Vernon.recs - Tumblr Posts

whatever you say, baby - chs

pairing: vernon x reader word count: 1.1k warnings: none? the slightest bit suggestive at the end but like... it's nothing author's note: part two to this fic! i would recommend reading both for it to make sense :)

You haven’t seen Vernon in four days.

You haven’t seen him since he kissed you — and he’d kissed you a lot.

You’d barely managed to finish the movie without making out on his couch like teenagers. And when it was over, he hadn’t asked you to stay — but he’d kissed you again by his front door. 

You’d texted when you’d gotten home safe, as he’d requested. Then you’d woken up the next day to a ‘good morning :)’ text, which was swiftly followed by ‘today is so busy I might die’. And then the two of you had just… moved on. 

He sends a Shrek meme and then disappears for hours; you laugh react or send a meme in return. He sends you a picture of a “gnarly” squirrel he sees on campus; you send him a picture of a shitty doodle you drew during one of your lectures. Neither of you brings up what happened. You know he’s got a project due at the end of the week, so you don’t push when his texts are few and far between. Even though you so desperately want to. 

Is he thinking about it as much as you are? You can’t get the feeling of his lips out of your mind, and it’s driving you crazy. You want to kiss him again, want to run your fingers through his hair again, want to feel his hands on your waist again.

But you remain in limbo. You don’t ask for an explanation — he doesn’t offer one. And you don’t know how much longer you can ignore it. 

Vernonie [8:34pm]: INCOMING VIDEOCALL

Your eyes widen when your screen lights up. You quickly straighten from where you’d been lounging on your couch, tucking your hair behind your ears and hoping for the best. He knows what you look like, you remind yourself, but that doesn’t help the nerves when you finally accept the call. 

“Hey, stranger.”

He looks cute, and it makes you sick. 

“Hey,” you reply, and you can feel your cheeks heat up for no apparent reason. All he’s done is say hello, but you haven’t seen his face in four days, and the last time you saw him you were —

“What’s up?”

“Nothing,” you say, and then you can’t help but blurt out, “You’ve been busy.” It comes out accusatory, and you regret it immediately. 

Vernon looks surprised, and you watch as his eyebrows raise. “Yeah, I had that big project to finish, remember?” 

You nod, avoiding eye contact through the screen. “Right.”

He’s quiet again before he says teasingly, “If you missed me you can just say so.” 

You know it’s an attempt to lighten the mood, but it hits so deep all of a sudden that you think you might cry. Did he not miss you, too? 

You know it’s a cheap move, but you absolutely cannot look at him when he tells you that the kissing had meant nothing, that it was all a mistake. That you’re better off as friends. 

“Hey,” he says when you shift your phone so that your face is just out of sight. You can practically hear his pout. “Come back.”

“I’m just gonna go,” you say weakly, and you can see in your peripheral vision the way Vernon sits up straight. 

“Hey, no. Wait. Please come back? Let me say something.”

You bite your lip as the tears well up. It takes you a minute, but you manage to take a breath and set your phone back upright to look at him. 

“Y/N,” he says gently, and you can see his soft smile through the screen. “Bro.”

You can’t help but smile a bit at that, and he takes that as a sign to continue. 

“Did you think I was avoiding you?”

You shrug. 

“You think I kissed you and then avoided you on purpose?”

Your heart stutters over itself a bit as he says the words out loud. When he puts it like that, you suppose it sounds a bit silly. Because it’s Vernon, and he would never be so cruel. You shrug again, but you still can’t find it in you to speak. 

“Kissing you is probably all I've thought about for the better part of the last few months,” he continues, and your eyes widen. “I wasn't deliberately avoiding you, I just... I was busy, that part’s true, but it seemed like a good time to give you some space anyway because I know you get into your head sometimes, so I thought that would give you some time to process…” He trails off, a hand running through his hair before he adds, quieter, “You know. In case you…” 

“In case I what?” It’s the first time you’ve spoken in a few minutes, and you can practically see the way Vernon’s shoulders relax at the sound of your voice again. 

He pauses, and then he says softly, “In case you regret it.”

Your eyes widen. “You think I regret it?”

“Do you?”

You shake your head, a bit dizzy as you return, “Do you?”

Vernon’s lip curls up at the side. “No, Y/N. I don’t.”

You’re processing, and he’s quiet as he lets you. He doesn’t regret it. He wanted to kiss you. He… 

It’s silent for another moment and then you say, voice small, “But you didn’t ask me to stay.” 

“Baby,” he says, and your eyes widen. “That’s definitely not because I didn’t want you to. Like I said, I was giving you space.”

“Baby?”

Vernon freezes. “Shit, sorry. Fuck—“

“It’s okay,” you interrupt, and he relaxes a little. 

“Yeah?” He breathes, and you nod. A smile spreads across your lips, warmth spreading through you as it really, truly dawns on you — Vernon likes you back. 

“Yeah,” you affirm. “I think I much prefer that to bro.”

“Yeah?” He says again, and you smile. You’re just realizing now that he seems nervous too, and it makes you feel all sorts of warm and fuzzy inside.

“Mhm.”

You stare at one another through the screen. Vernon’s grin spreads the longer you do, and even though you know your cheeks are flushed, you don’t stop the staring contest. He narrows his eyes, and you let out a giggle. 

“So…”

“So,” he repeats, and you watch as he adjusts to lie down on his couch. “I finished my project.”

That was not where you thought this conversation was headed. “Oh yeah? Good job, bro.” 

Vernon raises his eyebrows at the name, and you flush again. 

“It’s habit,” you whine, and he puts on an exaggerated frown. 

“That’s fine,” he sighs dramatically, “I was going to say that I can hang out with you now that my project is done, but I can see I’m the only romantic one here, bro.”

You gasp. “I can be romantic!”

Vernon grins, and you immediately know you’ve taken his bait as he teases, “Really?”

“I can!” You insist, and he just smiles even wider. 

“Want me to come over so you can show me just how romantic you can be, baby?”

TAGLIST: @tae-bebe @wheeboo @waldau @iluvseokmin @variety-is-the-joy-of-life @seohomrwolf @pan-de-seungcheol @minisugakoobies @wqnwoos @gyuminusone @christinewithluv @darkypooo @lvlystars @bewoyewo

"someone called me cute today", vernon says, unwrapping a piece of chocolate while lazily sitting on the couch.

"understandable", you comment

"no, it's not?", he looks at you, not realizing there's a bit of melted chocolate on the corner of his mouth. "i love carats and all, but you're the only one i want to call me cute."

"and your members?"

"...okay, maybe only you and seungkwan", vernon turns his attention to the wrap paper on his hands. "point is: i'm not cute."

with a chuckle, you clean the corner of his mouth with your thumb, making him look up at you with cute, confused baby eyes.

"sure, bro. sure."

inspired by this tweet because he just couldn't react, could he?

his friends and his dad hate me • chs

pairing: non-idol!vernon x fuckgirl!reader, fwb

genre: smut 18+ MINORS DNI!!! angst

synopsis: you broke his little heart, he’s a cry baby. OR, reader excels in the male dominated field of being a female fuckboy! (based off ‘crybaby’ by megan thee stallion)

warnings: p in v, oral (m receiving), fingering, riding, vernon gets his heart broke, reader is not a good person

a/n: i’ve had this in my drafts for awhile and needed to finish it 😭 i love when readers are morally gray or just wrong & bad! pls remember this is just fiction ok thx!

despite the protests from his friends and the little (though extremely loud) voice in the back of his head telling him this is a horrible idea, vernon grabs his car keys and tries to slip out of his apartment. “dude, we didn’t even get to finish the game! get back here!” wonwoo shouts, frustration clear in his voice. it’s bible in their friend group to finish any smash tournament that’s started, and he’s breaking the one and only most important rule.

“later!” vernon says, hand on the door knob. he’s sort of stalling, sort of wants to be told that he has to stay behind. the thing is, he’s pathetic, especially when it comes to you. he’d cross all seven seas to get to you, if you asked.

“she doesn’t even like you!” soonyoung shouts. vernon sighs and rolls his eyes, walking down to the hallway and stopping at the entrance of the living room. five of his friends look at him with mild disappointment and he puts his hands up in surrender.

“first of all, she invited me over so you’re wrong—and secondly, you’d all do the same if you had prospects but you don’t,” vernon says, letting out a breath. it felt good for him to fight back like that, though soonyoungs comment does leave him feeling sort of doubtful. very doubtful, actually, because he knows there’s some truth in his statement whether he wants to acknowledge it or not.

minghao and joshua share a look and vernon sighs. “fuck you guys,” he says.

“yeah, whatever. but don’t come back here crying,” soonyoung says, a shit eating grin on his face. vernon flips him off, face flushing in embarrassment at the memory of him getting so drunk that he cried in mingyus arms at the club over you. they’ve never been able to let it go, bringing it up every time your name is mentioned. it’s mortifying, but a slight wake up call. except he’s not thinking with his head right now.

they all snicker, but minghao manages to give him a sympathetic shrug. it doesn’t do much to alleviate the doubt in his head, but the support is nice. simply put, his friends are not fans of you, and he doesn’t necessarily blame them. your relationship started out rocky and unserious—he was a late night booty call for you and a fill-in boyfriend without the title. he did boyfriend things with you—for you, thought you two were together until you dropped the bomb that you didn’t like him or want him like that. he was crushed, but he played it cool and told you that he wasn’t looking for a relationship anyway. that only made things worse, seeing that you only called him when you wanted some attention, and constantly made him feel like you wanted him.

the crying in the club bit was the straw that broke the camels back for his friends. they had a mock-intervention for him, urging him to delete your number and to find somebody else, but as if you were summoned at the mention of vernon moving on, you’d called him a few days later and got him back where you wanted him. he hasn’t been able to escape you since, caught in some spell or trap you put him under.

“whatever,” vernon mutters, pulling off his cap to run his fingers through his hair. “i’m leaving now.” he declares, urging himself to actually make the move to leave.

he’s halfway to the door when minghao calls out to him by saying, “my therapist would call this self-destructive behavior!”

vernon doesn’t have time to deeply evaluate his behavior as ‘self-destructive’, because he spends the twenty minute drive to your place psyching himself up. that alone should be indicative of the issue with seeing you, but he doesn’t pay it any mind. instead, he bumps his music and drums his fingers against the steering wheel.

it’s not lost on him that he was able to make it to your place without directions, though he forgot how complicated the apartment parking lot was. by the time he finds a spot that he won’t get towed and/or fined in, he’s much later than when he said he’d be at your place.

vernon sends you a quick ‘here’ text before making his way towards the door to your apartment building. he presses the buzzer for your unit, and his pulse skyrockets. in the few seconds that it takes for you to answer, he spirals thinking of every negative possibility of your encounter. what if you really do hate him, like soonyoung said? and, if not, what if he sucks in bed? what if he says something stupid? what if you find out he’s a complete and utter loser?

“vernon?” your voice crackles through the intercom and shoots straight to fast beating heart, halting his mental spiral of doom, and putting him back in the moment. he’s nervous in a different way now. he’s so unsure of himself around you sometimes—which is definitely a sign that he should cut ties with you.

“y-yeah,” he clears his throat quickly, trying to cover up his shaky voice. “it’s me.” his finger nearly throbs in pain from how much pressure he’s putting on the buzzer.

with a loud pop, the door unlocks and vernon enters. he hikes the two stories to your apartment, and by the time he’s at your door he’s mildly winded from how fast he got up there. vernon stalls a few feet from your door to regain his breath (and confidence). he chews on his bottom lip for a second and glances down the hallway and considers making a run for it.

there isn’t much thought put into that, though, because his feet take him in the other direction towards your front door, and he’s raising his fist to send three soft knocks your way. vernon shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and sighs, dropping his shoulders and rolling them back.

you pull the door open and his eyes snap down to you, and he swears his hearing goes out for a split second, because his face feels like it’s on fire and his muscles feel heavy. and then you smile at him, and he thinks he may melt into a puddle in front of your door. “vernon!” you squeal, laughing yourself onto him, legs wrapping around his waist and arms encircling around his neck. “you took forever.” you mumble, capturing his lips in a kiss that he’s been dreaming of for weeks.

vernon silently thanks the universe that he didn’t collapse when you attached yourself to him, and that he had enough sense to hold onto the bottoms of your thighs for support. “traffic,” he lies, walking the two of you into your apartment and kicking the door closed behind him.

he stops walking and the two of you make out for a few minutes. his nerves disappeared the moment you latched onto him. granted, hes a bit nervous, but he doesn’t feel like he’s going to pass out, or like he wants to make a run for it. “you look good, baby,” you purr once you pull back from his lips to really look at him. you run your hands through his short, brown hair and smile at him, and he decides right then and there that all of the pain and suffering you’ve put him through might be worth it, if you keep smiling at him like that.

untangling you legs from his waist, vernon helps set you down and lets his hands drag up your bare legs. your skin is soft like he remembers, and he wants nothing more than to spend the rest of his life rubbing and touching it. but your hands make use of pulling down his jacket zipper and subsequently helping him out of his coat, so he unfortunately has to pull his hands away from your thighs.

“have you been working out?” you question, setting his jacket on the back of one of your bar stools. vernon looks down at his own biceps and shrugs. “i lift sometimes, yeah,” he says. you walk back over to him and shamelessly feel him up. he’s still skinny, but there’s muscle in places you don’t necessarily remember him having.

“hmm,” is all you reply—it does a lot to cover up how badly you want to tear him out of his clothes. you grab his hand and lead him down the hallway to your bedroom.

“how’ve you been?” vernon asks. you giggle at his awkwardness and give him a look over you shoulder as you pull him into your bedroom.

“really great,” you push him lightly towards your bed, and crawl onto his lap, lips finding purchase on his neck. you grind down onto him as you suck a purple mark onto his neck. “what about you?” you ask in between kisses, voice slightly breathless.

“uh, fine,” vernon spits out, mind a bit hazy when you slip off of his lap and onto your knees between his legs. “better.” you smile at him sweetly, but your hands make quick work of unbuttoning his jeans. he helps you pull them down to his ankles, along with his underwear.

a soft whimper leaves you mouth at the sight of his semi-hard dick. you press your thighs together and reach forward to grab ahold of his member and start stroking his shaft. vernon looks down at you with parted lips; he feels like he’s in a dream, watching you on your knees below him. you’ve given him head before, but it was conditional. usually, when you felt guilty for something, or knew you made him upset you would suck him off. he tries to push the thoughts away, and succeeds when you wrap you lips around the tip and attempt to take all of him. “fuuuck,” he groans, gripping onto the edge of the bed.

vernon is embarrassed at how quickly you draw out loud moans from him just by massaging his balls as you work your mouth on him. he hasn’t been with anybody else in awhile—and he’s too embarrassed to ever admit that he’s good with just having you, even if he has to wait for you to call him.

“oh, fuck, y/n,” he whines, thighs tensing. he lets go of the mattress to gather your hair and wraps it around one of his hands. you moan against his crotch when he pulls, watery eyes flicking up to meet his own. spit gathers at the corners of your mouth and vernon knows this is an image he’ll never, ever forget. “shitshitshit!” his hips buck upwards and he expects you to pull your mouth off of him to use your hands to get him to his release, but you stay put.

it drives vernon crazy. he comes fast, and he doesn’t have time to be embarrassed because you swallow, and then keep sucking after the fact. he’s never seen you act like this, and you’re a bit shocked at your own behavior—you hadn’t realized you missed him that much.

“y/n,” he whimpers, chin falling against his chest. you take that as a sign that he’s about to pass out, and reluctantly pull your mouth off of him with a pop. a trail of spit mixed with cum follows his cock to your mouth, and it makes you want to give him another blow job, but he looks too spent.

“vernon,” you start, getting off of your knees. he manages to sit upright before falling backwards onto your bed.

“give me a minute,” he croaks. you smile and take a few seconds of your own to catch your breath before you undress completely and crawl onto the bed next to him. vernon opens his eyes and looks over at you. “i wanted to do that.” he whines, referring to getting you naked, and reaches out for you.

you crawl on top of him and settle on his abdomen. his hands moves to your waist and his eyes stray trained on your breasts. you lean down a bit, practically putting your boobs in his face. vernon leans forward and wraps his lips around one of your nipples. he shifts the two of you so he’s sitting up straight, thus shifting you down onto his crotch.

you can’t help but grind yourself against him as he plays with your breasts. he fondles the own that’s not in his mouth, and keeps his eyes on you. you moan softly above him, light little pants leaving your mouth that only encourage him. “nonie,” you whine, running your hands through his hair and gently tugging on the strands. “touch me. i want you to touch me.”

vernon pulls his mouth off of your breast and slides his hand that was on your waist up your spine. he grabs the back of your neck and pulls your mouth down to his own in a messy, heated kiss. he manages to flip the two of you over, propping himself up on an elbow and slipping his other hand between your legs.

“all for you,” you purr when he drags his fingers up your slit, a look of disbelief on his face at how wet you are. “need you, nonie. your fingers, mouth, all of it.” you whine, spreading your legs open for him. vernon liked how vocal you were about what you wanted from him. he wished you were as vocal about other aspects of your guys’ relationship, but he’ll take what he can get.

vernon dips two fingers inside of you, your arousal acting as a perfect lubricant. vernon kisses your neck and chest as he fucks his fingers in and out of you. his thumb presses on your clit and you moan out his name. “more, vernon,” you breathe, gripping onto his hair tightly. “fuck, i want you to fuck me vernon. can you fuck me?” you ask, clenching around his fingers.

his cock jumps at your tone of voice and request. “i can fuck you,” he rasps. he’d rather make you cum on his fingers first, but you wish is his command. he lifts up from you and pulls his shirt off. you rake your nails along his exposed abdomen, applying light pressure. you smirk up at him and he grabs your hand and kisses your palm. it’s much too intimate, but you can’t deny the butterflies it gives you.

“grab a condom,” you remind him, pointing to your nightstand when he grabs onto the base of his dick. he quickly moves to open the drawer, and he tries to ignore the photobooth strip of photos of you and some guy he’s never met is the first thing he sees. he pushes it out of the way and grabs a stray condom, and slams the drawer shut.

he rips open the package and rolls the condom on before grabbing your leg and throwing it over his shoulder and lining himself up. vernon pushes his hips forward and sinks the tip in. “ah!” you gasp at the delicious stretch. quiet as it’s kept, vernon has a big dick and he knows how to use it. it’s unfortunate that he’s hung and is so shy about it—sometimes you wish he’d call you to fuck, rather than you doing it all the time. “fuck, vernon, you’re so big.” his body flushes with heat and he keeps pushing forward.

you suck him in welcomingly. he fits inside of you like you were made to be stuffed by him. he fucks into with a steady rhythm, and each time he pushes inside a moan is pushed form your lungs. vernon can’t keep his own moans contained, moaning our curses with each thrust. it’s dizzying, how turned on he is by you. he feels like he can’t think about anything other than fucking you and staying like this until eternity. he gets the morbid thought that he’d be okay if he died like this, buried inside of you.

“fuck, right there baby! you’re so good to me, fuck!” you shriek, mouth falling open as you look at there the two of you connect. you get lost in watching him disappear inside of you, by the white ring that’s formed at the base of his dick. the sounds vibrate off of the walls; squelching and skin on skin nearly deafening. “fuck me, vernon!” you cry, hips raising to meet his own.

tears brim in your eyes when he pulls your leg from his shoulder and shoves it up to your chest, spreading you open wider and fucking into you at a different angle. “i m-missed you,” he chokes out, shifting his weight to a single arm so he can grope your chest.

“me too,” you pant, chest arching up into his. you chase his lips with your own, wanting to feel as close to him as possible. your mouths press together, but not in a kiss. you pant and moan harshly against each other, his hips rutting into you at a faster, less rhythmic pace.

“i-im close,” he whimpers, placing an open mouthed kiss on the corner of your lips. you whine out his name as he speeds up his pace, your arms sliding up his back. you dig your nails into his skin, definitely leaving scratches. “fuck, you’re perfect.” he whispers, eyes looking into yours.

you whimper and squeeze around him before your release comes crashing over you. “nonie!” you cry, clutching onto him like a life raft as he fucks you through your orgasm. his strokes lose rhythm completely and moments later he’s coming into the condom, stilling inside of you as he does. you almost wish he wasn’t wearing a condom, so you could feel him.

vernon drops on top of you, his arms too weak to hold himself up. you cling to him, hands running through his hair absentmindedly. you don’t mind the weight of him on you, and you especially don’t mind the fact that he’s still inside of you. you have a soft spot for vernon, even though it may not seem like it. he’s the nicest guy you’ve ever been with—much nicer than the guys you’re typically acquainted with—and he’s sweet to you, even when you don’t deserve it. you know you should probably let him go, free him of your games, but something in you won’t let you. and that same something won’t let you like him—love him—how he deserves.

“vernon,” you murmur, rubbing his back.

“hmm.”

“im hot, and you’re heavy,” you say with a soft giggle. he smiles into the sheets and lifts himself up and pulls himself out of you. both of you whimper pathetically at the loss of contact, and laugh at each other seconds later. he drops down beside you on the bed, rolling onto his back. you roll onto your stomach and rest your chin on his chest before resting on your cheek, and he wraps an arm around your waist.

vernon strokes your hair and keeps his eyes on you. if he was a cartoon, his heart would be beating out of his chest and hearts would be shooting out of his eyes.

“you’re staring,” you mutter, rubbing his side.

“because you’re pretty,” he says, hand sliding from your waist to your ass. you roll your eyes and sit up onto your knees and look down at him. you can’t contain the urge to smile or kiss him, so you do both. “you should go pee.” he mumbles, breaking the kiss.

“right,” you say, quickly getting off the bed. no other guy would remind you to pee after sex, but of course vernon does. every single time, too. you wish you could leave him alone.

vernon sits up and grabs his boxers. he pulls them on and stretches his arms above his head, sighing when he feels a pop in his shoulders. somewhere behind him, a phone buzzes once, then twice, then incessantly. he doesn’t know where his phone is, so he digs around in the bed until he finds the source, pulling out the phone from under a pillow. it’s definitely not his, so he feels sort of strange holding it as the name ‘seungcheol’ flashes across the screen.

“what are you doing with my phone?” you ask with an accusatory tone, eyebrows furrowed as you tie your robe.

“i couldn’t find mine, and it was ringing,” vernon says, holding it out to you. you snatch it out of his hand unnecessarily, ready to tell him to mind his business until you look down at the screen and see three texts and a missed call from a guy you’re seeing. it’s not super serious, but you feel bad for vernon having to see it.

“sorry,” you mutter, quickly typing out a response to seungcheol. you try to shove the guilt down as you set your phone down on your dresser. it’s awkward and tense, and you can feel him watching you as you mess around with things on your dresser.

glancing up, you catch his eyes in the mirror and sigh before turning around to face him. you crawl onto the bed next to him and sit on your knees. he won’t meet your eyes, so you try the only thing to bring him back to you.

you kiss his neck and run your hands across his chest. he doesn’t react so you pull your robe open and grab his hand, placing it on your chest and squeezing. “vernon,” you murmur, crawling into his lap. you kiss up his neck, to his jaw, and when you get to his mouth he pulls back.

it’s not his business at all, but he can’t hold back when he asks, “who was that?”

you bite your bottom lip and encircle your arms around your neck. you press your weight into his crotch and bite back a smile when he covers a groan with a throat clear. “he’s just a friend, nonie,” you lie, kissing his cheek. “you have me. all of me.”

he looks up at you with wide eyes, and you feel his cock twitch under your ass. he’s pathetic, and it’s never been more clear to him because he kisses you and palms your breast, pinching your nipple lightly and shoving off your robe. he knows he’s reaches new lows because he lets you push him flat onto the bed and pull his underwear down. when you sink down onto him—with no condom this time—he knows he’s fucked.

you ride him like your life depends on it, like him forgetting that seungcheol ever called is imperative to keeping this thing going between the two of you, because it is. you bring out all the stops, riding him on your toes and telling him things he definitely wants to hear, like how nobody feels better than him, and he’s the best you’ve ever had.

vernon leaves your apartment with clarity on one thing: he understands why his friends can’t stand you.

love and lacrosse jackets

pe teacher!vernon x chemistry teacher!reader (fem)

genre: fluff

wc: 3k

warnings: reader is referred to as ms. (and other fem pronouns), reader wears vernon's clothes

a/n: this is not an understand series update and i apologize for that. however, here's a vernon teacher au with a little side of lacrosse and dad!seungcheol

You were suddenly thrown out of your thoughts by one of your students sighing and turning from her worksheet. “Ms. y/n, can I ask a question?” 

You knew this student, Maya, was likely trying to get out of doing her assignment. She was too smart for her own good. “Depends. Is it about the worksheet?” 

She paused for a second, turning her head slightly away in order to avoid your gaze. “...no.”

You continued. “Do you need to go to the bathroom or the nurse?”

Maya sighed and mumbled, “no.”

You turned back to your computer while giving your final response. “Then I think you know the answer. I would be happy to talk to you once you’ve balanced all those equations.” 

You should’ve known she wasn’t giving up that easily. If anything, she probably gave up halfway through the worksheet because she knew the answers and was just looking for something to entertain herself. “Mr. Chwe lets us ask him questions all the time.”

You snorted. “Mr. Chwe is a PE teacher Maya. You don’t have worksheets to do in his classes. Unfortunately, you do in chemistry. So please finish this or at least study for your quiz next week.” 

Maya was apparently taken aback by this. She was quick to defend herself, saying, “how do you know we don’t do worksheets in PE?”

You resisted the urge to roll your eyes. Maybe you should've been a college professor instead of a high school teacher. “I’m the girls lacrosse coach and he’s the boys coach. We spend a lot of time together and I’ve never once seen him make a worksheet.” 

An evil grin spread across Maya’s face. You internally groaned at this. That expression means she’s up to absolutely no good. She turned and tapped on her partner’s arm. Great, now she’s distracting other students too. “Henry, wouldn’t Ms. y/n and Mr. Chwe make a cute couple?” He grinned and started going off on a tangent about how funny it would be if the two lacrosse coaches were dating. 

This conversation really took a turn for the worse, didn’t it? There’s nothing you could do but groan, out loud this time, and put your head in your hands. Your neighboring teacher, Mr. Seokmin, really has impeccable timing though. He stuck his head through your door and grabbed your attention a few moments later. “Hey Ms. y/n, do you have a student that can run an errand for me real quick?”

Now was your chance. “Maya, since you seem to have no interest in balancing any more equations, why don’t you go help Mr. Seokmin?”

Before she could protest, the physics teacher grinned brightly at her before exclaiming, “perfect! Come on Maya, I need someone to help me carry these projects to the library.” Once she was finally out of the room, you breathed a sigh of relief. 

It didn’t last long though because your other students suddenly started giggling and murmuring amongst each other. Henry, who was still turned toward you, decided he needed to continue Maya’s antics in her absence. “You did say you and Mr. Chwe were close.” More giggles were heard. 

You’re not sure what you did to deserve this treatment from your 3rd hour honors class of all people, but clearly it was something. “Alright if you all don’t go back to your work I’m not offering any extra credit on this next quiz.” The rest of the hour passed in silence. 

“What’s with the long face?” Vernon thought the joking would cheer his best player up, but it just made Henry frown even more. 

After a few moments of silence, he finally answered, “I had a quiz in chemistry today. Don’t think I did too well on it.”

Vernon was quick to ask him which teacher he had. “Your favorite, Ms. y/n,” Henry responded. 

The PE teacher rolled his eyes at the comment but still clapped his hand on the player’s shoulder. “You’ll be fine, kid. She offers extra credit. But she also told me you and Maya were pestering her the other day instead of doing your work, so maybe you should put a little more effort into understanding the material next time.”

Henry grumbled, knowing nothing good would come of an argument. “Yeah, whatever you say Coach.” Then, he dropped his bag on the ground and ran out onto the field to start warming up.

Vernon felt someone approach him from behind. “See dude, even the kids can pick up on you and y/n’s chemistry. Haha, get it? Chemistry? Y/n teaches chemistry.” The head coach could barely restrain himself from flicking Mingyu in the forehead. He was a great assistant coach, but an incredibly annoying friend. 

“Why can’t I just be friends with a coworker and fellow lacrosse coach?” Vernon complained. Mingyu simply watched on as his friend continued. “Just because we’re both single doesn’t mean we should get together. I mean she’s really cool and works really well with the kids. And she’s an insane lacrosse player, an even better coach too. I think she could get the girls to state this year. I just think…” He’s cut off by Mingyu smacking his arm. 

For once, he’s grateful for the assistant coach’s intrusion, because he turns around to find you jogging up to him. Weird, he thought to himself, since you and the girls have a game today. You skid to a stop next to the two, and make eye contact with him. “You don’t happen to have an extra SVHS shirt do you? I think I forgot my coaching shirt at home today and I really don’t want Seungcheol getting on my ass for it.” 

Vernon’s world comes crashing down at that moment. Maybe he does have a teensy little crush on you. Because the thought of you wearing his clothes has him swooning. Mingyu, ever so helpful, snaps him out of the moment by clearing his throat to yell at the boys for messing around. Vernon blinks at you for a second before stammering out, “uh yeah I think so,” and reaching into his bag. He pulls out a gray quarter zip with the words “SVHS” and “Coach Chwe” embroidered on the chest. He debates hiding it from your sight and shoving it back in his bag to save you both the embarrassment, but he knows how strict Seungcheol is as an athletic director. 

He eventually tosses it to you, stuttering out something about good luck while watching you throw it over your head. Once it’s on you say, “I have the same one, so hopefully no one sees the difference. Thanks Chwe.” He can’t even process your words because his brain is simply malfunctioning seeing you in his clothes, especially ones that say his name. He’s no better than his high schoolers. Before he knows it, you’re turning on your heel and jogging back to the main field. 

Someone comes up behind him, filling Mingyu’s absence, since the assistant coach ran off to lead practice drills in the middle of Vernon’s little crisis. He hears the lacrosse captain snickering and then telling him, “damn Coach, you’ve got it bad. You’re redder than a tomato.”

Vernon simply cannot handle it any further. “Oscar, for heaven’s sake, please shut your mouth and go back to practice.” Oscar throws his hands up in mock defense, before grabbing the ball that rolled over to Vernon’s feet and running back onto the field.

You really need to give Vernon his coach’s jacket back. It didn’t help that you weren’t a morning person, and seemed to accidentally leave it at home whenever you left for work each day. It also maybe didn’t help that it smelled just like the boy’s lacrosse coach, who, admittedly, smelled pretty damn good. But, you couldn’t hoard Vernon’s things forever. You were lucky enough that you had gone a week without him mentioning the jacket at all, which you chalked up to him knowing you were busy.

Tomorrow, you told yourself. Tomorrow you would take the jacket back to school and give it to him. You even laid it out with your own jacket, which you were going to wear the next since you had a game anyways. That, however, was a mistake. Because in the morning, groggy from lack of sleep, you accidentally threw on Vernon’s jacket and shoved your own into your work bag. 

How no one told you until 3rd period, you’re not quite sure. Mainly because Seokmin had specifically complimented your outfit when you visited him before your first class. You thought maybe it was because you were wearing a new pair of pants. Clearly it was not and the physics teacher was using it as a means to tease you (and Vernon by proxy). If only you had known.

Maya stepped into your classroom extra peppy that day, which was already a recipe for disaster. The fact that she was the one to catch that you were wearing Mr. Chwe’s zip-up certainly did not help. A gasped “oh my god” stopped you in the middle of your lecture. You pointedly looked at the girl before asking, “Maya, is everything alright?”

The poor girl could barely contain her excitement, practically shaking in her seat. “You’re dating Mr. Chwe! I knew it!”

You were caught so off-guard that it took you a while to respond. “Maya, where did you even get that idea from? And you’re being disruptive, I’m trying to teach about equilibrium.” 

She stood from her seat and pointed at you, before excitedly exclaiming, “your jacket. You’re wearing Mr. Chwe’s jacket!” You looked down and, sure enough, Vernon’s name was plastered across the chest. To put it plainly, you were mortified. In fact, you’re pretty sure you’ve embarrassed yourself even more when you don’t respond for a solid minute. 

Finally, when you’re done wallowing in pity in front of a bunch of 16 year olds, you make your way to your desk and pull out a hall pass. You hand it to Maya swiftly before telling her, “if you’re too invested in this to learn chemistry, go bother Mr. Chwe about it. It’s his planning period.” She gapes up at you before scrambling out of the room.

You turn back to the rest of the class, making sure to pointedly look at Henry. “No other questions about my love life?”

A deadly silence spreads across the room. Henry sinks back in his chair but you watch a hand creep up from the back of the classroom. You sigh and call on the girl. She’s clearly surprised you even allowed her to speak, because the question is whispered to the point you can barely hear it. “Why do you have Mr. Chwe’s jacket?”

The inquiry is enough to throw you off the deep end. “Ok, I’m not teaching the rest of class. I don’t care what you guys do as it’s either A) not disruptive or B) asking me about my personal life.” 

Seungcheol is surprised when there is a knock on the athletic office door in the middle of 3rd period. Students should be in class and if it were a staff member, they would have just let themselves in. He tells whoever it is to come in and is slightly less surprised to see Maya standing in front of him. She doesn’t let him speak first, quickly letting out, “do you know where Mr. Chwe is?”

He raises an eyebrow at the girl. “You got a hall pass kid?” he fires back. Maya waves the piece of paper around in his face. He rolls his eyes. 

She puts her hands on her hips and looks pointedly at him. “Seriously though. Do you know where Mr. Chwe is? It’s supposed to be his planning period or something.”

Seungcheol is still confused why she needs to see Vernon in the middle of 3rd hour and how she managed a hall pass for it. “Why?”

Maya plops down on the chair in front of his desk with a sigh, clearly this conversation was not happening without a little bit of a fight. “Ms. y/n sent me to ask him a question.”

The athletic director can’t help but let out a snort at the girl’s comment. Maya is suddenly interested in his reaction. “Why is that so funny? Do you think they’re dating too?”

Seungcheol is surprised yet again. “Do you think they’re dating?”

Now Maya snorts. “Obviously. Ms. y/n is wearing his lacrosse jacket today.” She laughs when the man’s eyes practically bulge out of his skull. He rustles around his desk, grabbing a notepad and writing another hall pass for the girl.

After scribbling for a second, he passes the note to the girl and tells her, “Mr. Chwe is in his office, room 218.”

The girl grabs the note from his hands and gleefully gets up to skip out the door. She stops midway through and calls out over her shoulder, “thanks Dad!”

“I’m not dating Ms. y/n, Maya. You know that.” Vernon sighs exasperatedly. “Why are you even asking me this?”

He knows he’s in for trouble when she smirks. “She’s wearing your coaching jacket today. Care to explain that?”

Vernon knows he should’ve asked for it back sooner rather than later. But he was secretly hoping that he would be able to see it on you one more time. And the longer you have it, the more likely it’s going to come back smelling like you (not that Vernon cares anyways right?). He doesn’t miss a beat though, explaining to Maya that he lent you his jacket for a game and that you probably mixed it up with your own. She’s not impressed, but she knows it’s an explanation that’s most likely true. This doesn’t stop her from interrogating Vernon further. “Do you want to date Ms. y/n?”

His silence is incriminating. He can tell by Maya’s mile wide grin. Trying to put an end to it, the lacrosse coach stands up from his desk, telling her that he’ll walk her back to whatever class she left from.

One tiny important detail he forgot is that you teach 3rd hour honors chemistry. A class that one of his players, Henry, shares with Maya. And he’s currently standing outside your door, watching as you type away on your computer. Sure enough, “Mr. Chwe” is embroidered across the chest. Vernon thinks he might combust on the spot. His student clearly picks up on this, muttering something about how she’s “seen middle schoolers with more balls.” 

He waits outside your door as Maya enters the room. There’s only a few minutes left of the period, so he figured it would be better for both of you to talk away from prying eyes. As the bell rings, he patiently watches the students trickle out your door. When he’s sure that everyone is gone, he steps into the doorway. What he does not expect is for you to walk straight into his chest, stumbling back with the cutest “oomph” he’s ever heard. 

Vernon is stunned but you look completely mortified. Probably because you just ran into the man whose jacket you’re wearing basically without his consent. His assumption is correct because you start mumbling out apologies. “I’m so sorry I thought this was my jacket when I grabbed it this morning. I didn’t mean to wear it today, I made such a mess of this. I shouldn’t have even asked for it in the first place. I was just about to change, give me a second I…”

The lacrosse coach cuts you off in the middle of your little rant. “Do you want to go out with me after your game on Friday?” 

You blink at him, not even processing the words he just said. When you finally do, your cheeks flush and you glance down at your watch. “Do you think you can ask me that in like 4 hours, Chwe?”

Vernon has no idea what you mean by that. He gawks a little bit. Do you need time to think about it? Are you not interested? Do you already have a boyfriend? Shit, he should’ve thought this through.

You break him out of his little trance with a small chuckle. “We’re on the clock Vernon. And you have a class in three minutes.” 

He glances at his watch. His freshman PE class is probably waiting for him. He mumbles something about meeting him on the main field before practice. Then he’s out the door. You’re left there, stunned, still in his jacket. You don’t bother to take it off the rest of the day.

A few hours later, Mingyu and Seokmin are watching you both converse from afar. Vernon’s cheeks are the reddest they’ve ever been. You’re fidgeting nervously but also smiling. It seems to be going well. Seokmin turns to the assistant coach before saying, “took them long enough.”

They hear someone approaching and turn to see Seungcheol. “You both owe me $20.” 

Both the teachers roll their eyes at him but reach for their wallets. Maya pops up from their other side, walking up to her father. “I should be getting at least half of that. I did all the work.” 

Seungcheol grunts, pondering her proposition. He turns to her. “What about this? You can either get $20 now or $200 if y/n is Mrs. Chwe before you graduate college?”

Maya’s eyes brighten and that sinister smile spreads across her cheeks once again. “Deal.” (She’s $200 richer at her college graduation).

if vernon cared a little bit more about what people think - which he doesn't -, he would stop you. he would politely tell you to wait until you're back to his hotel room.

but it just feels nice. he can hear his manager talking to kenzo's artistic director about something his tired brain couldn't quite focus on, as all of his senses are turned to the sensation of your fingers slowly caressing his earlobe.

it's relaxing, and it's such a simple action, but it makes his heart melt, especially because he knows you picked up the habit to do that whenever he's tired or anxious just to take care of him somehow.

vernon involuntarily hums at the feeling, making you chuckle as his cheeks turn red.

"let's, um...", vernon clears his throat. "let's pretend that didn't happen."

you laugh, sliding your fingers from his ear all the way down to his hand so you could hold it.

"yeah, sure", you shrug. "your secret is safe with me."

sweetest thing

pairing: chwe hansol (vernon) x gender neutral reader

genre: fluff, strangers/uni classmates to lovers, bakery worker!reader x window shopper!vernon

word count: 7.5k

warnings: lots of food mentions, mutual pining, vernon is down bad, emergency room/hospital visit for an injury (don’t worry, it’s not super bad!), seokmin and seungkwan best wingmen, forehead kiss near the end, let me know if i need to add more!

synopsis:

when you finally find out the name of the cute regular who never buys anything, you don’t expect to get to know him better, and for him to be so sweet.

author note: yeah i really have no idea how i wrote so much 😭 my first vernon fic, and it’s a huge one…anyway, this fic wouldn’t be possible without seungkwan so everyone say thank you seungkwan 🫶 lots of love, and i hope you enjoy reading ♡

masterlist

running a small business is hard.

you know this from experience, seeing your boss run pang! sweets all by himself before you came along—mingyu’s a strong one, that’s for sure. well, he’s strong literally as well; he’s always at the gym if he’s not checking in on the bakery. 

though you only started at pang! for the money—you’re a university student; there’s always something you have to pay for—you have to admit you’ve gotten a bit attached to your part time job, finding solace in the arms of the small lot mingyu rents out. 

and that love for your job is exactly why your eye is twitching and your voice is strained as you talk to the regular customer in front of you—well, he would be, if he actually bought anything the bakery offers. “do you need any assistance?”

the man in front of you raises his head to look at you before shaking his head, turning his attention back to the croissant in front of him. 

yes, he’s cute and seems to be around your age but he also comes in every morning and buys absolutely nothing. he stands there in front of the display stand, and analyses every single detail in the cinnamon rolls you make early in the morning on the weekends, as well as the assorted pastries mingyu bakes up. 

you turn and walk in to mingyu singing along to the radio as he finishes up decorating his third batch of cupcakes for the day. in signature mingyu style, there’s frosting everywhere; he may be a good baker but he’s a messy one.

he grins at you, wiping frosting off his cheek before tilting his head and frowning at your stiff expression. “is something wrong?” 

“the window shopper’s back,” you simply say, gritting your teeth and biting the inside of your cheek so you don’t end up yelling in frustration.

mingyu sighs before wiping his hands on a nearby towel and fixing his posture, slapping his biceps to seem bulkier than he already is. “okay then. it’s time for operation scarecrow, isn’t it?” 

you nod at him seriously before holding the curtain separating the kitchen and the front open for him, giving a clear view of the opposite light pink wall. (mingyu always corrects you when you call it that, saying “it’s rose quartz, for god’s sake!”)

mingyu walks by you with the scariest expression he can muster and falters as he takes a step out, looking out to the front door. he turns back to you, confused. “there’s no one here. i guess he left.”

you go out to join your boss, and let out a silent scream at the lack of customers, annoyed at the fact that he got away again.

operation scarecrow hasn’t worked yet—a fancy way of saying that mingyu intimidates the window shopper to get the hell out of his shop—because the damn guy never stays around long enough. 

mingyu rolls his eyes in amusement before coming over and patting your head, getting leftover frosting on you. “it’s okay! we’ll get him next time, partner.” 

you can’t help but huff out a breath to calm yourself down at mingyu’s smile. “wait, did you get frosting on me? mingyu! what—” you’re cut off when mingyu races into the back, and holds the curtains closed so you can’t tell him off. 

“mingyu! this isn’t fair!”

you’re running late, and barely surviving on two coffees since you woke up in a rush after helping mingyu the night before finish up a huge order for, funnily enough, the university you’re making your way hurriedly to now. 

you get in the lecture hall just as the professor makes his way up to the podium, and pick a random seat in the middle to get comfortable in, the class already starting; professor kim has a habit of droning on and on about things that appear on his tests, according to the school forums, so you can’t miss anything he says.

you don’t notice the people next to you until the professor tells everyone to take a break after he goes through the first set of slides, and you look up to see a red haired man beside you and next to him is…oh my god. it’s the damn guy you’ve been looking for, peering over his glasses down at his laptop.

 you smile politely at the guy closest to you first, introducing yourself. thankfully, your excitement at finding the window shopper is disguised as one stemming from potentially making a new friend. he grins at you before fixing his sweatband. “i’m seungkwan! and this is my friend,” he leans back so you can see the man beside him properly, “hansol.”

“you can call me vernon though,” hansol—vernon, you suppose—says without looking up from the screen in front of him. 

you stare at him for a second, giddy on the inside because you finally have a name to the face you’ve seen way too often in the past weeks. since vernon hasn’t looked up, you’re guessing he doesn’t know it’s you yet, and you’re thankful for that—you can’t have him running off on you before exacting revenge, can you?

you excuse yourself from talking about the course work with your new acquaintances, and pull out your phone to text mingyu excitedly.

you ❙

KIM MINGYU.

i found him. 

mingoowner ❙

not the full name lol

???

you ❙

THE SHOPLIFTER

HAHAHA WE GOT HIM NOW

mingoowner ❙

OH that’s great!

lmk details when you come for your shift later

oh also where’d you put the egg substitute? i can’t find it 😭

you ❙

should be in the second cupboard to the left of the sink

mingoowner ❙

okay found it thanks

i’ll see you later ;)

you put your phone on top of your notebook, and notice seungkwan staring at you with a smirk on his face. “ohohoho, does our new friend have a partner?” he says, singing the last word. 

vernon pauses as he types, giving seungkwan a weird look before finally noticing you.

he blinks at you, the same expression on his face as always, as if he’s daydreaming all the time. he breaks eye contact, putting a hand on his best friend’s shoulder, causing seungkwan to jump a little at the contact. “it’s not our place to ask that seungkwan, we just met them.” 

huh. you suppose he’s a decent guy after all—or at least abides by social norms. 

seungkwan grumbles under his breath about vernon being no fun, and smiles at you sheepishly. “sorry if that was too much. you are cute though, so i wouldn’t be surprised if you did have a partner! right, vernon?” seungkwan nudges his friend, who’s already back to his work. 

vernon nods without looking up, but his face seems brighter than before. eh, it’s probably just the blue light emitting from the screen he’s staring lasers into. (when did blue light turn someone’s face more red though?)

you laugh and shake your head, your attention back to seungkwan—you don’t notice how vernon looks at you through the corner of his eye, and that his eyes crinkle a little when yours do.

“no, i don’t have a partner. i was just texting…” you shoot a cautious glance at vernon before mumbling, “my boss at the bakery i work at.” 

vernon tenses slightly as seungkwan looks at you in admiration, and claps you on the back in approval. “wow, you’ve got a job at a bakery? that’s so cool!” seungkwan winks at you, continuing. “you should let us have a discount because we’re your friends, right?”

you look at the red haired man in front of you in astonishment. you just met each other? why is he…so friendly already, as if you’ve known each other for ages? you're not lonely at school; you have friends from other classes but…maybe being friends with seungkwan won’t hurt, especially because he seems to be besties with the guy you’ve been hunting for the past month or so.

you roll your eyes before nodding, looking pointedly at vernon. “yeah, if you guys come by and actually buy things, i’ll give you a discount!”

vernon flinches slightly at your words, caught off guard. seungkwan looks at vernon before he seems to realize something, his hand hitting his friend’s shoulder excitedly. 

“OH MY GOD, IS THIS—” seungkwan only goes so far before vernon cuts him off with a slap over his mouth with an apologetic expression on his face—wow, this is the most expressive you’ve seen him.

“sorry, he can be a bit…loud at times,” vernon says in your direction before glaring subtly at seungkwan, telling him to shut up before he spills too much. 

you see them exchange another look before seungkwan pulls vernon’s hand away from his face, and smiles at you knowingly. “hey, do you work at pang! sweets?”

you nod, and vernon mumbles a few curses under his breath before pinching seungkwan’s thigh desperately, whose grin only becomes bigger. 

“i’ll make sure i visit then!” seungkwan says. when the man beside him clears his throat, seungkwan adds on with a smirk, “well, with vernon, of course. he would hate me if i didn’t take him with me because he has such a huge—” 

“sweet tooth!” vernon yells, not letting seungkwan finish his sentence, his exclamation catching the attention of everyone in the hall. 

“well, vernon, is it? it’s…nice to know your preference in food but we really should be covering this next topic instead,” professor kim says with a raised eyebrow, moving back to the front and putting the next set of slides on the screen for everyone—right, you’re still in class.

seungkwan giggles under his breath as vernon rolls his eyes at his friend’s antics. he glances over at you, analyzing your confused expression before letting out a breath in relief. you don’t know anything, do you? he prefers it that way, at least until he’s ready.

“hey, seokmin! what’ll you have today?” you ask the regular in front of you, now at your second home. 

“oh, just my usual, thanks!” seokmin smiles at you brightly as he slides a crisp bill over to pay. 

despite only knowing him through mingyu, you clicked with seokmin easily when you first met, and have since made sure to remember his order, considering he visits quite often.

you ring him up, pull out a pizza bun from the display case in front of him, and give it to seokmin with extra napkins, like always. you call out to mingyu in the back when you take inventory of what’s left to be displayed. “gyu, we got any more croissants? there’s only three outside.”

mingyu brushes aside the curtains with a flourish as he walks to where you are. you wait patiently to make his way to you as he waves to his imaginary fans, even though there’s no one to wave to other than you and seokmin—tuesday afternoons aren’t usually busy. you’re used to his dramatics, having worked with him for a while now but seokmin still claps in admiration, as if he isn’t a musical actor himself. 

mingyu brushes his bangs back before smiling when he’s in front of you. “you called?”

you stare at him silently, pointing to the croissants on display. “we need more, your highness.”

mingyu scoffs before going into the back once more and bringing out a tray of fresh ones, and he squats down to place them meticulously on the wooden tray for displaying, relying on seokmin to tell him if he’s doing it right.

mingyu doesn’t look at you when he speaks, focusing on placing a chocolate croissant on top of another. “so, you never explained what’s up with finding the window shopper.”

you snap your fingers, suddenly remembering that you forgot to tell him, and start talking rapidly. “okay so basically, it turns out he’s in my class? like the one with professor kim, and he looks like some sort of nerd with his glasses on? like it’s cute but i didn’t expect that from him.” 

mingyu and seokmin exchange a look through the glass separating them, and seokmin advises mingyu to sprinkle sugar on the pastry on the edge on the tray eventually, and mingyu agrees before they nod in unison for you to continue.

“and so i made a new friend i guess? his name is seungkwan, he’s sweet and i think they’re besties? they gave off that vibe, and to be honest…the guy, vernon—or hansol, or whatever! he seems like a nice enough guy? i mean, he was decent and maybe…he’s just really indecisive or something.”

seokmin laughs wholeheartedly at your conclusion—he’s filled in on the drama, of course; you always complain about this mystery guy whenever he comes by—and mingyu gets up, putting the now empty tray onto the counter, making you groan at how you’ll have to clean it up later. 

“i—i thought you hated this guy?” mingyu says your name in disbelief, holding your shoulders and staring into your eyes. “have you fallen in love or something and that’s why you’re switching sides so fast? cause this is…not very normal of you.”

you stare at him, pushing his hands off you lightly before laughing, and the two guys in the shop join you before they get weirded out by how long you continue. seokmin says your name uncertainly before stage whispering to mingyu, “i think they’ve gone mad!”

you stop laughing maniacally at this before gasping loudly at your friend’s accusation. “no, i haven’t! i haven’t fallen in love or anything either lol.”

your friends look at each other slowly and mingyu stutters on his words, as he puts his hand on your shoulder again, mostly to ground himself as seokmin looks on with horror. “did you…did you just say lol out loud? like—like the letters out loud?” 

you pause, realizing you’ve slipped up, and maybe your friends are right. you’ve gone mad, lost your sanity even. over a man? you put your head in your hands, trying to figure out where it all went wrong. when vernon first came into the bakery, four monday mornings ago, with his leather jacket and pushed back hair? was it when you saw him wearing a varsity jacket earlier, his glasses perched on his nose as if they’d been made to fit him? you have no idea.

seokmin looks down at his cold bun and then at the two of you, this time not even trying to soften his words. “yup, they’ve gone mad.”

“oh also, can one of you warm this up once they’re done with their mental breakdown? it’s cold,” seokmin adds on, pouting when mingyu shoots him a sharp glare. 

after your…madness the other day, you can’t even look at vernon for more than a few seconds.

seungkwan definitely knows something is up; you’ve only known each other for a little bit but he’s in tune with your body language already, which is why he invited you to get coffee with him in class earlier. of course, he had invited his best friend but vernon had declined, saying something about how he needed to finish an assignment—even though he’d never say it, he was slightly disappointed that he couldn’t spend time with you outside of class for once. 

seungkwan animatedly recounts his day to you as you walk to the coffee shop together, and you order quickly. he insists on paying for you and you relent when his whines cause the other customers to look at the two of you in confusion. you’re about to sit down at a small table inside the falling for u cafe when your phone dings multiple times. 

pizza bun ❙

ummm mingyu did something weird…

he told me to text you cause he says that only you know how to tame the oven?? whatever that means 😭

you ❙

WHAT 

IM ON MY WAY RN

SEOKMIN WATCH MINGYU DON'T LET HIM TOUCH ANYTHING.

pizza bun ❙

OKAY GOT IT BOSS 🫡

you hurriedly put your phone in your pocket before explaining quickly. “my boss is gonna set the bakery on fire, i have to go, i’m so sorry!”

you run to pang! which is thankfully only half a block away, leaving a dazed seungkwan behind.

“KIM MINGYU WHEN I FIND YOU—oh,” you yell as you walk in, quieting with an apology when you find startled customers sitting at the tables inside. 

seokmin peeks his head out when your voice echoes off the walls, and waves you in quickly, updating you on what exactly happened. “so basically, i think he accidentally whacked the side of the oven with his whisk while he was trying to make meringue, and then he got water in his meringue bowl, so now he’s…” seokmin gestures towards the bakery owner as you draw closer, who’s crouching on the ground, a mixing bowl held protectively in his hands. “he’s like this.”

mingyu looks up when he notices the two of you, and pouts. “i made a dent in the oven…”

you close your eyes, trying to control the urge to tell mingyu off. 

“mingyu,” you start, leaning down to give him a hand so he can get up and face you at his full height. “you are a strong, wonderful man but OH MY GOD GYU, I TOLD YOU TO BE CAREFUL AFTER LAST TIME!” you yell, reaching up to pull his ear down as you scold him. 

“last time” was when mingyu had somehow dented the old oven, and you had to replace it because it was just that bad—somehow all the buttons stopped working when you pressed them, and he had to pay for a new one, which you had now. 

mingyu yelps out in pain as you pull him down more, and calls out to seokmin for help, not realizing that his so-called friend went back to his table to finish up his pizza bun for the day.

you let go of his ear when you realize the customers may be able to hear you and speak in an authoritative whisper. “you will not touch anything for the time being. i’ll call up the repair people because someone,” you give him a look, making the bakery owner flinch, “has made sure that they know pang! sweets on a first name basis.”

you turn and walk out without looking at the pitiful man behind you, plastering a smile so the customers don’t think anything is wrong—the walls are thin; the couple near the counter heard everything and were trying to keep from laughing. 

after a short call to the repairperson from last time, you look out to the sunny street and the people walking along the sidewalk, a familiar redhead in the mix—wait, is that seungkwan?

you squint to make sure, and the familiar figure waves through the window, dragging along…oh my god, he’s brought the window shopper.

a familiar twinkling from the bell attached to the door accompanies the two as they walk in, and seokmin gets up to greet them warmly, giving seungkwan a hug and a soft smile to vernon. he drags them over to where you are, and when you look at him confused, he explains. “oh, i know these two from before! i’m really close with seungkwan because the two of us and soonyoung—well, you wouldn’t know him because he’s always in his practice room but i’ll bring him over sometime—are best friends!”

seungkwan nods as vernon looks at you and waves, as if he hasn’t seen you for multiple weeks at this exact same spot—though he hasn't been coming ever since you formally met him. “hey.”

“…hey,” you reply, and seokmin and seungkwan exchange a wince at the awkward air surrounding the four of you—mingyu’s still sitting on the kitchen floor in timeout. 

you busy yourself with making sure the counter is clean, inspecting the marble as if you hadn’t just cleaned it mindlessly while on call with the repair place as the three men talk.

“oh, isn’t it your birthday soon?” seungkwan says to vernon, loud enough for you to hear, and quickly corrects himself when seokmin clears his throat. “and yours too, of course, minnie.”

you raise an eyebrow. “they share a birthday?” seokmin nods and you continue. “that’s pretty cool actually! seokmin, you should’ve told me.”

seokmin only shrugs before grinning. “wait, you’re baking something for me like you did last year, right?” he lowers his voice to a whisper as he continues. “i know i’ve known mingyu for longer and should technically trust him more but like, i feel like your baking is a lot more…clean compared to his, you know?” 

you nod before staring at vernon, who’s back to talking to seungkwan on the side about…bears? you don’t even know, and frankly, you’re not sure if you want to know.

maybe you should make something for him too, considering it’s his birthday and you know, you’re making something for seokmin anyway.

seokmin smirks as he follows your line of vision and moves to join his friends. “he’s allergic to peanuts by the way,” he nonchalantly says on his way, shooting you a wink before he drapes an arm over seungkwan’s shoulder. 

well, one thing’s for sure: you’re not planning on making peanut butter cookies for the eighteenth.

mingyu would’ve been mad at you for sitting at the counter if you hadn’t closed already, it being past nine pm—actually, he couldn’t be mad at you anyway, considering how much you do for him.

he walks over to you scribbling ideas down in your notebook and crossing them out right after. well, so much for keeping his gift to you aesthetic. 

so far, you had thought of nothing for vernon’s—and seokmin’s, of course—birthday gift. even though you don’t know him that well, you want to see him happy with a huge grin on his face like when he was talking to seungkwan in professor kim’s about chan, their friend, and smacked his best friend's shoulder, to seungkwan’s annoyance. you groan as you straighten your back, your spine aching from bending over to write. 

mingyu pats your shoulder from behind and looks over at your list. “need any help?”

you turn to look at him, sighing deeply. “yeah. do you think i should text seungkwan to see if he knows anything?”

“seungkwan knows everything, trust me. but yeah, i think you should. maybe then you’ll be able to notice the cookies i baked just for you, my favourite worker.” mingyu teasingly says, giving you a wink before pulling out the small container of your favourite cookies, fresh from the oven that apparently, had nothing wrong with it despite the dent made on the outside.

you take a huge bite out of the one he hands you before taking out your phone to text the friend who’s on your mind—okay, maybe his friend is the one on your mind.

you ❙

hey kwannie <33

um do you know what kind of cookies vernon likes? 

or like any type of treat at all that i can make at the bakery

kwannie 🍊 ❙

OH MY GOD I KNEW IT

someone’s got a crushhh

you ❙

i’m just asking in advance just in case he comes by !! and actually wants to buy things lol

kwannie 🍊 ❙

sure…🙄

anyway he likes choco cake and cheesecake 

always see him munching on them after finals

oh he’s allergic to peanuts btw so be careful

wouldn’t want to hurt your bf before you’re official am i right 😓

you ❙

BOO SEUNGKWAN. 

kwannie 🍊 ❙

yes this is he

you ❙

…no comment.

seokmin alr told me about the peanuts thing 🙏

okay thanks for the info ily <3

you put your phone down before sighing. you know what, that made sense; vernon always used to pay extra attention to mingyu’s phenomenal cheesecake and chocolate cake slices out front, as if he needed to memorize the placement of each particle on the wooden trays. 

mingyu looks at you curiously and you show him seungkwan’s messages. “oh yeah, that makes sense. i say make chocolate cake cause seokmin will like it too! that way you’re only using one recipe—i'll lend you my book so you can look through it.” 

okay, chocolate cake. you can do that. right?

you take a look at the time, and realize that it’s probably a good idea to go home, considering how late it is. you pack up your stuff quickly, and wave to mingyu as he locks up the shop. 

“i’ll see you day after tomorrow, gyu! be safe!” you call out as you walk backwards towards the way home, and turn to face the lit up sidewalk…and the slightly menacing person walking towards you, with an all black outfit and hood up, a mask covering most of their face (also black of course, they have a theme going on). 

you’re not too scared though because they’re walking normally—although a bit…uniformly, hands not moving from their position by their hips—and don’t seem to be under any influence, at least from what you can see. they also seem distracted by their phone and you can see their headphones on. 

that doesn’t mean you don’t walk quickly, suddenly remembering all the stories of ghosts of previous university students haunting the grounds they stayed at before their passing.

 as you pass them and let out a breath you had been holding before feeling a soft tap on your shoulder. you turn to face the person you saw before, and you see yourself stare back in their big brown eyes—wow, those are some nice eyelashes. 

“hey, i didn’t know you were gonna be here,” they say, muffled enough by their mask so you can’t recognize their voice. you take a step back from them, clutching the straps of your work bag on your shoulder. 

“i’m sorry, do i know you?” you say confused, taking another step back, and the person in front of you chuckles, taking off their mask. 

oh god, of course it’s the man who’s been plaguing your thoughts. you smile awkwardly and wave. “oh…hi vernon.”

he raises his eyebrow as he smiles back, his voice soft as he calls your name. “hi…did you really think i was gonna hurt you or something?”

you nod your head seriously before gesturing to your surroundings: a barely lit entrance to the alleyway that leads to a small neighbourhood before you hands end up pointing at his mask. “have you seen where we are right now? also, this is an awfully suspicious get up, dude…i was kinda scared.” 

vernon’s hands go back to the nape of his neck as he chuckles, embarrassed. “sorry ‘bout that. i just—i didn’t see you until you passed by because of the…” he trails off, realizing that what he was distracted by is a little too cute for the image he’s trying to build up to impress you. 

you frown, and he finds you adorable as he clears his throat and mumbles, “cat videos i was watching.” 

you sputter, moving forward to leave a hand on vernon’s shoulder to ground yourself as you laugh lightheartedly. “you—why are you so embarrassed by that?” 

your eyes shine in the dim light the streetlamp over the two of you provides, and he can’t help but appreciate them for a few seconds before he looks away, his hand automatically going back up to his neck. 

vernon laughs awkwardly before responding. “well, uh…i was worried it would ruin the whole ‘cool guy’ thing i’ve got going on, according to seungkwan.” 

you raise your eyebrows before chuckling and vernon finds himself joining in, the two of you smiling at each other softly before you break eye contact and look away, the yellow light from above doing little to hide the red creeping up both your faces. 

his phone dings multiple times before he takes it out of his jacket pocket and he sighs, showing you the contact name. “speak of the devil.”

you shrug before giving him a sneaky look. “well, you can’t keep him waiting, can you?” 

vernon nods before he smiles at you shyly, clearing his throat. “hey, would you want to come over? we’re having a little get together actually.” he shakes the plastic bag in his other hand to bring attention to it—huh, you hadn’t noticed it before. “we’re having ice cream…” he sings, looking at you expectantly. 

you yawn involuntarily and give vernon an apologetic look. “i think i’ll have to pass, isorry. i should probably go home and knock out for the rest of the night, it’s been a long day.”

he agrees with you, nodding even though you can see how his face falls slightly—is this just because you’re paying way too much attention to the way his eyes smile more than his actual mouth? maybe. 

vernon sends you on your way home with a promise to text him, and inputs his number into your phone so you can actually contact him (he hopes you don’t notice his hands trembling just the slightest bit). 

as soon as you enter the doorway of home sweet home, you toss your things to the side and grab your phone, sitting down on the couch in the living room giddily. you smile at his name in your contacts before debating on what to text him. you decide to introduce yourself first, making sure he can save your name as well.

you ❙

i made it home! 

vernon ❙

sweet

we have an early class tomorrow so sleep well

i’ll see you in kim’s

you ❙

see you then vernon! 

oh dear god, you feel so awkward. however, just the fact that he responded (and wished you a good sleep!) is enough to make you weak in the knees, and get up to your kitchen, texting mingyu for the recipes he mentioned earlier. as you look at the measuring equipment spread neatly on the counter, you take in a deep breath. 

time to make the best chocolate cake vernon’s ever had in his life. (and seokmin!)

at first, he only wanted to see the selection of the fairly new bakery near campus.

it had good reviews online, and vernon expected it to be nice—which it is; his opinion isn’t different from the online forums he read in advance—and was pleasantly surprised by how much he could buy, considering that it was fairly priced as well. 

he was leaning down to see the cinnamon rolls (maybe he could get one for seungkwan…he should ask) when he heard your voice for the first time. “do you need any help?”

he looked up and had to do a double take, disguising it as him seemingly making sure nothing was on his sleeve. 

were all bakery workers supposed to be this cute? 

vernon couldn’t help but freeze under your warm stare, and even though he knew you had a customer service smile on, he wanted to know what your real smile was like. 

you had giggled awkwardly when he didn’t respond and he immediately stood up properly, hand rubbing the back of his scalp—seungkwan says it’s a habit vernon does when he’s nervous, and he’s probably right. 

“oh, uh…i’m good, thanks,” he says quietly, looking at the floor instead of your face, which was suddenly too bright to look at. 

thankfully—well…vernon did want to look at your face more but it was probably better when you moved away from him, satisfied with his response, and started to wipe the counter, making sure the slightly dirty spots were clear enough to see your face in, the same face he was staring way too much at. 

vernon brought his attention back to the pastries in front of him but his mind quickly wandered to…well, you. 

oh my god, is this what they call love at first sight or something? he shook his head, and your head snapped up at the motion to look at him. 

he mumbled under his breath, “no, no, it’s probably just being attracted or something, that’s all.”

so why did he keep coming back into the shop…just to see you? 

“and that’s how vernon fell in love,” seungkwan says, giggling as vernon finishes telling his story of how he met you to seokmin.

“wow.” seokmin’s hands go up to cover his mouth as he gasps, surprised by vernon’s words. “that’s pretty romantic actually…”

seungkwan agrees, almost jumping up and down as they stand around seokmin’s kitchen island, where the small birthday party for seokmin and vernon—affectionately called the 218 bros—is being held.

vernon sighs, his face red, not being able to lie to his friends. “yeah, yeah…whatever seungkwan said.”

seokmin takes out his phone, looking at it thoughtfully before at vernon. “should i call mingyu to tell him to close the bakery earlier so they can be here before we cut the cake?” 

“no need. they’re not working today, so i think they’re just a little late,” vernon says, shaking his head.

and he’s completely right because you’re rushing to pack the treat you’ve made him in time to leave with mingyu, who swears he’ll leave you behind if you take more than five more minutes. 

“but gyu!” you whine, balancing your phone in between your ear and your shoulder before making sure you don’t get frosting all over your clothes. “you can’t leave me, i’m your only employee!”

mingyu sighs over the phone before pausing. “hey, do you think i should hire seungkwan instead of you? that’d be a nice change.”

you snort, taking the two large boxes in your hands and putting them down so you can lock your door. “you could never replace me, and you know it.”

mingyu hangs up as you make your way to his backseat to deposit your gifts and grins when you settle into the passenger seat beside him. 

“yeah, yeah…” he rolls your eyes as you put your phone into your pocket, pausing when you see a notification from one of the men of the hour. 

vernon ❙

hey are you on your way?

we’re gonna cut cake soon

wait nvm we don’t have the cake

you ❙

yeah i’m almost there! 

just got a little late, me and mingyu are on our way

vernon ❙

sweet me and seokmin will meet you out front if you need help ?

apparently the cake is with you guys 

you ❙

yeah sure! thanks :D

vernon ❙

of course :)

you squeal, clutching mingyu’s arm as he looks at you before back at the road immediately. “hey, i’m driving here!”

you apologize, and grin when you pull up to seokmin’s home. mingyu gets out and opens the backseat door as you wave to vernon, who’s out waiting for you on the lawn. 

vernon moves to help mingyu with the boxes but the other man only winks as he carries the two cakes in his hands easily.

you smile as you join vernon on the grass and start to go in for a hug before pausing and patting him on the shoulder awkwardly. “happy birthday, vernon!”

he raises an eyebrow before patting your back in a similar way to mock you, and smiles. “thanks.” vernon gestures towards the front door. “should we go in?”

you’re greeted with a big hug from both seokmin and seungkwan as you enter, and vernon smiles at your excitement to see your friends before immediately deadpanning. he can’t get caught, especially not by seungkwan—he would be teased forever.

seungkwan casually wraps an arm around your shoulder and smirks at vernon’s slightly clenched fist before saying your name loudly. “did you really make the cakes all by yourself? wow, that’s so impressive, they look so good!” 

you nod sheepishly, a small blush forming on your cheeks as vernon blinks and claps you on the back, subtly replacing seungkwan’s position beside you. “wow, that’s really cool of you. i appreciate it a lot, dude.”

you grin at him, and vernon doesn’t even notice how his friends scooch away to marvel at your sweet creations in the kitchen because he’s too busy focused on the way your eyes are somehow brighter in the lit entryway of his friend’s home. 

“vernon?” you call out concerned, waving a hand in front of his face. “you there?”

he blinks, and his hand goes back up to the spot on his neck that it always does. “uh, yeah, i’m here.”

you smile at him again, and he’s entranced. “right, so the cakes have a ton of chocolate, and i didn’t know what you and seokmin liked best so—!” 

vernon immediately puts his hand around your back, shocked at how you almost fell while taking a step towards him. you wince, and he looks up, locking eyes with mingyu before he looks down at you, calling your name in a panic. “are you alright? did—did you twist your ankle?”

you groan, gripping onto vernon’s arm as you pull yourself up to stand on your right foot, as putting pressure on your left hurts. 

you breathe heavily and look down at your foot, already seeing an angry red forming as your ankle swells underneath your sneaker. 

“okay, okay, uh…” vernon thinks out loud for a second before calling over mingyu and telling him to start his car. he squeezes the arm he’s still holding, and gives you a nervous smile. “you’re gonna be alright, okay? um—i’m gonna take you to the hospital and we’ll be with mingyu and—”

he gets interrupted by seungkwan grabbing your other arm so they can help you walk out the door, and onto the lawn. seungkwan looks at you concerned as he helps you into the backseat of mingyu’s car, and to your surprise, vernon sits down in the seat beside you. 

you’re not the only one surprised, as mingyu gapes at vernon through the rearview mirror. 

“what?” vernon looks at the both of you weirdly before sighing. “come on, mingyu, we need to hurry!”

as mingyu pulls out of seokmin’s neighbourhood, you think you’re going mad, just like he said you were only a few weeks ago. you start to giggle incessantly, unable to stop even when vernon glances at you worriedly and pulls you into his shoulder so you’re supported. 

“i—i’m so sorry,” vernon says suddenly, his knee bouncing up and down as he frowns at you. “this is all my fault.”

you stop giggling and frown as well, groaning in pain as you shift to face vernon better—god, this hurts. 

“what are you talking about?” you ask vernon before another giggling fit comes on, and you manage to squeeze out, “i’m the one who went whoops! and fell down, not you!” 

vernon stares at you, realizing that this…is probably just your body’s way of distracting yourself from the throbbing of your ankle, and he moves to remove your sneaker so that the nurses don’t struggle with it later.

you giggle again, and you try to push the wrinkle in between his eyebrows away, the adrenaline getting to you and making sure you have no self control at all. “the only thing you did to make me fall was stand there with your beautiful face—oh, and your long eyelashes and nice voice!”

vernon’s eyes widen and you can count every vein in them, coursing with the same liquid that’s now flooding his cheeks. “uh—i…”

your moment is ruined as mingyu sputters, trying to hold back his laughter, and vernon goes to look at him as he fails. wiping his tears, mingyu gestures to the building on the left, not trusting himself to speak just yet, and—oh, you’re at the hospital already. 

to be completely honest, vernon doesn’t know what he’s doing here, sitting in the chair beside you, and listening to the person on the other side of the thin screen separating the beds in the emergency room. all he can do is stare at your intertwined hands as you sleep, the adrenaline high from before wearing off—thank god, because he doesn’t think he could take more of the cheesy pick up lines you’ve thrown at him.

he still can’t believe you said he was so beautiful, you fell for him—quite literally, as your swollen ankle shows it.

mingyu comes back, the necessary paperwork in his hands and pauses, raising an eyebrow in concern. “vernon? you’re really red, do you need to get checked out too?”

vernon raises the hand that’s not being held tightly by yours to his cheek, and realizes that his friend is right—he’s burning up, but he’s pretty sure that’s an after effect of your words, and not because he has a fever.

he shakes his head at mingyu, and the other man excuses himself to make a call to seokmin to explain, and vernon can hear seokmin and seungkwan screaming at mingyu through his phone speaker to the point where his friend’s phone is a good few inches away from his ear. 

vernon squeezes your hand, and pushes a stray strand of hair back from your forehead to plant a soft kiss—hopefully, that would speed up your recovery and wake up sooner, like his own version of sleeping beauty.

it’s been a few weeks since you twisted your ankle—and basically ruined seokmin and vernon’s birthday party, though both of them don’t blame you for it—and you’re finally back at work, actually feeling useful for the first time since you got back from the hospital. 

of course, mingyu’s a good boss, and a caring friend but that should be common knowledge, and he just about tied you down to the rolling chair he forced you into at the beginning of your shift, and he now makes sure to watch you so you don’t get up, not even once. 

you sigh, cleaning the counter without thinking and wonder what the hell vernon thinks of you now.

apparently, according to mingyu at least, you were flirting with him on the way to the hospital, and vernon didn’t know how to respond at all. you groan, putting your head into your hands before the bell at the door tinkles, signalling a new customer.

“hi there, what can i—” you falter when you see…of course, it’s vernon. “hi!”

he nods at you in greeting, holding a bag in his hand as he comes up to the counter. “hi.”

you raise an eyebrow at vernon with a chuckle. “are you actually going to buy something for once, vernon?”

when he nods again, you’re surprised. does he mean he’ll no longer be a window shopper and actually contribute to the bakery?

he sputters, unable to hold his laugh in. “you…you have such a shocked look on your face, i’m sorry.”

embarrassed, you compose yourself, clearing your throat. “well, i didn’t expect you to upgrade from window shopper to actual shopper anytime soon, so i’m pleasantly surprised.”

“well…for that i have to make a purchase, right?” he smiles at you softly. “can i have a slice of cheesecake, please?” 

you nod eagerly, and roll to where the slices are kept, taking one out carefully. as you put it in a paper bag for him, vernon fidgets nervously with the handles of the bag he’s holding, and you ring him up.

he pays with his card—and tips you generously; you shoot him a grateful smile. vernon puts the bag he brought earlier down on the counter to grab the one with the cheesecake and wipes his free palm on his jeans. “uh, that—that’s for you.”

you put your hand in the bag carefully and pull out a small box, opening it carefully as vernon watches you. 

it’s a…cupcake? you pull a cupcake that’s a bit flat, and has something written on it with frosting.  though you can’t tell what it says exactly, you make out a question mark at the end and look up at vernon. “uh…thank you? sorry, i can’t read what it says.”

vernon’s mouth turns into an o as his cheeks heat up, and now you’re even more confused. 

“i um…” vernon says quietly before he blurts the rest of his sentence out. “i’m asking you on a date.” 

your jaw drops open as he continues and by now, you both are a deeper shade of pink than the walls surrounding you.

“i’ve actually liked you for a while now.” vernon continues nervously with a chuckle, rubbing the nape of his neck as he looks down at his sneakers. “that’s why i kept coming back here, even though i couldn’t afford to buy anything—i was here for you.”

“i really like you too, vernon.” he looks up and smiles nervously at you, and you can’t help but grin. “and i’m happy we both feel the same way.”

vernon pretends to wipe sweat from his forehead, saying, “phew, i’m glad that’s over with.”

he folds the top of the paper bag holding his cheesecake and bites back another grin. “so…wednesday at six? i’ll pick you up if you’re working from here, and we can watch shrek or something at my place, so you can sit comfortably.”

you grin, taking vernon’s hand in yours gently. “i would love that.”

a/n (again): thank you for reading! i hope you enjoyed and if you did, please tell me :D i would love to know <3 lots of love, moon.

"what's gotten into you?", you breathlessly ask, as vernon flips you over in his bed once again.

he smirks, laying on top of you to bury his face on your neck. the way his lips trace your skin it's almost sinful.

"just need you", vernon says, breathing in your scent. "need your body."

and he truly does, so you let him.

you let vernon touch you, fingers working painfully slow on you as you gasp and ask him to, please, do something else.

you let vernon rest his head on your chest, enamored by your form and the way you arch your back when his fingers and mouth touch your nipples.

you let vernon have his way with you, his sweaty forehead resting on your shoulder as he groans like it's hurting, the way you're gripping him and the way he can feel all of you.

you let vernon reach his high and lay down beside you, arm resting on top of you as he mumbles sweet nothings to you.

"i love you";

"you're so good";

"you're the one for me".

best friend's older brother vernon

this is part of my 550 followers celebration event! find the rest of the members' headcanons in the event too as i post them through this month!

warnings: mention of cheating (not vernon or reader)

thinking about best friend's older brother!vernon who is two years older to you, but doesn't feel older at all

he may have lived in the world for two years more than you or your best friend, but you don't see where the years except the fact that he's taller than you

it's clear that vernon needs someone to take care of him. someone to show him which stop to get off at on the subway. someone who feeds him snacks when he's skipped lunch because he was too busy riding his bicycle. someone to push his hair back and make him wear a beanie when he's long due for a haircut. someone to remind him to take a certain book to class because he's bound to forget.

and mindlessly, unconsciously, you've taken up that role. of course, his sister and his family members are there, but you get involved too. partly because you spend so much time with his sister, but also because you like doing this. somehow, seven-year-old you felt very grown up taking care of a boy, so you go with the flow, and even after eleven years, the habits have stuck.

thinking about best friend's older brother!vernon who introduces you to his relatives as his 'girlfriend'

ten year old vernon learnt the day before that a girlfriend is a female friend you want to marry. hence, he finds no problem in introducing you to everyone as his girlfriend. consequently, he absolutely does not understand why you smack him on the back and go all red and pouty, and everyone in the room begins laughing at him. he didn't say anything wrong, did he?

"why do you want to marry her, vernon-ah?" his mother asks him later. "because she's the nicest girl i've ever met. and she knows everything about me, and i know everything about her." his mother laughs, "that is quite true. well, you can't go about calling anyone your girlfriend, okay? it's only something you can do later, when you're older, and the girl also agrees to being your girlfriend." "why can't i do it now if y/n agrees to it?" "because that's how it is, nonie."

vernon doesn't understand why it is like that, but he lets that occasion. it doesn't mean that the joke doesn't persist. and even at the age of twenty, when you meet his relatives at his birthday party, they all call you his girlfriend.

of course, vernon understands what it really means now, and he also realises his mistake back then. even you don't mind the joke anymore, and just go with it. but it's wrong- he should correct everyone and put an end to it. and yet, he doesn't. does he, maybe, like people referring to you as his girlfriend?

thinking about best friend's older brother!vernon who grows up to be a fine specimen of the male sex

and you, along with everyone else in the neighbourhood, are awed by his curly hair and chiselled features. he doesn't let everyone get close to him, owing to his shy nature, but you're fortunate enough to still remain in his closest circle, even after he graduates from school and joins a music production course in college. the age gap between the two of you feels lesser and lesser as you both grow up.

when you join the same college as him, he becomes your guardian angel in college. from giving you tours in the college to getting you involved with societies and the joys of dorm life, the two of you are again always together. except, his sister enrolled in a different university so unfortunately, you have to bear a long-distance friendship now. it is a comfort, still, that vernon is right here.

the roles are slightly reversed now. although vernon's still lost in daily life- losing track of time and place often and hoping for your guidance- he takes a more proactive role in supporting you in other, important matters.

like how he drives you to the interview of your first internship. you leave the office crying, and he pulls you into a hug. two weeks later, when you receive an acceptance offer letter, he hugs you close again. "i had said so," he tells you when he buys you ice cream as a treat.

like how he ensures you get in touch with the top seniors from your major so that you can prepare your notes well. "how do you even know him?" you ask him after he introduces you to one such senior. "oh, i see him around." "is he your friend?" "no, but he's not not my friend either."

thinking about best friend's older brother!vernon who also sees you fall in love for the first time in college

it's with a senior he introduced you to, youngjae, and he regrets the decision completely. he had introduced you to him because of his academic merit, but beyond that, he knew youngjae was up to no good. a playboy through and through- he would break your heart the second the chase dies out.

he ends up spending lesser and lesser time with you these days because of how you go everywhere with your new crush now. "has he asked you out yet?" vernon raises a brow at you when the two of you meet again in front of the dorms. "not yet," the blush is clear on your cheeks, as your eyes lit up. "but i'm sure youngjae will, soon! we've been texting a lot, nonie. i must thank you for introducing him to me, of course." you giggle, but vernon's face doesn't reflect your happiness. he's still confused about how to feel about this entire affair.

rationally, he should not be confused. this is protectiveness he feels. he felt the same way towards his sister when she started dating her current partner. it's worse in this case because he knows your heart will be broken. so it's just his instinct that's making him more protective.

but it's not just protectiveness, he knows. he knows it when you're going to parties with youngjae on your arm. he knows it when you laugh too loudly at any of youngjae's stupid jokes. he knows it when people start referring to you as youngjae's girlfriend.

thinking about best friend's older brother!vernon who is the person you run to when you find out that youngjae has been sleeping with someone else all this time

vernon doesn't ask or say anything. he simply sighs when he sees the tears streaming down your face, and pulls you into a bone-crushing hug against his chest. and he lets you cry into his sweater, all snot and wetness.

but it's the best thing he could do for you, and you wouldn't trade this for anything else. you know he understands in the silence, and you don't leave his side all night, as he plays soft jazz on his phone and you both sit on the bed in his dorm room in silence. his roommate also surprisingly doesn't question it, the two of you sharing earphones and sitting on the bed without saying anything, all night.

the next morning, you finally come to terms with your grief, having overcome the shock, and tell vernon everything. thankfully, he doesn't say, i knew it. he only says, "he never deserved you anyway. such a fool."

when you go to the cafeteria for lunch, as both your and vernon's classes start after lunch that day, vernon's hand is around your shoulders. every person in the cafeteria turns to look at the two of you, even youngjae. he steps up to you to talk to you, but you don't even look at him and walk straight past him. the two of you finally reach a table where your friends are sitting, who you'd texted earlier about the situation. they all sympathise with you, consoling you and genuinely making you feel better. but the best medicine is the weight of vernon's warm hand on your back throughout lunch time.

soon the entire college gets to know about the situation. it's comforting to know that no one's standing up in defense of youngjae and everyone's isolating him for his shameless actions. when vernon walks you to your classroom after lunch, youngjae confronts you again, forcefully making you stop in your way. when he sees that his pleas and apologies aren't melting you in any way, his eyes flare up with rage, and he looks to vernon instead.

"and what the hell are you doing? why are you walking around with her like that?"

"because she's my girlfriend, that's why."

thinking about best friend's older brother!vernon who takes everyone by shock by his declaration

of course, this new addition to the ongoing situation spreads like wildfire through all students also. and it has the same effect it has on them as it does on you. vernon almost laughs at the way your cheeks flare up and your lips purse into a pout. it's hauntingly similar to the incident eleven years ago, except vernon knows he's not saying it without understanding this time.

"what was that for?" you ask him later. "i had to do it. you know he would beg you to come back if i'd moved away." "well, i would be strong and resist him." vernon's glare makes your words falter. "are you sure?" "vern-" "okay just play along with it for a few days. will help you forget him faster."

you spend that night thinking about the events of the day, and you finally realise that the burning sensation in your chest is not sadness. that seems to have run out totally after your crying session with vernon last night. then what is this feeling?

you don't get time to yourself the next few days- when everyone's bombarding you with where when and how you and vernon got together. "it- it just happened," is what you say. and vernon doesn't clarify it either- so it just goes along.

and everyone actually accepts it immediately. no one gives it a second thought, no one needs a longer explanation. "oh we kinda saw it coming," one of your friends say. well, you certainly did NOT see it coming.

apparently, him playing along with it means he has his hands constantly on you, either looped through your arm, or a touch at the small of your back, or his fingers weaving through your hair. it also means him spending every moment outside class with you. soon, he becomes a permanent feature in your friend group, and your and his friends merge to become a big group sitting together at lunch, and creating an endless cacophony.

thinking about best friend's older brother!vernon who tells you that you can end this play-acting after a few weeks and the initial gossip has died down

but every weekend, his heart thumps in his chest as he anticipates when you'll tell him that you want to end the ruse now finally and you're sick of him. he knows he's putting on a very bold face in front of you, but inside? god, he's all nervous putty. he knows he's taking big risks- risks which are more likely to not pay off than actually succeed. but he can't not take the chance when it's right in front of him.

for these fifteen days, vernon lives his dream into reality. before this, he had no idea it would make him so happy to be your boyfriend. even if it's a fake relationship. is this what he's been yearning for all these months when he's seen you going around with another man? is this why he detests youngjae even more than he deserves for his faults?

he doesn't want to think too much about why he's so enthusiastic about doing this. he doesn't want to understand why his heart is fluttering all the time and he's losing focus on everything- even things he's usually very concentrated in, like music or films. he doesn't want to think of why his heart is thumping in his chest whenever the weekend comes around.

thinking about best friend's older brother!vernon who invites you over for movie night to his dorm on sunday

"you'll break up with him now." you tell yourself, looking into the mirror, even as your body moves with a mind of its own. you're wearing a silk dress that's completely not appropriate for a friendly movie night. you're even tying up your hair in a ponytail because vernon once said that hairstyle looks good on you.

"you will draw it to an end for your own good." that's what you tell yourself, but what is your own good? kinda blurry at the moment, because a big part of you doesn't want to let go of vernon. you know that ending things today will have an impact on your closeness- but you can't figure out why it is that you're so worried about letting go of vernon. is it because you don't want to lose a friend, or is it because you've found your ideal man in him?

because one thing you can't lie to even yourself is how perfect vernon would be, hypothetically, as a boyfriend, especially to you. he knows everything about you- your coffee order so that he always knows what to bring from the cafeteria, your menstrual cycle so that he can remind you to buy pads when your week's due, your workout routine so that he knows exactly where to massage that night while the two of you chill.

he's everything youngjae could never dream of being. you're in fact glad youngjae did cheat on you. you've been so blind for stooping down so low when you have had a perfect man around you for all your life. and yet, you don't know if these feelings are just the butterflies from his attention through this make-believe relationship, or whether you've really lost your heart to him. and in fear that it's the second, in which case you're going to regret the steps you plan to take tonight, you make haste to vernon's dorm room to tell him to break up.

"you will tell him to end this right now." you tell yourself when you knock on his door. but when he opens the door wearing his old, ratted t-shirt that you've seen him wear since high school, his hair messy over his forehead, and his pink lips plump, you forget all about breaking up and instead just go in with him, taking his hand as he helps you sit down on his dorm bed and sets up the movie on his laptop. when he gets under the blanket, his body unimaginably close to yours, the exposed skin of your legs graze against his hands and you can see the way he gulps.

"you have to tell him now, y/n!" your brain screams to you, so you blurt out. "vernon, i have something to tell you." vernon moves his hand away from you and sits up. "me too. but you go first." he doesn't break eye contact, and you can see the way he's biting his lip and fidgeting with his hands. symptoms of nervousness, you recall from your psych class. why is he nervous? "no, you go first, nonie."

he raises his eyebrows for confirmation and you nod. then he gulps before answering, "i like you, y/n." "what?" "i know i- fuck, i swear i'm not a creep. i swear i didn't start this fake ruse with you because i like you. hell, i didn't even know then that i liked you." "then, when?" " i realised it last night. but i think it wasn't even like a epiphany per se. just a realisation.... and a way to label some feelings that have been occupying my heart recently."

dear god, help me. you cry out silently for help, because fuck, he looks so earnest right now. so soft, so genuine, his words stunted with how fast he's speaking and his eyes a little dazzled in that on-brand look only vernon can pull off as cute. "nonie, are you serious?" he nods his head fervently. "i am. and i know this may be overwhelming, so you don't have to respond to me right now. but if you do want to reject me, you can tell me right away, i won't be-"

thinking about best friend's older brother!vernon who didn't see this coming in any of his mind's versions of how his confession would go

but it's certainly the best version when he feels your lips press against his. you pull away almost instantly, and he asks, "y/n?" you don't reply immediately, your eyes cast downwards to your hands. "y/n-ah? did you mean that?" after a long pause, he finally hears you squeak back, "yes, nonie. i- i wanted to try it and see what it felt like."

oh. so it was an experiment. well, that's manageable- although vernon doesn't think he'll ever forget the way your lips feel. "y/n-ah if you want to leave, you can. you don't have to-" but you don't let him continue. you kiss him again, pressing your wet, warm, soft lips against his own, and his hands find their way towards you. one of his hands settle on your cheek, and the other on your waist, and he pulls you nearly on top of him as he kisses you back hungrily.

they're all chaste kisses, until you open your mouth slightly and he takes the opportunity to let his tongue roam inside your mouth. but he underestimates you, you quickly suck on his tongue, making him moan out as he pulls back, breathless. "y/n, you've gotta tell me what this means. i can't keep kissing you without any clue of your feelings."

"do you need me to say it aloud, nonie?" "yes? please!" you pout slightly, as if offended by his demand. but then you whisper, "i like you too, nonie. i just wanted to see if my suspicions are real or just a figment of my imagination because you're so perfect." "perfect? har-" "no, you are. and that's not a recent discovery of mine. i've known it forever. you are too perfect to be real, vernon."

and that does it for vernon. the floodgates of his heart burst open, and all the feelings he'd been suppressing for so long flood into his system. it makes him warm and tingly all over, and he leans it to cup your cheeks. "you're the one who's perfect for me y/n-ah. i wasn't wrong all those years ago, you know. you are the woman i've always wanted to marry." you giggle shyly and hide your face in his chest, and vernon knows he's found his soulmate in you.

goodnight n go

member — fwb!vernon x reader genre — smut, angst, non-idol au word count — 1.7k synopsis — you keep coming back for more, but every night ends the same. maybe this time things will be different. warnings — mentions of alcohol, drunk sex, car sex, guitarist!vernon, rock band!hhu, no physical descriptions of reader, vernon is afraid of commitment, sad ending for this part but there will be a part 2 with a happy ending !! notes — before you ask, yes this is based on the ariana song lol but also inspired by black eye because it's been stuck in my head the past few days. as always, thanks to @onlymingyus for reading over this for me <3 i'm still on hiatus and requests are closed but i randomly had inspiration to write something for vernon so i hope you enjoy! i am planning on writing more for this story, but i'm back at uni and my time is already quite limited, so i'll try to write more when i can! reblogs, comments, and asks are super appreciated, it means a lot and helps me keep writing so please lmk if you liked it :)

“hey, you wanna get drinks tonight?”

as usual, that’s how it starts.

you probably should have said no. you’d played this game before. you knew exactly what hansol meant when he offered to hang out after band practice, because it was never just “hanging out”.

you don’t even know why you still go to practices anymore. for a long time you’d avoided them; it wasn’t really your style, and you were never interested in being a groupie for their local gigs. your roommate seungcheol always invited you to every practice and every, and every time you declined with the excuse of homework or other plans, but cheol finally convinced you to come just one time.

at first, it had been because he wanted you to hear a new song they were working on and he’d wanted to know how you liked it before they played it at an upcoming show. but then he’d introduced you to the rest of his bandmates, and after that there was no going back.

you couldn’t help the way your eyes always gravitated towards hansol, who insisted that you call him his real name instead of his stage name that everyone else called him. from the very first practice, you were captivated by him: the way his long fingers seem to dance along the neck of his guitar so effortlessly, the way his voice rasps when he sings, the way your breath catches in your throat when he grips the microphone stand and rolls his head back, lips parted in ecstasy.

he’s addictive, and it’s exactly the reason why you find yourself in the backseat of his car over and over again.

every time, it was easy to pretend that things would be different. you’d walk into the bar together and sit at the table in the back, order a few drinks, chat for a while about nothing. did you like the new stuff we played tonight? yeah, i know cheol is really excited to perform it saturday. you been doing any writing lately? mmm, a little. i’ve been feeling inspired. we could go back to my place and i could show you. except he never does.

hansol wasn’t a bad guy. he always paid for your drinks no matter how many times you offered to pick up the tab, he was polite, he listened to what you had to say. he just didn’t want more than that, and that’s where it all fell apart. you’d screw around for a while, then you’d part ways and wouldn’t speak to each other until next week. you never went to see them play shows, he never texted, you never called, never went on a real date besides meeting in the same bar down the street every thursday night after practice.

he seemed fine with that. you weren’t. and yet every time, you ended up back in his arms.

he groans into your mouth, pushing his hips into you and pinning you harder against the faded leather seats of his old honda. his lips are sloppy but eager, messily pressing his mouth into yours as his fingers tangle in the hair at the base of your neck. you can taste the beer and smoke on his breath, but for some reason it doesn’t bother you. maybe you’re used to it, or maybe it’s just because it’s him. you don’t want to know which reason is the truth.

he kisses you until you’re dizzy, and you can’t tell if it’s from the alcohol or from the thrill of kissing him once again. it’s a high you’re convinced you’ll never get tired of, although you’re not quite sure yet if it’s one that he will.

hansol always lets you set the pace, but tonight he can’t seem to keep his hands to himself. both of your shirts met the floor of his car what seems like hours ago, leaving you in just your bra and pants as he makes out with you as if it’s the first and last time he’ll get that chance. his fingers breeze over your waist the same way they breeze over his guitar strings when he plays: careful yet greedy, each touch intentional yet impulsive as he grips your waist.

he drags his fingers higher and it sends a shiver down your spine, arching your hips up against him and rolling your head back against the seat’s headrest. if there’s only one upside to this relationship, it’s that he’s good at this. really good. if he weren’t, then you wouldn’t have spent so many nights letting him fuck you in the parking lot of your shitty local bar. it does something for your confidence knowing that he must feel the same about you, or else he wouldn’t keep inviting you out. at the very least, this arrangement is mutual, even if you wish it wasn’t.

his hips rock against your crotch again, and even through both of your clothes you can feel how hard he is. your mind is clouded, everything’s a haze, and all you can think about is how badly you want him. the warmth of his skin, the gentle scratch of his nails on the back of your neck, his long eyelashes that flutter against your cheek as he kisses you.

you feel your hands slide haphazardly down his bare chest, fumbling over his hips as you tug on the waistband of his jeans. none of it feels graceful, not like the way he handles his music. it’s sloppy, desperate, clumsy, and it’s everything you need right now.

he manages to lean back from you enough to undo his pants and push them down to his knees, but his mouth is back on yours in an instant. somehow you end up on your back across the seats, gazing up at him with slack lips as his thin silver chain dangles over your face. you might not remember a lot of what happens on these nights when you’re with him, but you’ll always remember this moment. him hovering above you with heavily lidded eyes, biting his lip and cursing as he pushes into you, is etched into your mind in a way you simultaneously love and hate. love because it feels so good, hate because it never lasts.

the rest of those nights never stands out in your memory. you remember feeling good, you remember trembling in his arms and gasping and moaning and crying in pleasure, but the images are too fuzzy to make out. you don’t really need to reflect on them anyway; you know he’ll just bring you out next week and do it all over again.

hansol kisses you once more after you’re both finally spent, but the kisses afterwards are always different. more… hesitant, more uncertain. none of the passion and desperation that you’ve come to crave from him. not what you really want.

“i can drive you home,” he offers once he’s finished cleaning you up. for once you think he might genuinely mean it, but you can never be sure enough to take that chance. you want him to drive you home. god, you want him to so bad. to have him come over with you and stay the night, stay another night and another until your apartment isn’t just yours anymore, that’s what you’ve wanted all this time. and it’s what you’ll never have.

“i’ll call an uber,” you answer.

“i’ll wait with you, then.”

the silence that settles over his car is heavy as you climb back into the front passenger seat. you want to tell him to get in the uber with you, stay more than just a couple hours with you in the furthest back corner of the bar parking lot that’s too far to be illuminated by streetlights. you want to argue that he’s too drunk even to drive himself, that he needs to come home with you and sleep it off together in the comfort of your bed, but you know it’s not true and it won’t work. this is a conversation you’ve had many times before. every night you’ve spent with him blurs into the next, always the same. 

sometimes you want to laugh at how naive you are, for thinking he’d eventually come to his senses and realize there’s more to you than a good lay before a gig. sometimes you want to grab him and shake him by the shoulders and tell him to grow the fuck up, give him an ultimatum and make him tell you what he wants from you or else put an end to it all. sometimes you just want to cry, to mourn your wasted time when you’re fully aware it’s never going to lead to something more, no matter how badly you want it and how hard you try.

no matter how many times you get your hopes up, no matter how many times you pray and beg and plead with god and the universe and every other higher power to get him to realize this can’t keep going on the way it is forever, nothing ever changes. you’re never going to stop running to him when he calls, and he’s never going to stop calling.

finally another car pulls into the lot, and you manage to pull yourself out of his car. you hear your name behind you and you stumble, swaying on your feet as he rolls down his window.

maybe this time will be different.

he says his usual goodbyes and goodnights, flashing you a loose grin and a wave as his engine sputters to life, and he asks if you’re planning on coming to practice next week. 

and you find yourself nodding.

you’re left standing there, your head and your heart pounding, watching his headlights fade as he drives away, until you’ve stood there for so long that your ride starts honking and calling for you to get in the car so you can leave.

maybe next time will be different.

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