Ten Lee Au - Tumblr Posts

//beautiful stranger

pairing: lee ten × oc (female) genre: strangers to lovers au! fluff, little bit of angst and hurt/comfort, oc is also a little insecure about relationship word count: 3380 summary: "sorry, i'm going to call you cher-cher, because i've heard that colleagues call you that way... i didn't know how to ask, but would you like to go out with me? don't get any ideas, just wanted to thank you and chat a little. i'll be expecting you on thursday after shift, hope you agree, t." a/n: strongly recommend you to listen to halsey's finally//beautiful stranger while reading. oh, and also, i'm sorry, but there are some phrases in french, it really makes more sense in french than in english. it's up to u wether you want to translate them while reading or no.

the first time he appeared in their coffee shop, cherry had trouble taking her eyes off of him. he might have been an ordinary guy, just another parisian, but still, there was something about his appearance that attracted. maybe the black hair, that even from a distance seemed unimaginably soft, the features themselves exquisite and refined. but when their gazes happened to cross, it was his eyes that she found most fascinating, dark brown, but the look was just like a sly cat's. for a second, he even smiled at her, the corners of lips barely lifting.

it was his first, and definitely not the last, visit－ the beautiful stranger, as the girl had named him, had been coming to the coffee shop for months. anette had brought the same order for the second week: a pumpkin spice latte, two sugar, extra cream, and a slice of cheesecake. friend teased her for liking the guy, noticing the slight blush that covered girl's cheeks.

in love like a fool, she kept telling herself, anette only rolled her eyes at this. her friend had suggested hundreds of times that cherry should make a move to meet him and if she really liked the guy that much, maybe she should at least talk to him. the same was said by yuki, who started every phone conversation with the question "how is the beautiful stranger? have you already asked him out?"

cherry laughed back, her friends so genuinely wanting to set her up with anyone that they were ready to attack any guy at whose direction she looked. but here's the problem － the beautiful stranger would stay that way, because no matter what, she would embarrassingly look at him only from under her lashes, no matter what, she would giggle quietly, watching only for some of his actions from aside.

'cause beautiful strangers only come along mostly to do her wrong.

"cher-cher, your beautiful stranger has left something at his table, think it's meant for you."

anette smiles intricately, winking at her friend. what kind of surprise could be expected there she had no idea, but seeing the note wedged between the coffee cup and the surface of the table, girl was confused. why had anette thought it was for her?

but succumbing to her curiosity, cherryl did get the note out, unfolding a piece of paper. on it, in a slightly ornate handwriting, was written :

"sorry, i'm going to call you cher-cher, because i've heard that colleagues call you that way... i didn't know how to ask, but would you like to go out with me? don't get any ideas, just wanted to thank you and chat a little. i'll be expecting you on thursday after shift, hope you agree, t."

the cold air blew her hair strands right into eyes, blocking girl's vision. there was still a freshness to it from the torrential rain that had been pouring non-stop for two days.

that thursday, however, the beautiful stranger was in her company, they walked it seemed until the wee hours of the morning, ignoring the cold, the bad weather, the fact that they both had to work on the next day.

ten, beautiful stranger, had taken her for a night hours walk, luring her to an indoor amusement park. somehow, cherry felt as if he had pulled all the stars from the sky for her.

adrenaline was still bubbling in her blood: they had to run in order to not miss the bus, cherry would most likely fall if ten didn't caltch her in time. her blood was boiling as well from the cold of the night, cheeks really turning rose-tinted, hands tingling from the chill － except that ten's palms were warming her own.

of course cherryl knew that going to god-only-knew-where with a stranger wasn't the best idea, but for some reason she kept walking forward, clinging even more to the guy…

and when in the park he took his palms away from her eyes, the amazement she felt was immeasurable. there wasn't a soul in the dark park, frightening, for sure, but the fact that the lights of the ferris wheel were burning brighter than the stars made her feeling excitement. ten noticed that her eyes were shining too, like those of a child who was seeing something wonderful for the first time, it made smile spread across his face.

"bienvenue dans mon monde."

cautiously looking back at him, cherry smiled. In her beautiful stranger's world everything indeed was beautiful too.

"and is everything in your world like that?"

a soft laugh came off of his lips. damn, how handsome he was, cherry thought. she marveled at how he still wasn't feeling cold, except for his fluffy sweater he wasn't wearing a jacket, and the time had long since passed midnight. she was distracted from her thoughts by the touch of his lips to her cheek, warmth spilling over her face. he lingered for a few more seconds, then replied:

"bien entendu."

"your eyes, so crisp, so green,

sour apple baby, but you taste so swe..."

"bon sang, qu'est-ce que..."

phone rang in the middle of the night, and in the sack, cherry managed to notice that it's three in the morning, saturday. with girls they had a good time tonight, that headache was already giving off a slight throbbing in the back of her head.

"bonjour, are you awake?"

sleep was relieved by the sound of his voice. ten's voice had a pleasant, velvety timbre that she was ready to listen to for hours. perhaps even at a time like this she would have been glad to chat with him, but clearly not tonight.

"not anymore, what are you..."

he didn't even give her a chance to finish, interrupting.

"can i come to see you?"

her eyes wide open in a flash, was he there? jumping out of bed, cherry ran up to the window, peering out at her beautiful stranger. god, she noticed the familiar car and the figure beside it.

"ten, damn, lee, what are you doing here!?"

he seemed to notice her silhouette in the window because she heard a chuckle through the phone, they were still talking. she moved away from the window, sliding down the wall, until she felt the coolness of the floor, which brought her to senses a little.

"hey, cher-cher, guess i saw you, but never mind... so, can i come in?"

"god, ten, no," the girl felt horrible about the situation, and the headache punching a hole in her head, and everything else in the world. "don't think i don't want, it's just that girls are home and we've been drinking and also... oh, lord, just wait for me outside, i'll be right down."

"cher-cher, it's fine, i can come anot-..."

"five. minutes. boy, be patient."

cherry pressed the reset button, pulling on jeans that were lying on the floor, throwing on the first sweater she could find that wasn't even her, it smelled of young man's perfume, girl grabbed her phone and bag from the desk.

as cherry left the room she spotted anette and yuki asleep cuddling on the couch, even managed to take a picture to remember. she was in such a hurry that she almost fell down on the steps. a cold wind was blowing outside, forcing to wrap herself more tightly in her clothes, but the freshness somehow eased the pain in cherry's temples.

"hey."

despite the late hour, or early, he looked rather chipper: black hair was tucked out of his eyes and jacket sleeves were pulled almost to his fingertips. ten was leaning against the car, looking suspiciously, and his smile was strained.

his embrace was warm and comfortable, making her want to fall back into sleep, but that was clearly not why he wanted to meet. pulling away a little, cherry wanted to ask what was wrong, but ten suddenly pressed his lips to her, the girl clutched at his shoulders in shock, the action was insistent, a warm hand resting on the back of her neck, the other pressed her body closer by the waist. ten bit down on her lip, earning a moan that escaped the girl's lips, his tongue sliding over the fresh bite as if asking for forgiveness.

but behind cherry's eyes, albeit closed, were all a blur of red, that she involuntarily pulled away, ten reached after, but the girl managed to stop him.

"wait, wait, what's wrong, ten?" her palm rested on his cheek and with the pad of her thumb she stroked his lower lip, eyes trying to catch his gaze.

"nothing, just wanted to see you. very much." he stretched the fake smile again, but he couldn't hide the anxiety in his eyes.

"oh, you're such a liar."

"cerise, how can you doubt my words?"

she rolled her eyes demonstratively at his reply, if he didn't speak up himself, then she'd have to make him, right?

"well you missed me, here i am. but i'd better get going now, it's saturday after all, i wanted to get some rest…"

cherry had already turned to go towards the flat and felt his grip around her waist got tighter, pressing the girl's back against his chest, she felt his warm breath on her neck.

"please don't."

turning her face a little, she tried to look ten in the eyes again, this time he didn't look away.

"then tell me what happened."

"i'll tell you, just not here. it's cold outside, i can see that you're already shaking."

indeed, cherry didn't notice how every blow of the wind sent chills down her skin.

"i know a place to go, but it closes in a couple of hours, so it's now or never."

his lips had faintly touched her neck before he released the girl from his hold.

tears rolled down her cheeks in black streams, cherry had been sitting like this for hours, her mind full of thoughts about unfainess of life.

behind her was the embossed wooden door, the floor cold and the window wide open. seems like today has been a bad day at work, yesterday they had a fight and just on monday everything was so good and so right.

outside the door, anette and yuki were enjoying their lives, while inside and out of her there was a whole damn hurricane. cold late november air was blowing through the open window, wet leaves were landing on the windowsill, and the floor next to it was already wet. she would probably get sick. she would have to take a sick leave at the cafe, she thought, minus to her salary. it seemed such a trifle, but the thought made her want to cry even more.

there was a knock at the door, but she waited silently for what the person on the other side wanted to tell, though the silence lingered, as if the someone behind it was hesitant.

"hey, cher-cher, there's someone who wants to see you... and, we were actually going to ... uh," another voice could be heard outside the door, grudgingly expressing something. "... the shop... yeah, right, the shop!"

"anyway, we're out of here," yuki's voice said. "be a good little girl you are and don't make us blush later."

ten, standing next to them grinned involuntarily, anette and yuki were completely different after all: yuki was an ulcer and anette more mellow, but he could see why cherry was befriending them. the blonde smiled sweetly at him as she heard some unintelligible reply from the other side of the door, as if trying to cheer him up, yuki patted him on the shoulder, "good luck, mate" she whispered.

cherryl heard the door to the flat slam, and some movement could be heard behind her own. ten sank to the floor, no other choice given, resting his back against the door that separated him from the girl. he knocked cautiously, waiting for any response.

"cher-cher, let's talk."

ten's voice was like honey in her ears as always, but she doesn't want to talk now. she was a little hurt, quite upset and had a bad headache.

"i don't want to talk now, i don't want anything..." she mumbled more to herself than to him. "...not to think, not to see, not to hear."

ten furrowed his brows, not particularly pleased with the barely intelligible babble of words. it looked like getting out of this situation was going to be a little harder than he expected since he was the only one talking.

"well," he took a deep breath before he began. "i'll do the talking then."

a chuckle was heard from behind the door, and ten smiled. he made himself comfortable by the door, his gaze drilling a picture of the three besties: anette with her brilliant hair, yuki showing her tongue to the photographer, and his cherry in the centre, hugging her friends, a red cup in right hand, a bright smile on her sun-kissed face.

"you see, cher-cher. everything in the world is a little more complicated than we expect. work, studies, friendship, art, literature... and relationships too." he expected at least some sort of reaction from her.

cherry, on the other hand, closed her eyes, just trying to clear her head of unnecessary things while ten developed his thought.

"so, when people don't agree on things, you know, it's totally normal. because to be together with someone with whom you agree on everything is to stop evolving. because if you give in to me every time we argue, i'd get bored. and so would you. vous savez ce que je veux dire, cherry?"

cherryl hummed, in fact, he has got a point, she understood that. and ten, without waiting for an answer, continued speaking.

"so this probably won't be the last time you and i fight. But, that doesn't mean we're going to be at each other's throats, pulling out shreds of hair and blowing our voices from screaming. 'cause the last one can be done in a more pleasant way," ten heard a chuckle, meaning he was clearly heading in the right direction. "it means that you and i are separate individuals, with our own views on life, and to some extent, standing on our ground is sometimes the right thing to do. because if you live in a complete idyll where no one ever says "no", then i'm afraid we'll part our ways." he was silent for a second, cherry tensed up, trying to allocate even the slightest rustle outside the door."et je ne veux pas de ça, cher-cher."

cherryl thought he was right. after all, you can't always agree on everything, then it would probably be a lie, which is worse than any truth. so they quarrelled once, cherry obviously was't going to give it up halfway through, and neither would ten.

"ten," she said something to him for the first time since they'd been sitting on opposite sides of the door. "i'll open the door, so be careful."

standing up, she, more or less, tried to wip the dripping mascara off her face, but it was a pitiful sight, and her overall appearance left too far from desired － one stocking had come off to her knee, skirt was all wrinkled, and hair was in a complete mess.

"hey, ten," she called out, resting her forehead against the wall by the door. "i look like a someone's nightmare."

"open the damn door already. i swear, if you're not in some unicorn pajamas, you're going to really regret what you said."

cherry smiled, yes, that was her ten, inhaling deeply and pressing the door handle. the first thing she saw was a tired look on ten's face, but he was still smiling.

"you're smiling like a fool."

"look, you're not wearing unicorn pajamas."

they stood like that for a while, just staring at each other, indecisive to make a step, until ten held out his hand to her.

she sunk into his embrace with pleasure, ten was warm comparing to the piercing cold of her bedroom, cradling her tightly, muttering something into her hair.

"cher-cher, regarde-moi."

she pulled away from his shoulder to look into his eyes. ten noticed that her eyes were red from crying, he gently stroked her cheek.

"are we okay?"

"are we okay?" she teased him back.

ten bent down to kiss her, as cherry wrapped her arms around his neck. he kissed her tenderly not wanting to let go, the girl put her hand on his cheek, and so a couple more minutes has gone by before they were interrupted by a message coming to her phone from yuki.

"are you two lovebirds done already, because anie and i are freezing our asses off."

cherry laughed and showed the message to ten, he joined her after giving her a final kiss.

"you can tell them to walk around a bit more. fresh air is good for health."

ten smiled at her with that same sly cat smile she loved so much, unable to help herself she lingered to him again.

In the end, he put her in the right place.

slowly spinning in the setting light of the february sun, cherry felt butterflies flutter in her stomach. her hands slid up young man's shoulders until palms foundtheir place on the back of his neck, fingers tracing the curly black hair. they had already grown back a lot since autumn, but cherry liked this new look of the lad, nothing seemed to spoil it.

"ten."

his eyes closed, they were so close - noses were touching, and on hearing his name boy smiled and hummed back. now, he seemed so carefree and calm and... even content with something. cherry rubsbed her nose against his, which drew a quiet chuckle from his lips, and ten pressed her closer.

"beautiful stranger."

his eyes, dark brown glinting in the sunset light, opened momentarily and the smile came off his face. she wondered why.

"you haven't called me that for a while."

it came to her belatedly that he was right, anything but a beautiful stranger. perhaps because he was no longer the stranger who camw to their café in the summer. this is her ten － heart, soul and all of that.

he's like a candy bar, stuck between her teeth, so sweet. like a light spring breeze, warm, enveloping the scent of leaves. like her favourite cherry to wait for all year.

"indeed."

cherry gave in slightly forward, nestling against his lips. It still tasted like the wine and lemon pie they ate. ten always eagerly responded because cherryl rarely initiated contact herself, he was literally able to count such times on his fingers, but not at all in rebuke to her.

he peppered with kisses her face and neck, hearing the ringing laughter in ears, sweet like honey. it's hard to believe that everything was happening in her small room, even though no one else was in the flat.

falling onto the bed they continued kissing, exploring all the exposed skin with their hands, cherry lovingly traced the tattoos on his arms, feeling the muscles relief under her fingers. his touch spread warmth all over her body, making her desire for a closer proximity.

"ten," his lips trailed to her collarbone and neck, moving higher and higher until he found her lips.

"ten, please," she whispered, only a few millimeters between their faces, eye to eye, "stay." she saw a fraction of incomprehension in his brown orbs, so he just leaned in.

"i will."

not wanting to let go, girl tugged him closer.

they laid like this for several hours until the day changed to evening and the evening to night. ten had long since fallen asleep, his head resting on cherry's shoulder, rosy cheek pressed to the soft skin, listening to her heartbeat, fingers lightly caressing lines of his spine.

carefully brushing his hair away from eyes, girl spoke aloud, more to herself, not even thinking about the fact that he is asleep:

"my beautiful stranger, stay with me forever."

"then you will have to stay with me too."

she didn't expect an answer from him, lips touching her bare shoulder, cherry settled in a little more comfortably, pulling ten against her, until the man was hovering over, pupils blown wide with the joy of his own.

it seemed like it's finally safe for her to fully fall in love.