#I skimmed so I’m no expert

[crdteezv]

The Project - Haechan + Ten

Paring:  !popular guy! haechan x ! popular guy! ten x f! reader

Genre: college! au, smut

Synopsis: You're paired with the most popular guys in your school, Ten and Haechan, for a group project.  Everyone seems to love them and fall for their charm but you simply couldn’t understand why. But now, you’re entangled between two best friends, caught in their pull…

 Warnings: smut. !teasing dom! haechan/ten, they’re both best friends, the reader can be a little shy at times, sub reader, mention/use of alcohol, dirty talk, teasing, praise/ slight degradation, heavy cumplay(you have been warned…) (3some), oral (f. giving), thigh riding, edging, hair pulling, manhelded, light voyeurism, slight dacryphilia, drunk/unprotected sex 

Word Count: 10.5k words

A/N: Listen I made this fic to feed into my own delusions because I want them both so bad 😭🙏🏾. It’s the way I never see anyone make a fic of the both of them…

At first, the library was silent, except for the soft rustling of pages and the quiet footsteps of those browsing the shelves. You sat at a wooden table near the back, chin propped on your hand, eyes flicking between the textbook in front of you and the half-empty Word document glowing dimly on your laptop. The project was due next week, and despite your better judgment, you’d somehow end up stuck with the most well-known people in your school: Ten and Haechan.

Everyone at the college loved them—Ten for his effortless charm and quick wit, and Haechan for his playful smirk and endless energy. Together, they were practically irresistible. You, however, weren’t so easily impressed. Sure, they were undeniably attractive—maybe even annoyingly so, but their constant antics were exhausting. 

Ten lounged across from you, lazily twirling a pen between his fingers as he skimmed through a stack of notes. His dark hair fell into his eyes, and every so often, he’d push it back with an easy flick of his wrist. Meanwhile, Haechan slouched to your left, half-heartedly typing while humming a pop song under his breath. They were supposed to help with the presentation, but all they did was interrupt and bicker.

“Seriously, can you guys focus?” you snapped, patience wearing thin.

Haechan huffed, crossing his arms. “Tell him to stop acting like he’s some kind of gaming expert.” 

Ten scoffed, leaning back. “I can’t help it if I’m just naturally better.” 

“You’re not,” Haechan shot back. 

“Your aim is trash.” 

“And yet, I still clutched that last round,” Ten said smugly. “

That was lag!”

You groaned, pinching the bridge of your nose. “Oh my god, can you two drop it and actually help? You’re annoying everyone.”

Haechan snickered, leaning back in his chair. “Relax. No one cares. They’re too busy pretending to study while sneaking glances at me and Ten.”

You rolled your eyes. “Maybe if you spent less time worrying about your stupid little video game, we’d get something done.”

Ten leaned forward, resting his chin on his palm, eyes glittering with amusement. “Are you always this uptight, or are you planning hard to get and you secretly love being in our group?”

That was the last straw. “I don’t love anything about this group, except how fast I’m leaving once we’re done.”

Your voice had risen just enough to catch the librarian’s attention. She shot you a sharp glare over her glasses, arms crossed in clear disapproval.

“Enough. Take your noise elsewhere—you’re too loud.”

Before you could protest, she was already ushering you, Haechan, and Ten toward the exit. You muttered apologies, but it was clear you weren’t welcome back anytime soon.

Once outside, you whirled on them. “Great. Where are we supposed to work now?”

Ten and Haechan were laughing, clearly not taking you seriously.

“Oh, you think this is funny?” you snapped.

Haechan tried to collect himself, but his grin gave him away. “Sorry, it’s just… we’ve didn’ never seen you this mad before.”

“Well, maybe that’s because I actually wanted to start this project, and neither of you has even looked at it,” you huffed.

That seemed to guilt them—at least a little. Ten placed a hand on your shoulder, offering a small smile. “Hey, we’re sorry for the dumb arguments. It’s always this guy’s fault for starting them anyway.”

“Hey!” Haechan protested, offended.

You chuckled despite yourself, feeling a bit better. With a sigh, you said, “Come on, let’s just work at my dorm.”

They exchanged glances before nodding.

Ten smirked. “Good idea. At least your dorm won’t have a cranky librarian.”

You all laughed as you headed off together.

Back in your apartment dorm, the air felt heavier, more intimate. The space seemed to amplify the tension, especially knowing you’d be stuck with Ten and Haechan for the next few hours, your sanctuary invaded.

Trying to ignore their amused chatter, you moved through the space, heading to your room to change into something more comfortable—a cropped top and loose shorts. It was nothing unusual, but when you stepped back out, you noticed their eyes lingering.

Haechan’s usual smirk faltered for just a second, his gaze flicking from your bare waist to your thighs before he quickly looked away. Ten, on the other hand, didn’t even try to hide it. His eyes roamed over you with an intensity that sent a prickle down your spine, a slow smile tugging at his lips.

“Nice outfit,” he said casually, leaning back against the wall. His tone was light, but there was something else in his gaze—something new.

“Yeah,” Haechan added, his voice quieter than usual. “It’s… cute.”

You crossed your arms, ignoring the sudden warmth in your face. “Thanks… now let's focus, we have a lot of work to do.”

But as the evening dragged on, the shift in the air became impossible to ignore. Ten’s gaze lingered a little too long, and Haechan’s teasing remarks carried a different edge. You became hyper-aware of every move, every accidental brush of skin as you worked side by side. And though you’d never admit it, a small part of you didn’t entirely mind.

You start to wonder if you can even handle being in a group with them…

A few days had passed, and the three of you had gradually started working more on the project together. But today, it was just you and Ten. Haechan was stuck at soccer practice so he wasn’t able to make it. You couldn’t ignore the tension between you.

Ten sat across from you at the dining table, his dark eyes scanning his screen, though his focus seemed divided. You could feel his gaze lingering—on your face, your hands, the curve of your neck.

“Something wrong?” you asked, trying to keep your voice steady as you typed away.

“No.” He leaned back in his chair, stretching with an exaggerated sigh. The hem of his hoodie lifted slightly, revealing a sliver of toned skin. “Just thinking about how weird it is without Haechan here. It’s so quiet.”

It was noticeably quieter without Haechan filling every silence with endless chatter.

“Maybe that’s a good thing,” you muttered, glancing up at him. “We might actually get something done.”

Ten’s lips curled into a slow, almost dangerous smile. “You don’t like working with him?”

“I don’t like either of you, to be honest. But I don’t have a choice,” you corrected.

His gaze sharpened, watching you intently, and it was starting to unravel something inside you.

“Are you always like this?”

“Like what?”

“This cranky,” he teased. “Every time we work on this project, you never loosen up.”

“Well, I wouldn’t be if I wasn’t the one doing all the work. “You two barely help as it is and never focus when I try to talk to you about it.”

Ten pushed his laptop aside, folding his arms on the table as he leaned in closer, his eyes tracing over your features. “I can fix that,” he murmured. “I’ll start paying more attention.” His gaze flickered downward, lingering just a moment too long.

You shifted in your seat, avoiding his eyes.

“You know, you’re different when we’re alone.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re… more shy,” he said.

His gaze dipped briefly before returning to yours, amusement dancing in his eyes. “And you’re more on edge…maybe even nervous?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He smirked. “Then why can’t you look me in the eye, love?”

The pet name caught you off guard, leaving you momentarily speechless. Before you could respond, his fingers grazed the back of your hand—a fleeting touch, but one that sent a trail of warmth up your arm.

The air between you shifted. The room felt smaller, the distance between you shrinking even though neither of you had moved.

“That’s what I thought,” he murmured.

“I—” you started, but the way he was looking at you—like you were the only thing in the world worth focusing on—made your voice falter. He got up from his seat and made his way over to you and sat beside you.

He then leaned in, closing the space between you. His lips met yours in a slow, deliberate kiss. His hand slid to the back of your neck, pulling you closer, deepening it. Before you knew it, you were on the couch, straddling his lap.

Ten’s hands found your waist as your fingers tangled in his hair. The soft groan he let out when you shifted against him sent a shiver down your spine. You tested the friction between you, and his fingers tightened their grip, anchoring you in place. His lips left yours, trailing hot kisses along your jaw and down your neck.

“Fuck, Ten… we shouldn’t be doing this. We have so much—”

Your words cut off with a sharp inhale as his hands slid lower, cupping your ass.

A quiet whimper escaped before you could stop it.

“Oh, come on, sweetie,” he murmured, a smirk tugging at his lips. “We’re just taking a little break, right?”

Typical. He always found a way to get what he wanted.

“Besides… you could use one after working so hard on this project, don’t you think?”

You could only nod, wrapping your arms around his neck, and pulling him closer. Your hips rolled against him, and his grip on you tightened. He let out a low groan, his control slipping.

“Mhm, since you love grinding on me so much,” he murmured, his voice low, “how about you do that for me on my thigh?”

You blinked, taken aback. “You can’t be serious…”

“Very.” His gaze darkened, sharp, and unwavering.

Hesitantly, you straddled his thigh, your body already aching for more. As you began to move, the friction sent a rush of pleasure through you, a soft whimper slipping past your lips. Ten’s grip on your waist tightened, his breath hitching.

“God, you look so good like this,” he coaxed.

“Shut up—”

He flexed his thigh beneath you, and the sudden pressure made you moan—a sound that caught both of you off guard.

“Aww,” he cooed, voice dripping with amusement. “It’s cute that you think you can talk back to me.” His fingers traced slow circles over your hips. “Besides… you like the attention I’m giving you.”

You finally understood the pull he had on people. He always knew exactly what to say, effortlessly drawing them in, keeping them hanging on his every word. And somehow, you’d fallen right into his hands.

Your movements quickened, the tension in your body coiling tighter. You buried your face in the crook of his neck, barely able to hold yourself together.

“Mhm, are you close, my pretty girl?” he hummed and all you could do was nod.

“Then let go for me.”

With a final roll of your hips, pleasure crashed over you, leaving you trembling against him. You barely registered the mess you had made, too lost in the lingering high.

“Damn,” Ten chuckled, running a hand through your hair. “You were really pent up, huh?”

Embarrassment flooded through you. You couldn’t even look at him. You had completely fallen into his trap.

“Whatever,” you muttered, scrambling off him. "Can we just clean up now and actually get back to work on this project?"

He laughed and agreed, the teasing glint in his eyes never fading. But as you got up to grab a washcloth, he caught your wrist, stopping you in your tracks.

“Just know this isn’t over,” he murmured, his voice lower, more serious. “We’ll continue this another time.”

You stared at him, startled by the weight of his words—like he meant every single one. Slowly, you nodded, signaling your understanding.

The two of you cleaned up and got back to work, but no matter how hard you tried to focus, you couldn’t shake what had just happened. And the worst part? You weren’t sure if you wanted to.

A few days later…

Haechan showed up at your dorm much earlier than expected, that same cocky look on his face as he breezed in, making himself at home. You should’ve been annoyed, but strangely, you weren’t. 

"Where’s Ten?" he asked, walking right past you and flopping onto your bed like he actually lives here.

“He’s coming later,” you muttered, trying to ignore how his legs sprawled out, taking up way too much of the bed.

“Guess it’s just us then,” he said, his smirk widening as he propped himself up on his elbows. “You don’t look thrilled.”

You rolled your eyes and tried to focus on the project in front of you, but before you could, Haechan was leaning over your shoulder, his breath brushing your ear as he glanced at your screen.

“So, how was working with Ten last time? I bet you missed me,” he teased, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

You couldn’t help but think back to the last time you’d worked with Ten. The memory of it made heat rise in your chest, and you wondered, just for a moment, if Ten had told Haechan about what had happened between you two.

“Not in the slightest,” you shot back. “I get more work done with him than I ever do with you.”

“So you like him more than me?” Haechan asked, his voice laced with a mock pout.

“Well, I didn’t say all that…” You paused, looking down at your hands. “It’s just quieter when you’re not around. And I will admit, I sometimes kind of miss—actually, never mind.”

You could feel his eyes on you, and you knew exactly what he was thinking. He wanted to tease you about whatever you were about to say.

“Don’t stop now, sweetheart. What were you going to say?” His voice turned flirtatious, the kind of tone that made your stomach twist in ways you hated to admit.

You hated when he did this—when he played with you, knowing just how to push your buttons. He loved seeing you become a mess, trying to keep your composure while he unraveled you bit by bit.

“It’s nothing, alright? Now, unlike you, I actually care about passing, so can you please stop teasing me and help me with this work?” you snapped, trying to get back to the project.

But instead of listening, he swiveled your chair to face him, locking eyes with you. His usual playful gaze was now replaced with something deeper, something more intense. He was towering over you as you sat up to look at him, his hands resting firmly on the armrests of your chair as he leaned down, looking at you with an intensity that made you catch your breath.

“Forget about the work for a second and focus on me,” he murmured, with one of his hands slowly creeping down to your thigh. “I want to know what you were going to say.”

Your breath hitched, and your heart raced as his thumb moved in slow circles against your skin. You couldn’t find your words. His touch felt like fire, and it left you frozen.

“I was going to say that I kind of missed you…” The words slipped out before you could stop them, and you immediately regretted it.

He gave a low, amused chuckle. “Wait, really? I thought you didn’t like me because I always talk your ear off. ”His tone was playful, but there was a hint of disbelief in his voice.

You swallowed hard, fingers gripping the edge of the chair. “Well, I don’t mind it, to be honest. You kind of help me unwind when you make me laugh. Your jokes really do help, and they make me forget about the project for a bit. Not that Ten isn’t funny... he is, just quieter and mostly keeps to himself, you know?”

Haechan was quiet for a moment, clearly surprised by your confession. He genuinely thought you didn’t like him. But now, hearing you say this, something shifted in his expression. Maybe you’d grown a little soft for him after all.

Haechan’s eyes softened, just for a moment, before the smirk returned, wider and more confident than before. He leaned in closer, his breath warm against your ear as his fingers lingered on your thigh, the contact sending a jolt of heat through you.

“Didn’t think I had that effect on you,” he murmured, voice low and teasing.

You tried to steady your breath, feeling his proximity like a weight pressing against you. Every inch of your body screamed for you to move away, but something in you didn’t want to. Something was pulling you in, and you couldn’t quite understand why.

You tried to steady your breath, feeling his proximity like a weight pressing against you. Every inch of your body screamed for you to move away, but something in you didn’t want to. Something was pulling you in, and you couldn’t quite understand why.

“I bet you do this to all the girls you mess with,” you said, rolling your eyes as you turned your chair back around to focus on the work.

Haechan chuckled softly, the sound vibrating against your skin as he leaned down, his lips brushing your ear in a way that made it hard to think. “Only the ones I really want,” he replied, his voice low, almost a whisper.

You shifted uncomfortably in your seat, trying to focus on the work in front of you, but it felt impossible with him so close. The heat from his body, the way his breath ghosted over your skin—it was all too much.

"Why are you doing this?" you managed to ask, your voice barely above a whisper as your typed away on your laptop.

His lips curled into that familiar smirk, but now it had a sharper edge. "Because I can," he said simply, his thumb making slow, deliberate circles on your skin. "And because you haven’t told me to stop."

You gasped at his words, but couldn’t bring yourself to push him away. Instead, something inside you shifted, and the line between annoyance and attraction started to come together.

"I-I thought you were here to help me with the project," you said, trying to break the tension with a half-hearted attempt at humor.

"Who says we can’t multitask?" His grin widened as he moved to side of you so he can look down at you and see the bashful look on your face. "Besides, I think we’re doing a pretty good job of it already."

Your pulse quickened, and you realized you weren’t sure where this was headed anymore. The teasing and flirting were growing more intense, more real, and you couldn’t decide if you wanted him to stop or keep going.

Before you could respond, he lowered his voice again, towering down to the side of your face with his lips dangerously close to your ear. “So, what’s it gonna be? You want me to help with the work... or something else?”

The question hung in the air, thick with anticipation, and you knew there was no turning back now.

Haechan's eyes never left yours, his smirk deepening as he slowly, deliberately, moved closer. His hands found the armrests of your chair, trapping you in place as he loomed over you, his presence all-consuming. Your breath hitched, heart hammering against your ribs as the heat between you both thickened.

“I’m still waiting for an answer,” he murmured, his voice like velvet, wrapping around you, making it impossible to ignore the way he was looking at you—like he had already won.

Your fingers twitched over your laptop keyboard, but your mind was blank. The work in front of you might as well have been in another language for all the attention you could give it. Haechan knew it too. He could see the way your lips parted slightly, the way your body betrayed you, leaning in despite yourself.

He then knelt down for a kiss.

Soft at first, like he was testing the waters, but when you didn’t pull away, he tilted his head and deepened it. His lips moved against yours with slow, intoxicating confidence, his tongue slipping between them, tasting you, claiming you. A low hum of satisfaction rumbled from his chest as he pressed closer, bending down to make up for the height difference while you sat frozen in your chair.

But he didn’t want to keep bending down to reach you.

Without warning, he grabbed your laptop, placed it on the bed, and shoved everything off your desk, letting it scatter carelessly.

 He grabbed you, and picked you up  as if it was nothing. A small gasp left your lips, but it was swallowed by the intensity of his kiss as he carried you to the desk.

“Hey—” you barely got the protest out before he set you down on the cleared desk, stepping between your thighs and pulling you flush against him.

“You’ll live,” he murmured against your lips, his hands already roaming, fingers tracing the hem of your shirt, gripping your waist like he owned you.

Your hands found his broad shoulders, gripping onto him for stability, but really, you just wanted to feel him, to confirm this was real. He pulled back slightly, just enough to look at you, his dark eyes flickering with something dangerous. “You taste even better than I thought,” he admitted, smirking as he brushed his thumb over your bottom lip, teasing, testing.

You swallowed hard, your skin burning from his touch, from the way he was looking at you like he wanted to devour you. You wrapped your legs around his waist, holding him close, not wanting him to leave.

 “You’re so full of yourself,” you muttered, though your voice lacked any real bite.

“Only because I know what I want.”

He was kissing you again, harder this time, hungrier. His hands slid up your thighs, gripping them as he pressed closer, trapping you between his body and the desk.You couldn’t think, couldn’t focus on anything but the way he tasted, the way his fingers gripped your skin and how his tongue moved with yours as if he had all the time in the world.

Then, suddenly, he pulled away, only to take your place in the chair. He sat down, his hands gripping your hips as he pulled you closer, settling you on his lap like you belonged there.

“There,” he breathed, looking up at you with hooded eyes, his fingers brushing your hair back before trailing down your spine. “Much better.”

Your heart raced in your chest, your fingers threading through his dark hair as you looked down at him, breathless, caught between disbelief and raw desire. The way he gazed up at you, lips swollen from kissing, hands on your hips, fingers grazing the hem of your shirt—it was clear this wasn’t over.

Haechan’s touch grew bolder, his fingers slipping under your shirt, leaving a trail of fire on your skin as he leaned in, his lips brushing your neck. His hand moved lower, fingertips skimming the waistband of your shorts before slipping inside. Your breath caught as his fingers found your heat, his touch deliberate and teasing.

“Look at you,” he whispered, voice thick with desire, his fingers pressing where you needed them most. “Already so wet for me.”

Your grip on his shoulders tightened as he worked you slowly, his fingers curling, coaxing pleasure from you with each calculated stroke. The way he watched you, reveling in your little reactions. Your hips moved against his hand, chasing the sensation, but he kept you on the edge, never giving you quite enough.

Just as you felt yourself getting closer to the edge, a sharp knock at your front door broke the moment.

Both of you froze. Your breath was ragged, your body trembling as you tried to make sense of reality again. Haechan’s fingers still rested inside you, a silent, frustrated pause between you before the knock came again, louder this time.

“Shit,” you whispered, scrambling to reach for your phone as it buzzed on the desk beside you.

Haechan smirked, watching you with lazy amusement as you answered the call, pressing the phone to your ear while attempting to steady your breathing.

“Hey, I’m here I’ve been knocking on your door for awhile now,” Ten’s voice came through, oblivious to what he had just interrupted. “Are you home? Also, I remember Haechan told me he was going to be there earlier than me. Is he with you right now?”

You were so caught up in the moment that you didn’t hear Ten knocking on your door for the past five minutes. You swallowed hard, forcing your voice to sound normal, despite the heat still pulsing through your veins. “Uh—yeah! Yes, I’m home and yeah he is here. I’ll be there in a second.”

You ended the call, exhaling sharply, your gaze snapping to Haechan, who hadn’t moved an inch. His smirk deepened, his fingers brushing over your thigh before pulling away completely, leaving you aching, unsatisfied.

“Guess you have to go let him in,” he murmured, amusement dancing in his eyes.

You shot him a glare before scrambling off his lap, your legs still shaky as you hurried to fix your clothes. The smug look on his face only made your frustration grow.

The project was finally turned in, freeing the three of you from hours of cramped sessions, awkward tension, and the intense moments that had built up between you and each of them.You thought you could finally breathe—maybe even return to normal. But as you sat in your dorm with Ten and Haechan sprawled lazily on your bed, your mind kept drifting back to everything that had happened.

Since you had all worked so hard on the project, you figured you deserved to celebrate, cracking open a bottle of your favorite alcohol and passing around shot glasses. The familiar burn of liquor settled in your stomach as the three of you took turns, the warmth spreading through your veins.

Haechan, as usual, wore that signature smirk of his, arm draped over the edge of the bed as he teased Ten about something trivial. Ten, leaning back against your headboard with his legs crossed, watched in quiet amusement, his dark eyes flicking between you and Haechan. The dynamic between them was as natural as ever—so why did it feel like you were under a microscope every time Ten’s gaze lingered on you?

“You’re quiet,” he noted, his voice smooth yet concerned. “You’re always like that, but this time it feels… different.”

“I’m fine,” you said, forcing reassurance into your tone. “Just relieved we finally finished the project.”

“You want to get rid of us that quickly, huh?” Haechan teased, his eyes glinting mischievously.

“Well, not necessarily… I just—”

“Oh, stop teasing her. You’re making her uncomfortable when you do that,” Ten interjected, rolling his eyes.

“What? It’s a valid question,” Haechan scoffed, sitting up a little. “She even said herself that once the project was over, she was done with us. Hell, I’m surprised she even invited us back to her place.”

You hesitated, his words lingering. He wasn’t entirely wrong. At the beginning, you hadn’t wanted to be grouped with them. But after spending so much time together, you had started to see them differently—especially after everything that had happened between the three of you.

Ten studied you, sharp gaze reading you too well. “Actually… he has a point.” His voice was quieter now, more curious than teasing. “What changed?”

You swallowed, glancing between them. “I don’t know,” you admitted. “Maybe... maybe I just got used to you guys.”

Haechan smirked, leaning in slightly. “Got used to us, huh? That’s one way to put it.”

The air in the room thickened again, that same tension from the past week creeping back in. But this time, there was no project keeping you together—only whatever this was, simmering beneath the surface, waiting to be acknowledged.

Haechan’s playful expression never wavered, the alcohol loosening his tongue. “Oh, you got used to us alright—especially with me. Do you remember  what happened the other day when it was just us alone?”

Your heart stopped. He was bluffing. He had to be. He wouldn’t—

Ten’s eyebrows lifted, his smirk deepening. “The other day? What happened the other day?”

“Nothing,” you blurted, shooting Haechan a sharp look. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. The alcohol just getting to him.

“Oh, but you know exactly what I’m talking about, love.” Haechan leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees as he grinned at you placing his hand on his cheek. “And I think Ten might want to know how—”

“Okay!” you cut him off, your voice a bit too loud. “How about we play a game instead of… whatever this is?”

Ten’s gaze flicked between you and Haechan, curiosity piqued, but he let it slide—for now. He reached for his drink, shrugging. “Sure. What game?”

“Truth or dare,” Haechan suggested immediately, his grin looking sinster.

You hesitated, knowing full well this could only end badly. But with both of them watching you expectantly, you nodded. “Fine.”

At first, the game was harmless. Ten dared Haechan to chug his drink; Haechan asked Ten about the weirdest place he’d ever hooked up with someone. But it didn’t take long for the questions to turn more personal, the tension thickening with each round.

Finally, it was Haechan’s turn to ask you. He leaned back, swirling his drink lazily as he fixed you with a look that made your stomach churn. “Truth or dare?”

“Truth,” you said, your voice quieter than you intended.

His grin widened. “What’s one thing you’ve always wanted to try but never had the chance to?”

You hesitated, your mind racing. You could lie and say something safe, but the alcohol buzzing in your veins made your tongue slip. “I’ve…always kind of wanted to try a threesome,” you admitted, your face burning the moment the words left your mouth.

The room went silent.

 You didn’t dare look at either of them, but you could feel their stares, the weight of their shock, and something else entirely.

“Wow,” Ten finally said, his voice low and laced with amusement. “Did not see that coming.”

Haechan, on the other hand, laughed outright, his grin practically splitting his face. “Shit, really? A threesome?”

“Shut up,” you muttered, covering your face with your hands. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“Oh no, no, no,” Ten said, his tone teasing. “You can’t drop something like that and then get shy about it. That’s not how this works.”

“Yeah,” Haechan added, shifting closer to you on the bed. “Now we’re curious.”

You peeked through your fingers, gaze darting between them. Ten’s smirk was sharper than ever, and Haechan was looking at you like he wanted to eat you alive.

“What are you guys doing?” you asked, voice barely above a whisper. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Nothing,” Ten said innocently, though the look in his eyes told a different story. “Just wondering if that’s something you’d want to… explore.”

Your heart pounded. “You’re joking.”

“Does it look like we’re joking?” Haechan asked, his hand coming to rest on your knee. The touch was light, but it sent a shiver up your spine.

“This is crazy,” you said, shaking your head, but neither of them moved away.

“Maybe,” Ten said, leaning in closer. “But you’re not telling us to stop.”

Before you could respond, Haechan’s hand slid higher, his fingers brushing against your thigh. At the same time, Ten’s fingers found your chin, tilting your face toward him. His dark eyes searched yours, waiting for hesitation. When he didn’t find any, he leaned in, capturing your lips in a kiss that was soft yet teasing, coaxing you to relax.

Haechan wasn’t as patient. His lips found your neck, pressing hot, open-mouthed kisses against your skin, his hand still inching up your thigh.

Ten’s touch slid beneath your shirt, tracing the curve of your waist. “You’re shaking,” he murmured against your lips, voice low, almost cruel. “What’s the matter? Too much for you?”

Haechan chuckled against your skin, his teeth grazing your collarbone. “Bet you’re loving every second of this, though. Aren’t you?”

You couldn’t answer—couldn’t do anything but let out a soft whimper as Ten’s hands slid higher, fingertips grazing your heated skin. Haechan’s lips found your ear, his breath warm and teasing as he whispered darkly,

“Let’s see how much you can take.”

Ten’s lips left yours, but his dark eyes never wavered from your face. A slow smirk played on his lips as he studied you—needy, breathless, already trembling. “Look at you,” he murmured, his voice cutting through the thick haze of arousal clouding your mind. “So worked up already, and we’ve barely even touched you.”

Haechan’s grip on your thigh tightened, his palm searing through the thin fabric of your shorts. He leaned back slightly, gaze raking over your parted lips, the way your chest rose and fell with each uneven breath. “You’re acting so shy,” he murmured, voice laced with amusement, “but I can feel how much you want this. You’re practically shaking.”

You opened your mouth to retort, to defend yourself, but the words died in your throat when Ten’s hand slid beneath the hem of your shirt, his fingertips grazing your bare skin. He started to grope at your chest, making you whimper. The teasing softness of his touch sent a shiver up your spine, and Haechan let out a low chuckle, clearly enjoying the sight of you caught between the two of them.

Haechan chuckled lowly, clearly enjoying how easily you melted between them. “What’s the matter?” His voice dripped with mockery. “Are you scared? Or are you too busy imagining what it’d be like if we really gave you what you wanted?

Your breath hitched, and warmth rushed to your face at the bluntness of his words. “You’re… you’re both ridiculous,” you managed, but the tremor in your voice betrayed you.

Ten tilted his head, his smirk widening. “Oh, we’re ridiculous?” His fingers trailed down to your ribs, causing you to shudder. “Says the one who just admitted they’ve been fantasizing about a threesome.” He leaned in, lips brushing the shell of your ear as he whispered, “You’re not very good at hiding how much you want this, you know.”

The warmth in your face spreads down your neck and throughout your whole body. The alcohol was starting to take effect, making you feel hot all over. You instinctively tried to pull back, but Haechan’s grip on your thigh tightened, keeping you locked in place.

“Don’t go running now,” he said, his voice low and commanding. “We’re just getting started.”

Ten’s fingers found your chin again, tilting your face toward his. “That’s right,” he murmured, his thumb brushing over your bottom lip. “You’re going to stay right here and take what we give you, aren’t you?”

Your heart was pounding so hard you thought it might die in this moment, and when Ten’s lips captured yours again, you felt like you were going to pass out. This kiss was deeper—hungrier—his tongue teasing yours with a deliberate slowness that drove you insane. You couldn’t stop the soft moan that escaped you when Haechan’s hand slid higher, his fingertips teasing the edge of your shorts.

Ten pulled back slightly, his lips brushing against yours as he spoke. “Why don’t you show us how much you want this?” he said, his tone equal parts coaxing and commanding. “Go ahead, pick one of us.”

Your eyes widened, darting between the two of them. The weight of their gazes, the smugness of their smirks—it was overwhelming. It sent a hot pulse of anticipation pooling between your thighs. Finally, you reached out, fingers trembling slightly as they pressed against Ten’s chest.

His smirk softened into something darker, more possessive. “Good choice,” he murmured, and before you could second-guess yourself, he was pulling you onto his lap. His hands gripped your hips, guiding you to straddle him.

“You’re lucky,” Haechan drawled from behind, his tone rich with amusement as he leaned lazily against the headboard, watching the two of you with a grin.

Ten chuckled, his hands sliding up your sides as he kissed you again. This time, his lips and tongue worked with slow, deliberate precision, savoring the way you melted beneath him. Behind you, Haechan’s presence loomed—his gaze burning into your back as he observed every shift, every sound you made.

“You look good like this,” Haechan murmured after a moment, voice low and teasing. “All desperate and needy. I wonder if you’ll look even better bent over for us.”

The words sent a jolt of heat through you, and Ten must have felt it because he smirked against your lips. “Looks like someone likes the sound of that,” he murmured, fingers tightening around your waist. He shifted beneath you, letting you feel just how much he was enjoying this. “Go on, then. Show us what you can do.”

Your breath hitched, but your body moved before your mind could catch up. You slid off Ten’s lap, hands pressing into the mattress as you bent yourself over for Haechan, heat crawling up your neck as you met Ten’s gaze. His eyes darkened as he looked down at you. When you hesitated, his hand found your chin, tilting your face up to meet his.

“Don’t be shy,” he said softly, his thumb brushing over your cheek. “You wanted this, didn’t you?”

Behind you, Haechan moved closer, his hands sliding over your shoulders as he leaned down to murmur in your ear. “Better make it good,” he said, his voice low and taunting. “We’ve been waiting for this all night.”

The room felt impossibly small, the tension thick enough to cut with a knife. Your hands trembled slightly as you reached for Ten, fingers working at his belt. His smirk deepened, and when Haechan’s hands slid down to your waist, pulling you back against him, you realized there was no turning back now.

The soft clink of metal filled the space between you. Ten’s gaze was dark, heavy-lidded with anticipation, watching as you tugged his jeans down just enough to expose the growing bulge straining against his boxers.  

“You’re eager,” Ten murmured, his voice low and teasing, watching as your fingers trembled slightly while sliding under the waistband of his boxers. “I like that.”  

You swallowed hard, unsure if it was his words, the sheer intensity of the moment, or the way Haechan’s grip tightened around your hips that sent another wave of heat coursing through your body.  

“Let me help you with that,” Haechan murmured from behind, his hands sliding down to the hem of your shorts. You gasped softly as he tugged them down, the cool air against your skin a stark contrast to the warmth of his hands.  

“Fuck,” Haechan muttered under his breath, his voice dripping with approval as he let his fingers trail over the curve of your bare ass. “You’ve been hiding this from us?”  

Ten chuckled above you, his fingers threading into your hair. "Don't distract her, Haechan. She has a job to do."

Haechan smirked, his hands lingering for a moment before shifting to his pants. “Fine. But don’t keep all the fun to yourself.”  

You barely had time to process their banter before Ten’s hand guided your head closer, his cock now free and standing tall before you. The sight of it made your stomach twist in nervous excitement, and the weight of his gaze as he looked down at you made your skin tingle.  

“Open up,” he said, his thumb brushing over your bottom lip, his tone calm but commanding.  

You parted your lips hesitantly, and he groaned softly as you took him into your mouth, your tongue running along his length as you adjusted to the feeling of him filling you. He was thick, and the stretch was enough to make your jaw ache slightly, but the low, breathy curses he let out encouraged you to keep going.  

“Good,” he murmured, his fingers tightening in your hair as he guided you into a steady rhythm. “Just like that.”  

Behind you, Haechan’s hands gripped your hips firmly, pulling you back until you were bent over in front of him, your knees spread wide. He slid his fingers along your inner thigh, teasingly close but never quite where you needed them most.

“You’re dripping,” he said, his tone dripping with smugness as he slid a finger through your slick folds. You whined softly around Ten’s cock, the vibrations making him groan and tighten his grip on your hair.  

“Don’t tease,” Ten muttered, his voice rough with arousal. “You’ll break her before we even get started.”  

Haechan laughed softly, but his teasing didn’t last much longer. He started to finger at your cunt at a rough and delibrate pace. You felt yourself squeezed around him and he took notice of that.

"Mhm, you like this, don’t you, baby? Who would’ve thought you could be such a little slut?"

Your core clenched around his fingers at his degrading words.

“Woah, you’re so needy—it reminds me of last time.”

You froze. Just for a second.

Ten was struggling to keep his composure, drowning in the way you were sucking the life out of him, trying to tune out Haechan’s blabbering. But his ears perked up at those words. Last time?

“Wait… what do you mean by that?” Ten’s voice was sharp now, cutting through the heat in the room.

“Oh? She really didn’t tell you?” Haechan chuckled, his tone dripping with amusement. “Well, that day I came over early to work on our project together… let’s just say she was making a fucking mess in my lap, with my fingers shoved so deep inside her. She was close—so fucking close—until you showed up and cockblocked us.”

Ten stiffened. His grip on you tightened.

He thought he was the only one. Turns out, you’d been spreading your legs for Haechan too.

His voice dropped, laced with something darker. “Is that true, baby?”

You couldn’t answer. Shame burned through you. It wasn’t like you meant to lead them on… you just wanted them both.

Your silence pissed him off. His fingers tangled in your hair, yanking your head back, forcing you to meet his gaze.

“Answer me.”

For the first time, you felt intimidated by him. A little afraid.

But also… excited.

A part of you liked seeing him like this—possessive.

“Y-yes… it’s true…”

Ten didn’t say a word. He didn’t need to. His silence spoke volumes as he suddenly shoved you all the way down to the base of his cock. Your eyes widened, tears welling up as you instinctively gripped the sheets, your throat tightening around him.

“So, I’m guessing, love, you haven’t told Haechan about what we did not too long ago either?”

Haechan’s eyes flicked toward Ten, curiosity piqued. His fingers never slowed as they worked inside you, meticulous, teasing, pushing deeper as he turned his attention toward him.

“Wait… don’t tell me something happened between you two, too.”

Ten smirked. Arrogant. Smug. One hand braced on the mattress as he leaned back slightly, the other still tangled in your hair, keeping you in place as he pushed you even deeper on his cock.

“Oh, we did something, alright. Unlike you, I actually made her cum—right on my thigh, at that.”

Haechan’s brows lifted in surprise. He hadn’t realized just how desperate you were. How needy. He gave your ass a light smack, making you jolt, a muffled moan vibrating around Ten’s cock, causing him to moan and throw his head back.

“No way… wow. And here I thought we were the slutty ones.” Haechan chuckled, shaking his head. “But you? You really just like getting passed around by the both us, huh?”

His words alone made your whole body tighten, pleasure pooling low in your stomach. You squirmed, barely able to control yourself. And he noticed.

“Oh? Are you close, sweetie?”

You couldn’t answer. Not properly. But you tried to mouth a desperate "yes" around Ten’s cock, the vibrations of your voice making his hips twitch, sending him closer to the edge. Haechan didn’t waste a second, fingers moving faster, deeper, maliciously curling until you shattered around them, a slick mess pooling beneath you.

“Fuck, you’re so hot,” he groaned, his fingers slowing as he pulled them out, coated in your release. “I can’t believe you came so quick… but I’m not done with you yet.”

Your breath hitched as you heard the unmistakable sound of his zipper lowering. Then the rustle of fabric.

A moment later, you felt it—the blunt head of his cock pressing against your entrance. Your body trembled as he pushed forward, the stretch immediate, overwhelming, sending a gasp tearing from your throat.

“Shit,” Haechan hissed, his grip on your hips tightening as he pulled you back onto him, sinking inch by inch. “So fucking tight.”

The fullness of him made your thighs shake, made your fingers curl into the sheets. He didn’t give you long to adjust. Not even a second. He pulled out almost entirely before slamming back in, the force knocking the breath from your lungs, making you jolt around Ten’s cock.

“Careful,” Ten warned, though his voice was strained, his fingers flexing in your hair. “She can’t exactly focus on me if you’re going to fuck them like that.”

Haechan only smirked, setting a punishing rhythm, hips snapping against your ass with enough force to make the room echo with the sound of skin meeting skin.

“Maybe I don’t want her to focus,” he shot back, his voice laced with amusement. “I want her to have no thoughts in that pretty head of hers.”

Your moans were muffled, choked by the cock filling your mouth, and the sensation sent Ten spiraling, his hips rocking up to meet you, his grip on your hair unrelenting. His other hand cupped your cheek, his thumb tracing over your skin as he guided you, helping you take him deeper.

“You’re so good at this,” he murmured, his voice softer now, but still laced with heat. “So eager to please… I didn’t think you had it in you.”

Behind you, Haechan let out a low chuckle, his hands sliding up your waist before gripping you harder. “Guess we bring the slutty side out of them.”

His words were punctuated by a particularly hard thrust that made you cry out around Ten’s cock, your whole body quivering. The overwhelming sensation of being completely filled by both of them made your head spin.

“Shit,” Ten groaned, his fingers tightening. “I’m not gonna last if you keep doing that.”

Ten’s hips stilled. His grip on your hair tightened as he let out a low, guttural moan, his release spilling into your throat. You swallowed on instinct, the warmth flooding your senses as his hand slid to the back of your neck, holding you still for just a moment before he slowly eased you off him.

“Good.” His thumb brushed over your swollen lips, his gaze dark, approving. “You’re such a good girl, aren’t you?”

Before you could catch your breath and process what just happened, Haechan’s hands slid up your back, pressing you down slightly as his thrusts grew rougher. More desperate. Bruising.

And he wasn’t stopping anytime soon.

“Don’t think I’m letting you off easy,” Ten muttered, his voice taut with restraint as he chased his own release.

Your body trembled, every nerve lit up, tension coiling tighter and tighter. You were long past resistance—willing, desperate, ready to let them take whatever they wanted.

Ten wanted more. Wanted control.

He moved to take Haechan’s place, pushing him aside effortlessly.

His hands gripped your thighs, spreading you further apart, forcing you open beneath him. Your legs shook as he adjusted you at the very edge of the bed, your head hanging back over the side, hair spilling to the floor. The sudden inversion sent blood rushing to your face, making your vision swim, but the only thing you could focus on was Ten looming over you, his dark, hungry gaze drinking you in like he’d waited his whole life for this.

Behind him, Haechan leaned back lazily in your desk chair, arms crossed, amusement curling at the corners of his lips. He wasn’t going anywhere—he wanted to sit back and watch, wanted to see exactly how much of a mess you became beneath Ten. His cock, still slick from your arousal, lay heavy in his hand as he stroked himself leisurely, the sight sending another wave of heat flooding through you.

“Look at you,” Ten murmured, voice smooth, taunting, as he slid his hands up your thighs, thumbs pressing into your soft flesh. “All laid out for us, completely at our mercy. Is this what you wanted all along?”

You turned your face, the heat of shame burning at your chest, but Ten wasn’t having it. His fingers caught your chin, forcing you to meet his gaze.

“Don’t get shy now,” he smirked, eyes glinting with something wicked. “You’ve been begging for this for weeks, haven’t you? Strutting around in those little crop tops, teasing us while we worked on that stupid project. Did you think we wouldn’t notice?”

“You didn’t make it easy for us,” Haechan chimed in, voice dripping with mockery. “Bending over in front of us, dropping pens like it was an accident. You wanted us to look. You wanted us to see what we could do to you.”

“That’s not—”

Your protest was cut off with a sharp thrust, Ten pushing inside, stretching you open inch by inch. A startled gasp tore from your throat as he bottomed out, hips flush against yours, filling you completely.

“Don’t lie,” he growled, his voice dropping lower as he gripped your waist, holding you still as your body clenched around him. “Your body doesn’t lie. You’re soaking wet—dripping all over me like you’ve been dying for this.”

The position made every thrust hit impossibly deep, your body arching off the bed as he moved, slow and deliberate at first, dragging pleasure through you with every stroke.

“Fuck,” Haechan muttered from his chair, his hand moving over himself as he watched, eyes heavy-lidded with lust. “You’re really taking him, huh? Bet you’ve been fantasizing about this every time you pretended to hate us.”

“Remember that day you yelled at us for being too loud?” Ten taunted, his pace quickening, each thrust sending a shockwave through you. He leaned in close, lips brushing your ear, voice dark and sinful. “Bet the only reason you wanted us to keep coming over was because you were hoping we’d fuck you right then and there. Probably got yourself off to the thought of it, didn’t you?”

Your pride flared, warring with the undeniable truth. You shook your head weakly, but your body betrayed you, hips tilting up, chasing more.

Haechan clicked his tongue, unimpressed. He pushed himself out of the chair, stepping forward, leaning down until his face hovered inches from yours. His hand wrapped around his cock, lazily stroking himself as he spoke.

“Answer him,” he ordered, voice sharp. “Tell the truth, or we’ll stop right now.”

The thought of them stopping—leaving you like this, empty, aching—was unbearable.

“I…” Your breath hitched, voice barely a whisper. “You’re right. About everything…”

Haechan laughed, low and dark, standing straight again as he resumed stroking himself. “Knew it. You’ve been obsessed with us this whole time.”

Ten groaned at your admission, fingers tightening around your thighs as he thrust into you harder, his control slipping. “Fuck, you’re so tight,” he muttered, voice ragged. “Can’t believe we wasted all that time working on that stupid project when we could’ve been doing this.”

You whimpered, fingers clawing at the sheets beneath you as he fucked you faster, the sound of his hips slamming into yours filling the room. Each thrust pushed you closer, every nerve in your body strung so tight you thought you might snap.

“You’re such a mess,” Haechan mused, eyes locked on where Ten disappeared inside you over and over. “Moaning like a desperate little whore, like this is all you’ve ever wanted.”

Ten smirked, leaning down again, lips brushing against your ear as he whispered, “Maybe if you’d just been honest from the start, we could’ve given you this sooner.” His teeth grazed your skin, sending shivers down your spine. “You didn’t have to play so hard to get.”

The words sent you over the edge. Your body tensed, pleasure ripping through you in an overwhelming wave, a choked cry spilling from your lips as you clenched down hard around him.

Ten cursed under his breath, movements stuttering as your orgasm dragged him closer to his own. And he wasn’t far behind.

"Fuck," he muttered, voice tight as he pounded into you harder, fingers digging into your thighs, sure to leave bruises. "You’re gonna make me—"

Before he could finish, his hips slammed flush against yours, a guttural moan ripping from his throat as warmth flooded deep inside you. The sensation sent a shiver down your spine as he collapsed onto you, breath ragged.

"Don’t think you’re done yet," Haechan’s voice cut through the haze, dark and amused. He stepped closer, cock still hard, still ready. "It’s my turn now."

Ten’s pace never faltered, each thrust deep and ruthless, fucking you through your orgasm like he had no intention of stopping. Your head hung off the edge of the bed, back arched as he drove into you with a force that left your whole body trembling. His grip on your thighs was bruising, possessive, dragging you onto his cock with every sharp snap of his hips.

"Look at you," Ten growled, eyes raking over you, voice rough with hunger. "Taking it so well. Like you were made for this."

A low chuckle came from the side—Haechan, stepping in closer, dark amusement curling at the edge of his voice. "You’re hogging all the fun, Ten. Move over. I’ve got a better idea."

Ten smirked but didn’t stop. "Go ahead. They’ve got a mouth too, don’t they?"

Your chest heaved as Haechan came to stand by the bed, stroking himself lazily, already hard again. His grin was sharp, wicked.

"Open up," he ordered, tone laced with amusement. "You’ve been so good for us so far. Let’s see how much more you can take."

Your body was already shaking from Ten’s relentless thrusts, but the demand in Haechan’s voice sent another shiver through you. Lips parted, breath ragged, you let him grip your face, guiding himself between your lips.

"That’s it," he murmured, mockingly sweet, fingers tightening against your jaw. "Such a good girl, aren’t you? Always eager to please."

The moment he pushed past your lips, Haechan groaned—low, filthy—as he slid deeper, his grip keeping you in place. The angle forced your throat to stretch around him, and at first, he moved slow, savoring it, before picking up speed, using your mouth like it was his to claim.

"Fuck, you feel good," he muttered, voice strained as his fingers curled around your neck, using it like a handle. He thrust deeper, his other hand tangling in your hair. "Always running that mouth, acting like you’re too good for us. Look at you now, getting fucked from both ends."

Ten groaned above you, pace growing erratic as he slammed into you, every drag of his cock against your walls leaving you shuddering, overstimulated and wrecked. "Your such a fucking mess," he muttered through gritted teeth, grip tightening on your thighs. "Can’t get enough, can you? So desperate to be filled up."

Your muffled moans vibrated around Haechan’s cock, making him hiss through his teeth. His hips snapped forward, pushing even deeper, your throat tightening around him as tears welled in your eyes. His fingers dug into your jaw, holding you there.

"Look at you," Haechan purred, voice dripping mockery. "Drooling all over yourself, tears running down your face. You’re such a fucking slut... but you love it, don’t you?"

You could barely think, body trembling, pleasure unraveling into something raw as Ten’s rhythm turned frantic. His grip was almost punishing as he chased his release.

But this time, he didn’t finish inside you. He pulled out, breath heavy, stepping back to stand beside Haechan. His hand wrapped around himself, stroking slow, watching you with a dark, satisfied smirk.

"I’m not done yet," Ten murmured, voice low, commanding. "We’re going to make sure you’re completely covered by the time we’re finished with you."

Haechan chuckled, thrusts turning erratic, both hands now gripping your hair as he fucked your throat deep. "You hear that?" His tone was a promise, sharp and teasing. "You’re not just taking us—you’re going to wear us."

The words sent a fresh wave of heat coursing through you, your moans muffled as Haechan’s cock twitched deep in your throat. With a rough groan, he pulled out, moved to where Ten had been, and thrust his length into your dripping cunt. The wet slap of skin against skin filled the room as he fucked Ten’s release deeper into you, the filthy sensation making your body tremble.

Soon, it would be his turn to fill you up.

Behind you, Ten stroked himself furiously, his breathing ragged, his eyes fixed on your face.

“Stick out your tongue,” he ordered, voice thick with arousal.

You obeyed, tongue darting out just as Ten groaned and shoved his cock deep into your throat again. His taste coated your tongue, the lingering traces of his release making you shudder as he pulsed against the tight warmth of your mouth.

Haechan grunted, gripping the back of your thighs and pushing your legs up, nearly folding you in half as he picked up the pace. His cock drove into you mercilessly, each thrust hitting that spot inside you that had your body convulsing beneath him.

Once again, you were being fucked from both ends, completely at their mercy.

You never could have imagined this happening—all of it, just because of some stupid project. But now? You couldn’t be more satisfied with the outcome. The way Haechan’s cock bullied that sensitive spot inside you, the way Ten’s length filled your throat, stretching it with every ruthless thrust—it was overwhelming in the best way.

A loud, muffled scream tore from your throat, but it was swallowed by Ten’s cock as he fucked into your mouth with a brutal pace. The sounds in the room were obscene, bouncing off the walls—your muffled cries, the wet slap of Haechan’s hips against you, the rhythmic creaking of the bedframe as it slammed against the wall. Your tears only turned them on more, and you felt them harden inside you.

You clenched hard around Haechan, your walls gripping him tight as the intensity built inside you, your orgasm just out of reach. He felt it, groaning as he dug his fingers into your thighs.

“Oh, you’re close, aren’t you?” His voice was strained, breathless. “F-fuck… I think I am too. Ten, how’re you holding up over there?”

“Shit, I’m right there,” Ten panted, his grip tightening in your hair as he fucked your throat harder.

That was all it took for them to lose control.

Ten came first, spilling across your tongue, the warmth of it coating your lips and dripping down your chin. His breath hitched as he pulled back, watching the mess he’d made of you, satisfaction clear in his dark eyes.

Haechan wasn’t far behind. He cursed low under his breath, thrusting deep one final time as he came, filling you to the brim before pulling out, the last spurts of his release spilling across your stomach and chest, hot and sticky against your skin.

“Fuck,” Ten grunted, stepping back to admire his work. His chest rose and fell with ragged breaths as he smirked. “You look perfect like this. Completely ruined.”

Haechan chuckled, trailing his fingers through the mess on your face before gripping your chin, tilting your head up to meet his gaze. “And to think you wanted to get rid of us,” he mused, voice dripping amusement. “Now look at you. Completely fucked out by us.”

The room was thick with heat, the scent of sweat and sex lingering in the air. Your breaths came in sharp, uneven gasps, your body trembling from the sheer intensity of it all.

Haechan smirked, brushing his fingers lazily down your thigh, a silent reminder of the claim he’d left on you. There was still hunger in his eyes, but beneath the cocky exterior, something softer flickered there. “You really outdid yourself,” he murmured, voice low and teasing. “Didn’t think you’d last this long. Guess we underestimated you.”

He wiped a bead of sweat from his brow, leaning against the desk with that same smug grin. “What did I tell you? All those little outfits, all that attitude—you were just waiting for this to happen. Should’ve made a move sooner.”

You were too exhausted to reply, your body still thrumming from the aftershocks. You lay there, head hanging off the edge of the bed, limbs boneless, chest heaving as you tried to process everything. Their gazes were heavy on you, but for once, you didn’t feel embarrassed.

Instead, a small, tired smile tugged at your lips. “You two are… so annoying,” you muttered weakly.

Ten and Haechan both laughed.

“Annoying?” Haechan echoed, crouching beside you. His fingers gripped your chin again, forcing you to meet his gaze. “You weren’t saying that a few minutes ago, sweetheart”

Ten leaned in, brushing a stray strand of hair from your face, his smirk softening just a little. “Don’t worry,” he murmured, voice smooth.“We’ll give you time to recover… but don’t think this will be the last time you will see us.”  

The weight of his words sent a fresh jolt of heat through you, despite the exhaustion weighing down your limbs. Haechan caught it, the way your eyes widened slightly, and let out a low chuckle.

“For now,” Ten continued, fingers trailing down your arm, “we should clean you up. Can’t have you looking like this all night, can we?”

Haechan stretched, grabbing a towel from the desk before tossing it to Ten. His grin never faded. “And after that? Maybe we’ll play another game,” he mused, teasing. “Who knows? You might be able to go another round.”

You groaned, throwing an arm over your face as you let your head sink back against the mattress. “You two are crazy,” you muttered, though there was no real bite to your words.

Ten laughed, wiping you down with surprisingly gentle hands. “You love that though,” he murmured, certain.

And as you lay there, your body exhausted but your heart pounding with the lingering adrenaline, you realized you couldn’t argue with him…

[xbellaxcarolinax]

miguel + "you can take it" please 🤭

Crazy

Miguel O'Hara x f!reader

Word Count: 1.4k+

Warnings: Fucking filthy. P in v, biting, oral (f receiving), pain (he's big, as we all know). It's late for me, sorry for any mistakes.

Pls enjoy and let me know what you think!

MDNI

...

It was a new position.

He’d never taken you from behind before, ass in the air and completely exposed—entirely at Miguel’s mercy. 

He ran his large hands down your sides and over the smooth globes of your ass, giving them both a little slap. You moaned, knees pressed into the mattress and face buried in his sweet-smelling sheets. Your back was impossibly arched as Miguel ate from you, keeping a large hand flat against your shoulder blades to keep you exactly how he wanted. 

His expert tongue swirled over your sensitive nub, sucking on it gently as he listened to your gentle pants and mewls. You could feel him smiling against your cunt, a little puff of air released from his nose in amusement.

“W-what?” You panted, raising your head just a bit so he could hear you properly.

“Nada,” he chuckled, giving your ass a messy kiss, “you sound cute.” You huffed, ready to retort with a slick response but cut yourself short when Miguel began to flick his tongue in a way that had your toes curling, your hips moving to chase his eager mouth. 

He dragged his tongue through your swollen folds, his mouth making obscene noises as he sucked all your juices, dipping into your hole and thrusting inside every so often.

“M-Miguel.” You whined—not for the first time that night—your hands extending outward to fist his sheets, nails biting into your palms through the thin cotton fabric.

“Feels good?” He murmured, his words muffled by your glistening cunt.

“M-mhm.” 

Your legs were spread so far apart you thought your pelvis would snap in half if it weren’t for Miguel stabilizing you. His hands held your cheeks open as he devoured you ravenously—like a starved man. He began licking so viciously that you were reaching your peak, legs trembling and hole twitching around his tongue.  

"Fuck, Miguel, I'm gonna—"       

"Come for me."

That did it. You cried into his sheets, tears welling in your eyes as your cunt convulsed, filling Miguel's waiting mouth with your essence. He groaned, feasting on your tangy juices with powerful sucks and long licks with his flat tongue.  

“You fuckin’ taste amazing.” Miguel hummed into your swollen pussy, giving it a messy kiss, his nose buried deep in your folds and taking in your heavy scent.  

He gave you about thirty seconds to catch your breath, getting on his knees and pressing his hips against your ass. He lowered his head to spit over your hole, watching it drip down your crack and flow over your puckering cunt. 

You gasped, squeezing your eyes shut, his fingers skimming through your tender folds to spread the mess. Your muscles tensed at his touch, not because you didn’t like it, but because you knew that soon his cock would be breaching your walls, splitting you open.

“Relax, baby,” Miguel cooed, bringing a hand to the nape of your neck and lightly dragging it down to the curve of your spine in comfort, “I need you to relax. No quiero lastimarte.” 

You knew it would hurt. It always does at first, no matter the position. Miguel was just so big—and equally smug about it.

He glided his hard cock through your folds, completely coating the underside in your slick before lining himself up. You could feel his swollen head right over your sensitive cunt, teasing it a bit.

“¿Estas lista?” He asked, not daring to move until you gave him permission to do so. You nodded your head, bracing yourself for impact.

“Lemme hear you say it.” He said, slapping your ass gently.

“I-I’m ready.” You breathed, gasping when he carefully notched his tip into your entrance, griping your hips, and pushing in a few inches. You let out a pained moan, your pussy being stretched raw in the new position. 

Miguel paused, letting your walls adjust to his girth, petting your hair in an attempt to soothe you. 

“I know, baby, I know. ¿Te duele?“ You sniffed with another simple nod of your head, because yes, it did hurt, but you were tough, and it wasn’t the first time you were taking his cock. You could do it. You would do it. 

Miguel continued to soothe you in the way he knew best, draping over you to place kisses on your bare shoulders, mindful of not shifting his hips too much. You felt your cunt flutter around him, fighting to accommodate his massive size. You panted, squeezing his cock, catching his slight intake of breath.

“Miguel.”

“Mm?”

“Move, please.” Miguel wasted no time, gripping your hips again and continuing to push forward, pressing in a couple of inches more. You cried out, shoving your face into the sheets as you fought against the pain. 

Maybe you couldn’t do it.

“Miguel, I can’t—pull out, I-I can’t do it, you’re too fucking big.” Miguel was panting above you, fighting with every nerve in his body to not ram into you. You were so tight and wet and so fucking inviting.

“Don’t give up on me yet,” he groaned, “you can take it, baby, si puedes.” 

“Fuuuuck,” you whined when he slowly pushed his cock deeper, “y-you’re so fucking big.” 

“Almost there.” He reassured you, pressing firmly until he was balls deep, hips pressed snuggly against your ass. “Fuck, you see? You did it.” His praise went straight to your core as he pressed another kiss to your shoulder. 

He began to gently grind into you, taking his time before slowly pulling himself out and pushing back in. He did it again, and again, and again, picking up speed until he had you mewling beneath him, your cunt providing him with the juices needed to easily fuck into you. 

It felt good, so fucking good. The sheets were damp with your tears and drool, your mouth open as he repeatedly hit your sweet spot. Your eyes fluttered, your throat dry from your screams, and pussy squelching around him so loudly, it was the only thing he was really focusing on.

Miguel started getting mouthy, groaning, and whimpering, telling you how good you felt, how wet you were, how tight you gripped his cock. The stretch was unbelievable in this position, his cock seemingly reaching past your cervix and straight into your stomach—utterly stuffed to the brim. 

“Feels good, mama?” He grunted, suddenly lifting you up so that your back was against his chest. He pressed his mouth to your ear, one arm holding you around the waist while the other searched for your swollen clit, circling it with the pad of two fingers. “This cock making you feel good?”

You wept, cheeks wet with tears as he rammed into you violently now, your pussy creaming all over him.

“I’m s-so close,” you cried, feeling your climax approaching rapidly, your hips moving in sync with his to meet his thrust. “F-fuck, Miguel, I’m coming.” As soon as you said the words he latched on to your neck, sinking his fangs into you with a moan. You were overstimulated, your body trembling in his arms as you came over his cock, your sticky juices covering his toned abdomen. 

“Mmm, fuck, you’re squeezing me tight,” he panted in your ear, his thrusting growing sloppier and uncoordinated before a vicious moan ripped from him, holding you in his trembling arms as he came, and filling you up with rope after rope of his cum. “Goddamn, you’re gonna kill me.” You could feel his chest heaving on your back, his breathing erratic as he slowly calmed himself down.

“Not before you rip me in half with that massive thing you call a cock.” You answered weakly. Miguel buried his face as deep as he could into your neck, chuckling softly, tongue darting out to lap at the tiny wound he inflicted. 

“Mi muñequita,” he mumbled sleepily, “you took me so well, hm? Knew you could do it. You're a champ, baby.” His cock began to soften just enough for his spend to leak out, coating you both in sticky cum and sweat. 

You hummed, reaching back to run your fingers through his sweaty hair, turning your head so that he could meet you in a kiss. It was sloppy, like everything else, noisy in the silence of Miguel’s bedroom.

“Wanna go again?” You felt his lips pull into a grin, cock slipping out but hardening once again. You scoffed, lightly tapping his face.

“You’re crazy.” You yelped when he pushed you down against his bed in the same position you were in only a moment ago—chest flat against the mattress and ass up in the air to reveal your sopping cunt.

“Yeah,” he whispered, dragging his cock through your aching folds before pressing in, “I am crazy.”

...

Nada- Nothing

No quiero lastimarte- I don't want to hurt you

¿Estas lista?- Are you ready?

¿Te duele?- Does it hurt?

si puedes- yes you can

Mi muñequita- My little doll

[trustmypoison]

Ruby

The three times Jihoon tries to confess through lyrics and the one where you finally get it.

Word count: 1.5k

Warnings: none that I can think of, just some fluff

This is part of the Three Times series. This one is inspired by this reactions.

One

You punch in the code to the door like it’s an old habit, mostly because it is. Jihoon doesn’t turn to you right away and you know better than to distract him in the middle of something. You sit the takeout bags on the table and plop down on the couch in the corner. Your couch, to be exact. He doesn’t often have visitors just hang out in here with him while he’s working, but you’ve long insisted this might be the only way to see your best friend sometimes. You assume he agreed because a small sofa just appeared here one day along with a couple fuzzy blankets. 

“Hey,” he finally greets. “What’s for dinner?” 

“Is that all I’m good for?” You tease as he comes to sit next to you. “Just some Chinese take out from the place down the street. I hope that’s okay.” 

Jihoon shrugs, digging in as soon as he can. “Doesn’t matter. I’m too starving to care.”

“How’s the song going?” You ask, not expecting much. He can be really hot and cold about sharing his stuff with you before he feels like it’s perfect, so sometimes a non-committal ‘okay’ is all you get. 

Today must be a good day, because he’s gesturing for the both of you to move to the desk. “It’s missing something and I can’t quite put a finger on what.” He hits a few buttons and lets you listen. Everything about it has you smiling, much like it always does. 

You can’t help but tease him when the song ends and he asks what you think. “Jihoon, are you in love?” It’s not a new jab and he shoves you by the shoulder hard, making you laugh. “I’m kidding. Let me hear the chorus again.” He rolls it back and replays it for you. You recommend a few tweaks and when he makes them and replays the part, he sighs in relief.

“Are we done for the day now?” You chuckle, and it turns to a full blown laugh when he scoffs.

“Do you know how long it takes to prepare an album, Y/N? I hope you brought some entertainment.”

“You think this is my first day being your friend? Please,” you roll your eyes, pointing to the backpack you brought with you. “You’re stuck with me.”

You know he’d send you away if he didn’t like that. He lets you stay until you’re barely keeping your eyes open before he finally packs his things up and drives you home.

Two

A red notebook lands in your lap. It’s unfamiliar, only because the last one Jihoon handed you was blue. “Ran out of room?” You say as he spins back around in his chair. 

“Yeah,” he mumbles. “Read the last entry, nothing else.” You do. You’d never overstep how much he’s willing to share, so you’re careful not to linger on pages that you aren’t invited to look at. 

“What am I looking for?” You ask, skimming the page. It’s chaotic, notes in the margins, lines crossing out certain things that he’s rejected. Some writing is squished between lines and you have to squint to read it.

“It’s not flowing in my mind the way I want it to. I want a second opinion.”

Like you’d ever turn down that opportunity. You pull out a pencil, because you’d never permanently mark up these ideas. What you think about it is only a suggestion - one that can be erased. You make some notes, rereading, trying to grasp the vision that he has for the song. You aren’t a musician but you do have a good idea of how his mind works. 

When you hand it back, he doesn’t look at your notes right away, pinning you with a look. “Well?”

“Romantic as ever. One of these days you’ll make such a sweet boyfriend.” 

He snorts, skimming through what you’ve marked up. “Yeah, right. Explain to me what you did here.” 

You plop into the seat next to him. You’re touched that he involves you in his work like this. That he’s willing to hear what you think when you’re so far from being an expert. He’s never shot down your ideas, even if he doesn’t end up using all of them. He still wants it to feel like ‘his’. 

Today’s a good day and most of the pencil marks stay in place. He even teases you about giving you some song writing credits. He knows you’d never accept them, but he likes seeing both his and your marks on the page working together. 

Three

Today is not a good day. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, they’ve lost some work and have had to re-record some parts. You’re surprised when you arrive to his studio and it’s packed. You fade into the corner as to not be in the way. You watch Jihoon obsessively save copies of files in various spots and when everyone else wishes you both good night to go home, you give him a minute to collect himself. 

“How can I help?” You finally say. You watch his shoulders tense and it makes you sad. “Would you like me to go? Give you some space to work?” He shakes his head and you finally approach him, sitting next to him. You rub his back lightly. “What do you have left to do?” 

“Rearrange everything so someone can look at it tomorrow. It’s not usually my specialty, but I have to have something to give them to work with.” He looks like he might pull his hair out so you gently turn his chair. 

“Come on,” you say, opening your arms to him. You know he’s not the most physically affectionate person, but it won’t stop you from offering some comfort. To your surprise, he barely hesitates, arms coming around you too. When you feel like he’s lost some of the tension in his body, you let go. “Get started. I’ll go make some coffee.” 

You miss the way he turns to watch you leave. He doesn’t know how to say thank you for your presence on days like today. 

Four

The comeback is over and so are the promotions for it. It’s been many, many weeks since you’ve seen your best friend, and this time, it’s amazingly not at his work. He lets himself into your apartment and plops down on the couch next to you. You’ve planned a lazy day of just lying around and relaxing. You’ve sworn off work as a thing to so much as discuss today, so you glare at him when see the flash of a red notebook come out of his backpack. 

“Lee Jihoon, I told you no work today,” you admonish. 

He doesn’t listen to you. He never does. “Y/N, I may not show up to work every single day, but I’m probably going to write every single day.” 

He’s right, of course. Sometimes it just pours out of him into these notebooks, like the one he’s handing you. “What am I looking for?” You ask with a huff.

“Last entry,” he says. It’s almost always the last entry, but you don’t want to go blindly flipping through his private thoughts. You find it and this sheet is actually pretty clean, with very little notes in the margins or lines crossed out. You can’t help but smile, just like you always do when he shares something like this with you. 

“One of these days you’ll tell me who these songs are about,” you muse. 

He groans and the sound surprises you. He usually rolls his eyes and asks what you think, but this time, he looks like he’s almost in pain. “I’m in love with an idiot,” he mumbles, hand rubbing down his face.

“That’s no way to talk about the love of your life!” You cry out. “You write all of these sweet songs for her and you call her an idiot?”

“I’m talking about you, Y/N. You’re the idiot.”

Your mouth pops open. “Oh.” 

He rolls his eyes, snatching back the notebook, tossing it onto your coffee table. “They’ve always been about you, every single notebook over the years. You can’t be that dense.”

You barely hear the insult because you’re thinking of all the various notebooks he’s handed you over the years, only small portions of which he’s let you read. “All of them?” You whisper.

He sighs. “I’m sorry.” 

You pout at him, not that he’s looking at you. He’s leaning back into the couch, arms crossed over his chest. You understand why he’s apologizing, but there’s really no need. “You didn’t ask me what I think of the lyrics.”

He hesitates, glancing out of the corner of his eye at you. Finally, he clears his throat. “What did you think of the lyrics?” 

You lean forward, pressing a light, lingering kiss to his lips. You hear his breath catch and the sound is just as sweet as the contents of all his notebooks. “I loved it, just like every other page you’ve ever let me read.” 

“I’ll bring over the rest tomorrow. They’re all about you anyway.” He says it so simply that you can’t help but fling your arms around him. He calls you an idiot again but he’s laughing regardless.

[msschemmenti]

fun police

eventual emily prentiss x reader / bau x reader

summary: reader is hired by hr to monitor morale and implement more self-care moments for agents. the unit she struggles most with is obviously the BAU

a/n: i often forget criminal minds is not a workplace comedy with a sprinkle of killers because i write stuff like this. at my core, i just wanna giggle. sue me ig :) [this is giving more prologue than anything— if y’all are into this idea i’ll post more of this]

emily groaned into the air of her empty office as yet another email rolled across her screen from hr. in theory, the new self-care initiative was definitely a good idea, but she knew her team. and she knew herself. with all the sicarios serial killers still lingering in their minds— a mindful monday break was not priority. they’d skirted around all the previous mandated attempts to unwind due to cases popping up and splitting the team up, but she knew they could only keep that up for so long.

she clicked into the email, the URGENT subject line keeping her from ignoring it. she skimmed the greeting and first paragraph of reprimands for the lack of participation. she got to the next paragraph and instantly paused in dread.

“starting monday morning, the behavioral analysis unit will be assigned a health and wellness agent who will join your team in the field to ensure that you and your team are balancing your work and health appropriately.”

a glorified babysitter? oh the team was going to hate this. it took a certain type of person to weather the storms they did and those types of people did not have healthy coping mechanisms. emily rolled her desk chair back enough to pull out the bottle of wine she hid in a drawer and the glass that accompanied it. if the fun police was coming to town she might as well enjoy this luxury before they arrived.

emily was the first in as always. all that first to arrive, last to leave stuff. but as she walked up the few stairs to her office, she quickly realized she may not have been first after all.

“uh hi? can i help you?” she asked as she stood in the doorway of her office. the woman sat across from her desk turned to look over her shoulder and smiled cheerily. far too cheery for the time of day.

“section chief prentiss, good morning! just the woman i’m here for.” the mystery woman smiled and moved over to extend her hand toward emily. “y/n y/ln, wellness consultant. i believe someone emailed you about my arrival?”

emily’s eyes traveled up the woman’s frame curiously. she was dressed smartly, on the business side of business casual and she looked far too young to be doing the work she was doing. remembering the welcoming part of the email she’d read last week, she plastered on her most practiced diplomatic smile and shook her hand. “nice to meet you miss y/ln. i wasn’t expecting you until this afternoon. please have a seat.”

emily rounded her desk and slid into her desk chair. she watched y/n do the same and subconsciously wondered how someone could look that good this early in the morning. she’d barely had her first cup of coffee and she felt like she was barely functioning. but here this wellness expert was, dressed to the nines and in the office before her.

y/n cleared her throat and slid a folder over to emily with a sheepish smile. “i figured we could touch base a bit on the team and my plans for the time being. and i thought that’d be easier with goals and objectives breakdown.”

goals and objectives breakdown? emily looked from the folder to the y/n and back in a bit of shock. she hadn’t exactly expected there to be folders of information or goals and objectives. she thought they do some meditation and call it a day… but as she opened the folder and saw the detailed breakdowns and plans she realized she was sorely mistaken.

“oh wow, forgive me for my ignorance. but i assumed this would be a sort of once a month morale boosting bonding sort of thing and you’d just sign off on whatever we decide to do.”

y/n didn’t even flinch at emily’s words, only smiled with a chuckle. “well that would’ve been the case a few months ago but based on your teams workload and concerns from outside of this office— the director is looking for something a bit more direct and focused.”

“direct and focused?” emily repeated.

“mmhm, you can see it all outlined there but simply put im here to help every member of your team identify healthy coping mechanisms to combat the work you’re doing. that’ll look different for every member but it’ll be personal. some teams have preferred check in meetings and others like to keep journals. each member can choose how they’d like to work with me.”

emily sighed as she read through the folder and listened to y/n, it was all sounding unnecessary at she was already trying to think of a way to get the team on board. getting rossi to participate was going to kill her. “as you can imagine, i’m not sure how receptive the team will be to these forced wellness sessions…”

“i anticipated that. and i’ve found most teams are far more receptive when their fearless leader is a willing participant. you know leading by example.” y/n spoke suggestively lifting her eyebrow in challenge.

“oh you mean me? you want me to participate in your little exercises so the others will be more willing?” emily asked in disbelief.

“well yes, as much as i believe that you’ve got your own mental health exercises in place— you could humor me with a few sessions.” y/n grinned.

emily eyed her suspiciously, “and if we refuse?”

“well i hope it doesn’t come to that, but after i’ve made my base analysis of the team i’ll have the digression to determine who is and is not fit for field work. and i have a feeling that wouldn’t go over to well.”

“yeah that’s a sure fire way to make some enemies around here.” emily grimaced with a huff.

“thought so.” y/n shrugged but pulled out a black planner and pen and looked at emily expectantly. “so chief, when do you wanna start? promise i’ll make it worth your while.”

[tipsynight0]

Anatomy of affection

Parings - eyeless Jack x female reader

Word count - 1.1k

TRIGGER WARNINGS - medical procedures, surgery, graphic descriptions of blood and organs, use of paralytics, body horror, gore, blood, cannibalism, descriptions of anatomy and dissection.

Summary - (y/n) is giving Jack a snack.

Author's Note: Not sure why I enjoyed writing this so much, but explaining it to my boyfriend and watching him look at me like I'm the freakiest thing he's ever seen was... interesting. Anyway, if you're squeamish about organs or cannibalism, maybe skip this one! <3

The cold metal table pressed unyieldingly against (Y/N)'s back, its chill seeping through her skin, heightening her awareness of her immobility. She lay paralyzed, her gaze locked on her lover, Jack, who moved with deliberate, practiced grace across the dimly lit room. The acrid scent of alcohol hung thick in the air, a hasty attempt at sterilization given his scarce supplies. Beside an operating tray, Jack's hands skimmed over his instruments, lingering briefly before selecting each one, his fingers brushing the tools with an expert's familiarity. He listened intently to the rhythmic pulse in (Y/N)'s neck, sensing her heart beating faster.

He leaned close, his calloused fingers tracing a gentle path over her stomach, claws lightly grazing her skin. "Don't worry," he murmured, his voice soft yet intense, "I know what I’m doing." Despite herself, (Y/N) let out a nervous laugh, nodding ever so slightly. She attempted to wiggle her toes, flex her hands—anything—but her body remained numb, just as Jack had planned with the precise dose of vecuronium. This moment was one they'd prepared for, an experience she had willingly chosen.

As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she took in her surroundings—the familiar concrete walls lined with shelves of carefully arranged medical supplies and the slight glint of tools on the nearby tray. Jack seemed engrossed in his setup, double-checking every item with a meticulousness she recognized and loved. He finally pulled off his mask, revealing his grey skin and the unmistakable gleam in his eyes. One of his many tongues darted out to moisten his lips, a glint of hunger flashing across his face. She watched, captivated, as he inspected the monitor, satisfied that her vitals remained steady. Just in case, he had an Ambu bag at the ready, a trophy from one of their nighttime scavenging trips to abandoned clinics. They had both invested in this, carefully planning each aspect of this night.

Jack leaned in to press a kiss to her forehead, lingering briefly before he grasped his scalpel. "Alright, baby," he said with a smile that, despite its toothy sharpness, held a tenderness she trusted, "it’s time." His hand moved to her face, cupping it gently. His surgical gloves snapped into place, and his fingers began to trace a path down her abdomen, a silent promise of care. When he made the first incision, (Y/N) could only assume it had happened; her body remained numb, yet she could sense his excitement. Jack’s tongue flicked out, practically salivating as he worked, pausing only to press gauze to the incision and lap up the blood with reverence.

"Everything going good down there?" (Y/N) asked, her voice wavering but full of curiosity.

Jack nodded, casting her a reassuring glance. "Yes, darling. You’re doing great." For a rare moment, a look of genuine expression crossed his face—a mix of pride and fascination.

"Did you enjoy being a medical student?" she asked quietly, trying to break the silence that seemed to press down on them.

He chuckled softly, the sound rolling through the room as he continued to focus on removing layers of fat and tissue with precise, careful cuts. "It was… fine," he murmured, his brow furrowing as he concentrated. "I just wanted to help people." For a moment, his mind drifted to those less careful procedures he'd performed in the past, crude and impersonal compared to this. This was different; this was for her. Every detail mattered, every movement was intentional. She was his priority, and he’d take hours to ensure her recovery.

The procedure continued, his hands working methodically as he navigated around muscles, vessels, and organs. With skilled precision, he reached the ureter and blood vessels before finally removing the kidney. Holding it up triumphantly, he allowed himself a brief, reverent pause, admiring its color and texture. (Y/N) felt a shiver race up her spine, offering him a shy, almost giddy smile.

"It’s beautiful," he breathed, his voice filled with admiration. "The scent is… intoxicating." He placed the kidney into a basin of ice, his attention undivided as he resumed his work. The following hours passed in quiet conversation and careful stitching. His words were soothing, his lips occasionally grazing her forehead as he worked his way through the final sutures. "Almost done, darling," he whispered, his voice rich with affection.

At last, with a sigh of satisfaction, Jack pulled off his gloves, his fingers finding her face as he leaned down, pressing soft kisses along her cheeks, forehead, and neck. "Alright, alright, go eat," she laughed, flushed from his touch.

Jack sighed, nodding, but his gaze shifted to the basin, where her kidney lay on ice. Slowly, he lifted it, placing it in a pristine white bowl, adding a dash of salt and pepper. Seated near her, he picked up his scalpel and fork, slicing through the jelly-like texture. She watched, utterly fascinated as he lifted the fork, inhaling deeply, savoring the scent of iron and freshness. This was not just any organ—it was hers, a part of her.

He tilted his head back slightly, letting the first bite linger on his tongue, savoring it fully. A low, appreciative groan escaped him. "You taste… perfect," he whispered, his eyes dark with satisfaction.

(Y/N) bit her lip, captivated by his enjoyment, as he tried to maintain some semblance of decorum while eating but couldn’t help himself. Each bite was savored as though he were tasting something divine. Once finished, he leaned over her, his tongues intertwining with hers, the taste of iron and warmth flooding her senses. She gripped his sweater, pulling him closer.

Pulling back, he whispered, "I love you," his hands cradling her face as he pressed his forehead against hers. "Don’t worry; I’m going to take good care of you for the next few weeks."

[wchswift]

pairing: eddie alden x f!reader

summary: you ask your boyfriend eddie to braid your hair. anon reqs: congratulations to the 125 followers! 🌺could i request eddie alden with the prompt: “could you help me [curl, straighten, braid, etc.] my hair?”

word count: 977

content: fluff, humor, established relationship, flirty

note: thank you sm anon!! sorry for accidentally deleting your request from my inbox, hope you see this <3 this is part of my 125 followers celebration! Join the celebration too!

── english isn't my first language :)

mdni 𖤐 18+

You huffed in frustration, staring at your reflection in the small mirror propped up on Eddie’s dresser. You and Eddie had arranged to go out tonight, like a date, something more romantic and intimate to spend time together.

The night out was supposed to be fun—a few drinks, some dancing, and a good night together after returning to the apartment. Maybe you’d even tease him a little if he got jealous of a guy looking at you. Lately, you and Eddie hadn’t been able to enjoy a good time outside of just the two of you, so you decided to dress up more than usual and even braid your hair—something different from your typical loose, wavy style

Behind you, Eddie lay sprawled out on the bed, one arm tucked under his head, watching your struggle with a lazy smirk.

“You know, I’m pretty sure you’ve been fighting with that thing longer than it’ll actually take us to get to the bar,” he teased, his voice dripping with amusement.

You shot him a glare through the mirror. “Oh, I’m sorry, did you suddenly become a hair expert?”

“Maybe,” he shrugged, grinning. “I mean, how hard can it be? Twist a little, loop a little, tie it up—bam. Done.”

A beat passed before you turned, eyes narrowing, analyzing him. “Think you could do better?”

Eddie raised a brow. “Are you seriously asking me to do your hair?”

“Yes,” you deadpanned, grabbing the brush and tossing it at him. He caught it with surprising ease. “Come on, babe... Seriously, could you please help me braid my hair?" you softly asked, pouting.

Eddie let out a dramatic sigh but swung his legs off the bed, patting the space between them. “Alright, sweetheart. Sit your pretty self down."

Rolling your eyes but secretly loving how easy this all was with him, you settled between his legs on the floor. His knees brushed your sides as he gathered your hair in his hands, fingers skimming the back of your neck in a way that made you shiver. He paused. “You okay?”

You scoffed. “It’s just… your hands are cold.”

“Uh-huh,” he hummed, smug as ever. “Thought maybe I had some kinda effect on you.”

You huffed a laugh. “Eddie, just focus.”

“Bossy,” he murmured, but there was warmth in his voice. “So… what exactly am I doing?” he asked, amusement still thick in his tone.

“A simple braid,” you said, “and don’t pull too hard, or I swear to God, Eddie—”

“I know, I know,” he chuckled. "Relax, baby, I'm not gonna hurt you, I'm gentle, huh?" he teased, and you just rolled your eyes.

His fingers threaded through your hair, working with more patience than you expected. You could feel him frowning slightly in concentration, his movements gentle, if a little unpracticed. Every now and then, he’d brush too close to your ear, or tilt your head slightly to the side, muttering, "Stay still, baby," like he was the one doing you a favor.

At one point, he clicked his tongue. “I should start charging for this.”

You snorted. “Yeah? What’s the price?”

Eddie leaned in slightly, his breath warm against your skin. “One kiss per braid.”

You grinned. “So if I ask for two?”

“Then I’m a very well-paid man,” he said, and you could hear the smirk in his voice.

A soft chuckle left your lips, and for a moment, you let yourself just be in this—his hands in your hair, the quiet hum of a song playing from the radio, the warmth of his presence behind you.

“You smell nice,” he murmured absentmindedly.

You let out an amused huff, but a smile crept onto your lips. “You’re just saying that to distract me from whatever disaster you’re creating back there.”

“Mm, maybe,” he admitted, his tone teasing. He remained silent for a few seconds before he sat back with a satisfied noise. “Done.”

You reached back, fingers brushing over a surprisingly neat braid. Turning in his lap, you gave him an impressed look. “Okay, where the hell did you learn that?”

Eddie shrugged, smirking. “You pick up a thing or two when you’ve spent years charming women.”

You raised your eyebrows playfully. "Is that so, Alden? Hum, I was gonna kiss you for your services, but I don’t know now…” You stated, turning back toward the mirror.

Eddie wrapped his strong arms around your waist from behind, pressing his chin to your shoulder. “Oh, c’mon, don’t get jealous.”

He let out an exaggerated gasp. “Don't be like that, baby. No tip? After all my hard work?”

You playfully jabbed him in the side, a teasing smile stretched across your face. “I don’t know if you deserve it...”

He just chuckled softly, pressing a gentle kiss against your shoulder. “Aw, baby, not even one?” he pleaded, his breath warm against your skin.

You pretended to think about it before turning to face him fully. “Fine. One.”

His grin was immediate. “I’ll take it.”

You leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. It was meant to be quick, but Eddie had other ideas—his fingers slid to your jaw, keeping you there just a second longer, deepening it just enough to leave you a little breathless.

When you pulled back, his smirk was nothing short of triumphant. “Guess that means I’m on permanent hair duty now, huh?”

You laughed, flicking his forehead. “Don’t push it, Alden.”

He grinned, reaching for his jacket. “C’mon, sweetheart. Let me spoil you.”

As you stood, adjusting your outfit, you caught him glancing at your braid with something almost proud in his expression. And, okay—maybe you would let him do it again sometime.

Maybe.

𖤐 reblogs and feedback are appreciated! requests are also welcome, ty!

[soobnny]

eighteen — kim seungmin.

trope. best friends to lovers. college au. slow burn. angst. fluff.

synopsis. it takes you a while to realize being known is being loved, and kim seungmin just so happens to be an expert in the study of you.

word count: 19.8k words

warnings. just extreme slow burn. some curse words. sexual jokes. drinking and being intoxicated. 

note. again my self indulgent take on seungmin in college :)

one.

Kim Seungmin has a habit of blowing up your phone every chance he gets. So, it really isn’t anything new to wake up to a million notifications from your best friend.

The range of apps from which he bothers you is astronomical.

(Instagram): _seungmin mentioned you in a comment: @ynbread lmao this video reminded me of u cos ure an idiot

(Tiktok): seungmin mentioned you in a comment: @ynbread us

(Twitter): seungmin replied to your tweet: I’m hungry can u reply to my messages

But nothing, absolutely nothing, can beat the 56 messages and 9 missed calls on your phone. You’d think it was an emergency if not for his last message, shining brightly through your screen.

minnie: i need a new face wash come with me so i can shut up about it 😡

You roll your eyes to yourself, skimming through the notifications on your lock screen without really opening them. It’s mostly just a series of Seungmin asking you if you were awake every hour with a few whining in between about how he’s bored and how you need to wake up. 

While you’re laughing at his overdramatic messages (has he been hanging out with Hyunjin too much these days?), you accidentally unleash a storm upon yourself.

You hadn’t meant to click on one of the notifications, and now a taunting “read” is on the bottom of his messages.

Big mistake.

All hell is about to break lose.

The moment Kim Seungmin receives the small indication that you’re finally awake, his face flashes on your screen almost immediately in a Facetime call. It’s tempting to decline his call in favor of burying your face back into your pillows, but the clock reads 11am and you have an annoying best friend that needs your attention. You know never to ignore Seungmin. You’ve learned that the hard way.

Swiping on accept, his head of fluffy hair pops up on your screen. “Finally! What took you so long?” His phone angle shifts so his face shows now – it seems like he’s outside as he’s looking left and right before crossing somewhere. 

“Sleeping.” You rub your eyes, propping your phone against a box of tissues so he can see you while you fix your bed. 

“Didn’t wanna wake up cause you were dreaming of me?” You can hear the laughter in his voice.

Appropriately, you respond by gifting him your middle finger. “You wish.”

“Did you sleep well?” You hum in response even though you doubt he could hear you amidst the noise outside and the shuffling of your bedsheets. “What did you need?” You grab your phone from your nightstand, walking towards your refrigerator to get a glass of water. 

“Face wash. You’re coming with me. Oh, and bring an umbrella, it’s drizzling a little.”

“Gonna have to raincheck.”

Second big mistake.

“Why?” He drawls his question, whining and pushing his phone deeper towards his face so you can see his visible disapproval at your response.

“Seungmin, I just woke up. It’s gonna take me forever to get ready, and you’re already outside.” 

There’s a lack of response from his end after a few seconds. When you look back at your phone screen, he seems preoccupied. “Minnie?” 

“Wait, wait. I have to hang up, give me a second.”

You tilt your head in confusion, but you don’t say anything else. This was a rare moment when you got to escape from Seungmin’s evil clutches of always dragging you along when he goes out. Looking through your closet for a change of clothes after you shower, you jump at the sudden and very rushed pounding on your door.

You should’ve known better.

Opening the door, a breathless Seungmin slips past the space before pushing your door closed. “Why was Crazy Karen on shift today?” He falls face first on your couch, still heaving after the cardio he’d done to sprint towards your unit. 

Seungmin’s been quite the expert at sneaking into your very ‘strict with visitors’ building. Not only has he befriended Derek (the security guard on duty when it wasn’t Karen), he’s gone through every possible entrance and has mastered the way to your door. He’s been doing it for the past three years, to the point you’re convinced he could navigate his way around blindfolded. 

Funnily enough, he was basically a criminal in your building. Karen (Crazy Karen, as Seungmin likes to call her) has been trying to catch him for forever. You’re convinced that one more push from Seungmin and she’d be printing flyers with his face on it with a clear “BANNED” message in red bold font and taping it on the walls of your building. 

Seungmin’s been able to escape her for months now. Though, despite being an expert vigilante, he still has his lapses. And today, he hadn’t been aware that Karen was on duty. “(Name), she hates me!” 

“She hates everyone.” You deadpan. Seungmin’s always found it disturbing that Karen didn’t like him. He was an angel in everyone’s eyes – your parents, Derek the security guard, your professors, your friends. If only they knew better. 

With the thousands of people that adore him, Seungmin doesn’t know why Karen was such a tough egg to crack. Maybe she knew better, that your best friend is the devil incarnate, but the devil incarnate that you adore. 

“How’d you get here so quickly? Wait… were you already on your way here before I picked up your call?” You ask pointedly, leaning against the wall and furrowing your eyebrows at Seungmin who still hasn’t left your couch, instead making himself comfortable by draping his legs across the armrest and hugging your throw pillow to his chest.

“Yes, cause you were ignoring me!” The pout on his face is so exaggerated, you would’ve smacked it off if you didn’t have the biggest crush on him.

“I wasn’t ignoring you. I was sleeping!”

“Tomato, tomato. Same thing.” 

You concede the argument with a sigh because God forbid he lost an argument to you. “Anyways, (name).” He’s whining again, staring at you while you skim through your clothes. “I’m so hungry, I could eat your couch.”

“You do you, I guess.” 

“Do you hate me?”

“Only sometimes.” 

This was the funny thing about your friendship with Seungmin. From an outsider’s perspective, they would’ve sworn you two disliked each other – from your pointed responses and backhanded comments towards one another. However, through the lens of your shared friends, they knew you completed each other. Nobody (aside from Minho, and occasionally Jeongin) could match your best friend’s personality quite well, and absolutely nobody could get him as soft as you could. It’s reserved for your eyes only.

Chan jokes around that Seungmin should never drive you away because he’s finally found someone who gets along with him terribly well aside from them. He agrees, but he would never outwardly admit it out loud to his friends or to you. But deep down, he knows that you two understand every inch of each other like you’re a reflection of one another.

With that said, he wouldn’t want to spend his time buying face wash with anyone else. 

When he suddenly gets off the couch, you look at him suspiciously. He’s walking in your direction now, beaming with his eyes squinting and lips curving up and hair falling perfectly on his forehead – he looks so cute that your heart starts feeling something you can’t quite identify. “(Name).” 

“Seungmin.” He grabs your hands without warning and your heart catapults out of your chest.  

“Come with me to buy face wash and we can eat lunch together. Please please, cause I’m your best friend and you can’t say no to me.” Seungmin defends his case like a lawyer desperate to win. 

He leans in impossibly closer to your face as a vindictive tactic to get you to say yes, and you’re embarrassed to admit it’s working. You tell yourself you’re only agreeing so he would stop fiddling with your fingers with his perfectly crafted hands and looking at you with his stupid, pretty eyes. 

“Fine, now let go of me so I can get a change of clothes. Besides, aren’t you like the number one Touch Hater anyway?”

Seungmin smiles triumphantly to himself, slipping his hands from yours. “How narcissistic of you to think you’re the only one I enjoy holding. I like Kkami too! And Soonie, and Doongie–”

“Why am I being classified with your friends’ pets?” 

Kim Seungmin doesn’t admit that you’re the only person he likes to hold. Instead, he shrugs and pushes you towards your bathroom so you could hurry up and he can finally buy his face wash. 

two.

The next time Kim Seungmin blows up your notifications is after you’ve just finished your last class of the week.

He’s already waiting for you outside your building, leaning against a lamp post and scrolling through dog videos on Tiktok with a few quokka appearances.

The algorithm confuses Seungmin in that it’s so fast to pick up the videos you’ve liked – even if it was just one. He’s pretty sure he’s only getting these rather abundant quokka videos because Jisung had borrowed his phone once and probably liked a Tiktok. Now it’s everywhere to the point that Seungmin could probably tell you at least 5 facts about them.  

He’s been standing there for a good 10 minutes now. He has given up on texting you to ask when your classes end (he reasons your professor must have overtime again), instead just adding a shit ton of videos to his “dog” collection on Tiktok.

When you exit the building with some of your blockmates, you feel your heartbeat pick up its pace at the sight of Seungmin in his oversized gray Dodgers hoodie (one of your personal favorites to steal) and some light washed pants with his cute smile and messy hair.

He looks a little embarrassed, as if he wants the earth to swallow him up right then and there. You suppose it’s because he’s been standing there awkwardly, having to look at people in the passing while waiting for you.

Once you appear though, the embarrassment fizzles away and Seungmin is making his way towards you with his hands buried deep in the pockets of his hoodie.

“One more overtime and I’m gonna have to report that professor.”

“You’re just saying that cause you’re impatient and you hate having to wait for five minutes.”

“10 minutes. I waited ten minutes today.” You laugh at the boy, attention wavering when your friends bid their goodbyes to you and Seungmin. You wave politely, and Seungmin mimics you, smiling sheepishly and waving back.

You know they’re tripping over themselves after Seungmin smiles and waves back at them. You’ve been told multiple times by your blockmates that your best friend looks like a walking dream – the campus crush from the International Law and Legal Studies building.

You don’t disagree, it’s not exactly like you were blind. Every time you’d walk with Seungmin anywhere, he was bound to get some attention from the people around you.

There are multiple admirers lining up for your best friend, shaking as they make their way up to him just to say ‘hi’ or purposely standing near him during college events. It also doesn’t help that his whole friend group were the campus crush from their respective majors.

Too bad for your blockmates and the multiple people lining up willing to donate their kidneys though. Seungmin doesn’t care much about anything and anyone outside his carefully selected circle.

He’s polite, smiling back and waving and holding small conversations but there’s always a hint of disinterest when they’d try to keep the conversation longer than he’d like. He isn’t stupid and knows there’s always an ulterior motive to get with him. He knows how easy it is to mistake politeness for interest.

“Come on, I want coffee.” How demonic is it to have a friend who’s convinced he’s Bill Gates’ son with the amount of times he’s asked you to eat out.

Seungmin pushes you forward by placing a hand on the small of your back, his other hand clutching his messenger bag, guiding you to walk ahead along the sidewalks of your university.

He makes sure you’re on the safer side of the road, bumping you to move to the side.

You stop in your tracks, shaking your head at the boy and he looks at you with utter confusion. “I’m not coming with you to buy overpriced coffee. I’ve used up all my allowance for the week.”

“Waited for you for ten minutes just to be rejected. Ouch.”

“Sucks to be you.”

You’re about to say your goodbye to your best friend, heels shifting to walk the other way when his hand easily wraps around your wrist, pulling you back to where he’s stood. You slap his hand away, pointing an accusatory finger at his direction. “You are not gonna convince me. Not again.”

Screw him and his large hands and how easy it is for him to maneuver them back around your wrist to keep you in place. “I’ll pay, just come with me.”

You surrender in an instant. Who were you to pass on free coffee?

Seungmin smiles victoriously when you start walking by his side again before his face falls in a pout, going off in a tangent about how you’re only willing to hangout with him if he’s paying and how he’s too young to be your sugar daddy.

You sigh in relief when you reach the campus coffee shop, the strong aroma of coffee immediately filling your senses as Seungmin breathes out in delight.

Going straight to the counter, he orders himself an Iced Americano before turning to look at you. “Just the usual?” You nod your head, moving away to find a seat for the both of you.

Every time you’re in a coffee shop (which is, a lot), you’re reminded of the first time you met Seungmin.

He was working part time at a coffee shop, trying to save some money for college and you were merely a customer. He had accidentally knocked the - thankfully, cold - coffee all over you. In compensation, he begs for your order again so he could make it for free.

He still knows your coffee order by heart up until today.

Taking both of your orders, Seungmin moves to settle back to wherever you’re seated when he spots Jisung and Changbin sitting at your table as well.

He should’ve known they’d be here today – they practically lived on coffee. Seungmin supposes this is what double majoring in Music Management and with Music Theory and Composition looks like.

“Not you two again.” Seungmin fakes exasperation, standing by Jisung who’s seated next to you before shooing him away, claiming that Jisung was in his spot. Jisung simply smirks knowingly before shuffling towards the seat next to Changbin.

“So, I have a funny story.” When Changbin speaks up, Jisung is quick to clasp a hand over his mouth.

“We don’t have a funny story.” He counters Changbin’s claim pointedly, shaking his head and glaring at his best friend.

But who could open up a topic and not proceed around Seungmin? He’ll pull up every piece of blackmail he has on his phone, appropriately labeled “to use against friends” and start threatening you. Absolutely no one can escape Seungmin, and that’s how you find Changbin telling the story of how someone had kissed Jisung and when she pulled away, all he did was say “thank you”.

“Who says that after kissing someone?” Your laughter triggers a smile on Seungmin’s face, too busy observing you to make fun of Jisung. He’ll save that for later when you walk home together. For now, the sight of you laughing is too enchanting to look away from.

Jisung, on the other hand, ignores your question. He’s already embarrassed enough.

“I don’t know! I was nervous! My brain doesn’t work sometimes, you know?” Jisung’s running his hand through his hair in frustration, desperately trying to defend himself, hands moving inanimately while speaking.

“Your brain doesn’t work all the time.” Seungmin retorts and the boy pouts at his younger friend.

“Can we talk about something else?”

You, in fact, do not talk about anything else much to Jisung’s dismay. On your way back home, Changbin brings it up again after jokingly kissing Jisung’s cheek and saying “thank you” right after.  

A heavy arm swings around your shoulder, Seungmin pulling you towards him as he lets his other friends be with their teasing. You look up at your best friend, shifting your attention back to the ground when you meet his gaze.

You’re walking slightly ahead of the two boys, and Seungmin’s just asking you how your day was. He always does this. Every time he walks you back to your building, he’d always ask how your day went.

This might have stemmed from your first and only huge argument – when you kept your feelings to yourself because you didn’t want to be a bother to him. Seungmin’s made sure to create a comfortable space for you to vent to him ever since.

When you talk, Seungmin listens attentively. You don’t know if you love or hate it. It’s a little difficult to recount what happened in your day when he’s looking at you like that. Seungmin may tease you a lot, but you know he cares a lot and one of his ways of showing that is by listening to you.

Your quiet conversation is cut short when the two boys catch up with you, Jisung’s eyes narrow at Seungmin while he walks backward so he’s in front of Seungmin. “How come you like touching (name) and not us?”

“Don’t say it like that, you sound like a perv.” Changbin smacks the back of his head and Jisung giggles when his choice of words dawn on him.

“Sorry. I mean, how come you’re not disgusted to initiate physical contact with her! What about me?”

(Because I like her, Seungmin thinks but doesn’t actually say).

Instead, Seungmin smirks, keeping his arm around you before teasing his older friend. “Aw, is our Jisung getting jealous? Don’t worry, I’ll hold your hand once we drop (name) off.”

“Actually?” Jisung beams at what Seungmin says and he halts his steps, instead walking forward with his hand outstretched towards where Seungmin’s standing.

“No, fuck off! I was kidding!” You laugh when Seungmin detaches himself from you so he can properly run away from Jisung who’s desperate to hold the young boy’s hand.

It’s in moments like these, when the feeling of his arm around your shoulder still lingers, and Jisung’s words echo in your head (why does he only hold you?), and Changbin’s nudging your side knowingly, that makes you think.

Could you possibly mean something more to Seungmin? The way that he means to you?

three.

Apart from your notifications, Kim Seungmin has a habit of blowing up your ears. 

You hear him before you see him. Winter seems startled at the sudden screech of your name from the other side of the street, laughing quietly to herself when she spots Seungmin running at you in full speed. She pays no mind when Seungmin latches himself around you, waving at her after finding a comfortable spot to rest his chin (on top of your head). 

“That felt like it came out of a movie.”

You’re still waiting for your food with Winter by the food truck. Seungmin doesn’t seem to mind the wait. Despite learning over the years that he was impatient and usually annoyed at anyone and everything that made him wait, he’s also come to realize that he doesn’t mind the wait when it comes to you. Why else would he wait for you despite your professor being well known for always going past his allotted time? 

He couldn’t do that for anyone else. 

“What are your plans after here?” Seungmin directs the question towards the both of you, slowly unhooking himself from around you to look at the menu of the food truck. 

“Might go to the mall and buy some airpods.” Winter mumbles, pulling her bucket hat down in embarrassment as Seungmin stares at her in disbelief. “Wow. You said that as if you’re just buying a pencil or something.”

“No! What happened is that… I thought I left my airpods in my mom’s car. But look at this.” She pulls out her phone, showing the notification that said ‘French fries (the name of her airpods) is far from the user’. “So I think I must’ve left it on the plane when I was coming back here from the academic break.” 

Winter’s pouting now at the thought of her upcoming big purchase. “I can’t survive without them. How am I supposed to tune everyone out?” 

“Order for Winter.” The conversation is cut abruptly by the man at the food truck with your orders. You break out in a smile at the sight of the food, taking it from Winter and whispering a quick ‘thank you’. 

“Spending money is so easy, but saving feels like a war.” Winter adds before she smells her food, mirroring the smile on your face and taking a bite out of the hard-shell taco she ordered. Seungmin looks around for a place to sit, spotting a bench not too far. “Come on, you girls need to sit.”

Ever the gentleman, Seungmin carries your drinks for you while you eat your food and walk to the bench he had spotted. Taking your seats, Winter pats your thigh and nods her head. “You got yourself a good one. I approve.” 

You’re confused for a moment before you feel the heat creep up from your neck to your entire face. Thank God Seungmin didn’t hear Winter implying that she approved of him as your boyfriend. If he did, he pretended not to hear.

However, he isn’t blind and can see your impossibly red face in abruptness.

“Woah, do you need something to drink?” He grabs his water bottle from his bag, unscrewing the cap and nudging it to your general direction. You gratefully take it from him, chugging down his water to try and cool yourself down. Winter all but giggles, pretending she didn’t almost trigger you to choke down on your food. 

The next few minutes are spent in silence with you and Winter savoring your food and Seungmin scrolling through his phone to check if he had any deadlines he missed. One of his hands rests naturally on your thigh, as if it was the most normal thing. 

When Winter finishes her food, she abruptly gets up from her seat, facing the both of you. “I’m gonna get going now so I can buy the airpods and wallow in my dorm until I fall asleep.” Your face scrunches up in amusement, nodding your head and getting up from your seat to give her a quick hug. “Take care! Text me when you get home.”

“I hope you get me for Secret Santa this year!” Seungmin earns a soft punch from Winter at his side comment before she’s off to the mall. Seungmin’s quick to pull you back down on the bench when Winter leaves, scooting so there’s almost no space between the two of you. 

“Do you have plans after here?” You hum, trying to think if you needed to be somewhere. Chewing down on your bottom lip, you shake your head. “I don’t think so.” 

“Good. You’re eating dinner with me. And don’t worry, I know what you’re thinking. We’re just going to the cafeteria on campus. I’m not gonna rob you off of your allowance.” You laugh in approval, taking another bite down your taco before tilting your body so you’re facing Seungmin, offering some up to your best friend.

“You want some?” You find he’s staring somewhere else instead of the food you had pushed up to his face. Trying to follow his gaze, you tilt your head with wide, doe-eyes before looking back to see if there was something behind you. “What are you looking at?”

Seungmin clears his throat, snapping out of his daydream. “Nowhere. Just…” You’ve never seen Seungmin this hesitant before. He’s pulling at the sleeves of the green sweater he’s wearing, looking around before he fixes his gaze on you again. 

Without warning, he sticks his thumb out to wipe something at the corner of your lips. 

“You had some sauce on your lips.” He’s looking straight ahead now, avoiding your eyes, as if he didn’t just leave you dumbfounded. “Close your mouth. You look like a fish.” Only then do you realize your lips have parted a little at his sudden actions. 

And then, just like Winter, he abruptly gets up. You don’t notice the redness at the tip of his ears when he leans down to pinch your cheeks. “Jeongin says he needs me. I’ll meet you for dinner, okay?” 

You don’t tell him you know that Jeongin’s still in class right now.

four.

When you arrive, Kim Seungmin is already there, waving you over to where he’s seated. 

It’s packed, as usual, filled with college kids that lived in the dorm areas around the campus. However, Seungmin still finds a seat for the both of you. 

Slipping past numerous sleep-deprived college kids, you make your way to your best friend. He greets you with a quick side hug before he’s pushing the best selling mango shake of your cafeteria in your direction. “Oh my god, they weren’t sold out?” 

Every student in your university knows that The Sunshine Harvest’s mango shake was the best drink ever made in mankind. It’s the stall with the longest line in your cafeteria which explains why it always sells out so fast. Everyone would rush to the cafeteria after their last class just to buy a cup – and it was budget friendly. You’ve long given up on buying one (after months) as your schedule never lined up to when there were still some left. You complained about it all the time to Seungmin.

“It wasn’t sold out when I got there. Probably is now.” He shrugs, trying to act nonchalant even though your smile is tipping him over the edge. 

All you did was smile, and Seungmin’s forgotten everything he’s supposed to say or do. It was definitely worth waiting in line for 30 minutes, he concludes.

Happily sipping on your shake, you ask Seungmin if you should start lining up at the food stalls to get dinner. He simply nods his head, telling you to go ahead so he could look after your seats while you search for what you want to eat. Seungmin takes the small time he has alone to calm down.

Then, he receives a phone call from you.

“Do you want pizza?”

“Pizza’s fine.”

“Okay, I’ll buy us pizza.”

“When you finish ordering, just come here and give me the receipt, okay? I’ll wait for it.”

“Minnie, you’re quite literally the most impatient man on this planet. I can do it.” 

“And you had a long day of classes today. Get your ass back here.” 

Within minutes, you’re back at your seat and Seungmin’s sitting you down, taking the receipt from your hands. “Good girl.” He ruffles your hair, dropping his hand right after to squish your pouting cheeks before he’s off to wait for your pizza. 

You drop your head on the table immediately after he leaves. Something in the way he said ‘good girl’ has your heart racing, and you can hear him tell you the table’s dirty but you cannot function at the moment so your face takes the consequence of Seungmin’s words. 

Moments later, Seungmin returns with your pizza, setting it down on the table before taking his seat across from you. There’s still steam blowing from the pizza from how recent it was baked, and you hear your stomach grumble at the sight. You start to fiddle with your fingers, contemplating whether you should wait for it to cool down or grab a slice right now. 

It looks so tempting to take a bite off.

“Don’t.” Before you can even proceed with your devious plan, you feel Seungmin flick your forehead as if he knows what you’re thinking. It’s because he does. Seungmin has memorized your body language. He knows you want to take a slice, and he also knows it’s still hot, and your tongue’s gonna burn, and you’re going to regret it. You slump back in your seat in defeat. 

Seungmin considers himself a genius when it comes to the study of you. While was a stellar student in his school subjects, nothing will come close to the extent of knowledge he has on you. He’s learned about you for years, to the point he thinks he might know you better than he knows himself. He can read you like an open book – his open book. He knows that when the tip of your ears turn red, it means you’re angry. He knows you fiddle with your fingers when you’re bored. He knows you’re one of the few people who puts milk before the cereal (he’s sworn to keep that secret safe with him). 

If Seungmin were to write his thesis paper about you, he was sure he’d get a perfect mark. He’s been unknowingly tucking little things he loved about you in his heart, which is why he waited those thirty damn minutes just to buy you that stupid mango shake that you loved so much. 

He’s looking at you now, staring intensely at the pizza as if it'll cool down faster if you sent it a threatening glare. He smiles to himself, where you can’t see, and he thinks – “Wow, I really really like her.” And for a moment, he thinks he’s brave enough to say it out loud, but seconds turn into minutes and the moment passes. Instead, he chooses to roll up the wrapper from your straw and flick it at you to get your attention and tell you it’s okay to eat your pizza now. 

And you smile, immediately going in to take a slice. You smile, and Seungmin thinks he never wants to go a day without seeing you smile. He forgives himself for not being able to tell you how he feels right now. He thinks he still has time. He still has so much time in the world to confess to you.

“It’s still hot. Careful, okay?” You take a bite and immediately wave a hand in front of your mouth from the heat. He laughs at your eagerness to finish the pizza despite its temperature and he reaches to grab his own slice. 

Seungmin wishes he can spend all his dinners like this.

It isn’t long before Seungmin’s walking you home. Despite living in the dorms within campus, he still pushes to walk you back to your building that’s a little outside of the campus. “I’ll walk you home. Come on.” 

On the way back, you spot the campus cats and dogs. You squeal at the sight of them, immediately crouching down and calling at them to come to where you and Seungmin are. The cats come mewling by your feet. Seungmin mirrors you and crouches down to pick one up in his arms, checking their collars and cooing audibly. “Hello, mushroom.” 

“Oh, she’s so cute.” You stand back up to pet the little kitten in Seungmin’s arms. She reminds you of one of Minho’s cats. Minho would love her. And then, you gasp. You spot the cutest golden retriever puppy, scratching at his collar. Seungmin puts the kitten down to follow you towards where the puppy’s sitting.

“Hello there…” You take a quick glimpse at his collar. “Fang. What a cute name.” You speak in a soft voice, lifting him up gently in your arms. Fang seems to immediately melt in your touch the moment you pick him up and give him some head rubs. 

Mushroom’s meowing in jealousy when Seungmin gives his attention elsewhere. 

“Want me to rub your back? Or give you some belly rubs?” You smile sweetly, moving your hard towards his back and moving your fingers along his fur. “Minnie. Do you ever think about how easy it is to steal them?” 

He laughs at your proposition, giving it a thought. “Maybe sometimes. I’m already a criminal in your building. Might as well be a criminal on campus too.” Seungmin joins you to rub behind Fang’s ears, a smile creeping up on his face.

“It’s getting late. We’re gonna have to go.” Seungmin says gently and you pout as you put the boy down. “I wish I could put you in my bag and take you home. You’re such a good boy.” You bid your goodbye to the puppy before letting him down. 

“That just made my entire day.” You say to no one in particular as you wave one last time to the cats and dogs who go back to playing amongst themselves.

On the rest of the way back, Seungmin complains about Minho and his Criminal Law professor, and you talk about the long list of long tests and quizzes you have lined up for next week. Conversation with Seungmin always comes so easy. And when he sees your building, he makes it a point to slow down his pace so you can finish your story about the time Ryujin put red dye in Chaeryeong’s shampoo bottle. And he listens. 

With you, it’s easy to forget time. 

You finish your story just in time. Seungmin won’t tell you he tried to time it perfectly so you wouldn’t be interrupted while you happily shared the story. 

“Goodnight idiot. Don’t pull another all nighter.” As usual, Seungmin’s fingers find their way to pinch your cheeks before pushing you towards the glass doors of your building. You laugh when you notice Seungmin’s eyes brighten at the sight of Derek, and he immediately sends a wave to his favorite security guard which Derek happily returns.

“Goodnight. Walk home safely!” 

On the way back to his dorms, Seungmin’s phone buzzes from the pocket of his jeans. It's a notification from Jeongin.

(Instagram): maknaeontop mentioned you in a comment: @_seungmin isnt this u with yn LOL

The post reads: “I’ll walk with you” is just an excuse to spend more time with someone before they go and that’s romantic as fuck.

Seungmin rolls his eyes and locks his phone before shoving it in the pockets of his jeans. How convenient is Jeongin’s timing to tag him in that post after he just walked you home.

five.

Kim Seungmin also enjoys complaining a lot. Despite being the one to offer his help, he’s holding up quite an attitude while he’s carrying your laundry to the laundry shop.

You were simply just texting each other, and you happened to tell him you were going to be doing your laundry today, and how you were dreading the long walk while carrying your shit ton of dirty clothes. That’s how you find Kim Seungmin waiting for you outside your building, taking his sweet time glaring at Karen. 

“Seungmin in the building!” His arms are open when he greets you and you fall into them in an instant. Seungmin rarely offers to hug you first so you take the moment to wrap your arms around him and stay in his embrace. Although, his enthusiasm doesn’t hold though when he’s carrying two bags of laundry on each of his shoulders and you’re walking to the laundry shop together. 

“You seriously didn’t have to do this.”

“You would’ve suffered from extreme shoulder and back pains, and I would’ve had to hear about it for the rest of the day. I’m doing myself a favor.” 

You roll your eyes and the conversation falls silent. A comfortable silence. 

You take the moment to look Seungmin over. He’s just wearing a white shirt and some sweatpants, and yet he looks like the most beautiful person on the planet. That’s Seungmin for you. He could wear anything and make it work. 

Fuck, he’s an alarm clock, and you’re so dazed by the way his hair looks like fluffy auburn under the sun, and how the outline of his chest is easy to see through his white shirt, and how his muscles are flexing from the weight of the bags he’s carrying. Since when did he start going to the gym? Was he always this tall? 

He looks painfully dashing and you’re unaware that you’ve made it to the laundry shop until Seungmin’s snapping his fingers in front of your face to get your attention. “Huh, wait. Sorry.” You flush in embarrassment at being caught daydreaming.

“Lost you for a second there.” 

You immediately get to work. You’ve already separated your clothes prior to coming here, so you begin to pour two caps of laundry detergent into the washer. Seungmin mirrors your actions so you can finish your laundry earlier. Pile by pile, you start adding your clothes to the washer and push the knob to turn it to normal cycle setting. 

While waiting, you and Seungmin simply sit on the floor and lean against the wall, staring at the washer with your head resting on his shoulder and your legs outstretched on the ground. 

You wonder when you should do your groceries. Maybe on Tuesday after your 1pm long test? You don’t think you have anything else to do on that day. Has Seungmin finished doing his groceries or would he want to come with you? You think he has a full day of classes on Tuesday. 

“What’s on your mind?”

“Huh, what?” You pull your head away from his shoulder, and Seungmin regrets asking what’s on your mind. It’s too late to double down though. 

“You were chewing on your lips. Assumed you were deep in thought.” You don’t know how chewing your lips has anything to do with being deep in thought. Have you always chewed down on your lips when you were thinking of something? Seungmin curses himself for letting that slip out so easily. 

“Just thinking about when I should do my groceries.” Seungmin quickly dismisses the topic in fear of his feelings being caught. It doesn’t seem like you want to talk much about groceries either. So, you fall back in your comfortable silence and your head is back on his shoulder and a smile instantly crawls its way to Seungmin’s lips while he leans his head on yours. 

“Why does it seem like it’s taking longer than usual?” You whine, staring at the washer with your eyes squinted a little. You look at the clock to see how much time has passed by and then back at the washer as if it’d speed up if you did. “Yeah, I’m tired of hanging out with you.” 

Seungmin’s head falls when you pull your own head back to stick your tongue out at him. He just chuckles at you, linking his arm around you so he can pull you back. “Come back. I was comfortable.” He wraps an arm around you so he can push your head back on his shoulder and your heart skips a beat when he nuzzles his head against yours once again. 

“Shouldn’t have said you were tired of hanging out with me then.” You mumble, afraid that your voice would quiver if you spoke any louder. Seungmin simply dismisses you with a wave of his head. “Yeah, yeah, I’m sorry.”

Time always moves faster when you’re actually enjoying the moment because a few minutes pass and the washer stops, and now you have to take your clothes out and place them in the dryer. 

Seungmin stays, telling you he’d help with folding up your clothes and bringing them back to your building – which is exactly what he does when the dryer finishes. And somehow, folding your clothes has turned into a competition between the two of you when he’s claiming he can fold much more than you can. 

He wins.

“It’s just because you have big hands!” 

“Your argument makes no sense.” 

“It does so! See, see. Look.”

You lift your hand mid-air, explaining to him why more work can be done with less effort if you have big hands compared to having smaller hands. It’s like walking less steps when you have longer legs. You’re not sure you’re making sense yourself, and you’re definitely not sure how to function when Seungmin reaches to meet his hand with yours. 

His hands are big.

“You do have tiny baby hands. Are your hands smaller than Felix’s?” The moment feels way too intimate for you. While you’re just comparing hand sizes, it's the warmth of his hands that catch you off guard and the feeling that you wouldn’t mind feeling his hand like this every day.

Seungmin thinks about how easy it’d be to just intertwine your hands together.

“Uh… I don’t know. We’ll have to see.” You instantly pull your hand back, packing your folded clothes back in your bags. You don’t know why your face won’t stop smiling at what just happened so you bury your head deep into the bags so Seungmin can’t see how red your cheeks are. 

“They’re definitely smaller. You don’t have to check.”

Seungmin doesn’t admit either that he doesn’t want you to press your hand against Felix’s like you did with his. 

six.

Even when you’re not together physically, he still finds a way to annoy you. 

“That’s what phones are made of!” He explains over the phone while you’re grocery shopping. Seungmin doesn’t seem to mind that his only view in your Facetime call is your double chin and the piles of food behind you. 

“What are you doing grocery shopping on a Sunday anyway? Isn’t this your sleeping day?” He says as if it was a matter-of-fact. “There are no rules stating I can’t grocery shop on a Sunday.” You deadpan before grabbing a bottle of shampoo from the shelves. 

The old lady looks at you like you’re crazy and you blush in embarrassment, pulling your cart away and moving to another section of the shop. It must look like you’re talking to yourself.

“You’re stressed, aren’t you?” Seungmin shifts from his position so he’s sitting up and he can hear you better which catches your attention. “So maybe I am a little.” You grab some toilet paper before you start to walk to the frozen section. 

“You know you can talk to me, right? I’m always here to carry the weight with you.” You smile at the rare words of affirmation from your best friend. It was never his love language. He showed his affection through his acts of service, so you appreciate that he’s lowering down his teasing to genuinely comfort you while you’re stressed.

“I know. It’s just…” So you talk to him. 

You rant to your best friend while you’re walking around the grocery store, and while numerous other old ladies and men look at you like you need to seek psychiatric help. You tell him about your blockmates and how they rarely put in work during group projects and activities. Seungmin knows it’s bothering you more than ever now since exams are nearing. That meant so were a shit ton of project deadlines. 

“Need me to talk to them?” You laugh, dismissing him while you examine the ice cream flavors available. “That’s just embarrassing for me. Though, I’ll admit they’d be scared shitless if The Kim Seungmin scolded them.” You lean down to pick up the Rocky Road tub for yourself and a Mint Choco for Seungmin.

“Don’t talk about me like I’m all that. I’m just… Minnie.” Your heart warms at how he uses your nickname for him. “And I’m serious. I  won’t hesitate talking to them if you need someone to knock some sense into them.” Your best friend scoffs at the thought of your group mates and the unnecessary amount of stress they’re putting you in.

“It’s alright. I’ll handle them. Do you need anything?” Your grocery list has long been crashed out and discarded in your pocket, now just looking around to see if there was anything else you could fit in your budget. 

“Do you think you can get me some eggs?” You hum, moving towards where the dairy products are. “Just one carton?” You ask, skimming through them before grabbing a dozen upon Seungmin’s approval. 

When he tells you he doesn’t need anything else, you move to fall in line so you can pay for your groceries. Only then do you realize that Seungmin’s wearing the fuzzy socks you got for him a few Christmases back. 

“I thought you threw those out.” 

“Hm?” Seungmin asks you to clarify.

“The socks I gave you as a gift.”

“I would never! They’re my happy socks. Also, wasn’t this the Christmas when you received that Ghibli inspired night light?” 

“Yeah! How’d you remember?”

“You were really happy to get it. You would not stop talking about it.” He smiles his Seungmin smile while recalling the memory. You had quite literally screamed when you opened it and Seungmin almost fell out of his ass thinking that you got hurt or injured. 

“Best. Gift. Ever.” You stressed every word, looking ahead to see you’re next in line. “I’m taking that as a challenge.” 

“Alright. I have to pay. I’ll talk to you later!”

“Text me…”

“I’ll text you when I get home, I know, I know. Bye!” You hang up the call just in time for the person before you to finish and you start loading your items on the counter. When you exit the shop, you spot Felix with his own bag of groceries as well. 

He greets you enthusiastically the moment he spots you, going in to give you a short hug and a small pat on your head. He’s smiling his sunshine smile as the two of you walk through the large shop together, and he’s kind enough to offer to carry one of your shopping bags for you as you exit. You decide to just take the train back to campus together as he lives in one of the in-campus dorms as well. 

“Soooo… you and Seungmin together yet?” Felix stabs the silence with a knife, immediately going in for the kill. You scrunch your face, shaking your head as you look at him with your eyes squinted. “Felix.”

“No, but like! He’s always so happy when he’s with you. And even when you’re not around, he goes on and on about you. I’m pretty sure Changbin knew everything about you before he even met you.”

“Don’t give me false hope.” You nibble on your lip, looking down at your groceries as Felix navigates the both of you towards the train station. 

Felix pauses, a small hand on your back to make sure he doesn’t lose you in the crowd of people waiting to catch the train. “It’s not false hope!” Felix is trying to find a way to properly articulate his thoughts to you. He’s not dumb – he sees the way Seungmin looks at you. Seungmin doesn’t need to tell him. 

“Okay, listen to this. So, one time I went to their dorm, right? Cause I was stress-baking and I made too many brownies and I know how much Innie loves them so I went there. It was a little late in the night, and when I walked in about to announce my presence, Seungmin saw me.”

You look at him confused, but let him continue the story.

“Turns out, you had fallen asleep on him while the three of you were watching a movie, and there was this look on his face. I can’t even begin to explain, but he had this look, and he told me to be quiet so I don’t wake you up.”

You just scoff at his story. 

“Fine, don’t believe me. One day, I’m gonna say I told you so.” He teases, and a faint smile forms on your face. “Let’s hope I get to hear that.” You feel your heart pumping at the thought. Felix seems really sincere with his words, but you didn’t want to hang onto something you don’t see yourself. 

It’s quiet after that when you enter the train. It’s a little packed so there isn’t a seat for you and Felix, but he protectively stands beside you and ghosts an arm around you so you don’t fall when the train accelerates. Felix walks you all the way to your building before he hands you back your grocery bag. 

“Bye Felix! Be safe.”

“Bye (name). Go and kiss Seungmin for me!” 

“I hate you.” 

He waves to you as he leaves and now the thought of kissing Seungmin is stuck in your head. Screw Lee Felix and his endless teasing. 

seven.

You don’t see Seungmin until Thursday that week. You’ve been stressed. Really stressed. And Seungmin’s well aware. 

He lets you rant to him at night, playing the part of your diary. He lets you be angry, he lets you be annoyed – without shame. He lets you feel every emotion and reminds you you’re valid for feeling that way.

You’re always thankful for Seungmin. You’re appreciative of the way he drops whatever he’s doing at any hint that you’re stressed just so he can listen. He doesn’t say anything while you rant, letting the moment be entirely yours. He simply plays his part as someone who’s there to hold the moment with you because he’s lucky enough to be the one to hear it. 

So, on a Thursday, you text him asking if it was okay for you to drop by the dorms. He says yes in an instant, but tells you to come in 2 hours. He must’ve been busy. 

But now, two hours later, you’re standing outside his dorm building with the carton of eggs you bought him and some jjajangmyeon. Jeongin, Seungmin’s roommate, is the one who greets you. 

“(Name)!”

“Jeongin!”

He rushes to hug you, wrapping his long arms around you and lifting you from the ground just a little before placing you down safely. “How long has it been since you visited us? I’m a little hurt.” He accompanies you to leave your student ID with the guard, holding up the conversation and offering to bring the plastic bag you’re holding.

Jeongin announces your arrival by knocking on the door. How unusual for someone who also lives in that same dorm he’s knocking. Maybe he didn’t bring the keys with him?

There’s a sound of vague stumbling and cursing and rushing around before the door swings open to reveal a sweating Seungmin. “Hey. Long time no see.” He lets out a breath, one you think he’s been holding before he steps aside to let the both of you in. He smiles at you before his eyes land on the plastic Jeongin’s holding. 

“My eggs! Thank you.” Seungmin pinches your cheeks in thanks before grabbing the bag from Jeongin who’s still chuckling over Seungmin’s very excited exclamation of his eggs. “And some jjajangmyeon, too? (Name), you sure know your way around my heart.” 

“You’re welcome.” You sit yourself on their couch, noticing that the place has been tidied up a little. You laugh at the boys’ effort to clean up before you came over. 

“You feeling better?” Seungmin plops down at the spot next to you, fixing his gaze on you. 

“A little.” (Way better now that I’m here with you–).

“Good. Being stressed ages you faster. You’re already like half fifty or something.”

(--so I can strangle you.)

Jeongin nudges Seungmin suddenly, clearing his throat. You look at the younger boy suspiciously and suddenly Seungmin’s sweating again despite not doing anything. “I have a surprise.” 

“You… have a surprise?” You tilt your head in confusion. Seungmin tells you to wait one moment as he waddles towards the door of their bathroom. What surprise could possibly be linked to their bathroom. “Seungmin. I swear to god if you show me one of your shit–”

Then, he opens the door and out comes running… Fang? 

“Did you kidnap the campus dog?!” You shoot out of your seat, mouth dropping at the sight of the dog who’s excitedly jumping and demanding for your attention. “I was kidding when I talked about kidnapping them!” 

“You said they’d cheer you up no matter what!” Your initial shock dissipates when Fang looks so cute barking and jumping at you, so you sit back down and he immediately hops on their couch to lay down on your lap.

“I helped too.” Jeongin states proudly, sitting on your left so you’re in between him and Seungmin who has taken the spot on your right. “You made the baby help you steal?” Seungmin rolls his eyes, rubbing Fang’s head. “He was more than happy to do it.” 

Only then do you allow your heart to explode in your chest. Seungmin actually kidnapped the campus dog to surprise you because you’d been stressed for the week. Your emotions feel heightened, and you feel an overwhelming wave of love wash over you at its purest, unsolicited form. 

He did this for you just because. He did it without expecting anything in return. He did it because you briefly mentioned how they made your day when you saw them that one time you ate dinner together. 

You can’t do anything but stare at him for a moment, unable to really pay attention to Fang, not that he really needs it. Jeongin’s giving him enough attention by playing around with him. You’re absolutely dumbfounded at the heavy implication of care in his actions. Here he was next to you, holding with him all your feelings you’ve had for years. 

“Thank you, Minnie.” You lean in to give him a small kiss on his cheek before you’re getting up to play with Fang and Jeongin. His pretty brown eyes go wide. There’s a deep inhalation while he sits there after you’d kissed his cheek. He’s taken by surprise, almost frozen in his spot. 

He’d kidnap all the campus dogs and cats just to feel your lips on his cheek again. 

He’s snapped out of his daze by the sound of knocking and almost immediately Jeongin’s rushing Fang back into their bathroom to hide him and their filthy crimes. They were going to return him. They were simply… borrowing.

Seungmin answers the door once Jeongin safely hides the cute puppy. 

It’s Lee Minho. 

“It’s just Minho!” Minho invites himself inside, waving at you once he spots you. “Why are you here?” 

“I invited him so he could cook dinner for us. My wallet’s bleeding and I’m craving a home cooked meal.” Jeongin responds, opening the bathroom door to let Fang out again who instantly warms up to Minho. There’s obvious relief in his voice at not being caught. He was an accessory to the crime after all. 

“Only if I get a hug from Seungminie.” Minho’s smirking, inching closer and closer to Seungmin who puts his arms out in front of him to block himself from the boy. “Move! You’re dirty! And don’t call me that.” 

Minho all but laughs at Seungmin’s response, already having predicted it. He ignores Seungmin’s passiveness when it comes to affection, choosing instead to pet the puppy by his feet. “I’m not even gonna ask why you stole the campus dog.”

“We’re just borrowing him!” 

“Can you steal Mushroom for me too?” Minho pats your head affectionately when he passes by you to make his way to the kitchen, looking through the pots and pans and ingredients to figure out what he’s going to be cooking tonight. 

“Depends how much you’re willing to pay me.” Seungmin grins evilly, and Minho all but shakes his head at the younger boy.

It goes on like this for a while. You help Minho out sometimes at the kitchen because Seungmin and Jeongin cannot for the life of them cook without causing a fire, and then Minho pushes you to go back and play with Fang since Seungmin went through all the trouble kidnapping him for you (Jeongin couldn’t keep the secret and told Minho right away why they decided to steal the puppy). 

You feel genuine happiness when you’re around them. The feeling remains even when you’ve sat down to eat. 

Jeongin and Minho also can’t help but notice the happiness radiating off of Seungmin who’s staring at you and your smile when he thinks no one is looking.

eight.

Kim Seungmin’s friends are basically an extension of yours, like how your friends are an extension of his. 

While some are closer with others, you don’t mind each other’s presence. Seungmin’s friend group is way bigger than yours – 8 boys including himself. As for you, you liked sticking with Winter, Chaeryeong, and Ryujin. 

Hanging out in the big field of your school was supposed to be only amongst you and the 3 girls, but when the boys caught wind of your plans, they asked if they could tag along. 

That’s how you find yourselves sitting on the field’s grass and chatting while some play a variation of volleyball by the side. 

Everyone’s doing their own little thing, happy to just spend the afternoon with friends after a long week of classes. Ryujin’s bullying Chan, untying his shoelaces every chance she gets. Chaeryeong and Minho are discussing amongst themselves about their dance showcase coming up since they were both majoring in the same course (with Changbin constantly trying to bother them both – you wish Chaeryeong would punch him again so you could catch it on video this time). Hyunjin’s asking for Winter’s advice since he’s been tinkering with the idea of taking up Fashion Design. The rest of the boys are playing around with the exception of Seungmin who’s laying down on the picnic blanket you’d laid out. 

“You mentioned you had a quiz today, right? How was that?” You look down at Seungmin even though he has an arm draped over his eyes to shield them from the sun. 

“I think I did alright. Bolted out of there as soon as they started discussing their answers.” 

The boy simply laughs, tuning out everyone else in favor of listening to your voice. It doesn’t last long though when Jisung is bothering everyone to play volleyball together. He claims it’s perfect since you were 12 total so exactly 6 people would be on each time like an actual game. 

Feeling nice today, you decided to join in on his idea. Jisung is thankful for the support. It’s always his ideas that are turned down – though he’s to blame most of  the time. Who thinks swimming in an ice cold lake is a good idea to hangout? 

It’s only now that he thinks of something that’s normal to do so everyone gives him a chance.

So, you play. You, Ryujin, Chan, Felix, Minho and Hyunjin in one team and Seungmin, Changbin, Jeongin, Chaeryeong, Winter, and Jisung in another. 

Your team wins both rounds. Seungmin’s just complaining about Changbin’s good at nothing while you switch courts to play a third round (even though your team’s already won). “That’s embarrassing.” Minho jests at the opposite team, laughing when Jisung pouts instantly. 

“We’re just going to win again. Do you really wanna play another round?” Ryujin joins in on the teasing, finally creating a temporary truce with Chan as they were on the same team. 

“Mean!” Chaeryeong remarks before slumping her shoulders. “She’s right though. They’re definitely gonna win again.” 

“I hate all of you” are Seungmin’s last words before you play another round. The game goes by really quickly until Jisung accidentally spikes the ball in your direction and he’s immediately down on his knees apologizing to you. 

Everyone’s eyes instantly land on Seungmin who’s already making his way to where you’re seated on the ground. 

“I’m okay. It’s okay Ji!” Despite your verbal reassurance to everyone, he still places a fond hand on your head before he holds your chin, gently tilting your head on both sides to see if you were hit in the face. 

Jisung’s now apologizing to both you and Seungmin.

Chan jumps on the opportunity to start taunting Jisung and how Seungmin was gonna be mad at him and Jisung’s sad attempts at getting the boy to hug him will all be in vain. “Chan, you’re my roommate. I thought you were supposed to be on my side!” 

“I’m sorry, the roommate contract doesn’t cover taking your side.” 

Seungmin doesn’t let the game continue after that, but nobody really minds, happy to finally take a break from playing. 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Doting Seungmin is adorable as he’s wiping the sweat from your forehead, asking you a million times if you were hurt. He tells you it’s because he can’t pay in case you've broken a bone or something. You know better than that. 

He was just being his ‘tsundere’ self. 

“Yo, you guys ready for the midterms exams soon?” Chan opens up and a loud groan immediately leaves Ryujin’s lips in response. “Don’t even remind me.” 

“I’m honestly just excited for the university festival right after.” Felix quips, hugging his knees to his chest. Winter and Hyunjin instantly agree, talking about wanting to help out with the booths. 

“I wonder which artists are gonna perform. There’s no lineup yet, right?” Changbin asks, and everyone responds with a variation of ‘no’ or ‘I don’t know’ along with a list of some artists they wished would make an appearance. 

“Ya, lovebirds!” Minho calls out to the both of you which catches your attention. “You’re going to the university festival after exams, right?” 

Your eyes light up at the mention of the festival and you eagerly nod, completely disregarding how Minho called you lovebirds. Seungmin takes note of your excitement, smiling goofily to himself before replacing it with a straight face upon facing his friends. He knows they’ll never let him live it down if they caught him with that smile on his face.

Seungmin just watches as you start talking about which booths you wished to see and which artists you were hoping to perform, and how you were wondering if there was going to be a fireworks display at night. 

Your grin is so wide and fond and excited that Seungmin can’t help but let his own smile unknowingly linger. Minho has a shit-eating grin on his face at the sight.

nine.

Hell week – the week before midterm exams – comes really quick, and soon you find yourself living through Seungmin’s coffee machine and 5 hours of sleep. 

The campus library becomes your second home as does a lot of people from numerous departments, studying until ungodly hours and sneaking in cups of hot coffee. So, after eating dinner, you walk the familiar steps towards the library with your best friend. 

Seungmin also seems to be running low on sleep, eyes drooping before you even made it to the library. However, ever the top student that he is, he fights through the exhaustion. He’s thankful for the distraction. 

Ever since you mentioned your excitement for the university festival and the fireworks display, Seungmin’s mind has been eating at him to use it as the perfect opportunity to confess to you. It’s the only thing that replays in his mind when he isn’t doing anything — all the possible outcomes to a confession and all the possible ways to confess.

So, he’s more than grateful for the distraction. 

Not so much the one in front of him right now though. You’ve been at the library for around an hour now, books and papers scattered around the table. Seungmin’s tapping his pen against his lips, elbow propped up on the wood of the table. Criminal law has long been discarded in his head, he’s read it way too many times for the past week in preparation for the exams. 

“Stop looking. You’re distracting me.” You whisper for Seungmin to pay attention, not even bothering to look up from your own book as you shut your eyes closed to try the photographic memory you clearly don’t have before flipping to the next page.

“How narcissistic of you to think I’m staring at you.” He rolls his eyes just to be annoying before his cheek falls against his fist, eyes glazing over you again. He has little shame in his unabashed staring. 

It’s how he notices your gentle shivering at the airconditioning of the library. “Did you forget to bring a jacket?”

You don’t hear him, and you don’t really have to as he’s already taking his hoodie off, dropping it on top of your book to grab your attention. “You’re shaking.” When you’re about to retort, saying he’d get cold too — he goes back to studying, placing his earphones in even though he isn’t listening to any music.

You notice it’s your favorite hoodie of his, the Dodgers gray hoodie, once you put it on. Almost immediately you’re engulfed in his warmth and his scent and you’re grateful for the jacket because your ass has been shaking for the last hour. 

Seungmin’s attempt to get back to studying falls short when he catches a glimpse of you in his jacket that’s clearly too big for you. 

His thoughts drift to the color of your eyes and the way your hair frames your face so prettily and how you look so cute with the sleeves of his jacket falling beyond where your hands are. He thinks about how it’d feel like if he went in for the first kiss, pressing his lips on yours without it being nerve-wracking. 

He imagines everything and anything in that short amount of time, his notes discarded in favor of admiring you. 

Seungmin is interrupted when you drop a copy of his perfectly written notes (from a class he took a year ago), asking him about a specific topic since you’re taking the class this year. He readjusts himself on the library seats, the ones he hates but puts up because you enjoy studying in the library so much. 

Leaning in forward, Seungmin starts explaining to you the concepts of Politics and Governance and Health Laws. He glances at you with a frown when you seem to be staring at his notes blankly, having a hard time grasping all the information at once.

“You look like you’re fighting for your life in there.”

“That’s cause I am! How am I supposed to pass this class? Can it just be over so we can be at the university fest already?” Seungmin leans across the table to flick your forehead gently.

“You’re more concerned about the university fest than passing your exams.” 

“Okay, mean.” You say to him with a frown, looking around to see if anyone’s looking before flashing him a middle finger. He rolls his eyes, pushing your notes further towards you before speaking again. “I’m not wrong though.”

He pokes you with a pen to get your attention, telling you to focus up before he’s explaining the concepts to you again. You try better to understand them now, repeating some of the things he tells you and answering his follow-up questions to make sure you really understand.

The soft smile he gives you when you answer correctly is enough motivation to perfect your exam. He looks like such a boyfriend right now. Lending you his hoodie, tutoring you on your exams, leaning in and smiling that soft smile directed at you. It takes everything in your head not to daydream of what it’d be like if he was actually yours. 

You have to remind yourself he isn’t yours. He’s just your best friend. Your stupid boyfriend material best friend. 

Similarly, Seungmin’s telling himself to get it together. He needs to stay focused on the upcoming exams and stop thinking about what it’d feel like to be yours.

ten.

It goes like this for a few more days until midterms week rolls through. And even then, you’d hold yourself in the library after an exam to study for the next. 

Sometimes you’d be joined by Winter, and sometimes Jisung and Changbin would tag along which usually resulted in you trying to muffle your laughter underneath sweater sleeves. Who knew you could sneak in 12 cups of coffee in the library before actually getting caught? 

Ever since then, Jisung’s been banned from your study sessions with Seungmin.

Tomorrow’s the last day of your exams, and you’re at Seungmin and Jeongin’s dorm to eat dinner before you head out to the library for the last time. 

Seungmin’s out to buy dinner so you’re left with Jeongin who keeps trying to pry into yours and Seungmin’s non-existent relationship. “But you’ve definitely made out before, right?” Your face grows redder and redder every second that Jeongin speaks and you hit him with their couch throw pillow to rebut. 

“We have not!”

“You’re right. Seungmin would’ve never shut up about it. But like, why not? Just get it over with and kiss!”

“We’re just best friends.”

“That’s what they all say.” Jeongin turns his full attention at you, smirking to himself before he starts making kissing noises. “Oh Minnie, kiss me already!” He purposely changes the pitch of his voice to try and imitate yours and you pretend not to feel the warmth on your cheeks.

“I’m gonna end up killing you before Seungmin does.”

He acts as if he doesn’t hear your comment (threat) and continues to tease you. “Seungminie, please fu—“

“Oh my god, shut up!” You almost jump at the poor boy upon realizing what he’s about to say next, and Seungmin arrives just in time before you can strangle the life out of his roommate.

“Am I interrupting something?” He glances at the two of you with an eyebrow raised, placing down the takeout containers on the table and motioning for you to sit so you can eat already.

“I think you might’ve just saved my life.” You send another glare at Jeongin and he raises his hands in surrender. 

Seungmin just chuckles at this, coming up to sit beside you before he’s distributing the containers to the three of you. “What did you even do that made her jump you?” 

“Everything he does makes me want to jump him.” You bark, squinting your eyes at the boy seated across from you and Seungmin.

“Woah, woah. (Name), I don’t see you like that. So eager to jump me?” You scoff loudly at his response, flicking a plastic spoon in his direction. 

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding! We both know who you really want to jump.” 

The plastic fork follows with the threat that if he doesn’t shut up, the hot soup from your noodles is gonna be next.

“Alright, both of you calm down and eat.” Almost instantly, Jeongin’s hunching over his chair, terrible posture leaned forward to start twisting the noodles around his chopsticks. Seungmin angles himself close to you so that your shoulders are brushing, leaning down and blowing on his food before he starts to eat as well.

You try and fail to hide a smile at the physical contact.

On your way to the library, you exchange reviewers to ask each other questions. It’s a good way to retain your memory on the concepts. Jeongin doesn’t seem to know any of the answers to his questions, and Seungmin makes that face exclusive to when he senses something horrible is going to happen — in this case, Jeongin’s grade on this subject.

“Don’t worry. God’s gonna give me a miracle tomorrow.”

“Did he tell you that?” You nudge Seungmin’s shoulder, laughing at their banter when Jeongin sticks his tongue out at your best friend. 

“Of course you’re gonna pass your exams tomorrow. Pre-law students are nerds. You fit right in.” Jeongin snorts which earns him a smack from his roommate. “Do you wanna get kicked out of the dorms?”

The rest of the night falls smoothly with the three of you minding your own business (Jeongin instantly gets distracted by his phone). It’s only before midnight that you find Seungmin asleep in front of you, head resting on the wooden table of the library and eyes closed peacefully. 

You glance at him and you almost feel bad you have to wake him up. Your heart flutters at the small smile gracing his lips, snapping a quick photo so you can go back to this moment forever.

You brush his skin gently, and a smile appears on his face. It’s soft, reserved, but it feels like everything to you. Something in the way he smiled at your touch has you feeling something you can’t quite identify. It makes your heart hurt in s good way.

“Minnie, wake up.” Your voice breaks him out of his nap. He glances up, sleep still evident in his eyes. Then, his dreamy smile returns. 

“Sorry.” You apologize to the boy while he moves to tidy up his things. He must’ve fallen asleep while waiting for you to finish studying. 

“Don’t apologize.” There’s that sincere, intense look in his eyes that makes sure to meet your gaze, so you know he’s being serious, yet his words are gently spoken. He doesn’t want you to feel bad. It was his choice to wait for you.

“Go straight to sleep when you get back, okay? I know you love pulling allnighters, but it’s not good for you.” 

On normal circumstances, he’d protest, telling you that he was still able to get a good 4 hours of sleep, but the genuine concern swimming in your eyes has him sealing his mouth shut and nodding instead.

“Alright.”

Seungmin finds he’d do anything for you.

eleven.

After you finish your last test, you get a text from Seungmin telling you to come to JYP Diner. 

He explains that the boys wanted to eat together after completing the midterm exams, and that you should try inviting Ryujin and Winter as well (Chaeryeong was already there as she shared her last exam schedule with Minho).

You reply that Winter had retired for the day, and that Ryujin still had an exam later this afternoon. He tells you to hurry up and get your ass to the diner.

As soon as you open the door, Seungmin’s eyes land on you and the annoyed look on his face melts into a fond smile. He’s quick to get up, greeting you by the door before wrapping his arm around your shoulder to draw you to where they were seated. 

The inside of the diner is warm and pleasant. You’re thankful for the differing scenery of the calm diner compared to the stress of your university.

The boys and Chaeryeong wave at you when you make it to the table, and you fall on the empty seat right next to your best friend. 

“Oh, (name). You should’ve heard him when you were still on your way here.” Minho quips, grin growing when Seungmin kicks him from under the table.

“Why’s (name) taking so long?” 

“Has (name) texted you guys?”

The rest of the boys join in, overexaggerating their imitation of Seungmin’s words from earlier. Barely concealed laughters echo around your booth when your best friend shoots them a friendly show of his middle finger before he shushes them, asking you what you wanted to eat as everyone else had already ordered. 

“Hey, where’s Felix?” You only now notice the boy’s absence, and Hyunjin snorts in response. 

“Immediately fell asleep after his Advanced Calculus exam. He was actually in tears while studying for it last night.” 

“Just like Jeongin then.” Seungmin earns a rather harsh nudge from Jeongin. “That was supposed to be a secret!” 

There’s a gentle smile eating at your lips once your food arrives and your sleep-deprived friends start gobbling up the food as if they were sentenced to life and this was their last meal. There’s always that unidentifiable feeling of comfort when you’re with them, and you’re grateful to have found such friends. 

“What’s wrong?” Seungmin asks you quietly, noticing that you haven't started eating yet. Humming, you shake your head with the same small smile on your face. 

“It’s nothing.” 

Your after-exam celebration is continued over teasing and conversations about the university festival, and one by one, everyone starts excusing themselves to go back home. As usual, Seungmin walks you home.

He doesn’t let you walk into your building immediately upon arrival, asking you to wait for a moment. You comply, tilting your head with an amused smile on your face. 

He’s rummaging through his bag now, looking for something before he pulls out two… tickets? He shoves one in your direction and it takes you a while to realize it’s a ticket to the university festival concert. They weren’t even selling yet, and when they did, it sold out pretty fast.

“How did you…?”

“Chan’s part of the student organizers.” 

You immediately jump to coddle the boy in your arms, squeezing his rather larger body and pressing your cheek on his chest as you repeatedly say ‘thank you’. Your eyes are squeezed shut from beaming too much and your smile’s a little crooked from how genuine it comes out. 

Seungmin can’t properly tell you that it’s no problem. He finds his words jumbled up because the sight he’s subjected to is so… beautiful. He’s blushing and somehow it’s making you blush too. 

There’s something tucked beneath your smile, a certain kind of shyness in the way your eyes crinkle. It’s beautiful, as it always has been, but there was something about it that had Seungmin staring at your lips and back at your eyes. It’s like he’s being pulled in, and he’s unaware that he’s slowly and slowly minimizing the gap between you. 

Just when he’s about to bite the bullet, an unknown voice startles him.

“Is that the little menace?” 

Fucking hell.

Karen’s marching her way down the steps to where Seungmin’s standing, and you know it’s time he goes before Karen catches up to the boy. 

“I guess I’ll see you later.” You laugh, but there’s that hint of shyness again, of being flustered as you wave at him. And then, you turn around to head inside your building.

Seungmin bolts back to his dorms, and he spends the rest of the afternoon thinking about what could’ve happened if goddamn Crazy Karen would’ve just kept her mouth shut. 

twelve.

The university festival comes really fast, and you’re more than excited to spend it with your friends.

“Give me one second.” Chaeryeong’s gathering products from her desk and makeup bag, gathering them up on the floor and telling you to sit still as she rummages through her multiple tubes and brushes. 

She maneuvers your head so you’re facing her before she slathers something on her palms, transferring the product to your face and rubbing it gently on your skin. A thin layer of concealer follows before she’s brushing powder on your face. 

Earlier, you had asked if she could do your makeup for you and she excitedly replied with a ‘yes’ and a ‘come over right away’. 

It’s how you find multiple brushes being dabbed on your face, hues of pink on your cheeks and a little on your nose before she’s patting a few glitters on the lids of your eyes. She lets you put on the mascara yourself so she doesn’t accidentally poke you with the wand (like she did the last time she did your makeup).

Then she’s on the search for the perfect shade of lipstick. “Let’s just put a little. Seungmin’s just gonna wipe it all off anyway when you two eventually kiss tonight.” 

“Oh my god, Ryeong.” 

“What! I’m not wrong.” She’s giggling as she tells you to part your lips slightly, applying the soft pink shade on your lips. “You look so pretty.” She coos more to herself, proud of her creation before she’s pinching your cheeks lightly. 

She shoves a mirror to your face so you can reap the results of her hard work. She was right.

Chaeryeong did a wonderful job highlighting your natural features and letting the makeup work naturally on your face. You smile brightly, giving her a quick hug and showering her in ‘thank you’s. 

“Okay, now get changed. Go, go! We’re gonna be late.” 

When you step out, you’re met with the sight of Chaeryeong in a cute, sleeveless dress, leather jacket and fishnets. She looks stunning as she playfully turns around to show off her whole fit. “Damn, one chance?”

“Yeah, right. One chance with Seungmin, you mean.” 

“Actually, I’d like to take a million chances with Seungmin.” She cracks into a fit of giggles. “You’re so down horrendous. Look, with the way you look, I’m sensing the first chance will be taken tonight.” 

You give yourself a final do-over with Chaeryeong’s words, looking at yourself in the mirror. You’re wearing some loose slacks and a black tube top with a cream colored cardigan. For someone who didn’t have enough time to consult Winter and her amazing fashion sense, you’d say you did pretty well at dressing yourself prettily. 

“Okay, okay. Come here, let me put lip gloss on you. I think some of the boys are here already.” You comply, letting her fix up some lip gloss on you before applying some on herself.

“They’re picking us up?”

“Yup. Minho, Jeongin, and Seungmin, I think?”

“Seungmin?” You thought you’d have more time to gather yourself and your feelings on the walk to the big field where all the booths were set up. 

“Yeah, their dorm is nearest to mine. Come on.” 

When you and Chaeryeong step out of her building, the boys are dramatically whistling and clapping their hands. Only when you’re near them do they spill their genuine compliments at the way you two look. 

Seungmin’s knee-jerking reaction at seeing you so prettily dressed-up is to just stare at you unabashedly. There’s so much he wants to say, but his eyes remain glued open and his mouth shut. 

“Yah, stop staring.” Minho smacks the back of Seungmin’s head and he’s stuttering out for something to say. He wants to tell you that you look beautiful, wants to say something charming to woo you over but he’s left with his mouth parted. 

You just laugh at their exchange, taking your spot next to Seungmin as the five of you start walking to the big field. Seungmin looks so painfully attractive with his white shirt and jeans and converse and varsity jacket. He looks like the epitome of a boyfriend – so painfully dashing but also very painfully out of your league. 

Meanwhile, Seungmin’s still kicking himself over for not being able to tell you how beautiful he thinks you look. He’s just hoping he’s presented with another opportunity to tell you – and he hopes by then, he’ll have enough courage to say it. 

Earlier today, Jeongin and Minho gave him quite the heart-to-heart talk and convinced him to confess his feelings tonight. Besides, as they said, it was the perfect opportunity.

“You like her. You have for like a few years now. Stop being a pussy and tell her.” Minho’s words are rather straightforward. Jeongin groans before punching his arm. 

Minho grabs at his arm, shrugging his shoulders before continuing to snack on the chips he had stolen. 

“I’m not telling her.” Seungmin mutters to the boys, dejected. “I’m gonna ruin our friendship.”

“How sure are you?” Minho is stubborn as he continues to push Seungmin. “I’m not. But I don’t want to know.”

This time, Jeongin interjects. “Are you sure you don’t want to know? How would you live with yourself if she liked you all along and you let go of that chance so easily?” 

“I won’t.”

“Exactly. No one lives a happy life entirely within their comfort zone. If you like her so much then she’s worth dragging yourself out of that zone.” Seungmin stiffens at his roommate’s words, mind racing to truly think about what he’s saying. 

Since when did Jeongin get so wise? 

As if Minho was thinking the same thing, he narrows his eyes before staring at the youngest of the group. “You got something you wanna share with the class? How come you know so much about asking someone out?”

“The two of you are just stupid. Anyways, just do it.” 

The waters Jeongin’s treading on are dangerous, but well worth it if it meant Seungmin’s genuine happiness. He thinks it’s time Seungmin ripped off the poor excuse of a bandaid he taped around his heart and deemed all good now.

“Yeah, or I’ll do it myself.” Minho throws him a sly grin, voice overflowing with mischief. 

“Absolutely not.” Seungmin shakes his head in protest, eyes gaping in horror. He immediately grabs the bag of chips from Minho’s lap which the boy immediately tries to grab back. “What’re you gonna do to stop me?”

“Tell Chaeryeong how you wanted her to be your dance partner soooo bad with some screenshots of your messages to me.” Minho should’ve known better than to challenge the one boy that held multiple threats towards each one of them. 

His argument was unfair because he and Jeongin were the only people he told that to. Minho’s mood darkens, pulling back the bag of chips with force and resigning from his evil plans of telling you how Seungmin feels about you. 

Minho valued his pride more than anything else.

“Look, I’ll do it myself.” Seungmin huffs, rubbing the back of his neck and falling back on his bed to stare at the ceiling. “I think.”

Then, Minho’s phone buzzes from right next to him.

“The girls are almost ready. Let’s start walking.”

thirteen.

When the five of you arrive, most of your friends are already there.

Chan’s the first one that sees you. 

“Finally.” He greets you and Chaeryeong with a big hug before bumping his fists with the boys. What is it with men and their fist bumps? 

Before you can mingle with the rest of the group, Chan leans in discreetly (or at least, as discreet as he could) and whispers to the boys. “Watch out if you’re wearing shoes. Ryujin’s been messing with everyone’s shoelaces the moment we got here.”

You laugh at his warning. Ryujin’s actually such a menace. 

“That sounds just about right.” You pat him in the back before going in to give Ryujin a hug. Her face immediately lights up when she sees you and Chaeryeong, wrapping an arm around the both of you as she starts to move away from the boys.

“Ryujin has more rizz than you.” 

“I’m not talking to someone who cried while studying Advanced Calculus.”

“Noted.” Felix instantly shuts up, moving to talk about another topic with Hyunjin who's laughing his ass off at Seungmin���s response at the poor boy.

“We’re just waiting on Changbin, Winter, and… Jisung?” 

Chan’s head counting the group, pointing at each person and mentally noting down the numbers, making sure that no one was missing. You remember the time Felix had accidentally joined in with Beomgyu’s friend group when he thought he was following Seungmin’s feet. Chan almost lost his mind.

The timing couldn’t be more perfect when they show up from a distance. Jisung seems to be talking Winter’s ear off and Changbin’s trying to pull him back. Winter looks a bit overstimulated with his level of energy, but divulges in the conversation anyway. Jisung appreciates it. You smile at how easy your friends got on with Seungmin’s friends. 

Felix excitedly points at the arcade booths lining up, some shooting games, prize wheels, virtual reality. Everyone else reciprocates the excitement, immediately running up to the booths and getting in line. Meanwhile, Jeongin’s dragging Minho at the claw machine. He’s always been notorious for having luck when it came to the claw machine games, and Jeongin was taking his chances the moment he found a bread plushie in the glass case. 

“Get it yourself.”

“Chaeryeong!” 

Minho shuts him up with a bread plushie he immediately wins for Jeongin. The youngest boy happily holds his prize and keeps his mouth shut. 

Chan easily wins Ryujin whatever she asks for in exchange for her leaving his shoelaces alone. Ryujin is easily bribed when it comes to food and free prizes and she knows Chan would probably win most of the games she wanted. Jisung and Changbin were comparing their strengths and boasting about their muscles by the punching machine, and Chaeryeong’s dominating the shooting games with Winter.

“Oh my god, the Sunshine Harvest has a booth. I’ll be back.” Before anyone from the group can accompany you, you’re running towards the direction of the booth. Seungmin understands your rush. Their mango shakes were probably on the way to selling out fast if you didn’t get there sooner. 

When you don’t return in the next 20 minutes, Seungmin is sweating frantically. He knows you can handle yourself, but there was now a chock full of new people who had just arrived and were littering the area. It’s when you don’t pick up his calls that tips him over. 

“I’m gonna go look for (name).” Chan nods understandingly, and Seungmin disappears in a flash. He thanks his parents for his height at this very moment, scanning through the groups of people and excusing himself so he can navigate towards the Sunshine Harvest booth. 

His heart drops to his stomach when he doesn’t see you there. But just when he’s about to panic some more, he spots someone hunched over to the very far left, away from the crowd, discarded mango shake container to the side. He practically leaps out of the bench he’s standing on, jogging in your direction. 

He doesn’t have the heart to scold you when he finds you playing with Mushroom.

“(Name).” You jump back at the sudden voice, but instantly smile upon realizing it’s just Seungmin. You finally say goodbye to the cat, grabbing your empty bottle before standing up. “Sorry, did I take too long?” 

“No, it’s okay.” You just don’t have to know how frantic he was while he was looking everywhere for you. 

On the way back to your friends, you don’t realize his hand is glued to the small of your waist so he doesn’t lose you again. 

When the group decides to split up, Minho and Jeongin are instantly sending Seungmin stupid dirty looks with their stupid wiggling eyebrows. He knows if he doesn’t confess tonight, Minho might actually do it for him.

The rest of the afternoon goes by so fast. You applaud the university and the student body for organizing the fest. The afternoon transitions to night so smoothly, you don’t even realize the amount of time that passed by. 

The bright lights and the loud music is so exhilarating, and it makes you feel so alive — the most alive you’ve felt in the week. There are times when you dance along to the music, exaggerating your movements and Seungmin laughs with his head rolled back and you’d embarrass yourself over and over to keep hearing him laugh.

Seungmin takes the weight off your chest so easily. All he does is pat your head and squeeze your cheeks and accompany you wherever you wish to go and suddenly, you feel lighter. Happier. And it is so, so loud. Everyone around you is talking, crowded together but you can’t hear them. All you can focus on is the feeling of his hand in yours to make sure he doesn’t lose you in the crowd and the way it fits perfectly. Like his hand was meant to be crafted to hold yours.

It’s how you continue to feel when you find yourselves amongst the crowd of the concert, pretending to know the lyrics of the songs playing, screaming at each other when you actually recognize the song. Everything you do with him is something you wish you could capture in a photo.

He’s singing, and you look at him with a silent glee in your eyes, hoping to touch the same greatness that Kim Seungmin always held and hoping to burn the memory of his singing and his soft eyes and his hand in yours. You almost feel like flying. 

His eyes are warm when you look at them, golden brown peeking down at you with fondness. You’ve always loved his eyes the most. It has always been his most obvious tell — of the things they feel and the things they’ve made you feel when he stared at you a little longer than normal.

Your lips quirk up in a smile, and you find yourself singing along to the songs with him. You were never the greatest singer, but with him, you felt like loveliest melodies and tunes flow out of you comfortably.

This time, Seungmin allows himself a quick glance at you from his peripheral vision, admiring your naturally dusted cheeks and your beaming eyes and your messed up hair from the wind and from running around all night. How could you stand there and sing without a care in the world and smile and look so, so beautiful.

And there are many things Seungmin considers to be beautiful. He loves the sunrise and the sunsets and the way the sky blends into a perfect mix of colors along the horizon before the moon chases the sun away. He loves the flowers and the trees on his way to his classes and the wind’s breeze wrapping you in a cold blanket. He loves the stars and their relentless twinkling and how they coat the night sky, making sure the moon is never lonely. But above all, he loves you and your smile and the way you chew on your lips when you think and how you make him feel like he can touch the sky. 

Seungmin finds he’d sacrifice the sunset and sunrise and the twinkling stars if it meant he could call you and all of you, his. 

He doesn’t say anything when he drops his varsity jacket on your shoulders and he doesn’t meet your eyes when you look up at him to thank him.

You make Seungmin trip over his own words. All tangled in adoration and longing. Between all the galaxies and universes, Seungmin concludes he’s lucky to have landed under the same stars as you. 

With all this in mind, Seungmin’s sure he’s upgraded way beyond the like. He’s in love with you — in the hopeless, clumsy, exhilarating kind of way. And he finds that loving you is something he wants to experience no matter the outcome. 

If he was told you’d never feel the same and if he’d still take the chance to fall in love with you, he’d say yes. It’s a yes again and again and again. Always a yes. He’d prefer the unrequited over never knowing how it feels to love you and every part of you. 

“(Name)?”

Despite the loudness of the music and the fireworks and the people around you, you find Seungmin’s voice cut through them all. 

Looking up at him, you find him looking at you in a way he never has done before. In the way he’s done so many times when you weren’t looking. There’s something swirling in his eyes, some kind of longing and desire. 

I've been alone for too long

You've been there all along

The distance between you is closing. Seungmin’s heart is racing when he peels his hand from yours in favor of cradling your cheek gently, tracing along your jaw and soaking in every detail about your face.

Ethereal love

I will choose you now and everyday

Seungmin’s putting everything on the line, stepping into the unknown, heartbeat pounding in his ears. There’s still time for you to pull away, to run away from the certainty he feels about you, to shatter him into a million pieces. 

He hopes you won’t. 

His eyes flutter shut, but when he opens them again, you’re already gone.

fourteen.

It’s the first time Seungmin doesn’t blow up your notifications. 

Jeongin confiscates his phone when he comes home to Seungmin downing a bottle of vodka. He’s immediately concerned for his roommate’s wellbeing and what could’ve led to Seungmin’s sudden want to get drunk. 

“Hey, what happened?” He sits on the ground to accompany Seungmin, grabbing the bottle when he sees that it’s almost empty. 

“Let me sulk properly.” Then, he’s grabbing the bottle back from Jeongin, chugging down the remains before harshly setting it down on the ground. A sharp sigh leaves his throat before he leans in to rest his head on Jeongin’s shoulder. And he sits there and lets him.

Jeongin lets him because Seungmin needed someone right now. “I fucked up, Innie.” 

It’s the most fragile Jeongin’s ever heard from his roommate and he takes Seungmin’s hand to let him know that he’s listening. “Tried to kiss (name). I ruined everything.” 

Jeongin’s face twists in confusion, heart rising in his own throat. He knows you like Seungmin back. And if Seungmin tried to kiss you, he would’ve thought the result of that would be a very happy phone call from his roommate – not him drinking until he forgets.

Seungmin feels pathetic, and Jeongin swears to get to the bottom of things. With sleepy fucked up eyes, Seungmin looks up at the boy, chin tilted up and lips quivering. “Do you think she’ll forgive me?”

“I know she will. Come here.” Seungmin bows his head faintly, head falling on Jeongin’s chest as he allows himself to be hugged – allows himself to be vulnerable and to feel because it’s something that doesn’t need to be taught, but needs to be remembered over and over again. 

Jeongin wraps his arms around the boy. Seungmin attempts to swat his arms away, the way he’s used to, but he thinks it feels quite nice to be hugged. 

He had downed the pain and was begging for the temporary buzz to kick in all while his fingers are clenched on the fabric of Jeongin’s shirt and his tears are leaving a wet spot where his face is pressed against.

There’s a burn in his heart, just under his chest and it’s squeezing so tightly. When he closes his eyes, all he sees is you and he cries a little more. Is this what it felt like to have someone to lose?

Even if he knows you won’t let his feelings get in between your friendship, the unrequitedness of the feelings Seungmin has held for years is dawning on him and it is so, so painful. 

Jeongin shoots you a quick text to meet him tomorrow. 

fifteen.

You wake up to a text from Jeongin which is how you know you’ve truly fucked up now.

You didn’t mean for it to happen, and you feel horrendous. 

You’re honestly not even sure how it happened. What a grief it is that your memory works the way they do and how you don’t remember how it felt to have his face so close to yours. It deprives you of the memory of his eyes and his lips, and they let go of the feeling of his hand in yours while you watched the fireworks. 

The human brain is beautiful, but how dare it cost the sound of his voice and the feeling of his hands cradling your face. 

In hindsight, you know you shouldn’t have run away. But you were afraid. You were afraid it was just a heat of the moment thing and Seungmin didn’t actually want to kiss you. Were you the one that came onto him? Did you initiate the kiss? 

Everything had felt so right before the fear settled in. You’ve been left with questions that were never answered before, all the voices in your head you’ve shut out for so long screaming at you. Was this how it felt to have someone to lose? 

You bury your face in your hands in frustration. Did you ruin years of friendship because you wanted to know how his lips felt like on yours? 

You’re not sure what you’re thinking when you walk towards where Jeongin tells you to meet up, but you do know you’re immediately regretting it. Especially when you see a familiar figure walking towards where you’re standing. 

“I – I have to go.” You blurt out the moment you see him. “I’m sorry. I have to.. I need to be somewhere.” You feel selfish – walking away from him because you’re not ready to hear his rejection.

“Wait, (name). Let me explain myself.”

You don’t want to hear it. You don’t want to hear the words you’d been dreading to hear. 

Backed up by your one-sided feelings, you turn yourself around and your fingers tighten around the sleeves of the jacket you’re wearing, and you shake your head as you try to quicken your pace so you can get out of there as soon as you can.

“I’ve been in love with you since we were eighteen.” 

His sudden confession stops you in your tracks. 

You find it physically impossible to turn around and look at him. Trembling lips are so easy to discern, especially on Seungmin. 

“(Name), please… please look at me.” You will yourself to look at him, and when you brave eye contact, you notice his lips trembling in trial of a smile. But it’s sad, it’s so sad and his lips start to quiver. It’s difficult to ignore the crack in his whispers and the pain in his transparent eyes. 

“I feel like I’m losing you.” The words taste bitter on his tongue. He knows exactly why. 

They’re words he never thought he’d ever utter in his lifetime, and now that he’s saying them, the reality is hitting him much harder. 

“Did I do something wrong? Was it because I tried to kiss you?” Seungmin’s having difficulty speaking, especially with the lump in his throat and the tears threatening to spill from his eyes. He hasn’t cried in such a long time. “I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.” 

He sounds ashamed, and the break in his voice does nothing to disguise his guilt. 

You hate that. You hate that you made Seungmin feel this way over one big misunderstanding. His confession repeats in your head over and over and you feel the buildup of bile in your stomach when you realize you’ve hurt Seungmin.

Your mouth dries. There’s so much you want to tell him, but you find no words escape your throat. It feels like there are fingers being shoved down your throat. 

Before you can push down the nausea, Seungmin breaks eye contact. His heart is beating incredibly fast and he thinks he’s fucked up with you further by confessing his repressed emotions – confessing his feelings he was so practiced in hiding. 

A spell of dizziness sends Seungmin tumbling backwards, heart racing and palms sweating. He looks at you, studying your expression, and the silence feels like it goes on for too long and he thinks he’s made a mistake. 

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

His sorry feels a lot like he’s saying goodbye. 

Seungmin disappears in the blink of an eye.

sixteen.

It’s the first time in a long time that you’re the one blowing up his notifications.

He doesn’t reply to your texts. Granted it’s 3AM and the poor boy is probably asleep.

You’ve been tossing and turning for the past few hours, unable to catch even a wink of sleep with the amount of thoughts racing in your mind. The image of Seungmin, of his red eyes, of his tears, emerges from the night around you. It stubbornly laments, refusing you any form of peace. You deserve it.

Overwhelming sadness stunned you, shadowing over Seungmin’s confession. You don’t allow his words to linger. It’s incredibly unfair to feel hope when Seungmin’s out there feeling his most hopeless. 

You’re about to turn again, forcing your eyes shut when the familiar ringtone of Facetime echoes from your phone. Almost immediately, you’re leaping off your bed, grabbing your phone from the nightstand.

Oh.

It’s Winter.

“Alright, what’s wrong?” You stare at her through the screen of your phone, and it looks like she’s making herself comfortable. She’s seated on her lazy boy chair, blankets bunched up around her shoulders and a mug of something steaming by her side. 

“What?”

“I was gonna walk over to your building, but it’s 3am and I am not about to die just so I can come over and hug you. I’ll do that tomorrow.”

Your heart melts at Winter’s observance. She notices, even if it’s the most minuscule little thing. Winter always notices, and unlike the insincerity pouring from other people when they say they’re only one call away, Winter actually is. She’s one call, one text, one anything away.

“Come on, talk to me.” So you do. You tell her everything from the start. The very start.

You tell her that from the moment you met Seungmin, your mind had started crafting a romance story, even if you didn’t know it yet. He was working part-time at a coffee shop, and you’re not exactly sure how it happened, but you remember the cold sensation of coffee all over you and a promise to make it up to you. When he introduced himself, he shook your hand. 

His hand felt like warm cookies dipped in milk. 

And you tell her ever since then, you spent almost every day getting to know Seungmin and his love for the sunrise and the sunset and how passionate he is about singing but rarely ever does it in front of people and how he is repulsed by physical touch but never really minds when it’s with you. He’s still the same boy you met in that coffee shop, albeit he walks more confidently now. He grew into his features and had a broader back now, but he was still the same boy whose hand you held on the way to his dentist appointment. He was still the Kim Seungmin who smiled at you so brightly when he got his braces removed, and continued to smile at you today.

It’s been a long way since that coffee shop, but he’s remained to be the one true constant in your life. You’re convinced you were always destined to meet him. You reason it’s because you’d be a completely different person now if it wasn’t for him. If you hadn’t met at that coffee shop, you’re convinced Whoever Is Above would’ve found a way for you to meet over and over and over again. 

Everything carries you to him, as if everything that exists were little boats that sailed directly to him — to where he was waiting. To where he’s still waiting.

And then you tell her about the night of the festival. How you almost kissed him, and how you regret every second after for not just pressing your lips on his. You tell her of his confession, and how you love him tenfold, even before you knew what love was. 

Loving Seungmin was the easiest thing you’ve ever had to do. It was falling in love with his eyes and the sound of his laughter and the little things he reserves for you and for your eyes only. 

“Why’d you run away?” It was a valid question. You don’t even know yourself. 

“I guess I was just scared.” You hesitate with your answer, putting your arms around you and staring at nothing in particular. 

“He loves you.” 

“I didn’t know.”

And in hindsight, maybe you should’ve. When you look back for a sign that Seungmin’s loved you all along, you end up finding it interwoven in his teasing. He left so many signs, and you didn’t see a single one. 

There was love in his long, overbearing messages — telling you to eat, asking you about your day, scolding you for worrying him. There was love in his phone calls, in keeping you company in whatever you did because he knows you don’t like the silence very much. The quiet left you alone in your head, and you despised feeling lonely. Love echoed in your laughter and reflected in your smiles even if your jokes weren’t funny. There was love, even in the tiktoks he sent you with the small comment of “us”. It was in the dinners you shared and in the absence of words because he just understood. 

Maybe that’s what love is. Maybe this is what Kim Seungmin’s heart feels like. His love was never made up of grand gestures, it was always in the little things that told you his life is so intertwined with yours.

There was always love all along. 

There still is. 

“He just knows me so well, I thought he could never see me romantically after getting to know all my bad sides.”

“Being known is being loved.” Winter’s words linger in your head as you play a flashback of your years with Seungmin, replaying all the scenes. 

Being known is being loved.

Everything hits you all at once. When he got you that mango shake you loved so much and complained about because it sells out so fast. When you saw the campus dogs and cats that one night, and how he remembered what you said. When he knows you’re deep in thought just because you were chewing at your lips. When he recalls the gift you got a few Christmases ago because it made you so happy. When he lets you borrow the hoodies you mentioned were your favorite. When he memorizes your coffee order by heart.

Love never needed to have the tsunamis and the thunderstorms. Love is just… love. It’s just the quietness, the stillness, the calm. Sometimes, it doesn’t have to feel like a million lightning strikes. It just has to feel like finally letting out that one breath you’ve been holding on for too long.

Being known is being loved. 

“I have to talk to him.”

“I know.”

“I love him.”

“I know.”

“And he loves me.”

“He loves you.”

seventeen.

It isn’t even 8am when you’re pacing back and forth in front of his dorms. 

You know Seungmin usually wakes up early, but you’re unsure of his sleeping patterns as of recently. You haven’t been given the privilege to know, so you text Jeongin. 

Your fingers drum nervously on the side of your thighs, feet shuffling as you stare at their gate, thinking that any moment, he could walk out. 

Last night, you practiced will-induced self conversations over how you were going to approach Seungmin today. You concluded it best not to practice anything you wanted to tell him. You owed him your honesty and a genuine, sincere undertone in your words and apology.

In all honesty, the moment you had arrived within the vicinity of their dorms, you had contemplated whether you should just continue right. Maybe you could just order an iced Americano at a cafe to remind you of Seungmin. Confrontation never came easy to you. But the thought of being an absentee in his life forever scared you and willed you to take the few steps forward towards the entrance of their dorms. 

However, it’s been a good ten minutes since you arrived, and those ten minutes are not the most kind when you’re feeling nervous and about to throw up. It really leaves a lot of room for thinking, and right now it’s thinking that Seungmin wants absolutely nothing to do with you anymore because he thought you were so repulsed by the idea of him loving you and kissing you (even though you felt quite the opposite).

Just when you were about to take a step backward and contemplate the rest of your life, Jeongin walks out of the building pulling a still very sleepy and very disoriented Seungmin behind him.

“Okay, kiss and make up.” Jeongin clasps his hands together before pointing a threatening finger at you. “Don’t mess this up again.” And then he’s on his way back to the inside of their dorm building (peeking through their windows from time to time).

The first thing you discern is his incredibly puffy eyes. From sleeping or crying? You don’t know. And then it’s his pathetic attempt to smile even though he doesn’t feel like it. Seeing him like this, because of you, makes you want to fall on your knees and weep. 

Your eyes trail to the rest of him – his messy hair, his slumped shoulders, his slightly shaking hands. The instinct to hold it is strong, you know it always manages to calm him down. But you don’t. 

“(Name).” His voice sounds thick and heavy, looking at your eyes for a second before looking back down on the pavement. You recognize the pitch of his voice. He was sad and unsure. 

You take a few steps forward, letting out a breath you didn’t know you were holding when he meets your eyes again. It has the same look the day he confessed to you. The same tilting of his head ever so slightly, albeit a little more tired and a little less hopeful. His eyes look like they’re filled with quiet thoughts, looking at you gently even though you had shattered them. 

Seungmin, for the first time in a long time, looks regretful.

“Seungmin, I wanted to… I… I’m sorry.” He simply nods his head, sucking in a shark breath as he thinks this was it. This was the rejection he’d been dreading to hear.

“It’s okay.” He murmurs, your apology threatening to send a new wave of tears in his eyes. “I shouldn’t have said what I said especially when I know you don’t feel the same.”

“Wait, what? No… no. Seungmin, that’s not it.”

There’s a long pause before you speak again. 

“I just… dd you really mean it? What you said yesterday?”

Seungmin cringes at himself, but the red blossoming on his cheeks and the way his features soften when he remembers his words give him away. With a defeated sigh, he runs a hand through his hair.

“Yes.” He admits, an unknown feeling swelling in the pit of his stomach.

That’s all you needed to hear. 

Placing your palms on each side of his face, you pull him towards you in what you thought would be a romantic show of your feelings.

Instead, you underestimate his height and your lips crash into his nose instead. Seungmin stiffens in surprise, at the sudden proximity of your face to his and the accidental kiss you pressed on his nose, and then he laughs. 

Seungmin laughs in the hopeless, clumsy, breathless, exhilarating kind of laugh that sends your cheeks flushing and your heart fluttering because you’ve missed that laugh so much.

He was never sure he acted right that night, that he wasn’t being selfish. But with your palms in his cheeks and your eyes reciprocating the same love all along, he knows he did the right thing. So, with a gentle sigh of relief, he tilts his head and presses his lips against yours. 

Seungmin feels like he can finally breathe again. He kisses you with every love and affection he’s kept hidden for years and years.

You were venturing into the void of the unknown again, kissing your best friend, but it feels safe. There wasn’t that fear of the uncharted. There was only comfort as it always has been with him. The weight of happiness is so overwhelming, and Seungmin thinks there’s nothing more beautiful than kissing you after years of longing.

When the both of you pull away, the feeling of his arms around your waist and his forehead pressed against yours and the fond look on his face sends you toppling over. This was the image of your dreams.

He mirrors the soft smile on your face, hand moving to trace your face and your jaw before placing another kiss on your nose, and your cheek, and the corner of your lips. Your skin tingles at the way his lips and his warm breath tickles you, and your heart skips a bit when you realize you don’t mind feeling this every day for the rest of your life. 

“Can I hear you say it?” He doesn’t need to say it for you to understand.

“I love you.” 

Seungmin feels wholeheartedly content, heart bursting and ears burning red at hearing you utter those three words he’s dreamt about.

“I’ve loved you since you begged me to come with you to your dentist appointment.” 

And then he laughs again, pressing his pointer finger on your forehead with a slight betrayal in his eyes.

“You’re telling me I could’ve kissed you for years now?” He speaks in exaggeration, and you know he’s truly thinking about it.

“You have all the time in the world now.”

“You know what? I like the sound of that.” He moves his hands from your face in favor of wrapping them around your waist – pulling you in the type of hug where you can completely relax against him and melt into his familiar intimacy. The one that’s been there all along, although a little held back. 

You don’t know what’s next. With the vastness and unpredictability of the earth you stand on, you don’t know what follows. The busy morning highway is starting to fill your ears, and the sound of lives starting echos from afar. Somewhere in the distance, someone’s phone rings and there’s a sound of laughing and running from students alike. 

You find that in the chorus of laughter and honking horns and ringtones, the world is telling you that you don’t have to know what’s next. All you need to know is the inhale and exhale and the quietness that Seungmin’s heart offers. 

He’ll be here for a long time, continuing to know and know and know and love you.

eighteen.

8:24am

jeongin: FUCKING FINALLY

minho: ????

chan: language

8:25am

jeongin: (sent a picture)

hyunjin: oh my god????

changbin: our seungmin’s a big boy now

jisung: wdym i wont have to hear seungmin’s mopy ass anymore

chaeryeong: ^^ same with yn :(( but also so happy lol

8:26am

ryujin: EVERYONE CHEERED

jeongin: everyone say thank you jeongin

winter: u mean thank u winter???

hyunjin: felix is crying again

chan: WHY

felix: love is beautiful

changbin: me and who

note. hi hi thank u for making it to the very end of my first ever stray kids fic. i hope you ended up enjoying the ride ^_^ lmk what u thought and who i should write for next!

[lassify]

Behind Test Subject 007: The Science of Anya’s Telepathy

Okay guys… I’m gonna come clean. I’ve had some scientific hypotheses brewing for a while now (not least to use in my fanfic, lol), but since we might be getting close to getting an Anya arc in the SxF manga, I figured that now was as good a time as any to actually try to arrange those theories in something resembling coherent and share them with you all. 

Disclaimer: I am not trying to position myself as an expert. I have studied Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience at university level, so just for fun I ended up doing a ton of research on this, and I’ve got a lot to cover, so… wish me luck 😅 References will be embedded in the text!

Heads up that this is on the long side and complex as hell and my head physically hurts, so I’ll tackle it in sections:

Part 1: Psychology

My actual subject, but I’ll only skim over a couple of theories…

Part 2: Cognitive Neuroscience (Structural basis)

In which I will look at the individual brain areas which could be relevant to telepathy

Part 3: Cognitive Neuroscience (Functional basis)

In which I talk about how those brain areas communicate to each other

Part 4: Physics

I’ll admit, not my strongest subject, but I’ll mention a couple of theories which could be relevant

If you're ready for your brain to melt, feel free to keep reading...

Part 1: Psychology

There are 2 main theories in Psychology which could offer some explanation for Anya’s psychic abilities. 

Theory 1: Theory of Mind

In short, this describes a person’s capacity to understand other people. It is similar to sympathy or empathy, but actually it is the ability to understand that another person is different to ourselves, that they have their own desires, motivations, and thoughts, and that this is reflected in their behaviour. Even more importantly, it’s about being able to decode other’s mental states, whilst still being able to differentiate it from our own.

Any parent will know that it is a real effort to teach children about trying to understand other people’s perspectives: this is because children typically have an undeveloped Theory of Mind, and it is something that continues to develop even into adulthood. In adults, having a developed Theory of Mind helps us to understand other people’s perspectives, predict other people’s behaviour, and use both empathy and deception. 

Anya has a really strong Theory of Mind, which is actually so impressive for her young age. She understands the complex web of all the secrets: that Twilight is a spy, Yor is an assassin, Yuri is in the Secret Service, and Bond is precognisant. She also understands who knows what about each other, and how she can use all of this information to her advantage - those are some crazy cognitive skills!!

In terms of how this is related to telepathy, you could argue that someone with a strong Theory of Mind (like Anya) may be more likely to:

Understand that people have hidden feelings that they don’t show 

Demonstrate empathy for emotions 

Collate information about their likes and dislikes and past behaviour to predict future behaviour. 

If she is highly sensitive to these things, then it could look like telepathy (even if it isn’t). 

Theory 2: Hyperesthesia.

Many people will have heard of synesthesia, which is a synthesis of the senses to the extent that the sensory information overlaps, but hyperesthesia is about being highly sensitive to external stimuli of the senses such as sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch. 

I can imagine an overlap with Anya’s hyperesthesia and her Theory of Mind to pick up on the nuances of other people’s behaviour, to the extent that reading behaviour could inform the sensation of “reading minds”. 

In a science-fictional world like SxF we could imagine that hyperesthesia could stretch into the sense of extra-sensory perception, by being sensitive to the electromagnetic signals in other people’s brains (or even geomagnetic - more on that in Part 4). From this, it is possible that Anya could “read” people’s minds through deciphering the electromagnetic waveforms that people’s brains might project (more on deciphering brainwaves in Part 3…). 

Part 2: Cognitive Neuroscience - Structural Basis

I think we can all agree that Anya’s telepathic powers would largely be supported by the specific structures of her brain, especially given that Endo has already dropped hints of neuroscience in the manga, and we know that he’s very much interested in accurately depicting psychology and neuropsychology in his story. 

The best way to encourage certain brain areas to develop is by doing exercises and tasks which would use that part of the brain repeatedly: for example, consistent gymnastics practice would enhance the cerebellum, the centre of balance and motor coordination. But, I can picture the experimenters in SxF trying something a lot less… humane.

Like, experimental neurosurgery. 

For example, theoretically, they could artificially enhance certain brain areas by using a neural growth factor serum (this doesn’t exist in real life, but let’s indulge the science fiction elements for a second), and, theoretically, if the experimenters used glycoproteins as the serum’s main content (like laminins and netrins), they could control the pace and direction of neurons growing in a brain, choosing to focus on cellular growth in certain areas. Then, they would be able to view the activity of the targeted areas using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and measure it with electroencephalography (EEG, see Part 3 for more on this).

If Anya ever had experimental neurosurgeries during her childhood, they would have likely focused on the following areas: 

Corpus Callosum: The corpus callosum is the thick structure of white matter that connects the two hemispheres of the brain, allowing each hemisphere to send signals to the other. With an enlarged corpus callosum, Anya would be able to process neural signals at a much faster rate, and at an increased volume, helping her to process the additional load required for telepathy.

Wernicke’s Area: Named after German neurologist Carl Wernicke, this part of the superior temporal gyrus (usually of the left hemisphere) is a major part of being able to understand language. With an enhanced Wernicke’s area, Anya would be more sensitive to decoding the neural signals associated with linguistic thoughts, effectively enabling telepathic communication through language. (As an aside, this would also give Anya an advantage in understanding other languages… which could explain her natural talent with Classical Language!)

Superior Temporal Sulcus: This is another area that is important for processing human speech, and is critical for processing social cues, such as understanding others’ intentions (including Theory of Mind!). With experimentation in the STS, Anya would be better able to decode the subtle cues in others’ brains relating to thoughts and emotions.

Inferior parietal lobule: As well as assisting in the interpretation of language and sensory information, the IPL is also involved in tasks like perspective-taking and understanding others' mental states. By increasing connectivity in this area, Anya can "tune into" the thought processes of others. It’s also well-known for its’ role in visuospatial processing, which can help Anya see visual thoughts as well.

Anterior Cingulate Cortex: This system is composed of a number of different parts of the brain, all working together to be able to process things like attention, decision making, inhibition and emotions. Most interestingly, it is associated with detecting conflicts and errors. Increased sensitivity to the ACC would likely help Anya to detect cognitive dissonance and conflicting thoughts in others (the perfect formula to eventually understand tsundere tendencies…).

Amygdala: The amygdala is often known as the centre of fear, but actually it is hugely important in threat detection, emotional processing and emotional memory. If Anya’s amygdala was enhanced, this would aid her ability to detect threats quickly, as well as her empathy skills and help her to intuit others’ emotions and thoughts. (A negative side effect of an enlarged amygdala would be that Anya may be more vulnerable to the effects of toxic stress, possibly making her less resistant to the effects of psychological trauma.)

Mirror neurons: Mirror neurons specialise in helping us to carry out and understand other people’s actions and behaviours, playing a key role in empathy and Theory of Mind. These hold internal representations of thoughts or actions, and could potentially be the key for Anya to be able to translate another person’s thoughts or intentions, assuming that she has a particularly active mirror neuron system.

Precuneus: The precuneus is really difficult to research and is super complex, so I’ll do my best to keep this simple: Located in the medial parietal cortex, this part of the brain is essential for visuospatial imagining and processing, as well as episodic memory, self-reflection, and some aspects of consciousness. I suppose the main thing is that it has a big role in mental imagery, including being able to model other people’s views, therefore helping Anya to process the mental images in other people’s thoughts.

Broca’s area: This is very much non-canon, but I imagine that if Anya ever developed the ability to project her thoughts, the Broca’s area would be key for this. While Wernicke’s area helps with speech understanding, Broca’s area is key for speech production. In my fanfic (SSS), Anya’s Broca’s area probably functioned normally for most of her life, but in the recent experiments imposed on her, the ability to project her thoughts was ‘unlocked’ through the increased activation of the Broca’s area.

Part 3: Cognitive Neuroscience - Functional basis

The thing is, it’s not enough to just know which parts of the brain work for what - there is also the question of how they connect and work together to be able to fulfil their functions. 

Think of it as the wiring which connects the parts of a computer: a motherboard, mouse, keyboard, and graphics card (as examples) are built to fulfil their specific functions, but the real magic is in how they connect and send signals between each other so that everything works smoothly.

That’s where neural oscillations come in - otherwise known as brainwaves. These are generated by the action potentials of nerve cells, and their different speeds can be measured using electroencephalography, or EEG machines, which can measure the patterns of activity across a brain.

Let’s bear in mind that I’m really skimming the surface of this subject, so I won’t go into all the types of brainwaves in too much detail, but I will focus on the ones that I think could be more relevant to Anya’s telepathy:

Gamma waves

This is the pattern of neural oscillations which are correlated with large-scale brain network activity, and are largely predominant in learning, working memory, and processing new information. In other words: gamma waves help Anya to connect all the different parts of her brain which are relevant to her telepathy, so that all the areas can communicate to each other.

(Just as an aside: I found this hilarious study that looked at the effects of different types of nuts on brainwaves, which saw gamma wave responses being improved through pistachios, while peanuts aided in generating more delta waves. I wonder if the lab scientists of SxF caught on…) 

Theta waves

Theta waves are especially prominent in childhood (during sleep). I imagine that the lab may have recruited children partially for this reason (the other reason would be that brains have more plasticity at a younger age, and so can be altered easier than an adult’s brain). In adults, theta waves are also prominent in hypnotic or meditative states, mind wandering, and the early stages of sleep.

I think it is really interesting that theta waves occur during deep relaxation, as well as the early stages of sleep, making it the only brainwave that can activate both during sleep and during wakefulness. (From what I can tell, anyway.) This could make theta waves an important component of Anya’s telepathy - for example, if her telepathy was important to her survival, then it is critical for her to be able to detect thoughts during sleep, and her amygdala could alert her if the thoughts were at all threatening.

During wakefulness, I can imagine that Anya’s theta waves serve as the precursor for the activation of psi waves…

Psi waves

Just to confirm, Psi waves are definitely fictional, but my rationale is that historically, ‘Psi’ (ψ) has been used to denote the unknown factor which is linked with parapsychology and psychic phenomena. 

My theory is that psi waves would be the frequency required for telepathy, which would allow Anya to detect and interpret other people’s thoughts through their pattern of neural activation. In other words: she can probably read brainwaves. 

Modern science is already trying out methods to interpret people’s brainwaves (which is honestly both supremely cool and extremely terrifying), so it’s not too far out of the realm of possibility that Anya would be able to do the same thing just by unconsciously using her psi waves. The psi-waves would essentially mimic a brain-computer interface in being able to process and interpret neural activity (aka thoughts).

If you require a bit more concrete evidence to believe me, I’ve made a list below.

Right now, we can analyse brainwaves using EEG to:

Decode whether someone answers “yes” or “no” to conversational questions 

Control the movement of simple robots, including wheelchairs, which can be locked/unlocked using EEG (and EMG) as a biometric security system

Detect and interpret what emotion someone is feeling, as well as learn how strong that emotion is (at an accuracy rate of 80-94%)

Deconstruct the cognitive processes underlying social interaction in people who struggle to verbally express themselves

And this study analysed brain activation using fMRI to interpret and reconstruct visual images

Neuroscience is really crazy, guys.

Part 4: Physics

So… this is the part I am the least confident about. Please be patient with me and forgive me for any mistakes 🙏.  Also, this is the perfect time to remind you guys that I am really engaging with science fiction here. Emphasis on the fiction 😂. 

Basically, there are 2 main theories from Physics that I think could explain Anya’s telepathy, as well as her weakness(es):

Theory 1: Geomagnetic Field Sensitivity:

All brain waves are generated by electrical activity in the brain, and they also generate electrical activity of their own, which creates an electromagnetic field around the brain.

Anya’s abilities could be tied to the geomagnetic field of the earth, especially during the New Moon: when the moon is positioned between the earth and the sun, this could affect the field’s strength. The subtle alteration in the geomagnetic field could disrupt the electromagnetic field generated by Anya’s brain, thus disrupting the neural processing. 

In other words: the New Moon could interfere with Anya’s own electromagnetic field around her brain, via sensitivity to changes in the geomagnetic field, which could be why she can’t read minds during the New Moon. 

Theory 2: Resonance:

Resonance can be observed in physics, acoustics, musical, electrical, and mechanical systems - but now scientists are even looking at resonance in consciousness, and resonance in brain waves on a quantum level. 

Without going into too much detail (I am not qualified), I think Anya would generate a resonance frequency of her own that helps her to facilitate telepathic communication: through resonance, Anya could synchronise her Psi waves with the brain waves of another person, and it is this synchronicity that helps her to interpret the other person’s brainwaves. 

If Anya ever encountered another telepath (as she does in SSS), I imagine that they wouldn’t be able to read each other’s minds because their resonance frequencies would cancel each other out. 

In SSS, I also introduced the idea of a sub-auditory sound wave which would stop Anya from being able to use her telepathy. The idea behind this was to introduce another weakness for Anya: when this sound wave is emitted or detected, it interferes with the brain's natural telepathic frequency. This is because the sound wave oscillates at a frequency that masks the neural signals required for telepathy, and means that Anya can’t interpret those signals as easily. 

Thanks for reading!

I told you this was long. Sorry 😅

The above is really just a collective mishmash of stuff I’ve been slowly putting together for about the last 6 months, and I fully accept there will be parts that are more plausible than others. 😂 But it was fun, and more than anything I am really excited to see what we get to find out in Anya’s backstory arc (when it gets here…), and if I see any mentions of brains or neuroscience in SxF I will literally die of joy

[alterwilts]

This is going to be my first chapter in a multi chapter series, it’s my first ever time writing so I’m kinda nervous but here we go.

Bend the line don’t break it

Chapter 1: New Beginnings

The NCIS headquarters hummed with the usual rhythm of busy agents and techs moving through their routines. It was your first day with the team, and though you had been assigned to cybercrime cases for years, walking into the NCIS bullpen felt different. A little more… charged. There was a tension in the air that you could almost touch—part curiosity, part skepticism.

Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs sat at his desk, reviewing case files, his back to you. The man’s reputation had preceded him, and you’d heard more than your fair share of stories. From what you’d gathered, Gibbs was a man of few words, intense focus, and an unsettling ability to read people.

Great. Just what you needed. A boss who was a known ass.

“New blood, huh?” came a voice from behind you. You turned to face a young agent who was leaning against a desk, eyeing you with an intrigued look.

“Yeah, new blood,” you replied, trying to keep things light despite the swirling nerves in your stomach. “I hear the coffee here is either life-changing or deadly. So, which is it?”

The agent chuckled, clearly impressed by your confidence. “You’ll find out soon enough. Just… be ready for Gibbs. He’s… uh, a lot.”

A lot. That didn’t sound too ominous, right?

You nodded, shooting him a half-smile before you made your way to Gibbs’ desk. He hadn’t moved, not even to glance at you. You were used to the pressure of making a good impression. But this man? This man was in a different league.

“Agent Gibbs?” you asked, your voice steady, though you could feel the edge of nerves creeping in.

Gibbs finally looked up, his expression unreadable. His eyes assessed you for a long moment, almost as if he were sizing up the competition. The silence between you felt like a test, one you hadn’t studied for.

“Yeah?” His voice was low, gravelly, and he barely moved an inch. The air around him seemed thick with authority.

“I’m the new cybercrime analyst,” you said, the confidence returning. “Ready to dive in.”

He didn’t smile. Didn’t say anything encouraging either. His eyes flickered toward the case file in front of him, as if he were already deciding whether or not he wanted you on this case.

“So, you’re the expert,” Gibbs muttered, his tone mocking in that subtle way that made your teeth grit. “We’ll see about that. Plus I already have one of those what did you say your title was”

“Cybercrime Analysts” You stood there, waiting for him to say something more, but he didn’t. Instead, he just gave a small, almost imperceptible nod, and pointed to the screen of his computer.

“Take a look at this. Tell me what you see.”

You didn’t hesitate, stepping closer to the desk and sliding into the chair. It was a mess of codes, algorithms, and encrypted messages. As you skimmed through the data, you couldn’t help but admire the complexity of it.

“Isn’t it a little… sloppy?” you asked, tapping the screen with one finger. “If this was an actual hacker, they’d know better than to leave such obvious traces. Whoever did this wanted us to find it. Or is an idiot”

Gibbs didn’t say anything. But his expression shifted, just slightly. His eyes narrowed.

“You want an dumbed down explanation because I’m not a big fan of the word doodymabobber”

His lips twitch at your comment into something that could have been a smile.

“You’re confident,” he said, the words heavy with something you couldn’t quite place. “And No, but let’s see if you’re right.”

You didn’t hesitate as you began pulling up more data, piecing together the puzzle. Gibbs didn’t speak for the next few minutes, but you could feel his gaze on you. It wasn’t critical, not exactly—but there was an intensity to it. A quiet pressure that made your pulse quicken.

Finally, you cracked it.

“It’s an inside job,” you said, sitting back in your chair. “And I’d bet my last dime if I had one that it’s someone from the upper ranks. The access permissions here are too specific—way too calculated to be a random hack.”

Gibbs leaned back in his chair, arms folded, his gaze still unwavering. “You’ve got a sharp eye,” he muttered, though there was a tone of something close to approval in his voice.

You met his stare, raising an eyebrow. “What, you think I’d get this far without knowing what I’m doing?”

For the briefest moment, you thought you saw a glint of something in his eyes—amusement, maybe, or respect. But then it was gone, replaced with his usual inscrutable expression.

“You talk a good game,” Gibbs said with a smug smile that made your stomach flip. “We’ll see if you can back it up.”

(Pls let me know what you think)

[dr-spencer-reids-queen]

Think Outside The Box

Pairing: Jennifer Jareau x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~2.6k

Warnings: fluff

Summary: Before you and JJ had even gotten together, you were working on how to progress your business to reach more customers. Things were moving slowly so you forgot about it until today. Until you get word from your architect that he’s ready to move forward. However, JJ doesn’t know about it. You want to tell her but you’re not sure how to go about it.

There’s Beauty in Tragedy Masterlist

Square Filled: expert (2023) for @cmbingo

Author’s Note: i'm not sure if i've given the reader's assistant a name in the previous chapters. i tried looking back but didn't see it, but i skimmed it. if i did, her new name is ingrid :)

x

“Are you forgetting something?”

You lean out of the window and smile at JJ. She turns and walks back over to the town car you own and kisses you through the open window. Despite living with her, you can’t ever get enough of her kisses.

“I’ll be back at five to pick you up, okay?” you ask.

“Sounds good to me.”

“Have a good day at work.”

“You, too.”

You wait until she is inside the building before your driver pulls into traffic, heading towards your building. Just this weekend, you two finished unpacking the last of her boxes despite living together for nearly three months. Everything you know about JJ, you love, and everything you don’t know about her, you get to know with both your names on the mailbox. It’s been wonderful waking up next to her every morning.

The thing with Mark is behind you and you see yourself only moving forward.

You get out of the car when your driver gets to your work, and you make your way to the top floor where your office is. Ingrid, your assistant, stands when she sees you and smiles brightly.

“Good morning, Y/N. I have messages for you that came in.”

“Thank you. Anything I should be warned about?”

“Just client calls.”

You walk into your office and sit at your desk. You pull up your calendar before going through your messages because you need to coordinate when the best time is to meet with them. Clients you’ve worked with before like Kim Kardashian, Beyonce, Cate Blanchett, and Madonna. There are two new clients you’re excited to work with, Anne Hathaway and Angelina Jolie.

The last message is from your architect, Randy Miller. He’s one of the best in America, and he built all four of your homes including two of your families’ homes. The second you hear his voice over the phone, guilt racks your entire body. Why should you feel guilty? You’re working with him on designing a new building for one of your new branches… in London. JJ doesn’t know this because of two reasons.

One, you’re not sure about the details and it’s in such an early stage that things can change at a moment’s notice. Two, you’re not sure how to bring it up to her. This has been in the works even before you two started dating. It just hasn’t gotten to the blueprint stage until now. How will she react? Will everything go according to plan or will it blow up in your face?

You pick up the phone and call Randy back, and he answers on the first ring.

“Ah, I was wondering when you were going to call me back.”

“I just got into work. I got your message. Can you send over the blueprints?”

“I can do you one better. I’m in the area. I’ll stop by.”

“Okay, Ingrid will let you in when you get here.”

You hang up the phone and sit in silence for ten minutes. During that ten minutes, you think of what you might say to JJ when you bring it up to her. You have to tell her. The last time you opened a branch, you had to be there to oversee the progress. Her life is here. She won’t like the idea of moving much less moving to another country.

A knock brings you out of your trance, and you open the door to reveal Randy with rolls of plans under his arms.

“Wow, did you get tan?”

“My wife said the same thing. The last project I was on, we did everything outside. I burned at first but then the tan broke through.” He walks into your office and sets the blueprints on your long table. “I have two sets here. One is the base for the building while the other is what I think the building should look like. Check it out.”

You roll out the plans and scan every inch of the papers.

“I like what you’ve done with the open floor plan for the lobby. If I may,” Randy gestures to the prints, encouraging you to voice your opinions, “there needs to be more room inside the labs. I want to add four more stations and a bigger gowning room.”

“Is that all?”

“For right now. You built everything I own. I trust you to do the right thing. I’m going to hire more lab staff, so I wanted a bigger space for them.”

“More lab space. You got it.” Randy jots that down on his planner. “Did you talk to JJ about this?”

“No,” you mumble.

“Y/N, I am not going to start hiring builders until you do.”

“Who are you, my mother?” you scoff.

“I have designed all of your buildings and all four of your homes. I think I’m entitled to say this.” You huff out in annoyance. “I’d hate to do such an award-winning job with no one to run it.”

“Okay, I will.”

“Good. Call me when you do, and we’ll go from there. We should go to lunch soon and catch up.”

Randy packs up the prints and leaves, and you sit at your desk in thought. You don’t want to blurt it out to JJ, so you think a present might suit the situation better. It might cushion the blow a bit. Since you’re rich beyond compare, you love to spoil JJ as much as possible. So, you have to think outside the box for this gift.

You scroll through Google mindlessly, picture after picture, article after article, until you’re so deep that you don’t know what website you’re on or how you got here. However, you’re not mad at what you see. You’ve stumbled upon abstract gifts like paintings. You don’t have enough paintings at home, and you’re always looking for something to bring color to your white and gray home.

This isn’t what JJ would want but maybe you’ll find inspiration through this. If you’re going to get art, you’ll want to get art from an expert, and you know the best expert this country has ever seen. Leo Castillo is known for hosting grand galleries that showcase not only up-and-coming new artists but also long-standing artists who make millions per piece. He’s not only into art that is showcased in galleries but he’s well known in the auction world.

If anyone knows of any good art pieces, it’s him. One phone call from you, and he’s eager to meet up at one of his galleries.

“Push all my meetings until tomorrow, Ingrid. I might be all day. You can keep them at the same time as today.”

“Okay, will do.”

You leave the office and head across town to the most elite art gallery. Leo is inside with a customer when you arrive, and you give them their privacy. This gallery might look empty and bare at first glance but world-renowned artists come from all over the world to get showcased in his galleries. Leo quickly finishes with his customer before heading over to you.

“Y/N, it’s so nice to have you here. Welcome in,” he smiles.

“Hi, Leo. Thank you for meeting with me on such short notice.”

“Anything for you, darling. What are you looking for?”

“I’m not sure. I wanted to get a gift for my girlfriend and I stumbled upon a website full of art. I don’t have enough pieces on my wall. What do you have that’s new?”

“Ah, follow me.” You follow Leo to the back past the mainstream art he keeps on display. At the very back is his more private collection, and you look at the different pieces he has on display. “I have four new artists that I’m not putting out to the public until next week. Which one do you like?”

Nothing about these artists speaks to you until you get to the last one. You pause and stare at what looks like a painting of a forest with a silhouette of someone running away. However, instead of oils or charcoal, the artist has used something you’ve never seen before. The paint is red, and the farther the trees are, the darker it gets. The closer they are, the lighter it gets to give it some depth. The paint, though, looks like it’s bleeding. The paint drips down in perfect tear-shaped droplets that look wet to the touch.

That would make a beautiful collection line. Blood-red rubies in the shape of a raindrop. You mentally take a note to explore that option when you’re back in the office.

“What about this one?”

“That one just came in,” Leo explains. “He’s a new supplier. Most new artists who get showcased here are flexible in the price, but he was very adamant.”

“How much?”

“2.5 million.”

“I’ll take it,” you say without hesitation. “Also, do you know of any good auctions?”

“As a matter of fact, I do. The man who made this painting is actually part of it. There is an auction in a few days. I can get you on the list if you want.”

“Please.”

“Alright. I’ll have this boxed up and sent to your address within a few business days. My assistant, Laura, will handle the payment. Laura!”

After paying for the painting, you leave to pick up JJ from work. She doesn’t look the same as when you dropped her off this morning. She looks more stressed. Maybe a nice dinner will take her mind off whatever is bothering her. However, even after a nice dinner, that same nagging feeling hasn’t gone away. May as well rip the bandaid about London off while you can.

“Hey, there’s something I need to talk to you about.” You look up and see the look on her face. She’s stressed. “What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing. Just work.”

“Tell me. If you can.”

She sighs and rests her elbows on the kitchen island. “It’s just this unsub here in Virginia. He’s kidnapping young women faster than we can catch up. He dumps their bodies after he drains them of blood. We’re not sure what he does with that.”

“That’s horrible.”

“Yeah. I just hate not being able to do anything. He snatches a woman and disappears until he dumps their bodies.” There’s no way you can tell her about London. Not now. Not while she has bigger things on her mind. Plus, you still have a lot of time left before you need to make a decision. “What did you want to tell me?”

“Nothing. It can wait until after your case. You’re doing a good job, baby.”

“Thank you,” she smiles.

“Forget the dishes for tonight. Let’s go to bed.”

“Okay.”

You kiss her sweetly and take her hand. There is one way you can make her forget about her troubles. You wish you could stay in your little bubble a little while longer, but you have work to do just as much as she does. She doesn't know about the auction, and you’re going to keep it that way.

The day of the auction comes sooner than you think it will, and you’re in line to check-in. Like Leo promised, you’re on the list so there’s no issue getting you in. This auction is only for the elite; for people who have so much money they don’t know what to do with it. You’re given a book of the items that are being put up for sale, and you take your seat while browsing through it. There are a few items here that JJ might like, so you have your eyes set on those.

Someone might try to outbid you, but you’re secure in your money enough to know you will win.

As soon as everyone finds their seats, the auctioneer begins. First are the jewelry items, but you don’t pay them any mind. If you’re going to wear jewelry, it’s going to be designed by you.

“Next on the list is a white gold Patek Philippe wristwatch. A new self-winding perpetual calendar has been added to the Patek Philippe collection. It comes in a Calatrava case with beautifully scalloped lugs and applied Breguet numerals. Ultra-thin mechanical self-winding movement. Interchangeable solid and sapphire crystal case backs. Alligator strap with square scales, hand-stitched, shiny navy blue, fold-over clasp. The starting bid is fifty thousand dollars.”

“Fifty,” you say and raise your paddle with your seat number on it.

“Sixty,” a woman says.

“Seventy,” you say.

“One hundred thousand.”

“One hundred thousand! Do I hear one hundred and ten?” the auctioneer asks.

“Two hundred thousand.”

The woman must think that’s too much for a watch, even for Patek Philippe, so she doesn’t say anything else.

“Two hundred thousand going once… Going twice… Sold to number 219!”

You hide your grin at the prize you just won for JJ. The next several items don’t interest you until they get to the paintings. The same kind of dripping paint you saw in Leo’s store comes into view, and you remember him saying the artist has items in auctions. This painting isn’t a forest, though, it’s a body of water whether that be a lake or the ocean. Looks like several people are interested in buying it because it goes quickly.

“Now, for the last item, I have a modern cabin in the woods designed by Zaha Hadid located in the Appalachian Mountains. This modern cabin has five bedrooms and four bathrooms along with a home theater and a game room. The starting bid is three hundred thousand dollars.”

Almost everyone puts up their paddles for this until it’s down to two. You and the same woman as before.

“One million, five,” you say.

“One million, seven.”

“Two million.”

“Do I hear three?” the auctioneer asks. The woman grumbles in annoyance but doesn’t put her paddle back up. “Two million going once… going twice… Sold! 219! Thank you all for coming but that is the end of this auction. Stay tuned for more items in the future. Winners, please claim your items with our staff off to the right.”

You get up and walk to one of the workers who bring out the watch you won. The title of the cabin will be sent to you in the mail along with anything else that comes with it. You go home that night and see JJ on the couch with a glass of red wine in her hands. You were hoping this would soften the blow of the whole London thing, but maybe not.

“Hey, I got you something. A present for being so damn amazing.”

“You’ve already given me so much,” she chuckles and sets the glass down.

“I know but I know you’ll love this.” You hand her the wrapped gift. “Open it.” She does and she gasps when she sees the watch. “I know your watch broke and I thought you could use a new one.”

“Baby, this is gorgeous. Where did you get this from?”

“I was at an auction today. Patek Philippe is very good. Do you like it?”

“I love it. Thank you,” she grins.

“That’s not all. I also got us something we can both use. I bought us a cabin located in the Appalachian Mountains. I know how much you love snow and nature, and I thought this would be perfect for us to spend a few weeks in the winter. The title will be mailed to me along with pictures and such.”

“What did I do to deserve you?”

“You must have done something right,” you grin and kiss her.

This is supposed to be a new chapter in your lives, so you’re going to push the London thing as far as you can right before it all comes crashing down around you.

x

Want to be tagged? Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary​​​​​​ where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

[deathdetermineslife]

any tips on stuff I could do that isn’t ai related? I try to stay away from character ai but it’s getting a little hard since I have an f/o who’s a very minor character so he has no fics about him

I’ve used all the generators, I don’t have any fic ideas right now, I’ve used the picrews and now I’m just really stuck 😔

any tips? You’re like the self shipping expert imo

idk if id say I'm the expert but I do have a huge masterlist of a bunch of stuff you can do with your f/o! I recommend looking through the specific ones even if maybe they don't apply because there's tons of different stuff on each list.

I also of course have all my templates and ask games linked in my pinned :) as for the ask games sometimes I just go through and answer them all. I see tons of people reblog them answering them if you just wanna yap about your selfship or expand lore or whatever.

there's many things on there! like I said skim through em and see if there's anything you wanna do in particular. I tried to do at least 10 bullet points per list!

[prettyboysdontlookatexplosions]

From the review in Bloody Disgusting that talks about how Ellen Hutter in Nosferatu 2024is a much more feminist heroine than Mina Harker (title of the article: How ‘Nosferatu’ Became a Feminist Retelling of a Horror Classic)

Revealed to be an ancient vampire, Dracula follows Mina to the seaside town of Whitby and begins transforming Lucy into a creature of the night. While she does have some agency, Mina’s life revolves around caring for others. A former teacher’s assistant, the idealistic young woman has given up her own career and learned to type with plans of serving as secretary for her husband’s ambitions. Stoker’s Mina is a traditional woman of the time, valued for her purity and content to dedicate her time and energy to her husband.

wow ok i found this so annoying i went to skim the piece to make sure there wasn’t some added context that would mitigate it (certainly you can to some degree read mina this way…. at the start of the book…..) and ummmmm:

A work of post-Enlightenment fiction, Dracula features a male fixation with innovation and technology. As Lucy’s life hangs in the balance, a doctor named Abraham Van Helsing arrives to perform a dazzling blood transfusion designed to save her from the undead curse. This academic warrior has become known throughout the literary world as a vampire hunter skilled at using new technology to battle centuries-old folklore. Murnau’s variant is Professor Bulwer (John Gottowt), a Swiss Paracelsian who specializes in parasitic plants and demonstrates the predatory nature of phantom-like organisms. Both credentialled men take charge of the paranormal mission and use scientific knowledge to defeat an occult figure, dismissing ancient traditions as regressive barbarism. 

this is literally not true of stoker’s van helsing lol…. it’s like a whole Thing where he has to explain to seward “yah i’m a man of science but also i believe all this woowoo shit it’s complicated”……. also sorry but it’s actually crazy to be like “nosferatu 2024 is feminist bc ellen activates her inchoate atavistic wisdom of the ages in the face of rational thought” when actually one of the most annoying things about the movie is that it sets up the rationalism/atavism dichotomy and then positions female power wholly within the realm of the atavistic & primal (but still male approved bc she needs van helsing to tell her she’s right and also that she would have been a great high priestess of isis lol?????)…. which is not a trope i love and not one i would call feminist especially given that whatever critique the movie is trying to make of post enlightenment scientific practices is diluted by having van helsing be Guy Who Gets It all over the place… i was actually just talking with @awildwickedslip about how nosferatu 2024 van helsing (i literally don’t remember if he has a different name sorry) is positioned as more confident & flawless than book van helsing (contrast 24 van helsing’s sure-footed indignation about psychiatric treatments that read as barbaric to the modern eye with van helsing expressing in the book that if it were up to him he would have let renfield go so good thing seward is here who is an expert on psychiatry - a decision seward himself second guesses immediately after and which of course has disastrous results…)… i mean what are we doing here lol. i would never call dracula a feminist book but that just makes it wild that eggers found new ways to insert being annoying about gender in the year 2024 and it makes it really crazy to act like this is some profound feminist reinvention. lol. anyway i got so distracted about all this other stuff i forgot to say what immediately pinged me which is that this is one of the more annoying misuses i’ve seen of the relationship between agency and feminist readings of fictional works since i saw someone say jupiter ascending couldn’t be feminist bc the heroine has agency taken from her at every turn

[tsspromptmonth]

hello!

id like a Loganberry & Cranberry (analogical, QPR-style if ya got it!) Brewed Coffee/Machiatto mix (ratio is dealer’s choice!). Milk’s anything but skim or olive, and… Toppings, toppings… Oooh, Chocolate Shavings sound good, maybe a smidge of Caramel Drizzle? I’m tempted to try Rainbow Sprinkles and Burnt Sugar, but I’m not sure if that’d mix well with the rest - y’all are the experts, so feel free to be creative!

(I love when they help and/or stand up for each other - they know each other So Well, and care So Much! (even if- no, rather, *because* they show it in untypical ways) aksndjcksks they make me wanna explode 💜💙 - smth like that’d be really cool if it’s in stock!)

Switched: archiveofourown.org/works/35867506

growing up, and other lies told to children: archiveofourown.org/works/50233405

those three words: archiveofourown.org/works/60918157

(If it counts, I also sent the author of Cognitive Distortions (archiveofourown.org/works/60818113) a Tumblr ask, ‘cause the fic’s set to only allow users to comment)

the wrong office: https://archiveofourown.org/works/51803350

didn’t they want your blood: archiveofourown.org/works/26676358

nails in the coffin (READ THIS ONE, PLSPLSPLS, ITS THE BEST): https://archiveofourown.org/works/47020870

thank you so much!

Order up!

Go Back. Move On. Repeat. by @edupunkn00b

[luulapants]

Stop Being Weird About Indians

Let’s talk about virtue signalling when talking about American Indians and how it’s doing more harm than good. I saw a take that writing about Kaia, an indigenous character in Supernatural, in fanfiction is a cancel-able offense because the way she’s depicted in the show is problematic. I’ve heard similar things about the skinwalkers in Teen Wolf - I’ve also heard that you shouldn’t even type the word “skinwalkers” because it’s offensive, which... I’m not gonna go into all the details, but that’s a gross misunderstanding of the belief around the word, and also the actual word the belief is about - you won’t believe this - isn’t an English word.

Anyway.

The topic of indigenous oppression in the US is complicated, but one of the fundamental issues, which actual indigenous activists (not just keyboard warriors) constantly talk about, is the way indigenous people are ignored and erased from the story. It’s called “The Terminal Narrative.” Text books talk about indigenous people like they’re a relic of the past, like they’re all dead and gone. (Do you know how weird it is for Indian children on reservations to read a US history book that implies they don’t exist?) Human rights abuses and social issues on reservations are left out of the conversation or skimmed over as if they’re too obscure to be fully understood, or like they impact so few people, it doesn’t really matter.

Policing wording is not activism. Sharing call-out posts isn’t activism. You are not doing anything to help anyone. You’re not funding, volunteering, calling politicians, or doing any actual work to better the lives of indigenous Americans. (Before anyone calls hypocrite, I do work with an indigenous rights group IRL.) When someone scolds another person online over using a word that isn’t PC, 99% of the time it’s clear they don’t actually care - they derive a sense of moral superiority from knowing the “correct” way to speak. And they don’t care about the chilling effect it has on speech overall. This naturally leads to one of the most toxic elements of liberal conversations about race: that you must have the conversation perfectly or not at all. And that’s the impact it has. People just stop talking about it for fear of being wrong.

Can you see how, in a society where indigenous oppression is actively facilitated by silence and erasure, making people afraid to speak about Indians is one of the worst things you could possibly do?

It’s become standard fare for Indian Studies books to start with a disclaimer explaining that “Indian” actually isn’t an offensive word and is the word that most indigenous people use for themselves. The disclaimer isn’t because it’s new or radical information. It’s because white Americans are so goddamn weird about virtual signaling about ~The Native Americans~ that they would condemn a much-needed book of scholarship on native issues just for using a word that they thought was offensive.

Native people aren’t a monolith. You’ll find Indians that insist you need to spell it NDN or that XYZ is offensive. Production companies can pay a native person to come tell them they’re allowed to write about something most people from their tribe would find offensive. Fact of the matter is, a lot of Indians are not experts on like... heritage culture. If they grew up on a rez, they can tell you about rez culture, but they’re not all Indian Studies scholars, the same way not all Irish people are experts on Celtic paganism. Not all Indians are experts on indigenous politics, the same way not all Americans are experts on American politics. And it goes without saying that a GODAWFUL amount of the people lecturing on acceptable ways to interact with indigenous characters are not only uninformed about indigenous issues (I saw one post where someone clearly linked the first thing that came up when they googled “Native American drug addiction”) but are also not indigenous themselves.

And, yes, the vast majority of depictions of Indians in American media are problematic in one way or another, but saying that the solution is to erase indigenous characters from fandom entirely (because they’re all problematic) is the absolute WORST conclusion to reach. Fix the characters if you care that much! Give the Teen Wolf skinwalkers names! And an iPad! Let Kaia be the master of her own destiny! Let her bitch Dean out for pointing that gun in her face! Let her live happily ever after with her girlfriend! What the hell is fandom for if not fixing the issues we see in canon? Why are we allowed to reclaim and rewrite problematic queer characters but not problematic native characters? Who is that serving? Because it sure as hell isn’t serving Indians.

Anyone that tells you it’s better to ignore Indians than say the wrong thing about them is, knowingly or not, actively promoting a terminal narrative and the continuation of indigenous genocide.

[j0kers-light]

Hey gorgeous, I was thinking about a storyline where y/n is a trained shooter from England who got the nickname bunny after almost killing all the rabbits in the country for shooting practice, and J recruited her as an assassin. Wouldn't that be so cool I imagine her in the hideout in like PJ's holding a coffee mug in one hand a riffel on her shoulder in the next.

Also I literally worship your work and I hope this finds you in good health 😘😘😘.

Hi hi @i-t--g-i-r-l 🖤✨

Please do not murder me!!! I made you wait since September 😭😭🫣

I wrote this with a severe headache and it turned into a short head canon? Think piece? I dunno!! I couldn’t think of how to extend it further so I kept it as is. Please don’t hate me!

Chaos loves you! If you hate it, I can try again 😞

No one understood why the Boss called in a random mandatory meeting so late in the night. Rules were rules so everyone piled into the commons room to wait for whatever the crazy clown had to say.

The loyal three were already seated in the front in various stages of restlessness. Frost had his arms crossed, already aware of what this meeting was about.

Mac was busy on his phone, reading the latest stock market info while checking his emails. Which left Neo half playing attention as he played a mobile game.

He really wanted to beat this level before Joker came, but that’s wasn’t looking very plausible.

The ‘game over’ screen pulled an annoyed groan from the marksman right as his boss walked into the room. Everyone’s attention turned to J in trepidation.

He could be announcing anything from a random execution to free doughnuts in the kitchen.

“Good evening, uhh gentle..men. I have a big ann-ounce-ment! I’ve ah heard your complaints. We need a new recruit to help lighT-en the load for our dear Neo. Sooooooo, I hired the best assassin I could find!”

Now that got everyone’s attention, including Neo’s.

Another expert assassin? This would be his partner in the field and he wouldn’t accept just anyone. J's choice would be interesting.

It was only natural that Neo became star struck when a beautiful woman shuffled into the meeting room holding a, “I’m not yelling, I’m British” mug with a polished riffle slung over her shoulder.

You ignored the shocked expressions in the room in favor of the kitchenette in the corner.

You took your sweet time looking around but you came up short of what you wanted. They had an impressive coffee machine, but no kettle. It was only then did you glance up and acknowledge your new Boss and all the men staring at you.

Joker knew what was coming when you arched an eyebrow. “Where’s the bloody tea? You wangle me ‘ere an’ skim on my essentials?”

The room was silent. Your thick English accent and appearance had everyone speechless.

You were a sight for sore eyes at 1am. Your fuzzy pjs had cute bunnies on them and you completed the look with matching slippers, all the while going off about tea in a room full of criminals. This was straight out of a fever dream.

Joker didn’t seem bothered. “Hehe, gentleman, I’d like you to meet our newest recruit, Bunny!”

Someone in the back coughed. Mac shook his head and continued scrolling on his phone, whereas Neo was still too awestruck to speak.

How did Joker managed to get you stateside, much less on his payroll? You refused to work for anyone so the rumors went.

You didn’t like being ignored and tipped your riffle to point it at Joker. The entire room gasped at your audacity. “Are you gormless, mate?”

Before Joker could figure out what you were saying, Neo finally came to his senses. He rushed forward, putting himself in between you and an angry Joker.

“Sup, it’s nice to meet you in person, Y/n. I studied all of your kills.”

Now that got Mac’s attention from the stocks. Neo being respectful? Mac and Frost shared a look. You seeing this?

You were rather impressed yourself. “You must be that Neo lad J spat on ‘bout.”

You set your mug down and offered him your hand. “My reputation crossed the pond eh?” You asked. Neo was cheeky and kissed your offered hand instead of shaking it.

“You kiddin'? You're practically famous! You single-handedly almost drove the bunny population to extinction in York. Your range is sick! And your confirmed kill list? D__n, Ma. I’m more than a fan.”

You turned to J smiling, “I like ‘tis one.”

[sebbyisland]

akahika final thoughts (500 words + 1k supplementary content)

part 1

part 2

part 3 (you're here!)

Conclusion

It’s not mind-blowing to have some yuri or shojo influences in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine (or any shonen magazine). I mean, Blue Box is right there. What IS surprising, at least to me, is to see the Akahika rivalry take up so much narrative space. I love seeing girls who fight in a healthy way, and to have it take up space in the story rather than just a one-time thing is so satisfying to witness. I still can't believe the magazine that gave us Goku vs Vegeta, Naruto vs Sasuke, and Deku vs Kacchan now gives us Akane vs Hikaru (and Karashi. As a fun topping), and it feels completely natural with the rest of the Weekly Shonen Jump lineup. Similar to how shojo magazines have changed over time, we can see shonen magazines make changes by releasing a story like Akane-banashi. The fact an important rivalry for the shonen protagonist is informed by shojo and yuri story beats is just one of many ways Akane-banashi leads these changes.

I’ve wanted to make an essay about shojo rivalries for years, but if you had told me in the past that a shonen rivalry would inspire me to finally get it done, I would have told you, “be serious.” I have a love/hate relationship with shonen rivalries. I often find it dissatisfying when the protagonists rival is both most important to the protagonist’s story and most important to the protagonist’s personal life, but at the end, there’s this expectation that the protagonist still needs to adhere to social norms of what is actually supposed to be the most important part of your personal adult life, so now their rivalry can’t carry as much emotional weight as it once did. Honestly, it reminds me of Class S breakups because girls need to “grow up” into “real women.” Akahika, however, will never have that problem because while Hikaru is important to Akane’s STORY, she’s not the most important person in Akane’s life, nor is Akane the most important person in hers. This also means the emotional intensity of the Akahika dynamic is a bit more mellow than the average shonen protagonist rivalry, but I much rather have this so there’s room to watch Akane’s growth. I’m also a slow burn fan, so I could be biased.

In my biggest, most self-indulgent fantasies, Akane-banashi gets fully adapted into an anime and a live action film and Akahika becomes the next big shonen rivalry and the animated adaptation makes their homoerotic moments even more homoerotic and in the story conclusion Akahika run the Arakawa school together like how Issho and Shiguma do but better which basically makes them rakugo wives. Will any of that happen? Who knows! I don’t care. Akahika is already winning. 

As a final note: Thank you so much for reading this! Even if you only made it through a portion of it, I hope it was informative. I know I learned a lot in the process of putting things together, at least. The discussion of shojo rivals is really underdeveloped in fandom, so I hoped this could spark your interest in them! My inbox is always for questions. I ask that you please consider skimming through the Supplementary Materials before sending a message, though.

Supplementary Materials

I’m using this section to include any extra commentary that didn't fit the main essay + educational materials that might be useful.

Educational Resources

I am far from an expert in shojo or yuri. There is a lot of nuance I did not cover because that was not the focus and I am not someone informed enough to discuss it. I barely feel like I'm informed enough to write this essay 😭. If you would like to learn more about the topics discussed (in English) from people who actually know about this stuff, I recommend reading essays like this one from a professor in manga + gender studies , this huge resource on yuri research, and the following blogs: okazu.yuricon.com, @/fehyesvintagemanga, @/osharenippon, @/retroyousei, @/brickme, @/yurimother and this article she wrote, @/empty-movement, @/animefeminist, @/ani-mentation, and also this paper on the early shojo decades. Oh, and this documentary on Takarazuka. And these interviews with a yuri author that inspired the "this too is yuri" meme.

Some commonly cited books are By Your Side: The First 100 Years of Yuri Anime and Manga which is by the host of the okazu.yuricon blog I mentioned in the paragraph above, and Boys Love Manga and Beyond: History, Culture, and Community in Japan. It might be more accessible to read an academic review of these books.

Bishonen/girl prince/boy prince aesthetics are informed by multiple different pop culture influences, not just the Takarazuka Revue. You can learn about one such influence here.

If you are interested in learning more about Takarazuka Revue, or watching a performance from a Takarazuka troupe, there is a fan wiki written in English for this very purpose.

If you don't watch Utena, you should at the very least watch Shiori's monologue since this was a big inspiration for part 2. You can also literally watch all of Utena eng sub/dub for free on Youtube (trigger warning list).

This isn't necessarily educational, but if you read all of this, you might be interested in this butch x butch yuri anthology.

Addressing Gaps in Analysis

I’m worried I threw around the term “sapphic subtext” a lot without clarifying what that exactly means.

The intention was to convey a distinction between "yuri" as a literary genre and "implicitly sapphic/lesbian relationships" overall, aka sapphic subtext. GL/yuri often has relationships that are almost entirely built on recognizable subtext because certain tropes get popularized. Often times, when I refer to "sapphic subtext," I am specifically referring to the subtext established by the yuri genre itself. However, because yuri also includes explicitly sapphic romantic/sexual relationships, it felt too confusing to just refer to everything remotely sapphic as "yuri." Hence, for the purposes of this essay, when I meant subtext, I said "subtext," and when I mean something explicitly sapphic, I said "yuri." Please know that these definitions are not concrete.

The full extent of the Takarazuka Revue's influence on how gender roles are represented and/or challenged in Japanese pop culture is complex. I want to clear up potential misunderstandings from my use of gendered terminology that may have come from this:

Do not confuse the Takarazuka-inspired girl-prince/girl-princess sapphic dichotomy described in this essay with a butch/femme dynamic. There is obviously overlap, but they are not synonymous with each other. A butch character is not always a bishonen character and vice versa. A femme character is not always a princess-like character and vice versa. I get these differences might seem miniscule, but when trying to do formal literary analysis, I think people should always be weary of applying Western terms to a culturally non-Western phenomenon, even if it usually communicates the same thing in a colloquial context.

"Are you familiar with the term akogare? So, in my research I did come across akogare (one of those nuanced "no direct english translation" words that seems to describe a deep admiration for someone??) to describe the sapphic subtext of retro shojo. Since I cannot with confidence explain what it means nor how the term is typically used, it wasn't mentioned in the analysis.

"Akane-banashi is a shonen manga and yet you barely acknowledged shonen manga history. What gives?" The answer is quite simple. The focus of this essay is not the shonen manga industry. I'm sure someone else would have a lot of fun analyzing Akahika in context of the history of shonen manga, the gender roles in shonen manga, or the impact of shonen manga on pop culture, but that person is not me.

“Why didn’t you talk more bout Glass Mask?” I never read/watched Glass Mask. While I was willing to read MANY things for this, I was not about to start the juggernaut that is Glass Mask just so I could include it in my analysis. I would love to see someone compare Glass Mask with Akane-banashi, though.

"What about Ruka?" This isn’t about him.

"What about Urara and Mayura?" This isn’t about them.

"I have misgivings about [interpretation of a complex aspect of RGU's narrative]?" Part 2 is catered to an audience who is familiar with Akahika, but not RGU, so some things like the rose bride/prince dynamic were dumbed down a bit. If you have RGU questions feel free to send an ask!!!

"Wait, why don't we talk about Act Age?" Short answer: I never read Act Age. Long answer: Act Age was a popular theatre manga published in Weekly Shonen Jump that was discontinued because the author was arrested for sexual harassment towards minors. Given Akane-banashi released approx 2.5 years later, it is possible that the former success of Act-Age influenced Akane-banashi's inception, but this is purely conjecture. I personally consider Act-Age defunct and irrelevant. I only mentioned it in the part 1 footnote because it used to be published in the same magazine as Akane-banashi.