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𝑇𝐻𝐸 7𝑇𝐻 𝑆𝐸𝑁𝑆𝐸: 𝑆𝑈𝑁𝐺𝐻𝑂𝑂𝑁

➪ pairing: dragon!sunghoon x female human!reader

➪ genre(s): angst, fluff

➪ tw: hoon's overworked in one scene, near injury incident, painful shifting scene (poor hoonie :c)

➪ wc: 10.3k

➪ with being the town's resident heartthrob, there isn't a time in your day where you don't hear sunghoon's name leave the mouths of fawning teenage girls. you've never really gotten the hype about him, though maybe that's because you just needed to be given a chance to talk to him for yourself. you quickly find that you're learning more about him than you intend and maybe, just maybe, you start to understand the incessant chatter about him.

a crisp morning breeze swirled around your walking figure and left tendrils of your hair blowing wildly behind you. you shivered lightly, closing the ends of your school uniform jacket tighter around yourself as you made a conscious effort to quicken your pace to the bus stop. the weight of your school bag had you hunching forward at an angle that certainly wasn't going to be helpful to the growth of your spine. you swore that by the end of the year, you'd end up with a back like quasimodo's.

you arrived at the bus stop where your few friends greeted you with equally hunched backs and quivering limbs littered with goosebumps. yuna immediately curled her arms around you and shifted your back to the direction the wind was blowing, effectively using you as a human shield.

"gee, thanks," you murmured less than enthusiastically, but you allowed her to remain hidden nonetheless. "i need to stop by the school library on the way to class to return my book. anyone wanna come with?" you invited, searching between each of your friends' faces and receiving the same sheepish expression in return.

"we kind of already made plans to watch sunghoon's morning practice before class started," ningning confessed apologetically, twirling a strand of her hair mindlessly around her finger. chaerin shrugged her shoulders, mouthing the word sorry to you.

you grunted displeasingly, though you should've expected as much. it seemed to you like every girl and their mothers wanted to bend over backwards just to breathe the same air as park sunghoon. you never understood why, though. you'd admit that he was extremely gifted in the genes department and you knew he was an above average student with exceptional grades, but that also applied to many other guys in your town. what made park sunghoon so different? was it simply because he could skate without falling on his ass with every step he took? jung sungchan could burp the alphabet backwards yet nobody seemed to be impressed by that mad show of skill.

the bus ride was as excruciating as ever having to listen to your friends giggle obnoxiously over the forbidden boy. you let a long sigh draw from your lips as you dug out your library book and began to read it for a third time in a desperate attempt to block them out. the ride could not have lasted any longer and as soon as it pulled into the school parking lot, you, being the ever so lovely friend you were, nearly knocked yuna into the aisle as you clambered over her to be one of the first to exit the bus.

you rushed inside to get away from the incessant sunghoon chatter and the biting wind gusts that nipped the tips of your nose and ears a dull shade of red. with your beloved book clutched firmly to your chest, you easily navigated through the slowly crowding hallways in the direction of the library where you had become a weekly visitor to. greeting the librarian with a warm smile as you slid your returning book over the countertop to her, you turned on your heel to scavenge through the fantasy section for the next book in the series you'd been invested in recently. after locating the next book, you briefly flipped through some of the pages to look for any rips or signs of damage, and to secretly get that bookish scent you weirdly liked.

a ping chimed from your phone in the pocket of your school bag and you hurried to snatch it out, feeling a little flustered at not remembering to have turned the ringer off before you entered the school. a text notification from chaerin asked you to snag a book she needed from the nonfiction section tagged with a bunch of hearts and kissy emojis that had you rolling your eyes fondly. you ventured over to the appropriate book section and began to scan the shelves for the requested book, finding it in almost no time at all. you whirled around in a hurry to check the books out and get to class early and somehow didn't notice the presence slipping along the wall of shelves behind you until your two bodies collided.

"ah, sorry!" you rushed out at the same time the other person had, both of you reaching out to steady the other purely on instinct. your two books tumbled to the floor with muted thumps that the rough carpet muffled slightly. glancing up at the person who you'd nearly ran over, you felt the oxygen inside of you come to a screeching halt behind the invisible barrier your throat had created as your eyes made contact with the forbidden boy's.

"it was an accident, no worries. are you alright?" a gentle smile easily graced his lips as he retracted his hands from you before bending down to gather up the two books you had dropped, handing them out to you after straightening back up. you accepted them back into your own hands as you tried to force your lungs to start working properly again, quickly dropping your gaze from his face so that you could do so easily.

"i'm fine, thank you," you echoed quietly, immediately clutching the books to your chest like you had done previously. what was wrong with you? more importantly, what was wrong with him that resulted in there being something wrong with you? "shouldn't you be at the ice rink?" you blurted out, surprising even yourself with the question that really was none of your business nor did you really care what the reason was...didn't you?

sparing another glance at his face proved to be a fatal mistake as you were once again left with dysfunctional lungs. a short chuckle reverberated from him as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his uniform's pants. "i'm just looking for something before i go. are you eager to watch?" something about the way he asked the question didn't seem arrogant like you'd expected it to, though that definitely didn't stop you from instantly becoming defensive in the face of fluster.

you scoffed, letting the puff of air pass humorlessly through your lips as you moved to take a step around him. "i'm not exactly the fangirl type. my friends are going down there to watch you so i thought you'd be there already," you objected, beginning to take slow and languid steps towards the front desk to check out the books. sunghoon's eyes followed you as you moved and you couldn't help but feel nervous under his burning gaze.

"oh, i see. well, you're always welcome to stop by if you ever find yourself with some free time, no fangirl label attached." he flashed that charming smile once more before turning to slink further into the library, leaving you to scurry to the desk and then to your class.

"you'd better never give that book back," yuna decreed with an envious pout casted in chaerin's direction from across the table. you rolled your eyes briefly before returning to the paragraph you were in the midst of reading from your newly acquired book, only half listening to the conversation at hand.

"it's checked out under my name, don't do anything unspeakable with it. i'm not letting any of you ruin my reputation as a responsible book handler," you quipped, your eyes not once leaving the pages sat open before you.

"forget about the book, y/n actually made physical contact with him. look, i think her skin is glowing now." ningning abruptly grabbed your hand to inspect it too closely under the fluorescent lighting of the classroom, yuna leaning in to observe your palm as well.

jerking your hand back to yourself with your lip curled in revulsion, you placed your marker in your book and closed it up just as the professor entered the room to start the lesson. you hadn't made it more than half an hour into the lesson when you experienced your lungs failing you once more. the professor started the class by briefly going over a new project you would be starting this semester, only the project was one half of a collaboration with another class that you weren't taking and each person would be paired up with someone from the other class. it wasn't that bad in your opinion, though you'd definitely much rather work with one of your friends. where it all went south for you was the minute the professor began to read off the pairing assignments aloud.

"chaerin will be partnered up with yang jeongin." chaerin shrugged, muttering something along the lines of how her partner could have been worse. "y/n will be partnered up with park sunghoon."

the millisecond the words had been uttered into existence, it seemed as though everyone collectively stopped everything they were doing and turned to stare you down. your wide eyes frantically searched your friends' equally shellshocked faces, their mirrored expressions letting you know that you had indeed heard the professor correctly. slowly, you slumped down in your seat as you could feel dozens of envious eyes boring holes into you from all angles of the room. a dizzying mix of emotions flooded you at once and left you barely functioning through the remainder of the class.

as you wandered down the hallway with your friends pestering you about your newly acquired project partner, the dread you'd been feeling amplified tenfold after rounding the corner and spotting the forbidden boy just at the opposite end with his own friends. you kept your head down and prayed to every god, goddess, and magical holiday being that he wouldn't say anything to you. of course, you'd probably forgotten to have a little chat with the tooth fairy or something as the exact opposite of what you'd been asking for happened.

"hey!" you'd planned to just pretend to not have realized that sunghoon was calling out to you, but of course your conniving friends weren't allowing that to happen. ningning grabbed at the nape of your shirt, promptly halting you in your steps and simultaneously nearly choking you out. you swallowed back the urge to groan aloud and forced a tight-lipped smile as sunghoon veered from his group of friends to stop directly before you. "you're y/n, right? i think we're paired up for that project."

you nodded stiffly. "yep, looks like we are." you were acutely aware of the stares you got from students passing by and the much unwanted attention had you shrinking in on yourself slightly.

"when should we meet up to start on it? i'm free after practice so if it works out for you, we can head to the library or something." an invisible cloud of warmth seemed to envelop you out of nowhere, causing you to squirm in slight discomfort.

before you could open your mouth to respond, ningning's voice spoke up on behalf of you much to your dismay. "she'll meet you there!" she chirped, successfully dodging the elbow you tried to land against her abdomen.

"cool, i'll see you later then," sunghoon answered before moving around the four of you to catch back up to his friends once more.

"did you feel that? he's so hot that he has his own climate," yuna hissed out in a harsh whisper as the group of you continued on towards your collective destination to the art room. you rolled your eyes, this time allowing the defeated groan to slip past your lips. though now your curiosity had been sparked knowing that the other girls had felt the wave of heat, also.

by the end of the day, you were sick of hearing about sunghoon more than usual. but, with all the unlucky energy you'd somehow managed to absorb over this 24-hour period, you found yourself begrudgingly following your friends to the school's ice rink for the first time in, well, ever. your lack of appearances to sunghoon's practices proved to be more of a disadvantage than you'd first thought after seeing your friends bundle up in warm coats and hats. thankfully, chaerin had additionally brought a blanket that she was more than willing to let you use.

you weren't sure whether or not to feel surprised by the number of seats in the stands that had already been taken up by female students of varying grade levels. did all these people really not have anything more important to do? following your eager friends into one of the rows closest to the front, you dropped your school bag to the ground and immediately fished out your book before slouching in the cushioned seat. you had no problem tuning out the noise around you as it had been a skill you'd learned to do quite quickly in your school career. however, it wasn't the constant buzz of conversations being held around you or even the sudden burst of cheers and encouraging words shouted from the stands as you imagined sunghoon gliding out onto the ice that distracted you, but it was the sight you caught from your peripheral vision of a lithe body launching up into the air in a triple axel before landing with such grace back onto the ice.

from all the talk you'd heard around school, you knew he was good at what he did though you did convince yourself that his talent was being a bit exaggerated by overenthusiastic fans. you definitely didn't expect him to be this skilled, and you couldn't help but let your eyes subtly follow him over the top of your book as he continued to flawlessly execute impossible looking tricks. with each successful landing, high pitched shouts of praise would echo into the rink and it didn't take long for your head to start ringing with signs of an impending headache. the chilly air definitely wasn't helping your case either and left your ears, nose, and cheeks dusting a light shade of red.

"ooh, y/n's interest has been sparked," yuna crowed teasingly above the noise of another cheer, giving your shoulder a playful shake. it didn't take long for ningning and chaerin to join in on the friendly banter at your expense. though you once more showed your displeasure with a signature eye roll, you couldn't mask the small smile that crept onto your lips as you tried to fixate your attention back to the words littering the pages of your book.

"he's alright," you admitted quietly. he may be alright, but that didn't mean you were going to drop to your knees at the mere sight of him. you simply had to tolerate him long enough to get your project finished with a decent grade, then you'd hopefully never have to be seen with him again.

clearly you underestimated the effort you'd have to put into deliberately avoiding the forbidden boy. it seemed as though every corner you turned, he was there with his flock of fangirls crowding him and his friends. and of course he couldn't go a single encounter without acknowledging you each time with a wave or a smile which effectively drew the attention of his fanclub to you. you couldn't even use the restroom without noticing a trio of girls whispering in the corner and casting pointed looks in your direction.

ningning and yuna brushed your concerns off each time you brought up the situation which only frustrated you even more. maybe they were right, though, maybe you really were just overreacting. you had nothing to hide, there was no secret relationship to keep from the eyes and ears of the student body. in fact, you wouldn't even consider there to be a secret friendship to conceal. you met up at the library after school each day to work on the assignment, rarely speaking about anything off the topic of such, then you'd pack up and head your separate ways after about an hour or two of working. there was hardly anything for anyone to be jealous about.

one thing that you could appreciate, though, was sunghoon's punctuality. every day after his practice, he was meeting up with you in the library at exactly 4:45 sharp to begin working. it had become an unspoken agreement that was shared between the two of you that 4:45 was your designated meeting time. so, when you'd glanced up at the wall clock ticking above the library door and saw that the time read fifteen minutes past, your brows furrowed confusedly. pulling out your phone to make sure that the clock on the wall wasn't just running fast, the digital numbers on your lockscreen confirmed that it was indeed past time and sunghoon was late.

it was only then that you slightly regretted not exchanging phone numbers, of course only for emergency purposes such as this. deciding you'd wait just a few minutes longer, you continued to work on your portion of the joined project. after glancing up a bit later and noticing that ten more minutes had passed with still no sign of sunghoon, you let out an irritated huff and began to pack up your things, swinging your bag over your shoulders before wandering out of the library. there was only one possible place you could think to look for him in which, unfortunately for you, was located at the opposite side of the school.

you made the three minute trek to the ice rink and pushed inside of the double doors leading into the stands. unusually, there were no students occupying the seats, but there was one person occupying the rink. sunghoon. you ventured further into the chilly arena with your arms folded protectively over yourself, a shiver creeping up your spine as goosebumps rose on the exposed patches of your skin. you opened your mouth to call out to sunghoon when another voice echoed much to your surprise.

"do it again!" scanning the seats, you didn't see anyone else out there which only served to confuse you more. taking a few more cautious steps down the aisle, you could just barely make out the top of someone's head on the other side of the rink's walls, the person watching as sunghoon glided around inside.

"i need a break," you heard sunghoon call back to the person, the exhaustion in his voice painfully evident as he bent over slightly with his hands braced against his thighs for support, his back heaving up and down with heavy breaths. copious amounts of steam rolled off of him and nearly enveloped him in a smoky cloud, and you wondered just how cold it really was in that rink.

"what you need is to perfect that transition, now do it again," the person barked back mercilessly. your eyes grew slightly wide as you watched in silence, too afraid to make your presence known now.

without another word, sunghoon straightened back up and wiped at the sweat collecting on his forehead before skating a few laps around the rink to build his momentum back up. you noticed the way that he seemed to drag his feet as he went, and a small pinch of worry had your heart skipping a beat or two. as you'd seen him do the week before, he launched himself into the air in a perfect triple axel, then again in a double, and then– an involuntary shriek slipped past your lips as sunghoon's body collapsed onto the ice with a hard thud, your hands immediately flying up to cover your face.

"hey!" the man outside of the ring whirled around abruptly at the sound of your shriek. "we said no watchers today, get out!"

sunghoon's head lifted at the sound of you being scolded, the steam still rising around his body as he lay in a heap on the ice. "y/n?" he called out, tiredly pushing himself back up to his feet. despite the seething glare of the man, who you'd figured was a coach of some sort, you found yourself rushing down the aisle of the stands and hurrying to the gate leading into the rink. just barely making it to the wall before his legs began to buckle again, sunghoon grabbed onto your outstretched hand and hobbled over the threshold.

"are you okay? do you need to see the nurse? i think she's still here." you allowed sunghoon to lean against you as he slipped on the blade guards, the heat radiating off of him causing you to feel immensely hot in a matter of seconds. you pushed that to the back of your mind for the time being as you helped him over to the bench, gingerly lowering him down onto it.

"he'll be fine," the man sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he followed the two of you over. wordlessly, sunghoon weakly lifted a finger to point behind you and you easily located the object he was asking for.

you grabbed the water bottle and even took the initiative to open the cap for him before handing it over, fixing a hard glare at the man standing over you shortly after. "i don't think that's for you to decide," you bit out harshly. "you should feel ashamed of yourself, he told you he needed a break."

a small chuckle sounded from sunghoon after he had lowered the water bottle from his lips, quickly wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "i'm not hurt, y/n, promise," he assured you with a warming smile. "just a little tired." still, you shot one last unfriendly look towards the man before rising from your crouched position in front of sunghoon, crossing your arms over your chest.

"we need to get back to practice, so if you'd kindly take your leave–"

ignoring the man, you pointedly kept your attention on sunghoon. "you should get back home and rest, it seems like you've been here long enough." you weren't sure where this sudden urge to look out for him came from. just minutes prior, you were thinking up new ways to dodge him in the hallways and had even considered asking the professor to trade partners. you definitely still weren't one-hundred percent happy about the situation, though something inside of you now deterred you from your negative thoughts. maybe you actually felt bad for sunghoon, at least for now.

brushing off your words of concern with another pretty smile, sunghoon instead sat his water bottle down next to his feet before leaning with his back against the concrete half wall separating the three of you from the stands. "i'm sorry i didn't make it to the library today. we can work an extra day this weekend if you'd like to make up for it," he apologized sincerely, reaching up to wipe more sweat from his brow.

you were quick to shake your head adamantly. "no, don't worry about it. we're almost done with it anyways and we still have plenty of time before it's due."

sunghoon's gaze remained fixated on your face as you spoke, his eyes tracing over your features with a certain intensity that made you start to feel hot all over again. you swallowed thickly, shifting your weight to one side as you were the first to break eye contact with him. you hated that, you hated how you slowly began to see and understand the things that your friends gushed about constantly. sunghoon had a way of making you feel like you were the main love interest in a cheesy romance drama with the constant lingering gazes and endless smiles casted in your direction. surely it was your own mind playing tricks on you as you gradually found yourself beginning to think more and more about him regardless of your persistence to avoid him. no matter what it was that you were thinking about, it somehow always involved sunghoon.

clearing your throat awkwardly, you adjusted your bag on your shoulders and began to take slow steps towards the stands in order to make your exit. "so, you're sure you're going to be okay?" you queried, your brows furrowed with uncertainty.

sunghoon nodded. "i'll be okay, thank you. i'll see you tomorrow, y/n, and i promise to actually be there on time," he answered lightheartedly despite having nearly suffered a serious injury just moments prior. with one last wary glance, you nodded before treading back the way you had come.

"are you going to the dance?" your hand paused mid-writing and your eyes briefly darted up to glance across the table, finding sunghoon still working diligently. you narrowed your eyes slightly before diverting your attention back to your open textbook.

"no," you deadpanned in response.

"why not?" sunghoon pressed. "i'm going."

you snickered, "is that supposed to make me want to go?" perhaps it did a bit, but you were far too stubborn to admit it even to yourself.

sunghoon just laughed lightly in return, then it stayed quiet between you two as you continued working on the last bits of your project. it had been three days since the incident at the ice rink and neither of you had spoken about it since. in fact, neither of you had spoken at all until just moments ago; he had even stopped saying hello to you in the hallways. it didn't bother you...no, really, it didn't!

"are you not going with your friends?" he asked, sitting back in his chair after dropping his pencil atop the table with a short clatter. once more, you glanced up at him briefly before adverting your gaze away from him.

"no, chaerin's going with someone from another school, ningning will be out of town that weekend, and yuna's stuck babysitting for the night. besides, i have tests to study for," you sighed heavily, also dropping your pencil between the pages of your textbook before leaning back in your own chair. still, you refused to meet sunghoon's gaze.

"i'm sure if you asked someone to go with you, they'd say yes. you only get to experience high school once, you know."

you snorted lightly in response, crossing your arms over your chest. "unless you're lucky enough to repeat a year or two. besides, i don't have anyone i'm interested in asking."

sunghoon hummed softly, nodding as he reached out to begin twirling his pencil between his fingers. "i see, but what if there's someone who's interested in asking you?"

you raised your eyebrows skeptically, finally managing to spare the forbidden boy a few seconds of eye contact. "if you're implying that you want to ask me, then i'm sorry for bursting your bubble but i'm not going."

sunghoon's mouth dropped open for a few seconds before it closed again and he cleared his throat awkwardly. "uh, actually one of my friends, jisung, wanted to ask you. don't worry about it, though, he'll ask someone else."

you wanted to punch yourself. of course sunghoon wasn't going to ask you, why would you assume he was going to? your face flushed red with embarrassment and you were forced to look away from him. "oh," you answered dumbly, your fingers finding each other as they twiddled nervously.

"i'm already going with someone." of course he was, you weren't surprised at all by this revelation. were you disappointed, though? maybe just the slightest bit.

you forced a tight-lipped smile as you picked your pencil back up, hunching back over your textbook once more. "she must be a lucky girl, then," you ventured, indicating with your lack of enthusiasm that you were done with the conversation.

picking up on your cue, sunghoon let a long sigh draw from his lips before leaning over his own book. you sucked your bottom lip between your teeth as your brain failed to focus on the task at hand and instead opted to flood with thoughts about the dance. your school hosted its annual halloween dance the week before the spooky holiday and you'd never been interested in going until that point. of course the one year you'd decided to try coming out of your antisocial shell, the universe wanted to work against you by taking your friends out of the equation. not wanting to go alone, you had stuffed the thought to the back of your mind, but now that you actually had a chance to go, you were definitely starting to rethink your decisions.

finally getting fed up with your overthinking, you hastily opened up your notebook and tore out a piece of paper. you scribbled your contact information down before folding it up and shoving it across the table at an unsuspecting sunghoon. "give that to your friend," you spoke shortly before resuming your task, thankfully with much more peace of mind.

another silent week passed before the halloween dance was taking place and you were anxiously waiting in your living room with chaerin and her date for jisung to arrive and pick the three of you up. you felt that you looked like the female lead in a cheesy coming of age movie who'd just had her glow up, and you honestly couldn't decide whether or not it was an experience you enjoyed. with your hair twisted up in an elaborate updo and shimmering eyeshadow decorating your lids, it was safe to say that you hadn't felt this feminine in a long time and it made you a bit self-conscious.

glancing up at the sound of a car pulling into your driveway, you were met with a momentary wave of relief as you stood from your seat and smoothed down the silky material of your dress. however, that relief lasted all of five seconds when your overenthusiastic parents came scrambling into the living room with cameras galore, insisting that they get pictures of you with everyone before you left. your cheeks flared bright red as you opened up the door to let jisung inside, muttering a quick apology for what was about to take place before accepting your defeat and letting the slightly embarrassing photoshoot happen.

after your parents were satisfied, the four of you left in a hurry and you hobbled to jisung's car in your uncomfortable heels. you thanked him genuinely with a smile as he opened the passenger door for you and helped you inside, even going the extra mile to make sure the skirt of your dress was safely tucked inside of the car before gently closing the door. jisung was a sweet boy, that much you had come to learn quite quickly. he was prone to becoming a flustered mess in your presence and he ever so shyly asked if you wanted to match color themes with him for the dance which you couldn't say no to. there was definitely nothing wrong with him, but your mind constantly seemed to be somewhere else.

that proved to still be an issue as the next thing you knew, your door was being opened once more much to your surprise. trying to mask the fact that you had just completely zoned out the entire eight minute ride to the school grounds, you placed your hand in jisung's offered palm and allowed him to help you slide out of the car with grace. your arm naturally slid to link with his as the four of you made your way to the entrance of the school where each couple or friend group paused to have their pictures taken by the school's yearbook team.

a short wolf whistle caught your attention after the last photo was snapped, then the unmistakable voice of the class president bellowed above the noise. "is that miss y/n?"

your cheeks flushed with embarrassment as multiple pairs of eyes instantly drew to you. "shut up, chenle!" jisung hollered back before swiftly leading you into the gymnasium with chaerin and her date close behind.

the vast room was fully decked out in halloween decorations and pulsing purple lights lit up the otherwise darkened gym. orange and black streamers seemed to hang everywhere you turned and decorative tablecloths lined the snacks and drinks tables. a photo booth was set up in the far corner and students were already moving around on the open dance floor as overplayed songs bumped from the large speakers placed near the stage.

"let's go, what are we waiting for?" chaerin called above the sound of the music before grabbing both your and her date's hands and dragging you to the dance floor, your free hand instinctively clasping onto jisung's to take him with you.

you had no idea how to dance and you quickly started kicking yourself, thankfully not literally, for not thinking to learn different moves other than the awkward shuffle you had been doing for the last two songs. luckily, it seemed that jisung had no idea what he was doing either and both of you continued to giggle and poke fun at each other into the third song of the night. well, that was until jisung got suckered into the middle of a dance circle where he completely changed your assumption on his dancing abilities as he absolutely decimated the classmate who had challenged him to the small dance-off in the first place.

"where's sunghoon?" just as jisung had returned to your side after being congratulated with slaps on his back and encouraging words, a girl whom you were slightly familiar with had strutted right up to the two of you with her arms folded unamusedly over her chest. "i've been looking for him for ten minutes, text him or something. he's your friend, isn't he?" she demanded jisung with an unpleasant scowl on her otherwise pretty features.

jisung's lips parted slightly in bewilderment before hurriedly starting to pat at his various pockets to locate his phone. you quirked a challenging eyebrow in her direction, "you don't have his number?"

she scoffed, fixing her steely glare at you. "no, do you?" she bit back venomously, a satisfied smug look crossing her features as you remained silent.

"i'll come find you when he replies," jisung announced, locking his phone to slot back into his pocket when the device was abruptly snatched out of his hand.

"or," she snipped, "you'll stay with me until he replies."

jisung glanced back and forth between the two of you unsurely, prompting an irritated noise to rumble from within your throat as you bent down to hastily remove your shoes from your feet. "for god's sake, i'll go look for him," you sighed before whirling around and storming out of the gymnasium with your bare feet slapping noisily against the tiled floors of the hallway. you immediately knew where to look as should anyone who knew anything about sunghoon.

bursting carelessly through the doors leading to the ice rink, your voice immediately rang around the echoey arena. "park sunghoon!" as you marched down the aisle between the stands, you found the body of none other than the boy of the hour laying flat on his back in the middle of the rink with his limbs spread out. his head turned in your direction as you eventually made it to the gate, your figure already beginning to quiver with the cold that blew over your exposed skin. "what are you doing in here?"

"i like to come here when i need to cool off," he answered nonchalantly, not making any effort to move from his starfish pose on the hard ice. surely it was uncomfortable, right?

"right, because it must be such hard work being adored by the masses," you surmised, rolling your eyes despite the small smile that wanted to tug the corners of your lips up.

sunghoon's mouth dropped open in mock offense. "ah, if it wasn't so cold in here, i'd almost say that burned."

once more, you granted him another eye roll though this time a half-hearted chuckle managed to escape from your lips. the steam rolling off of him caught your attention once more, and this time you couldn't find it in yourself to let it slide. "wow, you really do have your own climate," you commented, leaning forward to drape your arms across the top of the gate leading into the rink.

sunghoon raised his eyebrows in question. "i do? is that your way of saying i'm hot?" the amount of heat that rose to your cheeks should've created your own shield of steam in the chilly arena.

you quickly diverted your gaze to somewhere off in the distance to refrain from showing him just how flustered that stupid question made you. "no," you asserted, "it's something stupid my friends say."

"right, of course..." he trailed off before finally pushing himself up into a seated position. "how did you know i'd be here?"

you scoffed, "please, you're so predictable. the school's ice skater disappears during a time where he's needed, of course the only logical place to look would be in the ice rink. it doesn't take rocket science to figure that out."

sunghoon laughed lightly, giving a short nod in response. "i guess you're right. can i ask another question?"

"you just did," you deadpanned, "but sure, go for it i guess."

"why did you come looking for me?" the teasing glint in his eye gave away exactly what he was thinking and you were quick to shut that theory of his down.

"funny you should ask. your date is holding mine hostage until you return, so unless you'd like to explain to her parents why you're returning her home damaged, then it may be in your best interest to come claim her."

sunghoon held your gaze for a few moments longer before nodding and pushing himself up onto his feet. taking slow and stiff strides towards the gate, he once more grasped your outstretched palm and stepped over the threshold onto solid, non-slippery ground. the heat he radiated engulfed you just as it had done before and the goosebumps and incessant shivering you'd been enduring ceased at once. something about it felt odd to you, no person should constantly be running this warm. previously you'd just chalked it up to him overworking himself in the rink, but this time he had simply been laying there. your curiosity got the best of you as you fell into step next to sunghoon while making your trek back to the gymnasium.

"are you feeling okay?" you asked, twirling the strap of one of your heels around your hand as you walked. you peeked at him through your peripheral vision and noticed him doing the same in your direction.

"yes, i'm okay. just a little nervous, i guess. why do you ask?"

you almost wanted to ask why the hell he of all people would be feeling nervous, but you were sharp enough to see what he was trying to do. "you're always abnormally hot, and before you let it boost your ego, i mean it quite literally."

sunghoon breathed out a small laugh. "i wasn't going to think about it like that, anyways." he shook his head slightly before continuing, "i guess i just always run a bit warmer than other people. i get that from my father's side, he's quite a heater, as well."

you sucked your cheeks in slightly, not buying his story for even a second. but, for argument's sake and because ultimately it wasn't really your place to poke your nose in his business, you gave a simple nod and paused just outside of the gym to slip your heels back on. a sharp intake of breath filled your lungs as sunghoon stopped alongside you, then knelt down to begin fastening the straps of your shoes after you'd slid them back on. wordlessly, he rose back to his feet and flashed that swoon worthy smile of his before entering the chaotic gymnasium with you following in tow, your mind void of all things except for the forbidden boy.

"hey, y/n!" a voice hissed in a loud whisper. you turned to your left, ready to use the book in your hand to defend yourself with until you recognized who the owner of the voice was. you let your guard back down with a small sigh, clutching the book to your chest as jisung came trotting up to you. "are you busy this friday?"

you hesitated before shaking your head negatively, your brows creasing together slightly. "no, why?"

jisung scratched the back of his neck which, you'd learned in the few days prior to your date to the dance, was a nervous habit of his. it was endearing, you decided. "well, some of my friends and i are gonna go trick or treating and i wanted to see if you'd like to join us," he explained in a hushed tone, shifting from one foot to the other as he glanced between the library book shelves.

"oh," you started, "uh, who specifically does that include?"

"me, chenle, taehyun, jinha..." he listed off a few more students before the name you were silently hoping you wouldn't hear; or, maybe you did hope to hear it, "...and sunghoon."

you swallowed thickly before shifting your focus to your worn shoes below. "do you mind if i bring some of my friends?" you finally asked, bringing your eyes back up to meet jisung's once more. he nodded rapidly, and you found yourself agreeing to tag along much to his delight. he quickly told you where the designated meeting spot would be before bounding further into the library with a giddy smile. you knew how he felt about you, he was really quite horrible at hiding it whenever you were around, but you couldn't find it in your heart to shut him down. you'd never had anyone crush on you before, at least not to your knowledge, what were you supposed to do with this information?

it didn't take very much convincing for your three friends to agree to going after you'd said the magic word, that being sunghoon. so, that friday night you found yourself waltzing to the decided meeting spot dressed as one of four ninja turtles to correspond with the three others your friends represented. you honestly couldn't remember what your turtle's name was, but you did enjoy the fact that you got to carry around a huge wooden staff. at least you now had a reason to yield a weapon to knock yuna upside the head with if she pestered you about the forbidden boy too much.

"are we ready to go?" ningning asked aloud after the four of you had arrived, swinging her empty pumpkin bucket around.

"no, sunghoon's not answering," the only other girl there answered with a harsh huff, and you immediately recognized her from the school dance.

you frowned a little, glancing around until you caught jisung's eye from across the group. he only shrugged animatedly and glanced back down at his phone like he was waiting for a notification to suddenly pop up.

"has anyone checked up on him at his house or anything?" you questioned, a scoff of disbelief falling from your lips as everyone shook their heads. "some friends you are," you sighed heavily. "then maybe we should split up to search for him? some of us check at his house, some check at the places he's at most, and the rest can check at the school. maybe he got held back during practice or something."

slowly but surely, the group dispersed in small search parties which resulted in you traveling to the school with jisung and jinha. "hey, geniuses, how do you plan to get into the school? we can't break in unless we want to start criminal records," jinha nagged from the backseat.

"chenle snagged his mom's id card so we can get inside," jisung replied, holding up the school staff badge that all school workers wore clipped to their shirts during the day.

you took the badge from jisung's hand to examine it, seeing that it was indeed the vice principal's id stamped on the front of the glossy plastic. "why does he just randomly have this?" you implored before handing it back to the boy just as he pulled into the school's parking lot.

"he stole it last year and made her think she lost it so she'd get a new one. he keeps this one in case he needs to get inside for...certain activities." sensing that jisung wasn't going to elaborate any further, you didn't push for more details and climbed out of the vehicle.

"great, so now i'm associated with a criminal," jinha pouted as the three of you charged up to the entrance, jisung hastily swiping the card across the reader panel before the doors unlocked with a loud clunk.

you rolled your eyes, leading the way inside where you were met with nothing but darkness. "don't worry, i'm sure your boyfriend will find a way to bail you out," you retorted as the three of you collectively fished out your phones to utilize their flashlights.

"of course he will, but i still don't want it on my track record."

"i think we should split up to look," you announced, quickly growing fed up with jinha's whiny attitude.

"you're insane, there's no way in hell i'm wandering around this school alone! that's how the characters all die in horror movies. jisung, you're coming with me," she stated firmly before grasping his wrist and yanking him down the east wing.

"good riddance," you muttered to yourself as you made your way down the west wing. you had to admit, the school seemed much more daunting at night with the eerily quiet hallways and the usually blocked out sounds of various electrical units running. your heart began to thud harder and faster in your chest the further into the school you crept, and eventually you had to stop and lean against the wall of lockers to collect yourself. you'd finally gotten your breathing and heart rate back to normal when you heard it, and your blood turned to ice immediately.

you held your breath, the thumping of your heart rising again as you strained to listen for the sound to come again. you took a few hesitant steps forward with your flashlight shakily guiding you before you heard it a second time. a cry of pain, it was distant but you definitely heard it and it only served to frighten you more. immediately, you began to back up the way you had just come from when a sudden feeling struck you hard.

go look.

the feeling was intense and it had you halting in your backtracking steps. why would you want to investigate? you had no idea what or who was making that noise, and you wanted no part in whatever was happening. but, no matter how hard you tried, you couldn't shake the incessant feeling that begged you to go see what was going on. with a final deep breath to clear your body of its nerves, you began to move forward down the hallway again. you weren't sure where you were supposed to be looking, but you guessed you'd just follow the sounds. another anguished cry faintly tickled your ears, then–

the ice rink.

swallowing down the urge to break down under the immense fear coursing through your veins, you bolted for the arena and came to a halt just outside of the heavy metal doors leading into the stands. you pressed your ear against the door to listen for any signs of life inside and jumped back with a yelp of surprise as the heated metal made contact with your cheek. why was it so hot? was there a fire inside? what if someone was trapped?

clutching your phone tightly in your hand, you busted through the doors and were met with a wave of unbearably sweltering heat that choked you up for only a moment or two. the air was thick with humidity and it didn't take long for your body to begin reacting to the overwhelming warmth of the arena.

in the center of the ice rink, a thick cloud of smoke nearly hid the hunched silhouette of a person who emitted the same pained cry that you'd been hearing. it couldn't be...

"sunghoon?" you called out above the loud sizzle that echoed off the walls of the vast room. throwing caution to the wind, you charged down the aisle and over to the gate where you had stood all those times prior. the closer you drew to the rink, the hotter the air became until you were sure your hair would singe if you moved any closer. "sunghoon, is that you? what's going on?" you called again, watching with squinted vision as the shadowed figure curled in on themself after letting out a guttural groan.

"leave!" he growled out quite literally, the sound unlike anything you'd ever heard a human produce. it shot a spike of fear down your spine, but regardless you remained planted by the gate. the ice around him was rapidly melting into water and evaporating into the air, adding to the thick fog encasing his body.

"i'll call for help, just stay put!" you called out once more, your shaky hands fumbling with your phone as you tried to navigate from your flashlight to your phone app to call for emergency services.

"no, don't!" the same gravelly voice grumbled, effectively stopping you from proceeding with your actions as you glanced up with wide, panic stricken eyes. slowly, he began to drag his body out of the curtain of steam and a stunned silence fell over you as a pair of brightly glowing green eyes met with yours. your phone fell to the ground with a clatter and your lips parted in a silent scream that never made it out. "y/n, please, don't tell anyone," he pleaded before dropping to the ice with another cry, his body twisting and writhing around in discomfort.

red scales painted his bare torso in random patches that ran all the way down his arms and crept up his neck, and his spine visibly rippled as small spikes began to push through his skin. if you weren't in such a state of shock, you'd almost be sickened by the sight of it, though that shock quickly morphed into concern as you watched him drag his nails against the ice in a feeble attempt to relieve the pain undoubtedly coursing through his body. now, you felt bad, bad enough to have you pushing the gate open and crouching down to scoot along the melting ice towards him.

"y/n, i'll burn you. stay back," he wheezed out, taking immediate notice of your presence creeping closer to him. against your urges, you heeded his warning and remained planted in your spot near the rink's wall.

"what are you?" you couldn't help but ask as you watched more tiny spikes travel down the length of his spine.

sunghoon's green eyes tiredly met yours, then a small amused grunt tumbled from his lips. "what are you?"

sensing that he wanted a distraction from whatever it was he was going through, you found it in your heart to play along. "i'm a ninja turtle, duh," you proclaimed, pointing to the colored bandana tied around your head. "leo, i think," you mused, racking your brain for all names you could remember.

"you're donnie, y/n. he's the super smart one," sunghoon corrected with a fatigued laugh which quickly turned into a whimper as he winced in pain. your body screamed at you to crawl over and console him, but your brain won the argument and you remained seated.

"oh, well then i guess i should take that as a compliment since my friends threw this costume at me," you chuckled, gesturing to the props and clothing covering you.

"he's also kind of a nerd and hopelessly in love with a girl he can't have."

"there's always a catch, isn't there?" you sighed dramatically, leaning back on your palms. "well, i guess he and i aren't very different after all," you admitted, your face flushing even hotter than it already was. was this really how you were going to confess your feelings? in a melting ice rink with some sort of hot demon boy rolling around in front of you? the thought alone was absurd enough to pull a laugh from you.

"you like a girl?" sunghoon teased, and you soon found yourself wanting to use your staff to whack him with but decided he was already suffering enough.

"no, stupid, i like–" you cut yourself off before you could say it out loud, swiftly moving your attention to the watering layer of ice beneath you. "never mind."

you felt the air heat up even hotter for a split second before it suddenly died down, like a bucket of water had been thrown on the blazing fire heating the room up. taking a glance around, nothing seemed to have changed other than the cloud of smoke that had now moved to encompass the both of you. sunghoon pushed himself up with shaky limbs and began to crawl closer to you much to your surprise before dropping down right beside you with his head in your lap.

he was still burning up and the heat was highly uncomfortable, but the way that he instantly sighed in relief upon making contact with you had your heart doing somersaults in your chest. with a weary hand, you gently brushed the sweaty locks away from his forehead and allowed him to nestle his cheek into the palm of your hand. the blood rushed through your veins tenfold as little sparks of something ignited inside of your chest. there was no point in denying it now, it was inevitable from day one and you knew it no matter how hard you tried to deny your feelings.

you liked park sunghoon.

"you know," he cleared his throat, his eyes slipping shut, "i hopelessly like a girl who i can't have, too." you tried so hard to not stare at the sharp canines inside of his mouth as he spoke.

"oh please," you scoffed quietly, "name one person in this school who wouldn't throw themselves at your feet."

"you," he answered without missing a beat, a small smile gracing his lips as his eyelids fluttered back open to greet you with his glowing irises. "i wanted to take you to the dance, you know."

your mouth fell agape at the revelation, your brain turning to absolute mush as you tried desperately to form a single coherent thought. between the heat of the room and the heat of sunghoon's stare trained on your lips, you felt like you were mere minutes away from ascending to the afterlife.

you shook your head slightly to wake yourself back up, your brows drawing together slightly in confusion. "then why didn't you? you could've asked me before you asked jinha," you queried, finally able to collect yourself enough to speak again.

sunghoon scoffed, "did you not see the way you reacted to me when you thought i was asking you? i knew you'd reject me, it's kind of your thing."

"oh," you answered dumbly, busying yourself with combing his damp locks back away from his face as they insisted on falling down to cover his forehead.

"plus, jisung had already expressed that he wanted to ask you and it would've been shitty of me as his friend to ask you first." he sighed, pursing his lips as his gaze dropped back down to your own once more. "can we have a do-over?"

you blinked, your eyebrows shooting up in surprise. "right now? while you're like that and i'm like...this?" you gestured to his obviously exhausted figure laying in a heap before motioning to the ridiculous halloween costume you were sporting.

sunghoon shrugged, "why not? are you bad at dancing?" a glimmer of a challenge twinkled in his eye and you found yourself caving at an alarmingly fast rate.

"as a matter of fact, i am bad at dancing, especially on melting ice," you shot back, giving his shoulder a playful shove.

not taking your excuses, sunghoon began to push himself up to his feet and steadied himself before stretching his palm out to you. "you can just step on my feet then, come on," he smiled that same beautiful smile that you hated yourself falling for each time it showed. clicking your tongue defeatedly, you grabbed ahold of his hand and allowed him to pull you up onto your wobbly legs.

"one thing first," you paused before he could bring you any closer. "i want to know what's going on, sunghoon. what's happening to you?"

he let out a drawn sigh, glancing down at the scales covering splotches of his skin before turning back up to your concerned face. "it happens every time during this year. the lunar cycle makes everyone like me go haywire, though i guess i'm one of the lucky ones. not everyone can remember who they are during this time..." he trailed off before taking another deep breath, his voice shaking slightly as he declared his next words. "i'm a dragon, y/n."

you took all of ten seconds to digest the information before pushing it aside, instead stepping forward and nearly collapsing into sunghoon as your feet slid on the slippery ice. with quick reflexes, sunghoon caught you and brought you into a tight embrace until your feet were securely planted on the tops of his own. you'd have time to think more about it later, but right now the atmosphere was far too uncomfortable for you to give yourself a headache over it.

sunghoon's hands planted firmly on the dip of your waist whereas your arms found their way around the back of his neck, your fronts pressing flush against each other as he began to take small swaying steps that somewhat resembled a slow dance. your cheek found rest against the bare skin of his chest, and the once unbearable heat didn't seem quite so unbearable now.

"you're not hurting any more?" you asked softly, glancing up at him through your lashes as he continued to maneuver the two of you around.

shaking his head slightly, he smiled adoringly down at you. "not enough that i can't handle it any more. you took it away," he confessed with a hint of shyness crossing his features.

you pulled back just enough to look him in the eye properly, then your gaze drifted downwards to rest on his pink lips. "sunghoon," you whispered breathlessly, and as if reading your mind, he wordlessly leaned in and pressed his lips against yours in a gentle, perfect first kiss.

you slammed your locker door shut after gathering the materials you needed for your next class, struggling to hoist all the books up off the floor. suddenly, a pair of hands began grabbing a few of your books off the top of the stack and you followed up the length of the arms until you were met with the sight of an all too familiar face.

"this seems like deja vu, doesn't it?" sunghoon smiled warmly as you gathered the remaining books before straightening back up on your feet. gently, he placed the books back on top of your stack before turning to follow you to your next destination.

"thank you," you blushed, the heat rising to your cheeks amplifying as you felt sunghoon's arm snake around your shoulders protectively. "did you pass your portion of the project?" you asked, desperately trying to find a distraction from the attention being drawn to the two of you as you traveled down the hallways.

"i got a 96% so i'm pretty happy with it. how did you do?" he asked in return, never once removing his arm from around you until you stopped in front of the door of your classroom.

"i got the same," you smiled back, that expression only growing wider as he leaned in and planted a kiss against your warming cheek.

"good, i'll see you at lunch?" you nodded, trapping your bottom lip between your teeth to keep from giggling obnoxiously at the show of affection before bidding him goodbye and venturing into your class.

"y/n," yuna blurted out the second you'd sat your things down on the joined tables your three best friends occupied, "you have some major tea to fill us in on."

you sat down and watched as all three girls leaned in with eager smiles and twinkling eyes, and for once you found yourself excited to talk about sunghoon with them. you spent the entire class period filling them in on your newly acquired boyfriend, though you made sure to leave out the whole part about finding out he was a living, breathing dragon. the more you thought about it, the more ironic you found the situation to be. the school's ice prince turned out to harbor a creature inside of him that could easily melt the ice he skated on, and you'd watched that very scenario play out just a few nights ago. then, it slowly but surely began to make sense to you in your head.

it all explained the heat you'd feel whenever he was nearby and it explained why it seemed like he was always in that rink. the uttered confession of "i like to come here when i need to cool off" clicked perfectly like one of the many pieces of the puzzle you'd been trying to solve for weeks now. of course back then you'd assumed he meant it as a way for him to relieve stress, but now you saw that he meant it quite literally. it both amused you and made you feel a bit silly for having not read all of the clues so easily before.

"ugh, i'm so happy for you but i'm so jealous," ningning sighed heavily, dropping her chin into the palms of her hands.

"you have such a hot boyfriend, y/n," yuna agreed with a wistful sigh of her own.

"oh, i know," you snickered lightly to yourself. "i definitely know."

© enhasfever