#almost done my first woojin fic :(

[slytherinshua]

woojin deserves the entire world oml

[footballerindreams]

Awkward Silence - Yang Jeongin

This fic is dedicated to @straykidsftw ! She has been working hard for mine and the others' requests and I think it will be nice to return the favor.

Hoping that everybody will enjoy.

---

Awkward Silence. Not the song, but rather the atmosphere that is happening right now at the dinner table in the Stray Kids dorm.

After the hyungs had spotted their maknae making out on the couch with someone they never met before (not to mention he's almost out of his clothes), Chan had "insisted" to invite Jeongin's girlfriend to eat with them...after they fix themselves.

Now here they are, only the clanging of utensils are heard, and occasional and stealthy glances are made (mostly towards their maknae); a rare occasion.

"So..." Bang Chan starts (being the leader that he is), "How did you two meet?"

The hyungs paused eating (even Han stopped chewing with his cheeks puffing with food) and looked at the direction of their maknae.

Jeongin and Y/N stopped stuffing their mouths and looked at each other. They conversed with their eyes that the hyungs can only interpret as "You do it. No, you do it."

Getting fuzzy, Chan started tapping his fingers on the table, "Well?"

"Uhm, at Chenle's birthday party?" Jeongin confessed slowly.

"What?! When did that happen?!" Chan was getting upset.

"Uhm, remember...when I told you we have an overnight fieldtrip in Incheon? Actually, we really did went to Incheon, but on a hotel. Chenle's party was in the evening so I spent the night there. He invited all 2001 idols."

And Bang Christopher Chan was losing it. He never thought in a thousand years his little baby, his little Innie...just lied to him.

"Oh my gaaahd." Chan was never a drama queen (it's Hyunjin's role) but that point he felt like fainting on his seat and Jisung and Changbin rushed to his side and fanned him.

"How about manager-hyung?" Felix butted in while Chan was recovering.

"I told him the truth and he went with me, but he distanced himself, like the other managers did to theirs." Jeongin replied.

"Where did I go wrong?" Chan wailed and Jeongin sighed.

"Oppa...Do-" Y/N started to ask but...

"Oppa? Oppa?! Oh my gahhd!" Chan wailed, a bit louder.

"Hyung, you're being overdramatic." Seungmin said straight to the point.

"Overdramatic?! I am not overdramatic! I did not expect for this to happen. Your little brother, your sweet innocent, angel faced little brother, our baby, has just been corrupted!" Chan rebutted.

"He IS being overdramatic." Lee Know said factly.

"I heard that Lee Minho-ssi." Chan regained himself glaring first at the guy who commented and looked back to the couple, sat with his clasped together and elbows on the table as if he's a detective interrogating a suspect. "Now tell me, what happened at the party? After the party? You did "it" did you? With her? Did you even used protection? Oh my kangaroos! You don't even know how to get and use those! She's pregnant, isn't she?! That's why you brought her here! Oh crap Yang Jeongin, you just ruined your life!" Chan ranted and wailed.

"HYUNG!" the members yelled while Jeongin was turning red with shame and being pissed off and and his girlfriend pale with nervousness.

"Listen, Bang Chan-hyung." Jeongin started. "First of all, CIX Hyunsuk introduced her to me because she modelled like me! And second, nothing happened after the party. And third she's not pregnant! And if you excuse me, I will take my girlfriend to their home since this is how you treat her! Come on, Y/N. Let's get out of here." Pissed off, Jeongin to his girlfriend and went out.

After the couple went out, the dorm was put to that awkward silence again.

"Hyung, you messed it up real bad." Felix spoke first.

"Not only that, I think you've hurt Innie's feelings so bad. You know how much he looks up to you." Hyunjin added.

Bang Chan glared at his two brothers, "Now it's my fault?"

"Uhm. Yeah." Han replied.

Bang Chan glared to his another brother who just accused him, "Han, I thought you are on my side!"

"I am hyung, but today, it depends on the situation."

Sighed and slumped on his chair, giving up.

Seungmin went closer to his leader and put a hand on his shoulder, "Hyung, you should apologize to him when he gets back."

Changbin spoke then, "If he comes home tonight. We just witnessed him almost ready to have sex and I doubt he will just let the opportunity slide again."

Seungmin smiled at his hyung, "He will come home. He's still our innocent maknae."

---

"Stupid Channie-hyung." Jeongin mumbled while sniffing a bit.

Jeongin and Y/N walked on the cold streets on their way to her home. He'd been planning to introduce his girlfriend to his hyung. He even detailed it. He may have started that plan on the wrong foot, but he never expected his beloved hyung's reaction to be like that.

"Innie-oppa? Are you okay?" Y/N asked.

Jeongin looked at his girlfriend with a forces smile, "I am okay, jagi. But how about you, I am more worried about you."

Y/N held his hands in assurance, "I am scared. But I'm fine now. Maybe sometimes it does not go what we expect. Your hyungs were surprised to find out of our relationship, which was probably normal considering they always think of you as a baby. We'll just have to deal with it for a while."

Feeling comforted, they smiled at each other.

"Innie?"

The coupled looked to the direction of the voice and Jeongin widene his foxy eyes and smiled.

"Woojin-hyung!"

"Hi!" Woojin smiled and waved lightly. "Seungmin texted me to have dinner at our dorm. There was a little celebration he said. I passed by the chicken store and ordered some." Lifting up a big bag of chicken. "So why are you here? Aren't you supposed at the dorm right now?"

"We just went out the dorm. Oh by the way hyung, this is Y/LN, FN, my...girlfriend." Jeongin said.

Woojin smiled, "Ooooh. So that's why. Hi. My name is Kim Woojin. Nice to meet you." Woojin bowed formally.

A bit surprised Y/N gestured back, "It's-it's nice to meet you too, Kim Woojin-ssi."

"Oh come on. You can call me Woojin-oppa, like a big brother, if Innie doesn't mind." The hyung replied while looking at his dongsaeng.

"O-ok." Y/N shyly smiled.

Woojin also smiled back, "Oh where was I? Oh yeah. About you being out here."

Jeongin pouted and spoke, "I was planning to surprise and to introduce my girlfriend to the hyungs at the dorm but Channie-hyung acted like a dick."

"Language, Innie." Woojin reprimands.

"Sorry, hyung."

Suddenly, Woojin's phone rang.

"Hello?...I'm near...mhm...yup, actually they're with me right now...oh...okay...see u then." And Woojin puts down his phone.

"It's Channie-hyung, isn't it?"

"Nope. That was Felix. He wants you to go back to the dorms. It seems like Chan was sorry for whatever he did. He wants to apologize."

Woojin noticed that Jeongin seems hesitant about Chan and he puts a hand on the younger boy's shoulder.

"I'll be with you there. If Chan says bad things to you, I will smack him. That's a promise."

The maknae's eyes started to well and he nodded his head, agreeing to the elder one's proposition.

---

And so it was. Woojin, Jeongin and Y/N returned to the Skz Dorms and greeted by the members. Hugs for Woojin and Jeongin were given and they were able to introduce themselves one by one to Y/N. The last one to act was Chan, who looks really ashamed of what he did to his dongsaeng earlier.

"Hey Innie. Uhm. Listen, I'm sorry for how I acted earlier. I should've not done it." Chan said and gave a hug to his beloved maknae.

Jeongin looked at his other hyungs and to Y/N and they all nodded. He returned the favor by hugging him too.

"It's okay, hyung. I forgive you." Jeongin replied.

"I promise not to do it again."

Both boys released themselves from their grip and smiled at each other.

Chan looks at Jeongin with adoration. He never thought that the day will come that his baby will start to be in love.

"You know Innie, I cannot believe that you're not a kid anymore."

"I am still a kid, hyung. A Stray Kid."

Chan just chuckled and then he went closer to Y/N and raised his hand to shake.

"Hi. I'm sorry for my attitude earlier. Anyway, I am Chan. Leader of Stray Kids and Innie's hyung."

Y/N smiled a bit and shook Bang Chan's hand in return.

"Y/L/N Y/F/N. Bang Chan-ssi."

"Oh please call me hyung."

Then Chan hugged Innie and Y/N.

"Promise me you take care of each other..."

"...and next time, make sure you "do" your thing inside Innie's room. It's kind of shocking what you did earlier." Chan whispered and let go with a shout...

"And use protection!"

"HYUNG!" Innie and Y/N whined. Feeling their cheeks in heat.

[yeaimfishboi]

A bitch has been writing on this hellsite for two years

I’m gonna start by saying thank you.

Thank you to my followers...

Whether you’ve been here since the beginning, fairly recently or somewhere in between. You have all listened to me when I lost my friends in a car accident after being on here a month. You have listened to me rant, scream, and cry. You’ve listened to my life stories countless times and you still are always there to comfort me. Maybe you send me little notes about the stuff I write or just read it idly, but still thank you. I love all 2,617 of you so so fucking much.

To my mutuals (I’m tagging you guys) thank you.

You’ve all heard me cry and rant, you’ve listened to me just vent my insecurities. You’ve beta read my fics, edited my fics, made edits for them, left reviews, done collabs with me, responded to my ask games when nobody else did, defended me, and have been there for me through thick and thin. To my mutuals as a whole I thank you. I love you all and truly consider you all my friends and family. (Now to the tagging)

To start off... the person who made this blog possible @flynnitup thank you

Without you convincing me to get off my ass and get my work out there, there would be no @yeaimfishboi. Thank you for always encouraging me and being my #1 supporter.

To the girls that have been there since the beginning @kpopstarsreact @kimjongdaely @ggukverse and Katie, thank you.

You guys were my first mutuals and you helped me integrate into tumblr writing and without you guys I wouldn’t have made it more than 4 months. You helped me establish my presence as a writer and beta read my earliest fics back when I had no clue what to do. You guys have still managed to stay my friends for two years. Thank you so so so much.

To The Real Hoes™️ @sondontdothat @emmaishere92 @justlovingkpop

You guys have managed to become my family. We talk almost every day, and exchange memes on a regular basis. You call me every nickname imaginable but I love every minute of it. You guys have talked me through panic attacks, mental breakdowns, relapses, and flashbacks. You’ve been there for me through every step of getting healthy again. We’ve joked, laughed, cried, and sniffled together. We’ve had calls that lasted hours and calls that lasted seconds. You’ve met my family and they all love you. Thank you so much girls I don’t know what I would do without you.

To the kids I met through the Beacon/Stay GC @felixthekoala @tinyjisung and ZD thank you.

You guys helped with story ideas, the fine tuning, and even pretending to be idols for me on kkt. You have listened to me scream about Woojin and Felix or scold you bc Chait isn’t real at all. You’ve made me laugh more times than I can count and I love it. Thank you guys so much.

To @changbeanie thank you.

You’ve inspired me to be an even better write than I am and inspire to always keep improving. You’re an idol to me. I also want to thank you for defending me in my times of need and helping me when I need it. You are such an amazing friend, thank you.

To mijita @felixmahdork, thank you.

You never fail to make my day. You make me smile and you make me proud every single day. You have been one of the biggest blessings to come from starting this blog and I can’t thank you enough (legit crying whilst writing this). You are amazing in every sense of the word Lou. Thank you for everything.

To the moots I’ve met through nets or random experiences @stantalentstansk @yeoldontknow @oh-beyond @baekwell--tart thank you.

You guys have helped me through so much, especially when it comes to my writing. You’ve made me want to strive to do so much more. You’ve made me smile and blush. You’ve made me happy. Thank you.

To my seester @channiechanchan thank you.

I don’t even know how to communicate into words how grateful I am for you. You’ve made me giggle, and you’ve had me at a loss for words. We’ve cried together and talked about our issues. You defended me when I defended you. You protected me when I protected you. We’ve sang together and dyed our hair at the same time. You are truly someone I consider a sister and I cannot think of someone (besides my blood sisters) better to call that. I have no clue what I would do without you Nessa, thank you.

To ReeRee and Dawn ( @butterfly948 @cold-eyes-made-ice ) thank you.

You two are two absolutely stellar human beings. You remind me that there is faith in humanity. You guys are so down to earth and kind. You’ve heard me rant for hours and stayed there for me even when I’m being an over dramatic bitch. I love our crazy antics and admiration for each other. Thank you, girlies.

To my wifey @cherryblossomchangbin thank you.

We’ve had our ups and downs (more ups than downs) and I couldn’t imagine a better person to have gone through it with. You’ve made me a tougher, stronger, and better person. You’ve helped me grow so much as a person. You’ve done things that made me question your sanity and vice versa. You’re never afraid to call me a hoe or a bitch and I love it. You make me laugh and smile almost every day. I thank you for everything you’ve ever done for me.

To the L.E.E in L.E.E.K ( @renjunsunflower @blk-mingming @gunpowder-writes) thank you.

Joining the blog with you girls was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made on this blog. You’ve read my work before it came out and you’ve listened to me be constantly unable to make any decisions on it. You guys have probably heard more of my sob stories than anyone and not once have I ever felt judged for it. You’ve heard me cry out in physical pain but not once did you make me feel diminished. I’m so thankful for you and I couldn’t imagine my life without you. So thank you.

And to the two people that have helped me more than anything, my two best friends @roadworkaheaduhyea and @justlovingkpop

To Hannah, I know you’re still reeling over your graduation (and I’m so freaking proud and I know I said I wasn’t going to get sappy on you but- well- I lied). I want to thank you for all the countless hours you’ve stayed up with me while I wrote. For the classes you’ve skipped to help me write reactions. To the ships you wrote with me whilst on the phone. I want to say thank you for the endless support and love you’ve given me. Thank you for all the inside jokes and amazing memories we’ve built together. Thank you for listening to me talk for fucking hours on end, and giving me cuddles when I desperately needed it. Thank you for being my rock.

To Amy, you are probably the person I am most open to. You know of all of my insecurities, all of my stories, all of my habits, and all of my happy moments. You always make sure to check on me bc you know I’m notorious for not taking care of myself. You always send me cute Spanish memes, and have inspired me to work so much harder on my Spanish. You’ve helped me with so many ideas and manage to get me out of creative lulls. You make me smile every time you laugh. You’ve listened to me while I was crying or whilst having a panic attack. You’re one of the first people I go to when I need to say something whether it be good or bad. I can’t thank you enough Amoo. I love you so so so fucking much.

[skidsficrecs]

Straya 801 - Planet Of Total Madness

Title- Straya 801 - Planet of Total Madness

Author-  orangecaramel05

Ship(s)- Lee Felix/Seo Changbin, Bang Chan/Kim Woojin, Han Jisung/Lee Minho, Hwang Hyunjin/Kim Seungmin, Yang Jeongin/Bang Yedam

Word Count-  265.8k

Chapters- 26/27

Status- WIP

Rated-  Mature

Archive Warnings- Creator Chose Not To Use Warnings

Additional Tags- Alternate Universe — Planet Straya, Avatar AU kind of I guess??, Fluff, Angst, Hurt & Confort, Language Barriers at first, We Love Nature, Rated For Violence, Bioluminescent Nature, I Love this fic like my baby, Proud mama, Yes I put Bang Yedam because Jeongin doesn’t deserve to be alone, More tags to be added, pinning, Staring, Skinship, Stray is a species in my fic, 3RACHAS are the only human, and they are scientists

Summary- 'Welcome on Straya 801.'

The first time they heard these words, they were kids. Now, they are Stray kids.

---

Centuries ago, scientists found a new solar system in the universe. Within it was a little unknown planet similiar to Earth. It was now known as Straya 801. There, peaceful beings live in harmony with nature. Scientists called them Strays.

Wanting to learn more about the species, scientists organized the 'Second Straya 801 Expedition'.

JYP M trained various units, teaching them how to behave and respect Strays and their planet. Among them was a team called 3RACHA, thee of the youngests and most promising scientists of their generation.

Composed of Changbin, Chan and Jisung, this unit would finally see another world and find out more about its species. But what they didn't expect was to find way much more than that...

OR

Changbin stumbling upon a curious (beautiful) Stray who is too clingy for his dark self's liking.

Chan almost getting killed by a Stray in less than 1h (a record in JYP's registers).

Jisung having a door slammed at his face by a Stray after a first (failed) conversation attempt.

Notes- Now I had a very cursed experience with an alien fic previous to reading this one and I will not share its name or anything about it but it will forever haunt me so I was hesitant to read this but oh boy. This fic is a masterpiece the author put so much work into creating a whole other planet like this and their descriptions are beautiful it sometimes doesn’t feel like im just reading a fanfic. Updates are slow but its beaus of how dense each chapter is and its definitely worth it with how well done they are. Honestly it would be a crime to not read it and love it so now ur all legally required too sorry I don’t make the rules.

~ Admin Angel

[bingsubinnie]

MIROH: Pt. 1/ Preview

MIROH: A Stray Kids MazeRunner! AU

Reader-insert: Female (1st person) Pairing: Changbin x Reader (ot9 x reader friendships) Genre: Dystopian, MazeRunner!au, Romance  Warning: none for this chapter Word Count: 1.3k

Disclaimer: I do not own the Maze Runner. It is a fantastic series written by James Dashner which I highly recommend! 

________________________________________________________________

Bang.

I immediately shot awake, my sudden movements knocking me off balance and straight into the hard surface behind me. I gasped for breath, the sudden fall knocking the air out of my lungs. Peeling an eye open, I took in my surroundings. The four cold, metal walls of a box rose up around me. Wooden boxes and old-fashioned crates were stacked in the corner. It was dark – so dark – with the exception of an eerie red light somewhere far above me. I didn’t have time to observe much else about my current confinement before it suddenly shot upwards. I yelped in surprise as inertia pushed me flat against the floor of the box. Loud clangs reverberated around me, making any logical thought process impossible. Beginning to hyperventilate, I couldn’t contain the scream that echoed off of the walls, only serving to disorient myself further. Suddenly, after what seemed like ages, the upward motion suddenly halted, throwing me back against the floor again. I let out a groan, rubbing my head to ease the throbbing. Peering upwards, I could barely make out what seemed to be the top of the elevator shaft, or whatever you would call the thing I was in. The crates in the corner began to rattle, fear suddenly settled deep in my bones and I began to shout while banging my fist against the side of the metal box. 

           “Hey! Let me out! Help!” I was so consumed in my plea for assistance, that I didn’t notice the giant iron doors above me slide open until I was blinded by the sunlight. Cowering away from the burning in my eyes, I finally blinked them open.

           “Ay, it’s a greenie.”

           “Ah, look at him, he’s a puny one, he is.”

The sudden presence of voices didn’t comfort me like you would think. I was terrified, barely able to understand the words they were saying. All until that one sentence.

           “Uh, I don’t think the greenie’s a dude.”

I finally looked up.

           “No, that ain’t no shucking boy.”

Faces loomed over the opening, causing me to squeak and shuffle backward.

           “Alright, everyone, move back. You’re scaring her.”

Surprisingly, though not without grumbles, most of the faces did disappear.

“Aight’, don’t freak out, greenie. I’m going to come down there and get you out, ok?”

I flinched as the floor shuddered as a boy jumped down into the box. With pitch-black hair and a short but sturdy stature, his expression was neutral, but there was no hostility.

           “Come on, greenie. My name is Changbin, and I’m gonna help you get out of here. Come on, now. Stand up.”

           With apprehension, I gingerly took his hand. He deftly pulled me to my feet, leading me to the side of the cage.

           “Ay, shanks! Stop your staring and let the rope down!”

A rope was thrown down. The boy, Changbin, who was actually about my height, tied a loop at the end before motioning me to put my foot in it. I just stared at it. He must have sensed my nervousness because he immediately shoved me (albeit gently) towards the rope.

           “Come on, you can’t stay here forever.”

The rope was suddenly jerked upwards and I was pulled to the top. Hands grabbed my arms pulled me over the ledge until I was standing in the middle of a group of boys. I flinched as jeers erupted around me.

           “That ain’t a regular shank, that’s for sure.”

           “Wow, she’s hot.”

           “I call dibs on the girl-shank!”

           “What?”

           “No way!”

           “Dude, she’s mine.”

Suddenly, a voice from below us rang out.

           “She’s no one’s. And I’m still down here, by the way, so stop staring at the girl and get me up.”

After Changbin was pulled up from the box, a voice from my left spoke up.

           “Welcome to the glade, greenie.” A boy with dark curly hair was speaking. He had a commanding aura about him, but he flashed a bright smile. There was an accent to his voice, one I couldn’t name, but somehow could recognize.

It was then that I first looked past the group of boys. I looked to be standing in the middle of a giant field. There was a garden in one corner, a forest in another, sheep and cows grazing, small shacks and hammocks. It all would have been rather comforting if it weren’t for the huge stone walls that surrounded and boxed us in. I looked around, noticing a giant gap in each of the four sides.

           “Wha-t“ My voice broke with unuse. Snickers echoed around as the boy shot a glare at the offenders.

           “What’s your name, greenie?”

           “It’s-“ I suddenly realized I didn’t know. Eye’s widening, I began to panic, racking my brain for the answer. Suddenly, my eye caught again on something in the far corner of the field. The gaps. Seeing an escape, I began to make my way there, slowly

           “Hey, Hey, it’s ok, greenie. This is normal, it’ll come to you eventually.” The boy said, trying to calm me down, but my mind was now elsewhere. As if suddenly noticing my distracted state, he looked to where my attention seemed to be. “Oh, uh, that’s- Hey! Come back, it’s not safe!” He yelled after me as I pushed my way through the crowd, ignoring the looks I was getting.

I immediately broke out into a dead sprint towards the gap in the wall. The more the group behind me yelled for me to stop, the faster I ran. I had almost made it to the gap when I made out what they were saying behind me.

           “Jisung, get her!”

A movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention, but before I could look, he was already on me.            

           “I’m so sorry!” A voice exclaimed, right before I was tackled to the ground. My head slammed into the dirt and I groaned as the weight on top of me quickly rolled off.

           “Shuck, are you okay?”

My eyes fluttered open to see a concerned face hovering above me.

           “Sorry, I was just trying to save you.”

My head pounded and I shut my eyes again as I felt the footfalls of others through the ground.

           “Alright, take her to the slammer, I guess. I feel bad, I’d take her to the homestead, but she’d be safer in the slammer.” The boy who’d talked to me in front of the group was speaking now.

           Changbin, the boy who’d gotten me up from the freaky elevator, grabbed my hand and pulled me up.

           My head throbbed once more, and I stumbled dizzily. Seeing that I obviously was in no shape to walk, the boy sighed and effortlessly scooped me up. Despite my struggling, he carried me easily, and I eventually just slumped in his hold. It felt like only a second, but soon he was setting me down on a packed earth floor. I was barely conscious as I saw him look at me for a long second, before turning and shutting the barred door behind him. Glancing around, I saw that he had taken me to what seemed to be a small room dug into the ground, the top covered with a cage-like structure made from what looked like bamboo.

           “Hey,” a soft voice was at the door.

Immediately, my head snapped over, eyes clenching shut at the sudden throbbing.

           “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m Chan, the leader of this glade. I know that you’re scared and that you have no idea where you are, but I promise those questions will be answered soon. Don’t worry about being here, you’re not in trouble and we don’t hate you. We do this for every greenie. We’re just making sure that you can calm down, and we’re trying to keep you safe. Okay? Whatever you do, don’t go into that maze. We’re trying to help you, okay?”

           His gaze is earnest, and when I don’t respond he asks “Okay?” again.

I nod, and he smiles.

           “Okay, good. I’ll see you when you get out. Woojin, our cook, will be here sometime soon with some food.” He gives me one more parting smile and then jogged off.

           With all that had happened since I’d woken up in the box, I couldn’t keep my eyes open and I fell asleep almost immediately. 

A/N: Despite writing for myself often, this will be the first fic I’ve ever posted on Tumblr! I am excited and nervous since I think that there are plenty of writers on this platform who are better than me. But, I loved this concept, so I want to share it with all of you! I have about 20k words of this first part written, and it’s still not completely done, but I will go ahead and start posting. As a heads up, I leave for college in about a month, so if there is a big gap between part 1 and part 2, I apologize. Hopefully, I will have time to write, but I really do not know how my schedule will look. I’ll update you more when the time comes, but enjoy this for now! 

With love, 

~ Ash

[gaiyofanfiction]

The Stray District - Chapter 2

Stray Kids Gang!Au

Lee Know x Reader

Drama

A/N: Omg, I've gotten such good reviews on the first part, thank you all so much! I’m glad you’re enjoying it! This chapter is a little slow and kinda short af but it gets exciting soon hehe. This is just a transition. I hope you like it, enjoy! ~Yosei P.S. I’m sorry we haven’t updated Misfortune yet. I’m having some major writers block rn. Hopefully it’ll pass soon. Thank you!

Warnings: PG13. Violence and Seductive Themes (Nothing sexual that crosses a line for underage idols.)

Disclaimer: This is pure fiction. All artists named in this fic are given a fake personality by me. This does not in any means reflect on the individual idol or groups. To my knowledge, they are all sweet, amazing people that wouldn’t hurt a fly.

PLEASE READ THE PROFILE BOARDS OF EACH MEMBER BEFORE READING THE FIC. It’ll make so much more sense!

~~~

By the time the three of you made it home, you were exhausted from the interaction with the three idiots. While Woojin was driving, Felix was checking on you, constantly asking if you were alright. As much as you loved the boy, you couldn't help but get annoyed at the constant questions. But you knew he was just worried.

Once you all make it home, you type in the security code and scan your finger. The door opened immediately and shut behind once the three of you made it inside. The three of you walk down a long, dimly lit hallway to another secured door. Once again, you type in your security code and enter the room.

You notice Seungmin was on the couch, busy crunching numbers from his earnings while I.N was busy playing video games. You jump onto the couch and pulled yourself to Seungmin, cuddling up next to him.

The boy chuckles and runs his hand through your soft hair. “How was today, boss? Anything exciting happen at the club?”

Woojin drops his pistol onto the coffee table before falling back into the comfortable leather chair. “You could say that. Stray Kids showed up.”

This information caught Seungmin and I.N's attention. I.N turns around. “They did? What happened?”

Felix sits on the other side of you. “Well, they wanted money from us. For bailing Han's ass out of prison.”

Seungmin rolls his eyes. “How the hell is it our fault that he got caught?”

You throw your hands up in the air. “Thank you! I'm glad you have your head right, Seungminie.” You run a finger up his arm, giving him chills.

Felix gritted his teeth. “Hyunjin also attacked Y/N. Almost cut her throat.”

Seungmin and I.N gasp. Seungmin puts a finger under your chin lifting your head up to asses the wound. He saw a very minor cut, but that still angered him.

“How dare they. Are they crazy?!”

I.N pauses his game and rushes over to you, giving you a hug. “Are you okay? Is there anything we can do?”

You shake your head, patting the boy on the back. “Not at the moment. It's over with. However, we need to be on alert. I have a feeling they aren't done with us yet.”

You stretch your arms above your head and stand up. “Well, I'm going to go change into something more comfortable. Seungmin, I'd like those numbers as soon as you're done.”

He nods, getting back to work. You walk into your room and close the door. Flopping on the bed, you sigh. It's exhausting being the big boss of a powerful gang. You wouldn't be able to any of this on your own. You were so thankful to Felix, Woojin, Seungmin, and I.N for being there for you. Sometimes you're harsh on them, you have to when running things. But you love them all to pieces. You knew they would do anything for you and you were grateful.

You take off your tightly fitted dress and throw it in the hamper, stripping down to only your bra, panties and holster garters. You stretch your arms and legs. Being stressed in a tight outfit like that isn't good for the body.

You hear a knock on the door before it opens.

“Hey, boss could I please talk-” Felix peeks around the door but immediately freezes at the sight of your half naked form.

You put your hands on your hips, a brow raised. “See something you like? Or are you going to close the door so I can finish getting changed?”

He squeals his face bright red. He bows and quickly closes the door, waiting for you to finish changing.

You roll your eyes  and put on a tank top and short shorts. You walk to the door and open it, seeing Felix fiddling with his fingers.

“Yes, you wanted to talk?”

He notices you had finally put clothes on and nods, following you into your grand bedroom. You sit on the bed and Felix sits across from you on you desk chair. He clears his throat.

“I, uh, just wanted to say I'm sorry.”

Your eyebrows shoot up. “Sorry? Sorry for what?”

“I'm sorry I wasn't any help at the club. With Hyunjin. He had you in his grasp, his weapon aimed at your throat. I was so shocked, I couldn't move.” He clenches his fists tightly. “I just sat there. He could have killed you and I just sat there! I did nothing! The thought of you dying… I can't even imagine it. I don't want to imagine it.”

You see how much he's internally struggling, incredibly mad and upset with himself. You stand up and grab his hand, pulling him to the bed. He sits down next to you.

You hold his hand. “Felix, don't be mad at yourself. Even I didn't expect it to happen. You know I trust you and I know you would have stopped him in a second if the situation had gotten worse. You're more skilled than you give yourself credit for.” You lean your forehead against his. “I couldn't do anything without you four. I would probably be kidnapped or dead by now if it wasn't for you and Woojin. I also don't want to see you get hurt either.”

“I would give my life for you, you know that.” Felix chuckles, “you know, for a ruthless gang leader, you're pretty sweet.”

You grab him in a choke hold. “Hey, only you four have my heart. But don't tell anyone else I can be nice or you're dead. You hear me?”

You hear a knock at the door and then the knob turn. I.N pokes his head in.

You let go of Felix, crossing your arms. “Does nobody in this gang wait for me to actually invite them in? What's the point of knocking?”

I.N laughs awkwardly before bowing his head. “Sorry, Y/N. I just had a question.”

You sigh, gesturing for him to come in. He sits across from you in the chair Felix was previously in. He fiddles with his fingers nervously, making you raise a brow.

“Well? What is it?”

“Well, there's this new game that just came out and I was wondering if I can-”

“No.” you deadpan.

“You don't even know what I was going to say!”

“You were going to ask me if you could go and buy the game at the store. Why can't you just hack your way into a game?”

He puts. “It doesn't work like that. Why can't I go?”

“It’s too dangerous! There are people who want to hurt me and they know you're my younger brother. I don't want you getting hurt.”

“I can take care of myself. I'm a part of this gang too, you know.” He continues to pester you.

You grab the front of his shirt, pulling it towards you. “Jeongin. I love you. But when I say no, I mean no. Do you understand me?” You speak in a low, dangerous voice.

He immediately shuts up, his eyes wide. He quickly nods. You release him and pat his head, a smile returning to your face.

“Oh good. Now, go to your room. Seungmin, Woojin, and I have some business we need to go over.” You look over to Felix, your voice changing into a business tone. “You, escort I.N to his room. Make sure he stays there.”

Felix nods curtly before grabbing I.N by the arm and dragging the pouty hacker out of the room. You follow behind but turn towards the living room where Seungmin is working on paperwork and Woojin is polishing his pistol of choice.

“You two, meeting room. Now.”

The boys stand up immediately and follow you down the dark hallway to a large, brightly lit room. In the center of the brick room stood a round table accompanied by 5 chairs. You, Woojin and Seungmin sit down, Seungmin organizing his papers.

You lean back in your chair, a bored look on your face. “Now, Seungmin how are this week's numbers looking?”

For the next hour, the three of you go over the profit margins of the week's sales. While Stray Kids’ had a hand in the drug trade, District 9 controls the majority of the dealers and suppliers. Seungmin is known for having the highest quality and purest cut substances in the business, which is why the majority of the money the gang owns is from him.

The profits have been increasing. However, while Seungmin has the majority of the city in his hands, Jisung has been closing in a little bit more each day. It wasn't enough to worry you, but it was enough to catch your attention.

“We need to completely knock Stray Kids out of this business. Jisung isn't bright, but he is a genius in substances. And the fact that Lee Know has the knowledge he does, between the two of them, they have the ability to catch up.”

Woojin runs a hand through his hair. “So we basically need to watch their every move. How can we do that if Bang Chan's systems can't be hacked by I.N?”

“I have a few men that can keep an eye on Jisung's guys for me,” Seungmin explains. “It'll work for now, but Stray Kids are getting their claws into the game faster than we had originally anticipated. We just need to be on our guard.”

Suddenly the door to the meeting room flies open, revealing a sweaty, panting Felix.

“Felix, what is it? We're kind of in the middle-”

“It's I.N. He's gone!”

~~~

<prev - next>

[Masterlist]

[gyuten]

a clap of lightning

— Genre: fluff, a tiny bit of angst ; childhood crush!au, college!au (if you squint)

— Pairing: NCT’s Lucas/Reader

— Words: 17.5 k rip y’all

— Synopsis: There is no mistaking that Wong Yukhei is the modern day prince charming little [Name] had been dreaming about. Adult [Name] however, has to face the brunt of her young fantasies as she comes to a startling realization that the man of her dreams is not quite like what she imagined. But maybe, modern day prince charmings are overrated anyways.

— A/N: Hi, I’m Ava, and I’m incapable of writing anything under 5k :) please enjoy this first fic on my new blog. also pls don’t come at me if your ‘keep reading’ doesn’t work ok.

Dreams are often not as sweet as it appears to be. Many overlook the warning that came with it, for, what’s so wrong with opening ourselves to reach out to our greatest fantasy? At the time, naive little [Name] has yet to understand what dreams can really be—what it’s sweetness truly hid, the jagged edges that lurk in its shadows. The dream she’s harbored as a little sapling—like many other girls her age—was simply one of meeting and falling in love with a prince charming. And her prince charming, upon a bold decision she made at the young age of 8 years old, was simply her adjacent neighbor’s loud and clumsy son, Wong Yukhei.

Ever since the family had settled themselves inside the once crooked home with its decaying walls and weathered paint, [Name] had taken notice of their little boy—a boy her mother informed her was in fact of her age—whose smile is pretty unlike any other and was shared too frivolously to the world, his unruly brown locks always tucked inside an old baseball cap, and his mahogany eyes that glittered like rippled lakes when sunlight kisses it at just the right angle. It’s quite inevitable that she found herself dreaming of their budding romance, of being swept off her feet with his blinding smile.

Unfortunately, those fantasies have still remained—and perhaps will always remain—a fantasy, for years.

After weeks of renovation and work done to the Wong residence, the rickety old building was transformed into something more suitable to be called a home. To celebrate, Yukhei and his parents presented themselves at her house’s door, offering a batch of delicious home cooked brownies. Its enticing smell reached all the way up to her opened window, luring her to her windowsill where she sat perched, hesitantly peeking through it where she spotted the short brown tufts of the boy she had unmistakably seen move in across the street, only this time without his baseball cap. As muffled sounds of exchanged conversation was heard between the parents, [Name] tried to find her courage and call out to the boy who seemed uninterested and restless with the boring exchange. But she had never been one to initiate conversation, always too restricted by her shy nature and withdrew herself into her own comfortable shell. It was startling and almost too good to be a coincidence when the boy’s jumpy nerves and unfocused eyes managed to land on her through the porch pillars.

It was when their eyes met and he offered a blinding smile that [Name]—suddenly too flustered and warm for her liking—shut her window with a loud slam and retreated away to her bed. Looking straight at him was, in that moment, odd and unfathomable and intense. Despite how innocent the exchange had been, how sweet and warm he had looked at her, [Name] couldn’t feel any comforting warmth like she did whenever she made a new friend, no, this was far too warm, far too overwhelming she felt her chest heave for air despite nothing choking her as jolts of electricity began coursing through her veins, this feeling licked dangerously at her heart with a painful burn like a raging fire. Perhaps her 8 year old mind had simply failed to understand what she’s feeling at that moment, but it was at that first moment that [Name] decided, Yukhei was the prince charming for her.

One would think that in the following years they spent as neighbors, [Name] and Yukhei would somehow found their time to converse, get to know each other, and establish some form of friendship. But the reality was, even when it was revealed to her that Yukhei was to attend the same elementary school as hers, and conveniently preordained to be her new classmate, [Name] and Yukhei had never shared more than passing glances and polite nods to each other. In hindsight, it could have been her fault. No, it was definitely her fault. Every time she saw him approaching, heard his laughter from the end of the hallway, the knock and call of her name coming from her lawn, or even the sound of his name coming out from someone else’s lips, [Name] shriveled up and turned the other way, her heart hammering thunderously against her rib cage and blood boiling quicker than she could comprehend. The only time where she could look at him without internally combusting was when he was unaware of her.

After countless attempts of reaching out and being offered only rejection, Yukhei gave up and simply ignored her existence. Which should have made her devastated, as she harbored feelings for him—going as far as claiming him her prince charming—and though it did tow in a sense of melancholy and regret, this predicament gave her great relief too. At least she wouldn’t have to live constantly looking over her shoulders every time the name Yukhei was mentioned. She convinced herself, this was probably best. And so, for years, despite the many circumstances that should’ve landed them as childhood friends, they were in reality nothing more than strangers.

One would think that someone as sweet and kind hearted as the new student Wong Yukhei would easily nestle his way into being a well rounded student among his peers and teachers. It took only three weeks for Yukhei to prove everyone wrong. While the sun rested at its highest peak, the cafeteria was bustling with overlapping chatters and moving bodies eager to please their appetites. [Name] had just finished her meal with a satisfied hum when the thundering echoes of the hundreds of voices started to dwindle, at first subtle, like a spark before a fire. And then it was snuffed out with only the traces of lingering smoke. The voices came from hundreds, to a hundred, to tens, until complete silence overtook the room. Unsettled, [Name] looked to the friends sat at her table for an answer, but found their attention focused elsewhere. It seemed, as she glanced at the students all around her, their voices had been claimed by something else outside the cafeteria.

When she followed their eyes, [Name] nearly choked as her heart leaped on its own accords, as it always did when it saw him. Wong Yukhei was standing by the hallway at the mouth of the cafeteria. Only this time, it wasn’t his presence alone that made her squirm in her seat. It was Wong Yukhei with blood smeared across his fist, Wong Yukhei’s glittering irises that glinted with a wildness that didn’t belong to such a sweet face, Wong Yukhei’s chest heaving with the residue of his anger. [Name]’s heart backtracked and plummeted unlike it ever did. This was not her prince charming. Yukhei stood over a whimpering boy, cornered by the walls, face hidden by his shaking hands to shroud the injury he sustained from receiving the punch. Despite not being able to see his face, [Name] could recognize the snaggle tooth through his pained grimace with ease. It was Park Woojin, a boy whose path she made sure to never cross with due to his poor attitude. Then her attention flickered over to the girl cowering behind Yukhei and recognized her as Kim Jennie, the recently arrived transfer student. From how the three were positioned, anyone in the silent cafeteria could understand what had transpired. It wasn’t a secret that Park Woojin had recently taken an interest in tormenting poor Jennie due to her foreign upbringing, and although many pitied her and attempted to stop Woojin, in the end they were all too scared to face the brunt of the troubled boy. That was, until Yukhei, it seemed.

No one dared to move, until the sharp sound of clicking heels seeped through the hallway with a menacing echo bouncing against the walls like a looming threat. Mrs. Choi appeared before the three, brows drawn to match her furious frown. She took a few seconds to asses the situation, taking a short glance at each three before choosing to land on Yukhei again.

“Wong Yukhei. Come with me. All of you, help Woojin to the infirmary.” She barked her order without leaving any room for Yukhei or the crowd of students to argue.

Yukhei’s anger simmered all too suddenly like a trampled flower. Without another word but a last fleeting glance at Woojin, Yukhei followed after Mrs. Choi. Immediately, as soon as the last trace of their presence vanished, the students clambered out of their seats and surrounded the two remaining figures of a shellshocked Jennie and wounded Woojin, filling the room once more with a familiar racket. She was one of the few who didn’t move from her seat, too focused on churning the new information before her. Wong Yukhei had punched the school bully to protect a girl. Wong Yukhei risked getting punishment to save a girl. Wong Yukhei busted his knuckles punching the bully no one dared to come near to. Wong Yukhei. Oddly enough, her thoughts drifted to the many courageous and dashing prince’s in her favorite Disney movies who had came to the rescue of their damsel in distress, saving them from dragons and evil witches. Wong Yukhei was, in a sense, like those brave princes, at that very moment.

This was the incident that had unknowingly snagged [Name] further in Wong Yukhei’s clutches.

Yukhei had gotten off with a month worth of detention and a growing popularity amongst his peers. Word of how he had defended Jennie after Woojin broke her toy were all the school could talk about for two weeks long. In those two weeks, [Name] had to learn to not jump up on her seat at every mention of Yukhei’s name and gave way to her biggest secret. Which was pretty difficult. What made it all the more difficult for her was when she realized how much she’s begun to pay more attention to Yukhei after that incident. Yes, she’s noticed how bright and contagious his joy had affected those around him, it’s difficult not to when he’s always claiming everyone’s attention with his presence. But lately, she’d begun to notice a different side to him, a more delicate edge to his blinding exuberance, a side that was arcane and often mislooked. [Name] knew of his secret passtime of feeding the stray cats that wandered aimlessly around the school’s lawn with his leftover lunch every day, she knew that Yukhei had lied to Mrs. Choi when he claimed to have lost his group project when it was his partner who had been a nervous wreck all morning about the missing project, she knew that he had only released the class’ hamster because she overheard his defense over how sad and lonely it looked sitting on its cage everyday. [Name] knew these things about Yukhei, knew of the kind hearted, sensible and caring person he was, and yet never dared to speak of it to anyone else.

She decided it was to be their own little secret—whether he’s aware of it or not—an undisclosed knowledge that filled her with amusement and fondness that only she got to feel. It in a way, brought her somewhat closer to Yukhei—although their distance remained. It, in a way that she knew brought only further complication to her already suffocating affection for him, was the reason she found herself willingly falling deeper into the uncertain abyss that was Wong Yukhei.

Even as she entered middle school Yukhei’s presence still lingered. He was fickle and difficult to be rid of, like a pollen. [Name] didn’t complain much, because she couldn't deny the elation of being able to still be around him. Apparently, what she kept convincing herself as an ‘elementary school crush’ phase had stretched on even up to middle school.

It was a week before their midterms as she recalled correctly, when Yukhei first laid his eyes on her after years of averting each other’s gazes. She recalled the creeping feeling of defeat as she realized that she wasn’t anywhere near prepared for the exam. She had been busy at the time, running errands as the vice president to the student council and relentlessly practicing for the school’s competition coming up. [Name], stupidly, as a result, had succumbed too many times to her exhaustion instead of paying attention to class and taking proper notes. She would’ve asked one of her friends to tutor her or even copy from their notes, but they themselves are swamped with school projects and preparation for midterms on their own. [Name] wasn’t inconsiderate, the last thing she wanted was to burden any of her friends with her incompetence.

Her friends had left for lunch at that particular day, while she chose to stay in her seat and attempted some last minute cramming session amidst drowning in regret and self pity. Though try as she might, only a portion of the information read was able to be thoroughly processed into clarity. With all her focus on her biology book, [Name] had tuned out the noise of the class door opening and the footsteps that followed. Only when their silhouette spilled over her textbook did she look away from it. She was certain that the choking noise she emitted was too loud not to be noticed. It’s only natural, for as soon as her mind realized that it was him standing over her, him staring right at her, and him alone to accompany her in the barren class, how could her nerves not petrify at all? How could she possibly focus on grasping for much needed air when his eyes were so tender, so careful and almost frightened at the thought of landing it on her, yet the warmth it always held crackled and burned right at her?

Despite Yukhei’s sudden presence that warranted [Name] to deal with an overwhelming surge of clashing emotions she knew was very much visible on her expression, he didn’t say a word. He kept staring, and [Name] was guilty of not looking away, of allowing herself to be ensnared in the intricate webbing of constellations that shone in his eyes.

“Here.” Finally, he spoke.

The spell he casted her under snapped and she was forced to look away. Embarrassment quickly flooded her system when it sinked in that she had been blatantly—and unabashedly mind you— staring at him, what’s worse was that this time he was aware of it. Through her silent self-reprimanding and desire to disappear from existence, [Name] finally took notice of his hands that held a worn binder and milk bread. He placed the two items on her desk, and she was too curious to not look. When she flipped the binder open to a random page, it opened up to pages of notes written in neat and compact words. Jumping ahead a few pages, [Name] was startled when she landed upon the very notes she needed for the upcoming midterms. As she let the knowledge of the new found study material sink in, [Name] glanced at the milk bread sat beside the binder. She nearly forgot that this was lunch time and that she hadn’t attempted to fill up her growling stomach at all.

Somehow, through the years of silence and avoidance, Yukhei had manage to come to her at her time of need, which was both suspicious and convenient. Yet she couldn’t be bothered to voice her suspicion, tongue tied and mortified as it struck her: Yukhei noticed her, enough to know that she’s been struggling through class and had chosen to abandon her health to make up for it. With some leftover courage, [Name] gazed up at Yukhei, somehow still standing before her, and still staring. She knew that even without saying a word, Yukhei should’ve understood the question laid on her puzzled expression. But still, he remained silent. At first, she thought his wordless state was only because of how painfully awkward this encounter was, yet the twitch of his lips and the shaking of his fists told her that something restrained him from saying anything else. She wished he wasn’t, it had been so long since she last heard his voice so close to her, felt him beside her. Yukhei ducked his head away, almost pained to look at her any further, before the rest of his limbs followed suit and walked away from her without any moment to linger. When the classroom’s door came to a shut, [Name] found herself heaving for air, somehow unaware of how breathless she had been with Yukhei. Again, her gaze drifted to the binder and the milk bread—a very thoughtful account that brought warmth unwillingly spreading to her cheeks.

This where she realized that her feelings for Yukhei was most definitely not a phase, not when it still remained as they graduated and stepped into high school.

While in high school, Yukhei was able to secure his social status by snagging the position as the soccer club’s midfielder. While [Name] chose photography. After middle school, she decided against joining the student council and focused on her academics and extracurricular instead. Though that thought had yet to blossom into satisfactory results, perhaps due to fate’s unnecessary meddling of her non-existent love life. Somehow, joining the photography club meant that you’re responsible for capturing the school’s each proudful achievement and activities. Somehow, this meant that the soccer team claimed most of her time. She hadn’t yet determine whether it was fortunate or not that her decision to join the photography club had given her the opportunity to watch Yukhei at an even closer distance.

Much to her disappointment however, she and Yukhei never got to interact the way she hoped they would in high school, like the way he appeared at her time of need at that fateful spring day. She couldn’t really blame him. High school was the year that he started juggling too much, appeasing too many, working too hard. Though yes, it disappointed her at first, [Name] couldn’t help but swell with admiration for the boy the more she paid attention to his persistence and hard work in managing his time. He remained steady in the top 10 of his class, maintained his social status with one of the most popular cliques in school, continued his after school soccer drills and on-the-work band without any complaints, and somehow, was still humble enough to appease to those around him, still threw out smiles through the sweat and exhaustion in his bones. How could anyone not favor him? And how could her heart ever let someone like that go?

What she remembered most about Yukhei in those three years of high school though was the unbelievably unfair puberty that struck him. To put it simply, the tall, dorky yet charming Yukhei she’s grown fond of has flourished into a dapper, taller and gorgeous Yukhei that grew in well to his features. Soccer had toned out his muscles and kissed his skin with a beautiful golden tan, the new hair he’s chosen to settle with perfectly framed his features and further accentuated his appeal, and his voice—wow, how easily she found herself shivering every time she thought of him speak—had drastically changed into a deep velvet tune that rung persistently in her daydreams. Yukhei grew into a beautiful man, both in appearance and heart, and just when [Name] thought he couldn’t get any more attractive.

High school was the year when [Name] attempted to get over her stupid crush. Yet failed, again and again, every time he smiled, laughed, spoke, and breathed. Somehow, she doesn’t mind this.

By the time she graduated and enrolled into the college of her dreams, [Name] had chosen to abandon any of her previous fantasies regarding Yukhei to focus better on her classes. Like any other freshmen, her mindset was very ambitious, yet so very wrong, as she had nearly been reduced to a heap of exhausted limbs and fried brain circuits. But she willed herself to stumble through, and she did. Regarding Yukhei, well, Yukhei was not a pollen she decided, he was a leech, for even in college she could not escape him. Fortunately, despite taking the same minor as him, they had completely different schedules, which meant she only had to deal with her stifling affection and constantly freezing limbs only when she passed by him somewhere within the university’s property, which was very rare. Life however, decided it’s finally had enough of their stubborn persistence of avoiding each other.

The start of a new semester, among all other things, meant new schedules, new arrangement of classmates, and a bigger chance of landing in the same class as Yukhei—a possibility she overlooked too greatly. It had been such a long time since thoughts of him occupied her mind, so long that she was convinced she’s finally escaped the clutches of his charms.

When she steps into the lecture hall on the current wind blown day, with steaming coffee in hand and a calm mindset ready to indulge herself in another semester of overwhelming knowledge, the entire first year she’s built herself up into the self assured and confident woman crumbles at the doorstep when she sets eyes on her occupied seat—occupied by Wong Yukhei. [Name] nearly spills her coffee on her brand new blouse as her knees wobbled at seeing him. And out of all places, right at her seat. Technically speaking, it’s not hers, as there are no assigned seats in this class. But it’s an unspoken system that has been established since the first day of class: the first seat they sat on upon their first day was to be their assigned seat for as long as they remained on said class. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know that.

It’s been so long since she’s felt the tide of anxiety taking over her body, so long since she’s felt like a vulnerable and love-sick little girl that she’s berrated herself for being in the past. She forgot just how significantly powerful Yukhei’s presence could affect her. It feels like hours, yet it has only been minutes that she’s been standing, frozen, by the door. [Name] only wills herself to move from the doorway when a classmate came up to her with worry. She smiles, assuring them that she’s just fine, before heading up the flight of stairs for her seat. Crazy how she used to avoid coming in contact with Yukhei like he’s the plague, but now finds herself willingly heading straight at him.

The problem with Yukhei taking her seat is that she has a particularly strong reason for being so attached to it. First off, the distance between her seat and the professor’s is too perfect, not too close to have her be spotted whenever she decides to slack off once in awhile, but not too far away that she can’t hear the room carry the professor’s explanation in all its detail. The lighting that its glass window provided is also too perfect for her to give up on, her neatly written notes and occasional surging self indulging selfies depends too much on it. She has to take that seat back. It becomes clear the closer she got to him that the barrier separating them from intertwining into an awkward stare off that morning is because of the earphones currently plugged in his ears and the novel that’s taken his attention hostage. She doesn’t know that Yukhei likes to read novels.

This time, she is prepared to interact with him without making a fool of herself like the previous times, this time, she is certain that the confidence she’s fostered in the past year can break through the confinements of her sentiments over him. It’s empowering to think on, the transformation she’s wade through in the past year has fundamentally changed her enough for her to be aware of the lack of stumble in her step and the missing stutter in her breath as she draws closer to him. Yes, she’ll be fine. At the echo in her footstep, his eyelashes flutter, as graceful as the motion of a butterfly’s wings, a slow and deliberate action that allowed the morning sunlight to filter through it in a moment that poets would proudly claim as their muse. His body moves just as slow, a sluggish movement that hints at his unaccustomed system to the newly scheduled morning class. Then, his eyes land on her. She stops herself before him, this scene familiar, if not for the opposing side she now finds herself in.

“Excuse me, you’re in my seat.” She prides herself in delivering the sentence without any hitches.

The arch of his eyebrow gives away his astonishment at her boldness, a quality he remembers her clearly not having. Though to be fair, it was over five years ago that he last interacted with her. Yukhei tucks his folded arms on his desk with an innocent semblance to hide the fascination for this new found [Name]. He notices the confidence in which she carries herself with, and frankly, he likes this new change.

“Oh?”

[Name] nearly slips back into her addled state of mind at how readily he replies.

“I believe you’re new in this class, but you see, I’ve sat here for an entire year now. And you might not be aware, but there’s this whole thing about ‘first come, first serve’. So it’d be very nice if you could find some seat elsewhere, please. “

In an abruptness she isn’t prepared for, Yukhei tucks his novel and earphone into his arms and readily stands away from the seat. He shrugs his bag onto his shoulder and steps closer, too close that [Name] has to step back to give herself the much preferred comfortable distance between them that would not give away to the blush rising her cheeks or her erratic heart beat.

“It’s cool, you can have it.”

Startled, [Name] pauses to confirm that he is indeed giving away her seat back. When Yukhei juts his chin to the seat and quirks an eyebrow at her lack of movement, she finally move to claim it. As they side step past each other, [Name] is careful to not come into any contact with him, afraid that any brush of skin might bring out the current panicking and disbelieving crush obsessed side of hers.

“Hey,” She curses at herself inwardly for how quickly her head turns to him, “Your lipstick’s kind of uneven, might wanna fix that.” He gestures to his grinning lips, then leaves with what she’s certain is a joyful bounce in his step over successfully mocking her.

For years, [Name] has dreamt of the first moment in which she and Yukhei would meet—truly meet and converse that is. Now that she’s achieved just that, she’s greatly disappointed and embarrassed over how their interaction went. Yukhei is supposed to be the prince charming: chivalrous, well mannered and kind. He is supposed to be enchanted by the patiently crafted make up she dons on her features, find the too large sweater she’s wearing an adorable sight enough to compliment on, supposed to fall to his knees for her smile. But he isn’t. Of course he isn’t. What a fool she is for ever allowing herself to be indulged in such childish and unrealistic fantasies. All at once, she can feel her confidence deflate into one of insecurity. She can’t look that terrible, right? Sure she’s not the prettiest girl in the room, but surely she’s not hideous enough as to not warrant any reaction out of him. Does he even recognize her? Has the years of accidental eye contact and those few interactions they shared in the past meant nothing? Is she that plain that he can forget her so easily? And of all the things he could notice about her, it just had to be her god darn messy lipstick.

“Way to go, [Name].” This is said with means of shaming herself, and a difficulty to understand why this meeting could go so differently than what she expected it to.

The doors shudder open with a bang only her temperamental professor could afford to do so early in the morning. With one last sigh to end her swirling thoughts, [Name] sits herself down on her desk and unpack her necessities on to the desk. Suddenly, this seat doesn’t feel as great as it was as she follows through class that morning. Suddenly, the word prince charming seems farther in the distance than it ever was.

Maybe if she isn’t so muddled in her own thoughts she would have noticed Yukhei’s presence at the seat right in front of hers, despite the harsh glare of the sun that always lands on said spot and has left it unoccupied for the entire year.

Sharing a class with Yukhei is nothing new, she thinks. She’s shared a handful of classes with him in the past, which she confidently believe is enough of a reason for her to not be caught surprised by any of his antics. Well, sharing a class with Yukhei and sharing a class within close seating distance with him is definitely different. For starters, she’s always been enthralled by the way Yukhei exudes an aura of perfection so easily. How he can be studious, social, athletic and actively participate in various events has more than once touched her with awe and wonder. Apparently, either she was too incredibly absorbed in her own daydream to have somehow convinced herself that Yukhei is everything her prince charming was, or college is really kicking at his ass and has rendered him stripped of all his nearly perfect semblance.

On their second day, [Name] takes notice of the seat he chooses to occupy. But, having her expectation and hope crushed so quickly the day before, she shakes away any thoughts of him possibly sitting there for her. The class ticks by in agonizingly dull minutes, yet having grown accustomed to this, [Name] wades through without an ounce of drowsiness on her. The same could not be said for Yukhei. Throughout the entire time they’ve been school mates, he has always proven to be well rounded in all his academics. This she believes is gained through a lot of hard work and sharp focus to the class he attends. Somehow, college Yukhei is not exuding any of that academically well rounded student that day. No, he is exuding the aura of a mentally drained student who chooses to sleep through his lectures. And he just had to be one of those students who sleeps sitting straight, letting their head droop backwards once they go completely unconscious.

[Name] is only interested in taking notes from the board, yet every time she glance forward, she also catches a glimpse of Yukhei’s sleeping face, albeit turned upside down from where she sits. A frown crawls its way on her lips, for not only is he distracting her from her class, but he has further plummeted her emotions for the boy she believed was a perfect and well mannered student. Had he been sleeping in classes without her knowing all these years? Was his satisfactory grades a result of cheating?

No, stop caring [Name].

It’s difficult not to, not when the first slip of drool drips from the corner of his mouth. [Name] doesn’t want to cause any unnecessary attention to herself, but gosh she nearly couldn’t contain the gasp that’s about to come out from her. At this angle and circumstance, Yukhei looks nothing like the prince charming she’s remembered.

Stop it.

This is no time to dwell on such trivial matters. She’s held through the first year of college with a GPA to be proud of because she’s abandoned him. Right now, she can’t afford to let herself slip. Instead of the shock and confusion she expects to feel, Yukhei’s slumbering face makes her nerves tick in annoyance, not only for being a distraction, or for his lack of appreciation to the professor’s explanation, but also for the notion that he seems to have no regards for his future in this college. She clicks at her pen and pokes it at Yukhei’s forehead as an attempt to wake him. He doesn’t budge. Harder, she pokes at his cheek. Nothing. Even harder, with eyebrows further pulled down it makes her forehead wrinkle.

Instead of slowly stirring to consciousness, Yukhei is jerked awake with a sudden jolt that makes her jump in her seat. He pulls himself up into an upright position and turns in his seat to her, looking like a crazed man with wild unfocused eyes. Slowly, consciousness seeps back into him, and a certain calmness dawns on him. [Name] should have been mesmerized, petrified, heart fluttering at the way he holds her gaze. But his red rimmed eyes and drool covered cheeks halts herself from feeling any of that. She notices that the line of drool on his cheeks has been smudged when he jerked awake, unfortunately, its remnants now exist by the tip of her favorite pen.

With a disgusted grimace, [Name] unwillingly shoves the pen to Yukhei, “I guess this is yours now,” Yukhei, still dazed and unaware of what had transpired, takes the pen with furrowed eyebrows, “And pay attention.” She scolds, already pulling her gaze away from him and back to her notes which should have been finished if not for his interruption.

“Uhm, thanks.” He mumbles, still turned towards her, though she tries to brush it off and regain her focus.

“You have a zit on your forehead by the way, might want to cover that up.” Baffled and utterly startled by the bluntness in which he says it so casually, [Name] lands her eyes back on him.

Yukhei’s smile trickles with playfulness, though with the drool marks on his cheek, she expects that he shouldn’t be able to still look so ridiculously good looking. He waves her pen in the air as a thank you, and returns his attention back to the professor as if nothing had happened. She, insulted and growing increasingly vexed by the man sitting before her, is urged with the temptation of hitting his head with another pen and demand him to be rightfully courteous as to thank her for waking him and cleaning her pen instead of readily taking it. And what kind of well mannered man would so blatantly point out the zit on her forehead? Is it really her fault her hormones are acting up? Self consciously, she pokes at the reddening pimple on her forehead, churning the pain that has gotten worse since this morning.

An annoyed huff escapes her. Prince charming be damned, she has no idea how she could ever expect Wong Yukhei to be one. He is just as infuriating, rude, and childish as the boys she and her friends made fun of at high school. She just wished she hadn’t spent all those years chasing after such a lost cause.

She feels a deeper stab of betrayal the longer she thinks about him, about who she believed he was and what he really is. Yet, she has no idea why her heart beat still refuses to calm down.

Funny how when she had been so desperate for his attention in the past, life made no effort to meddle in and realize it. But the minute she decided that she wanted nothing to do with him, life graces her with his constant presence, and worst of all, had arranged how exactly he was going to sneak himself into her life. It’s all because of Kim Mingyu, the blasted gargantuan and his easily wooed heart.

“Hey,” Without knowing it, the baritone of his voice had clung onto her mind at their first real conversation a week ago, its distinctive rasp easily identifiable.

It’s possible that Yukhei might not be calling out for her specifically, she can’t be sure when her eyes are downcasted and curtained by the loose strands of hair. His seat is left empty, and surprisingly, he is found lingering instead on the seat next to hers. How peculiar of him to seek out for her. But, she does not give in as easily to the whispers in her over excited heart and chooses instead the rational side of her mind. Her eyes only wander away from her notes when the pause in the air is interrupted by the clear of his throat. A small smirk can’t be helped but shift her serene expression, one of a rare pompous satisfaction at the notion that this time he is the one vying for her attention. When their eyes meet, Yukhei’s irises are less of a magnificence than what she remembered it being, its glimmer dim. Though it changes not the way her heart reacts to witnessing it, every time. Fortunately, this time she has gotten better at controlling and masking her true disheveled state.

“Professor told me that I’ve been doing poorly in class, you see. And I was thinking that you might be able to help me, since you know, you’re one of the best in this class.” Hesitance seems to be a foreign mentality for him.

“Why not ask Mingyu?” She doesn’t want to outright admit that she finds herself feeling flattered that she’s the first option he decided on.

Yukhei takes the vacant seat next to hers with a startling casual air that mirrors not to the awkward tension they’ve been in for the past years. [Name] scoots her chair away from him out of nervous habit, creating a distance much more preferred. He shoots her a dazzling smile, one that reaches his eyes and slowly lights them with the familiar warm glimmer that makes her stomach churn. No, she is not falling for his charms, not again.

“I did actually. But he bailed on me when Sohye asked him to tutor her, and well you know, he’s smitten over her and can’t refuse. So, he told me to find you.” She responds to him with a frown she hopes doesn’t give away her dejection too easily.

How foolish is she, to think that Yukhei would willingly come before her for help. It would make sense that he’s only here because he has to. He might not even remember or recognize her, despite the years they’ve been placed together. Of course he won’t, she made sure of that. Get a hold of yourself, her mind warns. Though her rattled heart leaves her fingers shaking as it grips her pen, her expression remains steady. So what if he doesn’t remember her? So what if she’s just a second choice to him? She’s survived an entire year without his approval, why let this change anything about her? The shake in her fingers subside.

“Right,” Her curt reply cannot fully mask the disappointment she feels however, try as she might, “Maybe if you hadn’t spent your time sleeping you wouldn’t need to be bothered with me.” She quips.

Yukhei shifts his seat towards her with a curios tilt of his head, wandering of the hostility and dismissiveness in which she’s given him. As he recalls, [Name] has always been a quiet girl. But her gentle heart and delightful mannerism has always spoke louder than her. So, is it his presence that induces this colder edge to the surface? How odd.

“Yeah well, band practice kind of takes its toll on me,” He says this, expecting her to crumble and give in to a curious reaction, but she is as about responsive as a statue, which displeases and further drives him to gouge out for the girl he knows is hidden somewhere underneath, “We call ourselves NCT. Your friend Jungwoo and Jeno are in it with me.”

There is a millisecond pause in her blink, one Yukhei takes notice of with the aid of the close distance they have. He half expects her to push him away or even move to a different seat with the lack of distance he’s forced upon them. Usually, when he lands her eyes on her, she would do everything she can to not hold his gaze. Something about him unsettles her, he knows, and frankly the knowledge of not being well liked by someone upsets him. So it comes as a surprise when [Name] willingly averts her attention to him this time, unlike what he’d expect her to do. There is no hiding the surprise in his parted lips and bulging eyes, as this time he is the one struggling to hold her gaze. [Name] swells with pride with the reaction she manages to pull from him. It’s fortunate that he can’t tell how hard her heart has been hammering against her ribcage all this time.

“That’s nice. But that shouldn’t be an excuse to slack off on college.” The way she speaks reminds Yukhei of his mother back at home, a tenderness has touched her voice beneath its stern pretense.

Ah, there’s that girl I remembered.

There is no guilt in his grin, not like what she had hoped her scolding would bring. One second he is caught off guard and vulnerable to her, and the next the tables have turned and she finds herself falling back into the familiar pattern of gasping for breath before him. All because of a stupid grin.

“Stop.” Her thoughts speak out before she can think it through.

Yukhei sits, perplexed, unaware of what he’s doing to her all the while looking so adorable with his furrowed eyebrows and small pout. Darn him.

“Look, I’ll tutor you, okay? Now can you please stop bothering me?” She hastily throws the answer with a flip of her hair as she attempts to focus back to her notes.

Satisfied, Yukhei rise from his seat[Name] glance at him from the corner of her eyes, watching the transition of him gathering his belongings to recomposing his stature, before his stare dawns on her. She narrows her eyes to question his unmoving presence, and he only smiles, content with the new change she’s underwent. It seems it’ll be easier to speak to her now.

“Saturday at 4. I’m sure you know Amyrea Cafe two blocks away.” It’s not said as a question, but rather an agreement that he chose to agree on behalf of her name.

[Name] scoffs, above the thundering of her heart and the slow haze of her mind muddled with the memory of his heart wrenching smile, “I believe this is my tutoring session. What makes you think you can decide when and where—“ “You’re right, sorry.” The insincere apology is not accepted, if her scrunched expression is any give away to it.

Yukhei wants to laugh, delighted with the many reactions he is able to gouge out of her. To think that it only took nearly a decade for him to witness something other than a pink cheeked and wide eyed expression. He settles his hands on the pockets of his pants, an action she can’t help but think make him appear like one of the models that lines the cover of magazines.

“Like I said, band practice takes up a lot of my time. The only time I’m free is after 4 on Saturdays. Well, Sundays too, but that’s more of a me-time kind of day, you know?”

She doesn’t know whether he’s bluffing or not, for certainly no one can be that busy to not have time to study for less than a day in an entire week. Though uncertain, she opt to say nothing and offer a complacent sigh to him. That response however seemed to lack in what he require, as he stays rooted and continue his onslaught of staring. She realizes he’s never looked at her like this before, with expectancy and a hopeful tint in the worn brown of his irises. It’s becoming a bit too much for her heart to handle.

“Fine.” She agrees once she feels her heart might burst out of her chest.

Satisfied, he flashes a thumbs up and finishes off with a playful wink she’s not sure hold any meaning other than to further tease her. She’s never received any of his playful antics before, but now that she has, she hates to admit that it brings back the dorky, youthful Yukhei she fell for in the first place. Gosh, why is it that when she finds a quality in him she dislikes, he can immediately reel her back in with such an easily appealing action? He scurries back to his seat just as the professor enters, and she’s guilty of watching him go.

Should she dread or risk harboring hope for the upcoming Saturday? She wonders. The thought hit her too late and too sudden the way a freight train might crash and burn, that today, she might have just landed a date with the very prince charming she’s been dreaming of since she was 8.

Oh, but he’s not as charming as I hoped for anyways.

At least, that’s what she wills herself to believe.

The turmoil of dread and excitement she’s been harboring for this particular Saturday has ensued into a pleasant—albeit with a bit of disappointing mannerism from Yukhei here and there—enough occasion. To start, Yukhei was late, and she had to wait an entire half an hour in neverending impatience and anxious foot tapping. Then, he had asked her to stand and order for him, claiming he was too exhausted from the running he did to reach the cafe. Then again, he isn’t all too difficult to teach, which really makes up for his poor manners and tardiness. She knows that the stellar grades he’s accumulated in the past could only be a result of his intelligence. He simply needs a quick catch up on the lessons he’s missed during his nap sessions to pick up on the pace of the class. Within just two hours, Yukhei’s absorbed most of the basics they learned in that first week, and an exhausted silence ensues.

When she takes a glance to the walls of glass windows lining the small cafe as their textbooks come to a close, the gleaming blue that stretches above the bustling city of Seoul has been dipped with hues of purple, orange and pink, a telltale sign of the setting sun as its peak lingers in the horizon. Tufts of white clouds dot the sky beneath the cool wind, crowds of both people and cars have started to pile up on the streets as the working hours come to a close. The flow of time in Seoul has always been fast, too hurried it leaves her with not enough time to settle and appreciate trivial things like the beauty that lies in its streets. At this moment, she feels the clicking in which time slows, if only just a tad.

“You’re daydreaming.” Time winds back up when his voice cuts through the room, everything launching too fast that she can’t help but flinch.

When she risk a glance at him, contentment and peace of mind reflects in his slackened posture and small smile. A tenderness reach his eyes, one that ignites the tingling warmth throughout her system, one too familiar. She looks down to her scattered notes and attempts to nonchalantly cover her blushing cheeks by resting both her hands on them to appear as if she’s resting her head on her hands. Yukhei, as mischievous as a little boy, mimics her movement, but settles his gaze on her instead of his table.

“It’s cool. I figured you might not want to talk to me since we’re done with the tutoring here.” Though he means to remain casual with his words, [Name] can’t help but turn to him at the assumption.

“How do you mean?”

“Well, it’s how we always are. I try to reach out to you, you turn your back and shut me out,” He shifts his position and leans away from the table and her as if his own words pained him, and as the sun casts its remaining light on his face, she sees that his smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes now, “I mean, I can’t blame you for hating me, since obviously I can’t make everyone like me. I just…” He doesn’t finish himself, opting for showing a frown to set his point across.

Has she been all too selfish for thinking that she’s the only one to have suffered from the predicament she landed them into? Was it just her imagination that Yukhei had just expressed how bothered he was over the way she treated him? She feels her fingers tremble at the force of such sudden enlightenment slipping into her thoughts. Furthermore, Yukhei’s curled fists and downcasted gaze are not boding well on her processing mind. Perhaps the reason these thoughts have never penetrated her mind before is due to the belief that Yukhei can never be bothered by her. It’s much more logical to think that the popular and socially adverse Wong Yukhei could never notice the quiet girl who prefers to keep to herself and her small group of friends. Besides, why would Yukhei bother himself with the lovesick quiet girl who spends her time avoiding him? Now, now she can’t be sure anymore.

“Y-You noticed me?” Of all the thoughts racing through her mind, the idea of him noticing her after all the years of avoidance and minimal contact is what kept ringing in her ears, a sound too good to be true she has to ask to be certain.

The calloused pads of his fingers gripping after each other in a nervous awaiting for her reaction cease. He settles closer to the backrest of his seat with a long sigh, the wandering of his eyes hinting at his struggle to grasp for the right words.

“It’s hard not to. You’re the girl who does all she can to not talk to me after all.”

Girl. To him, she is just another girl among the crowds. Yet, that can’t be true, for he somehow recognizes her through the sea of faces he’s met over the years. So, why did he just refer to her as a girl? After she swallows the disappointment in her throat, it became clear that she had hoped for him to refer to her as a pretty girl, a sweet girl, or even a nice girl. Anything that could give away the impression he has of her. But she’s come to realize Yukhei isn’t the type of guy to meet your expectations.

“You’ve been surprisingly a lot more talkative to me these days. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but it seems like my charms are finally coming through to you, and to think it only takes a decade.” He slides humor into the tense silence like smooth butter.

[Name] is guilty of falling too easily for it, breaking out a small smile that fades as instantly as it comes.

“I’m sorry, Yukhei.” It’s heavy on her tongue and odd to her taste buds: his name said with an apology.

It seems she’s not the only one to think so, as Yukhei’s wide eyes bore to hers with an astonishment to match his parted coffee stained lips.

“It wasn’t fair of me to do that to you. Though, if I knew that me avoiding you had been bothering you, I wouldn’t have done that.” Lies.

“So, we’re cool right?” He’s never sounded so cautious before, always loud spoken and blunt and strongly passionate.

The entirety of this unreal situation only sinks in when Yukhei hands the question. What exactly would this mean? That she gets to befriend her long time crush and suffer knowingly in a loop of never ending butterflies, racing heartbeat and taut nerves? Most likely, yes. What fears her the most about accepting and opening herself to a friendship with Yukhei is the possibility of having him find out about her true feelings, of leaving her hope in the hands of someone who can destroy it and her heart at the same time. Though now, she has to take into account his feelings as well if she is to reject. It’s quite difficult to make a rational decision when Yukhei’s eyes are watching her so. Even as she attempts to ignore his stare, its intensity leaves goosebumps across her skin.

“Cool?” She echoes back, hoping for an elaboration.

“As in you know, be civilized friends/neighbor/classmates/study buddy kind of thing. That is...if it’s alright with you?” She sees the quiver of his lips as he grows impatient for an answer.

Well, what’s a little bit of heartbreak compared to the chance of being able to experience Yukhei’s exuberance and all his dorky glory up close? She’s always dreamed of being able to be in close presence to her prince charming. And this is her chance. Perhaps, she might regret this decision one day. Especially after she realizes that Yukhei might not be the boy she’s envisioned him to be after all. Maybe, allowing himself into her life can finally make this fantasy of hers go away. So today, she is going to take her chances with the boy she’s pined over for nearly a decade.

“Okay.”

As their coffee grow increasingly colder into the darkening night, [Name] can feel only the lightness in her heart and the warmth of her cheeks at witnessing Yukhei’s blinding grin. At least, until he had to run off in a rush with a mere thank you not long after, leaving her to pay for their meals and less load in her wallet.

“Damn you, Wong Yukhei. You can’t just be a proper gentleman for one second?” She sinks dejectedly on to her taxi’s leather seat, with one last lingering memory of his grin to convince herself she’s not making a mistake.

The next Monday, Yukhei had somehow convinced her seatmate, Jisoo, to switch their seats. So it’s not entirely her fault that her hands had unknowingly spasmed with unbridled nerves and spilled coffee on her sleeves when Yukhei struts into class and takes the seat beside her.

“What are you doing?” She tries not to let her inner panic show through, but the way she hisses the question gives away a tad of her anxious nerves.

Yukhei is the embodiment of joy with a sweet smile and worn brown sneakers, happily bouncing his knees as he sits and lands his eyes to the boards. He spares her no glance, but she knows his widening smile is for her.

“Why, I thought you said we’re cool? So I’m here, cool and ready to learn with you.” He says it so casually that her increasing rush of her blood starts to hurt.

He just wants to be friends, [Name]. You can at least do that.

Clearing her face of any trace of her inner turmoils, [Name] clears her throat and turns back to her notes with a small oh.

“By the way, I can’t make it this Saturday for tutoring. So, you should come over to Jungwoo’s house after classes are done and we can study then, assuming NCT will be done rehearsing anyways.” He tilts his head to beckon for her attention and smirks as soon as she land her eyes on him.

“Excuse me?”

Yukhei raises an amused eyebrow, not as a silent question, rather as a dare for her to talk back. Could it be that he’s aware of her crush on him and is teasing her on purpose? The thought doesn’t stay long, as her annoyance for his lack of manners and the number of bills he owes him for Saturday hurtles into a big pile of curse words stuck in her throat. But, as she was raised to become a sensible and respectful woman, she filters through them carefully before she launches her words at the smug looking Yukhei.

“Who do you think you are, exactly?”

Yukhei leans back in his seat, taken aback by the sharp edge her tone is gliding on.

“As far as I know, I’m not the one who needs tutoring for this class, so you have no right to be making demands, alright? Just because you have pretty eyes and a nice smile, doesn’t mean you can bat it at me all you want and I’ll kneel willingly to your request.” She’s surprised at how she’s able to say it so furiously.

Compared to her, Yukhei is a lot more surprised, though not in the sense that she wants him to be. Rather than regret in his features, she sees the beginning of an amused grin and a playful shadow dancing in his eyes. And then, he laughs, at first a small chuckle that shakes his shoulder, then like a wave his entire body follows until it draws out into a laugh.

“You think I have pretty eyes and a nice smile?” He asks, grinning shyly at the compliment.

She doesn’t even realize she had let that part of her thought slip. In her embarrassed state, she also fails to realize the slight flush coloring Yukhei’s cheeks.

“I’ve always known you’re not as quiet as you appear to be. I just need to push the right buttons to bring you out, huh?”

She says nothing, far too embarrassed.

“You’re prettier when you don’t hide yourself from people, you know.” He speaks of his observation despite having no reason to.

The acceleration of her heart beat comes as expected, following on it is the rush of blood across her system that spreads most evidently in her pink cheeks, and the pen she’s been fumbling with topples out of her hand like a domino. Prettier? Then does he think of her as a pretty girl? Wasn’t she just a girl two days ago, and now, suddenly she’s pretty? It shouldn't be a comment worth changing her entire perspective of Yukhei over. He’s only said one nice thing about her, compared to the many rude and unnecessary remarks he has to make about her appearance in previous days. Or the pompous way in which he carries himself around her, which can be charming, but more often just annoying. Not to mention, his lack of manners and attentiveness. One nice compliment shouldn’t change the fact that Yukhei has been purposely riling her up this past week.

“Flattery will get you nowhere” The words are said above a whisper, if not for their close distance, Yukhei wouldn’t be able to catch the shake in her voice or hear it at all.

“Sorry, you’re right.” There is no humor or playfulness in his voice this time, and his smile wilts away into a more serious expression.

“But I really can’t make it on Saturday. NCT are having our first gig. Would you mind if we move it to today? I promise I’ll pay you back for the coffee at Amyrea yesterday as well.” Now, his tone takes a turn from playful commanding to a soft plea.

She huffs, blowing a strand of hair that has fallen on her face. It’s just convenient that she has no plans for anything after classes today, she’s finished all of her notes and no projects are due until two more weeks which leaves her room to breathe and relax. Should she give up on a night of junk food and binge watching netflix to join Yukhei and his garageband in what she knows is going to be an awkward and tense experience?

“Fine. But next time, I get to decide the tutoring sessions.” She holds his gaze, passing on her displease.

It doesn’t seem to bother Yukhei as he nods his head, an action that reminds her of an over excited puppy waiting for treats. Curse him and his adorable antics.

“And don’t think I won’t charge interest for the coffee at Amyrea.” She points her pen like it could harm him, but with her shaken up heart, she hopes it’ll be enough to get her point across.

He just grins.

That evening, when the last of her classes are over, [Name] had to remind herself of the different route she’ll be taking for the day. Instead of her dorm room, she’ll be heading to Jungwoo’s house, which fortunately is only a few minutes away by train. If it isn’t for Wong Yukhei and his irresistible—yet infuriating—charms, [Name] would have settled for an early sleep today. Kim Jungwoo is a dear friend whose loyalty and trustworthy company isn’t supported by how often you engage him in conversations with. She first met him in middle school when he offered her to lead as vice president alongside him, who had been running for student body president. He’s unlike many boys his age, responsibility and maturity grew on him at a much quicker rate than others. It’s almost like having an older brother, except one that’s of your age. Though they remain friends even till college, [Name] has never once set foot into his home. Until today, oddly enough not through his invitation.

His home is a smooth coral blue, quaint and homey with a minimalistic flare, its door and window frames painted white to match the fence lining the property, the small garden surrounding the premises is flushed with vibrant greens and specks of bright flower petals. It's a home that makes her homesick for her own. When she knocks on the door half expecting for an older woman to open the door for her, it is instead the familiar face of Lee Jeno, another friend of hers she got to know in high school. She draws out a relieved breath, unknowingly hoping that it wouldn’t be Yukhei to invite her in. Spending time with the man isn’t doing well for her heart, or her confused mind.

“Hey there, haven’t seen you in awhile.” Jeno greets, leaning his elbow on the door frame in an attempt to mimic the male protagonists of every cheesy rom-com to date.

A giggle slips past her, Jeno follows suit not long after and fixes his posture to a more natural one. The door is opened wider to make room for her entrance, and she ducks in under Jeno’s outstretched arm to step foot into the home. The house’s interior is just as simple as it’s outer appearance, yet it still retains a wonderfully comfortable atmosphere with many personal memorabilia hung on the walls and cute trinkets on its shelves and tables. Her eyes darts to the only opened door in her peripheral vision when a ruckus she recognizes as the sound of a drum cymbal echoes through the living room. That must be where NCT rehearses.

“Yukhei told us you might come. I’ve gotta say I’m surprised though, you’ve always avoided him like he was the plague. And now you’re willingly hanging out with him?” Jeno’s voice reels her back to reality.

He closes the door with a click and beckons her deeper into the house as he makes way to the white sofa in the living room. They both sit themselves on it, and Jeno, still adamant on keeping his playboy-wanna-be persona, swings his hand behind her shoulder. She lets him do it, just this once, she knows it’s just harmless fun with him.

“Well...we’ve decided to put our childish acts behind us and become civilized. I mean, it’s bound to happen one day, what with having been stuck with him for nearly a decade now.” She explains.

Jeno raises an unimpressed eyebrow, catching the uncertainty in her tone too easily to know she’s not fully telling the truth.

“Uh huh. You mean your childish acts. I never did understand why you don’t want to talk to him. He’s not that bad of a guy once you get over how unnecessary loud, rambunctious, blunt and clumsy he is.”

No one knows the details of why she kept avoiding Yukhei throughout the years they’ve been neighbors and consistent schoolmates. She had the sneaking suspicion that if she ever decided to confide the reason to anyone, the news will spread somehow and Yukhei would find out. So, she settled for swallowing down her own feelings and hiding it from the world. Not even the sweet smile Jeno is giving her right now can convince her to confess.

“I have my reasons.” Is all she’s willing to offer.

Jeno shrugs, knowing she won’t budge even if he begs.

“So, who else are in NCT? I know you, Yukhei and Jungwoo are in it.” She asks, averting the topic to a more favorable one.

“You know Lee Taeyong over in literature? He plays the keyboard. Renjun from the arts department plays the guitar. I’m on drums. Yukhei plays bass and backing vocals, while Taeil and Jungwoo are the vocals.”

Bass. She doesn’t know Yukhei could play bass. He doesn’t seem like the type to play one, despite the similarity its deep rasp has with his voice.

“Oh? I didn’t think you’d really show up, [Name].” The conversation is cut short by Yukhei, materializing from under the shadows of the practice room’s dim lighting.

Light bathes him as he enters the living room, showcasing him in all his post practice, adrenaline rushed glory. Sweat drips agonizingly slow on his skin, enticing the smooth expanse with a beautiful glow, the t-shirt he dons is an army green, yet parts of it has turned a darker color as his sweat soaked through it, his hair is a mop of wet strands clumped together, and his grin has exhaustion written in the way he stretches his lips. She has never seen him in such a state, yet she finds this sweaty and gross Yukhei so incredibly sexy, she has to clutch onto the fabric of her jeans to contain herself. This sight brings about some unwanted imaginations of him that she is not interested in delving into right now. Especially not with Jeno and Yukhei present. She clears her throat and turns her gaze away to avoid any further thought of him.

“Lemme just go change and we’ll head out.” Yukhei disappears into the flight of stairs without waiting for a response.

“Oh? A date?” Jeno’s question is sung in a light teasing manner.

When she gives no response, he nudges her on the ribs with a giggle that contradicts entirely to the playboy-wanna-be persona he had on previously.

“Shut up. I’m just gonna tutor him.”

“Yeah right honey, nowadays we call it a study date.”

Jeno means no harm, of course. But [Name] can’t allow any kind of hope to kindle within her, especially not concerning Yukhei and the possibility of him reciprocating her feelings. She shakes her head with a small glare, then rise from her seat as she escapes from Jeno and grab herself a water from the kitchen. Fortunately, Yukhei ran down not a minute after she finished her drink, a lot more fresh and clad in a grey hoodie. When the two are about to bid goodbyes, the rest of the band members filed out from the practice room, all looking as disheveled and sweaty as Yukhei was. Short introductions are made then, not as awkward as she had been expecting, fortunately. Yukhei, questionably in a rush, pulls her out the door soon after.

When the door closes in on them, a tense silence hangs in the air. Now, she is alone with Yukhei. Unlike at class, or the cafe, there’s no one else aside from them. The evening is quiet, its street lacking any passing cars or passerbys, almost to conveniently leave her with no distraction or choice but to settle with Yukhei and Yukhei alone. She’s nervous and almost unwilling to let go of the door handle, knowing if she does she will have to face him. But she knows she can’t stay, not unless she wants his suspicion on her back. A deep breath rattles her chest, then she turns so quickly and scurry away from the doorstep and onto the sidewalk, not waiting for Yukhei to follow or say anything.

“I saw a cafe a few blocks from here, it seems like a nice and quiet enough space, so we should head there and study for a couple of hours—“ A warmth that doesn’t belong to hers wraps around her wrist, and this sudden sensation makes her halt in her step and turn.

It all seems surreal and very much like the cliche drama trope she loves to watch, a situation she could never imagine she’d find herself in. Yet, here she is, out of anyone else, with her prince charming. At this moment, with the sunlight’s orange haze casting a halo over Yukhei’s hooded figure, and his hand on hers, time stops, and she can’t blink, too afraid that when she does this moment will fade too quickly before she can bask in it. Yukhei has been able to make her heart leap and jump on so many occasions, but this time, this time she can’t focus on it or how warm and shaky her limbs are. She can only focus on the hand on hers.

“Do you mind if we make a quick detour first?” His voice comes out muffled to her ears the first time he says it, but when she focuses and returns into the moment, Yukhei is closer than she expected him to be.

There is no fear or temptation to cower away from him like she always had before, this time she feels the urge to step closer, to see better the constellations freckled in his face and determine what shade of brown his eyes truly belong in. She shakes herself awake when Yukhei’s face begins to shift into a perplexed one at her lack of answer.

“Sorry, I just—“ She shakes her hand away, suddenly all too aware of the sensations flooding her body and overridden with its intensity, all because of a touch from him.

It must’ve been a trick of the light, the rose colored cheeks of his, for it fades away the second she blinks. Yukhei clears his throat, stuffing the hand that had held hers into his pant pocket.

“No, my bad, I startled you, sorry.” He’s never sounded as awkward as he does right now, an occurrence [Name] thought wouldn’t be possible.

There is no relief from the tension, if anything, Yukhei’s spontaneous action only further spiralled the situation into an awkward one. But since when has he ever let himself be awkward around anyone?

“So, what detour?” She finds herself asking through the unbearable tension that’s surfaced.

The question snaps him back into the Yukhei she recognizes, one second he is flustered, the next he is flashing her a sheepish grin.

“Practice really made me hungry. I was thinking of grabbing some instant noodles at the mini mart down the street, coffee shop food’s terrible for a college student’s wallet, you know?” He responds, escaping the awkward tension.

The request ticks at her nerves, for the darkening skies and the flicker of artificial lights blossoming around them tells her that if they take this detour, they might not have time to study much, or at all. But she can’t ignore the exhaustion Yukhei is carrying with him, or the pleading smile and slow blinking doe eyed look he’s doing. With a reluctant sigh, she nods. The mini mart is just a short ways away from Jungwoo’s residence, it takes about a 5 minute walk to reach there, accompanied with Yukhei’s mindless chattering and her short responses. As they reached the nearly empty mart, he beckons her to take a seat while he buys their food.

“My treat, consider this as payment for what I owed you back in Amyrea.” Says him as he leads her to a seat along the glassed windows.

With a scoff, she says, “Please, Amyrea costs a lot more than just instant noodles and coke.” Which is only replied by a rumbling laughter and a promise to pay back the rest soon.

The heat billowing from the instant noodle fogs the glass windows before her as it arrives with a giddy Yukhei. He digs into the dish with the fervor of a starved animal, unrefined eager slurps pierce the quiet hum of the mart. Yes, Wong Yukhei is definitely no prince charming, and his table manners speaks all about it. The sight both amuse and disgust her, her heart and mind torn between these two feelings like a war in her mind. She doesn’t have the heart to tell him to slow down, not even as the greasy broth of the noodle stains his sleeves and his lips. Who is she to tell him how to live his life or eat his dish? She shuts her lips and digs in to her own. While she is not even halfway through her noodle cup, Yukhei has finished drinking up the last remnant of its broth, ending his meal with a low burp. [Name] resists reacting to the shock crawling up her spine and continue eating. She only reacts when she sees Yukhei take a swig at his drink.

“Soju?” She asks through a mouthful of noodles.

Yukhei responds to her raised eyebrows and worried expression with an innocent grin. He shrugs his shoulder, failing to understand her concern and takes another swig at his soju.

“We’re supposed to be studying after this. Not to mention, you have a morning class tomorrow. One where your group is supposed to be presenting!” She reminds him.

The alarmed hitch in her tone doesn’t faze him. Yukhei is not only irresponsible, crude and lacking in table manners, apparently he is also annoyingly stubborn.

“Stop.” She commands, stern.

She does not look forward to taking care of a drunk Yukhei. He holds the half emptied bottle away from his lips, and she foolishly believed that he’s finally listening to her. The moment is short lived however as he flashes a mischievous grin at her and whisk the bottle back to his lips. Again, there’s that raised eyebrow, challenging her to stop him. Furious and overcharged with spontaneity, [Name] boldly takes hold of the bottle and tugs it away from him. Without letting him recover from the shock, [Name] chugs the remaining soju down in one go, wincing at the sting biting down her throat. She finishes with a loud intake of air and a slam of the bottle, while Yukhei, is rendered speechless and in awe. It’s not a stretch to say that he is very impressed by what she did.

“Gosh, look what you made me do.”

“What I made you do? You’re the one that chugged on my soju!”

“You’re the one that has no regards for your education! Honestly, what are you trying to do, sabotage your group presentation? And since I’m the only responsible one out of the two of us, I had to stop you from intoxicating yourself. I swear if you step out of this chair and buy yourself another bottle I will not hesitate to dump my noodles on your pants.” The rant takes more breath than she predicted, leaving her heaving like a mad woman by the end of it.

Again, Yukhei’s face depicts the awe for her uncharacteristically angered state, and the alien feeling of being stared at in such a light by him draws her back to her calm composure. She wish she could rewind the time and stop herself from getting carried away by her anger. But some parts of her feel pride, of being able to impress her long time crush and render him into silence.

“Yes ma’am.” He surrenders, holding both his hands up.

When they step out of the mini mart this time, there is not much struggle or further delay from Yukhei, in fact, he submits under her stern stare and obediently follow her in silence. It is when they reach a red light that [Name] begins to feel the world sway under her feet. She stops herself and blinks, uncertain if the sudden haze in her vision is a mistake or not. Oh, that’s right. She nearly forgot what a light drinker she is, undoubtedly, she’s now experiencing the aftermath of her spontaneously stupid decision. Damn you, [Name].

“Hey, why did we stop?” His concerned face pops into her blurring vision.

“Um, no reason.”

She tugs at his hoodie’s sleeve and beckons him to move along and cross the street. However, a crack in the pavement her woozy mind fails to spot causes her to nearly tumble into a heap of mess, fortunately, Yukhei’s eyes has been stuck to her like glue since she’s acted suspiciously tipsy, and so before she can hit the ground, he catches her in his arms. If she is sober, perhaps she’d have the time to feel embarrassed and flustered with the way he’s holding on to her right now. But as her mind falls deeper into the realm of intoxication, she couldn’t care less.

“Whoa, whoa, there. Maybe warn me next time if you’re such a light drinker?” Yukhei chuckles at the disoriented and unfocused lilt in her expression, a contrast to how composed and assured she had always been.

He snakes an arm around her waist, hoisting her up before letting her lean on to him for support. Due to her smaller frame, it’s not difficult for him to stagger through the crowd of passersby and lead them safely to the other side.

“I’m f-fine.” She stammers.

The sight of her so vulnerable in his arms, so candid and real unlike he’s ever seen her before, it stirs and brew a fluttering fondness within him. He smiles down at her, soft, but amused, and she’s too busy attempting to get back on her feet to notice.

“And you said you’re the responsible one? Let’s just sit you down for a bit.” Yukhei pushes her slowly to a nearby bench and slowly settles her down.

“Well, there goes our tutoring session for today. I guess it’s kind of my fault though.” He chuckles to himself as he sits next to her.

“I really want to curse at you right now. And my flats are squishing my little toe.” She says whilst wiggling her feet out from her shoes.

The confession startles him, not for its meaning, but for how easily the truth spills from her in this intoxicated state. Apparently, [Name] is not only a light drinker, but one inclined to tell the truth without any second thought of the possible repercussions of it. A part of him feels guilty, listening in on her as she rambles about her random thoughts. Yet the amusement and rarity of this entire situation wins over his guilt.

“Why?” The question is asked after a complaint over his ‘stubborn stone like head’.

Yukhei spares a glance at her, bothered by the lack of elaboration she gives.

“Why what?” He prods.

The question makes her entire form deflate, a crestfallen look immediately taking over her features. Yukhei scoots himself closer out of worry for the sudden change in demeanor.

“Why are you so different?”

Though he had hoped for an elaboration, the question still remains vague. He shouldn’t feel tempted with gouging more of the truth from her. At this state, it’s almost like he’s taking advantage of her. But now, knowing she has something to say about him, Yukhei has to listen.

“Different how?” He asks.

“Why are you so rude and ungentlemanly and blunt and such a slob? I thought when I finally got the chance to talk to you I’d have all my expectations met. Instead, you commented on my lipstick and my zit, then you drooled on my pen and didn’t even think twice to pay for me in Amyrea. W-Why aren’t you like the chivalrous boy I saw save Kim Jennie back in elementary? The one who stood up to Mrs. Choi when it was your partner who had lost the group project? Why aren’t you like that guy who came to my rescue in middle school? Why are you...this?”

The night wind blows strong and cold against them, when its ferocity fades into a gentle breeze once more, he sees the anger she had asked the question with simmer into devastation and confusion. She’s looking at him, but not in a way that is pleasant. Yukhei, again, finds himself speechless before her. For years, he has always believed that [Name] wanted nothing to do with him, she absolutely hated his guts, it’s the only reasonable explanation to her years of avoidance. The reason however, has always remained a mystery to him. Yet if she hates him so much, then how can she notice all those things about him? Is he wrong to assume that she hates her?

“I—“ He doesn’t know what to say, truly, tongue tied and thoughts halted. Even the disbelief of the knowledge that she noticed him is difficult to form into words.

“I didn’t save Jennie or came to your rescue.” He replies, after a pregnant silence too long for either of them to bare.

The answer is simple, yet [Name] has a hard time believing and processing it.

“I punched Woojin not because of Jennie. I did it because he broke my toy that I was showing off to her. It was from my favorite anime, and it cost a lot. So I punched Woojin because I was angry, I wasn’t really thinking straight at that time.”

The memory comes in waves, of a furious Yukhei, a wounded and fearful Woojin, and an equally shaken Jennie. Had the rumors floating around the incident been wrong?

“And for that project thing? Well, I only took the blame because Taeyong said he’d do my homework for an entire month if I did.”

No, that can’t be right. Yukhei has a heart of gold that beats for kindness and care for the people around him. Is he saying he only agreed to take the blame because it benefits him?

“The binder and milk bread in middle school, they weren’t from me. Jungwoo came up to me during lunch asking for a favor, he told me you’d been swamped with student council work and couldn’t focus well for midterms, so he asked me to give to you his older brother’s old notes and some milk bread from the cafeteria.”

Reality comes crashing down, like shards of glass it rains and leaves shallow cuts on her skin, but the longer she stands the deeper the cut gets, until it pierces right into her veins and she can feel nothing but the aching pain. The fear that has been dancing around in her mind materialized right before her, in the baffled and concerned expression of Yukhei. All these years, the feelings she had for him has been nothing more than a fantasy she forced herself into seeing, a stupid big fat lie she made up all on her own. There has never been any other moment in her life, where the feeling of embarrassment can compare to this very moment. She doesn’t care if Yukhei notices the blush on her face this time, hell, she can’t care less about him or what he thinks as of now. The only thing she can think of is how amazingly stupid she has been to fall into a trick her own mind made up. What the hell is wrong with her? She made Yukhei upset over all these years and wasted her time pining over nothing.

“[Name]?” She barely hears him over her ringing thoughts.

“Hey, look at me, please.” He pleads, panic slowly overcoming him at her blank expression.

“What about the cats you used to feed at lunch? Or the time you volunteered for clean up duty when no one wanted to? W-Was that all also a lie?” She doesn’t care how fragile and shaky she sounds at the moment, how teared up she’s gotten or how Yukhei notices.

“I-I feed the cats the food that I didn't like so my mom wouldn’t get mad when she checks my lunch box. And that volunteer work..I was dared to accept.”

So, this is what heartbreak feels like. The hollow ache in her chest and the numbing of her limbs. She would’ve thought that her heartbreak would come over a rejection. But no, there is only her to blame for her state this time.

“Oh.” She folds her arms around her, wanting to surrender to the temptation to curl up into a ball.

“I don’t understand, [Name]. I-I thought you hated me, but you’ve noticed me all these years?” Yukhei treads his question carefully, not keen on further pushing on her sensitive state.

“Of course I noticed. I like you, Yukhei. Or rather, the fantasies that my mind made up of you. You’re supposed to be my prince charming. But somehow…” She doesn’t have the strength to finish, feeling a shiver rack from within her bones and to her weakening limbs.

Yukhei can’t wrap his mind around that one word. I like you. Words he’d never thought he could ever hear come out from his adjacent neighbor and long time schoolmate.

She likes me? She’s been avoiding me because she likes me?

[Name] manages to rise to her feet despite the wobble in her knees and the glazed over expression she wears. Yukhei stands beside her and opens his arms, cautious in case she topples over like before. But she pushes his arms down and shakes her head, though feeling sick to her stomach and unsure of her capability to walk she doesn’t want him anywhere close to her. She just wants to sleep and cry to herself.

“Take me home.” She pleads, weak and close to tears.

Yukhei frowns, but doesn’t bother arguing. He steps away, giving her room for her to walk as they head out to the train station, a significant distance between them, though in reality it’s only mere centimeters, he can’t help but feel like she’s oceans away from him. The ride home has got to be the most awkward situation Yukhei has ever gotten himself into. And he doesn’t like it, feeling useless while [Name] is in dire need of comfort. But he can’t, not him, not unless he wants to risk upsetting her further and breaking the dam of collecting tears he can see her fighting back. Why couldn’t he just lie? Why is he such a screw up? Now, she really hates him.

As they reach her dorm room, a helpless Yukhei attempts one last time to say something, anything, to her. But the door is shut in his face before he can, leaving him alone in the hallway with just the memory of her pained expression to accompany him on his way to his own dorm.

Yukhei swears he would never drink alcohol again after at that night.

“She likes you?”

The notion should have made any male’s heart race in glee. But with the way things are between Yukhei and her, he can only feel it ache as his heart drums its mellow beat.

“You don’t seem all that happy for a guy whose long time crush just confessed herself to.” Jungwoo deducts, narrowing his eyes at his lifeless looking friend.

“That’s because she doesn’t like me me. All these years, she’s been watching me, she noticed me, and she made up this whole image of myself that I’m actually not. Jungwoo, honestly, why would she like me anyways? The real me? This image she made up of me was like I’m some kind of perfect prince charming, and I don’t blame her for falling for it. I just wished I hadn’t disappointed her so much with who I really am.”

Jungwoo has never seen Yukhei’s lips hold its frowning position for this long before. The playful sparkle in his eyes as if it never existed, and the restless energy that would usually make his knees bounce every time he sits is now very much still like a statue. This is unnatural, and so very wrong it pains him to look at his friend and not recognize who he is.

“And she’s not my crush. I’ve just always been interested in her, I wanted to get to know her and stuff like that. So, yeah, it really hurt when I thought she doesn’t want anything to do with me.” He adds on hesitantly.

The raised eyebrow and unamused expression Jungwoo wears tells him that he’s not convincing anyone. A long sigh is pulled out of him, one of weariness and melancholy.

“Well, how was she when you came back to class the next morning?”

Yukhei winces at the memory.

“She changed seats, can you believe that? The seat she had been sitting on for an entire year and the one that made her talk to me. All to avoid me. She doesn’t look up at me when I present in front of the class, she ignores me when I come up to her. Jungwoo, it’s like she hates me all over again, only this time for real.”

Silence encases the room, one that allows Jungwoo time to think of a way to save his friend and for Yukhei to bask in the sadness he’s getting himself used to feeling.

“Yukhei, if this bothers you so much, then just make her like you,” He spares an unimpressed glance to his friend, “I mean, you you.” The reality that Jungwoo—one of the smartest people he knows—is deliberately butchering proper grammar just to appease him tickles a small dry laugh.

“Look,” He shifts in his position to face Yukhei better, “You’re not prince charming, and you’ll never be one. But that doesn’t mean you’re not a good guy. Yes, you’re not the most chivalrous or well mannered, but you don’t have to be one to make her like you. In a way, her fantasies are not that far off from who you really are. Yes, you didn’t completely punch Woojin for Jennie, but you did save the poor girl and other students from further torment from him. Yes, you only fed those kittens because it’s convenient for you, but you didn’t have to spend your time playing and taking care of them. And yes, maybe that binder and milk bread wasn’t from you, but you wanted to give it to her.”

A flicker of hope lights up in his heart, giving it a jolt out of its dull and mellow stupor. Slowly, Yukhei’s eyes flicker back with its familiar warmth, a slow yet sure change.

“You think so?”

Jungwoo nods.

“You just need to talk to her.”

Once more, the fire in his expression is put out, and in its place is dejection.

“It’s no use, she doesn’t even want to look at me. How do I get her to listen?” He tugs at his scalp in frustration, his frown deepening the longer he thinks of their predicament.

“I have an idea.”

Yukhei is far too hopeless to reject said idea.

The first time the thunk rattles her glass window, she convinces herself it’s just her imagination. When another one follows, [Name] forces herself to shut her eyes and ignore it, paranoia for a possible paranormal activity lurking somewhere in her dorm surfacing. The third time, it is followed by the call of her name. She opens her eyes, wondering why the voice calling for her sounds so familiar. Now certain that it is not a ghost coming after her, she steps out of bed and makes way to her window. A groan escapes her when she sees the visible scratches in her glass window, no doubt from whoever it is throwing stones at it. Another one hits, and before the glass breaks, she shoves open her window and pokes her head out with a scowl.

“Okay, if you keep throwing stones at my window I swear—“ Her breath stops when she spots Yukhei, standing on the lawn of her dorm’s building.

His actions halts abruptly in mid throw, caught in the eyes that he’s missed looking at—dramatic he knows, it’s only been a week. Unknowingly, his lips move on their own as they stretch into a smile, one he hasn’t worn since they last spoke. [Name] can’t understand why her heart still flips as she witness the blossoming of his relief and joy. Her grip on the window tightens, and she makes a move to close it.

“Whoa, w-wait, wait, wait!” Yukhei’s rare showcase of desperation is the only reason she heeds to his request.

“What do you want?” There is no hostility in her tone, just a soft spoken weariness he almost didn’t catch.

“I’m so sorry, [Name].” He cuts straight to the point.

This is not what she is expecting. What catches her off guard is the sincerity in which he says it, as if he is guilty of an unforgivable crime and has been suffering greatly for it. Why is he apologizing? He hasn’t done anything wrong. It’s not as if she’s avoiding him because she hates him. Gosh, if she could hate him things would be so much easier. Rather, she can’t stand to look at him or be with him because he keeps bringing back the anger and shame she has for herself.

“I know I’m not the prince charming you want, and I don’t think I can ever be one. I’m just, me. And I’m sorry that I couldn’t be more. Yes it’s true that I didn’t save Jennie because I’m chivalrous, or gave that binder and milk bread for you because I’m attentive, or any other things I’ve seemingly done out of good will. I’m tactless and ignorant and an oaf and—”

“Please cut to the chase.” She interrupts, finding herself mildly amused by the way he describes himself.

He nods, wetting his lips as he can feel his throat drying at the force of his yelling.

“What I’m trying to say is that I like you.”

She never thought that she could ever hate the sound of those three words, I like you, as much as she does now. It’s pity, or guilt, she knows he’s only saying this because he is forced to, otherwise, the guilt will haunt him for the rest of his college years.

“No, you don’t.”

“No, I do. Look, you got to do all the talking that night when you were drunk, now I need you to listen.” He insists.

Her silence and lack of motion gets him to continue. There is no stopping the joy and expectancy from sparking within her at Yukhei’s determined expression and earnest words. She just hope he won’t let her down this time.

“[Name], I—“ The screech of a door opening interrupts the moment.

“Hey, Yukhei.” Moon Taeil’s sleepy voice can be heard all the way from her third floor dorm.

She groans loud, knowing that if anyone out there has such knack for interrupting at the perfect timing, it’s her RA. Who also happens to be in the same band as Yukhei.

“Oh, hi hyung.” He doesn’t hide his displease for the interruption as he sneers.

“Do you know what time it is, Romeo?”

Yukhei takes a moment to check on his wrist, devoid of any watch, then shrugs his shoulders and flashes a sarcastic expression that nearly made her laugh out loud.

“I’m glad that you’ve finally got the guts to confess to your childhood crush, but seriously, not at the expense of all our sleep. It’s 12 AM for god’s sake!” Taeil’s exasperated outburst is followed by another creak of the door, “Just get in there and finish your business, okay, I frankly don’t care.” Yukhei disappears from her sight before she can speak.

[Name] can feel her heart somersaulting inside her chest, a sensation that makes a stark difference compared to the heavy beat it’s been treading on all week. Did she heard Taeil wrong, or had he just refer to her as Yukhei’s childhood crush? No, that can’t be right. Taeil’s probably just assuming things, things which can’t be farther from the truth. Then why didn’t Yukhei deny it and eagerly bound himself up the stairs? Oh crap, he’s actually coming here, to her dorm. At a time where she’s nowhere near presentable in her pajama-clad-bare-faced state. What if he backtracks and regrets confessing to her once he sees her now? She has no time to think when a knock at the door cuts through the room. Defeated and frankly too lazy to doll herself up, [Name] trudges to her doorstep and opens them.

A single red rose presents itself before her eyes, its petals slightly curled and darkened around the edges, his long fingers curls around the thorns still visibly poking out from its stem, and she notices the tendrils of roots poking out from its end. The rose and anxious tapping of his soil covered shoes tells her that he’s picked the flower from the campus’ garden on his own, which is a sentiment that arises a fondness towards him unlike she’s ever felt. How cute.

“I’ve always held interest for the little girl who would only show herself from the second floor window across my home. I’ve always wanted to get to know her. But when she kept ignoring and making up excuses to not see me, I figured it was a hint to take a hike and leave her alone.” His grip tightens onto the rose stem, digging the thorns further into his skin.

Concerned for the redness seeping across his palm, [Name] widens her door, “Yuk—“

“No, no, just, please listen to me.” She does.

“So I stayed out of her way because I didn’t want to upset her. But somehow, I always find my way back to her, through elementary school and even up till college. Then, after years and years, she finally came up and talked to me. I thought I was dreaming, honestly.” His laughter is one of genuine happiness when he finishes, recollecting that fateful day where they finally spoke to each other.

“So, I believed that it meant she had finally stopped hating me, you know? And I—well, if I have to be honest, I really don’t know how to talk or act properly around girls. But, can you really blame me? The only girl I want to get to know has been avoiding me for years. ” The rose in his hand is lowered back to his side, showcasing her the beautiful face she’s come to love.

“She has always been shy though, soft spoken and kind hearted. When she acted so cold towards me, well, I kept poking and prodding at her so that I can see the real girl behind that mask of indifference. But somehow I went poking too deep and ended up...ruining things for us..” His voice falters, nearly getting choked up at the end when his eyes dare to meet hers.

No, he didn’t ruin anything for them. It’s her to blame, her fantasies and her crazy expectations for a guy whom she didn’t try to take the time to know. She wants to say this to him, to assure him, but the plea he had asked of her rings in her mind: listen. So she remains silent.

“You’re right, I’m not prince charming. I don’t go out and save damsels or hungry animals in distress, I’m not attentive or rich enough to buy you fancy chocolates whenever you’re down, I have poor table manners and I drool when I sleep. But if there’s one thing I know for certain is that I’m not a bad guy. [Name], I really want to get to know you, to be there with you, even though my constant annoying ass and teasing doesn’t really show it, I do. If anything, annoying you was sort of my way of trying to get to know you. A-And, I care for you, I don’t like seeing you sad or angry, especially because of me, I can’t get the image of you crying out of my head even though it’s been days. I can’t get the thought of your eyes not meeting mine anymore because I’ve become so comfortable with it. I can’t accept the situation we’re both in because, I finally have you, and now we’re back to as if we’ve never met. [Name], I—“

Of all the things she thought he could do at that moment, Yukhei gets down to one knee and holds out the rose to her with the brightest grin he’s ever offered. To think, that a man so far away from the description of a prince charming can completely master the classic rom-com drama trope, and did it not just once, but twice. With such a heart wrenching confession too, one she’d honestly never expect from Yukhei. How is he so unfair? Though he lacks the eloquence of poets, the stuttered confession has managed to bathe her entire body in a wonderful wholeness of feeling loved. Yes, maybe he hasn’t been the perfect image of a prince charming, but honestly, does a guy like that even exist? He’s not perfect, not at all any of the things she believed he was, nor will he ever be. He’s just Wong Yukhei, and maybe, maybe he’s not so bad after all. Maybe, all he needs is a chance.

At that very moment, looking at him, so earnest and hopeful, all the bitterness and anger and shame that’s been shadowing her morphed itself into an overwhelming fondness that draws out a genuine smile on her face.

“I’m not a prince charming, I’ll admit to that. But if you give me a chance, I want to be one for you.”

It’s unfair, how easily he can make her feel one thing after another without much effort. But she doesn’t mind, not this time, not when her 8 year old dreams she believed had crashed and burned has come rising back from the ashes and fall perfectly into order right before her. No, not even in her most wonderful of dreams could she come up with such details in this situation.

“Um, [Name]? Please answer me, because my thighs are starting to hurt and I don’t want to have to repeat all that again. Not that I’m lying about any of that! Just that it’s a mouthful and really spontaneous so I can’t really remember what I just said—“

The rose is plucked away from his grip, his voice lost amidst watching her reaction. Slowly, she brings the red petals to her smiling lips, a liveliness dancing in her eyes and swaying body. Yukhei stands back up on his feet, completely enchanted with how soft she looks before him, but most of all, how happy. He relish in the knowledge of giving her that sliver of joy back, her infectious smile drawing one from him as well. In that moment, neither Yukhei or [Name] can pay attention to the thundering of their hearts or the lightning coursing through their veins. All they can see is the smile on each other’s faces.

“You should’ve cleaned the thorns, idiot.” The reprimanding lacks its stern, instead replaced with a breathy and dream like tune due to the breathless state she is in.

Yukhei shrugs, only half listening to her words as he is instead focused on the way her lips move. The same one his eyes are drawn to on their first day of class, one he deliberately commented on its uneven appliance of lipstick. He never told her that he lied, simply wanting an excuse to stare at them longer. Will she be angry if he succumbs to his wish to kiss her? Prince charmings are known to kiss their princesses right?

“And you know what? Maybe prince charming is kind of medieval anyways. I mean, you don’t have to be one. They’re too...stiff and stuffy and—“ A soft touch to her lips cuts her before she can finish, too quickly, the tender and short sensation overrides her entire system, leaving her frozen.

Yukhei pulls back, an innocent grin splitting his blushing cheeks. She can’t focus, can’t think of the words she was about to say because all she can think of is: he kissed her. Her prince charming had got down to one knee before her doorstep, poured out his heart to her, and kissed her all in the span of 5 minutes. Is this what all those princesses feel when their prince kisses them? The floating and unreal sensation she doesn’t want to stop feeling?

Unable to withstand the glazed over shock in which her eyes stays locked on him, Yukhei ducks his head, still smiling unbelievably wide.

“Sorry, I just had to...you know.”

Wong Yukhei isn’t prince charming, she decides. Nor is he sweet like the first taste of dreams. He is, above all, like a clap of lightning. With a force enough to break the night sky. When the thunder rolls, so does every fiber in her being. And she loves it.

[coolestqcumber]

Through the Viewfinder (Jisung - Stray Kids)

Word Count: Apprx. 2.4k

Summary: “Through the viewfinder, I found you” : The Story of How I Fell In Love Through 10 Pictures

Inspired by the AO3 Changlix Fic “Falling: a photo essay by Lee Felix” (guys read this it is so beautiful I love it)

Photo #1 - Annoying

 “Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease,” you beg your friend. You literally have your palms pressed together in prayer and Jisung still refuses your request. He scoffs and rolls his eyes, “Didn’t your professor assign this project a month ago? I would’ve thought that Ms. Photography-Goddess would’ve been halfway done with it already. Yet here you are, wanting me to model for something that’s due tomorrow.”

 You pout, “I was halfway done! But the project states that our muse has to be consistent throughout the entire semester. And I used my ex as my muse and I would rather throw myself off the clock tower rather than ever talk to him again.” Jisung’s annoyed expression softened. He knew you had a rough split with your boyfriend a few days ago. But his still didn’t agree. You let out an exasperated sigh and whipped your camera out of your bag. “Look! You don’t even have to do anything!” You peek through the viewfinder and adjust the focus before holding down the shutter button, lens clicking furiously.

 You only stopped snapping pictures after the peeved library assistant, Minho, threatened to throw you out if you made anymore noise with your camera. Letting out a content hum, you scrolled through the shots you had taken. You grinned and selected a few pictures of your best friend reading his books with a disgruntled look on his face. His expression suggested he was clearly not amused by you choosing him as the subject of your photos.

Photo #2 - Immature

 You stick your elbows out, trying to keep your camera steady in the jostling crowd. Jisung and a couple of his friends were having a show a few streets away from the university and you wanted to seize the opportunity to get some more shots for your photo assignment.

 Jisung had always been a hyper kid and he bounced around constantly to the rhythm of his rap. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem for you. However, combined with the swarms of fangirls shoving around from all sides, most of your pictures came out blurred and unusable.

 You tsked irritably as you sorted through the pictures you had taken earlier that day. “I just don’t get it,” you seethed as you deleted another photo from your camera roll. Jisung peeled his attention away from his snacks and asked, “Get what?” Another picture deleted. “How you have so many girls thirsting after your dumb a$$.”

 Jisung looked offended. “I will have you know that while I may be a dumba$$, my a$$ is a cute a$$.” Your eyes took a roll. “Oh! I finally found one that wasn’t ruined!” you exclaimed excitedly. Then you scowled down at the high-def picture of your best friend dabbing and groaned. “Han Jisung, you are something else.” The idiot had the nerve to look proud and reply, “Thank you.”

Photo #3 - The Fool

 Finals were coming up so you and Jisung were in the library again. The two of you studied for exactly 10 minutes before starting to goof off. However, it all went downhill when one of the paper airplanes you were tossing at one another sailed off course and onto the desk of one very miffed library assistant. And Minho was now in the process of chewing out Jisung.

 Jisung looked like a kicked puppy. And even though he was taller than Minho, the fire burning in the assistant’s eyes made him slouch over in attempts to make himself a smaller target. You giggled quietly and slipped your camera out. Click.

 Uh oh. Now Minho’s furious glare was now directed towards you. You smiled sheepishly and shoved your all things into your bag before high-tailing out of there, leaving Jisung to take Minho’s wrath. (That guy was seriously scary.)

Photo #4 - Hot Model

 Finals were finally over. Jisung had pulled an all-nighter cramming for his physics test and was now knocked out on your bed. You wrinkled your nose at the sight of him drooling, but didn’t wake him. He just looked so innocent slumbering through the day. His face was clear of blemishes and worry. There was no loud exclamations coming from his mouth. And (dare you say it?) he almost looked cute.

 You smiled softly and the camera was in your hands before you knew it. The shutter clicked a few times before you set the device back down. While it wasn’t the most attractive photo you could’ve taken of him, it captured the purity of Jisung’s character. There was something about the way his hair was carelessly being crushed into the pillow, the way his hands curled to his chest in a childlike manner, and the way his full lips slightly drooped open that made the picture captivating.

 Using your thumb, you gently wiped the saliva from the corner of your best friend’s mouth. You grimaced at the wet sensation and wiped your hand on Jisung’s shirt. Jisung let out a breathy exhale and flopped about in his sleep. You fought the laughter bubbling in your throat. He did look really cute.

Photo #5 - Butterflies

 “Too candid? What does that even mean? How can a picture possibly be ‘too candid’?” You practically screamed the last few words at the TA and he winced. You almost felt bad for Woojin. You were quite scary when you got angry. “All the pictures you’re taking are in places and situations your muse would normally be in. If you want to add more variety to your photos, you need to put your muse in an unusual setting. Perhaps something with more color.”

 You sighed and nodded in agreement. All the pictures you’d taken so far were pretty drab. Woojin patted your shoulder awkwardly, “Don’t take it the wrong way. You’re a very talented in photographer. But you have a lot of potential for growth, so try challenging yourself. Yeah?” You gripped the strap of your camera bag. “Yeah.”

 Which is how you ended up surrounded by massive flowers at the local botanical garden. You tried not to panic as another bee buzzed by your ear. “Y/N! Look!” Jisung whisper shouted. There was a butterfly resting on the center of his palm, lazily fanning its wings open and shut. Jisung’s eyes were wide with wonderment and he was grinning like a little kid.

 This was the picture you were looking for. You pressed your eye up to the viewfinder and snapped away. When the butterfly finally grew tired of Jisung’s staring, you captured the look of awe on your best friend’s face as his eyes followed the butterfly’s flight up up up into the open sky.

 Then, he turned his attention to you. Jisung’s eyes met yours and suddenly you thought you were seeing a different kind of butterfly. Or rather feeling it.

Photo #6 - Chance

 You were trying to teach Jisung how to play a card game. He was looking quizzically at his cards, contemplating which one to use. His brows were furrowed and his lips were in the most adorable pout which disturbed the butterfly that had taken up residence in your stomach since the day in the garden, causing it to flutter about.

 Unconsciously, your fingers found their familiar grip around your camera. Jisung noticed you lifting your camera up to eye level and his expression quickly morphed into a flirtatious one. You were about to complain how he ruined the candid shot when you saw the picture you had taken. One of Jisung’s eyebrows was lifted and his eyes twinkled suggestively. The cards held in his hands were fanned out and covering the bottom half of his face. But you could somehow still tell he was smirking. It made him look more mature. And it made the lone butterfly explode into a cloud of butterflies.

Photo #7 - Change

 You went to another one of Jisung’s street corner performances. This time you brought a tripod and he rapped while staring intensely into your camera lense. This Jisung brought a fiercer tone to the image captured. His eyes burned with a fiery passion and you could almost feel the powerful rhythm of his rap just by looking at the picture.

 You pulled your cap lower over your eyes, trying to shield yourself from the jealous glares of the fangirls surrounding you. Some of them had brought cameras too, but Jisung only paid attention to yours. “Why you?” a girl asked. She was wearing a skirt which was insanely short for the chilly fall weather and you briefly wondered if she ever worried about flashing the public whenever the wind blew. Her eyes raked down your figure, filled with judgement. “Um, I’m just a friend who takes pictures for his social media.” You made up lamely, not in the mood for a lengthy explanation.

  Later, you were nervously running your fingers up and down the strap of your bag as Woojin silently evaluated your new pictures. “Looks like you tried some new concepts.” Your fingers twisted the strap violently. “And…” Woojin smiled softly, “And it totally worked out for you. The professor will be proud.” The TA turned his attention back to the pictures splayed out on the desk and hummed thoughtfully. “So what do you think?” you asked, relaxing visibly. “About what?” You shrugged, “About the subject? The project is supposed to tell a story. What story are my pictures telling you?” Woojin rubbed his chin.

 The TA didn’t answer directly at first. He placed the two pictures you had taken on Jisung during his street performance (one of him dabbing and the other of him rapping). “Do you sense a shift between these pictures? It’s almost as if the photographer is viewing her muse from a different perspective,” Woojin said carefully. Your brow furrowed as you analyzed the pictures with your eyes. The first one felt more casual while the other was definitely more intimate. “So…” you pressed. “You’re totally whipped,” Woojin deadpanned and your heart missed a beat. You pursed your lips. “Maybe I am.”

Photo #8 - Flower Boy

 “Flowers? Again?” Jisung whines as you push him down to lay on the grass. “Yes, I want to try experimenting with some photoshop elements this time. And I think flowers would make a pretty good theme.” You pull out container of flower clippings from your bag and dump it unceremoniously over his face, causing him to groan in protest under the mound of blossoms.

 You laugh and sweep most of flowers off, revealing his pouty expression underneath. Colorful petals dot Jisung’s hair and your breath catches in your throat because he is just so damn beautiful. “Okay, now close your eyes. And try to make it seem like you’re having a good dream.” Jisung’s eyes fluttered shut and a the faintest smile graced his face.

 You blinked several times and reminded yourself that you were here to take pictures for your assignment, not to indulge yourself in your best friend’s good looks. You cleared your throat and peered through the viewfinder.

  After editing the picture you had taken, you sought out the TA again. “Dang girl, you’re getting insanely good,” Woojin complimented as his eyes scanned the photo. The grass in the background of the original picture had turned out to be a bad choice due to the school’s lack of proper lawn care. You decided to turn the background into water, making it seem like Jisung was floating in a bath of flowers. You beamed at the TA’s praise as you did spend a lot of time creating the final product.

 “So what’s the deal? You two together yet?” Woojin asked, handing the picture back to you. You gingerly slid the photo into a folder, “No. I mean I don’t know if we’ll ever be ‘together’. He’s my best friend and I wouldn’t want to lose him just because of a stupid crush.”

 Woojin chuckled, “Do you know why I love photography so much?” You tilted your head in curiosity. “It gives me that opportunity to turn something others see as plain into something awe-inspiring. You’re literally creating beauty.” Woojin crossed his arms and leaned comfortably on the desk, his eyes smiled. “Won’t you give yourself the opportunity to create something beautiful?” You knew he wasn’t talking about your photographs.

Photo #9 - Handsome

 You have never wanted to hit a person so bad before. “I am NOT wearing makeup!” Jisung screeched, dancing out of your grasp. “I am a man! Men don’t wear makeup!” You finally managed to get a firm grasp on his shirt and wrestled him into a sitting position. “Says the guy who spends 15 minutes putting BB cream on every morning.”

 Jisung went still with shock. “Minho, that traitor. He said he wouldn’t tell.” You shrugged and picked up your makeup brush. Jisung narrowed his eyes, “And since when have you gotten so buddy-buddy with that library nerd?” You rolled your eyes and opened your mouth to make some smart retort when you caught his expression. His tone was playful, but his demeanor seemed a bit deflated. Was he...jealous?

 You turned to set your brush back down in order to hide the smirk on your face. “If you’re gonna be all prissy about it, I guess you don’t have to do makeup. But this time I’m focusing on emotion and I wanted a bashful vibe, so you need to find a way to blush naturally.” Jisung tapped his fingers rhythmically against his legs, thinking hard of solutions that didn’t result in him having to sacrifice his dignity.

 “You’re hot,” you suddenly blurted out. As soon as the words left your mouth, you felt yourself freezing up with utter mortification. This was probably not what Woojin has described. In fact, it was the exact opposite. This wasn’t beautiful. This was ugly, and it was going to end ugly with lots of ugly tears.

 But the effect your blunt statement had on Jisung was immediate. His gaze automatically dropped down to his lap, refusing to let you see how embarrassingly pleased your words made him feel. Pink spread across his cheeks like paint being smeared across a white canvas. You gulped and your camera flashed.

 When you were done, Jisung asked to see the photos you had taken which surprised you because he was never interested in looking at the pictures before. You crossed the room to where he was sitting. His arms snaked around your waist and pulled you down to sit on his lap. Jisung nestled his chin on your shoulder, peering over at the image on the camera screen. It was your turn to blush.

Photo #10 - Together

 A simple picture of intertwined hands.

It’s been a while since I’ve done a long one. I always start them but then taper off because the ideas just start drying up. Such a shame. I literally have drafts I started writing 3 years ago that just sit there.

[bambyeol]

Diss Band (p.1)

a two-part fic  pairing/s: drummer! ong seongwoo x oc 

character/s: ong seongwoo, park woojin

genre: fluff, music (band)

summary: ong seongwoo goes to get his drum repaired only to find a girl ranting about their band - BAM . 

warning : a side story of This Band (could stand alone) 

Diss Band (final)

reference : This Band p.8 

“Person with the most fingers down by the end of the game should give us a consequence.”

“First! Seongwoo-hyung, never have I ever had to flirt with a lady to get my drums repaired for free.”

wanna one masterlist

---

The Underground seemed to be one of those places that looked increasingly better as it aged. Its rugged look, the walls thick with posters of their past performers and the doors looking like a canvas to multiple graffiti works, gave it a hip vibe that was appropriate for the audience that regularly fills this dimly-lit place to the brim.

However, the past few weeks brought significantly fewer people to the known hangout, with it being the official rehearsal venue for BAM’s Reunion. The owner so graciously offered a discount, knowing that the mere fact it was being used by BAM for their historic reunion would bring in more customers afterwards.

Ong Seongwoo now sits alone in the far front of the Underground a few minutes after they concluded their rehearsal for the day. His drumsticks propped on both of his ears as he looks at his phone, an urgent look on his sharp features.

“They just really had to break on me,” he muttered under his breath as he continuously scrolls through the search engine, glancing at the broken part of his pedal.

“Hyung, are you coming with us?” Woojin calls from the door, ready to leave with the rest of the band.

“You guys go ahead. I need to get my drumset fixed,” he said with a grunt without looking up from his phone, pointing to the loose pedal of the bass. “There’s gotta be a repair shop that’s open around the clock right?”

“I’m sure Hyuk-hyung’s shop is still open around this time.” Woojin suggests, glancing at his wristwatch.

“Ah, right! Why didn’t I think of that?” Seongwoo stands up abruptly, causing his drumsticks to topple onto the floor.

“Ey, hyung. Take it easy, you still have tomorrow.”

“And what? Listen to Sungwoon nag at me for being a delay?” Seongwoo replies as he collects his belongings and the broken parts of his drum set. “No, thank you.” he jogs to the door, overtaking Woojin who just laughed and shook his head at the older male, understanding the reasoning behind his panic.

“Don’t wait up for me!”

“We won’t!”

---

At the repair shop a few blocks away, a young part-timer struggles to stay awake through her job. It was her first midnight shift; the multiple coffee cans and the buzz of the television in front of her were the only things keeping her up.

“Can we close up? Who even goes to a repair shop at midnight...” she rubs her eyes and stretches in her chair as she addresses her brother who was strumming away at the backroom of the shop.

“Yeonrin-ah, most gigs are at night,” he explains. “Who knows if there ends up being a musician or two who needs us to their rescue.”

“Oh look here’s one now.”

Yeonrin straightens up at the sound of the door chimes and whips her head towards the direction of the sweat-stained man with a soft smile and comely features. He reminds her of a vampire, and she strangely thought that must have been the reason he enters the shop at such an ungodly hour.

“Is Hyuk around?”

She shakes her head. “Do you need any fixing?” she inquires, observing his whole stance and eyes landing on his drumming fingers on the tabletop with changing rhythm. He’s skilled. She notes. “On your drums?”

That stops him from finger drumming, and he whistles with awe. He leans on the counter, forearms atop and crossed. “Whoa, how’d you know that?”

He tilts his head, lighting accentuating his sharp features. Their distance makes her breathe his smell. Aqua mist. Strange. He smells clean and fresh, contrary to his look.

“Oh. Just because,” she trails off and raises her forefinger, “Black shirt - too thin for this weather. Rugged look. Rhythmic tics on the counter and,”

He raises an eyebrow with expectation. Ong Seongwoo is getting hooked on the girl’s careful analysis, “And?”

She blurts out her frankness leaning on the countertop too to mirror his stance, “An insufferable character. At least for me.”

He snickers and slaps his forehead with his palm . Seongwoo totally thought she’s about to drop a pick-up line or two. “Insufferable character? Now that’s the first time someone has ever said that to me,” he continues to stifle his laugh.

“See. That’s what I mean. Drummers tend to show off. “ she remains unfazed.

“Yeonrin, be nice!” her brother calls warningly from the back room. She just rolls her eyes and turns to Seongwoo with a fresh and accommodating expression as if the girl who welcomed him poorly just a few seconds ago was a completely different person.

“Anyway, is your repair urgent?”

Seongwoo doesn’t reply for a few moments, he shakes his head and smirks as if catching himself in deep thought. “Yeah. I’ll need it by tomorrow actua--”

“I’ll call Hyuk oppa over. He’ll be here in a few. Sit down please.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Seongwoo bows, his cheeks still stretched with a smile of interest. He walks backward to the chair in front of the multitude of instruments hung around the shop.

BAM’s ‘The Reunion’ garners all the top spots in today’s trends

The midnight entertainment news’ low buzz still fills the place by the moment Seongwoo was comfortably seated. In an attempt to strike up a conversation, he threw in a comment about the headline. “That’s still on the news, huh?” and to his surprise, Yeonrin apparently had a lot to say about the famous band.

“I don’t get this hype over BAM. What does BAM even mean?” she said with a disapproving look.

“Beats and melody. 불안에마음.” Curious as to where this conversation was going to go and concluding that she does not recognize him from anywhere, the mischievous Ong Seongwoo leaned forward, his elbows prodded on top of his knees. “Not fond of them?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know. It just seems like they’re over-hyped. Even the buses are covered with their ‘coming soon’ posters, or whatever those are.”

“Have you tried listening to their music?”

Seongwoo was growing more and more amused by the second. Here was a girl who had not a single idea that he was a member of the very band she was blatantly judging. From who else can he hear such objective critique, right? He figured it was like an undercover evaluation.

“It’s probably just the same old lyrics. Repetitive melody. That might be why the public is into them.” she assesses, eyes turned away from the screen. Seongwoo’s eyebrows move to signal her to continue. “Seems like everybody blew up when they announced that reunion. Do you know how packed this shop was that day? Extremely packed. People see them on the TV and they just flock like birds.” she chucked her thumb to the screen now behind her and rolled her eyes.

Seongwoo was about to chime in, ready with his good-natured defenses but he figured he’d let her finish, letting the girl spill out her endless train of thought for nearly fifteen minutes. She talked about her schoolmates and how invested they were with the said group and how it was almost all they talk about. Yeonrin mentioned the recent controversies, saying they were publicity stunts. At one point, she even hummed a familiar tune from the radio, ranting about how many times a day they played that one song and how it is inevitably stuck in her head, to her annoyance.

It was funny how people claim not to be fond of a particular subject and yet know so much about them. However, instead of becoming offended, Seongwoo laughed at some of her comments, feigning agreement with some of them and even dissing some members here and there, to Yeonrin’s entertainment.

“I heard the lead vocalist doesn’t shower. But their drummer has got game.”

“Yeah right. You’re being biased.”

Seongwoo laughed uncontrollably at this comment, almost falling off his chair.

“It’s true! Their drummer makes sick beats.” he slaps his thighs, trying to contain the rest of his laughter.

“What?” Yeonrin glared at his overreaction. At this point Seongwoo was wiping the tears from his eyes brought by bout of laughter that just passed.

“You know, you’ll probably like their music if you try to listen to the rest of their songs besides that one that’s always on the radio.”

“Eh.” she shrugged. “How great could it possibly be? Don’t get me wrong, if you’re a fan, that’s great I guess.”

“Your call.” Seongwoo stood up and approached the counter once again. “You’re the one missing out on our hard work.”

“Our--” Yeonrin was cut off by the sound of the door chimes and a tall, lean man, who was sporting a stubble and a cap, walked in.

“Seongwoo-yah!”

“Hyuk-hyung!”

The two men quickly greeted each other with a hug and fist bump, the older male patting Seongwoo’s shoulders like a brother would.

“How’s our star drummer doing? Is BAM in prime condition for the reunion?”

“BAM? Drummer?” Yeonrin connected the dots in her head and pointed a weak finger at Seongwoo who had a wide smile on his face, obviously enjoying her current predicament.

“Uh-huh. You didn’t tell me Seongwoo was the one who needed the repair, Yeonrin.” Hyuk turned to the counter, his hands on his hips.

“I.....didn’t know.” Yeonrin sunk into her seat, eventually crouching down and slowly making her way to the back room in her daze and embarrassment, and to the confusion of her boss.

Seongwoo just restrained a smile.

--

“Thanks, Hyuk-hyung.” After almost an hour, the two returned to the shop after the repairs have been done in the Underground itself. “I wouldn’t have remembered you were open for 24 hours if Woojin didn’t remind me.”

“Ey. Don’t mention it. This is exactly the reason why we decided to have a midnight shift.” Hyuk stepped in the shop followed by Seongwoo who looked around subtly for a certain part-timer.

“Where do I pay?” Seongwoo asked.

“Over th-- Yeonrin?”

“Yes, boss?” a muffled voice from the back room resounded.

“Come out here and take care of Seongwoo’s payment. I’ll be leaving.”

Laughter from Yeonrin’s brother, who was already made aware of the situation with Yeonrin’s frantic storytelling, was heard followed by a scuffling sound and an “Ow!”

“I’ll be right out!”

Upon hearing the girl’s response, Hyuk bid goodbye to the younger male and left the shop premises.

When Seongwoo turned back, Yeonrin was still in the doorway of the backroom with a calculating expression on her face. “So…”

Seongwoo raised his eyebrows, waiting. “Is it too late for introductions?” he teased.

“...this is awkward.” Yeonrin rushed to the cash register without making eye-contact with the customer who was ready to poke some fun.

She prepared his receipt in silence until, with both palms on the counter, she finally mustered the courage to speak. “I feel really bad for everything I blurted out. I could be very judgmental, sometimes…”

“I found it very amusing.” Seongwoo had his arms crossed in front of him, a habit he seemed to have whenever he was even remotely entertained. “Thanks for the feedback, anyways.”

Yeonrin face-palmed at the boy’s successful attempts at deepening her embarrassment. “I’ll pay for your repair, if that makes up for my mean chatter...”

"Not enough."

"Not enough?!" Yeonrin’s eye bulged out of their sockets. She thought the man was going to take advantage of this chance to get a new drum set, something she would not think twice about cursing him for. “You know I’m just a student in university, right? I only work part-time and I--”

"My ego got wounded, you know. Need that to perform. Listen to our songs and I’ll have that confidence back again." Seongwoo tried to haggle with her as if they were talking about currency and not human emotion.

“Seems like you didn’t lose it anyway…” Yeonrin whispered through gritted teeth. “Fine.” She grabbed her phone from the countertop, scrolled and clicked repeatedly until she showed Seongwoo the screen and clicked ‘follow’ on BAMs streaming site. “I’ll get to it. Happy?”

“Very.” he put up both thumbs. “You’re welcome in advance.” Seongwoo winked at her before leaving the shop with a bounce to his step, leaving a baffled Yeonrin to figure out the strangeness of the recent encounter.

--

Usually, when people come across celebrities, they would immediately post their encounter on their SNS accounts, and how they were star-struck, lucky even to come across a star on a very normal day.

She’s no different if it was a normal encounter, except this time around it wasn’t. It was a rather unpleasant encounter. The worst meeting one could possibly arrange. She blamed her unneeded opinions.

To make up for it, she fulfilled her promise of listening to their songs, no matter how much it stroked her pride wrongly.

She liked their songs upon giving it a try, but she isn’t about to chase Ong Seongwoo just for him to give his satisfied smirk, and she’s content with just being another anti-BAM (no matter how sparse those people are) in his eyes. She completed the end of her deal, so she really shouldn’t feel a little bit guilty about the vicious words she uttered right to his face.

The door chimes in again at such an ungodly hour -- a deja vu. Right, then he’ll enter with his confidence. She takes a peek on the doorway, finding Seongwoo striding in with a smirk on his face just how she pictured it.  A vague feeling sets in that it wouldn’t be their last meeting.

“Broke your drum again?” she greets condescendingly.  He hums in return, dragging the stool positioned at the far edge of the counter right in front of the cashier.  

“If yes, does the free drum repair still stand?”  He rests his elbows on the counter, chin resting on the back of his hand.

“Suck it. That was deducted from my salary. “ she huffs out and shooes him away as if any other customer would actually enter in that hour, a quarter past 12.  “I already listened to your songs. And I doubt you’re back to get your drum repaired. So?”

“I need visual evidence.” he brings out his iPhone X, rests it beside the cashier and plugs the earphones on the jack. She sighs and takes the earphones, but Seongwoo grabs the other pair, inserting it to his ear. He smiles innocently, nudging her to press the play button already.

“I needed sound evidence as well.” She rolls her eyes.

“We could have just played it on speaker.”

“Clearly, you don’t understand the charm of Bose earphones. It does wonders.” he says as a matter-of-fact, fingers flicking airily, chin raised and eyes fluttering coyly imitating that of a connoisseur.

She had the intense urge to smack Ong Seongwoo right there and then, to hell be his Bose earphones and Iphone X. “So does that mean you need some auxiliary for your band’s music?” she strikes  back, a little proud over her reply.  

“Maybe your ears might miss out on our awesomeness. Woojin’s bass is insane, something speakers can’t finely deliver.”  

Mentally, she nods in agreement. She experimented on listening under different platforms, but she isn’t entertaining the idea of feeding Seongwoo’s already large ego.

Seongwoo scoots closer to not overly stretch the earphones cable. Once again, aqua mist. She likes his smell, and it distracts her from fully listening. Thankfully the earphones really did wonders, bringing out the music’s color better.

Seongwoo hums along, using the wooden countertop as his makeshift drums and some other paraphernalia that he found sitting -- a metallic tumbler, two ballpens and a lost triangle.

He makes it a duty to present Yeonrin his favorite songs, skipping along some tracks because they don’t have enough time to actually go through the whole discography.

Close to two and a half hours later, and a sore ear, Seongwoo finally closes his phone and unplugs the earphones. Pushing his phone to his back pocket, he tilts his head to Yeonrin who was pressing a finger on her ear’s tragus.

“So? It blew you away right? Right?” his tone rising with enthusiasm.

“It was….” mind blowing. exhilarating. jaw-dropping. amazing. ...

She gulps down. There is something hard to shake off against Seongwoo’s glittering eyes -- bewitching and taunting all at the same time.

“Too loud.” she concludes. Seongwoo’s eyebrows crease, a little crestfallen about her sudden remark.

“You forgot that your volume was a hundred. Clearly, you’re a drummer.” she snides.

She wins this time.

He groans, checking his phone and setting it lower this time. “Okay. One more time!”

“Maybe some other time, Ong Seongwoo. It’s closing time.”  She unhinges the lock on the counter and leaves to flip the sign to ‘closed’. 

--- notes : I swear I’m not Seongwoo biased lolololololol but writing about him makes me feel like I’m slowly becoming one 

Fanfic where the side story was based on --  This Band (p.1) This Band (p.2) This Band (p.3) This Band (p.4)  This Band (p.5)    This Band (p.6) This Band (p.7) This Band (p.8)  This Band (p.9)  This Band (p.10) This Band (p.11)    This Band (p.12) This Band (p.13) This Band (p15) B.A.M p1 // B.A.M p2 // B.A.M p3 // B.A.M final

[goodnightkisseu]

Kang Daniel - Chocolate (Valentine’s Series 11/11)

Genre: Fluff

Series: [ Jihoon ] [ Daehwi ] [ Guanlin ] [ Minhyun ] [ Woojin ] [ Jinyoung ] [Sungwoon ] [ Jaehwan ] [ Jisung ] [ Seongwoo ] [ Daniel ]

Note: After 4 very long months, the Valentine’s series is finally done! I hope that you all will enjoy this last part. It’s personally one of my favorites and the idea that started me on writing this series for all of the boys. ^^

With this series done I’m going to focus on finishing up all of my requests. I may have to close requests for a little bit (still unsure) because I do want to write up some other things that I have on my mind, but I’ll determine that at a later time. :)

Anyway, please enjoy this Daniel Valentine’s story, and I’ll be back with more fics/drabbles/etc, soon.

- goodnightkisseu’s admin <3

“I’m sure your girlfriend is going to love those chocolates! Stop by again soon, okay?” Daniel called out to the other individual that was leaving the shop, a giant smile plastered on his features. It was always nice to see customers leaving in such a happy mood. Honestly it was one of Daniel’s favorite things about this job. He liked seeing people’s faces light up as they picked the pastries or chocolates that they wanted. He like being able to help them by telling them which ones were his favorite (though he pretty much liked all of them) and just chatting with them about what or whom they were buying for. And today, being Valentine’s Day, meant he got to see a lot of those happy faces.

Valentine’s Day was the busiest day for the small bakery that was situated just off of one of the busiest main roads. Usual days got a fair amount of business, but holidays, particularly like today, saw an increase in sales as people clamored to get last minute handmade baked goods. It definitely could be a little hectic working during these times, but Daniel enjoyed it nonetheless.

“Daniel, how are things going up here? I just finished up another batch of chocolate cakes. Are we running low on anything yet?” you asked as you poked your head out behind the doorway that led back into the massive kitchen. You were greeted with the brightest smile from your co-worker as he turned around to face you before moving over to the glass displays that held the pastries you both worked so hard to make that morning.

“Hmmm… looks like we’re starting to run low on those strawberry cupcakes… and also the chocolate hearts…” he said slowly, as he tried to figure out if you were also running low on cookies. “Yeah, no, I think that’s it for now.”

You gave him a small nod. That wasn’t too bad then… well, not yet anyway. “Okay, I’ll get started on the chocolate hearts then since they’ll need time to harden,” you replied and as you were about to turn back towards the kitchen, you noticed the bouncing over towards you and beating you into the kitchen.

“I’ll help out,” he offered. “I can get started on those cupcakes so you don’t have to rush to pour the chocolate.”

“Daniel, you need to man the front of the store…”

“I can do both, I promise. Just let me help you out so that you aren’t doing all of this alone,” he insisted, flashing you another smile that made your heart skip a beat.

To say that you had a small crush on your co-worker was a bit of an understatement. You had been crushing on him for a while now. When Daniel had started working at this little bakery a year ago, you thought he wouldn’t stay long. Most people only worked for a bit before they moved onto something new. You figured he would be the same since he had mentioned that he was transitioning into his career. Yet here he was, and in that time, the two of you had become close.  

As you got to know him better, you realized that you felt something for him, more than just simple attraction. Thing was, though you would flirt a bit with him from time to time, it was hard to tell how he felt. Daniel was sweet, by nature, to everyone, whether it was a customer or another co-worker. He never really treated you any differently than the others, so it was hard to tell if he felt anything different towards you.

Unsurprisingly though, with his good nature and his good looks, you were definitely not the only one in that small bakery that had a crush on him. Granted, any time that any of the girls told him how they felt, he turned them down and apologized. You knew why though. He had told you that during college, there was a girl he was head over heels for, but she inevitably broke his heart. Daniel never went into details about what exactly happened, but you had a feeling that she may have cheated on him, and that was likely what broke the relationship apart. He had confided in you that he was a mess afterwards and just hadn’t felt like dating again. It was a little painful to hear, mostly with how you felt about him, but you understood. He needed to heal.

Granted, that conversation happened almost eight months ago, and even now he hadn’t pursued any advances on him. He politely declined them all and it was in part why you had never tried yourself. In the back of your mind you thought that he might already have someone in mind. You were giving him space, but honestly, sometimes, it was hard to, mostly with your feelings growing for him, like they had. And with today being Valentine’s Day, it really wasn’t helping. People always said that there was love in the air and you always thought it was a joke, but when working at a place like a bakery on a day like today, you really thought you could feel it.

“So, any plans for tonight?” Daniel asked as he mixed the cupcake batter.

“Not really. This isn’t my type of holiday…” you admitted, sending him a sheepish smile. “What about you though? You took Jonghyun’s shift so that he could go on his date. No plans either? Or… maybe your plans are later in the evening?

He shook he head, a chuckle leaving his lips. “I think I rebuffed too many confessions. No one has asked me to be their Valentine.”

“Oh so you are aware that you do that. I was going to tell you, just in case you were wondering,” you teased, eliciting another chuckle from him. God, why was that so attractive?

“Thanks for looking out,” he teased back. “But you’re right, it is of my own doing. It would be nice to be asked though.” Daniel opened his mouth to say something else, but before he could, he heard voices in the front of the store and quickly excused himself, leaving you with your thoughts…

========

Daniel’s words had you thinking for most of the day. Business was picking up and you were mostly stuck in the back making pastries after pastries, which gave you a lot of time to think. At first you thought that he might have been joking, but you couldn’t help but feel like there was a layer of truth to his words too. Daniel was usually a rather straightforward person, but sometimes, sometimes he would say things that made you wonder if there was more to it than what was there at face value.

It gave you the idea that this might be a good time to tell him how you felt. It might have been silly to tell him after he said something so frivolous, but it was worse walking around with feelings that you couldn’t express. And even if he rejected you like all of those other girls, at least it would be out there. It was harder to keep it to yourself at this point. So you thought of a cute little thing you could make for him when you had the time in between all of your other work.

You remembered that he had mentioned his love for cats, mostly because he had two, and you thought it would be cute to make him a little cat shaped cake. It wouldn’t be anything too fancy as you didn’t have the time in between all of the pastries you had to make in order for the store to remain stocked. But still, you had enough time to put it together in pieces.

Lucky for you, Daniel had been confined to the front of the store for most of the day so you could work on your project in secret. Though, he would, from time to time, poke his head back to see how you were doing, which meant you had to quickly hide your little surprise. You had been doing a pretty good job of keeping it from him… at least, up until you were about to put on the finishing touches. You were concentrating so hard on it that you didn’t hear him enter. Daniel’s timing was terrible… or it was too good. It depended on whose perspective you were looking from.

“What are you working on? I didn’t think we have any custom orders today. I thought we finished them all yesterday…” he said as he snuck up behind you, almost making you jump a foot in the air. In the process you moved back and right into him, almost losing your balance. However, being the more agile and aware person in the pair, Daniel instinctively reached his hands up and lightly held your forearms, keeping you upright.

“Y-you startled me, Daniel! Ah, how many times have I said not to sneak up on me like that? I’m jumpy by nature,” you reprimanded, but knowing that he had seen his present, you really couldn’t lie about it. “To be honest, this isn’t a custom order…”

“Oh? But we don’t make things like that. Is it a lava cake shaped like a cat? For your boyfriend?” he asked, half interrogating. His words were fast and though his face tried to maintain its usual gentleness, you could see a hint of frustration. Hmm, that was different.

“You know I’m not seeing anyone,” you retorted. “I-it’s not for a boyfriend. It’s… it’s for you…” you finally say, feeling the heat rise in your cheeks.

“Me?” Daniel parroted as he looked at it. “Why would you make it for me?”

You sighed softly. You were really hoping you wouldn’t have to explain yourself like this, but it seemed like you would have to. It was so cringe-worthy. “Look, you said earlier that it would be nice to receive something today, so I thought I would make it for you. That and…”

“And?” he inquired as he took a step closer to you, intrigued by your words and hanging on every single one.

“And,” you started, knowing that you would just have to say it, even if it was embarrassing, “I like you a lot. Look, you can feel free to rebuff me like you do with all of those other girls if you aren’t ready for something like this but –”

“What makes you think I wouldn’t accept?”

“Daniel, you’ve declined every other girl that had confessed to you, and you told me that you weren’t ready for a relationship. Please don’t make this more complicated and just say what’s on your mind…”

He chuckled again. “I wasn’t accepting any of them because I liked you, you silly girl,” he finally said, putting an end to this ridiculousness.

“You what?”

“I really like you too,” he admitted. “The reason I never said ‘yes’ to those other girls was because I waiting to tell you how I felt,” he explained. “You really messed everything up though,” Daniel said, rubbing the back of his neck as your brow furrowed. When he saw your expression and realized how his words could have sounded he quickly shook his head. “Wait, I didn’t mean it like that. I meant… ah, let me show you,” he said instead, as he led you over to the fridge as he pulled out a metal sheet.

Resting on the sheet was a piece of chocolate, formed into the shape of an elephant… or at least that’s what you figured it was supposed to be. The proportions were kind of weird because of the way that the chocolate solidified, but it was very elephant-like. You tried not to giggle, knowing that Daniel must have been the one that made it, but you also knew that he hadn’t had much training with chocolate yet. It was cute though.

“I made it because I wanted to give it to you for Valentine’s Day, to confess to you. But you beat me to a confession and a cuter gift. Seriously, why do you have to like such a complicated looking animal,” he teased as he pulled you in close, giving the side of your head a light peck.

You couldn’t stifle your giggles anymore, but you still took the chance to praise him. “I think it’s a good first attempt. I mean, I’ll have to show you better technique, but I think he’s super cute! I like him, just like I like you,” you said cheekily, making a small noise when Daniel swung you around in his arms, hands rested squarely around your waist as he looked at you with a smile.

“I’m just glad you like it,” he said softly, leaning in for a kiss. But before his lips could make contact with yours, the sound of the bell by the cash register stopped him.

“Excuse me, is anyone here?” a man called out. “I really need to get a cake!”

“You better go help out that customer and close up, Romeo,” you teased as Daniel let out a sigh in annoyance.

“Fine, but you can’t leave before I get my kiss, okay?” he said, watching as you rolled your eyes.

“I’m not going anywhere,” you reassured him and with a giant grin, Daniel went dashing out into the front of the store to help the customer while you tidied up in the back. This turned out to be a pretty good Valentine’s Day after all…

[lookastarlightnight-blog]

Ignorance Is Bliss

[Admin Lyric: I made everyone older for the sake of the fanfiction besides Jeongin. It's A LOT longer than I planed for it to be but I hope you'll like it. Btw it's a Minsung and Minchan fic oops. Sorry not sorry.]

Characters: Minho, Jisung, Bang Chan, Rest of Stray Kids (Woojin is only mentioned)

Genre: Angst, Fluff (if you squint), attempt at humor?

Word Count: 5.7k

Warnings: Underage drinking (just really Jeongin), Language, Mentions of depression and anxiety

Minho stared out the window silently. It was open slightly letting a light breeze into the room. He listened to the whistle of the wind every time it entered through the cracked open window, the leaves on the trees shook as the wind blew. He listened. It made him feel lighter. Small and protected. Nature was pretty but the silence and tiny sounds were prettier.  

Minho closed his eyes and took a deep breath and let it back out slowly. He did it few more times before he got bored. His mind wonders too much at night and he hated it. It kept him up till an unreasonable hour. It was nice sometimes. To think about what happened throughout your day, to think about yourself, to think about...him. Not like Minho wanted to think about him, it just happened.  

Minho hated Jisung. Yeah, like every time he’d see him he wants to run up and square him right in the jaw. No, he didn’t actually want to punch him. No, he didn’t hate him either. It was more like he hated the feeling of being there for someone who you have feelings you for but they don’t know about them. He didn’t even know if he was gay. It was kind of like he knew what he was getting himself into but he really didn’t. It’s like walking out into a river without knowing how to swim… the irony.

Minho shut his eyes tighter and pulled the cover over his head. He sighed. Why was he up at 4 am thinking? Who the hell thinks at 4 am? He sighed again and turned over on his side. He grabbed his phone and opened twitter, scrolling through his timeline reading tweets about how much his followers loved someone or an idol. He sighed again. Can’t he catch a fucking break? He tossed his phone somewhere in the dark, not really caring if it cracked or not. He closed his eyes again and listened to the sounds that he admired so much and took deep breaths again.  

He started drifting off to sleep when HE popped into his head again. He threw his body onto his stomach and yelled into his pillow. He prayed to god Chan didn’t hear him or he’d be getting yelled at in a good few minutes. Chan gets cranky easily when he doesn’t sleep which is almost all the time. That’s when Minho forced himself to sleep even if he was thinking about way too much things, he had to get at least some sleep.

2 hours of sleep was good enough, he thought out loud. He had morning classes anyways. Minho groggily got out of his bed and stumbled his way into his dorm's kitchen. Chan was awake as per usual sitting at the kitchen table writing in a notebook. 

“Looks like someone didn’t sleep again.” Minho rolled his eyes and opened the refrigerator to find… well nothing but water and soda. His stomach growled loudly and he opened one of the cabinets and grabbed some instant ramen.

“Looks like someone needs to mind their own fucking business before someone else loses their shit.” Chan looked up and raised an eyebrow. 

“Woah, who hurt you?” Minho ignored his poor attempt at asking him what was wrong and watched his ramen rotate in the microwave. Chan got up and walked over towards Minho and grabbed a Pepsi that was sitting on the counter opened. Minho gagged at the thought of warm flat soda. Chan jumped up to sit on the counter failing a few times. 

“Is this about Jisung?” Ah how much Minho hated that name. He stopped stirring his soon to be eaten ramen and stared at Chan with an ever so slightly annoyed grin. 

“No. And earlier didn’t I tell you to mind your-“ 

“Own fucking business? Yeah, I heard you loud and clear. And for the record I do recall you telling me a few weeks ago that you’d tell me how you were feeling if you were ever ‘like this’ again?” Chan motioned his hands up and down pointing towards Minho. He sighed and put his ramen on the table, appetite long gone since Chan said the name Jisung.  

“Look, if you’re uncomfortable just tell me, I'll shut up.” Minho looked at Chan and smiled halfheartedly and got up. He through his ramen away and walked back into his room to get ready for his classes. What has he gotten himself into? He knew that Chan knew he liked Jisung but every time his name was said aloud in their small dorm, he always felt sick and nauseous. Why? He didn’t really know. 

Minho felt like the walk to uni was so long but it was only about 10 minutes away. He hates being alone. His thoughts get jumbled up easily and he becomes very vulnerable to himself and shuts his friends out when he feels self-cautious. He hated it so much to the point where it scared him and makes him more anxious. That’s why he usually has Chan walk with him in the morning but he didn’t go to class with him today because he had a lot of inspiration for his music so he was skipping. Chan wasn’t one for skipping but when it came to his music, he didn’t give a shit. 

Minho kicked at the gravel under his feet and walked slowly. Mayhaps he should hurry up? He felt a hand on his shoulder and jumped so hard he almost fell. He screeched like a little bitch too which was really embarrassing. It was hard for him to even look to his left until he heard a chuckle. He frayed his eyebrows together and looked down at his shoes, at least it was just Hyunjin. He was one of Jisung’s closest friends next to him, Felix, and Seungmin. He may or may not be dating Changbin. 

“Hyung, I called your name at least 5 times. You okay?” Minho looked in Hyunjin’s direction and smiled. 

“Yeah, I’m okay. Not fine but just enough to be getting through life.” Hyunjin nodded softly and looked a little worried but decided not to say anything.

“How’ve you been? You look like you lost some weight.” Hyunjin walked a little slower and nodded his head. 

“I’ve been great. I’m caught up with all my work finally and now I can just focus on our dance project. I skipped a lot of meals because of me constantly cramming to get work done. Jisung threatened to beat me with a frying pan if I didn’t eat.” Minho tried his hardest not to laugh but it came out so abruptly he spat all over Hyunjin’s face. Hyunjin had closed his eyes and wiped his face slowly as Minho laughed harder due to Hyunjin’s expression. 

“I had JUST washed my face bro!” Minho was holding his knees gasping to breathe from how hard he was laughing. He felt himself shaking and looked up at Hyunjin who had a displeased facial expression.  

“It wasn’t supposed to be funny, you were supposed to comfort me about Jisung being a dick.” Hyunjin pouted. Minho stood up properly and wiped off the tears that had ran down his face. “I’m sorry. I just can’t see that happening. Seungmin though, probably.” 

Hyunjin shrugged and started walking again. “Jisung’s mean to me sometimes, you just don’t see it because you’re blinded by your love for him.” Minho stopped walking and frowned. He ran up to Hyunjin and shoved him into the street. Hyunjin laughed evilly and walked about 2 feet in front of him to not get pushed again. Minho’s nausea set in again. Damn the fact that there wasn’t any traffic. 

Once he and Hyunjin were outside of the university, that’s when he heard yells and shouts from behind them. He heard his name a few times but decided not to turn around knowing it’d be his friends which meant Jisung was there. Hyunjin was the first to react and dragged Minho with him by the wrist. Minho was shaking his head violently. He tried to get out of his grip but Hyunjin was a lot stronger then he looked. 

“Why do you look like you got in trouble?” Felix laughed and put his hands in his pockets. Minho rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. 

“Shut up. You know nothing.” Felix let out an exaggerated gasp and put a hand on his chest. Seungmin eyed Minho curiously and turned his head towards Hyunjin. 

“Is he okay?” Hyunjin shrugged. 

“He spit on me earlier so I'm kind of pissed.” 

“THAT WAS AN ACCIDENT!” 

“It still happened.” Minho rolled his eyes again. He could see Jisung through his peripheral vision. He was scared to talk to him but he really, really wanted to.  “Tsk tsk. You spit on your friends now? That’s low.” Minho looked over at Jisung slowly and glared at him. 

“Says that one that threatened to beat their friend with a frying pan. Put an acorn in it squirrel boy.” Jisung’s eyes widened clearly not offended but surprised. 

“Hyunjin told you that!? You little fucker!” Felix ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. 

“Wow Jisung. I didn’t know you’d stoop so low. Don’t be on Seungmin’s level.” Seungmin smacked Felix on the back of his head and he yelped. Felix smiled a little too sweetly touching his head lightly. Jisung cooed at him and pinched his cheeks. Felix blushed and shooed Jisung away from his face. Minho rolled his eyes and turned around. “I’m leaving you morons.” 

He heard his friends groan. He giggled and shook his head. He felt an arm be put in between his body and his own arm. He looked to his right and saw Jisung smiling at him cutely. His heart stammered and he forgot how to breathe for a moment. Jisung’s smile was pure sunlight and he wanted nothing more than to look at it all day.  

“Hyung, you look nice today.” Jisung put his head on Minho’s shoulder. He looked away and let out a soft “thank you.” His face was probably red as fuck because Hyunjin started laughing at him. Minho flipped him off and continued to walk with Jisung. The only thought that was on his mind was how warm Jisung felt beside him.

Dancing was Minho’s escape. From reality and from his own emotions. Lately it seemed like all he did was run from everything. His friends, his family, himself. He just ignored everything that bothered him which is why he tried to avoid Jisung a lot. He shook his head and ran his hands up and down his face. He should focus on this not-so-easy-choreography and not think about things like that. He took his hands away from his face and was met with a pair of pretty sparkly brown eyes. He knew they belonged to Jisung and he kind of panicked because how close they were. Jisung sat in front of Minho and handed him a water bottle. Minho took it and chugged it like he hadn’t drank anything for days. 

“You look stressed. Anything you wanna talk about?” Minho looked at Jisung and thought, yes, I’m stressed. You look beautiful right now and I would do anything to tell you that I love you but I'm scared you might reject me and our friendship will come to an end. Minho shook his head and decided on a simple “no, I'm fine.” Jisung raised an eyebrow at this but let it go. He scooted closer to Minho and put his head in his lap. Minho’s heart felt like it was going to combust with how cute he looked. 

“Did you wanna hangout after this? I don’t have anything to do and I don’t wanna be bored for the rest of the day.” Minho nodded without thinking about the consequences that were going to follow him till he was about to sleep. Jisung smiled brightly and sat up, out stretching his arms so Minho could hug him which he gladly accepted. Jisung fit right into his chest and he was having a hard time trying to hold himself back from kissing him. Jisung snuggled into the crook of Minho’s neck and stayed there for a while on his phone. They were sweaty but he didn’t really care. Minho stared and took in the perfection that was Jisung’s face. His eyes were gorgeous. They were big but not too big, they sparkled when he looked at something he found pretty, they lit up and shined bright when he talked about music and dance. The crinkles by his eyes when he smiled so brightly. The sun worked hard but Han Jisung worked harder. He wanted so badly to kiss the tip of his nose, it was so boop-able. He wanted to actually physically kiss him. His lips were really pretty. Cherry red and always smelled like mint Chapstick. His natural pout was cute, all Minho wanted do was kiss him all over his entire face as much as could till he-

“What’s wrong?” Minho’s eyes widened. He looked at Jisung dumbly and blinked a few times. 

“What?” Jisung rolled his eyes and smirked. “You were staring.” 

That’s when the embarrassment set in and his face turned crimson. He would say it was from dancing but he knew it wasn’t true. Minho coughed a few times which turned into a fit of nervous laughter.  

“I was just thinking about our uhh...dance! Yeah, I-I forgot some of the moves and I need to go o-over them again when we uhh...start dancing again.” Jisung giggled and nodded his head. His giggles were music to Minho’s ears. 

“Okay hyung.” That definitely sounded sarcastic. Minho’s expression changed from anxious to confused to even more anxious in a few seconds.  “You’re cute when you blush.” Minho touched his face and it was indeed hot. Not warm but fever hot. He stood up slowly, trying not to disturb Jisung from being comfortable, and made an excuse to use the bathroom. 

Minho has never run so fast in his entire life. 

Minho knew Jisung was a relatively clingy person but it just didn’t feel right. He always felt special whenever Jisung hugged him or cuddled him or held his hand, but he did that to everyone. Minho sighed and ran a hand in his hair and pulled his knees close to his chest. Why did it hurt so much to think about him and talk to him? His chest felt tight and his lungs refused air. He felt like he was drowning. Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes. He hated himself. It seemed liked something so easy to do yet seemed like he was walking on thin ice. The thought of losing one of closet best friends was scary and he didn’t want to lose the tight bond he created with Jisung because of his stupid feelings. He loved him too much to think about the possibility of Jisung hating him for the rest of his life or just straight up avoiding him. 

“Aren’t you supposed to be at dance right now?” Minho looked to his right and saw Changbin. He was one of Chan’s close friends and his own. They all made music together sometimes and helped each other out when they needed it most. 

“Yeah, I just...wanted to be alone for a bit.” Changbin nodded. 

“Are you okay? I'll leave if you want me to.” Minho shook his head quickly. “No, you’re fine. And no, I'm not okay.” Changbin’s expression softened and he changed his seated position on the small sofa to look at Minho better. 

“I-I really like Jisung. No, I love him. You already know that but I just don’t know what to do. I don’t know if he even likes guys. It sounds stupid to be depressed about this but all my life I've been scared of rejection and being alone. Ever since I came out to my parents they rejected me. They ignored me and waited for me to graduate high school so they could throw me out and into college. I didn’t have close friends besides Chan, you and Jisung. I was lonely then but you 3 made me feel better and loved. I don’t wanna risk that because of my stupid feelings.” At this point Minho had tears running down his face and his body was shaking. Changbin held back his tears, leaned forward and grabbed Minho pulling him into his chest. Minho broke out crying in loud sobs. Changbin rubbed his back and let him cry till he heard quiet sniffles. Chan had gravitated towards they’re living area. He traded his spot with Changbin’s. 

“Minnie. I love you. Please don’t let yourself feel like this. I know that you’re scared but I think it’d be better if you told him how you felt. Even if Jisung doesn’t feel the same way, we’re always right here.” Changbin nodded and added on. Chan ran a hand through Minho’s hair, an action he usually does to calm him down. 

“And I'm pretty sure even if he wasn’t to return your feelings, I doubt he’d hate you.” Minho sighed and put his face deeper into Chan’s chest. He eventually lifted his head up slowly. Chan’s face softened and it took everything in him to not cry or go and tell Jisung himself because he hated seeing his best friend in his arms crying. He hated it more than he hated seeing his music unfinished after falling asleep.  

“I got your shirt wet... sorry.” Chan rolled his eyes and chuckled. 

“That’s what you’re worried about?” 

“Just give him time, he might not wanna talk about it.” Chan nodded. Changbin had tried giving Minho a kiss on his head but he swatted him away. Chan asked Changbin if he could talk to Minho by himself which Changbin complied to, shuffling to the bathroom quietly. Minho was sat on his knees and had his hands in his lap. He looked really vulnerable and made Chan kind of pissed off that Jisung hadn’t realized that Minho loved him. Is it really that hard to not see someone pinning for you? Yes. 

“Minho-yah. I want what’s best for you but if you really, physically can’t tell Jisung that you love him, then just say it through text or through a letter maybe? I just don’t want you to have to deal with the suffering feeling of him dating someone else or wanting to without getting the chance to tell him about your feelings first.” Minho nodded slowly then stopped and stared Chan dead in his eyes. 

“Why are you giving me advice about something that you never felt?” Chan’s eyes widened. He mumbled out some lame excuse about his friend having something like this happen to him but Minho wasn’t buying it. 

“Hyung. Are you-” Chan’s phone rung loudly from his back pocket. Hold Me Tight. One of Minho’s favorite BTS songs. He didn’t remember Chan ever listening to BTS besides when he played them out loud and sang stupidly. Chan was more into western hip hop and rap which suited him. Chan answered his phone quickly. He excused himself from the room and walked into his bedroom. Minho just sat there confused. What was Chan hiding from him? He was always the one that had Minho open up and he told him whenever he was depressed so why was he being so... weird?  Minho texted Jisung and told him he wasn’t feeling good and they should hangout some other time. His phone lit up but he didn’t bother looking at it, staring into Chan’s bedroom. 

“So, you’re going to Woojin hyung’s party.” Minho rolled his eyes. Of course he’s not gonna go. He hasn’t spoken to Jisung in 2 days and he might be there, he’d rather not risk going and seeing him. 

“Hyung. Did you not hear me? I said no, I'm not going so stop asking. Do I need to say it in English?” Chan leaned his head back and sighed loudly.  

“That really wasn’t a question, it was more of a demand but...” Minho whined and put his pillow over his face. Why can’t he just... I don’t know LISTEN?  “Look, I don’t have clean clothes so that’s one thing.” He felt something soft land on his stomach and jumped slightly not knowing what it was. 

“There. Now get fucking dressed mate, we don’t have all night.” Minho moved the pillow from his face and yelled. He yelled as in not screaming but just because. Chan kicked his leg lightly. “Do you wanna get us kicked out?” 

“Yes. More you than me.” Chan hit Minho on his thigh and he kicked his leg out only to miss and fall off of his bed. Chan laughed loudly while Minho just sat on the floor with his arms crossed. 

“Don’t check to see if I'm okay or anything you dick.” Chan walked back over to Minho and helped him up still laughing. 

“uuHH! I fucking hate you!” 

“No, you LOVE ME!” 

Minho sat in the corner on some shitty sofa that was just thrown there for more people to sit down. He took a deep breath and immediately regretted it. The air was filled with smoke. Fake smoke and real smoke. Maybe he should drink more. He might not be bothered by it too much if he was shit faced.

“heeeYYYYY hyung!” Minho looked at the kid in front of him. He looked about 16 or 17. Way too young to be at a party like this. His face looked really familiar and it bothered him way too much. Minho’s eyes widened. Why was Jeongin here? 

“Hi?” Jeongin sat down next to Minho and leaned his head on his shoulder. He reeked of alcohol and it kind of burned Minho’s nose.  

“Why are you here? And why the hell are you drinking?” Jeongin shrugged and sat up. “Beacause Seungmin’s my brother? AND Jisung isn’t here so I did him a favor by drinking for him!” 

Minho let out breath of relief and disappointment. He wondered why Jisung didn’t go. He knew he didn’t like parties but he usually came because his friends went, which caused Minho to go because he hated parties as well.

“Whatz wong? You saaad cuz ur boyfrind sn’t here?” Minho rolled his eyes. Jeongin’s words were so slurred it was almost impossible to understand what he was saying. His mom is gonna beat the shit outta him. 

“No, I’m not sad and he’s not my boyfriend.” Jeongin laughed more than necessary and began coughing. Minho rolled his eyes again. It seemed like all he did was roll his eyes at his dumb ass friends. He chugged the rest of what was left over in his cup and got up to get another. He felt arms circle around his middle and he turned his head slightly and saw a flop of curly hair. 

“You don’t look like you’re having fun.” Minho’s face scrunched up at the nasty taste of whatever-the-fuck-was-in-this-cup.  

“Duh. I never said I wanted to come, I just came because you forced me to.” Chan shook Minho a little and caused him to smile. “That’s what I wanted to see.” Minho leaned his head back and downed his drink for the 2nd time. Chan shook his head. 

“Don’t drink like that, you’ll get fucked up.” Minho turned around in Chan’s hold and put his arms around his neck. Minho swore he saw Chan blush but maybe it was just the alcohol. 

“Don’t be such a buzzkill. You told me to have fun so that’s what I’m doing.” He whispered the last part quietly but loud enough for Chan to hear over the music playing. “By getting yourself blacked out drunk?” Minho nodded feeling a bit lightheaded from the alcohol already. He did have a low alcohol tolerance so he didn’t need to drink much to get drunk but he was going to anyway. Normal people would call this a distraction from Jisung but he didn’t want to acknowledge it as such. It made him feel weak and emotional. Unable to deal with things that happen in day to day life.  

“Loosen up hyung. Here.” Minho grabbed two drinks, one for himself and handed the other to Chan. He took it begrudgingly and watch as Minho downed his 3rd drink like it was water. He coughed a few times then wiped off his mouth.  

“Uhhh, I’m gonna go look for Woojin hyung, do you wanna come?” Chan sounded utterly nervous to leave Minho by himself but he shook his head. 

“Nahhh. I’m gonna go dance or somthin’.” Chan nodded slowly and watched Minho disappear into the crowd of sweaty bodies. Why did he let him do that? Minho eventually got bored of dancing and people trying to grind onto him so he went outside and sat on what seemed to look like steps. His head spun and pulled out his phone from his pocket and unlocked it? Yeah, that’s what it's called. He dialed a number that seemed way too familiar for his liking and put the phone up to his ear. It started ringing and someone picked up on the other line. 

“Hello?” Minho sat silently and stared at his shoes till he remembered he was on the phone. 

“OHH! Hi Jisungie.” Minho heard Jisung giggle from the other end. 

“What did you call for?” 

“I wanted to tell you something. You haaaaave to keep it a secret... OKAY!?” 

“Are you drunk?” Minho ignored him and kept going. 

“Han Jisung. I love you. Sooo sooo much. I *hiccup* have always loved you and I just wanted to let you know. You mean the *hiccup* world to me and you’re so cute and funny and you look like an ang- angle?” 

“An angel?” 

“Yeah that!” 

“W-where are you right now?” That’s was the last thing Minho heard before he was out like a light. 

Minho felt sick to his stomach. Jisung texted him earlier asking him if they could “talk.” Minho knew what it was about and frankly, he was gonna say no because he was scared. The nagging voice in the back of his mind told him he should go because he knew he needed to provide Jisung an explanation about the phone call. He hasn’t spoken to him since then. Minho sighed and sat down on a bench next to the place Jisung said he wanted to talk to him at. He came early because he needed some time to relax himself before he talked to him. 

He thought back to the morning after the party. Everything was fresh in his mind and he cried. He was sure he messed up and Jisung hated him. Chan came to comfort him and asked what happened. He got pissed off when Minho told him he called Jisung and told him he loved him. He said he should’ve stayed with him and maybe he wouldn’t feel like how he did. Minho sighed. Why did Chan blame himself for things that happened to him? Chan can’t control what Minho does. He was so lost in thought that he hadn’t seen Jisung standing in front of him. He sat down on Minho’s left and turned his head towards his direction. Minho gulped. He prayed Jisung didn’t hear it. 

“You know why I want to talk to you right?” Minho nodded. It was hard for him to say words at the moment. 

“Well...I don’t really know what to say...right now...” Minho opened his mouth to say a sentence that he practiced on saying to Jisung but it didn’t come out, other words did. 

“I love you Jisung. I have for a while and I don’t know when it happened but when I was drunk I was telling the truth...I’m sorry...I-” Minho cut himself off because he could feel himself getting chocked up and he didn’t want to cry in front of Jisung. 

“Don’t apologize, I should be the one apologizing.” Minho raised an eyebrow. Why did he need to apologize? “I never once noticed and I...I just feel stupid. I love you too hyung...but...” Minho knew he wasn’t going to get the answer he wanted. He expected it. He really wondered why he got his hopes up so high. He took a deep breath through his nose. His heart hurt more. It felt like it was cracking. 

“I don’t love you like how you love me...I-I’m sorry I feel...” Jisung’s eyes were glistening and Minho tried hard not to stare but he looked like he was about to cry. Jisung took a deep breath and let it back out. 

“Felix asked me out a few days ago but I never said anything because I was worried about you. I-I do like him...but... It’s not gonna be weird-” Minho shook his head. He had to leave soon or he’d break down outside and that’s something he never wanted experience. He hated people staring at him as it is. 

“No. It’s gonna be okay. Just say yes. If you like him, then you like him. You can’t control your feelings.” Jisung nodded. He scooted over to Minho and gave him a hug whispering “I’m sorry” into his ear. Minho was the one to break the hug first. Jisung stood up and so did Minho. He gave him another hug which was longer, Minho didn’t wanna let him go but he did.  

“Are you gonna be okay?” 

“Yeah. I’m- I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.” Minho rubbed his hands on his pants to rid of the sweat on them. A thing he did when he was nervous or needed a distraction. Jisung gave him a lopsided smile and waved him goodbye. Minho watched as his back faded away in the distance. A tear slid past his right eye but he was quick to wipe it off. He smiled and ran all the way back to his dorm. 

Chan was seated on the sofa when Minho walked back inside. Chan snapped his head in his direction when he heard the door shut. Minho said nothing. He just stood there staring at his shoes. Chan walked over to Minho and put a hand on either side of his shoulders. Minho looked up at Chan. He hugged him. Chan hugged him back right away. Minho tried his hardest not cry but his heart felt like it was ripped out and stepped on. It’s not like he didn’t expect to get rejected but the thought of Jisung and Felix together made everything 10 times worse. He loved them both. Shouldn’t he be happy for them? He didn’t realize Chan brought him over to the sofa. Minho held onto him tighter. Chan made him sit on his lap. 

“It’s okay to cry Minnie.” Minho felt numb. He felt like he had to cry, but nothing came out. Chan rubbed his back and hugged him tighter. 

“Hyung. It hurts. But I don’t feel like I have the right to cry.” Chan sighed. His heart felt heavy as Minho said those words.  

“You have the right to cry more than anyone else. I know it hurts and its okay to cry. It only hurts worse when you hold it in.” Minho sat up and stared at Chan for what seemed to be a whole minute. 

“What?” 

“Why do keep doing that?” 

“Doing what?” 

“Acting like you know how I feel. You don’t so stop giving me advice! If want to make me feel better then just comfort me!” Minho didn’t mean to yell at him. He didn’t mean anything he said but on some level he did. Chan rolled his eyes and looked back at Minho. A bunch of emotions filled his eyes, things he couldn’t decipher, things he didn’t like seeing. It sent a shiver down his spine.

“Out of all the people you know I should be the one to relate most to you because I've felt like this for years, so don’t think I don’t know how you feel.” Minho’s eyes widened and his face softened. 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean-” 

“No, you’re fine. How would you have known that I’ve been in love with you for a long time? I never told you.” It was quiet for a while. Minho felt his face burning. How was he blushing when he felt like he was dying? He has never heard someone confess to him before, it was usually the other way around. Never was it his best friend either. Chan smiled lightly. 

“I know you love Jisung. I know it’s gonna take time for you get over him but I can wait. Only if you let me.” Minho felt tears running down his face he put his face into Chan’s chest and a loud sob came from his throat. Why did he tell him he loved him now? Why was he even complaining? He raised his head a little and tried to calm his crying. 

“Christopher Bang! AH! I hate you! Seriously!” Chan threw his back and laughed. Minho smiled at Chan and wiped his tears away. 

“Okay. I’ll let you.” Chan stopped laughing and brought his head back forward slowly. Eyes big and hopeful. 

“Really?” Minho nodded and turned his head, blushing a bit. Chan hugged Minho so tight he thought he might have broken one of his ribs. Chan smiled brightly, his dimples showing. Minho smiled back. He put his head into the side of Chan’s neck. Chan arms settling on Minho’s waist out of habit. Minho felt stupid. He never noticed all the things Chan did for him weren’t just out of friendship, but out of love and Minho was grateful for that. Jisung must have felt like this too. Chan on the other hand had probably been hurting for a long time and Minho never noticed because he was caught up in his own feelings. He was going to make it up to Chan. Make up for all the things he should’ve done when Chan felt depressed and helpless. He wanted to feel alive again and he was gonna do it no matter what. He was gonna do it with Chan. Minho tapped on Chan’s shoulder making him look at him.  

“Let’s be happy, yeah?” Chan nodded. Minho mustered up all the courage he had when he was drunk that one night and kissed him. 

[legionofkoda]

The Galaxies on Our Skin Chapter 1

This is a fic I’m doing in collaboration with @kxmwoojxn​. Please check out the drawings Harley did for this fic on his blog. Updates may be a little irregular as I’m trying to finish my other Stray Kids au and write an NCT au on top of that plus work and study.

Stray Kids Space AU 

1103 words

Chan, Woojin, and Minho were just leaving their last drop point when it happened. They weren’t sure what it was, Minho suggested something went wrong with the engine and left to check, but they all felt weird and a little uneasy afterward. It was a few days later when the effects of it started to show and Woojin and Minho had to figure out a way to get Chan out of the wall. Another few days later and Minho set his first fire after getting frustrated during a repair. Woojin helped repair the damage done, but not in the way Minho expected. The marks began showing up not long after, most were hidden under their clothes but one of Chan’s was on his cheek.

~~ 3 months later

The ship jolted a bit while Jeongin was alone on it. Seungmin had gone down to the planet surface to see if there was anything worth scavenging on it. He had told Jeongin to stay on the ship incase there wasn’t anything so they could move on quickly.

“Hyung, you should get up here. Something just hit the ship and I can’t tell what it was,” Jeongin says through the intercom.

“It was probably nothing, or a solarflare that wouldn’t do any damage to the ship.” Comes Seungmin’s reply. “You’re fine.”

“It was a pretty big jolt, almost knocked me off my feet.”

“Fine, I’ll be up in a few minutes.”

When Seungmin gets back to the ship Jeongin is nowhere to be found. A small fox pup sits in his seat and Seungmin goes to shoo it out when it speaks to him.

“Hyung, don’t hurt me, I don’t know what happened and I don’t know how to change back,” Jeongin says cowering further into his seat.

“Then I guess I’m driving. You just do your best to get back to my copilot.” Seungmin pats the fox pup’s head before going to his own seat and changing the controls.

~~ 9 months later

“I’m coming down with you today,” Jeongin says and goes to land their ship instead of orbiting.

“You don’t have to keep saying that. We haven’t split up since whatever happened and you began shapeshifting.” Seungmin pats Jeongin’s shoulder. “Nothing like that is gonna happen again.”

Once on the planet surface, the duo comes across an abandoned looking ship. They board in hopes of something to scavenge.

“This is a smuggling ship,”Jeongin says pulling off a false panel to reveal a hiding spot.

“And it’s either still in use or very recently abandoned.” Seungmin holds up a still warm charred shirt.

“We should leave,” Jeongin says just as a blaster is held up to his head.

“Who are you, and why are you on our ship?” The person asks, accent unfamiliar to the two scavengers. His face is obscured by a mask and goggles. Two others stand behind him, each hiding their faces and holding blasters of their own both pointing and Seungmin.

“Wait, Chan, look at his eyes.” One of the others says. “He’s like us.”

The first one, Chan, lowers his blaster enough to get a good look at Jeongin’s eyes. The dark pink marks are very similar to the marks he and his crew have. Chan is the first to lower his mask and remove his goggles to reveal purple and blue marks around his eyes and chin. The other two follow suit revealing blue and green marks on one and red and orange on the other. The one with the red and orange marks has many of them almost covering his entire face. Jeongin becomes too awestruck at stumbling upon three people like him that he can’t say anything. Seungmin notices and decide to introduce them to the people still pointing blasters at them.

“My name is Seungmin. My friend here is Jeongin. We’re scavengers and we thought your ship was abandoned. We are sorry for any inconvenience we caused and if you would please let us leave unharmed that would be great.” He add a smile at the end in hopes of getting on the smugglers’ good side.

“How long have you two been together?” The one with blue and green marks asks.

“We’ve known each other since we were young. We grew up together,” Seungmin says.

“Why don’t you have any marks?” The one with red and orange marks asks. He shakes his blaster at Seungmin for emphasis.

“I was scouting a planet while Jeongin stayed in orbit. He told me he felt something jolt the ship and to return quickly. When I got back he was a small fox and took a few days to be able to get back to himself. He had the marks when he finally did.” Seungmin begins to relax when The blasters pointed at him are lowered.

“Should we take them in?” The one with blue and green marks asks Chan.

“Yes.” Chan turns his head toward his friends to answer before turning back to Jeongin and lowering his blaster and speaking to him. “I don’t know if you know what happens to people like us, but we are going to help you.”

“I’m Woojin, this is Minho,” He pats the one with red and orange marks on the shoulder. “and that’s Chan. I’m going to assume based on what Seungmin said you can shapeshift.”

“I can teleport, Woojin can mend things and people, Minho can set things on fire. We used to smuggle but now we travel around trying to find more like us and find a cure for our powers,” Chan says. “Do you know what happens to people like us?” Jeongin shakes his head still unable to speak.

“Our power eventually consumes us. The more we use it the faster it does. We watched a friend of ours die in this ship because of it,” Minho says. “Not even a week ago.”

“Do you want to stay with us and hunt for a cure?” Chan asks.

“Jeongin?” Seungmin goes over to his long time friend. “Do you trust them?”

“If what they say is true then I’ll die because of this.” He turns to Seungmin. “I don’t want that.”

“So you’ll leave me?” Seungmin asks.

“Can Seungmin come too?” Jeongin asks the smugglers.

“We’ve got the room for him and I’m certainly not one to break apart a friendship” Chan smiles at the boys and walks toward the bridge. “Both of you are welcome to come along.” He pauses for a bit. “Or go back to your own ship and continue your lives as you were.”

“We’re coming,” Seungmin says, shocking Jeongin with his lack of reluctance.

[stray-writer-glitch]

Another lil update on #summerdrabble

I'm back on my phone! Things will go a little faster and I might have the almost complete fic up by Saturday.

As of right now (14 June) this is how things are:

Almost complete fic with Jae (Day6) it's mostly finished on paper and I still need to type it up

Mostly complete bullet point fic with Woojin (skz) it's half way done on paper and I need to finish it and type it up

Three more skz fics that I have ideas jotted down but nothing written yet

And then we come to two more fics that I need your help with

Up first we have biker Minghao x Lin (this beautiful lady right here @10hour11minute /@justkpopjokes ) : thing with this one is that I'm no sure if I should do a continuation of what I already have (link here) OR write something completely separate?

Then there's a Jin fic that I'm not sure what to do with since too many ideas plague my mind. Just help me pic fluff or angst and I'll figure it out from there.

HELP ME PLEASE!!

Requests still OPEN!!!! Here's the rules!

[imagine-wannaone]

Park Woojin Super Powers Au

So anon requested a Woojin super power au so here we are. Idk this one seemed weird to finish but it’s probably my same style heh.

 • Woojin knew he had an ability from when he was tiny - he’s never not had it,

 • He was a baby who had to stay on a leash because if he started to run, no one could catch him,  • Woojin’s super speed made him a very difficult toddler to control but man he had the time of his little life,  • He could easily escape places, but was banned from sports which upset him, but he kinda understood,  • Like imagine going to run a race against 9 year old woojin and he’s at the finish line within a few seconds of the starting gun,  • So he accepted it and moved on to art and music, something he became very talented in,  • I mean when you don’t have to spend 20 minutes walking home, could get to places faster, generally just lived in the fast lane?  • He had a lot of spare time,  • And school wasn’t great for him, many people without abilities were bitter and jealous and would have bullied Woojin,  • But they couldn’t catch him, as soon as they cornered him he could disappear in front of their eyes and be across the playground,  • Woojin was more of a flight, not fight,  • Relatable,  • And as Woojin got older, got faster, got more in control of his ability, he tried to keep it as low key as possible,  • Everyone with an ability also has a key though, something that signals that they have a power, as little as a birth mark or as obvious as different colour skin,  • Lmao Woojins mark is 2 dark blue lines going from his ankle to his armpit on each of his side’s - like go fast stripes on cars whOoPs,  • But they’re easy enough to cover so Woojin doesn’t mind them as much,  • While there was plenty of people totally fine with people with abilities, there were also many people who refused to employ them, who sent them hate, who assaulted them,  • So Woojin ran as little as he could and lived a totally average life,  • Except the fact Woojin did dance and maybe it helped him a little bit…  • He loved running, and the fact that he couldn’t suppressed a part of himself, but he managed,  • (In this au if you don’t use your ability for a certain amount of time you get uncomfortable or a yearning, or sometimes even pain),  • But when he finished school no one knew of his ability so he was free,  • He decided to pursue a career in painting, because that’s where he found his peace, and he loved watching people’s faces light up at what he made,  • Woojin painted whatever caught his eye,  • When places were quiet, or at night, he’d run and watch colours and shapes blur, imprinting what he saw to memory,  • Then he’d spend the next month perfecting his piece,  • Around 1/12 of the population had abilities, although you could hardly ever see one, most hiding it,  • But people picked up on woojin and what he painted, and it helped people, so he became more open about his ability and became an advocate,  • He’d paint political pieces and paintings with stories without anyone actually knowing his identity,  • (Think banksy)  • And was part of an organisation called Wanna One - People with abilities who tried to raise awareness,  • Woojin got a lot of hate but he gets paid a good amount for his paintings, allies buying pieces,  • Many people make requests, they ask him to run through a certain place and paint what he sees,  • Because Woojin hated his ability throughout his youth and even sometimes in his daily life; he wants to help people accept themselves,  • And Woojin is on a night quest one day, he heard someone with an ability was making art as well in the near by park and he wanted to see it and offer support,  • And you’re also walking down the street heading to the park when you see a teen alone crossing the street,  • But they have glowing green cat eyes, something almost impossible to hide and your heart already softens towards them - they probably go through a lot of shit,  • You’re contemplating talking to them when you spot a car on the road suddenly speed up dangerously,  • You see, behind the wheel, a middle aged man, his eyes focusing coldly on the teen,  • Mnet if they were in this fic,  • You’d seen many people like that before, been against many people like that before, but you don’t want someone, a young teen, to have to face something like this so early,  • So you do whatever you think,  • You sprint forward and push the teen away, hoping they don’t get hurt on the landing,  • You watch the realisation appear on the dazzling slitted pupils and thank god they’ll get to live another day,  • You wonder if your case, mutant killed by car, will even be heard, or if they’ll let him go with a warning,  • If the activists will help and protest in your name,  • You turn to face the car, just meters in front of you to stare at the man,  • But then you feel a hand wrap around your waist and your eyes are watering as colours create a mesh of familiar patterns,  • Your arms find themselves around a neck and cling on instinctively, clinging closer to whoever has pulled you against them, their warmth comforting your mind lost in panic and slightly queezy at the disorientating speed you feel,  • You close your eyes tight until everything is absolutely still an your mind has stopped spinning,  • “Hey, are you okay? Can you hear me? Are you awake?”  • A soft voice rubs your shoulder, although it sounds slightly panicked, which unsettles you,  • Something in your chest feels the urge to make whoever’s speaking feel safe, at ease, so you crack open your eyes and take a deep breath before sitting up,  • The world still spins but a hand is quickly placed against your back to steady you and you lay eyes on a boy in front of you, lent a little too close out of worry,

 • His brows are creased, hair jostled and eyes sharp,  • You laugh at the situation, mind finally grasping into what just happened, and you pull him into a tight hug,  • Woojin nearly looses his balance but laughs in relief himself,  • “Oh god thank you so much, I could have died but wow,”  • You’re sat in a quiet part of the park you were heading to, only the leaves breaking the silence, rustling around you,  • “It was very brave,”  • The guy blushes and looks away and your heart melts,  • “And so were you,”  • His blush intensifies and you want to wrap him in blankets,  • He stands before offering you a hand up, slowly drawing yourself to your feet,  • And Woojin is internally freaking out and this person that smells fresh like a meadow,  • He just saved someone who is a complete cutie and makes his heart race,  • And he just wants to wrap his arm around their waist again, or trace the black vines that tangle and peak out from under their shirt with his fingers, their key sign,  • “Ooh, gimme a second,”  • He watches you as you jog to the second nearest bush and crouch with your back to him, his mind whirls with ideas of what the hell you could be doing,  • For all he knows you could be preparing a magic trick,  • But you turn round with a small dahlia, soft orange and in full bloom in your hand,  • You poke the stem through the hole for the drawstring on his hoodie, hanging it out delicately, the colour complimenting his face perfectly and you smile a little at your handiwork,  • And Woojin is trying to avoid a heart attack at the look on your face and the fact that you’re a green touch - someone who can grow whatever they want wherever they want, which explains the beautiful black vines he saw earlier imprinted onto your skin,  • It’s all way too cute for him,  • “It doesn’t exactly pay you back, and I will pay you back, but I hope it’ll do for now,”  • And that is the story of how Park Woojin develops his massive crush on the person he rescued from near death,  • But he doesn’t think he’ll ever see you again, so stews silently,  • But then he gets asked by the head of Wanna One to work with one of their other artist advocates, so he agrees straight away,  • Working with other artists always lifts Woojins mood because it’s working with someone who believes in the same things to make something wonderful,  • (We’ve done something wonderful by Epik High 10/10 album lads)  • So imagine his pure shock,  • His innocent surprise,  • His bashfulness,  • When he arrives at the meeting spot, a blank white wall to paint, to see you  • He does a whole triple take,  • And he’s like o shit??,  • And you’re like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ WhoOpS,  • It’s not like you figured out he was also part of Wanna One and asked to do a joint project,  • Sneaky hoe,  • V clever sneaky hoe wow you got snooping talent,  • But the two of you work on your memorial together, Woojin having a great skill with spray paint as well, and you raise flowers and vines and bushes out of concrete and pot plants to weave into places and spaces perfect for you to bloom shades of flowers,  • It’s your art style, making pictures and stories out of greenery, the textures and colours blending, it’s truly unique and iconic™  • But when the two of you finish, the wall is a statement and breath catching,  • And the reaction from the public is strong, so the two for you continue to work together,  • You make art all around the city, or you compress and dry flowers for him to paint into canvas or give him models or tips on how to draw them realistically,  • Or you grow huge white flowers, roses or lillies or tulips and he paints them with beautiful detail,  • And continue to meet, and continue to grow together,   • “‘Grow togther’” puNs :DDDDDDDD

• Not only do you meet for art, you start going out for dinners,

 • (At first you insist it’s to pay back for him saving your life but then you don’t have to make any excuses it’s just because you both want to),  • Or you go to museums or theme parks or aquariums together,  • And they’re all beginning to look suspiciously like dates ngl,  • The two of you find yourselves watching the sun set from the hill you’re perched on, sharing blankets, claiming it’s to fight off the cold,  • Dirty liars,  • You lean against Woojins side as he rests his head on top of yours,  • You had mentioned you always wanted to watch the sunset from above but didn’t know anywhere close,  • So Woojin had ran the both of you to the outskirts of the city where the land rose and fell, making the view something you’d want to recreate,  • You look up, looking to Woojins face, smiling softly in the evening glow, he turns his face to catch you staring but you aren’t shy, you’ve never been shy with Woojin,  • You fall back, dragging him with you as you stare,  • His hand traces the black vines that link across your torso sending shivers down your spine at the cold against your warm skin,  • And you think,  • You think about all the things Woojin has given to you, the life you have lived since you nearly died and how you owe him everything you can give to him, how the love that’s developed inside your chest for him drowns out any other feeling,  • And Woojin thinks about how he’s finally so so glad he’s a mutant, that he could save you and you could open his eyes, and that he owes you the world,  • And the two of you share your thoughts and gratefulness and pure admiration when you press your lips together in a gentle first kiss,  • And you spiral even quicker than you were before,  • He paints you pictures and portraits and you make him beautiful bouquets,  • He’s never been bought bouquets because everyone always assumed he’s a boy and wouldn’t want any but??? They’re so beautiful???? Why do people never buy boys bouquets???  • And you learn to paint smoother together,  • And you open a Florist and are living the dream, generally a pure and happy relationship,  • And sometimes you’re yelled at or someone makes a malicious comment,  • Or another Florist confronts you saying it’s not fair on them, you being able to grow your own flowers,  • But Woojin is instantly ready to fight and you just protect each other all the time,  • He protec, but he also attac,  • lmao save me from old memes,  • Woojin loves to trace the vines that paint your body permenantly and you honestly aren’t complaining,  • And like you would love to trace his stripes but he’s so damn ticklish,  • So you use it against him hehe,  • But basically you’re living your dreams, helping others and sharing every moment with each other,

[starrywinters]

missing — an ong seongwoo fic

requested by @sweetpoisonousmilkshake 

genre: slight horror??? idk, mystery? thrill? yo holY this is just a mess & a flop

based off of this post by @tokyo-coffee 

a/n: happy 300 to me :0 honestly, thanks guys!😫🎉💕 i don’t think i deserve these 300 followers but ((((’: and MERRY EARLY CHRISTMAS!🎄

also, legit hope you guys enjoy???? because i don’t like this,,,, no matter how many times i’ve edited this to make it sound better, it just doesnt????

“where are you guys?”

“i’m so lost

.

.

what is happening”

saturday - december 23rd

“breaking news, following after the missing cases of 9 other boys, 22 year old kang daniel has been reported missing after a 24 hour waiting period of no response.”

-zip- closing the tv, seongwoo cannot believe it.

what is happening, the missing 10 people are all his friends

who is behind this and what is their purpose.

for the past two weeks, one of his friends would be reported missing every day of the week, weekends aren’t touched,

guess every criminal needs their breaks too.

-

day 1 - ha sungwoon

december 11th

a group of 11 boys met up at the center of a mall. the best of friends, enjoying themselves around the mall, until…

“hey, guys, i’m going to the restroom, i’ll meet up with you guys in a bit”

“meet up at the food court when you’re done, sungwoon hyung”

“don’t clog the toilet in there HAHAH”

the day goes by and the clock hits 6pm, sungwoon still a no-show

he doesn’t pick up his phone, the boys split up to look in every restroom in the mall

still no sign of sungwoon,

-ding- seongwoo looks at his phone, it’s a message from sungwoon

“1 down, 10 more to go.”

frantically, he dials sungwoon’s number, the person on the other end picks up

“HEY WHERE’S SUNGWOON HYUNG, WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU WANT”

and the person hangs up.

day 2 - bae jinyoung

december 12th

“okay everyone, you guys need to stay safe. be on the lookout for anything suspicious,” mother yoon jisung orders

“especially you maknaes, don’t go anywhere without an adult. or walk in crowded places.”

bae jinyoung, a child of mischief, does not listen. he feels like he can protect himself as he’s taking boxing lessons from jihoon,

he leaves his house at the usual time of 4AM, an early head start to school, his only source of light are the street lamps

a white van driving at, probably, 5mph was following him closely from behind,

creeped out he starts walking faster, the van starts driving faster, at this point he’s sprinting to school,

the van zooms by and stops a yard in front of jinyoung. the door slides open and three people steps out, taking bae jinyoung with them.

-ding- “9 more”

day 3 - hwang minhyun

december 13th

“ultra fast delivery? hm” the thing that has caught hwang minhyun’s eyes is an iRobot Roomba 880. issa a vacuum cleaner

the option of it being delivered right away caught his attention as well, placing his order, he expects the vacuum to arrive in 30 mins max, but

a minute later his doorbell rings, “wow i didn’t expect ultra fast delivery to be this quick,”

opening the door, he comes face to face with a masked man, his eyes look somewhat familiar, or am i picturing things

minhyun didn’t even get a word out before the guy places a cloth over his mouth, gasping which is not a good idea minhyun pls, chloroform.

“8”

day 4 - yoon jisung

december 14th

walking home from work, enjoying the fresh air of the night, he doesn’t notice someone suspicious following him.

even though he was the one who told his friends to stay cautious

going on his phone to check up on the news of his missing friends, no luck

no one can find them, the criminals didn’t leave any clues, what smart people.

“i just want my friends back, i want life to be normal again.”

the suspicious person took this opportunity to strike and attacks jisung,

hitting him at the back of his neck i’m sorry jisung ;-; he drops to the ground, unconscious.

dragging jisung away, all that’s left is his phone with a message sent to seongwoo

“7 more”

day 5 - lai guanlin

december 15th

the stress of not being able to communicate well with others as he’s a foreigner has finally hit him.

he feels left out and wants to collect his cool before he bursts out at his friends, thinking going to the beach will satisfy him, he did just that

spending an hour max at the beach swimming and screaming to his heart’s content, has allowed him to calm down

he feels more motivated to learn korean better, to be able to have fun with his friends too.

swimming back to shore, he didn’t notice how far he swam out, stranded in the middle of the ocean he didn’t know where to go

an incoming big wave crashes into him and he drowns, but a boat passes by and saves him

however,

he never makes it home.

“6”

day 6 - park woojin

december 18th

he went to the park where he heard there was a hurdle tournament going on,

saw some online ad and wanted to participate.

he didn’t bother considering it to be a scam since all that was in his head was winning the grand prize of $1000

the event takes place at the time of 6PM and ends at 8

woojin ends up going and upon his arrival, doesn’t see anything set up for a hurdle race

“scam? i was really looking forward to this too,” kicking some nearby rocks, he pouted.

he saw an ice cream truck parked by the park and thinks why not treat himself and make his day better with ice cream?

after getting his ice cream, he turns around, takes a few steps and bumps into someone, “ah sorry”

his ice cream fell in the process, “hey it’s ok why don’t i get you another ice cream?” dragging him to some place unknown, woojin is confused as he’s walking in the opposite direction of the ice cream truck

“i know a really good ice cream place, let’s go”

woojin never gets back home and worries his dorm mates

“5, halfway there.”

day 7 - kim jaehwan

december 19th

jaehwan started out busking as his hobby which soon became his way of living.

the many years of his field of work has never had anything serious happen, sure some delinquents would try to steal his money but he’d find a way to get it back

never in his life has he ever dealt with what’s about to happen to him

a person who self-claims as a manager from a big music entertainment walks up to jaehwan, hands him a card and tells him to go audition,

looking at the information presented on the card, “YMC huh, this sounds a bit sketchy sir,” when he looks up the man had already left

“guess i’ll give it a shot” and shrugs.

after busking, he makes it a mission to go home and rest early to go audition tomorrow, but as he walks home, some guy walks up to him and knocks him out

his guitar falls to the ground and he is taken away to someplace where his other friends are presumably taken to as well.

“4”

day 8 - lee daehwi

december 20th

worried about woojin’s disappearance he went to look for him at the same park that woojin went to,

he unknowingly meets the same guy who took woojin and asks if he’s seen a boy about “yay tall and sounds like a dolphin when he screams”

the guy doesn’t respond and keeps staring at him, wth this guy is so creepy????

“ah i’m guessing you haven’t i’ll take my leave now, thank you for your time.” turning around to leave, he feels a hand take hold of his wrist

“i know where he is,”

“AH REALLY? CAN YOU TAKE ME TO HIM, PLEASE MISTER”

the guy smiles mysteriously, leads daehwi to where woojin is supposedly at and daehwi never ever came back either

“3”

day 9 - park jihoon

december 21st

tired after his boxing competition in london, he packs his bags and waits for his manager to finish whatever he’s doing.

knowing how long this manager usually takes, he finds a place to sit in the lobby of the hotel he resided in, and closes his eyes for a small little nap

a black figure slowly creeps up to him and is about two seats away, reaching out

“hey jihoon-ssi, hey, wake up.” waking up to someone tapping his shoulders, he sees his manager in front of him, “let’s go we’re almost late for our flight”

the black figure has hid behind a newspaper so he wouldn’t get caught,

heading out and arriving at the airport, the manager leaves to go check in for them first, letting jihoon take his time walking

lost in the crowd of people, the same black figure was following jihoon, feeling something was suspicious he walks faster and looks for a restroom to wash his face and clear his mind, thinking he was imagining the feeling

walking into the restroom he unexpectedly gets jumped and gets knocked out by a chloroform cloth, the same black figure getting up and cleaning the ‘dust’ off his hands and pants,

“2”

day 10 - kang daniel

december 24th

coming back from his b-boy practices, he feels a little hungry, going to the convenience store down the street from his house, he buys a few snacks and drinks

walking out of the store with his phone in hand dialing seongwoo’s number, to check in on him and to just chat, he almost crashes into a guy

taking the faster way home, he walks by an alleyway right as seongwoo picks up, and gets dragged inside,

struggling to be set free, he turns and sees the face of his kidnapper,

and finds out who it is as his eyes widens, dropping his phone and his bag of snacks,  

“You- mmph”

“hello? daniel? are you there?”

and he hears a muffled voice speak into the phone,

“1”

-

seongwoo feels frantic, all his friends have gone missing

what will he do now, what if something happens to them, is this all a dream?

is this a christmas prank? this is a cruel prank then

seongwoo, not knowing what to do, wants to cry. not being able to sleep two nights in a row in worry of his friends’ safety.

day 11 - ong seongwoo

december 25th, christmas day

getting up out of his bed, he heads to his living room,

his house looking like a caveman ransacked his place in search for food, he grieves over his friends’ disappearance,

he receives a letter from an unknown person; inside it, in cutout letters from magazines, was spelled out

“0, you are next.”

thanks for reading!♡ omg plus, winter break is almost here, bless. im ready to watch the downfall of my grades throughout this week, ugh finals week im ready to fail every test given to me ((’:

[winxwinko]

Hello 😊 I hope your having a great day today! I really like your Dong Sicheng vs the world book! It’s really great, I’m always trying to find winwin x everyone and I came across this one recently and I found it so good. I really hope you can continue it, but there is no rush❤️ I also saw your a big winwin fan and I was wondering who is your favorite winwin pair to write about if you had to choose one (or all of them) :) any winwin stories you would recommend?

AHHHHi love this so much thank you!!!! Right now, I have a lot of free time, so I’m spending alot of time writing…but I have so many stories open that I don’t know if I’ll get to completing Dong Sicheng vs. the world :((( But I’ll try my best!! 

ALSO, my favorite ship for winwin changes everyday….like gosh I really like winil these days but JAEWIN, AND YUWIN, and MARKWIN!!! They’re all so good. 

Now, the fic recs….god i’ve exhausted all the winwin fics out there, so BE PREPAREd (its under the cut)

http://archiveofourown.org/users/cledritch/pseuds/cledritch 

Just read everything from this author,…all the fics are pure gold…but MY PERSONAL FAVORITES ARe:

 Put a Ring on It by cledritch  

It’s basically an allwin fic where theyre all children fighting over winwin…super cute and i RECOMMEnd it to ALL allwin stans out there

Scent by cledritch    

It’s a really good abo that just hits you right in the heart…its taewin and its a short little fic that just captures so many good things about every character..its sweet and fluffy!! 

Fashion Evaluation by cledritch     

My all time fave is gotta be Fashion Evaluation…it’s johnwin…which is so rare and beautiful and i love it all. It’s funny story and probably one of the first things i read when i joined the fandom

Charity Case by cledritch       

JK I LIED MY FAvE IS CHARITY CASE!! it’s A GOOD ASS TAEWIN Fic THAT IS FUNNY AS HELL!! I love it so much..i read it almost like everyday because i’m that desperate…it’s an au where winwin thinks taeyong is homeless because of his clothing…WHAT MORE DO U WANT!

But honestly, read everything cledritch has written becuase its all good!!! 

Another writer who i absolute ADORE is allnonchalant on ao3!!!! 

http://archiveofourown.org/users/allnonchalant/pseuds/allnonchalant

Every fic here is good too.. i’m tearing up because of how much i enjoy some of the work thats allnonchalant has put out!!

Personal faves are: 

Hard Feelings (Under Review) by allnonchalant   

It’s like angsty and mysterious and I’m honestly so ready to see what happens next!! Sicheng’s relationship with taeyong is like over, but they’re obviously still harboring some feelings, and its GREAT,

and uhh if youre looking for some edgier shit….

 A Favor Can Be Beneficial by allnonchalant  

THIS WHERE ITS AT!! It’s an au where winwin dresses up like a cheerleader and taeyong becomes his bae….it’s just as good as it sounds. 

ALSO another writer i adore is matchamilk on ao3!!! 

http://archiveofourown.org/users/matchamilk/pseuds/matchamilk

like her fics are so nice and fluffy and cute and its the best thing to read when you want to laugh instead of roll around in angsty shit (cough cough @everything I’ve ever wrote) I recommend all her fics too!

Personal favorites are her vampire!winwin au which is actually the cutest thing in the worlddddd

(role)play by matchamilk

its just beautiful…winwin is a baby vampire who feels like he isnt living up to the stereotype and is disapointing his boyfriend jaehyun….so cuteeeee

everything else is just as good and witty so definitely check her out!!! 

the last author i absolutely love is definitely halcyonwhispers 

http://archiveofourown.org/users/halcyonwhispers/pseuds/halcyonwhispers

even tho i think the author sorta left the fandom, which i totally get, the stuff that has been written IS SOLID…the fics have pretty good smut……not gonna lie. A personal fave of mine is Smitten as a Kitten, which is a gREAT taewin hybrid fic…its definitely….uh…smutty so beware, but it’s HELLA GOOD..make sure u hit up the other fics if you’re into smut  ;)

smitten as a kitten by halcyonwhispers

Now that i’m done ranting about authors, lets talk aBOUT SOME MORE FICS

WINIL

no qualms with your sweaty palms by heibai

SFW. This is such a cute little winil fic that just brings so much joy into your heart. winwin hates flying and taeil is by his side to help him through the whole experience… its cute and nice and definitely a must-read for winil fans (like me.) 

Dog Fights by taebaebts

CUTE!!! this is such a beautiful premise and the writing is snappy and witty. the author definitely captures the essence of winil and i love it. like taeil is a werewolf and winwin basically has trouble buying him a gift for his birthday. it’s totally sfw and make sure to read!! the winil tag is real dry, so you gotta rEAD and APPRECIATE

Speechless by berryboys

SFW. good stuff right here…good stuff i say. winwin says something to taeil in korean and he takes it the wrong way and starts to avoid him. its so heartachingly good, and you really come to admire their dynamic!!! 

JAEWIN

let your love tease me by sicheng (soumise)

MMMMMMMM this fic is aplus….its definitely NSFW so beware, but its such good writing. It’s jaewin and taewin, and the two of them do some kinky stuff w/winwin so yes. it’s a good fic.

hanging on the telephone by hwiplash

another smutty fic. god jaewin is just blessed with alot of good ass smut fics for some reason… anyways this is so good that i read it over and over again when i’m bored. there’s phone sex, pining, and jaehyun and winwin basically have sex with each other over the phone instead of talking their feelings out. GOOD SHIT…but tbh everything that this author writes is VERY good, especially her smut. go check it out if youre super into that!! 

real love, true love by woojin

YOU NEEd TO READ THIS!!! this fic has singlehandedly sorta shaped the way i write winwin, because even though its smutty and good in that regard, it’s also a introspective look at winwin’s character in the story. Through the different sexual relationships he pursues, you get to examine so many different facets to a character. it’s gold.

The Long Way Home by caesureas

this is written really really well. like super well. like definitely read it because it’s sorta a realistic take on nct and post-nct life. It focuses on jaewin after nct has sorta ended, and while jaewin’s relationship is bitter sweet and sorta haunted by past experiences, there’s also a huge emphasis on life itself, and how it can break down a person’s ability to cope and interact. It’s good. 

god i’m gonna stop now, because i feel like i’m just going on and on for too long. but i hope i recced you some new stuff that you can enjoy!!!