#I may be craving for this fanfic

[3-aem]

thinking about touch starved touch sensitive gojo again. Absolutely desperate for even the most grazing touches from getou and yet overwhelmed by it all.

[needfantasticstories]

Read here below:

Summary:

Legend is not happy with the Yiga who captured him.

Notes:

Trigger Warnings: Canon-typical violence Spiders Cursing/foul language

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Furious

They had teleported. Even as the Yiga blademasters wrestled Legend’s hands behind him, the veteran found muddy ground replaced with solid, reliable stone underfoot. Supplanting the damp forest was a musty cavern full of crates and vender’s stalls. 

“Astor needs the vials! Hurry up with him!” yelled a reedy voice outside the circle of giant red soldiers crushing him. 

With the benefit of solid ground, Legend planted his feet and wrenched his arm forward enough to break loose and shove a hand into his bag. Before they could stop him, the veteran’s fingers closed on a well-worn, familiar handle. 

Legend ignited the brilliant red gem. 

The swarm of Yiga reeled back as he swung the flaming rod. He aimed fiery orbs that rocketed into the nearest one’s mask. The Yiga had reached for their blades too late; the reek of singed hair and burnt flesh remained in the wake of their retreat. 

They gave him room to breathe, room to think, to look. 

“ HYRULE !” Legend shouted, and the word echoed in the cave amid shouts and grunts as they lunged for him again. But he fired volley after volley, pressing them forward and carefully scanning the room. Tapestries with the inverted Sheikah eye in red and black glared down at him, but he found no sign of Hyrule nor the pale white demon here. But he did find a hoard of bananas: in boxes, on market-like stalls, and in barrels. 

Puffs of smoke around the room revealed a wave of six scrawny footsoldiers along the walls and atop crates, aiming scythes and a pair of drawn bows in his direction. Their clothes were muddy and torn, some bleeding from wounds his brothers had given them. 

The archers fired. 

Legend rolled and dodged the shots, rising again with a shout and a fresh wave of fire from his weapon. “WHERE DID YOU TAKE HIM?” Legend roared, panting, sweeping his fire rod across the Yiga soldiers like a scythe. Alone within the enemy’s stronghold, he found no reason to hold back. He could handle the heat, his rings already pulsing with protective magic. Dark scorch marks painted the walls, and high-pitched screams reverberated as orbs hit their targets.

Waves of heat radiated over the back of Legend’s hands as he aimed and released, but it was gentle compared to the scorching gales he invoked on them. 

“Stop, you idiot!” one footsoldier shouted as she fumbled to lose an arrow. She missed him entirely when, with a squeal, she dove to avoid a fireball. She jumped back up, crouched low, and panted, “Yield… and I’ll… make sure… that you…will see him!” Her voice was mockingly kind, a honey laced with poison.  

Legend responded without words, and she danced away to dodge a fiery end, disappearing to the smell of burnt hair. He sent a matching attack to the other archer, who dropped his bow as he shrieked and vanished. 

“You’re going to die here if you keep this up!” yelled a deep-voiced  blademaster as he hurled forward to strike Legend, but the veteran adventurer leapt high, feet far above the blade’s path, and sent an attack of his own toward the man, forcing him away. They did not know about his rings that would keep him safe from the heat. They didn’t know he’d already sworn to burn this whole place down—for Hyrule, for Wild, for his own satisfaction—it would be wiped from the map.

They were starting to keep out of range, but they’d also blocked the door. Hyrule could be in there. 

Another pair of bulky soldiers slammed their palms to the ground, and Legend felt the earth rumble. From the impact points sped circles of burning red light, the air above whistling up from the heat. Magic , tapping into the powers of Din, he guessed. They rushed at him. Legend leapt aside, but the glowing heat followed. Heat scorched his legs, despite his numerous protective enchantments, as he was forced to run, his boots moving him beyond the soldiers that lurched to catch him. 

Behind him, the red glows finally burst, pebbles pelting his back. Legend turned only to see another pair of the red spells giving chase, their creators laughing. 

Legend grinned at the Blademasters and made a rude gesture, letting the lights come closer. At the last moment, he flipped backward and let the lights pass under him. They burrowed under a pillar of stacked banana crates. 

The crates exploded. 

The Yiga shrieked and wailed in horror.  

This could keep them busy.

Legend dodged between shrieking Yiga soldiers as they rushed to put out the fire. Aided by the pegasus boots, he sent blast after blast of fire into the other crates and barrels, and scorched the bunches lying on the tables.

Like a nest of ants, the Yiga scrambled in vain to put out the flames as the whole supply caught fire. More importantly, they left a clear path to the doorway. Scorched bananas landed in the frame, and without thinking Legend scooped them into his bag. He sent back a few more blasts, just in case, as he left the room only to collapse against the stone hallway. 

He could not afford to rest long, not until he found Rule. Soldiers could appear at any moment. But sweat dripped from his face, his hands shook, and the places where his magic usually pooled ached with an emptiness as sharp as hunger. 

Legend hadn’t eaten in hours. He reached for a potion when his hand brushed something warm. He grabbed it too only to find one blackened banana. Shrugging, he ate it quickly, the flesh surprisingly soft and sweet. He’d eaten bananas before, but not like this one. Far more strength than he was expecting fueled him, even replenishing a small portion of his magic. He retreated into the shadows cast by the door, hoping no one saw him beyond the blaze within.

He sipped half of his last magic potion as he scrounged in his pack again. He needed to hide, and fast. And just a moment to rest. Ravio’s bracelet? No paintings here, and he didn’t have a direction. Ice rod? No... His cape! He’d discovered it within a tomb underneath the graveyard just outside Hyrule Castle, long ago. He avoided using it often since it drained his magic quickly; it was difficult enough keeping reserves up before meeting Hyrule, but the fire rod drained him already, despite the thrill of the fight.

 Legend pulled out the heavy garment, dark red with gold trim. He threw it on and hurried into a far corner of the hall, magic fueling the cape. His body faded out of sight. And just in time. Shouts erupted as red lights revealed new soldiers in the hall. Legend pressed into the corner as a half dozen soldiers hurried past into the blazing room.  

“Where is he?” the newcomers demanded. Each voice fought to be heard over the others. “Put that out!”—“The whole place is burning!”---“Sooga is going to kill us!” “He ran that way!”--“Where’s the other one?”---“The Demon Lord said –-”

They don’t know where Rule is? His successor had been limp and unconscious when he last saw him, a sight the veteran wished he could forget. His successor wasn’t brawny or one to pick fights, but he was scrappy, determined,and powerful in magic. And they couldn’t find him! He escaped! For all his confidence in the kid, he could have cried in relief. Sure, the kid could take down a lynel, and could make anything into a weapon. But they both needed to get out of here fast, and the kid might not know he had an ally in here. But how to tell him?

“We need the mage!” one shrieked loudly as he streaked past Legend down the echoing hall. 

Mage? Could that be the pale demon?

“Go! Find them! Now!” a deeper voice roared from inside, drowning out the rest of the yelling.  

Soldiers ran from the room. Legend followed, then passed by on his boots, looking for the soldier who mentioned the mage. 

The cape and pegasus boots were draining what little magic he’d recovered with worrying speed, but he could hold on a bit longer. He had to. Catching up to the soldier who’d run for the mage, he followed close. It was as good a clue as any. He memorized the switchbacking tunnels as he chased after the soldier. How big is this place? They ran for what Legend could only assume was several miles, though it was probably just exhaustion dulling his senses. They passed room after room in quick succession: storerooms, living quarters, mess halls, a smith’s forge.

At last, the soldier ran through a set of double doors. 

Yiga fighters scrambled everywhere. With all the yelling and commotion inside, Rule had to be inside! Legend hurried to follow. 

But the commotion within was not Hyrule. Instead, he entered a foreboding armory: racks of blades and bows covered the left half; three giant, spiked balls too big for a hinox to carry provided the centerpieces dead ahead, a painted, glowing red eye on the largest glared at him, as if alive; ot the right, towers of ghostly white masks filled the wall. Fresh fighters scrambled to arm themselves and receive orders.

Legend stuck to the wall and carefully tracked the soldier he’d been following. The figure dashed past the other Yiga, hurrying behind the dais with the spiked spheres.

Legend followed quickly, catching bits of banter: colorful complaints over and over that neither the Heroes called Legend nor Hyrule could be found.

How do they know us? How does Ghirahim know about Hyrule’s curse? Why take me too?

With a muffled grunt of pain, Legend hid behind the giant metal ball just as his magic ran out. His chest ached, and his blood felt cold and slow, but he forced his eyes to take in the narrow, secluded area in the back of the armory. He was visible now, but the soldier leading him to the mage was already halfway through a hidden doorway. 

Legend ducked low, and followed. 

The Veteran caught the door before it closed. He shoved it open just enough to slip inside, noting how the torch nearby slid down as he did. 

A massive table stood in the center, surrounded by stiff-back but elegantly carved chairs. A symbol had been scratched out and recarved on each – an eye poorly covering the triforce. 

A war room. Schematics and charts and maps covered the wall, from strange looking helmets decorated with lightning bolts to designs for flying platforms (manned by what he guessed were bokos), to poorly drawn maps of Wild’s Hyrule.

Including a map of the caves. 

Another door on the far wall stood ajar. “Your Eminence?” a voice called from inside. 

Legend snatched the map and ducked under the table. It wasn’t the safest place, but it would have to do. 

A grumble preceded the soldier’s return from the mysterious room beyond. He passed Legend’s hiding place, muttering, “where in the shadow realms is he? Sooga is going to kill us!” as he returned to the armory. 

The mage wasn’t in the room? Perfect. Legend rolled out and forged ahead, eating another banana as he went. 

Licking his fingers, he entered a large study and immediately gagged. It reeked of foul body odor and wet dog hair and rotten fruit. He covered his nose and mouth, and looked around. Shelves overburdened with books lined the walls, the tomes crammed mercilessly and coated in dust, veiled in cobwebs. One book lay open with obvious care on the central table, perched atop an elegantly carved stand and flanked by tall glass oil lamps, glowing orange.

His stomach growled. Two bananas wasn’t nearly enough.

Fumbling in his bag, the veteran snatched the last banana and glared at it as he peeled. Stupid Yiga and their inexcusably delicious fruit. It refreshed him more than he cared to admit. Unfortunately, it still did little for his dwindling reserves of magic. Between the firerod, boots, and cape, he barely had enough magic left to hide for a few seconds, and his quick glance at the map revealed a sprawling dungeon complex. 

Moving carefully around the crowded table, Legend looked around for something useful. It was quiet enough he could hear the rustle of his clothes, completely immune to the chaos and shouting two rooms away. A silencing spell? The room pulsed with enchantments, spells, and curses, their auras tangling and mixing to the point that he could not identify most of them. Each had a sort of flavor or sense to them, but one dominated the rest: a sense of endless hunger mixed with anger, glowing magenta and tasting like wine and ashes. It was hard to pin down, but it made his throat burn.   

On a shelf beside a crowded desk stood a battalion of bottled potions in rows. Legend hurried to read the labels. He blew dust off of the corks and fluted shoulders, and then smiled. Healing, stamina, magic, and electricity resistance. Legend uncorked a green one and smelled it. Dancing Din! A Magic potion!  

He dumped the whole stock into his pouch save the one he’d smelled, which he guzzled, the liquid tickling his dry throat. It tasted like spring sunshine in a bottle. It soothed and filled and spread from throat to chest to arms and legs to toes and fingers. His boots hummed with power, as did the firerod sheathed on his hip. Legend smiled and sighed at the tingle of magic racing down his veins.  

This was going to work. He had enough potions to search the caves for days. Weeks! No one would see him, and nothing would stop him. 

Legend grabbed the whole stock of healing potions and, after removing a bit of firewood he had been storing for Wild, he had plenty of room for all of them. Legend dumped the whole supply in his pouch. With a satisfied grin, he replaced his cape and disappeared once more. 

Legend pushed back the bookstand and set the pilfered cave map on the table. The layout was strange, with zigging, zagging, and curving halls, but he could see the layout. He’d need to search every room, and leave a trail to make sure Rulie could find him as he went. 

Course now set, Legend glanced again at the massive book.  

Browned pages, cracked with age, showed a heavily stylized ink drawing, angular and ugly: a tripod lashing dominated the page: three logs tied securely into a triangular structure. A Hylian in a pale tunic dangled by the wrists under it. Dark red ink trailed down the arms and chest and dripped into a wide stone basin. Red ink flowed down a channel within the basin into a large clay pot. A beastly, tusked shadow sat inside it.

Shit shit shit shit!

Legend slammed the book closed and shoved it in his bag. He had to get Rulie out of here. Now . Who the hell was this mage? 

Cape and fire rod at the ready, Legend left two bombs on the floor atop the firewood, and ran back the way he came. He barely closed the door to the war room when the explosion shook the cave.

Soldiers in the armory shouted in response. He hurried along the wall to avoid detection. 

He paused beside the door as a group of footsolders ran into the armory. 

“They blew it up!” one shouted, his voice high-pitched with incredulity.

“Where the hell are they!”

“Damned heroes!”

“I’m gonna gut every last one of them when he’s finished with them!” The others yelled in agreement, surveying the damage from the side while others ran to put out the flames. 

And Legend knew that, given a chance, they would. He stopped feeding magic to the cape.

The Yiga soldiers startled when they saw him, then crouched and raised their weapons.

“Where is the Hero of Hyrule?” Legend demanded.

“We’ve got one!” a soldier shouted into the hall behind Legend. The Veteran grinned. Good. Let them come. 

“Surrender, Hylian filth!” one laughed. “You’re outmatched! There’s no escape!”

“WHERE? IS? HE?” Legend demanded again, voice echoing down the hall as he adjusted the grip on his fire rod.  

The five soldiers moved fast, but not one reached him. 

Legend left the blazing room behind, and no longer bothered with the cape. Hyrule can find me better this way. I’ll mark a trail for him. 

As if in a trance, he slashed and burned hallway traps, footsoldiers, blademasters, stockpiles, and weapons racks. Scorches, ash, and embers trailed in his wake. Passing an underwater canal and a hoard of bokoblins hiding there, he cleared every room he found, sweating and panting, but he downed one of the stolen potions and forged on. Yiga popped away almost as soon as they appeared.

He blazed through a sort of court, empty but for a few sleepers rudely awakened. He let them vanish. 

There was a crease in the wall behind them, marking a hidden passage. He used his power bracelets, their hum familiar and soothing, and he shoved the wall open.

Snow and sand drifted in on the wind. It was strangely dark. 

“HYRULE!” He screamed, and immediately regretted it.

He took it in rapidly: Sand. Snow. Webs. Skultulas.  

The spiders stopped their slow creeping and turned to face him. A multitude of eyes locked onto the hero. They began chittering and clacking. 

Fuck! He wasn’t expecting that.  

He sent out a barrage of fireballs, then slammed the door on them and leaned against it, just to be sure it stayed put. He breathed hard, his body begging for rest and his legs trembling, his mind reeling at the new enemy. 

This was not on the map.

Notes:

Writers block was HORRIBLE, so thank you HotCheetoHatred for your patience, and Estelian for your amazing art that broke me out of it. I have been DYING to get this chapter out ever since I wrote it. It feels great to finally set it free! I hope you enjoyed the update! There's so much more to come!

(@la-sera I updated the fic! I hope it entertains!)

[ghostinthetumbchine]

With the amount of mentions of Aules name i am literally *starving* for the Aule&Mairon backstory, at least some crumbs, i'm begging on my kneeees

[raksh-writes]

Gosh, Im being such a lazy ass today, with finals just around the corner and an off day to get stuff done and instead I just wanna play Skyrim ffs...

[starry-eyes-love]

Let's Make a Memory

Main Masterlist

Pairing | Joel Miller x F!Reader, AU, One Shot

Summary | Joel takes you out to dinner for the first time and you wind up having sex in their bathroom.

18+, Minors DNI

Warnings: smut, vibrator use, sex in a public bathroom, unprotected sex (wrap it up folks), language, cute and fluffy moments, a touch of d/s lifestyle.

Word Count: 1.7K

A/N:  I don't know where the heck this one came from, but I’m back out of my fanfic writing funk of no inspiration. Sorry guys, I got so burnt out with writing that I needed to take a huge break and was doing some other things for a while. This story is a little different from my other stories that I’ve written, but let’s just say I (being the writer/artist) had a muse that inspired me so we ran with it. I will slowly release other fanfic writings over time. I have no timetable for when fanfic stuff will be out.  I just want to enjoy writing again and not feel pressured. As always…enjoy :)

His hand immediately went around her neck as he pulled her back into him. His other hand went under her dress and touched her where she needed him the most. He growled in her ear, "You're mine; now come for me." She exploded for him when he said those words, which she always craved to hear.

Joel sat and ate slowly at dinner, laughing and discussing life with the beautiful woman before him. She was divine, a gorgeous woman, not just on the outside but what was found on the inside.  In the middle of all their laughter, she felt the buzz and the vibration's hum deep inside her. He never once flinched or gave anything away. He controlled the remote, the ability to start it and stop it, her pleasure he owned.

"You were saying?" He said, looking at her straight in her eyes. The challenge for her was to keep talking like nothing was happening. A test of strength, at the ability to follow the command he gave her. "Control your mind, and you'll receive my pleasure."

So she calmed her mind as she squeezed her thighs together, fighting the orgasm that she knew was coming. And as she fought it back, she burned with a fire deeper than anything, trying to remain composed through it all. She wanted him to stop this torture and to give her what she wanted: him.

For 45 minutes, this continued, and she didn't remember anything he had said. "Please," she whispered, almost begging him. To continue, to stop, to let her come, to fuck her hard. She wanted all of it and none of it at the same time. The sweet torture of the tease and the hold off of the release. A game she came to love and hate all together with him.

"Please, what?" He whispered, turning up the intensity again, knowing she was seconds away from release.

"Please, I, I—" she begged, and the vibration stopped before she tipped over.

"Shit," she growled, low and only for her ears. But he heard, and now the wolf was smiling, knowing he would soon devour his prey.

"What was that?" He asked, "Do you have something you wish to say? Something you wish to ask me?" It was a reminder of who played the game better.

"No, Sir. I- may I please excuse myself to the bathroom for a moment? I have to pee."

As he sat back in his chair, he looked at her intently. He knew it was a lie; he knew she was wet for him and wanted him.

Finally, after a moment, he motioned to the bathrooms, saying low, "You may, but don't you dare touch."

A silent nod she gave and whispered "thank you" as she stood.

She was almost to the bathroom door when she felt the vibration rise. She quickly gripped the door, opened the bathroom, walked in, and put her hands on the side of the counter. She was breathing hard and fighting the orgasm that was coming. She completely forgot to lock the door in her fight for composure; she didn't hear Joel Miller, the man who was giving her this sweet torture, enter.

His hand immediately went around her neck as he pulled her back into him. His other hand went under her dress and touched her where she needed him the most. He growled in her ear, "You're mine; now come for me." She exploded for him when he said those words, which she always craved to hear. 

He quickly turned her around and slammed his lips onto her mouth, drinking up all her cries of pleasure as he lifted her on the counter and shoved himself in.

"Fuck me," she moaned, trying to grind up against him, seeking the friction that she desperately needed.

"Patience, my love," he said, voice low and with his own primal need.

He was struggling to keep his head about him, not wanting to give over to the pleasure he was feeling. After all, he was still a man, and the harder she clenched down around his cock, the harder it was not to give in to his sexual urges and empty himself into her right then and there.  But Joel prided himself of being a man that never lost his control. 

“Fuck me,” he commanded, urging her forward with his words.  When she didn’t respond, he got right in her face and whispered in a commanding voice, “I said, fuck me.”

And she did; she found herself giving herself over to him completely.  Meeting him thrust for thrust while sitting on the bathroom countertop, one leg pinned up and away from her body by him and the other around his waist.  They were like two dogs in heat, rutting hard into each other and trying to sate the urge of being separated for as long as they have been: a lifetime, her lifetime.

“Baby, harder, please,” she begged. Those statements were like the liquid gasoline to their already raging inferno.  Every moment from the time she first talked with him, she had envisioned their first moment together.  She never imagined it to be here, in a restaurant full of people, but she didn’t care.  She was finally answering the hunger deep inside her, which had driven her mad for a long time, and he knew it.  That was the problem in their relationship; he knew every hidden desire she had without her ever opening her mouth.  Some say it is pure luck; others find it a curse.  But to her, it was like the most beautiful symphony ever played; he was her muse for once.  

In the creative artist’s world, a muse is a source that inspires an artist.  Though he never showed it, except for glimpses of it occasionally.  She thought he stopped seeing and loving her at one point, but that was just the mask.  The mask so she couldn’t see what she was doing to him inside, how much she was changing his soul as he changed her for the better.  Artist and muse.  It happens only once in a blue moon, something as fierce as this. For an older man named Joel Miller, this was the perfect recipe he needed—someone younger than him yet could still breathe life back into his soul.

A long time ago, Joel thought the world had turned its back on him.  Tommy had found happiness, his brother, after Joel had lost his child and wife, two people he had forever cherished.  Sarah, his daughter, died far too soon in life, and his wife left him because of many reasons.  She never said, but he knew.  Joel’s most significant problem in life was communication sometimes. He struggled to tell the person he was with how much he appreciated them and how much they mattered.  He said it through other means, telling them to drive safely, eat, and be careful.  Those phrases mean nothing to most people, but to Joel, they meant “I love you.”  You see, sometimes Life happens, and people struggle to express how much they care about someone.  How deeply they do.  And that was Joel’s problem before he met her.  Even now, as he takes what is his, what she has given up to him, he still struggles to communicate how much he cares and wants her forever in his life. But she knows.

You see, this woman he has pinned to the countertop and is thrusting hard inside of sees his soul for what it is.  Someone who felt like most of his life he didn’t deserve love, so she decided to give him the one thing that she knew he’d never ask for: love.  Yes, they sometimes disagree and have had moments where she hurt him with words.  But he meant more to her than what she’d ever say.  So maybe they both had a problem communicating that to the other. Or maybe right here in this moment of Joel pining her up against the counter, she could show him, just like she did every second of every day, with comments of “Hello cutie” and “You know you’re cute, just a little bit.” Her favorite was asking him how his day was. All those sayings said the same thing: she cared about him and his happiness.  All she ever wanted was for him to find peace and joy in life, no matter what.  That’s why this was different; they both felt that way but never said it out loud. 

“Joel, shit, I’m gonna-”

“Come for me, baby, show me.”

As she finally tipped over the edge for the first time with him like this, she felt the Earth shift on its axis, and her soul left her body and attached itself to another human in outer space. Joel soon followed behind her. When it was all over, and they were both spent, panting into each other’s ears as he held her, she understood that Joel knew what he was doing. He knew exactly what she would experience.  He made her wait to ensure she was ready for this experience.  The orgasm comes from the soul, not the body, and that’s what he wanted her to feel, their souls merging as one. 

Joel didn’t want meaningless sex; he’d had a lifetime of that when he was married.  He wanted a genuine connection, one out of this world, one where two people felt it together. There was no going back from this moment, and Joel knew it.  So, with a slight smile, he cleaned her up and helped her down.  Standing up on wobbly legs, she said in a sassy tone, “Wipe that smirk off your face, old man; my legs are wobbly because I was sitting on the counter, not because of what you did.”

With a deep laugh, Joel shook his head and said, “Okay, whatever ya gotta tell yourself, sweetheart.”  But he knew, just like she did too.  

With a tender kiss to her lips, she smiled and said as she opened the door, “I’m still ordering dessert with a ton of sprinkles on it.”  Joel gave a huge belly laugh as he exited the bathroom with her and took her hand into his.  

Sprinkles—the sweet treat on top of the best dessert—was a private joke they had together. Sex was the sprinkles on top of the dessert, the dessert being Life's journey together. You still had to create the dessert together, which he has always focused on—making the best foundation to enjoy those sprinkles. 

As they sat back down and ordered dessert, both had something with sprinkles on it.  As they ate, they silently chuckled and smiled at each other, at the memory they just created together.  Getting to this moment felt like a lifetime, but it was the best wait possible, and they both wouldn’t have had it any other way. 

[asahicore]

real me, real you - psh

pairing. sunghoon x fem!reader (ft. jay... sorry)

synopsis. You’re your school’s popular pretty smart girl, but with a twist - you lead a completely different life at home, where you are messy, lazy and foul-mouthed. Only your family and best friend Sumin know about this, until Park Sunghoon, of all people, finds out. The resident cold and arrogant heartbreaker of your school decides to blackmail you into doing his biddings - but you can’t say no, not even when he asks you to be his fake girlfriend, otherwise he’ll ruin your reputation. But as you and Sunghoon get closer, you realize that maybe he’s not so bad after all, and you may be more similar than you'd originally though - all while your old childhood friend Jay watches from the sidelines.

genre. fake dating, high school au, very slight love triangle action, fluff and angst

warnings. this is the first thing i ever wrote so there may be slightly cringe and awkward things but i didn't wanna change anything lol, hoon is a meanie at some point and everything is dramatic and very fanfic-y, mild childhood trauma for both of them <3

word count. 22.9k

author's note. @end-hyphen genie this one is for you... i hope you still like this fic after all this time lol ! as i said in the warnings i only changed a few typos and punctuation from the original but i decided to not make any major changes bc i think it's nice to see what my writing was like when i had just started out!! hopefully i've improved lol, also this was not inspired by true beauty!! i've never seen the show nor read the webtoon. i was inspired by two mangas called switch girl and kare kano (or his and her circumstances) which have this plot of a girl being two different people at school and at home. anyways hope u guys enjoy this and if u do pls lmk <333

Nobody was supposed to find out.

You were the most popular girl in school, known for your looks, good grades, and kind personality. You had a nice group of friends and the whole school at your feet, students and staff alike. As the student representative, you had an image to keep up and needed everyone to think you were perfect; and they did. So you always wore a smile on your face, kept your head up and made sure your uniform was creaseless, all while maintaining the highest scores in your year. Always being friendly to your peers and helping them out prevented anyone from thinking you were a stuck-up goody-two-shoes. You made high school look like a breeze.

But such a life didn’t exist. Who was happy waking up at 6 a.m. every day and dedicating all of their time to schoolwork and student life? You certainly weren’t. What you thrived off of was having everyone think you were. Hearing whispers in the corridor of, “She’s so pulled together!” or “I wish I had her life”, now, those skyrocketed you to heaven. The cherry on top was a nod of approval from a teacher or an “outstanding job again, Y/N” as they handed you back your graded paper. Your favorite color had become the red of the pens your teachers used to write A+ at the top of the page. 

You’d always been academically gifted, but as you heard those words more and more, you’d started craving them and doing everything to hear them again until they started controlling you instead of the other way around. Everything you did needed to be perfect. And that was how you had created this persona of the perfect girl who had it all together at the ripe age of 17. But that’s exactly what it was; a persona. 

As soon as you stepped off the bus and waved goodbye to your friends, you became another person. Or more accurately, you reverted back to your natural self. You weren’t an evil person by any means; it wasn’t your intention to actively deceive everyone at school, it was more of a side effect of keeping up appearances. Only your family and your closest friend Sumin knew what you were truly like: greedy, messy, short-tempered, self-centered, and sometimes downright insufferable. Your younger siblings, Sunoo and Yeeun, liked to joke that you had a button you switched on and off whenever you left the house. When on, you were the sweetest girl ever, but when off, all your vices crept up and let themselves known to the world, or rather to your family. You didn’t mean to make them suffer, but after a long day of being perfect, you needed to blow off some steam; if they had to be your metaphorical punching bag, so be it. 

When Sunoo entered high school, you made him swear he wouldn’t say a thing to anyone. You trusted him and knew he wouldn’t let your secret out - it was too entertaining for him to see you act perfect at school and reveal your true self at home. There was no risk of anyone finding out - you were so intent on keeping the act up that nothing ever slipped you. It had been that way since middle school, and your senior year of high school was going to be no different.

Nobody was supposed to find out, so what was Park Sunghoon doing right in front of you in the frozen aisle of the corner convenience store, just when you happened to be bare-faced, with thick glasses on and a pimple bright red from just having been popped, in your comfiest pajamas, and a tub of Ben & Jerry’s in hand?

“Kim Y/N? Y/N, is that you?”

You froze in place, not knowing how to react. There was no way this, your worst nightmare, was actually happening.

When you regained your senses, flight seemed the best way out of this. You avoided Sunghoon’s curious gaze and curtly replied, “No, sorry, I don’t know who that is,” before walking away, iron grip on the ice cream.

But the boy was quicker than you and grabbed you by the wrist, forcing you to turn around. “It is you! Come on, Y/N, aren’t we friends? Do you not recognize me or something?”

If it wasn’t for the panic coursing through your veins at that moment, you might’ve laughed at his question. How could you not recognize the Park Sunghoon? Along with Park Jongseong and Sim Jaeyun, or Jay and Jake as they liked to be called, he was only the most popular guy in your year - hell, in the whole school. The three of them had gained attention from freshman year as the three handsome soccer players. Jake and Sunghoon had been attached at the hip since kindergarten, Jay joining them sometime in middle school when he came back from his year abroad in Seattle. 

Your parents and Jay’s had been college best friends and you two had therefore grown up together, and even used to be quite close. You’d grown apart when he joined Jake and Sunghoon’s friend group, and although you still got on well, there was always a bit of an awkward atmosphere when you caught up with each other.

The three friends had quite different personalities but their complicity and shared history made them stick together. Jake was known for his academic achievements, rivaling yours, and his friendly personality; Jay, for his surprisingly funny antics once you got past the somewhat menacing appearance (which he blames on his resting bitch face). Sunghoon, on the other hand, was as cold as ice, so much that he’d earned the nickname of ice prince, but girls continued to swoon over him due to his incredibly handsome features. When turning down girls, Jake and Jay always tried to let them down gently, but Sunghoon wasn’t one to hold back: he’d laugh in their face or straight up say no, staring them right in the eyes. Most confessions ended in tears (not his, obviously), but girls kept on testing their luck, thinking they might be the one to melt the ice prince’s cold, dead heart.

Clearly, you weren’t Sunghoon’s biggest fan.

His behavior had always made you wonder why Jay and Jake were friends with a person like him. They went back a long time, but how did Sunghoon not become a nice and approachable person like his two best friends? They both seemed so genuine, but he looked like he was hiding something. This was what had made you weary of him; you knew all too well how easily an image that was the opposite of reality could be created. So on one hand, you sort of felt for him, thinking he might be in a similar situation as you. But on the other hand, you couldn’t help but feel some kind of jealousy: if you acted the way he did, you wouldn’t receive half the admiration you did. Hell, you’d probably be hated for it - no one likes a girl that’s both successful and bitchy about it. 

One thing was sure, though, and that was that you wouldn’t call the two of you friends, as he just had.

“Y/N? You okay?”

The pure panic in your eyes must’ve made Sunghoon realize something was wrong. He released you and looked you up and down, trying to take your appearance in. The Y/N he was seeing right then was worlds away from the one he was accustomed to at school. 

You realized there was no ignoring him, so you collected yourself and faced Sunghoon. “Uh, yeah, hi, Sunghoon. Sorry, I just wasn’t expecting to see anyone I knew here.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, no wonder. You look quite… different from what you usually do,” he said, voice laced with sarcasm.

This whole situation got you dumbfounded. You usually knew exactly what to retort when somebody messed with you, your friend or a classmate, but this time, you were completely speechless. You just wanted to escape.

“Well, it was nice seeing you Sunghoon, but I need to get home.” You pivoted on your heels and started walking again, but Sunghoon had other plans.

“Aw, come on, so quickly? We barely got to chat!” He followed you through the aisles as you picked up the remaining ingredients on the list your mother had given you as quickly as you could.

“I didn’t know you needed glasses. Do you wear lenses at school?”

“Yes. I need them to see.”

“I figured.” You could hear the smirk in his voice, and your shock was slowly morphing into anger. Were teenage girls so blind that they’d have a crush on someone with such an abominable personality, no matter how angelic his face was? 

“I really like your outfit, by the way. Looks super comfy.” And as if your embarrassment couldn’t grow any bigger, he added: “Too bad you got a stain on the shirt.”

You looked down at yourself and noticed a huge grease stain on the collar of your shirt. Admittedly, you didn’t always have the best table manners. 

You swore under your breath. It was quiet for a couple minutes as you arrived at the register and paid for your items, Sunghoon still on your tail. He had apparently given up his purchases to focus solely on tormenting you. When you walked out of the store, you thought he might finally be done. But of course, he wasn’t.

“You know, my sister has this really effective pimple cream she uses. Do you want me to ask her what brand it is?”

That was it. You sighed deeply. “Alright, Park. What do you want?”

When you turned to face him fully, arms crossing over your chest and an obviously tired expression on your face, the mischievous glint in his eyes made you realize something. That idiot was enjoying this. 

Indeed, he beamed down at you. You had probably never seen him smiling so widely. “Wow, Y/N, didn’t know you could have such an attitude.”

You stayed silent and continued staring at him, waiting for an answer. He mirrored your pose, out of instinct or to irritate you, you weren’t sure.

“You know, when I moved to this neighborhood before the start of school, I was definitely not expecting to see Perfect Miss Y/N out in her pajamas buying ice cream. I thought you were more into, I don’t know, rescuing puppies from fires or something. That sounds like something you’d do in your free time.”

“Well, is there anything wrong with what I’m doing?”

“Oh, absolutely not! Just a surprising sight. Makes me wonder what the rest of the school would say…” He looked intently at you, clearly waiting for a reaction. You weren’t about to give him one, though.

You chuckled and rolled your eyes, shifting your weight on your right foot. “Yeah, like anyone would believe you if you said you saw me looking anything else other than perfect.” It might’ve sounded arrogant, but that was the image people had of you. Even your friends asked you how you did it - if only they knew the truth.

At that, his smile got even brighter. “Don’t worry about that, I won’t need to tell anyone. I’ll just show them!” He pulled out his phone, showing you a picture of you in your god-awful pajamas searching for your favorite flavor of ice cream.

He watched as your face fell, taking your silence as an opportunity to go on. “You were so engrossed in the tubs of ice cream that you didn’t notice a dashingly handsome and tall young man very obviously taking pictures of you.”

This put you into panic mode again. It might have seemed foolish, but you hadn’t worked for years to create a perfect version of yourself only for a stupid boy to destroy it all with one picture. 

You sighed and lowered your head, taking a moment to think. You didn’t know Sunghoon that well, but you didn’t put it past him to send that picture to everyone and ruin your image in the process. You opted for honesty instead of bluff. You took your glasses off and looked back up at him; even if you couldn’t see him as well without them, maybe he’d see the despair in your eyes better.

“Park. I mean, Sunghoon. You can’t show that picture to anyone, okay? You have no idea how bad I need to keep up appearances. It’s really important to me, so just delete the picture and let’s never talk about this again, yeah?”

You tried smiling at him, but his expression infuriated you. You could tell he had something else up his sleeve. “Now, Y/N, why would I do that? If I’m gonna do something for you, you should do something for me.”

You weren’t sure if you wanted to hear the rest of his thoughts, but you needed to know. Eyeing him suspiciously, you told him to go on.

“Well, I can’t think of anything right now, but I’ll let you know when I do, okay? I’ll see you around, Y/N.” He flashed another one of his smiles, patted your head, and walked away, just like that, leaving you standing outside the convenience store on your own, a melting tub of ice cream in your plastic bag. At least for now, you were safe.

Right?

—

“You saw Park Sunghoon? As in, the Park Sunghoon?” your little sister Yeeun asked, looking at you with huge eyes. You two and Sunoo were sitting on your bed, sharing the ice cream by eating it directly from the tub.

“Yes, that’s literally what I’ve been saying this whole time. How do you know him anyway? You’re still in middle school…”

“Are you crazy? He’s famous in our whole school district! I wish we had cute boys in my school as well,” she sulked, pouting.

“That’s not the point, Yeeun,” Sunoo chimed in, then turned to you. “Well, this is either bad news or the start of a beautiful romance.”

“Sunoo! Take this seriously! I’m in a huge dilemma right now.”

Your siblings shared a knowing glance and snickered.

“Hey! I’m right here. I’m not overreacting, you know. If he does send those pictures around, I’m done for.”

“Oh, come on, Y/N, you’d be so much better off if you could be yourself at school. I see you there almost everyday, and the way you laugh always sounds so fake. Nobody would care if you forgot to put makeup on one day or had a crease in your shirt. If anything, it’d make you look more human.”

You could see where Sunoo was coming from, but you chose to ignore it. You sighed deeply. “You guys just don’t get it. They all see me as this perfect, put-together girl. If I showed them even a glimpse of the truth, everything would shatter. It’s too late to go back now.” You ignored their pitying looks and took another big spoonful of ice cream.

It was their turn to sigh. As always, it was impossible to reason with you. Deep in your thoughts, you added: “You know, there was something really off about him today. I’d never seen him act that way before.”

Your siblings looked at you questioningly. “He’s always so cold and distant towards everyone. I’ve only seen him smile when he’s laughing with Jake and Jay or when he makes fun of someone. But just now, he kept smiling at me like he was having fun. He even patted my head when he left.”

At that, Yeeun swooned dramatically, hands over her heart. You looked over at her and said, “I’d be swooning too if it was any other guy than Park Sunghoon. I’m more confused than anything right now, he was a completely different person from when I see him at school.”

They exchanged another look. “You guys stop doing that!”

“Well, it’s just that that sounds an awful lot like someone I know,” Sunoo replied. Realization hit you and you scoffed, mildly offended. At least you were nice to others at school and didn’t act like an asshole with a superiority complex.

“Anyway,” he continued, “what will you do about Sunghoon?”

“I’m not too sure. I guess all I can do is wait and see whatever it is he could want from me.”

“Yeah, do that, and then date him, please. If I can’t have him as my boyfriend, then I’ll have him as my brother-in-law,” Yeeun joked. You didn’t have it in you to retort anything back and started laughing along with her. 

If everything did shatter, at least you’d have your siblings to make you laugh.

— 

The next day, you made your way to the bus stop after your daily morning routine: jogging, showering, eating a filling breakfast, choosing the perfect accessories for your school uniform, applying just the right amount of makeup and going over your subjects and tasks of the day. As always, efficiency is the key. You had become so used to this routine that your body did it on its own, which let your mind wander wherever it pleased. Usually, you’d use this time to prepare yourself for the day ahead, but today, the only thing on your mind was Park Sunghoon. What was that boy up to? Was he up to anything, or did you completely imagine his mischievousness yesterday? In any case, you hoped it would all be over soon. 

You got on the bus and sat down next to Sumin. Your close friend group at school consisted of her, Park Sieun, Lee Heeseung and Choi Jiung, but she was the only one who knew about your secret. You had been friends for so long that you hadn’t even been able to hide it: she’d seen you from all angles, both before, during and after your transformation to who you were now. It was nice having someone else than your siblings to rely on and tell everything to. 

“Minie, you’ll never guess what happened yesterday. I ran into Park Sunghoon at the convenience store next to our apartment unit.”

She raised her eyebrows in surprise, but her reaction wasn’t as big as you thought it’d be. She smiled and said, “Huh! I knew he’d moved to our neighborhood, but I wouldn’t have thought he’d live so close to you that you’d even shop at the same place.”

She registered your confused expression and continued. “Didn’t you hear? He moved out of his parents’ house at the end of summer. Something about a huge fight with them that made him move out. But there are always so many rumors about him and his group that I don’t know what to believe.”

“Oh,” you mumbled, unsure what to say. Now that you thought about it, Sunghoon had mentioned moving in your conversation yesterday, but you were so preoccupied with him seeing you in your wild state that you hadn’t paid much attention to his comment.

“Wait, did he do something? Your face is telling me he did something.”

You got closer to her face and gestured for her to do the same. With lowered heads and in hushed tones, you said, “He saw me on off-mode.”

She gasped and jolted back in surprise, eyes wide and eyebrows shooting straight up. “What?”

You shushed her and pulled her in by her shoulders. “He even took pictures.” Your grip tight, you held her from jumping again. “That’s not even it. You know how he's always really cold and distant?”

“You mean how he’s always being a douchebag?” She scoffed. “Yeah, I know.”

You remembered that Sumin had been one of the first of many girls who shot their shot with Park Sunghoon, only to get rejected. You both grimaced at the memory that always left a bad taste in your mouth.

“He was completely different yesterday. Kept following me around the store and, I’m not sure, teasing me? Like trying to get a reaction out of me? In a weird half-friendly half-bully way.”

“Hm, you’re right, that doesn’t sound like him,” she mused. “It does sound like a stupid teenage boy though, which I guess he is, no matter how hard he tries to pretend he’s not.”

This is what you loved about Sumin. She could see right through people, and never hesitated to say what she thought of them, especially when they acted the way Sunghoon did. Sure, there were some personal feelings attached there, but she had quickly gotten over them when she realized how much of a douche he was towards everyone else.

When the bus stopped to pick up some more students, Heeseung hopped on. You quickly told Sumin to keep it a secret, at which she smiled and made a motion as if zipping her lips and throwing the key. If you told your friends about Sunghoon, you’d have to tell them the truth about how he had dirt on you, but you wanted to keep your friendship clean. You chatted the rest of the bus ride away and tried not to worry over Park Sunghoon too much.

When you finally got to school, you, Heeseung, and Sumin made your way to your classroom to join Jiung and Sieun. Before you could get there, however, Jungwon, an underclassman you had talked to a couple times for student council meetings, called out your name. You told your friends to go on without you and turned to the younger boy.

“Jungwon! Hi, what’s up?”

He seemed flattered that you had remembered his name but quickly got on with his business. “Um, I’m not sure why, but Sunghoon told me to come and get you? I’ve never talked to him, I think he just picked me randomly and assigned me a task…”

You sighed. Park Sunghoon truly was something. “Thanks for telling me, Jungwon. I’ll make sure he gets an earful for this, he has no right to boss students around like that.”

Jungwon’s eyes doubled in size as he frantically waved his hands in dismissal. “No! No need to do that, I don’t want to get in trouble with him. I’m just here to relay the message.” At that, he scurried off, and you headed towards Sunghoon’s homeroom. 

When you walked in, a few people were in the room, some girls gossiping with each other, a couple students doing some last-minute revision for a test. You found Sunghoon sitting at his desk, snickering with Jay and Jake and hoped that the subject of their laughter wasn’t you. They noticed you approaching and the two decent boys greeted you; the other one eyed you, that mischievous glint back in his eyes. What could he possibly have in mind?

“Hi, guys.” You smiled at Jay and Jake and reflexively stood closer to Jay. “Sunghoon, Jungwon said you wanted to see me?” you asked, trying to keep your impatience at bay.

“Oh, was that his name? Well, thank heavens for him, ‘cause I forgot my lunch at home. Would you be a sweetheart and go buy me something at the cafeteria? You know how everything runs out as soon as lunch period starts, and I get really cranky when I’m hungry.”

You stared at him, wide-eyed. His two friends’ reaction wasn’t very different from yours. Go buy him lunch? That’s what he wanted you to do?

“What? You don’t want to? That’s too bad, cause there’s a picture I think everybo-”

You cut him off before he could finish. “No! Of course I’ll do it! Can’t have our star player go hungry, now can we?” You cringed at your own words and Jay eyed you suspiciously. Sunghoon beamed, and Jake’s eyes darted back and forth between the two of you in pure confusion. “Um, any preferences?”

His smile got wider. “A tuna mayo would be amazing. Thanks, Y/N! You’re the best!”

“Sure…” you mumbled and quickly walked away, more bemused than ever. You checked your watch. You had 10 minutes before the first bell rang, and you could not be late for class, which meant you needed to hurry. 

You got back to Sunghoon’s classroom just a minute before the first bell. To your dismay, the class was almost full, and girls had gathered around him, trying to get his attention, but he seemed unbothered by their presence. You braced yourself and walked towards him. As your presence rarely went by unnoticed, most eyes were on you and Sunghoon. Not only were you two some of the most popular kids in school, you also happened to be handing him his lunch, a never-seen-before sight between the two of you. 

“I also got you banana milk, for good measure…” 

What had seemed like a great idea a few minutes ago, something to appease the devil in him, now felt like the biggest mistake of your life. The girls around him started whispering left and right and you weren’t sure whether they felt bad for you, sensing an incoming rejection, or wanted to tear you to shreds for even trying. 

The whispers grew even louder when Sunghoon took the sandwich and milk from your hands, thanking you with a smile. You’d be lying if you said your heart hadn’t done a small jump in your chest at that moment. As much as you hated to admit it, if looks were the sole factor for popularity, then you could definitely understand why Park Sunghoon was so loved. His face looked like it had been carved by the gods themselves. When his eyebrows weren’t turned in a frown, his eyes looked almost sweet, especially when he laughed. His two moles gave him so much charm, the curve of his nose was so delicate and his pink lips looked so, so soft… 

You cleared your throat and smiled back at him before turning around to walk to your own classroom.

“Wait, Y/N!”

You turned back around, all eyes on you. You could feel Jay’s eyes burning holes into you. Sunghoon was still smiling. You thought you’d seen him smile more in the past two days than you had in all the years you’d known him.

“I’ll see you later.”

—

And indeed see him later you did. You always hung back a bit after classes ended to get homework done or work out student council issues. Being in an empty classroom brought you some peace and quiet, very different from the busyness and noise of your home. You couldn’t even focus in your own room, your siblings or parents always barging in to disturb you. The after-school janitors now knew you by name and saved cleaning the classroom you were sitting in for last. 

You had been barely sitting there for 5 minutes, nose buried in a math problem, when Park Sunghoon graciously strode in, swung the chair in front of you around and sat on it, arms crossed over its back as he peered at you. You didn’t even bother to look up at him as you spoke. “What, Park?”

“Oh no, back to last name basis already?” he joked. You didn’t laugh. He cleared his throat awkwardly. “Wow, tough crowd. Anyways, thanks for the sandwich today.”

This made you look at him. Or rather, shoot daggers at him. “Yeah, what the hell was that all about? Did you have to pull that little stunt in front of everybody? You know what our school is like! Rumors are gonna start spreading like wildfire.”

“I already told you,” he said with a defensive tone. “Forgot my lunch, everything was gonna run out, didn’t want to get hungry later,” he said as he shrugged, completely ignoring the latter part of your complaint.

“And you couldn’t have gone and gotten it yourself?”

He beamed. If it wasn’t so damn beautiful, you probably would have started getting tired of his stupid smile already. “Why would I do that when I could get you to do it?”

You sighed. “I knew you weren’t the nicest guy, but I didn’t know you could be such an asshole, Park.”

If you hadn’t been staring him down so intently, you might not have noticed the falter in his smile, so quick it was.

“Oh, come on, Y/N. If anything, I’m doing you a favor by not sending out to everyone that picture you so desperately want to keep secret. Thing is, doing that wouldn’t benefit me in any way, except for getting the satisfaction of seeing everybody realize you’re not as perfect as they think you are. Whereas holding it over your head allows me to do basically anything I want with you. And that, that is just so much fun,” he beams, lowering his voice into a whisper for the last sentence.

What a psycho, you thought. You just sighed once more and returned to your textbook, too weirded out to say anything back. You hoped the silence would make Sunghoon realize how creepy what he had just said was. 

It was quiet in the room, only the sound of your pencil scratching your notebook could be heard. Sunghoon sat in the same position and watched you working. He often saw you like this, focused and benched over a desk, in the library or walking past your classroom. But it was always in passing, and looking at you so closely made all the world’s difference. He could see how you scrunched your nose when the problem got particularly difficult, or how your smirk as you solved another one made your left dimple appear. He also liked the annoyed looks you gave him every once in a while, as if his presence was disturbing your focus. He wasn’t sure what it was, but there was something about seeing someone who always went about their way with such purpose sitting in such silence.

He decided to break that silence. “You know, Jay was asking about you earlier.”

You kept your eyes trained on your notebook but abruptly stopped writing, your pencil leaving a small scratch on the paper. This didn’t go unnoticed by Sunghoon. “Did he?” you said, trying to sound as uninterested as possible, although you couldn’t help but be curious. Ever since Jay and you had grown apart, there was always a part of you wondering what he was up to, how he was doing, if he thought of you once in a while or reminisced about the good old times as you sometimes did. 

“Yeah. I mean, everyone did, but I didn’t really care,” he answers simply, and even though you’re itching to push him to say more, you stay quiet. “You’re right, by the way, I do know the people in our school. The rumors have already started spreading. Up to you whether you wanna deny them or not, though,” he said with a smirk.

“Don’t even think about it, Park. There’s not a chance in hell I’ll let them think we have a thing going on. I have a reputation to uphold, you know.”

He chuckled. “Trust me, I know. Anyway, he wanted to know why you did that for me. Guess he was jealous you didn’t do it for him, too.”

“Why would he be?” you asked, trying to make the question sound as innocent as possible. 

“Well, you two go a long way back, right?” he asked tentatively, as if testing the waters.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Then it was probably weird for him to see his childhood best friend and his best bro interacting out of nowhere, even though we’ve both seen each other around a lot and nothing has ever come out of that. Don’t you think?”

A beat passed as you thought about it. “Yeah, I guess that’d look weird to him,” you replied, trying to keep the disappointment out of your voice.

You quickly wrote down your last answer, packed up your things, and stood up. “Well, I’m off now. I’ll see you around, unfortunately.”

Sunghoon, surprised at your quick departure, scrambled to get off his chair and chased after you. “Do you want me to drop you off? I’ve got a car, you know. Much more glamorous than the bus.”

You turned around and looked at him. “I’d rather get hit by said bus than get in your car, Park.”

He stood there, watching you walk away with a smirk on his face as your ponytail swayed from side to side. This was going to be a challenge. You were going to be a challenge. 

Thing is, he loved a good challenge.

—

Back home, you flopped down on your bed and buried your face in your pillow. You laid there for a few minutes, taking some time to gather your thoughts and try to understand Sunghoon’s actions. It was of no use; you weren’t a mind-reader, and he seemed impossible to figure out. He could make you do basically whatever he wanted to, and he decided to make you get him lunch, creating rumors along the way? What could he possibly get out of that?

Your reflexions were quickly interrupted, however, by a flurry of incoming messages on your phone. Someone had posted a photo of you handing his banana milk to Sunghoon on your school’s Instagram account - because apparently, your school was so obsessed with gossip that they had created an Instagram page just for it. The photo had blown up among your peers and it made you wonder if people really were that bored with their lives.

People you barely knew but that felt entitled to knowing your relationship status were DMing you, asking about today’s events. You quickly got tired of it, so you texted your worried and confused friends that you didn’t feel like talking tonight and would catch up with them tomorrow. You opened your textbook, deciding that studying would be the best and most efficient distraction.

When your parents called you and your siblings for dinner, you still weren’t feeling great. Your family quickly registered your annoyed expression and could only hope for the best. You already weren’t the easiest to live with, but when you were tired, you just got a hundred times worse.

“So, how was everyone’s day?” your mom asked cheerily.

Yeeun’s eyes lit up instantly. “Mine was great! I met a really cute boy. His name is Nishimura Riki and he just transferred from Japan.”

“Oh, that’s nice!”

“You’re too young to be thinking about boys, Yeeun.”

Your mom and dad had replied at the same time, then gave each other a stern look.

“I’m not thinking about him, Dad, just looking,” your sister replied, earning a chuckle from your concerned father. 

“Mine was alright. I guess the start-of-a-new-year excitement has already worn off. After a week,” Sunoo said with a sigh. 

Your mom turned to you. “What about you, Y/N?”

“It was fine.”

The sharpness of your tone changed the atmosphere in the room at once. You ignored the looks your family exchanged and continued eating your food, eyes not leaving your plate.

For some reason, Sunoo thought it’d be a great idea to chime in. “She’s not happy because she had to buy Park Sunghoon his lunch and everybody went crazy over it.”

“Sunoo!” you protested. Your parents didn’t need to know about this sort of stuff.

“Park Sunghoon? Is that someone we’re supposed to know?” your dad questioned.

Yeeun scoffed. “Uh, he’s only the most popular and handsome guy at Y/N and Sunoo’s school, dad. Duh.”

“Right. Duh,” your dad said, imitating your sister’s tone.

“And why did you have to buy his lunch, Y/N?” your mom asked.

“Because he saw what she looks like when she’s not at school,” Sunoo said, not even giving you the chance to reply yourself.

“Sunoo!” you scolded again.

“And now I guess he’s using that against her to get her to do what he wants? Right, Y/N?”

You glared at your brother and let a beat pass. “Right,” you reluctantly admitted.

“Lucky…” your sister mused, expression like she was daydreaming about being Sunghoon’s personal assistant.

Your dad ignored your sister and looked straight at you. “That’s inadmissible, Y/N. You can’t let him do that.”

“Your father’s right, sweetie. It’s not right,” your mom added when you stayed silent.

With everybody’s eyes on you, you felt obligated to reply. “It’s fine. It’s not like he asked me to do anything crazy. I’m sure he’ll stop soon enough.”

“You know, boys that age, they’ll do anything to get a girl’s attention,” your dad warned. “Just ignore him and he’ll go away.”

“If she ignores him, he’ll tell everyone what she’s really like,” your brother explained.

“And what’s so bad about that? I’m sure it’d be easier if you stopped lying to everyone.”

Everyone suddenly stopped in their motions, wondering why your mom would say something so true yet so controversial. You looked up at her. “What’s so bad about that? What’s so bad? I don’t know, maybe the fact that I’ve worked so hard all these years for everybody to like me and look up to me only for a stupid picture taken by a stupid boy to ruin everything,” you said all in one breath, voice coming out harsh. You were tired of having to explain the same thing over and over again - your parents just didn’t understand why you did what you did.

Your mom opened and closed her mouth again, knowing it was useless trying to talk sense into you. It never ended well when you had this conversation.

“Who put mushrooms in this anyway? You know I hate mushrooms,” you said before filling up your bowl and taking it to eat in your room, making sure you’d slammed your door behind you.

—

On the bus the next day, you tried to explain the events of the previous day to your friends.

“There’s nothing really to it. He just asked me to get him lunch so I did, and when I handed it to him, his whole class was there and saw everything.”

“I get that, but I just don’t understand why he made you do it in the first place, or why you agreed,” Heeseung said, “it’s so unlike the both of you to do something like that.”

You hadn’t even thought to come up with an excuse for your and Sunghoon’s yesterday - your friends were definitely super confused, but you didn’t want to tell them the truth, so you had to quickly find something to say that was somewhat believable, and change the subject.

“I have no idea why he did what he did, but I didn’t want to cause a scene so I just agreed. I don’t really care, to be honest, I just wish it didn’t have such consequences. People seem to think we’re characters on a stupid Netflix coming-of-age series or something, when we literally just go to their school.”

As soon as you’d turned your phone back on this morning, it started pinging with all the messages that had flown in since last night. People were talking about it everywhere: Kim Y/N, highly sought-after bachelorette, had offered Park Sunghoon, notorious rejecter of girls and breaker of hearts, a sandwich and a banana milk, and he had taken them. What’s more, he had been seen at lunch heartily eating them. This was serious.

You didn’t think things could get any worse until you got to school. You were used to random people coming up to you in the hallways or in class for help, except today they weren’t asking for help at all - they were asking what was up between you and Sunghoon, as though handing him a tuna mayo was like asking for his hand in marriage. Most of them were just curious, but some, especially his fanclub members, had an aggressive tone to their voice, which you weren’t used to. If people started liking you less because of Sunghoon, you were going to kill him.

But you had to hold onto that thought, because an all too familiar voice had suddenly called out to you on your way to class. You took a deep breath and turned around, watching him take long strides towards you. You immediately became aware of the amount of people in the hallway and realized you couldn’t talk to him like you had the previous day in front of everybody. You mustered the fakest smile you could and greeted him.

“Hi, Sunghoon. What can I help you with today?”

He smiled, obviously enjoying the fact that you had to be nice to him. “I’ve got my sports bag because of practice later tonight. Mind holding onto that for me for the day?”

Your fake smile turned a bit crazy as your eyes widened in disbelief. "Don’t you have a locker for that, Sunghoon?”

“Yeah, but it’s so much more fun if you’re the one to hold it.” And with that, he threw the bag in your direction, leaving approximately 0.5 seconds to catch it. “I’ll need that later today. Meet me in front of the locker rooms after school, yeah?”

He didn’t bother to wait for your answer and walked away, Jake and Jay following closely behind. Jay sent you a questioning look, to which you could only reply with a shrug. If it wasn’t for all the students in the hallway, you would’ve been yelling Sunghoon’s ear off at that point. Unfortunately, that wasn’t a possibility, so you just smiled to your friends who were looking more confused than ever.

“Let’s just go to class, guys.”

—

Throughout the whole day, you could feel people staring at you, then at the bag you were holding, then starting to whisper among themselves. You tried your best to concentrate in class so you could momentarily stop pondering over what Sunghoon’s evil master plan might be, but everyone seemed bent on making that usually simple feat impossible. When 3:30 p.m. finally came around, you bid your friends goodbye and headed to the boys’ locker room. Every boy walking in eyed you suspiciously, unsure as to what you could be doing there. Of course, Sunghoon had to take his sweet time to get there. 

Staring at the opposite wall and planning Sunghoon’s murder in your head, you hadn’t noticed Jay and Jake arriving. Jay signaled for his friend to go inside the locker room and told him he’d join him in a minute. He waved his hand in front of you to get your attention, a smile on his face. You sighed in relief at the familiar sight of your friend.

“Hey, Jay. Sorry I didn’t see you.”

“You okay, Y/N? You look like you’re about to murder someone,” he said, slightly amused.

“If only you knew,” you mumbled.

He noticed the bag in your hand. “You waiting for Sunghoon?”

“Yeah. If only he could hurry up a little bit. I’ve got stuff to do.”

There was something about Jay that made it impossible to lie to him. Maybe it was the fact that you had known each other for so long, way before you’d turned into what you were now, that made you feel as though showing a side of you that gets annoyed and impatient and doesn’t smile all the time was okay.

Jay looked at his feet before looking back up at you. You were still staring at the wall but your murderous thoughts had somewhat calmed. “Mind telling me what this whole thing with Sunghoon is about?”

You turned to him and were about to fumble for an answer when someone interrupted you. “What whole thing with me?”

Whew. Saved by Sunghoon. You didn’t like that it was thanks to him that you could get out of answering Jay, but at least you didn’t have to come up with yet another stupid excuse.

Jay turned his attention to his friend and stood up straighter. “You know, making her get you lunch or hold your bag all day. There’s dozens of girls who’d be more than happy to do that for you, so why Y/N? She doesn’t have time for this stuff.”

You looked at Jay with surprise. Sure, you were friends, but you hadn’t thought he’d defend you like that in front of Sunghoon.

“Well, Y/N’s just such a nice, reliable person. No one better to ask to do those things.” What a reason, you thought. He turned to you and took the bag from your hands. “Thanks, Y/N. I’ll see you outside in a couple minutes.”

“Huh? What do you mean? I’m leaving,” you said, body already headed towards the other direction.

“What? You can’t leave before practice has even started. Go to the benches outside, we’ll be out in a few.”

You were about to open your mouth to protest, but he cut you off. “You don’t want to?” He started pulling out his phone. “That’s funny, because there’s a pict-”

“I’ll be on the benches! See you soon!” you quickly said, pushing the two boys inside the locker room, Sunghoon smirking, Jay looking at you in utter confusion.

Girls sat in a few different groups in the bleachers. You recognized the girls in one of those groups, so you decided to sit with them. As you approached, they quickly looked at each other and then back at you, expressions half-friendly, half-what-the-hell-are-you-doing-here. 

“Hi guys! Mind if I join?”

“Hi Y/N! No, of course not, come sit,” Jake’s girlfriend, Yujin, said. 

“Are you guys here to watch practice?”

“Yeah! I’m here on girlfriend duties for Jake. These two are just here for the eye candy and to keep me company,” Yujin explained.

“Yeah, but mostly for the eye candy,” added her friend Wonyoung. 

“What about you, Y/N? I’ve never seen you here,” asked the last girl, Gaeul.

“Oh, um, Sunghoon asked me to come, actually.” You regretted your words as soon as you’d let them out. They all ooh-ed at your response, making you blush, which just egged them on. This was nothing to blush about, Y/N. You’d just made the rumors get a hundred times worse with one sentence.

“The whole school’s been talking about you two, you know. Anything you wanna share? Don’t worry, we can keep a secret,” said Wonyoung with a wink. You chuckled awkwardly.

“Oh my gosh, yes, tell us!”

“Guys, don’t make her uncomfortable,” Yujin chimed in, smiling at you. You returned her smile, grateful, once again, that you didn’t have to explain your new link to Sunghoon. “Look, practice is starting.”

You turned your head towards the field as the soccer players started doing laps as per the coach’s instructions. Your eyes immediately drifted towards Sunghoon without you even realizing it. His lean figure hypnotized you. The last time you had had PE with him was in freshman year, and puberty had hit him like a fine, fine truck. You couldn’t take your eyes off of him as he lightly jogged next to his friends, chatting like it was nothing. You weren’t being very subtle with your stare and he eventually noticed you, sending a wink your way. This made you snap out of your reverie and you scowled at him, as if he could make out your annoyed expression from such a distance. You turned back to the girls, who were giggling at you.

“Wow, those were some serious heart eyes you were giving him, Y/N,” Gaeul giggled.

You opened your mouth in mild shock. “Was not!”

“Sure, whatever you say,” she replied knowingly. “Well, look all you want. Warm-up is the best part. It gets boring when they actually start playing.”

“No way! Watching them play is my favorite part,” Yujin disagreed.

“Yeah, that’s cause you’ve got someone to root for,” retorted Wonyoung. She looked at you slyly. “Well, I guess Y/N does, too.”

You scoffed. “Believe me, I will not be rooting for him.”

You started staring at him again, this time with a glare in your eyes. From their silence, you deduced the girls must’ve judged it a better idea to not question you too much. After the boys were done with running exercises and stretching (which you had enjoyed watching a bit too much, if you spoke truthfully), they started playing. The coach split the boys into two teams, Jay leading one and Sunghoon the other. It was a very close game. You could never tell who was leading, although that might have been due to your extensive lack of knowledge in the sport. All you knew was that you desperately wanted to see Sunghoon lose; that might put him down a peg. What you told yourself, however, was that you wanted Jay to win. So when he scored a goal, you surprised the girls next to you, the boys on the field and yourself as you jumped up and down, cheering for him. Realizing what you were doing, you quickly sat down and sent him an awkward thumbs up.

Jay tried to hide it, but he was blushing. Hard. Truth be told, he had noticed your little eye contact moment with Sunghoon during warm-up and hadn’t particularly enjoyed it. So seeing you cheer for him like that made him swell with pride, which only grew when Sunghoon scored and you barely reacted. 

When the game was over, you thought you might be able to finally go home and start studying. But Sunghoon had other plans for you, as always these past couple days. Heading towards the showers, he motioned for you to come down from the benches. As you did, Jay walked past, and you smiled at each other.

“Good game.”

“Thanks, Y/N.” He continued walking as Sunghoon reached you.

“What about me? I scored a goal, too.”

“Oh, did you? Didn’t even notice," you said, looking at your nails. The polish was starting to chip - you’d need to reapply a layer tonight.

“Whatever. Wait for me, yeah?”

“What? No! I gotta go home!” But your protests were in vain, as he completely ignored you. 

You waited outside the school with Yujin, Wonyoung and Gaeul. After a little while, Jake, Jay and Sunghoon joined you guys, having successfully showered and not smelling of sweat and dirt, thank God. Yujin was dropping her boyfriend and her friends off, so they bid their goodbyes and headed towards her car. Sunghoon and Jay also started to walk towards the parking lot, leaving you standing alone, not sure what to do. Sunghoon turned around and looked at you with a frown.

“What are you doing?”

“I don’t know, what are you doing?”

“I’m dropping you and Jay off.”

“Oh,” you mumbled, taken aback. “Didn’t know I was just supposed to guess that.”

As soon as Sunghoon started to drive, you noticed the awkward air between the three of you. Luckily, after years of being a people-pleaser, you had become somewhat of an expert in making small talk, which helped prevent a silent ride. You don’t think you could’ve gone through that without a mental breakdown.

Because you and Sunghoon lived closer to each other (and we all know the consequences of that), Jay was dropped off before you. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow at school,” he said before giving you a last glance.

“Bye, Jay.”

“See you, bro.”

Thankfully, you only lived a couple minutes by car from Jay’s and hoped the rest of the car ride would be peaceful. Which was really stupid of you to hope for, because you were in the car with Park Sunghoon.

“So, Park Jongseong, huh?” he said, eyes trained on the road in front of him. Even though he was trying to keep his tone light, you thought you detected a slight harshness to his gaze.

“What about him?”

“I don’t know, you tell me.”

“There’s nothing to say. We’ve just been friends for a long time.”

It was silent for about five seconds. “You really feasted your eyes during warm-up, huh?”

“Shut up, Park.”

“No, it’s alright, I get it. I’d do the same.” He laughed at his own joke that wasn’t really a joke. Why was he laughing, anyway? 

You looked at him. His face was so different from all those times you’d seen it at school. His eyes, rid of the harshness you’d seen earlier, crinkled at the edges and had an amused glint in them. His smile dug pretty dimples into his cheeks and you let your gaze linger long enough to notice he had sharp, vampire-like canines, which were surprisingly cute. You didn’t know why he was showing you a side of him he never showed anyone, except for his close friends, you assumed. You weren’t sure what overcame you, but you chuckled with him. 

“So, do you already know what task you’re gonna give me tomorrow?” you asked, genuinely curious.

“Hmm, haven’t really thought about it yet. I’d rather keep it a surprise, anyway. Keep you on your toes.”

“Pfft. What a great surprise.” He laughed again, and you couldn’t help but join him. He was unusually giddy that day, but you didn’t want to complain. This was a thousand times better than the arrogant Sunghoon with his I’m-better-than-all-of-you facade. What you didn’t know was that he, too, liked your snarky, no-nonsense side infinitely more than the model student, pretty girl persona you had created for yourself.

Finally at your house, you got out of the car and headed to your house after waving goodbye to Sunghoon. He rolled his window down and leaned out of it.

“Y/N?”

You turned around. “Yeah?”

“About your task tomorrow…”

“…Yeah?”

“I’m sure you’ll love it.” He gave you an umpteenth wink, rolled his window back up and drove off.

You weren’t so awful to your parents and siblings that evening.

—

The next day at school, you were wondering why Sunghoon had said you would love your task. Because you were, in fact, quite loathing it. He had found you studying during your free period after lunch and dragged you to the part of the library where it was okay to talk a bit over whisper level. You were currently going over a scene in The Tempest which you had seen in AP English Lit last year and clearly had no time for. But obviously, that wasn’t a problem to Sunghoon, who just wanted to get a passing grade on his English essay without putting in too much effort. 

After twenty minutes of going over the same five lines, you were about to give up. “Look, Sunghoon, I don’t mind helping you. I’ve tutored dozens of students before so I’m used to it. But you’re not making any effort! If you want to get it, you need to at least try.”

“But it’s so boring,” he whined, not unlike a child. “How am I supposed to find any meaning in this? It’s just stupid people doing stupid stuff on a stupid island.” You cringed at his words and hoped Shakespeare wasn’t listening in on this conversation. 

“It’s not stupid. It’s about power, and being punished for chasing it, and it’s a metaphor fo-”

“Ugh!” he groaned loudly. “You know what, I don’t care enough about this. Just write the essay for me, okay?” He got up and left, again not waiting for your answer. You wanted to protest, but you know what would happen if you said no to any of his requests, so you just quickly got to work.

Everyday over the next couple of weeks, Sunghoon would find something for you to do. Most days, he’d just get you to buy him lunch (although he thankfully had started paying you back) or carry his stuff around like the first two times. He didn’t ask you again to tutor him, however, so you had gotten used to sitting in an empty class together after class, you doing his homework for him and attempting (and failing) to explain it to him, and him alternating between playing on his phone and looking at you. Although it’d flustered you at first, not used to having someone stare at you while you were trying to concentrate, you’d grown somewhat okay with it - all of your complaints were ignored anyway. One time, he even got you to work on his science project with him, a weirdly-shaped volcano he needed to paint and decorate before actually putting the chemicals in. You’d be lying if you said it hadn’t been fun painting it together, occasionally ‘accidentally’ getting paint on the other’s hand or cheek instead of the volcano. 

You went to see him at practice two to three times a week, although you weren’t sure what use that had for him. If anything, you were probably the one who enjoyed yourself more. Perhaps, after being forced to spend so much time with him, you had started to soften up to him. And, perhaps, that made you appreciate his good looks even more. You couldn’t deny the effect his damp hair, stuck to his forehead with sweat, had on you. 

The rumors hadn’t died down, but people had started getting used to seeing the two of you together around, so they didn’t ogle their eyes at you everytime you and Sunghoon had some kind of interaction. Not liking that you couldn’t control people’s opinion of you anymore, you were still a bit bothered by them, but Sunghoon’s little posse of fangirls didn’t seem to be. They’d been the one to question you the most, and you got a few nasty looks in the hallway, but the gossip around school hadn’t stopped them from keeping on following him around, harassing him from morning to afternoon by going to his homeroom at breaks, sitting at a table near him at lunch, and going to see him at practice. Their group had dwindled down, though; most likely, some of them thought you two might be dating and had finally realized they didn’t stand a chance with the one and only Park Sunghoon. Thank God you had your friends and now sometimes Yujin, Wonyoung and Gaeul around you during those times, otherwise, you’d probably have been jumped. Spending so much time with him had kept you a couple times from your friends, which they’d complained about, but sensing that they couldn’t do much about it, they let you be, even though they hadn’t gotten a satisfactory explanation yet.

One person who didn’t want to, or rather couldn’t let it go, though, was Jay. He still couldn’t figure out why you’d started spending so much time with Sunghoon, seemingly overnight, and it created an unpleasant, sour pit in his stomach. Out of all the people you could’ve decided to form a new friendship with, why’d it have to be his best friend, meaning he saw you more often now than before, but not because he was the one you had come to see? Why did you never get him banana milk for lunch, and why’d you only start coming to soccer practice because Sunghoon had asked you to? He’d tried to ask both of you about it, but you always gave him half-assed excuses that didn’t make much sense. 

He realized what he was feeling was jealousy the day you came into their homeroom before the first bell rang and asked Sunghoon how his science project had gone. You’d never asked him how his science project, or any of his projects or tests, for that matter, had gone. He recognized it as the same feeling he had harbored when he had come back from the US in middle school and saw you dating Choi Soobin, or when Lee Heeseung had joined your tight-knit group of friends in freshman year. You and Soobin had only dated for three weeks and a half because you had a relationship-terminating argument over mint chocolate ice cream, and you and Heeseung had never become more than friends, nor had the intention to. But Jay didn’t care about that; all he saw was that there were boys around you that weren’t him. He had never acted upon those feelings, dismissing them as over-protectiveness for someone he had known since forever, but seeing Sunghoon and you laughing together hit too close to home. He couldn’t ignore how he felt because he was reminded of it everyday, but he didn’t know what to do with these newfound emotions.

And what’s the best thing to do whenever you don’t know what to do? Talk to your friends. Or well, in this case, your friend. He didn’t wanna talk about you to Sunghoon. He was a firm believer of bro code, but he didn’t wanna bottle up his feelings like he had all these years. So he went to Jake and told him everything, from your childhood friendship to Soobin, Heeseung and now Sunghoon.

“I know it’s stupid. It’s this whole cliché of, you only realize what you have when you lose it.”

“Well, you haven’t really lost Y/N, you know. It’s not like Sunghoon and her are dating.”

“I guess not, but he clearly likes her. It’d be a dick move to go after her now that they’ve got something going on.”

Jake hesitated for a second, debating whether he should say what he was thinking, but ultimately deciding it might be better to do it. “You know, I’m not sure that he does. You know what Sunghoon’s like. He’s never very honest about his intentions. I don’t wanna bring the subject up with him, cause I don’t wanna cause any drama, but it’s so suspicious to me that he’s suddenly spending time with Y/N when he’s never mentioned her all those years and when he rejects all these girls all the time.”

“I think it’s weird, too,” agreed Jay. “I just can’t seem to figure it out. And I’m a bit scared for Y/N, to be honest. Remember that girl in freshman year? They’d gotten along really well when he suddenly dropped her. I still remember his cold-ass stare when he turned her down. It even chilled me, man.”

“God, yeah, I always forget about that. He may be a jackass to all those girls, but when you know what he’s really like like we do, it seems so unlikely that he’d do something like that.”

Jay sighed and looked out into the distance. “I just hope he doesn’t hurt Y/N.”

Jake looked at his friend, thinking how to phrase his next sentence. “Like I said, I don’t wanna cause any drama… but, man, if you don’t want him to hurt Y/N, just don’t let him. If you make a move on her, you might get to her before he does. Better to do that now than to have to pick up the pieces, don’t you think?”

Jay mentally thanked the heavens for gifting him with a friend like Sim Jaeyun. “Yes, that is much, much better.”

He was going to stop sitting on his feelings and finally let them see the light.

—

But before that, Sunghoon had another one of his requests for you. You were sitting together in an empty classroom after school as you often did these past weeks. For you, today was an ordinary day, but the boy in front of you had something else in mind. He wasn’t saying anything but you could feel his nervousness and it was starting to make you feel anxious as well.

You lifted your head from your notes and looked at Sunghoon who seemed lost in his thoughts. “What is it, Sunghoon?”

This made him snap out of his reverie. “Um, nothing.”

“Well, seeing how you’ve been tapping your foot at the speed of lightning ever since we got here, it doesn’t seem like nothing.” You crossed your arms over the table and looked at him more intently, eyes asking him to tell you what was on his mind.

He sighed, giving in. “I was just thinking… there’s something I wanna tell you.”

“Go on. “

“I need you to date me.”

Your breath caught in your throat. Park Sunghoon… needed you… to date him? Was he asking you out? The way he’d worded it was a bit odd, but you didn’t put it past him.

Taking in your silence and wide eyes, he quickly added: “Not in that way! I, um, need you to be my fake girlfriend.”

Oh.

So he wasn’t asking you out. You weren’t sure why that made you so upset, but you tried to keep the disappointment out of your eyes and voice.

“Right,” you said, tone a bit harsher than you’d meant it to, “and why would I do that?”

Sunghoon smirked lightly. “Well, first of all, you don’t have much of a choice.” You rolled your eyes at that. It’d been a few days since the reason why you had started hanging out in the first place had come up, and you didn’t like to be reminded of that god-forsaken picture. 

“And second of all… I guess I should be completely honest with you.” This piqued your interest, and you leaned back on your chair to listen to him. 

“When I saw you at the store and took pictures of you, I wasn’t really thinking of doing anything. Maybe just get a laugh or two and tease you about it. I even told you outside the store that I didn’t know what I was gonna do. To be honest, I didn’t really think there was anything you could do for me that I’d need to force you to do. So I thought about it all night. And I asked myself, what’s the thing that pisses me off the most at school that you could change?” he looked at you expectantly, as if you could figure it out. You just shrugged.

“It’s those girls that keep following me around. All these years, I’ve acted like a giant asshole with them and still they think they have a crush on me or whatever. And I’ve never liked any of them, they’re all so superficial and ask me out without having ever talked to me before. So I thought, hey, maybe if I have a girlfriend, they’ll leave me alone. Which is why I made you do all those things for me.”

“So that they’d think we were dating?” you asked, trying to take all this information in. You’d sort of known it this entire time, but Sunghoon blatantly admitting he’d been using you hurt nonetheless.

“Yeah. But obviously, you always denied the rumors, so it hasn’t worked as well as I thought it would. It still did a bit though. So I think, if we take it the next step, and actually pretend we’re dating, it should really work. But I need your full cooperation on this, okay?” He looked at you, hopeful eyes and hands in prayer.

You sighed. As he said, it wasn’t like you had much of a choice.

“Please, Y/N? I really want them off my back.”

“Fine, Park, I’ll do it. But this better be the last thing you make me do.” You couldn’t help but sound cold. This made you rethink these past few weeks’ events. Were you the only one actually enjoying spending time together?

“Thanks, Y/N. And yeah, of course. You won’t have to carry my bag or get my lunch anymore if you want. Maybe it’ll be more believable if I do that for you.”

You had focused your attention back to your homework, wanting this conversation to be over as soon as possible.

“I’ll also pick you up in the morning, so you don’t need to take the bus.”

You hummed in response.

“Um, and I’ll also drop you off after school and after practice…” Sunghoon trailed, troubled by your silence. You hadn’t been so cold since the first couple times you two had talked, and he hated the idea that that might be because of what he had just said. So he took a chance.

“You know, Y/N, this doesn’t change anything. I wouldn’t have made you do all those things if I didn’t like spending time with you. You’re really nice to be around,” he admitted shyly.

You were far too flustered to lift your head and let him see your face. You just grinned and murmured, “Whatever, Park.”

—

Sunghoon kept his promise and picked you up in the morning. He called you at exactly 7:55 a.m., saying he was waiting outside and you rushed out of your house, piece of toast still in your mouth. In the car, you two went over what being in a fake relationship would involve.

“We just need to be seen around together, right?” you proposed, hoping your lack of experience wasn’t showing.

Thankfully, Sunghoon had no idea what being in a relationship, fake or not, entailed either. “Yeah, I think. And maybe…” he hesitated. 

“Maybe?” you prodded, hoping he wouldn’t (or actually would, but you’d never admit it) say what you thought he was about to say.

“I don’t know, like, hold hands, and… kiss.” The last part had barely been audible, but you’d still heard it.

“Kiss?” you echoed, voice almost a shriek. “I don’t think we need to go that far, Sunghoon.” A little voice in your head was saying that you’d really like to go that far but you made it shut up.

He was blushing profusely but didn’t want to drop the subject there. “At least on the cheek, or something. We do have to make it believable.”

And there it was. The little sentence, reminding you none of this was real. Seemed like that was a pattern in your life.

You looked out the window. Sunghoon glanced over at you, cursing himself for always saying the wrong thing. He was trying so hard to drown his blooming feelings for you that he kept on hurting you in the process. This whole fake-dating plan was the perfect excuse for him to spend more time with you without having to come to terms with his feelings. 

“C’mon, Y/N, it’ll be fun. Promise.” He nudged your arm playfully, making you look at him. His smile was contagious; you could never help yourself but start grinning when you saw his face light up like that. Maybe he’s right, you thought. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all.

When you arrived at school, Sunghoon told you to wait for a second. He got out of the car and quickly walked around to your side, opening the door for you. You hated how your heart fluttered at the sweet gesture, reminding yourself it was just for show. The important part was that it fooled everyone else, and it did - as you took Sunghoon’s hand, letting him help you out of the car, and walked with him hand in hand towards the school gates, you could feel all eyes on you. You could hear whispers of see, I told you they were dating! and defeated no ways. 

You realized you didn’t care about what anybody might be seeing, which was a first for you. You’d always made sure everybody saw you exactly the way you wanted to see them. As he was the most popular guy in school, dating Park Sunghoon at once helped your reputation and put you on many girls’ bad side. But holding his hand, you felt as though there was some kind of barrier protecting you. You’d never felt so exposed and so safe at the same time.

You noticed Jay standing next to the gates, looking particularly antsy. He’d texted you that morning, saying there was something he wanted to tell you. Usually, you’d have stayed up, overthinking what that could be, but what with today being the day you’d announce yourself to the world (your school) as Park Sunghoon’s (fake) girlfriend, you had had other things to worry about. You gestured at Sunghoon towards Jay. Your friend only saw you when you were calling his name, standing right in front of him.

“Oh, hi, Y/N! I-” 

He immediately cut himself off when he saw yours and Sunghoon’s interlaced fingers. Embarrassed, you took your hand out of your fake boyfriend’s, opting for holding onto his pinky instead, not realizing that it was a much cuter action that made one boy’s heart flutter and the other’s fill up with sadness.

“There was something you wanted to tell me?” you asked with a small smile.

“Uh- yeah, but it’s not important, actually. We can talk about it later.”

“Oh, you sure?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it.” He returned your smile, hoping to make the situation less awkward. It was very obvious he didn’t want to say whatever it was he needed to tell you in front of Sunghoon, which you had both understood.

Sunghoon spoke up. “Right, well I’ll see you in class, Jay. Y/N, I’ll walk you to yours.” And with that, he started walking, holding his friend’s gaze for a few steps. You turned back to look at Jay for a split second, trying to decipher what had just happened, but Sunghoon grabbed you by the waist, making you look up at him in surprise, and breaking Jay’s heart even further.

—

Once Sunghoon and you got to your class, you felt as though you were in one of those movies where the boy drops the girl off at her house after their first date. Except that this was in a crowded school hallway two minutes before the first bell rang. What you had in common with that girl from the movie, however, was that you were freaking out over what your boy was going to do next. In the car, you’d ended up agreeing to a kiss on the cheek, but you hadn’t realized it would be happening so soon.

As you two hovered around your classroom’s door, you looked at each other and giggled. Damn, you were selling this well. So well that if you could have ascended out of your body and looked at the scene as a third party, you’d probably have barfed all over yourself. 

You were still holding his pinky. You could tell he was too hesitant to do anything now that you had reached the classroom, and so you mustered all of your courage, stood on your tippy toes and softly pressed your lips to his cheeks. (You were pretty sure you’d heard gasps around you.) Your courage went as fast as it came, and as realization hit you, you quickly squeaked “bye, Sunghoon” and practically ran to your seat. The boy stood there for another second or two, hand going to his cheek where you had just kissed him. He walked happily to his own classroom, completely oblivious to the stares he was receiving.

Heeseung, Jiung and Sieun were looking at you in disbelief as you approached them. Sumin, on the other hand, looked like she had paid no attention whatsoever to the scene.

“Y/N,” Sieun teased in a sing-song voice. “Care to explain what just happened?”

“Don’t tell me you’ve actually managed to make the oh-so-great Park Sunghoon fall for you?” Jiung asked jokingly. 

You looked down in an attempt to hide your grin. You usually did that sort of stuff to appear humble when someone complimented you, but this time it was completely genuine. The mere thought of Sunghoon made you all giddy inside. “Um, yeah, he actually asked me to be his girlfriend last night.”

Your three friends gasped dramatically and Sieun pulled you into a hug, as if you’d just received an award of some kind. Heeseung and Jiung patted your shoulders, congratulating you.

“Sumin? Did you know about this?” Sieun enquired, turning to your friend.

“What? Oh, yeah, Y/N called me last night,” she answered, briefly looking at you before turning back to her phone. Sieun looked at you, surprised, not understanding Sumin’s reaction to what seemed like happy news.

You had indeed called Sumin the previous night, and the call had gone similarly to the way she was behaving this morning. Although you usually told her everything, this time, you didn’t want to share the fact that you and Sunghoon were only fake dating. You found yourself actually wanting it to be true - and you thought it’d be easier to believe it yourself if everyone, including your best friend, did too.

“Minie! I’ve got some news,” you’d said as soon as she picked out.

“Ooh! Hit me,” she’d replied with as much excitement in her voice as you.

“So…” you’d started, already giggling. “Sunghoon’s just asked me out. I haven’t told anyone else, I wanted you to be the first to know.”

There was silence on the other end of the line. After a while, you added, “Minie, you still there?”

“Huh? Yeah, um, that’s nice, Y/N, I’m happy for you,” she said, not sounding happy at all. There was no trace of excitement left in her voice.

“Yeah, thanks,” you replied, voice ten times smaller than a minute ago.

“I’m sorry Y/N, but I’ve got to go, my parents are calling me. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She hung up suddenly, giving you no time to say bye in return. You were completely confused. Was Sumin bothered by you and Sunghoon dating? Other than a reminder about his past behavior, she hadn’t said anything when you two were getting closer. So what was wrong? You’d hoped you’d find out the next day at school, but the way she was acting didn’t help at all.

You snapped out of your flashback when Heeseung nudged you, faking a pout. “Not fair! Why did she get to know before we did?”

You forced a smile and said you’d known you’d see them the next day and thought it was better to tell them in person, and that you had just wanted to rant to someone quickly. Your teacher came in as the bell rang and everyone went to their seat. During class, you tried getting her attention so you could ask her if she was okay but she kept her attention on the teacher the whole time. 

After that, as time went by, you kept up your charade of being the perfect student as usual, adding to that of being the perfect girlfriend to Sunghoon. Time with him passed by so quickly: you hadn’t realized you were more than halfway through the semester until you needed to wear a thicker jacket outside and the leaves had started falling, covering school grounds in shades of brown. The plan had worked: he was finally left alone by his admirers. Sumin had stopped being weird after a few days, saying she had had some problems with her parents but hadn’t gone into more detail. Everything was as great as it had ever been: good grades, good friends and a good boyfriend. Well, fake boyfriend, which you needed to remind yourself a bit too often, on the days Sunghoon didn’t do it himself. You felt a pinch in your heart every time he said something like, “there’s my fake girlfriend!” when it was just the two of you, or “great job today, Y/N” after dropping you off.

One day as you arrived home, Yeeun was waiting outside your house, trying to catch you red-handed. She dragged him inside by the arm and you panicked, not wanting him to see how you lived. But your messy room and invasive siblings didn’t scare him off at all; on the contrary, he smiled one of the biggest smiles you’d ever seen on him, canines and dimples on display. Your mom made him stay over for dinner and it was probably the happiest dinner you’d ever had. The idea of bringing someone home and having them see your habits and odd family dynamics had terrified you for the longest time, but you felt so comfortable around Sunghoon that it felt as if he was part of your home as soon as he’d stepped foot inside. You didn’t feel the need to hide anything from him.

After dinner, he helped your parents clear up the table and even washed the dishes, even though they kept insisting he didn’t have to do anything. He had completely won them over. They sat at the table and watched you two laugh together in the kitchen. They looked at each other, knowing they were thinking the exact same thing: their daughter hadn’t looked this happy in a while.

When you were done cleaning up, you two headed to your room under the pretense of needing to study. 

“Alright, but keep the door open!” your mom had yelled after you, making you groan and Sunghoon’s face turn crimson red.

You really had planned on studying - there was a big test coming up and you couldn’t afford to get a bad grade. When you got your physics textbook out, Sunghoon groaned in protest.

“What? You seriously want to study right now?”

You sighed. “I don’t necessarily want to, no, but I need to. And so do you, may I add.”

“We’re not even in the same physics class!”

“Yeah, but we both have Mr. Cho, so I know you’re gonna have a test as well.”

He rolled his eyes and dramatically flung himself on your bed. “Fine.”

When he didn’t move for a few minutes, you guessed what he had meant was that he’d let you study but wasn’t going to do it himself. But after ten minutes, he suddenly got up. “I’m bored to death, Y/N. The test isn’t in another week. Show me what you do for fun,” he said, on the verge of desperation. It had only been ten minutes, but you felt bad having him over and not entertaining him.

“Well, I do have a Switch…” Sunghoon’s eyes widened in awe. “I guess we can play Mario Kart.”

He almost squealed in joy at that. You just chuckled at him, not knowing he was such a fan of car video games. 

“I’m gonna crush you, Kim. Get ready,” he said, already looking victorious.

You smirked, not wanting him to get his hopes up. “Oh, it’s on, Park.”

As expected of a pro player like you (on non-schooldays, you could stay up all night playing this game), you won every single round. Sure, he gave you a run for your money, but you always came on top. He took it surprisingly well, congratulating you each time. After your fourth win in a row, you wiggled your face in front of his with a devilish smile, as you couldn’t help but torment him a little. But he wasn’t smiling. At first, you’d thought he was finally getting mad he kept on losing; but then the proximity between you two hit you. You noticed his eyes flicker momentarily to your lips and had backed off immediately.

“Um, if we go for another round, I’ll go easy on-”

He cut you off by putting his hand on your cheek, making you turn to look at him. You’d daydreamed about this moment before, but you hadn’t imagined your heart beating this fast or the butterflies eating away at your stomach. He was now fully staring at your lips, and you couldn’t look at anything else but his either. Too scared to move an inch, you felt him get closer and closer, so close that his lips were almost on-

“Y/N, mom says it’s late and Sunghoon needs to- AH!”

Sunoo had walked in, eyes riveted on his phone until he looked up and saw you and Sunghoon suspiciously close to each other. Sunghoon practically leaped off of your bed in surprise and you flung a pillow over your face, not believing you had almost kissed Park Sunghoon but that your stupid little brother had ruined everything.

“Sorry! I’m sorry!” the culprit squeaked before running away. You and Sunghoon looked at each other. It was awkward for two seconds, then you both erupted in laughter. 

“Alright, guess I should get going then. Um, thank you so much for tonight. I haven’t had a family dinner in a while, and… Well, it was really nice,” he admitted shyly after you’d calmed down.

“Of course, Sunghoon. I’m sure my parents would love to have you over any time.”

You walked him to your front door, where you exchanged goodbyes and I’ll see you tomorrows. You watched him take a few steps, then turn back and jog towards you. He stood in front of you for a second, then leaned down and placed a kiss on your forehead.

“Bye, Y/N.”

You were too stunned to say it back.

—

After the almost-kiss, it felt as though something had changed between you and Sunghoon. The event had somewhat revealed your feelings: you both knew you wanted to kiss each other. But since those feelings hadn’t been acted upon, the transition from fake-dating to real dating couldn’t happen as smoothly. Well, it could, if you two stopped acting like idiots and told each other how you felt. But the author wanted to get a couple more thousand words in, so it had to wait.

You’d gotten used to Sunghoon’s little requests at school, but you definitely hadn’t anticipated a phone call at past 11pm on a Wednesday night. 

“Sunghoon? Why are you calling me so late?” you asked, groggy voice because of sleep. Since you woke up so early to get ready in the morning, you always went to bed around 9:30 to 10 p.m. Sunghoon was making you lose precious minutes of slumber.

“Late? It’s barely midnight, Y/N.” You groaned. “Whatever, put on some clothes and come outside! I’m waiting for you.”

“You’re what?” you whisper-screamed, suddenly feeling very awake.

“I’m waiting for you! Hurry up!” 

As always, he hung up without waiting for your reply. You couldn’t really turn him down anyway; although you were somewhat obligated, you had stopped seeing it that way and started doing things for him out of your own volition. 

Not wanting to get out of your pajamas, you just threw on a warm sweater, a scarf, some socks, and headed down the hallway on your tiptoes. Your parents weren’t the strictest out there, but you still didn’t wanna get caught sneaking out, and with a boy, at that. After putting on your shoes, you left your house, closing the door behind you as quietly as you could.

The late October night was a bit chilly, but you had wrapped up warm enough. Sunghoon was indeed waiting for you outside, wearing a denim jacket over his gray sweatshirt and matching sweatpants. 

God, he looked good.

“Finally! Took you long enough.”

“Quit it, Sunghoon. Just tell me why you wanted to see me.”

“There’s a place I wanna show you. Come on,” he said, taking you by the hand. You felt tingles in your palm and fingers wherever his hand touched yours. How could something feel so natural yet make your heart race so at the same time?

“Are we walking there?” you asked.

“Yep, it’s not too far. We’ll be there in five minutes.”

Those five minutes felt like five seconds walking with Sunghoon. You chatted and joked around the whole way, not letting go of each other’s hand. You hadn’t even noticed you had reached your destination until he stopped walking.

“Here we are,” he said, facing the building, which made you turn in the direction he was looking.

“The ice rink? What are we doing here?” you asked, confused. It was 11:30 pm; surely, the rink would be closed.

“You’ll see!” he said, heading towards the entrance. To your surprise, he pulled out a key from his pockets and opened the doors.

“What? Sunghoon! How do you have a key to the ice rink?”

“I’m chummy with the janitor. I just need to let him know when I’ll be coming and he doesn’t tell anyone,” he replied, an easy smile on his face, as if this was the most normal thing in the world. He led you first to the shoe rack, helping you find skates your size, and then to the benches next to the rink’s entrance. He knelt in front of you and helped you put on your shoes, doing the laces for you. 

He looked up at you, a glint in his eyes. “I’ve never taken anyone here, Y/N. I know your secret, so I thought I’d show you mine.”

You didn’t know what to say, surprised at the sudden confession, so you just looked at him curiously as he took ice skates from his backpack and laced them up.

He stood up, turned to you and said, “Ready?”

You followed him to the doors leading to the ice. He stepped inside without a trace of hesitation, but you were much more doubtful about your ability to stand on the ice without falling instantly. He turned around and saw you looking helpless. He took your hand in his, helping you step onto the rink. 

“Don’t worry, Y/N. As long as I’ve got you, you won’t fall.”

“Don’t let go of my hand, then,” you said pointedly.

Too focused on not slipping, you didn’t see his smile. “I wasn’t planning to.”

He helped you get your footing, skating backwards in front of you and holding both of your hands. After a few minutes on the ice, you got brave enough to skate on your own, and you miraculously managed to stay on your feet. However, after a while, your bravery turned to hubris, and you dared attempt a spin, resulting in you miserably falling on the ice, butt first. Sunghoon was worried for a second until he saw you laughing uncontrollably. You looked at him, wide-eyed, and said, “This is so much fun, Hoon.” You were so exhilarated that you hadn’t noticed the nickname slipping from your lips but the boy’s cheeks and ears turned redder than the bruise you had surely just earned yourself. Thankfully, if you commented on it, he could just blame it on the cold. 

He helped you up, and you skated on as if nothing had happened. This went on for another thirty minutes, you skating hand in hand and occasionally falling together (but most of the time, just you falling on your own). Sunghoon had been so nervous before bringing you here; he was scared you’d think his hobby was unmanly or lame, as he’d been made to feel. But seeing you have the time of your life, all his worries dissipated. This place was like a second home to him, and bringing someone into your home was always nerve-wracking, but he thought you fit perfectly in it. 

When you told him you were getting tired and wanted to sit for a while, you skated back together to the benches and he gave you some water from his bag. You sat in silence for a while, waiting for your breathing to come back to a normal pace. 

You broke the silence first. “So, why’d you take me here? Not that I’m complaining.”

He hesitated a second before speaking. "I used to come here all the time as a kid.” He didn’t look at you when he answered, keeping his gaze on his hands. “My mom would take me. She left us for another man the summer before middle school started. She left me alone with my asshole father.”

You let out a small gasp, not expecting such a confession. You placed your hand on his back for comfort and said, “I’m sorry, Sunghoon.”

He quickly glanced at you, a half-smile on his face. “Don’t be. Anyways, he had to somewhat start taking care of me now that my mom wasn’t there to do it.” He chuckled darkly. “I guess his idea of taking care of his son was forbidding him from doing the one thing he loved. He thought it was a stupid sport for a boy. He stopped all of my lessons and made me sign up for soccer, even though I hadn’t ever said I wanted to do that. I still came here from time to time, but I didn’t wanna risk getting caught. God knows what he’d have done if he saw me here.”

You weren’t sure what to say. You felt as if no words would be enough to express how his story made you feel. “I- it’s awful, what he did to you. No parent should ever make their child feel as though their passion isn’t worth it. If it’s any comfort, even though you were mostly helping me, I thought you looked ten times better on that rink than scoring any goal. And that’s saying something.”

He finally looked at you and grinned. “Thanks, Y/N.” He seemed to be thinking for a few seconds, and then continued: “I’ve had a lot of time to think about it, and I think that’s why it’s hard for me to open up to people and make lots of friends. I only trust Jake because I’ve known him forever and I can’t really get rid of him now,” he said with a chuckle, “and Jay, well, Jake took to him instantly in middle school so I guess I didn’t have a choice there either, and he’s not so bad anyway. The more people I let in, the more likely I am to get hurt. It’s much easier pretending I don’t wanna have anything to do with anyone than try. 

“I guess it’s also why I talked to you on that day. Sure, I ended up thinking you could help me with all those girls. But at first, when I saw someone like you, who looks like they have it all together, who’s actually the opposite in real life - no offense - it reminded me of myself. And I thought, maybe she’d understand. Which is why it was so easy to be myself around you.”

You took his hand in yours and pressed it slightly. “I’m glad you were.” You didn’t feel the need to say anything else, hoping it was enough.

“Now, your turn. What made you the person you are today?” he asked with a grin, trying to approach lightheartedly this heavy subject, which you appreciated.

“It’s all about making people think you’re someone else, isn’t it? Because, depending on who you are, they’ll treat you differently. I found that out as a kid, because I, too, have a tragic childhood backstory.” He gasped jokingly.

“It’s not as bad as yours, so sorry about that. Back in primary school, I already had this… attitude that I have today. I had quite the ego, and I didn’t want anyone doing better than me at school. I didn’t care about how I looked, if I was the prettiest girl in class or had the cutest shoes. I was the smarty-pants of the class, basically, and a lot of the kids teased me for that. But I also didn’t let myself get trampled over, and fought back, quite aggressively at that, so I was somehow the nerd and the troublemaker at the same time. I didn’t have the best reputation, but I did have a friend. Jay. Or Jongseong, at the time, before he got too cool for his real name,” you joked. “The thing is, I didn’t see him as a friend. Sure, I was only eight or nine, but I really liked him. And the day I was planning on confessing, I saw him hold hands with the prettiest girl in our class. So I never told him, and then he left for the US a few months later.

“During the time he was gone, I had a complete makeover and actually started caring about my appearance, especially when middle school started. So now I had academic validation from teachers, which I had craved since forever, and both female and male validation from all the girls telling me how pretty I was and all the guys liking me. The people who were in my primary school and went to the same middle school told them how I used to be, but nobody believed them, and if they did, they didn’t care, so everybody just gradually forgot about it. And I just got addicted to the validation, which is why I always studied harder and tried to be prettier, even when it turned into a complete lie. I thought that if I could make everyone believe I was perfect, then it didn’t matter what I was like in real life, so at home, I just let myself completely go. And even now that I’m aware of all of this, I still can’t stop.”

Sunghoon looked at you like you had just slapped him. “So, you used to have a crush on Jay?”

You looked at him in exasperation. “Seriously, Hoon? That’s what you get from everything I just told you?”

He smiled shyly. “Sorry. Thank you for telling me.” You sat there in comfortable silence for another few minutes, still hand in hand. Then, Sunghoon got up, grin on his face.

“Wanna see something cool?” You nodded at him, returning his grin. He headed back inside the rink.

You thought he was gonna show off by doing some fancy trick. But he started gliding on the ice, and you couldn’t believe what you were seeing. He took long strides that looked as natural to him as walking. He spinned one, two, three times, and continued skating as though it was nothing. You were completely mesmerized. You already thought he was out-of-this-world beautiful, but his beauty was brought to another level when he skated. His elegant moves rendered you breathless. When he skated back towards you, you were looking at him with only awe and admiration in your eyes. 

After what he’d told you and what he’d just shown you, you couldn't help but get a little emotional. You engulfed him in a hug as soon as he’d stepped out of the rink, your arms around his neck and his naturally coming to your waist. Your hands came up to his cheeks as you leaned back to properly look at him.

“That was- wow. That was amazing, Sunghoon. Thank you for showing me.” You could see the gratefulness in his eyes. There was something else there, and whatever it was, you knew you were looking back at him with as much of it. It was only you two in the building, but it might as well have been the two of you in the whole world. 

All too similarly as in your room, his gaze went from your eyes to your lips, and you couldn’t help but mirror that. This was the perfect moment. You inched your face closer, letting him close the gap between you. Your lips touched and it was as if everything fell into place. The kiss was shy at first, neither of you sure what to do, your mouths moving at a slow but steady pace. But as your hands traveled from his cheeks, to his jaw and down to his neck, and you felt him sigh in the kiss, something unclicked in you, making you want more. You deepened the kiss, and he returned it with just as much force. Your right hand came to grab at the nape of his hair and his hands gripped your waist tighter. After minutes or hours, you broke the kiss in need of some air. Your eyes met again and you smiled at him, relieved it had finally happened. 

You thought he’d have a similar reaction, but he suddenly looked panicked. Realization hit him like a truck. He liked you. Far too much. And even if the kiss and these past weeks told him you might like him back, it scared him. He’d unlocked his heart for you but couldn’t let you keep the key. Otherwise, he’d let you open it more and more and more until there he was completely bare in front of you, and you decided you didn’t like what you’d found and left him. Just like his mom did. Just like everyone eventually does. Just like his dad never even tried.

He took a step back. His panic was rubbing off on you. You called out his name, but he quickly got his bag and said, “Sorry, Y/N, I have to go. I’ll um- I’ll see you.” He took a few steps, turned around, and said, “I think you should take the bus tomorrow morning. Sorry.”

He started walking away. A few steps before he’d be out of your view, he turned back around. He hated the look on your face, how sad, confused and helpless it was all at once. Above all, he hated that he was the reason behind it. But he told himself it was better to leave you now than be left in a few months when you got bored of him, and started walking again without another word.

—

You walked home alone. It was a dark November night, and you were shivering from the cold and from sadness. Try as hard as you might, you couldn’t figure out why Sunghoon had reacted like that. The past month had gone so well, you were only getting closer and more comfortable with each other. The only logical conclusion you could come to was that kissing you had made him realize he didn’t like you. Thankfully, you didn’t live too far from the ice rink and you got home in five minutes. Lost in your thoughts, you couldn’t even be bothered to be quiet closing the front door and walking to your room, and you woke Sunoo up.

At first, he looked like he was about to scold you for making so much noise; but upon seeing your disheveled state, he started worrying. 

“Y/N? What’s wrong, why are you only coming home now? Where were you?”

You couldn’t hold it in any longer. You fell in your brother’s arms and started crying your heart out.

He held you for a little while, but not wanting to wake the others up by staying in the hallway, he said, “Come on, let’s get you in your room. You’re freezing.”

He left for a few minutes and came back with two cups of tea in his hands. He joined you on your bed. You had calmed down a bit and took a sip of the tea, already feeling warmer.

“So, tell me everything.”

And you did. Not just about what had happened at the ice rink, but everything before that: how yours and Sunghoon’s relationship was fake, which you hadn’t even told your siblings, but that it hadn’t kept you from falling for him, and how you really thought he felt the same way. When you got to the part where you told each other about your stories, Sunoo grabbed your arm in surprise, and said, “I can’t believe you told someone about that. Good for you, big sis.”

You sat in silence after a few minutes when you’d finished telling him everything, you, still reflecting on your evening, and him, trying to think of something good to say. He took a deep breath, and started: “You know, this might be completely useless, but I feel like there’s no point trying to figure out why he did that. We’re not mind readers, and assuming things will just go wrong. I think the best thing to do is just ask him tomorrow, or whenever you’re ready to face him, really.”

You looked at your brother fondly. “How can you be so stupid sometimes, yet so wise right now?”

Sunoo and you talked for another minute, but when you yawned for a good seven straight seconds, you both agreed it was time for bed. Before you fell asleep, you told yourself that tomorrow morning, you’d find Sunghoon and make him be clear with you. You at least deserved that.

—

Heeseung and Sumin were clearly surprised to see you the next morning in the bus, but you told them you didn’t want to talk about it and they didn’t push, although it very obviously had something to do with Sunghoon. As you rode the bus and psyched yourself for your conversation with him, you had no idea he was currently in the midst of a heated argument with Jay. The latter pushed him with force, making Sunghoon’s back hit the classroom wall behind him.

“What the fuck did you just say about Y/N?” Jay asked, venom in his voice and fury in his eyes.

Despite the pain, Sunghoon smirked, wanting to rile up his friend even more. “I said, Y/N’s just as stupid as all the other girls. She probably thinks she’s so much better than everybody, but in the end it was so easy making her fall for me. It was almost boring, really, how easy she was.”

Jay pushed him again. “Don’t fucking talk about her like that.”

“Aw, little Jay is getting upset over his little Y/N? You sad that the girl you like actually likes an asshole like me?”

Jay hadn’t had many reasons to get angry in his life. This was making him discover another side of himself; he didn’t know he could get this angry. He didn’t know rage could fill up his veins like that and make him want to destroy absolutely everything around him, but above all, the person in front of him who’d he considered a friend all these years. On the verge of losing control, he reared up his fist, before Sunghoon said:

“You know what’s even sadder? She used to like you, too.”

His arm dropped. “What?”

“Yeah, in primary school. Didn’t you think it was weird how different she was before and after you left? Her little heartbreak made her change everything about herself just so that people would like her. And now all she can do is lie to everyone. I pity her, really. And to think that she thought I liked her. What an idiot.”

That was the last straw. Jay punched Sunghoon square in the nose, making him stumble back a few steps until he hit the wall again. He held onto his bloody, and possibly broken, nose and looked Jay straight in the eyes, still smirking. Thinking his job was done (but not sure what the job was in the first place), he walked away, heading to the nurses’ station. The scene had gathered quite an audience outside. It was less than ten minutes to the first bell, so already quite a few students were there, but no one had dared to venture inside. Jake, arriving too late to prevent any damage, looked wide-eyed back and forth between Sunghoon walking out and Jay standing inside, fists clenched by his side and panting from anger.

Sunghoon barely spared him or anyone a glance as he left the room. What he did notice though, were a crumpled tuna-mayo sandwich and a banana milk on the floor, looking as though someone had dropped them.

What had he done?

—

You had already run back to your friends and were currently crying for the second time in twelve hours in Sumin’s arms. It was the first time ever you cried at school, and probably also in front of your friends, spare Sumin, so it was a curious sight to most; she took you to another room for privacy. 

There, you practically told her everything you had told Sunoo the night before, including the fake dating.

“Wait… so, you and Sunghoon weren’t actually dating?”

You nodded, embarrassed by your lie.

“I- Why didn’t you tell me, Y/N? How could you fool everyone like that?”

You looked up in surprise at your friend’s harsh words. You probably deserved them, but you weren’t used to hearing her speak in such a way, nor to the cold stare she was peering down at you with. 

“I don’t know… I’m really sorry…” you mumbled, ashamed.

She scoffed. “You should be. I just- I just don’t understand how you can already be living such a lie, and still add onto it. It makes me wonder how I’m still friends with you.” The bell rang right at that moment, and she got up, saying, “Let’s go to class. You wouldn’t wanna be late.”

You followed her, but you felt sick to your stomach. Usually, you could always hide your discomfort or sadness, no matter how bad your period cramps were or how serious an argument with your parents had gotten. But this time, it was too much, and fifteen minutes into the class, you asked the teacher to go to the nurse. Not used to you needing to leave class and trusting that it was for a legitimate reason, your teacher let you off and you quickly packed your bag and left. 

When you got to the nurse, you sat down in front of her and said you weren’t feeling well and wanted to go home. For the same reasons as your teacher, she said she’d let you but needed to ask you a few questions before about your general well-being. You answered them quickly, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible and just go home. 

When you finally were able to leave, you only took a few steps out of the nurse’s office before someone grabbed your wrist, making you turn around. Sunghoon, who was resting in the room next door, had heard your voice and gotten up as soon as he’d heard you leave. His nose was covered in bandages and his eye had started swelling and turning blue, and you mentally thanked Jay. You ripped your arm out of his grip and continued to walk away without a word. You were too tired to argue.

“Y/N, please, hear me out.”

This made you stop in your tracks, but you didn’t turn around. “Hear you out? I’ve already heard enough, Sunghoon. No need to explain, you made it very clear what you think of me.”

You started walking again but he doubled you and blocked your path in the narrow hallway. 

“Y/N, I’m sorry, if you’d just give me a minute-”

“I don’t care that you’re sorry, Sunghoon! Sorry doesn’t cut it. I trusted you. Actually trusted you. You out of all people should know how hard it is to do that. Or was that a lie too?” Seeing him in front of you, your sadness retreated to the back of your heart and you were left with only anger. 

“It wasn’t, I prom-”

“That doesn’t mean anything to me anymore.” You pushed past him and walked on. And this time, he let you go, even though the only thing you wanted him to do was make you stay. You so desperately wanted to hear him out and forgive him, but you knew you couldn’t do that. You had too much dignity, and it would only end up hurting you even further. 

So you didn’t shed a tear the whole way home. When you finally got to your bed, you didn’t have the energy to start crying. You fell asleep, tears quietly rolling down your face. 

—

You slept the whole day, waking up to a soft knock on your bedroom door. It was your mom, telling you Jay was here to see you. Everyone had been surprised to see you already at home when they came back from work or school, but they knew better than to wake you up.

“I’m surprised, you know. He’s gotten so handsome.”

You rolled your eyes at her. “Just tell him that I’m not feeling well and he should go home, please.”

“Oh, I’ve already tried to, honey. The boy is adamant on seeing you.”

You sighed. “Fine. Can you bring him here, then?”

A few seconds later, you heard another knock, and Jay opened the door just enough to peek his head through, asking if he could come in.

“Well, you’re already here, so might as well.”

You sat up and gestured for him to sit down on your bed.

He looked around, taking in the messiness of his surroundings. “You know, I thought your room would be much more… organized.”

“Didn’t Sunghoon tell you? I’m a big, fat liar who hides the truth from everyone,” you said sarcastically.

“About that… did you hear everything he said?” You hummed in response. “I’m so sorry you had to hear that, Y/N. I don’t know what happened to him. He’d never said anything like that about you, and then, all of a sudden… What an asshole. I can’t believe he was my friend.”

“Was? You shouldn’t end your friendship over me, Jay.”

“Are you kidding me? I can’t be friends with a guy who talks about anyone like that, let alone you.” After a few minutes of silence, he asked, “Did um- did anything happen, for him to say those things?”

You sighed deeply. “I’ve already told this story twice in the past few days, so I’ll give you the short version, but basically, we were fake dating, and I started really liking him, and I thought he did too, until we kissed, and he left me completely stranded, and then the next day I hear him say all those things.”

Silence again. You suddenly remembered something Sunghoon had said that you had completely put to the side: Jay likes you. At least, according to Sunghoon. You didn’t know if it was true, but judging by his disappointed face, it looked like it. Seemed like all of your friendships were going to hell.

“Oh,” he simply said.

“Yeah…” you murmured back. 

“Well,” he turned to you, “that just confirms to me that he’s an asshole. Cause no guy in his right mind would turn you down, Y/N. I know I wouldn’t.”

He looked straight at you as he said that. Yep. Jay liked you. It was a nice feeling, but it was also about ten years too late. 

“Do you- do you know what I’m trying to say, Y/N?” he asked, gulping.

You hesitated for a second before saying, ”I think I do, Jay. I have to say, your timing isn’t great.”

He chuckled a bit lifelessly. “Yeah, I guess right now isn’t the best time to say this.”

“I also meant, you know what Sunghoon said, earlier? That I liked you before you left for the US? That was true.”

He looked at you, mouth agape. “Oh, was it…” His head hung down in defeat. “I can’t believe I’ve been such an idiot. I feel like it’s my fault that Sunghoon hurt you like this. If only I’d been just a bit earlier…”

“None of this is your fault, Jay. Please don’t think that. It’s mine for thinking Sunghoon could actually like me back.”

Jay took a deep breath. “God, as much as it hurts me to say, Y/N, I think he did. Or does, actually.” You furrowed your brows at him. “Sunghoon, he has this thing where he goes into retreat mode as soon as he gets too close, too personal. It’s a stupid defense mechanism, and when he realizes he’s let you in a bit too far, he snaps everything closed and hurts you before you can hurt him. At least, that’s how he sees it, I guess. He’s done it to Jake and me a couple times, and it takes some getting used to, but he stops after a while. When he knows for sure that you won’t hurt him.”

You didn’t know what to do with this information, so you just stayed quiet, which Jay took as a sign to go on.

“I’m not saying forgive him. Believe me, if I could smack him into space and never let him see you again, I would. But I think maybe, just maybe, and you don’t have to if you don’t want to, hear him out.”

You smiled at him. “You’re a good friend, Jay. And I don’t mean just to me but to Sunghoon as well. I hope you know that.”

Jay tried to ignore the pinch in his heart at the word ‘friend’ and smiled back.

“Oh, there’s another thing I needed to show you.” His tone was suddenly much more apprehensive, and he looked both sorry and scared to say whatever he was about to say.

He pulled out his phone and searched the thing in question. Before showing you anything, he warned, “Nobody knows who did this. It was sent out to the whole school on a library computer-”

Expecting the worst, you snatched Jay’s phone from his hands. And there they were. Pictures of you from your primary school years, recent pictures of you in your comfortable clothes, at home or in close proximity to your house. Sent out to the whole school, as Jay had said. You were horror-struck. You could feel all the years you had spent perfecting your image and maintaining it crumbling around you as though they were paper. Charismatic smiles and trendy accessories had been your brick and mortar, but a sledgehammer had hit them, destroying your foundations further with each swing.

And that sledgehammer had a name: Bae Sumin. You’d figured it out in an instant. You’d been friends your whole life, she was the only one apart from your family to know about your true face; only she would have access to such photos. You knew it wasn’t Sunghoon because the pictures he had taken that day weren’t there.

If what had happened with Sunghoon had made a crack in your heart, then this had shattered it into a million pieces. The person who you’d trusted the most, who you’d thought would never do anything to hurt you, had done the worst thing anybody could do to you.

“Y/N- are you okay?” Jay asked tentatively. You had forgotten he was there.

“Um, yeah, yeah- I think I just need to be alone for now, if that’s okay.”

“Are you sure? I don’t mind staying a while.”

“Sorry, Jay, but I’m sure.”

He looked at you for a few seconds. He’d never felt more distance between you two, not even when you had been oceans apart. “Alright. Call me if you need anything. I mean it.”

You smiled a tiny, tiny smile in response and he left your room. On his way out, your mom hugged him, saying it was nice to see him again and that he was welcome anytime, and he thanked her.

As he walked home, he couldn’t help but bitterly laugh to himself. Even when he confessed, he hadn’t been able to say the words he’d wanted to tell you this whole time: I love you.

—

You didn’t go to school for the rest of the week, the only stain on your perfect attendance record. All of your friends had tried to reach you, asking if you were okay, and you replied in a few small messages, telling them you’d be back when you could. Other people had contacted you, asking if those pictures were real. You obsessed over your school’s gossip Instagram account: the past few days, all the posts had been dedicated to your pictures and Sunghoon’s and Jay’s fight. You had ten missed calls from Sunghoon and seventeen from Sumin. You ignored each and everyone of them, only giving Jay, Heeseung, Sieun and Jiung the time of day. 

On Sunday morning you woke up, already dreading going to school the next day. You could already picture the nasty stares and whispers you’d get in the hallways. You thought about facing Sumin and Sunghoon again, and you thought the worst thing possible would be to have to do it at school. So you decided to wait until they called you again, as you knew they would, and finally picked up their call.

Sumin contacted you first, at eleven in the morning. You agreed to have her come over to your house to talk. When she appeared at your front door, you realized you weren’t sad, angry, or disappointed; you were just confused. You didn’t understand why she’d done it. Looking at her face, you couldn’t imagine her sitting down at that computer and sending out those pictures, writing the comment This is what Kim Y/N is like in real life.

You let her in and walked to your room, your siblings’ eyes burning holes into her soul the whole time. You sat down on your bed, sighed, and said, “Go ahead.”

“Thank you for letting me come here and explain myself. I don’t know what took over me, Y/N. Well actually, I guess I do. Jealousy, as stupid as it sounds.” She chuckled at herself. “I’ve always tried to hide it, but I’ve always been a bit jealous of you, Y/N. You’re the prettiest girl, the smartest, the nicest, and I’m just the best friend. That’s all anyone knows me as. Everybody loves you, yet I know it’s all a facade. And I’m not saying that to be mean, because I know you’re an amazing person even without all the glamor. And when I saw you with Sunghoon, I mean, you saw how I was. I didn't fight with my parents. I was so, so jealous. You hadn’t shown interest in any guy since Choi Soobin and all of a sudden you were dating Park freaking Sunghoon, and he knew about your quote-on-quote ‘real’ face, so I couldn’t even comfort myself that he didn’t know who you really were.”

“Wait- why would you be jealous of Sunghoon and me?”

She took a deep breath. “You remember, freshman year, when I confessed to him and he turned me down?”

“Yeah, but I thought that was in the past.”

“Do you also remember that guy I told you about later on, who I’d gotten really close with but completely shut me off when I thought we were about to start dating?”

Something clicked, but you didn’t want to face it. “Yeah…”

“Well, surprise surprise, they were the same person. Ha. I got mad at you for lying to me, but I did the same thing.”

“Sumin… Why did you never tell me?”

“I’m not sure. When we were in that talking stage, I could’ve bragged about it to anyone, you know, that Park Sunghoon was actually being nice to me, but I didn’t. I wanted to keep him my little secret. And then I confessed, and we all know how that ended.” A beat passes as she takes a deep breath, shaking the bad memory away. “I am over it, it was more than three years ago. Maybe there was a nice part of me that thought he had changed, because you seemed happy with him, and I didn’t want to ruin that. But maybe there was another part that hoped he might hurt you like he did me. And that’s such a shitty thing to do, I know. I should’ve told you when I saw you get involved with him. I can’t believe after all these years, he did the exact same thing to you that he did to me. What an asshole.”

You were staring at the wall in front of you, feeling empty. Why did everything have to happen at the same time? You were just drained of any willpower.

“This doesn’t explain the pictures,” you said plainly.

“Right. When you told me you were fake dating, I guess something snapped in me. I couldn’t believe it was another lie, I thought we had gone past the stage where you hid things from me. So that, plus jealousy, I just went a bit crazy, I think. I really wasn’t thinking, Y/N, and I promise you with all my heart that if I could go back and undo everything, I would. I’m so, so, so sorry. I regretted it as soon as I hit post.”

You looked at your friend and knew she was telling the truth. You believed her, and yet you couldn’t quite look past it.

“I know you are, Minie. It’s just… what am I gonna do now at school? Everybody must hate me.”

“I won’t lie, some people haven’t been saying the nicest things, especially Park’s fangirls. But God, Y/N, and please don’t take this the wrong way, but who cares? They’ll talk about it for a week, two at most. Your life at school won’t be the same, but you’ll still have all of us. I’ve talked to Heeseung, Sieun and Jiung, and they’re not the tiniest bit mad at you. They’re just worried to death. A bit confused too, but mostly worried. And you know what? Even Yujin, Wonyoung and Gaeul, who I’ve literally never talked to before, came to ask me how you were. Jay and Sunghoon are barely on talking terms but they always team up when it comes to practically verbally assaulting anyone they overhear talking behind your back. Jake has to hold them back sometimes but he always glares at those people too. You don’t wanna see Jake Sim glare, I promise you. It’s so scary,” she says in a confessional tone, visibly shuddering just at the thought of angel-faced Jake looking angry, and you can’t help the small chuckle that escapes your lips.

Her face softens as she places a warm palm over your hand. “We all love you and care for you so much, so screw literally every single other person in that school. They don’t matter.”

There was something refreshing about Sumin’s words. The idea that you could live your life without worrying about other people had always been in the back of your head, but you always told yourself you were in too deep to go back. Now that you had been forced to, you understood why you felt so empty: the immense weight of having to keep up a persona, had been lifted off your shoulders. You would only have to carry yourself, and not a second person, which made you feel weightless. You’d just have to get used to it and come to enjoy that feeling.

You took your friend’s hands in yours. “I want to forgive you, I promise I do. And I will. I just don’t know if I can do that right away. I’ll need some getting used to this new life.”

“I completely understand, Y/N.”

“But that doesn’t mean I don’t want you around anymore. And you know what, I’m sure one day I’ll look back at this moment and thank you.”

—

Sumin left a few hours later and you were now waiting for Sunghoon to call you. You waited and waited, until your phone rang with a small ding: he wasn’t calling you, but had sent you a message. A very, very long message. You were very tempted to reply with a I ain’t reading all that. I’m happy for u tho. Or sorry that happened, but you thought it might not be the appropriate moment. 

You opened the message, which had come after thirty unread texts, and started reading, slightly appalled by the lack of paragraphing.

Dear Y/N, 

Is this how you start a long text? I would much rather be telling you this than writing it, but someone hasn’t been picking up my calls. Sorry. I probably shouldn’t be giving you much attitude right now. Where do I even start? The ice rink, I guess. Asshole move #1, obviously. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left you like that. That kiss was really really good and I really really liked it. Because I really really like you. And I think I’ve known that for a while now, but the kiss confirmed it. And I was happy for a second, but then I panicked. There’s no other word for it, I panicked. I’ve never liked someone this much before and I was so scared. I still am. I’m terrified shitless. But I know that my fear is completely irrational, and that you’re literally the best person on Earth, which is why I’m writing this. I know it’s cliché to say my mom left me and now I think everybody will. And my first reaction to that is to hurt someone before they can hurt me, which is what I did. But as much as I wanna fight it, it’s always there at the back of my mind. You can even ask Sumin about it. Should I be saying that? I feel like I might as well. I was an asshole to her, and I’m so angry at myself that I did it again with you. I didn’t mean a single word of what I said about you to Jay. Not a single one. You’re not stupid, you’re the smartest and most amazing girl I know, and I never pretended I liked you, because I never had to. I think I just wanted Jay to punch me, really. I wanted him to run to you and make sure you were okay, because I was too scared to do that myself. But I regret doing that so much. I hope you know that. And bless Jay, he’s a real one. He told me to get my shit together and talk to you. I can tell he’s still mad at me but still wants to make things good between us. I was already trying to call you before he said that, but I probably would’ve said something stupid that would’ve made things worse. And I can’t afford that, Y/N, I really, really can’t. You get me like no one does and being with you is the most liberating thing ever, I’m never myself more than when I’m around you. You just bring out the best in me. Well, except for that thing I did. Which I promise I’ll never do again. I am so extremely sorry, and if you wanna hate me for the rest of your life, I completely get it. But I would also be very happy if you didn’t. I hope I’ll see you tomorrow at school. I really miss you.

Your Hoon

You wiped away the tears that had formed in your eyes and typed back:

You’re such an idiot, Park.

I’ll see you tomorrow.

—

The next day, as you imagined, was mostly hell. You’d decided not to dress up as usual: there was no point trying to look good after this, it would only make you seem more ridiculous. You put less makeup on, not bothering to hide your eye bags, and didn’t bling your outfit up with accessories or fancy shoes, opting for your worn-out Converse you’d had since your feet stopped growing. On the bus, where people usually ignored each other, you could already feel the gossip being told about you. You avoided people’s gaze like the plague and sat down next to Sumin. You laid your head on her shoulder and sighed.

“I already wanna go home.”

She laughed, “I know. We’ll be with you the whole day, so don’t worry.”

You spent the bus ride catching up on what had happened when you were gone (nothing much), and although there was some awkwardness there, it was nice being with your best friend. When Heeseung got on, he practically screamed your name and suffocated you by means of greeting.

“I’m so glad you’re back. You know, I think you look really cute in those pictures. All these people are just jealous they don’t look as good as you even when you don’t dress up.”

Sumin shot daggers with her eyes at him and he cringed, saying, “Sorry, I shouldn’t have mentioned that.”

You reassured him, saying that it was fine since it was all you were going to be hearing the next few days. “Might as well get used to it.”

It was somewhat easy to ignore the stares coming your way when you walked into school with Heeseung and Sumin flanked at your sides like bodyguards. When you reached your classroom, Jiung engulfed you in a hug and Sieun was almost crying. How the hell had you gotten such sweet friends? 

In the hallways, some people tried to get reactions out of you by calling you out, yelling liar! or you can’t fool us anymore. You couldn’t ignore them as they were very much in your face. When at lunch, a table of girls next to you was very clearly talking about you in the nastiest way possible, you took your tray and were ready to get up and leave, but a very familiar voice stopped you in your tracks.

“You think it’s funny talking about someone like that?” Sunghoon was practically screaming at the girls. “You think you’re any better than her? I bet you do the exact same thing but are just glad someone else got called out for it.” You weren’t sure if that made you feel much better, but you appreciated the effort.

“As a matter of fact,” he continued as he pulled out a chair and got up on it, his voice getting louder, “I’ve got something I wanna say to everyone.”

Somebody whooped (probably Jake) and you tried to get Sunghoon to come down from the chair, but he just smiled his radiant smile at you and turned to look at the students in the cafeteria.

“All of you who judge Y/N are hypocrites. You wanna tell me you’re all as perfect at home as you are at school? That you never relax a little bit? Sure, she pushed it a bit far- (hey! you grunted in protest), but nobody shows who they truly are to everyone. We all judge each other in this stupid high school, so Y/N did what she had to do and protected herself. If anything, this should make you respect her even more. And it’s not like she did anything wrong to you. She didn’t use her popularity against anyone, so you better not use this against her.”

From the crowded tables in the cafeteria, somebody yelled “Nobody cares!”

Somebody, whose voice you thought you recognized as Jungwon’s, joined in: “Yeah, what is it about you seniors and thinking the whole school revolves around you? We still like Y/N!”

Sunghoon, taken aback, simply said, “Oh. Alright. Well, you better keep it that way then!” and got off his chair. 

He turned to you, already a pleading look on his face and said “Y/N, I’m so sorry-”

But you cut him off right away. “I know, Sunghoon, I know. I think this proved it.”

“I really wanna make it up to you. So just tell me what you want me to do, and I’ll do it. Buy you a house, move to another country, you name it. I’ll do it.”

You chuckled at him. “You don’t need to go that far.” You looked down, then back at him. “I think I just want to pretend like nothing happened. Like it was all a huge, awful fever dream. Even if I can’t forgive and forget right away, I don’t think I want you out of my life while I figure it out.”

He let out the biggest sigh you’d ever heard. “My God, you don’t know how happy to hear that, Y/N. Thank you so much.”

“Thank you for defending me just now. That was… definitely something.”

He smiled down at you. "I did my best. Too bad those sophomores ruined everything.”

You could feel eyes burning into your sides, so you turned your head a bit and noticed that your friends and the table of girls that had just been gossiping were staring at you, some of them teary-eyed. When they saw you notice them, they all turned back to each other and pretended that they were having some other conversation. You and Sunghoon chuckled, and you realized how much you had missed him.

Yes, Sunghoon and Sumin had hurt you, but you were a strong believer of second chances. Even if it was hard at first to stop thinking about Sunghoon’s voice when he had said those things or Sumin’s intentions when she posted the pictures, they’d made it up to you in any way they could and you’d reciprocated that by being completely honest. No more trying to look perfect all the time; you were human and were allowed to have low moments. Your grades even dropped by two points, because you’d started spending more time with your friends than with your textbooks. You’d spent whole Saturdays at the ice rink with your now real-boyfriend Sunghoon, and had invited the whole crew. Heeseung was surprisingly good at it. You had even caught your little sister Yeeun on a date with the cute Japanese boy she’d talked about. 

As promised, Jay came once a week or every two weeks to have dinner with your family; Sunghoon always insisted on being present. The tension between them had turned into friendly competition, and you could tell the two friends were glad to have each other back. 

You’d never felt so free. Your relationship with Sunghoon felt like uncharted territory and home at the same time; so daunting and exciting yet so comfortable and relaxing. You kept the PDA at a minimum at school, but when it was just the two of you, your whole body never failed to heat up, even in the cold of the ice rink. He had been nicknamed the ice prince, but he was so, so warm.

In the end, everybody found out. But you had Park Sunghoon by your side, so it was alright.

permanent taglist: @zreamy @sunghoonmybeloved @lalalalawon @sd211 @w3bqrl @raikea10 @wntrnghts @moonlighthoon @4imhry @rikisly @loves0ft @iamliacamila @theboingsuckerasseater9000 @chaechae-23 @baekhyuns-lipchain @hyuckslvr @vernonburger (ask to be removed/added!)

© asahicore on Tumblr, 2023. please do not repost, translate, or plagiarize my works. support your creators by reblogging and leaving feedback!

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Fics that Live in My Mind, Rent Free (Pedro's Version) - Part 2

Welp! It seems there are link and tag limits? Who knew? Not this newb 😂😂 When I said that I've read so many good fanfics, I really meant it. Again, below the cut is a continuation of the list of some of my fave Pedro character fanfics that I've read on this site - ones I think about and revisit often. These are all fics I should have/would have reblogged if only I wasn't so weirdly nervous about it; in 2024 we will muster up some courage and reblog (it will be slow, probably, but I promise I will be trying!). This is a good time for me to also say that one of the reasons I am motivated to step out of my comfort zone on this is because of the genuine joy every comment/reblog/like has brought me this year as a new writer - thank you all from the bottom of my heart for the kind reception on anything I have ever posted. 🥹 ilysm 😘

Anyways, we press forward (Part 1 of Rent Free PPCU fics can be found here):

Din Djarin (The Mandalorian, GOAT)

Of Shadows and Roses by @the-scandalorian (Bodyguard!Din x Royalty!Reader)

All Mine by @mellowswriting (Possessive!Din after Reader uses herself as bait)

Narcissus by @bits-and-babs (Armour/mirror sex)

Looking out for you by @beskarandblasters (Jealous!Din after Reader uses herself as bait)

Cherry Liqueur by @decembermidnight (Reader teases Mando in public)

Breaking in the New House by @beskarandblasters (I love Husband!Din and Wife!Reader fics)

Javier Pena (Narcos)

Sweet Dreams by @javiscigarette (Javi can't sleep)

Phone Sex...amiright? by @tightjeansjavi (Reader calls Javi at work)

Sharing is Caring by @ezrasversion (Corrupt DEA Agent!Javi, Mafia AU!Joel Miller, Reader Threesome)

The Saint, the Sinner, and the Devil by @joelsgirl (Corrupt DEA Agent!Javi, DBF Mafia AU!Joel Miller, Reader Threesome)

MIA by @itsharleystuff (Jealous!Javi with Undercover!Reader)

Surprising Javi P with a Lingerie Set by @swiftispunk

Not here...not now by @gracieispunk (Reader visits Javi at work)

Bunny by @whatsnewalycat (Sex Phone Operator!Reader; Part 2 is great too!)

Ease by @javiscigarette (Javi takes care of Reader after a bad day)

Joel Miller (TLOU)

Say It Right, Peeping Neighbour, and Right Place, Right Time by @chaotic-mystery (All the DBF and BFD fics are amazing; these are my fave)

Quickie by @joelscruff (This falls in the middle of the Boyfriend's Dad series, but it's the first one I read and I was hooked!)

That Funny Feeling by @bluebeary-jay (Joel loves pet names 🥹)

I've Got Lust on My Tongue by @itgetsdark-x (Bratty reader a la Maddy Perez)

The Babysitter, Part 1 by @proxima-writes (There's a Part 2 as well!)

Under the Table by @toxicanonymity (A lot of good Joelkemons, but Speakeasy is a classic and maybe my fave?)

Online Friends, Sticking it to the PTA, and Caught Sunbathing by @walkintotheriveranddisappear (All of Emma's Joel fics are really hot [honestly you can't go wrong], but these are my faves)

Late Night Smoke by @bettercallwillow (Dbf smoking. sigh)

Calling Joel Daddy by @inkedells (I honestly love it when authors bold the dirty talk 🤭)

Gimme What I Want and In the Next Room by @atticrissfinch (The masterlist is some of the hottest Joel fic, if I may say so; these are my faves)

An Open Window by @velvetmud (Joel being a peeping tom; I also always hope for a sequel to this one!)

Crave by @toxic-seduction (Part 2; Reader finds Joel in the QZ)

Good Luck Charm by @javiscigarette (Joel watches the football game)

Ravish by @psychedelic-ink (Webcam Model!Reader; Part 2 is also incredible!)

I Know it When I see It by @bageldaddy (Pornstars!Joel and Readers. This series has me and everyone else, I think, in a chokehold. Reading, as well, the writer's thoughts and feelings about the porn industry and the care put into the characters is such a joy and makes the fic that much more rich)

Chaser series by @livingemkayde (Nanny!Reader and a love triangle; not finished but so good I'm happy to wait forever)

Right my Wrongs by @chloeangelic (Father in Law!Joel)

In A Feud with Her Neighbour by @proxima-writes (Read this delicious fic and the bonus scenes will be the icing on top)

Kiss and Tell by @toxic-seduction (Stepdad!Joel and mom goes away for the weekend)

Peaches and Cream by @javiscigarette (Joel buys reader peaches)

Didn't Cha Know by @chloeangelic (The Joel Reader has been pining for is her boyfriend's brother)

Gif to breakup the text block:

Camgirl by @phuckinphia (Another Camgirl but this time she's Sarah's friend 🫣)

The Right Wrong Number by @proxima-writes (Sarah's soccer coach!Reader)

Nightmares by @fruispunk (QZ!Reader has nightmares that Joel hears and mistakens for something else)

Damage Done by @bluebeary-jay (Joel accidentally triggers Reader; mind the tags. Heavy angst, heavy topic that is beautifully written)

Yes, Mr. Miller by pedropascallme (Babysitter!Reader, Part 2 Thank You, Mr. Miller is also excellent)

How Long series by @gracieheartspedro (Link is to Part 1; series is complete and wonderfully hot and emotional. Reader's boyfriend Tommy is a cheat😢)

Francisco "Catfish" Morales (Triple Frontier)

Fictional Death by @psychedelic-ink (Frankie comforts Reader)

Well Fed by @the-ginger-hedge-witch (Frankie is HAPPY 🥹)

Forest Ranger AU by @the-ginger-hedge-witch (I'm not an outdoorsy person but this AU makes me wish I was)

It's Always the Quiet Ones by @thot-of-khonshu (Frankie surprises Reader)

Pero Tovar (The Great Wall)

Kinktober 2022 - Breeding by @moralesispunk (Guard!Pero and Royalty!Reader)

Bodily Exchange by @absurdthirst (Mafia AU!Pero and daughter of mafia boss Reader)

Damnation or Salvation by @absurdthirst (Pero is sent to retrieve Reader)

Dying Wish by @absurdthirst (Pero makes Reader's father a promise; okay at this point, just all of Keri's Pero fics 🤭)

Marcus Moreno (We Can Be Heroes)

Beat Poetry on Amphetamines by @psychedelic-ink (Marcus comes home hurt)

[heartsforhavik]

mk1 men x reader hcs (fanfic tropes edition)

pairings: havik, johnny cage, kung lao, raiden, rain, syzoth, shang tsung, smoke x reader (all separate)

warnings: slight angst in havik’s bc his past is damn sad. slight gore in shang tsung’s. slight spoilers for mk1 story mode. reader is gender neutral in all.

summary: sfw headcanons of you and the mk1 men but with common fanfic tropes (only one bed, coffee shop, enemies to lovers, etc)

a/n: this. took. 6 hours. i was gonna put baraka, reiko, liu kang, and bi-han, but they didn’t make the cut lol. also if anyone wants, i can turn any of these into full fics. all u gotta do is request it!!

havik: only one bed

- you and havik were very close. you knew each other pretty well, but that’s about it. you were never more than friends, even if you wish you were. even if your banter together suggests to be more than friends, you usually assume it’s just a joke.

- until you both had to take shelter in an abandoned house. you were on the run, trying to escape the soldiers in sun do chasing you both down.

- what you didn’t know was that there was only one bed inside.

- “you may rest on the bed. i can just rest on the floor or keep watch.” havik offered.

- “no, you deserve rest too. we’ve had a long day. you should sleep.” you told him.

- havik sighed. “there is no point in arguing. perhaps we can share?”

- the idea made you a bit flustered, but you were not against it one bit. you found havik attractive, and you respected him like he respected you. but the idea of sharing the same bed is so… intimate. it’s like he trusted you enough to be beside you while he slept. it was flattering.

- you agreed to his offer, and crawled to opposite sides of the bed. he had his back turned to you, and you could clearly see his back muscles and his biceps in the dim light crawling through the window. thank god the moon was bright, so you can clearly look at him.

- you were so close. it was almost embarrassing how you couldn’t keep your eyes off of him. you were basically ogling at him while he slept.

- but you snapped out of it and you slowly succumbed to sleep, not knowing havik was awake the whole time.

- havik tossed and turned, he couldn’t stop thinking about how you felt comfortable enough to be next to him while you slept. you’re so vulnerable. you looked so peaceful and delicate while you slept. usually he’d refuse to go to sleep since he doesn’t really need to, but he wanted to take the opportunity to be close to you.

- he’s a stubborn guy, always wanting revenge for his past in seido. he’s bitter. he’s angry. he wants freedom for other seidans like him. he craves liberation and to bless others lives with anarchy. but it’s in times like these when he can finally relax. when he can just sigh in contentment, and sit next to you as you slept.

- you looked so happy as his ally, having the freedom to do what you want. havik sees you as a symbol of what life can look like for others. surely if you’re happy and free, other people can be too?

- he also knew he had feelings for you. he tried to push them away and pretend you were just allies, because he wants to focus on his pursuit to liberation. but someday.. someday when he achieves said liberation… he’ll confess his feelings. someday, havik will finally feel safe enough to be vulnerable with someone for the first time after years of being a slave. and if he had to be vulnerable with anyone in all the realms, it’d be you. someday.

johnny cage: fake relationship

- you were a famous actor. you weren’t incredibly famous or anything, but you were definitely well-known.

- one day at another actor’s party, you happened to meet johnny cage.

- “did it hurt when you fell from heaven?” johnny flirted, giving you a wink.

- you both got along for a few hours, laughing and talking as if you were old friends. you even gave him your number with no hesitation.

- but what you didn’t know was that somebody took photos of you two and posted them online. and the internet started assuming you were a couple because of how happy you both looked.

- your names were trending on twitter and fans everywhere were hoping you were a real couple.

- then, johnny himself texted you, proposing that you both went along with it and pretended to be a couple. you agreed, of course.

- so for the next few weeks, you both went to visit each other frequently and got ‘caught’ by the paparazzi many times. pictures and videos of you two were everywhere. you and johnny had lots of fun together going through the edits and fan accounts that were already made.

- but, you were secretly really enjoying the ‘fake’ relationship you two had. you actually wanted him for real. you didn’t know that he was doing the same.

- you found out one day when you were at his mansion for the thousandth time. he took a quick bathroom break and you wanted to scare him when he came back, so you hid somewhere he couldn’t see you. but you happened to overhear a phone call between him and his friend.

- “i’m telling you kenshi, this one is special. i really like them. a lot. i don’t think i want our relationship to be fake anymore. they’re just so understanding, and fun, and hot! but i don’t know. i don’t know if they like me too.” johnny admitted over a call.

- you were shocked. he actually had feelings for you too. you immediately came out of your hiding spot and confronted him.

- “oh shit. you heard that?!” johnny cursed.

- but his panic died down as soon as you admitted your feelings too. neither of you admitted your relationship was fake at first, but neither of you cared about the media anymore. because your love is real and genuine now.

kung lao: coffee shop au

- there was a coffee shop you owned and worked at in your village.

- it was pretty successful, and you got quite a few customers every day. it wasn’t too exciting though. at least until kung lao walked in for the first time.

- he was immediately attracted to you at first sight.

- he and raiden had to find a different place to rest at after work that day, since madam bo’s was temporarily closed.

- kung lao walked inside, not expecting anything exciting. until he saw you behind the counter. your eyes sparkled and your smile grew when you greeted him and raiden, offering them a seat and asking them what they wanted to order. he couldn’t even think straight. he was so lost in your eyes.

- “what can i get you two?”

- “uh. um. uhhh… i’d like uh…. coffee?”

- “what kind?” you sweetly asked.

- “coffee.” he blurted.

- you didn’t know he liked you, you honestly thought he was just indecisive. you were very patient with him though, since you thought he was cute.

- raiden instantly saw how kung lao was speechless at the sight of you, and teased his friend about it.

- “you like them, huh?”

- “what? psh, no.. maybe… so?”

- raiden came up to you while you were making the coffee, and let you know about his friend’s interest.

- “i think kung lao has a bit of an interest in you… but you didn’t hear it from me!” raiden whispered.

- the cute guy in your shop had an interest in you? yeah, sure. you didn’t really believe him. but a part of you hoped it was true.

- kung lao took his sweet time in the shop, and stayed for hours before it closed. even after raiden left, he still stayed just to talk to you. he kept ordering coffee over and over so he had an excuse to stay.

- before it closed, you asked him how the coffee was. clearly he really liked it because of how much he ordered it, right?

- “actually… i’m not a fan of coffee. i just wanted to talk to you.” kung lao admitted.

- thankfully, his efforts did not go to waste. he left the shop with a big smile on his face and a napkin with your number on it. he was definitely going to visit the shop every day now.

- oh and also, he kept that napkin. even years into your relationship, he never threw it away.

raiden: childhood friends to lovers

- you and raiden were friends since you were children. you used to run around the fields of your village together and play games without a care in the world.

- you both remained friends all the way to adulthood, even though you didn’t get to talk often since you had moved away and you wrote letters to one another every now and then. but you decided to move back home one day.

- upon seeing how you look now, he was pleasantly surprised. you looked absolutely amazing.

- you decided to catch up with one another, still getting along and sharing stories and memories you had with each other. it’s almost as if you never left. you were even meeting up every day.

- “it’s almost as if you never left. you know, you look amazing.” raiden complimented.

- “thanks, raiden. you look great too! especially when you come back from a long day in the fields, i can clearly see some muscle there. you put in a lot of work, huh?” you teased, making him blush.

- “well, uh, i do my best. i know what i do makes the village thrive. but.. i didn’t know you noticed. and i didn’t know you were looking at my uh, muscles.” he replied, slightly exposing you.

- that pretty much continued for a few weeks, as you both were slightly flirting but neither of you actually made the first move. but one day, raiden finally gained the courage to confess to you.

- he woke up early that morning to freshen himself up and give himself a pep talk in front of his bathroom mirror.

- “okay, you can do this raiden. just tell them how you feel. can’t be that hard…” he told himself.

- he rushed to buy goods and some candy for you, preparing a basket full of it. he was ready to confess his feelings to you.

- he showed up at your doorstep, and raiden was thinking of everything that could possibly go wrong. maybe you were in a bad mood? maybe he bought too much candy? was he shaking? did his hair look nice?

- “raiden? what’s up?” you asked, answering the door.

- “listen, i uh.. i like you. a lot. i really enjoyed being your friend all these years, but i fell in love with you over these past few weeks. i couldn’t stop thinking of you pretty much every day, it was like i was put under a spell. but i suppose, in a way, i was. you have bewitched me body and soul. i haven’t felt this way for anyone before.” raiden admitted.

- he kind of rambled a bit, but you understood exactly what he meant. you felt the same way.

- raiden was extremely relieved that you reciprocated his feelings. you both went on to have a happy, safe relationship. you wouldn’t change it for the world.

rain: rivals to lovers

- rain was a mage. and so were you.

- however, he mastered the ways of water. you mastered fire. they don’t go together.

- “my water will put out your flames.” rain threatened.

- “oh no, a splash of water, i’m so scared.” you replied sarcastically.

- you both tried to one-up the other every time you saw each other, refusing to show weakness. you couldn’t even be in a room together without staring each other down the whole time.

- the longer you were rivals, the more tension there was between you. other people even assumed you were dating already.

- you both wanted to be the most powerful mage in outworld. you just couldn’t agree on anything. he was so annoying, wasn’t he? and the way he would stare at you at every chance he got. the way he always had his full attention on you. even the way he was so dedicated to arguing with you for months.

- until you two finally sparred together.

- “i am tired of you. please shut up.” rain groaned.

- “make me.” you threatened.

- “oh, i will.”

- then, you both ended up fighting for hours. it was an even match. neither of you wished to give up, but you were tired of fighting.

- “listen, rain.. i think we should just admit it’s a tie…” you said, panting between words.

- “you think?” rain sighed, as you both finally stopped fighting.

- you both took a moment to sit down and regain your energy in silence. comfortable silence.

- something was probably in the air, because you were suddenly not fighting. neither verbally nor physically. just.. enjoying each other’s company for the first time in months.

- “you’re… very strong.” rain mumbled.

- “oh? what was that? can you repeat that for me? i don’t think i heard you very clearly…” you teased.

- he rolled his eyes. “you heard me loud and clear.”

- you laughed. “yeah, i did. thanks, zeffeero. you’re pretty strong too. to be honest, i was kind of nervous for this fight. i know we always argue, but i still admire your skills… i guess.” you admitted.

- his eyes widened in surprise. “oh… thank you. i always admired your skills as well. your pyromancy is extremely impressive. perhaps…” he put a finger to his chin. “we should train together instead of fighting.”

- you agreed to his offer and you started frequently sparring together in a friendly way. you even ended up confessing to one another after a few weeks of friendliness, and becoming a powerful couple. you’re both grateful for your rivalry in the beginning, because you have already seen the worst of each other. now, you can see only the good parts in one another.

syzoth: forbidden love

- you were royalty and you were ordered to marry other royalty or at least rich

- when you met syzoth, you immediately fell in love

- “are you sure you want *me,* your highness? i mean, i could never distract you from the throne..” syzoth asked, always feeling insecure.

- “nonsense, syzoth.” you comforted. “i truly love you. i don’t care if you aren’t royalty.”

- but the more you spent time with him, the more terrible you felt, knowing you couldn’t marry him

- but at the same time… it felt so fun. sneaking him inside the palace and trying not to get caught. cuddling in bed at night and talking quietly so you won’t be heard. syzoth turning invisible anytime you heard guards nearby. the thrill of it just made your romance more fun.

- until you *actually* got caught. that wasn’t fun.

- your name was dragged through dirt for being in love with a zaterran. you were shunned from your family. but that didn’t stop you from being with him.

- “your highness, please, don’t risk the throne for me. you shouldn’t be seen with me anymore. i do not wish to make you suffer.” syzoth begged. he didn’t want to leave you, but he didn’t want to see your life fall apart because of him.

- “i don’t care. you make me so happy, syzoth. you love me for who i am, and i do the same for you. i have no problems with giving up my status for you. besides, you aren’t ruining my life. you’re making it so much better.” you reassured.

- but it turns out, you got to keep your throne. you threatened to leave your palace and give up your royalty, but your family didn’t want that. so they reluctantly let you have syzoth as your consort, even though half of the kingdom wasn’t very pleased with that. you didn’t care. you were just glad you don’t have to keep your lover a secret anymore.

shang tsung: partners in crime (it’s not rlly a trope but who cares)

- shang tsung ? dedicated to someone and working alongside them ? what is this sorcery…

- it’s self explanatory. you and him are just a power couple. you fight alongside one another and you help him come up with plans.

- anytime one of you gets in trouble, the other helps. you’re just two troublemaking lovers bent on destroying the people around you. it’s a surprisingly healthy relationship considering the fact that you both ruin lives and kill people daily.

- shang tsung is devoted to you. he would kill for you without hesitation. and he expects the same from you. he sees you as his equal and he expects you to always be there for him and support his decisions, no matter how twisted they are. he does listen to your input and opinions, but that doesn’t mean he takes orders from you.

- oh remember how you both kill people together? he loves your strength. he loves how you look when you kill people. all his favorite memories with you are when you kiss while standing on the dead bodies of his enemies.

- “darling, you look absolutely ravishing. but must you be so messy?” shang tsung asks, pointing at your blood-stained clothes.

- “thank you, my love. i know i was a bit messy, but don’t you think it’s a representation of our hard work? our art?” you reason.

- shang tsung smiled at your explanation. “you have a point. you’ve always been so good at winning me over.”

- even when he was almost locked up outworld. if it wasn’t for you, he probably would’ve been executed.

- you noticed he never came home one day, and you knew something was up, you felt it in your gut.

- you went around outworld, specifically sun do. you wore a disguise and simply walked around, hoping someone would mention seeing him. considering the fact that you and him are both very recognizable faces in outworld, someone must’ve seen him.

- “did you hear shang tsung is finally lock up in sun do’s prisons?” you hear a merchant say.

- in prison? he got caught? whatever, you can lecture shang tsung later. you had to save him first.

- you broke into the prison at night, knocking out every umgadi soldier you saw. they definitely will try to find you when they wake up, but that didn’t matter to you. all that mattered to you at the moment was that you had to free your lover.

- “amazing work, darling.” shang tsung praised, as soon as he saw you in front of his cell.

- “praise me later, i’ll break you out now.” you whispered, hoping no other umgadi showed up.

- you both ran out the palace, not caring about whatever destruction you caused in the process of escaping.

- that whole scenario happens at least once every few months now. you always have to save his ass every time shang tsung gets put in a jail. in return, he grants you freedom and his love. he hopes someday he can rule the realms with you by his side as his consort.

- for now, he must be patient. his dream will come true someday, but for now, he is content with always being on the run with you. living a couple years of crime with his beloved doesn’t bother him one bit.

smoke: grumpy x sunshine

- smoke is not a completely soft, happy-go-lucky guy. he is a brave fighter that puts his strength and energy into the shirai ryu. however, he’s still extremely kind to his loved ones.

- when he met you, he was confused about your cold, almost angry exterior. it almost gave him flashbacks to the way bi-han treated him when he was a child.

- thankfully, you weren’t that bad. you weren’t mean, just distant and occasionally emotionless. smoke made it his personal mission to help you prove yourself non-intimidating now that you were a couple. especially because you were very soft in private.

- people were usually confused when they found out you two were together. how can someone as kind as tomas choose to be with you? you’re total opposites.

- he always defended you from your doubters. he gets annoyed when someone puts your name in their mouths. if only they understood you. if only they put in the effort to get to know you, they’d understand.

- but you reassured him that you can’t control what other people think. he knows you’re right, but he still can’t help but wish other people would stop judging you just because you ‘look’ mean.

- “i just wish they would see you for who you are. i know you aren’t rude. you’re just.. a bit distant.” smoke sighed.

- “don’t stress about it, tomas.” you reassured, running your fingers through his hair. “i appreciate that you defend me all the time, but it’s kind of my fault. you don’t need to apologize for how i act.”

- however, smoke now has scary dog privileges. (it’s you you’re the scary dog)

- anytime a random person comes up and flirts with him, they see your death stare behind him and immediately run away. even if you aren’t doing it on purpose.

- anytime someone tries to use him for his kindness, you shut them down and defend him. but it’s not that smoke *needs* defending. he’s strong enough, but you still like to step in and defend him just like he defends you.

- he appreciates that you look out for him just like he does for you. you both love each other very much, and he accepts you for who you are. he doesn’t judge you for struggling to express emotions, and he learned to read your emotions in smaller gestures like your body language and your eyes. you are his love, his treasure, his beloved. he just wants you to be happy and safe, no matter what other people say about your relationship.

[iamyourdailydoseofbi]

( ✧ MY MASTERLIST! ✧ )

[ Will be updated in time, so be sure to check / refresh ] Some will not have links as they are not posted yet.

Want to know where else you can find me? Here.

Tips and tricks for baby writer's. Pt 1 Pt 2 Pt 3 Pt 4 Pt 5 Pt 6 Pt 7 Pt 8 Pt 9 Pt 10

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON.

"The only thing that could tear down the house of the dragon was itself.." [ Mix of HOTD and Modern AU ]

Aegon II Taragaryen - "The Upsurger King"

"Let the ravens fly that the realm may know the pretender is dead, and their true king is coming home to reclaim his father's throne."

The History Book on the Shelf. ( Complete )

Pt 1 Pt 2 Pt 3 Pt 4 Pt 5

Promise not to drop me? Only a fool would drop you. ( Complete )

Pt 1 Pt 2

Wanna wrap my hands around your neck. ( Complete )

Pt 1

Pt 2

Will you pray for me? ( Complete )

Pt 1 Pt 2 Pt 3

Like real people do. ( Complete )

Pt 1 Pt 2 Pt 3

Small council, cherry tarts and dragon dreams.

Pt 1 Pt 2 Pt 3

In the dark of the night.

Run rabbit, run run run.

A glimpse of us.

Oh, who is she?

From my blood, comes your ruin.

The worst guy to share a blunt with.

Aemond Targaryen - "The One Eyed"

"Do not mourn me, Mother. It was a fair exchange. I may have lost an eye, but I gained a dragon."

The Baratheon Curse. ( Complete )

Pt 1 Pt 2

Small council, cherry tarts and dragon dreams.

Pt 1 Pt 2 Pt 3

A game I couldn't lose.

Don't touch what is mine.

S-I-M-P

Either way what bliss.

I was gone for five fuckin' minutes.

Helaena Targaryen - "The Dragon Dreamer"

"It is our fate, I think, to crave always what is given to another. If one possesses a thing, the other will take it away."

Small council, cherry tarts and dragon dreams.

Pt 1 Pt 2 Pt 3

You have so much to do, and I have nothing ahead of me.

Alicent Hightower - "The Green Queen"

"The city is yours, Princess. But you will not hold it long. The rats play when the cat is gone, but my son Aemond will return with fire and blood.."

I hope the guilt kills you.

Jacaerys Velaryon - "The Lord Strong"

"For my mother, for my family, I will fight till my last breath.."

I don't want to be his Queen, I want to go home.

THE CONQUEROR REBORN. [ A HOTD FANFIC ]

"Twas' a tangled web Roselyn Hightower found herself in. Weaved so intimately with Aegon and Helaena Targaryen."

Chapter / Excerpts.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Book Info.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Edits.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

THE PINK PONY CLUB. [ A HOTD x MODERN AU FANFIC ]

"In every other universe, Roselyn Hightower would find Helaena Targaryen and Aegon Targaryen. And in every other universe, it does not end well for them."

Chapter / Excerpts.

1 2 3 4

Book Info.

1 2 3 4 5

Edits.

1 2 3

DEAD FICS / I WILL NEVER WRITE FOR THESE FANDOM, CHARACTER'S, ETC. AGAIN.

Wednesday [ TV Show ]

Watch my heart burn. ( Complete & Discontinued )

Pt 1 Pt 2

House of the Dragon.

Burn. ( Complete & Discontinued )

Pt 1 Pt 2 Pt 3

By your side. ( Complete & Discontinued )

Pt 1 Pt 2 Pt 3

Six of Crows. [ TV Show ]

When your older. ( Complete & Discontinued )

Pt 1 Pt 2

Haven't I given enough?

Percy Jackson.

I just died in your arms. ( Complete & Discontinued )

Pt 1 Pt 2

Old enough to understand.

Close your eyes.

The Boys.

Doin' Time.

A leap of faith.

The other woman.

The Walking Dead.

5 stages of grief.

The Hobbit.

Never trust a spell.

----

Tell me if you see any errors and I'll fix them asap!

[azure-firecracker]

I, like most people I’m sure, spent most of Small Potatoes laughing hysterically, but the more I think about it, the sadder the climactic scene makes me.

(And yes, I do think Scully knew something was up even though she may not have been sure what. You can see that she’s not leaning back into that kiss at all).

But I just feel so much for Scully in this scene. Because yes, she gave up on having a “normal” life ages ago. We know she’s drawn to the strangeness and charm of Mulder’s quest, maybe more than she’s willing to admit, and that she’s willing to sacrifice normality and conventions for that. But I don’t think that means she doesn’t want normality.

Mulder, I think, is someone who would be content if he never did anything other than search for aliens. And I think Scully would be content that way too, but I also think there’s a small part of her that wants to go on dates and drink wine and make scrapbooks and exist away from the danger where things are easy. And she knows Mulder can’t give her that, that the odd and dangerous is an intrinsic part of him, but still she wishes for balance.

(Fanfic does a great job of giving them more normal moments. In fact, it does such a great job that I forget how few there are in the show. But Eddie was right - they usually don’t talk. They’re connected more deeply than maybe anyone else could be. But they don’t talk).

The inherent tragedy of Mulder and Scully’s relationship is that Scully wants to be seen and valued, and though Mulder does see and value her above all else, he doesn’t show it in a way she always understands. She thinks she’ll always play second fiddle to his quest, and doesn’t see the moments where he reveals he’d throw the whole thing away for her sake. He runs off without her time and time again, and she’s left to pick up the pieces and do the less glamorous parts of the job, without seeing the lengths he goes to to keep her out of danger.

Scully is such a closed-off person that she wants to just exist comfortably and without fear and feel like she’s important. And though Mulder gives her that in some ways, it’s never quite in the ways she understands. She doesn’t know how much she means to him - I think that’s pretty evident.

And now she’s dying. The job she sacrificed all hope of normalcy, of being seen and valued exactly how she wants to be, for, is slowly killing her. And here comes someone she thinks is Mulder, wine in hand. And he finally gives her what she’s been craving - a shred of normalcy. A space she can be herself, be seen, be loved without everything being tied up in desperation and danger and fear.

It’s everything she wanted from Mulder that he couldn’t give her.

But it was all a lie.

[jasonswh0rre]

The Psychological Analysis of Jason Todd

I am a psych major, and my professor is allowing us to make an analysis of any character of our choice, so I figured who better to write then Jason Todd. This was very fun to write and I very much enjoyed rewatching Batman: Arkham Knight. Please enjoy. ☁️ Warning(s): Trigger Warning for Trauma, Mental Health Content, Violence, Graphic Imagery, Spoiler(s)☁️ Word Count: 2.6k ☁️: Authors Note: I am working on fanfics, more headcanons for Arkham Jason, unfortunately I am busy with classes, assignments and deadlines. I will try to be punctual but it may take time. Thank you for your understanding.

Introduction 

Jason Todd is the secondary villain in Batman: Arkham Knight, which has the same moniker. He is the second Robin and Bruce Wayne's adoptive son.

Jason Peter Todd was born in the slums of Gotham City to two drug-addicted parents, who would eventually try to settle a debt they had by giving Jason away when he was a baby. Jason received no parental figure to help guide him, leading him to petty crimes such as theft to nourish his survival. Jason is a character who takes what he needs if it means prolonging his survival; his lack of a parental figure leads him to an identity crisis between longing for a parental figure and convincing himself he is better off without one. When the simple truth is that every human needs a mother and a father, we respond positively to a nurturing environment, and through early adolescence, our brains crave the structure needed to build us into well-rounded adults. 

At fifteen, Jason inadvertently met Batman while committing robbery when Batman was fighting Gotham's notorious supervillain, The Joker. Believing Batman is in trouble, Jason jumps between pushing the hero from harm's way. Despite life's misfortunes, Jason possesses a remarkable code of morality enough to want to save someone. Jason, attempting to rid Joker of his breath, aims a pistol at the clown and, before firing, is knocked out of his hands by Batman's batarang. Unfortunately for him, Joker would leave Jason with a cryptic message, one for the young man to head.

Jason would later be apprehended and taken into custody in the back of a police car by Batman after Batman retrieved his gun and stolen money. However, rather than being charged, Jason receives a blessing through a Wayne Industries project that helped troubled teens; through the program, Jason was able to turn his life around. All attract the man who helped Jason find a new purpose: Bruce Wayne. Months after being released, Batman appeared in Jason's dorm, again offering Jason another opportunity. 

2nd Robin and Kidnapping

Taking Jason in as his ward as well as dubbing him Robin after Dick Grayson, Jason sought justice and enjoyed being a hero. Like the previous Robin, he showed a keen aptitude for it; unlike his predecessor, he possessed a fiery temper and willingness for more lethal force. While Jason's temper is directed towards the criminals that harm the innocents, Batman views this as inexcusable, fearing the day that Jason will kill instead of reprimanding. 

In the most twisted sense of irony, Jason's morality inevitably becomes his downfall. The Joker has blown up a school with kindergarteners; this leads to Jason's resolve that Joker needs to die. Knowing that Bruce would try to stop him, Jason abandons his comms and tracker so he can kill Joker. However, it is a trap, and Joker ambushes Jason. Jason was kept in a wheelchair, bonded by barbed wire that kept Jason leaning hunched over in excruciating pain. Throughout his pain, Jason's mind remained still; he was confident that Batman would find him; his sheer will at the beginning of his torture is, with all honesty, remarkable as Joker has been known for his mental abuse and mind games he plays with his victims including his sidekick, Harley Quinn. 

In the six months of his torture, Jason's unwavering mental resolve was slowly crippling as Joker had wanted; throughout the game, Jason's voice mixed with crippling fear and small doubts about Batman coming. The Joker feeds into his doubts by showing him a photo of Batman with his replacement, Tim Drake. This leaves Jason troubled as he slowly loses hope for Batman. 

The last act of Jason's torture involved a video sent to Batman via The Joker of Jason, who has undergone all his brainwashing; in the video, Jason is sitting down in a chair; he is not chained, barbed, handcuffed, or kept sitting still in any way by all means Jason could easily walk away. This is a significant and crucial part of Jason's torture as it symbolizes just how much mental anguish and emotional exhaustion Jason went through to the point that he no longer had a yearning for freedom—making him downright timid and submissive towards Joker enough to out Batman's identity when asked by the latter. This results in Joker shooting Jason point-blank in the chest, as Joker "never could stand a tattletale." However, this was only a ploy to make Batman believe Jason is genuinely dead.

On the contrary, Jason was kept alive for another year, endeavoring more torture, mistreatment, and malnourishment. Harley Quinn did the final touches of Jason's emotional and mental brainwashing; a former psychiatrist who manipulated Jason into believing that Batman was the cause of his anguish and his pain was his doing; she did this long enough, even punishing Jason by waterboarding him and electrocuting him when he refused to say Batman, indicating he still had some level of awareness of who was torturing him. 

However, once Harley could get Jason to say Batman's name, Jason was drugged and beaten by two prisoners dressed like Batman; he was given a gun by The Joker and was ordered to kill them. Jason's resolve and humanity were a cord, still entrenched in him before Harley convinced him further, snapping his humanity and getting him to shoot the two dressed-up prisoners dead.

During the riots of Arkham Asylum, The Joker paid mercenary Deathstroke to keep Jason there and shoot him if he escaped. However, Jason convinces Deathstroke that Joker will not keep his promise and that if he helps, Jason will triple whatever Joker plans to pay. Accepting the offer, Deathstroke assists Jason in escaping, stealing a helicopter, and flying to Wayne Industries. Jason steals millions of dollars from his former guardian. Ironically, crossing paths with Tim Drake, who assumes Todd to be Deathstroke's sidekick, when Jason's ankle is caught between Tim's grappling hook, Jason cuts the cord, allowing Tim to fall when suggested by Deathstroke that killing Robin would bode well for them with the Dark Knight. Jason Coldy says that if he dies in a fall like that, Batman needs to pick his sidekicks better. 

Jason's psyche has been torn and scattered, leaving him a hollowed carving with a mocking J branding etched onto his face, from birth his eyes were already met with darkness, born to parents who never showed him recognition, let alone love, and through the Wayne Industries Project and his adoption by Bruce his eyes were wide, and remarkably hopeful, to be free of the weight of Gotham's misfortunes finally; those eyes that looked with gleam forced shut until he saw nothing but blackness.

Arkham Knight's Birth

Jason adopts a new persona built on the pain and suffering in the wake of his escape from Joker. He feels betrayed by the one person he only had in the world and wants vengeance. Jason works alongside Scarecrow, one of Batman's enemies. The two begin a plan on Halloween to take Gotham and Batman's legacy along with it. Jason gathers all Batman's enemies to join, assembling a militia with Deathstroke. While working with each other, Scarecrow "tests" his fear toxin on the young man, sending him on a psychological spiral. One of his more apparent fears is the Joker, who can be found near, in the background, or standing right in front of him laughing and mocking him, but beyond the clown prince of crime's appearance, Jason also sees his replacement, Tim Drake, and "fights" him.

The fight has Jason severely outnumbered in the beginning, with Tim succeeding, even using his staff to choke Jason, forcing him to the ground as the Jokers around him laugh. Further into the fear toxin, Jason appears in front of Wayne Manor, where he throws down his helmet and says the following: "Someplace warm, someplace safe, someplace where I'm needed, someplace where I'm loved," Joker once again appears in front of him laughing and mocking him on whether he even deserves it, this is Jason's internal struggle in a manifested form of the person who caused him harm, of the person who convinced him from the start that he was alone and would not be saved. Jason is mischaracterized as always being angry or standoffish, but anger has more truth than any lie detector can scoop. Jason feels this anger is not just because of some personality trait; anger is his cry out, and he's shouting to be seen and loved. This is most likely due to being tortured at 15 or so, which, despite the fact that at the time of Arkham Knight, he was in his early 20s, his mental age was regressed to the age when he was captured. This makes Jason appear at first glance as someone emotional, cocky, and arrogant. He values safety and love; he doesn't want to be on his guard 24/7, but he's grown up in an environment where letting your guard down gets you killed. He follows Joker into Wayne Manor, where he sees Bruce; suddenly, several versions of Batman appear in the room. They beat him and told him they never wanted a partner or even a son. This is a conflict that has always waged war in Jason's mind. Jason's biological father attempted to give him up and then belittled him when he explained that Jason's worth was so low that he couldn't even leave him; he has low self-esteem that he internalizes into rage in the way that he fights to prove his strength. 

This is why Jason has a strong attachment to Bruce/Batman it maybe due to an underlying desire to seek his approval especially by the time when he adopts him. Bruce gives him everything he could ask for and anything he could think of, and Batman gives him a purpose. Ironically, this is still the case despite Bruce himself having an avoidant attachment style. 

Conclusion and Diagnosis

Jason Todd's character in "Batman: Arkham Knight" exhibits a complex interplay of psychological factors that align with the diagnostic criteria for Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). One prominent feature of BPD is emotional dysregulation, characterized by intense and rapidly shifting emotions. Jason displays various emotions throughout the game, from anger and hostility to vulnerability and despair. His reactions often appear exaggerated or disproportionate to the situation, indicating difficulty regulating his emotional responses.

Furthermore, Jason's sense of identity is notably unstable, which is another hallmark feature of BPD. Having grown up in a dysfunctional environment with absent parents, Jason lacks a stable sense of self and struggles to define his identity. This is evident in his adoption of various personas, including Robin, the Arkham Knight, and, later, the Red Hood. His shifting identities reflect a profound inner conflict and a desperate search for validation and purpose. Jason's interpersonal relationships also reflect the interpersonal instability characteristic of BPD. He forms intense and unstable attachments to figures such as Batman, vacillating between admiration and resentment. His interactions with other characters are marked by rapid shifts in perception, alternating between idealization and devaluation. For example, while Jason initially idolizes Batman as a mentor and father figure, his feelings of betrayal and abandonment lead to resentment and hostility towards him.

Moreover, Jason exhibits self-destructive behaviors as a coping mechanism for his emotional pain, another hallmark of BPD. He engages in reckless actions, disregarding his safety to seek vengeance against those he perceives as enemies. His confrontations with adversaries are often fueled by a desire for self-assertion and control, masking more profound feelings of emptiness and despair.

Underlying Jason's behaviors is a pervasive fear of abandonment, stemming from his traumatic upbringing and experiences of betrayal. This fear drives his desperate attempts to maintain connections with others, even as he pushes them away with his volatile and unpredictable behavior. Jason's fear of abandonment manifests in his interactions with Batman and the Bat family, where he oscillates between seeking their approval and rejecting their authority.

Jason Todd's character in "Batman: Arkham Knight" embodies many of the core features of Borderline Personality Disorder, including emotional dysregulation, identity disturbance, interpersonal instability, self-destructive behaviors, and a fear of abandonment. By analyzing his actions, relationships, and psychological struggles within the context of the game's narrative, it becomes apparent that Jason's character aligns closely with the diagnostic criteria for BPD, providing a compelling framework for understanding his complex and multifaceted personality.

Besides indicating various symptoms of BPD, I would also consider diagnosing Jason with Complex Post post-traumatic stress Disorder (C-PTSD). Given Jason's background of severe trauma, including childhood abuse, neglect, and prolonged torture at the hands of the Joker, it's worth considering Complex PTSD. C-PTSD typically develops in response to chronic trauma and is characterized by symptoms such as emotional dysregulation, disturbed self-concept, difficulties in relationships, and a persistent sense of threat. I would include diagnosing Jason with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD): Jason's experiences of profound loss, trauma, and betrayal may contribute to symptoms of depression, such as feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness, and a loss of interest in activities. His struggles with emotional regulation and chronic feelings of emptiness could also align with depressive symptoms. Following my diagnosis, I am also inclined to believe he suffers from attachment disorders; given Jason's tumultuous upbringing and experiences and a multitude of parental figures involving neglect and abandonment, it's possible that he may have developed attachment-related difficulties. This could manifest in insecure attachment styles, fear of abandonment, and challenges in forming and maintaining healthy relationships. 

Furthermore, I would consider Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD): While Jason displays empathy and compassion at times, his willingness to engage in morally questionable or violent behavior, as well as his disregard for societal norms and rules, may align with some features of ASPD. However, his capacity for genuine care and loyalty makes this disorder out of sorts with his character.

Lastly, Post-Traumatic Embitterment Disorder (PTED): PTED is a proposed diagnostic category characterized by intense feelings of injustice, betrayal, and embitterment following a traumatic event or series of events. Jason's experiences of betrayal and abandonment, particularly by Batman and the Joker, may resonate with the symptoms of PTED. 

In conclusion, the character of Jason Todd in "Batman: Arkham Knight" presents a compelling portrayal of psychological complexity shaped by a tumultuous history of trauma, betrayal, and profound loss. Through a comprehensive analysis of his experiences and behaviors throughout the game, it becomes evident that Jason embodies many psychological struggles, warranting consideration for various diagnostic possibilities. Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) emerges as a primary candidate, given Jason's emotional volatility, identity disturbances, and interpersonal difficulties. His tumultuous relationships, intense fear of abandonment, and self-destructive tendencies align closely with the diagnostic criteria for BPD. Furthermore, Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD) offers another lens through which to understand Jason's psychological profile, considering his history of chronic trauma and its pervasive impact on his functioning.

Additionally, Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) may contribute to Jason's experiences of profound despair, hopelessness, and emotional emptiness. His struggles with attachment-related difficulties suggest the possibility of underlying attachment disorders stemming from his early experiences of neglect and abandonment.

While Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) and Post-Traumatic Embitterment Disorder (PTED) offer alternative perspectives, they may not fully capture the complexity of Jason's character, given his capacity for empathy and genuine care, despite his propensity for morally questionable behavior.

In essence, Jason Todd's character in "Batman: Arkham Knight" is a poignant exploration of the human psyche's intricacies, illustrating the profound impact of trauma on identity, relationships, and emotional well-being. By delving into his psychological struggles within the context of the game's narrative, we gain valuable insights into the complexities of mental health and the enduring resilience of the human spirit.

[angelwoozi]

silk (m)

pairing: wonwoo x reader (afab)

summary: an enigma, that's what he is. his touch is careful, with conviction — and you can feel it in your bones. his sight has always been sinful. but what happens when your boyfriend insists to obstruct your view, and your free reign to touch him by using his silk? yeah, a lot.

genre: smut, pwp, established relationship, 18+

wordcount: 3.3k

warnings: swearing, kissing, blindfold, bondage, orgasm denial, fingering, use of gendered pet names (my love, queen, pretty), unprotected sex (stay safe!), use of ties, overstimulation.

note: an alternative summary? blindfold + bondage with wonwoo lol. also, minors stay away !!! listen to belong to you by sabrina claudio for mood ;) + thanks to @sluttyminghao , @multi-kpop-fanfics and @lovelyhan for helping me by proofreading this :) thankyou for making me less anxious about this hehe

angelwoozi masterlist

The dull ache between your thighs doesn't help you to act sane, especially when you feel Wonwoo's lips trail down your neck, leaving goosebumps in their wake.

You want to cry out loud, for god's sake. The fact that your hands can't move on their own accord is infuriating. The silk around your wrist is not tight, but it binds your hands together pretty firmly. With them over your head, and back arching, you are laid down prettily for him to devour you.

Your lips form a gasp when you feel his tongue peek out and catch your hardened nipple between his lips. You are naked, woven in his silk sheets, like a sinful gift. Your toes curl when Wonwoo takes your other boob in his palm, caressing your mound softly.

"You feel so soft." he murmurs around your nub and your feet tremble a little. You wanna smack him for tying your hands, but you can't do that. You want to watch the beautiful sight of him devouring you unravel in front of your eyes, but you can't do that too. As your bastard of a boyfriend has blindfolded you.

One of his ties covers your eyes, letting you see nothing but the faint red and darkness. He had come home quite tired, and when he had removed his tie, you had taken it in your hands and twirled it around – with no intentions that may be the cause of your situation right now.

It was all him, all hot at seeing you in your skimpiest pajamas on the bed, playing with his tie. It didn't take him long to rush to the wardrobe and procure another piece of his silk. He had discarded his shirt on his short way to the bed, and had then proceeded to climb all over you like a man starved. You had gleefully invited his sloppy kisses and jumbled words – filled with praises and groans. When his incoherent words had suggested getting you blindfolded, the thrill had sent a jolt down your spine, your eyes gleaming with excitement.

You almost kick your leg up when you feel his other hand inching towards your center. You know the conviction in his touch, and the heat that spreads through your body is indecipherable.

"Wonwoo please." you sigh out and he grunts against your skin, making you arch your back a little more. "Please take this cloth off." you are proud of yourself for even speaking a whole sentence without slurring.

His mouth detaches from your nipple, and even though you can't see him, you know how he looks. Like a devil bathed in the soft glow of sin, his lips are always wet, and flushed. His hair has always been shaggy, and unkempt – but you doubt this time it is, given that your hands haven't yet found solace in his locks. It's like torture, and you crave for more when you don't feel his tongue on your skin.

"What would be the fun in that, my love?" His voice is hoarse, deep like the ocean, and the laugh he lets out turns everything inside you into jelly.

"I want, I want to see you." you painfully let out, punctuating your sentence with a surprised gasp because you feel his finger rubbing circles right above your center. Your hands thrash and fall back onto the bed, and you moan out loud, keening under him.

"You should look at yourself, not me." he begins and your breath turns ragged almost immediately, at his voice. It's like the sound is seeping through the pores of your skin and shooting a stimulant right down, to your core. You can drown in him, falling in deep forever. Your lips part open in an instant as his fingers trail lower, slowly but precisely, knowing their way around your body like the back of his hand.

"Huh?" is your mindless reply and he laughs, sending shivers through your body.

"You look so beautiful, all laid out for me." his lips start their descent down your body by kissing a soft path, making your insides flutter. The action is soft, but the intensity is wild and you bite your lower lip to stop yourself from whimpering in his hold.

He kisses a spot below your navel and nuzzles his nose against your skin, with his hands holding your hips to stop you from squirming,"Do you know what this sight of yours does to me?"

You clench your fists. Stretching your legs and assaulting your lip with your teeth, you let out a meek, "I may have an idea."

He laughs lowly, as if mocking you – and you didn't know you were going to find it so fucking hot. Slowly, you feel him creeping up your body, his hand still dancing at your core, while the other comes to your neck.

It's like dipping your feet in the cold water, wary at first, but then wanting more and more. The feeling drives you, as your fists unclench them and you beckon him to you, holding your hands a little above your head. You hear rustling, and your head shoots up a little, anticipating his next move. The touch of silk on your skin makes you feel luxe, but the touch of your love, as he moves his hands all over your upper body makes you feel heavenly.

It's all of a sudden that you feel his hot breath against your lips, and the ghost of his forearms beside your head. Your chin tilts towards him on its own accord, and a single exhale of his, against you makes your brain go haywire. Especially when he takes you by surprise by moving smoothly, sly like a fox, and gracefully like a swan.

You move your tied hands, but he pins them down with a single movement of his. His fingers intertwine themselves with yours, and he presses down on your palm lightly, directing you to stay still. You keen under him, opening up your lips in a silent invitation, but what he does next pulls all the breath out of you.

He presses his hips against yours, his pelvis on yours, and the sudden feeling of his length against your thigh makes you moan against his lips.

"Now do you know what you do to me?" is his deep grunt, and he grinds against you, making you arch your back and pant in all your glory.

"Y-yes." you stutter and immediately feel his lips on your jaw. Albeit the touch of his plump lips against your skin is feather light, it ignites a fiery glow within you, all from your bones. His free arm hovers beside your boob, and he traces a finger all down to your center, again, leaving fire in its wake.

"Wonwoo, please," you sigh out and he leaves a meek kiss beside your lips, urging you to speak, "Please, fuck me." You almost forget the fact that you can't see, his actions not letting your mind linger at one place for too long. He is a devil in between the sheets, and it should be pathetic how gone you already are, when he has hardly touched you. But you feel no shame, still folding towards him, like a metal in his magnetic field.

"As you say, my queen. But won't we need to get you ready for me?" Yes, God yes. You know what needs to be done in order for you to take him, and you thrash your hands, again getting pinned down by him. The excitement and anticipation is through the roof for you to stay sane anymore.

"Relax, baby." is his reply and you don't know when, or how, but suddenly a finger is parting up your folds.

Your legs spread instinctively, and he settles between your thighs like he belongs there. His longest finger traces a path from your clit to your cunt, and you whimper, shuddering like crazy. You think you hear him laugh, but your mind is too hazy for you to make sense of anything at all.

His lips find the valley of your breasts, and he licks a path up. You think he might be looking like a stealthy beast, eyes shining with lust, set on you, and tongue flat on your bones, making you shiver. You tilt your head, your eyes pressed tightly with a painful countenance. His finger finds your clit and he rubs circles over it, making you hiss and preen.

His mouth is hardly an inch from your neck, his finger still moving languidly on your nub. The fire that awoke beneath your skin was relentless, making you crave for more. You purr under him, kissing his skin with yours as you shift in a way that your breast brushes his clavicle.

You thrash your hands when he presses down on your clit, eliciting a moan from you. The insensitivities slip past your lips, and he groans when your legs tremble.

"Baby you are so wet." is his word and you revel in it. You want to say 'for you, only' but your clouded brain only allows you to manage a weak nod. The air that you take in is heavy, and hot and your skin burns, making you gasp for it.

Soon, his finger finds your cunt, and he plunges it inside, making you moan out loud. It is madness, the way he curls his digit inside you, causing a wave of pleasure to gush at your center. He groans when he feels your wetness soaking his hand, and you clench around him. He lays a kiss on your jaw, and starts moving his finger at a painful pace.

"Wonwoo." you try to open your eyes, but your eyelids fall back again. You writh under him and he sensually kisses your skin, his tongue licking stripes over your beauty.

"It's like you are sucking me in," he says and you clench around his fingers again. Rightfully so. His lips form a breathless laugh and yours get clamped under your teeth, as you stop yourself from uttering insensitivities. His finger works smoothly, and his thumb presses down on your clit, eliciting a loud moan from you – making you throw away all your previous thoughts of staying quiet out of the fucking window.

His lips are still on your torso, making you squirm in place, and your breaths get heavier as you hiss. The pleasure clouds your brain, and you feel him press down on you eagerly, waiting for you to unfold for him. You bring your hands in front of your chest, brushing them over your skin and shuddering at the cold touch. The feeling of his digits inside you, and the sheer intensity of his lips worshiping your form has you on the edge, almost tumbling. You cry out loud, and just before you tell him that you are close, he pulls away, your cunt empty and devoid of his touch– devoid of him.

"Wonwoo?" you squirm, your chest rising and deflating with disappointment on being left high and not so dry, "Why did you stop?" your whisper is weak, a sigh breaking through the heavy air.

"Because I'd like you to come around my cock, my love."

That's like a knife to your gut. Except– its sharp edge is covered in the sweetest of nectar, and as it twists inside you, the nectar spreads through your veins, entrancing you in the sweet, exciting rush. Your lips exhale a breath and you fall back on the bed, your hair wound around you in shapes, and strings of beauty. The anticipation is through the roof at this point, and you are yearning for him like a parched person, walking in a desert.

Your eyes still face darkness when you feel his lips ghost over yours, a silent invitation to entice you into him– if you hadn't already been. You tip your head up and find him, causing him to press down and make you fall on the pillow again. His lips move against yours like they have their own mind, a practiced routine, a drop of love. There's a lingering touch on your waist, and you register his body moving up, trying to adjust himself between your legs.

"Spread your legs for me, pretty." he voices against your lips in a breathy sigh and your mind reels as you instinctively part your legs, allowing him solace between your thighs. You don't know when he got rid of his garments, but it's soon that you feel his tip poking your entrance, making you gasp against him.

"Ah, so wet. You wish you could look at how my cock is already drenched because of you, don't you?" he groans and you almost shout out loud. The sensory deprivation is making you run miles an hour, and making your other senses at an all time high. His tip nudges your folds, making its way inside you and you moan out loud– a pathetic nod to reply to him, because you are rendered way too speechless for your own good.

Of course, you would like to see the point where you two meet, a filthy promise. Your wrists still don't feel the pain, but your mind, which yearns to touch him, and to see him, sure as hell does.

"Only your sight and hands are restricted, baby. Not your tongue." he says, and bottoms out in one go, making you cry out loud and tighten your fists around nothing, your pussy clenching around him, while you attempt to register the sudden shock.

"Yes, yes, Wonwoo." you moan out, and you could swear he smirked, even if you can't see it.

Soft whimpers fall out of your lips like petals as he starts moving, his pace sure and slow. His hands pin you down as they travel up to your palms and interlock his fingers with yours, pressing down as his forehead stays on yours, his hot breath mixing with yours as his hips work.

The intimacy has butterflies flying in your stomach, and the curve of his cock inside your cunt has you fighting for your breath. You take him in, you drink him in, and a prolonged groan reverberates against your lip when your love increases his pace, his length hitting you at all the right places, making you mewl under him.

You tightly hold onto his fingers, scared that you'll slip away if you let go. Your voice breaks, and the slick sound of skin hitting skin echoes across the quiet room, enhanced by your whimpers, "Please, baby."

"Please? You would like me to go faster?" is his question, and you nod eagerly, hoping he has his eyes open and set on you.

You think he did have his eyes open, because the next second his hips snap into yours, sending your whole body up the bed. You suddenly shout out, your nails digging into his hands as he laughs low– before beginning the most ruthless pace ever.

"Oh my god, Wonwoo," you moan, and his lips start peppering kisses on your skin, the fire burning faster at the wet touch. His lips stay at a place above your eyebrows when you feel his hand on the tie around your wrist, him fucking into you like a man starved of sex. Your walls clench around him, and he sighs out your name, the sound catching your attention like a firefly in the darkest of nights – it relights you.

"Do you know how sinful you look right now?" his voice is deep and low against your skin, and you would've missed it if your senses hadn't been on an all time high, catching the faintest of squeaks. You whine at his words, thrashing your hands of only to tell him to stop saying things so harmful for you, but he still carries on, "Like a work of art, woven in my silk, for me."

That's the meanest thing he could ever say to you, especially when you can't touch him, can't see him. It's like torture, the way you love him. You clench around him again, before speaking, "Please untie me, I wanna touch you."

He thrusts into you, quick and deep and you feel a familiar knot building up in your core– yet one more knot which makes your pleasure skyrocket. He just laughs at your words, his thumb inching closer to the silk, yet never touching it– testing you and your already barely there sanity.

"You can touch me later all you want, my love. I am all yours."

Fuck.

You are sure there are marks on his skin, because of the insensitivities of your nails digging in it, his words just making you feel more. His cock fucks you like a beast, and you had a thought you'd see red even if your vision hadn't been obstructed.

Behind closed eyes, you also see the edge nearing, and between moans and the sound of the bed squeaking, mixed with the continuous slapping of skin against skin– you tell him that, "Wonu, I am close."

"Hold up for me, baby. Just for a while." he groans and your body jerks with his force, him easily bottoming inside you with each and every snap of his hips.

"I can't," you cry out, on the verge of tears as your body tries to hold on tight to anything it can find, "Please let me come."

There's a long lasting moment wherein you feel like your guts are being rearranged by his now sloppy thrusts before he speaks, "Let it go, come for me." in a sigh against your lips and you quite literally melt.

You come around his cock– just like he had wished, and your body falls limp on the bed as your high takes over you, making you see stars and even try to reach out for them, if you could move your hands then. If you could reach out to him, you would, and exactly when that thought hits you, you feel a weight on your hands– one that unravels another knot of yours, this time making you almost scream out with joy.

You tiredly flex your hands, before bringing them above your head, slowly, cautiously. You know he is still moving, the feel of his thick cock inside you succeeding at keeping your body on fire, and barely controlled whimpers. As soon as you bring your hands above your head, they touch his skin, and it's as if your touch is a trigger for him, because he immediately sighs out,

"Y/N,"

Oh how sweet it sounds. You wrap your hands around his neck and Instinctively bring him closer to your face, hoping your movements to be precise as you feel his breath fan over your hot skin.

"Kiss me, please."

The quietly whispered plea, and the slight touch of his lips against yours is all that takes for the man to break down, and spill inside you. His cum is hot, coating your walls, and he moans your name loudly against your lips, you feeling the ghost of his hands bracing themselves beside your face as he steadies himself.

He rides out his orgasm, and you feel a slight twinge as you feel it overbearing for your pussy– his cock overstimulating you.

"S-stop, it hurts."

He immediately stops moving and rests his forehead against yours. You feel his chest brush yours with each heavy breath you both take, in a harmony.

"I love you." he says, and it's music to your ears, completing the incomplete song and making you sigh– all while you try to calm yourself down.

It's when you say those words back that he pushes the cloth blinding you over your eyebrow, causing you to squint your eyes to adjust to the sudden change. But when your eyes open fully, the only red that you see (which you had thought you would), is if you colorize the emotion which reflects in his eyes as they stare deep into yours–

Love.

💌 thankyou for reading this! i would appreciate any and every kind of feedback— be it comments, reblogs or asks.

© angelwoozi. do not repost.

[lumilovessmut]

My Messy Girl

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Nanami Kento x Female Reader

Trigger warnings: Smut (18+), slight choking, daddy kink, office sex, slight exhibitionism, p in v, established relationship, name calling: love, sweetheart, slut, dear, wifey, baby, mama, few mentions of breeding, slight pervert Nanami.

A/n: Hello my lovely readers! It's your lumi 🧡 So I thought I'd give you guys something special cause my hiatus is supposed to end around May but since you readers would want something I'm making this, I hope you guys will love it too 🧡 As always striving to make better quality fanfics for you guys. It would be really helpful if u guys can join my Instagram account also. I'll leave the link below, ty 🧡🧡🧡

Word count: 0.86k

Upload date: 10th March, 2024

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Everybody knows Nanami Kento was a clean freak. But if anyone were to see Nanami right now they would be astonished. His office is a mess, the papers on his desk is in a disarray, his couch is messy, and if it were normal working hours right now, everyone would have heard your pathetic, melodious moans. But the most surprising factor of all would be, the fact that Nanami Kento, the NANAMI KENTO is so messy right now that it is both a sin and a boon to look at him. He has you, who only came to deliver his dinner because it was very late and he may stay in the office for more hours. But the moment Nanami saw you, his world blurred and only your presence was worthy of his attention. The dinner you prepared in the cute bento box didn't matter only you did.

Everything was a blur, Nanami has been eating you out for more than what seems like eternity, his tongue laps at your entrance and he fucks his saliva into your hole, like a thrifty man in the desert he keeps sucking all your juices. The bridge of his nose serves to be a good spot for grinding your clit, Nanami was in heaven. "Baby, have I ever told you- fuck that you taste like the nectar from heavens? Yeah, keep going, just one more baby, just- fuck one more please darling, make a mess! make a mess, sweetheart I'm just a mess for you down there." "Nanami pleas- I-I-I can't n-no mor-nghhh please no mor-eek! Gonna ah! Gonna cum! Nanamiiiiiii!" "Don't worry princess cum, just like that mmmmmmgh, fuck you taste heavenly, keep cumming, mmmmm." Nanami, keeps tongue fucking you till you calm down, once he comes up from between your legs, you see the most breath taking view of your life, disheveled hair, your juices running down his chiselled face.

"Wanna taste yourself baby?", he comes and kisses you, "understand why I like your cum so much? Hmm? Answer me baby?", "Yes", you could hardly answer him, he looked too ethereal for you to comprehend anything else, without much thought in mind you brush the baby hair stuck to his forehead. "Wanna be come my Messy Girl?" Nanami suddenly asked you and to say you were shocked was an understatement cause you knew he hated messes yet here he his asking you if you can be his messy girl. You nod yes cause after all who would say to no to him?

The only thought your head is filled with is Nanami and the only thing your cunt is filled with is his cum and dick, he has been fucking you practically everywhere in his office, on his desk? Check. On his office sofa? Check. On the glass window looking down the city? Check. His thick girthy cock, throbbing with veins and his pretty flushed red tip banging at your cervix was bringing you closer to heaven than even death can bring you to. "Baby imagine someone were to notice us fucking like horny teenagers? Hmm? What would they think when the most polite person, the most beautiful- fuck, the most sexy person ever on earth is getting laid down in such a dirty, dirty, pathetic way? Scream for me my love, louder I want the whole city to know who is fucking you, who owns the most prettiest slut in town. You drive me wild babyyyy, I can't seem to stop thrusting into you even if I want to, my body craves for you my soul aches for you, without you I'm nothing- oh fuck! I'm gonna cum in yeah again, yeah? You like the sound of that? Does my wifey wanna become a mama? Yeah? Fuck Oh! Feels so good c-can't stop g-gah mmm fuck can't stop, focus on me baby, focus on me on my-aaah! On my thrusts cum with me, I said cum with me- Aaahh fuck fuck FUCK!! OHH feels tooo good baby."

You cum on his cock on command, your mouth opens in a silent scream, throat raw from screaming and moaning his name, your ears are ringing and your thighs are all sticky with cum and arousal, your eyes are rolled back into your skull and your back is arched beautifully, thick cum shoots inside of you one last time for the day, he slowly removes himself from you, your legs shaking like a lone leaf on a tree in winter. "Darling, don't let my cum go waste yeah?" He says while pulling up your panties which were ruined already due to your arousal. "Nanami? I-I'm tired." "I know baby I know, don't worry I'm here just you rest while we leave for home." He kisses your head and slowly lifts you and his work bag and goes to his car making sure you are well covered. The ride home is silent and peaceful, Nanami glances at you every now and then at your sleeping face. Once he stops at the red signal, he slowly takes the hand which he was holding and kisses it while saying, "Thank you my treasure, the only mess I love is you and only you.

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Thank you guys for making it to the end of another fic :)

Hope you guys enjoyed it!

Until next time 🧡

Luv ya guys

[genshinluvr]

Crave 5

Pairings: Various Genshin Men x Isekai'd!Reader, Albedo x Isekai'd!Reader

Summary: You and Albedo go to Dragonspine to conduct an experiment on whether plants from another region can survive Dragonspine's climate and soil. While conducting an experiment, you get really cold, and Albedo gives you a warming potion to drink that should keep you warm for the next few hours. Unfortunately, the potion isn't a warming potion. Instead, it's an unknown potion that contains an aphrodisiac.

Note: Honestly, I wish this smut was longer, but your girl has a headache, and it's killing me 😵‍💫 This smut probably isn't the best, but hey, Albedo finally got his smut! It's officially Christmas, so this is your Christmas present from yours truly (along with the mini-fic/smut that I posted not too long ago of Pierro and Capitano). The next fanfic is going to be hurt/comfort, and it's also a request (which I hope is still in my inbox unless Tumblr decides to eat it). As previously stated in the previous Crave "series," I tried to keep the story as gender-neutral as possible. All of my smuts do lean towards female!reader/AFAB!reader with gender-neutral pronouns. As usual, minors DO NOT INTERACT! I don't post anywhere else but on Tumblr (Genshinluvr) and on AO3 (Aaliah_exo).

Warnings: Horribly written smut, aphrodisiac, slight exhibitionism, cervix fucking, mating press, unprotected sex, spitting, cunnilingus, overstimulation, missionary, creampie

Word Count: 8.5k

Crave "Chapters": [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7]

“Are we really going to let [Y/N] go up to Dragonspine?” Diluc asks, leaning against the stairway. Diluc glances up the stairs, hearing faint bickering coming from the second floor. Diluc can hear footsteps coming from the room above his head and items being moved around in your room, items being dragged across the floor, and a faint whine coming from you.

Kaeya chuckles and lightly punches Diluc’s shoulders, only to earn a glare from the red-headed man. “Relax, Master Diluc. [Y/N] is going to be in Dragonspine for only a few hours with Albedo, assisting the chief alchemist with his projects,” Kaeya explains, giving Diluc a teasing smile.

“That’s too much!” You whine from your room.

Ayato and Thoma stop at the bottom of the stairs and looks up the stairs, then glance over at one another. Ayato lifts his teacup and takes a sip from it. “I wonder what [Y/N] meant by too much,” Ayato mutters, blowing on the hot tea. 

“Does anyone know who’s upstairs with [Y/N]? I know they’re preparing for their journey to Dragonspine with Albedo, but I’m not entirely sure what they’re doing up there,” Thoma says. Thoma leans on the railing of the stairs, his green eyes remaining locked on the top of the staircase while nibbling on his bottom lip. 

Xiao approaches the four men with a deep frown on his face. “Why would [Y/N] accompany the chief alchemist to Dragonspine when his assistant, Sucrose, can help him with the project instead?” Xiao asks, running his hands through his hair.

“Last time I checked, [Y/N] volunteered to go to Dragonspine with Albedo. Plus, it’s not going to be long; it’ll be a few hours, and the two of them should be back at the abode before dinner,” Kazuha says, flipping through the newspaper on the couch.

Venti lets out a groan as he plops on the couch, sprawling his entire body out like a cat, and pouts at the ceiling. “It may be a few hours, but it’s still early in the morning! They’ll be back when the sun is setting!” Venti exclaims, raising both of his hands in the air and staring at them blankly.

The men hear footsteps coming down the stairs, and their heads turn toward the direction where the noise is coming from. You’re waddling down the stairs, wearing layers upon layers of clothing, your head barely peeking from the mountain of scarves wrapping around your neck. You let out a frustrated huff and glare over at the person coming down the stairs behind you.

“Zhongli, is it really necessary to dress me in this many layers of clothes?! I can barely move!” You exclaim; no matter how much you try to raise your voice for the others to hear you from underneath the scarves, your voice is still muffled. 

Zhongli nods his head. “Yes, it’s necessary for you to dress in layers before going up to Dragonspine with the chief alchemist,” Zhongli replies, giving you a small smile when you peek up at him from the mountain of scarves and a beanie on your head that looks like a cherry on top of an ice cream. 

“I understand that you want to keep [Y/N] warm from the sheer cold of Dragonspine, but perhaps this is a little bit too far,” Dainsleif mutters, gazing at you with an amused look on his face.

Childe coos at you. “Look at you! Aren’t you a cutie patootie?! All bundled up for your journey to Dragonspine!” Childe squeals and pinches your cheeks that are squished together from the scarves around your neck. 

You stare up at Childe blankly, feeling heat rush to your face. You’re not sure if the heat rushing to your face was because of Childe or if it was because of the number of clothes Zhongli had you put on for your trip to Dragonspine with Albedo. Childe wraps his arms around you and rests his cheek on your head with a big smile on his face. He looks down at you and plants a sloppy kiss on the cheek that is poking out from the mountain of scarves you have on. You might as well enjoy Childe’s affection before you go out into the cold mountains with Albedo. You didn’t push Childe away from you; you just stood there and let Childe holds onto you like a koala and let him kiss your face every few minutes while he gushed about how ridiculously cute you looked.

Kaveh looks over at Al Haitham with a slight smirk on his face. “For someone as fearful as Childe, most people wouldn’t expect him to gush over someone like the abyss mage,” Kaveh says, pointing his thumb over in your direction.

You gasp and begin tugging on Childe’s sleeves. “Childe, Kaveh just called me an abyss mage! Kick his ass for me!” You said, attempting to point at Kaveh, only for your arm to fall to your side due to the layers of sweaters and jackets you have on. 

“Are you ready to go to Dragonspine?” You hear Albedo ask. You shuffle to turn around to face Albedo and see him carrying a few pieces of lab equipment in his hands and around his shoulders. Albedo looks at you with wide eyes and scans you from head to toe.

Gorou smiles and nods his head, patting your head lightly. “They’re ready to go to Dragonspine, as you can see!” Gorou says, showcasing you with a dazzling smile on his face.

“Before you ask [Y/N] why they’re wearing layers of clothing, it’s the geo archon that dressed them up for the trip,” Scaramouche speaks up, taking a bite out of the sunsettia in his hand.

Itto enters the living room with two large onikabutos in his hands and Aether and Heizou following behind him, drenched in water. You stare at Aether and Heizou, and they stare back at you, wondering why you look like you’re about to visit Snezhnaya. 

“[Y/N] and Albedo are about to leave to go to Dragonspine,” Al Haitham says.

“Oh, right! I completely forgot that [Y/N] volunteered to go to Dragonspine to assist Albedo with his experiment,” Aether says, nodding his head while stroking his chin.

Heizou looks at you curiously. “What’s the experiment about?” Heizou asks.

“It’s both research and an experiment, but it’s a test to see if these plants that Tighnari and I have collected can survive in a sheer cold like Dragonspine,” you said, looking over at Tighnari with a grateful smile on your face. Though, you’re not entirely sure if Tighnari can tell that you're smiling or not because of the scarves.

“Personally, I don’t think these plants will survive in the sheer cold. It’s a no-brainer. But even though the answer is obvious, it’s a fun little experiment that [Y/N] can test out themselves with the help of the chief alchemist with his other projects and experiments,” Tighnari says, nodding his head. 

Itto walks up to you and pokes you on the forehead while looking down at you curiously. “Since you’re wearing that many layers of clothes, how are you not sweating already?” Itto asks, peering down at you.

“They are sweating. Do you not see the bead of sweat trickle down their face and get absorbed by one of the scarves?” Cyno asks, raising his eyebrows at Itto. 

You turn to look at Tighnari. “Will there be a chance of me helping you with one of your researches?” You ask.

Tighnari props his hands on his hips and tilts his head to the side while contemplating possible research with you assisting him. “Well, that would depend because I am also a forest ranger, and I can get pretty busy, but I’m not sure if you want to get close to the withering,” Tighnari replies.

Pierro shakes his head. “It’s best for [Y/N] not to get close to the withering. You two can do your little research as long as it doesn’t involve the withering,” Pierro says.

Pantalone chuckles and pats Pierro’s shoulders. “Oh, Pierro. [Y/N] is an Akademiya student; sooner or later, they might encounter the withering on their own or do research on the withering for the Akademiya,” Pantalone says, letting his hand drop to his side after Pierro brushes Pantalone’s hand off his shoulders.

“Are you two going to head off to Dragonspine without breakfast? It’s still early in the morning,” Capitano says, leaning on the top rail of the chair, his button-up shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

You look over at Albedo, then turn to face Capitano and shrug your shoulders. “I’m assuming we’re going to have breakfast when we’re at Dragonspine. I’m sure Albedo wants to get everything settled down before we have breakfast,” you said.

Dottore walks up to you with a dramatic sigh and pushes Childe to the side to give you a hug. Childe glares at the back of Dottore’s head and crosses his arms over his chest while grumbling curse words to himself, loud enough for Dottore to hear what he’s saying. Dottore ignores Childe’s grumblings while adjusting the hat on your head.

“If you end up missing home, please inform Albedo about it. I would much rather have you spend your time in my arms than at a place like Dragonspine,” Dottore says, laying his cheek on the top of your head while rubbing your back lightly. 

You pat Dottore’s head and slowly pull away from Dottore’s hug. “As much as I would love to spend time in your arms as well, Dottore, I believe that Dragonspine is the only place on Teyvat that I haven’t visited yet! Other than the three other regions,” you said.

“Is there a reason why you want to visit Dragonspine? Other than assisting Albedo with his experiment and research?” Diluc asks, raising his eyebrows at you.

You nod your head. “There’s snow! It doesn’t rain or snow in the abode, and it’s a little bit disappointing,” you answer, scratching the back of your neck. “I understand that Dragonspine is really dangerous to explore alone, but I’ll be in Albedo’s lab at Dragonspine, safe and sound! Plus, the teapot will be floating inside the cave while we are conducting an experiment,” You add.

Albedo looks over at the clock on the wall. “We should be heading out soon. The longer we stay, the more delayed our experiment will be,” Albedo says. Albedo gestures for you to follow him out of the estate.

You nod your head and wave the men goodbye before following behind Albdeo out the door. The men stop by the front door of the estate and watch you and Albedo walk to the nearest waypoint in the abode. You turn to look at the men one last time; you give them a smile and loop your arm around Albedo’s arm before the two of you teleport out of the teapot.

Dainsleif turns to look at Zhongli. “Is it possible to make it snow and rain in the abode?” Dainsleif asks, raising his eyebrows at the former geo archon.

“I’m not entirely sure. But even if it is possible, I have no power to control the weather in the teapot, nor am I able to do such things,” Zhongli replies, stroking his chin.

Not going to lie; when you and Albedo teleport out of the abode and to Dragonspine, you sort of expected to be at Albedo’s lab immediately. But unfortunately, you’re wrong, and now you’re trekking up the mountains with the teapot in your arms while shivering when a gust of wind hits you in the face. Albedo didn’t seem fazed from the sheer cold, but maybe it’s because he’s chalk, but you could be wrong. You remember the sheer cold bar at the bottom of the screen in Genshin Impact above the health bar. No matter what character you’re playing, they cannot stand the sheer cold, so maybe Albedo is good at hiding it.

“You know how back at the estate, I said that I was disappointed that it doesn’t snow or rain inside the teapot?” You ask, eyes focusing on the ground to make sure you don’t misstep that’ll cause you to slip and fall to the ground.

Albedo keeps his eyes straight forward on the path in front of you two and nods. “Yes, I do recall that,” Albedo answers. 

“Well, I take it back because I completely forgot how cold it can get when it snows,” you sulk, clutching onto the teapot tightly as the both of you trek up the slopes. 

Albedo chuckles and points at the top of the slope where the two of you are walking. “You can start warming up when we get to the laboratory. I’m sure Sucrose or Timaeus have already lit the fire up beneath the stove, and you can start making breakfast for the both of us while I get things set up,” Albedo says.

You let out a shaky sigh and nodded your head, mentally thanking Zhongli for dressing you in layers upon layers of clothing before sending you out to Dragonspine. If it weren’t for Zhongli, you would’ve been a [Y/N] popsicle by now. You nuzzle your face deeper into your scarves, almost sighing in relief when the bottom half of your face is engulfed in warmth. No matter how cold it is in Dragonspine, you look forward to working with Albedo and seeing him in his element.

The two of you soon arrive at the campsite, and you sigh in relief, feeling the warmth from the laboratory warming your body up. You set the teapot down in the corner of the camp before walking over to the campfire, squatting down in front of the campfire, and holding your hand close to the fire to warm your freezing hands up.

“It’s nice to finally visit your campsite, Albedo. I would visit your campsite in my world often, but it’s nothing compared to being here in person,” you said, blowing into your hands to heat them up.

Albedo looks over at you with interest. “Is that so?” Albedo asks, setting his things down on the table nearby and beginning to go through the shelf.

You nod at Albedo’s question. “I’ve always wanted to visit your campsite, but I never got the chance to ask if I could visit your campsite with you. But I’m glad that we’re here now!” You said, standing up and walking over to the backpack that you had brought with you.

“I’m glad that you have decided to keep me company and assist me with my experiments. Sucrose and Timaeus are usually the ones to keep me company and help me with my research, but it’s nice to have a new face around the campsite,” Albedo says, smiling at you.

You smile back at Albedo. “I hope I can assist you as much as possible! Think of me as your mini assistant or temporary assistant,” you said, turning to look at your bag and digging through it to grab out the ingredients for breakfast and lunch.

Albedo looks over at you and smiles. “What if I don’t want you to be my temporary assistant?” Albedo asks, pressing his lips into a thin line as he waits for you to answer his question.

You pull out a loaf of bread, a carton of eggs, a plate of cheese, and ham while giggling. “Then you will need to wait in line because Dottore and Tighnari want me to be their assistant as well,” you said, giving Albedo a big smile. 

Albedo raises his eyebrows at you. “Is that so?” Albedo asks. 

You grab the ingredients while nodding your head, carrying the ingredients over to the stove, plopping them down on the ground gently, and squatting in front of the fire. You began cracking the egg and dumping them into the pan, sprinkling some black pepper and salt onto the eggs. You have decided to cook a breakfast sandwich for you and Albedo to eat; your mom would make you and your siblings whenever she gets up for work. Not only is a breakfast sandwich easy to make, but they’re also quick to eat and can keep your stomach filled up for a few hours (depending on how many you eat). 

The sound of eggs, bacon, and butter sizzling fill the once-silent air between you and Albedo. You take a whiff of the delicious smell and feel your stomach growl. Archons, you can’t wait to devour the breakfast sandwiches. About fifteen minutes later, you finally finish cooking the breakfast sandwiches and place them on a plastic plate. 

You get up from your seat and walk over to Albedo, who is scribbling on a piece of paper that is being held down on a clipboard in his hands. Albedo looks up from his clipboard when you place the plate on the table in front of him, placing a paper napkin beside the plate.

“Breakfast is ready! Sorry, it took a while. I had to figure out how to cut the sandwiches without burning my fingertips,” you smile at him sheepishly. 

Albedo smiles and places the clipboard down. “No need to worry. Let’s eat our breakfast before starting on the research experiment,” Albedo says.

“Oh, give me a second. I’m going to take the layers off so I can move around comfortably without accidentally knocking things over,” you said. 

You walk over to the small bed at the corner of the campsite and begin to take the layers of jackets, sweaters, and scarves off your body. With each article of clothing you take off, you feel your body become lighter and less hot. After shedding off the last jacket, you’re left in a sweater that Childe has let you borrow. Technically, he didn’t let you borrow it. He shoved it to your face and demanded that you wear it before going off to Dragonspine with another man (it was Childe’s dramatic commentary, not yours).

You debated on whether you wanted to keep Childe’s sweater on, but since you will be working with chemicals soon and you’re going to be eating in a moment, you don’t want crumbs to fall on his sweater and stain it with chemicals. So, you opted to take his sweater off and put it back on before going back to the abode. 

“Oh? Are you not cold?” Albedo asks when you sit down beside him and grab the second half of your breakfast sandwich.

You shake your head. “It’s quite warm in the lab, plus I don’t want to stain Childe’s sweater with any chemicals or get breadcrumbs on his sweater while I’m eating,” you reply. You take a big bite out of the breakfast sandwich and almost let out a moan when the food touches your tastebuds. Once you have chewed and swallowed your food, you say, “I forgot how good this tasted.”

“You’re a pretty good cook, [Y/N]. Why haven’t you thought about cooking for the rest of us at the abode?” Albedo asks.

You pursed your lips. “Because I can’t measure or do proper math when it comes to adding more measurements for the ingredients. I’m not sure how Thoma does it, but I know I’m going to screw something up if I attempt to do it,” you reply.

“I’m sure Thoma is willing to take it step by step with you. After all, you two have cooked something together before,” Albedo says, finishing up his breakfast sandwich. 

You do a double take and look at Albedo with wide eyes, then look down at the breakfast sandwich that you just took a bite out of. How in the world did Albedo finish up his breakfast sandwich that quickly? Albedo wipes his lips on the paper napkin along with his fingers before getting up from his seat to toss away his trash. 

Being the slow eater that you are, you begin to panic and start to shovel the breakfast sandwich into your mouth. Albedo stops in his tracks when the two of you make eye contact, your cheeks puffing up from the breakfast sandwich you’re shoving into your mouth. The two of you don’t talk and continue to stare at one another. You slowly chew on the breakfast sandwich you shoved into your mouth and swallow it, staring at Albedo like a deer caught in headlights.

“I understand that you don’t like being the last one to finish a meal, but please don’t rush and shove large portions of food into your mouth. You’re going to choke,” Albedo chides. He walks up to you and wipes the corner of your lips with the napkin that is sitting on your lap.

“Hehe, sorry. I couldn’t help it,” you said, scratching the back of your neck. “Plus, I didn’t want to hold us back from starting the experiment. If I continue to take my time with my breakfast, then we will get a late start on the experiment and return to the abode later than we intended,” you said.

Albedo hums and strokes his chin, nodding slowly. “Ah, I see what you mean by that,” Albedo murmurs, gazing down at you. His eyes land on your arms, noticing goosebumps appearing on your arms and the hairs on your arms standing up.

“I’m done!” You said, voice muffled by the food in your mouth. You get up from your seat and grab your napkin, wiping your lips while walking over to the trash bin to throw your trash away. When you return to Albedo, Albedo grabs your biceps and pulls you towards him.

“Are you cold, [Y/N]? You have goosebumps on your arms,” Albedo says, holding your arms up to your face for you to see. 

You shrug your shoulders. “It’s a bit chilly from the wind being blown into the campsite, but I should be okay. Besides, Zhongli did dress me up in layers before coming to Dragonspine,” you said, bobbing your head toward the direction of piles of sweaters, jackets, and scarves. “No need to worry about me, Albedo. I’ll put on a few layers if it eases your worries a bit,” you said, pecking his cheeks lightly before walking to the pile of clothes.

You slip on Childe’s sweater before wearing a jacket over it. You stop in your tracks when you see your gloves, debating if you should wear the gloves or not. After all, there’s a slight chance that you’ll be dealing with chemicals, but you want to be able to conduct an experiment without having to worry about the test tubes slipping out of your grasp because of the fabric of the gloves.

You shake your head. “I don’t need the gloves,” you tell yourself. 

You turn around and walk over to where Albedo is prepping for the experiment. You stand beside Albedo and gaze down at the plants that you and Tighnari have collected for the research. You know that Tighnari is going to be correct— the plants won’t survive in a freezing climate like Dragonspine, but you do wonder if the plants from Snezhnaya will survive in Dragonspine. You wouldn’t mind visiting Snezhnaya to test it out, but Childe doesn’t want you to visit Snezhnaya just yet. You and Albedo began labeling each plant and lining them up beside each other on the glass top. After lining and labeling the plants, Albedo turns to you and gives you two small glass dishes.

“Please fill one glass dish up with soil and the other dish with both soil and snow. You needn’t worry about the snow melting; I have a potion that will prevent the snow from melting,” Albedo says, turning to search for the concoction he mentioned about. 

You nod and walk to the entrance of the campsite and begin filling one dish with snow and soil and the other dish with just dirt. Once you have gotten the appropriate amount of snow and dirt, you return to the campsite with the two plates in your grasp.

“I hope these are enough for the experiment,” you said, placing the dishes down on the table close to the plants. “I don’t know if it’s because I’m wearing fewer layers of clothing, but it feels like it has gotten much colder outside,” you said, rubbing your hands together while trying to blow heat into your freezing hands.

“Has it? Let me go check and see,” Albedo says, brushing past you to go to the cave’s entrance, sticking his arms out and staring up at the sky. Albedo walks back into the campsite and shakes his head. “It still feels the same to me,” Albedo says, stopping in front of you.

“Oh, then perhaps it’s just me then,” you said, continuing to rub your hands together, trying to create heat to warm your hands up. 

Albedo grabs your hands and gently squeezes them. You’re so cold that Albedo can feel it through his gloves. Albedo releases your hand and begins scanning his surroundings, searching for something that can keep you warm for the next few hours without you having to go back and forth to the heated stove.

Albedo’s eyes land on the test tube that contains a red potion. When Albedo grabs the test tube, he can feel the heat emanating from it. “Here, try this,” Albedo says, turning to you to hand you the test tube. “I believe that I was working on a warming potion that would last up to a few hours. It should keep you warm and prevent you from freezing from the sheer cold,” Albedo explains.

You grab the test tube from Albedo’s hands, almost sighing in relief when you feel the heat spreading on your hand through the glass tube. You uncorked the bottle and downed the potion. You feel the heat from the warming potion spread throughout your body, melting away the cold that was engulfing your body a few seconds ago.

“Whenever you’re ready, we can get started on the experiment,” Albedo says, grabbing the test tube from your hands and putting it back on the test tube rack.

“We can start now since the potion is already in effect,” you said, gazing down at the plants and rubbing your fingers against the leaves. “I know that Tighnari is most likely correct, but I want to test it out for myself,” you said.

Silence fills the campsite as you and Albedo work on the experiment. The only time you and Albedo would speak to each other was when he was giving you instructions on what to do and how long some plants should be kept in the soil and snow with soil. The sound of glass tubes clinking and pen scribbling on paper fills the air. You feel sweat forming on your forehead, close to your hairline. Your body gradually gets hotter and hotter, and an uncomfortable feeling forms in your lower stomach.

You reach up and wipe the sweat off your forehead before continuing the experiment. You feel your groin begin to throb painfully, making you press your thighs tightly together, officially unable to focus on your tasks. You look over at Albedo, who is occupied with his part of the experiment. He bends to the side to get a closer look at the plants and how it’s reacting to a different soil. 

You clear your throat and begin to take the jacket off, hoping it’ll bring some relief to you. You feel your hair sticking to the back of your neck because of the sweat, and you begin to fan yourself with your hands, but it doesn’t relieve your situation at all.

“Is something wrong?” You look up and see Albedo looking at you quizzically while you continue to fan yourself with your hand.

You clear your throat. “I’m not entirely sure. I think the warming potion is working a little bit too well because now I’m sweating, and I can’t seem to cool down,” you said, reaching for the hem of Childe’s sweater and taking it off.

“That’s strange….” Albedo trails off. He puts everything down and walks over to you, pressing his hand against your forehead. Your forehead is so hot that it’s easy for people to assume that you’re running a fever whenever you’re not. Wait, is there a possible chance that you’re getting sick?

“How are you feeling right now? Any headaches? Aching body?” Albedo questions you, pulling you over to the small bed in the corner of the campsite. You pause for a moment and slowly shake your head.

“There’s no headache right now, but I’m feeling hot all over and,” you trail off, continuing to wipe the sweat off your face and your neck. By this time, your entire body is almost covered in sweat. You swallow the lump in your throat and sit down on the bed when Albedo lightly pushes you down on the bed. You cross your legs and press your thighs together tightly, almost jolting when you feel your genitals ache and pulse.

Albedo kneels in front of you, gazing at you worriedly. “And?” He asks, grabbing you by your chin and tilting your chin up so you wouldn’t break eye contact. Albedo can see how your pupils are dilated, a thin sheen of sweat forms on your forehead, and he wipes it away with a nearby tissue.

“It’s embarrassing,” you sigh, resting your head on Albedo’s shoulders. “I don’t know if I can say it without making the both of us feel uncomfortable,” you murmur against his shoulders.

Albedo strokes your back and tucks your hair behind your ears. “If you don’t tell me, how can I fix the issue?” Albedo asks softly.

“I’m… I’m aching, and it’s pulsing, and I don’t like it,” You mumble, refusing to make eye contact with Albedo when you slowly pull away from him. You grab the collar of your shirt and wipe the sweat forming on your cheek.

“Aching and pulsing where exactly?” Albedo looks at you quizzically.

Without saying a word, you pointed down at your lap. There’s no way in hell you’d be able to tell Albedo that you’re suddenly horny and need to be dicked down. Whatever you ingested was not a warming potion. In fact, it’s most likely an aphrodisiac, and you’re not sure if Albedo knew that he gave you a concoction that contained an aphrodisiac.

You let out a frustrated sigh and point over at the empty test tube. “I think the ‘warming potion’ is actually an aphrodisiac, and now my libido has increased, and I feel like I’m in a heat,” you said. 

“Shit,” Albedo mutters, suddenly standing up from his spot and running his fingers through his hair. “I must’ve messed up the ingredients while making the warming potion,” Albedo says, walking over to the table and scanning his eyes over the potions in the test tubes. Albedo’s eyes land on a familiar red bottle lying between the stacks of books and scattered lab materials. Albedo grabs the small glass bottle with shaky hands and holds it up to his face. The bottle in Albedo’s hands is indeed a warming potion. What was the elixir that you ingested? Albedo doesn’t recall making a potion that involves an aphrodisiac. How strange.

“Albedo,” you whine softly, trembling in your spot as you try to find a way to relieve the aching in between your legs. “It’s really hot, and I’m extremely horny,” you groan, falling back on the bed and covering your flustered face with your hands.

Albedo’s face and the tip of his ears turn bright red from your words. Albedo swallows his saliva and places the warming potion down on the table before slowly walking over to where you’re lying. Albedo stops in front of you, his knees brushing against yours; he looks down at your flustered form and crosses his arms over his chest.

“How do you want me to help you?” Albedo asks, tilting his head to the side.

You curl yourself up into a little ball. Either Albedo fucks you until the potion’s effects wear off, or you have to wait it out in the snow while cooling your body temperature down. As much as you want to wait it out, the aching between your legs is becoming even more unbearable. It’s driving you insane, and you’re not entirely sure if you can ignore it any further. You mumble something under your breath.

Albedo’s eyebrows pinch together as he leans forward. “Pardon? Can you repeat that? I didn’t catch what you said.”

You peek from behind your hands. “I desperately need you to fuck me until the potion’s effects wear off,” you said quietly. 

After being given the green light, Albedo grabs you by your ankles and yanks you to the edge of the bed, and begins to rip every piece of clothing off your overheating body. Goosebumps appear over your scorching hot body, and your nipples harden when the cold air touches your body. 

When Albedo takes the last piece of clothing off your body, Albedo notices that you have completely soaked through your panties. You shiver when Albedo spreads your legs wide open for him to see; you’re soaking wet, and your thighs and entrance are glistening with your slick. Albedo takes his gloves off and begins slowly stripping off his clothes, revealing his pale skin. Albedo kneels in front of your legs and begins to slowly rub your swollen nub, causing you to jolt from the sudden contact. Albedo pinches the nub and twists it between his thumb and index finger, making you writhe on the bed, attempting to conceal your moans.

“There’s no need to hide your moans; it’s just the two of us here,” Albedo says softly, leaning down to press soft kisses on your inner thighs.

You let out a choked moan when Albedo presses his lips against your entrance and begins to lick stripes up your heat. You tangle your fingers in Albedo’s hair, gently tugging on his hair while he eats you out, moving your hips against his face. You gasp when Albedo’s teeth graze your bundle of nerves, sending shockwaves to your core. Your eyes roll to the back of your head, and your back arches, your entrance clenches around nothing.

“Albedo, please stop teasing me and fuck me already,” you plead, patting his arms to grab his attention.

Albedo pulls away from your slicked entrance and licks his lips, locking eyes with you. You look at Albedo with desperation, your chest heaving up and down from the frantic breaths you’re taking. Albedo plants both of his hands above your shoulders, caging you between his body and the bed. Reaching down with one hand, Albedo grabs his erect cock and begins to pump it slowly. Albedo leans down and rubs his dick between your wet folds, letting out a shaky breath when the bulbous tip of his cock brushes against your entrance.

“Let me know if I’m hurting you, alright?” Albedo murmurs.

You nod your head and close your eyes, bracing yourself. Albedo leans on his forearms and rests his forehead against yours, closing his eyes. Albedo lines his cock in front of your entrance and slowly enters. You bite down on your lips, your tongue lolling out of your mouth, and you spread your legs wider for Albedo. Albedo grits his teeth and continues to slide his dick inside of your heat. 

You’re so wet that it made it easy for Albedo to slide his cock all the way into you without any complications. Albedo buries his dick deep inside of you and wraps your legs around his waist. You wiggle around beneath Albedo, trying to create friction to satisfy the ache between your legs. You wrap your arms around Albedo’s shoulders, your eyebrows furrowing, eyes squeezed shut, and mouth agape. 

“Please move, ‘bedo,” you whisper.

Albedo cushions the back of your head with his right hand while propping himself up with his left hand. Albedo slowly pulls his hips back, his cock sliding out of you, only leaving the tip of his cock inside of you. Albedo snaps his hips forward, and his cock immediately hits your g-spot. Your eyelids fly open, a loud gasp fills the chilly air, and your back arches. Your erect nipples press up against Albedo’s chest, your nails digging into his shoulders, and your walls squeeze Albedo’s cock for a brief second.

“Oh, fuck,” you and Albedo groan in unison.

Albedo rests his forehead on the side of your neck. His Adam’s apple bobs up and down; Albedo latches his lips onto your collarbone and sucks on it. You rake your nails down Albedo’s pale back, leaving red scratch marks in its wake. Albedo begins thrusting into your heat at a steady pace, breathing heavily into your ears. You mewled against Albedo’s shoulders, hugging him to your chest and rocking your hips against his.

“You like that?” Albedo grunts, pressing his hips against yours. 

The tip of Albedo’s cock kisses your cervix; your eyes roll back, and you chew on your bottom lip, nodding your head. You whimper and press your face against Albedo’s shoulders, feeling your walls tighten and throb around Albedo’s cock. His cock is so thick; you can feel him stretch you out each time he thrusts into your entrance. 

You nod your head and clench your jaws. “I do; I love it so much,” you breathe, tightening your legs around Albedo’s waist and continuing to grind your hips against Albedo’s hips. “I don’t want it to end,” you whimper, nipping at Albedo’s shoulders lightly.

Albedo feels something stir inside of him after hearing what you said. Albedo grabs your left leg and tosses it over his shoulders before picking up the pace. The sound of your and Albedo’s skin slapping against each other makes your walls clench around Albedo’s dick. You let out a loud groan when Albedo puts his entire weight on top of you, your left thigh pressing up against your and Albedo’s chest. Albedo reaches down, pinching and squeezing the little swollen nub of yours.

You grit your teeth and sink your nails into Albedo’s back, feeling your orgasm approaching faster than you expected. Frantically, you tap Albedo’s shoulders, and a string of moans and whines comes from your mouth. The knot forming in your lower stomach is prominent, and you’re afraid that it’s going to snap so soon before Albedo can get his release. 

“Albedo, I’m going to cum!” You whimper, holding onto Albedo for dear life.

The knot in your lower stomach continues to get tighter each time Albedo’s cock enters your entrance. Usually, you would be embarrassed whenever you hear the loud squelching sound between your legs when someone is impaling you on their cock. Maybe it’s the aphrodisiac, but it made you even wetter than you previously were. 

You hear Albedo let out a huff of breath; it almost sounds like an amused laugh. Albedo gazes down at you, his hair framing his face beautifully and dangling in front of your face, tickling your temples.

“Already?” Albedo teases, pinching your sensitive engorged nub hard.

You squeal loudly and thrash below him, rubbing up against him like a bitch in heat. You nod your head and comb your fingers through Albedo’s hair, pulling on his soft, light blonde hair. Albedo releases your abused nub and tangles his fingers into your hair, tilting your head up and crashing his lips against yours. Albedo plunges his cock deep inside your hole, groaning against your lips when he feels your spongey walls clamp down on his dick.

You break the kiss between you and Albedo, and your back arches, and you wail his name at the top of your lungs when the knot snaps. Albedo continues to pistons his cock inside of you, not even close to his release. You cum around Albedo’s dick and lay on the bed, limp and fucked out.

“How are you feeling?” Albedo murmurs, continuing to do what he’s doing, bullying his cock in and out of your tight walls.

You whimper softly from the overstimulation and pull him down to you, resting your chin on his shoulders. Your right leg unwraps around Albedo’s waist, falling on the bed while your left leg remains over Albedo’s shoulders. 

“I’m still insanely horny… and I’m overstimulated,” you panted into Albedo’s ears, running your fingers through Albedo’s hair. “I don’t want you to stop,” you whisper, your eyes rolling back each time Albedo slides his cock inside of your heat. 

You squirm beneath Albedo, removing your left leg from his shoulders before wrapping both legs around his waist and flipping him over on his back with all the strength you can gather. Albedo looks up at you with wide eyes, placing both of his hands on your waist. Albedo gulps when you stare down at him hungrily, with lust completely taking over you. 

Albedo sits up on the bed, rests his back on the wall, props the pillow up behind his back, and pulls you to his chest. You plant your hands beside Albedo’s head on the pillow and begin to slowly grind your heat down on Albedo’s cock. Albedo hisses and thrusts up, hitting your cervix. You let out a choked gasp, and your head tilts back. You bite down on your lips and gulp, your bottom lips quivering.

You plant your hands firmly on Albedo’s shoulders and begin sliding up and down on Albedo’s throbbing, red cock. Albedo latches his lips onto your nipples and begins to swirl his tongue on your erect nipples, sucking and lightly biting them. You grab Albedo’s hair tightly and slam your hips down on Albedo’s cock; forcing the blunt tip of his dick to beat your cervix repeatedly. 

Albedo lets out a loud groan and grabs the globes of your ass, squeezing them tightly and would occasionally spank them, leaving a sting in its wake with each smack.

Albedo grabs the back of your neck with one hand, pressing his hand in the middle of your back, stares up at you, and thrusts upwards. Sweat begins to trickle down his face, his eyes rolling back as he rests his head on the wall, letting his hips go on autopilot. You lean back and begin to rub and pinch your throbbing nub, gritting your teeth together as you continue to slam your hips down on his cock repeatedly.

Your legs are starting to grow tired, and you’re way past feeling overstimulated. You suddenly stop riding Albedo’s cock and collapse on his chest, breathing heavily, and your walls clamp and unclamp around Albedo’s cock. Albedo’s eyelids fly open when you stop. Albedo then flips you over on your back and presses both of your legs against your chest, folding you in half. 

You look at Albedo, breathless and tired from the strenuous activity. Albedo leans over you, pressing your legs down on your chest even further. Albedo lets his head fall on the back of your calves to catch his breath. 

Albedo lets out a laugh of disbelief. “I don’t know how much longer I can go on to satisfy you,” Albedo breathes, gazing down at you with a soft smile on his face. He brushes your hair away from your face and slightly parts your leg to the side so he can get a better view of your face. “How are you feeling so far? Are the effects still there?” Albedo asks.

You pursed your lips and moved your hips against Albedo’s hips, emitting a moan from the man hovering above you. “It’s still there, I can barely feel it, but it’s still there,” you answer. Your entire body is tingling, and you cannot tell whether it’s from the orgasm that you had prior or if it was one of the side effects of the pseudo-warming potion. “My body is tingling, though,” you add, pressing your lips into a thin line, waiting to see his reaction.

Albedo tilts his head to the side, his eyebrows knitting together. “How strange,” Albedo says, slowly thrusting his cock inside of your wet heat. “Was it there whenever you ingested the potion?” Albedo asks.

You shrug your shoulders. “I don’t think I felt any tingling when and after I ingested the potion. The side effects that stood out to me the most are my body overheating and, well, feeling extremely horny,” you laugh sheepishly. 

Albedo nods his head. “Interesting. Perhaps your body is tingling because of your orgasm,” Albedo theorizes. 

“And maybe from the overstimulation,” you add, reaching up to stroke his cheeks. 

Albedo blushes and leans down, pressing his lips against yours. Albedo cups your cheeks in his hands, thrusting his cock in and out of your overstimulated hole. You shiver and moan into Albedo’s mouth when his pubic bone grinds against your swollen nub. Albedo keeps you folded in half in a mating press, his cock reaching the deepest part of your entrance and the mushroom tip of his cock hitting the sweet spot.

Albedo breaks the kiss and presses his forehead against yours, his warm breath fanning your face. “I don’t know how much longer I’ll last,” Albedo murmurs, gazing down at you with his teal eyes while continuing to thrust his dick inside you.

You brush his messy bangs from his face and squeeze his cheeks lightly. Albedo’s body jolts, and he looks at you with wide eyes, his flushed cheeks turning a darker shade of pink. “Hey, don’t give me that look. I’m giving you a butt squeeze of encouragement,” you joke, smiling at him cheekily.

“You’re unbelievable,” Albedo chuckles. Your laugh is cut short when Albedo slams his cock into you. You close your eyes and decide to lay beneath Albedo, letting him use you as a cocksleeve and fuck your sopping wet hole until he’s satisfied. While Albedo is using you as a personal fleshlight, plunging his cock into you repeatedly and grinding his pubic bone against your swollen numb, the back of your thighs are starting to become sore the longer he keeps you in the mating press.

The sound of Albedo’s balls lightly hitting your ass and the sound of his hips meeting yours continues to echo in the campsite. Albedo reaches behind you, grabs your hair, and presses his lips against yours with force. The two of you trade sloppy kisses, trading saliva, and Albedo slips his tongue into your mouth, swirling his tongue around yours and sucking on your tongue. While in the middle of your heated makeout session, Albedo taps on your cheek lightly and pulls away from the kiss.

“Open your mouth for me,” Albedo breathes, continuing to drill his aching, red cock into your tight walls. 

You open your mouth and stick your tongue out. Albedo spits a glob of saliva into your mouth and taps your chin. You close your mouth and swallow Albedo’s saliva; your spongey walls clamp down on Albedo’s cock while he rams the bulbous tip of his dick into your cervix. Albedo’s thrusts start to become sloppy the closer he approaches his orgasm. 

You clench your jaws and claw at Albedo’s back, leaving angry red marks behind as the tip of his cock punches your cervix over and over. You whine loudly and let out a loud gasp when you suddenly cum around Albedo’s cock. The feeling of your walls clenching around his cock sends him into an early orgasm. Albedo groans and collapses on top of you, spurting his warm cum deep inside of you.

Albedo takes a deep breath and lifts his head. Albedo slowly pulls his softening cock out from your sullied, cum-filled hole and watches your and his cum drip out of your entrance and onto the bed. Albedo places your leg down and collapses on the bed beside you, pulling you close to his bare chest. The silent air is filled with the sounds of your and Albedo’s deep breaths; you can hear the wind howling outside of the campsite, sending chilly air into the camp. 

You shiver against Albedo and bury your face against his chest as he pulls the blanket up to cover your and his naked body from the cold. You lay your head on Albedo’s chest, closing your eyes and hugging him tightly around the waist. Albedo combs his fingers through your sweaty hair, pressing the back of his hand against your forehead.

“It seems like your temperature has gone down,” Albedo murmurs, looking down at you. “How are you feeling?” Albedo asks softly.

You look up at Albedo, lean up and press a kiss on his jaws. “Much better; I’m pretty sure the effects are gone. After all, I didn’t drink too much of that concoction,” You said, snuggling up against him and pressing your naked body against his.

Albedo stares up at the ceiling, questioning who had made the concoction and how it ended up in the campsite. Last time Albedo checked, Sucrose and Timeaus didn’t make any potions that use an aphrodisiac, but it looks like he’ll have to question them once he visits Mondstadt. You’re lucky that you ingested small amounts of that potion. If you did consume more than what you did, Albedo’s not sure how long it’ll stay in your system and how many times he’ll have to get you to orgasm to feel satisfied. 

Just when you’re about to fall asleep, you suddenly remember the experiment you and Albedo were supposed to keep an eye out on. You jolt up on the bed, startling Albedo. You look down at Albedo and over at the table; Albedo’s eyes widen, and he gets out the bed and gets dressed while you scramble to put your clothes on. You shivered when you felt your and Albedo’s cum leak down your legs and to the ground. Not wanting to be naked any longer, you quickly put your clothes on and stand beside Albedo, looking down at the experiment that sat there while you and Albedo were going at it like bunnies. 

“It seems like nothing has changed much, but there is a slight difference in color,” Albedo murmurs, squinting his eyes at the plant that has a faint yellow.

You blink at Albedo and scratch your head. “I don’t understand how you can automatically focus on the experiment a few minutes after you railed me on the bed and made me cum multiple times,” you mumble.

Albedo smirks and turns to you, propping his left arm on the wooden table. “I have another experiment in mind. Do you want to test it out?” Albedo asks, raising an eyebrow at you.

You look at Albedo skeptically. “And what is that experiment?” You ask, narrowing your eyes at the smug blond chief alchemist.

Albedo pushes himself off the table and stands in front of you, massaging your hipbones. “I want to see how many times I can get you to cum without the aphrodisiac in your system. Care you test it out?” Albedo cocks an eyebrow at you.

You wrap your arms around his shoulders and lean in to nibble his earlobe. “Let’s test it out, chief alchemist,” you murmur into his ears. 

Note: Lowkey, I feel like I'm missing out on a tag of some sort for the warnings 🤔 I'm going to try to upload more NSFW content. Still, I probably won't be posting them twice a week like how I did with the Pierro x Isekai'd!reader x Capitano mini-fic/smut, along with Crave 5. It'll be posted here and there, whether as a full fic that is over 5k words or as a mini-fic. Who knows! I need to strengthen my skill in the smut department. For those who want to be on the new taglist, here is the link [click here]! The people I tagged down below will or will not be tagged in the upcoming fics, depending if they filled out the new form or not. Anyway, for those who are new here or are returning readers, I ONLY post on my Tumblr (Genshinluvr) and my AO3 (Aaliah_exo)! Nowhere else except Tumblr and AO3!

Taglist for "Various Genshin Men x Isekai'd!Reader" and my overall taglist (this taglist is the last one until I use the new taglist): @xxkatsusjinsux, @huboi, @crazyrichdaughter, @sucker-for-angst-and-fluff, @patata52, @honeybedo, @thedivinepriestress, @pencil-of-ashes, @samarill, @bakuhve, @yukima, @chaosinanutshell, @emperatris-rinaka, @neilify, @ksjjkthpjm, @jaisithebird, @mouchie, @emerald-smile, @jixlem, @the-blob-fish, @jiminscarmex, @bananazzzen, @thelost-in-time, @kryloxen, @ayolk, @tomansimp, @lordbugs, @c-camellias, @chihawari, @lilliansstuff, @zhongloml, @sweethcnvy, @wolf-chan2134, @simp4-fictional-men, @dai-tsukki-desu, @trash-queen-af, @tamayakii, @stellaris999, @hispasian-otaku, @stygianoir, @crispynutduck (if you have not been tagged, it's because you have your settings turned off for people to tag you in posts)

Read more of my works on my Masterlist | Maybe support me by tipping me on Ko-Fi or by reblogging my fanfics! ^^ I will also be posting exclusive fanfics on Ko-Fi as well very soon! You can also tip me on Tumblr if you'd like as a way to show support! ^^

[nikachansstuff]

Just going to put this out there: Azris has more canon evidence and possible build up than Gwynriel could ever dream.

If I weren’t Elriel from birth (little saying in my country, don’t you pay attention), Azris for sure would be my bet and go to ship. If only SJM would have the courage and/or interest to actually write a MM romance, Azris would be the dream, not gonna lie.

The tension? The rage? Enemies to lovers? The whole “you hurt the female I spend centuries loving but now I’m feeling that we may have crossed a line when I attacked you in that HLs meeting”?!

I would gladly eat that up with a poutine as a side.

(Feel free to recommend me some fanfics in the notes, I still didn’t find any to easy this craving! Thank you!)

[ghosts-of-the-apocalypse]

Craving a fic about Cherri and the gang discovering Sir Pentious got redeemed and then her deciding to become a permanent resident of the hotel in honour of him for them to be together. At the same time while Sir Pentious is trying his best to be mean (he can't bring himself to be properly mean/all efforts of being mean backfire and somehow end up being good deeds) and is on the now verge of jumping off the nearest cloud cliff and hoping for the best to reunite with Cherri and his egg bois again.

Said fic does not exist yet-

I may have to start writing fanfic again *slowly glances over to old notes app I used for writing fanfic that hasn't been opened since 2020*