#Wow I didn't use orange text that's crazy

[pizza-tower-comics]

An assortment of drawings of the character "The Noise" by one of the comic's artists.

[6rookie-writer0110]

Slow night & Love Feel

Caitlin Snow X Male Reader

Request- Can you make Caitlin Snow X male reader dating.

You are sick and you are in the apartment feeling like crap. You have been watching tv all day and eating soup and drinking orange juice. You got the flu and you hate being sick. You texted your girlfriend and you wait for her text...

You- babe, bring pizza, please 🥺

Caitlin - you are still sick. You need more soup

You - I'm tired of soup. Ugh.

You turned on the ps5 and you start to play online with your friends. You and your friends have a competition and you try to beat them.

Caitlin went to the store to buy more medicine and tea. She bought dinner now she is happy to go home and rest. She opened the door, you smiled at her. You helped her with the bags and you felt very happy.

“You got pizza!!” You smiled.

“Yeah, I know you have been craving pizza. So, tonight's dinner is pizza and before bed, you will drink tea” Caitlin said.

You would kiss her but you are sick. Now you and Caitlin start to eat pizza together but far from each other. She starts to talk about her day and what the team has been up to.

You and Caitlin have been dating for three years now. You moved in with her because she had more space for your stuff. Caitlin, is happy because she doesn't have to hide that she works with the flash. You and Caitlin support each other in everything. You are happy with her and she means a lot to you.

“Babe-”

You didn't finish your sentence because you sneezed. When you are sick, your power can be out of control. You can mimic any kind of power of your choice when you touch someone. Now you turned into full ice

“Wow, Y/n you turned into ice now. Last time you turned into fire than the other time you used teleport” Caitlin said.

“Ugh, I hate being sick because my ability goes all crazy. Hours ago, I had heat vision and I destroyed your laptop by mistake” You said.

You grabbed the laptop and it's cut in half. You promised you will get her a new laptop and she isn't mad at you.

“Wow, I don't know what to say,” Caitlin said.

“I’m sorry, babe,” You said.

The ice power starts to disappear from your body.

Usually, you would sleep with Caitlin but you can't tonight. You don't want to get her sick, so you sleep in the living room on the sofa bed and she sleeps in the bedroom. Sometimes she wears your shirt or hoodie to bed.

----

You are at star labs and you are alone with your girlfriend.

“Babe, I thought maybe we can take cooking lessons together. I thought it would be fun for us” Caitlin said.

“What kind of cooking lessons?” You asked.

“Not sure, maybe Italian food?” Caitlin said.

“That will be interesting. I always wanted to cook pasta food differently besides just adding tomato sauce” You said.

“Good to know that you will take the lessons with me” Caitlin smiled

She wrapped her arms around you and she starts to kiss you passionately. Her lipstick gets on your lips then Barry walked into the lab with Joe. Joe cleared his throat then you moved away from Caitlin. You start to wipe your lips and you give them a nervous smile.

“Hey, guys,” You said.

“Y/n, you got something on your lips,” Joe said.

You wipe your mouth again.

“Sorry. Umm, I found the files that you needed” Caitlin said.

“Umm, thanks,” Barry said.

You and Caitlin are starting to feel awkward and silence is making it worse.

✫ ✯ ✬ ✫

You and Caitlin went to the cooking class, you and Caitlin will try to learn how to cook pasta food and pastry. The first lesson was to try to make gnocchi.

“This taste bad,” You said.

“Yeah, you put too much salt. I need water” Caitlin said.

You and Caitlin tried again to make it but this time, she makes sure you don't add too much salt. You and Caitlin are having fun together learning something new. Next, you and Caitlin are learning how to bake Cannoli.

----

Caitlin is working late at the lab and she hasn't eaten anything. You figured she skipped lunch and just buried herself with work. You went to pick up dinner and went to the lab.

“Y/n, you came,” Caitlin said.

You bend down to kiss her and she smiled.

“I know you must be hungry and probably skipped lunch. So, I got us dinner to eat right now because you need a break” You said.

“Yes, I am hungry. I lost time while working on something to help the team” Caitlin said.

You and Caitlin sit in the break room and you start to take out the food. You and Caitlin start to eat together and she starts to ask about your day.

After dinner, you take Caitlin home. She is wearing your hoodie and she cuddles with you in bed. You and Caitlin couldn't agree on a movie so you two end up watching a rerun episode of a show.

---

You and Caitlin have been arguing for almost two weeks. The argument got so bad that you went to stay with Joe and Cecile for a while. They gave you advice on how to work it out with your girlfriend, you still love her and you don't want to lose her.

You went to buy flowers and it's late, you know she will be at the lab. She is working on the computer and you take a deep breath.

“Hey, Caitlin,” You said.

She turned around and you smile at her.

“What are you doing here, Y/n?” Caitlin asked.

“I came to apologize and I got flowers for you. I want us to stop arguing” You said.

You give her the flowers and she smelled the flowers.

“I want don't want to argue either. I'm sorry I kicked you out. Y/n, I want us to be good again” Caitlin said.

“Me too, babe” You said.

You wrapped your arms around her body and she starts to kiss you passionately. You and Caitlin smiled at each other, you kiss her again.

[qianoir]

IT3D 1 - Hua Mulan

𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: college students!WayV x Chinese fem!reader

𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: non-idol au, college au

𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 18+ (Do not interact if you are under 18)

𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: heavy cursing (censored), mentions of sex, nudity, love octogon, foreign humor, overbearing parents

♡ 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 1.3k

𝐓𝐚𝐠 𝐋𝐢𝐬𝐭: @eggbutnotyolk @d1nne @fanficbitchwhowriteskpop @staysstrays

Preview < 1 < 2 < 3

"I've only been in New York City for 15 hours, Xuejiao. And it's huge! I don't know these streets you're telling me!" You shout, ignoring the side-eyes from the passerby city slickers that give New York it’s bad stereotype.

"You're going down 96th Street right? I told you to keep going down. It's a long a.ss street. You'll find the campus eventually- look for the dome!"

The connection breaks as Xuejiao finishes the call, "I gotta go now, I’m trying to get in my astrology professor’s pants after class!" The line goes silent and you huff, opening up GPS to lead you down the forsaken 96th Street. Distracted with directions, some guy crashes into you with his bike.

"What the hell!? Watch where you're going!" You yell picking up your fallen bag- which scattered all of my weeaboo s.hit.

"Maybe if you didn't stand in the middle of the street, you wouldn't have wrecked my bike! You're lucky you didn't get killed by a real car!" You looked up at the ignorant voice and found a young, orange-haired Asian boy. Maybe Chinese, like me?

"I wrecked your bike!? You're really unbelievable.." You placed everything back into the bag and took out your wallet. "Look, I don't have time for this. I'm sorry for damaging your tricycle, or whatever- here." You threw a fully punched Xing Fu Tang loyalty card at the kid’s dumbfounded face and walked off.

It's 9:57 AM, your o-chem class starts at 10 and you still can't find the campus. Why did my parents even make me leave Hong Kong? Because of the government, the pollution? Both countries are f.ucked. I choke there and I choke here.

Finally, I'm here.

You ran to the STEM building and up the stairs to land in a spacious lab room. You hurried to an empty seat near the top row. 9:59 AM.. Thank goodness.

In the midst of the lesson, the door opened to reveal the same clumsy jerk you had encountered a few minutes ago. He rushed to an empty seat, you going unnoticed by him.

Your first 50 minutes of college went by pretty quick. Nothing more than a syllabus review and a small question/answer session.

"I know it is the first day, but you are all in big kid school now, so I am assigning a semester project you will work on for all of this first term with a partner." Each array of your peers groaned at this announcement.

"You will use your knowledge from high school chemistry or an equivalent to complete it." The professor continued, "I will choose your partners and you are both expected to be responsible with it all semester."

"Remember your partner's name so that when I'm done, you can come down to get each other's contact information."

"Man Wol and Ji An.. Ha Jin and Hae Soo.."

The professor continued to call out names as you were caught up in texting Xuejiao about the kid who crashed into you earlier this morning being in your class, only half listening until you heard your name being called.

“Y/N and Yangyang.." Did I miss a racist joke or something? What the hell is a Yang Yang?

You kept texting Xuejiao, deciding to deal with it after class.

"I know it's a lot to take in on the first day, but on the bright side, you don't have to do the project," Some idiots celebrated, "but know that I will judge you harshly on it and I will be teaching at an Ivy League while you get kicked out of an Ivy League, never achieving your dreams." He fakes a sad face and the same idiots fuss.

"Now come meet your partners and have a good rest of your first day!" Your first professor dismissed the first class.

You put your phone in your pocket and stumbled to the bottom of the classroom, calling out for "Yangyang," the name feeling awkward as it rolled off your tongue.

"That's me." You spun around and were met with the trike guy from earlier.

"IT'S YOU!" You exclaimed in unison with him, the space between you two silencing for a second, before you spoke again.

"Oh my God I can't believe I got such a d!ck as a partner." You rolled your eyes with crossed arms.

"Hey! It takes two to d!ck!" Yangyang argues back. You stared at the fellow Asian boy in disgust and dismay.

"What the f.uck!?"

Both of you suddenly broke down laughing, your huddled classmates peeking at you with judgemental stares.

Yangyang calmed down and talked more comfortably with you, "Thanks for the boba by the way. I drank it deliciously.. before I dropped it because I crashed again."

"That's what you get for being a pr!ck to me." You scoffed.

"Oh baby that wasn't being a pr!ck. That was simply getting you warmed up to want me." He tapped your chin to bop your head back while giving a creepy stare.

...

"You're a f.ucking crazy person."

"Like it or not, Mulan, you're stuck with me for an entire semester." He stuck his tongue out at you.

"Mulan?" You questioned.

"Yeah. You're a Chinese b!tch, right?" You glared at him, but had to nod ‘yes’ anyway.

"Cool. I'm Taiwanese.. I need to get to the other side of campus so give me your number so we can work out the details on the project. You wanna meet up at the library tonight?" You agreed and gave him your number.

"Great. See you tonight, Mulan." He winked and jumped out of the room.

Shaking your head at the ironic situation, you walked to the next class with a little over 10 minutes to spare, so you stopped for coffee at the Starbucks on campus.

The shop was pretty small and there weren't a lot of people inside. As you were about to enter, another Asian boy held the door open. "Thank you." You smiled, bowing your head in gratitude.

"Anything for a girl with such a charming smile. Can I buy you a coffee?" He asked.

"No, that's ok!" You replied, not wanting to inconvenience this guy- and besides, he might just be trying to get in my pants.

"Please I insist! Get anything you want!" You decided to take his offer because in the end, it’s free coffee. He was also pretty charming himself, and seemingly harmless.

"Could I get an iced Americano, please?" You ordered. "I'll have the same." The boy told the barista.

You both stood to the side of the bar, talking while the identical drinks were being made. "Thank you for paying, you really didn't have to." "No no it's really fine. I wanted to.. I'm Dejun Xiao by the way, I think I'm in your chemistry class. What's your name?"

"I'm Y/N." "Oh are you Chinese!?" You nodded. "I'm Chinese as well. Are you from China?" "I'm from Hong Kong." "That's so cool! I'm from Guangdong." "Oh nice, nice.." The drinks were handed to you and you walked out together, strolling into the center of the campus.

"What class do you have next?" Dejun asked, sipping at his coffee. You took out a crumpled paper to examine the schedule printed on it. "I have biochem next." "Oh we have the same class!" Dejun announced. "That's crazy! Are you premed?" You asked him. "No, I'm studying forensic science. I want to be a homicide detective.”

Wow this guy is impressive. "Wow, that's awesome.. I want to be a heart surgeon.”

“That’s so cool!” "Thank you." You laughed at his energy. The two of you walked in the direction of your next shared class, conversing and giggling with each other along the way.

You reached your next classroom and found empty seats next to one another. “You can call me Xiaojun, by the way. I think it’s cooler than Dejun.”

“If you have to say your name is cool, then it’s not cool.” Another Asian man walked up to your row.

"Hey man! You're in here, too?" Xiaojun asked. "Yeah! It was a lucky draw." Xiaojun then motioned over to you, "This is Y/N. She's my new.. friend?" He smiled at you, looking for confirmation. Returning his smile, "Yes I am. Nice to meet you." The other male shook your hand and introduced himself. "Nice to meet you, too. I'm Kun."

"She's from China, like us!" Kun was surprised. "Really? Why did you come to America?" "My parents made me." You shrugged. "Wow mine did, too." Kun chuckled and sat down in the row of you and Xiaojun.

I left China, but China came to me. Maybe this year is destined to be good..

To be continued…

𝘲𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘳

[ethan-bears]

Home for Christmas (Nolan Patrick x Reader)

You've resigned yourself to spending this Christmas alone. But Nolan has other plans.

Author's note: I started writing this out as a thought to send to @lindylovegang for her soft thought night tonight but I realized it needed to be a small book whole fic instead, so I decided to do this instead of editing my final paper. This is also not edited. I might edit it later. Who knows.

Warnings: light swearing, holidays, slight angst but it gets fluffy real quick, it's my first fic so it's probably not great, I'm on mobile and I can't figure out "keep reading" and I'm very sorry

Word count: absolutely no idea but good luck fam

gif credit to: bretthowden

*****

This was not how you wanted to spend your first Christmas in Philadelphia. Ideally, you wouldn't even be in Philly at all right now. You should be on a plane back home to your family and friends and the warm, familiar streets of your hometown. You should be waking up tomorrow morning in your grandma's house with the smell of warm bread surrounding you like a hug.

But no. You were trapped.

The blizzard had started to roll in earlier this morning, and you thought to yourself that it wouldn't be that bad, right? It was just some flurries. They wouldn't ground any flights, right?

Oh how wrong you wound up being.

After three hours of waiting for news in the airport terminal, followed by another hour and a half desperately trying to reschedule your flight to a time that would still work and getting nothing out of every airline representative in the building, you somehow managed to get an Uber driver crazy enough to come get you in the ocean of snow. Fighting back tears, you tried to console yourself in the backseat. At least your apartment would be warm. And you had a little tree, so it would still feel like Christmas. You'd make some soup and Skype your family, and while it wouldn't be the same as being with them, it would be better than nothing!

"Reckless optimist," you sighed as you flipped the light switch to your apartment only to be met with continued darkness. Alone in a dark, cold, apartment on Christmas Eve, snowed in with nowhere to go in a city that came nowhere close to feeling like home. Merry Christmas. Slumping against the door, you felt your hot tears break free and cascade down your face. You decided to let all the stress and frustration that had been building all day take over your body, sobbing harder than you could ever remember. Each new wave shook your body, sending you to the floor. You didn't care. It couldn't get worse, so why not act like it?

During a pause in the festivities you decided to check your phone to see if you had any messages from your dad, only to find a text you definitely didn't expect from someone who was definitely not your father.

Sir Nolan the Rosy-Faced: hey, just checking in, i know you're probably mid flight rn but just wanted to make sure you land safely when you do. Crazy storm. Text me?

Sniffing, you paused to process the message. Nolan wanted to make sure you were safe? It shouldn't really have surprised you, but the fact that he was concerned enough to text you while he thought you were still midair was...touching.

You fired a short text back explaining that the flight wasn't happening, thinking he'd respond with a simple "okay" or an "oh, sorry to hear that :(". But the next text you got (mere seconds later) surprised you again.

Sir Nolan: oh my god that sucks! Wait.....does that mean you're home alone tonight?

Me: Yeah, and the power's out, so it's suuuper cold, but idk it's fine, I'll just layer up and go to bed early I guess

Sir Nolan: are you okay?

That one hit you like a truck. No, you thought, I'm really, really not.

Me: Yeah, I'll be fine

Sir Nolan: are you sure? Cause I can come over if you want.

Any other night, you would be losing your mind at an offer like that. Ever since you had met Nolan, you'd had the biggest crush on him. All other crushes seemed like weak sauce compared to how you felt about him. But you'd cried all your energy out. The best response your heart could muster was a meek, "Sure, but don't worry if the snow's just too much."

You were met with a resounding, "Already on my way."

You decided that if you were going to be having company you should at least get up off the floor. You shuffled your way into your bedroom, habitually flicking the light switch before you remembered it was pointless. You fumbled in the dark to your desk drawer, trying to find your flashlight, and once you found it you turned it on and started changing into your warmest pajamas. Now that you weren't just a puddle of self-pity, you started to think about Nolan's sudden inviting-over of himself. You first met him during training camp when your work friend brought you along to meet up with Travis, her boyfriend. She figured that since you were new to the city and also a huge hockey fan that it couldn't hurt to introduce you to some guys on the team and help you make some friends. You weren't sure what to make of Nolan at first. He seemed so quiet and awkward that you thought your own quietness and awkwardness would make conversation impossible with such a knockout of a man. You wound up being horribly wrong, once again, but that time it was in a good way. Neither of you were really the super-outgoing party type, so whenever one or both of you started getting exhausted with the atmosphere you'd usually drift off into your own conversation in a quieter part of the room. As a result, he became a good friend incredibly fast. It seemed there was nothing you couldn't talk about with him, even though you still got nervous about certain things. Like your personal feelings for him. But that had never come up before, so you were safe. For now.

You knew he knew all about how hard the transition to Philly has been for you. How homesick you get, how you can't help but wonder if you made a mistake taking the job offer that brought you here (even though it was your dream job), and how you felt like it was hard to click with so many new people. Which was probably why he seemed so worried about you being alone tonight. He knew you felt alone most of the time anyway.

An hour and a half had gone by and you were starting to get worried about him. He only lived 20 minutes away, and even with the snow, it shouldn't take him that long unless he was stuck and just too proud to call you. It had given you time to call your mom, which you were grateful for and made you feel a lot better, but you couldn't ignore the knot in your stomach anymore. You were just about to hit "call" when you heard a knock at the door. Or more like a thump at the door.

You practically sprinted over to open it for the man-sized popsicle with his arms full of grocery bags standing on your doorstep. You paused for a second with your mouth hanging open, both amazed by the fact that he actually came over and by...him. The cold made his already pink cheeks bright red, and the snowflakes were sticking to his long eyelashes and the free locks of hair that didn't fit under his beanie. You had never seen anything more beautiful in your life.

"Can...can I come in?" Nolan's teeth chattered, snapping you back to reality.

"Oh, yeah, sorry! God, Nol, you're shivering!" you remark, ushering him through the door. Not that inside was that much warmer, but anything was better than being out there.

"It's cold," he laughs.

"Wow, AND he's meteorologist!" you quip back. "What can Nolan Patrick not do?"

Shaking his head, he made a beeline for your kitchen, looking for a place to set his bags down.

"Took me forever to find a place that was still open tonight," he muttered, pulling what looked in the dark like to-go boxes out of one of the bags. You shined your flashlight up to the ceiling to make it light the whole room as Nolan continued to pull items from his three bags. You just stood there, still dumbfounded by him.

"Pat... what's all this?" you manage to squeak out.

"This," he said, pointing to the to-go tubs, "is soup. I'm not completely sure what kind, but I figured soup would be the best thing no matter what. I didn't know if you had any crackers, so I brought some saltines. And some oranges because I knew you'd want something fruity and healthy and oranges are festive. And this," he pulled a thermos out of the second bag, "is hot chocolate. Made it myself." He grinned, sliding it towards you, obviously proud of himself. You could barely contain your own grin, feeling yourself blush. You were proud of him too.

"I saved the best for last," he continued once you took a sip of the cocoa. You frowned.

"What else could you possibly have brought?" you asked, genuinely astonished.

He looked you in the eyes and gave you a smirk. Holy hell. You were glad he probably couldn't see how pink your own cheeks were getting. The things he did to you and he didn't even know.

He carefully pulled a basket out of the last bag, and you could see it was full of a bunch of other things. You couldn't believe it.

"Nolan..." You trailed off, feeling the tears starting to well up again. Inside the basket were a bunch of little gifts with a note that read "For: y/n, From: Us". It had some of your favorite candies, one of those cheesy home-state-scented candles, a scarf with your home team's name and logo on it, and a tin of your favorite tea from a tiny local tea shop in your home town. You tried your best to fight the tears, but you weren't strong enough, rendered useless from your earlier fit.

"Nol-" You couldn't even finish your question before your own sob choked you. You set your thermos and flashlight down to bury your face in your hands.

"Hey, hey," Nolan whispered, pulling you into a hug. You wasted no time in hugging him back, squeezing him as you sobbed into his chest. "Shhhh, it's okay," he muttered to the top of your head. He slowly ran a hand up and down your back, rocking you back and forth. It only made you more emotional. He had never hugged you before, and you hadn't been hugged like this in what felt like years. You just wanted to stay there in his arms forever and ignore the world around you.

"It was a team effort," he continued. "Some of us thought you could use some things that remind you of home."

"Who...who found the tea?" you said into his chest, muffled by his sweater.

"What?" He smiled, pulling out of the hug a bit to let you speak up.

You wiped your face and took a breath. "Who found the tea?"

He pulled the rest of the way out of the hug, much to your disappointment. He leaned his head down, staring at the floor.

"That was me," he mumbled, tucking a loose strand of hair behind his ear. "I remembered you mentioning it, and it was hard to work out, but they agreed to send me some." Somehow, his voice kept getting lower and lower.

You could hardly believe your ears. He remembered that? You swore you had only mentioned it once in passing after you got a really disappointing chai from a coffee place down the street. You had no idea he had been paying attention. And he went to all the trouble of getting a store with a locals-only business model to ship a product long-distance. You started to wonder if.... No, you thought, don't get your hopes up again tonight.

You stared at him for another moment, trying to soak in the situation. He seemed surprised when you went back in for another hug.

"Thank you so much!" you whisper, knowing that if you said it any louder you'd start crying again. You could feel him relax into the hug and gave him a little squeeze before you ended it.

"Soup time?"

"Soup time." Nolan nodded, practically beaming.

You sat on the couch, eating as carefully as you could in the dark, though your eyes were getting pretty adjusted. From then on, it was conversation as usual. It came so naturally with him that even when you weren't saying anything, you were still happy. You exchanged stories about your favorite Christmases, what you thought the best cookies are, and weird things your families do during the holidays for hours, barely even noticing the time or the cold.  At some point Nolan had pulled the blankets off the back of the couch and tossed them over both your laps. You didn't notice that you'd been getting closer and closer to him with every story until you laughed so hard you fell on his shoulder.

"Stop laughing!" He pouted, audibly trying to stifle his own laugh. "I almost got hypothermia. I could've died!"

"I can't...I can't!" you breathe between laughs. "You fell through the ice...but just one leg?!"

"Yeah, and I was stuck there on my side almost doing the splits between the ice and the water and my sister just stood there laughing. Just like you!" He nudged you, pretending to be annoyed. "But eventually she pulled me out and carried me back home. Couldn't move my leg for hours, it was just sticking straight out like..." He stuck his leg in the air, demonstrating, and only making you laugh harder. You could hardly breathe. You knew it probably felt funnier because of how exhausted you were, but you didn't care. Nolan had put a smile back on your face and back in your heart.

"Hey, Nolan?"

"Yeah?"

You swallowed. "I just... I'm not complaining that you're here, obviously, but... weren't you planning on spending tonight with Kevin and his family?"

"I was, but they've got each other, and someone else who's super special to me was sad and alone, which made me really sad to think about. You deserve to be happy and I wanted to help. Easiest decision I've ever made."

You really did not have it in you for another cry, so you settled for teasing him instead.

"That's really cheesy of you, softie."

"Take it while you can," he laughed.

"I know," you smiled.

Your eyes were starting to feel heavy and you let out a jaw-cracking yawn.

"Damn," Nolan remarked. You grunted in response, earning another laugh from him. "Wanna lay down?"

You nodded, leaning into his shoulder.

"You're warm," you sleepily drawl. You wanted to lay down, but you didn't want to get up to go to your bed. You wanted more snuggles, and right now you didn't care if he read into it or not.

He seemed to get the message, moving to lay down and taking you with him. He wrapped his arms around you after making sure the blankets covered you both as much as possible. You smiled contentedly, settling into your position and closing your eyes. You barely had time to contemplate how touchy he was being tonight compared to his normal reservations about hugs and touching before you were completely gone.

*****

Nolan woke up first the next morning. He was careful to move as little as possible to avoid waking you up. You looked so peaceful, curled up with your head on his chest. He felt his heart swell as you shifted to wrap your arms around his torso and fell back asleep within seconds. He smiled down at you, noticing how beautiful you were, even with your messy bedhead and your cheek squished against his chest. He wanted to stay in this moment forever. Just the two of you.

The power had come back on at some point during the night, so it was no longer freezing in the apartment, and the lights on your tiny tree had come on as well. He glanced back over to the kitchen to the basket on the counter. It had been embarrassing enough to admit to being the one who hunted down the tea like a police dog, so he left out the part about the whole gift basket being his idea in the first place. He would've bought you everything himself, but he wanted you to know that you had other friends, too, and that they wanted to show you that they were thinking of you. The scarf was Carter's idea, the candy TK's. Claude had suggested the candle, and being the local expert on how to be good to the woman he loved, Nolan took the advice and bought the candle as well. It did make him strangely jealous of your hometown in a way he couldn't quite explain. He was worried that you would be looking for any excuse to move back home, which he really didn't want. If it made you happy, then of course he'd support you, but he'd never felt for anyone the way he felt about you. The way you laugh, how passionate you get when you talk about something you care about, whether that's a person, a subject, a place, or what the best pizza topping is. He loved everything down to the way you word your sentences. He loved how much you loved.

He was awoken from his thoughts by you stirring and opening your eyes to look at him.

"Merry Christmas," you mumbled.

"Merry Christmas," he mumbled back.

You laid your head back down, enjoying the comforting rise and fall of his chest.

"You hungry? I can try and make you some breakfast. Emphasis on try," Nolan offered.

You laughed at the thought. "That'd be nice. But I don't wanna get up."

"Me neither," he sighed, tracing his thumb along your arm. He was not ready for when you suddenly shot off the couch, eyes manic and wide.

"Oh my god!" you shouted. "I didn't get you anything for Christmas! And you did all that last night!" You waved your hand at the kitchen. Nolan sat up, confused and cold, missing the weight of you on him.

"It's okay, y/n! I wasn't expecting anything."

"No, okay, I'm making you breakfast, and it's gonna be the best damn breakfast I've ever made. Lay back down," you insisted, marching off to the kitchen, wincing at the still-cold floor.

As nice as it sounded to stay under the warm blankets, Nolan didn't want to just sit there doing nothing. Suddenly he had an idea, even though it was a risky one. He decided it was a risk he needed to take eventually.

"Get out!" you playfully threatened, brandishing a spatula at him as he stepped into the kitchen. He put his hands up in mock surrender.

"I won't touch!"

"Good," you smirk, turning back to your pan.

Nolan shuffled around nervously, working up the courage to say what he wanted to. He swallowed and took a deep breath.

"I, uh...I have an idea for what you can give me. If you, uh, still want to give me something. Besides breakfast, I mean." Smooth, Patrick, he thought.

"What's that?" You met his gaze, making his stomach flip. The things you do to him and you have no idea.

"Maybe we can go out sometime? Like, just us. On purpose. To dinner or something?"

You looked like a deer caught in the headlights, making Nolan immediately second-guess himself. He bashfully broke your eye contact, focusing on the floor again. He felt the blush on his cheeks worsening.

"Are you... serious?" you ask, voice full of wonder.

"Of course I am!" he mumbled insistently. "Wouldn't ask if I wasn't."

You almost knocked him over with the force of your hug, a truly impressive feat.

"Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes!!!" you laughed, not even bothering to play it cool. Nolan smiled so much it started to hurt, but he didn't care. He felt like he could take off and fly, he was so relieved. The weight of the world was replaced by the weight of you clinging to his shoulders. And he couldn't imagine a better way to spend his Christmas. Maybe, just maybe, he thought, Christmas would be like this forever from now on.

*****

You relaxed into Nolan's arms as he followed you back to the stove, hugging you from behind and resting his chin on your shoulder. Suddenly, you felt something more than the giddy high of getting asked out by your crush. You felt a sort of peace you hadn't felt since before you moved.

You were home for Christmas.

[gencat21]

Unexpected • Lee Taeyong (1)

(I did not give the boyfriend a name, not worth it haha.)

Autumn is just beautiful, watching the trees turn orange and how the floor was often full of their leaves was the most pretty and annoying thing for you. You love the cold breeze hitting your face, love the taste of coffee on your tongue, and love walking peacefully with your boyfriend talking about how your day has gone before going to the next class in half an hour. "I may be getting a good job as a music teacher. My piano teacher has been recommending me to a lot of people and after winning that competition last summer I've been getting a lot of emails. Also, a company contacted me, and they are interested in the songs I've written." You explain with enthusiasm, while he observed you with that smile of his.

"My little future Beethoven. Everybody wants you. But not as much as I do." He gets closer to kiss your forehead sweetly, but your thoughts are somewhere else, keeping you to react to his sweetness.

"There's even an offer abroad. Can you believe that?"

His smile turn softly to a straight line while he looks at you in disbelief. He wanted to smile for you, but he can't fake a smile. "Are you really considering that one?"

"It's on the states, but it's the best offer I've ever gotten."

"You really are, wow." He steps backward and laughs ironically. "I mean so little to you that you take that decision without even consulting it with me?" And your mouth fells open at how mad he was getting by the second. You were expecting to see him happy for you, after all it was an offer that you couldn't turn down.

"You don't have to get mad about this," you say sweetly so he would calm down, but he was looking somewhere else with a frown, which was starting to make you mad as well. "I have time to think about until graduation but I won't be turning that one down just because you want me to."

"How can you be so selfish?" And with that your sweet side disappear in the thin air. He was really saying that to you as if he wasn't thinking about his own words and you think it's useless to talk to him right now because he was getting madder.

"I have classes right now."

"Your class starts in 25 minutes."

"Well, I left a piano in the dance room, and the teacher needs it." That's wasn't a lie. So you take your leave trying to brush your boyfriend off your mind, but you were still thinking about the conversation you just had. "Calling me selfish when he was being selfish too, who does he even think he is? He's not my father, is the freaking crazy." You ramble while walking obviously mad to the practice room hating the fact that you left it there this morning. Why did you agree to play piano on the ballet presentation one week away? Yes, it was going to make everything more beautiful, but now you had more things to do.

You find Ten on the way and stop ranting to approach him without saying anything. You hold his wrist and continue walking, deciding by yourself that he was going to help you to move the keyboard from one side of campus to the other. "Why are you so mad today? Are you going to kill me?" He asks with that smile you loved and hated, he smiles way too much. A beautiful smile like that should be totally illegal.

"I hate men,"

"Are you becoming lesbian now?"

"No, women judge way too much. I hate them as well." You end up saying and laugh because of the conversation.

"Where are you taking me? Our class is the other way."

"Just help me move the keyboard, I will pay you back with fruit."

"But I hate fruits,"

"I know,"

"If you give me fruits I will throw it at you. But I'll accept tea." You like him as a friend. You've always wondered why you both weren't actually closer since he was a sweet and nice person to be around. But you had two different lives, so you just were glad that you both had a lot of classes in common, and that was enough for you. He made classes shorter by sitting with you, and you were thankful. Shortly, you both arrive at the building, and from that distance, you could hear the loud music playing in the dance room. The closer you got, the louder it was. The door was partially open, so you carefully approach the door to spy on whoever was dancing inside.

Inside the dance, room was a guy moving his body to the rhythm of the music. You never had the talent to dance that upbeat kind of music, leaving classical music as your cup of tea, but doesn't change the fact that you wish you could dance the way he can. Ten behind you peeks for a second as well and then taps your shoulder to get your attention. "Y/n, we need to go." Reminding you that your walk back was not short. Sadness covers your eyes since you wanted to see the end of the choreography, even if it was only the guy's back you were seeing. but you know he's right. Your eyes travel to Ten, who just shrugs at you. Suddenly the music stops.

His familiar face was turned to your direction, glancing at you with nothing more than a frown. "Who gave you the right to spy me?" His voice sends shivers down your spine because of how pissed he was of being spied.

"I wasn't," you step inside and your index finger points to your piano in a corner, his eyes follow your finger and then he looks again at you.

"Take it quick and leave, you're wasting my time." You avoid his gaze since it was a little intimidating sometimes. You've been used to seeing that guy for... As long as you can remember. For some strange reason, your paths are the same. Same high school, and weirdly, same art school. But you've never heard his voice until now, you've never had the chance to have a conversation, and you never wanted to. He's always had the bad boy aura, and you wanted nothing to do with it. He's always been the pretty bad boy that you made sure not to cross paths with, even though it was impossible

You know he never noticed you before, and hat even when he was a bad boy you had nothing to worry about because your social life was completely different. Until now that his scary gaze was following you around the room, watching your every move and that makes you uneasy. For a reason, they named him the scary pretty guy back on your school days. "Are you going to be here all day?" Ten asks Taeyong casually, you forgot they were friends for a moment there, but it was luck to you, since for that reason he stopped looking at you.

"Almost, we'll be waiting for you. Jaehyun and Johnny are on their way here right now, Mark went out a couple minutes ago."

"I have piano classes right now and then I will be free," he picks up your keyboard while you silently take the stand and make your way out of the room, glad that Ten distracted Taeyong. "See you in two hours." You hear him say, followed by him leaving the room behind you. You felt you could finally breathe, surprised that as soon as he stare at you, your breathing stop. He was breathtakingly handsome, but that was not the reason why you felt like that. Was the bad boy aura he has. "He just hates people seeing his choreographies when is not finished." Ten explain to you due to the silence that you hold.

"I don't care," you don't.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

8:23 pm says your phone when a text message pops up. You gasp in shock, realizing that you had been there longer than expected. It was normal for you to lose track of time when you were composing, but this time the hours really went by quicker than expected. You parted ways with Ten at five when your class ended, by staying in the piano classroom and played until the message from your boyfriend brought you back to reality. You slowly pick up your stuff, throwing your phone inside your bag not wanting to even read his text. But as soon as you step out of the building, your phone starts to vibrate, letting you know you had a call.

Annoyed, you look for your phone on your bag to see him calling you. "Yes?"

"I'm in the parking lot, let me take you home." His normal sweet voice appears on the other side, you roll your eyes in response as if he could see you. You just stayed silent on the entrance looking at your feet. "Or at least let's talk. I can't stand the fact of falling asleep while being mad at each other." Not standing the silence anymore. "Please."

"Sure, see you in a bit." The walk to the parking lot was the shortest walk you've ever had on the campus, you did not want to talk about anything right now because you were starting to see the real him. The not very supportive one, the one that may hold you back on a future. That may be the real one, and you were not ready to actually meet him. But you have to. His figure is against his car in the parking lot where there were only two cars, his and another way a few lots to the right. His eyes were on you the whole walk to his car, and you dont know what to feel about it. "Look, I thought about it,"

"Are you staying?"

" I—” you stop talking realizing you were about to raise your voice after that, and take a deep breath. "I will not make that decision right now, but I want you to be on my side and understand me instead of being against me. This is my future we're talking about in here.” you express your feeling, glad that he was listening to you in silence. " Do you understand?"

"But you can have a nice future, what is the matter with staying here?" He does not understand

"I do not know what I will do," you argue. "I just want you to be on my side not matter what decision I make."

"You will stay here with me." He says, as it was so easy, but the way he says it just bothered you. The demanding tone gets on your nerves.

"Stop saying it like that, you don't get to choose what I will do. This is my life."

"Oh, I see. You want to break up with me and fuck every single dude you see, like you went to fuck that guy instead of actually going to class?"

"What are you ta—"

"You thought I didn't see you leaving me alone to go for a guy? And you were still here when is not usual for you to be here? I went to your apartment and your roommate told me you were here. What were you doing?" Your expression shifts to one of disbelief and hurt.

"I can't believe you think I would do something like that to you," saying it was harder than thinking about it. A single tear rolls down your cheek, one that you quickly swipe away. "If you think like that, we have to break up. I'm leaving, and do not fucking call me ever again." You spit, then turn around to walk away containing the tears from falling. You do not want to cry near than man to show how weak you were. Obviously, you are weaker than he is.

You just feel the pain on your wrist and how harshly you are turned around to face him, "That hurts!" You whine, not being able to avoid the look he has. You've never seen his so mad, before, even less looking at you. The feeling of not being able to do anything was frustrating as he held your other wrist too. "Let me go, what are you doing?"

"So I'm right? How many guys have you fucked?"

"Let me fucking go!"

"You forgot you were only mine?"

"Fuck you!" You do not know where the strength to say to that man that had you under his control came out from, neither how by instinct your knee fly between his legs and make him let you go without wanting. Your breathing is audible, and you tell yourself to run away but you could not move at all. In shock, you stare at how he falls on the floor and stays there for a minute. Why could you not move? Why you have to stay there when you could run away and disappear somewhere he could not find you? Why do you wait until he stands up again and without thinking slaps your face so hard you fall on the floor? By then, Isn't it too late? Where did the strong Y/n escape to? He walks again to you, so you look for something around you that you could hit him with, but there's nothing. You close your eyes hard, waiting for whatever he is going to do to you, until the sound of a strong punch makes an appearance, and then you see from the corner of your eye how the man ready to hit you is on the floor holding his face with closed eyes. "Taeyong?" You ask yourself, seeing the familiar clothes you saw in the practice room earlier on the day.

You thought you had seen the scariest look on him, but that was not true. Now you could see what he really looks like when he is mad. Meanwhile, he's punching your now ex-boyfriend like his life depended on it. It was not the fact that he was hitting the man you can't say you don't love anymore, but the fact that you hated violence. Throwing punches in a reckless way like a person body was the easiest thing to hurt. "S—stop!" You voice comes out, but you know there was no way that with the sound of punches he heard you. You crawl to where they are and grab Taeyong's hand so he would stop.

He does and stands up so quickly that you barely could see him running to his car, grabbing something and coming out again. Your ex stands up, and follows him until you see him stop abruptly. That clicking sound just sends panic all over your body. "Do not fucking touch her ever again."

"Man, put that down," he says, giving a few steps backward.

"Taeyong, stop that!"

"I will make sure you don't fucking touch her from now on, if you look at her, if you get near her, even if you fucking think of her I will make sure is the last time you ever do." He spits the words out with some much hatred in his voice that you even lost yours. Your mouth moves like it screaming but you can't hear yourself.

From there, you start seeing how everything goes down on slow motion. How you lose sight of what was going on for a second while Ten sees your state and hugs you. Your tears rolling down in desperation wanting everything to just stop. You see how Jaehyun, Johnny, and Mark appear in the scene trying to calm Taeyong, while your ex gets in his car and leaves without even looking at you once. Mark slowly takes the gun, that God knows why he has it on his car, while Johnny holds Taeyong and says things you can't hear nor see, you just glare over Ten's shoulder and let all the tears come out. Your arms hug him when you see that nothing bad really happened besides the bastard having a black eye and bruises on his face. "It's alright," your sense of hearing lets you hear Ten murmuring it to you while your big sobs become little.

Your eyes go to the man that stares at your crying self on the floor. That anger and hatred disappeared out of the blue, now there was an expression that you could not recognize as he took a few slow steps. Your hands softly push Ten away from you, and as a mechanism of defense you back away. "Do not touch me!" You demand at the man that wanted to get near you and check if you were fine. Taeyong just wanted to ignore your words and get near, but your tears and your shaking hand made him stand still.

"I can explain,"

"Y—you don't need to explain anything to me, I don't want to know," you stand up with a great amount of effort since your legs were shaking the same way your whole body was. You forget about your bag, you just wanted to lock yourself on your apartment and forget it all happened. As if it was possible. You knew all the boys you've crossed paths a few times before where looking at your weak figure trying to walk away, and it was the most heartbreaking thing they have seen. Taeyong notices your bag on the floor, but before he could pick it up Ten does. "You've done enough, I will give it to her and take her home."

Mark gets closer to him before the others and places a hand on his shoulder when your figure besides Ten's disappears from their sight. "Let's go,"

Taeyong takes his hand off of his shoulder softly. "Please don't touch me," calmly says before starting to walk to his car.

(Any mistakes I didn't see, please let me know so I can change it. Thank you!)

[dontreadthistrashgarbage]

Pt. 8

Guerin had curled up on her couch with a beer, playing music and scrolling through her social media and texting HEET, assuring them that she was unhurt and cheerful. Seyoon had texted her that he was on his way and she expected him any moment. She messaged him the code to her door so she didn't need to get up to greet him. It was late and she had just started to doze when she heard the beeps of her keypad. Straightening up and blinking her eyes open she saw Seyoon come in, this time looking showered and stylish. Rubbing her eyes she smiled, the gestured for him to join her on the couch.

He was relieved to see her so relaxed and smiled broadly as he kicked off his shoes and dropped his bag on the floor. Making his way over he sat next to her and cuddled up as she wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his.

"Hi handsome." She said, kissing the top of his head affectionately. He wiggled against her, taking one of her hands, raising it to his mouth and kissing her knuckles before peering up at her.

"Sorry you had to wait up for me." He said, seeing her doze work it's way out of her system.

"You're working hard. Besides, I understand your hours. Today was just exhausting." She patted him.

He sat up and looked at her expectantly, not saying anything. She smiled, sitting up too to ruffle his hair, "I am actually really okay mostly. When it happened..." she grimaced and he took her hand again encouraging her to continue, "It was scary, seeing Charlie get caught in the crossfire like that. I wanted to fight whoever would hurt her like that. But it was just a kid."

"I thought you were pretty cool." He smiled, leaning into her slightly.

"Fortunately that seems to be the general consensus. Han Jisoo says that most of the feedback is in my favor, and with the court case wrapping up I can be reinstated as HEET's manager soon." She grinned.

"Noona! That's great!" He pulled her up into him for a big hug making her laugh. She enjoyed them holding each other before speaking again.

"It was kind of a scary moment to realize someone had been following us and filming." She said seriously. Seyoon leaned back to look at her and she pulled away, still facing him, finger tracing abstract patterns on her own knee absentmindedly. "Jisoo reminded me I'll have to get used to it." Guerin added, one corner of her mouth turning up in a forced smile.

Seyoon hesitated, licking his lips nervously before responding, "You don't... -have- to."

Her head shot up surprised, looking at him like he was crazy, "What?"

"You know." He said quietly not wanting to say it again. She stared at him incredulously, before getting swept up in impulse. Leaning in she stopped just short of his lips, wondering for a moment if it was the right time. Wow finished the thought for her, covering the rest of the distance between them. Their kisses before this had mostly been cute and chaste, this was different. She had been moved by his gesture, reminding her in spite of his own desires that she didn't need to struggle in that particular aspect. The thought hadn't occurred to her, and her heart dismissed the option as she had looked into his eyes. Her physical reaction was purely instinctual, as was his. Her hands went to his torso as their kiss deepened, then moved to cling to his back as he pulled her closer against him, into his lap. One hand migrated to his head, fingers entangling in his hair as she pulled him gently back moving lower to kiss his neck, pushing him with her body until he lay back on her couch under her. His eyes closed and he bit his lip as her hands continued wandering down his chest, feeling his hard lines.

She forced herself to pause, sitting up and looking at the stunning man under her. He opened his eyes, lips slightly parted as he breathed deeply and grinned at her sheepish expression.

"I guess that's my way of saying I want to learn to get used to it." She laughed, running her hands through her own disheveled hair, embarrassed.

"I don't think I got the message. Let me check again." He said, sitting up abruptly and reversing their positions on the couch.

"Hmmm, speak up would you?" She said, reaching up and pulling him toward her.

The sun was setting as Guerin waited by the corner she and Seyoon had agreed to meet at. Perpetually early she was taking her time watching the clouds, the color of the sky change, and the crepuscular birds swooping through the sky catching their dinner. Her lip tint today was a dark burgundy that completed her black outfit highlighted with a trendy tan long coat.

A wild magpie swooped down and landed on a fence near her which made her grin, "Hello Kacchi. Did you get your fill?" Guerin greeted the bird and pulled out her phone to take a picture.

"Did I keep you waiting so long you needed to make friends with birds?" Seyoon asked, approaching suddenly while she was distracted.

She glanced up at him then refocused on her picture, still smiling, "I'll always talk to anything." She pocketed her phone and turned to him, "But you'll see for yourself soon enough I guess."

They hesitated, not sure how to greet in public. After a beat Seyoon gestured the direction he wanted to go and stepped next to her as they began walking. She bumped against him playfully and he smiled at her as the awkward moment passed.

"Where are we going?" She asked curiously.

"Hongdae has some history for me, and you said you liked it too. I thought we could watch some busking, do some shopping, find something to eat." He trailed off with a shrug, "There's a lot to do."

"I love watching busking!" Guerin said excitedly, "When I first moved here I'd spend so many weekends coming to Hongdae just for busking."

"It's how A.C.E started." Seyoon mused, "We'd do dance performances and post on youtube."

"You've really come so far. You should be proud of yourselves, you worked hard." Guerin said, patting his head. As they walked into Hongdae proper the streets became more crowded. They stopped at a few shops, perusing clothes or jewelry. Seyoon had several times found the ugliest most ill fitting article of clothing and pretended to convince Guerin it would be perfect for him, insisting he could pull off anything. Unfortunately for him she began encouraging him to buy the items he chose so he had to make up reasons that he couldn't. In one the buttons had been stitched on with the wrong pattern and that was unlucky for singers. One pair of brightly colored pants that Guerin actually loved but they didnt have enough orange once he looked close enough. They went into a small arcade where Guerin displayed an incredible ability to be unusually terrible at crane games. Seyoon tried the claw machine as well, but before using it he pretended to plug in and communicate with it while Guerin giggled at his strange beeping sounds. He somehow managed to win a small cat plushie on the first try which he immediately handed to her.

"Because you suck so bad. Otherwise you'll never get a prize from here." He said, then dodged her with a laugh as she raised her hand threateningly before laughing herself.

A couple of times Seyoon was recognized and Guerin waited patiently off to the side while he greeted choice and took selfies with them. She had been nervous this would happen but the most rude a fan had been to her was to ignore her completely. Most of the others greeted both of them politely. The previous night Seyoon and Guerin had talked about what they would do if fans recognized them, so it was a relief to see it working out so well.

"Your fans are so lovely." Guerin said, as Seyoon rejoined her.

"Our Choice are the best." He grinned proudly.

Once they had reached the buskers Seyoon bought them a Tanghulu to share. Both of them had the habit of bopping along gently to the music as it played, and Guerin would sometimes sing along under her breath. There was a particularly sweet voiced singer that did a cover of HEET's debut song that she got excited about and left a hefty tip for, and she did the same for a dance group that did the choreography for Undercover. The performers recognized Wow and he chatted with them after the show to offer encouragement.

Guerin's heart was full from the evenings and encounters they had. As the night drew on Seyoon mentioned being hungry and Guerin dropped everything so the two of them could eat. They found a small hole in the wall restaurant that wasn't too crowded to order some chicken and beer.

Once their order had been placed Seyoon went through one of his bags, pulling out a small white cardboard box and pushing it across the table to Guerin.

"What's this?" She asked in surprise.

"A present. Open it." He sat back and smiled, watching her.

A silver star stud earring with a behind the lobe chain drop that ended with another star that Guerin had admired but ultimately decided wasn't worth the cost, and a dainty silver chain choker with a star in the center to match were nestled on the cotton pad inside.

"Seyoonie!" She gasped, pulling them out and admiring them, "Thank you, oh... wow." She absentmindedly exclaimed his nickname. He grinned wider at her reaction. "This is so much, you didnt need to do this."

He shrugged, "I thought it would make you happy."

"They're amazing, thank you." She was already reaching up to switch out one of her current earrings for the new one. Seyoon abandoned his seat across from her and moved onto the booth next to her, to help her fasten the choker. She turned to him, smiling and batting her eyes as she put up a peace sign. "How do I look?"

He reached for the dangly star, caressing it softly before making eye contact with her as he answered. "Perfect."

Her breath hitched in her throat as her stomach clenched and she bit her lip before she broke eye contact and looked straight ahead. She couldnt help but smile at the awkward private sensation she had gotten in a public environment. Through her peripheral vision she could see Seyoon still watching her as she got a grip on herself. Tentatively she reached for his hand resting on his thigh under the table, touching his pinky with hers delicately. He didn't hesitate to turn his hand and intertwine their fingers, resting their hands together back on his thigh. His leg muscles against the back of her hand distracted her until the food arrived and the two had to let go.

After they finished eating they continued wandering through shops. Guerin and Seyoon took turns sneaking physical contact with each other when no one was around or looking. Leaving a shoe store Seyoon suddenly took Guerins hand and pulled her into an empty narrow alleyway between two buildings. Holding her face he pulled her to him and kissed her. Despite being taken by surprise it didnt take her long to return the kiss, fingers holding onto the front of his shirt. They broke apart and Guerin looked around quickly to ensure no one had snuck up on them and met his gaze again. Pushing against him slightly she chastised him unconvincingly, "Seyoon-ah, that was risky."

"I couldn't fight gravity anymore." He wrapped his arms around her for a hug, resting his chin on her shoulder and nuzzling against her cutely.

"Mmm, yeah gravity can be a bitch..." she leaned against him, matching his affectionate embrace, "Do you want to... head to my place maybe?" She suggested lightly, "We can have a pajama party, watch a movie..." she trailed off leaving the rest up to interpretation for their future selves.

Seyoon nodded pulling away, "I need to stop by the dorm first."

They moved together to the main road where Seyoon hailed a cab.

"Come up with me. Everyone is out tonight." Seyoon said as the cab pulled up to his dorm.

"Won't that look bad...?" Guerin asked hesitantly.

"It won't be long." He said, then asked the cab driver to wait for them. She got out of the cab with him and followed him upstairs to the door.

"This looks nice." She said as he typed in their code.

"We got upgraded a couple months ago." He said, then opened the door for the both of them. She took off her shoes and meandered into the living room, debating for a moment whether she should follow him to his bedroom before she heard a scream and exclamations.

She moved quickly to the hall to see Seyoon standing outside a door, holding it closed with his back to it and looking shocked. "What happened?" Guerin asked. Seyoon looked at her, eyes wide and he let out a shell shocked laugh.

From inside the room she heard Jun's voice, "Hyung go away!"

"I need clothes." He responded sensibly.

"Come back later!" This time it was Charlie's voice.

"Charlie?" Guerin called out. Charlie groaned in embarrassment, "Charlie we have a cab running, Seyoonie just needs to get some clothes and we can go."

"Aaahhh... okay...." Jun sounded very disappointed. There was rustling as they moved around in the room while Guerin and Seyoon tried not to laugh audibly. The pair managed to calm themselves enough to look innocuous as the door opened and Charlie hustled out past Guerin to the living room. Seyoon peeked into the room again then disappeared inside. Guerin followed after her friend. She found Charlie sitting on the couch her face in her hands.

"Heeeyyyy..." Guerin hovered in front of her, the laughter threatening to come back, making the corners of her lips twitch. Charlie peered up at her friend from between her fingers, clearly blushing. As soon as they made eye contact they both began giggling, Guerin collapsed next to Charlie on the couch as they tried to keep it quiet.

"Oh my goooood I can't believe your shitty timinggg." Charlie said in english as they caught their breath.

"What did Wow walk in on exactly?" Guerin whispered curiously, keeping the conversation in English.

"We were in our underwear, I was straddling Jun." Charlie whispered, covering her face again, "thank god my back was to him."

"Oh geez that's nothing! I thought maybe." Guerin wiggled her eyebrows, "You know."

Charlie sighed, "I was kinda hoping we'd be getting there tonight."

"We'll be out of your hair soon and you can get restarted." Guerin offered a high five that Charlie half heartedly met.

Jun chose the next moment to come into the living room with a blank expression that looked like he was trying to internalize this latest trauma of his life. "Hello. Welcome." He said dispassionately not quite making eye contact.

"Hello Jun." Guerin slipped back into Korean. She pressed her lips together to keep from smiling. She kept struggling with finding something to say that wasn't teasing since he already seemed close to breaking. Jun sat on the other side of Charlie, casually moving a pillow over his lap and hugging it. Guerin almost lost it but turned away in time.

"I'll go check on Seyoon." She coughed, standing up and hurrying to the shared bedroom. Before she reached the far door, she passed an open door to an office. She paused curiously, it looked like a combination music and art studio. She stopped completely as she looked at some of the art on the walls.

"You can go in." Seyoon said suddenly. He had come out of the bedroom with a small bag and saw her looking.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to pry." She felt embarrassed being caught in a mini snoop, "I just saw the paintings and..." she gestured unsure of the Korean words to express how they had captured her interest.

"It's our studio. We opted to have three people in the biggest room and use this one for creating." Seyoon explained, walking over and waving her inside. She took the invitation, stepping in carefully. The artwork wasn't always conventional and required interpretation, while some were simple and straightforward.

"Did you do these?" She asked. Guerin had done some homework on A.C.E when she had learned they would be promoting around the same time as HEET and remembered learning that Wow was very artistic. He nodded, looking at the pictures too.

"These are amazing, Kim Seyoon." She murmured. He looked at her as she unexpectedly used his full name. Guerin moved to the art desk to see a painting still on it.

The words "A.C.E" and "Choice" had been written in Korean, stylized as two figures. The Choice figure was walking in the lead, holding the hand of the A.C.E figure and holding a lamp with the yellow word "sarang" lighting the way. The darkness around the figures were more stylized words, eerily spelled out with jagged edges, dripping colors or washed out watercolors. Words like "doubt", "fear" and "failure".

"I finished that today." Seyoon stepped up next to her.

"It's beautiful. Meaningful and simple." She looked up at him, "This is for your fans right? The project you and Jun are working on?"

"This and a song. We finished recording it yesterday." He nodded. She moved in front of him and draped her arms over his shoulders. Instinctively his arms went to her waist.

"You're amazing, you know that?" She said, impressed with her boyfriend.

"I've been told." He said with a sassy tone.

She rolled her eyes but couldnt help but smile. Pulling away from him she patted his butt playfully as she walked past him. "Let's go." He wiggled after her happily as they left the office. They said goodbye to Jun and Charlie and went down to the still waiting cab. As it pulled away she saw three familiar figures as the rest of A.C.E walked up to the building their dorm was in.

"Oh no." Guerin pointed them out as Seyoon laughed. She texted her friend a warning hoping that she saw it before they resumed activities.

They opted to shower (separately) and go through their nightly skin care routines before settling in for a movie. Seyoon showered first and came out with his pajamas fully buttoned which Guerin found herself almost disappointed by. When she joked about it Seyoon offered to start undoing buttons but she rushed into the bathroom to avoid being distracted. After her turn she found Seyoon in the living room.

"Noona, you're not going to finish drying your hair?" He asked.

"No. It's short enough it'll dry on its own." Guerin only ever towel dried her hair enough to stop it from dripping before moving on with her life.

"You'll get sick! Come here." He motioned in front of him.

She went along with it and sat on the floor but not before saying, "You know thats not real right? It's not scientific."

He shook his head and grabbed the towel he had used for his hair, gently drying Guerin's. [It might be an old wives tale, but I could get used to this...] she closed her eyes, enjoying feeling his legs behind her and his hands in her hair. Until he started making odd patterns, moving her head around unnecessarily and making sound effects. She tried not to smile as she dropped her head backwards into his lap looking up at him.

"Seyoonie..." she said pretending to be stern. He leaned forward, kissed her forehead then dropped the towel on her face.

She jumped up and pushed him on the couch as they both laughed, he allowed himself to be pushed to the side and she lightly slapped his butt twice, "You are too much!" She laughed, pushing on his arm again.

"Noonaaaa!" He said in a suggestive tone, still grinning he bit his lip looking up and her and wiggled his rear end. Her mouth dropped in surprise and she inhaled suddenly before it felt like she couldn't remember how to breath. Covering her mouth with her hands she sat back on the couch and moaned.

"Seyoon-ah you're going to kill me."

He giggled and offered her a wink and finger hearts which got her giggling again. She fanned herself, shaking her head before standing and walking toward the kitchen, "Do you want some popcorn for the movie?"

"Mm." He grunted a yes, watching her in the kitchen as she started the microwave before getting up and joining her. He stepped up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and rest his chin on her shoulder. "This spot was made for me." He stated, rubbing his head against hers. Guerin leaned her head against his and they stood enjoying the embrace as she ran her fingers up and down his arms.

"Babe," She used the English word out of habit, "would you get the popcorn bowl." She saw the microwave countdown nearing zero and pointed to the appropriate cabinet. He unwillingly let go but did as she asked, getting the bowl down while the popcorn beeped ready. He turned it upside down and put it on his head before trundling back chanting "Babe." In English over and over again. She looked up at him and froze as he reached out to her. She pursed her lips trying not to laugh and let him sneak a peck on the lips before she snorted once with laughter.

"Why are you like this?" She laughed as he grinned and took the bowl off his head. She took her turn to kiss him, overwhelmed by how cute she found him before refocusing on dumping the popcorn into the bowl.

The rest of the night was spent watching a movie as they cuddled up closer and closer.

"I should go home." Seyoon said, stretching and then pulling Guerin, who had tried to sit up, back into him. She laughed and allowed it.

"You could stay." Guerin offered.

"Do you have extra pillows for the couch?" He asked.

"If you want the couch sure. But you could also come to bed with me." She murmured sleepily into his chest. He froze under her and she realized how that might sound, sitting up quickly.

"I meant, like. Just sleeping I didnt mean. I mean, I want to but, I want it to- I mean it's probably too soon for you and I get that so, like, I just meant-" She was interrupted by Seyoon putting a finger to her lips as he stretched again and sat up, replacing his finger with his lips. Guerin didn't take long to shift gears with him, opening her mouth with his as the kiss deepened and their tongues met. He helped her shift to lay back as he held himself above her with one hand. He used his free hand to guide her hands to his buttons, before reaching to the hem of her long shirt she wore as pajamas. He reached under the material, touching her skin tentatively. She interrupted her important job of undoing his buttons long enough to shuck her shirt off. Their lips met again, running his fingers all along her body. Once she had finished with his shirt she pushed it down from his shoulders. He sat up long enough to take it off completely and he caught her expression as she admired him.

"I know. I'm a snack." He used her slang from the previous week. Guerin's laugh was interrupted as he lowered himself to her neck, throat and clavicle. His hand brushed the fabric of her bra causing her to inhale with expectation, but instead he migrated back up, kissed her lips a few times teasingly and sat back again.

"We should go to sleep." He smiled darkly at her, knowing exactly what he had started. Hopping up he grabbed their shirts and trotted off to the bedroom leaving her behind in shock.

"Yah! You punk!" She finally recovered and chased after him.