#also yes prev I’d love to be at the party | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

cynnied-writes · 3 years ago

Text

i like me better (when i'm with you)

○ fandom: deltarune

○ main pairing: kralsei (kris x ralsei) | minor pairing: seam x jevil

○ characters: kris | ralsei | jevil | seam

○ genre/warnings: romance (mostly fluff… for now) | a bit of coming of age angst | and magical realism lol

○ chapter word count: 8,276

→ summary: Kris Dreemurr, the eccentric musician SilentKnight on TikTok, hadn't meant to trespass through Ralsei Prince's backyard and fall into his pond. But to be fair, they were utterly plastered at the time.

○ note: Back so soon? Alrighty then, prepare to get philosophical in this chapter. And for a whole bunch of backstory on Seam and Jevil that you didn't ask for!!! Let's do this thing!

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Chapter 8/22: The Mad Jester's Tea Party & The Thing About Soulmates

Kris

The following week and a bit passed with little fanfare.

Nothing of note popped up other than Muffet’s surprisingly innocuous video about Ralsei’s party. Which meant they were well overdue for a bit of madness in their life. And the universe decided to pay it all with interest on the last Thursday of September. When they were hard at work finishing up a couple of their freelance projects.

Yes, yes, hold your gasps. Kris Dreemurr, a known menace, did, in fact, have a job that didn’t involve wearing wigs and lip-syncing. Though, their work was still in the realm of music-making because, you know, practice makes perfect. And also, more importantly, rent.

The jobs they took mainly were one-time projects and a mix of producing and audio engineering. Crafting and producing tracks and mixing and mastering songs. All of that makes them sound way more professional than they were. Most days, they stayed in their pyjamas and made it their mission to find places in their apartment to sprawl as they worked. Like right now.

Mid-afternoon sun streamed through their windows as they sat in the spinny chair. Legs propped up on the cheap IKEA desk that they and Susie had shoved into the corner of their apartment. Composing MIDI chord progressions for some Hip Hop thing Lottie Johnson from NYC was cooking up.

They didn’t like to ask their clients too many questions, only enough to get the job done and done well. The only person they’d ever kept in consistent contact with was Jin-Sang. An animator who ran a cyberpunk Lofi YouTube channel in his spare time. Every so often, he needed more appropriately synthy beats for his listeners to chill/game/study to. And even then, the two of them were only internet acquaintances, not close at all. They liked it that way. If people thought they were a strange music-making cryptid, then so be it.

Tiny MIDI keyboard on their lap, headphones on their ears, they were going back over a couple of the major scale progressions when they felt their phone buzz beside them on the desk.

Usually, that wouldn’t be enough to rouse them from their composing fervour. But out of the corner of their eye, they glimpsed the name on the text notification.

It’s Ralsei.

And that’s all they needed for their interest to pique and their heart to start racing. Two things that always seemed to happen when Ralsei was involved. Paying the reactions no mind (Chalking it up to the excitement of talking with a new friend. A famous one to boot.), they dropped what they were doing and picked up their phone.

29th September 3:02 pm

Ralsei: Kris I’m having afternoon tea at Last Drop Teaseap in Pasadena. If it’s not a bother I’d like for you to take tea with me

Ralsei: For our ruse that is

Ralsei: It’s been well over a week since my birthday. My uncle mentioned that we’ll be needing another public sighting together soon

Ralsei: If not don’t worry

Ralsei: We’ll figure something else out

Hmm.

Squinting at their phone, they settled their feet on the ground. Tilting their head this way and that way as if the texts on their screen would make more sense at a different angle. Because they didn’t sit right with them. Don’t get them wrong. The thought of drinking tea with Ralsei caused a lone butterfly to burst into their stomach and flutter around. And since it’s common knowledge that they enjoyed a good cuppa (Thanks, Dad), it wouldn’t be strange for them to run into each other there.

But…

They were much more confused at the way he invited them. How the texts were worded, very monotonous and straight-to-the-point sentences, were so unlike how they’d come to know how he texted. Over the few weeks they’ve texted, they found that he liked to text, kinda like how he spoke.

He used flowery language and proper grammar and punctuation. Barring the times when he got excited. Then he’d use exclamation points and emojis liberally. He also sometimes took forever to get to a point. Heading off on tangents here and there, even if all he wanted to ask initially was how their day was going. Not they minded, not at all. It’s what made the drastic difference in tone worry them.

Did something happen to him? Had theydone something wrong? Thousands of different scenarios raced through their head, some worse than others. They were silenced by a lone thought that made a half-smile tug their lips almost all at once.

Guess they’ll have to figure it out when they get there.

29th September 3:04 pm

Kris: gimme an hour!!!

Now filled to bursting with butterflies, they leapt up from their spinny chair. Leaving their work to the wayside (They were almost finished with days to spare), they rushed to throw off their pyjamas and put proper clothes on. Tugging on the skinny jeans that looked best with their packer, a button-up shirt, one of Susie’s bomber jackets and a loosened tie. Just to be fancy.

As they called a Lyft, they brushed their teeth and combed out their wild waves of hair into something their mother wouldn’t gripe about. Not even wincing at the thirty-four bucks it would cost them to get to Pasadena during rush hour. Grabbing their wallet and keys, they slipped into their shoes not a few moments later and were out the door as the Lyft driver turned onto their street.

Honestly, they had no idea what had come over them in those intervening minutes. It was like a strange, perky entity had taken over their mind and body and only let go once they passed through Glendale in the Lyft.

In the back seat of the Lyft car, only then did it sink in how hasty of a decision they’d made. Slumping into the leather seat with their fingers digging into their temples, their nose crinkled, and their brow creased. What the absolute fuck just happened? They’d been working! They should still be working! So why aren’t they still working?!

Yes, they did sign a contract that obligated them to spend increasing amounts of time with Ralsei, but that didn’t mean that they were at his beck and call. They didn’t need to come running as soon as he snapped his claws. Ralsei didn’t even think that himself! He’d even given them an acceptable out to his invitation. Schedule a ��coincidental” run-in another day and be done with it. And yet…

Wrapping their arms around themself, their hands gripping their upper arms. They tried to sink further into the pleather seat. Hoping it’d swallow them whole. They’re… they’re not even sure if the feeling that they felt even had a name, but, looking back, it felt all-encompassing. Like being hurled into the sea and feeling the tides push and pull them this way and that way. Controlled by forces beyond their power. They grimaced. A slow scowl with a curled lip that grew with each passing second.

No.

Whatever that feeling was, they didn’t like it.

Not one bit.

A gruff, accented voice broke through their gloom. “We’re here.”

Shit, right.

Thanking the driver and bidding them goodbye, they hopped out. Only to find themself not in front of—they checked their text convo with Ralsei—Last Drop Teaseap… What’s a teaseap? Whatever it was, they’re sure it’s not inside of Pasadena City Hall.

Huh?

What kind of trance had they’d been under?

The grand structure with its Renaissance-like domed tower loomed over them. As if it was, too, questioning why they were there. Staring up at the City Hall, their eyes narrowed as they tried to search their clearly deteriorating mind for the answers to their questions. But nothing came to mind. All they got was a mini heart attack from having to stumble out of the way of a young Monster rushing up the front steps and into the white stoned building.

Catching themself at the last second, they righted themself. Hands clutching their chest before they dug the heels of them into their eyes.

Okay, okay, okay.

Don’t freak out. They’ve got everything handled. This is just a minor setback. All they had to do was look up the directions to the strangely named shop on Google and go from there.

Deep breath in, deep breath out…

Alright, let’s try this again.

Readjusting their clothes, they steadied themself before setting off down N Euclid towards Union.

The walk over to Last Drop was fortunately brief. Only took about ten minutes tops. Which they spent enjoying the pleasant day and the few sparse trees lining the side of the sidewalk. Dabs of green among greys and dirty beiges of a concrete jungle. They should get out more. Hike up to Switzer Falls one day.

They were so caught up in their own thoughts that they almost missed the turn onto N. Raymond Avenue. Thankfully, they didn’t, but it wasn’t because of their own recollection. Oh, no. They only stopped because, as they reached the corner of Union and N. Raymond, a pair of Humans burst out of a shop a couple of doors down. Their bodies heaving and their hair all over the place, they’d looked like they’d been running from an axe-wielding killer. Acted like it too. Rushing to their car in front of the shop, they peeled away. Leaving Kris, seemingly the only witness, to look on after them in extreme confusion and intense curiosity.

What on Earth could have terrified them so badly? And why did they desperately need to see it for themself?

Before they knew it, their feet took them closer to the shop those Humans fled from. No, they, in fact, did not have any self-preservation instincts. Not enough to keep them from investigating, at least.

It was worth it, in the end. When they reached the shop in question, they found pale purple bricks, arched double doors and the words “Last Drop Teaseap” written across the frilly awnings over the storefront windows. Thisis where Ralsei asked them to meet him? But then what were those two Humans on about? What was this place?Head filled with a thousand other questions; there was nothing else left for them to do but venture inside.

The first thing that they noticed when they entered was the Choice™️ of carnival music as an atmosphere creator. They didn’t hate it, always one to enjoy Cosmo Sheldrake’s spooky, eccentric songs. (Anybody with a song titled “The Moss” was always going to be a favourite of theirs.) But, it wasn’t a good fit for the vibes the rest of the shop was putting off.

It felt more like a witch shop than a tea room with patchwork tablecloths, dark cabinets filled with glowing vials, hanging herbs and amulets. And with the added endearing mitch-matched chairs and tables, they could see why Ralsei liked the odd yet cozy ambiance. It was nostalgic and comforting in a way. Reminding them of when they’d visited their distant Great Aunt’s house. Everything was covered in doilies, and unsettling dolls watched their every move. Comforting, in a peculiar way.

Or it would be. If it weren’t for the absolute chaos raging within this calming space.

Chairs and couches were turned over. A candle chandelier up above was swinging to and fro. If teacups and saucers weren’t piled high at impossible angles, they flew. Yet, when they inevitably came crashing into something, they didn’t shatter. They only bounced right off the surface and continued their crazed flight or came to a sudden rest in their new home. But, if you could believe it, none of that was the strangest thing they were seeing.

No. The strangest sight was that, in the middle of all that chaos, a single figure sat at a spotless table. He had his back to them, but they knew who it was from his pearly white fur, blush pink horns, and short locks of hair that’d be a full mane one day. A tiny smile bloomed on their lips as a single butterfly returned to flit around their stomach once more. Strange, but they ignored it in favour of bracing themself for the trek over to Ralsei.

Taking their first step, they narrowly missed a soaring teacup heading for their head and again when it rebounded against a pillar. Yet still, they pressed on. Avoiding stacks of plates on the ground, stepping over toppled chairs and ducking behind a flipped table to evade a whirlwind of cutlery. Their heart leapt in their chest when they finally made it over to him. Only to crash and fall into a bottomless pit when they got a closer look at him and found him sitting as still a statue. A thousand-yard-stare on his face.

“Ralsei?” They asked, circling around the table to pick up a fallen chair and settle it in its rightful place opposite Ralsei’s. And when his eyes didn’t budge an inch when they came into view, they tried again. “Ralsei?” No response, not even a mindful hum of acknowledgement. Alright, that’s it. Slapping a hand down onto the table, they raised their voice. “Ralsei!”

As if struck by lightning, Ralsei flinched so hard he’d leapt in his seat. Clutching his paws to his panting chest, he frantically looked around the shop before his gaze landed on them leaning against the table. His eyebrows furrowed.

“Kris? What are you—” He slipped his glasses off to rub his eyes before settling back on his muzzle. Blinking once and then twice, when he looked at them again, he still looked as confused as he did before. “—What are you doing here?”

Oof. That did wonders to their self-esteem. If he didn’t want them to come, why ask in the first place? Leaning back to standing, they shoved their hands in their pockets. Their shoulders hunching in on themself. “Umm… you asked me to come?”

“I did? Are you sure?” He asked, his head tilting to the side as his eyes looked left. Was he… telling the truth? Had he seriously not remembered texting them an hour ago?

“Yeah, texted me and everything. Here.” Digging their phone out of their pocket, they swiped and tapped until they pulled up their text conversation. Flipping it around, they showed the screen to him.

“Huh. Would you look at that. I guess I did.”

Stiff as a board, they jerked a finger at the exit. “You know what, I can—”

“No! Please, I insist.” He said, bolting to his feet. Grabbing their arms, he shoved them into the seat opposite him before pushing it in. Settling back in his chair, he moved his tea, sandwiches and scones around to make space on their side of the table. “Please sit. You came all this way for me. It’d be rude for me to kick you out. Spectacularly rude, in fact.”

Despite all his insisting, after they made themself comfortable, there was a brief moment where a look of pain flashed across his face. Though, it was quickly replaced with a smile. The rehearsed one. It hurt a bit, knowing that he was still hiding from them, but they knew better than to comment on it. They’d lure him out, eventually.

“I wouldn’t go that far. So,” They began with a slight smirk, knabbing a piece of sliced strawberry from the top of the tiered platter. Then, with practiced movements, they tossed it in the air and caught it in their mouth. Usually, they’d consider pulling off that trick to be one of the most satisfying things they could do, but not today. Today, Ralsei’s playful smile at their stunt took the top spot. A grin of their own playing on their lips, they rested their crossed arms on the table and asked, “How ya been since we last talked?”

“I just got back from France this morning, so tired mostly. Paris is a whole nine hours ahead of L.A., so it took a bit to adjust to the shift. But it was completely worth it!” He answered, practically bouncing in his seat. “There’s nothing like Paris fashion week.”

Their grin turned impish. “Other than New York fashion week. And London fashion week. And—”

“Yes, yes, there are plenty of fashion weeks to go around, Kris. Thank you for reminding me. But there’s just—Duck—” As casual as anything, Ralsei grabbed their shoulder and forced them to duck. Just in time for a flying saucer to whiz through the air where their head was. All while never flinching himself. “—There’s something differentabout Paris’ week. Then again, I only go because Swatch has runaway every year, so perhaps I’m biased.”

Frozen with their eyes and mouth open wide, they stared at Ralesi as he took a sip of tea. Humming in delight as he did so. What the—they’re gonna lose their shit. You know what? They’d get to Ralsei’s feelings in a second, but they had to know what was happening.

“Ralsei?” They said with a squeak. Searching for the right question to ask, their mind too busy trying to process all the chaos, all they asked was a breathy, “Why?”

“Jevil,” He answered, absentmindedly stirring his tea with a fancy silver spoon.

“Gesundheit.”

Frowning, Ralsei countered, “That’s his name, Kristinopher.”

“Touché. But I’m still gonna need a little more than that.”

Sighing, he put down his cup of tea on its saucer with a clink. “On the last Thursday of every month, the owner, Seam, has “business” to attend to. So, they leave their shop in the hands of their, er….”

“Husband?” They supplied.

“No, I’ve never seen Seam with a ring, though there was that one photo….” He tapped his chin in thought before waving it all away. “The specific terminology doesn’t matter. He’s Seam’s partner in every sense of the word, and he takes over the shop once a month. And I’m not sure why, but this is how he likes things. As chaotic as possible. I have to admit, it takes a bit to get used to, but coming here is a Thursday tradition, so magical maniac or not, I come.”

“Hold on, hold on.” They said, dragging their hands down their face, weary as hell. “Angel, help me. Magic?”

“How wondrous. I didn’t know flying dinnerware was a regular occurrence in your hometown.” Ralsei said in such a sweet and innocent way that they knew his words were actually dripping in sarcasm.

“Oh, fuck off, smart ass. You know what I meant.” They said, smiling from ear to ear. Enjoying getting to see his bastard side once again. “I’ve never met a Monster who still had natural magic. I’ve definitely never met one strong enough to pull all this shit off.”

“Yes, well, Jevil isa special case.” He said before glancing around. Leaning in and lowering his voice to a whisper, he went on. “Have you ever heard about the breaking up of a Massachusetts Monster cult back in the sixties?”

“Yeah, yeah, The Oracles of Neochaos or something? They’d been an isolated cult going back to even before the Monster-Human War and they’d only been discovered in the last century. And because they were never forced to assimilate, like the rest of Monsters, they still had their magic. Noelle and I binged the Netflix documentary about it a while back. Wait,” Bolting upright in their seat, their eyes shot open in realization. Mouth agape, eyes wide in awe, they lowered their voice to match Ralsei’s. “Was hein it?”

Ralsei nodded. “Mm-hmm, he was only a kid when they broke up the whole cult, a preteen at most, but he was powerful. Still is.”

“Little Prince! Little Prince! Little Prince!” A lispy, Bostonian voice that sounded constantly on the edge of manic cackles came from the double doors at the back of the shop. Well, speak of the devil, that had to be him. “What is your little Knight to drink?”

“Well?” Ralsei said, raising a questioning brow.”

Not seeing a single menu in sight, they asked, “What are you drinking?”

“Vanilla almond black tea.”

“Nah, ‘m not in the right mood.” They said, nose wrinkling at the thought of all that dessert-like nutty sweetness. Maybe if they were still on their period… “Do they have Golden Flower tea here?”

Caught in the middle of taking a sip, Ralsei, oh so adorably, eagerly nodded and hummed in affirmation before swallowing. “Interesting choice, they do. Anything to eat?”

It’s not fair how adorable his guy is. How and why no Human or Monster had snatched him for themselves was beyond them. Even after he explained it up in his beach house’s tower, they couldn’t tie Ralsei to the concept of “too chaste to date” in their mind. Well, it’s everybody else’s loss, though. All it meant was that Kris got to enjoy his mannerisms for a while longer.

“I’ll just pick off your plate.” Plucking a grape off the bunch nestled next to the strawberries, they tossed and caught it. Basking in Ralsei’s soft giggles before an idea popped into their mind. “Oh, wait, they don’t have anything chocolatey, do they?”

“They’ve got a chocolate mousse cake,” Ralsei answered. And their face must’ve lit up because before they could confirm their order, he leaned to the side and shouted at the kitchen doors. “A pot of Golden Flower tea and a slice of chocolate cake, please!”

“Coming right up!” Jevil yelled back.

“Whew, now that that’s settled,” They said, rapping out a beat on the table. Unable to keep their hands still. “Why are you here and not in Paris? It’s only Thursday.”

“I had a table reading at Disney this morning.” He said, eyes cast downwards as he poured himself another cup of tea. Then, looking up from his task, he shook his head with a cynical half-smile. “Don’t get too excited now. It’s only for my, claws crossed, last Disney Channel Original musical.”

“Still sounds pretty cool to me. What’s your part in this one, do you get any solos…?” As excited as they were (Just about every famous person thing Ralsei did got them excited), it all tapered off as Ralsei’s face grew cold. And, like that, so did the entire shop feel like it dropped in temperature. Wait, was this what he’d been distant about before? Now’s their chance to get to the bottom of it! Okay, okay, they needed to play this cool. “What’s with the face? Did they make you a tertiary character?”

“No, no, I’m the lead’s best friend, and I have a couple of stand-out verses, nothing terrible. It’s just,” Ralsei paused for a moment. His claws idly flexing and unflexing as an expression they’d never seen him make appeared for a brief moment. His big, round eyes narrowed as his lips pursed before twisting into a sneer. Pure and utter contempt reared its head for a blink-and-you’d-miss-it moment before turning back into icy pleasantness. “I’m performing opposite a certain Disney star that I haven’t had the best history with. She’s a bit of a….”

A co-worker? They wanted to laugh about how they’d never thought it was possible for Ralsei to hate someone as much as this. The urge bubbling in their chest, threatening to burst out of them. But they knew better, though. If he was anything like their mother, you didn’t want to be on his wrong side when he was irritated enough already.

So instead, they took advantage of his loss of words. Waggling their eyebrows at him, they graciously filled in the rest of his sentence. “Bit of a cantankerous twat? To use a ten-dollar word.”

That sure got a reaction out of him.

Covering his mouth, he gasped. “Darkness, no! She’s a—” His simmering disdain erupted in his strawberry pink eyes. Only to be put out just as quick. “—Lovely girl. She’s a bit much sometimes and doesn’t think all that highly of me. That’s all.”

Bless Ralsei’s soul, but it was too late for damage control. This girl, whoever she was, was already on their shit list. “For both of your sakes, let’s hope I don’t run into her at any point. I didn’t catch her name.”

“Because I didn’t toss it.” He shot back, prim as can be, as he lifted his chin. “First rule of being a celebrity, Kris, if you want to confess a gripe about one of your peers, don’t name names. The walls, the trees, and even the streets have ears. In a place like L.A., where everyone knows everyone, you don’t want to burn bridges by mistake.”

“Got it. When I burn bridges, I’ll be sure to do it on purpose.” They said with a snap and a finger gun. Which, unlike their toss-and-catch trick, didn’t amuse Ralsei one bit. “Kidding. You don’t have to tell me anything. I’ll just have to be on the lookout when we go to award shows for when you start starring daggers at a well-dressed girl our age.” They hadn’t realized their mistake until a moment after Ralsei did.

Unmoving, he held his teacup to his lips as his eyes went wide. “We?”

Their heart began to race. Shit, shit, shit. Clearing their throat, they wiped their suddenly sweaty palms on the table cloth and said, “Ummm, if you even bring me, that is. Sorry, I shouldn’t’veshouldn’t’ve assumed.”

Faster than he should’ve, Ralsei put his cup down. Spilling droplets of tea on the shop’s last pristine table, yet he paid it no mind. “No, no, no!” He said, his paw shooting out to cover one of theirs. Recoiling it for a split second before doubling down and wrapping his paw around their hand. Tucking his chin as a faint flush rose in his cheeks, he looked up at them through his lashes. “Did you want to come with me to an award show?”

Their breaths hitched in their throat. “I mean, I wouldn’t say no to an invite if one ended up in my lap.”

“You missed the VMAs and the Primetime Emmys and there aren’t any shows in October. But that only means that Swatch should have enough time to style outfits for us for the AMAs in November. It’d be a good place to start, I think. And if that goes well, I could take you to the Grammys in January. How’s that sound?”

Their pot of tea, a teacup and saucer, and their slice of cake with a silver fork flew through the kitchen doors and deftly made their way over. Avoiding the rest of the flying ceramics and metal. Landing in front of them, only for the teapot to rise again and pour them a cup of tea. But none of that was more mind-blowing than what Ralsei had presented them with.

The AMAs?

The Grammys?

He’d suggested letting them tag along with him to those influential events like he’d offered to take them to the beach. As if they weren’t some of the most exclusive events in the world. And he was just… inviting them. Sure, they knew it was more for their fake dating scheme than an actualgenuine invitation, but it still blew their mind.

“Sounds like a plan.” They answered, trying to shake any lingering astonishment from their voice. Picking up their teacup, they took a sip. The warm, slightly sweet and delicate flavour washed over their tongue. Humming in satisfaction, they kept the cup raised as they winked at Ralsei. “Look at us, scheming like pros.”

He had the gall to look offended at that. “We are not scheming.”

“We’re not?”

“No, that makes us sound like criminals. We’re just… planning.”

“Come up with as many synonyms as you want, we’ll always be scheming to me. Though, I’ve never seen anybody scheme in a kilt before.”

“It’s tradition.”

“To scheme in a kilt?”

“Stop that!” He said, half-heartedly screwing his face up and swatting at them. They stuck their tongue out in retaliation, which Ralsei responded to in kind. Sharing a giggle, Ralsei’s died down before theirs. Nose twitching as he stared into his tea, his voice was suddenly very earnest. “My mother used to bring me here every Thursday once I was old enough. Dressed me up in a mini version of this and everything. It was her favourite thing to do with me, I think. My Grandmother had done it with her, and I suppose so on and so forth.”

“I,” They tried to begin, but their voice got stuck. In the time since they’d last talked about his parents, they hadn’t gotten any better at comforting him about it. “I used to insist for my dad and me to dress up in our church clothes and have tea parties with our only tea set. Drinking real tea, of course. One of the times, I remember he told me that he used to do the same thing when he was younger.” Holding their teacup up, they said, “To family traditions.”

His eyes bright and glassy, Ralsei raised his cup and clinked with theirs as he echoed them. “To family traditions.”

A tinkling bell above the shop’s door alerted them to a new arrival. When they looked up from digging into their cake, they knew without being told that this Monster was Seam. The long patchwork overcoat, the ornate golden cane they leaned on with a gnarled paw, the frazzled and bent whiskers, and the air of someone who knew the universe’s secrets… And made the conscious decision to not tell anyone else. It all screamed owner of a witchy teashop.

Unphased and unbothered by the utter madness their shop has descended into, they tapped their cane twice before strolling through their shop. Without a single word, slowly but surely, Order was brought back as they made their way through the shop. Their cane steadily thumped with every step. All the crockery stopped their wild flight patterns and sailed back into the kitchen. The chairs and tables righted themselves and got back into formation.

And when Seam finally made their way around the front counter and rested in their seat, so to did the whole shop rest. Then, finally, everything was back to the way Kris assumed it usually was.

Except for the music, it was still very carnival-ish.

Though, they suspected that Seam could’ve switched it back if they’d wanted it to, but wanted to complain to Jevil about it instead.

Why?

Because when the Monster that could only be Jevil bounded out of the kitchen in a colour-blocked suit with a frilly apron tied around his waist, Seam smirked. A twitch of their lips before they leaned on the front counter and sighed. “My best beloved, why must it sound like a travelling circus has come to town in my shop whenever I leave?”

“Because, because, because, my dearest one, you left your shop to me,” Jevil said as he leaned on Seam’s shoulders. His tail swishing mischievously. Effortlessly, the rest of his short, stout body floated into the air until it looked like he was lying down on an invisible object. “Which means I can do anything I like until you get back! And I like chaos.”

“Oh, dear. And here I thought you liked me.”

Maniacal laughter filled the shop as Jevil clutched his sides. “If ya’ want me to kiss ya’, all ya’ have to do is ask, ask, ask! You silly old cat!”

Unbothered by the rest of the world, the two of them continued to bicker back and forth in a way that screamed old married couple. Using increasingly obscure pet names for each other.

Bringing their attention back to him, Ralsei, holding his teacup close to his chest, happily sighed. “Aren’t they so adorable together?”

“They are. But, uh,” Raising a brow, they jerked their head toward the two aged Monsters. “How?”

“I have no clue how they found each other. But I do know that when they did, they clicked.” Ralsei said, distractedly clinking his claws against his cup. “They didn’t get together right away, though. Jevil went to jail a couple of times, but Seam always held out for him to get out.”

“Held out?”

“Oh, yeah, Seam was quite the catch when they were younger.” Looking at the old cat, it was hard for them to imagine it, but they didn’t think it was thatfar-fetched. Apparently, their dad, once upon a time, used to be ‘quite dishy’ in their mother’s words. Ralsei went on, “They have their own kind of magic, and that’s a desirable trait to other Monsters. Of course, it’s much weaker than Jevil’s, but it’s still more than most. I even heard that they’d even done a few odd jobs for my uncle.”

Okay, now, he’d lost them. “What would your Uncle Rouxls need a magician for?”

“No, no. Not Rouxls. My Uncle Spade.” Ralsei said as if the distinction was obvious. Maybe it was in his head. In their head, though, they couldn’t shake that they’d heard that name before. “I’m not sure what he needed them for, but it’s not like he’d tell me if I asked. But that’s neither here nor there. The point is that Seam had their pick of admirers, but they’d only wanted Jevil, who was in and out of jail. His first and longest sentence was fifteen years, and all that time, Seam ran this very shop, waiting for him.”

Yeah, they’re going to ignore that first part and focus on the rest because… they’re starting to think that Ralsei’s family had mob connections. If not, full-on ran one. And they were not equipped to know how to deal with that. So, they bypassed it to ask, “But why?”

“Why what?”

Their nose wrinkled as they picked up their fork and dug into their chocolate cake with more force than needed. Lifting the piece of cake up, they went to take a bite before deciding to get what they wanted to say out first. “It’s just, fifteen years is a long time to wait when you’ve never even kissed. That’s like getting trapped in a relationship without even being in one.”

“That’s not getting trapped, it’s trust. Trust in the other person, knowing that they’ll come back to you, and trust in yourself, knowing that your feelings are true. It’s love. Pure and simple. And as you can see, they’re very happy now.” He couldn’t help but sigh wistfully as he stared at the odd couple. “I have to say, though. While I’m a staunch Darkner, you Lightners have the right idea about soulmates.”

“You think you got a soulmate out there somewhere?” They asked before finally taking a bite of the delicious cake. Oh, Angel above! The intense chocolate flavour of the mousse melted on their tongue. For a moment, they almost missed what Ralsei was saying.

“Darkness no. Since it’s a Lightner concept and it’s The Angel who’s supposed to have paired people together, then we Darkners would be exempt. The Dark Fountain made us and thus The Angel has no jurisdiction over us. So, no soulmate for me.” A small, sad smile grew on his lips. “Though, I like to think that my parents would’ve been soulmates if they’d been born Lighteners.”

Taking a moment from basking in the tastiness of this fucking cake, they asked, “Lightners?”

“Oh, it’s the Darkner word for Angelists.”

“Hmm.” Well, their parents definitely weren’t. They could say that for sure. Unless soulmates would ever get divorced. Heh, now that’s a concept, eh? “Well, I’m glad that we’re on the same page then because I don’t—”

“Believe in soulmates.” He said, finishing their thought with a knowing chirp. How did he…? “Yes, I know. Everyone who watched Little Miss Muffet’s channel in the past week knows about your opinion on soulmates. And on me.”

Their cheeks flushed.

Oh, yeah, that.

When Wednesday rolled around after their encounter with Muffet, they had found themself pausing their work every so often to check her channel. And while it wasn’t like the usual videos they watched on Youtube, they still enjoyed it well enough. It’d been a wild ride, learning what that night had looked like for everyone else and all the drama that went on under their nose. But then again, what else were gossip channels for?

Mentally willing the heat in their cheeks to go the fuck away, they fiddled with their fork as they asked, “That interview wasn’t a problem, was it?”

Thankfully, Ralsei brushed their worries aside. Reassuring them as he said, “It seemed harmless. Perhaps it’s even a good thing.” Going quiet for a moment, he dug a fang into his bottom lip in thought. “I do want to know why you’re so vehemently against soulmates, though.”

“It’s the lack of choice for me.” They blurted out, only to realize that it summed up their dislike of the concept succinctly. Huh, how about that? There’s somebody home up there, after all. Sitting up in their seat, spurred by the epiphany, they went on, “So what if The Angel chose this person for me? Shouldn’t I get a choice in who’s perfect for me? What if I hate my soulmate?”

“Oh, but what if you love them?”

“Then that’s entrapment.”

Giggling into his paw, Ralsei said, “Well, I suppose there’s no rule about having to fall in love with your soulmate.”

Their well-brushed locks flew as they shook their head in frustration. “No, no, no! It doesn’t matter if it’s romantic or platonic, I still didn’t get to choose!”

Ralsei laughed again, though it was breathier and more forced this time. Then, tilting his head and scrunching up his nose, he said, “Don’t be silly. But, of course, you’d get to choose.”

Crossing their arms and slumping in their chair, they asked, “How? How on Earth is being cosmically paired up by an all-powerful, all-knowing entity and ending up with them because of things like fate and destiny getting to choose?”

“You make choices like that every day.” He said with a bothered shrug. But when they still weren’t impressed by his points, he rolled his eyes. With an exasperated huff, he set his teacup down with a (somehow) irritated clink before gesturing towards them. “Look, you didn’t have to come here today of your own volition, did you?”

“You invitedme.” They shot back. Most days, they could follow his winding train of thought with relative ease, but today wasn’t one of those days.

“And? So what if I invited you?”

“Ralsei, we literally have a contract stating that we have to spend time together. How could I’ve said no?”

Clasping his paws together, he sat back in his chair, all prim and pompous, and arched a brow. “I was unaware of that clause. Does it also state that you had to come running when I asked you to take tea with me today?”

Their heart skipped a beat. They could’ve sworn they felt every drop of blood vacate their face at that moment, leaving their tan skin ashen. All the while, the muscles in their legs tensed. A tiny voice in their mind told them to bolt from the shop this instant. But they held their ground. They did. Despite having never felt this exposed before. Digging their fingers into their arms, they prayed to the Angel that Ralsei didn’t wonder why their voice didn’t rise above a whisper. “No.”

The Angel must’ve heard their desperate prayer because Ralsei sped past their answer to make his point.

“Exactly! You could’ve still said shove off and went back to whatever you were doing. But you didn’t. You accepted my invitation. What if it’s like that?” He said, his pomp fading until it was more than a gentle kind of confidence. “What if soulmates are destiny’s invitations for love?”

Trying to push and shove their fears into a box, they found themself dipping further into their frustration. “Fine but riddle me this. What if I start out loving my soulmate and then over time when our relationship inevitably—”

“Inevitably?”

“—Inevitably breaks down and one of us comes to hate the other? What then?”

“Then you still have a choice. You either try to repair the relationship or you go your separate ways.”

“Then what’s the point of having a soulmate if it can all go wrong?” They said, throwing their arms up only to have them come down to grip the table’s edges as they leaned over it.

Ralsei, like always, wasn’t intimidated, not one bit. Instead, leaning over his side of the table and using a controlled tone, he said, “In theory, it’s not supposed to go all wrong, can’t even.”

“But in practice, that’s just not realistic.” They countered, leaning in a little more. So close that their noses were almost touching. With the right movement, their lips would touch. But they didn’t notice. They were too busy staring Ralsei’s equally narrowed eyes down. Ugh, the starry-eyed, stubborn bastard. How couldn’t he see what was right in front of him? “Why trap yourself with someone you’ll end up hating in the end because a nebulous cosmic force says so?”

Everything went quiet after that. The lively carnival music that was still playing, Seam and Jevil’s bickering, the faint hum of the outside world. All gone. As they held Ralsei’s fiery gaze, their heart beating was the only thing they could hear. Swift and resounding, like war drums in their ears. For a moment, it seemed like neither of them would back down from their footing. Both, forever stuck with their eyes locked. Ultimately, Ralsei was the first to pull back. Though, they both knew that didn’t necessarily make them the victor.

Closing his eyes, Ralsei shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s because a chance at a long-lasting love is worth the risk of heartbreak.” Sitting back in his seat, he stirred his spoon in his teacup. “All I know is that cosmic force or not, Seam seems very satisfied with their gamble. My parents were too.”

“High risk, high reward, then.” They muttered to themself as they sat back as well. Guess their parents rolled snake eyes or something. And, thanks to a wave of resentful bitterness that arose from an aching place within their soul, a little louder, they asked, “You sure about that last part?”

Stilling his stirring, Ralsei gazed into his cup for a second, eyebrows furrowing. “Yes, I am.”

A slimy ounce of guilt crept down their spine and settled in their gut. Too far, jackass. Maybe don’t imply to your orphaned friend that his parents were unhappy in their marriage. Just because your parents… Hmm, it’s probably best not to venture down that rabbit hole in public. Instead, they hesitantly raised their teacup to him, the movement catching his attention and lifting his gaze. Looking him in the eyes with a faint smile, they said, “Well, I hope you find the Darkner equivalent of a soulmate one day.”

“And I hope you find someone worthy enough for you to choose to love evermore.” He answered, raising his teacup to them too.

They smiled. “Amen to that.”

Clinking their cups, the two of them finished up their tea, sandwiches, and cake in peace and calm. Before long, they find themselves with empty cups and plates that drift away back to the kitchen with a flick of Jevil’s wrist. And, like at the end of every date, they had a debate about who had to pay for what. Commencing straight after they’d offhandedly asked how much their tea and cake cost. Ralsei insisted on paying for everything as reimbursement for asking them out on such short notice. They pressed that they could pay for themself. Insisting that the amount couldn’t be that high of an expense.

“It’s the principal of the thing, Kris.” He said, fishing out two fifty-dollar bills and refusing to take a single cent from them. Handing the two bills over to Seam with a smile. Which had to be major overkill, but it did feel good to know that the guy he was fake dating was a phenomenal tipper.

Saying their goodbyes to Seam and Jevil, Ralsei followed them out of the shop and back into reality. Or at least that’s what it felt like. Their senses were hit by the hums of car engines passing by and airplanes overhead. The smell of exhaust and tobacco from a Human smoking a little ways away filled their nose. Such a harsh contrast to the serenity and cinnamony scents of Last Drop Teaseap. Even when it was in full chaos mode, thanks to Jevil, it felt very insulated from the distinct chaos of the outside world. Maybe that’s why Ralsei and his mother liked it so much.

From their side, tapping away on his phone, no doubt texting his personal driver, he said, “I can drive you home if you want. It’s on the way, isn’t it?”

They waved him off, digging their phone out of their pocket. “You already forked out a hundred bucks for tea.”

“Yes, and now I want to make sure you get home safe.” He said. Taking hold of the wrist of the hand holding their phone, he gave their wrist a brief squeeze. Trying and succeeding in pulling their attention toward him. “I’ll feel much better about calling you over to Pasadena for an impromptu tea party if you let me. You weren’t in the middle of something important, were you?”

“Nah, nothing too important, just some work.” They answered with a shrug. Lottie Johnson from NYC could stand to wait another day for her MIDI chords. But their answer only set Ralsei off.

“Work!? I pulled you away from your work?” He said, gasping as his grip on their wrist tightened, his soft paw pads pressing into their skin. Bringing out not only a bunch of nostalgia but also a deep-seated desire for him to never let go.

They couldn’t help but chuckle at Ralsei’s little freakout. One, because he made the cutest face when he was worried. And two, because they’d rather eat gravel than examine where those feelings were coming from and where they wanted to take them.

Shaking their head, a smirk tugging at their lips, they said, “It’s really not that big of a—”

“Nope! Now there’s no room for debate, Ritter’s driving you home.”

In all honesty, their wallet was probably even more delighted than Ralsei was when they slid into the backseat of Ritter’s car. It was still very much going on and could’ve only gotten worse than when they’d taken a Lyft at three.

It’d been over a month since they last sat in the ever stoic Ritter’s car, but it’s just as luxurious as it’d seemed half-drunk. They buckled up, giving Ritter a head nod, to which he only grunted in response. Then, sinking into the plush leather seats, they were ready for a long, cushy ride back to their apartment. But beside them, Ralsei couldn’t sit still, anxiously running his paws up and down his kilt.

“Really don’t worry about it, the project I was working on was nothing too tough. Was almost done anyways.” They said in hopes of settling any of his guilt.

Blinking out of his trance, he asked, “Project?”

“Yeah, I freelance.” They answered, suddenly very interested in the tough fabric of their seatbelt. “I guess, technically, I’m a music producer of sorts.”

“Kris! That’s amazing. What’s it like?” He asked. Their eyes shot back up to see Ralsei’s lit up in wonder. “I’ve never really known what does into that part of music creation. I usually just sing and look pretty.”

Usually, they’d hesitate to go into the technical details about their work. It could get a bit computer nerdy at points, but they found themself doing it anyway. Maybe it was how Ralsei patiently tucked his hands in his lap, exhibiting the vibes of a perfect listener. Urging them to spill more and more about their processes. About how they learned chords and progressions from their father. How they were mostly self-taught and had folders full of shitty music to prove it. They’d hardly noticed how quickly time flew until they heard Ritter’s not-so-subtle grunt sounded out. Indicating their arrival.

Hopping out of the car, a strange bout of Deja Vu hit them as they leaned on the open car door. They’d been here before, hadn’t they?

Smiling, they gave Ralsei a wink. “I know you think you messed up my workday, but I have to thank you. This was a pretty sweet way to play hooky.”

“And you were pretty sweet company.” He said, sliding over to their side of the car. They could see him hesitate. See how the gears in his head spun and spun. Though they didn’t know what for. Not until they felt more than saw him lean and gave them a quick peck on the cheek, his lips soft and fur softer. So soft, it kinda tickled. “Thanks for indulging me today. Talk soon!”

A tentative hand rose to touch their cheek as they watched as Ralsei shut the door and Ritter’s car drove off. Disappearing around a corner. From the way his eyes had spotted something behind him before he kissed their cheek, they’re sure Ralsei only did it for a hidden paparazzi. But… If this is what a kiss on the cheek felt like, what about an actual kiss?

Would they… have to… do that… at some point?

Oh, fuck.

And that's all for this chapter, folks! I hope you enjoyed it! I fell off the writing wagon for a bit because I knew that I'd have to really nail down Kris' internal conflict in these last two chapters. And it was waaaay tougher thing to figure out than Ralsei's! But, after scrolling the internet and a whole bunch of psychological articles, I think I pinned it down. I won't spoil anything here but just know that it compliments Ralsei's internal conflict in the best and worst ways.

But y'all don't have to worry about that yet! Since these last few chapters had some verbal sparring in them, the next will be all rather fluffy! A fake dating staple trope will be showing up as will another Undertale character and a certain Big Shot! 👀👀

That's all for now! Thank you so much again for reading and getting this far! Sending all of you my love!! See y'all (hopefully) soon!

Later Days!

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#kralsei #krisei #kris dreemurr #ralsei #deltarune #fanfic #kris x ralsei #i like me better (when i'm with you) tag #Ayyyyy #two in one day!!!!#after like over a month of silence but still!!!#i hope y'all like it!!!

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write-orflight · 4 years ago

Text

Light the Lamp: Chapter 1

**Gif Not Mine**

Prev - Next

Pairings: Bucky Barnes X Reader (Friends to Lovers, College/Hockey AU

Rating: M

Words: 2.2K

Warnings: College kids being college kids, drinking, swearing, talk of sex(No smut yet but will be)

Request: OPEN/CLOSED

Summary: Love and Hockey were kind of the same, everyone’s just rushing to score. So why couldn’t you?

A.N Summary bad but I literally couldn’t focus on writing anything else until I finished at least the first chapter of this. let me know what you think, Message/reply/inbox to be tagged.

Chapter 1: 1st Quarter

Hockey wasn’t the sport Bucky wanted to play originally. He wanted to play baseball like his old man but when Steve decided he wanted to take ice skating lessons, he made Bucky tag along so he wouldn’t be the only boy in the class. Soon, they found themselves recruited in the junior rec hockey team and had been playing together ever since. It wasn’t a surprise that when recruitment came around that school’s were trying to pick up both of them. People knew better than to separate Cap from the Winter Soldier. Steve’s nickname was easy to figure out. He had a natural authoritative nature that made him the Captain of almost every team he played on. You never knew why they called Bucky the Winter Soldier until you played against him. Bucky was like an assassin on the ice. While everyone was focused on Steve in Center, Bucky was on left wing scoring the goal before you knew what hit you. So both of them getting recruited to play for the Avengers at Wilmington University wasn’t surprising.

Meeting you was.

At first, it was a sort of form of hazing. When they were starting their Freshman year so was the Coach’s daughter. He had asked senior members of the team to ‘keep an eye on her’ and make sure she didn’t get herself into any trouble. The seniors’ thinking that was lame, were more than happy to pass the task off to the two eager freshmen trying to make a name for themselves. So that’s how it started, The two boys walking you to classes and home from the library late at night, much to your demise.

“I should’ve known my dad was going to do something like this.” You complained when you saw the two boys waiting outside your dorm the first week of classes. “Thanks for coming. But you can tell my dad that I’m not going to be the freak being escorted by hockey jocks everyday.”

“No can do, Doll.” Bucky says. “We leave you, we’re doing drills the rest of practice.”

“Doll? What’re you? A 40s newscaster?” You say, with an annoyed expression walking passed the boys who just followed suit behind you. “Ugh, this is such bullshit. He literally begged me to go to Wilmington and promised I’d be able to have a ‘normal college experience’. What about this is fucking normal?”

“I know it’s less than ideal but hey, we can make the best out of this.” Steve smiles. “I’m Steve, by the way.” He says extending a hand.

You shake it. You couldn’t blame them for your dad not trusting you. “Y/N. You?” You asked the other boy next to you.

“Bucky.” He provides.

“Bucky?” You question.

“Well, it’s James but my friends call me Bucky.”

“And that’s what we are? Friends?” You ask.

“Might as well be, since we’ll be seeing each other a lot this semester.”

And that’s how your semi-unconventional friendship started. Pretty soon, even though your dad had eased up on the 24-hour watch, per your mom's request, you still found yourself walking and getting coffee with the two in the mornings. Even, found yourself waiting in the rinks watching practices so you could hang out afterwards and that became your life for the next two years. Now the three of you we’re entering your Junior year of college. Steve was right back in his title role of Captain, Bucky was now first string Left Wing and you were… still watching from the bleachers. You didn’t mind though, you grew to love the sport due to it being your dad’s profession. Hell, you were on skates before you could even walk. But you never found yourself on the women’s team, Hockey wasn’t something you really wanted to do. You still supported the girls team though, which is why you found yourself watching their practices too.

“Hey, Y/N!” Carol said, skating to the end of the rink where you were sitting next to her girlfriend, Maria. A position you often found yourself in, entertaining player’s girlfriends while they practiced. Maria was cool though, at least you knew about the sport.

“Hey, Marvel.” You called her by her nickname. Thing about Hockey is everyone was called by their nicknames.

“You going to the Sigma Pi party later?” She asks.

“Uh, no one told me about it.” You say, awkwardly.

“I’m telling you now.” Carol says like it's obvious. “You never go out anymore and I refuse to let you become a cat lady before you turn 25. Come over ours at 7, we’ll pregame and head over at 9. What do you say?”

“Fine, I’ll come.” You say.

“Great!” Carol says, pumping a fist before signalling her girlfriend to come closer to the rink. You look away as they kiss. Couples made you uneasy, especially hockey couples. You wanted that more than anything, for your guy to skate up to the gate just to sneak a kiss from you. Not that dating anyone from the team was even an option with you dad coaching. The team saw you as a little sister and if anyone was caught even looking at you in any way, their ass was grass by either your dad or Bucky, who’d become protective of you over the years.

“Marvel, stop flirting with your girlfriend and GET BACK ON THE ICE!” You heard your dad scream.

“Sorry, Couch!” She called. “Sorry, baby i’ve gotta jet. Y/N, don’t forget. 7 o’clock!” She says before skating off.

“I won’t!” You call after her.

---------------------------------------------------------

You can’t help but look at yourself in the mirror awkwardly at the tight Satin dress your roommate, Wanda practically forced you in. You were just going to wear a sweater and jeans, your regular wardrobe but Wanda insisted everyone had seen you in that and what they haven’t seen is you in a dress. Especially, with your new body, you had gotten over the summer working at a sports camp. Who knew running after kids would be such a great form of exercise?

Wanda also did your makeup, something you didn’t typically wear, giving you a natural glow eye, a layer of mascara, and sticky gloss that made your look ‘dewy’ as Wanda described it. You tried to keep your hair in the bun but Wanda insisted you keep your hair down. Saying it made you look hotter, you shrugged knowing you’d have to take her word for it.

The two of you made your way to Carol and Maria’s apartment. Carol swung the door open and looked at you in surprise. “Woah, Ice Baby, you clean up nice.”

“Don’t start, Marvel. And you know how I feel about being called that.” You hated the nickname but since you were the coach’s daughter and you stuck around the rink any chance you got, The seniors had started calling you Ice Baby your freshman year and the nickname unfortunately stuck long after they had gone.

“Right, sorry, I always forget.” Carol said moving out the way for the two of you to come in.

The four of you drink and play games until it’s time to head to the party. You’ve got a pretty strong buzz going as you enter the party and you regret the strappy heels Maria made you borrow before leaving. You’re sitting in the corner when someone comes to sit way too close to you. You look up to see Brock Rumlow, or Rum as the team liked to call him.

“I almost didn’t recognize you, Ice Baby. You look good.”

“My name is Y/N but thank you.” You say, annoyed.

He holds his hands up in mock surrender “I forgot you hate that nickname. Let me bring you a drink to make up for it. What you want.”

“Rum and coke, please.”

“Oh, so you like Rum?” He says, obvious double entendre hanging off his tongue.

“The drink? Yes.”

“You’ll like the man soon enough.” He winks, smirking at the flush that spreads across your cheeks.

The two of you spend the night like that. He brings you drinks and shamelessly flirts with you as you get drunker and drunker. The two of you even dance for a bit in the sea of grinding bodies. Soon you’re telling him a story and a hand drifts to your leg. You turn and he’s much closer to your face than you thought he was.

“Wanna get out of here?” He asks. You nod but before you can even stand, Bucky is there towering over Brock.

“You can leave, Brock. But I’m taking Y/N home.” He says.

Brock rolls his eyes. “Forgot you had a Winter Soldier guard dog. No worries, dude. I’m leaving anyway.” He says, before turning to you. “You’ve got my number, call me if you wanna hang this week.” He says, nodding to Bucky before walking away.

“Ugh, Bucky. What was that for?” You whine, drunkenly.

“You’re drunk. I’m taking you home.” Bucky says. “Come on, stand up.”

You shakingly get up and Buck is there immediately under your arm, his arm around your waist helping you walk out.

The cold breeze hits you as soon as you step foot out the party and take the long trek home.

“I think I drank too much.” You point out.

“You think, kid?” Bucky says. “You’re lucky, I was here meeting Sharon otherwise you would’ve been shit out of luck.”

“Brock would’ve taken me home.”

“Brock’s a lowlife. Don’t worry about him, I’ve got you.”

You sigh. “Sorry for ruining your night with your girlfriend.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll call her when I make sure you get home so if you could pick up the pace.”

“My feet hurt.” You complain.

“Yea, I bet. God, when did you start wearing heels, Doll?”

“I wanted to look good tonight.” You sigh.

“You always look good.”

“Fine, I wanted to look hot.” You provide. “For once, I wanted to be the one guys paid attention to at parties.”

“You can be yourself for that, Y/N.” Bucky says. “You’re a catch.”

“If I was, someone would’ve fucked me by now.” You drunkenly admit. That makes Bucky double-take. “I mean, think about it? 3 years into my college career, I turn 21 in a couple months and still it's where no man’s gone before down there.”

“Y/N, are you saying you’re--”

“A virgin? Yea, Bucky catch up.” You groan at the pain in your feet. Bucky looks and takes sympathy on you.

“Here take off your shoes.” He says, toeing his off as well and sliding them over to you.

“You’re just going to walk barefoot?” You ask, putting on the shoes, holding your heels in your hand.

“Better than you walking barefoot.” He shrugs.

“Anyway, I decided over the summer that maybe I was putting too much thought into it. I mean almost everyone loses their virginity in high school and it's never good, no one ever says their first time was good. I just thought maybe I should just, you know, get it over with.” You slur. “Which is what I was trying to do until you chased my date away. God, you always do that, Bucky.”

“I’m not fighting with you while you’re drunk.” Bucky says, trying to get you to drop the subject but you persist.

“Every time I try to talk to a guy, you butt in--”

“Maybe I wouldn’t butt in if you picked the right guys for you.”

“There’s nothing wrong with the guys I pick! You’re just a cockblock.”

“That’s not true.”

“Yea what about Charles? He asked me on a date freshman year and took it back not even an hour later. I had to beg Steve to tell me why and it turned out that you threatened him if he even thought about going out with me.”

“Y/N, you had just turned 18 and X was a 24 year old senior! I didn’t trust how he was just waiting. So yea, I told him to fuck off. And Rum is an asshole who can’t get a girl to sleep with him unless they’re shitfaced. So yea, I told him to fuck off.” Bucky exclaims as the two of you make it up the stairs to your apartment. “Y/N, you’ll find someone right for you and that right person will make your first time special. I just want you to find someone who’ll make you happy.”

“And I just want you to remember for next time that if you want to tell a girl who she can and can’t fuck, you have Sharon for that. Not me.” You said, taking off the shoes as you arrived at your front door.

“Y/N, wait--” You hear him say but you don’t care, you slam the door in his face regardless.

Who did Bucky think he was? Sure, he was your best friend but so was Steve and he’s not nearly as protective as Bucky was. You honestly couldn’t tell who was worse at this point, your dad or Bucky. You loved both of them but they had the fatal flaw of forgetting you weren’t a kid. You were a woman, a woman with needs. And one particular need you needed to get rid of.

So you picked up your phone and called Brock. Bucky couldn’t be right about everything.

Taglist: @buckybarneshairpullingkink @riverofcrestmont @babymango-writes @astralsaf @gabi-socio @hereforalongtime512

#bucky barnes #bucky x reader #bucky barns x reader #bucky barns x y/n #bucky barns fanfiction #bucky barns x you #bucky barnes x female reader #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky x female reader #bucky x you #bucky x y/n #bucky fanfic #captain america #tfatws

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jaedore · 5 years ago

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BINDING BONDS | 4

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parings: jung jaehyun x reader

genre: ceo!au, arranged marriage!au, consumption of alcohol, asshole/player Jaehyun, swearing

[ ◇ angst ]

note: BB deals with themes of mental and physical abuse, which can be upsetting for some readers. If you feel uncomfortable reading these types of plots, you are advised to not continue

a/n: just a little update before things get a lil crazy. i didn’t want the characters to go through so much so quickly, so enjoy this filler chpt!! also send me some feedback, i’d love to hear from you guys! ♡

[ 6.2 k ]

You woke up to a throbbing headache and the sun shining in your face. You tried moving away from the light, but a firm pair of arms held you in place. Turning your head, you see Jaehyun sleeping peacefully behind you. You instantly jolt away from him, aghast that you two were in the same bed.

Jaehyun stirs from the impact but immediately falls back asleep after mumbling incoherent words. Out of all the moments you’ve had with him, this is the first he held such placidity, you couldn’t help but see those features of his that everyone admires. Jaehyun’s skin coated with a honey tone that looked like it was made for a polished statue, the way his feather-like eyelashes kissed his cheeks, and the tint of his lips. It felt like you’ve done this before, admire him.

Oh no, we didn’t...you looked down and realized you were wearing his shirt, clutching the black cotton between your fists.

“You’re awake,” Jaehyun whispered, rubbing his eyes.

“Uh yeah,” you avert your gaze elsewhere, even his morning voice made you jittery.

“Don’t worry, we didn’t do anything,” he responded, looking at your disheveled state.

Your hair was put in the worst bun possible, last night when Jaehyun was removing your makeup, your hair was all over your face so he had no choice but to put it up somehow. Since you slept in it, more hairs poked out making you look bizarre. The bare face you possessed brought out the puffiness of your cheeks and the swole in your lips. Jaehyun couldn’t help but look at you, who sat in his shirt. Considering that it was bigger on you, he noticed your shoulder poking out. Nervously, Jaehyun diverts his gaze elsewhere.

“Then how did you get into my bed?” you asked, the last thing you remember was drinking to the sight of him and Chaeyoung at the after-party last night.

“You wanted me to stay,” Jaehyun clarified.

“And you listened to me?” you blurted, clearly frustrated with your actions. As you threw the blankets off, Jaehyun gently grasped your hand to stop you from leaving.

“Y/n, please. About last night, I meant what I said at the Charity Ball,” he began.

“I don’t know,” you brushed him off, standing up.

“Please, just hear me out,” Jaehyun begged.

You hesitated for a bit, what if he doesn’t mean his words? What if he just goes back to how he was? You inhaled enough air to inflate your lungs, making your decision. You sat back on your bed, crossing your legs, letting him continue.

“I know what I did was wrong and nothing will ever justify it. I was just angry that I wasn’t allowed to find love for myself, I was angry that I couldn’t be with Chaeyoung. All of the words I said that tore you down, every action that I had done to hurt you, I take it all back. You didn’t deserve to be treated like that and I’m truly sorry. I know it’ll take a while for you to forgive me, but please, I want to apologize for everything.” Jaehyun looked up at you and you knew he genuinely meant what he said because you’ve never seen such misery in his eyes.

You sat dazed in front of him, your mind couldn’t stop asking questions. Does he even mean all of this? “So what does this mean?” you looked up from your lap.

“I don’t know, but I do want to try this out with you. I want to see if I can get there with you...no-” he shook his head, “-I want to get there with you and we can go as slow as you want!”

You sat there thinking to yourself, you were so conflicted and guarded. Is this too soon? Is he just saying this to get in my head?

“Please say something,” he pleaded, fiddling with his fingers.

“I-“ you inhaled a sharp breath, “-I don’t know Jaehyun. We’ve been so hostile towards each other the entire time. This is toxic, this isn’t good and I don't want this.” you faltered.

“Then what should I do?” Jaehyun asked, brows furrowed. As desperate as he sounded, he genuinely wanted to be better for you...and for himself.

You didn’t know, you didn’t want to say anything because there was a lot that you wanted him to do, “Jaehyun,” you fumbled for the correct words, “I-your words really hurt me, don’t think I have the heart to trust and forgive you right now.”

“Oh,” he lowered his head, clearly disappointed.

“I appreciate you apologizing though. I think it’s just going to take me some time to figure this out on my own.”

“Of course, take as much time as you needed,” he stood up and with soft steps, walked out of your room.

Why is he so sad in the way he walked? What happened yesterday and why is he suddenly acting differently? You threw your blankets aside and rested your hands on your propped up knees. Your pounding headache wouldn’t stop as you tried to recall the events that happened last night. You remember the vibrations of the blaring music, the flashing lights, the sheer coating of sweat on your body, Jaehyun dragging you away, the dried tears that stained your cheeks, and...you crying. Oh my gosh...you winced at your humiliating behavior as the conversation you had with Jaehyun came back. How can you be so stupid? Get your shit together, damn it y/n!

It took you a while to get yourself out of bed, you didn’t want to risk facing Jaehyun. Maybe that’s why he’s all apologetic now. You thought, citing your conversation with him from last night. When you finally heard the familiar sound of his door shutting, you got up to wash your face. It was then you realized you didn’t have any makeup on. Oh, he must’ve taken it off��

After getting yourself ready for the day, you walk downstairs and there’s a saturated aroma of savory breakfast food filling the air, “You made breakfast?” you walked down to see two sets of plates placed on the table filled with food.

“Yes,” Jaehyun’s lips pressed together.

“Oh, thank you.”

“I’m sorry for not making you any last time,” he scratched the back of his head, “um, let’s eat.”

If you were to be honest, the tension between you wasn’t exactly there, but it was just a little awkward. You sat across from each other in silence as you ate, the quietness was eating you alive so you took the courage to speak first.

“What happened last night?” you asked him, you just wanted confirmations of your thoughts.

“Well” he began, “at the club, you got super drunk that you started dancing with one of my friends, Johnny Suh. So I took you home and...you started crying.”

“Oh my gosh,” you rested your forehead on your palm, embarrassment washing over you, so everything I said was true. “Please don’t tell me what I said,” you held up a hand and continued eating your food. You already knew what you said, you just didn’t want to hear it from Jaehyun.

“Oh. Okay,” Jaehyun thought that maybe you were just embarrassed, but he also felt like you didn’t want to talk about how you truly felt. He figured he’d have to wait for you to be ready without being intoxicated.

The day went on how it usually did, you both went to your rooms, this time leaving your doors opened a bit. Occasionally, you’d go to the kitchen to get a snack and you’d see him doing the same. Instead of just staring at each other with a void, a small nod would come.

It’s going to take time. Jaehyun reminded himself as he watched you go back up to your room.

You, on the other hand, you weren't handling it too well. You were so used to people coming and going as they pleased, that you’ve built yourself a wall. You’re just trying to be cautious because of the past and because of how Jaehyun regarded you.

Your phone rang, interrupting you from your thoughts, “Hello?”

“Hey, how are you doing?” Haewon asked.

“I’m fine.”

“You left me last night without telling me that you were leaving early with Jaehyun,” you knew your best friend was pouting on the other side.

“I’m sorry, I was just really wasted,” you sighed, you needed to stop doing that.

“Yeah I know, at least you got home safely,” Haewon commented, “he didn’t...yell at you again right?”

“No.”

“Oh really? What happened?”

“Well this morning, Jaehyun apologized and said that he wanted to actually try. But I don’t know, Haewon. I really really don’t know what to do,” you faltered.

“Really y/n? He apologized? And you’re going to really believe that? ” Haewon doubted.

“I mean he sounded sincere,” you shrugged.

“Well, I don’t trust him at all! I hate the way he treats you. There’s no way he whole-heartedly meant it.” Haewon retorted.

“We’ll see,” you huffed.

“Anyways, I know you're still planning your collection for spring and summer, but I just wanted to check up on you. I hope you’re doing okay,” you felt her heartwarming smile melt your heart.

“I’ll be okay,” you reassured her.

“I’m serious, y/n! If he mistreats you again, Imma just have to come over and give him a little punching!” Haewon threatened.

“No! Don’t!” you said in bewilderment, “Mark already did and it didn’t end looking good, so please, no more fights.”

“What? Mark Lee? No way.”

You explained to her the situation of that morning, you still couldn’t erase the image of Jaehyun who looked defeated and contrite at the time. The way his full shoulders suddenly withered over his sturdy body, his firm hands collapsed beside him, and his eyes painted in poignant. The image stained your brain and no matter how much you tried forgetting it you couldn’t help but feel the slight twinge in your chest.

You rushed the conversation, in hopes of ending the topic, “alright, it’s late and I have to get into the office early tomorrow. Goodnight, I’ll talk to you later,” you yawned.

“Okay, love you,” Haewon replied.

You hung up, feeling your stomach grumble. You’ve been in your room all day, you haven’t gone out to eat yet. You headed to the kitchen for a late snack and as you opened the fridge, you spotted a written note stuck to the top of a container.

[ I made some for dinner, but you seemed busy on the phone. Just heat it in the microwave until it’s the way you want it ]

You took off the top, smelling the stir fry. You nodded, impressed that Jaehyun can actually cook. Once it was warm enough, you sat at the table and scrolled through emails. You had more files that needed to be approved, hopefully, it wasn’t as much as the last round. Launching a new collection was definitely hard, especially when it’s for two seasons of the year, which meant two different concepts. You loved your job, but sometimes you wish that there were easier ways to approve things.

“Good morning,” your mother greeted.

You pressed your lips together at the familiar sight on your desk. Once again, there were stacks of files sitting on your desk, so you had to literally move them to make room for yourself. As you sat down, you ordered the files from most urgent to least and immediately got to work.

This time, you weren’t so harsh on yourself. You often took breaks and occasionally got food with your mother, you enjoyed the time you shared with her because it wasn’t often that you did.

“How are you and Jaehyun?”

“We’re...good,” you hummed, stirring the tea that sat before you. You watched as the tinted liquid swirled after your spoon in the glass cup, it went with the flow. Maybe I should too.

“Honey, I know when you’re lying,” she took your hand in hers, almost as if she was trying to shield you from the dark world of being hurt.

“Mother, really, we’re fine,” you sighed. You didn’t want to trouble her or stress her out, you both already have enough on your plate.

“Just know that you can tell me anything, okay? I’m your mother.”

“Of course,” you thinned your lips.

When you came back to your office, you were persistent on finishing, so you worked hard until the series of words soon became blurred and your brain couldn’t absorb any more information. When you looked at the clock, it was suddenly 7pm. You felt the tension in your shoulders, rolling them back, you knew you needed to reward yourself before you started on another department. You strolled into the break room and brewed a cup of tea and sat at one of the closer tables, you heard a text from your phone.

[ Jaek-ass: hey I made some food and stored it in the fridge again. Just reheat it when you come home ]

You haven’t changed his name from your contacts, you were going to leave it at that for a bit. Of course, he was gentle in caring for you when you were wasted, you could still feel the warmth of his arms around you. Also when he apologized and when he made you dinner, but despite all that, you were so guarded. You know he was trying, but the hurt that he caused you was blocking you from accepting it.

When you came home around 9, it seemed like Jaehyun was already in bed. He usually worked from home, but this week he was in the office. You envied how he always seemed to have it lucky, everything usually goes his way. You walked to the fridge to take out the container of food he prepared for you, this time it was macaroni and cheese. You chuckled as you set it in the microwave, you always ate this during your college days whenever you were pulling all-nighters. The taste brought you back to your old days.

You found your mind wandering to Jaehyun and his old days. You wondered where he went to think and process his thoughts, who were the friends that made him laugh and formed those dimples of his, you didn’t know a lot of things. Did he talk to Chaeyoung yet? You sighed, they had so much history. You knew you were intruding into their relationship, but this was a situation that you couldn’t help.

As you got ready for bed, you called Haewon for a little chat, before you moved in with Jaehyun, she would always come over and spend time with you. You missed her dearly, she was the crazy friend that always gave you a good time, but this time you wanted to talk seriously with her. You expressed to Haewon your concerns about letting your guards down and opening up to Jaehyun. She always knew you were guarded and always did her best to make you feel comfortable, but she felt like if you never let your walls down, there was going to be no one waiting for you. You huffed when she said that, all you wanted was to find someone for yourself… but maybe that person is you.

“Well, I’m going to head to bed. You probably have a busy work schedule too, so go to bed, I’ll talk to you later. Love you.” Haewon bid.

“You have no idea. Goodnight, love you,” you hung up the phone and threw yourself on the bed. It’s not like you can blame your parents for putting you in this position, this is all they know, they were put in this situation, and so were your grandparents. To be honest, it felt like a family curse.

When you woke up the next morning, Jaehyun had already left for work. Breakfast was stored and as you reheated it, you scrolled through your emails. The Designing Department had already sent digital images of rough drafts for the upcoming Spring-Summer collection. The designs didn’t look right, so you figured you’d have to go to their department today. You exhaled in annoyance, going down there meant that you weren’t able to work on the files, which means that everything you hoped to finish was going to be put back.

“Morning sweetie,” your mother greeted from her desk.

“Good morning mother, I have to go down to the Designing Department for a bit today, have my assistant call me if I'm needed.” you quickly set your bag and made your way.

You double-check your notes, making sure everything was ordered and organized. As the upcoming CEO, you had to have your life together. As the elevator doors open, you stride to the open doors that hold one of the most important assets of the company.

“Good morning, Ms. y/l/n.” everyone greeted you.

“Yes, good morning, everyone. Today we have a busy day, I went over the files that were sent to me and some adjustments need to be made. That being said, I want to work with the design processors first, we’ll get all of the designs done for the prototyping to begin today. Everyone, get to work!” You commanded, everyone dispersing into their job.

You walked over to where the processors were, they were in charge of designing the outfits. The colors, patterns, print, and proportion were all done by them. Several of them had their head buried in their desk, Park Chaeyoung. There she was, sitting in her desk, solely focused on her designs. Her head perked up once you towered over her.

“I heard you’re very good at designing-” you nodded at her drawings, “-may I take a look?”

“O-oh! Of course,” she handed you her stack of papers.

You quickly scanned her sketches, her lines were delicately drawn with preciseness and the patterns complimented the outfit, she unexpectedly met your expectations. One thing that bothered you was that the colors didn’t harmonize well together, instead, they clashed. Nonetheless, you were still impressed.

“They’re not bad,” you sighed, handing them back, “but I advise you not to play with the colors too much. The designs are very well drawn, but the colors clash too much. It makes it hard on the eye.” you advised her.

“Yes, Ms. Y/l/n, thank you for the advice.” Chaeyoung bowed her head.

You smiled back before drawing your attention to the rest of the team members. You went to each of them, making sure the designs were well correlated with the collection. You made sure to speak with every designer and ensure that everything corresponded. Every fabric, texture, detail, and sampling had to be perfect, there was no room to mess up.

By lunchtime, you weren’t as close to finishing as you wanted to be, but you can tell that you lacked effort from the designing team. You huffed in annoyance, “alright, everyone, thirty-minute lunch, please. Be back as soon as possible!” you demanded.

As you let the entire team to lunch, you sat and scanned over the designs again, ensuring everything was perfect enough to move on. You wrote corrections and notes here and there, so the processors knew what to revise and change.

Jaehyun sat in his office chair, fixated on the papers in front of him, his hair tousled, and his tie slightly loosened. Going over the accounting finances were a pain in the ass, he had to make sure everything was correct, and so far, they weren’t. The debits and credits were mixed up, even an elementary student could’ve figured it out. It wasn’t even better that he was meeting up with Chaeyoung at her place tonight. Jaehyun was going to clear things up with her and for once, he felt like he was doing the right thing.

Back at Audace, as soon as the department was back, it was time to get to work. You gave the processors a few minutes before beginning the prototyping process. Not only was designing hard but so was sewing. Everything had to fit together, the fabric needed to be embedded, and it had to be the fabric that the outfit was designed for. You glide the folded textile through the sewing machine, yarn connecting it into one. As you put the finished textile on the mannequin, you heard someone scolding. You turned your head to see the head department, Jieun, lecturing Chaeyoung as she held her head low. You walked over, hoping to alleviate the tension.

“You should know better! Even if Ms. Y/l/n gives you thirty minutes, you only have twenty minutes! We are launching our Spring-Summer collection. We don’t have time to be flexible, we don’t even have time for lun-”

“Everything alright here Jieun?” You raised a brow.

“Y-yes,-” she bowed, “-everything is okay.”

“Then let’s get back to work, we have a lot to do.”

You led the Designing Department through the whole process in making the outfits. Textiles were sewn, fabrics were slipped on the mannequin, and outfits were completed. You sighed after completing a few, the department still had a few more to go and it was almost the end of everyone’s shift. Your fingers flowed through the silky fabrics of one of the blouses you put together, you were putting your whole heart and soul into this collection, you had to impress society that you were made to be the next CEO. A ring from your phone suddenly distracted you from your thoughts.

“Hello?”

“Hey y/n,” it was Jaehyun.

“Hi, is everything okay?” It wasn’t usual for him to call you at all.

“Yeah, everything’s fine. I’m just letting you know that I won’t be home until later tonight,” he said.

“Oh, ok-” you paused, “-do you want me to leave you some dinner?”

“No, that’s okay. I know you’re busy with work, just get some sleep when you get home. I’ll eat when I’m done.” Jaehyun said.

“Okay,” you bid him goodbye and hung up the phone.

You could hear the fatigue and stress in his voice. Maybe he’s busy at work, hopefully, he gets some sleep. You didn’t want to meet an angry Jaehyun again. You eluded your thoughts and got back to work, you figured that you’d be working overtime also, so you did your best to rush with preciseness.

Jaehyun cleaned his desk, he grabbed his bag, ready to leave for Chaeyoung place. He hadn’t figured out what he was going to say to her, but he had a clear idea.

“Goodnight Mr. Jung,” his employees bowed as he passed them.

Once Jaehyun was driving on the road, his mind strayed to you. He wondered if you were okay at work, if you had a lot, and if you were taking breaks often. Jaehyun didn’t exactly know you, but he knew how stubborn you were, especially when it comes to work. You liked to plow through the work, you liked to get things done. Jaehyun sighed as his palms tightened on the steering wheel, he was nervous to talk to Chaeyoung. So many ‘what if’ scenarios flashed through his mind.

When Jaehyun pulled into Chaeyoung's parking lot, he felt his palm sweat. Uneasiness settled in his bones, he didn’t want to break her heart, he didn’t want to break the woman he loves. He’s already broken you, he didn’t want to break another, especially Chaeyoung. Jaehyun timidly walked up to her door, quietly knocking on it, hoping that the hush of it was heard.

“Jaehyun!” she pulled him in for a hug, shutting the door behind him.

“Hey,” Jaehyun gently pulled her away, “we need to talk.”

Chaeyoung pulled him to her couch, she sat and grasped his hand sensing the seriousness, “Is everything okay?”

“I-” Jaehyun rubbed his face, hoping it’d release some of the tension behind his expression, “-we need to stop.”

“What do you mean?” Chaeyoung’s voice quieted.

“This,” he pointed back and forth between them, “we need to end this.”

“W-why? Did I do something wrong?” Her voice weakened.

Silence drapes the room as Jaehyun sits across Chaeyoung. He knows he has to tell her the truth, that’s what she deserves, but her reaction made Jaehyun anxious. Would she hate me? What if she never wants to see me ever again? He couldn’t afford to lose her, but at the same time, the guilt ate him alive every time the image of you flashed in his head.

Jaehyun tangled his fingers through his hair. “No, you didn’t do anything wrong,” he exhales, “I’m engaged to someone.”

“What?” Chaeyoung’s eyes widen, “who?”

There was a long pause before Jaehyun can speak up, “Y/l/n Y/n,” he lowers his gaze at his fiddling hands.

“My boss? You’re engaged to my boss?” Chaeyoung stood up appalled.

“Please sit,” he begged.

She yanked her hand from his, “How? Why? Since when?”

“Since a while ago, we won’t be getting married until the summer. It’s for business, but honestly, I just don’t think my dad wants me to marry you,” he quietly scoffed, “Jung Corporation is a joint company with Audace.”

Chaeyoung’s head falls into the palm of her hand, “I hate you. How could you do this to me? Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

“Because I wanted to be with you! But I’ve treated y/n like shit and now...I want to try this with her,” Jaehyun whispered the last part.

Chaeyoung sits in silence, before she releases a long-awaited sigh, “Please go,” she points to the door.

“Ch-Chaeyoung, please,” he pleaded.

“Get out, Jaehyun!”

So as much as Jaehyun wanted to stay he knew he had no choice but to leave, he knew that you were probably waiting at home for him. This is now over and he knows that it’s time to focus on fixing this up with you, but he can’t help but feel the pain in his chest. For such a long time, he’s waited for Chaeyoung to come back from the states and start a life with him. Of course, things never work out for him.

Before he drove home, Jaehyun drove to the edge of a cliff. The twinkling lights that lit the city helped him overlook his problems, it helps remind him his problems were only small. Jaehyun rested his head on the steering wheel, a choked cry came out, which grew into sobs about everything he’s done. Jaehyun wanted out, he didn’t want to be put through this, not anymore, but thought of you always reminded him that he wanted to be better. Even though he had you, his heart hurt for Chaeyoung, the memory of her crying, pointing out the door, telling him that she hated him would resonate in his mind.

When you got home, Jaehyun hadn’t made it back yet, usually, he’d be home around 5 if he was ever late. You shrugged it off, making your way to the kitchen making dinner, and turning on some music. You were making your favorite dish, pad thai. Hopefully, Jaehyun liked it too because you were going to pack a little for him.

The rice noodles that sauteed with the sauce and vegetables filled the kitchen with a delectable aroma. You set yourself a plate and a container for Jaehyun, leaving it uncapped to cool down. You sat by the table, munching on your dinner as you scrolled through your phone. You replied to text messages and emails that required your approval.

“Maybe I should just stay later,” you sighed. Since you spent the day in the Designing Department, you didn’t get the chance to work on any other department files. You rubbed your temples in frustration, you were going to have to bring them home. You were never fond of bringing work home, you cherished the moment you had after work because it was your time to relax and be at peace. Work was work and whatever work you had you left it in your office until the next day, but everything was so demanding now.

You didn’t want to think about it anymore, you set your phone down to enjoy the food in front of you, but you shortly heard the door open and a tired Jaehyun walked in. His hair was tousled, his tie was loose, and a couple of buttons were undone. His eyes held dark bags and were stained red, was he crying? Jaehyun looked at you curiously, to him, you looked overworked, considering you were still in your work clothes.

“I just got home,” you answered, it was like you read his mind, “I made some pad thai and packed it in the fridge, just give me a second-” you got up from your chair, making your way to the fridge, “-I’ll heat this up for you.”

“O-oh, you don’t have to. I can do that, just come finish your food.” Jaehyun stuttered.

“It’s okay,” you already had the pad thai on a plate and placed it in the microwave.

You set the warm food in front of Jaehyun who seated himself beside your chair. You watched him from the corner of your eye, you wanted to see his reaction.

“This is really good,” his eyes widened.

“You like it?” you asked.

“Yes, what is this?” Jaehyun asked, taking another bite.

“Pad thai,” you replied, “when I was younger, my family and I would often take trips to Thailand. One of the chefs taught me how to make it since I like it so much.”

Jaehyun nodded, continuing to eat as you quietly sat and finished yours. You offered to clean up and let him get ready for bed, but he was persistent in doing the cleaning, so you let him. You walked up to your room to get ready to shower, hoping that the hot water would release the tension in your shoulders. As it did, you couldn’t help but feel unsettled, you were typically good at giving people the cold shoulder, especially to Jaehyun, so why were you suddenly being considerate of him? You dug into your subconscious to see where your feelings were with him. You convinced yourself it was going to take time to forgive him, but your actions already said that you did. Colliding with your thoughts, you didn’t know who to listen to.

It was late and you wanted to leave for work early in the morning, but as you laid in bed, you couldn’t stop shuffling in your sheets. Your body was physically drained, but your mind was everywhere. Why did he come home late? Was he crying? Your brows furrowed. You remembered how he looked at you when he came in, for a split second you thought you saw heartbreak and regret in his eyes. Maybe he went to go talk to Chaeyoung. You sighed. Only your thoughts of tomorrow could confirm it.

So there you were, 5am, sitting in your office going through the files. With your tea beside you, the shuffling of papers swayed the steam coming from the cup, almost cooling it down.

By the time your mother came in, you had finished the Marketing Department’s files. “You’re here early. When did you come?” Your mother set her bag on her desk.

“5,” you said, grabbing the files leaving the office.

You stood alone in the elevator, employees coming and going. On the 5th floor, Chaeyoung stood wide-eyed as the doors opened to the sight of you. She bowed and quickly came in, standing a few feet from you, you saw how she tightly held onto the files in her hands. You figured she had to drop some paperwork off at another apartment, but your assumptions stood true, Chaeyoung’s eyes were swollen, bags shadowed beneath her eyes. She looked like she hadn’t slept in days, even though you saw her yesterday.

The two of you stood silent until the 4th floor was met, you nodded to her and left for the Marketing Department. On your stroll there, you could hear whispers occurring as you passed by. The Marketing Department was notorious for gossiping, they knew many of the present trends and updated buzz. Usually, they spoke about you, but a familiar name was called and you slightly stiffened.

“Did you see the pictures of Jaehyun at the after-party?” one of them said.

“No, show me!” another begged.

“They’re blurry, but isn’t he handsome???” the girl gawked.

“Who’s that girl he’s carrying?” another asked, frustration glazing her question.

“I’m not sure, but I’ll figure it out. I always do,” the girl chuckled.

Your eyes widened as you realized that girl they were referring to was you. You quicken your strides to the head office, you quickly drop it off to make your way back to your office, avoiding the girls. You panted as you fell into your chair, you weren’t aware that you were holding your breath through all of that.

“Are you okay?” Your mother noticed your thwarted expression.

“Yeah,” you sighed, getting back to work.

As you worked on your files, you lost track of time as your focus was solely on completing them. Your mind was distracted the second your secretary stood in front of your desk.

“Can I help you?” You asked, your focus not leaving the papers in front of you.

“Ms. y/l/n, someone is here for you.” She said.

“Unless they have an appointment, I don’t have time to talk.”

“M-Ms. y/l/n,” your secretary hesitated, “it’s Mr. Jung.”

You sighed, looking at the clock. You hadn’t realized it was already noon. Why is Jaehyun here? “Let him in.”

Your gaze avoided the door to your office, you didn’t want him to think you were waiting for him. When Jaehyun walked in, he was dressed in a dark grey suit, his tie well done, his hair slicked back, he looked rather composed, unlike last night.

“Hi, I hope you’re not too busy,” Jaehyun walked up to your desk, you could smell the cologne he always wore. It held a clean, wood, and rich scent like it was made solely for him.

“Just a little bit, is everything okay?” You quietly asked.

“Yeah,” he sat down in one of the seats in front of you, “I was wondering if you have time for lunch.” He enjoyed the moment last night as you two ate, so he wanted to have lunch with you today.

Oh...Your eyes slightly widen, you didn’t know if you were excited or surprised. “I have time,” you nodded.

“Great, I don’t know what you like so I just brought some kimbap that I made,” Jaehyun’s lips pressed together.

“That’s okay, I like it.” You reached to grab one and popped it in your mouth.

Before you could grab another, your mother marched in, “Honey, I’m ba-OH! Mr. Jung, I wasn’t aware you were coming. I’ll leave you two be.” she quickly ran out.

“No, mother it’s okay!” You begged, anticipating the awkward tension between you two, but she was quick to leave. “Sorry about that,” you commented, lowering back into your seat.

“That’s okay,” Jaehyun chuckled, you saw those dimples and his whiskers again, it sent jitters to your spine. “What are you working on?” he nodded at the papers in front of you.

“Um-” you looked at your files, “-just approving the departments’ files. We’re coming out with a new Spring-Summer collection, so they need my approval for several things.”

“That’s a lot. When do they need it?”

“By the end of the week, I usually finish by Thursday but it looks like I’m going to have to bring some home so I can just finish on time,” your smile fell when you realized who was standing at the door.

Jaehyun picked up on your expression and turned around in his seat, “Ch-Chaeyoung.”

It felt as if time had slowed down, the three of you stood still in your places. None of you said a word and let the unsettling feeling resonate in each other’s bones. The silence blanketed the room and brought tension between everyone.

You held your breath before speaking up, “What is it Chaeyoung?” you asked.

“Your secretary wasn’t at her desk and I needed to drop these off as soon as possible, they need your approval.” She walked towards your desk and gently set them on your desk.

You thank her as she bows and leaves, Jaehyun’s gaze never leaving her figure. You felt your stomach lightly drop, was it the kimbap? Or were you flustered, hot, and maybe a little jealous? Nope.

You cleared your throat, earning Jaehyun’s attention, “I’m full and I have a lot to do, so I’ll see you at home.” you said, this was a way of forcing him out of your office.

“Y/n,” Jaehyun’s head fell to the side.

“I don’t want to know Jaehyun. Whatever you have with her is your issue,” you opened the doors to your office, “please leave.” you did your best at keeping your composure together.

“Y/n, I ended things with her.” Jaehyun’s palms fell in front of you in reason.

“Please, Jaehyun,” you gulped, “go.”

#nct jaehyun #jaehyun angst #jaehyun imagines #jaehyun series #jaehyun au #jung jaehyun au #jaehyun scenarios #nct imagines #nct127 imagines #nct 127 au #jaehyun nct au #jaehyun #nct au #jung jaehyun scenarios

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ppangjae · 4 years ago

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made to fall in love | ten

SERIES MASTERLIST

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SUMMARY. Seoul’s finest 30 under 30. The country’s youngest billionaire. 2019’s richest bachelor. But of all the women he could go after, he goes after.. her?

GENRE. fluff and angst + ceo!jaehyun (someone stop me) + nerd!reader + enemies to lovers!au + long lost friend!au

WORD COUNT. 1.8k+ words

warnings. tooth-rotting fluff, swearing, and tons of bickering!

author’s note. this update is just a little bit longer than the previous one just because there wasn’t an update last week. happy reading~

TEN. never not • from the moment i loved, i knew you were the one

“Care to explain this?”

Johnny tosses the daily newspaper onto Jaehyun’s desk. Jaehyun quirks an eyebrow at his best friend as he gently grabs the newspaper. Written in large, bold font, he reads the headline with a smirk slowly forming on his lips. Johnny’s eyebrows raise in surprise.

“The media just loves me, huh?” Jaehyun clicks his tongue. He tosses the newspaper to the side. “Do you really think I have the time to get engaged?”

“So, you’re telling me that—”

“The headlines are fake?” Jaehyun interrupts him. “Yes. They are.”

“But that’s clearly you and Y/N in the picture. You’re clearly kneeling down in front of her with an engagement ring.” Johnny says confusedly.

“The restaurant we both ate at last night had a promotion where a newly-engaged couple’s dinner will be on the house.” He explains while shrugging his shoulders. “I decided to finesse the system. Is there anything wrong with that? Besides, the bill turned out to be bigger than I expected and what’s better than faking a marriage proposal to get the dinner for free?”

“The ring,” Johnny mumbles, “Do you carry an engagement ring everywhere you go?”

Jaehyun snorts. “The ring is for my mother. It’s her birthday today and I had picked up the ring yesterday. It was all perfect timing.”

Johnny squints his eyes at him with suspicion. “Well, you better talk to the press and clear this entire situation up. The public now assume you’re—”

“Off the market?” Jaehyun grins. “Sounds nice. It also looks nice when it’s printed out on paper. Jeong Jaehyun, CEO of Jung Architects is officially off the market—”

“Good morning.”

Jaehyun clamps his mouth shut. You enter the office before stopping in your tracks. You look at the two best friends who are staring at you. You fold your arms and raise an eyebrow. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Johnny clears his throat. “Good morning. Jaehyun, do you want me to go grab you some coffee?”

Jaehyun fixes his tie and gets back to work. “I’d like that. Thanks. Y/N, do you want some coffee too?”

You watch them with a confused look. “S-Sure, I could get a caffeine boost.”

As Johnny starts making his way to the door, the both of you meet gazes. The both of you communicate through looks until Johnny shrugs his shoulders and sticks his tongue out at you. You let out a sigh.

“Is there anything wrong, Y/N?”

Your posture straightens. “Nothing, sir.”

As you’re taking a seat at your work table, you notice a bright yellow post-it note on your desk. You place your bag onto your chair to pick at the post-it note. Your eyebrows knit together as you read it.

Cheer up! You look lovely today. -J

You scoff, ready to crumble up the post-it note until you try to sneak a glance at Jaehyun. He’s busy typing away on his computer, looking completely unfazed and unbothered. The more you stare at him, the more you question the post-it note. You shift your gaze back to the post-it note. J? Who the fuck is J? Instead of crumbling up the post-it note, you gently stick it back onto the surface of your work table. You look at Jaehyun with suspicion.

Johnny comes back to the office with two cups of freshly-made coffee in his hands. First, he places a cup onto Jaehyun’s desk. Jaehyun mumbles a soft ‘thanks’ before his typing returns to an aggressive speed. Johnny strides over to your desk to place your coffee onto your desk.

“A cup of coffee for my favourite human being.” Johnny smiles.

You chuckle. “Am I really your favourite human being?”

“Of course!” He exclaims.

“Johnny, get back to work.” Jaehyun commands him. Johnny’s smile is immediately wiped off of his face. It makes you want to laugh.

“Yes, sir.” Johnny mutters, rolling his eyes. He nods at you. “You look lovely today, by the way! It’s nice to see you all cheered up.”

“I—wait—huh?” You stutter.

“I should get back to work. I’ll see you during lunch break!” Johnny exclaims as he starts heading towards the door without speaking to you any further.

You look lovely today, by the way!

It’s nice to see you all cheered up.

Cheer up! You look lovely today.

-J

J for Jaehyun? J for Johnny?

You’re instantly troubled with your thoughts. Jaehyun sneaks a glance at you, specifically at the post-it note on your desk. A smile threatens to spread across his lips.

The company’s year-end party is definitely something that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Every single employee seems to be doing at least something for the party. Johnny’s in charge of the decorations, Winwin from the HR department is in charge of the catering, and even Lucas, the newly-hired intern is in charge of the guest list. There are employees running everywhere, putting in all their effort to make the year-end party the best it could possibly be.

Meanwhile, you’re in the middle of the chaos, pondering on what you should wear.

Jaehyun clearly has favourites.

You’re probably one of them.

“You should probably go for the off-shoulder dress.” You jump in your seat, letting out a loud yelp. You almost drop your phone. You hear a soft chuckle.

Jaehyun is looking at your phone over your shoulder. You immediately lock your phone, quickly shoving your phone back into your pocket. “I’ve been waiting for half an hour now. Are you done with your work?”

“Oh,” Jaehyun’s eyebrows raise. “Were you expecting me to drive you home?”

“Yes.” You frown. “You always do.”

“But you always decline my offer?” It comes out as a question.

“Well, after much thought, I figured that I’d save more money if you drove me home.” You purse your lips into a tight line. “My bus money can be lunch money.”

“You have a point.” He hums in agreement. “Well, let’s get going. I know a place to go to.”

“A place?”

Jaehyun doesn’t reply, a grin spread across his lips. You fold your arms, waiting for him to utter a word but his stubborn self seals his lips.

“It’s a surprise.”

“Christian Dior?”

Jaehyun opens the door for you. You slowly step out of his car. As he shuts the door behind you, you can’t help but look at the store with bright eyes. He glances at you and smiles. “Surprise.”

You snort. “I think I’ll go to the store next door. I don’t think I can afford anything from Dior.”

“Who said you were paying?”

Your head snaps in his direction and your eyes widen. You shake your head. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

He shrugs his shoulders. “I’m not joking.”

You squint your eyes at him. “It’s moments like these where I wish I took the bus instead.”

“You won’t regret this,” he says as he grabs your hand.

You look down at your interlocked hands as he leads you to the high-end store. There are tailors left and right and retailers flocking to Jaehyun the moment he enters the store. They’re all asking him questions about what he’s interested in looking at but Jaehyun doesn’t budge. Instead, he looks at you.

“I’m not shopping for me,” he says with a sheepish smile. “I’m shopping for her.”

Everyone looks at you. You look at them, just as awkward and confused as they are until one of the retailers lets out a loud gasp. “You’re her! You’re the woman on the front page of the newspaper!”

You furrow your eyebrows in confusion. “What are you talking about—”

“She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.” Jaehyun cuts you off and he fakes a smile at the retailer. “Is it possible to get all the red dresses you sell at this store location?”

“Oh, I thought you were going to look for engagement party dresses—”

“Engagement?” You frown. The retailer just doesn’t know how to clamp her mouth shut and Jaehyun gives her a warning look. You nudge Jaehyun. “Do you know what she’s talking about?”

“Oh! How rude of me!” The retailer gasps. “Congratulations on your engagement—”

“Red dresses!” Jaehyun snaps. “Where are your red dresses? We’re running on a time crunch right now and—”

You shake your head. “No, we’re not. We’re not in a rush—”

“Ah, I wish I was as lucky as her to be engaged with Jeong Jaehyun—”

“We are in a rush. Please get the red dresses prepared, thanks.”

“We’ll get the red dresses prepared.”

You and Jaehyun share a look.

There’s nothing wrong with having too many red dresses to try on. Well, except for two, it’s tiring and taxing. The tailors that are zipping you up in your last dress for the night can’t help but giggle at your facial expression. You look tired. You look at your reflection with a blank gaze. That is, until you finally feel the dress being zipped up perfectly. Your posture straightens and it sort of snaps you back into reality. Your eyes trail down your reflection in the mirror and your mouth gradually hangs open.

You look…

“You look beautiful, ma’am.”

You look at the tailor through the mirror. You feel your cheeks heat up. “Thanks.”

“Shall we show Mr. Jeong how you look?”

You nod. “Let’s get going, I’m starving.”

Jaehyun fiddles with his phone as the annoying retailer continues to bug him with questions about his supposed ‘engaged’ life. He can’t help but regret faking a marriage proposal for a free dinner. He can’t help but regret using his mother’s birthday gift that so happens to be a ring, as a fake engagement ring. All for a free dinner. He guesses this was his karma.

“She’s ready, do you want to see her?” He looks up to see the tailor coming out from the dressing room. He slowly nods his head and lets out a yawn. “Sorry for letting you wait a bit longer for this dress, but I’m sure it will be worth it.”

He’s seen at least ten red dresses at this point that he’s not sure what the differences between them are. But that’s all about to change the moment you step out of the dressing room. And indeed, there is a huge difference. You step out of the dressing room in a red dress. But it’s not just any dress.

You’re slowly turning around in the dress to give Jaehyun a full view of the dress. It’s a long mermaid, off-the-shoulder dress with a high slit down the side of your leg. It flows effortlessly all the way down to your feet. It shows all of your beautiful curves.

Jaehyun looks at you in awe. “This is the one.”

You adjust your glasses on the bridge of your nose, tucking a few stray strands of hair behind your ear. You’re too insecure to even notice that Jaehyun even said something about the dress until the tailor is ready to take you back to the dressing room. “Wait, you don’t like this one?”

Jaehyun’s eyebrows knit in confusion. “I love this one.”

You blink. “Really?”

He smiles, nodding his head. “Really. You look lovely.”

You look lovely.

You snap out of it before turning towards the tailor. “I’m getting this dress.”

You look..

Lovely.

It echoes in your mind, over and over again, specifically in his voice.

Yeah, you’re definitely not sleeping tonight.

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#jaehyun #jaehyun scenarios #jaehyun imagines #jaehyun x reader #jaehyun x oc #jeong jaehyun #jeong jaehyun scenarios #jeong jaehyun imagines #jeong jaehyun x reader #jeong jaehyun x oc #nct #nct scenarios #nct imagines #nct x reader #nct 127 scenarios #nct 127 #nct 127 imagines

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harringtonstilinski · 4 years ago

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You’ll Always Be My Hero - Chapter 1 ; Wolf Moon

Author: @harringtonstilinski Characters: Stiles Stilinski x Emma Thomas (OC) Word Count: 11,992 (i promise they all won’t be this long) Warnings: mentions of a dead body, small amount of angst, some teen partying, emma being a scardy cat, A/N: Hi, friends! First of all; Holy shit! I can’t believe it’s here! I’m so excited to be sharing this with all of you. This series was inspired by @stiles-o-dylan24 & @bilesbilinskix. I read both of their rewrites, fell in love with their stories and characters, and decided to write one of my own. I started writing it in May of last year as a personal rewrite, but also to dip my toe into the writing pool. I haven’t stopped, as you can tell, haha. I really, really hope y’all enjoy this as I put my heart and soul into it for over a year. Secondly, 🎉 Happy Birthday, Dylan O’Brien! (even though he’s never gonna read this, lol) I hope your day goes exactly how you want, and I hope that 29 treats you good. Thank you for Stiles. Without you, there’d be no Stiles and with no Stiles, we all wouldn’t have been introduced to you as an actor. You’ve inspired so many people, as well as myself, to be the best people that we can we can be. So, thank you. And again; Happy Birthday 🎉 As always, read at your own risk and enjoy 😊

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~~~

“I'm gonna tell you a story. Maybe it'll sound familiar,” the boy started. I looked at him, and smiled. We've come a long way since that night. More braver, more confident in our abilities. The boy turned around in his seat and we shared a smile. In order for you to understand what's going on, I'm gonna need to take you back to that fateful night two years ago.

~~~

I had just laid out my clothes for tomorrow; the first day of sophomore year. I had crawled into bed to read some of my book, Dear John. I was a big Nicholas Sparks fan. I loved all of his books. It made me believe in love, as well as my parents.

Just as I was about to begin another chapter, I heard a knock on my window that housed a small balcony. Think Gabriella Montez from High School Musical.

Sighing, I replaced my bookmark, tossed the covers off, and went to the doors. I heard the knocking again followed by a grunt. Smirking and shaking my head, I opened the door to see my two best friends standing there. Scott McCall and Stiles Stilinski.

“Emma? You alright up there?” my mom asked.

Walking to my bedroom door, I opened it and replied, “Yes, Mom, I'm fine. Good night.”

After closing my door, I turned to walk back, seeing Scott and Stiles already standing in my room, Stiles holding clothes out for me.

“You do realize that it's 10 o'clock at night, right?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

“I know it's late, but you've gotta hear this,” Stiles excitedly started. “I saw my dad leave 20 minutes ago. Dispatch called.”

“Stiles, you know not to listen in on your dad's phone calls,” I said, pinching the bridge of my nose.

“I know,” he said sadly, but perked right back up. “But, they're bringing in every officer from the Beacon Department, and even State Police.”

I looked up at him, hand still near my face. “For what?” I asked, waving my hand a little, already done with this conversation. I just wanted to get into bed. I'd had a really long day.

Slightly jumping, he said, “Two joggers found a body in the woods.”

Looking back at Scott, he nodded a little. I walked past them both and looked out of my balcony door windows. I lived near the Beacon Hills Preserve, which was our woods. Turning back to face them both, I asked, “A dead body?”

Sarcastically, Stiles replied, “No, a body of water. Yes, dumbass, a dead body.”

I gave him a look that said I was totally done. “Enough with the name calling.”

“Sorry,” he replied.

“So, do you mean like murdered or a suicide?” I wondered.

Stiles looked at me like, is she for real? Putting his hands on his hips, he said, “Nobody knows yet. Just that it was a girl, probably in her twenties.”

“Wait, wait, wait, hold up,” I held my hands in front of me. “If they found the body, then what are they looking for?” I looked to Scott for the answer and he just shook his head with closed eyes and said, “Just let him finish.”

I looked back to Stiles. “That's the best part.” He looked to my floor then back into my eyes. “They only found half,” he said, voice raising a little on the last word, eyebrows raised. I knew that look all too well.

I scrunched my brows together and closed my eyes. “Oh, no.” I raised one brow. “Please, don't tell me -”

Stiles cut me off by saying, “We're going.”

~~~

Pulling up to the Beacon Hills Preserve, I pulled my hoodie closer to my body, jumped out of the Jeep behind Stiles and quickly walked to the front.

“Are we seriously doing this?” Scott and I asked our spastic friend.

“You two are the ones always bitching that nothing ever happens in this town,” Stiles said, patting Scott's shoulder and giving me a playful smile.

I looked at Scott and whispered, “Let's just steal his damn keys and go back home.”

He quietly laughed at me and started walking towards Stiles, who had already walked over the chains connecting the sign to two wooden stumps.

“I was trying to get a good night's sleep before practice tomorrow,” Scott said, helping me over the chain. It wasn't very high, but he still insisted on helping me.

“Thanks, Scotty,” I said.

Stiles must've turned around and watched Scott because he was giving me a look I couldn't decipher. Turning back around, he started walking through the woods and said, “Right, 'cause sitting on the bench is such a grueling effort.”

Scott and I followed behind him quickly because he had our only source of light; the flashlight.

“No, because I'm playing this year,” Scott said. “In fact, I'm making first line.”

I smiled at my best friend, giving him the encouragement he needed. Which was completely obliterated by Stiles sarcastically saying, “Hey, that's the spirit. Everyone should have a dream, even a pathetically unrealistic one.”

I looked down at the ground. Little did he know about mine. Scott shook his head and smiled. He looked at me and nudged my shoulder. “You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah. Yeah, just-” I stopped myself, trying to pull my hoodie even more closer to my body, if it was even at all possible at this point.

Stiles stopped and turned around to face us. “Just don't like the woods is all. Especially at night.” Putting his arm around my shoulders, Stiles started walking forward again. “Don't worry, Em. We've got you.”

Scott caught up to us. “Just out of curiosity, which half of the body are we looking for?”

“Huh. I didn't think about that,” Stiles replied with a nervous laugh.

I looked up at him. “And, uh, what if whoever killed the body is still out here?” I asked nervously.

“Also something I didn't think about,” he said as, climbing up a small hill.

“I mean, we could be next!” I felt a hand on my back, momentarily forgetting about Scott, who said, “No one's gonna get you. They gotta go through us first.”

I put my hand over my heart and sassed, “My heroes.” I started up the hill behind Stiles. “Ya’know, it's really comforting to know you've planned this out with your usual attention to detail, Stiles,” I snarked.

“I know,” he exclaimed.

I heard Scott wheezing below me and looked at him.

“Maybe the severe asthmatic should be the one holding the flashlight, huh?” Scott asked from his perch on a tree. He took his inhaler out of his hoodie pocket, climbing the small hill as he was shaking it.

Landing in between my two best friends, we saw multiple police walking towards us with their flashlights pointing in our direction. They were far enough away to not shine on us.

“Come on,” Stiles said, pulling me up with him.

Scott hollered our names, but we didn't stop. Well, I tried, but Stiles just kept pulling me along with him. From behind us, I heard Scott say Stiles' name. We both turned and glanced at Scott, slowing down just a bit. A dog barking and growling caused me to back into Stiles, him screaming. Grabbing onto me, we both fell backwards, him with a grunt as I landed on him.

“Sorry, I'm so sorry,” I quickly apologized to him.

“Nope, you're good,” he replied.

“Hold it right- Emma?” I heard my dad's voice say. He had a flashlight aimed at us.

I quickly stood and put my hands behind my back. Something I've done since childhood, thinking I was in deep shit. Ya’know, kid of a go-by-the-rule-book kind of deputy.

“Hang on, hang on,” another familiar voice said. I looked down at Stiles and snickered.

“What?” he quietly asked.

“Busted,” I whispered in a sing-song voice.

Stiles stood just as the voice said, “This little delinquent belongs to me.”

That voice just so happened to belong to Stiles' dad, Sheriff Noah Stilinski. Also known as my dad's best friend... and my godfather.

“And that one's mine,” Dad said.

I smiled sheepishly. “Hi, Daddy. Sheriff.”

“Dad, how you doing?” Stiles casually asked. “Uhm, Mr. Thomas? The light? Could ya- okay.”

My dad lowered the light a little bit to remove it from our faces.

“So, do you two, uh, listen in to all my phone calls?” Sheriff asked.

I put my hands up quickly and said, “I didn't. I swear!”

“No, heh. Not boring ones,” Stiles awkwardly laughed.

Did I forget to mention it had started raining? ‘Cause it got a little bit heavier, almost soaking my jacket through to my shirt.

“Now, where's your third partner in crime?” Sheriff asked.

“Who, Scott?” Stiles breathed. “Sc-Scott's home.” He looked to me to help him get out of this situation he's gotten us into.

“Uh,” I eyed Stiles with curious brows then looked back towards Sheriff. “He said he wanted to get a good night's sleep for the first day back at school tomorrow.”

“It's just us. In the woods. Alone,” Stiles said.

I palmed my face with a deep sigh.

Sheriff raised his flashlight towards the trees and scanned them, looking for any sign of Scott. “Scott, you there?” Thunder rumbled a little. “Scott?” he shouted once more. Sheriff looked down and sighed. “Well, young man,” he walked forward and grabbed Stiles by the back of the neck and started walking towards the Jeep. “I'm gonna walk you back to your car.” He looked back to me, but I was staring at the ground to avoid my dad's eyes. “You're going to take Emma back home. You know how she is in the woods at night.”

I looked up to see them both walking away before I looked at my dad, walked up and kissed his cheek. “See you in the morning. Love you!” I shouted before I ran and easily caught up with the Stilinski men.

“And you and I are going to have a conversation about something called invasion of privacy,” Sheriff said.

When we all got back to the Jeep, I hopped in the front seat. Sheriff sighed, so I looked at him. “You alright, Sheriff?”

“Yeah, just...” he looked up at Stiles. “Get her home safe.”

It was quiet on the way back to Stiles’ house, since we lived across the street from each other. When Stiles pulled into his driveway, we sat there for a minute. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

I nodded my head. “Mhmm.”

“Do you like Scott?”

I started laughing. “That's an absurd question. No, I don't like Scott.” “Well, do you like anyone?” he asked.

I nodded my head. “Yeah. But it's not like he's going to notice me anyway.” I kept my gaze on my lap.

“Well, whoever he is. He's an idiot for not noticing you.”

I looked at him and smiled. “Thanks, Stiles.”

I got out of the Jeep and walked over to his window. “By the way, next time you wanna go looking for a dead body... keep me out of it. You know how I am about the woods at night.” I patted his shoulder and leaned in to kiss his cheek.

I definitely saw him blush.

~~~

The next morning at school, I was standing with Stiles waiting for Scott to show up. Apparently, Scott had texted Stiles about him getting bit by something in the woods. Why he didn't text me as well, I do not know.

Nonetheless, I was very happy with my outfit choice. I was wearing a blue jean skirt that ended mid-thigh, a white tank top with wide enough straps for dress code, and some black and white Converse. My hair was up in a half ponytail, and my makeup was very minimal and natural. I had a jacket in my backpack just in case I got cold later in the day. With this outfit, I was sure to get his attention… maybe.

I looked over my shoulder to see Scott pull up on his bike, then saw Jackson park his car and get out. Cocky as hell, might I add. After Scott removed his helmet, Jackson opened his door and hit Scott.

I started to walk over there to give Jackson a piece of my mind, but Stiles grabbed my wrist lightly. I looked back at him as he said, “Oh, no, sassy pants. You're not gonna get in trouble on the first day of school because Jackass.”

I looked back over towards Scott as Jackson said, “Dude... watch the paint job.”

“Yo, Jackson, let's go, bro.” Jackson walked away towards his friends, looking back at Scott.

Scott shook his head and walked over towards Stiles and I. “I swear to God, Scott. I'm gonna knock his teeth down his damn throat. Why do you let him do that to you?” I voiced.

“It's not intentional on my end,” he shrugged his shoulders.

“Okay. We'll get back to this topic later,” Stiles told me. He looked back at Scott and while adjusting his backpack strap said, “Okay, let's see this thing.”

Scott lifted his shirt up to where we could see a big piece of gauze taped to his side. It had a little bit of blood on it. Stiles touched it quickly, way too excited about this whole thing.

“Yeah. Whoa!” Scott said. Bending over to pick up his backpack, he said, “It was too dark to see much, but I'm pretty sure it was a wolf.”

Stiles and I looked at each other and smiled. Time to fact check! Stiles and I unintentionally did the same “history” project in third grade.

“A wolf bit you?” Stiles asked. We all started walking towards the front steps of the school.

“Uh-huh,” Scott said.

I spoke up this time. “No, not a chance.”

Scott looked at me. “I heard a wolf howling,” he said with confidence.

“No, you didn't!” Stiles said matter of factly.

“What do you mean, no, I didn't? How do you know what I heard?” Scott asked.

I giggled. “Scott. Scotty,” I stepped forwards to get in front of my boys. I stopped walking and Stiles stood in front of Scott. “Because California doesn't have wolves, okay? Not in like 60 years.”

“Really?” Scott asked.

“Yes, really. There are no wolves in California,” Stiles added.

Scott rolled his eyes and looked to Stiles. “All right, well, if you don't believe me about the wolf, then you're definitely not gonna believe me about when I tell you I found the body.”

I knew Stiles would get excited about this certain subject as he slightly jumped. “You—are you kidding me?”

“Nah, man, I wish. I'm gonna have nightmares for a month,” Scott said.

Stiles let out a breathy chuckle. “Oh, God, that is freakin' awesome.”

I heard the sound of heels meeting the concrete, and looked over, rolling my eyes. Well, shit. Here comes Lydia fucking Martin. Beacon Hills High School resident popular girl... and the 'love of Stiles life.' You see, Stiles has this mad crush on Lydia and was in the middle of this plan he's got to make her fall in love with him. He's been planning it since third grade. Ya'know, I wish that boy would just open his eyes to something better...

I shifted on my feet, which didn't go unnoticed by Scott. He looked at me with scrunched brows. They asked the question I knew he wanted to ask, so I just shook my head with eyes that said I'd tell him later.

Stiles, however, was still going on about Scott's situation. “I mean, this is seriously gonna be the best thing that happened to this town since--” There it is! He noticed Lydia walking by. “Since the birth of Lydia Martin.” He turned around as she walked past us thinking that she could hear him. I'm honestly not even sure if she knew he existed. “Hey, Lydia... You look... like you're gonna ignore me.” He looked back at Scott and I. “You two are the cause of this, you know.”

“Oh, my God,” I said exasperatedly and started walking, which gave the boys their cues.

Scott looked at our best friend like he was crazy. “Uh-huh.”

“Draggin' me down to your nerd depths. I'm a nerd by association. I've been Scarlet Nerded by you.” Stiles realized I wasn't walking with them and was heading up the steps. “Hey, Em! Where you going?”

I turned back around, my hand on the door handle. “Going to be a nerd!” I opened the door and walked in, my boys following me.

After reaching my locker, I opened it and grabbed the binder that I would need. I had one for every class. All different colors with different inspirational sayings I absolutely adored. Stiles and Scott's lockers were on either side of mine. I didn't mind it.

“It amazes me how organized you are. Wanna do my locker?” Stiles asked from beside me.

I giggled and looked at him. “Stiles, the last time I organized something of yours was your room. You managed in less than 5 minutes, no doubt, to turn it back into a pig sty.”

He looked at me, mouth agape. “I was looking for something,” he defended.

“Uh-huh. Sure,” I said, closing my locker.

“Plus, that was like...” he paused, thinking about a specific time period.

“It was two months ago.” I said, standing there looking at him. Damn it. He was so cute. Uh! “Besides, if I did that to your locker now, it would stay that way from the moment I close your locker to the moment you go to find something.” I turned and started walking to English, our first class of the day. We shared this class with Scott.

“By the way, did you ever find that thing you were looking for that day?” I asked, sitting in my seat.

Stiles sat behind me as Scott sat next to me. I was writing today's date on the top of my paper as our teacher, Mr. Curtis was writing on the board. As he did this, he started the class by saying, “As you all know, there indeed was a body found in the woods last night.”

Scott and I looked over our shoulders at Stiles, to which said boy winked at us. I chuckled and looked back down at my paper. I saw Scott look at me from the corner of my eye, but I didn't turn my head to look at him. I was too busy making my paper look pretty. I smirked at myself, happy with my doodles.

“And I'm sure your eager little minds are coming up with various macabre scenarios as to what happened. But I am here to tell you that the police have a suspect in custody...” Mr. Curtis continued.

Scott and I looked at each other with shocked faces then to Stiles, whose face was scrunched up in a confused manner. He raised his hands in surrender as Scott turned back around.

“Which means you can give your undivided attention to the syllabus which is on your desk outlining this semester,” Mr. Curtis said.

I grabbed the paper from under my binder and looked at it. After I read most of the page, I got a highlighter out of my pencil pouch and started highlighting stuff I thought would be the most useful for the year. As I was doing this, though, from the corner of my eye I saw Scott flinch. I looked at him as he looked around the room, but when he found my eyes on him, I mouthed, “You okay?”

His attention was caught on something outside, so naturally, I looked as well. All I saw was a girl with long brown hair talking on her phone, looking through her bag. I shrugged it off and went back to highlighting.

The door opened up a few minutes later and our Vice Principal walked in with the girl from outside. She must've been new. “Class, this is our new student, Allison Argent. Please do your best to make her feel welcome.”

She walked over and sat behind Scott. As she sat down, he turned around and handed her a pen. She looked a little confused, but smiled and gently took the pen from his hand. “Thanks,” she said.

He turned back around as Mr. Curtis started talking, “We'll begin with Kafka's Metamorphosis, on page 133.”

I looked back at Allison and caught a glimpse at the look on her face; utter confusion.

~~~

After the bell rang, Scott and I went to our lockers. I opened up mine, and smiled a little. This year was going to be one of the best. I was going to get the boy of my dreams (hopefully, if he'd notice me), I was going to be more active in Student Council, and I was going to kick sophomore year in it's ass!

I noticed that Scott was looking across the hall at Allison who had turned around and smiled at him, and I smiled bigger. “Ooooh! Somebody's already got a crush,” I teased while nudging him. He seemed to be lost in a trance because... he didn't notice me.

I rolled my eyes for what felt like the millionth time today, (it was only twice) when Lydia walked up to Allison. Damn. There's a potential friendship with her.

“That jacket is absolutely killer. Where'd you get it?” Lydia asked. I knew the only reason why Lydia would talk to her would be because of her clothes.

Allison looked a little hesitant at first to be talking to Lydia, but then said, “My mom was a buyer for a boutique back in San Francisco.”

“And you..” Lydia pointed at her with a delicate finger. “Are my new best friend.” Double damn. As if on cue, Jackson walked up and wrapped his arm around Lydia, making that whole situation awkward for Allison. Poor girl.

“Hey,” Lydia greeted Jackson.

Stiles walked up to us and stood beside me. We held conversation for a few seconds before I looked over at Allison, Lydia, and Jackson.

“Can someone tell me how Allison is here all of five minutes, and she's already hanging out with Lydia's clique?” I asked, not really wanting to because I already knew Stiles' answer.

“Because she's hot,” he said.

“There it is, ladies and germs. There it is,” I said, mostly to myself. Thank God Stiles didn't hear.

“Beautiful people herd together,” he finished.

I didn't want to hear what he had to say next, but I wanted to know. “Stiles, do you not think I'm beautiful?”

“Why would you ask me such a ridiculous question, Em? Of course, you're beautiful,” he said.

I looked at him with an unimpressed eyebrow raise. “Can you tell me that out of the blue next time, so that I don't have to hound it out of you?”

I don't think he knew what to say to that, so he shut his trap.

I rolled my eyes and closed my locker. “Whatever. I'll see you on the field.” I started walking to the lacrosse field with my book in hand. I had to bring it with me since I didn't get to read it at all last night because after Stiles had dropped me off, I turned on the TV and fell asleep. I was one of those people that had to sleep with the TV on. After that horrible night in the woods, I couldn't be in the dark anymore.

“Em, wait!” they yelled.

~~~

“But if you play, I'll have no one to talk to on the bench. Are you really gonna do that to your best friend?” Stiles said as him, Scott and I ran to the field. I had this really bad habit of waiting for them by the locker rooms.

“Uhm, ya got me!” I said, throwing my arms out.

“You can't even sit on the bench without Coach yelling at you, Em,” Stiles said.

“Whatever! Okay, not the point. I can't sit out again. My whole life is sitting on the sidelines,” Scott said, putting his stuff down by the bench. “This season, I make first line.” He turned around and locked eyes with Allison, to which she smirked a little.

Coach walked up to Scott. “McCall!”

“Yeah?” Scott asked, looking back at Coach.

“You're in goal.” Coach said as he threw the goalie gear at him. Stiles and I sat down on the bench. Apparently, Coach saw this and said, “Thomas! Get your ass off my bench. You're not even on the team!”

I palmed my face and said, “Coach, I sat here all last season.”

“And I yelled at you then,” he said. “On the bleachers.”

“I'll be super quiet,” I pleaded. I gave him my best puppy dog eyes.

“Alright,” he caved. Turning back to Scott, he threw a helmet at him.

Scott looked shocked and confused all at once. “I've never played.”

“I know—scoring some shots will give the boys a confidence boost,” Coach said. “It's a first day back thing.” He patted Scott on the shoulder. “Get 'em energized, fired up!”

Scott shook his head and asked, “What about me?”

As if he didn't care, Coach said, “Try not to take any to the face.” He gently slapped Scott on the cheek and turned around to the rest of the team on the field. “Let's go! Come on!”

Scott donned on the gear and walked towards the goal.

“This is not gonna be good,” I said, already hiding behind my fingers.

Stiles looked at me and chuckled. “He's gonna be fine. Hey! Did you wanna come over after and hang out? It's been a while. You could reorganize my room again!” I looked at him with an unimpressed face. “If you promise not to destroy it again.”

“I make no promises,” he smiled.

“Alright, whatever,” I said, not being able to help the smile that crept onto my face.

We both looked towards Scott. He had his head cocked to the side as if he was concentrating on listening to something. I turned around and saw Lydia and Allison talking while looking in his direction. Lydia eyed me after asking Allison who he was and gave me a glare.

I guess I should let you in on mine and Lydia's background.

When we were in middle school, Lydia and I became fast friends after realizing that we're both pretty smart and stylish... and we were paired up for a Science project. We were inseparable. Always having sleepovers; gushing about boys, painting each other's nails, doing our hair, just everything innocent teen girls would do at sleepovers.

When high school started last year, she spread a nasty rumor about me saying how I kissed her boyfriend at the time and tried to have sex with him. Let's be clear, there's only one person I want to have sex with... and I never kissed her boyfriend. He was the one who tried to come after me, and after I denied him, he told Lydia that I did. She came up to me at school before summer break and whispered to me that she was going to ruin me in high school and that our friendship was over. She kept her promise.

Back to present day.

The assistant coach blew his whistle and Scott groaned, grabbing his head.

One of the players ran at the goal, lacrosse stick in hand with the ball and nailed Scott right in the faceplate of the helmet.

Everyone, including Coach, laughed at Scott as I put my face in both hands and groaned. “I told you this was gonna be bad,” I said, just as Stiles groaned softly.

“Hey, way to catch with your face, McCall!” one of the players taunted.

Scott looked around like what happened? and nearly died of embarrassment. He got up after seeing mine and Stiles' reactions.

The next player caught the ball from the assistant coach, and ran forward. To my freaking amazement, Scott caught the ball when the player took the shot.

“Yeah!” I heard Stiles say from beside me. I smiled at him then turned to Scott and smiled at him, letting him know I was super proud of him.

Coach just looked shocked as hell. I'm not sure he knew what to do or say or think!

The next player caught the ball and ran forward, ready to take a swing at making a shot. Too bad Scott also caught that one!

“Yoo hoo!” Stiles hollered.

It was getting hard for me to contain my excitement as well as I had the biggest smile on my face for Scott. He'd practiced all summer for this and he was finally getting his shot. Hard work really does pay off!

Coach still had that same look on his face.

Shot after shot, Scott caught every ball that was hurled towards the goal.

Jackson walked to the front of the line and pushed the other players out of his way. I looked at him then Scott with a mortified look. “Oh, no.” I don't remember standing, but I sat back down, ready to watch this play out horrifically.

Jackson charged forwards and I held my breath, hiding my face behind my fingers again, not wanting to watch this event play out, but also not being able to look away.

Jackson jumped and took the shot, to which Scott caught, unsurprisingly.

Stiles and I jumped up, us cheering on our best friend. “That's my friend!” we both shouted at the same time. I was so happy and excited, I pulled Stiles in for a hug. He wrapped his arms around my middle and spun me a couple of times. Scott threw the ball over his shoulder, and that's when Coach called practice.

~~~

We found ourselves back in the woods to look for Scott's inhaler after school. He told us he dropped it and couldn't find it and, apparently, got bit after that. As the boys went through some water, I tried to stay on as many rocks as I could to avoid ruining my shoes. Converse are not cheap, I can tell you that.

“I don't know what it was,” Scott started to explain. “It was like I had all the time in the world to catch the ball.”

Stiles helped back on dry land as Scott continued, “And that's not the only weird thing.”

We continued to follow him through the woods. During the day, I could handle it.

“I can... hear stuff I shouldn’t be able to hear,” he said while ducking under a curved branch. “Smell things.”

“Smell things? Like what?” Stiles asked.

Scott sniffed the air a little bit. “Like, that weird sweet mint gum in Emma’s backpack thing and that body mist that she loves. Ya'know, the one in the pink bottle.”

“A Thousand Wishes. Bath and Body Works. I'll get you a bottle next time I'm there,” I joked.

“No, thanks... and the mint mojito gum in your pocket,” Scott said, addressing Stiles with the gum.

Stiles started feeling around his jacket pockets. “I don't even have any mint mojito--” Jackpot. He found it, looking at the half wrapped gum like he didn't want to believe Scott.

Scott had backed up a few steps and spread his arms out like believe me now?

Stiles put the gum back in his pocket, and Scott turned around, all of us now walking further into the woods.

“So all this started with a bite,” Stiles said.

“Oh, my God. Stiles, plea--” I started, but Scott interrupted me, answering Stiles.

“Well, what if it's an infection like, my body's flooding with adrenaline before I go into shock or something?” Scott said.

“You know, I actually think I've heard of this-- it's a specific kind of infection,” Stiles said.

“And here we go,” I sassed

Scott looked at Stiles like he had all the answers. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I think it's called lycanthropy.” Stiles said, and placed his hands on his hips, all sass like. Hey! That was my thing!

“What's that? Is that bad?” Scott asked.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, waiting for Stiles' stupid remark.

“Oh, yeah, it's the worst. But--” he looked back at me. I looked at him and gestured with my hand, as if telling him to continue. He looked back at Scott. “But only once a month.”

Scott looked confused. “Once a month? You mean like--” He gestured towards me.

“Scott, sweetheart, it's impossible for the male sex to have periods,” I said.

“Mm-hmm,” Stiles replied to Scott. “On the night of the full moon.”

“Dear Jesus, Stiles. You've watched way too many of those movies,” I said. I just wanted to get home and get into my sweats.

Stiles then proceeded to howl like a dog.

Scott shoved his chest and started walking off. “You should've decked him,” I grumbled.

“Hey, man...” Scott said.

“Hey, you're the one who heard a wolf howling,” Stiles said.

“Hey, there could be something seriously wrong with me.”

“I know! You're a werewolf!” Stiles exclaimed then growled.

At this point, I'd had enough, so I punched him in the shoulder.

“Okay, obviously I'm kidding. But if you see me in shop class trying to melt all the silver I can find, it's ‘cause Friday's a full moon,” Stiles said, rubbing at his shoulder.

Scott stopped and started looking down that ground. Finally! We were doing what we came out here to do.

I stood beside Stiles and hugged my arms around myself, feeling very uncomfortable. “Scott, look for your damn inhaler as quick as you can. The sun's setting, and I would very much like to go home.”

Stiles slung his arm over my shoulders, saying, “Hey, we're not going to let anything happen to you again out here.”

Completely ignoring my anxiousness, Scott said, “No, I-I could have sworn this was it. I saw the body, the deer came running. I dropped my inhaler.” He bent down to get a closer look at the ground, feeling around the leaves.

Because he couldn't help himself, Stiles said, “Maybe the killer moved the body.”

“If he did, I hope he left my inhaler,” Scott said. “Those things are like eighty bucks.”

I turned a little in Stiles' arm and noticed a figure standing a few feet away, watching us. I stiffened and said, “Uh, Scott. Stand the hell up right. now.”

The man started walking towards us, almost with purpose. “What are you doing here?”

Stiles ran his hand over his head.

“Huh?” the man asked. “This is private property.”

“Hey, look we didn't know.” I said. I hope he didn't hear the terror in my voice cause I sure as hell did.

“Yeah, we were just looking for something , but...” Scott said.

The man quickly raised his brows as if telling Scott to hurry up.

“Uh, forget it,” Scott finished. His inhaler was tossed to him and he quickly caught it. I didn't even notice that it'd been tossed before it landed in Scott’s hand. I looked up at Stiles to see if he noticed, too, but I'm not sure if he did.

The man turned and walked away. He seemed like a very angry person.

Scott looked over to Stiles and I, my eyes dancing back and forth between the two. “Oh, my God,” I stomped my foot like a 5 year old. “Can you please take my ass home now?”

“Alright, come on, I gotta get to work,” Scott said.

Stiles, surprisingly, didn't take his arm off from around my shoulders. “Dude! That was Derek Hale. You remember, right? He's only like a few years older than us.” Stiles started to inform.

“Remember what?” Scott and I asked in unison.

“His family. They all burned to death in a fire like 10 years ago,” Stiles said.

“I wonder what he's doing back,” Scott wondered.

Stiles scoffed and looked down at me, seeing the fear on my face. “Come on. I gotta Emma out of here and you to work,” he said, pulling me along through the woods.

~~~

Stiles ended up taking me back to his house since I lived across the street. When I get really anxious, I clean and organize. That's just how I function. So, I organized everything in Stiles' room. I was about to head down the stairs to go do the kitchen when Stiles popped in his doorway with a couple of movies and two waters in his hand.

“Alrighty. So. I know you don't care for Star Wars, but I brought them up for me to watch. Have you already done every square inch of my room?” he asked, looking around.

I pointed to his closet then his dresser as I said, “I haven't gotten to your closet yet, and I'm not touching your underwear drawer.”

“Do my closet while I watch these movies, then,” he said, gently.

I sat on his freshly made bed and let out a long and deep sigh. He sat next to me and put his arm around my back and gently laid my head against his shoulder. “I'm sorry about today.”

“It's fine. I don't think any of us thought we'd be out that late.” I picked my head up and looked down at my fingers. I saw Stiles reach over and intertwine our fingers together. It was more of a comfort thing on my end.

About three years ago, in seventh grade, I had a really bad fight with my dad about taking the night shift at the station. Noah was my godfather, so I trusted him with everything I had, but I wanted to spend time with my dad when I got home from hanging out at the Stilinski residence. I did that everyday after school due to my parents working. Anyway, I had walked out of the house and into the woods, not noticing where I was going. I was about half way between my house and the old Hale house before I heard something growling. I turned and saw two red eyes glowing at me. I screamed and ran off. I had my phone on me and so I had called Stiles and he called his dad. Another growl notified me that I wasn't alone and saw two light blue glowing eyes looking right at me. Stiles' calls for me caused the creature to turn and run the way it came. I haven't been comfortable being in the woods ever since, but that wasn't the worst.

I'd had another fight with my dad, but this time, it was about me and dating because I was in high school now. He told me I couldn't date juniors and seniors because of their hormones, and I yelled back that he didn't control or own my life and stormed out of the house, once again. I went straight to the woods again, not paying attention to my surroundings. I guess my parents had alerted Noah that I'd run off again into the woods. Once both Noah and Stiles along with my dad and a couple of other officers from BHSD entered the woods, they heard me screaming. I had seen the two pairs of glowing eyes again; the red and the light blue ones. I had also heard howling, almost like a coyote. Stiles scooped me up in his arms bridal style and walked out of the woods and straight to his room. We laid on his bed that night, and I fell asleep to him telling me that he'd “never let anything bad happen to me again.” And he was right.

After I had thought about those two separate nights, I looked up to Stiles to see him already watching me. I smiled a little and placed my free hand on his cheek. He leaned into my touch, just slightly.

“Why are you so good to me?” I asked, quietly.

“Because, Em,” he started. I could tell he wanted to say something else, but he didn't. Instead he said, “You're my best friend. Somebody has to be good to you.”

I looked down at my shoes and said, “I should probably get home-”

“Nah, your parents are coming over for dinner. Which means, you're staying just a couple more hours.”

“You're such a dork,” I giggled.

“Your dork, I am,” he said with his bad Yoda impression.

“I'll watch the movie with you if you promise to never do that again,” I smiled.

“Yeah, okay.”

~~~

The next day at practice, I watched as Stiles ran up to Scott. “Scott! Scott, wait up.”

“Stiles, I'm playing the first elimination, man-- can it wait?” Scott said.

“Just hold on, okay?” Stiles demanded. “I overheard my dad on the phone. The fiber analysis came back from the lab in LA. They found animal hairs on the body from the woods!”

I walked up during that last sentence. “Oh, no,” I said.

“Stiles, I gotta go,” Scott said, picking up his gear and walking to the field.

Stiles tried to run after him, but Scott was just a couple steps ahead of him. “Wait, no! Scott! You're not believe what the animal was!”

I remember hearing my dad having this same conversation, so I walked up next to Stiles and we said in unison, “It was a wolf.” We looked at each other like, oh, shit.

“I gotta get on the field. Don't want to get yelled at,” he said.

“Of course,” I said, giving him a small smile. He kissed my cheek and ran to the field. Uhm, did he know he did that?

Coach blew his whistle to let the players know that try outs for first line were starting. Our little Scotty was trying out. “Let's go! Gather round! Bring it in, come on!” As the players started running up to him, he said once more, “Come on!”

I saw Scott smile and wave, so I turned and spotted Allison. He was really taking a liking to her. Note to self: definitely befriend her despite her being semi friends with Lydia.

I turned back around as Coach walked up to Scott and asked, “Got a question, McCall?”

Scott put his hand down and replied, “What?” with confusion.

“You raised your hand. You have a question?” Coach said.

“Oh... no. I was just, uh...” Scott said, looking like he was in daze. “Nothing. Sorry.”

Coach pursed his lips. “Okay.” He turned to face the other players. “You know how this goes. If you don't make the cut, you're most likely sitting on the bench for the rest of the season. You make the cut... you play. Parents are proud. Your girlfriend loves ya!” He grabbed a player's helmet and shook it with a smile. “Huh? Everything else is, uh...” He lowered his voice and said, “Cream cheese.” He raised his voice once more to get the team fired up. “Now get out there and show me whatcha got!”

The players cheered and got into their positions on the field. One of the players tossed the ball to another player, and Scott looked around then got into ready position and caught the ball. He looked at it in amazement, then started running towards the goal before getting tackled by another player... which turned out to be Jackson. The nerve of him. I mean, it is practice, but I heard Scott grunt. Werewolf theory or not, it still sounded like it hurt.

Jackson replaced his helmet and ran off. Him and Scott got into ready position by the ball, the opening of their nets facing them. I couldn't see what was happening, but it looked like they looked at each other. The whistle blew and Scott scooped up the ball and started running towards goal, dodging players left and right.

I ran up beside Coach as my excitement got the better of me and grabbed his jacket sleeve. See, I knew Coach very well. Because he was my uncle. He was my moms brother. I'd never told anyone this information, afraid of the ridicule I'd get and the most likely newfound popularity I'd gain from it. Wait a second... Anyway. Scott did a front flip over three players forming a wall and shot the ball into the goal.

I couldn't contain my excitement and I jumped while cheering on my best friend. “That's my best friend! That's my best friend!” I hollered. I was too excited. Some of the players circled around Scott and patted him in congratulations.

I'm not sure Coach was all too happy because he raised a finger and said, “McCall! Get over here!”

“Bobby,” I warned as Scott walked over, removing his helmet.

“What in God's name was that?” Coach said. “This is a lacrosse field. What, are you trying out for the gymnastics team?”

Scott shook his head and said, “No, Coach.”

Coach still didn't seem too happy. “What the hell was that?”

“I-I don't know. I-- just trying to make the shot,” Scott said.

“Yeah, well, you made the shot. And guess what?” Coach said.

I looked at him in warning, but I don't think he cared enough to listen to my warning voice from before. He slapped Scott on the shoulder, so I looked down, prepared to listen to Scott get yelled at. But, what came out of Coach's mouth stunned me enough to look up sharply.

“You're startin', buddy. You made first line.” He walked away while yelling, “Come on!”

Scott and I looked at each other with the biggest grins. We shared a hug, to which he spun me around a couple of times. I always shared hugs like these with my boys. It wasn't a territorial thing, more of a I'm-so-happy-so-I'm-gonna-spin-you type thing. He set me down, and I ran over to Stiles, sitting beside him. I looked at him, but he had his thinking face on. He licked his lips and rubbed his chin. I rested a hand on his shoulder and he looked at me. “What?” he asked.

“You okay? You don't seem all that happy for Scott,” I said.

“Come over afterwards. I'm gonna need your help with something.”

“Okay.”

“EMMA!” I heard someone yell my name. It was Coach. “I'll be right back.” I ran over to him. “Yeah, Coach?”

“Tell your mom I'll be over at 8 for dinner,” he said. “I also heard about some party at Lydia Martin's house. Are you going?”

I looked down at my shoes and toed one into the dirt. “I wasn't invited.”

~~~

When I walked into Stiles' room, he was sitting at his desk reading an old looking book.

“Uh, Stiles? Didn't anyone ever tell you not crack open a book?” I tried to joke. He looked at me unimpressed then back to his computer. I walked up behind him and set my forehead on his shoulder. “I thought we were over this topic.”

“You saw Scott on the field today,” he said. “There's no way in hell he could've gotten that good overnight.”

I sighed, not removing my head. “He's been practicing all summer, Stiles.”

I felt his shoulder moving from under my forehead, letting me know that he wasn't done with his research. “Em, if I practiced that hard, I still wouldn't make first line.”

“That's because you,” I lifted my head and poked his cheek. “Are terrible. But, I always give you A for effort... even if you are on the bench all season.” I smiled and took off my shoes, laying on his bed. “So, is this why you asked me to come over? To help you do research for something that couldn't be any farther from the truth?”

He turned his head over his shoulder and gave me a look that said will you ever believe me. He turned back around and continued his research, but after a few minutes of sitting in silence, I decided to help him.

Getting up from his bed, I walked over to his desk, grabbing the biggest book in the bunch, and walking back over to his bed. Laying on my stomach, I opened the book and got to reading. ~~~ I woke up to the sound of someone knocking on Stiles' bedroom door. I must've fallen asleep while Stiles and I did research. I still had my eyes closed as I heard him say, “Get in.” and closed his door. It must've been Scott. “You gotta see this thing.”

“How long has she been asleep for?” Scott asked.

“What?” Stiles went quiet for a moment before he said, “I'm not sure. Look, doesn't matter at the moment. We've been up all night reading-- websites, books. All this information.”

I opened my eyes a little and lightly kicked Scott, making him look at me. “How much Adderall has he had today?”

I shrugged my shoulders with an unimpressed frown. “Beats me. I've been asleep.” I flipped over on my right side and closed my eyes, sighing, signaling that I was done with the conversation already. I wasn't ready for Stiles' spastic behavior yet.

“A lot. Doesn't matter,” Stiles said while Scott chuckled. “Okay, just listen.”

I felt a backpack being set by my feet before Scott sat down, careful not to sit on me. “Oh, is this about the body?”

“No, they're still questioning people, even Derek Hale,” Stiles said.

“Oh, the guy in the woods that we saw the other day,” Scott said.

“Damn, he's fine,” I muttered. Scott chuckled while a pen was met with my back. I giggled and attempted to go back to sleep. I was so tired.

I heard paper rustling as Stiles said, “Yeah! Yes. But that's not it, okay?” He sounded like he had just run a marathon.

“What, then?” Scott wondered with a slight chuckle. Something has this boy in a really good mood.

“Remember the joke from the other day?” Stiles asked. “Not a joke anymore.”

I sighed heavily and said, “Stiles, put this crap to rest, pretty please! I'll make out with you if you stop.”

My offer went ignored as Stiles exclaimed, “The wolf-- the bite in the woods. Em and I started doing all this reading.” I turned my head over my shoulder as he stood abruptly. “Do you even know why a wolf howls?”

“Should I?” Scott asked.

I sighed, and flipped onto my back, bending my knees a little. I had my eyes opened, looking at Scott's back. I placed my hands on my stomach and sighed, “It's a signal. When a wolf's alone, it howls to signal its location to the rest of the pack. So, I'm guessing that if you heard a wolf howling, that means others could have been nearby. Maybe even a whole pack of 'em.”

“How do you know all this?” Stiles wondered.

“History project on wolves. Sixth grade,” I answered.

“Wait, a whole pack of wolves?” Scott asked.

“No... werewolves,” Stiles replied.

Scott got up from the bed and that made me realize that I had to pee. I got up as Scott said to Stiles, “Are you seriously wasting my time with this? You know I'm picking Allison up in an hour.” Scott grabbed his backpack off the bed and looked at me. “Where are you going?”

“To pee,” I said, duh tone to my voice. “Seize all conversation until I get back. I'll be back in two minutes.” I did my business and came back. Closing the door, I sighed and looked at my socks. “We saw you on the field today, Scotty. What you did wasn't just amazing, okay? It was impossible.”

“Yeah, so I made a good shot,” Scott said. He went to walk to the door, but Stiles grabbed his shirt and stopped him. He grabbed Scott's bag and set it back on the bed, saying, “No, you made an incredible shot, I mean... the way you moved, your speed, your reflexes. People can't just suddenly do that overnight. And then there's the vision and the senses, and don't even think we don't notice that you don't need your inhaler anymore.”

“Okay! Dude, I can't think about this now. We'll talk tomorrow,” Scott said.

A wide eyes Stiles looked at Scott and completely started spazzing out, startling me in the process. “Tomorrow?! What? No! The full moon's tonight. Don't you get it?”

I sensed an argument coming on, so I stepped in between the boys and placed a hand on Stiles' shoulders. “Would you relax?”

“What are you trying to do?” Scott retorted.

“Both of you?!” I exclaimed, tossing my hands in the air. Stiles sat back down in his desk chair.

“I-I just made first line,” Scott said. “I-I got a date with a girl who I can't believe wants to go out with me, and everything in my life is somehow perfect. Why are you trying to ruin it?”

Since I was getting completely ignored, I walked to the bed and grabbed my shoes. I started putting them back on, careful not to flash the boys since I was still wearing a skirt.

“I'm trying to help,” Stiles said, turning his chair around. “You're cursed, Scott.” He looked in my direction. “Em, where are you going?”

“Home,” I said. “Because for the past five or so minutes, both of you have been ignoring me and I don't want to be here when an argument breaks out. You of all people, Stiles, should know I feel about people yelling at each other.”

Scott turned around and looked at me. “Why? What's going on?”

I looked down at my shoes and sighed. “My parents have been tossing the divorce word around the last couple weeks.” I waved my hands in front of my face. “But that doesn't matter. Just listen to what Spazz Boy over here has to say.”

“Yeah. It's not just the moon will cause you to physically change,” Stiles said. “It also just so happens to be when your bloodlust will be at its peak.”

“Bloodlust?” Scott asked, done with the topic. Join the club, buddy.

“Your urge to kill,” I piped up. Scott didn't even look at me, keeping a close eye on Stiles.

“I'm already starting to feel an urge to kill, Emma,” Scott said.

Stiles turned back around to pick up a book. “You gotta hear this.” He opened the book to the page he needed and read, “The change can be caused by anger or anything that raises your pulse.” He turned back around. “Alright? I haven't seen anyone raise your pulse like Allison does. You gotta cancel this date,” he exclaimed, walking over to Scott's bag and pulling his phone out. “I'm gonna call her right now.”

“Stiles, what are you doing?” Scott and I asked in unison.

“I'm canceling the date,” Stiles said.

Scott grabbed Stiles’ arm and pushed him back into the wall while yelling, “No, give it to me!” I gasped and put my hands around my mouth while Scott raised his fist. He stopped himself from punching Stiles and pushed the chair to the ground with a yell.

Scott panted while looking around. He looked back at Stiles and said, “I'm sorry.” He looked back at me and saw the tears at my waterline. Now, I've seen Scott and Stiles get into arguments, but never to this extreme. He walked over to me to give me a hug, but I flinched away. “I'm sorry, Em.” He said. “I-I gotta go get ready for that party.” He grabbed his bag and walked out the door, turning around once more saying, “I'm sorry.” He walked out the door and closed it.

Stiles banged his head on the wall then looked at me, still standing in the same position. I was in too much shock to move. Stiles went to walk towards me to give me a hug, but he stopped at his chair and picked it up, looking at the back. “Emma. Come here.”

I walked over and stood by his side. “What?” I whispered.

“Look.”

I looked down at his chair and saw three rips in the leather.

“Believe me now?” he asked.

I looked back up at him. “Yeah. 100%”

I sat down on his bed. I didn't want to ask, but I did. “Were you invited to Lydia's party?”

He walked towards his closet and said, “Yeah. The whole lacrosse team was. Why? Are you going?”

When I was silent, he walked over and sat down next to me. “Em. Are you gonna go?”

“I wasn't invited,” I said quietly.

“Well, then I won't go if you weren't invited.”

“Stiles, go and have fun. Don't throw your night away because Lydia hates my guts.”

He just sat there for a moment before standing up and grabbing my hand. “You're going. Show Lydia that that stupid rumor was just that. A rumor. Show her that you're not going to take being ignored for an answer. Stand up for yourself. Be the confident Emma Grace Thomas that I grew up with. Okay?”

I smiled a little and nodded. “Alright.”

“Good. Now, come here,” he said and pulled me into a hug. I pulled back and said, “Guess I should go get ready.”

~~~

A couple of hours and a dinner with Bobby Finstock later, Stiles honked his horn, letting me know that he was in the Jeep just across the street. “Gotta go. Love you guys!”

I walked out of the house and across the street, getting into the Jeep. Even though Stiles told me not to change, I had to at least change something. I was wearing a regular T-shirt earlier, but now I was wearing my favorite maroon tank top. I also had on a pair of jeans, and my black and white Converse. My hair was done in a ponytail and I had on a little more makeup than usual. Studded earrings, a simple necklace, a bracelet and a couple rings were my accessories for the night.

“Let's get this party over with,” I sighed.

“Hey, you'll be fine,” Stiles said, rubbing my shoulder. He backed out of the driveway and started driving toward the Martin residence. Of course, he knew where she lived. Walking into the party, a couple of people gave me a look that told me I shouldn't be here. They were totally right.

I felt Stiles intertwine our fingers together and say in my ear, “Don't worry about anything tonight. Just have some fun, and have a couple drinks.”

I looked at him and nodded a little. “Alright.”

He kissed my cheek and walked more into the house. We mostly stayed inside.

A girl walked by and said, “Did you see how Jackson was literally sucking the life out of her neck?”

Another responded with, “Yeah, but she wasn't even looking like she wanted to be with him. She was eyeing that McCall kid.”

I raised my brows while taking a sip of whatever Stiles got me.

“Hey, look! Queen Emma's here!” Some dude shouted and made my presence known. “Come play some beer pong!”

I knotted my lips together and said, “Nah. Gonna take it easy tonight, guys. Maybe next time.”

“If I were you, I would. I mean, the talk around town is that your parents are getting a divorce,” some other boy laughed.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. How did they find out about that? I shook my head and dropped my cup, full on preparing to walk home, even if it was a 20 minute walk. I did, however, just walk outside and sit on the front steps.

I wiped my eyes right as Scott came walking down the steps. “Hey, Scotty. Having fun?” I asked. I got up when he bumped into someone and ran over to him. “Scott, you okay?”

He gently pushed me back, grunting in pain. “Stay away from me, Em. I don't know what's going on, I don't wanna hurt you.”

“I'll drive you home,” I tried to say, but he was too far away to hear me. Allison ran past me and I stepped up and stopped her. “Hey, I'm Emma. Not sure if you know me or not. Uhm, Scott's not feeling too well. He said he just wanted to go home and lay down.

“Allison,” I heard a voice say. We both turned around and I immediately noticed it was Derek Hale. “I'm a friend of Scott's.”

She turned back around while I muttered quietly, “Like hell, you are.”

Derek walked up to us and said, “My name's Derek.”

He offered a ride to Allison, which she took. I stood outside and waited for Stiles. He came rushing out of the house, sighing in relief. “There you are. I've been looking all over for you. I didn't notice you came outside already.”

“We gotta find Scott. He looked like he was in a tremendous amount of pain.” I rushed out, worried about my friend.

“Alright, let's go.”

We walked over to the Jeep and hopped in. “Where to?” he asked.

“Scott's house. I'm pretty sure that's where he went,” I said.

Stiles started driving to Scott's house when he asked. “Hey, why'd you disappear anyway? One minute you're drinking and having a good time and the next thing I know, you're not standing with me anymore.” He spared a glance at me and noticed my mascara had run. “Were you crying?”

I sighed quietly and said, “Yeah. Some douchebag brought up my parents maybe divorce while trying to get me to play beer pong, but I don't wanna talk about it. The main focus here is Scott.”

“Who said it?” Stiles asked.

“You're not gonna go beat his ass, so don't even think about it,” I said.

“Who was it, Em?” he asked a little more aggressively this time.

“Trevor Adams. One of Jackson's stupid ass friends,” I said, voice quiet.

Stiles was seething. “Monday at school, when I see him, I'm gonna-”

“Not do a damn thing because you're not like that and you don't get to do that,” I snapped. Looking over at him, I saw a small glimpse of hurt in his eyes. I sighed and put my hand on the back of his neck. “Stiles, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap like that. You know I care so much about you, you're my best friend. I shouldn't have snapped like that and I'm sorry.”

He parked the Jeep on the curb next to Scott's house and looked at me. “It's okay,” he said quietly. “It's just-” he paused. “I made a promise to my mom before she died that I would always protect you. Guess I can take it too far sometimes.”

“And that's okay,” I said while turning in my seat as much as I could, still keeping my hand on his neck. I did this sometimes so that he wouldn't look away from me. “Keep all the promises you made to her. Hell, I would! I know your mom loved and cared for me like I was her own daughter. And I loved her just as much. Keep the promises. Keep being protective, but to a bare minimum.” I smiled when I got a chuckle out of him. I looked towards the house. “Let's go check on him,” I said, turning back around.

“Yeah. Let's go,” he said.

~~~

We walked up the stairs and to Scott's bedroom door, knocking on it.

“Go away,” I heard Scott say.

“Scotty, it's us,” I said. I always called him Scotty when Stiles and I were both talking to him, so that he would know who was talking. It worked really well in our group chat the three of us had.

Scott unlocked and opened his door slightly, and Stiles tried to bust his way through. Lord, help this boy.

“Let us in, Scott. We can help” Stiles said.

“No!” Scott replied. “Listen, you gotta find Allison.”

“She's fine, all right? I saw her get a ride from the party. She's—she's totally fine,” I said.

“No, I think I know who it is,” Scott said.

“You-- just let us in. We can try--” Stiles started, but was interrupted by Scott.

“It's Derek. Derek Hale's the werewolf. He's the one that bit me. He's the one that killed the girl in the woods.”

Stiles and I looked at each other, my expression full of fear.

“Scotty... Derek's the one who drove Allison from the party,” I said.

The door slammed in our faces, and Stiles tried to get it open. He slammed a hand on the door and yelled, “Scott!”

He looked at me. “What do we do?”

“Check on Allison, then go find Scott,” I said, walking down the hall to the stairs.

Walking out of the house, I felt Stiles tug on my hand. “Em, listen, I gotta tell you something.”

“Can it wait? Allison's safety is more important right now. We'll talk later, I promise,” I said. I walked to the Jeep and got in.

~~~

Slamming on the brakes in front Allison's house, Stiles said to me, “Stay here. If Scott's here and on a murderous rampage, I don't want you caught in it. Just stay here.”

He jumped out of the Jeep and ran to the front door, not closing the driver side door closed all the way. He rang the doorbell impatiently then proceeded to slam his hand on the door saying, “Come on, come on, come on.”

The door opened. On the other side was a woman with short red hair. Her looks alone terrified the shit out of me. Remind me not to piss off Mrs. Argent.

“Hi, Mrs. Argent,” Stiles said. “Um... you have no idea who I am.”

I slammed my face into my palm. Nice, Stiles. Ya sound like a creeper.

“I'm a friend of your daughter's,” he said while gesturing inside of the house. “Uh... look, this is gonna sound kind of crazy, um... really crazy, actually. You know what? Crazy, doesn't--”

I picked my head up during his rambling. Damn, he was cute when he rambled.

Mrs. Argent turned to the side a little and yelled out, “Allison! It's for you.”

I'm guessing Allison showed up all safe like because Stiles said something I couldn't hear and walked back to the Jeep. He got in and shifted the gear stick to drive and drove off. “Find Scott?” he asked.

“Find Scott,” I repeated.

~~~

As always around Stiles, I fell asleep. Therefore, breaking my promise to keep him awake. I normally fall asleep on the window, but when I woke up, I found myself leaning against his arm with my head on his shoulder. I shifted back into my seat and cleared my throat.

“Uhm, any luck yet?” I asked with a raspy voice.

“No, not yet. Sleep good?” he said.

I let out a breathy chuckle, and rubbed my neck. “I would've if your shoulder wasn't so bony,” I joked. I looked at him and smiled then back at the road. I sat up straighter and put my hand on Stiles' arm. “That's Scott. Pull over.”

He pulled over and I climbed in the back as Scott got into the passenger seat.

Stiles handed Scott his blazer and started driving again, and I leaned forward to poke my head between the two seats.

Scott, leaning over towards the window, said, “You know what actually worries me the most?”

Stiles and I looked at each other, and Stiles said, “If you say Allison, I'm gonna punch you in the head.”

“She probably hates me now,” Scott said with a disappointed voice.

“Ugh,” Stiles groaned out. I gently slapped his arm to let him know how I felt about that. “I doubt that. But you might want to come up with a pretty amazing apology. Or, you know, you could just... tell her the truth and... revel in the awesomeness of the fact that you're a frickin' werewolf.”

Scott and I gave him a look that said you're crazy.

“Okay, bad idea.”

“I already told her that you weren't feeling well and you wanted to lie down,” I said, trying to make him feel better. He leaned over and touched our foreheads, something we used to do as kids as a way to say thanks.

“Thanks, Em. You're also so thoughtful,” Scott said.

I giggled and sassed, “Well, someone's gotta be around here!”

We all shared a small laugh and Stiles looked over at Scott. He tapped his shoulder and said, “Hey, we'll get through this. Come on, if I have to, I'll chain you up myself on full moon nights and feed you live mice.”

“He had a boa once, he could do it,” I said.

Scott looked over at Stiles scoffed.

“It was horrible. Try sleeping in the same room with that nasty thing.”

Again, a laugh was shared between the three of us.

~~~

The next day after school, Scott was waiting by the school's sign for Allison to give his big apology he practiced on me with.

Stiles and I were looking on from our hiding spot. “Oh, shit. There she is,” I said while slapping his arm over and over again.

“I see. Thank you. I'm gonna have bruises now,” he sassed.

“I'm the only one that can be sassy around here,” I sassed back at him.

I turned back to Scott and Allison as she was saying, “So, what happened? You left me stranded at the party.”

Scott got up to follow her and said, “Yeah, I-I know, I know. I'm really sorry, I am.”

I gasped and said, “That's not what he practiced on me!” I folded my arms across my chest. “The nerve.” I heard Stiles snicker from beside me, but I was too engaged in Scott and Allison to pay him any mind.

“Shit, I gotta go. Practice is about to start. I'll see you out there,” he said. Before he left, he planted a kiss on my cheek and ran off.

I looked back to Scott as he said, “But... you're gonna have to trust that I had a really good reason.”

“Did you get sick? That girl that's always hanging out with you said that you weren't feeling good,” Allison said.

“She's one of my best friends and her name is Emma, and I definitely had an attack of something,” Scott said.

They stopped walking and turned to face each other.

Allison spoke up saying, “Am I gonna get an explanation?”

“Can you just find it in your heart to trust me on this one?” Scott asked.

Allison looked down and took in a deep breath. “Am I gonna regret this?”

Scott smirked and shook his head while saying, “Probably.”

Allison giggled as Scott walked a little closer to her.

“So is that a yes on a second chance?” he asked. “Definitely yes. And tell Emma that if she wants to eavesdrop, to not slap Stiles' arm over and over again to make my presence known... and to also find a better hiding spot.” She looked over her shoulder and waved at me. My eyes grew to the size of saucers as her and Scott shared a laugh.

A honk was heard and that was my cue to go and sit on the bench next to my other best friend and to hear the team get yelled at by my uncle, the Coach.

~~~

As I sat down next to Stiles and grabbed my book out of my bag, he asked me, “So, what happened?”

“You didn't hear it from me, but she said I need to find new hiding spots to eavesdrop,” I said with scrunched brows.

Stiles laughed then looked at me. “That sounds about right.”

All I could do was smile and think about how great my life is with my best friends by my side... even if one of them is a werewolf.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N 2: Welp. There she is, friends! The first chapter of my pride and joy. Please, please, please reblog to share with your friends, and let me know what y’all thought! 😊

~~~

YABMH Taglist : @stiles-o-dylan24 @stixnstripesworld @fandom-princess-forevermore @quanticobae @mischiefandi @kellysashcroft @lauren-novak @sammypotato67 @originalamethysthealer

Taglist was taken from the Forever / Everything taglist. If you want to be added, just let me know.

Italics wouldn’t let me tag 🥺

~~~

*Please don’t post my writing anywhere else without my consent. The author of this work will always and forever be @stilinskiparker. All characters, story lines, and plot aside from Emma and her storyline & plot, are all of the work of Jeff Davis. Our home slice Emma was made up all by me. As well we her parents and their storyline throughout the series.

*These works contain material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of these works may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher.

Posted August 26, 2020

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bitterlikesweets · 4 years ago

Text

Love Bites Ch 3

This is the third chapter of a modern/vampire AU ereri fanfic. You can also read it on Ao3.

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Cool fingers curl into Eren’s hair, and they tug gently, causing Eren to pull his mouth away from Levi’s wrist with a gasp. Warm heat blooms in Eren's stomach and swiftly spreads outwards, until he can feel the tingle of warmth in his fingertips. He feels like he’s just had a warm mug of cocoa, and he’s also a bit disoriented and groggy. That grogginess is why Eren is a second too late to stop himself from swiping a lick across Levi’s pale skin, sweeping up the little red droplets forming where his fangs pierced the skin.

Eren's appalled at himself, and the feeling only intensifies when his cheeks grow hot. He finally has enough blood in his body to blush, but he almost wishes that he doesn’t. His body is warm and content, but his mind is a frenzy. Eren opens his mouth to apologize, but the words clog in his throat when he hears Levi hum appreciatively.

“Seems like your instincts are good for something,” Levi says, swiping his thumb over the bite mark as he takes his arm back.

Eren stares at Levi’s wrist, at the small wounds that are already closing.

“I—how is that—”

“Vampire saliva has a bit of healing power,” Levi says, reaching into the front pocket of his pants and pulling out a small travel pack of tissues. “It’s nasty as shit, but at least it has a purpose.”

Eren watches as Levi carefully wipes his wrist off with a tissue.

“So I was supposed to do that?” Eren asks.

Levi looks up at him but doesn’t speak, a silent request for him to clarify.

“I, uh—” Eren clears his throat and hopes his face isn’t as red as it feels—and oh God, that’s Levi’s blood that he’s blushing with —before he continues. “Licking you.”

Levi nods.

“Unless you’d prefer that I bleed all over the table,” the man says.

“No,” Eren says, still staring at Levi’s wrist. “Definitely not.”

Levi tucks his tissues back into his pocket and then rotates his wrist, testing the movement. After a few rolls, he seems satisfied, and he clasps his hands together on the table before directing his attention back to Eren.

“Alright, kid—”

“Eren.”

“...What?”

“Eren. My name.”

Levi stares at him for a moment, but Eren just holds his gaze until the man huffs a little sigh and begins again.

“Eren, I’m going to make a deal with you. I’ll teach you what you need to know, and you can drink from me until we figure something else out. Sound good?”

Eren frowns.

“What do you get out of it?”

“I get to know that there’s not some uneducated vampire running around killing humans because he never properly learned the rules,” Levi says.

Eren winces, thinking briefly of his mother before he nods.

“I agree then,” Eren says, but he frowns again. “Levi, you’re human, right?”

“You wouldn’t be drinking from me if I wasn’t,” Levi said, leaning back in his chair.

“How do you know so much about vampires? I mean, I didn’t know they were real until… You know...”

“Ah, good question,” Levi says, and he gets up.

Eren watches curiously as Levi walks to a filing cabinet in the corner of the room by the window. Levi pulls open one of the drawers and plucks something out of it, though Eren can’t see what it is from his spot at the table.

“Catch,” Levi says, and he turns around and throws something without any other warnings. Eren scrambles to grab it out of the air, but his stomach drops once he sees what it is.

The warmth from Levi's blood seems to flood out of him, and Eren sits, frozen, as he stares at the small wooden stake in his hand. It’s no wider than a ruler, barely longer than a pencil, but it’s sharpened to a point that Eren is sure would have no issue piercing his flesh.

“I’m a hunter,” Levi says. “Or I was, anyway.”

“A hunter,” Eren echoes, his gaze still locked onto the stake in his hands.

“A vampire hunter,” Levi says as if Eren needed clarification.

“Oh,” Eren says.

“Don’t worry,” Levi said, “I’m not in the business anymore. Even if I was, I know which vampires need to die and which don’t.”

Isabel’s words echo in Eren’s head. ‘Levi’s never wrong.’

“And I’m not one that needs to die?”

“No,” Levi says, and he walks over to Eren and takes the stake back, though Eren doesn’t feel any better with the weapon in Levi’s hands. “You’re one that needs to be taught. As long as you learn, I won’t have to do anything drastic.”

Anything drastic. Like stabbing Eren in the chest.

“Right,” Eren says, but his voice is wavering.

Levi sets the stake on the table between them before going back to his seat, and Eren hunches in his chair from the weight of the silent threat.

“Hey,” Levi says, and Eren reluctantly drags his gaze up to meet Levi’s. “Relax. The only reason I’d ever have to hurt you is if you ended up like those freaks who crashed your birthday party.”

Levi raises his arm to show Eren, wrist up.

“We’ve already stopped that from happening,” Levi says. “I only showed you the stake because you asked.”

“I just asked how you knew about vampires, not for you to show me your weapons,” Eren grumbles.

“My bad,” Levi replies, his voice dripping with sarcasm, “I didn’t know you would feel better not knowing. Better keep all the other weapons concealed so that I can use them on you without you expecting it.”

Eren sits up straighter, his eyes darting around the room.

“Other weapons? What other weapons?”

“Oh?” Levi raises his eyebrows at Eren. “Here I thought you didn’t want to be shown.”

“Well, if they might be used against me, then I’d rather know!”

“That’s why I showed you the fucking stake, you dumb brat. You shouldn’t have complained.”

“Okay, I’m sorry!” Eren exclaims, throwing his hands in the air. “Will you show me where the other weapons are now?”

“Fuck no.”

“Wha—”

“How about this: I’ll show you one concealed weapon after every lesson. Gain trust on both sides.”

“I thought you did trust me!”

“I said I didn’t think you had to die, not that I trusted you.”

Eren groans in frustration, dropping his head onto the table.

“Okay,” Eren mumbles, his cheek pressed against the wooden surface. “Whatever. I agree.”

He turns his head to look up at Levi, who is already staring down at him.

“Can you at least tell me how many there are?”

“Hmm…” Levi begins, and for a moment Eren is hopeful. “No.”

Eren sighs and presses his forehead against the table, resigned to the situation. It will be fine, right? As long as he doesn't go “feral,” as Levi put it, the weapons won't matter.

...He just has to make sure to never tell Mikasa.

“You’re looking a lot more lively now,” Levi says, and Eren raises his head.

“What do you mean?”

“The other night, when you came here for the first time,” Levi explains, “I could tell you were starving yourself.”

Eren blinks.

“Is that why you…?”

“I gave you the blood as an apology for the garlic, but that was part of it, yes.”

Levi reaches out, and Eren tenses as the man’s hand comes up to his face. Levi’s hand falls on his cheek, and Eren freezes, holding his breath. The man’s eyes betray nothing as he tugs the corner of Eren’s mouth with his thumb.

“You could pass as one of living like this,” Levi says, pulling his hand away.

Eren blinks up at Levi, his cheeks burning up again, and the imprint of Levi’s cold hand on his face still lingers on Eren’s skin. He barely resists the urge to cover up the spot where Levi touched him with his own hand.

“I-I’m assuming that’s good,” Eren says once he’s a bit calmer.

“That’s the ideal,” Levi says, pointing at his own lips with his finger. “Your fangs were so big last week, I could see their shape even with your mouth closed.”

Eren instinctively covers his mouth with his hands.

“It was that obvious?”

“Anyone familiar with vampires would notice.”

Levi frowns for a moment, shifting his gaze away from Eren.

“You… Before me, when was the last time you drank?”

“I think when I turned,” Eren replies. “I don’t remember much. I just… I woke up on the floor of my house with blood on my mouth. I called the police right after.”

“...I see.”

“Why?”

“We don’t need to talk about it right now,” Levi says quickly.

Now it’s Eren’s turn to frown.

“You brought it up. Tell me what you’re thinking.”

Levi closes his eyes, massaging the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger.

“You’re not going to like what I have to say.”

“Just tell me,” Eren says firmly.

“Well… Under normal circumstances, it should always be like it was for you this week. After getting blood, you’ll get thirsty again within a week, give or take, if you’ve had a healthy amount.”

“What’s considered a healthy amount?”

“Depends on the human you’re drinking from and how fast you’re swallowing the shit up,” Levi says, “but usually you shouldn’t drink any longer than five minutes. That’s why I stopped you, so you learn my limits.”

Eren nods, starting to get a vague idea of what Levi was trying to say. He remembers Levi’s fingers in his hair, gently urging him to stop.

“So the fact that I went without for months…”

“It’s an anomaly,” Levi says. “Either you’ve got a stomach of steel or you drank too much the first time.”

Eren’s stomach twists. He doesn’t like where this conversation is going.

“What are you saying?”

“You said you drank the night you turned. Do you remember who you drank from?”

Eren wants to vomit.

“Stop.”

“It’s just an idea. I wasn’t there; I’m not going to pretend like I knew what happened.”

“But you’re saying that I fucking drank from my mom. Drank too much .”

“Like I said, it’s just an idea—”

“Are you trying to say I killed my mom?” Eren snaps, pushing himself to his feet.

“No,” Levi says quickly, his gaze dropping to Eren’s tight grip on the table and then back up to his eyes. “Of course not. If you were attacked, then she would’ve been dead before you got to her—”

“So I did exactly what those fucking monsters did to her!” Eren exclaimed. “Is that what you’re trying to say to me?”

“I’m not trying to say anything like that—”

“Then, what the fuck are you trying to say? ” Eren snaps, clutching the table in an attempt to keep himself calm, but he can’t help it. The warmth in his stomach has risen to his chest and now it’s boiling and he thinks of his mother, of what she looked like, and he thinks of her throat.

Eren is so fucking stupid. Of course, he drank from her. How had he not seen that before? He had repeated the fact so easily before. The day I turned was the first time. Why had he not thought about it for even a second? He was so focused on not having any more blood, focused on clinging to his humanity. In reality, the only reason he was able to cling to that false dream for so long was because he was a monster—because even among monsters, he had done something that he shouldn’t have done.

“Eren,” he hears, and then there’s a hand on his arm, and Eren recoils, instinctively yanking his arms away.

It’s only when he hears the crash that he realizes he was still clutching the table.

He stares at the table in shock. It’s across the room now, flung onto its side. Its legs knocked over a potted plant by the door, and the base of it slammed into the wall and knocked down a painting.

Eren is shocked into silence, and he steps away from the table until his back is against the wall. When he looks down at his hands, they’re shaking. His whole body is shaking. There’s violent knocking on the door, and Eren hears Isabel and a voice he doesn’t recognize desperately asking if everything’s alright.

“We’re fine,” Levi shouts, and the banging stops.

Eren raises his head, eyes wide with shock and fear, fear of himself.

“I-I don’t—I don’t know how—I’ve never—I didn’t know —”

“It’s alright,” Levi says, and his voice is soft, as if he’s talking to a child and not a monster that launched a wooden table across the room.

Levi approaches him slowly, but those hesitant steps make Eren flinch, wishing his back wasn’t against the wall, and Levi stops.

“Levi—”

“Sorry,” the man says, cutting Eren off. “I shouldn’t have—It wasn’t my place to ask or imply something like that.”

“I… No… That’s not…” Eren swallows, dropping his gaze back down to his shaking hands. “You don’t need to apologize. I shouldn't have—I could’ve hurt you. I didn’t know… This hasn’t happened before.”

Eren slowly closes his open palms into fists, hoping to still his shaking a bit, and he looks at Levi again, who is still standing in the center of the room.

“You’re not upset?” Eren asks quietly, and Levi shakes his head.

“It was my fault.”

“It is not your fault that I fucking threw a table.”

“It’s my fault that you got worked up like that,” Levi says, and he takes a slow step forward, his eyes pinned on Eren, watching for a reaction. “My curiosity got the better of me.”

“It’s—” Eren swallows, “it’s okay.”

Levi reaches out once he’s close enough and takes hold of Eren’s fist.

“Consider this lesson two,” Levi says. “When you have enough blood, all of your abilities are amplified. That’s shit like healing, better senses.”

Levi carefully opens Eren’s hand back up. Eren’s nails have left little indents in his palms. Eren didn’t even notice. He didn’t think he’d put that much force into it.

“And strength,” Levi says. “It should get easier to manage with experience.”

“So I won’t be throwing tables all the time?” Eren asks, desperate to lighten the mood, to distract his mind before he loses his cool again.

Levi looks up at him curiously, but he nods.

“I’m going to need you to put that back, by the way,” Levi says, releasing Eren’s hand.

Eren looks over Levi’s head at the table still across the room and approaches it cautiously, as if it’ll retaliate against him, as if it could seek revenge. When he tips it back onto its legs, the table is much lighter than he imagined, much lighter than it should be. He’s slow as he pulls it back to the center of the room, not wanting to do anymore damage.

When the table is back in place, he looks around the room and sees that Levi has moved. He’s kicking the dirt from the fallen plant into the corner—a temporary solution. Eren hurries to help clean up, picking up the picture that had fallen off the wall.

Eren pauses as he looks carefully at it. It’s a picture of Levi, but he’s far younger, a child. He’s sitting at a kitchen counter in what Eren assumes is Levi’s childhood home. There’s a woman leaning across the counter, handing him a plate of pasta. There’s a cardboard sign taped to the counter, written in messy crayon. “Kuchel’s Kitchen.”

“Less snooping, more cleaning,” Levi says, smacking Eren in the back with something large and heavy.

“Okay, sorry...” Eren mumbles, hanging the picture back up before turning to see what Levi hit him with.

The man is leaning against the table, a stake the size of a small baseball bat in his hands.

“What the—Why the fuck would you need one that big?! How would you even use—No, how the fuck did you hide that in here?”

Levi just shrugs, but he also hoists the stake over his shoulder and points it at Eren. For a moment, Eren is confused, but then he sees Levi’s hand jerk forward, and Eren immediately dives to the ground before the man can chuck the thing at him like it’s a wooden spear.

Eren hears a brief chuckle, and Eren looks up to see Levi with the stake in his hands again, though with it lowered to the floor like a cane instead of pointed in the air like it was a moment ago. Levi’s not smiling, but there’s something brewing in those sharp eyes that looks like mischief, and Eren scowls.

“You’re an asshole.”

“I won’t disagree.”

Eren huffs at Levi’s response, pushing himself back to his feet. Levi moves the stake so that it’s leaning against the table, and what little shift there was in his expression flattens out into something more serious.

“I could instruct you more today, but you’re going to need to come back to drink again anyway, so I might as well spread the lessons out.”

Eren nods, and Levi rubs his eyes.

“Besides, I’m fucking tired. Not all of us are nocturnal.”

Eren rubs the back of his head sheepishly and nods.

“Yeah, sorry for coming so late.”

Levi just waves his hand dismissively at Eren's concerns.

“Just come whenever you start to feel thirsty. The sooner we can figure out how your body handles blood, the sooner I can get you set up with a more permanent partner.”

“Partner?”

“Someone you drink from on a regular basis. Someone you trust. Could be a lover or a friend… Some vampires who don’t have anyone pay for partners.”

Eren nods, but he can’t imagine choosing a partner to drink from, mostly because he’s still reeling from the fact that he has to consistently drink blood at all.

“Bring it up with your friends,” Levi says. “Those two you came with the other day. They already know, don’t they?”

Eren nods again, and Levi, seemingly satisfied, leads Eren out of the break room and through the kitchen. When they enter the main dining room, Eren sees Isabel and Furlan sitting at the only table not cleaned and set up for the night. Isabel has her mouth open, prepped to ask questions, but a look from Levi seems to have her holding her tongue for now.

“Uh,” Eren begins as Levi walks him to the door, “thank you. For the lessons and for…”

He gestures at Levi’s wrist.

“And sorry for lashing out at you,” Eren finishes, dropping his gaze to the floor.

Levi just waves his hand dismissively.

“Don’t worry about it. I get it. Now get going, brat. I want to get some fucking sleep.”

“Yeah, okay,” Eren says, turning to push open the door, but before he steps out, he looks over his shoulder at the man. “See you later, Levi.”

“Mhmm.”

Eren manages a smile before he slips out the door, walking out into the night.

#ereri riren #riren #riren fanfic #ereri fanfic #ereri #fanfiction

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originofjaehyun · 5 years ago

Text

Interlude: No More Drama | Part 7 | Sit Down!

Interlude: No More Drama Masterlist

Word count: 3,929

Warnings: Angst

Part 7 | Sit Down!

“I stand on top above control, every thing is not the regular renegade.”

Prev • Next

“What are you doing here?” Jaehyun said to the younger boy, who is visibly nervous.

“Father asked me to accompany him, hyu…”

“Elder brother,” Mark corrected himself, anxiously peeking at his father.

“Father told me I should start coming to these events.”

He then saw you, who’s still linking your arm with Jaehyun, “Taeyong told me he met you last week. He also told me about,” Mark took a glance at you, trying his best to find a word he deemed polite. “Her.”

“Ah yes,” Their father joined in the conversation. “Fancy to see you bringing someone, Jaehyun. I was wondering who this young lady might be.”

You were taken aback by the sudden attention, especially by the people who shared the same blood with Jaehyun. You were about to introduce yourself, thinking it’s probably rude to just stay quiet before Jaehyun cuts you.

“She’s one of our vendors. I assume you’d know since you still overlook our projects, Father. She’s from The Paper Plane.”

Almost instantly, you turned your head to Jaehyun. Sure, there are no lies in his words but you know for sure he is the one who asked you to be his girlfriend and not the other way around. So for him to hide your relationship status is obviously disheartening.

“Oh?” His father is now looking at you, scanning you from top to bottom with his cold eyes. “I thought the person in charge of the project was Seo?” He then took a glance at Johnny’s direction. “Why is she coming with you?”

How you wish you could jump into the conversation. Staying quiet is definitely not your cup of tea. However, the fact that Jaehyun is hiding his relationship and how intimidating Jaehyun’s father tone is, you couldn’t help but to back off and let Jaehyun take the steering wheel.

“Johnny introduced us over one dinner.” Jaehyun answers, trying to keep his calm. “The project has been running for six months and sometimes I joined them on their after-meeting dinners. That is when I found out she lived in the same direction as I am, and both me and Johnny agreed we should invite her to our annual dinner party. After all, she plays an important role for this project.”

The head of The Jeong sneaks a look at Johnny, in which he hurriedly answers with a polite nod.

“I suppose,” He seemed satisfied with their answer. “It is remarkable for you to maintain your relationship like this. Keep it up, I expect nothing less, Jaehyun.”

“Now, we don’t want to take more of their time, do we Mark?” He pulls down his suit, fixing it. “I was hoping you could come with us, Jaehyun. After all, this is Mark’s social debut, but I suppose you’d prefer to stay with your group.”

“I’ll come, Father.” Jaehyun replied instantly, removing your grip. “Johnny, can you keep [Y/N] a company?”

After making sure you’re all good with Johnny, Jaehyun follows behind his father and his brother, quickly gathers people around them. Everything is too much, and too fast for you to process.

Johnny noticed the confusion on your face, “Hey, [Y/N]?”

He snaps you back to reality, and you finally look in his direction after slowly watching Jaehyun disappear in the distance. “How much did Jaehyun tell you?”

You’re still zoned out, and you replied with small shakes of your head, in which Johnny returned with a long sigh.

“I’m sorry,” Johnny used his hand to brush back his bangs. “I really, really hope Jaehyun could tell you sooner. I’m sure you’re confused, but it really isn’t my place to tell you about it. It’s… complicated.”

No shit, sherlock.

You have tons of questions left unsolved, just within a few minutes of their interactions. Why did Jaehyun never tell you anything about the family? Why did he seem very uncomfortable with his father? Why did he have to lie about your relationship? Why did he brush his younger brother off when he tried to talk to Jaehyun after he followed them?

But most importantly, you noticed the way his eyes darken after he saw them. The same shade he had when he saw Taeyong.

The puzzle is there, it's just that you don’t know how to connect them into one piece.

“Sit down first, [Y/N],” Johnny guides you to your seat, which you followed without replying a single word to him.

He then holds your hand, not in a romantic way but to assure you that he’s here to help you with your anxiety. You’ve been continuously biting your lips and tapping your fingers to the table unconsciously.

Realized you’re probably rude for not saying anything, you finally speak up, “How complicated, Johnny? He just lied to his freaking father about our relationship.”

“I’m not forcing him to tell me anything, believe me I don’t. But he’s the one who asked me to be his girlfriend, heck, he asked me to move in with him. Don’t you think I deserve some kind of explanation?”

No longer can hide your disappointment and anger, you lashed out to Johnny. The person you’re ranting to, though, doesn’t seem to mind. He knows that you have all the rights to feel the way you are right now.

“What I can tell you about this, that it’s been a long, long time since Jaehyun lived alone. His relationship with his father is complicated,”

You rested your face to your hand, sighing, not satisfied with his answer.

He gulped, being extra careful with his words and making sure there are no extra pairs of ears that could hear you guys. “And… Mark is his half-brother.”

The sudden bomb of information is enough to alert you, making you sit up straight.

“And that’s how far I can tell you, [Y/N]. I know it’s not enough to answer the questions that you have, I’m sorry.”

Seeing how regretful Johnny is by the look on his face, and you couldn’t help but to feel the guilt that starts creeping into you. You finally forced yourself to smile.

“Please, don’t be sorry. It’s not your fault and it’s not your responsibility to tell me anything. Though, I’m grateful that you did. Thank you, Johnny.”

He scratched his head, tightening his lips to form a timid smile.

“Anyway,” You relaxed your shoulder, “It would be wasteful to spend the party feeling all gloomy like this, don’t you think? Do I have to be unladylike and call the waiter to bring us the champagne? Jae told me you guys are providing drinks.”

Johnny snorted adorably, loosening up eventually, “Ah yes, let me call the waiter.” He said while moderately raising his hand.

“You know, I kinda started to feel like you’re wasted on Jaehyun.” He was impressed by the way you handled this, still trying to not make the situation worse by exhausting him with sulking.

You rolled your eyes, “For the love of God, tell him that. I’d probably have to cancel my moving plan.”

Both of you laugh till your ribs hurt, just in time for the waiter to start pouring your share of champagnes.

–

The silence suffocates you.

Jaehyun doesn’t feel like putting his playlist on, and neither did you. He turned on the radio, only to be annoyed with the song selections. In the end he got frustrated and decided to turn off the stereo completely. You spent the whole journey back home only with the sound of the car’s engine.

He lets you enter first, so you could proceed to remove your heels. He came inside, removing his suit and stubbornly keeping his silence.

“You don’t expect me not to ask anything again, do you?” You finally broke the quietness.

You thought this party was supposed to be another leap in your relationship with Jaehyun. You thought this could strengthen the bond you shared with him, with him introducing you as his, knowing how territorial he is. Sure, it was always pleasurable to spend the night with Johnny, but you couldn’t lie that you were expecting to be introduced not just as a vendor for their company.

He opens up the button on his sleeve, still refusing to see you, “[Y/N], please, can we talk tomorrow? We had a long night and I think like we should rest first.”

“And what, for you to postpone this even more?”

“Jaehyun, I don’t know anything about your family, and I never want to touch on the subject if it crosses the line.

“But you have to start putting your trust in me, Jae. It’s not like I’m going to tell the town about you. Why would I?”

“Babe, please, another time.”

“Of course, you were not lying when you told your father about you being my client. I think I deserve to know something. It’s weird that I have to know it through Johnny.”

He paused.

“How much did you hear?”

The tone he used was cold, piercing through the air.

“Well…” You halted, not sure if you want to tattle on Johnny. “He told me that your situation is complicated, and that young boy… Mark, was it? Is your half-brother.”

The last sentence flinched him for a bit, before he let out a quick sigh. He didn’t bother to look at you and continue to march inside, ticking you off.

“Jeong Jaehyun,” You finally try to catch up on him. “It’s going to be very difficult if you just shut me down like that. We’re about to live together, for God’s sake, but you don’t want to tell me why you hide our relationship to your own father?”

“[Y/N]! I have my reasons, OK?!”

He accidentally raised his voice on you. It was the first time he ever shouted on you, so you were equally as shocked as him. Your vision starts to blur as tears gather in the corners of your eyes, gathered at a constant speed that it almost spills in no time.

“Fine,” You took a breath in, trying your best not to shed a tear in front of your boyfriend.

“If you don’t want to tell me so be it. But don’t expect me to share the bed with you tonight, or until you finally decide to say something to me about it, in fact.”

You rushed yourself to the bathroom, locking it before Jaehyun could chase you. He didn’t, and the walls you’ve made finally crumbles. You made an effort to subdue the sobbing noises, but you really didn’t care.

All you want right now is to at least cry in peace.

–

The familiar touch on your forehead woke you up. Although it was a pleasant touch, being woken up abruptly causes you to be on full defense.

“What the fuck Jaehyun?”

You sit straight up, looking at him who’s currently sitting down on the floor, fixing his position. You need to have some space between you and Jaehyun after what happened, therefore you decided to sleep in the guest bedroom instead. Though your vision is blurry, you noticed that he is still using the same shirt and the same trousers, and he smells like nicotine.

“You haven’t showered?”

“No, I couldn’t sleep,” He reached for your hand, and when he almost touched you, you unconsciously flinched.

He looks at you, eyes are misty as guilt starts to crawl.

“I’m sorry.” Jaehyun chokes back as he tries to spill out his words. “I didn’t mean to yell at you. If I could give you any excuse, I’m just not in the right state of mind but that doesn’t mean I could, or should shout at you.”

“That doesn’t answer anything, Jae.”

He nods while biting his upper lips, visibly thinking on what he should do next.

“I know, eventually I have to tell you and believe me I’ve been meaning to. I just haven’t found the right time.”

Looking up, Jaehyun gave you that puppy stare and managed to melt you. He reached your arm again, and this time you held his hand back, letting him play with your fingers.

“Mark and I,” Jaehyun finally ready to start his story. His eyes traveled inside his memories. “As Johnny mentioned, we’re half-brother. As you might… realize, my father, he came from a wealthy family.”

“So it’s only natural for him –back then to be wed with someone who my grandfather carefully selected. It was my mom.”

You gulped as you listened. You weren’t sure how this story goes, so you held his hand tightly, making sure Jaehyun knew that you’re here as his mental support.

“Father, he…” You can see the glints in Jaehyun eyes, and this is another side of Jaehyun that you don’t know. You never saw him this vulnerable.

“Jaehyun,” You move your hand to his cheek, gently caressing at where his dimples would pop when he smiles. “I’ll always have your back, OK? But if I’m opening an old wound that I’m not supposed to, then please I don’t want you to force yourself. It might be contradicting to what I said before, about you not telling me anything. But at least you did try to tell me something now, and that’s enough, love.”

His eyes widens, before it softens after feeling your touch. He rubs himself to your hand like a cat, missing the comfort you gave to him.

“No, it’s OK. I think it’s just fair for you to know. The cat’s out of the bag anyway, what’s the point of me trying to hide it anymore?”

“My father, he was a busy man. He was rarely at home, and whenever he was, he would just go straight to sleep for –top, 4 hours before leaving for work. But Mom, she did try her best to be the ideal wife. She made sure whenever Father came home, food was always ready and she never bugged him, or asked for more money than what Father already gave to her.”

“In the end, Father fell for her, for real. He was so attracted to Mom’s gentle personality.”

“However…”

A small sigh of anxiety leaps out of his mouth, and you try to dampen the situation by crossing your fingers to his, in an attempt to calm him down.

“Father… wasn’t the most gentle person. He was violent to Mom. It starts whenever Father was not well rested, but ultimately it builds up and sometimes he would just shout at her for no reason.”

You can feel your pulse start to pound, eyes involuntarily flickering as Jaehyun continues his story.

“I guess everybody has their limit? Mom would ask me to go to my room whenever Father came back, because she didn’t want me to be affected. I was used to being alone at home.”

“Until one day, Father went rampage. It was usually just shouting, so as a little boy I would hide my face under the pillow, trying my best to cancel out the noise. But on that day I heard multiple shattering sounds. Mom usually never fought Father back, but she was screaming that day.”

There was a momentarily silent, “Mom, she… had an affair. She never loves Father to begin with, she thought she would be OK without the affection, but I guess eventually she longed for it. She’s only human, after all. Father failed to give it to her, with the addition of his violent act.”

Your body reacts like there’s a warzone inside, feeling uneasy about how could the man you love so much experienced such a painful past. Every chapter that he unfolds is like a blade slashing your heart. Each word that left his mouth was too much for you to bear, your eyes starting to well up.

“Long story short, Mom was pregnant, and if you could guess it, she was having Mark.”

“Father was a prideful man, apparently he found out about her pregnancy when it was almost impossible for mom to go for an abortion. So instead, he never told anyone that Mark wasn’t his, and pretends that Mark is his own… in public.”

“In public? What do you mean?” You finally speak up, knitting your brows together.

“Father felt betrayed, so he never treats Mark… very well.” He tried to find less-offensive words, making it PG for you to digest. “It was getting worse, Father became overly protective of Mom, making sure she won’t have another affair.”

“She told me once that she could take it, though she wouldn't be able to do so if it was her kids – me and Mark.”

“You?”

“Yeah. Father hated Mark. He never physically hurt him when he was younger, but he would often belittle him. Since he refuses to accept Mark as his son, more often than not he would tell Mark that his blood is filthy.”

You were shocked with the last sentence, finally your tears rolled down your face “Jaehyun, I…”

“Yeah, in a sense I naturally felt bad for Mark and tried to protect him. Father might hate him, but I don’t. I don’t have any reason to. I was a child, but I guess my sense of justice was there? So I’m always there for Mark, we fairly shared a good relationship back then.”

“Then one day, Father came home, completely drunk. He yelled, asking for Mom’s presence. As usual, she asked us to stay in our room, but curiosity got the best of us, so we took a peek and saw Father physically abused her.”

“Mark was braver than me, probably because he also had enough scolding so he ran to Mom, trying to shield her. Father ended up rampaging at Mark too, like all the hatred that he’s been bottling exploded.”

“I had to jump in, and my father didn’t hurt me –physically, but for the first time he shouted at me, asking me why did I protect them, the sinners, and even asked whether I’m his own son.”

Before you’re able to find the proper word, Jaehyun continues as he felt he wanted to finish this, “Each day I spent at home, I grew to hate my father even more. How could a person have such a cold heart? Hate is such a strong word, but I can’t find any other that could describe my feelings toward him that perfectly. It leads me to leave that house after I enter college.”

“But… you’re still working with him?” You choked up, trying to fight the tears that kept coming out.

Worry is painted on his face at the sight of your crying face. “I return because of Mark. Someone has to take the family business and I realized that after leaving home. I don’t want Mark to have such burden in his life, not after how Father treats him.”

He hesitated, “Uhm, I still have a bit more, but do you want me to continue? Please don’t cry.”

Jaehyun uses his thumb to rub away the trail your tears left on your cheeks, eyes blood-shot red. And you couldn’t fight it anymore, you rushed to hug Jaehyun.

“Jaehyun I’m sorry… I…”

You couldn’t find the proper word. It’s only natural to feel dejected when your loved one tells you his dark, sorrowful past. You couldn’t imagine the sweet, caring man you are fond of has such deep scars.

“Ssh, please don’t cry,” He tries to calm you down, brushing your hair. The role is reversed when you’re supposed to be the one who calms him down. “It was all in the past. It will always be a part of me. But I’m trying to overcome it. This battle with my past, and my relationship with my family is like a cruel game, and I cannot lose. I’m on my pace to start anew, and I’m on the right direction. Like, meeting you has been one of the steps that I take to move forward.”

He cupped his hands on both of your cheeks while you’re still sobbing, eventually trying to suppress your sadness because you don’t want Jaehyun to see you in such ugly state.

You made an effort to shake your head while still on Jaehyun’s hold, “If you want to continue, then it’s fine. But I know enough now and I don’t want to open your wound any bigger.”

Curls appear at both ends of Jaehyun’s lips, dimples finally make their appearance. He wipes up the remaining tears that you have, removing the droplets from your lashes.

“You eyes are swollen,” He said, feeling guilty because he just made you cry again, even after you cried yourself to sleep. “I should be the one who’s sorry.”

Jaehyun planted a soft, warm kiss to your lips. There was no lust, just pure affection from him.

“It’s salty,” He chuckled softly, covering his lips with his hand.

“Well sorry for that.” You crossed your hands in front of your chest, sulking.

He stands up, as he tries to unknot your hand. “Don’t be mad, love, we just made up.”

The way Jaehyun pleaded instantly moved you, and you grinned at him. “Did we just have our first fight?”

He laughed, that you could describe as a warm and hearty one, “It’s your fault for pushing my button.”

“My fault? It’s your fault for hiding shits from me, jerk. And for leaving me alone at the party. You didn’t move your attention away from Mark, you know.”

“Oh? I smell some jealousy?”

“That’s it, I’m not sleeping with you, I’m staying here. Go sleep on your own”

“Oh come on, love. I thought we would have make up sex?”

“I didn’t know I dated a satyriasis.”

“Again, your fault for pushing my buttons. You know I can’t have enough of you.”

You rolled your eyes, “Fine, I’ll move back to our room. No love making tho, my eyes are all sore, today is cuddling only.”

Jaehyun pumped his fist, feeling victorious.

“Also,” You turned back to him, after getting out of bed. “You better shower, mister. Tobacco scent suits you well but I would like to keep my bed sheets smelling like fresh laundry, thank you.”

He chortled with delight, “Sure, I’ve been meaning to use your brand new body gel. The only time I can share the same scent with you is during weekends anyway.”

“Why? Scared of smelling like a female?”

“No, I don’t want others to know what you smell like. It’s exclusively mine.”

You pushed Jaehyun away, embarrassed with his sudden sweet-borderline-possessive remark. You guys walk to your bedroom, and while you plop your body to the bed, Jaehyun proceeds to the master bathroom.

You were staring blankly at the ceiling, as the sound of the shower trickled down. Suddenly your ringtone rang, surprising you. It was already quite late, who would call you at this ungodly hour?

It was an unknown number. Additionally, it was a private number too. Since you don’t feel like answering a phone call whilst having a croaky voice, you ignored it. However, the second call came immediately after the first one ended.

You don’t want to worry Jaehyun, as he might ask who would call you this late. Sure, if it’s only once then you can tell him the person is probably calling a wrong number but two consecutively probably means something.

“Hello? Who is this?” You cleared your throat before answering, making sure you sound as professional as you can be, although a part of you is annoyed.

“Ah, you finally picking up, Ms. [Y/L/N].”

It was the cold baritone voice.

A/N: Whew! Things are starting to unfold! Also, we’ve made it to the second half of the story (who would’ve thought!). To be honest, I’m still not confident on how you guys would react to the story, but personally I think things are about to get quite... intense hahaha.

Also... I noticed as I about to post this, I somehow hit over 100 followers? asbjwadk really guys, I didn’t imagine anyone would read this fic at all. This might sound insincere but I’m truly grateful that you guys are staying. Thank you for supporting this fic! I’m in tears :’>

#jaehyun scenarios #jaehyun angst #jaehyunxreader #jaehyunfluff #jaehyun fic #mafia!au #jaehyun #jaehyun scenario #fic jaehyun #angst jaehyun #interlude no more drama #nct scenario #inmd #sit down

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hwayoungscorpioshin · 4 years ago

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Filthy Rich, Spoilt Rotten | nine

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Summary: Seungwoo covers up corruption and you are an activist in your spare time.

Also known as Seungwoo’s life as your employer.

It’s Friday and Eunsang knows everybody loves Fridays. So, when he comes up to the girl inside his brother’s office, there’s an extra bounce in his step. After all, this isn’t just an ordinary day.

Eunsang likes to believe, that him and the girl, over the course of two months, have developed some sort of rapport. Sometimes she will leave on his desk burnt cookies that she has baked herself. Sometimes, Eunsang will drop off coffee for her which earns him a glare from his older brother but they both just laugh it off. The girl has gotten herself on his brother’s good side, he thinks. Otherwise, why would he catch his Seungwoo hyung smiling to himself from time to time?

His other older brother, Seungyoun, likes to joke, Seungwoo hyung cannot both love and be wise. Eunsang does not agree. Ever since the girl has come to be Seungwoo’s assistant, he has been nothing but efficient and decisive in every single thing that he does, not that he isn’t already that to begin with, but it seems like he is even more driven now. And at the end of the day, that is all that matters, because Seungwoo is their fortress.

If he falls, they all fall.

“Hey, cherry!”

Eunsang whips his head to the side and sees the girl walking towards him. She has her coat on her arm and her shoulder bag on the other one. It looks like she’s already about to head out.

“Hi, YN!” Eunsang greets back, “Got a minute?”

She raises an eyebrow, curious. “Sure, what’s up?”

“What are you doing this weekend?”

A slight surprise passes over her face but it’s gone almost as soon as Eunsang notices it. She collects all her hair on the other side of her shoulder and flicks it along with her hand.

“I’ll probably just laze around at home. Why?”

Well, at least she’s free, Eunsang thinks. “It’s my birthday tomorrow. We’re having a party at our house. Wanna come?”

“Let me think…” the girl teases, “Lounging at home alone versus partying with one of the coolest people on earth? Of course, I’d come!”

The smile that eases on Eunsang’s lips is relieved and excited. “Great! Text me your address. I’ll get someone to pick you up tomorrow. Oh, and don’t bring any presents, okay?”

The girl sends him an address not too far from the office. “See you tomorrow!” she says, waving him goodbye as she walks away.

“See you!” he calls back happily.

Now his plans can finally take place.

It’s Eunsang’s birthday. Everyone in their family knows that birthdays mean business. Seungwoo does not like the way his brothers do things but there’s nothing he can do if their father approves it. He’s still just the son, after all. So, when Eunsang, the birthday boy, tells their father that he wants to invite the girl to his “party”, and their father gives it the go signal, nobody else can say otherwise.

The past few months have showed him several sides of this girl he’s so smitten with in high school. He rarely talks about her at home for fear of being made fun of by his younger brothers again but she’s almost always on his mind. It’s hard not to when she’s sitting just beyond his reach in the office. Sometimes when he’s in his own thoughts, he catches himself looking over to where she is no matter where she is. He tells himself it’s nothing different from when they were in high school and that he shouldn’t feel anything deeper than a crush.

But who is he kidding…

The girl has always been beautiful but tonight, she has Seungwoo dumbstruck. There is no other way to say it, she looks gorgeous and Seungwoo would be lying if he says he doesn’t want her attention all to himself tonight. He’s tried to stifle his awe when she got out of her house earlier, but now that she’s sitting barely a foot away from him, so delicate and pristine, it makes him nervous. Seungwoo thinks he should say something but anything that comes to mind sounds awkward and forced. So, when the girl suddenly initiates conversation, he is relieved.

“Is Eunsang having a party at your actual house?” she asks, her voice a little raspy from not having said anything for a while.

Seungwoo looks over at her and grins, ignoring the butterflies crowding in his stomach when their gazes meet. “What do you mean our actual house?”

She pulls all of her hair to the side, something she normally does when she’s uncomfortable, as Seungwoo has observed. “I mean, politicians don’t normally open their homes to the public, right? Like, for safety reasons,”

“Yes, that’s right.” Seungwoo’s voice is inviting, coaxing her to speak more about it.

“So, my question is, are we going to your home?”

The car slows to a stop in response to the traffic light in front of them. “Oh, I get what you mean now,” Seungwoo starts, “and to answer your question, no and yes. The place we’re going to isn’t our main home but it is a home nevertheless. Dad doesn’t like having people over in his ‘humble abode’, as he calls it. He doesn’t like the clean up after.”

“Senator Lee could always just hire people to clean up the place, though,” she says in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Nah,” Seungwoo chuckles, “Dad doesn’t like hiring people to work at home. He likes to do the chores himself.”

The girl faces him completely just as the traffic light flashes the ‘GO’ signal. “Sir—“ she stops when Seungwoo flashes her a warning look.

“Please don’t call me ‘Sir’ in the party,” he begs.

“Okay, what do I call you then?”

“Just Seungwoo or oppa,” he laughs heartily, “but we’re the same age. So, Seungwoo would do.”

The girl puffs but that’s the least of her concerns, at least for now. “Okay...Seungwoo. Are we really talking about the same senator, though?”

This makes Seungwoo laugh even more. “Yes, my father likes to do chores. He’s weird like that.”

She raises her eyebrows in disbelief. “I never saw Senator Lee as someone who likes to do household chores. That’s a nice surprise.”

“Yeah? Well, my father is a man full of surprises,” he comments.

The ride to the party is silent after that but it’s the comfortable silence that Seungwoo is used to in the office. When they arrive, people are already flowing in and Seungwoo can tell that Eunsang failed to tell the girl just how big of a party this is going to be. He has offered her his arm the moment they have stepped out of the car and since then, she has not let go of him even for a second. Not that Seungwoo minds her clinging to him. In fact, if he’s being honest, he even likes it.

“Say cheese!”

The camera flashes and both Seungwoo and the girl are momentarily blinded. On the other side of the camera is his younger brother, Seungyoun, with a shit-eating grin plastered on his face as he inspects the photo he’s just taken.

“Might as well stab us in the eye to blind us, Seungyoun,” Seungwoo cannot help but snap.

Seungyoun rolls his eyes playfully. “Easy, hyung. Don’t come growling when you haven’t even introduced me to your date yet,” he chuckles as his eyes land on the girl next to Seungwoo.

The girl starts to speak, “Oh, I’m not—“

But Seungwoo beats her to it. “This is my brother, the annoying Seungyoun.”

“Pleased to finally meet you, YN,” Seungyoun mock-bows, his cheshire smile still gritting on Seungwoo.

The girl doesn’t offer her hand to Seungyoun. Instead, she shoots a questioning glance at Seungwoo, probably wondering how he knows her name. The younger brother watches the interaction between them and decides to answer her unspoken question himself.

“It’s not everyday someone throws a shoe at our dear Seungwoo hyung here,” he says, winking and then, just as fast as he arrived, he’s gone.

Seungwoo feels the girl glaring at him and for some reason, he gets the need to explain himself further. “Well, there was an article about it after all,” he reminds her.

The girl nods, remembering somewhat embarrassingly. “Oh, right.”

“Shall we go greet the birthday boy?” Seungwoo asks, desperate to change the subject.

“Of course.”

Seungyoun has been nothing but a pain in the ass for Seungwoo tonight. So when he approaches him while he is waiting for the girl to finish doing her thing in the restroom, Seungwoo’s face only turns sour. His younger brother holds up his hands in defense, the strap of his polaroid camera haphazardly slung over his left shoulder.

“Not here to piss you off,” Seungyoun starts.

Seungwoo takes a sip from his champagne glass and raises an eyebrow. “Oh, really? Looks like that’s been your mission since we got here.”

His brother chuckles and looks around. “Speaking of you, where’s your girlfriend?”

The glare he sends is ice cold but Seungyoun doesn’t even flinch. He leans closer and drops his voice. “Choi Byungchan really wants to speak with you,” then, he steps away to shrug mockingly, “I told him you were busy playing tonsil hockey but he’s persistent and—”

“I’m about to lose my patience with you, Seungyoun,” Seungwoo gripes as he places the glass he has just finished on the high top table next to him.

Seungyoun smirks, “Before you do that, you might want to go meet the congressman first. He and Dad are waiting for you at The Table.”

The moment his brother mentions the place, the annoyance immediately vanishes from Seungwoo’s face. He leans away from the table and sighs, resigned.

“Tell YN I’ll be right back,” he says.

The girl’s voice drifts to them before they hear her heels click. “Back from where?”

Seungyoun reacts quickly and fluidly, “Dad’s asking him to speak with a friend. He won’t be long.”

But the girl is not paying attention to the younger brother at all. Her eyes are trained on Seungwoo who, for the nth time that evening, is again speechless. Unbeknownst to all, Han Seungwoo is not someone who can lie easily. Many will assume that as a businessman and the son of a politician, lying is like his second nature, but not Seungwoo. His charm is his honesty and he uses that as efficiently as he can. Not right now, though, and Seungyoun notices that, but he does not say a thing.

“Okay,” the girl says with a soft smile, “Go where you’re needed.”

And just like magic, Seungwoo responds with a gentle smile of his own. “I’ll be right back.”

A/N: YN is gonna end up getting herself killed with the way she’s so impulsive istg

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#x1 #x1 au #han seungwoo #cho seungyoun #kim wooseok #kim yohan #lee hangyul #cha junho #son dongpyo #kang minhee #lee eunsang #song hyeongjun #nam dohyon #seungwoo fanfic #seungwoo imagine #seungwoo reaction #seungwoo au #seungwoo victon

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maknaesdancersrappers · 5 years ago

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Devoted 2

part 6

Overall warning/s: kinkier smut (eg. voyeurism, exhibition, etc.) character death, dark themes

TRIGGER WARNING: dubious consent & possible drug use

Just how devoted is Jaehyun to you?

prev: Part 5

wc: 9.4k

“So you’re trying to get pregnant, Ms. [L/N]?” Dr. Ahn asks after pleasantries, going through your chart as she sits beside you. She’s been your gynecologist since you were a teenager; she was nice and funny, kept you comfortable throughout your appointments, she spoke to you like a wise friend instead of a condescending adult.

“Yes. My fiance and I would like to have kids soon.” You fold your hands over your lap after smoothing out your gownie.

“Oh, congratulations! Well, according to your cycle, you’ll be ovulating in a week. If you had unprotected sex recently, you can get pregnant since sperm can live in the vagina for up to 5 days.”

“This early? I thought it would take months.”

Dr. Ahn shrugs her shoulders, “Yes, but you seem to have a very active sex life, Ms. [L/N]. If you think it’s too early for you to get pregnant, I suggest you switch to pills or use a condom; or just abstain from sex for a few days just to let your body adjust to the sudden change, but you’ll have a higher chance of getting pregnant with than an IUD. I can prescribe some pills later after we get this Mirena out - if you still want to remove it.”

“Oh...” You hesitated, “Is it better to have it taken out when we’re trying for a baby immediately?”

She nods, “If you’re worried about getting pregnant before the big day and having a swollen belly, I’d suggest we keep the IUD in. But it’s all up to you, Ms. [L/N].”

You were right about your colleagues throwing you a farewell party; giggling a bit as you finish your small speech of gratitude with a toast to top off the night. Your boss coordinated everything - much to your surprise. He always seemed strict during work hours; drowning in paperwork and phone calls when he’s not overseeing projects.

“[Y/N], you’ve made so many projects under the company, I’d like to have them compiled under one major portfolio for you. Consider it a token of appreciation from us.” Your boss raised his glass of champagne at you.

“Oh, sir, you don’t have to.”

“Too late, dear, it’s already in production and has been paid for. We’ll have it delivered to you.”

“Thank you, sir. But we might be moving soon, I’ll send the new address once we move.”

“Alright. Congratulations again, [Y/N].”

He moves away from you, and you’re willing to bet he’s slowly making his way back into his own office because he’s a serial workaholic, more than Sicheng and Jaehyun combined.

Kyungwon had hooked her arm around yours by the time your (former) boss had left and she nuzzles the side of your head, “I miss you already!”

“Kyung, we’re still working on a project together.”

She whines, making it obvious she’s drank more than she could handle, “Your last project! After that, I’ll be all alone until you steal me away.”

You hush her, although you’re laughing at her words, “Shh, okay, no one knows I’m starting my own company; let alone taking you away. I have to wait until I actually start it before I can hire you.”

Kyungwon nuzzles the side of your head while clinking your glass at the same time, “‘till the day comes!”

She murmurs about needing help to the ladies’ room and you sling her arm around you to haul to the bathroom. When she’s in her cubicle, you enter the adjacent one to take care of your own business.

“It’s sad that [Y/N] is leaving.” You hear a female coworker say after the distinct sound of the door swinging open and close.

This makes you blush; flattered by their sentiments on your resignation.

“I know! Jeongin from the accounting said the other guys will be re-hired now that she’s gone.”

This, however, makes your brows arch in confusion.

“Ugh, they shouldn’t be re-hired. They’re sleazy and misogynists!” Another woman grumbles, “Maybe if I had a powerful fiance like [Y/N], then maybe every other sexual predator in this company gets booted.”

You swing the cubicle door open and your co-workers jumped at the sudden action. They’re blushing, hands frozen on their faces as they were trying to powder themselves. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop! But… what are you guys talking about?”

Your co-workers, Jihyo and Nayoung, share a look with one another. Jihyo cocks her head at you, “Wait, didn’t you request Choi Jinho and the others to be transferred for being… inappropriate?”

“Choi Jinho?” You repeat. You remember him; he left last year all of a sudden. He was very affectionate and quite flirty, he liked to throw his arms around everyone - including you. “No. I was shocked when he left. He was one of the most sought after architects in the company.”

Nayoung scoffed, “Yeah, but he’s a serial molester. Rumor has it that it was your fiance that had him pulled out of the company.”

You blinked at them; it was highly possible that it was Jaehyun’s doing, but how did he even know? You never talked about Jinho at all to him. “N-no… I don’t know anything about that.”

“Well,” Jihyo shrugs her shoulders, “They’re all coming back since you’re leaving. Whether or not your fiance had anything to do about it, it sounds awfully coincidental, doesn’t it?”

It does sound coincidental, but given Jaehyun’s power and personality, he probably did do something about the sudden resignations and transfers of your former male co-workers.

“Regardless, we really are going to miss you, [Y/N]. Us women in the company felt a lot safer when you started working here, I just wish our boss wouldn’t re-hire those jerks.” Nayoung offers you a sad smile before stuffing her cushion back into her purse.

“Fear not!” Kyungwon kicks the cubicle door she was in open, startling all three of you, “[Y/N] can save us all!”

She stumbles forward and you worriedly called out her name while stepping forward to help support her.

“Kyungwon really has low tolerance, huh?” Nayoung giggles, taking Kyungwon’s other hand and draping it around her shoulders to help you with her weight.

“She’s also right, I suppose.” You paused, “Give me… a month or two. I’m leaving the company to start my own and I’m aiming it to be a predominantly female company. I’d hire all of you in a heartbeat if you’d want to join me.”

Jihyo gasps and claps her hands, “Really? [Y/N], that’s amazing! Of course we’d love to! I’m willing to bet everything is going back the same way it was before you entered the company now that you’re leaving. Haven’t you realized that the guys don’t talk to you unless it’s work-related?”

You did realize this, but you always excused it because Jaehyun often picked you up from work and accompanied you during functions or parties. You had his picture on your desk; anyone could tell you were off the market and that’s the reason why your male co-workers didn’t bother with you like they did with your other female colleagues.

“Now that you mention it…” You trailed off, casting your eyes downwards.

“You’re so lucky that you have someone who constantly looks out for you.” Jihyo sighs, “My ex broke up with me because he thought I was cheating on him, when really the guy kept messaging me even though he knew I was taken.”

If they only knew the real reason behind why Jaehyun did those. You gave her a sympathetic smile, “I’m sorry about that, Jihyo.”

“Don’t apologize, [Y/N]. It’s okay, if he can’t even trust me with guys that I only see as friends or colleagues, then he doesn’t deserve me. What’s the point of a relationship without trust, right?”

Her words pricked your heart for some reason, but you shrugged and nodded halfheartedly.

Nayoung offers to take Kyungwon home, after she heaves the alcohol out of her stomach and sobers up with a few glasses of water, and Jihyo volunteers to help her. They accompany you to where Mr. Kyung was already waiting with your boxed items already in the backseat and bid you farewell.

When you get home, you dropped your stuff at your home office and sat on the couch; too drained and tipsy to make it all the way to the bedroom. You don’t feel good - not in the sense you want to vomit after drinking. It was what Jihyo and Nayoung talked about in the bathroom. Did Jaehyun have control of your surroundings even at work? How did he even know? You had so many questions and it only made your head ache.

Staring at the 77” LG OLED TV, you frown at your reflection. Your mind is taking you back to three years ago: when Jaehyun had made it seemed you had a stalker. The fear is still fresh in your heart and it made the little hairs on your arms rise up. As if the world was playing a cruel joke on you, your phone rings and drained the color from your face. But instead of an unknown number, it was Yuta’s.

Calming yourself down, you pick up his call. “Hello?”

“[Y/N], I-I’m sorry, but you know how I invited Sicheng and Jaehyun out for some drinks?”

“...Yeah? Is something wrong? What happened?”

Yuta nervously chuckles, “Nothing… particularly bad. They’re just… really drunk and I was planning to book them each a suite at the hotel I’m staying at, but Jaehyun is adamant about going home to you.”

This alarms you; Jaehyun probably has one of the highest alcohol tolerance among the people you know. He could down beer and soju one after the other and still end up being a little goofy - but never shitfaced wasted.

“Oh my god, okay, uhm… I’ll text you our address.”

“Okay, thanks, [Y/N]. Don’t worry, I’m not driving. We’ll call for a cab.”

It was barely 11PM when you hung up on Yuta and it was just odd that Jaehyun would get that drunk so early in the night. Maybe they had more hard liquor than the usual mix he goes for.

An hour later, there’s a knock on the door and you’re sprinting towards it. Before you open it, you could hear Jaehyun arguing in slurred words that he doesn’t want to wake you up and he could open it with his house keys. Opening the door wide, you’re greeted by Yuta supporting both Jaehyun and Sicheng on either shoulder with a tired, apologetic look on his face.

When Jaehyun sees you, his face brightens up immediately. “Baby!”

“H-hey. You had fun, babe?” You stifle your laughter as he lunges forward and wraps his arms around you, hugging your figure as tight as he can. Turning to Yuta, you sigh “Yuta, I think you and Sicheng should stay the night. We have a guest room with twin beds for both of you and I’m sure I can find some clothes for both of you to wear.”

“Oh, maybe Sicheng, but I can still go home.”

“Please, I insist. It’s late and you look just as hammered as these two.”

Yuta finally relents and you usher them inside. Jaehyun slumps down on an armchair while Yuta sits Sicheng down on the couch and takes the space beside him afterwards.

You bring them bottled water; opening it for Jaehyun while Yuta does it for Sicheng. “What did you guys drink and how much of it did it take for Jaehyun to be even this wasted?”

The question was directed to Yuta, who was obviously more sober than the two, but Jaehyun answers anyways in a giddy voice, “The whole bar! Sans wine because there are hundreds of those there…. Oh, babe, I had the best scotch there.”

You hum, bringing the bottle up to his lips so he could drink water.

In your peripheral vision, you catch Yuta fondly watching both of you. “Must be nice to have someone waiting at home for you; ready to take care of you when you need them, huh?” He comments.

“Are you retiring early from the bachelor life? Your bachelor pad isn’t even complete yet.” You tease, running your fingers through Jaehyun’s hair to push it back from his face and he gives you a sleepy, childish grin.

“No, I’m gonna enjoy it a little longer. But I can’t be a bachelor forever, [Y/N].”

You excuse yourself to get clothes for them and brought back some shorts and shirts Jaehyun doesn’t use often. You direct them to the guest room where Yuta hauls Sicheng to the bed and promises to help him change after the latter whined about being too lazy. You wish them a good night and made your way back to Jaehyun.

As you close the door, you gasp to see Jaehyun already beside you, leaning his weight against the adjacent wall. “Babe! Oh my god, come on let’s get you to bed.”

“Let’s get you to bed.” He repeats with a chuckle, nose scrunching at you.

You warily eyed him, you’ve never seen him in this kind of state before - and that’s saying something. There was one time you both endlessly drank until you (just you) were throwing up and even then, Jaehyun was still his right state of mind to take care of you.

He holds your hand and lets you lead him to the bedroom, “You’re pretty.”

“I’m pretty?” You stop in your tracks, just a little past the doorway and turn at him with an incredulous expression. “The last time you called me pretty was seven years ago; when we first started dating.”

“I stopped calling you pretty?”

“No, you just used other adjectives.”

“Like?”

You feel your cheeks heat up, “Like beautiful, gorgeous, sexy… and the likes.”

Jaehyun cocks his head and grins, “You’re all of that.”

“Thank you, Jaehyun. Now let’s get you-” He cuts you off with a kiss, bringing his hands on your hips to pull you towards him. You entertain it for a moment, slinging your arms around him and even tiptoeing to push yourself up. But in the back of your mind, you remember the conversation with your former colleagues and you’re pulling away from him.

Jaehyun doesn’t get the hint and continues to press his lips on your skin, “I love you so much, [Y/N]. I’ve wanted you for so, so, so long and now you’re here; a few months away from being my wife.”

“I love you, too, Jae,” You try to stop him but he holds you with a firm grasp, “I think we should get to bed now.”

He hums in approval, bringing his lips back over yours all of a sudden; catching you off guard when he forces his tongue into your mouth and you could taste the variety of alcohol he’s consumed. He’s nudging you back until you’re by the bed and he pushes you down onto it.

“Jaehyun, wait,” Your eyes fall to the unclosed door, worried that your sudden guests would hear or need something and stumble into a salacious scene. You hate how that turns you on; how the idea of someone walking into you and Jaehyun fucking gets you wet from the get go. But you’re not keen on doing anything tonight; not when he’s too drunk and especially not after what the girls told you. “I’m not in the mood.”

Your words fell on deaf ears as Jaehyun hooks his fingers on the band of your pajama bottoms and underwear that you changed into while waiting for them and yanked them both off your legs. You try to shut your legs, but Jaehyun just wrenches them apart and dives face first into your pussy.

A gasp leaves you, your back arching off the bed and your hand shooting to grab hold of his hair. “Jae, please- wait a minute, I-”

He directs his attention to your clit; engorged and throbbing to be touched, sending pleasurable waves coursing through your veins with every lick and suck Jaehyun does.

Moments later, you feel him slip two fingers into you without any forewarning.

“You’re always so wet for me.” He grumbles, giving you a few more drawn out pumps from his fingers and kitten licks on your clit before standing to unbuckle his belt.

You take this as an opportunity to move away from him, scooting up the bed and sitting up. “Jaehyun, can you just wait for one-oh!”

He chuckles at you, grabbing onto your ankles and pulling you back near him; hovering above your frame with a mischievous smile. “Hi.”

“Hi…”

He just smiles at you; a lazy, mellow grin on his puffy face.

“Are you okay?” You whisper, touching his arms and running your hands over them in a soothing manner.

He nods, “I’m just happy.”

“I can see that.” You giggle for a second, eyes darting from his upturned lips to the hot, hard cock resting on your thigh, before your face falls. He’s acting really weird. “We should really go to sleep, Jaehyun.”

“But I’m horny.” He pushes your shirt up to expose your bare chest to him, “And you’re so hot. I can only get off on you.”

You bite down on your lower lip when his hands grab each of your breasts and gave each a good squeeze, thumbs stimulating your nipples until they were hard peaks. You look up at him, watching his eyes glint with lust at the sight in front of him. He looked so different… he doesn’t seem like himself - at least his persona of this age. It was like he was back in his early twenties, trying to get into your pants for the third time.

Jaehyun reaches over his head to remove his shirt, tossing it aside as fast as he could. He’s sweating for some reason, although the entire apartment is air-conditioned. His muscles are tensed when you hold his arms.

“Jae, are you okay?”

“Never better.” He grits out, capturing your lips into an open kiss.

When he pulls you closer, you could feel his heart beating drumming onto your chest. You pull away, “Jaehyun, your pulse is going insane.”

“Of course, it is.” He dismisses, pushing your legs apart. “It’s because of you.”

Feeling dismissed, you sigh, “Okay, Jaehyun, just one round - ah!”

You get cut off, loudly moaning when he surges forward and his cock pierces into you with minimal difficulty.

You woke up sore and aching; especially lower half. Last night, you came about five times after 3 rounds one after the other. Jaehyun was insatiable; unrelenting to your soft pleas for even a quick break. He just… wasn’t himself - at all.

With much struggle, you sit up the bed and pull up the sheets to your naked body. The clock on the nightstand reads it’s about 7AM which means you’ve been asleep for a measly 3 hours. You ought to take a shower; you slept drenched in sweat and not to mention both yours and Jaehyun’s cum dried up and crusty all over your nether regions.

A pained moan leaves you once you tried to get up; you hiss, “Damn, am I getting old?”

Holding the sheets to your body, you trudge to the bathroom but the door suddenly opens and Jaehyun steps out, paler than usual.

“Jaehyun?”

He jumps a little at your voice and he stares at you, wide eyed. He releases a sigh, eyes furrowed in the middle of his forehead. Before you could ask what’s wrong, he takes a step forward and pulls you into a tight hug.

“[Y/N], I’m so sorry.” Jaehyun mumbles into the crook of your neck, “I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

“What?”

He kneels in front of you, taking one of your hands into his and kissing your fingers repeatedly. “I’m sorry, baby, I really am. I - it was like I had no control of myself. I’m a monster.”

You hunched down and cup his face, “Jaehyun, stop, what are you talking about?”

“You,” He almost snaps, “You didn’t want to have sex last night, but I insisted. I forced myself on you; I-”

“Jaehyun, it’s okay.”

“That’s not okay, [Y/N].” He cuts you off, “You said ‘no’ and I ignored it. I’m a monster, [Y/N], I practically ra-”

You grabbed his shoulders, “Don’t even say it! I wasn’t in the mood in the beginning, sure, but I still enjoyed myself… you should know, I came a lot.”

“But,” He tries to argue, but you hushed him.

“You know I wouldn’t go down without a fight; if I really didn’t want to, I would have made it very clear.”

“But,” Jaehyun looks at you with doubt, prompting you to give him a loving kiss on the lips. “If you had resisted… I think it would have been even worse.”

You pull away at his words, trying to search for an explanation in his face, but he has his eyes looking down to his lap. Swallowing hard, you kiss his cheek, “Monsters don’t know what’s good and bad; they don’t apologize for what they’ve done. You have, though, you know what’s right and wrong. I’m not mad or disgusted by you, Jae, I still love you.”

He finally looks at you, “I don’t deserve you, but I love you, too.”

Pulling you into a hug, he kisses your shoulder over and over again while you soothe his back with your hands.

“Although,” You trail off, leaning back on your legs, “Last night… it felt like you weren’t even here. Y-you were completely different. What were you drinking last night?”

Jaehyun sighs, “Too much of everything… I’ll ask the guys if they remember what we had so I can avoid it next time. They should be hungry now if they’re awake. I’ll go make breakfast.”

“Okay, I’m gonna take a quick shower.”

He leaves you to bathe after sharing another kiss and you wait until he’s gone before you lumber into the bathroom and stepped into the shower.

As warm water cascades down your body, you let out a sigh of relief as you feel your muscles relax under the steam. You still had to question Jaehyun about what Jihyo and Nayoung had told you, but it had to wait until your guests leave.

You’re in and out of the shower in 10 minutes, putting on proper clothing after drying off and applying some moisturizer. You tame your hair down until you’re decent enough to present yourself in front of Sicheng and Yuta and you walk out to the dining room where Sicheng exaggeratedly calls for you.

“Jiejie!” He cries, “I wanted to eat your cooking for breakfast.”

“Maybe next time?” You sympathize, glancing at Yuta as he looks through framed pictures on the shelves with a steaming cup in hand. “Are you guys alright? I hope the hangovers aren’t too bad.”

Yuta shrugs at you, “Bearable. I don’t know about these two, they were hit the hardest.” He gestures to them with his mug before taking a long sip.

“Did we drink anything you didn’t?” Jaehyun calls out from the kitchen, pausing from his cooking to ask him. “Because I’m not humble bragging or anything, but I have a very high alcohol tolerance - higher than Sicheng.”

The latter cradles his head and sighs, “I don’t even want to contest to that.”

“Hmm…” Yuta gives it a thought, approaching the table and sitting beside Sicheng. “The rum one, perhaps? I don’t like coconut that much so I didn’t even try it.”

You made yourself a cup of coffee, frowning at what Yuta had said because you’re certain that Jaehyun had downed that in a minute. Peeking at him, with the way his brows furrowed and arms crossed while watching the soup simmer, told you that he did remember the drink. You walk to him and lean your head on his shoulder, “Was it good at least?”

“Yeah, it was.” He grumbles, stirring the dried pollack soup he makes for anyone with a hangover (usually you.)

“There had to be something in it.” Sicheng pounds on the table like it was a gavel.

Yuta sits back on his seat, “Like drugs?”

“It’s the only possible reason why Jaehyun and I were so out of it; I mean, if it were only me, then it wouldn’t raise suspicion, but the fact Jaehyun…”

“We should take drug tests, Cheng, and if we come out positive; then we’ll sue the bar.” Jaehyun turns the stove off and you help him serve the soup to them. After giving a hefty portion each to the boys, you and Jaehyun serve yourselves and sit across them.

Sicheng moans at the first spoonful of soup, “I still think [Y/N]’s version is better.”

You let out a little laugh while Jaehyun scowls at him, “We use the same recipe.”

But the Chinese national just rolls his eyes and continues to eat, Yuta on the other hand, nods his head as he chews. “Wow, is there anything you can’t do?”

“He’s annoying, isn’t he?” You teased, “I used to think he was too perfect for me.”

Jaehyun nudges your leg with his, shooting you playful disapproving look.

“No flaws at all?” Yuta wonders out loud.

“Of course, I have flaws.” He defends, “Everyone does. Don’t you?”

“Oh!” Yuta dramatically exclaims, “Ask all my exes.”

Everyone chuckles at him - even Jaehyun, to your surprise; it looks like he isn’t as apprehensive towards Yuta anymore. Maybe the night out allowed them to get closer, open up a bit more about each other rather than being business associates. You reach under the table to squeeze his thigh, making him glance at you, and you simpered at him.

He returns it with his hand covering your own to hold it momentarily before both of you resume eating and entertain your guests with stories from the night before.

Yuta and Sicheng don’t extend their stay any longer and began preparing to head back to their respective homes after breakfast, dressing themselves back in their soiled clothing from the night before and were gracious enough to throw the clothes they borrowed into the laundry themselves.

“Thank you for your hospitality, Jaehyun,” Yuta sighs, nodding at him and then at you, “[Y/N].”

“Don’t mention it.” You lean onto Jaehyun as he lays his arm over your shoulders, “It’s been awhile since we had people stay the night.”

“Until next time, then!” Sicheng jokes, tossing his coat over his shoulder.

“A tamer next time; perhaps we’ll tackle their wine collection?” Yuta raises a brow at Jaehyun.

He hums, halfheartedly shrugging, “Until a tamer next time.”

Both of you see them off and once Jaehyun shuts the door, you step away from him and walked away with crossed arms. This doesn’t go unnoticed by him, following after you tentatively. “[Y/N]?”

You spin on your heels and scowled at him, “Did you have my boss fire men at the company?”

He blinks at you, “Yes…?”

“Jaehyun! Why would you do that?”

“Kyungwon said they were inappropriate and disrespectful; not only towards you, but the rest of the women at your work. I had only suggested doing something about it in passing, but she seemed to like the idea.”

You reel back and let your arms fall to your sides, “Kyungwon?”

Jaehyun nodded, “Although, she was a little drunk that time… when we first went out to drink with her and your other colleagues. She was complaining about how one of the men kept trying to touch her. I had to do something, [Y/N], it would be for your sake, too.”

“Oh.” You felt guilty now; you were ready to give him an earful for meddling in your corporate life but now you know the truth, you’re admittedly a little speechless.

“Did Kyungwon tell you? I asked her not to tell you because I’m sure you wouldn’t like it, but-”

“No,” You shake your head, “She didn’t. I overheard it in the bathroom. It seems like they’re rehiring those people now that I’m gone. I’m worried about Kyungwon and the others now; I need to start the company now so I can hire them.”

Jaehyun frowns, “I can hold the rehiring until then, baby. For now, how about I handle on your start-up to make it a little quicker? You just worry about Yuta’s apartment and our new house?”

“Are you sure? You seem pretty busy these days.”

“I have people to handle the paperwork. They’ll need your approval and signatures, but that would be it.”

“Okay.” You bite down on your lip, “Thank you.”

He chuckles, tipping your chin upwards so he could kiss you, “Anything for my everything.”

Your arms slip over his strong built, pushing yourself to hug him and press your cheek on his chest where you could feel his steady heartbeat thumping. You feel his fingers combing through your hair while his other hand rested over the small of your back.

“Is something else bothering you?”

“I just wanted to hug you…” You murmured, “But… I suppose it’s bothering me that I feel so… dependent on you. I don’t even know how different my life would be without you. You solve all my problems with a wave of your hand or snap of your fingers - to be frank,” You abruptly pull away from him with a pout, “You solve it through your wallet.”

He sighs, “[Y/N], you know money isn’t an issue to me or my family. I understand it can be overwhelming and almost impudent to solve all our problems with money, but it’s more efficient that way. My family… your future family has a steady flow of income; enough to sustain our lives and those who need it.”

“Those who need it?”

Jaehyun cocks his head, “We have plenty of charities, and provide sponsorships and scholarships, [Y/N]. The Jungs aren’t that greedy. Each of us donate to our respective charities twice a year.”

“What’s your charity?”

He hesitates, “I regularly donate to a rehabilitation center that deals with people who need psychotherapy that cannot afford it and…”

“And?”

“I also donate to the Golden Acres nursing home.”

You gasp, hands flying to your lips, “Golden Acres? That’s where…”

He nods, “Your mother mentioned about how your grandmother had been there since you were in high school. Don’t you want to visit her?”

“She doesn’t remember me.” You sadly tell him. Your grandmother had early onset Alzheimer’s at the age of 62. Your parents were working so hard to even support everyone in the house that no one could take care of her. By the next year, they had decided to move her into Golden Acres where she could be cared for 24/7. “Or at least she doesn’t remember that I’ve grown; I’m basically a stranger to her.”

“But she was an artist, yes?” Jaehyun’s hands rubs your shoulders, “You got your artistic skills from her.”

“Yeah,” You let yourself smile; when you were younger, your grandmother always encouraged you to draw or paint when she’d watch over you for your parents while they were away. “I miss her, though.”

“Then let’s visit her one day. Invite her to the wedding; whether she remembers you or not.” He kisses your forehead and pulls you back in for a hug. “What do you want to do today?”

You hum, trying to decide until you remembered that it was Sunday. You jump away from him with a gasp, “We were supposed to meet with my parents and Kun today for dinner! I haven’t contacted him at all last week.”

Jaehyun couldn’t help but chuckle at you as you briskly walk back into the bedroom. He saunters after you, crossing his arms and leans against the door frame while he watches you type on your phone. “Did you tell your parents at least?”

You glance up at him, “Yeah, of course I did.”

“So you genuinely forgot the man of the hour?”

You roll your eyes, hitting send after composing a message and picking out Kun’s contact number. “Okay, you know what? My mind has been everywhere the past couple of days; from designing a loft-type bachelor pad to a full sized home - that we haven’t even chose yet - resigning from my job and starting my own to save my female colleagues from pervs; cut me some slack, Jae. I can’t even start thinking about our wedding, although I really, really want to.”

He lightheartedly scoffs, approaching you on your seat at the bed and kneeling in front of you, “Baby, you know I was just teasing you. Don’t think about your company just yet, I’ll take care of that. How about we spend the rest of the morning planning for the wedding together and after lunch, we could browse through the catalogs of the Jung Properties’ real estate.”

“Sometimes I forget that your family is actually in real estate. You guys have too many business branches and different agencies.”

“We’re a conglomerate for a reason.” He gathers your hands into his and kisses your ring, “Soon, we’ll have a design agency under your name and ownership; which in retrospect, should be a smart business move. We have all these lands and properties, subdivisions and condominiums, yet we rely on other companies to build and design them.”

“So it all works out in the end?”

He hums in agreement, standing to his feet. “Well, should I get your laptop for you or do we work on our wedding in your office?”

Considering the fact that you’ll both not end up doing what needs to be done if you were to work on the bed, you chose the latter and he helps you stand up after you grab your phone. He holds your hand and swings them as you make your way to your office; grinning like a child and it’s so contagious that the same grin forms on your face.

In your office, he insists that you sit between his legs as he scoots further into your high back office chair to make room for you. Once comfortable, he rests his chin on your shoulder and wraps his arms around your waist as you open your iMac.

“You wanted an intimate wedding, yeah?” He kisses your neck, “So around 50 guests or less?”

“Does it sound too little for you?”

“No. What matters to me is that we’re both present with our parents. I don’t mind a civil wedding, either.”

You whined, “Where’s the fun in that?”

His chuckle reverberates onto your back, “I suppose. So at a church? Hotel function room? A beach? The casino?”

“We’re not getting married at the casino.”

“Hey,” He tightens his hold around you for a second, “Lucky 7’s function rooms are quite nice.”

“Doesn’t change my mind on it.” You shrug, “I can’t choose between a garden wedding or a beach wedding; so you choose.”

On the monitor screen, you pull up the pinterest board you’ve compiled everything wedding related and Jaehyun hums in contemplation as you slowly scroll through them. “How about a garden wedding with a beach view?”

You twist around to look at him, “We can do that?”

“I’m sure it’s possible.” He presses his lips on your jaw, “We’ll make it possible.”

“Okay, well if it’s technically a garden wedding, then I think it’s fitting that the theme would be a little casual, but still romantic.” You type the keywords into the search bar and show him what you meant.

“Weddings like these are perfect for spring.” He comments, “Would you like to set a date for when the cherry blossoms have bloomed?”

“It would be nice, but that would mean we’d only have 6 months or so to plan this wedding - and that’s if we make it our priority. We’re both so busy.”

He leans back on the chair and massages your shoulders, “Babe, you’re worrying too much again. Remember, we might be busy; but my mom won’t be. She’ll gladly take care of this as an event planner. She’s been waiting to plan my wedding before I even learned to walk.”

You snort at him, shaking your head in disbelief, but move on with the planning; “Would you like to suggest a color scheme? Don’t you dare fucking say black just because it’s your favorite color.”

He lets out a laugh, “Gray, then. Something neutral.”

“Garden weddings typically have purples and pinks for color schemes; like pastel shades, or lavender and peaches.”

“I like that,” He interjects, “Peaches or coral.”

You look back at him for a moment, “Alright, then. Let’s pick out some photos and print them out.”

As you save photos you both agreed on and print them out, Jaehyun makes himself a little more comfortable by cuddling you and pulling you flush against him. As you wait for the rest of the photos to print out, you run your hands along his arms, feeling the little hairs on them.

He mumbled something incoherent on your neck, tickling you slightly.

“What was that?”

“I said,” He pulls away a little, but his lips are still brushing against your skin as he speaks, “I can’t wait to see you in a wedding dress.”

Butterflies erupt in your stomach at the image of you in a flowy white dress, hair styled to your liking, walking down the aisle where Jaehyun waited in his own white dress shirt and black pants.

“Do you have any requests on what my dress should look like?”

“Anything would look good on you.” He leans back and forces you to lie back on him, “It could be the sluttiest dress ever or the most matronly piece - I don’t care.”

You shift to face him, cupping his jaw and moving your thumb over his cheek. His own hand mimics your actions, lightly caressing your thigh. There’s a comforting silence that takes over; lulling you closer to each other until your lips are pressed and melding together. There wasn't any urgency or desperation, nor was it hasty and in passing.

He took his time with you, nibbling on your lower lip and steadily bringing the soft flesh between his. The printer made a sound that signaled its’ done it’s job and he pulls away but you hold him steady, whimpering a sound of disapproval that makes him chuckle.

He continues to kiss you, running his tongue along your lower lip to ask for entrance and you grant it. Teasingly, he slips the wet muscle into your mouth and sliding it along your own. He tasted like coffee: a good kind of bitter with a hint of sweetness, the kind you get addicted to.

Your hand falls to his chest and you could feel his pulse with your fingers, beating steadily with calm thumps.

Both of you pulled away for air, resting your foreheads together. He has a ghost of a smile on his lips and you give it a little peck to make it wider.

“I love you.”

You’ve exchanged these words so many times already yet it never lost its meaning. It still sent warmth spreading across your face, made your stomach giddy, and made your heart feel full. “I love you, too.”

Jaehyun leans back down, opting to kiss your cheek while combing his fingers through your hair.

After a few more minutes of basking in each other’s presence in absolute peace, you break off from each other to pin the printed photos onto the corkboard you had hanging in your home office. It was a nice way to spend the rest of the morning before ordering lunch; it felt a little recreational but also exciting. By the time the food Jaehyun had ordered arrive, the board was practically filled with your ideas for the wedding.

You discussed it some more over lunch and he managed to squeeze in a little talk about the honeymoon, chowing down on your meals on the couch.

“Venice? Greece?” He feeds you some of his pork dumplings and you hum at both the savory flavor and his suggestions, “I already know a place in Greece I’d like to take you to.”

“Wherever, Jaehyun,” You roll your eyes, scooting your body closer to him and draping your legs over his lap. “I’m sure I’ll love wherever you’ll take me.”

“A month?”

You snort at him, “That’s too long; two weeks max.”

He pouts down as he mixes his fried rice around in the take-out cup, letting out a little grumble, “Okay.”

Once finished with your lunch, he volunteers to clean up the mess and tells you to go into his office, instructing you to open his computer and open the new email from their real estate office. You give him a quick smooch on the cheek, thanking him for cleaning up, and made your way into his office.

You sat in front of his desk; turned on his iMac, typed in his password, and waited for his mail to load when you pulled the window up. You weren’t the type to snoop or pry through his business life, but your eyes glazed over his other emails. It as oddly satisfying how he kept it so organized; having different email addresses for work, personal life, and such. But one email handle caught your eye; it was for a Jeong Yoonoh. For spam mail, perhaps? A little voice at the back of your head told you to open it, but before you could even reach for the mouse; Jaehyun comes into the room with a glass of white wine in each hand.

“Have you opened it?” He asks, using the back of his hand to close the door.

“Not yet,” You quickly clicked on the email from Jung Properties and stood up to let him sit before making yourself comfortable on his lap like earlier. You took a sip from the wine he offered and almost spat it out when he opened up the digital brochure on the screen, “These are all mansions.”

He hums, “Yes, they are. Too big?”

“How many rooms do we need? It’s just going to be the two of us.”

“For now.” Jaehyun chuckles in your ear, playfully biting your lobe.

You gasp, perking up from your seat before twisting around to send him a glare. “Don’t.”

He continues to chuckle to himself, browsing through the houses while drinking from his glass. “Don’t what, baby? We’ve talked about children before.”

“We still don’t need all that space.” You argue, mumbling into your glass.

“Yes, we do. We’ll need it for our private offices, a few guest rooms, our children’s playroom…” Jaehyun’s free hand runs over your stomach, “Our playroom.”

“We’re not going to have a playroom if we’re going to have children.” You flinch away from him but he holds you against him, making you gasp.

“You mean, we’re going to have children because of the playroom.” His hand has now unabashedly slipped under your shirt to cup your boob.

You put your wine glass down on the table, afraid to drop it. “You’re insatiable.”

He merely laughs, following after you and setting his glass by yours. “Have you seen yourself, baby? How aren’t you turned on by your own reflection?”

He reaches past you to grab the wireless mouse and opens the photo booth app, your bodies being projected on the monitor. “Look at yourself.”

His hands push your shirt over your chest and pull your bra down; his brows giving away his annoyance towards the clothing article. He’s watching the screen with you, using it like a mirror to figure out where your nipples were to roll between his fingers.

You let out a mewl, arching into his touch and holding onto his knees. The bulge in his pants grew beneath you, slotting perfectly under your clothed mound.

“Do you want to see me fuck you, [Y/N]?” He peppers small kisses on your nape, still kneading your breasts with his palms.

“I-” Your voice hitches when you began to grind on him, “I want you to record it.”

Jaehyun stops, “What? You want to make a sex tape-”

“Yes,” You whined, stretching your arm out to start recording on his computer before removing your shirt and bra.

“You’re such a naughty girl, [Y/N], hm?” Jaehyun dryly laughs, pulling you back against him and maneuvering your wanton body so his mouth had access to your chest. He licks your pert nipple a couple of times and bites the patch of skin by it. His hand had jammed itself past the garter of both your leggings and underwear, drawing a circular pattern over your clit. “You want to make a sex tape, yeah? What if someone gets a hold of the file, huh?”

“Then they’d see how good you make me feel; how you fuck me so good.”

An approving croon vibrates from his chest, sitting back for a moment to watch you grind yourself on him and although he’d love to put music on to complete the lap dance, he would have to ask you for one some other time. He gently nudges you off him, tugging at your leggings. “Off.”

You push your pants down with your underwear and toss them aside while Jaehyun just pushes his down enough to free his erection. He guides you to sit on his cock after giving himself a few pumps with his fist. Once you were eased in, he forces your legs apart by draping them over his knees and spread his legs wider.

“Smile for the camera, baby.”

Dinner with your parents and Kun had been going smoothly; you have to admit that even Jaehyun seemed to be enjoying himself while listening to Kun’s med school stories. You were midway through finishing your glass of sangria when your mother comments about how Kun and his family suddenly moved back to China.

“Ah,” Kun swallows his food and brings the napkin from his lap to wipe his lips, “It was rushed, for some reason. All they told me was they were both offered better paying jobs back at home; it would have been churlish to decline it, especially since it guarantees full payment of my tuition.”

You caught Jaehyun mindlessly nodding to Kun. You bump your knee against him and once he looks at you, you pointedly question his actions with a cock of a brow.

“Hm? Oh,” He clears his throat, “I would have done the same if I were in your parents’ shoes. No matter how great the sacrifice to be made is.”

Kun’s eyes glanced at you; he seemed melancholic as he agrees with Jaehyun’s words. You don’t know how to feel about his expression, choosing to busy yourself by cutting up your steak into even smaller pieces.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you and [Y/N] meet?”

Jaehyun chuckles and you’re already rolling your eyes because you know how he likes to answer this question.

“She slapped me with her hair.”

Your parents join him in laughing as if they didn’t know the story already while Kun was nice enough to bite back his own laughter. You huff, “We were classmates during freshman year. He tapped my shoulder to ask something and I turned to face him too quickly so my hair smacked him, okay?”

“I see.” Kun grins, probably imagining the scenario in his head. “Peculiar way of falling in love.”

“Love at first smack.” Jaehyun jokes and you step on his foot under the table, “Ow!”

“I could have ignored you, you know.” You threatened as if it would make a difference.

It was his turn to roll his eyes, “I would have kept bothering you, then. It’s not like I could ask the next table for help.”

Your father turns to Kun, “How about you, Kun? Any lady in your life?”

Kun’s face flushes into a soft pink, “No. I’m too focused on school and work. It would also feel weird to have a girlfriend while my specialization involves putting my hands between another woman’s legs.”

“How did you even end up in obstetrics?” You stab one of the steak pieces and bring it to your mouth, remembering how Kun got shy whenever you were in a promiscuous position while making out. Now he had to work with vaginas.

“My cousin passed away because of childbirth.” He solemnly admits, “It was a high-risk pregnancy and there weren’t any obstetricians in our hometown that specialized in it, so we lost both her and the baby.”

“My god,” Your mother gasps, “I’m so sorry for your loss.”

“It was years ago. She acted as an older sister to me, so losing her really left a mark. She’s the reason why I took up obstetrics. I plan to go back home to my country in a few years and set up a clinic there.”

You’re chewing slowly, trying to remember if he had ever mentioned to you about his cousin. You hear your name and you blink up at Kun, who was looking at you with curiosity. Swallowing, you cough a little, “What was that?”

He smiles, “You’re an interior designer, right? Doyoung mentioned about you working at a firm near the hospital.”

“I am and I was.” You wash down your food with a swig of water, “I quit my job a few days ago and I’ll be starting my own.”

“Soon.” Jaehyun quips, “Very soon.”

“That’s amazing.” Kun nods, “My dad had always wondered how that worked out for you.

You feel yourself blanching at the memory of his father the last time you saw them, “Your dad?”

“My grandfather, his dad, was an architect so he worked closely with interior designers.”

“Oh.” You lick your lips, trying to remain passive. Unable to shake the thought that if his grandfather was an architect, why were his parents so against you and your career choices?

“How are your parents, by the way? Did they move back here with you?” Your father inquires, reminding you that he and Kun’s father used to drink together with Doyoung’s dad.

“They didn’t move back with me, but they planning to visit for a few days next month or so. We should have dinner again with them.” He suggests and your parents express their enthusiasm towards him, “However, my mother…”

You peer up a him through your lashes when his voice trails off.

“She was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s a year ago. But don’t get me wrong! She’s doing wonderful, the symptoms are there; barely noticeable, really. She’s receiving therapy back at home and her lifestyle has completely changed for the better.”

You feel the urge to cry, remembering your own grandmother.

“That’s good to hear.” You’re grateful you mom reaches over to squeeze his hand before you could, “Although truly unfortunate; is it genetic?”

“I hope not.” Kun warily smiles, “I’m cutting back on a lot of potential vices, I keep follow a strict diet and workout routine.”

“No wonder you’ve lost weight.” You comment in an attempt to turn the somber mood around , finishing off your meal and putting your cutlery down. “I assumed it was from the all-nighters brought by med school.”

Kun chuckles, bringing out the dimples he had - dimples you remember loving. “Mayhaps that, too.”

Dinner shortly ends after sharing a small platter of seasonal fruits and you’re seeing your parents off as they enter their car. “Drive safe, dad. I love you guys.” You kiss your mom’s cheek through the open car window give a flying kiss to your dad.

“We love you, too, [Y/N]. You and Jaehyun drive home safely as well, okay?”

You pull away and wave at them, watching your dad put the car in reverse and drive off after nodding at you. Looking back to where you left Jaehyun and Kun, you feel uneasy at how they were conversing while sneaking glances at you. When you walk back to them, they both smile at you. “What are you guys talking about?”

“Kun was just telling me about that one time in high school-” Jaehyun sniggers and you gasp, smacking Kun’s arm out of habit.

“What did you tell him?!”

Kun yelps, reeling back and grabbing his arm. “I didn’t say anything!”

Jaehyun scoffs, “I was joking! He didn’t tell me anything… yet.”

You huffed, backhanding Jaehyun’s chest and he, too, cries softly in pain.

“Okay! I was just asking Kun if he could be your obstetrician - especially if there are complications in your pregnancy.” Jaehyun massages his chest with a pout, “I’d prefer having someone we both trust than just someone who’s just good at their job; so I asked Kun.”

“And I’d love to.” Kun adds, “I get to hold my nieces and nephews before Doyoung.”

You tittered at them, rolling your eyes. “It’s getting late.”

“Ah,” Kun nods to your observations, “I have an early shift tomorrow. Thanks for dinner. It was great seeing you again, [Y/N], and it was great meeting you!”

Jaehyun grins as he shakes the hand Kun offers to him, “You, too. We should do this again next time; you can tell me everything embarrassing [Y/N] did back in high school.”

You slap his shoulder, but he merely laughs with Kun.

“I’d love to! We should invite Doyoung, too.”

After a few more pleasantries, you and Jaehyun see Kun off as he gets into his car and drives away. Jaehyun opens your side of the car door for you and shuts it once you were seated inside before rounding to enter the driver’s side. While he starts the car, you put your seatbelt on and watch him with pursed lips.

He notices after he secures his own seatbelt, leaning over the center console to kiss you. He asks, “Are you okay?”

“Did you like Kun?”

Jaehyun laughs, sitting back properly to start driving. “Yeah. He’s a good man; family-oriented, a loving son... So, you like guys with dimples?”

“Shut up! I swear, that’s just a coincidence.” You crossed your arms, “So you mean everything you said? About meeting up with him and all?”

“Yes, [Y/N], I actually genuinely like the guy.” He rolls his eyes, but his voice drops into a murmur, “I understand why he’s your first love… he’d be a better option than-”

You put your hand over his while it gripped the gear stick to stop him from talking, “But I don’t love him anymore, you know that right? You can only call it first love because it ended. There’s only you for me now and forever.”

He smiles, moving his hand so he could bring yours up to his lips while keeping his attention on the road. “I know. I love you.”

“I love you, too.” You watch him concentrate on driving for a few minutes, relieved at how the night turned out. You were expecting Jaehyun to be petty or at least sulky; but he initiated and held conversations with Kun - more than you did - as if they were the ones rekindling a friendship. Pride and love blooms in your chest. Jaehyun really is doing his best in correcting his flaws. “By the way,”

“Hm?”

“You basically gave my ex access to my vagina.”

He sneers at you, “The only time he’ll actually have access is when it’s dilating and pushing a baby out; doubt he’d do anything else, babe.”

A grimace makes its way onto your face, albeit you agree with him. It felt a little awkward thinking about it now, but you’re sure you’ll be in too much pain from going through labor to even care about having Kun deal with your ‘down under'.

“You have plans tomorrow, right? IKEA with Yuta and Kyungwon?”

“Yeah, after lunch.”

“Oh, good.” Jaehyun hums, “Would you like to go to therapy with me tomorrow morning?”

You snap your head towards him, “Tomorrow?”

“Yeah.” He shrugs, “Unless you want some other day; that’s fine, too.”

“No, I’d like to go. I can’t wait.” You affirm, letting your thoughts drift off to wonder what it would be like to attend Jaehyun’s therapy with him. You knew he had a mental disorder, but he wasn’t comfortable telling you what it was back then so you never really pressed him. It never really bothered you that you didn’t know what exact disorder he had because he seemed to be getting a better control of it. But now the topic is resurfacing and you can’t help but ponder on it. Will knowing what it is have an impact on your relationship?

Trepidation stirs within you; if it does have an impact, then how badly will it affect you? You’re trying to convince yourself that nothing will change your perspective of Jaehyun. This man has been trying so hard to change for you; trying so hard to be an open book to you like you are to him. The least you could do is learn and understand his flaws, right?

a/n: yay for update. buT WAIT !! the next part is the much awaited therapy session!! i’ll let you guys send in some questions you’d like to be tackled during the therapy session (pls dont send these with an open forum ask)

next: part 7

~ buy me a peach? but why?

#nct smut #devoted au #jaehyun smut

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