#I took two photography classes while I was studying

[belovedapollo]

Heya! Hope you're doing well today! I just wanted to ask if you have any specific way of editing your photos? In particular I really like how dark and moody they look and was wondering if that's just brightness or is there something else you do to achieve that look? Thanks!

I do play a lot with light and I take most of my pics around noon when the sun starts hitting my apartment which creates a nice play between shadow and light ☺️ I rarely edit my pics these days. If I do then I sometimes put down the saturation or increase it, same goes for warm tone. It always depends on how the raw picture has turned out and what I need to add or take away. Also, I use either my Olympus or my iPhone. The first one adds a certain kind of out of focus touch (I have shaky hands haha) and makes it look like it’s a film camera (it also adds a bit of grain on its own). With my journal pictures, I take them mostly flat on my dining table. It’s black wood and gives a great contrast without having to increase it or edit it too much. Does this help? Feel free to send me another ask if you need to know more 😅

this one was taken with my Olympus and all I was to add a bit more warmth while decreasing saturation. no filter.

this has been taken with my iPhone (11) and all I did was select the black part and increase the shadow. no filter.

like I’ve said a lot comes from how the picture looks first when you take it ☺️

[rosesbxrry]

I’ve got my eyes on you

Pairing: Boyfriend! Heeseung X Fem! Reader X Roommate! Jake

Genre: Smut🔞 (Minors DNI), Heeseung and reader have a established relationship, Roommate AU!

Warnings: unprotected sex (wrap it up before you tap it), Hard Dom! Heeseung, Sub! Reader, Jake is like neutral, threesome, double penetration, anal sex, voyeurism, nipple play, squirting, cum eating, clit play and slapping, dirty talking, slut shaming, degradation, blowjob, degradation, multiple orgasm, cream pie, dacryphilia, overstimulation, fingering, Heeseung being mean. Hopefully I didn’t miss out anything else.

Summary: Jake has always loved capturing the beauty in any subject, the camera being his appendage for as long as he could remember. But pursuing what he loves in college didn’t end as well as he thought before he met the two of you, the couple who would change his black-and-white perspective for years to come.  

Main masterlist

Word count: 6,242 words

a/n: I have no words to describe how horny I was while writing this. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy reading this while I slave away to do my long awaited thesis 🥲 🥲 Also, I want to say thank you so much for 1,600+ followers 🫶🫶 🤧

Jake was always told that he had an eye for art.

Aligning the clear lens near to his right eye while the other shut closed, feeling the robust outline of the camera weighing his arms as he brings it up and the subtle tap on the flat button before—

Snap

He took a picture worth a thousand words.

From photography to filmography, Jake’s aptitude talent to be able to capture the nuances of angles and depth earned him a scholarship from a rather prestigious college to further his education.

Succumbing to the naivety of pursuing his skill in a more formal method, his passion for the art had been confined in a small defined box. The initial gratification and contentment of crafting a piece of pure refinery were moulded into the rules of academic guidelines.

He might abide by his philosophy, but he’s not stupid to flop his studies.

The semesters were filled with bleak and gruelling days— suffering through classes, assignments and professors that seemed to come and go. Nevertheless, he thought that he would spend his roaring twenties enjoying life and creating projects, with the possibility of doing a gallery show to display pieces of his creation to the world.

What seemed to be a rock bottom situation has graced him with the silver lining he needed.

Lee Heeseung was another fellow student in the school, a year older than him, who needed a new roommate in his apartment.

Coincidentally, Jake decided to move out of his parent’s house for independence, finding solace in the fact that the male was reasonably trustable and able to save money simultaneously.

It was initially awkward, mostly coming from him, who was slightly tense about living with an older person other than his family. Jake upholds respect as a constitution to his morals, but he slowly loosens up his relationship with Heeseung from a stranger to his best friend.

But it seemed Heeseung came with a combo, and that was you, his roommate’s girlfriend.

Intertwining his life with Heeseung meant that you were also in the package, often visiting the apartment to bring food or have a movie night together. As a result, Jake often feels like he is imposing on the couple because no one wants a third wheel tailing your scarce intimate time with each other.

However, it seemed like you and Heeeseung didn’t mind his company, often inviting Jake to activities like a trip to the aquarium or a study picnic on the grass field on the campus ground.

The couple knew about Jake’s talent with the camera, often asking him to take pictures of the memories for sentimental purposes.

For all his life in filming and snapping pictures, whether it be organisms to inanimate objects, the subject of his inspiration has never come close to how perfectly the two of you looked through the camera’s lens from his eyes.

At first, his impression of the couple’s relationship was admiration, understanding and respect for each other in overcoming complex obstacles, seeing one another as equal rather than subject to the emotion and stress that manifested during those squabbles.

Still, it didn’t sit right with him to call it admiration, and the turning point soon tests the hypothesis when in the dead of the night one day, he heard you and Heeseung having sex for the first time.

The walls that separate his room and Heeseung’s were arguably not that thin, but it wasn’t thick enough either to muffle the whimpers and moans coming from the room next door.

Jake felt like he had a stomach ache listening to the couple’s soft lewd sounds, not because he hated it, but quite the opposite; the noises turned him on.

It began as something that flew over his head, not dissecting the whole thing in great detail until he heard it for the second time, and then the third time, and before he knew it, he had his pyjama pants down to his knees, desperately humping his pillow to the rhythm of his friends having sex with a palm clamp over his mouth.

He fantasizes about the two bodies mingled with one another on the white sheets of Heeseung’s bed; the eloquent actions of touching, grabbing and thrusting that aggregated into white milky beautiful essence oozing out of your hole—

Jake came on the fabric of his pillowcase with the thought of capturing the cinematography of such an imaginary masterpiece deeply rooted in the reality he could never witness.

So much adrenaline was pumping through his body that he could hear his heart beating.

He woke up groggy and tired the next morning on those days, feeling like he got hit by a truck at how uneasy he felt. He dreaded coming outside, knowing he’d see you and Heeseung making breakfast together, embarrassed to even make eye contact with them.

The male felt nauseous, in fact, filthy to the core of even masturbating silently to the notion of them fucking. Realization slowly dawned on him that the search for the term to describe how he feels about the two of you has concluded in his head— infatuation.

No words could ever express the emotion better on how he felt in the enchanting relationship they shared.

The mundane life he had owned morphed into restless torture of constant tossing and turning. He felt guilt eating him up, more so because he hid such a deceitful act of touching himself while putting up a disguise behind his friend’s back.

At the culmination of the chaotic situation, Jake saw Heeseung's gallery by accident.

The younger male wanted to call his missing phone in his room, asking permission from Heeseung, who was doing the laundry at the time, if he could use the older male’s phone. However, while pressing on the phone app to search for his number, his clumsy fingers, by chance, opened up the gallery instead, causing his eyes to bulge out at what he saw.

It was a thumbnail of a recent video logged into the first file, big enough for him to decipher the image that made him almost drop the phone.  

The camera's angle was situated visibly at the side view of Heeseung in between your legs, missionary position with a blanket covering the area where your bodies meet. You were gripping his arm that was caging the sides of your head against the familiar bed, and Jake didn’t need to stare for too long to understand what was going on.

A dull sound rang in his ears, and his throat grew dry as his heart erratically beat against his ribcage. Then, with a shaking thumb hovering above the video icon, Jake’s breathing was as loud as his swallowing before pressing on it reluctantly, pupils trembling in nervousness.

The video played.

Heeseung was thrusting into you, hearing the sound of soft skin slapping mixed with whiny, muffled moans and grunts that echoed against the phone’s speaker. The upper part of their faces was cut out from the shot, but in the dimly lit room, the smirk on Heeseung’s face was evident.

“Shhh, didn’t I tell you to quiet down princess, or are you purposely doing it for Jake to hear you?” Heeseung whispered slowly against your ear, eliciting a small cry from your lips.

Eyes as wide as saucers, Jake couldn’t believe what he was witnessing, his name leaving his roommate’s mouth while fucking you.

Heeseung chuckled darkly, smacking his hips harder against yours. “Fuck, that’s it, isn’t it? You tighten up everytime I say his name. Such a dirty girl.”

Jake’s breathing shallowed beyond disbelief at what he was hearing.

Heeseung fastens his pace, causing you to sink your nails into his arm desperately. “That’s why you like it when I fuck your ass, right? Reserving your pretty pussy just for Jakey to ruin it.”

A gasp left his lips in total shock.

Something unfathomable brewed deep inside Jake’s stomach when he realized that Heeseung was penetrating your ass the whole time under the cover.

Jake envisioned your drenched, sweet pussy clenching around nothing at the thought of his cock in you and the little nickname that Heeseung teasingly used to build up the tension— a taut knot settling at the bottom of his gut at how turned on he was by the act.

But the last sentence that Heeseung said made him freeze like a deer in headlights.

“Imagining he was the one filming us right now.”

Every fibre of his body reacted to those words, playing them repeatedly in his head like a broken record. Jake felt like his head was doused with a bucket of cold water without warning; mind and body underwent a spiralled loophole of a fever dream.

He was in a state of disorientation when Heeseung walked into his room obliviously.

“Hey, Jake. Did you find your— wow, you okay dude?” Heeseung’s voice fell into deep worry at how ghostly his friend’s expression was.

Jake’s lack of response causes Heeseung’s eyes to trail to the phone he was holding tightly and the obvious sound emitting from the device.

The older male’s face distorts into multiple stages of horror and dread in recognition. The fear that pierced his wide eyes while looking back and forth between Jake’s face and the phone indicated that he was caught red-handed.

The taller male swallowed hard. “We can explain.”

It didn’t take long for Heeseung to call you to come to the shared apartment, albeit in between explaining to you on the phone, Jake heard muffled shouting of fury on your end while his roommate walked mindlessly in circles, trying to calm you down.

Sitting on the sofa patiently in the living room, Jake didn’t know how to handle the whole ordeal or if he was ready to accept whatever lay ahead with the two of you.

The sound of the apartment door swinging open echoed the space, revealing a dishevelled you trudging past the hallway into the living area. Jake felt guilty at your current dismay, possibly running directly here after finishing your class on campus as you were still carrying your backpack.

When you make eye contact with Jake, you look down in embarrassment.

“Okay.” Heeseung tried to fill in the awkward silence calmly, the pregnant pause giving away how thick the tension was in the room. “Where do we even start?”

You scoff distastefully, putting your backpack down harshly on the ground. “Start? How about you explain to me how the video was even found out in the first place!”

Jake drowned out the disputed exchange between the couple, trying to mallow down his rapid breathing. If he let this kind of situation escalate, it might end up being a dumpster fire in a few minutes. His mind wandered to articulate the proper sentence to begin, finally settling on the information he had been aching to know.

“How long…..has this been going on?” Jake didn’t realize how nervous he was until he spoke with a slight rasp, breaking his silence since he discovered the video.

His question shifted the attention of the two to him, realizing that the true dupe of the sitch had been wearily calmed the whole time. But, of course, they didn’t know that Jake himself kept a not-so-innocent secrecy as well.

“The first time we did it…..in my room.” Heeseung glanced your way as a confirmation while you gave a subtle nod back at his reply.

“Why did you guys film it?”

You and Heeseung exchange eye contact with each other apprehensively.

“We did it for the first time out of impulse, and when Heeseung mentioned your name in the middle of it—” You grimaced, trying to explain, but the words died in your throat out of pure awkwardness.

Heeseung flashes you a consoling look.

“Long story short, we didn’t realize how much you have an effect on us that we kept going even after the first. Well, the video, it's…..a living proof of that.” Heeseung continues, biting on his lower lip at the end.

Another excruciating pause follows suit.

It was hard to focus as you tried to read Jake’s facial expression but to no avail. It made you realize the loud ticking sound of the clock in the living room or the soft noises coming from the neighbours above behind the pin-drop silence in the backdrop.

The agitation was getting on your nerves, and all you could think about was the guilt that overshadowed everything else.

“We’re really sorry, Jake.” You apologize sincerely. “We didn’t mean to use you in that kind of way.”

“Yeah,” Heeseung muttered in agreement, flashing a remorseful downward glance towards the younger male with a sigh. “So, we totally get it if you want nothing to do with us and move out of the apartment.”

Anyone who was in Jake’s position would be bewildered by circumstance— finding out that your roommate and his girlfriend had been deliberately having sex for you to hear next door and, on top of that, gaining arousal from your existence unknowingly undermines the friendship that was built on trust seemed borderline intrusive.

But that was the perception that the two of you presumed.

In his mind, he couldn’t fathom such a surreal moment he thought was just an erotic fantasy in his mind was happening, as if the planets had aligned for the sky above to bless a disparate soul like him with the epitome of heaven.

Jake could feel the thrill of revealing his divulgence without a second thought; a small smirk curled his lips.

“Oh no, I don’t think I can do that.”

He chuckled slowly, watching the two faces turn perplexed by his words.

Jake gave a nonchalant shrug. “I mean, have you guys seen how horrible the set-up for the video was? It looks like a cheap DVD porno that many juvenile teens would drool over. Who else other than me can prevent that kind of thing from happening again.”

At this point, the two looked like a pair of gaping fishes standing in front of him, as if he grew a third head or said something wildly demented, completely disregarding the fact that he had insulted the camera work of the video.

There was a notable doubt in their expression, yet slightly reposed by the tether of hope that Jake was saying what they thought he was saying based on his words' innuendo.

“You guys weren’t really being sly about the whole thing, you know. I can hear you banging from a mile away.” Jake revealed, smiling cheekily when the couple immediately flushed in embarrassment.

“Oh my God, Jake.” You let out a tired sigh, but a hint of relief flooded the way you dragged your breath at the end. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

The younger male was slightly taken aback by the question but answered earnestly with his feelings because what he was about to say next will completely overturn the course of each other’s relationship.

The corners of his mouth slid upwards knowingly.

“You guys aren’t the only ones secretly enjoying it.”

If someone asked Jake what his proudest creation was, he wished that he could show them the sight he was capturing right now with his camera.

His figure stood a few feet away from Heeseung’s bed, perfectly encapsulating the shot of the couple making out with your back facing the camera, watching through the crips lens as he zoomed in the way Heeseung shoved his tongue into your mouth as he pulled you closer on his lap.

Jake’s fantasy of the two could never compare to the one he witnessed.

He felt excitement overwhelming his body, holding the camera steadily to focus on Heeseung’s hands, grabbing onto your ass, pulling on the strings of your lace panties until the crotch was wedged between your crack.

Your sweet moans filled the room, no longer timid like before when Heeseung convinced you and Jake that it was the perfect time to film.

The younger male was also nervous— it wasn’t that long ago when the three of you talked about what happened, finally coming to a conclusion about the addition of Jake into the bedroom.

He didn’t realize how nerve-wracking it was, feeling his cock growing hard against his jeans at the way your hips were desperately grinding on Heeseung’s clothed erection, facilitated with the help of the said male’s hand grabbing onto the flesh of your exposed ass.

“Such a needy girl.” Heeseung chuckled darkly after releasing your lips messily with saliva, kissing your neck as he buckled back to meet your movement. “You love it, don’t you? Knowing that Jake is watching you hump my cock so desperately while you show your bare ass to him.”

Heeeseung looked directly into the camera between your shoulders while nibbling on your skin, enjoying how Jake’s fingers tightened their hold on the equipment when you whimpered loudly in confirmation.

He moves close to whisper into your ears, hands snaking along your back to unclasp your bra.

“Let’s show him how much of a little slut you can be, okay?”

Jake’s breath hitched when Heeseung turned you around to face the camera, revealing your ample chest for him to marvel at as it bounced softly, nipples beautifully erect under the dimly warm lights of the room.

You caught sight of how Jake moved forward eagerly until his knees were flushed at the edge of the bed, your skin turning hot at the fact that he was filming your exposed breast so minuscule.

Heeseung pulled you roughly until your back was leaning on his naked chest, narrowing your chance of curling away from the vulnerable position. His large hands cup your breast from behind, kneading the swell in a tender and circular motion.

“Hands behind your back, baby.” Heeseung thumb at your stiff peaks, his nails digging at the sensitive area that you gasp out at the sensation. “Or I’ll have to show Jake that you can come with just your tits being played with like before.”

Jake couldn’t believe his ears, and his mind was already running wild at the thought, wishing that you'll keep pushing Heeseung’s button until he did carry out the punishment for Jake to see.

But you shook your head between the junction of his neck with your eyes squeezed shut, obviously not wanting to be subjected to such a humiliating act, especially for Jake to witness.

“No?” Heeseung teased, pinching your nipples before pulling them away harshly, twirling the hard peaks back and forth with his thumb and forefingers.

You whimpered in agony, clawing at his thighs resting between your hips while shoving your nose deeper into the crevice of his neck in mercy. Heeseung laughed at your state, panting hotly against his skin as he abused your tits.

“Then be a good girl and spread your legs apart for us, yeah?”

Us.

That specific pronoun sends waves of unfathomable pleasure between your and Jake’s legs, reducing both of you into a brazen state.

Following Heeseung’s order, Jake almost let out a moan behind the camera when you slowly opened your legs, his hands trembling at the sight of the very prominent dark and wet patch in the middle of your panties that sticks to the outline of your pussy like a glove.

Heeseung let a breathy chuckle at Jake’s striking reaction. “Beautiful, isn’t she?”

A hand escaped to curved downward along your stomach, dipping in between your hips to rub at your clothed folds. You buck your hips at the friction as Heeseung’s deft fingers drag along your puffy lips, eliciting a mantra of moans from your throat.

“This pussy gets nice and soaked just thinking about us. Right, baby girl?” Heeseung cooed, causing you to nod obediently, chest heaving at the way his fingers probed at your sweet entrance teasingly, letting a gush of juices escape to drench your panties even more.

Jake was enamoured at the sight, absolutely winded with a whole zoo churning in his stomach that he didn’t realize he was kneeling on the soft mattress of the bed, capturing the way Heeseung was stroking your clothed pussy while the other was still playing with one of your nipples lazily.

It didn’t help that you were watching him through half-lidded eyes, head lolling to the side with mouth agape when you eyed the visible bulge of his cock through his pants.

Heeseung glances at you when you squeeze his thighs a little harder, following your gaze to see what has captured your attention, causing him to grin.

“Looks like we got a big boy in our hands, huh, princess.”

Jake’s ears immediately perked up behind the camera, unbestowed to him that two sets of eyes were prowling on the outline of his aching cock like a predator hunting for its prey.

Heeseung nudged his nose against the underside of your ear. “Why don’t you be a sweetheart and help him out a little?”

There was no hesitation in the way you hooked on the belt hoop of his jeans, pulling the younger male closer until his crotch was arm’s length from your face. Jake was taken aback by your action, almost letting the camera fall while shuffling his knees on the bed to follow your lead.

You spread your palm over his bulge, dragging sensually with a little pressure to feel him over his jeans. A breathy hiss left his lips when you squeezed lightly on the head, and the friction felt deliciously good that he buckled slightly when you continued to smooth his erection.

The sound of his belt clicking and feeling the tight confinement of his jeans slowly loosening up, he throbs hotly when you tug at his pants, bringing them down to his thighs with his briefs.

“Fuck, Hee…..his so beautiful.” Jake immediately blushed when you whined incredulously at the male behind.

Jake’s cock stood proudly against his abdomen, fully pink and erected from the stimulation of watching Heeseung play with your tits and pussy. Milky pearls of cum had dribbled out of his slit and down to his length, head twitching when he felt your hungry gaze on him.

But you were drooling at how his veins pop up prominently, and his cute balls are nice and tight; it entices you to reach out and fist him firmly.

“Shit—“ Jake could hold it any longer, moaning at the sensation of your hand pumping him slowly and smearing his precum along his thick length.

Still, Jake was determined to fix the shot to you stroking his cock so deliciously, his abdomen tensing up when you flick your wrist harder when you reach his sensitive head, and then moaning loudly when you drag down to the base with a pressure, collecting his wetness between your fingers.

Heeseung watched you play with Jake’s cock as he rested his chin on your shoulder, heavy eyes soaking in the pleasurable sight of his girlfriend giving a handjob to his roommate.

“Baby, use your other hand to play with his balls.” Heeseung mumbled his command close to your ear. “I think he’ll enjoy it.”

Jake rolled his eyes to the back of his head when you fondled his heavy balls, gritting his teeth when you massaged the soft flesh indolently enough to make his hips stutter, igniting the knot in his stomach and making him lightheaded to the touch.

The younger male was gasping for air behind the camera, never thinking such minuscule action could drive him insane.

You lick your dry lips at how adorable his body reacted as you continue to use both hands, feeling an ache in your mouth and wondering how he would feel against your tongue.

Fuck, you bet he tasted sweet.

“Hee, Can I…..?” You ask gullibly to the side, and Heeseung doesn’t need any clarification before shaking his head at your antics with disapproval.

“If you want something in your mouth, baby, you have to ask him nicely. Where are your manners?” You whimpered when Heeseung slapped your clothed clit hard for Jake to witness before pushing your panties to the side, rubbing you raw against his padded fingers.

Jake observed with amazement how Heeseung treated you roughly, loving how you cried pathetically before looking up at him with hope-pooled eyes between your lashes.

��Jakey, can I please suck your cock?”

The way you asked him so crudely with such innocence had him swallowing hard, letting a sound of approval leave his throat.  

Jake thanked the heaven and stars when you engulfed his head around your plump lips, reaching out to rest a hand on your head to steady himself. With your hands around the base, you tongue at his slit to taste his sticky precum before suckling to take more and more of his length into your mouth.

At the same time, Heeseung slipped two fingers into your tight hole without warning; the sudden stretch of your velvet walls to accommodate his long fingers almost caused you to choke on Jake’s cock with saliva.

“Easy, princess. You don’t want to hurt our precious Jakey.” Heeseung used his other hand to securely hold your jaw, ensuring that your mouth was still attached to his length.

“I’m sure the underside is very, very sensitive…..”

Heeseung had never been wrong with Jake’s ticks, and you flattened your tongue to rub on the veiny side of his erection until he felt the drag of your textured taste buds that accentuated the pleasure.

The exact pace was established momentarily— Heeseung was pumping his fingers in and out of your pussy hole with the rhythm of your head bobbing and tongue swirling around Jake’s cock.

The hand holding the camera felt heavy when he grabbed your hair tighter as you plunged your mouth deeper, and he groaned when the tip of your nose was flush against his pubic area, feeling his tip pressing against the back of your throat.

You did this a couple of times, gliding in and out of his length until the wet sound that emitted echoed in the room.

Heeseung scissored your hole relentlessly, feeling you soaking his fingers until it dripped down his knuckles. “Look at you, letting your boyfriend watch you stuff your mouth full with another man’s cock, you dumb fucking slut.”

Tears blurred your eyesight as Heeseung spat at you with degrading words, swallowing around Jake’s hard cock as your boyfriend inserted another finger to abuse your hole, loving how the rough stretch enlightened your arousal.

Jake watches you through the foggy lens simultaneously as you look up to show him the lewdest expression through the camera, the corner of your mouth wide open with his cock and drool dripping down your chin so obscenely.

His cock pulsates at the picture-perfect moment, feeling his threshold teetering around the edge before he loads your mouth with his creamy seed, bucking his hips as a loud moan ripples out from deep within his chest.

“…..that’s it, you eat up Jake so well.” Heeseung’s three fingers curl to press on the tender spot of your cervix, and your walls spasm around them as your sweet release encapsulates you with euphoric pleasure.

The vibrations of your moans around his spent cock kept Jake’s orgasm elevated beyond the clouds.

Everything happens in tandem with each other— you were swallowing Jake’s hot cum while Heeseung rides you off your orgasm as you rock his fingers for more friction.

It gave Jake the perfect moment to readjust the camera's focus on the couple as the tension simmered.

But it didn’t end just yet.

“Come here, pretty girl.” Heeseung coaxes you after licking his fingers clean with your arousal, making you release Jake’s cock with a loud pop as he manoeuvres your head to the side. “I want to have a taste too.”

Jake’s heart lurches from his chest when Heeseung captures your lips and devours your mouth full of his cum. The kiss was sloppy and wet, even downright dirty, as two tongues wrestled to taste each other’s cavern, frenching with open mouths so vulgarly that the slimy spit mixed with yours and Jake’s essence dripped down straight out of a porno.

The proud smirk on Heeseung’s face while he sucked on your lower lip and glanced over at him briefly told Jake everything he needed to know.

“Do you need me to prepare you, princess?” Heeseung asks, wiping away the white strings that form when he pulls away.

He watches you tentatively through hooded eyes, chest rising and falling with puffy lips before looking at Jake nervously. The older male had the gall to chuckle at your state, finding gratification in your shy reaction as he tucked away a few strands of hair behind your ear.

“Don’t worry, I don’t think Jake minds filming me finger fucking your pretty asshole with your head down.” Heeseung curiously looks at Jake’s way at the end.

The said male was heaving in his breath, having the front row seat as he imagined your pink, puckered hole being shoved in and out with Heeseung’s lanky fingers to loosen up your walls, your face flush against the pillow muffled with your cries.

He might get lucky if Heeseung felt the need to take the extra step of letting you come again, your pussy in full display for him to see you clench against absolutely nothing as you drown your folds with your own slick.

This must be a dream; it has to be.

“N-no, I want it to be tight…..” Your desperate plea cuts through the tension, tucking your bottom lip with your teeth as you tug on Heeseung’s pants impatiently.

Heeseung smiled gently, knowingly.

“Okay, baby. But next time, we'll show Jakey how I prepared you, alright?” Heeseung was surprisingly considerate, kissing you on the forehead softly as you nodded at his reply.

Heeseung didn’t want to overload the two with too many things.

Of course, the dominant side of him sought out the ecstasy of showing off to Jake how much he could turn you into a messy whore for their cocks, but this was the first time, and he much preferred if you were in a state where you were confident enough to share it with Jake.

As for the said younger male, Heeseung couldn’t tell with the camera in front of his face but by the adorable body language visible for him to see— Jake’s cock that went limp was hard again against his stomach, head leaking with creamy white beads.

It reassured Heeseung that Jake had no plans to run away anytime soon.

Your soaked panties and Heeseung’s pants and briefs were discarded to the floor of the room. Scooching to hover over Heeseung’s lap with your back to him, the said male was fisting his cock with his precum while his other hand grips on your hip.

“Down you go, princess.”

With the swollen tip of his cock probing at your hole, you whimpered as you slowly sank to ease his length into your walls. It took you a few more breaths at the tightness, but the comforting thumb massaging your sides urged you to bottom down to his base, completely sitting on his lap.

“How does that feel, baby?” Heeseung was nibbling at your earlobe, wrapping his arms around your waist as he slowly rocked your tense figure.

You were breathing heavily, and the initial stretch was a bit painful at how big Heeseung was, but soon, the discomfort slowly disintegrated into waves of pleasure as your walls adjusted to his size.  

“So, so good— I can feel you deep inside me.” You huffed, clenching around him as a sign for him to move.

Heeseung pulled your back to his chest before he descended to lay on the mattress with you on top of him. The position nudges him deeper as he locks his legs around your knees, thrusting up leisurely as an appetizer for what’s to come.

Jake listens to your soft pitchy moans every time Heeseung moves his hips, getting off to the visual of your hole clenching around your boyfriend’s cock with your legs wide apart for the camera to capture.

A callous hand unconsciously trails to fist his hard cock as Jake jerks to the sound of your ass clapping on Heeseung’s thighs.

The once sensual pace turns heavily ruthless as he relentlessly thrusts up, yet the aching in your wet pussy makes you realize its emptiness as you clench back at Heeseung’s cock.

“Ah-aah— Jake— please…..I need you in me.” You call the younger male out as you pull your outer lips for him to see how desperate and pink your hole is, causing him to freeze at how completely fuck out you were.

His action seemed to garner frustration down the older male’s throat.

“Jake,” Heeseung growled sharply, gripping your waist as he rammed you harder with a dark glare over your shoulder. “Put the camera down and fuck her pussy.”

Jake frantically crawls towards you, the camera thrown on the soft mattress somewhere without a second thought.

A drool dripped down the corner of your mouth, teary eyes watching him align his head to your entrance as he filled you up so deliciously good that it hurt to have your holes simultaneously penetrated.

“Oh my god— yes, Jake— fuck, Hee—“

You choke out incoherently when Jake moves to slam his cock in and out at the same time as Heeseung did without mercy, arching your back as your tits bounce with every impact from both the back and the front.

You feel so full to the core, being fuck out of your mind, that you claw at the bedsheets from the pleasure.

“Dirty slut, one cock is not enough for you, is it?” Heeseung hisses out right below your ears, reaching out to slap your tender clit forcefully.

You cried out in pain, clenching around the girth of their cocks as they ruined your insides roughly. Jake bit the inside of his cheeks, watching from above as Heeseung landed another harsh slap against your clit that you almost lurch forward if he hadn’t forced your hips down.

“Hee—hahhhh— stop—“

“Stop?” Heeseung's laugh was almost sinister, rubbing circles around your tender clit precisely with his thumb as tears streamed down your cheeks, burning with humiliation.

“Fuck, you deserve to be treated like a dumb slut. Letting another man fuck your womb instead of your loving boyfriend.” He snapped.

Your surroundings were starting to blur, disappearing from your spatial consciousness until the pleasure numbed your body to your extremities at the way their cocks were abusing your sensitive walls. You were on the brink of bursting into a million pieces, and Heeseung could tell that you needed one more push to bring you to heaven.

“Jake.” Heeseung held your wrist until his nails dug into the thin skin to stop you from trashing any further.

Jake was stunted out of his mind at his name being called out, especially when he was close to reaching his high. Heeseung gave him a powerful stare down with a gleam of insanity behind those big eyes.

“Slap her clit.”

Jake knew the older male wasn’t asking; it was a direct command for him to carry without question.

Immediately Jake’s eyes went to yours below, only to see it begging with helplessness for him to follow Heeseung’s order. He could recognize the blown-out desire to release yourself from the prison of being edged for so long, and all you ever wanted was to come.

Like he was being bewitched by the couple, Jake felt a click at the back of his mind that he had never felt before in his life— even during his time with endless capturing of the camera, nothing could ever compare to how perfect this moment was.

The sound of his slap on your wet clit erupted you into a fit of moans, your abdomen tensing up before you squirt with your back arched on Heeseung’s sweating chest.

All your liquid drenches him with your sweet scent, spraying his lower half and the bed wet as your body convulses uncontrollably. Your skin was breaking into goosebumps that seemed never ending as Jake and Heeseung filled you with their hot seed blissfully.

It felt like time had stopped momentarily, letting the three enjoy the well-deserved orgasm that tumbled over their senses.

With a hand over your eyes, you were sobbing loudly in the backdrop of their groans, bucking your hips in the air until the last drop of your liquid leaked out.

The limpness of your body urged Jake to pull out, watching his creamy load bubble down to the crack of your asshole so ethereally until it met the white rim that formed as Heeseung lovingly rode you out of your orgasm, his heavy balls drowned with arousal as well.

Soft whispers of praises escape Heeseung’s lips against your ears, stroking your stomach with butterfly touches as he licks your salty tears away at how well you wet the bed for them, hearing your hiccups bounce through the walls.

Jake peeks to rummage around in search of his camera, taking it in his hands as he switches to taking a picture and saving the video content he filmed. He aligns the lens to his eye despite trembling at how heady your scent was sticking to his body.

Snap

He could never get enough of the sight of his artistic muses, all picture-perfect for him to capture.

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[ros3ybabe]

Updated* Current Goals/Habits I Wish To Achieve 🎀

I have added and removed some daily goals and habits from my first posted list, so I thought I’d post an updated list of my goals and habits!

Workout 20+ Minutes Daily

Daily walks OR 10,000 steps a day

Drink 100oz of water daily

Read 30+ min or 10+ pages daily

Skincare routine AM and PM

Journal AM and PM

Make bed every morning

Study a language 10+ minutes daily

Sleep 6 - 8 hours nightly

Practice a hobby 10+ minutes daily

The two languages I am currently focusing on studying are Spanish and Japanese, the two languages I love the most. Once I get more comfortable with Japanese, I do plan on picking up Korean, as that is my third favorite. I used to self study Japanese for two years and even took a university Japanese class but had to stop and haven’t picked it up. Spanish is useful for where I live and I also think it is a beautiful language, and I’ve taken university classes for Spanish but due to my personal situations at the time, I wasn’t successful in those classes. I do currently have my Japanese textbook from my previous class as well as two Spanish textbooks from my previous classes.

Some hobbies I am trying to get back into is drawing and reading, and I am looking into starting some other hobbies such as crochet, cooking, scrapbooking/bullet journaling, painting, photography, learning sign language, and as I mentioned, language learning,

If anyone has any language learning (self study) tips or resources, tips and resources for any of the mentioned hobbies, or any general motivation or encouragement you want to share, please feel free! It would be greatly appreciated!

I know realistically I will not accomplish everything I listed every single day but the goal ultimately is to make an honest effort and keep my priorities in line with my daily actions. I am going to consistently work on myself and guide my daily routines towards progress and productivity while still giving myself the rest and recovery I need.

Thank you all!

Til next time, lovelies! 🩷🤍

[applejuicefruit]

Hola angel❤️ can i request something? i have this on my mind:

Reader and Kylian are dating but reader is Oliver giroud’s daughter (maybe adoptive daughter because i mean he’s 36 and reader would be 18/19) and one day he finds about them because they tried to keep it secret❤️

Have I mentioned before that I need Olivier to be my father?

I really hope you like this ❤️✨

A father’s love

You moved to Paris when you were 18, fresh out of high school, to pursue your dream of being a photographer. You moved a lot during your childhood due to your father being a famous football player. He’s Olivier Giroud who plays for Milan and the Equipe de France. He’s the one who saved your life after being abandoned by your parents in an orphanage only when you were 5. You always thought you would have a miserable life, you never understood why your parents left you but when you were 7 your life changed completely. He adopted you, he welcomed you into his family and he cared for you like a parent should do.

You lived in Milan for a few years where you graduated high school but it came time for you to leave and chase your dreams.

Your dad fully supported you and you couldn’t be happier. He got you this small parisian apartment with a beautiful eiffel tower view and you couldn’t ask for me.

You started attending photography class and learnt a lot from there but the biggest opportunity of your life came when your accepted a stage as a photographer for the psg. You weren’t allowed to meet the players but you were grateful you could see all the psg matches.

Until one night you were attending a game, as usual, and you started taking pictures of the team. You were very good with portraits, even if you preferred the nature you were happy with the job you were doing.

You took a lot of pictures that night and PSG posted them all on their social.

That same night Kylian poster a picture that you took but instead of tagging PSG he tagged you.

You were shocked.

How did he know you were the one taking that picture?

You were completely shocked.

The day after he approached you while he was training. You were sat on the bench currently studying your program and occasionally taking pictures of the team while they were training.

“You have talent” he said sitting next to you

“Ehm-thank you” you replied in a soft tone

“I’m Kylian by the way”

“Y/n…”

“Y/n? Why does it sound so familiar? Wait…You’re Olivier’s daughter?” he asked a bit shocked

“Yes it’s me” you said smiling a bit

“Wow…”

“Does it shock you?”

“No-yes-I mean…what are you doing here? I thought you were all in Milan”

“I was…I was accepted into photography school here in Paris so I moved here…”

“That’s amazing…well I have to go back to training but I hope we can talk more afterward” he said and with that he left.

After that day you two became friends.

He would take you out in Paris and you would invite him over at your place for movie nights. But you were falling for him.

You couldn’t help it but you started feeling emotions everytime he looked at you. Like butterflies exploding into your stomach. You kept it a secret for a while before you told him. You knew he didn’t like you back but you had to tell him. You were wrong though.

When you confessed he kissed you. Passionately.

He told you he fell in love with you the moment he saw you the first time.

So you started dating.

But no one knew. Not even the team or his family. You wanted to keep it private, firstly because you were a very private person, secondly because he was terrified of your father finding out. You knew your dad wouldn’t approve.

You dating his teammate? Absolutely no!

So you dated, hiding from everyone and always been careful. And now it’s been a year you’re together.

But the World Cup moment came and you had to go in Qatar to support your dad (and your boyfriend) team.

You were terrified of him finding out but you also knew you couldn’t stay away from Kylian so you had to be very careful.

The first week was easy. Kylian would sneak out into your bedroom when everyone was fast asleep but more the days went on more it became complicated for you to see each other.

He trained more and you stayed in your bedroom more.

One night you decided to surprise him and went into his bedroom. It was a bit risky because his room was on the same floor your dad’s room was but you didn’t think about it so much.

What you didn’t know was that your dad saw you and Kylian kissing each other right in the corridor before he took your hand and led you into his room.

Your dad waited two hours outside Kylian’s room hoping you would come out but eventually he gave up. He definitely would have talk to you in the morning so he woke up earlier and waited for the rest of the team to go down and have breakfast.

“Où est Kylian?” your dad asked to his teammates pretending he didn’t know what was really going on

“Je ne sais pas” Adrien Rabiot answered before eating his breakfast.

Your dad finished breakfast before everyone else so he had time to go to Kylian’s room.

But before he could say anything he saw you coming out to Kylian’s room with him behind you holding your hands.

“Don’t you have anything to say?” your dad asked and you both jumped because of fear

“Dad I-“ you tried to say but honestly you had no idea of what to say

“Kylian?” your dad asked, while he crossed his arms and tensed his shoulder a little bit

“Olivier I swear I would never hurt her” Kylian admitted while not being able to hold eyes with your father, who, in that moment looked a little bit much intimidating

“Oh you better not. If you hurt her, if you break her heart, if you cheat on her, if you even think of cheating on her, if you make her cry, if you treat her bad, I’m gonna find out and you’re dead. Clear?” he asked in a very serious tone

“Yes sir. But I promise you, I would never ever hurt her. She’s the love of my life, I can’t even go a day without seeing her…” Kylian said to your dad and he soften his hard look a little bit

“I believe you Kyks…” Olivier said “now back to you y/n…why didn’t you tell me?” he asked a little bit disappointed

“I thought you wouldn’t approve. I mean you hated all the guys I’ve dated so…” you said in a soft voice

“Yes because at the time you were fifteen and the guys you dated were dickheads but now it’s different, you’re almost 20, you have your own career, you’re own place, you’re a young woman and whether I like it or not, you won’t staying single forever, I can’t protect you like I did when you were a kid so it’s okay for you to date and make new experiences…I just wished you weren’t scared to tell me…”

You couldn’t hold back tears and hug him “I know I’m so sorry dad”

“It’s okay honey, what matters now is that your happy”

“I am - I swear, Kylian makes me so much happy you have no idea” you said smiling while your dad wiped your tears away

“Good” he then said “Kylian, you better treat her good”

“Yes sir. You know I will” Kylian replied and your dad left to change into his training suits.

You and Kylian looked at each other trying to process what has just happened. You were shocked. Happy that your father approved cause having his approval was the most important thing for you.

[baby-yongbok]

Poetry

Chapter Six - Mr.H

Hyunjin x Fem!Reader

Genre: Fluff with a swirl of angst

Summary: The night that you see Hyunjin again after your date is full of surprises. You can keep your cool but can he?

Word Count: 5,407

A/N: Things are happening, ya'll. I'm so excited to be back in Fan Fiction land <3 + If you haven't already, I highly recommend reading the previous parts before this one so that you get the ✨full experience✨. See you next Thursday at 6 💕

Part Five

✧Poetry Series Masterlist✧

✧Main Masterlist✧

There wasn’t a moment of silence after Hyunjin left, you spent the entirety of your breakfast answering questions while giving Changbin and Serena as many details as you could before you had to leave for work. You will admit that you appreciate how involved your friends are, especially Changbin. You were almost afraid that he was going to go full big brother mode and quiz Hyunjin the moment that he met him but he actually kept his cool, let’s see how it goes next time. 

Speaking of next time, you haven’t seen Hyunjin since your date. The two of you have been texting nonstop and you even spoke on the phone two days ago but neither of you have brought up a plan to meet. He canceled your meetup this week because he had to help his roommate Felix with something upstate. You weren’t mad about it though, you took the free time as an opportunity to look into a new hobby. 

You have a bit of a tradition that you started during your second year of university, every autumn you look into building a new skill or taking up a new hobby. You weren’t sure what to get into this year until you saw a flier on your way to work yesterday. Apparently your local community center has a photography club that meets on Fridays where you’re taught everything that you need to know by a professional. There’s no way that you could turn a blind eye to such a wonderful free opportunity. So here you are, walking through the large glass doors and into the quiet lobby. Your brand new Canon camera is placed safely in its case hanging from your shoulder and your tote bag is hanging from the other. You looked up at the digital board by the reception desk to look for the room number for your class. Once you found it you made your way down the hall, humming a smooth tune to try and calm your nerves. You were more than excited but you were almost positive that the club would be filled with experienced photographers looking for community and you are far from experienced.

The door to the room is already open when you reach the room and there are a few people in there talking amongst themselves and fiddling with their cameras. You enter quietly, not wanting to draw too much attention to yourself but that fails once you get half way into the room. The group swiftly looks up at you, each one of them studying your frame with furrowed brows and that’s when you notice the elephant in the room… they’re all teenagers.

“Hi, you must be new.” One of the girls breaks the silence. “I’m Mia.”

“Hi, I’m Y/n. Nice to meet you.” You move to sit by the window, right in the middle of the row. You never liked being too far from the instructor but you also hate being in the front. 

“I’m James and this is Olivia, she’s a bit shy.” One of the boys sitting against the wall introduces himself and the girl sitting on his lap. Olivia offers a timid wave before looking back down at her camera. You smile, waving back at her. 

“Leo, stop being rude. Say hi to the new girl.” Mia pushes the boy sitting in front of her and he curses at her quietly before turning to you and waving passive aggressively. You wave back silently as you try to hold back a chuckle.

“Leo is an asshole, don’t mind him.” Mia explains before glancing down at her phone. 

“Two minutes until Mr.H gets here.” James nods his head, only half paying attention as he looks past Mia and over to you, clearly itching to ask you a question.

“Am I crazy or are you the oldest one here?”

“Oh my god, what the hell, James.” Mia’s exasperated voice echoes through the room followed by Oliva’s laugh. 

“It’s an observation, fucking shoot me.” You chuckle a bit, nodding your head. 

“You’re not crazy, I’m probably about seven years older than you guys.” 

“Oh you’re about the same age as Mr.H” You pinch your brows together softly, you didn’t expect the teacher to be around your age. “Maybe we can hook you two up, he desperately needs a girlfriend.”

“What are you going on about, James?” You shift your attention towards the person speaking, that voice sounds so familiar and you realize why as soon as your eyes land on his figure coming through the door. Hyunjin is the teacher?

“I’m just trying to get you a girlfriend, Mr.H” You watch as Hyunjin walks over to the desk at the front of the classroom, he hasn’t looked up from the packet in his hands since he came through the door. You take a moment to admire him, he doesn’t look as dressed up as he usually does, he looks relaxed and cozy. You could get used to this look. 

“Why don’t you worry about perfecting your depth of field instead. You’re not here to get me a girlfriend.” Hyunjin smiles to himself as he leans against the desk, still focused on the paper in front of him. The others in the room immediately start laughing and making fun of James. 

“That’s what you get.” Mia laughs as she moves from sitting on top of the desk.

“Whatever, Y/n is way too pretty for you anyway.” You cover your mouth as you try to stifle a laugh. Hyunjin immediately looks up at the sound of your name, his brows furrowed in confusion.

“Excuse me?” Hyunjin asks before turning his head in your direction. He freezes for a second, his eyes glossing over your frame slowly to make sure that it’s really you. 

“Oh um you must be new.” He stands, pushing a hand into the pocket of his worn denim jeans and making his way over to you. 

“Yeah I am.” You grin, playing along with him. Once he reaches you he offers you his hand and you immediately take it into your own. 

“I’m the photography instructor for this program, you can call me Hyunjin.” He smirks down at you and you nod your head. 

“I’m Y/n.” He gives your hand a light squeeze before dropping it. 

“It’s a pleasure to have you in our club.” He winks at you before turning on his heels and stalking back over to his desk.

“Why can she call you Hyunjin but we can’t?” Mia whines, earning a dramatic eye roll from Hyunjin.

“Because I’m eight years older than you.” You chuckle lightly and Hyunjin smiles at the sound.

“How do you know that she’s your age?” James argues and Hyunjin shrugs. 

“Are you guys here to question me or to actually learn something?” The group of teens sigh as Hyunjin starts looking through his bag. “I made a project sheet for today but I suppose I can save that for next week now that we have a new member. Let’s focus on questions and practice for today.”

He pulls a thick folder out of his bag and places it on the desk right next to his massive Sony DSLR camera. You feel a bit intimidated by this side of Hyunjin, he seems to be very in his element here. Maybe he’s been doing this for a while.

“Can we do an object project?” Olivia asks in a soft voice, catching Hyunjin’s attention.

“I like that idea, what do you guys want to shoot today?” You can’t help but stare as Hyunjin talks to the kids, he seems to have a pretty solid relationship with them. You stare down at his Versace bracelet on your wrist as you listen to him talk to the kids. 

“Alright so that’s what it’ll be, four photo’s of your favorite place to be in this community center. It can be a place that you have a positive memory of or just a place where you feel the most comfortable. Today's object is a clock, if you don’t have a clock in the shot then it doesn’t count. Get creative, there are no limits. I want two black and white photos and two sepia.” The kids all stand from their seats, pulling their camera straps around their necks and talking about where to go.

“Be back here in forty-five minutes. I will set a timer, please don’t make me come find you.” The group mumbles a half hearted ‘okay’ before turning their attention back to their previous conversation. You take this time to unpack your own camera, turning it on and flipping through the settings. You made sure to watch a couple of videos before coming here but everything that you learned went right out the window once you saw Hyunjin. 

“I’ll be right with you, Y/n.” Hyunjin smiles over at you before turning his attention towards Leo. He’s been so quiet that you forgot that he was there. Hyunjin kneels in front of the boy's desk, leaning into his space a bit before whispering. You decided to look away to give them some privacy. Maybe you can manage to google some quick photography tips before he turns his attention to you.

You start looking up photography quick guides on your phone as you wait for him. You get so engulfed in the article that you’re reading that you don’t even notice Hyunjin making his way over to you until he’s sitting at the desk in front of yours. You jump a bit, locking your phone quickly.  

“Well this is a pleasant surprise.” He smiles as he leans back against the wall behind him. “You missed me so much that you tracked me down?” 

You chuckle, a light blush creeping up your neck. You look over towards where the kids were earlier and notice that they’re all gone. You must’ve been so distracted by your research that you didn’t hear them leave.

“What if I did?” You tease and now it was his turn to blush. “I didn’t know that you’re into photography.”

“Surprise.” You roll your eyes at him and he smiles towards you. “I may be a little into it. I’ve been doing it for about five years, nothing too major.”

“Clearly it is pretty major if you’re certified to teach people.”

“Are you impressed by that? Because if you are then I’ll agree.” You scoff, pushing his arm playfully. 

“No comment.” 

“That means that you are impressed.”

“Are you going to flirt with me or are you going to teach me how to work this thing?” You ask, holding your camera up in front of you while smiling towards Hyunjin. He surrenders, shaking his head and taking your camera from you.

“You’re right.” He turns your camera on, studying the settings and adjusting things the way that he sees fit. You can’t help but blush a bit as his fingers press the buttons. His gaze turned from playful to focused and serious as soon as you placed the device in his hands. The way that he operates the camera is actually pretty attractive. 

Your eyes widen a bit as you realize the nature of your thoughts. This is not the time to think about all of the things that you find attractive about your boyfriend,wait, he’s not your boyfriend. Not really, not officially, he hasn’t even asked you out for a second date yet. 

“Alright, so, this camera is actually pretty simple. I’ve adjusted some settings, I’ll show you what they all do and we can get you started on practicing the rule of thirds, sound good?” Hyunjins voice pulls you out of your thoughts and you sit up straighter in your seat. You clear your throat and look up at him as he watches you, his eyes wandering over the exposed skin of your neck for a second before looking up at you. 

“Sounds good, Mr.H.” 

“How’s this one?” You ask while looking down at your camera screen to study the photo you just took. Hyunjin steps closer to you from behind, looking over your shoulder to get a look at the photo too. 

“Perfect, I think that you should be fine without the grid now. Maybe practice eyeing it yourself throughout the week and I can check it for you when we meet next Friday.” You chuckle, turning your head to face Hyunjin and he furrows his brows in confusion. “What?”

“Couldn’t you just check it when I see you next Thursday?” He grins at you, shaking his head and tonguing his cheek.

“Nope, I’m gonna treat you just like everyone else in the club.” You narrow your eyes at him, glancing down at the tiny space between the two of you. 

“Like you are right now?” Hyunjin looks down at his hand on the small of your back and pulls his lips into a thin line.

“You’re right, Y/n this is highly unprofessional. I really need you to keep your hands to yourself.” Hyunjins eyes morph into cresents as you push him away from you, scoffing playfully.

“I hate you.” You make your way back over to your desk and Hyunjin walks over to his at the front of the room.

“Are you sure about that?” He pulls himself up onto the desk, sitting and leaning back on his palms. A deep blush runs over your cheeks as he stares over at you with an equanimous smirk adorning his lips. You look down, avoiding his piercing eye contact and now it was his turn to chuckle. “The kids should be back in a second.”

Just as he looks down at his phone the timer that he set earlier goes off. You look over at the door expecting to see them walk through but no one is there. Hyunjin closes his eyes, tilting his head back towards the ceiling and humming softly. Your eyes pinch together in confusion, is he not going to go get them? 

“Are you sure they’re coming back?” Hyunjin hums in response, a small smile pulling at his lips before he starts counting.

“5, 4, 3, 2” He points towards the open door and you can hear the loud pitter patter of the group racing down the hallway. “They’re always two minutes late.” 

“We’re here!” Olivia makes it into the room first, panting as she makes her way over to her seat. The rest of the group follows behind her, trying to catch their breath as they sit. 

“Once you all remember how to breathe we’ll get started.” Hyunjin teases, lifting his head to look at the group. You can’t help but smile, something about seeing him interact with them makes you feel warm. He's a natural leader, in the way that he carries himself, the way he talks to them. He radiates a sense of comfort and confidence in this space and it’s almost rewarding to see. 

“Can I go first?” Mia asks as she stares down at her camera.

“Nope.” Hyunjin quips quickly.

“Why not.” She whines and Hyunjin offers an exaggerated sigh in response. “I want to get it over with, Mr.H”

“And that’s why you’ll be going last.” Mia groans, putting her head down on the desk and stomping her feet. Hyunjin immediately imitates her, kicking his feet against his desk and whining. The rest of the group laughs, you even hear a faint chuckle coming from Mia. 

“Always remember that I'm ten times more dramatic than you.” Hyunjin teases before sitting up completely. “Alright, let’s do this. Show me what you got James.”

“I think that Olivia wants to go before me.” James sinks down into his seat as he tries to dodge a hit from the girl behind him.

“You threw your own girlfriend under the bus? That’s cold.”

You’d be lying if you said that you weren’t impressed. Each of the kids in this club are amazing at photography, if you saw any of the pictures that they took online you’d think that a twenty year professional was responsible for the art. You’re equally impressed by Hyunjin’s teaching skills, he answered all of their questions flawlessly and made sure that you were still engaged even though you didn’t participate in the activity. 

Once class ended Hyunjin texted you offering to walk you home, of course you said yes, you actually did miss him so you couldn’t pass up this opportunity. Your house was only four blocks from the community center but it seemed a lot longer since the city blocks are massive. Usually this would bother you, you’d put some music on and try your best to get the walk over with but you found yourself settling into a comfortable stroll with Hyunjin. You weren’t in a rush to get anywhere, you were grounded, living in the moment.

“How did you start teaching photography?” You asked as the two of you waited to cross the street. 

“My mentor set it up for me, he thought that it would be a good way to redirect my emotions.” He chuckles softly, taking a step forward to guide you across the street. “I told you that I was a bad kid but I didn’t really stop getting into trouble until I turned twenty. I met my mentor's son, Chan, a couple of weeks after my birthday when I was taking pictures of Felix for his portfolio. His dad is a photographer and he took interest in me almost instantly, he taught me some stuff and basically became a father to me. He started the club on my birthday last year when he retired from the community center.” 

“So you replaced him?” You look over at Hyunjin who seems to be deep in thought.

“Something like that, I’m one of the youth counselors but he was in charge of it all. People treat me like I’m in charge for some reason. It’s probably because I’m so smart and handsome.” He sighs dramatically, pushing his hands into his pockets and shaking his head. “It just isn’t fair, it’s so hard being me.”

“Oh yeah, it’s super hard being a model for luxury brands.” You laugh, rolling your eyes at him and bumping him with your shoulder. “I would hate being a role model for the youth.”

“Hey, this is hard work.” He defends as the two of you stop at the next corner. “But, on a serious note, I do enjoy working with them. I teach two more classes throughout the week and it’s probably what saved my life. Now, I get to help save theirs. Every kid that I teach has gotten into some kind of trouble. I like offering them a space to be themselves and learn something new, I like creating the space that I wish that I had when I was their age.” 

You stare over at the crossing light as Hyunjin opens up a bit. It’s so hard for you to imagine the sweet, soft guy standing next to you as an angry teenager fighting everything that looked in his direction. You can’t help but to feel proud of him, he seemed to have really turned himself around for the better. It takes a lot of discipline to correct bad habits. 

You keep your eyes trained on the light in front of you, waiting for it to change. Just as it turns green you reach your hand over towards Hyunjins, interlocking your fingers and offering a reassuring squeeze. He keeps his gaze forward as you two cross the street silently but the smile on his face and the blush on his cheeks speak a thousand words. He squeezes your hand back, running his thumb along the back of your hand as you reach the next block. He doesn’t need you to say anything back, your actions speak louder than any sentence you could possibly speak. 

“On a different note…” He looks over at you with a grin. “What did you tell your friends about me?”

“I am not answering that.” You start to pull away from him but he pulls you into his side, letting go of your hand and putting his arm around your shoulder.

“Let me guess, you told them that I’m the best kisser in the entire world and that I’m so amazing and funny and that you can’t get enough of me.” A goofy smile adorns his lips and you sigh, covering your face to hide your blush. “Aw, she’s shy.”

Before you can protest, your phone starts ringing in your bag and you take this opportunity to escape Hyunjins teasing. Thank god for Changbin.

“Hey, what’s up.” You laugh a bit as Hyunjin presses you into his side more. 

“Hey, are you with someone?” You can hear the smile in Changbin’s voice.

“Yup, coming home now.”

“Ah, good, could you do me a favor? I forgot to grab popcorn on the way home. Serena is coming over to watch a movie and that’s the only thing that I don’t have.” You nod, looking up the block and spotting a store on the corner. 

“I’ll grab it for you, I’m walking up to a store now.”

“You’re a lifesaver. I’ll see you soon. Oh, and tell Hyunjin that I said hi.” He sings the last part of his sentence before you say bye and hang up. He’s definitely going to question you as soon as you walk through the door. 

“Everything alright?” 

“Yup, I just need to go into this store.” You lock your phone and slip it back into your bag as you walk up to the store. “And Changbin says hi.”

There’s a group of guys outside of the store but you don’t pay them any mind, Hyunjin follows you closely as you pull away from him to enter the store, you’ve been to this shop a million times so you know where everything is. You make a beeline to the popcorn and make your way over to the counter. The cashier smiles at you as you approach, making small talk as he checks you out. Once you’re done you turn to Hyunjin who’s waiting for you at the door but his demeanor seems to have changed. His arms are crossed over his chest and he has a mean look on his face. You smile over at him as you start to leave the store but he doesn’t smile back, that’s odd. He opens the door for you and you take the lead exiting first and tucking the popcorn into your tote bag. 

“Excuse me, you’re looking really good tonight.” One of the guys standing outside of the store steps over to you and you flash him a small smile.

“Thanks.” You start to walk away but he speaks up again, stepping a bit closer to you.

“Can I have your number? I could take you out.” You shake your head, replying with a firm ‘No’ before starting to walk away again. Hyunjin places his hand on the small of your back, guiding you away from the group. 

“Come on, don’t be like that.” 

“She said no.” Hyunjin speaks up, his voice is loud and flat. You’ve never heard him use this tone before. It’s almost scary. The two of you start walking away again, Hyunjin makes sure to keep you in front of him as the two of you make your way towards the corner.

“I wasn’t fucking talking to you.” The guy follows the two of you. Picking up the pace as the two of you get further from him. “Come on, let me take you out sometime.”

“Keep walking.” Hyunjin whispers to you, pushing you forward a bit. He stops in the middle of the sidewalk, turning to face the guy following you. You can’t help but to look back as you walk away slowly, you can’t just leave him there by himself. Neither of you know what that guy is capable of. 

“Do we have a problem?”

~ Hyunjin’s POV ~

I’m using every ounce of my self control to keep my temper in check right now. If this guy decided to mess with me while I was alone that would be a different story but he’s messing with someone that I care about and I don’t like that. This has always been a trigger for me, Felix always says that I get scary when I get mad protecting someone else. I really don’t want that to happen right now, I don’t want her to see that side of me but this guy is making it very hard to hold back. 

“How about you mind your business.” He yells in my face, his breath reeks heavy of alcohol, that’s not even fair. If I hit him he’s going to be knocked out almost instantly, drunk people can never take a hit. 

“She is my business.” I cross my arms over my chest and clench my jaw. I have to remember that she’s here. I have to keep my cool. “She said no, leave her alone.”

“Ah, I see, she’s yours. Is that it? That’s your bitch?” I bite my bottom lip between my teeth as his last question rings through my ears. Don’t react, not while she’s here. “She likes pretty boys, huh?”

I look back at Y/n, she’s stopped at the corner watching me. I take a deep breath and uncross my arms, turning back around to the idiot in front of me.

“Leave her alone, alright?” I turn to walk away, trying my best to distance myself from him.

“Is this your boyfriend?” He yells over at Y/n but that’s not the only thing that makes me snap. He touched me, he pushed my shoulder as I was turning away and I felt my blood boil instantly. I don’t even remember what I did, my body went into autopilot. I can hear Y/n’s heavy footsteps as I stand over the disoriented stranger. My hand in a fist at my side, I’m shaking, why am I shaking? I haven’t felt this mad in years, I haven’t hit somebody in years, this isn’t how that was supposed to happen. I was supposed to keep my cool, why did he have to fuck it up? The more that reality sinks in, the more angry I get. 

“What did I just fucking tell you?” I don’t raise my voice, I never raise my voice, there’s no need to. I bend down, making sure to keep eye contact with him as I grab his shirt, and pull him towards me. “Leave her alone.”

I can hear myself, I can hear the hiss in my tone. I can feel the anger getting to my head, I can feel myself losing to it. That’s my problem, I don’t know when to stop, once I get started it’s hell getting out of it. 

“You should’ve listened.” I don’t want to hit him again but I feel like I need to, I need to get this feeling to go away and the only way that I know how is to keep going. 

“I’m sorry, man.” He pleads, I knew that he wouldn’t be able to take the hit but that just makes it easier for me. I push him back onto the sidewalk, letting go of his shirt and raise my fist almost by instinct. Before I can lower it I feel a hand wrap around my wrist, I stop for just a second as I remember who this is about. Y/n is with me, she saw everything. 

“Hyunjin, get up.” Her voice is firm but somehow soft, I wish that I could just listen to her. I want to listen to her, maybe I can?

 Despite my desire to stop, I don't move. My brain and my body are doing two different things and for a moment I feel guilty. This is going to be how it ends isn’t it? She’s going to think that I’m a horrible person, she’s going to hate me for putting her through this. My jaw clenches at the thought of losing her, glancing back down at the man in front of me I feel anger climbing up my spine again. Why couldn’t he just walk away?

“I told him to leave you alone.” I meant for my words to come out softer than they did but I can still hear the hiss in my voice, it’s muffled by the sound of my heart beating in my ears but I can hear it. She steps in between us, trying her best to pull me back, her grip tight and her voice stern. 

“Hyunjin, please get up.” In all of the years that I got into fights there has never been a person who could calm me down. I don’t know why it’s different with her, I don’t know why but I don't resist. I allow her to lower my fist, I allow her to stand between us and guide me to my feet. 

“Hey, look at me.” I listen, taking a deep breath and turning my attention towards her. I expected her to look angry, I expected her to have tears in her eyes or maybe even look scared. My mom would always be angry, Felix would always look scared but she looks calm. How could she look at me like that after this? I don’t deserve that.

“Good, you’re fine. Everything is fine, come on.” Her hands run over my forearms, as she tries her best to ground me and by some miracle it’s working. 

She takes both of my hands and starts to lead me away from him, I keep my eyes on her as we walk over to the corner. I try my best to calm myself down, taking deep breaths through my nose and going through every grounding exercise that I was ever taught. For some reason those techniques aren’t what help me the most, it’s the look in her eyes that's calming me down. It’s the relaxed tone of her voice and the way that she’s guiding me. No one’s ever done this before. I can feel the anger in my body being replaced, it’s that feeling of electricity. That feeling that I only get when I’m with her. 

I’m not sure how long we’ve been walking but when I finally come out of my thoughts and look back I don’t see the guy anymore. In fact, I’m pretty sure that we passed her block. We come up on a busier street, nothing too serious just a couple of people going about their night. She guides me over to a bench at the bus stop and we both sit in silence. I close my eyes, running my hands through my hair and sighing heavily. 

“Let me see your hand.” Her tone is sweet like she isn’t about to check me for bruises. She reaches for my hand, running her thumb across the back of it and I hiss in pain. That’s definitely going to be a different color tomorrow. “You’re gonna need to ice that.”

“I know the drill.” I reply in a flat whisper. “I’m sorry.”

“He deserved it.” I shake my head, turning to look at her and this time I really looked at her. I let her see the worry in my gaze, I let her see the fear that has bloomed in my stomach. 

“I’m not sorry for hitting him. I’m sorry that I almost didn’t stop, I didn’t want to stop and if you weren’t there I wouldn’t have. I would have done everything that I could to make sure that he ended up in the hospital.” I allow my gaze to drift down to my hands and it’s only then that I realize that I’m shaking. I’m still shaking, it must be the fear, not the anger.

“But you didn’t.” Her hand rests over my trembling one, petting my skin softly with the pads of her fingers. I let out a shaky exhale at the feeling of her skin against mine. “I told you that I’d be there to calm you down. I told you that it would be alright if I saw you like that and I meant it.”

“You don’t hate me?” My words leave my mouth in a whisper as I bite my bottom lip. Reluctantly, I look up at her, her expression is still so soft and calm. 

“Not one bit.”

← Previous Chapter ♡ Next Chapter →

[bluejay-writes]

MysticTober 2024 Day 8/9: His Muse

You can read this over on Ao3 if you’d prefer.

Rating: T

Prompt: Jihyun x MC / Painting || Fate / Lie

WordCount: 8028

Summary: Jihyun needs a muse for his new painting collection. Author's Notes: So, Day 8 got away from me and became both that and day 9. Sorry it's a day late... but not sorry it's over 8000 words.

Hen knocked on the studio door, then stood and fidgeted nervously with the strings of her hoodie. She’d replied to this advertisement on the Art Department’s bulletin board for a model, specifically one who could stand for long periods of time without moving. Honestly, she was pretty sure that most people these days just took reference photos and painted from that, but if some student wanted to pay her an exorbitant-seeming amount of money to stand in one place with her clothes on (the ad had been very specific that while there would be an outfit provided, it was modest), she wasn’t about to complain.

Her friends had been on her case about applying. She’d always wanted to be a model, but she wasn’t model material. She was in that nebulous middle-point, Far too big to be a classic fashion model, but still too small to be an acceptable plus-size model. And she didn’t hate her body by any means. So she let them nag her into it. She’d sent what the flier asked for. Her name (preferred, even, not even her wallet name) and then a headshot and a full body shot. She’d tried to be as confident as she could while her friends took photos for her, but even now, having landed the job, she was nervous.

What if he was a creep? Art students could be anyone really, and…

The door opened to reveal a man in wire-frame glasses with teal hair and eyes and a warm smile. Wait a minute… 

“V?!” Hen had studied his pictures for one of her photography classes, they’d done a unit on current artists, and…

He chuckled looking chagrined. “Call me Jihyun, please.” He led her inside and shut the studio door again before continuing. “V did photos. I’m… well, I’ve moved on from that and I’m pursuing painting, which has been my passion far longer, though I didn’t have the guts to change mediums until recently.”

“Oh.” Hen said, just as awkwardly as she felt. “I didn’t mean to be rude, I…”

“Not rude.” Jihyun interrupted. “I was V. I am still, technically, that same man. I simply am using my given name now.” 

He sighed, and shook himself loose from whatever thought seemed to be plaguing him. “We got off on the wrong foot.” He held out his hand for her to shake. “Hi, I’m Jihyun Kim, the artist who will be painting you for the next few hours.”

She took his hand with a grin and a firm shake. “I’m Hen. And I’m very good at standing still.”

The outfit that he’d chosen for her to wear was very fantasy. Flowing skirts, a corseted belt over a lightweight top. She felt like a peasant girl in a magic world, and she loved it. He’d positioned her standing at a window, and she’d gotten to people-watch campus while he painted her. She’d expected a need to be quiet or mostly still, but he told her to go ahead and fidget if she needed to, and kept her engaged in a number of different light topics as he worked, almost as though he was trying to keep her entertained.

Eventually, as the light was waning, Jihyun stood. “Alright, that’s time. Thank you so much for all of your help today.” He smiled. “Do you need assistance with the belt or anything else getting back out of the costume?”

Hen waved him off. “Nah, I’m good. Give me two shakes and I’ll be out of your hair.”

Once she was back to her normal self, she was sad to see that Jihyun had already closed up his work, so that she couldn’t see it. He immediately spotted her looking, however.

“I’ll show you when it’s done. I was intending to invite you to whatever gallery it shows in, of course, as the model.”

Hen grinned. “It would be my honor!”

Jihyun handed her the envelope containing her payment, all smiles. “Honestly, Miss Hen, you’re an amazing model. May I call on you again for another piece? Same terms, but the next one likely won’t be standing.”

Hen nodded, she’d had a great time, and the pay was definitely worth it. “I’d love to.” She said, honestly. “I enjoyed today!”

Jihyun nodded, and they parted ways. Hen couldn’t help but smile, her friends were going to be so surprised when she told them she might even get a callback.

The second time that Hen stood as a model for Jihyun had her sitting on a bench in an awkward position. It was uncomfortable at first, but she made it work. Eventually, Jihyun admitted to her that the piece involved the woman sitting in a tree, but he couldn’t justify making her sit somewhere ostensibly dangerous for hours on end, so he’d made the bench setup like the branch he had in mind. Once he explained that to her, she found it much easier to settle into a pose that was actually useful for him.

She may have caught him grumbling to himself about wasting less time if he could just trust her more. She didn’t blame him, of course, Artists were often secretive, and she knew it was hard to trust someone you didn’t really know. Goodness knows she’d only met this man twice and definitely didn’t trust him with anything personal, so she didn’t blame him. Not even a little.

When the time was up and Jihyun started cleaning up, Hen realized she was stiff as she changed back out of the costume. 

“Hey, Jihyun, do you mind if I do some stretches on the floor here before I head out? I’m a little bit stiff.”

“Ah. Go right ahead. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help. Your stiffness is the consequence of my art, after all.

Hen sank to the ground, grateful that she’d worn leggings today instead of jeans. She worked her way through some yoga poses, careful of the fact that she didn’t have a mat of any variety, only realizing she was humming as she finished the last of the stretches because of Jihyun’s quiet chuckle.

“I’m glad you’re so comfortable in my studio.” He said, chuckling. 

Hen blushed even as she nodded. “You make it easy, Jihyun. This is by far the highlight of my week.”

“Even with the odd held poses?” He was surprised.

“Even so.” Hen nodded. “I’d be honored if you wanted to call me in again.”

Jihyun smiled so brightly at that, Hen couldn’t help but smile in return.

The next sitting was more stereotypical, and Hen couldn’t hold back her giggles as Jihyun helped her pose in a very Ancient Grecian looking gauzy dress while half-laying on a chaise lounge.

“What is it?”

“It’s just… if you told someone they were going to model for a painting, they’d probably imagine something like this.”

“Ah.” He nodded. “Yes, I suppose it might be. I hope that the outcome of the painting far exceeds my pedestrian posing layouts.

“I’m certain it will.” Hen had no doubts that the man had an impressive artistic eye - his photographs were stunning enough that she’d written an entire paper on them her freshman semester of college. Sure, her major had nothing to do with art, but one didn’t see one of V’s photos and not know the man was gifted. “If nothing else, Jihyun, it’s fine to have one simpler piece in a collection.”

He chuckled, and Hen settled in to hold her position. It was surprisingly comfortable, and she knew it wasn’t going to be too difficult, especially because he was good about giving her breaks.

For the first time in their sessions, Jihyun was quiet and focused on the painting, which gave Hen time to think about everything going on in her classes, in life, in that book she was reading… eventually she started to feel sleepy. She knew she should say something, get up and take a walk, get some water, anything so that she didn’t cause a problem for Jihyun.

Instead, she found herself drifting off to sleep while watching him paint with the most blissfully calm look on his face that she’d ever seen on another human being.

What felt like a blink and also an eternity later, Hen woke to the soft shake of a shoulder, Jihyun crouched down next to her.

“Hey, Miss Hen.”

She startled, coming to consciousness all at once. “Oh, no, Jihyun! I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep!”

“It’s alright, you held the pose I needed, and you just looked so happy I couldn’t bear to wake you. Good dreams, I hope?”

Hen shook her head, holding a hand to her chest to will her heart to calm down from its momentary panic. “No dreams. One minute I was watching you paint, and the next you were waking me up. I feel insanely well rested though. Probably going to be up late tonight.” She chuckled.

“Hm, I should have been responsible and woken you.” He sighed, but continued before Hen could argue. “Would you let me take you to dinner as an apology?”

“What time is it?” Hen asked, sitting up properly so she could stretch the sleep out of her bones.

“Just about six.” Jihyun said, backing up to give her space.

“I could do dinner, I don’t have any other plans.” She said, and the smile that bloomed across his face warmed her soul. Yeah, she’d do a lot just to see that smile more.

Dinner was lovely. They went to a little hole-in-the-wall bibimbap restaurant that seemed to know Jihyun well, but wasn’t so expensive as to make Hen feel out of place. It was even on an easy bus route home again, so she wasn’t even particularly going out of her way, either.

They chatted over dinner about this and that, nothing important, the same calm, cheerful kinds of conversations that they usually had while he was painting. That just cemented for Hen that Jihyun was just like that and he wasn’t just chatting to keep her from getting bored. It made her wonder why he wasn’t chatty during their session today, but by the time they got to a break in conversation where she might have asked, she’d already forgotten.

When the bill came, Hen snatched it away before Jihyun could pick it up, and handed the whole bill to their waitress - a granny who she suspected was simply the owner of the place - with a smile. The granny even turned a look on Jihyun like she was surprised he was letting her pay. Jihyun looked stunned. “Hen, you don’t need to buy my dinner.”

“But I want to.” She smiled. “We’re friends, now, right?”

Jihyun smiled in that way that made her feel alight, and she blushed and fidgeted with her hoodie strings. By the time she realized it, the granny had gone and come back… and she was only paying for her half of dinner. Jihyun smirked at her, and Hen wondered if she’d been played. As they packed up to leave, Jihyun’s phone started ringing, and his face took on an ominous look.

“Sorry, you head on home, I have to take this… and it might be awhile.”

Hen nodded and waved, waving again to the granny on her way out.

That had been a fun dinner. She hoped his phone call wasn’t too painful.

It had been a few months since Hen sat for Jihyun, and almost as long since she’d heard from the man. She’d thought it was Fate when they met and hit it off that well, even just professionally, but then he’d disappeared. Hen tried to convince herself that it was fine, but at this point even she would admit she was moping. She really enjoyed his company, and couldn’t help but feel like she’d done something wrong. Had accepting his dinner invitation been too forward? But she’d even paid for her own meal… Hen had been worrying about this, of course, for weeks now, with only her coursework to keep her mind occupied and off of her presumed faux pas, whatever it might be. And unfortunately, winter break had just started so she had an entire month to mope about and worry about a problem with no guarantee of resolution.

At least she had her favorite coffee shop to curl up and read in. She usually got tea, but today she splurged on an extra sugary coffee drink, and the woman behind the counter chuckled. “Am I celebrating with you or commiserating, Hen?”

“Ugh.” Hen grumbled. 

“Commiserating it is!” The woman behind the counter quietly put an extra pump of caramel into the drink - Hen didn’t comment, not sure if it was intentional, but she wasn’t going to turn down more caramel goodness.

An hour or so later, Hen’s reading was interrupted by someone sitting down across from her. She ignored them for a moment, but when they didn’t move she put her bookmark in and looked up, only to let out a surprised squeak as she realized the person sitting there was none other than Jihyun, patiently waiting for her to pause.

Before she could say anything, the woman behind the counter appeared and set a coffee down in front of him. “Don’t scare away my regulars, Jihyun.” She said sternly, then returned behind the counter.

Before Hen could say anything, Jihyun immediately spoke up.

“I’m so glad that I found you.” He winced. “I threw my phone in the ocean in a fit of temper. Did you know that there is such a thing as backing up your contacts? I… did not do this thing. And as such, I had to simply hope to run into you. It took some time.”

He slid a brand new phone across the table to her. “My friend set it up so I can’t do that again, even if I do something as stupid as throwing my phone into the ocean again. May I have your number again?”

Hen sighed, and immediately added herself as a contact. “So you’re saying you didn’t respond to my texts not because you were upset with me, but because you didn’t know who they were from?” She looked over at her phone as the message she sent herself pinged in as an unknown number.

Jihyun had the grace to look embarrassed. “I needed a new number.”

“Did something happen?” Hen added his new number to her contacts, and changed the old one to read “Davy Jones’ Locker”, just in case some fish tried to text her later.

Jihyun sighed. “The unreasonable unbelievable drama that is my life simply continues to happen.” He took a sip of his drink and sighed happily. Jaehee could really make a mean latte.

Hen chuckled. “Everyone’s got some weird rats in their closet, I swear. I’m glad you reappeared, I was worried.”

“You were?” His eyes lit up for a moment, but then dimmed. “I’m sorry, Miss Hen. I didn’t mean to worry you.”

“Hey, it’s fine, you reappeared before I could mope myself into a corner.”

“Why would you be moping?” Jihyun was clearly confused.

“Well, I mean, I bullied my way into paying for my own dinner and then you disappeared. I was sure I’d said something stupid, or maybe that I shouldn’t have gone to dinner.”

“God, no, Hen. That dinner was one of the best nights I’ve had in a long time, I just had to leave for a trip the next morning…”

“His not wanting you to pay is just some misplaced chivalry.” The counter lady said, stopping by to leave a to-go cup refill of Hen’s coffee. “This one’s on the house. For celebrating this time, and for putting up with him.” She winked, and Jihyun looked scandalized.

“Jaehee! Are you buying my… are you buying Hen’s loyalty with coffee now?”

The woman - Jaehee apparently - cackled. “Yes.” The look she was wearing told Hen that she had no idea what their relationship was, and was assuming all kinds of things that Hen didn’t want to have to be the one to dissuade her from.

“Listen…” Jihyun took a deep breath. “Between the trip and needing to find you back, I’m way behind on painting work, and the gallery’s already booked. You wouldn’t happen to be… staying in town for winter break? I could book you… a lot… if you had time.” He looked like he expected her to say no, like he was already letting himself down before she could.

“I’m so game.” she said, laughing awkwardly. “I have, well, nothing going on for the next month until classes start up again.”

“No family events, or friend things, or…” Jihyun looked surprised. 

“Nope. Just lil ol me and my TBR.”

“TBR?”

“To Be Read. All the books I haven’t read this past semester because of classwork.”

Jihyun laughed at his own expense. “I should have known what that was. Fair, fair. Um.” He took a deep breath. “So, I can’t use my campus studio during break. Would you be okay coming to my apartment? It’s safe, I promise, and if you don’t feel safe you can leave, I won’t be upset.” Hen nodded, but winked at him before calling out to Jaehee behind the counter. “Hey Jaehee, can I trust this guy?”

Jihyun paled as though he had no idea what Jaehee would say.

“With your life.” Jaehee responded, without a pause. “But if you need an emergency text check-in hit me up before you leave.” Something relaxed in Jihyun, and Hen wondered if he’d let her give him a hug, but the moment was lost when he stood and bussed her empty mug.

Jihyun’s apartment was the 79th floor of an 80-floor high rise building. The entire 79th floor. Well, apparently his apartment was half of it and the other half was studio space, but still. She went directly to the windows and looked out over downtown, her eyes shining when she looked back at him.

“Jihyun, we should have done that first painting here…. this is such a great view!!” The painter smiled. “I’m glad you think that, actually… because I was hoping to do a triptych of that one, and so I’d need you to stand for two more at windows, and, well…”

He looks so nervous! Hen thought, and smiled, shaking her head and then nodding.

“Listen, Jihyun. I will sit for you to paint as often as you need me this month, as long as I don’t starve to death, and get to sleep properly.”

“That’s a low bar. I’m still going to pay you. Same rates. Also, since we’re not on campus I’m covering at least one meal a sitting. No arguments or pulling what you did at Yu’s!”

Hen blushed. “I still think it was only fair.”

Jihyun laughed, and walked over to a closet. “So, this closet has the outfits for the other…” he winced. “Four paintings I have in mind.”

“That’s only like one a week, do you have other obligations? We both already know I don’t.”

Jihyun chuckled. “Well, I can get the part of the work I need you modeling for done in our usual 6-hour blocks, so we could do those, say… every other day? That should give me plenty of time for finishing work on all of them and still be able to get them to the gallery on time.”

“Do you want to start today, since I’m here?”

Jihyun looked at the clock. “Only if you let me buy lunch and take you to dinner after.”

“You drive a hard bargain, Mr. Kim.” He raised an eyebrow, and she relented. “Yes, okay, okay. I want to see your gallery look good. I don’t know why you’re not the one begging here.”

Jihyun blinked. “I… really should be, shouldn’t I? You’re too good to me, Miss Hen.”

“Just call me Hen. It’s already a nickname.”

“It is? No wonder I couldn’t find you.”

Hen laughed so hard she sat down abruptly on the floor. “Jihyun Kim. You seriously thought my given name was Hen. Like a chicken.”

“Yes. Why would I assume otherwise?”

Hen just made flustered hand motions while she laughed at him.

“It’s Henrietta.” She said, once she could breathe properly. “Henrietta Chatham.”

“I like Hen better.” Jihyun said through a pout.

“Me too! That’s why I introduce myself that way! If you start calling me Miss Henrietta, I’ll quit.”

“Please don’t.” Jihyun said, helping her up off the floor. “Hen.”

She blushed at their proximity, and turned toward the closet so he wouldn’t notice. “So, which outfit first?”

Jihyun pulled out an outfit that was leggings and a leotard and a cropped leather jacket. “Cyberpunk? Or 80s Workout?” She asked, and as usual he gave her a shrug. No insight from the artist. No hints. No spoilers. She would get to see the paintings at the gallery opening with everyone else, and no sooner.

Hen was changing back into her regular clothes when she heard a knock at the door. Grateful that this wasn’t her house and thus she was spared from needing to rush to get clothes on and the inevitable falling over that would come with it, Hen simply continued at her leisurely undressing and redressing pace… which also meant she was able to eavesdrop on the conversation.

“Ah, good evening, Jihyun.” A warm baritone that matched V’s friendly tenor practically sang into the apartment.

“Jumin. Good to see you well. What can I help you with?”

“Miss Kang told me you found your muse.”

“I did. At Jaehee’s coffee shop, no less. I owe her.”

Muse? Does he consider me his Muse?? Hen felt her cheeks heat as she considered what that meant, if it meant anything. She hurried a little bit faster to get herself put back together.

“Well, I suppose you shouldn’t have any problems getting five more pieces done in time for the gallery opening, assuming she’s amenable to sitting for more paintings?”

She heard Jihyun laugh as she opened the bathroom door and made her way over to the costume closet without even glancing at the door.

“I’d say she is, we already got one session in today.” His volume changed as he turned and called out to her. “Hen, come over here when you’re done there, would you?”

She turned, surprised to see that Jihyun’s guest was in a three-piece suit, albeit one decorated with white cat fur.

“Hi.” She said, holding out a hand. “I’m Hen.”

He shook her hand, professional to a T. “Jumin Han.” Then, he turned back to Jihyun. “You should tell Luciel you’ve found her so he stops sending photos of random chickens to the chat and asking if they’re her. He’s been at it for approximately two hours now.”

Hen couldn’t help it, she burst out laughing. “Seriously?! Will you show me? We can pick which chicken looks most like me.”

JIhyun smiled that smile she loved so much. “We can look over dinner.” He turned to Jumin. “Would you like to join us? We’re going out for barbecue.”

Jumin shook his head. “Elizabeth is waiting for me. But thank you. Maybe next time.”

They watched as he turned and went back to the elevator and rode it…up. “He lives above you?” Hen asked, as they waited for the elevator to return for them to take it down instead.

“Yes.” Jihyun said with a smile. “We were childhood friends, Jumin and I.”

“And now?”

“Still friends. Less so children.”

Hen giggled, and tried to keep herself from thinking of this dinner as a date. It was just.. a work dinner.

The rest of the week flew by, and before Hen knew it she was back on her own, her sittings were all done and now she had all the free time in the world to get her reading done, but she couldn’t stop thinking of Jihyun. She hadn’t really been being honest with herself about him, it seemed, but now that she had some time to think clearly, it was plain as day. She was in love with the painter. He made her smile and laugh in a way no one else had. None of her previous partners even held a candle to the way he made her feel.

Sure, she might be his muse, not that he’d said as much to her even after she’d heard Jumin say it, but regardless… that was an art thing, not a personal thing. And now that this collection was done, other than the gallery opening he’d wanted her to come to, she may not ever see him again. Hen sighed, and like clockwork, her phone started ringing. Who called these days? Oh. It was Jihyun!

“Hey Jihyun!”

“Hi… I have… a selfish request.”

“Shoot.”

“I need your help. I’m trying to get all the finishing work done and for the life of me I cannot focus. I thought maybe getting someone to body double for me would help, but all of my friends are normal boring adults with day jobs. Jumin offered his cat, but she’s white and a mischief and I do not think that would be a good idea around all the paint…”

“Jihyun. Slow down. Calm down, it’s okay. What do you actually need from me?”

“Come and sit here and hang out? You can bring your books. I know you were eyeing that oversized chair, I’ll clear it out so you can relax. Maybe… get coffee from Jaehee’s on the way? I’ll pay you back, I swear, I… Hell, I’ll even pay your sitting fee just to chill with me for the day.”

“Jihyun! That’s not how friendship works! You don’t need to pay me to hang out with you. But you can take me to dinner. I’ll be there in 20 minutes.”

“Thank you. You’re a lifesaver.”

“Peppermint! Bye!” She hung up to the sound of his laughter, and if she wasn’t about to walk through his door with two coffees and a tote bag full of paperbacks to devour, she’d hate to end the call. Yeah. She had it bad.

Hen knocked on Jihyun’s door in the most inelegant fashion possible: with her forehead. She’d considered kicking it, but that would have sloshed the coffees too much.

Of course, Jihyun opened by her third knock, and instead she stumbled forward a step when her head met air.

“Were you knocking with your head?”

“Shhh.”

“Nooo. Your poor face.”

“I said shhhhh.” She allowed him to take his coffee, and laughed when she spotted the oversized chair in her usual posing space. “I’m modeling my dumb reading faces for you today.”

“I told you I’d pay your sitting fee.” He winked at her when she blustered, and instead she blushed. “What? You’re going to be sitting!”

“You. Are a brat.”

“That’s what they tell me.”

“What, your RFA Friends?” She said, thinking back to the chatroom entirely full of chicken photos.

“Only ones I’ve got.”

“You’ve got me!” Hen argued, and Jihyun turned a look on her that she couldn’t decipher, not even paired with the radiant smile.

“You’re different. You’re my Muse, Hen.”

“Well, you’re my… artist… i guess.. there’s not a good word for that. I’m sticking with friend.” She grinned at him, and he laughed. 

“Well, get to reading, Muse, I better get myself actually working so you didn’t come here for no reason.”

Hen settled and then realized the scale of the canvas he was currently working on. 

“Damn, Jihyun, that’s huge. Is it the centerpiece?”

“It is!”

“And you still won’t let me sneak a peek?”

“Of course not! and ruin the effect of the collection as a whole on opening night? Never.”

“I’m still invited to that?”

“Of course. You’re my muse. You’re my plus one.”

Hen saw the chance and had to ask… to save herself heartbreak down the road.

“What, no boyfriend? I was sure you and Jumin had--”

“No.” He cut her off. “I’m single, Hen. Have been since… well. Everything.”

“You’ll have to tell me about that someday, you know? I hate walking into landmines that just hurt your feelings.”

“You’re right. I should. Maybe over dinner?”

They spent the day in quiet companionship. Every now and again Hen would laugh at something that happened in her book, or absolutely have to read part of something to Jihyun because it was just written way too well.

They took a break for lunch, Jihyun had ordered sandwiches while she was still wrapped up in the most recent book.

“Your reading speed is ridiculous.”

“Jihyun. I’m in law school. Of course it’s ridiculous.”

“…I keep forgetting that. You’re so nice.”

“Sometimes lawyers are nice.”

“My lived experience begs to differ.”

“Hm.” Time to change the subject so that he could get back to work and not just spill everything now. “You’re going to tell me about that over dinner you said. Any ideas where you want to take me?”

Jihyun blinked for a moment, and then shrugged. “I was thinking Sushi?”

“I do not know if I am dressed well enough to go out for sushi, but…”

“I was thinking about a local place that has all you can eat sushi. No dress code. Plenty of time to sit and talk about difficult subjects in an informal environment.”

“Oh. Well then. You will be surprised at how much sushi I can eat.”

“With my friends, I don’t get surprised by much anymore.”

“And since then, she’s been in Alaska, at an inpatient rehabilitation center.”

“Jesus. That was… you? We discussed the situation in one of my classes while it was ongoing.” 

“Yes, I’m not surprised, it was a clusterfuck.”

Hen reached her hand out across the table to take Jihyun’s, heedless of how forward she was being. The man needed comfort.

“That’s a lot of stress, Jihyun.”

Jihyun sighed, but didn’t move his hand out from under hers, a choice that Hen chose to take as a positive sign.

“It was, but it’s over. Now I can move on and be better. To myself. To my friends.”

They paused to eat more of the sushi in front of them, when something he said suddenly connected for Hen.

“You said she’s in Alaska… is that when you ‘lost’ your phone?”

Jihyun chuckled. “When I threw it into the ocean. Yeah. We were still engaged when she was sentenced, and I hadn’t woken up at the hospital yet, so they put me down as one of her guardians. She was demanding to see me since I was on her paperwork… I had to go there in person to get my name removed.”

“Oh because that was safe and healthy for your trauma…” Hen muttered grumpily.

Jihyun nodded. “Exactly. Anyway, once I left, she started texting me begging me to come back, and… I just… I needed to be free of her. Of all that. I’d managed to put myself back together in the two years since and I couldn’t go back to that mental place. So I chucked my phone off of the side of the ferry. ‘Oops’. My only regret is losing your contact information in the process. Why did we never email?”

Hen shook her head with a low chuckle. “Hubris. I don’t know. I’m just glad you found me back. I was really worried I’d done something to upset you.”

“Well, I do wish you’d let me buy you dinner. Grandma Yu teases me to this day about ruining that date.”

Date? Hen must have thought about it for a minute too long, because Jihyun was rushing past the statement like he’d never made it.

“You’re not buying dinner tonight. This is my gift in return for you sharing your day with me.”

Hen nodded. “The chat with the chickens - that was those friends?”

“The very same.”

“I hope I get to meet them someday.”

“They’ll be at the gallery. Maybe… don’t wear feathers.”

Hen laughed so hard she aspirated her tea. “Jihyun!! What should I wear?!”

Leaving the restaurant, Hen realized this would be a perfect time to tell Jihyun how she felt. He deserved to know. She deserved to be let down in a nice quiet parking lot, not in front of however many people at the gallery showing. And since that was the last time she was likely to see him, well, she chose now.

“Jihyun, I…”

He reached out and held a finger to her lips, stopping her from talking.

“I know what you’re going to say. Can you wait until after you see the paintings? Please?”

Hen blinked. He wanted her to wait to confess until after the gallery? That was exactly the opposite of what she wanted.

What she was thinking must have shown on her face.

“I promise I will hear you out. I will give you privacy if you want it. But I need you to see… what I see… first.”

Hen sighed and nodded, and only then did he move his finger.

As her bus pulled up to the stop, Jihyun smiled at her. “See you at the gallery.”

“Yeah.” she forced a smile onto her face. “See you Saturday.”

The entire ride home, Hen let the tears silently track down her cheeks. He was going to turn her down, she knew it. He’d known she was going to confess. How many people had fallen for him while modeling? How many women had he turned down? Had he known since he came back from Alaska? Had he known before she did?

He’d had probably the worst relationship experience on the planet, there was no way he’d be interested in trying something. It wasn’t even that there was anything wrong with her, just that with everything he’d been through…

Hen sighed. She was thinking in circles. She should have known better than to fall for anyone. It’s not like her dating history was stellar either. She wiped the tears from her face as her bus arrived at her stop and she started walking home. She would be the best possible muse at this gallery opening. The belle of the ball. Maybe they could stay friends, if she didn’t make a complete mess of everything. She’d like that.

Hen had gone all-out for the gallery opening. She’d secretly talked to Jaehee at the cafe about what the dress code would actually be like, so she wouldn’t embarrass anyone, and the woman had actually volunteered to go shopping with her. Hen turned her down, but they exchanged numbers so Hen could send photos if she needed advice. She felt like she needed to do this herself.

Eventually she found what she needed. A navy blue and black jacquard dress, with an off-the shoulder sweetheart neckline and a subtle high low hem, from knees to tea length. The neckline showed a lot of skin, but a shawl would temper it, especially with her hair in loose curls over one shoulder.

Hair and makeup were easy. She knew how to put on a flawless face, it was practically a requirment with law school. Her favorite jewelry - understated sapphire earrings and a matching pendant on silver chain - finished the look. With a pair of short black suede ankle boots, a cashmere shawl, and her wool coat, she was prepared for a gallery opening in mid-January. Hopefully Jaehee hadn’t steered her wrong. She wouldn’t know what to do if she were dressed improperly. Both overdressed and underdressed were a possibility here, and she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t nervous.

“You’ve really outdone yourself, Jihyun, these pieces are magnificent.”

Hen stepped into the gallery, slightly early for the actual opening, but Jihyun had requested her to be early to meet his friends. The entrance to the room was slightly raised, and had an unimpeded view of the collection. She could hear people talking, but she had eyes only for the art on display. She recognized all of the pieces along the edges from her sittings. First the triptych, Three pieces, one looking left out a window toward a historical setting, one looking right out a window in a cyberpunk-esque future setting (she knew that’s what that outfit was!), and the third looking straight out a window into a modern wartorn landscape.

“I see why you wouldn’t show us any of them early.”

The one where she’d been posing on the bench like it was a tree seemed to be robin hood? Or maybe hunger games? Either way, very stealthy, she loved the look of it. Opposite that was the grecian chaise lounge scene… he’d actually painted her asleep?! Jihyun! She internally scolded him. He could have just asked her to pretend to be asleep. Brat.

“Imagine if he hadn’t found his muse back!”

Her favorite so far had been the hardest pose to hold for the time he’d needed - a sword-weilding maiden from chinese folklore. It actually showed her in three distinct poses, as though in motion, and she stared at it for a long time. The last had her crumpled on the floor in front of a grave, hair in her face, soaked by rain. She’d remembered that - he’d asked her if she’d be willing to go stand in the shower in the giant pile of organza. She’d gotten the entire studio wet. It had been a riot.

“You did five of these just this month? You’re a madman, V… I mean Jihyun.”

But it wasn’t until she focused on the centerpiece - the only one she hadn’t posed for - that she realzied that none of the women in the paintings were actually her. She’d posed for them, but they had different hairstyles, different facial features, like she was playing characters instead of being herself.

“Jihyun, this collection is radiant. If it’s this good, then your muse must be exquisite.”

The centerpiece was actually a painting of her, done the last day she’d been in his studio, sitting ridiculously sideways in that oversized chair engrossed in her book, but instead of it being in his studio it was in a vast library. She couldn’t help but laugh when she realized how many hints he’d tried to give her that she was in fact sitting for another painting. He’d clearly wanted her to be herself. God she loved him.

She looked down, then, to where Jihyun was standing surrounded by a small group of people… all of whom were looking up at her. Of them, she recognized Jaehee from the coffee shop and Jumin his upstairs neighbor / childhood friend. There were also two gingers who could be twins, a girl with long brown fringe and even longer hair, a blonde with dark roots, and a … was that Zen?! Huh. He wasn’t kidding about the eclectic group of friends he had.

Jihyun held out a hand to beckon her over, and she made her way down the stairs and over to the group. Jihyun took her around the group; Jaehee, the owner/operator of the coffee shop she frequented. Jumin, his best friend from childhood and Director of C&R International. Saeyoung and Saeran, the computer-savvy twins. MC, the insightful party planner. Yoosung, the newly-minted Veterinarian. Zen, also known as Hyun, the actor.

“And I’m the model.” She shook her head. “I mean law student.” She smirked at Jihyun who laughed. She didn’t miss the surprised looks from his friends at the sound of his laugh. She was right. This man needed to smile and laugh more. If she could give that to him, she would gladly — no, that was a lie - she would accept simply being his friend. “You sell yourself short.” Jihyun said, a soft smile flickering into place. “This is Hen. My muse. My friend. I hope you can all get along well.”

“Don’t worry, Jihyun. We’ll take care of your girl when you inevitably get pulled away by boring rich guys.” One of the twins - Saeyoung, she thought, gold eyes - said with a smirk. 

After the introductions, the RFA scattered around the room as other patrons of the arts started to filter in, the official start time having passed. Jihyun held his arm out for her like a proper gentleman. “You look absolutely stunning tonight, Hen.” He said with that smile she loved so much.

“Thank you.” She felt her cheeks heat and willed herself to calm down. This was his show. “I didn’t want to make you look bad. Not after you made me look so good.” She gestured to the biggest piece of art in the room, and he had the grace to look embarrassed.

“I should have been up front and asked for your permission, but I wanted to paint you naturally, not posing. I’m sorry I lied to you, Hen.”

Hen shook her head. “You didn’t lie to me, Jihyun. You left so many crumbs, I could have assembled an entire loaf of bread from how much you were afraid to surprise me with this. Hell, you even offered to pay me a sitting fee just to hang out with you. The fact that I was still surprised is more on me than it is on you!”

“I’m still going to pay you for that.”

Hen smirked. They’d had this back and forth so many times, she couldn’t help but kick it up a notch.

“You could pay me back with a kiss.” She said, raising an eyebrow at him.

Jihyun not only sputtered trying to respond to her in any fashion, he even stopped walking.

Hen turned to apologize to him, just in time to see Jihyun school his features and hold his arm out properly again. Great, now you’ve done it, Hen. If he wasn’t going to turn you down before, he definitely is now.

Moments later, a group of men walked up and started talking to Jihyun about his works, and Hen tuned in so that she could respond to any questions asked of her. There weren’t any, of course, she was arm candy and most of them probably hadn’t even noticed that she was the woman pictured in the art.

Eventually, the event was in full swing, and Jihyun went up to the landing to talk about the art a bit. He told a story about a woman who loved to read more than anything, and her trips of imagination through storybooks. He talked about how the collection was about escapism through fiction, and how the modern world has made even fictional war more glamorous than our day-to-day slog through capitalism. 

He introduced her to the assembled patrons as his muse, the beautiful law student who deigned to stand, sit and otherwise pose for long hours just so that he might put some paint on canvas. There was nothing in his description about their friendship, or the bond they’d formed, simply a focus on a beautiful woman who inspired his art. He even kept her name out of it, kept her away from being associated with his art in any way but visually.

Hen was more certain than ever that this would be the last night she would see Jihyun. Maybe she wouldn’t tell him how she felt. Maybe it would be better to pretend that she wasn’t feeling any of this. After his talk, Jihyun passed her off to Saeyoung to walk through the gallery while he was accosted by too many people all at once, just as they’d predicted. 

Hen looked around for the rest of his friends, and couldn’t help but notice MC snuggled up to the other twin. “Those two are cute together.” She said discreetly, and Saeyoung laughed. 

“They are. They’ve been dating for a few years now.”

“Aww, that’s just too sweet.”

“You mean like you and Jihyun?”

Hen laughed bitterly. “I wish.”

“Oh come on, Hen, I’ve only known you for a few hours and—“

“I didn’t realize I was that obvious.” She chuckled ruefully at her own hubris. “He stopped me from confessing, Saeyoung. I don’t stand a chance with someone like him.”

Saeyoung sighed. “I think you’re selling yourself short. You’re good for him, Hen. I haven’t heard him laugh like that in… a very long time.”

Saeyoung’s words stuck with Hen the rest of the night, even as she was bounced between the other members of the RFA. Just as she was thinking she’d hit her limit for socialization for one night, and thought she might try to find Jihyun to say goodbye before heading out, the man found her himself, a hand at her elbow leading her away from the crowd.

“I’m sorry we didn’t get much time together tonight.” He said, turning her to face him, his hands gently circling her, keeping her close enough that their quiet voices wouldn’t carry.

“All those hours with me in your studio, I’m sure you had more than enough of me.”

“Never!” He said with a laugh. “What you were going to say the other night…”

Hen blushed, and bit her lip. Her confidence was gone. Her willingess to have her heart trampled had gone with it. “Jihyun, I…”

“Hen, I’m in love with you.” Jihyun interrupted, and Hen was suddenly very aware of how he was shaking.

“You…”

“I know, it’s inappropriate. I tried to be good, but I couldn’t have you end everything before you at least got to see the gallery and—“

Hen reached out and put her finger against his lips to silence him. “Jihyun. Me too.”

His eyes went wide, but she didn’t move her finger, and he didn’t attempt to say anything.

“I was so sure you were going to turn me down when I tried to confess after sushi.” She moved her hand away then, anxiously twisting her fingers together.

“Wait, you meant—“

She nodded, cursing the tears beading up in her eyes. “And then when you kept me out of your speech except the fact that I was standing there, I..”

“I wanted to keep your bright future from being tainted by my questionable past, is all.”

“We’re idiots, aren’t we? ”

He nodded. “Complete idiots, but at least we’re together.”

“We have got to learn to communicate better. No more throwing phones in the ocean.”

They shared a laugh, and Hen knew, then, that everything was finally going to be alright.

“Hey, let’s get out of here.” Jihyun said, that smile she loved so much lighting his face. “Jumin can handle the cleanup and closing.” He looked over her shoulder and she felt him shake with silent laughter.

Hen followed his line of sight to where Jumin was standing with Saeyoung, the former nodding discreetly while the latter made hand motions as if shooing them away. She giggled. “Okay, Jihyun Kim, I will allow you to drive me home.”

The ride home was silent, but it was a calm introspective kind of silence, rather than an anxious uncomfortable one. Hen, of course, was warring with herself internally about what she wanted to do with her night. She was reminded, as they pulled into her parking area, that she didn’t have to make these choices alone anymore.

“Do you want to come up for tea?” Hen asked quietly, fidgeting with the ends of her shawl in lieu of her usual sweatshirt strings.

“I would love to.” Jihyun said, just as softly.

She led him through the building to her lofty third-floor apartment, where she stepped out of her shoes and set about getting tea started. She set the mugs on the counter and opened the tea cabinet. When she turned to ask Jihyun what kind of tea he wanted, he was right behind her, and she startled. 

“Oh, hello there.” She said with an awkward giggle.

“Hi, Hen.” He said, leaning into her space. “May I kiss you?”

She nodded even as she felt the blush on her cheeks, and moments later his lips were on hers, and her arms were looped around his neck, holding him close. When they broke for air, they both laughed before moving toward each other again.

“What about the tea?” She asked, softly, afraid to break the spell.

“I… don’t need tea.” 

[captainpains]

Acting Afool (Kylux)

For @kyluxshortshorts I'm having so much fun with these prompts. Enjoy 💕

Prompt: Roleplay

Warnings: Highschool AU, Benarmie cuteness, first kiss

~

Ben Solo did not consider himself to be a patron of the arts. He had managed to fail art class his freshman year of highschool, flunked the beginners music class his sophomore year, and hated the introductory photography class so much he switched classes in the first week. This theater class is his last hope to get the art credit that he needed to graduate highschool. 

So far in the semester, the class hadn’t been too bad. There was memorization and acting exercises, but all in all the class was pretty fun. Ben was excited to finish off his highschool career. 

One thing he did not expect was his massive crush on the British exchange student, Armitage Hux.

In the beginning, Ben thought Armitage was there for the same reason he was, just to get the stupid art credit. But, he soon realized that Armie actually liked acting. He put his heart into every small performance that he did, every monologue and improv game.

“You really like acting, don’t you?” Ben asked as he looked over the short script. It was for their final in the class, to put on a short 10 minute play. Armie and him were in a group with one other senior, one that has decided that they don’t need to practice, so it was just the two of them in Ben’s house. His parents were out of town, which is why he suggested they practice there.

“I find this class to be more agreeable than other art classes.” Armie answered, writing something down in his notebook.

“But you put a lot more effort into this class than anybody else.”

“I put this much effort into everything I do.”

“Yeah, but you smile when you do work for this class and seem to actually enjoy it.”

Armitage gave him an unimpressed look, then a gentle shove. Ben laughed and shoved back. That turned to a playful wrestling match, the two boys laughing as they fought each other. In the end, Armie came out on top, literally pinning Ben to the ground and sat on his waist. Ben panted and found himself staring at Armies lips. For the longest time, Ben dreamed about those soft looking lips on his. 

“Uh? Ben?” The words broke Ben out of his trance and he sheepishly pushed Armie off of him.

They went back to studying their lines innocently. Ben wanted to do well because he wanted Armie to be proud of him. 

“Do you want to practice together now?” Armitage asked after a few minutes.

“Kinda hard to do without Rose.”

“Well, we still need to make sure our performances and timing is great. I’ll read Rose’s parts.”

“Alright. Start from the beginning?”

“Of course.”

Armie cleared his throat and began to read off his lines. The play they chose was a comedy called The Wedding Story. Ben was the groom, Rose was the Bride, and Armie played the Storyteller. 

“ The bride at the tender age of 24-” Ben laughs, as directed. “WHAT? WHAT’S SO FUNNY?”

“She’s not even close to 24!” Ben said, putting emphasis in a way that would make their teacher proud.

“Now just wait a minute here, Buster Brown, whose story is this?”

“OURS!” The two yelled.

Then they broke down laughing. It was meant to be an absurd comedy, but probably not the best for the actors to burst out laughing.

Ben slowly quieted down, while Armitage kept laughing for a little longer. He was smiling so beautifully, and Ben couldn’t stop himself from closing the gap. Their mouths collided and the other boy was shocked still. It took a moment for Ben’s brain to catch up, and when it did, he panicked and pulled away quickly.

“I’m so sorry!” He buried his head in his hands, cheeks red with his embarrassment. 

Armie was silent. Ben mentally prepared himself to fail this final because of his own stupidity. But, then the other boy reached out and pried his hands away from his face. Ben looked into his pretty blue eyes and was prepared to face the worst rejection in his life. However, it never came because Armitage gave him a peck on the lips. He pulled away with a smile.

“Will you do me the honor of going on a date with me?” He asked.

Ben nodded enthusiastically before tackling Armie to the ground with a laugh. 

[borhapparker]

since your requests are opened... maybe peter parker having a polaroid camera (or a disposable camera) and constantly taking pictures of you both together and some of just you and then compiling it all for you for an occasion or after a fight 🥺🥺🥺 and iDK IT MAKES YOU FALL IN LOVE ALL OVER AGAIN

this is adorable!! (also i'm back hehe)

send requests here! (now accepting stranger things characters!)

buy me a coffee! / request a commission

Peter had always loved photography. It had been a passion passed down from his father, then uncle, and now he held the camera in his hands, having captured memories over decades. He never had a reason to use it other than to fool around while on patrol, until he met you.

You were a work of art to him, something to admire, something to photograph occasionally. He had asked you out after you partnered with him for a photography assignment, a candid of you laughing caught by Peter with a note under that said "Will you be mine?"

Cheesy, you will admit, but you loved it. That was one of the things you loved about Peter, along with his photography skills, it was like having the ultimate significant other. He could capture your good side and compliment it, but also your 'bad side' (as you put it), and still be called beautiful because in his eyes you were.

There was never a time, whether you were on a date with Peter, in class or just studying at your apartment, he always had his camera with him. He never let you see the film or answered your question as to what he was photographing. He always just smiled and shrugged.

Sometimes you thought he was married to the camera, taking it everywhere with him, even if it was just a quick trip to the grocery store. And when it broke that one time he took it on patrol, you made sure to get him a replacement the very next day.

Both of you were calm together, loving and never getting into arguments. But when there was an occasional argument, it was important, and something the two of you had to address.

"Here's the thing, Peter, you can't just schedule a date with me and bail on me last minute. Yes, you may be a superhero, but you still have your life outside the suit."

"Look, babe, I swear it wasn't on purpose. I wasn't even going to bring the suit with me until my senses kicked in." he sighed and rubbed a hand over his face, "I wanted to go out with you, I swear, time just got away from me."

"That's not the first time you've used that excuse. Peter, I'm getting sick of this. How are we going to make this work if I'm always going to be second in your life?"

"You are always first on my list, I promise. This is the last time, I promise it won't happen again. We can go again tomorrow, re-do our date, and go out together."

"I don't want a do-over, I wanted the date today. I'm done waiting, Peter. I need someone who wants to be with me no matter the circumstance. How can I be sure that's you?"

"Let me make it up to you, please. Baby, give me another chance."

Walking out of the apartment, your eyes burned, tears pooling and blurring your vision. Wiping away the stray ones, you headed on the bus, taking the route straight home, wanting nothing but to be alone.

Your keychain clinked with the pressure you placed on turning the key as you walked into your apartment, breathing in the comfort of your own home. Locking the door behind you, you made your way to your room, as you opened the door and gasped.

On your bed, and the floor, were countless polaroids, all spread out. Each of them is a different picture of you, some candids and some from a photoshoot, and others of you and Peter together. Tears brimmed your eyes as you picked one up and examined it, recognizing the date immediately before turning the polaroid to verify the date scribbled behind in your handwriting. March 15, 2016

It had been your first date with Peter, one you had actually asked him on as you didn't want to wait anymore for the perfect opportunity to strike up a conversation with the loving nerd in school. You were surprised when he said yes, and even more so when he still showed up at the diner, hair messy and panting like crazy, but he was there.

Picking up another polaroid, you noticed the handwriting on each of the polaroids, your pet names decorated the front trim of the picture. You had fallen for him because of his love of people and photography. He always told you never to look at the film and pocketed it before you were able to see it.

Yet, even with the argument you had with Peter earlier, nothing could stop you from forgiving him in a heartbeat, and maybe even falling for him just a little more.

[wullfric]

Anyways uhhh... trip review! Yay yippee hurray etc!

What we did: We went to the botanical garden using one of those fancy two floor buses. Everyone fell victim to the novelty of it and went to the second floor, except for me and five other people. This made the ride feel pretty chill because there was not much noise and I got two seats all for myself.

When we got there we were given some time to use the bathroom before meeting the guides, so I took that time to wander around a bit and found this cool pond

Then, I went to meet the guide and they took us to an orchid green house (they mainly study orchids here). I did not gain any new information apart from learning the name of the orchid's modified lower petal. I did take some pictures though

Then, we walked through a secondary forest area, which really did not have anything particularly noteworthy apart from a lot of golden weeb spiders. We did find some ginger root plants and that lead to me learning that the liquid secreted by its flower is used as a higene product by some of the native groups here, which was cool

(The flower that was used by natives was the red variant, I used the yellow one because the picture I took was cooler. Nor sure if there is a substantial difference between the two)

After that, we arrived at the fern area (there are ferns there). Once more, I did not learn anything new and, once morer, I took some pictures

I had never seen a fern three in real life, so this was really awesome. There was also a pond with some water lilies there for some reason

The cactus area followed this, and it was really underwhelming. There was a fucking inflatable there and some people grilling, nor to mention that the presentation of the cactus was terrible. I learned nothing new (not that they discussed the cactus much). Also I got left behind here

After someone finally answered my desperate calling on the group chat, I managed to be reunited with my group. They where at the japanese garden (that is there for reasons), but my late arrival caused me to miss the lore of the place. There were barely any plants there, but they got some nice looking architecture (although I do not know anything about it)

(The second and third photos were taken by a classmate. I used them because I had barely any time to be here)

And that was it for the guided tour. They just dropped us on a picnic area near the japanese garden an told us to go to the reaserch building in an hour. It was really disappointing

In the meantime I got a cool shirt and saw some flowers

The building tour was like ten minutes long. There was a cool library some laboratories where they did micro propagation of plants (taking some meristemas [cells that allow the plant to grow] and leaving them to grow in some substrate while being shaken around so the cells do not differentiate and create roots, leaves or other stuff and then they divide those cells and use them to grow new plants[I knew about the practice, but not the process]) and a photography room where they take apart the plants and make informational images about their individual parts. It was ok

Then I went home the same way on the bus. The end

As for my final thoughts: This trip follows the last trip's thing of feeling way more like a fun little visit than an educational experience and I heavily dislike that. There where some moments in last one that were actual field biology that were absent in this one, so I find this one worse. The shirt I got here was cooler, though. I hope you enjoyed this because I basically doxed myself with this and do not forget to like and subscribe for more in depth biology lab (and more classes in the future) field trip reviews

Final rating: 6/10

[jkoo-njoo]

College crush - 2

summary : college au | when the frontier between a crush and an obsession blurs, how can you draw the line ?

pairing : shy n clingy bf! jk x black fem! reader

genre : fluff, soft yandere | headcanons

word count : 2007, on going

warnings : stalking, fixation

author's note : it took me a while to overcome writer’s block for this story but I woke up motivated this morning and I literally just finished writing all of it in one sitting 🤭 there will be 2 or 3 more chapters left after this one ! hope u enjoy loves ♪(๑ᴖ◡ᴖ๑)♪

previous | next / masterlist

2/ forbearance, solitude & craving

- Enactment of the plan

it is time. his plan is finally in motion

he’s going to get you, at all cost.

he already had a good amount of photography in stock but he spent the week producing a fresh batch of pictures for the application

he took his camera and clicked everywhere towards everything

stills of landscapes, animals in action, objects and art pieces, people moving…

he had to make his application absolutely perfect to be sure he’d be with you

and he did ; his work was outstandingly pretty and always held some sort of longing/nostalgic feelings that could be felt by the observer

you could tell in them that the photographer took his time to wait for the correct angle, the perfect movement of the subjects and the right amount of reflection of light before he captured each images

this batch process was so amusing and sort of therapeutic to him because he got to get back to photography, which he didn’t have that much time to do since he started college

but the best part of it all :

he started taking pictures of you.

he didn’t even intend to do it at first

him taking a broad picture of the campus’ park wanting to capture the nature coupled with the students go on with their occupations

but when he looked back at it, there you were

on the 3rd plan, almost totally blending yourself with the paysage ; yet looking so outstandingly beautiful… almost angelic

then he decided to hit click more often whenever he would run into you

he always made sure he’d stay far enough so that you don’t notice him ; but close enough so that he could capture you in the upmost quality

each picture were of you doing insignificant things like walking around campus with your earphones on ; reading at a local café ; eating and laughing with some friends of yours ; studying and looking so cute with your frowning eyebrows

he held each one of these so close to his heart

he even created a whole folder on his computer compiling all of the photos he took of you

he was dreaming of the day you’d pose just for him, looking right in his objective with your bright eyes and piercing gaze

he was dreaming of the day you’ll be his and all he would do everyday is follow you around with his camera and snap pictures of you doing anything with him

anyways

he submitted his application for the club and of course got accepted

the first classes would start two weeks from now

he absolutely couldn’t wait to finally be near you

- battling loneliness

he was right : he definitely couldn’t wait.

the two weeks are up and the first photography class starts tomorrow

the wait was overbearing and painful

but he swallowed his suffering

because he knew that patience is the most important part of the plan.

for it to work out perfectly it was necessary to wait

to pass time, on top of taking more pictures of you, he started to write poems

his feelings for you were growing more and more everyday without a mean of escape ; he had to find something to externalize them before he turned absolutely crazy

at the beginning, it wasn’t exactly poems, but little journal entries destined to you, since he cannot contact you directly just yet

technically he could but he was far too much of a coward to ever try to make a move in real life

the messages started soft and short — like 2/3 phrases short — and were very descriptive with no definite style whatsoever

“seeing your beautiful face made me feel so happy today. You are the ruler of my heart.”

but.. he felt so… ashamed ? uncomfortable ? because he never wrote anything before and he thought it was so lame

the more he wrote, the more he got bold and tried new ways to express himself

so he started using more imagery and very sentimental turn of phrases and the little messages turned to poems, each longer and more complex than the previous ones

“if anyone asks me to prove my love for you, I’ll ask them to let you speak on my grave and watch how I come back to life right before their eyes, to bask in your angelic voice and presence.”

he wanted to write the best poems so that you could really see how much love he held for you

so that he could prove to you that he was perfect and deserving of your love and attention

he was getting more confident in his writing but he felt like it would never be enough to truly capture the entirety of your outstanding beauty the purity of your heart and aura

and each poem or picture from afar reminded him of how lonely he was, and how you weren’t his yet

but he had to stay strong, because soon he’ll be close to you

- eventually : the liberation

he had so much trouble to sleep

he was so excited because today was finally the day he’d been waiting for for so long

the day of the first photography class

he wanted to look good and make a great first impression so he spent half the night choosing an outfit

settling for a baggy grey t-shirt and black cargo pants because he didn’t feel ready to be noticed by you just yet

and he definitely needed to update his wardrobe… too much dark and baggy clothes

he noticed you were very stylish and he daydreamed about going shopping with you more than once

he wanted to be your doll to dress up as you please and have matching outfits with you

he also wanted to see you in the clothes that he chose himself just for you. he’s convinced that they’ll suit you so well

so much so that he had a ton of carts waiting on lots of different website, just ready to buy and send for you to wear

anyways

he was so so nervous

but, his excitement exceeded his nervousness and apprehension

he barely ate anymore these days but at some point he decided to eat properly, get back in the gym and do his skincare

because he knew that you wouldn’t want your boyfriend to not take care of himself

and if he cannot care for himself, how can he even pretend that he’ll be able to care for you ??

he was proud of himself and his love for you because you made him a better man without even meeting him yet

he knew that each and every day he was becoming more and more perfect for you

fast forward to the afternoon, and 2pm

the class started at 2:30 pm, be he came here early just so he could admire you enter the class, and also choose the best seating area for the both of you

he settled for the middle row on the very left side

because he knew you love to sit on the front row on the right side. so this place would allow him to look at your side profile and stare at you all that he wants without you noticing him.

it was perfect

time went by, and the classroom started filling up slowly

he knew you’d come in last, so he put a little book on one of the chairs in the front row so nobody would take your spot

and just like clockwork, you arrived right before the class started

the only chair available the one that he reserved for you

you looked around to see if the person who left the book was here, and your neighbor told you that he saw nobody claim back the seat so you just sat there

when you did, shivers travelled his whole body from head to toe.

he felt so proud of himself and also so thankful that you were accepting his first ever move towards you. His first proof of his love for you.

the class started but he did not listen one bit

he was so mesmerized by your beauty and your closeness

he was already following you around to your place of study like the library or cafes to look at you ; but he never got the courage to get any closer.

you being just 2 rows in front of him was the closest he’s ever been

he was savoring each and every second, before a miracle occurred.

the photograph professor called out your name and asked you to present yourself in front of the class

apparently everyone would have to

he quickly pulled out his phone and started the dictaphone

then you spoke up and started presenting yourself in front of the whole class

he felt himself melt on the spot

your voice so clear and full of assurance, as you spilled precious details about yourself that he’ll spend the rest of his life cherishing

you said that you love photography, you draw, you write and you read. And you talked about being really excited to start this class and do your best to express yourself through your photography

he could cry right here and there. this was so much more than he would even dare to ask for

but he was getting nervous again. because this means that he would have to present himself next

he started shaking his leg uncontrollably and his hands started sweating. he didn’t expect to have to speak up and be noticed by you so early in the plan

but he had to be strong for you and not let his timidness consume him

his time came. everyone turned around to look at him, including you

he couldn’t bear meeting your gaze and looking at you in the eyes so he looked straight in front of him, aiming towards the professor

however if he did hold your gaze, he would have seen how your eyes kind of lit up looking at him

it was so difficult for him to speak up and not stutter but he did his best

you only had to say what brought you here and your other hobbies. Some people told more, some less. He opted for the less.

« Hello all. I’ve been doing photography for years and decided to enroll as soon as I knew of the existence of this club. Other than photography, I enjoy gaming, working out and writing poems. That’s all »

the professor thanked him and moved on the the next person

he felt his nerves relax and released a breathe he didn’t know he was holding

he hoped he made a good impression on you mentioning working out and writing. Since you love writing, you have now a second shared interest and he also overheard you talk about how you like fit guys so he was sure he hit all the right spots

he spent the rest of the class not listening one bit, just looking at you being focused on the class

at the end of it, he pretended to take longer to pack up his things and when everyone left the classroom he went over to your seat

your sweet scent lingered on the spot and he was incredibly jealous of the person that sat next to you

you smelt a mix of vanilla and cinnamon with a hint of sweet citrus fruit

he wanted to bottle up the air and take it home with him if he could

he went back to his dorm with so much contentment and happiness within his heart

now that he got you close he wanted more. and he would have it

for the first time of his life, he grew confidence and decided to act on his impulse

and his impulse led him to accelerate the plan : he’ll contact you even from afar.

[1004sface]

2000.02 Junior Magazine – NRG article

I Miss You - Sometimes I start missing you! N.R.G

Scans credit: S.E.S. Magazine Archive on Naver / see the original article online (archived)

Leafing through the pages of remembrance...

NRG, who'd presented a masculine image with their title track "Face", now try to change their image with the mid-tempo follow-up "You! Me!". They've transformed themselves into young aristocrats with neat hairstyles and luxurious formal wear. We reveal their precious memories in this no-laughing-matter "bad boy report". Coverage: Im Jae-hyeon / Photography: Jo Won-jin

Kim Hwansung

The eardrum rupture incident

Hwansung was born in Gwangju, South Jeolla on February 14, 1981, as the youngest child among one sister. In the 20 years he's lived, he's had many shocking things happen to him. Out of those, the most memorable incident to him is the time his eardrums split. He's gotten surgery and can now hear normally, but we almost couldn't have had the singer Kim Hwansung. Now, let's reveal the whole story. Hwansung's least favorite TV show is Korean Ghost Stories.

Hwansung's hate for the show started when he was about 3 or 4 years old. He and his family were sitting in front of the TV, watching Korean Ghost Stories as usual. He might have been especially scared then, or a frightening ghost might have appeared, but young Hwansung was so surprised that, in a frenzy, his eardrums ruptured. His family turned upside down over their one and only son, and they sent him to the hospital to get a big surgery. Of course, since this was when he was young, Hwansung says he doesn't remember much. But when he imagines what happened, he thinks it must have been horrible.

The youngest runaway (?)

At first glance, Hwansung looks like a model student, but in fact he has himself a distinguished past (?). He ran away from home in his fifth grade of elementary school.

Hwansung was a diligent student ever since he was young, and starting from 2nd grade he received private tutoring. But since he was spending time studying when one would usually play about, he realized he wanted to romp around like his friends. Eventually, his extra classes stressed him out so much that he decided to run away. Hwansung wanted most to visit an amusement park and enjoy the rides, so he gathered some money and aimlessly rode the rides. But it promptly got dark, and Hwansung realized he didn't have a place to sleep. After a while of hesitation, he called his mother and finally returned home after four hours. He says that he was quite immature thinking about it now, but that it was fun and not an entirely bad memory. Who knows—maybe Hwansung might be Korea's youngest runaway.

Memories of his first love

Hwansung first caught the love bug in 2nd grade. He first encountered his first love 11 years back from now. She was named Kim Pyoseon and had long, tied up hair and black eyes. Maybe because her name was quite unique, he still remembers it now. The girl, whose whole face including her eyes was round, was the president of Hwansung's class and even sat next to him in class. She completely stole Hwansung's heart, but Hwansung couldn't figure out how she felt about him. Then, one day, there was a test. Hwansung was struggling with a question when she helped him cheat. The two ended up being caught by the teacher, but through that incident Hwansung grew certain that she liked him. After that, Hwansung made many precious memories with her until she eventually left his life. Even now, his heart warms when he thinks of her.

Moon Sunghoon

His first exam

Sunghoon was born on October 15, 1980 in California, as the middle child out of three brothers. Before he was born, his mom dreamt that she was on a trip—but inside her bag was not travel gear, but a stunningly beautiful gem. Soon after, Sunghoon was born.

The first time he took a test after moving to Korea was in 3rd grade, but his Korean was so weak the letters on the paper merely seemed like pitch black ink. It was then that a student behind him explained the answers to every question, and so he ended up achieving a good grade. He says that if a chance comes where he can reunite with that student, he'd like to thank them.

His day of humiliation

Sunghoon was his school's vice president in elementary school. There was one day where all the students would gather in one room and have to talk. The day prior, Sunghoon had written down what he was going to say, prepared by memorizing and practicing his pronunciation, and then went to sleep.

He might have practiced too hard—he slept in late, and rushing to school he forgot the paper on which he had written his speech. When he stepped on the platform, about to say his piece, his mind drew a blank. His peers laughed as his face reddened and the room fell silent; caught in a rough spot, Sunghoon ended up butting his head on the microphone while trying to introduce himself. The kids couldn't stop laughing, and that day became the most humiliating of his life.

What happened on field day

Sunghoon was was a major joker when he was young, to the point where he'd play until his body gave out. In his first year of middle school, he broke his legs while tightrope walking after the rope broke, and in his third year he had to wear a cast after breaking an arm in a car accident. On field day, there was a relay match between classes, and Sunghoon got picked as the first runner.  Deciding he'd have to foul if only for his class, he grabbed the baton with his bandaged arm and outran the other class's students to first place. The moment he was supposed to hand the baton over, the baton fell from his hands, and Sunghoon's class ended up at last place. He says because of this he got into the class's bad books.

Noh Yoomin

A bloody fight with his brother?

Yoomin was born on November 12, 1980, as the middle child among three boys. Before he was born, his mom dreamt that she saw tens of snakes piled up at a rock while hiking up a mountain; that was her conception dream.

Yoomin grew up in a wild (?) environment, on account of only having brothers. Broken bones and nosebleeds from fighting twelve times a day with his younger brother were child's play. One time while having fun with his younger brother, Yoomin hit his brother because he wasn't listening to him. But on the sight of blood surging from his crying brother's mouth, he was caught off guard and hid in his room. Yoomin says that eventually, his dad found out he had broken his brother's tooth, which got him a massive scolding.

The transfer student who sat next to him

Yoomin's most memorable seatmate was a kid who transferred to his school in 6th grade. Holding the hand of the teacher as they sent off the day as usual was a pale-faced, wide-eyed kid of small stature. He couldn't help but be stunned at her pretty looks, so when the girl happened to sit next to Yoomin he mentally cheered "woo-hoo!". He says from that day on he spent more time looking in the mirror to look good for her. He was quiet and well-behaved and stood up for her if anyone was unkind, though he says it's a shame that they graduated without any outstanding incidents. But recently he met the girl again—she was as pretty and kind as ever, and for the few days he attended that class reunion his heart fluttered.

I hate running the most!

Yoomin's been the king of all kinds of things, but the one he's worked the hardest (?) on is "the king of tardiness". He says that once a week, he was on the verge of not going to school at all—you can imagine the situation from there. He was a celebrity amongst tardy students; if he was supposed to be at school by 8 o'clock, he would come in at 9. Usually when he was late, he had to run a few laps around the playground, but rest was given according to order of arrival, so he always ran alone until the very end. That was because Yoomin's least favorite activity was running. Whether it was a 100-meter run or a long run, he always came in last place, so as the athletic meet approached, he suffered from anguish. Fortunately, he was always the captain of the cheerleading squad, so he was able to regain the trust of his friends.

[rentheebee]

skater blues chapt 1

Chapt 1- dashi

summary- Go through Dashis routine through her visits to the rink!

Note- I know literally nothing about roller skating and ice skating so things might be wrong. Cross posted on AO3 link at end of chapter

Dashi loves two things. Photography and rollerskating.She was proud of her skill. It took her years to learn. She's taken to teaching her...less than graceful friend/roomate.

Dashi walked into the building her bag slung carefully over her shoulder. She walked to the rinks locker room; took her skates out of the bag and shoved her stuff into the locker.

-

Shellington, Dashi's best friend, watched her skate trying to figure out just how she stays standing on the skates.

He could barely handle getting into the rink without falling flat on his tail(ouch!). How could she possibly stay up when moving. Maybe it was the way she moved? Because her tail was a lot smaller than his?

Ugh he was more cut out for sitting in the college library studying the rows and rows of biology books. Or in their shared apartment watching crappy sitcoms.

Meanwhile Dashi was wondering how to convince Shellington(or as she dubbed him Shelly) to just try one more time.

Dashi skated over and stopped by Shellington. "C'mon Shelly you won't get better by just sitting and sulking! Practice will help, especially with help from someone who knows their way around what they're doing!" Dashi tries to sound enthusiastic so that he wouldn't see how nervous she was about both teaching and how Shellington seemed terrified at even the idea of the skates.

"You make it seem so easy. Like you're not supposed to fall or be bad at it."

"Practice helps trust me I wasn't as good when I started. I'm sure either ma or Koshi has a video of how bad I was. But that was when I first started." Dashi encourages hoping he'd understand how no one starts perfect.

"Fine" 

Dashi helped him up(not without a few slips on Shellys end) and scooted them over to the inside of the rink. "Alright champ you ready to give it a whirl?"

-

Dashi got back to the apartment while Shellington wandered off to one of his later classes. Classes she believed seemed boring. She could admit the topic might be interesting but the actual act of learning all that stuff seemed tiring. 

Not that she doesn't like learning but biology isn't her thing. Having Shelly ramble was enough.  She learns so much just from that so why sit in lecture after lecture when she gets a compact version at home. 

She loves his rambles and he loves hers. She supposes that it's the reason they're friends.

-

Every night for the past few years the routine is similar.

1 Shelly goes to afternoon classes

2 they try(key word try) to cook a good meal

3 shitty sitcoms or whater mind numbing thing they find

4 study and homework (ugh) 

5 bed

They were in a bubble of their own and they were happy not that they didn't have other friends or things the did without each other.

- 

Days after rink always kinda sucked no matter how fun it is. She woke sore and worn out. I mean she did move a lot almost twice a week. 

"Ugh " her alarm always seemed louder.

"Hmph" she had trouble getting out of bed

Eventually she triumphantly got up and over to the rest room. 

Dashi wouldn't say she's crazy about skincare or her fur.(she cared more about her fur) BUT she had a routine. [Insert whatever dog fur/skin care would be]

She got dressed today a blue dress, some sneakers and her typical pink headband.(iconic she knows)

-

She ran for it. 

Late and on a field day. Damn this sucked. At this point she was ruffled up and just ready to go off on her own.

Luckily Mr owens[random name],a fox with a few patches of gray fur, wasn't all that strict. Sure he hated trouble but not slight lateness.

-

Going out to take photos was one of her favorite parts of her major. She loved documenting things she found interesting or just capturing the world as it passed by.

Dashi loved her life as simple as each day seemed as of now she loved it. Waking up, doing photography for class; working at the skating rink. 

[bellanotgoth]

Life is strange Fanfic

Fanfic I guess Rachel, Nathan, Chloe and Frank (and me).

This is totally made up out of the blue and its probably pretty bad but just wanted to try it out hope you like it🩷

So me and Rachel would become super close as friends when we were little just like max and Chloe but when i lost my other friend in suicide at age of 8 i was suicidal and Rachel was there for me and since then we did everything together, but then at age of 15 we kinda parted ways slowly but we still did stuff together and when i started hanging out with Nathan Prescott she got furious and i started secretly dating him and i got bullied for it for about 1-2 years and then at age of 17 I met frank when I was getting drugs for Nathan and we had an argument and Nathan came to where we were by the forest and he had a gun and the two quickly got into a fight and Nathan was gonna shot but he shot close to me.

I almost got shot and then he ran away from the place and I was stuck there with frank and I forced him to let me use his bathroom and we started talking and saw how much things we kinda had in common. So on we started a small summer fling he thought i was 18 at first but then found out he i was 16-17 he got mad but we continued until we ended the affair. I started studying my marines and i was always by the beach and the ocean or any sort of waters for that matter, i had my friends Zachary and Crystal. Zac was super into animals which I also am and he wanted to work at a zoo one day or become like Steve Irwin and Crystal she was so cool, her eyes were literally blue like crystals and her hair was black as the night and I cant lie if i said I didn't like her more then a friend at one point she really stuck out. She could be really bad but she was so laidback and nice to everyone and got along well with almost everyone.

Crystal and I become pretty close after my fall out with Rachel when i was 15 we became the new R and B that was our thing me and Rachel we had a band when we were younger called RnB cuz it was our initials. Yeah yeah well Crystal always came and sat with me by the beach and we would read our favourite novels out loud since we both hate to read but we loved hearing it. She could play almost every instrument but her favourite was the flute, she loved to sit and play it while we could hear the waves on the shore she was a natural.

When I was zac he is soo fun, he loves animals and well I do too but my favourite is cats i dont know how many petitions I have had to sign because of him. He is truly a fighter for animals rights yeah he wont let any animal be seen hungry or hurt and he just fights for whats right and I think thats cool of him I admire that. Besides his huge love for animals he also has a thing for photography. When I learned he and Nathan was in the same class I was furious at first but then It cooled off I cant hide from him forever, ever since he left me there after he almost shot me I was so mad. The Nathan I knew was a sensitive sweet guy, yes he had his bad sides but that's the thing I do too when we fought hell broke loose. Thats why I was surprised to learn when i got to campus how people saw him as so crazy.

After some time eventually me and Rachel become friends again, it was then I met Chloe she was soo amazeballs I had never met anyone like her she and Rachel were pretty similar but also so alike I know Rachel and she likes to get what she wants and Chloe she just seems like a troubles teen with a lot of trauma. We Three became like the blonde trio (well I had naturally brunette hair but). But we three had really fun times I even took a pic of them by the beach. It was really great, I talked a lot with Chloe I just found it so interesting what she had been through I also understood her loss of her father I had lost mine too not the same way but we kinda connected on that. After some time we both noticed how Rachel was a bit distant but we never knew why maybe Chloe did and she never told me but I surely did not.

Some months after I went to see Frank again you know just catch up, when i drove to his RV which were at our favourite spot. I froze when I got out of the car and saw Rachel there with Frank, I did not know what to feel betrayed or hurt shocked or confused maybe a mix they weren't only together but kissing I felt like throwing up they went in the RV and then I drove off before I left the site I threw a rock on the side window of the RV and drove as fast as I could. I did not want to tell Chloe since I knew her feelings for Rachel were deeper than mine so I left her out of it but soon enough I started hanging out with Crystal and Zac again.

I had not talked to neither Rachel or Chloe for a while and it was to my surprise when I woke up one day at campus and went to the bathroom to see a missing persons report my eyes were still not awake so I just thought oh unfortunate and when I walked back from the bathroom to my dorm I saw her face Rachel frickin Amber. How the hell did this happen, I took the poster and went inside my dorm and cried. That day I decided to contact Chloe and ask her what happened her response was pretty harsh and cold and she basically told me nothing she hung up and then I sat there shocked.

Everyone on campus was talking about her "did you hear about that girl who is missing" "Rachel Amber" I couldn't concentrate at all "Bella all good?" Crystal waved her hand in front of my face "Yeah I'm fine" both Crystal and Zac were just talking about the new petition Zac wanted to make for the stranded whales and even though Crystal also loved animals she rolled her eyes "Heres another petition for you" and she wrote down on a piece of paper "sign for nerds to be quiet" and she had written her name down on it and she gave it to Zac and laughed.

Heres some pics to the fic, me as Bella obvi and then Nathan, Rachel, Chloe and Frank:3

[gureumcity]

10 months

💌 pairing: lee hyunjae x reader, lee juyeon x reader 💌 genre: oneshot, dating bet!au, professional dancer!juyeon 💌 warning: profanity, long term heartbreak (it's kinda toxic so i put it here just in case) 💌 word count: 7.7k words 💌 author's note: was honestly inspired by the olympics, watching figure skating but i just didn’t see any of them figure skating. so if it doesn’t make sense, sorry in advance. enjoy the read as always.

[ when what you believe is a beautiful relationship, turns out to be a total lie, you lose trust in yourself more than in the boy. you shut yourself out and stop living. even when another someone helps you out and brings you back into the world again. you may be thankful but you're never quite over the first. the one who hurt continuously hurt you. over and over again. ]

"i swear to god. you're just like how everyone said!," your thundering voice was heard across the hall of your apartment complex. surely, the neighbors were annoyed. but nothing compared to the humiliation and anger you were feeling as tears ran down your cheeks and your hands in fists. "but you know? you know what's so funny? ... that i truly believed you loved me!" with a slam of the door to your home, there stood a boy baffled. because at the very least, he'd thought you would at least let him explain. but no. and now.. all he could do was wait for you to be okay. no matter how long that took.

10 months. 10 months was all it took for you to fall so deeply in love and for your heart to get as easily as broken.

lee hyunjae was a boy you met at the beginning of high school. you were born in south korea but had moved to the states (boston, massachusetts) as soon as you graduated middle school. there, you met hyunjae. he was one of the most sweetest guys you'd ever met with one of the worst reputations. pretty much what one can imagine. the high school's it boy, aka fuck boy. not very convenient when all he did was share class notes and give you winks across the hallways every time you'd walk past by each other. things progressed fast before you noticed yourself falling more in love with the boy. and one day, like a dream come true, he asks you out. you still remember the words.

"so wanna share more physics notes at my house later? and maybe also be my girlfriend?"

cringy, i know.. maybe that should have been the first red flag. but it gets worse. sure, he cared a lot about his reputation and did a good job with upholding that. but with you.. he was a natural, caring guy who seemed more interested in a lot of things than what he leads. falling in love with someone like hyunjae was easy. too easy.

so here you were. running away from your problems and flying to la, california with a scholarship for photography. you were covered for a good two, three years to study what you like to do and to get a fresh start. having yourself embarrassed in front of the school was already too much on your end. and the fact that your life was stolen while hyunjae lived daily life as he did before, definitely did not make any of it feel any better. flirting with girls, playing on the soccer team, and hanging out with the same boys. it was so sickening. not the fact that he was able to go back to his everyday routine so easily. but that he still had you wrapped around his finger. that's what made going to la, a better, and easier, decision than anything. it was like hitting two birds with one stone.

after a while, you got used to everything. you grew numb to feeling love and also expressing love. that may be why photography was your way of finding passion and emotion. you adapted fairly quickly actually. and with the biggest dance performance coming up in france, lots of other competitions were taking place which also meant cha-ching. taking photos of representatives and of the event will be a big assignment for you; not to mention lots of hot professional dancers. you had always admired dancers. the way they gracefully play with their chosen songs while using absolutely every muscle possible to present such a beautiful piece. this was your seventh show you've been to now. two years really did pass by quickly.

but don't forget. you weren't the complete loser you claim yourself as. you've made friends along the way. lee juyeon, who you had met at these said competitions. he had placed first place in many, resulting in multiple individual photoshoots of him. opening up about your life wasn't something you'd like to do. especially with the way your recent high school life back in boston ended. but with many breaks and awkward silences during those shoots, one of you was bound to speak. and you, the photographer, sadly had to be the bigger person. one thing led to another. and you two became close friends. for the first time in forever, you felt at peace and that you belonged somewhere. lee younghoon, you had met in la. he was forced by his dad to come to one of the dance competitions. regardless of his intention to come for fun or not, he had bumped into you and dropped your coffee all over, resulting in his many apologies and a talk in the cafe after. you know how the rest goes. juyeon and younghoon meet and the three of you were now closer than ever.

feeling your phone buzz in your pocket, you reach for it to be faced with the familiar caller id, "bro", quickly putting him on speaker.

"hello?"

"hello? is that all you gotta say to me after days of not talking? i have called you like five times today and you have answered once!" you chuckle at the upset voice across the device. "well then, sunwoo, maybe you should get a life instead of calling me so much." all you hear on the other end was a scoff as you finish packing your bag. sunwoo was your twin brother. well, separated twin brother. after the divorce, you went with your mother to boston while he stayed with your father back in korea. you two still kept in good contact and met up occasionally but it wasn't the usual family situation. "anywayyy! when's your flight?"

you hear a knock at the door and keys jangling before seeing juyeon walk in. "on monday. why?" watching as he took his shoes off and sat down on the couch, you gesture to him that you'll be with him a second. "nothing. it's just our birthday soon! so i'm holding a party for us. so since your flight is gonna be on monday, you'll definitely be able to make it to our party. right? you need to! listen to your big brother! you have to be there, okay?"

"you're literally two minutes older. stop acting as if you're more superior. i'm gonna go," juyeon's chuckle could be heard as he listened to you fight with your twin brother. you quickly end the phone call and walk over to your couch. "sorry about that. sunwoo keeps bothering me about our birthday.."

"speaking of birthday.. am i invited?"

"juyeon. are you kidding me? of course you're invited. i just didn't ask cause i know you're busy with training and i didn't want to be the reason you skip out on practice during such an important time.." he places your keys in your hands and smiles. "your birthday is much more important than anything. i'll go. besides i have something else to say..," as you drop your keys on the table, he clears his throat. "i'm moving back to korea. my training in america is over and i have to practice back home. plus dance performance is in france anyway. so i gotta get back soon."

"you're kidding!"

"nope. just bought my plane ticket. it's the same time and close to your seat too. maybe we can ask to switch seats with the person sitting next to you." with a quick jump, you wrap your arms around him. "ahh! i'm so excited. yes. we'll definitely do that. and since younghoon's back in korea too, i can invite him too."

the flight back was as normal as it can be. you both fell asleep midway but got to enjoy the sunset below. when you landed, it was around 3pm and sunwoo was already there, waiting. "ooh. guess who brought their boyfriend!" he teased, and as much as you didn't want to, your smile disappears. nothing wrong with juyeon. but it's just you haven't heard you and boyfriend in the same phrase for a while and it made you cringe. "yea yea.. anyway let's go." with yours and juyeon's luggage in the trunk, you decided to sit in the back with juyeon up in the passenger seat.

"so.. have you decided where you wanna live?" sunwoo asks as juyeon looks at you through the rear mirror with a smile. "actually.. yea, i have. younghoon's let us use his house. the benefits to having a rich friend." with chuckles, sunwoo thanks juyeon for changing the address on the navi. "you're still paying rent though, right?"

"of course i am. who do you think i am? a freeloader?," the silence was so loud, it hurt. "wow.. thanks guys."

unpacking was harder than packing. at least when you're putting things back in, all you have to worry about things crinkling up or folding in a weird way but once there out, you gotta think about how to place them somewhere. but you did what you could and managed to figure it out. "you finished unpacking?" you hear younghoon's voice outside your room. "yea! i'll be out in just a sec." and once you were downstairs in the living room, you see younghoon and juyeon sitting on the black, leather, very younghoon-like, couch.

"okay. we're gonna need to make some rules," juyeon and you catch each other rolling your eyes at younghoon's words before laughing. "look. i don't care how messy your rooms get. i won't step one foot in them. but! you can't mess my room or the downstairs rooms. especially the kitchen. understand?," after seeing the two of you physically nod, did younghoon let the two of you go. "good. so what do you guys wanna do on your first day back? after a good night's sleep, i'm sure you guys can have some fun.."

"i'm down to go clubbing.." juyeon starts. "just like old times?" you add on, as if you were finishing his sentence. silence meant agreement. so off the three of you ran, up to your rooms to get dressed.

let's just say the day went by quick and the next day was hangover day for the three of you. four days passed and today was the party. sunwoo had basically forced you to come to your own party that you didn't even plan. just added a few people on the guestlist but that's all you got to do. not that you were complaining. you didn't really care much anyway. it just gave you a reason to dress up.

"so.. how's the birthday girl?," you smiled at the voice before turning around to see juyeon, showing off your outfit. "apparently all ready for the party.. happy birthday, y/n." with him opening up his arms, you walk into his embrace. "you know. it feels weird to be back here. i don't know if i should go see my dad.."

"you do what you wanna do. but for now..," you chuckle as he pushes you out the room and guides you downstairs to the car outside. "hop in. i'm driving us to sunwoo's house." you watch as younghoon gets in the back and immediately puts his airpods in. it takes a few minutes to drive over and when you see the neighborhood, it wasn't hard to guess which house the party was being held. the music was loud and the big banner said everything. you just hoped he had warned his neighbors first. but that wasn't your concern.

"hey guys! the birthday girl is here!! late! but here." sunwoo says as he opens the door, loud enough the attention goes to you. and to your embarrassment, juyeon grabs your hand and takes you into the kitchen. "a drink?" taking in the amount of people in here, you were scared people would think you guys were a frat. with a simple nod, juyeon pours in two cups of punch and hands one to you. "thanks.."

"hey sunwoo. where do we put all the gifts?" younghoon speaks up, carrying all the gifts you guys had brought over. yes, it may be your birthday but it was sunwoo's too. you couldn't not buy him something. "oh. just put them all into this room." you help younghoon with the gifts and place them where sunwoo had told you to. after a while, there were almost a hundred people in the house.

"this should be everyone, right?" you ask sunwoo as he was checking the guestlist. "no," your smile drops. what? how could he possibly know this many people that want to come and celebrate his birthday with him? "you know a few of them. eric and them are coming but i told them to bring the cake. i knew something would happen to it if i had prepared it beforehand. so i had them pick it up. they're heading over soon after they pick up their friends too." you down your drink and walk over to the couch where juyeon relaxes. "i swear sunwoo plays around too much or something. i knew this was gonna be a party but with this many people? goddamn." juyeon chuckles at your frustration. "why don't you go grab another drink? get me one too while you're at it." you nod, heading over to the kitchen before someone else enters through the door. you catch a glance at the newcomers and immediately gasp when you see the last person entering. you wanted to hide. you wanted to literally disappear. it's been almost three years? and you thought you had gotten better. but what is this reaction? now you were back to square one. you felt pathetic. and to think, you didn't think it could get worse. until it did. his eyes catch yours and he smiles. smiles! you poured the two drinks and walk your way over. and just when he thinks he has a chance to talk to you, you pass by him and sit down next to juyeon. and as your best friend, it felt only right he ask what was wrong.

"hey.. you good?" your eyes said everything. juyeon sat up straight. "it's him.. hyunjae. why is here? how does he even know sunwoo?" all that anger and humiliation from that night was building back up. and if it wasn't for juyeon holding you back, you would have left this place before the actual party even started. all while you were panicking, hyunjae couldn't take his eyes off you. you were as beautiful as he remembered. maybe even more. "hey guys! you're finally here." you and juyeon watch as kevin and his other friend, you assume, place the very large cake on the kitchen island. "y/n?" your attention shifts over to the voice before seeing chanhee.

"oh my god! eric? it's been so long. what the hell? how are you so tall?" you said, hugging his now tall and lean figure. "well. the last time we saw each other was like five years ago.." you nodded, acknowledging his words but still shocked by his growth. "do i get a hug too?" you see changmin peeking his head through so you immediately open your arms. "of course! you guys are.. men! that's crazy." once sunwoo comes your way, he starts introducing you to his friends.

"so this is my twin sister, y/n. you know changmin, chanhee, eric. this is kevin, jacob, sangyeon, haknyeon. and this is hyunjae. he's also from boston. ha! it'd be funny if you knew each other." sunwoo explains and you couldn't help but let out a little sigh at his name. just like a hero, juyeon's up from the couch and wraps his arm around your shoulder. "nice to meet you guys. i'm juyeon." he says placing out his hand in which sangyeon accepts first. and the rest followed. "wait wait.. i wanna hear you guys talk. say something in english." changmin says, interested. "you guys probably won't even understand anyway." you say as everyone gasps sarcastically. "oh come on, y/n. don't be a party pooper." with sunwoo's words, you roll your eyes and clear your throat.

"how's life been for you?" you started first, deadpan. "it's been good, i guess. what have you been up to?"

"that's none of your business." you hear the others cheering at the accents, having no idea what you two had even said. well, besides younghoon who chuckled and maybe a bit of juyeon. even though he may have a translator, you're sure he caught on to most of it. that was until you realized more people might have caught on your guys’ english conversation.

you know how the rest of the party went. people got way too drunk, passed out, some left, and you're pretty sure you heard a few couples upstairs doing god knows what. and the whole night, all you could do was talk to juyeon as younghoon was getting friendly with changmin and chanhee. and despite all that, you couldn't get drunk. you don't know what kind of mistake you could make with hyunjae and you couldn't risk anything. when there was about half of the people left, you stood up to use the restroom. after drinking almost three bottles of water, you needed to pee. after finishing your business, you wanted to get back to juyeon. but hyunjae had other plans. he grabs your hand and takes you outside without saying anything. when you realize you were already far out as two houses down, you shake your hand off and glare at him. "what? you're mad? when all you've been doing is hanging out with that juyeon dude? what? are you guys dating? is he your boyfriend?"

"what? hyunjae. you're drunk."

"no. i'm perfectly fine." his slurring voice wasn't hard to miss, proving that he indeed was drunk. too drunk, in fact. he grabs both your wrists this time so hard that you winced. "hyunjae."

"hyunjae."

"why is everything so easy for you? i know you don't even like him. i can see it. you don't look at him the way you used to look at me. come on. don't you feel anything for me? even when i do this?" when you feel him stepping closer, you step back. "hyunjae! i'm warning you. let. go," you tried to wriggle out his grasp. you can feel your wrists bruising. "hyunjae.. it hurts. please..." when hyunjae sees your eyes tearing up, he loosens his grip. "i'm sorry. i didn't mean to." you step away, a tear slipping away.

"i hate you." you quickly retrace your steps back into the house and grab your bag, immediately running out. juyeon follows you out with his car keys, unlocking the vehicle. (you drove, no worries. no drinking and driving!)

the next day, your head hurt. but none of it from any alcohol. from the way you kept tossing and turning last night, thinking of hyunjae. out of all the simulations you have made in your mind of what would happen when you by chance, ever bump into him again, that was not it. once you got downstairs, you had noticed porridge on the table with a note on top.

i know you couldn't sleep at night so i made you this. make sure to heat it up before you eat it. - younghoon

younghoon keeps quiet about other people's business but always knew what was going on. he was a nice guy who took advantage of his skill and helps. you wish there were more people like him in the world.

"so.. that was hyunjae, huh?" juyeon's groggy voice is heard. "yea.."

"remind me what happened?," you release a soft sigh as you take out the porridge from the microwave. "just humor me. i want to know how this dude fucked himself up."

"okay.. i guess," you sat down. "yesterday, he dragged me out, absolutely off his limit and starts yelling at me about you. almost like he's... jealous? i didn't understand his words but i know what his intentions were. he's still the same asshole he was years back." juyeon watches your reaction. he's never met hyunjae in his life. all he knows is the hyunjae from your stories. and that was enough to know that he was a dick. but he never noticed that you still have remaining feelings for him, whether you'd admit or not. did he have competition? probably not, after last night. or at least, that's what juyeon was hoping.

--------------------

hyunjae, on the other hand, had woken up around an hour ago, completely regretting everything he said last night. he didn't mean any of it. sure. deep down, he was jealous at the way you laughed at everything juyeon said or the way you leaned into his shoulders like he's the one you love. he hated it. all of it. and when he thinks of that day of your guys' fight, he grimaces. instead of waiting for you to reach out to him like a coward, he wishes he had the courage to just tell you. even if that hadn't changed a thing. at least, he would have been able to confess his true feelings to you.

"dude.. do you and juyeon know each other or something?" eric asks from his bed, watching some anime on the tv screen. "what do you mean?"

"i mean.. i don't know if it was just me but it seemed like he was glaring at you the whole night yesterday. did you flirt with y/n? she seems to have a thing with juyeon." hyunjae's eyebrows twitch at those words but at some point, he had to admit. he was years late. and he didn't have to know the whole story to know that juyeon was probably there for you when he wasn't. "uhh no.. i don't know man," eric shrugs and continues to slurp his ramen noodles. "speaking of.. do you have y/n's number? i wasn't able to get it last night and i saw that you were exchanging numbers." hyunjae casually says, hoping eric doesn't find anything suspicious. "oh yea. i'll send it to you right now. but i'm warning you, dude. i'm pretty sure they're a thing." and when his own phone buzzes, he couldn't help but smile. "okay whatever.. thanks,"

"anyway.. i gotta go. let's finish the series next time." he murmurs before rushing out the door. eric's attention wasn't even anywhere near what he said so he escaped through eric's house and immediately got into his car and dialed the number he had just received.

when he hears the phone call picked up and all you say was a simple "hello?" yet his heart was already fluttering. "hey. it's hyunjae. don't! end the call.. i just.. i know i don't exactly deserve it but i wanted to explain myself. about everything. no matter how late my apology is.. could we meet up somewhere?," the silence scared him. he wouldn't have known if you had the ended the call unless he hadn't checked. "y/n?"

"um. yea.. sure. meet me at the park near sunwoo's house," and with that, you ended the call. "hey guys.. i'm gonna head out. i'll be back in a few." you can see the two boys nod their head but you're sure they're too distracted with their gaming so you slip out the door with your bag and phone in your hand. when you parked your car, you could see a fancy car on the other side of the block. you watch as hyunjae walks out of the said vehicle. while you knew hyunjae had come from a wealthy family, it didn't occur to you that he was this wealthy.

"hey.. thanks for meeting me." hyunjae says, taking in your beauty. you hum a response, waiting for whatever he needed to say and seated yourself next to him on the bench. "so.."

"so. i came to apologize. and to explain. back when the guys had made this bet, it all started off because i thought you were pretty. but you know.. you hated the whole reputation thing we held so i knew i didn't have a chance with you. and when i said that you're totally out of my league, that you would never date me, they told me that they'd pay me if i got you to be my girlfriend. it was only for six months though. but i held out onto it. cause being with you felt so much better than i had first expected," you couldn't help but scoff. “and i know that none of this is an excuse to treat you this way. but i just want you to know that i never wanted you to get hurt. and i was just blinded by the fact that i could get a little bit of money while also getting the girl i liked. i was stupid. i'm sorry."

"how much?"

"huh?"

"how much?"

"$500."

"so playing with my heart was worth $500 for you?"

"i didn't take the money. i didn't take any of it. i told them that this was wrong and that none of it-"

"what do you want me to say? thanks? congrats?," hyunjae felt shivers down his spine when you stand up. he knew that in some sort of way, he had messed up again. "congrats for liking me despite the mere $500 i was worth? and for believing that this shitty apology cuts out for all those nights i cried myself to sleep. i hope you get some of that guilt off your chest because you sure seemed like you needed to get this off your chest. and i'm also sorry if you came today thinking i would accept your apology because i don't. i really wished i could." gathering your things, you make yourself back to your car before hearing, "i still love you!" you freeze in your place. what? when you feel his presence again, you slowly turn around. eyes in contact with one another and your hands stop moving.

"what?"

"y/n.. i never stopped loving you." your tears had started to build up to your eyes in which you failed to hide. with a swift move, you were in hyunjae's arms. this time, you could smell his cologne. his intoxicating cologne. and feel his heartbeat. the warm vibration as he mutters sorry over and over again. and as hard as it was, you place your hand on his chest and slowly push yourself away. "but you know what, hyunjae?," looking into his eyes once more, you smile. "it doesn't matter whether or not you took the money. it's the fact that you took a deal with my heart on the end of it because you were blinded by greed. goodbye."

for the second time, hyunjae watches you walk away. and it hurt the same just as it did the first time. but like the first, he can do nothing but watch.

--------------------

"so why the hell did you not tell me about hyunjae?" it's been almost two weeks since the talk and sunwoo is freaking out over hyunjae. technically, he's not even supposed to know about him but he walked in on juyeon and you talking about what to do with hyunjae. now sunwoo has seated the both of you at your shared dining table and demands to know what happened. all you could do was sigh because you knew his stubbornness wouldn't help.

"him and i dated senior year. we met each other in high school. and just like a wattpad story, he was your regular fuck boy that flirted with every girl he had the chance to. but he was sweet to me. spoke to me about his true interests. if that's even what those were.. anyway. basically i thought that he was able to open himself up to me that he couldn't to others because of his image. we dated 10 months and into the summer, he tells me that he didn't mean it to end this way but that everything just started off as a bet among his friends. we fought back and forth. cause he just kept giving me this bullshit excuse that he meant everything despite the bet. so i ended up yelling at him and left australia," sunwoo's jaw dropping was enough for you to know hyunjae was no longer invited to your birthday parties. "but i know that you guys are good friends. and i'm sure he's changed now. so don't mind me. i just happen to have a history with him."

"okay so wait.. i only care about one thing right now."

"what?" sunwoo clears his throat, staring at juyeon. "do you still like him?" you stare at your hands on your lap, not knowing how to answer. juyeon had seen this coming. matter of fact, he's been hurt by your answer to this question every time. even when you replied yes or the silence. it both meant you still had feelings for hyunjae anyway. but this time. "i don't know." juyeon's eyes shift over to you. he wondered what made you change your answer this time. you honestly didn't know either. "okay then? and i think you're right. hyunjae has changed. so i hope you don't mind that we'll still occasionally hang out." you shook your head, reassuring that you were okay with this.

a month passes since you got back from america and you were settled for good now. taking up little projects and finding customers here and there. your online shop helped a lot in setting up this mini business for you. juyeon and younghoon really helped out in advertising.

just as you push your shopping cart in the supermarket, you find yourself in front of someone. "hyunjae.."

"hey. how's everything going?" you smile at the casual conversation starter. "good.. yea. you?"

"the same old. same old..," as you pull your cart out of the way, hyunjae takes a hold of your hand. "y/n.. can i suggest something?" you stare at him, confused.

"i know this is a stretch. but i'd rather know i took all the chances i had with you before fully letting go. and.. i was wondering if you would go on three dates. just three. no strings attached and nothing serious. i'll treat you to all three. and if you truly feel absolutely nothing, i'll let you go. hmm?"

--------------------

"what did she say? she obviously said no, right?" younghoon watches as juyeon stresses out. you had to go to an appointment and since juyeon wasn't home, you had told younghoon to let juyeon know what's going on. "she said yes."

"what?"

"she wants to give him a chance."

"you're kidding, right-"

"not because she wants this to work. she just wants to feel better. she agrees that this relationship needs a better wrap-up. that's why she agreed," with juyeon's sigh, younghoon chuckles. "don't worry. she doesn't like him." at his words, juyeon lets out an awkward chuckle. "you knew?"

"knew what? that you like y/n? yea dude. it's pretty obvious. i'm sure almost everyone at the birthday party caught on," his panicking breaths was enough for younghoon to pat juyeon's back. "except y/n.. knowing her, she would've probably said something about it by now. so lighten up, dude. and let her end this relationship the way she wants before fully going for it." juyeon nods slowly.

--------------------

the first date took place on september 13. his very own birthday. he ended up holding his party a few days before instead to spend it with you.  hyunjae took you out to an amusement park with little mazes in between. he bought you all your favorite snacks that you were shocked he even remembered. dropping cute comments out of nowhere. "you look so pretty." while playing with his fingers. "let me.." while tying your shoelaces. he didn't try anything too much and kept his distance with you. enough to show respect and you admired him for that. although it wouldn't be the thing that would bring you back to him. because no matter how much he looked out for you, this just wasn't it.

the second date took place on october 31. you remember the first halloween party you went together, his shih tzu welcomed you. maybe that was why but this time, he took you to a dog cafe. you were able to enjoy your favorite coffee while playing with cute samoyeds and poodles. really attentive to you, he made sure you were able to feed the puppies, play with him, and stay after hours too. you were sure that one cost a bit. but you pretended not to know as he tried to hide his payment as much as possible. you hated to admit. but he was a gentleman. well, in a way, you guess he always was. but no matter how much he paid attention to you, this just wasn't it.

the third and final date took place on november 15. he took you to a festival. one that usually sells out fast and only comes twice a year. he made sure to keep refilling tickets to allow you more games, which meant more stuffed animals. when it hit ten o'clock, the fireworks went off. you let him hug you. you understand. fireworks makes one emotional. you slowly wrap your arms around him. "i love you.." you stare at the show in the sky. "mm.. it's so pretty....." hyunjae tried not to notice you didn't say it back. but he wasn't expecting much. because no matter how much he made you feel loved, this just wasn't it.

he knew. he knew all of it. he knew that even if you still liked him.. your heart belonged to another. you just didn't know it.

--------------------

about a few weeks after the final date, hyunjae reaches out to you. saying he wanted to meet up on november 30. you don't know why he had to push it back two weeks to hear your answer. but you knew the feeling. the feeling of wanting to stop time and just love a little longer.

juyeon had barely asked you about any of the dates with you and hyunjae. and to say you were worried was an understatement. whether you noticed or not, juyeon's opinion mattered a lot to you. you thought about it. why your heart ached when he wasn't home much anymore to ask you things and why it bothered you so much to not see him in his room before going to sleep. he'd been the guy you go to. the therapist that helps you solve any situation. the dancer who helped you open up when you doubted your skill in photography. the guy that reminded you your self worth and brought you back to this world. the best friend you fell in love with.

you blinked at your realization. all this time you had thought falling in love with hyunjae was easy. maybe love wasn't supposed to be easy. maybe it was supposed to be a roller coaster. driving over to hyunjae's was now a lighter feeling than how the day started off. when hyunjae saw you parking in the driveway, he prepared himself. he took in a breath and opened the door.

"want some tea?" hyunjae offers, knowing you're not here to stay long anyway. but it was still worth a try. he told himself that he'd give it his all and he was trying. even if he knew, nothing would ever work. you shake your head and sit down on one of the chairs by his kitchen counter. "hyunjae.. i came here to say that-"

"wait," he stops you, scared. "lemme go first," when he sees you nod softly, he gulps. "look. the past three dates has been everything to me. i don't regret any of it. i'm so happy i saw you smile. i'm so happy i got to hug you. and i'm so happy i got to tell you that i love you. one last time..," he bites his quivering lip as tears rise up in his eyes. "i know what you're here to say. so i just wanted to say thank you. thanks for giving me a chance to love you again. thanks for giving me a chance to treat you the way i couldn't back then." hearing his voice crack made your heart break. you wanted to wipe his tears away but you know you shouldn't. you don't get to since you're the cause of those tears anyway.

"hyunjae..," you watch his hands shaking in his lap, slowly placing your hand in his. you feel his tears falling on your fingers, tears threatening to fall yourself. "i'm sorry i can't tell you what you want me to say. thank you for showing me the person you have become and that you will find someone better. i know that's such a bitchy thing to say. but i mean it. hyunjae.. you've grown. and i really would've liked it if this would've worked. but i'm.. i just-"

"you love juyeon," as you look up, a tear falls down your right cheek. he slowly stands up, sniffling through his tears. "you should go to him. i know he's probably wrecking his brain right now, waiting."

you let out a chuckle before wiping your own tears. "can i hug you?" you nod as you allow yourself to be engulfed in his warm embrace. hyunjae's uneven breathing didn't make any of this easier. after about a minute, you slowly pull away. "thanks hyunjae.. for everything." with a nod of agreement, you both let go and he walks you out.

"y/n...," you turn around. "at least tell me one thing.. will he treat you better?"

"mhmm.. he's the best."

"then.. that's all that matters."

as soon as you get in your car and you're on the road, your phone starts dialing. and to no surprise, you're hit with voicemail. "juyeon? i have something to say to you. i'm on my way home. please.. please be there.." you knew juyeon felt something for you. it'd be crazy if he hadn't. almost every friend of yours has asked you if you were dating him. just by the way he looks at you, treats you, and finds some way to stop you from going on blind dates; that your friends set up. you just didn't say anything because it wasn't like you could reject him and risk loosing him forever or accept him while you were still in love with another. your parked car in the driveway was nothing near straight but you honestly just wanted to get back into the house. running to the door, frustrated that you couldn't find your house keys. but when the door unlocks and you're met with just the man you wanted to see, your body just wants one thing. you immediately hug him. "i'm so sorry.. i'm so sorry for not doing something before."

"you idiot. i've been waiting for like three months. if the past two years doesn't count." you were so relieved from his words that your heart skipped two beats.

"look ju.. i don't know what to say."

"then don't say anything.. just kiss me." not even a second passes before your lips are on his. despite the ticklish feeling of his eyelashes batting against your cheek and the fact you two were still at the door, this couldn't have felt more right. you and juyeon. you should've noticed sooner. but for now, him having his hand on your back and the other on your neck was just perfect. it felt like nothing in the world could go wrong. after a while, you slowly let go. only because you were running out of breath.

"so. do i get to meet your parents now?" you chuckle at the way his mind works. "yes.. i'll arrange something," you slowly watch him close the door and walk you to the sofa. the two of you lay together, your head on his chest as he softly combs through your hair. you hum at the feeling. "at least i won't have to see my dad alone.."

"what happened? with your parents, i mean. you never told me why you're so scared to see your dad." with a sigh, you stare at your hands intertwined with his. "well.. the thing with my dad is that.. i've watched my dad fight with my mom one too many times and after moving with my mom in the divorce, i'm scared that he hates me. he's not abusive or mean or anything, actually. in fact, i love my dad. but i'm so scared that he doesn't want to see me anymore. especially after i ran when he saw me at the grocery store five years ago. i literally ran away. he hates me. i just know it.."

you watch as juyeon gives you a very judging look. "really?"

"what?"

"y/n.. what's not to like about you being his daughter? i'm sure this is all just a misunderstanding. you know what? you're gonna go see him. now." juyeon instantly starts packing some stuff in a bag and running to get the car keys that you had just threw on the ground a while ago. "wait! wait.. can you come with me then?" juyeon's grin slowly changes into a terrified facial expression.

"me? meet your father?" a few seconds later, and younghoon comes walking down the stairs. "so yall done now?" the blushing looks of both your faces was enough to make him chuckle.

"how long were you there?"

"long enough to say finally. come on. pack up. i'll drive us over to your dad's house. in fact, sunwoo texted me that he has a cold but sunwoo has to stay at work. so we're gonna go there and take care of him."

--------------------

the loud sound of your heartbeat echoed in your chest, all the way up to your ears that you could barely hear anything around you. as you waited at the doorstep of what you've been told was where your dad lived, juyeon holds your hand tightly. younghoon chuckles behind the two of you when he sees the two of your shoulders tighten at the sound of footsteps getting closer.

"who is it?," as the door opens, your eyes widen. you curse at yourself just imagining how stupid you must look. "y/n."

"dad?"

"uhh... come on in." your dad clears his throat and moves out the way. hesitant, but you enter, taking in the view of the house. when you're suddenly pulled back into a hug, who you assume was juyeon, or younghoon, was the very father you believe hated you. "dad.."

"y/n. i am so happy to see you here. i really am."

tears rose up as you wrapped your arms around him.

--------------------

10 months later and today was the day of the france dance event. you're in the crowd, cheering for lee juyeon, your boyfriend, right next to all the boys and your father sitting next to you. hearing the crowd chanting your boyfriend's name made you feel proud. you glance over at hyunjae who was obviously staring. and for once, you had the power to stop looking. not like all those years. and for once, you're looking at someone who loves you as much as you love them. you join in with your fans.

"lee juyeon! lee juyeon! lee juyeon!"

you watched as the scores to his short and free add up. his ranking going from 4th to 2nd and a point away from 1st to "lee juyeon! winner of this year’s best dance performance! congratulations!!" the last thing you remember is screaming and the place going wild.

--------------------

the after party was as good as it gets. a little bit fancier than what you and your boys are used to. but they offered chocolate ice cream, juyeon's favorite. but now that you were back home, you were able to grill steak outside and hold a little after party amongst yourselves.

once everybody left, you and juyeon find your way outside again with a bottle of wine and glasses. "juyeon.. congratulations."

"i won it for you."

"what do you mean?"

"do you remember when we first met? and you told how amazing it'd be if i won the comp event.. that you'd grant me a wish," you blink, reminiscing the moment, slowly nodding. "well, i was going to wish for you to give me a chance. but since that's already happened.." you watched as he cleared his throat and started to bend down on one knee. you gasped, seeing the box in his hands.

"oh my god. juyeon." your hands covering your mouth in shock. "y/n.. for as long as i've known you, i have spent every second liking you and loving you. i overthought every single detail. but now that it comes to this, i thought as long as i'm the one down on one knee and you're the one in front of me, where i do it, how i do it, when i do it.. it shouldn't matter. i love you, y/n. will you be the one watching me from the stands at competitions as long as i shall dance? and will you let me be the one to love you from now and forever? marry me?"

"yes.. yes! oh my.. ju yes!" the next thing you know, people surrounding you in hollers. "you guys didn't go home yet?" juyeon's confused look makes everyone laugh. "after making it that obvious you were proposing? hell no." sunwoo says.

"well.. can we have our moment before you ruin it even more?" you say as the boys crowd your romantic moment. they all start mumbling apologies, giving you two space. "anyway... where were we?" you smile as he wraps his arms around your waist.

"i believe we were about to kiss."

"i believe you said yes..”

"i sure did.. i love you."

"and i love you, my love.."

[weirdkpopgirl]

Café Love | Jaemin Fic #2

Title: Café Love

Genre: Fluff, Barista AU

Warnings: mentions of anxiety, alcohol, cancer

Word Count: ~2.3k

Author's Note: This is just something I've been working on the past week. I am a part-time barista, so I got a little inspiration for this story. My friend also helped me come up with half of this, so I credit her great ideas. I really hope you guys like this. Thank you for reading ^ - ^

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Ever since freshman year of college started, Kim (Y/n) found herself in three places. The campus building where she attended classes, her apartment where she studied and recharged from social overstimulation, and the part-time job at Cafe 7 she had gotten two summers ago.

(Y/n) honestly enjoyed being a barista. Not so much the interacting-with-customers part. It was more of the soft music that played in the background and the aroma of coffee beans she had grown to like. Having friendly coworkers was also a plus.

“Hey, (Y/n)!” Jaemin waved from behind the counter when he saw her coming through the entrance. She smiled and shyly waved back.

Jaemin was one of those friendly coworkers. When they met a few months ago, (Y/n) was a little intimidated by his charismatic personality. But after getting to know him, she came to see that he was a pretty interesting person. 

Early on, she learned he was a college dropout who would be in the year above her if he hadn’t. He loved coffee and drank two to three cups with four extra shots daily. On his off days, he enjoyed photography and often liked to take pictures of his friends.

The two of them exchanged small talk until their other coworker, Hyejin came, allowing Jaemin to get off his shift. He usually worked in the morning on weekdays while (Y/n) took the closing shifts because of school.

Jaemin often noticed the tiredness in her eyes, whether she had stayed up too late studying or was drained from class. Nonetheless, she still came nearly every day, ready to work.

A few minutes after he clocked out, he realized he forgot his phone. Just as he reentered the cafe, he spotted (Y/n) and Hyejin behind the counter. (Y/n) was preparing a customer’s order, while Hyejin was talking to her. 

Not wanting to eavesdrop, he headed to the back and grabbed his phone to leave again. But he stopped in his tracks when he heard his name mentioned.

“Na Jaemin, is kinda cute don’t you think?” He heard Hyejin say. “He seems like your ideal type.”

(Y/n) hated how her cheeks immediately flushed at Hyejin’s comment. What she said wasn’t necessarily wrong. For one thing, Jaemin was one of those rare guys who was genuinely kind. He was introverted, which sparked many conversations about their quiet lifestyles. He also had a lovely smile.

Even though (Y/n) wasn’t too experienced (or at all) in the field of dating, Jaemin was everything she could hope for in a guy. Yet—as much as the thought of him made her heart flutter, a sense of discouragement came with it.

“Yeah he is. But I don’t think it would work out.” (Y/n) shook her head, as she poured steamed milk into a cup with espresso. 

“Why do you say that?”

She reached for a lid and cup holder. “I just…can’t see why a guy would like me. Much less someone like Na Jaemin.”

“What are you talking about?” Hyejin scoffed in disbelief. “There’s so many things to like about you—”

But (Y/n) quickly interrupted and handed Hyejin the drink she just made. “No, there really isn’t. Now, can you deliver this to the girl over there?”

A frown etched on Jaemin’s face, upset by what he heard. (Y/n)’s words stuck with him the rest of the day. Frankly, he’s liked her for quite some time now. In the beginning, she was very reserved and only spoke to him when necessary. But once she warmed up, he thought of (Y/n) as a bundle of everything soft and cute in the world.

He loved the way her eyes lit up when she talked about something she was passionate about. He liked the sweet tone she used when telling customers to have a good day before they left. His heart always did flip-flops whenever she hummed to certain songs that played in the cafe.

“You’re so whipped,” Jeno teased, after listening to Jaemin’s rant back at home.

Jaemin’s feet kicked on the bed. “I just don’t understand! Why would she think that I wouldn’t like her?”

“I don’t know. Maybe you should try showing her you do,” Jeno shrugged.

He let his best friend’s words sink into his head. The suggestion didn’t sound too bad.  If he wanted (Y/n) to know his true feelings, showing was better than telling right?

So following Jeno’s advice, Jaemin became determined to prove (Y/n) wrong. His official plan to pursue her was formed.

He practically had to beg their manager, Johnny, to put him and (Y/n) together for more shifts. It took some convincing, but the tall male eventually gave in.

“(Y/n)-ah!” He called, standing by the espresso machine.

“Yeah?”

He picked up the slip of receipt paper with a customer’s order on it and scratched his head. “I forgot how to make a matcha frappe. Can you show me?”

(Y/n) sighed and shook her head before grabbing the bottle of matcha from the fridge. 

“Haven’t you been working here longer than me? How did you forget?” She lightly scolded.

In response, Jaemin smiled brightly at her. “Luckily, I have a beautiful, smart coworker to help me out.”

He didn’t miss the shade of pink that was dusted across her cheeks. But she tried to play it off and cleared her throat before asking him to hand her a measuring cup. 

After that day, there were several other occurrences where (Y/n) would find herself in a flustered state. Na Jaemin was seriously driving her crazy. Receiving compliments from him wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. But recently, (Y/n) felt like he was doing it on a different level.

After closing, Johnny would say “Good job today, guys!” 

Jaemin would then add, “Especially our (Y/n)-i~!”

The days passed and Jaemin’s flirtations continued. 

One day he would be like, “That sweater looks nice on you, (Y/n)-ssi. The color compliments your skin!”

Another time he said, “I like the way you styled your hair today! You should wear it like that more often.”

Every day they worked together, he somehow managed to say something to make her blush profusely. But the more he did it, the more (Y/n) found herself appreciating his kind words. For someone who was constantly overthinking, Jaemin’s encouragement was reassuring.

“(Y/n), try this!” He handed her a glass containing a red-colored beverage. 

Business was slow today, and only two customers were here. So Jaemin was fooling around, making random drinks.

She raised an eyebrow. “Why don’t you try it?”

“I don’t like strawberries,” He said plainly.

Convinced by his excuse, (Y/n) reluctantly took a sip of the smoothie. He watched as her eyes widened with delight.

“It’s good!” She gave him a thumbs up in approval.

(Y/n) placed the beverage down and glanced over to the people sitting near the window. Her smile slowly began to fade as she watched the girl feed the guy a piece of cake. They looked at each other with so much endearment. 

“They look cute, don’t you think?” She gestured to their table. “The couple over there.”

  “Why do you sound so sad when saying that?” Jaemin asked.

She shrugged. “I don’t know…I kinda wish I had what they had. But I know that could never happen to me.”

He tilted his head in confusion.“What do you mean?”

(Y/n)’s gaze shifted over to Jaemin, looking at him with slight hesitation. She bit her lip, contemplating whether to be truthful. It was Jaemin at the end of the day. He wouldn’t judge her, right?

“I’ve struggled with anxiety all of my life.” Her eyes rested on her folded hands on the counter. It sounded as if she was embarrassed by this confession. Jaemin could tell this was a hard topic for her to talk about. 

“And it stops me from doing a lot of things,” (Y/n) continued, “I’ve never been in a relationship. But if I were, I fear I’d just end up becoming a burden to that person.”

What she said next made Jaemin’s heart hurt. She turned to look at him, wearing a sad smile. “Honestly, I can’t imagine why a person would love me.”

This was probably the most real she’s ever been with someone. She wasn’t exactly sure why she was telling Jaemin all this. It felt scary, after being used to hiding this part of herself.

Jaemin went silent, pondering on what to say. She began to worry, afraid she had overshared.

“I’m sorry for telling you this—”

“A person doesn't need a reason to love, they just do,” Jaemin then said. 

He took a step closer, where the two faced each other. Their shoes almost touched. The compassion pouring from his eyes made her heart beat faster.

“You deserve to be loved, Kim (Y/n),” He spoke softly. “Even if you don’t think so.”

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That moment with Jaemin kept replaying in (Y/n)’s head. She couldn’t stop thinking about his words, and it was slowly driving her insane.

“It seems like he likes you,” Hyejin said after hearing what happened.

The idea immediately caused (Y/n) to shake her head in denial. “What? No, it can’t be—”

But Hyejin cut her off. “You seriously don’t know guys, (Y/n)-ah. Giving compliments, making drinks for you, and saying sappy sweet stuff? Those are all signs that he likes you!”

Was she that oblivious? The possibility of Jaemin actually liking her never crossed her mind. This whole time, (Y/n) thought he was just being a nice senior. 

“You really think so?” (Y/n) asked, still a little unsure.

Hyejin nodded, “But the real question is, do you like him too?”

Thinking back to what her coworker said, (Y/n) recalled all the time she experienced this strange feeling whenever she was around Jaemin. He truly was a kindhearted person. She didn’t think she'd ever met a man as sincere as him.

But just as (Y/n) was slowly accepting her feelings for Jaemin, the boy’s sweet acts toward her stopped. He barely talked during shifts and kept to himself. (Y/n) started to think that maybe Hyejin was wrong. Maybe he was just playing with her.

However, (Y/n) suspected that wasn’t it when he started missing days of work. And she began to understand the saying ��absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

Unable to sleep one night, (Y/n) left her apartment and dropped by the convenience store. Having a drink sounded like a good idea to get her mind off things. She didn’t expect to see the very boy occupying her thoughts, sitting outside downing a shot of soju.

“Jaemin?”

Instantly his head turned to (Y/n) who cautiously approached his table. She noticed his eyes were slightly red. Had he been crying?

“Oh (Y/n) sorry, I didn’t see you there.” He swiped his eyes, pretending as if everything was normal.

But (Y/n) wasn’t fooled by the fake smile he wore. She sat down in the empty chair beside him. He reached for the green bottle to pour another glass for himself. But she placed her hand over his, stopping him.

“Jaemin-ssi…what’s wrong?” She asked gently.

He sucked in a breath and looked down. He didn’t want to bother (Y/n) with his problems. But he had been holding so much in, that he was on the verge of exploding if he didn’t tell someone.

“My mom has stomach cancer, stage four,” Jaemin swallowed.

Her jaw dropped slightly at this. She didn’t know what to say. “Jaemin, I…I’m so sorry.”

“I’m such a bad son,” He lamented, pressing his knuckles against his temple. “I should’ve known something was wrong. I should’ve been taking more care of her.”

Seeing Jaemin look so utterly broken made (Y/n) want to take away all his pain. She could only imagine what he was going through.

“Jaemin, your mom being sick isn’t your fault. It was out of your control,” She said, squeezing his hand.

The boy shook his head. “It’s not just that though.”

He started to tell her about how throughout his childhood, his mom worked as a single parent and had a tteokbokki stand. She spent so many years, earning money to send her only son off to college. But he didn’t even last a week and instead was working a part-time job.

“Gosh, I’m so worthless!” He clenched the shot glass in his hand, as more tears spilled out of his eyes.

(Y/n) frowned and countered, “Na Jaemin, you are not worthless. So many people think you’re lovely and wonderful. Anyone who has you in their lives is lucky and loves you.”

“Do you?” He glanced up at her with teary eyes.

She didn’t say anything for a few seconds, thinking about his question.

“Honestly, I was worried when you suddenly disappeared,” She quietly admitted. “I guess I got used to you always cheering me on. When I’m with you, I feel like I can be myself without judgment.”

(Y/n) gathered all the courage to meet his eyes once more. “You’ve become the most precious person in my life. So yes…I think I’m in love with you.”

Those three words that just left her mouth were frightening. But they felt that much real. Her heartbeat sped up uncontrollably, and her face was hot. She searched Jaemin’s eyes for a response, wondering if she made a mistake.

But then he leaned over to pull her into a hug, startling her. “Thank you (Y/n) For being the one person in my life that doesn’t mind my flaws.”

Touched by his words, (Y/n) slowly smiled and hugged him back. By the way, he held her tightly, she knew that her feelings were not one-sided.

“Maybe because I have a lot of flaws myself,” She murmured. 

Jaemin slightly pulled out of the hug and smiled at her brightly. He leaned over to place a soft kiss on her forehead.

“And they are perfect.”

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[lost-estradiographer]

What decision tree led to the amount of bread you've eaten in the past 72 hours?

In 2009, I decided to take a metals and manufacturing course in high school. I had an undiagnosed learning disability at the time, and tech ed courses helped me to pad my otherwise-suffering grades. In that class, I met someone who would go on to become one of my closest friends to this day.

Many years later, that same friend introduced me to a new friend whom they had met through work. We hit it off well enough, and they likewise became a good friend in short order.

December 31st, 2019, I decided to go out to a bar with this friend-of-a-friend (my friend) and a friend of theirs unrelated to all of this, except that while at the bar, that friend-of-a-friend-in-law booted up Pokemon Go.

Now, I'd tried Pokemon Go when it came out, but it was kind of lacking. And I really didn't have the motivation.

But then COVID.

So I got WAY into Pokemon Go. Which got me into hiking, and photography.

Nearly two years later, on Halloween, 2021, I was hiking at Maryland Heights, on the cliffs above Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. I still have photos of that day. I'm actually a descendant of John Brown's brother, Jacob. But I was hiking that day, and as I rested on a rock midway up the trail, I realized I wanted to go to college to study the environmental humanities.

By autumn of 2022, I was enrolled as a freshman in my undergraduate studies and I took a course titled Introduction to Sustainability: a 100-level option for our required introductory course in the program. As a part of this course, we had to undertake a project in sustainable living. Specifically, we had to make a change in our lifestyle for eight weeks and write on it, as well as working out the environmental impact of said change. Now, I was working as a delivery driver and I live in the Midwestern U.S., so driving less would be... difficult. I opted to stop eating meat! Specifically, I adopted a pescatarian diet: vegetarian plus fish, because I love shrimp and crab and lobster.

And it turned out to be super easy! I've basically stuck with it ever since, albeit with some cheat days. It's more ethical than dietary, so I'm open to meat when it's (as) ethically-sourced (as it can be with knowledge that something lived and died for the meal). But that's deff shaped my food preferences, and when I recently moved across town to be within walking distance of work and campus, proximity to local bagel shops did factor into my decision.

So I suppose if I had to narrow it down, it was choosing welding over woodworking in 2009 that led me to eat two bagels and three grilled cheese sandwiches in the past 72 hours. It would've been three bagels, but the most convenient place is closed on Mondays.