confused to find the reason behind his smile, because wasn’t your ex supposed to ruin things for you? but no, heeseung found himself enjoying the music just as much, if not more.

as long as he ignored the pang in his heart. as long as he hid the fact from his friends that he still followed your spotify and would routinely steal your playlists and add your liked songs to his account.

because in so many ways, the two of you were still so compatible. sometimes heeseung wondered if he would have done anything differently, if he had the opportunity to go back and change it all.

and ultimately, despite the whatever jake thought he had held heeseung back from, this was the reason he never reached out to you and messaged you. even as you still had the other’s number saved. even as neither of you had blocked the other on social media.

it was because no matter how much heeseung pondered it, he would never change his decision. he loved being an idol, singing, dancing, all too much. losing you was one of the hardest things heeseung had been through, but he could still bear it.

the same was hard to say the other way around. ultimately, it was his fault though, so he would deal with the throbs of loneliness, the ache that settled in at night when all he wanted were a certain pair of arms to settle around him and warm him inside out.

this morning, heeseung has not thought about you yet. of course, considering patterns, it is only a matter of time. (perhaps when jungwon mentions trying out a dessert that had been your favourite, or when jay shows him a cologne he just bought and heeseung remembers you saying this was the perfect scent for him. perhaps later.)

heeseung goes through his morning routine, unbeknownst to the fact that his phone is flashing with a contact name that has not graced his phone screen in years, even as he did not have the heart to change it. he remains unsuspecting of a second attempt, this time the phone’s screen catching the attention of a nearby jay.

his eyes widen, knowing who it is, and as much as he wants to swipe the “ missed call ” notification and leave heeseung none the wiser at your attempts to call him, he refrains. this decision is heeeung’s and his alone.

jay didn’t have to worry, however.

when heeseung comes out of the shower and checks his phone, his eyes widen, and the device almost slips from his grasp. his fingers tremble slightly. heeseung stares at the phone for a long, long time.

he gets up, walks around, and then comes back to it and sits down. he waits, and waits, and waits.

another call doesn’t arrive. the message is clear– the ball is in his court, and whatever this is, is up to him. 

heeseung inhales,

and he swipes the notification away. he leaves the ball on the floor and walks away from the court.

taglist: @ashtxrie @luvlyhee

networks: @enchive

sorry if you got the tag for the last post! my tumblr was acting up so I decided to repost!

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‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎☆ RAIN CURTAINS , LEE HEESEUNG

synopsis an unexpected shower rolls through town and guess what, you don't have an umbrella. luckily, a stranger decides to help you.

genre fluff, strangers to ?? pairing heeseung x fem!reader word count 1458

note i had so much fun writing this! it's extremely self indulgent but i couldn't help it !! i love writing for hee sm :(

it wasn't supposed to rain. the clouds weren't supposed to move in until later tomorrow. you cursed the weatherman as small droplets of water splashed on your shoulder. great, this was all you needed.

first, your best friend canceled your hang out because her boyfriend was sick. reasonable, but still, you haven't seen her in a couple of weeks.

second, you didn't have any clean jeans to wear today. your fault for not doing laundry. but, how could you when a new episode of your favorite show came out?!

third, the bakery you went to ran out of strawberry croissants and you had to buy a vanilla one. not that you're complaining but strawberry would've been better.

it seemed like your day was cursed. you felt like you were getting punished for something you never even did. and just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, rain.

it moved in fairly quickly and soon enough, your nicely done hair was ruined. you looked at the sky with fury, you could've sworn the sky turned red. why did this have to happen to you?

with a pout on your lips, you walked along the sidewalk in the park. it was a long walk from your apartment and you had just given up. if you had to call in sick to work tomorrow, so be it.

you weren't gonna lie though, the rain felt nice against your skin. even in all your fury it somehow calmed you down and let you enjoy the quietness of the rain. the pout soon became a soft smile, nothing to big but a smile was there.

suddenly, out of nowhere, an umbrella was placed over your head. you stopped walking for a moment. where was your savior before you were soaked?

you turned to the stranger with a tight lipped smile. but that smile fell off your face quicker than lightning.

the stranger holding the umbrella was a literal angel. you wondered if you had died and you were just a walking soul. there was no way someone like him would ever come and hold an umbrella over your head.

there was absolutely no way on earth that you'd even come in contact with someone that handsome.

you hadn't realized you were staring until the boy waved his hand over your eyes. well, that was embarrassing.

you cleared your throat and gave the boy a polite smile. "very sorry." you said, blinking a little too quickly. did he think you were weird? ugh this was the worst.

"sorry for what?" he asked. AND OH MY GOSH HIS VOICE! you could go on a rant all day about his voice. it was so smooth and so perfect. it was the type of voice you'd want to hear at the start and end of your day. you'd want to hear him read books to you, even the most boring of books.

again, you spaced out. you really needed to stop doing that. clearing your throat again you gave him yet another polite smile.

"didn't you say anything? that's why you were trying to get my attention." the boy chuckled and shook his head. "no, you were just spaced out and i was wondering if you were okay."

embarrassing. you could feel your cheeks heat up. you wanted to whine and cry in your bed. why did this too good to be true stranger have to witness your most embarrassing moments?

"oh, right. i tend to space out a lot. sorry if i weirded you out." half lie half truth. you do space out but only if there's an angelic looking man in front of you.

"so what are you doing out here? without an umbrella, i might add." the boy started walking slowly. it almost felt like you were on a date. wait, no no no, you were most definitely not on a date.

"well, the weatherman said it wasn't going to rain today so i decided to go out and walk around town but then it started to pour and my apartment is so far away." you took a deep breath at the end.

"so i was just gonna wait it out but then you showed up." you gave him one of your pretty smile. one of the ones reserved for the people you liked. ahem, him.

"a bit too late." he added. you can't help but giggle at bit. "well yes, but i do appreciate it." the boy smiled and continued walking. you don't even know where you're going but walking with him felt calming. if you could listen to his voice while walking in the rain, you'd think you hit the jackpot.

list of reasons he's perfect:

number one : HES A GENTLEMAN

and that's all you need. as long as he was a gentleman you'd be ready to do anything for him. well, not anything but definitely keep him company on a gloomy rainy day.

"where are you headed?" he asked softly. you shrugged. you didn't know what you were even doing at the park, your feet had just taken you there on their own.

"wherever." you said in a dreamy voice. almost like those movies. you couldn't help but cringe at yourself. you were letting yourself show too much and you barely just met this guy. hold on, you didn't even know his name!

"let's go to the cafe down the street then! it's dry and you could warm up there." he said with a smile. you might as well just fall for him now. you just nodded and followed him to the cafe.

in the cafe it was much more dry. no rain was pouring on you and the fresh smell of coffee smelled like home. the boy stood behind a customer and hurried you over.

"i'd like to buy you a coffee if you'd like." you could've sworn your eyes turned into hearts. why was he so sweet?

"you don't have to." you declined. but really it was just because you were flustered.

"but i want to." he said with a tiny pout. you could've sworn he just whined to you about wanting to buy you a coffee. if your heart wasn't already doing flips it would probably stop beating.

"fine, i'd like a caramel frappe." the boy nodded and then began to look at the menu. when it was your turn to order the boy stepped up and began placing an order. at the end the cashier asked for his name.

heeseung

you thought you were dreaming. he has a perfect face, perfect voice, and now perfect name?! the gods were definitely blessing you today.

you walked to an empty table and sat down, waiting for heeseung to come back with your coffee. he brought a tray with him, displaying yours and his coffee along with a slice of cake.

he sat in front of you and handed you your coffee.

"i just realized i never got your name." he said as he got everything off the tray. you smiled and told him your name. when he repeated it you felt like you were on cloud nine. his voice saying your name sounded like heaven.

"my name is heeseung." he said with a smile. he held his hand out for you to shake. when you connected your hand with his he gave it a soft shake. "nice to meet you."

suddenly, you didn't want to leave his presence. he was so kind, willing to buy you a coffee even though he didn't know you. he saved you from getting soaked even though you already were. he's been nothing but nice to you and your heart couldn't handle it.

once you were finished and decided to leave, heeseung held the door open for you. you walked out and opened the umbrella, holding it on top of you two.

"i had fun today." you said with another pretty smile. the rain had started falling softer and it just made everything seem more romantic. i'm insane, you thought to yourself.

heeseung agreed with you. he had a fun day with you as well. he could tell you were sweet. you were also really pretty. your eyes seemed to shine when they met his and your smile, goodness, your smile. he would stare at you all day if you could.

"we should meet again." he proposed suddenly. you looked at him with wide eyes. "if you want to. if not-" you cut him off with a giggle.

"i'd love to grab a coffee with you. maybe on a clear day though." heeseung couldn't help but laugh. his smile matched yours as he walked you back to your apartment, but not without getting your number.

---

clementine ☆ heeseung lee

☆ non-idol! heeseung x fem! reader ☆ summary: heeseung was home for the summer. but so were you, the one girl that he's always hated since your playground days. the worst part was that you suddenly got hot, and now he had no idea what to do with himself. unfortunately, an entire year of not seeing each other creates the perfect conditions for one of you (or both of you) to catch feelings! ☆ genre: fluff, college! au, loser!heeseung, boyfailure x girlboss, nerdy heeseung LOL, childhood enemies to lovers, neighbors au!, humor, #patheticmen, suggestive-ish but not rlly ☆ warning(s)? loser!heeseung is SO awkward you might get embarrassed MEOW ☆ word count: 16.1k words ☆ based off the song "clementine" by grentperez. i hope this feels summery and cutesy hehe

Heeseung swore that he was going crazy.

Because why on earth was he actually attracted to you?

You, who used to kick over his sandcastles in the sandbox. You, who always hogged the slides at the playground. You, who always made a point to get him first in a game of tag. You, who always rolled your eyes at him no matter what he said. You, who made it clear to him and everyone on the face of the earth that you couldn’t stand him.

Heeseung couldn’t believe that he was even thinking about it— Why were you hot?

It's been about two weeks since Heeseung returned home for summer break. He'd finished his first full term at UC San Diego, majoring in communications. He had been living in the dorms the entire year, so it's been quite a while since Heeseung had been home.

Unfortunately for him, it seemed like nothing had changed.

They always said that adulthood and college really changes a person. But Heeseung felt the same as always.

All throughout middle school and highschool, Heeseung's summer days were often spent indoors. Reading books, drawing in his sketchbooks, playing video games, talking to his friends, and sometimes even laying in complete silence and just staring at the ceiling. 

And all these years later, Heeseung was still doing the same this summer. 

It's only the beginning of summer, but Heeseung has done next to nothing. He's seen his old friends maybe once or twice, and really only went outside from time to time to take out trash or help his mom water the plants in the backyard.

Truthfully, nothing about Heeseung has changed. He was still the quiet, introverted guy that liked time alone.

Nothing has changed.... all except one thing.

And it was driving Heeseung nuts.

You.

You were the neighbor girl, and consequently, someone that's shown up in every stage of his life. Your parents quickly became friends, so your families were closely intertwined and spent a considerable amount of time together.

The two of you went to the same high school, middle school, elementary school— heck you even played at the same playground. 

And for some reason, you just loved to torment him. It was never anything serious, but any opportunity you got, you would bother him and just be the most annoying person ever. 

Everyone in his life insisted that you were just the best little angel, but that couldn't be any further from the truth. You were mean and childish and insufferable.

And to make it worse, you always seemed to beat Heeseung at everything. Ever since your elementary school days, you somehow always got a better score than Heeseung, whether it be an assignment on coloring shapes or your AP US History scores. His parents and your parents always reassured him that he was good too, but how was he supposed to feel encouraged when you just beat him at everything?!

And you never failed to let him know it, too. You always had that sly little grin.

You even beat him in getting into his dream university. It's not really your fault technically, because it was your dream university, too. But it's the principle of it!

Heeseung couldn't help but narrow his eyes and clench his fists when he heard his mom talk about how well you're doing at UC Irvine in your prestigious little public health major.

Hate was too strong of a word, but he couldn't say that he liked you at all.

Which was why Heeseung felt his sanity slipping away.

The last thing that he expected when he came back for the summer was for you to get hot. And boy, you were hot.

It was actually infuriating how attractive you got.

Sure, Heeseung's seen you grow up beside him, but in his mind you were always the snotty six year-old that stole his candy. But after an entire year of not seeing you, he couldn't help but gawk at you.

Look, he wasn't actively seeking you out. 

Just, every time that Heeseung was out watering the plants or helping with yard work, you just so happened to peek your head over the garden wall to say hi to his dad. Your face always scrunched up when you caught a glimpse of Heeseung, murmuring a tight-lipped greeting to him too before your head dipped back under the wall.

The first time it happened, Heeseung's jaw nearly dropped. Because since when were you pretty?

The second time that Heeseung saw you was at the local ice cream parlor near the pier. In all the ice cream parlors in Orange County, you just had to go to the same one as him. 

You were wearing a bikini top with denim shorts, sunglasses atop your head. Clearly, you had just been at the beach. You had a group of friends around you (after all, between the two of you, you were the social and popular one), yet Heeseung could only look at you.

There was just something about the way the bikini top hugged your body. Maybe it was the droplets of water running down your chest. Or maybe it was the way you swayed to the faint background music of the parlor, your face looking relaxed and dreamy. Or maybe it was the way he felt so goddamn small next to you, despite having screamed and yelled and fought with you so many times in his childhood.

Since then, it felt like you just popped up everywhere. On days that Heeseung's brother or cousins forced him out of the house, you somehow managed to be where he was. And every single time, he'd just stand there and ogle at you. Even when his brother or cousins would say hi to you and strike up a conversation, Heeseung was always rendered speechless, too busy looking at the way your lips moved to truly register anything.

It almost made him angry. How dare you become hot over the past year? How dare you make him feel so stupid?

In every way possible, you were glowing. 

And it was killing Heeseung.

Heeseung let out a sigh as he sunk down onto his bed. 

It was already 8PM, yet the sky outside was still amidst the sunset. His fan was blasting, and so was his house's AC system— he even opened up his windows— yet it was still too hot.

Jamming his earbuds in his ear, Heeseung picked at the hem of his t-shirt, ignoring the way that the hair on the nape of his neck clung to his skin due to sweat.

Heeseung, even throughout college, called his friends a lot. But now that it was summer, all his friends were busy on vacation or having plans, and didn't have a lot of time to call.

Heeseung listened to the ringtone, tapping his fingers impatiently.

Finally, the ringtone stopped.

"Hey, man," a familiar, deep voice rang in Heeseung's ears. "What's up?"

"Jay!" Heeseung cried.

Jay Park was Heeseung's best friend all throughout his life. Although Jay was a year younger than him, that never was a problem in their friendship. Jay had just graduated high school, and he'd be attending UC San Diego with Heeseung next term. 

Out of everyone at home, Jay was the one person that Heeseung spoke to the most. 

He told him everything, and if he didn't, Jay always managed to get it out of him one way or another.

"What's on your mind?" Jay huffed. He always sounded exasperated, but he meant well. The moment that he graduated, Jay went back to his hometown in Seattle to meet with family. Luckily, Heeseung caught him before he left to congratulate him. Otherwise, Jay's been busy, so Heeseung appreciated him taking the time to talk to him.

Unfortunately, Jay knew Heeseung too well. Of course there was something on his mind— You. But Heeseung would rather die than admit it, even to his closest, most trusted friend. Not only was it embarrassing, but Jay's heard and witnessed it all. Heeseung would never live it down if Jay found out.

"Nothing!" Heeseung said in a sing-songy voice. "I just miss my best friend soooooo much."

Jay was fun to tease.

"Yeah, yeah." Heeseung could practically hear Jay roll his eyes, scowl, and scrunch his nose over the phone, something he did whenever he was embarrassed. "Well, I had a feeling that there was something on your mind. You never spam me with emojis unless you have something serious to talk about."

Heeseung scoffed playfully. Jay really did know him too well. 

"Nope!" Heeseung said, popping the p. 

"Right," Jay responded, and the older could tell that he was suspicious. 

A few moments of comfortable silence fell over the two of them. Sometimes, they didn't know what to say to each other, but being in each other's presence was enough.

"Oh!" Jay suddenly exclaimed, "I just remembered something that I wanted to tell you!"

Heeseung hummed in response. It was probably some crazy gossip about a teacher from their old high school getting arrested.

"But, you need to promise me that you won't tell anyone," the younger boy said, his voice eager and impatient. "Like, you can't tell anyone."

Heeseung hummed again. "Yeah."

"No, like, promise me," Heeseung could hear the fervor in his friend's voice, almost as if he's been holding this information back and was just itching to tell someone. 

"Is it that bad?" Heeseung chuckled. "You're scaring me, man."

"Promise me," Jay repeated.

"Fine," Heeseung huffed, crossing his arms. "I promise I will not tell anyone. Not a single soul."

"Okay, okay," Jay took a deep breath over the phone. Just by the sound of it, Heeseung could tell that he was about to burst if he didn't tell someone now. "So, a few weeks ago— I don't know how it slipped my mind, I was going to tell you the moment I found out— I was in Macro, and do you remember that one girl Natty, or something? The one with the bangs, like, the one that dances, and—"

"On with it!" Heeseung interrupted impatiently.

"Okay, well, Natty asked me if my friend Heedeung Lee was dating anyone, and I was like 'Who is Heedeung Lee?' so I just looked at her like she was crazy and so she never spoke to me about it again until—"

"Hurry up!" Heeseung groaned. Jay talked a lot. "Get to the point, please!"

"I'm getting there!" Jay yelled over the phone. "Well, basically Natty told me that her friend told her that [Name] [Last Name] used to have a massive crush on you."

.

.

.

"Huh?"

You, [Name] [Last Name], had a crush on him? 

On Heeseung Lee?

"I know!" Jay laughed over the phone. "That's crazy, isn't it?"

"Wait, wait, wait," Heeseung's lips moved faster than he could think. He could feel his ears burning, and they stung like hell. "Who told her?"

Jay paused to think. "Natty said that Ryujin Shin told her."

Ryujin Shin was your good friend. She wouldn't lie about something like this. Jay's source was definitely trustworthy.

Heeseung's heart was now pounding in his chest. His palms felt clammy. 

He simply couldn't process it. You? Liked him? It just didn't make sense. And after all the thoughts that he's been having about you, it didn't feel right. Something must be mistaken, right?

"When?" Heeseung blurted, swiping his tongue over his bottom lip. "When did she like me?"

"Hmmm," Jay hummed. 

Surely, you liked him in elementary school, right? There was absolutely no way that you liked him any time recently. That's impossible!

"I think she liked you..." Jay trailed off, thinking, "I think she liked you all throughout highschool."

Shit.

"I mean, I think everyone knew. It's not that surprising to me, I'm more surprised that you didn't know all this time. Like, it's so obvious— she was so obvious—"

Heeseung hung up.

"Heeseung?"

Wow, has grass always been that green?

"Heeseung, what are you—"

Heeseung never knew the world could be so beautiful. The sky was so blue and the clouds were so fluffy.

"Hey, Hee—"

What's that bright ball in the sky? Why was it yellow and so warm? Is that what people call the sun—

"Heeseung!"

Heeseung was pulled out of his daze as his older brother shook his shoulders.

It's only been a few days since Jay told the news on Heeseung, but it felt like weeks. Since then, Heeseung has gone outside more times than he ever had. He'd sit in the front yard and feel the grass under his fingertips, reconnecting with nature after such a bomb was dropped on him. Other days he'd dip his toes in his pool, just basking in the sunlight, and sometimes he'd go on walks, taking time to appreciate the world around him.

After all, if Heeseung stayed all cooped up in his room, he didn't know what he would do with himself.

Truthfully, nothing has ever impacted Heeseung as much as the fact that you liked him. Genuinely, Heeseung has never felt more confused, distraught, distressed, and downright afraid in his life.

Because... How could he?

Heeseung wouldn't be completely truthful if he said he didn't think you were attractive before this summer. How could he not? There was a reason that you were popular at school. You've always been cute. It was just your personality that made Heeseung hesitant to admit it.

But to think that you— the you that always went out of your way to get on his nerves in every capacity— had a crush on him? Absolutely insane.

And the craziest part was that your crush was obvious to everyone but him. Heeseung made a point to ask all of his old friends as discreetly as possible. Same answer every time:

"Yeah man, she was soooo in love with you."

You? Obvious? With your crush on him? Absolutely not!

This was not something that Heeseung would have expected in a million years!

And the nail in the coffin was when he asked Ryujin Shin herself.

"Oh yeah, she used to make me pick out her outfits to impress you," was all Ryujin had to say in order to kill Heeseung.

It just didn't make sense! Heeseung genuinely couldn't believe it. Of all the people in the world, you had a crush on him? It's not like no one's ever had a crush on him, but it's literally you!

Every time Heeseung thought about it he felt light-headed.

Currently, Heeseung was standing under a tree, cooling off from the rising weather. He had agreed to go on a walk at the park with his older brother. After all, after everything, he needed to touch grass. 

"You've been spacy lately, Hee," his brother nudged him. Heeseung was grateful that his brother was also back from university for the summer. "Everything okay?"

"Y-Yeah..." Heeseung murmured in response. 

Wow, the dirt felt nice under his shoes. He could feel mosquitoes biting at his ankles, but the hot weather was making him too exhausted to care. He should go outside more often. Maybe he'd be less distracted. And he wouldn't think about you.

Heeseung's brother smacked the back of the younger boy's head. "You sure?"

Heeseung chewed on his bottom lip. His mind was completely fried, blank. He couldn't think.

"Hellooooo? Earth to Heeseung?"

Radio silence.

Yeah, he was cooked.

It took Heeseung an entire week to even be able to think of your name without wanting to pass out.

He didn't completely come to terms with it, but he was at a point that he'd gone over the thought too many times for it to sting anymore. Still, Heeseung couldn't stop thinking about you.

All this time you liked him and he didn't notice. Probably because you tormented him the entire time. Not quite flirting, in his opinion.

What made matters worse, though, was the fact that Heeseung would see you from time to time. It was hard.

On one hand, you were an absolute treat to look at. 

Like, wow.

Anytime he caught a glimpse of you, whether over the fence or through the kitchen window, Heeseung could physically feel his eyes get blessed.

You really were one of the most beautiful people Heeseung had ever had the privilege to lay his eyes on. He choked on his spit every time he saw you, it was insane.

On the other hand...

Ohmygodyouhadacrushonhim.

Seeing you was terrifying.

You were the one person that's always been his sworn rivalry... and this entire time you probably never saw him like that.

It was absolutely horrifying to think about!

Heeseung's cheeks felt warm at the thought. In fact, his entire body felt hot. He wasn't even sweating but his skin begged for a bucket of iced water to be poured on him. Maybe he should hose himself down later.

Maybe it was just the summer heat.

"You want me to what?!"

No, no, no!

"You heard me, young man," Heeseung's mom crossed her arms. Heeseung watched with eyes wide as saucers from his seat at the kitchen island as his mom organized the pantry. How could she be so casual?!

The world was ending. It's over.

"Nooooo," Heeseung cried, burying his face in his arms. "Mom, I can't!"

"Why not?" Mrs. Lee cocked her brows. "It's not like [Name] has a disease or anything."

Heeseung shook his head profusely. "I know, but—"

"Then what's so difficult about going over and saying hi to her? It's been an entire year since you guys have seen each other!"

Heeseung groaned.

And that's how he was forced to walk over to your house next door and say hi. He didn't know why his mom was so insistent, but it's probably because she was good friends with your mom, or something. Him and your families have always been close, so Heeseung was bound to interact with you this summer.

Heeseung dragged his feet as he walked over to your house. He really didn't want to see you.

At first, he thought you hated him, but now apparently you've liked him all this time? And he's also sexually frustrated so now Heeseung was just confused.

And lo and behold, the moment that your house came into view, there you were. 

You were in a swimsuit, sunbathing on your front lawn. You wore your chunky sunglasses that fit you too well, your pretty lips sipping on a fancy glass of coconut water.

Heeseung had to force himself to not gawk.

Goddamn, was all he could think, because goddamn were you fine.

The way the sun shone down on your skin made it hard for him to look away. You were completely relaxed, alone in your own world, yet you managed to still be glowing. Heeseung's mouth felt dry, his heart rate speeding up at the sight of you sprawled out on the lawn like that.

Heeseung's feet took him further than his mind could, too busy gaping at you. He stopped at the front of your house, just enough for you to notice him.

"Oi!" you yelled from your lawn, perching yourself up on your elbows in a way that made you even more attractive. "The fuck do you want, Lee?!"

Heeseung had to shake out of his daze. 

"H-Hey," he stuttered out, an awkward hand coming up to wave at you. Heeseung winced in his head, feeling embarrassment wash over him as you took off you looked over your sunglasses, shooting him a questioning look. 

He'd never been like this with you. Ever. The only memories that Heeseung had with you were just the two of you bickering. Never any shyness or awkwardness. So why was he so nervous now?

"Ummmm," you said. Heeseung recognized that tone: it was the tone that you used when you wanted to obnoxiously pretend to be confused to embarrass him. Usually, it would just annoy him, but this time Heeseung was actually embarrassed. "Hi?"

Heeseung could feel your judgy gaze under your sunglasses. You were definitely staring him down. Whether with love or with hate, he didn't know. But it scared the fuck out of him.

"Well, I'mgonnagonowbye!" Heeseung spouted before running off.

(Heeseung could tell that you were watching him as he struggled to get his front door open. In fact, he had to knock multiple times and yell for someone to let him in, because he was actually locked out. And the moment that he was let in, Heeseung ran up to his room, and slammed the door. Never again.)

Although you thought it would be 10x funnier if you didn't, you did in fact think Heeseung Lee was cute. Of course you did. Especially after a year of not seeing him, you couldn’t deny that he’d really grown into a man. He definitely got taller, and his voice sounded deeper too. The way the muscles on his biceps and forearms flexed when he did yard work gave you more of a reason to peek over the garden wall to say hi.

You thought your dumb little childhood crush on Heeseung had subsided by now. You felt a little bad for a while, for always being mean to him— but you just like him so much! 

When you went away for school, you were sure you’d forget all about it. After all, you had a feeling that your feelings for him were out of convenience: he was just a guy that you were close in proximity to. Plus, it was so obvious, too. He definitely knew all throughout high school and middle school how much you liked him. It would hurt your pride to go back to him.

But now that he’s back (and so are you!) you’re having second thoughts.

Sure, he was cute. 

Would you kiss him? Sure. 

Would you date him? The answer to that would be kept a secret. 

For now, you were just going to have fun with it. Whatever happened was not up to you anyway. 

Though, you’d be lying if you said that you never tried to impress him, especially now.

You told yourself it was in a condescending way. 

In a "look how hot I am" way. 

In an untouchable way.

Because you knew that he’d be looking anyway. He always did, even if he didn’t mean to.

And you knew for sure now, as you put on your fitted bikini top that he’d definitely be looking.

Lucky you, your siblings and cousins were close to Heeseung’s brother and cousins. When you were younger, everyone would gather in Heeseung’s backyard for a pool party. 

And now that it was summer, it was no surprise that there was a pool party at the Lee house today.

So here you were, in Heeseung’s backyard, dipping your toes in his pool. 

The Southern California weather was not doing anyone justice. The blue sky was clear, with no cloud in sight. The sun was high in the sky, beating down on anyone who dared to be in its presence. 

The air smelled of Mrs. Lee's lemon tree, sunscreen, chlorine water, and barbecue. Loud music boomed throughout the Lees' backyard, coupled with shouting, laughing, and the sizzle of the grill.

Everyone was here— Heeseung’s brother, his cousins, and all of your siblings and cousins— except the boy himself. 

He’s probably inside cooped up in his room, you thought with an eye roll. He always was. Whenever there was a pool party like this, he always came down the latest, after getting an earful from his mom about being a party pooper. 

You’d always hoped that he’d come down. After all, he was the only one your age, and you wanted to show off how cute you looked. 

That’s something that never changed. 

You pushed up your sunglasses, watching as the boys that you grew up with tackled each other in the water and screamed bloody murder. You couldn’t help but chuckle.

At pool parties like this, you usually found yourself sitting near the shallow side of the pool, dipping your feet in and just enjoying everyone's presence. 

Frankly, you weren't a fan of the water.

You were too busy splashing your cousins with water and laughing at how stupid they looked with their hair all wet and swooped around to notice the sound of a very familiar boy being dragged downstairs.

"Dude— Let go— Ack!" Heeseung's voice boomed all the way from behind the screen door. "Let go— Ow!"

You turned over your shoulder to see Heeseung himself standing at the entrance to the backyard, pouting like a child with his arms crossed over his chest. He was wearing swim trunks, but wore an oversized t-shirt over it.

Still, he looked as good as ever.

His tan skin, disheveled hair, and overall awkward and loserish look— you loved it too much.

You watched curiously as he stood there awkwardly while everyone else played in the water. 

You sighed. Some things never change.

You pulled your feet out of the pool, before walking with wet feet over to the cooler next to the grill to grab two Caprisuns. Then, you trudged over to where Heeseung was standing.

"Look who decided to finally go outside," you said with a deadpan tone. Usually, Heeseung would glare at you, maybe scoff and look away. But this time, his eyes just shakily shifted to your face. Weird.

You could see his eyes widen a fraction, before they traveled down to your bikini top. You had to hold back a smug grin— Good, he was looking.

You shoved one of the Caprisuns into his hand, while stabbing your own with the straw. 

He still stared at you, as if you were some kind of unicorn.

"Why do you keep staring?" you asked bluntly, quirking your brow at him. It was weird. Where was the annoyed Heeseung that fought back whenever you bothered him?

The boy tensed up, his eyes widening into saucers before he turned away from you altogether. 

Was he... sick?

You looked at him questioningly. Heeseung stood completely still, his back turned to you, gripping onto his Caprisun for dear life.

You sighed. You nudged him with your elbow. 

"I thought a school like UCSD would make you at least a little bit cooler," you began your way back to the pool, but stopped. You looked over your shoulder at him. "Still a loser."

And with that, you left him standing there.

Heeseung swore that he's not a loser.

Well, maybe he was just a little bit of a loser, but not that much. You called him a loser all the time, and it never really got to him. After all, you were cooler than anyone Heeseung knew, so your standard of coolness was off the charts.

Though, it did bother him a little bit this time. And for the life of him, Heeseung couldn't figure out why.

Eventually, he trudged over to the pool and dipped his feet in beside you. Though, he made sure to keep a big distance between the two of you. 

Heeseung didn't know what he would do if he was any closer to you. And plus, you'd probably start screaming anyway.

In fourth grade, he pushed you into the pool as a joke, without knowing that you didn't know how to swim. Since then, you made it a point to scream whenever Heeseung was near you at the pool, always claiming that he'd pose a danger to you, or something like that.

The music was nice, and so was the feeling of the sun on his skin. Heeseung just felt a little bit out of place, but he wasn't unhappy to be there.

Heeseung was lost in thought, a habit that he's had since he was younger— so lost that he didn't hear the splashing of the pool, so lost didn't hear his brother ask you why you weren't swimming, so lost that he didn't hear his cousins threaten to push you in if you didn't get in yourself.

But the moment that Heeseung heard your shrill scream, he was up on his feet.

In a few quick seconds, Heeseung's brother had hauled you up over his shoulder, ignoring the way that you wriggled in his touch, and threw you into the pool. 

It all happened so quickly before Heeseung's eyes, yet it felt like time slowed down.

As the water splashed in what felt like slow-motion, Heeseung watched as your eyes widened into large saucers, a loud shriek ripping from your throat. His breath hitched. Other than those sounds, he couldn't hear anything else: not everyone laughing, not the music, not the grilling, just you and him and the water.

Heeseung's lips moved faster than him.

"You idiot!" he shouted, and although his entire body felt like it was frozen in time, he was already halfway through throwing his t-shirt off. Heeseung tuned out the sound of more laughter. He could feel his blood boil. "She can't swim!"

With no hesitation, Heeseung dove into the pool, ignoring the cold sensation that sent goosebumps down his spine as the water engulfed him. 

There were some things that cannot be forgotten, and something that Heeseung knew he'd never forget was the way you wrapped your arms around him the moment that you felt his presence. Your once tense body relaxed immediately. You clung onto him, your eyes squeezed shut as stray tears spilled out. He could hear the raggedness of your breath, and just by your face, Heeseung couldn't even imagine the panic and fear that you'd felt. 

"Heeseung," you whimpered, grasping the boy as if you would die. You sniffled, pressing your face into his neck as your arms tightened around his torso. "Hee—"

Heeseung could feel chlorine water droplets slipping into his eyes, burning them. Yet, he didn't remove his hands from around you, not even once. As he stabilized the two of you in the water, he squeezed your shoulders comfortingly.

"You're safe," he said against your ear, "I got you."

The last thing you expected to happen was to be sitting on Heeseung Lee's bed.

He still had his shelf full of comic books and figurines. Except, the last time you really took a look at the shelf was when you were 13, and now six years later it was completely filled to the brim. The walls were still covered in superhero posters. In the corner of his room, there used to be a tiny little ukelele from when he was just learning how to play, but now it was replaced with a guitar.

You shivered, pulling your knees to your chest as you sniffled, holding the towel draped over your shoulders tightly. Your skin felt cold to the touch, but on the inside, you felt like you were burning up. Hot tears lined your eyes, threatening to stream out.

After that fiasco, Heeseung took you upstairs to his room. He left you a few moments ago to find you clean clothes.

You were angry. Why did they throw you in the pool? You thought it was common knowledge that you couldn't swim. You grew up with these people! How did Heeseung Lee remember and not anyone else? How annoying.

"Uh," Heeseung cracked his bedroom door open, poking his head in. You cocked a brow at him, especially when you noticed that he came back empty handed. "Just— Give me a second."

You watched as he went to his own drawers, taking out his own clothes.

"I— There's no girls living in his house," he said sheepishly as he handed you his clothes, unable to hide his red ears. "I couldn't find you— uh— girl clothes, so just— just take mine."

You just frowned.

Although you didn't do any swimming yourself, being thrown into a pool and drowning for a few moments was physically taxing enough. You didn't feel like moving right now, even if it was something as easy as changing clothes. You just put the clothes beside you on the bed, muttering a quiet thanks before pulling your knees even closer to your chest.

Heeseung stared at you. It was uncharacteristic to see you so... small. Someone so bothersome and mean to him, yet here you were curled up like you didn't want to be seen.

Heeseung would never admit it, but he felt bad for you at that moment.

Heeseung sighed.

He took a few more steps forward, standing in front of the bed.

"Scoot over," he said, motioning with his hands.

You looked up at him through your eyelashes. Your lips jutted out for a few seconds into a pout, but you huffed and nodded. Heeseung plopped down beside you, letting out another sigh. 

The two of you sat in silence like that for a few moments, both staring at the floor. In the distance you could still hear water splashing and music from the backyard.

"Thanks, by the way" you murmured, breaking the silence. You kept your eyes down.

"Huh?" Heeseung whipped his head over to you.

"I said thanks," you repeated yourself, this time louder and with annoyance. "You loser."

"Oh." Heeseung blinked. "Sorry."

It was silent again, before you clicked your tongue. You nudge Heeseung with your foot. 

"Why are you apologizing?" you sounded irritated, but Heeseung knew that that was just your natural tone when you weren't trying to be nice all the time. 

"I dunno," the boy shrugged. "I guess for being a loser."

You sighed loudly, your brows furrowing as you nudged him again. 

"You're taking me too seriously," you rubbed your temples. "I mean, you are a loser, but I don't really give a fuck if you are."

Heeseung blinked. "Huh?"

You groaned. "You're so dense. My point is, you have nothing to apologize for, including for being thick in the head and a loser."

.

.

.

"As a matter of fact," you grumbled. "I'm grateful for you. I'd be six feet under if it wasn't for you."

.

.

.

You finally turned to look at Heeseung. Your hand came up to flick his forehead.

"Ow!" Heeseung cried, his hand shooting up for his head. "What was that for— Ack!"

You grabbed a pillow and smacked him square in the head.

"What the hell?!" Heeseung yelled. He reached across you to grab one of his pillows, launching it at you, hitting you in the face.

But instead of fighting back like Heeseung expected, you threw your head back, falling back onto the bed. You were laughing.

"What are you—" Heeseung scrunched his face, before he grabbed another pillow and smacked you again. "What are you laughing at?"

You didn't respond, only continuing to laugh. Heeseung watched as you clutched your stomach, your eyes squeezing together as your lips parted, airy giggles pouring out.

His ears burned. Did he say something funny?

Had Heeseung ever seen you laugh so... light-heartedly? It seemed like the only times you'd laugh was when you were making fun of him. But here you were, laughing like he'd just said the funniest thing.

"Sorry," you said when you finally calmed down. You relaxed into his pillows, letting out a soft ah. You wiped your eyes, which had tears coming out from how hard you laughed. "It's just..." you glanced at him, "You were scaring me."

"Why?" Heeseung's brows furrowed. 

"You were, like, being so awkward," you said coolly. "I mean, you're always awkward, but you were being awkward in a weird, shy way. You weren't fighting back like you usually did."

You flashed him a cheeky grin. "But you seem to be back to normal now."

Heeseung stared at your face. 

Well, even if you were super hot now, and even if you had a crush on him, nothing would change the fact that the two of you were (no matter how much you didn't want to admit it) childhood friends. Heeseung wouldn't want anything to come between that. Even his own awkwardness. There was no use being weird about anything.

Maybe this summer was for the two of you to finally connect, rather than push each other away.

"Ew," you kicked Heeseung, "Stop staring, you freak."

Heeseung rolled his eyes with a chuckle. "Go change."

Truthfully, it was impossible to be awkward like this around you. Heeseung was awkward with everyone, including his own mother sometimes, but not you.

(By the end of the pool party, you and Heeseung had spent most of the time up in his room, which wasn't uncommon throughout your childhood. Though, the difference now was that you and him weren't arguing.)

Normally, on summer mornings, Heeseung slept until noon. But his slumber this morning was rudely interrupted by the sound of someone banging on his door.

"What the fuck?" Heeseung cursed under his breath as he trudged downstairs, still shirtless and groggy in his Minecraft pajama pants. He'd curse at his brother for not answering the door, but Heeseung remembered that everyone else in his family had a life that didn't include being home all day, unlike him. 

Heeseung hastily opened the front door, ready to yell at whoever was disrupting him at this time. It was probably one of those solicitors trying to sell him something, or some kid that accidentally threw a ball into his yard.

But when he opened the door...

"Hi, loser."

Heeseung slammed the door.

What the hell were you doing at his house at this time?! Granted, it was almost 11AM, but still!

"What the fuck?!" you began banging again, "Open up!"

"No!" Heeseung yelled from the other side of the door. "What are you doing here?!"

"Well, open up and I'll tell you!"

After this back and forth for a few minutes, Heeseung finally agreed on letting you in.

"Rude," you muttered, crossing your arms. "Didn't your mother teach you to not slam the door on people's faces?"

Heeseung grabbed the door, beginning to close it again. You jammed your foot inside. "Not so fast, little boy."

Heeseung rolled his eyes. "Explain."

You huffed. "I'm bored. Can we hang out?"

.

.

.

"What? Why?"

You pushed past the boy, stepping inside his house and making your way to the kitchen.

"I already said," you said coolly. "I'm bored."

Heeseung trailed after you. "It's too early!"

You shrugged, making a bee-line for the fridge, looking through it. Heeseung sighed. There was no reckoning with you. He took a seat at the kitchen island, letting out an annoyed groan.

You looked over your shoulder, quirking your brow at him. 

"Nice pajamas, by the way."

It was now that Heeseung realized that he was half naked with messy hair and his embarrassing Minecraft PJ pants.

His ears burned.

"I thought you were done with Minecraft," Heeseung could hear the teasing tone in your voice as a sly grin spread across your lips. "I guess some things just never change."

"Shut— Shut up!" And he scurried upstairs to freshen up and change. You chuckled.

Apparently, your definition of "hanging out" was gossiping in your car while devouring frozen yogurt.

"Why are you so surprised?" you asked, while indiscreetly stealing a strawberry from Heeseung's frozen yogurt.

"I dunno," he shrugged. "I just thought you'd have more extravagant plans for what a 'hang out' is."

You scoffed. "Like what?"

"I don't know!" Heeseung shook his head. "Maybe, like, going to the beach? Or going to the movies? What do cool people do these days?"

"Why would you think that?" you almost looked offended. 

"You were popular in high school, weren't you?" Heeseung reasoned. "I assumed that your hangouts were cool because everyone wanted to be there."

You scowled. "Okay, well, getting frozen yogurt is cool. I don't know what you're talking about." Heeseung shrugged again. "And plus, I chose this activity because I knew you wouldn't like the beach or movies."

Heeseung blinked. Did you really do that for him?

"Why are you looking at me like I killed someone?" you rolled your eyes. "Why would I hang out with you and only do stuff that I'd enjoy? It's not fun when the other person isn't having fun, you know."

"I—I know," Heeseung stammered. The corner of his lips lifted a little bit. "I just can't believe you have feelings."

An offended sound came out of your lips. You slapped his shoulder, once, twice, three times, ignoring his yelps.

"I'm sorryyyyy!" Heeseung cried, squirming away from you. "Ack! What is your problem, dude— Ow! I said I'm sorry!"

"Take that back, you freak!"

"I did...!"

Heeseung never thought that he'd wake up on some mornings and see you in his kitchen, scouring his pantry and fridge for food. 

At first, Heeseung found himself panicking every time he inevitably trekked downstairs, all groggy and shirtless, at noon and you were there munching on cereal.

"Why— What are you—" Heeseung would stare at you horrified, immediately feeling shy because he was shirtless. How could you be so... so casual?! "How did you even get in?!"

You'd just shrug nonchalantly, ignoring Heeseung's spluttering. 

"I asked your mom for an extra key," you had pulled out of your pocket. "See?"

And ever since then, it wasn't common for Heeseung to hear the front door cracking open, followed by the sound of rustling in the kitchen and living room.

Initially, Heeseung made a point to freshen up before clambering down to give you an earful for turning the TV's volume too high. He made sure to throw on a shirt, maybe brush his hair and teeth and wash his face. 

But the moment that Heeseung no longer relied on his biological clock and his alarm clock to wake him up because the ruckus that you'd make in his kitchen was loud enough to shake him out of his slumber, he realized that there was really no escaping you.

"Turn it down, will you?!" Heeseung would shout from upstairs, barely awake. You'd groan, but you'd comply. After all, it was his house that you were raiding.

It was weird. Heeseung never thought that he'd become comfortable with you like this, and in such a short amount of time. There was a level of friendship between the two of you no matter what. You'd grown up together, that was undeniable.

But Heeseung had always expected you and him to actually become friends through other means. He'd always thought that something bigger, more dramatic, would happen, something that would force the two of you to finally get along.

But all it took was for you to be bored one day and go to his house.

Had he been misinterpreting everything? All this time, Heeseung always thought that there was a wall around you, something that he couldn't break down. Yet here he was now, minding his own business while you ate at his kitchen island.

It made him think, was it college and summertime that made the two of you like this? Or has it always been like this, and he never noticed it?

It made him think back to his childhood.

He had so many distinct memories of you.

You pushing him down the slide, you calling him stupid, you pulling his hair when you were bored.

But there were also other memories, ones that Heeseung had to think hard about, ones that made him question whether or not his memory was playing tricks on him.

He could remember you following him upstairs after one of your families' dinners when you guys were six years-old. 

If there was something six year-old Heeseung and you could agree on, it was that the adults' conversations at dinner were too boring and convoluted to follow. 

Heeseung faintly remembered the way you paused briefly in front of the shelf in the corner of his room. It was the shelf that he displayed his comic books and superhero figurines on, a collection that he'd spent all of his allowance money on. 

Heeseung had ignored you as you messed around with his stuffed animals, opting to read his comic books in silence. You had crawled up beside him, your squeaky voice pulling Heeseung's head out of the pages.

"What's that?" you had asked him.

Heeseung's teeth sunk into his bottom lip. He remembered what happened after you asked that clearly.

"A comic book," young Heeseung had said annoyedly, shooting you a glare. "Duh."

Heeseung could distinctly remember how he felt at that moment. Embarrassment. His brother, his brother's friends, and Heeseung's own friends liked to tease him for his nerdy interests.

Six year-old you didn't take the hint, only further poking and prying him. Your fingers plucked one of the pages, curiously looking at the screen-toned pages and text bubbles. "What's it about?"

Heeseung had snatched the comic book from you, so hard that the page you were gripping ripped. His memory was fuzzy here, but from what he could recall, Heeseung got angry and yelled at you. He had pushed you, making you bump into his figurine shelf. One of his bigger and sharper figurines managed to knock over, falling and hitting your square in the face.

It was nothing serious, just a scratch, but you were crying by the end of it.

As an adult, Heeseung cringed at the memory.

Poor, awkward six year-old Heeseung, who thought you were making fun of him when really you were just interested.

And after that, you never asked him about his superhero comics again.

As Heeseung now peered at you scrolling through movies to watch, he couldn't help but notice how you hovered over all the superhero movies, before moving past them. He wondered how different things would have been if he didn't yell at you that day. In fact, he wondered how different things would have been if he didn't yell at you at all.

Because now that Heeseung thought about it, all of his memories of you annoying him were really just you wanting to talk to him. When you slapped his shoulder and called him stupid, it wasn't you trying to be mean to him. You were just like that.

Had he taken everything wrong all this time?

First, it started with you eating in his kitchen everyday.

The next thing Heeseung knew, you were forcing him to go outside everyday, one way or another. This must be the most sunlight that Heeseung has ever had in his entire life.

On some days, you wanted to go on walks around the neighborhood.

"Do you remember that house?" you asked him once, pointing to the house at the end of the block. 

Heeseung's lips lifted. "Of course I do. How could I forget?"

You chuckled. "Hell-bound dogs, right?"

Heeseung could remember the day. When you and him were ten years-old, you went trick-or-treating down the neighborhood. The house at the end of the block was new to the neighborhood, so the two of you kids had no clue what your new neighbor was like.

Big mistake. That year, Heeseung was dressed as a demon with a plastic demonic mask, while you were a witch.

The two of you had no idea that your neighbor would be so... afraid... of two children dressed as a demon and as a witch. 

As fast as you rang that doorbell, chanting trick or treat!, the two of you were sent running back home at full speed, with a shouting neighbor threatening to call the police on you "hell-bound dogs." And that's how that neighbor earned the name Ms. Hell-Bound Dogs.

Poor you.

"Do you think she's still alive?" you grinned cheekily, nudging the boy.

"Who?"

"You know..." you drawled your syllables, "Ms. Hell-Bound Dogs."

Heeseung scoffed. "Of course she is!"

"But it's been nine years!" you shrugged. "You don't know what happens in nine years."

"She wasn't that old," Heeseung reasoned. You sent him a look. The both of you collectively recalled that neighbor being a hag. "Okay, maybe we were just young, so everyone looked old to us."

You hummed. "You're right."

As the two of you approached that house, preparing to pass it, you were engulfed with silence. The neighborhood that you grew up in held so many memories. 

You and Heeseung had spent the entire walk pointing to various houses and obscure things in the neighborhood, recalling old stories of memories of the shenanigans that the two of you would have with them. Heeseung couldn't remember the last time he laughed like this. It wasn't the type of laugh that made him fall to his knees and well up tears in his eyes.

It was more like a laugh that felt mixed with a sob. In a weird way. Each laugh that tumbled from his lips felt so foreign, yet so familiar. 

The type of laugh that could only be elicited by an old friend.

And it was then that Heeseung realized that that's what you were to him. An old friend.

"I dare you to knock on Ms. Hell-Bound Dogs," you said suddenly. You loved to do this, even when you were a kid.

"No," Heeseung shook his head, hiding a chuckle. "I am not doing that."

"C'mon," you nudged him again. "It'll be fun."

Heeseung narrowed his eyes.

"And we'll get to know if she's still alive."

Heeseung looked at Ms. Hell-Bound Dogs' door.

He was curious.

And besides, it would be payback for chasing you two out all those years ago.

Heeseung sighed.

"Fine."

It couldn't be that bad, right? Heeseung and you were older now. You wouldn't be afraid of some old lady. Right?

Wrong.

Because the next thing Heeseung knew, you were carrying him princess style, running as fast as you could down the street. The both of you were cursing at the top of your lungs, shrieking for your dear lives. Heeseung's large body awkwardly draped into your arms, his arms clumsily around your neck, but the two of you were too scared shitless to care.

The moment that you reached the comforts of the Lee house, Heeseung and you caught your breath, keeling over.

After a few moments of just breathing, the two of you made eye-contact. 

At first, you just stared at each other, wondering what the fuck just happened.

But then a smile began to spread on your lips, then on Heeseung's lips, and suddenly the two of you were laughing. Laughing so hard that your stomachs hurt.

"She's way scarier than I remember!" you cried, clutching your stomach as you gripped Heeseung's shoulder for stability. 

"I— I know!" Heeseung laughed. He wiped away his tears, shoving his face in his hands. "I can't believe we just did that!"

And the second thing that Heeseung realized that day was that you, too, were a loser. 

"What’s got you smiling at your phone, Hee?" Heeseung’s dad asked him in the car one afternoon. The Lees had a short weekend getaway, and they were now on their way back. It was no denying that Heeseung had been on his phone much more than he usually was.

"Yeah," his brother nodded in agreement. "You've been texting a lot these days."

Heeseung's mother gasped. "You didn't get a girlfriend, did you?"

The whole car erupted, the tires of the Lee car skrrting against the wheels abruptly. His dad and brother whooped, while his mother excitedly squealed.

..... Except Heeseung heard none of this.

Because he had his earphones jammed in his ears, completely absent as he stared at the window.

The offense?

Heeseung was busy blasting your summer playlist.

Look, it wasn't because he liked you or anything. It was just that your summer playlist had all the songs that he liked! Maybe except a few...

The other day when Heeseung found himself in the passenger seat of your car chowing down on fast food, the two of you talked about music. Surprisingly, you had a lot in common in terms of music taste.

You guys ended up riding along the coastal highway late into the night, just sharing songs.

Heeseung remembered how the traffic lights reflected off your face, illuminating your pretty eyes. You chuckled at a few songs that came up.

"You know," you had smiled, but your brows furrowed, "Kai sent me this song when we were dating Sophomore Year."

And when another song came up, you furrowed your brows again. "I think EJ sent me this one when we were dating."

And again. "Oh! When I was dating..."

And for some reason, Heeseung couldn't bring himself to listen to any of the songs that your high school exes sent you. It could've been his favorite song, but for some reason, any association with your past lovers made Heeseung feel sick.

Heeseung couldn't figure out why he was so bothered. There were songs that he swore he could never hate, but it left such a bitter taste in his mouth that another man sent you songs.

Now, Heeseung's nose curled as he glanced at the song now playing.

I Wanna Be Yours by Arctic Monkeys. Everyone knew this song, so it shouldn't be a surprise that one of your exes sent you this. But still. Heeseung felt uneasy listening to it. He couldn't figure out why. It was such a weird feeling. His heart felt like it was throbbing in his chest, tightening at the thought of it.

By now, Heeseung was certain that Jay's earlier report about you having a crush on him was outdated. It's been a while since Heeseung's thought about it, and while it still made him burn up, he was convinced that even if you did like him, that was the past. There was no use in dwelling on it anymore.

His finger hovered over the skip button for a few moments, taking in the sound of the rough bass. 

Heeseung didn't know why he felt a sense of disappointment. Disappointed that you probably didn't like him like that anymore. 

Skip.

Sooo... you're not very successful at forgetting your mini crush on Heeseung. You swore that you could, especially because you thought you'd grown up.

But now as you watch the way Heeseung's big hands wrapped around the steering wheel, his eyes focused on the road while your collaborative playlist plays on repeat, you're finding it difficult to pull your eyes away from him.

He was just so... loserish. He was so awkward, and clumsy, and embarrassing, yet somehow every time you saw his grimace after he tripped over his feet yet again, it made you feel so warm.

One of your old highschool friends was throwing a party at her beach house, and you were invited. You didn't want to go alone, so you begged Heeseung to go with you. And after some hefty convincing, he finally agreed.

The two of you (mostly you) had spent the entire afternoon getting ready.

You made sure to put on your tiniest dress and tallest heels, glittery makeup across your face and curly lashes lining your eyes. 

As you fixed your lipgloss in Heeseung's rearview mirror, you glanced at him from the corner of your eye.

You had to sit Heeseung down and give him a lesson in fashion. He was really about to go to a party in a hoodie. His entire closet consisted of baggy t-shirts and hoodies, and while they looked damn good on him, he needed proper party attire.

You searched through his entire closet, and lo and behold, you found the compression shirt that Heeseung borrowed from his brother and never returned. 

You couldn't stop looking at the veins on his forearms, or the biceps on his arms that flexed everytime he gripped the steering wheel. You knew Heeseung worked out, but seeing his toned arms in the flesh made your cheeks feel warm.

Under his big doe eyes, pouty lips, and disheveled hair was a man.

It was hard to fully conceptualize sometimes— that you were no longer the squeaky teenage girl head over heels for your nerdy childhood friend. Instead, you were a woman, and so was he.

Heeseung's eyes fluttered over to you, sinking his teeth into his bottom lip as the two of you pulled up to the house.

"I don't think I know anybody here," Heeseung sighed, wringing his fingers nervously. As the two of you got out of his car and approached the door, he groaned, "It's gonna be so awkward."

"Relax," you grinned at him, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder. "Just stick beside me the entire time."

He chewed on his bottom lip. He was uneasy. You sighed, linking your fingers with his. His eyes widened into saucers, but you ignored it. You gave his hand a squeeze. 

"You're gonna be fine," you reassured, before dragging him into the party, hand-in-hand.

The moment that you stepped inside the beach house, you could feel Heeseung tense up, squeezing your hand. 

You couldn't blame him, for the bright strobe lights, booming music, and smell of sweat, alcohol, and drugs hit your senses immediately.

"Just follow me," you whispered to him. You shot him another smile. "C'mon. Let's get some drinks."

And despite what everyone liked to think, you were a law-abiding citizen. You were not about to get wasted, and you were under the drinking age anyway. You got yourself orange juice and Heeseung apple juice (something that you knew he'd like because you used to argue about it).

You found it a bit entertaining as you went around the house, saying hi to all of your old classmates and friends, while Heeseung followed you like a lost puppy. You had him hold you by the shoulders, finding it awfully endearing every time he squeezed them.

"I thought you hated her," he whispered into your ear after you just greeted someone, striking up an animated conversation with her. 

"I do," you chuckled. Of course Heeseung would remember. "She's why me and Taehyun broke up."

You heard Heeseung's breath hitch, a gasp in his throat. "Really? That's fucked."

You chuckled again. So cute. "I know."

Every time you encountered someone that Heeseung personally disliked, you could feel him gripping your shoulders. It was cute. 

"Is that Heeseung Lee?!" a squeaky voice suddenly filled you and Heeseung's ears. And the next thing you knew, Heeseung was being crowded around by a group of girls, leading him to be whisked away from you. You couldn't remember any of their names, but you definitely remembered who they were.

When you said that Heeseung was a loser, you meant it in an endearing, mean-but-not-really way. 

These girls were actual bullies in high school, and for a time, they'd bully Heeseung. If it weren't for you scaring them off everytime, Heeseung might be dead.

But there they were, crowding around and cooing at Heeseung, touching his arms and batting their eyelashes at them as if they didn't bully the shit out of him. 

"I didn't know you got so hot, Hee!"

"If I knew you'd be so strong, I would've fucked you in high school."

"What're you doing after this, Heeseung?"

You could sense Heeseung's discomfort. From the way that he recoiled from each touch, to the way his wide eyes occasionally met yours, to the way that his lips curled.

And it made your blood boil.

Not only were these the people that went out of their way to hurt him, here they were acting like Heeseung would forget just because they thought he was hot. Blatantly disrespectful.

Help me, his eyes read. And of course you did.

You marched over to where they were, creeping up behind Heeseung and grabbing his shoulder and yanking him backward away from the hoard. 

"Get behind me," you whispered to him, and Heeseung immediately complied. 

"Hi, guys!" you greeted with a tight-lipped smile. You could feel Heeseung's fingers playing with the lacing at the back of your dress, something he did when he was nervous.

"[Name]!" the girls exclaimed, but you could tell that they were unhappy with your presence. "We were just talking to ourHee."

"Oh!" You faked excitement, flashing them another smile. You narrowed your eyes at them, before reaching behind you to grab Heeseung's wrist. "Well, me and Heeseung were about to leave just now."

"Aww!" one of them whined, yet she still managed to bat her eyelashes at Heeseung, who shifted uncomfortably. 

"C'mon, [Name]!" another crossed her arms. You could tell that her tone was playful, but you knew better. "You got all the hot guys during high school. Let us have this one, won't you?"

You feigned a giggle. 

"No, sorry girl," you said in a chirpy tone. You didn't want to seem hostile. "This one's mine."

The girls blinked at you. "Yours?"

"Mhm!" you smiled again. You squeezed Heeseung's hand in yours, bringing it up to show them your interlocked fingers. "Right, Babe?"

Heeseung stared at you for a few moments, before nodding his head quickly, his tongue swiping over his bottom lip. "O-Of course, baby."

You craned your neck up to gently press a kiss on his neck, ignoring his surprised yelp, before you turned back to the girls. "We'll be leaving now. It was nice seeing you!"

And with that, you pushed through the crowd of people, making a bee-line for the door and taking Heeseung with you.

The walk back to Heeseung’s car was silent. When the two of you got inside, it was still silent. Heeseung didn't start the engine or the music. He just sat there quietly.

"I'm sorry," he finally blurted.

"Huh?" you cocked your head. "What are you sorry about?"

"I feel like I ruined the night," Heeseung murmured, a large frown on his lips.

"What?!" you furrowed your brows, reaching out to touch his arm. "No, no, no! You didn't ruin anything."

He continued to frown. The car shook just from how loud the music was, and you could feel the bass in your chest. 

"And you had to kiss me!" he continued, shoving his face into his hands.

You furrowed your brow. Did he not like it? Was he disgusted with you?

"You shouldn't have!" Heeseung continued rambling on, using his hands. Poor boy sniffled, and it was then that you noticed the way his doe eyes welled with tears. From the way he blinked quickly while turning away from you so that you couldn't see his face told you everything. "Now everyone is going to think that you're dating me!"

You were a little hurt. "Why is that a bad thing?"

"It's a bad thing for you," Heeseung muttered into his palms, sniffling quietly. "I'm a loser, [Name]. And you're not. What if everyone starts seeing you differently?"

Your hand ghosted over his shoulder. "Why should anyone's opinion matter to me?"

"Because!" Heeseung whipped his head over to you. With the sun setting, orange light reflected off his cheeks and red nose, as well as his glassy eyes. 

"Because....." he sighed, before stopping. "What, you don't regret it?"

You crossed your arms. 

"The only reason I'd regret kissing you is if you felt uncomfortable." You met his eyes. "Did I make you uncomfortable?"

Heeseung stared at you for a few times, before he whipped his head away again. But this time, it wasn't out of shame or remorse. You could tell by his shaky voice, pink ears, and rigid body language that he was embarrassed more than anything.

"No..." he mumbled. "The k-kiss... didn't make me uncomfortable. I actually kind of— Never mind."

If you hadn't known him all your life, you wouldn't have been able to tell that Heeseung was flustered. Flustered beyond reason. If you asked him a question about superhero comics, a topic that he knew front and back, he still wouldn't be able to give a coherent answer. That was how flustered he was.

How cute.

"Hmm?" you hummed, the corners of your lips raising. "Complete that thought."

Heeseung groaned something that you couldn't understand, shoving his face back into his palms. You chuckled as you pulled him away from his hands, gently clutching his jaw and forcing him to look at you.

"I wanna know what you were going to say, Heeseung," you rasped, unable to hide the slyness in your voice.

He let out an embarrassed squeak. Even if it weren't for the orange sunlight, you would still be able to tell how red Heeseung got. The warmth emitting from his face was so strong that you could feel it. Poor boy couldn't even look you in the eye.

So cute.

"I-I..."

You hummed. "Go on."

"I was just going to say..." Heeseung squeezes his eyes shut, something he did when he was so embarrassed that he'd explode. "I l-liked the kiss."

.

.

.

You opened your mouth to speak, but he continued to ramble on. "I-I mean I didn't mind it that much. Itwasjustnicewhenitcamefromyouanditmademefeelreallywarmandmushyand—"

"Let's get out of here, Heeseung," you interrupted him with a reassuring smile. "We can go somewhere else."

"L-Like where?"

You grinned.

Where it all began.

"The playground?"

Heeseung gaped as you pulled him out of the car. He let you drive this time, fully expecting to go somewhere like the pier or the end of some road where it was quiet. Not the playground.

"Yessir."

The playground near your neighborhood was nothing special. It had a spiral slide, swings, rock-climbing, telephone, a basketball court, hopscotch, and then some. It looked much smaller than you and Heeseung remembered.

This was where it all started, where you and Heeseung met as young children.

Things have changed since then. The swing set has been remodeled, the sandbox removed, and the railing have been repainted with a different color from your childhood.

"C'mon," you tugged on Heeseung's arm.

Heeseung stared at you. By now the sky was beginning to turn blue and the streetlamps were on. Even so, you still managed to glow. All his life, you glowed. You glowed so bright that you outshined him, so bright that you attracted everyone like a moth to a flame, and he never understood why.

But now he did.

The mischievous glint in your eyes, the grin spread across your face, and the way you called out to him to go play— it was like nothing changed. You were still you, still the cheeky little shithead that you always were. And he loved it. He loved you. Maybe he always had.

Some things really never changed. 

"Heeseung, push meeeeeee!" you shouted from across the playground. As a kid, Heeseung loved to collect rocks. As a grown-up he thought it was ridiculous, but now Heeseung couldn't resist the call of the rocks. 

Meanwhile, you were on the swings.

"You still don't know how to do it yourself?!" Heeseung yelled back. 

"I doooon't!"

Heeseung sighed, shoving the rocks that he collected into his pockets before trudging over to you. Though, not without chuckling to himself.

After running around the playground a little bit and taking a trip down memory lane and whatnot, you followed Heeseung to the basketball courts. In your middle school days, you remembered how Heeseung would ditch you at the swings to go play basketball.

You sat next to the base of the hoop, just far enough to not get hit.

You watched in awe as Heeseung dribbled the ball, passing the orangey ball from palm to palm. He was always good at basketball. You remember pressuring him in highschool to try out for the school team. And when he made it, nothing made you feel giddier than seeing the proud and excited look on his face. That's why you went to all of his games in secret, just to silently cheer him on. Of course, you'd never let him know that.

With each flick of his wrist to shoot the ball, you couldn't hide your amazement as he made every basket.

Every.

Single.

One.

Tall, strong, talented, and a loser.

Gosh, you wanted him so bad.

Him and his nerdy little antics.

On Heeseung's end, he made sure to play his best.

Sure, he was in his childhood basketball court. Sure, he wasn't playing against anyone else. But that was exactly why he had to do his best.

You were watching.

He'd never forget how you ran up to him after seeing him hoop one afternoon, exclaiming, "You need to try out for the basketball team!"

Back then, he thought you were being mean, but your words rang through his head enough that he actually did try out for the team. And he made it.

Now that he was an adult, Heeseung realized that you were anything but mean. If anything, you were encouraging him. 

And now that you were watching him play all these years later, Heeseung had to prove to you that your words were not in vain.

"Woooooow," you drew out your syllables as you watched, silently clapping your hands at each basket. 

Heeseung chuckled, jogging up to where you were. Letting the basketball roll across the court, Heeseung crouched down to your sitting figure, wiped the sweat on his forehead with the back of his palm.

"You're so good at basketball, Heeseung," you said coolly, trying your best to hide the fact that you were 100% gawking at him and his sweaty face.

Heeseung laughed as he caught his breath. The smell of the night air was making him feel so alive, so bold.

"All thanks to you," he breathed as he ran a hand through his sweaty hair. 

"Nah," you waved him off. "You're giving me too much credit. It's all because of your hard work."

Heeseung shook his head, lightly punching your arm. "It's your support that made me so good."

You shook your head. "Not at all."

The boy gave you a look, quirking his brow, almost like he was doubting you. "You think I never noticed you at my games?"

.

.

.

Shit.

"Y-You knew I was at your games?!" 

He knew all this time?!

!!!

Warmth washed over you.

All those times you screamed his name from across the court to cheer his name, all those times you snuck, all those times you jabbed at him for playing too much even though you spent too much time at his games.

Your cheeks felt warm as your hands found refuge on your head, shaking as you squeezed your eyes shut.

"No, no, no!" you cried. "That's so embarrassing!"

Heeseung's deep laugh made you even more embarrassed, especially the way he cooed at you and put a hand on your knee reassuringly.

"Of course I knew you were there," Heeseung said, putting a hand on his chin. "I knew it every single time. I don't think you missed any of my games."

You squeezed your eyes shut even harder, groaning. "Stooooop."

Heeseung laughed again, before clicking his tongue. He got back up and strolled toward the stray basketball.

You didn't know why, but his nonchalance and ease at picking up the ball made your heart pound. He was just so... strong.

Sure, he was a loser most of the time, but on the court, he was a completely different person.

As Heeseung began to dribble again, you had to admit that it was attractive.

With one more bounce, Heeseung snapped his head at you, meeting your eyes. 

"This one's for you."

Your heart drummed in your chest. This was the type of stuff that happened in movies, when the basketball player dedicates a hoop for their loved one. How were you a grown woman and still feeling giddy and nervous over this?

It felt like it happened in slow motion. 

You watched as the ball seemingly floated between his fingertips. The sound of the rubber ball as it collided with the concrete courts filled your ears, coupled by the sound of your heart pounding in your chest. 

Heeseung's tongue swiped over his bottom lip. With a flick of the wrist and a jump, he shot the ball up into the air. 

It stayed up in the air for what felt like an eternity, before it propelled forward.

There it was, its orange skin against the blue night sky.

And as gravity pulled it toward Earth, you held your breath.

Closer and closer, the ball inched toward the red-brimmed hoop.

And just as you held your breath...

The ball...

Missed.

.

.

.

You deadpanned.

Heeseung was going to dedicate a ball to you... and he missed the hoop completely.

That's...

So cute.

You snorted, before you keeled over, some of the hardest laughs of your entire light spilling out of your mouth. This was hysterical. You laughed so hard that your stomach hurt.

Heeseung was such a loser, and it made you feel like a little girl.

Meanwhile, Heeseung stood there, completely red in the face.

"Sh-Shut up!" he grumbled as you laughed. How embarrassing!

When you finally calmed down, you had to hold yourself back from cooing at how cute Heeseung's embarrassed face was. But you just look at him with a grin. 

"Try again."

And he did.

And it felt like suddenly the world was against him.

Just a few minutes ago, Heeseung made every single one of his shots.

And now that it actually mattered, he missed.

Every.

Single.

One.

And to make things worse, you laughed at every one of his missed shots.

"Heeseung Lee," you announced as he gave up, taking a seat beside you. "You are such a loser."

He groaned, pulling his knees to his chest. 

The two of you sat in a comfortable silence, listening to the grasshoppers sing their hearts out. 

Neither of you wanted to move. Because if you did, it would mean one step closer to this night ending. Of course, there was always tomorrow and the rest of the summer to see each other, but to be separated even for a little bit as night passes was too long.

It felt like so much had changed, but at the same time, it felt like everything was exactly as it was left.

Feeling a stroke of boldness, Heeseung guided your head onto his shoulder, before slithering his arm to wrap around your own shoulders.

You guys stayed like that for a little bit.

Heeseung gazed at you. You could be lost in thought or dozing off, he wouldn't be able to tell.

He wanted this to last a little bit longer than forever.

Something was changing and neither of you could tell what it was.

Maybe it was now early July, and the heat was unbearable. Or maybe it was the intense scent of bug repellent that had gotten to your heads. It could be all those frozen yogurts you guys ate in your car, or the amount of shitty superhero movies you binged together.

Whatever it was, it was changing everything.

A single atom was out of place, a molecule of carbon was in the wrong spot. Heeseung couldn’t put his finger on it.

The air felt so warm, but not in a humid, suffocating way. 

More like in a rosy way, like someone put a filter over Heeseung's world and now everything was more vibrant.

Heeseung had reason to suspect that you were the culprit.

He'd known you his whole life, and it was only up until recently that he understood why people loved you so much. Because who wouldn't? You weren't just beautiful, but so goddamn incredible. In every way possible.

Heeseung couldn't explain it. He didn't think he had a crush on you. 

In all the romance books and games and movies that he'd consumed, they portrayed crushes as this magical unicorn of all things. Nervous, awkward, clumsy, and an upward battle.

But when Heeseung thought of you, he didn't feel any of these things. 

He felt at home. Comfortable, as if he could be as much of a nerdy loser as he wanted and he'd still be treated the same way. 

Unlike all what fiction would tell him, you weren't some god to him, nor were you a venerated saint. You were just you, and that was already enough to make his heart race. 

There wasn't that urge to constantly hold your hands or kiss your lips (not that he didn't think about it!).

Rather, there was a need to always be with you, to be let into your world, to listen to every thought that you had, to hear your laugh until he fell asleep.

Maybe Heeseung didn't have a crush on you, but it was certainly something else.

And it was the same for you.

You've had crushes, and you've had boyfriends.

You always felt like you needed to be perfect for them, to be drop-dead gorgeous and put-together all the time, to be the kindest version of yourself.

But when it came to Heeseung, it didn't feel like that. 

You could be as brash and annoying as you wanted, without the fear that he'd shun you. In fact, Heeseung would fight back or laugh.

While with all your boyfriends you wanted intimacy, validation, and constant reassurance, Heeseung felt safe. 

You craved nothing from Heeseung except... Well, Heeseung himself. 

And it was driving you nuts.

Help!

It was another family dinner, with both of your families, this time at your own house.

Heeseung and you sat across from each other. From when you were children until now, the two of you still ignored everything that the adults said, opting to stare and make faces at each other.

Except this time, it was absolutely impossible to look at each other without bursting out laughing. 

You dug your teeth into your bottom lip, holding back a smile as you glued your eyes to your plate. If you dared to look up and even catch sight of Heeseung's hair, you'd probably laugh.

You gripped your fork. Even if you weren't looking at him, you still somehow could hear him. The way he obnoxiously and loudly poked at his food with his fork was something you always jabbed at him for, and it was still noticeable to you now. Except, instead of annoying you, it only made it harder to not laugh.

"[Name]," Ms. Lee's voice pulled you out of your thoughts. You looked up with shaky eyes, and when your eyes passed over Heeseung, you had to bite back a giggle. Alas, you weren't strong enough to hold back a smile.

"Yes?" you responded. From the corner of your eye, you could see Heeseung's nose scrunching. You sent him a quick glare, one that could only last a millisecond.

Don't you dare make a funny face or I'll spill my water all over you, your glare read. But it didn't seem like Heeseung cared.

"What have you been up to all summer?" Ms. Lee smiled. "Any summer programs?"

"No, not this summer," you answered politely. "I've just been—"

Your mother interjected, wiggling her eyebrows. "I've noticed [Name] and Heeseung hanging out a lot this summer."

From under the table you felt Heeseung kick you, but you still didn't dare look at his face. You had to bite inside of your cheek to keep laughter from tumbling out, your eyes wobbling.

"Oh, really?" Ms. Lee looked over at her son. "I didn't know you and [Name] were close, Hee!"

And this was when you unfortunately made eye-contact with Heeseung. Poor boy, his lips wobbled and twitched, trying his hardest to keep it in.

"Y-Yeah," he answered quickly, his voice shaking. That in itself was enough to make you let out a giggle. But before it could be uncontrollable, you clamped your hand over your mouth. You watched as Heeseung did the same, except this time, his face was bright red.

"That's so great!" you moms rejoiced. "We were so afraid that you guys would hate each other forever! You know, when you were kids, you used to..."

You and Heeseung tuned everyone out as they joined in the conversation about your old antics.

Instead, the two of you stared at each other, both completely blank-faced. But a simple look at you and it would be painfully obvious by the way your lips twitched that you were fighting for your life to not burst out with laughter.

And it was when Heeseung was taking a sip of water that you decided to make your attack on him. Just as he was raising his glass to his lips, you quickly made a face at him.

And just as fast as his entire face contorted, a loud laugh fell from his lips. Unfortunately for him, he still had water on his mouth. Poor boy began choking on his water, keeling over himself as he coughed up a storm. 

And while everyone was busy helping him, you were busy laughing your ass off.

You win this one, was the agreement.

"You were 100% playing dirty," Heeseung whined.

You rolled your eyes. "Who gives a fuck?"

After you and Heeseung were excused from the dinner table, the two of you went up to your room.

Currently, the two of you were just lazing around your room. Both of you were on your bed, but Heeseung laid upside-down, with his head hanging off the edge. Although you barely exchanged any words, it wasn't awkward. 

You scrolled through your socials, while Heeseung played his games on his phone. Just the two of you in your own worlds, occasionally breaking the silence to make a jab at each other or to show the other something.

"Oh my god!" you cried suddenly, tossing your phone aside and putting your face in your hands, your fingertips rubbing your temples. "What the fuck?!"

Heeseung, startled, looked at you concerned. "What happened?"

When you groaned into your palms, shaking your head profusely, Heeseung shut off his game, putting his phone away. He sat himself upright, shuffling over to you.

"What happened?" he asked again.

"Bad!" you cried, sinking your head into your pillows. "Horrible! Deplorable! Despicable!"

Heeseung stared at you questioningly, his brows cocking into an arch.

"Tell meeeee," he prodded you, watching as you only sunk back into your pillows. You grabbed one of your plushies and shoved your face into it, flipping over so that you could kick your feet. 

You groaned more, before you screamed into your plush. "I hate men!"

Heeseung poked you again, this time a little bit harder. "Tell meeeee. Did your ex text you?"

"Worse!" your words were slightly muffled, but Heeseung could hear the sheer irritation. "Way, way, way, way, wayworse!"

You did this a little bit longer, before you huffed and flipped yourself over once more. Sitting upright, you saw Heeseung sitting there patiently, waiting for you to explain to him what the fuck was going on.

"Okay so," you began, wincing at the next words you were about to say. "You know how my Instagram is public? So that anyone can message me?"

Heeseung narrowed his eyes. "Yeeeeessss?"

You grumbled something under your breath, taking Heeseung's hands in yours. You traced shapes on his palms and played with his fingers, anything to distract yourself from the godforsaken things you'd have to say next.

"Well," you sighed, shaking your head. "I got a dick pic from some random guy."

Heeseung blinked.

"Oh."

.

.

.

"Wait, you got a what?!"

Yes, you really received an unsolicited picture of some guy's dick. Insane, really.

It was now Heeseung's turn to tweak out. 

"Oh my god!" he fell back into the pillows, grabbing at his hair. How ridiculous! "What the fuuuuuck?!"

"I know right?!" you fell back with him. The two of you laid like that, your heads next to each other. 

It was silent again, save for the sound of your parents chattering downstairs.

"Did you block him?" Heeseung suddenly asked.

"Nope," you sighed loudly. "Not yet."

Heeseung hummed. 

He couldn't imagine how many times you'd probably encountered this type of situation. And if this was the first time, it was already too much. If he were in your position, he'd have absolutely no idea how to react either. He'd be paralyzed, with no idea what to do! Maybe except...

"Do you want to fuck with him?" Heeseung blurted.

"Huh?"

"You know..." the boy swiped his tongue over his lips, wringing his fingers. "Fuck with him."

You looked at him, your head tilted as if you didn't understand.

"I-I mean, if this guy's going to be disrespectful, it wouldn't hurt to give him a taste of his own medicine, right?"

You nodded, understanding. "But how?"

Heeseung's nose scrunched. He had many ideas, but he wasn't sure which one was the best. "Well, do you want to have fun with it or do you want to genuinely scare this guy off?"

You thought for a second, before a sly grin made its way across your cheeks. "There's no harm in having fun. I can just block him afterwards, easy peasy."

"Oh," Heeseung said. Then, a good idea popped into his head. His lips curved. "I have just the idea for that."

"Is this okay?"

"Hmm, a little to the left."

Heeseung's plan was funny, but it also made you feel... mushy.

The idea was for Heeseung to respond on your phone pretending to be your boyfriend, something that would probably scare the other guy off. 

After a little bit of stalking, you guys concluded that the guy was a frat bro, so it would be best to prepare some pictures for evidence.

The first picture you decided to take was one that showed just a small part of your back and shoulders in bed, just enough to make it seem like you were in bed with someone. That way, it would be believable if Heeseung pretended to be your boyfriend.

So here you were, laying in bed with the blankets strategically draped over you, pretending to be asleep, while Heeseung snapped 'candid' pictures. You turned off all the lights to make it more believable, so if your parents walked in now they'd be confused as all hell.

"It's a little blurry," Heeseung remarked as he looked at the camera roll.

"That's perfect," you rolled over, facing him. "It'll look even more candid."

The next picture that you prepared was a little bit more risky, but all the more impactful.

"So... So.. Uhm—" Heeseung's cheeks burned as he explained it to you. "I think it would scare him if he thought he was messing with a super buff guy, you know?"

"Uh huh."

"W-Well," Heeseung grimaced. "If I send— like— a picture of my muscles, or something, I think it would scare him off."

You blinked. "Is this just an excuse to show off your biceps?"

"No!"

As you tuned out Heeseung's rambling, you thought for a few seconds. If you were a guy, and some girl's boyfriend caught you trying to flirt with her, what would make you piss yourself?

Well, it would definitely be any explicit indication of intimacy... Your lips moved faster than your mind.

"What if you sent a picture of you with hickeys and lipstick marks?" you gushed.

Heeseung choked on his spit, coughing so loud that you thought he would burst a lung. His face was bright red, his eyes as wide as saucers as he stared at you horrified.

"A picture of me with what?!"

"Hickeys and lipstick marks," you said casually.

"And where would I get them?!" Heeseung was going to faint. If you said what he think you were going to say, he'd absolutely combust—

"Me, duh."

Flames. Absolute flames. That's what Heeseung felt on his skin. Were you just suggesting that you could give him hickeys and lipstick marks? His heart was pounding in his chest, so loud that he could barely hear his own thoughts.

"I mean, if you don't want to, we can just—"

"No!" Heeseung interrupted you, as if he wasn't as red as a tomato. "I can take it!"

And that's how Heeseung found himself sitting on your bedroom floor, his body so hot and hands clammy as he watched you roll up his sleeve. 

Here was the plan for this picture: You'd put a few lipstick marks and hickeys on his biceps and neck. That way, he could snap a quick picture of that area alone while flexing, effectively scaring off the guy.

(Or maybe this entire plan was a very poor excuse for Heeseung to pretend to be your boyfriend and for you to kiss him.)

"Have you ever gotten a hickey?"

Heeseung's cheeks flared. "N-No."

You quickly put on your most pigmented lipstick. Slowly, you leaned closer to Heeseung's neck. He could feel your breath against his ears, making him want to squirm away. You put your hand on the other side of him so that you could stabilize yourself.

"Well," you whispered. "It doesn't hurt, so don't worry."

You brought your hand up to Heeseung's hair, gently tilting his head back to get better access to his neck. 

"Can I...?" you rasped, wetting your lips.

"Y-Yes."

And with that, your lips attacked his neck. You made sure to press on firm kisses so that the imprint of your lips would be defined on his neck. 

With each kiss, Heeseung let out a quiet whimper, his eyes squeezing shut as his arm jerked out to grasp your arm gently.

He felt like he was dreaming, because here he was, having you kiss him. No intense build-up, no dramatic reason, just because it was funny and you wanted to fuck with someone. God, Heeseung would be lying if he said he never thought about what your lips would feel like. They were always so pretty, and so soft.

All throughout his life, Heeseung had never had a romantic experience. It was his first time ever being kissed on the neck, and goddamnit was he sensitive. The way your lips pressed against his skin made him feel so weak. 

He wanted to be closer to you, closer than whatever this stupid little plan was. He craved it.

His other arm came up to slither around your waist, pulling you even closer to him.

"Hees— Heeseung— Ah—" you pulled your lips away, both of your hands coming up to clutch his shoulders for stability. "What are you doing?"

Heeseung's pupils were blown out. 

"Get on top of me," he breathed desperately, "Please."

"Shiiiit," you cursed under your breath, before you plopped down on his lap, your legs on either side of his hips. 

The two of you locked eyes, staring into each other's swirling pools of color. You could've been lost in Heeseung's eyes for minutes or for hours, there wouldn't have been a difference.

Oh, how much you wanted to kiss him. Not just a stupid little kiss on the neck. You wanted to kiss him on the lips, kiss him so hard that he forgot his own name.

Yeah, you had a crush on Heeseung Lee. You always had, and it seemed like no matter what, you were always bound to be downright attracted to him. God, you wanted him so bad.

Meanwhile, blaring alarms were going off in Heeseung's head. 

He wanted to kiss you so bad. He wanted to drown in you, for you to be the only thing enveloping his senses.

Except... he had no idea how to— he had no idea now to express that. And it was making his head spin.

You opened your mouth to speak, not realizing that Heeseung, too, had something to say.

"Hee—"

"I—"

Both of you shut your mouths so quickly.

"S-Sorry," you stuttered. "Go ahead."

Heeseung blinked a few times, before he shut his eyes. You watched how he parted his lips, yet no sound came out, almost as if he was searching for the words in his head to say. 

"I-I—" he started, before cutting himself off. His eyes squeezed together, his brows crashing together. You could feel his body tense under you.

"I don't know," he finally got out. "I-I— I don't know what—"

You brought your hand up to cup his cheek reassuringly. Slowly, he opened his eyes, and your thumb rubbed his cheek gently. 

"Tell me," you whispered. "Tell me, baby."

Heeseung gulped. He felt like he'd melt under your gaze, but the way you were so gentle encouraged him. Heeseung kept his eyes glued on the floor, because if he even dared to look you in the eye he'd turn to stone.

He took a deep breath. He'd tell you how you made him feel. It shouldn't be too hard, right?

But the moment that he opened his mouth, his brain turned to mush.

"I want to— I just— I don't know—" he stammered— "I wish I could— You know— It's hard to say, and—"

And if it wasn't for the way you stifled a giggle, Heeseung thought he would've gone on like this for another ten minutes. 

The moment that Heeseung realized you were smiling at his struggle, he shut his mouth, letting out a groan. He threw his head back, bringing his hands up to shove his face in.

"Shut up," he groaned. This was so embarrassing. He could feel heat prickling on his skin. His face was so hot that he thought he'd explode. "Shutupshutupshutup!"

You giggled again, this time using both your hands to cup his face. 

Despite your cool, nonchalant exterior, you were giggling and kicking your feet on the inside. 

"You're—" you breathed— "You're such a fucking loser."

Heeseung was about to tell you to shut up again, but you cut him off.

"Can I kiss you?"

You relished in the way his eyes widened, probably the widest that you've ever seen them. So cute.

"P-Please."

And with that, you smashed your lips against his. 

Poor boy, he was completely frozen at first. But as you swiped your tongue over his bottom lip, you relished in the way that he let out a gasp, giving you just enough room to slip your tongue inside his mouth. You explored his mouth— every corner and every crevice was meant for you to corrupt. 

You could feel his hands fall down at his sides. Of course, a loser like Heeseung wouldn't know where to put them. As you taste his lips, you guided his hands to your thighs. He gasped again, and you took this as an opportunity to deepen the kiss. As you did, Heeseung squeezed your thighs, letting out a whine.

Finally, you pulled away.

The two of you stared at each other, both breathless with swollen lips.

And as you caught your breath, you breathed, "I like you."

Maybe he would've been too stunned to speak after a kiss like that, but your words a loud "Huh?!" spill from his lips.

You grasped his chin, pulling him in again. 

"I like you," you murmured against his lips, your eyes lidded.

Heeseung's breath hitched. "I—"

"Was that what you were going to say?" you said slyly, unwilling to hide your teasing tone. A whimper came from him. "Did I beat you to it?"

You ghosted your lips over his teasingly, loving the way that Heeseung leaned forward a little bit, whining as you pulled away just enough for him to miss you.

"Just—" he murmured, "Just kiss me already."

"Gladly."

And with that, your lips crashed together. This time, Heeseung's lips were moving, too. He was a clumsy kisser, someone who had no fucking idea what he was doing. But that made the kiss even better. You've kissed many boys, but for some reason Heeseung was the best kisser you've had. You could taste him.

"Such a fucking loser," you murmured. You felt his hands slide up your waist, squeezing you.

"Yeah," Heeseung mumbled against your lips, and although his words were muffled, his voice drove you crazy. "Yourfucking loser."

Immediately you pulled away.

You looked at Heeseung, and he looked at you.

.

.

.

You bursted out laughing, and so did he.

"God, you're so cheesy!"

"Shut up!"

BONUS

You rested your cheek on Heeseung's shoulder, watching as he typed away. After all this, the two of you still needed to fulfill your plan: fuck with Mr. Dick Pic.

"What are you going to say?" you asked, nuzzling your face into Heeseung's neck. You admired the purple-pink marks littering his skin, the ones that you left. Your lipstick marks smudged when you and Heeseung were making out earlier, so you had to redo them. It was hard, because all Heeseung could do was giggle like a little girl.

"Trust me, I'll cook something up."

And cook he did.

[name]: she's busy bro

[name]: [photo]

The first photo he sent was the candid one of you.

You waited a few seconds, and Mr. Dick Pic immediately opened the message.

Heeseung hid your phone from you, so you couldn't see the guy's response.

But what you could see was how he furiously typed away.

You thought it was funny at first... until Heeseung was typing paragraphs and paragraphs so loud that you could hear his fingers tapping the scream.

"Hold on, babe, I'm fighting this guy!"

"Just block him...!"

Some things never changed.

---

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ DANCING IN THE MOONLIGHT ━ JAY

contents. just you, jay and a silent promise

pairing. jay x fem!reader

tags. tooth-rotting fluff, established relationship, i want a man like jay

the room was bathed in the soft glow of moonlight filtering through sheer curtains, casting delicate patterns on the floor. jay stood by the window, his silhouette framed by the silvery light, a soft smile playing on his lips. he turned when he heard your footsteps, his eyes lighting up as he saw you standing there, looking just as enchanting as the night around you.

“come here,” he said softly, his voice a gentle caress. you took a hesitant step forward, the space between you closing with every heartbeat. when you finally reached him, he took your hand in his, his touch warm and reassuring.

he pulled you close, his arms wrapping around your waist as you rested your head against his chest. the music playing in the background was a soft melody, its rhythm perfectly matched to the beat of your hearts. you swayed together, the world outside fading away until it was just the two of you, lost in the quiet intimacy of the moment.

“do you remember the first time we danced together?” jay’s voice broke the silence, his words a tender whisper in the stillness. you smiled, the memory washing over you like a sweet, gentle wave.

“of course,” you replied, your voice barely more than a breath. “it was at that party, and you kept stepping on my feet.”

jay laughed, the sound warm and infectious, making you giggle along with him. “i’ve gotten better since then, haven’t i?” he asked, a playful glint in his eyes.

“much better,” you agreed, lifting your head to look at him. you smiled, and the look in his eyes made your heart skip a beat. without a word, you leaned in, your lips meeting his in a kiss that was soft and sweet, a promise of all the moments yet to come.

when the kiss ended, you both pulled back, your eyes meeting in a shared laugh. “we’re terrible at this, aren’t we?” you teased, your forehead resting against his.

“not terrible,” jay said, his eyes crinkling with his smile. “just... enthusiastic.”

you laughed again, the sound mingling with the music, creating a symphony of joy. jay took your hand and twirled you around, the room spinning with the thrill of the dance. when you returned to him, he held you even closer, his forehead touching yours, the world outside seeming so far away.

“you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” jay whispered, his voice a tender promise. “i never want this to end.”

“it won’t,” you promised, your voice soft but steady. “we’ll always have moments like this.”

jay’s smile widened, and he leaned in, his lips capturing yours in another kiss, this one slower, more profound. the kiss deepened, and you felt yourself melting into him, your hearts beating in perfect harmony. when you finally pulled away, you were both breathless, your smiles wide, your eyes filled with the light of a thousand stars.

“slow dancing in the moonlight,” jay murmured, his eyes never leaving yours. “this is perfect.”

you nodded, the corners of your mouth turning up in a serene smile. “absolutely perfect,” you agreed, your voice a gentle echo of his.

you continued to dance, the music a soft backdrop to your laughter and whispered words. the outside world ceased to exist, leaving just you and jay, wrapped in each other’s arms, your smiles bright and your hearts full. in between kisses, you found yourselves giggling, your breaths mingling, your love a quiet promise under the moon’s watchful gaze. it was a perfect moment, one that you knew you’d treasure forever.

as the night wore on, the music shifted to a slower, more intimate tune. jay’s hands moved gently, one resting on the small of your back, the other entwined with yours. you could feel his heartbeat against your cheek, steady and strong. you closed your eyes, letting the sensation of being in his arms wash over you.

“i still can’t believe this is real,” you murmured, your voice barely more than a whisper. “sometimes, it feels like a dream.”

jay tightened his hold on you, his lips brushing against your temple. “it’s real,” he whispered back. “and even if it feels like a dream, i’m not letting go. not ever.”

you lifted your head to look at him, your eyes searching his for any hint of doubt. but all you saw was love and determination, a promise that mirrored your own. you leaned in, your lips meeting his in a kiss that was both tender and filled with unspoken vows. when you pulled back, jay’s eyes were bright with emotion.

“i love you,” he said softly, the words hanging in the air like a precious secret.

“i love you too,” you replied, your heart swelling with the depth of your feelings. you rested your head against his chest again, content to stay in his arms for as long as the night would allow.

the music played on, a gentle soundtrack to your dance. every now and then, jay would murmur something sweet in your ear, making you giggle and blush. you’d respond with your own whispered words, your voices blending with the melody in a perfect harmony.

“do you think we’ll always be like this?” you asked at one point, your voice dreamy and filled with hope.

jay pressed a kiss to your hair, his breath warm against your scalp. “i hope so,” he replied. “i want to dance with you like this forever.”

you smiled, closing your eyes and savoring the moment. “forever sounds perfect.”

time seemed to stand still as you danced, the moonlight casting a magical glow over everything. it was as if the universe had conspired to create this perfect night, just for the two of you. every kiss, every smile, every whispered word felt like a piece of a beautiful puzzle, fitting together to create a picture of pure, unending love.

as the night drew to a close, you found yourselves standing by the window, looking out at the moonlit world beyond. jay wrapped his arms around you from behind, resting his chin on your shoulder. you leaned back against him, feeling the warmth of his embrace.

“look at the stars,” he murmured, his voice filled with wonder. “they’re so beautiful tonight.”

“they are,” you agreed, your eyes shining with happiness. “but not as beautiful as this moment.”

jay turned you around to face him, his eyes searching yours. “promise me we’ll always find time to dance,” he said, his voice earnest and filled with love. “no matter what happens, no matter where we are.”

“i promise,” you said, your voice steady and sincere. “we’ll always find time to dance.”

he smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners, and leaned in for one final kiss. it was a kiss that held all the love and promises of the night, a kiss that sealed your vows to each other. when you pulled away, you were both smiling, your hearts light and your spirits soaring.

“let’s dance,” jay said softly, taking your hand in his. and with the moon as your witness and the stars as your audience, you danced together, moving to the rhythm of your love, lost in the magic of the moment.

all right reserved. @hyuchuus 2024

---

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎☆ fireworks , lee heeseung

synopsis watching fireworks was a beautiful thing, but it was even more perfect with heeseung by your side

genre fluff, established relationship pairing heeseung x fem!reader word count 624

note i wanna see fireworks with heeseung ! its on my bucket list <33 also happy 4th of july !!

"i brought some popcorn." heeseung says as he sits next to you on the blanket you've layed on the ground.

you had asked heeseung to take you out to the fireworks tonight. you heard it was a good show and you figured it would be fun to do it with your one and only boyfriend.

"yummy." you say, watching everyone scramble to find spots to sit at. you were glad you and heeseung had come a bit earlier and you didn't have to scramble all over the place.

"it is. i even bought a candy apple." your head turns quickly as heeseung holds the candy covered apple up in the air. you raise your brow. "what else did you buy?"

heeseung grins happily, quickly showing you what he bought.

cotton candy, caramel popcorn, and two gatorades.

you couldn't help but laugh at heeseung's excitement. he looked so happy, and happiness sure did look good on him.

"when's the fireworks starting?" he asks, taking a bite out of the candy apple. you shrug, taking a bite when he offers it to you.

"it said when the sun goes down." you say. heeseung giggles before leaning closer and pressing a kiss to your lips.

you flush. you feel your face heat up and heeseung pulls away.

his ears turn red as a lovesick smile finds its way on his lips. "you had the candy on your lips." he says, his eyes not meeting yours.

you smile softly, leaning your head on his shoulder. heeseung pecks your forehead before taking another bite of his candy apple.

the sun slowly goes down making the sky look pretty. you can't help but take a picture. purples and blues fade in the sky. its beautiful.

"the fireworks should be starting soon." heeseung comments. he's scrolling through his phone, and he might be stealing pictures of you too.

you just looked so beautiful, sitting next to him, looking at the evening sky. you had a soft smile on your lips as you admired the sky.

"they should be." you turn to meet heeseungs eyes but instead you meet his camera lens. you squeal and hide your face, a silly giggle leaving your lips.

heeseung snaps another picture of you, laughing behind his phone.

suddenly, everyone started counting down from ten. you turned to heeseung with an excited smile on your lips. you started to countdown softly, grabbing heeseungs hand and squeezing it.

a boom sounded in the air as color expoloded in the sky. you couldn't help the smile that was placed on your lips. your eyes focused on all the colorful explosions in the sky.

heeseung, however, was watching you instead. your looked beautiful, greens and blues shinning on your face. he couldn't help but admire you intead of the fireworks.

you looked so happy, so excited about seeing the fireworks. he'll never forget the smile you had on your face when you asked him to go with you. you looked so cute, so beautiful.

you turned to look at heeseung but was surprised to see his eyes already on you. an even wider smile graced your lips. heeseung wraps his arms around your shoulder and pulls you into his side.

"it's beautiful." he whispers against your cheek. you giggle. "me or the fireworks?" you ask, teasing him.

heeseung smiles, pecking your cheek softly.

"the fireworks, but you're pretty too." he says in a teasing voice. you laugh and smack his thigh. again, he presses a kiss to your cheek.

finally, he turns his attention to the fireworks. the show was almost over but you made it worth it. you snuggled into heeseungs hold and watched the fireworks exploding over you.

you felt happy watching the fireworks in heeseungs arms.

---

a superhero's sweet reward

SIM JAEYUN [제이크] ── 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐓

୨୧ pairing : !nonidol spidey!ikeu x fem gf!reader ꒰wc : 1.2k꒱

୨୧ genre + content warnings : fluff, humor, skinship, est. relationship, mentions of injuries, kissing, jake's a little goofster, not proofread

୨୧ synopsis : in which spidey!ikeu appears in your room late at night all bruised and hurt, and you help clean him up.

writer's note ─ yall..i'm gonna be completely honest with you..I did not expect all thatt on one of my first ever fics. like I was completely mind blown coming back from work and seeing that it got like 130+ notes. JAW DROPPED. anyways because of all the love on my hoon short story I wanted to spoil yall and give you a spider-verse jaeyun story ;)) this was heavily inspired by spidey-boy by @luvvsim !! I absolutely loveee there work. (like sm.) if you enjoyed reading this, please be sure to like & reblog !! ♡

the night in new york city hummed with its usual buzz, but inside your room, there was a sense of peacefulness. despite living in the city that never sleeps, you felt content. lying on your bed, earbuds snugly fit into your ears, lost in the beats of your favorite song—it was the perfect end to your busy nights. little did you know, the real excitement was about to swoop in through your window.

suddenly, as if on cue, a shadow dashed across the room. startled, you pulled out an earbud just as a familiar figure swung in through the window, landing into your comfortable sanctuary with a soft thud. there he was—jake sim: new york's very own spiderman and the graceful title of your boyfriend. you watched as he stood there in all his superhero glory, steadying himself on his feet after a slightly harsh landing.

“hey, cutie. miss me?” he spoke out, wincing a little as he removed his mask, revealing a boyish grin and tousled blonde hair. his face bore a few new bruises, and his suit had seen better days.

“jake, the door is literally unlocked,” you called out, sitting up on your bed as you discarded your earbuds.

“where's the fun in that?” came the muffled reply from your boyfriend as he steadied himself, his suit sporting a few new rips and his face a canvas of small cuts and bruises.

you frowned, scanning the variety of bruises and cuts that painted his face and toned body, gently guiding him to sit on the edge of your bed. “you're hurt.”

“it's just a scratch,” he reassured, trying to sound nonchalant but wincing again as he moved. “besides, i get to see my favorite nurse now.”

you rolled your eyes, fetching the first aid kit from your bathroom cabinet. “very funny, spiderman. now sit still.”

jake obeyed, squirming slightly as he took a seat on your bed and shrugged off his suit. you took in the sight of his bruises and cuts, a mixture of concern filling you. he was always so brave and generous. but right now, he was just your jake, and you were going to make sure he was okay.

“hold still,” you instructed, gently dabbing at a cut on his cheek with antiseptic. he flinched a bit, but his eyes sparkled with mischief.

“ow! are you trying to finish me off, babe?” he joked, his lips quirking up in a grin as he put on an exaggerated show for you.

you rolled your eyes, though a smile tugged at your lips. “oh, hush. maybe if you'd stop getting into trouble, i wouldn't have to play nurse.”

“but..who would keep you company during your lonely nights?” he retorted rather innocently, though his playful grin spoke otherwise.

you smiled, shaking your head. “you know, most boyfriends just text or call. you on the other hand have to swing in through windows.”

he shrugged. “what can i say? i like to make an entrance.”

as you continued to clean and bandage his wounds, a comfortable silence enveloped your new york apartment. the soft hum of the wind, the muffled sound of your music still playing from your phone. it painted an almost soothing picture. well, besides the bruised up and hurt superhero on your bed. you continued to assist his cuts, watching his face contort into a sour look before he quickly recovered.

“so, what exactly did you do today that got you looking like you went ten rounds with a bulldozer?” you question, your brow raising in curiosity.

jake smiled at your light-hearted joke, clearing his throat before speaking again. “just another day in the life, y’know? i saved a kitten from a tree, stopped a bank robbery, and had a very intense conversation with a pigeon. fascinating stuff.”

you snorted, grabbing the box of bandages from your nightstand. “sounds like a regular tuesday.”

“exactly,” he agreed, leaning in as you dabbed at a cut on his forehead, the white cotton ball tinting a shade of red. “that pigeon was surprisingly chatty.”

you shook your head, trying to suppress a laugh as you focused on cleaning his wounds. jake's eyes followed your every move, a soft smile playing on his lips.

“y’know,” he started off. “i think that pigeon had some good advice. he told me i should kiss my girlfriend more often.”

his comment only earned a snicker from you, the cotton ball moving to clean off a particularly nasty cut on his face, watching him wince at the sudden contact.

“ow, ow! careful, doc, i’m delicate!”

“delicate, my foot,” you teased, giving him a mock glare. “you swing from skyscrapers and fight bad guys, but a little antiseptic is too much for ya?”

he laughed, the sound a comforting balm against the night’s weariness. “hey, i have my limits, okay?”

“do you now?” you retorted, your smile growing at his light-hearted banter. another comfortable silence fell once more before you broke it with another question.

“and what other brilliant advice did this know it all pigeon give you, other than kissing his girlfriend more often?”

jake grinned as you brought the topic back up, clearing his throat like he was about to make the most moving declaration. “he said i should cherish every moment, because you never know when your next battle with a supervillain might be.”

“wise pigeon,” you commented, reaching for a bandage. “you're lucky i’m such a good nurse.”

“luckiest guy in the world,” he agreed, his eyes twinkling. “and not just because of your nursing skills.”

“flattery will get you nowhere, sim,” you retorted, though you couldn’t help the smile that tugged at your lips. “but it might earn you a kiss once i’m done.”

jake’s face lit up. “in that case, i think i might have another cut you missed."

you look at jake dumbfounded, pausing your movements entirely as you slowly brought your gaze back towards his face, your expression etched with concern. your worriment soon dissipated into thin air as you watched him point to his lips, leaning closer to you.

“right here.”

you rolled your eyes but reluctantly leaned in, pressing a gentle kiss to his lips. he sighed contentedly with a smile, wrapping an arm around your waist and pulling you closer as he relished in the feeling of your plush lips on his very own.

“much better,” he murmured against your lips, pulling away with a lopsided grin.

finishing up the last of his cuts, you leaned back to admire your handiwork. “there. good as new.”

jake flexed his arm, yawning softly before giving you an approving nod. “you’re the best, you know that?”

“of course i do, someone’s gotta keep you in one piece, right?” you said with a grin, playfully nudging him. “now, are you staying for a while, or do you have to rush off and save more damsels in distress?”

he pretended to ponder your question for a moment before suddenly pulling you into his arms. “i think i’ve done enough saving for one night. besides, this damsel is my favorite.”

you rolled your eyes again but couldn’t suppress the smile that spread across your face. “smooth, spidey. real smooth.”

jake’s laughter was contagious, and soon enough you both found yourselves lying on the bed, tangled up in each other arms. the city outside your window buzzed with its usual chaos, but in that moment, all that mattered was the comfort of each other’s company.

“stay with me tonight?” you asked softly, resting your head on his chest.

jake kissed the top of your head, his arms tightening around you. “always.” he murmured, and you knew he meant it.

(why am I giggling and smiling so hard rn...)

𝓢igning off... @penghoon

── 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 [OPEN 🗯] @onlyhees @amouriu @greentulip @enhluv1 @samiikeu @hoonwhile @dearrwoni

---

ONLY IF YOU SAY YES (xo ;3)

where you guys have been friends for years, so why is he now sitting in your bed telling you to date him?

pair : jaeyun x fem!reader

warning : kissing , childhood friends to lovers , jaeyun is WHIPPED

you were sulking on your bed. boredom consumed you whole as you just wished you could have something interesting pop up.

well.. right on time! jake came into your house with the spare key, he opened the door and leaned against the doorway frame.

"ynie! we uh.. need to talk." he said as he came closer and sat down beside you. you looked at him with curiosity and waited for him to speak.

"you know... how you always wanted a boyfriend?" you nodded at his question, sitting up "yeah.. why?" he sighed as he got closer.

"me. i want to be your boyfriend." he said as he smirked when you blushed as the closeness of you two. you tried to find the words as you took in his features. he was.. serious.

"your... annoying jae..." you sighed and smiled "but sure... you can be my boyfriend" he beamed as he held you close.

"great! now i can do what ive always wanted to.." he pinned you against the bed and took in your features. damn.. you were so pretty. he just had to give in and fall for you huh?

"jae..." you flushed at his actions before he lowered his face to yours, speaking in a soft and sultry tone. "kiss me.... i want you to kiss me."

"what..?" you got even redder at his words. trying to gauge his reaction, he was indeed meaning all this.

"please let me kiss you.. ill do it only if you say yes... okay?"

written by @sjyunnsworld DO NOT COPY OR TRANSLATE.

taglist: @k1ttylvr @cupidscourt @luvvsim @jakesangel

---

howdy neighbour

➵ my heart's a stereo! it beats for you, so listen close.

pairing: jake x f! reader

summary: one day, you get a text from your "number neighbour." at first, of course you ignore it... but eventually boredom wins and you give in. one of the best things you ever did.

notes: they making smaus of anything nowadays... this is my procrastinating on a multitude of things including my job, applying for jobs (lol.), heeseung me versus you smau, enha × otl, etc etc ... but hey at least enha album is here..!!

warning(s): cursing, kms jokes

taglist: @ashtxrie @luvlyhee @won4kiss

---

you're so fine

➵ pink is not just a colour; it's a state of mind

pairing: heeseung x f! reader

summary: after dyeing his hair, heeseung receives a new nickname from you! he loves it.

note: i know i don't post a lot but the main reason is pretty much that my hands twitch and try to get me to write more anytime something's under 1k and i usually can't fight the voices.... but im trying to post shorter stuff as well so i can post more!

warning(s): none!

word count: 326

"hey pinky, can you pass me that?" you mutter absent-mindedly, too focused on your laptop screen.

when you don't hear a response after a few moments, you look up to see heeseung staring at you with a wide-eyed expression.

fondness bubbles up inside you and you have to hold back from smothering him out of cuteness aggression.

assuming the man doesn't know what you're referring to, you gesture towards the nightstand on his side of the bed, "the book, I need to check something."

he scrambles to fulfill your request, "of course!"

by now you notice his ears are bright red but before you can comment on it he clears his throat and mutters a little flustered, "but um, what did you call me?"

heeseung had known you loved his new dye job when you had squealed when you saw it and gushed about how pink was his colour and how handsome he looked when he came home from the salon.

he had acted nonchalant but you both knew how happy the compliment made him.

especially when you had seen him practically kicking his feet and giggling later when you posted a selfie you took of you kiss the pink-haired him on the cheek, to your story.

you had captioned it:

pink suits him, but I think it suits me better 😗

you had obviously been referring to your relationship compatibility, but you also had to talk him down from convincing you into getting a matching dye-job.

back to the present where heeseung is still extremely flustered by the nickname. he really likes it though.

you smile, "what, pinky? it's so cute and it suits you doesn't it?"

heeseung smirks, "yes, because you're the brain," before leaning in to press a smooch to your lips.

he laughs when you complain and pull him back in.

later, when you have settled back into your respective activities, heeseung smiles secretly, still thinking about it.

he quite likes pinky.

taglist: @ashtxrie @luvlyhee @won4kiss

---

ALOE YOU VERA MUCH ✦ YJW

➵ together with you is my favourite place to be

pairing: jungwon x gn! reader

summary: as a plant store owner, you are bound to see a number of unique personalities enter through your doors. but there is one regular that has thoroughly charmed you, despite being unable to keep a plant alive.

note: i tried to do the write even if it's small thing and somehow this still came near 1k?? it didn't take long so i'm not complaining and i was able to post again quickly enough...

warnings: none

word count: 933

"hello, what would you like to buy today," you hold back a smile as you recognize the boy entering through the door.

sunlight streamed through the large bay windows, delicately caressing the greenery filling up the shop.

your family owned a nursery further in the countryside, but you had begged them to let you try and start a small outlet in the city with the smaller plant species.

city people deserved to take care of plants too!

the boy pouts at your words, "what, y/n, no personal greeting?"

you roll your eyes lightheartedly, "sorry, whatever may i assist you with today, dear jungwon?"

"much better," he beams at you, and it's like your whole day has been lit up.

you hum and continue tending to the plants near the register, waiting for jungwon to browse through your catalog and decide on his weekly plant.

you hear the man clear his throat as he browses though, "so, any plans for the weekend?"

this prompts a head tilt, a little confused. it's not like the two of you never speak, but the conversation is usually a lot more natural? he seems nervous.

and you don't want that of course, so you brush off the odd tone.

"uhhh, probably stay in to be honest... or visit the cat cafe that opened up."

jungwon whips around eyes alight, "that's what i was going to tell you about! i went there recently and it's the absolute best."

you smile at his excitement, incredibly endeared by his mannerisms.

"yeah?"

an idea strikes you, and you decide, why not? jungwon is cute, kind, and despite his utter inability to keep plants alive he seems to be very caring. all things you deeply admired, all things that prompted you to have a small crush on him.

so before he can respond, you continue, "show me around?"

jungwon freezes, his beautiful eyes widened as he stares at you. you stiffen, sighing.

"or not! nevermind, it was stupid--"

he interrupts you, tone gentle but firm, "I'd love to."

you laugh in joy, "that's great, now have you finally decided what plant you're going to murder this week?"

jungwon pouts at the admonition but nods, holding up an aloe vera. good, an easy one.

as you scan the item and pick out a care guide with some materials (customary to your store) you look back at your weekly ritual with endearment.

"so, what's this one's name?" you ask curiously. jungwon named every single one of his purchases, despite their inevitable fate ending up in a fertilizer graveyard.

he hums, considering.

"i'm thinking sunoo, after my friend."

this causes you to burst into laughter, slightly surprising jungwon but pleasing him all the same.

"are you still doing that?! last time, you named the pink princess philodendron heeseung and we know what happened to it..."

jungwon snickers, simultaneously heart warmed you remember your encounters with such detail and happy to name his plants after his annoying friends.

"yeah it's on purpose. he's been on thin ice lately, what with all his teasing," he trails off with a mumble and red face much to your curiosity.

teasing on what?

you don't press it though, sensing his embarrassment.

instead you write your number onto the receipt and wink at jungwon, laughing when he splutters.

"this--"

you look into jungwon's eyes, utterly enraptured, "well, how else are you going to contact me for the cat cafe?"

the word 'date' is barely held back.

jungwon takes 'sunoo' with him and as cute as the boy is you still mourn the plant in his arms.

your date-not-date ends up being planned for later on in the week due to issues in your scheduling, but you can't wait. you wait for every day to go by quicker.

just as you're about to pack up for the day, excited about tomorrow finally being your date, a blonde boy walks in.

it's a little late, but you find you're not bothered by his presence. he doesn't have an unreasonable or upsetting vibe.

"hello, how can i help you today?"

"oh!" the boy startles, "sorry for bothering so late, i was just walking by and realized this is the plant shop my friend's always talking about."

oh?

"is your friend a regular customer then? do you mind letting me know their name! i'll be sure to give them a discount for spreading the word next time they visit."

the blond smiles, "yeah, his name is jungwon."

and wasn't that a funny coincidence, you burst out laughing, imagining--

"wait, wait," you speak through giggles, continuing despite his perplexed expression, "are you sunoo?"

he raises a hand to his mouth, "yeah! how did you know!"

"i'm sure you know, but jungwon named his latest victim after you."

"victim...?" sunoo tilts his head, and you can definitely see how he's jungwon's friend considering they have the same endearing mannerisms.

"yeah, he comes in every week to try and finally succeed in taking care of a plant."

now sunoo's eyebrows shoot up, "but jungwon has the greenest thumbs I've ever seen... i don't think he could kill a plant if he tried."

you laugh, waiting for sunoo to join in, but then you realize it's not a joke.

"wait. for real?"

sunoo's smile has edged into something knowing and amused, realizing what the situation is.

"yeah... but. that's probably between you two to discuss! i'll come back later to buy something! bye bye!"

he rushed out the door before you can get a word in.

ah, jungwon, you adorable fool. you seriously had a lot to speak about tomorrow.

taglist: @ashtxrie @luvlyhee @won4kiss

---

sonny baby !!

(🦒) ── LEE HEESEUNG [희승] ⁞ ㅤㅤ𝓰. fluffㅤㅤ୨୧ㅤㅤ warnings : est. relationship, pet names (babe), skinship, kissing (literally like a very chaiste, singular one.)ㅤ⟡ㅤ!nonidol boyfriend !hee 𝔁 fem !reader ㅤᯓ ꒰ wc : 826 ꒱ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤsynopsis .ᐟ in which your boyfriend suprises you with your very own sonny angel !! ── 𝐥𝐢𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐲 ᡣ𐭩

juno's note ─ randomly got the motivation to write this bc I just ordered some new sonny's hehe ( ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈)ഒ if you enjoyed reading this, please be sure to like & reblog !! ♡

you stood in the middle of your living room, face etched with horror as you stared down at your favorite sonny angel--a bright yellow giraffe adorned with stubby horns and brown spots, discarded carelessly on the carpet.

you slowly picked it up, immediately noticing the defects and bite marks that painted the plastic figurine. you couldn't believe it! what was once your most cherished angel in pristine condition was downgraded to a chewed-up trinket.

your eyes landed on the culprit, the dark brown feline sitting carelessly on the edge of the couch, oblivious to your inner turmoil.

"ddongsik!" you scolded, holding up the tiny angel in all its imperfect glory. the cat, however, watched with innocent eyes, blinking a few times before indifferently stretching out it's limbs on the couch.

you let out a soft sigh, padding around the room in disbelief with the sonny in your hands, a lump forming in your throat. anyone else might have shrugged it off, realizing it was just a silly mistake by a curious cat. but you? you had a reason to be upset.

that silly giraffe was the first gift your boyfriend, heeseung, had given you for your anniversary. it was a sweet gesture, the root of your sonny collection as a whole. but now that your first ever baby was ruined, you felt almost hopeless.

heeseung emerged from the bedroom, concern evident on his face as his eyes flicked between you and the cat sitting comfortably on the couch.

"babe? what's wrong?"

you held the sonny angel up for heeseung to see, watching his eyes widen in understanding. he sighed, quickly making his way over to you.

"ddongsik strikes again, huh?" he mumbled, gently taking the sonny from your hands, his eyes searching for yours. "i'm so sorry, y/n. i know how much this meant to you."

you could only nod, watching intently as he inspected it. "it was my favorite, hee. now it's ruined."

you sniffled, biting the corner of your lip to hold back the emotions begging to escape.

heeseung's eyes softened at the crestfallen look on your face. he tipped your chin so you would look at him before pressing a soft kiss onto your forehead.

"hey, don't worry. we'll figure something out."

he reassured, pulling you into a comforting hug, his chin resting on the top of your head.

you let out a soft sigh, surrendering to his care as you rested your head on his chest, inhaling deeply.

"promise?"

"promise."

over the next few days, heeseung seemed unusually busy. he'd vanish for hours, claiming he had errands to run, but always returned with paint smudges on his fingers and a mysterious gleam in his eyes.

when you asked what he was up to, he'd just flash a mischievous smile and tease it was a surprise. curiosity gnawed at you, yet you trusted him enough to let it be, even though the mystery continued to eat you alive.

one evening, upon returning home, you found heeseung sitting at the kitchen table, a wide grin lighting up his face. “close your eyes,” he instructed.

a soft smile graced your lips at his excitement before reluctantly obeying, feeling a flutter of anticipation in your chest.

heeseung guided you to a chair, helping you settle in before signalling you to cup your hands. after a moment, you felt something small and delicate placed into your palms, curiosity now fully piqued.

heeseung couldn't help but chuckle softly at the look on your face, gazing at you fondly before clearing his throat. "alright, open them."

you blinked open your eyes, and there in your hands were two customized sonny angels, meticulously painted to resemble you and heeseung. they were adorable, capturing tiny details that mirrored your features and heeseung’s gentle doe eyes.

you gasped softly, overwhelmed with emotion. "heeseung, is this…?"

he nodded eagerly. "i couldn't stand seeing you sad about the old one. so, i decided to create new memories—sonny angels that represent us, together."

tears welled up in your eyes as you examined the figurines, marveling at their intricate details. "it's perfect," you whispered, voice thick with emotion.

heeseung chuckled warmly, cupping your face with his hand and brushing away a tear with his thumb. “anything to see you smile again.”

in that moment, ddongsik strolled in, eyeing the new sonny angels with a curious tilt of his head. you quickly lifted them out of his reach, both you and heeseung laughing at the cat’s determined expression.

“we’ll have to find a safer spot for these,” heeseung chuckled, affectionately rubbing your shoulder.

you nodded, feeling warmth spread through your chest. “definitely.”

later that night, as you placed the new sonny angels on a special high shelf, safely out of ddongsik’s reach, you couldn’t help but admire heeseung’s handiwork once more. it wasn’t just a simple toy; it was a testament to his love and thoughtfulness. and that made it even more precious than the first.

𝓢igning off... @pnghoon

── 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 [OPEN 🗯] @onlyhees @amouriu @greentulip @enhluv1 @samiikeu @hoonwhile @dearrwoni @luvvsim @jakesangel

---

HE'S SO PRETTY ✦ SJY

➵ to love and be loved is everything

pairing: jake x f! reader

summary: sometimes you want to try a new makeup look out, but you can't do it the way you want on yourself. luckily, jake is always willing to be your model.

note: you'd be surprised by how easy it is to post often once you let go of being perfect and write down an idea whenever it comes...

warning(s): a teensy bit suggestive at one point, but mostly just a joke

word count: 1008

jake had been lazing on the couch, unsuspecting, when it happened.

he noticed his girlfriend in the entrance to the family room in their shared apartment, eyeing him with a keen, searching gaze.

he raised a brow, intrigued by what she was trying to observe.

"jake."

he hummed, "yeah?"

"let me put makeup on you."

now jake did not in fact have any sort of liquid in his mouth, but it he had it would be all over their coffee table at this point.

he spluttered slightly, "what?!"

and of course you turned your powerful pleading gaze on him, the one you know he can't resist.

"can i please put makeup on you? i saw a look i want to try, but it doesn't suit me at all."

jake contemplated slightly, the television running in the background long forgotten by then.

he smiled brightly at you, "sure!"

your jaw dropped slightly in surprise which confused him, "i thought that's what you wanted? wait! was this a test?"

you laughed, "no no! i just didn't expect you to agree so easily…"

by now you had made your way properly into the room and settled on the couch facing him.

jake tilted his head and you were hit with the image of a puppy, causing you to snicker before answering.

"but why?"

you shrugged, "some guys find it emasculating."

"oh...? but do whatever you want, baby?"

you gave him a cheshire cat smile, "yeah? even if i want to post you?"

jake grimaced, "as long as the look isn't ugly."

you gasped and smacked his shoulder, affronted.

"yah! my makeup always looks nice, and you know that."

he smiled because he did know that, but jake just ruffles your hair in lieu of a response.

you just huffed at his lack of faith and tug him towards your shared bedroom by the wrist.

you instructed jake on completing pre-makeup routines which causes him to pout because why couldn't you do it for him?

you: jake! babe! i'm not going to wash your face for you!

jake: why not :( 

yeah... anyway, once he was all set, you settled him onto a chair.

it soon became apparent that the angle was a little awkward. because you weren't a professional makeup artist, you weren't that experienced in putting make up on others.

jake noted the frustration in your brow and whispered, trying his best not to break your concentration.

"hey, y/n..."

you let out a delayed hum, acknowledging him without turning your concentration to him.

"maybe this would be easier on the bed?"

now he had your attention. you glance at him with a raised brow, "how so?"

"well. i could lay down or like sit up and you could uh be on my lap?"

his voice pitched up near the end, clearly slightly nervous in asking the question.

your eyes lit up, thinking it could be the perfect solution before you narrowed your eyes in suspicion.

"and you have no ulterior motives?"

jake busted into laughter, "well i'd never claim that i don't benefit from having a pretty lady in my lap, but no. i promise i'll just lay there and let you do as you please."

"as i please, huh?" you waggled your eyebrows at jake and he just snorted.

"yeah, yeah, let's go."

you did feel a flush climb up you at the intimacy of the position, however it's far outweighed by the concentration at getting the look right. you looked at your phone in reference a few times, deciding once you had finished that you should style his hair as well.

you scrambled off the bed to gather more supplies from the washroom, leaving jake with stern instructions not to look at himself.

it was incredibly difficult, but jake managed to hold back the curiosity until you returned with his hair products.

he let you work peacefully, only closing his eyes and relaxing into the soothing feeling of your hands running through his hair.

jake had almost dozed off when you clapped and exclaimed, startling him.

"alright! all done."

you led jake to the vanity by the hand, only giving him the instruction to close his eyes because covering his eyes yourself would ruin the makeup.

"you can open your eyes," you whisper into jake's ears from behind him.

jake does as told and gasped. if he was being entirely honest, he had expected a full glam look and while not too excited for it, wasn't dreading it either. but this--

"babe, you made me look so hot!"

it was the perfect mix of subtle and dramatic.

you laughed, "first of all, you do that all on your own, but i'm glad you like it."

jake shook his head, you didn't understand. you did such a good job! he had to show this off to everyone.

you stared with confusion at your boyfriend as he made his way to the closet, ruffling through clothes. admittedly the alluring make up look paired with jake's pyjamas was a funny sight.

"whatcha doing, jakey?" you questioned when he took longer than usual.

"looking for an outfit! it's gonna make the photos look so much better, trust."

you laughed at his enthusiasm, he was now more excited at the prospect of posting the look than you were.

you decided to tease him, "but what if i want to keep this view all to myself."

he paused in his search, "...that's fine!"

but you knew him too well to not recognize the pout in his words.

"of course, i'm kidding! once you get dressed i'll use the training i received from.. your friends actually, on how to take good photos."

his previous excitement returned and you swore you could almost see a tail wagging in excitement.

so adorable! and yet he looked so handsome at the same time? incredibly unfair.

you lazed on the bed, scrolling through your phone to decide what pose and lighting would suit the look best while he got dressed.

and in the end, the pictures turned out amazing.

taglist: @ashtxrie @luvlyhee @won4kiss

---

im gonna eat this up.

UNLUCKY GIRL SYNDROME ✦ PSH & SJY | TEASER !

inspired by operation true love

pairing ➻ sunghoon x f! reader x jake

synopsis ➻ if it was possible to see the number of people who would fall in love with you over your lifetime, most people would agree to it in a heartbeat, but some might not. you don't get that choice, labelled by a mysterious system as someone destined to receive no love and threatened to fix this 'error' before it's too late. but who will be your saviour, the social pariah sunghoon, or the school's golden boy sim jaeyun?

genres & tropes ➻ slow burn, love triangle, mystery

content warning ➻ profanity & some more serious themes like neglect and burnout + please be aware that this doesn't contain polyamory so there will be only one of them that you end up with

word count ➻ current 6.2 k, anticipated 15 - 20 k

note ➻ i was very excited to create this and share it with you all, so i sincerely hope you enjoy! it will be my first (enhablr) long fic, to celebrate 100 followers [i hope i finish this before i reach 200]

release date ➻ august!

INTRODUCING THE LOVE INTERESTS !

WELL . . . WHAT DO THEY THINK OF YOU ?

interviewer: what do you think of y/n, sunghoon?

sunghoon: she pisses me off.

interviewer: can you elaborate?

sunghoon: no.

interviewer: what about you, jake?

jake: y/n? y/n... hmmm the name's not familiar. are you sure she goes to decelis?

OH ! THEN, PERHAPS A SCENE FROM THE STORY WILL DO ?

finally. after a long hard day of, well, avoiding pushy fangirls and brown-nosers, jake has glimpsed some freedom.

he finds himself enjoying the breeze on a local park bench instead. it’s close enough to decelis that he still flinches every time he hears a high-pitched noise, but finding peace is not impossible.

especially when the park is full of families having fun and apparent couples lazing on the grass. it’s not often he gets to experience an atmosphere like this. not often that he’s allowed to pause and allow himself to feel the moment long enough to experience anything at all, actually.

it feels as if most of his time is spent in making connections, modelling, events and the time he does get to spend at school is used up dodging people who want to talk about said activities.

it’s downright exhausting, and it’s to the point jake considers dropping modelling several times a week. the issue, of course, is that he loves it. to him, it’s a form of art, especially when he can see all of the incredible content created from him. it’s like a part of him is permanently out there for people to know and experience and that’s just amazing to him.

so yeah. an impasse. but enough rumination, right now was his time to truly feel peace and enjoy the ambiance the fresh air and trees provided.

that is, until someone goes crashing to the ground in front of him, and yeah jake did think that a block of pavement jutting at an angle from the previous would be an issue, but seeing the stray train of thought come to fruition was unfortunate.

what just happened settles in, and jake scrambles off of the bench, mourning his peace only a little bit after taking in the familiar decelis girls’ uniform.

“oh my god, are you okay?” his hands hover unsure, twitching in the air uselessly in response to the girl’s groan filling the surroundings.

when you turn towards the boy to reassure him that ‘yeah, i just got my shit rocked in front of you, but i’m fine!’

you gasp when you notice who is, “it’s you! coffee boy!”

jake is a little astonished, since when was he coffee boy? “hey! i have a name.”

you furrow your brow a bit, and he can’t tell if you’re trying to remember said name or that’s pain on your face.

“jake! right?”

he ignores the odd, new feeling of someone having to confirm his name instead of intuitively knowing it before he even says a word and nods, “and you’re y/n.”

he’s not sure if he would have remembered your name were it not for the way your last encounter with him went.

you nod enthusiastically, before frowning at the sting you feel on your knees. it seemed they were slightly skinned. you frown, contemplating what you should do, still on the floor.

jake clears his throat, “you, uh, should probably do something about that.”

you raise an unimpressed brow, as if to say, ‘what, pray tell, should i do here in the middle of the park?’

but, not one to be discouraged, you reach into your bag, frowning and dumping one of the pockets contents onto the ground in search of what you need. you cheer slightly in triumph, grabbing the handkerchief around your skinned knee for now.

good enough until you get home.

you hear jake chuckle and fix your gaze back on him, confused as to what’s funny in the situation right now.

he smiles, pointing at an item from your backpack, “you’re still carrying a flip-phone around in this day and age?”

the blood evaporates out of your body. you don’t want it to be true, but as you follow his finger with bated breath, your heart stutters as your gaze lands on it.

it, being a bright. pink. flip-phone.

unbeknownst to you, jake frowns in confusion as he notices the drastic change in your demeanour. he remains dumbfounded as you flounder, shoving everything back in your backpack whilst completely ignoring the object.

he doesn’t even have the time to question you before you bolt away, leaving him and the flip phone.

jake’s unable to hold his curiosity back and he picks up the phone. he almost drops it at the message sitting on the home screen that greets him.

hey, you’re not supposed to look at this! (¬_¬)

just what the hell was this? jake shrugs off the unnerving feeling and pockets the cell, deciding he’d give it to you eventually when you spoke again. although with the way you ran off, you didn’t seem too keen about it.

the model is utterly confused, but. oh well. he supposed being strange was one of your character traits.

permanent taglist: @ashtxrie @luvlyhee @won4kiss

special tags: @boyfhee @sungbyhoon @fleurre

everyone already tagged will be tagged again for the actual post, but if you would like to be tagged as well (special tags) then comment below or send an ask 🫶

---

i’m sitting here, crying in my prom dress . . . 🍦

yang jungwon – fic

genre : angst and fluffy fluffy fluff!!

non-idol, best friend jungwon x fem reader.

synopsis : attending senior prom with a date was one of your biggest dreams, until he flaked, attending with another girl. as you sat on the curb in your prom dress, tears flooding your vision, your best friend appeared to sweep you off your feet– literally. jungwon would not only save the rest of your night, but he would quickly morph it into one of the best days of your life.

warning(s) : cliche asf.

mi note :

after i tore out the hearts of my followers who love riki, here’s a cute wonie fic. remember, this is a work of fiction. i did not proofread, so please excuse any mistakes. i’m still easing back into writing and am really hoping people like this. so, if you do, please like and reblog. it would be much appreciated.

enjoy, my lovely readers. xoxo, mimi.

this is especially for @greentulip. ‹𝟹

scheduled to be picked up at 6:45, you waited patiently, beautifully dolled up in your prom attire. the dress was in your favorite hue, your features elegantly defined with the makeup adorning your face. this was a night that many recalled from their high school experience, leaving you to hope it would run smoothly.

however, it was the opposite of smooth and tranquil. you chose to sit on the steps of your front porch, chin resting upon your palm, elbow atop your knee. with a sigh, you waited, the sun disappearing with each passing minute. you’d waited for approximately 30 minutes, the clock reading “7:13”. the dance had already begun, starting at seven on the dot. yet, your date wasn’t here.

“where is he..” you impatiently mutter to yourself in a low whisper, reaching to check your phone. notifications sprawled across your screen as you double-tapped the device, turning it on.

but, one seemed to have caught your attention.

“@ohwooseok791 added to their story.”

‘that’s strange, what did he post?’ you thought for a moment, deciding to click on it for clarification.

you slowly came to regret your decision as a photo of him and another girl appears, a romantic song paired with it.

wooseok ditched you. on prom night, with another girl.

a flood of text messages began to rattle your phone, the vibrations causing you to huff in frustration. your cheeks were covered in streaks of tears, the weight of your date’s actions causing your heart to ache.

a car immediately pulled in front of your home, settling there in a parked position– before the door shut, your best friend rushing toward your figure.

at the sight of him clad in a suit, your lower lip wobbled, eyes glossing over once more. “wonie.” you cried out, voice cracking.

“oh, precious. i’m here.” he coos in a gentle voice, kneeling before you to cradle your cheeks in his palms.

his gaze was so soft, full of the love he held for you. it was no secret that he loved you as more than just a friend. when he heard of wooseok being your prom date, he took a step back; knowing you wouldn’t appreciate a confession. after all, it would only throw your heart into chaos and confusion. however, seeing you here, in tears because of the boy, he wished that he’d spoken the words; saving you from heartbreak.

“he’s not worth your tears, love.” he mutters with a sympathetic smile, hoping to improve your dampened mood. “tell you what, let’s go inside and touch up your makeup. then we’ll do something even better than prom.” jungwon allows his lips to tug upward, encouraging a sniffle and hint of laughter from you.

“c’mere, baby.” he extends his arms, one securely placed behind your back, the other nestling beneath the crease of your knees– hoisting you upward, into his hold.

without a word, he carries you toward the front door, twisting the handle and pushing it open with little effort. “won..” you begin, earning a gentle ‘shh’ from the boy.

he continued his mission, nudging his leg backward to shut the door behind you, moving forward to carry you upstairs. once you’d entered the dimly lit space of your bedroom, he placed you on your own two feet before giving the small of your back a soothing rub.

“go on, fix yourself up. i’ll be waiting.” he playfully mutters, placing a gentle kiss to the crown of your head before settling on the edge of your bed.

and of course, you obliged.

an hour later, you found yourself in the same state as you were before discovering that your original date had ditched you. it was as though you never cried, sat beside jungwon on a park bench, ice cream in your hand.

your head was nestled on his shoulder, his atop your head. you sat in silence, happier than ever to be in his comforting presence.

the boy had noticed your peeks at his cone, knowing you’d been eyeing the flavor he’d gotten, as you always did.

“want a bite, precious?” he asked with a teasing tone, nudging your side with his elbow; only to earn a playful scoff from you.

“how do you always know?” you question with a grumble, huffing in annoyance as you lean forward, tasting the boy’s ice cream.

“because i’m your best friend.” he’d said it in such a low tone, causing you to glance up at him with fluttering lashes, your gaze capturing his as always.

his eyes shifted down to your lips, noticing a bit of ice cream on the corner. yet, instead of wiping it with the pad of his thumb, he leaned forward.. connecting his lips with yours in a slow sequence.

with a gentle gasp, you’d been caught off guard by his actions, ultimately melting into his touch and reciprocating the kiss.

by the time he’d pulled away, your cheeks were flushed in a shade of pink, a cheeky grin adorning his expression.

“you have no idea how long i’ve been waiting to do that.” his voice is soft, his free hand caressing your cheek.

“why didn’t you?” you question in a whisper, knowing that if jungwon had made a move earlier, you’d have chosen him in a heartbeat.

“because i was afraid.” he admits in a sigh, finishing his ice cream cone. “i didn't think you’d want our friendship to move further.” he frowns slightly, avoiding your gaze.

“oh, wonie. i’d have chosen you in a heartbeat over all of the guys at school.” you reveal with a gentle voice, your free hand reaching to intertwine with his as you finished off your cone.

“really?” he asks with a smile, gaze forward as he holds your hand in contentment.

“really.” you confirm, resting your head upon his shoulder once again.

the weather had shifted, growing colder as the minutes and hours had passed, the two of you out well until the clock read ‘10:30 pm’.

“jungwon.” you call, gaining the boy’s attention as you shivered beside him on the bench.

“cold, love?” he questions even as he reaches to take off his jacket, placing it over your shoulders. “just one more thing, then we can head back, okay?” he insists, standing from his seat beside you to extend his hands in your direction.

placing your palms onto his, you stand with his help, him tugging you a few feet forward so you wouldn’t bump into the bench.

his hands nestled on your hips, your arms wrapped around his shoulders; you two stood close, beginning to sway.

he began to hum a soft tune, his voice’s volume rising as he began to sing the words.

“i found a love, for me…”

his touch was gentle as he raised a finger, guiding your chin upward to lock eyes with him.

“darling, just dive right in and follow my lead.”

you continued to sway, your gazes intertwined in a display of love, foreheads pressed together.

“well, i found a girl, beautiful and sweet.”

“oh, i never knew you were the someone waiting for me.”

he sang, every ounce of the song dedicated to you.

‘“'cause we were just kids when we fell in love…”

“not knowing what it was,”

“i will not give you up this time.”

“but darling, just kiss me slow.”

“your heart is all i own.”

“and in your eyes, you're holding mine...”

he tucks a strand of hair behind your ear, a lovestruck sigh escaping your lips.

“baby, i’m dancing in the dark…”

“with you between my arms,”

“barefoot on the grass,”

“listening to our favourite song.”

“when you said you looked a mess,”

“i whispered underneath my breath,”

“but you heard it,”

“darling, you look perfect tonight…”

and with that, he brought your lips into another kiss; concluding the night that began in heartache, and ending it with pure happiness.

“i don’t think we’re just friends.” you whisper once parted from jungwon’s lips, earning a soft laugh from him.

“no, we’re not just friends, baby.” he confirms, giving you a final twirl before escorting you to the car; taking you home.

taglist : @greentulip @nshmuras 📎

---

loser heeseung is my weakness😞

chatterbox !!

(🗣) ── 𝓛EE HEESEUNG [희승] ⁞ ㅤㅤ𝓰. fluff, crack, humor, high school au, drabbleㅤㅤ୨୧ㅤㅤ warning : est. relationship, not proofread, kissingㅤ⟡ㅤ!nonidol loser bf !hee 𝔁 fem gf !reader ㅤㅤᯓ ꒰ wc : 473꒱ ㅤㅤsynopsis .ᐟ in which your nerdy bf can't seem to shut up !! ── 𝐥𝐢𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐲 ᡣ𐭩

juno's note ─ hey guys !! saur sorry for barely getting anything out this week :(( been so busy trying to balance my life, it's kinda hard to add writing into the equation sobs i'll prob be updating slower now since i have to prepare for school and stuff ..this drabble is like a little gift from me while i'm a little inactive hehe--if you enjoyed reading this, please be sure to like & reblog !! ♡

you were sure that if talking were a sport, heeseung would be an olympic gold medalist. his mouth had been running nonstop for the past hour as you both sat in the otherwise quiet library. at this rate you were starting to lose track of whatever intricate video game strategy he was explaining--something about leveling up, defeating bosses, and… cowboys?

you leaned in closer, resting your chin on your hand as you watched him. he was truly an adorable sight, with his messy hair and round glasses that slid down his nose bridge every five minutes. but sometimes, heeseung’s enthusiasm meant he could go on and on, losing track of time in the process.

“…and then, if you take the left route, you can ambush the other team from behind–” heeseung continued, doe eyes wide with excitement. his voice was a steady stream of strategies and character stats, completely oblivious to your half-hearted attempts to try and interject.

“heeseung,” you mumbled out softly, but he didn’t seem to hear you, too engrossed in his own world.

“and then, if you use the secret code--”

“heeseung!” you repeated, a bit louder this time, but he still didn’t seem to budge with his sea of endless words.

with a sigh, you closed your textbook and leaned over. desperate times called for desperate measures. grabbing the collar of his shirt, you tugged him closer and pressed your lips to his in one swift motion.

heeseung froze, his monologue cut off abruptly. the surprised squeak he let out was both adorable and hilarious, his eyes wide behind his round glasses.

the kiss was soft, sweet, and just long enough to send his heart racing. when you pulled back, he was staring at you, his face a shade of pink you’ve only ever seen in cartoons.

“w-what was that for?” he stammered, eyes wide and lips still parted in shock.

“you talk too much,” you answered, a playful smile tugging at your lips. “i had to find a way to shut you up.”

heeseung's mouth opened and closed a couple times like a fish out of water, clearly flustered.

“i-i wasn't talking that much,” he muttered out, though the way the tips of his ears were burning said otherwise.

“mhm, sure,” you teased, poking his cheek. “you're cute when you're all nerdy and passionate, but sometimes you need a little break.”

he pouted softly, trying to hide the smile that was forming on his lips. “so, does this mean you'll kiss me every time i talk too much?”

you pretended to think about it for a moment before nodding. “yep, every time.”

heeseung's eyes sparkled with mischief as he leaned in closer, a cute grin plastered on his lips as his hand reached out to cup your cheeks.

“then i guess i'll have to talk a lot more.”

𝓢igning off... @pnghoon

── 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 [OPEN 🗯] @onlyhees @amouriu @greentulip @enhluv1 @samiikeu @hoonwhile @dearrwoni @won4kiss @jakesangel

---

UNLUCKY GIRL SYNDROME ✦ PSH

SYNOPSIS. if it was possible to see the number of people who would fall in love with you over your lifetime, most people would agree to it in a heartbeat, but some might not. you don't get that choice, labelled by a mysterious system as someone destined to receive no love and threatened to fix this 'error' before it's too late. but who will be your saviour, the social pariah sunghoon, or the school's golden boy sim jaeyun?

CONTENT. f! reader, love triangle, grumpy x sunshine, serious topics (burnout, mental health, etc.), she fell first he fell harder, drama, comedy, slight angst

PLAYLIST. listen here... ! feel free to send in an ask with recommendations

NOTE. the love triangle is between you, jake, and sunghoon. which I KNOW a lot of people hate love triangles and tbh i don't love them, but the main reason i think a lot of people don't like them is the main character tends to lead the second lead on and refuses to make a choice. i don't think that happens here! and anyways, not to spoil... but i'm actually going to make this a three part series for each of the 02z so jake will get his happy ending!

++ special thanks to suki ( @fleurre ) for beta reading, you helped me SO much!

WORD COUNT. 16.7 k / 31.2 k

PART TWO. link at bottom, and also here!

when sunghoon thinks back on this moment months later, he’ll shudder in embarrassment at his behaviour. right now, he’s just a bit of an asshole: the kind of guy to see a cat stuck in a tree and simply continue walking.

sunghoon of course, knowns none of this. he’s musing about how much longer he has to spend in the building when a harsh shove jolts him back to reality from the haze his mind had ventured to.

he stumbles slightly, almost falling into a desk, ultimately regaining his balance easily thanks to years of being an ice skater. he levels a glare at the culprit responsible for nearly making him eat tile, raising an eyebrow at the boy’s lurching gait.

his attention remains on the boy, half curious about the boy and half excessively bored from waiting for class to start. the bustle and chatter of sunghoon’s fellow high schoolers serves only to irritate him as he sees the boy slump into his desk and settle his head down onto the worn wood.

must be tired. still doesn’t stop sunghoon from internally chastising him. idiot. as an athlete… as a former athlete, he’s long since hammered it in to have a hearty and enriched breakfast every single morning.

he’s just about to turn away when a moving figure- seemingly headed straight for the desk sunghoon’s attention has been invested in- enters his field of vision.

sunghoon holds back a sigh. it’s you. he knows you yes, but he doesn’t particularly like you. in fact, one might venture as far as to say that you irritate him. piss him off, even. the frown on his face only deepens when you dart a quick glance around the classroom to make sure no one’s paying attention, to which he quickly looks away.

only for his attention to return back to you soon after. sunghoon watches as you, upon a seemingly clear coast, pull a cold coffee can out of your backpack as well as a pastry. he snorts, what an awfully non nutritious breakfast. you seem to falter a little, hands moving carefully so as to not disrupt the boy’s rest. satisfied with your work, you head back to your seat. 

he’s noticed that you seem to be wholly friendless. which is odd, considering how you behave when no one’s looking. 

now here’s the thing. he doesn’t dislike you because of something you did or still do, well not in the way most people would expect. as horrendously unreasonable as it sounds even to himself, you just don’t make sense.

how could anyone be kind for no reason? he would see you around school just helping people out both without them knowing and receiving no benefit from it. who does that? the reason this bothers him is that it isn’t possible.

love is entirely transactional; this is something sunghoon has observed from the people around him as a child, and that had only been cemented in his circuit as a child prodigy.

people loved him when he was good at what he did. when he ate, slept, and breathed ice skating. they loved how he never missed a day at the rink, never scored lower than the podium at competitions.

fans would do so much for him, but it was all transactional. the second he faltered, made a mistake, stopped being perfect and faltered, so too did their love. when he lost his passion and washed up, so too did their support.

not just love but even kindness is given with the expectation of earning something in return. the fact that you don’t seem to have this motive is incredibly suspicious, and he doesn’t believe it for a second.

there has to be something you’re hiding, and while he might not care enough to set out and find it, he would take extreme pleasure in knowing he was right the whole time when the truth inevitably came out.

you pout as you watch the hustle and bustle of the classroom during your lunch period. you don’t have anyone to speak to, yes, but it isn’t really by choice. you had transferred here this year, only to be slightly taken aback by the cliquey and peculiar culture. your old school was very friendly, enough that your friends knew all about your slightly embarrassing hobby about writing romance stories online even without ever having dated anyone. they would be perhaps 5 out of the 8 likes you’d receive on chapters.

you have never had a problem making friends, but that was back home. this is here. here, the atmosphere is so rigid and chilly that you’d never think for a second about opening up to someone about your pastimes even if you did get friends. in fact, the loneliness had gotten to you so much that you stopped posting full stop, not feeling you understood human relations enough to write about them at all.

so you try helping people, for no reason in particular. it comes entirely naturally to be honest. it’s just that if you can’t make friends with people then this is how you can still be near people.

everyone craves human connection in one way or another, the only difference is if they allow themselves to do so.

now you just watch wistfully as gaggles of teenage boys yell boisterously and raucous laughter fills the air. girls sit with each other, leaning in to hear the hot gossip or simply about each other’s lives.

the sun streaming in through the large windows casts a golden shine over the scene, somehow causing you to feel nostalgic even as you are present in the moment. not to mention the aromas. it’s all you can do to not rob the boy sitting a few desks away from you of his lunch, also alone.

though, once your eyes reach him, they don’t leave. why does he look bored out of his mind? maybe he has no friends like you? actually, that’s highly unlikely. he probably does, they’re just in another class. man, with a face like that, it’s hard to believe people in this class aren’t clambering to hang out around him.

your eyes narrow slightly; considering the wide berth the other students give him, such isolation may be intentional. oh well, not your problem.

not your problem, because what you have to worry about right now is finding friends. it’s harder than it sounds. the noise around the classroom peters out and you settle further into your chair.

oh well. there’s always tomorrow to start making friends.

jake’s eyes are just about to close when the door to the storage room he’s found for himself whips open. great. just when he thought he could get some alone time away from the hordes of people vying for his attention.

now the model genuinely appreciates the dedication people seem to have in supporting him, but. but. there’s this stuffy feeling in his chest he gets whenever he thinks about it nowadays.

he doesn’t like thinking about it, so his solution is just that. don’t think about it.

but now, you’ve arrived into the room and he has a strong feeling his peace will get disrupted. 

jake holds his breath as you curse lightly after stumbling in and closing the door behind you. he feels like a field mouse trying to evade a bald eagle’s notice. in both cases it’s useless, of course.

you gasp, and he winces, trying to prepare himself for the ear-splitting shrieks that are surely soon to follow. and then inevitably a horde of excited teenage girls bustling in. so much for a peaceful lunch.

contrary to his expectations, however, your volume remains to be under 60 decibels as you open your mouth, “woah! i didn’t realize anyone else would be in here, sorry!”

jake raises his brows, slightly confused. don’t get him wrong, while he is indeed what you would call famous, he doesn’t expect everyone to love or even know who he is. he’s met many people who were indifferent to him or seemed to possibly dislike him.

it’s just, that had never happened here. now that he has started going to decelis academy, there hasn’t been a single moment he’s alone or unknown. and that’s, well, the nature of highschool. people would find out a model is attending their school and spread it to all of their friends, or that they had seen him in an ad. that kind of stuff.

so considering school would obviously be full of teen aged girls, whilst roaming decelis’ halls he had never encountered a face that lacked recognition the way yours did.

jake speaks cautiously, but still maintaining his friendly air, “that’s alright.”

you blink, somehow this boy is a little familiar, but you can’t pinpoint exactly where you’ve seen him… oh well, again, not your problem! it seems like he’s open to sharing the space with the way he hadn’t immediately shooed you out. you take a cursory glance around the room, noting a broken fountain drink bottle in the corner.

you step further in the room clearing your throat a bit, “so, do you mind if i stay here?”

right now you’re really not looking forward to going outside and facing everyone. hundreds of people, and none of them as lonely as you.

you don’t know how much longer you can take it, going to school every morning and having the hours crawl by painstakingly slow.

internally, jake assesses how likely you are to bother him and be invasive; taking in your frazzled appearance and rather nervous state, he decides you’re most likely hiding out here for reasons entirely unrelated to him.

he smiles warmly and nods, “sure, you should probably take a seat, though.”

say… you could try making friends with this boy sitting on the ground? sure, it might go awfully wrong and he’d be weirded out by you, but considering you’ve never seen him before now, what’s the likelihood you’d see him after?

so you square your shoulders, ignore the way this boy is incredibly handsome– enough to be a model even– and open your mouth.

“why are you hiding out here?”

the words strike the silent air like a whip and even you wince when they exit your mouth. the way you said it sounded just a tad confrontational and you can see an undecipherable emotion fill the boy’s face as his brows furrow and eyes narrow. before he can open his mouth however, you interrupt in an attempt to not sound accusatory.

“that sounded a bit odd, i just meant i’ve never seen anyone other than me eat alone.”

the boy raises his eyebrows, and slightly embarrassed, you speak yet again.

“not that i don’t have friends!”

you pause, before sighing and deflating.

“actually, why am i trying. i don’t.”

by now jake is thoroughly bewildered, this encounter being the furthest thing from what he expected when you had entered through the heavy metal door (speaking of which, how did you have the strength to whip it open anyways?)

the conversation is so out of left field that jake’s perfectly maintained filter slips for a moment, and he asks, “are you new here?”

you blink a few times before sighing, “yes… how’d you know?”

now there are a great number of things he can say at this moment, that it’s unlikely for you to have no friends unless you’re new, that he has never seen you around before, but what came out is more honest.

“you didn’t know me.”

“what?” you raise an eyebrow, immensely surprised at what this boy (you really should ask for a name so you don’t have to keep referring to him as boy in your head) has just said.

jake panics at his admittedly less than courteous words, so he fumbles slightly in hopes of covering them up.

“uh, i just mean, i’ve never seen you! i know a lot of people around the school, but i don’t think i’ve seen you around.”

he scratches his head sheepishly, hoping you take the gesture and words and think about them instead of the slightly arrogant sentence he had uttered prior.

you nod, definitely not forgetting what he had said just now, but accepting the words as valid reasoning.

jake is a bit nervous, this didn’t fit into his usual case of interacting with others. it never took him this much effort to engage in a conversation and get people to like him.

and yes, you need to like jake, because everyone likes jake. he’s that guy.

the model rakes his brain for something to say before realizing a big glaring point he has missed all along.

“what’s your name?” jake levels another friendly smile at you.

you stare at him, focused on analyzing his features and trying to figure out where you’ve seen him before when the words break you out of your reverie.

you’re quiet for a second, listening to the sound of laughter and cheer that seems to encompass free periods, before you answer him with your name.

jake nods, “i’m jake.”

you frown, a little perturbed, that name is so familiar too. you know there’s no way this is the first time you’ve seen that face paired up with that name, “do i know you?”

in turn, he raises his brows, a little surprised at the question.

“not that i’m aware of..?”

he’s in the middle of figuring out how to say he’s a model which may be where you’ve seen him without seeming conceited when you gasp.

“yes, i do!”

jake waits for you to gush over said modelling, only to be slightly surprised when he’s met with a slight glare and pout instead.

“when i first transferred here you ran into me and made me spill my drink all over myself! and then you just made me write my kakaopay and ran away!”

the boy’s jaw drops open, extremely surprised by what came out of your mouth.

. . .

he struggles to find the right words, but there seems to be none in this situation. especially because he does not remember the encounter at all. he’s a busy person who interacts with countless people every day, and there’s no way he’d remember a one-off incident like that.

especially because he seemed to be in a hurry at the time you met him.

“i’m… sorry...”

you raise a brow, “it’s alright, you paid for it anyway. why were you in such a rush though…?”

“i’m not sure,” jake murmurs, but you’re not done with your commentary.

“the most exciting thing going on that day was the math competition, and that’s saying something.”

jake’s eyes light up, remembering, “that’s where i was going then! the math contest.”

your eyes widen slightly, “oh, i wouldn’t have expected that.”

wait.. is this boy pouting? it seems to be a mix between a pout and a grimace. 

“why not.”

oh gosh, did you offend him? does it sound like you’re saying he doesn’t look smart?

you wave your hands around frantically, not wanting to be misconstrued, “i didn’t mean anything, it’s just–” 

you’re interrupted by a phone notification, and when you glance at your phone it elicits a gasp.

“would you look at the time, sorry, i gotta go!”

you get up and immediately head for the exit without waiting for a response. gosh, this is so embarrassing.

meanwhile jake, is still frozen on the floor, a little upset. you only see him as a pretty face (if you even saw that…) how typical. that's all he is to anyone else, of course.

you’ve always loved the walk home back from school. well, always is a little bit of an exaggeration considering you’ve only moved here a couple months ago.

still, you’ve been watching the leaves fill the trees and spring begin to roll in. your path home is full of life and ardour brimming in the trees and small animals. today is no different of course, you hum slightly as you trek through the journey.

you’re so lost in the tunes pumping through your earbuds that you almost miss the stark pink rectangle on the path in front of you. 

‘huh, that’s odd,’ you think as you bend down to examine it more closely, realizing the object is a flip phone with a bright pink plastic backing. now who in their right minds would leave a phone on the floor? although, it most likely slipped out and fell…

and on top of that, having a flip phone in this day and age is slightly bizarre considering how outdated it is. not wanting to block the pathway, you pick the phone up and settle onto the bench.

maybe if you go through the details, you’ll find some information on the owner so you can return it to them. as old as it is, having a phone is still essential for communicating with everyone in your life and you’re sure whoever this phone belonged to won’t be pleased to lose it.

you power on the phone to go through it, and you find yourself able to go to the home screen immediately.

huh. either the owner hadn’t set a pin, or this phone’s so old it lacks the ability to set one.

which is good for you! it makes it easier to find the owner. but when you open up the contacts and try to check the owner contact, there’s no other form of contact there.

you’re just about to open the email app when the phone receives a message! you panic slightly, almost dropping the phone, but ultimately you decide to ignore the message.

but that’s before your eyes focus on the contents, to which you gasp softly.

unknown number: hey you who’s looking at this phone right now.

should you answer it? it might be the owner trying to contact you… a little odd that they would assume someone has it with them, but they could just be peculiar. nothing that would stop you from trying to return this device to the rightful owner.

unknown number: psst… answer me

unknown number: i have something to tell you

you decide to ignore the bizarreness of the message and respond with a quick: 

you: hello, is this the owner of the phone?

not even 10 seconds pass by before you receive a response. 

unknown number: you could say that. but that’s not important.

unknown number: what’s important here is you, you’re really lonely, huh?

okay, now this is getting really weird. too uncomfortable even for you, who’s always willing to help. but you make one last attempt.

you: sorry, i’m just trying to return this to the owner. if you let me know a meeting place i can give this back to you.

a message pings the phone at the same time yours is sent, causing you to widen your eyes. it’s a photo of you on the bench with a mocking sentence attached.

unknown number: poor little miss y/n. no one’s ever loved her, have they? :(

okay, now this is really fucking creepy. and there’s no way you’re helping them with the phone now. your stomach churns with unease, brain running a mile a minute, and you realize this person is close enough to see you. meaning they most likely left their phone on the road to observe and text whoever picks it up.

like one of those social experiments. except a million times more absurd. whatever. not your problem. you quickly settle the phone on the bench, knowing the owner would eventually come to retrieve it, before continuing on the sidewalk.

it’s only a few paces later when you freeze in your steps and you start to hear your heartbeat pounding in your ears.

how the actual hell did they know your name? this no longer seems like a (debatably) innocent prank to you.

shivers crawl up your spine, leaving goosebumps in their wake. suddenly the breeze and peaceful atmosphere don’t seem so nice and the path seems to stretch before you for miles.

just amazing, you curse the world out as you rush home, shoes pounding against the pavement at near breakneck speed.

shit. what the hell is going on?

you lock the door as fast as you can and lean your back against it, breaths coming out as harsh pants.

your mind as an absolute mess right now, severely freaked out by what just happened. you would think someone you know is pulling a messed up prank on you except you had left all your friends several kilometres behind when you moved away.

your hands are shaking even as you make your way to your bedroom and pace around the walkable space. an idea occurs to you and you desperately shoot towards where you had left your backpack.

maybe, without your notice, your mom has labelled your backpack or something, it’s highly unlikely but it’s looking to be your last hope.

knots tie themselves in your stomach as a cursory search of the bag shows it to be the plain thing you have always lugged to school. you sigh, opening the front pocket to get your phone as a natural response, but you freeze.

there, nestled comfortably alongside your phone, is the same pink flip phone you had left on the bench.

your hands tremble uncontrollably as you pick it up. you try to remember if there was an opportunity for anyone to stuff it into your bag, but there’s no way. you were running home at full speed, there was no way you wouldn’t have felt someone try and hold on to you long enough to unzip, insert, and then zip again.

something is wrong, and it’s really fucking with your head that you can’t think of a logical explanation to all of this.

sure enough, when you open the phone, another message has arrived.

unknown number: you didn’t really think you could run away, did you?

unknown number: awww i didn’t take you for a coward, y/n. although maybe that’s the reason no one can seem to love you.

unknown number: a pity.

you can’t decide whether to feel scared or angry, so you settle for a mix of both. it’s probably a good idea to try and find out more about this mystery sender, but that really isn’t something you feel like doing.

so you run back outside your house, bringing a dustpan, and smash the phone on the ground, cleaning up the mess to bring inside and throw out.

now if you see this stupid fucking phone again, it really would be a miracle.

thoughts of mystery senders and bright pink flip phones circle around your head as you get into bed that night, mind forgetting all about boys who spill drinks on you and boys that sit all alone at lunch, oddly isolated for some reason.

you have bigger things to worry about.

your homeroom teacher clearly doesn’t care about your bigger worries, you muse solemnly the next day with a sigh.

here you are, set to spend the next few weeks with the quiet and solitary boy in your class and saddled with extra work. you don’t entirely mind the extra work, but you have an inkling working with ‘park sunghoon’ won’t be fun.

this is what has happened. when you enter class in the morning, everything is going as usual. you haven’t seen that cursed phone again (thank god) and everyone seems to be going about their day perfectly fine.

then your teacher comes in, and begins to speak about a school wide event. she says that other schools are set to be invited, as well as a multitude of other things. all stuff you couldn’t care less about, and so you zone out.

that is, until the classroom goes pin drop silent and you realize maybe you should clock back in.

the teacher, it seems, is asking for volunteers?

“now, i know we have class representatives, but as they already have many other duties, i want to pick two new students for the roles of managing our class’s contribution to the event.”

still not very interesting, but you feign attentiveness. you can hear whispers all around you, people considering if the perks are worth giving up that much free time. ultimately, no one raises their hands for fear of looking eager.

instead, they wait for her to strike.

she calls on park sunghoon, curiously enough, “how would you like to help with the event, sunghoon?”

you can read people, so it’s very obvious a snarky reply might have made its way to his mouth, but you can almost see him swallow it back.

“okay,” he intones instead.

immediately, it’s as if someone has pressed a mute button. all of the potential interest in participating vanishes. you raise a brow, sunghoon seems to be a handsome guy, with no glaringly apparent personality issues, so why does it seem like absolutely no one wants to work with him?

is he a pariah, maybe? perhaps he had caused an incident before you had transferred to the school, and that caused their aversion.

nevertheless, whatever the reason is, interest in working on the school event has dropped into the negatives.

which, of course, means the teacher has to volunteer someone again. and of course, the lucky person has to be you.

“y/n,” the teacher starts, jolting you into attention, “would you like to work alongside sunghoon for the event? you’ll be able to make a lot of friends, and it might help in getting to know the school and its students better.”

you flinch in your seat, a flush settling in your body. this is so damn embarrassing. did she have to call you out like that in front of everyone?

“uh,” your voice cracks slightly and it’s all you can do to not dive under the desk and cry, “sure?”

it isn’t like you have much else of a choice, what with twenty-something pairs of eyes locked onto you expectantly. maybe if you do this they’d actually like you. if they don’t make fun of you for being so obviously friendless first, of course.

you’re still in an almost trancelike state when you and sunghoon are alone in the room with the teacher to receive more detailed instructions after class.

“you two will be in touch often in the upcoming month, so i suggest you exchange contact information, if you haven’t already.” she leaves with a final note.

so now it’s just the two of you. great.

you clear your throat awkwardly, “so, should we exchange numbers?”

the words are uttered with a friendly air as you try to not take his standoffish aura and appearance at face value. never judge a book by its cover, or whatever the saying is.

scratch that- did this bitch just roll his eyes at you? okay, wow, so maybe the other students are totally valid in giving his ass a fifteen foot berth.

“what else?” 

and man, it might seem like a given to him, but it isn’t for you? there’s no reason to be so rude to a complete stranger. especially since you haven’t wronged him.

… nothing that you can remember, at least.

you hum, still being civil, of course. 

“hmm, social media would work too.”

he levels you with an unimpressed gaze, “i don’t have social media.”

“o.. kay?” not entirely sure how to respond, you hand your phone over to insert his number.

he takes it, and you expect him to hand his phone over to do the same, but he doesn’t.

after around half a minute he just puts the cell phone back into your hands, already packing up to leave.

when he notices you standing there in place, not having moved an inch as he’s all but ready to go, he stares blankly at you.

“just text me so i get your number,” sunghoon mutters as he brushes past you.

wow. either you’ve done something wrong to him and forgotten about it (‘like jake did,’ you thought with a chuckle), or he’s just a grouchy person in general.

you’re leaning towards the second, because then it would also make sense why everyone avoids him.

sunghoon is in a very grumpy mood. sure, he wouldn’t go as far as to call you the bane of his existence but considering how often the corners of his mouth have pulled down into a frown in the past week, you might be close.

‘although,’ sunghoon muses, ‘it’s been getting better…’

most notably, despite your initial interaction and the following few being quite stilted, mostly courtesy of one standoffish park sunghoon, he’s noticed a sort of reluctant peace start to settle between the two of you.

from you, because annoyingly enough you don’t seem to have a mean bone in your body, and also from him because as much as you bother him, you intrigue him.

how are you possible?

and that’s where he is right now. sunghoon discreetly looks at you from his end of the storage room.

this week, the two of you are taking inventory of the school’s supplies in order to see what needs to be ordered. unfortunately, there are a lot of storage rooms across your school buildings. like, an unsettling amount.

the number causes an odd feeling to arise; considering there are so many, what are the odds that you would happen to stumble upon the one that contained jake? funny how things work out, isn’t it?

back to the point, you try to ignore sunghoon’s gaze digging into the back of your head as you rummage through the shelves on your side of the room and make notes on a clipboard.

eventually, though, it’s too much.

“what.” you force out before tracing back to suck any annoyance out of your tone, “i mean, is something the matter?”

sunghoon just stares at you cryptically, a slight smirk arising at your slip up. so you aren’t little miss perfect all of the time. funnily enough, this doesn’t sate him and instead he just grows more keen on seeing you lose your composure.

‘that’s right, you don’t like being nice all the time do you?’

before sunghoon can try and calculate what to say to irritate you, though, the words just slip out, “why are you so nice all the time?”

you raise an eyebrow, “am i?”

he gives you an unimpressed look, but doesn’t bother speaking so you continue.

“i don’t think i’m nice. i get really frustrated at people and i’m not always polite or courteous,” you ramble.

now this is interesting. sunghoon is downright flabbergasted, because what did you mean, you’re not nice? 

“i’ve seen you help people out all the time,” sunghoon blurts out, realizing in hindsight he’s exposed himself.

you nod at him, deciding to ignore the fact that apparently you have been getting observed for a considerable amount of time.

“okay, but i consider that basic human decency. kindness, if we’re stretching it.”

his forehead scrunches and you hate that the mannerism gets marked in your head as ‘adorable’ before you reel yourself back and remember he’s been… kind of a dick to you.

although, considering the way everyone avoids him… maybe he’s just kind of a dick in general?

you are pulled from your musing when sunghoon speaks after his extended silence, “what’s the difference?”

you let out a startled, “huh?”

sunghoon shakes his head, his state of utter bafflement temporarily draining the previous irritation out of him, “between kindness and niceness, what’s the difference?”

“well,” you struggle to find a way to put it into words, “being nice is like being polite to others and having manners, like saying please or thank you. being kind… i think it’s more about other people and treating them well. caring.”

when he’s silent, you continue, “you can be kind without being nice, and you can be nice without being kind. the latter… is pretty common, considering how often people want to use others for their own gain.”

a certain light of understanding enters the boy’s eyes and you believe he’s starting to see your point, but sunghoon’s next words prove that wrong.

“kindness doesn’t exist.”

your eyebrows shoot up. what in the world is this guy talking about?

“of course it does, maybe it’s hard to be kind to strangers, but i’m sure you’ve experienced kindness from those that care about you.”

a frown settles on his face, and it’s like all the openness to discussion he had started to gather has vanished in an instant. sunghoon is akin to an ice cold wall.

he turns away from you, back to the shelves on his side of the room, cleanly killing the conversation in a few gruff words, “let’s get back to work.”

you sigh, turning and following suit, before you almost tip the basket you’ve started to peak into at his next words.

they find your ears in a faint whisper, almost as if they had not meant to be said aloud, “if kindness exists, i’ve never felt it.”

the words bring an immeasurable ache into your heart, despite this being your first proper conversation with him.

sure, he’s rude and unnecessarily curt with you, but he hasn’t gone so far as to be unkind. everyone deserves to receive warmth, to be nurtured and cared for.

of course, you sure as hell aren’t going to be the one to try and nurture him, it really isn’t your job.

that still doesn’t stop you from feeling a note of sympathy and sadness for the boy as you continue your inventory.

sunghoon is in a very grumpy mood. sure, he wouldn’t go as far as to call you the bane of his existence but considering how often the corners of his mouth have pulled down into a frown in the past week, you might be close.

‘although,’ sunghoon muses, ‘it’s been getting better…’

most notably, despite your initial interaction and the following few being quite stilted, mostly courtesy of one standoffish park sunghoon, he’s noticed a sort of reluctant peace start to settle between the two of you.

from you, because annoyingly enough you don’t seem to have a mean bone in your body, and also from him because as much as you bother him, you intrigue him.

how are you possible?

and that’s where he is right now. sunghoon discreetly looks at you from his end of the storage room.

this week, the two of you are taking inventory of the school’s supplies in order to see what needs to be ordered. unfortunately, there are a lot of storage rooms across your school buildings. like, an unsettling amount.

the number causes an odd feeling to arise; considering there are so many, what are the odds that you would happen to stumble upon the one that contained jake? funny how things work out, isn’t it?

back to the point, you try to ignore sunghoon’s gaze digging into the back of your head as you rummage through the shelves on your side of the room and make notes on a clipboard.

eventually, though, it’s too much.

“what.” you force out before tracing back to suck any annoyance out of your tone, “i mean, is something the matter?”

sunghoon just stares at you cryptically, a slight smirk arising at your slip up. so you aren’t little miss perfect all of the time. funnily enough, this doesn’t sate him and instead he just grows more keen on seeing you lose your composure.

‘that’s right, you don’t like being nice all the time do you?’

before sunghoon can try and calculate what to say to irritate you, though, the words just slip out, “why are you so nice all the time?”

you raise an eyebrow, “am i?”

he gives you an unimpressed look, but doesn’t bother speaking so you continue.

“i don’t think i’m nice. i get really frustrated at people and i’m not always polite or courteous,” you ramble.

now this is interesting. sunghoon is downright flabbergasted, because what did you mean, you’re not nice? 

“i’ve seen you help people out all the time,” sunghoon blurts out, realizing in hindsight he’s exposed himself.

you nod at him, deciding to ignore the fact that apparently you have been getting observed for a considerable amount of time.

“okay, but i consider that basic human decency. kindness, if we’re stretching it.”

his forehead scrunches and you hate that the mannerism gets marked in your head as ‘adorable’ before you reel yourself back and remember he’s been… kind of a dick to you.

although, considering the way everyone avoids him… maybe he’s just kind of a dick in general?

you are pulled from your musing when sunghoon speaks after his extended silence, “what’s the difference?”

you let out a startled, “huh?”

sunghoon shakes his head, his state of utter bafflement temporarily draining the previous irritation out of him, “between kindness and niceness, what’s the difference?”

“well,” you struggle to find a way to put it into words, “being nice is like being polite to others and having manners, like saying please or thank you. being kind… i think it’s more about other people and treating them well. caring.”

when he’s silent, you continue, “you can be kind without being nice, and you can be nice without being kind. the latter… is pretty common, considering how often people want to use others for their own gain.”

a certain light of understanding enters the boy’s eyes and you believe he’s starting to see your point, but sunghoon’s next words prove that wrong.

“kindness doesn’t exist.”

your eyebrows shoot up. what in the world is this guy talking about?

“of course it does, maybe it’s hard to be kind to strangers, but i’m sure you’ve experienced kindness from those that care about you.”

a frown settles on his face, and it’s like all the openness to discussion he had started to gather has vanished in an instant. sunghoon is akin to an ice cold wall.

he turns away from you, back to the shelves on his side of the room, cleanly killing the conversation in a few gruff words, “let’s get back to work.”

you sigh, turning and following suit, before you almost tip the basket you’ve started to peak into at his next words.

they find your ears in a faint whisper, almost as if they had not meant to be said aloud, “if kindness exists, i’ve never felt it.”

the words bring an immeasurable ache into your heart, despite this being your first proper conversation with him.

sure, he’s rude and unnecessarily curt with you, but he hasn’t gone so far as to be unkind. everyone deserves to receive warmth, to be nurtured and cared for.

of course, you sure as hell aren’t going to be the one to try and nurture him, it really isn’t your job.

that still doesn’t stop you from feeling a note of sympathy and sadness for the boy as you continue your inventory.

finally. after a long hard day of, well, avoiding pushy fangirls and brown-nosers, jake has glimpsed some freedom.

he finds himself enjoying the breeze on a local park bench instead. it’s close enough to decelis that he still flinches every time he hears a high-pitched noise, but finding peace is not impossible.

especially when the park is full of families having fun and apparent couples lazing on the grass. it’s not often he gets to experience an atmosphere like this. not often that he’s allowed to pause and allow himself to feel the moment long enough to experience anything at all, actually.

it feels as if most of his time is spent in making connections, modelling, events and the time he does get to spend at school is used up dodging people who want to talk about said activities.

it’s downright exhausting, and it’s to the point jake considers dropping modelling several times a week. the issue, of course, is that he loves it. to him, it’s a form of art, especially when he can see all of the incredible content created from him. it’s like a part of him is permanently out there for people to know and experience and that’s just amazing to him.

an impasse. 

but enough rumination, right now is his time to truly feel peace and enjoy the ambiance the fresh air and trees provide.

that is, until someone goes crashing to the ground in front of him. 

jake did think that a block of pavement jutting at an angle from the previous would be an issue, but seeing the stray train of thought come to fruition is unfortunate.

what has just happened settles in, and jake scrambles off of the bench, mourning his peace only a little bit after taking in the familiar decelis girls’ uniform.

“oh my god, are you okay?” his hands hover hesitantly, twitching in the air uselessly in response to the girl’s groan filling the surroundings.

when you turn towards the boy to reassure him that ‘yeah, i just got my shit rocked in front of you, but i’m fine!’ you instead end up gasping when you notice who it is, “it’s you! coffee boy!”

jake is a little astonished, since when is he coffee boy? “hey! i have a name.”

you furrow your brow a bit, and he can’t tell if you’re trying to remember said name or that’s pain on your face.

“jake! right?”

he ignores the odd, new feeling of someone having to confirm his name instead of intuitively knowing it before he even says a word and nods, “and you’re y/n.”

he’s not sure if he would have remembered your name were it not for the way your last encounter with him went.

you nod enthusiastically, before frowning at the sting you feel on your knees. it seems the right one is slightly skinned. you frown, contemplating what you should do, still on the floor.

jake clears his throat, “you, uh, should probably do something about that.”

you raise an unimpressed brow, as if to say, ‘what, pray tell, should i do here in the middle of the park?’

but, not one to be discouraged, you reach into your bag, frowning and dumping one of the pockets contents onto the ground in search of what you need. you cheer slightly in triumph, grabbing the handkerchief around your skinned knee for now.

good enough until you get home.

you hear jake chuckle and fix your gaze back on him, confused as to what’s funny in the situation right now.

he smiles, pointing at an item from your backpack, “you’re still carrying a flip-phone around in this day and age?”

the blood evaporates out of your body. you don’t want it to be true, but as you follow his finger with bated breath, your heart stutters as your gaze lands on it.

it, being a bright. pink. flip-phone.

unbeknownst to you, jake frowns in confusion as he notices the drastic change in your demeanour. he remains dumbfounded as you flounder, shoving everything back in your backpack whilst completely ignoring the object.

he doesn’t even have the time to question you before you bolt away, leaving him and the flip phone.

jake’s unable to hold his curiosity back and he picks up the phone. he almost drops it at the message sitting on the home screen that greets him.

unknown number: hey, you’re not supposed to look at this! (¬_¬)

just what the hell is this? jake shrugs off the unnerving feeling and pockets the cell, deciding he’d give it to you eventually when you spoke again. although with the way you ran off, you didn’t seem too keen about it.

the model is utterly confused, but. oh well. he supposes being strange is one of your character traits.

unbeknownst to him, the phone would appear back in your backpack as soon as you arrive home.

jake would not find the flip phone later and would anxiously assume he lost it– or that you took it back without him knowing. 

the second thought would lead to a misunderstanding later down the line, but that is currently unimportant.

when you finally burst into your bedroom, you’re hyperventilating. a cacophony of frantic thoughts swim around in your head, trying to find some way, any way, to rationalize this. except there’s no rationalizing it.

while you have always been open to the supernatural, by no means are you a quote unquote believer, or anything near the like.

so this is way beyond your scope.

you pace around your room, trying to consider what options there are. clearly, unless you have a devout and incredibly skilled stalker there is no human possibility for the occurrences so far.

with the hypothesis that what’s haunting you is indeed supernatural, what are your possible courses of action?

well, telling someone definitely won’t work out, not to mention the fact that the only people you could possibly tell are your friends, several kilometres away, who are no doubt busy with their own lives. ignoring it has clearly been going well for you so far.

so your only option is to communicate with the mysterious being on the other side and find out exactly what they want. and then hope they leave you alone. how ideal.

you sigh as you dump your backpack on your bed, hoping the flip-phone won’t be amongst your belongings and also simultaneously knowing you aren’t that lucky.

lo and behold, there it is. who would have known such a small object was capable of causing such immense spite? you flick open the phone, bracing yourself for whatever jeering remark is sure to be awaiting you.

unknown number: long time no see, huh? did you miss me?

you roll your eyes and shoot out:

you: no.

the response is unnervingly quick.

unknown number: you hurt my feelings, love. although I suppose you wouldn’t know much about that, would you?

you furrow your brows, having absolutely no idea what the entity is talking about. but before you could even begin to compose a response, another message arrives.

unknown number: alright let's cut to the chase. you’re unlovable.

what. the. fuck. tormenting you constantly isn’t enough, it has to mock you for being perpetually single as well. frustrated, you message back:

you: what do you mean?

unknown number: oh you know exactly what i mean. has anyone ever liked you, a little playground crush, developed feelings? no, because you’re not destined for love.

you don’t believe a word of whatever bullshit this cell phone is spouting.

you: alright, whatever. what’s the big deal.

the next gap between messages is longer, intriguingly enough.

unknown number: you’re an anomaly. a bug. and you know what happens to errors, we get rid of them don’t we?

your brows shoot up, unable to contain the shock at genuinely being threatened.

unknown number: this phone gives you the ability to see how much romantic affection someone will receive in their life ^ - ^

unknown number: you have 0. most normal people have at least 10. crazy, huh? try it out, take a selfie. this phone’s camera shows and tells all.

you roll your eyes, incredibly annoyed. as if. there are so many issues with that statement that you can’t accredit to supernatural abilities. how would the phone have the power to see the future? unbelievable. 

which is precisely why you shut the phone off and toss it somewhere unknown in your room. you can't help the nagging feeling that it may not be the best idea, but what actual power does this phone have?

whatever entity talking to you could message you through the cell and seemingly return it to you endlessly, but you had reason to believe they needed to talk to you for some reason. it doesn't seem like a good idea to just give in and accept whatever it says thoughtlessly.

although there’s no doubt the phone would appear in your vicinity in a little while again and bother you until you open it, right now you just can’t be arsed to care.

what does it mean, ‘incapable of being loved,’ you hadn’t written romance on the internet to other teens for years to be told this. in fact, no doubt your (few) readers are patiently waiting after your final update several months ago. 

you reminisce on the succinct author’s note you had left at the time:

hey guys, i’m moving schools! i’m going to be busy for a few months, but to be entirely honest. i haven’t been feeling writing for a while. i feel like i don’t know how to write romance at all. maybe if i had a boyfriend lol. but yeah, i’ll see you when i get the inspiration or motivation to write again! love you guys.

you snort, what’s happening to you right now might be a perfect romance plot.

finally, the two of you have arrived at decelis again, deciding to split up after bussing together here ‘for efficiency’

as sunghoon walks away after saying his goodbye, a thought strikes you. although you despised that damn flip phone with a burning passion, you’re just too curious.

so you pull the flip phone out of your backpack and point the camera at his back, wondering to see what his number would be.

you almost drop the phone, because what the actual hell? why did a high-school boy have thousands of people destined to love him? well maybe he'll be famous in the future? but that couldn’t be, you narrow your eyes, sunghoon has already earned quite a bit of those points.

the label attached to sunghoon reads as:

87k/90k

so sunghoon is already famous? but why is he through so many hearts so early? you don’t get a chance to ponder on it further because you see sunghoon turn around in your camera.

shit, shit, shit.

you make a split second decision to pretend you’re taking a selfie, which should be believable given the fact that you’re standing in front of a flower bush.

you pray he’s unable to discern the fact that the camera in the flip phone hinge is currently rotated to the outside, not inside, and make a pouty face at the hinge to try and sell the fact.

soon enough sunghoon turns back around and you let out a sigh of relief, not noticing the smile that had been on his face whilst observing you. before your brief calm can last though, you get a message.

unknown number: believe me now? you can target anyone, but i recommend sim jaeyun.

hold on, hold on, the stupid phone’s moving too fast. you raise your eyebrows, choosing to ignore the first question in your response:

you: who the hell is that?

the phone’s response doesn’t help at all.

unknown number: oh that’s precious. he’s a model at your school. you can also target park sunghoon i guess.

your brows furrow, not liking the idea of using anyone like that.

you: what’s so special about those two?

by now you're pacing back and forth, the conversation causing a spike in anxiety.

unknown number: they’ve never loved anyone. meaning we have no data on them. who knows, you could be the lucky girl ^ - ^

you sigh.

you: what does that have anything to do with me? can’t you use your powers to fix this all?

the response back is incredibly infuriating.

unknown number: it’s out of my hands. there’s nothing as indomitable as the human spirit.

oh, this bitch.

you: but why me? couldn’t someone else do this, like one of the other anomalies idk..

it takes a few seconds to get anything back, but what you see chills you.

unknown number: because someone who can’t be loved has no place in this world.

you narrow your eyes, more infuriated than hurt.

you: why the fuck should i listen to you

it’s as though the air instantly intensifies and the world quiets around you.

unknown number: i’ll give you a reason. move back

you shoot out a quick:

you: what?

before immediately receiving back:

unknown number: now.

now usually this kind of command would irk you into stubbornly ignoring it, but a seriously dreadful feeling settles into your gut. instantly you scramble backwards, tripping into the flower bush.

and just as well because as soon as you do, a motorcycle zooms past, on the sidewalk, tearing into the sound barrier as it breaks record speeds.

your hands tremble and you stare wide eyed in front of you, not even able to comprehend what just happened at first.

you tend to get absorbed in tasks, yes, but there’s no way even you wouldn’t have been able to hear the engine of a motorcycle approaching.

the thought of what would have happened to you if you hadn’t moved chills you to the bone. or if the phone hadn’t decided to warn you, or if it chose a more severe threat. you shudder.

the message is clear: ‘i can get rid of you anytime i want.’

you sigh.

you: okay fine i'll figure it out you piece of shit.

you slam the flip phone shut, not giving the other side a chance to reply. huh, that’s really satisfying, maybe you should switch your actual phone to one of these for that effect.

you sigh in frustration, the happiness and satisfaction from finally getting to glimpse underneath sunghoon’s stoic exterior now completely gone. 

the phone’s words run around in your head, haunting you. there’s still no way you were going to manipulate someone into falling in love with you, but you have to figure something out, and fast.

something has to give, and you hope to hell it won’t be the ground underneath your feet.

you’ve been on edge ever since the motorcycle incident a few days ago, constantly paranoid that someone is following you or set to attack you.

it feels like every day is spent looking over your shoulder, and you are, which is probably why you bump into another student so hard, on the way to find a secluded corner to eat in. 

you feel their hands grasp the sides of your waist to balance you before you yelp and jump back, finally realizing who it is when you do.

“oh gosh, i’m so sorry.”

then, remembering your first encounter you laugh, “looks like i’m the one bumping into you now, huh?”

you expect to see a smile or chuckle in response from the usually genial guy, but instead you're met with jake’s expressionless countenance.

you raise your eyebrows, about to ask if everything is alright, but jake interrupts you.

“sorry, but can we talk?”

you’re flabbergasted at the chill permeating his words, but you nod immediately, sensing the mood shift to something more serious.

jake on the other hand is incredibly frustrated as he walks with a brisk pace to the closest storage closet (again, why are there so many?)

you follow, even more confused now that this is apparently a conversation that has to be done in private.

when you turn after shutting the door, jake looks like he doesn’t want to be here at all, which is hilarious because he’s the one who brought you here?

jake inhales deeply before speaking, “be honest, are you stalking me?”

“what?!” your jaw drops, not entirely believing those words actually came out of his mouth. the notion to you is downright insane, because why would you go around stalking jake of all people?

you shake your head, disturbed, “what are you talking about?”

“i keep seeing you around after that first time we met; it looks innocent and coincidental, but you could easily be staging this. not to mention the phone.”

you have no idea what the second part of your sentence means, so you focus on the first part.

“we’re in a high school? we’re probably just in the same place? dude, i promise i’m not following you around, hell i don’t know how you’ve been seeing me when i haven’t been seeing you.”

seeing his unconvinced expression, you continue, “look, while i think being good enough in something to compete is incredibly cool, why would i be stalking a mathlete? i hate math!”

jake looks at you like you have a few screws loose.

“why would you be stalking me?” he repeats incredulously.

you nod.

“i’m a model. if you’re going to pretend you’re not stalking me, at least have a believable defense.”

now this is just ridiculous, you roll your eyes. “yeah sure. and i’ve sold a million copies of a book.”

not done with berating this liar, you continue, “the only model i’ve heard of going to our school is sim jaeyun!”

while jake was initially dead set on confronting you before this turns out like last time, the situation has just gotten bizarre.

“i’m sim jaeyun.”

“what.”

“that’s me.”

you shake your head, feeling like you’re speaking to a child, “no, you’re jake.”

“yes. that’s my nickname,” jake for his part, also feels like he’s speaking to a child.

he snaps himself out of it, “okay fine, i get all that, but that doesn’t change the fact that you forgot that phone with me and i kept it to give it back to you, but all of a sudden it disappeared? i took it with me and then it disappeared. so either you tried to get it back, or someone else stole it.”

a chill runs through you; you know exactly why the flip phone disappeared from jake’s possession. but there’s no way to explain that without sounding absolutely insane.

so you lie.

“i don’t know man, i’ve never seen that phone in my life. i didn’t even know it was in my backpack, which is why i freaked out a bit.”

you shrug, hoping to sell it.

jake stares at you for over a minute, trying to read your expression and determine if you truly were innocent. he must see what he’s looking for, because he sighs, and his shoulders relax.

“sorry, that was a pretty serious accusation. i just, dealt with a similar situation before and i didn’t react quick enough back then and it had severe consequences.”

you shake your head, “all cool. your evidence was mildly incriminating at least.”

he nods, “yeah, but still…”

“i was wondering,” you hesitate, not sure if asking would be going too far, “why are you alone so much? last time i met you, you were eating alone here for no reason.”

and jake could lie. he could brush it off. he could put up a big smile and let this opportunity to open up pass like every other one that’s come his way. and for a split second he’s about to, but then.

jake sighs. It’s not like anyone would believe the world of an odd, bright-eyed girl over him anyways. so even if you did open your mouth and blab to everyone about your conversation, no harm done, right?

“everyone hangs around me because they have something to gain or they’re impressed by some superficial trait i possess. no one sees me. not for who i am.”

you raise a brow, “which is?”

he pauses, not having expected that question and not entirely having an answer, but his mind flicks to one of his biggest grievances. that everyone only saw a pretty face and underestimated his intelligence. constantly.

“... smart?”

you burst out laughing, prompting a flinch from the teenage model. jake frowns at you, sure he doesn’t expect you to understand that even someone like him can struggle, but this is a little cruel isn’t it?

he voices as much, “hey… i bare my heart out to you, and you laugh at me. i know there are worse things, but–”

you interrupt him with wide eyes, not wanting him to get the wrong idea, “no, sorry! it’s just, when you were talking about being seen, i wasn’t expecting you to name something that’s also superficial.

he adjusts against the metal shelf, pursing his lips. “what do you mean?”

“well, intelligence is also something you’re born with, no?”

jake rolls his eyes, surprising you with his increasingly lax demeanour, “that’s something stupid people say to excuse themselves from learning and improving.”

now this actually prompts some derision from you, coming out in the form of an incredulous snort.

“not quite. you can learn things and grow smarter, yes, but some people are gifted with a natural intelligence. i don’t know, it just doesn’t feel right to use that as a metric when it’s not that simple.”

jake hums, contemplating, “what qualities do you look for in people, then?”

“like,” you pause, “loyalty, passion, dedication, kindness, humour, empathy, patience.”

you take a deep breath to continue, but get interrupted by jake, who’s laughing a little.

“i think i get it, that’s interesting. i’ve never thought of it like that before, but… you’re right.”

you smile, a little smug at coming out of this conversation with the upper hand.

jake, in the meantime, runs over what you’ve just said in his head several times. none of the people he surrounds himself with have a nearly similar line of thinking, and it’s exhausting.

hearing from you that the qualities you’re born with are the ones that don’t matter is a breath of fresh air, and jake can’t go back to the smog after experiencing it.

“hang out with me?” jake blurts before he can think about it.

he stiffens immediately and he rushes to clarify, a little upset at himself for being like this.

“not. like, in a date way. i want to be friends.”

you just give him an odd look, “i didn’t think it would be romantic?”

and it’s a little hypocritical, but that mildly offends jake, because why not?

he pouts, “what, why not? are you too good for someone vain like me?”

you laugh and shake your head, “no, no that’s not it. no one’s ever seen me like that, i mean.”

maybe it’s more of the phone’s words ringing around in your head, yelling at you that you’re unlovable, but it’s not like the phone lied. no one has ever confessed to you, or pursued you romantically.

your mind flashes briefly to the boy who left his number for you, but you shoo the thought away. if he was really interested in you, why didn’t he just speak to you? it wasn’t like you had claws or anything scary.

deep in your musing, you don’t notice the dumbfounded expression on jake’s face. how in the world has no one had a crush on you before? sure, it’s not like jake does either, but he isn’t blind, or stupid.

you were kind and pretty. and probably a bunch of those other qualities you had listed earlier. before he can make any sort of response, the bell rings, startling the two of you.

you gasp, looking at jake with a stink-eye, “you took up my entire lunch?”

“sorry, i’ll make it up to you?” jake responds with a sheepish grin.

you shake your head lightheartedly and turn to leave, exasperated but clearly not upset. before you can turn the knob though you feel jake clasp your wrist.

“wait!” he clears his throat, “add my number? so we can talk. and stuff.”

ah, this is so awkward. it’s been so incredibly long since he has made friends authentically.

you smile and agree. your smile only drops abruptly much later, when you’re in your seat and you realize you’re doing exactly what the flip phone wants. guilt fills your stomach and the idea of any of the pair finding out and thinking this is the only reason you became friends almost kills you where you sit.

although unwillingly, you have made progress on target number one. good thing you don’t notice target number two’s intense stare, because it might have truly taken you out.

sunghoon listens patiently as you explain the intricacies of online books versus published books on your way to the weekly event-planning meeting with your teacher.

except, imagine his surprise when you arrive and instead of their teacher there, waiting to cover what they had accomplished in the past week, there’s a bunch of other students?

you stop speaking at the same time sunghoon freezes, also noting the odd situation. simultaneously, the two of you back out to check the room number again.

nope, it’s the right room. 

the two of you exchange a cautious glance before venturing to enter the room despite the students occupying it.

seemingly noticing the confusion apparent on both your face’s, a boy with bright eyes who exudes a sort of feline air, (if that’s possible?!), speaks to you.

“are you two part of the event-planning committee?”

you nod gingerly, still feeling a bit like you’ve stepped into the twilight zone, “yes?”

the end of the word pitches up, coming across as a question rather than a response. the boy just smiles kindly.

“apparently, we’re having a monthly meeting with every class’s representatives,” he explains. 

you feel comfortable enough to lead sunghoon into sitting where the boy is, although there are three others clustered there, not really interested by newcomers. there are also other groups scattered around the empty classroom, but you don’t think inserting yourself in any of them would be a good idea, given that they hadn’t looked up in the least when you entered.

they nod at you when the two of you sit down, but leave the introductions to the boy who spoke. it doesn’t escape your notice that literally all of their gazes hang onto sunghoon for a bit before looking away.

you’re starting to believe there’s some kind of lore, for lack of better words, behind why sunghoon is mildly ostracised amongst the school and yet also has an incredibly high love count.

you tear your gaze away from the other boys, however, when the boy who greeted you speaks.

“i’m jungwon, this is sunoo, this is ni-ki, and this is heeseung,” jungwon gestures to each of the boys respectively, who do some sort of acknowledgement upon being mentioned.

“nice to meet you! i’m y/n,” you pause looking over to sunghoon, who looks like there about a million other places he’d rather be right now, “and this is sunghoon.”

you ignore the gnawing idea that they definitely know who sunghoon is and don’t look too keen on meeting him.

instead, you focus on the bright smile you receive from jungwon, “nice to meet you too, so i guess you’re a second year then?”

he’s most likely referring to the fact that you’re with sunghoon, but you respond without acknowledging it, “yes! i transferred here a couple months ago, though.”

jungwon nods, “makes sense why i haven’t seen you around then, ni-ki here is a transfer too!” 

he ruffles said boy’s hair while he says so, ignoring ni-ki’s yelp and complaining that he’s ruining his styled hair. ni-ki doesn’t retaliate though, too absorbed in whatever game he’s playing on his switch right now.

“so,” you attempt to speak casually, “what are we all waiting for?”

this time it’s sunoo, if you remember correctly, who pipes up, “the teacher who initiated this event!”

he continues with an eye-roll, “real classy of him to be running late after emphasizing how important being on time was.”

you smile, endeared by both of the boys' behaviour. it seems jungwon and his group of friends have a lot of personality. even heeseung, who looks to be on another plane of existence thanks to his zoning out.

ni-ki mutters a curse when he loses the level yet again, shoving the switch into heeseung’s chest petulantly, “fine, you can do it for me.”

heeseung just gives a smug smirk back as he gets to accomplishing what ni-ki was unable to do in your short time in the classroom. now that his attention is free, ni-ki finally gives the two of you a good look.

“so how’d you get drafted onto the committee, volunteered or voluntold?” he waggles his eyebrows slightly, and you smile at the clear attempt to be friendly.

you nudge sunghoon’s hand gently, trying to see if he’d like to answer, but when a second goes by, you speak up instead, not wanting the boy to go unanswered.

“voluntold,” you speak with faux dramatics, satisfied to hear a chuckle from heeseung even as he plays and smiles from the other boys.

“yeah, same,” sunoo mourns, pouting exaggeratedly.

you venture a questioning glance towards sunghoon, curious as to why he’s gone back into his shell. noting that the boys have become absorbed into a conversation that you are evidently welcome to join, but does not centre around you, you pull your phone out to send a message.

you: what’s up with you?

when sunghoon feels a buzz in his pocket, he glances at you curiously, putting the dots together. a small smile makes its home on his face when reading, before he responds.

park sunghoon: Contrary to what you might believe, I still don’t like hanging out with people

park sunghoon: This school is unkind

the kindness thing had sort of become an inside joke between the two of you by now, so you could recognize that he’s being playful, but at the same time an undercurrent of truth seemed to run behind it.

instead, you just send a quick response before visibly putting your phone away.

you: they seem nice though, just give it a try.

sunghoon doesn’t respond, knowing you wouldn’t see it anyway. he does, however, consider the suggestion. he’s entirely conflicted. you don’t know what he’s gone through before you transferred here. at the same time, none of these boys are involved with that incident. 

maybe you’re onto something.

for now though, he stays silent, content to watch you interact and bond with these people instead. even though he’s seen it before, your ease in human connection is truly something astonishing to witness.

it’s a gift not many have, to be able to recognize boundaries and communicate at a level that matches your conversation partner.

to your surprise, it’s heeseung who’s been relatively quiet compared to the younger boys until now who suggests exchanging social media. sunghoon raises a brow, but says nothing from where he’s leaning against a desk.

after you’ve given the boys your account, you’re about to perhaps try and suggest exchanging numbers as well so you could include sunghoon, but before you can say anything, a teacher walks in.

presumably the teacher sunoo had been shading earlier.

he talks about compiling everyone’s efforts so far, and so the next hour is spent basically catching up the entire committee on the progress each team has made towards the festival.

evidently, this does not go as well as expected, because the man listens to each recounting with a slight frown, noting that several teams had been exploring the same things and basically doing tasks that others had already done.

he shakes his head as he speaks, “this structure is very inefficient, we’re repeating work like this. instead, moving forward i’ll be dividing you into teams targeted towards different aspects.”

the teacher goes on to make several divisions, including accommodations towards different disabilities, vendors, decoration, entertainment, and the like.

he hesitates, seemingly making a choice between two equally conflicting options, “you can all choose your own groups, i suppose. based on the people here, each team will have five or six people.”

your eyes immediately find sunghoon’s, who’s done the same, before snapping to the other boys nearby after a few seconds. the agreement that you’d be a team seems to fall even without any words.

in the end, you go up with jungwon to write down all of your names under the ‘promotion’ task force. it seems the conflict you had earlier has been solved as, being a team, the six of you have to exchange numbers to make a group chat anyways.

you smile, beyond elated at the possibility of actually having friends, and not ones who behave strangely like sunghoon and jake.

more than that, though, is happiness at the possibility of sunghoon gaining more connections as well. maybe it’s not your place, but sometimes you look at sunghoon and you feel an immense aura of loneliness. 

and it would make you incredibly happy to see sunghoon happy, to see him learn that kindness isn’t so uncommon. because admittedly, at this point you are friends.

although you’ve started speaking to the other boys more after that fateful meeting, you had reckoned you’re more on the level of acquaintances.

apparently not, because during your wandering (jake had some shoot to go to, leaving you unable to have lunch with him) near the gardens outside, you caught their attention. hell, you didn’t even know they hung out here during lunch time, but you supposed it only made sense considering you had never seen them inside before.

you also hadn’t expected said observation to lead jungwon to calling you to them with a, “hey, y/n, over here!”

you look around in confusion, before pointing at yourself with confusion.

sunoo laughs, “no, the other y/n behind you.”

despite knowing it’s a sarcastic joke, you play along and whip your head to look behind you, and gasp loudly at a supposed second y/n.

a shy smile lights up your face when you hear laughter. so you are funny, you had started to think you had lost it with the way you had remained absolutely friendless for so long. 

you make your way over to the group, desperately hoping they won’t notice you’re alone.

of course, this doesn’t happen.

“where were you going?” ni-ki questions, not unkind, but curious.

you cough, a little embarrassed, “the single friend i’ve managed to make so far has other plans today, so i’ve been abandoned…”

heeseung raises a brow, “i think i saw sunghoon sitting alone by the west end entrance earlier though?”

you shake your head, a little embarrassed, “not him, we’re friends, but we’ve never really had lunch together because i don’t know if he wants to?”

jungwon nods with understanding, “he’s always been a bit of a lone wolf, i was surprised to see him so comfortable with you at the meeting.”

“comfortable?” you laugh a bit, thinking he’s making a joke, but no, the boy is serious.

“well, yeah, usually sunghoon’s in a bad mood.” 

he mutters an ‘understandably,’ but then raises his voice again, “but he seemed very calm and at peace. i don’t know.”

jungwon shrugs slightly, ending off with, “just my thoughts.”

sunoo watches the exchange with keen eyes, noting your demeanour and reaction to all of this.

he brings out a bright smile to speak, “anyway, forget that for now, sit with us! now heeseung won’t look like a creep hanging out with first years despite being a third year.”

heeseung yelps with indignation, “hey! if i recall correctly, ni-ki over here is the one who begged me to join you guys. i have third year friends too!”

ni-ki rushes to defend himself, “because you’re the captain of the basketball team! if they see me hanging out with you, they’ll think ‘oh, he used to be captain’s friend’ when we’re deciding the captain next year.”

heeseung shakes his head, “see, they just use you.”

you hold your hand out for a fist bump from the teen, laughing at the third year’s scandalized expression, “he’s just trying to be a nepo-baby. i don’t see an issue.”

jungwon laughs, “that’s not– well, i guess.”

you have an incredibly enjoyable lunch with the boys, sunoo making sure to let you know you’re always welcome to eat with them. they’d usually be out here, but if they aren’t you should shoot a text and they’d let you know where they are.

as he speaks, a chime comes from your backpack, and it’s all you can do to stop yourself from pulling the flip phone phone out and smashing it on the concrete.

you know it’s that stupid phone because yours is currently in your pocket. while you’re tempted to see whatever taunt the entity has left you now, you’re not keen on shooting your blood pressure through the roof.

so there it lies, in your backpack, ignored as you laugh along with the boys’ jokes and converse with them.

life at decelis is finally looking good.

despite the boys’ insistence that sunghoon seems to be comfortable with you, you can’t shake off the fear of bothering him.

sure, they think he looks like he enjoys being in your presence, but considering what you know about sunghoon, you’re unsure. which is why the next time jake’s unable to have lunch together (another photoshoot.) and you’re left alone, you hem and haw.

conflicted between sitting next to sunghoon or sending the boys a text like they had encouraged you to do, instead you end up doing neither and glare holes into sunghoon’s lunch.

unfortunately, as anyone would, sunghoon notices the intense gaze being levelled at him and catches your eye, startling you. he raises an eyebrow, both amused and exasperated by your focus.

you shake your head as sort of a ‘it’s nothing, disregard.’

of course, sunghoon doesn’t care and he gestures you over anyways. you sigh, well whether you like it or not the choice is made for you now.

you make your way over to sunghoon’s desk, trying hard not to focus on your fellow classmates’ curious eyes and whispers. yah, sunghoon is such a headache.

he doesn’t speak even when you arrive, staring at you until you pull a chair to sit across from him at his desk.

“so what was the laser focus for,” sunghoon’s tone seems to be teasing, but you can’t exactly discern if you’re right.

you mumble, “was wondering if we should use this time to speak,” and then you notice his blank stare and panic, backtracking a bit.

“i mean. about planning for the festival.”

“planning,” somehow sunghoon doesn’t seem convinced and you don’t want to figure out why that is.

you still don’t meet his eyes, “right.”

“without the rest of our team,” ah, there it is.

you nervously laugh it off though, “yeah, that’s why i was considering it, we’d have to find the others as well.”

you wonder how speaking to sunghoon had seemed so easy before, when now it felt like his eyes are capable of gazing uncomfortably deep into your soul. he looks around the classroom, noticing several people jerk their attention away after being caught, and rolls his eyes.

sunghoon gets up, which wow, you knew maybe you aren’t the best company, but that’s a tad rude?

to your surprise however, he looks expectantly at you when he’s standing.

“let’s go for a walk,” sunghoon finally says when it seems the brain waves he’s sending your way aren’t being received.

you nod dumbly, a little stunned as you follow him out of the classroom.

when you’re a good distance away and now roaming the sparse halls, sunghoon finally speaks.

“there were way too many people paying attention,” he sighs, “i’ll never understand the interest in other people’s business.”

you bite back the retort that it’s less other people’s business, and more his business they’re interested in, fearing this talkative (for him) mood sunghoon’s in will disappear.

and despite your initial reasoning that this interaction is for the event, you don’t bring up the planning at all, instead choosing to mention that your neighbours got a dog instead, and that it kept you up at night.

sunghoon’s eyes widen slightly at your choice of topic being completely unrelated to the festival, but he chooses to simply respond to what you’ve said instead.

and so you make rounds, talking about anything but the event. embarrassingly enough, you even spot your team members at one point, although sunghoon doesn’t notice them and it seems jungwon’s the only one who notices you, sunoo being in an animated discussion with ni-ki and heeseung being missing.

he smirks at the two of you, while you just narrow your eyes, daring him to say something. jungwon shakes his head and looks away, letting you off the hook for now, but definitely planning on bringing it up later.

well. that’s later you’s problem. for now you can relax and enjoy the rich timber of sunghoon’s voice along with the admittedly pleasant decelis atmosphere.

you guess its inherent clique-y-ness isn’t so bad once you actually have people to hang out with.

now that you have sunghoon to hang out with. you’ve spoken and interacted with sunghoon countless times over the past month, but this is the first time you feel that the circumstances with the event planning have nothing to do with it. like sunghoon actually enjoys your company.

so of course you have to open your big mouth and ruin that.

in an attempt to prolong the conversation, even as the toll of the bell looms closer, you say the following:

“by the way, did you know there’s a skating competition happening at the rink near decelis this weekend?”

immediately, it’s as if the vitality has been drained from sunghoon.

he freezes, then when you stop walking as well, he puts on a neutral expression but it looks wrong. forced.

“really? that’s… cool.”

you furrow your brows, “is something wrong?”

and wow, that’s something sunghoon’s wanted someone to care about for years. for just one person to look at park sunghoon and not see an ice skater, incapable of (forbidden from) messing up. for them to see a human being pushed to the brink, desperate to live up to the expectations.

just for someone to ask, even.

he chuckles sardonically, “no. yes. i don’t know.”

“do you want to… talk about it?” you venture tentatively.

sunghoon shakes his head, “no.”

but then he adds on after a few seconds, “not now at least.”

right before you’re set to enter the classroom, sunghoon grasps your shoulder and pulls you back gently to mutter. you stiffen, his mouth is way too close to your ear, it feels intimate.

“thank you for asking,” he pauses, “and caring.”

before you can compose a response, he lets go of your shoulder and brushes past you to rush inside.

you grasp at your ear robotically, eyes wide, and inexplicably flustered. you didn’t know why you felt so affected, but it’s a euphoric feeling.

after several last minute commitments and cancellations, it’s finally time for you to eat lunch with jake again. admittedly, while you want to get pissed off at the guy for blowing you off several times in a row, you can’t.

in your opinion, it’s understandable that he doesn’t have much time to dedicate outside of his literal job. although with how often he’s running off and missing school, you’re surprised it’s still legal.

aren’t there some child labour laws that should be getting enforced?

regardless, it’s been around a week since you’ve last seen jake, and you’re not ashamed to admit you’re excited to see him again.

you wait in yet another of decelis’ storage closets, this time you and jake actually planning to meet there instead of happening to meet or getting dragged there.

while you wait you decide to examine your surroundings with a bored gaze. nothing interesting, except for the fine film of dust coating everything and causing you to sneeze every five seconds.

it seems this closet is especially unused.

unfortunately, jake enters during a loud sneezing fit and it’s evident on his face that it’s all he can do to stop himself from bursting into laughter at your state. 

he shakes his head, amused, “i think we should probably go out to eat.”

“wait no, i’m fine! i just–” you interrupt yourself with a thunderous sneeze, “need to get used to it…”

this time the gaze he levels at you is deadpan, as sort of a ‘really…?’

but to save you from embarrassment, jake disregards the blatant lie, “it’s fine, i forgot to pack a lunch anyway. let’s go.”

you sigh, getting off the floor and only mildly cringing at the dirt that’s collected upon you during your stay in the space. maybe jake is on to something; you can only imagine how many diseases you’re possibly contracting.

“so, where were you thinking?” you ask curiously, struggling a bit to keep pace with jake’s speed.

if sunghoon is like the winter: cool, arid, and measured, jake is the summer: energetic, loud, and headlong.

you wonder what would happen if the two were to meet, a friendship for the ages, or an intense showdown? of the unstoppable force versus immovable object kind. you’re pondering who would be which when you’re pulled back to reality by a hand waving in front of your face.

“hellooo?” this doesn’t seem to be jake’s first time calling you.

you respond quickly, embarrassed, “yes, sorry?”

he snorts, “man, i thought you were just quiet because you were hungry, but you were on a whole other planet just now.”

any possible protest is cut off when you realize the two of you have actually arrived at some of the mom-and-pop restaurants that had set up near decelis, attracted by the hub of student activity and guaranteed customers.

you muse, “hmm, will we make it back in time?”

“doesn’t matter,” jake’s smile is something between mischievous and eager, “what’s one skipped class?”

you smack his arm slightly, “you of all people have no right to say that, you’ve probably attended what, six classes so far?”

when jake gasps in mock offense, claiming he’s not that bad, you give him an unimpressed stare.

“do you even know your teacher’s name?” you squint at the boy.

“of course, it’s…” jake flounders, before whining, “you gave me a hard one.”

“sure i did,” you roll your eyes, “have you chosen what you want to eat yet?”

jake’s responding silence tells you everything you need to know, his sheepish gaze meeting yours when you glance at him.

“what’s good here?” he ventures.

you shake your head, exasperated, “i bet you hadn’t even looked at the menu yet.”

“i heard their yangnyeom chicken slaps, though,” you add on, deciding to grant him mercy.

jake hums in acknowledgement, but he looks a bit… hesitant.

then it clicks, “wait, are you not allowed to eat stuff like that?”

he is a model after all…

seemingly caught, jake looks at you in surprise, before rushing to deny, “no! if it’s just once…”

you shake your head, “i was planning on just eating this later, but i had some bibimbap for lunch if you want to eat that?”

it would be considerably healthier after all.

and if you had any doubts earlier, the exhale of relief that jake lets out is enough to tell you that you made the right choice. 

(unfortunately you lose in another battle for paying for your food; although this time you genuinely feel you have no grounds as jake insists it's the least he can do after taking your lunch. touché.)

when you eventually receive your order and settle down at an outdoor picnic bench with jake, you pull out your tupperware, a pair of chopsticks, and a spoon to give to him while speaking.

“it’s really not my business, but are you okay with such a strict diet?”

jake shrugs, “it’s alright. it’s not like i never eat anything i want to, but sometimes it is frustrating.”

you look at him curiously, setting up your own food, “you like modelling in general, though?”

jake pauses, thinking it through thoroughly for the first time in a while, “... the verdict is still up. it can be very satisfying. and yet i can’t decide if it’s worth the sacrifices it comes with. this shit tastes so good by the way, did your mom make this?”

you laugh at the dichotomy between his dialogues, only laughing harder when jake sends a confused puppy-esque look your way. 

eventually upon calming down, you let him know, “actually, i made it. and by sacrifices do you mean like. missing out on school?”

jake’s jaw drops open slightly, “no way, you made this?”

you narrow your eyes, “what, you don’t think i can?”

he laughs, “no it’s just… you should open a restaurant or something. it tastes like home.”

the wistful light in his eyes leads you to believe you should probably leave the earlier line of questioning alone, so you don’t bring it up.

still, after a few moments of eating in quiet peace, jake speaks up, “it’s less school and more… i miss having friends. i used to be on the football team in middle school, and we would all goof around. i can’t get that anywhere now.”

“nowhere?”

he sighs, “you know, i meant it when i said people only see a pretty face, earlier. if guys aren’t pissed off at me because their crush likes me, they’re jealous that i get good grades. or some other inane bullshit.”

you consider his words, before speaking quietly, “i think you just have to find the right people.”

“believe me,” jake rests his cheek onto one of his palms, leaning an elbow on the table, “i’ve tried.”

and maybe it’s not your place, but you cautiously suggest, “actually, the friends i’ve made here have been nothing but kind and nonjudgmental.”

now jake is looking at you with suspicion, “you’ve only been here a couple months! and just a little bit ago you were saying you had no friends. zero.”

you roll your eyes, “well you don’t have to rub it in. and yeah, i probably don’t know the extent of their character, but sometimes you can just tell. the kindness someone shows you when they have absolutely no reason to, it sticks. and also i’ve been friends with one of them for over a month now!”

the boy mutters, “very impressive,” with sarcasm, but he seriously considers what you’re saying.

sure, you could be wrong, but the feeling you're describing is the same one he had about you. that ‘this is a good person, and i’ll remember them for the rest of my life.’

jake gives in, “alright, introduce me to your friends.”

CLICK ME TO CONTINUE READING

TAGS.

@ashtxrie @mioons @won4kiss @txnwvc @mygnolia @vivi-nin @laylasbunbunny @coqhee @boyfhee @sungbyhoon @viagumi @strxwbloody @dreamiestay @doublebunv @hoodiebangtan @lol6sposts @neos127 @capri-cuntz @junislqve @itulipy @woorcve

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boyfriend stories — nrk

pairing: bf!niki x f!reader ( ^ω^ ) smau, niki as your crackhead boyfie!!

do not copy or repost — @/jaysng

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